Background: Thymus vulgaris (Thym) is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae with potent antioxidant, and it has been beneficial effects during short-term administration. Paclitaxel sold under the brand name Tax (Tax) is chemotherapy drug which capable to produce free radicals. Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of Thym against toxic effects of Tax to the liver of rats. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four male rats were assigned to eight groups: Control normal and Tax control groups (20 mg/kg); Thym groups (4.5, 9, 18 mg/kg), and Tax + Thym-treated groups (4.5, 9, 18 mg/kg). Treatments were administered intraperitoneally daily for 2 weeks. Griess technique was assessed for determined serum nitrite oxide (NO) level. Aspartate aminotransferase, ALANINE aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase concentrations were determined for liver functional disturbances. In addition, liver malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), the diameter of hepatocytes, and the central hepatic vein (CHV) were investigated. Results: Tax administration significantly improved liver MDA and NO level, the mean diameter of CHV and hepatocyte, liver enzymes, and decreased TAC level compared to the normal control group (P < 0.001). The Thym and Thym + Tax treatments at all doses significantly reduced the mean diameter of hepatocyte and CHV, liver enzymes, liver MDA, and NO levels and increased TAC level compared to the Tax control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: It seems that Thym administration improved liver injury induced by Tax in rats.


Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that can be expressed at various body effector points, including the face, neck, arms, fingers, legs, and torso. In this prospective longitudinal study researchers examined whether the effector pattern of TD changed during the course of neuroleptic medication withdrawal in adults with mental retardation. Results indicated that the effector pattern of TD changed over the course of neuroleptic withdrawal. Peak dyskinesia was associated with the involvement of more body areas relative to baseline. Although dyskinesia decreased at follow-up and fewer body areas showed signs of dyskinesia, there were still differences in the effector pattern of dyskinesia relative to baseline at periods of 1 to 2 years following neuroleptic withdrawal. These findings suggest that TD is a dynamic disorder associated with changes in both severity and effector pattern over time.


This paper used the computer and Visual Basic language to simulate the range and the projected range of ion implantation. Taking into account the implantation of different energy (low-energy implatation, high-energy implantation), different ions sorts (light ion implantation, heavy ion implantation), and different targets (light atomic target, heavy atomic target), we simulated many different situation, and try to make the computer simulation meet with the purpose to guide the practical application of reality. The main idea in this paper that used to simulate to calulate ion implantation's projected range is as follows: 1. The energy of im- planted ions was demarcated to different ranges. If implanted ions has a high energy fields(higher than 400 kev), the nuclear stopping effect can be neglected; If the energy of the implanted ions is between 400kev and 100kev,the stopping effect of nuclear and electrons must be considered together; If implanted ions is in low energy fields(lower than 100kev), the electrons stopping effect can be neglected. Therefore, we calculated ions in different energy intervalswith different models so as to improve the accuracy of the calculation. 2. A number of datas were analyzed during the simulation calculation, introducing the corresponding correction coefficient and establishing the correct model of calculation. At the same time, we use Visual Basic with graphic window to write programs. From the results, we can find that the results which we calculated are very similar with the data of experiment. Although the paper only calculate the ranges of ion implantation target that not crystal, however, these methods is suitable to calculate the ranges of other types ions too (for example of multi-crystal ).


CONTENTS I. Introduction 43 II. Monosubstituted cyclohexanones 43 III. Disubstituted cyclohexanones 47 IV. Trisubstituted cyclohexanones 47 V. Tetrasubstituted cyclohexanones 50 VI. Pentasubstituted cyclohexanones 51 VII. Hexasubstituted cyclohexanones 54 VIII. Attempted generalisation of the results on the stereochemistry of nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group 55


The sequencing of the bovine genome commenced in December 2003 and sequencing is planned to achieve a seven-fold coverage by November 2005. This along with previous physical mapping efforts will allow a high quality genomic assembly to be produced. The sequencing is being undertaken by Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Separately, the Michael Smith Genome Science Centre in Vancouver will sequence 10,000 full length non-redundant bovine mRNAs. The assembled genome will be annotated in collaboration with the Ensembl project at the Sanger Institute, UK, and will be publicly available on genome browsers such as NCBI, Ensembl and UCSC. In the interim the raw sequence information is being made available at NCBI within days of being generated. As well as providing DNA sequence, the program will identify more than 50,000 microsatellites and one to two million SNPs. The availability of this information will transform and accelerate ruminant genomics research. Similar genome sequencing efforts in human and laboratory species have greatly increased the rate of gene variant discovery underlying quantitative trait loci. It will also aid our understanding of gene expression control. New Zealand stands to benefit directly from this work, because of its strong reliance on grazing livestock for export income and its internationally competitive beef and dairy industries. The project is funded by an international consortium involving CSIRO Australia, Genome Canada, New Zealand, National Human Genome Research Institute of the U.S. national Institutes of Health (NHGRI), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the State of Texas, The Kleberg Foundation, U.S. Beef Council, and Texas and South Dakota Beef Councils. Significantly, the National Institutes of Health have strongly supported the project as a consequence of its human health implications. This project benefited greatly from a previous international genomic collaboration to physically map the bovine genome, and it provides an excellent example of benefits obtained from international research consortia co-investing in public domain infrastructural projects.


Objective. The southern United States is highly affected by HIV, and community health centers play a key role in addressing the health-care needs of residents of southern cities. In 2012, Southside Medical Care Services ("Southside") in Atlanta, Georgia, and Central Care Community Health Center ("Central Care") in Houston, Texas, began comprehensive programs for routine HIV screening and linkage to HIV care. Methods. We examined patient-level testing outcomes using medical record-derived data. We also compared the total number of HIV tests and HIV-positive tests in the most recent 12 months of the program with the number of HIV tests and HIV-positive tests during the 12 months prior to the program start. Results. Southside saw 52,437 eligible patients from June 2012 through April 2014; 41,720 (80%) were offered an HIV test, 11,092 (27% of those offered a test) were tested, 75 (0.7% of those tested) had a positive result, and 74 (99% of those with a positive result) were linked to HIV care. Compared with the 12 months prior to the start of routine HIV screening implementation, Southside's routine HIV screening program conducted 5,955 more HIV tests (733% increase) and had 31 more patients who tested positive (238% increase). Central Care saw 22,658 eligible patients from July 2012 to April 2014; 10,904 (48%) were offered an HIV test, 9,909 (91% of those offered a test) were tested, 52 (0.5% of those tested) had a positive result, and 41 (79% of those with a positive result) were linked to HIV care. Compared with the 12 months before routine HIV screening was implemented, Central Care's routine HIV screening program conducted 4,559 more HIV tests (618% increase) and had 36 more patients who tested positive (600% increase). Conclusion. Southside and Central Care effectively implemented routine HIV screening programs that dramatically increased their testing volume while also linking the majority of HIV-positive patients to care. Other community health centers should consider similar programs.


Jacket matrices1, motivated by the complex Hadamard matrix, have played important roles in signal processing, communications, image compression, cryptography, etc. In this paper, we suggest a novel approach to design a simple class of space-time block codes (STBCs) to reduce its peak-to-average power ratio. The proposed code provides coding gain due to the characteristics of the complex Hadamard matrix, which is a special case of Jacket matrices. Also, it can achieve full rate and full diversity with the simple decoding. Simulations show the good performance of the proposed codes in terms of symbol error rate. For generality, a kind of quasi-orthogonal STBC may be similarly designed with the improved performance.


ABSTRACT The rise of behavioral economics since the 1980s led to richer mutual influence between economic and psychological theory and experimentation. However, as behavioral economics has become increasingly integrated into the main stream in economics, and as psychology has remained damagingly methodologically conservative, this convergence has recently gone into reverse. At the same time, growing appreciation among economists of the limitations of atomistic individualism, along with advantages in econometric modeling flexibility by comparison with psychometrics, is leading economists to become more pluralistic than psychologists about the ontology of behavioral causation and structures. This, combined with economists' growing interest in network models, is drawing economists closer in theory and practice to sociologists who use quantitative or mixed methods.


After forty years working in Swindon, Mr Norman Bateman is retiring on June 24, 1988. During the last 25 years he has been a nurse teacher in the Swindon School of Nursing.


Session of Thursday, December 28, 1911 The opening session of the Society was called to order at 10 o'clock, Thursday morning, December 28, 1911, by Vice-President Arthur Hollick, in the new National Museum. Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, welcomed the Society to Washington and made an informal address on the beginnings and progress of Paleontology in America. The report of the Council, the first matter of business, was then presented. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL To the Paleontological Society in Third Annual Meeting assembled: The regular annual meeting of the Council was held at Pittsburgh on the adjournment of the Society December 29, 1910. Since this meeting all business of the Society has been arranged by correspondence. The details of administration for the third year of the Society's existence axe given in the following reports of officers: Secretary's Retort To the Council of the Paleontological Society: The . . .


For deblurring images corrupted by random valued noise, two-phase methods first select likely-to-be reliables (data that are not corrupted by random valued noise) and then deblur images only with selected data. Two-phase methods, however, often cause defective data artifacts, which are mixed results of missing data artifacts caused by the lack of data and noisy data artifacts caused mainly by falsely selected outliers (data that are corrupted by random valued noise). In this paper, to suppress these defective data artifacts, we propose a blurring model based reliable-selection technique to select reliables as many as possible to make all of to-be-recovered pixel values to contribute to selected data, while excluding outliers as accurately as possible. We also propose a normalization technique to compensate for non-uniform rates in recovering pixel values. We conducted simulation studies on Gaussian and diagonal deblurring to evaluate the performance of proposed techniques. Simulation results showed that proposed techniques improved the performance of two-phase methods, by suppressing defective data artifacts effectively.


