Recently, the cancer stem cell hypothesis has gained significant recognition as the descriptor of tumorigenesis. Although previous studies relied on transplanting human or rat tumor cells into immunecompromised mice, our study used the Hoechst 33342 dye-based side population (SP) technique to isolate and transplant stem cell-like cancer cells (SCLCCs) from the 4T1 and NXS2 murine carcinoma cell lines into the immune-competent microenvironment of syngeneic mice. 4T1 cells displayed an SP of 2% with a Sca-1(high)c-Kit(-)CD45(-) phenotype, whereas NXS2 cells contained an SP of 0.2% with a Sca-1(high)CD24(high)c-Kit(-)CD45(-)GD (high)(2) phenotype. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) further revealed up-regulation in SP cells of ABCG2, Sca-1, Wnt-1, and TGF-beta2. Additionally, 4T1 and NXS2 SP cells exhibited increased resistance to chemotherapy, and 4T1 SP cells also showed an increased ability to efflux doxorubicin, which correlated with a selective increase in the percentage of SP cells found in the tumors of doxorubicin-treated mice. Most importantly, SP cells showed a markedly higher repopulation and tumorigenic potential in vivo, which correlated with an increased number of cells in the SP compartment of SP-derived tumors. Taken together, these results show that we successfully characterized SCLCCs from 2 murine carcinoma cell lines in the immune-competent microenvironment of syngeneic mice.


This article re-stages on the page a dialogue between Arnolfini's archivist and the research fellow on 'Performing the Archive: The Future of the Past', which took place at the interdisciplinary conference Archive Fever/Archive Fervour (University of Wales, Aberystwyth, July 2008). This conference promoted opportunities for archivists and academics 'to discuss the ways in which both fields intersect and to explore the ways in which mutual co-operation can benefit their future development'. Their dialogue started from two provocations put to one another: 'How do performances remain? How do they produce traces, or document themselves?' 'How do documents perform and are archives performative; what do they do?' Their responses interrogate the discreteness of the archive, the documents contained within, and the performance events that are its objects; questioning the distinction between acts of performance, documenting, archiving and using archives. In the context of this dialogue, 'ephemera' refers both to passing moments—the temporality of event-based art—and its residues. In the case of performance, the artwork cannot be collected as an original object, only traces, such as memory and ephemera, remain. The article presents a conversation between theoretical positions and practical propositions, made with materials selected from the holdings of both the Live Art and Arnolfini archives.


Background Neuropsychiatric manifestations areconsidered to be a serious complication in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).The pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric manifestations has been attributed to autoantibody-mediated neural dysfunction. Objectives To investigate the prevalence and associations of neuropsychiatric manifestations and serum biomarkers in SLE. Methods We included consecutive SLE followed at the rheumatology unit of the State University of Campinas. Neurological manifestations were analyzed according to the ACR classification criteria. Mood disorders were determined through Becks Depression and Anxiety Inventory in all participants. SLE patients were further assessed for clinical and laboratory SLE manifestations, disease activity [SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI)], damage [Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI)] and current drug exposures. Total dose of corticosteroids and other immunosuppressant medications used since the onset of disease were calculated by data obtained by careful review of the medical charts.Serum biomarkers (S100β, NF-H and antiribossomal P (Anti-P) and anticardiolipin antibodies levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using commercial kits from BioVendor, Inc (Czech Republic). Anti-double stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies were determined by indirect immunofluorescence using Crithidia as substrate and considered positive if ≥1:20.Precipitating antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens (ENAs),including Ro (SSA), La (SSB), and Sm were detected by a standardizedELISA method, and considered positive if higher than 1:40. Data were compared by non-parametric tests. Results We included 146 SLE patients (138 women; mean age of 26.60±13.42 years; range 9-67). The mean disease duration was 8.13±7.05 years (range 0-39 years). At time of study entry, 50 (34.24%) SLE patients had active disease (mean SLEDAI scores3.68±3.97; range 0-14). Forty (27.39%) cSLE had cumulative damage (mean SDI scores 0.68±1.04; range0-4). We observed neuropsychiatric manifestations in 59 (40.41%) SLE. The most frequent manifestations observed in our cohort were anxiety (43.83%), headache (39.04%), depression (34.24%) and seizure (11.64%). We observed an association between neuropsychiatric manifestations and antiribosomal P protein (p=0.001), aCL (p=0.012) and LA (p<0.001). In the analyses of each individual manifestation, anxiety was associated with antiribosomal P protein (p=0.003) and anti-Smith (p=0.010), headache with antiribosomal P protein (p<0.001) and LA (p=0.006) and depression was associated with antiribosomal P protein (p=0.031). Conclusions Autoantibodies such as antiribosomal P protein antibodies, aCL and LA, anti-Ro, anti-dsDNA and anti-Smith are associated with neuropsychiatric manifestations in SLE, suggesting the autoantibodies pathway in neural dysfunction in SLE. Acknowledgements Grants: Research Support Foundation of São Paulo –FAPESP (Simone 2008/02917-0, Mariana 2011/03788-2, Aline 2013/09480-5) CNPQ (300447/2009-4 and 471343/2011-0; 302205/2012-8; 473328/2013-5) Disclosure of Interest None declared


Nothing has suffered a backlash quite like GM food. But the public's reticence to embrace crops that have been modified artificially has helped spur new approaches to creasing food production. The reticence among the public to embrace GM may help improve its performance, which has been patchy David Dawe, senior food systems economist with the FAO, says one of the problems with technology is that it can focus too readily on large farming operations and take a long time to put into action properly. "For the small farmer, if it takes years of learning, it's no use to him".


Two themes are generative for revealing and understanding the history of observation in economics. First, we argue for the importance of noting that observation is an activity as well as a result, and second that observation is no more identical with quantification than observing is with measuring. These two themes enable us to discuss different historical dimensions of the ways in which economists have observed their economies and so enlarge our understanding of their observational practices. These problematics especially help in delineating the intricate, multilayered, and active interactions between the observer and the observed that take place in all social science observation, and from which our pictures of the economic world emerge.


strong in Bavaria and Austria, with the more traditional Marian piety found in Cologne. Here she follows the arguments of scholars such as Gerald Chaix and Rebekka von Mallinckrodt and shows how the traditional religious culture of Cologne survived, and even thrived, during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. For example, both the elites and popular classes continued to venerate Marian Gnadenbilder (holy images) from the Middle Ages. The Jesuits certainly promoted new religious forms in Cologne through their sodalities and their preaching, but these forms only supplemented traditional piety.The result was pluralism within Catholic practice, as there was within Protestant practice.


To the facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, direct browplasty is a useful adjunct to other facial rejuvenative procedures. Unlike other procedures designed to correct the ptotic brow, direct browplasty allows the surgeon to reposition the brow more accurately. In addition, use of a layered plastic closure results in an acceptable surgical scar that can further be camouflaged with appropriate cosmetic techniques in selected patients. The indications, surgical technique, and postoperative care are described.


Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) may be performed in non-surgical patients with symptomatic severe calcific aortic stenosis (AS). The United Kingdom Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Registry followed prospectively 870 high-risk patients with a mean age of 82 years, with severe symptomatic AS undergoing 877 TAVI procedures [1]. Survival was 92.9% at 30 days, 78.6% at 1 year, and 73.7% at 2 years [1]. Of 442 persons with severe AS at increased surgical risk, mean age 82 years, 78 were treated with medical management, 107 with aortic valve replacement (AVR), and 257 with TAVI [2]. At 30-month follow-up, adjusted mortality was 49% significantly lower for AVR compared with medical treatment and 62% significantly lower for the TAVI group versus the medical treatment group. At 12 months, 92.3% of AVR patients, 93.2% of TAVI patients, and 70.8% of the medically treated group were New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I or II [2].In the Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves (PARTNER) trial, 699 high-risk patients with severe AS with a mean age of 84 years were randomized to AVR or TAVI [3]. Mortality was 3.4% for the TAVI group versus 6.5% for the AVR group at 30 days (p not significant) and 24.2% for TAVI patients versus 26.8% for AVR patients at 1 year (p not significant). Major stroke was 3.8% for TAVI patients versus 2.1% for AVR patients at 30 days (p not significant) and 5.1% for TAVI patients versus 2.4% for AVR patients at 1 year (p not significant). Major vascular complications at 30 days were 11.0% for TAVI patients versus 3.2% for AVR patients (p<0.001). New-onset atrial fibrillation was 16.0% after AVR and 8.6% after TAVI (p=0.001). Major bleeding was 19.5% after AVR and 9.3% after TAVI (p<0.001). At 1-year, there were similar improvements in cardiac symptoms for both groups [3]. In the PARTNER trial, among inoperable patients with severe AS, compared with medical treatment, TAVI caused significant improvements in health-related quality of life maintained for at least 1 year [4]. At 2-year follow-up of 699 high-risk patients with severe AS in the PARTNER trial, all-cause mortality was 33.9% for TAVI and 35.0% for AVR (p not significant) [5]. Stroke was 7.7% for TAVI and 4.9% for AVR (p not significant). Moderate or severe paravalvular aortic regurgitation was 6.9% for TAVI and 0.9% for AVR (p<0.001) and was associated with increased late mortality [5]. At 2-year follow-up of 358 persons with a mean age of 83 years, with inoperable severe AS in the PARTNER trial randomized to TAVR or to standard therapy with balloon aortic valvuloplasty performed in 82% of this group, 43% of TAVR patients and 68% of standard therapy patients were dead (p<0.001) [6]. Incidences of cardiac death at 2 years were 31% for TAVR patients versus 62% for standard therapy patients (p<0.001) [6]. Incidences of stroke at 2 years were 14% for TAVR patients versus 6% for standard therapy patients (p=0.01) [6]. The rates of rehospitalization at 2 years were 35% for TAVR patients versus 73% for standard therapy patients (p<0.001) [6]. Echocardiographic data showed an increase in aortic valve area and a reduction in aortic valve gradient with no increase in paravalvular aortic regurgitation [6]. Their results suggest the reduction in death in patients with TAVR may be limited to patients without extensive comorbidities.Low flow in patients with severe AS independently predicts mortality [7]. At 2-year follow-up of 180 patients with a mean age of 84 years with low-flow inoperable severe AS in the PARTNER trial, the mortality was 76% in the medically treated patients versus 46% in the TAVR treated patients (p<0.001) [7]. At 2-year follow-up of 350 patients with a mean age of 84 years with low-flow severe AS in the PARTNER trial, death occurred in 40% in AVR treated patients versus 38% in the TAVR group (p not significant) [7]. In the inoperable group in the PARTNER trial, at 2-year follow-up, death in persons with a normal stroke volume index was 38% with TAVR versus 53% with medical management (p<0.001) [7]. One-third of 270 patients undergoing a CoreValve TAVI needed a permanent pacemaker implanted within 1 month [8]. Periprocedural atrioventricular block, balloon predilation, use of larger CoreValve prosthesis, increased interventricular septum diameter, and prolonged QRS interval were independently associated with need of implantation of a permanent pacemaker [8]. In 138 patients undergoing TAVI, mean age 79 years, without previous history of atrial fibrillation, new-onset atrial fibrillation developed in 44 patients (32%) at median time of 48 hours after TAVI [9]. At 12-month follow-up, stroke or systemic embolism occurred in 15.9% for persons with new-onset atrial fibrillation versus 3.2% for persons without atrial fibrillation (p=0.023) [9].In 358 patients, a modified procedure of transapical TAVI with a balloon-expandable prosthesis had a low incidence of relevant prosthetic regurgitation [10]. Cumulative survival was not dependent on post-procedural regurgitation rate in this study [10]. At 42-month follow-up of 339 persons with a mean age of 81 years who had TAVI because they were inoperable or considered at very high surgical risk, 188 (56%) were dead [11]. Causes of late death in 152 persons were noncardiac comorbidities in 59%, cardiac death in 23%, and unknown in 18% [11]. At follow-up of 535 days in 198 persons who had TAVI with use of a Core Valve prosthesis, moderate/severe aortic regurgitation was the most powerful independent risk factor of all-mortality (hazard ratio=4.89, p<0.001) and of cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio=7.90, p<0.001) [12]. Of 451 patients who had TAVR, 132 (29%) had moderate or severe mitral regurgitation after TAVR [13]. At 30-day follow-up, persons with moderate or severe mitral regurgitation had a higher incidence of death (adjusted hazard ratio=2.10, p=0.02). However, the incidences of death after 30 days were similar in those.


The flame used in combustion flame spraying is typical of a high-temperature free jet. The flow fields of free jets are multi-phase flows that couple the mass and heat transfer. This work develops an analytical method to describe free combustion spray jets. The aim of the research is to develop a fully understanding of the characteristics of free-flame jets. Experimental measurements were carried by a unique highspeed continuous CCD camera. Key words-flame jet; combustion spray jets; high-speed CCD camera


West Nile virus (WNV) neuroinvasive disease threatens the health and well-being of horses and humans worldwide. Disease in horses and humans is remarkably similar. The occurrence of WNV disease in these mammalian hosts has geographic overlap with shared macroscale and microscale drivers of risk. Importantly, intrahost virus dynamics, the evolution of the antibody response, and clinicopathology are similar. The goal of this review is to provide a comparison of WNV infection in humans and horses and to identify similarities that can be exploited to enhance surveillance methods for the early detection of WNV neuroinvasive disease.


We describe the nonlocal effective properties of a two-dimensional dissipative phononic crystal made by periodic arrays of rigid and motionless cylinders embedded in a viscothermal fluid such as air. The description is based on a nonlocal theory of sound propagation in stationary random fluid/rigid media that was proposed by Lafarge and Nemati [Wave Motion 50 , 1016 (2013)]. This scheme arises from a deep analogy with electromagnetism and a set of physics-based postulates including, particularly, the action-response procedures, whereby the effective density and bulk modulus are determined. Here, we revisit this approach, and clarify further its founding physical principles through presenting it in a unified formulation together with the two-scale asymptotic homogenization theory that is interpreted as the local limit. Strong evidence is provided to show that the validity of the principles and postulates within the nonlocal theory extends to high-frequency bands, well beyond the long-wavelength regime. In particular, we demonstrate that up to the third Brillouin zone including the Bragg scattering, the complex and dispersive phase velocity of the least-attenuated wave in the phononic crystal which is generated by our nonlocal scheme agrees exactly with that reproduced by a direct approach based on the Bloch theorem and multiple scattering method. In high frequencies, the effective wave and its associated parameters are analyzed by treating the phononic crystal as a random medium.


TThere is almost no systematic academic research on the issue of legal malpractice. This paper reviews the very limited data available, primarily from the American Bar Association and from a report on legal malpractice in the Canadian province of Ontario. We then turn to a database held by the Florida Department of Insurance. A professional liability insurers in Florida are required to submit detailed reports on the cases in which they dealt with claims against their insureds. From these data we develop a tentative and incomplete profile of legal malpractice in Florida. These data will be supplemented with a study of cases that went to trial before juries.


Proton induced X-ray emission analysis measurements were performed to determine the P, S, K, Ca Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn ion content of presynaptic vesicles prepared from guinea-pig brain cortex. The number of different ions per single vesicle is calculated using the results of the additional protein content determinations. The ion contents of cholinergic and adrenergic vesicles are compared.


History matching of production data is a process requiring a large number of reservoir simulations that are huge time-consuming. To reduce the computation time, an approach consists of using a meta-model to replace the reservoir simulator. In this paper, a proxy model based on an artificial intelligence technique (artificial neural network) is evaluated and compared to proxy models conventionally used for history matching such as polynomials or kriging methods. The proposed approach provides accurate prediction results to speed up and improve the history matching process. An application to the Brugge field is presented.


The first results obtained with the prototype system at the synchrotron beamline ID03 at ESRF are presented and illustrate the possibility to detect an element-specific contrast and to perform nanoscale x-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments at the Zn K and W L 3 absorption edges in mixed zinc oxide-zinc tungstate thin films.


Hemangioma is the most common tumor of infancy and ulceration is the most frequent complication of hemangioma. The purpose of this report was to review the clinical features and management of ulcerated hemangioma. A retrospective study of ulcerated hemangioma at the outpatient pediatric dermatology clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from 1992 to 2001 was performed. The medical records of 41 patients were reviewed. Twenty-eight females and 13 males were seen with a female/male ratio of 2.2: 1. Superficial hemangioma was the most common type (51%). Head and neck were the most frequently involved sites, affecting 21 cases (51%). Ulcerated hemangiomas were found on extremities, torso, and perineum of 9 patients (22%), 6 patients (15%) and 5 patients (12%), respectively. Ulceration was developed at a mean age of 3.9 months (range, 1-7 months). Conventional treatment with topical and/or systemic antibiotic was successfully used in 19 patients (46%). Oral prednisolone was used in 4 patients with large hemangiomas. The mean duration of treatment with oral prednisolone was 12 months. Flashlamp-pumped pulsed-dye laser (FPDL) was used in 16 patients who failed topical and/or systemic antibiotic. Fifteen patients (94%) healed within 1 to 3 treatments. Excision was done on a small superficial hemangioma on the cheek. In conclusion, head and neck were the most common sites of ulcerated hemangioma. Topical antibiotics and/or systemic antibiotics could be used as the first-line management of ulcerated hemangioma. FPDL was very effective in the treatment of ulcerated hemangioma.


Background: The association between cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) and oocyte aspiration in the context of maternal age is not well understood in the Indian population. Aims: To find the relationship between CLBR and a single oocyte aspiration. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective study analysing the data of 1989 women who underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF) between January 2015 and December 2019, at Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital, India. Materials and Methods: Participants were divided into two groups based on age: ≤35 (group I, n = 1665) and >35 (Group II, n = 324). CLBR per single oocyte aspiration in fresh and subsequent three frozen embryo transfer cycles was estimated. Statistical Analysis Used: Logistic regression analysis was used to show the likelihood of pregnancy rate, and CLBR per aspiration after treatment was represented as odd's ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Maximal CLBR for Groups I and II was 81.25% with >25 oocytes and 75% with 16–20 oocytes, respectively. In the fresh ET cycle, maximal pregnancy and live birth rates were observed in 6–10 oocytes for Group I (54% and 41%) and in 16–20 oocytes for Group II (75% and 75%). The ORs for pregnancy rate (P = 0.01) and CLBR (P = 0.007) increased with an increase in the number of oocytes retrieved. The ORs for pregnancy rate and CLBR for Group II were 0.68 (P = 0.002) and 0.58 (P = 0.00002), respectively as compared to Group I. Optimal oocytes required to achieve positive IVF outcomes in fresh/frozen ET cycles were low in Group I (6–10 oocytes), but higher in Group II (16–20 oocytes). Conclusion: Robust positive relationship was observed between the number of oocytes retrieved and CLBR in women of both age groups.


