List of Figures, Concordances and Tables. Acknowledgements. Data Conventions and Terminology. Notes on Corpus Data and Software. Part I: Concepts and History:. 1. Texts and Text Types. 2. British Traditions in Text Analysis: Firth, Halliday and Sinclair. 3. Institutional Linguistics: Firth, Hill and Giddens. Part II: Text and Corpus Analysis:. 4. Baden--Powell: A Comparative Analysis of Two Short Texts. 5. Judging the Facts: An Analysis of One Text in its Institutional Context. 6. Human and Inhuman Geography: A Comparative Analysis of Two Long Texts and a Corpus. 7. Keywords, Collocations and Culture: The Analysis of Word Meanings across Corpora. 8. Towards a Modal Grammar of English: A Matter of Prolonged Fieldwork. 9. The Classic Questions. Notes. References. Name Index. Subject Index.


The ECG as measured from healthy subjects shows a considerable interindividual variability. This variability is caused by geometrical as well as by physiological factors. In this study, the relative contribution of the geometrical factors is estimated. In addition a method aimed at correcting for these factors is described. First, a measure (RV) for quantifying the overall variability is presented, and for healthy individuals its value is estimated as 0.52. Next, based on a simulation study using the individual (heart-lung-torso) geometry of 25 subjects, the variability caused by geometrical factors is estimated as 0.40, indicating that in healthy subjects the RV for healthy individuals resulting from electrophysiology is of the order of 0.33. In an evaluation of the correction procedure, applied to realistic, simulated body surface potentials, it is shown that RV caused by geometrical factors can be reduced from 0.40 to 0.06. When applying the correction procedure to measured ECG data no reduction of the RV value could be demonstrated. These results indicate that the involved procedure of the inverse computation of a cardiac equivalent source, at the present time, is of insufficient quality to cash in on the substantial reduction of RV values from 0.52 down to 0.33 that might be obtainable.


The pleiotropic effects of vitamin D (VD), whose active form is synthesized in the kidneys, play a certain role both in forming and functioning the feto-placental system, including various pregnancy complications. The aim of the study was to evaluate the vitamin D status in pregnant women with placental dysfunction (PD) and chronic inflammatory kidney disease (CIKD). During 24–34 pregnancy weeks, 56 pregnant women with PD were examined (main group ‒ I); 24 patients (42.85 %) had chronic pyelonephritis (group IA). The control group (group II) had 31 conditionally healthy pregnant women. The total VD level in the blood was determined by ELISA; in addition to the general clinical standard examination, the urine also underwent bacteriological examination. The VD mean level in pregnant women with PD and CIKD was significantly lower than that in the control group (31.08 ± 7.2 and 45.42 ± 9.67 ng/ml (p <0.01)). Only 33.33 % of pregnant women in group IA had a VD optimum, as well as 93.55 % (p < 0.01) in the control group and 17.86 % in group I. 8.33 % of pregnant women had a VD deficiency in group IA (RR = 2.09; CI 95 % ‒ 1.8‒2.42). The patients with a VD-deficiency were absent in the control group. 58.33 % of women in group ІА had a suboptimal VD level and 6.45% in the control group (RR = 3.57; CI 95 % ‒ 1.62‒7.88). Bacteriuria was observed in all pregnant women with a VD-deficient or suboptimal level. At the optimum VD level, bacteriuria was diagnosed twice less (χ 2 = 66.67; p <0.01). In patients with an inadequate VD level, CIKD was diagnosed 3.8 times more (RR = 3.57; CI 95 % ‒ 1.62‒7.88). 494 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Medical series, 2020, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 493–499 A significantly calcitriol reduction in pregnant women with placental dysfunction suggests that the deficiency or the suboptimal level of vitamin D and inflammatory kidney diseases may be the interdependent processes that play a decisive role in the formation of placental dysfunction.


Temperament traits in animals are those which are stable across time and predictive of behaviour in other situations. Individuals can be identified as showing either active (pro-active) or passive (re-active) responses to a variety of challenges, and these are often referred to as 'coping styles'. Although most studied in rodents, coping styles are found in a variety of vertebrate species. In rodents, the resident-intruder aggressiveness test is a key measure of coping style, whereas in pigs, several recent studies have used a 'backtest' as the key measure of coping: A piglet is held on its back for one minute and the frequency of struggling bouts ('escape attempts') is recorded. In this study, we compared pig behaviour in backtests performed on 3 and 9 days of age, with aggressiveness was measured using 2 resident-intruder tests between 16 and 19 days post-weaning. A smaller unfamiliar intruder was introduced into part of the resident pig's home pen, and resident attack latency was recorded. Struggling bout frequency in the backtests showed a unimodal distribution. Data were analysed both as a continuous distribution and by comparing only the piglets from either extreme of the distribution (for comparison with other studies, top and bottom 25%). There was good repeatability of outcome (struggling frequency) over the two backtests, and over the two resident-intruder tests (attack latency and occurrence of resident attacks). However, no relationship was found between behaviour in the backtests and aggression in the resident-intruder tests, despite exhaustive analysis. Other authors have found that pigs show consistent responses to challenges, suggesting a degree of stable temperament. In line with the present findings though, most found no correlation between social and non-social responses. Other published experiments show that in pigs, the backtest can predict several physiological differences characteristic of coping styles. However, the present study shows that in pigs, aggressiveness and struggling in a backtest are not correlated, suggesting that they do not represent different expressions of the same underlying 'coping' trait.


Background and Aim: The co-existence of a Robertsonian translocation with Turner Syndrome (TS) or variant of Turner Syndrome (isochromosome Xq) is an uncommon phenomenon. In this report we present two cases with double chromosomal anomalies. Case Report: In the first case, we present findings from a 19 years old female, detected to harbor classic TS combined with t(13;14) Robertsonian translocation. The second case involves a 13 years old female, with isochromosome Xq10 (a known variant of Turner Syndrome) combined with t(13;14) Robertsonian translocation. Conclusion: Literature around double chromosome anomalies were found to be few and our case report is one of the first few to identify structural abnormality of X chromosome (isochromosome X) along with a t(13;14) Robertsonian translocation.


Psychological and social conditions potentially related to traffic accidents involving bus drivers are identified. Participants were 457 drivers, males and employees of local public transportation companies of Natal, RN, Brazil. Questionnaire contained items on professional performance comprising potentially stressing situations, effects of organizational policies and sociodemographic characteristics, in addition to Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Variables highly associated to accident occurrences included extra work hours, work during vacations, medical leave, passengers' complaints, excessive daytime sleepiness, and concern about sleep, arriving late and family problems. Present time perspective was not related to involvement in accidents. Results suggest that involvement in traffic accidents may be avoided, or at least diminished, by an improvement in work conditions and through public policies of health and safety.


Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is a technology that enables the development of embedded systems with hot swappable logic on the FPGA fabric. This means that hardware logic can be swapped in and out on-the-fly while the rest of the system is operational. Since DPR is relatively new, tool support is still evolving. This paper introduces new FPGA architectural tools and Linux OS modifications that aid in supporting DPR on FPGAs for control. We emphasize that control systems benefit from real hardware concurrency, meaning that by moving the control intelligence into hardware we minimize the negative effects inherent to threads and their scheduler. This leaves software with the role of a high-level administrator rather than an executor, thus eliminating unnecessary bottlenecks. The developed tools enable the hardware engineer to develop DPR-FPGA systems more effectively for rapid control system development.


IDENTIFICATION OF A SAM68 RIBONUCLEOPROTEIN COMPLEX REGULATED BY EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR Marc-Étienne Huot, Gillian Vogel and Stéphane Richard From the Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group and the Bloomfield Center for Research on Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, and Departments of Oncology and Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3T 1E2. Running head: Composition and regulation of the Sam68 complex Corresponding author: Dr. S. Richard, Segal Cancer Centre, 3755 Côte Ste-Catherine Road, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3T 1E2. Ph: 514-340-8260; Fax: 514-340-8295; Email: email@example.com


DNA Methylation analysis has been proven as an invaluable tool in cancer screening and diagnosis. Conventional techniques for DNA methylation analysis have limited sensitivity and specificity, making early detection a complicated endeavor. Furthermore, DNA methylation analysis requires a series of disconnected processes. Although a wide variety of commercial kits are available for the individual steps, so far there is no product that can combine all the steps together. Our novel approach address these problems by integrating all the steps required for DNA methylation together through the use of the silica superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SSNP) and quantum dots, thus minimizing the sample transfer and reducing the processing time.


[Purpose] This study aimed to verify the effect of hippotherapy on the sitting balance of children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) by comparing hippotherapy, physical therapy, and a control. [Subjects] In this study, 45 children with CP were randomly divided into the hippotherapy group (HTG, n = 15), physical therapy group (PTG, n = 15), and control group (CON, n = 15). [Methods] Two expert physical therapists provided the HTG and PTG with traditional physical therapy comprising strengthening and stretching exercises in 30-minute sessions, semi-weekly, for 8 weeks . Hippotherapy was provided semi-weekly only to the HTG for 8 weeks at 30 minutes per session. The CON group received no treatment. Before and after the 8 weeks of intervention, a sitting balance test was performed, and the results were analyzed. [Results] Sway pathway and velocity significantly decreased in HTG compared to PTG and CON. Left/right pathway, total pathway, left/right velocity, and total velocity were significantly reduced in PTG compared to that in the CON. [Conclusion] Hippotherapy withtraditional physical therapy improved the sitting balance ofchildren with severe CP, who could not walk independently more than traditional physical therapy alone.


