As a dangerous source of man-made debris flow with high potential energy, tailings dams can cause huge losses to people's lives and property downstream once they break, and their safety control problem is particularly prominent. The health diagnosis of tailings dams is a complex and nonlinear problem full of uncertainty. At present, the health diagnosis of tailings dams is mostly qualitative evaluation or quantitative analysis aiming at a single index, so this study puts forward a comprehensive quantitative diagnosis method of tailings dam health based on dynamic weight. Slope stability, deformation stability and seepage stability are taken as project layers, and the diagnosis index system of the tailings dam is constructed. The quantitative methods of diagnosis indexes of project layers are proposed. For the dam slope stability project, the safety factor and the reliability index of tailings dams are determined based on the Monte Carlo method, which can consider the uncertainty of tailings material parameters. For the deformation stability project, the normal operation values of deformation rate and deformation amount are determined by analyzing the in situ observation data and combining them with the numerical simulation results. For the seepage stability project, through the analysis of seepage and stability, the relationship curve between the depth of saturation line and the safety factor of anti-sliding stability is established. The norms method is used to determine the quantitative standards for the diagnosis indexes of the basic layer. Based on the analytical hierarchy process method and the penalty variable weight method, the method of dynamic weight of the project layer index is proposed. The proposed methods are applied to a practical engineering project. The results show that the methods can accurately reflect the health status of tailings dams. This study provides a new method for evaluating the safety of tailings dams.


In this paper we propose the use of enhanced mid-level information, such as information obtained from the application of supervised or unsupervised learning methodologies on low-level characteristics, in order to improve semantic multimedia analysis. High-level, a priori contextual knowledge about the semantic meaning of objects and their low-level visual descriptions are combined in an integrated approach that handles in a uniform way the gap between semantics and low-level features. Prior work on low-level feature extraction is extended and a region thesaurus containing all mid-level features is constructed using a hierarchical clustering method. A model vector that contains the distances from each mid-level element is formed and a neural network-based detector is trained for each semantic concept. Contextual adaptation improves the quality of the produced results, by utilizing fuzzy algebra, fuzzy sets and relations. The novelty of the presented work is the context- driven mid-level manipulation of region types, utilizing a domain-independent ontology infrastructure to handle the knowledge. Early experimental results are presented using data derived from the beach domain.


A new fly species, Chrysosoma nellyae, has been recently discovered in Bohol, Philippines. Aside from the metallic blue head with black antennae which are reminiscent of Chrysosoma species, its thorax is metallic blue with a greenish and brown prescutellar patch, scutellum brown, blue green border with hair like bristle. In addition, based on the similarity of the male genitalia, cercus morphology, and legs, the new species appears to be related to C. crinicorne. To increase the accuracy of species identification, DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene was employed and further inferred for its phylogenetic relationship with other Chrysosoma species.


Despite more than 100 years of research, formation of food melanoidins from carbohydrates and amino acids in the course of the Maillard reaction is still not fully understood. Experiments with relevant precursors are commonly used to limit the pathways of the complex reaction and to elucidate the formation mechanisms of the colored end-products. Here as a simple model, methylglyoxal was incubated with l-alanine or l-lysine in aqueous solutions at 100 °C and pH 5. The reaction mixtures were analyzed for color formation, molecular weight distribution, and conversion of methylglyoxal. High-resolution mass spectrometry was used to characterize the variety of products formed. With the help of Kendrick and van Krevelen analyses, the complex data sets were investigated for common substructures and reaction patterns. This study revealed that methylglyoxal forms oligomers via aldol reaction under involvement of its prevalent reaction products such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetol, and aminoacetone with amino acids.


Background With tuberculosis (TB) being among the top 13 leading cause of death and second leading infectious disease killer next to COVID-19 globally, there is a need for continued study and a better understanding of the risk factors and management approaches. One in five tuberculosis (TB) deaths occurs in individuals who have contracted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, other risk factors play a role in its morbidity pattern. Therefore, descriptions of these comorbidities between TB, HIV, and other risk factors such as diabetes are needed. Method A retrospective, descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of TB and its relationship with some risk factors (HIV, diabetes, race, ethnicity, end-stage renal disease, post-organ transplant, recent contact with active TB, and other non-HIV immunosuppressive conditions) using data from three South Florida counties (Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach) from 2010 to 2019 retrieved from the CDC's Report of Verified Case of Tuberculosis (RVCT). Results A total of 2437 cases of TB were reported between 2010 and 2019. There was approximately a 14% positive rate among the three counties for HIV. In contrast, 47% of the individuals with active TB in all three counties were also diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. An average of 25% of the active TB cases in these counties had a concurrent immunosuppressive condition other than HIV. Known contact with another active TB case was an identified risk factor in 18%, 17%, and 29% of reported TB cases in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, respectively. Discussion The HIV status of patients with TB in these three counties was predominantly negative, in contrast to initial theories. The presence of diabetes mellitus was associated with a diagnosis of TB or latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) within the studied population. Conclusion Screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), compliance, and promotion of LTBI management in newly diagnosed and uncontrolled diabetics may be a successful prevention strategy for this high-risk group.


Purpose of the study. A comparative analysis of the intensity of lipid peroxidation and the functioning of various units of the antioxidant system in the blood of patients with malignant pancreatic lesions and with chronic pancreatitis.Patients and Methods. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and diene conjugates, the activity and content of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase), the content of reduced glutathione and blood thiol status, as well as the content of vitamins E and A (as indicators of the non-enzymatic link of the antioxidant system), were studied in the blood of 51 patients before treatment and 22 donors. Based on a histological study of tumors, patients were divided into groups: neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma with a neuroendocrine component; a group of patients with chronic pancreatitis was also identified.Results. According to most of the studied parameters, neuroendocrine cancer differs from pancreatic adenocarcinoma in a more pronounced imbalance in the functioning of all units of the antioxidant system, which contributes to a greater intensification of free radical processes. Chronic pancreatitis was characterized by a lower content of all the studied antioxidant enzymes, as well as a decrease in the thiol status of the blood as compared with a malignant pancreatic lesion, which was possibly associated with the highest MDA level in the plasma of patients with chronic pancreatitis. At the same time, the content of vitamin E in chronic pancreatitis was significantly higher than for adenocarcinoma and adenocarcinoma with a neuroendocrine component.Conclusions. The most pronounced violation of oxidative status is one of the metabolic features of neuroendocrine cancer. Differences revealed in patients with neuroendocrine cancer, adenocarcinoma and pancreatitis can be useful both in the diagnosis of different types of pancreatic lesions and for assessing the state of patients during treatment.


Introduction Participation in community leisure occupations of children with disabilities is important, yet poorly integrated into practice. This knowledge translation strategy tested an intervention to increase clinicians' awareness and to bring about change in practice toward a focus on participation. Method During this qualitative study, 14 clinicians participated in six learning sessions facilitated by a knowledge broker. Three months post-intervention, clinicians were individually interviewed, by drawing on the Professional Evaluation and Reflection on Change Tool, to evaluate potential change in practice. Two researchers independently performed thematic data analysis. Results Impact on practice emerged in both the personal and professional levels (for example, empowerment, validation of clinical wisdom, change in thinking and behavior). Clinicians suggested strategies for integrating participation in their day-to-day practice, illustrating a substantial intention for change, while describing barriers and facilitators for implementation (for example, organizational mandate). Two additional themes described the overall experience of the intervention: motivation to learn (for example, desire to link research to practice) and elements of the learning environment (for example, meeting informational needs). Conclusion This strategy was effective in redirecting clinicians' focus toward the notion of participation and establishing readiness for change. This shift can potentially facilitate new programs in occupational therapy that are participation-based and community-focused.


An efficient, catalytic hypervalent iodine-mediated oxidative 1,2-shift of 1,1'-disubstituted olefins is described. This methodology provides concise access to homobenzylic ketones with electron-donating substituents. In the case of cyclic systems, this transformation results in ring-expanded β-benzocycloalkanones, which are useful for further elaboration.


Under normal Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) conditions, coke is the most important factor that affects catalyst activity. A pseudo homogeneous two - dimensional (2D) model of an industrial FCC riser is here presented. The FCC riser models of previous researchers were mostly based on the assumption of negligible mass transfer resistance and 1D plug flow. These assumptions undermine the accuracy of the models by over-predicting the riser residence time while under-predicting the reaction time. Mass transfer resistance was incorporated in the reactor model to enhance the accuracy of the results. Finite difference was used to discretise the model equation. This investigation has advanced research into the modeling of FCC riser by predicting catalyst coke content as a function of reaction temperature. The yields of LCO, gasoline, gas and coke that were predicted by the model for industrial risers were 15.54wt%, 49.70wt%, 18.01wt% and 4.90wt% respectively. A feed stock (VGO) conversion of 79.28% was predicted by the model. An optimal operating temperature range of 786K


In single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), the nonstationary Poisson noise in projection data (sinogram) is a major cause of compromising the quality of reconstructed images. To improve the quality, we must suppress the Poisson noise in the sinogram before or during image reconstruction. However, the conventional space or frequency domain denoising methods will likely remove some information that is very important for accurate image reconstruction, especially for analytical SPECT reconstruction with compensation for nonuniform attenuation. As a time‐frequency analysis tool, wavelet transform has been widely used in the signal and image processing fields and demonstrated its powerful functions in the application of denoising. In this article, we studied the denoising abilities of wavelet‐based denoising method and the impact of the denoising on analytical SPECT reconstruction with nonuniform attenuation. Six popular wavelet‐based denoising methods were tested. The reconstruction results showed that the Revised BivaShrink method with complex wavelet is better than others in analytical SPECT reconstruction with nonuniform attenuation compensation. Meanwhile, we found that the effect of the Anscombe transform for denoising is not significant on the wavelet‐based denoising methods, and the wavelet‐based de‐noise methods can obtain good denoising result even if we do not use Anscombe transform. The wavelet‐based denoising methods are the good choice for analytical SPECT reconstruction with compensation for nonuniform attenuation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 36–43, 2013


