Complex Fenestration Systems (CFS) are those that incorporate a nonspecular layer within the glazing assembly, such as a shading device. CFS are often used in buildings for simultaneously enhance thermal and visual comfort and reducing energy consumption. Currently existing tools allow performing efficient lighting and thermal annual simulations of spaces with CFS. However, carrying out a detailed integrated lighting/thermal analysis is a complex task that cannot yet be transferred to industry. A tool for simplifying this process is required. This article presents a methodology for performing simple integrated thermal/lighting analysis of spaces with controlled CFS and artificial lighting during the design stage. Such methodology uses Radiance's genBSDF program for characterizing CFS and a new Radiance-based program called mkSchedule, which helps integrating the lighting and thermal simulations. This paper demonstrates how the proposed methodology works by performing an integrated annual analysis of an office space with controlled CFS and artificial lighting.


In this paper, we propose a non-realtime speech bandwidth extension method using HMM-based speech recognition and HMM-based speech synthesis. In the proposed method, first, the phoneme-state sequence is estimated from the bandlimited speech signals using the speech recognition technique. Next, for estimating spectrum envelopes of lost high-frequency components, an HMM-based speech synthesis technique generates a synthetic speech signal (spectrum sequence) according to the predicted phoneme-state sequence. Since both speech recognition and speech synthesis take into account dynamic feature vec-tors, we can obtain a smoothly varying spectrum sequence. For evaluating the proposed method, we conducted subjective and objective experiments. The experimental results show the effec-tiveness of the proposed method for bandwidth extension. How-ever, the proposed method needs more improvement in speech quality.


In this paper we propose a blind source separation method to process the data acquired by an array of ion-selective electrodes in order to measure the ionic activity of different ions in an aqueous solution. While this problem has already been studied in the past, the method presented differs from the ones previously analyzed by approximating the mixing function by a second-degree polynomial, and using a method based on the differential of the mutual information to adjust the parameter values. Experimental results, both with synthetic and real data, suggest that the algorithm proposed is more accurate than the other models in the literature.


Cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants of plants are essentially a mixture of N-glycans containing beta1,2-xylose and core alpha1,3-fucose, the latter also found in insect glycoproteins. To determine the relative contributions of these two sugar residues to antibody binding, we prepared an array of glycomodified forms of human apo-transferrin. Using core-alpha1, 3-fucosyltransferase (EC 184.108.40.206) and beta1,2-xylosyltransferase (EC 22.214.171.124) recombinantly expressed in Pichia pastoris and suitable glycosidases, glycoforms containing either only fucose (MMF), only xylose (MMX), both (MMXF), or neither (MM) linked to the common pentasaccharide core were generated. Additional glycoforms were obtained by enzymatic removal of the alpha1,3-linked mannosyl residue. These transferrin glycoforms served to define the binding specificity of antibodies in western blot, ELISA, and inhibition ELISA. Rabbit anti-horseradish peroxidase serum bound to both the fucosylated (MMF) and the xylosylated (MMX) glycoforms. Inhibition studies indicated two independent highly specific populations reacting with either of the two epitopes. In contrast, the monoclonal antibody YZ1/2.23 appears to recognize a larger structure including both the fucosyl and the xylosyl residue. The mannose-deficient glycoform was a poorer inhibitor for both antibodies. Terminal GlcNAc residues prevented antibody binding. Rabbit anti-bee venom serum reacted with fucosylated forms (MMF and MMXF) only. Experiments with sera from allergic patients suggest that glycomodified human transferrin, especially the MMXF glycoform, is a suitable reagent for the detection of antibodies against cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants. Within the panel studied, several sera contained high levels of fucose-reactive IgE but only a few sera showed any binding to MMX-transferrin.


Nova-like (NL) cataclysmic variables have persistently high mass transfer rates and prominent steady state accretion disks. We present an analysis of infrared observations of 12 NLs obtained from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer All Sky Survey. The presence of an infrared excess at λ ≳ 3–5 μm over the expectation of a theoretical steady state accretion disk is ubiquitous in our sample. The strength of the infrared excess is not correlated with orbital period, but shows a statistically significant correlation (but shallow trend) with system inclination that might be partially (but not completely) linked to the increasing view of the cooler outer accretion disk and disk rim at higher inclinations. We discuss the possible origin of the infrared excess in terms of emission from bremsstrahlung or circumbinary dust, with either mechanism facilitated by the mass outflows (e.g., disk wind/corona, accretion stream overflow, and so on) present in NLs. Our comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of either mechanism for explaining the observations suggests that the situation is rather ambiguous, largely circumstantial, and in need of stricter observational constraints.


Microsystems are gaining more and more interest in several technological areas. The complete integration of different basic elements like pumps, valves and reaction chambers is possible by the use of microtechnologies. In the field of micro analysis systems a mixing procedure of different solutions is often required. A static micromixer built up in silicon has been developed. The design and fabrication procedures of the micromixer allow the integration of other microcomponents like pumps, valves or sensors. The micromixer consists of two structures silicon wafers. The structured surfaces are bonded together by using a low temperature silicon direct bonding process. The structure of the mixer consists of several identical mixing elements. The size of one element is about . Each element consists of two or more microchannels for different liquids to be mixed. The arrangements of the microchannels in the elements lead to a mixing of the liquids. We found a homogeneous mixing after about 5 mixing elements for mixable liquids. Not mixable liquids will be emulsified after about 16 - 20 mixing elements.


[1] The response of ionospheric electron temperatures to geomagnetic activity has been simulated using the Thermosphere-Ionosphere Nested Grid (TING) model. The cause of this response has been analyzed using a new postprocessor for the TING model that looks at the individual physical terms that drive the electron energy equation. It is found that (1) electron temperatures are significantly enhanced in regions of depleted electron densities, especially inside the middle-latitude electron density trough. The most pronounced electron temperature enhancement occurs at the equatorward edge of the trough; (2) this enhancement is produced by heat flux from the plasmasphere, coupled with the effect of the relatively low thermal electron gas heat capacity there and the inefficient heat conduction in the bottomside of the F region, where electron densities have almost vanished; (3) in regions of enhanced electron densities, electron temperatures are significantly decreased as a result of enhanced energy loss to the ions; this prevents the electron temperature "morning overshoot" from occurring in the middle and low latitudes; (4) upwelling of molecular-species-rich air from the lower thermosphere to higher altitudes during the storm increases mixing ratios of the neutral molecular species in the F region, thus enhances the relative contribution of the neutral molecular species to the overall electron cooling there; (5) ion frictional heating increases high-latitude F region ion temperatures during geomagnetic storms, causing the ions to transfer energy to the electrons and thus enhancing electron temperatures; and (6) there are no significant electron temperature increases in the E region during the storm because of the rapid energy loss from the electrons to the neutrals.


This paper concerns a class of semigroups that arise as products $US$, associated to what we call `action pairs'. Here $U$ and $S$ are subsemigroups of a common monoid and, roughly speaking, $S$ has an action on the monoid completion $U^1$ that is suitably compatible with the product in the over-monoid. The semigroups encapsulated by the action pair construction include many natural classes such as inverse semigroups and (left) restriction semigroups, as well as many important concrete examples such as transformational wreath products, linear monoids, (partial) endomorphism monoids of independence algebras, and the singular ideals of many of these. Action pairs provide a unified framework for systematically studying such semigroups, within which we build a suite of tools to ensure a comprehensive understanding of them. We then apply our abstract results to many special cases of interest. The first part of the paper constitutes a detailed structural analysis of semigroups arising from action pairs. We show that any such semigroup $US$ is a quotient of a semidirect product $U\rtimes S$, and we classify all congruences on semidirect products that correspond to action pairs. We also prove several covering and embedding theorems, each of which naturally extends celebrated results of McAlister on proper (a.k.a. $E$-unitary) inverse semigroups. The second part of the paper concerns presentations by generators and relations for semigroups arising from action pairs. We develop a substantial body of general results and techniques that allow us to build presentations for $US$ out of presentations for the constituents $U$ and $S$ in many cases, and then apply these to several examples, including those listed above. Due to the broad applicability of the action pair construction, many results in the literature are special cases of our more general ones.


The use of separate sewerage systems to solve pollution problems associated with combined systems is examined. Overflows from combined stormwater-sewer systems have been found to be one of the major causes of receiving water pollution. Experiences in two countries which have predominantly one system or the other provided a basis for comparison. Wet weather overflow was found to be a major problem with similar quality of overflow produced for both systems. Minimising overflows was feasible, however proper and integrated control of stormwater and sewage flows, related to receiving water impacts, is indicated as the best solution. The use of separate sewerage systems to solve pollution problems may not be justified.


This paper presents a hardware efficient design for the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). The proposed design not only applies the constant property, but also exploits the numerical property of the transform coefficients. DFT is first formulated as cyclic convolution form to make each DFT output sample computations have the same computation kernels. Then, by exploring the symmetries of DFT coefficients, the word-level hardware sharing can be applied, in which two times the throughput is obtained. Finally, bit-level common subexpression sharing can be efficiently applied to implement the complex constant multiplications by using only shift operations and additions. Though the three techniques have been proposed separately for transform, this paper integrates the above techniques and obtains additive improvements. The I/O channels in our design are limited to the two extreme ends of the architecture that results in low I/O bandwidth. Compared with the previous memory-based design, the presented approach can save 80% of gate area with two-times faster throughput for length N=61. The presented approach can also be applied to power-of-two length DFT. Similar efficient designs can be obtained for other transforms like DCT by applying the proposed approach.