This article examines the impact made by the extraordinary political conditions of the Great War on the evolving relationship between the Labour Party, the broader labour movement and the monarchy. It establishes the historical context by summarizing labour's ideological inheritance from nineteenth-century radicalism, the reasons behind the limited appeal of republicanism and recent political events involving the monarchy which had affected labour's attitude towards it. During the war, the monarchy became the object of even greater attention than usual, as the King was the head of a state at war, a symbol for national unity and patriotism, and a member of a family with German connections. The powers of the Crown were employed in a way which caused concern in some quarters. Finally, the latter years of the war witnessed a revival of republicanism, inspired by events abroad. All of these developments are considered, as are the range of responses elicited from labour. An attempt is made to assess the extent and character of anti-monarchical sentiment within labour, and to determine why the monarchy emerged from the war stronger than ever and more favourably regarded by labour than it had been in 1914.


This paper presents results from a qualitative user study. The aim of research was to include the future users of a new technology in the product design of interactive television programs. During the study, the study participants were interviewed. They were asked to answer questions about their television use and to comment on artist's drawings presenting the possible future setup and equipment at home. The study resulted in users' stories and innovations of interactive applications for the future.


The article presents the structural and incidental analysis of acute poisonings in in-patients of the toxicological ward during the long period of time


Abstract Phenomenological research indicates that disturbance of the basic sense of self may be a core phenotypic marker of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Basic self-disturbance refers to disruption of the sense of ownership of experience and agency of action and is associated with a variety of anomalous subjective experiences. Little is known about the neurocognitive correlates of basic self-disturbance. In this paper, we review recent phenomenological and neurocognitive research and point to a convergence of these approaches around the concept of self-disturbance. Specifically, we propose that subjective anomalies associated with basic self-disturbance may be associated with: 1. source monitoring deficits, which may contribute particularly to disturbances of "ownership" and "mineness" (the phenomenological notion of presence) and 2. aberrant salience, and associated disturbances of memory, prediction, and attention processes, which may contribute to hyper-reflexivity, disturbed "grip" or "hold" on the perceptual and conceptual field, and disturbances of intuitive social understanding ("common sense"). These two streams of research are reviewed in turn before considering ways forward in integrative models, particularly regarding the role of early neurodevelopmental disturbances, primary versus secondary disturbances, and the state versus trait nature of such pathology. Empirical studies are required in a variety of populations in order to test the proposed associations between phenomenological and neurocognitive aspects of self-disturbance in schizophrenia. An integration of findings across the phenomenological and neurocognitive domains would represent a significant advance in the understanding of schizophrenia and possibly enhance early identification and intervention strategies.


The authors have operated on 15 patients to stabilise metastatic fractures of the spine, either by an anterior approach with replacement of the vertebral body by methyl methacrylate, or by a posterior approach combining laminectomy with spine fixation. The posterior approach was considered to be better in cases of neurological impairment or in lesions of the lower lumbar spine. At cervical, thoracic and thoraco-lumbar levels, the anterior approach was preferred and gave rapid functional improvement. The use of cement allowed early walking without extensive bracing and improved the comfort of the patient. Neurological involvement was a good indication for surgery. In cases without cord lesions, the indications for treatment are related to the comfort of the patient.


It is commonly assumed that multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaborations involve various values, knowledge, and practices, thereby existing between science and policy. This study argues, oppositely, that multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaborations are socially constructed and not to be taken for granted. To support its argument, this article uses the concept of boundary work to see how the interaction between science and policy is constructed. Taking as its case study the Ground Up consortium, a collaborative water management research programme involving the Netherlands and Indonesia, this study finds that boundary work generated and formed boundaries between science and policy through a joint call for proposal documents, research proposals, and three people operating at boundaries. Furthermore, this article shows that the collaborative research in the Ground Up consortium was a social process evidenced through three mediums: text, object, and person. This qualitative research thus uses a single-case study to explore boundary work in a consortium setting. Data were collected through a review of documents (meeting notes, research proposals, and calls for proposals) as well as in-depth interviews with three members of the Ground Up consortium.


This publication presents the first Australian pregnancy resulting from intracytoplasmic injection (ICSI) of a frozenthawed oocyte. We wish to report that at the Wesley IVF Service we achieved a similar pregnancy in 1998. As the pregnancy did not result in a birth, it was not submitted for publication in the scientific journals. The patient was 32 years old, and due to religious reasons, the couple did not want embryos created in excess of the number to be transferred. They were offered IVF with ICSI for fertilisation of the requested three oocytes. The remaining eight oocytes in this cycle were cryopreserved using the same cryopresevation protocol as described in the paper. The patient became pregnant in the treatment cycle, but miscarried at 6 weeks. She subsequently came back 2 months later for a frozen embryo transfer intending to use the cryopreserved oocytes. She was placed on hormone replacement for the frozen embryo transfer cycle. Four oocytes were thawed and three survived. Fertilisation (2 PN) was confirmed for all oocytes using ICSI in human tubal fluid medium (HTF, Irvine Scientific, Santa Ana, CA, USA) and on day 3, one of each of four-cell, five-cell and seven-cell stage embryos were transferred into the uterus. The patient was diagnosed as pregnant and her β hCG level 19 days after the transfer was 1382 pmol/L. She started to bleed and unfortunately miscarried. So far in our IVF programme, we have thawed 36 oocytes in seven treatment cycles and 18 oocytes survived (50%) the thaw. Of these, six oocytes fertilised (33.3%) and the resulting embryos were transferred in three cycles giving the single positive pregnancy we described earlier. Oocyte freezing as discussed by Kan et al. is not as successful as embryo preservation. Researchers are attempting to improve cryosurvival of oocytes using modified techniques.


Background: Early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ETP ALL) is a high-risk subgroup of acute lymphoblastic leukemia characterized by unique immune phenotype and disease biology. ETP ALL cells share similarities with hematopoietic stem cells and myeloid progenitor cells. These patients have lower rates of complete remission and overall survival. High BCL2 expression is the main rationale for using venetoclax in ETP ALL. Results: We report the treatment outcomes of 2 patients with ETP ALL who achieved minimal residual disease negative remission with the short course of venetoclax. Conclusions: Combination therapy of short-course venetoclax with Berlin-Frankfurt-Meunster 95 regimen is an effective regimen for treating patients with ETP ALL.


ABSTRACT This article analyses political and religious mobilisation in Sidon and Tripoli, both secondary cities struggling amidst deep social divisions, elite competition, and armed conflict during the contentious decade following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (2005–15). A central element in the sectarian and Islamic resurgence was discontent with the political and social decline of the Sunnis. The Syrian revolt magnified Sunni-Shia tensions and shifted the locus of contentious politics from the capital Beirut to secondary cities such as Tripoli and Sidon. In both cities, communal tensions spurred confrontations with the Army that were followed by closely contested municipal elections. By examining the urban ecologies of resistance, the article contributes to an understanding of how urban inequality, competitive clientelism, and Islamist (social) movements are intertwined and can explain why the political pathways and electoral outcomes differed and the implications for the understanding of religious-influenced politics. The city-level analysis testifies to the importance of contextual urban traits and political actors' agency in influencing the popular support for state-oriented social movements and sectarian parties and as determinants of their electoral fortunes.


I will show how two preadolescent girls use the quality of /o/ and of the nucleus of /ay/ to index affect. Most particularly, how they use backed and raised occurrences to express what one might generally (and inadequately) call negative affect, and fronted occurrences to express what one might call sweetness and light, or a kind of childhood innocence. It remains to be seen how this kind of variability patterns in relation to the kinds of variables we're accustomed to studying. At this point, I intend no more than to demonstrate that this is an important area to explore. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/


[structure: see text] Chitin synthase (CS) polymerizes UDP-GlcNAc to form chitin (poly-beta(1,4)-GlcNAc), a key component of fungal cell wall biosynthesis. Little is known about the substrate specificity of chitin synthase or the scope of substrate modification the enzyme will tolerate. Following a previous report suggesting that 6-O-dansyl GlcNAc is biosynthetically incorporated into chitin, we became interested in developing an assay for CS activity based on incorporation of a fluorescent substrate. We describe the synthesis of two fluorescent UDP-GlcNAc analogues and their evaluation as chitin synthase substrates.


We have produced the next generation of quasar spectral energy distributions (SEDs), essentially updating the work of Elvis et al. by using high-quality data obtained with several space- and ground-based telescopes, including NASA's Great Observatories. We present an atlas of SEDs of 85 optically bright, non-blazar quasars over the electromagnetic spectrum from radio to X-rays. The heterogeneous sample includes 27 radio-quiet and 58 radio-loud quasars. Most objects have quasi-simultaneous ultraviolet–optical spectroscopic data, supplemented with some far-ultraviolet spectra, and more than half also have Spitzer mid-infrared Infrared Spectrograph spectra. The X-ray spectral parameters are collected from the literature where available. The radio, far-infrared, and near-infrared photometric data are also obtained from either the literature or new observations. We construct composite SEDs for radio-loud and radio-quiet objects and compare these to those of Elvis et al., finding that ours have similar overall shapes, but our improved spectral resolution reveals more detailed features, especially in the mid- and near-infrared.


. Teacher knowledge has been regarded as important tool for improving students' academic performance. Thus, the knowledge gained by teachers would transform teaching activities in the classroom. It is imperative for Nigeria teachers to keep abreast of latest information that would help teaching and learning in Nigeria secondary schools. Therefore, this study examined structural equation modeling to determine the relationship between teacher knowledge and students' academic performance with mediating effect of teacher commitment. A quantitative research approach was used to determine the relationship among the three variables. Four hundred (400) teachers were selected through stratified random sampling technique. Structural equal modeling (SEM) analysis was employed to test the data fitness in with constructs formulated in the model. Based on the findings of the study, there was direct and significant relationship between teacher knowledge and students and academic performance. Also, teacher commitment was able to mediate on the relationship between teacher knowledge and students' academic performance. The findings encourage the schools to up-date their teachers by given them in-service training.


