Objective To investigate the impact of using a three-dimensional (3D) printed liver model for patient education. Methods Children with hepatic tumours who were scheduled for hepatectomy were enrolled, and patient-specific 3D liver models were printed with photosensitive resin, based on computed tomography (CT) images. Before surgery, their parents received information regarding liver anatomy, physiology, tumour characteristics, planned surgery, and surgical risks using these CT images. Then, parents completed questionnaires regarding this information. Thereafter, 3D printed models of each patient were presented along with an explanation of the general printing process, and the same questionnaire was completed. The median number of correct responses in each category before and after the 3D printed model presentation was compared. Results Seven children and their 14 parents were enrolled in the study. After the presentation of 3D printed models, parental understanding of basic liver anatomy and physiology, tumour characteristics, the planned surgical procedure, and surgical risks significantly improved. Parents demonstrated improvements in their understanding of basic liver anatomy by 26.4%, basic liver physiology by 23.6%, tumour characteristics by 21.4%, the planned surgical procedure by 31.4%, and surgical risks by 27.9%. Conclusions Using 3D printed liver models improved parental education regarding the understanding of liver anatomy and physiology, tumour characteristics, surgical procedure, and associated surgical risks.


The paper proposes a new approach for the fabrication of MgB2 tape utilizing an interface diffusion reaction between boron (B) and Fe-Mg alloy which has workability to be deformed into a tape form. The composite of an Fe-Mg alloy substrate tape with B layer on its surface was prepared by a dip coating process. During the subsequent heat treatment at 700deg C, Mg in the Fe-Mg alloy substrate diffuses into the coated B layers and reacts with B to form MgB2 superconducting layer. The reaction proceeds from the Fe-Mg/B interface to the inside of B layer and such a formation mechanism produces a dense structure of MgB2 with much less MgO impurity, which is difficult to achieve by the conventional PIT process. SiC addition to the B layer is effective at improving the critical current density Jc in applied magnetic fields as in the case of the PIT process. A transport Jc value of 2,000 A/cm2 has been obtained at 4.2 K and 4 T for the Fe - 20 at%Mg/(B + SiC) composite tape. This approach is expected to be a breakthrough in the development of MgB2 wire with a high quality superconducting layer in the composite.


On a certain reading, the respective theories of Freud and Nietzsche might be described as exploring the suffered relational histories of the subject, who is driven by need; these histories might also be understood as histories of language. This suggests a view of language as a complicated mode of identifying-with, which obliges linguistic subjects to identify the non-identical, but also enables them to simultaneously identify with each other in the psychoanalytic sense. This ambivalent space of psychoanalytic identification would be conditioned by relational histories. On one hand, this might lead to conformity within a system of language as a shared, obligatory compromise formation that would defend against the non-identical; magical language, typified in Freud's critique of animism and in Nietzsche's critique of "free will" guided by absolute normative signifiers ("Good" and "Evil"), would be symptomatic of this sort of defense. On the other hand, given other relational histories, it may produce the possibility for more transitional modes of identification, and thereby modes of language that can bear its suffered histories, and lead to proliferation of singular compromise formations. It is suggested that while the former is historically dominant, Nietzsche and various psychoanalytic thinkers contribute to conceiving of the possibility of working ourselves towards the latter.


This article considers the effects of marital disruption on children and families, using a risk and resilience perspective. The challenges that parental divorce poses for children are widely recognized; however, less attention has been given to strategies for promoting children's resilience and healthy developmental trajectories. The purpose of this article is to redress that imbalance by highlighting the importance of understanding pathways toward risk and resilience in children in the aftermath of divorce and the ways in which this research can be integrated into effective, evidence-based preventive interventions and proactive social policies that foster supportive parent-child relationships and psychological wellness in children and families.


In this paper, a new design method is proposed for a planar and compact dual-band dipole antenna. The dipole antenna has arms as a hybrid CRLH (Composite right- and left-handed) transmission-line comprising distributed and lumped elements for the dual-band function. The two arms are fed by the outputs of a compact and printed CRLH dual-band balun which consists of a CRLH hybrid coupler and an additional CRLH phase-shifter. Its operational frequencies are 2.4 and 5.2 GHz as popular mobile applications. Verifying the method, the circuit approach, EM (Electromagnetics) simulation and measurement are conducted and their results turn out to agree well with each other. Additionally, the CRLH property is shown with the dispersion diagram and the effective size-reduction is mentioned.


The paper provides a cursory analysis of the methodological problems of coding policy influence in ATLAS.ti. In a series of notes on a research project on Hungarian banking, the measuring problems of preference attainment are considered in the context of lobbying in developed democracies. Two such issues are discussed in more detail: The identification of policy issues in large-sized corpora (as well as their relative importance), and the estimation of relevant policy positions regarding these important issues. For the first point, the flexible coding schemes as well as grouping and commenting features of ATLAS.ti contribute to a proper identification of policy issues and their re spective boundaries. For the second point, it is asserted that the estimation of lobby group and government policy positions is best assisted by the quotation managing, query and co-occurrence functions of the software. The dis cussion of this case study in applied qualitative data analysis also reveals the strong dependence of research results not only on appropriate research rules and procedures but also the transparency thereof.


The ATPase rate of kinesin isolated from bovine brain by the method of S.A. Kuznetsov and V.I. Gelfand [(1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 8530-8534)] is stimulated 1000-fold by interaction with tubulin (turnover rate per 120-kDa peptide increases from approximately equal to 0.009 sec-1 to 9 sec-1). The tubulin-stimulated reaction exhibits no extra incorporation of water-derived oxygens over a wide range of ATP and tubulin concentrations, indicating that Pi release is faster than the reversal of hydrolysis. ADP release, however, is slow for the basal reaction and its release is rate limiting as indicated by the very tight ADP binding (Ki less than 5 nM), the retention of a stoichiometric level of bound ADP through ion-exchange chromatography and dialysis, and the reversible labeling of a bound ADP by [14C]ATP at the steady-state ATPase rate as shown by centrifuge gel filtration and inaccessibility to pyruvate kinase. Tubulin accelerates the release of the bound ADP consistent with its activation of the net ATPase reaction. The detailed kinetics of ADP release in the presence of tubulin are biphasic indicating apparent heterogeneity with a fraction of the kinesin active sites being unaffected by tubulin.


Calf mortality rate in 2007 in Peshawar (Pakistan) was 17.98% (Khan et al., 2007). Major causes of mortality of neonatal calves were the conditions like diarrhea and pneumonia (Khan et al., 2009, Shimizu and Nagatoma 1978). The neonatal calf mortality in the first month of age is more than 80% of the total mortality in calves (Jenny et al., 1981). Mortality in calves was found due to the conditions e.g. Feeding practices, managemental practices, weather conditions, bacterial and viral infections especially those causing septicemia, diarrhea and enteritis (Blood et al., 1994).The etiology of neonatal calf diarrhea involves a variety of infectious, nutritional, immunological and environmental factors. Many of the infectious agents have been isolated and identified from the feces and tissues of diarrheic calves but the relative importance of each one has not been established. Recently, infections of individual calves and herds with multiple enteropathogens have been described (Acres et al 1977; Moren M.1974; Brown et al 1973).


Currently, in the world there is a growing interest in the digital economy including the blockchain technology. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is one of the leading current blockchain technology-related trends. The paper aims to provide an overview of the opportunities, advantages and shortcomings of this technology, as well as to summarize information on 12 most popular DeFi applications, using Total Value Locked indicators for the period of 34 months.


Recent advances in the understanding of depression have led to increasing interest in ketamine and the role that N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor inhibition plays in depression. l-4-Chlorokynurenine (4-Cl-KYN, AV-101), a prodrug, has shown promise as an antidepressant in preclinical studies, but this promise has not been realized in recent clinical trials. We sought to determine if transporters in the CNS could be playing a role in this clinical response. We used radiolabeled uptake assays and microdialysis studies to determine how 4-Cl-KYN and its active metabolite, 7-chlorokynurenic acid (7-Cl-KYNA), cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to access the brain and its extracellular fluid compartment. Our data indicates that 4-Cl-KYN crosses the blood-brain barrier via the amino acid transporter LAT1 (SLC7A5) after which the 7-Cl-KYNA metabolite leaves the brain extracellular fluid via probenecid-sensitive organic anion transporters OAT1/3 (SLC22A6 and SLC22A8) and MRP4 (ABCC4). Microdialysis studies further validated our in vitro data, indicating that probenecid may be used to boost the bioavailability of 7-Cl-KYNA. Indeed, we found that coadministration of 4-Cl-KYN with probenecid caused a dose-dependent increase by as much as an 885-fold increase in 7-Cl-KYNA concentration in the prefrontal cortex. In summary, our data show that 4-Cl-KYN crosses the BBB using LAT1, while its active metabolite, 7-Cl-KYNA, is rapidly transported out of the brain via OAT1/3 and MRP4. We also identify a hitherto unreported mechanism by which the brain extracellular concentration of 7-Cl-KYNA may be increased to produce significant boosting of the drug concentration at its site of action that could potentially lead to an increased therapeutic effect.


A combination of absence of the pulmonary valve with ventricular septal defect, annular pulmonary stenosis and aneurysm of the pulmonary artery is called "absent pulmonary valve syndrome". Most patients with this condition suffered from severe respiratory symptoms in early infancy. Respiratory failure which is the leading cause of mortality in infants with this syndrome, results from pulmonary emphysema, pulmonary atelectasis or pulmonary infection as a consequence of compression of the bronchus by the pulmonary aneurysm. If these patients can be treated medically to survive beyond one year old, gradual decrease in severity of symptoms is expected. A definite correction in childhood is recommended. Otherwise, palliative operation in infancy has a high mortality rate. This paper reported two cases with severe symptoms in infancy; one patient expired at nine months of age, and the other lived beyond one year to receive surgical correction at the age of three. The etiology, clinical features and treatment of absent pulmonary valve syndrome are also discussed.