Ring doves (altricial development) and Japanese quail (precocial development) were used as models to compare differences in serum free hormone concentrations and the binding of thyroid hormones to serum protein fractions in adults, and the pattern of free thyroid hormones in the serum of altricial vs. precocial young. Total and free hormones were determined directly by RIA; free hormones also were determined by equilibrium dialysis. Binding protein fractions were identified by electrophoresis of serum preincubated with labelel hormones. Albumin bound the largest proportion of T4 in serum to both species; albumin also bound the largest proportion of T3 in doves, but globulin bound the largest proportion in quail. There were significant differences between species in the proportional binding of both thyroid hormones by different protein fractions at physiological pH. Electrophoretic separations at alkaline pH significantly altered hormone binding by different protein fractions from that at physiological pH. These data explain some conflicting results in the literature on thyroid hormone-binding proteins in different species. Free T4 and free T3 were below the sensitivity limits of the assays during the perinatal period in doves. After hatching, serum free T4 rose more rapidly than total T4. After day 12, hormone concentrations decreased, with a proportionately greater change in free T4 than in total T4. Serum free T3 concentrations were variable, but did not change significantly during development. These results demonstrate that the pattern of serum free thyroid hormones, like that of total hormones, is markedly different in altricial than in precocial development.


The MPEG-4 standard is revealing very attractive for a large set of applications. In some of them a copy protection system allowing to control the distribution of multimedia data is required. A new technology useful for copyright protection is watermarking: a digital code (watermark), indicating the copyright owner, is directly embedded into the video signal. The possibility of the MPEG-4 standard to directly access objects within a video sequence introduces a constraint to the watermarking process: even if a video object is transferred from a sequence to another, the copyright data of the single object has to be correctly detected. Another requirement is that, in order to be robust against format conversions, the watermark has to be inserted before compression. The method proposed in this paper satisfies the previous requirements by relying on an image watermarking algorithm which embeds the code in the discrete wavelet transform of each frame.


One of the ways to eliminate corporate conflicts is the institution of liability of the corporate governance body officials. The
author points out that since fiducia in the field of corporate governance increases risks of abuse of right, it is advisable to establish both
the compensation for harm caused and the prevention from possible abuse of officials by excluding guilt as a condition for their responsibility. The basis for the exemption of an official from liability is only a case (causa), that is a circumstance the person is not able to
foresee by taking appropriate measures of professional diligence required in specific conditions.


A new experimental fluidized bed reactor was investigated and designed which has been widely utilized for fast pyrolysis under different temperatures (T=727–973 K).The stresses of the reactor cylinder are analyzed using finite element method(FEM, ANSYS Inc., U.S.A ) based on the safety assessment, and the cylinder is designed for installing scheme. The result of ANSYS analysis shows that the stress unstable positions are nearby both ends of the cylinder. The results of analysis are shown that the designing stresses are not beyond the allow able ones. So the designing parameters can possess sufficient reliability, and the design scheme can completely satisfy the strength requirement. Certainty of the stress could offered the valuable instruction for the application of the equipment on industrial scale-up.


In a number of experiments it was demonstrated that in the E-rosette assay for human T-lymphocytes using sheep red blood cells, the ATP-ase activity of the lymphocytes increased in proportion to the number of rosettes being formed. Also, after increasing the number of rosettes by treatment of the sheep red blood cells (SRBC) with neuraminidase and after diminishing the number of rosettes by treatment of the lymphocytes with antilymphocyte globulin (ALG), change in the ATP-ase activity was proportional to alterations in the number of rosettes being formed. ALG itself stimulated the lymphocyte ATP-ase activity, possibly through activation of the same receptor sites as used by SRBC.


INTRODUCTION
Herpesviruses might play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. We sought to examine a possible association between alpha herpesvirus infections and Parkinson's disease.

METHODS
We conducted a population-based case-control study of incident Parkinson's disease in 2009 Medicare beneficiaries age 66-90 years (89,790 cases, 118,095 randomly selected comparable controls). We classified beneficiaries with any diagnosis code for "herpes simplex" and/or "herpes zoster" in the previous 5 years as having had the respective alpha herpesviruses. In beneficiaries with Part D prescription coverage, we also identified those prescribed anti-herpetic medications. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI between alpha herpesvirus diagnosis/treatment and Parkinson's disease with logistic regression, with adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking, and use of medical care.

RESULTS
Parkinson's disease risk was inversely associated with herpes simplex (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.74-0.84), herpes zoster (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.85-0.91), and anti-herpetic medications (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80-0.96).

CONCLUSION
Herpesvirus infection or treatment might reduce risk of Parkinson's disease, but future studies will be required to explore whether this inverse association is causal.


There is increasing interest in the concept of personalised medicine, whereby conditions with common pathophysiologies are targeted together, and also using biomarkers to identify patients who will most benefit from certain interventions. Several data sets indicate that natriuretic peptides are effective in refining risk prediction for heart failure and cardiovascular disease and add predictive power to conventional risk factors. To date two trials have tested the approach of using natriuretic peptides as part of a strategy to identify those at highest risk of cardiovascular events: St. Vincent's Screening to Prevent Heart Failure (STOP-HF) and N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide Guided Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Diabetic Patients (PONTIAC). These have shown natriuretic peptide-based screening and targeted prevention can reduce heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction and other major cardiovascular events. This approach is now part of North American guidelines.


Since first introduced, computer simulation has been an increasingly important tool in evolutionary linguistics. Recently, with the development of deep learning techniques, research in grounded language learning has also started to focus on facilitating the emergence of compositional languages without pre-defined elementary linguistic knowledge. In this work, we explore the emergence of compositional languages for numeric concepts in multi-agent communication systems. We demonstrate that compositional language for encoding numeric concepts can emerge through iterated learning in populations of deep neural network agents. However, language properties greatly depend on the input representations given to agents. We found that compositional languages only emerge if they require less iterations to be fully learnt than other non-degenerate languages for agents on a given input representation.


Development has a wider reach in efforts to improve and enhance the competencies of the teaching and educational staff. Development is more focused on increasing ability through formal channels with a long period of time, providing learning opportunities that are designed to help the self-development of teaching staff and education where development is directed to prepare teaching / educational staff to hold responsibility for an positions or jobs in the future. the following are strategies for developing educators and education staff. As Educators and Educators, a teacher or school principal must work well and in accordance with the profession they are involved in. An Educator and Education Personnel is a major factor in the development and success of a learning system. If an Educator and Education Worker does not work according to the existing rules, the learning system will not run properly. Therefore, an Educator and Education Personnel are required to be able to show their professionalism, even if necessary the professionalism is increased again, so that Educators and Education Personnel can be said to be qualified and qualified


For the previous integrated scheduling algorithms for complex products, the migration time of operations between machines is ignored or just included in the processing time of its adjacent operations, which leads to inaccurate scheduling results and is difficult to meet the needs of the actual production scheduling environment. In this paper, based on the framework of a genetic algorithm, an integrated scheduling algorithm for complex products based on the dynamic subtree operation set inverse coding. Firstly, an inverse coding method based on the dynamic subtree operation set is proposed, which can ensure the legitimacy of the initial individuals and enhance the quality of the initial population. Secondly, based on the crossover vector, a single-point crossover method and a multi-point crossover method are proposed, both of which can ensure that the priority constraints among the same machine operation in the generated individuals will not be destroyed. Then, a mutation method based on the mutant row vector and mutant column vector is proposed to ensure the feasibility and diversity of the offspring individuals. Finally, a pre-decoding method based on device idle events driven and a conversion strategy of positive sequence schemes based on the completion time flipping are shown. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified by several groups of comparative experiments.


Polyconjugated and electroactive materials are, when used for electrtochemical devices, soft, wet and complex materials. Polymeric chains, water and inorganic ions are the main constituents, mimicking the composition of those organs constituents of the living creatures. During reverse electrochemical reactions, those electroactive polymers change, under control of the consumed charge : volume, color, stored charge, composition, porosity, etc. Those changes allow the design of devices such as artifial muscles, smart skins, electric organs, nervous interfaces, smart medical dosage, smart membranes, all of them working under electrochemical control. This multifunctionality will be reviewed.


Experimental studies have reported that glycine is adsorbed on the Cu(110) and Cu(100) surfaces in its deprotonated form at room temperature, but in its zwitterionic form on Pd(111) and Pt(111). In contrast, recent density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicated that the deprotonated molecules are thermodynamically favored on Cu(110), Cu(100), and Pd(111). To explore the source of this disagreement, we have tested three possible hypotheses. Using DFT calculations, we first show that the kinetic barrier for the deprotonation reaction of glycine on Pd(111) is larger than on Cu(110) or Cu(100). We then report that the presence of excess hydrogen would have little influence on the experimentally observed results, especially for Pd(111). Lastly, we perform Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that the aggregates of zwitterionic species on Pt(111) are energetically preferred to those of neutral species. Our results strongly suggest that the formation of aggregates with relatively large numbers of adsorbed molecules is favored under experimentally relevant conditions and that the adsorbate-adsorbate interactions in these aggregates stabilize the zwitterionic species.


