We propose a rate-distortion-constrained motion estimation algorithm that leads to improvements in motion-compensated video coding. This is especially true in low bit rate video coding applications such as video conferencing. We introduce the concept of coding efficiency, and the rate-distortion optimization process is formulated as a problem of maximizing coding efficiency. Based on the coding efficiency, the proposed motion estimation algorithm measures the effect of choosing different motion vectors on the overall bit rate and reconstruction distortion. The main advantages of the algorithm are that it employs a more effective measure of performance and it is computationally simple. Our experimental results show that our proposed rate-constrained motion estimation algorithm yields better rate-distortion performance when compared with conventional motion estimation algorithms.


On the basis of a kind of zinc phosphate oxynitride glass matrix with a broadband blue light, a series of manganese single-doped glasses were obtained. A broader red emission with the higher intensity belonging to the Mn2+ ion was observed in this glass matrix. The mechanism of the emission from Mn2+ ions was clarified through Mn3+ as an "energy acquisition probe" to replace complex dynamic luminescence discussion, which was a fit explanation for the differences in luminescence behavior of Mn ions in prepared glasses at different degrees of redox. The research results indicated that the prepared manganese-doped glass was a potential candidate as phosphor-converted white-light-emitting diodes. An encapsulated white-light-emitting diode device based on this glass with 276 nm ultraviolet chip was achieved. It showed the CIE values of (0.33, 0.35), high CRI (Ra = 86), and low color temperature (5228 K).


As Singapore progresses from a newly-independent nation to a more mature economy, the economic challenges it faces have evolved. In the 50 years following Singapore's independence, the country tackled economic challenges relating to a fledgling nation, that included launching onto a path of economic take-off, and managing workers' wage aspirations without rising unemployment. It met those challenges, successfully transiting from relative poverty in the 1960s to relative prosperity today. As the country enters the next phase of its economic development, having now surpassed the US standard of living as measured by real GDP per capita, it faces another set of challenges: How to transit from catch-up growth arising from technological diffusion from frontier economies, to generating indigenous innovation? How to face the problem of a shrinking local workforce? How to manage a shift in job preferences with rising wealth and educational attainments? This volume provides a theory of Singapore's economic development. With a coherent theory capable of explaining how Singapore got to where it is, the book analyses how the future might look like for the Singapore economy. With its forward-looking analysis, this book is valuable to students as it weaves macroeconomic data together with growth theory and highlights the interaction of economic forces with social influences and political institutions. It also serves as a good reference for other emerging economies that, like Singapore, want to avoid the middle-income trap, and for researchers interested in analysing the economic possibilities for current and future Singaporeans.


Custom genome editing has become an essential element of molecular biology. In particular, the generation of fusion constructs with epitope tags or fluorescent proteins at the genomic locus facilitates the analysis of protein expression, localization, and interaction partners at physiologic levels. Following up on our initial publication, we now describe a considerably simplified, more efficient, and readily scalable experimental workflow for PCR-based genome editing in cultured Drosophila melanogaster cells. Our analysis at the act5C locus suggests that PCR-based homology arms of 60 bp are sufficient to reach targeting efficiencies of up to 80% after selection; extension to 80 bp (PCR) or 500 bp (targeting vector) did not further improve the yield. We have expanded our targeting system to N-terminal epitope tags; this also allows the generation of cell populations with heterologous expression control of the tagged locus via the copper-inducible mtnDE promoter. We present detailed, quantitative data on editing efficiencies for several genomic loci that may serve as positive controls or benchmarks in other laboratories. While our first PCR-based editing approach offered only blasticidin-resistance for selection, we now introduce puromycin-resistance as a second, independent selection marker; it is thus possible to edit two loci (e.g., for coimmunoprecipitation) without marker removal. Finally, we describe a modified FLP recombinase expression plasmid that improves the efficiency of marker cassette FLP-out. In summary, our technique and reagents enable a flexible, robust, and cloning-free genome editing approach that can be parallelized for scale-up.


In this brief review mainly based on our own work, we summarised the electrochemical investigations into those iron carbonyl complexes relevant to the iron centres of [FeFe]-and [Fe]-hydrogenases in the following aspects: (i) electron transfer (E) coupled with a chemical reaction (C), EC process, (ii) two-electron process with potential inversion (ECisoE), and (iii) proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) and the role of an internal base group in the non-coordination sphere. Through individual examples, these processes involved in the electrochemistry of the iron carbonyl complexes are discussed. In probing the complexes involving a two-electron process with potential inversion, the co-existence of one- and two-electron for a complex is demonstrated by incorporating intramolecularly a ferrocenyl group(s) into the complex. Our studies on proton reduction catalysed by three diiron complexes involving the PCET mechanism are also summarised. Finally, perspectives of the electrochemical study in iron carbonyl complexes inspired by the iron-containing enzymes are mentioned in the sense of developing mimics of low overpotentials for hydrogen evolution through exploiting the PCET effect.


Although many studies revealed that emotions and their dynamics have a profound impact on cognition and behavior, it has proven difficult to unobtrusively measure emotions. In the current study, our objective was to distinguish different experiences elicited by audiovisual stimuli designed to evoke particularly happy, sad, fear and disgust emotions, using electroencephalography (EEG) and a multivariate approach. We show that we were able to classify these emotional experiences well above chance level. Importantly, we retained all the information (frequency and topography) present in the data. This allowed us to interpret the differences between emotional experiences in terms of component psychological processes such as attention and arousal that are known to be associated with the observed activation patterns. In addition, we illustrate how this method of classifying emotional experiences can be applied on a moment-by-moment basis in order to track dynamic changes in the emotional response over time. The application of our approach may be of value in many contexts in which the experience of a given stimulus or situation changes over time, ranging from clinical to consumption settings.


Malignant ascites is one of the severe complications of hepatocellular carcinoma, which can be regarded as a unique tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The identification of novel biomarkers in malignant ascites could be crucial to differentiate patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhotic ascites.

 The study aimed to distinguish the metabolomics of malignant ascites in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma from that of non-malignant ascites (cirrhotic ascites).

 Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the differentially distributed biomarkers in patients with malignant ascites and hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 39), as well as in patients with benign and cirrhotic ascites, who were taken as healthy controls (n = 36).

A total of 20 differential metabolites associated with malignant ascites were identified, of which 8 metabolites were upregulated and 12 metabolites were downregulated (ratio < 0.5 or > 1.5, respectively). Moreover, pathway and enrichment analyses revealed nitrogen metabolism, urea cycle, phenylalanine, and tyrosine metabolism to be implicated in the formation of malignant ascites in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

 Our results suggest that the key factors associated with pathways, such as arachidonic acid, phenylalanine, and glutamic acid pathways, are potential ascitic fluid-based biomarkers for differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis ascites; the results also provide a clinical pathophysiological interpretation of biomarkers and metabolic pathways relevant to disease status.


In this paper, we developed a signal generation method which can be used in the interferential current electrical stimulating device. A low-cost, 8-bit microcontroller and a very compact algorithm were adopted here to generate the sine wave. Using the method, we can easily modify the frequency and phase difference between two channels with high resolution. The preliminary experiment shows that this method can reduce the circuit complexity and improve the signal stability


Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a blinding disease characterized by the formation of epiretinal membranes through the wound repair process. Though the mechanisms of PVR development are still not fully understood, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells are indicated to play the primary role in the pathogenesis of PVR. In the setting of PVR, RPE cells undergo a process named epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), by which differentiated epithelial cells go through a phenotypic conversion that gives rise to the matrix-producing fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. Recent studies indicated that EMT in RPE cells is a main contributor of PVR and involves various growth factors/cytokines, transcriptional factors, and microRNAs. Targeting these factors/microRNAs suppresses the progression of EMT and thus may provide novel ideas for the treatment of PVR. This review highlights the current understandings of EMT in the pathogenesis of PVR and the underlying mechanisms of EMT in RPE cells.


The EUCAST EDef 9.3.2 procedure recommends visual readings of azole and amphotericin B MICs against Aspergillus spp. Visual determination of MICs may be challenging. In this work, we aim to obtain and compare visual and spectrophotometric MIC readings of azoles and amphotericin B against Aspergillus fumigatus sensu lato isolates. A total of 847 A. fumigatus sensu lato isolates (A. fumigatus sensu stricto [n = 828] and cryptic species [n = 19]) were tested against amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and isavuconazole using the EUCAST EDef 9. ABSTRACT The EUCAST EDef 9.3.2 procedure recommends visual readings of azole and amphotericin B MICs against Aspergillus spp. Visual determination of MICs may be challenging. In this work, we aim to obtain and compare visual and spectrophotometric MIC readings of azoles and amphotericin B against Aspergillus fumigatus sensu lato isolates. A total of 847 A. fumigatus sensu lato isolates (A. fumigatus sensu stricto [n = 828] and cryptic species [n = 19]) were tested against amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and isavuconazole using the EUCAST EDef 9.3.2 procedure. Isolates were classified as susceptible or resistant/non-wild type according to the 2020 updated breakpoints. The area of technical uncertainty for the azoles was defined in the updated breakpoints. Visual and spectrophotometric (fungal growth reduction of >95% compared to the control, read at 540 nm) MICs were compared. Essential (±1 2-fold dilution) and categorical agreements were calculated. Overall, high essential (97.1%) and categorical (99.6%) agreements were found. We obtained 100% categorical agreements for amphotericin B, itraconazole, and posaconazole, and consequently, no errors were found. Categorical agreements were 98.7 and 99.3% for voriconazole and isavuconazole, respectively. Most of the misclassifications for voriconazole and isavuconazole were found to be associated with MIC results falling either in the area of technical uncertainty or within one 2-fold dilution above the breakpoint. The resistance rate was slightly lower when the MICs were obtained by spectrophotometric readings. However, all relevant cyp51A mutants were correctly classified as resistant. Spectrophotometric determination of azole and amphotericin B MICs against A. fumigatus sensu lato isolates may be a convenient alternative to visual endpoint readings.