"... and so, who are you, after all? -I am part of the power which forever wills evil and forever works good."(Goethe's Faust, as used as epigraph to Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita)1Journeys to and from the netherworld are common occurrences in "The Legend of Holiness," Book 1 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. From Archimago awaking Proserpina and Gorgon as he calls out of "deepe darkness dredd / Legions of Sprights" in canto 1 (FQ 1.1.37-38) to Redcrosse reenacting Christ's death and resurrection in the dragon fight of canto 11, the world of the living is in constant contact with the realm of the dead. As has been well-documented in Spenser scholarship, this interaction is fraught with literary echoes. Matthew Pike's Spenser's Underworld in the 1590 Faerie Queene (2003) is just a recent example of scholarship that elaborates on the connections between Spenser's epic and both Christian and classical descents, in particular Christ's harrowing of hell and Aeneas's and Theseus's journeys to the underworld, to name some prominent models.2However, my contribution is neither a study of sources, nor of the historical setting. Instead I am offering a reading of a problematic section of "The Legend of Holiness," the second half of canto 5, in which Duessa meets with Night and then descends into the underworld to "save" Sansjoy (as the Argument to the canto puts it). I shall argue that Duessa's act of salvation is blasphemous and (consequently) ineffectual. The starting point for my reading is a useful suggestion by Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, Patrick Cheney and Michael Schoenfeldt. In the introduction to their excellent collection of articles, Imagining Death in Spenser and Milton, they point out that "Spenser seems attracted to narratives in which characters miraculously survive death" (5). While death is everywhere present in The Faerie Queene, the epic, they argue, is defined rather by "Spenser's notorious dragoness Errour," making the "Spenserian narrative [...] error's thriving terrain, where the finality of death is often deferred indefinitely" (4-5). That certainly seems to be the case in the story at hand. Duessa's attempt to find healing, and thus life, for the dying Sansjoy leaves the Saracen in a limbo: ever recovering from his wounds he is denied closure by never again being mentioned in the epic. A relevant question is whether he is in fact dead or alive. After all, to find healing Duessa does not bring him up from the kingdom of death, but down into hell, a realm from which, as Spenser clearly states, no one "back retourned without heauenly grace" (FQ 1.5.31). The consequences of Bellamy, Cheney and Schoenfeldt's pronouncement that "the finality of death is often deferred indefinitely" seems to be that Errour, for all her power and deviousness, may in fact be biting her own tail (or, to use Spenser's own image, is having her own "scattered brood" suck up her lifeblood [FQ 1.1.25]).Like the powers of evil in both Goethe and Bulgakov, Errour, for all her textual havoc, may in fact be willing evil but working good. The contention of this paper is that Duessa and her "mother" Night, even as they bring linguistic confusion and stage a blasphemous mockimitation of Christ's harrowing of hell, may be suffering the same fate. Blasphemy, like "Errours endlesse traine" (FQ 1.1.18)-which includes both Archimago and Duessa-is "textual" and "linguistic" (Nitisor 70). That linguistic profanation can be felt in the semantic confusion of canto 5, first felt as a threat to the salvific status of Redcrosse, the putative hero of the whole book.The closer one studies canto 5 the stranger it gets. According to the canto's Argument, it seems a straightforward enough story:The four lines of the Argument divide the canto into its two main components: the daytime joust between Redcrosse and Sansjoy that occupies stanzas 1 to 19, and a second nighttime part, stanzas 20 to 44, that describes Duessa attempting to find a cure for Sansjoy, defeated but miraculously protected from Redcrosse's coup de grace by a "darkesome clowd" (FQ 1. …


As an example of the recently introduced concept of rate of innovation, signals that are linear combinations of a finite number of Diracs per unit time can be acquired by linear filtering followed by uniform sampling. However, in reality, samples are rarely noiseless. In this paper, we introduce a novel stochastic algorithm to reconstruct a signal with finite rate of innovation from its noisy samples. Even though variants of this problem have been approached previously, satisfactory solutions are only available for certain classes of sampling kernels, for example, kernels that satisfy the Strang-Fix condition. In this paper, we consider the infinite-support Gaussian kernel, which does not satisfy the Strang-Fix condition. Other classes of kernels can be employed. Our algorithm is based on Gibbs sampling, a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Extensive numerical simulations demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of our algorithm.


I have from time to time talked about cultural differences in electronics in this column, usually focussing on the divide between lower frequency analog design, and microwave techniques at GHz frequencies. This leaves something of a gray area in the middle, which we loosely term RF (this stands for radio frequency, in the unlikely case any readers were unaware of this, but IEEE copy editors insist on spelling abbreviations on first usage). Being a power amplifier (PA, here we go again) specialist I have always been very conscious that PA design is one specific culture conflict that separates and distinguishes techniques in the lower RF region, known as the HF and/or VHF, from those at GHz frequencies.


A detailed study of the difference in reactivity of the copolymerization reactions of styrene oxidevs.propylene oxide with carbon dioxide utilizing binary (salen)cobalt(III) catalyst systems to provide perfectly alternating copolymers is reported. This investigation focuses on the discrepancy exhibited by these two terminal epoxides for the preference for C–O bond cleavage during the ring-opening process. It was found that the nucleophilic ring-opening of styrene oxide occurs predominantly at the methine Cα–O bond which leads to an inversion of configuration at the methine carbon center. This tendency results in a significantly lower reactivity as well as a deterrent for synthesizing stereoregular poly(styrene carbonate) when compared to the propylene oxide/CO2 process. The chiral environment about the metal center had a notable effect on the regioselectivity of the ring-opening step for styrene oxide, with the methylene Cβ–O bond being preferentially cleaved. Using a binary catalyst system composed of an unsymmetrical (S,S,S)-salenCo(III) complex in conjunction with the onium salt PPNY (PPN = bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium, and Y = 2,4-dinitrophenoxy), a highly regioregular ring-opening step was observed with a concomitant 96% retention of configuration at the methine carbon center.


grown on glass, Si, Ti and MgO substrates at tempera tures as low as 200°C by applying an rf power of 10W, although no film was deposited without glow dis charge even at 470°C except on the Ti substrate. As the rf power was increased, the deposition rate increased and attained the maximum value which was more than five times as large as the initial deposition rate, but decreased in applying excessive rf powers. TiO2 crys tals of anatase phase were grown at temperatures low er than those for growth of rutile phase. The tempera ture at which the rutile phase formed depended on the substrate material. Rutile films which were grown on MgO (100) at temperatures above 300°C exhibated high ly [110]-oriented crystal growth. For these films, the surface morphology and the degree of the orientation of polycrystallites in the [110] direction depended on the rf power.


Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of corn in protein supplements fed to cattle receiving low-quality forages. In Trial 1, four ruminally cannulated steers (avg BW 500 kg) and four intact steers (avg BW 270 kg) were used in a replicated latin square to determine intake and digestibility fo a low-quality meadow hay (4.3% CP) when fed no supplement (NS), 1.12 g CP/kg BW (PS), 1.12 g CP/kg BW with corn supplying 1.98 g starch/kg BW (PLC) or 1.12 g CP/kg BW with corn supplying 3.96 g starch/kg BW (PHC). Hay DMI decreased (P = .001) and total diet DMI increased (P = .001) quadratically as supplemental corn increased. Diet DM digestibility increased (P = .004) and forage DM and hemicellulose digestibility decreased (P less than or equal to .018) quadratically as level of corn in the diet increased. In Trial 2, 135 cows received either ear corn (1.16 kg TDN and 127 g CP.hd(-1).d(-1), ear corn plus protein (1.16 kg TDN) and 290 g CP g CP.hd(-1).d(-1) or protein (.72 kg TDN and 290 g CP.hd(-1.d(-1) while grazing native Sandhills winter range for 112 d and while receiving hay (10% CP) during the following 60-d calving period. Cows that received ear corn lost (P less than .001) more weight than cows fed ear corn plus protein supplement, which lost more weight than cows fed only protein supplement (-54, -18 and 6 kg, respectively) during the 112-d winter grazing period. Cows that received ear corn and ear corn plus protein gained more (P less than .001) weight during calving and summer grazing (after supplement wa withdrawn) than protein-supplemented cows. Reproductive performance was not affected (P greater than .705) by treatments.


The work of the market economy in a modern and efficient way depends on the existence of an as large as possible number of competitive enterprises, both on the internal and external market. In order to make a global assessment of the economical and financial performances of the Romanian industrial companies, in this paper we set as a goal to analyze the dynamics of their number, the number of employees, as well as the main result indicators. The analysis is made both on the whole industrial companies and on types of size and this further allows pointing out the sectors with the highest level of the economical and financial performances.


Industrial-academic collaborations are broadly used for the development of new industrial processes. To achieve a strong and deep collaboration in the field of homogeneous catalysis, BASF and the Heidelberg University have been running the Catalysis Research Laboratory together in Heidelberg since 2006. This Perspective highlights the concept of this laboratory and our experiences over the past few years in this joint laboratory. How this collaboration works is explained in more detail using three selected projects: sodium acrylate based on CO2, the selective decomposition of cyclohexyl hydroperoxide to cyclohexanone, and the asymmetric amination of ketones with NH3/H2.


