Background The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of four-slice computed tomography for the detection, localization and patency assessment of metal coronary stents in a general population referred for coronary angiography late after coronary angioplasty. Methods Twenty-four consecutive patients with 34 coronary stents underwent multislice computed tomography within 24 h before a clinically driven coronary angiography performed 245 ± 92 days after coronary stent implantation. For each patient, two independent operators were asked to evaluate the overall number of stents, the treated coronary vessels and segments, the presence of side-branches in the stented segment, the vessel patency, and the presence of binary in-stent restenosis. Results Four-slice computed tomography was feasible in 23 out of 24 patients (96%). Diagnostic accuracy was 94% for stent detection, 96% for the recognition of the stented coronary vessel and 97% for the identification of the stented segment. Accuracy in detection of side-branches in the stented segment, vessel patency and in-stent restenosis was 86%, 88% and 50%, respectively. Conclusions Four-slice computed tomography is accurate in the identification of the stented coronary vessel and segment. By contrast, accuracy is low in the detection of vessel patency and in-stent restenosis. Such a technique does not appear to be useful as a screening tool before invasive diagnostic procedures.


Table 2 summarizes abnormalities in five other biochemical tests for those patients showing high 'l'GTP. Except in cases of acute hepatitis, these other tests showed a significantly lower number of abnormal values. "Szaz, G., Clin. Chern., 1969, 15: 124. tu Rosalki, S. B., and Rau, D., Cli". chim. Acta, 1972, 39: 41. "Delarue, J. C., Sancho, H., Rouesse, J., and Bohuon, C., Biomcdicine, 1973, 18: 152. " Irvin, T. T., Edwards, J. P., arid Goligher, J. C., Brit. J. Surg., 1973, 60: 347.


Abstract Background Cognitive effects of tamoxifen have been described. We augment data from a previous short-term (ST) follow-up study with long-term (LT) data to evaluate ST and LT cognitive effects of tamoxifen followed by exemestane and exemestane in breast cancer patients. Methods Patients from the Tamoxifen and Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational trial received 5 years exemestane (exemestane group, n = 114) or 2.5 years tamoxifen followed by 2.5 years exemestane (sequential group, n = 92). Neuropsychological performance was assessed pre-endocrine therapy, after 1 year (ST follow-up) and at 5 years (LT follow-up). A control group of healthy participants (n = 120) were assessed with parallel intervals. With random effects modeling we evaluated cognitive changes from baseline to ST and LT follow-up. Statistical tests were 2-sided. Results After controlling for age, intelligence quotient, attrition, menopausal symptoms, anxiety and/or depression, and/or fatigue, the sequential group showed ST and LT decline compared with control participants on verbal memory (effect size [ES] = 0.26, P = .01; ES = 0.34, P = .003) and executive function (ES = 0.27, P = .007; ES = 0.38, P = .002). Compared with the exemestane group, the sequential group demonstrated ST decline on information processing speed (ES = 0.33, P = .01) and executive function (ES = 0.32, P = .01) and LT decline on verbal memory (ES = 0.33, P = .02). The exemestane group showed no cognitive decline compared with control participants. Conclusion Cognitive adverse effects of tamoxifen alone and after switching to exemestane were observed, suggestive of a carryover effect of tamoxifen. Our results underline the need for well-controlled, prospective trials studying cognitive effects of endocrine therapy.


Regional economic integration has a fairly long history in virtually all parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A number of leaders called for the integration of Africa already soon after independence, but it was only in the 1970s and 1980s that concrete steps were taken to re-launch or establish economic integration institutions in all sub-regions. The first generation regional integration schemes were motivated partly by the political vision of African Unity, but also as a means for providing sufficient scale to import substitution industrialization policies. This inward-looking regional strategy failed for the same reasons as the underlying national import-substitution policies: (i) national markets were too small and too poor; (ii) high input costs adversely affected transformation and export, causing foreign exchange shortages and overvalued currencies; (iii) domestic monopolies and trade protection contributed to powerful rentseeking and "nationalistic" lobbies, biased and organized against regional as well as global trade; (iv) nationalistic governments with spoken interest in regional cooperation gave token support to regional organizations, broke their regional commitments and implementation lapsed; and (v) there was excessive emphasis on joint public investments as opposed to creating a truly unified markets for private operators.


The paper describes a new approach to provide MAM functionality via Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. The solution presented uses a so-called hybrid approach to implement MAM functionality. "Hybrid" means that web-based services provide part of the functionality via the internet and the remaining part of the functionality is delivered by hardware and software that is installed at the user's premises.


In this paper, an estimator scheme for the rotor speed and flux of an induction motor is proposed on the basis of a fourth-order electrical model. It is assumed that only the stator currents and voltages are measurable, and that the stator currents are bounded. There are a number of common terms in the motor dynamics, and this is utilized to find a simple error model involving some auxiliary variables. Using this error model, the state estimation problem is converted into a parameter estimation problem assuming that the rotor speed is constant. Some stability properties are given on the basis of Lyapunov analysis. In addition, the rotor resistance, which varies with the motor temperature, can also be estimated within the same framework. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated through computer simulations and experiments.


The notion spatial coherence is used by sonar systems such as Correlation Velocity Logs (CVL) and Synthetic Aperture Sonars (SAS). It exploits correlation between acoustic signals sensed in space and time to estimate for example platform displacement. The Van Cittert Zernike (VCZ) theorem, is a classical statistical optics theorem that predicts the spatial coherence of a pressure field backscattered by a random medium. However it appears that intrinsic characteristics of Low Frequency Synthetic Aperture Sonar (LFSAS) can breach VCZ asumptions.In this paper, the notion of spatial coherence applied to a Low Frequency SAS system (LFSAS) is investigated. In a first part, the notion of spatial coherence and the VCZ therorem is presented. Then the High Resolution LFSAS (HRLFSAS) developed by NATO CMRE and used in this work is introduced. In the same time, a simulation tool is presented. In this paper, typical coherence functions obtained on simulation are presented. That allows to point out the link between the shape of the coherence function and the length of the transmit antenna. These functions are compared to the coherence observed on LFSAS data. Differences are investigated in terms of signal to noise ratio.


BACKGROUND
Self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) insertion is an alternative to emergency surgery in malignant colonic obstruction. However, the long-term oncological outcome of stents as a bridge to surgery is limited and controversial.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the long-term oncological outcome of stents as a bridge to surgery.

METHODS
Data of patients who underwent emergency surgery and endoscopic stent insertion as a bridge to surgery due to obstructing colon cancer at Soroka Medical Center during a 14 year period were collected retrospectively. Preoperative data, tumor staging, and oncological outcomes in terms of local recurrence, metastatic spread, and overall survival of the patients were compared.

RESULTS
Sixty-four patients (56% female, mean age 72 years) were included in the study: 43 (67%) following emergency surgery, 21 stent inserted prior to surgery. A stent was inserted within 24-48 hours of hospital admission. The mean time between SEMS insertion and surgery was 15 days (range 0-30). Most of the patients had stage II (41%) and stage III (34%) colonic cancer. There was no difference in tumor staging and localization between groups. There was no significant difference in disease recurrence between SEMS and surgery groups, 24% and 32%, respectively. Disease-free survival rates were similar between the SEMS group (23.8%) and surgery group (22%). Four year and overall survival rates were 52.4% vs. 47.6%, 33.3% vs. 39.5%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
SEMS as a bridge to surgery in patients with obstructing colon cancer provide an equivalent long-term oncological outcome to surgery alone.


One of key issues of the Semantic Web applications is the lack of semantic data (ontologies). Although the vast majority of data are stored in the popular relational databases, they are still not easily available for many next generation Web applications. Therefore, one of core challenges of Semantic Web is whether these applications can automatically retrieve semantic information from the existed relational databases. This paper proposes a middle graph-based formal model language, W-graph, a bridge between relational databases and ontologies, which abstracts semantic information from relational database instances semi-automatically and then generates an OWL ontology automatically. This method not only maps relational database schemata to ontologies, but also populates ontologies with data stored in databases. Moreover, a proof of semantic preserving on the mapping is provided, and a case study and an implemented prototype tool are also reported.


Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in soybean is vulnerable to drought; however, there are genotypic variations among soybean cultivars regarding the ability to keep BNF under moderate water restriction. The aim of this study was to evaluate parameters related to gas exchanges and regulation of BNF in soybean genotypes BNF drought-tolerant (R01-581F and R01-416F), or drought-susceptible (CD 215 and BRS 317), submitted to adequate water supply or restriction between 45 and 55 days after emergence. We searched for traits associated with tolerance/susceptibility to drought, which might be useful in the selection of drought-tolerant soybean genotypes. Plant biomass was not affected under water restriction, but the number and dry weight of nodules reduced by 33% and 12%, respectively, in the average of genotypes. Drought-tolerant genotypes were more effective in maintaining gas exchanges under water restriction. Under water restriction, all genotypes increased the concentration of ureides in nodules, but only the susceptible genotypes showed that in leaves. The maintenance of gas exchanges and N metabolism regulation under water restriction in genotype R01-581F suggests that these parameters may be used to characterize soybean genotypes that can be sources of drought tolerance in genetic breeding programs.


Drawing upon cultural-historical activity theory, this research analyzed the structural contradictions existing in a variety of educational activities among a group of alienated adult students in Korea National Open University (KNOU). Despite KNOU's quantitative development in student enrollment, the contradictions shed light on how the institution's top-down, bureaucratic pedagogical system collided with individual expectations and needs. In particular, the participants' critical viewpoints demonstrate the incompatible social roles that the open and distance higher education institution plays in Korean society. For example, while KNOU contributes to extending higher education opportunities for those who have unmet educational needs, the value of the KNOU degree has not been socially acknowledged since there is little, if any, competition in the entrance process. This study also documents how these contradictions were culturally and historically embedded in the participants' distance higher education activities. Given the persistent contradictions, the research findings illuminate that KNOU's efficiency-oriented model has not effectively facilitated the students' learning as its distance higher education system is inevitably based on a compromise between a competitive, quality curriculum and the efficient extension of audiences.


