BACKGROUND
Long-term survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy is unsatisfactory because of the high recurrence rate.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Among 396 patients who underwent curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma, there were 228 patients with clinical recurrence: 85 with solitary intrahepatic recurrence (group A), 109 with two or more intrahepatic recurrences (group B), and 34 who had extrahepatic recurrence (group C). The clinical and pathological factors for each group were investigated for association with long-term survival of each group.

RESULTS
The survival rate of group C was significantly lower than that of the other groups. Patients in group C were significantly younger than those in groups A or B, with higher levels of protein induced by absence/antagonism of vitamin K-II, larger tumors, more poorly differentiated tumors, intravascular invasion and a lower incidence of cirrhosis than the other groups. Group A showed a significantly longer period until recurrence and maintained good liver function at recurrence. In group B, the survival rate of Child-Pugh class A patients was significantly higher than that of class B and C patients. Class A patients received significantly more treatments for recurrence than patients in the other classes.

CONCLUSION
Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy should be performed as early as possible after hepatectomy if the patient is younger, has a large tumor and/or has a high level of protein induced by absence/antagonism of vitamin K-II. Patients with solitary intrahepatic recurrence and adequate liver function should receive further curative therapy. It is important to maintain the postoperative nutritional status of patients with multiple intrahepatic recurrences in order to allow repeated and aggressive therapy to be performed.


Reinforcement learning (RL) is now part of the state of the art in the domain of spoken dialogue systems (SDS) optimisation. Most performant RL methods, such as those based on Gaussian Processes, require to test small changes in the policy to assess them as improvements or degradations. This process is called on policy learning. Nevertheless, it can result in system behaviours that are not acceptable by users. Learning algorithms should ideally infer an optimal strategy by observing interactions generated by a non-optimal but acceptable strategy, that is learning off-policy. Such methods usually fail to scale up and are thus not suited for real-world systems. In this contribution, a sample-efficient, online and off-policy RL algorithm is proposed to learn an optimal policy. This algorithm is combined to a compact non-linear value function representation (namely a multi-layers perceptron) enabling to handle large scale systems.


In the present study, three dimensional growth of fibroblasts on carbon fibre mesh and assessment of biocompatibilty by in-vitro and in-vivo examination was done. Carbon fiber mesh was cut in desired size and after sterilization, placed in six well cell culture plates. The mesh was co-cultured with p-MEF cells. At different time intervals the viability and proliferation of the p-MEF cells was evaluated. Results of in-vitro observations of the morphology p-MEF cells seeded on the surface of carbon fibre mesh shows adhesions and attachment fibroblasts cells to carbon fibres on day 3 post seeding. They attached firmly and were uniformly spread along the fibres on day 5 post seeding and mostly spindle-shaped and cover almost all their surface on day 7 post seeding and such a spreading of cells indicates good adhesions and biocompatibility of carbon fibres. In-vivo examination of retrieved sample on day 30 post implantation shows that carbon fibre mesh was covered by dense thick fibrous connective tissue. Complications like infection or pus formation was not seen in the vicinity of any implanted biomaterials. Keywords: carbon fibres, carbon fibre mesh, primary mouse embryo fibroblasts (p-MEF), in-vitro examination, in-vivo examination


Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a life-shortening lung disease that leads to significant morbidity in patients. The devastation IPF imposes extends beyond patients: it affects their spouses, loved ones and any other person who might take on the role of informal caregiver (IC) to the patient. Objective The aim of this study was to capture ICs' perspectives on how they are affected by having a loved one with IPF. Given ICs' vantage, data were also collected on their perceptions of how IPF impacted their patient-loved ones over the course of the disease. Methods Reflexive team analysis was used to analyse the transcripts from semistructured focus groups conducted with ICs of patients with IPF. Based on the analyses, a conceptual framework of the IC's journey with a patient with IPF was developed and includes suggestions for interventions that might ease the burdens ICs endure while caring for their patient-loved ones. Results 14 ICs included in this study experienced several hardships throughout the course of their loved ones' illness, from emotional devastation at the time of diagnosis to living with an 'impatient,' 'cranky' loved one and being forced to exist in a 'smaller world' because of the physical limitations IPF imposed on their partners. The threat of patients needing supplemental oxygen was central to creating angst among patients and ICs, and supplemental oxygen use by patients prohibited them and their ICs from living the 'normal', carefree lives they desired. Conclusions Being an IC to a patient with IPF is extremely challenging (as 1 IC put it: "…harder on the spouse than the patient in some ways"). As patients attempt to adapt to the 'sick person' role, ICs face a struggle between performing their duties as caregiver and maintaining their own identities and independence.


: The measurement of distributed force is highly demanded in various fields such as robotics. A flexible and nonmetal sensor configuration is often required in these applications. In this report, a distributed sensing method using an elastic tube, a small loud speaker and a microphone has been proposed, where the position of deformation along the tube can be determined from the acoustic characteristics of the tube. The basic properties of the distributed sensor were studied for a 1.2-m-long resin elastic tube of 10 mm inner diameter. The distribution of deformation was estimated from the power spectrum measured at one end of the tube with white-noise excitation. The position of deformation was successfully detected from the Fourier transform of the power spectrum. It was also proved that two separate deformed parts were able to be discriminated.


Recent successes of wireless networked systems in advancing industrial automation and in spawning the Internet of Things paradigm motivate the adoption of wireless networked systems in current and future safety-critical applications. As reliability is key in safety-critical applications, in this work we present NETDAG, a scheduler design and implementation suitable for real-time applications in the wireless setting. NETDAG is built upon the Low-Power Wireless Bus, a high-performant communication abstraction for wireless networked systems, and enables system designers to directly schedule applications under specified task-level real-time constraints. Access to real-time primitives in the scheduler permits efficient design exploration of tradeoffs between power consumption and latency. Furthermore, NETDAG provides support for weakly hard real-time applications with deterministic guarantees, in addition to heretofore considered soft real-time applications with probabilistic guarantees. We propose novel abstraction techniques for reasoning about conjunctions of weakly hard constraints and show how such abstractions can be used to handle the significant scheduling difficulties brought on by networked components with weakly hard behaviors.


The OCR is an electronic conversion of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. The Optical Character System is available for various languages, such as English, Chinese and Arabic script, but it is commercially not available for Odia script. We have taken a step to develop OCR system for Odia language. The OCR is popular for its various applications potentials in banks, library automation, post-offices, defense organizations and language processing. Line and Word segmentation is one of the important steps of OCR system. The accuracy of the word/character recognition is directly affected by the correctness/ incorrectness of text-line and word segmentation. In this paper we have proposed a robust method for segmentation of individual text lines of Odia printed document image file. The segmented text line is the input for the word segmentation method which produces segmented words. Both foreground and background information are used in the proposed method. We have tested our method on scanned Odia scripts as well as some multi-script documents and obtained encouraging result. This technique is based on the intensities of pixels in the document.


A systematic study of the nuclear emission of a sample of 97 spirals in isolated galaxy pairs with mixed morphology (E+S) shows that: 1) AGN activity is found in 40% of the spiral galaxies in these pairs, 2) Only one out of the 39 AGN found has type 1 (Broad line Component) activity, and 3) AGN tend to have closer companions than star forming galaxies. These results are at odds with a simple Unified Model for Seyferts, where only obscuration/orientation effects are of relevance, and neatly support an evolutionary scenario where interactions trigger nuclear activity, and obscuration/orientation effects may be complementary in a certain evolutionary phase.


The morphology and some properties of the complex iodoprotein pattern of the genetically determined congenital goiter in Afrikander cattle is described. The goiter contained irregularly shaped follicles which were devoid of colloid and the follicular epithelial cells were elongated, measuring about 20 micrometer in length compared to 10 micrometer for normal thyroid cells. The goiter cells contained apical clusters of larger and more numerous lysosomes than normal thyroid cells. Apical vesicles containing electron-dense material which were in contact with the plasma membrane could be seen in most normal thyroid cells, but were extremely scarce in the goiter. In 36 cell profiles studied none was found. The endoplasmic reticulum cisternae of the goiter differed significantly from normal thyroid cells. Fewer ribosomes were seen to be attached to the membranes of goiter cells. Furthermore, unlike normal thyroid cells, many free polysomes were seen in goiter cells. The characteristics of the unusual iodoprotein pattern of the goiter extract, resolved by gel chromatography and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that described previously (Endocrinology 91, 470, 1972). A relatively small amount of the total soluble protein was iodinated. Of these, only a 12S sedimenting species was precipitated by antithyroglobulin immunoglobulin. When separated on polyacrylamide gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate and mercaptoethanol, this 12S species was resolved into at least 14 polypeptide components ranging in molecular weights from less than 66,000--330,000. Three of the bands, representing a small percentage of the total protein, seemed to comigrate with the major polypeptides of thyroglobulin and were also precipitated with rabbit antihyroglobulin immunoglobulin. The data indicate that glycosylation of iodoproteins was not affected although 19S thyroglobulin synthesis and subsequent storage were drastically impaired.


There have been claims of early use of high-carbon steel in South India. Still, the antiquity, elemental composition and steelmaking process have not been explored adequately. The high carbon steel was known in the Iron Age or early historical period. However, the large-scale use of such steel was prevalent only in the medieval times. This article examines the presence of steel and its metallographic features in the iron artifacts retrieved from two archaeological sites, namely Ambal and Vallam, Tamil Nadu, India, with occupational evidence from the Iron Age to the medieval period through a number of scientific tests. Metallographic as well as mechanical tests were performed to identify the morphology and measure the strength respectively. Similarly, the chemical composition was determined to quantify the alloying elements in the material. The slag was exposed on the etched surface of the sample cut from axe. Microscopy and chemical composition analysis showed very fine bright dendrites of wustite in the iron slag. The deterioration of samples was confirmed in microscopic and composition analysis. The result shows that the inhabitants of ancient Ambal and the Vallam were equipped with iron smelting technology and had the knowledge of steelmaking in the Iron Age.