Hydatid disease is mostly localised to liver and lungs. Cardiac involvement is a rare but potentially very serious complication of echinococcosis, constituting only 0.5‐2% of all cases of hydatidosis. Cardiac hydatid cyst is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge on account of highly variable clinical presentations and non-specifi c symptoms and often numerous unpredictable complications. We present a case report of 20-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital with chief complaint of palpitations and shortness of breath. Using baseline investigations like ECG, transthoracic echocardiography, ultrasonography, non-contrast computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, a giant multiloculated cystic lesion (58.4 mm ◊ 43.3 mm) was diagnosed in the apex of left ventricle. Serologic tests (hydatid cyst antibody) confi rmed Echinococcus infection. Thoracic computed tomography with intravenous contrast was not performed because patient reported history of allergy to contrast. This case report is unusual as it is concerned with the description of a rare disease entity (large cardiac hydatid cyst). Its radiological appearances are discussed for early diagnosis and better understanding of the disease, together with a review of the literature.


We investigated the effects of a human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (MSC-CM)/chitosan/collagen/β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) thermosensitive hydrogel (MSC-CM/hydrogel) on mice with third-degree burns. MSC-CM was collected and mixed with chitosan, collagen, and β-GP to generate the thermosensitive MSC-CM/hydrogel, which was stored in the liquid phase at 4°C. The wounds of established third-degree burned mice were then externally covered with the MSC-CM/hydrogel, which formed a gel when placed on the wounds at physiological temperature. Injured mice in three additional groups were treated with unconditioned MSC medium (UM), MSC-CM, or UM/chitosan/collagen/β-GP thermosensitive hydrogels. Skin wound samples were obtained 4, 14, and 28 days after burning for further analysis by hematoxylin and eosin and Ki-67 staining. Wound healing rates and times, in addition to immunohistochemical results, were then compared and analyzed among the four groups. Application of the MSC-CM/hydrogel shortened healing time, limited the area of inflammation, enhanced reepithelialization, promoted the formation of high-quality, well-vascularized granulation tissue, and attenuated the formation of fibrotic and hypertrophic scar tissue. In summary, MSC-CM/hydrogel effectively promotes wound healing in third-degree burned mice.


INTRODUCTION: Medical documentation, an essential element of Ob/Gyn practice, is important in both ambulatory and in-patient settings. This type of education is usually given in environments that separate learners from faculty, especially since learners usually do not formally participate in this type of education. Further, currently held documentation sessions are usually not interactive. METHODS: We tested Ob/Gyn documentation education in a venue that actively engaged attendings, residents, fellows and medical students in one setting. Engagement and immediate response was noted by utilization of the audience response system (ARS). The documentation questions were formatted into ten clinical scenarios that were common on L&D and on the gyn floors of the hospital. There were three options for each question. RESULTS: The audience we tested, composed of 15 learners, 10 faculty, 2 nurses and 1 staff, responded electronically with the correct answer provided immediately after each question. This was followed by discussion among all of participants, including the learners. The ARS fostered an interactive conversation among the audience with varying levels of knowledge on documentation. 86% of the audience would use the ARS again while 75% indicated interest in further documentation training. CONCLUSION: Simultaneous educational events with learners and faculty are encouraged by these data. Our data were consistent with the literature on ARS learning which confirms that the system is positively received. The strengths of this venue include immediate feedback of key learning points and active exchange of information among a variety of learners.


ABSTRACT Diarrhea is a common illness among travelers to resource-limited countries, the most prevalent attributable agent being enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). At this time, there are no vaccines licensed specifically for the prevention of ETEC-induced traveler's diarrhea (TD), and this has propelled investigation of alternative preventive methods. Colostrum, the first milk expressed after birthing, is rich in immunoglobulins and innate immune components for protection of newborns against infectious agents. Hyperimmune bovine colostrum (HBC) produced by immunization of cows during gestation (and containing high levels of specific antibodies) is a practical and effective prophylactic tool against gastrointestinal illnesses. A commercial HBC product, Travelan, is available for prevention of ETEC-induced diarrhea. Despite its demonstrated clinical efficacy, the underlying immune components and antimicrobial activity that contribute to protection remain undefined. We investigated innate and adaptive immune components of several commercial HBC products formulated to reduce the risk of ETEC-induced diarrhea, including Travelan and IMM-124E, a newer product that has broader gastrointestinal health benefits. The immune components measured included total and ETEC-specific IgG, total IgA, cytokines, growth factors, and lactoferrin. HBC products contained high levels of IgG specific for multiple ETEC antigens, including O-polysaccharide 78 and colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I) present in the administered vaccines. Antimicrobial activity was measured in vitro using novel functional assays. HBC greatly reduced ETEC motility in soft agar and exhibited bactericidal activity in the presence of complement. We have identified immune components and antimicrobial activity potentially involved in the prevention of ETEC infection by HBC in vivo.


Abstract

Contrast agents for MRI can greatly improve the contrast in the image, making it easier to pinpoint the position of, for example, inflamed tissues or tumors. There is a need for novel contrast agents with better spatial resolution, higher sensitivity, fewer false positives and lower toxicity. As for all pharmaceuticals, it is important to thoroughly test the compound prior to clinical applications.

The contrast agent IXG, currently under development by Spago Imaging AB, was analyzed in vitro for cellular uptake and toxicity. In order not to complicate future patents, a precursor was used. Viability analysis of HepG2, L929, RAW264.7 and Jurkat cells showed no apparent toxicity at concentrations above what is clinically relevant, while HUVEC cells were more affected. Cellular uptake was analyzed by ICP-AES and complemented with immunocytochemical staining.

An internalization of IXGp was seen in RAW264.7 cells and possibly, but not confirmed in Jurkat cells, but only when the cells were incubated with high concentrations. No uptake could be proven in HUVEC, HepG2 and L929 cells. The findings in this report can help in forming hypothesis on how IXG behaves in in vivo and may be useful for further developing the nanomaterial.


The spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global health crisis. The binding affinity of SARS-CoV-2 (in particular the receptor binding domain, RBD) to its receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the antibodies is of great importance in understanding the infectivity of COVID-19 and evaluating the candidate therapeutic for COVID-19. We propose a new method based on molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) to accurately calculate the free energy of SARS-CoV-2 RBD binding to ACE2 and antibodies. The calculated binding free energy of SARS-CoV-2 RBD to ACE2 is –13.3 kcal/mol, and that of SARS-CoV RBD to ACE2 is –11.4 kcal/mol, which agree well with the experimental results of –11.3 kcal/mol and –10.1 kcal/mol, respectively. Moreover, we take two recently reported antibodies as examples, and calculate the free energy of antibodies binding to SARS-CoV-2 RBD, which is also consistent with the experimental findings. Further, within the framework of the modified MM/PBSA, we determine the key residues and the main driving forces for the SARS-CoV-2 RBD/CB6 interaction by the computational alanine scanning method. The present study offers a computationally efficient and numerically reliable method to evaluate the free energy of SARS-CoV-2 binding to other proteins, which may stimulate the development of the therapeutics against the COVID-19 disease in real applications.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between genistein intake (estimated from a food frequency questionnaire [FFQ) and incidence of preeclampsia.

STUDY DESIGN
The study was conducted at University Malaya Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur, and involved 32 women with preeclampsia and 32 healthy pregnant women (matched by parity and gestational age). A validated FFQ was used to collect information regarding dietary intake of genistein during their pregnancy. The association between preeclampsia and the level of genistein intake was evaluated by categorizing the participants into 3 groups according to tertiles of estimated genistein intake.

RESULTS
The odds ratio estimates showed a four-fold increase in the risk of developing preeclampsia for tertile 1 (lowest intake) as compared with tertile 3 (highest intake) (crude OR, 4.38; 95% CI 1.21-15.81).

CONCLUSION
Lower levels of genistein intake were associated with an increased risk of developing preeclampsia. These findings suggest a possible beneficial role of genistein in the prevention of preeclampsia.


This paper reconstructs past flooding from a range of settings in Lockyer Creek, a key tributary of the mid‐Brisbane River, which experienced extreme flood events in AD 2011 and AD 2013. Optically stimulated luminescence samples (n = 110) were collected from alluvial material preserved in within‐channel benches and floodplains. Age distributions from material in the bedrock reaches confirm an event ∼ 300 years ago which stripped the valley alluvium to bedrock. In the unconfined reaches floodplain deposits indicate lateral stability over the past 6000 years. Marked differences in the inundation patterns of the AD 2011 event highlighted changes in downstream channel geometry. The age distribution of alluvium in reaches not inundated during AD 2011 was older, ∼12 000 years, with no preserved evidence of deposition during the past 1000 years. A relatively continuous record of floodplain deposition in reaches which were inundated in AD 2011 identifies a major peak in flood activity also around 300 years ago (∼AD 1730) with five additional peaks occurring at approximately AD 1962, AD 1897, AD 1300, AD 550 and 5400 BC. The main climatic driver of changes in flooding over this timescale is oscillations in El Niño Southern Oscillation and although proxy records are scarce for this region, some correlations with high‐resolution records of rainfall variability are apparent.


The VKS experiment studies dynamo action in the flow generated inside a cylinder filled with liquid sodium by the rotation of coaxial impellers (the von Karman geometry). We report observations related to the self-generation of a stationary dynamo when the flow forcing is symmetric, i.e. when the impellers rotate in opposite directions at equal angular velocities. The bifurcation is found to be supercritical, with a neutral mode whose geometry is predominantly axisymmetric. We then report the different dynamical dynamo regimes observed when the flow forcing is asymmetric, including magnetic field reversals. We finally show that these dynamics display characteristic features of low dimensional dynamical systems despite the high degree of turbulence in the flow. To cite this article: VKS Collaboration, C. R. Physique 9 (2008).


We study the multi-user massive multiple-input-single-output (MISO) and focus on the downlink systems where the base station (BS) employs hybrid analog-digital precoding with low-cost 1-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs). In this paper, we propose a hybrid downlink transmission scheme where the analog precoder is formed based on the SVD decomposition. In the digital domain, instead of designing a linear transmit precoding matrix, we directly design the transmit signals by exploiting the concept of constructive interference. The optimization problem is then formulated based on the geometry of the modulation constellations and is shown to be non-convex. We relax the above optimization and show that the relaxed optimization can be transformed into a linear programming that can be efficiently solved. Numerical results validate the superiority of the proposed scheme for the hybrid massive MIMO downlink systems.