This paper presents a leakage efficient instruction TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) design for embedded processors. The key observation is that when programs enter a physical page following instructions tend to be fetched from the same page for a rather long time. Thus, by employing a small storage structure which stores the recent address-translation information, the TLB access frequency can be drastically decreased and the instruction TLB can be turned into the low leakage mode with the dual voltage supply technique. Based on such a design philosophy, three different implementation policies are proposed. Evaluation results with eight MiBench programs show that the proposed design can reduce the leakage power of the instruction TLB by 50% on average, with only 0.01% performance degradation.


Background: Imitation is commonly considered as a hierarchically organized mechanism. It is frequently used to explore various scientific researches, but few works had studied the imitation of locomotion movements. Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating what information children of different age groups select and integrate for performing a series of locomotion movements. Methodology: One hundred and thirty children from 3.5 to 7.5 years of age were separately instructed to walk on and between the obstacles in different imitation forms following gestural demonstration, and in a control condition following verbal instructions. The children's performances were videotaped, coded in binary data, and then transformed in percentage scores. Results: All children performed the modeled walking movements, but did not necessarily do so with the same step-alternating modes or footedness. The model helped the preschoolers to adopt his step-alternating modes and stabilized the schoolers above 5.5 years of age. The disparity of the children's walking performances was due to the priority to imitate the movement goal rather its aspects. Conclusion: These findings well confirmed that imitation is a hierarchically organized mechanism.


This article analyses the causes of variation in attitudes to immigration policy in the UK. The key theoretical approaches emphasised are: the role of self-interest; group conflict over resources; and group conflict over important symbols of Britishness. The connection between perceptions of immigration and crime is also investigated. Based on the 2003 British Social Attitudes Survey, the findings indicate that self-interest has very little bearing on opposition to immigration and that British citizens instead appear to be most concerned with threats to ingroup resources posed by immigration, threats to the shared customs and traditions of British society (particularly those posed by Muslims) and – to a lesser extent – the potential for increased crime that may result from immigration.


The purpose of this study was to estimate shock attenuation during marathon running using inertial measurement units attached on the foot and sacrum. Eleven male runners were recruited as subjects from the participants of the official marathon race. Two inertial measurement units (IMUs) attached on the foot and sacrum operated at 200 Hz and stored three axis acceleration data in the memory through the marathon race. Absolute acceleration was transferred power spectrum density (PSD) by FFT and a transfer function was calculated by PSD of the sacrum relative to the foot. The results showed that the impact acceleration was recognized from 11 to 18 Hz at the foot and was attenuated between the foot and the sacrum. It is suggested that this method could be useful to evaluate shock attenuation during endurance running easily and might be used to give appropriate feedback in real time to decrease injury risk.


The link between income inequality and obesity inJapanwas evaluated. Income inequality of all 47 prefectures of Japan as expressed by Gini coefficient was obtained from National Statistics Center, Japan. The rate of obesity (%) was also obtained from National NutritionSurvey,Japan. The effect of income inequality on obesity was evaluated by ecological study. Income inequality as expressed by Gini coefficient was 0.31 ± 0.01 and the rate of obesity was 31.6% ± 5.6%. Gini coefficient was significantly and positively correlated with the rate of obesity (r = 0.490, p = 0.0005). Income inequality was might be associated with the rate of obesity inJapan.


In the era of Information Technology, openness of the information is a major concern. As the confidentiality and integrity of the information is critically important, it has to be secured from unauthorized access. Traditional security and identification are not sufficient enough; people ne ed to find a new authentic system based on behavioral & physiological characteristics of person which is ca lled as Biometric. Palm print recognition gives several advantages over the other biometrics such as low resolution, low cost, non-intrusiveness and stable structure features. Now a days Palm print based per sonal verification system is used in many security applic ation due to its ease of acquisition, high user acceptanc e and reliability. Various approaches which deal with pal m recognition are texture approach, line approach and appearance approach. By using texture approach it i s possible to obtain texture sample with low resoluti n and texture is much more stable as compare to line and appearance. This paper is aimed to analyze the performance of palm print recognition systems using Curvelet features and for dimension reduction PCA is


Alderete, John, Jill Beckman, Laura Benua, Amalia Gnanadesikan, John McCarthy, and Suzanne Urbanczyk. 1999. Reduplication with fixed segmentism. Linguistic Inquiry 30:327–364. Cowper, Elizabeth, and Keren Rice. 1985. Phonology and reduplication. Ms., University of Toronto. Hayes, Bruce, and May Abad. 1989. Reduplication and syllabification in Ilokano. Lingua 77:331–347. Inkelas, Sharon, and Cheryl Zoll. 2000. Reduplication as morphological doubling. Ms., University of California, Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ROA 412.] Kenstowicz, Michael, and Degif Petros Banksira. 1999. Reduplicative identity in Chaha. Linguistic Inquiry 30:573–585. Kiparsky, Paul. 1986. The phonology of reduplication. Ms., Stanford University. Marantz, Alec. 1982. Re reduplication. Linguistic Inquiry 13:435–482. McCarthy, John, and Alan Prince. 1995. Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18: Papers in Optimality Theory, ed. Jill N. Beckman and Laura Walsh Dickey, 249–384. GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Raimy, Eric. 1999. Representing reduplication. Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware. Urbanczyk, Suzanne. 1999. Patterns of reduplication in Lushootseed. Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wilbur, Ronnie. 1973. The phonology of reduplication. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois. [Distributed by the Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington, Indiana].


Evaluation of genetic diversity in plant germplasms is the first and fundamental step in plant breeding programs. For the fact that correct usage of it has lots of benefits, it decreases plants' damage associated with pests and diseases. In this study, genetic diversity and relationship of 70 genotypes of bread wheat were evaluated by using 60 microsatellite markers. 40 polymorphic markers were selected for clustering and evaluating of genotypes. In total, 309 polymorphic alleles were amplified with an average of 9.26 allele per microsatellite locus. Gene diversity according to Nei for the 42 microsatellite loci varied from 0.4 to 0.91 with an average of 0.74. Polymorphism information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.365 for the barc 87 and the second locus of barc 165 to 0.902 for theXgwm213, with an average of 0.688. Clustering analyses based on Neibour-joinig algorithms and distance coefficient was used and all of the dendrograms indicated that most relative genotypes based on pedigree information, were grouped in the same cluster. In general, they could separate Bolani and MV17 genotypes that are susceptible and resistant parents in most rust breeding projects in the country. The dendrogram result of Rogers distance showed high concordance with available pedigree information of genotypes. Principle components analysis (PCA) also indicates similar results. With stepwise multivariate regression analysis according to the reactions of genotypes to yellow rust and their molecular result, 19 and 17 informative markers were detected for final infection coefficient and area under disease progress curve, respectively.

 Key words: Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), microsatellite markers, genetic diversity, yellow rust.


The environmental accumulation of plastic is a huge problem due to its low degradability. There are solutions to this problem such as reusing, recycling and the use of biodegradable plastics. However, a complete solution to this problem has not yet been achieved. In this study, photocatalytic degradation of polyethylene and polyropylene was investigated. The effect of ZrO2 nanoparticles in comparison with TiO2 nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation was studied. TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol gel method and ZrO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a sonochemical method. The TiO2 and ZrO2 particles were characterized using FTIR, XRD, UV visible spectroscopy, EDX, SEM, and TEM. Both types of particles were approximately 50 nm in size. TiO2 nanoparticles were tetragonal and in the anatase phase. ZrO2 particles were tetragonal and nano porous. The application of these particles to polyethylene and polypropylene was performed using nanoparticle suspensions in a THF medium. The degradation of the plastics was studied by investigating chemical changes using FTIR and morphological changes using SEM. Optimization of the concentration and exposure time was performed under laboratory conditions using a sun simulator. Polyethylene and polypropylene were treated under the sun simulator as well as under the real sun light conditions. In both treatment conditions, it was found that there is a significant difference in the degradation of plastics and ZrO2 nanoparticle suspension treated polyethylene and polypropylene showed higher degradation than the TiO2 nanoparticle suspension treated samples at 95% confidence levels.


Until few years ago, the in vivo immune responses were considered to be identical to the reactions occurring in vivo, but the recent discoveries in the Psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI) area have demonstrated that the immune system is under a psychoneuroendocrine regulation, which represents the biochemical mediation of the influence of emotions and consciousness states on the immune system, by allowing the possibility to modulate the immune functions by acting on their neuroendocrine control rather than directly on the immune cells. The immune responses are inhibited by the opioid system, mainly by acting on mu-opioid receptors, whereas they are stimulated by the pineal-cannabinergic system functional axis. The metastatic cancer is characterized by low blood concentrations of IL-2 and IL-12, in association with abnormally high levels of TGF-beta, IL-10 and IL-6, with a following decline in TH-1 lymphocytes and an increase in T regulatory (T reg) cell count. The autoimmune diseases are characterized also by enhanced levels of proinflammatory cytokines, namely IL-17, in association with low values of TGF-beta and IL-10 as the consequence of a decline in T reg cell count. Cancer progression is associated with a progressive decline in the endocrine function of the pineal gland, which may release at least three molecules provided by antitumor activity: melatonin, 5-methoxytryptamine and pinealine. The inhibitory effects of opioids on the anticancer immunity may be abrogated by the administration of the long-acting mu-opioid antagonist naltrexone. The deficiency of pineal indole hormones, which play a fundamental anticancer activity, as well that of the main antitumor cytokines, including IL-2 and IL-12, may be simply corrected by their exogenous administration. Finally, IL-17-induced immunoinflammatory response occurring in the autoimmune diseases may be counteracted by cannabinoid agonists, which may inhibit IL-17 secretion. The pineal hormones also may contribute to inhibit the chronic inflammatory response.


