Objective To explore the application of three-dimensional pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (3D-PCASL) perfusion imaging in the brains of children with autism and to understand the characteristics of cerebral blood perfusion in children with autism. Methods A total of 320 children with autism (160 men and 160 women) aged between 2 and 18 years and 320 age- and sex-matched healthy children participated in the study. All children were scanned by 3.0 T magnetic resonance axial T1 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), T2 FLAIR, 3D-T1, and 3D-PCASL sequences. After postprocessing, cerebral blood flow (CBF) values in each brain region of children with autism and healthy children at the same age were compared and analyzed. Furthermore, CBF characteristics in each brain region of autistic children at various ages were determined. Results The CBF values of the frontal lobe, hippocampus, temporal lobe, and caudate nucleus of children with autism are lower than those of healthy children (P < 0.05). Additionally, as the ages of children with autism increase, the number of brain regions with decreased CBF values gradually increases. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis results show that the CBF values of the frontal lobe, hippocampus, temporal lobe, and caudate nucleus can distinguish children with autism [area under the ROC curve (AUC) > 0.05, P < 0.05]. Conclusion The 3D-PCASL shows lower brain CBF values in children with autism. Clinical Trial Registration www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: ChiCTR2000034356.


Several techniques have been proposed to allow parallel access to a shared memory location by combining requests. They have one or more of the following attributes: requirements for a priori knowledge of the request to combine, restrictions on the routing of messages in the network, or the use of sophisticated interconnection network nodes. We present a new method of combining requests that does not have the above requirements. We obtain this new method for request combining by developing a classification scheme for the existing methods of request combining. This classification scheme is facilitated by separating the request combining process into a two part operation: determining the combining set, which is the set of requests that participate in a combined access; and distributing the results of the combined access to the members of the combining set. The classification of combining strategies is based upon which system component, processor elements, or interconnection network performs each of these tasks. Our approach, which uses the interconnection network to establish the combining set and the processor elements to distribute the results, lies in an unexplored area of the design space. We also present simulation results to assess the benefits of the proposed approach. >


In this paper, we propose one method to transmit any kind of possible information in an acceptable rate through speech channels while people are talking on the mobile or fixed phones. The paper gives detail description of data embedding and decoding, the information to be transmitted is embedded into the echo of the original speech at the transmitting end, and is decoded through cepstrum analysis at the receiving end. Compared to echo watermarking technologies, the method would have more advantages:(1) By segments division, the transmitting capacity can be improved;(2) The original speech signal will not be corrupted by the echoes;(3)The method do not need complex Error Control strategy. Further, the paper gives the properties analysis: Correct Decoding Probability (CDP), Data Rate, and the effect of front and rear noises. The simulation results show the methods can embed data with any length into speech signal. Finally, parameters selection and applications are also discussed in this paper.


The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded inclusions of wheat bran (0%, 9.65%, 48.25% wheat bran) and two growth stages (from 32.5 to 47.2 kg and 59.4 to 78.7 kg, respectively) on the apparent ileal digestibility (AID), apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and hindgut fermentation of nutrients and energy in growing pigs. Six light pigs (initial body weight [BW] 32.5±2.1 kg) and six heavy pigs (initial BW 59.4±3.2 kg) were surgically prepared with a T-cannula in the distal ileum. A difference method was used to calculate the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran by means of comparison with a basal diet consisting of corn-soybean meal (0% wheat bran). Two additional diets were formulated by replacing 9.65% and 48.25% wheat bran by the basal diet, respectively. Each group of pigs was allotted to a 6×3 Youden square design, and pigs were fed to three experimental diets during three 11-d periods. Hindgut fermentation values were calculated as the differences between ATTD and AID values. For the wheat bran diets, the AID and ATTD of dry matter (DM), ash, organic matter (OM), carbohydrates (CHO), gross energy (GE), and digestible energy (DE) decreased with increasing inclusion levels of wheat bran (p<0.05). While only AID of CHO and ATTD of DM, ash, OM, CHO, GE, and DE content differed (p<0.05) when considering the BW effect. For the wheat bran ingredient, there was a wider variation effect (p<0.01) on the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran in 9.65% inclusion level due to the coefficient of variation (CV) of the nutrient and energy digestibility being higher at 9.65% compared to 48.25% inclusion level of wheat bran. Digestible energy content of wheat bran at 48.25% inclusion level (4.8 and 6.7 MJ/kg of DM, respectively) fermented by hindgut was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that in 9.65% wheat bran inclusion level (2.56 and 2.12 MJ/kg of DM, respectively), which was also affected (p<0.05) by two growth stages. This increase in hindgut fermentation caused the difference in ileal DE (p<0.05) to disappear at total tract level. All in all, increasing wheat bran levels in diets negatively influences the digestibility of some nutrients in pigs, while it positively affects the DE fermentation in the hindgut.


To illustrate a case of primary adrenal insufficiency caused secondarily to eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, case report and review of the literature are used. An example of primary adrenal hemorrhage due to a hypercoagulable state with a thorough discussion and review of the literature. Although rare a hypercoagulable state can lead to bilateral adrenal hemorrhages and subsequent primary adrenal insufficiency. Keeping this in mind can lead to prompter diagnosis and treatment. J Med Cases. 2018;9(7):233-235 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3100w


SUMMARY Experiments with a nonlinear trajectory-tracking controller for marine unmanned surface vessels are reported. The tracking controller is designed using a nonlinear robust model-based sliding mode approach. The marine vehicles can track arbitrary desired trajectories that are defined in Cartesian coordinate as continuous functions of time. The planar dynamic model used for the controller design consists of 3 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of surge, sway, and yaw. The vessel only has two actuators, so the vessel is underactuated. Therefore, only two outputs, which are functions of the 3-DOF, can be controlled. The Cartesian position of a control point on the vessel is defined as the output. The orientation dynamics is not directly controlled. It has been previously shown that the orientation dynamics, as the internal dynamics of this underactuated system, is stable. The result of field experiments show the effectiveness of tracking control laws in the presence of parameter uncertainty and disturbance. The experiments were performed in a large outdoor pond using a small test boat. This paper reports the first theoretical development and experimental verification of the proposed model-based nonlinear trajectory-tracking controller.


BACKGROUND
Recently, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology was increasingly used to study transcriptomics at a single-cell resolution, scRNA-seq analysis was complicated by the "dropout", where the data only captures a small fraction of the transcriptome. This phenomenon can lead to the fact that the actual expressed transcript may not be detected. We previously performed osteoblast subtypes classification and dissection on freshly isolated human osteoblasts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Here, we used the scImpute method to impute the missing values of dropout genes from a scRNA-seq dataset generated on freshly isolated human osteoblasts.

RESULTS
Based on the imputed gene expression patterns, we discovered three new osteoblast subtypes. Specifically, these newfound osteoblast subtypes are osteoblast progenitors, and two undetermined osteoblasts. Osteoblast progenitors showed significantly high expression of proliferation related genes (FOS, JUN, JUNB and JUND). Analysis of each subtype showed that in addition to bone formation, these undetermined osteoblasts may involve osteoclast and adipocyte differentiation and have the potential function of regulate immune activation.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provided a new perspective for studying the osteoblast heterogeneity and potential biological functions of these freshly isolated human osteoblasts at the single-cell level, which provides further insight into osteoblasts subtypes under various (pathological) physiological conditions.


The authors used a questionnaire to assess gender differences in barriers to condom use among 198 female and 89 male heterosexual undergraduate college students. Participants were divided into three groups--consistent users, inconsistent users, and nonusers--based on their reported condom use. Factor analyses on each gender revealed similar barrier factor structures, but the barriers explained more of the variance in condom use among women than among men. Of the 9 or 10 predictors assessed, the low perceived need barrier was the most powerful predictor of condom use for both genders. Male and female participants who were nonusers, in a current monogamous relationship, and using oral contraceptives were more likely to report a low perceived need to use condoms. Implications for future research are discussed.


Background Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infections negatively impact physical and mental development in human populations. Current WHO guidelines recommend morbidity control of these infections through mass drug administration (MDA) using albendazole (ABZ) or mebendazole. Despite major reductions in STH associated morbidity globally, not all programs have demonstrated the expected impact on prevalence of parasite infections. These therapeutic failures may be related to poor programmatic coverage, suboptimal adherence or the exposure of parasites to sub-therapeutic drug concentrations. As part of the DeWorm3 project, we sought to characterize the serum disposition kinetics and pattern of urinary excretion of ABZ and its main metabolites ABZ sulphoxide (ABZSO) and ABZ sulphone (ABZSO2) in humans, and the assessment of the duration and optimal time point where ABZ and/or its metabolites can be measured in urine as an indirect assessment of an individual's adherence to treatment. Methodology/Principal findings Consecutive venous blood and urine samples were collected from eight (8) human volunteers up to 72 h post-ABZ oral administration. ABZ/metabolites were quantified by HPLC. The ABZSO metabolite was the main analyte recovered both in serum and urine. ABZSO Cmax in serum was 1.20 ± 0.44 μg/mL, reached at 4.75 h post-treatment. In urine, ABZSO Cmax was 3.24 ± 1.51 μg/mL reached at 6.50 h post-ABZ administration. Conclusion/Significance Pharmacokinetic data obtained for ABZ metabolites in serum and urine, including the recovery of the ABZ sulphoxide derivative up to 72 h in both matrixes and the recovery of the amino-ABZ sulphone metabolite in urine samples, are suggesting the possibility of developing a urine based method to assess compliance to ABZ treatment. Such an assay may be useful to optimize ABZ use in human patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03192449.