OBJECTIVE
To systematically review current research evidence of associations between improvement in parents' depression and their children's psychopathology.

METHOD
Relevant studies were identified using PsycINFO (1806-2007) and Medline (1950-2007). The search terms used were "depression," "postpartum depression," "treatment," "mothers," "fathers," "parents," "offspring," "mother child relations," and "father child relations." The reference sections of identified articles were also examined for additional relevant articles. Open and controlled clinical trials and observational studies of depressed parents that also included psychological and behavioral assessments of offspring 18 years of age or younger were included in the review.

RESULTS
Ten studies meeting broad criteria for inclusion were reviewed. These studies varied considerably in sample, treatment, assessment, and analysis. Based on the few studies, there is some evidence of associations between successful treatment of parents' depression and improvement in children's symptoms and functioning, but treatment of postpartum depression may not be sufficient for improving cognitive development, attachment, and temperament in infants and toddlers.

CONCLUSIONS
Due to the public health implications of the findings, further study of the effects of improvement in parental depression on child psychopathology is warranted. These studies need to examine the precise relation between parental and child symptoms, the differential effect of parents' treatment with psychotherapy versus medication, the effect of fathers' as well as mothers' symptomatic improvement on children, and mediators and moderators of the relation between parental improvement and child psychopathology.


PURPOSE
To introduce a non-standard method of patient setup, using BellyBoard immobilization, to better utilize the localization and tracking potential of an RF-beacon system with EBRT for prostate cancer.

METHODS
An RF-beacon phantom was imaged using a wide bore CT scanner, both in a standard level position and with a known rotation (4° pitch and 7.5° yaw). A commercial treatment planning system (TPS) was used to determine positional coordinates of each beacon, and the centroid of the three beacons for both setups. For each setup at the Linac, kV AP and Rt Lateral images were obtained. A full characterization of the RF-beacon system in clinical mode was completed for various beacons' array-to-centroid distances, which includes vertical, lateral, and longitudinal offset data, as well as pitch and yaw offset measurements for the tilted phantom. For the single patient who has been setup using the proposed BellyBoard method, a supine simulation was first obtained. When abdominal protrusion was found to be exceeding the limits of the RF-Beacon system through distance-based analysis in the TPS, the patient is re-simulated prone with the BellyBoard. Array to centroid distance is measured again in the TPS, and if found to be within the localization or tracking region it is applied.

RESULTS
Characterization of limitations for the RF-beacon system in clinical mode showed acceptable consistency of offset determination for phantom setup accuracy. The nonstandard patient setup method reduced the beacons' centroid-to-array distance by 8.32cm, from 25.13cm to 16.81cm; completely out of tracking range (greater than 20cm) to within setup tracking range (less than 20cm).

CONCLUSION
Using the RF-beacon system in combination with this novel patient setup can allow patients who would otherwise not be candidates for beacon enhanced EBRT to now be able to benefit from the reduced PTV margins of this treatment method.


Bulk Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 metallic glass plates with a dimension of 85 mm×35mm×4 mm and a complicated plate werefabricated by injecting casting method using spongy zirconium and industrial purity aluminum, nickel and copper asraw materials. It was shown that the holding time of liquid metals at elevated temperatures had a great influence onthe oxygen content of the plates due to the contamination resulting from the atmosphere. Increasing holding timeresulted in the increase of oxygen content in the injected alloy. The glass transition temperatures of the bulk metallicglass plates are higher than that reported in the literature and crystallization temperature is lower for the one withhigher oxygen content at the same heating rate. The extension of the undercooled liquid region △Tx reaching about87 K is 3 K higher than that previously reported and 26 K higher than that with oxygen content of 0.076 wt pct forthe one with oxygen content as high as 0.065 wt pct. Therefore the oxygen content of the alloy has a significantinfluence on the glass forming ability and thermal stability of bulk metal glass. It is suggested that direct correlationbetween high glass forming ability and large △Tx is only valid for a well-defined Iow oxygen concentration or has tobe reconsidered by incorporating oxygen as an additional alloying element.


We report on the implantation of boron in individual, electrically contacted germanium nanowires with varying diameter and present a technique that monitors the electrical properties of a single device during implantation of ions. This method gives improved access to study the dynamic annealing ability of the nanowire at room temperature promoted by its quasi-one-dimensional confinement. Based on electrical data, we find that the dopant activation efficiency is nontrivially diameter dependent. As the diameter decreases, a transition from a pronounced dynamic-annealing to a radiation-damage dominated regime is observed.


Background: Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) can be a consequence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. High-grade CIN (CIN2/CIN3) may develop from persistent HPV infection and progress to cervical cancer if left untreated. Management of CIN includes conservative surveillance or ablation and excision by conization. Internationally, CIN and its treatment generate a considerable economic burden, but no current data regarding costs and resource use from the perspective of the German statutory health insurance exist. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the health economic burden in women with CIN diagnoses who either underwent cervical conization or were managed conservatively. Methods: We conducted a retrospective claims data analysis using the InGef Research Database from 2013 to 2018. Healthcare costs and resource utilization in a 24-month observation period (1:1:1 matching) were compared in 18- to 45-year-old women with CIN (1-3) who underwent a conization procedure (study cohort 1) and in women with CIN (1-3) who did not undergo conization (study cohort 2) to women with neither CIN nor conization (control group). Results: For each group, 2749 women were identified. Mean total healthcare costs after 24 months were higher in study cohort 1 (€4446, P<.01) and study cohort 2 (€3754, P=.09) compared with the control group (€3426). Comparing study cohort 1 and 2 to controls, mean differences were highest in age groups 41-45 years (cohort 1: €5115 vs €3354, P<.01; cohort 2: €4152 vs €3354, P=.14). Significantly more women were hospitalized at least once in study cohort 1 (57.46%, P<.01) and study cohort 2 (38.74%, P<.01) compared with the control group (31.14%). Frequency of outpatient physician visits was significantly higher in both study cohorts (43.23 visits, P<.01 and 38.60 visits, P<.01) compared with the control group (32.07 visits). Conclusion: Our results revealed 30% and 10% increased total healthcare costs in women with CIN undergoing invasive treatment (study cohort 1) and conservative management (study cohort 2), respectively, compared with a control group of women with no CIN in a 2-year follow-up period.


Using data from a record-linkage between the Swedish population census of 1960 and the Swedish Cancer Registry, we performed an explorative, hypothesis-generating analysis of the incidence of thyroid cancer in 208 occupations and 231 industries. Relative risks were computed with adjustment for age, period of follow-up, and geographic region. A total of 1,230 male and 2,937 female cases of thyroid cancer were reported during 1961-1979 among individuals aged 20-69 years in 1960. As a group, male blue-collar workers had a lower reported incidence than other men. Significantly elevated risks were seen among drivers, pharmacists, workers in the canning and preserving industry, workers in the petroleum industry, and among X-ray operators and laboratory assistants. Horticulture workers, painters in the construction industry, and unskilled manual workers showed decreased risks.


Introduction: THA in young and active patients remains a major challenge. Uncemented femoral components have been advocated in young patients, but there are only few reports with more than 10 years follow-up. Materials and Methods: We followed the first 153 consecutive implantations of an uncemented, straight femoral stem (CLS, Zimmer Inc, Warsaw, USA) in 141 patients. Mean time of follow-up evaluation was 17 years (range, 15 – 20 years), mean age at surgery was 47 years (23–55). Results: At follow-up, 20 patients (20 hips) had died, and 7 (7 hips) were lost to follow-up. 10 patients (10 hips) underwent femoral revision- 1 for infection, 4 for periprosthetic fracture, and 5 for aseptic loosening of the stem. Overall survival was 91% at 17 years (95%-confidence limits, 88%–94%), survival with femoral revision for aseptic loosening as an end point was 95% (95%-confidence limits, 93% – 98%). The mean Harris-Hip-Score at follow-up evaluation was 84 points. 116 hips were available for radiolographic evaluation. Radiolucent lines ( Conclusions: The long-term results with this type of uncemented femoral component are encouraging and compare favorably with those achieved in primary cemented total hip arthroplasty in this group of young and active patients.


Based on the covariant prolongation structure technique, we construct the integrable higher-order deformations of the (2+1)-dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnet model and obtain their su(2) × R(λ) prolongation structures. By associating these deformed multidimensional Heisenberg ferromagnet models with the moving space curve in Euclidean space and using the Hasimoto function, we derive their geometrical equivalent counterparts, i.e., higher-order (2+1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equations.


In critical systems, the reliability of the drive is very important. The faults are unwanted. The faults may be lead to loss of the human life and capital. This paper is addressed this problem and suggested two models to solve it. The first model doesn't contain any special tools to improve the torque ripple and THD. The second model contains 2PI current controllers to improvement the performance at fault and remedial operation. One is for the torque and the other is for the flux. The first PI controller is feeding from the torque error between the reference and estimated torques to get new q-axis current component representing modifier current arises from uncertain things inside the machine and drive system such as temperature and parameters variations. This current will add to reference q-axis current to get robust new q-axis current to satisfy the drive requirement and solve the torque problem (ripple torque). With robust current, the total harmonic distortion is a decrease but doesn't reach the best value so the other PI controller is used to adjust the THD. In this PI controller, the d-axis flux is compared to rotor permanent magnet flux to solve this problem arises from non-sinusoidal of the magnetic flux. The output of the PI controller is introduced to the reference d-axis current. The new d-axis current will reach the best value of THD. The simulation of the second controller is compared to the simulation of first controller to show if the second controller strong or weak. Matlab simulink is used to simulate the drive system. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i5.725 Full Text: PDF


A double space-time transmit diversity (DSTTD) system employs four transmit antennas to multiplex two Alamouti space-time block code (STBC) units. In this letter, a specially-designed canceling mechanism is presented, which can efficiently separate the two STBC units for such systems. We show that the orthogonal structure, and so the merit of Alamouti STBC, can be kept. Compared with some previous interference cancelation methods, the proposed one requires much fewer floating-point operations (flops) while achieving similar error-rate performance.


Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most common organism associated with nosocomial infections. MRSA infections are becoming increasing important because they have emerged no only as healthcare-associated (HA) infections but also as community-associated (CA) ones. This study examined the moleculo-epidemiology of MRSA, which was isolated from nasal swabs in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Konyang University Hospital. MRSA are classified into HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA. Methods: From June to September 2006, 353 patients who were admitted to the ICU in Konyang University Hospital were enrolled in this study. Single nasal swabs were obtained for culture in the ICU on the 1st day. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and the antimicrobial resistant patterns were analyzed between HA- and CA-MRSA. An antimicrobial sensitivity test was also performed. Results: Forty two strains of MRSA were isolated from 353 patients (11.9%). Among the 42 isolates, HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA were found in 33 (78.6%), and 9 (21.4%), respectively. Eleven different PFGE types (type A to K) were identified. Types A (n=9) and B (n=7) were the most common for HA-MRSA, and types A (n=2) and B (n=2) were identified in CA-MRSA. The proportion of types A and B in CA-MRSA (44.4%) was similar to that in HA-MRSA (48.5%). The rates of resistance rates to erythromycin and ciprofloxacin were higher in HA-MRSA than in CA-MRSA. Conclusion: The rate of isolation of MRSA in an ICU setting was 11.9%. HA-MRSA was isolated more frequently than CA-MRSA. The rate of resistance of HA-MRSA to erythromycin and ciprofloxacin was higher than that of CA-MRSA. Despite the small number of subjects, the main isolates (type A and B) of CA-MRSA were similar to those of HA-MRSA.


Levels of sCD23, total and specific IgE were found to be considerably elevated in the plasma of a helminth infected population from Papua New Guinea. Using age‐corrected data, a significant negative correlation was seen between sCD23 and total IgE in the young, at a time when hookworms are being rapidly acquired, and total IgE levels are rising most dramatically. It is suggested on the basis of this data that this inverse correlation is due to the stabilizing effect of IgE on the FceRII receptor in vivo, and that the high levels of sCD23 seen in hookworm infected individuals are partly responsible for the high levels of IgE recorded in these patients.


Objective : To identify key cytologic features for diagnosis of adenocarcinoma and morphologic differentiation from reactive/reparative respiratory epithelium. Study Design : The cytomorphologic features of 145 pulmonary cytology specimens (sputum and bronchial washing), which included 117 histologically proven adenocarcinomas and 28 non-neoplastic lesions, cytologically diagnosed as atypia and suspicious for malignancy (adenocarcinoma) were reviewed retrospectively. We analyzed 11 morphologic criteria in pulmonary cytologic specimens. Results: Over 110 of 117 cases of adenocarcinomas revealed nuclear membrane irregularities, non-cohesive cells, single atypical cells, moderate to markedly enlarged nuclei and an increased nuclear/cytoplasmic (N/C) ratio. Chromatin clearing, chromatin heterogeneity and hyperchromasia were seen in 102, 99 and 97 cases, respectively. All 28 cases involving non-neoplastic lesions revealed hyperplastic reactive pneumocytes, hyperplastic reactive bronchial epithelium, or degenerating macrophages. The non-neoplastic lesions revealed a small number of atypical cell clusters and paucity or absence of atypical single cells. Conclusion : The most important morphologic features for diagnosis of adenocarcinoma are nuclear membrane irregularities, non-cohesive cells, single atypical cell, moderate to markedly enlarged nuclei and increased N/C ratio. Chromatin clearing, chromatin heterogeneity and hyperchromasia were also helpful features, while pleomorphism and prominent nucleoli were less valuable.


Plant protection products, including insecticides, are important for global food production. Historically, research of the adverse effects of insecticides on bees has focused on the honeybee (Apis mellifera), while non-Apis bee species remained understudied. Consequently, sensitivity assessment of insecticides for the majority of bees is lacking, which in turn hinders accurate risk characterization and consequently bee protection. Interspecies sensitivity extrapolation based on body weight offers a potential solution to this problem, but in the past such approaches have often ignored the phylogenetic background and consequently non independence of species used in such models. Using published data on the sensitivity of different bee species to commonly used insecticides, their body weight and phylogenetic background I build interspecies scaling models (ISMs) applying a phylogenetically informed framework. In addition, I compared, the relative sensitivity of the standard test species Apis mellifera to other bee species to evaluate their protectiveness when used as standards screening bee species in the risk assessment process. I found that overall 1) body weight is a predictor of bee sensitivity to insecticides for a range of insecticide classes and 2) A. mellifera is the most sensitive standard test species currently available and consequently a suitable surrogate species for ecotoxicological risk assessment.


Contamination with cadmium compounds poses high potential risk for the health of populations and for this reason the treatment of their toxic effects should urgently be established. The present study was carried out to determine whether alpha-tocopherol intake can protect tissues against damage induced by cadmium, and to clarify the contribution of superoxide radicals (O 2 - ) in this process. Cadmium chloride was tested for tissue damage by a single intraperitoneal injection of Cd 2+ ions (2 mg Kg -1 ). To determine the potential therapeutic effect of vitamin E, a group of Cd 2+ -treated rats received a drinking solution of alpha-tocopherol (40 mg l -1 ) for 15 days. Cadmium induced increased serum creatinine and total lactate dehydrogenase, reflecting renal and cardiac damage. The increased lipoperoxide and decreased Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase levels indicated the generation of superoxide radicals in cadmium-treated rats. Tocopherol induced increased serum high-density lipoprotein and depressed the toxic effects of Ca 2+ alone, since creatinine and lactate dehydrogenase determinations were recovered to the control values. Tocopherol decreased lipoperoxide and led the superoxide dismutase activities to approach those of the control values. We concluded that superoxide radicals are produced as mediators of cadmium toxicity. Tocopherol possesses a significant anti-radical activity and inhibits the cadmium effect on superoxide dismutase activity. Tocopherol also protected tissues from the toxic effects of cadmium by a direct antioxidant action which decreased lipoperoxide formation.


Diagnosing portosystemic shunts (PSS) can
be challenging in veterinary patients. Multiple imaging techniques have been
described to diagnose PSS. The aim of the study was to investigate whether a
novel multi-slice computed tomography (CT) angiographic protocol could be used
for diagnosis of PSS in dogs utilizing only patient sedation and without the
need of test injection. Independent, blinded reviewers evaluated CT studies in
a randomized order for study quality, shunt presence, number, and location of
shunt origin and termination. Twenty two confirmed dogs were included in the
study including 16 dogs with single extrahepatic congenital PSS, one dog with
single intrahepatic congenital PSS, and two dogs with multiple acquired PSS.
Three of the dogs (3/22) were surgically and histologically confirmed free of
shunts. Final diagnosis was confirmed by surgery or necropsy. The new CT angiography
protocol was shown to be diagnostic in dogs with PSS with no need for general
anesthesia, test injections, delay times or timing determinations. Specificity
and sensitivity were good (100%). The quality of the studies was considered good in the
majority of cases (20/22). The amount of motion artifact in the CT scans was
minimal, and had no effect on the diagnostic quality. The CT protocol was found
to be a useful, fast, and accurate tool for diagnosing portosystemic shunts
with a 16-slice system.


The research work was conducted on eroded soil at the Abuhoy Gara Catchment, which is located in the Gidan District of North Wello Zone in the Amhara National Regional State to determine the effect of slope position on soil physico-chemical properties. Soil samples were collected from higher-slope, middle slope, intermediate slope and lower slope positions at two depths, surface (0-15 cm) and subsurface (15-30 cm) soil layers. Results showed a significant difference among the physicochemical properties of higher, middle, intermediate and lower slope soils. Clay fraction of the lower slope (27.08%) was the highest followed by middle slope (26.67%), intermediate slope (23.34%) and higher slope (22.92%). Conversely, sand (60%) was highest at higher slope and followed by middle slope (57.08%), intermediate slope (51.67%) and lower slope (49.58%), respectively. Likewise, Ca (8.41 cmol(+)/ kg), Mg (3.19cmol(+)/ kg), K (1.43cmol(+)/ kg), CEC (17.58cmol(+)/ kg), total nitrogen (0.104%), organic carbon (1.88%) and Available phosphorous (9.52 ppm) at higher slope followed by middle slope, intermediate slope and lower slope, respectively. The deterioration in chemical properties of lower slope as compared to other slopes were presumed to be due to continuous cultivation for longer period of time and past soil erosion effect that removed the soil organic matter and other plant nutrients. This study results concluded that increasing extent of continuous and intensive cultivation with minimum conservation practices and erosion due to slope effect can further deteriorate soil properties. The control of such damaging effects would require proper soil conservation strategies such as proper land leveling, afforestation, crop rotation, fallowing, terracing and inclusion of restorative crops in cropping systems on these lands.


In this paper a fully differential single transfer phase comparator-based switched-capacitor (CBSC) pipelined ADC is presented. The given circuit is a combination of differential and pseudo-differential techniques, so we could benefit from properties of both. Thus, two comparators have been used in the given gain stage, while the output part is fully differential. The obtained combination aims at removal of primary overshoot, omitting two fine current sources, simpler state logic units along with the properties of a fully differential circuit. In terms of power, this architecture consumes much less power than conventional CBSC technique. In order to obtain an appropriate accuracy, a circuit has been introduced to adjust the comparison levels. Finally we designed a 10-bit, 20MS/s fully differential single transfer phase CBSC pipelined ADC in a 0.18-µm 1P6M standard CMOS process. It achieves 79.2-dB spurious-free-dynamic range (SFDR) and 59.74-dB signal-to-noise-and-distortion (SNDR). In addition it consumes 2.25 mW from a 1.8-V power supply at 20MS/s, which obtains a figure of merit of 152 fJ/step.