It is well-known that the mechanical properties of MMT (montmorillonite) nanocomposites are better than those of conventional composites. In this study, tensile tests were performed to determine the effect of silane modification of MMT and its weight ratio on the tensile properties of MMT/epoxy nanocomposites. It was found that the tensile strength and the elastic modulus of MMT/epoxy nanocomposites increased with increasing weight ratio of MMT. The elastic modulus of silane-modified MMT/epoxy nanocomposites was higher than that of untreated MMT/epoxy nanocomposites, irrespective of weight ratio.


When English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students were few and far between at college, they were absorbed into regular Freshman English courses designed for, and dominated by native speakers. However, it appears that ESL students are best served by placing them in classes specially designed for their needs, rather than mainstreaming them or placing them in basic writing classes. Despite more than a decade of research on ESL writing which points to the disadvantages of mainstreaming, it still appears to be the most common placement option. ESL and basic writers share certain characteristics; however, ESL writers often are fluent writers in their first languages and academically superior students. ESL students and basic writers also differ in their learning strategies. ESL students placed in basic writing courses might infer that they are being penalized for being culturally and/or linguistically different. Special classes for ESL students are offered at many larger campuses, but there are a number of reasons for not having such classes: (1) lack of sufficient ESL students to justify special classes; (2) special classes may be seen as remedial; (3) special classes could be seen as a form of segregation; and (4) problems in creating a new program. With the help of ESL specialists, English departments should be able to begin special classes for ESL students. Research of the effect of special ESL classes indicates that teachers and students were enthusiastic about the classes. Special classes in Freshman English will provide a sheltered environment for ESL students, allowing them to develop a sense of community with their peers. (Contains 16 references.) (RS) ******************************************************w**************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** ESL Students in Freshman English: An Evaluation of the Placement Options George Braine Department of English University of South Alabama Mobile, AL 36688 Ii S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ",I I A, kPN.r.V. 4,4 l t. r :OP( I ,tr/f '-/RMATICIY r t yttp 1., as tWY ,nte,t,Clut et1 as PsPr, a (205) 460-6146


Highly anisotropic particles of Tl-1212, Tl-2212, Tl-1223 and T1-2223 superconductors were grown. The Tl-free precursor powders with the compositions Ba/sub 1/Ca/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/Ag/sub 0.37/O/sub 6/ and Ba/sub 2/Ca/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/Ag/sub 0.37/O/sub 7/ were prepared using an aerosol flow reactor. These precursor powders were then post-annealed in 0.1 atm oxygen at 700/spl deg/C for 4 h to reduce the carbon present and mixed with Tl/sub 2/O/sub 3/ (typical composition of Tl/sub x/; x=0.6-1.0). The Tl-containing powders were heated, in sealed gold tubes between 650-890/spl deg/C for various times. X-ray diffraction showed that the Tl-2212 and Tl-2223 phases were stable over a wide range of temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy showed evidence for the presence of high aspect-ratio particles. These highly anisotropic particles may of interest for the preparation of powder-in-tube and other powder deposited conductors, for current leads, and for grain alignment studies. >


A measurement apparatus for the lifetime of Er3+4I13/2 fluorescence using directexcitation of a 1. 54μm laser was established. The absorption bands of OH- in Er3+: phosphate glass at near IR region were derived. A linear relationship between the transition rate of'I13/2 to 4I15/2 and the absorption coefficient at 2. 2μm was determined. A large influence oflifetime on laser performance was indicated.


The goal of the ProGility workshop is to bring together practitioners and researchers from different communities who share an interest in agile cooperative process-aware information systems. The vision is to be able to rapidly im- plement new processes and to quickly adapt existing process implementations to environmental changes. This workshop report gives an overview of the presented papers that ad- dress various flexibility issues of process-aware information systems.


Brainstorming is an effective technique for offline ideation although the number of participants able to join an ideation session and suggest ideas is limited. To increase the diversity and quality of the ideas suggested, many participants with various backgrounds should be able to join the session. We have devised an evolutionary computation-assisted brainwriting method for large-scale online ideation. In this method, participants not only suggest ideas but also evaluate ideas previously suggested by other participants. The evaluation results are used in the evolutionary computation to identify good ideas to which the participants can be exposed via a brainwriting-like interface. We compared the performance of the proposed method with that of a simple online brainwriting method for large-scale online ideation with more than 30 participants. The proposed method enhanced robustness of idea quality improvement due to preferentially exposing the participants to good ideas.


OCLALAV is an inter-governmental organization with headquarters at Dakar. It is financed by Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta, and also receives bilateral and international support. The environment of its regional operations against migrant pests is dominated by the natural symbiosis between the Sahel and the Sahara.


Abstract Public littering is widely recognized as an ongoing global problem with several implications on human health and the integrity of the environment. Waste management is one of the main challenges to sustainable development in the Arabian Gulf countries. Identifying factors that influence littering behaviour is critical for designing effective strategies to reduce or prevent littering. The present study investigated attitudes and opinions regarding public littering in the Kingdom of Bahrain using a questionnaire-based assessment to 408 respondents. Findings showed that around (74.26–80.54%) of the respondents indicated that they never litter in public places while those with (11.33–12.50%) admitted to litter when there is no littering facilities. The majority of the respondents (92.96%) recognized that the cleanness of public places is a shared responsibility between the governmental bodies and the public. Respondents showed positive attitude towards participating in cleaning campaigns. Age and gender were found to influence attitude and behaviour towards public littering in Bahrain. The study recommended adopting effective litter prevention project that may include public policies, technology, and educational and awareness programmes in Bahrain. Further research opportunities to draw a comprehensive picture about littering in Bahrain are also outlined.


Maxillary second molar with two palatal roots is a rare dental anatomy. The diagnosis and treatment of exceeded root may create challenge for clinicians. The authors discuss the retreatment of a maxillary second molar in which exceeded root was undiagnosed in previous treatment. The case report underlines the importance of complete knowledge about root canal morphology which achieved by careful clinical and radiographic examination. In retreatment procedures clinicians should consider missed canals.


This paper demonstrates a facile strategy for the development of nanosilver decorated polyaniline coated (PAg) paper-based electrodes for the fabrication of solid-state symmetrical supercapacitors. PAg based printing paper was developed through a two-step process involving initial silver nucleation and growth on the paper followed by aniline polymerization. The developed electrically conductive paper exhibited a highly porous structure and excellent mechanical stability. Further symmetrical supercapacitors having the configuration PAg/electrolyte/PAg were fabricated and evaluated for electrochemical performance such as specific capacitance (483 F g−1 and 613 F g−1 in aqueous 1 M H2SO4 and PVA–H2SO4 gel electrolytes respectively), energy density (69.56 and 85.13 W h kg−1), and power density (243.44 and 405.375 W kg−1) and cycling stability (90% of its capacitance retention even after 2000 cycles), exhibiting excellent performance under various bending conditions. All these exciting results suggest that the developed paper-based flexible solid-state energy device can serve as an efficient, sustainable, and low-cost energy storage system for portable microelectronic devices which are expected to revolutionize the perception of energy-storage devices in the electronics industry.


In Belém city is located the potable water supply system of its metropolitan area, which includes, in addition to this city, four more municipalities. In this water supply complex is the Água Preta lake, which serves as a reservoir for the water pumped from the Guamá river. Due to the great importance of this lake for this system, several works have been devoted to its study, from the monitoring of the quality of its waters to its hydrodynamic modeling. This paper presents the results obtained by computer simulation of the phosphorus dispersion within this reservoir by the numerical solution of two-dimensional equation of advection-diffusion-reaction by the method θ/SUPG. Comparing these results with data concentration of total phosphorus collected from November 2008 to October 2009 and from satellite photos show that the biggest polluters of the water of this lake are the domestic sewage dumps from the population living in its vicinity. The results obtained indicate the need for more information for more precise quantitative analysis. However, they show that the phosphorus brought by the Guamá river water is consumed in an area adjacent to the canal that carries this water into the lake. Phosphorus deposits in the lake bottom should be monitored to verify their behavior, thus preventing the quality of water maintained therein.


Background: Yoga is the science of right living and as such is intended to be incorporated into daily life. Studies related to yoga and flexibility were done mainly in elderly, and there is a lack of information on the studies related to yoga practices and psychomotor performance. This present study aims at evaluating the effect of yoga on flexibility and psychomotor performance in college-going healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 individuals with the age varied from 18 to 22 years with no experience in practising yoga were randomized into two groups: yoga group (n = 50) and control group (n = 50). Baseline and postassessments of flexibility through sit and reach test (SAR) and psychomotor performances through digit letter substitution task (DLST) were collected before and after the intervention. Yoga group received yoga practices for the duration of 60 min and 6 days per week for 3 months. Data were statistically analyzed with paired sample t-test (within the group) and independent sample t-test (between the groups) by using statistical package for the social sciences version 16. Results: The results in this present study show a significant improvement in SAR test and DLST score in the yoga group in comparison with the control group. Conclusion: The yoga practices given for a 3-month duration are useful in improving the flexibility and psychomotor performance in college-going students.


