Abstract. In the frame of the AlpArray project we analyze teleseismic data from permanent and temporary stations of the greater Alpine region to study seismic discontinuities down to about 140 km depth. We average broadband teleseismic S waveform data to retrieve S-to-P converted signals from below the seismic stations. In order to avoid processing artefacts, no deconvolution or filtering is applied and S arrival times are used as reference. We show a number of north-south and east-west profiles through the greater Alpine area. The Moho signals are always seen very clearly, and also negative velocity gradients below the Moho are visible in a number of profiles. A Moho depression is visible along larger parts of the Alpine chain. It reaches its largest depth of 60 km beneath the Tauern Window. The Moho depression ends however abruptly near about 13° E below the eastern Tauern Window. The Moho depression may represent the mantle trench, where the Eurasian lithosphere is subducted below the Adriatic lithosphere. East of 13° E an important along-strike change occurs; the image of the Moho changes completely. No Moho deepening is found in this easterly region; instead the Moho is updoming along the contact between the European and the Adriatic lithosphere all the way into the Pannonian Basin. An important along strike change was also detected in the upper mantle structure at about 14° E. There, the lateral disappearance of a zone of negative P-wave velocity gradient indicates that the S-dipping European slab laterally terminates east of the Tauern Window in the axial zone of the Alps. The area east of about 13° E is known to have been affected by severe late-stage modifications of the structure of crust and uppermost mantle during the Miocene when the ALCAPA (Alpine, Carpathian, Pannonian) block was subject to E-directed lateral extrusion.


We propose the concept of Tethered Satellite Cluster Systems. The system consists of the satellites connected by tethers, and keeps and changes the formation with active tension/length control of the tether. The purpose of the system is the saving of the thruster fuel required for the coordinated mission and the improvement of the control precision, using tether tension. The system is applied to tethered service satellites, which perform the missions, for example an autonomic inspection, casting, capture, moorage and deorbit of an uncontrolled satellite. In this paper, we treat the rotating motion; satellites rotate on the center of the mass of the system with the formation in same plane. We establish the coordinated control method using tension and thrust. This control method can decrease the fuel consumption of the thruster, for utilizing the tether tension/torque equilibriums. It can also improve the control precision. Moreover, we establish the formation control method without thrust for the transition to the objective circular motion and the system reformation.


Conjugation techniques are central to improving
intracellular delivery of bioactive small molecules. However, tracking
and assessing the overall biological outcome of these constructs
remains poorly understood. We addressed this issue by having
developed a focused library of heterobivalent constructs based on
Rho kinase inhibitors to probe various scenarios. By comparing
induction of a phenotype of interest vs. cell viability vs. cellular uptake,
we demonstrate that such conjugates indeed lead to divergent cellular
outcomes.


This article is considered a certain cut of a student's life, during all period of the training in the high school to understand a problems of a student's life from the point of view of students, and also «to see» a portrait of the modern student: their vital purposes and values, their ideals and priorities, the attitude to the various parties of a modern life.


We investigate the stability of leptonic self-complementarity such that the sum of three mixing angles in the lepton sector is 90 degrees. Current experimental data of neutrino oscillation indicate that the self-complementarity can be satisfied within 3σ ranges of each mixing angle. Thus self-complementarity may be the key to study the flavor physics behind the standard model, and it is important to discuss its stability. We analyze renormalization group equations in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model for the self-complementarity. It is seen that one of the Majorana phases plays an important role for the stability of self-complementarity. We find some stable solutions against quantum corrections at low energy. An effective neutrino mass for the neutrinoless double-beta decay is also evaluated by the use of neutrino parameters giving rise to the stable solutions.


Profit shifting remains a key concern in international tax system debate, but discussions are largely based on aggregate estimates, with less attention paid to individual sectors. Drawing on a novel dataset, we quantify tax avoidance risks in the extractive industries, a sector which is revenue critical for many developing economies. We find that a one percentage point increase in the domestic corporate tax rate has historically reduced sectoral profits by slightly over 3 percent; and the response tends to be more pronounced among mining than among hydrocarbon firms. There is only weak evidence transfer pricing rules contain tax minimization efforts of MNEs in our sample, but interest limitation rules (e.g., thin capitalization or earnings based rules) do reduce the observable extent of profit shifting. Our findings highlight the challenge of taxing income in the natural resource sector and suggest how fiscal regime design might be strengthened.


Eusocial insect societies are defined by the reproductive division of labour, a social structure that is generally enforced by the reproductive dominant or 'queen'. Reproductive dominance is maintained through behavioural dominance in some species as well as production of queen pheromones in others, or a mixture of both. Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is produced by honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens and has been characterised chemically. How QMP acts to repress worker reproduction, and how it has evolved this activity, remains less well understood. Surprisingly, QMP is capable of repressing reproduction in non-target arthropods which have not co-evolved with QMP, are never exposed to QMP in nature, and are up to 530 million years diverged from the honeybee. Here we show that, in Drosophila melanogaster, QMP treatment mimics nutrient limiting conditions, leading to disrupted reproduction. Exposure to QMP induces an increase in food consumption, consistent with that observed in D. melanogaster in response to starvation conditions. This response induces the activation of two checkpoints within the ovary that inhibit oogenesis. The first is the 2a/b ovarian checkpoint in the germarium, which reduces the flow of presumptive oocytes. A stage 9 ovarian checkpoint is also activated, causing degradation of oocytes. The magnitude of activation of both checkpoints is indistinguishable between QMP treated and starved individuals. As QMP seems to trigger a starvation response in an insect highly diverged from honeybees, we propose that QMP originally evolved by co-opting nutrition signalling pathways to regulate reproduction, a key step in the evolution of eusociality.


This article assesses the relationship between Thai and Balinese healing rituals focusing on music and indigenous explanatory models about emotional and cognitive processes. Emphasis is placed on how music and cognitive processes are conceptualised in both historical literature and contemporary interpretive frameworks in two geographically distinct areas of Southeast Asia. Both authors have spent decades observing rituals, performing music, and analysing musical structures. Yet there have been few opportunities to collaborate on a comparison of their findings. This essay will articulate how music is thought to have a direct physiological affect on its participants. The article first examines cross-cultural discourses in the literature that contain theoretical approaches to music and cognition. Then the article describes and compares Thai and Balinese healing rituals that address not only cognitive, but also corporeal and spiritual concepts that relate to broader Southeast Asian approaches to music and the mind.


This article discusses the chronological development of EU's energy security policy and its problems. Because energy security is primarily a responsibility of national governments, the European Union (European Commission in particular) was not able to formulate unified energy policy. But at the same time, due to the lack of natural energy resources, EU member states needed to cooperate in order to increase bargaining power against energy rich regions such as Middle East or Russia. The problem of international negotiation became clear when Russia and Ukraine increased the political tension, and in order to secure supply of natural gas from Russia, EU launched the discussion with Green Paper which resulted the first comprehensive energy policy in 2007. Furthermore, the "Energy 2020", a new policy document suggested the necessity for EU to influence the process of rulesand standard-making to secure the free trade environment for energy resources. However, the division of competence between member states and EU still make it difficult to formulate comprehensive energy policy. Furthermore, dynamic change of international environment such as "Arab Spring" and Russo-Ukraine conflict, and different reactions and interests of member states complicated the EU strategy for energy rich regions. This structural contradiction of EU's energy security policy implies that EU may not be hegemonic power in international arena, but their role as a giant consumer of energy would have a power to shape international energy market.


It has been accepted that separation of low boiling-point gas mixture via hydrate technology has the advantage of operating at around 0℃, and therefore can reduce the refrigerating energy consumption dramatically. It is necessary to study the simulation algorithm for the operation process because this separation technique is still at the stage of theoretical research and has not fulfilled practical industrial application. In this work, a process of hydration and absorption two-tower series operation was simulated by using the non-equilibrium stage approach, which involved hydrate formation kinetic model, hydrate dissociation kinetic model, and mass transfer kinetic model when gas was absorbed in water-in-oil emulsion. The effect of operation parameters of two series towers, such as temperature, pressure on separation efficiency was investigated. The calculation results are of significance for designing separation process for low boiling-point gas mixture via hydrate technology, and can also lay a theoretical foundation for industrial application of this separation technique.


Penicillin G and several semisynthetic penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics are known to cause an interstitial nephritis 1-3 or a hemorrhagiccystitis. 4,5 Interstitial nephritis has been reported most often in association with methicillin, 6.7 but it has also been described following the use of nafcillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, and some of the cephalosporins. 3 Cystitis has been reported only following administration of methicillin. 4 Hematuria following carbenicillin administration has not been generally recognized. 1.8.9 The patient described here had cystic fibrosis with multiple episodes of dysuria, hematuria, and passage of mucus and clots in association with Clinical Course Admission Urinalysis Date Antibiotics Hematuria Rash WBCs/High-power Field (HPF) RBCs/Protein, HPFg/dl 3/30/76 Methicillin, 200 mg/kg/day Carbenicillin, 600 mg/kg/day Gentamicin, 5 mg/kg/day Day 8 1-5 >50 0.05 9/2/76 Carbenicillin, 500 mg/kg/day Day 10 (with Gentamicin, 5 mg/kg/day clots) Oxacillin, 200 mg/kg/day for 9 days, then methicillin, 300 mg/kg/day on day 9 20 >50


Early noninvasive detection of cerebral ischemia is important for fighter pilots as well as in clinical diagnosis. In this paper, a model of focal cerebral ischemia was presented. Bispectrum of EEG signals recorded from ischemic region and normal region after 30 min ischemia was analyzed using the third-order recursion method, which possesses higher frequency resolving ability. It can resolve two closely spaced peaks in the bispectrum and detect the presence or absence of quadratic phase coupling at frequency pairs that are very close to each other. It was found that some characteristics of such bispectrum are very sensitive to focal cerebral ischemia. The maximum bispectrum magnitude of EEG and the weighted center of bispectrum (WCOB) changed sensitively to the different ischemic regions and ischemic stages. The ischemic and normal regions as well as the degree of ischemia can be clearly distinguished by analyzing their bispectrum of EEG. It demonstrates that this method can be used as a quantitative method for the detection of focal cerebral ischemia in the early phase.