Small public breeding programmes have many barriers to adopting technology, particularly creating and using genetic marker panels for genomic-based decisions in selection. Here we report the creation of a DArTag panel of 3,000 loci distributed across the alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) genome for use in molecular breeding and genomic insight. The creation of this marker panel brings cost-effective and rapid genotyping capabilities to alfalfa breeding programmes. The open access provided by this platform will allow genetic data sets generated on the marker panel to be compared and joined across projects, institutions and countries. This genotyping resource has the power to make routine genotyping a reality for any breeder of alfalfa.


Introduction

In-depth knowledge of the natural occurrence of COPD exacerbations is important for clinicians to optimise the treatment and for researchers to plan and interpret clinical trials.

Aims and objectives

To assess if the seasonal pattern of exacerbations in COPD patients from primary care setting differs between a northern European country with maritime climate (Netherlands) and an alpine country (Switzerland).

Methods

We analysed data over 3 years from 409 primary care patients (≥40 years of age) participating the ICE COLD ERIC cohort from the Netherlands (n=258) and Switzerland (n=151) with COPD (GOLD stages II-IV). We used event-based definition of exacerbations that required newly prescribed systemic corticosteroids and/or antibiotics. All exacerbations, initially ascertained by patients' self-report and experts' review of patient charts, were centrally adjudicated in consensus by experts.

Results

COPD patients suffered from 648 exacerbations during the 3 years. Most exacerbations occurred in November, December and January (10.0-11.3%) whereas they were less prevalent in the months May to September (6.3-6.8%). The variation of frequency of exacerbations per month was greater among Swiss patients (3.0-16.0%) compared to Dutch patients (6.7-11.6%)

![Figure][1]

.

Conclusions

Variation of exacerbation frequency between months was higher in Switzerland, which may be explained by the greater variation in temperature over the year.

 [1]: pending:yes


Blood-dialyzer interaction in hemodialysis has the potential to activate mononuclear cells leading to the production of inflammatory cytokines. The extent of activation is dependent on the dialyzer material used and is considered an index of biocompatibility. Cytokines, such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-6, may induce an inflammatory state and are believed to play a significant role in dialysis-related morbidity. The interleukin hypothesis suggests that the release of proinflammatory cytokines acts as an underlying pathophysiologic event in hemodialysis-related acute manifestations, such as fever and hypotension. Nevertheless, a cytokine overproduction may alter sleep pattern in chronic hemodialyzed patients, thus explaining the presence of sleep disorders in these patients. A potential role of cytokines in chronic-related morbidity has also been suggested. High levels of some inflammatory cytokines are often associated with anemia caused by hyporesponsiveness to erythropoietin. Cytokine production may also play a relevant role in bone remodeling by regulating osteoblast/osteoclast cell functions and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Finally, cytokine release may have a long-term deleterious effect on mortality of uremic patients by altering immune response and increasing susceptibility to infections. Bioincompatibility of dialytic membranes may also contribute to malnutrition in dialysis patients by increasing the monocyte release of catabolic cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-6. Bioincompatible dialytic treatment may induce an inappropriate monocyte activation and cytokine production, which, in turn, may mediate some of the immune and metabolic dysfunction associated with hemodialysis. The use of biocompatible dialytic membranes appears to reduce the monocyte activation and to improve the survival of hemodialysis patients.


Agitation is a severe clinical state which represents a therapeutic challenge and often forms part of manic or mixed episodes. Therapeutic options for acute mania have been limited for many years to lithium and typical antipsychotics. Besides anticonvulsants, atypical antipsychotics have been increasingly introduced in the last decade after proving their efficacy in this indication. To avoid intramuscular administration and excessive sedation, a therapeutic contact to the often agitated patient is required. De-escalation techniques can be helpful in this respect but also reduce aggressive behaviour on the ward, improve compliance, reduce relapse rates and lead to a better outcome in the long-term course of the illness. Therefore, a basic knowledge about de-escalation techniques in acute manic patients is an important clinical tool which will be critically reviewed. Furthermore, the efficacy and tolerability of atypical antipsychotics in acute mania, such as olanzapine, zotepine, risperidone, quetiapine, ziprasidone, aripiprazole, paliperidone and asenapine are discussed.


Low-income patients without prescription medication insurance coverage may be forced to choose between essential medications and food. Programs are available to help low-income patients obtain prescription medications at no cost.


Pulse hydraulic fracturing technology can greatly improve the effect of fracture propagation in rock and form complex fracture networks in reservoirs. The interaction mechanism between hydraulic fractures and pre-existing fractures under pulse hydraulic pressure is unclear. The induced laws of pre-existing fractures on the propagation direction of hydraulic fractures under different pulse frequencies and pulse hydraulic pressures are revealed in this work.
 We have carried out traditional hydraulic fracturing (THF) tests and pulse hydraulic fracturing tests with rock-like specimens. We compared the interaction between hydraulic fractures and pre-existing fractures in the two hydraulic fracturing tests. Acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of the interaction between hydraulic fractures and pre-existing fractures during pulse hydraulic fracturing are analyzed.
 The results show that pre-existing fractures in the rock-like specimen can induce the direction of propagation of hydraulic fractures. The influence of pre-existing fracture tips on hydraulic fracture propagation is greater with low pulse frequencies than with traditional hydraulic pressures and high pulse frequencies. When the pulse frequency is 1 Hz, hydraulic fractures are easily induced by pre-existing fracture tips. With increasing pulse frequency, the hydraulic fracture propagation direction gradually moves away from the pre-existing fracture tips and extends perpendicularly to the direction of the minimum principal stress. Under pulse hydraulic loading, more hydraulic fractures are generated around the wellbore than under THF and extend to the pre-existing fracture, and more hydraulic fractures around the wellbore are created with low-frequency pulse loading than with high-frequency pulse loading. Compared with traditional hydraulic pressures, hydraulic fracture propagation with low pulse frequencies (1 and 3 Hz) is more complex than hydraulic fracture propagation with traditional hydraulic pressures and high pulse frequencies (5 Hz). Under high pulse hydraulic pressure and pulse frequency, hydraulic fractures easily extend along the direction perpendicular to the direction of the minimum principal stress like propagation under traditional hydraulic pressure. The study of the interaction mechanism between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures under pulsating hydraulic pressure can provide a method for the formation of fracture network systems in large-scale fracturing and may improve the fracturing efficiency.


We previously reported that the norepinephrine transporter inhibitor, atomoxetine, improved standing blood pressure and lightheadedness in patients with neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH). The purpose of the present study was to determine the predictors of the pressor response to atomoxetine. Patients with nOH who participated in the clinical trials (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifiers: NCT00223691 and NCT01316666) were included in this retrospective analysis. All subjects underwent autonomic function testing, plasma norepinephrine, systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and symptoms assessments, whereas seated and standing, before, and 60 minutes after a single dose of atomoxetine 18 mg. A subset of 25 patients underwent iodine-123–labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine scanning to estimate the degree of cardiac sympathetic denervation. A total of 99 subjects with nOH (67±9 years old, 40 women) participated in the study, 35 with multiple system atrophy, 52 with pure autonomic failure, and 12 with Parkinson disease. The average orthostatic decrease in their systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure was −52±26/−22±15 mm Hg. Supine plasma norepinephrine levels predicted the standing systolic blood pressure (adjusted R2 was 0.12, F [3,80]=4.66, P=0.007) and diastolic blood pressure (adjusted R2 was 0.18, F [3, 80]=7.04, P=0.001) in response to atomoxetine. The increase in systolic blood pressure after atomoxetine was associated with the decrease in nOH-related symptoms (R2=0.14, F [1,44]=8.16 P=0.007). In conclusion, plasma norepinephrine was modestly associated with the pressor response to atomoxetine in patients with nOH. Additionally, the improvement in nOH-related symptoms was associated with the increase in the pressor response to atomoxetine.


Nowadays new applications based on the 3D printing technique demand increasingly strict product quality requirements. The in-situ monitoring of variables associated with the manufacturing process through the application of different techniques could help to evaluate the process and ultimately to ensure product quality. In this regard, the acquisition and evaluation of variables and indexes derived from thermographic analysis during the process are key for an early defect detection and can contribute to quality estimation. In this work, a new methodology is proposed for the monitoring and analysis of the additive manufacturing process based on the processing of thermographic images from an LWIR (Long Wave Infrared) camera. The methodology and the suitability of the variables and indexes extracted during the monitoring of the manufacturing process are discussed for the case of a 3D fused filament fabrication of polymers.


We prepared ethylene octene copolymer (EOC) toughened polypropylene (PP) by continuous electron induced reactive processing (EIReP) as well as investigated its rheological, morphological and mechanical properties. A time temperature superposition (TTS) method was utilized in order to investigate the specific thermo-rheological behavior of these PP/EOC blends. At a low concentration of EOC, a reduced blend viscosity was found. In contrast, the blend viscosity increases at higher concentrations of EOC in comparison to virgin PP. The differences in the molecular architecture of EOC and PP as well as the specific interfacial properties of the PP/EOC blend lead to this behavior. In addition, EIReP modified samples showed lower viscosity than their non-modified counterparts. This reduction of the absolute value of complex viscosity was related to the degradation of the PP phase. In EIReP modified samples an enhancement of the storage modulus at low frequencies was attributed to grafting at the interface and crosslinking of the dispersed EOC phases. All investigations of the thermo-rheological properties showed that TTS holds for the EIReP modified and non-modified blends. Using SEM micrographs, the effect of EIReP and blend ratio on the microstructure of toughened PP was studied. Finally, we discussed the origins of the differences of EOC toughened PP in tensile and impact experiments as well as proposed a micro-mechanism based on the investigation of thermal properties and considering molecular effects of EIReP on polymers.