Background: The university policlinic should become into a center of remarkable health assistance to the population and a model for the basic and post graduated formation of the health professionals. Objective: To propose a methodology to assess the quality in the implementation of the teaching learning process of the new model in the formation of the general comprehensive doctor. Method: The diagnosis of the variables as well as the quality indicators to be taken into account was carried out. The instruments to be used for the evaluation of the implementation in the teaching learning process of this new pedagogical model were proposed. The methodology of the designed evaluation is focused on the knowledge of how planning, execution of the process, functional and organizable aspects, organizable environment, as well as satisfaction of professors, students, leaders are developed in these new places of formation. Results: The elaborated methodological proposal is integrated and has a systemic approach based on a paradigm of mixed evaluation with a holistic model directed to the dimension of efficacy. The variables to assess are considered within the levels of institutional, group, and individual analysis. Conclusions: The strategy will provide information about the quality and the factors that can be influencing the efficacy of the teaching learning process throughout the analysis and operation of the proposed indicators.


Functional endoscopic sinus surgery, now the standard of care for surgical treatment of chronic and recurrent sinusitis, has changed current concepts of sinus health and disease. Interpretation of the CT scan must reflect this focus on anatomy and function. This article seeks to provide a clear understanding of sinonasal drainage. The normal frontal recess, ostiomeatal unit, and sphenoethmoid recess are considered along with the anatomic variations that distort their appearance and predispose the patient to developing sinus disease. The spectrum of uncomplicated and complicated sinonasal inflammatory disease is discussed.


A respiration is one of the most useful techniques for vital checking and an abnormal respiration is often the earliest sign of critical illness. Detection of respiration is based on the photo-plethysmography (PPG) with photodiode technique. Because PPG sensor using photodiode can be easily miniaturized, it is suitable for wearable devices. A system to measure respiration rate based on PPG signal is implemented and for a reliable measurement an improved algorithm in accuracy using PPG signal pattern is proposed in this paper. As results regarding to three types of respirations (regular interval, free interval, and weak respiration) the proposed algorithm showed error rate of 0.047, 0.067, and 0.122 respectively.


In a study of 250 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, seven (2.8%) were found to have polymyalgia rheumatica or giant cell arteritis. All cases occurred in female patients over the age of 60 years, a prevalence in this group of 9.3%. No cases of either disorder were seen in a control population of 150 female patients over the age of 50 years attending a cardiac clinic at the same hospital. Awareness of this association may allow earlier diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome in elderly patients with thyroid disease.


Spectrum phenomena include, in addition to the typical DSM core symptoms, isolated or atypical symptoms, often of low severity, as well as trait-like behavioral features that arise as a result of coping with the psychopathology. We have demonstrated the psychometric properties of five Structured Clinical Interviews for the assessment of specific mood and anxiety spectrum conditions, including the Structured Clinical Interview for Mood Spectrum (SCI-MOODS). The present report describes the reliability of the self-report version (MOODS-SR) of the SCI-MOODS in a sample of 21 patients with a mood disorder and 20 control subjects. Agreement between the self-report and the interview formats was substantial. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) ranged from 0.88 to 0.97. Our findings provide support for the reliability of the MOODS-SR questionnaire.


A case of persistent infertility due to a cervical factor is reported which did not respond to several treatment regimes to make the cervical mucous penetrable for the sperms of the husband. Intra-uterine insemination was equally unsuccessful, however the in-vitro incubation of the semen of the husband in donor cervical mucous and subsequent intra-uterine insemination of this incubated mucous resulted in a pregnancy.


Adsorbing and salvaging extremely small quantities of lithium ion, high-performance ion-exchange type lithium ion adsorbent was prepared through the ion-sieve formation method. The method uses acid treatment after the synthesis of spinel-structured nano-Li1.33Mn1.67O4 precursor through the tartaric acid gel process. It has good selectivity and high efficiency in adsorbing lithium ion in seawater. The generated adsorbent showed a 28.2 mg/g lithium uptake from artificial seawater. This adsorbent further showed a difference reproducibility that was lower than 10% when subjected to five cycles of adsorption and desorption experiments.


A new species of the spongicolid coral shrimp genus Microprosthema Stimpson, 1860 is described on the basis of three specimens collected by hand while scuba diving off the Atlantic coast of southern Florida, with additional photographic records from Roatan, Honduras. Microprosthema dimitrisorum sp. nov. can be separated from all presently known species of the genus by a unique combination of morphological characters, and most easily, by its highly diagnostic and conspicuous colour pattern consisting of large red spots on most of the body and appendages.


Small-carrier perturbations close to the unperturbed bulk are analyzed which represent boundary conditions for the perturbations produced by injection and extraction in thick enough semiconductor samples. On this basis concentration contours for the strong-perturbation range can be qualitatively drawn and even numerically evaluated. The results allow for a clear distinction to be made between lifetime and relaxation behavior. There is also an intermediary regime between these, and within it a new kind of steady state with oscillations in space is proved to be possible for appropriately chosen currents. Two new conditions have also been evidenced for the high current conduction in the asymptotic range: "equality recombination" in the deep-lifetime case, and "unperturbed conductivity" in the deep-relaxation case. Necessary conditions for obtaining an increase in resistance through injection have also been outlined.


We performed maxillary sinus floor elevation combined with a vertical onlay graft for a total of 11 sides of nine patients (1 woman and 8 men) in our Hospital. On CT, the preoperative minimum alveolar bone thickness with a mean of 1.8 mm was improved to 15.3 mm within a month after this surgery. A total of 20 dental implants were placed and there was only one failed implant. With the average follow-up of 15.6 months, an average of 3.4 mm of bone absorption was found in the site of the maxillary sinus and 1.1 mm in the site of the onlay graft. The crown-implant ratio in all cases was within the permissible range. Consequently, this bone augmentation surgery was considered to be useful.


The Lau Basin, a back arc spreading center, is one of the most active hydrothermal areas in the ocean. A scientific team from France, Germany, and Tonga investigated the southern Lau Basin near Tonga in 1989 to study the processes of seafloor ore-mineral formation associated with hydrothermal circulation along the volcanic Valu Fa ridge (Ride de Valu Fa in Figure 1), which lies in back of the Tonga-Kermadec trench.

Between April 17 and May 10 scientists on the R/V Nadir used the submersible Nautile to make 22 dives in the southern Lau Basin. The cruise was called NAUTILAU, for Nautile in Lau Basin. In addition to the standard equipment of the submersible (video and photo cameras, and temperature probe), a CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) instrument was integrated with a "mini rosette" water sampling device used for the first time on the Nautile to obtain correlations between the geological observations and the physical and chemical anomalies measured in the seawater.


PURPOSE
To correlate magnetic resonance (MR) signal characteristics of developing regions at the ends of bones with the histologic findings.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In 36 newborn lamb epiphyses (including cartilage of the epiphysis and physis, and bone of the secondary ossification center and juxtaphyseal metaphysis), signal intensity and thickness of cartilaginous regions seen on MR images were correlated with architecture and thickness of zones shown in corresponding histologic sections. Possible effects of T2, magnetization transfer, fat or water content, chemical shift, and anisotropy on differences in regional signal intensity were evaluated.

RESULTS
MR imaging depicted five regions between the secondary ossification center and the metaphysis corresponding histologically to (a) zone of provisional calcification of the secondary ossification center, (b) physis of the secondary ossification center, (c) epiphyseal cartilage, (d) physis, and (e) zone of provisional calcification. The thickness of regions shown on T1- and T2-weighted images correlated with that of histologic zones (r = .9). T2 signal intensity and relaxation time were greater in physeal than in epiphyseal cartilage (P < .01). No regional differences due to fat or water content, magnetization transfer, chemical shift, or anisotropy were found.

CONCLUSION
MR imaging findings differentiate epiphyseal and physeal regions and correlate with histologic findings. T2 is slower in physeal than in epiphyseal cartilage, probably reflecting differences in water binding.


The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made a serious public health threat globally. To discover key molecular changes in COVID-19 and its secondary complications, we analyzed next-generation sequencing (NGS) data of COVID-19. NGS data (GSE163151) was screened and downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the present study, using DESeq2 package in R programming software. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis were performed, and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, module analysis, miRNA-hub gene regulatory network and TF-hub gene regulatory network were established. Subsequently, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was used to validate the diagonostics valuesof the hub genes. Firstly, 954 DEGs (477 up regulated and 477 down regulated) were identified from the four NGS dataset. GO enrichment analysis revealed enrichment of DEGs in genes related to the immune system process and multicellular organismal process, and REACTOME pathway enrichment analysis showed enrichment of DEGs in the immune system and formation of the cornified envelope. Hub genes were identified from the PPI network, module analysis, miRNA-hub gene regulatory network and TF-hub gene regulatory network. Furthermore, the ROC analysis indicate that COVID-19 and its secondary complications with following hub genes, namely, RPL10, FYN, FLNA, EEF1A1, UBA52, BMI1, ACTN2, CRMP1, TRIM42 and PTCH1, had good diagnostics values. This study identified several genes associated with COVID-19 and its secondary complications, which improves our knowledge of the disease mechanism.


The range of the Cape fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus population largely coincides with the region of the cold, nutrient-rich Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) adjoining the west coast of South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Range-wide scientific monitoring of the seal population was initiated in the 1970s to inform on population management questions related to commercial seal harvesting and seal–fishery interactions. Since the 1970s, seal-related management goals have changed, especially in South Africa where seal harvesting ceased in 1990 and government has conformed to scientific advice against the culling of seals for the intended benefit of fisheries. However, renewed impetus has been provided to seal research and monitoring through the expansion of the 'ecosystem-based management' concept in the region, as well as improved international cooperation in the management of marine resources. Together with wide-scale ecosystem changes in the marine environment, and forecast effects of global climate changes, this has justified the continuation and improvement of range-wide scientific monitoring of Cape fur seals. We prioritised seal monitoring based on cost, effort, and relevance to monitoring objectives that have been identified for the region, with consideration given to the conservation status of top predators, interspecific and predator-fishery interactions and the potential use of Cape fur seals as indicators of ecosystem health. An integrated approach incorporating a suite of life-history attributes of seals is recommended, useful monitoring tools are discussed and the need for coordinated monitoring effort and standardisation of sampling techniques is emphasised.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Purpose: Cancer EMT is one of the mechanisms to acquire malignant features including invasiveness, drug resistance and stemness. However, the subsequent mechanism after EMT toward progression has not been fully understood yet. Based on the EMT-centered theory, it is simply thought that the reversal event of EMT, "MET," is caused in the tumor cells at the distant metastatic lesions. However, the molecular mechanism still remains unclear. In this study, we attempted to clarify the "post-EMT" mechanism in tumor cells.

