Suppose that you are at a live jazz show. The drummer begins a solo. You see the cymbal jolt and you hear the clang. But in addition seeing the cymbal jolt and hearing the clang, you are also aware that the jolt and the clang are part of the same event. Casey O'Callaghan (forthcoming) calls this awareness "intermodal feature binding awareness." Psychologists have long assumed that multimodal perceptions such as this one are the result of a automatic feature binding mechanism (see Pourtois et al., 2000; Vatakis and Spence, 2007; Navarra et al., 2012). I present new evidence against this. I argue that there is no automatic feature binding mechanism that couples features like the jolt and the clang together. Instead, when you experience the jolt and the clang as part of the same event, this is the result of an associative learning process. The cymbal's jolt and the clang are best understood as a single learned perceptual unit, rather than as automatically bound. I outline the specific learning process in perception called "unitization," whereby we come to "chunk" the world into multimodal units. Unitization has never before been applied to multimodal cases. Yet I argue that this learning process can do the same work that intermodal binding would do, and that this issue has important philosophical implications. Specifically, whether we take multimodal cases to involve a binding mechanism or an associative process will have impact on philosophical issues from Molyneux's question to the question of how active or passive we consider perception to be.


Burned-out tumour of the testis is a rare form of a germ-cell malignancy of testicular localisation which can regress or disappear. This is a rare form of germ-cell neoplasm. We report on 2 patients with such a tumour. The histological findings, on clinical manifestations, on difficult differential diagnosis from primary retroperitoneal germ-cell tumour, therapy, and outcome of this malignancy are discussed. In the absence of palpable testicular tumour the symptomatology is due to metastasis. Burned-out tumour of the testis must be considered in a patient with retroperitoneal lymph node involvement and histology of "germ-cell tumour". In these patients sonography of scrotal contents may be useful to identify intratesticular abnormalities. These are often the site of the primary tumour. If burned-out tumour of the testis is suspected, the indication for surgery is given. If the frozen section is not "normal testicular tissue", orchiectomy should be performed. The metastasis is treated according to the histology and clinical stage of the tumour. It is important to distinguish burned-out tumour of the testis from true extragonadal germ-cell tumours. Primary removal of the testicular tumour is necessary because of the high rate of persistent testicular malignancy, which may be as much as 50% despite systemic chemotherapy.


To satisfy an annual rate load growth of approximately 10% per year, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has been studying the use of double circuit 765-kV transmission lines. Since this would be the first application in the world for such lines, a 765-kV test line was built near the Yellow Sea to gain experience with this higher voltage. A primary corona phenomena that is important for conductor selection is audible noise (AN) due to corona. This paper presents the results of long-term measurements of AN from the 765-kV double circuit test line using a bundle of 6-483.8 mm/sup 2/ conductors at Korea Electric Power Research Institute's (KEPRI) 765-kV test station. The analysis of the data shows that the 6-rail conductor bundle satisfies the AN criterion of 50 dB(A) under rainy weather conditions.


The yield of fruiting bodies of Agaricus bisporus from compost is variable due to differences in available nutrients and cultural conditions during production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy for assessing potential compost productivity. Three compost comparative trials, carried out over the past six years under controlled experimental conditions, have generated a large sample set (48 × 3 = 144) with yield data. Visible and NIR reflectance measurements of the calibration samples were made over the range of 400–2498 nm. A partial least-squares (PLS) algorithm was used to generate the predictive models using the information in the spectrum. A model developed with the spectral region 1100–2498 nm could explain 87% of the variation in mushroom yields obtained from the three trials. The accuracy of the NIR yield model has been confirmed in a validation compost comparative trial. A combined calibration equation (r2 = 0.93) using the spectral data (1100–2498 nm) from the four trials was developed with a standard error of cross-validation of 18.6 kg/tonne.


Abstract  Obsessive‐compulsive symptoms (OCS) frequently occur in patients with Tourette syndrome (TS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It has been suggested that genetic factors play a role in the transmission of both TS and ASD and that obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) may have some genetic relationship with these disorders. The objective of this study was to explore whether the OCS associated with TS and ASD were found in the parents of TS and ASD probands by comparing them with normal controls. The subjects were parents of 13 TS and 16 ASD probands. All parents underwent an examination for tic symptoms and OCD, and completed the Maudsley Obsessional Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). No significant differences were observed in the MOCI and STAI scores among all three groups. However, the MOCI total score was higher in fathers of ASD probands than in male normal controls with a marginal significance. There was a significant tendency for the mean cleaning score of MOCI in fathers of ASD probands to be higher than that in male normal controls, and the mean checking score in fathers of ASD probands was fourfold higher than that in male normal controls, although there was no significant difference. No significant relationship was observed between OCS in TS or ASD probands and OCS of their parents. Further studies on OCD and OCS including a dimensional approach within ASD families are needed.


All problems and solutions should be sent, typewritten in duplicate, with complete address, to Cecil C. Rousseau, Department ofMathematical Sciences, The University ofMemphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152 [E-mail: email@example.com, Fax: (901) 678-2480]. Preference is given to problems in applied mathematics, particularly those motivated by questionsfrom science or industry. Wheneverpossible, a briefdescription ofthe problem background should be included. An asteriskplaced beside a problem number indicates that the problem was submitted without solution. Proposers and solvers whose solutions are published will receivefive reprints ofthe corresponding problem section. Other solvers will receive one reprint provided an address label is enclosed. Proposers and solvers desiring acknowledgment of their contributions should include a self-addressed stamped postcard or an e-mail address. (No stamps necessary for outside the U.S.A. and Canada.) Solutions should be received by June 30, 1995.


AIMS
The aim of this study to examine the level of access to dental care in Michigan for individuals with DD and explore the dentists' practices, attitudes, and perceived barriers to providing care to this vulnerable population.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A survey was mailed to a random sample of 1250 general dental practitioners with an active license in the State of Michigan. The survey included questions related to dentists' demographic information, opinion about willingness, barriers, and training needs associated with delivering care to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Descriptive statistics were computed and chi-squared tests and logistic regression models analyzed the association between predictor and key outcome variables. Results show that most dentists treated individuals with developmental disabilities (80.3%). Respondents who indicated that they currently do not treat these patients identified behavior management of patient (67.9%), inadequate training and experiences (52.4%) and severity of patient's condition (41.7%) as the most common reasons for not providing care to individuals with developmental disabilities.

CONCLUSION
A majority of Michigan general dentists treat patients with developmental disabilities. Addressing barriers like training and improved reimbursements might help in increasing the number of dentists willing to treat patients with developmental disabilities.


The aim of the investigation was to study neuropsychic manifestations (NPM) of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the Kyrgyz cohort of patients. Material and methods. The prospective study included 460 patients with a reliable diagnosis of SLE, verified according to the diagnostic criteria ACR (1997) and SLICC (2012), observed in the clinic of the Academician M. Mirrakhimov National Center of Cardiology and Therapy from january 2012 to december 2017. Signs of nervous system damage were revealed in 103 (22.39%) of 460 patients with SLE. Classification criteria of ACR (1999) were used to assess neuropsychic manifestations of SLE, which were diagnosed by the psychiatrist according to ICD-10. Cognitive disorders were detected by a psychologist using a specific test Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; mini-scheme study of the mental state of the patient). Results and discussion. Various signs of NPM SLE were revealed in 103 (22.39%) of 460 patients with SLE. Groups of patients with and without NPM SLE at the beginning of the study were comparable in age, time from the appearance of the first signs of SLE to the verification of the diagnosis and the value of the SLEDAI-2K index (p>0.05). Acute variant of SLE course was significantly associated with NPM SLE. The acute course of SLE was observed in 56 (54.38%) of the 103 patients with NPM SLE and 109 (30.53%) of the 357 patients without NPM SLE [odds ratio (OR) 2.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.73–4.24; p<0.001]. Subacute and chronic course of the disease was diagnosed in a similar number of patients with NPM SLE – 24 (23.30%) and without NSAIDS – 23 (23.33%) (OR 5.75 95% CI 3.54–9.34; p<0.001). In the majority of patients the central nervous system (CNS) lesions prevailed. It was present in 71 (68.93%) patients, peripheral nervous system (PNS) pathology was less frequent and revealed in 32 (31.07%) of 103 cases, and 4 (3.88%) patients had combined CNS and PNS lesions. One manifestation of NPM SLE was detected in 37 (52.11%) patients, two – in 15 (21.13%), three – in 14 (19.72%) and four – in 5 (7.04%) of 71 patients with CNS lesions. According to the criteria of ACR (1999) in 103 patients 155 different NPM SLE were diagnosed: CNS disorders – in 123 (79.35%) and PNS pathology – in 32 (20.65%). The frequency of focal and diffuse CNS disorders was 61.79% and 38.21%, respectively. Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) was diagnosed most frequently – in 33 (43.42%) of the 76 cases of focal neuropsychiatric CNS disorders. Clinical manifestations of CVD were mainly characterized by discirculatory encephalopathy – in 30 (90.91%), less often – by ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery basin on the left – in 2 (6.06%) and transient ischemic attack – in 1 (3.03%) of 33 CVD cases. One manifestation was present in 52.11% of patients with CNS pathology. In other cases, there were more symptoms of its damage. Among the 47 diffuse lesions, neuropsychic disorders of the psychosis type prevailed, the main manifestations of which were visual and auditory hallucinations – in 34 (72.34%) patients. Conclusion. NPM SLE was identified in 22.39% of patients. Acute variant of SLE and very high activity was associated with NPM SLE. The risk of NPM SLE developing in very high activity of SLE was increased by 5.75 times. In the vast majority of cases in Kyrgyz patients there was CNS involvement (68.93%), twice less – PNS damage (31.07%), combined lesion of PNS and CNS was noted less frequently (3.88%). 47.89% of patients had more than one manifestation of NPM SLE. In most patients with diffuse NPM SLE, psychosis was observed in the form of visual and auditory hallucinations (72.34%), and focal ones were presented by CVD (43.42%), usually in the form of discirculatory encephalopathy (90.91%).