Background Adoptive T cell therapy is a promising treatment strategy for tumor patients. However, when entering the tumor microenvironment (TME), T cells lose their effector function showing reduced degranulation and cytokine secretion. Besides T cell inhibition through checkpoint pathways (i.e. PD-1/L1, CTLA–4), suppressor cells (i.e. TAM, Treg) and cytokines (i.e. IL–10, TGF, VEGF), various metabolites of the TME also counteract antitumoral activities. Among the latter, lactate and extracellular acidosis are byproducts of the cancer metabolism and commonly observed in high concentrations in solid tumors. Previous experiments showed that tumor lactic acidosis selectively targets the signaling pathway including JNK/c-Jun and p38, resulting in inhibition of IFN-γ production. In contrast, granule exocytosis, which is regulated via the MEK1/ERK pathway, was moderately affected. Based on the contrasting effects on these two essential T cell effector activities, we investigated in more detail the effects of lactic acidosis on the killing process conducted by T cells. Material and Methods Tumor cells and cytotoxic T cells were co-cultured in lactic acid or regular culture medium and analyzed for effector function by flow cytometry and cell-mediated cytotoxicity assays. Additionally, 'in-channel micropatterning' in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) aided image analysis was used to visualize and analyze T cell cytotoxicity and mobility on a single cell level. Usage of collagen-matrices allowed the observation of T cell activity in a physiological three-dimensional environment. Cell metabolism was analyzed by Seahorse technology. Results In the presence of lactic acid, IFN-γ production was strongly inhibited, while degranulation was only moderately reduced. Detailed analysis of the different processes involved in T cell cytotoxicity revealed that T cell recognition of tumor cells resulted in less secretion of cytotoxins (perforin, granzyme B and granzyme A). Lytic activity against tumor cells was strongly reduced at low T cell to tumor cell ratio (1:2). This deficiency could be compensated by increasing the T cell to tumor cell ratio (10:1). Using live cell imaging we investigated underlying mechanisms that might explain how higher T cell to target cell ratios might overcome lactic acid inhibition. T cells in lactic acid covered less distance, they moved for longer time periods and made less contacts with tumor cells in comparison to T cells cultured in regular culture medium. Conclusions Micropatterning and AI based image analysis allows for detailed assessment of the processes involved in T cell-mediated killing such as mobility, speed, directionality and attachment on target cells. Lactic acidosis is hampering T cell killing activity by reducing the T cell's capacity to find its target cell and attach to it. Repeated addition of T cells or neutralization of lactic acidosis in the TME are means to overcome these deficits and hold promise to improve the outcome of T cell-based immunotherapies. Disclosure Information A.J. Fischbeck: C. Other Research Support (supplies, equipment, receipt of drugs or other in-kind support); Modest; IBIDI GmbH. A.N. Mendler: None. M. Balles: A. Employment (full or part-time); Significant; IBIDI GmbH. J. Schwarz: A. Employment (full or part-time); Significant; IBIDI GmbH. R. Zantl: A. Employment (full or part-time); Significant; IBIDI GmbH. E. Ownership Interest (stock, stock options, patent or other intellectual property); Significant; IBIDI GmbH. E. Noessner: C. Other Research Support (supplies, equipment, receipt of drugs or other in-kind support); Modest; IBIDI GmbH.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 14-18, 2007; Los Angeles, CA

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The selectins are a family of intercellular adhesion molecules with three members: E-, P- and L-selectin. E-selectin (ELAM-1, CD62E) is a type Ia transmembrane protein containing lectin-like and endothelial growth factor-like domains, followed by short cysteine-rich repeats. Absent in resting epithelium, E-selectin is rapidly expressed in the vascular lining during inflammation. Indeed, activation of endothelial cells by proinflammatory cytokines results in the cell surface appearance of E-selectin, facilitating leukocyte rolling and extravasation through activated endothelium. During a screening of gene expression in several human colon cancer cell lines we surprisingly identified E-selectin, as a molecule that was modulated in response to TNF-α. The up-regulation of E-selectin was also confirmed at the protein level with a mAb against human E-selectin. In order to better understand the role of E-selectin in the expression of tumor phenotype, we transfected T84 human colon cancer cells with the full length E-selectin cDNA and cDNA coding for the E-selectin shedded domain. We selected clones with a variable expression of the proteins and tested them for their ability to form aggregates, migrate, establish colonies in soft agar as well as to adhere to extracellular matrix substrates. The results we obtained strongly support the hypothesis that E-selectin plays an active role in metastatic cascade not only determining the extravasation site for tumor cells but also modulating growth rate and survival.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC)


The aim of this study is to quantitatively discern the compressive stiffness along the thickness of bovine cortical bone from the inner surface toward the bone's periosteum (outer) surface. Ring-shaped bone slices from randomly selected 3 cow bovine bones were cut from mid diaphysis femur. Micro hardness measurements (ASTM E384-11e1 Standard- test method for Vickers hardness of materials with load of 500gf and dwelling time of 10s) were conducted along radial lines emanating from the geometric center of the bone transverse cross section. Values of compressive stiffness (longitudinal young's modulus, E11) using the slope of the unloading curve of micro hardness tests at maximum load were extracted per the method advanced by Oliver and Pharr. Fitting these data points in a linear fit resulted in statistically significant and simple linear equations for compressive modulus as function of radial distance. For the anatomical anterior and posterior regions, compressive modulus values were found to range from 18 to 23.4 GPa (average of 21.2 GPa) and 23 to 26.0 GPa (average of 23.8 GPa), respectively. This is about 12% increase in average stiffness values of outer lamella near the periosteum as compared with inner regions.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


This paper presents a novel hybrid common-mode (CM) electromagnetic interference filter for a military power supply. The proposed filter is composed of an active impedance multiplication circuit cascaded with a benchmark CM inductor. The active impedance multiplication circuit is very effective in boosting the impedances of both the benchmark CM inductor and the noise source. Thus, the total equivalent impedance of the filter is enlarged by the active booster to a great extent. An important advantage of the approach is that only a small-size CM choke is used as the passive filter instead of a traditional CLC filter. Furthermore, the noise source is turned to be an inevitable part of the hybrid filter by the impedance multiplication effect. Experimental results were carried out according to MIL-STD-461. It is shown that the proposed approach can acquire good noise attenuation performance within a wide frequency range.


Modern intelligent systems researchers employ the scientific method: they form hypotheses about system behavior, and then run experiments using one or more independent variables to test their hypotheses. We present SIERRA, a novel framework structured around that idea for accelerating research developments and improving reproducibility of results. SIERRA makes it easy to quickly specify the independent variable(s) for an experiment, generate experimental inputs, automatically run the experiment, and process the results to generate deliverables such as graphs and videos. SIERRA provides reproducible automation independent of the execution environment (HPC hardware, real robots, etc.) and targeted platform (arbitrary simulator or real robots), enabling exact experiment replication (up to the limit of the execution environment and platform). It employs a deeply modular approach that allows easy customization and extension of automation for the needs of individual researchers, thereby eliminating manual experiment configuration and result processing via throw-away scripts.


It is hard for current radionuclide therapy to render solid tumors desirable therapeutic efficacy owing to insufficient tumor-targeted delivery of radionuclides and severe tumor hypoxia. In this study, a biocompatible hybrid protein nanoreactor composed of human serum albumin (HSA) and catalase (CAT) molecules is constructed via glutaraldehyde-mediated crosslinking. The obtained HSA-CAT nanoreactors (NRs) show retained and well-protected enzyme stability in catalyzing the decomposition of H2 O2 and enable efficient labeling of therapeutic radionuclide iodine-131 (131 I). Then, it is uncovered that such HSA-CAT NRs after being intravenously injected into tumor-bearing mice exhibit efficient passive tumor accumulation as vividly visualized under the fluorescence imaging system and gamma camera. As the result, such HSA-CAT NRs upon tumor accumulation would significantly attenuate tumor hypoxia by decomposing endogenous H2 O2 produced by cancer cells to molecular oxygen, and thereby remarkably improve the therapeutic efficacy of radionuclide 131 I. This study highlights the concise preparation of biocompatible protein nanoreactors with efficient tumor homing and hypoxia attenuation capacities, thus enabling greatly improved tumor radionuclide therapy with promising potential for future clinical translation.


1. Resolving Ethical Issues 1.01 Misuse of Psychologists' Work 1.02 Conflicts Between Ethics and Law, Regulations, or Other Governing Legal Authority 1.03 Conflicts Between Ethics and Organizational Demands 1.04 Informal Resolution of Ethical Violations 1.05 Reporting Ethical Violations 1.06 Cooperating With Ethics Committees 1.07 Improper Complaints 1.08 Unfair Discrimination Against Complainants and Respondents


The basic laws and features of plotting of wearability, wearproof and heat-resisting coverings on a detail of a gas path of the turbine, the compressor and the combustion chamber of gas turbine engine by gas-thermal plasma and ionicplasma vacuum methods are considered. The basic updates and elements of modernisation of the equipment for gasthermal and an ionic-plasma vacuum method are shown. For calculation of the temperatures, flowing and residual pressure real cases and receptions at spraying are considered.


We investigate the effect of a mirror-symmetry plane in multiple-scattering media under plane-wave illumination along the symmetry plane. Designed and fabricated samples' optical transport properties are compared quantitatively with three-dimensional modeling. Strong polarization-dependent deviations of the bulk speckle-averaged intensity distribution at the symmetry plane are observed, showing either up to a factor two enhancement or complete suppression of the ensemble-averaged intensities. We derive analytical expressions for the ensemble-averaged intensity profiles near the symmetry plane. Apart from their interest in fundamental light propagation studies, applications of mirror-symmetric scattering media are envisioned in anti-counterfeiting.


Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and closely related to the pharmacological effects of chiral drugs. Therefore, chiral recognition of molecular enantiomers becomes an important research theme. Fluorescence detection is highly sensitive and fast but has achieved only limited success in enantiomeric detection due to the lack of powerful chiral fluorescence detection materials. In this paper, a novel chiral fluorescent probe material, i.e. a chiral fluorescent nanofiber membrane, is prepared from chiral helical substituted polyacetylene by the electrospinning technique. The SEM images demonstrate the success in fabricating continuous, uniform nanofibers with a diameter of about 100 nm. Circular dichroism spectra show that the nanofibers exhibit fascinating optical activity. One of the enantiomeric chiral fluorescent membranes has chiral fluorescence recognition effects towards alanine and chiral phenylethylamine, while the other enantiomeric membrane does not. The prepared chiral fluorescent nano-materials are expected to find various applications in chirality-related fields due to their advantages such as chirality, fluorescence, and a high specific surface area. The established preparation approach also promises a potent and versatile platform for developing advanced nanofiber materials from conjugated polymers.


RAW 264 mouse macrophage cells were stably transfected with human apolipoprotein E (apoE) expression vectors. Clonal derivatives were characterized for expression of the human apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4 isoforms. An apoE4-expressing clonal cell line and a non-expressing clonal control cell line were loaded overnight with either [3H]cholesterol or [3H]choline. The cells were washed and incubated for 24 h in serum-free medium with or without the addition of 8-bromo-cyclic AMP (8-Br-cAMP). Only the apoE-secreting cells and only in the presence of 8-Br-cAMP released large amounts of labeled cholesterol or phosphatidylcholine into the medium. Mass analyses of cellular free and esterified cholesterol confirmed the results of the labeling studies; a decrease in cellular cholesterol content was observed in the 8-Br-cAMP-treated apoE-secreting cells, concurrent with an increase in cholesterol found in the medium. FPLC analysis of the medium demonstrated that 8-Br-cAMP treatment of the apoE-secreting cells led to an increased size fraction and amount of a peak of secreted cholesterol which comigrated with apoE. The 8-Br-cAMP-mediated increase in cholesterol efflux was also observed in non-apoE-secreting cells incubated with exogenous apoE or apoAI, and the effect of apoE was saturable. The apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4 isoforms were equally efficient in promoting 8-Br-cAMP-dependent cholesterol efflux. Reductive methylation of apoE abolished its ability to promote 8-Br-cAMP-dependent cholesterol efflux. Brefeldin A and monensin, inhibitors of protein processing through the Golgi, both blocked the 8-Br-cAMP stimulation of cholesterol efflux to exogenous apoE. 8-Br-cAMP induced specific apoE and apoAI binding, but not apoE degradation, by the RAW cells. We present a model wherein cAMP induces a membrane apolipoprotein receptor that does not lead to endocytosis and degradation, but instead promotes the transfer of lipids to apolipoproteins, which can then be released from the cell.


Routing in sensor networks is an area of research, with a still-limited but rapidly growing set of research results. Although many of these routing techniques look promising, there are still many challenges that need to be solved. Another interesting issue for routing protocols is node mobility. Most of the current protocols assume that the sensor nodes and the base station are stationary. However, there might be situations such as battle environments where the base station and possibly the sensors need to be mobile. In such cases, the frequent update of the position of the command node and the sensor nodes and the propagation of that information through the network may excessively drain the energy of nodes. New routing algorithms are needed in order to handle the overhead of mobility and topology changes in such energy-constrained environment.


This thesis is concerned with effects of geometrical confinement on dynamics in disordered materials in the nanoscopic range. Of particular interest is the dynamics around the liquid to glass transition. Two systems have been investigated: thin polymer films and polymer gels. The dynamics was examined over a broad range in time, 10 -12 - 10 3 s, using photon correlation spectroscopy, dielectric spectroscopy and quasi-eleastic neutron scattering. The large scale structure of the gels was investigated using small angle neutron scattering. The effect of polymer chain confinement was examined for polystyrene films that are thinner than the equilibrium end-to-end distance of a single polymer chain. The experiments are the first study describing the form of the structural relaxations in thin free-standing polymer films. It shows that the relaxation becomes faster for thinner films, but the shape of the relaxation function remains similar to that of the bulk polymer. Cooperativity and confinement effects were also investigated in polymer gels systems consisting of propylene carbonate (PC) stabilized with poly(methyl methacrylate). The experiments reveal that the main structural relaxation of PC confined in the gel can be described by a simple cooperative model. An onset temperature for cooperative relaxations is identified to be located approximately 60 K above the glass transition temperature. Salt-doped polymer gel electrolytes are promising for application in electrochemical devices since they combine high ionic conductivity with mechanical stability. Experiments aiming at determining the molecular basis for the ion conduction mechanism in such systems are presented. A complex relaxational behavior was observed with at least three relaxation processes. It is concluded that there is a close relation between the diffusion of the solvent and the ionic conductivity.


The shear-induced secretory response of endothelin-1 (ET-1) by human microvascular endothelial cells was studied using paired human glomerular microvascular endothelial cell (HGMEC) cultured monolayers exposed to steady-state laminar shear stress for up to 10 hours. The first cell monolayer was subjected to a shear stress of 0.65 N m-2 and the second, 1.3 N m-2. ET-1 secretion was determined by radioimmunoassay. Over 10 hours of shear, the total cumulative secretion of ET-1 was 237.4 pg/cm2 for the monolayer exposed to 1.3 N m-2 and 143.6 pg/cm2 for the monolayer exposed to 0.65 N m-2. The average ET-1 secretion rate was 20.90 +/- 2.15 and 12.45 +/- 1.05 pg/cm2.h at 0.65 N m-2 and 1.3 N m-2, respectively. The results showed that ET-1 secretion varied with the time of shear in a nonlinear fashion. Although the level of shear stress affected the absolute value of ET-1 cumulative secretion and secretion rate, the major secretion period for both monolayers occurred between 2.0 and 8.0 hours, with the peak secretion rate occurring at approximately 5 hours. Thus, the response of cultured human microvascular endothelial cells to shear stress differed from that of large vessel endothelial cell cultures in terms of ET-1 secretion. In addition to the level of shear stress, the time of shear was also an important determinant of ET-1 secretion. Consequently, the heterogeneity of vascular endothelial cells and the time of shear should both be considered in future research on the secretion of vascular endothelial cell cultures.


Planck-scale corrections to the black-hole radiation spectrum in the Parikh-Wilczek tunneling framework are calculated. The corrective terms arise from modifications in the expression of the surface gravity in terms of the mass-energy of the black hole-emitted particle system. The form of the new spectrum is discussed together with the possible consequences for the fate of black holes in the late stages of evaporation.


For efficient blast furnace ironmaking, it is desired to have low reducing agent rate, primarily coke rate. Developing technology to improve reaction efficiency of the blast furnace is extremely important as it has the potential to allow a decrease in the reducing agent rate as well as CO2 emissions. The reaction efficiency of blast furnace can be improved by lowering the Thermal Reserve Zone (TRZ) temperature; which is also the starting temperature of coke gasification reaction. In present study, nut-coke has been coated with in-plant waste, consisting mainly of iron oxide and calcium oxide, as catalyst. There was a clear increase of 10 points in the reactivity of coated nut-coke. The coated nut-coke have been subjected to non-standard high temperature experiments simulating blast furnace conditions with reducing gas consisting of CO, CO2 and N2 to capture the effect of catalytic coating on the onset of gasification reaction. The high temperature experiments carried out advise the following: i) A drop of 100 °C in the reaction beginning temperature of catalyst coated nut-coke as compared to non-coated one ii) A typical calculation shows that the lowering of reaction beginning temperature corresponds to a potential carbon rate savings of about 2.5 kg/ton of hot metal (thm). Furthermore, in a trial conducted at blast furnace with charging catalyst coated nut-coke, it has been observed that the carbon rate during the trial period was 3 kg/thm lower than the base period. The findings of blast furnace trial agree with that of the experimental one.


We survey recent mathematical and computational work in the eld of gene recognition, focusing on the techniques that have been developed to tackle the problem of identifying protein coding regions in genes. We also present a new approach to gene recognition which is based on a variety of tools we have developed.


Bacteria possess an array of defenses against foreign invaders, including diverse nucleases that target and destroy the genome of an invading bacteriophage or foreign DNA element. A recently-described bacteriophage immunity pathway employs a cGAS/DncV-like nucleotidyltransferase to produce a cyclic tri-AMP second messenger, which activates the DNA endonuclease effector NucC. Here, we show that NucC is related to restriction enzymes but uniquely assembles into a homotrimer in solution. cAAA binding in a conserved allosteric pocket promotes assembly of two NucC trimers into a homohexamer competent for double-strand DNA cleavage. We propose that NucC mediates bacteriophage immunity either through global activation, causing altruistic cell death and abortive infection, or through local activation and targeted phage genome destruction. Finally, we identify NucC homologs in type III CRISPR-Cas systems, where they likely function as accessory nucleases activated by cyclic oligoadenylate second messengers synthesized by these systems' effector complexes.