The growth or virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli depends on homologous type VII secretion systems, ESX‐1, ESX‐3 and ESX‐5, which export a number of protein effectors across membranes to the bacterial surface and environment. PE and PPE proteins represent two large families of highly polymorphic proteins that are secreted by these ESX systems. Recently, it was shown that these proteins require system‐specific cytoplasmic chaperones for secretion. Here, we report the crystal structure of M. tuberculosis ESX‐5‐secreted PE25–PPE41 heterodimer in complex with the cytoplasmic chaperone EspG5. EspG5 represents a novel fold that is unrelated to previously characterized secretion chaperones. Functional analysis of the EspG5‐binding region uncovered a hydrophobic patch on PPE41 that promotes dimer aggregation, and the chaperone effectively abolishes this process. We show that PPE41 contains a characteristic chaperone‐binding sequence, the hh motif, which is highly conserved among ESX‐1‐, ESX‐3‐ and ESX‐5‐specific PPE proteins. Disrupting the interaction between EspG5 and three different PPE target proteins by introducing different point mutations generally affected protein secretion. We further demonstrate that the EspG5 chaperone plays an important role in the ESX secretion mechanism by keeping aggregation‐prone PE–PPE proteins in their soluble state.


The photoprotective effect of topically applied alpha-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E acetate), a stable derivative of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), and its possible bioconversion to the active antioxidant species (alpha-tocopherol) was examined in skin tissue of female hairless mice (HRS/J) exposed to UV-B irradiation. Our results indicate that topically applied alpha-tocopheryl acetate is absorbed into and retained by skin tissue. Furthermore, skin tissue from UV-B-irradiated animals that received daily topical alpha-tocopheryl acetate treatments contained significantly higher levels (P < 0.001) of alpha-tocopheryl acetate than non-UV-B-irradiated mice that received identical daily topical alpha-tocopheryl acetate treatments. Finally, free alpha-tocopherol levels in skin also were significantly increased (P < 0.001) by topical applications of alpha-tocopheryl acetate and skin levels of free alpha-tocopherol were significantly greater (P < 0.001) in UV-B-irradiated animals that received daily topical alpha-tocopheryl acetate treatments than in non-UV-B-irradiated animals. These results suggest that UV-B irradiation enhances both the absorption of alpha-tocopheryl acetate and its bioconversion to free alpha-tocopherol.


Dialogue policy transfer enables us to build dialogue policies in a target domain with little data by leveraging knowledge from a source domain with plenty of data. Dialogue sentences are usually represented by speech-acts and domain slots, and the dialogue policy transfer is usually achieved by assigning a slot mapping matrix based on human heuristics. However, existing dialogue policy transfer methods cannot transfer across dialogue domains with different speech-acts, for example, between systems built by different companies. Also, they depend on either common slots or slot entropy, which are not available when the source and target slots are totally disjoint and no database is available to calculate the slot entropy. To solve this problem, we propose a Policy tRansfer across dOMaIns and SpEech-acts (PROMISE) model, which is able to transfer dialogue policies across domains with different speech-acts and disjoint slots. The PROMISE model can learn to align different speech-acts and slots simultaneously, and it does not require common slots or the calculation of the slot entropy. Experiments on both real-world dialogue data and simulations demonstrate that PROMISE model can effectively transfer dialogue policies across domains with different speech-acts and disjoint slots.


We describe a robust text-handling component, which can deal with free text in a wide range of formats and can successfully identify a wide range of phenomena, including chemical formulae, dates, numbers and proper nouns. The set of regular expressions used to capture numbers in written form ("sechsundzwanzig") in German is given as an example. Proper noun "candidates" are identified by means of regular expressions, these being then rejected or accepted on the basis of run-time interaction with the user. This tagging component is integrated in a large-scale grammar development environment, and provides direct input to the grammatical analysis component of the system by means of "lift" rules which convert tagged text into partial linguistic structures.


Peritoneal fluid accumulation can be caused by a multitude of factors. Patients with chronic cirrhosis can suffer from recurrent ascites requiring repeat paracentesis for fluid removal and symptom control. A paracentesis is a commonly performed procedure with a low risk profile that can be performed at the bedside by appropriately trained individuals. A large volume paracentesis is often therapeutic and focus should be placed on removing as much fluid as safely tolerated. We present a 57-year old Caucasian male with worsening abdominal distention and recurrent ascites who presented for progressive shortness of breath. Given the large volume of ascites noted, the patient underwent a passive bedside paracentesis with 29 L removed. The patient tolerated the 5-h procedure well without any post-procedure complications, challenging the extent of volume removal during bedside paracentesis.


The parameters for the extraction of an indigenous dyestuff from Lonchocarpus cyanescens leaves and its spectroscopic characterization are discussed. The extraction was achieved by cold maceration in alkaline Na2S2O4.solution. The IR spectra identified the presence of the following active functional groups; υ(O-H) and υ(C-O) stretching of primary and secondary alcohols as well as υ(N-H) and υ(C-N) stretching of an aromatic amine. These functional groups are similar to those associated with synthetic indigo dyes used in dyeing denim jeans. Refinement of the crude dyestuff is achieved by precipitation with acid leaving the noxious principles in solution. The variation of yield of dye with alkalinity is consistent with the dye existing as an insoluble ketal form in the leaves which is reduced with hydrosulfite to a sparingly soluble leuco form. This leuco form is converted to a more soluble salt species by addition of base.


A procedure for computation of the nonlinear refractive index of a gaseous medium from the intensity dependence of the ionization rate is reported. The ionization rate is calculated from Keldysh theory via a Kramers-Kronig transform. Peremolov-Popov-Terent'ev (PPT) theory is analyzed in the perturbative limit of multiphoton ionization for a completely analytical expression for the nonlinear refractive index. The method requires knowledge of only the particle density and the ionization energy of the gas. Example calculations are performed for the inert gases and compared to experimental data and atomic model calculations for the hyperpolarizability of the respective media. Excellent agreement between reference data and the computed values derived from the Kramers-Kronig transform is found in the visible and infrared spectral range. Additionally, higher-order nonlinear refraction is discussed.


Introduction: In the current circumstances, an efficient labour market is the main condition for increasing the country's competitiveness and ensuring the sustainable regional development of its territories. At the same time, owing to some unfavourable external environment and negative tendencies, the development of the domestic labour market remains unsatisfactory, and in some areas is even disastrous. In such conditions, it is necessary to formulate a concept of regulation aiming to overcome the crisis phenomena which hinder the development of the national labour market.Hypothesis of scientific research. Effective formation of the concept of the national labour market regulation in Ukraine has to implement the targeted and competency-based approaches.The aim of this study is to define the architectonics of the concept of the national labour market regulation.Research methods: theoretical analysis – to determine the state of disclosure of the research problem in the economical scientific literature, the study of normative and legal documents in the field of state regulation; comparison, classification, generalization – to define joint characteristics of objects on the basis of processing and interpretation of theoretical sources on the problem of regulation of the labor market.Results: This article presents the definition of "concept" and the purpose of its formation. It reveals the essence of the targeted and competency-based approaches to the formation of the concept of the national labour market state regulation.Conclusions: The harmonious combination of targeted and competency-based approaches is the key to effective developing of the concept of the national labour market state regulation. Within the framework of the targeted approach, it is expedient to use the principle of goal-setting, the implementation of which is the primary stage of the formulation of the main objective of the labour market regulation. Furthermore, effective implementation of the competence of a civil servant and the competencies of the state institutions provides a basis for the competency-based approach.


Putative neuroprotective agents in Huntington's disease may have particular application before brain pathology becomes manifest clinically. If these agents were to be tested in clinical trials, a reliable marker of the burden and rate of progression of pathological change in the pre-clinical group would be needed. The present study investigates whether the Huntington's disease genotype is associated with regional differences in brain structure, particularly differences that could not be predicted from clinical or neuropsychological assessment. A secondary aim is to seek indirect evidence of pathological progression in the form of changes in local tissue volume with age, specific to the Huntington's disease genotype. Formal motor examination, neuropsychological assessment, and T(1)-weighted cerebral MRI were performed in 34 subjects who had undergone predictive genetic testing for Huntington's disease. Clinical and cognitive testing were performed blinded to gene status. A linear discriminant analysis revealed the combination of test scores (the 'optimal clinical score') which best differentiated 18 subjects carrying the Huntington's disease gene mutation (the 'gene-positive' group). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to identify regions of significant main effect of Huntington's disease gene status on grey and white matter volume and regions of significant interaction of gene status with age. In the gene-positive group, there was significant reduction in grey matter volume in the left striatum, bilateral insula, dorsal midbrain and bilateral intra-parietal sulcus relative to 'gene-negative' controls. There was a significant reduction of periventricular white matter volume with age bilaterally in the gene-positive relative to the gene-negative group. Changes remained significant when controlled for differences in optimal clinical score between subjects. This study provides evidence of distributed grey matter pathology and progressive white matter atrophy with age before clinical onset of Huntington's disease. This suggests that VBM may be useful in monitoring cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in brain structure in pre-clinical Huntington's disease and for determining the efficacy of neuroprotective agents.