Intratumoral uptake heterogeneity in 18F-FDG PET has been associated with patient treatment outcomes in several cancer types. Textural feature analysis is a promising method for its quantification. An open issue associated with textural features for the quantification of intratumoral heterogeneity concerns its added contribution and dependence on the metabolically active tumor volume (MATV), which has already been shown to be a significant predictive and prognostic parameter. Our objective was to address this question using a larger cohort of patients covering different cancer types. Methods: A single database of 555 pretreatment 18F-FDG PET images (breast, cervix, esophageal, head and neck, and lung cancer tumors) was assembled. Four robust and reproducible textural feature–derived parameters were considered. The issues associated with the calculation of textural features using co-occurrence matrices (such as the quantization and spatial directionality relationships) were also investigated. The relationship between these features and MATV, as well as among the features themselves, was investigated using Spearman rank coefficients for different volume ranges. The complementary prognostic value of MATV and textural features was assessed through multivariate Cox analysis in the esophageal and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohorts. Results: A large range of MATVs was included in the population considered (3–415 cm3; mean, 35; median, 19; SD, 50). The correlation between MATV and textural features varied greatly depending on the MATVs, with reduced correlation for increasing volumes. These findings were reproducible across the different cancer types. The quantization and calculation methods both had an impact on the correlation. Volume and heterogeneity were independent prognostic factors (P = 0.0053 and 0.0093, respectively) along with stage (P = 0.002) in non–small cell lung cancer, but in the esophageal tumors, volume and heterogeneity had less complementary value because of smaller overall volumes. Conclusion: Our results suggest that heterogeneity quantification and volume may provide valuable complementary information for volumes above 10 cm3, although the complementary information increases substantially with larger volumes.


The multidimensional problems facing buildings in Nigeria have reached an endemic proportion. They manifest in quantitative, qualitative and also in maintenance terms. The climate across the country aids the deterioration of building materials particularly those used in the facades as there is need to extend the lifespan of these external building finishes because of the economic, health, aesthetic and structural problems being experienced by the occupants of the buildings. An increasing number of cases of poor maintenance of plastered and painted facades characterized by early and unexpected onset of defects and damage to the surface have been noticed in the study areas which has culminated into spending huge amounts of money for such maintenance activities; This paper identifies the different nature and influence of these factors in order to arrive at cost effective ways of preventing and dealing with such defects. Also it establishes the planning horizon over which the various costs that arise during the intended lifetime of the finishes are incurred. Buildings raging from residential (bungalows and multi-storey apartment) to institutional and commercial including those with mixed used that exhibited the external finishes under the changing climatic challenges were carefully observed and analysed through the use of structured questionnaires. The paper concludes by recommending continuous and regular inspection of external surfaces every ten years, provision of a thick porous coating which will give the best weather-proofing and durability results on solid walls and achievement of good and physical adhesion of rendering to the rigid substrate free from dirt, oil, grease and loose particles.


Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship between rumen liquid-associated bacterial community structures and post-weaning liveweight gain (LWG) of Brahman crossbred steers. Bacterial diversity was assessed using denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). In Experiment 1, 16 steers were selected from a group of 100 steers by pairing steers with the same weaning weight, but different LWG 90 days after weaning (n = 8 highest growth, 0.21±0.01 kg/day; and n = 8 lowest growth 0.07±0.01 kg/day). Thereafter, steers were allocated to a 28-day pen study and fed Mitchell grass (Astrebla spp.) hay to examine DM intake and digestibility, rumen parameters and rumen microbial community in these two groups. Rumen fluid samples were taken by stomach tube 3 h after feeding on the last day of the pen phase. In Experiment 2, 12 pairs of weaned steers were selected from a group of 203 steers on the same basis as Experiment 1. The post-weaning LWG were 0.20±0.03 and 0.02±0.03 kg/day for the 12 highest and 12 lowest growth animals selected, respectively. Steers then grazed dry season Sabi grass (Urochloa mosambicensis) dominant pasture for 21 days, before rumen sampling 3 h after morning grazing by stomach tubing on the last day. In Experiment 1, there were no significant differences between the two groups in DM intake, digestibility, ruminal pH, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration or the VFA proportion. In Experiments 1 and 2, rumen ammonia-N concentration was similar between LWG groups and there was no evidence of a relationship between liquid-phase DGGE profiles of rumen bacteria and high or low post-weaning LWG using multivariate analyses. Furthermore, the number of detected DGGE bands, the ShannonWiener and evenness indexes were not different between LWG groups. This DGGE analysis of the most abundant groups of rumen fluid-associated bacteria suggests that microbial populations were not related with the differences observed in post-weaning LWG within a group of weaners fed low crude protein diets.


During seasonal cycles in ground squirrels, as in many other species, there are periods of spontaneous loss of appetite, very low calorie intake and a 30% loss in body mass. Measurements of nitrogen balance during early and later stages of the mass loss phase of the cycle (-1.2 +/- 6.7 and +13.1 +/- 8.8 mg/24 h, respectively) showed a total sparing of protein, indicating a selective use of fat. However, when no food at all was available, nitrogen balance was negative (-45 +/- 5 mg/24 h). Provided that they have access to some food, ground squirrels are therefore able to compensate for any protein utilization, while at the same time selectively losing large amounts of fat. It appears that a factor related to spontaneous reduction in food intake enables these animals to achieve the total sparing of protein that eludes dieting humans on comparably low caloric intakes.


Ten patients with pituitary apoplexy were treated at the Institute of Endocrinology, Gerontology and Geriatrics in Sofia over the last 5 years. They represented 5.06% of the total number of patients with pituitary adenomas treated at the Institute during the same period. The highest frequency of pituitary apoplexy was noted among patients with Nelson's syndrome. In 5 patients of this group pituitary apoplexy was the first sign of a tumor. Headaches combined with nausea and vomiting were the earliest symptoms of pituitary apoplexy, and ptosis and ophthalmoplegy were the most common symptoms in the patients. The disease was not correctly diagnosed in 7 patients who immediately after apoplexy were treated in neurological and ophthalmological departments.


This article addresses an issue to be decided by the Supreme Court this term, with the Court recently granting certiorari in the case of Mount Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. v. Township of Mt. Holly, 658 F.3d 375 (3rd Cir. 2011). The sole issue to be decided in the case is whether the disparate impact theory is cognizable under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). After forty years of FHA disparate impact jurisprudence, in which every circuit court to consider the question has decided that liability can be imposed under the FHA on a showing of discriminatory effects, the Supreme Court has decided to review the theory in the exceedingly rare context (under the FHA) of two summary judgment reversals reinstating plaintiffs' claims.My review of the appellate case law over four decades reveals that plaintiffs have struggled to obtain and preserve positive outcomes using the FHA disparate impact theory. Plaintiffs have received positive decisions in only 20 percent, or 18 of the 92 FHA disparate impact claims considered on appeal. Although defendants were able to have 83.8% of their positive FHA disparate impact outcomes affirmed on appeal, plaintiffs were able to hold onto only 33.3% of their positive outcomes. Plaintiffs were able to reverse summary judgment in only two cases prior to the Court's granting certiorari in the recent decisions of Magner (settling prior to argument) and Mount Holly. My review reveals only one other positive appellate outcome for plaintiffs in forty years on facts similar to Magner and Mount Holly, and even then the court did not grant the requested relief. It is unclear why the Court has granted cert. to review FHA disparate impact theory, but an analysis of forty years of appellate case law demonstrates that the courts have applied a narrowly circumscribed version of the theory.I have labeled Magner and Mount Holly "housing improvement" cases because they involve disparate impact challenges to plans or regulations that purportedly improve housing while displacing persons of color at disproportionate rates. These cases may be contrasted with what I describe in this article as "housing barrier" cases, which challenge regulations that perpetuate segregation by preventing housing opportunities for minority groups outside neighborhoods where they already live. Housing barrier cases promote the highest ideals of the FHA, while housing improvement cases meet protected class members where they are — in segregated, substandard housing. Housing barrier cases help protected class members climb the housing ladder to greater opportunity; housing improvement cases help prevent protected class members from being pushed down the ladder or knocked off altogether in the name of improvement. I discuss in the article the fact that both types of cases can further the purposes of the FHA, but housing improvement challenges must be reviewed with particular care to ensure that they do not perpetuate segregated, substandard housing.As the quantitative and qualitative analysis of this article demonstrates, the circuit courts first allowing discriminatory effects to be used as a method of proof in FHA cases considered the theory in the context of housing barrier cases. The courts recognized the broad purpose of the FHA to "replace the ghettos 'by truly integrated and balanced living patterns'" and saw FHA disparate impact challenges to housing barriers as essential to achieving this purpose. Housing barrier cases remain relevant today. A 21st century local government bureaucrat or elected official may not have created racial segregation in housing, but can virtually guarantee its perpetuation, with or without discriminatory purpose, by simply engaging in practices that help maintain the residential status quo. Not surprisingly, the predominant type of case addressing the FHA disparate impact theory at the appellate level remains the housing barrier challenge. Further, the housing barrier challenge is the predominant type of case among those positive outcomes achieved by plaintiffs at the appellate level. If disparate impact theory is eliminated as a method of proof in FHA cases, perhaps because of the Court's distaste for housing improvement cases, then housing barrier challenges will be severely curtailed. The disparate treatment method of proof will capture only a fraction of housing barriers enacted or enforced in a way that perpetuates segregation. Given the persistence of residential racial segregation and Congress's purpose in enacting the FHA to eliminate such segregation, the disparate impact theory remains a relevant, if misunderstood, tool for accomplishing Congress's purpose, and should be upheld.In 2013, we have fallen short of achieving Congress's integration purpose in enacting the FHA, even with the disparate impact theory. It is difficult to imagine how we would fare without it.