Krasteva, V. (2020). Influence of initial stocking density on growth performance and survival of European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) larvae under controlled conditions. Bulg. J. of Agric. Sci., 26 (1) 248–253 This paper presents the influence of initial stocking density on European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) larvae growth performance indicators. The experimental unit was a flow-through system with complete water turnover every 43 min. The research was carried out at the Institute of fisheries and aquaculture, Plovdiv in two consecutive years (2017-Experiment I and 2018-Experiment II). The experimental design includes the evaluation of three variants of stocking densities: variant A-10 ind.l-1, variant B-20 ind.l-1 and variant C-40 ind.l-1. The results from the study demonstrated that the weight gain (IWG, mg) was strongly affected by the stocking density. It is the highest in the lowest stocking density (Variant A) in both experiments. The survival rate was the highest in variant B, respectively 70.9% in 2017 and 89.9% in 2018. The specific growth rate (SGR, %.day-1) and the daily growth rate (DGR, mg.day-1) were the highest in variant A in Experiment I and Experiment II. The recorded values of food conversion ratio (FCR) were the highest in variant C (1.2) in both years.


The scaling of metabolic rate with body mass holds substantial predictive power as many biological processes depend on energy. A significant body of theory has been developed based on the assumption that metabolic rate scales with body mass as a power function with an exponent of 0.75, and that this scaling relationship is independent of temperature. Here we test this hypothesis at the intraspecific level in a lungless salamander using data on both standard and maximal metabolic rates (SMR and MMR, respectively). We also address a recently proposed alternative explanation that predicts systematic variation in this mass-scaling exponent, the metabolic level boundaries hypothesis (MLB). Consistent with predictions of the metabolic theory of ecology the mass scaling of SMR and MMR were independent of temperature, however, we find evidence that the mass-scaling exponent for SMR and MMR differ significantly from 0.75. Further, our data do not provide strong support for MLB. Mass-scaling exponents for MMR generally exceed those for SMR, although these differences are rarely statistically significant.


Background: Central obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders including diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Index of central obesity (ICO) , defined as ratio of waist circumference and height, has been earlier proposed as a screening tool for central obesity and metabolic syndrome. We report the prevalence of self-reported central obesity based on ICO in a nationwide community screening program from data collected by the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) as part of the Defeat Diabetes Campaign.
 Methodology: Data collected from the One Nation, One Day, One Million Tests campaign by RSSDI was retrospectively analyzed. A data of 105481 adults was included in the analysis (69483 were males and 35956 females) . ICO (calculated from self-reported waist size & height) cutoff of 0.5 was used to estimate the prevalence of central obesity in the Indian population.
 Results: 69.3% (n=73072) of the overall cohort was found to be having central obesity, prevalence being slightly higher among females (75.1%) compared to males (66.3%) . Prevalence of central obesity was higher among diabetic subjects (77.8%) compared to the nondiabetes population (64.6%) . Prevalence of central obesity was higher among females with diabetes (81.5%) compared to males (75.9%) . Prevalence of central obesity was 60.8% and 71.8% in males and females without diabetes respectively.
 Conclusions: Central obesity is highly prevalent in the Indian population, with prevalence being slightly higher among females compared to males and among people living with diabetes when compared to nondiabetes subjects. As central obesity is a known risk factor for CVD and Metabolic disorders - strategies and interventions directed to address central obesity may be developed and implemented to prevent the future incidence of CVD and Metabolic disorders including diabetes. ICO is a simple screening tool in population dense and resource limited settings.

 B.D.Saboo: None. S.Chittawar: None. A.Nanditha: None. R.M.Parikh: None. A.Gupta: Speaker's Bureau; Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medtronic, Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi. V.K.Ch: None. B.M.Makkar: None. S.Agarwal: Speaker's Bureau; Novo Nordisk, Roche Diabetes Care, Sanofi, USV Private Limited. P.M.Chawla: Speaker's Bureau; Biocon, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Eris Lifesciences Ltd., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi. R.R.Kovil: None. S.Bhattacharyya: None.


Both SGLT2 inhibitors (canagliflozin and empagliflozin) and liraglutide have shown cardiovascular (CV) benefits in CV outcome trials. Whether these agents are associated with differential CV effects in routine care remains unexplored. In a large commercial U.S. health insurance database (4/2013-9/2015), we assessed the comparative CV risk of SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) vs. liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes. We used 1:1 propensity score (PS) matching to balance over 100 baseline characteristics. We estimated the hazard ratio (HR) of a combined CV outcome (hospitalization for myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke) and heart failure hospitalization (HHF). Secondary outcomes included an expanded combined CV outcome (hospitalization for MI, stroke, unstable angina, or coronary revascularization) and individual MI or stroke hospitalization. Over 30 months, SGLT2i initiators had no significant difference in the risk of the combined CV outcome (HR= 1.01 [95% CI 0.76-1.34]) or other secondary CV outcomes, but had an approximately 30% decrease in the risk of HHF (HR= 0.68 [0.52-0.88]), compared with liraglutide (Table). Subgroup analyses in patients with and without baseline CV disease produced largely consistent results. In conclusion, this study rules out large differences in atherosclerotic CV risk between SGLT2i and liraglutide, but supports larger benefits of SGLT2i vs. liraglutide for HHF. Disclosure E. Patorno: Research Support; Self; National Institute on Aging. Other Relationship; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, GlaxoSmithKline plc. B.M. Everett: Research Support; Self; Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Consultant; Self; Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, UpToDate. Other Relationship; Self; American College of Cardiology. S. Schneeweiss: Consultant; Self; WHISCON, LLC. Other Relationship; Self; Aetion, Inc.. Research Support; Self; Genentech, Inc., Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. R.J. Glynn: Research Support; Self; Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.. J. Liu: None. S.C. Kim: None.


AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim was to develop a practice theory that can be used to guide the direction of community nursing practice to help clients with schizophrenia and those who care for them.

DESIGN
Substantive grounded theory was developed through use of grounded theory method of Strauss and Corbin.

METHODS
Two groups of participants in Taiwan were selected using theoretical sampling: one group consisted of community mental health nurses and the other group was clients with schizophrenia and those who cared for them. The number of participants in each group was determined by theoretical saturation. Semi-structured one-to-one in-depth interviews and unstructured non-participant observation were utilized for data collection. Data analysis involved three stages: open, axial and selective coding. During the process of coding and analysis, both inductive and deductive thinking were utilized and the constant comparative analysis process continued until data saturation occurred. To establish trustworthiness, the four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were followed along with field trial, audit trial, member check and peer debriefing for reliability and validity.

RESULTS
A substantive grounded theory, the role of community mental health nurses caring for people with schizophrenia in Taiwan, was developed through utilization of grounded theory method of Strauss and Corbin.

CONCLUSION
In this paper, results and discussion focus on causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, consequences and phenomenon.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
The theory is the first to contribute knowledge about the field of mental health home visiting services in Taiwan to provide guidance for the delivery of quality care to assist people in the community with schizophrenia and their carers.


This paper describes a ∼200 m-thick section of the Pisco Formation exposed at Cerro Colorado, an important fossiliferous site in the Ica desert. In order to properly place the fauna in its correct relative position, this study establishes the stratigraphic framework within which the different fossil-bearing intervals of this site can be compared and may prove invaluable in future high-resolution studies on the faunal change. Most of the Pisco Formation deposits exposed at Cerro Colorado consist of gently dipping fine-grained sandstones, diatomaceous siltstones and diatomites with minor ash layers and dolomites deposited within nearshore and offshore settings. To facilitate detailed stratigraphic correlations within the Pisco strata for a 30 km2 area, eight marker beds have been defined and large-scale (1:10,000 scale) geological mapping conducted to determine fault positions, styles and offsets. The geological map shows that there are two important angular unconformities in the study area. The first one is the interformational basal unconformity of the Pisco Formation against folded, faulted, and planated Oligo-Miocene rocks of the Chilcatay Formation. The second is a low-angle intraformational erosional discontinuity of up to 4° angular discordance that allows the subdivision of the Pisco stratigraphy exposed in the study area into two informal allomembers. Dating of the exposed succession by diatom biostratigraphy suggests that the age of the lower allomember is late Miocene, whereas the upper allomember is late Miocene or younger.


Although activation of formed blood elements during cardiopulmonary bypass has been examined, its presumed procoagulant role has not been identified or quantified. We evaluated the effects of iloprost, an inhibitor of platelet and leukocyte function, on subclinical coagulation during simulated extracorporeal circulation. We determined that a heparin dose of 1 U/ml prevented clot formation in this model, but resulted in elevated plasma levels of fibrinopeptide A, the first cleavage product of fibrinogen. Human blood was recirculated with 1 U/ml heparin using a roller pump and pediatric reversed hollow fiber oxygenator (0.8 m2) for 2 hr at 37 degrees C. Iloprost (1 ng/ml, n = 5) reduced platelet adhesion, with platelet counts of 78 +/- 7% (mean +/- SEM) of baseline during 2 hr of simulated extracorporeal circulation, compared to 36 +/- 6% in control circuits (CONT: n = 6, P < 0.05). Plasma levels of platelet factor 4 and beta-thromboglobulin were also reduced by iloprost (486 +/- 116 ng/ml vs CONT, 2933 +/- 275 ng/ml, P < 0.05, and 938 +/- 274 ng/ml vs CONT, 5700 +/- 1109 ng/ml, P < 0.05, respectively). Circulating leukocyte counts were maintained in iloprost circuits (6.4 +/- 0.6 x 10(3)/mm3 vs CONT, 4.2 +/- 0.3 x 10(3)/mm3, P < 0.05), and neutrophil elastase levels rose to only 0.4 +/- 0.1 ng/ml in iloprost circuits, compared to 0.8 +/- 0.1 ng/ml in CONT (P < 0.05). Finally, iloprost treatment reduced fibrinopeptide A levels to 102 +/- 28 ng/ml (CONT, 793 +/- 337 ng/ml, P < 0.05) after 2 hr.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Four batches of filled type processed and two batches of analogous fresh kashar cheeses were produced. For the filled type, rennet casein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate and soy protein isolate were added to the sliced elastic cheese curd so that the percentage of each was 5% in total molten mass (CRC, CSC, CCC, CSOY, respectively). The first batch of imitation cheeses was prepared using rennet casein, soy protein isolate, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, NaCl, carrageenan, water, emulsifier (R1) and the other was prepared with sodium caseinate, modified starch, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, water and emulsifier (R2). Natural fresh kashar obtained from a local dairy plant was used as a control. The cheese samples were analysed for physicochemical, textural and melting characteristics. All the imitation groups had lower dry matter (P<0.01) and protein (P<0.01), but higher fat in dry matter (P<0.01) content than the control. The rennet casein filled group and the R2 batch gave the best results among the imitation cheese groups with respect to textural and melting properties.