This paper presents a new three-phase AC/DC power converter topology that provides a high-power-factor interface to the utility. The circuit topology of the converter is based on the discontinuous mode flyback converter. The objective of this work is to develop the technology for the proposed converter to meet the high-power factor requirements and to serve the demand for an advanced high-power, inexpensive, efficient and small size AC/DC rectifier in the telecommunications market. A laboratory proof-of-concept converter intended for 12.5 kW output was built to investigate the performance of the proposed converter in a practical application. The experimental results verify that the proposed converter achieves a near-unity power factor at the input and a constant voltage at the load side of the interface. However, the efficiency of the converter measured lower than expected. Further study revealed that the low efficiency is due to the adverse effects of the parasitic inductances on the energy transfer to the output. The effects of the parasitics on the converter efficiency are analytically investigated and new optimum design rules are developed, and the results of the analysis are graphically displayed to point to a practically viable and an efficient design of the proposed converter.


In this contribution we present a survey of concepts in localized model order reduction methods for parameterized partial differential equations. The key concept of localized model order reduction is to construct local reduced spaces that have only support on part of the domain and compute a global approximation by a suitable coupling of the local spaces. In detail, we show how optimal local approximation spaces can be constructed and approximated by random sampling. An overview of possible conforming and non-conforming couplings of the local spaces is provided and corresponding localized a posteriori error estimates are derived. We introduce concepts of local basis enrichment, which includes a discussion of adaptivity. Implementational aspects of localized model reduction methods are addressed. Finally, we illustrate the presented concepts for multiscale, linear elasticity and fluid-flow problems, providing several numerical experiments.
This work has been submitted as a chapter in P. Benner, S. Grivet-Talocia, A. Quarteroni, G. Rozza, W.H.A. Schilders, L.M. Sileira. Handbook on Model Order Reduction. Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin, 2019+.


Cervical screening is concerned with the search for abnormal epithelial cells in smears prepared from scrapings from the uterine cervix. It is a highly skilled labour intensive operation and automated methods of detecting dyskariotic cells in cervical smears would be helpful. We report a fluorescence method of detecting abnormal cervical cells in smears and biopsies using a probe for guanidinobenzoatase. This approach has the potential for automation.


GBM is the most common primary malignant brain tumor, carrying an ominous prognosis (< 2 years survival).Vγ9+ γδ (Vγ9+) T cells mediate major histocompatibility non restricted killing of tumor cells, suggesting Vγ9+ T cell- mediated adoptive immunotherapy may be of benefit in this disease. We established a protocol for ex-vivo expansion of Vγ9+ T cells from the peripheral blood (PB) of GBM patients, in whom Vγ9+ T cells consisted 0.55±0.58%(n=16) of the PB mononuclear cells (MC) just prior to surgical resection of the tumor (vs 0.91±0.42% in 9 healthy donors (HD), p<0.08). We found no correlation between % Vγ9+ T cells in patient PBMC and survival following surgical removal of the tumor. Nevertheless, short term culture of PBMC in the presence of a bisphosphonate, zoledronate (2μM) and 100 IU IL-2, expanded Vγ9+ T cells of all patients 522±466 fold, to consist 54±21% of the cultured MC (not significantly different from HD). The cultured cells were cytotoxic and expressed cytokines in response to GBM cell lines and autologous tumor derived cells. Furthermore, pre-treatment of the tumor with zoledronate, as well as with the clinical anti-GBM reagent temozolomide (TMZ), enhanced Vγ9+ T cell tumor recognition. These data suggest that adoptive immunotherapy employing autologously derived ex vivo activated and expanded Vγ9+T cells, in combination with zoledronate andTMZ, may lead to enhanced therapeutic responses in GBM patients.


We proposed a new measure (SimPLD) for calculating the semantic similarity of terms in gene ontology (GO) based on the depth of least common ancestor (LCA) of two terms and the path length between them in GO hierarchy. The similarity between genes is computed based on this measure when it is applied to the GO-terms related to those genes. The method is based on the average of SimPLD between the GO terms annotated for both genes in a given gene pair. We evaluated the proposed method with a series of experiments on large groups of genes and proteins from two genomes: Saccharomyces database (SGD) and Drosophila Melanogaster (FlyBase); and one dataset of Human-Yeast protein pairs. The experimental results proved that the method has fairly impressive agreement with Blast sequence similarity. Therefore SimPLD can be used as an automated tool for determining the similarity between genes and proteins.


We study how phase information is developed and transferred between Bose-Einstein condensates. First, we investigate how the phase of an output pulse of an idealized atom laser can be controlled. We then use quantum simulations to show how a relative phase between coupled systems is established by dissipation and atomic interactions. Our simulations show that each realization settles to the same relative phase between modes: for uncoupled systems the phase varies from realization to realization. We use this to demonstrate how condensates may `naturally' possess a relative phase, and to explain the phase-locking mechanism in a recent experimental demonstration of a mode-locked atom laser.


ABSTRACT Varikoden, H.; Roja, C.; Revadekar, J.V., and Milind, M., 2020. Rainfall variation in major river basins in India and the association with the Indo-Pacific Oceans. In: Sheela Nair, L.; Prakash, T.N.; Padmalal, D., and Kumar Seelam, J. (eds.), Oceanic and Coastal Processes of the Indian Seas. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 89, pp. 1-6. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The summer monsoon rainfall is the major water source for most parts of India and people depend on this water source for their livelihood. The rainfall during this season is highly variable over space and time. The rainfall during the southwest monsoon period is the main source of flow discharge in most of the rivers in India. In the present study, we made an attempt to explore the variability and trends in rainfall over the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Godavari and Krishna river basins. Northern river basins show a negative trend indicating the decrease of rainfall and increasing trends are observed in peninsular river basins. The Brahmaputra river basin shows a significant decreasing trend (-0.16 mm day-1 decade-1). Moreover, the variability in multi-time scale is also different for different basins. Among all the river basins considered in the study, the Brahmaputra river basin registered high average rainfall (15.11 mm day-1 with a standard deviation of 2.23 mm day-1) and the Krishna river basin the least (3.57 mm day-1 with a standard deviation of 0.87 mm day-1). Further, the large scale teleconnection of the rainfall with individual river basins has also been assessed. The Ganga river basin is one of the largest river basins and this region is highly influenced by the Arabian Sea and the west Pacific Ocean (Nino 3.4 region). However, the Brahmaputra basin does not show much connection with Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) over the west Pacific Ocean, the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal. The rainfall in the Godavari and Krishna river basins have more influence on SSTs over the central Pacific Ocean.


Motivated by the detection of a recent outburst of the massive luminous blue variable LMC-R71, which reached an absolute magnitude MV = −9.3 mag, we undertook a systematic study of the optical variability of 1268 massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using a recent catalog by Bonanos et al. as the input. The ASAS All Star Catalog provided well-sampled light curves of these bright stars spanning 10 years. Combining the two catalogs resulted in 599 matches, on which we performed a variability search. We identified 117 variable stars, 38 of which were not known before, despite their brightness and large amplitude of variation. We found 13 periodic stars that we classify as eclipsing binary (EB) stars, 8 of which are newly discovered bright massive EBs composed of OB-type stars. The remaining 104 variables are either semi- or non-periodic, the majority (85) being red supergiants (RSGs). Most (26) of the newly discovered variables in this category are also RSGs with only three B and four O stars.


Harmonic radar technology can be used to track the dispersal of tagged insects. The tag consists of a wire antenna attached to a Schottky diode, which uses the original radar signal as an energy source, re-emitting a harmonic of the transmitted wavelength. Two forms of harmonic radar use this basic technology to study insect movement. The more sophisticated form consists of a ground-based scanning radar station that tracks the movement of a tagged insect on a circular radar display. A simpler, "off-the-shelf" form of harmonic radar is a commercially available, light-weight, handheld transmitter/receiver from RECCO Rescue Systems. We briefly review both of these forms and describe our experience monitoring the movement of carabid beetles in agricultural habitats with the handheld transmitter/receiver. We identified a commercial source of diodes compatible with the RECCO transmitter/receiver and tested several diode and wire combinations. We found that a tag built with a diode attached to a single section of 8-cm wire (monopole) was more appropriate for marking carabids. Tags built from flexible Teflon-coated wires were an improvement on tags built with stiff, aluminum wire, but beetle movement was still hindered. In corn and soybean fields, large carabids ( Scarites quadriceps Chaudoir and Harpalus pennsylvanicus , (DeG.) Coleoptera: Carabidae) could be recaptured even when they burrowed out of sight 3 to 9 cm below the soil surface. We discuss the trade-offs between tag detection and durability that occur when designing a tag for a given organism. Although the technique shows promise, producing a tag that does not hinder movement of the target insect in the field will require further development.


Despite years of investigation on international students' adjustment, cultural distance and cultural intelligence, the definitions of and the relationship between these concepts are not yet sufficiently well established. This article further explores the three concepts and their possible interrelations. We propose a hypothesized model that considers subjectively perceived cultural distance (PCD) a variable of specific importance, and wherein we assume that the relationship between PCD and international students' adjustment is moderated by students' cultural intelligence (CQ). Our model aims to better explain the dynamics between these variables; it posits that students' CQ level will affect whether and how PCD may influence international students' psychological, sociocultural and academic adjustment in the host country. Consequently, the model offers several implications for future research and possible interventions to support international students' adjustment in higher education.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about the early development of the gastric acid secretion in human neonates. The purpose of this study was to examine the early development of gastric H,K-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) by analyzing human gastric biopsy specimens.

METHODS
Eighty-eight neonates from week 25 to week 42 of gestation who were treated in a neonatal intensive care unit underwent gastroscopy with biopsy specimens obtained from the corpus. The expression of gastric H,K-ATPase protein in the gastric biopsy specimens was assessed by Western blot analysis, using an antibody directed against the gastric H,K-ATPase. The amount of H,K-ATPase expressed was compared with age, gender, clinical factors, diseases, and the macroscopic and histologic findings at endoscopy.

RESULTS
The expression of human gastric H,K-ATPase increased significantly with gestational age. There was a significant increase in the expression of gastric H,K-ATPase during the first 82 days after birth. Boys had a significantly higher expression of gastric H,K-ATPase than girls did, when it was adjusted for gestational and postnatal age. Neither the clinical features nor treatments showed significant correlations with the expression of human gastric H,K-ATPase when controlling for gestational and postnatal age.

