This paper reviews current applications based on Wireless Vehicular Sensor Networking (WVSN); an emerg- ing type of wireless and mobile networks that combines wireless sensor networks (WSN) and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET). Some recent researches have been devoted to proposing new solutions for several vehicular applications using networked wireless sensors, but an up-to-date state-of-the-art paper of these works is missing. To our knowledge, this manuscript is the first that provides a comprehensive survey discussing the potential civilian applications of WVSN, the solutions proposed thus far, and the remaining challenges. According to the application domain, solution are split into: i) safety applications, ii) traffic management and vehicle tracking, iii) environment and urban monitoring. State-of-the art solutions using networked wireless sensors, and involving carto-car and/or car to roadside communications are reviewed for each category. Current commercial solutions using wired sensors or individual sensors are out of the motivation of this survey. Keywords: Vehicular ad hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, mobile networks and applications


The Iquique Local Network (ILN), a temporal network of broadband and short period seismic stations has been operating in Northern Chile since 2009. The aim of this installation was to locally densify the permanent seismic installation of the Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory in Chile (IPOC), with the main goal to decrease the magnitude of detected earthquake, to improve the hypocentral location accuracy, to allow a more accurate investigation of seismic source parameters, and to analyse proposed seismogenic structures of the Northern Chile seismic gap. The network setup evolved with time, with different geometries at different installation phases, aiming to study different seismicity features. In the first phase, started in 2009 and operational since 2010 until autumn 2013, the network had a sparse configuration, targeting a broad region extending from 19.5° S in the North to approximately 21.3° S South of Iquique. In the following stage, operational until fall 2017, most broadband stations were rearranged into a small aperture seismic array (PicArray) close to the village of Pica, to monitor with array techniques the shallow seismicity at the plate interfacer, intermediate and deep focus seismicity.


The claim settlement process is one of the most critical aspects of health insurance. Many policyholder grievances often surface during claim settlement, which will likely shape the insurer's reputation. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the relationships between hypothesized factors concerning the third-party administrator's claim settlement process as perceived by policyholders. The paper used the data of policyholders from Delhi/NCR, India, who have availed the cashless claims in the last three years. In the process, a total of 790 questionnaires were sought to be. The methodology used was the extractive factor analysis comprising the KMO test, reliability assessment with Cronbach's Alpha, and correlation assessment. The study attempted to evaluate all the contributing factors that shape the third-party administrator's behavior during the claim settlement. Therefore, different factors were identified (themes A, B, C, and D). The study reported a significant relationship between insurance company perceptions (0.162), network hospital perceptions (0.182), product design (0.180), insurance agent (0.332), communications (0.114), disclosure (0.122), internal practices (0.143), and TPA claim settlement prospects across the Indian perspective. The contextual impacts on individual and group decision-making must be monitored and accommodated across effective public policy management concerning settlement of health insurance claims. The study findings could help insurers create business models leading to better customer satisfaction and congruence between agents, policyholders, TPAs, and health insurance companies.


ABSTRACT On 15 March 2004 the French government passed a law that banned the wearing of 'conspicuous signs' of religious affiliation in public schools. The ban was the result of an ongoing controversy in France about the admissibility of the hijab worn by Muslim schoolgirls. On 8 November 2007 Professor Nizar Hassan, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, asked a Jewish student of his, who came to class wearing his army uniform, to refrain from wearing it to his classes in the future. Following the incident a public storm erupted in which high-ranking officers in the Israeli army participated. Considering these two very different controversies involving individuals belonging to minority groups can provide a new perspective on current debates about citizenship and difference. It can shift the focus of the investigation from the Islamic Other as an object of enquiry to the interaction between the state and the individual as participants in a complex symbolic conversation. The two controversies should be read against the background of two contrasting conceptions of the public sphere and its relations to equality: while the French republic insists on creating a neutral public sphere as a pre-condition for equality, in Israel the possibility of equality is connected to guaranteeing a separation between the public and the private sphere. Comparing the two controversies, Bilsky considers one recurrent theme that dominated them both, the accusation of hypocrisy, and she analyses the ways in which this accusation distorted the public debate. She argues that the focus on hypocrisy reveals an important aspect of citizenship that was misinterpreted in both cases, namely 'citizenship as mask'. Without a proper understanding of the role of masks in democratic citizenship, we witness the transformation of a debate about equality and plurality into a competition for the exposing of hypocrites. Bilsky returns to Hannah Arendt's reflections on citizenship as a way to understand the limits of a theory of equality based on sameness, and uses the two controversies to demonstrate the need to develop a theory of citizenship that can better respond to both equality and plurality.


Antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic activities of fermented red ginseng added with 5 kinds of medicinal herbs (FRGM) were investigated in vitro. Total polyphenol and total flavonoid contents in FRGM extracts were 22.41±3.51 and 16.80±4.22 µg/mg, respectively. FRGM extracts were capable of directly scavenging DPPH free radicals (RC 50 =95.57± 7.40 µg/mL), and then showed higher inhibitory activities for α-glucosidase. This study was also conducted to evaluate the effects of FRGM extracts in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic (DM) rats. The activities with regards to serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were significantly decreased by FRGM extracts compared to those from the STZ group. The hepatic glutathione content depleted by STZ was significantly increased by FRGM extracts, but elevation of lipid peroxide content induced by STZ was significantly decreased by FRGM extracts. The decreased activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase after STZ-treatment were increased through the treatment of FRGM extracts. These results indicated that fermented red ginseng added with medicinal herbs can protect against STZ-induced diabetic rats through its antioxidant properties.


The present invention provides a compression rubber layer and the adhesive rubber layer by an ethylene -α- - olefin-diene rubber compound composed of a sulfide, embedded in the adhesive rubber layer, adhesion with a core wire of the transmission belt, wherein, when the set when the tensile modulus of elasticity of the compression rubber layer of the belt in the longitudinal direction a, a tensile modulus of elasticity of the compression rubber layer of the belt width direction is b, of 0.9≤a / b≤1.2. Preferably, the compression rubber layer is formed of an ethylene -α- - olefin-diene rubber compound composed of a sulfide, the ethylene -α- - olefin-diene rubber ethylene content in the range of 55 to 85 wt%. The compression rubber layer may contain short fibers, when the short fibers oriented in the longitudinal direction along the belt, with respect to the content of the ethylene -α- - olefin-diene rubber 100 parts by weight in the range of 5 parts by weight or 5 parts by weight or less .


From a forensic perspective, attaining the ages of 12, 15 and 18 is particularly important with respect to the Turkish Penal Code (TPC). The aim of this study is to obtain data regarding third molar development in the Turkish population for age estimation and to investigate the contribution of third molar development to age estimation in relation to the TPC. The study was applied with panoramic radiography on 379 male and 405 female subjects. The mineralization status of the third molars were evaluated on the basis of Demirjian's classification system. It was determined that '0' and 'A' stages for under-12 years of age, 'B' and 'C' stages for under-15, 'D' stage for under-18, 'E' and 'F' stages for over-12, 'G' stage for over-15 and 'H' stage for over-18 were specific stages for both genders. Specific stages that are detected according to the developmental stages of the third molars were not found to be adequately precise for distinguishing legal age thresholds. However, this study shows that matured third molars (reaching H stage) are indicative of an individual's being over 18 years of age for both genders in Turkey.


The concept of arithmetic-geometric index was recently introduced in chemical graph theory, but it has proven to be useful from both a theoretical and practical point of view. The aim of this paper is to obtain new bounds of the arithmetic-geometric index and characterize the extremal graphs with respect to them. Several bounds are based on other indices, such as the second variable Zagreb index or the general atom-bond connectivity index), and some of them involve some parameters, such as the number of edges, the maximum degree, or the minimum degree of the graph. In most bounds, the graphs for which equality is attained are regular or biregular, or star graphs.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Exercise and education is a common physiotherapy approach in the prevention of low back pain. A Mensendieck exercise programme consisting of exercises and ergonomical education has, in a previous study, been shown to be effective in preventing recurrent low back pain during one-year follow-up. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effect of the Mensendieck exercise programme on people with recurrent episodes of low back pain who, when entering the study, had finished treatment for their last episode of low back pain.

METHOD
A randomized controlled clinical trial in which 41 women and 36 men were allocated to either a Mensendieck or control group. The Mensendieck subjects received 20 group sessions of exercises and ergonomical education over 13 weeks. The control subjects were not offered any prophylactic therapy, but were free to receive treatment or exercises. Outcome measures were the number of recurrences of low back pain, sick leave, low back function and general functional status.

RESULTS
At three-year follow-up, 11 subjects had been lost to the study. Survival analysis showed a significant reduction (p = 0.02) in subjects experiencing recurrent low back pain in the Mensendieck group compared to the control group. Significant improvements in pain and function scores were reported in both groups. There was no significant difference between the groups in pain, function or sick leave.

CONCLUSION
A Mensendieck exercise programme seems efficient in reducing recurrent episodes of low back pain at three-year follow-up, but it did not influence sick leave, pain or function scores.