Horseshoes play a central role in dynamical systems
and are observed in many chaotic systems.
However most points in a neighborhood of the horseshoe
escape after finite
iterations. In this work we construct a model that
possesses an attracting set that contains a cuspidal horseshoe
with positive entropy. This
model is obtained by reinjecting the
points that escape the horseshoe and can be realized in a 3-dimensional vector field.


A new method to nondestructively evaluate existing deep foundations is described for the situation where access to the top of a deep foundation is prevented by an intervening structure. The test consists of striking a surface of a structure and simultaneously recording velocities with vertical geophones at several locations on an impacted surface. Arranging the geophones at different distances from both the impact location and the source of surface wave reflections allows one to minimize the interfering effects of surface waves on recognizing the compression wave reflections from an underlying deep foundation. The processed data can be evaluated as either a conventional sonic echo or impulse response test. Results of field tests of the system are described for groups of shafts at the National Geotechnical Experimentation Site at Northwestern University. Results of these tests indicate that there are preferential locations for the geophones that enhance the interpretation of the condition of an underlying drilled shaft. A case study is presented that describes the application of the method to evaluate possible concrete deterioration of existing bridge piers.


Background. Although periampullary diverticulum is usually asymptomatic and discovered incidentally in patients during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), it may lead to post-ERCP morbidity. We compared baseline characteristics and clinical data as well as ERCP results in patients with and without periampullary diverticulum. Methods. Clinical, laboratory, and ERCP data of 780 patients referred to the Taleghani Hospital, as a great referral endoscopy center, in Iran were prospectively analyzed. Results. The periampullary diverticulum was identified in 44 patients (5.6%). Cannulation of common bile duct was more failed in patients with diverticulum compared to others (35.5% versus 11.5, P < 0.001). Patients with diverticulum had eight times more often common bile duct stone compared to patients without diverticulum (54.5% versus 12.2%, P < 0.001). Post-ERCP complications were observed in 2.3% and 4.2% of patients with and without diverticulum, respectively, which did not significantly differ in both groups. Conclusion. Because of more failure cannulation in the presence of periampullary diverticulum, ERCP requires more skills in these patients. Prevalence of common bile duct stone was notably higher in patients with diverticulum; therefore, more assessment of bile stone and its complications in these patients is persistently recommended.


ABSTRACT The author considers the technology-enabled improvisation of musical formthe projection of the dynamics of structure on the unfolding of improvised performance. Improvisation with technology has been largely concerned with its potential for more complex activity in the present. He proposes reclaiming the radical potential of technological improvisation by subverting the permanent present. Technology importantly affords a dynamical temporal prosthesis. Following a re-examination of times and forms in music and performance, the imagining and projection of future events is predicated on the same architecture as memory. Finally, brief consideration is given to the technological challenges of such an approach.


In many countries, women treated for complications from spontaneous or unsafely induced abortion lack access to contraceptive services. As a result, many of them soon have a subsequent unplanned pregnancy or a repeat abortion, placing their health at increased risk. This report presents the results of a prospective intervention study on postabortion family planning conducted in the two largest public hospitals in Zimbabwe. Women at Harare Central Hospital, in the capital, received a postabortion family planning intervention, and Mpilo Central Hospital, in Bulawayo, served as the control site. The study cohort was 982 women, 527 of whom were followed for a 12-month period. During the follow-up period, significantly more women used highly effective methods of contraception, significantly fewer unplanned pregnancies occurred, and fewer repeat abortions were performed at the intervention site than at the control site. These results offer compelling evidence that ward-based contraceptive services provided to women treated for incomplete abortion can significantly reduce subsequent unplanned pregnancies. The results also suggest that postabortion family planning services can reduce the incidence of repeat abortion.


This paper discusses factory and field pressure testing of tubular heat transfer equipment such as closed feedwater heaters, steam surface condensers and power plant auxiliary heat exchangers built to Section VIII Division 1 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (the ASME Code) and repaired or altered in accordance with the National Board Inspection Code (NBIC). It discusses the ASME Code's and the NBIC's requirements for hydrostatically testing unfired pressure vessels which includes tubular heat transfer equipment. It points out that using pressure gage indications of pressure loss to determine if there is a leak from the tube side to the shell side when the back face of the tubesheet is not visible does not reveal very small leaks or weeping. For the purposes of this paper, we define weeping, VRRLeak , as a leak of 20 drops per hour or approximately 1 cm3 [0.061 in3 ]. During typical half-hour hydrostatic test pressure holding periods, such weeping would amount to 10 drops of water on the tubesheet face or 0.5 cm3 [0.0305 in3 ]. Weeping through tube-to-tubesheet joints of high-pressure feedwater heaters can lead to wire drawing (wormholing), which can materially reduce the heater life. Leaks from the channel to the shell side of steam surface condensers and auxiliary condensers can introduce brackish water into the condensate. Depending upon the fluid flowing in the tubes, contaminants can enter the shell side of other auxiliary equipment when the channel pressure is higher than that of the shell. The paper concludes that Users must advise Designers and Manufacturers of the hazards of small leaks through the tube-to-tubesheet joints. It recommends that these three entities must agree on suitable leak tests.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Abstract Energy viability and waste disposal have been the two significant global complication. The consumption of paper and, subsequently, recycling are increasingly growing, contributing to vast quantities of paper sludge. Therefore, in waste disposal and environmental remediation, coping with massive volumes of paper sludge has received tremendous attention worldwide. Our purpose was to assess leading study advancements globally of paper sludge based on articles published, authors intra/inter-collaborations and accumulations of keywords. Throughout entire 1967–2019 duration, 2096 publications in paper sludge topic were mined using Scopus database. The findings revealed that the number of publications was less than 30 between 1967 and 1995, less than 60 between 1996 and 2005, less than 90 between 2006 and 2010 and more than 90 between 2011 and the recent year. Consequently, the yearly publishing is forecast to keep to expand. In a total of 125 journals, a total of 217 Canadian scholars from 155 universities lead to 263 papers, comprising 10.8 % total publications, where 261 (99.2 %) of 263 total English-language publications dominate the other countries/territories, while 0.8 % in French language. Also, from each of the 15 top countries, among the most productive universities, Université Laval was ranked 251st in World University Rankings 2021. In review, the following present developments in paper sludge comprise of: (i) cement, cellulose, bioethanol/biogas and concrete; (ii) phytoremediation and vermicompost and (iii) modelling (e.g., response surface methodology).


Dynamically reconfigurable metasurfaces promise compact and lightweight spatial light modulation for many applications, including LiDAR, AR/VR, and LiFi systems. Here, we design and computationally investigate high-quality-factor silicon-on-lithium niobate metasurfaces with electrically driven, independent control of its constituent nanobars for full phase tunability with high tuning efficiency. Free-space light couples to guided modes within each nanobar via periodic perturbations, generating quality factors exceeding 30,000 while maintaining a bar spacing of <λ/1.5. We achieve nearly 2π phase variation with an applied bias not exceeding ±25 V, maintaining a reflection efficiency above 91%. Using full-field simulations, we demonstrate a high-angle (51°) switchable beamsplitter with a diffracted efficiency of 93% and an angle-tunable beamsteerer, spanning 18-31°, with up to 86% efficiency, all using the same metasurface device. Our platform provides a foundation for highly efficient wavefront-shaping devices with a wide dynamic tuning range capable of generating nearly any transfer function.


The study is aimed at identifying the morphological and cytogenetic changes in erythrocytes of Brachydanio rerio, arising under the influence of photodynamic effects that models laser modification of blood, with the use of Fotoditazin, a photosensitizer of the chlorine range, and red laser radiation. (Methods of Research) For 15 days, juvenile fish Brachydanio rerio were kept in settled tap water after providing model of laser modification of the blood using Fotoditazin and exposure to laser radiation with the wavelength of 630 nm. The impact on the structure of DNA in the nuclei of red blood cells of Fotoditazin, laser radiation and combined effects of these factors on the changes in the fluorescence spectra of DNA and the color of fluorescence were studied. (Generalization of results and their meaning). It had been shown that separate effects of laser or Fotoditazin did not cause changes in the fluorescence of nuclei of erythrocytes, when the preparations were studied with the use of fluorescent microscopy after staining with acridine orange. After the fish were exposed for 5 minutes to the Fotoditazin solution with the concentration of 3.0 mg/l, and irradiated with red laser for 3 minutes with the power of 50 j/cm, the fluorescence of the nuclei of red blood cells dimed, which might have indicated the emergence of ruptures in the DNA molecules. After 24 hours, appearance of blood cells with the core fluorescing in orange color was noted, indicating appearance of single-chain DNA's. After 48 hours, intensity of fluorescence of red blood cells' nuclei approached the reference, but nuclei polymorphism was noted, which maintained until the end of the experiment. The impact of singlet oxygen in the process of model laser modification of the blood of fish with Fotoditazin affected the emergence of cytopathological violations in erythrocytes, the percentage of which increased veraciously, as compared to the reference in case of individual use of either laser or Fotoditazin. During laser modification of blood with photosensitizers in humans, it is recommended to pay attention to the possibility of DNA structure disrupting and appearance of cytopathological disorders in cellular blood elements, which requires further study.


