Direct and selective carbon-hydrogen bond functionalization has attracted enormous attention because it provides more efficient strategies for preparing valuable functional molecules from easily available substrates. Significant and exciting developments in functionalization of un-activation Csp 3 -H bonds have continuously been made over the past few decades. This review mainly summarizes recent advances on direct Csp 3 -H bond functionalization for the formation of C-C and C-heteroatom bond under transition-metal-catalysed and metal-free conditions.


The present study describes the age and growth of the leatherjacket Meuschenia scaber, a common Australasian monacanthid and valued by-catch of the inshore bottom trawl fishery in New Zealand. Age was determined from the sagittal otoliths of 651 individuals collected between July 2014 and March 2016 in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Otolith sections revealed alternating opaque and translucent zones and edge-type analysis demonstrated that these are deposited annually. Meuschenia scaber displayed rapid initial growth, with both males and females reaching maturity in 1-2 years and 50% of both sexes matured at 1·5 years. Maximum age differed substantially between the sexes, at 9·8 years for males and 17·1 years for females. Growth rate was similar between sexes, although males reached greater mass at age than females in the early part of the lifespan. The length-mass relationship differed significantly between the sexes, with males displaying negative allometric growth and females isometric growth. Female condition was highest in July, declined in August with the onset of spawning and showed a slight peak in January and February, immediately following the spawning season. This study substantially extends the maximum longevity recorded for monacanthids, although males had much shorter lifespans and higher mortality, than females.


Abstract Galles & Pearl (l998) claimed that "for recursive models, the causal model framework does not add any restrictions to counterfactuals, beyond those imposed by Lewis's [possible-worlds] framework." This claim is examined carefully, with the goal of clarifying the exact relationship between causal models and Lewis's framework. Recursive models are shown to correspond precisely to a subclass of (possible-world) counterfactual structures. On the other hand, a slight generalization of recursive models, models where all equations have unique solutions, is shown to be incomparable in expressive power to counterfactual structures, despite the fact that the Galles and Pearl arguments should apply to them as well. The problem with the Galles and Pearl argument is identified: an axiom that they viewed as irrelevant, because it involved disjunction (which was not in their language), is not irrelevant at all.


We present a cost-effective plastic packaging technology for a fully-integrated 60GHz radio, used for communication in the 60GHz ISM band. The chipset supports 1-3 Gbps directional links using a ASK or PSK modulation, or it can be used in 500Mbps-1Gbps omni-directional links using an OFDM modulation. The antenna is integrated inside of the package and does not require any high-frequency external connection. The fabrication process of a direct-chip-attach (DCA) and surface mountable land-grid-array (LGA) package technology is presented. Both packages are robust against variations of the electrical properties of standard plastic mold materials


Locating a mobile station position is one of the most significant features of cellular mobile phones in wireless communications. All location determination algorithms are based on trigonometric calculations which are usually implemented in software. In this paper, we propose two new hardware oriented algorithms that use just simple add, shift and subtract operations in finding the location of a mobile station. The first algorithm uses fixed rotations to locate a mobile station position. The second algorithm is a dynamic version of the first one. It uses dynamic rotations to find the location of the mobile. Via simulation, the computational cost and error (in meter) for the traditional algorithm, the fixed rotation hardware-oriented algorithm, and the dynamic version are compared.


Agriculture must be necessary and sustainable for the continuity of human beings. For sustainable agriculture, productive crops can be made with good irrigation in productive crops and conscious irrigation in good irrigation. A survey was conducted with 111 producers in the central district of Tokat province to determine the factors affecting conscious irrigation and conscious irrigation. In the research, first of all, the socio-demographic structure of the producers was determined: it was determined that the producers with an active working population had a low level of education. In the second part of the research, irrigation information was tried to be determined and it was observed that most of the producers were doing salman irrigation. In the third part of the research, irrigation awareness was tried to be determined by using the scoring method of the producers and it was determined that 24% of the producers were in the category with a high level of awareness. In the last part, the factors affecting irrigation awareness were determined with the help of the ordered probit model. As a result, it has been determined that there is a linear relationship between the level of awareness of the producers, their educational status and membership in the irrigation union.


Lower dental caries experience has been observed in children and teenagers with the presence of black stains on dental structures. However, none of the previous investigations were population-based studies or adjusted the analysis for potential confounders. This study assessed the prevalence of black stains at the age of 5 in a population-based birth cohort from Pelotas, Brazil and investigated the association between black stains and dental caries. A total of 1,129 children from the 2004 Pelotas birth cohort were examined at age 5, and their mothers were interviewed at their households. Dental examinations included a search for black stains and dental caries on the primary dentition through the dmf-s index. The mothers' questionnaire comprised data on demographic, social, and behavior aspects. Prevalence of black stains was 3.5% (95% CI 2.5–4.7) and the prevalence of dental caries was 48.4% (95% CI 45.4–51.4). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between black stains and dental caries. Adjusted analysis revealed that the presence of black stains was associated with lower levels of dental caries (OR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.26–0.99). The results of the present study suggest that black stains are a protective factor for dental caries development.


Background: Valvular heart disease (VHD) is one third of all heart disease. In industrialized countries, the prevalence is estimated at 2,5% and in developing countries is between twenty to thirty cases per-1000 people. VHD presents a huge health burden worldwide. If heart failure has occured, surgery is the treatment of choice. Cardiorespiratory fitness declined in post-surgical patients. Preoperative cardiac rehabilitation is considered to be able to increase the cardiorespiratory fitness baseline so that postoperative outcomes are better. Case Presentation: We reported 28 years-old female with severe MS and MR as well as mild TR with symptoms dyspnea on effort which improves with rest. She was the candidate for mitral valve replacement. She was given a 14-days preoperative cardiac rehabilitation program including breathing exercise by pursed lips breathing, effective cough exercise, range of motion exercise, ankle pumping exercise, endurance exercise based on the result of the 6 minutes walking test (6MWT) and inspiratory muscle training (IMT) using threshold IMT. Conclusion: Preoperative cardiac rehabilitation program improved pulmonary functional capacity, cardiorespiratory fitness and functional activity.


Parallel algorithms for finding the connected components (CC) and a minimum spanning FOREST (MSF) of an undirected graph are presented. The primary model of computation considered is that called "shuffle-exchange network" in which each processor has its own local memory, no memory is shared, and communication among processors is done via a fixed degree network. This model is very convenient for actual realization. Both algorithms have depth of O(log2 n) while using n2 processors. Here n is the number of vertices in the graph. The algorithms are first presented for the PRAM (parallel RAM) model, which is not realizable, but much more convenient for the design and presentation of algorithms. The CC and MSF algorithms are no exceptions. The CC PRAM algorithm is a simplification of the one appearing in [17]. A modification of this algorithm yields a simple and efficient MSF algorithm. Both have depth of O(log m) and they use m processors, where m is the number of edges in the graph.


In last few years, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has been gaining popularity as an alternative to traditional telephone by transmitting voice signals as packets over the Internet and private IP-based networks. However, voice packets experience loss, delay, and delay variation, which requires buffering, playout scheduling and loss concealment at the receiver. In this paper, we give an overview of a VoIP application and show how playout scheduling and loss concealment are jointly used to optimize perceived speech quality. We use this optimization criterion to design a histogram-based playout scheduling algorithm. Then, we identify the limitations of the VoIP application for this scheme and propose improvement using path diversity approach that can be implemented via a service overlay network (SON). We present simulations results that show significant improvement of VoIP quality by using this approach


In our quest to find a cure for arsenicosis, an in silico attempt was made to identify a common target for the compounds that relieves the symptoms using Autodock and Discovery studio. Retinol, alpha-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, alphalipoic acid and folic acid were used as ligands and an enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase which was selected as the target protein to search for the structure which had the highest binding affinity with this cancer causing enzyme of the human body. This compound was compared with other potential inhibitors currently under research by docking with 47 important enzymes of the human body found in the protein data bank. Assessment by FAF-Drugs web server showed this compound to be non-toxic. To prove the effectiveness of this drug, both in vivo and in vitro studies are required along with this in silico study.


We have performed an extensive study of solar flare energy buildup and release, concentrating in two aspects: (1) relationship with 3D field topology and measured electric currents; and (2) flare onset characteristics as determined from combined x ray and ultraviolet observations. We extended our previous studies on the characteristic topology of flaring regions, by following the evolution of an active region over three consecutive days. From comparison with flare observations in x rays and h alpha, we found further support for the hypothesis that flares were triggered by taking place at the separators (3D generalization of and x-type neutral point). Furthermore, we found that emerging in flux at a site within the active regions where no (or little) activity was previously observed, caused the appearance of a secondary separator and thereon continuous triggering of activity at such site. Our topology arguments were then applied to a study of sympathetic activity between two regions within an active complex. Here again we found that interacting field structures along separators and separatrices, which act as pathways for recurrent flaring to spread between the regions, could be used to understand how activity spread to potentially explosive sites with the complex. We also finished our study of flare onset characteristics as determined from combined x ray and ultraviolet observations. Using a quasi-static modeling approach, we find that this phase is characterized by a relatively low level of energy release, 10 exp 26-27 erg/s, which is sufficient to produce 'gentle' evaporation, a shift in the location of the transition zone as compared to pre-flare conditions, and an increase in the temperature and density of coronal loops. All these changes have profound implications on the observed signatures of impulsive phase phenomena, which had been neglected in the past. As a follow-up of this investigation, we now plan to apply our results to the interpretation of high-sensitivity spectroscopic and hard x-ray data currently being gathered by the Yohkoh and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellites.


Mobile Ad-hoc network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes that are dynamically and arbitrarily located in such a manner that interconnections between the nodes are capable of changing on continuous basis. In this paper, different channel allocation schemes are studied and how they are implemented in mobile ad hoc network and cellular network. We also studied all features of all channel allocation techniques. MH-TRACE and DCA-TRACE are two MAC layer protocols used for fixed channel allocation (FCA) and dynamic channel allocation (DCA) respectively. Dynamic channel allocation scheme proves more advantageous over all other channel allocation schemes. This technique also has some problems like interference and inefficiency under heavy load. So we have to improve these problems by using some mechanism. Spectrum sensing is such kind of mechanism which we use for sensing the free channels and reducing interference. So we can minimize the level of interference between the channels..