The murine V beta 2 promoter was analyzed for an element regulating phorbol ester inducibility of the TCR beta chain gene. In transient expression analysis of 5' nested deleted fragments of the V beta 2 promoter, the TPA-inducible element mapped between -85 and -42. The -85 to -62 oligo conferred 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) inducibility to the heterologous TPA-uninducible thymidine kinase promoter. The -85 to -62 region contained an AP-1 site (-85 to -72) and inverted repeat motif (-72 to -62). The AP-1 site required the 3' flanking inverted repeat region for conferring optimal inducibility. In vitro transcribed and translated jun/fos heterodimers bind to the V beta 2 AP-1 motif with a 16-fold lower affinity as compared to the collagenase AP-1 motif. This explains the inability of the V beta 2 AP-1 motif to confer optimal TPA inducibility by itself. The affinity of jun/fos heterodimers for the V beta 2 AP-1 motif was not increased by the presence in cis of the inverted repeat motif. The 3' flanking inverted repeat binds the ets transactivator but not jun/fos heterodimers. The demonstrated cooperativity between the AP-1 and the 3' flanking sequence to confer TPA inducibility can thus be explained by the individual contributions of jun/fos and ets transactivators.


How can naïve realism defend itself in face of the illusion of the penny which looks elliptical when it is seen obliquely? Of late many philosophers have tried to deny that a penny looks elliptical when viewed obliquely: they have claimed that it still looks round. It may be true to say this of a small object like a penny, but it cannot be denied that the surfaces of objects in general do look different in shape when viewed from different angles: a large circular object, like a round table, does not look round but elliptical when viewed obliquely. Nevertheless, for convenience, I shall use the example of the penny. The reader may suppose, if he wishes, that the penny is viewed from a considerable distance, say ten feet.


The authors investigated the effect of Ti conduit on the critical current in (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn cable-in-conduit conductors in comparison with stainless steel and copper-nickel alloy conduits. Ti has a coefficient of thermal expansion closely matching (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn and is expected to prevent the compressive thermal prestrain introduced in (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn filaments. As samples, two kinds of conductors were prepared, one consisting of seven (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn strands and the other of 36 (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn strands. The (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn strands produced by a bronze process had a diameter of 1.0 mm and a copper ratio of 2. The experimental results indicated that the critical current density in conductors with a Ti conduit and void fraction in the range of 5-46% nearly matched that of a single strand. From these results, Ti appears to be attractive as a practical conduit material for (NbTi)/sub 3/Sn cable-in-conduit conductors.<<ETX>>


We propose to use a natural language and cognitive graphics for a description of the conditions of artificial life and direct human-robot communications in mobile robot for service use. Mobile robots for service use work in buildings with different planes of rooms. We propose to construct in such an environment (including navigation and action tasks) a virtual reality generator for behaviour simulation of the mobile service robot. The virtual reality generator is used for possible worlds simulation in the robot artificial life. This allows us to evaluate the control algorithms of real time robot behaviour and to reduce difficulties connected with such problems as robot collisions with real objects and robot hardware damages. The mathematical background of the cognitive graphics software for this task is knowledge engineering based on pseudo-physical logic with spatiotemporal, action and default reasoning. Using concrete examples we discuss the main concepts, structure and realization method of cognitive graphics block of virtual reality generator.


Cryptography addresses the necessary elements for secure communication such as privacy, confidentiality, key exchange, authentication, and non-repudiation. This paper proposes a model satisfies the security based on the combination of the RSA and El-Gamal Cryptosystems. The RSA Cryptosystem is depends on the Integer Factorization Problem (IFP), while the El-Gamal Cryptosystem depends on Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP). This model works on the basis of merging between IFP with DLP give a good speed of computation for asymmetric cryptosystem based on difficulties of the solutions of two famous hard problems. As a result, the computation of the proposed system is more efficient compared to El-Gamal algorithm and RSA algorithm.


Localized energy estimates for the wave equation have been increasingly used to prove various other dispersive estimates. This article focuses on proving such localized energy estimates on $(1+4)$-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole backgrounds with small angular momenta. The Myers-Perry space-times are generalizations of higher dimensional Kerr backgrounds where additional planes of rotation are availabile while still maintaining axial symmetry. Once it is determined that all trapped geodesics have constant $r$, the method developed by Tataru and the fourth author, which perturbs off of the Schwarzschild case by using a pseudodifferential multiplier, can be adapted.


The study of cooperation is rich with theoretical models and laboratory experiments that have greatly advanced our knowledge of human uniqueness, but have sometimes lacked ecological validity. We therefore emphasize the need to tie discussions of human cooperation to the natural history of our species and its closest relatives, focusing on behavioral contexts best suited to reveal underlying selection pressures and evolved decision rules. Food sharing is a fundamental form of cooperation that is well‐studied across primates and is particularly noteworthy because of its central role in shaping evolved human life history, social organization, and cooperative psychology. Here we synthesize available evidence on food sharing in humans and other primates, tracing the origins of offspring provisioning, mutualism, trade, and reciprocity throughout the primate order. While primates may gain some benefits from sharing, humans, faced with more collective action problems in a risky foraging niche, expanded on primate patterns to buffer risk and recruit mates and allies through reciprocity and signaling, and established co‐evolving social norms of production and sharing. Differences in the necessity for sharing are reflected in differences in sharing psychology across species, thus helping to explain unique aspects of our evolved cooperative psychology.


Zinc (Zn) deficiency is widespread throughout the world causing economic losses on a number of crops. Despite the fact that much information was generated during the last 20 years on Zn soil chemistry and its inorganic phase equilibrium, the mechanism controlling the amount of free Zn+2 present in the soil solution is not yet completely understood. This information is critical for the development of effective techniques of supplying Zn through the soil. As Zn moves very slowly through the soil, however, and a large portion of fruit tree root system occupies deep soil layers, foliar sprays with Zn are generally more effective than soil treatments in alleviating Zn deficiency symptoms. That is why many extension specialists recommend this approach. In view of the poor mobility of foliar-absorbed Zn in plants, however, we may need to reexamine this approach. Zinc foliar sprays may be effective in controlling Zn deficiency in leaves, but not in alleviating Zn deficiency in roots or subsequent flushes of growth. Also, the conditions under which fruit trees are most likely to respond to corrective Zn treatments are not well understood and the critical periods for Zn supply to assure optimal fruit set, fruit growth, and high fruit external and internal quality are not well defined. Field studies on fruit trees suggest that Zn deficiency must be quite severe to make the application of this element economically justifiable. In well-controlled greenhouse studies, however, growth responses were realized on plants only mildly affected by Zn deficiency. If considerable field variability may explain this discrepancy in the data, then future field research must use improved methodologies to properly quantify the impact of various levels of Zn deficiency on tree growth, fruit yield, and fruit quality.


Since at least half of the world's 6000 plus languages will vanish during the 21st century, language documentation has become a rapidly growing field in linguistics. A fundamental challenge for language documentation is the "transcription bottleneck". Speech technology may deliver the decisive breakthrough for overcoming the transcription bottleneck. This paper presents first experiments from the development of ASR4LD, a new automatic speech recognition (ASR) based tool for language documentation (LD). The experiments are based on recordings from an ongoing documentation project for the endangered Muyu language in New Guinea. We compare phoneme recognition experiments with American English, Austrian German and Slovenian as source language and Muyu as target language. The Slovenian acoustic models achieve the by far best performance (43.71% PER) in comparison to 57.14% PER with American English, and 89.49% PER with Austrian German. Whereas part of the errors can be explained by phonetic variation, the recording mismatch poses a major problem. On the long term, ASR4LD will not only be an integral part of the ongoing documentation project of Muyu, but will be further developed in order to facilitate also the language documentation process of other language groups.


This article explores valid brain electroencephalography (EEG) selection for EEG classification with different classifiers, which has been rarely addressed in previous studies and is mostly ignored by existing EEG processing methods and applications. Importantly, traditional selection methods are not able to select valid EEG signals for different classifiers. This article focuses on a source control-based valid EEG selection to reduce the impact of invalid EEG signals and aims to improve EEG-based classification performance for different classifiers. We propose a novel centroid-based EEG selection approach named CenEEGs, which uses a scale-and-shift-invariance similarity metric to measure similarities of EEG signals and then applies a globally optimal centroid strategy to select valid EEG signals with respect to a similarity threshold. A detailed comparison with several state-of-the-art time series selection methods by using standard criteria on 8 EEG datasets demonstrates the efficacy and superiority of CenEEGs for different classifiers.


The predominant weight of the existing evidence suggests that the effects of monetary policy on real economic activity are systematic, significant, and sizeable. Yet questions remain, both about individual empirical results and, more broadly, about the different methodological approaches that researchers have used to investigate these effects. This paper addresses the conceptual issues that account for our continuing to ask whether monetary policy has real effects even though, at a certain level, we do 'know' the answer. The paper's overview of theory and evidence suggests that much of the explanation for the continuing tug-of- war between research findings and subsequent questions in this area lies in two sets of limitations, one reflecting how economics conceptualizes behavioral processes and one reflecting how economics draws inferences from observed data.