A common model for discrete event systems is a deterministic finite automaton (DFA). An advantage of this model is that it can be interpreted by domain experts. When observing a real-world system, however, there often is more information than just the sequence of discrete events: the time at which these events occur may be very important. In such a case, the DFA model is too limited. A variant of a DFA that includes the notion of time is called a timed automaton (TA). In this model, each symbol of a word occurs at a certain point in time. The execution of a TA depends not only on the type of symbol occurring, but also on the time that has elapsed since some previous symbol occurrence. We are interested in the problem of identifying such a time dependent system from a data sample. Full paper is published in: Proceedings of the Annual Belgian-Dutch Machine Learning Conference (Benelearn), 2007 See: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a202b4cf-5153-4ad5-b41d-5d0332bf04f2


This study examined the emotions experienced by a team of 12 military personnel during a 2-month Antarctic mountaineering expedition, the strategies these individuals used to manage these emotions, the perceived effectiveness of these strategies, and the impact of such strategies on team dynamics and performance. To address the research aims, participants completed daily diaries with standardized checklists throughout the expedition and took part in pre- and postexpedition semistructured interviews. The data showed that participants experienced a broad range of discrete emotions and reported similar frequency of use of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Surprisingly, 2 maladaptive strategies, acceptance and expressive suppression, were rated as the most effective regulation strategies despite their use being correlated with negative intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes. The results confirm the complex social nature of the emotion process and illuminate our understanding of emotional experiences in performance teams. The findings support the existence of affective linkages between team members and highlight the importance of emotional contagion and labor for intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes.


We explore learning-based approaches for feedback control of a dexterous five-finger hand performing non-prehensile manipulation. First, we learn local controllers that are able to perform the task starting at a predefined initial state. These controllers are constructed using trajectory optimization with respect to locally-linear time-varying models learned directly from sensor data. In some cases, we initialize the optimizer with human demonstrations collected via teleoperation in a virtual environment. We demonstrate that such controllers can perform the task robustly, both in simulation and on the physical platform, for a limited range of initial conditions around the trained starting state. We then consider two interpolation methods for generalizing to a wider range of initial conditions: deep learning, and nearest neighbors. We find that nearest neighbors achieve higher performance. Nevertheless, the neural network has its advantages: it uses only tactile and proprioceptive feedback but no visual feedback about the object (i.e. it performs the task blind) and learns a time-invariant policy. In contrast, the nearest neighbors method switches between time-varying local controllers based on the proximity of initial object states sensed via motion capture. While both generalization methods leave room for improvement, our work shows that (i) local trajectory-based controllers for complex non-prehensile manipulation tasks can be constructed from surprisingly small amounts of training data, and (ii) collections of such controllers can be interpolated to form more global controllers. Results are summarized in the supplementary video: this https URL


<zdoi;10.1097/ALN.0000000000002251> Anesthesiology, V 129 • No 4 808 October 2018 P ERSISTENT pulmonary interstitial emphysema is collection of air in the pulmonary interstitial tissue outside normal air passages. This air accumulation leads to cystic air spaces with hyperinflation of one lung and a mediastinal shift with associated contralateral lung volume loss (chest radiograph, A; computed tomography scan, B). It is a rare pathology seen in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome who have been mechanically ventilated.1 Persistent pulmonary interstitial emphysema can occur in term infants and in those who have not been mechanically ventilated. Persistent pulmonary interstitial emphysema manifests as localized or diffuse forms, the latter carrying a poor prognosis. Differential diagnosis includes cystic adenomatoid malformation, lobar emphysema, diaphragmatic hernia, or bronchogenic cyst.1 Nonsurgical management includes selective bronchial occlusion, selective ventilation, steroids and/or surfactant, and lateral decubitus positioning with the upper good lung receiving most of the ventilation as compared to the dependent pathologic lung.1,2 Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has been used to ventilate patients while allowing lung healing. Indications for surgical intervention include: persistent respiratory distress, recurrent infection, pneumothorax, inability to wean from mechanical ventilation, and definitive diagnosis when there is concern for a more pathologic lesion.1 Anesthetic management consists of preoperative fluid resuscitation and evaluation of acid base status due to risk of respiratory acidosis. Induction can be achieved by sevoflurane or propofol or both followed by nondepolarizing muscle relaxation. Gentle positive pressure ventilation to avoid further inflation and gas trapping in the diseased lung is important. An arterial line may be indicated. Endobronchial intubation can be used to achieve one lung ventilation. Continued postoperative respiratory support versus extubation is individualized. Postoperative analgesia is provided with parentor nurse-controlled analgesia.3


The Names from the New World in Czech Texts on Geographical Discoveries
from the 16th Century
The first Czech texts about new discoveries were the Czech issue of Sebastian
Munster's Cosmography, translated by Zikmund from Puchov, and Mikulas Bakalar's
Spis o nových zemiech a o Novem svete. In these two old prints, there are many names
from the New World which were at all not known before. Since Christopher Columbus
discovered the New World in 1492, there were a lot of other people, such as Ferdinand
Magellan or Amerigo Vespucci, who tried to reach more unknown lands and explore
them. All of them were widely spoken about in 16th century Europe, especially at
West-European courts and in big cities. Such small countries as the Kingdom of
Bohemia had hardly any information about these phenomena, which changed the history
and the way of thinking. In these texts the names describe objects mainly in the area of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, North and South America, Indian Ocean, Oceania and Indochina.
According to traditional linguistic theories, words and expression which are to be
incorporated into the system of a new language must be fitted into its grammatical
structure. Thus, they are a very useful material which shows how these new words
were adapted into the Czech grammatical system on each level: phonetic, morphological
and syntactic. The analysis of these lexical items will enable us to present
linguistic changes both in speech and writing. Some of these words were fully adapted,
some of them only partially, the other ones in a small degree.
The other aim of the research is to examine the relation between language and
culture regarding to completely new and unknown things. The names from the New
World in the analyzed texts are proper names which can be classified as exonyms. An
exonym is a domestic form of a foreign geographical name. Exonyms, as all proper
names, have their onymic functions, and there is always one dominant function which
refers to the receivers of the communication process. The 16th century Czech texts on
the New World were created in order to inform people about the new phenomena
which were to change their cognition.


We report the NMR assignments for the main-chain 13C, 15N, and 1H resonances (1HN, 1H alpha, 15N alpha, 13C alpha, 13CO) for the 19.5-kDa catalytic domain of human stromelysin-1, a zinc endoproteinase thought to be involved in pathologic tissue degradation. The assignments were predominantly obtained from triple-resonance three-dimensional NMR experiments using double-labeled (15N/13C) samples. The secondary structure of the molecule was determined from analysis of 3D 15N-resolved NOESY experiments. It was found to consist of a five-stranded mixed beta-sheet with four parallel and one antiparallel strand and three helices. The topological arrangement of the secondary structure elements of stromelysin catalytic domain is remarkably similar to that found for astacin, a Zn proteinase for which the tertiary structure was recently determined from X-ray diffraction data [Bode et al. (1992) Nature 358, 164-167].


In this paper, we study the space speckle motion induced by deformation of the object surface. According to the Fresnel-Kirchhoff Integration, three fundamental equations of the speckle motion induced by deformation of the surface are obtained. From these fundamental equations and those obtained in ref. [1], a general formula of the speckle motion is derived. The experimental results are in agreement with this formula. The physical explanation of these fundamental equations is presented.


Jernang is one of the wild trees that are from the family of rattan with the genus of Daemonorops. The objective of this research is to know the availability, user, harvest, and conservation of the Jernang as well as the barrier faced by the jernang hunters, jernang harvest, and jernang conservation. This study is the done using descriptive research methodology. Respondents were chosen by purposive sampling. They were chosen with special considerations such as they must be the jernang hunters or the people who well understand the jernang. The data were collected through interview and participant observation and then analyzed descriptively. The research findings showed that the respondents still hunted the jernang in the forest and they sold to the buyers in their villages. Jernang fruits were processed by extracting them to get their substances. The conservation efforts have many threats due to the expansion of the palm plantation. The lack of people knowledge of good jernang for the seed is also one of the barriers of conservation.


The hyperfine lines in the electron resonance spectra of radicals in solution can show marked variations in width, and each line may itself be a sum of Lorentzian components with different relaxation times. In radicals of spin ½, where the anisotropy of the g tensor and the nuclear hyperfine tensors is the dominant cause of relaxation, a theory is given for finding a certain average width of each composite hyperfine line in terms of the inner products of the tensors. The width varies both linearly and quadratically with nuclear spin quantum numbers in a way which agrees qualitatively with previous work by Kivelson. Spectra of several aromatic radicals agree with the theory. The calculations use operator methods based on Bloch's master equation for the spins. In the simpler problem of relaxation by dipolar electron spin-spin coupling in triplet, quartet, or higher spin states the operator method gives a complete description of the composite line shapes.


Collagenofìbrotic (collagen type III) glomerulopathy (CG) is a rare nonimmune-mediated glomerular disease. It is characterized by massive deposition of organized collagen type III fibers, which is localized in the mesangial and subendothelial glomerular areas and associated with increased serum levels of procollagen type III peptide. Association with systemic diseases and malignancies is extremely rare. Herein, we present a case of a nine-year-old girl, known case of type I diabetes mellitus, who presented with fever, nephrotic range proteinuria, generalized edema, and hypertension. Clinical examination did not show nail abnormalities or bone abnormalities. Renal biopsy revealed mesangial expansion and remarkable narrowing and obliteration of the glomerular capillaries by pale, amorphous material. Immunohistochemical study demonstrated diffuse linear glomerular capillary and tubular basement membrane staining for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and albumin. Ultrastructural examination identified massive mesangial and sub-endothelial deposition of dense frayed, curvilinear banded fibers with characteristic features of type III collagen. The patient was diagnosed to have combined CG and diabetic nephropathy (DN). This is the first report of CG in association with diabetic changes in renal biopsy. In this report, we describe the clinicopathological characteristics of this disease, review CG in pediatric population, and explore its association with DN.