P-Glycoprotein, a 170-180 kDa membrane glycoprotein that mediates multidrug resistance, hydrolyses ATP to efflux a broad spectrum of hydrophobic agents. To observe the interaction of a P-gp reversal agent with P-gp ATPase activity should provide further insights into the mechanisms of P-gp modulator. In this study, we analysed the effect of CJZ3, a lomerizine derivative, on the adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity of human P-glycoprotein. The results showed that the basal P-gp ATPase activity was increased by CJZ3 with half-maximal activity concentration (Km) of 6.8 +/- 1.5 microM, CJZ3 may interact with P-gp with a higher affinity and exhibit a more potent effect than verapamil (Ver). Kinetic analysis indicated a noncompetitive inhibition of Ver-stimulated P-gp ATPase activity and a competitive inhibition of CJX2-stimulated P-gp ATPase activity by CJZ3, moreover, the effect of CsA on CJZ3-stimulated and Ver-stimulated P-gp ATPase activity showed a non-competitive and a competitive inhibition respectively. CJZ3 and CJX2 can bind P-gp either on overlapping sites or distinct but interacting sites, while CJZ3 and Ver as well as CsA can bind P-gp on separated sites in K562/DOX cells.


Abstract This article describes a safety assessment of a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) operational concept—RNP Parallel Approach Transitions (RPAT)—at a hypothetical major international-hub airport. The methodology employed is that developed initially for the innovative and highly complex Single European Sky ATM Research programme but further refined by the authors and applied to a wide range of safety-related projects. Though the described application of the methodology is based on experience gained from a specific ATM project, this article does not take the form of a case study. Rather, the operational environment (OE) has been generalised and the article explains how the safety of RPAT operations would be assessed for this generalised application. Part 1 describes how the required safety properties of the RPAT concept are derived at the ATM-service level—this is the highest level of abstraction, and addresses what the ATM service needs to achieve for the safe movement of aircraft in the airspace (and on the airport surface), without any reference to the underlying end-to-end ATM system. Part 2 describes how those safety properties are then allocated to the ATM system architectural elements and how they are shown to have been met in the implemented system.


Total occlusion of the left main coronary artery is rare. Acute occlusion is invariably fatal; however, survival is possible if the patient reaches the hospital in time. Patients usually present with acute myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock, and sudden cardiac death. Chronic total occlusion presents with angina, myocardial infarction, or congestive heart failure. The authors describe complete occlusion of the left main coronary artery in a patient who presented with recent-onset angina. They review the clinical and angio graphic features of 60 cases described in the literature.


Employees with a proactive personality tend to show exceptional initiative and perseverance, suggesting that they are relatively impervious to stressors. Yet some evidence suggests that proactive personality may exacerbate the effect of stressors on strain. In this study, we clarify these conflicting ideas by systematically distinguishing between different types of chronic work stressors. Integrating the conservation-of-resources model and the challenge–hindrance stressor framework, we suggest that employees with more proactive personalities are especially sensitive to the extent to which chronic work stressors are amenable to their resource investments. Specifically, we hypothesize that, for more proactive employees, challenge stressors (opportunities more amenable to resource investment) lead to less strain (i.e., emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions) but also that hindrance stressors (demands less amenable to proactive expectations of achievement) lead to relatively more strain. We further propose perceived organizational support as a mediator of these interactive effects wherein challenging opportunities are interpreted by proactive employees as particularly indicative of high support and hindering demands as particularly indicative of low support, ultimately leading to lower and higher perceptions of strain, respectively. A three-wave survey of 256 architects generally supports these hypotheses: the effects of challenge stressors on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions were significantly attenuated and the effects of hindrance stressors on these outcomes were significantly exacerbated for more proactive people. These effects were mediated (partially for exhaustion, fully for turnover intentions) by perceived support. Follow-up analysis demonstrates that this interactive effect extends to turnover behavior 2.5 years later, fully mediated by perceived support.


A set of recorded teacher-child interactions in a successful kindergarten classroom was analyzed using the Mehan interactional model for analyzing the sequential organization of speech acts within classroom lessons. The study identified arpects of teacher-student interaction during formal instruction time at micro-interactional levels. The class had been nominated previously as am example of a successful language minority classroom in Phoenix (Arizona), and a majority of students were limited-English-proficient and of Hispanic origin. It was hypothesized that the model would assist in describing the timilarities and differences for teacher-student actions. Results indicate that the teacher fulfilled the general expectation of the model but did not invite instructional interaction in any other than the most communicatively sirple mode, inviting student participation mostly with choice elicitations. An 18-item bibliography is included. (Author/MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions sitpplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** DEPARTmen CP IDUCA1100 Officeot Edtgaborai Rewarth and antrotornent RONAL REsourictS INEORMATION CENTER ECKj docurrarnt has been reptoduced sa moved *Run tftle WW1 or Grimm:short originating it Points of vim or op mons stated in Iroa decomaw* do not necesaanry reprsent otaciat OEM pratoton or policy INSTRUCTIONAL DISCOURSE IN AN EFFECTIVE KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM: A CASE OF STUDY Eugene E. Garcia "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS SEEN GRANTED SY efigad t16-6444: E. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERIC)." 'flus article presents an analysts of a set of recorded teacher-chtld imenictions us a successful kindergarten classroom. It identifies aspects of student teacher interactions during formal instruction time at micro-interactional levels. The Mehan interactional analysts model for nalyzing speech acts is used. It hypothesizes that the onginal Mehan model of instructional interaction assists in describing the similarities and differences for teacher-student acttims. The results mdtcate that the teacher fulfilled the mend expectation reported by Mchan (1979), but did not invite instructional interaction other than choice ehcitations. A primary issue in instruction of language minority children is understanding interaction. Children from different linguistic cultures will use languAge in ways that reflect their different developmental environments (Hymes, 1974; Heath, 1986). For example, a child from a Mexican American or Puerto Rican family will not necessarily talk about the same things, or use language to accomplish the same functions. It is crucial that any instructional strategy used does not penalize the child for speaking the language of his or her environment. At the same time, it is also necessary to assess how language is used in classrooms particularly during instructional events. The expansion of language theory to incorporate both an interest in language form and function in the classroom is not a recent development. In 1970, Cazden wrote: The study ol the acquisition of language has been based on the assumption that what had to be described and explained was the acquisition of a repertoire of a finite set of rules for constructing utterances (in the terminology of developmental psycholinguistics). On this assumption, the school language problems of lower class children can have two explanations-either they have acquired less language than middle class children, or they acquired a different language. The less language explanation has been given various names, cultural deprivation, deficit hypothesis, vacuum ideology, all with the connotation of a nonverbal child somehow emptier of language than his more


In this article we apply the technique proposed in Deng-Hou-Yu [7] to study the level set dynamics of the 2D quasi-geostrophic equation. Under certain assumptions on the local geometric regularity of the level sets of θ, we obtain global regularity results with improved growth estimate on ∣


With the influence of elite universities and famous greats, MOOC brings unprecedented impact and challenge into traditional higher education mode by providing free online courses and personalized learning style. Facing the oncoming education revolution, English education of Chinese universities is the first to be affected. But crisis and opportunities coexist. On the one hand, a potential market in English teaching will emerge as people are eager to learn English; on the other hand, the present rigid teaching patterns of college English are becoming increasingly inappropriate since more flexible and multiple pathways for English study are available. Hence, educational policymakers, managers and lecturers in English should prepare against rainy days and take suitable countermeasures to avoid becoming obsolete in the MOOC age.


Summary

1
The capercaillie Tetrao urogallus is widely valued as a game bird and an indicator of forest ecosystem quality. In Scotland, its numbers have declined since the 1970s, due primarily to poor breeding success. We investigated whether differences in breeding success among forests are related to predator abundance or to aspects of forest structure, with a view to identifying beneficial management practices.

2
Capercaillie breeding success was estimated in 7–14 forest areas in Scotland each year during 1991–2001. Forest habitat, including ground vegetation, and indices of predator abundance were assessed in each of the 14 areas in 1995.

3
Capercaillie breeding success increased with increasing bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus ground cover, but did not improve further above 15–20% cover.

4
The main predators were carrion crow Corvus corone, fox Vulpes vulpes and raptors. Indices of their abundance were confounded such that their respective effects on capercaillie breeding success could not readily be distinguished. However, capercaillie breeding success was negatively related to a principal component score that represented the combined abundance of crows, foxes and, to a lesser extent, raptors.

5
A management trial in one forest showed that capercaillie bred better when most crows and some foxes were killed than when they were not.

6
An index of pine marten abundance was related neither to the other predator indices nor to capercaillie breeding success.

7
Synthesis and applications. Capercaillie reared more young in forests with more bilberry and fewer predators. Management to improve the breeding success of capercaillie should aim for at least 15–20% bilberry ground cover, and legal control of crows and foxes.