Nonvolatile memories are becoming an increasingly important electronic component, due to the ever-increasing need for data storage in multimedia and other mobile applications where electronic components are replacing magnetic hard drives. Today, Flash is the main nonvolatile memory technology, but further scaling of this technology will likely be restricted by important physical and material limitations. This explains recent increased research on new concepts for nonvolatile memories, for which new developments in materials science and technology, the focus of this book, are key. Chapters include Advanced Flash Memory which deals with solutions for scaled Flash memory, including the use of new high-k layers and nanocrystals. Resistive switching concepts are discussed in the Oxide Resistive Switching Memory and Organic Resistive Switching Memory chapters. More research on polymer memories are detailed in Nanoparticle-Based Organic Memory and Organic Ferroelectric Memory. Two chapters deal with New Phase Change Memory and Deposition Methods and Future Explorative Memory Concepts, including piezoelectric, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic concepts.


As part of its role in providing radiometric standards in support of industry, NIST has been active in advancing extreme ultraviolet dosimetry on various fronts. Recently, we undertook a major effort in accurately measuring the sensitivity of three extreme ultraviolet photoresists. It has been common practice to use photoresists as a transfer "standards" to determine the intensity and uniformity of the radiation transmitted by extreme ultraviolet steppers. In response to preliminary results from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that showed that two "standard" photoresists were almost twice as sensitive as had been previously believed, NIST carried out similar measurements and confirmed the Berkeley results. However, we have found that the assumed sensitivities are more a question of system calibration than of absolute resist dose sensitivity. We will describe the facility we used to make these measurements. Photoresists make less than perfect radiometers. They are very non-linear, sensitive to atmosphere, and difficult to calibrate. All of these characteristics led to the disparate results in assumed sensitivity values. We have developed an alternate wafer-plane dosimeter based on image plates. The dosimeter is linear over several orders of magnitude, comparatively insensitive to atmosphere, and can be re-calibrated as necessary. Moreover it can pass through a stepper as any other wafer. We will describe this dosimeter in detail


Venous compression using a purse string suture is a potential alternative to device suture of the venotomy or to the more extensively described Figure of 8 closure technique. The technique is likely to prove cost effective although the optimal methodology and overall risk remain to be determined. A general comment regarding the common femoral vein: it is a fragile structure. All venous closure techniques require special care not to obstruct, lacerate or sever the vein and operators should be vigilant for both bleeding and thrombosis.


We propose here a monolithically integrated dual RF access electroabsorption-modulated laser called D-EML for the generation of optical single-sideband signal for both nonreturn to zero and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing formats. The benefits of optical single-sideband over double sideband in terms of resilience against chromatic dispersion effects are presented for high-bit rate intensity modulation/direct detection transmissions over standard single mode fiber in the C-band. Both simulation and experimentation exhibit transmission distance enhancement in the case of dual modulation of the D-EML, i.e., in optical single-sideband configuration, making this optical source an interesting solution because of its low-cost, low-size, and reasonable-power consumption.


This review considers critically the evidence for the involvement of mediators of innate and acquired immunity in various stages of atherosclerosis. Rapidly mobilized arms of innate immunity, including phagocytic leukocytes, complement, and proinflammatory cytokines, contribute to atherogenesis. In addition, adaptive immunity, with its T cells, antibodies, and immunoregulatory cytokines, powerfully modulates disease activity and progression. Atherogenesis involves cross talk between and shared pathways involved in adaptive and innate immunity. Immune processes can influence the balance between cell proliferation and death, between synthetic and degradative processes, and between pro- and antithrombotic processes. Various established and emerging risk factors for atherosclerosis modulate aspects of immune responses, including lipoproteins and their modified products, vasoactive peptides, and infectious agents. As we fill in the molecular details, new potential targets for therapies will doubtless emerge.


The Shannon interval entropy function as a useful dynamic measure of uncertainty for two sided truncated random variables has been proposed in the literature of reliability. In this paper, we show that interval entropy can uniquely determine the distribution function. Furthermore, we propose a measure of discrepancy between two lifetime distributions at the interval of time in base of Kullback-Leibler discrimination information. We study various properties of this measure, including its connection with residual and past measures of discrepancy and interval entropy, and we obtain its upper and lower bounds.


Purpose: Fronto-orbital remodeling is the gold standard for surgical treatment of metopic synostosis in many craniofacial centers. For fixation, resorbable materials are widely used. Because of swelling during resorption, the positioning of the plates can be relevant. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate whether there are limitations to endocortical positioning of resorbable plates. Methods: In this retrospective study, all patients with metopic craniosynostosis resulting in trigonocephaly, who were treated with a standardized fronto-orbital remodeling and endocortical positioning of resorbable plates, between February 2012 and December 2019 were included. The endpoint of this study was the postoperative complications that can be attributed to the material used. Results: A total of 101 patients, who were treated at our unit, could be included with a male predominance, 81 (80.2%) boys versus 20 (19.8%) girls. Surgery was performed at a median age of 9 months (±2.56). No complications were seen related to resorbable plates. All patients of our study population were categorized as Whitaker classification I and II. Conclusion: This study shows that the risk level in using endocortical resorbable plates positioned on the inner surface of the bone is low. From an aesthetic point of view, we could not detect any disadvantage.


Cardiovascular disorders are the major cause of concern in India with estimated mortality reaching approximately 64 million by 2015. Though two major treatment options i.e. primary angioplasty (PAMI) and intravenous thrombolysis are available for the management of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), primary angioplasty is not feasible for majority of STEMI patients in India, hence early reperfusion therapy is critical for rapidly restoring coronary blood flow and limit further myocardial necrosis in these patients. Early/prehospital administration of thrombolytic agent results in better outcome in STEMI. Reteplase, a third generation thrombolytic, because of the possibility of bolus administration provides this opportunity. In this review article, important clinical aspects regarding use of reteplase in the treatment of STEMI are summarized.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), manifested as the aberrant accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes and inflammation, has become an important cause of advanced liver diseases and hepatic malignancies worldwide. However, no effective therapy has been approved yet. Aurantio-obtusin (AO) is a main bioactive compound isolated from Cassia semen that has been identified with multiple pharmacological activities, including improving adiposity and insulin resistance. However, the ameliorating effects of AO on diet-induced NAFLD and underlying mechanisms remained poorly elucidated. Our results demonstrated that AO significantly alleviated high-fat diet and glucose-fructose water (HFSW)-induced hepatic steatosis in mice and oleic acid and palmitic acid (OAPA)-induced lipid accumulation in hepatocytes. Remarkably, AO was found to distinctly promote autophagy flux and influence the degradation of lipid droplets by inducing AMPK phosphorylation. Additionally, the induction of AMPK triggered TFEB activation and promoted fatty acid oxidation (FAO) by activating PPARα and ACOX1 and decreasing the expression of genes involved in lipid biosynthesis. Meanwhile, the lipid-lowing effect of AO was significantly prevented by the pretreatment with inhibitors of autophagy, PPARα or ACOX1, respectively. Collectively, our study suggests that AO ameliorates hepatic steatosis via AMPK/autophagy- and AMPK/TFEB-mediated suppression of lipid accumulation, which opens new opportunities for pharmacological treatment of NAFLD and associated complications.


The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Universal Interfaces and Information Technology Access under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for a competition in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend to use this priority to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities.


Purpose

An organisation's performance tends to be associated with its innovativeness. However, innovation remains challenging in the construction industry, partially due to the complex nature of this industry. Nevertheless, innovation orientations (i.e. creation and adoption) shed new light on innovation in the construction industry. These orientations are similar but not entirely identical. Although most studies do not discuss these orientations in any detail, this study aims to classify the characteristics of the innovation orientations and determines the state of innovation among construction companies in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire was mailed to 1,230 construction companies in Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was used to examine the respondents' profiles, and factor analysis was used to classify the innovation orientation characteristics. A paired samples t-test was used to determine the state of innovation among the construction companies.

Findings

Innovation creation reflects a pioneer's efforts and involves being a market explorer that tolerates risk and is research and development (R&D)-oriented, whereas innovation adoption involves being a creative imitator, a market follower and a safe player. Construction companies in Malaysia are innovation adoption–oriented.

Research limitations/implications

This study uses quantitative methods only; therefore, the findings are statistically oriented. The small sample size makes generalisation challenging, so this study reflects only the built environment of the developing country of Malaysia.

Originality/value

This study classifies the characteristics of innovation creation and innovation adoption with respect to the innovation orientation of construction companies in Malaysia.


Abstract The dynamic characteristic of rain fade slope is one important factor in determining the availability of a communication system, and it is very useful in the design of fade countermeasures. In the literature, many models were proposed for rain fade slope for earth-to-satellite links. However, there are no models available for rain fade point to point terrestrial microwave links. This paper proposes a new model for the estimation of rain fade slope statistics for terrestrial microwave links in tropical regions. First, the ITU-R model for rain fade slope for earth-to-satellite link was compared with the corresponding statistics obtained from rain attenuation data measured from three terrestrial links in Malaysia. It is found that the expression of its distribution and its standard deviation should be modified. This leads to the derivation of the proposed rain fade slope model based on the statistics of one link. Then, it is tested using the remaining data and its results were very close to the measured statistics for all attenuation levels higher than 1 dB. Moreover, the model was validated using the chi-square goodness-of-fit test.


