Accurate software effort estimation is one of the key factors to a successful project by making a better software project plan. To improve the estimation accuracy of software effort, many studies usually aimed at proposing novel effort estimation methods or combining several approaches of the existing effort estimation methods. However, those researches did not consider the distribution of historical software project data which is an important part impacting to the effort estimation accuracy. In this paper, to improve effort estimation accuracy by least squares regression, we propose a data partitioning method by the accuracy measures, MRE and MER which are usually used to measure the effort estimation accuracy. Furthermore, the empirical experimentations are performed by using two industry data sets (the ISBSG Release 9 and the Bank data set which consists of the project data performed in a bank in Korea).


The state of engineering systems changes in time due to the effect of gradual (e.g. corrosion, fatigue) and shock deterioration (e.g. earthquakes, floods, and tornados). At specified moments, for example, after a shock, decision-makers might wish to know the state of the system to take the optimal management action. Different data acquisition strategies such as inspections and continuous structural health monitoring (SHM) can help in the definition and prediction of the system state over time. The acquisition of information comes at a cost that must be balanced by the benefit it brings in terms of risk reduction. The value of information from Bayesian decision analysis quantifies the benefit provided by such information. This article proposes a formulation to compute the value of information of inspection and continuous SHM for degrading engineering systems. In the proposed formulation, the information collected before a given time is used to improve the prediction of the effects of gradual and shock deterioration processes and the future probability of failure. This article investigates the case study of a two-span reinforced concrete bridge degrading under the effect of chemical reactions and seismic actions.


ABSTRACT Objective This study aimed to present a patient with psychiatric symptoms that occur after flow diverter stent placement in a posterior communicating artery (PComA) aneurysm in a patient. Design A case study. Method We performed cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance angiography, computed tomography angiography, neuropsychological tests, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP), and a 25-item version of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS-25). The patient's recent MRI was compared with previous MRIs. Neuropsychological testing consisted of a clinical interview, clinical assessment of frontal lobe syndrome, and tests evaluating the prefrontal cortex functions (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-128 card version and Iowa Gambling Test). Results Our results showed that the patient's personality change and psychiatric symptoms occurred after the stent placement. Symptoms were still present at evaluation two and a half years after stent placement. Conclusion The study demonstrates personality changes and psychiatric symptoms that might occur as complications following the placement of a flow diverter for incidentally detected aneurysm.


Abstract Objective. Substantial number of women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) conceives while on anti-TNF-α therapy. The aim was to assess the safety and efficacy of anti-TNF-α treatment during pregnancy and to analyze relationship of neonatal and maternal anti-TNF-α levels at delivery with gestational age at the last exposure. Material and methods. Women with IBD exposed to anti-TNF-α therapy during pregnancy were included. Data on anti-TNF-α treatment, disease activity, concomitant medication, pregnancy and newborn outcome were recorded. Anti-TNF-α levels from cord blood were assessed by ELISA. Results. Forty-one pregnancies (27 Crohn's disease; 14 ulcerative colitis) were exposed to infliximab (IFX; 32) and adalimumab (ADA; 9). Ten (24%) women had active disease at conception and 31 (76%) were in remission with 3 patients experiencing relapse during pregnancy. Anti-TNF-α therapy started prior to and after conception in 32 and 9 women, respectively. There were 34 (83%) live births (median birth weight 3145 g) of which 28 were at-term and 6 preterm deliveries. Five (12%) pregnancies ended in spontaneous and two in therapeutic abortion. No congenital malformations except for one case of hip dysplasia were observed. Similarly, no serious perinatal complication occurred. IFX cord levels measured in 11 children positively correlated with gestational week at the last drug administration and maternal levels at delivery, while no such correlation was found in case of ADA. Conclusions. The results confirm that anti-TNFs are effective and safe during pregnancy. A positive correlation between IFX cord levels and gestational week of last exposure as well as maternal serum levels was observed.


The research hilights the place in "Al-Shita'a and Al-Saif" journey for Lisan AlDeen Bin Al-Khateeb. The study attempts to justify the manifestation of place in AlKhateeb's jounrney. Moreover, the article focuses on the place through dealing with the
idea of belonging to the Andalusian place as well as on Lisan Al-Deen Bin Al-Khateeb's
interest in Travel Literature.
Furthermore, the research highlights Al-Khateeb's spatial awareness in producing
spatial symbols and embodying them in his journey as place plays an important role in
his literature which consists of a collection of stories that contributes to depict historical portraits to his readers.
The research describes the nature of the place, the journey's stages, and the
dominant traditions of those people whom he visited in his journeys. The article
demonstrates that Al-Khateeb was interested in recording geographical information in
the new areas and representing history in a realistic way. He narrates stories about real
people and presents these people in a literary text to show the beauty of place, as an
important element in his literary texts.
Keywords: Manifestations of the place, Khatrat Al-Taif in Al-Shita'a and AlSaif Journey, Lisan Al-Deen Bin Al-Khateeb.


Background: The sustainability of health benefits in response to lifestyle-based interventions remains unclear in children with overweight and obesity, and cardiometabolic disease (CMD). We determined the changes in novel biomarkers of CMD in a 1-year family-based intervention (FBI) program, during 6-month active monitoring phase and at 12-month follow-up. Methods: Children with an age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentile ≥85 (N = 130; age 8-11 years) were recruited for a 1-year (6-month monitored and 6-month unmonitored) randomized controlled FBI program. Anthropometry and selected biomarkers of CMD were measured in 87 participants, randomly allocated to intervention (INT) and education-only (EDU) groups, at baseline, immediately after a 6-month active intervention or control period, and at 12-month unmonitored follow-up. Results: Samples from 87 participants (age 10.00 ± 0.11 years and Tanner stage ≤3) with obesity (BMI%ile = 97.45 ± 0.15) were available. Overall intervention effect (between groups), was observed for total (T) and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin, ratio of total to HMW adiponectin, fibrinogen, and interleukin (IL)-6 (P < 0.05 for all). However, between-group beneficial changes after adjusting for baseline levels were limited to BMI percentile, T and HMW adiponectin and their ratio, IL-6, and fibrinogen (P < 0.05 for all) mainly during the 6-month period of monitored intervention. Changes in traditional risk factors such as lipids and triglycerides were inconsistent. During the 6-month follow-up period, the changes in biomarkers leveled-off, except for T and HMW adiponectin, IL-6, and fibrinogen that continued to show benefits (P < 0.05) from the 6- to 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: The FBI program beneficially altered novel biomarkers of CMD during the monitored intervention phase in school-age children with obesity, but they mostly moved back toward baseline during the unmonitored follow-up phase. The changes in novel biomarkers of CMD appear to be more sensitive compared to the traditional risk factors. The study implies the need for refinements in lifestyle-based approaches in the preservation of cardiovascular health and calls for robust biomarkers to monitor the changes. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01146314).


We are exploring constraining aromatic residues in the kappa opioid receptor selective antagonist arodyn (Ac[Phe1,2,3,Arg4,D-Ala8]dynorphin A(1-11)-NH2) by ring closing metathesis (RCM) involving tyrosine(O-allyl) (Tyr(All)), but desallyl products limited the yields of the desired cyclic peptide. The model dipeptide Fmoc-Tyr(All)-Tyr(All) was used to explore different reaction conditions, including the use of isomerization suppressants, to minimize formation of the desallyl products and enhance formation of the desired RCM product. Reaction conditions were identified that enhanced the RCM product yield while suppressing desallyl products using both second-generation Grubbs' and second-generation Hoveyda Grubbs' catalysts. These optimized reaction conditions were then applied to the cyclization of a tripeptide and an arodyn analog resulting in >70% conversion to the desired cyclic peptides. These strategies should be applicable to RCM involving Tyr(All) and similar residues in peptide and peptidomimetic cyclizations performed on solid phase.


Next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches are highly applicable to clinical studies. We review recent advances in sequencing technologies, as well as their benefits and tradeoffs, to provide an overview of clinical genomics from study design to computational analysis. Sequencing technologies enable genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic evaluations. Studies that use a combination of whole genome, exome, mRNA, and bisulfite sequencing are now feasible due to decreasing sequencing costs. Single-molecule sequencing increases read length, with the MinIONTM nanopore sequencer, which offers a uniquely portable option at a lower cost. Many of the published comparisons we review here address the challenges associated with different sequencing methods. Overall, NGS techniques, coupled with continually improving analysis algorithms, are useful for clinical studies in many realms, including cancer, chronic illness, and neurobiology. We, and others in the field, anticipate the clinical use of NGS approaches will continue to grow, especially as we shift into an era of precision medicine.


The cytology of thalamocortical relay neuron degeneration in the ventral medial geniculate nucleus (vMG) of mice homozygous for the autosomal recessive Purkinje cell degeneration (pcd) mutation has been studied by light and electron microscopy. More limited sampling of the submedial and mediodorsal nuclei suggested that cytological alterations in the vMG were typical of all degenerating thalamic nuclei. The number of vMG neurons in pcd mutants was comparable to controls at and prior to postnatal day 40 (P40). By P60 seventy percent, and by P90 approximately 9%, of the original complement of vMG neurons had degenerated in mutant mice. At P30, the general cytological organization of vMG neurons closely resembled that of neurons in littermate (+/+ or +/pcd) controls, but neurons in mutants were distinguished by the presence of small aggregates of fine granules (approximately 9 nm in diameter) that were commonly associated with otherwise normal cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum; neither the number nor the size of these granular aggregates increased in older mutants. By P50 cytoplasmic organelles were curiously distributed in more severely affected neurons: large areas of cytoplasm were occupied exclusively by polysomes, while profiles of endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus appeared to be reduced. Before frank degenerative changes were apparent (at P50), all classes of synaptic terminals identified in normal mice were found to have made morphologically normal synaptic contacts on mutant vMG neuron dendrites. In contrast to the homologous nuclear complex in the cat, presynaptic dendrites were not apparent in synaptic glomeruli in wild‐type or mutant murine vMG. Cytopathological alterations in the neuropil of P50 and older mutants were dominated by degenerating dendritic profiles; there was no evidence that the loss of thalamic neurons in pcd mutants was associated with synaptic agenesis or dysgenesis or the prior or concurrent degeneration of afferent synaptic terminals.