The U.S. Navy continues to be a major developer and procurer of information systems (IS), yet very limited research has been done to determine the factors that influence technology acceptance by naval personnel. Literature suggests that efforts to embrace information technology in improving decision-making and reducing workload heavily depend on the use of such systems. Moreover, previous research has shown the validity of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and computer self-efficacy (CSE) to model technology acceptance in numerous environments. However, very little research was done specifically addressing such technology acceptance with military combat IS. Thus, this study examines the applicability of the extended TAM with a CSE construct model to the U.S. Navy's combat IS. A survey sample of 237 sailors from five (5) different U.S. Navy aircraft carriers was used to assess such extended model on a U.S. Navy's combat IS. Results indicate that perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, and CSE were valid antecedents of technology acceptance (as indicated by intention to use). Moreover, high Cronbach's Alpha was observed on all measures indicating additional reliability of the measures also in the context of military organizations.


The article offers a new methodical approach to synthesis of binary hexacyanoferrate preparations (II) on the matrix of activated charcoal. It presents the experimental results of studies of blocking of cesium radionuclides in simulated water-salt solution. The work suggests a different phase state of binary preparations, depending on the mass ratio copper and iron hexacyanoferrates (II) in the course of synthesis.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a significant challenge to the modern healthcare system and led to increased burnout among healthcare workers (HCWs). We previously reported that HCWs who engaged in COVID-19 patient care had a significantly higher prevalence of burnout (50.0%) than those who did not in November 2020 (period 1). We performed follow-up surveys in HCWs in a Japanese national university hospital, including basic demographics, whether a participant engaged in care of COVID-19 patients in the past 2 weeks, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory in February 2021 (period 2) and May 2021 (period 3). Periods 1 and 3 were amid the surges of COVID-19 cases, and period 2 was a post-surge period with a comparatively small number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. Response rates to the surveys were 33/130 (25.4%) in period 1, 36/130 (27.7%) in period 2, and 56/162 (34.6%) in period 3, respectively. While no consistent tendency in the prevalence of burnout based on variables was observed throughout the periods, the prevalence of burnout tends to be higher in periods 1 and 3 in those who engaged in COVID-19 patient care in the last 2 weeks (50.0%, 30.8%, 43.1% in period 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Given the prolonged pandemic causing stigmatization and hatred against HCWs leading to increased prevalence of burnout, high-level interventions and supports are warranted.


The transcriptional coactivator p300/CBP catalyzes protein lysine acetylation on histones and other proteins and has been implicated in a wide array of physiologic and pathologic processes including cancer. In contrast to HDACS, methyltransferases, and bromodomains, it has historically been difficult to identify drug-like small molecules as potent histone acetyltransferase inhibitors. We will discuss our longstanding effort to design selective p300/CBP acetyltransferase inhibitors using enzymologic and structural considerations. We will provide current pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of our most recent p300/CBP inhibitors and future directions related to anticancer therapies. We will also highlight the use of protein microarrays as a tool to understand the regulation and substrate profile of p300/CBP protein acetylation. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):PL03-03. Citation Format: Philip A. Cole. Designing p300/CBP histone acetyltransferase inhibitors for cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PL03-03.


It is not yet clear if benzodiazepine receptor ligands, implicated in the pathophysiology of hepatic coma, also have a role in subclinical cognitive or neurophysiological alterations in cirrhotic patients. Therefore, we carried out a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of flumazenil, a benzodiazepine antagonist, on brainstem auditory evoked responses and on the number connection test in cirrhotic patients with subclinical neurophysiological or cognitive alterations. Thirteen cirrhotic subjects with subclinical neurophysiological or cognitive alterations were studied. A total of 3 mg of flumazenil or saline was infused intravenously. Before and after the infusion, the number connection test was administered and brainstem auditory evoked responses recorded. After 72 h, patients were crossed over. Flumazenil did not influence brainstem auditory evoked responses or the number connection test. A screening test for benzodiazepines was negative in all subjects. We conclude that benzodiazepine receptor ligands have a negligible role, if any, in the pathophysiology of subclinical neurophysiological or cognitive alterations of cirrhotic patients.


It is essential to avoid small vessels during stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) electrode implantation. In this study, we proposed a 6-fold Compressed sensing accelerated, 5cm/s Low velocity encoded, 0.75mm Isotropic resolution Phase contrast Magnetic Resonance Angiography (CLIP-MRA). In CLIP-MRA, the compressed sensing based acceleration method was shown to achieve better image quality or shorter scan duration compared to parallel imaging based acceleration. CLIP-MRA was able to display not only cortical arteries and veins simultaneously, but also vessels in the skull. Safety and effectiveness of CLIP-MRA utilized preoperative SEEG planning were evaluated on a small patient cohort.


A method of simulation for power system characteristics including a superconducting generator with high response excitation is proposed in this paper. The magnetic energy in the field winding of a superconducting generator (SCG) is much more than that of a conventional generator (CG), because magnetic flux in SCG almost is in air but that in CG almost is in iron core. Then, the power of exciter for SCG at the flux change by AVR is much more than that for CG. Thererfore, the power of exciter must be taken into account for analyses of power systems including SCG with high response excitation. The exciter contains thyristorized converters which generate harmonics currents. The commutations of the thyristors must be taken into account. By conventional methods of simulation, one simulation code must be made for one power system, and another one for another one. This paper describes a simulation code flexible for various power systems. In the code, the system is divided into two parts. One is for the field winding circuit and the other is for the power system. They are linked in the magnetic couplings of the transformer of exciter and the magnetic coupling between the armature winding and the field one of SCG. This paper shows the comparison of the simulation results with the experimental one, too


Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are nowadays widely used in clinical oncology treatment, and significantly improve the prognosis of cancer patients. However, overactivation of T cells and related signaling pathways caused by ICIs can also induce immune‐related adverse effects (irAEs). Renal immune side‐effects are relatively rare, but some are serious and fatal. Acute kidney injury (AKI), diagnosed mainly by percentage increases in serum creatinine (sCr), is the most common clinical manifestation, while acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ATIN) is the main cause of ICI‐related AKI. Urinalysis analysis and sediment evaluation, 24 hour urine protein and sCr are helpful in screening and monitoring renal irAEs. Multiple potential causes for AKI are involved during cancer therapy, and should be differentiated from the immune mechanisms of ICIs. Under these circumstances, a renal biopsy should be considered which is essential for clinical decision‐making. Steroids are an effective treatment option for renal irAEs. Most patients who experience ICI‐related ATIN achieve a partial or complete renal recovery with prompt diagnosis and treatment. Multidisciplinary collaborations of different specialists will improve the effectiveness and outcome in the management of ICI irAEs.


Genetic approaches in Drosophila have advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of different forms of learning, including habituation, but relevant neural components have not been explored. We show that a well defined neural circuit that underlies an escape response can be habituated, providing for the first time excellent opportunities for studying physiological parameters of learning in a functional circuit in the fly. Compared with other forms of conditioning, relatively little is known of the physiological mechanisms of habituation. The giant fiber pathway mediates a jump-and-flight escape response to visual stimuli. The jump may also be triggered electrically at multiple sites in the tethered fly. This response shows parameters of habituation, including frequency-dependent decline in responsiveness, spontaneous recovery, and dishabituation by a novel stimulus, attributable to plasticity in the brain. Mutations of rutabaga that diminish cAMP synthesis reduced the rate of habituation, whereas dunce mutations that increase cAMP levels led to a detectable but moderate increase in habituation rates. Surprisingly, habituation was extremely rapid indunce rutabaga double mutants. This corresponds to the extreme defects seen in double mutants in other learning tasks, and demonstrates that defects of the rutabaga anddunce products interact synergistically in ways that could not have been predicted on the basis of simple counterbalancing biochemical effects. Although habituation is localized to afferents to the giant fiber, cAMP mutations also affected performance of thoracic portions of the pathway on a millisecond time scale that did not account for behavioral plasticity. More significantly, spontaneous recovery and dishabituation were not as clearly affected as habituation in mutants, indicating that these processes may not overlap entirely in terms of cAMP-regulating mechanisms. The analysis of habituation of the giant fiber response in available learning and memory mutants could be a crucial step toward realizing the promise of memory mutations to elucidate mechanisms in neural circuits that underlie behavioral plasticity.