Results: Firstly, we prepared tumor cells harvested from metastatic lesions of mice after tumor implantation provisionally as "post-EMT" tumor cells. Murine metastatic melanoma B16-F10 cells were transduced with a neo resistant gene, and were subcutaneously (s.c.) implanted in many C57BL/6 mice to obtain spontaneous tumor metastasis. Three weeks later, various tissues including bone marrow were harvested from the mice, and the single-cell suspensions were cultured in G418-supplemented medium for tumor selection. To characterize the post-EMT tumor cells, RT-PCR, immunostaining and cellular functional assay were conducted. As compared to the primary tumor cells harvested from s.c. tumor tissues, these tumor cells proliferated extremely slowly, and were resistant to chemotherapeutics, but rapidly grew in vivo after implantation. However, these tumor cells were very adhesive accompanied by increase of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin, but not mesenchymal markers such as Snail, indicating epithelial features. In addition, its chemoresistance and in vivo tumorgenesis activity of these tumor cells were superior to those of even Snail-transduced B16-F10 tumor cells, which were harvested from the metastatic lesions in a similar way. DNA microarray analysis revealed the significant upregulation of epithelial markers and drug resistant genes such as c-kit and GDF15 in the post-EMT tumor cells, as compared to those of the Snail transfectant. These imply that "MET" may not be just a reversion of EMT.

Conclusions: These results suggest that tumor cells revert into an epithelial state preserving malignant features acquired via EMT even after Snail lost at the metastatic lesions toward progression. We are now attempting to elucidate the molecular mechanism specific for the unique transition utilizing DNA microarray data.

Citation Format: Chie Kudo-Saito, Yutaka Kawakami. Cancer MET at the metastatic lesion preserves the malignant features acquired via EMT. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 283. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-283


Background information on networking and switching is provided, and the various architectures that have been considered for fast packet switches are described. The focus is solely on switches designed to be implemented electronically. A set of definitions and a brief description of the functionality required of fast packet switches are given. Three basic types of packet switches are identified: the shared-memory, shared-medium, and space-division types. Each of these is described, and examples are given. >


Abstract Measuring behaviour, especially oral behaviour, has always been a debated issue: therefore the aim of this paper is to closely examine the study of oral behaviour in calves and the approaching methodology. Behavioural observations were conducted by two media (direct observations by check sheets and indirect observations by videotapes recorded by cameras connected to a digital field switcher and a time-lapse video recorder) in order to compare data and assess the reliability and validity of the two methods in identifying some oral behavioural patterns in calves. The study was carried out on 54 Polish Friesian calves housed in group pens and in individual crates. The behaviour of the calves was investigated during the fattening period on the 2nd, 7th, 13th, 18th and 23rd week, one hour before and one hour after each of the two meals. Two experienced observers checked the behaviour of the calves, including oral behaviours on structures and buckets and oral stereotypies, by direct observations using a scan sampling every 2 minutes. The calves' behaviour was also video recorded on the same days in which the direct observations were carried out and analysed by the same two observers. Percentages of time spent on each type of behaviour were calculated and analysed by Chi-square test. Regardless of the housing system, the comparison between direct and indirect observations revealed significant differences in almost every behavioural category. Licking, biting and nibbling structures, nibbling and sucking the bucket, playing with the bucket and the teat, chewing and oral stereotypies were significantly higher in direct observations compared to indirect (P < 0.001), while inactivity was higher in video recorded observations (P < 0.001). In conclusion, regardless of the type of housing, our results revealed an objective difficulty in analysing videotapes with very detailed behavioural categories, like oral behaviours. Although video recording can certainly represent a useful and practical alternative to direct observations in many situations, the video recording system used in this study for investigating calves' oral behaviour, in spite of the use of multiple cameras, could not replace direct observations, probably due to the restricted field of view, the low depth of focus, the black and white vision, the lack of audio and the time-lapse feature.


Tissue regeneration is the focal point of intensive research efforts that are supported by the increasing number of stem cell sources available. In particular, multipotent mesenchymal stem cells feature many functional properties attractive for regenerative medicine strategies, including their paracrine activity. Adipose-Derived Stromal/Stem Cells (ASCs) have been the focus of extensive work recently, in order to evaluate their efficacy both as cellular therapies and for tissue engineering-oriented applications. The lower genitourinary tract is subjected to many pathologic conditions necessitating repair and treatment. Stem cells freshly extracted from adipose tissue (SVF) or their expanded ASCs counterparts are quite widely studied because they are easily harvested in abundant amounts, making them an excellent source for functional restoration. The therapeutic value of these cells has been evaluated using specific in vivo animal models recapitulating various dysfunctions of the genitourinary system. The aim of this review is to discuss the current status and potential of ASCs for repair and treatment of lower genitourinary tract conditions. Work pertaining to bladder replacement and voiding dysfunction, urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and tunica albuginea reconstruction will be discussed. In addition, recent studies concerning urethral tissue engineering and regeneration will be described.


Lowland rice areas along the coastal regions are a major contributor for rice production in Indonesia. Sustainability of rice production in those areas is challenged by the increase of soil salinity as the result of sea water inundation. The problem is exacerbated by the increase of sea water level as the impact of global climate change. High concentration of salt ion in the soil could significantly reduce rice growth and yield. Development of salinity tolerant rice varieties is therefore important to maintain sustainability of rice production in the coastal regions. Breeding programs to improve salinity tolerance of Indonesian rice has been established in Indonesian Centre for Rice Research. Through intensive salt tolerant screening program genetic variations in salinity tolerance have been identified within rice germplasm allowing the improvement of salinity tolerant of existing rice varieties. Different genetic resources have been used for salinity tolerant improvement including landraces, improved varieties and introduction lines. A number of promising salt tolerant rice breeding lines have been developed and showed adaptability to salt affected areas in the lowland coastal areas. Two new salt tolerant rice varieties have been released recently which are adaptable to salt affected areas. This paper will describe the progress in the breeding programs to develop salt tolerant rice for lowland rice areas in the coastal regions. Strategy to accelerate the improvement of the salinity tolerant of Indonesian rice varieties in the future will be also discussed. Keywords: rice, breeding, salinity tolerance, coastal regions.


The possibility that intranasally administered phenylephrine might cause systemic vasoconstriction and an important increase in blood pressure if administered to susceptible individuals in higher doses was investigated in two groups potentially at high risk: 12 patients with chronic nasal congestion whose blood pressure was normal and 14 patients with hypertension receiving the beta-blocker metoprolol. On two separate days increasing doses (0.5 to 4 mg) of phenylephrine or a placebo of identical appearance were instilled into the nostrils at hourly intervals. The blood pressure and the heart rate were recorded every 10 minutes. The total amount of phenylephrine administered (7.5 to 15 mg) was 4 to 30 times the manufacturer's recommended dose. No significant changes in blood pressure or heart rate occurred in either group after the instillation of phenylephrine.


Consumption of fermented milk (FM) containing a probiotic, Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 (LG2055), previously showed a reduction in abdominal adiposity in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) using FM with 108 colony-forming units (cfu) of LG2055/g. However, whether the effectiveness is observed at lower concentrations, the recommended minimum or intermediate levels of probiotics (106 or 107cfu/g, respectively), remains to be examined. A multi-centre, double-blind, parallel-group RCT was conducted using 210 healthy Japanese adults with large visceral fat areas (80·2–187·8 cm2). They were balanced for their baseline characteristics and randomly assigned to three groups receiving FM containing 107, 106 or 0 (control) cfu LG2055/g of FM, and were asked to consume 200 g FM/d for 12 weeks. Abdominal visceral fat areas, which were determined by computed tomography, at week 12, changed from baseline by an average of − 8·5 % (95 % CI − 11·9, − 5·1; P< 0·01) in the 107 dose group, and by − 8·2 % (95 % CI − 10·8, − 5·7; P< 0·01) in the 106 dose group. Other measures including BMI, waist and hip circumferences, and body fat mass were also significantly decreased from baseline at week 12 in both groups; interestingly, the cessation of taking FM for 4 weeks attenuated these effects. In the control group, none of these parameters significantly decreased from baseline. These findings demonstrate that consumption of LG2055 at doses as low as the order of 108cfu/d exhibited a significant lowering effect on abdominal adiposity, and suggest that constant consumption might be needed to maintain the effect.


The occurrence of designs cut on the stone walling slabs of certain prehistoric tombs in Central Germany has led from time to time to a search for comparisons, even prototypes, in the mural art of megalithic tombs in Atlantic Europe. Within recent years, some new observations and discoveries of considerable interest have been made principally as a result of a re-excavation at the well-known Lohne (Züschen) megalithic tomb near Fritzlar, and through the excavation of a tumulus on the Dölauer Heide near HallelSaale (FIG. I). The first of these monuments is a large, megalithically constructed, collective tomb with a long rectangular chamber entered through a port-hole slab which is set between the main chamber and a short ante-chamber. The whole monument is set in a trench so that the roof was approximately at ground level. This is one of a group of such tombs in Hesse; there is a neighbouring group in Westphalia, and these are related both to a group in Sweden, and, more particularly, to the classic tombs of this type in the Paris Basin (SOM). The Dölau tumulus is something quite different, for in it, amongst other things, has been found a stone-constructed grave for only one individual. The wall and cap-stones are of moderate size but not megalithic, and the grave can be likened in various respects to some three other stone-built graves, all in the Halle district, and of which the best known was that found at Göhlitzsch with its representations of bow, quiver, and battle-axe, cut, with other decoration, on the wall faces.