Abstract
Competition between colonies of Aedes (S.) polynesiensis and Aedes albopictus in small cages, a highly artificial environment, results in elimination of A. polynesiensis. In a large walk-in cage, we simulated conditions of the habitat of these mosquitoes. Breeding containers for the larvae consisted of enamel pans, coconut shells, sections of bamboo, and earthenware pots. Adults fed on man and guinea pigs as well as on 10% sucrose solution. After A. polynesiensis increased until about 4,000 adults were emerging per week, 200 male and 200 female A. albopictus were introduced. Total weekly adult production for both species, as determined by counts of pupal skins, remained relatively constant, ranging from about 3,000 to 6,000 per week. As the proportion of A. albopictus increased, that of A. polynesiensis decreased. These proportions were 16.2% and 83.8% on week 17, 75.5% and 24.5% on week 22, and 7.9% and 92.1% on week 41. Samples of blooded adults showed the progressive decline of A. polynesiensis. After 41 weeks, A. polynesiensis had been reduced to about 5% of its maximum density, representing a control of about 95%. The essential factor in replacement of A. polynesiensis by A. albopictus is thought to be the higher reproductive rate of the latter species, which permitted it to monopolize the ecological niche provided by the large cage.


This paper discusses using bricolage to mitigate the struggles faced by progressed learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Most progressed learners perform poorly in many subjects, especially sciences. Their struggle has stimulated the need to find ways to enhance their performance. Reinvented artefacts and processes can be used for emancipation, and to transform agendas for improving the performance of progressed learners. To collect data, we used participatory action research, which uses a thematic approach to make meaning of data. We created a WhatsApp group to enable focus group discussions for collecting data, to circumvent COVID-19 restrictions. The group had 14 members, among whom teachers and learners from rural schools. The study found that the factors that contributed to poor performance were a lack of teaching and learning materials, too few teachers, less than optimal teaching methods and learners' attitudes towards science subjects. The main argument of the article is that, in this time characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic, embracing bricolage has the impetus to mitigate challenges relating to the education of progressed learners. Thus, it is important to emancipate teachers, so that they can bricolise the environment for teaching and learning.


We review theoretical and phenomenological aspects of heavy flavour production as discussed in the heavy flavour working group of the DIS 2012. Recent theoretical progress includes approximate NNLO calculations for heavy quark structure functions in deep inelastic scattering, the extension of the ACOT heavy flavour scheme to jet production, and advances in top physics where the highlight is clearly the first complete NNLO QCD prediction for top pair production in the qq̄ annihilation channel. Furthermore, state of the art phenomenological predictions for open charm and bottom, charmonium, and single top and top pair production are discussed in addition to other topics such as the effect of double parton scattering on heavy quark production. New measurements on charm and beauty production presented in the heavy flavor working group are summarized and discussed in comparison with QCD predictions. Top quark strong and weak couplings as well as top quark properties are being measured with precision at the LHC and the Tevatron. We summarize also recent results on spectroscopy of charmonia, bottomonia and b-hadrons, along with studies of their decays and properties. Searches for physics beyond Standard Model through precise measurements of rare decays of heavy flavours are discussed as well.


Nearly 40% of Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and people with cancer are increasingly turning to the Internet to bolster support and information received from health-care providers. However, little is known about the role of the Internet in patients' interactions with the health-care system. The goals of this study are (1) to qualitatively explore the content of commonly used websites from a holistic nursing perspective, (2) to explore the prompts to use the Internet and how it informs the ways patients utilize and interact with health services, and (3) to document the types of Internet resources and amounts of usage. This study is guided by a constructivist mixed methods design. Interpretive description will guide the overarching qualitative component, including an analysis of data from commonly used websites and interviews with 16 newly diagnosed individuals. Openended interviews will clarify, through exploration, the role of the Internet in participants' health system interactions. A survey of Internet use will add insight and depth about where, when, and how participants use the Internet. All interviews and website data will be analyzed using thematic analysis. Descriptive statistics will illustrate a summary of Internet usage. Triangulation of findings will provide oncology nurses and interdisciplinary team members with insight into how patients' use of the Internet informs their use of health services. Methodologically, this study advances the use of qualitative methods for websites analysis, on which relatively little has been documented.


Co-polymeric hydrogels containing poly (Acrylamide /Epichlorohydrine) P(AAm/EPI) with different acrylamide and Epichlorohydrine content were fabricated by gamma radiation at different irradiation doses as adsorbent materials for wastewater treatment. The mechanisms of radiation-induced crosslinking of hydrogel in aqueous solution has been evaluated. The gel contents and the swelling/diffusion kinetic parameters were evaluated at different irradiation doses, and the result confirm a non-fichian mechanism. The shape, surface morphology, and porosity of P (AAm/ Epi) hydrogel were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Adsorption experiments were carried out for the removal of sulphate and phosphate ions from wastewater using P(AAm/EPI) hydrogels as adsorbent materials. The isotherm data were analyzed by Freundlich equation. The equilibrium isotherm results show a better fitting (R2 > 0.9) to the Freundlich model for all anions. The calculated regeneration efficiency (%) values of sulphate and phosphate ions found to be ranged between 63.2 (%) and 46 (%).The relatively higher regeneration efficiency (%) and keeping the hydrogels its shape without any deformation promising to use the same hydrogels further times which decrease the economic cost.


Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common type of primary glomerulonephritis. It is very important to find new noninvasive biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of IgAN. The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical value of urinary exosomal miRNAs in IgAN. In this study, urinary exosomes were isolated from 29 IgAN patients and 29 healthy controls. The miRNA was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. The expression of hsa-miR-451a and hsa-let-7d-3p was examined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic value of miRNAs was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Here, hsa-miR-451a and hsa-let-7d-3p were upregulated in IgAN patients compared with healthy controls. We evaluated the diagnostic value of hsa-miR-451a and hsa-let-7d-3p using ROC curves; hsa-miR-451a (AUC = 0.805, p = 0.001), hsa-mir-7d-3p (AUC = 0.76, p = 0.0049), and the combination of hsa-miR-451a and hsa-let-7d-3p (AUC = 0.8125, p = 0.0007). Hsa-miR-451a has correlations with Lee's grades (r = 0.511, p = 0.021), and 24-h urinary protein excretion (UPE; r = 0.557, p = 0.011). Hsa-let-7d-3p showed correlations with Lee's grades (r = 0.6, p = 0.005), UPE (r = 0.518, p = 0.019), serum creatinine (r = 0.564, p = 0.01), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (r = -0.532, p = 0.016). According to the Oxford classification, for hsa-miR-451a, S0 had lower levels than S1 (p = 0.016); for hsa-mir-7d-3p, M0 had lower levels than M1 (p = 0.05). These findings suggest that hsa-miR-451a and hsa-let-7d-3p may serve as noninvasive biomarkers for the evaluation of IgAN.


Objective: To investigate the expression of TNF-? and NF-?B in the uterus of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease (CPID) model rats. Methods: 40 female rats that adaptive fed for 5 days were randomly divided into normal group, model group, high dose group, medium dose group and low dose group. In addition to the normal group, the rats in each group were made chronic pelvic inflammatory model by mechanical injury combined with implantation of bacteria. The rats in each group were administrated by gavage for 20 days. After the last administration, the level of TNF-? and NF-?B in serum was measured by ELASA method. Results: (1) after the establishment of the model, the uterus of the chronic pelvic inflammatory model rats showed the pathological damage of chronic inflammation; the levels of TNF - ? and NF-?B in serum were higher than those in the normal group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). (2) After the drug intervention, the uterine tissue morphology of the rats in the Zhuang Yi Liu Fang Teng Fang Group was basically restored to normal, with only a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration and other pathological changes; compared with the rats in the model group, the TNF-? in serum of the rats in each treatment group was lower, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The expression of NF-?B in serum of each treatment group was lower than that of the model group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Zhuang Yi Liu Teng Fang can effectively improve the endometrial histomorphology of CPID model rats, and regulate the levels of TNF-? and NF-? B in the uterus of chronic pelvic inflammatory model rats.


Brain tumors are a severe form of pathologies, that are more common in children and it is associated with hydrocephali. The long term effects of central nervous system therapy for children with brain tumors have been the subject of research since the 1970. Many studies have demonstrated that children treated for brain tumors with surgery and standard radiation therapy have developed intellectual decline which is progressive over at least a decade. Risk factors for the cognitive deterioration have been identified and include: perioperative complications, hydrocephalus, high radiation dose, large volume radiation, chemotherapy (especially methotrexate), vasculopaty and young age at the time of treatment. The purpose of research: Study of surgical treatment applied to children with brain tumors hydrocephalus by implementing and perfecting the surgical treatment. Material and methods: We used data of 2018-2019 period, in the Children Clinical Hospital "V. Ignatenco", of the Republic of Moldova, which shows the structure of morbidity through malign and benign tumors with associated hydrocephalus at prematures population. Results: Since 2018-2019 were diagnosed 13 children. The average age was: 1 child(0,76 %) 0-1 years old, 5 children (38,46 %) 2-5 years old, 2 children (15,38 %) 6-10 years old and 5 children (38,46 %)11-17 years old. From 13 children, 2 children (15,38 %) were inoperable. The incidence was 10 boys (76,92%) and 3 girls (23,07%). There were complications: malign hipertermia, anemia, cranial nerves damages (facial asymmetry, palpebral ptosis), hemiparesis, intraventricular bleeding. Conclusions: The morbidity was common in boys, average age was 2-5 and 11-17 years old. Chidrenswere operated in two ways. There were complications since intraoperatory and postoperatory period.


. In this paper we prove that the collection of all weakly distributive lattice ordered groups is a radical class and that it fails to be a torsion class.