Although computational complexity is a fundamental aspect of program behavior, it is often at odds with common type theoretic principles such as function extensionality, which identifies all functions with the same $\textit{input-output}$ behavior. We present a computational type theory called $\mathbf{CATT}$ that has a primitive notion of cost (the number of evaluation steps). We introduce a new dependent function type "funtime" whose semantics can be viewed as a cost-aware version of function extensionality. We prove a collection of lemmas for $\mathbf{CATT}$, including a novel introduction rule for the new funtime type. $\mathbf{CATT}$ can be simultaneously viewed as a framework for analyzing computational complexity of programs and as the beginnings of a semantic foundation for characterizing feasible mathematical proofs.


ABSTRACT In Escherichia coli the gad system protects the cell from the extreme acid stress encountered during transit through the host stomach. The structural genes gadA, gadB, and gadC encode two glutamate decarboxylase isoforms and a glutamate/γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) antiporter, respectively. Glutamate decarboxylation involves both proton consumption and production of GABA, a neutral compound which is finally exported via the GadC antiporter. Regulation of gadA and gadBC transcription is very complex, involving several circuits controlling expression under different growth phase, medium, and pH conditions. In this study we found that the AraC-like activators GadX and GadW share the same 44-bp binding sites in the gadA and gadBC regulatory regions. The common binding sites are centered at 110.5 bp and 220.5 bp upstream of the transcriptional start points of the gadA and gadBC genes, respectively. At the gadA promoter this regulatory element overlaps one of the binding sites of the repressor H-NS. The DNA of the gadBC promoter has an intrinsic bend which is centered at position −121. These findings, combined with transcriptional regulation studies, may account for the two different mechanisms of transcriptional activation by GadX and GadW at the two promoters studied. We speculate that while at the gadA promoter GadX and GadW activate transcription by displacing H-NS via an antirepressor mechanism, at the gadBC promoter the mechanism of activation involves looping of the DNA sequence between the promoter and the activator binding site.


The North American deserts were impacted by both Neogene plate tectonics and Quaternary climatic fluctuations, yet it remains unclear how these events influenced speciation in this region. We tested published hypotheses regarding the timing and mode of speciation, population structure, and demographic history of the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia), a sand dune specialist endemic to the Mojave Desert of California and Arizona. We sampled 109 individual lizards representing 22 insular dune localities, obtained DNA sequences for 14 nuclear loci, and found that U. scoparia has low genetic diversity relative to the U. notata species complex, comparable to that of chimpanzees and southern elephant seals. Analyses of genotypes using Bayesian clustering algorithms did not identify discrete populations within U. scoparia. Using isolation-with-migration (IM) models and a novel coalescent-based hypothesis testing approach, we estimated that U. scoparia diverged from U. notata in the Pleistocene epoch. The likelihood ratio test and the Akaike Information Criterion consistently rejected nested speciation models that included parameters for migration and population growth of U. scoparia. We reject the Neogene vicariance hypothesis for the speciation of U. scoparia and define this species as a single evolutionarily significant unit for conservation purposes.


© Cambridge University Press 2007 and 2009. Introduction Recent advances in the detection [1] and treatment [2] of cancer have led to longer survival times [3]; for example, the five-year survival rate of localised breast cancer is now 97% [4]. As a result of this lengthened life expectancy, greater attention is being paid to quality of life and psychosocial care for cancer patients. In the short term, this means ensuring that patients maintain their quality of life during diagnostic and treatment phases. In the longer term, the aim is to ensure that psychological problems are prevented or ameliorated so that cancer patients can rehabilitate and resume functioning at the level they maintained before their cancer. Cancer remains a life-threatening illness linked by many authors with fears about incapacity, disfigurement and death [5, 6]. Unsurprisingly, many individuals diagnosed with cancer experience at least transient psychological distress. This recognition, however, can lead to a dismissal of depression as a normative response to cancer and missed opportunities to address a highly impairing, but readily treatable, psychiatric disorder when depression does occur. On the other hand, overestimation of the extent to which cancer results in depression can misguide allocation of resources, leading to an emphasis on strategies for aggressively detecting psychiatric disorders at the expense of follow-up care for patients who have already been identified, as well as attention to more common problems and basic supportive needs that affect quality of life among cancer patients more generally.


The present research conducts a small-scale study to examine how well corpus can be used as guidance to assist students in the process of essay self-revision. The researcher aims to explore students' attitudes towards corpus as well as their evaluations of the advantages and disadvantages of using the corpus to correct lexico-grammatical errors in writing. The instrument chosen for the study is Corpus of Contemporary American English, the large and freely available corpus of English as of now. Questionnaires and interviews are employed as a quantitative and qualitative method to collect data. 14 people including second-year and fourth-year students participate in this study. The findings from this study reveal that the strengths of COCA outweigh its weaknesses. Some advantages can be listed as a user-friendly interface, a large number of example sentences, or authentic language. Besides, the disadvantages include technology malfunctions, time-consuming procedures of data interpretation, or failures to solve complicated errors. Despite the drawbacks of COCA, students still express their positive attitudes towards the corpus and consider it as a powerful tool to correct their essays in the future.


In the good old days though life style was much different between the haves and have-nots, both at the individual level as well as at the interntional level, however, there wasn't much difference between the effectiveness of care people got. Modern medicine and high tech diagnostics have now built mountains separating the haves and have-nots round the globe. If one is seriously ill in the present age, it is now true to say that the quality of workup he will recive is directly proportional to what he can afford to buy. It sounds easy enough but it is not so. To whet down awesome new technology and so called "wonder" drugs needs a lot of home work and hard work. May be good medicine comes cheap but is certainly doesn't come without effort!


Abstract. The accelerated warming conditions of the high Arctic have intensified the extensive thawing of permafrost. Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are considered as the most active landforms in the Arctic permafrost. An increase in RTSs has been observed in the Arctic in recent decades. Continuous monitoring of RTSs is important to understand climate change-driven disturbances in the region. Manual detection of these landforms is extremely difficult as they occur over exceptionally large areas. Only very few studies have explored the utility of very high spatial resolution (VHSR) commercial satellite imagery in the automated mapping of RTSs. We have developed deep learning (DL) convolution neural net (CNN) based workflow to automatically detect RTSs from VHRS satellite imagery. This study systematically compared the performance of different DLCNN model architectures and varying backbones. Our candidate CNN models include: DeepLabV3+, UNet, UNet++, Multi-scale Attention Net (MA-Net), and Pyramid Attention Network (PAN) with ResNet50, ResNet101 and ResNet152 backbones. The RTS modeling experiment was conducted on Banks Island and Ellesmere Island in Canada. The UNet++ model demonstrated the highest accuracy (F1 score of 87%) with the ResNet50 backbone at the expense of training and inferencing time. PAN, DeepLabV3, MaNet, and UNet, models reported mediocre F1 scores of 72%, 75%, 80%, and 81% respectively. Our findings unravel the performances of different DLCNNs in imagery-enabled RTS mapping and provide useful insights on operationalizing the mapping application across the Arctic.


Background Coagulation changes can complicate liver resection, particularly in patients with cirrhosis. The aim of this prospective hospital-based comparative study was to compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy of intravenous fentanyl patient-controlled analgesia (IVPCA) with and without transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block. Methods Fifty patients with Child's A cirrhosis undergoing liver resection were randomly divided into two groups for postoperative analgesia, ie, an IVPCA group receiving a 10 μg/mL fentanyl bolus of 15 μg with a 10-minute lockout and a maximum hourly dose of 90 μg, and an IVPCA + TAP group that additionally received TAP block (15 mL of 0.375% bupivacaine) on both sides via a posterior approach with ultrasound guidance before skin incision. Postoperatively, bolus injections of bupivacaine 0.375% were given every 8 hours through a TAP catheter inserted by the surgeon in the open space during closure of the inverted L-shaped right subcostal with midline extension (subcostal approach) guided by the visual analog scale score (<3, 5 mL; 3 to <6, 10 mL; 6–10, 15–20 mL) according to weight (maximum 2 mg/kg). The top-up dosage of local anesthetic could be omitted if the patient was not in pain. Coagulation was monitored using standard coagulation tests. Results Age, weight, and sex were comparable between the groups (P>0.05). The visual analog scale score was significantly lower at 12, 18, 24, 48, and 72 hours (P<0.01) in IVPCA + TAP group. The Ramsay sedation score was lower only after 72 hours in the IVPCA + TAP group when compared with the IVPCA group (1.57±0.74 versus 2.2±0.41, respectively, P<0.01). Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and fentanyl consumption were lower in the IVPCA + TAP group at 24, 48, and 72 hours (P<0.05). Intensive care unit stays were significantly shorter with TAP (2.61±0.74 days versus 4.35±0.79 days, P<0.01). Prothrombin time and International Normalized Ratio indicated temporary hypocoagulability in both groups. Conclusion Combining TAP with IVPCA improved postoperative pain management and reduced fentanyl consumption, with a shorter stay in intensive care. TAP block can be included as part of a balanced multimodal postoperative pain regimen.