In this paper, we present a systematic way of deriving (1) languages of (generalised) regular expressions, and (2) sound and complete axiomatizations thereof, for a wide variety of systems. This generalizes both the results of Kleene (on regular languages and deterministic finite automata) and Milner (on regular behaviours and finite labelled transition systems), and includes many other systems such as Mealy and Moore machines.


Noninvasive, multicomponent measurements are required for characterization of the results from metabolically manipulated organisms. The consequences of genetic manipulation by mutation and by introduction of recombinant plasmids to Saccharomyces cerevisiae is explored by [superscript 31]P and [superscript 13]C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

The in vivo NMR measurements should be quantified and detailed as much as possible. With this intent, analysis techniques of the in vivo [superscript 31]P NMR spectrum are developed. A systematic procedure is formulated for estimating the relative intracellular concentrations of the sugar phosphates in S. cerevisiae based upon the [superscript 31]P NMR spectrum. In addition, in vivo correlations of inorganic phosphate chemical shift with the chemical shifts of 3-phosphoglycerate, [beta]-fructose 1,6-diphosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, and glucose 6-phosphate are determined. Elucidation of the cytoplasmic and vacuolar components of inorganic phosphate in the [superscript 31]P NMR spectrum of S. cerevisiae is another method of analysis that was developed. Concentrations and pH values for these components may be determined from this method. An in vivo correlation relating the inorganic phosphate chemical shift of the vacuole with the chemical shift of the resonance for pyrophosphate and the terminal phosphate of polyphosphate (PP[subscript 1]) is established. Extension of these strategies to other cellular systems should be straightforward.

Transient measurements provided by [superscript 31]P NMR are applied to reg1 mutant and standard strains. The reg1 mutation will allow the expression of a cloned gene on a plasmid under the control of a GAL promoter in the presence of glucose. Despite similar values of ATP and cytoplasmic pH, the transient profiles of glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate, and 3-phosphoglycerate were very different for the two strains during anaerobic catabolism of glucose. The glucose uptake step or hexokinase step appears to be altered in the reg1 strain. The reg1 strain also catabolized galactose faster than the standard strain. These results concur with the hypothesis that the reg1 product operates early in the regulatory circuitry for glucose repression.

[Superscript 31]P and [superscript 13]C NMR measurements are used to analyze the performance of recombinant strains in which the glucose phosphorylation step had been altered. The strain with hexokinase PI had higher rates of glucose consumption and ethanol production in comparison to healthy diploid strains in the literature. The hexokinase PII strain that had the highest in vitro enzyme activity for glucose phosphorylation did not have the highest glucose consumption rate or ethanol production. The differences observed in in vivo utilization of the glucose phosphorylation capacity among the strains are insensitive to cytoplasmic pH and levels of cytoplasmic inorganic phosphate, sugar phosphates, and total ATP. Regulation of hexokinase PII by magnesium-free ATP appears to account for the differences observed with respect to the strain containing this enzyme.


Practice-based Experiential Learning Analytics Research and Support (PELARS) is a project about learning and making. The PELARS project finds ways of generating "analytics" (data about the learning process and analysis of this data), which helps learners and teachers by providing feedback from hands-on, project-based and experiential learning situations. In this paper, we present our proposal for improving analytics education with hands-on, project-based and experimental scenarios for engineering students. This is done through teacher and learner engagement, user studies and evaluated trials, performed at UCV (University of Craiova, Romania) and DTU Diplom (Technical University of Denmark, Campus Ballerup, Denmark). The PELARS project provides technological tools and ICT-based methods for collecting activity data (moving image-based and embedded sensing) for learning analytics (data-mining and reasoning) of practice-based and experiential STEM.


Summary

1. Biological control agents that impact on non-target native species have limited desirability. Aculus hyperici was introduced into Australia to help control the weed St John's wort Hypericum perforatum, despite indications from pre-release trials that this eriophyid mite could survive and reproduce on a non-target native species, Hypericum gramineum. We used field experiments to explore the probability of A. hyperici colonizing either H. gramineum or H. perforatum in sympatric populations of the alternative hosts, and to determine the impact of A. hyperici on the growth of field-grown H. gramineum.

2. We used a glasshouse experiment to compare the impact of A. hyperici on the ability of each host to recover from water stress and to investigate how such recovery affects herbivore populations on the alternative hosts. As Australia is frequently affected by drought, this issue is critical to both the efficacy and safety of biological weed control.

3. The probability of A. hyperici colonizing H. gramineum was significantly lower than the probability of it colonizing the target weed. Despite the ability of A. hyperici to infest H. gramineum, the mite had negligible impacts on all measured indices of growth and reproduction.

4. During the water limitation experiment, the non-target host supported populations of A. hyperici throughout the experimental period, but population size was consistently low. In comparison, mite populations increased considerably on the target weed and were associated with significant decreases in growth. Water limitation compounded the adverse impacts of mites on the weed, but did not affect impacts on the non-target native.

5. Despite the detrimental effects of mites on the growth of H. perforatum, we found little evidence that they impaired the ability of either H. perforatum or H. gramineum to recover from water stress.

6. Synthesis and applications. Rigorous host-specificity testing is necessary to ensure that biological weed control agents do not impact on non-target species. Potentially, however, these tests may reject beneficial agents unnecessarily, because of low level feeding or reproduction on non-target species. Although host-specificity testing might indicate that non-target native species may host biocontrol agents, our results demonstrate that such non-target species are not, necessarily, damaged.


One hundred and twenty five operations on 100 patients were performed due to the symptoms suggesting presence of the pressure on the neurovascular supraclavicular structures, although X-ray showed no evidence of cervical rib. In 15 cases of patients with so-called scalenus anticus syndrome as one of the forms of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) seemed to be compressing the neurovascular bundle. Scalenus mediums muscle appeared to be producing more compression of the nerve roots than did the scalenus anterior in 5 patients. Pressure from Rudimentary First Rib--in 2 cases in our series malformation of the first rib was the cause of the patient's distress. Anomalous Bands--in 4 cases anomalous bands of fibrous tissue in the supraclavicular area were the cause of compression of the neurovascular bundle Anomaleus Arteries Compressing Nerve Roots- large arteries compressed roots of trunks of the brachial plexus in four patients in our series to such an extent that it seemed these structures were the cause of the patient's symptoms. All anomalous structures were removed, good results after such surgical tactics were kept for long time in all cases. Therefore the surgeons, performing scalenotomy have to pay particular attention to the fibrous bands and anomalies in the scalene group of muscles.


Parenchymal nodules developed in the livers of C3H mice given carbon tetrachloride by rectal administration. These nonencapsulated nodules varied from 4 to 14 mm in diameter and were sharply demarcated from the adjacent parenchyma. Despite a lack of organized lobular structure, the nodules contained occasional biliary ductules and scattered blood vessels resem bling capillaries. Histologically, the cells composing the nodules were less bizarre than those of the contiguous parenchyma and were, in fact, comparable, in many ways, to the livers of untreated animals. Ultrastructurally, when contrasted with control parenchyma, the cells of the nodules exhibited enlarged mitochondria, hypertrophied microbodies, prominent Golgi complexes, and abundant dilated rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum with numerous attached ribosomes. Nuclei were frequently invaginated and glycogen was abundant. Lysosomes and autophagic vacuoles were few in number. The morphologic evidence suggests that the nodules represent areas of hyperplasia rather than neoplasia, and this possibility is discussed. Moreover, it would appear that the dilated roughsurfaced endoplasmic reticulum of the nodule cells reflects metabolic activity rather than cellular injury.


"What is time?" asked Saint Augustine in his Confessions , "When someone asks me, I know. But as soon as someone comes to question me on this matter, and I try to explain, I don't know anymore." A physician asked to define an autoimmune disease has a similar sense of frustration. For the perplexed, three features of autoimmune diseases, derived from Witebsky's postulates, might help: 1 ) the presence of defined autoantigens and autoantibodies; 2 ) passive transfer of T-lymphocytes, which leads to disease development; and 3 ) successful immunomodulation of disease (1). Indeed, for type 1 diabetes in humans we know that autoantibodies are common and, alas, also that the second postulate is unethical and the third controversial. In reality, a disease is considered autoimmune when target organ destruction is allied to the presence of disease-specific target organ autoantibodies (2). It is through their clinical phenotype that diseases gain identity; only recently have we used genetic and immune responses to adapt disease names. Therefore, the historical characteristic of severe diabetes as childhood-onset disease was supplanted by insulin-dependent diabetes and with identification of diabetes-associated autoantibodies and genetic susceptibility through the major histocompatibilty complex (MHC) for type 1 diabetes, or more precisely type 1a diabetes, with type 2 diabetes being everything type 1 diabetes was not (2,3).