An automated image processing method is proposed for anatomic standardization that can elastically map one subject's magnetic resonance image (MRI) to a standard reference MRI to enable intersubject and cross‐group studies. In this method, linear transformations based on bicommissural stereotaxy are first applied to grossly align the input image to the reference image. Then, the candidate corresponding regions in the input image are identified based on the contour information from the presegmented reference image. Next, an active contour model is employed to refine the contour description of the input image. Based on the contour correspondence established in these previous steps, a nonlinear transformation is determined using the proposed weighted local reference coordinate systems to warp the input image. In this method, geometric correspondence established based on contour matching is used to control the warping and the actual image values corresponding to registered coordinates need not be similar. We tested this algorithm on various synthetic and real images for intersubject registration of MRIs. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 11, 117–124, 2000


To have the right value of the possible causes responsible of muscles-skeleton disorders, and to have a right therapeutic measures, the Authors have get ready an holistic method, that value not only the damage's point, but also research in the others body-districts, named Peripheral Receptors, the causes responsible of pathologic manifestation. The methods is used on 61 VDU and it consists in: clinical rachis exam (like EPM methods), postural, odontological, oculistic, podiatric and psychologic visits. The study have permitted to underlines muscles-skeletons disorders precociously, not only in symptomatic subjects, but also in those asymptomatic, so it is an important prevention's instrument, diagnostic framing and medico-legal of studied pathologies.


Practical Applications Summary In Another Look at Private Real Estate Returns by Strategy, from the Special Real Estate Issue 2019 of The Journal of Portfolio Management, authors Mitchell A. Bollinger and Joseph L. Pagliari, Jr., demystify the levels of risk-adjusted, net-of-fee returns that investors earn across value-add and opportunistic real estate funds, in comparison to the returns of core-strategy funds. The article also examines the fee structures across these various real estate strategies, and evaluates whether or not they are justified. They conclude that core strategies have outperformed both value-add and opportunistic strategies on a risk-adjusted net-of-fee basis.


Aster spathulifolius, a common ornamental and medicinal plant, is widely distributed in Korea and Japan, and is genetically classified into mainland and island types. Here, we sequenced the whole chloroplast genome of mainland A. spathulifolius and compared it with those of the island type and other Aster species. The chloroplast genome of mainland A. spathulifolius is 152,732 bp with a conserved quadripartite structure, has 37.28% guanine-cytosine (GC) content, and contains 114 non-redundant genes. Comparison of the chloroplast genomes between the two A. spathulifolius lines and the other Aster species revealed that their sequences, GC contents, gene contents and orders, and exon-intron structure were well conserved; however, differences were observed in their lengths, repeat sequences, and the contraction and expansion of the inverted repeats. The variations were mostly in the single-copy regions and non-coding regions, which, together with the detected simple sequence repeats, could be used for the development of molecular markers to distinguish between these plants. All Aster species clustered into a monophyletic group, but the chloroplast genome of mainland A. spathulifolius was more similar to the other Aster species than to that of the island A. spathulifolius. The accD and ndhF genes were detected to be under positive selection within the Aster lineage compared to other related taxa. The complete chloroplast genome of mainland A. spathulifolius presented in this study will be helpful for species identification and the analysis of the genetic diversity, evolution, and phylogenetic relationships in the Aster genus and the Asteraceae.


This paper examines the association between housing tenure mix and health outcomes for urban residents. The analysis used Cox's proportional hazard regression modelling with a range of health measures from two waves of the Scottish Health Survey plus linked hospital morbidity records for the survey respondents. There was no consistent pattern in health outcomes according to housing tenure mix. For specific health issues, particular types of neighbourhood had significantly different (worse) outcomes: areas with a sizeable social renting sector for self-reported health; areas with a sizeable social- or private-renting sector for accidents; and areas dominated by social renting for alcohol-related illnesses. There are indications that adjustments to the tenure mix of social housing areas might lead to improvements in some health outcomes: improved mental health and reduced smoking, via a reduction in area deprivation; and reduced alcohol-related illnesses due to possible effects of tenure mix on material context and culture.


Six patients suffering from primary affective illness and habitual excessive drinking, who had not responded to tricyclic antidepressant and/or electroconvulsive therapy, were treated with a combined diuretic-tricyclic (furosemide-amitriptyline) regimen. The patients acted as their own control. Four patients, two unipolars and two bipolars, had complete remissions, while the other two patients with chronic depression showed symptomatic improvement. The implications of sodium retention for the pathogenesis of depression and alcoholism are discussed and a hypothetical positive feedback system which maintains depression and alcoholism in alcoholic depressives is proposed.


Agricultural Labourers from the poorest section of the rural population in India as well as in West Bengal. In numerical terms, they constitute about one-fourth of the total work force. Their number has been rising faster than the rate of growth of rural population. By the term agricultural labourers we mean a person who sells his/her labour power to work to another person's land for wages in money, kind or a share of the crop. According to the 1991 Census definition, "a person who works on another person's land for wages – in money, kind or share of crop is regarded as an agricultural labourer. He or she has no risk in cultivation, but merely works on another person's land for wages. An agricultural labourer has no right of lease or contract on the land on which he or she works". (Census of India, 1991, paper – III of 1991, p. 6).Thus the Census definition clearly excludes tenants as well as marginal farmers and includes only landless labourers. The definition adopted by us would be broader in the sense that it would include all those for whom sale of labour power in the agricultural sector is a source of livelihood.At the dawn of independence, the economy of West Bengal was characterized not only by a high percentage of landless agricultural labourers in its rural work force but also by a sizeable class of marginal holding peasants. This paper tries to inquire in some detail the causes of the high rate of growth of agricultural labourers in West Bengal as well in the district of Uttar Dinajpur..


Abstract Flower senescence is genetically regulated and developmentally controlled. The phytohormone ethylene induces flower senescence in rose (Rosa hybrida), but the underlying signaling network is not well understood. Given that calcium regulates senescence in animals and plants, we explored the role of calcium in petal senescence. Here, we report that the expression of calcineurin B-like protein 4 (RhCBL4), which encodes a calcium receptor, is induced by senescence and ethylene signaling in rose petals. RhCBL4 interacts with CBL-interacting protein kinase 3 (RhCIPK3), and both positively regulate petal senescence. Furthermore, we determined that RhCIPK3 interacts with the jasmonic acid response repressor jasmonate ZIM-domain 5 (RhJAZ5). RhCIPK3 phosphorylates RhJAZ5 and promotes its degradation in the presence of ethylene. Our results reveal that the RhCBL4-RhCIPK3-RhJAZ5 module mediates ethylene-regulated petal senescence. These findings provide insights into flower senescence, which may facilitate innovations in postharvest technology for extending rose flower longevity.


ABSTRACT An estimated 37,000 cisgender and transgender women work as sex workers in Malaysia, a population that has been disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. Although Malaysia provides no-cost antiretroviral therapy (ART) to people with HIV, little is known about sex workers' engagement in the HIV care continuum. We analyzed data from 57 HIV-infected cisgender women (n = 33) and transgender women (n = 24) sex workers from a respondent-driven sampling study on HIV prevalence among sex workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We examined the proportion of women who were newly diagnosed with HIV, had a baseline CD-4 count test, were initiated and retained on antiretroviral treatment (ART). Overall, only 26.3% had ever been HIV tested and almost 60% were newly diagnosed. Only a small proportion of cisgender (15.2%) and transgender (12.5%) women were currently taking ART. Interventions to enhance sex workers' engagement in the HIV care continuum are urgently needed. Deployment of evidence-based strategies to improve linkage and retention in HIV care should be adapted to address the unique needs of this important key population.


Periapical surgery is an important treatment alternative in the presence of a large periapical cyst. To achieve regeneration and optimal healing of the bone different bone substitutes can be used. A 25 year old male patient reported with the chief complaint of mobile teeth in maxillary anterior tooth region  with 21 labially placed. He had a history of trauma 5 years back. The clinical and radiographic diagnosis of infected periapical cyst with 21,22; Endodontic treatment was performed with 21, 22 followed by periapical curettage. Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) was mixed with Metronidazole gel and used as a regenerative biomaterial in the periapical defect. 6 months follow up shows satisfactory healing and regeneration of periapical region.  There is considerable clinical interest in using PRF in combination with Metronidazole Gel. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that metronidazole gel  along with PRF has a beneficial effect on healing of periapical defects.
Keywords: Growth factor, Platelet rich fibrin, Regeneration.


The electrocatalytic conversion of biomass into high-value-added chemicals is one of the effective methods of green chemistry. Conventional metal catalysts have disadvantages, such as low atomic utilization and small surface areas. Catalyst materials derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have received much attention due to their unique physicochemical properties. Here, an MOF-derived non-precious metal CoxNiyS electrocatalyst was applied to the oxidation of biomass-derivative 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). The HMF oxidation reaction activities were modulated by regulating the content of Co and Ni bimetals, showing a volcano curve with an increasing proportion of Co. When the Co:Ni ratio was 2:1, the HMF conversion rate reached 84.5%, and the yield of the main product, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), was 54%. The XPS results showed that the presence of high-valent nickel species after electrolysis, which further proved the existence and reactivity of NiOOH, as well as the synergistic effect of Co and Ni promoted the conversion of HMF. Increasing the content of Ni could increase the activity of HMF electrochemical oxidation, and increasing the content of Co could reduce the increase in the anodic current. This study has important significance for designing better HMF electrochemical catalysts in the future.


A 40 Gbit/s, fully differential distributed SiGe HBT driver is presented. The IC is realised in a low-cost 80 GHz production process, and is intended to operate as a modulator driver in a 40 Gbit/s fibre-optic communication system. Resulting from the differential chip architecture, no off-chip low-frequency transmission line termination networks are required, which significantly alleviates the chip mounting process. Mounted in a coaxial test fixture, an eye opening of 2 1.25 V pp at 40 Gbit/s operation is measured.


