IL-21 plays a key role in Th17 differentiation. Interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is a critical regulator of differentiation in B and T cells, and Th17 differentiation is defective in Irf4 KO CD4+ T cells. In B cells, IRF4 is known to cooperatively bind DNA in partnership with the Ets family protein PU.1. However, PU.1 is not expressed in most T cells even though IRF4 is active within these cells, and the functional transcription factor complex that regulates Th17-specific genes was not known. Genome-wide Chip-Seq analysis was used to demonstrate that in T cells, IRF4 binds to a novel composite DNA motif that includes AP1 motifs and which we named AP1-IRF4 composite elements (AICEs). Moreover, IL-21-regulated genes in Th17 cells have co-localized binding of IRF4, BATF, and JUN family proteins, and the genes encoding these transcription factors are themselves regulated by IL-21 in CD4+ T cells. RNA-seq analysis revealed subsets of genes whose regulation by IL-21, either positive or negative, depends on IRF4, and reporter studies demonstrated that IL-21-induced transcription of these genes was dependent on both IRF4 and AP1 transcription factor binding. Our results demonstrate that by utilizing distinct binding partners and DNA sequences, IRF4 mediates cell-type and stimulus-specific functions in multiple lymphocyte lineages.


The development of primary and secondary instabilities is investigated numerically for a supersonic transitional flow over a backward-facing step at Ma = 1.7 and Reδ0=13 718. Oblique Tollmien–Schlichting (T–S) waves with properties according to linear stability theory (LST) are introduced at the domain inlet with zero, low, or high amplitude (cases ZA, LA, and HA). A well-resolved large eddy simulation (LES) is carried out for the three cases to characterize the transition process from laminar to turbulent flow. The results for the HA case show a rapid transition due to the high initial disturbance level such that the non-linear interactions already occur upstream of the step, before the Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) instability could get involved. In contrast, cases ZA and LA share a similar transition road map in which transition occurs in the separated shear flow behind the step. Case LA is analyzed in detail based on the results from LST and LES to scrutinize the evolution of T–S, K–H, and secondary instabilities, as well as their interactions. Upstream of the step, the linear growth of the oblique T–S waves is the prevailing instability. Both T–S and K–H modes act as the primary mode within a short distance behind the step and undergo a quasi-linear growth with a weak coupling. Upon pairing of the large K–H vortices, subharmonic waves are produced, and secondary instabilities begin to dominate the transition. Simultaneously, the growth of T–S waves is retarded by the slow resonance between subharmonic K–H and secondary instabilities. The vortex breakdown and reattachment downstream further contribute to the development of the turbulent boundary layer.


In this paper, we consider the automatic text classification as a series of information processing, and propose a new classification technique, namely, "Frequency Ratio Accumulation Method (FRAM)". This is a simple technique that calculates the sum of ratios of term frequency in each category. However, it has a desirable property that feature terms can be used without their extraction procedure. Then, we use "character N-gram" and "word N-gram" as feature terms by using this property of our classification technique. Next, we evaluate our technique by some experiments. In our experiments, we classify the newspaper articles of Japanese "CD-Mainichi 2002" and English "Reuters-21578" using the Naive Bayes (baseline method) and the proposed method. As the result, we show that the classification accuracy of the proposed method improves greatly compared with the baseline. That is, it is 89.6% for Mainichi, 87.8% for Reuters. Thus, the proposed method has a very high performance. Though the proposed method is a simple technique, it has a new viewpoint, a high potential and is language-independent, so it can be expected the development in the future.


Topical treatment is mainstay for a variety of dermatologic conditions. There are several different types of topical vehicles, and choosing the most appropriate one is an essential part of treatment. Selection can vary depending on factors such as patient preference and anatomical location. Each topical vehicle has unique advantages and disadvantages that are important to consider. This article reviews some of the most common topical vehicles used in dermatology.


This thesis is a survey of current issues surrounding face-mounting; a mounting method for large scale photographs where the face, or front of the photography is permanently adhered to a sheet of clear acrylic. This relatively new process is controversial because of the preservation concerns in combination with a high monetary value that is now being applied to the work of some contemporary artists utilizing this process for large scale photographs. Through interviews with photographers, gallerists, curators, and conservators, this paper explores the rationale behind the use of face-mounting, as well as its aesthetic and preservation impact, its presence on the fine art market, and its future in private and public collections.