In this paper the simplest integrated assessment model is developed in order to illustrate to undergraduate students the economic issues associated with climate change. The growth model developed in this paper is an extension of the basic Solow model and includes a simple climate model. Even though the model is very simple it is very powerful in its predictions. Students use the model to explore various scenarios illustrating how economic activity today will inflict damages from higher temperatures on future generations. But students also observe that future generations will be richer than today's generation due to productivity growth and population stabilization. Hence, the richer future generations will not be as rich as they would be without climate change. Since the cost of action is absorbed by the current generation and the benefits of action accrue to future generations students can conduct a cost-benefit analysis and explore the importance of the discount rate. The appendix provides step-by-step instructions for students to setup the model in MS Excel and to conduct simulations.


By numerical analysis of the stochastic model of the signal statistics of the VHR radar returns, we have isolated an echo parameter, called the modified Rice parameter γ, from the unknown stochastic parameters and have obtained a simple method of deducing γ from the returned signals. In contrast to γ, which is a low-order moment, another echo parameter, the Nakagami m coefficient, which seems to involve fourth-order statistics, is shown to be much more sensitive to stochastic effects and is an inappropriate parameter for characterizing the radar echo production mechanism for real observations of the atmosphere where stochastic effects abound. Examples of echo parameter analysis of Sounding System (SOUSY) and Chung-Li VHF radar data are presented which demonstrate that the signal power is strongly related to the modified Rice parameter as expected.


A new triterpenoid saponin, Ternifoliasaponin (1), together with four known compounds (2-5) chikusetsusaponin IVa (2), chikusetsusaponin IVa methyl ester (3), bonushenricoside B (4) and Dianoside C (5) were isolated from roots of Gardenia ternifolia Schumach. & Thonn (Rubiaceae). The structures of isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. The antibacterial activities of compounds (3), and (4) were performed by the Muller-Hinton agar diffusion method. The antimicrobial activities of the compounds were studied on Salmonella typhi (Enterobacteriaceae), Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa microorganisms. Compound (3) at 25 mg/mL, showed moderately sensitive effect (8.0 ˂ DIZ ˂14.0 mm) on S. typhi, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Compound (4) at 25 mg/mL and compound (3) at 12.5 mg/mL exhibited moderately sensitive effect on S. typhi and S. aureus. Compound (4) inhibited moderately sensitive the S. typhi and P. aeruginosa colonies at 12.5 mg/mL.


The emergence of industrial Cyberinfrastructures, the development of information communication technology in industrial fields, and the remote accessibility of automated Industrial Control Systems (ICS) lead to various cyberattacks on industrial networks and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks. The development of ICS industry-specific cybersecurity mechanisms can reduce the vulnerability of systems to fire, explosion, human accidents, environmental damage, and financial loss. Given that vulnerabilities are the points of penetration into industrial systems, and using these weaknesses, threats are organized, and intrusion into industrial systems occurs. Thus, it is essential to continuously improve the security of the networks of industrial control facilities. Traditional intrusion detection systems have been shown to be sluggish and prone to false positives. As a result, these algorithms' performance and speed must be improved. This paper proposes a novel Honeypot enhanced industrial Early Intrusion Detection System (EIDS) incorporated with Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. The proposed scheme collects data from all sensors of Honeypot and industrial devices from the industrial control network, stores it in the database of EIDS, analyses it using expert ML algorithms. The designed system for early intrusion detection can protect industrial systems against vulnerabilities by alerting the shortest possible time using online data mining in the EIDS database. The results show that the proposed EIDS detects anomalous behavior of the data with a high detection rate, low false positives, and better classification accuracy.


Carbon nanofibers were obtained by thermo-catalytic decomposition of methane at 700 degrees C over Ni and Ni-Cu catalysts prepared by different methods (co-precipitation, impregnation and fusion) and using either Al or Mg as textural promoter. Characterization of the carbon thus obtained was performed by N2 adsorption isotherms (BET surface area), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), temperature programmed oxidation (TPO), X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrometry, and electron microscopy SEM and TEM. The carbon obtained possesses high crystallinity and poor surface chemistry. The crystallinity is enhanced when using Mg as textural promoter and in the presence of copper. SEM and TEM examinations show that the fibers have fishbone structure and they grow generally from one nickel particle (tip growing) although there are some bidirectional growing. Copper-doping lead to the formation of thicker filaments and promotes the formation of bamboo-like structures. Catalyst particles higher than 100 nm do not promote the formation of nanofibers and the carbon deposits as uniform coatings.


Today, many commercial and private cloud computing providers offer resources for leasing under the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) paradigm. Although an abundance of mechanisms already facilitate the lease and use of single infrastructure resources, to complete multi-job workloads IaaS users still need to select adequate provisioning and allocation policies to instantiate resources and map computational jobs to them. While such policies have been studied in the past, no experimental investigation in the context of clouds currently exists that considers them jointly. In this paper we present a comprehensive and empirical performance-cost analysis of provisioning and allocation policies in IaaS clouds. We first introduce a taxonomy of both types of policies, based on the type of information used in the decision process, and map to this taxonomy eight provisioning and four allocation policies. Then, we analyze the performance and cost of these policies through experimentation in three clouds, including Amazon EC2. We show that policies that dynamically provision and/or allocate resources can achieve better performance and cost. Finally, we also look at the interplay between provisioning and allocation, for which we show preliminary results.


Complex dynamical systems often show multiple metastable states. In macroevolution, such behavior is suggested by punctuated equilibrium and discrete geological epochs. In molecular biology, bistability is found in epigenetics and in the many mutually exclusive states that a human cell can take. Sociopolitical systems can be single-party regimes or a pluralism of balancing political fractions. To introduce multistability, we suggest a model system of D mutually exclusive microstates that battle for dominance in a large system. Assuming one common intermediate state, we obtain D+1 metastable macrostates for the system, one of which is a self-reinforced mixture of all D+1 microstates. Robustness of this metastable mixed state increases with diversity D.


Introduction The oncotype dx (ODX) 21 gene recurrence score (RS), was intended to predict the 10 year risk of breast cancer recurrence for estrogen receptor positive, lymph node negative disease (NEJM 2004;351:2817–26). The proportions of patients that were reported as low, intermediate and high risk were 51%/22%, 27%. This population of patients was dominated by ductal carcinomas (DCA), with a paucity of classical lobular carcinomas (CLCA), which are ER-rich and low grade histology. To date, there is dearth of data regarding the relationship of the RS and CLCA, and the clinical relevance regarding the ODX RS in CLCA has not been studied. Methods As part of quality assurance review at three institutions, the ODX RS for all CLCA were reviewed in order to determine the perceived clinical relevance of the ODX RS compared to the proportions of RS reported (NEJM 2004;351:2817–26). Results A total of 219 cases of ODX were performed on CLCA. The low/intermediate/high risk profile was 58%/40%/2%. Conclusions (1) The risk profile of ODX for CLCA is very different from the original DCA dominant population previously reported. (2) If the goal of ODX is to identify candidates for chemotherapy, then a high RS is a rare event for CLCA, and as such, the judgment to administer chemotherapy to an individual patient would most likely depend upon factors other than the ODX, because 98 percent of patients are combined low/intermediate risk RS. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-09-22.


Integration of cytochrome b(5) (b5), a tail-anchored protein located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, into the membrane was studied. Mutation of three amino acids, -Leu-Met-Tyr, at the carboxy-terminal end of the transmembrane segment of b5 to alanines resulted in localization of the mutated protein, b5LMY/AAA, in the cytosol as well as in the ER membrane. When an N-glycosylation site was introduced at the carboxy-terminal end of b5LMY/AAA, a substantial amount of the glycosylated form of the mutant protein was recovered in the cytosol fraction. A portion of the mutant protein recovered in the ER was released from the membrane by incubation with the cytosol fraction, but no further release was observed in the second incubation, suggesting that b5 is present in two different states, loosely-bound and firmly-integrated forms, in the ER membrane. These results suggest that b5 is integrated into the ER membrane via the loosely bound state, in which the carboxy-terminal end of the molecule is inserted into the luminal side of the vesicle but is easily translocated back to the cytosol, and that the three amino acids are important for conversion of the loosely-bound state to the firmly-integrated state.


This study aimed to present the structural model of appearance management based on self-compassion with the mediating roles of external shame and body image dissatisfaction. The method of the present study was correlation analysis based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of female students residing in the dormitory of Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan. Among them, 400 individuals were selected randomly. They filled out the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Others As Shamer Scale (OAS), Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), and Body Management Scale (BMS). Since 23 individuals did not fill out the questionnaires, the 377 completed questionnaires were examined through structural equation analysis. The results of structural equations indicated that all of the direct and indirect relationships were significant; thus, all the variables had pairwise relationships. On the other hand, external shame had a significant mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion and appearance management (z = -3.32, p < 0.01). In other words, self-compassion, due to the mediation of external shame, can predict appearance management. In addition, body image dissatisfaction had a significant mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion and appearance management (z = -4.03, p < 0.01). Hence, self-compassion, due to the mediation of body image dissatisfaction, could predict appearance management. Following the results, it can be concluded that self-compassion, with the mediating roles of external shame and body image dissatisfaction, can predict appearance management. These variables can be considered to modify body management.