A new immunosuppressant, FTY720, was applied to limb allotransplants and its effectiveness was investigated. Using inbred rats, for which the major histocompatibility complexes were completely mismatched, 31 limb transplantations were performed and FTY720 was administered at a dose of 1.5 or 3 mg per kilogram per day for 10 days postoperatively. Rejection was monitored by the appearance of the skin of the grafted hind limb, soft radiograph, microangiography, and histology. In animals receiving no immunosuppressive therapy, the mean onset of rejection was 4.2 ± 1.0 days postoperatively, and the grafted limbs became acutely necrotic. The mean onset of rejection was 6.0 ± 0.9 days in animals receiving FTY720 at a dose of 1.5 mg per kilogram per day and 7.9 ± 1.5 days in animals receiving FTY720 at a dose of 3 mg per kilogram per day. Survival of the grafted limbs was significantly prolonged compared with that in animals without immunosuppression. The immunosuppressive effect of FTY720 appeared to be dose dependent; however, complete suppression of rejection could not be obtained with FTY720 therapy alone.


Antiplatelet therapy is a cornerstone in the secondary prophylaxis of adverse cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor aspirin remains the most frequently prescribed antiplatelet drug, followed by adenosine diphosphate P2Y12 receptor blockers. Glycoprotein IIb‐IIIa antagonists are intravenously available antiplatelet agents preventing platelet‐to‐platelet aggregation via the fibrinogen receptor. The thrombin receptor inhibitor vorapaxar allows the targeting of yet a third pathway of platelet activation. Despite the advent of novel agents and major advances in antiplatelet treatment over the last decade, atherothrombotic events still impair the prognosis of many patients with cardiovascular disease. Consequently, antiplatelet therapy remains a field of intense research and a large number of studies on its various aspects are published each year. This review article summarizes recent developments in antiplatelet therapy in cardiovascular disease focusing particularly on the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy, new treatment regimens, the role of platelet function testing, and potential future targets of antiplatelet agents.


Abstract Ecosystem management, especially at the large/regional scale, typifies the public sector organizational environment of interconnectedness. Networks as complex organizational models can have significant advantages for intricate joint planning and management. There are, however, considerable challenges to establishing and sustaining such organizations in an institutional environment. The complex case study of CALFED, formed to integrate water management for the hub of California's water supply system, examines issues of network formation and survival in a high-stakes, high-conflict task environment. The lessons regarding conditions and events that led to CALFED's collapse should be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and scholars.


Alternatives have been searched for surer and quicker access for the Bulgarian agriculture producers to agrimarkets, considering their difficulties in this aspect. The insignificant number of studies in this sphere in Bulgaria indicates a lack of correspondence among the research on this problem, its relevance and the needs in the practice of agricultural producers. The analysis involves direct marketing of the farm output on contract basis, establishment of auctions and own farm markets. The main advantages and disadvantages are outlined. It is found out, that the Bulgarian farmers are interested in investing in own agrimarkets – organizational and consumer markets, because this is an active marketing policy, that will contribute to a more secure and independent sales procedures.


Vascular endothelial growth factor is a cytokine that is required for the maintenance of healthy vasculature, and it is responsible for a variety of pathogenic conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration and tumor growth in numerous cancers. As an important therapeutic target, vascular endothelial growth factor has been the focus of many in vitro selection strategies to identify aptamers that bind the protein with high affinity and specificity. One of these is a 25-nucleotide DNA aptamer that targets the heparin-binding domain (HBD) of vascular endothelial growth factor. The work presented here focuses on determining the solution structure of the HBD-aptamer complex using NMR. The structure was determined using molecular dynamics simulations restrained with experimental NMR data. The structure of the complex is displayed as an ensemble of the 10 lowest energy structures with a heavy atom RMSD of 2.0 ± 0.8 A for the well-defined core of the complex. The HBD has two subdomains that retain a similar backbone conformation between the free and bound states, but the orientation of the two subdomains relative to one another changes. The aptamer forms two Watson-Crick base pairs and two tandem base triples that are proximal to a pyrimidine-rich triloop. The 5' and 3' ends of the aptamer base pair and form a tetraloop-like structure. The Watson-Crick base pairs and several unpaired nucleotides form the binding interface that spans both subdomains of the HBD. The structure presented here contributes to the larger goal of better understanding the molecular recognition between aptamers and their targets.


This work introduces a neuromorphic chip featuring energy-efficient transfer learning capability using a new learning rule, Delta- Spike Time Dependent Plasticity (STDP). Delta STDP enables the neuromorphic chip to leverage on its previous knowledge to learn and to solve different but related tasks at a faster rate and with a limited number (few shots) of training samples. Compared to the unsupervised on-chip learning (OCL) rules, Delta STDP offers lower learning overheads as it has ~20% lower memory utilization and is operated only on the last layer of the Spiking Neural Network (SNN). A test chip fabricated in 40nm demonstrates this on-chip learning concept using DVS gesture and MNIST datasets. It achieves an accuracy of >80% for DVS gesture (using 9.8K training samples) with the total energy/learning is 5.2J at 0.5V. For MNIST, using only 2K training samples, it attains an accuracy of 97% and this learning convergence rate is >10x the conventional OCLs. The total energy/learning for MNIST dataset is 8.6mJ at 0.5V. Overall, the chip consumes 2.1 pJ/SOP at 0.5V, which is 12.3x-91.4x lower compared to the existing state-of-the-art.


The ability to predict future states of the environment is a central pillar of intelligence. At its core, effective prediction requires an internal model of the world and an understanding of the rules by which the world changes. Here, we explore the internal models developed by deep neural networks trained using a loss based on predicting future frames in synthetic video sequences, using a CNN-LSTM-deCNN framework. We first show that this architecture can achieve excellent performance in visual sequence prediction tasks, including state-of-the-art performance in a standard 'bouncing balls' dataset (Sutskever et al., 2009). Using a weighted mean-squared error and adversarial loss (Goodfellow et al., 2014), the same architecture successfully extrapolates out-of-the-plane rotations of computer-generated faces. Furthermore, despite being trained end-to-end to predict only pixel-level information, our Predictive Generative Networks learn a representation of the latent structure of the underlying three-dimensional objects themselves. Importantly, we find that this representation is naturally tolerant to object transformations, and generalizes well to new tasks, such as classification of static images. Similar models trained solely with a reconstruction loss fail to generalize as effectively. We argue that prediction can serve as a powerful unsupervised loss for learning rich internal representations of high-level object features.


Background and problem: With the abolition of the audit requirement in Sweden, accounting consultants' role and responsibilities have become increasingly prominent because many small limited companies have chosen to not hire or retain an auditor. According to the credit rating company Soliditet, small companies who do not have an auditor are now more at risk of expensive credits because of the increased uncertainty surrounding these companies' annual reports. We therefore want to examine:If small limited companies hire an authorized accounting consultant instead of an auditor, what affect does this have on the credit decision and the trust from a bank loan officer's perspective? And can the financial statements report conducted by an authorized accounting consultant be seen as equivalent to the audit report when bank loan officers make credit decisions? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate bank loan officers' perceptions regarding the credit assessment and how bank loan officers' trust is affected depending on whether a small limited company has hired an auditor or an authorized accounting consultant. We also want to investigate what perceptions bank loan officers have regarding the auditor's report and the financial statements reports. The study will thus facilitate for small limited companies faced with the decision to select an auditor or an authorized accounting consultant. Method: The study is written from a qualitative approach and the empirical data has been collected from semi-structured face to face interviews with bank loan officers from different banks in Jonkoping. Conclusion: This study indicates that bank loan officers' credit assessments are affected to some extent depending on whether a small limited company has hired an authorized accounting consultant or an auditor. This study also indicates that bank loan officers in Jonkoping have limited knowledge and little experience of working with authorized accounting consultants. One of the biggest differences between the bank loan officers' answers in the study was whether the financial statements report conducted by an authorized accounting consultant can be seen as equivalent to the audit report. Some of the bank loan officers were more positive to this while others were very negative.