Of all the obstacles the legislator has to combat, the most sure and omnipresent is the antagonism of many minds to anything and everything new , from the legislative standpoint. This bias of many men, this inborn conservatism which arouses in the majority an unreasonable antagonism to all measures which are out of the ordinary—an antagonism which has nothing to do with eason, or with the real value of the proposed legislation—is always to be met, when, to the mind of the average legislator, the measure brought forward is new. That is quite sufficient with some of our conservative brethren, to damn it beyond all hope of redemption, and to take from the enactment their interest and support, but, when to this conservative objection to new ideas is added the abhorrence of many individuals to everything relating even remotely to the tabooed subject of the sexual relation, the latent opposition is


Exercise-induced bone gains are lost if exercise ceases. Therefore, continued exercise at a reduced frequency or intensity may be required to maintain these benefits. In this study, we evaluated whether 4 wk of reduced exercise after 4 wk of running exercise in growing male mice results in the maintenance of high bone mass. Five-week-old mice were divided into the following groups: 1) baseline control; 2) 4-wk control; 3) 4-wk exercise; 4) 8-wk control; 5) 4-wk exercise followed by 4-wk cessation of training; and 6) 4-wk exercise followed by reduced exercise at half the frequency. The regimen consisted of exercise 6 days/wk, and the reduced exercise regimen consisted of running 3 days/wk on a treadmill for 30 min/day, at 12 m/min on a 10 degrees uphill slope. Running exercise significantly increased bone mineral density of the femur, periosteal mineral apposition rate, bone formation rate, percent labeled perimeter at the midfemur, and osteogenic activity of bone marrow cells. However, these parameters declined to the age-matched sedentary control after cessation of training. In contrast, the reduced exercise group had significantly higher mineral apposition rate compared with those of the sedentary control and cessation of training groups. Furthermore, bone mineral density for the reduced exercise group was significantly higher than those for the other groups. These results suggest that the high bone formation gained through exercise can be maintained, and bone mass was further increased by subsequent exercise even if the exercise frequency is reduced.


Sclerosing cholangitis in critically ill patients (SC-CIP) is a rare condition that is not familiar to many radiologists. In addition, the associated imaging findings have not been described in the radiological literature. We report a case of biliary cast formation with SC-CIP and describe the radiological findings of CT, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC). A diagnosis of SC-CIP should be considered in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with persistent cholestasis during or after a primary illness. The typical CT, MRCP and ERC findings include new biliary casts in the intrahepatic duct with multiple irregular strictures, dilatations, and relative sparing of the common bile duct.


As graphic video evidence becomes a standard element in the investigation and prosecution of violent crime, criminal justice organizations must consider and address exposure to and impact of this potentially traumatizing workplace material for criminal justice professionals. Using a discovery-oriented qualitative design and a long-interview method of data collection, this study explores organizational responses to the exposure of criminal justice professionals to a growing volume of video evidence of violent crime. Repeated exposure to high-quality video evidence has the effect of placing criminal justice professionals in the midst of traumatic events, resulting in responses that are akin to trauma contagion. However, organizational awareness and the acceptance of trauma and support systems have not kept pace with the exponential rise in exposure, often being deployed when the person is no longer able to continue in their role. As a result, affected individuals may over-rely on equally affected colleagues for support, intensifying the cycle of trauma contagion. Organizational responses to reduce trauma contagion and the psychological burden on professionals working with video evidence of violent crime should occur at three levels: prevention through moderating exposure; preparation through creating a culture of awareness and acceptance; and intervention through systematic and formal supports.


This paper presents a novel unified theory of the structure activity relationship of opioids and opioid peptides. It is hypothesized that a virtual or known heterocyclic ring exists in all opioids which have activity in humans, and this ring occupies relative to the aromatic ring of the drug, approximately the same plane in space as the piperidine ring of morphine. Since the rings of morphine are rigid, and the aromatic and piperidine rings are critical structural components for morphine's analgesic properties, the rigid morphine molecule allows for approximations of the aromatic and heterocyclic relationships in subsequent drug models where bond rotations are common. This hypothesis and five propositions are supported by stereochemistry and experimental observations. Proposition #1 The structure of morphine provides a template. Proposition #2 Steric hindrance of some centric portion of the piperidine ring explains antagonist properties of naloxone, naltrexone and alvimopam. Proposition #3 Methadone has an active conformation which contains a virtual heterocyclic ring which explains its analgesic activity and racemic properties. Proposition #4 The piperidine ring of fentanyl can assume the morphine position under conditions of nitrogen inversion. Proposition #5 The first 3 amino acid sequences of beta endorphin (l-try-gly-gly) and the active opioid dipeptide, l-tyr-pro, (as a result of a peptide turn and zwitterion bonding) form a virtual piperazine-like ring which is similar in size, shape and location to the heterocyclic rings of morphine, meperidine, and methadone. Potential flaws in this theory are discussed. This theory could be important for future analgesic drug design.


Mitochondrial translational initiation factor 3 (IF3(mt)) is a 29 kDa protein that has N- and C-terminal domains, homologous to prokaryotic IF3, connected by a linker region. The homology domains are preceded and followed by short extensions. No information is currently available on the specific residues in IF3(mt) important for its activity. On the basis of homology models of IF3(mt), mutations were designed in the N-terminal, C-terminal, and linker domains to identify the functionally important regions. Mutation of residues 170-171, and 175 in the C-terminal domain to alanine resulted in a nearly complete loss of activity in initiation complex formation and in the dissociation of mitochondrial 55S ribosomes. However, these mutated proteins bind to the small (28S) subunit of the mammalian mitochondrial ribosome with K(d) values similar to that of the wild-type factor. These mutations appear to lead to a factor defective in the ability to displace the large (39S) subunit of the ribosome from the 55S monosomes in an active process. Other mutations in the N-terminal domain, the linker region, and the C-terminal domain had little or no effect on the ability of IF3(mt) to promote initiation complex formation on mitochondrial 55S ribosomes. Mutation of residues 247 and 248 in the C-terminal extension abolished the ability of IF3(mt) to reduce the level of binding of fMet-tRNA to the ribosome in the absence of mRNA. Our results suggest that IF3(mt) plays an active role in initiation of translation.


Quadricuspid aortic valves are rare congenital malformations. Although aortic valve replacement is the first-choice treatment in most cases, aortic valve repair using a tricuspidization procedure has been reported. Herein, we report the case of a patient with a quadricuspid aortic valve associated with aortic insufficiency that we successfully repaired with aortic valve-sparing root replacement and bicuspidization.


The history of Rybna 9, Praha 1 - a building in the old city of Prague - illustrates how international human rights law, producing new forms of legal right and obligation, participates in the turbulence of modernity. With its capacity to remember the past through the discourse of human rights, international law engages and formalizes a politics of collective memory. This article explores the relationship between international human rights law and collective memory in the context of challenges to post-communist restitution initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Rybna 9 formed the basis of one such challenge before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Other restitution cases have proceeded to the European Court of Human Rights. Whereas the Human Rights Committee is willing to remember certain pasts as a matter of equality, the European Court of Human Rights approaches equality with a modernist impulse to repudiate history. This divergence is especially acute when comparing how the field engages the collective memories of Jews and the Holocaust and those of Sudeten Germans after the war. International legal engagement with the politics of collective memory thereby reflects broader debates about the emergent nature of European citizenship.


Abstract The immersion of food in a hypertonic solution results in an osmotic dehydration process (OD) with the loss of water (WL) from the food to the solution and the gain of solids from the solution (SG) by the food. For this reason, OD is commonly used to produce semi-dehydrated or enriched foods by incorporation. Although the most of OD studies are focused on the WL and SG processes, many publications addresses the physicochemical and nutritional changes resulting from OD in the food matrix and in the osmotic solution. Such changes must be handled in order to improve the quality of the product. This work is a compilation of publications with this approach.


The evolution of influenza viruses is fundamentally shaped by within-host processes. However, the within-host evolutionary dynamics of influenza viruses remain incompletely understood, in part because most studies have focused on within-host virus diversity of infections in otherwise healthy adults based on single timepoint data. Here, we analysed the within-host evolution of 82 longitudinally sampled individuals, mostly young children, infected with A/H3N2 or A/H1N1pdm09 viruses between 2007 and 2009. For A/H1N1pdm09 infections during the 2009 pandemic, nonsynonymous changes were common early in infection but decreased or remained constant throughout infection. For A/H3N2 viruses, early infection was dominated by purifying selection. However, as the A/H3N2 infections progressed for longer-than-average duration (up to 2 weeks) in relatively young or influenza naive individuals, nonsynonymous variants increased in frequencies even though within-host virus titres decreased, leading to the maintenance of virus diversity via mutation-selection balance and provide important opportunities for within-host virus evolution.


Objective In an attempt to establish the mechanical relationships between the reticular lamina and tectorial membrane, we studied the morphological changes of the reticular lamina on a micrometer scale when an in vitro preparation of guinea pig cochlea with and without tectorial membrane was exposed to a potassium-rich medium. Material and methods Using video-enhanced differential interference contrast microscopy, the radial displacement of the inner hair cells (IHCs) and outer hair cells (OHCs) in the reticular lamina was measured in real time after exposure to the potassium-rich medium for 3 min. Results The amplitude of the displacement of the OHCs in preparations with an intact tectorial membrane was half of that observed in those in which the tectorial membrane had been removed. A similar displacement response was also observed for the IHCs, although it was smaller than that for the OHCs. There was no significant difference in the amplitude of the displacement among the three rows of OHCs. Conclusions These results suggest that the structure linking the OHCs to the pillar cells is very elastic and that the movement of the OHCs in situ is weakly mechanically coupled to the IHCs. The tectorial membrane provides increased compliance in the motion of the IHCs and OHCs.


This work investigates the approximate solution for fourth‐order multi‐point boundary value problem represented by linear integro‐differential equation involving nonlocal integral boundary conditions by using the reproducing kernel method (RKM). The investigated solution is represented in the form of a series with easily computable components in the reproducing kernel space. When the used algorithm for approximation is applied directly for the given original conditions, it can be very troublesome to compute the reproducing kernel of space. Therefore firstly, it is considered more appropriate conditions to be computed the kernel easily than original ones. Nextly, the original conditions are taken into account. Analysis is illustrated by a numerical example. The results demonstrate that the method is quite accurate and effective.