Many applications such as high power laser locking and seeding, atom cooling and trapping or optical heterodyning and coherent communication, require a single-frequency emission with high frequency stability and low noise. Narrow linewidth single-frequency emission at 1.064µm is well known and usually monolithic ring cavities (such as Non Planar Ring Oscillators) is a good solution. In this paper, we demonstrate a stable single-frequency emission at 1.064μm with noise reduction at a power of 500mW based on a linear monolithic cavity with Nd:YAG amplifier. In the past, we have already demonstrated the efficiency and the reliability of monolithic cavities used in our standard product line (LaserBoxx LCX-532S, LCX-553S and LCX-561S). In this presentation, single-frequency operation is achieved by a double Lyot filter, the first filter selecting the emission band of Nd:YAG and the second filter selecting the longitudinal mode and achieves the single-frequency operation. We report narrow linewidth <100kHz. By introducing a nonlinear crystal (KTP for second harmonic generation (SHG) at 532nm), we modify the laser dynamics and reduce the oscillation relaxation and consequently the laser noise (<0.2% RMS). We also report a good laser frequency stability due to our monolithic cavity (<100 MHz for short-term behavior and <1pm for long-term behavior), a frequency tuning capabilities (up to 10pm without mode hopping and up to 1nm with mode hopping), a power stability less than 2% for a laser base temperature from 15°C to 45°C at 500mW, a good optical efficiency (<25%) and a high beam quality (M2<1.2).


Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) has been suggested for various data stream classification tasks requiring a nonlinear transformation scheme to reduce dimensions.However,the dimensionality reduction ability is restricted because of its high complexity.Therefore this paper proposes an incremental kernel principal component analysis algorithm: IKDR,which iteratively estimates the kernel principal components with only linear order storage complexity per iteration.On the basis of IKDR,this paper proposes an online classification framework for data stream: IKOCFrame.Extensive experiments on real and artificial datasets validate the convergence of IKDR and confirm the superiority of IKOCFrame over other recent classification schemes based on component analysis.


This research aims at exploring the effectiveness of E-learning coordinators performance in Najran University. To illicit faculty members' opinion and feedback on this issue, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among 390 male and female faculty members from Scientific and Humanistic colleges in Najran University. It consists of 28 items distributed on four domains: Promoting E-learning culture, planning and training, consulting support, and coordination and follow up. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were ensured. Statistical treatments were conducted. The results showed an average level of the effectiveness of E-learning coordinators performance. The results also showed that there were statistically significant differences regarding gender and academic qualification and no statistically significant differences regarding faculty type. Some recommendations are proposed based on the results. © 2016 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.


Application of the Filtered-X LMS adaptive filter to active noise control requires to estimate the transfer characteristics between the output and the error signal of the adaptive canceler. In this paper, we derive an adaptive control algorithm and analyze its convergence behavior when the acoustic noise is assumed to consist of multiple sinusoids. The results of the convergence analysis of the Filtered-X LMS algorithm indicate that the effects of parameter estimation inaccuracy on the convergence behavior of the algorithm are characterize by two distinct components : Phase estimation error and estimated magnitude. In particular, the convergence of the Filtered-X LMS algorithm is shown to be strongly affected by the accuracy of the phase response estimate. Simulation results of the algorithm are presented which support the theoretical convergence analysis.


Several effects accompanying the propagation of electromagnetic waves through magneto-ordered media are discussed. First the information writing obtained by cooling through the Neel point of the antiferromagnetic substrate coupled by exchange interaction with the magnetic film is considered. By changing the exchange coupling it is possible to write and steadily retain arbitrary microdomain configurations. Peculiarities of magnetooptic effects were predicted by us and discovered in magnetically gyrotropic media with preset space distribution of magnetization. At the end, data on the photomagnetic effect in film of Mg-Mn ferrite are discussed.


Objectives: The first guideline for the treatment of chronic pruritus was published in 2005. The recommendations are based mainly on case series studies or expert opinions. This retrospective study aimed at analyzing the outcome of treatment according to the German guidelines in a representative cohort of patients. Methods: 385 consecutive patients with chronic pruritus were evaluated for therapeutic outcome. Results: 268/385 patients (69.6%) reported an antipruritic effect while 117/385 (30.4%) showed no response. Three therapeutic steps were undertaken by 40.3% of the responding patients. Conclusions: Treating pruritus patients according to the German guideline achieved a high response rate. A prolonged treatment period with multiple therapeutic steps was needed by a high number of patients due to the lack of specific antipruritic substances. Given that multiple therapy steps produce a high disease and economic burden, novel target-specific therapies are eligible.


The photo-induced transient spectroscopy (PITS) technique was used to investigate the capture and emission dynamics of deep levels in Ga0.8In0.2N0.015As0.985/GaAs and Ga0.8In0.2As/GaAs quantum wells, sequentially grown by molecular beam epitaxy. A broadband white light or a filtered light was used to identify and discriminate the trapping centres present in the sample. Among all the features discovered in this experiment two PITS peaks, showing activation energies of 160 and 330 meV, have been associated with deep levels in GaInNAs.


In this paper, a representation based on digital assets and semantic annotations is established for Traditional Craft instances, in a way that captures their socio-historic context and preserves both their tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage dimensions. These meaningful and documented experiential presentations are delivered to the target audience through narratives that address a range of uses, including personalized storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), augmented physical artifacts, Mixed Reality (MR) exhibitions, and the Web. The provided engaging cultural experiences have the potential to have an impact on interest growth and tourism, which can support Traditional Craft communities and institutions. A secondary impact is the attraction of new apprentices through training and demonstrations that guarantee long-term preservation. The proposed approach is demonstrated in the context of textile manufacturing as practiced by the community of the Haus der Seidenkultur, a former silk factory that was turned into a museum where the traditional craft of Jacquard weaving is still practiced.


Background: Abnormal cell migration and invasion underlie metastasis, and actomyosin contractility is a key regulator of tumor invasion. The links between cancer migratory behavior and DNA damage are poorly understood. Methods: Using 3D collagen systems to recapitulate melanoma extracellular matrix, we analyzed the relationship between the actomyosin cytoskeleton of migrating cells and DNA damage. We used multiple melanoma cell lines and microarray analysis to study changes in gene expression and in vivo intravital imaging (n = 7 mice per condition) to understand how DNA damage impacts invasive behavior. We used Protein Tissue Microarrays (n = 164 melanomas) and patient databases (n = 354 melanoma samples) to investigate the associations between markers of DNA damage and actomyosin cytoskeletal features. Data were analyzed with Student's and multiple t tests, Mann-Whitney's test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: Melanoma cells with low levels of Rho-ROCK–driven actomyosin are subjected to oxidative stress-dependent DNA damage and ATM-mediated p53 protein stabilization. This results in a specific transcriptional signature enriched in DNA damage/oxidative stress responsive genes, including Tumor Protein p53 Inducible Protein 3 (TP53I3 or PIG3). PIG3, which functions in DNA damage repair, uses an unexpected catalytic mechanism to suppress Rho-ROCK activity and impair tumor invasion in vivo. This regulation was suppressed by antioxidants. Furthermore, PIG3 levels decreased while ROCK1/2 levels increased in human metastatic melanomas (ROCK1 vs PIG3; r = -0.2261, P < .0001; ROCK2 vs PIG3: r = -0.1381, P = .0093). Conclusions: The results suggest using Rho-kinase inhibitors to reactivate the p53-PIG3 axis as a novel therapeutic strategy; we suggest that the use of antioxidants in melanoma should be very carefully evaluated.


When the first author (Morton Ann Gernsbacher) was in graduate school, she once sat in on an undergraduate entry-level cognition course to see how one of the department's best teachers conveyed the excitement and exquisiteness of cognitive psychology to an audience of 19-year-olds. This professor began the first day by posing the following challenge: Imagine that you were sent to some faraway planet, and your mission on this planet was to discern the workings of a mysterious—at least to you—structure, what here on earth we might call a building. However, you were prohibited or otherwise unable to enter the structure. How would you discern what work went on inside the structure? With guidance, the students arrived at recommendations such as to first carefully observe what entered the structure, and then carefully observe what exited the structure, and from those observations infer what work must go on inside the structure. Thus, if one saw sheet metal, rubber, and glass entering the structure and one observed Subaru vehicles leaving the structure, one might infer something different than if one saw denim cloth, thread, and zippers entering the structure and men's blue jeans coming out. At this point the professor skillfully introduced some of the rudimentary concepts of experimental design: How, if clever enough, one might manipulate certain aspects of the input to the structure while controlling as many extraneous variables as possible, then measure qualitatively or quantitatively the output and thereby allow sharper inferences of what type of work went on inside the structure. At this point students suggested other covert techniques, for example, sneaking in at night or some time when their presence would not be detected—in other words, observing the structure "at rest." Trying to obtain a blueprint or floor plan of the structure was also suggested. Even bombing a section of the structure to see how that affects the output (an idea not so far


Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of tyrosine to L‐DOPA and is rate limiting in catecholamine biosynthesis, is biochemically expressed in late stage wild‐type Drosophila oocytes as well as in early embryogenesis. Null mutant alleles of TH (pale) are embryonic lethals with death occurring in the late embryonic or early larval periods of development. Staging of embryos demonstrated that inhibition of the enzymatic activity of TH by α‐methyl‐p‐tyrosine (αMT) retards the progression of embryos primarily during the organogenesis stages of embryonic development, with lesser effects on earlier and later stages. On the other hand, time of gene action studies with a conditional temperature sensitive pale mutant (plets1) at its restrictive temperature (29°C) indicate an onset of tyrosine hydroxylase gene action beginning in the oocyte stage of development. Thus, maternal as well as embryonic effects on the secretion and/or functionality of this enzyme may play roles in the early developmental program of the organism. genesis 45:152‐155, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this article we present simple and feasible idea to introduce electrolysis experiments using accessible materials in the classroom. We use plastic syringes and pipettes to build different shapes of Hoffman apparatus for electrolysis. This activity was introduced to a group of 20 teachers from the Arab sector in Israel to examine their impressions about the activity and investigate the feasibility of implementing the activity in their classrooms.


