Hybrid materials allow the engineering of new material properties by creative uses of proximity effects. When two dissimilar materials are in close physical proximity the properties of each one may be radically modified or occasionally a completely new material emerges. In the area of magnetism, controlling the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic thin films without magnetic fields is an on- going challenge with multiple technological implications for low- energy consumption memory and logic devices. Interesting possibilities include ferromagnets in proximity to dissimilar materials such as antiferromagnets or oxides that undergo metal-insulator transitions. The proximity of ferromagnets to antiferromagnets has given rise to the extensively studied Exchange Bias[1]. Our recent investigations in this field have addressed crucial issues regarding the importance of the antiferromagnetic [2-3] and ferromagnetic [4] bulk for the Exchange Bias and the unusual short time dynamics [5]. In a series of recent studies, we have investigated the magnetic properties of different hybrids of ferromagnets (Ni, Co and Fe) and oxides, which undergo metal-insulator and structural phase transitions. Both the static as well as dynamical properties of the ferromagnets are drastically affected. Static properties such as the coercivity, anisotropy and magnetization [6-8] and dynamical properties such as the microwave response are clearly modified by the proximity effect and give raise to interesting perhaps useful properties. Work supported by US-AFOSR and US-DOE


IN a critical analysis of experimental tumor chemotherapy different screening methods, tumor models, applications methods, polychemotherapeutic methods, preclinical toxicology and pharmacokinetic experiments are described and their importance for clinical tumor chemotherapy is demonstrated. Experimental tumor chemotherapy, guided by clinical requirements, is an indispensable and direct tool for clinical tumor chemotherapy.


Introduction: The transdermal route of administration has been extensively accepted as one of the potential route for the local and systemic delivery of drugs. The greatest obstacle in drug absorption is the highly organized stratum corneum (SC), which hinder drug transport. The probable solution leads to inclusion of penetration enhancers for reversibly disorganizing the barrier characteristic of stratum corneum. Objective: The main objective of the research work was to study the influence of peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, clove oil and turpentine oil as penetration enhancers on the percutaneous absorption of Meloxicam (ME) from a Carbopol 934 based gel formulation. Materials and Methods: ME gel sample was divided into 5 batches i.e., F1, F2, F3, F4, F5. Except F1, all other batches were incorporated with penetration enhancers (5% w/w) namely peppermint oil, clove oil, lemongrass oil and turpentine oil. The formulations were further evaluated for in-vitro drug release studies using a standard cellophane membrane at 37± 0.5 ̊ C in phosphate buffer pH 7.4 and a comparative anti-inflammatory activity was conducted using rat paw edema method. Result and Discussion: In-vitro permeation studies using a standard cellophane membrane showed that the rank order of enhancement ratio (ERflux) for Meloxicam as peppermint oil (1.414) > clove oil (1.353) > lemongrass oil (1.326) > turpentine oil (1.272) proving peppermint oil as the most competent penetration enhancer for Meloxicam. Further Invivo anti-inflammatory activity were carried out using the standard rat paw edema method. The in vivo studies revealed that gel containing peppermint, clove, lemongrass and turpentine exhibited 2.53, 2.0, 1.9 and 1.38 times higher anti-inflammatory effect as compared to meloxicam (standard). Conclusion: It can be concluded from the study that all the 4 terpenes significantly increases the permeation of meloxicam gels and can be used as effective penetration enhancers.


In spite of the important role of the Shawnee tribe of American Indians in the Colonial period and the early years of the American republic, they have been virtually ignored by the scholarly world. Anthropologists have paid little attention to the Shawnees, despite the tribe's rich culture and pivotal position among the other tribes in eastern North America. In this first comprehensive account of Shawnee culture, Dr. Howard assembled data concerning the tribe by utilizing published accounts, documents, maps, photographs, and paintings; and by visiting present-day Shawnees and participating in their ceremonies, games and everyday activities. The work is embellished with musical notations of Shawnee songs, maps, heirloom photographs and several photographs taken by the author during his fieldwork. Of particular interest is a remarkable series of paintings of Shawnee life by gifted Shawnee artist, Earnest Spybuck.


The non-destructive x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) method was applied to the quantitative determination of chromium and arsenic species in coal fly ash. In order to study the chemical state changes caused by deposition and sedimentation of the particles, land fill and river sediment samples obtained in the neighborhood of power plants were also investigated. The measurements were carried out at the X26 beam line of the BNL National Synchrotron Light Source (USA) in fluorescent mode. For achieving quantitative results on the ratio of close-lying oxidation state forms, a non-linear fitting model was developed to process the XANES spectra obtained. The features of the spectra such as the white line, the multiple scattering resonance peak and the absorption edge were modelled with analytical functions. The results obtained show that chromium is present mostly (>95%) as Cr(III) in fly ash and the chemical state remains the same after deposition and sedimentation. Arsenic is present as As(V) in fly ash and land fill samples, while the possible As(III) content of sediment samples is around 40%. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation is a 2-dimensional (2D) modulation scheme designed in the delay-Doppler domain, unlike traditional modulation schemes which are designed in the time-frequency domain. Through a series of 2D transformations, OTFS converts a doubly-dispersive channel into an almost non-fading channel in the delay-Doppler domain. In this domain, each symbol in a frame experiences an almost constant fade, thus achieving significant performance gains over existing modulation schemes such as OFDM. The sparse delay-Doppler impulse response which reflects the actual physical geometry of the wireless channel enables efficient channel estimation, especially in high-Doppler fading channels. This paper investigates OTFS from a signal detection and channel estimation perspective, and proposes a Markov chain Monte-Carlo sampling based detection scheme and a pseudo-random noise (PN) pilot based channel estimation scheme in the delay-Doppler domain.


Although the overall incidence of thermal injuries continues to decrease, the incidence of certain types of burns is alarmingly high. Approximately 3000 propane fires and explosions are reported yearly. More than 9% of these cases result in bodily injury, and the mortality rate is more than 7% of the injured. Most of the accidents are felt to be the result of a lack of knowledge among the general public in regard to the use of liquid petroleum (LP) gas, which is a low-cost and widely used fuel source. A series of accidents that resulted in several injuries in the midsouth area heightened our awareness of the problems associated with LP-gas storage, transportation, and use. A review of the incidence of use and injury, warning systems, product liability status, and prevention strategies are reported to help educate health care providers and increase public awareness of the problems associated with propane gas.


Interaction Grammar (IG) is a grammatical formalism based on the notion of polarity. Polarities express the resource sensitivity of natural languages by modelling the distinction between saturated and unsaturated syntactic structures. Syntactic composition is represented as a chemical reaction guided by the saturation of polarities. It is expressed in a model-theoretic framework where grammars are constraint systems using the notion of tree description and parsing appears as a process of building tree description models satisfying criteria of saturation and minimality.


We discuss time displaced entanglement, produced by taking one member of a Bell pair on a round trip at relativistic speeds, thus inducing a time-shift between the pair. We show that decoherence with respect to Bell measurements on the pair is predicted. We then study a teleportation protocol, using time displaced entanglement as its resource, in which a time-like loop is apparently formed. The result is non-unitary, non-linear evolution of the teleported state.


We develop a probabilistic framework for global modeling of the traffic over a computer network. This model integrates existing single-link (-flow) traffic models with the routing over the network to capture the global traffic behavior. It arises from a limit approximation of the traffic fluctuations as the time--scale and the number of users sharing the network grow. The resulting probability model is comprised of a Gaussian and/or a stable, infinite variance components. They can be succinctly described and handled by certain 'space-time' random fields. The model is validated against simulated and real data. It is then applied to predict traffic fluctuations over unobserved links from a limited set of observed links. Further, applications to anomaly detection and network management are briefly discussed.


This gamma irradiation study was conducted to produce sweet potato mutants having high yield and high starch content. Regenerated plants from gamma-irradiated stems were grown in the field. Twenty-nine plant lines were selected by estimating storage root size, shape and yield. Genetic variation and phylogenetic relationship among the lines were investigated assuming the specific traits. Also, the flowering of sweet potato should be artificially induced by grafting and short-day treatment in north-east regions of Asia, such as Korea and Japan (Ahn et al., 2002). Furthermore, the self- and cross-incompatibility of this crop limits the use of genetic resources, and it is very difficult to breed new varieties and improve varieties through cross breeding (Ahn et al., 2002; Martin, 1965). Mutation breeding can be used as a major approach in improving sweet potato varieties, since it is a clonally propagated crop. Irradiation-induced mutation breeding is effective in improving sweet potato characters such as yield, starch and soluble sugar content, carotenoids content of storage roots and disease resistance (Kukimura, 1986; Wang et al., 2007). Irradiation has also been successfully used for mutation breeding in various crops and ornamental plants (Song and Kang, 2003) and has proven an adept means of encouraging the expression of recessive genes and producing new genetic variations (Schum, 2003; Song and Kang, 2003; Yoon et al., 1990). Sweet potato is a typical starch crop that is used as a foodstuff and, importantly, for industrial applications. In the present study, gamma irradiation-mediated mutation breeding was applied to sweet potato to produce useful varieties having a high yield and high starch content. Irradiation-induced mutants were grown in the field and assessed for their starch and sugar characteristics.

 Key words: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.), gamma-ray, mutation breeding, RAPD.