Arthropteris is a small genus of the Old World tropics (and southwards to New Zealand) the affinity of which is not clear. It shares with Oleandra and Elaphoglossum the character of outgrowths from the rhizome (phyllopodia) to which the stipes of fronds are jointed, and also has peltate rhizome-scales comparable with those of both genera. One group of species closely resembles Nephrolepis in shape and articulation of pinnae and in form and position of sori, another group has the frond-form and soral form of Thelypteris, and a third has sterile fronds so like those of Teratophyllum that they might be mistaken for that genus; the slender dorsiventral rhizome in all species is comparable with that of Teratophyllum, though the anatomy is different in detail. A remarkable feature, absent in all the other genera already mentioned, is the presence in Arthropteris of short multiseptate hairs essentially like those of Ctenitis and Tectaria; similar hairs occur in Davallodes (not in Davallia) and thus give a possible link with the Davallia group of genera (which all have dorsiventral rhizomes with articulated stipes, and peltate scales). The peculiar monotypic genus Psammisorus C. Chr. (Madagascar) shows features in common with Arthropteris and the Davallioid ferns. As regards spores, those of Nephrolepis, Oleandra, and Davallodes lack perispore, but a perispore is present in Arthropteris, Ctenitis, Teratophyllum, and Elaphoglossum. The original species of Arthropteris was the exindusiate A. tenella (Polypodium tenellum Forst.) and the genus was described by John Smith in J. D. Hooker's Flora of New Zealand; Smith stated that there were also indusiate species which should be included in the genus. W. J. Hooker, however, did not recognize Arthropteris, and subsequently placed A. tenella in Polypodium, A. orientalis in Nephrodium, and A. palisotii in Nephrolepis. John Smith knew a large number of ferns as living plants under his care at Kew (a century ago he estimated that he had had a thousand species in cultivation, though doubtless not all at one time) and in distinguishing genera he took into consideration characters, noted from the living plants, which Hooker was not prepared to accept as significant for the purpose. I agree with Smith in accepting Arthropteris as a natural genus, and believe that its peculiar combination of characters may give significant hints as to inter-relationships among various groups of ferns, but it is not yet clear to me how such inter-relationships may best be formally expressed in a scheme of classification. Arthropteris is usually placed near Nephrolepis, but I do not think Nephrolepis is its nearest relative.


This column describes a collaboration between faculty members in an Allied Health program and academic librarians to provide information literacy instruction to students enrolled in an evidence-based practice course. The process of collaboration is described beginning with the inception of the idea to collaborate, which grew out of an informal conversation between librarians and Allied Health faculty. Implementation of the project is described as well as future plans for the collaboration. The column also discusses initial impressions of student outcomes as well as plans for a more rigorous study of those outcomes.


Beta-lactamases are the commonest cause of bacterial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. They have been classified phenotypically by their isoelectric point, substrate profile, susceptibility to inhibitors and genetic origin. Chromosomal beta-lactamases are typical for certain bacterial species and plasmid beta-lactamases are transferable between different species and genera. Sequencing of beta-lactamase genes enabled to divide them into four classes: A, B, C and D. The ability of a beta-lactamase to confer resistance depends on its location, kinetics, quantity and physicochemical conditions. First beta-lactamases were described soon after introduction of penicillin. Plasmid-mediated broad-spectrum beta-laktamases appeared in the middle 60-s of the XX century and confer resistance to penicillins and some first generation cephalosporins. They include TEM-1, TEM-2, SHV-1, ROB, BRO, OXA and PSE beta-lactamases and are transferred by conjugation between different species and strains of Gram-negative bacteria. The new beta-lactam agents nowadays are compromised mostly by extended-spectrum beta-lactamases, inhibitor-resistant beta-lactamases and carbapenemases. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were described for the first time 20 years ago and are derived from the parental TEM and SHV-1 beta-lactamases by mutations that alter the configuration of the active site to expand their spectrum of activity. They hydrolyse oxymino-cephalosporins and aztreonam. The rapid and accurate laboratory detection of ESBLs is important for choosing appropriate antibiotic therapy. Infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae producing ESBLs pose a therapeutic problem due to multiple antibiotic resistance which includes non-beta-lactam antibiotics as well. Carbapenems are the first-line antibiotics for treatment of such infections.


Metabolic engineering is defined as recombinant DNA technology to improve specific biochemical reactions for product formation. We modify the metabolic processes of bacteria to get our desired food by metabolic engineering. Metabolic engineering will enhance these microorganisms' properties and their ability to produce a diverse number of products cost-effectively. To produce amino acids, we modify the central metabolic pathway, biosynthetic pathway, and transport pathway. In many food industries, the production of organic acids through different processes and techniques have proved very beneficial because of their widespread applications. In line with this information, the present review aimed to provide background information for researchers about genetically modified foods for increased food yield to fulfil the nutritional values for average body growth.


We consider the statistical inverse problem of recovering a function $f: M \to \mathbb R$, where $M$ is a smooth compact Riemannian manifold with boundary, from measurements of general $X$-ray transforms $I_a(f)$ of $f$, corrupted by additive Gaussian noise. For $M$ equal to the unit disk with `flat' geometry and $a=0$ this reduces to the standard Radon transform, but our general setting allows for anisotropic media $M$ and can further model local `attenuation' effects -- both highly relevant in practical imaging problems such as SPECT tomography. We propose a nonparametric Bayesian inference approach based on standard Gaussian process priors for $f$. The posterior reconstruction of $f$ corresponds to a Tikhonov regulariser with a reproducing kernel Hilbert space norm penalty that does not require the calculation of the singular value decomposition of the forward operator $I_a$. We prove Bernstein-von Mises theorems that entail that posterior-based inferences such as credible sets are valid and optimal from a frequentist point of view for a large family of semi-parametric aspects of $f$. In particular we derive the asymptotic distribution of smooth linear functionals of the Tikhonov regulariser, which is shown to attain the semi-parametric Cram\'er-Rao information bound. The proofs rely on an invertibility result for the `Fisher information' operator $I_a^*I_a$ between suitable function spaces, a result of independent interest that relies on techniques from microlocal analysis. We illustrate the performance of the proposed method via simulations in various settings.


Abstract Background Preeclampsia is one of the most common types of pregnancy disorders, and it is essential to know its cardiovascular complications. Therefore, we aimed to compare echocardiographic findings in women with late preeclampsia and healthy pregnant women. Method In this case-control study, 80 women with late preeclampsia and 80 healthy pregnant women were randomly selected and echocardiographic findings were determined and compared in the two groups. Results Evaluating the relationship between late preeclampsia and echocardiographic variables in pregnant women showed a significant relationship between diastolic disorder (15% in the case group vs. 5% in the control group) (p = .035), systolic artery pressure (p = .002), and TR gradient (p = .003) with late preeclampsia; However, this relationship was not observed with other echocardiographic variables (p > .05). Conclusion Since the role of transthoracic echocardiography in the management of women with preeclampsia has been emphasized by international groups, the results of this study suggest that increased TR Gradient and diastolic dysfunction are the most important echocardiography findings in patients with late preeclampsia.


Mechanically interlocked molecules are a class of smart supramolecular species because of their interesting topological structure and application in various areas, such as biology and nanoscience. In this work, we used "multicomponent reaction" to fabricate a new [2]rotaxane based on pillar[5]arene from different small-sized molecules. The molecular structure of the obtained [2]rotaxane R was confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR, high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy, and density functional theory studies. Interestingly, the [2]rotaxane-based organometallic cross-linked catalyst (Pd@R) was easily constructed via the coordination between triazole groups and Pd(NO3)2. Pd@R proved to be a good catalyst for the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction with excellent stability and repeatability.


We present a posture measurement method that uses foot pressure distribution and video camera images. The method first estimates the position, posture and size of subject in the real world from his or her foot pressure distribution. These estimates are represented by a stick model. The position of the skeleton in the camera image is then detected by using the estimated skeleton obtained by projecting the stick model onto the camera image as initial value. We tested this method on 80 walking patterns of eight women. The results show that the detected skeleton lies at the center of the leg.


In an attempt to identify the incidence of conjugated hyperbilirubinemia in infants with erythroblastosis fetalis the records of 67 infants were reviewed. Twenty-two infants were found to have direct bilirubin concentrations greater than 1.0 mg./dl. Among 11 infants who underwent intrauterine exchange transfusion, nine (82%) had conjugated hyperbilirubinemia. Of the remaining 56 infants without the procedure, only 13 (23%) showed evidence of this complication. To predict infants at risk of developing conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, the ratio of hematocrit and total bilirubin concentration in cord blood (H/B ratio) was examined.


This paper presents a new way to understand how deep neural networks (DNNs) work by applying homomorphic signal processing techniques. Focusing on the task of multi- pitch estimation (MPE), this paper demonstrates the equivalence relation between a generalized cepstrum and a DNN in terms of their structures and functionality. Such an equivalence relation, together with pitch perception theories and the recently established rectified-correlations-on-a-sphere (RECOS) filter analysis, provide an alternative way in explaining the role of the nonlinear activation function and the multi-layer structure, both of which exist in a cepstrum as well as in a DNN. To validate the efficacy of this new approach, a new feature designed in the same fashion is proposed for pitch salience function. The new feature outperforms the one-layer spectrum in the MPE task and, as predicted, it addresses the issue of the missing fundamental effect and also achieves better robustness to noise.


Visualization cell interaction with the extracellular matrix (ECM) mesh works plays a central role in understanding cell behavior and the corresponding regulatory mechanisms by the environment in vivo. However, long term visualization of 3D matrix structures remains challenging mainly due to photobleaching or blind spot in the currently available approaches. In this paper, we developed a label-free method based on light-sheet microcopy, termed light-sheet scattering microscopy (LSSM), as a satisfactory solution to solve this problem. LSSM can reliably determine structure of collagen matrices from different origin including bovine, human and rat tail. We verified that the quality and intensity of collagen structure images acquired by LSSM did not decline with time. LSSM offers abundant wavelength choice for matrix structure, maximizing combination possibilities for fluorescence to label the cells. LSSM can be used for visualizing ECM-cell interaction in 3D for long term and characterization of cell-applied forces. Interestingly, we observed ultrathin thread-like structures between cells and matrix using LSSM, which was not to be seen by normal fluorescence microscopy. In summary, LSSM provides a robust approach to investigate the complex interplay between cells and ECM in vitro under in vivo-mimicking conditions.