The patterns of expression of polysialylated ("embryonic") form of Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule (PSA/E-N-CAM) and of all N-CAM isoforms were investigated by indirect immunofluorescence and immunoblotting during the development of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and during the regeneration of the caudal Spinal Cord (SC) of the amphibian urodeles Pleurodeles waltl (Pw) and Notophthalmus viridescens (Nv). In this study, a monoclonal antibody to group B Meningococcus (anti-Men-B) which recognizes alpha-2,8-linked sialic units of PSA-N-CAM, and polyclonal anti-total N-CAM antibodies were used. Total-N-CAM immunoreactivities were consistently detected throughout the CNS of developing and adult newts. PSA-N-CAM expression predominated in "embryonic" developing CNS and was reduced to certain CNS areas in the adult urodeles. In the case of SC, the expression level of this isoform of N-CAM dramatically decreased to become low and nearly restricted to some ependymoglial cell surfaces. Interestingly, during newt tail regeneration, PSA-N-CAM was intensely reexpressed in regenerating SC, at the surface of ependymoglial cell processes and in axonal compartments. Expression was maximal at 4 to 6 weeks following amputation, and then gradually returned to a normal adult low level in well differentiated SC. These findings strongly supported the view that the expression of PSA-N-CAM was associated with the properties of plasticity shown by the SC ependymoglial tissue in newts, during tail regeneration. On the other hand, the high level of PSA-N-CAM expression in axonal compartments of regenerating as well as developing SC suggested that these isoforms of N-CAM could be implicated in axonal outgrowth within the "tunnels" defined by the radial ependymoglial processes. This transient PSA-N-CAM expression could therefore be considered both as a negative modulator of cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions and as a permissive factor for neuron differentiation.


The tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) classically counteracts the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling cascade. Germline pathogenic PTEN mutations cause PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS), featuring various benign and malignant tumors, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. Germline and somatic mosaic mutations in genes encoding components of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway downstream of PTEN predispose to syndromes with partially overlapping clinical features, termed the "PTEN-opathies." Experimental models of PTEN pathway disruption uncover the molecular and cellular processes influencing clinical phenotypic manifestations. Such insights not only teach us about biological mechanisms in states of health and disease, but also enable more accurate gene-informed cancer risk assessment, medical management, and targeted therapeutics. Hence, the PTEN-opathies serve as a prototype for bedside to bench, and back to the bedside, practice of evidence-based precision medicine.


PURPOSE
Tear evaporation should increase fluorescein concentration, causing fluorescence dimming from self-quenching for high but not low fluorescein concentration. This prediction was tested and compared to the predicted effect of "tangential flow" that fluorescence dimming should be similar for high and low concentrations.

METHODS
A custom optical system was used for video recording of tear film fluorescence in 30 subjects. The subjects were asked to blink at the start of the recording and try to keep their eyes open for the rest of the 60-second recording. An initial recording was made after instillation of 1 μL 0.1% fluorescein followed by further recordings at 5-minute intervals using 0.5% and 5% fluorescein.

RESULTS
Decay of fluorescence was considerably greater for the high (5%) concentration condition than for the low (0.1%) concentration. This is shown by "ratio images" (ratio of the intensity of a fluorescence image at a later time divided by that of an earlier image), fluorescence decay curves, fluorescence decay rates, and histograms of estimated tear thickness decrease. For example, for the high concentration condition, decay rates were higher than for the low concentration for all 30 subjects (P < 0.0001, binomial test). Additionally, breakup time was significantly reduced for the high compared to the low concentration condition.

CONCLUSIONS
The greater fluorescence decay and more rapid breakup for the high concentration condition are the results expected if thinning and breakup are mainly due to evaporation, hence causing self-quenching. Fluorescence decay rate for the low concentration condition was not significantly greater than zero.


Summary Low-Tension Gas (LTG) process has been studied for sandstone reservoirs. In the prior publication ( Nguyen et al. 2015 ), LTG was successfully used to achieve high oil recoveries with the proposed surfactant formulation and injection strategy. Sensitivity to change in optimum salinity was also investigated. However, some questions remained, particularly linked to the sudden drop of effluent salinity and the consequential oil recovery under Type I conditions. In this work, in-depth experimental investigations are carried out to understand the underlying mechanisms. Surfactant flooding without presence of gas is conducted to establish the incremental impact of the microemulsion on oil recovery and pressure drop. Constant salinity core flood experiments were carried out under Winsor Type I conditions at varying capillary numbers to examine the desaturation efficiency. Dynamic foamability tests were carried in the absence of oil to probe the foamability of the developed formula and the contribution of alkyl polyether sulfonate (APS). Effluent salinity when injecting brine only was compared with the case where both brine and gas are co-injected to better understand the role of gas. Further, the importance of foam in the drive was evaluated by conducting LTG without the foaming surfactant in the drive. The dynamic foam tests showed good foamability with the proposed formulation, presence of APS in the surfactant formulation further enhanced the foamability. Surfactant flooding without gas resulted in only 30% remaining oil recovery. Constant salinity coreflood confirmed that the oil recoveries observed under Type I conditions in LTG process indeed can be achieved at the prevailing capillary numbers. The effluent salinity comparison between brine only and brine/gas injections showed significant impact of gas on salinity distribution in the core. Much lower oil recovery was observed and the salinity propagation was delayed when no foaming agent was used in the drive. This implies that foam mobility control is critical for the success of LTG process. It is the first time that in-depth experimental studies were conducted for the LTG process. It improves the interpretation of the findings in prior work, and provides the guidance to the future experimental and theoretical studies.


The authors describe a family of broadcast protocols for use in fault-tolerant distributed systems. They primarily consider protocols that are reliable in the presence of halting failures, whereby a process stops executing without performing any incorrect actions. The protocols are delivery ordering specific and have varying cost and performance depending on the degree of ordering desired. The performance characteristics of the protocols are discussed and the results of the simulations are expected to comply with it.<<ETX>>


This article covers a wide range of documents with the purpose of problematizing some approaches to the renewal of public primary schools in Brazil, highlighting the social construction of playtime. Analyzing academic discourse within teaching, as well as records produced by public school teachers of Parana during the first decades of the twentieth century, this study seeks to demonstrate how playtime, as part of the curriculum, has arisen informally out of teachers' worries about the burden which schools put on pupils to later transform into a constitutive element of the standards that would define the organization and management of knowledge within schools. From a diffuse understanding of its meaning to precise understanding as an important aspect of training processes, playtimes mobilized time, space and knowledge, and were articulated with other elements related to the renewing wave of education, such as methods, school subjects, practices and knowledge which affected the desire to establish a new sensibility, according to the sources. These were based on rhetorical stances which affirmed activities, experience and work, either as a means or as the goal of public primary education.


This work presents reconstructions of 3D pressure fields starting from 2D3C stereoscopic-PIV (SPIV) measurements. In Fratantonio et al. (2021), we presented a new reconstruction algorithm, the "Instantaneous convection" method, capable of producing 3D velocity fields from time-resolved SPIV measurements. For reconstructions in flows with strong shear layers and high turbulence intensity, this method is able to provide time-resolved 3D velocity volumes that are more accurate than those that can be obtained from the more frequently employed reconstruction method based on the Taylor's hypothesis and on the use of a mean convective field. Here we investigate the possibility of reconstructing the 3D pressure field from the timeresolved series of reconstructed 3D velocity data. A pseudo-tracking method is employed for computing the velocity material derivative, and the pressure field is then reconstructed by solving the 3D Poisson equation. The velocity and pressure reconstructions are validated on the Direct Numerical Simulation data of the turbulent channel flow taken from the John Hopkins Turbulence Database (JHTDB), and an application to experimental SPIV measurements of an air jet flow in coflow carried out at the Turbulent Mixing Tunnel (TMT) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory is presented.


Currently, due to the advantages of light weight, simple deployment, multi-environment support, short startup time, scalability, and easy migration, container technology has been widely used in both cloud and edge/fog computing, and addresses the problem of device heterogeneity in different computing environments. On this basis, as one of the most popular container orchestration and management systems, Kubernetes almost dominates the cloud environment. However, since it is primarily designed for centralized resource management scenarios where computing resources are sufficient, the system is unstable in edge environments due to hardware limitations. Therefore, in order to realize container orchestration in the cloud and edge/fog hybrid computing environment, we propose a feasible approach to build a hybrid clustering based on K3s, which solves the problem that virtual instances in different environments cannot be connected due to IP addresses. We also propose three design patterns for deploying the FogBus2 framework into hybrid environments, including 1) Host Network Mode, 2) Proxy Server, and 3) Environment Variable.


In copper metallization, resistivity of copper seed layer is very important. Conventionally MOCVD has been used for this purpose however electroless copper plating is simple process and the resistivity of copper deposit is less than that of copper prepared by MOCVD. In this study electroless copper plating was conducted on different substrate to find optimum conditions of electroless copper plating for electronic applications. To find optimum conditions, the effects and selectivity of activation method on several substrates were investigated. The effects of copper bath composition on morphology were investigated. The effects of pH and stabilizer on deposition rate were also investigated. The optimum pH of the bath was 12 with addition of stabilizer. The resistivity of copper was decreased with addition of stabilizer and alter heat treatment.