16 alpha,17 alpha-Butylidenedioxy-11 beta,21-dihydroxy-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione (budesonide), a newly developed glucocorticosteroid, was administered subcutaneously to pregnant rabbits at doses of 0.01, 0.06 and 0.29 mumol/kg during the organogenetic period. As a reference compound the glucocorticosteroid fluocinolone acetonide, at the dose 0.28 mumol/kg, was used. In the group given 0.06 mumol/kg 2 dams out of 15 aborted. All animals receiving 0.29 mumol/kg aborted. All dams receiving fluocinolone acetonide aborted. The food consumption was reduced in all groups given budesonide. The body weight change was dose-dependently reduced for the groups receiving budesonide. The group receiving fluocinolone acetonide also showed a negative body weight change compared with the control group. The affected litter parameters were: reduced litter and fetal weight in the groups receiving 0.01 and 0.06 mumol/kg of budesonide, indicating intrauterine growth retardation. Furthermore, the frequency of fetal abnormalities, mainly skeletal anomalies, was significantly increased in the group receiving 0.06 mumol/kg of budesonide. The anomalies seen were mostly different kinds of delayed development of the bones in the skull and at the vertebra. A direct teratogenic effect cannot be excluded but severe maternal toxic reactions may have contributed to the pregnancy outcome.


We describe three Canadian brothers of Cree origin, with a previously undescribed pattern of malformation including distinctive craniofacial abnormalities with triangular facies, hypertelorism, low-set and posteriorly rotated ears, ocular colobomas, ptosis, brachycephaly with widely separated sutures, cleft soft palate, undescended testes, bifid scrotum and hypospadius, wide webbed neck, webbed fingers, pectus excavatum and hypersegmented sternum, and severe psychomotor retardation. The presence of normal brain imaging and physical growth distinguishes them from other syndromes with overlapping abnormalities. This is either an X-linked or autosomal recessive condition.


We recently identified CD46 as a novel prostate cancer cell surface antigen that shows lineage independent expression in both adenocarcinoma and small cell neuroendocrine subtypes of metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), discovered an internalizing human monoclonal antibody YS5 that binds to a tumor selective CD46 epitope, and developed a microtubule inhibitor-based antibody drug conjugate that is in a multi-center phase I trial for mCRPC (NCT03575819). Here we report the development of a novel CD46-targeted alpha therapy based on YS5. We conjugated 212 Pb, an in vivo generator of alpha-emitting 212 Bi and 212 Po, to YS5 through the chelator TCMC to create the radioimmunoconjugate, 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5. We characterized 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5 in vitro and established a safe dose in vivo . We next studied therapeutic efficacy of a single dose of 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5 using three prostate cancer small animal models: a subcutaneous mCRPC cell line-derived xenograft (CDX) model (subcu-CDX), an orthotopically grafted mCRPC CDX model (ortho-CDX), and a prostate cancer patient-derived xenograft model (PDX). In all three models, a single dose of 20 µCi 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5 was well tolerated and caused potent and sustained inhibition of established tumors, with significant increases of survival in treated animals. A lower dose (10 µCi 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5) was also studied on the PDX model, which also showed a significant effect on tumor growth inhibition and prolongation of animal survival. These results demonstrate that 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5 has an excellent therapeutic window in preclinical models including PDXs, opening a direct path for clinical translation of this novel CD46-targeted alpha radioimmunotherapy for mCRPC treatment. Significance : This study reports a novel CD46 targeted 212 Pb alpha particle radioimmunotherapy, 212 Pb-TCMC-YS5, that is well tolerated and shows potent anti-tumor activity (tumor growth inhibition and increase of animal survival) in vivo in three prostate cancer small animal models, i.e., a subcutaneous and an intraprostate orthotopic mCRPC cell line-derived xenograft models, and a prostate cancer patient-derived xenograft model. Given that YS5 is a clinical stage human antibody, this YS5-based 212 Pb alpha particle therapy has potential of translation to the clinic for treatment of mCRPC patients.


Nine stable mixed ligand dithiocarbamate complexes of Nickel (II) ion were prepared. The complexes were characterized with electronic spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, conductance measurement, melting point and percentage metal analysis. Resulting analytical data gave credence to the assignment of a tentative square planar geometry to all the complexes. The complexes were proposed to have a general formulae of [Ni(Sal)(Rdtc)], where Sal = salicylaldehyde; R = dibenzylamine(Bz2NH), methylphenylamine(MePhNH),pyrrolidineamine(pyrrolNH),piperidineamine(piperNH),morpholineamine(Morp NH), anilineamine(AnilNH), para-chloroanilineamine(p-ClAnilNH), toludineamine(TolNH) and anisidineamine(AnisNH); and dtc = dithiocarbamate anion. The metal complexes were screened against six different bacteria strain using Agar diffusion method. The antibacterial studies reveal that the metal complexes exhibit broad spectrum antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella oxytoca and Pseudomonas aureginosa with inhibitory range of 10.5.—20.0mm.


The assessment of seismicity is strongly dependent on the recorded events as data base. A uniform catalog of earthquakes in Iran and neighbouring regions is provided to use for seismic hazard assessment of the country. Since the recurrence time of maximum credible earthquake can not be estimated directly from mb, empirical relationships for different seismotectonic provinces arc established to convert mb to Ms, which is a suitable magnitude scale for our purpose. It emerges from completeness study of the catalog that many small and moderate earthquakes are missed out, specially in the historical and early instrumental time-periods.


Battelle has developed a mesoscale combustor/evaporator that provides a lightweight and compact source of heating, cooling, or energy generation for both man-portable and stationary applications. The device uses microscale flow channels that increase the available surface area for heat transfer and reduce the fluid boundary layer. These characteristics in turn result in heat fluxes for hydrocarbon/air combustion in excess of 25 W/cm2 and thermal efficiencies of 80 to 90%. Furthermore, high heat transfer rates allow for short channels and reduced pressure drops.
 Recent development efforts have focused on obtaining low emissions and improving the combustor/evaporator fabrication process. By using spatially varying stoichiometry inside the combustor, catalyst coated microchannels, and increased coolant temperature, the combustor's CO and NOx emissions were reduced to below California standards for hot water heaters and boilers. The fabrication process photochemically machines thin metal laminates and then uses diffusion bonding to form a monolithic component. This approach is capable of high fin aspect ratios and can be scaled up for mass production.


The disclosure regime introduced by the EU Damages Directive is largely unprecedented in many EU Member States. Its implementation raises a number of thorny questions for both legal scholarship and practice. This contribution proposes a comparative analysis of Germany's implementation through the lens of US discovery as a means of exposing issues, testing weaknesses, and exploring potential solutions. While the US certainly does not get everything right, it has grappled with questions of disclosure for decades. This wealth of experience and case law provides a rich vein for European (civil law) legislators and practitioners alike to mine. To this end, we analyse the key uncertainties that persist in Germany's implementation: from the conditions and costs of disclosure, to the protections against disclosure, and the consequences of a breach. Each step of the way the US model serves as a preface to the German approach, providing context for a critical comparative analysis. We conclude with practical recommendations for the future.
Disclosure, Discovery, Damages Directive, Comparative Law, European Law, German Law, US Law, Litigation Hold, Legal Privilege, Principle of Effectiveness


The aim of this study was to access the bacterial pathogens in surface water of Cauvery River, Near Mysore, Karnataka, South India. The samples were collected from 12 sampling stations, nearby respective treatment plants and analyzed over a period of year during three seasons of 2011-2013 (winter, summer and monsoon). The water samples were analyzed for the microbiological parameters such as Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC), Total Coliform Count (TCC), Faecal Coliform Count (FCC) and E. coli. The heterotrophic plate count was found in the range of 2.4×10 8 CFU/ml in winter, 2.5×10 8 CFU/ml in summer and 2.8×10 8 CFU/ml in monsoon. The total coliform count 460 MPN/100 ml to 1,100 MPN/100ml in winter, 460 MPN/100ml to 1,533 MPN/100ml in summer and 1,100 MPN/100ml to >2,400 MPN/100ml in monsoon. The results of the study also indicate that E. coli (48%) was the most prevalent in all samples followed by Salmonella spp, Shigella spp (20%) and Yersinia spp(8%). The current study shows that during monsoon season the pathogen load is higher compared to other seasons (winter and summer).The frequent isolation of these bacterial pathogens in River Cauvery highlights the risk to human health associated with intentional and unintentional consumption of untreated surface water. This study also added the essential baseline information of the microbial population for this section of the Cauvery River.


