Deep brain stimulation (DBS) technology has evolved over time, yet pulse generators remain vulnerable to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Precautions pertaining to EMI are extensive, making it difficult for patients to identify the EMI source easily. This happened to one of our patient whose DBS would inadvertently shut off every time he stepped out of the house into the cold Canadian winter. RT was a left-handed, 67-year-old male suffering from medically refractory disabling essential tremor involving his upper extremities, predominantly his left. A DBS electrode was implanted in the right ventrointermediate nucleus and connected to a Soletra (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) implantable pulse generator (IPG) in his right chest. At the time of the incident, his DBS system had provided him with 6 months of excellent tremor control through the summer and autumn. In the winter, he reported tremor recurrence every time he stepped out in the frigid cold. Afflicted by tremors once outside the house, he would need assistance to turn his IPG back on using his controller. However, until he returned inside and opened his winter coat, his IPG would again turn off spontaneously. Interrogation of the IPG in the clinic did not reveal any abnormalities or battery failure. Although EMI was the obvious suspect, our problem remained identifying the source of this EMI. For 2 months, our patient investigated the environment around his house for any device emitting an electromagnetic field, initially blaming his neighbor's newly installed dog perimeter fence. One day, after inserting his reading glasses into his winter coat chest pocket, he realized that his glasses stuck tightly to two small magnets hidden underneath the fabric. His winter coat had an inside pocket equipped with a magnetic closure positioned at the level of his implanted IPG. Only when our patient would fully zip up his winter coat would these magnets be close enough to inactivate his IPG, explaining the IPG inactivation noticed mainly on frigid winter days. Removing the magnets from his coat solved the problem. Neodymium magnets are polyvalent in the fashion and technology industries. In our patient, small hidden fashion magnets caused his IPG to inactivate, but only once positioned in very close proximity, complicating our search for an EMI device. Miniature magnets (8mm) can interfere with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators if positioned within 3 cm of the generator. Magnets from tablet computers can also modify programmable shunt valve settings. As illustrated by this case, education about EMI alerted our patient to the possibility of interference but did little to help him rapidly resolve his problem. The literature on adverse events from EMI on IPG is scarce compared with that of cardioverter-defibrillator. A search for: (DBS (MeSH term) AND (electromagnetic field)) OR (DBS (MeSH term) AND equipment failure (MeSH term)) OR (electromagnetic interference (keyword) AND deep brain stimulation (keyword)) was performed. The results were screened for publications that focused on adverse events secondary to EMI. Seven publications were retrieved for revision, and only three investigated the effects of EMI on DBS systems. Blomstedt et al reported a retrospective chart review of 172 patients with DBS who experience adverse effects from EMI. Twenty patients (12%) experienced an unintended deactivation of their IPG, the majority secondary to theft detectors or airport security gates. The cohort was composed of 16 Itrel-II, 1 Soletra, and 3 Kinetra IPGs. Dustin performed a review of the US Food and Drug Administration Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database in 2008 looking at reported EMI adverse events. Seventy-six events were found: nine for DBS and 67 for spinal cord stimulators. Adverse events included a change of stimulation settings, shock or pain or tingling, unintended deactivation, or local burning at the IPG site. IPG models involved in these events included Soletra and Itrel II-IV. And Kain et al investigated the effects of GSM mobile phones in vitro on Itrel-III IPGs. GSM mobile phones did not cause interference with the pulse generator. Our case report involved a Soletra IPG. The newer Medtronic model, Activa, available since 2006, has been advertised as being less affected by EMI. A search of the literature using the following terms: (Medtronic Activa deep brain stimulation) OR (Medtronic dbs) OR (Medtronic Activa) OR Activa did not reveal any publication specifically addressing EMI with the Activa IPG. One publication reported rates of unexpected IPG switching off to be 18.7% in Soletra/Kinetra but only 3.4% in Activa RC. This unexpected switch-off could be from EMI, although this was not confirmed in the publication. A search of the US Food and Drug Administration Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database for all Medical Device Reports associated with Medtronic Activa, Kinetra, or Soletra neurostimulators and classified under (Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) OR Electromagnetic Compatibility OR Electromagnetic Interference (EMI): Compatibility / Incompatibility) was performed on October 1, 2016. The total EMI reports were: Soletra 93, Kinetra 45, and Activa 110. The number of reports with confirmed or highly suspected EMI based on the report description included: Soletra 76, Kinetra 35, and Activa 66. The number of reports clearly describing a magnet as the cause of the EMI included: Soletra 9, Kinetra 2, and Activa 6. A chi-square analysis showed no statistically significant difference (p= 0.40) between the groups after normalization for the 10-year span of Medical Device Reports for Soletra and Kinetra IPGs, and 6-year span for the Activa. The lack of integrated diagnostic resources available to interrogate an IPG makes troubleshooting problems such as EMI difficult for both patients and physicians. Diagnostic applications have been available for electronic devices such as computers and cellphones for years but are not available for IPGs. DBS systems are implanted for improving patient quality of life. In our opinion, IPG software should be designed with the same focus in mind. Patient anxiety increased once faced with what seems to them to be an unstable device. Although newer devices such as the Medtronic Activa provide the patient with some data, such as residual battery voltage, these data are limited. A user-friendly


AIM
To investigate the clinical features, response to corticosteroids, and prognosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH)-induced liver failure in China.

METHODS
A total of 22 patients (19 female and 3 male; average age 51 ± 15 years) with AIH-induced liver failure treated in our hospital from 2004 to 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical, biochemical and pathological characteristics of the 22 patients and responses to corticosteroid treatment in seven patients were examined retrospectively. The patients were divided into survivor and non-survivor groups, and the clinical characteristics and prognosis were compared between the two groups. The t test was used for data analysis of all categorical variables, and overall survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS
At the time of diagnosis, mean IgG was 2473 ± 983 mg/dL, with three (18.8%) patients showing normal levels. All of the patients had elevated serum levels of antinuclear antibody (≥ 1:640). Liver histology from one patient showed diagnostic pathological changes, including massive necrosis and plasma cell infiltration. Four patients survived (18.2%) and 18 died (81.8%) without liver transplantation. The results showed that patients with low admission Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores (21.50 ± 2.08 vs 30.61 ± 6.70, P < 0.05) and corticosteroid therapy (100% vs 16.7%, P < 0.05) had better prognosis. A total of seven patients received corticosteroid therapy, of whom, four responded and survived, and the other three died. Survivors showed young age, shorter duration from diagnosis to corticosteroid therapy, low MELD score, and absence of hepatic encephalopathy at the time of corticosteroid administration. Six patients who were administered corticosteroids acquired fungal infections but recovered after antifungal therapy.

CONCLUSION
Early diagnosis and corticosteroid therapy are essential for improving the prognosis of patients with AIH-induced liver failure without liver transplantation.


Abstract. The spurious double intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is one of the most prominent systematic biases in coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (CGCMs), and the underestimated marine stratus over eastern subtropical oceans has been recognized as a possible contributor. Rather than modifying the cloud scheme itself, this study significantly promotes the marine stratus simulation through improving parameterizations of boundary-layer turbulence and shallow convection in the medium-resolution Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model version 2 (BCC-CSM2-MR). The University of Washington moist turbulence scheme is implemented in BCC-CSM2-MR to better represent the stratocumulus, and a decoupling criterion is also introduced to the shallow convection scheme for improving the simulation of the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition. Results show that the simulated precipitation in the eastern Pacific south of the equator is largely reduced, alleviating the double ITCZ problem. The tropical precipitation asymmetry index increases from −0.024 in the original BCC-CSM2-MR to 0.147 in the revised BCC-CSM2-MR, which is much closer to the observation. The study suggests that improving parameterizations of boundary-layer turbulence and shallow convection is effective for mitigating the double ITCZ syndrome in CGCMs.


Polynomially-large ground-state energy gaps are rare in many-body quantum systems, but useful for adiabatic quantum computing. We show analytically that the gap is generically polynomially-large for quadratic fermionic Hamiltonians. We then prove that adiabatic quantum computing can realize the ground states of Hamiltonians with certain random interactions, as well as the ground states of one, two, and three-dimensional fermionic interaction lattices, in polynomial time. Finally, we use the Jordan-Wigner transformation and a related transformation for spin-3/2 particles to show that our results can be restated using spin operators in a surprisingly simple manner. A direct consequence is that the one-dimensional cluster state can be found in polynomial time using adiabatic quantum computing.


We investigated the effects of nicorandil, which is a hybrid between a nitrate and an ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP) opener, on cultured rat mesangial cell proliferation. Nicorandil (1 µM to 1 mM inhibited [3H]thymidine incorporation into rat mesangial cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Nicorandil (1 µM to 1 mM) also inhibited the number of cells. Nicorandil increased cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate accumulation in mesangial cells. A protein kinase G inhibitor, KT5823, partially eliminated the inhibition of mesangial cell proliferation by nicorandil. Methylene blue, a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, blocked the inhibitory effect of nicorandil on mesangial cell proliferation. We also examined the effects of KATP mediators. Cromakalim, a KATP activator, and glibenclamide, a KATP inhibitor, had little effect on the proliferation of mesangial cells. These results suggest that the inhibitory effects of nicorandil on mesangial cell proliferation are mediated via the protein kinase G pathway.


Index insurance, such as weather indexing, addresses other inherent problems in insurance by using an indicator that is not affected by individual behavior and may address monitoring costs and moral hazard. A number of innovations using index insurance are being tried currently in diverse settings ranging from India to Mongolia to Malawi. Marketing costs may limit the provision of such insurance to small farmers, but even in such cases microfinance institutes may serve as market intermediaries. Moreover, state and submational governments can use insurance to achieve countercyclical funding programs. In this vein, municipal governments in Mexico have used insurance to finance disaster contingency while the World Food Program has insured a portion of its emergency assistance to Ethiopia. Humanitarian organizations and NGOs may also seek insurance in this manner.


