Advanced database systems face a great challenge raised by the emergence of massive, complex structural data in bioinformatics, chem-informatics, and many other applications. The most fundamental support needed in these applications is the efficient search of complex structured data. Since exact matching is often too restrictive, similarity search of complex structures becomes a vital operation that must be supported efficiently.In this paper, we investigate the issues of substructure similarity search using indexed features in graph databases. By transforming the edge relaxation ratio of a query graph into the maximum allowed missing features, our structural filtering algorithm, called Grafil, can filter many graphs without performing pairwise similarity computations. It is further shown that using either too few or too many features can result in poor filtering performance. Thus the challenge is to design an effective feature set selection strategy for filtering. By examining the effect of different feature selection mechanisms, we develop a multi-filter composition strategy, where each filter uses a distinct and complementary subset of the features. We identify the criteria to form effective feature sets for filtering, and demonstrate that combining features with similar size and selectivity can improve the filtering and search performance significantly. Moreover, the concept presented in Grafil can be applied to searching approximate non-consecutive sequences, trees, and other complicated structures as well.


— An unavoidable category of molecular species in large-scale tritium applications, such as nuclear fusion, are tritium-substituted hydrocarbons, which form by radiochemical reactions in the presence of (circulating) tritium and carbon (mainly from the steel of vessels and tubing). Tritium-substituted methane species, CQ 4 (with Q = H,D,T), are often the precursor for higher-order reaction chains, and thus are of particular interest. Here we describe the controlled production of CQ 4 carried out in the CAPER facility of the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe, exploiting catalytic reactions and species enrichment via the CAPER integral permeator. CQ 4 was generated in substantial quantities (>1000 cm 3 at ~850 mbar, with CQ 4 content of up to ~20%). The samples were analyzed using laser Raman and mass spectrometry to determine the relative isotopologue composition and to trace the generation of tritiated chain hydrocarbons.


During this summer of 2009, 12 American medical students from the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM – Latin American School of Medicine) in Havana, Cuba will board a Recreational Vehicle (RV) to travel across the Southwest region of the United States visiting a number of tribal settlements of American Indian Nations, community colleges and universities. While at the various sites the students will share their personal experiences of what it's like to study at ELAM while promoting the availability of full scholarships for students, volunteer their services while learning about some of the more significant health concerns affecting American Indian populations and to build personal and professional relationships with health care practitioners and members of Native American communities.


Meningiomas are amongst the most commonly encountered intracranial tumors. The majority of these tumors arise intracranially, and the remaining incidents occur along the spinal cord. Meningiomas tend to grow gradually, with many tumors arising in inaccessible locations. Such sporadic behavior poses a therapeutic challenge to clinicians, causing incomplete tumor resections that often lead to recurrence. Therefore, ongoing research seeks to find alternative systematic treatments for meningiomas, with gene-based therapeutics of high interest. Subsequently, genetic studies characterized frequent somatic mutations in NF2, TRAF7, KLF4, AKT1, SMO, and PIK3CA. These genes are communally exhibited in 80% of sporadic meningiomas. In addition, other genes such as the DUSP family, the NR4 family, CMKOR, and FOSL2, have been identified as key players in spinal meningiomas. In this perspective, we aim to investigate current genetic-based studies, with the ongoing research mainly focused on the above NF2, TRAF7, KLF4, AKT1, SMO, and PIK3CA genes and their involved pathways. In addition, this perspective can serve as a potential cornerstone for future genetic analyses of meningioma cases.


By using an atomic force microscope based on a quartz tuning fork sensor, a 3-dimensional description of the interface between liquid hexadecane and a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surface can be achieved at room temperature. The C16H34 monolayer in contact with the substrate surface exhibits a lamellar structure whereas no observation at the liquid/graphite interface by scanning tunnelling microscopy was reported for this alkane. The second layer shows very weak corrugations corresponding to lamella boundaries. Force/distance curves show at least four oscillations separated by 0.4 nm except for the first period with a 0.38 nm distance that corresponds to the layer closer the substrate. Such a description agrees well with molecular dynamics results obtained on alkane/solid interfaces.


The slow combustion of methyl ethyl ketone has been carefully investigated in both the "high" and "low" temperature regimes. The products of reaction in the two temperature regions are different, and the study of the low temperature reaction is made difficult by the irreproducibility and extreme length of the induction period. The reaction involves free radical chains, with degenerate branching. At high temperatures formaldehyde brings about branching, whereas, at low temperatures, methyl hydroperoxide and peracetic acid are both involved in the multiplication of chain carriers.


The accuracy and precision of estimates of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from serum creatinine, age, sex and body weight using the methods proposed by Cockroft and Gault and by Siersbaeck-Nielsen et al, were determined in 234 subjects on 574 occasions. The two methods gave almost identical estimates of GFR. As reference for determination of GFR plasma clearance of 51Cr-EDTA as described by Bröchner-Mortensen was used. The estimates of GFR gave a systematic deviation of about 10 ml/min and a precision of about +/- 15 ml/min (1 SD) in the GFR range between 30 and 90 ml/min.


The U.S. Geological Survey operates four programs to provide external quality-assurance of wet deposition monitoring by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and the National Trends Network. An intersite-comparison program assesses the precision and bias of onsite determinations of pH and specific conductance made by site operators. A blind-audit program is used to assess the effect of routine sample-handling procedures and transportation on the precision and bias of wet-deposition data. An interlaboratory-comparison program is used to assess analytical results from three or more laboratories, which routinely analyze wet-deposition samples from the major North American networks, to determine if comparability exists between laboratory analytical results and to provide estimates of the analytical precision of each laboratory. A collocated-sampler program is used to estimate the precision of wet/dry precipitation sampling throughout the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and the National Trends Network, to assess the variability of diverse spatial arrays, and to evaluate the impact of violations of specific site criteria. The report documents the procedures and analytical methods used in these four quality-assurance programs.


This paper aims to investigate the determinants of knowledge management (KM) adoption on organizational and individual level, as well as its impact on non-financial performance through an intermediary of organizational learning ("OL"). The KM adoption model was constructed by using a combination of TOE (Technology, Organizational and Environment) for the organizational level and TPE (Technology, Personal, and Environmental) framework for the individual level; this we called the TOPE (Technology, Personal, Organizational, and Environment) framework. Questionnaires were sent to 60 Indonesian big companies which participated in the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award. Data from 139 respondents (51 companies) was analysed using partial least squares (PLS). This study showed the most essential factors influencing KM adoption and practice are perceived usefulness, ease of use of KM technology, industrial factors, management support, organization culture, and IT infrastructure. Meanwhile, the factors that are loosely connected to adoption initiative and KM practice are mimetic pressure, strategic planning, and organizational structure. In addition, the result of this study inferred that KM adoption and implementation fairly impact on the improvement of non-financial performance by the intermediary of organizational learning capability improvement. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2016.08.025


Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs), with excellent electronic and optical properties, are promising for a variety of optoelectronic and photonic applications. However, the instability issue still impedes their practical applications. Here a ligand-assisted swelling–deswelling microencapsulation (LASDM) strategy is proposed and evaluated for improving the stability and photoluminescence (PL) performance of PNCs. With ligand assistance, well dispersed and intimately passivated PNCs in polymer matrices are obtained. Compared with the previously reported swelling–deswelling microencapsulation (SDM) strategy, the proposed method can provide better nanocrystal size control and surface coordination. Thus, full-color perovskite–polymer composites (PPCs) with unprecedented environmental stability can be achieved and concentration quenching can be avoided in polymer matrices. The excellent color purity, color tunability, optical density variability and environmental stability make PPCs highly promising for a range of PL applications, such as tailored lighting and transparent projection displays. Moreover, the simple, low cost, scalable process and the compatibility of this method with a group of polymer matrices should pave the way for PPCs to meet the requirements for practical use.


Most clonal plants exhibit a modular structure at multiple levels. At the level of the organs, they are characterized by functional modules, such as, internodes, leaves, branches. At the level of the genetic individual (clone or genet), they possess independent evolutionary and physiological units (ramets). These evolutionary units arise through the widespread phenomenon of clonal reproduction, achieved in a variety of ways including rhizomes, stolons, bulbils, or lateral roots. The focus of this study was Populus tremuloides, trembling aspen, a dioecious tree that reproduces sexually by seed and asexually through lateral roots. Local forest patches in western populations of Populus tremuloides consisted largely of multiple genotypes. Multi-clonal patches were dominated by a single genotype, and in one population (Riske Creek) we found several patches (five out of 17) consisting of a single genotype. A second consequence of modularity is that during the repeated cycle of ramet birth, development and death, somatic mutations have the opportunity to occur. Eventually, the clone becomes a mosaic of mutant and non-mutant cell lineages. We found that neutral somatic mutations accumulated across 14 microsatellite loci at a rate of between 10 and 10 per locus per year. We suggest that neutral genetic divergence, under a star phylogeny model of clonal growth, is an alternative way to estimate clone age. Previous estimates of clone age couple the mean growth rate per year of shoots with the area covered by the clone. This assumes a positive linear relationship between clone age and clone size. We found, however, no repeatable pattern across our populations in terms of the relationship of either shape or size to the number of somatic changes. A final consequence of modularity is that during clonal growth, natural selection is relaxed for traits involving sexual function. This means that mutations deleterious to sexual function can accumulate, reducing the overall sexual fitness of a clone. We coupled neutral genetic divergence within clones with pollen fitness data to infer the rate and effect of mildly deleterious mutations. Mutations reduced relative sexual fitness in clonal aspen populations by about 0.12x10 to 1.01x10 per year. Furthermore, the decline in sexual function with clone age is evidence that clonal organisms are vulnerable to the effects of senescence.