Background Only few data are available about rituximab (RTX) in spondyloarthritis. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of rituximab treatment in several subsets of spondyloarthritis (SpA) using the data of the AIR (AutoImmunity and Rituximab) registry. Methods All patients receiving rituximab (RTX) for spondyloarthritis, and included in the AIR registry from September 2005 to September 2010, were eligible for the study, and retrospectively analysed. Patient characteristics, indications, therapy regimen, and tolerance and efficacy of RTX were collected at baseline and at 3- and 6-month follow-up, then every 6 months or at disease relapse. The response to treatment was evaluated by BASDAI reduction over 2 units (on a 0-10 scale) for axial disease, joint count reduction over 20% for peripheral disease, and CRP reduction. Side effects were recorded. Results Among the 595 patients included in the AIR registry, 26 SpA patients, from 13 centres were reported; mean age 51 years, 13 men, ankylosing spondylitis (10), undiffenciated spondyloarthritis (7), and psoriatic arthritis (9). The mean disease duration was 8.8 years (1-40), extra articular features: psoriasis 12 cases, uveitis 4 cases, Crohn's disease 3 cases. The mean number of DMARDs before rituximab was 2.4, a previous TNF blocker has been used in 23 cases; rituximab treatment courses was a mean of 1.5 (1 to 5), with a mean follow up of 17.8 months, and a total of 35.6 patients-years. Efficacy was evaluable in 23 cases, with a response between 3 to 7 months after treatment in 11 cases: 3 out of 3 anti-TNF naïve patients and 8 out of 20 anti-TNF non responder patients. No differences were seen between responders and non responders for baseline CRP, HLA-B27 presence, gender, disease duration, extra articular features, immunoglobulin serum levels, clinical presentation (axial/peripheric) or initial diagnosis (AS, PsA, SpA). Safety: one severe infection, one cardiac failure, 2 cases of psoriasis deterioration, 2 uveitis episodes (one de novo) were recorded. Conclusions In this nationwide open experience of rituximab on several subsets of spondyloarthritis, we saw only a moderate efficacy, more evident for patients naive for anti TNF agents. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The present study describes a new model for passive immunization of the respiratory tract with IgA in comparison to other isotypes. Monoclonal IgA‐isotype‐switch variants were isolated from different IgG‐producing hybridoma clones specific for surface epitopes of bacterial respiratory tract pathogens. Analysis of the molecular form of the IgA variants revealed the simultaneous production of monomeric, dimeric and higher polymeric IgA by a single‐cell line with predominance of the polymeric forms. The specificities of the IgA variants were identical to the parent IgG antibodies as demonstrated by inhibition experiments. The IgA variant antibodies were separated into monomers and polymers by gel filtration. Intravenous injection of the different molecular forms of IgA and of IgG into mice were used to investigate the transport characteristics of IgA into murine upper and lower respiratory tract secretions by the physiological route in comparison to IgG. Polymeric IgA variant, monomeric IgA variant and IgG were detected in immunologically active form in both nasal secretion and bronchoalveolar fluid as evidenced by binding to their antigens in an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. The relative contribution of the specific exogenous monoclonal IgA and monoclonal IgG to total IgA and IgG, respectively, was determined in secretions. Comparison of the secretion to serum transport ratios clearly indicates selective transport of polymeric IgA variant into nasal secretions relative to IgG parent antibody. Molecular and functional characteristics of the IgA variants make them ideal for passive mucosal immunization experiments and identification of protective epitopes in mucosal immunity.


Over the last decade, the Short Message Service (SMS) has become a primary communication channel. Nevertheless, its popularity has also given rise to the so-called SMS spam. These messages, i.e., spam, are annoying and potentially malicious by exposing SMS users to credential theft and data loss. To mitigate this persistent threat, we propose a new model for SMS spam detection based on pre-trained Transformers and Ensemble Learning. The proposed model uses a text embedding technique that builds on the recent advancements of the GPT-3 Transformer. This technique provides a high-quality representation that can improve detection results. In addition, we used an Ensemble Learning method where four machine learning models were grouped into one model that performed significantly better than its separate constituent parts. The experimental evaluation of the model was performed using the SMS Spam Collection Dataset. The obtained results showed a state-of-the-art performance that exceeded all previous works with an accuracy that reached 99.91%.


Recently, a new noninvasive ultrasonic technique called the coronary Doppler vibrometry (CDV) was developed to detect the audio-frequency vibrations in the vessel wall and surrounding tissues generated by the turbulence flow associated with the stenosed artery. Inspiring clinical data for diagnosing coronary artery stenosis (CAS) were obtained from CDV with high sensitivity and specificity. However, there still exists a significant limitation, one of which is the long examination time. In estimating myocardial vibrations, we must extract the myocardial tissue Doppler data from the multiple segments that are adjacent to the coronary artery in each echocardiography view and hence we need to acquire multiple data that are as many as the number of segments. To deal with this problem, we consider the use of unfocused transmission which is called the flash imaging. By using the flash imaging technique, we can interrogate all segments associated the coronary artery by using only one unfocused beam in each echocardiography view, and we need less data acquisitions. As a result, the data acquisition time is reduced significantly and so is the examination time. Vibrations were characterized by the vibration index (VI) computed from the tissue velocity spectrum for diagnosing coronary artery stenosis. The feasibility of the proposed approach was confirmed through a series of the clinical testing.


This paper reviews both the beneficial and adverse effects of permissive hypercapnic respiratory acidosis in critically ill newborn foals. It has been shown that partial carbon dioxide pressure (PCO2) above the traditional safe range (hypercapnia), has beneficial effects on the physiology of the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous system in neonates. In human neonatal critical care medicine permissive hypercapnic acidosis is generally well-tolerated by patients and is more beneficial to their wellbeing than normal carbon dioxide (CO2) pressure or normocapnia. Even though adverse effects of hypercapnia have been reported, especially in patients with central nervous system pathology and/or chronic infection, critical care clinicians often artificially increase PCO2 to take advantage of its positive effects on compromised neonate tissues. This is referred to as therapeutic hypercapnia. Hypercapnic respiratory acidosis is common in critically ill newborn foals and has traditionally been considered as not beneficial. A search of online scientific databases was conducted to survey the literature on the effects of hypercapnia in neonates, with emphasis on newborn foals. The dynamic status of safety levels of PCO2 and data on the effectiveness of different carbon dioxide levels are not available for newborn foals and should be scientifically determined. Presently, permissive hypercapnia should be implemented or tolerated cautiously in compromised newborn foals and its use should be based on relevant data from adult horses and other species.


While diabetes mellitus is most often associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity, these factors do not fully account for the increased burden of cardiovascular disease in patients with the disease. This strengthens the need for comprehensive studies investigating the underlying mechanisms mediating diabetic cardiovascular disease and, more specifically, diabetes-associated atherosclerosis. In addition to the recognized metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes mellitus, upregulation of putative pathological pathways such as advanced glycation end products, the renin-angiotensin system, oxidative stress, and increased expression of growth factors and cytokines have been shown to play a causal role in atherosclerotic plaque formation and may explain the increased risk of macrovascular complications. This review discusses the methods used to assess the development of atherosclerosis in the clinic as well as addressing novel biomarkers of atherosclerosis, such as low-density lipoprotein receptor-1. Experimental models of diabetes-associated atherosclerosis are discussed, such as the streptozocin-induced diabetic apolipoprotein E knockout mouse. Results of major clinical trials with inhibitors of putative atherosclerotic pathways are presented. Other topics covered include the role of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and fibric acid derivatives with respect to their lipid-altering ability, as well as their emerging pleiotropic anti-atherogenic actions; the effect of inhibiting the renin-angiotensin system by either ACE inhibition or angiotensin II receptor antagonism; the effect of glycemic control and, in particular, the promising role of thiazolidinediones with respect to their direct anti-atherogenic actions; and newly emerging mediators of diabetes-associated atherosclerosis, such as advanced glycation end products, vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor. Overall, this review aims to highlight the observation that various pathways, both independently and in concert, appear to contribute toward the pathology of diabetes-associated atherosclerosis. Furthermore, it reflects the need for combination therapy to combat this disease.


Background Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells involved in initiating the immune response, presenting antigens to T cells and leading to T cell proliferation. In an immature state, DCs lack accessory signals required for T cell stimulation but are highly specialised to capture antigens. Full DC maturation changes the cell surface phenotype and facilitates stimulation of T cell proliferative responses. To examine the degree of DC maturity associated with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC), the authors examined the phenotype and antigen-presentation capability of blood derived DCs from VKC patients and from normal controls. Methods Flow cytometry was used to identify the cell surface expression of markers of DC maturity (CD83, CD86, major histocompatibility complex class II) and mixed leucocyte reactions to assess DC induction of T cell proliferation. Results DCs derived from VKC patients were of a more mature phenotype than those from normal controls. However, these VKC DCs had reduced capability for induction of T cell proliferation compared with DCs from controls. Conclusion The increased maturity of DCs in VKC patients correlates with the heightened immune responsiveness associated with this disorder. A number of mechanisms may underlie the impaired ability of DCs in atopy to stimulate T cell proliferation. This impairment of DC induction of T cell activation is likely to be one factor which contributes to the modified inflammatory response seen in VKC patients and the recognised susceptibility of these patients to viral infection.


Telerehabilitation systems for stroke survivors have been predominantly designed to measure and quantify movement in order to guide and encourage rehabilitation regular exercises at home. We set out to study what aspect of the movement data was essential, to better inform sensor design. We investigated face-to-face stroke rehabilitation sessions through a series of interviews and observations involving 16 stroke rehabilitation specialists including physiatrists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. We found that specialists are not solely interested in movement data, and that experiential information about stroke survivors' lived experience plays an essential role in specialists interpreting movement data and creating a rehabilitation plan. We argue for a reconceptualization in stroke telerehabilitation that is more inclusive of non-movement data, and present design implications to better account for experiential information in telerehabilitation systems.


A wide variety of methods have been used to compute percolation thresholds. In lattice percolation, the most powerful of these methods consists of microcanonical simulations using the union-find algorithm to efficiently determine the connected clusters, and (in two dimensions) using exact values from conformal field theory for the probability, at the phase transition, that various kinds of wrapping clusters exist on the torus. We apply this approach to percolation in continuum models, finding overlaps between objects with real-valued positions and orientations. In particular, we find precise values of the percolation transition for disks, squares, rotated squares, and rotated sticks in two dimensions and confirm that these transitions behave as conformal field theory predicts. The running time and memory use of our algorithm are essentially linear as a function of the number of objects at criticality.