The Software Engineering learning, as one of the main subjects of Computer Engineering degree, requires constant technological innovation. New tools must be added to the subject. But this is not easy with present LMS (Learning Management System). Faced with this situation we will try to open the platform used in the subject to personalized learning environments, using a service-oriented architecture and widget engine to define learning portable components.


DNA samples are often used to identify fish before they are utilised in other experiments. Our recent research has shown that skin swabbing can be used to collect DNA for genotyping, and that swabbing causes less harm to fish than fin clipping, another common technique. In this study we investigated potential refinements to the skin swabbing protocol by pre-treating fish with the analgesic lidocaine. We could not detect any differences in cortisol release, behaviour or expression of stress axis marker genes in skin swabbed sticklebacks or zebrafish regardless of lidocaine application. In contrast, fin clipping caused changes in cortisol release, gene expression and behaviour when analgesia was not used. These changes were rescued by pre-treatment with lidocaine confirming that analgesia was effective. The results demonstrates that skin swabbing is a refined technique for DNA collection that does not require analgesia.


OBJECTIVE
Investigate whether cholecalciferol supplementation leads to weight loss in overweight and obese adults.

DESIGN
Randomized double blind clinical trial with 20,000 IU cholecalciferol twice a week, or 20,000 IU once a week plus placebo, or placebo twice a week, for 12 months. All subjects were given 500 mg calcium supplementation.

METHODS
Four hundred and forty five healthy, overweight, and obese men and women (age 21-70 years, body mass index (BMI) 28.0-47.0 kg/m(2)). Body weight, fatness, and fat distribution parameters were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and anthropometry, blood samples and 24-h urinary samples were collected.

RESULTS
At baseline, there were no significant differences between the groups, but there was a significant inverse relation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and BMI, and a significant positive association between calorie intake and BMI. Three hundred and thirty four subjects completed the study. During the study, there was no significant change in weight, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) or percentage body fat in any of the groups, nor between them. Parathyroid hormone decreased and 25(OH)D increased significantly in both groups receiving cholecalciferol, and serum levels of 25(OH)D stabilized after 3 months. Serum calcium was unchanged in all groups. Urinary calcium excretion increased in all groups, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Weekly dosage of 20,000-40,000 IU cholecalciferol for 12 months was associated with a low risk of adverse effects, at least in overweight and obese adults living at latitude 70 degrees N.

CONCLUSION
Significant weight reduction in overweight and obese subjects is unlikely to occur with cholecalciferol supplementation.


The development of the human society the world over, particularly the rural poor in developing countries, has remained a key challenge because of exposure to varying forms of risks, including income risk and widespread corruption. The attendant shocks have had a devastating effect on the poor and rural households in Nigeria and have worsened the poverty situation and crime rate. This paper examines these negative trends and makes some recommendations for addressing them. The adoption of sound management policies by both the public and private sector, government enhancement of the productive capacities of poor households and provision of reliable and functional safety-nets will help contain poverty and crime. More emphasis should be placed on preventive rather than detective/corrective control measures considering their cost- effectiveness. Public sector wages and incentives should be reviewed periodically to reflect the realities of the times, and good moral values should be taught in the school system to reverse the ugly trend.


Author(s): Park, Jenny L. | Advisor(s): Timmerman, John M; Morrison, Sheri L | Abstract: Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have revolutionized the therapy of B cell lymphomas, but are only partially effective. While current genetic engineering and efforts are yielding mAbs with enhanced antibody-dependent cellular functions, these improvements are largely incremental and do not result in altering the tumor microenvironment and host immune cells to favor immune-mediated tumor destruction. We hypothesize that the efficacy of anti-lymphoma mAbs can be improved by linking these precise tumor-targeting vehicles to immunomodulatory substances for release within the tumor microenvironment. Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) are prime candidates for boosting anti-lymphoma immunity. Thus we aimed to characterize the activity and mechanisms of action of anti-CD20-CpG conjugates in a syngeneic immunocompetent model for B cell lymphomas.We confirmed that anti-CD20-CpG conjugates can be purified from unconjugated antibody and CpG while maintaining biological activity. Confocal microscopy studies with fluorescently-labeled conjugates revealed cellular uptake on human CD20 expressing mouse lymphoma cells, suggesting CpG is able to enter the cell even when targeting a non-internalizing target. Lastly, conjugates had superior normal B cell depletion efficiency compared to rituximab; even in more resistant B cell compartments such as the peritoneal cavity.


ABSTRACT
 The megatherioid sloths from the Santa Cruz Formation (Santacrucian Age; early-middle Miocene, Patagonia, southernmost South America) occupy basal positions in the most recent phylogenetic schemes. The cranial morphology of Eucholaeops, particularly of the teeth, suggests interesting functional features that shed light on the type of food it was capable of processing, and thus on the diet. A detailed morphofunctional analysis of the jaw apparatus was performed, and the results briefly compared with other contemporary megatherioid sloths. Comprehensive descriptions of the teeth of Eucholaeops allow us to generate a nomenclature for describing the inferred occlusal pattern analogous to that applied to other mammals. Based on examination and mapping of occlusal wear facets, we reconstruct two distinct jaw movements during the power stroke. One corresponds to the basic therian pattern equivalent to Phase I: the working side mandibular corpus is moved dorsally, mainly orthally but also anteriorly and slightly medially; the result is puncturing, tearing and shearing of food. The second is a distinct and unrelated movement of the working side corpus dorsally, mainly orthally, but also posteriorly and slightly medially; the dominant result is to produce shearing of food. The analysis of the tooth wear facets, combined with the shape of the temporomandibular joint, the presence of a fused mandibular symphysis, and a well-developed temporalis muscle, indicates that the orthal component was predominant during mastication. Eucholaeops, and probably nearly all other Miocene megatherioids, were most likely leaf eaters and the primary method of food reduction must have been by shearing or cutting.


A heuristic technique is presented for detecting the presence of an unknown signal in noise and estimating its waveshape. The heuristic utilizes the most recent estimate of the waveshape as a template against which new observations are matched. If the match is "good," the observation is used to update the estimate and the procedure is repeated. If the match is "poor" the observation is discarded. It is the decisions of the detector which direct the evolution of the estimate while simultaneously the current estimate directs the detector's performance. The mutual interactions of the estimator/detector are conducted without external supervision and without the benefit of training samples and so the system falls into the category of a self-learning decision directed adaptive system.


Objectives: In Korea, the system of management of medical waste largely relies on the incineration method. Our study aimed to identify any regional imbalances between the generation and treatment of medical waste, and provide reference data for future policy in Korea. Methods: We analyzed data on the amount of medical waste from 2,000 hospitals in 2012, 2013, and 2014 obtained from the Korea Environment Corporation. In the Arc GIS program (version 10.2.3), the addresses of hospitals and incinerators were transformed into map coordinates. The amount of waste generated by each hospital and the amount incinerated were represented by density and size of a triangle symbol, respectively. Results: As of 2014, the total amount of medical waste from the top 2,000 hospitals was 136,073 tons, out of which about half (49%) was generated in the capital area. Eleven incineration companies (three in the capital area, two in the Chungcheong Provinces area, one in the Jeolla Provinces area, and five in the Gyeongsang Provinces area) treated this waste. For the years 2012, 2013, and 2014, about 60% of the medical waste generated from the hospitals in the capital area was treated within the capital area and about 40% was transported to other areas, especially the Gyeongsang Provinces area, for treatment. On the other hand, about 90% of the medical waste incinerated in the capital area originated from the capital area. Conclusion: Our results suggest a spatial imbalance between the generation and treatment of medical waste in Korea and warrants multilateral policies, including the expansion of on-site treatment, strengthening regulation of the containment of medical wastes, promoting reductions in medical waste and more.


The appropriate wet etch process for the selective removal of TaN on the HfSiON dielectric with an amorphous-silicon (a-Si) hardmask is presented. SC1 (NH4OH: H2O2: H2O), which can achieve reasonable etch rates for metal gates and very high selectivity to high-k dielectrics and hardmask materials, is chosen as the TaN etchant. Compared with the photoresist mask and the tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) hardmask, the a-Si hardmask is a better choice to achieve selective removal of TaN on the HfSiON dielectric because it is impervious to the SC1 etchant and can be readily etched with NH4OH solution without attacking the TaN and the HfSiON film. In addition, the surface of the HfSiON dielectric is smooth after the wet etching of the TaN metal gate and a-Si hardmask removal, which could prevent device performance degradation. Therefore, the wet etching of TaN with the a-Si hardmask can be applied to dual metal gate integration for the selective removal of the first TaN metal gate deposition.


This study designs a high-precision bilateral teleoperation control for a dissimilar master–slave system. The proposed nonlinear control design takes advantage of a novel subsystem-dynamics-based control method that allows designing of individual (decentralized) model-based controllers for the manipulators locally at the subsystem level. Very importantly, a dynamic model of the human operator is incorporated into the control of the master manipulator. The individual controllers for the dissimilar master and slave manipulators are connected in a specific communication channel for the bilateral teleoperation to function. Stability of the overall control design is rigorously guaranteed with arbitrary time delays. Novel features of this study include the completely force-sensor-less design for the teleoperation system with a solution for a uniquely introduced computational algebraic loop, a method of estimating the exogenous operating force of an operator and the use of a commercial haptic manipulator. Most importantly, we conduct experiments on a dissimilar system in two degrees of freedom (DOFs). As an illustration of the performance of the proposed system, a force scaling factor of up to 800 and position scaling factor of up to 4 was used in the experiments. The experimental results show an exceptional tracking performance, verifying the real-world performance of the proposed concept.


