The amount of nanoparticles (NPs) in human environment is increasing. The main sources are the increased introduction in consumer products and air pollution (diesel exhaust). It is meanwhile common knowledge that NPs behave differently as bulk material because of their nano-size. This leads in general to a higher reactivity and some other changed properties, e.g. solubility, surface potential, conductivity, and, to different effects on biological systems. The main impacts of NPs on a cellular and organism level are meanwhile well known: release of toxic ions, increased oxidative stress, and inflammation. Beside these, there is increasing evidence that NPs, especially in low dose/long exposure scenarios, affect biological systems in a broader way, interact with drugs, and exacerbate the effects of diseases. To investigate these effects systems biology approaches are the method of choice. This review summarizes the state of the art of nanoparticle effects on cells and organisms and demonstrate the add value of systems biology investigations to NP hazard assessment. Abbreviations: nanoparticle (NP), carbon nanotube (CNT), single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT), multi walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), ADME (adsorption, distribution, metabolization, excretion), PAMAM (poly(amidoamine)),


On-chip RC-based frequency references are increasingly being used to generate device clocks. They consume lower power, occupy a small area, and do not require costly off-chip components. However, poor frequency accuracy resulting from their non-linear temperature sensitivity has limited their usage to systems that can tolerate large frequency inaccuracy (~1%). Several efforts are underway to reduce the inaccuracy and extend their use to real-time clock sources that mandate a more stringent inaccuracy (±250ppm). Among the reported schemes, those based on 2-point digital trim methods described in [1] and [2] are most effective in achieving excellent power efficiency (1μW/MHz in [1] at ±530ppm inaccuracy) or small frequency inaccuracy (±400ppm in [2] at 25μW/MHz). However, uncompensated higher-order temperature coefficient (TC) prevents reducing their inaccuracy further. Also, [1] requires resistors with opposing TCs, which may not be available in all processes. Higher-order compensation schemes based on finely-tuned analog networks [3] or correction polynomials [4] can alleviate some of these drawbacks, but they are susceptible to circuit-level imperfections [3] or exhibit poor power efficiency (100μW/MHz) [4]. This paper presents techniques to reduce the TC nonlinearity and proposes methods for performing first- and second-order compensation. The 100MHz RC oscillator prototype achieves an inaccuracy of ±140ppm (2.1ppm/°C) with a power efficiency of 1μW/MHz.


We present a new formulation of the Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method [6, 5, 4, 3] for conservation Laws. The new formulation requires the computed RKDG solution in a cell to satisfy additional conservation constraint in adjacent cells and does not increase the complexity or change the compactness of the RKDG method. We use this new formulation to solve conservation laws on one-dimensional grids with piecewise cubic polynomial approximation as well as on two-dimensional unstructured grids with piecewise quadratic polynomial approximation. The hierarchical reconstruction [12, 24] is applied as a limiter to eliminate spurious oscillations. Numerical computations for scalar and systems of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws are performed. We find that: 1) this new formulation improves the CFL number over the original RKDG formulation and thus reduces the overall complexity; 2) the new formulation improves the robustness of the DG scheme with the current limiting strategy and improves the resolution of the numerical solutions in multi-dimensions.


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

Backgrounds: Bladder cancer is a genetic disorder driven by the accumulative changes of the multiple genes, such as E2F1, FOXM1, and EZH2. The objective of this study is to estimate a prognostic value of gene expression signature and identify putative signaling pathway for mediating progression of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Methods: Gene expression profiling was performed using primary NMIBC cohort to identify a signature correlated with disease progression. The signature was validated in three independent cohorts. The association between the signature and prognosis of NMIBC patients was assessed using various statistical methods including a leave-one-out cross-validation and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The upstream regulator analysis of the genes in the signature was performed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis TM. We also confirmed a prognostic relevance of the signature with experimental assays using bladder cancer cell lines.

Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis in the discovery cohort revealed significant differences in disease progression associated with the expression signature of E2F1-associated genes (p = 0.003), which produced consistent prognostic pattern in the validation cohorts. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the signature was an independent strong predictor of disease progression (hazard ratio = 6.082, 95% confidence interval = 3.280 to 11.279, p < 0.001). In subset analyses, the signature could identify patients who would benefit from intravesical immunotherapy. Lastly, upstream regulator analyses and experimental assays of the signature revealed that NMIBC progression could be mediated by E2F1-FOXM1 pathways.

Conclusion: The prognostic molecular signature defined by activation of E2F1 and FOXM1 represents a promising diagnostic tool to identify high risk NMIBC patients.

Citation Format: Seon-Kyu Kim, Se-Ra Lee, Yun-Gil Roh, Bicna Song, Kiejung Park, Sun-Hee Leem, In-Sun Chu. E2F1-FOXM1 activation predicts progression of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3830. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3830


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an important cause of cancer death and is considered the 3rd most lethal around the world. Hepatectomy, liver transplantation, and ablation therapy are considered curative treatments for early-stage HCC. Transarterial chemoembolization is the preferred therapy for intermediate stage HCC. Ssystemic therapy is recommended for advanced HCC. For more than a decade, sorafenib and lenvatinib were used as the first-line treatment for the advanced HCC. For the great success of immunotherapy in melanoma and lung cancer, some immune-based treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), have been applied in the treatment of HCC. The anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) antibodies, including nivolumab and pembrolizumab, have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sorafenib-pretreated patients. Moreover, due to the results of durable antitumor responses attained from the phase 3 trials, atezolizumab in combination with bevacizumab is now the standard therapy for advanced HCC. Recently, there are a lot of clinical trials involving the ICIs, as monotherapy or combination therapy, with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, antiangiogenic drugs, cytotoxic agents, and locoregional treatments, providing a promising outcome for advanced HCC. Thus, this review summarized the role of ICIs for HCC patients with monotherapy or combination therapy. The success and failures of monotherapy and combination therapy involving ICIs have provided advanced insights into HCC treatment and led to novel avenues to improve therapy efficacy in HCC.


The goal of this article is to present an analysis of extant information on the 'Campaign of the Elephant' against Mecca with due regard to the overall historical context. The date of that event still remains as an object of a scholarly discussion, making this study opportune. The position of the scholars who reject the traditional dating of the campaign (around 570–571) and put it back to earlier times does not appear to be well-founded. Historical sources show that Emperor Justin II of Byzantium (565–574), who needed allies for his struggle against the Sasanians in the late 560's and the early 570's, called on the Ethiopian Negus and the latter's half-independent governor of Yemen. The governor, probably, made a campaign to the North around the 570–571, and that appears to be remembered by the Arabs as 'The Campaign of the Elephant'. Sasanid king Khusraw I Anushirwan (531–579) in 572 attacked and conquered Yemen. That came as a counter measure to the Ethiopian advance to the North, because the Sasanid king considered that activity to be a threat to his empire.


A precision measurement of the cosmic-ray positron spectrum may help to solve the puzzle of the nature of dark matter. Pairwise annihilation of neutralinos, predicted by some supersymmetric extensions to the standard model of particle physics, may leave a distinct feature in the cosmicray positron spectrum. As the available data are limited both in terms of statistics and energy range, we are developing a balloon-borne detector (PEBS) with a large acceptance of 4000 cm 2 sr. A superconducting magnet creating a eld of 0:8 T and a tracking device consisting of scintillating bers of 250 μm diameter with silicon photomultiplier readout will allow rigidity and charge determination to energies above 100 GeV. The dominant proton background is suppressed by the combination of an electromagnetic calorimeter and a transition radiation detector consisting of eece layers interspersed with straw-tube proportional counters. The calorimeter uses a sandwich of tungsten and scintillating bers that are again read out by silicon photomultipliers. The design study, based on a detailed Geant4 simulation and testbeam measurements, will be presented along with an interpretation of the currently available positron data in the context of the mSUGRA model. The constraints that future precise measurements could put on this model will be discussed.


Frequency upconversion luminescence (FUCL) based on hot-band absorption has attracted considerable attention in bioimaging and phototherapy fields for deep-seated cancer treatment. Photoimmunotherapy, a promising therapeutic approach induced by photodynamic therapy (PDT), can selectively kill cancer cells, reverse the immunosuppressive system, boost host immune response, and elicit durable antitumor immunity. To date, few near-infrared organic photosensitizers for photodynamic immunotherapy have been reported based on hot-band absorption. Herein, we report an upconversion luminescent phthalocyanine photosensitizer PdPc(OBu)8 with anti-Stokes emission at 748 nm and highly efficient singlet oxygen generation with hot-band absorption at 808 nm. Taking advantage of nanoliposomes, FUCL phthalocyanine nano-photosensitizers (PdPc NPs) were obtained to reduce the aggregation-caused quenching and improve water solubility and biocompatibility. PdPc NPs could be effectively accumulated in tumor tissues through intravenous administration, causing FUCL-induced PDT under 808 nm irradiation. Considering its finite immune responses and tumor ablation after PDT, a combination of PdPc NP-based PDT with checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-L1) for near-infrared photoimmunotherapy has been used to potentiate the antitumor efficacy that could simultaneously ablate primary tumors and inhibit the progression of distant tumors. This study can promote the development of upconversion-based PDT combined with immunotherapy for tumor precision therapy.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Immigrant underrepresented women are facing many challenges and barriers to knowledge, access to health care and preventive services. Few studies have examined factors associated with mammography screening among immigrant women in Southern California.