Emerging evidence has shown activation of the complement component C5 to C5a in cancer tissues and C5aR expression in breast cancer cells relates to the tumor development and poor prognosis, suggesting the involvement of complement C5a/C5aR pathway in the breast cancer pathogenesis. In this study, we found that as compared to the non-tumoral tissues, both C5aR and MAPK/p38 showed an elevated expression, but p21/p-p21 showed lower expression, in the tumoral tissues of breast cancer patients. Mice deficient in C5aR or mice treated with the C5aR antagonist exhibited attenuation of breast cancer growth and reduction in the p38/p-p38 expression, but increase in p21/p-p21 expression, in the tumor tissues. Pre-treatment of the breast cancer cells with recombinant C5a resulted in reduced p21 expression, and MAPK/p38 inhibitors prevented C5a-induced reduction in p21 expression, suggesting the involvement of the MAPK/p38 signaling pathway in the C5a/C5aR-mediated suppression of p21/p-p21 expression. These results provide evidence that breast cancer development may rely on C5a/C5aR interaction, for which MAPK/p38 pathway participate in down-regulating the p21 expression. Inhibition of C5a/C5aR pathway is expected to be helpful for the treatment of patients with breast cancer.


Since the first woman was appointed as editor of a major newspaper in New Zealand in the mid 1980s, what has been the progress of women to top editorships? And what is the status of women at governance, management and staff journalist levels? These questions examine gender equality issues and are important given the power and ubiquity of the news media in modern society. The article analyses participation of women in the news media against the so-called 'feminisation' of pre-entry journalism training. The findings show that little progress has been made at editorship level, while there is more progress for senior women just below editorship level. Further, there is a difference in the status of women in governance of public service versus privately owned broadcasting. The article is critical of the data available to monitor participation by gender and ethnicity in New Zealand journalism over time. Strategies to help break down the pervasive power of 'man-made news' are proposed. These include female shareholder activism at the governance level of media companies, and a greater commitment by the New Zealand Journalism Training Organisation to regular monitoring of women's newsroom participation. Without it the status of women in New Zealand journalism remains invisible.


Large-scale applications of elastocaloric cooling demand bulk materials showing both large adiabatic temperature change (∆Tad) and low-fatigue characteristics at room temperature. Here we synthesize a bulk Ti49.2Ni40.8Cu10 polycrystalline alloy microstructurally featured by nanocrystalinity and epitaxially related Ti(Ni,Cu) 2 nanoprecipitates through cold-rolling and aging treatment. It exhibits a large ∆Tad of 13.8 K and a high coefficient of performance value of 13 at room temperature. Moreover, the degradation of ∆Tad is only 0.3 K after 450 tensile cycles. The results indicate that the alloy offers a good balance of multiple objectives, holding promise for solid-state refrigeration applications. We attribute the favorable properties to the enhanced reversibility of martensitic transformation during stress cycling, aided by the internal epitaxy-generated stress at the interface between the Ti(Ni,Cu)2 nanoprecipitates and matrix, together with grain refinement.


Based on ISO 7235, an experimental setup to measure the acoustic performance of splitter type dissipative silencers was fabricated. The length of each duct, sound source, microphone locations, modal filter, and anechoic termination were considered in the design of this setup. The modal filter is a particularly important factor because it affects the limit of measurement. The effects of number of splitters, absorptive material density, perforate plate, and media on the noise reduction of the sample silencers were experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the insertion loss of a silencer with media, high perforate opening, and higher number of splitters increases


This thesis examines and contextualises the early writings of Kanai Mieko, concentrating on the ways in which they instigate challenges to conventional inscriptions of gender, love, and text through a deployment of avant-garde narrative techniques. The first chapter argues that Kanai's early writings interrogate and problematise conventional inscriptions of identity and gender: her short stories 'Rabbits' and 'Rotting Meat' borrow the form of paradoxical concepts that arise out of various surrealist avant-garde theories (such as Okamoto's polaroppositionalism and Sakaguchi's 'Discourse on Decadence') and can be read as a commentary upon the collective endeavours by contemporary feminists and women writers to create a written 'feminine'. The second chapter further explores the subversive potential of Kanai's writings. It argues that Kanai's debut novella, Love Life, addresses the crisis of representation of the late 1960s by constructing two constellatory matrices of literary meaning: Ai-body-presence and F-narrative-absence. The first of these matrices, Ai-body-presence, is discernible in the inscription of the protagonist Ai's physical origin as abject and can be read as a specific critique and enactment of how the crisis of representation affected the female body. The second, F-narrative-absence, is present in Ai's attempts to inscribe her absent husband F, enabling her to pursue an understanding of what it means to love. The final chapter examines another matrix of literary meaning in Kanai's writings in which text is described as if it is a body possessed of a consciousness, which Kanai herself refers to in her essay, 'Text/Reality/The Body', as the 'corporeal text'. It contends that the 'corporeal text' acts as a challenge to conventional understandings of both the relationship between body and consciousness, and between the reader and a given text. In so doing, it pursues a deliberate textual strategy to transform the reader into an active creator of meaning.


OBJECTIVES: To identify risk factors for progression in patients with invasive bladder carcinoma who were pT0/pT1/pTa after cystectomy. METHODS: We analyzed ...


ABSTRACT The slow growth of mycobacteria in conventional culture methods impedes the testing of chemicals for mycobactericidal activity. An assay based on expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) by mycobacteria was developed as a rapid alternative. Plasmid pBEN, containing the gene encoding a red-shifted, high-intensity GFP mutant, was incorporated into Mycobacterium terrae (ATCC 15755), and GFP expression was observed by epifluorescence microscopy. Mycobactericidal activity was assessed by separately exposing a suspension of M. terrae(pBEN) to several dilutions of test germicides based on 7.5% hydrogen peroxide, 2.4% alkaline glutaraldehyde, 10% acid glutaraldehyde, and 15.5% of a phenolic agent for contact times ranging from 10 to 20 min (22°C), followed by culture of the exposed cells in broth (Middlebrook 7H9) and measurement of fluorescence every 24 h. When the fluorescence was to be compared with CFU, the samples were plated on Middlebrook 7H11 agar and incubated for 4 weeks. No increase in fluorescence or CFU occurred in cultures in which the cells had been inactivated by the germicide concentrations tested. Where the test bacterium was exposed to ineffective levels of the germicides, fluorescence increased after a lag period of 1 to 7 days, corresponding to the level of bacterial inactivation. In untreated controls, fluorescence increased rapidly to reach a peak in 2 to 4 days. A good Pearson correlation coefficient (r ≥0.85) was observed between the intensity of fluorescence and the number of CFU. The GFP-based fluorescence assay reduced the turnaround time in the screening of chemical germicides for mycobactericidal activity to ≤7 days.


Phyteurna spica turn L. (Campanulaceae) is a rare species in Britain occurring in low numbers in a small area of East Sussex (v.c. 14). Its history has been investigated, and herbarium records and Flora accounts examined, to determine whether it was formerly more widespread and abundant in Britain. It appears that P. spicaturn has always been confined to East Sussex, but that it was more widespread within this vice-county in the past. Anecdotal information also suggests that it was more abundant at the end of the 19th century and during the early 20th century than it is at present.


Abstract Iron oxide-alloy equilibration experiments were conducted in H2-CO2 gas mixtures at 1 atm and 1125-1240 °C using strips of Au74Pd26 (wt%) and produced Au-Pd-Fe alloys with 0.03-13 wt% iron. A thermodynamic calibration for the mixing of Au74Pd26 with iron using an asymmetric regular solution leads to WG-Fe = -45.0 ± 1.8 kJ/mol and WG-AuPd = +19.5 ± 7.7 kJ/mol (1σ). Internal oxidation of iron was observed in a reversal experiment, suggesting that oxygen can be transferred across capsule boundaries during high-temperature experiments. This thermodynamic calibration is applicable to a wide range of oxygen fugacities and iron activities relevant to petrological and metallurgical applications at 1 atm and, as previous studies suggest excess volumes in this system are small, it can also be used to predict Fe activities in experiments at elevated pressure (up to 3 GPa). By pre-doping Au-Pd capsules to match Fe activities expected for the sample during an experiment, it is possible to maintain samples with little to no loss of iron. Pre-saturation of the capsule also provides a method for controlling the oxygen fugacity of samples if no formal oxygen buffer is available.


A new specialization of the granular endoplasmic reticulum (GER) which develops within the uterine gland cells of the pig during the final third of pregnancy is described. The 'tubular bodies' are interpreted as sheets of GER rolled up to form open-ended cylinders enclosing cytoplasm which is distinctly less electron-dense than the surrounding external cytoplasm, and in which large clear vesicles and free ribosomes are frequently found. The tubular bodies are not present during the first two thirds of pregnancy, but by day 100 of gestation they are readily discerned. They increase in number within the last week of pregnancy and are still found in glands from the day 1 post-partum uterus. They are distributed, either singly or in groups of up to 30 or more units, throughout the cells. The cisternal space which surrounds them is continuous with that of the granular endoplasmic reticulum. A tentative developmental sequence is suggested, based on morphological similarities between the wall structure of the early tubular body and the paired cisternae, which are seen scattered as single, short strands within the gland cells. The final form is achieved by modification of the inner apposed, ribosome-free cisternal membranes into the straightened-out, thickened membranes characteristic of the tubular body wall, together with a rolling-up of the 'sheet' of paired GER cisternae. Subsequent loss of the innermost unmodified cisternal membrane which is now in contact with the centrally enclosed cytoplasm results in the characteristic tubular body wall structure. The characteristic appearance of the central cytoplasm and the presence of modified surrounding membranes suggests the possibility of a localized, modified internal environment required for some unspecified functional activity; possibly a synthetic process or some type of ionic regulation