We study the relationships between stellar mass, size and age within the quiescent population, using two mass-complete spectroscopic samples with log10(M⋆/M⊙) > 10.3, taken from VANDELS at 1.0 < z < 1.3, and LEGA-C at 0.6 < z < 0.8. Using robust Dn4000 values, we demonstrate that the well-known 'downsizing' signature is already in place by z ≃ 1.1, with Dn4000 increasing by ≃ 0.1 across a ≃ 1 dex mass interval for both VANDELS and LEGA-C. We then proceed to investigate the evolution of the quiescent galaxy stellar mass-size relation from z ≃ 1.1 to z ≃ 0.7. We find the median size increases by a factor of 1.9 ± 0.1 at log10(M⋆/M⊙) = 10.5, and see tentative evidence for flattening of the relation, finding slopes of α = 0.72 ± 0.06 and α = 0.56 ± 0.04 for VANDELS and LEGA-C respectively. We finally split our sample into galaxies above and below our fitted mass-size relations, to investigate how size and Dn4000 correlate. For LEGA-C, we see a clear difference, with larger galaxies found to have smaller Dn4000 at fixed stellar mass. Due to the faintness and smaller numbers of the VANDELS sample, we cannot confirm whether a similar relation exists at z ≃ 1.1. We consider whether differences in stellar age or metallicity are most likely to drive this size-Dn4000 relation, finding that any metallicity differences are unlikely to fully explain the observed offset, meaning smaller galaxies must be older than their larger counterparts. We find the observed evolution in size, mass and Dn4000 across the ≃ 2 Gyr from z ∼ 1.1 to z ∼ 0.7 can be explained by a simple toy model in which VANDELS galaxies evolve passively, whilst experiencing a series of minor mergers.


The constantly increasing demand for nutraceuticals is paralleled by a more pronounced request for natural ingredients and health-promoting foods. The multiple functional properties of cactus pear fit well this trend. Recent data revealed the high content of some chemical constituents, which can give added value to this fruit on a nutritional and technological functionality basis. High levels of betalains, taurine, calcium, magnesium, and antioxidants are noteworthy.


Despite the achievements of the sciences in the last three or four centuries, the erroneous view is still current that the sciences lack objectivity and stability. This view is clearly not based upon concrete observation and analysis, but rather upon absolutistic metaphysical beliefs. It is in order then to examine this situation as it applies to psychology and the other sciences. It is suggested that by considering sorne selected problems of science and psychology, the issue of objectivity versus subjectivity will be considerably illuminated. The essential message of this article is the need to banish all versions of absolutism and extremism from the domains of existence and knowledge. Absolutism and extremism lead to transcendentalism which has no place in science, including psychology. The present discussion is addressed to the particular version of transcendentalism which holds that objectivity and stability are absent from science, that all is haphazard and omnivalent in contrast to the efforts and achievements of all the various scientific disciplines. The nonobjective pronunciations reflect a religious and rnetaphysical attitude that is blind to the obvious detailed interbehaviors of scientists with inorganic, organic, and cultural objects and events. As we have indicated jn the text, when observation and analysis of the work and results of concrete investigation are reviewed, there is nothing to support any mythical and mysterious subjectivity and internality in science or in scientific psychology.


Hi-tech industry plays a vital role in the Taiwanese economy, with products characterized by short product life cycle, great investment amount, fast market changes, and high rate of product upgrade. Under global competitive pressure, the hi-tech industry has adopted information technology to shorten the process, reduce costs, increase flexibility, improve product or service quality, and thus enhance the enterprise's core capabilities to achieve perpetual growth. To reach these goals, enterprises are highly motivated to actively strengthen internal and external enterprise resource integration, introduce enterprise resource planning (ERP) and knowledge management (KM), and improve enterprise operating performance. Literature research shows that most researchers and scholars have focused only on ERP systems development and process improvement. Few studies have involved integrating the knowledge management concept to ERP systems and developing ERP knowledge management. This research studies ERP knowledge management, collects, summarizes, and discusses literature related to ERP, knowledge management, ERP knowledge management, the balanced scorecard (BSC), enterprise operating performance, and hi-tech industry, and measures the effects of ERP knowledge management implementation based on survey results using four BSC dimensions; finance, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth. The research results provide standards for enterprises that have introduced ERP knowledge management to measure enterprise operating performance, and a reference for industries developing ERP knowledge management.


Contemporary sciences and societies are facing several problems when analyzing the relationship between the natural and social dimensions of the world as reflected in the field of education. A serious effort must be urgently made to identify and tackle environmental problems in order to understand the world in which we live, in ways that are beneficial to present and future life on Earth. In this context, it is fundamental to create a new social order in a way that thinking "out of the box" can emerge with other orders closer to the diversity of life that coexist on the planet. Consequently, the awareness of the complexity and multidimensionality of our world requires the building of new forms of reflexivity and the development of critical thinking, reversing the still predominant characteristics of modern societies such as compartmentalization of knowledge, unhealthy competition, profit-seeking motivations, the exploitation of nature, and excessive individualist and anthropocentric approaches. In this regard, educational institutions play a relevant role in shaping future human actions to be more ethically harmonic (both environmentally and socially) as they are sites of knowledge production and sharing.
 Hence, it is crucial to rethink the entire educational paradigm and learning system (objectives, curricula, pedagogical strategies, instruments, competencies, school management framework, and even school buildings), because schools often function as "islands," isolating students from nature, the community, and the "real world," not preparing them to be well-informed and conscious citizens nor for the challenges that lie ahead. Some theoretical and practical alternatives are needed since schools actually embody the paradoxes and dilemmas of the current societal malaise but have not yet been able to deal with them or to provide adequate effective responses.


Objectives The plantaris tendon has recently been described as a possible important factor in midportion Achilles tendinopathy. Ultrasound tissue characterisation (UTC) is a method to study tendon structure (matrix integrity). The effect of plantaris tendon removal on Achilles tendon structure was studied using UTC. Design and setting Prospective case series study at one centre. Participants Nine tendons in eight physically active and healthy patients (mean age 39 years) with chronic painful midportion Achilles tendinopathy were included. Preoperative two-dimensional ultrasound and UTC showed midportion Achilles tendinopathy (tendinosis) with medial tendon changes and suspected plantaris tendon involvement. Patients with previous operations to the Achilles tendon were excluded. Interventions Operative treatment consisted of excision of the plantaris tendon and scraping of the ventromedial surface of the Achilles tendon under a local anaesthetic. Primary and secondary outcome measures UTC examination and clinical scoring with the VISA-A questionnaire were performed preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively. Results At 6 months follow-up, UTC demonstrated a statistically significant (t=5.40, p<0.001) increase in the mean organised matrix (echo-type I+II) and a decrease in the mean disorganised matrix (echo-type III+IV). Seven out of eight patients were satisfied, and the VISA-A score had increased significantly (p<0.001) from 56.8 (range 34–73) preoperatively to 93.3 (range 87–100) postoperatively. Conclusions Excision of the plantaris tendon and scraping of the ventromedial Achilles tendon in chronic midportion tendinopathy seem to have the potential to improve tendon structure and reduce tendon pain. Studies on a larger group of patients and with a longer follow-up period are needed.


Despite spending nearly $2 trillion annually on health care services, American adults receive just half of recommended care for the leading causes of death and disability.1 Similar findings have been reported for older adults, with only approximately one-third of recommended care delivered for a subset of geriatric conditions such dementia, falls, and urinary incontinence.2 These empirical studies, along with reports from the Institute of Medicine,3 have contributed to agreement that there is a substantial gap between what we know works and what is being done for patients. There is, however, less agreement about how to close the gap, and grave concerns often are expressed about whether the cure will be worse than the problem we seek to solve. The article by Ganz and colleagues4 offers the most rigorous evidence to date on the question of whether interventions to improve care for select conditions will lead to significant unintended consequences. The good news from this study is that the quality of care for conditions that were not the focus of the quality improvement intervention did not deteriorate. (The other good news from the main study on which this secondary analysis is based is that it was possible to improve care by about 15 percentage points.)5 The news from this study that is bad or good depending on your perspective is that the quality of care for conditions that were not targeted for improvement did not get better. This study offers an opportunity to reflect on what we should really be worrying about or paying attention to as different approaches to improving quality are undertaken. First, we should be worried about the lack of an appropriate information infrastructure for delivering, evaluating, rewarding, or improving the delivery of health care services. For both the intervention and the evaluation, the investigators had to create new data collection tools, including telephone surveys (eg, to screen patients before a visit for the presence of dementia, falls, or urinary incontinence), structured visit forms, reminders, automatic order sets, and manual medical record abstraction (eg, to assess clinical quality of care for targeted and masked conditions). It is not possible within today's information environment to routinely monitor performance on clinically detailed measures of technical quality or patient-centered care at all levels in the health care system. Much of the information content required to assess performance is also essential for managing the delivery of excellent, evidence-based care (eg, populating the data fields required to run decision support tools). Most programs in place today to profile physicians or medical groups, reward performance, create tiered networks, or provide public reports rely primarily on administrative data. These data sets are missing key information necessary for managing patients with complex chronic conditions. Much less attention has been paid to the unintended consequences of inadequate information. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Until we solve the information infrastructure deficit, we can expect only limited progress on closing the quality gap. Second, we should worry about the lack of standardized approaches to delivering evidence-based or guideline-adherent care. A major focus of the intervention described here was on standardizing the way patients were screened for the presence of particular problems (case-finding), making a plan for the visit (structured visit forms), and developing a treatment plan including standing orders for select elements of care. This type of