I NTRODUCTION It is not unusual for beginner and novice parrot and cockatiel breeders to misunderstand the topic of linebreeding and inbreeding. Often times I'm asked, What is the closest a cockatiel could be related to another cockatiel without producing genetic defects or lethal factors? INBREEDING To answer that question we must trst de Che inbreeding. Among the stricter proponents, inbreeding includes pairings such as parent to offspring, siblingto-sibling, and half-sibling to half-sibling. A less strict detriition contnes inbreeding to brother-sister pairings only. This article will refer to inbreeding as the breeding of brother to sister pairings. Some readers may be surprised to learn that the closest genetic breeding is to mate brother to sister. Genetically, brother to sister pairings are the most identical to one another, closer even than to their own parents. Because each sibling inherits half its biological genome (all its genes) from its sire, and the other half from its dam, each chick shares nearly the same identical genes as its siblings. By comparison, a son paired to its own mother would share only half its genes with its dam; similarly, a daughter paired to its own father would share only half its genes with its sire. Because full siblings carry genes from both their parents, brothers and sisters would share the greatest number of genes in common. Now, with that being said, it is best understood that most hobbyists should never breed brother to sister pairings, most of the time, in the majority of circumstances. Although special conditions do exist where inbreeding may be permitted, they are better intended for the advanced champion breeder and never for the inexperienced to experiment with. Unfortunately, it is often the beginner or novice breeder who unwittingly or unknowingly dabbles the most in inbreeding! For example, siblings bred from one pair may take advantage of breeding with one another; or, the hobbyist may allow full or half siblings to breed, not fully understanding the dangers and consequences of such unions. Inbreeding should only be undertaken in a wellestablished linebreeding program where the aviculturist has many years - often more than a decade - of background knowledge and experience or fully understands exactly what is to be accomplished by the union. Ideally, a planned inbreeding trial is carried out with the express purpose of introducing a new characteristic into an existing, established line. The goal of the inbreeding trial is to set an identitable characteristic (e.g., a new color or superior show trait) into a line in order to create a new strain, embedding this characteristic within an already developed aviary stud. However, in inbreeding practices, not only will all the superior, (positive), recessive traits rise to the surface; inbreeding will also force all the inferior, (bad), recessive traits to the surface. By trait, I am referring to any inherited gene for color, shape, size, personality, fertility, parenting skills, immune system, health, or any other visible or invisible characteristic. There are countless traits that are inherited through the genes of an individual bird. Although this process also applies to linebreeding, it is even more intense in inbreeding practices. So why breed brother to sister? Brother to sister matings can be attempted under very special circumstances such as setting a particular trait into proven, pedigreed champion or grand champion stock where the seasoned aviculturist fully understands the beneQs and risks taken. However, serious culling of the stock is necessary, usually by selling off as pets any undesirable birds produced. In informed inbreeding practices among seasoned breeders - contrary to horror stories - not all young produced are hideous, monster chicks! Unfortunately, frightening stories about inbreeding among humans, or inappropriate pairs of animals that are not suitable candidates are what abound. The taboo is necessary among humans, but not among all animal pairings. Livestock husbandry is based upon linebreeding and occasional inbreeding practices. In fact, if superior champion birds are used it is possible to produce a highly valued trait. However, simply pairing a brother-sister combination merely because they are champion stockmoes not guarantee this result! One must know precisely what the goal of a union is and which trait is sought. There can also be special exceptions necessitating inbreeding such as when there are no other relatives available, or when attempting to quickly prove a new color mutation. However, even then it would be safer, and more preferable, to breed back to a parent because parent and offspring share only half the genes as compared to full siblings.


Leishmanin skin test (LST) was applied in 115 (40.5%) females and 169 (59.5%) males whoo suffered from cutaneous leishmaniosis(CL), with 1 to 7 cutaneous lesions, with>2l1 days of evolution (mean = 47; DE = 36.7). Their ages ranged from 0 to 75 years (mean = 21). The clinical, parasitological, serological and immunological diagnosis of CL were studied. The LST reactivity was compared with respect to years age, sex, number and evolution of the lesion, before and after the treatment with glucantime (G)injected intramuscularly (IM). Second and third injections the G were necessary in 61.97% and 12.76% of thee patients respectively. The time required for healing ranged from 30 to 120 days. The diameter of the induration was of 5 to 27 mm before the treatment, and up to 27 mm of induration when no clinical manifestations were abserved in all cases of CL. A higher proportion of positive skin test was obtained in the > 8 years age group (79.22%) than in the younger group. The relatively higher prevalence of LST in children from 1 to 10 years correlates with the percentage distribution of positive parasitaemias, and is associated wih the male patients. These findings suggest that it is the intensity rather than the simple occurrence of parasitaemia which determine, the association into the LST and number and evolution of lesion in these cases of Cl. The frequency of LST positivity was higher in individual males (55.63%). When these infections were grouped according to years age, sex and time of infection, and relationship with LST, the differences were no longer significant


The pattern of proliferation of new basal bodies in ciliary rows (somatic proliferation) in Tetrahymena was observed. Starved and refed cells were used, because proliferation in these cells is more pronounced than that under other circumstances. The formation of new basal bodies is locally determined by the position of "old" pre-existing basal body (short range determination). However, the probability of proliferation associated with any given "old" basal body differs very much. This probability is determined by the spatial coordinates of the particular region of the cell (long range determination); however some randomness in this process was also observed. Two different gradients of proliferation were found. The first gradient is circumferential with a maximum number of new basal bodies added in ciliary rows n, 1, 2 and 3 and the minimum number added in ciliary rows 7, 8 and 9. The second is an antero-posterior gradient with the highest number of new basal bodies added in the midbody region. Moreover, at least in some cases, new oral primordia first appear, as a random proliferation of new basal bodies adjacent to a few old cilia of ciliary row No. 1, resembling somatic proliferation. Then 2,3 or even more clumps of basal bodies appear, each having one old cilium posteriorly. These clumps, however, are not linear groups within the ciliary row but instead they form small fields of basal bodies. These findings suggest, that the same two-gradient system for new basal body addition operates during somatic proliferation and also determines the position of the new oral primordium as the site of the highest gradient value at the intersection of two gradients.


Aim: Existing targeted therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are resistant and have limitations. It is crucial to find new HCC-related target genes. Methods: RNA-sequencing data of HCC were gathered from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus datasets. Initially, differentially expressed genes between normal and tumor tissues were identified from four Gene Expression Omnibus datasets, GSE36376, GSE102079, GSE54236, and GSE45267. GO terms and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were performed to explore the potential biological functions of differentially expressed genes. A PPI network was constructed by using the STRING database, and up-regulated and down-regulated hub genes were defined through 12 topological approaches. Subsequently, the correlation bounded by up-regulated genes and down-regulated genes in the diagnosis, prognosis, and clinicopathological features of HCC was analyzed. Beyond a shadow of doubt, the key oncogene PBK and tumor suppressor gene F9 were screened out, and the specific mechanism was investigated through GSEA enrichment analysis and immune correlation analysis. The role of PBK in HCC was further verified by western blot, CCK8, transwell, and tube formation experiments. Results: CDCA5, CDC20, PBK, PRC1, TOP2A, and NCAPG are good indicators of HCC diagnosis and prognosis. The low expressions of F9, AFM, and C8B indicate malignant progression and poor prognosis of HCC. PBK was found to be closely related to VEGF, VEGFR, and PDGFR pathways. Experiments showed that PBK promotes HCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and tube formation in HUVEC cells. F9 was negatively correlated with the degree of immune infiltration, and low expression of F9 suggested a poor response to immunotherapy. Conclusion: The role of HCC-related oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes in diagnosis and prognosis was identified. In addition, we have found that PBK may promote tumor proliferation through angiogenesis and F9 may be a predictor of tumor immunotherapy response.


Many studies were conducted to investigate arsenic mobilization in different alluvial plains worldwide. However, due to the unique endemic disease associated with arsenic (As) contamination in Taiwan, a recent research was re-initiated to understand the transport behavior of arsenic in a localized alluvial plain. A comprehensive approach towards arsenic mobility, binding, and chemical speciation was applied to correlate groundwater hydrogeochemistry with parameters of the sediments that affected the As fate and transport. The groundwater belongs to a Na-Ca-HCO 3 type with moderate reducing to oxidizing conditions (redox potential = −192 to 8 mV). Groundwater As concentration in the region ranged from 8.89 to 1131 μg/L with a mean of 343 ± 297 μg/L, while the As content in the core sediments varied from 0.80 to 22.8 mg/kg with a mean of 9.9 ± 6.2 mg/kg. A significant correlation was found between As and Fe, Mn, or organic matter, as well as other elements such as Ni, Cu, Zn, and Co in the core sediments. Sequential extraction analysis indicated that the organic matter and Fe/Mn oxyhydroxides were the major binding pools of As. Batch adsorption experiments showed that the sediments had slightly higher affinity for As(III) than for As(V) under near neutral pH conditions and the As adsorption capacity increased as the contents of Fe oxyhydroxides as well as the organic matter increased.


The conflict between professional and bureaucratic models of behaviour has long been recognised. Evidence provided in the professional/bureaucratic literature indicates that this conflict will impact on the effectiveness of management control systems when dominant professionals, such as physicians, are incorporated into bureaucratic organisations. This article elaborates Mintzberg′s (1979) professional bureaucracy model and empirically examines a number of propositions concerning the way in which activities are controlled and coordinated in hospitals. An analysis of 192 subunit managers in four large Australian teaching hospitals indicated significant differences in the use of control and co‐ordinating mechanisms by health care professionals who manage core operating subunits and managers of subunits which provide support services. These differences do not all follow the predictions of Mintzberg′s model.


It is well established that plant phenolics elicit various biological activities, with positive effects on health. Palm oil production results in large volumes of aqueous by-products containing phenolics. In the present study, we describe the effects of oil palm phenolics (OPP) on several degenerative conditions using various animal models. OPP reduced blood pressure in a NO-deficient rat model, protected against ischaemia-induced cardiac arrhythmia in rats and reduced plaque formation in rabbits fed an atherogenic diet. In Nile rats, a spontaneous model of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, OPP protected against multiple aspects of the syndrome and diabetes progression. In tumour-inoculated mice, OPP protected against cancer progression. Microarray studies on the tumours showed differential transcriptome profiles that suggest anti-tumour molecular mechanisms involved in OPP action. Thus, initial studies suggest that OPP may have potential against several chronic disease outcomes in mammals.