From the earliest years it was …


Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) is a technology that produces physical solid components or parts from computer design models. This technology has the potential of reducing functional ceramic product development cycle time in terms of reducing design iteration and production time, minimizing extra post processing, and therefore reducing cost. A commercially available Fused Deposition Modeling (FDMTM) 3D Modeler was altered for use with ceramics. This newly developed method referred to as Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC) is capable of fabricating complex shape, functional ceramic components. We have investigated issues related to hardware, software, feed material, and build strategy which are required to achieve high quality, fully dense green ceramic parts. In this paper, we report recent improvements made in the FDC process, including hardware modifications, software improvements, feed material standardization, as well as build strategy/condition control. We also report the current FDC status for making complex functional parts. Our goal is to optimize the FDC condition to ensure its robustness for producing defect free green ceramic parts consistently and without interruption.


Murder rates for New Orleans, La, during 2005 and 2006 were calculated with the best available population trajectories for these 2 atypical years. These calculations showed that the murder rate increased substantially during this period compared with 2004. The increase in 2005 from 2004 was 14%. The best estimate of the increase in the murder rate in 2006 compared with 2004 was 69%; the large increase in 2006 began during the second quarter of that year.


We describe a hybrid real and virtual system that monitors and teaches children in an everyday classroom environment without requiring any special virtual reality set ups or any knowledge that there is a computer involved. This system is truly pervasive in that it interacts with a child who is playing with normal physical toys using speech. A simulated virtual head provides a focus and the opportunity for microphonological language teaching, whilst a simulated world allows the teacher to demonstrate using her set of blocks -- much as a teacher might demonstrate at the front of the class. However this system allows individual students, or pairs of students, to interact with the task in a computer-free way and receive feedback from PETA, the Teaching Head, as if from their own private tutor.


This paper builds on the concept of mental health recovery to critically examine three football projects in the United Kingdom and their effects on the recovery process. Drawing on qualitative research on the lived experiences of mental health clients and service providers across the three projects, we explore the role of football in relation to three components of recovery: engagement, stigma, and social isolation. The findings indicate how the projects facilitated increased client engagement, peer supports, and the transformation of self-stigma. The perception of football as an alternative setting away from the clinical environment was an important factor in this regard. Yet, the results also reveal major limitations, including the narrow, individualistic conceptualization of both recovery and stigma within the projects, the reliance on a biomedical model of mental illness, and the potentially adverse consequences of using football in mental health interventions.


Human parechovirus type 3 (PeV-A3) infection has been recognized as an emerging etiologic factor causing severe nerve disease or sepsis in infants and young children. But the neuropathogenic mechanisms of PeV-A3 remain unknown. To understand the pathogenesis of PeV-A3 infection in the neuronal system, PeV-A3-mediated cytopathic effects were analyzed in human glioblastoma cells and neuroblastoma cells. PeV-A3 induced interferons and inflammatory cytokine expression in these neuronal cells. The pronounced cytopathic effects accompanied with activation of death signaling pathways of apoptosis, autophagy, and pyroptosis were detected. A new experimental disease model of parechovirus encephalitis was established. In the disease model, intracranial inoculation with PeV-A3 in C57BL/6 neonatal mice showed body weight loss, hindlimb paralysis, and approximately 20% mortality. PeV-A3 infection in the hippocampus and cortex regions of the neonatal mouse brain was revealed. Mechanistic assay supported the in vitro results, indicating detection of PeV-A3 replication, inflammatory cytokine expression, and death signaling transduction in mouse brain tissues. These in vitro and in vivo studies revealed that the activation of death signaling and inflammation responses is involved in PeV-A3-mediated neurological disorders. The present results might account for some of the PeV-A3-associated clinical manifestations.


In this paper I present a survey of some recent ideas about the structure of the superconducting phases of heavy fermion materials U1-xThxBe13 and UPt3, in which additional phase transitions within the superconducting state exist.


Circadian rhythms are intrinsic biological rhythms that have a period close to 24 hours. Prokaryotic cyanobacteria are the simplest organisms that show robust circadian rhythms, and are the only organisms that have a circadian rhythm reconstituted in vitro in test tubes in the presence of ATP. This thesis is focused on studying the mechanism of the core circadian clockwork in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. In this dissertation, I explore the mechanism of the circadian rhythm in cyanobacteria with both in vitro and in vivo studies. I elucidate the essential pattern of dynamic protein- protein interactions among three identified core clock Kai proteins, and define the relationship between the traditional TTFL (transcription translation feedback loop) model and the PTO (post translational oscillator) model within this strain. In addition, a KaiC monomer exchange phenomenon is studied to further investigate the robustness of the rhythm.


New criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD) were recently published. These criteria cover the entire spectrum of AD including dementia due to AD, mild cognitive impairment due to AD, and preclinical AD. A major feature of the new criteria is that they distinguish between the clinical characteristics of the disorder and the pathological features. Earlier criteria were based on clinical features alone. The new criteria include the use of imaging and other biomarkers to aid in diagnosis. The criteria regarding clinical features are currently being used in practice; the criteria regarding biomarkers still need to be validated.


The elaboration of a quality oocyte is integrally linked to the correct developmental progression of cumulus cell phenotype. In humans and nonhuman primates, oocyte quality is diminished with in vitro maturation. To determine the changes in gene expression in rhesus monkey cumulus cells (CC) that occur during the final day prior to oocyte maturation and how these changes differ between in vitro (IVM) and in vivo maturation (VVM), we completed a detailed comparison of transcriptomes using the Affymetrix gene array. We observed a large number of genes differing in expression when comparing IVM-CC and VVM-CC directly but a much larger number of differences when comparing the transitions from the prematuration to the post-IVM and post-VVM states. We observed a truncation or delay in the normal pattern of gene regulation but also remarkable compensatory changes in gene expression during IVM. Among the genes affected by IVM are those that contribute to productive cell-cell interactions between cumulus cell and oocyte and between cumulus cells. Numerous genes involved in lipid metabolism are incorrectly regulated during IVM, and the synthesis of sex hormones appears not to be suppressed during IVM. We identified a panel of 24 marker genes, the expression of which should provide the foundation for understanding how IVM can be improved for monitoring IVM conditions and for diagnosing oocyte quality.


In the recent past, visible-light-mediated photoredox catalysis has made a huge impact on the development of new synthetic methods under very mild and ecologically benign conditions. Although semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) possess suitable optoelectronic and redox properties for photoredox catalytic applications, surprisingly, their use for the activation of challenging chemical bonds in the synthesis of organic molecules is little explored. We report here the application of ZnSe/CdS core/shell QDs for the synthetically important photoredox catalytic activation of carbon–halogen bonds in dehalogenation and C–H arylation reactions using (hetero)aryl halides as bench-stable inexpensive bulk starting materials, under very mild reaction conditions. The outstanding catalytic activity of ZnSe/CdS core/shell QDs is a direct consequence of the high specific surface area and homogeneity of QDs in solution and their high photostability toward oxidation.


Shaut or sound is one of the basics of all languages on this earth, whose involvement determines the validity and reliability of the language itself and supports it to continue to exist. Departing from the importance of the position of sound or shaut, in the realm of lughat was born the AL-ASHWAT SCIENCE, which subsequently in linguistics was called phonology. The role of ashwat science is certainly inevitable, so the research that the author is doing this time aims to reveal how important understanding of al-ashwat science theory is and where its weak point is at the level of applied pronunciation of hijaiyah letters. This type of research is library research or literature review. While the data collection method uses the documentation method. The data analysis that the author does is editing, organizing and inference. The results of his research are an understanding of ashwat in more depth and mistakes that often occur more clearly. Even when someone enters a practical level in the domain of Tajweed, without the correct understanding of shifatul letters it is impossible to realize the right and correct makharijul letters. Thus in the process of talaqqi, the expert tutor should be present in the learning of reading hijaiyah letters, the language of the Qur'an and so on.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor and nonmotor symptoms. Nonmotor symptoms include primarily visual hallucinations (VH). The aim of our study was to establish whether patients with PD and visual hallucinations (PDH+) have structural changes of retina detected by an optical coherence tomography (OCT) in comparison with PD patients without visual hallucinations (PDH−). We examined 52 PD patients (18 with VH, 34 without VH) and 15 age and sex matched healthy controls. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and macular thickness and volume were assessed by OCT. Functional impairment of retina was assessed using 2.5% contrast sensitivity test. For OCT outcomes we analyzed 15 PDH+ and 15 PDH− subjects matched for age, gender, and PD duration. For contrast sensitivity we analyzed 8 pairs of patients matched for age, gender, and visual acuity. There was no significant difference in RNFL thickness and macular thickness and macular volume between 15 PDH+ and 15 PDH− subjects, and also between a group of 44 PD patients (both PDH+ and PDH−) and 15 age and gender matched healthy controls. No significant difference was found for 2.5% contrast sensitivity test values between PDH+ and PDH− subjects. Therefore we conclude that functional and structural changes in retina play no role in genesis of VH in PD.


In IEC-60060-1 as revised in 2010, a conversion method for lightning impulse voltage test waveforms using the test voltage function (K-factor function) was adopted. Presently, studies are being conducted on the test standards for ultra-high voltage (UHV)-class equipment. Since the existing K-factor function was established based on the experimental results for more small models compared with the insulation structure of UHV-class equipment, the issue has arisen as to whether this K-factor function can also be applied for UHV-class equipment. The authors experimentally obtained K-factor values using the largest possible model assuming UHV-class equipment in the previous studies. This paper reports the K-factor values and the insulation characteristics with respect to the front time obtained for air insulation under a negative-polarity lightning impulse voltage. According to the results of this experiment, even though the K-factor values for an air gap were likely to be slightly lower than the existing K-factor function in the negative polarity, the tendency of the change with respect to the superimposed oscillation frequency was similar. Furthermore, it was found that even though the breakdown voltage for waveforms with an extended front time was likely to decrease further than that for the standard lightning impulse waveforms, the decline was about 3.1% even for a front time of 4.8  μ s. Consequently, it was indicated that a lightning impulse voltage test waveform with an extended front time may help properly verify the insulation performance of a UHV-class air bushing.