Successful casing cementing has to provide a reliable sealing of thief formations directly during drilling throughout each of them. Therefore, in this article we consider the problems of qualitative well cementing under low formations pressures conditions. A comparative qualitative analysis of currently in use materials, which are added into cement slurry to regulate its physico-chemical properties (such as circulite, haydite, tufa, and different surface-active materials, etc), is provided in the article. Also mud filter cake influence on the quality of cementing is considered. We defined the mud filter cake removal during wellbore preparing, which is the most optimum measure to provide a qualitative cementing.
We suggest the most convenient complex of measures for eliminating of cement slurry losses while it's pumping into a well and in this article we have discussed the oil and gas wells construction problems in conditions of low bed pressures typical for the South Mangyshlak oil fields in Kazakhstan.
It is well known that there are a range of unsolved questions, which restrain further intensification of oil and gas wells drilling in such conditions.
Today in conditions of the South Mangyshlak, it is possible to solve the problem by following ways:
• By using two-stage cementing,
• By development new backfill recipes which have low density, high strength, and good adhesion ability,
• By using technology of cementing in low formations pressures conditions,
• By upgrading the technology of well conditioning for cementing of production casing.


BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) gradually attracts researchers' attention in regulating the development of neuropathic pain, and many miRNAs have been reported that were able to alleviate neuropathic pain. Meantime, neuroinflammations promote the process of neuropathic pain. MiR‐96‐5p was associated with many pathological diseases, including many kinds of cancers. However, we knew little about the biological function of miR‐96‐5p in the regulation of neuropathic pain development. Hence, we focused our study on the biological function of miR‐96‐5p in neuropathic pain.ResultsAs the result, a decrease of miR‐96‐5p expression was observed in CCI rats model. Meanwhile, the overexpression of miR-96-5p resulted in inhibition of inflammation‐correlated biomarkers of IL‐6, IL‐1β and Cox-2. In addition, we predicted the zinc finger E‐box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) was one target of miR‐96‐5p, with a conserved interaction site at 3′‐untranslated region of ZEB1. Furthermore, we observed the increased expression of ZEB1 in CCI rats at both of transcriptional and translational level and miR‐96‐5p could regulate that negatively. And overexpressing ZEB1 would disrupt the miR-96-5p inducing alleviation of neuropathic pain, along with IL‐6, IL‐1β and Cox-2 up-regulated. ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that miR‐96‐5p could relieve neuropathic pain by targeting ZEB1 in vivo.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To review current knowledge regarding characteristics of males whose partners develop cervical cancer.

DATA SOURCES
Classic and current descriptive, cohort, and case-control studies of "male factors" associated with risk of precancerous squamous cell intraepithelial lesions and invasive cervical cancer.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Male hygiene sperm and seminal fluids, occupational exposure to carcinogens, smoking, promiscuity, and venereal infections have been linked to increased risks for developing cervical cancer in a number of studies. Results vary from culture to culture.

CONCLUSIONS
Areas of strongest association that can be targeted for prevention programs include male history of genital warts, poor hygiene, smoking, high numbers of sexual partners, and infrequent practice of safe sexual behaviors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE
Establishment of prevention programs predicated on reducing male factors known to increase risk, encouraging screening of high-risk populations, and using patient education to reduce the practice of high-risk sexual behaviors are called for.


A simple and fast fractionation method was developed to obtain carbohydrate-free lignin with well-defined characteristics, such as narrowly distributed molecular weights and a tunable chemical structure for specific applications. In this study, an industrial softwood kraft lignin and a hardwood CELF lignin (coproduct lignin obtained from cosolvent enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation pretreatment) were dissolved in acetone–methanol and tetrahydrofuran–methanol cosolvents, respectively. Hexane was applied as the antisolvent for sequential precipitation of both lignin preparations. A thorough characterization including various NMR techniques (31P, quantitative 13C, and 2D-HSQC), GPC, DSC and TGA was conducted to correlate the molecular weight of obtained lignin fractions with their structural features including distributions of aliphatic and phenolic hydroxyl groups and relative abundance of interunit linkages. It was found that approximately 10% of the softwood kraft lignin was lignin carbohydrate comple...


The United Kingdom's four children's commissioners, established under separate legislation for Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England, are amongst the best known of the public institutions created since the beginning of devolved government in 1999. Like many such offices around the world, they are the result of domestic political and social processes as well as the influence of the requirements of international human rights treaties, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Different processes in the four countries have produced differing remits and emphases, but each commissioner is in part a response to concerns about the vulnerability of children in difficult circumstances. The commissioners' activities include vigilance over the access of such children to support, in particular support for getting their voices heard. The commissioners have also developed prominence on the international stage as independent children's rights institutions and all have been active in promoting children's participation in social accountability for human rights implementation. This article explains the commissioners' different roles and remits and examines ways in which they contribute to accountability for human rights implementation in the political, administrative, legislative, judicial and social spheres. It concludes by suggesting that their status as both "children's champion" and independent children's rights institutions is likely to assure their long-term endurance in the still-evolving process of constitutional change in the UK .


OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to compare empathy levels between first year and second year medical students at a Malaysian University.

SETTING
A Malaysian University offering undergraduate medicine.

PARTICIPANTS
204 undergraduate medical students were included in the data analysis (122 first years, and 102 second years).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Self-reported empathy scores using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (Student Version) JSPE-S.

RESULTS
The mean empathy score for first year students was 112.1(SD=10.7). This was significantly higher (p<0.038; d=0.31) than second year students (mean=108.8, SD=10.4). No significant difference relating to gender was identified.

CONCLUSION
Cross-sectional results from this study found that that there were differences in self-reported empathy scores between year one and year two students. Further research is required to ascertain if these differences are maintained as students' progress thought their medical degree, and whether other factors such as internships, medical rotations or clinical supervision have any impact of medical students' empathy levels.


Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) results in Kupffer cell activation and subsequent tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α release, leading to localized hepatic injury and remote organ dysfunction. Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 is an enzyme that is induced by various stimuli, including proinflammatory cytokines, and exerts antioxidative and anti-inflammatory functions. Up-regulation of HO-1 is known to protect against hepatic IR injury, but the effects of hepatic IR on the kidney are poorly understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether hepatic IR and resultant Kupffer cell activation alters renal HO-1 expression. Male Sprague-Dawley rats and wild-type and NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-null mice were subjected to 60 min of partial hepatic ischemia, and at various times thereafter, blood, liver, and kidneys were collected. After reperfusion, 1) creatinine clearance decreased; 2) HO-1 mRNA and protein expression in liver and kidney markedly increased; 3) renal NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 mRNA expression was induced; 4) serum TNFα levels increased; 5) Nrf2 translocation into the nucleus of renal tissue increased; and 6) renal and urinary 15-deoxy-Δ12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15-d-PGJ2) levels increased. Kupffer cell depletion by pretreating with gadolinium chloride 1) attenuated increased mRNA expression of HO-1 in kidney; 2) attenuated the increase in TNFα; 3) inhibited the increase in Nrf2 nuclear translocation; and 4) tended to attenuate renal 15-d-PGJ2 levels. Whereas renal HO-1 mRNA expression increased in wild-type mice, it was attenuated in Nrf2-null mice. These results suggest that renal HO-1 is induced via Nrf2 to protect the kidney from remote organ injury after hepatic IR.


Fluorescence microscopy and derived techniques are continuously looking for photodetectors able to guarantee increased sensitivity, high spatial and temporal resolution and ease of integration into modern microscopy architectures. Recent advances in single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) fabricated with industry-standard microelectronic processes allow the development of new detection systems tailored to address the requirements of advanced imaging techniques (such as image-scanning microscopy). To this aim, we present the complete design and characterization of two bidimensional SPAD arrays composed of 25 fully independent and asynchronously-operated pixels, both having fill-factor of about 50% and specifically designed for being integrated into existing laser scanning microscopes. We used two different microelectronics technologies to fabricate our detectors: the first technology exhibiting very low noise (roughly 200 dark counts per second at room temperature), and the second one showing enhanced detection efficiency (more than 60% at a wavelength of 500 nm). Starting from the silicon-level device structures and moving towards the in pixel and readout electronics description, we present performance assessments and comparisons between the two detectors. Images of a biological sample acquired after their integration into our custom image-scanning microscope finally demonstrate their exquisite on-field performance in terms of spatial resolution and contrast enhancement. We envisage that this work can trigger the development of a new class of SPAD-based detector arrays able to substitute the typical single-element sensor used in fluorescence laser scanning microscopy.


Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection.


Objective: Aim of the present study was to determine the effect of the lactation number on milk production and to detect the most economical lactation period in Holstein dairy cows. Materials and Methods: The animal materials of the study were 392 Holstein dairy cows with a similar dry period and lactation length. The cows were divided into 6 groups according to the number of lactations. The groups were formed as 1st lactation (Group 1; n=67), 2nd lactation (Group 2; n=124), 3rd lactation (Group 3; n=51), 4th lactation (Group 4; n=62), 5th lactation (Group 5; n=41) and 6th lactation (Group 6; n=47). Results: Average lactation milk yields for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th lactations of the cows used in the study were 7860.03 kg, 9010.02 kg, 10207.15 kg, 10165.89 kg, 8430.57 kg and 8069.78 kg, respectively. It was determined that the highest milk production and highest daily income were obtained during the 3rd and 4th lactation periods (p<0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, milk production increased in the first three lactations, 3 and 4 lactation remained stable and decreased in 5th and 6th lactations. But, regardless of the number of lactations during the first 6 lactation periods, it is considered economical to use healthy cows for milk production in dairy farms.


