ABSTRACT A flow cytometric technique was developed for detection of amastigotes of the protozoan Leishmania infantum in human nonadherent monocyte-derived macrophages. The cells were fixed and permeabilized with paraformaldehyde-ethanol, and intracellular amastigotes were labeled with Leishmanialipophosphoglycan-specific monoclonal antibody. Results showed that flow cytometry provided accurate quantification of the infection rates in human macrophages compared to the rates obtained by the conventional microscopic technique, with the advantage that a large number of cells could be analyzed rapidly. The results demonstrated, moreover, that labeling of intracellular amastigotes could reliably be used to evaluate the antileishmanial activities of conventional drugs such as meglumine antimoniate, amphotericin B, pentamidine, and allopurinol. They also established that various Leishmania species (L. mexicana, L. donovani) could be detected by this technique in other host-cell models such as mouse peritoneal macrophages and suggested that the flow cytometric method could be a valid alternative to the conventional method.


We report here the application of slit-scan flow cytometry (SSFCM) in the classification of muntjac, Chinese hamster, and human chromosomes according to centromeric index (CI) and total fluorescence. Chromosomes were isolated from mitotic cells, stained with propidium iodide and processed through the SSFCM where fluorescence profiles were measured. The centromere for each profile was taken as the point of maximum difference between the measured profile and a standard profile having no centromeric dip. The areas under the profile on either side of the centromere were then calculated and the CI was calculated as the ratio of the larger area to the total area under the profile. Relative DNA contents for each chromosome were taken to be proportional to the total fluorescence. Mean CI's for muntjac chromosomes 1, 2, and X + 3 were 0.52, 0.88, and 0.73, respectively; CI's for Chinese hamster M3-1 chromosomes 1, 2, 5, 8, and M2 were 0.53, 0.55, 0.57, 0.77, and 0.86, respectively; and average CI's for chromosome groups 4 + t (X;5), 6 + 7 + Y, 9 + M1, and 10 + 11 were 0.56, 0.82, 0.58, and 0.60, respectively. These results were, on average, within 4.4% of CI measurements made by image cytometry. CI's measured for human chromosomes 9 through 12, were, on average, within 2.0% of those made by image cytometry.


Introduction:

Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD) are chronic debilitating diseases with severe exercise limitation. We studied the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on systemic inflammatory markers, muscle cross sectional area and other functional parameters in patients of ILD.

Aims and Objectives:

To evaluate the levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloprotinase (TIMP), 6 minute walk distance (6MWD), Mid thigh Cross Sectional Area on CT (MTCSACT) and Carbon Monoxide Diffusion Capacity (DLCO) before and after PR in patients of ILD.

Methods:

Fourteen patients of ILD were evaluated at baseline and after 4 weeks of standard therapy. Supervised PR along with standard medications was then given for further 8 weeks.

Results:

Mean values of CRP changed from 5.76±5.11 to 2.18±1.02 mg/L after rehabilitation [p=0.02]. MMP9 was 838.07±252.37 before and 547.93±168.57 ng/ml after PR [p=0.05]. Mean values of TIMP changed from 182.07±105.07 to 660.43±354.85 ng/ml after PR [p=0.04].

The Mean values of 6MWD changed from 379.43±47.94 to 493.78±47.47 m after PR [p=0.001]. Levels of DLCO changed from 6.23±2.45 to 13.87±3.85 ml/min/mmHg after PR [p=0.05]. Mean values of MTCSACT changed from 8026.07±1141.96 to 10182.00±1752.10 mm2 after PR [p=0.02]

Significant correlation was obtained between MMP9 and MTCSACT [r=0.702, p=0.005] and between 6MWD and DLCO [r=0.764, p=0.001].

Conclusion:

Pulmonary rehabilitation causes significant improvement in systemic inflammatory markers, muscle cross sectional area and functional parameters in ILD patients along with significant improvement in gas exchange.


This work reports and experiments a tangible mixed reality system for architectural design usage scenarios, such as conceptual design, client brief or architectural design education. The system provides the means for an architect to intuitively interact with an augmented version of a real scale model, in normal working settings, where he can observe 3D virtual objects registered to the real ones. Intuitive tangible interfaces, implemented with paddles, are used to aid design and editing tasks in the mixed environment. By means of paddle gesturing recognition, it is possible to activate a menu, browse and choose menu options or pick, move, rotate and scale 3D virtual objects, within the scale model working area. To transport the user from augmented reality to a fully virtual environment (supporting real-time scene navigation, while in VR mode) and back, paddle gesturing recognition is also used. Complex architectural designs, described in the VRML 97 data format, can be imported into our system, which provides a platform, for testing now design concepts while seamlessly transporting the architect in a truly mixed reality environment: from reality (RE) to augmented reality (AR) and then through augmented virtuality (AV), towards a full virtual environment (VE), and back.


Federated machine unlearning (FMU) aims to remove the influence of a specified subset of training data upon request from a trained federated learning model. Despite achieving remarkable performance, existing FMU techniques suffer from inefficiency due to two sequential operations of training and retraining/unlearning on large-scale datasets. Our prior study, PCMU, was proposed to improve the efficiency of centralized machine unlearning (CMU) with certified guarantees, by simultaneously executing the training and unlearning operations. This paper proposes a fast FMU algorithm, FFMU, for improving the FMU efficiency while maintaining the unlearning quality. The PCMU method is leveraged to train a local machine learning (MU) model on each edge device. We propose to employ nonlinear functional analysis techniques to refin the local MU models as output functions of a Nemytskii operator. We conduct theoretical analysis to derive that the Nemytskii operator has a global Lipschitz constant, which allows us to bound the difference between two MU models regarding the distance between their gradients. Based on the Nemyt-skii operator and average smooth local gradients, the global MU model on the server is guaranteed to achieve close performance to each local MU model with the certified guarantees.


Previous research brought evidence of the influence of board composition for bringing strategic resources for innovation, as well as evidence of positive outcomes of board diversity. Only a few studies have investigated the effects of various indicators of board diversity on innovation. In this paper, we will explore the relationship between several aspects of board diversity (gender and age) and four types of innovation, i.e. product, process, organizational, marketing from a sample of 176 French firms based on data from French Community Innovation Survey (CIS) in 2008 and annual reports. Our results show evidence of the influence of board diversity on all types of innovation except process innovation. Findings provide discussions for the impact of board diversity on innovation.


This presentation will be part of the session entitled "The Social-ecological systems metaanalysis database (SESMAD) project." This paper aims to illustrate one way to systematize data collection and analysis for the development of case studies on social-ecological systems (SES). The practice of the case study methodology in the social sciences has gained rigor and transparence over the last decades. Two important contributions in that regard are the conceptualization and use of the within case comparison and process tracing techniques. Both techniques have been praised for facilitating the identification of causal relationships. This is particularly valuable when those relationships are complex, like in SES. The within case comparison technique builds on the possibility to disaggregate cases into multiple units of analysis and the use of counterfactual analysis to make inferences about the characteristics of those units and their impact on outcomes. Process tracing capitalizes on the identification of the events that connect causes and effects thus helping to test relationships between variables or bundles of them. Steps towards the systematization of the two techniques can not only facilitate their use by researchers without previous experience in SES research or the case study method, but also help the SES scholarship to further move from the exploration of complexity to theory building. For that purpose, the paper introduces a socialecological systems meta-analysis database (SESMAD) along with a coding strategy that help identifying relevant SES components and processes, and within-system comparisons. To illustrate the opportunities and challenges of using these tools we bring examples from five SES case studies, including the Great Marine Reef, the Montreal Protocol, the International Commission of the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, Indonesian forests and the Rhine river.


The expansion of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles has developed new ideas and applications. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles has a wide target range from postal distribution to agricultural land inspection. The aim of this study is to design unmanned aircraft systems that can analyze air pollution from specific points, transfer instant pollution information to computer and transfer images to desired points. The important point in the design is that the aerodynamics of the mechanical structure give the most effective results at high altitudes and changing wind speeds. In this study, a quadcopter was designed to be used in instant air measurements. In the computational flow analysis applied on the design, for air flow values of 10m / sec, 15m / sec, 20m / sec and 25m / sec; The effect of pressure, turbulence and velocity variables were investigated. As a result of the analysis, no results were found to affect the vehicle's ability to move in these parameters. As a consequence of the studies and analyzes, it is concluded that this design is suitable for instant air pollution measurements.


In 80% of all MS cases, patients suffer from relapsingremitting (RR) MS, which have clearly defined periods of neurological deficits followed by (partial) recovery [1]. In those RRMS patients, 65% of the disease cases gradually evolves into secondary progressive (SP) MS, with progressive permanent neurological deficits. In 20% of all MS cases, patients have a progressive disease course from onset, which are known as primary progressive (PP) MS.


Objectives: Reducing influenza infection among hospital employees is vital to prevent the spread of this infection among patients. A questionnaire study was performed to investigate seasonal influenza infection and vaccination among hospital employees, with the aim of decreasing the incidence of influenza. Methods: From 2014 to 2017, we distributed a questionnaire to hospital employees who were eligible for vaccination. The following information was collected: age of respondents, whether they lived with children aged <15 years, their preseason vaccination status, and their history of seasonal influenza infection. The data were analyzed and averaged for all 4 influenza seasons. Results: The incidence of influenza was 6.2% among employees through 4 seasons. The inoculation rate of the influenza vaccine ranged from 92% to 99%. The odds ratio for influenza infection among employees living with children aged <15 years was 2.19 (P<0.0001). A decrease in influenza infection was not observed in vaccinated employees (P=0.75). Conclusions: The results suggested that influenza infection in hospital personnel is not due to a low vaccination rate. Among people living with children younger than 15 years, the odds ratio of influenza infection was 2.19 (P<0.0001). These findings suggest that protection against influenza infection at home is particularly required for hospital employees living with children aged <15 years.