Nigeria remains the largest economy in Africa and the 26 th largest in the world with GDP of $510 billion in 2013. To maintain the position, Nigeria must accelerate her industrial productivity by building new links with the rest of the global economy.  The cassava processing industry is one of the sectors in the Nigerian economy that can help in such competition.  Since the 1980s, Nigeria has remained the global leader in cassava production with an annual production of 45 million metric tonnes. However, the utilization of cassava has largely explored traditional technologies for processing of its roots into human food such as garri, fufu, and flour. Through the application of STI, Nigeria's cassava processing industry can create substantial new business opportunities that can bring Nigeria to the global market arena. This paper therefore observes some potential paths that are useful indicators of how Nigeria's economic growth and social progress may unfold through the productivity of the industry.  The conclusion here is that cassava needs to be upgraded into primary industries such as starch, ethanol, chips, and flour in order to provide an industrial base for further diversification of its national economy. Moreso, policy compliance and implementations would help to promote the production and marketing of cassava industrial products for global competitiveness. Key words: Cassava processing, Competition, Global market, Technologies, Innovation


A wireless communication apparatus includes a first module that stores a first key used to encrypt and decrypt communication contents, a second module that stores a second key used to encrypt and decrypt the first key, the first key being encrypted in accordance with a public key encryption scheme, and a connection bus that connects the first module and the second module to each other. Each of the first module and the second module include an encryption processing unit that encrypts and decrypts information, which is transmitted and received via the connection bus, by using a third key that is different from the first key and the second key. Both the first module and the second module obtain an operation mode indication from their memory and, if a non-secure mode is indicated, they respectivelly delete the third key and the second key together with the third key. In addition the second module also deletes the third and the second key when it decrypts encrypted information received from the first module and the decrypted information indicates a non-secure mode.


The shear center of cold formed steel beam C-section is not at the same point as that of its centre of gravity. Therefore, applying bending load on this section will technically produce torque along them. In order to reduce the excessive deformation as well as to reduce the normal stress due to the warping moments produced, the installation of stiffeners in the form of steel plates in longitudinal direction at a certain distance is proposed. In order to study the above structural behavior, this research is involving two stages, including analytical and experimental of the bending beam element model with warping torsion. During the analytical stage, longitudinal stiffeners are modeled as an unbraced fixed torque, where the derivative of the rotation angle is restrained, and the rotational is released. This element model is also compared with the beam model as a mesh of flat shells. While during the experimental stage, the influence of longitudinal stiffeners is investigated by placing the stiffeners at varying distances and dimensions. Additionally, unsymmetrical bending load with utmost half of normal stress due to combined bending and warping torsion, close to the allowable stress, is applied. The result shows that, generally, the installation of longitudinal stiffeners, either placed evenly along the beam or at the ends only, will increase the strength and stiffness of the beam. Moreover, longitudinal stiffeners installed evenly contribute strength and stiffness more than that is placed on the ends, if the same weight of stiffeners is installed. Meanwhile, the comparison of analytical results with the model of bending and warping torsion elements of the experimental results shows good accuracy. The accuracy of beam model as a mesh of flat shell is better and more conservative compared to the experimental results. Finally, the contribution of this research is that only by installing two longitudinal stiffener plates on the both ends, with a weight of 3.9% of weight of the beam, both the strength and the stiffness are increased up to 35.9% and 38.3% respectively. This is very useful to solve the case where many purlins deformed excessively due to unsymmetrical bending loads.


Background and Aim: In today's digital world, people with type 1 and 2 diabetes turn to peers on social media to exchange information and support. However, little is known about what the online sharing of diabetes-related information implies for the clinical encounter. This study examines how information that stems from social media is discussed in clinical encounters between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and people with diabetes (PWD) .
 Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 PWD aged 22-76 (type 1: n= 17, type 2: n=8) and HCPs (nurses n=9, medical doctors n=7, dieticians n=3) . The participants were recruited from the diabetes outpatient care setting in Denmark. Two researchers independently developed a thematic coding framework that was compared, revised, and then applied to analyze each interview. Subsequently, overarching themes were identified across the whole data set.
 Results: The first theme suggests that HCPs tend to have a 'blind spot' towards information that stems from social media: Most HCPs have not asked whether PWD retrieve information from social media and most PWD present information that is accessed on social media without naming their source. The second theme reflects that clinical dialogues about online information rest upon trustful relationships: PWD find online peer exchanges valuable and request for HCPs to acknowledge this. Still, PWD navigate large amounts of information and treatment advice online, and while PWD may seek to discuss their information in clinical encounters, initiating these dialogues is sensitive to the reactions of HCPs.
 Discussion: The results suggest that HCPs should encourage curious dialogues about how PWD retrieve diabetes-related information. This serves for HCPs to learn what PWD gain from peers online and for HCPs to be able to offer their expertise to support PWD who are navigating large flows of information and advice online.

 E.M.Kjærulff: None. M.A.Nexo: None. U.Bjerre-christensen: None. H.Langstrup: None.

 Innovation Fund Denmark (Ref.no. 9163-00016B)


Bump bonding is a superior assembly alternative compared to conventional wire bond techniques. It offers a highly reliable connection with greatly reduced parasitic properties. The Flip Chip on Board (FCOB) procedure is an especially attractive packaging method for applications requiring a large number of connections at moderate pitch. This paper reports on the successful demonstration of FCOB assembly based on solder bumps down to 250 μm pitch using a SUSS MA8 mask aligner at Fermilab. The assembly procedure will be described, microscopic cross sections of the connections are shown, and first measurements on the contact resistance are presented.


This article introduces the Transitive Consistency Score (TCS) web server; a service making it possible to estimate the local reliability of protein multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) using the TCS index. The evaluation can be used to identify the aligned positions most likely to contain structurally analogous residues and also most likely to support an accurate phylogenetic reconstruction. The TCS scoring scheme has been shown to be accurate predictor of structural alignment correctness among commonly used methods. It has also been shown to outperform common filtering schemes like Gblocks or trimAl when doing MSA post-processing prior to phylogenetic tree reconstruction. The web server is available from http://tcoffee.crg.cat/tcs.


The author examines the relationship between education and occupational status for immigrants and natives in the United States by analyzing the short-term occupational mobility of selected members of the 1965-1970 immigrant cohort. The effects of race ethnicity age and family and marital status on this relationship are considered. The relationship between short-term mobility and the emigration of the foreign-born from the United States is also studied (SUMMARY IN FRE SPA) (ANNOTATION)


We study the low-temperature limit of warm inflation in a hilltop model. This limit remains valid up to the end of inflation, allowing an analytic description of the entire inflationary stage. In the weak dissipative regime, if the kinetic density of the inflaton dominates after inflation, low-scale inflation is attained with Hubble scale as low as 1 GeV. In the strong dissipative regime, the model satisfies the observational requirements for the spectral index with a mild tuning of the model parameters, while also overcoming the eta-problem of inflation. However, there is some danger of gravitino overproduction unless the particle content of the theory is large.


In this paper a new family of three dimensional (3D) non-Keplerian orbits is produced by using a high performance solar sail. A sailcraft departs from Earth orbit in the ecliptic plane to accomplish a periodic trajectory with orbital angular momentum varying four times over one period. Such a new kind of orbit is referred to as a "multi-reversal orbit". It is symmetrical with respect to the plane which contains the Sun-perihelion line. Such a good property benefits the calculations and reduces the simulation effort. As a preliminary design, an ideal solar sail is adopted as well as a 3D dynamic model in the heliocentric inertial frame. In order to find the minimum periodic orbits, the problem is addressed in an optimal control framework solved by an indirect method. Two typical 3D multireversal orbits are obtained with different orbital constraints. The quasiheliostationary condition near its two aphelion points, which are suitable for insitu observations, is discussed. Its capability to obtain rectilinear trajectories not in the ecliptic plane is also demonstrated using numerical simulations. A comparison between these two typical orbits is conducted to show more details about this new orbit. Differences between the 3D multi-reversal orbit and double angular momentum reversal orbit are given to fully present the advantages of the multi-reversal concept. As a result of its attractive mission scenarios this new kind of orbit could enhance the development of sail technologies although the sail performance is beyond the current capabilities.


A direct adaptive tuning strategy is proposed for model predictive controllers. Parameter tuning is essential for a satisfactory control performance. Various tuning methods are proposed in the literature which can be categorised as heuristic, numerical and analytical methods. The proposed tuning methodology is based on an analytical model predictive control tuning approach for plants described by first-order plus dead time models. For a fixed tuning scheme, the tuning performance deteriorates in dealing with unknown or time varying plants. To overcome this problem, an adaptive tuning strategy is utilised. It is suggested to employ a discrete-time model reference adaptive control with recursive least squares estimations for controller tuning. The proposed method is also extended to multivariable systems. The stability and convergence of the proposed strategy is proved using the Lyapunov approach. Finally, simulation and experimental studies are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.