The frequency dependence of the reflection coefficient is studied for the case when a plane wave is incident upon an inhomogeneous slab representing the plasma wavetrain of a special type, which consists of the single-extremum regular and multiextremum multiscale irregular parts. A band-limited fractal function is invoked to model the irregular part of the permittivity profile that describes the multiscale inhomogeneities. A first-order nonlinear differential equation of the Riccati type is used for calculations. The obtained results demonstrate the effect of the parameters of the fractal function on the frequency-dependent reflection coefficient.


Introduction: This article discusses the problem of the realization of the idea of future teachers` lifelong education in modern sociocultural space.Methods: The research methodology includes hermeneutic, systemic, comparative methods.Results: The idea of lifelong education will be successfully realized subject to a number of conditions: orientation to the philosophical training of future teachers, the quest for a dialogue of cultures, a harmonious coexistence of confessions, the formation of information culture and successful informational socialization of the younger generation.Conclusion: The formation of a lifelong education system is an adequate response to a society of changes. The mission of modern education is to train teachers capable of realizing this idea. Compliance with the conditions analyzed in this article will allow the harmonious introduction of lifelong learning into the people's everyday life.


To study endothelin receptor subtypes that mediate venous smooth muscle contraction, effects of some endothelin receptor agonists and antagonists on the rabbit lateral saphenous vein were examined and compared with those on the saphenous artery. In the artery, endothelin (ET)-1 elicited concentration-dependent contractions, while selective ETB-receptor agonists, IRL1620 (Suc-[Glu9,Ala11,15]ET-1(8-21)) and sarafotoxin 6c (S6c) had almost no effect. The ET-1-induced responses shifted in parallel to the right by BQ-123 (cyclo (-D-Trp-D-Asp-Pro-D-Val-Leu-)), an ETA-receptor antagonist, or PD142893 (Ac-D-Dip-Leu-Asp-Ile-Ile-Trp), an ETA/ETB-receptor antagonist, indicating the involvement of the ETA receptor in this response. In the saphenous vein, not only ET-1 and ET-3, but also ETB-receptor agonists, IRL1620, S6c and [Glu9]sarafotoxin 6b ([Glu9]S6b), produced concentration-dependent, BQ-123-insensitive contractions. PD142893 did not affect the ET-1-induced contraction, but it shifted greatly the IRL1620-induced concentration-response curve in parallel to the right. The major components of ET-3-, S6c- and [Glu9]S6b-induced contractions were resistant to PD142893. These results indicate that two different vasoconstrictive ETB-receptor subtypes, ETB1 (sensitive to IRL1620 and PD142893) and ETB2 (insensitive to IRL1620 and PD142893), are located on the smooth muscle of the saphenous vein.


Intra-articular (IA) hyaluronic acid (HA) is commonly used to treat equine arthritis. Inflammatory response or "joint flare" is a recognized potential side effect. However, the incidence and severity of inflammation following IA HA injection in horses is not well documented. This study compared the effects of two IA HA formulations of different molecular weight (MW) and a saline control on clinical signs and synovial fluid markers of inflammation in normal equine joints. Eight adult horses each had three healthy fetlock joints randomly assigned to treatment with either 1.4 mega Dalton HA, 0.8 mega Dalton HA or saline control once weekly for three weeks. Clinical evaluation and synovial fluid analysis were performed by blinded assessors. Outcomes of interest were lameness score, joint effusion score and synovial fluid white cell count and differential, total protein, viscosity and serum amyloid A. Joints injected with HA developed significant mild-to-moderate inflammatory responses often associated with lameness and joint effusion compared with saline control joints. The higher MW HA formulation elicited a significantly greater inflammatory response than the lower MW HA after the first injection. In HA injected joints, viscosity remained poor for the entire study. Both IA HA formulations in this study induced an inflammatory response in healthy equine joints. This may have implications for the use of HA in equine joints. The findings in this study are limited to the two HA formulations used. Further investigation of different HA formulations and the use of HA in normal and arthritic equine joints is warranted.


This paper investigates the impact of exchange rate levels and its volatility on Foreign Direct Investment in India using quarterly data for the period 1996:2 to 2010:1. The study employed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to examine the long-run and short-run relationship. Both conditional variance and other measures of volatility have been used to generate exchange rate volatility. The study also considered factors that motivate the foreign investors' decision to invest in India. The results indicated that exchange rate volatility deters FDI in India, suggesting that flexible but stable exchange rate system may be needed to successfully attract FDI inflows in India.


In his 2012 book On Global Justice, Mathias Risse makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on theories of global justice. In this paper, I offer a critique of the fourth and final part of the book, entitled "Global Justice and Institutions," which deals with the standing of the state within the pluralist internationalism defended by the author. My focus here is on the justification of the state system and the discussion on utopian ideals. I agree with Risse that the state remains the inescapable political structure that any serious theory of global justice must internalize within its conceptual framework. However, I differ from Risse's approach in that I place greater emphasis on the historical contingency of the state system, including how prescriptions of global justice reflect historical contingencies stemming from globalization. From this point of view, pluralist internationalism should then be understood as a conceptual paradigm that mirrors its own historical contingency as embedded in our current world order. This recognition of the historical contingency of the state system serves two important purposes. One, it is a bulwark against any tendency to discredit too quickly the philosophical and practical relevance of ideal theory. Two, it buttresses the stance that we might still have the moral duty to pursue the goal of global justice beyond pluralist internationalism.


he values of confidentiality and transparency are often invoked in the theory and practice of investment treaty arbitration. Transparency is considered to be one of the key aspects of good governance and corporate social responsibility. It includes the obligation of the host state to publish all the legal rules, regulations and other statutory requirements affecting investors. Confidentiality is considered the hallmark and unique feature of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. However, it is difficult to balance these two values, in principle due to the difference in the various investment arbitration cases, as well as the high degree of public interest involved in such proceedings. The competing interests between transparency and confidentiality have significantly increased in the recent past, and the difficulty lies in drawing a medial line between them. There is also debate as to what extent non-disputing parties are allowed to participate in investment arbitration, and what the essential requirements are to admit them.It is in this connection that this article makes an in-depth analysis of how investment arbitration frameworks have approached the questions of transparency, confidentiality and amicus curiae participation over the years. The article assesses and explores similar issues within the International Convention on the settlement of investment disputes between States and nationals of other States, 1965 (ICSID), the North American Free Trade Agreement, 1994 (NAFTA) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules, 1978. The study also makes a critical analysis of celebrated cases falling within each category. The article further elaborates the transparency requirements in the U.S. Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), 2012, and the recently adopted Indian Model BIT, 2015. The study is very significant because the United Nations has recently adopted the Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based InvestorState Arbitration, 2014 (Mauritius Convention), which ensures transparency and public accessibility to investor-state arbitration.


First principles calculations based on many-electron perturbation theory methods, such as the \textit{ab initio} GW and GW plus Bethe-Salpeter equation (GW-BSE) approach, are reliable ways to predict quasiparticle and optical properties of materials, respectively. However, these methods involve more care in treating the electron-electron interaction and are considerably more computationally demanding when applied to systems with reduced dimensionality, since the electronic confinement leads a slower convergence of sums over the Brillouin zone due to a much more complicated screening environment that manifests in the "head" and "neck" elements of the dielectric matrix. Here, we present two new schemes to sample the Brillouin zone for GW and GW-BSE calculations: the non-uniform neck subsampling method and the clustered sampling interpolation method, which can respectively be used for a family of single-particle problems, such as GW calculations, and for problems involving the scattering of two-particle states, such as when solving the BSE. We tested these methods on several few-layer semiconductors and graphene and show that they perform a much more efficient sampling of the Brillouin zone and yield two to three orders of magnitude reduction in the computer time. These two methods can be readily incorporated into several \textit{ab initio} packages that compute electronic and optical properties through the GW and GW-BSE approaches.


The segmentation of nanoscale electron microscopy (EM) images is crucial but challenging in connectomics. Recent advances in deep learning have demonstrated the significant potential of automatic segmentation for tera-scale EM images. However, none of the existing segmentation methods are error-free, and they require proofreading, which is typically implemented as an interactive, semi-automatic process via manual intervention. Herein, we propose a fully automatic proofreading method based on reinforcement learning. The main idea is to model the human decision process in proofreading using a reinforcement agent to achieve fully automatic proofreading. We systematically design the proposed system by combining multiple reinforcement learning agents in a hierarchical manner, where each agent focuses only on a specific task while preserving dependency between agents. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that the episodic task setting of reinforcement learning can efficiently manage a combination of merge and split errors concurrently presented in the input. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system by comparing it with state-of-the-art proofreading methods using various testing examples.


Cognitive radio is a promising technology aiming to solve the spectrum scarcity problem by allocating the spectrum dynamically to unlicensed users. It uses the free spectrum bands which are not being used by the licensed users without causing interference to the incumbent transmission..Cognitive Radio networks are vulnerable to selfish attacks, where secondary users increase their accessing probability to enhance their own utilities, resulting in serious performance degradation in CR networks. The proposed work identifies a new selfish attack Channel pre-occupation selfish attack in cognitive radio networks. In selfish attack, a selfish SU broadcasts faked channel allocation information to other neighboring SUs in order to occupy all or a part of the available channels. The proposed work provides selfish cognitive radio attack detection technique, called COOPON, which will detect the attacks of selfish Secondary Users by the cooperation of other legitmate neighboring SUs .