Abstract This article aims to examine and present trade relations in global value chains (GVCs) and their impact on Polish trade, emphasizing Poland's ability to react to rapid changes in the global economy, as in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the author proposed a two-stage study. The first stage focuses on analyzing selected indexes describing the Polish share and position in GVCs against the background of the European Union (EU) and OECD countries. The second stage is related to the analysis of the latest economic trade data and the reaction of Poland, the EU, and OECD to changes in international trade in 2020 and 2021 in the context of GVC. The study uses data from the OECD and WTO Trade in Value Added Database and the Eurostat Database. The relatively quick adaptation of Poland to the world's standards indicates great possibilities for adaptation of the Polish economy. The share of foreign value added in Polish exports was consistent with global trends. The export orientation of Polish production increased during the analyzed period, proving Poland's deep commitment to global production chains. Despite a similar decline in import and export in the first months of 2020, as in the OECD and the EU26, the growth dynamics in the following months were higher in Poland. Many industries in Poland are highly dependent on the smooth operation of GVCs. At the same time, the service sector is gaining importance, and its share in exports is systematically growing. The highly flexible nature of Poland's international trade allowed it to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its economy.


The effects are described of MnIII, FeIII, CoII, NiII, CuII and AgII porphyrins on the chemical shifts and linewidths of the proton resonances of caffeine, and of caffeine on the electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of CoII, CuII and AgII porphyrins in chloroform solution. The largest n. m. r. shifts are produced by divalent ions with the largest g tensor anisotropy, and trivalent ions with the largest zero-field splittings; metal porphyrins with the largest effective magnetic moments produce the most broadening of the resonances. The n. m. r. and e. p. r. effects are interpreted as arising from molecular complex formation between caffeine and the metal porphyrins. An attempt is made to relate the observed dipolar n. m. r. shifts and broadenings for CoII porphyrin-caffeine to the structure of the complex in solution. Acceptable structures were of the plane-to-plane type, with the metal situated above N9 of the five membered ring.


Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a cardiomyopathy of unknown cause that occurs in the peripartum period. We report a case of PPCM presenting with syncope 1 month after an uncomplicated delivery. Electrocardiography showed Torsades de pointes (TdP) and QT interval prolongation. Echocardiography showed left ventricular systolic dysfunction and endomyocardial biopsy showed myocyte degeneration and fibrosis. Administration of magnesium sulfate and temporary pacing eliminated recurrent TdP. Genetic analyses revealed that recurrent TdP occurred via electrolyte disturbance and cardiac failure due to PPCM on the basis of a novel mutation in KCNH2, a gene responsible for inherited type 2 long QT syndrome.


The system of raising the qualification of epidemiologists at the chair of epidemiology of the Kiev Institute for Advanced Medical training is described.


Detection is an inherent part of every advanced automatic tracking system. In this work we focus on automatic detection of humans by enhanced background subtraction. Background subtraction (BS) refers to the process of segmenting moving regions from video sensor data and is usually performed at pixel level. In its standard form this technique involves building a model of the background and extracting regions of the foreground. In this paper, we propose a cluster-based BS technique using a mixture of Gaussians. An adaptive mechanism is developed that allows automated learning of the model parameters. The efficiency of the designed technique is demonstrated in comparison with a pixel-based BS.


A likely optimization of the transition and output inductors for activating the dynamic behavior of the phase-shifted zero-voltage-switching pulse-width modulated full-bridge (ZVS-PWM FB) converter is introduced. Five conversion models, including one energy-delivery state, two resonances, one energy-holding state, and one transition state etc., are explored and analyzed. Interestingly, the transition inductor is dominant only for the energy-transition period in the H-loop and the other four dynamics are mainly subject to the output inductor when the turns-ratio of the main transformer is greater than two. Design consideration for estimating the mentioned inductors is conducted and implemented by a 1-kW ZVS-PWM FB converter to assess the predicted dynamics.


BACKGROUND
Because of poor long-term results in resection for carcinoma at the hepatic duct confluence, we have adopted a more aggressive approach.

METHODS
The records of 46 patients with carcinoma of the hepatic duct confluence were reviewed. Twenty-four patients underwent hepatic resection and 10 underwent local resection. The remaining 12 patients had unresectable lesions and received palliative treatment. Out of 24 patients who underwent hepatic resection, 17 underwent combined resection of the caudate lobe. Five patients who underwent hepatic resection and three patients who underwent local resection received intraoperative radiotherapy in a dose of 30 Gy of electron beam. Postoperative radiotherapy with a total dose of 50 Gy of external electron beam was performed for five patients who underwent nonradical hepatic resection and one patient who underwent nonradical local resection.

RESULTS
None of the 10 patients who underwent local resection and only 1 (4.2%) of 24 patients who underwent hepatic resection died in the hospital. Among patients who underwent hepatic resection, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 62%, 37%, and 25%, respectively, whereas the respective survival rates in the group that underwent local resection were 50%, 20%, and 20%. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates for patients who underwent combined caudate lobectomy were 69.7%, 53.4%, and 23%, respectively, compared with 57.1%, 26%, and 14.3% for those who did not. The median survival time for patients who received radiotherapy after nonradical resection was 17 months, compared with 5 months for those who did not.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that major hepatic resection combined with caudate lobectomy should be performed for carcinoma of the heptic duct confluence. Postoperative radiotherapy after nonradical resection may be effective in prolonging survival.


This new edition continues RMB's tradition of offering snow enthusiasts updated editions of our best-selling guidebooks. Researched and written by legendary alpinist Chic Scott, with the assistance of certified mountain guide Mark Klassen, this guidebookalong with its companion volume "Summits & Icefields 1: Alpine Ski Tours in the Canadian Rockies" -- will continue to be the bibles for ski mountaineers looking to experience the winter grandeur of western Canadas mountain ranges. Completely revised and updated, this new edition will feature both classic and new tours, along with information on a variety of locations that has either been greatly expanded or freshly redone, including the ever-popular sections on Rogers Pass and the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass Traverse. With stunning, full-colour photos throughout and featuring digitally shaded maps prepared from satellite imagery, these new editions will set a unique standard for ski guidebooks in North America.


Recent evidence from mooring data in the equatorial Atlantic reveals that semiannual and longer time scale ocean current variability is close to being resonant with equatorial basin modes. Here we show that intraseasonal variability, with time scales of tens of days, provides the energy to maintain these resonant basin modes against dissipation. The mechanism is analogous to that by which storm systems in the atmosphere act to maintain the atmospheric jet stream. We demonstrate the mechanism using an idealized model setup that exhibits equatorial deep jets. The results are supported by direct analysis of available mooring data from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean covering a depth range of several thousand meters. The analysis of the mooring data suggests that the same mechanism also helps maintain the seasonal variability.


With this brand new book, "Foot and Ankle Sports Medicine", sports medicine practitioners will have one of the most comprehensive and practical resources for the treatment of foot and ankle sports injuries. In addition to tendon disorders, trauma, hindfoot, midfoot, forefoot, and lower leg, this book's 32 chapters also cover pediatric sports injuries, sport specific injury prevention, rehabilitation, and even shoe selection. Over 40 specialists in orthopaedic surgery, podiatry, physiatry, physical therapy, and athletic training contributed to this book's contents - including team physicians, physical therapists, and athletic trainers for major sports teams including the New York Giants, New York Mets, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Knicks, Washington Nationals, Carolina Panthers, and the US Davis Cup Tennis team. It's the combination of all these different disciplines that makes this book such an excellent resource for treatment of foot and ankle sports injuries. Features: over 300 original illustrations - many in full color; practical recommendations from over 40 experts in their field; and all treatments emphasize the role of therapists and trainers in obtaining the best results.


Knowledge graph (e.g. Freebase, YAGO) is a multi-relational graph representing rich factual information among entities of various types. Entity alignment is the key step towards knowledge graph integration from multiple sources. It aims to identify entities across different knowledge graphs that refer to the same real world entity. However, current entity alignment systems overlook the sparsity of different knowledge graphs and can not align multi-type entities by one single model. In this paper, we present a Collective Graph neural network for Multi-type entity Alignment, called CG-MuAlign. Different from previous work, CG-MuAlign jointly aligns multiple types of entities, collectively leverages the neighborhood information and generalizes to unlabeled entity types. Specifically, we propose novel collective aggregation function tailored for this task, that (1) relieves the incompleteness of knowledge graphs via both cross-graph and self attentions, (2) scales up efficiently with mini-batch training paradigm and effective neighborhood sampling strategy. We conduct experiments on real world knowledge graphs with millions of entities and observe the superior performance beyond existing methods. In addition, the running time of our approach is much less than the current state-of-the-art deep learning methods.


Stunning advances in the structural biology of multicomponent biomolecular complexes (MBCs) have ushered in an era of intense, structure-guided mechanistic and functional studies of these complexes. Nonetheless, existing methods to site-specifically conjugate MBCs with biochemical and biophysical labels are notoriously impracticable and/or significantly perturb MBC assembly and function. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a general, multiplexed method in which we genomically encode non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) into multiple, structure-informed, individual sites within a target MBC; select for ncAA-containing MBC variants that assemble and function like the wildtype MBC; and site-specifically conjugate biochemical or biophysical labels to these ncAAs. As a proof-of-principle, we have used this method to generate unique single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) signals reporting on ribosome structural dynamics that have thus far remained inaccessible to smFRET studies of translation.


The present invention relates to a conveying system in a building or controllers and / or cargo enter and maintain the system (100) of the method, apparatus and computer program product using the system and method of building renovation. The system comprises at least one item for identifying a person, or at least one identification code. The system includes at least one for storing at least one person with detailed information on the intended purpose or floor-related projects have either the person or project into the user profile details privileges related to the area of the building. The system comprises at least one link to the processor identifier and a user profile identified (311). The processor (311) and data memory (310) disposed in the at least one bus module (31, 31 ') of. Fine module data bus (31, 31 ') to human or a predetermined item relating to the destination floor by a signal bus (32) transferred or human or project into the region permission details associated.