This jump-start tutorial brief explains the principle that underlies all of the published mismatch-scrambling and mismatch-shaping dynamic-element-matching (DEM) digital-to-analog converters (DACs). It explains the apparent paradox of how an all-digital algorithm can cause analog component mismatches to introduce spectrally shaped noise instead of nonlinear distortion, even though the algorithm has no knowledge of the actual mismatches. The concept is first explained in the context of a discrete-time three-level DEM DAC. The results are then generalized to an arbitrary number of levels, to segmented DEM DACs, and to continuous-time DEM DACs.


Suicide is complex; yet suicide research is dominated by 'psy' disciplines which can falter when seeking to explain social patterning of suicide rates, and how this relates to individual actions. This article discusses a multidisciplinary report which aimed to advance understandings of socioeconomic inequalities in suicide rates in the UK. Contrasts are drawn between health psychology and sociology. Important intersections are highlighted, including a lack of attention to socioeconomic inequalities, and an emphasis on adverse life experiences and emotions to understand inequalities and suicide. There are also curious disconnects, both within and between relevant psychological and sociological perspectives. The article argues that there are significant gaps in existing theorization regarding suicide, which can only be addressed through meaningful inter-disciplinary collaborations between sociologists, psychologists and others. Current theorization in mainstream suicide research is limited by its failure to engage with enduring, yet vitally important sociological debates regarding structure and agency, nature and culture.


In many health professions, experienced practitioners assess students' or inexperienced practitioners' clinical skills but do not formally or explicitly rate their interpersonal skills, even though it is often suggested that failing or struggling students have poor interpersonal skills. The Interpersonal Skills Profile (ISP) has been widely used in UK health care programmes. The tool allows assessors to select five statements from a list, which they feel reflect the student's achievement. These are usually graded from fail to excellent. Using a Realistic Evaluation approach this study examined how the ISP was used to assess interpersonal skills in a university pre-registration nursing programme. The use of the ISP was investigated through interviews with clinical nursing mentors, practice education facilitators and education champions as well as a documentary analysis of student assessment booklets. The findings led to the development of three middle range theories which may be useful in other contexts. These focus on: 1) overt assessment of interpersonal skills, 2) providing support to mentors and 3) feedback and 'feeding-forward' to students.


This chapter deals with bifurcation dynamics in control systems, which are described by ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations and delayed differential equations. In particular, bifurcations related to double Hopf, combination of double zero and Hopf, and chaos are studied in detail. Center manifold theory and normal form theory are applied to simplify the analysis. Explicit stability conditions are derived and routes of bifurcations leading to various complex dynamics are given. A system with time delayed feedback control is studied to show that time delay plays a important role in controlling and anti-controlling chaotic motions. Furthermore, a simple feedback controller is designed for anti-controlling Hopf bifurcation arising in the Lorenz system.


This study examines the establishment of Sea-po (서포) in the opening period of Korea at the end of the 19th century. The role they played, the particular situations and their geographical characteristics are researched, The earliest sea-po was Koh-je-hong sea-po, which was established in Taekwang-kyo at the end of 1880s. Around 1905, a specialised book distribution system was set up with establishement of Chu-han-yung book store, Kim-sang-man book store, Jesuit book store, Tae-dong su-si, Kae-myung sea-kwan, Tong-wha seo-kwan. The owners of the seo-pos were pioneers in introducing modern culture with nationalistic consciousness, although they were primarily businessmen and their social origins varied. The primary role of seo-pos was selling a variety of books but some combined printing and publication of books as well. It seems that publication business took roots around 1908, though it is difficult to know the accurate dates of first attempts. Some sea-pas offered book rental services for poor people who could not easily afford to purchase books. A certain amount of deposit had to be paid to benefit from the services. Jesuit Bookstore in Pyungyang had a library facility with a large stock or books in the same building open to public for free. These sea-pas started mainly in Seoul and Pyungyang, which were traditional centers for economic and cultural affairs. Early introduction of foreign cultures and commercial developments in these areas contributed to the establishment of sea-pos. The sea-po which took charge of book distribution in the provinces was set up around 1906. One of the important findings of this study is that the geographical distribution of sea-po shows the following three characteristics. First is that the area such as Seoul, Taegu and Chunju were the traditional centers of publishing culture from which Panggak-bon(방각본) emerged. Second characteristic is Pyungyang and the surrounding Pyungbuk province, and harbors like Inchon and Pusan, which had the benefits of early spread of modem cultures. Third characteristic is Kaesung and the surrounding Hwanghae province which bridged Pyungyang and Seoul. The reception of foreign cultures stimulated the commercial spirits traditionally attributed to Kaesung to establish sea-pas most actively.


Introduction: Pulmonary rehabilitation is considered an important method of improving health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A critical component to the success of pulmonary rehabilitation is exercise adherence, which is often lower than 50%. When there is a better understanding on the psychological determinants of adherence, theory-informed interventions can be developed to improve adherence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior in combination with the therapeutic alliance in explaining exercise adherence in a prospective cohort study of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to ultimately increase adherence with psychological interventions. In addition, we examined the influence of the Theory of Planned Behavior determinants and alliance in combination with clinical determinants on adherence. Methods: At baseline, 196 patients from 53 physiotherapy practices in the Netherlands and Belgium completed measures of the Theory of Planned Behavior, and disease and demographic characteristics. After three months they completed measures of alliance. Their physiotherapist provided exercise adherence measures after 12 months. Data were analyzed using Spearman's correlations, hierarchical linear multiple regression analyses and mediation analysis. Results: Hierarchical linear multiple regression analyses indicated that intention (  = 0.72; p < 0.001) and alliance (  = 0.26; p < 0.001) explained 24.8% of the variance in exercise adherence. After adding Medical Research Council dyspnea score and depression to the model, 35.6% of the variance could be explained. Perceived behavioral control, attitude, and alliance, explained 37.9% of variance in exercise intention. The effect of alliance on adherence was partially mediated by intention. Conclusion: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior with the concept of alliance is a promising innovation to understand exercise adherence of patients who are coached by a health care professional. Healthcare providers should obtain information about their patients' attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and alliance, to inform their coaching and further psychosocial interventions. Concrete recommendations are provided for effectively addressing these psychosocial determinants of adherence within the patient-coaching relationship.


Abstract : This report details work from the Director's Strategic Initiative (DSI) on Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Power Electronics in which GaN devices are assessed compared to those fabricated from silicon carbide (SiC). For low power applications (<1500 V), GaN diodes have a lower on-resistance and less loss than their SiC counterparts because the critical breakdown field and electron mobility are larger. We expect this will also be true for high power electronic (HPE) GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) compared to SiC metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). However, GaN devices are not yet manufacturable because the uniformity of the material across the wafer, and therefore the device properties, vary greatly. While the work at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) does not yet match the best work being done in Japan, the reasons for this have been identified as the relatively large carbon background impurity concentration in traditionally grown metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) GaN films and the relatively large resistance of hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) GaN substrates. Using nontraditional MOCVD growth methods, more heavily doped HVPE GaN substrates, and GaN single crystals that have very recently become available, we expect be able to determine if a process can be developed to manufacture GaN devices that have superior properties to those made from SiC for some important Army applications.


Ras proteins operate as molecular switches in signal transduction pathways downstream of tyrosine kinases and G-protein-coupled receptors. Ras is switched from the inactive GDP-bound state to the active GTP-bound state by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). We report here the cloning and characterization of RasGRP2, a longer alternatively spliced form of the recently cloned RapGEF, CalDAG-GEFI. A unique feature of RasGRP2 is that it is targeted to the plasma membrane by a combination of N-terminal myristoylation and palmitoylation. In vivo, RasGRP2 selectively catalyzes nucleotide exchange on N- and Ki-Ras, but not Ha-Ras. RasGRP2 also catalyzes nucleotide exchange on Rap1, but this RapGEF activity is less potent than that associated with CalDAG-GEFI. The nucleotide exchange activity of RasGRP2 toward N-Ras is stimulated by diacylglycerol and inhibited by calcium. The effects of diacylglycerol and calcium are additive but are not accompanied by any detectable change in the subcellular localization of RasGRP2. In contrast, CalDAG-GEFI is localized predominantly to the cytosol and lacks Ras exchange activity in vivo. However, prolonged exposure to phorbol esters, or growth in serum, results in localization of CalDAG-GEFI to the cell membrane and restoration of Ras exchange activity. Expression of RasGRP2 or CalDAG-GEFI in NIH3T3 cells transfected with wild type N-Ras results in an accelerated growth rate but not morphologic transformation. Thus, under appropriate growth conditions, CalDAG-GEFI and RasGRP2 are dual specificity Ras and Rap exchange factors.


In this paper, we discuss the need for synergy between the emerging fields of ecosystem health and ecological restoration and examine whether anyone engaged in ecological restoration has attempted this yet, explicitly or implicitly. We provide definitions of terms used in ecosystem health and examples of ecological restoration practices in each of the major ecosystem health categories. We point to the need for effective and measurable indicators of ecosystem health. If we view the concept of ecosystem health as the diagnostic toolbox and ecological restoration as the treatment toolbox for the management of damaged ecosystems, there is clearly the potential for useful synergy. The challenge is to blend a level of generality that allows comparison among different systems with the ability to be specific enough to be helpful in particular cases.