Background In recent years, ultrasound (US)-guided injections are commonly used for the management of rheumatic diseases, probably because a better outcome and safer profile is presumed due to higher anatomic accuracy. To our knowledge, it has never been critically evaluated. Objectives To assess the efficacy and safety of US-guided injections in patients with inflammatory arthritis. Methods A systematic literature search was performed in Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane library from 1950 to May 2012, and also a hand search on references of the included studies. Search was limited to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritis (SpA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Only controlled intervention studies using palpation-guided injection, injection guided by other imaging techniques, or placebo as the control group, were included. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for intervention studies was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Results From a total of 945 identified references, only 5 papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were selected. All were randomised controlled trials including a total of 702 adult patients with RA [1] or mixed populations (RA and PsA [2,3] or RA and osteoarthritis [4,5]). Risk of bias was considered low to moderate. The study intervention was US-guided injections of glucocorticoid plus lidocaine versus palpation-guide injections in patients with active synovitis in all included studies. Pain was the main outcome assessed, which differing results: two studies with good quality [1,2] noted no differences between techniques, whereas three studies [3-5] showed significant pain improvement with US-guided injections, but with a moderate risk of bias. Function and stiffness were assessed in two studies [1,2], with no significant differences. Accuracy was higher overall for US-guided injections (83% vs 66%, p=0.01) in one study [2], but not in wrists (90% vs 90%, p=1.00) in other study [1]. No safety evaluation was done in included studies. No studies focused on enthesitis or tenosynovitis, or enrolling patients with SpA or JIA, were identified. Conclusions Despite the extensive use in clinical practice, superiority of US-guided injections over palpation remains controversial in patients with RA, whereas no evidence for SpA or JIA was found. Accordingly, further studies are warranted. References Luz. Ann Rheum Dis 2008; 67:1198. Cunnington. Arthritis Rheum 2010; 62:1862. Sibbitt. J Rheumatol 2011; 38:252. Sibbitt. J Rheumatol 2009; 36:1892. Sibbitt, Jr. Scand J Rheumatol 2012; 41:66. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


A simple optoelectronic architecture for carrying out optical thresholding operations is proposed. The architecture is suitable for optical neural network implementations and for image processing. The module is based on liquid-crystal television, on a CCD camera, and on beam-sampling optical components. The module does not need an additional light source, shows translation invariance, and does not break the beam propagation path. Experimental results involving images and correlations are presented. Finally, an architecture for an automatic winner-take-all extractor for neural network architectures is proposed.


Abstract Professional isolation is a perennial problem among academics, but it is especially common among traditionally underrepresented students who lack the social networks that could provide them support. One way to forge stronger social networks among traditionally underrepresented students is through peer mentorship. Underrepresented graduate students often serve as mentors to underrepresented undergraduate students. Senior underrepresented graduate students in turn provide mentorship to their more junior counterparts. The forms of peer mentorship provided are invaluable because they have experience overcoming many of the same challenges as their less experienced counterparts. In this reflection essay we, a group of graduate students from traditionally underrepresented communities, draw on our lived experiences to discuss how professional isolation among underrepresented students can be overcome by participating in peer mentorship programs.


Atypical facial expression is one of the early symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characterized by reduced regularity and lack of coordination of facial movements. Automatic quantification of these behaviors can offer novel biomarkers for screening, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring of ASD. In this work, 40 toddlers with ASD and 396 typically developing toddlers were shown developmentally-appropriate and engaging movies presented on a smart tablet during a well-child pediatric visit. The movies consisted of social and non-social dynamic scenes designed to evoke certain behavioral and affective responses. The front-facing camera of the tablet was used to capture the toddlers' face. Facial landmarks' dynamics were then automatically computed using computer vision algorithms. Subsequently, the complexity of the landmarks' dynamics was estimated for the eyebrows and mouth regions using multiscale entropy. Compared to typically developing toddlers, toddlers with ASD showed higher complexity (i.e., less predictability) in these landmarks' dynamics. This complexity in facial dynamics contained novel information not captured by traditional facial affect analyses. These results suggest that computer vision analysis of facial landmark movements is a promising approach for detecting and quantifying early behavioral symptoms associated with ASD.


This study adopts a participatory visual mapping methodology to capture young children's interactions with, and comprehension of the visual mode in their familiar environments. Adopting a social semiotics theoretical framework, this study is designed around two main aims: firstly, to explore the ways young children conceptualise images in their environment and secondly to identify how visual mapping, as a methodological approach, can be used to capture young children's comprehension of, and interactions with the visual mode.

The group of 4 to 5-year-old children involved in the study, are posed as social and active meaning makers with a variety of multimodal engagements, incorporating the visual mode. As communicative practices are argued to be understood in context with surrounding cultural and social practices, the data for this study were collected in three key locations seen as familiar to the children involved: the home environment, Early Years setting, and a community leisure centre. In each setting the children captured examples of the visual mode through digital photography, before creating two dimensional maps of their setting with the printed images. Conversations between the researcher and child were recorded and transcribed, to draw out the meanings expressed by the children. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes.

The mapping technique enabled the children to be positioned as both message creators, through the production of their visual maps, and message receivers as they sought to make meaning of the multimodal texts they encountered within their environment. The use of a mapping activity supported identification of the children's knowledge of the codes and conventions of the visual mode which may not so easily be put into words. The study revealed that, for children, the context and location of images are important, with the presence of images and artefacts enabling familiarity with a place. Furthermore, movement was identified as an intrinsic part of their multimodal engagements.

This study contributes to the developing body of participatory visual research methods. The use of mapped representations allowed children's perceptions of the spatial and embodied aspects of meaning making to be foregrounded. It is now imperative that these perceptions are recognised and supported within the Early Years setting in order to create an environment which not only reflects children's prior experiences but the shifting communication practices of modern society.


Abstract Context. Pindone is used to control rabbits in Australia and New Zealand, but the secondary non-target risks presented by pindone-poisoned rabbits are poorly known. Aims. We aimed to generate new data on residual concentrations of pindone in poisoned rabbits for use in a review of the secondary poisoning risks posed to non-target animals in New Zealand. Methods. Laboratory rabbits were offered pellet bait containing 0.25 g kg–1 pindone in three trials to simulate a range of bait uptake scenarios: single exposure and low or high chronic exposure. Residual pindone concentrations measured in body tissues of laboratory rabbits that had ingested known exposures of pindone were compared with those in wild rabbit carcasses collected after three pindone-baiting operations. Residues in the faeces of some laboratory rabbits were also measured. Key results. Highest concentrations of pindone residues were in the liver and fat tissue of poisoned rabbits, with consistently lower concentrations in muscle tissue. A dose–response relationship between pindone exposure and liver residue concentrations was found only at the highest chronic exposures. Rabbit carcasses collected after field-baiting operations had generally higher pindone residue concentrations than did laboratory rabbits that had ingested known lethal amounts of bait. Unmetabolised pindone was excreted in rabbit faeces. Conclusions. The occurrence of the highest residual pindone concentrations in rabbit liver was consistent with the known tissue distribution of anticoagulants in mammals; however, the co-occurrence of similar-range pindone concentrations in rabbit fat has not been previously described. Re-ingestion of soft faecal pellets (caecotrophy) in rabbits that have eaten pindone bait may function as a secondary exposure to increase or prolong their oral exposure to pindone. Some rabbits poisoned following field pindone-baiting operations are likely to have consumed well in excess of a lethal amount of bait. Implications. Concentrations of residual pindone in fat and liver of poisoned rabbits suggest that secondary poisoning hazard to some non-target predators and scavengers is high. The lack of field-based assessments of the non-target impacts of pindone is a marked information gap that needs to be addressed.


It is well known that the spectrum of the aurora is characterised by two outstanding features, the first of which is a set of bands with heads at or near λ = 3914 A, λ = 4278 A, and λ = 4708 A. The second is a strong narrow sharply-defined line close to λ = 5577 A. As to the bands, Lord Rayleigh, Dr. Slipher, Prof. Vegard and others have shown them to be identical with the so-called "negative" bands obtained with molecular nitrogen in the singlyionised state. Nitrogen in this state must, therefore, be one of the main constituents of that portion of the upper atmosphere in which auroral displays occur. As to the line λ = 5577 A, it is the strongest constituent of the spectrum of the aurora. Lord Rayleigh, Dr. Slipher, Dr. Babcock and others have shown that it can be obtained as well in the spectrum of the light of the night sky. In 1923 Dr. Babcock made an accurate determination of its wave-length with a Fabry and Perot interferometer and found it to be 5577·350 ± 0·005 I. A.


This paper presents a tool for automatic layout of bidimensional processor arrays. The general topology of such structures consists of a processor cells array and interconnections restricted to nearest neighbors. Automatic layout of such structures can be viewed as processor cells tiling with regular routing between cells. The Madmacs design system is proposed as a tool to generate such structures. Madmacs is a complete graphics layout editor that features logical and coordinate free cursor movements. Furthermore, Madmacs provides a classical but interactive macro-command mechanism. This mechanism is particularly efficient for repetitive tasks like tiling and regular routing. Finally, Madmacs is tightly coupled to a Lisp interpreter. Each Madmacs command has a functional form in the LISP language. As the interpreter evaluates an editor command function, it calls Madmacs which executes the associated command. The LISP language is also available to develop the skeleton of generators. With Madmacs coordinate free cursor movements, the designer is not concerned with the exact sizes of the manipulated objects and so can develop re-usable code. Finally, a macro command can be saved as a new LISP function, and incorporated into a generator. The combined language and interactive approach allows one to obtain fast definitions of generators.


Aims: This paper presents the context, methodologies and findings of a research project commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government to evaluate school counselling and services available to children and young people in the UK and to make recommendations for future service development in Wales. Method: The study adopted three research methods: desk research (a literature review), a quantitative survey, and qualitative fieldwork. The survey included a sample of primary and secondary schools in Wales, as well as local authorities. Fieldwork included interviews with teachers, counsellors, parents, and children. Findings: Evidence-based recommendations for counselling service provision in schools in Wales were developed, which now inform the Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) National Strategy for counselling in schools in Wales (2008).