The Inner Moray Firth (IMF) lies immediately adjacent to the Sutherland coast in northeast Scotland and contains the Beatrice oil field. Mesozoic basin development of the IMF has classically been regarded as being the result of accommodation to strike-slip motion on the Great Glen fault zone (GGF). However, a seismic interpretation, consisting of over 5000 km of Geco/Merlin seismic data, which integrates all available well data and onshore exposures, suggests that previous models of basin development are incorrect. Instead, it is proposed that the GGF did not play a significant role in the Mesozoic but that extensional, dip-slip motions on other faults controlled its basin geometry and sediment dispersal patterns. The present expression of the GGF only attests to its Cenozoic reactivation as an oblique-slip fault. The new model for basin development has considerable implications for the understanding of IMF prospectivity, particularly timing of structuration, source rock maturation, and hydrocarbon migration. It is believed that the Beatrice structure and its counterparts formed as extensional traps (e.g., closures due to footwall uplift) during Late Jurassic rifting. They were probably charged by Middle Jurassic and older source intervals from a kitchen area that lays beneath a Late Jurassic-Cretaceous half-graben depocenter to themore » northwest. Subsequent Cenozoic regional uplift and oblique-slip motion on the GGF have served to raise and dissect the kitchen area, tilt preexisting structures, and reactivate several faults. Future exploration success may lie in the effective recognition of suitable unbreached paleostructures or stratigraphic traps.« less


This paper deals with a current-fed full bridge dc-dc converter. By the results of an analytical investigation, the impact of the transformer's winding ratio, its leakage inductance and dimension of input inductor on the converter's efficiency is emphasized. Out of this, design considerations for the converter are given. Experimental results, taken from a 1.2 kW prototype, are shown.


This Article addresses how well forestry law in the United States promotes sustainable development, with special attention to the trends of the past decade. The role of law in shaping forest management decisions has been a contentious issue in this recent period, and forestry has been at the forefront of public concern about sustainability of natural resource management generally. Therefore, the problems and opportunities for forestry law to promote sustainable development are indications of the weaknesses and strengths of the overall U.S. legal regime.


This article discusses the transformations which have taken place in perceptions of the "comitology' system at European level. Whereas committees were initially conceived of as an instrument of intergovernmental control over the Commission, the evidence suggests that their functioning is generally consensual and that the Commission is among the most influential actors in committees. This explains the recent shift in the discussions over the committees' control function: the key issue is no longer how to preserve the Commission's autonomy from committees' interference, but rather how committees themselves can be kept under control, and by whom.


Purpose:
To investigate the cellular response to injury, analyzing histopathologic changes associated with increased cellularity, degeneration and disorganization of collagen fibers.

Methods:
Thirty wistar rats were divided in two groups after partial Achilles tenotomy: the right hind paw were treated with the essential oil of Alpinia zerumbet (EOAz), diluted to 33% (0.3 mL kg-1), and the left hind paw received sunflower oil for 3, 14, 30 and 90 days. Statistical significance was determined using a Chi-square and Pearson Correlation qualitative variables test. Moreover, Mann-Whitney U-test test for comparison between different groups of the same cell, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey's test of quantitative measurement.

Results:
A decrease hyperemia (p < 0.001) was observed in the acute phase of inflammatory cell number (p < 0.001), whereas sub-acute phase was marked by significant correlation with macrophages in fibroblasts (r = 0.17, p = 0.03), with probable induction a dense and modeled tissue. At chronic phase, it was found an increase in the number of fibroblasts and a higher percentage of type I collagen fibers (78%) compared with control collagen fibers (55%).

Conclusion:
Oil of Alpinia zerumbet stimulated the process of maturation, organization and tissue repair which gave it greater resistance.


Without any sample pretreatment, trace amounts of melamine in various milk products were rapidly detected noting the characteristic fragments (i.e., m/z 110, 85, and 60) in the MS/MS spectrum of protonated melamine molecules (m/z 127) recorded by using surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Signal responses of the most abundant ionic fragment (m/z 85) of protonated melamine were well correlated with the amounts of melaime in milk products, showing a dynamic range about 5 orders of magnitude. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 3.4 x 10(-15) g/mm(2) (S/N = 3) for the detection of pure melamine deposited on the paper surface, which was much lower than that for detection of melamine in powdered milk (1.6 x 10(-11) g/mm(2), S/N = 3) or liquid milk (1.3 x 10(-12) g/mm(2), S/N = 3). The significant difference in LOD was ascribed to the relatively strong molecular interactions between melamine and the matrix such as proteins in the milk products. As demonstrated using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) for melamine detection, weakening the molecular interaction between analytes and proteins is proposed as a general strategy to improve the sensitivity of ambient mass spectrometry for direct detection of analytes bound in protein matrixes. The relative standard deviation (RSD) and the recovery of this method were found to be 5.2 approximately 11.9% and 87 approximately 113%, respectively, for the detection of melamine in milk products. A single sample analysis was completed within a few seconds, providing a particularly convenient way to rapidly screen melamine presence in milk products.


BACKGROUND
Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is common among patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. We report the incidence of and risk factors for PN among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected Kenyan adults initiating ART.

METHODS
An inception cohort was formed of adults initiating ART. They were screened for PN at baseline and every 3 months for 1 year. We used the validated Brief Peripheral Neuropathy Screen (BPNS) that includes symptoms and signs (vibration perception and ankle reflexes) of PN.

RESULTS
Twenty-two (11%) of 199 patients had PN at baseline screening. One hundred fifty patients without evidence of PN at baseline were followed for a median of 366 days (interquartile range, 351-399). The incidence of PN was 11.9 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.9-19.1) and was higher in women than men (17.7 vs 1.9 per 100 person-years; rate ratio, 9.6; 95% CI, 1.27-72, P = .03). In stratified analyses, female sex remained statistically significant after adjustment for each of the following variables: age, CD4 cell count, body mass index, ART regimen, and tuberculosis treatment. Stratifying hemoglobin levels decreased the hazard ratio from 9.6 to 7.40 (P = .05), with higher levels corresponding to a lower risk of PN.

CONCLUSIONS
HIV-infected Kenyan women were almost 10 times more likely than men to develop PN in the first year of ART. The risk decreased slightly at higher hemoglobin levels. Preventing or treating anemia in women before ART initiation and implementing BPNS during the first year of ART, the period of highest risk, could ameliorate the risk of PN.


A real time garbage collection system avoids suspending the operations of a list processor for the long times that garbage collection normally requires by performing garbage collection on a second processor in parallel with list processing operations, or on a single processor time-shared with them. Algorithms for recovering discarded list structures in this manner are presented and analyzed to determine sufficient conditions under which the list processor never needs to wait on the collector. These techniques are shown to require at most twice as much processing power as regular garbage collectors, if they are used efficiently. The average behavior of the program is shown to be very nearly equal to the worst-case performance, so that the sufficient conditions are also suitable for measuring the typical behavior of the algorithm.


The influence of the slow channel calcium entry blocker, nifedipine, and the slow channel calcium entry promoter, BAY-K 8644, on receptor-mediated hemodynamic responses was studied in chronically instrumented, conscious dogs. Following ganglionic, cholinergic, and beta-adrenergic blockade, equipressor doses of phenylephrine (0.6 microgram/kg iv), a selective alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist, and B-HT 933 (20 micrograms/kg iv), a selective alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist, as well as a nonadrenergic vasoconstrictor, vasopressin (0.003 IU/kg) were administered before and after infusions of nifedipine or BAY-K 8644 (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 micrograms X kg-1 X min-1). In doses producing minimal or no haemodynamic effects, nifedipine caused dose-related attenuation from control of phenylephrine- (from 26 +/- 3 to 8 +/- 1 mmHg), B-HT 933- (from 30 +/- 2 to 5 +/- 2 mmHg), and vasopressin- (24 +/- 1 to 2 +/- 2 mmHg) mediated changes in mean arterial pressure. In contrast, BAY-K 8644 produced dose-related potentiation from control of the same pressor responses (phenylephrine, 24 +/- 2 to 41 +/- 3 mmHg; B-HT 933, 28 +/- 3 to 46 +/- 2 mmHg; vasopressin, 25 +/- 3 to 45 +/- 5 mmHg). In addition, BAY-K 8644 produced a marked increase in the duration of the pressor response produced by all three agonists. Thus, in conscious dogs, alpha 1-, alpha 2-, and vasopressin-mediated pressor responses are strongly modulated by transmembrane calcium flux and can be influenced by dihydropyridine slow channel calcium agonists and antagonists.


Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), an endogenous signaling molecule with potent cytoprotective effects, has been shown to provide cardioprotection in various models of cardiac injury. The present study was designed to investigate the protective effects of H2S against high-glucose-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and explore the potential mechanisms using cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. The apoptotic rate of cardiomyocytes was determined by flow cytometry with Annexin V/propidium iodide staining. Oxidative stress was evaluated by detecting concentration of malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase in the supernatant of culture media. The mRNA and protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2 was determined by realtime PCR and Western blotting. Our findings suggested that H2S could protect against cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by high glucose. Moreover, H2S was also found to reduce high-glucose-induced oxidative stress and alter the mRNA and protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that H2S protects against high-glucose-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis by attenuating oxidative stress and altering apoptosis regulatory gene expression.


Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in the tumor microenvironment, which is known to affect disease progression in many human malignancies. Infiltration by mature, active DCs into the tumors confers an increase in immune activation and recruitment of disease-fighting immune effector cells and pathways. DCs are the preferential target of infiltrating T cells. However, tumor cells have means of suppressing DC function or of altering the tumor microenvironment in such a way that immune-suppressive DCs are recruited. Advances in understanding these changes have led to promising developments in cancer-therapeutic strategies targeting tumor-infiltrating DCs to subdue their immunosuppressive functions and enhance their immune-stimulatory capacity.