Background: Vitamin D may play a pivotal role in regulating insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. However, the impact of vitamin D intake either from diet or from supplements on the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains unknown. We prospectively examined the association of pre-pregnancy habitual intake of vitamin D from diet and supplements with risk of incident GDM in a well-established cohort. Methods: We included 21,356 singleton pregnancies from 15,225 women in the Nurses' Health Study II cohort. Diet information, including vitamin D intakes from food sources and supplements, was assessed in 1991 and every four years thereafter by validated food frequency This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. A cc ep te d A rti cl e questionnaires. We used log-binomial models with generalized estimating equations to estimate the relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: We documented 865 incident GDM cases during 10 years of follow-up. After adjustment for age, parity, race/ethnicity, family history of diabetes, dietary and lifestyle factors, and body mass index, the RRs (95% CIs) of GDM risk associated with supplemental vitamin D intake of 0, 1-399, ≥ 400 IU/d were 1.00 (reference), 0.80 (0.67-0.96), and 0.71 (0.56-0.90), respectively (P for trend = 0.002). Dietary and total vitamin D intakes were also inversely associated with GDM risk, but the associations were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Pre-pregnancy supplemental vitamin D intake was significantly and inversely associated with risk of GDM. Our study indicates potential benefits of increasing vitamin D intake from supplements in the prevention of GDM in women of reproductive age. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. A cc ep te d A rti cl e HIGHLIGHTS • Vitamin D insufficiency is common in pregnant women, and it has been associated with gestational diabetes. However, the impact of vitamin D intake either from diet or from supplements on the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains unknown. • In a large prospective cohort study, we found that pre-pregnancy supplemental vitamin D intake was significantly and inversely associated with risk of GDM. These results indicate potential benefits of increasing vitamin D intake from supplements in the prevention of GDM.


The study of water disinfection by photosensitization with methoxy-5 psoralen showed complete inhibition of fecal coliforms after 60 minutes of exposure to the light at all concentrations used (0.006; 0.2 and 0.340 g / l). The kinetic study shows that the kinetic constants are classified in the following order: 0.11; 0.15 and 0.17 min, respectively for 0.006; 0.2 and 0.340 g / l. In the other hand, for the faecal enterococci, complete inhibition was observed after 5 minutes of exposure at all concentrations used (0.006; 0.2 and 0.340 g / l).


Abstract This paper reports a research work piece developed in collaboration with the semiconductor wafer production company: STMicroelectronics. This collaborative research programme aimed at implementing statistical methods, so as to improve business decisions focusing on capacity planning for information technology. The current paper presents the specification, and experimentation of a method dedicated to managing the need to integrate rigorously complex contextualisation factors, when developing statistical-based Decision Support Systems (DSS). The key challenge is to increase the end-user acceptance and success rate for DSS developments. To ensure the successful integration of DSS within the user environment, the paper formalises a so-called 'Contextualisation process', integrated within a larger decision-aid development framework. This Contextualisation process is specified with three methodological components, respectively 'Qualitative Contextualisation', 'Statistical Modelling and Formalisation' and 'User Integration'. This approach is applied by STMicroelectronics, to a case study focusing on a project of change management for the infrastructure of the Information System. Based on the demonstration of the case study results, the added-value of the Contextualisation process are discussed and further perspectives for applied research in DSS are drawn.


Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for medical student education. Many if not most medical schools have placed significant limitations on direct patient contact by medical students which may persist indefinitely. Novel approaches are required to provide students with clinical experience. In response to this need, a case-based fourth year medical student (M4) elective was developed. Description of elective: In the first five offerings of the elective, two to nine M4 students enrolled. M4 electives are scheduled to begin on Mondays. On the first Monday morning, following a brief orientation, a lecture on aspects of the physical examination relevant to Hematology (such as physical findings of anemia, polycythemia, thrombocytopenia, lymph node examination, and spleen palpation) was presented using the Zoom application. Otherwise, the structure of Monday-Thursday sessions were identical. Each morning by 730 AM, students received an email containing a brief PowerPoint representing the information that was known to the Hematology attending at the time of initial clinic or inpatient referral. All identifiers were removed from the PowerPoint. All cases represented patients actually followed by the elective's faculty member (RTM). Students were expected to research the case and be prepared with additional history questions and additional laboratory tests. For tests requested, students were expected to have a plan for follow-up testing based on the different possible results. Students were also expected to have a differential diagnosis and, where appropriate, a proposal about whether treatment was indicated. At 1PM each day, students and the faculty member assembled on Zoom. After class discussion of the patient's presentation, diagnostic evaluation, and differential diagnosis. Images of blood and bone marrow were provide when appropriate. This segued into a discussion of the natural history, pathophysiology, and treatment of the patient's clinical diagnosis illustrated by the patient's results and clinical course. Rationale for the clinical decisions made were presented and discussed. Following the discussion, students were provided a copy of the discussion PowerPoint and copies of relevant references. For each case, students were expected to provide a reflective statement indicating what they had known before the case, what they had learned, and issues about which they had additional questions. The students were also asked to submit a diagnostic algorithm for the clinical topic discussed that is relevant for their residency career choice. Fridays used a different approach. The faculty physician presented an evolving case on Zoom in an effort to replicate something comparable to a real-time clinic experience. A microscope with a web-camera attachment was used to review the patient blood films. An example of elective topics in one offering of the elective is shown in Table 1. Results: Over the first five offerings of the selective, 30% of the M4 class participated. Three additional offerings are planned in this academic year. Students represented a diverse array of residency aspirations (Table 2), reflecting career aspirations of the overall class. End-of-elective feedback from students was uniformly positive. Features of the elective eliciting favorable comment included that these were real cases; the structure of the Monday - Thursday cases replicating a ward or clinic type experience (student "sees" the patient in the morning and then discusses the case at "attending rounds" in the afternoon); explication of clinical correlations of laboratory tests and their underlying mechanisms; the opportunity to think through the diagnosis while developing the algorithm for each case; feedback on the algorithms and reflective statements; and to the "real-time" nature of the evolving case. Suggestions for improvement mostly reflected a wish that additional areas be covered (lymphoma, acute leukemia and pediatric Hematology). Conclusions: The Covid-19 pandemic has created a need for creative approaches to clinical education and medical students. Hematology, with its strong connection to the diagnostic laboratory, is ideally situated to provide clinical exposure that allows clear correlation between patient presentation and natural history, foundational basic science, the diagnostic laboratory, and clinical management. Disclosures Means:WoltersKluwer: Patents & Royalties: Wintrobe Clinical Hematology editor; UpToDate author, editor; Cambridge University Press: Patents & Royalties: textbook editor; SpringerNature: Patents & Royalties: Textbook editor.


This investigation deals about the estimation of a Quadurple tank system. Estimation process used to measure the difference between the sensor output and estimated output, thus the resultant will show the capability of the system performance for the given input. Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is one of the estimation technique used for estimating the non-linear system, will estimate the future state of the system and determines the error involved in the system. Also this paper justifies that UKF is worthwhile than the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Due to various drawbacks that have been noted in the EKF, thus there is a switch over to the UKF which does not linearize the non-linear function and it is free from calculating the Jacobianmatix, taylor series expansion.


79 patients with ischaemic stroke were investigated, with 31 patients showing a pure hemiparesis, 22 an additional depressive syndrome and 26 a dementia. After an average time intervall of 28 months, a follow-up investigation was performed on these 3 groups relative to their course and rehabilitation outcome. No significant differences were present between the 3 groups as regards age and sex distribution as well as hemisyndrome severity. The neurological and psychiatric findings at follow-up differed significantly from the primary findings. Also, significant differences were found in the degree of disability, and in the self- and family ratings of rehabilitation outcome, with a poorer long-term course, i.e. a higher degree of disability, significantly more frequent in the dementia group. Comparison of self- and family-ratings showed that self-ratings given were significantly worse in the dementia and depressive groups, whereas patients with purely neurological symptoms rated themselves better than their relatives did.


Time-resolved velocity fields around a pitching and surging NACA 0018 airfoil were analyzed to investigate the influence of three independent timescales associated with the unsteady flowfield. The first of these timescales, the period of the pitch/surge motion, is directly linked to the development of dynamic stall. A simplified model of the flow using only a time constant mode and the first two harmonics of the pitch surge frequency has been shown to accurately model the flow. Full stall and leading-edge flow separation, however, were found to take place before the maximum angle of attack, indicating that a different timescale was associated with leading-edge vortex formation. This second, leading-edge vortex, timescale was found to depend on the airfoil convection time and compare well with the universal vortex formation time. Finally, instantaneous non-phase-averaged measurements were investigated to identify behavior not directly coupled to the airfoil motion. From this analysis, a third timescale associated with quasi-periodic Strouhal vortex shedding was found before flow separation. The interplay between these three timescales is discussed in detail, particularly as they relate to the periodic velocity and angle-of-attack change apparent to the blades of a vertical axis wind turbine.


This dictionary features more than 2,500 definitions and examples of phrasal verbs, two-word verbs, prepositional verbs, and verbal collocations. Each entry includes abundant examples to enhance comprehension.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of zuogui pill (ZP) contained serum on the gene expressions of type-II collagen and proteoglycan during the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) towards chondrocytes.