In order to meet the complicated requirements of jewelry enterprise resource management, the paper designed and implemented a distributed management information system. The system adopts a dynamic strategy to handle enterprise resources sharing both horizontally and vertically, including querying, adding, deleting and modifying jewelry information, gathering statistics information, scheduling production plan. The consistency and accuracy of enterprise data are guaranteed by means of centralizing basic data and information. Web application development technology based on Java is used, and the key techniques mainly include adding information dynamically, distributed computing, and real-time information analysis, etc. Data processing mainly uses the Java Persistence API.


This paper presents a 60-GHz high-gain, low-power, 3.7-dB noise-figure (NF), CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated with a 90-nm process. The CMOS LNA exhibited a two-stage cascode structure with a common-source buffer amplifier. To achieve a lower NF and to prevent poor linearity, an inter-stage noise matching inductor and a derivative superposition method were applied to the LNA design. A thin-film microstrip (TFMS) line was used for matching networks and all interconnections. The TFMS line consists of a top metal layer (M9) serving as the signal microstrip line and a bottom metal layer (M1) serving as the ground plane. The measurement results showed that the proposed LNA exhibited the best gain performance of 22 dB at 57.3 GHz and a minimum NF of 3.7 dB at 61 GHz. The input third-order intercept point was -13 dBm. Further, the proposed LNA dissipated a total power of 13.5 mW from a 1.5 V power supply.


FTU (feeder terminal unit) is an important device of distribution automation system, always working in bad environment. Its power dissipation and related thermal issues affect the lifetime of circuit component. When blackout in power grid comes forth, FTU will be working normally powered by the battery. Reducing the power of FTU can increase the normally working time and then increase the power grid's reliability. Traditionally, studies on energy reduction techniques of FTU have been conducted in the circuit design. Based on these previous studies, a system level low power static real-time scheduling algorithm of mixed tasks is proposed for FTU in this paper. The simulation experiment shows that this algorithm can decrease the FTU power consumption effectively


Restraint temperature and shrinkage strains are one of the major reasons for cracking of reinforced concrete. Cracking of concrete reduces structural integrity, initiates or accelerates deterioration mechanisms, causes serviceability problems and may raise aesthetical concerns. Particularly for liquid retaining structures, cracks are vital for structural functionality. Measures must be take to prevent or control crack. In most cases, it may not be feasible to prevent crack formation, but crack width can be controlled by providing sufficient amount of reinforcement. Design guides provide limited information on adequate reinforcement design for temperature and shrinkage cracks in reinforced concrete structures. The Finite Element Method(FEM) was used in order to investigate the crack risk, magnitude of crack width, and adequate reinforcement ratio for controlling cracks within the design specifications. In order to find the thermal and shrinkage strains effect during early ages, computer simulations was performed for hardening concrete. Using the computer program ABAQUS/6.4, incremental numerical analysis technique was implemented that provided realistic simulation of stress/strain history. Considering an appropriate value for thermal and shrinkage strains, a parametric study was carried out to estimate the reinforcement ratio for fixed base walls. The crack width was estimated based on the calculated steel stress and the ACI 318-02 crack prediction equation. With consideration of ACI 350-01 specification for allowable crack width, the required amount of reinforcement ratio for various wall dimensions was recommended.


Sterilizations by vasectomy are being performed more frequently these days. The financial reason is given most often. Men should not choose a vasectomy without weighing the future possibilities of divorce and remarriage or the loss by death of one or more child. The doctor should not hold out the hope of reversibility of the operation. An operation to reverse the bilateral vasectomy is described which used a milliners needle as a splint. After the severed ends of the vas were joined with fine silk thread the point of the needle was pushed through the wall of the vas diagonally and removed. Up to 2 years after surgery the sperm count is normal. The author hopes it will stimulate others to try and improve procedures for reversing vasectomy.


During the period 2016-2017, in order to improve the soil fertility and the quality of the fruit production in the RIMSA Troyan, a nourishing conventional and organic fertilizer was applied to the plum plantation with 'Stanley' cultivar. The impact of the applied fertilizers and the drying process on the quality characteristics of the plums was determined. It was found that plums in the organic chicken manure fertilization variant had the highest sensory evaluation and high quantitative values on the colour indicators, such as brightness, red and yellow colour tone. After the drying process, it was found through a heat pump dryer that the applied temperature regime t = 43 ± 2°С and φ = 10%, had an impact on the quantitative values of fruit colour. In the case of dried fruits from bio fertilization, the red and yellow components of the colour increased, and for all other fruits from the variants, including the control, they decreased significantly. Dried fruits from conventional fertilization had the highest sensory score, while dried fruits from bio fertilization had the lowest.


A tool is used for knowledge engineers for building and interpreting a knowledge base having separate portions encoding control knowledge, factual knowledge, and judgmental rules. The tool has an inference engine applying the judgmental rules according to a built-in control procedure defining discrete states or control steps during a consultation with a user. The control knowledge is encoded in an applicative and imperative language defining control actions to be executed during interruption of the built-in control procedure at specified control steps. Since the control knowledge is explicit and results in the modification of data only in a precisely defined fashion, the tool can be used to build knowledge systems that can always explain their conclusions and reasoning, and that are intelligible and modifiable. To provide transparent representation of control knowledge as well as factual knowledge, the knowledge base is preferably organized into distinct frames which include the rules; control blocks separately encoding the control knowledge; and classes which become instantiated, attributes which take on values describing the class instances, class types, legal value hierarchies, and user-defined functions, which all encode factual knowledge. The knowledge engineer may provide control blocks to be executed at the start of the consultation, after the instantiation of specified classes, when a value for a specified attribute is to be determined, after a specified attribute is determined, and upon explicit invocation by another control block. The tool can also implicitly determine subsumed attributes.


This study was conducted with split-split plots experimental design based on four replications in the ecological  conditions of Yalova in the area of Ataturk Central Horticultural Research Institute in growing seasons of 2008-2009  and 2010-2011.  In the study three chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) cultivars (Bona, Bodegold and Zloty Lan) and a genotype,  which was collected from the flora of Yalova Province, were used as material. There were four cultivars/genotypes,  three sowing time (early November, early October, end of October) and four rows spacing (15 cm, 30 cm, 45 cm, 60  cm). Sowing times were constructed to main plots, cultivars/genotypes to sub plots and row spacing to sub-sub plots.  The highest gross profit was calculated as 8818.33 € ha-1 in first time of Zloty Lan cultivar at 15 cm row spacing. Although  the Yalova genotype has the lowest cost, the gross profit among the cultivars/genotypes has been the lowest genotype.


A software requirements specification (SRS) contains all the requirements for a system-to-be. These are typically separated into functional requirements (FR), which describe the features of the system under development, and the non-functional requirements (NFR), which include quality attributes, design constraints, among others. It is well known that NFRs have a large impact on the overall cost and time of the system development process, as they frequently describe cross-cutting concerns. In order to improve software development support, an automated analysis of SRS documents for different NFR types is required. Our work contains two significant contributions towards this goal: (1) A new gold standard corpus containing annotations for different NFR types, based on a requirements ontology, and (2) a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to automatically categorize requirements sentences into different ontology classes. Results obtained from two different SRS corpora demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


This article examines patterns of methadone maintenance treatment entry among 9018 adult women injection drug users (IDUs), with special attention to parental-status differences. The data originate from a statewide drug-treatment database covering all women IDUs who entered drug treatment in the State of Massachusetts over a four-year period. Through the use of logistic regression analysis, the study found that among these women IDUs, those who resided with their children were significantly more likely to enter methadone maintenance than women who were mothers but did not reside with their children. Mothers residing with their children were 73% more likely to enter methadone maintenance than mothers who do not reside with their children. The authors discuss specific programmatic and policy implications including the need to determine whether methadone maintenance should be promoted as an alternative drug treatment option in order to preserve family unification or promote family reunification.


In architectural literature, researchers argue that there are many factors that affect architecture. Culture, local materials, climate, socio-economic conditions, and topography are the most influential factors in the formation of the architecture of a region. The climate of the place is one of the most important factors in the construction of the built environment for communities throughout history. In a certain region, the living spaces that receive the original form with the influence of the climate and the cultures influence the daily lives of the people living there over time and change the way of life. In this context, it can be said that there is an interaction between traditional architecture, climate and culture.Gaziantep is an important city in the south-east of Turkey. Gaziantep is located to the north of Mesopotamia where the first civilizations originated and settled. And has hosted many civilizations that have been important trade centers throughout history. Throughout history, housing areas within and around the castle have been included in the city. The city is characterized by an urban texture suitable for hot and arid climatic conditions. In Gaziantep, houses are built around a courtyard completely separated from the street, in accordance with the Mesopotamian tradition. Traditional Gaziantep residences which lined up around narrow streets stand out with its materials, building elements and unique details.The aim of this study is to reveal the construction techniques, ecological design principles of the houses which produced by Greek, Turkish and Armenian masters in accordance with the warm climate conditions and to discuss its applicability today. In this context, the traditional Gaziantep dwellings have been evaluated with six criteria for the ecological evaluation of traditional houses and the use of the obtained data in a new design. These are Settlement Texture and Streets, Building Form and Orientation, Spatial organization, Construction System and Materials, Physical Properties of Building Façade. In addition to the stone materials used in Gaziantep houses, building elements such as courtyard, water element, bird windows have positive effects on the building biology, and some of the findings that have ecological advantages of vine-like plants and gardening. In the conclusion of the study, an ecological and environmentally compatible project experiment was carried out which carried the findings and the basic principles of the traditional architecture.