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that human gastric H,K-ATPase is expressed from week 25 of gestation, which agrees with earlier findings of gastric pH in preterm infants. The amount of enzyme expressed increases with gestational and postnatal age. The authors speculate that the susceptibility to gastric lesions seen in neonates is not related to the amount of H,K-ATPase. However, studies elucidating the ontogeny of gastric mucosal defense mechanisms are warranted.


Suitability of using meat of swamp buffalo (carabeef) alone or in combination with pork in production of fermented sausage was assessed. Four combinations of sausage mix viz., 80% carabeef lean +20% carabeef fat (Combination I), 80% carabeef lean +10% carabeef fat (Combination II), 60% carabeef lean +20% pork lean +20% carabeef fat (Combination III) and 60% carabeef lean +20% pork lean +10% carabeef fat +10% pork fat (Combination IV) were used. pH of the sausages of all the four combinations declined from the beginning to the end of the production process and the sausages of Combination I recorded the lowest pH of 4.62±0.02. There was a gradual fall in the moisture content of the sausages with the advancement of production schedule and on 25th day, the moisture content were 40.13±1.05, 38.12±0.90, 40.22±1.12 and 39.04±0.15% in sausages of Combinations I to IV, respectively. Expulsion of moisture from the sausage mix might have caused an increase in crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and total ash (TA) content of sausages and in the finished product with the mean CP, EE and TA content recorded at 28.41±1.01 to 32.14±1.02, 25.97±1.10 to 30.22±1.09 and 2.58±0.09 to 2.98±0.03%, respectively. Ready-to-eat sausages contained residual nitrite between 21.45±3.67 to 23.87±5.09 mg/kg. The total viable counts, coliform and yeasts and moulds counts of the finished products were 5.38±0.12 to 5.50±0.04 log10cfu/g, 3±0 (MPN/g) and 3.28±0.12 to 3.39±0.09 log10cfu/g, respectively. Panel score for appearance and colour of sausages prepared with different combinations of the sausage mix were not different significantly. Sausages of Combinations I and II enjoyed significantly (P<0.01) higher panel ratings for flavour and juiciness, respectively. Good quality fermented sausage could be prepared with swamp buffalo beef alone or in combination with pork.


Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) is a widely used metric for measuring classification performance. It has important theoretical and academic values to develop AUC maximization algorithms. Traditional methods often apply batch learning algorithm to maximize AUC which is inefficient and unscalable for large-scale applications. Recently some online learning algorithms have been introduced to maximize AUC by going through the data only once. However, these methods sometimes fail to converge to an optimal solution due to the fixed or rapid decay of learning rates. To tackle this problem, we propose an algorithm AdmOAM, Adaptive Moment estimation method for Online AUC Maximization. It applies the estimation of moments of gradients to accelerate the convergence and mitigates the rapid decay of the learning rates. We establish the regret bound of the proposed algorithm and implement extensive experiments to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency.


Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recorded approximately 8.6 million confirmed cases and more than 450.000 deaths worldwide. As of today, Brazil remains the second most affected country, with more than 1 million confirmed cases and more than 50,000 related deaths. This study aimed to evaluate the temporal trend of the frequency of face mask use among Brazil's general population.Method: A cross-sectional survey method was adopted in this study. Online survey regarding sociodemographic and protective personal measures against COVID-19 was used to collect data. Data were collected from April 17 to May 15, 2020. The frequency of face mask use was divided into five categories: "never," "rarely," "sometimes," "frequently," and "always." Joinpoint regression model was employed to analyze the daily percentage change (DPC) of each category. Ethics aspects were considered.Results: A total of 14,756 volunteers comprised the study sample. The "frequently" and "always" categories represented 71% of the sample, with the former being superior to the latter (39.4% vs. 31.6%, respectively). Temporal trend analysis showed two trend periods for all categories. The "never," "rarely," and "sometimes" categories decreased in the first period and stabilized in the second period. Conversely, the "frequently" and "always" categories showed an upward trend. Like other categories, the "frequently" category had stabilized in the second period. However, the "always" category still showed an increasing trend in the second period. The association analysis results showed a decrease in the use of face masks in women, postgraduate people, those aged above 35 years, and those earning more than seven times the federal monthly income minimal wage. However, the use of masks increased among young people and those with elementary to graduate degrees. The "always" use of face masks increased in the south and decreased in the southeast of Brazil. Conclusion: The preponderance of the "frequently" category and the slow DPC in the second trend period of the "always" category suggest the necessity of further enforcement of the use of face masks in Brazil. The adaptation of this new habit among Brazilians is time demanding, and thus strategies must be implemented in a more natural way.


Background: The Cox-2 inhibitor, celecoxib (Pfizer Inc., N.Y., USA), is a promising chemopreventive agent [Arber et al.: N Engl J Med 2006;355:885–895; Bertagnolli et al.: N Engl J Med 2006;355:873–884]. This study aims to explore its mechanism by defining changes in gene expression between neoplastic and normal tissue samples before and after treatment. Methods: Patients with documented colorectal neoplasia in screening colonoscopy, destined to undergo surgical colectomy, were randomized for treatment with celecoxib (n = 11; 400 mg/day) or placebo (n = 3) for 30 days. Tissue samples were taken from the tumor and from normal adjacent mucosa during both colonoscopy and surgery. RNA was extracted and analyzed using Affymetrix Genechip®. Results: 687 genes differentiated tumor samples before and after treatment, among which 310 genes did not show the same differential expression in the placebo group or normal samples. These genes were significantly related to pathways of cell cycle regulation and inflammation, and of note was the TGF-β pathway, which held a strong association with the list of genes formerly found to be associated with the colorectal cancer expression profile in microarray analyses, as summarized in a meta-analysis by Cardoso et al. [Biochim Biophys Acta 2007;1775:103–137]. Conclusions: Celecoxib selectively affects genes and pathways involved in inflammation and malignant transformation in tumor but not normal tissues, this may assist in the development of safer and more effective chemopreventive agents.


Manual therapy has been shown to be effective for certain conditons but more research is needed to identify other suitable patients

Recent randomised clinical trials found manual therapy to be more effective than other methods of conservative management for low back and neck pain.1–5 On the other hand, some randomised clinical trials,6–13 systematic reviews,14 and meta-analyses15 concluded that there was no evidence that spinal manipulative therapy is superior to other standard treatments for patients with low back or neck pain. This provides the clinician with a Shakespearean quandary—to treat or not to treat using manual therapies? Therefore this leader addresses the question: what explains these apparently inconsistent data?.

The term manual therapy has many connotations, but for this leader it includes manually performed assessment and treatment methods (which can include joint, neural tissue, and/or muscle techniques). The term manipulation is typically used to describe small amplitude thrust techniques performed with speed.16

I searched Medline, Cinahl, and Embase databases for randomised clinical trials comparing spinal manual joint techniques (mobilisation with or without manipulation) or manipulation only with other conservative treatments for back or neck pain. Only studies published as full papers, in English, between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2003 were included. Pilot studies were not included. Table 1 outlines search strategies for each database. Thirteen studies met the criteria (table 2). One study of bone setting by Finnish folk healers who lacked formal education17 was excluded as all other studies involved formally educated professionals.

View this table:

 Table 1
 Search strategy

View this table:

 Table 2
 Studies reviewed

Examining the trials for homogeneity revealed that the mean age of participants was similar among the studies and most participants were white (except for two studies6,11). Thus factors related to the population studied did not appear to explain the conflicting results. …


(ACSA) to solve the optimal reconfiguration in radial distribution systems with and without distributed resource (DG) for power loss reduction that determine the optimal location and size of DG according to problem constrains. The ACSA is a relatively powerful intelligence evolution method for solving optimization problems. It is a population-based approach that was inspired from natural behavior of the ant colonies on how they find the food source and bring them back to their nest by creating the unique trail formation. The ACSA applies local pheromone updating rule, and global pheromone-updating rule to promote the computation. In this paper ACSA algorithm programmed on Matlab applied to the typical distribution system 3 feeders, 17 buses and one feeder of 33 bus of IEEE distribution system. And results show the effectiveness of ACSA algorithm in solving reconfiguration problems. after that by placing DG units in buses that algorithm determines for minimum losses and sizes are according to problem constrains the effects of DG units in power losses examined.


Design algorithms and simulation results are presented for vector quantizers for Fourier transformed data. Transforming the data prior to quantization has two potential advantages. First, each sample in the transform domain depends on many samples in the original domain. Thus, even scalar quantization in the transform domain is a form of vector quantization or block source coding in the original waveform domain and the basic coding theorems of information theory show that such block codes can provide better performance than scalar codes, even for memoryless sources. Second, vector quantization of Fourier transformed speech waveforms provides distinctly better subjective quality than ordinary vector quantization of the waveform using codes of comparable complexity. While the system is, of course, more complicated due to the need to take Fourier transforms, its envisioned application is as a coder for the output of FFT chips currently available or under development. The proposed implementation of a Fourier transform vector quantizer (FTVQ) uses a product code structure, providing different codes for different coefficient vectors corresponding to different frequency bands. This is a form of subband coding and yields a simple means of optimizing bit allocations among the subcodes. Two coding structures with corresponding distortion measures are considered: those that quantize vectors of pairs of real and imaginary coefficients and those that quantize separate vectors of magnitude and phase coefficients. Both structures yield good performance for the given complexity in comparison to waveform vector quantizers. For speech coding, a magnitude-phase FTVQ yields better subjective quality than a real-imaginary FTVQ when the rate allocation is properly chosen.