Hydrological and geometrical parameters of macropores are essential for modeling water and solute transport through soils containing macropores. This study was conducted to develop a fast and nondestructive technique for determining the hydrological and geometrical characteristics of soil macropores. We measured the rate of water flowing into ant and earthworm burrows with a macropore infiltrometer and estimated burrow diameter, volume, and depth from the measured flow rate and a water flow model. To evaluate the estimated burrow parameters, we made castings of the ant and earthworm burrows with a dental plaster. The burrows had similar diameters (2.1 mm for laminar flow; 2.9 nun for turbulent flow) but different volumes and depths (281-cm volume and 0.60-m depth for ant burrows; 210-cm volume and 0.82-m depth for earthworm burrows). This technique is reasonable for ant burrows because the root mean square difference (RMSD) between casting and infiltrometer-calculated volumes is 17%; however, errors are larger for earthworm burrows (RMSD is 73%). Saturated soil matrix hydraulic conductivity (Ks) estimated from the infiltrometer measurement of earthworm burrows were comparable to matrix Ks of the bulk silt loam. The matrix Ks values estimated for ant burrows were about eight times smaller than matrix Ks of the bulk sandy soil. Such large decrease in Ks is probably caused by infilling of burrow walls by ants with fine materials. Combining the macropore infiltrometer measurements with the model is a useful means of estimating the hydrological and geometrical parameters of ant and possibly earthworm burrows. View complete article To view this complete article, insert Disc 5 then click button8


This paper describes the design and very-large-scale integration (VLSI) architecture for a 4 × 4 breadth-first K-best multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) decoder using a 64 quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) scheme. A novel sort-free approach to path extension, as well as quantized metrics result in a high-throughput VLSI architecture with lower power and area consumption compared to state-of-the-art published systems. Functionality is confirmed via a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation on a Xilinx Virtex II Pro FPGA. Comparison of simulation and measurements are given, and FPGA utilization figures are provided. Finally, VLSI architectural tradeoffs are explored for a synthesized application-specific IC (ASIC) implementation in a 65-nm CMOS technology.


Phosphorus is a non-renewable resource going to be exhausted in the future. Sewage sludge ash is a promising secondary raw material due to its high phosphorus content. In this work, the distribution of 19 elements in bottom and cyclone ashes from pilot-scale grate furnace have been monitored to determine the suitability for the phosphorus acid extraction. Moreover, the influence of some parameters beyond wet chemical leaching conditions were investigated. Experimental results showed that bottom ash presented lower contamination in comparison to cyclone ash and low co-dissolution of heavy metals (especially Cr, Pb and Ni), while high phosphorus extraction efficiencies (76-86%) were achieved. High Al content in the bottom ash (9.4%) negatively affected the phosphorus extraction efficiency as well as loss on ignition, while the particle size reduction was necessary for ensuring a suitable contact surface. The typology of precipitating agents did not strongly affect the phosphorus precipitation, while pH was the key parameter. At pH 3.5-5, phosphorus precipitation efficiencies higher than 90% were achieved, with a mean phosphorus content in the recovered material equal to 16-17%, comparable to commercial fertilizers. Instead, the co-precipitation of Fe and Al had a detrimental effect on the recovered material, indicating the need for additional treatments.


PURPOSE
To determine the maximum-tolerated doses (MTD), the principal toxicities, and the pharmacologic behavior of high doses of Taxol (paclitaxel; Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York, NY) combined with cisplatin and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Untreated and minimally pretreated solid-tumor patients received 24-hour infusions of Taxol on day 1 followed by cisplatin on day 2 and G-CSF, 5 micrograms/kg/d subcutaneously (SC), beginning on day 3. Treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. Starting doses of Taxol and cisplatin were 135 and 75 mg/m2, respectively.

RESULTS
The development of a severe peripheral neuropathy and/or severe myalgias precluded the chronic administration of Taxol and cisplatin with G-CSF at doses greater than 250 mg/m2 and 75 mg/m2, respectively. At this dose, the mean Taxol steady-state plasma concentration (Css) exceeds concentrations capable of inducing pertinent antimicrotubule effects in vitro. The severity of the neuropathy was related to the cumulative dose of Taxol, the magnitude of the dose administered during each treatment, and the presence of a pre-existing medical disorder associated with peripheral neuropathy. A proximal myopathy of modest severity also was documented. Although severe neutropenia occurred frequently, especially at the MTD, it was rarely associated with fever (8% of courses), and absolute neutrophil counts (ANCs) less than 500/microL never persisted for more than 5 days. Responses were noted in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and head and neck, breast, and esophageal cancers.

CONCLUSION
Taxol and cisplatin doses of 250 mg/m2 and 75 mg/m2, respectively, can be administered repetitively with G-CSF to untreated and minimally pretreated patients. However, these doses are not recommended for patients with pre-existing neuropathies until additional experience in high-risk patients is obtained. Although this Taxol dose is nearly 85% higher than the dose that can be combined with cisplatin in the absence of G-CSF, this high-dose regimen should not be used outside the investigational setting until a dose-response relationship has been demonstrated for Taxol in randomized clinical trials.


We employ a Paul-Straubel ring-type electrodynamic trap for studies of single microparticles. Such a trap provides ready access for laser beams to a stored species and is especially suited for scattering and spectroscopic studies of fine particles. We derive the pseudopotential for such a trap and determine the stability regions for confinement of charged particles considering also the viscous force of a buffer medium and the force of gravity. The dynamics of microparticles in such a trap is numerically simulated. The diffraction pattern of light scattered on a polystyrene particle of about 10μm diameter was registered. For measuring Raman spectra from a single dipicolinic acid microparticle, we used excitation at 488nm and detection with a fiber optics spectrometer. To improve the collection of light, the trap with the stored particle was placed inside an elliptical mirror.


Multiphoton pathways to the ion-pair states of ICl, at energies close to dissociation, are presented. These very high vibrational levels (v > or = 10(4)) are detected in the I+ and Cl- channels by pulsed field ionisation. Using a variable time delay before field ionisation, ion-pair states up to 50 cm-1 below the dissociation limit are shown to survive for at least 2 microseconds, indicating a stabilisation process analogous to that operating in high Rydberg electronic states. The atomic ion production signal is highly structured both above and below the free ion threshold, indicating the role of doorway states which are coupled to the dense ion-pair manifold near dissociation. This initial coupling appears to be very efficient and competes successfully with radiative decay and further up-pumping.


The spat at the 2011 Conservative Party conference between the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor showed how contentious human rights legislation remains. Although Theresa May portrayed the claimant as having won the Article 8 right to remain in Britain because of his relationship with his cat, the judge had simply accepted the cat as one piece of evidence that the claimant had a genuine family life with his partner. The Home Secretary's principal point was that the right to respect for private and family life under section 8.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) should be read in conjunction with section 8.2, which adds that such rights should not be overridden except where it is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety, or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.


Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is a genetically diverse enteric pathogen that causes growth faltering among children, acute and chronic diarrhoea among children and adults living in both industrialised and low income countries. The German outbreak of EAEC-Shiga-toxin-E. coli in 2011 resulted in over 4000 confirmed cases of diarrhoea with over 54 fatalities in 14 European countries as well as United State of America and Canada. Several studies conducted in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), Latin America and Asia countries have identified EAEC more frequently than any other bacterial pathogens. In SSA, case fatality due to EAEC is not well documented but the morbidity rate particularly among younger children is huge. Studies conducted in Senegal, Central-Africa-Republic and Tanzania showed that EAEC were endemic among HIV-positive patients with diarrhoea. Few studies from SSA have reported distribution of antimicrobial resistance pattern of EAEC.
The Global Enteric Multisite Study (GEMS), a three-year case-control study conducted in seven African and Asia countries, showed that the prevalence of EAEC was higher among children with no diarrhoea (463/741, 62.5%) compared to children with diarrhoea (278/741, 37.5%).
The aim of this retrospective analytical study nested to GEMS is to explore other molecular approaches that identify infectious EAEC and to show the genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistant pattern of EAEC. Study design of the first approach involves unmatched case-control 428 (157 cases and 271 controls) EAEC isolates that were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of 21 common EAEC virulence genes. This investigation implicated plasmid-encoded toxin (pet), AAF/1 fimbrial subunit (aggA) and hexosyltransferase homolog (capU) to be associated with diarrhoea in infants. In addition, two other virulence genes; Shigella exracellular protease A (sepA) and EAEC-heat-stable enterotoxin 1 (EAST1) were implicated in the EAEC that cause diarrhoea among children under 5 years old.
The second approach utilised qualitative PCR (TaqMan-qPCR) method to assess the use of bacterial load diagnostic tool to diagnose infectious EAEC on selected matched case-control 160 (80 cases and 80 controls) EAEC isolates. Two biomarker genes, aatA and aaiC were the target in this study and both resulted in higher rate of higher bacterial load in controls (58/80 [72.5%]) compared to cases 48/80 [60%]), p – value 0.096.
The third approach explored bacterial biofilm formation to diagnose infectious EAEC on 400 unmatched cases (150) and controls (250) EAEC isolates. Infectious EAEC produces biofilm to consolidate its colonisation in the host and damage to the tissue. The result of this study showed higher proportion of biofilm-producing EAEC in controls (61%) compared to cases (39%). However, biofilm-producing EAEC isolates that has aggR gene combined with one or all of the following virulence genes aatA, Aap, Orf3 and Orf61 revealed strong association with diarrhoea.
Investigation into the antimicrobial resistant EAEC on the same 400 unmatched EAEC isolates revealed multi-drug resistant (MDR) EAEC infection as a significant problem among infants in the Gambia. MDR EAEC strains are almost equally distributed among cases and controls, and high (>71%) rate of resistant to Ampicillin, Sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim and Tetracycline, and moderate (25%) rate of resistant to Chloramphenicol among study children. However, over ninety-four percent of the Gambia EAEC strains are susceptible to Cefotaxime, Ceftazidime, Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin and Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid.
Additionally, result of whole genome sequencing (WGS) on 50 randomly selected EAEC isolates showed average 94% concordance of resistance genes with phenotypic disc diffusion method.
This thesis provides detailed initial description and exploration of virulence genes associated with EAEC strains circulating in the rural Gambia and has revealed the likely biomarker genes to target in the diagnosis of infectious EAEC that cause diarrhoea in infant.