SUMMARY Repeat rectal chlamydia infection is common in men who have sex with men (MSM) following treatment with 1 g azithromycin. This study describes the association between organism load and repeat rectal chlamydia infection, genovar distribution, and efficacy of azithromycin in asymptomatic MSM. Stored rectal chlamydia-positive samples from MSM were analysed for organism load and genotyped to assist differentiation between reinfection and treatment failure. Included men had follow-up tests within 100 days of index infection. Lymphogranuloma venereum and proctitis diagnosed symptomatically were excluded. Factors associated with repeat infection, treatment failure and reinfection were investigated. In total, 227 MSM were included – 64 with repeat infections [28·2%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 22·4–34·5]. Repeat positivity was associated with increased pre-treatment organism load [odds ratio (OR) 1·7, 95% CI 1·4–2·2]. Of 64 repeat infections, 29 (12·8%, 95% CI 8·7–17·8) were treatment failures and 35 (15·4%, 95% CI 11·0–20·8) were reinfections, 11 (17·2%, 95% CI 8·9–28·7) of which were definite reinfections. Treatment failure and reinfection were both associated with increased load (OR 2·0, 95% CI 1·4–2·7 and 1·6, 95% CI 1·2–2·2, respectively). The most prevalent genovars were G, D and J. Treatment efficacy for 1 g azithromycin was 83·6% (95% CI 77·2–88·8). Repeat positivity was associated with high pre-treatment organism load. Randomized controlled trials are urgently needed to evaluate azithromycin's efficacy and whether extended doses can overcome rectal infections with high organism load.


In Japan, multiple system atrophy (MSA) accounts for 40% of all spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) and hereditary disorders account for 30%. Among the latter, autosomal dominant disorders are common and recessive ataxias are rare. Although the frequency of SCA genotypes differs between geographic regions throughout Japan, SCA6, SCA3/MJD, and DRPLA are the three major disorders, while SCA7, SCA8, SCA10, SCA12, and SCA17 are infrequent or almost undetected. SCA1 predominantly occurs in the northern part of Japan. Overall, 20–40% of dominant SCAs are due to unknown mutations. From this cluster, pure cerebellar ataxias linked with the SCA4, SCA14, and SCA16 locus have been isolated. Among the recessive SCAs, patients with AVED and EAOH have been detected. However, FRDA associated with GAA repeat expansion in the frataxin gene has not been reported so far.


Creep power is an overall word for depicting by one way or another static/sliding grinding powers however on the off chance that you have a force on your wheel it went to tractive power (if the creepage is under 5%). Creep force is the consistent force at a specific steady stacking rate following up on a steady contact region during which a material starts to flow. Creep force act in the plane of the contact fix and are identified with the grating among haggle. For a wet blanket power to create, a specific measure of slip (creep) is required. Studying creep forces is helpful in understanding various processes and using them in various related to automobile engineering. One of the applications is in distributed rear wheel bus drive. Creep control is a sort of start-up control for electric vehicle. In the paper, two shut circle control is contained in the wet blanket control technique. Corresponding control with force constraint, which alters vehicle speed, is the external circle control; and hostile to slip control is the inward circle control. Along these lines, the vehicle speed demonstrates no overshoot and has uniform assembly with driving force. Additionally, the vehicle can fire up on low bond or Split Street, and the driver can control the killjoy speed by the brake pedal just, with the goal that the driver's activity is decreased. Emotional assessment technique is proposed to decide the control execution measurements, and afterward the scientific connection between the presentation measurements and the control boundaries is built up. The tuning strategy for the control boundaries is proposed by those presentation measurements, which mitigates the remaining tasks at hand of adjustment and gives a superior driving encounter. A few re-enactments and genuine vehicle tests are led to confirm that the control procedure has a normal presentation. Another application is on considering Inter-vehicle distance estimation. Seeing the separation between vehicles is a
significant issue for cutting edge driving help frameworks. In any case, most vision based separation estimation techniques don't consider the impact of the adjustment in camera disposition edges during driving or on the other hand just utilize the evaporating point distinguished by path lines to address the pitch edge. This paper proposed an improved pinhole separation estimation model dependent out and about evaporating point without the path line data. Initially, the street evaporating point is recognized dependent on the predominant surface direction and the yaw and pitch edges of the camera are evaluated. At that point, a separation estimation model considering demeanour edge pay is set up. At long last, the test results show that the proposed strategy can adequately address the impact of the camera mentality point on the separation estimation results. Another application is in study of simulation of thermally initiated rail defects. Ultrasonically identified 'squat-type' rail deserts are getting progressively regular on railroads all through the world. On the London Underground (LU) these deformities are found on three lines. Focussing on the distinction between these lines and others on the LU arrange has distinguished vehicles with present day AC foothold attributes as a typical topic discovered uniquely on issue lines. Metallurgical examination of the deformities found that the systems for age and development are not steady with customary moving contact weakness, with proof of noteworthy warm info. The imperfections are just found on open areas. The zones generally vulnerable to the deformities are those where low-speed running is increasingly normal. A numerical model of the footing bundle has been utilized to inspect the powers and warm info created in the driver's seat rail interface with present day wheel-turn control frameworks under wheel slip and grip recuperation conditions. The yields have been examined to survey whether adequate powers and temperatures are produced to clarify the watched rail harm. The outcomes recommend that in specific situations wheel-turn recuperation creates adequate rail surface vitality for martensitic change. Extra demonstrating proposes that warm contribution from wheel-turn helps split engendering and that districts of marginally corrupted (wet instead of leaf or oil tainted) rail attachment are adequate to start these blemishes.


Background: Diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) requires certain clinical features along with the detection of platelet activating antibodies induced by heparin interaction with platelet factor 4 (PF4). Although the PF4 enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) is a highly sensitive laboratory test, it is not specific. Adding excess heparin to the sample can confirm a positive PF4 ELISA result when it decreases antibody binding by 50% or more, potentially improving the specificity of the assay. We sought to determine the clinical value of the PF4 ELISA and confirmatory test by developing a predictive algorithm for HIT. Methods: We retrospectively identified 116 patients with positive anti-PF4/heparin antibodies at Duke University Medical Center in 2005. We collected data on all patients to allow for clinical classification as HIT positive or HIT negative. HIT positive patients had at least a 30% decline in platelet count after 4–14 days of heparin exposure, or within 48 hours if recent (within last 100 days) heparin exposure. Anti-PF4/heparin antibody titers were determined by ELISA using a confirmatory step with excess heparin. A multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to the 2005 data, to estimate the relationship between patient characteristics (including age, gender, race, and clinical service), laboratory findings (including peak PF4 titer, confirmatory positive status), and clinical HIT status (HIT positive versus HIT negative). The model was then validated on an independent sample of 97 patients with positive anti-PF4/heparin antibodies retrospectively identified at Duke University Medical Center from January to July of 2006. Results: We found no significant relationship between age, race, or gender and clinical HIT status. In multivariate analysis, the peak PF4 titer and confirmatory positive status were independent predictors of HIT. Figure 1 depicts median, 25 th , and 75 th percentiles of the predicted probabilities for the HIT-positive and HIT-negative patients in the 2005 training and 2006 test populations. The predictive accuracy on the 2005 training set (c-index 0.783, Somer's Dyx 0.566) was maintained when the algorithm was applied to the independent 2006 test population (c-index 0.799, Somer's Dyx 0.597). Figure 2 depicts the ROC curves for both patient populations. Conclusions: This is the first study to our knowledge that has demonstrated the clinical utility of the Heparin/PF4 ELISA confirmatory test for the diagnosis of HIT. Based upon the PF4 ELISA and confirmatory assays, a predictive computer algorithm can distinguish patients likely to have HIT from those who are not. Accurate predicted probabilities of HIT will enable clinicians to more rapidly initiate appropriate therapy.


The Power of Our Bilingual Voices : Translanguaging with Middle School English Language Learners is a curriculum designed to facilitate a learning environment allowing students to use and build upon their entire language repertoires. The model that was used was based on integrating translanguaging, a common language practice of bilingual and multilingual individuals who frequently use more than one language in a sentence or a conversation. I used translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy by providing copies of the novel, The Giver by Lowis Lowry (1993) in English and Spanish to each student. In addition I encouraged students to respond in English and Spanish to demonstrate their understanding of the content. The Power of Our Bilingual Voices : Translanguaging with Middle School English Language Learners was implemented in a sixth through eighth grade English Language development classroom. The activities in the curriculum are designed to allow students to use Spanish as well as English to more accurately communicate their understanding of the content. The majority of the students used English and Spanish to actively participate in whole group discussions. Some students also used both languages in writing. I found that students became more accurate and reflective from the beginning of implementation to the end of implementation according to interview results, field notes and student work samples. In addition, I found that students referenced their English and Spanish novels differently based on the type of question asked. This curriculum revealed ways activities can be shaped to build upon students' strengths so they can utilize the linguistic resources they bring to class. In addition, students became more reflective about their use of language when discussing with whom and why they used English and Spanish. Rather than limiting students to reading and responding only in their second language, allowing students to use both languages gave them more opportunities to express their understanding of the content


In order to assess the La effect on reducing carbonaceous deposition (coke) on catalysts for the hydrocracking of Jatropha oil, NiW/nHA, NiW/Al2O3 and NiW/HY catalysts modified with loaded La were synthesized and studied. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD), temperature programmed desorption of hydrogen (TPD-Hads), and temperature-programmed desorption of carbon dioxide (CO2-TPD). The species and the amount of coke on the hydrocracking catalyst were measured by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), demonstrating that the coke was constituted of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and that the La catalyst loading had a very positive effect on coke reduction. The amount of coke on NiW/nHA, NiW/Al2O3 and NiW/HY catalysts decreased respectively by 0.94%, 1.19%, 1.91% after 8 h and 1.66%, 1.89%, 3.78% after 180 h. The catalytic stability and the catalyst lifetime were also improved by La loading.