METHODS
MSCs isolated from rat bone marrow were in vitro induced differentiation towards chondrocytes and stimulated with high- (57 g/kg), middle- (28.5 g/kg), and low-dose (9.5 g/kg) ZP contained serums and serum of blank rats. The proliferation of MSCs was analyzed by CCK-8 method. The 3rd-passage MSCs were divided into the blank control group (by adding serum of the blank group rats), the induction control group (by adding the induction fluid and serum of the blank group rats), and the ZP contained serum group (by adding the induction fluid and middle-dose ZP contained serum). The expressions of type-II collagen and proteoglycan were determined using reverse transcriptase PCR, Real-time PCR, and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
Compared with the blank control group, the proliferation of MSCs could be promoted by ZP contained serum at different doses (P < 0.05), with the most obvious effect shown in the middle-dose ZP contained serum group (P < 0.05). The mRNA and protein expressions of type-II collagen could be identified in the induction control group and the ZP contained serum group on the 21st day of the induction. Of them, the mRNA expression of type-II collagen in ZP contained serum groups was obviously higher than that of the induction control group. Results of Real-time PCR showed that on the 21st day of the induction, the mRNA expression quantitation of proteoglycan in ZP contained serum groups was about 16-fold and 3-fold of the levels on the 7th day and the 14th day (P < 0.05), obviously higher than those of the induction control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
ZP contained serum could induce MSCs proliferation, the gene expressions of type- II collagen and proteoglycan, which might be one of its molecular bases for protecting the cartilage.


Exhaustive study of Benedictus Textor's Stirpium differentiae (1534), a work endeavouring at this time to convey systematically to students of medicine the galenic properties of plants; a scientific adaptation of the meaning of Discorides' work.


One of the ecological functions of green open space (RTH) is to accommodate biodiversity in urban areas by providing a habitat for wild plants and animals. Pollution, urbanization, and various other environmental pressures make green open spaces in urban areas more susceptible to disturbances, both natural and due to human activities, which can affect the existence of biodiversity within them, including butterflies, which have specificity and sensitivity to certain environmental conditions, thus acting as bioindicators. Assessment of butterfly species, habitat conditions, and assistance with problems was carried out at four green open space locations in the East Jakarta Administrative City (DKI Jakarta Province) and four green open space locations in Pontianak City (West Borneo Province) to determine the potential and effectiveness of green open space as habitat protection for butterflies. The assessment was carried out by observing the presence of butterflies using the time search method and measuring the environmental factors that form the habitat and their correlation with the butterfly community through quantitative analysis. The results of the study showed that there were 22 species of butterflies in green open space in the East Jakarta Administrative City and 17 species of butterflies in green open space in Pontianak City. Correlation analysis at the eight green open space locations showed the same pattern, namely that the occurrence of butterfly species increased along with the number of forage plant species (as hosts or food plants) and canopy density (as shelter plants). The clustered shape of green open space is also a characteristic of green open space, which supports the function of green open space as a refuge habitat for butterflies in urban areas.


In this paper, we present a method for photometric self- calibration of a projector-camera system. In addition to the input transfer functions (commonly called gamma functions), we also reconstruct the spatial intensity fall-off from the center to fringe (commonly called the vignetting effect) for both the projector and camera. Projector-camera systems are becoming more popular in a large number of applications like scene capture, 3D reconstruction, and calibrating multi-projector displays. Our method enables the use of photometrically uncalibrated projectors and cameras in all such applications.


We present an extended packet reservation multiple access (EPRMA) protocol for wireless multimedia services. It supports multi-bit-rate reservation, dynamic slot and frequency carrier association, and an effective contention mechanism. The improved link utilisation is achieved by burst traffic statistically multiplexed on a wide bandwidth. Simulation study shows the significant increase in trunking efficiency. Principles of traffic control and resource management are suggested. Simulation results for homogeneous traffic multiplexing are presented. It shows how the maximum link utilisation is influenced by source utilisation, average burst length and peak-to-link ratio. It is concluded that higher bandwidth utilisation can only be achieved when peak-to-link ratios for a sufficient portion of the traffic are far smaller than 0.1. With this knowledge, the admission control function accepts connections according to their statistical parameters, so that both QOS and network performance are guaranteed.


William Alston has articulated a powerful defense of the claim that mystical perception generates prima facie justified beliefs about God. At the heart of his defense is the claim that mystical perception is 'innocent until proven guilty'; that is, Alston claims that the practice of forming beliefs on the basis of putative perceptions of God should be accorded the same presumptive innocence we accord to other standard ways of forming beliefs like sense perception, memory and introspection. But Alston employs a strategy for defending mystical perception that seems to obviate the possibility of criticizing mystical perception and thus that renders otiose Alston's claim that that practice is innocent only until proven guilty. I argue that this appearance is deceptive; Alston's strategy does not render effective criticism of mystical perception unreasonably difficult. I further argue that granting the legitimacy of Alston's strategy is essential to a fair, measured criticism of mystical perception.


OBJECTIVE
This study assessed transitions to community mental health services among individuals with co-occurring disorders upon release from jail.

METHODS
Data from jail and public mental health systems in Wayne County, Michigan, were merged to identify 677 individuals diagnosed as having a serious mental illness and substance use disorder who had been jailed a total of 1,774 times over 48 months starting in 2003.

RESULTS
Only 33% of incarcerations (N=573) were followed by community-based treatment; 44% (N=803) were followed by treatment during a subsequent incarceration, and 23% (N=398) by no treatment. Generalized estimating equations found that individuals with schizophrenia and substance dependence were the most likely to obtain community treatment.

CONCLUSION
By integrating discharge planning, community mental health providers and jails may ensure a continuum of care that facilitates treatment engagement, limits repeated incarcerations, and improves well-being.


Background: Suicide in the Australian Construction Industry (ACI) is a significant issue, however minimal understanding of suicidal ideation prevalence, as well as the potential role psychosocial job adversity and increased adherence to traditional masculine norms may play in its presence, is apparent. Method: A representative sample of Australian men (n = 11,132) were used to create initial understandings of prevalence of suicidal ideation (past two weeks), psychosocial job adversities and level of adherence to traditional masculine norms for the ACI (n = 1721) in comparison to a general population comprised of the remaining employed males from Other Industries (n = 9411). Additionally, due to their reported increased suicide vulnerability investigation of associations between suicidal ideation, psychosocial job adversities and adherence to traditional masculine norms for the ACI were undertaken. Results: No difference in suicidal ideation prevalence was reported between the ACI and those employed in Other Industries (p > 0.05), however, increased prevalence of psychosocial job adversities (p ≤ 0.001) and adherence to traditional masculine norms (p ≤ 0.001) for the ACI was seen. Significant multivariate associations between suicidal ideation, psychosocial job adversities (OR = 1.79, 95%CI [1.12–2.85]) and two domains of traditional masculine norms, self-reliance (OR = 1.29, 95%CI [1.09–1.51]) and risk-taking (OR = 1.20, 95%CI [1.01–1.41]), were reported. Conclusion: Results suggest need for increased understanding of later stage suicidal trajectory drivers in the ACI. Findings indicate need for prevention group/industry concentration on mitigation of psychosocial job adversities, as well as a more nuanced and increased discussion of the negative role of self-reliance and risk-taking domains of traditional masculine norms may play in ACI suicidal ideation, as opposed to the construct as a whole.


Author(s): Nelles, David Allen | Advisor(s): Yeo, Gene W | Abstract: While the cells that comprise an organism contain largely the same DNA content, the RNA content of cells varies widely among different cell types and healthy vs. diseased cells. The portions of the genome that are transcriptionally active define cell identity and a highly-regulated set of RNA processing steps mediate the generation of the cellular RNA pool. A host of conditions are linked to dysfunctional RNA processing, and the development of means to measure and manipulate cellular RNA has been a persistent concern in the biotechnological fields. This thesis focuses on the development flexible and programmable means to measure and manipulate RNA in living cells using both synthetic and repurposed natural systems.


The paper portrays students' misconceptions of acid-base titrations using  two a tier diagnostic test. The analysis will inform chemistry teaching and learning, especially about acid-base concepts. The data were collected  through a two-tier diagnostic test with 10 stratified multiple choice questions that have been analysed for item validity (rphi = 0,415) and construct validity (V = 0,98) which show that it a valid instrument. Open questions were administered to explore students' misconceptions. The results showed that 33.50% of students held misconceptions of acid-base titrations in the curriculum. The highest percentage of misconceptions were on acid-base titration indicators, with 40,42% students being more familiar with  phenolphthalein for NaOH and HCl titrations than with bromothymol blue. This misconception is sourced from chemistry teaching due to limited understanding of acid-base concepts and the lack of titration practicum in the laboratory with various indicators and types of titration. The lowest percentage of students' misconceptions at the endpoint of the titration was 11.25% of the students having a good understanding of the endpoint of the titration although some students still have difficulty in distinguishing between the endpoints of a titration and the equivalent point. The results show that the students should have deep understanding of acid-base reactions before learning acid-base titrations.


In the paper a new technique for the implementation of digital adaptive filters is presented, based on the use of a so-called distributed-arithmetic filter architecture which uses no multipliers in its realisation of the filtering function. Two adaptive algorithms suitable for this type of filter structure are developed and computer simulations show the viability of both approaches. A simplified-hardware prototype module has also been constructed which realises an 8-point transversal adaptive filter. Results from this prototype are presented to demonstrate the basic feasibility of the distributed-arithmetic adaptive-filter structure.