Purpose: We examined factors associated with mammography screening among immigrant women in Southern California.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 517 immigrant women aged 40 years and older. The instrument included constructs from the Health Belief Model. The survey was conducted using a self administered questionnaire in the women's preferred language. The outcome variables were the percentage of women ages 40 and older who ever received a mammogram and the percentage of women who received a mammogram within the past year. Independent variables were demographics, frequency of visits to health care provider, and scores of the following variables: knowledge of BC symptoms and BC risk factors, perceived benefits, perceived health motivation and perceived barriers to obtaining a mammogram. We analyzed data using SPSS 15.

Results: of the 517 women, 50% were Iranian, 15% were Arab, and 21% were Asian/South Asian. Twenty eight percent had family history of BC, 63% had a friend diagnosed with BC, and 47% had yearly visit to the health care provider. Ever had a mammogram was reported by 88% of the women and 73% reported they had mammogram within the last 12 months. Participants had low knowledge of BC symptoms (mean score=7, Standard Deviation [SD]=3.5, range=1-13) and low knowledge of BC risk factors (mean score=8, SD=3.6, range=1-21). Women showed high health motivation (mean score=4.4, SD=0.6, range=1-5) and low barriers (mean score=2.4, SD=0.6, range=1-5). Predictors of ever had a mammogram were age, having a friend who was diagnosed with BC, and having a high score of health motivation. Factors associated with having a mammogram within the past year were having frequent visits to the health care provider, having a higher score in knowledge of BC symptoms, and having a lower score of perceived barriers to obtaining a mammogram.

Conclusions: The findings indicated that health care provider may influence the BC screening among immigrant women. There is a need for a culturally sensitive educational intervention to enhance the knowledge and awareness related to BC. This intervention can be provided through the health care provider and through the social support and family groups.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 864.


In this account, we describe the use of simple pyrimidine derivatives in combination with metal ions to build highly structured molecular architectures containing functional nanoenvironments, cavities and surfaces that can interact with additional species. The supramolecular structure of these systems can be rationally controlled by metal fragment geometry, reaction conditions and presence of templating agents. Thus, the use of transition metals with low coordination numbers or blocked bonding positions in combination with pyrimidines (e.g. 2-hydroxypyrimidine, 4-hydroxypyrimidine, 2,4-dihydroxypyrimidine, 2-aminopyrimidine) leads to the formation of either discrete assemblies, 1D polymers or helixes. When metal ions with higher coordination possibilities are applied instead, 2D and 3D networks are generated. Some of the assemblies built in this way possess functional cavities, pores and surfaces that can interact with additional species by means of hydrophobic, electrostatic, H-bonding interactions and coordinative bonds to give rise to recognition processes. The latter range from molecular recognition in homogeneous phase as well as clathrate formation, to heterogeneous solid–gas and solid–liquid adsorption phenomena. It should be noted that these materials are not rigid but able to undergo guest-induced reorganisation processes even in the solid state. Finally, some of these materials also combine additional interesting magneto-optical properties. Thus, dual systems can be envisaged in which two or more of these properties are present in the same material.


Abstract This paper presents a synopsis of recipients' benefits from the South African COVID-19 social relief fund. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the key benefit of the COVID-19 special grant and if the Grant had a positive impact in the lives of recipients and their family members. The paper applied a mix of succinct review and thematic analysis. Secondary data collection was from the archive of survey questionnaires conducted by the Department of Social Development. Findings from the thematic graphical analysis of the recipients' responses show that more than 93% of the COVID grant recipients used the fund for food. Furthermore, over 88% avowed that the grant had a positive impact in their lives and over 79% of the grant recipients indicated that the fund had a positive impact in the lives of their family members. The findings offer practical and policy implication for government's social security agency. The recipients' acceptance of positive benefit regarding food and overall effect on wellbeing is an indication that extension of the COVID-19 social relief fund or conversion thereof to unemployment security assistance might have the propensity to provide relief from poverty and hunger to recipients and improve social wellbeing. The paper highlights the imperative for further research to expand this analysis by using other countries for a comparative analysis.


Auricular malformations are frequently associated to malformations of the external, the middle, and the inner ear in variable degrees. Asystematic audiometry must be performed in case of unilateral facial microsomia. This test which can be performed in very young patients can detect bilateral ear malformations necessitating auditory rehabilitation by surgery or external hearing aids. In major ear aplasia, air conduction hearing aids can rarely be proposed. In this case, bone conduction hearing aids using a mastoid transducer of through a bone anchored device yield the best auditory results with an excellent local tolerance.


This study is intended to contribute to the understanding of the probability that bio-based materials are chosen in residential buildings and to the understanding of the drivers and barriers for an increased use of bio-based building materials. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were held with Swedish architects and contractors. The results indicate a low probability of selection of bio-based materials in Swedish residential building, mainly due to insufficient incentives, lack of knowledge and experience, bad examples, issues regarding performance and constructionrelated culture and habit. However, the attitude among contractors has started to change in a more positive direction. Green building certificates, as well as other environmental standards and regulations, were seen as a promising way to increase the use of bio-based materials. Evidence that the materials maintain a certain quality over time was also identified as an important measure to increase the incentives to select bio-based materials.


A new species of symphurine tonguefish, Symphurus oxyrhynchus sp. nov., is described from two specimens captured in deep waters (718-852 m) off Taiwan and Japan. This new species is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: predominant 1-2-2-1-2 pattern of interdigitation of dorsal pterygiophores and neural spines, 14 caudal-fin rays, 93 dorsal-fin rays, 80-81 anal-fin rays, 9 abdominal and 52 total vertebrae, 5 hypurals, small eye (7.5-8.0 % HL) with relatively large pupil (78-85% ED), moderately large scales (87-89 scales in longitudinal series, 31 scales in transverse row), snout square and projecting anteriorly, ocular side uniformly yellow to dark brown with intense pigmentation on body areas overlying dorsal- and anal-fin pterygiophores, outer surface of opercle on both sides bluish black, general background coloration shared the same coloration in blind side, including more intense on body areas overlying dorsal and anal pterygiophores. Symphurus oxyrhynchus sp. nov. is a rare species, only two specimens were retrieved by research vessels. This study provides formal description of this unique new species based on these two specimens. Further investigations and expeditions are necessary for better understanding of the biodiversity of tonguefishes in the western Pacific.


Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have been witnessing an increasing number of entries on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. With them, critical scientific trends describing its positive and negative effects began to emerge. In this article, I discuss the sense of such entries, showing their evaluative dimension as well as the difficulties of recognizing the areas of minority cultures as heritage – the areas which despite meeting all the entry criteria are in conflict with the modern ideas of European culture. I analyze these issues, using the Gypsy/Romani culture as an example – and more specifically the profession of bear handlers in Romania, which, due to its numerous similarities in history, training methods and folklore, I treat as representative of other European regions too. The text discusses the possible origins of this occupation, the place of the Ursari in the Romanian social structure together with their financial situation, and the attitude of the Church and State to bear handlers. It also presents the methods of animal training the Gypsies have used and passed on through the centuries, as well as the reasons why this profession has been disappearing in Romania. In the final (second) part of the article, I will discuss whether there is such a thing as the management of Ursari heritage (versus the management of inconvenient heritage), and if there is – what it entails.
The article uses qualitative research methods, including the analysis of historical sources (docu-ments from the offices of Moldovan, Wallachian and Transylvanian rulers and descriptions written by people travelling across former Romanian territories dated 14th–19th centuries) and ethnographic sources. In addition, the analysis also focuses on visual sources from Romanian territories associated with the Ursari as well as on the sources used during my own pilot ethnographic study on the cultural memory among the Roma from Romania.


Abstract This study represents the first extended report on a species of the ciliate genus Peritromus, widespread in marine biotopes, characterized by a dorso-ventral differentiation peculiar among Heterotrichea. Morphological observations (live, stained, scanning, and transmission electron microscope) were combined with behavioral and molecular data. On the basis of the whole body of observations, the species was recognized as Peritromus kahli. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy have revealed a number of features such as peculiar chalice-like structures external to the dorsal surface, two types of extrusomes, and differences between dorsal and ventral somatic ciliature. The almost complete SSrDNA gene sequence was also determined. A molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that Peritromus diverged early from other members of the Class Heterotrichea. The dorso-ventral differentiation that certainly influences the behavior of P. kahli (e.g. preference for crawling and thigmotaxis) may have been selected as an adaptation to the constraints of the interstitial habitat.


Laser bronchoscopy is a major procedure employed in intervention bronchoscopy. From August 1998 to August 2000, 20 patients with endobronchial lesions were treated by this procedure in the Respiratory and Tuberculosis Division of the Department of Internal Medicine, Siriraj Hospital. Of 16 malignant lesion, a good response was obtained in 78 per cent (7 out of 9) of lesions in the proximal right main bronchus with failure to open any of the 3 completely obstructed lesions at the left distal bronchus. The results of treatment of malignant lesions in the trachea and carina were acceptable. Good results were obtained from all 4 benign endobronchial obstructions. No complications arose in this study. This small series demonstrates the benefit of laser bronchoscopy in patients with high risk endobronchial obstructive lesions.