A novel metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure has been developed for use in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) as a voltage-programmable link (VPL). The present structure relies on a combination of a refractory metal and aluminum as the lower electrode, and aluminum alone as the top electrode. The insulator, prepared by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, comprises a sandwich of nearly stoichiometric silicon dioxide interposed between two layers of silicon-rich silicon nitride. This MIM structure has displayed characteristics desirable for use in the emerging FPGA technology.<<ETX>>


Ayurveda is ancient medical science. In our ancient samhita, kamala vyadhi is briefly described. Kamala is pittaja nanatmaja as well as raktapradoshaja vyadhi. Charakacharya has considered kamala as advanced stage of panduroga. Sushrutacharya has considered kamala as a separate disease and also may be due to further complication of panduroga, whereas Vagbhatacharya described kamala as a separate disease. Kamala can be correlated with jaundice in modern medical science. In kamala vyadhi aacharyas has explained virechana karma. Modern science has limitations in treating kamala vyadhi (jaundice) but ayurvedic literature clearly explained pathology and treatment of kamala vyadhi which shows the specificity of ayurveda.
Aim and Objective : To review the nidanpanchak, ayurvedic management of kamala vyadhi . To review the pathyapathya mentioned in kamala vyadhi .
Methodology : Text will be collected from ayurvedic samhitas ,different websites and journals will be referred.
Result : Shodhana and shamana chikitsa are effective in the management of kamala.
Discussion : In ayurveda nidan parivarjana , shamana, shodhana are the way to treat any disease hence in kamala we should  really examine causative factors and then give shamana  and shodhana chikitsa .


A look into some future developments is presented. These are: the concept of an air vehicle that can stay aloft for days, weeks, even months; free flight; satellite navigation; intelligent transportation systems; automobile autopilot; personal airmobile; STAP; systems of systems; nanotechnology and MEMS.


Gaussian processes are a flexible Bayesian nonparametric modelling approach that has been widely applied to learning tasks such as facial expression recognition, image reconstruction, and human pose estimation. To address the issues of poor scaling from exact inference methods, approximation methods based on sparse Gaussian processes (SGP) and variational inference (VI) are necessary for the inference on large datasets. However, one of the problems involved in SGP, especially in latent variable models, is that the distribution of the inducing inputs may fail to capture the distribution of training inputs, which may lead to inefficient inference and poor model prediction. Hence, we propose a regularization approach for sparse Gaussian processes. We also extend this regularization approach into latent sparse Gaussian processes in a unified view, considering the balance of the distribution of inducing inputs and embedding inputs. Furthermore, we justify that performing VI on a sparse latent Gaussian process with this regularization term is equivalent to performing VI on a related empirical Bayes model with a prior on the inducing inputs. Also stochastic variational inference is available for our regularization approach. Finally, the feasibility of our proposed regularization method is demonstrated on three real-world datasets.


A digital signal-processing method for phase noise measurement is presented. By properly over-sampling the input signal and adopting an optimized coherent demodulation scheme, the method grants acceptable performance in analyzing sinusoidal carriers the frequencies of which range from fractions of Hertz up to hundreds of megahertz. Moreover, the method shows itself a valid alternative both to analog measurement systems, especially for the evaluation of close-to-the-carrier phase noise, and time interval analyzers, particularly for carrier frequencies greater than few units of megahertz. At first, the fundamental stages of the proposed method are described in detail. Its theoretical performance is then derived and compared to that granted by other measurement solutions already available on the market. The results of experiments carried out on actual signal sources are finally presented.


Abstract This paper presents the design and implementation of a Reconfigurable Microfactory for educational purposes, consisting of two Reconfigurable Micro Machine Tools with Universal Numerical Control, one Robotic Arm, and two Warehouses for raw materials and finished product, which altogether form an assembly kit of mechanical, electrical and electronic parts. This project is being developed by Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, and aims to strengthen the professional development of students in the areas of mechatronics and manufacturing. Miniaturization, reconfigurability and use of low cost items are innovative aspects that facilitate the acquisition of this Microfactory in educational institutions, as it has a significant educational and cost savings benefits compared with conventional machine tools and commercial computer numerical control machines.


We study two-player zero-sum stopping games in continuous time and infinite horizon. We prove that the value in randomized stopping times exists as soon as the payoff processes are right-continuous. In particular, as opposed to existing literature, we do not assume any conditions on the relations between the payoff processes.


Abstract 3640 Poster Board III-576 Adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) reside in the bone marrow (BM) in so-called niches. Within this specialized microenvironment, the interactions of HSC with adhesion molecules on neighbouring cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) components are thought to be critical for the maintenance of the HSC population. Comparative gene-expression profiling of purified HSC in homeostatic and regenerative conditions allowed the identification of a set of differentially expressed ECM proteins. One of these proteins was the novel ECM protein βg-h3, which plays a role in cell-ECM interactions, by binding to type I, II and IV collagens and cellular integrins. We postulated that βig-h3 could have a role in HSC biology by being both a homeostatic and regenerative regulator of HSC self-renewal and differentiation. First we analyzed the mRNA expression in human CD34 + hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) isolated from BM, mobilized peripheral blood (MPB) and umbilical cord blood (UCB). The expression of βig-h3 was found to be significantly higher in BM-CD34 + cells as compared to MPB-CD34 + cells, suggesting a role for this ECM protein in retaining HSC in the BM. To determine expression of βig-h3 on the various subsets within the heterogeneous CD34 + population, the expression was compared between sorted sub-populations of BM-CD34 + cells: megakaryocyte-erythrocyte-progenitors (MEP: CD38 + /CD110 + /CD45RA − ), common myeloid progenitors (CMP: CD38 + /CD110 − /CD45RA − ), granulocyte-monocyte-progenitors (GMP: CD38 + /CD110 − /CD45RA + ) and more immature CD34 + /CD38 − HSC. The purity of the sub-populations was analyzed by colony forming assays. These data indicate that at least the mRNA expression of βig-h3 was highest in GMPs. Analysis of different human cell types revealed that the highest βig-h3 mRNA expression is measured in monocytes, dendritic cells and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), while its expression in megakaryocytes and HUVEC is comparable to that in HSPC. In addition, cell surface expression of the βig-h3 protein was determined by flowcytometry. βig-h3 was found to be expressed on the cell surface of only a subpopulation of BM derived CD34 + cells (0.5%), monocytes (5%), MSCs (11%) and megakaryocytes (30%). Intracellular flowcytometry staining revealed that βig-h3 is expressed inside CD34 + cells derived from all sources. Since there is evidence in several other cell types that βig-h3 plays a role in enhancing cell adhesion and migration, adhesion experiments using CD34 + cells were performed. These experiments show a significant (p + cells to βig-h3 compared to a BSA coating (mean 40% (SEM ± 9.8%) and 23% (SEM ± 5.0%), respectively, (n=3)). Further experiments showed that adhesion of CD34 + cells to βig-h3 is mediated by both β1- and β2- integrins. The functional relevance of the target proteins in HSC differentiation and self-renewal was studied by lentiviral mediated overexpression. We used a βig-h3-SIN-GFP vector or a control SIN-GFP vector to transduce CD34 + cells isolated from MPB or UCB and cultured them towards a megakaryocytic lineage using TPO, SCF, Flt3 and IL6. Overexpression of βig-h3 in MPB and UCB-CD34 + cells resulted in an acceleration of the megakaryopoiesis and in an increased percentage of mature megakaryocytic cells (i.e. CD41 + ) two weeks after transduction. In conclusion, βig-h3 is an adhesive protein for HSPCs and GMP9s express significantly more βig-h3 as compared to other CD34 + subsets. Moreover, ectopic expression of βig-h3 in CD34 + cells accelerates differentiation towards megakaryocytes. These data suggest that upregulation of βig-h3 in HSCs may be a vital element driving lineage commitment of HSCs in homeostatic or regenerative conditions. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


"I'm a six," Freddy Lowell says after a thoughtful pause. Seven milligrams of Dilaudid, a potent narcotic pain reliever, is already being pushed into a port in his chest by a visibly busy nurse. She registers his pain score with a grunt. She will be back in two hours to ask for an updated number. At some point during this time, his pain will creep back, so strong it will render him mute. When the nurse next inquires, he will respond with seven fingers, his face buried in his pillow.

The Numerical Rating Scale has been a mainstay of clinical care since the late 1990s, when pain came to be referred to as the "fifth vital sign" alongside temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. But while the first four are measured with precise objectivity, pain is nuanced, complex, and personal, so much so that Freddy will quickly chastise anyone who tries to empathize with his plight. "Nobody knows what it's like," he says decisively.


In today's life consumer reviews are the part of everyday life. User read the reviews before purchase, or stores it for finding the best product through comparison of the product review. From customers view point the reviews play vital role to make a decision regarding an online purchase as well as spammers to write the fake reviews which can increase or defame the reputation of any product. Spammers are using these platforms illegally for financial benefits/incentives are involved in writing fake reviews and they are trying to achieve their motive in terms of financial or to defeat the competitor which causes an explosive growth of sentiment/opinion spamming of writing forged/fake reviews. The present studies and research are used to analyse and categorize the opinion spamming into three different detection targets opinion spam, spammers, and to find the collusive opinion spammer groups so that false opinions can be avoided. Opinion spamming further divided into three different types based on textual and linguistic, behavioral, and relational features. The motivation behind this work is to study the dynamics of spam diffusion and extract the latent features that fuel the diffusion process. The user-based features and content-based features have been used for the categorization of spam/non-spam content. The contributions of this work are building the datasetwhich assists as the ground-truth for classifying/analyzing the variation of fraud/genuine and non-spam/spam information diffusion and to analyze the effects of topics over the diffusibility of non-spam and spam evidences/information. The paper, carried out an in-depth analysis of Twitter Spam diffusion.