Objective To discuss the feasibility of perfusion of the uterine artery embolization for tubal pregnant treatment.Method Choose 68 cases of β-HCG≥3000IU/L and never bearing early unruptured tubal pregnant women,and then bend 5-F catheter with 3F-SP-uterine artery catheterization or upstream side of reperfusion after MTX 50 gelatin sponge-100mg after embolization by using Seldinger's technology under the DSA.Results The result was that the successful rate of intubation was 100%with 98.5%.And the only one failure case was diverted to treatment of laparoscopic surgery.We monitored the patient's blood β-HCG and P's changing afte operation.We found β-HCG and P show a decrease.After three month,the pelvic mass reduced to 1cm.In the 47 random cases of patients who want have a baby,there were 21 case pregnancy,of which nine cases had normal delivery,of which three cases had natural abortion,of which two case had inevitable aboration.Conclusion The reperfusion of uterine artery embolization for the tubal pregnant treatment is safe,minimally invasive and effective.


Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of systemic vasculitis syndrome in infants and in young children, although its cause has still not been elucidated. Coronary aneurysm (CA) is a major and important complication of KD. Patients resistant to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment are at a high risk of CA. Infliximab (IFX) is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and has been successfully used in some cases of IVIG-refractory KD. However, optimal timing for the administration of IFX has not yet been determined. We present a case of a 2-year-old boy with IVIG-refractory KD who developed a giant right coronary artery (RCA) aneurysm after successful treatment with IFX. Treatment with IVIG (2 g/kg), prednisolone (PSL, 2 mg/kg/day), and aspirin (50 mg/kg/day) was initiated on day 2 because of the fulfillment of KD criteria. Additional IVIG (2 g/kg) and ulinastatin (20,000 U/kg) treatment on day 5 and intravenous administration of IFX (5 mg/kg) on day 9 effectively lowered the patient's fever and improved laboratory data. However, the RCA continued to balloon into a giant CA, from 7.3 mm on day 9 to 14.3 mm in diameter at 2 months. IFX is one treatment option for IVIG-refractory KD. However, the timing and indication of IFX treatment should be carefully determined. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2019;8(2):45-50 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp345


OBJECTIVE
To explore the regularity of recipe composition by observing anti-inflammatory effects of Mahuang Decoction (MHD) and its compositions.

METHODS
Neutrophil aggregation was induced by intraperitoneal injection of glycogen in rats. Intraperitoneal lavage fluid (PLF) was collected and neutrophils were removed. Neutrophils were stimulated by calciumionophore A23187 in vitro to produce leukotriene B4. The concentration of leukotriene B4 was measured by reversed-phase HPLC, anti-inflammatory effect was observed by the auricular edema with dimethylbenze.

RESULT
MHD and its compositions could inhibit the auricular edema with dimethylbenze and leukotriene production from neutrophils in rats. Inhibitory effects of MHD compositions were different.

CONCLUSION
MHD had significantly inhibitory effects on the auricular edema with dimethylbenze and leukotriene production from neutrophils in rats. The original formula (MHD) worked best. These result confirmed the rationality and scientific level of MHD.


Vision is a fascinating example of the interaction of a biological system with the outside world. The first step of translating electromagnetic energy into a biologically recognizable signal involves the phototransduction cascade in retinal photoreceptor cells. Phototransduction is the best studied example of a GTP binding protein (G protein)-coupled signal transduction pathway. A great body of knowledge about phototransduction has been established in the past several decades but there are still many unanswered questions, particularly about photoresponse recovery and adaptation. The purpose of this review is to outline the events following photon absorption by vertebrate photoreceptors, to demonstrate the great complexity of the phototransduction cascade mechanisms, and to point out some of the controversies arising from recent findings in the field of visual transduction.


BACKGROUND
CD8 T-cell counts remain elevated in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection even after long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is associated with an increased risk of non-AIDS-related events. We assessed the impact of ART initiation in early versus chronic HIV infection on trajectories of CD8 cell counts over time.

METHODS
Of 280 individuals enrolled during primary HIV infection (PHI), 251 were followed up for 24 months; 84 started ART before 6 months of infection (eART), 49 started between 6 and 24 months, and 118 remained untreated. Plasma HIV viral load (VL), CD4 and CD8 cell counts were assessed at each study visit. CD8 counts were also examined in 182 age-matched HIV-infected individuals who started ART during chronic infection and maintained undetectable plasma VL for ≥5 years.

RESULTS
At PHI baseline, higher CD8 cell counts were associated with more recent infection (P = .02), higher CD4 cell counts (P < .001), and higher VL (P < .001). The CD8 count in the eART group decreased from 797 to 588 cells/µL over 24 months (P < .001), to a level lower than that in untreated PHI (834 cells/µL; P = .004) or in long-term-treated patients with chronic HIV infection (743 cells/µL; P = .047). More prominent CD4 T-cell recovery was observed in the eART group than in the delayed ART group.

CONCLUSIONS
ART initiated in early HIV infection is associated with improved resolution of CD8 T-cell elevation compared with long-term ART initiated in chronic infection. Early ART may help reduce the risk of non-AIDS-related events by alleviating this elevation.


Clive Sinclair is the archetype of a self-made man thanks to an entrepreneur spirit and his know-how in an emerging consumer electronics industry. Gifted as inventor, he always pursued cheaper and smaller radios, hi-fi devices, calculators, TVs, home computers --where he got his better achievements-- and, even, vehicles. But this eclecticism was his first Achilles' heel: benefits from previous products were fully invested to develop new ones, often proving a lack of market knowledge. The second one was a proved impatience in releasing his products to the market: insufficient testings usually implied low quality, giving his products a poor image to the customers. The first time he almost went into bankrupt, the British National Enterprise Board saved Sinclair's company; the following time, British Government had changed to Thatcher's and no safety-net were existing then. If things were done slightly more market oriented, nowadays desktop computers could be labeled with "Sinclair compatible", and Sir Clive Sinclair, widely known as the king of computing industry.


OBJECTIVE: To standardize an experimental model of spinal cord injury in Wistar rats, computerized weight fall impact equipment were used and the parameters were used determined by the multicenter animal spinal cord injury study - MASCIS. METHODS: Thirty rats were used, with age varying between 20 and 25 weeks, and weight ranging from 200 to 300g for females, and from 232 to 430g for males. The impacts were done with weights of 10g starting from 12.5, 25 and 50 mm of height, and the impact speed and compression coefficient were obtained. The impact occurred on the surface of the spinal cord at the level of the tenth thoracic vertebra after laminectomy. Vital signs were monitored and gas analysis was made before and after the spinal cord injury. The lesion volume was evaluated by the quantitative analysis of sodium and potassium ions. RESULTS: Statistically significant correlations were verified among the lesion volume and the mechanical parameters. The lesion volume caused by the fall from 50mm height was superior to that of the 12.5 and 25mm, which didn't differ from each other. CONCLUSION: The model demonstrated itself to be effective and capable of generating standard spinal cord injuries on Wistar rats.


Covalent inhibitors with an electrophilic warhead have received considerable attention due to their remarkable pharmacological properties. However, the electrophilic warhead in covalent drugs is often an α, β-unsaturated amide, and the targets are mainly cysteine or lysine residues. Thus, the development of novel electrophiles that can target other amino acids is highly desirable. Ynamide, a useful and versatile building block, is commonly employed in the construction of various compounds in organic synthesis. The performance of this functional group in a proteome-wide environment has been studied here for the first time, and it has been shown that it can efficiently modify carboxyl residues in situ and in vitro. Upon incorporation of this ynamide warhead into the pharmacophores of kinase inhibitors, the resulting compound showed moderate inhibition against the EGFR L858R mutant but not against EGFR WT. This novel electrophilic group can be used in the development of new types of covalent inhibitors.


The article is devoted to the problem of neurolinguosemiotic qualification of the language organization of trailers as autonomous components of film discourse. The author of this article draws the following conclusions: 1) the trailer belongs to the external components of film discourse, which is due to the presence of semantic and functional correlations with the concept of «advertising»; 2) between the concepts of «trailer text» and «advertising text» the relationship of the so-called approximate identity, because they have identical structural elements, primarily of a reference nature; 3) the text of the trailer is more complex compared to the advertising text, because the linguosemiotic structure of the first introduced a larger number of typological types of signs; 4) the linguosemiotic structure of the advertising text, in which there are dialogic and monologue signs, has the form of meaningfully and formally interconnected remarks of actors who can perform different roles (average consumers of goods / services, professionals, celebrities, etc.), with the final thesis announcer (rarely – titrated on the screen graphically); 5) the linguosemiotic structure of the trailer text is a combination of autonomous multifunctional monologue signs, nonlinearly related to each other by subject (signs of actor, expert, witness and announcer); 6) the vectors of influence of linguosemiotic units of advertising texts and trailer texts do not coincide, because in the former the metaprograms of centrifugal / centripetal motivation, activity, desired modality, comparison focus are actualized, and in the latter – metaprograms of time orientation, breakdown size, way of thinking.


A review is made of the yield strength attainable by dispersing particles in a metal matrix in order to hinder dislocation motion. The advantages and drawbacks of the various methods used to introduce the particles are considered. The greatest strengths are found in materials containing a large volume fraction of dispersed phase coupled with a high density of dislocations in the matrix. The greatest strengths should be achieved if the dispersed particles are very strong and are loaded to fracture. To load the particles they must be needle-shaped. Experiments on model systems of a metal containing wires to simulate the strong phase are described. These indicate some of the conditions necessary to obtain maximum strength and suggest how extreme brittleness can be avoided.