Differential alterations in cardiac mechanical function have been associated with different mechanisms of heart failure (HF). The origins of altered ventricular mechanical function are many, with various mechanisms acting at different scales with respect to the contractile unit of muscle. At the tissue scale, dyssynchronous activation has been shown to alter mechanical synchrony, which can lead to pump dysfunction and heart failure. At the cellular scale, genetic mutations or viral infection can cause cytoskeletal changes that impair resting function, contractile function, or mechanical signaling and can lead to heart failure. At the molecular scale, altered expression of kinases with phosphorylation targets in calcium handling or contractile proteins have been associated with heart failure and are thought to contribute to contractile dysfunction. These mechanisms vary in their contribution to heart failure, but they all contribute to mechanical dysfunction. Mechanical function is disrupted in dyssynchronous heart failure, as the timing of contraction is altered in different regions of the heart, preventing a uniform contraction. This dyssynchrony can be simulated using regional ventricular pacing, which also alters mechanical function. One purpose of the work presented here was to determine the effects of the altered cardiac muscle mechanics that arise due to regional ventricular pacing. It was found that a systolic stretch associated with dyssynchronous contraction can affect tension and work production in isolated cardiac muscle. The timing and magnitude of this stretch was also found to be of importance. Ultimately, the results could mostly be explained by a few well known muscle mechanics mechanisms: time-varying stiffness, the force-velocity relation, and shortening deactivation. This was then taken a step further to see how altering the levels of CaMKII affected tension and work development. CaMKII has phosphorylation targets on both contractile and calcium handling proteins and its over-expression has been shown to lead to HF, while its deletion has been shown to be protective against heart failure in pressure overload studies. It was shown that over-expression of CaMKII led to decreased tension but preserved work development, while deletion led to increased work and tension values. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is another cause of heart failure, which can be brought about by mechanical dysfunction. The work presented here proposes a novel mechanism for contractile dysfunction associated with cardiac vinculin deletion, which is a precursor to dilated cardiomyopathy. It was shown that an increase in lattice spacing due to vinculin deletion increased transverse systolic stiffness and explains the altered systolic wall strains associated with vinculin deficiency. A combination of experiments, model development, and model simulation was used to uncover how changes in mechanical function associated with heart failure can alter cardiac muscle mechanics


The aim of this work was to investigate whether neoformed Ni-phyllosilicates can be observed and identified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in combination with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The investigations focused on Ni-phyllosilicates formed from Ni-doped montmorillonite. The reaction conditions (pH 8, [Ni]initial = 660 and 3300 µM, 0.2 M Ca(NO3)2) employed were similar to those used in previous polarized extended X-ray absorption fine structure (P-EXAFS) investigations of neoformed Ni-phyllosilicates in a Ni-montmorillonite system.The TEM investigations of Ni-doped montmorillonite revealed the presence of small, thin particles consisting of coherent stacks that yielded only three to five lattice fringes with spacings consistent with smectites. These small particles were neoformed phyllosilicates, based on the fact that the small particles were only observed in Ni-doped samples and their Ni content, as determined from EDS analysis, was high (up to 10 wt.% NiO). Furthermore, the particles did not possess the characteristic properties of montmorillonite particles, such as a 2:1 Si to Al ratio; instead these particles were rich in Si (up to 75 wt.% SiO2). Unlike montmorillonite, these particles did not contain any Fe. The particles were also significantly more resistant to electron beam damage than montmorillonite particles, and EXAFS measurements confirmed the presence of neoformed Ni-phyllosilicates.The TEM study further indicates the presence of a variety of additional minerals (e.g. cristobalite, halloysite) and an X-ray amorphous Si-rich phase. A Ni signal could only be detected in the latter phase at high Ni loadings (403 µmol/g), suggesting that Ni uptake at low metal loadings (<90 µmol/g) is mainly controlled by the neoformation of phyllosilicates.


The soil in caves is formed largely by eroded sediments carried from the outside by rivers and precipitation of soluble substances. Organic materials from the surrounding ecosystems are also added to the sediments in caves. Agricultural and forestry activities in karstic areas may cause impacts in these caves. The purpose of this work was to evaluate chemical and granulometric characteristics of cave sediments, in three different karstic systems. The studied caves were the karstic systems of Bromado and Cachimba (Rio Branco do Sul – PR) and Pinheirinho (Campo Largo – PR). In most cases the pH of the sediments, are alkaline or slightly acidic. Higest levels of organic carbon are found in surface layers, in both current base levels and past base levels. Levels of available P are high, althought labile P fraction may also have been extracted. The K levels are medium to low. CEC and base saturation are high. The sediments are clayey and loamy. The highest concentrations of coarse sand are found in samples from the current base level, which may indicate degradation in areas surrounding the caves. These results may be used as indicators for assessing the human impacts in caves.


A two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation study of a traveling-wave thermoacoustic engine is presented. The computations show an increase of the dynamic pressure when a linear temperature difference is applied across the regenerator. An amplification of the acoustic power through the engine is also illustrated. A satisfactory agreement between the calculated and expected gains of the traveling-wave thermoacoustic engine is obtained. The expected gain is defined as the ratio of the absolute temperatures at the ends of the regenerator. Nonlinear phenomena that cannot be captured by existing linear theory, like streaming mass flows and vortices formation are also visualized. It is concluded that CFD codes could be used in the future to predict and optimize thermoacoustic systems. This is an important step towards the development of nonlinear simulation tools for the high-amplitude thermoacoustic systems that are needed for practical use. PACS numbers: 43.35.Ud.


Recently, new power devices, SiC and GaN FETs, are commercialized. They are expected to change power electronics environments. They will raise operating frequencies of power electronic equipments. Accordingly, design method will be changed greatly. In this paper, an 1 MHz resonant converter with fully compensated coreless isolation transformer is proposed, where the primary voltage is proportional to the secondary current and the primary current to the secondary voltage. 30 W prototype is constructed and tested, and its usefulness is verified.


After local transient fluctuations are dissipated, in an energy transfer process, a system evolves to a state where the energy density field varies slowly in time relative to the dynamics of atomic collisions and vibrations. Furthermore, the energy density field remains strongly coupled to the atomic scale processes (collisions and vibrations), and it can serve as the basis of a multiscale theory of energy transfer. Here, a method is introduced to capture the long scale energy density variations as they coevolve with the atomistic state in a way that yields insights into the basic physics and implies an efficient algorithm for energy transfer simulations. The approach is developed based on the N-atom Liouville equation and an interatomic force field and avoids the need for conjectured phenomenological equations for energy transfer and other processes. The theory is demonstrated for sodium chloride and silicon dioxide nanoparticles immersed in a water bath via molecular dynamics simulations of the energy transfer between a nanoparticle and its aqueous host fluid. The energy density field is computed for different sets of symmetric grid densities, and the multiscale theory holds when slowly varying energy densities at the nodes are obtained. Results strongly depend on grid density and nanoparticle constituent material. A nonuniform temperature distribution, larger thermal fluctuations in the nanoparticle than in the bath, and enhancement of fluctuations at the surface, which are expressed due to the atomic nature of the systems, are captured by this method rather than by phenomenological continuum energy transfer models.


Sequential combustion constitutes a major technological step-change for gas turbines applications. This design provides higher operational flexibility, lower emissions, and higher efficiency compared to today's conventional architectures. Like any constant pressure combustion system, sequential combustors can undergo thermoacoustic instabilities. These instabilities potentially lead to high-amplitude acoustic limit cycles, which shorten the engine components' lifetime, and therefore, reduce their reliability and availability. In the case of a sequential system, the two flames are mutually coupled via acoustic and entropy waves. This additional interstages interaction markedly complicates the already challenging problem of thermoacoustic instabilities. As a result, new and unexplored system dynamics are possible. In this work, experimental data from our generic sequential combustor are presented. The system exhibits many different distinctive dynamics, as a function of the operation parameters and of the combustor arrangement. This paper investigates a particular bifurcation, where two thermoacoustic modes synchronize their self-sustained oscillations over a range of operating conditions. A low-order model of this thermoacoustic bifurcation is proposed. This consists of two coupled stochastically driven nonlinear oscillators and is able to reproduce the peculiar dynamics associated with this synchronization phenomenon. The model aids in understanding what the physical mechanisms that play a key role in the unsteady combustor physics are. In particular, it highlights the role of entropy waves, which are a significant driver of thermoacoustic instabilities in this sequential setup. This research helps to lay the foundations for understanding the thermoacoustic instabilities in sequential combustion systems.


Korea and UK have the incentive system under the DRG–based payment system, Vulnerable Zone Incentive and Market Forces Factors, to regulate the unavoidable costs from their geographical location differences. In UK, Market Forces Factors make providers use their resources more efficiently by paying the unavoidable costs occurred regardless of their effort. This is associated with reducing of patients unfair treatment services which by difference of location. Korea have also incentive system, Vulnerable Zone Incentive, to control the unavoidable costs from the location differences. However, Korean incentive systems are facing the efficiency issues are related to the public loss compensation in pilot project and the stakeholder problem. This investigation focuses on policy implications how to design the incentive of the DRG payment reform. KeywordsDRG Payment reform, Unavoidable Cost, Inefficiency.


SUMMARY The forms of first and second posterior moments for a normal location parameter are identified for a rather general class of prior distributions. Exact and approximate illustrations are given where the prior distribution is double exponential or Student t respectively.