This contribution addresses an alternative lithographic technique for the tailored fabrication of rotationally symmetric meso- and microscale optical components. A variable ring-shaped light distribution is created by an axicon-pair based zoom-concept and can be used for the manufacturing of single optical components and array elements as well. First, design considerations of the basic axicon system and the achievable system characteristics are discussed. In particular, minimum and maximum ring diameter depending on axicon angle variations and displacement distance of employed axicons as well as potential deviations from the telecentricity condition are considered. Additionally, further aspects concerning the system implementation are presented, e.g. the achievable resolution which is dependent on the entrance pinhole. Finally, the performance of the system is presented by demonstrating the fabrication of exemplary meso- and microscale structures.


Testing is the essential process to make sure and guarantee the functionality and quality of a software based on several parameters and metrics. There are many kinds of testing, unit testing, functional testing, regression testing, etc. But for functional testing itself, testers have to options, manual testing or automation testing using test scripts, but due to market's demand for stability and effetivity of software, it is not possible through manual testing, testers prefer to do automation testing. To do automation testing in a software, testers need software testing tool or test automation framework to execute test to make it more effective and fast, there are some parameters that it takes to measure how good a software testing tool compare to another software testing tools. One of the parameters is Tool Usability. In this research paper, authors will discuss and compare software testing tools based on their platforms using Tool Usability Metrics, and decide which the best software testing tool in each platforms based on Tool Usability Metrics.


Objective To report the in vivo laser confocal microscopy findings of corneas with keratoconus, with special attention to abnormality of Bowman's layer and sub-Bowman's fibrous structures (Kobayashi-structures [K-structures]). Methods Sixteen keratoconic eyes in 8 consecutive patients with keratoconus (4 males, 4 females, mean age, 41.1 years) were included in this study. Slit-lamp biomicroscopic photos were taken with or without fluorescein staining. The existence of anterior corneal mosaic (ACM) after eyelid rubbing under fluorescein staining was documented. In vivo laser confocal microscopic examinations were performed for all patients in both the central cone and the peripheral cornea to examine the existence of K-structures. Results According to the Amsler–Krumeich scale, the eyes were graded as follows: stage 1 (n=3), stage 2 (n=1), stage 3 (n=1), and stage 4 (n=11). ACM was observed in 7 eyes (61.1%) in the cone area and 16 eyes (100%) in the peripheral cornea among all keratoconic eyes enrolled in this study. In addition, K-structures were observed in the 7 eyes (61.1%) and 16 eyes (100%) in the peripheral cornea among all keratoconic eyes. The presence of the K-structures was completely matched (100%) with the presence of ACM in both the central cone and the peripheral cornea. In 11 eyes with stage 4 keratoconus, ACM and K-structure was absent in 9 eyes (81.8%) in the cone area. On the contrary, in 5 eyes with mild-to-moderate keratoconus (grade 1 to 3), ACM and K-structure was present in all eyes (100%) in the cone area. The absent ratio of ACM and K-structures in the cone area was significantly higher in stage 4 severe keratoconus compared to mild-to-moderate keratoconus (grade 1 to 3) (Fisher, P=0.005). Conclusion The existence of ACM and K-structures in both the central cone and the peripheral cornea showed perfect accord in patients with keratoconus, indicating a strong association of ACM and K-structures in patients with keratoconus. With the progress of the keratoconus, it seemed that ACM and K-structure progressively disappeared, suggesting Bowman's layer abnormalities due to keratoconus. Further study in larger groups of patients with keratoconus is required to fully understand the significance of ACM/K-structures in keratoconic eyes and their association with Bowman's layer.


This article presents findings from a research study that examined the impact of a staff education programme on aggression as displayed by people with dementia living in residential aged care. The staff education programme was designed to change staff attitudes and perceptions towards their care management of the person with dementia. A simple interrupted time series, with the resident acting as his/her own comparison, was used to measure residents' aggressive behaviour both before and after the education intervention — Emotional Responses as Quality Indicators (ERIC). Forty-three residents and 85 staff were involved in the study. Staff attitudes to their work were assessed before and six weeks after the education intervention using the Attitude to Elderly Severely Mentally Infirm Care Scale. Findings indicate that people with dementia display cues about impending physical aggression, but such cues are often ignored by staff, as they may not see or understand anger as a legitimate human emotion within the context of the disease process.


to desired patterns (not discussing who desires what), though it has ever been conditioned by prevailing folkways. There are institutionalists who believe that institutions may be rationally controlled, though in the past they have been governed by coeval mores. We have had classical economists who appear to have deemed the &dquo;economic man&dquo; immune to mores. It is a challenge to reconciliation of contemporary schools that Sumner, who developed the


Abstractp-type ZnTe films were grown on a sputtered ZnO layer by using pulsed laser deposition in a nitrogen atmosphere. As the growth temperature was increased from 220 to 320 °C, hole concentrations in the ZnTe films decreased significantly from 1.3 × 1018 to 1.4 × 1016 cm−3 while the hole mobility increased slightly. The film growth at higher temperatures resulted in the loss of p-type behavior in the ZnTe films and on a deterioration in the film's crystallinity. The degradation of crystal quality and p-type characteristics of ZnTe are most likely due to instable nitrogen bonding in ZnTe at high temperatures and to the large lattice mismatch of ∼25% between the ZnTe (111) and the ZnO (0001) crystal planes.


The process of sound propagation in a saturated porousmediumwith ideal gas behaviorwas studied inside the pores under the boundary layer approximations assumptions. It is foundthat themainthree parameters that governs the propagation process are: the Darcy number, Da i€½ K/L, shear wave number, S i€½ L nu/i and the porosity, a. The propagation process is going under isentropic condition and the sound disturbanceisundermono-frequencyandharmonicconditions. It is found that the increasing of porosity, a, increases attenuations and decreases phase shift for the both the forward and backward soundwaves; this is due to unfavorable acousticwave propagation in plain mediumlimits.The effect of increasingDarcynumber, Da, is to increase attenuation and increase phase shift velocities; this is also due tomovement of the porous mediumtoplainmediumlimitbyremovingsolidmatrix. It is also found that as the fluid flowvelocities inside solidmatrix is increased the attenuationand phase shift of the forward acoustic soundwaves are increased and decreased for backward acoustic soundwaves.


Rational use of Rasayana therapy, in the management of HIV infected individuals, could potentially stabilize the destructive control mechanisms, by modulating the psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune axis. The objective of the present study has been to determine the short-term effects of Ranahamsa Rasayanaya (RR) in HIV infected patients. A total of 27 patients with documented HIV infection were randomly assigned to two groups, Group A – 5 g of RR twice daily with cow's milk and sugar. Group B – Only routine modern therapy was continued, if any they were taking, including highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). Absolute CD4+ T-cell and total lymphocyte counts were measured in these patients, registered under Group A. Only 21 participants completed the study protocol (In Group A, 15 patients and in Group B, 6 patients). Initial mean CD4+ T-cell count was 304.50 ± 43.36 cells/microliter, which increased to 430.44 ± 66.01 cells/microliter by 41.36% (P<0.05), measured among 9 patients out of 15, who received RR in Group A. The RR seemed to be a safer adjuvant in people with HIV infection with respect to absolute CD4+ T-cell count over a 90 days treatment.


In this study provided the opportunity to create a coherent general perspective towards research trends and basic studies in the literature, especially about "bread" and "sourdough". The objective of this study is to analyze the evolution of trends in research topics in different countries and across the years (from 1989 to March 2021) in the literature on bread and sourdough by means of a term map analysis. In this regard, the present study was designed to reveal the hot topics. A total of 338 scientific papers were retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS) between 1989 and March 2021. VOSviewer software program was used to visualize these articles. 275 of these 338 articles consist of documents written in the field of "Food Science Technology". The author with the most articles was Gobbetti M. It was found out that the most contributing publication to the field was the article entitled "Impact of sourdough on the texture of bread". Italy stands out in studies compared to other countries, with the most published author is Italian. It was observed that studies on bread and yeast increased over the years with the advancement of technology and that different studies were carried out on bread and sourdough.


This dissertation focuses on the development of a digital transceiver system for a dual-band, polarimetric radar, which is to form part of the NeXtRAD multistatic radar. NeXtRAD is being developed as an instrument for research into the behaviour of clutter and targets as observed by multistatic radars. The Pentek Cobalt model 71621 software defined radio interface was procured for use as the digital transceiver in the system. The goal was to develop the software needed to use this product as the digital transceiver in a prototype version of the NeXtRAD active node, and to ensure that it could be readily integrated with other subsystems in the final system. The active node is essentially a monostatic pulse-doppler radar. Laboratory tests of the transceiver showed that it was possible to generate and digitize pulsed waveforms at a 125 MHz intermediate frequency which is used by the existing receiver exciter in the system. After extensive laboratory testing and development, phase coherent waveform generation and multichannel digitization was achieved. A low transmit power version of the active node was constructed and tested at both operating frequencies. Equipment used in the testing and development of the digital transceiver included laboratory signal generators, spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes. The digital transceiver was able to function at pulse repetition rates exceeding 2 kHz, with a single transmit channel and three receive channels active. The lowpowered monostatic prototype system was constructed to test the digital transceiver using a receiver exciter subsystem, RF amplifiers and antennas. This prototype radar was used to take measurements of targets at ranges below 300 m and successfully detected reflections from large structures. Cars and pedestrian traffic were detected by their doppler shifts at both Land X-band frequencies. The detection of moving and stationary targets confirmed the suitability of the digital transceiver for use in the envisioned multistatic radar system.


Today, many schools have computer. Nevertheless, school uses computer for extracurricular, practicum, and even just for "decoration". The computer has not been used maximally in the learning of mathematics. Whereas, various research have shown that the result of computer using in the learning mathematic better than without computer.