Quality by Design (QbD) refers to the achievement of certain predictable quality with a predetermined and desired specification. The current studies details QbD enable the development of a simple, rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the estimation of rosuvastatin calcium. The factor screening studies were performed using a 3-factor 12-trials 2-level factorial design. System thematic optimization was performed employing split-plot design by selecting the mobile phase ratio, buffer pH, and column type as the critical method parameter (CMPs) identified from screening studies, thus, evaluating a critical quality attribute (CQA), viz., retention time, peak tailing, and theoretical plate as per the parameter of the method robustness. The optimal chromatographic separation was achieved using acetonitrile and water 75:25 v/v as the mobile phase with a flow rate of 1 mL/min by using a PDA detector at 246 nm. The method was validated as per the ICH recommended conditions, which ensure a high degree of linearity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and robustness over the exiting liquid chromatography methods of the drug. Moreover, the lower solvent consumption along with the short analytical run time of 10 minutes leads to a cost-effective and environment-friendly chromatographic procedure. Thus, the proposed method reviled that rapid and represented a good procedure for rosuvastatin calcium.


A discussion is given of a simple mathematical model of the carbon dioxide cycle in atmosphere-biosphere-sea, with special attention to the possibility of self-sustained oscillations and to the behaviour of the cycle when additional carbon dioxide is injected from an outer source. The discussion is confined to phenomena with characteristic times of the order of 10–10 3 years leaving out the long geologic periods as well as the purely annual periods. Some numerical computations are also carried out on the electronic computer BESK. The discussion and the computations show that self-sustained oscillations possibly appear due to the presence of the sea, and that they generally are favoured when there exist time-lags in the biosphere of the order of a few decades. The computations also indicate that additional carbon dioxide injected at a rate corresponding to the present combustion of fossil carbon does not change significantly the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, since most part of it will be stored in the biosphere. Thus, the present theory suggests that the increase of carbon dioxide indicated by recent measurements may represent part of a natural self-sustained oscillation and not necessarily be a response to an increased combustion of fossils. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1956.tb01207.x


In recent years, sensor network system has been proposed for various applications. In the past, most reported systems involve custom-made hardware. In this paper, we consider the use of Compaq iPAQ 3760s with their build-in StrongARM processors, ROM and RAM memories, and microphones and codecs for acoustic acquisition and processing, plus external wireless Ethernet cards for radio communication to form a distributed sensor network to perform acoustical beamforming. Time synchronization among the microphones is achieved by the Reference-Broadcast Synchronization method of Elson-Estrin. Two beamforming algorithms, based on the time difference of arrivals (TDOAs) among the microphones and least-squares estimation of the TDOAs method, and the maximum-likelihood (ML) parameter estimation method, are used to perform source detection, enhancement, localization, delay-steered beamforming, and direction-of-arrival estimation. Theoretical Cram érRao bound analysis of the system performance and experimental beamforming results using the iPAQs and the wireless network are reported.


Abrupt changes of the relative He abundance in the solar wind are usually attributed to encounters with boundaries dividing solar wind streams from different sources in the solar corona. This paper presents a systematic study of fast variations of the He abundance that supports the idea that a majority of these variations on short timescales (3–30 s) are generated by in-transit turbulence that is probably driven by the speed difference between the ion species. This turbulence contributes to the solar wind heating and leads to a correlation of the temperature with He abundance.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Elastin-like Polypeptide (ELP) is a macromolecular carrier for various therapeutic peptides and has the ability to penetrate tumor vasculature. This penetration ability is mediated by a cell-penetrating peptide. The polymer is soluble at normal physiological temperature but aggregates above 40 °C. Peptides without carriers have very short half-lives, so ELP not only allows for longer circulation time, but its thermal properties allow the peptide to accumulate inside the tumor when heated. Bac-ELP-p21 is an ELP conjugate that uses the CPP Bac to penetrate the nucleus and the therapeutic peptide p21 to inhibit the cell cycle at G1/S. ELP-p21 lacks the CPP and therefore the cell penetrating capabilities. Both of these constructs can be actively targeted to the tumor site using local hyperthermia. In this study, tumor accumulation and biodistribution of fluorescently labeled Bac-ELP-p21 and ELP-p21 were monitored in a mouse xenograft model by whole animal imaging using the IVIS® system. Luciferase transfected S2013 pancreatic cells were used to establish the tumor, allowing monitored tumor growth by quantifying luciferase signal over a period of time. The animals were intravenously injected with Alexa750 labeled Bac-ELP-p21 or ELP-p21. Animals were imaged for fluorescent signal at specific times after treatment to observe the level of protein with respect to time. This allowed for the detection and quantification of the protein level throughout the body and compared with uptake inside the tumor. Heated tumors accumulated 3-fold more protein with both Bac-ELP-p21 and ELP-p21. For biodistribution and plasma clearance studies, blood draws were performed on separate groups at 5, 15, 30 min and continuing every 30 min for 4h. At the end of the 4h, organs and tumors were harvested for later dissection. This allowed for comparison of the protein in the organs and monitored the amount of protein in the plasma over time. At 5 minutes, 2 times the amount of ELP-p21 was detectable in blood plasma compared to Bac-ELP-p21. At 2 hours, this ratio increases to 2.5 fold. Protein was still detectable in the tumor at 48h after treatment, indicating that modification of macromolecular carrier with cell penetrating peptide results in its faster plasma clearance due to the rapid accumulation in tumor and/or tissues. In conclusion, fusing a therapeutic peptide to a macromolecular carrier results in its improved pharmacokinetics and accumulation of the peptide, preferentially in the tumor tissue due to passive targeting, which is improved due to externally induced hyperthermia while this active targeting is increased due to the addition of a CPP. This approach will allow us to use lower concentrations of drug systemically and therefore reduce side effects in normal tissues. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 355. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-355


Autoregressive convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely exploited for sequence generation tasks such as audio synthesis, language modeling and neural machine translation. WaveNet is a deep autoregressive CNN composed of several stacked layers of dilated convolution that is used for sequence generation. While WaveNet produces state-of-the art audio generation results, the naive inference implementation is quite slow; it takes a few minutes to generate just one second of audio on a high-end GPU. In this work, we develop the first accelerator platform FastWave for autoregressive convolutional neural networks, and address the associated design challenges. We design the Fast-Wavenet inference model in Vivado HLS and perform a wide range of optimizations including fixed-point implementation, array partitioning and pipelining. Our model uses a fully parameterized parallel architecture for fast matrix-vector multiplication that enables per-layer customized latency fine-tuning for further throughput improvement. Our experiments comparatively assess the tradeoff between throughput and resource utilization for various optimizations. Our best WaveNet design on the Xilinx XCVU13P FPGA that uses only on-chip memory, achieves 66× faster generation speed compared to CPU implementation and 11× faster generation speed than GPU implementation.


We have studied the ability of ERK1,2, JNK1,2 and p38 kinases to be regulated after serum deprivation in E1A + E1B-19 kDa- and E1A + E1A + c-Ha-ras-transformed rat embryo fibroblasts. It was demonstrated that oncogene transformation resulted in an increase of total kinase content independently of the type of complementing oncogene. However, for ERK1,2 kinases phosphorylation was found to depend on the type of complementing oncogene. Besides, unusual biphasic character for ERK1,2 kinases phosphorylation was checked in control fibroblasts REF52 and in transformed E1A + E1B-19 kDa cells, which undergo G1/S arrest after a 24 h serum starvation. According to the immunoblotting data, phosphorylated forms of ERK1,2 kinases are not detected after 15-30 min of serum deprivation, but their content is restored up to the control level within several hours. At the same time, the level of ERK1,2 phosphorylation in E1A + c-Ha-ras cells did not change after serum withdrawal. Besides, serum deprivation did not lead to significant changes in the level of phosphorylation of both type stress kinases--JNK2 and p38 in all types of studied cells. We discuss possible mechanisms of biphasic alteration in ERK1,2 phosphorylation level under condition of serum deprivation of REF52 cells and E1A + E1B-19 kDa-transformed fibroblasts, able to be arrested in G1 phase.


In this paper, the constant and proportional systematic errors of analytical methods for the content uniformity test were studied with reference to the accurate analytical method for the assay. Seven monographs of tablets admitted to USP(XXII), Ch P (1985, 1990) and JP(XI) were taken as cases in point and the systematic errors of two of them, i.e. digoxin and nitroglycerin tablets, were ascertained by the test of significance. To improve the accuracy of analytical methods for the content uniformity test, a correction formula more reasonable and convincing than that of USP (XXI, XXII) was proposed, and its theoretical basis described briefly.


We introduce a capacitive MEMS filter that uses electrostatic levitation for actuation and sensing. The advantage of this electrode configuration is that it does not suffer from the pull-in instability and therefore tremendously high voltages can be applied to this system. A large sensing voltage will produce a large output signal, which boosts the signal to noise ratio. The filter outputs about a 110mV peak-to-peak signal when operated at 175V, and can be boosted to 175mV by increasing the voltage to 250V. Because pull-in is eliminated, voltages much higher than 250V can be applied. An outline of the filter design and operating principle is discussed. A model of the filter is derived and analyzed to show the mechanical response and approximate peak-to-peak signal output. This study shows the feasibility of a capacitive sensor that is based on electrostatic levitation, and outlines the advantages it has over traditional parallel-plate electrode configurations. This design is promising for signal signal processing applications where large strokes are important.