The aim of this paper is to give an analytic way of Balancing Memory between some virtual machines with adaptive compression method. This paper gives a theoretical analysis gathering some ideas and conclusions of different papers and presents the situation of Memory Balancing and kinds of the approaches in Compression Memory Pages. The paper presents in summarized way all the features that can be used and clarifies the new challenges in the future. It gives aspects on Balancing memory shared between some Virtual Machines to eliminate Hotspots, providing some mechanisms which compress total throughput of data memory between different hosts. This methods are dictated by Live Migration technology with pre-copy method.


Multiple myeloma (MM) remains a devastating incurable disease. Because of their secretory nature, MM cells heavily rely on proteostasis networks to maintain homeostasis. Indeed, paraprotein production by MM cells imposes a protein-folding burden that provides an opportunity for therapeutic intervention: because protein production in MM cells can exceed the buffering capacity of the cell for protein degradation, they are exquisitely sensitive to proteasome inhibitors. While successful, standard-of-care proteasome inhibitors, like bortezomib, remain not curative, as patients ultimately become refractory, suggesting the selection of genetic escape routes. Employing an ultra-complex shRNA library, we performed pooled shRNA screens in RPMI-8226, U-266, and JJN-3 MM cells, and in K-562 leukemia cells, and identified genes whose diminished function impact the cell9s response to proteasome inhibition. Unexpectedly, we found that, contrary to knockdown of subunits in the 20S proteasome core-particle, the genetic ablation of subunits within the 19S regulatory-particle led to partial desensitization towards bortezomib. Proteome-wide analyses of in vivo ubiquitylated sites in K562 cells, in which we constitutively ablated a component of the 19S regulatory-particle, revealed potential candidate substrates that were differentially degraded in knockdown cells. We are investigating the mechanistic basis for this differential degradation to pinpoint key substrates mediating proteasome inhibitor resistance. Our results reveal potential escape routes in MM tumor cells to proteasome inhibitors, suggesting new promising targets to pre-empt resistance. Citation Format: Diego Acosta-Alvear, Martin Kampmann, Min Y. Cho, Thomas Wild, Chunaram Choudhary, Marc A. Shuman, Jonathan S. Weissman, Peter Walter. Opposing roles of the 19S regulatory- and 20S core-proteasomal subunits in controlling sensitivity of multiple myeloma cells to proteasome inhibition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies; Sep 20-23, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2015;21(17 Suppl):Abstract nr A43.


We present the first chromosome-level genome assembly of the grasshopper, Locusta migratoria, one of the largest insect genomes. We use coverage differences between females (XX) and males (X0) to identify the X chromosome gene content, and find that the X chromosome shows both complete dosage compensation in somatic tissues and an underrepresentation of testes-expressed genes. Remarkably, X-linked gene content from L. migratoria is highly conserved across four insect orders, namely Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera and Diptera, and the 800 Mb grasshopper X chromosome is homologous to the fly ancestral X chromosome despite 400 million years of divergence, suggesting either repeated origin of sex chromosomes with highly similar gene content, or long-term conservation of the X chromosome. We use this broad conservation of the X chromosome to test for temporal dynamics to Fast-X evolution, and find evidence of a recent burst evolution for new X-linked genes in contrast to slow evolution of X-conserved genes. Additionally, our results reveal the X chromosome represents a hotspot for adaptive protein evolution related migration and the locust swarming phenotype. Overall, our results reveal a remarkable case of conservation and adaptation on the X chromosome.


Target tracking is an element of systems that performs tasks such as surveillance, navigation, aviation and obstacle avoidance. It is generally difficult to represent different behavioural aspects of the motion of a manœuvring target with a single model. Therefore multiple model-based approaches are usually required when seeking solutions for manœuvring target tracking problems, which are generally non-linear. In the recent years, new strategies have been developed via the combination of the interacting multiple model (IMM) method and variants of particle filters (PFs). The former accounts for mode switching, while the latter account for non-linearity and/or non-Gaussianity in the dynamic system models for the posed problems. This paper considers an IMM algorithm for tracking three-dimensional (3D) target motion with manœuvres. The proposed algorithm comprises a constant velocity model, a constant acceleration model and a 3D turning rate (3DTR) model. A variety of combinations of extended Kalman filters (EKFs), unscented Kalman filters (UKFs) and PFs are used for the models. The proposed IMM algorithm variants are applied to a problem on the 3D manœuvring target tracking. Simulation test results show that by using a computationally economical PF in the 3DTR model, with EKFs and/or UKFs in the remaining models, superior performance in state estimation can be achieved at relatively modest computational costs.


Inclusive fitness theory and kin selection theory are among the most recognizable theories associated with evolutionary biology and psychology—they are also among the most widely misunderstood. The problem begins early, in undergraduate psychology textbooks. Here, ten social psychology textbooks were reviewed, and they were all found to contain at least one form of misunderstanding. Because these misunderstandings appear to result partly from people's intuitions about kinship and adaptive behavior (which are not necessarily in line with the scientific theories), writers must be especially vigilant in order to combat the misunderstandings.


After presenting the epidemiologic and pathophysiologic pattern, the paper focuses on the evaluation of elderly hypertensives, on nonpharmacological and particularly on pharmacological treatment. Further, possibilities of individualized treatment, resistance to treatment, complications of hypertensive disease in elderly subjects, as well as beneficial effects of management are described.


Introduction . Turkey potentially has a very rich source of sweet (Prunus avium ) and sour (P. cerasus ) cherries. P. avium is apparently native to some parts of Northern Turkey, where Giresun is located. Identification of the sweet cherry cultivars produced in Turkey will help in choosing appropriate cultivars and aid in the preservation of natural resources required for breeding studies. The most conventional method of cultivar identification is based on the assessment of morphological characteristics. However, this method is insufficient to distinguish closely related cultivars. The aims of our study were to determine the molecular profile of sweet cherry accessions grown in Giresun, Turkey, and to determine their genetic relationships. Materials and methods . In our study, we identified 44 sweet cherry accessions grown in Giresun by using genetic markers (SSR, Simple Sequence Repeat), and we determined the genetic relationships among the sweet cherry genotypes. For DNA isolation, we collected young leaves sampled on a single plant per accession, then amplification of microsatellite loci was performed. In total, ten SSR primer pairs, previously isolated from peach and sweet cherry, were used. Genetic similarity values were calculated. A cluster analysis was performed to generate a dendrogram. Results and discussion . Of the ten primers tested, six primer pairs did not result in suitable amplification products with the 44 accessions studied. The remaining four polymorphic SSR primer pairs produced 33 alleles with an average of 8.25 putative alleles per locus, ranging from 7 to 11. Depending on the accessions, similarity ratios ranged from 0.32 to 0.98, with a mean value of 0.64. In conclusion, the results obtained demonstrate a high level of polymorphism among sweet cherry genotypes from a single province in Turkey.


This article presents a new data-driven method for locating leaks in water distribution networks (WDNs). It is triggered after a leak has been detected in the WDN. The proposed approach is based on the use of inlet pressure and flow measurements, other pressure measurements available at some selected inner nodes of the WDN, and the topological information of the network. A reduced-order model structure is used to calculate non-leak pressure estimations at sensed inner nodes. Residuals are generated using the comparison between these estimations and leak pressure measurements. In a leak scenario, it is possible to determine the relative incidence of a leak in a node by using the network topology and what it means to correlate the probable leaking nodes with the available residual information. Topological information and residual information can be integrated into a likelihood index used to determine the most probable leak node in the WDN at a given instant k or, through applying the Bayes' rule, in a time horizon. The likelihood index is based on a new incidence factor that considers the most probable path of water from reservoirs to pressure sensors and potential leak nodes. In addition, a pressure sensor validation method based on pressure residuals that allows the detection of sensor faults is proposed.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Sanguinaria canadensis tincture associated to a chewing gum regarding to dental plaque score (O'Leary) and Streptococcus CUFs. Forty eight students of the University Jose do Rosario Vellano - Brazil took part in this double blind, placebo control study, with ages ranging from 18 to 25 years old, patterned into three groups: placebo group; Sanguinaria canadensis 2.1 mg/day, and Sanguinaria canadensis 4.2 mg/day. Chewing gums were used three times a day for ten days. During the first phase of the study, the chewing gum action was evaluated on dental plaque already installed and in the second phase its action was analyzed on the forming plaque. The results showed statistically significant differences among group I in the first and second phases of the study (p < 0.05 Anova One Way - Tukey Test, t student). The results related to the number of Streptococcus sp. showed statistically sig- nificant differences among groups I, II and III, with 0, 5, 15 and 30 minutes after using the chewing gums (p < 0.01 t Stu- dent test), These values suggest that Sanguinaria canadensis associated to a chewing gum decreased significantly dental plaque scores and number of Streptococcus sp. when compared to placebo chewing gums.


A geophysical survey involving vertical electrical sounding (VES) was carried out at Makurdi, Benue State Capital which is in the North Central of Nigeria using Schlumberger electrode array. The results show that the area is characterized by 4–5 geoelectric subsurface layers. The measured aquifer thickness ranges from 6 to 69 m, with an average value of 36.7 m and the aquifer resistivity ranges from 7 to 378 Ωm with an average of 133.8 Ωm. The aquifer thickness and aquifer resistivity were used to compute the values of the hydraulic conductivity and transmissivity. The aquifer thickness and aquifer resistivity along side with the estimated hydraulic conductivity and Transmissivity were used as indices for evaluation of groundwater potentials. The groundwater productivity potential in the area has been classified into two zones namely; high and intermediate. This study has revealed that no single index determines the groundwater productivity potential but a combination of two or more factors.