The application of microfluidic Microsystems to solve real world problems depends on effective packaging techniques. In this paper, we report on packaging methods that allow the connection of multiple fluid lines to a microfluidic chip. Eight different fluid connections are made in a 5 mm square area (100 connections possible) using a flip chip aligner/bonder with precise alignment on the order of 10 microns between holes (1 micron precision possible). The critical fluid connections are made using 0.002 inch thick double sided adhesive tape and are shown to hold greater than 20 atm of pressure without leaking. The packaging flow manifold and assembly methods are suitable for inexpensive mass production and are compatible with existing electronics packaging technologies.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of ischemic preconditioning on myocardial apoptosis induced by ischemia/reperfusion. METHODS Twenty four rabbits were randomly allocated to three groups(n = 8), pseudo-operation group(group P), ischemia/reperfusion group(group IR), and ischemic preconditioning group (group IP). Group IR and group IP were subjected to three hours of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion followed by three hours of reperfusion. Ischemic preconditioning was achieved by three 5-minute cycles of ischemia, each followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. Infarct size and area at risk were defined by dual staining with triphenyltetrazolium chloride and Evans blue dye. DNA laddering in the border zone myocardium of ischemic area at risk was revealed with agarose gel electrophoresis, and apoptosis index(AI) was obtained with flow cytometry. RESULTS Infarct size, expressed as a percentage of the area at risk(IS:AR), was(60.8 +/- 10.8)% in group IR. Ischemic preconditioning reduced myocardial infarct size significantly to (33.1 +/- 4.9)% (P < 0.05). AI was (13.83 +/- 3.98)% in group IR, and were reduced significantly to (5.85 +/- 1.59)% in group IP(P < 0.01). DNA laddering indicative of fragmented DNA was clearly demonstrated in myocardial specimens sampled from the lateral border zones of the ischemic area at risk in group IR but were attenuated in group IP. CONCLUSION It suggests that ischemic preconditioning inhibits the rabbit myocardial apoptosis induced by ischemia/reperfusion in vivo.


Using appropriate plasmaspheric models, whistler-mode wave propagation has been studied. It is shown that the ray curvature of propagating whistler-mode waves is quite different from the geomagnetic field curvature. The presence of field-aligned irregularities superposed on various models of ambient plasmaspheric electron density introduces the compatibility of ray and field curvatures. The presence of field-aligned irregularities and modified refractive index has been used to study the guidance of whistler-mode waves along the field line. The critical angle of elevation, track width, and electron density gradient needed for guidance of whistler waves have been computed. Using modified refractive index, the propagation time of whistlers has been computed. It is argued that the analyses of whistler sonograms accounting for some of these features would result in a useful diagnostic.


Controlled generation of multifunctionalized and biologically important compounds from simple starting materials is one of the sincere challenges for any organic chemist.With the continuation to the recent trends, the proposed research work was designed to synthesize biologically active core molecules employing oxidative dearomatisation and transition metal catalysis. Dearomatisation of aromatics has been considered to be the best and most powerful approach towards the synthesis of complex molecules. Many groups have been putting serious efforts on dearomatisation from years albeit, spiro-oxacycle synthesis has been a less explored direction. The thesis chapter highlights the transformation of planar phenols, naphthol and pyridine derivatives into multifunctionalised spiro and pyridone molecules employing Phenyl Trimethylammonium Tribromides (PTAB) and ruthenium catalysis. Heterocyclic motifs have been important point of attraction due to their demanded biological activity and pharmaceutical importance. The thesis is divided into the following five chapters

Chapter-I describes a new methodology for spirocyclisation of planar phenols and naphthols employing Phenyl Selenium Bromide (PhSeBr) and Phenyl Trimethyl Ammonium Tribromide (PTAB) into 3D framework. The work recognizes PTAB and PhSeBr as an effective reagent for dearomatisation. A generalised economical route for the synthesis of a wide variety of spiro-oxacycles from planar naphthols and phenols is achieved. Diastereoselective generation of oxa-spirodieneones, overall fantastic yields, a rich substrate scope, and mild conditions along with the economy involved makeing this a sustainable methodology. Importantly this work also reveals no side reactions like polymerization which are commonly observed in dearomatisation reactions and thus makes it a reliable solution.

Chapter-II describes the metal-free synthesis of benzofurans and naphthofurans employing Phenyl Trimethyl Ammonium Tribromides. Benzoaxacycles like benzofurans and naphthofurans are an important scaffolds present in many biologically and medicinally important natural products.