Discussions on public sector ethics essentially cover three main issues. First, how to establish a theoretical argument capable of providing answers to queries about what is considered an ethical and unethical conducts in public sector management. Second, how to develop ethical instruments and standards capable of helping resolve ethical dilemmas that commonly occur in the public sector. Third, how to institutionalize ethical principles and instruments developed in public institutions. Both theoretical studies and empirical experiences indicate that the essence of the various forms of a dilemma in the public sector is the conflict between personal virtue and public virtue. These ethical dilemmas may be subdued by institutionalizing ethical principles in public institutions, and it basically involves two substantial activities, namely integration, and revitalization of ethical principles in public institutions. These ethical principles should be integrated within a system of conducts covering standard values and norms that serve as a reference in conducting oneself and in minimizing unethical conducts and in preventing maladministration in public sector management. Legal instruments remain necessary in order to ensure the effectiveness of ethical principles as a code of conduct for government personnel to carry out their tasks and functions. Of no less importance is the effort to improve leadership that highly reveres ethical principles in the public bureaucracy.


A chelating cyclophane has been synthesized by cyclocondensation of two ethylenediaminetetraacetic (EDTA) units with two p-phenylenediamine units: the resulting cyclophane is 2,9,18,25-tetraoxo-4,7,20,23-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10,17,20,23,26-octaaza[10.10]paracyclophane, abbreviated as (bis-edtapdn)H(4). Cyclocondensation of two EDTA and two 1,5-diaminonaphthalene units has given the naphthalenophane, 2,9,22,29-tetraoxo-4,7,24,27-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10,21,24,27,30-octaaza[10.10](1,5)naphthalenophane, (bis-edtanap)H(4). Studies of electronic and EPR spectra have been carried out on the binuclear Cu(2+) complexes of these new ligands and of related chelating cyclophanes, 2,9,25,32-tetraoxo-4,7,27,30-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10,24,27,30,33-octaaza[10.1.10.1]paracyclophane, abbreviated as (bis-edtabpm)H(4), and 2,9,25,32-tetraoxo-4,7,27,30-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10,24,27,30,33-octaaza-17,40-dioxa[10.1.10.1]paracyclophane, abbreviated as (bis-edtabpe)H(4). Common features of these chelating cyclophanes are as follows: (1) amino, amide, and pendant carboxymethyl donor groups are substituents in the cyclophane ring, and (2) the amide groups are directly bound to the aromatic groups. These ligands formed neutral binuclear Cu(2+) chelates [Cu(2)L](0) that are water-insoluble. In alkaline solutions, these Cu(2+) complexes were converted to anionic chelates [Cu(2)(LH(-)(4))](4)(-) in which deprotonated amide nitrogens coordinated Cu(2+) ions. These anionic metal chelates of (bis-edtapdn)H(4), (bis-edtabpm)H(4), and (bis-edtabpe)H(4) exhibited three pi-pi transition bands in the spectral range 240-340 nm, in contrast to the uncoordinated cyclophanes, which showed a single band in this spectral range. The unusual pi-pi transition spectra of the [Cu(2)(LH(-)(4))](4)(-) complexes originate from the combined effect of metal-ligand charge transfer and proximity of the pi systems. The absorption and emission spectra of (bis-edtanap)H(4) were also influenced by coordination with copper. The EPR spectrum of [Cu(2)(bis-edtanapH(-)(4))](4)(-) in a methanol glass matrix showed a hyperfine structure due to the spin exchange between two Cu(2+) ions. These unusual spectral and magnetic properties arise from the strong coordination between Cu(2+) ions and deprotonated amide nitrogens that are bound to the pi systems.


Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating infection caused by the JC virus. It is an emerging disease in transplant recipients; however, it remains poorly defined. Twenty-four cases of PML reported in the literature in transplant recipients were reviewed. Of the 24 cases, nine occurred in renal, six in bone marrow, four in liver, three in heart and two in lung transplant recipients. Median time to onset was 17 months; 71% occurred within 24 months of transplantation. PML tended to occur later in the kidney recipients (P=0.04). Seventy-five percent had subacute presentation; hemiparesis (50%), apathy (46%) and confusion (38%) were the most frequently presented features. Treatment included reduction of immunosuppression and chemotherapy, mainly cidofovir. Death occurred within 2.5 months of the onset of symptoms in 17 patients (71%). PML is a unique entity that should be considered in any transplant recipient with neurological symptoms. The outcome is usually fatal, although regression has been reported.


Prior narrative and quantitative reviews have suggested that personal construct therapy (PCT) is an efficacious and viable form of treatment. However, these reviews failed to include all published, controlled PCT outcome studies and did not account for all measures of outcome. The present quantitative review, therefore, offers a comprehensive integration of the 22 published studies that compare PCT to a control group, examining its overall efficacy at posttest and follow-up as well as its effects for different types of outcome measures. Overall, the efficacy of PCT was found to be somewhat weaker than that reported in previous reviews. It was also found that traditional self-report and behavioral observation measures tended to yield larger effects compared to measures that focused on personal meanings and scored content supplied by the client.


Ultrasonic anemometry is a relatively new method of measuring the air velocity in underground excavations and is not widely used. The method has been mainly used for surface applications, such as meteorology and fluid flow measurement. Several instruments were looked at to determine their applicability for continuous underground monitoring systems. The units fall into two main categories: variable distance units and fixed distance units. The method relies on the acceleration and deceleration of ultrasonic pulses transmitted through a moving airstream. This study presents some of the results of the testing of variable and fixed distance ultrasonic anemometers in a wind tunnel and a mine drift.


We report the discovery of pressure-induced superconductivity in ferromagnetic UIr, which lacks inversion symmetry in the crystal structure. The Curie temperature TC1 = 46 K at ambient pressure decreases with increasing pressure, reaching a value of 11 K at 1.5 GPa. It presumably decreases further up to about Pc1 = 1.7 GPa. The ferromagnetic region named 'F1' exists up to Pc1. A second magnetic phase named 'F2' with a low ferromagnetic moment appears in the pressure range from 1.9 to 2.4 GPa. In the 'F2' phase, the magnetic transition temperature TC2 decreases with pressure, from 18 K at 1.9 GPa to approximately zero at PC2 = 2.6–2.7 GPa. In this critical pressure region, superconductivity appears below Tsc = 0.14 K.


Buhler and Tompa (2002) introduced the random projection algorithm for the motif discovery problem and demonstrated that this algorithm performs well on both simulated and biological samples. We describe a modification of the random projection algorithm, called the uniform projection algorithm, which utilizes a different choice of projections. We replace the random selection of projections by a greedy heuristic that approximately equalizes the coverage of the projections. We show that this change in selection of projections leads to improved performance on motif discovery problems. Furthermore, the uniform projection algorithm is directly applicable to other problems where the random projection algorithm has been used, including comparison of protein sequence databases.


Based on Foley (2003), this article sets the financial situations of firms, classifying hedges, speculatives and Ponzi. On the other hand, it applies a discriminant analysis, a multivariate technique that classify empirically based on the financial indexes. As a result, the theoretical and empirical classifications are consistent and these shows that in the growing phase of a boom, there is a high percentage of hedge firms, and in turn, arises a slight spoilage of your financial stability. Thus, that gives an empirical evidence of relevant assertions of the Financial Instability Hypothesis; prove the microeconomic segment of Foley (2003) and sets out an alternative indicator of the financial fragility.


Electron number density measurement devices working under the conditions of non-steady-state high-pressure Thomson discharge are discussed. The necessary conditions for evaluating the electron number density and the production rate of the external ionization using Ohm's law are qualitatively stated. In addition, an algorithm for the space charge influence on the electrostatic field applied is derived. The theoretical estimations and some preliminary experimental results show the predictions of this algorithm to be sufficiently good. Some advantages and possibilities of use of the method are emphasized and discussed. Using the results obtained and/or summarized in this work, an easy interpretation of other results obtained using Ohm's law, neglecting the influence of avalanche ionization, is possible.


As a blind linear-interference-canceller for DS-CDMA mobile communications, the orthogonal matched filter (OMF) minimizes the power of the output while maintaining constant power of the desired signal in the output. This paper studies the extension of OMF to an RAKE receiver (OMF-RAKE), which adaptively controls the steering vectors that determine the constraint. It also applies the QR-RLS algorithm to estimate the OMF-RAKE parameters and investigates a hardware implementation that employs a systolic array. Computer simulations show that OMF-RAKE with the QR-RLS algorithm and the systolic array structure can reduce the computational complexity to about a half that of the conventional RLS-type algorithm without degrading the BER.


A new near optimum receiver for linear MIMO channels is proposed. The main structure of this receiver is based on estimation of spatial signature matrix and soft joint detection of the received signal. In the proposed joint detector, by some modification on the feedback structure of iterative joint detectors, the probability of convergence to local minima is decreased. From various simulations, it has been shown that the receiver is efficient for trellis MPSK coded signals. The computational complexity of the channel estimator and soft joint detector has a linear relationship with the number of transmitter and receiver antennas and the tracking speed of the channel estimator is relatively sufficient. Therefore, the proposed receiver can be used in high bit rate wireless communication services.


ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the impact of the pandemic (from 2020 to 2021) on levels of trust and legitimacy of the Chilean police (Carabineros) by the population in the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile. Based on a pseudo-panel method and a cohort fixed-effects regression model that controlled for unobserved time invariant heterogeneity, we found a significant increase in police legitimacy during the pandemic (on average, 63%, among the adult residents of the region, based on the police legitimacy index comprising six perceptual variables). Evidence suggests that the perceived performance of the Carabineros during the pandemic served to recover the trust of citizens, at least temporarily, even when this intervention entailed the enforcement of anti-popular measures.