Experimental approaches involving the perfusion of tissues and organs offer the advantage of improved physiological relevance over the use of isolated tissues or cells while at the same time being much more controlled and tissue-specific than studies in vivo. Nevertheless, there have been few metabolic studies performed in perfused white adipose tissue, largely because of the difficulty of the surgical technique involved. Although some methods have been described, they are difficult to use as perfusion protocols and their reproducibility is poor. We have modified a rat perfusion method, based on a modification of the Ho and Meng technique, for use with epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), and we present it here as a protocol to be reproduced. We also offer surgical solutions for the most common variants of vessel distributions in rats. Using the protocol described here, the perfused adipose tissue is viable and metabolically active, as indicated by the maintenance of tissue ATP levels and adiponectin secretion and by endogenous lipolysis regulation. Moreover, there is a high level of lipoprotein lipase activity in the endothelium of the tissue, which is heparin-releasable. Thus, this method is a useful and reproducible tool that allows the perfusion of eWAT for use in metabolic studies.


The long term management of a production asset raises several major issues among which rank the technical management of the plant, its economics and the fleet level perspective one has to adopt. Decision makers are therefore faced with the need to define long term policies (up to the end of asset operation) which take into account multiple criteria including safety (which is paramount) and performance. In this paper we first remind the reader of the EDF three-level methodology for asset management. As introduced in PVP 03 [1] and PVP 04 [2], this methodology addresses the component/technical level (how to safely operate daily and invest for the future), the plant level (how to translate technical decisions into plant-wide consequences including economic performance) and the fleet level (how to manage a large number of similar assets). We then focus on the software tools — introduced in PVP 04 [2] and PVP 05 [4] — that implement this methodology in order to allow decision makers to define, evaluate and analyze long term plant operation and maintenance policies. Lastly we show how the methodology and the software tool were used, in 2006, on two pilot case studies. Examples of technical and economic results obtained at the plant level are described as well as the conclusions one can draw from them in order to help decision makers evaluate and analyze long term asset management strategies or compare different plants. We also analyze the added value of probabilistic evaluations and of our "rolling-up" process that allows to take into account interactions existing between the components of the plant. Finally, we introduce some of the possible uses of our methodology and tools.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


This article focuses on a cycle of late 1960s true crime films depicting topical
 mass/serial murders. It argues that the conjoined ethical and aesthetic
 approaches of these films were shaped within and by a complex climate of
 contestation as they moved from newspaper headlines to best-sellers lists to
 cinema screens. While this cycle was central to critical debates about screen
 violence during this key moment of institutional, regulatory and aesthetic
 transition, they have been almost entirely neglected or, at best, misunderstood.
 Meeting at the intersection of, and therefore falling between the gaps, of
 scholarship on the Gothic horror revival and New Hollywood's violent
 revisionism, this cycle reversed the generational critical divisions that
 instigated a new era in filmmaking and criticism. Adopting a historical
 reception studies approach, this article challenges dominant understandings of
 the depiction and reception of violence and horror in this defining period.


Abstract: Omeprazole; the first proton pump inhibitor (PPI) showing an effective acid inhibitory ability, provides the satisfactory therapy either in gastro-esophageal reflux symptom relief or in healing of erosive esophagitis. It's also effective in peptic ulcer disease. Up to date, omeprazole efficacy and safety are well established in many trials. Omeprazole-related hepatotoxicity is not very well recognized especially in pediatric population. We report a child who developed hepatitis following omeprazole intake. We believe that this is the first case report of omeprazole-induced hepatitis in pediatric population.


Two species (designated by 0's and 1's) compete for territory on a lattice according to the rules of a voter model, except that the 0's jump d 0 spaces and the 1's jump d 1 spaces. When d 0 = d 1 = 1 the model is the usual voter model. It is shown that in one dimension, if d 1 > d 0 and d 0 = 1,2 and initially there are infinitely many blocks of 1's of length ≥ d 1, then the 1's eliminate the 0's. It is believed this may be true whenever d 1 > d 0. In the biased annihilating branching process particles place offspring on empty neighbouring sites at rate λ and neighbouring pairs of particles coalesce at rate 1. In one dimension it is known to converge to the product measure density λ/(1+λ) when λ ≥ 1/3, and the initial configuration is non-zero and finite. This result is extended to λ ≥ 0.0347. Bounds on the edge-speed are given.


This paper describes the bio-inspired visual signal processing by neuromorphic system, mimicking the primitive behaviour of visual cortex. The neuromorphic components are investigated for implementation of the visual signal selectivity of cortex, based on the CMOS conductance-based synaptic connections and neurons of Hodgkin-Huxley formalism. The proposed neuromorphic system exhibits the biologically plausible function mimicking the cat's visual cortex experimentation of Hubel and Wiesel. The detection of vehicle's license plate or human head figure demonstrates the feasibilty of vision applications. Key-Words: neural networks, CMOS, vision, neuromorphic, visual cortex, Hodgkin-Huxley formalism


The paper presents an explicit and efficient transient analysis method for nonlinear circuits. The method makes use of Volterra series representation of nonlinear systems and characterises the behaviour of nonlinear circuits in the time domain using a set of Volterra circuits. The input of the first-order Volterra circuit is the same as that of the nonlinear circuit, whereas that of higher-order Volterra circuits is obtained from the response of lower-order Volterra circuits and interpolation. These Volterra circuits are solved using the sampled-data simulation of linear circuits for computational efficiency and accuracy. The response of the nonlinear circuit is computed at equally spaced instants of time. Numerical results on example circuits demonstrate that the accuracy of the method is comparable to that of widely used predictor-corrector algorithms, but with greatly improved computational efficiency.


Current understandings suggest that three aspects of writing practice underpin the research student publication process: knowledge creation, text production and identity formation. Publishing a literature review is the first opportunity most students have to publish. This article compares the pedagogical benefits of different literature review methods. It discusses why narrative reviews are challenging for novices both in terms of process and outcomes (publications) whereas other types of reviews, such as meta-analyses, are the province of multi-skilled teams working intensively for extended periods. Case studies are used to highlight how a new systematic quantitative literature review method, developed for the social and natural sciences, is beneficial as students can more readily create knowledge, produce text, and so transition from novice to knowledgeable and publish rather than perish.


According to theoretical considerations, the magnetic field of the earth could influence the first steps of light-induced changes in ocular photopigment, an effect that is thought to underlie the magnetic orientation of some animals. To find out whether man could be influenced in this way, we have tested the effect of an artificial fluctuation in the direction of the earth's magnetic field on oscillations of the visual sensitivity in 27 healthy subjects. The resultant spectra show a significant influence of the field fluctuations, indicating that man is sensitive to changes in the direction of the earth's magnetic field.


Large-conductance chloride channels (maxi-Cl channels) were studied in cultured myoblasts (L6 rat muscle cell line); in excised (inside-out) and in cell attached membrane patches using a conventional patch clamp method. The incidence of maxi-Cl channels was substantially higher in proliferating myoballs, then in quiescent (bottom-attached) myoblasts (90% and 50% percent of examined cells, respectively). The maxi-Cl channels in myoballs were present both in cell attached and excised patches. The channel conductance at symmetric [Cl] = 150 mmol/l was 359 +/- 42 pS (n = 74) in quiescent cells and 439 +/- 10 pS (n = 6) in proliferating myoballs respectively. The conductance of the channel in quiescent cells increased with chloride concentration in symmetric NaCl rich solutions according to Michaelis-Menten curve with the saturation limiting conductance of about 640 pS (gmax) and Km = 112 mmol/l. The shift of the reversal potential upon increasing the pipette concentration of NaCl from 150 to 250 mmol/l was consistent with PNa/PCl = 0.1. Neither the conductance nor the activation of the channel were dependent on the presence of calcium ions. The bell-shaped steady state channel conductance-voltage relationship is asymmetric and can be fitted by two Boltzmann equations with different Vh and k constants; -25.6 mV and -6.8 mV, respectively, for the negative side and +49.6 mV and +13.7 mV for the positive side in quiescent cells. The corresponding values in proliferating myoballs were as follows: -15.5 mV and -2.4 mV, respectively, for the negative side and +31.4 mV and +6.8 mV for the positive side. From the maximum slopes of the Popen versus V curves an estimate was made of the charges for the gates that close at negative (3.5) or positive (1.7) potentials, respectively, in quiescent cells. The corresponding values in myoballs were 10.6 and 3.7, respectively. The probability of one gate to be open was dependent on the state of activation of the opposite gate as determined by prepulses of the opposite polarity. The channel showed multiple (up to six) conductance levels that may develop in a step-like manner. The onset of the full-grown maxi-Cl channel is fairly abrupt; it might, however, be preceded by a small conductance unit activity. It is supposed that the differences between the quiescent myoblasts and proliferating myoballs might reflect increased expression of maxi-Cl channels in myoballs to perform as yet unknown role in the cell cycle and/or proliferation of the myoblasts.


Fetal membranes are postulated to play a role in paracrine signaling during the initiation of labor in women. We developed a dual chamber-fetal membrane-uterine muscle model to study the effect of human fetal membranes on spontaneous uterine contractions. In this model, full-thickness fetal membranes (amnion, chorion, and maternal decidua) are sealed into a Plexiglass chamber. The membranes partition the chamber into a maternal and fetal compartment. Chorion and decidua face the maternal side, and amnion faces the fetal side. An estrogenized rat uterine muscle strip is anchored into the maternal side as a bioassay to measure effects of fetal membranes on uterine contractions. Fetal membranes cause a 40% decrease in uterine contractions compared to basal condition (no membranes). Inhibition is reversible after removal of the membranes. The inhibition is specific to the chorion/decidual side because reversal of membranes with amnion toward the muscle did not show inhibition. Uterine contractions did not change over time in control chambers in which Parafilm substituted for membranes. A model for studying paracrine regulation of uterine contractions by human fetal membranes has been developed. The model provides evidence that fetal membranes inhibit uterine contractions. This inhibitory effect may contribute to uterine quiescence during pregnancy.