A practical gas sensing system utilizing absorption spectrum scanning techniques was developed. Using the narrow-band transmission of a fiber tunable filter (TOF) and wavelength modulation technique, the so-called cross-sensing effects of the traditional spectrum absorption based gas sensor were reduced effectively and thus the target gas was detected sensitively and selectively. In order to reduce the effects of nonlinearity of TOF on the measurement results and improve the system stability in operation, the reflection spectrum of a reference FBG was monitored and employed to control the modulation region and center of TOF wavelength precisely. Moreover, a kind of weak signal detecting circuits was developed to detect the weak response signal of the system with high sensitivity. The properties of the proposed system were demonstrated experimentally by detection of acetylene. Approximate linear relationships between the system responses and the input acetylene concentrations were demonstrated by experiments. The minimum detectable acetylene of 5 x 10(-6), with signal-noise ratio of 3, was also achieved by experiments.


The Alliance for the Sustainable Development of Agriculture and the Rural Milieu in the Wider Caribbean is a forum to enable dialogue and the creation of a common vision and agreed goals and objectives for agricultural and rural development in the Caribbean. The Conference of Heads of Government (CHG) authorized Mr. Bharat Jagdeo, President of Guyana, to launch the Jagdeo Initiative on the development and implementation of a process that would result in the resurgence of agricultural potential in member countries, individually and collectively. Through this Initiative ten major key Binding Constraints on agricultural development in the Caribbean have been identified, and corresponding remedial actions required at the national and regional levels have been prescribed. Examples of constraints and remedial actions that would assist in the combat of invasive species include the following: Constraint No. 1: Limited Financing and Inadequate New Investments; remedial actions: (a) establish an Agricultural Modernization Fund (AMF), and (b) define CARICOM's Agri-Food Needs at 2005 to 2015 to identify investment opportunities (incl. tourism); Constraint No. 2: Deficient and uncoordinated risk management measures including Praedial Larceny; remedial actions: (a) operate a disaster fund within the AMF, and (b) support mandatory farmer and fresh produce trader registration; Constraint No. 4: Outdated and inefficient Agriculture Health and Food Safety Systems; remedial actions: (a) provide funds from AMF to operationalise CAHFSA and national agencies or systems, (b) strengthen the legislative and regulatory trade framework through establishment of CAHFSA and National Agencies or Systems, and (c) collective financing of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) protocols to improve industry competitiveness.


Morgenthaler and Rosenfeld gave the first formal definition of digital surfaces [1]. Kong and Roscoe embedded digital spaces to continuous spaces to show the intuitive meaning of Morgenthaler-Rosenfeld's surfaces [2]. Reed and Rosenfeld discussed the recognition algorithms for digital surfaces [3]. Chen and Zhang considered an intuitive and simple definition of digital manifolds in case of direct adjacency in digital spaces [4-5]. This note continues the task in [2] and [4-5]. This note will simplifier some concepts used in [2] and extended some concepts used in [4-5]. First, we continue to study all cases of (α,β)-surfaces and eliminate some trivial and overlapping cases. Among nine types of digital surfaces, there are only two useful: (6,26)-surfaces and (18,6)-surfaces. We will develop or modify three algorithms for the three definitions in [1], [2], and [5], respectively. Because some visually true digital surface (or surface points) is not included in any of (α,β)-surfaces (or surface points), we will give a more general definition for digital surface in both direct and indirect adjacency. In order to develop a fast algorithm for real surface tracking, a quasi-digital-surface is defined even through sometimes the definition is weak in terms of mathematics.


This article deals with the figure of 'tutorial' as it is classically used in university contexts, which is different from other tutorials of a pedagogical nature. The study is about the 'academic tutorial' as a result of the production of knowledge as an exclusive effect of cognizance and the ties between the tutor and the student. A diachronic study was carried out in order to search for the antecedents of this figure. A synchronic study was also carried out, based on documents and interviews to participants in tutorials at the Universidad de la Republica (UdelaR). Keybords: Tutorial. Teaching. University.


Rett syndrome, a serious neurodevelopmental disorder, has been associated with an altered expression of different synaptic-related proteins and aberrant glutamatergic and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission. Despite its severity, it lacks a therapeutic option. Through this work we aimed to define the relationship between MeCP2 and GABAA.-A1 receptor expression, emphasizing the time dependence of such relationship. For this, we analyzed the expression of the ionotropic receptor subunit in different MeCP2 gene-dosage and developmental conditions, in cells lines, and in primary cultured neurons, as well as in different developmental stages of a Rett mouse model. Further, RNAseq and systems biology analysis was performed from post-mortem brain biopsies of Rett patients. We observed that the modulation of the MeCP2 expression in cellular models (both Neuro2a (N2A) cells and primary neuronal cultures) revealed a MeCP2 positive effect on the GABAA.-A1 receptor subunit expression, which did not occur in other proteins such as KCC2 (Potassium-chloride channel, member 5). In the Mecp2+/− mouse brain, both the KCC2 and GABA subunits expression were developmentally regulated, with a decreased expression during the pre-symptomatic stage, while the expression was variable in the adult symptomatic mice. Finally, the expression of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor-related synaptic proteins from the postmortem brain biopsies of two Rett patients was evaluated, specifically revealing the GABA A1R subunit overexpression. The identification of the molecular changes along with the Rett syndrome prodromic stages strongly endorses the importance of time frame when addressing this disease, supporting the need for a neurotransmission-targeted early therapeutic intervention.


Cleaning duplicate data is a major problem that persists even though many works have been done to solve it, due to the exponential growth of data amount treated and the necessity to use scalable and speed algorithms. This problem depends on the type and quality of data, and differs according to the volume of data set manipulated. In this paper we are going to introduce a novel framework based on extended fuzzy C-means algorithm by using topic ontology. This work aims to improve the OLAP querying process over heterogeneous data warehouses that contain big data sets, by improving query results integration, eliminating redundancies by using the extended classification algorithm, and measuring the loss of information.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a resonant controller into a PI-P control configuration (PI-P+Resonant controller). The design of this controller is conducted for inverter operation in island mode within the context of microgrids The main PI-P control is avoid that large control signal causing the saturation phenomena in the systems. The Resonant controller allows providing high gain at the frecuency of the harmonics, in order to mitigate these harmonics. If both controller are combiate (PI-P-Resonant controllers) turns out to be an adequate solution to reduce total armonic distortion in the output voltage (THDv) of a single-phase inverter due to nonlinear loads.


In this study, we derive a measure of hope from the Rorschach. Drawing on an integrative approach to hope, we identify six Rorschach variables, representing two dimensions each of: interpersonal perceptions, coping resources, and goal engagement. We empirically validate these variables against theoretically linked measures of attachment, coping, and mastery. We propose a Rorschach State Hope Index. To illustrate one potential benefit of this new measure, we apply the Hope Index retrospectively to an individual who died by suicide despite a relatively low score on the existing Suicide Constellation of the Comprehensive System.


Understanding preservice teachers' thinking styles and dispositions and how these are related to positive changes in their teacher behaviors provide valuable information for teacher preparation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between preservice teachers' critical-thinking dispositions and three thinking styles (judicial, legislative, and executive) and their behavior change in a computer simulation. 178 preservice teachers participated in this study. Their interactive teaching experiences were measured via the CS-TGCTS simulation. The findings in this study suggest that preservice teachers with a high level of critical-thinking dispositions and those with judicial or legislative thinking styles are analytical and reflective vis A-vis their teaching practice and, as a consequence, they experienced great behavior change, whereas those with executive styles did not exhibit significant behavior change at the end of the simulated teaching.


Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the regulation of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF 1) secretions; GH and IGF 1 in turn significantly influence the use of nutrients in humans and animals. Fasting, and caloric or protein restriction increase circulating values of GH and decrease those of IGF 1. These findings strongly suggest peripheral growth hormone resistance. Mechanisms accounting for this GH refractoriness could be a marked reduction in GH receptors, a decrease in binding of GH to its receptor, or post-receptor phenomena. Peripheral refractoriness to IGF 1 has also been described during caloric intake restriction. Metabolic effects of GH and IGF 1 are strongly dependent on a protein anabolic mechanism, and modifications of circulating levels of these hormones could be explained as an adaptation to the nutritional microenvironment of the cells. Because of the potent anabolic effects of GH and IGF 1 on protein metabolism, several authors have proposed treating severe catabolic states with GH or IGF 1. In humans both hormones seem to enhance protein anabolism but only for short periods. Secondary effects are mainly hypoglycemia with IGF 1 and hyperglycemia with GH. The combination of GH + IGF 1 could be a suitable approach to obtain a synergistic effect on protein metabolism and achieve normal blood glucose concentrations.


This article argues that the drafters of the Companies Act, 2008 largely succeeded in their stated objective of providing for 'equitable and efficient amalgamations, mergers and takeovers of companies'. The authors do, however, point out a few drafting idiosyncrasies and ambiguities which may require further judicial refinement in order for those provisions to be effective as intended. While retaining the basic structure of pre-existing South African takeover law, the new Act includes some new innovations in company law (largely drawn from foreign experience but tailored for the specific South African situation), which should enhance the objective of balancing the encouragement of economic activity and prudent risk-taking with appropriate protections for the interests of all company stakeholders. These new provisions include a new statutory merger procedure, an appraisal rights remedy for shareholders who dissent from corporate control transactions, and an 'early-warning' disclosure requirement for significant acquisitions of public company shares. This article concentrates in particular on the first two of these new additions - the merger procedure and the appraisal rights remedy - and conducts a detailed analysis of the relevant provisions of the new Act. Among other things, this article considers the extent to which the new statutory merger procedure is likely to become practitioners' M&A vehicle of choice, given its greater flexibility and versatility vis-a-vis the existing procedures available under the current Act. It also considers the safeguards which are provided for minority shareholders and creditors, which are more protective than in other jurisdictions and, in some cases, in the view of the authors, may undermine some of the benefits sought to be achieved by the new law.