: The International Energy Agency's (IEA) Task 41: Solar Energy and Architecture gathers researchers, academics and practicing architects from 14 countries in a project pursuing the objectives to identify and address obstacles that architects are facing in solar design. Part of this three-year project is the development of an international survey -intended for practicing architects- addressing a broad range of issues from passive and active solar design to the availability and adequacy of existing digital tools. This paper presents parts of the results of this international survey related to Task 41 Subtask B: Tools and methods for solar design. The results show that there is still a need to improve tools and methods for architects such as increased support needed for decision-making and for solar design in CAAD tools. The results also state that architects' skills with regards to solar design in tools are 'poor' or 'very poor' . Furthermore, results indicate that decision-making for the integration of solar technologies in the conceptual phase is mainly handled by the architects alone. Finally, the results show that tools need to be simpler, that the interoperability between software needs to be improved, that tools should provide key data about solar energy aspects as well as explicit feedback to the architect, and that tools need a better visualisation especially for active solar energy systems.


Alginate microcapsules containing cell yeasts of the species Saccharomyces cerivisae, used as a reference microorganism, were studied here to improve the protection of cell activity during food processing. Here a novel drying process was proposed to optimize processing conditions. The dehydration of microcapsules by microwaves and under near fluidizing conditions (NFMD), allows performing dehydration employing lower temperatures to maintain high viability levels and a high quality end product. Thus, strategies based on the combination of different thermal gradients and processing temperatures were analysed through a series of NFMD experiments. Keywords: microwave drying, fluidization, probiotics, cell viability


The majority of gravitational wave (GW) events detected so far by LIGO/Virgo originate from binary black hole (BBH) mergers. Among the different binary evolution paths, the merger of BBHs in accretion discs of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is a possible source of GW detections. We consider an idealised analytical model of the orbital evolution of BBHs embedded in an AGN accretion disc. In this framework, the disc–binary interaction increases the orbital eccentricity and decreases the orbital separation, driving the BBH into a regime where GW emission eventually leads to coalescence. We compute the resulting GW merger rate density from this channel based on a weighted average of the merger timescales of a population of BBHs radially distributed within the AGN accretion disc. The predicted merger rates broadly lie in the range ℛ ∼ (0.002−18) Gpc−3 yr−1. We analyse the dependence of the merger rate density on both the accretion disc and binary orbital parameters, emphasising the important role of the orbital eccentricity. We discuss the astrophysical implications of this particular BBH-in-AGN formation channel in the broader context of binary evolution scenarios.


In this study we analyzed the spatial structure of ectomycorrhizal fungi present in the soils as resistant propagules (e.g. spores or sclerotia) in a mixed-conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada, California. Soils were collected under old-growth Abies spp. stands across approximately 1 km and bioassayed with seedlings of hosts that establish best in stronger light (Pinus jeffreyi) or that are shade-tolerant (Abies concolor). Ectomycorrhizal fungi colonizing the roots were characterized with molecular techniques (ITS-RFLP and DNA sequence analysis). Wilcoxina, five Rhizopogon species and Cenococcum were the most frequent of 17 detected species. No spatial structure was detected in the resistant propagule community as a whole, but P. jeffreyi seedlings had higher species richness and associated with seven Rhizopogon species that were not detected on A. concolor seedlings. We drew two conclusions from comparisons between this study and a prior study of the ectomycorrhizal community on mature trees in the same forest: (i) the resistant propagule community was considerably simpler and more homogeneous than the active resident community across the forest and (ii) Cenococcum and Wilcoxina species are abundant in both communities.


Pernicious anemia (PA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by atrophic gastritis and deficiency in intrinsic factor leading to impairment of vitamin B12 absorption in the ileum. Anemia is commonly found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, PA is rarely found in RA. There are few reports describing patients with both conditions; none in Korea to date. We report on a case of a 46-year-old female who presented with hypesthesia and general weakness. She was previously diagnosed as seropositive RA with myelodysplastic syndrome. She had severely impaired sensation, especially for vibration and proprioception in all limbs. Subacute combined degeneration was observed on her magnetic resonance imaging and serum vitamin B12 level was very low. Further exam results were consistent with PA and her symptoms improved with cobalamin injection. This case demonstrates that PA should be considered in RA patients presenting with both central nervous system manifestations and anemia. (J Rheum Dis 2015;22:327-331)


INTRODUCTION
Thyroiditis is a disorder that involves inflammation of the thyroid gland. Subacute thyroiditis is the most common cause of acute painful thyroiditis. It is thought to be a viral inflammatory disorder. Subacute thyroiditis has been treated with either nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or high dose corticosteroids. The response to steroids is more dramatic and quicker than the NSAIDs. Prednisolone is the most commonly used corticosteroid to treat subacute thyroiditis. The usual dose is one mg/kg/day tapered over six weeks although the basis for this dose has not been established yet by prospective studies.

AIM
The current research was carried out to study if prednisolone in lower initial dose (20 mg/day tapered over four weeks) is effective in patients with acute painful thyroiditis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was a prospective, cross sectional, observational study carried out at Pokhara, Nepal. All the patients presenting with anterior neck pain of less than 1 week with tender thyroid on palpation and ESR more than 30mm/h were included in the study. The patients were administered prednisolone in a starting dose of 20 mg/day tapered over four weeks. Data were collected, analysed and the results were interpreted.

RESULTS
One hundred and twenty two patients of acute painful thyroiditis were included in our study. Age of the patients ranged from 19 years to 69 years with the mean age of 36.58 years. Female to Male ratio was 10:1. Mean ESR was 57.03 at the time of presentation. ESR decreased to 29.63 at two weeks and 17.03 mm per hour (normal) at 4 weeks after continuation of the drug. All the patients reported with severe pain in the anterior neck at the time of presentation. Pain was completely relieved in 115 patients (94%) at 2 weeks after starting the treatment and it was better than previous in seven patients.

CONCLUSION
Twenty mg of prednisolone daily tapered over 4 weeks is an adequate treatment of subacute thyroiditis. However, dose can be drastically tapered after 2 weeks.


BACKGROUND
Our previous study indicated that soy protein with isoflavones lessened lumbar spine bone loss in midlife women.

OBJECTIVE
We examined the efficacy of isoflavones (extracted from soy protein) on bone mineral density (BMD) in nonosteoporotic postmenopausal women. We hypothesized that isoflavone tablets would spare BMD, with biological (age, body weight, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) and lifestyle (physical activity, dietary intake) factors modulating BMD loss.

DESIGN
Our double-blind, randomized controlled trial (36 mo) included healthy postmenopausal women (aged 45.8-65.0 y) with intent-to-treat (n = 224) and compliant (n = 208) analyses. Treatment groups consisted of a placebo control group and 2 soy isoflavone groups (80 compared with 120 mg/d); women received 500 mg calcium and 600 IU vitamin D(3). Outcomes included lumbar spine, total proximal femur, femoral neck, and whole-body BMD.

RESULTS
Analysis of variance for intent-to-treat and compliant (> or =80%) models, respectively, showed no treatment effect for spine (P = 0.46, P = 0.21), femur (P = 0.86, P = 0.46), neck (P = 0.17, P = 0.14), or whole-body (P = 0.86, P = 0.78) BMD. From baseline to 36 mo, BMD declined regardless of treatment. In intent-to-treat and compliant models, respectively, BMD decreases were as follows: spine (-2.08%, -1.99%), femur (-1.43%, -1.38%), neck (-2.56%, -2.51%), and whole body (-1.66%, -1.62%). Regression analysis (compliant model) indicated that age, whole-body fat mass, and bone resorption were common predictors of BMD change. After adjustment for these factors, 120 mg (compared with placebo) was protective (P = 0.024) for neck BMD. We observed no treatment effect on adverse events, endometrial thickness, or bone markers.

CONCLUSION
Our results do not show a bone-sparing effect of extracted soy isoflavones, except for a modest effect at the femoral neck. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00043745.


Taking into account Mediterranean climate particularities for Barcelona, Spain, a whole year study using TAS simulation software was carried out for a Double Skin Facade corporative office building. It is a typical office building with an extended working hours schedule for acclimatization. Four different cavity widths were simulated – 40cm, 60cm, 80cm, 100cm - as well as three different external opening areas for cavity's natural ventilation purpose. Two Double Skin Facade typologies were simulated – a corridor facade and a multistory facade. Simulations showed cooling loads are much greater than heating loads on a double glazed skin facade building south oriented in a Mediterranean climate town like Barcelona. Results demonstrated that a Multistory Facade, depending on its configuration, might save up to 5% on annual cooling loads respect to a Corridor Facade. Different opening areas and cavity depths shall be used for different typologies in order to obtaining good energy results.


Abstract
Pre-school education is offered in the government primary schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Very little attention is given to the pre-school aged children in these schools. Therefore, this study was carried on to explore teaching activities and facilities for Pre-school Children in district Karak. The objectives of the study were to explore the availability of teaching facilities and to investigate teachers' teaching activities while teaching pre-school children in the government primary schools. The population of the study were all the 438 head teachers of government primary schools for boys of district Karak, KP,Pakistan. Total 216 head teachers were selected as sample through proportionate cluster random sampling technique. The study was descriptive and survey method was adopted. Self-developed questionnaire was used for the collection of data. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and the use of Chi Square (X2) test. Non availability of Audio-Visual (AV) aids, unavailability of specialized teachers and the absence of separate classroom for preschool children were major findings of the study. Ensuring of AV aids, construction of additional classroom, recruitment of specialized preschool teachers and arrangement of refresher courses for teachers of preschool children are the major recommendations of the study.