The process of surveying crane runways has been continually refined due to the competitive situation, modern surveying instruments, additional sensors, accessories and evaluation procedures. Guidelines, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12488-1, define target values that must be determined by survey. For a crane runway these are for example the span, the position and height of the rails. The process has to be objective and reproducible. However, common processes of surveying crane runways do not meet these requirements sufficiently. The evaluation of the protocols, ideally by an expert, requires many years of experience. Additionally, the recording of crucial parameters, e.g., the wear of the rail, or the condition of the rail fastening and rail joints, is not regulated and for that reason are often not considered during the measurement. To solve this deficit the Advanced Rail Track Inspection System (ARTIS) was developed. ARTIS is used to measure the 3D position of crane rails, the cross-section of the crane rails, joints and, for the first time, the (crane-rail) fastenings. The system consists of a monitoring vehicle and an external tracking sensor. It makes kinematic observations with the tracking sensor from outside the rail run, e.g., the floor of an overhead crane runway, possible. In this paper we present stages of the development process of ARTIS, new target values, calibration of sensors and results of a test measurement.


Considerable energy savings can be achieved in cold stores and cold store users are extremely keen to identify these savings as energy is a major cost in the operation of any sized cold store. Work within the ICE-E (Improving Cold storage Equipment in Europe) project examined methods to reduce energy use in cold stores. Results from 28 cold store audits carried out across Europe are presented. Common faults and issues are discussed and methods to improve performance elaborated. The potential for large energy savings of at minimum 8% and at maximum 72% were identified by optimising usage of stores, repairing current equipment and by retrofitting of energy efficient equipment. Often these improvements had short payback times of less than 1 year.


We present a scheme for preparing remotely a three-particle pure entangled state via entanglement swapping,and then we directly generalize it to the multiparticle case. It is shown that by using N pairs of bipartite EPR states as the quantum channel, remote preparation of some specially chosen N-particle pure entangled states can be achieved faithfully with an N-particle orthonormal basis measurement and only N bits of classical information.


Background: Unindustrial asbestosis occurs very rarely. A distinctive feature of clinical-X-ray observations of 6 members of one family is that no one of them have ever worked at the factory excavating and processing asbest, but all of them for some time (from 6 till 12 years) lived in the place near the factory. The age of patients was from 29 till 57 years. Methods: The observation was carried out during 7 years (from 2009 till 2015). To assess the dynamics of the disease and to exclude mesothelioma of pleura, multislice computed tomography (MSCT) was performed once a year. Results: All the patients had poor clinical manifestations and in the roentgenograms taken at the preliminary stages of in-patient observation revealed changes were identified as pulmonary fibrosis. For the first time the asbestosis with massive pleural calcinosis was diagnosed in the members of this family by the data from MSCT. The use of special software gave an opportunity to identify coarse and extensive damages of pleura in the form of fibrosis and lamellate calcinosis, to assess the quantity of pathological changes of pleura and register topometrically the damage of front, back, lateral and diaphragm parts of it. There were no changes found in bronchial-parenchymal pulmonary structures under MSCT study. The picture stays stable at annual clinical-X-ray observations. Conclusion: The typical feature of the present observation is that this type of asbestosis can be considered to be unindustrial (community-acquired) pneumonoconiosis. People living in the area near the factory have to be timely informed about the harm this mineral does to a person even outside the factory.


Recent discoveries in topological physics hold a promise for disorder-robust quantum systems and technologies. Topological states provide the crucial ingredient of such systems featuring increased robustness to disorder and imperfections. Here, we use an array of superconducting qubits to engineer a one-dimensional topologically nontrivial quantum metamaterial. By performing microwave spectroscopy of the fabricated array, we experimentally observe the spectrum of elementary excitations. We find not only the single-photon topological states but also the bands of exotic bound photon pairs arising due to the inherent anharmonicity of qubits. Furthermore, we detect the signatures of the two-photon bound edge-localized state which hints towards interaction-induced localization in our system. Our work demonstrates an experimental implementation of the topological model with attractive photon-photon interaction in a quantum metamaterial.


Pretraining on large natural image classification datasets such as ImageNet has aided model development on data-scarce 2D medical tasks. 3D medical tasks often have much less data than 2D medical tasks, prompting practitioners to rely on pretrained 2D models to featurize slices. However, these 2D models have been surpassed by 3D models on 3D computer vision benchmarks since they do not natively leverage cross-sectional or temporal information. In this study, we explore whether natural video pretraining for 3D models can enable higher performance on smaller datasets for 3D medical tasks. We demonstrate video pretraining improves the average performance of seven 3D models on two chest CT datasets, regardless of finetuning dataset size, and that video pretraining allows 3D models to outperform 2D baselines. Lastly, we observe that pretraining on the large-scale out-of-domain Kinetics dataset improves performance more than pretraining on a typically-sized in-domain CT dataset. Our results show consistent benefits of video pretraining across a wide array of architectures, tasks, and training dataset sizes, supporting a shift from small-scale in-domain pretraining to large-scale out-of-domain pretraining for 3D medical tasks. Our code is available at: https://github.com/rajpurkarlab/chest-ct-pretraining


Previous experiments on natural convection in a differentially heated porous layer with large lateral dimensions gave evidence for different configurations of flow. Depending on the values of the Rayleigh number, the inclination and the longitudinal extension of the layer, the three main structures observed correspond to a two-dimensional unicellular flow, polyhedral convective cells and longitudinal coils. In this paper there is a definition of the conditions necessary for these types of flow to exist using a linear stability theory and it is shown that the experimentally observed structures can be theoretically predicted by a three-dimensional numerical model based upon Galerkin's spectral method. Finally, the results of this model are used to show the influence of initial conditions on the setting up of the stationary flow.


When P is joined to four points A, B, C, D coplanar with P, a pencil of four lines is formed whose cross ratio is constant if ABCD are collinear. If A, B, C, D are not in a line the cross ratio P(ABCD) has a value which in general varies with the position of P, but which should be known when P is given in position and also A, B, C, D. A simple expression for the cross ratio is given and its utility in locus problems is illustrated by a variety of simple examples, which in several cases furnish methods for constructing a general cubic curve, with or without double point, a trinodal quartic, etc.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and the rules of proceeding concerning primary health care (PHC) doctors in the field of screening diagnostics for cognitive disorders in elderly people in Poland.

METHODS
The study included 175 PHC doctors. A validated anonymous questionnaire was used. The survey was conducted using the PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interviews) and CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviews) methods.

RESULTS
The vast majority of the respondents (n=159; 91.4%) saw the advisability of screening for cognitive disorders in the age group >65 years of age, but only 53 subjects (30.29%) believed that these tests should be conducted by general practitioners (GPs). According to the surveyed doctors, the main obstacle in the diagnostics of cognitive functions is the lack of time - this was the opinion of 142 (81.14%) respondents. When dementia was suspected, the respondents usually ordered laboratory tests and referred patients to a neurologist (n=111; 63.4%). The Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) were the most popular scales assessing cognitive functions, known by 120 doctors (68.57%), and 122 respondents (69.71%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Polish GPs are aware of the necessity of screening for cognitive disorders in seniors. Currently, there are no mechanisms within primary health care system that would enable proper early screening for dementia in people at the high risk (i.e.> 65 years of age). The development of standards for the early detection of cognitive disorders within primary health care system in Poland seems to be an urgent need.


Multicast and broadcast services in WiMAX are downlink point-to-multipoint access services optimized for transmission of a common set of multimedia data packets to a group of users. This capability enables low-cost delivery of large volumes of popular contents (e.g., for video/audio streaming and file sharing) in a mobile network. The MCBCS framework in WiMAX allows multicast/broadcast of data in a radio channel that is time shared with unicast services. In a single-frequency network, where MCBCS transmissions are synchronized or coordinated across BSs in the designated service area, the mobile stations can use macro-space diversity to improve achievable data rates and also maintain service continuity and power saving across cells with minimal interaction with the network.


We find conditions under which solutions with internal transition layers are formed in a singularly perturbed parabolic problem of `reaction-diffusion' type and prove the existence of similar stationary solutions.


During the past 50 years, the development of both organic and analytical chemistry has greatly contributed to the discovery of new hereditary amino acid disorders. As a result, more than 80 new amino acid disorders have been discovered. More recently, the development of protein chemistry has made it easily to investigate the biochemical basis of these disorders. In this paper we present the status of biochemical diagnosis as well as mass-screening for amino acid disorders. The result of neonatal mass-screening for 4 amino acid disorders (PKU, MSUD, homocystinuria and histidinemia) from 1977 to 1990 revealed that the incidence of PKU is extremely rare in Japan when compared to European Countries, and the incidence of MSUD and homocystinuria are also less common in Japan. On the other hand, the incidence of histidinemia is higher in Japan than in Europe, however, a follow up study of more than 1,500 patients showed almost all cases developed normally without any dietary treatment.


Isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) in a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) format promise to bring high-accuracy, non-instrumented rapid tests to the point of care. Reliable rapid tests for infectious diseases allow for early diagnosis and treatment, which in turn enables better containment of potential outbreaks and fewer complications. A critical component to LoC NAATs is the heating element, as all NAAT protocols require incubation at elevated temperatures. We propose a cheap, integrated, self-regulating resistive heating solution that uses 2xAAA alkaline batteries as the power source, can maintain temperatures in the 60–63°C range for at least 25 minutes, and reaches the target range from room temperature in 5 minutes. 4 heating element samples with different electrical characteristics were evaluated in a thermal mock-up for a LoC NAAT device. An optimal heating element candidate was chosen based on temperature profiling. The optimal candidate was further evaluated by thermal modelling via finite element analysis of heat transfer and demonstrated suitable for isothermal nucleic acid amplification.