Existing power analysis techniques rely on strong adversary models with prior knowledge of the leakage or training data. We introduce side-channel analysis with unsupervised learning (SCAUL) that can recover the secret key without requiring prior knowledge or profiling (training). We employ an LSTM auto-encoder to extract features from power traces with high mutual information with the data-dependent samples of the measurements. We demonstrate that by replacing the raw measurements with the auto-encoder features in a classical DPA attack, the efficiency, in terms of required number of measurements for key recovery, improves by 10X. Further, we employ these features to identify a leakage model with sensitivity analysis and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) networks. SCAUL uses the auto-encoder features and the leakage model, obtained in an unsupervised approach, to find the correct key. On a lightweight implementation of AES on Artix-7 FPGA, we show that SCAUL is able to recover the correct key with 3,700 power measurements with random plaintexts, while a DPA attack requires at least 17,400 measurements. Using misaligned traces, with an uncertainty equal to 20 percent of the hardware clock cycle, SCAUL is able to recover the secret key with 12,300 measurements while the DPA attack fails to detect the key.


Various authors have indicated that muscle imbalances might lead to knee pain and the potential for knee injury during sports. However, few reports have been published to substantiate such a hypothesis. But in all of the existing studies, only concentric torque measurements were evaluated. The purpose of the present study was to document any torque deficiencies which might be present during eccentric exercise in patients with knee pain. Of 130 patients with various knee disorders, 41 demonstrated a suppression in torque production during the eccentric exercise and generally in the portion of the range of movement between 30 degrees and 60 degrees of knee flexion (P less than 0.05). These individuals fit the criteria for anterior knee pain syndrome and demonstrated remarkable improvement after training 3 times/wk at concentric-eccentric exercises of the knee extensors at various speeds (30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees . s-1) on a computer-controlled dynamometer (KIN/COM). In some cases, the pain as well as their torque deficiency was relieved after only 2 wk of training, most others were relieved after 2 to 4 wk of training.


An outbreak of histoplasmosis in Indianapolis involving 488 clinically recognized cases including 60 patients with disseminated or fatal infection permitted statistical analysis of risk factors. Being male, white, under 5 years of age, having chronic obstructive lung disease, and living near the presumed source of the outbreak were not risk factors for fatal or disseminated histoplasmosis. Age greater than 54 years and immunosuppression were the only risk factors for disseminated or fatal infection. Dissemination should be excluded in patients with histoplasmosis who are immunosuppressed or older than 54 years. Specific antifungal treatment is more likely to be required in those two groups rather than in patients without risk factors.


While CaF2:Nd3+,Lu3+ spectroscopic features are now well-known for its broadband laser operation near 1 µm and its good quantum efficiency, this material is appealing for a number of applications such as mode-locking operation. In this paper, we investigate this crystal for dual-wavelength picosecond and femtosecond operations by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). In dual-wavelength picosecond operation, synchronous mode-locking is demonstrated at 1054 and 1059 nm when pumping at 797nm and when using a high reflective mirror as an output coupler. Only one pulse train at 93,8MHz was formed and the intensity autocorrelation trace shown a period beat frequency of 1.34 THz. Pumping at 791 nm led to the formation of two asynchronous mode-locked pulses probably because the two emission lines at 1049 nm and 1061 nm were too far to be coupled. Hence by spectral filtering it is possible to make a single train mode locked laser at 1061 nm generating femtosecond pulses. The laser generated modelocked pulses with pulse duration of 435 fs, average power of 10 mW, and central wavelength of 1061 nm. More output power could be obtained by using a more transmissivity for the output coupler however degrading other performances. These results open the way for further investigation on CaF2:Nd3+,Lu3+ crystals, with the aim of their implementation as active components in high power femtosecond lasers.


Most quantum communication protocols like BB84 use non-orthogonal basis sets composed of orthogonal states, where an eavesdropper can access only 50% of the sender's information. Thus, the overall eavesdropping rate becomes 25%, due to the same access rate of the receiver. This high error rate in a quantum channel provides an "Attack" sign to the system. However, the 25% attack to the quantum channel can no longer be effective if Eve can measure one conjugate variable without disturbing the other. Recently, such direct measurement techniques have been presented, and then most quantum communication protocols will be endangered eventually. Here we propose a direct measurement independent quantum communication (MIQC) protocol belongs to quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) systems. QSDC mostly relies on quantum entanglement and memories for direct message transfer, but it is more vulnerable due to direct information loss to Eve. Moreover, those QSDC protocols are not easy to implement and will become no longer of use if a direct measurement becomes possible. Our MIQC uses four conjugate variables composed of polarization and phase. To satisfy the measurement independence, we added two phase bases to the polarization-superposed single photons, where the phase selection is for random choices of spatially distinct quantum channels. Thus, Eve cannot know which path is chosen even if she can perfectly measure the encoded photon's state. In our MIQC, Eve's attack rate drops down to less than 1%, showing a measurement independent quantum communication protocol applicable to direct secure message transfers.


We study the effect of laser pulse shape on the plasma wake field driven by an intense laser beam. It is found that the modified asymmetric laser pulse shape with a sharply rising front and broad falling back, due to some nonlinear interactions of an intense laser pulse with plasmas, can significantly enhance the magnitude of the wake field.


Fast and sensitive detection of pathogenic microbial cells is a highly important task in medical diagnostics, environmental analysis and evaluation of food safety. Accordingly, the idea of microorganism identification by the recognition of specific DNA sequence using electrochemical technique is one of the leading researches in the development of diagnostic devices. In other words, it should only be a matter of time before a small portable electrochemical device is available at the care centre for quick diagnoses of a patient's infectious disease. However, bottlenecks for such diagnostic systems include selectivity, sensitivity, automation,
sample pre-treatment and the architecture of miniaturization.

In this thesis, a novel, highly sensitive and automated flow-based DNA-sensor technique for the detection of specific bacterial DNA sequences is introduced. The technique consists of a solid gold electrode that is functionalised using a simple and cheap chemistry to capture desired single stranded DNA in a complex
matrix. The technology platform is based on the change in electrical property (capacitance) upon hybridization of the desired ssDNA to a capture probe. The physical and electrochemical properties of the modified electrode surface were studied using atomic force microscopy and cyclic voltammetry in reference to the
innovative capacitive DNA-sensor assay. The DNA-sensor was optimized using homo-oligonucleotides with different number of bases (15- to 50 bases in probe length). The signal amplitude was found to increase with increase in
oligonucleotide length, from 15- to 25-mer. However, there was no significant
difference in signal readout between 25- and 50-mer. When using sandwich hybridization the signal readout for 50-mer oligonucleotides was increased by 46 %, from 78 to 114 -nF cm-2. In addition, stability and selectivity of the DNA-sensor were investigated at elevated temperatures by applying different types of homo-oligonucleotides on the same capture probe; the sensor proved to be exceedingly stable in wide range of temperatures, from 23 to 50 oC, with selectivity (> 95 %).

To demonstrate the capability of the developed capacitive DNA-sensor in a real application, a specific capture probe designed to recognise 16S rDNA of Escherichia coli and other members in the family Enterobacteriacea was used. This, to explicitly detect certain patches of E. coli 16S rDNA from a laboratory culture. The study showed that unamplified E. coli 16S rDNA could be sensitively detected at very low concentration corresponds to 10 E. coli cells per millilitre with only 15 min hybridization time. The sensor also showed a good selectivity over Lactobacillus reuteri 16S rDNA (Lactobacillaceae) from a laboratory culture. Furthermore, a new approach for pre-treatment of the bacterial DNA-sample prior to flow-based DNA-sensor analysis is demonstrated. The novel pre-treatment method utilizes a commercial single stranded DNA binding protein to efficiently stabilize the heat generated single-stranded DNA. Subsequent addition of formamide in the mixture resulted in denaturation of the
protein, and hence, hybridization of the heat-generated target ssDNA to capture probe takes place. Another promising application showed for the developed DNA-sensor is the identification of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus based on detection of the mecA gene. The study showed that the sensor adequately could detect and recover 95 % of 0.01 nM mecA gene from spiked human saliva, with a detection limit of 0.6 pM.

In conclusion, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates the development of a sensitive and effective biosensor for bacterial detection based on specific DNA sequence analysis. Compared to the commercially existing techniques for bacterial detection, the developed capacitive DNA-sensor proved to be non-complex, fast and efficient. This thesis work lays the groundwork for the development of a hand-held, field-adopted DNA-sensor for on-site microbial diagnostics, useful in e.g. remote areas.


Objectives:Type 2 diabetes (DM2) is increasingly common in HIV-infected individuals. Antiretroviral agents and chronic inflammation may adversely affect glycemic control. However, little is known about the effectiveness of diabetic medical therapy in HIV-infected patients. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of initial diabetic medical therapy in patients with and without HIV infection. Design:A retrospective cohort study was conducted among adults with DM2 initiating diabetic medications within the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems cohort. Methods:Generalized estimating equations were used to compare changes in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) through the year after initiation of therapy, controlling for baseline HbA1c and demographic and clinical covariates. Results:Two hundred and eighty-six HIV-infected patients and 858 age and sex-matched HIV-uninfected patients initiated diabetic medications during the study period. Overall, patients had an adjusted absolute mean reduction in HbA1c of 1.04% [95% confidence interval (CI) −0.87 to −1.22] during the first year of therapy. HIV-infected patients achieved significantly smaller reductions in HbA1c, with an absolute mean difference of −0.17% (95% CI −0.28 to −0.06; P = 0.003). On subanalyses, HIV-infected patients on a protease inhibitor-based regimen had significantly smaller reductions in HbA1c compared to HIV-uninfected patients (adjusted absolute difference −0.21%, 95% CI −0.35 to −0.08; P = 0.002). Conclusion:Patients with HIV infection who initiate diabetic medical therapy achieve smaller reductions in HbA1c than patients without HIV infection in the course of routine clinical care. This less robust response may in part be related to use of antiretrovirals that exacerbate insulin resistance, specifically protease inhibitors.