This research explored bitter taste and its background by sensory evaluation and investigation of five sorts of bitter chocolate made from cocoa beans roasted in different ways and derived from different places. Bitter taste lovers constituted more than the half the study participants; these students considered bitter food to be healthy, with a relaxing effect, and had liked bitter-tasting foods since they were young. They did not consider stress to be associated with bitter taste. The results of the sensory evaluation revealed that the melting smoothness of chocolate from beans subjected to low-temperature roasting was better than that of chocolate from high-temperature-roasted beans; it had a sweet taste and koku, and a sensation of bitterness was obtained when the chocolate was first placed in the mouth. These results showed that chocolate from cocoa of Venezuelan origin was rated highly under roasting conditions that resulted in a bitter aftertaste, whereas that from Ecuador was rated lower. The time taken for the bitter taste to appear in the mouth was a factor that contributed to the evaluation of bitterness. Those participants who were classed as lovers of bitterness liked a range of beans. (Received 17 March 2018, Accepted 18 June 2018)


The populations of Tuvinians (N = 36) and Buryats (N = 105) were characterized by using the data on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism. The gene pools of both ethnic groups possessed the mtDNA types belonging to the four main haplogroups, A, B, C, and D, found only in the indigenous populations of Asia and America. The total frequencies of the A, B, C, and D haplogroups in Tuvinians and Buryats were 72.3% and 52.4%, respectively. These values, along with the frequency for Altai populations (57.2%), were highest in the Asian populations studied, indicating that the populations Southern and Eastern Siberia can be considered as ancestral relatives to the ethnic groups of the New World. Analysis of the mtDNA region V polymorphism showed the presence of 9-bp deletion and 4-bp insertion in both populations with frequencies respectively of 13.9 and 5.56% in Tuvinians and 4.8 and 1.9% in Buryats. The frequency of the +AvaII/8249 variant was 11.1% in Tuvinians and 3.81% in Buryats. Analysis of the association between the region V deletion-insertion polymorphism and certain restriction haplogroups pointed to repeated and independent emergence of the 4-bp insertion in Siberia.


Cool-climate grains have been germinated under controlled climatic conditions and used in feeding animals for many years. This study was conducted to determine the effect of adding different amounts of vetch and safflower seeds to barley seed in fresh green feed machines and administering liquid fertilizer (LF) through irrigation water on feed values. Mixtures were prepared by adding vetch and safflower to barley at ratios of 10, 20, and 30%. Dry matter (DM) losses were observed in all mixtures. The use of LF reduced the loss of crude protein (CP) in 100% barley and the 70% barley + 30% vetch mixture. However, the CP yield increased in 90% barley + 10% vetch mixture. A 10% increase was observed in ether extract (EE) yield in 80% barley + 20% vetch mixture with LF application. An increase of 60.3–143.7% in acid detergent fiber values was observed in all mixtures. Neutral detergent fiber yields decreased by 17.8–45.9%, and ash loss was observed to be higher in all mixtures compared to that in seeds. All mixtures exhibited an increase in total carotene, except for the mixtures of 90% barley + 10% vetch and 70% barley + 30% vetch with LF. An increase in vitamin E values was observed in 100% barley group with or without LF, and in 90% barley+10% vetch and 90% barley + 10% safflower groups compared to those in the seeds. The addition of up to 30% vetch to the barley and the use of LF were more effective in terms of reducing nutrient losses than other mixtures. In addition, we concluded that the use of LF had a positive effect and that the feed values of the seeds could be increased using this production system.


Prioritisation based on traffic class is widely used within radio resource control strategies to provide quality of service (QoS) assurances in 3G wireless systems. Under high load conditions, traffic prioritisation can lead to situations where, momentarily, most of the radio resources are assigned to delay-constrained connections (e.g. conversational users) and, consequently, the available bandwidth for less priority users (e.g. interactive traffic) is significantly reduced. In This work we analyse the impact of this bandwidth oscillation phenomenon on TCP connections over a downlink UMTS channel. Experimental results have been obtained using legacy TCP connections over a real-time UMTS testbed.


In the present work, we describe a low-cost, unreported and simple procedure for biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Bacillus subtilis as eco-friendly reducing and capping agent. The synthesized ZnO NPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, PL and TGA techniques. The biosynthesis methods were carried out for its intrinsic advantages, as it is simple, cost-effective, environment-friendly and can be easily scaled up for large scale synthesis. The prepared nano-particles were used as catalyst for the fast and efficient synthesis of steroidal thiophenes. The one pot three-component mixture of steroidal ketones ( 1-3 ), malononitrile/ ethyl cyanoacetate and elemental sulfur were converted into the corresponding steroidal thiophenes ( 4-9 ) in moderate to high yields with excellent selectivity.


During FY 97, 152 MUREP education and training projects were conducted at OMU institutions. The institutions conducted precollege and bridge programs, education partnerships with other universities and industry, NRTS, teacher training, and graduate and/or PI undergraduate programs. These programs reached a total of 23,748 participants, with the predominant number at the precollege level and achieved major goals of heightening students' interest and awareness of career opportunities in MSET fields, and exposing students to the NASA mission, research and advanced technology through role models, mentors, and participation in research and other educational activities. Also in FY 1997, NASA continued a very meaningful relationship with the Hispanic Association of Colleges students and Universities (HACU) through Proyecto Access, a consortium through which HACU links seven HSI's together to conduct 8-week summer programs. OMU Institutions reported 4,334 high school student in NASA programs and 3,404 of those students selected college preparatory MSET courses. Three hundred and forty-nine (349) graduated from high school, 343 enrolled in college, and 199 selected MSET majors. There were 130 high school graduates (bridge students) in NASA programs, 57 of whom successfully completed their freshman year. There were 307 teachers in teacher programs and 48 teachers received certificates. Of the 389 undergraduate students, 75 received under graduate degrees, and eight students are employed in a NASA-related field.


We propose and investigate a new type of photonic crystal (PhC) cavity for integrated quantum photonics, which provides tailored optical modes with both confined and extended spatial components. The structures consist of elongated PhC cavities in which the effective index of refraction is varied quasi-linearly along their axis, implemented by systematic lateral shifts of the PhC holes. The confined modes have approximately Airy-function envelopes, exhibiting single peaks and extended tails, which is useful for optimizing single photon extraction and transmission in integrated quantum photonic devices. The measured spectrally resolved near-field patterns of such devices show the expected spatial and resonance wavelength behavior, in agreement with numerical simulations of the Airy-Bloch modes. The effects of fabrication-induced disorder on the mode features are also analyzed and discussed. Selective excitation of specific Airy-Bloch modes using integrated, site-controlled quantum dots as localized light sources is demonstrated. Based on the tilted-potential cavity, multiple-QD single photon emitters exploiting wavelength division multiplexing are proposed.


Relative to the time-dependent compaction behavior of clean quartz sands, little experimental work has been carried out on phyllosilicate-rich siliciclastic rocks (mudstones). Compaction is expected to be produced by intracrystalline plastic deformation of the phyllosilicate matrix, coupled with pressure solution of embedded quartz grains and with silica reprecipitation in the adjacent pore spaces or loss from the system via an advective flux of pore water. Time dependence of compaction also arises in nature owing to the generation of excess pore pressure, which lowers effective stress and hence compaction rate until such pressure excess becomes dissipated by permeation.

A suite of experiments was performed on synthetic mixtures of quartz sand in a matrix of fine grained illite + muscovite, hydrostatically compacted at a range of effective pressures between 10 MPa and 210 MPa, with a constant pore water pressure of 70 MPa and at temperatures ranging between 300 and 450°C. A small adjacent volume of porous quartz sand was provided as a precipitation sink for silica dissolved from the phyllosilicate + quartz mixture. Volume strains were measured by (a) direct measurement of sample length and (b) measurement of amount of pore water expelled at constant pore pressure, and interpreted with the aid of quantitative petrography on compacted samples.

Control experiments were performed on (i) dry, clean sand, (ii) dry sand + phyllosilicate, and (iii) wet, clean sand. Dry, clean sand showed almost no compaction. Wet, clean sand showed a degree of compaction similar to dry phyllosilicate + sand, but wet phyllosilicate + sand showed dramatically more compaction. Compaction rate φ for the wet, mixed phyllosilicate/sand samples is described by ![Formula][1] in which σ is effective stress (MPa), φ is porosity (%), R is the gas constant, and T is temperature (K). Petrographic study showed interpenetration of grain contacts, formation of quartz overgrowths, a decrease in the amount of quartz embedded in the phyllosilicate matrix, and an increase in mean grain size of quartz with progressive compaction. These effects are attributed to solution and redeposition of quartz.

The empirical compaction law was integrated over a "natural" burial history. The porosity evolution is extremely sensitive to the evolution of pore fluid pressure and relatively less to temperature gradient and burial rate. There is reasonable qualitative agreement when compared with porosity/depth relations reported in the literature.