Given point cloud input, the problem of 6-DoF grasp pose detection is to identify a set of hand poses in SE(3) from which an object can be successfully grasped. This important problem has many practical applications. Here we propose a novel method and neural network model that enables better grasp success rates relative to what is available in the literature. The method takes standard point cloud data as input and works well with single-view point clouds observed from arbitrary viewing directions. Videos and code are available at https://haojhuang.github.io/edge_grasp_page/.


1 ABSTRACT: This descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative methodological approach aimed to analyze the use of negotiated medication as a therapeutic resource for social reintegration and its contributions to nursing, in the work process of a Psycho-Social Care Center. It was undertaken in a Psycho-Social Care Center II in the municipality of Alegrete in the state of Rio Grande do Sul-RS in the period May-June 2006. The field diaries kept by three researchers were analyzed according to Minayo's thematic analysis; the record of observations totalled 390 hours. Among the principal results, the negotiation of the medication - which was presented as effective in the service under study - and the interpersonal relationship between health professionals and the user stood out. It is concluded that it is relevant to approach medication in a negotiated manner, as in this way the user has autonomy to give opinions and make decisions regarding issues referent to his or her treatment. DESCRIPTORS: Nursing. Psychiatry. Psychotropic substances. Mental health services.


The paper compares the performance of two Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) treating the same industrial wastewater (composed of formic acid, ethylene glycol and methanol) operated at two different lengths of the feed. The two SBRs were operated in parallel under the same conditions of organic load (0.85 gCOD l−1 d−1) and sludge age (about 10 d), the only difference being the length of the feed: less than 1 min vs. 5 h. In this way the conditions of a plug flow reactor and of a completely mixed reactor were simulated. The two systems were compared on sludge settleability (related to filaments abundance and floc morphology), substrate uptake rates and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) storage rates. The main difference between the two systems was in the settling properties of the sludge: both SVI and effluent solids were higher in the system with slow feed. With regard to filamentous microorganisms, even though both reactors were inoculated with the same sludge with high concentration of filaments, they were rapidly washed out from both systems. Microscopic observations showed that the reason for the different settling properties of the two sludges was in the floc structure, which was more compact in the system operated with fast feed. These data support the theory of the role of diffusion inside the flocs in determining the settling properties of the sludge. The maximum substrate uptake rates and PHA storage rates were similar in the two systems, showing that also the microorganisms grown at a constant and low substrate concentration were able to quickly increase their activity and to store PHAs when in the presence of a sudden change in substrate concentration.


Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a syndrome characterized by a decline in cognitive performance greater than expected for an individual's age and education level, but that does not interfere much with daily life activities. Establishing the prevalence of MCI is very important for both clinical and research fields. In fact, in a certain percentage of cases, MCI represents a prodromal condition for the development of dementia. Accordingly, it is important to identify the characteristics of MCI that allow us to predict the development of dementia. Also, initial detection of cognitive decline can allow the early implementation of prevention programs aimed at counteracting or slowing it down. To this end, it is important to have a clear picture of the prevalence of MCI and, consequently, of the diagnostic criteria used. According to these issues, this systematic review aims to analyze MCI prevalence, exploring the methods for diagnosing MCI that determine its prevalence. The review process was conducted according to the PRISMA statement. Three thousand one hundred twenty-one international articles were screened, and sixty-six were retained. In these studies, which involved 157,035 subjects, the prevalence of MCI ranged from 1.2 to 87%. The review results showed a large heterogeneity among studies due to differences in the subjects' recruitment, the diagnostic criteria, the assessed cognitive domains, and other methodological aspects that account for a higher range of MCI prevalence. This large heterogeneity prevents drawing any firm conclusion about the prevalence of MCI.


The noise generated by aircraft during departure and arrival flight operations continues to be significant problem at most major airports. This study aimed to determine the noise level at residential areas in the vicinity of Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Aircraft noise had given adverse effects of community noise, including interference with communication, noise induced hearing loss, annoyance responses and effects on sleep, the cardiovascular and psychophysiological systems, performance, productivity, and social behavior. Sound levels were recorded once at three various locations within airport compound and its surrounding areas, up to 1 km radius from the center of airport. Every readings of noise level were recorded in decibel, dB(A) for two hours at five minutes interval during day time and night time which is morning, evening and night. Findings put the average noise level in the study was the highest at Institut Perguruan Kota Bharu in the evening with 68.91 dB(A) in May compared to the other two stations. Taman Sri Pengakalan Chepa recorded the lowest reading of noise level in the evening with 45.50 dB(A) in June during night time. Overall, the noise level recorded at the three stations had exceeded the standard level stated by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia standards which was 50 dB(A) in day time and 40 dB(A) in night time. The result of the one-way ANOVA test carried out on the dependent variable average noise revealed a statistically significant with the value of F (2,24) = 19.70, p = 0.000. These finding are very useful to be used as reference and guideline for future regulations on noise limit to be implemented for areas in Malaysia.


Director, Felidae Conservation Fund, Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA; Co-Chairperson, Science Advisory Board, Cures Within Reach, Chicago, IL 60602, USA; Domain Champion in Biomedicine and Campus Champion, NSF Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Affiliate, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA; Affiliate, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; Affiliate, NASA NfoLD, NASA Astrobiology Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA; Advisor, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD 21046, USA; Subject Matter Expert, Entrepreneur, and Mentor, Penn Center for Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Founding Member and Affiliate, Peace Innovation Institute, The Hague 2511, Netherlands and Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA; Founding Member and Main Organizer, Shared Interest Group for Natural and Artificial Intelligence (sigNAI), Max Planck Alumni Association, 14057 Berlin, Germany; Member, Nanotechnology and Biometrics Councils, Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), New York, NY 10016-5997, USA.


• Ageand sex-specific mortality rates for WA Aboriginals obtained from the Health Department of Western Australia database. t Prevalence of tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption is based on 1994 data for the Aboriginal population in WA over the age of 13 years (Australian Bureau of Statistics, WA). Quantities of alcohol consumed are based on levels in the urban Aboriginal population.' :j:Life expectancy of non-Aboriginal WA population is for 1993 (ABS, WA). Daffodils and cancer


The use of layered inorganic solids as host materials for the creation of inorganic–organic host-guest supramolecular structures is of increasing interest. In this review we outline the preparation, characterization and uses of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing organic guests. LDHs consist of stacks of positively charged mixed metal hydroxide layers that require the presence of interlayer anions to maintain overall charge neutrality. A range of organic guests may be incorporated, including aliphatic and aromatic carboxylates, sulfonates and phosphonates as well as porphyrin and phthalocyanine derivatives. Potential applications of organo-LDHs in the areas of catalysis, sorption, photochemistry and electrochemistry are outlined. Overall, it is demonstrated that with LDHs it is possible to create, in a systematic manner, novel inorganic–organic supramolecular structures.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to obtain the nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) numerical solutions in the presence of the first-order chromatic dispersion using a second-order, unconditionally stable, implicit finite difference method. In addition, stability and accuracy are proved for the resulting scheme.

Design/methodology/approach
The conserved quantities such as mass, momentum and energy are calculated for the system governed by the NLSE. Moreover, the robustness of the scheme is confirmed by conducting various numerical tests using the Crank-Nicolson method on different cases of solitons to discuss the effects of the factor considered on solitons properties and on conserved quantities.

Findings
The Crank-Nicolson scheme has been derived to solve the NLSE for optical fibers in the presence of the wave packet drift effects. It has been founded that the numerical scheme is second-order in time and space and unconditionally stable by using von-Neumann stability analysis. The effect of the parameters considered in the study is displayed in the case of one, two and three solitons. It was noted that the reliance of NLSE numeric solutions properties on coefficients of wave packets drift, dispersions and Kerr nonlinearity play an important control not only the stable and unstable regime but also the energy, momentum conservation laws. Accordingly, by comparing our numerical results in this study with the previous work, it was recognized that the obtained results are the generalized formularization of these work. Also, it was distinguished that our new data are regarding to the new communications modes that depend on the dispersion, wave packets drift and nonlinearity coefficients.

Originality/value
The present study uses the first-order chromatic. Also, it highlights the relationship between the parameters of dispersion, nonlinearity and optical wave properties. The study further reports the effect of wave packet drift, dispersions and Kerr nonlinearity play an important control not only the stable and unstable regime but also the energy, momentum conservation laws.


MeshTest is a laboratory-based mobile wireless testbed. The system offers more realism than simulation or network-level emulation because it uses real implementation running on real devices, communicating using real wireless hardware over an emulated RF environment. However it also provides repeatability, control, and convenience not possible in field experiments. The original MeshTest system could only accommodate 8-16 nodes in an experiment. The Virtual MeshTest (VMT) system expands the capacity of the system, using virtualization and live migration to facilitate much larger Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) experiments.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobin-like domains 3 (LRIG3), a member of LRIG gene family, is down-regulated in various human cancers, but its functions are still unclear. This study was to explore the effect of RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated LRIG3 gene silencing on the proliferation of glioma GL15 cells and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Ki-67, and investigate possible mechanisms.

METHODS
The plasmids pGenesil2-LRIG3-shRNA1 and pGenesil2-LRIG3-shRNA2 which containing U6 promoter and LRIG3-specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and the plasmid pGenesil2-negative-shRNA containing unspecific shRNA were transfected into GL15 cells. Stable cell clones were selected by G418. The mRNA and protein levels of LRIG3 were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay. The expression of PCNA and Ki-67 in GL15 cells were examined by SABC immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
Compared with those in control cells, the mRNA levels of LRIG3 transcripts were reduced by 52.4% and 63.8% in shRNA1- and shRNA2-transfected cells, respectively; its protein levels were reduced by 50.9% and 67.4%, respectively. Cell proliferation was enhanced by LRIG3 shRNA transfection. The positive rate of PCNA was significantly higher in shRNA1- and shRNA2-transfected cells than in control cells [(72.13 +/- 5.64)% and (81.93 +/- 5.23)% vs. (35.40 +/- 5.69)%, p < 0.01]. The positive rate of Ki-67 was also significantly higher in shRNA1- and shRNA2-transfected cells than in control cells [(82.27 +/- 5.50)% and (88.67 +/- 3.52)% vs. (49.73 +/- 5.73)%, p < 0.01]. PCNA expression was positively correlated to Ki-67 expression (r =0.932, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Down-regulating LRIG3 gene expression can improve the proliferation of glioma GL15 cells.