In factor screening, often only a few factors among a large pool of potential factors are active. Under such assumption of effect sparsity, in choosing a design for factor screening, it is important to consider projections of the design onto small subsets of factors. Cheng showed that as long as the run size of a two-level orthogonal array of strength two is not a multiple of 8, its projection onto any four factors allows the estimation of all the main effects and two-factor interactions when the higher-order interactions are negligible. This result applies, for example, to all Plackett-Burman designs whose run sizes are not multiples of 8. It is shown here that the same hidden projection property also holds for Paley designs of sizes greater than 8, even when their run sizes are multiples of 8. A key result is that such designs do not have defining words of length three or four. Applications of this result to the construction of E(s 2 )-optimal supersaturated designs are also discussed. In particular, certain designs constructed by using Wu's method are shown to be E(s 2 )-optimal. The article concludes with some three-level designs with good projection properties.


With the implementation of national strategies such as sports power and national fitness, the sports economy has become an important element of high-quality national development, and the demand for sports economy and management talents is greatly increased. Particularly in the new area with big data as the typical feature, the teaching content, teaching method, and teaching mode of sports economics and management majors have put forward new requirements. The continuous progress of storage and network technology has prompted the generation of massive multisource spatiotemporal data in various fields. The advantage of association analysis algorithms is that they are easy to code and implement. The relationships found by association analysis can take two forms: frequent itemsets or association rules. We use correlation analysis methods to perform correlation learning between sports economy and related big data and thus improve the development of sports economy. Mining and analyzing the relevant big data can precisely reveal the problems of sports economic development and can realize the fine management of sports, thus contributing to the healthy development of sports. Mastering the skills of acquiring, analyzing, and applying big data is the core content of sports economic analysis. The sports economy has refined and intelligent management means, and its adoption of virtual reality reflects the current situation and development trend of the sports business, which further highlights the status and role of multisource big data in the sports economy. Based on these, this paper proposed a sports economy mining algorithm in view of the correlation analysis and big data model. Then, we verified the effectiveness of the model through experiments, which laid the foundation for the development of the sports economy.


Abstract. Subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) is widely grown for its forage and ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Development of new varieties is constrained by the slow turnover time of generations, with only one generation per year possible under field conditions. We present an in vitro-assisted single-seed descent (IVASSD) technique, which enabled turnover of 2.7–6.1 generations per year across a diverse range of 27 T. subterraneum cultivars encompassing subspecies subterraneum, yanninicum and brachycalycinum. The IVASSD protocol accelerated the generation cycle in two ways: (i) time to floral initiation was minimised by growth under controlled temperature and extended photoperiod; and (ii) the seed-filling period was truncated and embryo and seed-coat dormancy avoided by the in vitro germination of immature seed on B5 medium plus L6KK overlay (0.525 mg gibberellic acid and 1.5 mg indole-butyric acid L–1). For the first time, an IVASSD system was validated on a full-scale breeding population with the production of 175 F7 recombinant inbred lines from an F4 population in less than one year. All F7 plants obtained were morphologically normal and fertile.


We revisit the higher spin extensions of the anti de Sitter algebra in four dimensions that incorporate internal symmetries and admit representations that contain fermions, classified long ago by Konstein and Vasiliev. We construct the dS4, Euclidean and Kleinian version of these algebras, as well as the corresponding fully nonlinear Vasiliev type higher spin theories, in which the reality conditions we impose on the master fields play a crucial role. The N=2?> supersymmetric higher spin theory in dS4, on which we elaborate further, is included in this class of models. A subset of the Konstein–Vasiliev algebras are the minimal higher spin extensions of the AdS4 superalgebra osp(4|N)?> with N=1,2,4?> mod 4, whose R-symmetry can be realized using fermionic oscillators. We tensor these algebras with appropriate internal symmetry algebras, namely u(n) for N=2?> mod 4 and so(n) or usp(n) for N=1,4?> mod 4. We show that the N=3?> mod 4 higher spin algebras are isomorphic to those with N=4?> mod 4. We describe the fully nonlinear higher spin theories based on these algebras, including the coupling between the adjoint and twisted-adjoint master fields. We elaborate further on the N=6?> model in AdS4, and provide two equivalent descriptions one of which exhibits manifestly its relation to the N=8?> model. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to 'Higher spin theories and holography'.


ABSTRACT Community practitioners are often challenged to work in complex environments and situations that naturally occur in communities. This article focuses on the theoretical and practical use of the Emergence-Based Approach that is relevant for work in complex community situations. Using this approach, the practitioner encourages the emergence of novel ideas and initiatives, and engages a decentralized network of activists, helping them develop their initiatives. Using a field study, we compare this approach to the traditional Outcomes-Based Approach. Although their mindsets are very different, and even contradict one another, we suggest practical ways to combine the two in an effective way.


Many algorithms have been designed to visualize binary trees efficiently with respect to a quality measure. While each algorithm is suitable for drawing particular categories of binary trees, an effort to compile these algorithms to maximize the quality of drawings has not been realized. Our first step is to create a system that determines the type of a binary tree and then selects an algorithm to draw the tree depending upon the specified quality measures. Currently, our system recognizes six types of binary trees (AVL, complete, Fibonacci, random, unbalanced-to-the-left, unbalanced-to-the-right) and allows the user to choose from eleven quality measures (area, aspect ratio, total edge length, maximum edge length, uniform edge length, closest leaf, farthest leaf, size, minimum angle size, average angle size, angular resolution). Experiments show that our adaptive visualization system outperforms any system using a single binary tree drawing algorithm. In addition, our approach allows the user to select multiple quality measures and automatically detects the best available binary tree drawing algorithm


The paper addresses the question of state alternation in Amazigh. It provides a detailed description of the morphological and phonological changes that target CS nouns. Then, it discusses the environmental conditions under which CS and FS occur. The paper argues that these changes go beyond the morphological and phonological system of the language. Later, it outlines the main previous studies about the phenomenon and presents an alternative complementary approach that takes a reconciliation path between Lahrouchi's templatic analysis (2013) and El hankari's syntactic model (2014) to account for state alternation.  It argues against Achab's analysis (2000) of the initial vowel as a determiner since [+ definite] in Amazigh is not an inherent feature of DP and it is contextual. Moreover, a further argument against DP analysis is that in some languages demonstratives, quantifiers, possessives do not occur with (in) definite articles, unlike Amazigh. I postulate that CS is a language-specific phenomenon that is not only the result of phonological operations but also of certain syntactic operations. I argue against El hankari's analysis of d 'and' as a preposition, that CS marks its complement. The same goes for bu and mu 'the one with'. I postulate that buNouns contain an inflectional morphology inside them, which make bu a derivational affix. A phrasal affix which attaches to words that are already inflected (see also Bensoukas 2015). The affixation of bu CS marks its selected noun. I hypothesize that Amazigh does not allow the consonant cluster /tw/. In this line of analysis, the initial vowel does not change when it is part of the stem. Hence, Amazigh has not only consonantal roots but vocalic ones as well. I argue that a noun cannot be marked for CS in isolation. It is marked by the functional head that c-commands the NP. The head is not only T or P, but it can be also a coordinator; a numeral or a phrasal affix.


The study was conducted in a flour mill, with mechanized process, located on the Site, Tea Garden in the City of Sand, state of Paraiba, northeastern Brazil. The objective was to evaluate the generation of solid and liquid waste at each stage in processing of cassava roots and present alternatives for reuse of the main byproducts. In the conditions in which they developed the study it was clear that the agro-industrial processes processing of cassava for the production of table flour, generate quite a significant amount of waste. It was concluded that the house studied flour generates a large quantity of waste that could be used, since almost all are made up of easy and basically viable putrescible organic matter to be processed and utilized by farmers in the locality of the project. And that waste management in the processing of cassava proceedings become necessary, as these have very high pollutant loads, and most often discarded into the environment without any technical control may cause damage to natural resources and public health.


The vertical common subexpression elimination (CSE) method proposed by Jang et al. does not guarantee hardware reduction over the conventional horizontal CSE method in practical linear phase finite impulse response (LPFIR) filter implementations. A method to implement FIR filters with a minimum number of adders by efficiently combining horizontal and vertical common subexpressions is proposed.