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Purpose: Nipple sparing mastectomy is increasingly used as a surgical treatment for breast cancer. To correctly predict the possibility of nipple invasion pre-operatively is critical important to prevent occult nipple invasion or early nipple recurrence. The objective of our study is to assess the diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI for the evaluation of malignant invasion of the nipple-areolar complex (NAC). Material and Methods: From January 2011 to December 2013, patients with primary operable breast cancer diagnosed and treated at Changhua Christian Hospital (CCH), Taiwan were searched. The inclusion criteria were primary operable breast cancer patients, who received pre-operative breast MRI, and received breast cancer operation at CCH. The exclusion criteria were patients whose primary tumor was removed before definite cancer operation, those who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or patient9s detailed data not available. Breast MRI examinations were retrospectively reviewed for nipple invasion or retraction, periareolar skin thickening, nipple areolar complex enhancement, relationship to the subareolar mass, malignant mass pattern, thickness of nipple-areolar complex enhancement, tumor-nipple distance and tumor size, and were correlated with pathologic findings. The accuracy of breast MRI to predict nipple invasion was compared with pre-operative image and post-operative pathologic reports. Results: A total 704 primary operable breast cancers with pre-operative MRI and post operative pathologic reports were enrolled in our current study. In the total 704 patients, MRI showed signs of suspect NAC invasion in 160 (22.7%) patients. Total 41 (25.6%) patients were pathologic proven malignant invasion of NAC. In the final pathologic analysis, 57 pathologic confirmed NAC invasions were found in the 704 patients. The overall nipple invasion rate was 8.1% in this current study. The sensitivity of Breast MRI to predict NAC involvement was 71.9%. The Specificity of breast MRI to NAC invasion is 81.6%. The positive predictive value of breast MRI is 25.6%. The negative predictive value of breast MRI is 97.1%. The accuracy of breast MRI to predict NAC involvement is 80.8%. In univariate logistic regression analysis, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, central location of tumor, unilateral nipple enhancement, relationship to tumor, and HER-2 overexpression were prognostic factors for NAC invasion. In multivariate analysis, unilateral nipple enhancement (hazard ratio=4.944, CI: 1.938-12.616, P=0.001) was the most significant independently risk factor associated with the increased risk of NAC involvement. Conclusion: MRI is an useful diagnostic image method for the evaluation of malignant invasion of the nipple-areolar complex. Through preoperative breast MRI evaluation of NAC status, more personalized oncoplastic breast surgery could be performed. Citation Format: Lai H-W, Chen S-T, Chen D-R, Wu H-K, Kuo S-J. The diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI in the prediction of malignant invasion of nipple areolar complex (NAC) of breast. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-02-03.


Abstract Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the prescribing of psychotropic medication of non-consultant hospital doctors in the management of delirium and to compare this with best practice guidelines. Method: A structured questionnaire was forwarded to all non-consultant hospital doctors (n = 95) working at St Vincent's University Hospital and data was collected over a six month period. The questionnaire addressed type, dose and route of psychotropic medication use in delirium as well as adjunctive measures used to manage delirium. Results: There was a 55% response rate (n = 52). Haloperidol and lorazepam were the two most frequently prescribed psychotropic agents used and over one third of respondents (n = 20) reported the use of risperidone. There was wide variation in doses used and a substantial proportion of NCHDs used higher than recommended starting doses for elderly patients with delirium. In addition, the intramuscular route was reported as the commonest route of administration with a majority of respondents reporting infrequent intravenous route of administration. Conclusions: The drug choice reported by respondents followed best practice guidelines. However, the wide variation in drug doses used and frequency of parenteral route of administration (particularly intramuscular) indicate the need for increasing awareness of best practice international guidelines. Guidance and clarification regarding the use of atypical antipsychotic medication is required following concerns about their use in dementia.


Histochemical and ultrastructural investigation of the prostate in baboons treated parenterally with saline revealed that the epithelial cells in the caudal prostatic lobe possess very high acid phosphatase activity, moderate nonspecific esterase activity and alkaline phosphatase activity, and little or no amino-peptidase or beta-glucuronidase activity. Only a few lipofuscin granules were found. Ultrastructurally, the epithelial cells had a characteristic polar appearance with a supranuclear zone dominated by large secretory vacuoles. Secretory granules were abundant in the apical zone. No clear difference was found between the cranial and the caudal prostate except that the acid phosphatase activity of the epithelial cells was much lower in the former. In baboons treated with estraumustine phosphate, diethylstilbestrol diphosphate, or with flutamide, i.e., drugs used in the treatment of advanced prostatic carcinoma, the epithelial cells in the caudal prostatic lobe showed a varying degree of atrophy, which was least in the flutamide-treated animals. The histologic changes were accompanied by only minor changes in the enzyme activities, but the number of histochemically demonstrable lipofuscin granules were substantially increased, a finding confirmed by electron microscopy. The drugs did not notably affect the cranial prostate. The findings showed that the caudal, but not the cranial, lobe of the prostate of the baboon resembles the human prostate and can be affected by drugs known to have a desirable effect on the carcinomatous human prostate.


Endoscopy is a common, minimally invasive diagnostic technique that can be used to observe internal organs, e.g. the stomach, and to obtain mucosal bioptic samples for histo pathological examination. The aim of this study was to analyse the concordance between endoscopic and histological evaluation of gastric diseases in dogs. One hundred twenty-nine medical records of dogs undergoing gastroscopy have been received and stored by the Veterinary Hospital of Perugia University (Perugia, Italy) between 2009-2012. The concordance between endoscopic and histological reports of acute and chronic gastritis or gastric tumours was assessed by Cohen's k coe cient. Considering histological diagnosis as the "gold standard", sensitivity, speci city, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the endoscopic report have been calculated. Frequencies of gastritis types di ered between macroscopic and microscopic analyses. The evaluation of histological and endoscopic agreement was fair (0.35). Endoscopy showed sensitivity of 45%, 88%, and 100% for acute gastritis, chronic gastritis, and gastric tumours, respectively; and speci city of 84%, 71%, and 100%. The positive predictive value and NPV resulted to be 25% and 93% for acute gastritis, 93% and 60 % for chronic gastritis, 100% and 100% for gastric tumours. The results of this study show that gastric endoscopy cannot be performed as a screening exam, and that to optimise diagnosis both endoscopic and histological exam should be conducted.


Employing the two-state model and the time-dependent wave packet method, the influence of femtosecond laser wavelength on the evolution of the double-minimum electronic excited state wave packet is numerically investigated. For different laser wavelengths, evolutions of the double-minimum electronic excited state wave packet with time and internuclear distance are different. One can control the evolution of the wave packet by varying the laser wavelength appropriately, which will benefit the light manipulation of atomic and molecular processes. Furthermore, study of the dynamics of the NaRb molecule may yield clues to creating an ultracold molecule.


a very large anaesthetic hammer for a relatively small surgical nut. As pointed out in our Table, the length of time from the start of abdominal insufflation to deflation is less than 10 minutes on average. I understand that in some centres the operation takes rather longer and different problems then arise for the anaesthetist. Laparoscopy we consider to be different from any other minor operation only in so far as it requires some abdominal relaxation (to allow an adequate amount of gas to be introduced into the abdomen before the trocar and cannula are inserted) and quiet respiration. The latter is of some importance as excessive movement of the intestines with respiration (which can also occur if controlled respiration is too violent) can be dangerous during the tubal diathermy. (I know of one case in which the bowel was burnt in this way). The main advantage of nitrous oxide over carbon dioxide is the elimination of excessive respiratory drive. There should be no morbidity associated with anaesthesia for the procedure. Vomiting, as we said. is no commoner than with other minor gynaecological operations. The cardiac arrhythmias seen are innocuous, but can largely be eliminated again by using nitrous oxide for insufflation. The use of small doses of gallamine has very little effect on respiratory performnance as judged by Paco2 levels with and without the drug. Like Dr. T. Sayer (26 February, p. 566) we do not use halothane if termination of pregnancy is also being carried out. Dr. Nanette Gordon and colleagues (4 March, p. 625) quote a case from the literature in whom the Pao2 during laparoscopy was 46 mm Hg, but do not mention that the same patient had a Pao2 of only 50 mm Hg before pneumoperitoneum. I can reassure Mr. P. C. Steptoe and Dr. F. N. Campbell (4 March, p. 625) that we do use a pressure-limiting device, having been convinced by him personally of its necessity before introducing the operation into our practice. The intra-abdominal pressure (properly measured) seldom exceeds 15-20 cm of water. After the very large number of cases performed in this hospital, I am still unable to understand Dr. J. E. Utting's description of our method as "entirely inappropriate" (26 February, p. 566). Have your correspondents ever considered the side effects of their methods? While I am sure that they are minimal in their hands, we have found that heavy premedication can cause delayed recovery and, if opiates are used, a high incidence of nausea and vomiting postoperatively; muscular relaxation with suxamethonium causes muscle pains (often severe in these early ambulent cases); and intubation causes sore throats. Modern anaesthesia has contributed many advantages but nothing in life is free.-I am, etc.,


The therapeutic approach in post-ERCP bleeding depends on the severity of the episode. In most instances early bleeding is self-limited, but when it is severe enough endoscopic injection of epinephrine (EP) is the usual treatment. Nevertheless, in some cases bleeding relapses, whereas in between 5% and 10% of patients the refractoriness to endoscopic management may even be fatal and other therapeutic alternatives would be needed. Otherwise, in a small subgroup of cases the bleeding becomes massive, the vision is obscured, and the injection may be very difficult in a situation of hemodynamic unstability. We here report a case of refractory post-endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) bleeding in a patient without preexisting coagulopathy, successfully treated with a single injection of rFVII. This novel experience suggests that rFVIIa, besides its actual high costs, might be useful and safe as a second-line, noninvasive, therapeutic tool in selected cases of massive, or refractory, post-ES bleeding.


sies of the SM. The mean number of adjacent biopsies per lesion was 3.4 (range 1–7). The overall rate of dysplasia in SM biopsies was 5/136 (3.7%) per lesion and was 5/486 (1.0%) per SM biopsy bite. Positive cases were observed using both white-light endoscopy (n = 3) and chromoendoscopy (n = 2). In none of the cases was the SM dysplasia considered a direct indication for colectomy. None of the patients with one or more SM biopsies positive for dysplasia had progression to high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or CRC on postresection surveillance. Conclusions: The overall rate of dysplasia in SM biopsies is low and has limited clinical consequences. These findings suggest that the endoscopic ability to delineate the borders of dysplastic lesions is good in the setting of IBD surveillance. The lack of clinical consequences related to routinely taking SM biopsies for every dysplastic lesion casts doubt on the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of this practice.