Chapter-III describes a lucrative Ru (VIII) catalyzed spiro-etherification and spiro-amidation of phenols. An open air ruthenium (VIII) catalysed oxidative spiro-etherification as well as spiro-amidation of phenols has been accomplished. The transformation works satisfactorily with both phenols and naphthols and thus exhibit a wide range of flexibility. The catalysis is executed in open air and room temperature condition with an improved yield achieved upto 95%.

Chapter-IV describes an extension of the feasible methodology described in chapter (III) and describes the Ru (VIII) catalyzed dearomatisation of pyridines. The synthesis is carried out in open air condition, and the products obtained are N-protected pyridones, which have been immensely useful synthetic motifs.

Chapter-V describes the synthesis of trisubstituted nicitonitriles. A de novo palladium carboncatalyzed
synthesis of trisubstituted nicotinonitriles from easily synthesized homopropagylic or homoallylic aromatic alcohols in the presence of nitriles has been explored.The mechanism
proceeds with an interesting generation of a Pd (II)-C palladacycle followed by an oxidative aromatization to generate the pyridine core. The pyridine core is generated with a noteworthy C−C bond cleavage in the case of the substituted nitriles.The moderate yields and easy separation of the products lend a unique importance to this one-pot methodology.


The aim of this scoping review is to evaluate and summarize the existing literature that considers the validity and/or reliability of smartphone accelerometer applications when compared to 'gold standard' kinematic data collection (for example, motion capture). An electronic keyword search was performed on three databases to identify appropriate research. This research was then examined for details of measures and methodology and general study characteristics to identify related themes. No restrictions were placed on the date of publication, type of smartphone, or participant demographics. In total, 21 papers were reviewed to synthesize themes and approaches used and to identify future research priorities. The validity and reliability of smartphone-based accelerometry data have been assessed against motion capture, pressure walkways, and IMUs as 'gold standard' technology and they have been found to be accurate and reliable. This suggests that smartphone accelerometers can provide a cheap and accurate alternative to gather kinematic data, which can be used in ecologically valid environments to potentially increase diversity in research participation. However, some studies suggest that body placement may affect the accuracy of the result, and that position data correlate better than actual acceleration values, which should be considered in any future implementation of smartphone technology. Future research comparing different capture frequencies and resulting noise, and different walking surfaces, would be useful.


The defeat of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in World War II (1939-1945) and the approval of Resolution 39 by the General Assembly on February 9th, 1946, which determined the exclusion of Spain from international organizations established by the United Nations, forced the Francoist regime to modify its fascist agenda and territorial ambitions in Europe, North Africa, and its former colonies in America. Under this scenario, the Francoist regime affirmed that the USSR's political and military intervention was to blame for the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and for the socioeconomic crisis that followed. The Spanish sentiment of Russophobia and Anglophobia was politically justified and promoted by the Francoist regime's propaganda since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and it proceeded during the Cold War period as well. The virtual isolation of Spain ended with the signature of the Pact of Madrid on September 23rd, 1953. The strategic pact with the United States allowed the Francoist regime to: consolidate a new military alliance; legitimize its power over victors and vanquished of the Spanish Civil War; revive the economy after the failure of autarchic policies; and refocus its gaze on its foreign enemies. The following movies: "He Died Fifteen Years Ago" (Dir. Rafael Gil, 1954); "The Woman Who Came from the Sea" (Dir. Francesco de Robertis, 1957); and "Blood Rhapsody" (Dir. Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1957) embrace the forceful Francoist regime's cinematic rhetoric that aims to delegitimize its historical political nemeses: USSR and United Kingdom, Communism and the unresolved Gibraltar issue, respectively.


In order to examine the nature of the power that the EC wields, this paper focuses specifically on its productive power. This paper examines whether and, if so, to what extent, the EC contributed to the financing for development by identifying the problems, formulating solutions, and persuading others to accept these solutions. The process through which the financing for development initiatives decides upon relevant issues and how the EC engages with these issues makes it clear that the EC should not be regarded as a genuine productive power because it was not the sole trigger that prompted the definition of problems or the formulation of solutions. Nonetheless, it should be regarded as a significantly influential driving force in the financing for development, in terms of its contribution to defining problems and formulating solutions. The EC's role in encouraging commitment to the financing for development initiative and persuading others to accept this commitment shows that the EC can be regarded as an entity wielding some form of productive power. However, further study is required to understand the extent to which the EC can really influence the behaviors of states. This study also reveals that the EC can execute productive power only when permitted or delegated to do so by other bodies and its member states. These facts, which are exhibited in this paper, help clarify the context in which international organizations execute power.