ABSTRACT After the military coup of 2014, 143 serving and retired generals of the Royal Armed Thai Forces submitted asset declarations to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on being appointed to the military junta's National Legislative Assembly. By analysing these declarations, this article demonstrates that a cohort of wealthy generals has emerged, which leads to the article's central concern: how is it that despite the political reform project of the 1990s, military leaders were able to evade scrutiny and become wealthy? It is argued that behind the lack of scrutiny of the military's wealth accumulation was a structure of fear that severely undermined the capacity to enforce regulations and which enabled the military to evade the constitutional forms of scrutiny elaborated in the 1997 Constitution. That structure of fear emerged in a context of an elusive political settlement when the apparatuses of the state were occupied by competing regime framers, leading to a re-assertion of military power.


Spatial data by using public knowledge is the most popular way to gather data in terms of social media within the last decade. Literature defines, public or volunteers are accepted bionic sensors detecting their surroundings and share what they detect in terms of their social media applications or microblogs. Besides being cheapest and fastest and easy way of spatial data acquisition, public or volunteers provides not only spatial data but also attribute data which makes the data more valuable. To understand and interpret those data have some difficulties according to locality. Although some difficulties like difference of languages, society structure and the time period would affect tweets depending on locality, gathering public knowledge or volunteered data contribute many scientific or private researches like Urban, Environmental, and Market side. To extract information, data should be reviewed locally according to main aim of research. In this study, our aim is to draw a perspective for a PhD research about volunteered data in the case of Turkey.


Objective Neuroimaging studies have associated Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with altered brain anatomy. However, small and heterogeneous study samples, and the use of region-of-interest and tissue-specific analyses have limited the consistency and replicability of these effects. The present study uses a fully data-driven multivariate approach to investigate alterations in both gray and white matter simultaneously, and capture neuroanatomical features associated with ADHD in two large, independent, demographically different cohorts. Methods The study comprised two ADHD cohorts with structural magnetic resonance imaging data: the Dutch NeuroIMAGE cohort (n=890, average age 17.2 years, discovery sample) and the Brazilian IMpACT cohort (n=180, average age 44.2 years, cross validation sample). Using independent component analysis of whole-brain morphometry images in the NeuroIMAGE cohort, 375 independent components of neuroanatomical variations were extracted and assessed their association with ADHD. Afterwards, ADHD-associated components were cross validated in the Brazilian IMpACT cohort. Results In both discovery (corrected- p=0.020) and validation (p=0.033) cohorts, ADHD diagnosis was significantly associated with reduced brain volume in a component mapping to frontal lobes, striatum, and their interconnecting white-matter tracts. The most pronounced case-control differences were localized in white matter adjacent to the orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusion Independent component analysis is a sensitive approach to uncover neuroanatomical alterations in ADHD and avoid bias attributable to a priori region-of-interest based methods. Current results provide further evidence for the role of the fronto-striatal circuit in ADHD. The fact that the two cohorts are from different continents and comprising different age ranges highlights the robustness of the findings.


In 1992, a paper was compiled highlighting a common-sense approach to electric smelting at Impala Platinum. Since then, the smelter complex has undergone considerable changes. Mineral economics, UG2 exploitation, and changing environmental legislation have enforced numerous process upgrades, yet a common-sense approach has always been adopted. This document details the major changes in the smelter complex at Mineral Processes (Minpro) over the past 15 years, and provides the rationale for the changes. Keywords: Pyrometallurgy, furnace, PGM, platinum, nickel, copper, electric smelting, six-in-line, Peirce-Smith, Impala Platinum.


Experimental data from spacecraft providing impact penetration rates and cratering for metallic targets is reviewed. Data includes NASA Explorers 16 and 23 and the Pegasus series, the second US-UK satellite Ariel 2, Space Shuttle STS-3 (MFE), recovered surfaces on Solar Max Satellite, The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and EuReCa TiCCE. Factors concerning exposure to the environment are considered and, especially, material properties which affect the penetration resistance. Reference to a common material, Aluminum alloy 2024-T3, is effected and the data then compared to define firstly an average impact flux over the period. The data is examined, in the context of possible satellite and space debris growth rates, to determine the constancy of the flux. This also provides strong constraints on the current space debris component. It is found that the impact data are consistent with domination by natural meteoroid sources. Growth rates are not evident within the period 1980-1990 and Eureca TiCCE fluxes in 1993, for particles penetrating foils of around 10 microns thickness, supports the constancy of the flux. At larger dimensions the 1993 Eureca TiCCE fluxes show an 8-fold increase but this is considered not inconsistent with the selective exposure to meteoroid streams of a satellite stabilized in heliocentric co-ordinates for an 11 month period.


The development of multidimensional mathematical demography and its application to the analysis of such changes in life status as marriage, occupation, and migration is discussed. "This article presents an overview of the methods and models specific to this new branch. It stresses (1) their relationship with the methods and models of classical mathematical demography, (2) their field of application, (3) their elaboration, and (4) a few methodological and empirical questions raised by their use." (summary in ENG, SPA)


This paper tests Bienenfeld's polynomial approximation of production prices using data from ten symmetric input-output tables of five European economies. The empirical results show that the quadratic formula works extremely well and its accuracy is connected to the actual distribution of the eigenvalues of the matrices of vertically integrated technical coefficients.


In this paper, we introduce DRCD (Delta Reading Comprehension Dataset), an open domain traditional Chinese machine reading comprehension (MRC) dataset. This dataset aimed to be a standard Chinese machine reading comprehension dataset, which can be a source dataset in transfer learning. The dataset contains 10,014 paragraphs from 2,108 Wikipedia articles and 30,000+ questions generated by annotators. We build a baseline model that achieves an F1 score of 89.59%. F1 score of Human performance is 93.30%.


The adaptive optics system at the 3.6-m AEOS telescope was used to measure the astrometry and differential magnitude in I band of 56 binary stars in 2002. The astrometric measurements will be of use for future orbital determination, and the photometric measurements will be of use in estimating the spectral types of the component stars. Two candidate companions were detected, but neither is likely to be gravitationally bound. Nine systems had not been observed in over 40 yr. Eight of these are shown to share common proper motion, while HD 182352 is shown to be a background star. One of the two components of the HD 114378 (α Com) is shown to be a variable star of unknown type. In addition, 86 stars were unresolved and the full width at half-maximum of the images are presented.


To determine and compare overweight and obesity by two anthropometric criteria, BMI and %Fat, of adults aged 20 to 40 years old. Data were collected from 400 subjects enrolled on distinct exercise training programs in Curitiba, Parana. Subjects were organized in 4 age groups from age 20 to 40 years old. BMI and %Fat overweight and obesity criteria were those of WHO (2000) and Lohman (1992), respectively. For such, weight, stature and fours skin folds (triceps, subescapula, iliac crest and medial calf) data were collected. The excess of body weight prevalence was significantly higher (p<0.05) for %Fat (66.2%) than for BMI (45.6%) of which 53.2% were overweight and 13% obese. For BMI, the prevalence of overweight and obesity were, respectively, 36.3% and 9.3%. Accordingly to the %Fat diagnostic, a subject between ages 35-39 years old has a 300% and 45% chance of being classified as obese and overweight, respectively, than a subject aged from 20-24 years old. Likewise, for BMI, a subject has a 46% chance of being classified as overweight at the age 30-34 years old than a subject between ages 20-24 years old. This study found a prevalence of excess body weight for one out of three at the moment of enrollment. The risk of obesity, as excess of body weight, can better be identified by %F than BMI.


FeNb₁₁O₂₉(m), FeNb₁₁O₂₉(o) and two mixed oxides with the composition limits FeNb₂₉O₇₄ and TiNb₁₄O₃₇ were prepared by chemical transport. The crystal structures of the compounds have been examined by two-dimensional high resolution electron-microscopy. They are composed of 'blocks' of (n × 3) corner shared octahedra and belong to a series of structure related compounds with the general formula Me₃ₙO₈ₙ₋₃. Crystallographic defects and the thermic behavior of the materials are discussed.


One common fundraising strategy used by nonprofit organizations is providing information to persuade potential donors. We theoretically and empirically analyze how information affects people's willingness to donate. Our theory suggests when people have different initial beliefs, new information leads to polarization through their understanding and rationalization of social norms. We provide empirical support using an online experiment, demonstrating that environmental and public health information leads to polarization in deforestation prevention donations. Being exposed to information opposite of individuals' existing beliefs reinforces their current opinions. Our results emphasize that implementing information treatment calls for careful deliberation.


At the time of his birth, Leo Africanus was named al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Zayyati. His parents were Arab Muslims from Granada, Spain, who migrated to Fez after the Christian Reconquista; that is, after European Christians recaptured much of the Iberian Peninsula from Arab Muslim control. Leo Africanus was born some time between 1489 and 1493. At the age of seventeen he went on a commercial and diplomatic mission to the land of the Songhay people, in what is today northern Mali. Leo Africanus may or may not have made a second mission a few years later. In 1518 he was kidnapped by Christians from Sicily and presented to Pope Leo X, who was seeking information about Africa. Shortly thereafter he converted to Christianity and was baptized Johannis Leo de Medicis, a name he later changed to Leo Africanus. His Description of Africa, written in 1526 and published in Italian in 1550, was written at the Pope's behest, and was later translated into French, Latin and English. The brief portion of the text describing the Songhay lands provided Europe with its first glimpse of Sahelian society. It also permanently established the legend of Timbuktu in the European imagination.