Diesel engines are required to reduce exhaust emissions during real-world operations. In this regard, a new control concept called model-based control has been explored. Unlike the conventional method of relying on steady-state measurements, model-based control allows cycle-by-cycle optimization of control inputs based on physical principles. Existing models for combustion control have been using empirical equations to predict polytropic index for the compression stroke for estimation of in-cylinder pressure and temperature at fuel injection. Therefore, in this study, a polytropic index prediction model was developed in MATLAB to maintain the engine performance under transient conditions and to reduce the required number of experiments. The model includes a heat loss model and a gas flow model to consider the effect of wall heat transfer and gas flows inside the cylinder. The computational load of the model was reduced through discretization of a single engine cycle into several calculation points. The model was validated against numerical simulation results under steady conditions first, and then applied to transient conditions for more realistic operational conditions. The model estimated the polytropic index with average errors under steady and transient conditions with 0.22% and 0.37%, respectively. Finally, the calculation time of the model was evaluated to be 50.6 μs. It was concluded the model can be implemented on a model-based controller in the future.


The term 'preference imprecision' seems to have different meanings to different people. In the literature, one can find references to a number of expressions. For example: vagueness, incompleteness, randomness, unsureness, indecisiveness and thick indifference curves. Some of these are theoretical constructs, some are empirical. The purpose of this paper is to survey the various different approaches and to try to link them together: to see if they are all addressed to the same issue, and to come to some conclusions. In the course of this survey, we report on evidence concerning the existence of preference imprecision, and its impact on theoretical and empirical work.


Digital, virtual and E-learning elements have increasingly become a part in higher education and, most recently, the high potential of digitalization for processes of strategic internationalization of higher education institutions is coming into focus. The collaborative project of three German universities, XYZ, is working on strategies for the internationalization and virtualization of engineering education. While these topics used to be different key areas of the project, a combination of both distinguished itself as a potential new working field. This paper introduces two pilot concepts that were implemented and evaluated at the universities Y and Z which both aim at the complementation of incoming students' experiences in Germany by digital means. At Y, a transnational online class explores means of preparing degree-mobile engineering students from all over the world for their master's studies in Germany. At Z, an online course was designed to accompany a summer school research exchange for US-American engineering students in order to prolong their short-term mobility by digital elements. These pilot projects were well-accepted by students and faculty at both universities and their evaluations between 2014 and 2017 have revealed valuable results for further optimization. This paper presents the results and discusses future potential.


The manuscript presents a new instrument for the ground based remote sensing of atmospheric NO2. The sensitivity to the target species is provided by the principle of the gas correlation spectroscopy (GCS), but the main objective of this instrument is to become a quantitative imager of 2D fields of NO2. This NO2 imaging capability introduces this new instrumental concept in the very small family of imaging instruments capable of retrieving quantitative information on UV-VIS species (SO2 cameras, AOTF-based NO2 camera, and I-DOAS instruments to my knowledge). As such, this manuscript bears a strong original content, and can be considered as the seminal paper for a new class of NO2 imaging instruments.


Men (N = 124) entering treatment for opioid dependence who were living with a family member were randomly assigned to one of two 24-week treatments: (a) behavioral family counseling (BFC) plus individual treatment (patients had both individual and family sessions and took naltrexone daily in presence of family member) or (b) individual-based treatment only (IBT; patients were given naltrexone and were asked in counseling sessions about their compliance, but there was no family involvement). BFC patients, compared with their IBT counterparts, ingested more doses of naltrexone, attended more scheduled treatment sessions, had more days abstinent from opioids and other drugs during treatment and during the year after treatment, and had fewer drug-related, legal, and family problems at 1-year follow-up.


In a recent symposium on "Modem Trends in Dermatology", first place was given to a paper stressing the relevance of ecological factors to diseases of the skin (Banks, 1954). The conviction that such factors are important may nowadays be widespread, but there is still no statistical foundation for the belief. Mortality from caticer of the skin has been widely studied, but very little information is available concerning the prevalence of the less serious diseases which make up the bulk of dermatological practice. In the absence of any serious mortality from these diseases, death registration, the basis of the "social post mortem", has little of interest to contribute. Nor is the official collectio) of hospital statistics much help, for it refers only to in-patients (Registrar-General, 1954). It is reasonable, therefore, to turn to the ledgers kept by the Civilian Medical Boards, since these not only provide large numbers of case records but also enable them to be related to the population at risk. This is the course followed in the present study, which describes the distribution among men of military age (17-44 years) of four common types of skin disease (acne, eczema, dermatitis, and psoriasis). The sources of material and methods of analysis have been described in the first paper of this series (Stewart, Webb, and Hewitt, 1955a). The methods of calculation and the definition of Standardized Prevalence Ratios (S.P.Rs passim) are identical with those used in the study of varicose conditions (Stewart and others, 1955b).


In this paper, we introduce the concept of the generalized topological molecular lattices as a generalization of Wang's topological molecular lattices,  topological spaces, fuzzy topological spaces, L-fuzzy topological spaces and soft topological spaces. Topological molecular lattices were defined by closed elements, but in this new structure we present the concept of the open elements and define a closed element by the pseudocomplement of an open element.  We have two structures on a completely distributive complete lattice, topology and generalized co-topology which are not dual to each other. We study the basic concepts, in particular separation axioms and some relations among them.


"The greatest and most fundamental future challenge to the US in the Asia-Pacific region may simply be to maintain a presence." (1) The Korean peninsula remains one of the last bastions of the Cold War. The United States has forward deployed approximately 91,500 personnel to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, in part to deter North Korean aggression or to provide the initial military response if deterrence fails.(2) However, ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the ROK and North Korea show the potential for a peaceful reconciliation and eventual reunification of the two nations. While a unified Korea is not a certainty, a political settlement on unification may be reached by 2015. (3) Korean unification would be a catalyst for a major revision of the security architecture in Northeast Asia, involving not only Korea and the United States, but also Japan, China, and Russia. (4) One of the principal US concerns is that the perceived regional stability would lead to a call for the withdrawal of US forces based in Northeast Asia. The groundwork needs to be laid now for maintaining a continued US presence after unification in order to fu lfill our national interests. (5) The focus of this article is on the impact of Korean reunification on the future US military presence in Northeast Asia. The size of US forces in the region should be based on a number of factors, including our national interests, geography, emerging threats, regional powers, the appropriate command and control structure, and the capabilities the individual services provide in attaining our military objectives. The United States has a vital interest in a secure and stable Northeast Asia. Between 1950 and 1953, over 26,000 Americans gave their lives in defense of the ROK and our national interests. (6) In the 50 years since the Korean War, our national interests in the region have grown. The United States has security alliances with Japan and the ROK and enormous trade and economic interests in Northeast Asia. The US economy depends on access to these markets. Japan ranks as the world's second largest economy, China as the third largest, and the ROK as the 11th. (7) The United States conducts a third of its total trade in the East Asia-Pacific region. (8) The region not only has strong economies, but strong militaries. China, Russia, and North Korea currently compose three of the five largest militaries there, while Japan has the most modern military force in Asia. (9) China's and the two Koreas' historic distrust of Japan has been placated over the years by the US military presence in the region, thus enhancing regional stability. As part of the bilateral US military alliances with the Republic of Korea and Japan, the United States has provided air and maritime power projection capabilities for those two nations that might appear provocative if either had developed them on their own. If the United States withdrew from the region and a power vacuum ensued, the instability between nations with combined strong economies and militaries could lead to an arms race having detrimental effects on regional stability and the global economy. Without the North Korean threat, however, the US force presence will have to adjust to meet the new security environment. Forces designed to face a specific threat will need to be reshaped to face regional contingencies. Taiwan, to the south, may still be an area of regional tension, but such transnational threats as terrorism, piracy, drug trafficking, and infectious diseases will be the most likely security concerns. (10) Transnational threats will pose a greater problem unless Asian nations move forward with a multilateral agenda, rather than the bilateral or unilateral approaches commonly used now. The US presence will have to be transformed into one that is smaller, is more expeditionary, has the flexibility to deal with numerous types of small-scale contingencies, deters other nations from seeking regional hegemony, and is capable of operating in a complex multinational and interagency environment. …


OBJECTIVE
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are early life experiences that influence mental health outcomes, though there are mixed findings reported in relation to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. The current study compared adults who experienced ACEs on measures of ADHD symptom reporting, psychological symptoms, and neurocognitive test performance.

METHOD
The sample (n = 115) had mean age of 28.42 (SD = 6.46); educational attainment of 16.47 years (SD = 1.99); and was 35% male/65% female and racially/ethnically diverse. Participants completed measures of ACEs, ADHD symptoms, psychopathology, and perceived stress, as well as neuropsychological tests.

RESULTS
The high ACEs group endorsed higher levels of childhood/adulthood inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive symptoms, and overall childhood symptoms when compared to the low ACEs group.

CONCLUSIONS
This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the association between ACEs and cognitive/mental health outcomes. Greater ACEs resulted in higher ADHD symptom reporting but not significantly greater psychological symptoms or worse neurocognitive performance.