A method of performing adaptive temporal prediction includes receiving a target image, wherein a position of an object in the target image is different from a position of the object in a reference image, using a boundary of the object to generate an irregular pattern of target image motion vectors, using the target image motion vectors to partition the target image into area of influence cells, wherein each area of influence cell contains a unique one of the target image motion vectors, and generating a prediction of the target image by applying an adaptive area of influence filter to the area of influence cells.


Accurate and efficient seismic horizon interpretation is important for seismic geomorphology study. By integrating the improved density-based clustering method to generate horizon patches and a heuristic combining strategy to merge horizon patches, we have developed a novel data mining approach to automatically extract globally optimal horizons for detailed geomorphologic interpretation. First, the application of improved density-based clustering method has distinct merits in calculation speed and avoiding the phenomenon of mis-ties. We design a heuristic combining strategy to effectively combine the horizon patches. It is also able to ameliorate the problem of mis-ties that frequently occurs in horizon picking. Second, the proposed algorithm can identify abnormal unit in terms of independent horizon fragments. Furthermore, the introduced method is capable of detecting small-scale seismic geomorphologic features. The applications indicate good real-time performance of our new global interpretation algorithm in automated-tracking speed and quality. Our method can resolve the problem of mis-ties in cases of complex seismic reflection to a certain extent. Besides, not only are a series of channels separately recognized, but also small-scale meandering rivers are clearly mapped. Our algorithm is capable of adding more geologic information and realizing a better showcase of geomorphologic features.


The ∼1540 nm 4I13/2 to 4I15/2 Er3+ photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra of Er-implanted Mg-doped GaN reveal a selective enhancement of one of the nine different Er3+ centers observed previously in PL and PLE studies of Er-implanted undoped GaN. These Er3+ PL spectra are excited selectively by pump wavelengths that correspond to broadband, below-gap absorption bands associated with different Er3+ centers. In the Er-implanted, Mg-doped GaN, both the 1540 nm PL spectrum characteristic of the so-called violet-pumped Er3+ center and the ∼2.8–3.4 eV (violet) PLE band that enables its selective excitation are significantly enhanced by Mg doping. In addition, the violet-pumped PL center dominates the above-gap-excited Er3+ PL spectrum of Er-implanted Mg-doped GaN, whereas it was nearly unobserveable under above-gap excitation in Er-implanted undoped GaN. These results confirm our hypothesis that appropriate codopants can increase the efficiency of trap-mediated above-gap excitatio...


The wheel hub is a central part of the wheel axle passes. wheel hub is the main part of the steering wheel and consists of bearings and shaft. Axis is linked to the wheel tug.In this project, design and analyzes the axis of the wheel, while the task of reducing the pressure in the wheel hub due to the concentration of body weight of the aircraft and other amounts in the wheel hub. For the design of a wheel hub uses CATIA V5. And they were analyzed using ANSYS. While stress analysis, have been found in pressure in specific areas of concentration (screws with the site). the concentration of pressure in three ways is checked and choose one that gives the optimal concentration of the pressure


Objective: The nycterohemeral rhythm of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate has been associated with cardiovascular outcomes. However, long-term prognostic significance of BP at different levels of heart rates has rarely been studied. We therefore conducted the present analysis to investigate the prognostic values for cardiovascular outcome by the ambulatory BP parameters during different time windows Design and method: We enrolled 5 large cohorts from whole world, including CARDIA, IDACO, JHS, SPRINT to find out independent prognostic factors for cardiovascular disease mortality, feature engineering and feature transformation were used. Several statistical and machine learning methods including the stepwise procedure, lasso penalty, and random survival forest with bootstrap technique were used to screen important candidates of risk factors. Models building are based on systolic BP replacement into the established Framingham risk score. Directly one to one replacement and indirectly two stage replacement methods are considered with variable diversity. C-statistics, NRI are used for model performance evaluation. Results: In model building procedure, nighttime BP combined with pulse pressure, morning-evening difference of SBP and weighted SBP consistently had a higher C-statistics than had office systolic BP. In validation datasets, equations incorporating mean BP and pulse pressure had best performance in C-index (0.754). In contrast, the C-index (higher is better), of the usual Framingham risk score with office systolic BP are 0.744. Furthermore, the best model had acceptable predicted accuracy based on model calibration statistics (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that mean BP at night combined with pulse pressure, morning-evening difference of SBP and weighted SBP, throughout 24 hours had the largest predictive power of 20-year cardiovascular death in population with ABPM recordings. The transportability of the proposed cardiovascular risk function should be evaluated in future studies.


To reduce the ambiguity in predicting organic reefs and banks by applying conventional methods,the present paper,guided by seismic sedimentology theory and based on analyses of lithofacies model and geophysical response characteristics of organic reefs and banks in the Jiannan-Longjuba region,made sedimentological interpretations of seismic inversion data by introducing the facies-controlled nonlinear seismic random inversion into the seismic sedimentology theory.According to lithofacies models of organic reefs and banks,a recognition model of organic reefs and banks was established by applying various data of seismic facies and inversion profiles obtained from some typical wells so as to trace back and predict organic reefs and banks over the whole study area.Drilling data indicated that the prediction was highly reliable.


The network, the nodes of which are concepts (people's names, companies' names, etc.), extracted from web-publications, is considered. A working algorithm of extracting such concepts is presented. Edges of the network under consideration refer to the reference frequency which depends on the fact how many times the concepts, which correspond to the nodes, are mentioned in the same documents. Web-documents being published within a period of time together form an information flow, which defines the dynamics of the network studied. The phenomenon of its structure stability, when the number of web-publications, constituting its formation bases, increases, is discussed


Various lactobionamides and gluconamides have been prepared by reaction of lactobiono- or glucono-lactones with amines. The amides were tested for their ability to chelate ferric ion in alkaline solution. In general, gluconamides were more effective chelators than corresponding lactobionamides.


The aim of the study was to examine to what extent young people who play organised soccer rate their leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, life satisfaction, and health more positively and higher than a same-aged population-based reference group (including some adolescents who also played organised soccer). Data from two samples of five countries (England, France, Greece, Norway, and Spain) were included: a sample of soccer players aged 10-14 years who participated in the Promoting Adolescent Physical Activity project [Duda, J.L., Quested, E., Haug, E., Samdal, O., Wold, B., Balaguer, I., …  Cruz, J. (2013). Promoting Adolescent health through an intervention aimed at improving the quality of their participation in Physical Activity ('PAPA'): background to the project and main trial protocol. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology] and a nationally representative reference sample of 11- and 13-year olds from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Results from multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the participants in the soccer sample, in particular girls, reported a higher level of moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time physical activity than those in the reference sample. They also rated their life satisfaction and subjective health more favourably than the reference sample. The associations did not differ according to age or socio-economic status. The results suggest that playing soccer is a positive activity for youth and seems to be a very potent way of increasing regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among girls. Thus, efforts aimed at increasing participation in organised youth soccer may potentially be beneficial to young people's psychosocial health and hold the potential to increase physical activity, particularly among girls.


Patient Notes are indexed alphabetically and by subject. The number immediately following the title is the number of the Patient Note, and the number in parentheses is the date of publication. This index includes all 82 Patient Notes published so far, from February 1, 1988, through this issue.


Varieties of Democracy, or V-Dem for short, is approaching the conceptualization and measurement of democracy on the notions that democracy is multifaceted conceptually, and a matter of degree from a measurement perspective (Coppedge et al. 2015a, b, Lindberg et al. 2015). This is fully in line with my own position on this issue. For example, as a core institution of electoral democracy, multiparty elections are supposedly the only means to decide who holds legislative and executive power respectively. Yet, de jure multiparty elections take place in less than democracies too and elections, pace the political system writ large, can be characterized by varying degrees of democratic features ranging from zero to a theoretical maximum. The same reasoning can be applied to other varieties of democracy such as liberal, egalitarian, participatory, or deliberative democracy. This reasoning, which I have also pursued elsewhere, translates into viewing democracy as an attribute of the political system.


With the strong growth of the Internet, paralleled with the growth of mobile telephony, provision of multimedia capabilities to mobile communications becomes equivalent to the provision of fast Internet access to mobile users. Thus, third generation (3G) systems need to support high bit rates and packet data/IP access. 3G systems that provide high quality voice services as well as high speed packet data need a mechanism to share radio and network resources efficiently amongst prospective clients by utilizing the characteristics of the heterogeneous traffic. This paper is concerned with developing a "burst switching" technique as an efficient radio resource allocation scheme for a CDMA based 3G system that provides high speed packet data services. Conventional circuit and packet switching techniques become inefficient in providing wireless packet data services through CDMA due to poor resource utilization, and poor quality of service (QoS) characteristics, respectively. The proposed burst switching technique aims to overcome these problems by allocating radio resources to users for the duration of data bursts rather than an entire session or a single packet as in the case of circuit and packet switching, respectively, and releasing them at the end of the bursts for potential use by other clients. The ideal burst switching system would immediately release the physical layer resources at the beginning of the idle period following a packet burst. Its practical counterpart would make use of two timers that are used to release the physical and upper layer resources, respectively. This paper provides insights as to how these timer values should be selected to provide low delay packet service while maintaining efficient resource allocation to users.


In this article, I examine an episode of fantasy play, and a related theatrical production, as arenas for the creative processing of a child's experience. My five-year-old son, Michael, constructs a microcosm of our field site in Acapulco, Mexico, and animates a drama featuring dinosaurs in mortal conflict. My intention is to explore the ways a child makes sense of place through imaginative play, and, further, to address the role of artistic expression in the child's growing mastery over his material and social environments.