The complex organization of the transcription machinery has been revealed mainly by biochemical and crystallographic studies. X-ray structures describe RNA polymerases and transcription complexes on an atomic level, but fail to portray their dynamic nature. The use of fluorescence techniques has made it possible to add a new layer of information to our understanding of transcription by providing details about the structural rearrangement of mobile elements and the network of interactions within transcription complexes in solution and in real-time.


A multiple chained schedule was used to compare the relative resistance to change of variable and fixed four-peck response sequences in pigeons. In one terminal link, a response sequence produced food only if it occurred infrequently relative to 15 other response sequences (vary). In the other terminal link, a single response sequence produced food (repeat). Identical variable-interval schedules operated in the initial links. During baseline, lower response rates generally occurred in the vary initial link, and similar response and reinforcement rates occurred in each terminal link. Resistance of responding to prefeeding and three rates of response-independent food delivered during the intercomponent intervals then was compared between components. During each disruption condition, initial- and terminal-link response rates generally were more resistant in the vary component than in the repeat component. During the response-independent food conditions, terminal-link response rates were more resistant than initial-link response rates in each component, but this did not occur during prefeeding. Variation (in vary) and repetition (in repeat) both decreased during the response-independent food conditions in the respective components, but with relatively greater disruption in repeat. These results extend earlier findings demonstrating that operant variation is more resistant to disruption than is operant repetition and suggest that theories of response strength, such as behavioral momentum theory, must consider factors other than reinforcement rate. The implications of the results for understanding operant response classes are discussed.


This paper presents the global-local finite cover method (GL-FCM) that is capable of analyzing structures involving local heterogeneities and propagating cracks. The suggested method is composed of two techniques. One of them is the FCM, which is one of the PU-based generalized finite element methods, for the analysis of local cohesive crack growth. The mechanical behavior evaluated in local heterogeneous structures by the FCM is transferred to the overall (global) structure by the so-called mortar method. The other is a method of mesh superposition for hierarchical modeling, which enables us to evaluate the average stiffness by the analysis of local heterogeneous structures not subjected to crack propagation. Several numerical experiments are conducted to validate the accuracy of the proposed method. The capability and applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated in an illustrative numerical example, in which we predict the mechanical deterioration of a reinforced concrete (RC) structure, whose local regions are subjected to propagating cracks induced by reinforcement corrosion.


Zeolites that belong to the so-called ABC-6 family may be regarded as having been assembled architecturally from individual sheets, each of thickness ca. 2.6 Å (1 Å = 10-10 m = 10-1 nm). The sheets consist of macro-anions of corner-linked SiO4-4 and AlO5-4 tetrahedra (Si: Al ranging from 1- 4 ), charge-compensating cations, typically Na+, Ca2+ and K+ and occluded water. Cancrinite (idealized formula Na5Al65Si6O24. mH2O), in which the stacking sequence of the sheets may be symbolized AB, has a 5.1 Å repeat along the direction of stacking; offretite (idealized formula (Na2Ca)2Al4Si14O36. 14 H2O ) has AAB stacking and a repeat distance of 7.6 Å and sodalite (NaAl6Si6O24. m H2O) has ABC stacking with a repeat distance of 7.7 A. This pattern continues; gmelinite (AABB), losod (ABAC), erionite (AABAAC), chabazite (AABBCC), TMA-E(AB) (ABBACC), liottite (ABABAC), afghanite (ABABACAC), levyne (AABCCABBC) and franzinite (ABCABCBACB), the repeat distance of the latter being 26.6 Å. It has long been suspected, largely on the basis of chemical and diffusive behaviour, that naturally occurring and synthetic analogues of this class of zeolites can, depending upon the nature of their genesis, form intergrowths at the unit-cell level. For example, there is a sliver of erionite or sodalite in offretite. The presence of such features would profoundly affect the catalytic and adsorptive performance of the parent zeolite and for this reason there is a pressing need for a technique to identify such intergrowths. Hitherto no direct method has been available that is capable of probing the nature of these intergrowths and their atomic detail. We show here that high-resolution electron microscopy (h. r. e. m.) combined with computer-generated images can solve this problem, provided that the samples are first 'de-aluminated' under conditions close to those used to activate many of these zeolites before their use as catalysts. The consequence of dealumination, which greatly increases the Si:Al ratio (to more than 10) is to jettison most of the compensating cations originally present and to render the resulting specimens (after annealing to heal the individual sheets) more resistant to electron irradiation. The resulting structure is quite an open one, amenable to imagining by h. r. e. m. and to simple optical simulation. The reliability of the h. r. e. m. -based method of reading off stacking sequences in this family of de-aluminated zeolites was tested by imaging offretite and comparing the result with images produced by rigorous 'multi-slice' calculations and simple optical simulation. From such work it was established that the siting of the six- and eight-membered apertures present in the structures gives unequivocal information regarding the sequencing of the sheets. On the basis of this information, computed images of 29 distinct kinds of stacking sequences are derived, encompassing both the structurally regular (de-aluminated) zeolites cancrinite, offretite, sodalite, gmelinite, erionite, chabazite and TMA-E(AB) and also unit-cell intergrow ths (i) within erionite of cancrinite, offretite, sodalite, gmelinite and chabazite; (ii) within offretite of cancrinite, sodalite, erionite, gmelinite and chabazite; (iii) within chabazite of offretite, sodalite, gmelinite and erionite; (iv) within gmelinite of offretite, erionite, chabazite and TMA-E(AB) and (v) within cancrinite of sodalite, offretite and erionite. This compilation can now serve as a reference library th at should aid future work in recognizing and characterizing intergrowths recorded by h. r. e. m.


The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) was calculated globally using gridded monthly air temperature and precipitation. From 1900 to 1995, there are large multi‐year to decadal variations in the percentage areas in severe drought (PDSI < −3.0) and severe moisture surplus (PDSI > +3.0) over many land areas while secular trends are small. Since the late 1970s, however, there have been some increases in the combined percentage areas in severe drought and severe moisture surplus, resulting from increases in either the drought area (e.g., over the Sahel, eastern Asia and southern Africa) or both the drought and wet areas (e.g., over the U.S. and Europe). Although the high percentages of the dry and wet areas in the recent decades are not unprecedented during this century (except the Sahel), the recent changes are closely relate to the shift in El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) towards more warm events since the late 1970s and coincide with record high global mean temperatures. Moreover, for any given value of ENSO indices, the PDSI anomalies tend to be larger than would be expected from previous records. These changes are qualitatively consistent with those expected from increased green‐house gases in the atmosphere.


With the increasing lifespan of human, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and cancer are the main diseases leading to the death in the world. Aging is related to a progressive decline in cardiovascular function and structure. While human body suffer from oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated as metabolic by-products, which lead to inactivate proteins, damage nucleic acids, and alter the fatty acids of lipids. The accumulation of this oxidative damage contributes to the development of heart disease, diabetes, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Polyphenols have been widely studied as an anti-oxidant agent in the world. Danshen, the dried root or rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. is a common Traditional Chinese medicine used in cardiovascular disease and cancer. The main polyphenols in Danshen are phenolic acids (including Salvianolic acids A and B, rosmarinic acid, and their derivatives) and flavonoids. Salvianolic acids have potent anti-oxidative capabilities due to their polyphenolic structure and exhibit cardiovascular protection through mechanisms of ROS scavengers, reduction of leukocyte-endothelial adherence, inhibition of inflammation and indirect regulation of immune function. Salvianolic acids A and B have been reported to owe anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory activities not only through inducing apoptosis, halting cell cycle and adjourning metastasis by targeting multiple deregulated signaling networks of cancer but also sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents.


BACKGROUND
In a proliferating tumor, locally secreted polypeptide growth factors, which have autocrine and paracrine functions, induce vascularization essential for tumor growth and metastasis. These growth factors may serve as targets for tumor therapy. We have shown that the heparinoid pentosan polysulfate (PPS) can block growth of subcutaneous human tumor xenografts in nude mice and angiogenesis induced by the heparin-binding, Kaposi's sarcoma-derived fibroblast growth factor (K-FGF).

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether PPS might also interfere with stimulation of endothelial cells by other growth factors released from tumor cells and whether the promising antitumor effects of PPS extend to other human tumor cell lines. We studied the effects of PPS on stimulation by heparin-binding growth factors released from seven human tumor cell lines in vitro and on tumors growing from these cell lines in athymic nude mice.

METHODS
Seven human cell lines established from breast, prostate, epidermoid, and lung carcinomas and rhabdomyosarcoma were used in in vivo as well as in vitro studies of the effects of PPS. We also studied in vitro the effects of PPS on growth factor-induced colony formation of normal rat kidney fibroblasts and human adrenal carcinoma cells.