The Working Group Leaders in the Forest Cooperatives have the responsibility to accept and raise the new worker. I did the questionnaire to them in Tajima region, Hyogo Pref. about how they join to and think about the employment system in their organizations. I can find the difference between the Leaders in the Forest Cooperatives where they can join the employment process if they want to and ones in the Forest Cooperatives where they cannot join even if they wish to. The portion of the Leaders in the Second Group who feel the dissatisfaction to the current employment system is higher than that in the First Group.


A first principles calculation method was used to investigate the site preference of Co, Ru, W, Ta at the '/ interface in Ni-based single-crystal superalloys. The calculation results show that the addition of Co, Ru, W and Ta can decrease the total energy and the binding energy of '/ interface, which may result in an improved microstructure stability of Ni-based single-crystal superalloys. Cr atom prefers to occupy a Ni site in  phase, while Ru, W and Ta atoms prefer to occupy Al sites in ' phase. It is found that the electronic bonding mechanism of '/ interface with the doped alloying elements can be summarized as the combination of d-d hybridization between Co-3d, d-p hybridization among Ru-4d, W-5d, Ta-5d orbits located at Al4 site in ' phase and Al-3p orbits and the electron charge transfers from Cr, Ru, W and Ta to Ni sites. The enhanced chemical bondings between alloying atoms and their neighbor host atoms are considered to be the main strengthening mechanism of the alloying elements in '/ interface of Ni-based single-crystal superalloys.


Intramural parasympathetic nerve stimulation (5 Hz, 2 min) after propranolol treatment evoked negative chronotropic and inotropic responses in the isolated dog atrium. The cardiac responses were not maintained during stimulation; they reached maximum values and then faded back toward their control values ("fade" response). 4-Aminopyridine increased the maximum values of both responses, and it increased the fade of the chronotropic response but not that of the inotropic response. These results suggest that the fade response to parasympathetic nerve stimulation is modulated at the parasympathetic nerve terminals of the isolated dog atrium.


Current languages for nonshared memory architectures provide a relatively low-level programming environment. In this paper we describe a set of language primitives which allow the programmer to express data-parallel algorithms at a higher level, while also permitting control over those aspects of the program critical to performance, such as load balance and data distribution. Given such a program specification, the compiler automatically generates a distributed program containing send and receive constructs to perform interprocess communication. t This research was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA contract NASI-18605, Institute of Defense Analysis under contract IDA 10-00008, and Office of Naval Research under contract ONR N00014-88-M-0108 while the authors were in residence at ICASE, NASA Langley Research Center. Hampton, VA 23665. On leave from Dept. of Computer Science, Purdue University. West Lafayette, IN 47906.


This book provides an efficient introduction to fundamental and advanced digital transmission technologies in current and future wireless communication systems. The objective is to help students and engineers quickly grasp the operating principles and design trade-offs of various wireless transmission technologies, which will enable them to carry out product development or perform academic research in the field. With sufficient theoretical depth, the book covers large-scale channel effects; multipath fading; digital transmission over flat fading; fading mitigation through diversity combining; transmission over frequency selective fading; spread spectrum transmission; channel capacity and coding; channel adaptive transmission; MIMO transmission; and advanced topics including multiuser diversity transmission, cooperative relay transmission and multiuser MIMO transmission. The material is presented without assuming an extensive digital communications background from the readers. The design principles of these technologies are manifested with over 100 carefully designed illustration and over 60 problem-solving examples. The readers can also check their own understanding with extra practice problems at the end of each chapter. Special emphasis is placed on the important trade-off analysis of performance versus complexity.


The temperature sensitivity of drain-current variations in the subthreshold regime of MOSFET operation is analyzed through TCAD simulations and device measurements. Interface traps are determined to be the dominant factor in increasing the temperature sensitivity of drain-current differences in weak inversion. The variability caused by interface defects has significant implications on the reliability of MOSFET-based circuits intended for extreme-environment applications.


The Doppler reflectometer (DR), a powerful diagnostic for the plasma perpendicular velocity (u ⊥) and turbulence measurement, has been widely used in various fusion devices. Many efforts have been put into extracting the Doppler shift from the DR signal. There are several commonly used methods for Doppler shift extraction, such as the phase derivative, the center of gravity, and symmetric fitting (SFIT). However, the strong zero-order reflection component around 0 kHz may interfere with the calculation of the Doppler shift. To avoid the influence of the zero-frequency peak, the asymmetric fitting (AFIT) method was designed to calculate the Doppler shift. Nevertheless, the AFIT method may lead to an unacceptable error when the Doppler shift is relatively small compared to the half width at half maximum (HWHM). Therefore, an improved method, which can remove the zero-frequency peak and fit the remaining Doppler peak with a Gaussian function, is devised to extract the Doppler shift. This method can still work reliably whether the HWHM is larger than the Doppler shift or not.


In spite of the strategic importance of sustainability reporting in current business practice and the resulting increase in research on its value relevance, studies accounting for stakeholder interdependence are scarce. On the basis of the instrumental stakeholder theory, we investigate whether customers have an impact on the value relevance of sustainability reporting. Using a sample of US listed firms, we show that the value relevance of sustainability reporting is affected by customer profile differences, thereby confirming customer–shareholder interdependence. However, customer profile effects are only predominant if firms' profitability levels are low and disappear as profitability increases. Overall, our findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the value relevance of sustainability reporting. Therefore, we offer managers fine-grained guidance for value relevant sustainability reporting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment


Australia is often called the country of migrants. It has received people from some 200 countries, one quarter of the population was born overseas and since World War II, Australia has been the third highest recipient of refugees in the world. As this society grows more diverse through the interaction of people from different ethnic backgrounds, there is a need for understanding of prejudicial labelling and of discriminatory behaviour and language that breaches societal aspirations for equality.
A critical examination is made of the way prejudices are embedded in language and how language is used prejudicially against anyone who can be seen as 'Other' due to their language or ethnic background. However, prejudice goes both ways. This paper also looks at the experiences of an 'Other' in confronting and resolving personal and enacted prejudices. Insight from these interactive processes, can lead to an increased awareness and understanding of ways of confronting and overcoming prejudices in behaviour and language.


Abstract To analyze whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) changes the expression rates of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) markers: estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), Ki67, and P53. This was a retrospective study of 112 IDC patients who underwent NAC (docetaxel+epirubicin/pirarubicin+cyclophosphamide) but without pathological complete response (pCR) in 2012 to 2013 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. The IDC subtypes and tumor protein markers were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Specific changes in tumor protein markers before/after NAC were compared. The decrease in the positive rate of Ki-67 was the most significant, from 75.9% before NAC to 41.1% after NAC (P < .001). The positive rate of HER2 decreased from 42.0% before NAC to 32.1% after NAC (P = .04). The positive rate of ER decreased from 66.1% before NAC to 56.2% after NAC (P = .04). Increased number of metastatic lymph nodes (P = .006) and body mass index (BMI) (P = .028) seemed to be related to conversion of PR (positive to negative). There was statistical association between the Ki-67 (positive to negative) with the age greater or equal to 50 (P = .015). The BMI greater or equal to 24 (P = .021), age greater or equal to 50 (P = .047), and blood type A (P = .038) were independently associated with conversion of P53 (positive to negative). The BMI greater or equal to 24 (P = .004), number of metastatic lymph nodes greater or equal to 1 (P = .029) and TNM stages I–II (P = .008) were statistically associated with change of HER2 (positive to negative). In patients without pCR, NAC leads to changes in Ki-67, HER2, and hormone receptor (HR) expression. Age, BMI, number of metastatic lymph nodes, and TNM stage are associated with some changes of markers.


Microviscosity changes of living cells have a far-reaching influence on diffusion and movement capacity of RNA and, more seriously, could modify RNA functions in living cells. Fluorescent rotor, whose fluorescence responds to different environmental viscosities, holds great potential for the imaging of viscosity in biosystem. Although many fluorescent rotors have been reported for viscosity, the fluorogenic rotor with ultrasensitivity for the determination of microviscosity (<10 cP) was rarely reported. Herein, we report a nucleoside-based two-photon fluorescent rotor (dABp-3) that can selectively and ultrasensitively image microviscosity in RNA region of living cells for the first time. 2'-Deoxyadenosine is selected as an electron donor to permit energy transfer via the acetylenic bond to acceptor, a typical boron dipyrromethene moiety. Another highlight, dABp-3 is based on 2'-deoxyadenosine, which result in its recognition capacity for RNA. dABp-3 with ultrasensitivity provides a varied linear response to the microrange viscosity (1.8-6.0 cP) in RNA region of living cells on dual-mode-two-photon ratio mode and fluorescence lifetime mode. After screening and optimization, advantageously, dABp-3 can be used to screen reticulocytes from mature blood cells of thrombosis models in vitro and in vivo because of targeting RNA, while simultaneously image microviscosity changes in these cells. So, dABp-3 as an analytical tool holds considerable promise for bioimaging and monitoring of microviscosity changes in complex biological systems.