Author(s): Shin, Nami | Advisor(s): Webb, Noreen | Abstract: English Language Learner (ELL) students are the fastest growing student population within the United States. In spite of federal and state laws and regulations that require states and local districts to provide ELLs with support services, prior research has indicated that ELL students are in general lagging behind non-ELL students in academic achievement. An unanswered question is whether and how the initial designation of students as ELL (apart from their actual skill level) may influence their later academic progress and experiences. The main purpose of this study, then, was to examine the effects of initial ELL classification (while controlling for their actual skill level) on students' academic experiences and later academic achievement. In particular, it compared outcomes for high-scoring ELL students (just below the cutoff for being classified as Initially Fluent English Speaking, IFEP) and students just above the cutoff who were classified as IFEP. This study also investigated whether students' particular profiles of proficiency at the time of the initial classification (speaking, listening) influenced their academic experiences and achievement, as well as the experiences and achievement of students who retained their ELL status over a long term despite having initial scores placing them near the cutoff for being classified as IFEP.This study used student-level longitudinal data (Kindergarten through tenth grade) from a very large school district in southern California. The sample consisted of 13,335 students who were near the cutoff score of the initial CELDT (administered in Kindergarten) for distinguishing ELL from Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP) students. Outcomes examined included standardized test scores, course grades, and whether students enrolled in gate-keeper courses (e.g., Algebra) in the normative year (e.g., 8th grade). Regression discontinuity analyses showed that for students who were near the cutoff score for ELL and IFEP classification, being initially classified as ELLs was not a disadvantage. ELLs outperformed IFEPs in English Language Arts and Mathematics in early elementary grades; this difference disappeared in later grades, and the two groups showed equivalent performance. The patterns of differences and similarities between ELLs and IFEPs did not depend on whether students were more skilled in listening or speaking.Among students who were initially near the cutoff for being classified as ELL, students who retained their ELL classification for a long term (at least five years) showed lower academic performance and developed English proficiency more slowly than students who were reclassified as IFEP in early years (before five years.) On average, students retaining their ELL classification for a long term tended to have lower initial CELDT scores, lower parent education levels, lower attendance rates in school, a higher proportion of students who were male, and a higher proportion of students who were designated as needing special education services.


The interaction of aluminum with 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (2,3-DPG) is thought to be one of the strongest interactions of aluminium with a biophosphate molecule. In this article, the affinity energies for a family of Al–(2,3-DPG) complexes are calculated at the DFT level of theory. The study includes a total of 26 structures that vary from 1 : 1 complexes, to 1 : 2 stoichiometry and ternary complexes with citrate, considering different coordination modes and protonation states. Our results demonstrate that in the case of 1 : 1 complexes, the 2,3-DPG ligand could compete with citrate for complexation with aluminum at physiological pH. However, for the rest of the complexes there is a clear preference for Al(Citr)2 > Al(2,3-DPG)(Citr) ternary complex > Al(2,3-DPG)2 complexes. For each of these groups the charge of the ligand determines the affinity but to a lower extent than the nature of the Citr/2,3-DPG ligands. In summary, our results point to a high variety of possible complexation modes of 2,3-DPG to aluminum, showing a higher preference towards the formation of ternary complexes.


Abstract New collections are reported of the monospecific genus Polypyrenula, an apparently extinct and doubtfully lichenized fungus, typically classified in the Pyrenulaceae. Anatomical studies reveal that it is facultatively lichenized. The structure of its hamathecium suggests affinities with Dothideomycetes rather than Eurotiomycetes. Molecular analysis using nuLSU and mtSSU markers demonstrates for the first time its inclusion in Trypetheliaceae, outside the core genera as part of the early diverging lineages in this family. The known distribution of Polypyrenula is extended to Mexico and South America, new information on its phorophyte associations is provided, and the name Polypyrenula sexlocularis is reinstated as the correct name for this species.


Under or after high-temperature treatment, the physical and mechanical characteristics of limestone and marble change significantly. This study seeks to understand the effect of high temperatures on physical and mechanical properties (such as density, porosity, permeability, P-wave velocity, thermal diffusivity, elastic modulus, uniaxial compressive strength, peak strain and Poisson's ratio) of limestone and marble. The results indicate that, from room temperature to 300°C, most of the physical and mechanical indices of limestone and marble change relatively little, except for thermal diffusivity. Above 300°C (especially at 400–600°C), physical and mechanical characteristics change significantly, corresponding to the changes to minerals between 400 and 600°C. These results confirm the important link between physical and mechanical properties and heating temperature, and can provide the basis of theory and reference for related engineering.


Reading epilepsy in a 20-year-old male. Electroencephalographic study with sphenoidal electrodes localized the onset of critical spikes in the temporal areas (especially the left). The frequency and diffusion of critical spikes were increased when material read had an emotional content. This case report supports the "communication" hypothesis as opposed to hypotheses that emphasize proprioceptive and other "lower order" stimuli in evoking seizures while reading. The authors discuss the role of the temporal lobe in reading: lexical function, treatment of visual information and emotional integration of stimuli.


The authors describe the overall studies on SPOT1 and SPOT2 satellites, in order to assess the validity of upset rate prediction. Upset anomalies detected on OBC (On Board Computer) memory are dealt with. Heavy ion test results obtained during a recent campaign on the IPN Tandem accelerator are presented. The calculations done are summarized, pointing out the best choice of input parameters to achieve a realistic prediction. The goal is to improve the quality of event rate estimation, through a systematic collection of on-orbit anomalies related to charged particles.<<ETX>>


We present mid-infrared photometry of 124 white dwarf stars with the Spitzer Space Telescope . Objects were observed simultaneously at 4.5 and 8.0 (cid:1) m with sensitivities better than 0.1 mJy. This data set can be used to test models of white dwarf atmospheres in a new wavelength regime, as well as to search for planetary companions and debris disks.


Abstract Background In view of the reported increase in obstetric anal sphincter injuries, the objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of such injuries over time and the associated risk and protective factors. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study from a national database of 168 137 primiparous women with term, singleton, cephalic, vaginal delivery between 2008 and 2014. The main outcome measure was obstetric anal sphincter injury. A multivariate regression model was used to identify risk and protective factors. Results Age >19 years, birthweight >4000 g, and operative vaginal delivery were independent risk factors for obstetric anal sphincter injuries. Mediolateral episiotomy increased the risk for obstetric anal sphincter injuries in spontaneous vaginal birth (number needed to harm 333), whereas it was protective in vacuum delivery (number needed to treat 50). From 2008 to 2014, there was an increase in the rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (2.1% vs 3.1%, P < .01), vacuum deliveries (12.1% vs 12.8%, P < .01), and cesarean delivery after labor (17.1% vs 19.4%, P < .01), while forceps deliveries (0.4% vs 0.1%, P < .01) and episiotomy rate decreased (35.9% vs 26.4%, P < .01). Conclusions Episiotomy may be a risk or protective factor depending on the type of episiotomy and the clinical setting in which it is used. Our study supports a restrictive use of mediolateral episiotomy in spontaneous vaginal deliveries. In vacuum deliveries mediolateral episiotomy may help prevent obstetric anal sphincter injuries.


We address the problem of compressing large and distributed signals monitored by a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and recovering them through the collection of a small number of samples (sub-sampling) at the Data Collection Point (DCP). To this end, we propose a novel framework, namely, SCoRe1: Sensing, Compression and Recovery through ON-line Estimation for WSNs. SCoRe1 is very general as it does not require ad-hoc parameter tuning by the user and is able to self-adapt to unpredictable changes in the signal statistics. A feedback control loop is accounted for to estimate, in an on-line fashion, the signal reconstruction error and to react accordingly in order to keep such error bounded. For the actual recovery of the sub-sampled signal, our framework accommodates diverse interpolation techniques, by framing them into the same general algorithm. As a further original contribution of this paper, we integrate a novel signal interpolation method based on Compressive Sensing (CS) into our framework. Specifically, this technique exploits Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for on-line learning of the signal statistics and CS for recovering the sub-sampled signal through convex optimization. Also, we perform an extensive validation of the proposed framework when used in conjunction with CS as well as with standard interpolation techniques, testing its performance for real world signals. Besides validating our framework, these results have the merit of shedding new light on the performance limits of CS when used as a recovery tool in WSNs. Finally, we note that although SCoRe1 is proposed for WSNs, it can be readily applied to other types of network infrastructures that require the approximation of large and distributed signals datasets showing spatial and/or temporal correlation.


The major concern of the problem of personal identity gravitates around the question of whether a person's identity is located in the mind or in the body. Scholars have developed different theories such as survivalist and physicalist criteria among others in response to this question. In this paper, I engage with the theory of sense-phenomenalism as an aspect of the physicalist criterion of personal identity to show how it might legitimize racism and colour-branding. Sense-phenomenalism is a body-only model of personal identity that holds that an individual's identity is determined by the physical features sensually perceptible by other humans in the society. I argue that sense-phenomenalism by reposing a person's identity on his/her bodily traits might foster social discrimination, deepen the dichotomy between the self and the other and enhance the fabrication of justifications for the denial of individual's rights.


Sonar profiling of the seabottom provide 3D data sets that can cover huge survey areas with many gaps. We describe a multiresolution framework or visualization pipeline that is being optimized for dealing with such data, taking into account both the CPU time and the user interactivity. We describe the techniques employed: (a) the construction of a quadtree that allows to eliminate gaps by interpolating available 3D data, (b) a first but coarse visualization at a high tree level in order to rapidly change or adjust the region of interest, and (c) a very efficient triangulation (mesh reduction) that allows for a fast interactivity even at the highest detail level. By using one single octree, all processing can be combined because (1) gaps can be filled by interpolation since they are smaller at higher tree levels, and (2) connected components can be projected down the tree and refined using the data available there. As a result, huge data sets can be visualized in near realtime on normally-sized discrete grids using shading instead of wireframes, and this enables a fast searching for objects in the seabottom. Real CPU times are presented for a real sonar data set which is visualized at a low resolution, showing the overall shape of the seabottom, and at a high resolution, showing a (semi)buried pipeline. In order to detect an object at such a high resolution additional techniques are applied to the data: (a) an interslice interpolation in order to cope with the increased data sparseness and (b) a maximum-homogeneity filtering in order to cope with the decreased signal-to-noise-ratio. After the extraction of the pipeline a thinning technique is applied in order to be able to quantify its length.