Keywords: Preschool, Primary Schools, Audio Visual Aids, Teaching activities, facilities


This paper proposes a rule base simplification method for fuzzy systems. The method is based on aggregation of rules with different linguistic values of the output for identical permutations of linguistic values of the inputs which are known as inconsistent rules. The simplification removes the redundancy in the fuzzy rule base by replacing each group of inconsistent rules with a single equivalent rule. The simulation results from a transportation demand management case study show that the aggregated fuzzy system with the consistent rule base approximates better the given data than the original fuzzy system with the inconsistent rule base. The main advantage of the proposed method over other methods is that it does not require any refinement of the rule base using additional data sets or expert knowledge. In this context, the method is quite suitable for applications where rule base refinement is unacceptable due to time constraints or impossible due to lack of additional data or knowledge.


When the statistical structure under each of two hypotheses is time varying, the collection of infinitely many observations does not guarantee an error probability that approaches zero. A recursive formula for the Bhattacharyya distance between two Markov chains is derived, and it is used to derive necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotically perfect detection (APD). It is shown that the use of incorrect prior probabilities in the Bayes detection rulee does not affect AID. The results are also extended to time-continuons finite-state Markov observations. An application is analyzed, in which the behavior of a message buffer is monitored for the purpose of detecting malfunctions in a computer communication network.


In engineering systems, which are used in construction industry and its production (buildings, constructions, roads), two fundamentally different ways of mechanical joint are used: non-collapsible and collapsible. Some architects relate non-collapsible objects to monolithic and consider their recycling as a difficult and expensive process. Compression joints on self-locking fittings can be considered as non-collapsible as well. A compression connection cannot be disassembled without destroying. Collapsible joint differs from non-collapsible by the following features: 1. You can disassemble it to original components according to a prior technology, identify and change defective elements or add some other components. 2. It requires periodic inspection and maintenance because of climatic conditions (temperature changes, pressure changes, wind loads, etc.), and the specificity of operation of this joint leads to a decrease in its mechanical properties. 3. It is forbidden to make them monolithic, so collapsible joints are mounted in an accessible way.


Objective: Basal insulin analogs, with durations of action sufficient for coverage over the course of 24h, are important for the proper management of glycemic control in diabetic patients. LY2963016 (LY IGlar), an insulin analog has the same amino acid sequence as Lantus® (IGlar). The pharmacological properties of six independent lots of LY IGlar and IGlar were compared using a panel of in vitro biological assays to determine the pharmacological similarity of LY IGlar compared to IGlar. Methods: The affinity, Ki, for the human insulin receptor isoform A (hIR-A) and B (hIR-B) and human IGF-1 receptor (hIGF-1R) and the half-maximal concentration, EC50, required to stimulate phosphorylation were determined using competitive receptor binding assays. Statistical comparisons were made for the Ki/EC50 responses from each assay using the Sidak and Holm-Bonferroni multiple comparison adjustment methods with α= 0.05. Results: Ki of LY IGlar was 0.41 ± 0.01, 0.45 ± 0.03, and 16.0 ± 0.4 nM for hIR-A, hIR-B, and hIGF-1R, respectively. These affinities were comparable to the Ki of IGlar, 0.40 ± 0.02, 0.45 ± 0.04, and 15.5 ± 0.6 nM, respectively. The EC50 of LY IGlar required to stimulate hIR-A and hIR-B phosphorylation was similar to the EC50 for IGlar. LY IGlar and IGlar were maximally efficacious with comparable EC50 concentrations for stimulating de novo lipogenesis from glucose. The mitogenic potential of LY IGlar and IGlar in the hIGF-1R dominant cell line, Saos-2, was 0.53 ± 0.03 and 0.53 ± 0.03 nM, respectively. Conclusions: The in vitro pharmacological properties of LY IGlar were not significantly different from IGlar, thus supporting LY IGlar as an alternative therapy for diabetic patients.


Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a device that converts hydrogen and oxygen to electricity. Power electronic converter is an important equipment to transfer energy from PEMFCs to loads properly. The PEMFC model suited for integrating with power electronic circuit simulation are the empirical and the equivalent circuit types. The gas diffusion layer is important part of the PEMFC. This part determines the limit condition of the PEMFC. However, the equivalent circuit model of the gas diffusion layer is not available. This paper proposes a dynamic equivalent circuit model for the GDL and its simulation.


In understanding the relationship between exercise and immunity, the "open window theory" is a well-known theory stating that immediately after high intensity exercise, temporary immunosuppression occurs, which increases the risk of infections such as upper respiratory tract infections. Why does such a phenomenon occur? Does immunosuppression after severe exercise have physiological significance? In this paper, we propose a theory of super homeostasis. In other words, we verify that the open window theory is an important biological reaction when trying to understand the reason why we do exercise, more than it is the indispensable physiological response to the whole body.


The heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in a tube heat exchanger using H-shape inserts with circular ring (CRWHS) has been done by computationally and experimentally. In this investigation parameters like ratio of the diameters and pitches are considered. The value of diameter and pitch ratios are (DR=0.8, 0.9), (PR=3, 4) respectively. The main section in which investigation was done is 1.5m long and the hydraulic diameter of the tube is 68.1mm. 1000 W/m2 heat flux was provided in the main section. Heat flux was constant throughout the investigation. Air is used as a working medium in which 6000 to 21000 Reynolds number was used for the investigation. The observation revealed that the increment in heat transfer rate is 4.56 times as compare to smooth tube for the circular ring with H-shape inserts. In case of DR=0.8 and PR=3, maximum thermal performance factor was obtain which is 3.24. In GIT the deviation in Nusselt number & friction factor is limited to ±0.4% & ±0.1% respectively. CFD analysis result comparisons with experimental one are presented in which the maximum deviations for thermal performance factor are limited to ±3.6%.


Dengue is emerging as a serious global health problem. Estimating the economic burden of dengue is crucial to inform policy-makers of the disease's societal impact and may assist in implementing appropriate control strategies. However, developing such studies is constrained by limited data and other challenges. This paper shows how analyzing hospital records carefully can adjust surveillance data for possible under-reporting and misdiagnosis of dengue, merging information on treatment patterns with macro costing to estimate the cost of dengue episode by age and severity in various treatment settings, and combining adjusted surveillance data with cost information can estimate the aggregate cost of dengue illness in India and in other endemic countries.


The study carried out on 265 of 2 nd year MBchB healthy student in the department of physiology ,collage of medicine in Al-Qadisiya university The study achieved from September 2011 to December 2013, including 265 students ,out of which were 169 females & 96 males . With age range (19- 21 years). Determination of blood group was done for all students and then bleeding& clotting time was determined for each student, it was founded that blood group B was more predominant than other groups among the students, and the clotting & bleeding time was more prolonged in those with blood group O as compared with others , also the female was showing to have prolong clotting & bleeding time than male students.


ABSTRACT Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are capable of mediating long-term gene expression following administration to skeletal muscle. In rodent muscle, the vector genomes persist in the nucleus in concatemeric episomal forms. Here, we demonstrate with nonhuman primates that rAAV vectors integrate inefficiently into the chromosomes of myocytes and reside predominantly as episomal monomeric and concatemeric circles. The episomal rAAV genomes assimilate into chromatin with a typical nucleosomal pattern. The persistence of the vector genomes and gene expression for years in quiescent tissues suggests that a bona fide chromatin structure is important for episomal maintenance and transgene expression. These findings were obtained from primate muscles transduced with rAAV1 and rAAV8 vectors for up to 22 months after intramuscular delivery of 5 × 1012 viral genomes/kg. Because of this unique context, our data, which provide important insight into in situ vector biology, are highly relevant from a clinical standpoint.


This paper investigates the effect of change in average age at the country level upon the change in average reading achievement between PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2006. A correction for age yields a different ranking of countries according to their average achievement. Also, the importance and the construction of an internationally acceptable SES-index will be handled.


The crystal structure of the Cu(II) complex with Vitamin B(13) (orotic acid), cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)] has revealed the presence of unusual, noncovalent pi-type interaction between the chelated Cu(II) ion and the C horizontal lineC bond of the uracilate ring [Michalska et al. Polyhedron 2007, 26, 4303]. In this work, the origin and strength of this interaction is thoroughly investigated. Comprehensive studies of the molecular structures and vibrational spectra of the title complex have been performed by using the unrestricted density functional theory methods, B3LYP, and the newly developed M05-2X functional. Calculations at the UMP2 level were also carried out for comparison. A variety of basis sets have been employed in the DFT calculations, including aug-cc-pVTZ, D95V(d,p), SDD, and LanL2DZ. The (63)Cu/(65)Cu isotope substitution technique was applied to identify the copper-ligand vibrations in the infrared spectra. The clear-cut assignment of all the bands in the FT-IR and Raman spectra of the title complex has been made on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution, PED. It is shown that an extremely intense band at 1210 cm(-1) in the Raman spectrum of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)] is diagnostic for the N-1 deprotonation of the uracilate ring and coordination to the copper(II) ion. The B3LYP functional performs better than M05-2X in predicting vibrational frequencies of this complex in the solid state. Intermolecular interactions in crystal were modeled by the supramolecular system consisting of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)], ethylene (above), and formaldehyde (below the copper coordination plane). The stable structure of this system has been predicted only by the M05-2X and MP2 methods, which include dispersion energy, whereas the B3LYP calculations failed in geometry optimization. The distance between the Cu atom and the C horizontal lineC bond, predicted by the M05-2X method (3.00 A) is similar to the van der Waals contacts between the stacking bases in DNA. The calculated interaction energy between the chelated Cu(II) complex and ethylene amounts to -7.33 kcal mol(-1), which is similar to that determined for stacked uracil dimer. It is concluded that the London dispersion energy plays a significant role in the noncovalent interaction between the chelated Cu(II) ion and the uracilate ring in the crystal of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)]. Many copper enzymes in their active sites contain the chelated Cu(II) ion and the aromatic groups (Phe, Tyr and Trp) as the potential binding sites; therefore, the noncovalent copper(II)-pi interaction can be very important for the structure and functioning of these enzymes.