The vapor-liquid interface of the Lennard-Jones truncated and shifted (LTJS) fluid with a cut-off radius of 2.5 σ is investigated for temperatures covering the range between the triple point and the critical point. Three different approaches to model the vapor-liquid interface are used: molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, density gradient theory (DGT) and density functional theory (DFT). The surface tension, pressure and density profiles, including the oscillatory layering structure of the fluid at the interface, are investigated. The PeTS (Perturbed truncated and shifted) equation of state and PeTS-i functional, based on perturbation theory, are used to calculate the Helmholtz free energy in the DGT and DFT approach. They are consistent with the LJTS force field model. Overall, both DGT and DFT describe the results from computer experiments well. An oscillatory layering structure is found in MD and DFT.


Au/Fe2O3 catalysts prepared using co-precipitation are described and discussed for the preferential oxidation of CO in the presence of H2, H2O and CO2. A catalyst prepared using a two-stage calcination procedure (400 °C followed by 550 °C) achieves target conversion and selectivity (>99.5% CO conversion and >50% selectivity, based on O2, for the competing conversion of H2 with O2 at 80–100 °C) for the competitive oxidation of dilute CO in the presence of moist excess H2 and CO2. The effect of the preparation method of the uncalcined precursor is described and the effects of calcination on the catalyst activity in the absence of H2, CO2 and H2O is initially explored. The catalysts are characterised in detail using electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Mossbauer spectroscopy. For the target conversion to be achieved, it is necessary that the activity for the reverse water gas shift activity (CO2 + H2
 → CO + H2O) of the catalyst is suppressed, since under the fuel cell conditions this reaction reforms CO at high CO conversions due to the presence of excess CO2 and H2. It is proposed that the two stage calcination procedure removes active sites for the water gas shift reaction whilst retaining active sites for preferential CO oxidation.


Jason Goodwin takes the reader on an adventurous journey through the serpentine paths of the tea trade-from China to India to London. Evoking both past and present in this lively and intriguing traveler's journal, he traces the development of the tea trade from its origins in Canton factories through the Opium Wars and the settlement of British India. His travels take him from the lost European cities of the China coast to inland China, to Calcutta, to India's high tea gardens in Bohea and Darjeeling. Full of historical and personal detail, A Time for Tea is highly informative, funny, and original. This is more than a travelogue, it is the soul of economic development.


Abstract: Groundwater is a clean source of drinking water. However, the presence of elevated concentrations of inorganic arsenic in groundwater, particularly in the regions of Bangladesh and the eastern part of India, is a cause for concern. Most people residing in this geographic location have no alternative but to drink arsenic contaminated groundwater, which has arsenic concentrations above the permissible limit (0.01 mg/L). As a result, approximately 123 million people in India and Bangladesh face higher risk of cancer, as well as risk other cardiovascular and neurologic diseases. Many techniques for getting rid of arsenic from drinking water are available. In this paper, we focus on the region of eastern India and Bangladesh to examine the extent of arsenic contamination and its toxic effects on humans, explore the sources of arsenic in this geography, and compare and contrast the technologies of arsenic removal. Key words: Arsenic, health hazards, groundwater, agriculture, Bangladesh, India.


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Harris hip score (HHS), modified HHS (MHHS), and Oxford hip score (OHS) were designed to determine the functional outcomes after primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between MHHS, HHS, and OHS in different populations of arthroplasty such as primary THA, revision THA, THA for Crowe Type IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), and hip hemiarthroplasty (HA). METHODS: A total of 399 patients (254 females and 145 males) that included 128 cases of primary THA, 36 of revision THA, 200 of HA, and 35 of THA with femoral shortening osteotomy with a minimum of 24 months of follow-up were included. HHS, MHHS, and OHS were calculated for each patient and the correlation between theses scores was evaluated for each subgroup. RESULTS: The overall mean age was 67.5±14.3 years. The mean HHS, MHHS, and OHS were 74.9±17.9, 75.7±18.7, and 38.7±12.5, respectively. A very strong correlation was observed between HHS and MHHS (r=0.995, p=0.000) as well as between HHS and OHS (r=0.845, p=0.003) in the general study population. In subgroup analysis, there was a very strong correlation between HHS and MHHS in primary THA, revision THA, THA in hip HA, and Crowe Type IV DDH groups (r=0.984, p=0.000; r=0.977, p=0.000; r=0.984, p=0.000; and r=0.995, p=0.000; respectively). However, there was a significant correlation between HHS and OHS in these groups except revision THA group (r=0.851, p=0.023; r=0.587, p=0.069; r=0.989, p=0.002; and r=0.965, p=0.000; respectively). CONCLUSION: This is the first study to investigate the usefulness of MHHS and OHS in hip HA and THA in patients with Crowe Type IV DDH. Our findings suggest that MHHS and OHS are useful for evaluating functional outcomes with HA, primary and revision THA, and THA with femoral shortening osteotomy for Crowe type IV DDH.


Survival of inoculants in grass silages may enable them to improve the quality of silages through enrichment with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The effects of 2 inoculants, Enterococcus faecium 2/3s (EF2/3s) and E. faecium 26/42 (EF26/42), on nutrient composition, fermentation parameters, and fatty acid content in grass silages during ensiling (111 days) of fresh grass (G) were examined under laboratory conditions. The G [285 g of dry matter (DM) kg-1] was ensiled in 36 polyethylene jars (1 L) divided into 3 × 12 sets per treatment and ensiled at 21 °C for 111 days. The 3 silage treatments used were: 1) grass without inoculant (GS, control), 2) grass inoculated by the strain EF2/3s (GS+EF2/3s), and 3) grass inoculated by the strain EF26/42 (GS+EF26/42). The inoculant strains were sufficiently established during ensiling and reached 4.62 log10 cfu g-1 for EF2/3s and 3.76 log10 cfu g-1 for EF26/42 on day 111 of ensiling. Crude protein contents were G > GS+EF2/3s > GS+EF26/42 > GS (129, 110, 109, and 100 g kg-1 of DM, respectively). The lactate-to-acetate ratios were GS < GS+EF26/42 < GS+EF2/3s (2.82, 4.20, and 4.70, respectively). Concentrations of a-linolenic acid and g-linolenic acid were highest in grass before ensiling (P < 0.001). Higher isomer C18:2 (9,11) content (P < 0.01) was detected in GS+EF2/3s and GS+EF26/42 than in GS. Nutritional manipulation associated with Enterococcus faecium EF2/3s and EF26/42 inoculation of GS resulted in better quality of silages based on lower lactate (GS+EF26/42) and a greater lactic-to-acetic acid ratio (GS+EF2/3s and GS+EF26/42). This might positively affect PUFAs and their isomers.


It has been known for several years that the measurement of electric quantity by the electro-deposition of silver is liable to inaccracies which appear to be dependent on the condition of the anode, kathode, and electrolyte of the voltameter (or coulo-meter) employed. In 1884 Lord Rayleigh and Mrs. Sidgwick found that a small quantity of silver acetate added to a solution of silver nitrate or of silver chlorate apparently increased the mass of silver deposited per ampere-second, and in 1895 Rodger and Watson showed that the silver voltameter was liable to give results varying by as much as 1 part in 1000 when the same solution of silver nitrate was repeatedly used. The latter effect was thought to be due to the formation of a complex silver salt, and in 1899 Richards, Collins, and Heimrod practically confirmed this view. A new form of silver voltameter was suggested by the latter observers, and this has been frequently used for observations of precision. In 1898 Kahle made a very large number of measurements, using platinum and silver bowls as kathodes and silver nitrate solutions, treated in various manners and from many sources, as electrolytes. He found that the deposit of silver per colomb was greater on a silver surface than on one of platinum; that it increased with the continued use of a solution, and that the nature of the deposit also varied with the solution employed. In 1892 Schuster and Crossley discovered that the mass of silver deposited was related to the pressure and also to the size of the silver anode ; the pressure effect was verified by Kahle, Richards, and Myers, and the latter observer found an increase when the liquid was saturated with nitrogen, but a decrease when the dissolved gas was carbon dioxide. Merrill repeated the pressure experiments and found no effect due to change of pressure alone. Lord Rayleigh and Mrs. Sidgwick observed an increase of deposit with increase of temperature; Richards, Collins, and Heimrod obtained greater deposits at 60°C. and at 0°C. than at 20°C. Leduc found a decrease with increasing temperature, and Merrill suggests that the mass is independent of the temperature. In more recent years Guthe and van Dijk have made a special study of various forms of voltameters. The form suggested by Richards was found by him to give a smaller deposit of silver than the form originally devised by Lord Rayleigh. The difference between the two forms found by Richards in 1899 was 80 parts in 100,000; in 1902 he found 44 parts in 100,000; Watson, in 1901, obtained a difference of 26; Guthe, in 1904, found 48, and in the same year van Dijk observed a difference of 23. van Dijk also compared the syphon and Rayleigh types and found a mean difference of 8 parts in 100,000, the latter form giving the heavier deposit; if a very doubtful observation is excluded, the mean difference is 18 parts in 100,000. In addition, van Dijk observed a difference due to the size of the platinum bowls, the smaller one invariably containing the lighter deposit for the same form of voltameter. There are many other interesting differences which need not now be enumerated; sufficient has been written to show that the silver voltameter could not be regarded as an instrument of high precision. The international ampere is, however, defined in terms of the deposit of silver, and the Conference on Electric Units at Charlottenburg in October, 1905, reaffirmed this definition, but expressed the opinion that the information before it was not sufficient to enable it to lay down exact directions in respect to the silver voltameter to be employed. Hence the necessity for an enquiry to ascertain the possibility of specifying a voltameter which is easily reproducable and in which an ampere-second always deposits the same mass of silver.