This paper presents a 116nW wake-up radio complete with crystal reference, interference compensation, and baseband processing, such that a selectable 31-bit code is required to toggle a wake-up signal. The front-end operates over a broad frequency range, tuned by an off-chip band-select filter and matching network, and is demonstrated in the 402-405MHz MICS band and the 915MHz and 2.4GHz ISM bands with sensitivities of -45.5dBm, -43.4dBm, and -43.2dBm, respectively. Additionally, the baseband processor implements automatic threshold feedback to detect the presence of interferers and dynamically adjust the receiver's sensitivity, mitigating the jamming problem inherent to previous energy-detection wake-up radios. The wake-up radio has a raw OOK chip-rate of 12.5kbps, an active area of 0.35mm2 and operates using a 1.2V supply for the crystal reference and RF demodulation, and a 0.5V supply for subthreshold baseband processing.


When students who are deaf or hard of hearing are appropriately placed, program-level and curriculum-level adaptations may both need to be discussed to ensure social as well as academic progress. Programmatic modifications may involve communication, linguistic, and grading issues, and both the listening and physical settings. Curricular modifications may involve the classroom structure, rapport and affect, the instructional format and language, the lesson format and materials, comprehension monitoring, activity and assignment completion, and placement choices. Professionals should work cooperatively to make and monitor changes.


ABSTRACT:The article examines the shifting discourse associated with the participation of American volunteers in the nascent Israel Defense Forces. Although the volunteers were officially commended by the IDF for their contributions during the 1948 War of Independence and attempts were made to encourage them to remain indefinitely in Israel, those who returned home were offered few opportunities to commemorate their wartime experiences by the American Jewish community. The concerns of American Jews with their own integration and social acceptance in America during the late 1940s and 1950s complicated the remembrance initiative of Machal (acronym of Mitnadvei Hutz LaAretz, "volunteers from abroad"), all the more so, given the illegality of serving in the armed forces of a foreign country at the time. However, by the late twentieth-century American Jews had attained a greater sense of inclusion which facilitated their public embrace (and criticism) of Israel, and motivated them to explore the Machal narrative. American volunteers wrote memoirs, published correspondence, established museums, and collected questionnaires to document their contributions, demonstrating a unique form of American interest in Israel.


One of the most striking aspects of the 11-year sunspot cycle is that there have been times in the past when some cycles went missing, a most well-known example of this being the Maunder minimum during 1645-1715. Analyses of cosmogenic isotopes ((14)C and (10)Be) indicated that there were about 27 grand minima in the last 11,000 yrs, implying that about 2.7% of the solar cycles had conditions appropriate for forcing the Sun into grand minima. We address the question of how grand minima are produced and specifically calculate the frequency of occurrence of grand minima from a theoretical dynamo model. We assume that fluctuations in the poloidal field generation mechanism and in the meridional circulation produce irregularities of sunspot cycles. Taking these fluctuations to be Gaussian and estimating the values of important parameters from the data of the last 28 solar cycles, we show from our flux transport dynamo model that about 1-4% of the sunspot cycles may have conditions suitable for inducing grand minima.


ABSTRACT Calanoid copepods, depending on feeding strategy, have different behavioral and biological controls on their movements, thereby responding differently to environmental conditions such as changes in seawater viscosity. To understand how copepod responses to environmental conditions are mediated through physical, physiological and/or behavioral pathways, we used high-speed microvideography to compare two copepod species, Acartia hudsonica and Parvocalanus crassirostris, under different temperature, viscosity and dietary conditions. Acartia hudsonica exhibited 'sink and wait' feeding behavior and typically responded to changes in seawater viscosity; increased seawater viscosity reduced particle-capture behavior and decreased the size of the feeding current. In contrast, P. crassirostris continuously swam and did not show any behavioral or physical responses to changes in viscosity. Both species showed a physiological response to temperature, with reduced appendage beating frequency at cold temperatures, but this did not generally translate into effects on swimming speed, feeding flux or active time. Both copepod species swam slower when feeding on diatom rather than dinoflagellate prey, showing that prey type mediates copepod behavior. These results differentiate species-specific behaviors and responses to environmental conditions, which may lead to better understanding of niche separation and latitudinal patterns in copepod feeding and movement strategies. Summary: Using high-speed micro-videography to resolve individual-level movements of copepods reveals that, depending on feeding strategy, calanoid copepods respond differently to changes in seawater viscosity but similarly to diet.


In this study, a test set of 44 nonacidic compounds was analyzed on four 3 µm chlorinated polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases with cellulose tris (3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate) (Lux Cellulose-2®; LC2), amylose tris (5-chloro-2-methylphenylcarbamate) (Lux Amylose-2®, LA2), cellulose tris (4-chloro-3-methylphenylcarbamate) (Lux Cellulose-4®; LC4) and cellulose tris (3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamate) (Sepapak-5®, Sp5) as selectors. The analysis times, retention factors, efficiencies and enantioselectivities were compared with the results obtained on their 5 µm analogs. All 3 µm packings, except for LA2, individually separated more compounds than their 5 µm analogs. When the cumulative success rates on the 3 and 5 µm packings were considered, it was observed that they were similar for both particle sizes; the combination of three or four 5 µm columns separated one compound more from the considered test set than that of the same number of 3 µm columns. Furthermore, it was observed that the 3 and 5 µm packings showed some complementarity. Only four compounds were not separated on any of the columns, while the use of only either the 3 or 5 µm columns resulted in 10 and nine not-separated compounds, respectively. The analyses on 5 µm LC2 and Sp5 were faster than on their 3 µm analogs. For LC4 the 3 µm packing showed the shortest analysis times and diverse analysis times for both particle sizes were obtained on LA2. Furthermore, three out of four 3 µm packings, that is, LC2, LC4, and Sp5, were found to be more efficient than their 5 µm analogs.


COVID -19 pandemic is creating an uncertainty about the demographic trends of morbidity and mortality rates across countries worldwide. Hence, this study is aimed to characterize the gender and age distribution of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 across populations. This cross-sectional study uses aggregate data on COVID-19 cases and deaths by gender and age. Considering gender-based morbidity, men diagnosed with COVID-19 substantially outnumber infected women with statistically significant findings (*p=<0.05, □ RR>2) in Asian, American, and African countries, whereas women diagnosed higher morbidity rate in European countries. However, gender-based fatality showed higher among men in most of the analyzed countries of all those continents except Australia where female fatality was higher. This study revealed 50 years old were mostly associated with the infection and death in all continents except Australia, showing more morbidity above 20 years of age, whereas, fatality rate was more in the above 80 years group. The study concludes that, across countries, COVID-19 morbidity and fatality rate is age specific rather than gender specific. Infection rates showed rising steeply with age; nevertheless, children do not stand on equal footing when COVID-19 crisis is transforming their day-to-day lives.


The data for the study were obtained from a stratified random sample of 92 consumers of the two products across the three agricultural zones in the state, using a well structured questionnaire. Analysis was done using both economic models and econometric tools like demand elasticities and choice dichotomous (logit) model. The study revealed that palm Kernel oil is price elastic but may not be a close substitute to groundnut oil as a piriori expected since its gross price elasticity is less than unity and negative. Surprisingly, increase in consumer's income will lead to less than proportionate increase in demand for palm kernel oil but gives a more than proportionate increase in the demand for groundnut oil in the area. This makes Palm kernel oil an inferior product when compared with groundnut oil though the high cost of production has reduced the relative competitiveness of the two edible oils of plant origin in the state. At 10% significant level, there is the likelihood that palm kernel oil will be preferred to groundnut oil when its own price increases. The likelihood may decrease with increase in consumers' income. Similarly, at 5% significant level, its preference may decrease with an increase in consumers' age and formal educational attainment. The reasons may be high level of education and also may be due to the fact that age exposes the low quality of Palm Kernel oil and high risk of cardiovascular problems associated with it than with groundnut oil. The study suggests that palm kernel oil revenue can be increased if the product is sold at a reduced market price while higher prices will favour the revenue generated from groundnut oil. Palm Kernel oil should be refined further to improve its taste, colour and texture to enable it stand the competition posed by refined groundnut oil in the area.

 Key words: Palm kernel oil, groundnut oil, consumers' preference and demand elasticity.


The notion of the "digital native" has become pervasive in popular discourse about young people and new technologies. In this discourse, parents and teachers ("the digital immigrants") have been characterised as unable to support young people in their uses of the Internet and other new technologies because (unlike the digital natives) the immigrants were not born into a world surrounded by new technologies. Yet in contrast, empirical research has shown that there is limited empirical basis for a distinction in the ways that people use new technologies because of when they were born and that young people are not all the same – they engage with new technologies in a variety of ways and vary considerably in their skills to use new technologies. Given this empirical evidence, it is important to better understand why and in what ways young people use computers and the Internet and if and how they need to be supported in this use. This paper aims to add to existing research by using empirical survey data on how and why young people in Britain use the Internet outside formal educational settings. The data is based on a nationally representative face to face survey of 1000 young people in Britain aged 8, 12, 14 and 17-19. The survey was conducted between December 2008 and January 2009 utilising a stratified sampling strategy. The survey forms part of the Learner and their Context study, commissioned by Becta, which explores young people's views and experiences of new technologies outside school and is designed to inform the next phase of the UK's Harnessing Technology Strategy. This paper will provide an overview of the ways young people are using the Internet for a range of activities (e.g. for homework, information seeking and creating content) and examine the factors that help to explain why young people are using new technologies for these purposes. The results demonstrate that there are a range of individual and contextual factors that help to understand use of the Internet and that formal contexts of education have an important role to play in supporting the "digital natives."