Viruses are strictly dependent on cells to propagate and many incorporate host proteins in their viral particles, but the significance of this incorporation is poorly understood. Recently, we performed the first comprehensive characterization of the mature herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in which up to 49 distinct cellular proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. In the present study, we sought to identify if these cellular factors are relevant for the HSV-1 life cycle. To this end, we performed a small interfering RNA functional screen and found that 15 of these host proteins altered HSV-1 proliferation in cell culture, without any significant effect on cell viability. Moreover, the siRNA used had no negative consequences for Adenovirus type 5 propagation (with one exception) indicating that the modulation was specific for HSV-1 and not merely due to unhealthy cells. The positive host proteins include several Rab GTPases and other intracellular transport components as well as proteins involved in signal transduction, gene regulation and immunity. Remarkably, in most cases when virions were depleted for one of the above proteins, they replicated more poorly in subsequent infections in wild type cells. This highlights for the first time that both the cellular and virion-associated pools of many of these proteins actively contribute to viral propagation. Altogether, these findings underscore the power and biological relevance of combining proteomics and RNA interference to identify novel host-pathogen interactions.


This paper attempts to establish planarization model in chemical mechanical polishing of silicon oxide using high selective ceria slurry. Though removal rate of the high area is increased due to a high pressure focused on the area with abrasive and pad, the removal rate of the same area is not increased but decreased even in the very beginning of polishing with ceria slurry. It also observed that only the elevated area is polished and dishing is not occurred during the polishing in high selective ceria CMP. In this work, it is proposed that ceria abrasives are filled in the low trench area and then support the pad as well as high area during the CMP, which results in planarization without dishing.


This paper describes the proposed active power filter (APF) with a modified output inverter. When the value of load current changes rapidly, the APF transient response is too slow, the line current suffers from dynamic distortion. This distortion causes an increase of harmonic content in the line current, which is dependent on a time constant. The APF control current dynamics is dependent on the inverter output time constant consisting of APF output inductance and resultant impedance of load and mains. According to this modification the APF dynamics are improved. The Matlab simulation results of the modified APF are also presented in the paper. As an example a control circuit for a three-phase 75 kVA parallel active power filter (APF) is used.


This paper describes five loss of control accidents involving commercial aircraft, and derives from those accidents three principles to consider when developing a potential safety case for an advanced flight control system for commercial aircraft. One, among the foundational evidence needed to support a safety case is the availability to the control system of accurate and timely information about the status and health of relevant systems and components. Two, an essential argument to be sustained in the safety case is that pilots are provided with adequate information about the control system to enable them to understand the capabilities that it provides. Three, another essential argument is that the advanced control system will not perform less safely than a good pilot. (6 pages)


The transforming growth factors are endogenous polypeptide substances having own cell receptors. Among them two main factors have been isolated--transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) and beta (TGF beta). TGF alpha is secreted by activated proliferating hepatocytes and by certain neoplastic cells. It stimulates the synthesis of DNA and migration of hepatic epithelial cells. In chronic liver diseases it is produced in increased amounts and stimulates then proliferation and regeneration. TGF beta is released by non-parenchymal liver cells, thrombocytes, and neoplastic cells. It inhibits the synthesis of DNA in many cells, inhibits the synthesis of albumins and fibrinogen and regulates the production of acute phase proteins. In chronic liver diseases it increases the production of fibronectin and collagen, inhibiting at the same time their enzymatic breakdown. TGF beta participates in the development and progression of hepatic fibrosis.


Allele-specific expression quantification from RNA-seq reads provides opportunities to study the control of gene regulatory networks by cis-acting and trans-acting genetic variants. Many existing methods performed a single-gene and single-SNP association analysis to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), and placed the eQTLs against known gene networks for functional interpretation. Instead, we view eQTL data as a capture of the effects of perturbation of gene regulatory system by a large number of genetic variants and reconstruct a gene network perturbed by eQTLs. We introduce a statistical framework called CiTruss for simultaneously learning a gene network and cis-acting and trans-acting eQTLs that perturb this network, given population allele-specific expression and SNP data. CiTruss uses a multi-level conditional Gaussian graphical model to model trans-acting eQTLs perturbing the expression of both alleles in gene network at the top level and cis-acting eQTLs perturbing the expression of each allele at the bottom level. We derive a transformation of this model that allows efficient learning for large-scale human data. Our analysis of the GTEx and LG×SM advanced intercross line mouse data for multiple tissue types with CiTruss provides new insights into genetics of gene regulation. CiTruss revealed that gene networks consist of local subnetworks over proximally located genes and global subnetworks over genes scattered across genome, and that several aspects of gene regulation by eQTLs such as the impact of genetic diversity, pleiotropy, tissue-specific gene regulation, and local and long-range linkage disequilibrium among eQTLs can be explained through these local and global subnetworks.


Insulin resistance is a highly common occurrence in PCOS. To determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms of this insulin resistance we studied subcutaneous abdominal adipocytes isolated from age and weight matched normal cycling (NC) and PCOS subjects. Insulin resistance in PCOS adipocytes was manifested as a reduction in insulin sensitivities for stimulation of glucose transport and suppression of catecholamine-activated lipolysis with no impact on final hormone responsiveness. Insulin sensitivity in adipocytes could be normalized by the addition of an adenosine analog. A number of key steps in insulin signaling pathways receptor autophosphorylation, IRS-1 phosphorylation, PI3-kinase activation and Akt phosphorylation--were found to display normal sensitivity and responsiveness in PCOS adipocytes. Insulin action measured in cultured fibroblasts was similar in NC and PCOS cells. Insulin resistance in PCOS involves tissue and response-specific defects in insulin signal transduction that remain to be identified. Interventions that can increase insulin sensitivity, such as adenosine, may have therapeutic potential in treating the unique insulin resistance of PCOS.


This paper introduce a software system including widely-used Swarm Intelligence algorithms or approaches to be used for the related scientific research studies associated with the subject area. The programmatic infrastructure of the system allows working on a fast, easy-to-use, interactive platform to perform Swarm Intelligence based studies in a more effective, efficient and accurate way. In this sense, the system employs all of the necessary controls for the algorithms and it ensures an interactive platform on which computer users can perform studies on a wide spectrum of solution approaches associated with simple and also more advanced problems.


Background: Age-related hearing loss is one of the common reasons for disability in our population. There are many studies conducted to find a specific pattern of hearing loss correlating gender and age but have failed to prove a relation.

Aim and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to obtain gender related hearing thresholds and to determine the rate of change in pure-tone hearing thresholds between genders.

Materials and Methods: Subjects were selected after thorough history to exclude any past history of otorrhoea, usage of ototoxic drugs, head injury, and subjects exposed to noise at work place. Pure tone audiometric evaluation was conducted on 46 male and 54 female volunteers from Bengaluru. Hearing levels for frequencies of 0.25, 0.5. 1, 2, 4, and 8 KHz were determined using ARPHI 500 MK 1 audiometer.

Results: The mean hearing ability increases from 17.82 dB at 0.5 KHz to 14.02 dB at 2 KHz in males and from 15.18 dB at 0.25 KHz to 12.50 dB at 1 KHz in females. The average rate of change in threshold was 0.30 dB per decade for males and 0.40 dB per decade for females at 0.25 kHz, increasing/decreasing gradually to 0.62 dB per decade for males and 0.27 dB per decade for females at 8 kHz. Women appear to have faster rate of change in of hearing at the lower frequency of 0.25 KHz. Men had significantly faster rates of threshold increase at 4 and 8 kHz than women. The rate of decline in hearing is faster in males compared to females.

Conclusion: Our study has been able to find gender differences in hearing thresholds between genders and found that females have better hearing ability than males. It also found that rate of decline in hearing levels was faster in males compared to females.


This paper describes an approach used to study the dynamic behavior of a ship propulsion plant in actual seas. This study has three main objectives: (1) to develop a mathematical model of a diesel engine propulsion plant, (2) to develop a hull-propeller interaction model which includes the effect of propeller emergence (propeller racing), (3) to research real-time dynamic behavior of a ship propulsion plant. The models are based on nonlinear differential and algebraic equations of individual components which are linked together to take their interactions into account. Thus, it is possible to research the dynamic behavior of both the single component and the whole propulsion plant. One of the main advantages of this method is that it enables the investigation of the dynamic behavior of diesel engine and speed control system at off-design and transient conditions, allowing for real-time assessment of the severity of propeller load demand fluctuation in order to improve model-based speed control schemes to ensure the safe operation of ship propulsion plants.


Low pressure die casting and flow forming have been successfully used to produce sound road wheels from magnesium alloy AM80. In the current study, high speed compression testing was initially conducted to simulate the flow forming of a Mg wheel. Subsequently the flow forming was simulated with "Forge TM ", an FEM software package. On the basis of flow forming simulations, the flow forming of the Mg wheel was performed under different conditions. For the flow forming experiments, the preform castings were made by low pressure die casting from AM80, a commercial magnesium alloy. In flow forming of the magnesium preform wheel, the flow forming of the Mg wheel was successfully accomplished when the feed rate was less than half that for the forming of an aluminum road wheel. The reduction in feed rate was 52%. Finally, a comparison with the flow forming simulations was made.