Fault diagnosis of structurally re-configurable systems is complicated as the system structure changes when the system operates in different modes. It is important that faults can be detected and isolated in each operating mode. In model-based diagnosis, faults are detected and isolated by detecting inconsistencies between model predictions and sensor data. Thus, determining where to mount sensors is an important task to be able to detect and isolate faults, especially when faults can result in unexpected system re-configuration. For structurally re-configurable systems this means selecting a set of sensors that fulfills requirements in multiple models describing the different system modes. A sensor selection algorithm is proposed for structurally re-configurable systems which computes minimal sensor sets that make faults in all modes detectable and isolable. As a case study, the sensor selection algorithm is applied to determine sensor locations in an eight-speed automatic transmission.


Rapid development of Wireless communication leads to more and more wireless standards appear, and security architecture of different standards are not compatible. In this paper, compatibility of security architecture for cognitive radio network is discussed and a unified security architecture is proposed. BAN logic analysis verifies the proposed architecture is adaptable, scalable, and suitable for cognitive radio networks.


Today, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is among the most efficient tools in structural studies. Measurement of interatomic distances is the most common way of determining high-resolution structures of molecules using NMR techniques. In this article, we describe NMR techniques for static powder samples, based on a two-dimensional single-echo scheme, enhanced with adiabatic cross-polarization. They can significantly increase the accuracy of measuring internuclear distances and turn NMR into a high-precision crystallographic technique, complementing the X-ray, and neutron-scattering methods. Experimental examples are presented for intramolecular CN and CC distances in α-crystalline form of glycine. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 32A: 56–67, 2008.


The influence of thiopental (Trapanal) on coronary blood flow (MPF), myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2), and general haemodynamics was investigated in seven patients without heart disease. Besides measurement of MBF, the amount of substrates (glucose, lactate, pyruvate and free fatty acids (FFA) was also determined in arterial and coronary sinus blood samples. Thiopental was given intravenously in a mean dose of 4 mg/kg b,w, MBF was measured by means of the argon method. After injection of thiopental, all seven patients showed a significant increase of MBF and MVO2, a fact which can essentially be explained by the increase of heart rate. The effects of thiopental on arterial concentrations, arterior-coronary substrate differences, myocardial uptake, and O2-extraction ratio of the different substrates are discussed.


This article reviews the basic theoretical aspects of octagraphene, an one-atom-thick allotrope of carbon, with unusual two-dimensional (2D) Fermi nesting, hoping to contribute to the new family of quantum materials. Octagraphene has an almost strongest sp
 2 hybrid bond similar to graphene, and has the similar electronic band structure as iron-based superconductors, which makes it possible to realize high-temperature superconductivity. We have compared various possible mechanisms of superconductivity, including the unconventional s
 ± superconductivity based on spin fluctuation and conventional superconductivity based on electron-phonon coupling. Theoretical studies have shown that octagraphene has relatively high structural stability. Although many 2D carbon materials with C
 4 carbon ring and C
 8 carbon ring structures have been reported, it is still challenging to realize the octagraphene with pure square-octagon structure experimentally. This material holds hope to realize new 2D high-temperature superconductivity.


Background: A defining feature of any university is its dedication to scholarly activities, leading to the generation of knowledge and ideas Research productivity is a measure of achievement of a scholar. The number of research publications in peer-reviewed journals is an important criterion for assessing productivity and prestige in the academia. Aims and Objectives: This cross-sectional descriptive study assessed the level of research productivity (RP) among junior faculty at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and investigated factors affecting their research output prior to the implementation of a 5-year training grant funded by the National Institutes of Health. Methods: Seventy junior faculty members attended a pre-program training, and the self-reported number of peer-reviewed publications (PRPs) was used as an indicator. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing RP among the attendees were assessed and ranked. Results: The majority (42/70, 60%) of the respondents had <10 PRPs. The median (interquartile range) number of PRPs was 7 (3–18). A desire for the development of their personal skills, contribution to society, and personal research interests topped the list of intrinsic factors influencing RP. Work flexibility, research autonomy, and scholarly pursuits were the bottom three. A desire for promotion, respect from peers, and increased social standing were the top three extrinsic factors, while monetary incentives, employment opportunities, and the need to attend conferences were the lowest three. The top barriers to RP were lack of resources and lack of mentoring. Perceived older age, lack of time, and motivation were the lowest three barriers. Older age and professional cadre were associated with increased RP (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Among the participants, research output appears to be motivated primarily by a desire for personal development,promotion, and respect from peers. Lack of access to resources was the main barrier to increased RP. These factors may need to be considered when developing programs designed to promote RP.


Large arrays of floating photovoltaics (FPV) are emerging to be an attractive solution to renewable energy production and ocean space utilization. FPV arrays are typically buoyed by hundreds of modularized floating bases arranged in ocean surface. The total performance of the FPV arrays is significantly affected by the hydrodynamic interactions between these individual floaters. As the size of the array increases, more time will be required to calculate the entire hydrodynamic properties. From the engineering point of view, it is a challenging task to fully consider the radiation interactions among the modularized FPV floaters. In fact, when the distance between two floating bodies is large enough, their interaction will gradually vanish. The present study developed a cut-off scheme to improve the computational efficiency while providing a reliable prediction of the interaction effects in engineering practice. A cut-off radius is introduced in this scheme to determine the coupling range in which the radiation hydrodynamic interactions should be considered. The cut-off radius is determined by three parameters, including the modular shape, wave frequency and accuracy requirement. Several arrays of rectangular FPV bases were taken as examples to show how to quantify the radiation interactions and find an optimal cut-off radius. The effect of wave direction, gap distance, and connection type were also investigated. The results from the validation case showed that the hydrodynamic interaction can be well predicted using the proposed cut-off scheme, while more than half of the computational time can be saved.


BACKGROUND
The long waiting time for Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) operation may potentially increase the risk of hypoxic insult. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the frequency of acute neurological complications following primary TOF repair and to identify the peri-operative risk factors and predictors for the neurological sequelae.

METHODS
A retrospective review of the medical and surgical notes of 68 patients who underwent TOF repair in Hospital Serdang, from January 2013 to December 2017 was done. Univariate and multivariate analyses of demographics and perioperative clinical data were performed to determine the risk for the development of acute neurological complications (ANC) among these patients.

RESULTS
ANC was reported in 13 cases (19.1%) with delirium being the most common manifestation (10/68, 14.7%), followed by seizures in 4 (5.9%) and abnormal movements in two patients (2.9%). Univariate analyses showed that the presence of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, prolonged duration of inotropic support (≥7 days), prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation (≥7 days), longer length of ICU stays (≥7 days), and longer length of hospital stay (≥14 days), were significantly associated with the presence of ANCs (p<0.05). However, multivariate analyses did not show any significant association between these variables and the development of ANC (p>0.05). The predictors for the development of postoperative delirium were pre-operative oxygen saturation less than 75% (Odds Ratio, OR=16.90, 95% Confidence Interval, 95%CI:1.36, 209.71) and duration of ventilation of more than 7 days (OR=13.20, 95%CI: 1.20, 144.98).

CONCLUSION
ANC following TOF repair were significantly higher in patients with RV dysfunction, in those who required a longer duration of inotropic support, mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital stay. Low pre-operative oxygen saturation and prolonged mechanical ventilation requirement were predictors for delirium which was the commonest neurological complications observed in this study. Hence, routine screening for delirium using an objective assessment tool should be performed on these high-risk patients to enable accurate diagnosis and early intervention to improve the overall outcome of TOF surgery in this country.


In May 2018, the Federal Science and Technology Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017–2025 was supplemented by the subprogram "Development of potato breeding and seed production in the Russian Federation", and integrated scientific and technical programs and projects (ISTP) were chosen as the form of its implementation.The risk analysis of the implementation of ISTP in the priority direction under consideration was performed.Particular attention is paid to the problem of attracting industrial customers to the ISTP – agricultural producers who have sufficient resource support and are able to perform the necessary amount of work on growing and bringing to the market potatoes of domestic breeding.It has been suggested that in order to improve the efficiency of project expertise and reduce the risks of unreachability of the stated indicators, it is advisable to carry out the selection of domestic companies – potential beneficiaries of the technologies being developed at the first stages of the ISTP implementation.


Mechanisms leading to gut homeostasis affect both mucosal and systemic immune function, and involve gut microbiota. Tolerogenic dendritic cells (CD103DC) play a role in gut homeostasis, including generation of induced regulatory T cells (iTregs). Previously, we found that treatment of male BWF1 mice with anti-CD103 antibody significantly increases disease incidence/mortality. Male CD103DC exhibit significantly greater tolerogenic function than either female or castrated male CD103DC in vitro. This study examines the mechanism of sex differences in CD103DC function, and the role of microbiota in lupus. Sex differences in CD103DC function correlated with increased expression of genes associated with tolerogenic/anti-inflammatory function in males, and pro-inflammatory function in females, and changes in iTreg frequency and function in vivo. Male BWF1 CD103DC expressed more Raldh2, an enzyme required for retinoic acid (RA) synthesis and CD103DC function, and supplementation with RA restored tolerogenic function in female CD103DC. Further, we found that male gut microbiota differed significantly from adult, but not immature, female microbiota, suggesting hormones influence the gut microbiota. Importantly, transfer of male gut microbiota to female BWF1 mice significantly reduced anti-dsDNA antibody production. These data suggest that an interplay between hormones, gut microbiota and tolerogenic CD103DC may play a critical role in providing protection to male BWF1 mice.


Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the fourth most-produced cereal in the world and is mainly utilized as animal feed and malts. Recently barley attracts considerable attentions as healthy food rich in dietary fiber. However, limited knowledge is available about developmental aspects of barley leaves. In the present study, we investigated barley narrow leafed dwarf1 (nld1) mutants, which exhibit thin leaves accompanied by short stature. Detailed histological analysis revealed that leaf marginal tissues, such as sawtooth hairs and sclerenchymatous cells, were lacked in nld1, suggesting that narrowed leaf of nld1 was attributable to the defective development of the marginal regions in the leaves. The defective marginal developments were also appeared in internodes and glumes in spikelets. Map-based cloning revealed that NLD1 encodes a WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX 3 (WOX3), an ortholog of the maize NARROW SHEATH genes. In situ hybridization showed that NLD1 transcripts were localized in the marginal edges of leaf primordia from the initiating stage. From these results, we concluded that NLD1 plays pivotal role in the increase of organ width and in the development of marginal tissues in lateral organs in barley.


In this article we propose a method to improve the accuracy of sinusoid modeling by introducing parameter variation models into both the analyzer and the synthesizer. Using the least-square-error estimator as an example, we show how the sinusoidal parameters estimated under a stationary assumption relate to the real nonstationary process, and propose a way to reestimate the parameters using some parameter variation model. For the synthesizer, we interpolate the parameters using the same model, with the phase unwrapping process reformulated to adapt to the change. Results show that the method effectively cuts down the systematic error of a conventional system based on a least-square-error estimator and the McAulay-Quatieri synthesizer.


CONTEXT
Between 1994 and 2003, tuberculosis (TB) cases in California declined 33% (4834 to 3224). However, in 2003 California reported the largest number of cases in the nation, and over the past decade the proportion of cases with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has not decreased.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the magnitude, trends, geographic distribution, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of MDR-TB cases reported to the California registry of Reports of Verified Cases of TB. DESIGN, SETTING, AND CASES: Analysis of 38,291 TB cases reported from all 61 local health jurisdictions in California during 1994-2003. Multidrug-resistant TB was defined as resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampin.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Results of univariate and multivariable analyses of MDR-TB magnitude, trends, geographic distribution, clinical characteristics, associated factors, and outcomes.

RESULTS
Of 38,291 reported TB cases, 28,712 (75%) were tested for resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampin; of these, 407 MDR-TB cases (1.4%) were reported from 38 of 61 California health jurisdictions (62%); the proportion of MDR-TB cases did not significantly change over the study period (P = .87). Cases of MDR-TB were twice as likely to have cavitary lesions compared with non-MDR-TB cases (P<.001) and were 7 times more likely to have reported previous treatment for TB (P<.001). Of MDR-TB cases with outcomes, 231 (67%) completed therapy, and those with MDR-TB were significantly less likely to complete therapy than those without MDR-TB (P<.001). Multivariate analysis identified previous TB diagnosis, positive acid-fast bacilli sputum smear results, Asian/Pacific Islander ethnicity, time in the United States less than 5 years at the time of diagnosis, and outcomes of "died" and "moved" as factors associated with MDR-TB.

CONCLUSIONS
Multidrug-resistant TB, an airborne disease with limited, costly treatment options, persists in 1% to 2% of all cases despite California's control efforts. Local and global TB control efforts are needed to prevent the further development and spread of MDR-TB.


It is proposed that the highest-energy cosmic rays are produced in galaxies in the central regions of clusters. The particles diffuse outwards under the influence of randomly directed intergalactic magnetic fields. Many of the particles detected at the Earth come from the Virgo cluster but if the diffusion coefficient is high enough other, more distant clusters, will also contribute significantly. The model gives a natural explanation of the measured spectral shape and anisotropy above about 1018 eV; its requirements for cosmic-ray energy in cluster sources are not excessive if, as seems likely, the production spectrum is comparatively flat (j(E) varies as tildeE- gamma with gamma in the region of 2.1 to 2.2).


There are two competing explanations for the value premium. One suggests that value premium is a compensation for risk, while the other implies that it is driven by investor sentiment. Previous empirical studies typically test these two competing explanations of value premium in isolation, which may lead to incorrect inferences. In this paper, we extend the literature by testing these two competing explanations of value premium in a joint fashion. We find that while value premium is correlated with investor sentiment, it shows very little correlation with the state of the economy. Based on this evidence, it is very difficult to argue that value premium is due to risk.


In this paper a hybrid model is presented for the numerical simulation of gas-liquid-solid flows using a combined Volume Of Fluid (VOF) and Discrete Particle (DP) approach applied for respectively dispersed gas bubbles and solid particles present in the continuous liquid phase. The hard sphere DP model, originally developed by Hoomans et al. (1996) for dense gas-solid systems, has been extended to account for all additional forces acting on particles suspended in a viscous liquid and has been combined with the VOF model presented recently by van Sint Annaland et al. (2005) for complex free surface flows. In this paper the physical foundation of the combined VOF-DP model will be presented together with illustrative computational results highlighting the capabilities of this hybrid model. The effect of bubble-induced particle mixing has been studied focusing on the effect of the volumetric particle concentration. In addition particle mixing was studied in systems with two co-laterally and three oblique rising bubbles.


Major and trace elements have been determined in spinel lherzolite, spinel pyroxenite and garnet websterite xenoliths from the Hoggar and in their host basanites and nephelinites. Transition metal and REE abundances do not support a genetic link between these ultramafic rocks and the lavas erupted at the surface. Mineral chemistry and textures suggest a complex evolution and subsolidus re-equilibration in the range 800–1, 000°C. High-density CO2 fluid-inclusions define minimum pressures of 10–12kb. Thus the ultramafic xenoliths came from a relatively low pressure regime within an inhomogeneous lithospheric mantle segment characterized by a disturbed geotherm.


The Montevideo Convention of the Rights and Duties of States (1933) codified the declarative theory of statehood as accepted as part of customary international law and laid down the five requirements for statehood which are often summarized as 'the principle of effectivity': (a) permanent population, (b) defined territory, (c) organised power (government) and (d) ability to enter into relations with other states. The aim of this article is to discuss the possibility of an additional requirement: popular sovereignty in a specific historic sense. I will also discuss whether this requirement should be regarded as a necessary and/or sufficient condition for statehood. The importance of this additional condition will be explained in the light of the legitimacy of exercise of power. Furthermore, it will be argued that this additional requirement may help promote the suggested primary goal of international law, that being justice (instead of peace as easily inferred by the UN Charter) in the specific sense of the protection of basic human rights, as suggested by Buchanan in Justice, Legitimacy and Self-Determination. It has to be noted that both main points, namely Buchananâ??s suggested notion of justice as the primary goal of international law and my main argument of popular sovereignty in a specific historical sense as a requirement of statehood are not to be regarded as relating to any form of Natural law Theory. It is not the case that I maintain that any international norm which violates justice as ethical foundation of international law is, because of that reason, legally invalid. Although the Legal Positivism vs Natural Law Theory is certainly not the focus of this paper, if one wishes to regard Legal Positivism and Natural Law Theory as mutually exclusive, my suggestion falls entirely under the umbrella of Legal Positivism for reasons that will be explained.


Two novel anthracene derivatives were synthesized, and detailed photo-physical and biological investigations were carried out using a variety of spectroscopy techniques. The effect of cyano (-CN) substitution was found to be effective to alter the charge population and frontier orbital energy levels via Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Particularly, the introduction of styryl and triphenylamine groups attached to the anthracene core helped to increase the conjugation relative to the anthracene moiety. The results revealed that the molecules have intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) properties, occurring from the electron donating triphenylamine to the electron accepting anthracene moiety in solutions. In addition, the photo-physical properties are strongly cyano-dependent, where the cyano-substituted (E/Z)-(2-anthracen-9-yl)-3-(4'-(diphenylamino)biphenyl-4yl)acrylonitrile molecule showed stronger electron affinity due to the enhanced internal steric hindrance compared to the (E)-4'-(2-(anthracen-9-yl)vinyl)-N,N-diphenylbiphenyl-4-amine molecule, which resulted in a lower photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) value and a shorter lifetime in the molecule. Besides, the Molecular Docking approach was used to investigate possible cellular staining targets to confirm cellular imaging potential of the compounds. Moreover, cell viability analyses put forth that synthesized molecules do not exhibit significant cytotoxicity under 125 μg mL-1 concentration on the human dermal fibroblast cell line (HDFa). Moreover, both of the compounds showed great potential in cellular imaging of HDFa cells. Compared to Hoechst 33258, a common fluorescent dye used for nuclear staining, the compounds showed higher magnification of cellular structure imaging capacity by staining the whole cellular compartment. On the other hand, bacterial staining showed that ethidium bromide has higher resolution in monitoring Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) cell culture.


This paper examines the validity of the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) as a measure of four specific dimensions of injury severity. The analysis is based on comparing the AIS scores of 95 injuries selected from AIS-80 to the scores these injuries received on four unidimensional injury severity scales, namely: mortality risk, acute care length of stay, overall recovery period, and permanent disability/activity limitation. The unidimensional injury severity scale scores were based on the subjective estimates of a sample of physicians (n = 218) involved in the care of trauma patients. Based on bivariate and partial correlation analysis, results suggest that the AIS can be defined as a scale which measures both trauma related mortality risk and acute care length of stay. However, the use of the AIS as an indicator of trauma related recovery period and permanent disability is questioned.


The FDA made its case for greater regulatory authority over laboratory developed tests (LDTs) in a recent report that details 20 incidents in which the tests were linked with patient harm (http://1.usa.gov/1PL0iot).