The process of constructing knowledge in mathematics education is critical in developing it as a discipline with an impact on the field of teaching, learning, and assessment based on theory and practice. How do mathematics educators perceive the processes of knowledge construction in mathematics education? It may have an implication in the methods of teaching, learning, and researching to enrich this discipline. In this context, the purpose of this study was to explore the Nepali mathematics educators' perspectives on critical conscience for the construction of knowledge in mathematics education. The research participants were five university-level mathematics educators who participated in in-depth interviews on critical conscience in mathematics education. The qualitative thematic analysis of the interview data unveiled four major thematic groups in terms of four idiographic passes– culture, communication, collaboration, and context (4Cs); discourse, dedication, deliberation, and development (4Ds); equity, engagement, elaboration, and extension (4Es); and formation, fusion, frame of reference, and faculty of cognition (4Fs). The thematic interpretations of critical conscience may portray the paradigmatic assumptions of ontological, epistemological, and axiological primacy of mathematics education from the participants' views. Policy and pedagogical implications of the themes have been discussed.


OBJECTIVES To systematically compare the results of dobutamine stress echocardiography in matched groups of hypertensive and normotensive patients with anginal chest pain and normal coronary arteriograms (CPNA). SETTING University hospital. SUBJECTS 33 patients with exertional anginal chest pain, a positive exercise stress ECG, and a completely normal coronary arteriogram; 17 had a history of systemic hypertension (14 women; mean (SD) age 57 (6) years), and 16 had no hypertensive history (12 women; age 54 (9) years). METHODS Ambulatory ECG monitoring, dobutamine stress echocardiography, and thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were performed in all subjects. RESULTS All patients had normal left ventricular systolic function at rest and none fulfilled the criteria for ventricular hypertrophy. Eight normotensive patients and 10 hypertensive patients had perfusion abnormalities on thallium SPECT (p = 0.61). Dobutamine infusion reproduced anginal pain in seven normotensive and seven hypertensive patients (p = 0.88). ST segment depression was also recorded in eight normotensive patients and seven hypertensive patients (p = 0.61). No patient in either group developed regional wall motion abnormalities during dobutamine stress echocardiography. CONCLUSIONS Neither hypertensive nor normotensive CPNA patients developed regional wall motion abnormalities during dobutamine stress echocardiography, despite the high prevalence of scintigraphic perfusion defects in both groups and the presence of chest pain and ST segment depression. Thus myocardial ischaemia was not present in either group, or else dobutamine stress echocardiography is insensitive to ischaemia caused by microvascular dysfunction.


The Na+/Ca2+-K+ exchanger (NCKX) extrudes Ca2+ from cells utilizing both the inward Na+ gradient and the outward K+ gradient. NCKX is thought to operate by a consecutive mechanism in which a cation binding pocket accommodates both Ca2+ and K+ and alternates between inward and outward facing conformations. Here we developed a simple fluorometric method to analyze changes in K+ and Ca2+ dependences of mutant NCKX2 proteins in which candidate residues within membrane-spanning domains were substituted. The largest shifts in both K+ and Ca2+ dependences compared with wild-type NCKX2 were observed for the charge-conservative substitutions of Glu188 and Asp548, whereas the size-conservative substitutions resulted in nonfunctional proteins. Substitution of several other residues including two proline residues (Pro187 and Pro547), three additional acidic residues (Asp258, Glu265, Glu533), and two hydroxyl-containing residues (Ser185 and Ser545) showed smaller shifts, but shifts in Ca2+ dependence were invariably accompanied by shifts in K+ dependence. We conclude that Glu188 and Asp548 are the central residues of a single cation binding pocket that can accommodate both K+ and Ca2+. Furthermore, a single set of residues lines a transport pathway for both K+ and Ca2+.


This paper has two main objectives: first to show that new data base technologies (DB) like graph data bases can enable the efficient design and implementation of network -based models, second that this type of models enables new insights on biomedical data and in particular prescription patterns allowing to link data about patients, prescriptions and prescriber. Albeit the application domain is potentially the whole field of health care data, the focus of this paper is on prescription patterns and specifically of antibiotics whose prescription pattern is difficult to analyze due to the antibiotics resistance. This problem can take advantage of the approach proposed: a network-based model, specifically suitable for community-based medicine, which is a suitable framework for antibiotics prescription and resistance analysis.


Hard X-ray (>15 keV) experiments for space astronomy require a detailed energy calibration in order to determine their true response matrix. To this end, the authors have built an X-ray facility based on the use of a very stable X-ray generator plus an X-ray goniometer for crystal diffraction, which can provide collimated and monochromatic photons with energies in the range from about 15 keV to about 140 keV. A description of the facility and its performance is presented. The facility has been already used to test samples of hard X-ray mirrors for space astronomy, and it is being equipped to calibrate the high-energy experiment PDS (phoswich detection system) on board the X-ray astronomy satellite SAX.<<ETX>>


Iodine deficiency disorders virtually disappeared in Switzerland after iodized salt was introduced in 1922 and the iodine content increased from 3.75 to 7.5 mg/kg in 1962 and to 15 mg/kg in 1980. However, a decreasing iodine intake has recently been reported again. The status of iodine nutrition in the Canton of Vaud was therefore assessed in 348 representative adolescents aged 11 to 17 years from the urban area of Lausanne in 1995. Thyroid size was estimated by inspection and palpation and thyroid volume measured by ultrasonography. Iodine concentration was determined in urine. Thyroid enlargement, as assessed by clinical examination, was found in 15% of the adolescents (stage 1a: 12.9%, 1b: 1.8%, 2: 0.3%), but its positive predictive value was low. The goitre prevalence determined by ultrasonography was only 1.4%. In addition, 4% of the adolescents had nodular or diffuse echo-structure abnormalities. Percentiles of thyroid volume as a function of sex, chronological age and body surface area were lower than WHO reference values. Median iodine concentration in urine was 92 micrograms/l (56.6% < 100 micrograms/l), slightly below WHO recommendations. Iodized cooking salt was consumed by 82% of the adolescents. In conclusion, the adolescents living in the Canton of Vaud had a low normal iodine intake with subclinical thyroid abnormalities. These findings support the recent decision to increase the salt iodine content to 20-30 mg/kg in order to prevent iodine deficiency during puberty and pregnancy. Percentiles of thyroid volume determined in the present study can be used as local reference.


The gravitational field exterior respectively interior to a spherically symmetric, isolated body made of perfect fluid is examined within the quasi-metric framework (QMF). It is required that the gravitational field is "metrically static", meaning that it is static except for the effects of the global cosmic expansion on the spatial geometry. Dynamical equations for the gravitational field are set up and an exact solution is found for the exterior part. Besides, equations of motion applying to inertial test particles moving in the exterior gravitational field are set up. By construction the gravitational field of the system is not static with respect to the cosmic expansion. This means that the radius of the source increases and that distances between circular orbits of inertial test particles increase according to the Hubble law. Moreover it is shown that if this model of an expanding gravitational field is taken to represent the gravitational field of the Sun (or isolated planetary systems), this has no serious consequences for observational aspects of planetary motion. On the contrary some observational facts of the Earth-Moon system are naturally explained within the QMF. Finally the QMF predicts different secular increases for two different gravitational coupling parameters. But such secular changes are neither present in the Newtonian limit of the quasi-metric equations of motion nor in the Newtonian limit of the quasi-metric field equations valid inside metrically static sources. Thus standard interpretations of space experiments testing the secular variation of G are explicitly theory-dependent and do not apply to the QMF.


Abstract Objective: Physician mental health is critical during the recovery of natural and human-made disasters (NHDs), yet the accessibility of mental health resources to physicians has not been characterized. This study examined emergency medicine and trauma physician knowledge of and access to mental health resources in NHD settings. Methods: The survey was electronically disseminated to the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Association of the Surgery of Trauma between February 4, 2020, and March 9, 2020. The 17-question survey assessed physician awareness and access to emergency preparedness resources at their institutions. Results: Of the responders, 86% (n = 229) were aware of written emergency response plans for their facility. While 31% were aware of the hospital's mental health policies and resources outside of the emergency response plan, only 25% knew how to access these resources during and after NHDs. Finally, 10% reported the incorporation of mental health resources during institutional practice drills. Conclusions: Physicians reported knowledge of emergency preparedness policies; however, significant gaps remain in physician knowledge and access to mental health resources NHD settings. As NHDs increase on a global scale, it is critical for health systems to ensure accessible infrastructure to support the mental well-being of health professionals.


Context, the pieces of information that capture the characteristics of ubiquitous computing environment, is often imprecise and incomplete due to user mobility, unreliable wireless connectivity and resource constraints. While many context reasoning schemes have been proposed to assist ubiquitous applications, these schemes often suffer from the assumption that the contexts are complete and precise. The main challenge for context reasoning is how to interpret and infer contexts from existing contexts that are imprecise and incomplete. To this end, we propose the DSCR× approach — extended Dempster-Shafer theory for Context Reasoning, which applies Dempster-Shafer theory to ubiquitous computing environments by following a new context-aware architecture. DSCR× solves the fundamental problem in Dempster-Shafer theory – intensive computation through evidence selection strategy. This strategy takes advantage of the k−l algorithm to select evidence with the highest beliefs, which considerably reduces the computation overhead. The proposed approach is evaluated through extensive experiments. The results show that DSCR× is appropriate to reason contexts from incomplete and imprecise contexts in ubiquitous computing environments.