In this article the problem of the personal freedom of an individual and the process of his or her transformation into a free independent citizen are considered. In the article the basic ideas of personal freedom in the works of the most outstanding thinkers of Renaissance and New Time are presented. The authors deals with the ideas of Russian philosophy of freedom, the western philosophy of existentialism and the question of becoming of a free and responsible person of modern Russia.


Cancer survivors are more likely to be unemployed than healthy counterparts (de Boer et al, JAMA 2009). BrCa patients comprise roughly one-fourth of the survivor population and face challenges in their ability to work. Age and cancer therapy may increase the risk for unemployment (Hassett et al, Cancer 2009). We analyzed data from E2Z02 to examine factors affecting employment in BrCa patients. Methods: E2Z02 prospectively enrolled patients with breast, colon, lung and prostate cancer irrespective of therapy or stage. We limited this analysis to white or black BrCa patients with age at registration ≥65 yrs (those over 65 were excluded as likely to be retired; other minorities were excluded due to small numbers). Patients and oncologists answered the MDASI-ECOG regarding symptoms; additional baseline data regarding disease and treatment were collected. Change in employment was assessed by "Has your employment status changed due to illness?' [Answer = Yes/No]; and level of employment by "What is your current employment status?" [Answer = full-time; part-time; not in the workforce]. We developed a multivariate logistic regression model for each employment outcome (change in employment, level of employment). Explanatory variables included treatment number (TNs), age (≥45 vs 46-65 yrs), race (white vs black), stage (nonmetastatic vs metastatic), therapy status (off vs on), and ECOG PS (0 vs 1 vs 2-4). TNs were counted as 0 (no medical therapy [MT] or radiotherapy [RT]), 1 (either) or 2 (both). MT encompassed both hormone and chemotherapy. Results: E2Z02 accrued 3123 patients from 3/06 to 5/08 at academic (n=6) and community (n=32) medical oncology clinics (see demographics table); 50% of E2Z02 patients had BrCa. Patients with nonmetastatic BrCa (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.53-3.05), off therapy (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.31-2.44), and white race (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.10-2.46) had a higher chance of remaining employed than their counterparts. Patients with PS 0 were more likely to remain employed compared to patients with PS 1 (OR 1.85 95%CI 1.36-2.5) or PS 2-4 (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.25-5.44). Age and TNs were not significant. As to the level of employment, nonmetastatic patients (OR=1.60, 95% CI = 1.17-2.21) and patients with better PS (P Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-14-07.


Torsional fatigue tests were conducted for a spring steel, SUP7, with Vickers hardness of 480. The effect of shot peening on the torsional fatigue strength of smooth and artificially notched specimens in the corrosive environment and air was studied. Following results were obtained. The increase of the fatigue strength of smooth specimens in air by shot peening was relatively small, and the surface roughness due to peening did not reduced the fatigue strength. On the other hand, the fatigue strength of notched specimens increased greatly by shot peening and the notch sensitivity was reduced. In corrosion fatigue, the fatigue strength increased by shot peening in the medium life range, around 10 cycles. The strength of shot-peened specimens was reduced in the long life range around 10 cycles and was approached to that of not-peened specimens. A similar improvement was observed for notched specimens in the medium life range, and the notch sensitivity was reduced by shot peening. The compressive residual stress layer made by shot peening extended about 0.3 mm below the surface, and relaxed by fatigue loading. The residual stress distribution was used to interpret the effect of shot peening on the fatigue strength of spring steel by modified Goodman diagram.


BACKGROUND
The diagnosis and management of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) is often challenging. This literature review was done to investigate available data on PNES to make recommendations for its management.

AIM
To research relevant data on the diagnosis and challenges in the management of PNES.

METHOD
The methodology involved a systematic review of relevant studies and review articles by leading authorities in PNES, using the databases of MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, and PubMed. Out of an eventual 211 screened, 15 were selected based on exclusion and inclusion criteria. Concepts such as 'psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, diagnosis, and management' were searched with the key term, 'PNES'.

RESULTS
An analysis of 15 articles was undertaken, and the focus was mainly on the diagnostic criterion and the management approaches adopted in the different studies. The results indicated that many of the studies consistently required video EEG (vEEG) as confirmatory tests for the establishment of PNES, in keeping with the staged approach to diagnosis set by the Nonepileptic Seizure Task Force of Epilepsy. Recent studies emphasised early communication and healthy rapport between patients and providers of care in conveying a diagnosis. Pilot studies on the pharmacological and psychological treatments for PNES were promising.