Debunking misinformation is an important and time-critical task as there could be adverse consequences when misinformation is not quashed promptly. However, the usual supervised approach to debunking via misinformation classification requires human-annotated data and is not suited to the fast time-frame of newly emerging events such as the COVID-19 outbreak. In this paper, we postulate that misinformation itself has higher perplexity compared to truthful statements, and propose to leverage the perplexity to debunk false claims in an unsupervised manner. First, we extract reliable evidence from scientific and news sources according to sentence similarity to the claims. Second, we prime a language model with the extracted evidence and finally evaluate the correctness of given claims based on the perplexity scores at debunking time. We construct two new COVID-19-related test sets, one is scientific, and another is political in content, and empirically verify that our system performs favorably compared to existing systems. We are releasing these datasets publicly to encourage more research in debunking misinformation on COVID-19 and other topics.


Abstract Background: While social determinants of health perspective might lead to the hypothesis that higher economic achievements should be associated with better mental health, the evidence for adults is mixed and inconclusive. Aim: We test the role of wealth as a predictor of depressive symptoms controlling for a number of socio-demographic covariates, with a specific interest in gender-specific patterns. Methods: Using a nationally representative survey from Mexico (N = 44,618), we carry out multivariate regression analysis where we jointly model linear and quadratic measures of wealth to detect non-linear relations between depression and wealth. Results: The paper reports clear evidence of an inverted-U relationship between depressive symptoms and wealth for females, whereas the relationship for males tends to be linear and decreasing with wealth as expected (though weak and significant only in the upper part of the wealth distribution). Our findings are robust to alternative empirical strategies and we discuss potential explanations for this novel finding. Conclusion: The paper confirms that the association between standards of living and depression is complex, due to the mediating role of socio-demographic characteristics and the existence of non-linearities not fully explored in the literature.


This two volume set LNCS 6587 and LNCS 6588 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA 2011, held in Saarbrucken, Germany, in April 2010. The 53 revised full papers and 12 revised short papers presented together with 2 invited keynote papers, 22 demonstration papers, 4 industrial papers, 8 demo papers, and the abstract of 1 panel discussion, were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 225 submissions. The topics covered are social network, social network and privacy, data mining, probability and uncertainty, stream processing, graph, XML, XML and graph, similarity, searching and digital preservation, spatial queries, query processing, as well as indexing and high performance.


This study aimed to examine the relationship of exposure to family violence (i.e., experiencing parental physical violence [PH] and psychological aggression [PA] and witnessing interparental PH and PA) during childhood and adolescence with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during young adulthood. In addition, the mediating role of self-efficacy in this relationship was investigated. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 516 university and college students in Israel (90.7% female and 9.3% male; Mage = 24.9, SD = 2.7). The results revealed that experiencing parental violence and witnessing interparental violence during childhood and adolescence were associated with high levels of current PTSS. The results also indicate that experiencing parental violence was associated with lower levels of self-efficacy, whereas no such significant relationship was found between witnessing interparental violence and self-efficacy. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between self-efficacy and PTSS. In addition, the results show a partial mediation effect of self-efficacy only on the relationship between experiencing parental violence and PTSS. The findings are interpreted in light of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. The strengths and limitations of the study as well as implications for future research are discussed.


The cytoplasmic helix domain (fourth cytoplasmic loop, helix 8) of numerous G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) such as rhodopsin and the beta-adrenergic receptor exhibit unique structural and functional characteristics. Computer models also predict this structure for the cannabinoid CB2 receptor, another member of the GPCR superfamily. In our study, a peptide corresponding to helix 8 of the CB2 receptor was synthesized chemically and its secondary structure determined by circular dichroism (CD) and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. NMR and CD revealed an alpha-helical structure in this region in both dodecylphosphocholine micelles and dimethylsulfoxide, in contrast to a random coil configuration found in aqueous solvent. This finding is in good agreement with other previous GPCR structural studies including X-ray crystallography. By combining our finding with other studies, we further hypothesize that the amphipathic nature of helix 8 can play a significant role in the function and regulation of CB receptors as well as other GPCRs in general.


Physical activity is accompanied by the changes in Insulin-like Growth Factor I (IGF-I)/IGF-Binding Protein 1 (IGFBP-1) axis. Inconsistent results concerning IGF-I and IGFBP-1 levels were reported. In this study we have raised some questions on the events that occur at the molecular level of the exercise-related IGFBP-1 changes. We have examined the fragmentation pattern of IGFBP-1, IGFBP-1 protease activity, interaction between IGFBP-1 and alpha2-macroglobulin (α2M), and possible existence of minor structural changes of IGFBP-1 in professional soccer players. Athletes had significantly greater amounts of fragmented IGFBP-1, whereas no difference was found in the amount of intact IGFBP-1 compared with controls. An increased activity of matrix metalloprotease-9 (MMP-9) was detected in athletes, causing IGFBP-1 degradation down to the fragment of 9 kDa as the major one. The amount of α2M, which protects IGFBP-1 from proteolysis, or the amount of IGFBP-1/α2M complexes was unaltered. Finally, we have examined whether IGFBP-1 isolated from soccer players exhibited altered reactivity with several chemical surfaces used in surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS). Different reactivity was detected with anion and cation exchangers, suggesting existence of at least one sequence within IGFBP-1, whose ionization pattern was not equal in athletes and controls. Differences in spectra obtained with ion exchanges may reflect differences in IGFBP-1 phosphorylation. Physiological implications of the events described in this study on the IGF-I availability are, at this time, unknown. It can be hypothesized that IGFBP-1 proteolysis leads to altered distribution of IGF-I among IGFBPs, which may affect the final IGF-associated response.


Evaluation of: Belogurov GA, Vassylyeva MN, Sevostyanova A et al.: Transcription inactivation through local refolding of the RNA polymerase structure. Nature 457, 332-335 (2008) and, Mukhopadhyay J, Das K, Ismail S et al.: The RNA polymerase 'switch region' is a target for inhibitors. Cell 135, 295-307 (2008). Bacterial RNA polymerase is an essential enzyme, which is responsible for synthesizing RNA from a DNA template and is targeted by a number of antibiotics. The mechanism of action of two closely related transcription inhibitors, myxopyronin B and a synthetic analog desmethyl-myxopyronin was elucidated, together with the structures of the antibiotic-RNA polymerase complexes. The studies reveal a new binding site and a new mechanism of action affecting the jaw domain of the enzyme. As the need for new antibiotics increase, these studies open new ways to the synthesis of more potent myxopyronin analogs.


New direct-coupled astable multivibrators are introduced in which the collectors and the bases of both emitter-bias transistors are directly coupled to each other. They may be considered to be a modification of the direct-coupled bistable circuit. The switching action takes place by means of a capacitor in each emitter circuit. Triangular waves are generated at the transistor emitters.


Undoubtedly, Java/sup TM/ has become a very popular choice of Internet programming language for developing many Web applications. However, few engineers or researchers questioned Java security problems due to its informative classfiles in which hackers can easily use most available decompilers to reverse-engineer targeted applications. We investigate an interesting proposal of the innovative combination of class decompilers and obfuscators as a feedback-and-control system to secure Java applications. Unlike ordinary obfuscation techniques which always require prior knowledge about the Java source files, our approach can start from the compiled Java classfiles, especially useful when the original source is partially or completely lost. Moreover, the obfuscated codes can also use back the class decompiler as a tester to check if the final product is sufficiently secured. In general, our contribution is two-fold. First, our proposal demonstrated the first constructive use of class decompilers to facilitate the security of Java applications. Decompilers are combined with visualization techniques to deduce useful information for obfuscation. More importantly, with component-based approach, our implemented system can actually be extended as a centralized Web-based testing center with a library of obfuscators to secure most real-life Java applications against a collection of class decompilers.


During early mouse embryogenesis, the activity of X-chromosomally linked maternal and paternal phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK-1) alleles was determined using electrophoretic separation of their gene products and a sensitive fluorometric enzyme assay. In the embryos collected from females homozygous for PGK-1b mated with PGK-1a males and vice versa, the paternally derived allozyme was first detected after implantation on day 6. Expression of the maternally inherited allele was studied in embryos from females heterozygous for PGK-1b and PGK-1a. From day 1 to day 4, the embryos maintained a constant ratio of enzyme activity of PGK-1B to PGK-1A. Prior to implantation of the embryos between day 4 and day 5, the activity ratio of the two PGK-1 allelic variants changed significantly due to the first appearance of newly synthesized PGK derived from the maternally inherited allele. Our data demonstrate a temporal difference in the onset of PGK synthesis depending on whether this particular gene product is of maternal or paternal origin. Therefore, we conclude that the maternal PGK-1 locus is already activated during late preimplantation development whereas the paternally inherited gene locus remains silent at the preimplantation stage but is subsequently expressed at approximately the time of X-chromosomal inactivation.