GATA-1 is shown to regulate development/differentiation of myeloid lineages including eosinophils. CCR3 is almost exclusively expressed on eosinophils and has been extensively studied for a molecular target to interfere eosinophils-associated diseases such as asthma. There are several putative gata-1 sites in exon1 of CCR3 and the regions flanking the exon1. To know whether GATA-1 is involved in CCR3 expression and further which gata-1 site is responsible for GATA-1 binding, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and mutation analysis using peripheral blood eosinophils, developing eosinophils, and cell lines that express varying degrees of CCR3 and GATA-1. We found that GATA-1 strongly bound to the regions in the exon1 and the intron1 downstream the exon1. K562 cells, which endogenously express the highest level of GATA-1, exhibit much higher CCR3 reporter activity than cells expressing low or intermediate levels of GATA-1. Introduction of DN-GATA-1 resulted in a decrease in CCR3 reporter activity. Among eight point mutants for the gata-1 sites, the first gata-1 sequence of exon1 is solely responsible for CCR3 transcription, which was subsequently confirmed by EMSA.


Sixteen species of passerine birds captured during a 2.5 yr period in Central Spain were examined for hematozoa. Haemoproteus spp., Leucocytozoon spp., Trypanosoma spp., Plasmodium spp., and microfilariae were observed. The most prevalent species were in the genus Leucocytozoon. The majority of the records are new for Spain and some represent new host records. More than one-half of the birds examined were infected with at least one parasite species. These records are similar to those reported from other areas in northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.


Accountability is to stakeholders and it is a process. Organizations make a commitment to respond to the needs o f its stakeholders in all its activities and processes. This study focused on the nature and extent o f accountability to targeted beneficiaries, with a focus on NGOs that work in northern Kenya. The conceptual framework adopted for this study is the GAP (Global Accountability Project) model which considers accountability to have four dimensions. These are transparency, participation, evaluation, and complaint and response mechanisms. The model asserts that to be accountable, an organization needs to integrate these four dimensions into its policies, procedures and practices, at all levels and stages of decision-making and implementation, in relation to both internal and external stakeholders. The research question that this survey sought to explore is the extent to which NGOs in Northern Kenya are accountable to their targeted beneficiaries and the challenges they face in this. The study is hinged on the premise that one cannot separate the process of governance and importance o f stakeholders. Based on this, stakeholders need to be well identified and strategies developed to take care o f their varied interests if the NGO is to be effective in its operations. The research adopted a survey where forty (40) NGOs were given questionnaires and the result was that twenty six (26) were filled and returned. The results o f the survey showed that the NGOs are aware o f the importance o f stakeholders and that they do view the community as a major stakeholder. Despite this level of awareness, the research reveals that the level of accountability towards these stakeholders is still quite low. Several reasons have been cited as to how come they are unable to be fully accountable to the communities they serve. The limitation o f the study was that the area chosen was vast and so face to face interviews could not be done and hence the data collection was only via questionnaires. The suggestion for further research is on the role o f other actors such as government, international NGOs and other development practitioners can play in helping local NGOs set quality standards for accountability.


This paper brings together a team of specialists in optical metrology, museum curation, collection digitization and 3D development to describe and illustrate by example a method for the selection of the most suitable camera views, vantage viewpoints, from a large image dataset intended for metric 3D artefact reconstruction. The presented approach is capable of automatically identifying and processing the most appropriate images from a multi-image photogrammetric network captured by an imaging specialist. The aim is to produce a 3D model suited to a wide range of museum uses, including visitor interactives. The approach combines off-the-shelf imaging equipment with rigorous photogrammetric bundle adjustment and multi-view stereo (MVS), supported by an image selection process that is able to take into account range-related and visibility-related constraints. The paper focusses on the two key steps of image clustering and iterative image selection. The developed method is illustrated by the 3D recording of four ancient Egyptian artefacts from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at UCL, with an analysis taking into account completeness, coordination uncertainty and required number of images. Comparison is made against the baseline of the established CMVS (Clustering Views for Multi-view Stereo), which is a free package for selecting vantage images within a huge image collection. For the museum, key outputs from the 3D recording process are visitor interactives which are built around high quality textured mesh models. The paper therefore considers the quality of the output from each process as input to texture model generation. Results demonstrate that whilst both methods can provide high quality records, our new method, Image Network Designer (IND), can provide a better image selection for MVS than CMVS in terms of coordination uncertainty and completeness of the final model for the museum recording of artefacts. Furthermore, the improvements gained, particularly in model completeness, minimise the significant overhead in mesh editing needed to provide a more direct and economical route to 3D model output.


This paper describes an experimental program of interactive assessment and instruction called GUIDES to Learning and Instruction. The program was designed for instruction in college level remedial and developmental programs and has been experimentally implemented in four colleges. By the use of micro-computer administration of measurement, the program provides sustained involvement in realistic tasks, uses a variety of response formats, including free response, probes for explanations of poor performance, gives feedback and second tries, and communicates to students and instructors. The paper discusses conclusions from implementation research regarding patterns of use, validity for instruction, and roles of instructors.


This thesis describes the work I conducted in two different areas, namely biomolecular sensing and quantitative cell biology. The work in the former area was focused on the optimization of plasmonic metamaterials for sensing applications, and in the latter on the characterization of extracellular vesicles released by glioblastoma cells under stress conditions. If these two areas appear to be very far apart, it is because they are; however, they are not entirely disconnected. Understanding the biological function of extracellular vesicles depends on the information that can be obtained using bioanalytical sensors, which consequently relates to the information that can be gained from cellular experiments. Attempts were therefore made to review and exploit biophysical approaches that link the two areas, with focus on how detailed insights about the nature of these vesicles relate to their biological function. At its core, this thesis deals with: i) plasmonic biomolecular sensing, discussing noiserelated issues, single-molecule detection and a dual-wavelength method to extract more – and more accurate – information from ensemble measurements of complex macromolecular entities, including extracellular vesicles; ii) an introduction to glioblastomas, cellular models of hypoxic and oxidative stress, the role of extracellular vesicles in cellular communication in cancer, and an exploratory omics approach to understand how the biochemical composition of cells and vesicles changes across different cell lines in response to stress. As an encompassing bridge, a review on the techniques used to characterize extracellular vesicles also acts as an integrating element of this thesis and will help the reader understand different aspects of relevance with respect to how the physical and biological viewpoints intersect. The main findings of the work on biomolecular sensing consist in: i) the clarification of the interplay between inhomogeneous binding probability to a nanosensor (which depends on diffusion/geometry) and the inhomogeneous sensitivity distribution of the nanosensor itself as combined sources of detection uncertainty and ii) a method exploiting dual-wavelength plasmonic sensing to estimate the degree of deformation of adsorbed extracellular vesicles and hence more accurate determination of their mean size and bulk concentration. In the second area we find that iii) the proteome of vesicles mainly depends on cell type of origin and is greatly affected by stress, although in a heterogeneous way, with respect to the cells proteome; on the contrary, iv) the lipid composition of extracellular vesicles is very stable across cell types and stress.


The performance of time-reversal focusing with a horizontal line array at different depths is investigated by normal mode modeling and computer simulation. It is observed that the focusing performance of a bottom-mounted horizontal time-reversal array is much better than that of a horizontal time-reversal array at other depths in shallow water. The normal mode modeling is used to explain this result. The absolute values of the modes at different depths are compared. It is shown that the number of modes whose absolute values close to zero is smaller at the bottom than that at other depths. It means that the horizontal time-reversal array deployed at the bottom can sample more modes, obtain more information of the probe source and achieve better focusing performance. The numerical simulations of time-reversal focusing performance under various conditions, such as different sound speed profiles, and different bottom parameters, lead to similar results.


Water is the key factor to ensure plant survival in the process of ecological restoration in the coal base of China northwest deserts. On the premise of meeting the mine production and living water demands, we should take measures such as dirt wastewater treatment and water-saving irrigation to increase income and reduce expenditure and allocate limited water re-sources rationally, to provide mining area ecological restoration maximum usable water resources. The mining dump has large slope and thin soil layer and it is easy to produce surface runoff. So it is particularly important to study the irrigation technology needed to satisfy vegetation restoration, on the premise of guaranteeing not to produce surface runoff and the slope stability. In this paper, through field plot test, the suitable irrigation method for mine slope, slope surface soil moisture migration characteristics and slope stability analysis were studied. Results show that three slope ir-rigation technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages. On the whole, the effect of drip irrigation is the best, micro spray irrigation is the second, infiltrating irrigation is not ideal. The permeability of mine soil slope is very strong, the infiltration rate of the slope direction is the high-est, inverse slope infiltration rate is lowest. In the process of irrigation, with the increase of soil moisture content, slope safety factor is the decreased obviously, the whole slope surface soil moisture content is 14% for the slope stability safety threshold.


Demonstration of brain accumulation of fibrillar amyloid beta protein via positron emission tomography (PET) with amyloid specific ligands may support the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). There is increasing recognition of the potential use of amyloid imaging to detect in vivo the pathology of AD in individuals with no ostensible cognitive impairment. Research use of amyloid PET in cognitively normal patients will be key to pursuit of therapies able to delay cognitive impairment and dementia due to AD. We review the pros and cons of disclosing amyloid imaging results to cognitively normal individuals in clinical and research settings and provide draft recommendations.


Abstract C-Inductive arguments are arguments that increase the probability of a hypothesis. In this paper, we offer a C-Inductive argument for the Roman Catholic hypothesis. We specifically argue that one would expect the Miracle of Fátima on Roman Catholicism more so than on alternative hypotheses. Since our argument draws on confirmation theory, we first give a primer for how confirmation theory works. We then, provide the historical facts surrounding the Miracle of Fátima. We offer up two competing naturalistic explanations that attempt to explain the historical facts, but then, argue that a supernatural explanation is superior. Having established that something miraculous likely occurred at Fátima, we move to argue for the overall thesis of the paper. Finally, we engage several objections to our argument.