RESULTS
The tumor cell lines released growth factors into their media that stimulated growth of endothelial and epithelial cells as well as fibroblasts. Heparin-affinity chromatography showed that heparin-binding growth factors contributed substantially to this paracrine activity and that PPS inhibited this stimulus. Six of the seven tumor cell lines were resistant to PPS in soft-agar cloning assays and hence did not appear to depend on autocrine stimulation by the heparin-binding growth factors. In contrast to this in vitro resistance, subcutaneous growth of tumors from all cell lines in athymic nude mice was inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion by daily intraperitoneal injections of PPS.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that heparin-binding growth factors contribute substantially to tumor growth in vivo and that PPS acts by blocking the paracrine effects of heparin-binding growth factors released from the tumor cells.

IMPLICATION
PPS could become a novel treatment tool targeting tumor growth factors.


The research on network security architecture is a indispensable part in network security research. Layered Network Security Architecture (LNSA) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, LNSA is described with the concept of component. Then Stochastic Petri net is used for formal modeling of LNSA. Subsequently, the Stochastic High Lever Petri Nets is used to predigest the formal modeling and its corresponding Markov chain is used to calculate the steady probability. Then the steady probability is used to evaluate the network security status, as time is used to describe Hacker's intrusion ability and security system's protection ability. Obviously, the result is of important guiding significance in the actual network security analysis and application.


In this paper, we present Consistent4D, a novel approach for generating 4D dynamic objects from uncalibrated monocular videos. Uniquely, we cast the 360-degree dynamic object reconstruction as a 4D generation problem, eliminating the need for tedious multi-view data collection and camera calibration. This is achieved by leveraging the object-level 3D-aware image diffusion model as the primary supervision signal for training Dynamic Neural Radiance Fields (DyNeRF). Specifically, we propose a Cascade DyNeRF to facilitate stable convergence and temporal continuity under the supervision signal which is discrete along the time axis. To achieve spatial and temporal consistency, we further introduce an Interpolation-driven Consistency Loss. It is optimized by minimizing the discrepancy between rendered frames from DyNeRF and interpolated frames from a pre-trained video interpolation model. Extensive experiments show that our Consistent4D can perform competitively to prior art alternatives, opening up new possibilities for 4D dynamic object generation from monocular videos, whilst also demonstrating advantage for conventional text-to-3D generation tasks. Our project page is https://consistent4d.github.io/.


Addressing the subject of Case-Based Reasoning in design, this paper reports on a series of in-depth interviews with expert architects/design teachers about the role of cases in design practice and education. Several ingredients of the Case-Based Design (CBD) recipe turned out to occur in real-world design, albeit in a subtler version than CBD researchers usually assume. The paper focuses primarily on design in architecture, yet the findings may be relevant for other design domains as well.


Automatic speech recognition by computers can provide the most natural and efficient method of communication between humans and computers. The key-issue in some specific applications such as electronic shopping on the World Wide Web (WWW) is not just to improve the syllable or word recognition accuracy but to achieve correct understanding of the speech. Thus, key-phrase understanding, which integrates real world knowledge with key-phrase recognition techniques and then achieves partial speech understanding, plays an important role in such areas. A general framework for such a key-phrase understanding problem is presented and an initial application to be used in voice memo systems for Mandarin Chinese has been developed.


Shoulder impingement is a commonly treated disorder; however, the absence of a clear understanding of pathophysiology and causation can create variability in treatment. Pitfalls that can impede optimal patient outcomes can occur in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Diagnostic pitfalls include failing to identify some of the multiple extrinsic diagnoses as well as the intrinsic subacromial pathology in patients with symptoms of impingement. Surgical pitfalls include not addressing the entire pathology and doing an incomplete or excessive decompression. Rehabilitation pitfalls include prescribing the wrong exercises at the wrong time and omitting steps in the rehabilitation process. Every patient who presents for primary treatment of impingement or secondary treatment following failed treatment should have a thorough evaluation of all intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can contribute to the symptoms of shoulder impingement.


Undernutrition may exacerbate hyperoxia-induced lung injury, a finding that may be of significance in the early clinical management of the premature human infant. Addressing this specific problem, we found that 72 h of food restriction in guinea pig pups delivered 3 days preterm increased mortality rates among pups exposed to 95% oxygen (8/18) and yet had no effect on 21% oxygen (air)-exposed pups (0/10). Reduced tolerance of hyperoxic conditions was not, however, associated with increased lung injury, assessed as pulmonary microvascular leakage. Pulmonary antioxidant enzyme activities [Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD), Mn SOD, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase] were unaltered by starvation or hyperoxia. Lung glutathione concentration was slightly decreased after food restriction, whereas hyperoxic exposure did not change either lung or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid glutathione concentrations or lung antioxidant enzyme activities. Increased susceptibility to the lethal effects of oxygen in the starved preterm guinea pig pup could not be attributed to a deficiency of pulmonary antioxidant defenses.


We consider the roughness of surfaces described by stochastic partial differential equations on bounded domains which arise in surface growth equations. The roughness is usually described by the mean interface width, which is the expected value of the squared L2-norm. Our main results describe the growth of the mean interface width for linear stochastic partial differential equations perturbed by white or colored noise.


Fulminant meningococcemia defines a life-threatening disease with acute onset, severe septic shock, and progressive hemorrhagic necrosis of the skin. Despite advances in intensive care, the case fatality rate of this disease is still between 30% and 50%.1-5
 Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) with deposition of fibrin and histologically demonstrable widespread microvascular thromboses contributes significantly to the pathogenesis.6-9 Impairment of fibrinolysis caused by elevation of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), the physiologic inhibitor of tissue plasminogen activator, is part of these clotting abnormalities and has prognostic significance; the extent of elevation of PAI-1 is correlated to the development of shock, renal impairment, and mortality.10,11


The regenerative ability of the mammary gland tree is considered to rely upon maintenance of a mammary stem cell population. The self renewal capacity and maintenance in undifferentiated state make mammary stem cells a possible candidate for breast cancer initiation as the prolonged life span may enable them to accumulate and harbour mutations. Cells with the characteristics of tumor initiating stem cells have been isolated in murine models and in human breast cancer. In this chapter, we describe the reported phenotypic and functional characteristics of breast cancer stem cells. Moreover, we discuss the possibility that breast cancer stem cell phenotype may be related to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, thus implying that differentiated cells may acquire a tumor stem cell phenotype. Finally, we revise current data implicating cancer stem cells in drug and radiation resistance, in the prognosis of breast tumors and in the new therapeutic strategies.


Suicide is one of the most distressing and difficult situations that healthcare professionals will encounter. It is a violent act, the impact of which reaches well beyond the actual person who commits suicide. Inevitably it leaves family members, friends, carers and professionals feeling helpless, inadequate and responsible. However, failure to prevent a patient committing suicide is rarely a reflection on the competence of the clinician. Despite the high incidence of depression and sadness in terminally ill people, suicide is extremely rare amongst dying people. The highest risk of suicide for those with cancer is at the time of diagnosis. This article examines the ethical and legal implications of an 87-year-old man, in the advanced stages of his disease, who expressed a wish to kill himself to a district nurse and subsequently committed suicide (see Case scenario box). It raises issues surrounding patient confidentiality and a health professional's duty of care. It examines the nurse's actions and asks whether she could have done anything differently to prevent the death. This case scenario is also the subject of the 'Communication vignettes' series on pages 22–25. Conflicts of interest: none


The wage expectations of university students have relevance for human capital theory, models of student enrolment, and public policy on provision of higher education. However these expectations have been the subject of relatively little research in industrialised countries. The paper investigates students' expectations with UK survey data that are superior to those used in several existing studies in various ways, including their coverage of a representative sample of universities and the rich nature of the information on socio-economic background. The analysis first shows how wage expectations vary with time remaining at university, ability and quality of the university. The paper then compares expectations with the actual wages earned by the same cohort on graduation, using data that are drawn from an attempted census of all graduates. This provides a more reliable basis for assessing the realism in students' expectations than in existing studies. Results support the hypothesis that full-time students overestimate their starting salary, bringing a fundamental assumption of human capital theory into doubt.


Although a complete nanotechnology does not yet exist, we can already foresee some new directions in theoretical computer science that will be required to help us design maximally efficient computers using nanoscale components. In particular, we can devise novel theoretical models of computation that are intended to faithfully reflect the computational capabilities of physics at the nanoscale, in order to serve as a basis for the most powerful possible future nanocomputer architectures. In this paper we present arguments that a reversible 3D mesh of processors is an optimal physically realistic model for scalable computers. We show that any physical architecture based on irreversible logic devices would be asymptotically slower than realizations of our model, and we argue that no physical realization of computation aside from quantum computation could be asymptotically faster. We also calculate, using parameters from a variety of different existing and hypothetical technologies, how large a reversible computer would need to be in order to be faster than an irreversible machine. We find that using current technology, a reversible machine containing only a few hundred layers of circuits could outperform any existing machine, and that a reversible computer based on nanotechnology would only need to be a few microns across in order to outperform any possible irreversible technology. We argue that a silicon implementation of the reversible 3D mesh could be valuable today for speeding up certain scientific and engineering computations, and propose that the model should become a focus of future study in the theory of parallel algorithms for a wide range of problems.


Objective We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of Korean version of Ruminative Response Scale (K-RRS) for Korean adolescents. Methods A community sample of 1220 adolescents was recruited from middle schools and high schools. Exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and additional analyses were performed to assess the reliability and validity of the K-RRS. Results An exploratory factor analysis of a sample of adolescents (n=550) yielded a three factor structure: 'depressive rumination', 'reflective pondering', and 'brooding'. Confirmatory factor analyses of another sample of adolescents (n=530) supported the three-factor model for the K-RRS. The K-RRS was found to have good internal consistency and construct validity. Conclusion Our results suggest that K-RRS is a valid measurement to assess rumination in adolescents, as well as in adults.