Reliable design against upheaval buckling of offshore pipelines requires the uplift response to be predicted. This paper describes a model-scale investigation into the mechanisms by which uplift resistance is mobilized in silica sand, and illustrates how the observed mechanisms are captured in prediction models. A novel image-based deformation measurement technique has been used. The results show that peak uplift resistance is mobilized through the formation of an inverted trapezoidal block, bounded by a pair of distributed shear zones. The inclination of the shear zone is dependent on the soil density, and therefore dilatancy. After peak resistance, shear bands form and softening behavior is observed. At large pipe displacements, either a combination of a vertical sliding block mechanism and a flow-around mechanism near the pipe or a localized flow-around mechanism without surface heave is observed, depending on the soil density and particle size.


Superconducting fibres of Bi(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O high Tc superconducting materials have been prepared by means of the laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) method. The highest zero resistance temperature Tco reached is 114 K, and the highest critical current density Jc (77 K, 0 T) is greater than 5000 A cm-2. As-grown superconducting fibres were successfully fabricated without post-growth heat treatment. Amorphous materials were used for the first time to make high quality fibres. The strong textured structure and highly aligned morphology of the fibres were studied. The influence of growth conditions, thermal treatment and the composition of the fibres was also discussed.


The main thread that links classical thermodynamics and the thermodynamics of small quantum systems is the celebrated Clausius inequality form of the second law. However, its application to small quantum systems suffers from two cardinal problems: (i) The Clausius inequality does not hold when the system and environment are initially correlated - a commonly encountered scenario in microscopic setups. (ii) In some other cases, the Clausius inequality does not provide any useful information (e.g. in dephasing scenarios). We address these deficiencies by developing the notion of global passivity and employing it as a tool for deriving thermodynamic inequalities on observables. For initially uncorrelated thermal environments the global passivity framework recovers the Clausius inequality. More generally, global passivity provides an extension of the Clausius inequality that holds even in the presences of strong initial system-environment correlations. Crucially, the present framework provides additional thermodynamic bounds on expectation values. To illustrate the role of the additional bounds we use them to detect unaccounted heat leaks and weak feedback operations ("Maxwell's demons") that the Clausius inequality cannot detect. In addition, it is shown that global passivity can put practical upper and lower bounds on the buildup of system-environment correlation for dephasing interactions. Our findings are highly relevant for experiments in various systems such as ion traps, superconducting circuits, atoms in optical cavities and more.


Objective: To study the prevalence of breast cysts in several age groups of the general female population and their association with the MspAI polymorphism of the gene CYP17. Results: In 204 ultrasound tests, cysts were present in 22% of the studied population. The epidemiological-clinical profile of these women was Caucasian, aged 41–50 years, regular menstrual cycles, multiparous and complaining of mastalgia. The genetic distribution of polymorphisms of the gene displayed Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and the wild homozygous phenotype was observed in 36.4% of the case group and in 37.6% of the control groups; the heterozygous phenotype was observed in 50% of the study group and 46.3% of control group and a mutated homozygous phenotype was seen in 13.6% of the study group and 16.1% of the controls. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (p = 0.92). Conclusion: The prevalence and most of the epidemiological profile of breast cysts were in agreement with the literature. There was no statistically significant difference among the genotypic groups (wild homozygous, heterozygous and mutated homozygous), despite a slightly increased frequency of the mutated genotype in the control group. This difference indicates a trend of the MspAI polymorphism of the gene CYP17 to act as a protective factor against the development of breast cysts.


Carnivores are currently colonizing cities where they were previously absent. These urban environments are novel ecosystems characterized by habitat degradation and fragmentation, availability of human food, and different prey assemblages than surrounding areas. Coyotes (Canis latrans) established a breeding population in New York City (NYC) over the last few decades, but their ecology within NYC is poorly understood. In this study, we used non-invasive scat sampling and DNA metabarcoding to profile vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant dietary items with the goal to compare the diets of urban coyotes to those inhabiting non-urban areas. We found that both urban and non-urban coyotes consumed a variety of plants and animals as well as human food. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) were an important food item for coyotes within and outside NYC. In contrast, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were mainly eaten by coyotes inhabiting non-urban areas. Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) was the human food item found in most scats from both urban and non-urban coyotes. Domestic cats (Felis catus) were consumed by urban coyotes but were detected in only a small proportion of the scats (<5%), which differs markedly from high rates of cat depredation in some other cities. In addition, we compared our genetic metabarcoding analysis to a morphological analysis of the same scat samples. We found that the detection similarity between the two methods was low and it varied depending on the type of diet item.


Rationale Despite a significant association between obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) and cardiac dysfunction, no randomised trials have assessed the impact of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) or CPAP on cardiac structure and function assessed by echocardiography. Objectives We performed a secondary analysis of the data from the largest multicentre randomised controlled trial of OHS (Pickwick project, n=221) to determine the comparative efficacy of 2 months of NIV (n=71), CPAP (n=80) and lifestyle modification (control group, n=70) on structural and functional echocardiographic changes. Methods Conventional transthoracic two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiograms were obtained at baseline and after 2 months. Echocardiographers at each site were blinded to the treatment arms. Statistical analysis was performed using intention-to-treat analysis. Results At baseline, 55% of patients had pulmonary hypertension and 51% had evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy. Treatment with NIV, but not CPAP, lowered systolic pulmonary artery pressure (−3.4 mm Hg, 95% CI −5.3 to –1.5; adjusted P=0.025 vs control and P=0.033 vs CPAP). The degree of improvement in systolic pulmonary artery pressure was greater in patients treated with NIV who had pulmonary hypertension at baseline (−6.4 mm Hg, 95% CI −9 to –3.8). Only NIV therapy decreased left ventricular hypertrophy with a significant reduction in left ventricular mass index (−5.7 g/m2; 95% CI −11.0 to –4.4). After adjusted analysis, NIV was superior to control group in improving left ventricular mass index (P=0.015). Only treatment with NIV led to a significant improvement in 6 min walk distance (32 m; 95% CI 19 to 46). Conclusion In patients with OHS, medium-term treatment with NIV is more effective than CPAP and lifestyle modification in improving pulmonary hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and functional outcomes. Long-term studies are needed to confirm these results. Trial registration number Pre-results, NCT01405976 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/).


Background: Fractures and dislocations of the hand are the most common injuries seen in emergency departments. Intraarticular fractures have worst functional outcomes if not managed properly. Objective: To find out the incidence and pattern of intra articular phalangeal fractures in the eastern part of Nepal Methods: Patients presenting at Emergency department of B.P.Koirala institute of Health Sciences between 1st January 2009 and 31st December 2009 and who were diagnosed as phalangeal fractures of hand were included in the study. These patients were reviewed for age at time of injury, gender, location of the incident, mechanism of injury, site of injury, side, hand dominance and mode of treatment. Results: One hundred and one patients were included in the study after excluding twenty patients with other associated injuries like head injury (6), poly trauma (10) or those not giving consent (4). The age ranged from 3 to 76 years. Among them male were 79.2%. Farm related injuries were the most common cause in both the sexes. Left side was the most involved side. Most of the patients attended hospital more than 4 hours after injury. Among them 74% had open fracture. Proximal phalanx was involved in 54.4% of cases. Pattern of involvement was mostly oblique and transverse. Most of the patients were undergone wound debridement and Kirschner wire fixation. Conclusion: Farm related and household events are commonest causes of hand injuries with intraarticular phalangeal fractures in our set up. Young males belonging to economically productive age group are mostly affected by these fractures. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hren.v12i1.11982 Health Renaissance 2014;12(1):29-32


Dense reconstructions often contain errors that prior work has so far minimised using high quality sensors and regularising the output. Nevertheless, errors still persist. This paper proposes a machine learning technique to identify errors in three dimensional (3D) meshes. Beyond simply identifying errors, our method quantifies both the magnitude and the direction of depth estimate errors when viewing the scene. This enables us to Improve the reconstruction accuracy. We train a suitably deep network architecture with two 3D meshes: a high-quality laser reconstruction, and a lower quality stereo image reconstruction. The network predicts the amount of error in the lower quality reconstruction with respect to the high-quality one, having only view the former through its input. We evaluate our approach by correcting two dimensional (2D) inverse-depth images extracted from the 3D model, and show that our method improves the quality of these depth reconstructions by up to a relative 10% RMSE.