I n a recent article, Schatz et al. (1) characterized the N-terminal processing motif of MHC class I ligands. They demonstrated that this motif comprised approximately seven residues that matched the known preferences of proteasome and TAP, consistent with the view that these peptide ligands are the product of an intracellular pathway comprising protein breakdown in the cytosol and transport into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Furthermore, they also found that this was not true for residues immediately preceding the N terminus of MHC class I ligands and suggested, based on experimentally determined aminopeptidase activities, that trimming next to the final N terminus takes place predominantly in the ER. This is consistent with the proposed role of the ER-resident aminopeptidase ERAAP in the trimming to the canonical nonamer ligand length and whose role in immunity has been clearly shown in the ERAAP knockout mouse model (2). While this presents an almost complete picture of MHC class I loading, there remain a couple of unanswered questions: 1) the paucity of signal/leader sequences among MHC class I ligands, even though these should be the predominant peptide species; and 2) the lack of ligands longer than nonamers in the mature MHC class I molecules in the ERAAP knockout mouse. An intriguing possibility that is consistent with the findings of the Schatz et al. article and would answer both of these questions is that the cellular function of ERAAP is actually the degradation of signal/ leader peptides generated in the ER during the synthesis of secreted and membrane proteins. The immunological consequence of this cellular function of ERAAP would be the tipping of the balance of loaded peptides away from cellular proteins to peptides that are more likely to be derived from endogenously synthesized pathogen antigens, a balance that would be inverted in the ERAAP knockout mice. The proposed cellular role for ERAAP would explain the paucity of host protein signal sequences in the population of bound peptides isolated from mature MHC class I molecules and untrimmed peptides larger than nonamers bound to class I even in ERAAP knockout cells, as well as suggest a possible identity for some minor histocompatibility antigens.


Studies have been made on baked Fructus Auantii Immaturus with bran of different storage periods by physico-chemical and TLC identification methods. The contents of synephrine were determined by HPLC, and the volatile oil and soaked constituents were analysed. The experimental result shows that the contents of samples get reduced as the storage is prolonged.


Sepsis is the leading cause of death in surgical intensive care units. Although both mild sepsis secondary to cecal ligation and single puncture (CLP) and fulminant, double puncture CLP (2CLP) may provoke hepatocyte death, we hypothesize that regeneration compensates for cell death after CLP but not 2CLP. In male Sprague-Dawley rats, hepatic necrosis, as determined by serum alpha-glutathione S-transferase (alpha-GST) levels, was significantly but equally elevated over time after both CLP and 2CLP. Apoptosis, evaluated using both terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling and morphological examination, was minimal after both CLP and 2CLP. Regeneration, assayed by staining tissue for incorporation of exogenously administered bromodeoxyuridine, was present after CLP but not after 2CLP. To further substantiate impaired regeneration, steady-state levels of mRNAs encoding JunB, LRF-1, and cyclin D1 were determined. After 2CLP, the absence of JunB, LRF-1, and cyclin D1 mRNAs confirmed failed activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase-linked proliferative pathway and progression through the cell cycle. Therefore, failed hepatocyte regeneration may be a manifestation of hepatic dysfunction in fulminant sepsis.


Abstract In our study we analyse how the same interactional dynamic is produced in two different pedagogical settings exploiting a desktop videoconference system. We propose to focus our attention on a specific type of conversational side sequence, known in the Francophone literature as sequences of normative evaluation. More particularly, we analyse data from two telecollaborative projects through desktop videoconference: a French-Chinese tandem, and a French-Irish telecollaboration between trainee teachers and learners of French as a foreign language. The comparison of two different pedagogical settings allows us to understand what types of interactional dynamics are co-constructed through the desktop videoconference environment and which characteristics are specific to each pedagogical setting. Within a socio-interactionist perspective, we analysed four hours of interactions, focusing particularly on the transmodal enactment of the sequences under scrutiny and its relation to learners' uptake. Our results show on the one hand that there are some quantitative differences in the production of sequences of normative evaluation between the two pedagogical settings, and on the other hand that, contrary to our hypothesis, the co-construction of these sequences does not differ in multimodal density across the two contexts. We discuss these results and propose some tentative explanations for them.


The World Bank has recently developed a method to evaluate the effects of climate change on six hydrological indicators across 8951 basins of the world. The indicators are designed for decision-makers and stakeholders to consider climate risk when planning water resources and related infrastructure investments. Analysis of these hydrological indicators shows that, on average, mean annual runoff will decline in southern Europe; most of Africa; and in southern North America and most of Central and South America. Mean reference crop water deficit, on the other hand, combines temperature and precipitation and is anticipated to increase in nearly all locations globally due to rising global temperatures, with the most dramatic increases projected to occur in southern Europe, southeastern Asia, and parts of South America. These results suggest overall guidance on which regions to focus water infrastructure solutions that could address future runoff flow uncertainty. Most important, we find that uncertainty in projections of mean annual runoff and high runoff events is higher in poorer countries, and increases over time. Uncertainty increases over time for all income categories, but basins in the lower and lower-middle income categories are forecast to experience dramatically higher increases in uncertainty relative to those in the upper-middle and upper income categories. The enhanced understanding of the uncertainty of climate projections for the water sector that this work provides strongly support the adoption of rigorous approaches to infrastructure design under uncertainty, as well as design that incorporates a high degree of flexibility, in response to both risk of damage and opportunity to exploit water supply 'windfalls' that might result, but would require smart infrastructure investments to manage to the greatest benefit.


In this paper, we first present an in-depth survey of the research on Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) applied in various areas. Then we introduce the characteristics of the military and defense Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and propose the direction of method for VV&A with the identified characteristics. The M&S has been widely used in many different applications in the military and defense area including training, analysis, and acquisition. Methods and processes of VV&A have been proposed by researchers and M&S practitioners to guarantee the correctness of the M&S. The idea of applying the formal credibility assessment in VV&A is originated from the Software Engineering Reliability Test and Systems Engineering Development Process. However, the current VV&A techniques and processes proposed in the research community have not utilized the military-and-defense specific characteristics. We identify the characteristics and issues that can be found in the military and defense M&S. Then propose the direction of techniques and methods for VV&A considering the characteristics and issues. Also, possible research direction on the development of VV&A is proposed.


Biointerface design that targets osteogenesis is a growing area of research with significant implications in biomedicine. Materials known to either support or stimulate osteogenesis are composed of a biomimetic ceramic material, such as bioactive glass. Bioactive glass is osteoproductive, and the potential for osteoproductivity can be enhanced by the addition of proteins or other additives designed to alter functionality. In addition, soluble growth factors are often added to osteogenic culture on bioactive glasses, further intensifying the effects of the material. In this paper, synthetic peptide combinations, covalently bound to a three-dimensional bioactive glass network, are used to mimic the effects of the whole fibronectin and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) 2 and 9. Peptide-silanes possessing critical binding sequences from each of these proteins are synthesized and used to decorate the surface of three-dimensional (3D) nano-macroporous bioactive glass. MC3T3 preosteoblast cells are then assessed for differentiation on the materials in the absence of soluble differentiation cues. MC3T3 preosteoblasts undergo enhanced differentiation on the peptide-silane samples over the standard nano-macroporous bioactive glass, and the differentiation capacity of the cells exposes only to peptide-silane surfaces approaches that of cells grown in chemical differentiation induction media.


A series of Ala vs. Gly mutations at different helical and nonhelical positions of the chemotactic protein CheY, from E. coli, has been made. We have used this information to fit a general analytical equation that describes the free energy changes of an Ala to Gly mutation within ±0.45 kcal mol−1 with 95% confidence. The equation includes three terms: (1) the change in solvent‐accessible hydrophobic surface area, corrected for the possible closure of the cavity left by deleting the Cβ of the Ala; (2) the change in hydrophilic area of the nonintramolecularly hydrogen‐bonded groups; and (3) the dihedral angles of the position being mutated. This last term extends the calculation to any conformation, not only α‐helices. The general applicability of the equation for Ala vs. Gly mutations, when Ala or a small solvent‐exposed polar residue is the wild‐type residue, has been tested using data from other proteins: barnase, CI2 trypsin inhibitor, T4 lysozyme, and Staphylococcus nuclease. The predictive power of this simple approach offers the possibility of extending it to more complex mutations. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In Particulate Matter (PM) monitoring, current laser scattering low-cost sensor generations exhibit better stability than early sensor generations and feature internal digital processing to achieve more accurate results. As a representative of this class of sensors, we examine the popular SDS011 PM sensor. Previous work about co-location measurements between SDS011 sensors indicates that the sensor delivers adequate correlation under "typical" conditions, but performs less well under other ambient conditions, especially high humidity. To further explore the sensor's data quality in-depth, we conducted a series of controlled experiments with high precision reference devices and different aerosols, both polydisperse (ambient air, ammonium sulfate, soot) and monodisperse (polystyrene particles of different sizes). We also present results from a longer-term comparison (days) of multiple sensors, as well as the key influencing factors on uncertainty and assess the sensor's potential and limitations. Our findings show that a single sensor generally does not capture PM10 satisfactorily and we discuss under which conditions PM2.5 readings reflect the ambient air quality adequately.


Summary The aim of this paper is to analyse the scientific relations between Germany and Spain during the Entente Boycott (1919–1926) and the German academic policy that fostered it. The study of the international relations of German science during the 1920s has been carried out using as a basis the archives of scientific institutions. Personal initiatives by individual scientists to establish relations have therefore not been taken into account. The relations between the scientific communities of Germany and Spain during the 1920s indicate the importance of such personal relationships and from their transcendence at a political level. They also offer an example of how political strategies could dictate the politics of academic recognition. This paper is based on the analysis of sources found at the Foreign Office Archives in Berlin. It gives us a clear idea about the role of scientific relationships between the two countries in shaping their scientific policies.