We demonstrate a method for optical trapping and Raman spectroscopy of micron-sized, airborne absorbing particles using a single focused laser beam. A single Gaussian beam at 532 nm is used to trap and precisely manipulate absorbing airborne particles. The fluctuation of the position of the trapped particles is substantially reduced by controlling the power of the laser beam with a position-sensitive detector and a locking circuit. Raman spectra of the position-stabilized particles or clusters are then measured with an objective and CCD spectrograph.


Since many years Internet has been used broadly in several fields, network security problems are the major concern. A literature survey is carried out in this context to explore different IP Traceback techniques. This paper presents several techniques to perform IP Traceback. The pros and cons of each technique are explained briefly in this paper.


Susceptibility to type 1 diabetes is associated strongly with human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes, implicating T cells in disease pathogenesis. In humans, CD8 T cells predominantly infiltrate the islets, yet their activation and propagation probably requires CD4 T cell help. CD4 T cells can select from several differentiation fates following activation, and this choice has profound consequences for their subsequent cytokine production and migratory potential. In turn, these features dictate which other immune cell types T cells interact with and influence, thereby determining downstream effector functions. Obtaining an accurate picture of the type of CD4 T cell differentiation associated with a particular immune‐mediated disease therefore constitutes an important clue when planning intervention strategies. Early models of T cell differentiation focused on the dichotomy between T helper type 1 (Th1) and Th2 responses, with type 1 diabetes (T1D) being viewed mainly as a Th1‐mediated pathology. However, several additional fate choices have emerged in recent years, including Th17 cells and follicular helper T cells. Here we revisit the issue of T cell differentiation in autoimmune diabetes, highlighting new evidence from both mouse models and patient samples. We assess the strengths and the weaknesses of the Th1 paradigm, review the data on interleukin (IL)‐17 production in type 1 diabetes and discuss emerging evidence for the roles of IL‐21 and follicular helper T cells in this disease setting. A better understanding of the phenotype of CD4 T cells in T1D will undoubtedly inform biomarker development, improve patient stratification and potentially reveal new targets for therapeutic intervention.


Validation is defined as the establishing of documented evidence which provides a high degree of assurance that a planned process will consistently perform according to the intended specified outcomes. Validation studies are performed for analytical tests, equipment, facility systems such as air, water, steam, and for processes such as the manufacturing processes, cleaning, sterilization, sterile filling, lyophilization, etc. There will be a separate validation for the lyophilizer as an equipment item and for the lyophilization process; for the cleaning of glassware and the cleaning of the facility; and for the sterilization process and for the sterility test. Every step of the process of manufacture of a drug product must be shown to perform as intended. Validation studies verify the system under test under the extremes expected during the process to prove that the system remains in control. Once the system or process has been validated, it is expected that it remains in control, provided no changes are made. In the event that modifications are made, or problems occur, or equipment is replaced or relocated, revalidation is performed.


Taking the digitization of Zhengzhou University campus as an example, the 3-D model of every buildings of Zhengzhou University were constructed with VR technology and 3D image processing technology. The paper has studied the questions that need to be solved in the construction process of digitizing campus and in the model roaming process, this solution has been successfully used in the scientific research item of digitizing Zhengzhou University. The study results can be summarized as follows:(1) the Texture Mapping Technology make the 3D model roaming more smoother; (2) the Construction Technologies of many trees models make the data volume worse; (3) the 3D digitization of Zhengzhou University campus provides a new idea to construct 3D virtual large scene model.


A ltered concentrations of blood plasma lipoproteins are powerful predictors of coronary heart disease (CHD) and of other manifestations of atherosclerosis. Reduction of elevated lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesteroD and concomitant increases in highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) have been shown to reduce myocardial infarction and death from CHD in people with no previous history of vascular events. Other studies using angiography have demonstrated that the atherosclerotic lesions can be stabilized or caused to regress in the coronary vessels of patients who have clinically evident disease.


In a smartphone, a skier can access avalanche information on the go. This paper shows a new app for making decisions, which combines ATES classification with danger ratings and then present- ing this in the form of Avaluator recommendations directly on a GPS-positioned map. We have examined how actual skier behaviour in the terrain is affected by the use of a smartphone as a decision tool. Previ- ous studies on behaviour have mainly focused on surveys or on human factors; it is only now with smartphones with GPS and apps for logging location data that we can study actual movement in the ter- rain. During 10 weeks, 20 skiers used a GPS-based map app in which they answered questions before and after the day's skiing. The app also logged their actual movements during the day. The questions surveyed the subjective approach to risk and skiing. The experiment was conducted in two phases, first a control phase when the app only showed the current avalanche danger and a GPS-map, secondly an effect phase when the app also showed the combination of terrain and avalanche danger using Avaluator colours (Normal Caution, Extra Caution, Not Recommended) projected directly on map as a layer. Our results show that a mobile application can be a successful way to communicate avalanche information in the future. The results also imply it is better to communicate where to ski than to warn where not to ski. At the individual level, we could also see changes in skier's behaviour when they were given access to ava- lanche danger and avalanche terrain in a single map view.


The concept of a new Industrial Revolution has recently become of great interest to general economists of all persuasions. For example, the New Growth Theory has placed renewed emphasis on the importance of technological change in modern economic growth, and a number of authors have suggested that we are entering a new period of technological advances that could profoundly affect the world economy. ; In an article based on comments at the Tenth District Monetary Policy Roundtable, Mr. Mokyr looks at the events of our time in relation to events of the British Industrial Revolution. He cautions that the temptation to look at the past to guide us in making predictions and policy recommendations should be resisted. Historical analogies often mislead as much as they instruct, and in technological progress, where change is unpredictable, cumulative, and irreversible, the analogies are more dangerous than anywhere.


Limited evidence up to now indicates low linear photosynthetic electron flow and CO(2) assimilation rates in non-foliar chloroplasts. In this investigation, we used chlorophyll fluorescence techniques to locate possible limiting steps in photosystem function in exposed, non-stressed green fruits (both pericarps and seeds) of three species, while corresponding leaves served as controls. Compared with leaves, fruit photosynthesis was characterized by less photon trapping and less quantum yields of electron flow, while the non-photochemical quenching was higher and potentially linked to enhanced carotenoid/chlorophyll ratios. Analysis of fast chlorophyll fluorescence rise curves revealed possible limitations both in the donor (oxygen evolving complex) and the acceptor (Q(A)(-)--> intermediate carriers) sides of photosystem II (PSII) indicating innately low PSII photochemical activity. On the other hand, PSI was characterized by faster reduction of its final electron acceptors and their small pool sizes. We argue that the fast reductive saturation of final PSI electron acceptors may divert electrons back to intermediate carriers facilitating a cyclic flow around PSI, while the partial inactivation of linear flow precludes strong reduction of plastoquinone. As such, the photosynthetic attributes of fruit chloroplasts may act to replenish the ATP lost because of hypoxia usually encountered in sink organs with high diffusive resistance to gas exchange.


Copyright in this work remains with the author. _________________________________________________________________ eSharp is an international online journal for postgraduate research in the arts, humanities, social sciences and education. Based at the University of Glasgow and run by graduate students, it aims to provide a critical but supportive entry to academic publishing for emerging academics, including postgraduates and recent postdoctoral students.


The western periphery of Prudhoe Bay field is made of small faulted structures referred to as the Eileen West End area. Development plans for Eileen West End consist of drilling approximately 90 production wells on 80-ac spacing, two nonconventional (> 85{degree}) gas injectors, and one to two conventional gas injectors from two gravel pads (W and Z pads). The confirmation sequence of 20 wells was prioritized to provide information about the structure, fluid contacts, reservoir rock quality, and shale extent in the areas of the nonconventional gas injectors and to maximize, broad initial offtake. Drilling began with two rigs in February 1988, and production started up from Eileen West End in June 1988. In October 1989, 46 wells produced 50,000 BOPD. Peak capacity of 60,000 BOPD is expected by May 1990. Gas cap gas injection was initiated in the West End along with production. Two nonconventional gas injectors currently inject 90 MMCFD. A final injection rate for the West End is targeted at 130 MMCFD. Initiating injection concurrently with production will forestall additional pressure depletion from offtake in the Main field of Prudhoe Bay. Integration of geologic reservoir description and engineering data is crucial to optimize, reservoir development. Current effortmore » include mud logging, sidewall core sampling, formation pressure testing, and fluid contact monitoring with open-hole and cased-hole logs. These data are interpreted to identify areas of gas or water influx and gas breakthrough to define the extent of permeability barriers, to evaluate pressure support requirements, and to effectively plan the remaining conventional and nonconventional producers.« less


The main goal of this research is to develop a mixed reality (MR) application to support motion capture actors. This application allows seeing and exploring a digital environment without occluding the actor's visual field. A prototype is built by combining a retro-reflective screen covering surrounding walls and a headband consisting of a laser scanning projector with a smartphone. Built-in sensors of a smartphone provide navigation capabilities in the digital world. The integrated system has some unique advantages, which are collectively demonstrated for the first time: (i) providing fixed field-of-view (50° in diagonal), fixed retinal images at full-resolution, and distortion-free images that are independent of the screen distance and shape; (ii) presenting different perspectives to the users as they move around or tilt their heads, (iii) allowing a focus-free and calibration-free display even on non-flat surfaces using laser scanning technology, (iv) enabling multiple users to share the same screen without crosstalk due to the use of retro-reflectors, and (v) producing high brightness pictures with a projector of only 15 lm; due to a high-gain retro-reflective screen. We demonstrated a lightweight, comfortable to wear and low cost head-mounted projection display (HMPD) which acts as a stand-a-lone mobile system. Initial informal functionality tests have been successfully performed. The prototype can also be used as a 3D stereo system using the same hardware by additionally mounting polarized glasses and an active polarization rotator, while maintaining all of the advantages listed above.