New and emerging types of Persistent Memory (PM) technologies boost the opportunity to improve the performance of storage systems. PM can unify the main memory and secondary storage by incorporating it into legacy computer systems through the memory bus. In recent years, innovative results have been presented that exploit the byte-addressability, low latency, and non-volatility of PM; these have included local PM file systems and PM systems. However, the high overhead of ensuring data consistency has limited the performance of these systems. In this article, we propose LosPem, a novel log-structured framework for persistent memory to address the performance challenge. LosPem utilizes two techniques to accomplish this. Firstly, LosPem deploys efficient hash-indexed linked lists to maintain the log contents to reduce the significant overhead of log content retrieval. Secondly, LosPem improves the transaction throughput by decoupling a transaction into two asynchronous steps and creating a write buffer on Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) write buffer for processing the frequent data writes. The experimental results show that LosPem outperforms Non-volatile Memory Library (NVML), Mnemosyne and Log-structured Non-volatile Main Memory (LSNVMM) by 27%, 1.2x, and 1.0x on a read-intensive workload. On a write-intensive workload, LosPem outperforms NVML, Mnemosyne, and LSNVMM by 1.8x, 1.2x, and 34%, respectively.


Long-tailed shrikes, Lanius schach nasutus Scopoli, 1787 and Philippine cockatoos (P.L.S. Muller, 1776), Cacatua haematuropygia were examined for blood and ectoparasites at different periods. Haemoproteus lanii de Mello, 1937 is reported parasitizing the red blood cells (RBC) of the long-tailed shrike in U.P. Los Banos Campus Philippines. Mature gametocytes of this species are of medium size, halteridial in form with entire margins and occupy about 70-75 % of the host's red blood cells. There is little hypertrophy or distortion of the infected host red blood cell and the nucleus of the latter is only slightly displaced by the gametocyte. Cytoplasm of gametocytes appeared granular with large, pronounced, rod-like to broadly ovoid-shaped and yellow brown pigment granules numbering 9-14 which are scattered throughout the cytoplasm but have a tendency to concentrate at each  pole or at the middle. Nucleus of gametocytes stained very faintly and is not discernible. Chewing lice (Mallophaga) were collected from three  of five Philippine cockatoos examined from Palawan and Mindanao.  The collections consisted of two species belonging to two genera as  follows: Psittoecus hoogstraali Guimaraes, 1974 (Ischnocera) and  Franciscoloa thompsoni Price & Beer, 1966. This paper constitutes a  new host record for Haemoproteus lanii and the only record for  Psittoecus hoogstraali and Franciscoloa thompsoni since their  discovery. The three parasite species are briefly described and photographs of them are provided based on the present specimens.  The parasites so far reported from the long-tailed shrike and cockatoo  in the Philippines are given. Keywords: Cacatua haematuropygia, Haemoproteus lanii, Franciscoloa  thompsoni, Lanius schach nasutus, Philippines, Psittoecus hoogstraali


Introduction Islet transplantation is considered a promising curative therapy for type 1 diabetes, but shortage of donor organ limits its wide adoption in the clinic. Porcine islets are potential source for allogeneic human islets, but the xenogenic immune responses remain a major hurdle for clinical application. Pig to mouse islet transplantation has been widely used to understand the xenogeneic immune responses to porcine islets, but its transplantation route has been different from that in clinical settings in most cases (kidney subcapsule vs. portal vein). Here we established clinically relevant intra-portal porcine islet transplantation model and examined the pattern of islet distribution and survival duration. The immune responses to porcine islets were compared with those from mouse allo-islet transplantation. Materials and Methods Islet isolation and transplantation: Pig islets were isolated from designated pathogen-free SNU miniature pigs (n=3) using semi-automation method by Ricordi. Mouse islet was isolated from Balb/c mice using collagenase digestion and Ficoll gradient centrifugation. Porcine and murine islets were transplanted into the liver via a cecal vein into streptozotocin-induced diabetic C57B6 mice. Blood glucose levels were measured in tail vein by a glucometer. Immunosuppression: Diabetic mice were intraportally transplanted with porcine islets (7500 IEQ/each, n=10) or allogeneic murine islets (500 IEQ/each, n=6). The half of the mice from each group were treated with MR1 antibody and the other half were vehicle treated. Anti-CD154 antibody (500 mg/mouse, MR1, BioXcell, Inc.) was i.p. injected at 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 day post-transplantation. Results The number of the isolated porcine islets was 10,872±8,567 IEQ/g pancreas and purity was 90%. Upon porcine islet transplantation into the diabetic C57B6 mice, blood glucose levels were dropped to normoglycemia at 1 day post-transplantation, but increased to hyperglycemia over 250 mg/dl within 4~5 days regardless of MR1 treatment. In contrast, allogeneic murine islets maintained normoglycemia within 2 weeks and upon MR1 treatment they could prolong the normoglycemia over 100 days (Fig. 1). Conclusion In this study, the procedure for pig to mouse islet transplantation into the liver was established. Pig islets sustained only 4~5 days after intraportal transplantation into diabetic mice, whereas mouse islets maintained normoglycemia over 100 days upon T cell co-stimulation blockade treatment (MR1 antibody). This finding suggests that porcine islets have inherent survival inability in the liver upon intraportal islet transplantation. This study was supported by a grant from the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry for Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (Project No. HI13C0954) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (Project No. 2016R1D1A1B03930468). Figure. No caption available.


This article studies the impact of colonisation and the legal systems on the accounting standards in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The countries are grouped according to their colonies and legal systems in order to identify as to under which jurisdictions the adoption of IAS is more common. Consequently, the study reveals that the majority of the countries which were under the British colonisation and legal system, either fully or partly, adopt the IAS contrary to the ex-French colonies. However, Kenya and Mauritania use the IAS although they are administered under the Islamic law.


The article presents verification of the mathematical model which was developed in earlier works, describing, through distributions of temperature, specific humidity, and flow rate of both fresh and exhaust air in the dead end headings ventilated with forcing duct line ventilation system, the climatic conditions existing in those headings. On the route of the considered duct line, an additional fan with a variable rotational speed was installed in order to avoid recirculation of the air between the inside of the duct line and the heading. The task of this auxiliary fan is an increase in the volumetric flow rate of fresh air at the mine face. The above-mentioned verification was based on a comparison of the calculation results obtained from the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations of the first order and algebraic equations with the results of measurements carried out in the selected mine heading. Wide comparative material was obtained by changing the location of the auxiliary fan in the duct line for a given heading length, and the heading length itself. 14 research variants were obtained in this way, in which, in addition to the already mentioned temperatures and humidity of the air, also the rotor speeds of the auxiliary fan were compared. The results of calculations and measurements have been presented in a graphical form. Their comparison was carried out using statistical methods.


The injection of 750 units of α-chymotrypsin into the posterior chamber of the rhesus monkey eye resulted frequently in sustained elevation of the intraocular pressure. Retinal and neural degeneration, typical of that encountered in spontaneous human and experimental animal glaucoma, was found. Central corneal degeneration was frequent and led to perforation. Atrophy of the ciliary body was a striking finding in monkeys that developed glaucoma, and was present as early as three days after instillation of the enzyme. It is suggested that the pressure elevation was the consequence of ciliary body damage.


This paper described epidemiological situation of human norovirus infections in Poland. Our analysis were based on data from routine surveillance system on foodborne and waterborne outbreaks in Poland. A total number of 154 norovirus outbreaks were registered from 2004 to 2008. The outbreaks showed seasonal peak in winter months. Those outbreaks mainly occurred in hospitals and residential-care facilities (53.8%). The period of the outbreaks ranged from 1 to 50 days. The size of the outbreaks fluctuate between 2 and 140 people (median - 14) and mostly involved school-aged children and adults. Common clinical symptoms were diarrhea (78%), vomiting (51.6%), abdominal pain (44.3%) and nausea (33.7%). Number of norovirus outbreaks in łódzkie voivodeship in 2006 were estimated based on 25 outbreaks classified as caused by agent of unknown etiology or one of bacteria of natural gut flora. Specimens were available from 10 of 25 outbreaks and tested by commercial ELISA tests. As a result of laboratory tests 9 (90%) of 10 analyzed outbreaks were reclassified as caused by norovirus.


ABSTRACT The development of field-based biomarkers can allow for a more reliable assessment of the exposure of organisms to pollutants. Different sampling sites, along two streams running through an irrigable agricultural area, were selected to evaluate the effect of agrochemical load on the measured endpoints. The levels of lipid peroxidation were evaluated in several organs of Procambarus clarkii. The same method was applied to leaves of two woody species. Determining levels of MDA (malonaldehyde) by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay allows measuring the levels of lipid peroxidation. Differences in lipid peroxidation levels were observed in P. clarkii individuals collected at different sites; however, the patterns varied depending on the organ (when accounting for variations due to sex). The use of a MDA-gills/MDA-hepatopancreas index allowed for discrimination between reference and polluted sites. Significant differences in oxidative damage between sites were found in the leaves of Quercus rotundifolia but not in Salix sp. The lipid peroxidation of crayfish organs and holm oak leaves as a suitable biomarker of environmental pollution deserves further investigation.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy and onset time of single dermatophagoides farina sublingual immunotherapy in patients sensitized to dermatophagoides farina (Df) and dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp), discuss the mechanism of single allergen immunotherapy in polysensitized patients and provide evidence for clinical applications.

METHOD
This is a retrospective study, we screen 50 patients with allergic rhinitis sensitized to Df and Dp in our department. The average age of those patients is 28.98 +/- 2.41 years old. The nasal symptom scores of sneezing, itching, obstruction and runny nose are recorded after three to six months. SPSS 20.0 software is used to analyze the data.