BACKGROUND
The pandemic of HIV lines amongst the utmost infectious disease menaces in antiquity. HIV remains a problem worldwide and it's a grave health snags in developing nations particularly in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE
This study focused on "trends in HIV reporting from 2008 to 2012 among young adults in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

METHODS
Secondary data were collected from BMSH, Port Harcourt using a Performa specifically intended for this determination. Socio-demographic data for the subjects were recovered from coded patients' medical records kept at BMSH. The data generated was exposed to Fisher's Exact Test.

RESULTS
The study showed that a total of 3081 HIV-positive cases were reported between 2008 and 2012. The HIV trend were not well defined, it peaked in 2009(36.6%) and 2008(32.8%) and a decrease in 2011(16.6%), 2012(8.3%) and 2010(5.7%). A 3.8% increase was observed between 2008 and 2009 and 30.9% decrease between 2009 and 2010. However, the prevalence seemed to stabilize between 2009 and 2012. HIV patterns among various age-groups is not well-defined, it rose with increasing age and peaked at 26-30 years (35.7%) after which it declined. Sex differences (P<0.05) in the trend was observed. Males ages 26-30 years showed uniform pattern with an increasing trend while 36-40 years showed decreasing trend except in 2009(34.1%). Females ages 26-30 years showed uniform pattern with an increasing trend from 2008(21.7%) to 2010(41.9%) and decreased from 41.9% (2010) to 36.5%(2012). The low HIV prevalence in 2010 could be attributed to the fact that the proportion of centers giving ART enlarged from 2005 to date. Health care facilities providing HIV/AIDS counselling and testing services also increased.

CONCLUSION
The long decades fight against HIV especially in Rivers State is making progress, though an unstable one. The observed increase in years with high HIV prevalences calls for an intensified focus of intervention.


Abnormalities in the concentrations of metallic ions such as calcium and potassium can, in principle, lead to cardiac arrhythmias. Unbalance of these ions can alter the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. Changes in the morphology of the ECG signal can occur due to changes in potassium concentration, and shortening or extension of this signal can occur due to calcium excess or deficiency, respectively. The diagnosis of these disorders can be complicated, making the modeling of such a system complex. In the present work an artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed as a model for pattern recognition of the ECG signal. The procedure can be, in principle, used to identify changes in the morphology of the ECG signal due to alterations in calcium and potassium concentrations. An arrhythmia database of a widely used experimental data was considered to simulate different ECG signals and also for training and validation of the methodology. The proposed approach can recognize premature ventricular contractions (PVC) arrhythmias, and tests were performed in a group of 47 individuals, showing significant quantitative results, on average, with 94% of confidence. The model was also able to detect ions changes and showed qualitative indications of what ion is affecting the ECG. These results indicate that the method can be efficiently applied to detect arrhythmias as well as to identify ions that may contribute to the development of cardiac arrhythmias. Accordingly, the actual approach might be used as an alternative tool for complex studies involving modifications in the morphology of the ECG signal associated with ionic changes.


Objective: This study was conducted to examine intensive care nurses' attitudes about complementary and alternative treatment methods and the treatment methods they applied. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out with 252 nurses working in the intensive care unit of a city hospital. Data were collected via questionnaires between February and June 2022, using the "Nurse Introductory Information Form" and " Integrative Complementary and Alternative Treatment Attitude Scale " (ITATTS). Results: The mean age of the nurses was 25.48±1.99, and 79.8% of them were women. 77% of the nurses stated that they used Complementary and Alternative Therapy (CAM) methods. They preferred massage with 66.7% as the method they knew the most, massage with 45.2% as the method they used, and massage with 42.9% as the method they wanted to apply. The total mean score of the nurses in ITATTS was 25.53±5.97, 16.71±4.13 for the CAM sub-dimension, 8.82±3.441 for the Holistic Health sub-dimension, and the alpha value of the scale was 0.66. The total mean score from the CAM confidence scale is 6.40±1.76. Conclusion: The study determined that the attitudes and behaviors of intensive care nurses regarding CAM methods and practices were inadequate and that they needed to raise more awareness on the subject. The group with the highest attitude of intensive care nurses toward CAM was those whose graduation year was between 2010-2016, and the group with the lowest was those with chronic diseases.


In this study, we report the DNA interaction and cytotoxicity of four dibenzoxanthene compounds 1-4. The binding behaviors of these compounds to calf thymus DNA were studied by absorption titration, viscosity measurements. The DNA binding constants of compounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 5.05×10(4), 2.13×10(3), 5.10×10(4), and 3.03×10(3) M(-1), respectively. The lipophilicity of the compounds was determined by the shake flask method. The cytotoxicity of these compounds has been assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. These compounds exhibit high activity against BEL-7402, Hela, MG-63, and SKBR-3 cells. The cell cycle arrest was analyzed by flow cytometry. These compounds inhibit S phase of BEL-7402 and SKBR-3 cells. The experiments on antioxidant activity show that these compounds exhibit good antioxidant activity against hydroxyl radical ((•)OH).


Surface morphology obtained using micro electrical discharge machining (micro EDM) not only provides important information, such as wear and lubrication properties, but also shows many micro peaks and craters, which are very different from that machined using traditional methods. Hence, surface morphology evaluations in micro EDM processes using traditional evaluation parameters are not appropriate. In this study, a novel evaluation method, which includes a wavelet lter and the fractal theory, was proposed and analyzed in detail to evaluate the surface morphology in order to achieve the required precision and concision. First, a novel evaluation method was proposed, and the effectiveness of the method was investigated. Second, a series of relevant experiments based on titanium alloys and high-speed steels were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the new method, the analysis results were presented. Third, the fractal trend in the surface morphology was summarized based on the titanium alloy and high-speed steel materials; the rules governing the relationship between the fractal dimension and the surface morphology were proposed. Finally, the phenomena observed in the analysis process were investigated and discussed in detail. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2016381]


Tanisi! And tawaw! Here you will find a wide range of research resources for your academic papers and other research outputs. If you have any questions or would like assistance with your research, don't hesitate to contact me.


We present our developments on integrated optical waveguide based as well as on magnetic nanoparticle based label-free biosensor concepts. With respect to integrated optical waveguide devices, evanescent wave sensing by means of Mach- Zehnder interferometers are used as biosensing components. We describe three different approaches: a) silicon photonic wire waveguides enabling on-chip wavelength division multiplexing, b) utilization of slow light in silicon photonic crystal defect waveguides operated in the 1.3 μm wavelength regime, and c) silicon nitride photonics wire waveguide devices compatible with on-chip photodiode integration operated in the 0.85 μm wavelength regime. The nanoparticle based approach relies on a plasmon-optical detection of the hydrodynamic properties of magnetic-core/gold-shell nanorods immersed in the sample solution. The hybrid nanorods are rotated within an externally applied magnetic field and their rotation optically monitored. When target molecules bind to the surfaces of the nanorods their hydrodynamic volumes increase, which directly translates into a change of the optical signal. This approach possesses the potential to enable real-time measurements with only minimal sample preparation requirements, thus presenting a promising point-of- care diagnostic system.


To evaluate the effects of water quality and adjuvant (ammonium sulfate) in glyphosate herbicide efficacy on dry matter reducing of weeds in a barberry garden, a factorial experiment based on RCBD with three replications was carried out at Research Garden of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Birjand in 2010. Experimental factors were water different quality in two levels medium hard with 2950 ppm and hard water with 4774 ppm total soluble concentration) with soft water, glyphosate (roundup) dose in four levels including 2, 4, 6 and 8 lit.ha-1 and using and not using the additive (ammonium sulfate at 6 kg.ha-1). The results showed that raising herbicide dose increased the control percentage of weeds. Application soft water with herbicide had the most control percent and showed significant differences with other waters, So that the most and the lowest control percents was belong to soft water with glyphosate dose of 8 lit.ha-1 and hard water with glyphosate dose of 2 lit.ha-1, respectively. In addition the results showed that application ammonium sulfate with hard water on control percentage had significant .but had more effect on broad leaves species comparing with narrow leaves. Totally the effect of different factors on control percent increased over the time.


The article discusses the development of the idea of social responsibility of business in the late XIX early XX centuries and in the modern Russian society. The main directions and motivations of social business activities in the context of the historical continuity of generations are outlined in the article.


Although Bible scholars have generally acknowledged that theology plays an important role in Bible translation, affecting it from beginning to end, no studies have been done to date to offer a systematic, theoretical explanation of this phenomenon, thus leaving this subject a largely unmapped territory for study. As an initial attempt to fill this gap, this paper explores theological influence in Bible translation in terms of its theoretical foundation and seeks to find suitable theoretical concepts from both the fields of translation studies and Biblical translation studies in order to construct a theoretical framework that can be used to sharpen and enrich the study of this phenomenon. The paper first addresses the generally negative or fearful attitude toward the subject and then explores the possibility of applying the theoretical concepts of norms (Toury and Chesterman), narrative (Baker), constraints (Lefevere), "Skopos" (Nord), "contextual frame of reference" (Wendland), and "Bible translation polysystem theory" (Kerr) for developing a theoretically-sound, disciplined, and comprehensive study of theological influence in Bible translation. Convinced that Bible translation is inherently a theological task and it is important to enhance our understanding of the theological nature and dimension of Bible translation for theoretical, pedagogical, and translational purposes, this paper proposes that with these five theoretical frameworks at our disposal, it is possible for the multifaceted theological influence involved in Bible translation to be studied in a more objective and systematic way in order to achieve a greater awareness and understanding of their profound and consequential interrelationships.