For two decades, there has been a high-profile debate on the issue of cyberterrorism. Politicians, law enforcement agents, the information security industry, other experts and the press have all made claims about the threats to and vulnerabilities in our society, who is responsible and what should be done. This is a UK study in the field of Information Systems based on interpretative philosophical assumptions. The framework for the study is provided by the concept of moral panic, propounded by Cohen (2002) and elaborated by Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) and Critcher (2003). Moral panic is used widely in the reference discipline of Sociology as a tool for investigating the social construction of social problems in cases where there is heightened public concern and intense media interest, closely followed by changes in legislation and social control mechanisms. This study employs moral panic as an heuristic device to assist in the investigation of the social mechanisms at work in the social construction of cyberterrorism. The corpus of data for analysis comprised articles from the UK national press relevant to cyberterrorism. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse these articles in order to identify images, orientations, stereotypes and symbolisation and to examine representational trends over time. Reflexivity in such a task is of the utmost importance, and the analytic process leading to an explanation of the social processes at work was deliberately divorced from the moral panic framework in order to guarantee rigour in the findings. The findings set out an explanation of how the concept of cyberterrorism has been constructed over two decades and compares this explanation with a framework provided by a model of moral panic. These findings are then linked to wider issues about national security, civil liberties and state control of information and communication technologies.


The nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) is used as a saturable absorbed to reshape pulses. Experimentally, an actively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser with figure-eight structure is set up. 2 ? 4 order harmonic pulse train with stable amplitude has been obtained when the RF modulation frequency is about 2.5 GHz.


We propose a 3D selection method with multiple multi-touch touchpads. The method enables 3D region selection requiring fewer actions assuming some constraints, such as that the 3D region is defined by a rectangular parallelepiped. Our method uses an asymmetric bimanual technique to define a 3D region which in the best case requires only a single action. We employ two touchpads, each recognizing input from up to two fingers, and all actions can be executed while the user is resting her arms on the table, reducing fatigue caused when interacting with multi-touch displays. The technique also supports other typical manipulations, such as object and camera translation and rotation. The 3D region selection technique can be applied to define visualization regions in volumetric rendering or objects within a scene.


C5 The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in cell proliferation and differentiation. It is expressed in almost all tissues and is overexpressed in many cancer types among them lung cancer. With the newly developed tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) Gefitinib and Erlotinib as well as the monoclonal antibody Cetuximab new drugs are available for the targeted treatment of patients with lung cancer. The evaluation of clinical trials using Erlotinib and Gefitinib revealed no correlation between the EGFR expression and the response to therapy. It was demonstrated that only a small group (women, never-smokers and people with asian origin) did benefit from the treatment with TKIs. In addition, patients with mutations in the exons 19 to 21 of the EGFR gene showed a better response to a therapy with TKIs.We have developed a series of novel lung cancer xenograft models. Fresh tumor material of patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was subcutaneously transplanted to immunodeficient mice shortly after removal. Up to now more than 100 samples have been transplanted from which 23 passagable models could be generated. 54% of the established xenograft lines were derived from squamous cell carcinomas and 22% from adenocarcinomas. They mainly belonged to T2 or T3 stages of TNM classification and all except one originated from long-term smokers. It was demonstrated that the early murine passages (maximum 10) correlated with the original tumor regarding histology, the expression of the surface proteins E-cadherin, EpCAM, the cell proliferation marker Ki-67 and in gene profiling (Affymetrix).8/23 xenografts were sensitive towards Cetuximab and 5/19 towards Erlotinib showing more than 50% tumor growth inhibition.The analysis of the EGFR gene revealed 2/23 tumors with mutations but these were not related to a better response to TKIs Erlotinib or Cetuximab. 4/23 models with K-ras mutations were found among the xenografts and in 10/23 different models mutations in the p53 gene could be located. But none of these mutations alone or in combination was correlated with a specific response towards anti-EGFR therapies. Western analysis was performed for the expression of different pathway related proteins (EGFR, ERK 1/2, Stat1, and phosphorylated forms). All investigated tumors were positive for E-cadherin and negative for Vimentin suggesting that the potential for EMT (epidermal-mesenchymal transition) is not correlated with any therapeutic response. While none of the constitutive expression levels was related to therapeutic response, the EGFR protein was down-regulated after TKI treatment only in the sensitive xenografts but not in the resistant ones identifying the ability for dynamic regulation as potential prediction marker.
 In summary, we have available a panel of well characterized NSCLC xenografts correlating with the clinical situation and being able to identify biomarkers and their regulation after therapeutic interventions both at genetic and at protein level.


The cytoplasmic linker connecting domains III and IV of the voltage-gated Na+ channel is thought to be involved in fast inactivation. This linker is highly conserved among the various Na+ channels that have been cloned. In the rat brain IIA Na+ channel, it consists of 53 amino acids of which 15 are charged. To investigate the role of this linker in inactivation, we mutated all 15 of the charged residues in various combinations. All but one of these mutants expressed functional channels, and all of these inactivated with kinetics similar to the wild-type channel. We then constructed a series of deletion mutations that span the III-IV linker to determine if any region of the linker is essential for fast inactivation. Deletion of the first 10 amino acids completely eliminated fast inactivation in the channel, whereas deletion of the last 10 amino acids had no substantial effect on inactivation. These results demonstrate that some residues in the amino end of the III-IV linker are critical for fast Na(+)-channel inactivation, but that the highly conserved positively charged and paired negatively charged residues are not essential.


PREFACE PART I. THE ROLE OF BUSINESS IN A FREE DEMOCRACY 1. TWO DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS Foundations of Capitalism Two Conceptions of Democracy 2. THE RIGHTS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUSINESS The Moral Rights of Businesses A Proposal for Justifying Inequalities in Free Democracies Determining Ethical Obligations: Some Major Approaches Ethical Obligation and Legal Requirements 3. THE CONSTITUENCIES OF ETHICAL BUSINESS The Scope of Ownership Rights The Interests of Stockholders The Multiple-Constituency View of the Corporation Constituents as "Stakeholders" 4. A FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING ETHICAL DECISIONS Common-sense Ethical Principles A Five-step Model for Making Difficult Ethical Decisions 5. ETHICAL BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY The Value of the Environment The Ethical Importance of Future Generations The Ideal of Sustainability 6. MARKETING: PRODUCT, TARGET, AND IMAGE Some Major Dimensions of Marketing Ethics Five Types of Ethical Problems in Marketing Insincerity, Deception, and Manipulation in Marketing Advertising and the Limits of Persuasive Representation The Ethics of Creating Desire The Interdependence of Marketing and Manufacturing Decisions Advertising and the Human Image 7. THE ETHICS OF FINANCIAL REPRESENTATION The Centrality of Accounting in Capitalist Democracies The Public Representation of Financial Positions Judgment, Clarity, and Conflicts of Interest in Accounting PART II. THE ETHICS OF INTERNAL MANAGEMENT 8. HIRING POLICIES AND COMPENSATION STANDARDS Preferential Hiring and Affirmative Action Rationales for Affirmative Action Promotion and Remuneration Qualifications and Merit Executive Compensation An Approach to Fairness in CEO Compensation 9. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND CODES OF ETHICS Safety, Risk, and Informed Consent Whistleblowing Healthcare Obligations and Responsibilities Privacy in Employment Private Lives and the Movable Workplace Company Codes and Mission Statements 10. RELIGION IN THE WORKPLACE Church-state Separation as a Starting Point in Employment Some Applications to Managerial Policy Questions Religion in Large Public Companies Demonstrative Affiliation in Employment 11. MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP AND CORPORATE CULTURE Corporate Culture, Ethos, and Ethics Managerial Hierarchy and its Limitations Leadership Versus Power Ethical Leadership and Leadership in Ethics Meaningful Work and the Creation of Value PART III. ETHICAL PROBLEMS OF GLOBAL BUSINESS 12. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND CROSS-CULTURAL STANDARDS Intercultural Understanding Child Labor Gift-giving in Business Gift-giving Versus Bribery 13. NATIONALITY, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS, AND COSMOPOLITANISM Outsourcing Cultural Adaptation, Relativity, and Standards of Negotiation Ethical Limits in Negotiation Strategies The Relation between Ethics and Law Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer, and Porous Borders Ethics and Law in International Business International Cooperation and Cosmopolitanism 14. CONCLUSION


While communicative competence is characterized by the negotiation of intended meanings in authentic contexts of language use, intercultural competence has to do with far less negotiable discourse worlds, the 'circulation of values and identities across cultures, the inversions, even inventions of meaning, often hidden behind a common illusion of effective communication' (Kramsch, Lévy & Zarate 2008: 15). The self that is engaged in intercultural communication is a symbolic self that is constituted by symbolic systems like language as well as by systems of thought and their symbolic power. This symbolic self is the most sacred part of our personal and social identity; it demands for its well-being careful positioning, delicate facework, and the ability to frame and re-frame events. The symbolic dimension of intercultural competence calls for an approach to research and teaching that is discourse-based, historically grounded, aesthetically sensitive, and that takes into account the actual, the imagined and the virtual worlds in which we live. With the help of concrete examples from the real world and foreign language classrooms, the paper attempts to redefine the notion of third place (Kramsch 1993) as symbolic competence.