This research paper aims to analyze the impact of attitude towards country of origin on brand love for some select US and Indian denim jeans brands. Further the impact of brand love is also studied on loyalty and word of mouth. Survey based research using convenience sampling was used for data collection using self-administered questionnaires. The study has used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 20 for data analysis. The empirical analysis shows that the attitude toward the country of origin does not impact the feelings of brand love. However, it was found that brand love impacts loyalty and word of mouth considerably. The findings have been derived from the sample of students from one university. Also, the study has not taken into account high-end fashion brands, thus limiting the generality of the findings to all brands. The findings provide a new dimension called brand love which both the foreign and domestic brands must give due credence to when framing of their branding strategies. By aiming to assess the relationship between the constructs of country of origin and brand love, for which sparsely few studies are found in the existing literature, this paper contributes to the growth of literature in the field of brand love.


Korean construction companies have maintained stable market share based on high technology and cost competitiveness although international construction market has been stalled due to increasing global economy uncertainties. However, Korean construction companies have relied heavily on the general types of projects in Middle East and Asia although the portion of different types of projects such as Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO), Build-transfer-Lease (BTL), and Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) has been increasing in the market. When delivering huge projects requiring contractors deal with activities form project planning to operation, securing finance sources and profitability is deemed critical. Therefore, Korean construction companies need more attentions on the construction market supported by Multilateral Development Banks. However, Korean construction companies have not utilized effective strategies for the market entry and also government supportive policies are not useful enough to help construction companies. This study aims both to analyze the contract structure of Korean construction companies for presenting critical factors that need to be prepared and to suggest various methods that can be applied to support construction companies that have much interest in the Multilateral Development Banks. According to the results of study, it is important that Korean government provide structural information system, make a specialized organization, prevent over-heating among Korean construction companies, and collaborate with Official Development Agency. In addition, it appeared that the fairness and financial stability of project have recognized main advantages of the Multilateral Development Banks.


Recent international data have documented improved postoperative outcome in relation to hospital and surgeon volume. Nation-wide Danish data have documented a high mortality and long hospital stay after abdominal cancer surgery, which is performed in a large number of departments. It is concluded that reorganisation with fewer surgical departments is required to improve outcome after major gastrointestinal surgery.


Objective To develop a technique for simultaneous detection of various target genes in Roundup Ready soybean by combining multiplex PCR and low-density DNA microarray. Methods Two sets of the multiplex PCR system were used to amplify the target genes in genetically modified (GM) soybean. Seventeen capture probes (PCR products) and 17 pairs of corresponding primers were designed according to the genetic characteristics of Rroundup Ready soybean (GTS40-3-2), maize (Mon810, Nk603, GA21), canola (T45, MS1/RF1), and rice (SCK) in many identified GM crops. All of the probes were categorized and identified as species-specific probes. One negative probe and one positive control probe were used to assess the efficiency of all reactions, and therefore eliminate any false positive and negative results. After multiplex PCR reaction, amplicons were adulterated with Cy5-dUTP and hybridized with DNA microarray. The array was then scanned to display the specific hybridization signals of target genes. The assay was applied to the analysis of sample of certified transgenic soybean (Roundup Ready GTS40-3-2) and canola (MS1/RF1). Results A combination technique of multiplex PCR and DNA microarray was successfully developed to identify multi-target genes in Roundup Ready soybean and MS1/RF1 canola with a great specificity and reliability. Reliable identification of genetic characteristics of Roundup Ready of GM soybean from genetically modified crops was achieved at 0.5% transgenic events, indicating a high sensitivity. Conclusion A combination technique of multiplex PCR and low-density DNA microarray can reliably detect and identify the genetically modified crops.


This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the semantic and syntactic properties of all -clefts ( All I ate for dinner was a salad ). The main characteristic of all -clefts is the inference that what is designated by the cleft is not much (the "smallness effect"). On the basis of novel observations on all -clefts with multi-clausal precopular clauses, and the interaction with negation and questions, I argue for three claims: (i) the word all is the head of a relative clause (not a free relative), (ii) the precopular clause is derived by syntactic movement, and (iii) the source of the smallness effect is the mirativity of only (Beaver & Clark 2008; Zeevat 2009). The little formal work that exists on all -clefts (Homer 2019) does not offer an analysis that reflects these three claims. Instead I propose a derivational account of all -clefts based on Boeckx (2007).


PurposeThis paper explores how actors engage in the situated learning of resource integration (RI) within value cocreation practices (VCPs). VCPs are collectively shared and organized routine activities that actors perform to cocreate value.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on a qualitative study of how successful music actors engage in VCPs and learn RI. Interviews and observations were used to collect data that were analyzed by drawing on the Gioia methodology.FindingsThe findings illuminate the types of VCPs actors engage in to learn RI, the ways in which actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, and how social contexts condition actors' learning of RI.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper offers a framework for understanding actors' situated learning of RI by engaging in VCPs. It illuminates the VCPs that actors engage in to learn RI, how actors advance from peripheral to core participation through their learning, the ways in which actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, and how social contexts condition actors' situated learning of RI. Implications for the scarce prior research on how actors learn RI are presented.Practical implicationsTo contribute to innovative solutions and sustainable growth, managers and policymakers need to offer actors opportunities to learn and make space for actors with competencies that may be important and needed in future VCPs.Originality/valueIn focusing on how actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, this study draws on theories of communities of practices and situated learning, as well as practice theoretical service research.


A new video scene clustering method using graph partitioning is proposed. In the method, the shots of a video are grouped into clusters of similar scenes based on shot colour attributes; the number of scene clusters is not required to be known a priori. Experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Simulations are becoming ever more common as a tool for designing complex products. Sensitivity analysis techniques can be applied to these simulations to gain insight, or to reduce the complexity of the problem at hand. However, these simulators are often expensive to evaluate and sensitivity analysis typically requires a large amount of evaluations. Metamodeling has been successfully applied in the past to reduce the amount of required evaluations for design tasks such as optimization and design space exploration. In this paper, we propose a novel sensitivity analysis algorithm for variance and derivative based indices using sequential sampling and metamodeling. Several stopping criteria are proposed and investigated to keep the total number of evaluations minimal. The results show that both variance and derivative based techniques can be accurately computed with a minimal amount of evaluations using fast metamodels and FLOLA-Voronoi or density sequential sampling algorithms.


The effects of flunitrazepam 15 micrograms kg-1, on left ventricular (LV) performance, coronary sinus blood flow (CSBF), myocardial oxygen uptake and myocardial lactate balance were studied in nine patients with coronary artery disease undergoing cardiac catheterization. Flunitrazepam produced a decrease in mean aortic pressure (MAP) and in systemic vascular resistance (SVR) with maximal changes from control value observed at 15 min for MAP and at 5 min for SVR. No change in cardiac index was observed. The following changes in variables related to LV performance were observed: (1) a transient increase in heart rate and left ventricular contractility (Vmax); (2) a sustained decrease of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, maximum at 15 min. Myocardial oxygen consumption was decreased at 15 min but CSBF did not change, whereas total coronary vascular resistance was decreased. Since myocardial lactate extraction was increased and no change in ECG was observed, a coronary steal induced by coronary vasodilatation did not appear to take place.


This article analyses the changing attitude and cultural identity of Tolakinese Muslim Community in Kendari. It focuses on four cultural values: 1) kohanu (shy); 2) merou (courtesy); samaturu (solidarity); 4) taa ehe tunai tui (introspection). The findings shows that people in the rural area are generally maintaining their culture while people in urban area have a contrast attitude as cultural values have been degraded in practices. This degradation eventually resulted in the changing attitudes of Tolakinese society. In general, even though there is a small group of people who still understand and or practice the tradition, there is a trend of degradation in the cultural values. There are factors behind this trend, among them are: education, living in the city and mixed marriage. Realizing the potential extinction and the importance of the tradition, several efforts are taken by traditional leaders aiming at preserving the culture of Tolaki. Among the efforts are socialization and contextualization of the tradition in line with the development and the values of Islam.


Background

The high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) being associated with impaired Health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, few studies have assessed the HRQoL of individuals with a high risk of CVD in Inner Mongolia, or even in China. We aimed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among individuals in Inner Mongolia with a high risk of CVD and its risk factors, to provide a reference to improve HRQoL in individuals with high CVD risk.
Methods

From 2015 to 2017, residents of six villages or communities in Inner Mongolia, selected using a multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method, were invited to complete a questionnaire and undergo physical examination and laboratory testing. We selected participants whose predicted 10-year risk for CVD exceeded 10% as those with high CVD risk. HRQoL in individuals with high CVD risk was investigated based on the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) scale. The Chinese utility value integral system was used to calculate EQ-5D utility scores, and the Tobit regression model were used to analyze the influencing factors of HRQoL among individuals with high CVD risk.
Results

Of 13,359 participants with high CVD risk, 65.63% reported no problems in any of the five dimensions; the most frequently reported difficulty was pain/discomfort. The mean utility score was 1.000 (0.869, 1.000). Tobit regression analysis showed that sex, age, education level, residence area, household income, physical activity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were influencing factors of HRQoL.
Conclusion

We found that female sex, older age, living in an urban area, lower education level, lower household income, and lower physical activity levels were associated with reduced HRQoL. People with a high risk of CVD should maintain their blood glucose and lipid levels within the normal range.