Gram-positive infections are a major burden on patients and healthcare systems globally, and the need to treat these infections correctly in an empirical manner has become paramount. Further complicating this changing etiology is the emergence of resistant strains which are no longer predictably susceptible to standard first-line antimicrobials such as oxacillin or vancomycin. Thus, new agents such as linezolid have been developed to alleviate the 'guesswork' of initial empirical prescribing in infections where Gram-positive pathogens may be present. Future agents also being developed for multiresistant Gram-positive infections include evernimicin antibiotics, daptomycin, oritavancin, glycylcyclines and novel broad-spectrum cephalosporins; however, these are still in the development phase.


PURPOSE
To investigate whether posterior capsule opacification (PCO) morphology, visual acuity (VA) and self-assessed visual function correlate, and to compare perceived visual disabilities with those of cataract patients with corresponding VA.

METHODS
Twenty-one patients with PCO were examined before capsulotomy. In adjunct to the ophthalmological examination, the patients completed a Catquest questionnaire and a digitized retroillumation image was acquired. The images were analysed with the Evaluation of Posterior Capsule Opacification (EPCO) program. Data for visual function were compared with data from the National Swedish Cataract Register (NCR).

RESULTS
The epco values were correlated with VA in the PCO eyes: the higher the epco score, the lower the VA. There were also correlations between the epco scores, satisfaction with vision, and perceived disabilities in daily life. Symptoms of glare were not significantly correlated with epco scores or with VA. Visual acuity in PCO eyes was better correlated with perceived disabilities and satisfaction with vision than VA in eyes with cataract.

CONCLUSIONS
There was a significant correlation between epco scores and VA and between epco scores and Catquest. Consequently, the morphological method was related to the self-assessed visual function. Patients with PCO seemed to have more disturbed visual function, as defined by Catquest, than cataract patients with the same VA.


91 angiographical studies have been performed in 25 animal models (dogs) of ORN. Summarized from the results, the following conclusions are reached: a general rule existed between bone lesion and blood vessel damage--the destruction of the bone was more severe than that of the middle-sized arteries, the damage of middle-sized arteries was more severe than that of arterioles, and local proliferation of arterioles accompanied with bone lesions. Therefore, damage of the arterioles is not the main pathological findings of jaw ORN, the nature of ORN is direct injuries of radiation rays to bone tissues.


Abstract The conditions required for identification of the translocation of adenine nucleotides as an exchange-diffusion process in rat liver mitochondria have been determined. Among them, the presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetate in the medium and a temperature not higher than 0° are the most critical ones. Experiments performed with a phosphonic analogue of ADP, namely adenosine 5'-methylene diphosphonate, indicate that all of the adenine nucleotides within mitochondria are exchangeable. The rate of exchange exhibits oscillation-like fluctuations immediately after ADP has been added to mitochondria. Similar fluctuations of the amount of ∼P bonds in internal adenine nucleotides suggest that the exchange rate may be dependent on the phosphorylation pattern of the mitochondrial adenine nucleotides. The apparent Km of the nucleotide-exchange system for extramitochondrial ADP is 5.6 µM in an EDTA-supplemented medium. It rises to 17 µM when EDTA is replaced by MgCl2. The adenine nucleotide translocation exhibits a Q10 of 10 to 12 below 10° and of 2 to 3 above 10°. By contrast the Q10 of the phosphorylation of mitochondrial ADP is 2 to 3 within the temperature range 0–25°. Small amounts of CDP, GDP, and UDP (after any contamination by adenine nucleotides has been eliminated) are taken up by mitochondria via an atractyloside-insensitive process. On the other hand, dADP and the phosphonic analogues of ADP and ATP are exchanged with the mitochondrial adenine nucleotides via an atractyloside-sensitive process; the latter exchanges are competitively inhibited by ADP. The translocation of ADP, and much more significantly the translocations of dADP and adenosine 5'-methylene diphosphonate, are stimulated by the addition of inorganic phosphate in the medium. These results are discussed on the basis of a preferential exchange between the internal ATP generated within mitochondria by oxidative phosphorylation and the extramitochondrial ADP.


Named entity extractors are a popular means for enriching documents with semantic annotations. Both the overlap and the increasing diversity in the capabilities and in the vocabularies of the annotators motivate the need for managing and integrating semantic annotations in a coherent and uniform fashion. ROSeAnn is a framework for the management and the reconciliation of semantic annotations. It provides end-users and programmers with a unified view over the results of multiple online and standalone annotators, linking them to an integrated ontology of their vocabularies, and supporting a variety of document formats such as: plain text, live Web pages, and PDF documents. Although ROSeAnn provides two predefined algorithms for conflict resolution -- one supervised, appropriate when representative training data is available, and one unsupervised -- it also allows application developers to define their own integration techniques, as well as extending the pool of annotators as new ones become available.


We examined ethnicity and cultural orientation as predictors of parents' views of and involvement in children's education, using data gathered from the Latino (n = 74) and non-Latino (17 White and 13 ethnic minority) parents of children in an elementary school's dual-language program. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed Latino and White American cultural orientations, importance of children's academic and social success, and self-and significant other involvement in children's education. Results indicated that Latino (and other ethnic minority) parents valued academic and social success equally and more strongly than did Whites and that Whites valued social success more strongly than academic success. Latinos also reported greater involvement of significant others. These differences were largely accounted for by cultural orientations. Educational practices that take into account differences in cultural orientations and the involvement of significant others thus seem more likely to improve academic outcomes than do efforts intended to promote the valuing of education. The


Measles vaccine is provided free of charge in China. In big cities the section clinics are responsible for measles vaccination. In rural areas, barefoot doctors go from door to door to administer the vaccine, or parents are told to bring their children to the cooperative medical station for vaccination. In most parts of China, eight months is considered the optimal age for primary vaccination. The seroconversion rates are usually greater than 90%. With the elapse of time, titers of hemagglutination-inhibiting antibody decreased regularly and even declined to an undetectable level. As a result some people who had been vaccinated became ill with measles. Thus, one vaccination cannot guarantee persistence of antibody for life. It would be appropriate to carry out revaccination for maintenance of adequate immunity against measles. In view of the situation in China as a developing country, the main goal of the campaign against measles in the near future should be the broadening of effective vaccination coverage for control of epidemics, the reduction in incidence, and the lowering of the fatality rate. Measles can definitely be eliminated as has already been done for smallpox.


The diversity of the prokaryotes that have been studied, combined with the many different effects of low temperature, has led to an extensive literature concerning cold stress responses in mesophilic bacteria. The aim of this review is to discuss the effects of cold on the behavior of bacteria. The following three responses will be described: (i) biochemical modifications consisting first of membrane fatty acid desaturation and second of the synthesis of cold stress proteins, (ii) physiological responses of the cells to permit growth at low temperatures above 0 degrees C and cryotolerance at lower temperatures, and (iii) control of the cold shock response at a transcriptional and/or translational level. This paper reviews knowledge, most of which has been acquired in the last 10 years, in the field of cold stress responses. It is hoped that these data will help to focus attention on the metabolic responses associated with environmental disturbance.


Today's organizations are largely being seen as role-based wherein different individuals are expected to work in interdependent teams. The present study seeks to understand the role of contextual factor (role perception) and individual characteristic (competence mobilization) on role performance. Using multi-source data, the empirical study examined the interaction effect by analyzing data collected from 176 employees of a large multinational information technology (IT) organization in India. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis provided support to establish that competence mobilization moderated the relationship between role perception and role performance. The findings of the study have been discussed at theoretical level for researchers and practical level for managers.


This chapter describes a gene expression system of E. coli that contains a portable Shine-Dalgarno region. Transcription of this system is directed by a hybrid promoter derived from trp and lac-UV5 promoter sequences, which is followed by a region that encodes the portable Shine-Dalgarno region. We used a series of synthetic portable Shine-Dalgarno regions to vary the length (from 4 to 13 bases) of the Shine-Dalgarno by increasing the number of bases on the mRNA that are complementary to the 3' end of 16s rRNA. Increase in the Shine-Dalgarno region to 8 or 13 bases decreased the translation efficiency of the chimeric leukocyte interferon messenger by 40%. In another series of portable Shine-Dalgarno regions, we varied the four bases that follow the Shine-Dalgarno region. The presence of four A residues or four T residues in this region resulted in the highest translation efficiency. The presence of four C residues reduced translation efficiency by 50%, compared with A or T residues. The presence of four G residues after the Shine-Dalgarno region lowered translation efficiency by 75%, compared with A or T residues.


The present invention relates to an inhalable gaseous composition comprising oxygen and an inert gas mixture, characterized in that said inert gas mixture comprises: - a first compound selected from xenon and argon having hyperthermic properties and - a second compound to hypothermic properties, said inert gas mixture having proportions of the first compound and the second compound such that said inert gas mixture is thermally neutral.


The use of English as a medium of instruction at university level has increased dramatically in the last 15 years all over Europe. English-taught programmes are often imposed top-down, and this article presents one of the very few cases in which the process and decision-making have been documented, in terms of a pre-feasibility study conducted through a student questionnaire and interview with the Dean. The research is set within the Italian context of a Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. Results reveal that in general students have a positive attitude towards this implementation, but many adjustments still need to be carried out.


A frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar system with a planar phased array based on antenna switching is considered. The radar system consists of N1 linear antenna arrays where each linear antenna array consists of N2 receiving antennas. In each cycle, the receiving antennas on each linear antenna array are switched to the single receiving channel in turn from the first antenna to the N2th antenna. An accurate and detailed system model for the radar system is addressed. The Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) analysis on the accuracy of estimating the azimuth angle, elevation angle, velocity, and range using the radar system is presented.


We present an algorithm for a single pursuer with one flashlight searching for an unpredictable, moving target in a 2D environment. The algorithm decides whether a simple polygon with n edges and m concave regions can be cleared by the pursuer, and if so, constructs a search schedule of length O(m) in time O(m2+mlogn+n). The key ideas in this algorithm include a representation called "visibility obstruction diagram" and its "skeleton": a combinatorial decomposition based on a number of critical visibility events. An implementation is presented along with a computed example.