Background: Rutin, a polyphenolic flavonoid, possesses antioxidant and hypoglycemic effects. Objective: The present study was conducted to check the effect of rutin on serum reproductive hormonal level and sperm concentration in male rat. Methods: 30 rats were equally divided into 3 groups (10 rats per group). Group I was control (untreated), group II was given rutin 50 mg/kg bw while group III was given 100 mg/ kg bw intragastric twice a week for four weeks respectively. The effect of rutin on antioxidant enzymes (POD, SOD, GSHpx, GST, GSR), glutathione contents and TBARS contents were checked. Results: The results revealed that rutin caused significant gain in body weight, antioxidant enzymes (POD, SOD, GSHpx, GST, GSR), glutathione contents, with significant (P< 0.01) decrease in thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) concentrations. Conclusion: It may be concluded that rutin may be promising as a natural therapeutic agent in male reproductive dysfunction.


Accurate diagnosis is important in the evaluation of airway disorders of infants and children. Today, multiple imaging techniques are available to evaluate the pediatric airway. In general, it is best to start with simple and readily available examinations, which may provide a diagnosis in most cases, and progress to more sophisticated studies only in cases where needed.


We undertook a time-series photometric multisite campaign for the rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) star HD 99563 and also acquired mean light observations over four seasons. The pulsations of the star, which show flatter light maxima than minima, can be described with a frequency quintuplet centred on 1557.653 µHz and some first harmonics of it. The amplitude of the pulsation is modulated with the rotation period of the star that we determine with 2.91179 ± 0.00007 d from the analysis of the stellar pulsation spectrum and of the mean light data. We break up the distorted oscillation mode into its pure spherical harmonic components and find it is dominated by the � = 1 pulsation, and also has a notable � = 3 contribution, with weak � = 0 and 2 components. The geometrical configuration of the star allows us to see both pulsation poles for about the same amount of time; HD 99563 is only the fourth roAp star for which both pulsation poles are seen and only the third where the distortion of the pulsation modes has been modelled. We point out that HD 99563 is very similar to the well-studied roAp star HR 3831. Finally, we note that the visual companion of HD 99563 is located in the δ Scuti instability strip and may thus show pulsation. We show that if the companion was physical, the roAp star would be a 2.03-M� , object, seen at a rotational inclination of 44 ◦ , which then predicts a magnetic obliquity β = 86. ◦ 4.


Graphs are a commonly used construct for representing relationships between elements in complex high dimensional datasets. Many real-world phenomenon are dynamic in nature, meaning that any graph used to represent them is inherently temporal. However, many of the machine learning models designed to capture knowledge about the structure of these graphs ignore this rich temporal information when creating representations of the graph. This results in models which do not perform well when used to make predictions about the future state of the graph – especially when the delta between time stamps is not small. In this work, we explore a novel training procedure and an associated unsupervised model which creates graph representations optimised to predict the future state of the graph. We make use of graph convo-lutional neural networks to encode the graph into a latent representation, which we then use to train our temporal offset reconstruction method, inspired by auto-encoders, to predict a later time point – multiple time steps into the future. Using our method, we demonstrate superior performance for the task of future link prediction compared with none-temporal state-of-the-art baselines. We show our approach to be capable of outperforming non-temporal baselines by 38% on a real world dataset.


The authors analyse the introduction of a wireless link between two nodes in an ATM network for the transmission of data and multimedia services. The ATM cell structure and length are modified in the wireless link in order to operate in a satisfactory way. The adoption of error control techniques is also analysed. The performance of the proposed scheme has been evaluated for wireless channels with and without memory. For memoryless channels, a theoretical analysis and computer simulations have been performed, while for channels with memory, the performance has been evaluated only through computer simulations. The results show that the proposed communication scheme is quite efficient and can permit satisfactory performance on the wireless link.


The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was designed to measure students' cognitive and affective learning in the university chemistry laboratory. The MLLI was administered at the beginning and the end of the first semester to first-year university chemistry students to measure their expectations and experiences for learning in their laboratory course. To better understand what students' expectations for learning were fulfilled, and what expectations went unmet, cluster analysis was used to examine students' expectations and experiences as measured by their average scores on the MLLI at both the beginning and the end of the semester. The cluster solution yielded four clusters. Three of the four clusters consisted of parallel responses, i.e., the first cluster had both low expectations and low experiences, the third cluster had both high expectations and high experiences, and the second cluster was in the middle of the first and third. The fourth cluster had expectations similar to those of the high cluster, but surprisingly had experiences similar to those of the middle and low clusters. Descriptions of each cluster of students, including distinguishing characteristics of their learning in the laboratory, and the implications of this research are discussed.


The potential impact of climate change still leaves more questions than answers. One area of research that is only now being explored is the potential effect of a changing climate on South Africa's groundwater resources.


An "ideal" software radio receiver is often considered as an analog/digital (A/D) converter connected directly to an antenna. This paper analyzes this ideal approach in terms of the power consumption of the A/D converter, based on a theoretical analysis of its minimum possible value. The results indicate that for the number of bits required to cope with the slow and fast fading environments and consequent large dynamic range encountered in a mobile radio system, the power consumption of the A/D converter is a fundamental limitation.


The aim of this investigation is an analysis of the clinical and pathologic records of the New Haven Hospital in an attempt to study the incidence of tuberculosis in the mesenteric lymph nodes of children and the association of these nodes with other localizations of the disease. The autopsy records on children under 15 years of age dying of all causes in the New Haven Hospital over a period of thirteen years (1917 to 1930) have been reviewed. These autopsies were performed by various members of the staff in the department of pathology. All records that are incomplete have been discarded from the investigation. There remain 161 autopsies which contain positive statements of negative observations regarding tuberculous foci, and in which statements of positive observation are, practically without exception, substantiated by microscopic preparations of each tissue listed. In cases in which anatomic evidence of tuberculosis was found, the clinical observations


pital to divert money from another hospital doing equally good 'work. There is plenty of wholesome rivalry between hospitals, but the rivalry takes the form of each hospital trying to do as well or better by its patients than any other, and thank goodness there has never yet arisen a jealousy amongst us at the success of any one hospital, nor has any one hospital ever yet tried to damage another to its own advantage. I had hoped to have been able to save the souls of those who have never so far subscribed to hospitals at all thinking that vivisection took place at all of them, by telling them of a hospital where there can be no vivisection. Now I fear they will have to start again the Antivivisection Hospital, on the staff of, which not one single honourable member of the medical profession would serve. As a matter of fact, the result of Mr. Coleridge's circular to the subscribers of theWest London has only been that one lady has saidthat she will divert her/ssubscriptionnextyear. However, the resolutio3> passed by the Poplar Hospital has now been rescinded, and any money received will be returned. Returning money is, I confess, a new experience to me.-I am, etc., SYDNEY HOLLAND. 44, Bryanston Square, W., JUlY 3ISt. P.8.-Everybody ought to read the cogent article on vivisection in the July Edinburgh Review. There both sides are put fairly and judicially.


This work, a prospective study of epilepsy in childhood, comes from Slovenia and is well translated. In Yugoslavia, the practice seems to be developing of having a pediatric seizure clinic to which all children with seizure disorders are sent, investigated, and followed up throughout their lives. The book is concerned with 809 children. The work started in 1954 and it seems that most of these children have been followed up from the time of recruitment. Some of them must now be adults. Prospective, long-term studies are the basis for the understanding of the whole natural history of seizure disorders. It is interesting that the Yugoslavians find they need a professional team consisting of two pediatricians, a neuroradiologist, a neurosurgeon, and a neurologist. Experience in Europe and America has been closely similar. The preliminary epidemiologic data suggest that the rate for epilepsy in Slovenia is similar to that in other parts


Abstract. A wealth of research has focused on elucidating the key
controls on mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in
response to climate forcing, specifically in relation to the drivers of
marine-terminating outlet glacier change. The manual methods traditionally
used to monitor change in satellite imagery of marine-terminating outlet
glaciers are time-consuming and can be subjective, especially where
mélange exists at the terminus. Recent advances in deep learning applied
to image processing have created a new frontier in the field of automated
delineation of glacier calving fronts. However, there remains a paucity of
research on the use of deep learning for pixel-level semantic image
classification of outlet glacier environments. Here, we apply and test a
two-phase deep learning approach based on a well-established convolutional
neural network (CNN) for automated classification of Sentinel-2 satellite
imagery. The novel workflow, termed CNN-Supervised Classification (CSC) is
adapted to produce multi-class outputs for unseen test imagery of glacial
environments containing marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland.
Different CNN input parameters and training techniques are tested, with
overall F1 scores for resulting classifications reaching up to 94 % for in-sample test data (Helheim Glacier) and 96 % for out-of-sample test data
(Jakobshavn Isbrae and Store Glacier), establishing a state of the art in
classification of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland. Predicted
calving fronts derived using optimal CSC input parameters have a mean
deviation of 56.17 m (5.6 px) and median deviation of 24.7 m (2.5 px) from manually digitised fronts. This demonstrates the
transferability and robustness of the deep learning workflow despite complex
and seasonally variable imagery. Future research could focus on the
integration of deep learning classification workflows with free cloud-based
platforms, to efficiently classify imagery and produce datasets for a range
of glacial applications without the need for substantial prior experience in
coding or deep learning.


We propose a Bistable Cross-coupled Dual Modular Redundancy (BCDMR) Flip-Flop to enhance soft-error immunity. It is based on a BISER FF but its bistable cross-coupled structure enhances soft-error immunity without any area, delay and power overhead. We fabricated a 65nm LSI including 60,480bit shift registers with the BCDMR and BISER structures. Experimental results using α-particles reveals that the soft-error immunity of the BCDMR is enhanced by 150x at 160MHz clock frequency compared with the BISER.