Autonomous vehicles rely heavily upon their perception subsystems to see the environment in which they operate. Unfortunately, the effect of variable weather conditions presents a significant challenge to object detection algorithms, and thus it is imperative to test the vehicle extensively in all conditions which it may experience. However, development of robust autonomous vehicle subsystems requires repeatable, controlled testing - while real weather is unpredictable and cannot be scheduled. Real-world testing in adverse conditions is an expensive and time-consuming task, often requiring access to specialist facilities. Simulation is commonly relied upon as a substitute, with increasingly visually realistic representations of the real-world being developed. In the context of the complete autonomous vehicle control pipeline, subsystems downstream of perception need to be tested with accurate recreations of the perception system output, rather than focusing on subjective visual realism of the input - whether in simulation or the real world. This study develops the untapped potential of a lightweight weather augmentation method in an autonomous racing vehicle - focusing not on visual accuracy, but rather the effect upon perception subsystem performance in real time. With minimal adjustment, the prototype developed in this study can replicate the effects of water droplets on the camera lens, and fading light conditions. This approach introduces a latency of less than 8 ms using compute hardware well suited to being carried in the vehicle - rendering it ideal for real-time implementation that can be run during experiments in simulation, and augmented reality testing in the real world.


Objective: To measure the validity of self reported safety practices from a questionnaire, completed by families participating in a home safety randomised controlled trial. Methods: The postal questionnaire was used to measure secondary outcomes in a randomised controlled trial. The answers to 26 questions that could be assessed by observation were checked by a home visit. Families were invited to take part in a "home safety check"; they were not told that the visit was part of a validation study. At the time of the visit the researcher was blind to the self reports in the questionnaires. Results: Sixty four questionnaires were validated by visits to 64 households. Percentage agreement ranged from 58% to 100%. Sensitivity was high (68% or above) for most safety practices. The positive predictive value was also high for most safety practices (78% or above for 15 of the 16 practices). Conclusions: This study found a fairly high degree of consistency between self reported data and actual observations. The findings from this relatively small study need confirmation from larger studies.


As well as a wider perspective on my clinical specialty, winning the 2005 Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship gave me a host of other unexpected experiences and skills.


Digital circuit designs in sub-threshold region have been studied in recent years. Their works rely on special purpose CMOS cell library with various voltage conditions for the purpose of adjusting circuit delays. This paper proposed modeling analysis for each typical CMOS logic cell to operate at sub-threshold region. Critical-path delays and power dissipation will be analyzed in strong and weak inversion by considering scale factors from typical to sub-threshold voltage conditions. We evaluated wireless circuits in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication receiver. The simulation results clearly show that low voltage is not a barrier for large-scale digital circuits.


Ethylene:vinyl acetate pellets were loaded at 20 degrees C by swelling the polymer with 1 and 3% (w/v) chloroformic solutions of tolbutamide. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed different concentrations of the tolbutamide sulfur in the pellets sections according to the loading time. At the beginning of the loading process, the sulfur in the pellets showed two concentration peaks which later joined in the center of the section before reaching a homogeneous distribution. The concentration peaks might depend on a drug sieving process as the solution flow reaches a less swollen inner area. Therefore, the concentration distribution of the drug would be affected by the size of the polymer network, which is related to the volume of the solvent in the polymer. Another possible explanation of these concentration profiles is that they could be a result of the solvent evaporation process. The concentration distribution of the drug becomes homogeneous only after the complete swelling of all of the polymer.


The analytical solutions of different flows are meaningful in theory. In addition, they are very useful to CFD also as the standard solutions to check the numerical solutions and to develop numerical differencing schemes, grid generation methods and so forth. However, very few analytical solutions have been known for the compressible flow, especially the unsteady flow. Some explicit analytical solutions of unsteady compressible flow have been derived since the early nineties and are given in this paper which include the 1-D isentropic unsteady flow, 1-D unsteady flow with friction, heat transfer as well as with shock, and 2-D isentropic unsteady flow.


Since the last decade, the offline shopping environment has changed. Offline brands in the Netherlands have gone bankrupt like bookstore Polare, fashion brand Mexx, missEtam, SchoenenReus and also V&D is having troubles (NU.nl, 2015). The increasing numbers of online shops and new additional digital channels such as mobile and social media are blamed for this. Especially for the fashion industry, online shopping plays a huge role. Nowadays, it is a must for retailers to combine the online- and offline channels to give the consumer the same experience and to keep their customers. This combination is called: 'omnichannel retail'. Omnichannel retail goes hand in hand with technology and already a few brands are using this in the Netherlands. This research is focusing on omnichannel technology for the fashion industry. Two studies were conducted to examine the influence of omnichannel retailing on the attitude and the offline experience of the consumer. The first study is an explorative study conducted with fifteen interviews in a real-life setting in a brand fashion store which is already using omnichannel technology. This study showed that most participants did not know what to do with the omnichannel technology and did not see technology as a must in a fashion store. When they know about the possibilities of the omnichannel technology in a fashion store, almost all had a positive attitude. Study 2, an online questionnaire with 239 participants between 16 and 71 years, showed that consumers with a hedonic attitude especially want to use omnichannel technology.
 Omnichannel technology gives the consumer a positive shopping experience, but consumers do not yet see the usefulness of these technology in a fashion store and they think that atmospherical aspects like the layout of a store and the assortment are more important. The variables which contributed to the intention to use omnichannel technology in a store, were the hedonic consumer attitude and the perceived usefulness. It is remarkable that the demographical data had no significant contribution to the intention to use omnichannel technology in a store. However, age and gender had an indirect contribution, because men had a higher personal innovativeness level. They perceived technology as more useful than women. The older the people are, the lower their utilitarian consumer attitude.
For marketers, this research can conclude that they especially have to target hedonic consumers, who like to shop and who like to use omnichannel technology in a store.


We present a 15-week pregnant woman who developed mechanical mitral valve thrombosis on a fixed dose of enoxaparin therapy 60 mg twice daily. No reductions were observed in the thrombus size or mean mitral gradient on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) with 1 week of unfractioned heparin therapy. As the thrombus on TEE imaging was hypermobile and fragile, in addition to a higher dose of enoxaparin (80 mg twice daily), trofiban infusion 0.20 µg/kg per minute was administered for another 1 week. The thrombus on the valve was reduced in size, mobility and fragility of the thrombus diminished, and mean valve gradient decreased on TEE. As complete thrombus resolution was not observed and limitation of valve mobility continued, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) was given to the patient. A complete thrombus resolution was observed on this therapy. The patient is presented for being the first case in literature whose valvular thrombus reduced with trofiban therapy.


In this paper we study some distribution properties of the system failure time in general shock models associated with correlated renewal sequences (X, Y,)'. Two models, depending on whether the magnitude of the nth shock X, is correlated to the length Y, of the interval since the last shock, or to the length of the subsequent interval to the next shock, are considered. Sufficient conditions under which the system failure time is completely monotone, new better than used, new better than used in expectation, and harmonic new better than used in expectation are given for these two models.


The disputed etymology of the river-name Stour is revisited. It is suggested that an 'Old European' river-name was taken for an OE adjective, and that this adjective with its antonym represented in the river-name Blyth expressed the principal opposition in the classificatory system imposed on rivers in the Anglo-Saxon period.


Research indicates that the aeolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline have continuously retreated eastward during the last few decades. There seems to be no dispute among Earth scientists regarding the general trend of cliff retreat. However the majority of papers displaying cliff retreat rates are based upon comparison of aerial photographs. Their lack of advanced geometric measurement methods causes a high margin of error. Public attention is focused upon the Beit‐Yannay coastal cliff since private homes are located along the southern section of the cliff crest. The current research compares the historic location of the cliff crest edge at Beit‐Yannay as observed in a series of aerial photographs taken during the period 1918–2000. Quantitative measurement methods included applications of satellite geodesy and digital photogrammetry and mapping. Research results offer quantitative, consecutive and highly accurate data regarding retreat rates over a relatively long period of 82 years. It is concluded that: 1. Annual average cliff retreat rates of the cliff crest is 20 cm/year. 2. Categorization of the study time span reveals periods displaying varying retreat rates such as 27 cm/year during 1918–1946, 21 cm/year during 1946–1973 and 10 cm/year during 1973–2000. 3. Maximum retreat distances of the cliff crest, over the study period were found to be approximately 25 m along the northern, lowest section of the cliff. Minimum distances of 11 m were identified at the highest, southern section of the cliff. 4. The eolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coast throughout the 20th century have been an important source of sediment, contributing approximately 24 × 106 m3 of sediments to the sediment balance of Israeli beaches. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Higher education in Australia is seen as having reached the conclusion of one phase of development characterized by a high degree of central planning and to be engineering a new phase in which it is argued that a radically different orientation is required. Recovery of at least shared responsibility by the states and the development of private initiatives should help to promote more creative management through diversification of funding sources and lines of accountability. Pressures for change follow demographic and social changes in the Australian population which are likely to favors increased participation in higher education for both personal and national economic purposes.


Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a world pandemic since early 2020. There was no specific antiviral agent that appeared to be active against the virus, and antiviral agent such as remdesivir, favipiravir were in limited supply. We evaluated the use of convalescent plasma (CP) administered as adjuctive treatment to standard of care in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. Methods: We conducted a series of 9 moderate to severe patients of COVID-19 older than 18 years received CP transfusion from 9 recovered donors at a single institution (Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia) from January 2021 to June 2021. Results: Out of 9 patients (age range 30-81 years, 6 males and 3 female), and all patients received at least 1 or 2 unit of 200 mL of CP from 9 recovered donors. There were 4 patients (age range 30-71 years, 4 male) that were not treated with antiviral therapy. Of the 9 patients, 2 severe cases were died, while all of moderate cases survived and they were discharged from the hospital (length of stay: 8-22 days). Conclusion: Our experience showed that CP transfusion in moderate COVID-19 patients might provide clinical benefit and it was well-tolerated. However, further development clinical trials with better designs and greater power is needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this treatment.