ABS>The surface states of diamond and two-dimensional graphite were investigated on the assumption that the delimitution of the crystal causes no perturbation within the elementary cells of the finite crystal. In both cases a plane perpendicular to the bond between a selected pair of carbon atoms was taken as the delimiting plane. The molecular orbitals were assumed in the form of a linear combination of sp/sup 3/ or sp/sup 2/ hybrids. In the case of graphite, molecular orbitals that are linear combinations of 2p/sub z/ orbitals, whose interaction with sp/sup 2/ hybrids is neglected, are further considered. It appeared that in the case of diamond there exists a band of energies pertaining to Shockley surface states in the gap between the valence and conductivity bands. The number of atoms in this band equals the number of atoms in the surface. From a discussion of the pertinent wave functions. It follows that these states are an expression of unsaturated bonds of the surface carbon atoms. The electron density on the hybrids projecting from the surface is essentially greater than the density on the other hybrids of the surface atoms. Further bands of surface states exist in the region of energies allowedmore » for the volume valence and the conductivity states. In graphite, a quite analogous behavior was shown by those surface states whose wave functions are linear combinations of sp/sup 2/ orbitals. Surface states whose wave functions are linear combinations of p/sub z/ orbitals are a manifestation of unsaturated double bonds of surface atoms having only two neighbors. The analogy between these Shockley states and the nonbonding states of odd alternant aromatic hydrocarbons is pointed out. (auth)« less


Broadly defined, chemical information science (CIS) covers chemical structure and data analysis including biological activity data as well as processing, organization, and retrieval of any form of chemical information. The CIS Gateway (CISG) of F1000Research was created to communicate research involving the entire spectrum of chemical information, including chem(o)informatics. CISG provides a forum for high-quality publications and a meaningful alternative to conventional journals. This gateway is supported by leading experts in the field recognizing the need for open science and a flexible publication platform enabling off-the-beaten path contributions. This editorial aims to further rationalize the scope of CISG, position it within its scientific environment, and open it up to a wider audience. Chemical information science is an interdisciplinary field with high potential to interface with experimental work.


We are pleased to introduce the third special issue in Challenges in Sustainability entitled Sustainability transformations: Emerging pathways toward safe and just futures for people and the planet. This special issue emerged in partnership with the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis has led to many calls for recovery, to rebuild, and to build back better to address the climate crisis. But the pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and tensions inherent in established political and economic systems. Existing vulnerabilities and inequalities have exacerbated challenges for health and wellbeing, threatened community livelihoods, and empeded efforts to achieve ecological stability and integrity. Moreover, tensions have revealed how deeply interconnected social, economic, and environmental dimensions of wellbeing are. Simply rebuilding to pursue the previous path is neither tenable nor desirable. Instead, the current context provides an opportunity to pivot towards safe and just futures for people and the planet. This urgent task demands courage, creativity, and experimentation. What groups, initiatives, and visions have been seeded or are emerging from the cracks created by the pandemic? What features of our systems must be reimagined and what relationships must be renegotiated? And what solutions are capable of catalyzing action that supports this reorientation? CANSEE supports emerging and established sustainability scholars and ecological economists in understanding and analyzing sustainability challenges from a perspective that is deeply critical of the status quo. Ecological economists have long emphasized the limits of attempting to address the climate crisis within an outdated growthoriented economic framework that prioritizes increasing economic activity at the expense of attending to quality and ecological integrity. Thus, ecological economists have important contributions to make in understanding and supporting sustainability transformations towards just, regenerative, and ecological economies. This special issue engages with sustainability challenges from an ecological economics perspective in the context of recent vulnerabilities, inequalities, injustices, and systemic tensions. Papers in this special issue use the lens, critiques, and tools of ecological economics to engage with problems at the intersection of ecological and social challenges. These contributions focus on multiple levels from the community to international scales to inform effective, inclusive, and transformative solutions. They are solution-oriented in that they apply ecological economics thinking to explore concrete problems that impact human and ecological wellbeing. An important contribution of this special issue is realworld application through knowledge transfer. Recognizing that solutions are inherently complex and systemic, they implicate diverse actors from governments, NGOs, Indigenous groups, activists, businesses and civil society. Thus, we encouraged submissions that considered transformative


Background: Gender as a moderator of long-term treatment effects has to a very little extent been explored in individual psychotherapy. We have previously reported a short-term difference in treatment-response to transference interpretations between women with poor relational functioning (low Quality of Object Relations Scale; low QOR) and men with good relational functioning (high QOR). The present study focuses on whether there also is a sustained difference in treatment-response between those two subgroups. Material and method: In the First Experimental Study of Transference-interpretations (FEST), patients (n=100) were randomized to receive dynamic psychotherapy over 1 year with either a moderate level of transference interpretations or no transference interpretations. Assessments were made at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and at 1- and 3-year follow-ups. The outcome measures used were the Psychodynamic Functioning Scales (PFS), Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-C), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and Symptom Checklist-90 (GSI). Change was assessed using linear–mixed models. Results: In the moderator analyses, women with low QOR showed a significant positive long-term treatment effect of transference interpretation (P=0.005), while men with high QOR responded equally well to both therapies. Conclusion: Women with poor relational functioning and men with good relational functioning showed sustained different treatment-response to transference interpretations.


Fusarium graminearum and Magnaporthe oryzae are two of the most important pathogens of cereal grains worldwide. Despite years of research, strong host resistance has not been identified for F. graminearum, so other methods of control are essential. ABSTRACT For fungal plant pathogens, the germinating spore provides the first interaction with the host. Spore germlings move across the plant surface and use diverse penetration strategies for ingress into plant surfaces. Penetration strategies include pressurized melanized appressoria, which facilitate physically punching through the plant cuticle, and nonmelanized appressoria, which penetrate with the help of enzymes or cuticular damage to breach the plant surface. Two well-studied plant pathogens, Fusarium graminearum and Magnaporthe oryzae, are typical of these two modes of penetration. We applied comparative transcriptomics to Fusarium graminearum and Magnaporthe oryzae to characterize the genetic programming of the early host-pathogen interface. Four sequential stages of development following spore localization on the plant surface, from spore swelling to appressorium formation, were sampled for each species on culture medium and on barley sheaths, and transcriptomic analyses were performed. Gene expression in the prepenetration stages in both species and under both conditions was similar. In contrast, gene expression in the final stage was strongly influenced by the environment. Appressorium formation involved the greatest number of differentially expressed genes. Laser-dissection microscopy was used to perform detailed transcriptomics of initial infection points by F. graminearum. These analyses revealed new and important aspects of early fungal ingress in this species. Expression of the trichothecene genes involved in biosynthesis of deoxynivalenol by F. graminearum implies that toxisomes are not fully functional until after penetration and indicates that deoxynivalenol is not essential for penetration under our conditions. The use of comparative gene expression of divergent fungi promises to advance highly effective targets for antifungal strategies. IMPORTANCE Fusarium graminearum and Magnaporthe oryzae are two of the most important pathogens of cereal grains worldwide. Despite years of research, strong host resistance has not been identified for F. graminearum, so other methods of control are essential. The pathogen takes advantage of multiple entry points to infect the host, including breaches in the florets due to senescence of flower parts and penetration of the weakened trichome bases to breach the epidermis. In contrast, M. oryzae directly punctures leaves that it infects, and resistant cultivars have been characterized. The threat of either pathogen causing a major disease outbreak is ever present. Comparative transcriptomics demonstrated its potential to reveal novel and effective disease prevention strategies that affect the initial stages of disease. Shedding light on the basis of this diversity of infection strategies will result in development of increasingly specific control strategies.


This book is immensely attractive and probably will remain, for many years to come, the standard reference book on the subject. The authors bring to bear a multi-pronged approach, the chief spearheads of which are experts in surgery and radiology, but comprising also specialists in pathology, experimental medicine and surgery, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, prosthodontia, internal medicine, epidemiology, and pediatrics. Thirty-six authors, including the editors, all of the M. D. Anderson staff (seven of them have moved on to other institutions), are responsible for the twenty-two chapters, each of which covers, admirably, important aspects of the subject.


The architectural concepts of the High Tatras region reside mainly in the foothills, where they form the basis of mountain tourism. On the exposed terrain of the Tatra Mountains there are huts that were once the result of craftsmanship, but today there is an increased concentration of architectural interest. We are focusing on architectural design in the context of adapting the typology to the visitor's needs or in response to the challenges of extreme environments. The focus involves the structural alteration, restoration or reconstruction of a building that represents an architectural discussion of the alpine environment. The huts under study trace the colonization of different vegetation zones and the different typological standards of the hut. The architectural planning process represents an example of restoration of a post-war modernism work, its reconstruction into a new form and the response to the problem of avalanches in the alpine environment. Through the prism of the social situation and technological innovations, we explore the transformation of the hut typology and its relationship to its setting. At the same time, we look for a connection to the original building destroyed by fire or avalanche or a reflection on regionalism or the general architectural discourse. The article presents a brief introduction to the architectural scene in the High Tatra region from the perspective of socio-political changes. The main question was: what principles does architecture apply in a high mountain environment? Differences and innovations are sought in the context of design in the foothills and urbanised areas, as well as in the context of the social situation and the authors of the project themselves.