To investigate the role of progesterone in the follicular phase, we examined the effects of RU486 in eight normal cycling women studied with daily and frequent blood sampling (every 10 min for 10 h) during three menstrual cycles (control-treatment-recovery). RU486 (3 mg/kg, orally) was administered for 3 consecutive days after ultrasound documentation of a dominant follicle. In six of the eight women, RU486 was given after emergence of the dominant follicle, while in two women, RU486 was initiated during the preovulatory period when estradiol levels had exceeded 917 pmol/L. In the six women given RU486 after emergence of the dominant follicle, RU486 significantly prolonged the follicular phase duration from 15.6 +/- 1.9 (+/- SD) to 28.6 +/- 9.3 days (P less than 0.01) and extended the treatment cycle length to 42.3 +/- 9.1 (+/- SD) days (P less than 0.01). During RU486 treatment, mean serum estradiol levels decreased from 385 +/- 43 to 228 +/- 28 pmol/L (P less than 0.01), while LH, FSH, ACTH, cortisol, and progesterone levels changed little. LH pulse frequency and amplitude on the last day of RU486 administration did not differ from control values. Collapse of the dominant follicle was evident on ultrasound after RU486 administration and was not accompanied by uterine bleeding. In the two women treated during the preovulatory period, the follicular phase was not prolonged, and RU486 failed to delay the onset of the LH surge. Our findings indicate that RU486 treatment during the follicular phase interrupts normal follicular development, resulting in a delay of ovulation and a reinitiation of follicular recruitment.


Creation of strong brand and increment of brand's equity in the market is main goal of business. Usage of brand equity concept allows brand owners to sell branded products at higher price, gain greater market share, better promote products in the market, penetrate in market more easily, acquire more loyal consumers, improve effectiveness of marketing communications and enlarge product lines more successfully. Therefore for last 20 years brand's equity conception, that consists from financial and consumer perceived brand's equity, has become increasingly actual. It is also important task for brands in Latvian cosmetics market, because market itself is strongly saturated, highly competitive, and brand communication is very active, and therefore this kind of market requires brands to create their own unique approach, so they could stand out and successfully compete with other brands.Keywords: consumer based brand equity, cosmetic brand, perceived quality.Jel code: M31


The present study examines the moderating role of future interaction expectation in the relationship between affective sharing and work groups' task performance. We argue that group affect, a group defining characteristic, becomes more salient to its members when it is interactively shared, and that the anticipation of future interaction may strengthen the effects of group defining characteristics on subsequent group member behaviour. As a consequence, interactive sharing (vs. non-interactive sharing) of negative affect is more likely to influence work group outcomes when group members expect to meet again. Results from a laboratory experiment with 66 three-person work groups indeed show that interactively shared (vs. non-interactively shared) negative affect facilitated work groups' analytical task performance, whereas it inhibited performance on a creative fluency task when groups have expectations of future interaction and not when they do not have such expectations. The discussion focuses on how these results add to theory on group affect and contribute to insights in the effects of future interaction expectation.


In traditional sub-Saharan Africa where a pronatalist culture prevails the exclusive first vocation of a couple is procreation. Thus a couple without children finds life very difficult. Regardless of whether infertility is primary secondary or recurring it is seen as an illness first by the couple then by peers and society which generally accuses the woman of being responsible for it. The infertile woman cannot achieve her status as a woman. The man refuses his responsibility and in most cases he seeks different partners. In a retrospective study of infertility visits among 429 couples during 1983-1989 at a gynecology clinic at Aristide Le Dantec Hospital of Dakar Senegal two women among all infertile women who were or blamed as the cause of infertility were adolescents (17 and 16 years old) both of whom were married. They comprised about 0.5% of infertile women which is much higher than the infertility rate for women aged 20-30. One woman had primary infertility (anovulation for four years). The other woman had secondary infertility for two years. She delivered a stillborn at 8 months and miscarried at four months. Examinations could not determine the cause of her infertility. Adolescent pregnancy can directly cause infertility by a perforated uterus during induced abortion pelvic infection endometrial lesions ruptured uterus caused by a difficult labor and/or delivery and puerperal infection. These problems are more common and more serious in adolescents than in adult women. For the most part infertility is a result of an unexpected genital infection during adolescence. Family planning policies can play a role in solving these problems by delaying the first pregnancy until the young woman is morphologically and psychologically mature enough to care for herself and her future child. They can also promote prevention of infections and correct treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.


Inhaled dust particulates are able to relocate to the extrapulmonary compartments, particularly the lymph nodes that drain the lung. There is little information about the concentration and type of asbestos in the lymphatics and lymph nodes. Quantitative analysis of asbestos lymph node burden conducted by light and analytical transmission electron microscopy has shown ferruginous bodies in lymph nodes that drain the lung and appreciable numbers of short asbestos fibers accumulate in lymph nodes in occupationally exposed individuals. The location of lymph nodes in the thoracic cavity was categorized according to the Naruke anatomical map. Tissue from eleven individuals with a history of asbestos exposure were selected for a comparative study of the asbestos content of lung with that found in the thoracic lymph nodes. The study used a digestion technique for tissue preparation and evaluated ferruginous body burden and concentration of asbestos fibers (> 0.5 µm in length). Comparison was made between sites and analysis was made as to the population of fibers detectable by light microscopy and defined as "Stanton fibers." The findings indicated the vast majority of all asbestos fiber types in all sites were shorter than 5 µm and would not have been counted in a light microscopy count scheme that included only those fibers > 5 µm. There were reproducible patterns of asbestos types of found in various lymph nodes, although there were variations in the amount of asbestos found in the sites sampled. In summary, asbestos fibers found in thoracic lymph nodes have predominately short fibers and, in this study group, consisted of a mixture of commercial and noncommercial amphiboles. When a long/thin fiber was found in the lung or lymph tissue, its detection required the use of analytical transmission electron microscopy for identification.


As computers and information grow a more integral part of our world, it is becoming more and more important for humans to be able to interact with their computers in complex ways. One way to do so is by programming, but the ability to understand and generate programming languages is a highly specialized skill. As a result, in the past several years there has been an increasing research interest in methods that focus on the intersection of programming and natural language, allowing users to use natural language to interact with computers in the complex ways that programs allow us to do. In this tutorial, we will focus on machine learning models of programs and natural language focused on making this goal a reality. First, we will discuss the similarities and differences between programming and natural language. Then we will discuss methods that have been designed to cover a variety of tasks in this field, including automatic explanation of programs in natural language (code-to-language), automatic generation of programs from natural language specifications (language-to-code), modeling the natural language elements of source code, and analysis of communication in collaborative programming communities. The tutorial will be aimed at NLP researchers and practitioners, aiming to describe the interesting opportunities that models at the intersection of natural and programming languages provide, and also how their techniques could provide benefit to the practice of software engineering as a whole.


Plant genetic resources have used since man first cultivated plants, but their importance was not realized until Vavilov (1926) discovered wide variation among plants of the same species. It is about 40 years since Vavilov and his collaborators in Russia and described origin centers (geographical centers) of our cultivated crops and their wild relatives by Institute of Vavilov (namely right now) [1]. Later with expansion of breeding programs, breeder realized that success was largely dependent upon the availability of wide genetic diversity.


Animals rely on multiple sensory information systems to make decisions. The integration of information stemming from these systems is believed to result in a precise behavioural output. To what degree a single sensory system may override the others is unknown. Evidence for a hierarchical use of different systems to guide navigation is lacking. We used Drosophila melanogaster to investigate whether, in order to relieve an unpleasant stimulation, fruit flies employed an idiothetically-based local search strategy before making use of visual information, or viceversa. Fruit flies appear to initially resort to idiothetic information and only later, if the first strategy proves unsuccessful to relieve the unpleasant stimulation, make use of other information, such as visual cues. By leveraging on this innate preference for a hierarchical use of one strategy over another, we believe that in vivo recordings of brain activity during the navigation of fruit flies could provide mechanistic insights into how simultaneous information from multiple sensory modalities is evaluated, integrated, and motor responses elicited, thus shedding new light on the neural basis of decision-making.


Nowadays automated decision-making systems are pervasively used and more often, they are used for taking important decisions in sensitive areas such as the granting of a bank overdraft, the susceptibility of an individual to a virus infection, or even the likelihood of repeating a crime. The widespread use of these systems raises a growing ethical concern about the risk of a potential discriminatory impact. In particular, machine-learning systems trained on unbalanced data could rise to systematic discriminations in the real world. One of the most important challenges is to determine metrics capable of detecting when an unbalanced training dataset may lead to discriminatory behaviour of the model built on it. In this paper, we propose an approach based on the notion of data completeness using two different metrics: one based on the combinations of the values of the dataset, which will be our benchmark, and the second using frame theory, widely used among others for quality measures of control systems. It is important to remark that the use of metrics cannot be a substitute for a broader design that must take into account the columns that could lead to the presence of bias in the data. The line of research does not end with these activities but aims to continue the path towards a standardised register of measures.


Digital health literacy influences decision-making in health. There are no validated instruments to evaluate the digital literacy about COVID-19 in Spanish-speaking countries. This study aimed to validate the Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) about COVID-19 adapted to Spanish (COVID-DHLI-Spanish) in university students and to describe its most important results. A cross-sectional study was developed with 2318 university students from Spain, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador. Internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha and principal component analysis. Construct validity was analyzed using Spearman's correlations and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was good for the global scale (Cronbach's alpha 0.69, 95% CI 0.67) as well as for its dimensions. A total of 51.1% (n = 946) of students had sufficient digital literacy, 40.1% (n = 742) had problematic digital literacy, and 8.8% (n = 162) had inadequate digital literacy. The DHLI was directly and significantly correlated with age, subjective social perception, sense of coherence, and well-being (p < 0.001). The average digital literacy was higher in men than in women, in students older than 22 years, and in those with greater satisfaction with online information (p < 0.001). The COVID-DHLI-Spanish is useful for measuring the digital literacy about COVID-19 in Spanish-speaking countries. This study suggests gaps by gender and socioeconomic perception.