Laboratory developed tests are considered a subset of in vitro diagnostics, which the FDA has regulated as medical devices since 1976. In contrast to diagnostic tests made by a conventional manufacturer and used by many laboratories, LDTs are designed, manufactured, and used in a single laboratory.


Polypharmacy, or the taking of multiple medications, is a common situation for the older individual in today's society. It reflects a change in the focus of medical care for the elderly person from a caring to a curing treatment. Nurses play a major role in identifying people receiving multiple medications and in helping to evaluate their effectiveness. Suggestions for obtaining a complete drug history are presented along with explanations of the role of age-related changes on the effect of those medications on the elderly.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate long-term clinical outcome of elderly patients with severe closed head injuries.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
All patients older than 65 years of age admitted to a regional trauma center with a diagnosis of closed head injury and an admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 8 or less. Using chi 2 analysis, Student's t test, and multiple logistic regression, we correlated age, sex, mechanism of injury, pupillary reactivity, alcohol and drug use, admission GCS score, Injury Severity Score, Revised Trauma Score, heart rate, and blood pressure to the main outcome measures, i.e. long-term functional outcome and mortality.

RESULTS
Among 40 elderly patients who met the criteria, 27% were still alive at the end of 38 +/- 3 month follow-up. Eighty-five percent of patients who were discharged from the hospital were still alive long-term, but did not show significant neurologic improvement. In a univariate analysis, GCS and pupillary reactivity were predictive for long-term functional outcome and mortality. In a multivariate analysis, GCS and heart rate were predictive. All patients with an admission GCS score of 3 died in-hospital. All patients with an admission GCS score of 3 to 7 were either deceased or lived in persistent vegetative or dependent functional states.

CONCLUSIONS
Elderly patients with severe closed head injuries have high in-hospital mortality. Those who survived the hospital stay had high long-term survival, but did not show significant functional improvement. Prediction of long-term functional status is vital to the trauma care of elderly patients with severe closed head injuries.


Enzymatic glycerolysis of soybean oil catalyzed with the commercial lipase catalyst Novozym 435 has been carried out at 45-52 °C in a stirred tank and fixed-bed reactor, using tert-butyl alcohol as a solvent. The effects of reaction conditions on the glycerolysis were evaluated and optimum parameters found for the monoacylglycerol (MAG) production (yield > 85 %). Unlike the batch glycerolysis, in the packed bed reactor, the catalyst retained its activity in long-term operation, regardless of the reaction conditions used. The continuous transesterification of the oil with trimethylolpropane (TMP) afforded a mixture of monoacyl- and diacylglycerols in 90% yield. The high yield of monoacyl-TMP (71 %) along with 24 % of 1-monoacyl- and 5 % of 2-monoacylglycerol gives evidence of the efficiency of the process.


Lipoxins have well characterized anti-inflammatory properties. In recent years, lipoxin A4 and its epimeric counterpart, which is synthesized via aspirin-acetylated cyclooxygenase-2, have been shown to exert very potent protective effects in the stomach. Indeed, suppression of aspirin-triggered lipoxin synthesis, through co-administration of a selective COX-2 inhibitor, results in a significant exacerbation of gastric injury. The gastroprotective effects of lipoxin A4 appear to be receptor mediated, and may be attributable to the ability of this agent to suppress leukocyte adherence to the vascular endothelium and to elevate gastroduodenal blood flow. These effects may be mediated via lipoxin-induced nitric oxide generation. Lipoxins activate a receptor that can also be activated by annexin-1, another substance involved in resolution of inflammation and gastroprotection.


Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) results by several vascular risk factors and, particularly, hypertension (HTN). The identification of early changes associated with later development of dementia is demanding. Great part of research has primarily focused on brain changes occuring in grey matter. However, more recent data highlighted that HTN may determine cognitive decline, even before manifest neurodegeneration. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on magnetic resonance, opened the possibility to predict white matter connections that correlate with specific cognitive functions. In this study, we used DTI and cognitive assessment (CA), in order to identify a regional pattern of fractional anisotropy (FA) changes that could predict for VCI in hypertensive patients (HT).
 We have examined 15 HT (moderate to severe, with antihypertensive medications) vs 15 normotensive (NT), subjecting them to DTI and CA. HT had significant higher SBP (138±4 vs 118±3 in NT) and DBP (87±2 vs 75±2 in NT) (p<0.001), displayed a significant LV hypertrophic remodeling (LVM/BSA 112±5 vs 83±3 for NT) (p<0.0001), with a significant moderate increase in albuminuria (15.7±2.6 mg/24h vs 8.8±1.6 for NT) (p<0.03). When subjected to CA, HT had significantly worsen performance on both MoCA (22.66±0.97 vs 26.21±0.57 NT) and Stroop Test (34.50±3.87 vs 17.75±2.57 NT) (p<0.01). Conversely, tests regarding Verbal Fluency and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living revealed normal performance of HT, thus indicating a selective impairment of memory. Brain imaging showed that, while none of the patients had abnormal signal intensity on T1/T2-weighted MRI,
 DTI indices FA were significantly reduced in HT as vs NT. In particular, HT had lower FA in projection fibers related to impairment for non-verbal materials (Anterior Thalamic Radiation: 0.358±0.012 vs 0.330±0.006, p<0.05), association fibers involved in executive functioning and emotional regulation (Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus: 0.388±0.013 vs 0.356±0.007, p<0.05), limbic system fibers involved in attention tasks (cingulate gyrus: 0.364±0.009 vs 0.328±0.010, p<0.01).
 Our data highlight a novel paradigm of combined DTI/CA of HT patients, capable to identify, with great sensitivity, predictive signs of HTN-induced VCI.


In 2007, the National Soybean Research Laboratory in collaboration with the Iowa Agricultural Statistical Service conducted a survey of the specialty soybean and corn activities in the State for the 2006 crop year. Out of 55,879 corn and soybean farmers in Iowa, 5,000 farmers were randomly selected and 2,369 farmers, responded, for a response rate of 47.4%. A key objective of the survey was to better understand, and then assess the state of differentiated or enhanced soybean and corn production in Iowa. The goal is to help farmers capture more value. This report is chiefly about soybean specialty crops, but a few points of comparison with corn specialty crops will be of interest. There is a companion report chiefly about corn that can be downloaded at the ageconsearch website.


Translational medicine is a complex and multidisciplinary network of activities that requires a large number of different competencies. There is a high demand of people with the necessary skills to successfully coordinate these processes. These skills range from understanding scientific and regulatory processes to intellectual property and entrepreneurial related aspects. While it has become clear that new programs are needed to educate such specialists, not many programs addressing this demand are currently being offered. In this review, we will discuss the need for translational and entrepreneurial medicine and its challenges, the importance of educating people with very unique skills to embrace these challenges and discuss available educational programs in translational medicine in terms of their curriculum, but also pedagogical concepts. Finally, we will present a new program in translational and entrepreneurial medicine, which we are developing at the newly created Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine. A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: December 19, 2016 Revised: July 19, 2017 Accepted: July 21, 2017


Recent field studies have shown that the survival of Zingel balcanicus (Karaman, 1937) was enabled in an isolated area along the Treska River. The presence of two opercular spines in Z. balcanicus, compared to only one in Zingel streber, has attracted our interest for investigating more details about osteological characters of Z. balcanicus in order to provide more useful anatomical data that could be of osteo-taxonomic value. A complete osteological description of Z. balcanicus is presented with some comparative aspects discussed. Zingel balcanicus shares a large number of osteological characteristics with other members of Zingel. However, the articular processes of the premaxillary bone, teeth in the palatine bone, opercular spination and number of precaudal centra were emphasised as stable osteo-taxonomic characters. On the other hand, the architecture of the hyomandibula, spine-like extensions of infraorbital bones, gill rakers, and independent cartilage plates and presence of "Spreitzer vertebra" were noticed as peculiar characteristics that never have been described for the genus Zingel.


The problem of obtaining optimal processing time in a distributed computing system consisting of (N+1) processors and N communication links, arranged in a single-level tree architecture, is considered. It is shown that optimality can be achieved through a hierarchy of steps involving optimal load distribution, load sequencing, and processor-link arrangement. Closed-form expressions for optimal processing time is derived for a general case of networks with different processor speeds and different communication link speeds. Using these closed-form expressions, the paper analytically proves a number of significant results that in earlier studies were only conjectured from computational results. In addition, it also extends these results to a more general framework. The above analysis is carried out for the cases in which the root processor may or may not be equipped with a front-end processor. Illustrative examples are given for all cases considered. >


Shareholders around the world are seeking greater dialogue with boards of directors of investee companies on an expanding array of topics. For example, demands by investors in the US and other markets for greater shareholder rights - such as an advisory vote on remuneration - are in part efforts to engage the board on important governance issues. This article, drawing upon the author's experience in the UK and other markets as head of corporate governance at a large investment firm, offers practical suggestions to boards on improving engagement with their shareholders. Suggestions made include: 1) boards should strive to build long-term, trust-based relationships with their most significant shareholders and board leaders should engage directly with them rather than delegating this function to the investor relations team; 2) regularity is important, as relationships and goodwill are built through repeated encounters; 3) boards need to be careful about the impressions they create as perceptions of arrogance or disdain for shareholders can haunt a company a long time; 4) shareholders do not expect boards to be infallible, and owning up to mistakes can help disarm even the angriest investors; and 5) divergent viewpoints among directors are not necessarily problematic and can even provide comfort to investors that the board is rigorous and serious.