Exposure to environmental contaminants, temperature elevation or obtaining milk inappropriately may compromise the quality of final product. The objective of this research was to evaluate the physicochemical quality of fluid milk retailed in Parauapebas, State of Para. Samples of raw and pasteurized milk were collected every week for three months – a total of 60 samples of raw milk and 12 samples of pasteurized milk. Titrable acidity, cryoscopic index, fat, protein, total solids (TS), nonfat solids (NFS) were determined and the reduction test of methylene blue, phosphatase and peroxidase was carried out. Variables were compared using non-parametric Kruscall-Wallis analysis through SAS. Cryoscopic index, titrable acidity, NFS and TS differed from the required standards for raw milk. For type C pasteurized milk, the following analyses showed higher non-standard percentage: pasteurization, cryoscopic index, DSE and protein. In some physical and chemical parameters evaluated, the raw or pasteurized milk analyzed did not reach the requirements for the normative instruction #51 (NI 51). Awareness and surveillance policies need to be imposed on the farmers from the rural southeastern region of the State of Para. Recebido: 11/02/2012 Aceito: 23/04/2012


Introduction Pembrolizumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting the programmed death receptor with clinical effect on multiple malignancies including sarcoma. Associated cardio-toxicities include myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and arrhythmias. Although in most cases of immune checkpoint inhibitor cardiotoxicity the offending agent is discontinued, we report a case of successful and safe re-challenge with a checkpoint inhibitor in a patient with mild myocarditis. Case report We describe a 37-year-old female with alveolar soft part sarcoma, metastatic to the lungs on cycle 13 of pembrolizumab who presented with dyspnea, cough, and vague chest discomfort. Telemetry showed bigeminal bradycardia that transitioned to self-terminating torsades de pointes. Cardiac MRI showed subtle patchy T2 signal increase within the left ventricular septum without late gadolinium uptake, suggesting mild focal myocarditis. Management and outcome: The patient was started on a steroid taper without additional arrhythmias. We have re-challenged the patient who safely tolerated re-challenge with pembrolizumab despite an episode of torsades de pointes and documented myocarditis. She continues to receive pembrolizumab at seven months after the initial event without further cardiovascular events. Discussion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of successful re-challenge of pembrolizumab after an episode of myocarditis. In patients with mild myocarditis and no evidence of left ventricular dysfunction, re-challenge may be a viable option. However, close monitoring for the development of heart failure, cardiomyopathy, or serious arrhythmias is necessary to ensure patient safety.


Primary sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglion play a fundamental role in the transmission of somatosensory information to the spinal cord and may also contribute to the neural regulation of inflammatory and immune responses in the periphery. Three aspects of the physiologic and molecular properties of dorsal root ganglion neurons require further analysis: a) characterization of the molecular events that regulate the differentiation of sensory neuroblasts into different functional classes of neurons; b) determination of the molecular basis for the specificity of central and peripheral connections formed by functional subsets of sensory neurons; c) identification of the chemical mediators released by the central and peripheral terminals of dorsal root ganglion neurons. Physiological studies indicate that excitatory amino acids, peptides, and possibly, nucleotides are released from primary sensory neurons and mediate both fast and slow synaptic responses in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Peptides and nucleotides have also been shown to regulate local blood flow and capillary permeability at the peripheral terminals of the sensory neuron. Cell surface carbohydrate differentiation antigens that delineate functional subsets of dorsal root ganglion neurons have recently been identified with monoclonal antibodies. The two major classes of dorsal root ganglion neurons that convey cutaneous sensory information express globo- and lactoseries carbohydrates. These carbohydrate structures have been implicated in intercellular adhesion and cell transformation in embryonic development and may be involved in cell recognition in the developing spinal cord. The identification of carbohydrate differentiation antigens will also be useful in analyzing the early lineage and development of sensory neurons.


The influence of the intercalation of ethidium bromide (EB) on the characteristics of the DNA cholesteric and hexagonal mesophases is studied by optical microscopy, circular dichroism, and X-ray diffraction. The distance between DNA rods in the hexagonal phase is not modified by the presence of EB whereas the pitch of the cholesteric mesophase is considerably shortened by the dye. This seems to be related to the stereochemical effect of the intercalation rather than to the presence of a random distribution of the positive charge of the dye.


OBJECTIVE
To find user satisfaction and preferences in the doctor-patient relationship and the clinical interview.

DESIGN
Observational, descriptive, crossover study.

SETTING
Community-based (city of Jaén).

PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS
286 people over 18, randomised with quotas for age and gender.

INTERVENTIONS
Validated questionnaire including basic data, whether they are satisfied with their General Practitioner (GP) and 25 items to evaluate the importance of various aspects of the clinical interview and the doctor-patient relationship.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
31% (SE, 2.7) of those surveyed were very satisfied with their GP; 37% (SE, 2.8) satisfied; and 4% (SE, 1.1) stated that their relationship was unsatisfactory. Satisfaction, the same as the remembering and carrying out of medical advice, is greater (p < 0.01) in older patients, those with lower social and economic position, those registered at Health Centres and those who saw their GP recently. Those surveyed considered the most valued features of a visit to the doctor to be then items to do with the information provided by the doctor.

CONCLUSIONS
A high level of satisfaction with the GP was found, especially from patients registered at a Health Centre. Communication in the interview was highly valued. There was less value placed on features of the consultation which focused on the patient.


In the title molecule, C14H15NO, the dihedral angle between the benzene and pyrrole rings is 1.99 (12)°. The cycloheptene ring adopts a slightly distorted boat conformation.


Infectious bronchitis virus is an acute contagious disease cause severe economic losses in poultry production worldwide. Virus isolation is the golden standard for IBV diagnosis so the aim of this study was comparing the different biological systems for isolation of infectious bronchitis virus. The Egyptian varian2 IBV strain representative to the current circulating strain in Egypt was isolated in SPF-ECE, chicken embryo kidney cell (CEK) and in vero cell line and was confirmed for IBV detection by Reverse transcriptase Real time PCR (RRT-PCR) using IB specific primers. Comparison of different isolation methods was done by generating a standard curve by real time PCR. The results revealed that The propagated virus in CEK showed the highest virus titer (5.952 x 106 and 3.245 x 106) than vero cell line (7.184 x 101 and 2.14 x 103) and ECE (7.536 x 103 and 5.444 x 105) after both 48 and 72 hours respectively.


Dalmatian black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold subsp. dalmatica (Vis.) Franco) is a native and endemic tree distributed particularly in the coastal regions of Croatia. The Dalmatian black pine is evergreen conifer species belonging to the family Pinaceae. Most conifer trees are considered a source of structurally diverse bioactive compounds, and have provided important contributions to the discovery of pharmaceuticals agents and other biomedical applications. Pine oils are widely used as fragrances in cosmetics, flavouring additives for food and beverages, scenting agents in a variety of household products, and intermediates in the synthesis of perfume chemicals. The rise in antibiotic resistant microorganisms in recent years has led to an increasing search for new antibiotics. The prevention and treatment of these infectious diseases by applying products from plants, as potential and promising sources of antimicrobial agents, has increased during recent years. Among these products, volatile oils from Pinus species have been shown to possess antibacterial and antifungal activities and could serve as a source of antimicrobial agents. Also, the majority of the preceding studies carried out with commercial volatile oils seldom compared the antimicrobial activity of pine oils on the basis of their chemical composition. However, there are no available reports on biological activities of Dalmatian black pine volatile compounds. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to study in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities of the volatile compounds isolated from the fresh needles of Pinus nigra ssp. dalmatica respectively as related to their chemical composition. The chemical composition of essential oil was determined using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and flame ionisation detection (GC–FID). The main compounds were -pinene, s-pinene, germacrene D and s-caryophyllene. Disc diffusion and broth microdilution assays were used for in vitro antimicrobial screening. The essential oil of Dalmatian black pine exhibited great potential of antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (MIC = 0.03 - 0.50%, v/v) and lesser activity against Gram-negative bacteria (MIC = 2.5 - 3.2%, v/v). The volatile compounds also inhibited the growth of all fungi tested including yeast.


We consider the slow-fading two-user multiple-input single-output (MISO) interference channel. We want to understand which rate points can be achieved, allowing a non-zero outage probability. We do so by defining four different outage rate regions. The definitions differ on whether the rates are declared in outage jointly or individually and whether the transmitters have instantaneous or statistical channel state information (CSI). The focus is on the instantaneous CSI case with individual outage, where we propose a stochastic mapping from the rate point and the channel realization to the beamforming vectors. A major contribution is that we prove that the stochastic component of this mapping is independent of the actual channel realization.


The monitoring of a high fecundity ewe flock in the Te Anau basin demonstrates the process of improved feeding to improve lamb survival and growth to weaning. Feed budgeting was changed from traditional to tailored feed requirements based on measured ewe liveweight with wastage of 15% factored in. Feed allocation was changed from monthly to weekly increases during late pregnancy, and set stocking was delayed until the planned start of lambing. This increased late pregnancy feed allocation from 99 kg DM/ewe to 128 and 144 kg DM/ewe for twin and triplet bearing ewes, respectively. Ewe body condition score was maintained at between 3 and 3.5, with condition score loss between scanning and lambing being reduced to zero. Lamb survival and lamb liveweight gain to weaning increased in both twin and triplet bearing ewes. Pregnancy scanning increased from 200 to 222 lambs per 100 ewes, between 2007 and 2012, while lambing percentage (lambs weaned/ ewe mated) rose from 132% to 165%, with more ewes rearing lambs and rearing multiples. Lamb wastage declined from 37% in 2007 and 2008, to 25% in 2011 and 2012, though scanning percentage rose by 20%. Lamb weights increased from 27.5 to 36 kg/lamb at 100 days of age. The increase in the liveweight of lambs and ewes at weaning reduced the calculated feed requirements over summer and autumn, potentially releasing 70 to 110 kg DM/ewe to provide feed to meet the extra winter feed requirements. Keywords: ewe body condition score, feed allocation, lamb survival, lamb weaning weight


PROBLEM ADDRESSED
In addition to clinical instruction, residents need "people" skills that will enable them to deal with all sorts of patients in difficult clinical situations. We planned a series of 12 seminars to teach these skills to first-year residents. OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAM: To ask relevant questions typical of the patient-centred approach; with empathy and respect, to encourage patients to express their emotions; to become more aware of one's own emotions and reactions in one's work as a physician; to negotiate with patients, taking into account both the patient's agenda and one's own.