For older Australians being dependent on the private rental market is usually associated with serious financial hardship and insecurity. The article examines the housing careers of older Australians who are dependent on the private rental market. After sketching the policy context, it uses in-depth interviews and a biographical approach to explore their trajectory into the private rental market. Divorce, separation and widowhood were key factors, especially for women, as were poor employment histories and ill-health. The crucial factor was an inability to access social housing. The neglect of this housing tenure has meant that supply is very limited and it is reserved primarily for people with complex needs.


Background: The genetic heterogeneity between primary and metastatic lesions has rarely studied. Purpose: This study aims to compare the mutation profiling of key cancer-related genes in primary lung cancers and their matched lymph nodes (LN) metastasis. Methods: The gene mutation profiling of both primary cancers and their matched LN metastasis was constructed using a hybridization capture-based massively parallel sequencing assay and the sequencing of 1,408 key cancer genes in 37 NSCLC patients. Results: There are differences in the repertoire of somatic mutations and CNVs between primary lesions and metastatic lymphatic lesions in NSCLC. More mutations were discovered in the primary lesion than LN metastasis lesion, indicating that tumor mutation burden is higher in primary lesion than that in LN metastasis lesion. The copy number profiles were largely preserved through the progression of the metastasis in lung cancer individually. Regarding to the mutation context, more prevailing of signature 1 in LN metastasis lesion was observed than that of primary lesion, indicating that the spontaneous deamination of cytosine may contribute to the accumulation of mutations during tumor development and immigration. Furthermore, the LN metastasis exclusive somatic mutation (LME-SMs) genes were enriched in peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation, peptidyl-tyrosine modification, protein tyrosine kinase activity, and transmembrane receptor protein kinase. The KEGG pathway analysis revealed that these genes might participate in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway and Ras signaling pathway. Conclusion: Since the heterogeneity of genetic profiling exists between primary lesion and LN metastasis lesion, multi-region lesion mutation profiling is required to fully understand the progression of NSCLC, and develop an appropriate therapeutic guide. Mutations in genes involved in cell proliferation, invasion and migration may be the genetic mechanism of metastasis.


As we described elsewhere, tics are defined as "sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movements or vocalizations"and have clinical concerns1.Tics are likely to differ in terms of the body location, number, frequency, complexity, intensity or forcefulness, noticeable and resulting social consequences2. Intervals between tics can range from seconds, hours or even days. The forcefulness with which a tic is performed can range from slight and barely noticeable to intense and obvious. Over time, the frequency and intensity of tics may wax and wane and maybe influenced by a variety of internal and external stimuli including private events, contextual variables and social reinforcement contingencies3.


Two categories of carbon substrates are defined for Rhizobium meliloti: the first favours the synthesis of exopolysaccharides (fructose belongs to this category) while the other is not suitable (glucose belongs to this category).With fructose, resting cells synthesize polysaccharides during more than 100 h and this synthesis is at its best in aerobic conditions at 30 °C. With glucose, 2-ketogluconic acid accumulates and rapidly stops the synthesis. The method used to stop this acidification allows with glucose a synthesis which can be compared to the one obtained with fructose.


In contrast to past regulations for power plant air pollutants, there is growing interest in a multi-pollutant perspective that would simultaneously address criteria pollutants, air toxics, and greenhouse gases. This paper addresses some of the key technical and economic questions needed to assess policy proposals, namely: What technical options are available to control each of these pollutants? What plant-level interactions must be considered in evaluating the feasibility and cost of alternative control measures? What advantages are there to multi-pollutant control strategies? The Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) developed for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE/NETL) is used to obtain illustrated quantitative estimates of the cost and emissions impacts of interactions among technologies for multi-pollutant controls. BACKGROUND


There are clear benefits to price stability. High inflation can distort corporate investment decisions and the consumption behaviour of households. Changes to inflation redistribute real wealth and income between different segments of society, such as savers and borrowers, or young and old. Price stability is therefore a fundamental public good and it became a fundamental principle of European Economic and Monetary Union. But the European Treaties do not define price stability. It was left to the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) to quantify it: "Price stability is defined as a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area of below 2%"[1]. The Governing Council has also clarified that it aims to maintain inflation below, but close to, two percent over the medium term, though it has not quantified what 'closeness' means, nor has it given a precise definition of the 'medium term'[2]. The clarification has been widely interpreted to mean that the actual target of the ECB is close to, but below, two percent inflation in the medium term.


This paper deals with Epi.q, a family of mobile robots whose main characteristic is a wheel-legged hybrid locomotion. These multi-purpose robots can be successfully exploited for security and surveillance tasks. The document presents state of the art security robotics, the Epi.q mechanical architecture, the concept behind the robot driving unit, three prototypes and the design of a new one.


Wireless networks have received considerable attention recently due to the high user demand for wireless services and the emergence of new applications. This thesis focuses on the problem of information dissemination in a class of wireless networks known as the multi-way relay channel. Physical layer network coding is considered to increase the throughput in these networks. First, an algorithm is proposed that increases the full data exchange throughput by 33% compared to traditional routing. This gain arises from providing common knowledge to users and exploiting this knowledge to restrain some users from transmitting. Second, for complex field network coding, a transmission scheme is designed that ensures the receipt of a QAM constellation at the relay. This requires precoding the user symbols to make all possible combinations distinguishable at the relay. Using this approach, the throughput of data exchange is 1/2 symbol per user per channel use. The error performance of both schemes is derived analytically for AWGN channels.


BACKGROUND
Stratification and risk-evaluation of bladder cancer (BCa) patients are far-reached issues, especially for those with non muscle invasive disease. Thus, setting-up biomarkers, especially after resection of the primary tumor, is crucial. Specifically, Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio NLR and let-7 deregulation which have been preliminarily but not consistently described to be associated to unfavorable prognosis.

OBJECTIVE
To explore the clinical value of pre-treatment Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), let-7c and let-7g's deregulation.

METHODS
Data were extracted from ninety BCa samples. Pre-treatment NLR was estimated as the absolute neutrophil count divided by the absolute lymphocyte count. Expression patterns of let-7c and let-7g were assessed by qRT-PCR. Correlation with clinical characteristics was performed by descriptive statistics.

RESULTS
Both let-7 miRs were upregulated. Interestingly, let-7g was associated to pathological stage (p= 0.001) and tumor multiplicity (p= 0.003). NLR was associated to histological grade (p= 0.005) and clinical stage (p= 0.006). They were both associated to more aggressive phenotype and their worth as potential stratification biomarkers was confirmed by ROC curve.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data demonstrated the potential clinical value of all markers, especially pretreatment NLR and let-7g. Further studies are recommended to confirm their utility in improving the clinical decision-making regarding treatment and follow-up scheduling.


A gap exists in the literature regarding aggression in autism spectrum disorders and how this behavior compares to other groups. In this multisite study, the Children's Scale for Hostility and Aggression: Reactive/Proactive and the Aggression subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist were rated for 414 children with autism spectrum disorder (autistic disorder, 69%; pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, 24%; Asperger's disorder, 7%) and 243 clinic-referred children without autism spectrum disorder, aged 1–21 years (mean age about 7 years). Participants were not selected for aggressive behavior. Relative to the comparison group, children with autism spectrum disorder were reported to have less aggression and were more likely to be rated as reactive rather than proactive. Among all subjects, sex was not associated with aggression; higher IQ/adaptive behavior and older age were associated with more sophisticated types of aggression, while lower scores on IQ, adaptive behavior, and communication measures were associated with more physical aggression. The interaction between demographic variables and diagnosis was significant only for age: younger but not older children with autism spectrum disorder showed less aggression than clinic-referred controls.


The technique of cold-target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy is used to study the process of ionization in slow to intermediate-velocity collisions. Some evidence for the role of the quasi-molecular promotion in the ionization process is presented. The two collision systems He+–He and Ne+–Ne are chosen for illustration.


we are finally and properly oriented 'towards a positive theory.' Ingenious 'possible worlds' have established the theoretical possibility of time as empty, closed (cyclical) or branched, but 'standard topology' (linear, dense, non-beginning, nonending) has empirical, also methodological advantages. The decision procedure preferred-realist construal of claims up to the point where evidence 'underdetermines' them, theoretical or conventionalist thereafter-is recommended to all science. The rigour produces persuasion, caution; but need 'reductionism' commit one to the denial of temporal vacua? And is it our intuitions that need re-schooling if we cannot conceive extensionless instants composing intervals?


Heat shock proteins (HSPs) derived from tumors or virally infected cells can stimulate antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses in vitro and in vivo. Although this antigenicity is known to arise from HSP-associated peptides presented to the immune system by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules, the cell biology underlying this presentation process remains poorly understood. Here we show that HSP 70 binds to the surface of antigen presenting cells by a mechanism with the characteristics of a saturable receptor system. After this membrane interaction, processing and MHC class I presentation of the HSP-associated antigen can occur via either a cytosolic (transporter associated with antigen processing [TAP] and proteasome–dependent) or an endosomal (TAP and proteasome–independent) route, with the preferred pathway determined by the sequence context of the optimal antigenic peptide within the HSP-associated material. These findings not only characterize two highly efficient, specific pathways leading to the conversion of HSP-associated antigens into ligands for CD8+ T cells, they also imply the existence of a mechanism for receptor-facilitated transmembrane transport of HSP or HSP-associated ligands from the plasma membrane or lumen of endosomes into the cytosol.