Abstract Post-bog soils developed from limnic calcareous sediments are closely related to a young-glacial landscape and postglacial lakes in Northern Poland. The studies conducted in 2010–2012 on post-bog soils near lake Dubie (Równina Drawska, NW Poland), partially used as an arable land. The goal of research was to characterise some chemical and physical properties of post-bog soils developed from carbonate deposits near lake Dubie. The soils of the analysed area developed from lacustrine chalk and calcareous gyttja belong to black earth and mucky soils. Organic matter content in surface horizons ranged from 5.0 to 14.2%, content of CaCO3 from 27.2 to 55.2%, the highest carbonate content was found in arable soil. The soils of the study area were characterised by a narrow C/N ratio, low level of total form of P and a high content of Ca. Specific density of surface horizons was in the range 2.49 to 2.58 Mg · m−3, bulk density from 0.445 to 1.212 Mg · m−3. High porosity was also found in the examined formations, from 0.826 in surface horizons and 0.700 m3 · m−3 in limnic deposits.


Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprising Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are intestinal inflammatory disorders with a complex genetic background. Mice deficient for the runt‐domain‐transcription‐factor3 (Runx3) develop spontaneous colitis. Human RUNX3 resides in an IBD‐susceptibility locus. We studied the association of RUNX3 in a cohort of IBD patients and analyzed the interaction with SLC22A4/5. RUNX3 and OCTN1 mRNA expression was assessed in inflamed and noninflamed mucosa from patients and controls. Methods: 543 IBD patients (309 CD / 234 UC) and 296 controls were included. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 4 microsatellite markers were studied for RUNX3. Five SNPs (including SNP‐207G→C and SNP1672C→T) were analyzed for SLC22A4/5. RUNX3, and OCTN1 expression in mucosal tissue from 30 patients (14 UC / 16 CD) and 6 controls were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: A significant association between RUNX3‐SNP rs2236851 and UC (OR 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11–2.32, P = 0.020) was found. Carriership is associated with pancolitis (odds ratio [OR] 1.86; 95% CI 1.08–3.21). SLC22A4/5‐SNPs rs272893 and rs273900 are associated with CD (OR 2.16; 95% CI 1.21–3.59 and OR 2.40; 95% CI 1.43–4.05). We found epistasis for carriership of a risk‐associated allele in RUNX3 and SLC22A4/5 for UC patients versus CD patients (OR 3.83; 95% CI 1.26–11.67). RUNX3 mRNA expression is increased (P = 0.01) in inflamed colonic mucosa of UC patients compared to noninflamed mucosa and controls. Conclusions: We provide evidence for the genetic association of RUNX3 with UC and for CD with the IBD5 locus including SLC22A4/5. An epistatic effect of RUNX3 and SLC22A4 was associated with an increased risk for UC. Our data suggest a role for RUNX3 in UC susceptibility.


Least-mean square (LMS) filter and Independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm are two popular methods for removing motion artifacts [1]. A selection algorithm is proposed to hybrid LMS and ICA for reducing baseline and abrupt these two dominant motion artifacts. The objective of designing this hybrid method is: (1) Improve the performance of the motion artifacts removal algorithm. (2) Reduce power consumption when implemented in a digital signal processor (DSP).


This study details the morphology of Platyallabes tihoni (Poll, 1944) as part of a complete revision of the anguilliform clariids. The overall body form of air-breathing clariids ranges from fusiform to anguilliform genera (BOULENGER, 1911; PELLEGRIN, 1927). Although P. tihoni has the typical external morphological features of other elongate clariids, this study shows that it occupies an intermediate position between fusiform and anguilliform taxa with regards to its cranial and postcranial morphology. The main morphological similarities of anguilliform species are a narrow skull roof with a high level of interdigitation between the bones, the reduced canal bones, a connection between the neurocranium and suspensorium via several processes, an extended tooth patch on the lower jaw and the hypertrophied jaw muscle complex. Shared features typical for the fusiform species are a low coronoid process on the lower jaw and the posteroventral orientation of the opercular process on the hyomandibula. Platyallabes tihoni shows a series of unique features: an anterior fontanel situated entirely between the frontals, two tooth plates on the prevomer, a reduced height of the suspensorium, the absence of an anterior bony plate on the hyomandibula, a horizontal position of the sphenotic and pterotic and a toothed entopterygoid. Many of these unique characters are linked to the spatial constraints associated with an extremely flattened skull of this species.


While xenobiotic carboxylic acids (XCAs) have been studied extensively with respect to their enzymatic conversion to potentially reactive acyl glucuronides with implications to drug induced hepatotoxicity, the formation of xenobiotic-S-acyl-CoA thioesters (xenobiotic-CoAs) have been much less studied in spite of data indicating that such conjugates may be equally or more reactive than the corresponding acyl glucuronides. This review addresses enzymes and cell organelles involved in the formation of xenobiotic-CoAs, the reactivity of such conjugates toward biological macromolecules, and in vitro and in vivo methodology to assess consequences of such reactivity. Further, the propensity of xenobiotic-CoAs to interfere with endogenous lipid metabolism, e.g., inhibition of β-oxidation or depletion of the CoA or carnitine pools, adds to the complexity of the potential contribution of XCAs to hepatotoxicity by a number of mechanisms in addition to those in common with the corresponding acyl glucuronides. On the basis of our review of the literature on xenobiotic-CoA conjugates, there appear to be a number of gaps in our understanding of the bioactivation of XCA both with respect to the mechanisms involved and the experimental approaches to distinguish between the role of acyl glucuronides and xenobiotic-CoA conjugates. These aspects are focused upon and described in detail in this review.


We present VMM1, the first prototype of a family of front-end ASICs designed for the ATLAS muon upgrade. The ASIC will operate with MICROMEGAS and TGC detectors, providing charge and timing measurements along with other features including sub-hysteresis discrimination, address of the first event in real time, and digital output per channel for Time-over-Threshold measurements. The shaper, designed via the concept of Delayed Dissipative Feedback (DDF), supports analog dynamic ranges in excess of 10 \thinspace000. With a capacitance of 200 pF and a nominal peaking time of 25 ns, the ASIC offers resolution of charge and timing better than 1 fC and 1 ns, respectively, for input charges up to 2 pC. Designed in a commercial 130 nm technology it dissipates about 4.5 mW per channel.


Few would have predicted that the issue of a 'UK without Convention Rights' would be seriously debated less than fifteen years after the introduction of the HRA, and yet the issue could not be 'more timely or topical', as recently admitted by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls. It is against this background that the paper will pose the question of the role of human rights in determining what can and cannot happen in the criminal process. But rather than hypothesising at theoretical level, it will take the examples of police interrogation and the law of improperly obtained evidence, and will remember their past: what did these look like at a time when questions relating to suspects' rights were generally viewed as impertinent, and was there change with the emergence of a human rights culture under the ECHR? By looking back, the paper will also make it possible to look forward, into a post-apocalyptic future of a UK criminal process that would sit outside the ECHR. Comparative examples from Scotland and France will further illustrate the positive impact of the ECHR, while examples from the law of police interrogation and improperly obtained evidence in the United States and Greece will more generally highlight the inextricable link between human rights and the criminal process, thus exposing as paradoxical efforts to separate the two.


I studied the influence of microhabitat on the predator-sensitive foraging (PSF) of Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi) at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar from June 11, 2007 to August 10, 2007. Three groups of sifaka from a gallery, closedcanopy forest, a riverine forest, and the spiny/scrub forest were observed. PSF was assessed by measuring the spatial location, spatial cohesiveness, and rate of vigilance, vocal, and non-vocal alarm behaviour of foraging sifaka. While there were statistically significant between-group differences in the spatial location (i.e., terrestrial, low-, midand high-canopy) used while foraging, there were no statistically significant inter-group differences in spatial cohesiveness, terrestrial or aerial vigilance, or in the frequency of vocal (i.e., terrestrial and aerial calls) or non-vocal (i.e., gestural) alarms. Thus, it appears that the PSF of free-living Verreaux's sifaka is largely uninfluenced by variation in microhabitat.


BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to investigate the tendency for local processing style ('weak central coherence') and executive dysfunction in parents of subjects with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with parents of individuals with early onset schizophrenia (EOS) and mental retardation (MR).

METHOD
Sixty-two parents of subjects with ASD, 36 parents of subjects with EOS and 30 parents of subjects with MR were examined. Data on two scales indicative of local visual processing (Embedded Figures Test, Block Design) and on three executive function tests (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Tower of Hanoi, Trailmaking Test) were collected for all participants.

RESULTS
Parents of subjects with ASD performed significantly faster on the Embedded Figures Test compared with both control samples. No other substantial group differences were observed.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that an increased tendency for local processing in terms of visual disembedding could be a relatively specific core feature of the broader cognitive phenotype of autism in parents.


Impacts of invasive species on rare species are relevant to conservation. We studied the response of Leedy's roseroot Rhodiola integrifolia subsp. leedyi, a subspecies listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, to removal of the invasive species Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica. Japanese knotweed has invaded the largest known population of Leedy's roseroot, affecting about 10% of all Leedy's roseroot in the world. Japanese knotweed shaded Leedy's roseroot, but the two did not share belowground resources because of their position on cliffs. To study this interaction and, ultimately, to restore Leedy's roseroot habitat to an open, high-light condition, we removed Japanese knotweed in a three-treatment block design. We measured Leedy's roseroot abundance, growth, and reproduction in treatment blocks and in uninvaded areas before and after treatment. Compared with uninvaded areas, Japanese knotweed invasion negatively affected Leedy's roseroot abundance, growth, and reproduction. Light interception by Japanese knotweed degraded the habitat for Leedy's roseroot. Herbicide removal of Japanese knotweed resulted in increased light and temperature compared with untreated invaded plots but did not affect Leedy's roseroot abundance, growth, or reproduction over the 2 y of our study. These results show that invasive species removal is conducive to restoring Leedy's roseroot habitat, but recovery in the subspecies may lag behind restoration of the habitat, suggesting that additional action or time may be required to restore preinvasion performance of Leedy's roseroot. Results of this study may inform restoration efforts for other systems and contribute to the literature on interspecific interactions.


The Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), a measure of the scattering and absorption of light by aerosols, has been extensively used for scientific research such as monitoring air quality near the surface due to fine particles aggregated, aerosol radiative forcing (cooling effect against the warming effect by carbon dioxide CO2 ), aerosol long-term trend analysis and the climate change on regional and global scale. Aerosols vary greatly over time and space. This is because of the short lifetime of aerosols (a few hours to a week), and also because of the heterogeneous distribution of sources and the variable effectiveness of atmospheric mixing though turbulence. To monitor aerosols, observations by space-borne instruments have a huge advantage (nearly global coverage daily) over ground-based measurements (point observation). Global quantitative aerosol information has been derived from satellite measurements for decades. The MODerate resolution Imaging Sepctroradiometer (MODIS) AOD product is proven to be mature and is extensively applied in different scientific fields. The current AOD product generated with the collection 6 (C6) Dark Target (C6_DT) algorithm over land is still suffering from errors or biases due to parameterization, assumptions, modeling, and retrieval techniques as well as ill-posed problems, presenting large uncertainties, including regional bias, angular effects and a large number of unphysical negative values. Chapter 1 discusses the challenges and limitations in the current satellite aerosol retrieval algorithm. Owing to the use of static aerosol properties (predefined aerosol models and fixed vertical profile over the globe), the MODIS algorithm may give serious errors since aerosols can change over time and are distributed very diversely at different altitude levels. To quantify these errors, in Chapter 3 the sensitivity of AOD retrieval to the variation of aerosol vertical profiles and types with the MODIS algorithm is evaluated by a set of experiments. It was found that the AOD retrieval shows a high sensitivity to different vertical profiles and types. As suggested by the sensitivity study, it is necessary to investigate the impact of dynamical aerosol properties in a real case. To do this, an adaptive development of the MODIS C6_DT algorithm was implemented to consider realistic aerosol vertical profile in the retrieval (Chapter 4). MODIS and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements were used. Inferred from CALIPSO data, the vertical profile was applied into the new algorithm to generate an accurate Top Of the Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance for the retrieval. The AOD retrieval was compared between C6_DT and the new algorithm with cases of heavy smoke and dust. The difference in the retrieval was significant between C6_DT and the new algorithm, which demonstrated that C6_DT would give large errors in the retrieval for these cases. In the MODIS algorithm, the assumption of the surface with isotropic reflection (Lambertian) is inconsistent with the well-known fact that the surface has a strong anisotropic reflection (non-Lambertian), and could lead to large uncertainties in estimating the surface contribution to satellite measurements, with resulting errors in the AOD retrieval. Chapter 5 describes a newly developed algorithm (BRF_DT) by considering non-Lambertian surface reflectance characterized by Bidirectional Distribution Reflectance Function (BRDF), where the surface reflection is described by four reflectance properties — bidirectional, directional-hemispherical, hemispherical-directional, and bihemispherical reflectance and coupled into the radiative transfer process to generate an accurate TOA reflectance. In addition, a parameterization of spectral relationship inherited from C6_DT was applied to constrain the surface BRF. The remaining three components are determined by MODIS BRDF/albedo product. As shown by sample plots and histograms as well as analysis and comparison against AERONET measurements, the AOD retrievals were significantly improved by BRF_DT especially for areas with heavy aerosol loading. For the case of areas with light aerosol loading, the parameterization of spectral surface BRF should be further refined to yield a better retrieval. Chapter 6 shows that a new parameterization was derived for the BRF_DT algorithm (called BRF_DT2) by using 3 years of BRF data from AERONET-based Surface Reflectance Validation Network (AS-RVN). The contribution to the TOA reflectance dominated by the surface BRF was well estimated. As a result, negative retrievals and angular biases were significantly reduced in BRF_DT2. A summary of the current and future research of satellite aerosol retrieval is introduced in Chapter 7.


Various geophysical explorations have recently been conducted in the seafloor hydrothermal field to estimate the scale of the seafloor massive sulfide. However, information obtained from geophysical exploration is limited. Therefore, in order to interpret the geological information under the seafloor based on the results of the geophysical exploration, it is necessary that the detailed analysis is carried out on hard-rock and sediment samples obtained on the surface and the lower of the seafloor, for comparing their features with results of geophysical exploration. In this study, we obtained rock samples in several hydrothermal fields; then we measured various physical properties and analyzed the chemical compositions, and we also investigated their relationship. As for physical properties, in particular, electric conductivity and spectral IP characteristics were investigated in detail. In samples with high electrical conductivity, some sulfide minerals, known to have high conductivity, were found to be contained. In spectral IP, some samples having a plurality of frequencies causing a peak in the phase difference of the voltage across the sample was observed. It is thought that this is due to the mixture of a plurality of sulfide minerals having different average particle sizes. In fact, in this study, we succeeded in reproducing the frequency characteristics of the sample by the rock physics model we constructed, assuming such characteristics. In the future work, we will study the consistency of the phenomena observed in this research and our new rock physics model through experiments on artificial samples using plural sulfide minerals of different particle sizes and types.


We reviewed all cases of massive primary postpartum haemorrhage greater than 1000 mL over a six month period in 1999 to establish the incidence, identify aetiological factors and implement change. Fifty‐four cases (1.7%) were identified. We classified four as 'near‐miss' maternal mortality. Over 60% were delivered by caesarean section. Seventy‐six percent were due to uterine atony, 9% due to genital tract trauma and 15% were associated with significant antepartum haemorrhage from placenta praevia or abruption. No obvious labour or delivery risk factors were identified but deviation from hospital guidelines was common. Following revision of the guidelines, dissemination to staff and use of practice drills, we repeated the study on a prospective basis over the same time period in 2002. There was a significant reduction in the incidence of massive postpartum haemorrhage to 0.45%, and 100% adherence to the guidelines which resulted in a significant reduction in maternal morbidity. We believe that this approach can be replicated in other units.


Objective: Review and integrate the neurologic manifestations of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, to aid medical practitioners who are combating the newly derived infectious disease. Methods: We reviewed the clinical research, consisting of mainly case series, on reported neurologic manifestations of COVID-19. We also reviewed basic studies to understand the mechanism of these neurologic symptoms and signs. Results: We included 79 studies for qualitative synthesis and 63 studies for meta-analysis. The reported neurologic manifestations were olfactory/taste disorders (35.6%), myalgia (18.5%), headache (10.7%), acute cerebral vascular disease (8.1%), dizziness (7.9%), altered mental status (7.8%), seizure (1.5%), encephalitis, neuralgia, ataxia, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Miller Fisher syndrome, intracerebral hemorrhage, polyneuritis cranialis, and dystonic posture. Conclusions: Neurologic manifestations in COVID-19 may alert physicians and medical practitioners to rule in high-risk patients. The increasing incidence of olfactory/taste disorders, myalgia, headache, and acute cerebral vascular disease renders a possibility that COVID-19 could attack the nervous system. The cytokine secretion and bloodstream circulation (viremia) are among the most possible routes into the nervous system.


Ground vibrations associated with pile construction have long been regarded as a significant drawback of driven piles. This paper presents measured ground vibrations associated with the construction of enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles. Data were obtained using servo accelerometers measuring acceleration in three orthogonal directions, and at varying lateral distances from the driven pile. The accelerations are converted to peak particle velocities; the widely accepted measure of ground-vibration damage. The peak particle velocities are compared to recommended maximum values, data presented by others, as well as human perception of ground vibration. The maximum measured peak particle velocity of 8.8 mm/s was associated with the development of the enlarged base, at a lateral distance of 3.5 m from the pile. The data suggest that enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles can be used successfully in the urban environment. The measurements are, however, site-specific and should be used with caution in different soil profiles.


Wireless technology is rapidly evolving, and is playing an important role in the lives of people throughout the world. Due to the nature of open guide medium of wireless communications, it is possible for an adversary to snoop on confidential communications or modify them to gain access to the wireless networks more easily than with wired networks, which has been drawing great attentions. In this paper, we focus on improving the security of IEEE 802.11 networks through secure key distribution using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) which offer unconditional security between two communication parties. In our previous research work, we have demonstrated a novel protocol using quantum cryptography for secure key distribution in IEEE 802.11 networks. In our current paper, we analysis the experimental results we obtained in our previous research works, which will be focusing on the reconciliation phase of this protocol.