The number of astronomers for a country registered to the IAU is known to have a correlation with the GDP. However, the robustness of this relationship can be doubted, because the fraction of astronomers joining the IAU differs from country to country. Here we revisit this correlation by using the recent data updated as of 2017, and then we find a similar correlation by using the total enumeration of astronomers and astrophysicists with PhD degrees and working in each country, instead of adopting the number of IAU members. We confirm the existence of two subgroup in the correlation. One group consists of European advanced countries having long history of modern astronomy, while the other group consists of countries having experienced recent rapid economic development. In order to find causation in the correlation, we obtain the long-term variations of the number of astronomers, population, and the GDP for a number of countries to find that the number of astronomers per citizen for recently developing countries has increased more rapidly as GDP per capita increased, than that for fully developed countries. We collect a demographic data of the Korean astronomical community. From these findings we estimate the proper size of the Korean astronomical community by considering the society's economic power and population. The current number of PhD astronomers working in Korea is approximately 310, but it should be 550 that is large enough to be comparable and competitive to the sizes of Spainish, Canadian, and Japanese astronomical communities. We discuss on the way how to overcome the vulnerability of the Korean astronomical community, based on the statistics of national R&D expenditure structure comparing with that of other major advanced countries.


This paper presents an analysis for pyrotechnic combustion and pin motion in the NASA Standard Initiator (NSI) actuated pin puller. The conservation principles and constitutive relations for a multi-phase system are posed and reduced to a set of eight ordinary differential equations which are solved to predict the system performance. The model tracks the interactions of the unreacted, incompressible solid pyrotechnic, incompressible condensed phase combustion products, and gas phase combustion products. The model accounts for multiple pyrotechnic grains, variable burn surface area, and combustion product mass flow rates through an orifice located within the device. Pressure-time predictions compare favorably with experimental data. Results showing model sensitivity to changes in the cross-sectional area of the orifice are presented.


This paper introduces a parametric model of partially funded social security system and analyzes inter-generational distribution of consumption and welfare in an OLG general equilibrium. This paper specifically aims to examine the effects of transition toward more funded system on saving and capital accumulation. It is shown that an increase in intensity of fundedness increases capital accumulation unless the income effect from interest rate change outweighs other effects and negatively affects the total saving severely. By deriving closed form solutions for the variables, this paper finds that an increase in the intensity of fundedness increases saving but decreases consumption, when population growth rate is greater than the net return to capital. This paper also finds that for a partially funded system, an increase in tax rate increases public saving but reduces private saving unambiguously, while the effects on consumption and capital accumulation are not conclusive.


Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF-alpha) biologic agents has been associated with a reduction in the levels of specific autoantibodies, such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), and the induction of non- organ-specific autoantibodies (antinuclear antibodies [ANAs], anti-dsDNA, and antiphospholipid antibodies [aPLs]). The mechanisms by which the blockade of anti-TNF-alpha decreases the generation of specific autoantibodies, such as anti-CCP and RF, are not yet known. However, it has been shown that these agents can downregulate the production of several inflammatory cytokines and mediators and that these anti-inflammatory effects may account for reduced autoantibody generation, particularly in the synovial compartment. Infliximab treatment leads to the induction of ANAs in 63.8% of RA patients and 49.1% of Crohn's disease (CD) patients, and anti-dsDNA antibodies in 13% of RA patients and 21.5% of CD patients, respectively. The development of ANAs and anti-dsDNA antibodies has also been described after etanercept therapy in 11% and 15% of RA patients, respectively. In the controlled trials, increases in ANA and anti-dsDNA titers were observed in 5.3% and in 12.9% of adalimumab-treated RA patients. Only limited data on the induction of aPL antibodies during TNF-alpha blocking treatment are available.


The electrical spike activity of the small intestine at the gastroduodenal junction occurs as migrating myoelectric complexes (MMCs), initiated regularly at intervals of 90-100 min. in the adult sheep and of 20-30 min. in the neonate. This ultradian rhythm, generated by the enteric nervous system, may become identical in the adult and in the neonate, by the use of methysergide which interacts with 5-HT myenteric neurones. The results suggest a postnatal development of a serotoninergic inhibitory system, involved in the control of the basic rest-activity cycle of the small intestine.


Abstract The characteristics of decision-makers are generally not included in models of environmental-economic conflicts. These models can be classified in two classes according to their goal: Multi Objective models include several conflicting objective functions that should be optimized simultaneously, and Game Theory models that result in a single solution analyzing the interactions among the players. Despite their applicability and usefulness these models have several limitations. The most severe is that, generally, the decision-maker is absent from both classes of models. We suggest an operational model for environmental-economic conflict resolution from the point of view of the decision-makers which addresses these concerns. The first step is building the Pareto frontier. Then the focus moves to the decision-maker characteristics: The appropriate game theoretic tool used to solve the conflict is chosen according to those characteristics. The result of this tailor-made game is a single Pareto optimal response which reflects both the decision-maker characteristics, the real-word relations of power between her and the players and among the players themselves. Introducing explicitly the decision-maker preferences in the model, results in more efficient solutions, and allow for a clear explanation about why the chosen solution is better than any other one, subject to the initial decision-maker characterization.


The concept of 'social tagging' has gained popularity nowadays due to the emergence of web 2.0 technologies. Those technologies led to the practice of associating metadata with digital resources among users through collaboratively or socially for self-information retrieval. Many researchers have opined that social tags can enhance the use of library collections. The present study was predominantly carried out to compare social tags collected from the LibraryThing website with Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) descriptors collected from the Library of Congress Online Catalogue applied for thousand book titles in the field of Economics. The study also aimed to know whether social tags can be applied in the library database or not. The findings elucidate that users mostly use descriptors (47.39 %) as tags than expert's usage of tags (12.77 %) as descriptors. Spearman's correlation suggests that 75 per cent chance where tags and descriptors can be used simultaneously in overlapping terms. The Jaccard similarity coefficient identifies that users and experts use different terminologies to annotate the books. Users and experts use at least one common keyword for major book titles (908). Users mostly sought title based keywords but experts use mostly subject-based terminologies. The study further clarifies that social tags may be incorporated into the library databases but cannot replace LCSHs. The accessibility and usage of documents especially in the field of economics may be enhanced once the notion of social tags is incorporated with the library OPAC.


Constructing new, complex models is often done by reusing parts of existing models, typically by applying a sequence of segmentation, alignment and composition operations. Segmentation, either manual or automatic, is rarely adequate for this task, since it is applied to each model independently, leaving it to the user to trim the models and determine where to connect them. In this paper we propose a new composition tool. Our tool obtains as input two models, aligned either manually or automatically, and a small set of constraints indicating which portions of the two models should be preserved in the final output. It then automatically negotiates the best location to connect the models, trimming and stitching them as required to produce a seamless result. We offer a method based on the graph theoretic minimal cut as a means of implementing this new tool. We describe a system intended for both expert and novice users, allowing easy and flexible control over the composition result. In addition, we show our method to be well suited for a variety of model processing applications such as model repair, hole filling, and piecewise rigid deformations.


Since psychiatric patients are at risk for increased mortality, one of the strongest indicators of treatment efficacy is a normalized mortality. The question arises as to whether it is possible to change the mortality by different treatment strategies. Surprisingly, intervention studies using death or survival as an endpoint are relatively rare in psychiatry, although in other medical disciplines this approach is very common. A review of the few existing investigations of the influence of somatic therapy on mortality--these mainly relate to affective disorders--suggests that in principle adequate somatic treatment can reduce the high mortality risk in these disorders. A reduced mortality can be observed, particularly during long-term lithium treatment. The question to what extent a somatic therapy can protect psychiatric patients against premature death cannot be answered in a one-dimensional way. There are various factors that can strengthen or weaken the possible benefits of drug therapy. Such influencing factors are the patient, the physician, and the treatment setting. Mortality studies are important to identify the individual factors that influence treatment efficacy. With reference to the role of the moderating variables, the aims of future research in the area of treatment efficacy in psychiatry will be addressed.


The objectives of this study were: 1) to describe the target and learning needs of Grade XI students of SMA N 1 Wates, and 2) to develop the appropriate listening and speaking materials for Grade XI of senior high school based on Curriculum 2013. This was a Research and Development (R&D) study. The procedure followed the materials development process proposed by Jolly and Bolitho (1998) with some adaptations in order to make the study feasible. The steps were: 1) identification of needs, 2) planning, 3) production of materials, 4) evaluation, and 5) revision. There were two types of data collection instruments used namely questionnaires which were used to collect data for need analysis and for the materials evaluation, and interview guidelines which were also used to conduct need analysis by interviewing the English teachers of SMA N 1 Wates. There were two types of data in this study: 1) quantitative data from needs analysis and expert judgment questionnaires which were analyzed quantitatively, and 2) qualitative data from the interview which were analyzed qualitatively. The results of the target and learning needs show that students wanted to improve their listening and speaking skills in comprehending and constructing both spoken texts and language functions. The developed materials are covered in the form of a textbook equipped by a video collection in a CD. The textbook contains three units each of which consists of a different number of tasks but with the same unit design. Each unit comprises four parts: introduction, main lesson, reinforcement, and fun part. The video collection in the CD is used to assist the tasks in the textbook as input for listening and speaking. The materials were evaluated in terms of the appropriateness of content, language, presentation, and layout. Based on the data conversion table, the results of the materials evaluation showed that the materials were good. The mean value of all aspects of the developed materials was 3.24, which was in the range of the "good" category, 2.5 ≤ x ≤ 3.24.