The steady state levels of the prodynorphin-derived opioid peptides, dynorphin A, dynorphin B, and alpha-neo-endorphin, have been extensively studied in the magnocellular/posterior pituitary system of the rat. To determine whether the rat system serves as a general model for prodynorphin processing in the mammalian posterior pituitary, we examined the steady state levels of prodynorphin-derived opioid peptides in the posterior pituitary systems of representatives of three diverse orders of mammals: guinea pig (order Rodentia), pig (order Artiodactyla), and rhesus monkey (order Primates). In each species studied there was evidence for species-specific deviations from the rat model. The most pronounced differences were observed with respect to the conversion of dynorphin A-(1-17) to dynorphin A-(1-8). In rodents, rats, and guinea pigs, under steady state conditions, the molar ratios of these forms are approximately 1:2 and 2.5:1, respectively. However, in the pig and rhesus monkey, the molar ratios of these forms are 10:1 and 14:1, respectively. Thus, under steady state conditions, the conversion of dynorphin A-(1-17) to dynorphin A-(1-8) appears to be a minor event in porcine and rhesus monkey posterior pituitary. Species-specific variations were also observed with respect to the steady state levels of alpha-neo-endorphin and dynorphin B-(1-13). In addition, the results of these studies suggest that the conversion of prodynorphin-derived opioids to leu-enkephalin probably represents a minor event in the species studied.


The double beta decay electron energy spectra of [sup 82]Se, [sup 100]Mo, and [sup 150]Nd have been measured with a time projection chamber, and departures from the expected two-neutrino spectral shapes have been observed. Efforts to reduce possible background contamination have been made, and tests are now being done in an effort to determine whether the anomalous signals are real effects, or simply experimental artifacts.


We examine the effect of cations in solutions containing benzotriazole (BTA) and H2O2 on copper chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). On the base of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and material removal rate (MRR) results, it is found that ammonia shows the highest MRR as well as good surface after CMP, while KOH demonstrates the worst performance. These results reveal a mechanism that small molecules with lone-pairs rather than molecules with steric effect and common inorganic cations are better for copper CMP process, which is indirectly confirmed by open circuit potential (OCP).


The paper quantified the yield responses of maize, millet and sorghum in Nigeria using error correction model. The analysis was carried out using a time series data covering 1966-2008. LR-test statistic showed that there was cointegrating vector implying a unique long-run equilibrium relationship with the assumption of linear deterministic trend in the data. The error correction model results indicated that maize, millet, and sorghum yield were not significantly dependent on the prices of maize, millet, and sorghum in the short-run with the exception of millet yield which was dependent on own price. In the long-run, maize yield was statistically dependent on the prices of millet and sorghum. The paper concluded that maize supply was influenced by market signals (prices) and hence small incremental changes in millet and sorghum prices have significant impact on national maize supply level. It is recommended that millet and sorghum price stabilization policy will go a long way in increasing maize production. This will have a consequential effect of increasing the welfare of maize farmers.


Peripheral arterial disease is one of the key indicators of diabetic foot, which can be easily identified by ultrasound diagnostic techniques. The work aims to detect diabetic foot in early stages by classifying the blood flow signals of lower extremity arteries being captured by ultrasound doppler methods. Samples are collected from diabetic patients with and without having probable symptoms of arterial diseases. Doppler examination has been conducted on posterior tibial artery for 354 subjects with a transducer of 8 MHz frequency. The auscultation, method of listening sounds of internal organs, is employed as medical diagnostic tool for identifying pathological conditions. Each artery in the human body has a unique profile of Doppler flow. This fixed profile may be changed with the presence of a particular disease. The received signal has a spectrum of Doppler-shifted signals with respect to the existence of a velocity profile across the vessel lumen. Changes to the shape of this profile is an indicator of the severity of disease. Various features are extracted by using various statistical and signal processing functions. The feature analysis was accomplished with machine learning algorithms. Naïve Bayes, Tree and SVM algorithms are employed with MATLAB Toolboxes. Comparing the performance of these algorithms, the Tree method is found superior than the others. So, the proposed classification methodology can be employed as a key factor for the early stage detection of diabetic foot. As diabetic foot is correlated with many other parameters which effects the pressure and flow velocity of lower extremities, an integrated disease prediction model is proposed by incorporating the ultrasound doppler technique.


Herpes gestationis is a nosologically undefined uncommon bullous disease in pregnancy. In a patient with herpes gestationis C3, C5 und C9 deposits could be demonstrated by immunohistological methods at the epidermal basement membrane (BM). Deposits of immunoglobulins, properdin and C3PA were absent. Autoantibodies against BM were found in the serum of the mother by using rabbit oesophagus but not with normal human skin as antigen. In the sera of mother and child a factor could be demonstrated which in vitro leads to complement fixation in human epidermal BM. Immunopathological findings may speak in favor of a nosological entity of herpes gestationis with respect to dermatitis herpetiformis and bullous pemphigoid.


Media education and media literacy research and practice arguably incline towards reductionism by being focused on a single medium (e.g. film) or a group of media (e.g. digital) and by being predominantly preoccupied with learners' reasoning and critical thinking. Moreover, whilst literacy theory and practice is no longer seen as a causal factor but rather an enabling one (as equally discovered by this research), the direct correlation between critical and creative media literacy and individuals' as well as society's wellbeing seems to dominate academic, public, policy, and educational debates. Much research has therefore aimed at adapting media literacy education, which had mostly been developed at the secondary level, to younger children and primary classrooms whilst neglecting education as a staged progress and the multidimensional developmental as well as sociocultural changes novice learners arguably undergo within the first years of compulsory education. There indeed are many valuable studies about media literacy education at primary level that address these issues, yet they are often country specific and conducted in one school or one classroom. This interdisciplinary and intercultural classroom research was instead interested in the current and potential 'media learning' – defined as intentional and naturally occurring learning about any media with, from, in, or even without the physical presence of, any media source – and was carried out in two Czech and two US public primary (lower elementary) schools across the first three grades with six to nine/ten year olds and their teachers. The research explored media's role in the child's in- and outof- school collective and individual thoughts, actions, feelings, and relationships, whilst asking how the child learnt, and could learn, about media within these processes and how the teacher facilitated, and could facilitate, such media learning. 'Grounded philosophy' was developed as a philosophy-led, flexible and responsive research methodology suitable for intercultural inductive research that, although being grounded in participants' individual and collective sociocultural-historical context, is capable of arriving to transferrable and holistic conceptual understanding – or 'a grounded philosophy' that asks 'what is' as well as 'what could be'. The methodology itself represents an original contribution to knowledge. In total, twelve classrooms were observed of which the twentyfour teachers together with specialised and managerial staff were interviewed, and sixty-five children (thirty-three girls and thirty-two boys) were involved in photo-elicitation group and individual interviews. The research discovered that, firstly, the teachers aimed to holistically address the whole learner, which was believed to be achievable only through acknowledging and drawing upon the child's unique historicity. Secondly, the child's media life was situated within his or her holistic system in which every experience was interconnected and dialogic – their past, present and future whole being and becoming, individual and collective media experience, classroom and media learning, as well as the diverse media platforms, texts, and practices – and thus hermeneutic. Such hermeneutic experience was an unfinalisable learning experience of which long-term value is arguably difficult to immediately evaluate, and thus instead of the adult judging the child's media life from reductionist and cause-and-effect perspectives while teaching objective truths about media, the learner shall be guided by the teacher through learning to reflect on his or her own individual and collective media experience. The original argument therefore is for replacing reductionist media-centric with holistic and hermeneutic experience-centric research and educational approach to the primary school child's learning that blends classroom and media experiences into one continuous and dialogic whole person learning. Honouring formal education as a staged process and primary education as a foundation of lifelong learning, the proposed (media and classroom) learning proceeds critical and creative media literacy education by building a foundation for lifelong learning about media.


Porosity in additively manufactured materials, such as laser powder bed fusion Ti-Al6-V4, can play an important role in their mechanical performance. Not only the total porosity but also the shape/morphology of the individual pores need to be considered. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the distributions of different defect types (especially fusing defects and keyhole pores) and their dependence on process parameters. We show that synchrotron X-ray refraction radiography allows analysis of large samples (up to several millimeters) without compromising the detectability of submicrometer defects. Correspondingly, a classification tool is introduced that is able to quantitatively distinguish defects such as keyhole pores and binding defects with a confidence level of 94 %, even when the shape cannot be discerned because of limited spatial resolution.


We report two new first-order Raman modes in the spectra of few-layer MoS$_2$ at 286~cm$^{-1}$ and 471~cm$^{-1}$ for excitation energies above 2.4~eV. These modes appear only in few-layer MoS$_2$; therefore their absence provides an easy and accurate method to identify single-layer MoS$_2$. We show that these modes are related to phonons that are not observed in the single layer due to their symmetry. Each of these phonons leads to several nearly degenerate phonons in few-layer samples. The nearly degenerate phonons in few-layer materials belong to two different symmetry representations, showing opposite behavior under inversion or horizontal reflection. As a result, Raman active phonons exist in few-layer materials that have nearly the same frequency as the symmetry forbidden phonon of the single layer. We provide here a general treatment of this effect for all few-layer two-dimensional crystal structures with an inversion center or a mirror plane parallel to the layers. We show that always nearly degenerate phonon modes of different symmetry must occur and, as a result, similar pseudo-activation effects can be excepted.


At the intersection of sex and technology, the marketing behind sex products has changed drastically from the analogue to digital age over the last century and has become increasingly prevalent in mainstream media and popular culture. This major research project explores the ethos of female empowerment embedded in sex product marketing and the changing discourse and rhetoric present in the marketing of sex products in the early 20th century compared to modern day. Drawing upon feminist theories of marketing, popular culture and sexuality, this research project aims to expand on existing literature by researching how the ways in which sex product brands market and present themselves have changed from the physical to digital space. In particular, this project explores how modern brands continue to initiate new conversations about sex, gender, and sexuality and foster the community that was driven by the rise of sex toyshops and parties in the 20th century.