The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a sudden transformation at universities. The previous mode of teaching has been replaced by remote education, the effectiveness of which depends, among other things, on the technological infrastructure of universities and the digital competence of lecturers and students. The main objective of this study is to evaluate remote learning in higher education from the students' point of view. The uniqueness of the present research approach lies in the identification of four dimensions (socio-emotional, developmental, time-financial, and negative attitude) of students' evaluation of remote learning in higher education. The survey was conducted on 999 students studying remotely, including 518 women and 481 men. Most of the students surveyed had been studying remotely for 1–2 years and were studying full-time for their first degree. The research tool consisted of 16 mixed survey questions. Six of them were related to sociodemographic factors (including those related to the respondents' education), and eight were related to their experiences with and opinions about remote education, respectively. The remaining two questions were used to collect respondents' evaluations of the degree of importance to them of various advantages and disadvantages of remote education. The research showed that among the advantages of remote learning for students, the most important are saving time, the possibility of studying at a university far from home (another city, another country), the possibility of combining work and study, and reduced commuting costs. On the other hand, the disadvantages of remote learning of greatest importance to students include the loss of social ties due to lack of contact with peers, feelings of fatigue resulting from excessive use of information and communication tools, and greater susceptibility to various forms of distraction. In addition, the shape of students' education was relevant to the different dimensions of their evaluation of remote learning in higher education. The social-emotional size of remote learning is more important for students who study remotely in a blended mode (compared to uniform). The developmental dimension is essential for students who participate in remote learning activities for longer during the day. In addition, a more extended period of remote learning promotes the greater importance of the time-financial dimension when evaluating remote knowledge.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a 12 week class-based exercise programme on overweight women aged 55-70 years. Methods: Twenty six subjects (n=13 exercisers, n=13 controls) age (mean +/-s.d.) 63 (+/-4) years completed the study. The exercise sessions were carried out twice per week for 12 weeks. The variables measured were body mass, body mass index (BMI), skinfold thickness, resting blood pressure, total blood cholesterol, chair rise, timed 'Up and Go' Test, 20 Metre Walk, lifting a 1kg and 2kg bag onto a shelf, stair walking, sit and reach flexibility test and Life Satisfaction. The exercise sessions consisted of 40 minute sessions during which the subjects performed aerobic, strength and flexibility exercises. Results: Paired analyses showed that the exercise group decreased significantly for body mass, BMI, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic values), "up & go" time, time to complete a 20M walk, time to lift a 1kg bag with the right arm onto a shelf and a 2kg bag with both the right and left arms, stair climbing (total time and ascent time). The exercise group significantly improved their Life Satisfaction Index score compared with the control group. Conclusions: The results indicate that a class-based exercise programme has the potential to improve performance in a number of physiological variables and functional activities in overweight women. The exercise programme enhanced life satisfaction.


Tumor responses to PD-1 blockade therapy are mediated by T cells, which we characterized in 102 tumor biopsies obtained from 53 patients treated with pembrolizumab, an antibody to PD-1. Biopsies were dissociated and single cell infiltrates were analyzed by multicolor flow cytometry using two computational approaches to resolve the leukocyte phenotypes at the single cell level. There was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of T cells in patients who responded to therapy. The frequency of intratumoral B cells and monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (moMDSCs) significantly increased in patients' biopsies taken on treatment. The percentage of cells with a T regulatory phenotype, monocytes, and NK cells did not change while on PD-1 blockade therapy. CD8 T memory cells were the most prominent phenotype that expanded intratumorally on therapy. However, the frequency of CD4 T effector memory cells significantly decreased on treatment, whereas CD4 T effector cells significantly increased in nonresponding tumors on therapy. In peripheral blood, an unusual population of blood cells expressing CD56 were detected in two patients with regressing melanoma. In conclusion, PD-1 blockade increases the frequency of T cells, B cells, and MDSCs in tumors, with the CD8 T effector memory subset being the major T-cell phenotype expanded in patients with a response to therapy. on November 2, 2017. © 2016 American Association for Cancer Research. cancerimmunolres.aacrjournals.org Downloaded from Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on January 19, 2016; DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-15-0210


The faulty microstructure of KDP samples having different bulk laser damage threshold (4 X 1010 W/cm2 - 5.4 X 1011 W/cm2 was studied using the methods of the three-crystal x-ray diffraction and two-crystal topography on reflection. A correlation between the dispersion of the structure-sensitive parameters characterizing the microfaultness and the value of bulk laser threshold of samples cut off large KDP crystals was established.


Discrepancy frequently exists between the perspectives of psychotherapists and their patients about what problems and which patients are suitable for psychotherapy and how psychotherapy should be conducted. Lazare et al.'s (1972, 1975a) negotiated 'customer' approach attempts to correct this deficiency by providing mental health services that more fully take into account the specific service requests of patients. Lazare's 14 identified services were applied to develop profiles of each of four service types, including two classes of psychotherapy. Applying the criteria developed, 52.6 per cent of patients evaluated could be classified into one of four classes of service. Only two patients presented a pattern of service requests consistent with a broadly defined supportive psychotherapy. The three largest patient groups were then compared with respect to several classes of variables. Major differences were found between the non-psychotherapy group and the two psychotherapy groups, but not between the psychotherapy groups. Service requests of patients generally paralleled those perceived by the interviewers.


: Shared control is a promising approach that can facilitate the mutual understanding and cooperative control between human and machine. In this study, a novel reference-free framework for shared control of automated vehicles is proposed with the aim of mitigating conflicts between the human driver and the automatic system during their interactions. Position constraint and time to collision are deployed to prevent collision and guarantee stability by limiting the yaw rate and sideslip angle of the vehicle. The design of the shared controller is formulated as a model predictive control problem. It determines vehicle state based on the current driver command and implements control actions only if the vehicle state induced by the human driver violates the pre-defined constraints. The system models, safety constraints and the proposed shared controller are then integrated. The algorithm is validated through computer simulation under two different driving scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed reference-free approach can offer the human driver more degrees of freedom during shared control, effectively mitigating human–machine conflicts, compared to the previous work. In addition, the algorithm ensures the safety and stability of the system under risky driving conditions, validating its feasibility and effectiveness.


one Greek, after EC funds failed to materialise to support wider participation. The British contribution came from the pupils of the Royal National College for the Blind, taught by John Everett, and the Greek exhibition was by the pupils of the School for the Blind of Northern Greece, taught by myself. In both cases the exhibitions represented a culmination of many years of teaching which, though carried out entirely independently, produced results which had many more similarities than divergencies. For a start, both exhibitions made the clear statement that limited vision (even severely limited vision in some cases) should not deter people from exploring painting and drawing as means of expression. It came as a surprise to many visitors that not all students at schools for the blind are com-


This article challenges the common distinction between a Western and an Eastern type of nationalism with regard to Russian nationalism. Analysing the civic nationalism of the Decembrists and the cultural nationalism of the Slavophiles, it argues that the type of nationalism that appears in a specific country has more to do with timing than with place or social conditions. The article also suggests that intellectual thought should be studied in an international rather than a national context and that the world of ideas has to be granted a considerable degree of autonomy from socioeconomic conditions.


Before the service of a medical social worker especially trained for work with patients in an ophthalmologic service was initiated in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, it was decided to survey the patient group for the preceding year in order to determine what kinds of patients needed social care and how the worker could best concentrate her efforts to benefit the patients and the service. This was deemed desirable because numerous studies have shown much waste of the ophthalmologist's time in the clinic through the patient's lack of understanding of his ophthalmic conditions and, therefore, a failure to carry out the plan of treatment recommended. During the year 1940, 1,636 new patients came to the ophthalmologic clinic of the University Hospital. Of these every third patient was chosen for the study, making a total of 599. A large sample was taken in this way because it would cover


By recording one country's experience with its vast natural resource base, America's Renewable Resources: Historical Trends and Current Challenges will help to inform the management of future demands on the resource base in the U.S. and throughout the world. The contributors focus specifically on renewable resources--water, forests, rangeland, cropland and soils, and wildlife--which possess the capacity to restore themselves after they have be consumed. Because this capacity can be destroyed and the time required for restoration can be very long, a balance in their use is necessary to sustain continued productivity. In arresting fashion, the authors trace the history of each resource's use from early colonial times through periods of dramatic, sometimes cataclysmic, changes in its utilization by an expanding, diversifying society. They show how unforeseen consequences have forced social institutions into existence and compelled policy makers, especially at the federal level, to deal with problems for which they were largely unprepared. America's Renewable Resources, by examining changes in demand, technologies, policies, and institutions, will assist both policy makers and the public at large to look past short-term events to the conditions fundamental to maintaining our future economic and environmental wellbeing. Originally published in 1991


A three layer e-learning course development model has been defined based on a conceptual model of learning content object. It starts by decomposing the learning content into small chunks which are initially placed in a hierarchic structure of units and blocks. The raw content components, being the atomic learning objects (ALO), were linked to the blocks and are structured in the database. We set forward a dynamic generation of LO's using re-usable e-learning raw materials or ALO's In that view we need a LO authoring/ assembling system fitting the requirements of interoperability and reusability and starting from selecting the raw learning content from the learning materials content database. In practice authoring systems are used to develop e-learning courses. The company EDUWEST has developed an authoring system that is database based and will be SCORM compliant in the near future.


ABSTRACT: β-Glucuronidase injected i.v. into newborn mucopolysaccharidosis VII mice was cleared from the circulation in less than 1 h and taken up by tissues in a distribution corresponding to the location of the mannose 6-phosphate receptor. One h after a 3.5-mg/kg β-glucuronidase injection, β-glucuronidase levels were equal to or greater than normal in every organ examined with the exception of the brain, where 31% normal activity was present. Enzyme was detectable histochemically in the major sites of pathology for mucopolysaccharidosis VII including bone, brain, heart, and fixed tissue macrophages. The half-life of recombinant β-glucuronidase activity in various organs of injected mucopolysaccharidosis VII mice was 1.5 to 4.5 d. These studies show that recombinant β-glucuronidase administered to newborn mice reaches the sites of clinically important storage in murine mucopolysaccharidosis VII.