Identification of the druggable concavity, in which drug-like molecules are highly inclined to bind, is an important step in structure-based drug design. We previously proposed an index named PLB (propensity for ligand binding), which is based on the amino acid composition characteristically observed at the small molecule binding sites in the X-ray structures of the complexes between proteins and drug-like small molecules. The PLB index was proven to be useful in identifying the druggable concavities in the quality X-ray structures of proteins. Here, we apply the PLB to predicting the druggable concavity in target proteins using the structures of homologous proteins constructed by homology modeling. In this study, we assembled a set of reference proteins that were accurately determined by X-ray analysis in forms of complexes with drug-like small molecules. Homology models for the reference protein were constructed using multiple homologous proteins as templates. The PLB index was then used to predict the druggable concavity. If the template protein in a complex with a drug-like small molecule was used, the druggable concavity was predicted well, with a prediction rate of 78%. When only the apo protein was available as the template, the practical prediction rate was 71%. Interestingly, even when the percent sequence identity between the reference and template proteins was lower than 30, the PLB index could successfully identify the druggable concavity in some cases. This study demonstrates the practical value of applying the PLB index to identifying the drugabble concavity in the homology model.


INTRODUCTION: Many changes that take place with aging have an impact of a functional nature and result, as one of the most important consequences, in disorders in the gait pattern of the elderly. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of a sensorial-motor program on the gait pattern of elderly females. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fulfilling the exclusion and inclusion criteria, a group of volunteers was formed comprised of 15 elderly females who were submitted to analysis of the marching pattern by videometry, whose images were processed by the software DgeeMe 1.0. After that, they were submitted to a sensorial-motor training, by means of a circuit which included eight exercise stations with proprioceptive and balance stimuli. The frequency of training was three weekly sessions with duration of 30 minutes, for two months. Then, a new analysis of the gait was carried out, considering the temporal and spatial components. RESULTS: In spite of the improvement in the temporal and spatial components of the gait, a statistical significance was verified only for the result observed in the variable of length of step (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the sensorial-motor training, even though it is able to improve the balance of the elderly subject, bringing her safety to develop the gait, can not affect this function directly in its biomechanical aspects.


Sepsis is a life-threatening disease with high morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. The early prediction and administration of antibiotics and intravenous fluids is considered crucial for the treatment of sepsis and can save potentially millions of lives and billions in health care costs. Professional clinical care practitioners have proposed clinical criterion which aid in early detection of sepsis; however, performance of these criterion is often limited. Clinical text provides essential information to estimate the severity of the sepsis in addition to structured clinical data. In this study, we explore how clinical text can complement structured data towards early sepsis prediction task. In this paper, we propose multi modal model which incorporates both structured data in the form of patient measurements as well as textual notes on the patient. We employ state-of-the-art NLP models such as BERT and a highly specialized NLP model in Amazon Comprehend Medical to represent the text. On the MIMIC-III dataset containing records of ICU admissions, we show that by using these notes, one achieves an improvement of 6.07 points in a standard utility score for Sepsis prediction and 2.89% in AUROC score. Our methods significantly outperforms a clinical criteria suggested by experts, qSOFA, as well as the winning model of the PhysioNet Computing in Cardiology Challenge for predicting Sepsis.


A 58-year old male presented with meningitis associated with subgaleal and subdural collections 6 weeks following a temporal craniotomy for resection of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and Gliadel wafer implantation. Candida parapsilosis was cultured from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and Gliadel wafers removed during surgical debridement. He was successfully treated with liposomal amphotericin B. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of Candida parapsilosis meningitis secondary to Gliadel wafer placement.


We present an ASCA discovery of diffuse hard X-ray emission from the Sgr C complex with its peak in the vicinity of the molecular cloud core. The X-ray spectrum is characterized by a strong 6.4 keV line and large absorption. These properties suggest that Sgr C is a new X-ray reflection nebula that emits fluorescent and scattered X-rays via irradiation from an external X-ray source. We found no adequately bright source in the immediate Sgr C vicinity to fully account for the fluorescence. The irradiating source may be the Galactic nucleus Sgr A*, which was brighter in the past than it is now, as is suggested from observations of the first X-ray reflection nebula Sgr B2.


Objectives Cladribine is a selective and oral immunological reconstitution treatment, approved in Europe for very active multiple sclerosis (MS) with relapses. Aims were to assess the safety and effectiveness of cladribine in real-world setting, during treatment follow-up. Methods This was a multicentric, longitudinal, observational study with retrospective and prospective data collection of clinical, laboratory, and imaging data. This interim analysis reports data from July 1, 2018 (study onset), to March 31, 2021. Results A total of 182 patients were enrolled: 68.7% were female; mean age at onset was 30.1 ± 10.0 years, and mean age at first cycle of cladribine treatment was 41.1 ± 12.1; 88.5% were diagnosed with relapse-remitting MS and 11.5% with secondary progressive MS. Mean disease duration at cladribine start was 8.9 ± 7.7 years. Most patients (86.1%) were not naive, and median number of previous disease-modifying therapies was 2 (interquartile range, 1–3). At 12 months, we observed no significant Expanded Disability Status Scale score worsening (P = 0.843, Mann-Whitney U test) and a significantly lower annualized relapse rate (0.9 at baseline to 0.2; 78% reduction). Cladribine treatment discontinuation was registered in 8% of patients, mainly (69.2%) due to disease activity persistence. Most frequent adverse reactions were lymphocytopenia (55%), infections (25.2%), and fatigue (10.7%). Serious adverse effects were reported in 3.3%. No patient has discontinued cladribine treatment because of adverse effects. Conclusion Our study confirms the clinical efficacy and the safety profile of cladribine for treating MS patients with a long-term active disease in the real-world setting. Our data contribute to the body of knowledge of the clinical management of MS patients and the improvement of related clinical outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
To construct protein fingerprints in serum and to early diagnose chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) using surface enhanced laser ionization/desorption-time of flight-mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS).

METHODS
Serum protein spectra were detected by SELDI-TOF-MS and weak cation exchange (CM10), which were from long-term survival patients with well-functioning kidney allograft (LS) (n = 24) and CAN (n = 15), and then biomarkers were screened through the analysis of database with Biomarker Wizard and Biomarker Pattern softwares.

RESULTS
78 protein peaks of interest were generated in each sample, 18 protein spectra statistically show difference between LS and CAN (P < 0.05), 6 of which (m/z 2476.0, 3078.7, 3190.5, 4076.5, 4506.0, 6178.4) statistically show significant difference (P < 0.01), a single biomarker (m/z 3078.7) differentiated LTS and CAN (P = 0.0001), it was upregulated in the former and downregulated in the latter, its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 87.5% and 81.8% respectively. Its cost-effective value is 0.307.

CONCLUSION
Establishment of protein fingerprint signature in serum by SELDI-TOF-MS is clinically predictive of CAN.


For the verification of systems using model-checking techniques, symbolic representations based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs) often help to tackle the well-known state-space explosion problem. Symbolic BDD-based representations have been also shown to be successful for the analysis of families of systems that arise, e.g., through configurable parameters or following the feature-oriented modeling approach. The state space of such system families face an additional exponential blowup in the number of parameters or features. It is well known that the order of variables in ordered BDDs is crucial for the size of the model representation. Especially for automatically generated models from real-world systems, family models might even be not constructible due to bad variable orders. In this paper we describe a technique, called iterative variable reordering, that can enable the construction of large-scale family models. We exemplify feasibility of our approach by means of an aircraft velocity control system with redundancy mechanisms modeled in the input language of the probabilistic model checker PRISM. We show that standard reordering and dynamic reordering techniques fail to construct the family model due to memory and time constraints, respectively, while the new iterative approach succeeds to generate a symbolic family model.


The authors consider two related simulation applications, exploiting the concurrency inherent within systems, using a network of transputers. The first application is a distributed simulator for modelling the operation of an ATM switch architecture which uses a matrix of buses. The switch is decomposed into its component elements which are treated as distinct processes and placed upon separate transputers. To overcome the limiting connectivity of transputers, special routeing processes are introduced. The second application is designed to model subsets of ATM based telecommunications networks. It is primarily a distributed queueing network simulator which exploits independence between spatially separate events to process them concurrently. Although the simulator is written in OCCAM, it allows differing system topologies to be modelled without resorting to recompilation of the simulator program.


Introduction: The Quality of life is a broad-ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person's physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs, and their relationship to salient features of their environment. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many quarantine and isolation measures and lockdown of the nation for the foreseeable future. Although these initiatives are necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus they may be causing adverse mental health effects. Medical students are backbone and future of the health system and the general public always looks up to them as a role model of society. With this background, this study aims to assess the quality of life among medical students during the lockdown period amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: A self-administered, pretested, questionnaire based on World Health Organization Quality of Life: Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) standard quality of life was used. For internal reliability and structural validity, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were calculated, respectively. t-test, one way ANOVA, and Pearson Chi-square test were used. Results: The mean scores of domains of the present study were highest for the environmental domain (72.10 ± 13.0) followed by physical (67.23 ± 13.74), social (57.13 ± 20.1), and lowest for the psychological domain (52.10 ± 17.45). The level of internal consistency was found to be 0.883, which is considered as sufficiently reliable. One-third of the medical students were spending >6 h on-screen, and merely 15.6% were doing physical activity >1 h. Conclusion: It was found that during this time of crisis medical students were weaker in the psychological domain of Quality of Life among all the four domains. Physical activity and screen time was an important factor to the QOL of students, and it is likely that students would benefit from increased physical activity and minimizing screen time.