Coral reef biodiversity has declined over the past few decades and despite recent significant scientific interest in reefs in light of noticeable effects of climate change on this fragile habitat there is still much undiscovered about the true diversity of the symbiont community. There is also much to ascertain about underlying holobiont mechanisms relating to beneficial properties resident bacteria possess to help their hosts defend themselves from pathogenic xenobacteria or how symbionts provide the holobiont and other reef organisms with nutrition by utilising the carbon and nitrogen cycles. These are some of the questions addressed in this literature review. It is concluded that research has built up a large quantity of data about bacterial diversity and functions but information is still lacking about archaea and viruses. It is also concluded that projects always open up the way for new research as the complexity of the ecosystem expands the more knowledge we gain about it, demonstrating how much we have still to discover if science is to aid declining reefs in future.


The formation of proper blood vessel patterns in the central nervous system (CNS) is crucial to deliver oxygen and nutrient to neurons efficiently. At the same time, neurons must be isolated from the outer blood circulation by a specialized structure, the blood–brain barrier (BBB), to maintain the microenvironment of brain parenchyma for the survival of neurons and proper synaptic transmission. To develop this highly organized structure, glial cells, a major component of the brain, have been reported to play essential roles. In this review, the crosstalk between the macroglia, including astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, and endothelial cells during the development of CNS will be discussed. First, the known roles of astrocytes in neuro-vascular unit and its development, and then, the requirements of astrocytes for BBB development and maintenance are shown. Then, various genetic and cellular studies revealing the roles of astrocytes in the growth of blood vessels by providing a scaffold, including laminins and fibronectin, as well as by secreting trophic factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) are introduced. Finally, the interactions between oligodendrocyte progenitors and blood vessels are overviewed. Although these studies revealed the necessity for proper communication between glia and endothelial cells for CNS development, our knowledge about the detailed cellular and molecular mechanisms for them is still limited. The questions to be clarified in the future are also discussed.


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

Introduction. Oncolytic viruses have therapeutic potential in cancer by selectively replicating within malignant cells, causing death. Adenovirus type 5(Ad5) mutant dl922-947 contains a 24 bp deletion in E1A-CR2 and selectively replicates in cells with an abnormal Rb pathway - a feature of 90% human malignancies. dl922-947 has activity in human ovarian cancer following intraperitoneal (ip) delivery. Immunocompetent models are essential to evaluate the host immunological response as adenoviruses induce robust immune responses and CD8+ T cell infiltration has prognostic importance in ovarian cancer. However, adenoviridae are species specific and Ad5 fails to produce infectious progeny in murine tissue, preventing development of such models. We have investigated why human adenovirus replication fails in murine cancer.

Methods. dl922-947 lifecycle was examined in murine carcinoma cells CMT64 and MOVCAR7 and human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells OVCAR4.

Results. Infectivity, qPCR and sub-fractionation assays demonstrated no deficit in virion internalisation, genome replication or mRNA nuclear export in murine cells. E1A transcription and expression were similar in murine and human cells. However, there was marked failure of late viral capsid protein expression on immunoblot, which was not reversed by proteasome inhibition. TCID50 assay confirmed minimal infectious progeny production in murine cells (0.005-0.25 pfu/cell at MOI 10 in murine cells vs 104 pfu/cell in OVCAR4 cells 48h pi). Temporal differences in late gene transcription were seen between OVCAR4 and MOVCAR7 but not CMT64 cells, whilst late mRNA processing was qualitatively normal in murine cells. dl922-947 infection failed to induce global shut-down of host protein translation in murine cells on Coomassie staining. Transcription of L4 100K, important for preferential viral mRNA translation, was 1 log lower in murine cells than human controls, which may contribute to decreased production of infectious virions. Interestingly, co-infection of MOVCAR7 cells with dl922-947 and murine adenovirus type 1 (MAV-1) partially rescued late viral protein expression and increased dl922-947 cytotoxicity by MTT assay (>50% reduction of EC50).

Conclusions: Failure of late viral mRNA translation results in failure of dl922-947 replication in murine cells. Current work focuses on the importance of the 5' UTR tripartite leader sequence (TPL) common to all adenoviral late mRNAs. Specifically, sequence differences between human Ad5 and MAV-1 TPL may prevent adequate translation.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1507.


This paper presents three innovative projects in UK prisons which provide opportunities for students in prison to take greater ownership of their learning, recognising that this has significant benefits in a wider context. These include giving students responsibility for administration and peer support, Student Councils offering students voices to be heard and academic seminars to introduce prisoners to exciting new areas of study. Central to each of these is a strong commitment to "ensure that the student voice is present in decision making" (The Open University, 2018). Future plans and possibilities for building learning communities are proposed.


CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts

Abstract #5074

Background: Resistance to radiotherapy may be a significant factor in the development of local recurrence following surgical resection and radiotherapy. We aimed to develop a novel in vitro model of radioresistance using a breast cancer cell line and to subsequently identify molecular biomarkers which may be associated with the radioresistant phenotype. We utilised a quantitative proteomics technique (iTRAQ) based on MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry (MS) to identify differentially expressed proteins. Material and Methods: We established 3 novel breast cancer cell sublines which were significantly resistant to radiotherapy when compared with the parental cells. The radioresistant sublines were created by irradiating cells in fractionated doses of 2Gy up to a total dose of 40Gy. Sufficient time was allowed for the cells to recover between subsequent irradiations. A dose response curve was assessed at the end of treatment to demonstrate a statistically significant increase in radioresistance for each novel cell subline when compared with parental cells. One radioresistant/parental cell pair was first analysed using in-solution digestion and liquid chromatographic separation with protein identification by MALDI-TOF/TOF (LC-MALDI analysis) on an Applied Biosystems 4800 Plus instrument. Quantitative iTRAQ (Applied Biosystems) was then performed on the same instrument for all 3 radioresistant/parental cell pairs. Results: A total of 586 and 652 proteins were identified in T47D and T47D RR cells respectively by LC-MALDI. Those proteins identified in both cell lines and any redundant entries were removed to reveal those proteins which were unique to each cell line. In total 244 unique proteins were identified in T47D cells and 311 unique proteins were identified in T47D RR cells. Comparison of the 3 pairs of radioresistant/parental cell samples by iTRAQ revealed a number of differentially expressed proteins. Using a standard ≥2-fold change in expression, these iTRAQ analyses revealed significant changes in the expression of 51 proteins in one or more of the radio-resistant derivatives. Further confirmation by immunoblotting is underway. Currently the decrease in expression of 26S proteasome associated subunits has been confirmed by this method. Conclusion: LC-MALDI and iTRAQ analysis has revealed a large number of candidate proteins which may be associated with a radioresistant phenotype. These now require further confirmatory studies. These MS-based techniques offer a powerful proteomic approach to identify candidate biomarkers which may be involved in radioresistance.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 5074.


Time use attitudes of students is an important, but often neglected, variable that can assist teachers in their understanding of student classroom behavior. In this study we empirically examined time use attitudes in a group of 353 elementary and secondary school students. Using factor analytic techniques, 4 major constructs or dimensions to student attitudes towards time were extracted. These constructs included views of time that might be considered as instinctive, traditional, and integrated. The finding that students present themselves in classrooms with heterogeneous perceptions of time, while the school organization operates within a homogeneous (traditional) view of time, presents special problems for students. We strongly suggest that teachers and administrators become more aware of the differences in time use attitudes of students when designing instructional strategies and developing curriculum. Important school policies dealing with issues such as school dropouts, vandalism, truancy, and year round schools could also be based upon a consideration of how students view time.


To satisfy the stringent requirement of capacity enhancement in wireless networks, cooperative relaying is envisioned as one of the most effective solutions. In this paper, we focus on the problem of capacity enhancement by way of Relay Stations (RSs) placement, which is a critical task of network planning and deployment to achieve an efficient and scalable network design. To fully exploit the performance benefits of cooperative relaying, we develop an optimization framework to maximize the capacity as well as meet the minimal traffic demand for each Subscriber Station (SS). The problem of joint RS placement and bandwidth allocation is formulated into a mixed integer nonlinear program and solved through a heuristic approach based on genetic algorithm (GA). Moreover, an upper bound on the capacity is derived to assist the estimation of system performance given a network configuration. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution approach and the performance benefits due to RS placement and optimal bandwidth allocation through cooperative relaying.