To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand the energy mix, there is a pressing need for the exploitation of renewable sources of energy, such as biomass, hydropower, solar power, waves, and wind. This thesis focuses on ocean wave energy and its applications. Ocean wave energy is abundant and geographically widespread and has one of the highest energy densities among renewable energy sources, presenting a great opportunity for securing an emission-free energy supply. However, one challenge associated with existing wave energy technology is to ensure and verify the reliability and long-term performance of wave energy converter (WEC) systems; these aspects are fundamental to achieving wave energy at a cost that is commercially competitive in the long term. The main objective of this thesis was to develop a complete numerical analysis procedure for assessing the fatigue characteristics of the mooring lines and power cables used in floating WEC systems. Both the moorings and cables must be designed to survive under cyclic loading and not fail due to fatigue, which would endanger the safety and functionality of the WEC system. However, due to the wide variety of WEC concepts that have been proposed, it remains challenging to identify which numerical methods are most appropriate for the reliable prediction of the mechanical service life of the moorings and cables. Starting from a hydrodynamic and structural response analysis of a WEC system or an array of WECs, the research presented herein contributes to a systems perspective in which the fatigue performance of moorings and cables is predicted, the power performance is estimated, and the levelised cost of energy is calculated with consideration of the interaction effects among WECs in an array. It was found that a coupled analysis approach should be used to simulate the hydrodynamic and structural responses of WECs because it captures best the mechanical coupling and hydrodynamic interaction effects of WEC systems. A wave-height/wave-period matrix of fatigue was designed as a visualisation tool to illustrate the influence of environmental loads on fatigue damage accumulation in the moorings and cables. Numerical simulations of multi-WEC array farms showed that hydrodynamic interactions among WECs in an array farm strongly affect fatigue damage in moorings, which in turn influence the related cost assessment of a WEC system. Compared with a biofouling-free condition, it was shown that the presence of biofouling on the WEC system not only reduces the power absorption of WECs but also decreases the fatigue life of the moorings and cables. The results obtained from the numerical simulation were validated against a model-scale ocean basin laboratory experiment and compared with measurement data from a full-scale WEC installation. The findings showed that the simulation model can satisfactorily predict the dynamic motion response of a WEC system under moderate sea state conditions and under non-resonant conditions.


Analysis of RNA isolated from fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues is widely used in biomedical research and molecular pathological diagnostics. We have performed a comprehensive and systematic investigation of the impact of factors in the pre-analytical workflow, such as different fixatives, fixation time, RNA extraction method and storage of tissues in paraffin blocks, on several downstream reactions including complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and microarray hybridization. We compared the effects of routine formalin fixation with the non-crosslinking, alcohol-based Tissue Tek Xpress Molecular Fixative (TTXMF, Sakura Finetek), and cryopreservation as gold standard for molecular analyses. Formalin fixation introduced major changes into microarray gene expression data and led to marked gene-to-gene variations in delta-ct values of qRT-PCR. We found that qRT-PCR efficiency and gene-to-gene variations were mainly attributed to differences in the efficiency of cDNA synthesis as the most sensitive step. These differences could not be reliably detected by quality assessment of total RNA isolated from formalin-fixed tissues by electrophoresis or spectrophotometry. Although RNA from TTXMF fixed samples was as fragmented as RNA from formalin fixed samples, much higher cDNA yield and lower ct-values were obtained in qRT-PCR underlining the negative impact of crosslinking by formalin. In order to better estimate the impact of pre-analytical procedures such as fixation on the reliability of downstream analysis, we applied a qRT-PCR-based assay using amplicons of different length and an assay measuring the efficiency of cDNA generation. Together these two assays allowed better quality assessment of RNA extracted from fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues and should be used to supplement quality scores derived from automated electrophoresis. A better standardization of the pre-analytical workflow, application of additional quality controls and detailed sample information would markedly improve the comparability and reliability of molecular studies based on formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue samples.


The United States Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) has the task to screen, scan, and inspect all commercial and private vehicles and pedestrians entering the U.S. through land ports of entry (POEs). Inspection agents decide whether to request secondary inspection and search for drugs, weapons and/or illegal immigrants, or to dispatch the vehicle to the POE exit. High vehicle traffic volumes and increased number of pedestrians crossing into the US create congestion, long queues and delays at the POEs. Although transportation performance measures have been developed and are common practices, security performance measures are not well known and could improve POE operation and planning. This paper proposes the Rate of False Positives as a security performance measure framework which uses statistical theory in the POE by tracking the number of secondary inspections that are cleared without identifying any issue (Type I error). Simulation modeling is used to quantify outputs such as resource utilization. Current public available data is used to validate the framework. Furthermore, results are applicable to any land POE and could extend to ocean and air POEs. This performance measure can help balancing cost, throughput and security at POEs, while maintaining a certain level of security.


Abstract With the rapid developments of digital picture processing, pattern recognition, and intelligent algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely applied in the medical field. The applications of artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM) include diagnosis
 generation, therapy selection, healthcare management, disease stratification, etc. Among the applications, the focuses of AIM are assisting clinicians in implementing disease detection, quantitative measurement, and differential diagnosis to improve diagnostic accuracy and optimize treatment
 selection. Thus, researchers focus on creating and refining modeling processes, including the processes of data collection, data preprocessing, and data partitioning as well as how models are configured, evaluated, optimized, clinically applied, and used for training. However, there is little
 research on the consideration of clinicians in the age of AI. Meanwhile, AI is more accurate and spends less time in diagnosis between the competitions of AI and clinicians in some cases. Thus, AIM is gradually becoming a hot topic. Barely a day goes by without a claim that AI techniques are
 poised to replace most of today's professionals. Despite huge promise surrounding this technology, AI alone cannot support all the requirements for precision medicine, rather AI should be used in cohesive collaboration with clinicians. However, the integration of AIM has created confusion
 among clinicians on their role in this era. Therefore, it is necessary to explore new roles for clinicians in the age of AI.Statement of significanceWith the advent of the era of AI, the integration of medical field and AI is on the rise. Medicine has undergone significant changes,
 and what was previously labor-intensive work is now being solved through intelligent means. This change has also raised concerns among scholars: Will doctors eventually be replaced by AI? From this perspective, this study elaborates on the reasons why AI cannot replace doctors, and points
 out how doctors should change their roles to accelerate the integration of these fields, so as to adapt to the developing times.


The relationship between oral diseases and poor oral hygiene has been well established, however, there is a lack of direct relation with autism. Despite their psychomotor disabilities, the autistic patient is not limited to use the dental services, in the contrary, the lack of knowledge and training of general practitioners to care for this group of patients seem to be the problem. The purpose of this article consists in a detailed scientific literature review found in the major international databases, to provide to the general dentist and the pediatric dentist a tool for understanding the autistic condition, the basic concepts, overview, etiology, and a detailed description of oral conditions and dental treatment approaches. This article describes in detail the behavior management and communication techniques necessary for the dentist to provide a comprehensive and humanized dental care, taking into account that in order to maintain health and improve quality of life, this patients require a multidisciplinary approach, where the dentist is a fundamental part of the group.


【The effects of fuel density and fuel viscosity on spray characteristics were investigated under two different gas turbine fuels and various fuel supply pressure conditions through measurement of SMD, number density and volume flux by using PDPA system in dual orifice injector for gas turbine engines. In this study, we found out that the droplet size and spray structure are strongly depend on fuel density for dual orifice injector. The spray characteristics of high density fuel in dual orifice injector are similar with the characteristics of low density fuel in single orifice injector. The shear region between primary main fuel stream and secondary main fuel stream is examined in low density fuel condition but not exist in high density fuel condition, then this shear region is very important in quality of gas turbine spray. There are worth consideration for the effect of fuel density on spray characteristics in frontal device design to improve combustion efficiency.】


What skill is more important to teach than reading? Unfortunately, millions of Americans cannot read. Although a large body of educational software exists to help teach reading, its inability to hear the student limits what it can do. This paper reports a significant step toward using automatic speech recognition to help children learn to read: an implemented system that displays a text, follows as a student reads it aloud, and automatically identifies which words he or she missed. We describe how the system works, and evaluate its performance on a corpus of second graders' oral reading that we have recorded and transcribed.


Who uses mobile money, and what do people do with it? This paper describes mobile money adoption patterns following the experimental introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural areas of Southern Mozambique. We use administrative and household survey data to characterize adopters as well as their mobile money usage patterns over three years. Adopters of mobile money (and early adopters in particular) are more educated than nonadopters, and they are also more likely to already hold a bank account. Positive self-selection of adopters should be considered when introducing mobile money as a tool for rapid financial inclusion.


Analysis of market behavior towards investment decisions in the capital market by looking at the bid ask spread movement. Stock price movements affect the trading volume of shares on the basis of differences in buying and selling prices at a certain time. Trading volume can be seen from the large number of shares traded. This study aims to determine the effect of stock prices and trading volume on the bid ask spread in the LQ 45 index. The population used is all companies incorporated in the LQ 45 index during 2018-2019. The number of samples that meet the requirements of 35 companies. The research method uses panel data with Chow test, Hauman test, t test, F test, and determination with the help of eviwes 10. The results show that stock prices affect the bid ask spread and trading volume does not affect the bid ask spread in the LQ45 index. In other words, this condition is due to variations in trading volume that is not too large during the observation period.