Groundbreaking work demonstrated that ectopic expression of four transcription factors/TF, Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, and c-Myc, or less number TF could reprogram somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were subsequently generated using not only genetic manipulation but also protein induction. This work showed that the proteins might have huge complexity protein-protein interaction. The idea that cancer cells possess the partially same as stem cell properties such as self-renewing, drug resistance, and progression by same mechanism. Here we focus on evaluating large-scale protein-protein interaction (PPIs) of interacting regions (IRs) data at the domain level for "stemmness" TF-related protein complexes using a high-throughput mRNA display screen: In Vitro Virus/IVV method; Miyamoto-Sato E. et al., PLoS ONE. 2010). As a result of these global protein-protein interactions analysis with "stemness" molecules showed 440 interactions, Oct4:70, Sox2:96, Nanog:89, Klf4:37, Lin28:76, c-Myc:62 respectively. Especially we find unique hub protein X that is interaction with Nanog, Sox2, Klf4 and more stemness proteins. Now we are working on a further analysis to reveal the function of the unique hub protein X. Together this work suggest a novel resource for the assessment of cancer and stemcell function in various contexts, notably in the self-renewal of stem cells and progression of cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A60.


Bruno de Finetti is one of the founding fathers of the subjectivist school of probability, where probabilities are interpreted as rational degrees of belief. His work on the relation between the theorems of probability and rationality is among the corner stones of modern subjective probability theory. De Finetti maintained that rationality requires that degrees of belief be coherent, and he argued that the whole of probability theory could be derived from these coherence conditions. De Finetti's interpretation of probability has been highly influential in science. This paper focuses on the application of this interpretation to quantum mechanics. We argue that de Finetti held that the coherence conditions of degrees of belief in events depend on their verifiability. Accordingly, the standard coherence conditions of degrees of belief that are familiar from the literature on subjective probability only apply to degrees of belief in events which could (in principle) be jointly verified; and the coherence conditions of degrees of belief in events that cannot be jointly verified are weaker. While the most obvious explanation of de Finetti's verificationism is the influence of positivism, we argue that it could be motivated by the radical subjectivist and instrumental nature of probability in his interpretation; for as it turns out, in this interpretation it is difficult to make sense of the idea of coherent degrees of belief in, and accordingly probabilities of unverifiable events. We then consider the application of this interpretation to quantum mechanics, concentrating on the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment and Bell's theorem.


Several epidemiologic studies have demonstrated a consistent association between levels of particulate matter (PM) in the ambient air with increases in cardiovascular and respiratory mortality and morbidity. Diesel exhaust (DE), in addition to generating other pollutants, is a major contributor to PM pollution in most places in the world. Although the epidemiologic evidence is strong, there are as yet no established biological mechanisms to explain the toxicity of PM in humans. To determine the impact of DE on human airways, we exposed 15 healthy human volunteers to air and diluted DE under controlled conditions for 1 h with intermittent exercise. Lung functions were measured before and after each exposure. Blood sampling and bronchoscopy were performed 6 h after each exposure to obtain airway lavages and endobronchial biopsies. While standard lung function measures did not change following DE exposure, there was a significant increase in neutrophils and B lymphocytes in airway lavage, along with increases in histamine and fibronectin. The bronchial biopsies obtained 6 h after DE exposure showed a significant increase in neutrophils, mast cells, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes along with upregulation of the endothelial adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, with increases in the numbers of LFA-1+ cells in the bronchial tissue. Significant increases in neutrophils and platelets were observed in peripheral blood following DE exposure. This study demonstrates that at high ambient concentrations, acute short-term DE exposure produces a well-defined and marked systemic and pulmonary inflammatory response in healthy human volunteers, which is underestimated by standard lung function measurements.


AIM
To find out if Doppler myocardial imaging (DMI) can detect early signs of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in a rat model of diabetic cardiomyopathy.

METHODS
Eight control and 12 Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats underwent transthoracic echocardiography with high-resolution technology at baseline and 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after STZ injection. Radial function was analysed using conventional M-mode, and velocity, strain and strain rate imaging. Longitudinal function was analysed using pulsed Doppler imaging of the mitral annulus.

RESULTS
In the diabetic rats, a significant increase in LV end diastolic and end systolic diameter was measured when compared with controls (P < 0.001). Fractional shortening and LV ejection fraction remained unchanged in both groups. Using DMI, diabetic rats demonstrated a decrease in radial systolic velocity (rate of change: +0.01 vs. -0.003 week(-1); P < 0.01) and radial systolic strain rate (+0.003 vs. -0.205 week(-1); P = 0.08) of the anteroseptal wall. Histologic examination revealed dilated cardiomyopathy with no signs of fibrosis.

CONCLUSION
Although LV ejection fraction remained preserved, velocity and strain rate imaging was able to detect radial systolic dysfunction in diabetic rats. The absence of histological signs of fibrosis suggests that other mechanisms play a role in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy.


This article develops a new time integration family for second-order dynamic equations. A combination of the trapezoidal rule and higher-order Newton backward extrapolation functions are utilized in the formulation. Five members of the suggested family are extensively studied in this article. Most members of the presented time integration family are new. The stability and accuracy of the proposed time integration schemes are investigated by solving some benchmark problems. Numerical results are checked and compared with well-known strategies. The findings of the article show the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of the suggested techniques.


Introduction: bioethics and Asian culture - a quest for moral diversity / Ren-Zong Qiu -- Pt. I. The foundations of bioethics in Asia -- Confucian and western notions of human need and agency: health care and biomedical ethics in the twenty-first century / Julia Tao Lai Po-Wah -- Personhood and bioethics: Chinese perspective / Edwin Hui -- The foundations of a possible Asian bioethics / Hyyakudai Sakamoto -- Confucian personhood and bioethics: a critical appraisal / Po-Keung Ip -- Rights or virtues? Towards a reconstructionist Confucian bioethics / Ruiping Fan -- Pt. II. Bioethics in Asian culture: global or local? -- Philippine culture and bioethics / Angeles T. Alora -- Living in separation and unequal worlds: a study in the application of bioethics / V. Manickavel -- Medical ethics and communicative ethics / Un-Jong Pak -- "Sakit" and "Karamdamam": towards authenticity in the Filipino concepts of disease and illness / Leonardo D. De Castro and Allen Andrew A. Alvarez -- Part III. Life, death, euthanasia and end-of- life care -- Cloning humans? - some moral considerations / Phee Seng Kang -- Brain death criteria in Japan / Kazuo Takeuchi -- To have a good birth as well as a good death: the Chinese traditional view of life and its implications / Ming-Xian Shen -- Life, death and end-of-life care: Taoist perspective / Ping Dong and Xiaoyan Wang -- Euthanasia should be legalized in China: personal perspective / Da-pu Shi and Lin Yu -- Pt. IV. Bioethics, policy and law in Asia -- Chinese population policy: good choice and right choice / Re-feng Tang -- Does eugenics exist in China? Ethical issues in the law on maternal and infant health care / Ren-Zong Qiu -- AIDS, policy and bioethics: a new bioethical framework for China's HIV/AIDS prevention / Yan-Guang Wang -- Justice is to be financed before it is to be done: the social justice of the Hong Kong public health care reform / Ho-Mun Chan -- Notes on contributors -- Index


In this paper, we explain how the Mississippi Bricks to Clicks Extension Program assisted in the promotion of a rural tourism event using Facebook paid advertisements. We estimate a binomial regression model to explore the factors that affect business page likes. Implications for future research and Extension programming are discussed.


On May 31, 2017, the 25th Meeting of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) successfully ended, after a dense 4-day agenda blending a superb scientific and educational program.


An analysis of the temperature and field dependences of the magnetization of Gd films and microwires was carried out, as well as an isothermal measurement of the magnetic part of the entropy at the Curie temperature. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE), measured as an isothermal increase in the magnetic part of the entropy, in microwires shows two peaks on the temperature dependence of the magnetic part of the entropy, in contrast to one peak in films. In films and microwires, the entropy maximum at 286-293 K, which corresponds to the Curie temperature, depends on the magnetic field, shifting in the same way in films and microwires with an increase in the field at the orientation of the MgO (111) substrate, which provides the maximum mechanical stresses in Gd. In microwires, the second maximum does not change the temperature of 320 K as the field increases to 9 T, but its amplitude increases linearly with the field. This maximum can be caused by a spin-reorientation transition. Keywords: microwires, thin films, magnetic entropy, magnetic anisotropy, spin-reorientation transition, Curie temperature.


Treatment of severe male subfertility has become available since the intracytoplasmic injection of a single sperm into an oocyte was successfully applied for the first time in 1992. Moreover, also with the use of testicular spermatozoa for this procedure fertilization and pregnancies could be accomplished. This review addresses the development of these techniques and discusses achievements and problems as well as future aspects of the feasibility of early spermatid injection are stressed. Furthermore it includes the basic elements of spermatogenesis and the major concerns regarding the underlying genetic reasons for spermatogenic failure.