The office of the Plenipotentiary Ombudsman for Human Rights was established in Tajikistan on the basis of a relevant bill adopted on March 20, 2008. Statutory regulations normalize every important issue concerning the organization and modes of operation of the ombudsman. Fundamentally they generally meet the standards of analogous acts in force in democratic states. In the normative dimension, one can only object to the method of selecting the Ombudsman, dependent on the President of Tajikistan, which, in turn, questions his independence from the presidential center of power. On the other hand, in the practical dimension, within the reality of the authoritarian system functioning in Tajikistan, the Ombudsman's institution is a façade and is not able to fulfill the functions for which it was appointed. This is evidenced by the Ombudsman's reports, clearly lacking cases relating to first-generation human rights.


These traits of fruit colour were evaluated in 24 apricot genotypes for six years: basic colour, overcolour, flesh colour and attractiveness. The evaluation involved variability of colour traits and correlations between these traits in a six-year period. The evaluated genotypes were significantly different in colour traits; it will facilitate the selection of commercially interesting genotypes. Highly significant correlation coefficients (r = 0.56 to r = 0.96) were calculated for the rank of the values of particular traits in 1994–1999; it confirmed that the traits are genetically conditioned. As for the correlations between the traits, the closest correlation was found out between basic colour of fruit and flesh colour (r = 0.53 to r = 0.96) and between basic colour and overcolour (r = 0.45 to r = 0.65). In the six-year period fruit attractiveness showed the lowest variability expressed by average coefficient of variation (v = 14.98%) while fruit overcolour had the highest variability (v = 41.14%). The coefficients of variation for basic colour and flesh colour were at a medium level. Harogem and Harlayne were the most interesting varieties by their colour traits. Among the registered and most frequently grown varieties in the CR it was Velkopavlovická LE-6/2. The varieties Lednická M-90-A and Vynoslivyj were the most promising for producers by their colour.


* *1. Prospectus * Part I: Recapitulation *2. The Analogistic Tradition from Anaximander to Bonnet * The Seeds of Recapitulation in Greek Science? * Ontogeny and Phylogeny in the Conflict of "Evolution" and Epigenesis: The Idyll of Charles Bonnet * Appendix: The Revolution in "Evolution" *3. Transcendental Origins, 1793--1860 * Naturphilosophie: An Expression of Developmentalism * Two Leading Recapitulationists among the Naturphilosophen: Oken and Meckel * Oken's Classification of Animals Linear Additions of Organs * J. F. Meckel's Sober Statement of the Same Principles * Serres and the French Transcendentalists * Recapitulation and the Theory of Developmental Arrests * Von Baer's Critique of Recapitulation * The Direction of Development and Classification of Animals * Von Baer and Naturphilosophie: What Is the Universal Direction of Development? * Louis Agassiz and the Threefold Parallelism *4. Evolutionary Triumph, 1859--1900 * Evolutionary Theory and Zoological Practice * Darwin and the Evolution of Von Baer' Laws * Evolution and the Mechanics of Recapitulation * Ernst Haeckel: Phylogeny as the Mechanical Cause of Ontogeny * The Mechanism of Recapitulation * The American Neo-Lamarckians: The Law of Acceleration as Evolution's Motor * Progressive Evolution by Acceleration * The Extent of Parallelism * Why Does Recapitulation Dominate the History of Life? * Alpheus Hyatt and Universal Acceleration * Lamarckism and the Memory Analogy * Recapitulation and Darwinism * Appendix: The Evolutionary Translation of von Baer's Laws *5. Pervasive Influence * Criminal Anthropology * Racism * Child Development * Primary Education * Freudian Psychoanalysis * Epilogue *6. Decline, Fall, and Generalization * A Clever Argument * An Empirical Critique * Organs or Ancestors: The Transformation of Haeckel's Heterochrony * Interpolations into Juvenile Stages * Introduction of Juvenile Features into the Adults of Descendants * What Had Become of von Baer's Critique? * Benign Neglect: Recapitulation and the Rise of Experimental Embryology * The Prior Assumptions of Recapitulation * Wilhelm His and His Physiological Embryology: A Preliminary Skirmish * Roux's Entwicklungsmechanik and the Biogenetic Low * Recapitulation and Substantive Issues in Experimental Embryology: The New Preformationism * Mendel's Resurrection, Haeckel's Fall, and the Generalization of Recapitulation * Part II: Heterocrony and Paedomorphosis *7. Heterochrony and the Parallel of Ontogeny and Phylogeny * Acceleration and Retardation * Confusion in and after Haeckel's Wake * Guidelines for a Resolution * The Reduction of de Beer's Categories of Heterochrony to Acceleration and Retardation * A Historical Paradox: The Supposed Dominance of Recapitulation * Dissociability and Heterochrony * Correlation and Disociability * Dissociation of the Three Processes * A Metric for Dissociation * Temporal Shift as a Mechanism of Dissociation * A Clock Model of Heterochrony * Appendix: A Note on the Multivariate Representation of Dissociation *8. The Ecological and Evolutionary Significance of Heterochrony * The Argument from Frequency * The Importance of Recapitulation * The Importance of Heterochronic Change: Selected Cases * Frequency of Paedomorphosis in the Origin of Higher Taxa * A Critique of the Classical Significance of Heterochrony * The Classical Arguments * Retrospective and Immediate Significance * Heterochrony, Ecology, and Life-History Strategies * The Potential Ease and Rapidity of Heterochronic Change * The Control of Metamorphosis in Insects * Amphibian Paedomorphosis and the Thyroid Gland *9. Progenesis and Neoteny Insect Progenesis * Prothetely and Metathetely * Paedogenesis (Parthenogenetic Progenesis) in Gall Midges and Beetles * Progenesis in Wingless, Parthenogenetic Aphids * Additional Cases of Progenesis with a Similar Ecological Basis * Neotenic Solitary Locusts: Are They an Exception to the Rule? * Amphibian Neoteny * The Ecological Determinants of Progenesis * Unstable Environments * Colonization * Parasites * Male Dispersal * Progenesis as an Adaptive Response to Pressures for Small Size * The Role of Heterochrony in Macroevolution: Contrasting Flexibilities for Progenesis and Neoteny * Progenesis * Neoteny * The Social Correlates of Neoteny in Higher Vertebrates *10. Retardation and Neoteny in Human Evolution * The Seeds of Neoteny * The Fetalization Theory of Louis Bolk * Bolk's Data * Bolk's Interpretation * Bolk's Evolutionary Theory * A Tradition of Argument * Retardation in Human Evolution * Morphology in the Matrix of Retardation * Of Enumeration * Of Prototypes * Of Correlation * The Adaptive Significance of Retarded Development *11. Epilogue * Notes * Bibliography * Glossary * Index


Organofluorine compds. do not grow on trees. They have to be prepd. by introducing the halogen into the carbon backbone at a suitable stage of the synthesis sequence. From a logistic point of view, the key question is, when exactly. For example, if one deals with a well defined target structure, fluorine will often be delivered at a late stage as a precaution to avoid undesired consecutive transformations. A totally different scenario is encountered if the work aims at creating mol. diversity in the hope to find qleadsq for further development. Under such circumstances one will start from a readily available core compd. which already contains the fluorine label. When elaborating this starting material into all possible directions, the methods employed must be capable of attaching any functional group at any vacant position of the core compd. This double condition of product flexibility and regioisomeric exhaustiveness is most readily met by modern organometallic techniques, as will be demonstrated. [on SciFinder (R)]


High fidelity ground-based simulation is a necessary step in the development of successful autonomous orbital debris removal missions. A guidance, navigation, and control package is presented, which supports such experiments. A structured light stereo sensor delivers three-dimensional point cloud data to an object recognition module. The resulting navigation solution comprises the relative position and attitude of a tumbling target vehicle with respect to the capture vehicle. An onboard filter consumes these relative vision measurements along with data from an inertial measurement unit, providing a mission handler with the best estimate of relative position and attitude. Built on an event-driven framework, the controller maximizes target visibility to the vision sensor and drives a probe down the throat of the target nozzle. A dynamic vehicle emulator translates the motion of a virtual spacecraft of choice into real motion of the robotic experimental platform. This paper presents the object recognition algorithm, filter and control components, and calibration procedures used in the development of the GNC package along with experimental results for two mission scenarios.


: Digital predistortion is an efficient and robust technique for improving the linearity of power amplifiers. In this paper, we propose a digital predistorter based on frequency domain for OFDM signals, which exhibits superior accuracy against the predistortion in time domain. Simulation results show that, the desired MER can be achieved with fractional delay error as large as 6% of sampling time. It is also shown that since in frequency domain a fractional delay translates to phase rotation, phase rotation estimation and compensation can be performed by a low complexity scheme. Comparison of implementation complexity in frequency domain against time domain illustrates an improvement of approximately 60%.