A high percentage of deceleration and acceleration in urban traffic is caused by the stops at traffic lights. Reducing these required stops combined with an overall smoother traffic flow can reduce the negative effects on the environment in terms of less emissions, noise reduction, and energy consumption. In this paper a cooperative system developed in the research project KOLINE is introduced aiming at the reduction of delay and emissions by adjusting both the signal control and the vehicles' driving strategy. First, the overall system architecture including the wireless communication between traffic signals and vehicles is described. The paper focuses on the vehicles' reaction approaching a signalized intersection and presents a novel approach to optimize the driving strategy based on the traffic information received. The main feature of our approach is the optimization of both longitudinal and lateral guidance of the vehicle simultaneously. Therefore, the surroundings of the vehicles detected by the vehicles' sensors is combined with more precise information on the local traffic state such as tailback length or traffic volume for each lane and forms the basis for proper driving strategies. To handle the complexity of the optimization problem, a metaheuristic considering the possible actions of the vehicle is used to determine the optimal driving strategy in the current driving situation. The optimized strategy is finally realized by a test vehicle capable of driving autonomously in the dense traffic of urban environments.


Objective Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging using indocyanine green (ICG) has recently been introduced to improve the sentinel lymph node (SLN) procedure. Several optical tracers have been successfully tested. However, the optimal tracer formulation is still unknown. This study evaluates the performance of ICG–technetium-99m (99mTc)–nanocolloid in relation to 2 most commonly used ICG-based formulas during SLN biopsy in vulvar cancer. Methods and Materials Twelve women who planned to undergo SLN biopsy for stage I vulvar cancer were prospectively included. Sentinel lymph node mapping was performed using the dual-modality radioactive and NIR fluorescence tracer ICG–99mTc-nanocolloid. All patients underwent combined SLN localization using NIR fluorescence and the (current) gold standard using blue dye and radioactive guidance. Results In all 12 patients, at least 1 SLN was detected during surgery. A total of 21 lymph nodes (median 2; range, 1–3) were resected. Median time between skin incision and first SLN detection was 8 (range, 1–22) minutes. All resected SLNs were both radioactive and fluorescent, although only 13 (62%) of 21 SLNs stained blue. Median brightness of exposed SLNs, expressed as signal-to-background ratio, was 5.4 (range, 1.8–11.8). Lymph node metastases were found in 3 patients. Conclusions Near-infrared fluorescence-guided SLN mapping is feasible and outperforms blue dye staining. Premixing ICG with 99mTc-nanocolloid provides real-time intraoperative imaging of the SN and seems to be the optimal tracer combination in terms of intraoperative detection rate of the SN (100%). Moreover, ICG–99mTc-nanocolloid allows the administration of a 5-times lower injected dose of ICG (compared with ICG and ICG absorbed to human serum albumin) and can be injected up to 20 hours before surgery.


Backgrounds: Prolonged QRS duration (QRSd) on electrocardiogram (ECG) is commonly found in otherwise healthy individuals. However, geometrical factors of the ventricles that determine QRSd are poorly defined. T1 time by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is good parameter to estimate extracellular expansion (ECE). Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between QRSd and CMR measures of tissue composition in a large community-based multiethnic population. Methods: A total of 1,615 participants (52% women; age range 44 to 84 years) of the MESA cohort were evaluated with T1 mapping by using 1.5-T CMR scanners. We excluded the participants with focal scar on delayed enhancement CMR and bundle branch block. Midventricular short-axis T1 maps were acquired before and at 12- and 25-min after administration of gadolinium contrast using Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery sequence. Results: Longer QRSd was associated with greater LV end diastolic volume (LVEDV) index (p <0.001), LV mass index (p <0....


The authors have reviewed 23 fractures of the talus in children. They propose a classification based on the radiological maturity of the bone and the specific type of fracture. Group I: Children younger than 6 years (6 cases). The fracture line separates the bone into two parts. The diagnosis was difficult, with displacement being underestimated in some cases. Associated lesions in the same limb were present in 5 cases. Five fractures of the neck of the talus were treated conservatively with excellent or fair results. One comminuted fracture was treated surgically with a poor result. In all cases treatment should aim to maintain a good tibio-tarsal joint. Group II: Children older than 6 years (17 cases). Eight cases were osteochondral fractures, two were partial fractures and seven were complete fractures. Two of these developed subsequent avascular necrosis. The relationship between osteochondral fractures and osteochondritis is discussed.


High-energy synchrotron radiation has been demonstrated to be a powerful tool for materials characterization. The development of novel methodologies is still ongoing, driven by major technological advances regarding the available source brilliance and efficient large area detectors. The Swedish Materials Science beamline at PETRA III is dedicated to materials characterization by high-energy X-rays and scheduled to enter into user operation starting August 2019. The beamline has been designed in particular for the combination of two complementary techniques: wide and small angle scattering and imaging. The beamline design is presented briefly and the different techniques are reviewed with regard to the contrast mechanisms and the ability to obtain spatially resolved information.


Relaxation pressure-volume curves have been determined from the lungs and thorax of mice, rats, rabbits and dogs. From these data figures are obtained for body weights, vital capacity and compliance. These are compared with similar data for man and calculated values for tidal volumes and frequency of breathing obtained from the literature. Calculations were made of the elastic work of breathing per breath and per minute. All values were plotted on double log paper against body weight so that they could be expressed as proportional to some power of body weight. It was found that compliance, tidal volume, vital capacity and elastic work per breath are all nearly proportional to the first power of the body weight while the elastic work per minute, like the rate of oxygen consumption, is proportional to the 0.7 (or 0.73) power of body weight. It is concluded that lungs of large and small animals tend to have the same compliance per unit of vital capacity and require the same pressure for the intake of one tidal volume. A large lung may therefore be regarded as equivalent to many smaller lungs in parallel.

Submitted on June 13, 1960


Background Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that involves exocrine glands and that may present alone (primary SS) or in association with another connective tissue disorder (secondary SS). Objectives It was aimed to investigate the efficacy of topical 0.05% cyclosporine A in patients of dry eye disease associated with Sjogren's syndrome. Methods Twenty-six patients referred to our outpatient clinic and were diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome based on AECG classification criteria were included in this study. All of patients were evaluated by ophtalmologist and topical %0.05 cyclosporine A emulsion (Restasis; Allergan Inc, Irvine, California) were started. All patients were examined at 1.week and 1.month according to hyperemia, Shirmer's test and tear break-up time. The subjective findings including burning-stinging, light sensitivity and pain complaints were also assessed. Results 26 patients (19 female, 7 male; mean age, 47.5±10.2) were included in this study. At the first examination, burning-stinging(23patients), pain(24patients), light sensitivity(23patients) and hyperemia(24patients) were identified. All 26 patients responded well to treatment of topical %0.05 cyclosporine A emulsion. At 1.week and 1.month, there was an improvement in all of the following subjective and objective parameters. After treatment, were identified statistically significant recovery in all the subjective findings (burning-stinging, light sensitivity,pain and hyperemia) (p=0.0001). Also statistically significant recovery in all the objective findings (Schirmer's test, tear break up time) (p=0.0001) were recorded. Conclusions At the end of the 4-week follow-up process, it was resulted that topical 0.05% cyclosporine A may be an efficient treatment option in the patients of dry eye disease associated with Sjogren's syndrome. References Kanski JJ. Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca. Disorders of the conjunctiva. Butterwotrh-Heinemann International Edition (4th), Clinical Ophthalmology;1999:78-9. Douglas J. Rhee and Mark FP. Keratokonjunctivitis sicca. Cornea: The Wills Eye Manual; 1999:55-6. Pflugfelder SC, Solomon A, Stern ME. The diagnosis and management of dry eye. A twenty-five-year review. Cornea 2000;19:644-9. Braida M, Knop J. Effect of cyclosporine A on the T-effector and T-supressor cell response in contact sensitivity. Immunology 1986;59:503-7. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Medicinal plants constitute an important natural resource serving as therapeutic agents and raw materials for the manufacture of modern and traditional medicine. Haemotoxic bites of vipers affect the blood and lymph circulation, kidney function, skin and sense organs. These after effects have been treated with traditional herbalism. A total of 32 herbs out of the available 1058 medicinal plants are used in the systematic treatment of snakebites. The investigator, a traditional herbal practitioner and researcher on the ecology of snakes, gives a clarion call to conserve snakes for antivenin preparation and herbs to treat snake bite after effects. The work is based on extensive research on herbal medicine used to treat viper bite after effects. From among the 1537 snake bite herbal respondents, 100 viper bite patients were selected for the study. The cases studies reported acute renal failure with high creatinine and urea levels on entry. After 3 months herbal treatment using Rajendra Kidney formula required no dialysis and the creatinine level came down to 2.0mgs% and urea to 30 mgs%. Patients with severe symptoms of psoriasis after viper bite were treated with oil extracts of Indigofera tinctoria and herbal immunity boosters, anti-ulcer and anti-inflammatory agents.


There is a need for scientifically‐sound, practical approaches to improve carcinogenicity testing. Advances in DNA sequencing technology and knowledge of events underlying cancer development have created an opportunity for progress in this area. The long‐term goal of this work is to develop variation in cancer driver mutation (CDM) levels as a metric of clonal expansion of cells carrying CDMs because these important early events could inform carcinogenicity testing. The first step toward this goal was to develop and validate an error‐corrected next‐generation sequencing method to analyze panels of hotspot cancer driver mutations (hCDMs). The "CarcSeq" method that was developed uses unique molecular identifier sequences to construct single‐strand consensus sequences for error correction. CarcSeq was used for mutational analysis of 13 amplicons encompassing >20 hotspot CDMs in normal breast, normal lung, ductal carcinomas, and lung adenocarcinomas. The approach was validated by detecting expected differences related to tissue type (normal vs. tumor and breast vs. lung) and mutation spectra. CarcSeq mutant fractions (MFs) correlated strongly with previously obtained ACB‐PCR mutant fraction (MF) measurements from the same samples. A reconstruction experiment, in conjunction with other analyses, showed CarcSeq accurately quantifies MFs ≥10−4. CarcSeq MF measurements were correlated with tissue donor age and breast cancer risk. CarcSeq MF measurements were correlated with deviation from median MFs analyzed to assess clonal expansion. Thus, CarcSeq is a promising approach to advance cancer risk assessment and carcinogenicity testing practices. Paradigms that should be investigated to advance this strategy for carcinogenicity testing are proposed.