A series of measurements and visualization to investigate the interaction of water sprays with pool fires is presented. Fire source is a small-scale pool burner with methanol, ethanol and gasoline. Measurements of temperatures, O2, CO2, and CO concentrations along the plume centerline are carried out to observe pool fire structures without water sprays. Visualization by the Ar-ion laser sheet shows flow pattern of droplets of the sprays above the pool fires. It is observed that in the case of methanol and ethanol, water sprays continuously penetrate into the center of fuel surfaces. The gasoline pool fire allows intermittent penetration of water sprays because of pulsating characteristics of the gasoline flame. To evaluate the cooling effect of the fuel surface by the sprays, the temperature was measured at the fuel surface. As soon as the mists reach the fuel surface of methanol and ethano!' the temperatures of the fuel surface decrease rapidly below the boiling point, and then the fires are extinguished. Due to the application of mist upon the gasoline fire, though the fuel temperature decrease abruptly at the time of the injection, such a rapid decrease do not continue till the extinction point.


This article presents a collaborative teaching environment that lets students work through lab-based tutorials with access to a remotely located lecturer via Webcams, email, discussion forums, and chat rooms. Remote-control software also lets lecturers take control of the students' lab computers to troubleshoot problems. This project aims to facilitate knowledge transfer between students and lecturers.


BACKGROUND
The established guidelines for a diabetes foot examination include assessing circulatory, skin, and neurological status to detect problems early and reduce the likelihood of amputation.

OBJECTIVE
To determine documented adherence with guidelines for foot examinations.

SETTING
Four clinics in underserved areas.

METHODS
Charts of 350 diabetic patients, identified by billing code, were reviewed for foot examination documentation. A documented foot examination was defined as assessing at least two of the three components of a foot examination. The review determined the periodicity and prevalence of foot examinations, referrals to a podiatrist or vascular surgeon during a 2-year period, and risk factors for foot complications. Stepwise logistic regression was used to determine whether risk factors for foot complications predicted foot examination status.

RESULTS
The patients had a mean age and duration of diabetes of 57.7 and 8.8 years, respectively; 86% were black or Hispanic. There was no indication of foot examination or referral for 55.7% of the patients during the 2-year period. Patients with foot care referrals were more likely to have foot examinations by their primary care providers (P = .0001). There was almost a fourfold increase in the odds that patients with diagnosed peripheral vascular disease had foot examinations, with twofold greater odds for each 25-year increase in age.

CONCLUSIONS
Populations at risk of diabetic complications are unlikely to have foot examinations in their primary medical care, but having peripheral vascular disease increases the likelihood. Efforts are needed to improve adherence to foot examination guidelines for patients with diabetes from underserved populations.


Binaural Transfer Path Analysis (BTPA) was originally developed for assessing the binaural contributions of individual vehicle noise paths. It is a powerful modeling tool enabling engineers to explore noise transfer mechanisms by distinguishing between excitation source strengths and the transfer behavior of individual elements. The method is well-known for powertrain noise analysis, including point-coupled structure-borne source paths and identified airborne source paths to a receiver location. Binaural Transfer Path Synthesis (BTPS) is the process of creating listenable vehicle interior noise data based on a BTPA model, also allowing for modifications. Modern methods of combustion (TDI, CDI, fuel direct injection etc.) in combination with new generations of valve trains and more light-weight materials in engine construction have produced changes in the temporal and spectral behavior of primary oscillation factors. As a consequence, the in-car noise produced by the engine is being determined more and more by higher frequency components. The methods used in Binaural Transfer Path Analysis and Synthesis are now more frequently confronted with limitations which can only be overcome by detailed observation of the various influencing variables. New, future-oriented methods for this purpose are described in the project at hand. Engine noise transmission fundamentally occurs in two ways, which have to be examined separately: a) the structure-borne path which is stimulated by the engine mountings and b) the airborne path which is fed by the direct sound radiation of the engine. For both paths, improved models which are traceable in signal and system theory are presented and their methodology is described. Starting by describing and measuring the source properties and transfer functions as exactly as possible, we arrived at an extremely simplified yet adequate model version of the complicated structure. An especially important improvement of the structure-borne transfer paths we introduce here is the description of the mechanical interfaces via complex four-pole parameters. Considering airborne sound transmission, we are reducing the in-car source measurement that was previously mandatory by describing the engine with an alternative source model which could be highly simplified through multi-pole source synthesis and which can be derived from testbench measurements. Using this simple model, the user receives a tool by means of which changes in transfer paths (e.g. the influence of the engine mounting) can be modeled in a theoretically correct way and the results can be made audible immediately. TECHNICAL PAPER


This research study is based on impact of customer relationship management practices on insurance sector in Odisha market. The research study mainly focuses on the the pattern of service and the facilitation process for the sake of customers adopted by the CRM driven insurance companies in Odisha.Customer Relationship Management(CRM) practice is now becoming imperative and need of the hour in the cut throat competition held in the insurance sector. Initially LIC of India was the sole insurance player having larger market share but after liberalization, privatization and globalization so many private insurers came in to the picture. Then they adopted many customer centric strategies to satisfy and retain the customers to gain market share and to survive.CRM is a customer focused strategy adopted by many insurers in India and Odisha.To recognize the perception of insurance customers in terms of service standard, innovation and quality of products, the efforts have been undertaken through this research study.  In this study customer's opinions have been collected through a structured questionnaire to understand the effectiveness of CRM implementation in relation to the companies like AVIVA, LIC of India, ICICIprudential, Birla sun life and Reliance. Here to measure the customer retention gained by above insurers; factor analgroup statistics have been used. Key words: service standards, customer focused strategy, customer retention, innovation.


Background: Recent research has examined the possibilities that deficits in cognitive processes, in particular set shifting, might contribute to the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). Results of studies of set shifting have been mixed. There has been considerable variability in tests used to measure set shifting and a lack of homogeneity of populations sampled.
Methods: This study investigated set shifting abilities within a restrictive sub type AN population using the intra-extra dimensional set shift (IED) sub-test of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and the Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test (BSAT). Participants with AN were matched with healthy controls.
Results: There was no significant difference found between the groups on the BSAT or the number of stages that were completed on the IED. The AN group made significantly more errors on the IED. Anxiety scores for the AN group were significantly correlated with this error measure The two measures of set shifting were not significantly correlated.
Conclusion: Possible explanations were considered for the significant difference on only one of the measures, including that the IED may be a more difficult test or that the tests may be measuring different cognitive abilities. The role of anxiety on the results was also acknowledged. The possibility that previous, contradictory, research has captured aspects from different AN subgroups and the usefulness of the diagnosis of AN was discussed. Whilst it appears that patients with AN made significantly more errors on the IED, there is not currently enough conclusive evidence to support the idea that this is indicative of a deficit in set shifting.


Abstract Studies show a high level of mental health problems among refugee children and adults. This study aimed to examine psychiatric disorders among refugee children in early adulthood. A total of 15,264 young adult refugees, who obtained residence permission January 1, 1993 to December 31, 2010, were matched 1:6 on age and sex with 99,313 Danish-born children. Rate ratios (RR) of having a first-time in- or outpatient hospital diagnosis with an affective (F30–39), psychotic (F29–30), neurotic (F40–48), or any psychiatric disorder (F00–99) according to ICD-10 were computed. Refugees had higher RRs of psychotic (RR: 1.81, 95%CI: 1.41–2.32) and nervous (RR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.14–1.43) disorders compared with Danish-born children. The RRs of having an affective disorder among refugees was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.60–0.90) compared with Danish-born children. Sex, geographical origin, migrant status, household income, age at residence permission, and accompanied/unaccompanied arrival predicted psychiatric contacts among refugees. A focus on both prevention and treatment in vulnerable groups is needed.


period where the new machine was in use but traditional standards were being used to recommend evaluation) was performed. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to evaluate the findings. RESULTS: 405 urine samples were evaluated with the finding of 32.8% of the samples falling outside of the reference range of 0-3 HPF. This resulted in unevenly distributed data. A 95% confidence interval was then used to delineate a value. This produced a reference interval of 0-8 HPF. 229 patients underwent evaluation of microscopic hematuria during the time period. 72% of those had a completely negative work-up. 8 of 229 had cystoscopy or CT findings consistent with a malignancy. Only one of those patients was between the traditional threshold and our new limit for evaluation. Evaluation with linear regression did not demonstrate any statistical difference between the thresholds of 3 RBCs vs 8 RBCs (p[ 0.0524). CONCLUSIONS: The current guidelines for evaluation of microscopic hematuria may no longer be relevant with the use of new technology. Identifying a new reference range based on the machine is accurate and safe with regards to evaluations of hematuria.


This study develops and promotes a practical framework for inclusive education, in which human rights and justice are championed. This framework draws from a wide range of scholarly work and is based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (hereafter, ICF), theoretical orientation, and critical ideas. Its overall purpose is to nurture diversity and to address differences among children, while at the same time enabling us to discover underlying pervasive issues obstructing learning. This study aims to critically analyze the four fundamental factors (hereafter, FFF) based on its human and socio-environmental factors through a) Living , b) Learning , c) School activities , and d) Community life . I examine the FFF within a conceptual framework, and I also set forth the definitions and principles. The obtained results will help policy makers, school administrators, teachers, parents, children and society in general to understand each other's needs. It enables us to discover underlying questions and pervasive issues related to inclusive education in school and social life.