In this paper, a new closed-loop stator flux observer based on the voltage model (reduced-order) in direct torque control (DTC) applications for induction motors is proposed. The rule of DTC is based on controlling flux and its angle. Therefore, flux estimation is one of the fundamental issues in this method. Using the conventional open-loop voltage model observers can cause some problems such as, appearing dc offset in output, integrator saturation and incorrect estimation in low-speeds. One of the available solutions for compensating these shortcomings and improving the drive system performance is using closed-loop observers. The proposed observer in this paper is a novel closed-loop reduced-order observer based on shifting poles of its transfer function to the left in the complex plane. The simulation results show that the DTC performance is improved in different operation points, especially in low-speeds and also the observer is able to keep its stability in critical conditions.


The main purpose of this action research is to explore the impact of shared reading on struggling Grade Three English as a Second Language (ESL) readers, aged 8-9, in a Malay- medium primary school in urban Kuala Lumpur. Its secondary purpose is to find out if the subjects enjoy shared reading with big books and their expectations in the reading classroom. Instrumentation consists of audio recordings of unpractised and practised texts, video recordings of shared reading lessons in session, and a questionnaire to collect feedback. 12 subjects out of 60 were identified as struggling readers. These subjects participated in whole class shared reading sessions and in their own group shared reading sessions. The audio recordings of each subject were analysed for number of words correct per minute (WCPM) for unpractised texts before shared reading sessions and practised texts after shared reading sessions. Findings indicated that the fluency (WCPM) of the subjects increases after treatment. 94 % of the respondents of the questionnaire indicated that they enjoyed shared reading with big books and expected the teacher to be their role model during reading lessons. I come to the conclusion that shared reading has a positive impact on both struggling and proficient ESL readers.


A planar p-n heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) device using an amorphous molecular material with a high hole drift mobility of 1.1 × 10-2 cm2/V·s at an electric field of 1.0 × 105 V/cm at 293 K, tris[4-(2-thienyl)phenyl]amine (TTPA), as an electron donor, and C60, as an electron acceptor, indium-tinoxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(4-styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) (ca.30 nm)/TTPA (30 nm)/C60 (40 nm)/LiF (0.1 nm)/Al (150 nm), exhibited high performance with a fill factor of 0.62 and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.5 % under air-mass 1.5G illumination at an intensity of 100 mW/cm2. A p-i-n-type OPV device having a mixed interlayer of TTPA and C60, ITO/PEDOT (ca.30 nm)/TTPA (27 nm)/TTPA:C60 (1:4 molar ratio, 20 nm)/C60 (23 nm)/LiF (0.1 nm)/Al (100 nm), exhibited higher performance with a PCE of 1.8% under the same irradiation conditions. A bulk p-n heterojunction OPV devices fabricated by spin coating from solution of TTPA and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester ([6,6]-PCBM), ITO/PEDOT:PSS (ca. 30 nm)/TTPA:[6,6]-PCBM (1:4 molar ratio, ca. 73 nm)/LiF (0.1 nm)/Al (100 nm), exhibited a PCE of 1.3%. The high performance of the present devices is attributed to the high charge-carrier mobilities of the materials and the relatively high ionization potential of TTPA.


Remarkably few studies have examined the outcomes of sign language interpreting. Three experiments reported here examine deaf students' comprehension of interpreting in American Sign Language and English-based signing (transliteration) as a function of their sign language skills and preferences. In Experiments 1 and 2, groups of deaf students varying in their sign language skills viewed either an ASL or English-based interpretation of a nontechnical lecture, followed by either a written comprehension test (Experiment 1) or a signed comprehension test (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 involved a more technical (physics) lecture, separate testing of students with greater ASL or English-based sign skills and preferences, and control of students' prior content knowledge. Results consistently demonstrate that regardless of the deaf students' reported sign language skills and preferences, they were equally competent in comprehending ASL interpreting and English transliteration, but they gained less knowledge from lectures than hearing peers in comparison groups. The results raise questions about how much deaf students actually learn in interpreted classrooms and the link between their communication preferences and learning.


Realistic 3D audio can greatly enhance the sense of presence in a virtual environment. We introduce a framework for capturing, transmitting and rendering of 3D audio in presence of other bandwidth savvy streams in a 3D Tele-immersion based virtual environment. This framework presents an efficient implementation for 3D Binaural Spatialization based on the positions of current objects in the scene, including animated avatars and on the fly reconstructed humans. We present a general overview of the framework, how audio is integrated in the system and how it can exploit the positions of the objects and room geometry to render realistic reverberations using head related transfer functions. The network streaming modules used to achieve lip-synchronization, high-quality audio frame reception, and accurate localization for binaural rendering are also presented. We highlight how large computational and networking challenges can be addressed efficiently. This represents a first step in adequate networking support for Binaural 3D Audio, useful for tele-presence. The subsystem is successfully integrated with a larger 3D immersive system, with state of art capturing and rendering modules for visual data.


In the late Byzantine period, the region of Epirus was beset by successive military conflicts as Byzantines, Italians, Albanians, Serbs, and Ottomans claimed their own share of its territory. Minor lordships became the dominant type of political entity from the fourteenth century onward and were heavily dependent on a "sophisticated" system of fortifications, consisting of larger and smaller fortresses, castles, forts, and towers. These fortifications were of vital significance for the control of strategic points of interest. But the lack of manpower remained a significant problem; this meant that during serious conflicts, the standing forces were bolstered by civilians or mercenaries.
 This article describes the conduct of warfare in relation to the fortifications and the defensive structure of Epirus in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Moreover, it examines available information on manpower (captains, crossbowmen, archers, soldiers, etc.) drawn from the sources, which are scarce, fragmentary, and incomplete. Thus, this piece of information allows us to shed light only on the castle of Riniasa on the northwestern coast of Epirus. Its study may offer a clearer image of other similar castles in the region and their role in medieval warfare.


[1] One of the main limitations to current wave data assimilation systems is the lack of an accurate representation of the structure of the background errors. One method that may be used to determine background errors is the observational method of Hollingsworth and Lonnberg [1986]. This method considers correlations of the differences between observations and the background. For the case of Significant Wave Height (SWH), potential observations come from satellite altimeters. In this paper, correlations of the differences between modeled SWH and bias-corrected ERS-2 data are calculated. The irregular sampling pattern of the altimeter is accounted for by adjusting the correlation length scales according to latitude and the calculated length scale. The results show that the length scale of the background errors varies significantly over the globe, with the largest scales at low latitudes and shortest scales at high latitudes. Very little seasonal or year-to-year variability in the correlation length scales is detected. Conversely, the magnitude of the background error variance is found to have considerable seasonal and year-to-year variability. By separating the altimeter ground tracks into ascending and descending tracks, it is possible to examine, to a limited extent, whether any anisotropy exists in the background errors.


Author(s): Lee, Steve P; Sun, Ji-Rong; Qian, Hong; McBride, William H; Withers, H Rodney | Abstract: Knowledge regarding the kinetics of metastatic tumor formation, as related to the growth of the primary tumor, represents a fundamental issue in cancer biology. Using an in vivo mammalian model, we show here that one can obtain useful information from the frequency distribution of the sizes of metastatic colonies in distant organs after serial sectioning and image reconstruction. To explain the experimental findings, we constructed a biophysical model based on the respective growth patterns of the primary tumor and metastases and a stochastic process of metastatic colony formation. Heterogeneous distributions of various biological parameters were considered. We found that the elementary assumption of exponential forms of growth for the primary tumor and metastatic colonies predicts a linear relation on a log-log plot of a metastatic colony size distribution, which was consistent with the experimental results. Furthermore, the slope of the curve signifies the ratio of growth rates of the primary and the metastases. Non-exponential (Gompertzian and logistic) tumor growth patterns were also incorporated into the theory to explain possible deviation from the log-log linear relation. The observed metastasis-free probability also supported the assumption of a time-dependent Poisson process. With this approach, we determined the mechanistic parameters governing the process of metastatogenesis in the lungs for two murine tumor cell lines (KHT and MCaK). Since biological parameters specified in the model could be obtained in the laboratory, a workable metastatic "assay" may be established for various malignancies and in turn contribute in formulating rational treatment regimens for subclinical metastases.


The use of assisted reproductive technologies in cattle is been increasing in the past few years. Fixed-timed artificial insemination (FTAI) procedures are responsible for 85% of all artificial insemination (AI) done in Brazil. Despite the numbers of in vivo derived (IVD) embryos tended to decrease in the last 10 years, in vitro production (IVP) of embryos has increased significantly, with more than 57% of all IVP embryos in the world produced in Brazil. These biotechnologies have helped to substantially improve reproductive efficiency in beef and dairy cattle. In relation to embryo transfer, production of in vivo derived (IVD) embryos remained relatively stable, with average production of 30-40,000 embryos per year, whereas in vitro production (IVP) of embryos had a substantial increase, from about 12,500 IVP embryos in 2000 to more than 300,000 IVP embryos after 2010. Inside this picture, FTAI remains growing for both, dairy and beef cattle, although, there are new possibilities to get even better efficiency. The use of GnRH and new approaches to help this efficiency were reported recently. In addition, there is much more room for improvement in other reproductive technologies, since there are several reports of high pregnancy loss and high peripartum loss, when IVP embryos are used, and even more dramatic for cloning. This review aims to update the readers with new data regarding assisted reproductive technologies.