MAIN COMPONENTS OF PROGRAM
Clinical problems drawn from a list of situations likely to involve difficult contact with patients were used to achieve program objectives. Various teaching methods (discussion, brief presentation, practical demonstration, role play) were used during the four stages of skills development: information, demonstration, practice, and feedback. Various tools were used to test the program.

CONCLUSION
Proper planning requires ongoing exploration of objectives, content, teaching methods, and evaluation. This discussion of the teaching principles applied in planning our seminars might inspire others to develop similar programs.


WHEN officers over forty are required too wear a respirator they frequently feel the need for some device to assist near Vision which will yet not interfere with the vision for distance. It is manif'ty impossible to -idjust reading glasses whenever they may be needed in 'the middle of a gas attack, and some method to overcome this difficulty had to be devised. There are four possible'-solutions: (1) A pair of respirator lenses may be made of the bifocal type. (2) -A lens may be held either inside or outside the respirator eye-piece by mechanical 'means. (3) A' lens surface may -be 'worked' onthe glass of the respirator eye-piece itself. (4)A 'lens wafer may be cemented to the respirator eyepiece.The first mdthod is unsuitable because in many cases the bifocal part of the lens would be hidden by the, nose-piece of the respirator. It would also be expensive and troublesome to make, and would require the -application of "anti-dim" before adjustment of the mask.In large scale application expense and man-hoirs are of very great importance.The second method has already been described' in this journal (1941); it is open to the difficulties'of a mechanical' method and is troublesome to anti-dim. The third method is impossibly expensive and raises difficulties in supply. The last method was developed at a Military Hospital in Scotland during the summer of 1941. For security reasons this work could not be disclo~sed before. The honout chiefly belongs to Sgt. R. Freeman, R.A.M.C.,sergeant optician to the eye centre at that hospital, and to Messrs. Scott and Madill, manufacturing opticians, who co-operated whole-heartedly. The problem to be overcome was the method of fixation of the correcting -wafer. It'will' be remembered that the respirator lens is made of laminated safety 'glass, and hence if heat is applied there will be splitting of the laminations. Yet to fix glass to glass with Canada Balsam requires the application of heat in the process of " baking."' Other adhesives have optical and other defects which preclude their use. A substance known as " British Balsam" which has the optical quldities of Canada Balsam but requires -less heat in its"use was' brought to our attention by the manufacturing opticians, and it was found that by careful' preheating and slow cooling the wafer-could be affixed without separation of the laminae. It is probable that success lies in the care


This paper introduces a Spanish Financial Market Stress Indicator (FMSI) similar to the "Composite Indicator of Systemic Stress" that Hollo, Kremer and Lo Duca (2012) proposed for the euro area as a whole. Supervisors and regulators recognised the need to improve the process of identification, management and mitigation of systemic risk after the economic and financial crisis starting in mid-2007. In this context, this paper presents an indicator which represents a real-time measure of systemic risk and tries to quantify stress in the Spanish financial system. The contribution of each financial market segment (bond market, equity market, money market, financial intermediaries, forex markets and derivatives) to the total stress in the system is also provided. The methodology takes into account time-varying correlations between market segments. The study analyses the ability of the FMSI to identify past periods of high financial stress and presents two econometric approaches with the aim of classifying observations into different stress regimes and of determining if financial stress has a negative impact on the real economy.


DePauw, R. M., Knox, R. E., McCaig, T. N., Clarke, F. R. and Clarke, J. M. 2011. Muchmorehard red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 91: 797-803. Based on 36 replicated trials over 3 yr, Muchmore, a doubled haploid hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), averaged up to 20% more grain yield than the checks. It matured significantly later than AC Barrie, Katepwa and Lillian. Muchmore was significantly shorter than all of the checks and was significantly more resistant to lodging than Katepwa, Laura and Lillian. Muchmore had significantly higher test weight than Katepwa and Lillian, intermediate kernel weight relative to the checks, and meets the end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Red Spring wheat market class. Muchmore expressed resistance to prevalent races of leaf rust, stem rust and common bunt, moderate resistance to loose smut, and moderate susceptibility to fusarium head blight.


To determine differences in mean aflatoxin contamination and subsample variance from dry and slurry homogenizations, 10 kg of six different, naturally contaminated dried fig samples were collected from various exporting companies in accordance with the EU Commission Directive. The samples were first dry-mixed for 5 min using a blender and sub-sampled seven times; the remainder was slurry homogenized (1 : 1, v/v) and sub-sampled seven times. Aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin levels were recorded and coefficient of variations (CV) computed for all sub-samples. Only a small reduction in sub-sample variations, indicated by the lower CV values, and slight differences in mean aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin levels were observed when slurry homogenization was applied. Therefore, 7326 dried figs, destined for export from Turkey to the EU and collected during the 2008 crop year, were dry-homogenized and tested for aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) by immunoaffinity column clean-up using RP-HPLC. While 34% of the samples contained detectable levels of total aflatoxins (0.20–208.75 µg kg−1), only 9% of them exceeded the EU limit of 4 µg kg−1 in the range 2.0–208.75 µg kg−1, respectively. A substantial increase in the incidence of aflatoxins was observed in 2008, most likely due to the drought stress experienced in Aydin province as occurred in 2007.


Abstract:Following the end of the bipolar world, Greece gradually realized both the benefits of forming a multidimensional foreign policy and the limits set by its participation in Western institutions. This essay examines the relations between the so-called BRICS (the association of the major emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and Greece since the end of the Cold War. It focuses on Greece's relations with Russia and China and the reasons behind Greece's foreign policy change toward establishing deeper relations with them and the role that it can play as a state that belongs to the West but also has strong ties with the East.


Waves typically propagate very differently through a homogeneous medium like free space than through an inhomogeneous medium like a complex dielectric structure. Here we present the surprising result that wave solutions in two-dimensional free space can be mapped to a solution inside a suitably designed non-Hermitian potential landscape such that both solutions share the same spatial distribution of their wave intensity. The mapping we introduce here is broadly applicable as a design protocol for a special class of non-Hermitian media across which specific incoming waves form scattering-free propagation channels. This protocol naturally enables the design of structures with a broadband unidirectional invisibility for which outgoing waves are indistinguishable from those of free space. We illustrate this concept through the example of a beam that maintains its Gaussian shape while passing through a randomly assembled distribution of scatterers with gain and loss.


In this paper, we conduct a simulation analysis of the Fama and MacBeth (1973) two-pass procedure, as well as maximum likelihood (ML) and generalized method of moments estimators of cross-sectional expected return models. We also provide some new analytical results on computational issues, the relations between estimators, and asymptotic distributions under model misspecification. The GLS estimator is often much more precise than the usual OLS estimator, but it displays more bias as well. A "truncated" form of ML performs quite well overall in terms of bias and precision, but produces less reliable inferences than the OLS estimator.


Abstract In many online communities, it is the norm to redact names and other sensitive text from posted screenshots. Sometimes solid bars are used; sometimes a blur or other image transform is used. We consider the effectiveness of two popular image transforms - mosaicing (also known as pixelization) and blurring - for redaction of text. Our main finding is that we can use a simple but powerful class of statistical models - so-called hidden Markov models (HMMs) - to recover both short and indefinitely long instances of redacted text. Our approach borrows on the success of HMMs for automatic speech recognition, where they are used to recover sequences of phonemes from utterances of speech. Here we use HMMs in an analogous way to recover sequences of characters from images of redacted text. We evaluate an implementation of our system against multiple typefaces, font sizes, grid sizes, pixel offsets, and levels of noise. We also decode numerous real-world examples of redacted text. We conclude that mosaicing and blurring, despite their widespread usage, are not viable approaches for text redaction.


This paper organizes the topologic forms of the possible relations between generalized intervals. Working out generalized interval algebra on the pattern of point algebra and interval algebra, it introduces the concept of Horn representability just as the one of convexity. It gives the class of Horn representable relations a simple characterization based on the concept of strong preconvexity. Adapting the propagation techniques designed to solve the networks of constraints between points or between intervals, it shows that the issue of consistency of a Horn representable generalized interval network can be solved in polynomial time by means of the weak path-consistency algorithm, a new incomplete algorithm for computing a minimal set of temporal constraints.


Abstract We investigated the additional predictive value of an individual's neighbourhood (quality and location), and of changes therein on his/her healthcare costs. To this end, we combined several Dutch nationwide data sources from 2003 to 2014, and selected inhabitants who moved in 2010. We used random forest models to predict the area under the curve of the regular healthcare costs of individuals in the years 2011–2014. In our analyses, the quality of the neighbourhood before the move appeared to be quite important in predicting healthcare costs (i.e. importance rank 11 out of 126 socio-demographic and neighbourhood variables; rank 73 out of 261 in the full model with prior expenditure and medication). The predictive performance of the models was evaluated in terms of R 2 (or proportion of explained variance) and MAE (mean absolute (prediction) error). The model containing only socio-demographic information improved marginally when neighbourhood was added (R 2 +0.8%, MAE −€5). The full model remained the same for the study population (R 2 = 48.8%, MAE of €1556) and for subpopulations. These results indicate that only in prediction models in which prior expenditure and utilization cannot or ought not to be used neighbourhood might be an interesting source of information to improve predictive performance.


Abstract A large scale model hydraulic study of inbank and overbank river flow, using a regular sinuous river channel with a mobile bed, was carried out in the UK Flood Channel Facility at Hydraulics Research, Wallingford. The sediment chosen for this investigation had a wide range of particle sizes present, covering the fine sand to coarse sand range. Measurements were made of three-dimensional velocity distributions and bed profiles at cross-sections around the meander. These measurements were used to determine the structure of the flows around the meander and the interaction between main channel and floodplain flows. These flow structures were related to changes in the bed profiles and to bed material sorting.