Partnership Forums are the means by which the OECD Development Assistance Committee provides a venue for non-governmental actors to express their points of view and to offer their own contributions to development policy and strategy. In December 2000, the DAC and the Development Centre held a Forum on ways of integrating civil society into policy formation in developing countries, and to identify obstacles to such involvement. Participants agreed that civil society's role in poverty-reduction strategies had been an important element in successful implementation. The wide-ranging discussion concluded that civil-society participation in policy making not only enhances efficiency in implementation, but also contributes to the creation of more pluralistic and democratic political systems. This book is essential reading for civil society organisations themselves, for governments in OECD and in developing countries, as well as for international organisations drawing up and implementing poverty-reduction strategies.


Demonstrative evidence has been part of the American trial process for well over a century. Cases referencing the use of charts, models, diagrams and the like are legion. There are hundreds of articles and several books which describe and tout the uses of demonstrative evidence. What is missing, however, is a scholarly examination of demonstrative evidence theory, i.e., an analysis that defines the term correctly, explains its supportive role at trial vis-a-vis other forms of evidence, and suggests its proper place in evidence codes. Such examination is necessary because computer generated, movie-quality modern day demonstrative proof is qualitatively different from its static, hand-drawn predecessors. This qualitative explosion has led to inconsistency among courts even as to whether to allow these modern displays can be shown in trial, and certainly as to the rules and restrictions governing their showing when they are allowed. A theory which explains the proper evidential role of demonstrative proof will allow a better understanding of its appropriate use and should help unify its treatment. It is our premise that demonstrative evidence has a secondary or derivative relevance at trial. That is, a piece of demonstrative evidence cannot, on its own, meet the test of "primary" relevancy, i.e., it cannot make the existence of a fact of consequence more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. A diagram of the house where a burglary took place cannot, on its own, make it more or less likely that a crime occurred or that the defendant committed the requisite acts. But what it can do is make more understandable other admissible substantive evidence which itself meets the test of relevancy, i.e., the diagram can illustrate the expert's written report on the location of the shoe prints matching the shoes of the defendant at the burgled home and the homeowner's testimony of what items had been taken and where they were stored. Hence, demonstrative evidence is any display that is principally used to illustrate or explain other admissible testimonial, documentary or real evidence, or judicially noticed fact. As such, if a proffered piece of demonstrative proof assists the trier of fact to understand better another admissible piece of substantive evidence, and if it passes any requisite probative/prejudice balancing test, then it should be freely used in any phase of trial - during opening, closing, accompanying witness' testimony, etc. - and should be subject to the lowered foundational requirements to which such proof has always been put, i.e., no chain of custody, no personal knowledge, etc. Further, it is our belief that the definition of relevance in applicable evidence codes be amended to allow for the formal admissibility of demonstrative evidence for several reasons, including creating a complete record on appeal, and that, for the most part, such displays should be allowed in the jury room just as with any other piece of admitted evidence.


Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer is a subtype of breast cancer lacking expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2/neu protein markers. Despite having the worse prognosis, currently there is no molecular target for this subtype. To discover the clues for therapeutic targets of TNBC, we examined somatic Single Nucleotide Variation (SNV) and Copy Number Variation (CNV) profiling of TNBC patients using targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS). Methods: A total of 414 breast cancer and normal breast samples were collected at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) from 1995 to 2013. By sample condition, 94 samples were frozen tissues (47 tumor-normal matched pair), and 320 samples were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues (155 tumor-normal matched pair; Tumor 164, Normal 156). Genomic DNA was extracted from samples and target enrichment was done by using Agilent SureSelect Human Kinome Panel (612 genes including over 500 kinases). The paired-end libraries were constructed and sequenced on Illumina HiSeq 2000 instrument with average 250x depth coverage. Generated sequence reads were aligned to human genome hg19 with bwa algorithm, and somatic SNV and CNV were identified using VarScan2 algorithm. To confirm the existence of identified somatic SNV and CNV, we carried out SNP microarray experiment (Illumina Human Omni5 Exome microarray) for 46 pairs of frozen tissue samples. There were 18,720 SNP probes in SNP microarray covering target region of kinome panel. If the same SNV and CNV were detected in both NGS and microarray data, we considered them validated. Results: In 46 paired frozen samples, 610 somatic SNVs were detected. The most frequent and non-synonymous mutations were in PIK3CA (8.6%), BMPR1A (4.3%), FES (4.3%), TP53 (4.3%), ROCK1 (4.3%), PAK2 (4.3%), CDK18 (4.3%), OBSCN (4.3%), LRRK1 (4.3%), CDC6 (4.3%), PIKFYVE (4.3%), and FGFR3 (4.3%). Chromosomal aberration was detected in chromosome 1 (10 samples) and chromosome 8 (11 samples). 242 somatic CNV were found in 157 genes in 46 patients, but 99 gene amplifications showed only single occurrence. In other words, TNBC sample displayed highly heterogeneous CNV profile. However, we detected two frequently amplified genes; PKHD1L1 (13%) and NRBP2 (10.9%). Further analysis on NGS data of 155 pairs of FFPE samples is in process to validate the results. Conclusion : We investigated comprehensive somatic mutation profile in matched pair TNBC samples. Although these samples showed highly heterogeneous mutation profile, it's possible to detect some interesting SNV and CNV with over 4% frequency. Further analysis may illuminate clinical meaning of those alterations. Citation Format: Taegyun Yun, Byung-Chul Lee, Jungsun Park, Dongyoon Park, Tae-Kyung Yoo, Min Kyoon Kim, Wonshik Han. Comprehensive somatic SNV and CNV profiling for triple-negative breast cancer patients by targeted next-generation sequencing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-03-10.


Abstract Objective To explore the association between maternal education levels and cognitive and language composite scores of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition at 18 to 24 months' corrected age in extremely preterm infants born at < 29 weeks of gestation. Design/methods For infants born between 2005 and 2008, maternal education levels and the cognitive and language composite scores were collected. Analysis of covariance was used to determine the relationship between maternal education levels and composite scores after adjusting for neonatal and perinatal factors. Results For the study period, 457/524 (88%) infants were included in the analysis. With less than a high school education as reference, infants born to mothers with a high school education (adjusted mean difference [MD] = 5.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9 to 10.0), with partial college or specialty training (MD 8.1; 95% CI 2.8 to 13.5), with a university degree or more (MD 12.6; 95% CI 8.2 to 17.0) had significantly higher cognitive scores. Similarly, infants born to mothers with a university degree or more had significantly higher language scores (MD 10.8; 95% CI 6.1 to 15.5). Conclusions For infants born at <29 weeks' gestation, both cognitive and language scores were higher as maternal education increased from less than high school level to university or higher level.


Numerical simulations have been obtained for two-dimensional laminar flows past a circular cylinder in the transitional regime. Computations are performed using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method for Knudsen numbers of 0.02 and 0.2 and Mach numbers of 0.102 and 0.4. For these conditions, Reynolds number ranges from 0.626 to 24.63 and the flows are steady. Results show that separation occurs in the wake region for the flow with Mach number of 0.4 and Knudsen number of 0.02, but for the other cases flows are attached. The effects of flow speed, rarefaction, domain size and the outflow boundary conditions are investigated. Results show sensitivity to the domain size and the outflow boundary conditions in the low Mach number calculations, but as the speed increases the sensitivity decreases. Although no experimental data are available for direct comparison, the present calculations are found to be in very good agreement with the findings of other researchers.


The use of vibration mode localisation in arrays of micromechanically coupled, nearly identical beam-shaped resonators, has been studied for ultra-sensitive mass detection and analyte identification. Eigenstate shifts (amplitude change in this work) that are three to four times (compared to a single resonator), and orders (compared to a resonator array) of magnitude greater than corresponding shifts in resonant frequency for an induced mass perturbation are theoretically analysed, as well as considering the geometry of the coupling overhang. A mechanically coupled beam-shaped 3-resonator array was therefore analysed, fabricated and characterised. The experimental results show that bigger amplitude change could be obtained for the two outermost resonators owing to the symmetrical design, which are found to correspond well to the analytical results.


Introduction: Total abnormal pulmonary venous return anomaly (TAPVD) is a congenital heart disease characterized by abnormal pulmonary venous drainage to the right atrium. The Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) is used to predict mortality and morbidity after congenital heart surgery. In this study, the effect of postoperative NLR changes on prolonged intensive care unit stay in newborns with TAPVD was searched.
 Patients and Methods: The newborns with TAPVD who were followed up and operated on in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit between May 1, 2020, and May 1, 2022, were included in the study. Hematological parameters and NLR changes were recorded before and after the operation (1st-2nd-3rd days). Long ICU duration (PCILOS, being in the longest 25 percent as duration) was accepted as morbidity. The effects of NLO changes on PCILOS were examined.
 Results: Twenty-four patients were included in the study. The median age was 18 days (IQR 12 days-24 days) and the median weight was 3 kg (IQR= 2.8-3.2). Fifteen patients were male (63%). Median mechanical ventilator duration, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay were 40 hours (IQR= 30-48 hours), seven days (IQR= 5-9), and 15 days (IQR= 12-18), respectively. PCILOS duration was determined as >9 days. Three patients (12.5%) died in the postoperative first 30 days. Preoperative NLR value> 1.9 and postoperative 3rd day NLR> 2.8 predicted PCILOS strongly.
 Conclusion: High NLR values in the preoperative and early postoperative periods of neonates with total abnormal pulmonary venous return anomaly may be helpful to predict prolonged ICU stay.