Late-replicating domains (intercalary heterochromatin) in the Drosophila genome display a number of features suggesting their organization is quite unique. Typically, they are quite large and encompass clusters of functionally unrelated tissue-specific genes. They correspond to the topologically associating domains and conserved microsynteny blocks. Our study aims at exploring further details of molecular organization of intercalary heterochromatin and has uncovered surprising heterogeneity of chromatin composition in these regions. Using the 4HMM model developed in our group earlier, intercalary heterochromatin regions were found to host chromatin fragments with a particular epigenetic profile. Aquamarine chromatin fragments (spanning 0.67% of late-replicating regions) are characterized as a class of sequences that appear heterogeneous in terms of their decompactization. These fragments are enriched with enhancer sequences and binding sites for insulator proteins. They likely mark the chromatin state that is related to the binding of cis-regulatory proteins. Malachite chromatin fragments (11% of late-replicating regions) appear to function as universal transitional regions between two contrasting chromatin states. Namely, they invariably delimit intercalary heterochromatin regions from the adjacent active chromatin of interbands. Malachite fragments also flank aquamarine fragments embedded in the repressed chromatin of late-replicating regions. Significant enrichment of insulator proteins CP190, SU(HW), and MOD2.2 was observed in malachite chromatin. Neither aquamarine nor malachite chromatin types appear to correlate with the positions of highly conserved non-coding elements (HCNE) that are typically replete in intercalary heterochromatin. Malachite chromatin found on the flanks of intercalary heterochromatin regions tends to replicate earlier than the malachite chromatin embedded in intercalary heterochromatin. In other words, there exists a gradient of replication progressing from the flanks of intercalary heterochromatin regions center-wise. The peculiar organization and features of replication in large late-replicating regions are discussed as possible factors shaping the evolutionary stability of intercalary heterochromatin.


By using the dark-field real-space imaging technique of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we have observed slow 200 Å scale fluctuations of charge-ordered (CO) phase in mixed-valent manganites under a strong electron beam irradiation. In addition to these unusual fluctuations of the CO phase, we observed switching-type fluctuations of electrical resistivity in the same sample, which were found to be as large as several percents. Systematic analysis indicates that these two different types of fluctuations with a similar time scale of the order of seconds are interconnected through a metastable insulating charge-disordered state. Current dependence of the fluctuations suggests a non-equilibrium nature of this slow dynamics.


Research into and development of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is an exciting but complex field. The development of a technologically based system which will be an alternative to, or will augment, the speech modality for the interpersonal communication needs of people with communication dysfunction is not an easy task. This is only a young field and thus much of the research methodology is not yet well defined. It is also a growing field, and one to which we would wish to attract new practitioners, and provide appropriate guidance to them. In any technological development project, it is important to define clearly a number of parameters of the project. These are: the client group; the knowledge base needed to solve the problems; the potential technologies that will help and their characteristics; and the time scales envisaged for completion of the research. The authors have been part of a research team working in this field for many years, and, in this paper, they will examine three research strategies which they have found particularly beneficial, illustrating the concepts discussed mainly by reference to personal experiences. The paper concentrates on a relatively narrow definition of technology-that which is often referred to as 'high technology' or information technology. This is not to deny, in any way, the importance to the AAC field of solutions based on other technology, and the authors would hope that some of the comments in the paper are also appropriate to researchers who are working with systems and techniques which do not depend on these technologies.


`Soft' high-energy interactions are clearly important in pp collisions. Indeed, these events are dominant by many orders of magnitude, and about 40% are of diffractive origin; that is, due to elastic scattering or proton dissociation. Moreover, soft interactions unavoidably give an underlying component to the rare `hard' events, from which we hope to extract new physics. Here, we discuss how to quantify this contamination. First we present a brief introduction to diffraction. We emphasize the different treatment required for proton dissociation into low- and high-mass systems; the former requiring a multichannel eikonal approach, and the latter the computation of triple-Pomeron diagrams with multi-Pomeron corrections. Then we give an overview of the Pomeron, and explain how the QCD (BFKL-type) Pomeron is the natural object to continue from the `hard' to the `soft' domain. In this way we can obtain a partonic description of soft interactions. We introduce the so-called KMR model, based on this partonic approach, which includes absorptive multi-Pomeron corrections that become increasingly important as we proceed further into the soft domain. This model is able to describe total, elastic and proton dissociation data, and to predict the survival probability of large rapidity gaps to soft rescattering --- in terms of a few physically-motivated parameters. However, more differential phenomena, such as single particle p_t distributions, can only be satisfactorily described if hadronization effects are included. This is achieved by incorporating the KMR analytic approach into the SHERPA Monte Carlo framework. It allows a description of soft physics and diffraction, together with jet physics, in a coherent, self-consistent way. We outline the structure, and show a few results, of this Monte Carlo, which we call SHRiMPS, for reasons which will become clear.


This paper is concerned with the application of the vision control scheme for robot's point placement task in discontinuous trajectory caused by obstacle. The proposed vision control scheme consists of four models, which are the robot's kinematic model, vision system model, 6-parameters estimation model, and robot's joint angles estimation model. For this study, the discontinuous trajectory by obstacle is divided into two obstacle regions. Each obstacle region consists of 3 cases, according to the variation of number of cameras that can not acquire the vision data. Then, the effects of number of cameras on the proposed robot's vision control scheme are investigated in each obstacle region. Finally, the practicality of the proposed robot's vision control scheme is demonstrated experimentally by performing the robot's point placement task in discontinuous trajectory by obstacle.


The growing literature on Environmental Ethics has ballooned into a separate sub-field within philosophy, involving ethical studies concerning the value of other species, of ecosystems, and of the environment of all living things as a whole. Some consider Environmental Ethics to be a revolution in ethics which will completely change the human-centered orientation of morals and reorient it to include all species, ecosystems or the larger biosphere. This volume explores pragmatist approaches to ethics that can be used for environmental issues. Pragmatism may provide both a more defensible theory of non-anthropomorphic and intrinsic value than other ethical schools, and, more generally, supply an alternative model of what environmental philosophy could be. The holism of pragmatists constitutes a challenge to value and ethics centered in the individual, and a useful ground for more holistic theories of value which, some have argued, is more suitable to an environmental, as opposed to a humane, ethic. The authors of this book's chapters defend their understandings of pragmatism in the course of explaining contemporary ways to reconstruct central foundations to environmental ethics.


TiO2-ZrO2 mixed-oxide membranes were prepared via polymeric sol-gel technique. The final composition is already predefined during the preparation of the sols by using the corresponding quantities of the starting alkoxides. The mixed-oxide membranes were characterized by Xray diffraction, nitrogen sorption, and field emission scanning electron microscopy as well as filtration and corrosion tests. The observed results prove the positive influence on the investigated properties by addition of a second oxide. Depending on the composition of the mixed-oxide membranes, a remarkable increase in the crystallization temperatures is demonstrated. Using mixed-oxide systems, the retardation of grain growth is confirmed.


Injecting desired geometric properties into text representations has attracted a lot of attention. A property that has been argued for, due to its better utilisation of representation space, is isotropy. In parallel, VAEs have been successful in areas of NLP, but are known for their sub-optimal utilisation of the representation space. To address an aspect of this, we investigate the impact of injecting isotropy during training of VAEs. We achieve this by using an isotropic Gaussian posterior (IGP) instead of the ellipsoidal Gaussian posterior. We illustrate that IGP effectively encourages isotropy in the representations, inducing a more discriminative latent space. Compared to vanilla VAE, this translates into a much better classification performance, robustness to input perturbation, and generative behavior. Additionally, we offer insights about the representational properties encouraged by IGP.


We examine the effects of space and government payments on off-farm employment among principal farm operators for the entire US as well as for ERS/USDA farm resource regions. Spatial dependency in off-farm employment of principal farm operators in the U.S. overall is evident; however, this is not the case for all farm resource regions. While the effects of government payments overall are significant for the U.S., important variations exist by farm program type and across ERS/USDA regions.


This cross-sectional correlational study examined the association between Korean American adolescents' and their parents' reports of parent-child relationships. A total of 61 Korean American families completed a questionnaire assessing parental knowledge, parental/filial self-efficacy, parent-child communication, and parent-child conflicts. T tests, Pearson's correlations, a scatter diagram, and bivariate regression were used to analyze the data. Both Korean American adolescents and their parents reported that fathers were less knowledgeable about their child's school life and less likely to communicate with their children than were mothers. Fathers reported a significantly lower level of parental self-efficacy than mothers, and adolescents also reported a significantly higher level of filial self-efficacy in mother-child relationships than in father-child relationships. Positive correlations between parents' and adolescents' reports of parent-child relationships were observed. These findings indicated a need for parent education programs or counseling services for Korean American parents of adolescents, particularly fathers with inadequate parental skills and limited communication with their children.


This study finding the way to control the speech privacy is based on the research of the Background Masking System. In this observation, We evaluate the realistic matters which can occur when Background Masking System is used in real office and this evalution is to provide the actual data to serve the sound control problem.