We describe our experiences in using microelectronic design projects as cooperative education experiences for electrical engineering majors. We discuss funding of the necessary VLSI design laboratory and describe our course offerings. We believe our "alternative co-op" program is of value to VLSI educators with limited resources who are looking for ways to provide students with an alternative to the traditional co-op experience.


OBJECTIVE
Elder abuse is increasingly recognised as a global public health and social problem. There has been limited inter-study comparison of the prevalence and risk factors for elder abuse. This study aimed to estimate the pooled and subtype prevalence of elder abuse worldwide and identify significant associated risk factors.

METHODS
We conducted a meta-analysis and meta-regression of 34 population-based and 17 non-population-based studies.

RESULTS
The pooled prevalences of elder abuse were 10.0% (95% confidence interval, 5.2%-18.6%) and 34.3% (95% confidence interval, 22.9%-47.8%) in population-based studies and third party- or caregiver-reported studies, respectively. Being in a marital relationship was found to be a significant moderator using random-effects model.

CONCLUSIONS
This meta-analysis revealed that third parties or caregivers were more likely to report abuse than older abused adults. Subgroup analyses showed that females and those resident in non-western countries were more likely to be abused. Emotional abuse was the most prevalent elder abuse subtype and financial abuse was less commonly reported by third parties or caregivers. Heterogeneity in the prevalence was due to the high proportion of married older adults in the sample. Subgroup analysis showed that cultural factors, subtypes of abuse, and gender also contributed to heterogeneity in the pooled prevalence of elder abuse.


IT IS common teaching that an attack of poliomyelitis confers an immunity which is sufficient to protect a person against subsequent infection. The evidence supporting this view is rarely questioned, for second attacks of the disease are infrequent and antibodies against the virus can be demonstrated in the blood of both human and animal subjects. Antibodies can also be detected in the blood in such a large proportion of the population that it is often concluded that most adults have probably been in contact with the virus without development of recognizable symptoms but nevertheless with acquisition of some degree of immunity. The fact that the most susceptible age group consists of young children for whom the chance of previous immunizing exposure has been minimal also suggests the likelihood of some form of acquired immunity in the population at large. In spite of the evidence indicating immunity to be present after


Intervention technologies for inactivating Salmonella in whole chia seeds are currently limited. The determination of the thermal inactivation kinetics of Salmonella o n chia seeds and selection of an appropriate nonpathogenic surrogate will provide a knowledge foundation for selecting and optimizing thermal pasteurization processes for chia seeds. In this study, chia seed samples from three separate production lots were inoculated with a five strain Salmonella cocktail or Enterococcus faecium NRRL-B2354 and equilibrated to 0.53 aw at room temperature (25 °C). After equilibration for at least three days, the inoculated seeds were subjected to isothermal treatments at 80, 85, or 90 °C. Samples were taken out at six timepoints and enumerated for survivors. Initial dilution of whole chia seeds was performed in a filter bag at a 1:30 ratio after it was shown to have similar recovery to grinding the seeds. Survivor data were fitted to consolidated models consisting of a primary model (log-linear or Weibull) and one secondary model (Bigelow). E. faecium exhibited higher thermal resistance than Salmonella , suggesting its suitability as a conservative nonpathogenic surrogate. The Weibull model was a better fit for the survivor data than the log-linear model for both bacteria due to its lower root mean square error and corrected Akaike's Information Criterion values. Measurements of lipid oxidation and fatty acid content indicated a few statistically different values compared to the control samples, but the overall difference in magnitudes were relatively small. The thermal inactivation kinetics of Salmonella and E. faecium o n chia seeds as presented in this study can serve as a basis for developing thermal pasteurization processes for chia seeds.


The self-bearing or bearingless machine is an electromagnetic device that supports its own rotor by way of magnetic forces generated by windings on its stator. Various winding configurations have been used to accomplish the task of force production. This paper proposes a winding based on a bridge connection for polyphase self-bearing rotating electrical machines with advantages such as: 1) requiring only one power supply for torque production; 2) lateral forces are produced using auxiliary power supplies of relatively low current and voltage ratings; 3) relatively low power loss; and 4) preserving the flexibility for extensions to other polyphase machines. The bridge connection has been verified to exhibit the characteristics of a self-bearing motor via an electrically coupled finite-element analysis. A comparison of power loss with conventional winding schemes and general applications of such a proposed scheme are also presented.


Objective: The objective of this study was to study the frequency and determinants of breakage and slippage during female and male condom use. Goal: The goal of this study was to determine condom breakage and slippage rate. Study: We conducted a 6-month prospective follow-up study of women attending 2 sexually transmitted disease clinics. Breakage and slippage rates were computed. Logistic regression was used to evaluate baseline characteristics and time-dependent behaviors. Results: A total of 869 women used condoms in 20,148 acts of intercourse. Breakage was less common for female condoms (0.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05–0.21) than for male condoms (3.1%; 95% CI, 2.80–3.42). Slippage was more common for female condoms (5.6%; 95% CI, 5.10–6.13) than for male condoms (1.1%; 95% CI, 0.90–1.28). Rates significantly decreased with use and increased with number of previous failures. From first use to >15 uses, combined failure rate fell from 20% to 1.2% for female condoms (P <0.0001) and 9% to 2.3% for male condoms (P <0.01). Conclusions: Both condoms may provide good protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Experience determines success with either condom.


AbstractThis research is motivated by the existence of a democratic party in 2019, during those times the Seputar iNews Afternoon program made a special segment of political-specific news related to presidential candidates, vice presidential candidates and other political figures who were also part of important figures from the party period democracy. This study aims to find out how the framing of news or framing conducted by the Seputar iNews Siang program in the "Indonesia 2019 Choices" segment is then linked to Robert N. Entman's framing analysis and how the program constructs it. Literature review in this study includes mass media, news, media ideology, reality construction by mass media, framing analysis. The method used in this research is descriptive analysis method. In the descriptive method, researchers will explore or photograph social situations that will be studied thoroughly, broadly and deeply. Based on this research, the "Indonesia Choices 2019" segment has two aspects, namely selection of issues and highlighting certain aspects of an issue. The selection of issues displayed by the "Indonesia 2019 Choices" segment in the Around the iNews Afternoon program according to the RCTI editorial team is based on activities related to the 2019 general election theme. a program that is a language that expresses ideas with sentences, narratives, headlines that clarify the emphasis. Then the framing of the editorial team on an event and broadcast to a wide audience and agenda setting that makes the direction where the news editor during the specified time.                                                                                Keywords: Mass Media, Reality Construction, Framing, Indonesia's Selected Segments 2019


Hepoxilin A3 has previously been shown to cause a rapid dose-dependent rise in intracellular calcium in intact human neutrophils in suspension. Two components have been observed, an initial rapid phase of intracellular calcium rise, followed by a slow decline to plateau levels that remain above the original baseline calcium levels. These changes have been suggested to involve the release of calcium from intracellular stores in the ER (initial rapid phase), while the slower rate of decline (plateau phase) was presumed to be due to calcium influx as it was abolished in zero calcium extracellular medium. The present study used confocal microscopy to examine the response to hepoxilin A3 at the subcellular level. Our results show that calcium dynamics in response to hepoxilin A3 varies in different subcellular compartments within the cell and that hepoxilin A3 evoked a persistent accumulation of calcium in organelles. The hepoxilin-evoked calcium sequestration was eliminated by prior exposure to CCCP, a mitochondrial uncoupler. CCCP also eliminated the plateau phase of the calcium response in cell suspension, suggesting that this phase was due to mitochondrial accumulation of calcium rather than calcium influx. Experiments with DiI-loaded cells, a membrane marker, showed that the nuclear calcium was not elevated by hepoxilin addition to the cells. These results demonstrate that hepoxilins evoke the release of calcium from the ER which is taken up by the mitochondria where it is tightly sequestered. These results offer an explanation of observations previously made with cell suspensions in which hepoxilin A3 was shown to inhibit the calcium mobilizing effects of chemotactic agents.


Combat-related spine injuries from improvised explosive devices are attributed to vertical loading transmitted from the seat to the pelvis to the torso and head-neck regions. The presence of personal protective equipment (PPE) adds to the weight of the torso, influencing the load transmission within the vertebral column. In this study, a detailed mid-size male finite element model from the Global Human Body Models Consortium was used to investigate the effect of PPE on spine kinematics, forces, and moments along the vertebral column. The model was positioned on a rigid seat, such that the posture represented an upright seated soldier. Once positioned, the model was updated with PPE. The models, with and without PPE were simulated under two high acceleration vertical loading pulses and the spine accelerations, forces and moments were investigated. The PPE increased the spinal loads, with reduced time to peak. The presence of PPE increased forces in the cervical and thoracic spines up to 14% and 9%, while it decreased the lumbar spine forces up to 7%. PPE increased cervical spine extension moment up to 104%, thoracic spine flexion moment up to 14%, and decreased the lumbar spine flexion moment up to 11%. The increase in thoracic spine compressive forces and flexion moments due to PPE suggest increased risk of injury in compression-flexion, such as anterior or burst fractures of the thoracic vertebrae with or without the distraction of posterior elements/ligaments. Whereas, the PPE may be effective in reducing the injury in lumbar spine, with reduced forces and moments. The pulse variation showed that the seat velocity along with the acceleration influence the spine kinematics and further parametric studies are needed to understand the effectiveness of PPE for varying seat velocities/accelerations. Spinal accelerations peaked earlier with PPE; however, their peak and morphologies were unchanged. This study delineates the kinetics of the spine injury during underbody blast loading and the role of PPE on potential injuries and injury mechanisms based on forces and moments.