The east tower, view showing entry at southwest corner; The two towers of the high-tech complex are completely integrated with links at every floor and a common corridor. The 17-storey Engineering and Computer Science tower houses research and graduate teaching labs, administrative offices, and the Dean's Office. From the many disparate locations in which it was previously housed, this tower integrates a large part of the Faculty in a single space, fostering more effective interaction of researchers. Facilities include over 300 specialized labs, conference and meeting rooms, and student areas. The Visual Arts tower includes some of Studio Arts, Art History and the Dean's Office. It also boasts an art gallery, a black box theatre, art history amphitheatres and specialized facilities for Hexagram, the Institute for Research/Creation in Media Arts and Technologies. The complex features five three-storey stacked atria, interconnecting spiral stairs, a magnificent glass mural by Nicolas Baier on the exterior of the Mackay Street elevation, a Holly King mural at the Metro-level entrance, river-view terraces, and natural light to support sustainability. [Concordia is the lowest energy consumer of the six major secondary education facilities in Quebec. A natural ventilation system is used for a significant period during the cooling season. The free cooling system is tied into the building automation system. Added green features include maximizing flexibility in order to adapt to changing programs and research and teaching methodologies, integrating low flow conserving fixtures with automatic shut offs, chillers that utilize ozone friendly refrigerants, good fume hood capture velocities and performance, high efficiency boilers, motors and fans, heat recovery of both internal sources (people, equipment, transformers) and exhaust air systems, and an emphasis on recycled and recyclable materials. The design was planned to have a three to seven year pay back period for up-front capital costs related to energy savings. Source: http://www.kpmb.com] Source: Concordia University; Building Concordia [website]; http://buildings.concordia.ca/ (accessed 7/7/2008)


The authors review the application of the finite element method to analysis of waveguide problems. They discuss the significance of different variational formulations, the modeling of the infinite domain of open-boundary waveguides, techniques to avoid spurious solutions, and matrix solution techniques. They briefly refer to the application of these techniques to waveguides containing nonlinear materials and to three-dimensional problems. >


This chapter delivers a critical view of modern animal welfarism and Green ideology as important vehicles for the reproduction of speciesism. Starting in the abolitionist animal rights critique of Gary L. Francione and Joan Dunayer, and employing the analytic framework of post-Marxist discourse theory, the argument is made for an understanding of speciesism as conditioned by dominant discourses of the human-animal relationship. The discursive meaning-systems of animal welfarism and Green thought are shown to sustain such speciesist hegemony in several ways. Specifically, it is revealed how these ideologies routinely feed into the "five faces of oppression" outlined by Iris Marion Young: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence.


INTRODUCTION
Precocious puberty in girls is generally defined as appearance of secondary sexual characteristics before eight years of age. Menarche before the ninth birthday may serve as an additional criterion. Precocious puberty is divided in central precocious puberty and pseudoprecocious puberty. Central precocious puberty (GnRH dependent) occurs because of premature activation of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and activity of gonadotrophins. Pseudoprecocious puberty (GnRH independent) is caused by activity of sexual steroids that are not the result of gonadotrophin activity.

OBJECTIVE
Objective of our study was to examine the etiology, clinical and laboratory manifestations of isosexual pseudoprecocious puberty in girls.

METHOD
In the period between 1995 and 2004, clinical and laboratory sings of 34 girls with precocious puberty were studied at the Endocrine Department of the Institute of Mother and Child Health Care of Serbia. Initial evaluations included height measurement, staging of puberty, bone age assessment and pelvic ultrasound. Important diagnostic sonographic parameters of precocious puberty were the volumes of ovaries and uterus as well as ovarian structure. The initial hormonal evaluation included measuring of plasma oestradiol, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) stimulation test was used to evaluate LH and FSH responsiveness (60 microg/m2 LHRH-Relefact LHRH, Ferring). Blood samples were collected at 0, 20 and 60 minutes. Basal and GnRH stimulated LH and FSH were determined by immunoradiometric assay. Estradiol concentration was measured using the fluoroimmunometric assay.

RESULTS
Thirty-four girls aged 6 months to 9 years (mean age 4.5 years) with precocious puberty were studied during the period of 9 years. Eleven girls presented with breast development, six with vaginal bleeding and seventeen with signs of puberty. On the basis of clinical signs, bone age, estradiol levels and LHRH test, premature thelarche was diagnosed in eleven patients (32.4%), premature menarche in six (17.6%) and central precocious puberty in ten girls (29.4%). Seven girls (20.6%) presented with pseudoprecocious puberty. Pelvic ultrasound examination revealed unilateral ovarian cysts in six patients and granulosa cell tumor in one. Elevated estrogen serum levels and failure of gonadotropin responses after gonadotropin releasing hormone were the classical findings in patients with isosexual pseudoprecocious puberty during the acute period of disease. In four patients, the cyst decreased spontaneously after several months, while in two patients, the cyst was removed by laparotomy. Surgical treatment was performed in a patient with granulosa cell tumor.

CONCLUSION
Our work demonstrates that autonomous functional ovarian follicle cyst is the most often cause of isosexual pseudoprecocious puberty. Short period of observation is suggested because the cyst can resolve spontaneously. On the other hand, juvenile granulosa cell tumor, as highly malignant tumor, should be removed as soon as diagnosis is established.


Hypoxoside is a norlignan diglucoside present in the corms of African potato (Hypoxis hemerocallidea). The latter is used as a popular African traditional medicine for it's nutritional and immune-boosting properties. A reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated for the determination of hypoxoside using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:water (20:80, v/v). The method was linear throughout the range of 10-100 microg/mL and provided a high degree of accuracy (100 +/- 4%). The recovery of the method was found to be 100 +/- 5%, and the precision of the study, % relative standard deviation intraday and interday (over three separate days), was better than 6.15 and 5.64%, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were calculated to be 0.75 and 3.5 microg/mL, respectively. This method was applied to the analysis and quality control of African potato corms as well as 12 commercially available products. The daily intake of hypoxoside through traditionally prepared African potato decoction was also evaluated.


Over a 10-year period, 15 glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficient male newborns were admitted to Al-Jahra Hospital with acute haemolysis a few days after applying henna dye over the body, which is a unique Bedouin tribal practice to celebrate the arrival of the first-born boy. Laboratory investigations revealed significant anaemia, reticulocytosis and indirect hyperbilirubinaemia among the index newborns as compared with controls (p < 0.001). The mean (SD) haemoglobin concentration in index patients was 113.4 (13.4) g/l vs 171.2 (11.2) g/l in controls, reticulocytic count 13.8% (4.2%) vs 1.4% (0.74%), and indirect bilirubin 382.8 (58.7) mumol/l vs 63.7 (61.4) mumol/l. G6PD-deficient newborns with haemolysis linked to henna application had delayed age at presentation and a higher reticulocytic count and hyperbilirubinaemia compared with non-henna-induced haemolysis (p < 0.05). Percutaneous henna absorption is well recognized and clinical findings support the harmful effect of henna on G6PD-deficient red blood cells. A local health education programme has been established to prevent the use of henna dye in infancy.


Because of the good performance of handling uncertainty, Dempster-Shafer evidence theory has been widely used. In Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, Deng entropy has been applied in many fields due to its efficiency of measuring uncertainty. However, the physical meaning of Deng entropy is still not clear, which limits its further application. Besides, the sensitivity of Deng entropy can still be improved under certain circumstances. Thus, in this paper, a generalization of Deng entropy named as generalized Deng entropy is proposed. When the weighting parameter equals to zero, generalized Deng entropy degenerates into Deng entropy. Moreover, the physical meaning of generalized Deng entropy is presented. Numerical examples are expounded to show the properties and the efficiency of generalized Deng entropy.


Objective: To apply advanced statistical model-building procedures to derive proteomic "signatures" from 2D gels and validate the approach by predicting double-blinded samples.

Methods: A large experiment was used to explore the power of the predictive modeling process (340 samples, 18 groups, seven double-blinded and three unknown).

The images were geometrically corrected and then analyzed at a pixel level. On completion of this procedure, areas important for obtaining good group discrimination were automatically identified.

The areas were ranked and visually examined. Up to 10 per group were selected for the next stage of analysis. The 117 resultant spots were then used to build predictive models. The models were explored in the context of the experiment and also for their prediction performance. This process enables the selection of candidate spots that may be below standard univariate thresholds (such as p < 0.05, 1.5-fold change).

Results: Models were successfully built that gave perfect performance on the training sets. The blind samples were successfully predicted and interesting information on the unknown samples was produced and is the subject of further experimentation. The effective "systems" dimension for the 18 group sets was estimated to be 12, which suggests we may have more groups than is supported by the data. A "minimal spot set" was calculated and showed a saturation in prediction performance at around 60 spots. A follow-on procedure was employed to choose the best spots for group discrimination and also to specify the spot number vs. performance relationship.

Conclusion: Proteomics data provide a rich source for advanced statistical modeling techniques, and using standard double-blind procedures can add an intuitive confidence to the experimental results. The techniques are very powerful in assisting in the exploration of the complex relationships intrinsic to the data.