ABSTRACT This study is to investigate college students' choice of train trips for homecoming during the Spring Festival travel rush, which is triggered by two facts in China that the annual Spring Festival travel rush has been challenging the national transportation system and that the high-speed railway in China has made a great progress in the latest years. To this end, a stated choice experiment was designed, where four hypothetical train trips (two conventional and two high-speed train trips) consisted of a choice set. A survey based on this design was carried out, where 2768 valid observations were collected. Given the potential correlations within alternatives and the heterogeneity of respondents' preferences, a latent class nested logit model was established and estimated, in which two classes were identified that one payed more attention to economy while the other cared more about services. The estimation results answered the questions that which determinants and to what extent of these determinants have influence on college students' choice of homecoming train trips and who are more likely to choose high-speed train trips. In addition, this study also provides analysis of willingness to pay and market share changes.


Strong burst of an internal kink mode is observed on the HL-2A tokamak. Features of the fishbone-like mode are presented. The fishbone-like instabilities can be driven during electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRU) and can be excited on the high field side (HFS) by ECRH. It is found for the first time that the modes also present themselves on the low field side (LFS) during ECRH. Experiments show that the energetic electrons with energy of 35-70keV play a dominant role in the excitation mechanism, and the experimental results are also consistent with our calculation ones.


Mursidah, Lahjie AM, Masjaya, Rayadin Y, Ruslim Y. 2020. The ecology, productivity and economic of swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) farming in Kota Bangun, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 3117-3126. Swiftlet nest is a high-value nontimber forest product produced from the saliva of swiftlet birds. While the demands for this commodity continue to increase in global market, careless harvesting techniques have diminished the swiftlet population and the production of swiftlet nests, threatening its sustainability. One effort to solve this problem is by developing swiftlet farming which involves building swiftlet. This research aimed to analyze the ecology, productivity, and financial feasibility of swiftlet farming of different-sized swiftlet houses in Kota Bangun Subdistrict, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. This research used qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Data were collected using purposive sampling to determine the location, sample of swiftlet houses, and interviews with respondents. Quantitative analysis on the financial performance of swiftlet farming was analyzed using the net Benefit-Cost Ratio (net B/C), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Payback Period (PP) methods. The results showed that swiftlet nest production in Kota Bangun begins in the third year and ends between 27 and 45 years later, depending on the age and size of the house as well as the quality of the timber. The swiftlet house with a size of 512 m had the net B/C of 4.06, NPV of IDR 1,403.79 million, IRR of 30%, and PP of 5.44 years. The swiftlet house with a size of 1,600 m had the net B/C of 2.27, NPV of IDR 1,774.83 million, IRR of 24.09%, and PP of 9.4 years. Our study suggests that swiftlet farming is financially highly feasible, especially for the swiftlet house with a size of 512 m.


The data package "Sea Otter Aerial Survey Data from Southeast Alaska, 2002-2003" provides raw data for examining abundance and distribution of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) in Southeast Alaska, based on data collected during a series of population-wide aerial surveys. The USGS aerial sea otter surveys have been completed multiple times using consistent methodology involving aerial-based counts. The surveys provide data and a population estimate that federal and state management agencies use for decision making and planning additional research. This data package includes a series of files with the raw digital data that was used for population estimates and population modeling found in related manuscripts.


In this paper, we evaluate in a case study whether semantic role labelling (SRL) can be reliably used for verb-based sentiment inference (SI). SI strives to identify polar relations (against, in-favour-of) between discourse entities. We took 300 sentences with 10 different verbs that show verb alternations or are ambiguous in order to find out if current SRL systems actually can assign the correct semantic roles and find the correct underlying predicates. Since in SI each verb reading comes with a particular polar profile, SRL is useful only if its analyses are consistent and reliable. We found that this is not (yet) given for German.


A bioartificial liver (BAL) was prepared by simple inoculation of hepatocytes into the inner space of hollow fibers of a hemodialyzer and it was maintained in a closed circuit for in vitro culture. Morphology of hepatocytes in the hollow fibers was studied in detail using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hepatocytes formed three-dimensional, rod-shaped aggregates of 200 microm in diameter throughout the whole dimension of the hollow fibers after 1 day of culture. Approximately five hepatocyte layers existed from the surface to the center of the aggregate. The hepatocytes in the aggregate displayed mostly polygonal shapes and were surrounded by five to six cells. Abundant bile canaliculi were formed between the hepatocytes and were sealed by tight junctions. The distance between the adjacent hepatocytes except the bile canaliculus domain was approximately 20 nm, and interdigitation was observed between some hepatocytes. These observations indicate that the hepatocytes formed functionally associated aggregates, that is, organoids. Although the cells facing the inner surface of the hollow fiber lost their polygonal shape and became flattened during the following several-day culture, no drastic change was observed in the morphology of the hepatocytes located inside the aggregate. After 14 days of culture, the number of living cells decreased and most of these had a deformed nucleus, few numbers of organelles, and intermittent lipid droplets.


In this study, a gradient reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography combined with a capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (RP-HPLC-C4D) method for simultaneous determination of phospholipid and fatty glyceride in liposome was developed. After saponification, the fatty glyceride and two types of phospholipids were transformed into octanoic acid, palmitic acid and erucic acid, respectively, which were then separated and detected by RP-HPLC-C4D. The results showed good linearity in the range of 20–1000 μg mL−1 for octanoic acid and erucic acid and 10–1000 μg mL−1 for palmitic acid. The LODs of octanoic acid and palmitic acid reached 2.5 μg mL−1, and 10 μg mL−1 for erucic acid. The average recoveries of octanoic acid, palmitic acid and erucic acid were 100.2%, 102.9% and 101.4% (n = 9), respectively. The developed method could be effectively applied in the quality control and stability monitoring of liposome.


In this study, the adsorption efficiency of methyl violet (MV) dye onto Ce0.3Al0.7 and Ce0.3Al0.7Agx (x = 0.1, 0.3 & 0.5) mixed oxides was investigated. The properties of mixed oxide were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES). Characterization showed that synthesized mixed oxide with fluorite has a pure cubic structure of a mesoporous nature and a small grain size with rough surface. Batch adsorption experiments were used to study parameters including contact time and initial dye concentration. The results showed that these parameters affected the degree of MV dye adsorption. The dye adsorption of mixed oxides attained equilibrium at 120 min. The equilibrium adsorption data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. The adsorption behavior of MV dye onto Ce0.3Al0.7 was found to follow the Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.9951), providing a maximum monolayer adsorptive capacity of 2.35 mg/g. Alternatively, the adsorption of MV dye onto Ce0.3Al0.7Ag0.1 (R 2 = 0.7839), Ce0.3Al0.7Ag0.3 (R 2 = 0.9301) and Ce0.3Al0.7Ag0.5 (R2 = 0.9396) followed the Freundlich isotherm. The possible adsorption mechanisms of MV dyes onto the Ce0.3Al0.7 and Ce0.3Al0.7Agx were also discussed.


In July 1995, a 43-year-old Japanese man presented with deafness in the right ear. On hospital admission, he had deafness in both ears and right facial palsy. Variously sized lymphoid cells with convoluted nuclei were observed in the cerebrospinal fluid. Surface marker analysis revealed monoclonality of T lymphocytes in the spinal fluid. Similar abnormal cells were observed in peripheral blood and bone marrow. Biopsy specimens of the stomach and prostate showed tight proliferation of large lymphoid cells in the interstitium and epithelium. Antibody against human T-lymphotrophic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) was present. The diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, diffuse type, was made. Seven months later, the patient died of sepsis. Autopsy revealed multiple lymphadenopathy in the abdomen and the infiltration of atypical lymphocytes to the pancreas, kidneys, and other organs. A monoclonal band of HTLV-1 provirus was detected by Southern blot analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma with auditory nerve abnormalities as the initial symptom.


Among his many contributions to the field of environmental law, Professor Dan Farber is perhaps best known for his development of a systematically "pragmatic approach to environmental problems." Within the tool kit that Professor Farber has used to breach the "wall between economics and ethics," one technique merits especially close examination. Professor Farber has often stressed the centrality of "learning strategies" in an environmental enterprise marked not only by a "high degree of uncertainty" but also by "our rapidly evolving understanding" of the science underlying environmental problems and their solutions. "In biological terms," after all, "stasis is death; only growth and change keep the organism alive." Environmental law as an organic entity can scarcely escape this law of nature.


The main goal of a primary cement job is to provide zonal isolation in the well. Obtaining zonal isolation according to regulations at the Valhall field have been challenging. The complex overburden at Valhall contains several permeable zones that need to be isolated from each other and the surface. A new set of strict internal regulations for cementing operations has lead to a change in the basic casing design. This was done in an effort to increase the chances of obtaining an approved job according to the new regulations. This has, however, proven to be challenging as the cement jobs have suffered severe problems with lowside channeling and general bonding problems. This thesis investigates the recent cementing operations at Valhall for the top hole casing strings (18 5/8" and 13 5/8"). A total of eight case histories are investigated, where important aspects of the operations are presented. An evaluation of the case histories are performed, where the effect of important factors are discussed. This includes spacer volume, displacement rate, centralization, and fluid properties. The effect of the factors are discussed both from a theoretical perspective and with the basis in the case histories and results. One of the most significant improvement was seen when displacing the drilling fluid to a low rheology mud prior to performing the cement operation. The low rheology WARP OBM from M-I SWACO was found to give the best results. This is also consistent with the theory, as the WARP OBM had the lowest rheological properties of all the investigated drilling fluids. A big potential improvement was found to be the increase in displacement rate up towards turbulent flow for the spacer. This is not realistic to be achieved using todays cementing technique. Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) equipment during cementing was found to reduce the Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD) by 0,9 ppg equivalent mud weight at target depth. This reduction in pressure can be used for a significant increase in displacement rate, possibly up towards turbulent flow.