The quality of radiographic images, radiographic equipment and radiation safety were assessed objectively in 44 veterinary clinics in Great Britain, and a questionnaire was used to survey opinion on the general standard of radiography and aspects of the radiographic techniques used. Good or tolerable films were produced by 56 per cent of the clinics but there was a tendency to produce films that were too dark. Poor exposure factors were chosen in 49 per cent of the films. A significant number of films (27 per cent) were underdeveloped whereas only 11 per cent were overdeveloped. Many of the errors were due to operator error or inadequate technique, whereas, in the questionnaire, many clinics suggested that their problems were due mainly to faulty or inadequate equipment.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of plyometric training on repeated sprint ability in amateur soccer players. Twenty amateur soccer players participated in this study as the subject. The subjects were randomly assigned to plyometric training group (n=10, age: 19.7±2.26 years) and control group (n=10, age: 18.8±0.6 years). The training group is experienced a plyometric exercise 2 days a week for 12 weeks. Pre- and post-tests assessed 6x35 meters (Repeated Anaerobic Sprint Test) repeated sprint test, body composition, rest heart rate, and peak heart rate in control and plyometric group. For the comparison of groups, paired samples t-test and independent (IBM SSPS 21.0) was used. The results revealed that significant difference in six piece repeated first sprint after the 12 weeks plyometric training were in the plyometric group. The plyometric group also showed a significant difference in rest heart beat rate, peak heart beat rate, right leg fat (%), fat mass, fat free mass, left leg fat mass, and fat free mass. However there was no a significant difference in left leg fat (%), BMI, BMR and total body water. The major finding in the study was the significant improvements in repeated sprint performance and body composition. According to these results, it can be said that practicing of plyometric training develops repeated sprint performance and also increases mass fat loses, in addition to regular soccer training. Article visualizations:


The current study mainly evaluated the plasma level of microRNA (miR)-136 in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients and determined if miR-136 could be used as a potential biomarker to screen KOA patients from healthy controls. It was demonstrated that plasma miR-136 was significantly decreased in the plasma of KOA patients. Moreover, the reduction in plasma miR-136 negatively correlated with the severity of KOA. Additionally, the increase in the serum interleukin (IL)-17 level positively correlated with the severity of KOA. More importantly, dual luciferase assays and western blot assays indicated that IL-17 was a target gene of miR-136. Further analysis showed that plasma miR-136 could be used as a biomarker to screen KOA patients from healthy controls. In summary, for the first time, the present study revealed that through targeting IL-17, decreased plasma miR-136 levels could be used as a potential biomarker to screen KOA patients from healthy controls.


We propose a new finite difference approximation to the Dirichlet problem for the homogeneous $\mathbf{p}$-Laplace equation posed on an $N$-dimensional domain, in connection with the Tug of War games with noise. Our game and the related mean-value expansion that we develop, superposes the ``deterministic averages'' ``$\frac{1}{2}(\inf +\sup)$'' taken over balls, with the ``stochastic averages'' ``$\fint$'', taken over $N$-dimensional ellipsoids whose aspect ratio depends on $N,\mathbf{p}$ and whose orientations span all directions while determining $\inf / \sup$. We show that the unique solutions $u_\epsilon$ of the related dynamic programming principle are automatically continuous for continuous boundary data, and coincide with the well-defined game values. Our game has thus the min-max property: the order of supremizing the outcomes over strategies of one player and infimizing over strategies of their opponent, is immaterial. We further show that domains satisfying the exterior corkscrew condition are game regular in this context, i.e. the family $\{u_\epsilon\}_{\epsilon\to 0}$ converges uniformly to the unique viscosity solution of the Dirichlet problem.


In the contemporary business world ethics represents one of the most exciting challenges, precisely because there is still no universally valid modality for solving a problem of this kind. Adopting an ethic personal behavior does not always ensure winning in the problems regarding the actual business, nor in the organizational behavior itself. The personal values, either native or gained by an individual throughout his socializing do not represent a support or advantage in the attitude towards the economic life. What is it that actually concerns the managers:to succeed in their activity or to have an ethic activity? A successful business is necessarily an ethic one, or one lacking ethics? In particular, should the human resources manager choose the human factor of solid moral and ethic grounds, or the one exclusively focused on money quantifiable performance?


We describe an approach to learning optimal control policies for a large, linear particle accelerator using deep reinforcement learning coupled with a high-fidelity physics engine. The framework consists of an AI controller that uses deep neural nets for state and action-space representation and learns optimal policies using reward signals that are provided by the physics simulator. For this work, we only focus on controlling a small section of the entire accelerator. Nevertheless, initial results indicate that we can achieve better-than-human level performance in terms of particle beam current and distribution. The ultimate goal of this line of work is to substantially reduce the tuning time for such facilities by orders of magnitude, and achieve near-autonomous control.


A theoretical study is presented on nonlinear aspects in the instability of the wake behind an aligned flat plate. This is done in the long-wavelength régime by asymptotic solutions of the unsteady Euler equations, in a rational fashion. In particular, equations are obtained that describe the nonlinear evolution with time and space of the vortex-layer interface formed just downstream of the trailing edge. The instability is found to be driven by a pressure jump across this layer, which has the same form as that arising from surface-tension effects but with a negative (destabilizing) sign. Finite-time breakdown of the solutions is conjectured and analysed. The usefully simplified case of a bounded wake is formulated, analysed and computed numerically, and comparisons are made with experiments, showing qualitative agreement.


The idea that dietary fat is poisonous arose nearly ¾ of a century ago. Criteria for associating disease incidence with environmental change were published a couple decades later. Intakes of dietary fat did not increase while ischemic heart disease risk was increasing; in contrast, dietary copper decreased. Intakes of copper calculated from food tables are falsely high by an average of 77%. Approximately half of adults consume less than 0.9 mg of copper per day when chemical analyses are done. This amount is less than nutritional guidelines. When hypercholesterolemia was discovered in copper deficient rats, a search was begun for anatomical, chemical and physiological similarities between animals deficient in copper and people with ischemic heart disease; more than 80 of these similarities have been identified. The copper deficiency theory on the etiology and pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease is the simplest and most general theory that has been proposed because it incorporates other theories on fetal programming, homocysteine and iron overload. It satisfies classical criteria of nutritional deficiency and association of an environmental characteristic with disease prevalence.


http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org October 2015 / Vol. 65 No. 10 • BioScience 953 A Stable Isotope Data Repository as Part of Neotoma, a Paleoecological Database We agree with Pauli and colleagues that the time is right for a comprehensive database that stores and serves stable isotope data. As they point out, the uses of stable isotope data are many, with applications in biology, ecology, physiology, forensic sciences, climatology, paleontology, and archaeology. Perhaps the authors' most important observation is that limits to progress are not in data acquisition but rather in data exchange. We suggest that the ability to not only exchange stable isotope data but also to visualize their intersection with other types of biological, ecological, and paleoor archaeological data will add immeasurably to the advancement of research in these disciplines (e.g., Pilaar Birch 2013). To that end, we discuss here the potential of an IsoBank within the Neotoma Paleoecological Database (www.neotomadb.org), already a National Science Foundation– recognized database consortium, which stores and serves subsidiary paleobiological databases spanning the Miocene to the present day, including pollen, vertebrate, plant macrofossil, diatom, and ostracod data. A stable isotope database is currently being created within Neotoma and will provide open access to chronologically and geographically referenced isotopic data. Therefore, it provides the perfect format for the type of data exchange cited by the authors and offers a means toward two additional goals: data standardization and integration. Neotoma has a centralized structure that facilitates interdisciplinary multiproxy analyses using discipline-specific data sets (Graham 2012). Each constituent database is administered by an advisory panel that sets standards, format, and quality controls. Appointed data stewards upload data using the program Tilia, which automatically checks for errors in order to prevent database corruption. Data is accessed through the Neotoma Explorer, which allows for multiple combinations of data to be served at one time. It is possible to map individual parameters, such as the geographic distribution of a given mammalian taxa at a specific time interval, along with elevation and vegetation overlays. These displays of data can be animated to show change through time. Numerical stratigraphic data can be graphed based on an internal age model in either continuous curves or discrete discontinuous bar graphs. Data can be downloaded into various software packages for analysis and manipulation, and Neotoma also has R modules to assist with downloading and importing data (Goring et al. 2015). The idiosyncratic nature of isotope data noted by Pauli and colleagues contributes to a lack of standardization in isotopic data analysis, curation, and dissemination. By instituting a standardized database format, such as already exists in Neotoma and Tilia, it is our hope that data practices in stable isotope research become more cohesive. A unified structure in data sharing should foster standards in data recording and analysis, increasing reproducibility and the potential for integration with other data sets. Neotoma is designed for the direct storage of metadata with data and can be linked with repositories such as GenBank and Arctos, and its format makes it easy to visualize and crossreference multiple data sets in time and space. We envision it as perfectly poised to serve the need for robust, multiproxy, linked, standardized databases that will make groundbreaking integrated ecological and biological research possible in the future.


We measured the thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon using a new simple steady state method implementing deposited Pt stripes as both resistive heaters and temperature monitors. Amorphous Si films were sputtered on Si substrates and heat was injected through the Pt resistive heaters. The increase in heater temperature was determined by the temperature-dependent electrical resistance of the Pt stripes. We thus determined the thermal conductivity of a-Si at room temperature to be 1.8 W/mK, which is about one-hundredth of that of crystal Si. This information is very important to properly design the thermal resistance of long-wavelength surface emitting lasers which use the a-Si in high-reflective stack mirrors.


The precision approach path indicator (PAPI) system is installed alongside a runway or at a heliport to provide accurate visual approach path information to pilots of landing aircraft, either day or night. The indicator sends the information through different color combinations. The international standards have very rigid requirements for the intensity distribution and the transition angle from red light to white light of the indicator. These two parameters are the main parameters to judge the accuracy of the indicator. We propose a new method to measure these two optical parameters, which can improve the accuracy of the signals and guarantee safe landing of the aircraft.


Fentanyl, 0.7 and 1.4 microgram/kg, alphaprodine, 0.135 and 0.270 mg/kg meperidine, 0.564 and 1.127 mg/kg, and placebo were administered intravenously over 2.6 min by infusion to five healthy adult males. The crossover study was of incomplete Latin square design with at least 1 week between administrations of each study drug. The subjects breathed from a mixing chamber the gas composition of which was servo-controlled so as to produce CO2 ramps in the end-tidal gases. Each experiment was composed of: 1) control CO2 ramps, 2) a 25-min isocarbic run during which the drug was infused and 3) CO2 ramps at half-hour intervals for 3 hr postinfusion. The 20-liter intercept (the PETCO2 at which ventilation was 20 liters/min) was used as the measure of respiratory drive; the change in 20-liter intercept measured drug effect. The potency ratios at peak effect were: fentanyl/meperidine, 679; alphaprodine/meperidine, 3.68; fentanyl/alphaprodine, 179. With the area under the time-effect curves, the potency ratios of mean effect were: fentanyl/meperidine, 45c; alphaprodine/meperidine, 3.00; fentanyl/alphaprodine, 141. Thus, both fentanyl and alphaprodine are shorter-acting than meperidine, and fentanyl is shorter-acting than alphaprodine. The time-effect curves were fitted to linear and mono- and bi-exponential models. The time constants were compatible with the above relative durations of action.