The influence of acute hypoxia (35 < or = PaO2 < or = 100 mmHg) on the values of VO2max and parameters of oxygen transport in muscle working at VO2max was studied under different values of muscle blood flow F (80 < or = F < or = 120 ml/(min 100g), blood pH (7.0-7.6), and different diffusion conditions. Investigations were performed on a computer model of O2 delivery to and O2 consumption in the working muscle. VO2max, pvO2, PO2- and VO2-fields in the muscular fiber were calculated. It was shown that the greater the degree of arterial hypoxemia, the lower the muscle VO2max and PvO2 values. The greater the blood flow through muscle, the greater the VO2max. The diffusion conditions produced a powerful influence on the VO2max value. However, with an increasing degree of arterial hypoxemia, the effect of F, intercapillary distances, and blood pH on the value of VO2max is weakened.


We describe in this paper the measurement of light atom concentrations in plasmas and their detection in plasma-wall interaction experiments. VUV radiation or multiphoton techniques are required due to the large energy differences between the ground state and the excited states. We discuss briefly commonly applied schemes of nonlinear optics to generate narrow-bandwidth tunable VUV radiation with particular emphasis on high-order stimulated anti-Stokes Raman scattering in hydrogen gas. Applications of absorption and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy both to discharges and experiments with ion beams on targets are described. The discussion of multiphoton techniques focuses on the detection of sputtered atoms by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and the detection of O and H in radiofrequency excited plasma reactors. Methods of absolute calibration and limitations by collisional effects are considered in this context. Examples of the detection of atomic hydrogen by light mixing are outlined in the conclusion.


Motivation
One of the most important research areas in personalized medicine is the discovery of disease sub-types with relevance in clinical applications. This is usually accomplished by exploring gene expression data with unsupervised clustering methodologies. Then, with the advent of multiple omics technologies, data integration methodologies have been further developed to obtain better performances in patient separability. However, these methods do not guarantee the survival separability of the patients in different clusters.

Results
We propose a new methodology that first computes a robust and sparse correlation matrix of the genes, then decomposes it and projects the patient data onto the first m spectral components of the correlation matrix. After that, a robust and adaptive to noise clustering algorithm is applied. The clustering is set up to optimize the separation between survival curves estimated cluster-wise. The method is able to identify clusters that have different omics signatures and also statistically significant differences in survival time. The proposed methodology is tested on five cancer datasets downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas repository. The proposed method is compared with the Similarity Network Fusion (SNF) approach, and model based clustering based on Student's t-distribution (TMIX). Our method obtains a better performance in terms of survival separability, even if it uses a single gene expression view compared to the multi-view approach of the SNF method. Finally, a pathway based analysis is accomplished to highlight the biological processes that differentiate the obtained patient groups.

Availability and implementation
Our R source code is available online at https://github.com/angy89/RobustClusteringPatientSubtyping.

Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


To develop highly efficient none-precious metal catalysts in lieu of Pt/C for catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), ZIF-67 derived carbons are fabricated rationally in combination with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) integration and further KOH etching respectively. ZIF-C/rGO presents excellent ORR activity especially in alkali media with onset potential, half-wave potential and limited current density being 1.00 V, 0.87 V and 5.92 mA cm−2, respectively, which are close approaching or superior to those of commercial Pt/C. Although the ORR activity in acid media is still a little inferior to that of the Pt/C, the durability of ZIF-C/rGO is better in both alkali and acid electrolytes. Further KOH etching (ZIF-C/rGO-KOH) reduces active N sites and destroys the micropores with resulting in reduced ORR performances, though more mesopore Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface and volume are obtained. Through comparable study, huge performance enhancements form rGO integration is attributed to the attained higher charge transfer channels, more micropores with avoiding great losses of N and Co active sites can depress over polarization of electrolyte, aggregation of active components and collapsing of mass transport channels, on which the ORR activity is boosted to the extreme due to the resulted synergistic effect.


Aims: To determine the occurrence and prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria, influence of gender and duration of illness on the prevalence of this infection among inmates of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Calabar. Study Design: This was a cross sectional study. Ethical approval was obtained, consent forms were signed by the patients, questionnaires were also administer followed by collection and processing of clean catch mid-stream urine specimens. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Calabar, Nigeria between August, 2010 and September, 2011. Sample: Urine samples from two hundred (200) inmates and one hundred (100) apparently healthy staff of the same hospital (control subjects). Original Research Article Inyang-Etoh et al.; JAMPS, 11(4): 1-6, 2016; Article no.JAMPS.30491 2 Methodology: Urine samples were collected in sterile universal bottles and analyzed using standard laboratory diagnostic techniques and cultured using Lee and Williams technique. The modified Kirby-Bauer sensitivity testing technique was used for antimicrobial testing of the isolates. Results: Significant bacteriuria was established in 60(30%) of the inmates while only 8(8%) of the control subjects had bacteriuria. The difference in infection between the inmates and the control subjects was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Females 40(40%) were more infected than male subjects 20 (20%) but this was not statistically significant (P = 0.052). Inmates with 16-20 weeks of duration of mental disease had the highest level of infection 4(40%) while inmates with 1-5 weeks of duration of mental disease had the lowest level of infection 12(28%) and this was statistically significant (P = 0.001). The most common urinary pathogens isolated amongst both the test and control subjects were Escherichia coli (34) followed by Proteus spp (14) while Staphylococcus saprophyticus was the least isolated organism. Conclusion: This work has shown that asymptomatic bacteriuria is common among inmates of Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital, Calabar and the need to put in place strategies to control this infection among this category of patients in the study area.


Genes of the RBR family are characterized by the RBR signature (two RING finger domains separated by an IBR/DRIL domain). The RBR family is widespread in eukaryotes, with numerous members in animals (mammals, Drosophila, Caenorhabditis) and plants (Arabidopsis). But yeasts, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Schizosaccharomyces pombe, contain only two RBR genes. We determined the phylogenetic relationships and the most likely orthologs in different species of several family members for which functional data are available. These include: (1) parkin, whose mutations are involved in forms of familial Parkinson's disease; (2) the ariadne genes, recently characterized in Drosophila and mammals; (3) XYbp and Dorfin, two mammalian genes whose products interact with the centrosome; (4) XAP3, RBCK1, and UIP28, mammalian genes encoding Protein Kinase-C-binding proteins; and (5) ARA54, an androgen receptor coactivator. Because several of these genes are involved in ubiquitination, we used phylogenetic and structural analyses to explore the hypothesis that all RBR proteins might play a role in ubiquitination. We show that the involvement of RBR proteins in ubiquitination predates the animals-plants-fungi divergence. On the basis of the evidence provided by cases of gene fusion, we suggest that Ariadne proteins interact with cullin domain-containing proteins to form complexes with ubiquitin-ligase activity.


Study of interception storage of snow by two species of sapling conifers in northern Idaho revealed that cumulative snow catch follows the classical law of autocatakinetic growth, or ' I, = 8/[1 n te -•1⁄2•'-•'ø) where I, is interception storage, $ is the interception storage capacity of the tree, e is the base of the natural logarithm, k is a constant expressing the rate of interception storage, P is accumulated snowfall, and Po is accumulated snowfall at the time of most rapid storage (i.e., the point of inflection of the sigmoid curve). Interception storage conformed to the law in five storms in which snowfall began while the trees were bare, and in two storms in which snow fell while snow from previous storms persisted on the trees. Several small storms yielded insufficient data to define the appropriate constants, but inspection indicated no serious deviation from the general law. (


Currently last mile parcel delivery is becoming more and more of an issue. More people are ordering their goods online, these goods need to be delivered to home address in urban areas. Using the parcel lockers of PostNL this research looked into the question how to make last mile logistics more cost efficient and sustainable using parcel lockers. Having used CEA, MCA and simulation this research has proofed the possibility to deliver parcels more cost efficient in the last mile using parcel lockers, as well as the possibility to reduce delivery drivers due to the usage of a separate parcel locker route.


The analysis of gene expression data in clinical medicine has been plagued by the lack of a critical evaluation of accepted methodologies for the collection, processing, and labeling of RNA. In the present report, the reliability of two commonly used techniques to isolate RNA from whole blood or its leukocyte compartment was compared by examining their reproducibility, variance, and signal-to-noise ratios. Whole blood was obtained from healthy subjects and was either untreated or stimulated ex vivo with Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB). Blood samples were also obtained from trauma patients but were not stimulated with SEB ex vivo. Total RNA was isolated from whole blood with the PAXgene proprietary blood collection system or from isolated leukocytes. Biotin-labeled cRNA was hybridized to Affymetrix GeneChips. The Pearson correlation coefficient for gene expression measurements in replicates from healthy subjects with both techniques was excellent, exceeding 0.985. Unsupervised analyses, including hierarchical cluster analysis, however, revealed that the RNA isolation method resulted in greater differences in gene expression than stimulation with SEB or among different trauma patients. The intraclass correlation, a measure of signal-to-noise ratio, of the difference between SEB-stimulated and unstimulated blood from healthy subjects was significantly higher in leukocyte-derived samples than in whole blood: 0.75 vs. 0.46 (P = 0.002). At the P < 0.001 level of significance, twice as many probe sets discriminated between SEB-stimulated and unstimulated blood with leukocyte isolation than with PAXgene. The findings suggest that the method of RNA isolation from whole blood is a critical variable in the design of clinical studies using microarray analyses.


In this paper, a delayed eco-epidem iological model with nonlinear incidence is considered Firstly, the sufficient conditions of local stability of the positive equilibrium arc given by analyzing the linearized system characteristic value. Furthermore, conditions ensuring the existence of Hopf bifurcation are obtained. Then, based on centermanifold and normal form, we get the formulas for determining the direction of Hopf bifurcation and the stability of bifurcating periodic solutions. At last, some numerical simulations are carried out to support the analytical results.