Introduction The hospice identified the positive value of outcome measurement in developing an evidenced based approach to care and to demonstrate the difference its care made. Aims Improve understanding of outcome measurement in palliative care Ensure competence in using Integrated Palliative Outcome Score (IPOS) Support change and embed new practise Method Introducing patient reported outcome was a quality improvement priority for the hospice and was led by the clinical effectiveness group. A specialist workshop describing the implementation and use of IPOS was created. The electronic patient record, Crosscare, had IPOS embedded into assessment windows. Awareness and training sessions were delivered by staff members with knowledge of IPOS to all clinicians working within the In-patient Unit (IPU). A flow chart for the use of IPOS on the IPU was devised to support practice. A pilot phase of two months allowed supported implementation and continued concentrated awareness with an additional monthly open forum for all staff. Patient feedback monitored. Results Use of IPOS on admission to IPU and at agreed time intervals has been implemented. Over a period of 6 months use of IPOS has been embedded in to practise. Patient feedback collected with a 100% of users confirming that using IPOS prior to seeing the admitting clinician helped them to clarify their problems. The open monthly forum identifies questions and issues on the use of IPOS, highlighting further use in daily care provision and informs future training and support needs. Flow chart revised providing greater clarity. Clinical audit around adherence to guidelines. Conclusions Through a process of training and supported practice, the hospice has implemented the use of a validated outcome measurement within its IPU. Oversight by the clinical effectiveness group ensured responsibilities were clear and the process monitored and evolved successfully.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence and change of growth retardation, weight loss and malnutrition among children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Guangdong Province in 2002-2012.

METHODS
A total of 7264 children and adolescents(3804 boys and 3460 girls) aged 6-17 years were selected in thirteen monitoring points of Guangdong for nutritional survey in 2002, and a total of 2319 children and adolescents(1158 boys and 1161 girls) aged 6-17 years were selected in nine counties/districts of Guangdong for nutritional survey during 2009-2012 through multistage random cluster sampling. The body height and weight of all the children and adolescents were measured.

RESULTS
The prevalence of growth retardation, weight loss and malnutrition decreased from 10. 0% to 1. 6%, 18. 1% to 8. 0%, and 24. 7% to 9. 3%among children and adolescents in Guangdong from 2002 to 2009-2012. The result of2009-2012 survey indicated the average prevalence of growth retardation were higher in boys(1. 9%) than in girls(1. 1%), and the average prevalence of weight loss and malnutrition was higher in girls(10. 4% and 11. 3%) than in boys(6. 0% and 7. 7%). And the average prevalence of growth retardation, weight loss and malnutrition were all higher in those living in rural area(2. 5%, 12. 4% and 14. 5%) than in city area(0. 8%, 4. 4% and 5. 1%).

CONCLUSION
Compared with 2002, the prevalence of growth retardation, weight loss and malnutrition in children and adolescents aged 6-17 in Guangdong Province all decreased significantly. The prevalence was still high in girls and those living in rural, and children aged 6-17, thus more attention should be paid to them.


ABSTRACT In Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes, non-linguistic content is taught and assessed in an additional language. Hence, CLIL teachers, most of whom are content subject specialists, may encounter difficulties in evaluating students' content knowledge independent of their L2 proficiency and in aligning objectives, instruction and assessment. These concerns are closely related to teachers' assessment literacy, which is seen as integral to teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and plays a crucial role in effective instruction and assessment. While frameworks for teachers' assessment literacy exist, there have been calls to re-examine this important construct with reference to specific disciplinary contexts. Given the curricular complexities of CLIL, this paper seeks to conceptualise the assessment literacy of teachers in such programmes. It will first tease out the complexities of assessment in CLIL programmes. It will then review some relevant literature on teachers' assessment literacy, based on which a conceptual framework for CLIL teachers' assessment literacy is proposed. It will also include an illustrative case of how the framework could be applied in research. The framework will establish a theoretical grounding for future empirical research in the field and have important implications for CLIL teacher education.


Abstract:This article provides a critical assessment of the populist nationalism associated with President Donald Trump. Using Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" as an inspiration, it makes the argument that Trump's populism is in fact a cover for a corporatist agenda. Further, it argues that the evangelical right's support of Trump exposes the sense of white grievance that has animated its political mobilization from the start.


Introduction/Background The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and feasibility of transperitoneal laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC), who are going to undergo staging para-aortic lymphadenectomy and to analyze the prognostic value and the impact on survival of this procedure. Methodology Data from 67 patients with LACC who underwent transperitonel laparoscopic para-aortic plus pelvic lymphadenectomy and received chemoradiation therapy were analyzed. Results Metastatic lymph nodes (LN) were identified in 32 patients (47.7%), 20 (29.8%) had metastatic LN in the pelvic area and 12 (17,9%) had metastatic LN in the pelvic and para-aortic area. None of them had metastatic LN localized only in the para-aortic area. After a median follow-up of 54.6 months (5–122.2 months), the 5-year overall survival (OS) for the whole group was 67.3%. Patients with para-aortic nodal metastasis had increased risk of mortality than those with negative nodes (p=0.005), but there were no significant differences in OS between patients with negative nodes and those with only pelvic nodes affected (p=0.380). The 5-year local control rate for the whole group was 91.1%. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) for the whole group was 60.5%. For patients with no metastatic LN the DFS was 86.4%, while for patients with pelvic metastatic LN was 34.2% and 24.2% for patients with pelvic and para-aortic metastatic LN (p<0.001). This program allowed a modification of the initial therapeutical plan in the para-aortic area in 13.4% of patients and in the pelvic area in 28.3% of patients. Overall intraoperative morbidity rate was 5.9%. Conclusion Transperitoneal pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy provides precise information about nodal state and allows personalized treatment planning in patients with LACC. No differences in OS were observed between patients with negative LN and patients with only positive pelvic LN Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


This paper proposes a methodology for the accurate visualization of acoustic reflections in a room from acoustic measurements by a spherical microphone array. The goal is to provide insight on the relationship between architectural and acoustic features. This task requires high-resolution acoustic images. In this contribution, we achieve this goal by introducing two main modifications of existing approaches. At first, we adopt an explicit model that takes into account the scattering due to the rigid spherical surface where the microphone capsules are hosted. Then, we obtain an estimate of the acoustic power coming from a grid of directions using a spectral analysis approach based on the matching of array data covariance matrix. We conclude this manuscript by showing applications of the devised methodology in real world cases.


Thomas Kuhn in his famous work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions laid out the framework for his theory of how science changes. At the advent of dinosaur paleontology fossil hunters like Gideon Mantell discovered some of the first dinosaurs like Iguanodon and Megalosaurus. Through new disciples like Georges Cuvier's comparative anatomy lead early dinosaur paleontologist to reconstruct them like giant reptiles of absurd proportions. This lead to the formation of a new paradigm that prehistoric animals like dinosaurs existed and eventually went extinct. The first reconstructions of dinosaur made them to look like giant counterparts of their modern cousins. Then in 1841, Richard Owen coined the term dinosaur, and put the newly discovered dinosaurs into a special group based on similar morphological characteristics. He reconstructed them to look like giant elephant like reptiles. They were slow, sluggish, and their tales dragged the ground. Then in 1858, William Foulke and Joseph Leidy discovered the dinosaur Hadrosaurus which had morphological characteristics that hindered the animal from being quadrupedal. As a result a new paradigm was formed and some dinosaurs were lifted off the ground. They were reconstructed to look like giant reptilian kangaroos in stance, but they were still considered slow, sluggish, with tails still dragging behind them. This paradigm persisted until the 1960's when paleontologist John Ostrom realized that there was an anomaly within dinosaur paleontology. The environments that dinosaurs inhabited did not match with the reconstructions of swamp dwelling animals, and dinosaur anatomy also did not match those reconstructions. Ostrom's discovery and description of Deinonychus with its very bird like skeleton lead him to conclude that dinosaurs were energetic, and probably endothermic. This resulted in a crisis which lead other paleontologist to research this anomaly. More discoveries proved Ostrom's new paradigm and dinosaur paleontology underwent a scientific revolution from the 1960's to the 1980's. Formally termed the dinosaur renaissance this revolution lead to dinosaurs being reconstructed as active, intelligent animals no longer with their tails dragging behind them.


In this paper, a multi-level image representation model is developed and used to mine semantic feature hidden in the original remote sensing image. This model is consisted of three levels : region level, region feature level and semantic level. The first two levels aim at represent image content by using region feature. Semantic level aims at extracting hidden semantic feature. At last, interested part and uninterested part method is used to improve the retrieval precision. Experiment shows that this method can well improve the accuracy of the retrieval result.


Coherence effects by the impurity scattering of Caroli–de Gennes–Matricon (CdGM) modes in a vortex for nodal topological superconductors have been studied. The coherence effects reflect a topological number defined on a particular momentum space avoiding the superconducting gap nodes. First, we analytically derived the eigenvalue and eigenfunction of the CdGM modes, including the zero-energy modes, in a nodal topological superconducting state without impurities, where we focused on a possible superconducting state of UPt3 as an example. Then, we studied impurity effects on the CdGM modes by introducing the impurity self-energy, which are dominated by the coherence factor depending on the eigenfunction of the CdGM modes. For the zero-energy CdGM modes, the coherence factor vanishes in a certain momentum range, which is guaranteed by topological invariance characterized by the one-dimensional winding number.