The case report describes a highly malignant fibrosarcoma in a 15 year old Himalayan female cat presented to the clinic with a history of uterine hemorrhage and body weight loss. Physical examination revealed a large round mass of about 2-3 cm in the regions of the posterior abdomen. Radiographic examination confirmed the presence of a round mass which appeared to be associated with the uterus. At necropsy an irregular relatively firm single intramural mass of 2 to 3 cm diameter was detected in the mid-portion of the left horn of the uterus. Metastases were present in the lungs, thoracic pleura, diaphragm and mesenterium. The diagnosis of uterine fibrosarcoma was based on the histological mesenchymal spindle cell appearance of the tumor cells and the results of the immunohistochemical findings. Based on the negative results of Smooth Muscle Actin (SMA) antigen for the tumor cells, a final diagnosis of fibrosarcoma was made. To the best knowledge of the authors this is the first diagnosis of a spontaneous uterine fibrosarcoma in a cat without signs of uterine inflammation or pyometra and with widespread metastases. http://www.ijvm.org.il/node/340 Israel Journal of Veterinary Medicine, December 2013 68(4) 246-251 Case Report: Contagious Ecthyma Deviations in the Anatomical Appearance of Lesions in an Outbreak in Lambs in Israel Bouznach A, Hahn S, Stram Y, Menasherov S, Edery N, Shicaht N, Kenigswald G, Perl S 1 Department of Pathology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, 50250 Bet Dagan, Israel. 2 Department of Virology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, 50250 Bet Dagan, Israel. 3 "Hachaklait" Veterinary Services POB 3039, 38900 Caesaria, Israel. * Corresponding author: Prof. S. Perl, Department of Pathology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, 50250 Bet Dagan, Israel. Email: email@example.com.


Background
Recently, the clinical use of low power lasers has increased, and it is said that wound healing is accelerated by their irradiation. The aim of this study was evaluation of the effect of platelet-rich plasma on proliferation and differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells with or without Ga-Al-As laser.
Methods:
In this experimental study, human lower third molar dental pulp cells prepared from torabinejad research center located in isfahan. When cells reached to adequate extent, divided in 4 groups including PRP, PRP+Laser, Laser, and control for implementation of MTT test and alkaline phosphatase activity test. In Laser and PRP+Laser groups, each well irradiated 45 seconds for MTT test and 135 seconds for alkaline phosphatase activity test.

Results:
Results demonstrated that PRP and PRP+Laser increased cell proliferation and viability up to 3 days but decreased cell proliferation and viability up to 5 days. Alkaline phosphatase activity was more in PRP+Laser, PRP and Laser, respectively, which all of them were less than control group. Alkaline phosphatase activity up-regulated in control group whereas in other groups down regulated.

Conclusion:
Laser irradiation can induce cell proliferation and in this field better acted than PRP. However, for assessment of stimulatory effect of Laser and PRP more studies are warranted.

Keywords:Dental pulp stem cells, Ga-Al-As laser, Platelet-rich plasma.


The breakthrough of blockchain technology has facilitated the emergence and deployment of a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) networks-based applications. Yet, the full utilization of these applications is still limited due to the fact that each application is operating on an isolated blockchain. Thus, it is inevitable to orchestrate these blockchain fragments by introducing a cross-blockchain platform that governs the inter-communication and transfer of assets in the UAV networks context. In this paper, we survey the literature on the state-of-the-art cross blockchain frameworks to highlight the latest advances in the field. We also provide an up-to-date review of blockchain-based UAV networks applications. Based on the outcomes of our survey, we introduce a spectrum of scenarios related to UAV networks that may leverage the potentials of the currently available cross-blockchain solutions. Finally, we identify open issues and potential challenges associated with the application of a cross-blockchain scheme for UAV networks that will hopefully guide future research directions.


Mixed-mode surveys are popular as they can save costs and maintain (or improve) response rates relative to single-mode surveys. Nevertheless, it is not yet clear how design decisions like survey mode or questionnaire length impact measurement quality. In this study, we compare measurement quality in an experiment of three distinct survey designs implemented in the German sample of the European Values Study: a single-mode face-to-face design, a mixed-mode mail/web design, and a shorter (matrix) questionnaire in the mixed-mode design. We compare measurement quality in different ways, including differences in distributions across several data quality indicators as well as equivalence testing over 140 items in 25 attitudinal scales. We find similar data quality across the survey designs, although the mixed-mode survey shows more item nonresponse compared to the single-mode survey. Using equivalence testing we find that most scales achieve metric equivalence and, to a lesser extent, scalar equivalence across the designs.


Abstract
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a demyelinating disease associated to the presence of anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4) antibodies and damage to the optic nerve and spinal cord. Sometimes Steroids do not stop the autoimmune response. Plasma exchange (PE) is a purification technique used to remove high weight molecules (e.g. antibodies), and it has shown efficacy in NMO unresponsive to steroids. However, the roll of PE in optic neuritis (ON) unresponsive to steroids secondary to NMO has been less studied.
Objective: We present our experience about ON unresponsive to steroids in NMO´s patients characteristics and PE treatment results.
Materials and method: retrospective study included 56 NMO medical records since January 2010 to May 2015. ON unresponsive to steroids cases and PE treatment were included. Visual acuity (VA) and EDSS score were recorded before and after the PE. Categorical variables were compared with Chi square, continuous variables were assessed using Wilcoxon´s test or Mans Whitney U test according to groups.
Results: We included 12 cases (10 females and 2 males). Prevalence of ON unresponsive to steroids was 0.21. We found a significant difference between VA pre and post PE in both eyes and in EDSS score. Bilateral ON was the most frequent presentation. Rate of response was of 75%.
Conclusion: We described the prevalence of ON unresponsive to steroids. Women were mostly affected and bilateral ON was the type more frequent. PE was effective up to 75%.


Security is an important consideration for many applications of ad-hoc networks. While security aspects of the routing layer have been addressed extensively, there is relatively lesser work on establishing a viable public key infrastructure, which is the basis for most security protocols. We present a distributed algorithm for validating the association between the network identifier of a host and its public key without relying on a priori shared secrets or a trusted certification authority.


With the lapse of time the two nations- Americans and British always blamed each other for "ruining" English. In this article we aim to trace historical "real culprit" and try to break stereotypes about American English status in teaching English as a second language. In comparison with Great Britain the USA has very short and contemporary history; nevertheless, in today's world American English exceeds British and other variants of English in so many ways, as well as in the choices of language learners. American English differs from other variants of the English language by 4 specific features: Inclusiveness, Flexibility, Innovativeness and Conservativeness. Notwithstanding, British disapprove of Americans taking so many liberties with their common tongue, linguistic researcher Daniela Popescu in her research mentions the fields of activities in which American words penetrated into British English. She classifies those words under 2 categories: everyday vocabulary (480 terms) and functional varieties (313 terms). In the case of functional varieties, the American influence is present in the areas of computing (10 %), journalism (15 %), broadcasting (24%), advertising and sales (5 %), politics and economics (24%), and travelling and transport (22%). Further on, the words and phrases in the broadcasting area have been grouped as belonging to two areas: film, TV, radio and theatre (83%), and music (17%). The purpose of the research paper is to create safe and reliable image of American English in the field of teaching English as a second language. Americans are accused in "ruining" English and for that reason learners are not apt to learn American English. The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is used while collecting the data. The study concluded that the real culprits are British who started out to ruin English mainly in in the age of Shakespeare and consequently, Americans inherited this ruin from the British as a result of colonization. Luckily, in the Victorian Age British saved their language from the ruins. The paper discusses how prejudices about American English effect the choices of English learners.


In order to discover novel MEK inhibitors, a series of 3-(benzothiazol-2-yl) coumarin derivatives have been synthesized following our earlier study of 3-benzyl coumarin derivatives. The target compounds were obtained by con- densation, cyanation, hydrolyzation and esterification starting from o-hydroxy benzaldehydes and benzothiazole-2- acetonitrile. The cyanation reaction could only occur when there were electron with drawing groups at C3 position of cou- marin scaffold. All the synthesized compounds showed weak binding and inhibition potencies to phosphorylated MEK1 but obvious inhibitory effect to unphosphorylated MEK1, suggesting that compounds inhibition to MEK1 is mainly due to the inhibition of npMEK1 rather than pMEK1. The most potent compound 3 was with an inhibition rate of 60.7% at 1 µM in the RAF-MEK cascading assay. Molecular docking studies revealed that the pocket occupation and structure hydro- phobicity may be important for activity. These results can contribute to further optimization on coumarin scaffold and led to the design of novel coumarin derivatives as more potent MEK1 inhibitors.


OBJECTIVE
This study assessed gender differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a national sample of veterans with serious mental illness.

METHODS
Data were analyzed from the Large Health Survey of Veterans, which was mailed to a national random sample of veterans in 1999. The linear and logistic multiple regression analyses included 18,017 veterans with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder who completed the survey. HRQOL was measured by using the various subscales of the 36-Item Short Form of the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS SF-36) (mental component summary, physical component summary, and activities of daily living) and by questions assessing self-perceptions of health status.

RESULTS
The sample was 7.3% female, 75.7% white, and 83.8% unemployed. Mean+/-SD age was 54.3+/-12.2 years. After the analysis adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and other variables, compared with male veterans, female veterans with serious mental illness had lower scores on the SF-36 physical component summary (indicating worse symptoms), were more likely to report that they were limited "a lot" in activities of daily living, and had more pain. However, female respondents were more likely to have a positive outlook on their health.

CONCLUSIONS
Among veterans who received a diagnosis of serious mental illness from providers of the Department of Veterans Affairs, women reported substantially poorer HRQOL than men across several domains but women reported better self-perceived health. Attention to the particular needs of female veterans with serious mental illness is imperative as the numbers of female veterans continue to increase.