One of the biggest changes of agriculture in Japan after the war, has been the mechanization of farm operations. Several kinds of small tillers, worked by kerosene engine, have gradually become popular implements of our farms. Therefore, the present writer wants to analize the changes of labor management that appears to be influenced by the mechanization. But it was difficult to take out the pure effects of machines out of the actual farm managements, for they are the farthest from being able to be treated in the laboratory experiment. When we come to survey the actual farm managements, we often come across the phenomena in which the effects of many factors are intertwined. We can not differenciate them clearly. Then, we asked the Okayama Statistical Office of Agriculture and Forestry Department to allow us to use the basic data for the survey of rice production cost. Even though the data are not always suitable for our purpose, they seem to be the best that are available. Rearranging this basic data for our purpose, we could classify the surveyed farms into three groups which are selected throughout the Okayama Prefecture. According to this classification, there are three types of farm groups; the first (A, A1 and A2) is the large scale farms which are possesed of a small tiller, the second (B, B1 and B2) is the small scale farms which are not possesed of a small tiller but hire it; and the third (C, C1 and C2) is the small or medium scale farms which neither are possesed of nor hire a small tiller. Analyzing the differences among these farm groups, we can find the following trends. (See table 1-7) 1) Speaking on the differences of farm scale among three groups, A groups (A, A1 and A2) are larger than any other groups. 2) Speaking on the differences of commercial crops production among three groups, A groups are most devoted to them and the farms of B groups (B, B1 and B2) are usually the part-time ones. 3) As far as total. working hour for rice production per unit area is concerned, A groups are the least one of these three groups but the differences of working hour among them are relatively slight. 4) The working hour of woman as a family member is shorter in A groups than in other groups. The working hour of hired men, however, is longer in A groups than in other groups. It seems to express that the changes of operater's role in family farm have been affected by mechanization. 5) It is certain that the farms of A groups have the convenient machines and save their labor, but only a few kinds of operations for rice production are practiced by mechanical method and most parts of this operations are practiced by hand method. Therefore, even the farmers of A groups still have to do many hand work for his farm management and sometimes they devote intensive hand practice to their rice production.


Interest rate risk and credit risk are interrelated, so analysts must adapt the duration measure to deal with default risk. Various closed-form and numerical solutions that consider the relationship among interest rates, stock prices, and debt maturity are available to help analysts estimate the impact of default risk on the value of bonds, but analysts need to understand each model's assumptions and limitations. Connecting default risk to effective duration can also help analysts understand how default risk influences bond prices for various relative-yield and interest rate paths.


Open source resume is web application to help programming advancement groups to enroll designers in view of their open source framework commitment exercises. This instrument gives bits of knowledge into designers' Practical commitments to open source framework ventures, which can be valuable criteria for judging whether they are appropriate for joining the advancement group in view of their diverse capabilities. To beat the Empowerment issues many employment entrances appeared despite the fact that these entries are attempting their best we are confronting numerous challenges to get reaction from the corporate side, in the meantime even corporate human resource individuals are confronting troubles to discover the representative who fits their necessity. Activity is expected to conquer these many difficulties and make everything less demanding for the clients.


Lung Cancer is one of the deadly diseases in the world today. Lung Cancer is caused because of some genetic factors and/or environmental factors and/or today's modern lifestyle. Lung cancer has become the primary reason of death in developed countries. The majority effective way to decrease lung cancer death is to detect it earlier. The in advance detection of cancer is not easier method but if it is detecte it is curable. Various works have been done in predicting lung cancer different data mining approach and algorithm were adopt by different people. All work has some limits such as lack of intelligent prediction, and incompetent in structure that forced to take up this problem and to implement the Data mining based cancer prediction System (DMBCPS). This has proposed the Lung cancer prediction system based on data mining. This system is validated by comparing its predicted results with patient's prior medical information and it was analyzed by using weka tool system. We analyzed the lung cancer prediction using classification algorithm such as Naive Bayes, SVM and Random forest algorithm. The dataset have 782 instances and 31 attributes. The main aim of this paper is to provide the earlier warning to the users and the performance analysis of the classification algorithms.


Partition scheduling with prefetching (PSP) is a memory latency hiding technique which combines the loop pipelining technique with data prefetching. In PSP, the iteration space is first divided into regular partitions. Then two parts of the schedule, the ALU part and the memory part, are produced and balanced to produce an overall schedule with high throughput. These two parts are executed simultaneously, and hence the remote memory latency are overlapped. We study the optimal partition shape and size so that a well balanced overall schedule can be obtained. Experiments on DSP benchmarks show that the proposed methodology consistently produces optimal or near optimal solutions.


ABSTRACT Macroautophagy (hereafter autophagy) plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis under stress conditions. We previously demonstrated that conditional autophagy deficiency in adult mice causes selective tissue damage, is lethal upon fasting, and shortens lifespan to less than three months primarily due to neurodegeneration, but not all the mechanisms are known. We conditionally deleted Trp53/p53 and/or the essential autophagy gene Atg7 throughout adult mice to test whether TRP53 is responsible for any of these phenotypes. atg7Δ/Δ trp53Δ/Δ mice have extended lifespan due to delayed tissue damage and neurodegeneration, and are resistant to death upon fasting compared to atg7Δ/Δ mice. Atg7 also suppresses apoptosis induced by the TRP53 activator Nutlin-3 in liver and brain. We then deleted Atg7 in the presence or absence of the master regulator of antioxidant defense NFE2L2/NRF2 (nuclear factor, erythroid derived 2, like 2) to test if increased oxidative stress causes TRP53 activation in atg7Δ/Δ mice. nfe2l2−/-atg7Δ/Δ mice die rapidly due to intestinal damage, which is not rescued by trp53 co-deletion. Therefore, these data demonstrate the tissue specificities and functional dependencies between autophagy, TRP53 and NFE2L2 stress response mechanisms.


The star-clique transformation (SCT) is a simple reformulation of the star-delta transformation known in resistor networks. Under action of SCT, links of the original network are transformed to nodes of the new network. Links are transformed into linked nodes if they shared a node in the original network. SCT converts a node of degree k to a k-clique, i.e. to a fully connected cluster of k nodes. Here we apply SCT to the Erdös-Rényi networks, the exponential growing networks and the scale-free growing networks. We show that the character of the degree distribution in these networks remains Poissonian, exponential and power law, respectively, i.e. the same as in the original networks. When the mean degree < k > increases, the clustering coefficient C tends to 0.50 for the transformed Erdös-Rényi networks, to 0.53 for the transformed exponential networks and to 0.61 for the transformed scale-free networks. These results are close to theoretical values, obtained with the model assumption that the degree-degree correlations are negligible.


The description of a novel type of m-gram language model is given. The model offers, via a nonlinear recursive procedure, a computation and space efficient solution to the problem of estimating probabilities from sparse data. This solution compares favorably to other proposed methods. While the method has been developed for and successfully implemented in the IBM Real Time Speech Recognizers, its generality makes it applicable in other areas where the problem of estimating probabilities from sparse data arises.


During deliberation, as the brain considers its options, the neural activity representing the goodness of each option rises toward a threshold, and the choice is often dictated by the option for which the rise is fastest. Here we report a surprising correlate of these activities: saccade vigor. We engaged human subjects in a decision-making task in which they considered effortful options, each requiring walking various durations and inclines. As they deliberated, they made saccades between the symbolic representations of those options. These saccades had no bearing on the effort that they would later expend, yet as they deliberated, saccade velocities increased. The rate of rise in vigor was faster for saccades toward the option that they later indicated as their choice, and encoded the difference in the subjective value of the two effortful options. Once deliberation ended, following a brief delay the subjects indicated their choice by making another saccade. Remarkably, vigor for this saccade dropped to baseline and no longer encoded subjective value. These results are consistent with an urgency model of decision-making in which a global signal in the brain drives both the neural circuits that make decisions, and the neural circuits that make movements. Paradoxically, this common drive is shared between the oculomotor circuits and the decision-making circuits, even when the decision involves effortful expenditure during a future event. Significance There is a link between the decisions we make and the movements that follow. Not only do we prefer options of greater value, but we also move faster to acquire them. When deliberating between options, neural activity rises to a threshold and the option that wins this race is the one chosen. We report a potential correlate of this in the motor control circuits; during deliberation, saccade vigor to both options rise, but faster for the option ultimately chosen. Thus, our movements appear to mirror the neural activity conducting the decision-making process. Paradoxically, this is true even when the movements have no direct bearing on the decision at hand.


In this work, different prosodic knowledge sources are integrated into a state-of-the-art large vocabulary speech recognition system. Prosody manifests itself on different levels in the speech signal: within the words as a change in phone durations and pitch, in between the words as a variation in the pause length, and beyond the words, correlating with higher linguistic structures and nonlexical phenomena. We investigate three models, each exploiting a different level of prosodic information, in rescoring N-best hypotheses according to how well recognized words correspond to prosodic features of the utterance. Experiments on the Switchboard corpus show word accuracy improvements with each prosodic knowledge source. A further improvement is observed with the combination of all models, demonstrating that they each capture somewhat different prosodic characteristics of the speech signal.


The LAMPF control system specifies transmission of both data and timing signals between the control room and the local control points throughout the machine for data collection and equipment control information. A balanced system is used to reduce noise pickup. The transmitter receives a timing pulse train and the digital data in a "non return to zero" (NRZ) format. The two signals are combined to form a split phase code and transformer coupled to the transmission line. The receiver uses a minimum energy content circuit (integrator) preceding the decoder to reduce noise sensitivity. The number of timing pulses in the incoming pulse train is known as is the time duration of the transmission. This information is used to further reduce the probability of error.


The article explores the ways in which Hart Crane, Stéphane Mallarmé and Mina Loy pay homage to Edgar Allan Poe in their respective poems. A comparative exegesis of the tributes in question reveals the connections as well as the differences between the ways the two American modernist poets and the French symbolist approach the legacy of their eminent American predecessor. A critical juxtaposition of Crane's, Mallarmé's and Loy's poetic texts seems particularly worthwhile in view of the fact that Poe is regarded as one of the fathers of both French symbolism and American modernist poetry, which, in turn, are strongly interconnected. Consequently, the analysis undertaken in the present article results in broader conclusions concerning what, in the context of American and French literature, may be referred to as the symbolist-modernist continuum.