Big data seems to change knowledge management system and method of enterprises to large extent. Further, the type of method for utilization of unstructured data including image, video, sensor data and text may determine the decision on expansion of knowledge management of the enterprise or government. This paper, in this light, attempts to figure out the prediction model of demands and supply for big data market of Korea trough data mining decision making tree by utilizing text bit data generated for 3 years on web and SNS for expansion of form for knowledge management. The results indicate that the market focused on H/W and storage leading by the government is big data market of Korea. Further, the demanders of big data have been found to put important on attribute factors including interest, quickness and economics. Meanwhile, innovation and growth have been found to be the attribute factors onto which the supplier puts importance. The results of this research show that the factors affect acceptance of big data technology differ for supplier and demander. This article may provide basic method for study on expansion of analysis form of enterprise and connection with its


China's lending boom to developing countries is morphing into defaults and debt distress. Given the secrecy surrounding China's loans, the associated defaults remain "hidden," as missed payments and restructuring details are not disclosed. We construct an encompassing dataset of sovereign debt restructurings with Chinese lenders and find that these credit events are surprisingly frequent, exceeding the number of sovereign bond or Paris Club restructurings. Chinese lenders follow a resolution approach reminiscent of 1980s Western lenders; they seldom provide deep debt relief with face value reduction. If history is any guide, multiyear debt workouts with serial restructurings lie in store.


Impact rocks often reveal particular structures, e.g. shock-induced amorphization and melting of crystals, that formed due to high stresses during shock metamorphism. This experimental study presents four granulite samples that were deformed in a D-DIA apparatus at 2.5 GPa and 3 GPa and at either 1023 K, 1173 K, or at 995 to 1225 K. During deformation of two samples (2.5 GPa and either 995-1125 K or 1173 K) 82 and 794 acoustic emissions (AEs) were recorded, respectively, whereas less than 10 AEs were recorded while deforming the other two granulite sample (3 GPa and 995-1225 K; 2.5 and 1073 K). Microstructures of the samples that emitted 82 and 794 AEs reveal amorphous patches that are absent in the samples corresponding to the runs in which <10 AEs were recorded, indicating a link between AE-activity and amorphization of plagioclase. The contacts between amorphous patches and host-plagioclase crystals are very sharp and amorphization predominantly occurred along two distinct planes inclined at approx. 45° towards the direction of maximum compression. Surrounding the patches, the hosts show extensive fragmentation. Chemical analyses of the amorphous patches demonstrate an enrichment in potassium and silicon relative to the initial plagioclase chemistry and the growth of euhedral quartz crystals within the patches. Such microstructures were previously found in naturally or experimentally shocked rocks and interpreted as shock melts. The occurrence of structures, revealing striking similarities to shock melts, in experimental samples that underwent embrittlement at high-pressure, high-temperature conditions below the sample’s solidus (~1377 K) suggests melting due to elevated transient stresses, e.g. during rupture processes.


Environmental psychology research and the emotional design boom have led to a series of theoretical studies and practical activities on emotional design in space. It includes interior design, architectural design, display design, and other space planning and design work. In order to conduct a deeper study and practice of emotional space design, a bibliometric and review approach was used to visualise and analyse data from the literature on emotional space design to understand the development trends of emotional space design. The literature data were sourced from the Web of Science (WoS), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI Expanded), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) as the literature search source, enter TS=((emotion OR affective) AND (space design OR interior design OR landscape architecture )) in the advanced search formula generator, and set the search time to the whole year, i.e., 1991-2023. And 1146 documents were obtained. After excluding articles with missing field information, duplicate data, and those with no relevance to the selected topic, 629 valid documents were finally accepted. This paper uses two bibliometric tools, VOSviewer (Version 1.6.19) and CiteSpace (Version 5.6.R3), to obtain critical data such as keyword clustering profiles, Strongest Citation Bursts, highly cited literature, and visual images for this research topic. This information shows that the literature on emotional space design is generally rising. There is no downward trend in the literature output at this research stage, so it is judged that research in this area is in a high-growth phase. The United States, England, China, Australia, and Canada are the major research countries in this field; Cornell, Leeds, UCL, and other leading institutions in architecture and design-related disciplines are the primary subjects of research in emotional space design. International journals of environmental research and public health, Sustainability, and Building and environment are core journals in the field of environmental science and engineering. They all have a high volume of articles (≥20) and an impact factor (IF) of over 4.00, which shows the importance of emotional spatial design in this field of research. The 629 imported documents were imported into VOSviewer, and the co-occurrence frequency was set to 4. Finally, 204 keywords were obtained by merging synonyms. The four clusters formed were named #1 Affective Space Design; #2 Healthcare; #3 Virtual; and #4 Design Evaluation, based on the primary keyword information. In conjunction with the analysis of the Top 30 Keywords with the Strongest Citation Bursts generated by Citespace, future research on emotional space design is expected to focus on Virtual Environment, Healthcare, Difference Sustainable design, topical social issues, interdisciplinarity and user experience and Affective Response. The analysis of the top ten high-frequency references regarding co-citations shows that the underlying theoretical support for emotional space design comes mainly from research in environmental psychology, psychology, and colour psychology. Evidence-based healthcare design research repeatedly appears in the references to emotional space design, which is a research hotspot for emotional space design.


One of the most important prognostic factors for overall survival in colorectal cancer patients is the complete resection of tumor. We have previously demonstrated the effective fluorescence-guided surgery of primary and metastatic cancer with the use of fluorescent probes in mouse models. In this study, we determined the effectiveness of fluorescence-guided surgery using a fluorophore-conjugated anti-CEA antibody for human-patient colon cancer tumorgrafts in nude mouse models. Colon-cancer-patient tumor specimens were initially established subcutaneously in NOD/SCID mice immediately after surgery. The patient tumors were then harvested from NOD/SCID mice and passed orthotopically in nude mice. Eight weeks after orthotopic implantation of human colon cancer tumorgraft, a monoclonal anti-CEA antibody conjugated with Alexa 488 was delivered to tumor-bearing mice as a single intravenous dose 24 hours before laparotomy. Using fluorescence imaging, the primary tumor was clearly visible at laparotomy. The tumor was completely resected under fluorescence navigation. Histologic evaluation of the resected specimen revealed there were no cancer cells in the margin. The cancer cells were strongly stained by anti-CEA antibody conjugated with Alexa488. Fluorescence-guided surgery using a fluorophore-conjugated anti-CEA antibody should improve intraoperative staging and efficacy of resection for CEA-positive colorectal cancer. Citation Format: Yukihiko Hiroshima, Ali Maawy, Yong Zhang, Takashi Chishima, Kuniya Tanaka, Michael Bouvet, Itaru Endo, Robert M. Hoffman. Fluorescence-guided surgery for human-patient colon cancer tumorgrafts using a fluorophore-conjugated anti-CEA antibody. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 728. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-728


Since the end of direct Commonwealth government management of Australian airports in the 1990s, there has been no coordinated up-keep of airport pavement technology and practice in this country. In contrast, aircraft technology has advanced significantly. To address significant risks, a number of construction contractors have introduced new products and methods. However, the risk-averse nature of the airport industry has sometimes resulted in good solutions being resisted. A number of challenges relating to flexible aircraft pavements have resulted, including aircraft with higher tyre pressure and wheel load combination than previously experienced and an associated inability to 'prove' the upper fine crushed rock base layers during construction. Also, a general reduction in bitumen reliability has resulted in the increased use of polymer modified bitumen for asphalt production, but these products are not readily available in regional areas. Moreover, airport asphalt was routinely rejuvenated to extend the period between resurfacing, but increased concern for the impact of surface treatments on skid resistance has resulted in some designers no longer recommending such maintenance. A reduction in the number of specialised airport pavement engineers has meant that expertise, particularly in spray seal design for airports, has become limited. The reduction in expertise has also seen the development of new methods for expedient airport pavement rehabilitation be substantially left to construction contractors. A collaborative, airport-industry-wide initiative is essential to addressing these challenges in the future.; ;


Numerous plant species and their derivatives can cause skin reactions through a variety of mechanisms: irritative contact dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, contact urticaria and photodermatitis. We present a case of irritative contact dermatitis after exposure to the sap of Agave americana. The skin symptoms in this case have only been described on rare occasions; although this condition usually presents with a papulovesicular rash, in this patient it appeared as purpuric lesions in the contact area.


This report describes the use of microcomputers which use custom written software to rectify inadequacies of a hospital wide computer system. The current laboratory information system is unable to provide patient reports which adequately track Clinical Immunology Laboratory test results over an extended time frame. The approach taken by this reference laboratory has proven to be extremely useful to physicians; it aids in laboratory quality assurance activities and increases the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the laboratory.


From December 1964 to June 1980, 569 kidney allotransplants were performed in 524 patients at the University Hospital in Zurich. Necrokidneys were used exclusively. Twelve of these patients exhibited severe colonic complications: four perforations (1 perforated diverticulitis of the sigmoid, 1 perforation of the cecum during cytomegalovirus infection, 2 cases of ischemic colitis), 5 cases of ischemic colitis without perforation, and 3 patients with erosive colitis. In 9 of the 12 patients, hypotonic episodes were noted 4-17 days previously. The 2% complication rate in our patients is comparable with the mean rate of complications mentioned in the literature (2.4%). The lethality of 75% also corresponds with the results of other authors. The most important pathogenetic factor for colonic complications is ischemia; prevention of hypotonic episodes after renal transplantation is therefore mandatory.