The simulation of combustion chemistry in internal combustion engines is challenging due to the need to include detailed reaction mechanisms to describe the engine physics. Computational times needed for coupling full chemistry to CFD simulations are still too computationally demanding, even when distributed computer systems are exploited. For these reasons the present paper proposes a time scale separation approach for the integration of the chemistry differential equations and applies it in an engine CFD code. The time scale separation is achieved through the estimation of a characteristic time for each of the species and the introduction of a sampling timestep, wherein the chemistry is subcycled during the overall integration. This allows explicit integration of the system to be carried out, and the step size is governed by tolerance requirements. During the subcycles each of the species is only integrated up to its own characteristic timescale, thus reducing the computational effort needed by the solver. The present ODE solver was first validated using constant pressure batch reactor simulations with two different reaction mechanisms. Then the solver was coupled with the KIVA-4 code, and validated using HCCI and DI diesel combustion cases. Performance is compared with the commonly used DVODE chemistry solver and the results show that significant reductions in the total computational time with comparable accuracy are obtained with the new solution methodology.


Background: Now positive aspect of caregiving (PAC) is well-defined as caregiver gains, satisfaction, meaningful life, and enhanced family relationship. The adjusted association of PAC and caregiver burden is not well acknowledged. This study investigated the association of caregiver burden and PAC adjusting for potential confounders. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that recruited 132 caregivers. A linear regression model with PAC was used to estimate the adjusted associations. Results: The caregiver burden was negatively associated with PAC (mean difference in PAC per a 1-unit increase in caregiver burden = −0.12, 95% confidence interval: −0.18 to −0.056; P < .001). This association remained after adjustment for caregivers' age and marital status as well as patients' dependency level. Conclusion: The negative significant association of caregiver burden with PAC reinforces the need for interventional and/or educational programs aiming at decreasing the overall imposed burden. This can play an important role in improving caregivers' general health and quality of life.


ABSTRACT The transformation of 2-aminobenzothiazole (ABT) was studied under various conditions: (i) a photodegradation process at a λ of >300 nm in the presence of an Fe(III)-nitrilotriacetic acid complex (FeNTA), (ii) a biodegradation process using Rhodococcus rhodochrous OBT18 cells, and (iii) the combined processes (FeNTA plus Rhodococcus rhodochrous in the presence or absence of light). The transformation of ABT in the combined system, with or without light, was much more efficient (99% degradation after 25 h) than in the separated systems (37% photodegradation and 26% biodegradation after 125 h). No direct photolysis of ABT was observed. The main result seen is the strong positive impact of FeNTA on the photodegradation, as expected, and on the biotransformation efficiency of ABT, which was more surprising. This positive impact of FeNTA on the microbial metabolism was dependent on the FeNTA concentration. The use of UV high-performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and in situ 1H nuclear magnetic resonance provided evidence of the intermediary products and thus established transformation pathways of ABT in the different processes. These pathways were identical whether the degradation process was photo- or biotransformation. A new photoproduct was identified (4OH-ABT), corresponding to a hydroxylation reaction on position 4 of the aromatic ring of ABT.


Antiepileptic drugs provide neuroprotection in several animal models of brain damage, including those induced by status epilepticus (SE). The mechanisms involved in this action are unknown, but neurotrophic factors such as brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may play a role. In this study we investigated the changes in BDNF levels in rats in which SE had been induced by pilocarpine injection (400 mg/kg i.p.) and continued for several hours (unprotected group). In other animals (protected groups), SE was suppressed after 30 min by intraperitoneal injection of either diazepam (10 mg/kg) + pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) or paraldehyde (0.3 mg/kg). In diazepam + pentobarbital‐treated rats the hippocampal damage caused by SE was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in unprotected animals. In addition, 2 and 24 h after pilocarpine injection, the levels of BDNF mRNA were moderately increased in the unprotected group, but 'superinduced' in protected animals, especially in the neocortex and hippocampus. A time‐dependent increase in BDNF immunoreactivity was also found by western blot analysis in rats treated with diazepam + pentobarbital. In contrast, a decrease of BDNF immunoreactivity occurred in the unprotected group. In conclusion, these results show that neuroprotection induced by anti‐epileptic drugs in pilocarpine‐treated rats is accompanied by strong potentiation of BDNF synthesis in brain regions involved in SE.


The energies of highly excited, high-charge-state recoil ions produced by fast heavy-ion impact on target atoms ("hammer" method) have been compared with the energies of similar-charge-state recoil ions produced by vacancy cascades subsequent to inner-shell photoabsorption of tuned synchrotron radiation X-rays ("scalpel" method). These comparisons show that the "hammer" method leads to recoil ion temperatures typically 4 orders of magnitude lower than those which occur in plasma sources in which ions of similar ionization and excitation states have comparable abundance, while the "scalpel" method leads to temperatures up to 6 orders of magnitude lower. Advantages and drawbacks of each method for potential precision spectroscopy of stored or trapped high charge state ions, and for production of extracted beams of low emittance for use in secondary ion-atom collison studies at eV to keV energies are discussed.


This paper presents elastic-plastic analyses of Multiple Site Damages (MSD) in aluminum sheets, which contain one large crack at the center with several small cracks in front of its tips, subjected to far field tension loads. The analyses is performed based on the T*-integral fracture parameter, using the recently developed elastic-plastic finite element alternating method. A T*-resistance curve is obtained from the numerical simulations of experiments of center-cracked panels containing single cracks, in the generation phase analyses. A number of numerical predictions are made in the application phase, using the T*-resistance curve obtained in the generation phase. The predicted curves of load versus crack-extension are compared with the experimental measurements obtained at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Good agreements are observed. Through this comparison, the present paper presents, for the first time, a truly validated energy based fracture criterion for the analysis of stable growth and link-up of multiple cracks in an MSD situation.


Today, mobile networks are witnessing an exponential growth of traffic volumes, linked to new services, especially for smart cities and smart-grid. The European Celtic-Plus SooGREEN project, started mid 2015, is targeting to reduce the energy consumption of the services in different mobile architectures in interaction with smart-grid. So GREEN is focused on the services energy consumption modelling and measurement, the dynamic optimization of the mobile access network and of the content delivery, the design of an Energy Efficient Virtualized and Centralized Radio Access Network (RAN), and the bi-directional interaction of the mobile network with the smart-grid. This paper presents insight into the project after its first year, and discusses research trends in green communication networks for the future.


Parallel programming is complicated. This complexity arises from the compounding of low-level parallelism related issues with the problems of writing good sequential code. Over the years, various approaches have been proposed to aid parallel program developers. These approaches employ high-level models of parallel computation, thus hiding the low-level parallelism-related details from the user. Different approaches employ different abstraction techniques, such as communication libraries, macros, new parallel languages and abstract data types. In this paper, we present a templatebased approach to parallel application development, which uses frequently occurring patterns for parallelism. A parallel template is a re-usable, application-independent encapsulation of a commonly used parallel computing pattern. It is implemented as a re-usable code-skeleton for quick and reliable development of parallel applications. In the past, parallel programming systems have allowed fast prototyping of parallel applications based on commonly occurring communication and synchronization structures. The uniqueness of this approach is that the templates in this model are generic, with associated structural and behavioral attributes which can be parameterized. Templates have standard interfaces which facilitate their composition. Unlike the similar approaches in the past, which were mostly suitable for solving a limited subset of parallel applications, this approach provides a systematic development model for the hierarchical development and the subsequent refinements of a vast majority of coarsegrained parallel applications, which can be suitably solved on a network cluster. Two of the main issues addressed are: degree of flexibility in application development and extendibility (hence adaptability) of the development system as per user's need. Both of these issues were some of the major concerns in the past.


The purpose of this study  is  to determine whether the components of emotional intelligence which consists of five categories,  such as: (1). Self-Awareness, (2). Self-Regulation, (3). Motivation, (4). Empathy, and (5). Social Skills that are  effect on students' academic achievement on  accounting, Brawijaya University. This study uses primary data and secondary data. The primary data was used to measure emotional intelligence of accounting students using a questionnaire.  Meanwhile, secondary data were obtained from the accounting department to get information about the total of active students majoring in accounting. This research is categorized as Causal Study because  this  study illustrates  the cause of one or more problems. In other words, researcher is trying to link between variables. Using multiple regression analysis, the results obtained simultaneously showed that emotional intelligence does  not significantly influence  academic achievement. Partial test showed, that only empathy variable significantly affects academic achievement of accounting students. Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Accounting Student Academic Achievement


Background: Little is known over the effect of co-existence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD), DM, and pre-existing CVD on mortality among continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients.Methods: A retrospective study, with 2939 incident Chinese CAPD patients from five facilities between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2018, was conducted. The primary and secondary outcomes were all-cause and CVD mortality. The association between these interesting comorbidities and mortality was evaluated using the Cox proportional hazards regression.Results: Over a median of 35.1 months of follow-up, 519 (17.7%) patients died, with 258 (8.8%) CVD mortality. Hypertension was independently associated with co-existence of DM and pre-existing CVD using multinomial logistic regression (odd ratio 13.72, 95% CI 6.14 to 30.63). After adjusting for confounding factors, DM plus CVD, DM, and pre-existing CVD groups had a higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR 2.85, 95% CI 2.18 to 3.72; HR 1.89, 95% CI 1.50 to 2.38; and HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.92) and CVD mortality (HR 2.79, 95% CI 1.91 to 4.08; HR 1.88, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.61; and HR 1.82, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.68), respectively, compared to the control group. Compared with those pre-existing CVD patients, DM patients had 1.44 (95%CI 1.04 to 1.98)-time and 1.11 (95%CI 0.72 to 1.71) risk of all-cause and CVD mortality, respectively. There was no significant interaction between DM and CVD on all-cause and CVD mortality (β=0.203, P=0.292; β=0.281, P=0.123) in the study population. Conclusions: CAPD patients with co-existence of DM and pre-existing CVD at baseline are at highest risk of all-cause and CVD mortality, followed sequentially by DM patients and pre-existing CVD patients, with hypertension as a powerful predictor for co-existence of DM and pre-existing CVD. DM patients have a higher risk of all-cause mortality and similar risk of CVD mortality compared with pre-existing CVD patients.