The ground and the excited states of a two-dimensional anyon system are studied via finite-size numerical calculations and single-mode approximation In a spherical geometry. It is shown that Laughlin`s mean field theory gives an accurate description of the ground state properties. We find, consistent with earlier analytic theories, that the collective mode of the system exhibits a linear dispersion in the long wavelength limit, and predict a novel roton minimum at a finite value of the wavenumber q. We also discuss the consequences on the anyon spectrum of having a model repulsive interaction between the particles.


The differentiated taste bud is a complex end organ consisting of multiple cell types with various morphological, immunocytochemical and electrophysiological characteristics. Individual taste cells have a limited lifespan and are regularly replaced by a proliferative basal cell population. The specific factors contributing to the maintenance of a differentiated taste bud are largely unknown. Supporting isolated taste buds in culture would allow controlled investigation of factors relevant to taste bud survival. Here we describe the culture and maintenance of isolated rat taste buds at room temperature and at 37 degrees C. Differentiated taste buds can be sustained for up to 14 days at room temperature and for 3-4 days at 37 degrees C. Over these periods individual cells within the cultured buds maintain an elongated morphology. Further, the taste cells remain electrically excitable and retain various proteins indicative of a differentiated phenotype. Despite the apparent health of differentiated taste cells, cell division occurs for only a short period following plating, suggesting that proliferating cells in the taste bud are quickly affected by isolation and culture.


The Merovingian centuries were a foundational period in the historical consciousness of western Europe. The memory of the first dynasty of Frankish kings, their origin myths, accomplishments, and failures were used by generations of chroniclers, propagandists, and historians to justify a wide range of social and political agendas. The process of curating and editing the source material gave rise to a recognizable 'Merovingian narrative' with three distinct phases: meteoric ascent, stasis, and decline. Already in the seventh-century Chronicle of Fredegar, this tripartite model was invoked by a Merovingian queen to prophesy the fate of her descendants. This expert commentary sets out to understand how the story of the Merovingians was shaped through a process of continuous historiographical adaptation. It examines authors from across a millennium of historical writing and analyzes their influences and objectives, charting the often-unexpected ways in which their narratives were received and developed.


Penicillin is the drug of choice for the prevention of bacterial endocarditis (BE) resulting from dental treatment. The susceptibility of Streptococcus viridans to this antimicrobial agent was studied. A representative sample of hospital personnel (N = 76) was compared to a control group of seventy-six subjects who were not associated with the hospital. Twenty-four of the hospital personnel worked in wards that consume 0.13 to 1.64 (mean +/- SD = 0.88 +/- 0.64) gm penicillin per day per position (low consumption group = LCG) and fifty-two worked in wards that consume 2.27 to 3.67 (mean +/- SD = 3.04 +/- 0.55) gm penicillin per day per position (high consumption group = HCG). Antibiograms of oral isolates showed that, while 48.08% of the subjects from the HCG revealed penicillin-resistant S. viridans only 8.33% of the subjects from the LCG and 7.89% of the control group presented such results. The data presented suggest that there are subjects who may unknowingly carry penicillin-resistant S. viridans as part of their oral flora. It is therefore recommended that the preferable antibiotic used for the prevention of BE should be determined by an antibiogram.


Granitic rocks in the southeastern Gyeongsang Basin can be classified into three groups. The group I contains various mafic microgranular enclave (MME) and/or mafic clot which implies magma mixing or mingling. The group II show the feature of shallow depth emplacement at low pressure, and the group III is characterized by A-type granite implying extensional tectonic environment. Mineralogical characteristics of the granitic rocks have showed systematic variations in perthite exsolution temperatures and biotite compositions according to their rock facies, although they do not show any distinctively different trend in geography and textures or rock facies. Amphiboles from Group I are calcic-amphibole and they were formed at 0.4 ~ 2.8 kb in pressure based on the amphibole geobarometry. Amphiboles from group ill are riebeckite, whileas amphiboles were not observed in Group II. The chemical composition of biotite defined in clusters showing a continuous spectrum between group I to ferric-annite of group ill. The composition of plagioclase generally plotted in albite, oligoclase, and andesine area without any distinctive differences among their geography or rock facies. The exsolution temperatures by perthite geothermometry are calculated as 300~400℃ in Group I, and 500~600℃ in equigranular granite of group II and alkali-feldspar granite of group III.


Coronary disease stands out among the cardiovascular diseases victimizing patients around the world. Stress occurs in the preoperative period of myocardial revascularization surgery (MRS). Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine the relationship between perceived stress with coping and with stressors of patients in preoperative MRS. Materials and method: A quantitative and transversal approach was used. The sample consisted of 105 patients with coronary artery disease who had been admitted to a cardiology hospital. The Perceived Stress Scale - Coping Strategies Inventory was used, along with two open questions. The answers were quantified and categorized. A multivariate linear regression model was used for the data analysis. Results: Higher perceived stress was associated with greater escape and elusiveness (β = 0.416, p <0.001), more coping (β = 0.353, p = 0.001), less self-control (β = -0.226, p = 0.024), female gender (β = -0.173, p = 0.048) and "clinical symptoms" (β = 0.235, p = 0.015). "Search to occupy the mind" (β = -0.196, p = 0.047) and "facing surgery as an improvement / cure instrument" (β = -0.255, p = 0.009) were associated with less perceived stress. Conclusions: Perceived stress varies according to certain stressors and coping. These relationships must be taken into account when planning nursing care in order to reduce preoperative stress in coronary patients.


Twelve children with IQ scores of 50 to 74 (educable mental retardation) who met rigorous diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder participated in a double-blind crossover study of the efficacy of two doses of methylphenidate compared with placebo. Dependent measures included behavioral ratings, classroom work output, laboratory measures of attention and learning, and direct observations of social behavior. Improvement with medication on the Conners Hyperactivity Index was observed in 75% of subjects. Significant increases in work output, on-task behavior, and attentional skills were associated with methylphenidate. However, gains in measures of attention were not associated with improvement in learning, as measured by a paired associate learning task. Additionally, no significant increases in appropriate social interactions during free play were associated with methylphenidate. The results suggest that mentally retarded children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder respond to methylphenidate at similar rates and in similar domains to that of the nonretarded population.


A broadband, tunable, scanning IR-range etlon for FEL applications was designed, developed and tested. The design details and the results of the experimental tests are described and discussed.


A brief mental status questionnaire adapted specifically to diagnose diffuse organic diffuse organic mental syndromes on busy medical words is developed and tested for reliability and validity. When the 30-item questionnaire was given to 17 medical patients diagnosed by consultation spychiatrists as having a diffuse organic mental syndrome, all score 20 or less. With hospitalized psychiatric patients the questionnaire was able to differentiate between the "functional psychoses" and diffuse organic brain syndromes. When administered to 69 consecutive medical admissions, fully one third showed marked cognitive limitations. A sample of normals suggested that results may be contaminated by severe cultural or educational variances. We discuss the role of cognitive dificiencies in medical patients, and suggestions are made regarding the broad usefulness of this questionniare to a medical service.


Aer the mid 1990s, the Indian economy grew rapidly owing to industrialization. However, most industries are located in certain metropolitan regions. In order to reduce the regional disparity, the Indian government promotes invest- ment in the peripheral areas through a preferential taxation system. �is paper aims to present a report on the development of the industrial city in India. Uttarakhand is an underdeveloped state in the north-eastern part of India. Its territory includes a few Himalayan mountains, hills, and a few plains. In an eort to boost its economy, the Uttarakhand government developed the Integrated Industrial Estate (IIE), Rudrapur. However, the local government does not have a housing board for workers. �erefore, it depends on private developers for housing provisions. �e wealthy communities are comfortable and secure because their residential areas are protected by strong, big gates with several security guards. �erefore, these are 'prestigious gated communities.'


The non-local van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) of Dion et al (2004 Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 246401) is a very promising scheme for the efficient treatment of dispersion bonded systems. We show here that the accuracy of vdW-DF can be dramatically improved both for dispersion and hydrogen bonded complexes through the judicious selection of its underlying exchange functional. New and published exchange functionals are identified that deliver much better than chemical accuracy from vdW-DF for the S22 benchmark set of weakly interacting dimers and for water clusters. Improved performance for the adsorption of water on salt is also obtained.


Influenza vaccines that target the highly variable surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase cause inconvenience of having vaccination every year. For this reason, development of universal vaccines targeting conserved viral components is needed. In this study, we generated recombinant adenovirus (rAd) vaccine encoding nucleoprotein (NP) of A/PR/8/34 influenza virus, designated rAd/NP. BALB/c mice were immunized intranasally or sublingually with rAd/NP vaccine and subsequently challenged with lethal doses of heterologous as well as homologous influenza viruses. We found that intranasal immunization of rAd/NP elicited strong mucosal IgA responses as well as stronger CD8 T-cell responses toward immunodominant Kd-restricted NP147-155 epitope than sublingual immunization. Importantly, only single intranasal but not sublingual immunization of rAd/NP provides potent protection against both homologous and heterologous influenza virus challenges. These results suggest that recombinant rAd/NP could be a universal vaccine candidate for mucosal administration against influenza virus.