During the 1890s and the first three decades of the 20th century, social work in the United States developed a community-based direct practice approach to family assistance and social reform. The basis for this method was a situational view of social life that emphasized the use of interpersonal and transactional methods to achieve social and individual change. This article highlights important aspects of the genesis and development of this approach, emphasizing especially the contributions of its foremost exponents: Jane Addams, Mary Richmond, Ada Sheffield, Eduard Lindeman, and Mary Parker Follett. Also included are comments about current attempts in social work to revive this perspective for use by contemporary practitioners.


Some strains of Lysinibacillus sphaericus bacteria produce proteins toxic to insects, in particular mosquitoes. The bacteria have been used on a large scale to control these disease vectors. Unfortunately, there have been some reports of insect resistance to L. sphaericus. Interestingly, there are also reports of new isolates that may provide an opportunity to exploit these bacteria in other ways. To achieve better control of insect vectors, studies of various aspects of the L. sphaericus and its toxins are needed.
This dissertation reports properties of a newly isolated L. sphaericus isolate namely, Fang Large. Based on its morphological features and 16S RNA DNA sequence analysis, the Fang Large isolate was confirmed as a Lysinibacillus sphaericus strain. This isolate exerts its pathogenicity to Wax moth larvae through septicaemia. Next, regulation of toxin gene expression was performed through analysis of 5' untranslated regions of L. sphaericus toxin genes of strain IAB59 using a 5' RLM-RACE method to reveal the promoters of the toxin genes. These investigations did not always produce the expected results but 5'UTR analysis of the mtx2 sequence confirmed the previously predicted promoter, while for two other genes –binB and cry48– results indicated that the actual promoters are not those previously predicted and that unreported promoter sequences appear to act in regulating these genes. To study the genomic arrangement of L. sphaericus strain NHA15b and its toxin protein genes, next generation sequencing technology was employed. This showed that the chromosomal structure of strain NHA15b is similar to the previously sequenced L. sphaericus genomes, but lacked a 35 kb fragment that in strain C3-41 is known to harbour binA/B and mtx4 genes. There are at least five (possibly six) plasmids in L. sphaericus strain NHA15b. Two of them, pLsph100 and pLsph200 are similar to other plasmids reported from other L. sphaericus strains. Plasmids pLsph300, pLsph400 and pLsph500, in contrast, have never been reported in any L. sphaericus strain. The sixth plasmid, pLsph600 was predicted based on the presence of a T4SS system and DNA replication protein genes. The genes may be responsible for the conjugation ability of the particular plasmid. It is predicted that the cry48/49 genes of the strain NHA15b may be located in this putative plasmid. The prediction is supported by indications from physical separation efforts using Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis, that the cry genes were located in a plasmid with mobility equivalent to 750 kb linear DNA. This prediction still needs further verification.


Beta-lactamase production is the most important mechanism in resistance development of Gram negative bacteriae. Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) enzymes hydrolyse  penicillin and cephalosporins. Many ESBLs are derived by genetic mutation from naturally occuring enzymes. ESBL can be detected by phenotypic and genotypic methods. In our study, we compared the ESBL detection performance of automatized Vitek version 2.0 and double disk synergy among Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates which were previously detected as ESBL (+) by combined disk method at Izmir University School of Medicine Department of Medical Microbiology. The comparison of  double disk synergy (DDS) and automatized Vitek  system (Biomerieux, France)  in ESBL positivity detection  of  E. coli and K.pneumoniae  strains which were isolated between 30.05.2012 to 23.01.2013 at Izmir University School of Medicine Medical Microbiology Laboratory (Izmir, Turkey) was evaluated. The ESBL detection of the strains was previouly studied  by combination of ceftazidime/clavulanic acid (30/10 μg) and cefotaxime/clavulanic acid (30/10 μg). 117 isolates consisted of ESBL(+) 106 E.coli and 11 K. pneumoniae. Ten (%8.5) E. coli isolates were Vitek (-) and double disk synergy (+) for ESBL detection. Three E. coli isolates were Vitek (+) and DDS (-) for ESBL detection. All of the K. pneumoniae isolates were detected positive for ESBL by both Vitek system and DDS. There are various  methods in ESBL detection. Although Vitek automatized system reported false negative results in our study, it can provide rapid data for routine laboratories. We think that further studies with greater number of isolates are necessary.

 Key words: ESBL, cephalosporin resistance, Vitek 2, Gram negative bacteria.


Sampling sufficiency of the anatomical characteristics of fibres from Luehea divaricata wood was investigated through the bootstrap resampling method. Sampling sufficiency of fibre length, fibre diameter, lumen diameter and fibre wall thickness were determined. Three scenarios of sampling sufficiency evaluation were used: general, segregation between juvenile and mature wood, and accumulation throughout the life of the tree. The segregation of juvenile and mature wood showed that sampling sufficiency in juvenile wood was higher than in mature wood, up to three times for the fibre length. In general, results indicated higher values than suggested in specific standards and by other authors. Therefore, resampling bootstrap methodology, even though underused in forestry research, is an alternative for new studies, as it does not have restrictive hypotheses such as data normality.


ABSTRACT The current study aimed to define and validate the criteria for characterizing possible and probable cognitive deficits based on the psychometric approach using the Uniform data set Czech version (UDS-CZ 2.0) to reduce the rate of misdiagnosis. We computed the prevalence of low scores on the 14 subtests of UDS-CZ 2.0 in a normative sample of healthy older adults and validated criteria for possible and probable cognitive impairment on the sample of amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients. The misclassification rate of the validation sample using psychometrically derived criteria remained low: for classification as possible impairment, we found 66–76% correct classification in the clinical sample and only 2–8% false positives in the healthy control validation sample, similar results were obtained for probable cognitive impairment. Our findings offer a psychometric approach and a computational tool to minimize the misdiagnosis of mild cognitive impairment compared to traditional criteria for MCI.


BACKGROUND: There is little research about how caregiver experiences evolve from ICU admission to patient recovery, especially among caregivers for patients who have traumatic injuries. In this study, we characterize diverse caregiver experiences during and after ICU admission for injury. METHODS: This prospective observational study is based in a level 1 trauma center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Longitudinal interviews among caregivers of patients who required ICU admission for traumatic injury were conducted from the time of ICU admission to 12 months after hospital discharge. Transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach. RESULTS: Sixty-five interviews were conducted with 19 caregivers. The interview results converged on four areas: experiences in the ICU, the aftermath of violent traumatic injury, caregiver responsibilities, and care in the context of the wider family. In the ICU, caregivers contended with worry and uncertainty, and they often hid these feelings. Many felt that they always needed to be at the bedside, leading to stress and exhaustion. Caregivers had difficulty communicating with their loved ones, and communication itself sometimes became a source of conflict. Over time, caregivers were burdened by many managerial responsibilities. In addition, violent traumatic injury caused an overlay of concern for patients' safety. The need to plan for recovery caused caregivers to make substantial sacrifices. As a result of these difficult experiences, some caregivers and patients drew closer together, while others were divided by conflict. CONCLUSIONS: Illness after traumatic injury may be devastating for caregivers, disrupting emotional wellbeing and other aspects of life. Caregivers are variably prepared for the challenges of ICU care and caregiving through convalescence and require robust support during and after ICU admission to enable effective communication, resource access, and an ongoing relationship with the healthcare team.


Applications for the use of microwaves reach far and wide in various industries. Commonly known is the use of microwaves to heat foodstuffs. Research and development conducted in the development of a microwave combination washer dryer required the development of a system model, allowing for the development of a control system. Considered in this work is the propagation of microwaves within the system along with the heat transfer throughout the system. This paper presents a FEM model based on the geometry of the prototype combination washer dryer. Model results are validated by practical measurements using the combination washer dryer laboratory prototype. The model is at the time of writing undergoing final validation, with preliminary results indicating that the model fairly accurately represents the system. The simulation and practical system were compared by calculating the average of the absolute value of the difference between the data sets. Three of the five temperature points logged have an average absolute temperature difference of less then 0.7°C and the final two points logged have an average absolute difference of 1.2°C and 2.5°C respectively.


The tremendous interest in the solid-state capacitor is due to the cornbination of superior technical characteristics with very small size and large "bulk" capacity. Present literature shows 35 vdc and 85°C voltage and temperature limitations. Through the analysis of units made to operate at the extended limits of 100 vdc and 150&degC, a model has been proposed which serves to explain four sets of anomalous and apparently unrelated electrical characteristics found in this type of unit.


Active noise control (ANC) headphone is widely used to attenuate the noise around human' s ear. The microphone mounted on the conventional ANC headphones collected the mixed reference signals when more than one noise sources are often present in the surrounding. In this case, the uncorrelated
 noise sources involved in the mixed reference usually deteriorate the noise reduction performance of the ANC headphones. To solve this problem, wireless microphones are proposed to install close to each potential noise source in the environment. The microphones pick up the clean reference
 signals and transmit them to the ANC controller embedded in the headphones with time-advance wirelessly. Every reference signal selected by a coherence-based-selection algorithm is provided individual control filter in each ear. Each control filter updated by using a single clean reference
 offers better noise reduction performance for ANC headphones. Furthermore, numerical simulations and real-time experiment results in this paper demonstrate the improvement of the proposed method compared with conventional ANC headphones.