The study was conducted to determine the perception, actual practices and perceived barriers among health-care providers regarding non-pharmacological pain relief during labor as well as explore women's opinion towards their labor pain management experience. This was a cross sectional study of 88 health-care providers such as doctors, registered nurses and interns and 400 healthy puerperal women who experienced uncomplicated normal deliveries performed at Abha Maternity Hospital between December 2012 and April 2013. Data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires and each participant was invited to share his/her experiences in a one-to-one interview format. Analysis of data obtained showed that participants on most of the pain relief methods samples reported that they knew of different types of non-pharmacological pain relief methods and expressed their agreement toward their different benefits. On the other hand, lack of time, regulatory issues, lack of knowledge, patient unwillingness and strong beliefs in analgesia were recorded as the highest barrier percentage, while women who went through childbirth reported moderate levels of satisfaction regarding their birth experience. Role and benefits of non-pharmacologic methods of pain relief during labor cannot be ignored. There are many barriers preventing non-pharmacological pain therapies from being used related to hospital regulations and policies. In addition, most women denoted that they were able to cope with labor pain through non-pharmacological management. Keywords: non-pharmacological strategies, barriers, benefits, perception, health-care providers, labor pain, puerperal women


Botanical products have a long history of use as dietary supplements to maintain or improve health. Considering the complexity of the herbal products, obtaining scientific evidence for their efficacy and safety is important for customers. Licorice root extract is used in botanical dietary supplements all around the world. In recent years, licorice products have become popular among women seeking relief from premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms. However, the bioactive constituents vary considerably between different licorice species, which will affect the bioactivity of licorice commercial products.
This dissertation focused on the discovery of bioactive compounds from licorice and the investigation of their human metabolism. Some of these compounds may have the potential to cause drug-botanical interaction such as drug metabolizing enzyme inhibition or induction. To expedite these studies, a new screening assay based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was developed for detecting reactive metabolites and electrophilic compounds from licorice extracts. In addition, several licorice chalcones have been reported to function as chemoprevention agents while at the same time potentially causing drug-botanical interactions such as induction or inhibition of drug metabolizing enzymes. Specifically, licochalcone A (LicA), a licorice chalcone and potential chemoprevention agents from Glycyrrhizza inflata, was investigated with respect to its in vitro phase I and phase II metabolism. These in vitro data will facilitate the design of animal studies and clinical trials of LicA and licorice dietary supplements containing LicA.


Mastreviridae, of the family geminiviridae, possess a monopartite genome and are transmitted by leafhoppers. Bean yellow dwarf dirus (BeYDV) is a mastrevirus which originated from South Africa and infects dicoyledenous plants, a feature unusual for mastreviridae. Previously, the nonstructural proteins Rep and RepA were examined with respect to their independent roles in BeYDV replication. This was achieved by placing both gene products under independent constitutive promoter control and examining their effects on replication‐competent constructs. In the current study, Rep and RepA are examined further for their roles in regulating BeYDV gene expression using a series of replication‐incompetent constructs. While both Rep and RepA are found to behave as equally potent inhibitors of complementary‐sense gene expression, they differ considerably with respect to their abilities to transactivate virion‐sense gene expression. Furthermore, RepA is identified as playing more than one role in this transactivation process. A nuclear localization domain is identified in Rep which is absent in RepA, and Rep–RepA interactions are examined under in vivo conditions. The study concludes with an investigation into the expression strategies of the BeYDV capsid protein.


Fourteen cats were trained to discriminate between 5 and 20 s periods of confinement as evidenced by differential responding to two feeders. In a subsequent titration procedure the cats discriminated 5 from 10 or even 8 s. Positional mediation of correct responses was observed only in some animals. The present task may complement the classical and operant conditioning situations in which the temporal distribution of responses reflects the animals' abilities for both time discrimination and response inhibition.


It deals with a classification of common solid errors made by students in grammar constructions of the Polish language and it provides the information that learners need to correct their grammar errors. Moreover, it states the necessity to work out not Polish but Polish and Russian grammar rules based on the comparison between the mother tongue and a foreign language.


Introduction : Alzheimer's disease is an age - related neurodegenerative disorder with progressive loss of cognitive function and other manifestations in the central nervous system. It has been found that 45 % of patients exhibit sleep disorders . Purpose: This study aims t o describe the role and effects of melatonin levels in Alzheimer 's disease. Methods: In a literature search in the electronic database "PubMed" and "Google Scholar" via search engine . There was a time restriction, the last fourteen years . Exclusion criter ia of articles were articles related to the effect of melatonin in other neurodegenerative disorders. Finally , 65 articles were included in the study. Results : The production of melatonin depends on circadian rhythm and affects the duration and quality of sleep. It is known that the process of aging cause a reduction of melatonin and that endogenous secretion is reduced in people with Alzheimer's disease. Degenerative changes in the pineal gland can cause deregulation in the secretion of melatonin in the e arly stages of Alzheimer, resulting in the additional presence of disturbances in the sleep cycle . At the same time , lack of sleep can cause chronic accumulation of beta amyloid peptide, which is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease . So , sleep and neurodegenerative disorder exhibit a bidirectional relationship, having a significant impact on the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease . Conclusions: Data from clinical studies suggest that melatonin supplements improve sleep quality and retard the progression of cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer.


An important decision facing retailers is the level of price promotions or "sales" to have in their retail prices. In this paper, we consider the use of promotion-free (PF) retail pricing by stores selling durable products, where PF pricing means that the retailer does not use or advertise price promotions. Interestingly, we find, contrary to the previous literature, that a store using a PF strategy does not advertise prices, and yet may charge below shoppers' reservation prices. Further, we show that a store can follow a PF pricing strategy in equilibrium, when competing with another store following a PF pricing or a promotional pricing strategy, and we characterize the conditions that support each type of equilibrium. The combination of PF pricing, the lack of advertisement of prices, and pricing below the reservation price may be similar to the pricing strategy followed by EDLP stores selling durable products. Our analysis yields insights on how a store may choose between a PF pricing strategy and a promotional pricing strategy in a competitive setting.


The advantages of the use of the operating microscope in eyelid surgery are discussed. Its use in 35 cases has yielded excellent results.


The air pollution was much worse, and it became necessary to replace the fossil energy sources by the renewable energies. The causes are related to reserves that can be exhausted, to pollution and their impacts on the environment. Production of toxic gases from the combustion of coal for the effect of increasing the temperature of the earth. Solar energy is a clean and inexhaustible excellent alternative. We propose a modeling and simulation of a solar system consists of a photovoltaic generator (PVG), a boost chopper, to supply a telecommunications relay station (BTS), According to the load characteristics (I = 60A, V = 48V) DC (3 kW). A stage adaptation composed of this chopper controlled by a PWM controller (Pulse Width Modulation) is used to control the optimal operating point (MPPT) and optimize system performance using Matlab / Simulink.


Cells transformed by the simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen (Tag) contain elevated levels of cellular p53 protein. To quantify this relationship, levels of p53 were measured in NIH 3T3 cells that expressed different concentrations of Tag. Using immunoblotting, average p53 levels were shown to increase linearly with Tag concentrations in these cell lines. Single‐cell measurements were also performed using flow cytometry to measure p53 immunofluorescence. Surprisingly, the flow cytometry experiments showed that two distinct cell populations, based on p53 content, were present in cells expressing high levels of Tag. One cell population contained elevated p53 levels. A second population did not contain elevated p53, even though high concentrations of Tag were present in the cells. This latter cell population did not appear to arise because of mutations in either Tag or p53. The two cell populations also had phenotypic differences. In exponentially growing cells, Tag alters the cell cycle distribution (decreases the percentage of G1 phase cells and increases the percentages of S and G2 + M phase cells). This phenotype was maximum in the cell population containing elevated p53. A lesser phenotype was found in the cell population that did not contain elevated p53. These data show, firstly, that cells can express significant levels of Tag and not contain elevated levels of p53 and, secondly, that elevated p53 correlates with the altered cell cycle distribution produced by Tag in growing cells.


ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the 'moment' of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments for dynastic formations, potentially disrupting its routine functioning style. And yet, these moments allow a clear identification and opportunity for analysis of the specific dilemma that all political dynasties have to negotiate. This dilemma can be described as follows: how to reconcile (1) the need to project emerging dynastic heirs as extraordinary beings embodying the special qualities of the original dynast, with (2) the equally pressing need to downplay inherited dynastic privilege – conceptualised here using Louis Dumont's idea of 'shamefacedness' – often portrayed as an illegitimate source of power and influence in postcolonial South Asia. A successful succession, as this article argues, relies on the ability to negotiate this dilemma. To demonstrate this negotiation in practice, the article analyses two cases of dynastic succession: Abhishek Banerjee in West Bengal, India and Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah in Barishal, Bangladesh.


Every year, the number of people who want to own a house by credit increase, therefore the chances of increasing problem loans will be greater. Non-Performing Loan (NPL) is an indicator to assess the performance of bank functions. The higher the NPL value, the performance of the bank is considered worse. In order to maintain the caution of banks (creditors) in the provision of credit, the bank needs to assess and determine the criteria of debtors who can be given credit. So the bank can make decisions precisely and accurately. In this research, the Researcher will design decision support system with Mamdani fuzzy logic method with the resulted output in the form of "rejected" or "approved" decision. The accuracy rate in this study is 98%. 2% of the difference consists of 63.64% is a debtor with NPL credit status (problematic). After the system was designed in this study, the researcher conducted an analysis to see the user behavior when using the system. The method used is Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The result of TAM analysis is the simultaneous relationship among of all variables on the acceptance of information technology (acceptance of IT) have a positive impact. However, a partial relationship between perceived usefulness and attitude toward using does not have a positive effect.


Source Description (SDES) items are normally transported in RTP
control protocol (RTCP). In some cases it can be beneficial to speed
up the delivery of these items. Mainly when a new source (SSRC) joins
an RTP session and the receivers needs this source's relation to
other sources and its synchronization context, which are fully or
partially identified using SDES items. To enable this optimization,
this document specifies a new RTP header extension that can carry any
type of SDES items.