Introduction I. Faith Faith: Introduction "For the Glory of God": Learning the Future of the Church from Paul Calvin as a Model for Theological Interpretation of Scripture, illustrated with his Exegis of Tim. 4:1-5 Contemplating the Living Image of God in Creation How Calvinism travelled to America: The story of Susanna Bell Calvin, Children and the Church Inconvenient, because Consistent Theology: John Calvin and Karl Barth II. Ecumenism Ecumenism - Introduction Calvin's Concept Of the Church and Present-day Ecumenical Challenges The World Alliance of Reformed Churches today and the John Calvin Legacy Not without the World Council of Churches: A contribution to the history of the Catholic-reformed international bilateral dialogue. Calvin's Theology: an Ecumenical Challenge Can Scripture interpret itself? Thoughts on the relationship between the interpretation of Scripture and Church ministry in Calvin's theology III. Public Responsibility Public Responsibility - Introduction On Self-love. Impulses from Calvin and Calvinism for Life in Society? Meditatio futurae vitae - A spiritual challenge for Church and society? Calvin's Interpretation of the Church as the Communion of the Saints - a Challenge and an Opportunity for Present-day Reformed Churches Calvin's Doctrine of the "Civil Government": Its Orienting Power in Pluralism and Globalization.


beta-Ethylidene-DL-aspartate (beta EA) and beta-methylene-DL-glutamate (beta MG) were synthesized and tested as potential suicide inhibitors of soluble pig heart glutamate-aspartate transaminase (sGAT). beta MG was found to be a) a substrate with a very low turnover number relative to glutamate and b) a competitive inhibitor with respect to aspartate (albeit with a large binding constant). At high concentrations beta MG inactivated the enzyme but only very slowly. beta EA was also found to be a substrate with a very low turnover number; it did not inactivate the enzyme (1 hr, 25 degrees C) even at a high concentration. However, beta EA was found to bind to the enzyme with an affinity comparable to that of aspartate and glutamate. beta-Methylene-DL-aspartate (beta MA) has been shown to rapidly inactivate glutamate-aspartate transaminase. Therefore, it appears that glutamate-aspartate transaminase can bind analogues of aspartate with alkene groups in the beta position. The conjugated carbonyl groups of beta MA and beta EA will enhance Michael addition in comparison with that expected for vinylglycine. On the other hand, the presence of the methyl groups should reduce the electrophilicity of the double bond of beta EA compared to beta MA. This deactivation and/or steric hindrance to Michael attack may account for the inability of beta EA to inactivate sGAT. Therefore, it may be possible to design selective suicide inhibitors of glutamate-aspartate++ transaminase with the following structure: HO2CC(= CHX)CH(CO2H)NH2, where X is an electron-withdrawing group. Ideally, X would increase the reactivity of the double bond while affording a minimum of steric hindrance to susceptible enzyme-bound bases.


East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is a province with low electrification ratio (78.3%) and high number of underdeveloped villages (74.8%), despite its abundant renewable energy resources potential. The objective of this study is to obtain technically-economically feasible village model with integrated renewable energy system for developing productive zone, Prukades-postharvest cocoa processing, in Wewaria, NTT. The methodology used is techno-economic analysis, in which technical analysis include optimization for hybrid power generation system (HPGS), done by using HOMER Pro. Several financing schemes are proposed to evaluate the economic feasibility. Environmental comparative analysis of mitigated GHG emission is also evaluated. It is found that the HPGS consists of 95 kW photovoltaic, 78 kW wind turbine, and 200 kW diesel generator, equipped with battery storage, and the Prukades system has annual capacity of 250 tons of wet cocoa beans/year with 32.9% yield. Prukades system is economically feasible with all proposed schemes, and potential to increase annual income of cocoa farmers. On the other hand, HPGS is only economically feasible with FS-5 scheme with 100% grant as financial intervention. The economic attractiveness of both systems is relatively higher by using integrated scenario, both owned by the same business entity, resulting in 3 other schemes to be feasible.


The AlphaZero algorithm has achieved superhuman performance in two-player, deterministic, zero-sum games where perfect information of the game state is available. This success has been demonstrated in Chess, Shogi, and Go where learning occurs solely through self-play. Many real-world applications (e.g., equity trading) require the consideration of a multiplayer environment. In this work, we suggest novel modifications of the AlphaZero algorithm to support multiplayer environments, and evaluate the approach in two simple 3-player games. Our experiments show that multiplayer AlphaZero learns successfully and consistently outperforms a competing approach: Monte Carlo tree search. These results suggest that our modified AlphaZero can learn effective strategies in multiplayer game scenarios. Our work supports the use of AlphaZero in multiplayer games and suggests future research for more complex environments.


Establishing the pattern of crime is fundamental for the successful investigation ofinternational crimes (genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity). A patternof crime is the aggregate of multiple incidents that share common features related tothe victims, the perpetrators, and the modus operandi. Pattern evidence and analysishave been used successfully, mainly in the investigation of large-scale killings, destruction,and displacement; the use for sexual violence charges has been remarkablymore limited. There is a need to overcome this gap by setting proper methods of datacollection and analysis. At the level of evidence collection, under-reporting should beaddressed through victimization surveys or secondary analysis of data available fromdifferent sources. At the level of analysis, the available evidence needs to be subject toimpartial examination beyond the pre-conceptions of the conflict parties and advocacygroups, in compliance with scientific standards for quantitative, qualitative, andGIS (Geographic Information Systems)methods. Reviewing the different investigativeexperiences and jurisprudence will help to set the right methodology and contribute mostefficiently to putting an end to the impunity regarding sexual crimes.


Abstract It is a commonplace that science fiction draws inspiration from science fact. It is a less familiar thought-though still widely acknowledged-that science has sometimes drawn its inspiration from science fiction. (Arthur C. Clarke's idea of geostationary communications satellites is a well-known example.) However, the debt of science to science fiction extends beyond such specific examples of scientific and technological innovations. This essay explores the paradoxical-sounding thesis that science itself, as we now know it, was originally the product of a science fiction vision. At a time when the collective endeavours of early modern researchers amounted to something less than science, Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1627) helped show what wonders might be achieved by organised and methodical state-sponsored scientific research. Bacon's vision was highly prescient: many of the scientific possibilities he sketched have since become realities. It was also highly influential: early modern science bears the characteristic stamp of Bacon's vision, and that same influence is discernible right down to the present day.


O-linked GlcNAc transferase (OGT) mediates a novel glycan-dependent signaling pathway, but the intracellular targeting of OGT is poorly understood. We examined the localization of OGT by immunofluorescence microscopy, subcellular fractionation and immunoblotting using highly specific affinity-purified antisera. In addition to the expected nuclear localization, we found that OGT was highly concentrated in mitochondria. Since the mitochondrial OGT (103 kDa) was smaller than OGT found in other compartments (116 kDa) we reasoned that it was one of two predicted splice variants of OGT. The N-termini of these isoforms are unique; the shorter form contains a potential mitochondrial targeting sequence. We found that when epitope-tagged, the shorter form (mOGT; 103 kDa) concentrated in HeLa cell mitochondria, whereas the longer form (ncOGT; 116 kDa) localized to the nucleus and cytoplasm. The N-terminus of mOGT was essential for proper targeting. Although mOGT appears to be an active transferase, O-linked GlcNAc-modified substrates do not accumulate in mitochondria. Using immunoelectron microscopy and mitochondrial fractionation, we found that mOGT was tightly associated with the mitochondrial inner membrane. The differential localization of mitochondrial and nucleocytoplasmic isoforms of OGT suggests that they perform unique intracellular functions.


Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is caused by mutation of the muscle membrane protein dystrophin and characterized by severe degeneration of myofibers, progressive muscle wasting and loss of mobility, ultimately cardiorespiratory failure and premature death. Here we report that skeletal muscle-specific knockout (KO) of Phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) gene in an animal model of DMD (mdx mice) alleviates myofiber degeneration and restores muscle function without increasing tumor incidences. Specifically, Pten KO normalizes myofiber size and prevents muscular atrophy, and improves grip strength and exercise performance of mdx mice. Pten KO also reduces fibrosis and inflammation; and ameliorates muscle pathology in mdx mice. Moreover, we found that Pten KO upregulates extracellular matrix and basement membrane components positively correlated to wound healing, but suppresses negative regulators of wound healing and lipid biosynthesis; and restores the integrity of muscle basement membrane in mdx mice. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of PTEN similarly ameliorates muscle pathology and improves muscle integrity and function in mdx mice. Our finding provides evidence that PTEN inhibition may represent a potential therapeutic strategy to restore muscle function in DMD.


Summary
1. As a first approximation, whole-body metabolic rate can be considered as the sum of metabolic rates of constituent cells. Yet, among several current explanations of metabolic rate scaling, only two explicitly invoke cell architecture of organisms: (1) the Metabolic Theory of Ecology, which predicts size invariance of metabolically active cells, such as erythrocytes and (2) the cell metabolism hypothesis postulating partial dependence of metabolic scaling on the cell size (CS), which is mediated by nucleus/genome size variation.

2. Here, we tested (1) and (2) by comparing standard metabolic rate (SMR), erythrocyte size (used as a proxy of CS) and nucleus size (NS) between diploid and triploid individuals of a small fish (body mass of c. 3 g) belonging to the Cobitis taenia hybrid complex.

3. We demonstrated a positive correlation of CS with genome/nucleus size and an inverse relationship between those traits and SMR. SMR scaled to body mass with a 0·92 ± 0·05 exponent, which significantly differed from the ¾ value, while CS scaled with body mass with an allometric exponent of 0·05 ± 0·007, which significantly differed from 0. Ploidy level explained c. 85% of CS variation.

4. Our results provide empirical support for CS and genome/nucleus size being important determinants of metabolic rate variation and consequently, its allometric scaling. They call attention to the significance of a long-neglected integration of cellular and organismal perspectives in studies of body size–metabolic rate relationships and their consequences for energy utilization in the wild.