CONCLUSION
The unmasking of the masquerade of PNES is challenging for clinicians in primary and tertiary care. Raising awareness of the condition reduces the burden on health care. Definitive guidelines and more control trials are required. Provocative measures to establish the diagnosis are limited. The feasibility of using the tilt table as a provocative measure is discussed.


Nowadays, digital forensics has emerged as an important research field with applications of authenticity/integrality verification for digital data. In this paper, we focus on image forensic techniques and propose a blind scheme for image tampering identification which is capable to determine the tampering type. Since tampering operations bring in changes to neighboring pixels, we suggest employing the difference image (the image composed of differences of adjacent pixels) for forensic analysis. More specifically, we take the histogram of difference image to construct a feature set, and then use these histogram features to train a Support Vector Machine(SVM) classifier. In this way, the novel scheme can efficiently identify usual image operations such as scaling, JPEG compression, linear and nonlinear filtering. Besides, its superiority over other state-of-the-art work is also demonstrated experimentally.


By performing a unitary transformation, we transform the Hamiltonian of the trapped ion in any position of standing wave to that of the normal Jaynes-Cummings model in ionic bare basis and we obtain a general evolution operator of the trapped ion system. We study the quantum entropic dynamics of the phonons and trapped ion. Our results show that, when the trapped ion is located at the node of standing wave, the quantum entropic dynamics of phonons and trapped ion are the same as the one of the field in the Jaynes-Cummings model. When the trapped ion deviates from the node of standing wave, the entropies of the phonons and ion keep their maximum value except at the initial stage, and the phonons and trapped ion become extremely entangled.


GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phytocoenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems.


To better prepare undergraduate students for graduate school and careers as computer scientists, we have undertaken an effort to increase both expertise and interest in research through a novel course format. The course weaves an active research project in mobile computing with a senior class on distributed systems. To facilitate the instruction, we use a mobile computing platform, TeamTrak, which consists of tablet computers that collect and display information from sensors such as GPS receivers and share data via an ad-hoc network. Students participate in outdoor field tests as a group and individually design and execute their own measurement experiments and engineering projects.


Auranofin is an oral gold(I) compound, initially developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, Auranofin is under investigation for oncological application within a drug repurposing plan due to the relevant antineoplastic activity observed both in vitro and in vivo tumor models. In this review, we analysed studies in which Auranofin was used as a single drug or in combination with other molecules to enhance their anticancer activity or to overcome chemoresistance. The analysis of different targets/pathways affected by this drug in different cancer types has allowed us to highlight several interesting targets and effects of Auranofin besides the already well‐known inhibition of thioredoxin reductase. Among these targets, inhibitory‐κB kinase, deubiquitinates, protein kinase C iota have been frequently suggested. To rationalize the effects of Auranofin by a system biology‐like approach, we exploited transcriptomic data obtained from a wide range of cell models, extrapolating the data deposited in the Connectivity Maps website and we attempted to provide a general conclusion and discussed the major points that need further investigation.


A psychotic breakdown in adolescence marks the emergence of a manifest aspect of a more complex process that has its origins in the patient's family pre‐history and in the patient's childhood story. This period of life is characterized by a sensorial explosion and adolescents will react differently according to the different resources they have at their disposal. Adolescents will attempt to create defensive solutions in order to face this decompensation on their own. In particular, polymorphously perverse behaviours can be utilized because of their specific characteristics in order to create a potent defence used to arrest a still more severe regression and at the same time providing the time necessary to safely navigate through a difficult and dangerous developmental phase. These solutions can be transitory or transform themselves into lasting defensive adaptations. These defensive modalities are very complex and articulated and can become fossilized in time, as, for example, in the case of a use of perverse defences against a breakdown. An analyst finding him/herself in these situations will find it difficult to differentiate in the diagnosis between a condition that is due to a perverse functioning used as a defence against decompensation, and a truly perverse structure that is beginning to emerge after puberty.


OBJECTIVES
Epidemiological studies of statins have suggested a link between statin therapy and a decreased risk of sepsis. It has been proposed that the mechanism underlying this apparent protective effect of statins relates to their known immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to explore the antimicrobial effect of statins.