. Antigen localization studies in the mirror carp Cyprinus carpio were carried out using a soluble antigen, human gamma globulin and a cellular bacterial antigen, Aeromonas salmonicida. Antigen was detected using direct single layer and indirect double layer immunofluorescent techniques, respectively. A study of the spleen, pronephros, mesonephros, liver and thymus at various times after administration of the antigen showed that fluorescence occurs mainly in the ellipsoids of the spleen and in the haemopoietic parenchyma of the pronephros and mesonephros and reaches its greatest intensity when antibody titres are relatively high. A direct comparison with antigen localization in the clawed toad Xenopus laevis, has enabled us to analyse possible evolutionary trends towards the complex dendritic retention of antigen seen in the higher vertebrates.


A 22-year-old woman with chronic calcific pancreatitis had dramatic relief of pain after pancreaticojejunostomy. Four years later, she presented with steatorrhea with osteomalacia and secondary hyperparathyroidism, a rare occurrence in chronic pancreatitis. She improved with pancreatic enzyme supplementation and calcium and vitamin D therapy.


3D system integration is a fast growing field that encompasses different types of technologies. [1] The technology chosen for a specific application will be selected according to the required electrical performance of the systems, the footprint, cost and time to market. Other important factors are the boundary conditions given for the specific components e.g. die size, integration compatibility, component availability (wafer vs. bare die) and testability. The paper discusses a specific 3D image sensor system for automotive applications. The system is based on wafer level technology using silicon interposer with Through Silicon Vias (TSV´s), a flip chip assembled sensor element and a microcontroller. The specific system concept, the technical solution and results are discussed.


There is relatively little evidence to guide the hand surgeon in deciding which method is best for the management of hand fractures. Sir William Arbuthnot Lane developed methods for internal fixation of fractures 120 years ago, yet when and whether to apply these techniques in the management of hand fractures presents a continued dilemma. We performed a retrospective study of 47 extra-articular metacarpal and phalangeal fractures in which we matched those fixated with K-Wires to those fixated with open reduction and internal fixation. We found that initial total active range of motion after surgery (as measured at the first occupational therapy visit within 10 days of surgery) as well as final total active range of motion (as measured at last occupational therapy appointment) was greater with open reduction and internal fixation. Also, open reduction and internal fixation resulted in less superficial infections and had decreased pain at the conclusion of occupational (hand) therapy. Finally, although open reduction and internal fixation was more expensive, it required fewer post-operative visits to the surgeon's office. To conclude, in our hand trauma practice, open reduction and internal fixation appears to compare favourably with percutaneous techniques in terms of having better outcomes and fewer complications while requiring fewer post-operative office visits, but costs more. It remains to be established if the quality is worth the cost, historical trends in open reduction and internal fixation are elaborated. This article may be classified as a level III retrospective therapeutic and economic/decision study.


It is a highly statistical analysis of the citizen bases of political parties in Canada, derived from interviewing in metropolitan Vancouver and Winnipeg approximately 2000 party activities, nighdwellers-neighbors similar &dquo;in sex, age and current life status but differing with respect to the pursuit of party careers&dquo;-and the public at large. The general findings of the authors are interesting but not always surprising. For example, they conclude that party officials, as children, had substantially greater contact with politically active individuals, developed an initial awareness of politics earlier in life, identified with a party and with their present parties at a younger age, and had their interests in politics triggered by direct personal involvement or by the activism of a relative. Socioeconomic status is an important factor in Canadian political involvement just as applications of stratification theory to the American political system have demonstrated greater political activism by the &dquo;haves&dquo; as opposed to the &dquo;havenots.&dquo; The authors of this study found that a greater proportion of political activists, in contrast to nigh-dwellers and the general public, came from households in which the male present was a professional, executive, or proprieter of a business, and a smaller proportion had fathers who were blue-collar or lowerstatus white-collar employees. Also, a large majority of party activists were themselves professionals, executives, or business proprietors, whereas a minority of nigh-dwellers and an even smaller minority of the general public fell into these categories. In addition to these general points, the volume presents some striking differences among the four Canadian parties. For example, Conservatives and Liberals enjoy the greatest upward mobility, while the New Democrats are the least mobile, and the Social Credit Party officials fall between. Economically, Liberals earn the largest annual incomes while New Democratic Parties (NDP) officials report the lowest. Educationally, party officials tend to have had more formal schooling then nigh-dwellers and the general population, but the two minor parties have much larger proportions of officials who do not have advanced degrees. In terms of religion, about a quarter of Liberal Party leaders


In turbomachinery, friction contacts are widely used to reduce dynamic stresses in turbine blades in order to avoid expensive damages. As a result of energy dissipation in the friction contacts the blade vibration amplitudes are reduced. In case of so-called friction dampers, which are pressed on the platforms of the blades by centrifugal forces, the damping effect can be optimized by varying the damper mass. This optimization can be done by means of a simulation model applying the so-called component mode synthesis and the Harmonic Balance Method to reduce computation time. It is based on the modal description of each substructure. In a real turbine or compressor blading great differences in the magnitude of the individual blade amplitudes occur caused by unavoidable mistuning of all system parameters like contact parameters and natural frequencies of the blades. It may happen that most of the blades experience only small stresses whereas a few blades experience critical stresses. Therefore, it is necessary to consider mistuning for all system parameters to simulate the forced response of bladed disk assemblies with friction contacts. For a mistuned bladed disk the complete system has to be modeled to calculate the dynamic response. In practice, usually the standard deviations instead of the distributions of the system parameters are known. Therefore, Monte-Carlo simulations are necessary to calculate the forced response of the blades for given mean values and standard deviations of the system parameters. To reduce the computational time, an approximate method has been developed and extended for small and moderate standard deviations of the system parameters to calculate the distribution and the envelopes of the frequency response functions for statistically varying system parameters, in the following called statistical mistuning. The approximate method is based on a sensitivity analysis and the assumption of a Weibull distribution of the vibration amplitudes of the blades. Both, the approximate method and the assumption of a Weibull distribution of the vibration amplitudes are validated by Monte-Carlo simulations. By these investigations the influence of different arrangements of the system parameters for given mean values and standard deviations of the vibration amplitudes of the blades can be determined, too. For the present investigations only a small influence of the arrangement of blades with respect to their natural frequencies has been observed. On the other hand, an intentional mistuning of the damper masses and the natural frequencies of the blades in a systematic way, in the following called systematic mistuning, can be investigated to reduce the amplitudes of the system. The simulation results of a systematic mistuning has been validated by a test rig with a rotating bladed disk assembly with friction dampers. The investigations show a good agreement between the simulations and the measurements but only a slight decrease of the maximum amplitudes in case of a systematic mistuning.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


OBJECTIVE
To assess the safety and efficacy of Neuroform Atlas stent used in treatment of unruptured wide-neck intracranial aneurysms.

METHODS
Clinical data of 62 patients with unruptured wide-neck intracranial aneurysms undergoing Neuroform Atlas stent-assisted coiling from August 2020 to September 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 64 aneurysms in those 62 patients. Among them, 25 aneurysms were located at the bifurcation of M1 segment on middle cerebral artery, 16 at the anterior communicating artery, 10 at the C7 segment of internal carotid artery, 5 at the C6 segment of internal carotid artery, 4 at the apex of basilar artery, 3 at the A3 segment of anterior cerebral artery, and 1 at the M2 segment of middle cerebral artery. All the patients underwent Neuroform Atlas stent-assisted coiling, including 49 patients with single stent assisted coiling and 15 patients with dual stents assisted coiling (14"Y"style and 1"X"style). After the procedure, the immediate DSA was performed to evaluate the status of aneurysm occlusion and the parent artery patency. The clinical follow-up was performed 3 months after the operation and evaluated based on the modified Rankin Scale(mRS).DSA image was reviewed at 6 months after operation and Raymond grading scale was used to assess the status of aneurysm occlusion and the parent artery patency.

RESULTS
A total of 62 patients with 64 aneurysms were all achieved technical success(100%).The immediate post-procedural Raymond scale was assessed, including Raymond Ⅰ in 57 aneurysms(89.1%, 57/64), Raymond Ⅱ in 6 aneurysms(9.3%, 6/64) and Raymond Ⅲ in 1 aneurysm(1.6%, 1/64). The peri-procedural complications rate was 4.8%(3/62), 2 patients developed intraoperative thrombosis and 1 patient suffered from local subarachnoid hemorrhage. Among them, 55 patients obtained 3 months clinical follow-up after operation and all the patients had good outcomes (mRS≤2), 50 patients with 52 aneurysms were followed up with DSA 6 months after operation, including Raymond Ⅰ in 45 aneurysms(86.5%, 45/52), Raymond Ⅱ in 4 aneurysms(7.7%, 4/52) and Raymond Ⅲ in 3 aneurysms(5.8%, 3/52).

CONCLUSION
Neuroform Atlas stent for the treatment of unruptured wide-neck intracranial aneurysms has high safety and good efficacy, and has its advantages over other traditional stents.