The principles of salafiah approach can be summarized into three distinguished characteristics: first is comprehension, second is authenticity or originality and not imitation ( taqlid ), while the last is improvement or progress and not conservatism. Salafiah is in fact not inconsistent with the progress and improvement, while their calling for returning to the original and main sources is approved by the religion and not in contradiction with the reality of Muslim. Moreover, it is a valid approach in achieving a better life in this world and hereafter. The objectives of salafiah are to purify the faith from the heresies (bid'ah), to educate Islamic personality, to open human mind to accept all the new in the fields of the experimental sciences, and to establish the faith from its sources which is far from the emerging narrow-minded religion sects recently. Finally, the salafist open widely to the experimental sciences, to the uses of scientific results, to the great invention in industrial sector and to the modern technology as they are very useful to support and sustain the Islamic teachings in the context of a more beautiful life with a less difficulties.


This paper presents the first results on the water quality of the River Niger at Niamey based on the Chironomidae . Artificial substrata of stones covered with galvanized wire netting were used for collecting the chironomid larvae. Water samples were taken for physicochemical analysis. Twenty taxa of chironomidae were collected. Among these, Chironomus gr. plumosus represented51% and Microchironomus sp. 26% of all larvae collected. The distribution of Chironomidae throughout the river showed differences between the sampling stations. Organic pollution and nutrients loading were the main factors explaining the differences in spatial distribution. Some taxa, e.g. Chironomus gr. plumosus and Microchironomus sp. are positively correlated to those factors, while others as Tanytarsini , Nilodosis sp., Micropelopinae and Procladius sp. are negatively correlated. According to these results, Chironomidae appear an excellent tool for the assessment of the biological quality of western African rivers. Keywords: Chironomidae , River Niger, Niamey, water quality


The radiologic findings on small bowel enema examination using barium and methylcellulose (SBE + Ba + MC) in a patient with Whipple's disease before and after treatment are described. The changes on SBE + Ba + MC corresponded well to the clinical and morphologic picture. The advantages of this double contrast technique compared to the enteroclysis with barium alone are demonstrated. The SBE + Ba + MC is a good method to demonstrate the manifestations of Whipple's disease involving the small bowel and the mesentery.


The present work illustrates formulation of coconut oil based nanofluids with nano boric acid (nBA) dispersions. These nanofluids are utilized in machining as cutting fluid to test their viability. Experiments are performed in turning AISI 1040 steel under dry, conventional cutting fluid(CCF) and nanofluid. Cutting forces, cutting temperatures, tool wear and surface roughness are measured under varying cutting conditions. It is seen from the results that vegetable based nanofluids has greatly improved the machining performance while comparing with other lubricating conditions. Simulation work is done in order to carry out a comparative analysis between experimental and simulation results. The reduction in cutting forces and cutting temperatures were found to be far better than the conventional cutting fluid. Thus the coconut oil based nanofluid is found to be effective in the utilization of machining both as lubricant and coolant.


The paper deals with the study of the optimisation of the distribution of the download time from a particular Video on Demand System.  This VOD system is based on Grid Delivery Network which is an hybrid architecture based on P2P and Grid Computing concepts. In this system, the data are  shrunk into fixed size blocks which must  be replicated on hosts to  decrease the total download time. We propose an optimal replication factor to optimise the average download time. We showed that the allocation methods are directly correlated  with the variance ofresponse waiting time.   We analyse different heuristics to solve these two problems in practice, and validate them through simulation. With our methods, we can guarantee a pre-established waiting response time with an error of approximatively 10 %.


Abstract There has been a long-term decline in nitrate (NO3−) concentration and export from several long-term monitoring watersheds in New England that cannot be explained by current terrestrial ecosystem models. A number of potential causes for this nitrogen (N) decline have been suggested, including changes in atmospheric chemistry, insect outbreaks, soil frost, and interannual climate fluctuations. In-stream removal of NO3− has not been included in current attempts to explain this regional decline in watershed NO3− export, yet streams may have high removal rates of NO3−. We make use of 40 years of data on watershed N export and stream N biogeochemistry from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) to determine (a) whether there have been changes in HBEF stream N cycling over the last four decades and (b) whether these changes are of sufficient magnitude to help explain a substantial proportion of the unexplained regional decline in NO3− export. Examining how the tempos and modes of change are distinct for upland forest and stream ecosystems is a necessary step for improving predictions of watershed exports.


This study aims to improve the quality of satellites signals in addition to increase accuracy level delivered from handheld GPS data by building up a program to read and decode data of handheld GPS. Where, the NMEA protocol file, which stands for the National Marine Electronics Association, was generated from handheld GPS receivers in real time using in-house design program. The NMEA protocol file provides ability to choose points positions with best status level of satellites such as number of visible satellite, satellite geometry, and GPS mode, which are defined as accuracy factors. In addition to fix signal quality, least squares technique was adopted in this study to minimize the residuals of GPS observations and enhance its accuracy. Moreover, one hundred reference control points were established using geodetic GPS receiver (GR5 receiver), and fixing them in a specified sites of the University of Baghdad, Al Jadriya campus, which selected as a study area, to evaluate positioning accuracy of handheld GPS before and after adjustment. The study findings showed significant decrease in root mean square error (RMSE) in both horizontal and vertical directions from 9.4 m to 3.2 m and 6.8 m to 2.4 m respectively.


Patterns of riparian hydraulic gradients and stream‐groundwater exchange in headwater catchments provide the hydrologic context for important ecological processes. Although the controls are relatively well understood, their dynamics during periods of hydrologic change is not. We investigate riparian hydraulic gradients over three different time scales in two steep, forested, headwater catchments in Oregon (WS01 and WS03) to determine the potential controls of reach‐scale valley slope and cross‐sectional valley geometry. Groundwater and stream stage data collected at high spatial and temporal resolutions over a period encompassing a 1.25 year storm and subsequent seasonal baseflow recession indicate that hydraulic gradients in both riparian aquifers exhibit strong persistence of down‐valley dominance. Responses to rainfall do not support the simple conceptual models of increased riparian hydraulic gradient toward streams. Hydraulic gradient response in WS01 to both the seasonal baseflow recession and the storm suggested the potential for increased stream‐groundwater exchange, but there was less evidence for this in WS03. Results from four constant‐rate tracer injections in each stream showed a high baseline level of exchange overall, and both a slight seasonal increase (WS01) and slight decrease (WS03) in the riparian intrusion of tracer‐labeled stream water as stream discharge receded. These results indicate that steep headwater valley floors host extensive stream water exchange and very little change in the water table gradients over 3 orders of magnitude of stream discharge.


Background: Malignant mesothelioma is a tumour that is strongly associated with a history of asbestos exposure and which derives from mesothelial cells that line the serous cavities of the body. The tumour most commonly arises in the pleural cavity, but can also arise in the pericardium, peritoneum and tunica vaginalis. At present the lesion has a very poor prognosis and is an incurable form of cancer with median survival times of up to 19 months being quoted for some histological subtypes. A large proportion of mesotheliomas have been shown to be arginine auxotrophic, leading to new research for therapeutics which might exploit this potential vulnerability. Method: We measured the levels of General Control Non - derepressible 2 (GCN2) protein in malignant mesothelioma tumour samples and determined whether these levels correlate with clinical outcomes. Results: We observed that the expression levels of GCN2 correlated with patient survival and was an independent prognostic variable in pairwise comparison comparisons with all available clinical data. Conclusion: These findings suggest that GCN2 levels provides prognostic information and may allow for stratification of care pathways. It may suggest that targeting GCN2 is a viable strategy for mesothelioma therapy development.


Over the past few decades, intangible assets, such as knowledge, patents, and innovation, have been identified as fundamental sources of wealth and progress. These assets represent a major concern for business firms, their stakeholders, policy makers and world organisations for proper positioning in the world competition and for wise resource allocation. As a result, measuring the intangibles has become a challenge. This paper reports a validated national intellectual capital measurement model, consisting human capital, market capital, process capital, renewal capital and financial capital that enables nations to conduct comparisons, benchmarking, refining and re-orienting national development strategies for sustaining their competitive advantages. The national intellectual capital ranking for 41 countries and their dynamic development are also elaborated.


This study was conducted to evaluate the polishing process that affects the polishing properties and cooking qualities of cut-polished barley. Naked barley, Youngsanbori (Sedohadaka), which was produced in Cheonnam province, Korea in 1981, was cut and polished to have the polished yield per cent of four grades, 68.27, 72.85, 75.51 and 78.70, in contrast to the conventionally polished barley which was polished up to 70.10 per cent. Length. thickness and width of the kernels and weight of 1,000 kernels of the cut-polished barley were increased with improving the grade of the polishing yield. Energy consumption was found to be reduced according to increasing the polishing yield of the cut-polished barley. As polishing yield of the cut-polished barley were increased. the contents of PO5/, KO, MgO and Mn were increased. Also whiteness, water uptake and expanding volume of cooked barley were increased in accordance with upgrading the polishing yield of the cut-polished barley.


We propose a plasma-jet device with a micrometer-sized nozzle array for use in a cancer therapy. Also, we show the biological effects of atmospheric-pressure plasma on living cells. Nitrogen-plasma activated a surrogate DNA damage signal transduction pathway, called the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-checkpoint kinase 2 pathway, suggesting that the nitrogen-plasma generates DNA double-strand breaks. Phosphorylation of H2AX and p53 was detected in the plasma-treated cells, leading to apoptotic cell death. Thus, an effect for the nitrogen plasma in the control of apoptotic cell death provides insight into the how biological effects of the nitrogen-plasma can be applied to the control of cell survival, a finding with potential therapeutic implications.