John Patten, a former consultant neurologist, first produced this timeless text in 1977 in an attempt to make neurology less intimidating to the beginner. It was one of the first medical books to convey complex concepts in a digestible and understandable form by combining skilful illustrations with case vignettes and thumbnail sketches of illnesses. He cites Biological Drawings by Maud Jepson (1938), Bedside Diagnosis by Charles Seward (1949), and Frank Walsh's Clinical Neuroophthalmology (1947) as the eclectic mix of medical classics that influenced his unique approach.

It seems unlikely that any book could be recommended in equally effusive measures by neurologists and neurosurgeons alike, but this volume invariably appears on the bookshelves of both groups. Often revered as the …


Using a sample of Australian Multi-sector trusts we examine selectivity and market timing performance and extend the analysis to include the relatively new measure of volatility timing. This is of particular relevance to our data set, as high levels of volatility persistence are prevalent in Australia. In addition we consider the stability, asymmetry and seasonality of the various performance and risk measures. A survivorship adjustment procedure is also employed in order to assess the impact of survivorship on selectivity, market timing and volatility timing performance.


To determine the prevalence of recent cocaine use and the accuracy of self-reported use, the results of a urine assay for the major cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine were compared with self-reported cocaine use in an inner-city prenatal population offered routine voluntary urine toxicology screening at the time of registration for prenatal care. During a 1-year period, 6866 women registered for prenatal care and 5200 (76%) consented to urine assays for cocaine metabolites. Of the women consenting to urine assays, 253 (5%) had positive assays for benzoylecgonine. Women with positive assays were significantly more likely than those with negative assays to be older (mean [SD] 27 [5] versus 23 [6] years), black, single, and unemployed. In addition, women with positive assays were significantly more likely to be multiparous, report > two sexual partners in the previous year, and acknowledge a history of a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Forty-seven percent of women with positive assays acknowledged cocaine use in the 6 months prior to sampling. Women with positive assays who denied cocaine use were significantly more likely than those who admitted use to be younger (mean [SD] 26 [5] versus 28 [4] years), to report > or = two sexual partners in the past year, and acknowledge a history of an STD. This analysis revealed a poor correlation between self-reported cocaine use and the results of urine assays for cocaine metabolites among women seeking prenatal care in an inner-city institution.


Prior literature has revealed that access to education and equal opportunity for education, are some of the major steps taken by the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) program to tackle the problem of poverty through the education sector in Nigeria. However, most studies on NEEDS and education have failed to address the effects of education under the program on poverty reduction. As NEEDS is primarily set to achieve poverty reduction in Nigeria, this study, therefore, examines the relationship between the accessibility and equal opportunity for education under the NEEDS and perceived poverty reduction through investigating the educational impacts of NEEDS on poverty reduction.
The paper suggests that for educational policies to serve in reducing poverty, such policies must be implemented in the context of poverty reduction; must involve seasoned teachers and administrators; and must conduct teacher-capability verification to flush out and retrain unqualified teachers. Given adequate infrastructure and funding, and if well adopted, the measures, if employed would bring about self-reliance, self-employment, income generation, and poverty reduction.


Recent Internet access speeds have made it possible even for home users to reach and use previously unavailable bandwidth consuming (e.g. video on demand) services. However, the rapid spread of these applications is hindered by the lack of QoS guarantees in packet networks. In this article a QoS architecture is presented which have been designed for access networks and applies a logical overlay network to make network management tasks easier. The novelty of the architecture lies in the application of two key procedures adopted for dimensioning logical channels between edge nodes and mapping them to the physical routes. The upper load thresholds of the applied logical channels are also determined, which may form the basis of a more sophisticated call admission control policy.


The rapid development of information technology has a significant impact on various fields of human life, including urban governance. In the context of urban governance, information technology can be used to improve efficiency, transparency, and community participation in the decision-making process that has an impact on the quality of life of city residents. The purpose of this research is to explain the role of information technology in improving urban governance because it is important in the context of increasingly complex urban development and requires appropriate and efficient decision-making. The focus of this research is qualitative. Methods for gathering information included paying close attention and taking detailed notes, with subsequent analysis including data reduction, visualisation, and inference. The study arrived at the conclusion that the role of information technology in improving urban governance is crucial and requires special attention from the government and relevant stakeholders. By improving access and quality of information technology services, enhancing digital literacy and information technology skills, increasing community participation in urban governance, and improving data security and privacy, the application of information technology in urban governance can become more effective and efficient in improving urban governance.


The decision of the BGH was based on the following facts: The claimant made a living as an 'heir locator'. Following an advertisement published in the Bundesanzeiger on behalf of the probate court inviting the heirs of an estate to make themselves known, the claimant identified the defendant and his sister as the deceased's intestate successors. He indicated this to the defendant and offered to make full disclosure to him of the particulars of the estate after conclusion of an agreement for a fee of 20 per cent of the inheritance due to him plus VAT. The defendant refused the contract offered and himself traced the inheritance on the basis of the information provided by the claimant; he obtained assets amounting to almost 50,000 Euro as a result. In his action the claimant demanded payment of 20 per cent of that sum plus VAT. The claim failed, both before the Landgericht and the Oberlandesgericht as well as before the BGH.
In its reasoning the BGH indicated that the claim to a fee could not be based on a right arising in negotiorum gestio under §§ 683, 670 BGB or §§ 684, 812 BGB. Admittedly the location of an heir could constitute an undertaking which was also in another's interest, and the matter would turn on whether the factual presumption of an intention to manage another's affairs (equally applicable to an undertaking which was also in another's interest) was rebutted. That way of formulating the issue, however, would misconceive the approach to the allocation of risk which should follow from the principles of private law, and in affirming the presence of an intention to manage another's affairs would lead to results which would not be intrinsically appropriate and would not do justice to the interests in focus. In the first place, it is the preparation and opening of negotiations which is in issue. The heir locator intended to 'sell' the information he had uncovered and thus carried the risk that the negotiations might fail. According to the rules of private law one's own preliminary expenditure should remain unrecompensed. The fact that the claimant had in part already conveyed his results to the heir does not change anything: there is no obligation to provide recompense for unsolicited communication of information; a consideration for that service is payable solely on a contractual basis. Secondly, the acceptance of a negotiorum gestio would lead to the unfair result that were multiple heir locators to operate independently of one another the heir would see himself burdened with claims from all of those tracing him and his estate and, though notified by the first of them, would not be able in relation to the others to rely on the fact of his prior knowledge — as is the case with multiple brokers.
The following contributions examine the decision from the perspective of Austrian, Portuguese, Spanish and English and Irish law.


Summary

The study objectives were to identify (i) the diet composition of two co-occurring archerfish species (Toxotes chatareus and Toxotes jaculatrix), (ii) their potential food preferences, and (iii) their overall trophic level in Malaysian estuaries. For this purpose the stomachs of 128 archerfishes ranging in size of 9.8–22.5 cm and 8.7–23 cm, respectively, were examined from selected Malaysian estuaries. Crustaceans, in particular red clawed crab (Sesarma bidens), occurred in the majority of stomachs and constituted 72.55 and 66.43% of the diet by weight in T. chatareus and T. jaculatrix, respectively. Insects were mostly Formicidae, Dytiscidae, Araneidae, and Cerambycidae and occurred in 10.8, 12.0; 5.1, 6.3; 4, 5.3; 3.2, 1.7% in T. chatareus and T. jaculatrix species and constituted the second most important food category consumed. Other crustaceans and shrimp (Penaeus sp.) constituted 4.4 and 2.7% of the diet by weight and were the third most important food type consumed by the two species. Moreover, these species hardly ever exhibited cannibalistic traits; Toxotes spp. comprised only 5.5% of stomach contents and was observed only in the T. jaculatrix species. Stomach content and trophic level analysis denoted that T. chatareus and T. jaculatrix are strongly carnivorous species. Furthermore, diets did not differ significantly between sizes or sexes and geographic location.


This paper is concerned with the study of bidirectionally coupled platoon systems. The case considered is when the vehicles are heterogeneous and the coupling can be asymmetric and nonlinear. For such systems, a sufficient condition for $\mathcal{L}_{\infty}$ string stability is presented. The effectiveness of our approach is illustrated via a numerical example, where it is shown how our result can be recast as an optimization problem, leading to a bottom-up approach for the design of string stable platoon systems.


The results of measurement of the dual-collector lateral bipolar magnetotransistor, generated in a uniformly doped substrate or in a diffused well were compared and it was established that the collector voltage difference under the influence of a magnetic field has a different sign. The effect is interpreted using the concept of the magnetic sensitivity sign. By means of device-technological simulation we investigated the distribution of charge carriers, current density and recombination speed in a magnetotransistor generated in a well with external connection of substrate and well contacts. It is shown that at a planar arrangement of substrate contacts is responsible for the volumetric concentration-recombination mechanism of negative relative magnetic sensitivity due to Galvanomagnetic effects.


Major depression is one of the most disabling disorders, yet the pathogenesis of this mental disorder is poorly understood. The techniques of proteomics provide us with powerful tools, while the animal models of depression enable research that cannot be performed on humans due to practical difficulties or ethical reasons. In this review, we summarize the characteristics of some most commonly applied rat models of depression, and explore what could be done with novel proteomic approaches to offer an insight to the pathogenesis of major depression, biomarker establishment and drug development.