Given the continuing e-commerce boom, the design of efficient and effective home delivery services is increasingly relevant. From a logistics perspective, attended home delivery, which requires the customer to be present when the purchased goods are delivered, is particularly challenging. To facilitate the delivery, the service provider and the customer typically agree on a specific time window for service. In designing the service offering, service providers face complex trade-offs between customer preferences and profitable service execution. In this paper, we map these trade-offs to different planning levels and demand management levers, and structure and synthesize corresponding literature according to different demand management decisions. Finally, we highlight research gaps and future research directions and discuss the linkage of the different planning levels.


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a major cause of child mortality and disability in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The disease is vaccine preventable since 1941. Yet no major vaccination was available for public health intervention. After a massive breakout in 2005, the government launched vaccination programme in 11 most endemic districts and is planning to incorporate the vaccine in routine immunization with DPT (Diptheria, pertussis and tatanus) booster dose. The paper aims to estimate discounted net benefits and internal rate of return (IRR) to evaluate the economic feasibility for elimination of JE by utilizing available secondary information.

METHODS
Cross-sectional data were collected from different sources to estimate societal costs and benefits from JE interventions with a 5 yr project period. Total costs are estimated based on the unit cost of inputs used for interventions. The benefits are derived from resources saved due to the reduction of JE incidence. Net benefits and IRRs are estimated based on standard procedures used in the field of economics.

RESULTS
A total discounted net benefit of JE vaccination is Rs 598.52 million with 291% IRR. The result suggests that for every rupee invested in vaccination at present will yield Rs 11 benifit per person over five years. The regional benefits from the interventions will be greater than the sum of benefits gained by the individual country due to its nature of public goods.

CONCLUSION
Vaccination against JE is a good investment opportunity despite all operational issues associated with it.


The article covers the study of color-related vocabulary in one of the minor Romance languages of Spain, Galician. The study focuses on the six basic (main) color names: white, black, red, blue, green, yellow. The lexical-semantic fields of the main color terms are analyzed in the framework of synchronic and diachronic linguistics, allowing the researcher to isolate some special features of the functioning and usage of certain color terms in Galician, making a comparison to other languages that are nearly related to it.


A [4 + 3] synthesis of D- manno -heptulose is described. The cascade aldol/hemiketalization reaction of a C 4 aldehyde with a C 3 ketone provides the differentially protected ketoheptose building block, which can be further reacted to furnish target D- manno -heptu-lose.


Background Isolated gastrocnemius contracture is thought to lead to numerous foot and ankle pathologic conditions. Gastrocnemius equinus is typically defined as ankle dorsiflexion <10° with the knee extended. The gastrocnemius recession like technique has many well-documented indications. It is considered indicated in adults with dorsiflexion <10° with the knee extended. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new technique based on ultrasound-guided ultra–minimally invasive gastrocnemius recession. Methods We performed gastrocnemius recession in 23 patients, 18 males and 5 females. Mean age was 42 years (13–61). The patients with equinus foot were aged 13, 14, and 15 years. The age range of patients with Achilles tendinopathy or plantar fasciitis was 37–51 years. The age range of patients with metatarsalgia was 50–61 years. All patients had previously received multiple treatments and had at least 6 months of conservative management prior to surgery. However, their symptoms failed to resolve. The average duration of symptoms ranged from 1 to 5 years. Results Surgical technique: recession is performed via a single 1–2–mm incision. Occasionally, 2 incisions are required to follow the shape of the gastrocnemius and complete the resection. As the anaesthesia is local, the patient can then actively flex the foot dorsally and plantar shortly after the procedure. No stitches are required. Complications: all patients developed mild superficial hematomas that resolved in 3–4 weeks. These were worse in patients with non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy. Four patients experienced slight weakness, which resolved at 6 months. Conclusions All the procedures were performed under local anaesthesia plus sedation in an outpatient regimen, without lower limb ischemia No sutures were necessary. A key advantage of our approach is the possibility of combining ultrasound-guided ultra–minimally invasive techniques to ensure minimal pain with excellent outcomes and no significant morbidity. Ultrasound-guided, ultra–minimally invasive surgery is an emerging technology that gives the surgeon direct control over the main structures and may be the future gold-standard for many surgical procedures such as plantar fasciotomy, gastrocnemius recession, and treatment of non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy. However, the learning curve is steep, because the surgeon has to perfect the technique with cadavers and become competent in the use of ultrasound.


This paper proposes a framework to perform the sensor classification by using multivariate time series sensors data as inputs. The framework encodes multivariate time series data into two-dimensional colored images, and concatenate the images into one bigger image for classification through a Convolutional Neural Network (ConvNet). This study applied three transformation methods to encode time series into images: Gramian Angular Summation Field (GASF), Gramian Angular Difference Field (GADF), and Markov Transition Field (MTF). Two open multivariate datasets were used to evaluate the impact of using different transformation methods, the sequences of concatenating images, and the complexity of ConvNet architectures on classification accuracy. The results show that the selection of transformation methods and the sequence of concatenation do not affect the prediction outcome significantly. Surprisingly, the simple structure of ConvNet is sufficient enough for classification as it performed equally well with the complex structure of VGGNet. The results were also compared with other classification methods and found that the proposed framework outperformed other methods in terms of classification accuracy.


This paper was based on a framework for practice and supervision based on 'protective-support and supportive-protection' (PS-SP) that can be used to discuss and plan for practice in a way that maximises the capacity of workers in child protection and welfare (CPW) services to provide support and protection simultaneously. The framework is underpinned by a long-established assumption about social work in child protection and welfare as a socio-legal practice of mediation in the social. The PS-SP framework was initially developed within an ecological context with a focus on networks and networking. In this paper, we developed this framework further, framing practice supervision using four functions of supervision (management, support, development, and mediation) and including a fifth component on safety. We did this alongside a review of related considerations around safety in supervision in general and in child protection and welfare in particular. While noting the important contribution of this work, we identified ongoing gaps for supervision focused on safety when considered within an ecological context. Bearing in mind the well-evidenced stress, challenges, and vicarious nature of child protection and welfare practice, we argued the importance of a wider framework based on PS-SP for supervision and support to manage this complexity with a particular emphasis on 'safety' as a contribution to this. To illustrate our framework and discussion, we referred to a case study throughout. This case study is drawn from a high-profile child abuse inquiry in Ireland over a decade ago. This case was chosen as it demonstrates the complex interplay of needs for support and protection over extended time. We considered how the PS-SP framework may be used in the present (hypothetically) regarding such a case scenario.


Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been established as a very valuable asset for patient monitoring during cardiac surgery. The value of perioperative TEE for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery is less clear. This article reviews the technical aspects of TEE and comments on the potential benefit of using TEE as a monitoring modality apart from cardiac surgery. Based on patient's comorbidities and/or injury pattern, TEE is a fast and minimally invasive approach to obtain important hemodynamic information, especially useful in a hemodynamically unstable patient. However, certain requirements for the use of the technique are necessary, most important the development of sufficient echocardiographic skills by the anesthesiologists. Indications, skill requirements, and possible complications of the technique are reviewed.


With the development of technology, we see more and more possibilities in the methods of conservation and application for traditional culture. Currently, the content in the data base of digital archives information in Taiwan is quite extensive and versatile. It is necessary to study future applications to add to its value. As cultural innovation industry is the trend of economic development of many countries, the distinctive native cultural features and prosperous digitally archived information of cultural instruments in Taiwan are of great value. This study explored the procedure of value-added design on the basis of "digital archives" transformed into "cultural innovation". The research includes two phases. In the first phase, we collected theories of product semantics combined with the analysis of culture distinctiveness in order to create the transforming model of cultural product design. In the second phase, we carried out the design and application to review the possibility of digitally archived cultural instruments as applied to the design.


A simple and quick method for the determination of 14C in ethanol has been developed, using an ultra low-level liquid scintillation counter. I have studied factors influencing the lower limit of detection and have shown that liquor can be measured directly without pretreatment. Results of measurements on Austrian wines are presented and compared with results obtained from tritium measurements. The applicability and limitations of the results to age determination are discussed.


The last decade saw breathtaking advances in the science and technology of heart disease. Fewer patients die from an acute myocardial infarction or acute stroke, or have a sudden death. Thanks to modern technology, people live much longer, but more than half still die of heart disease, mostly chronic. Training programs concentrate on mastery of procedures; the discipline of cardiology has become fragmented into noninvasive, nuclear, invasive, interventional, electrophysiology, heart failure, transplantation, and research. Dying persons expect to receive attention to their spiritual and psychosocial, as well as their physical needs. Ordinary people speak of lack of suffering, no unnecessary interventions that postpone the moment of an inevitable dying, not being a burden on others, and having a sense of control. Their assessment of quality may not match that of doctors who speak in terms of science and technology. Review of the limits of modern technology; understanding of existing laws; the near irrelevance of living wills; the role of the physician in the diagnosis of medical futility; the early indications of depression; and, more importantly, better communication with the patient and his/her loved ones are essential components of the practice of medicine. Cardiologists should differentiate between what should be done and what could be done for their patients.