RESULT
After treatment for 3 months with sublingual immunotherapy, the TNSS (P < 0.05), score of sneezing (P < 0.01) and runny nose (P < 0.01) is significantly decreased comparing with that before treatment. The scores of obstruction and itching are increased, but the differences are not statistically significant. After treatment for 6 months, the TNSS (P < 0.01), score of sneezing (P < 0.01), itching (P < 0.01), obstruction (P < 0.05) and runny nose (P < 0.01) are all decreased, the difference between the scores of 6 month after treatment and that before treatment is statistically significant. And all of the scores (Z = -5.749, P < 0.01, sneezing; Z = -5.353, P < 0.01, runny nose; Z = -3.476, P < 0.01, congestion; Z = -3.824, P < 0.01, itching; Z = -5.746, P < 0.01, TNSS) at 3 month after treatment are significant higher than that after 6 month treatment.

CONCLUSION
The onset time of single Df sublingual immunotherapy for patients sensitized to Dp and Df with allergic rhinitis is 12 weeks, and the efficacy is enhanced as time of the treatment.


Author(s): Cordova, Isabel Canto | Abstract: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of signaling receptors that respond to diverse stimuli and regulate many physiological responses. GPCRs elicit their cellular responses by coupling to distinct subtypes of heterotrimeric G-proteins composed of G[alpha] and G[beta][gamma] subunits. Activated GPCRs undergo conformational changes that allow the receptor to exchange GDP for GTP on the G[alpha] subunit, which induces dissociation from the [beta][gamma] subunits and subsequent downstream signaling. Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) is a member of a family of GPCRs that are proteolytically activated. PAR1 is a receptor for the coagulant protease thrombin, and is capable of coupling to multiple G-protein subtypes to elicit various cellular responses; however, the mechanisms that regulate this selectivity are not well understood. Palmitoylation is a post-translational modification that many GPCRs possess, and is defined as the addition of palmitate, a 16 carbon fatty acid, to a cysteine residue via a thioester linkage. Many GPCRs are palmitoylated on their C-terminal tails, but the role of this modification differs based on the GPCR being examined. In this dissertation, I examined the role of palmitoylation in PAR1 signaling and trafficking. I defined the sites of PAR1 palmitoylation to occur on conserved C-tail cysteine residues C387 and C388. I discovered that palmitoylation is important for other PAR1 post-translational modifications, specifically phosphorylation and ubiquitination. I also show that palmitoylation of PAR1 regulates the accessibility of a nearby tyrosine-based sorting motif to the adaptor-protein complex-2 (AP-2) and -3 (AP-3), which controls receptor internalization and degradation. Additionally, palmitoylation appears to be important for the regulation of selective PAR1-induced signaling pathways such as G[alpha]₁₂/₁₃ -induced RhoA activation, G[alpha]i coupling , and thrombin-stimulated p38 MAPK signaling pathways. However, thrombin-induced G[alpha]q-mediated phosphoinositide hydrolysis and ERK1/2 activation are unperturbed in the absence of PAR1 palmitoylation. Taken together, the studies summarized in this dissertation highlight the relevance of palmitoylation for PAR1 function, and suggest that palmitoylation governs a C-tail conformation that is important for accessibility of other proteins such as ligases, kinases, adaptor proteins, and G -proteins, ultimately regulating PAR1 signaling and trafficking


The objective of this paper is to describe and validate a multi-agent architecture proposed to control RFID Cyber-Physical Robotic Systems. This environment may contain human operators, robots (mobiles, manipulators, mobile manipulators, etc.), places (workrooms, walls, etc.) and other objects (tables, chairs, etc.). The proposed control architecture is composed of two types of agents dispatched on two levels. We find at the Organization level a Supervisory agent to allow operators to configure, manage and interact with the overall control system. At the Control level, we distinguish the Robots agents, to each robot (mobiles, manipulators or mobile manipulators) is assigned a Robot agent to carry out operations. We simulated RFID readers with fiducial finders and RFID tags with fiducials system using Player/Stage. Fiducial tags are attached to all the objects of interest of the environment; fiducial finders are installed on the robots (Robots agents) to be able to detect and identify each tagged object in the robots vicinity. Finally, obtained data are sent to the Supervisory agent to be saved and organized into a centralized database available for all the robots of the system.


Graphs are mathematical structures used to model a set of objects and the relations between them. One of the basic concepts of graph theory, the path, has wide real-world applications. In classic graph models, edges ending at a node are assumed to be independent. However, many real graphs/networks can only be correctly described by considering a dependency among nodes or edges. Paths in such graphs may not be functional if the conditional dependency is ignored. In this study, we investigate the routing problem in directed graphs with dependent edges represented by general graph models as alternatives to hypergraphs. We define a minimal functional route (MFR) as a minimal set of nodes and edges that can independently perform information transfer between two given nodes, and formulate the determination of MFRs as a graph search problem. A depth-first-search (DFS) top-down algorithm, an iterative integer linear programming (ILP) bottom-up algorithm, and a subgraph-growing bottom-up algorithm are devised subsequently to solve this problem. Numerical experiments verify the effectiveness of the algorithms. The defined MFR problem and the proposed algorithms are expected to find many practical applications.


. Compressor stations are important components within natural gas transportation networks. The current paper analyses some of the safety aspects involved in the operation of such facilities – on the one hand related to the explosion risk for employees working in compressor stations and on the other hand related to determining to the areas with increased explosion hazard in such a station, in order to help reducing work-related accidents and the occurrence of professional illnesses. The explosion risk is determined based on a method devised by the National Institute for Research and Development for Environmental Protection Bucharest, while the explosion hazard areas are determined and displayed with the help of the software package AutoCAD Plant 3D.


The effect of the interaction between Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2 (PLG) and catecholamines on the release of MSH by rat pituitaries glands was studied in vitro. The catecholamines dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) inhibited the release of alpha-MSH from pituitary glands incubated in vitro. The DA effect appeared at low concentrations while NE was effective in concentrations 20 times greater than DA. These effects were blocked by an alpha-adrenergic blocker agent. On the other hand, epinephrine (E) at the concentrations tested did not modify MSH release. When 50 or 500 ng/ml of DA is added to the medium containing PLG concentrations it strengthened the inhibitory effect of PLG release, whereas the action of NE and PLG was additive; at the highest tested concentration E (5,000 ng/ml) blocked the inhibition of MSH induced by PLG. It is concluded that, whereas the inhibitory release of MSH by catecholamines is mediated by an alpha-adrenergic receptor, the inhibitory effect of PLG is not exerted through a catecholaminergic receptor since its action is not prevented by any of the catecholamine receptor blockers studied. Thus, it seems that specific PLG receptors are present at the pituitary level.


We present a method of automaticaly extracting and gathering specific data text from web pages, creating a thematic corpus of reviews for opinion mining and sentiment analysis. The internet is an immense source of machine-readable texts \cite{mcenery1996} suitable for linguistic corpus studies\cite{Fletcher04}\cite{Kilgarriff2003}. Though, specific tools of web information extraction research domain as well as from the NLP do not include an open source system able to provide a thematic corpus according to an end-user request\cite{Sharoff2006}.\\ The need of use natural texts as databank for opinion mining and sentiment analysis is increased since the expansion of the digital interaction between users and blogs, forums and social networks.\\ The RevScrap system is designed to provide an intuitive, easy-to-use interface able to extract specific information from accurate web pages returned by search engine's request and create a corpus composed by comments, reviews, opinions, as expressed by users' experience and feedback. The corpus is well structured in xml documents, reflected Singler's design criteria\cite{sinclair01}..


Neural Posterior Estimation methods for simulation-based inference can be ill-suited for dealing with posterior distributions obtained by conditioning on multiple observations, as they may require a large number of simulator calls to yield accurate approximations. Neural Likelihood Estimation methods can naturally handle multiple observations, but require a separate inference step, which may affect their efficiency and performance. We introduce a new method for simulation-based inference that enjoys the benefits of both approaches. We propose to model the scores for the posterior distributions induced by individual observations, and introduce a sampling algorithm that combines the learned scores to approximately sample from the target efficiently.


In this study, performance results of data acquisition systems realized for "electrical conductivity imaging of biological tissues via contactless measurement", a new imaging modality developed in METU Brain Research Laboratories, are presented. Each system, employing magnetic induction-magnetic measurements technique, obtains conductivity data from the object to be imaged via contactless measurements and sends the data to the PC. The operating frequencies of the systems are between 10–100 kHz. The sensor types used in the systems are: 1) differential coil, 2) single coil, and 3) array coils. It is observed from the experiments that all of the systems are sensitive to the conductivity variations around the average tissue conductivity of 0.2 S/m. The results reveal the clinical potential of the relatively novel imaging modality developed in METU Brain Research Laboratories


This paper investigates the thermal behavior of axial flux synchronous permanent-magnet machines (AFSPMMs) through a 3-D thermal-magnetic finite-element analysis (FEA). This paper offers a systematic approach to magnetothermal FEA. The considered axial flux machine is wound on a soft magnetic compound core. The computation of thermal field is performed via a coupled thermal and fluid-dynamical model based on FEA, where the thermal sources are obtained from a DC current flow model and a magnetostatic model. This paper includes an overview of the finite-element method (FEM) model implementation. Simulation results are presented, and, to validate the model, the simulated surface temperature rise of the motor parts is compared by experimental data.


The ever increasing number of vehicles in most metropolitan cities around the world and the limitation in altering the transportation infrastructure, led to serious traffic congestion and an increase in the travelling time. In this work we exploit the emergence of novel technologies such as the internet, to design an intelligent Traffic Management System (TMS) that can remotely monitor and control a network of traffic light controllers located at different sites. The system is based on utilizing Embedded Web Servers (EWS) technology to design a web-based TMS. The EWS located at each intersection uses IP technology for communicating remotely with a Central Traffic Management Unit (CTMU) located at the traffic department authority. Friendly GUI software installed at the CTMU is developed to select a specific node to monitor the sequence of operation of the traffic lights and the presence of traffic at each intersection as well as remotely controlling the operation of the signals. The system has been validated by constructing a prototype that resembles the real application.