This article celebrates Daniel (Dan) Druckman, the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM), and provides glimpses of his career through the lens of his former graduate students and current colleagues. Our accounts illustrate Dan's teaching philosophy as teaching by doing, his long-lasting passion for pragmatic, evidence-based analysis; his innovative application of research methods; and his international outreach. Each narrated experience demonstrates how Dan's holistic understanding of scholarship and his creative teaching, science, and practice have influenced the next generations of scholars. These accounts are integrated with a systematic analysis of Dan's publications to display his persistence in pushing the boundaries of the field by synthesizing variables, building theories, and bridging micro-level interactions to the broader political environment. The article concludes with remarks by Daniel Druckman.


Since sequencing techniques become less expensive, larger sample sizes are applicable for microbiota studies. The aim of this study is to show how, and to what extent, different diversity metrics and different compositions of the microbiota influence the needed sample size to observed dissimilar groups. Empirical 16S rRNA amplicon sequence data obtained from animal experiments, observational human data, and simulated data was used to perform retrospective power calculations. A wide variation of alpha diversity and beta diversity metrics were used to compare the different microbiota data sets and the effect on the sample size. Our data showed that beta diversity metrics are most sensitive to observe differences compared to alpha diversity metrics. The structure of the data influenced which alpha metrics are most sensitive. Regarding beta diversity, the Bray-Curtis metric is in general most sensitive to observe differences between groups, resulting in lower sample size and potential publication bias. We recommend to perform power calculations and to use multiple diversity metrics as an outcome measure. To improve microbiota studies awareness needs to be raised on the sensitivity and bias for microbiota research outcomes created by the used metrics rather than biological differences. We have seen that different alpha and beta diversity metrics lead to different study power: on the basis of this observation, one could be naturally tempted to try all possible metrics until one or more are found that give a statistically significant test result, i.e. p-value < α. This way of proceeding is one of the many forms of the so-called p-value hacking. To this end, in our opinion, the only way to protect ourselves from (the temptation of) p-hacking would be to publish, and we stress here the word publish, a statistical plan before experiments are initiated: this practice is customary for clinical trials where a statistical plan describing the endpoints and the corresponding statistical analyses must be disclosed before the start of the study.


In special public pipelines, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) had been widely applied, making integrity and safety priority. In the periodic inspection of pressure vessel and pressure pipeline, the safety level shall be determined by the defect geometric size. Therefore, it is necessary to get the defect size data as accurately as possible.
 Digital radiography inspection is a feasible method for detecting butt fusion welds. Defect size can be measured accurately by digital radiographic image. Due to factors such as damage to human body caused by ray, it is difficult to detect HDPE pipelines in some occasions in field. Ultrasonic phased array testing has high accuracy in flaw inspection, high efficiency and little artificial criteria error. But conventional phased array has difficulties in detecting butt fusion welds due to acoustic attenuation and noise affection.
 In this paper, PE butt fusion welding is inspected by immersion phased array. The absolute time-of-flight method is used to measure the defect size, and the accuracy is qualified with the requirements of the butt fusion welding inspection. For more important, inspector does not need to move equipment probe, avoiding artificial errors and improving the efficiency.


Summary: Over a period of 2 years we have observed 3 thyrotoxic patients who presented with a convulsive encephalopathy. These patients had no history of seizures before and experienced no further seizures after subsidence of the thyroid dysfunction. During the convulsive period, electroencephalograms of 2 patients showed evidence of cerebral hyperexcitability, but in both cases it returned to normal once the thyroid disorder was corrected. We believe that thyrotoxic seizures are not rare. These seizures can be focal as well as generalized and can constitute the presenting symptoms of the disease. Absence of other laboratory abnormalities such as serum electrolytes, or osmolality changes, or hypoglycemia in all patients who reportedly suffered from thyrotoxic seizures, and the data obtained from animal studies, suggest that human thyrotoxic seizures result mainly from the direct effect of thyroid hormones over the cerebral tissue.


The early clinical results are described of a real time, electromagnetic imaging system as an aid to colonoscopy. After gaining experience with the use of the system, one experienced endoscopist was randomised to perform consecutive colonoscopies either with (n = 29) or without (n = 26) the imager view. All procedures were recorded on computer disk and replayed for retrospective analysis. Total colonoscopy was achieved in all patients except one (imager view not available). Comparing intubation time and duration of loop formation per patient, there was no significant difference between the two study groups. The number of attempts taken to straighten the colonoscope pre patient, however, was less when the endoscopist was able to see the imager view, p = 0.03. Hand pressure was also more effective when the endoscopist and endoscopy assistant could see the imager display, p = 0.02. Preliminary experience suggests that real time, electronic imaging of colonoscopy is safe, effective, and will improve the accuracy of the procedure.


Grain size, shape and orientation play an important role on the deformability of micro workpiece as the geometrical dimensions approach to a characteristic scale in micro-forming process. This paper addresses the three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model with weighed centroidal voronoi diagram (WCVD). Steady-state grains are generated when the voronoi generating points approach the grain centroid utilising a simplex integration algorithm. As a result of the centroidal process, the topological features of grains advance the uniform and steady state gradually, which may cause a decrease of interfacial energy. The grain size distribution is compared between the 3D domain and random cross-sectional plan. The effects of centroidal process on the distributions of grain size and number of grain corners, facet and edge are analysed.


The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the levels of loneliness and social support perceived by caregivers of bedridden patients. The study population of this descriptive study consisted of 120 caregivers of bedridden patients registered in the home care unit of Ministry of Health-Ordu University, Training and Research Hospital as of May 31, 2013. The whole study population was studied without performing any sampling in the study. The study was completed with 106 caregivers who agreed to participate in the research and who have patients alive during the study period. Data were collected through home visits and face-to-face interview method between June 1 and August 31, 2013. "Patient and Caregiver Introductory Information Form", "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" and "UCLA Loneliness Scale" were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using the percentage distribution, arithmetic mean, MannWhitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman correlation coefficient. A statistically significant difference was found between mean social support scores and caregivers' age, family type, degree of relatedness and ability to obtain support (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found also between mean loneliness scores and caregivers' family type, educational status and duration of care (p<0.05). A statistically significant negative relationship was found between mean perceived social support scores and loneliness scores of the caregivers (p<0.01). The levels of loneliness were decreased as the social support perceived by caregivers increased.


Studies were conducted to allow construction of an initial map of the structure-versus-function relationship of the Clostridium perfringens type A enterotoxin (CPE). Removal of the N-terminal 25 amino acids of CPE increased the primary cytotoxic effect of CPE but did not affect binding. CPE sequences required for at least four epitopes were also identified.


The Rijndael advanced encryption standard (AES) contains two paired important transformations, MixColumns (inverse MixColumns) and SubByte (inverse SubBytes), the most crucial operations in the AES encryption /decryption processes. They consist of XOR-based inner production operations in GF(28). In the paper, two substructure sharing methods are proposed to reduce the area cost of implementing these transformations. The first method exploits pure bit-level sharing with two optimisation stages, while the second method combines both the byte-level and bit-level techniques to further improve the area /speed performance. Comparisons in both the architectural-level designs and the technology-dependent cell-based implementations are given. An AES processor with iterative architecture is implemented using both a 0.18 µm UMC cell library and a Xilinx FPGA device. Experimental results show that the whole AES processor based on our proposed method can reduce area cost significantly compared with Synopsys area-optimised synthesis results or other previous implementations.


The E&HR (Education and Human Resources) Committee engages in a variety of activities of direct interest to members. This report is to acquaint you with current and future activities of the committee and with the membership of the committee itself. We welcome your suggestions and comments on any relevant topics.

Ongoing activities of the committee include oversight of the AGU Minority and June Bacon-Bercey scholarships, job centers and evening panel sessions at meetings, and response to various requests from the AGU Council. The committee maintains a liaison with the Scientific Manpower Commission and with the Association for Women Geoscientists.


Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a valuable MRI post-processing technique that quantifies the magnetic susceptibility of body tissue from phase data. However, the traditional QSM reconstruction pipeline involves multiple non-trivial steps, including phase unwrapping, background field removal, and dipole inversion. These intermediate steps not only increase the reconstruction time but amplify noise and errors. This study develops a large-stencil Laplacian preprocessed deep learning-based neural network for near instant quantitative field and susceptibility mapping (i.e., iQFM and iQSM) from raw MR phase data. The proposed iQFM and iQSM methods were compared with established reconstruction pipelines on simulated and in vivo datasets. In addition, experiments on patients with intracranial hemorrhage and multiple sclerosis were also performed to test the generalization of the novel neural networks. The proposed iQFM and iQSM methods yielded comparable results to multi-step methods in healthy subjects while dramatically improving reconstruction accuracies on intracranial hemorrhages with large susceptibilities. The reconstruction time was also substantially shortened from minutes using multi-step methods to only 130 milliseconds using the trained iQFM and iQSM neural networks.


In conventional terrestrial cellular networks, mobile devices at the cell edge often suffer from poor channel conditions, and thus unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are introduced in recent years to improve the reliability of communication links. However, with the rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the emerging IoT applications have blooming demands for high computation capacity from the resource-constrained IoT mobile devices (IMDs), motivated by which, mobile edge computing has been envisioned as an appealing solution to the resource bottleneck problem of IMDs. In order to cope with poor communication performance and high computation demands of cell-edge IMDs, we in this paper leverage UAV-aided edge computing to collaboratively assist computation offloading, taking account of the limited battery life of both IMDs and the UAV. We investigate a joint optimization problem of collaborative computation offloading, bandwidth portion, bit allocation, and UAV trajectory design, aiming to minimize the weighted energy consumption of IMDs and the UAV. Extensive numerical results validate the necessity of introducing UAV-aided edge computing to cellular networks, and the advantages of our proposed scheme on energy savings.