Purpose: To characterize the state of the evidence for peripheral muscle dysfunction in individuals with interstitial lung disease (ILD).
Method: A scoping study was performed by searching multiple electronic databases for published papers and conference abstracts of any study design that included a measure of peripheral muscle dysfunction and/or structural and metabolic characteristics of muscle. All sub-types of ILD were eligible.
 Result: Forty-five studies representing 2522 individuals with 34 sub-types of ILD were included in this study. Data were charted using descriptive numerical analysis of study characteristics. Peripheral muscle dysfunction was predominantly reflected by reduced volitional isometric strength (17 studies), whereas the evaluation of muscle endurance was rare (2 studies). Volitional muscle force or torque was measured in the quadriceps (14 studies) and handgrip (8 studies), with strength preferentially reduced in the lower limbs. Eight studies measured structural or metabolic characteristics and found evidence of reduced muscle size and oxidative stress. Findings of muscle injury and muscle inflammation (e.g. serum markers, electromyography and muscle biopsies) were reported primarily in individuals with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and connective tissue diseases.
 Conclusions: Reduced volitional muscle strength was the most common finding of peripheral muscle dysfunction in ILD. Further quantification of peripheral muscle dysfunction and identification of structural and metabolic characteristics are needed to target specific interventions and optimize muscle function.


The above mentioned monoclonal antibodies of idiotype IgG 3/Kappa against TMC 120 and TMC 107 strains of M. tuberculosis were prepared by fusion of mouse myeloma line FO cells with splenocytes BALB/c of mice immunized with complex antigens. These were prepared from the bacterial mass previously inactivated with gamma-rays radiation, and applied without mycobacterial adjuvant agent. Species specificity of both monoclonal antibodies was determined by ELISA testing and dot blot test. The potential use of the mentioned preparations consists in species identifying and taxonomy of mycobacteria, mycobacterial antigen purification and prompt TBC diagnosis (serodiagnosis, identifying of specific antigens in pathological materials.


The amount of data emerging from experiments on molecular and protein interactions is rapidly growing. It is of high importance to understand these datasets, putting them together to meaningful pathways describing some aspects of the cell physiology. Currently, there is a big interest in XML representations of protein interaction and molecular pathways. New standards, SBML, PSI MI and BioPAX are under development and it is of high importance to build tools for easy integration and analysis of data represented in these standards. There are currently two main approaches for storage of data represented within XML, one is to base the tools directly on XML while the other is to translate the information into a relational database. In this paper we report on experiments with these approaches for storage and analysis of molecular interaction data represented in the standards. The results give important pointers to the possibility of building easy to use tools


ABSTRACT HIV/AIDS continue to devastate populations worldwide. Recent studies suggest that vaccines that induce beneficial immune responses in the mucosal compartment may improve the efficacy of HIV vaccines. Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5)-based vectors remain a promising platform for the development of effective vaccines. In an effort to improve the efficacy of Ad5-based vaccines, even in the presence of preexisting Ad5 immunity, we evaluated the potential for an Ad5-based HIV vaccine to induce antigen-specific immune responses following sublingual (s.l.) administration, a route not previously tested in regard to Ad-based vaccines. s.l. vaccination with an Ad5-based HIV-Gag vaccine resulted in a significant induction of Gag-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses in both the systemic and the mucosal compartment. We also show that s.l. immunization not only avoided preexisting Ad5 immunity but also elicited a broad repertoire of antigen-specific CTL clones. Additionally, we confirm for the first time that oral delivery of a vaccine expressing a potent Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist can stimulate innate immune responses through induction of cytokines and chemokines and activation of NK cells, NKT cells, and macrophages in vivo. These results positively correlated with improved antigen-specific CTL responses. These results could be achieved both in Ad5-naïve mice and in mice with preexisting immunity to Ad5. The simplicity of the s.l. vaccination regimen coupled with augmentation of TLR-dependent pathways active in the oral cavity makes s.l. delivery a promising method for HIV vaccine development specifically, as well as for many other vaccine applications in general.


The proposed distributed converging overland flow model is utilized to predict surface runoff from three natural agricultural watersheds. The Lax-Wendroff scheme is used to obtain numerical solutions. For determination of the kinematic wave friction relationship parameter a simple relation between the parameter and topographic slope is hypothesized. The simple relation contains two constants which are optimized for each watershed by the Rosenbrock-Palmer optimization algorithm. The model results are in good agreement with runoff observations from these watersheds. It is shown that if the model structure is sound, it will suffice to optimize model parameters on hydrograph peak only even for prediction of the entire hydrograph. The model results suggest that a distributed approach to kinematic wave modeling of watershed surface runoff is potentially promising and warrants further investigation.


Platelets contain and release large amounts of 5-hydroxytryptamine that can influence the function of vascular adrenergic nerves. The immediate effect on neuronal function of low concentrations of the amine is to inhibit norepinephrine release. 5-Hydroxytryptamine may also be accumulated by the same uptake mechanism that reaccumulates norepinephrine into the adrenergic nerve endings. In diseased blood vessels where platelet aggregation occurs, 5-hydroxytryptamine may therby assume an alternative transmitter role, altering the function of the sympathetic nerves.


Amongst other clinical manifestations, patients with the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) cancer syndrome are predisposed to develop kidney cysts, which are considered to be precursor lesions of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Recent evidence has highlighted an unexpected function of the VHL tumour suppressor protein (pVHL) in maintaining the structural integrity of the primary cilium, a microtubule-based cellular antenna important for suppression of uncontrolled proliferation of kidney epithelial cells and cyst formation. Intriguingly, this function of pVHL is directly linked to its capacity to regulate the microtubule cytoskeleton independent of its well-characterized role in the degradation of hypoxia inducible factor alpha (HIFα) subunits. However, loss of pVHL alone does not suffice for a cell to lose the primary cilium. Other pathways need to be additionally inactivated, including one involving glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β). These new findings draw attention to a primary cilium-maintenance network as new territory for pVHL tumour suppressive activity and have implications for understanding the development of kidney pathology in the setting of VHL disease.


In an effort to strengthen services for local immigrants, Catholic organizations throughout Ohio are turning to the newcomers' home countries to learn more about their culture and needs. The outreach has helped these ministries to address the challenges immigrants face and to provide services in a culturally appropriate way. This intensified focus on the newcomers' plight began in earnest in 2001, when three northeastern Ohio dioceses created a collaborative to address the social, pastoral, and legal needs of their "new neighbors". The dioceses established a centrally located site to provide a wide range of services; but, early on, the collaborative recognized that access to health care was a particular challenge for the immigrants. Wanting to fully understand the newcomers' origins before developing health care solutions for them, representatives from the collaborative visited countries from which many immigrants migrate to Ohio. The trips were instructive: The visitors not only learned about the cultural idiosyncrasies of each area they visited; they also discovered how church organizations there developed solutions to their own health care access problems. The Ohio collaborative has used this wisdom to tailor its health care offerings to meet the unique needs of area immigrants. The ongoing relationship between Catholic organizations in the United States and those abroad continues to yield valuable insights that benefit the immigrant community.


An aircraft prototype of the High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS) was flown over Tennessee and northern Alabama during summer 1986. The HIS temperature and dewpoint soundings were examined on two flight days to determine their error characteristics and utility in mesoscale analyses. Random errors were calculated from structure functions while total errors were obtained by pairing the HIS soundings with radiosonde-derived profiles. Random temperature errors were found to be less than 1 C at most levels, but random dewpoint errors ranged from 1 to 5 C. Total errors of both parameters were considerably greater, with dewpoint errors especially large on the day having a pronounced subsidence inversion. Cumulus cloud cover on 15 June limited HIS mesoscale analyses on that day. Previously undetected clouds were found in many HIS fields of view, and these probably produced the low-level horizontal temperature and dewpoint variations observed in the retrievals. HIS dewpoints at 300 mb indicated a strong moisture gradient that was confirmed by GOES 6.7-micron imagery. HIS mesoscale analyses on 19 June revealed a tongue of humid air stretching across the study area. The moist region was confirmed by radiosonde data and imagery from the Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS). Convective temperatures derived from HIS retrievals helped explain the cloud formation that occurred after the HIS overflights. Crude estimates of Bowen ratio were obtained from HIS data using a mixing-line approach. Values indicated that areas of large sensible heat flux were the areas of first cloud development. These locations were also suggested by GOES visible and infrared imagery. The HIS retrievals indicated that areas of thunderstorm formation were regions of greatest instability. Local landscape variability and atmospheric temperature and humidity fluctuations were found to be important factors in producing the cumulus clouds on 19 June. HIS soundings were capable of detecting some of this variability. The authors were impressed by HIS's performance on the two study days.


In this paper we explore how light propagates from thin elements into a volume for viewing. In particular, devices that are typically connected with geometric optics, like parallax barriers, differ in treatment with those that obey physical optics, like holograms. However, the two concepts are often used to achieve the same effect of capturing or displaying a combination of spatial and angular information. This paper attempts to connect the two approaches under a general framework based in ray space, from which insights into applications and limitations of both parallax-based and holography-based systems can be observed. We show that each display form can generate a light distribution that can always be expressed as a rank-1 matrix. Knowledge of this limitation is then discussed in the context of extending the capabilities of current display forms by considering the use of partially coherent light.