Since the description of the first case of dermatomyositis over a century ago, our understanding of myositis has evolved. Bohan and Peter in 1975 established diagnostic criteria for polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Subsequent investigations by Arahata and Engel delineated differences in the lymphocyte subsets on muscle histopathology distinguishing polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Following that, myositis-specific antibodies have been reported in association with various myositis subtypes and with interstitial lung disease. Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are in general responsive to immunosuppressive therapy. Inclusion body myositis (IBM) became recognized as a distinct entity nearly half a century ago. IBM is clinically and pathologically distinct from the other inflammatory myopathies. The weakness in IBM is characteristic, involving both the proximal and distal muscle groups, such as finger flexion, knee extension and ankle dorsiflexion. Vacuolated fibers, amyloid deposition, and filaments on electron microscopy are pathologic hallmarks of IBM. IBM is refractory to corticosteroids and intravenous gamma globulins. This clinical observation and the pathologic features support the hypothesis that IBM is a muscle-degenerative disease. Most recently, a fourth inflammatory myopathy subtype called necrotizing myopathy was described. Necrotizing myopathy may be related to malignancy, other autoimmune diseases, toxic exposure or can be idiopathic. The key histopathologic findings of this entity are necrotic fibers undergoing phagocytosis. Though patients ultimately respond to immunosuppressive therapy, they tend to be more refractory and therefore often require a more aggressive treatment approach.


Two forms of Salmo gairdneh with different life histories (steelhead and rainbow trout) were compared using restriction endonuclease analysis of mitochondrial DNA. A total of 19 individuals from four populations were studied for each of the two forms, using 14 restriction enzymes. In addition, five cutthroat trout samples were included as an interspecific comparison. These enzymes revealed a total of 81 cut sites, representing a sample of more than 400 nucleotides per fish. Of these sites, 25 were phylogenetically informative, dividing the 43 fish into 10 clonal lines, 8 Salmo gairdneri and 2 Salmo clarki. Results indicated detectable divergence between all geographic populations of steelhead and rainbow trout except Pennask rainbow trout, Coquihalla steelhead, and Wampus Creek rainbow trout. Other steelhead populations analysed showed a closer phylogenetic relationship to each other than to rainbow trout populations analysed. Intraspecific divergence was in most cases 1% or less, with a 1.5% maximum. Int...


Repetitive head impact (RHI) increases the risk of concussion, probably due to alterations of the brain-skull mechanical coupling. It would be of clinical value to have a reliable biomarker capable of assessing the status of the brain-skull coupling condition. MRE-based normalized octahedral shear strain (NOSS) has been proposed as a method for such brain membrane system evaluation. To verify the test-retest reliability of NOSS, datasets from 14 healthy volunteers were acquired with different vibration directions and within- and between-day scanning. This study demonstrated the excellent repeatability of the proposed method, showing the NOSS distributions were robust to loading variations.


BACKGROUND
Endovascular treatment of wide-necked and complex aneurysms may require stent-assisted coiling, either as primary stenting or combined with the balloon remodeling technique (BRT).

OBJECTIVE
To compare the angiographic results and clinical outcomes of both strategies in the Safety and Efficacy of Neuroform for Treatment of intracranial Aneurysms (SENAT) registry.

METHODS
SENAT was a prospective, multicenter registry that allowed BRT in conjunction with stenting and coiling with bare platinum coils. Clinical and angiographic outcomes of 97 patients with unruptured aneurysms treated with stenting, 51 after BRT (BRT+) and 46 without balloon assistance (BRT-), were retrieved from the SENAT database. Technical, clinical, and angiographic outcomes were compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS
Periprocedural morbimortality and midterm clinical outcomes were not different between groups. Residual aneurysms were observed in 7.8% of BRT+ and in 21.7% of BRT- (P = .08) at the end of the stenting procedure. Four retreatments were performed during the follow-up period (2 BRT+, 2 BRT-). Twelve- to 18-month anatomic results showed a significant difference between groups, with a residual aneurysm being observed in 6.1% of BRT+ as compared to 22.7% of BRT- patients (P = .03).

CONCLUSION
Primary BRT followed by stent-assisted coiling may be associated with fewer residual aneurysms at 12 to 18 months as compared to stent-assisted coiling alone.


Soil uncertainties should be considered in the safety and economic evaluation of geotechnical structures. The impact of uncertainties in risk assessment help engineer in deciding a safer and economically feasible design of geotechnical structures. This paper studies the effect of red clay soil strength uncertainties on the highway excavated slope geometry designs. Different slope geometries are considered: slope angles of 27, 34, 45 and 63 degrees and slope heights of 5 m, 10 m and 15 m. The probabilistic analysis of slope stability is conducted using SLOPE/W to obtain the probability of failure, as well as the failed soil mass volume. The resulting probabilities are used in the quantitative decision making analysis on slope geometries. The Expected Monetary Value (EMV) derived from the construction costs, the repair costs, as well as the highway closure losses for different Levels of Service, is used in the analysis. The decision-making analysis results provide an overview of how the consequences of slope failures determining the decisions made. The consequences of slope failure indicate the design should lean on the gentle slope.


The 1H- and 2H-1,2,3-triazoles are isomeric five-membered ring, aromatic heterocycles that may undergo chemical equilibration by virtue of intramolecular hydrogen migration (tautomerization). Using millimeter-wave spectroscopy in the 130-375 GHz frequency range, we measured the spectroscopic constants for thirteen 1H-1,2,3-triazole and sixteen 2H-1,2,3-triazole isotopologues. Herein, we provide highly accurate and highly precise semi-experimental equilibrium (re SE) structures for the two tautomers based on the spectroscopic constants of each set of isotopologues, together with vibration-rotation interaction and electron-mass distribution corrections calculated using coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples calculations [CCSD(T)/cc-pCVTZ]. The resultant structures are compared with a "best theoretical estimate" (BTE), which has recently been shown to be in exceptional agreement with the semi-experimental equilibrium structures of other aromatic molecules. Bond distances of the 1H tautomer are determined to <0.0008 Å and bond angles to <0.2°. For the 2H tautomer, bond angles are also determined to <0.2°, but bond distances are less precise (2σ ≤ 0.0015). Agreement between BTE and re SE values is discussed.


A study was made during a 3-month period of the food intake of all patients older than 60 years, who were admitted to a ward of acute orthopedic surgery. This amounted to 31 women and 15 men, whose average age was 74 years. Each patient's diet was studied for 16 days on an average. The mean daily energy intake was 1 163+/-341 kcal (4 868 +/- 1 427 kJ) for women and 1 558+/-539 kcal (6 521+/-2 856 kJ) for men. 44 of 46 patients received fewer calories than is recommended for healthy persons the same age, and 25 of 46 patients consumed less calories per day than the basal metabolism. The mean daily protein intake was 0.7+/-0.3 g/kg/day for both men and women. 28 of the patients received less than 0.8 g/kg/day which is the amount of protein recommended healthy adults and none of our patients received 1.5 g protein/kg/day, the protein intake recommended patients in hospital. The low protein intake was due to a poor intake of energy as well as a high consumption of refreshing drinks and titbits, both a little nourishment.


Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) causes considerable economic loss to the equine industry and is spread among susceptible animals during the cycles of latency and reactivation, causing rhinopneumonitis, abortion, and neurological disease. Nucleotide polymorphisms within ORF30 and ORF68 sequences of the viral genome are associated with strain neuropathogenicity and geographical origin. A total of 142 tissue and nasal swab samples from apparently healthy unvaccinated horses were examined to ascertain EHV-1 distribution, diversity, and clinical significance considering the results of virus isolation, sequence analysis, and anamnestic data. The ORF30 and ORF68 molecular study of these circulating strains and archival isolates from abortion storms aimed to contribute to the perception of strain pathogenicity and origin. EHV-1 was detected by PCR and virus isolation in 81 and 45.1% of the analyzed samples, respectively, and 82.1% of the representative samples were neuropathogenic strains. The ORF68-based grouping was restricted by the pronounced polymorphism of Balkan EHV-1 strains, and only two isolates were assigned to group 4. The cases of abortion were caused by neuropathogenic strains that also circulate within the horse population with no documented outbreaks of disease. It was evident that strain virulence is not solely accountable for the development of clinical symptoms in affected animals. Neural tissue is significant for virus latency and reactivation, considering the number of EHV-1 isolates from apparently healthy stressed horses. Special care must be taken when accommodating together immunologically naive and latently infected horses since asymptomatic carriers silently shed EHV-1.


ABSTRACT This study put forward the inequality issues in modern residential energy consumption from both income and spatial viewpoints, with special regard to the Indonesian case. Energy inequality was viewed from the perspective of energy justice in both distribution and recognition. This study employed qualitative analysis with Theil's, Gini, and mixed-Gini index methods. The energy usage inequalities have declined, both overall and by the dimensions of spatial and income levels, except in urban areas. However, this paper found that some groups were susceptible to fall into energy-poor, especially residents in rural areas, remote areas, and eastern Indonesia. Besides improving a more stable electricity grid, the government should continue the energy-saving solar lighting (LTSHE) program and promote small-scale decentralized technologies. LPG distribution should be improved. A program such as the cheap clean stove needs to be developed to reach those without access to clean cooking fuel.


The National Practice Benchmark (NPB) is a unique tool to measure oncology practices against others across the country in a way that allows meaningful comparisons despite differences in practice size or setting. In today's economic environment every oncology practice, regardless of business structure or affiliation, should be able to produce, monitor, and benchmark basic metrics to meet current business pressures for increased efficiency and efficacy of care. Although we recognize that the NPB survey results do not capture the experience of all oncology practices, practices that can and do participate demonstrate exceptional managerial capability, and this year those practices are recognized for their participation. In this report, we continue to emphasize the methodology introduced last year in which we reported medical revenue net of the cost of the drugs as net medical revenue for the hematology/oncology product line. The effect of this is to capture only the gross margin attributable to drugs as revenue. New this year, we introduce six measures of clinical data density and expand the radiation oncology benchmarks.