METHODS
Simvastatin (Merck) and fluvastatin (Novartis) were both tested against six of each of methicillin-susceptible and -resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA + MRSA), and vancomycin-sensitive and -resistant enterococci (VSE + VRE) using a microtitre dilution method. The test was repeated five times for both statins against all 24 isolates. Vancomycin, linezolid and propranolol were used as controls, as appropriate.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Simvastatin showed a significant antimicrobial effect against MSSA (mean MIC 29.2 mg/L) and to a lesser extent against MRSA (mean MIC 74.9 mg/L). Fluvastatin had a significantly less marked antimicrobial effect. Propranolol showed no antimicrobial effect. Simvastatin has a considerable antimicrobial effect in vitro and further testing of it is warranted.


The changes of pharmacokinetics and distribution of 3H radio-labelled ribonuclease (RNase) and RNase adduct with monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG) were studied after intravenous administration in the dose of 25 mg kg-1 to rats. Whereas the value of total plasma clearance of RNase is close to the value of glomerular filtration rate, the value of that for MPEG-RNase is about three hundred times lower. The half-life of elimination is 79 min, 181 min and 65 h for RNase, MPEG and MPEG-RNase, respectively. The main elimination pathway of compounds under study was elimination into urine and no evident specific distribution in the examined organs (liver, kidney, muscle, lung, brain, spleen and heart) was found. The study indicates that conjugation of RNase with MPEG can improve its pharmacokinetic properties.


Phagocytosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by human mononuclear phagocytes is mediated primarily by complement receptors (CRs) but the transmembrane signaling mechanisms that regulate phagocytosis of the bacterium are unknown. We have analyzed the activation of phospholipase D (PLD) during phagocytosis of the virulent Erdman and attenuated H37Ra strains of M. tuberculosis by human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), radiolabeled with [3H]-lyso-phosphatidylcholine. Phagocytosis of either Erdman or H37Ra M. tuberculosis in the presence of autologous non-immune serum was associated with a 2.5-3-fold increase in phosphatidic acid (PA). Definitive evidence for activation of PLD by M. tuberculosis was provided by markedly increased generation of the PLD- specific product phosphatidylethanol (PEt) (9.9-fold increases in [3H]- PEt for both Erdman and H37Ra strains compared to control, P < 0.001, n = 12), in the presence of 0.5% ethanol. Phagocytosis of opsonized zymosan (OZ), which is also mediated by CRs, was similarly associated with activation of PLD (12.2-fold increase in PEt, P < 0.001, n = 12). The competitive PLD inhibitor 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) produced concentration-dependent inhibition of PLD activity stimulated by either M. tuberculosis (-78 +/- 8%) or OZ (-73 +/- 6%). Inhibition of PLD by 2,3-DPG was associated with concentration-dependent reductions in phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis (-74 +/- 4%) and OZ (-68 +/- 5%). Addition of purified PLD from Streptomyces chromofuscus to 2,3-DPG- treated macrophages restored phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis to control levels. Inhibition of M. tuberculosis- or OZ-stimulated PA generation by ethanol was associated with concentration-dependent reductions in phagocytosis of both particles. Incubation of MDMs with either Erdman or H37Ra M. tuberculosis, or OZ, resulted in rapid (onset 1 min) and sustained (60 min) increases in the tyrosine phosphorylation (Tyr-P) of multiple MDM proteins. Prominent Tyr-P was noted in proteins of 150, 95, 72, 56, and 42 kD. The protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitors genistein and herbimycin A reduced M. tuberculosis-stimulated PLD activity by 66-84%. Inhibition of PLD activity by genistein or herbimycin A was associated with inhibition of phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis and OZ. These data demonstrate that PLD is activated during macrophage phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis or OZ, that PTKs are involved in this stimulation of PLD, and that the extent of phagocytosis of these particles is tightly coupled to activation of PLD.


Attention is again called to the fact that bone and joint tuberculosis is a systemic disease.

The point is stressed that a positive diagnosis is essential to correct treatment and accurate interpretation of results.

Of 164 consecutive patients, seen during the past year, clinically diagnosed as having bone and joint tuberculosis, 100 were established cases, fifty had no pathological or bacteriological reports, and in fourteen the guinea-pig inoculation and pathological results were negative.

Pulmonary lesions in substantiated bone and joint tuberculosis average 40 per cent. in our series,—27 per cent. with adult pulmonary or parenchymal lesions, and 13 per cent. with active childhood pulmonary tuberculosis. Patients over sixteen years of age averaged 37.3 per cent.; those under sixteen years, 44 per cent.

When the pulmonary lesion is determined from the age of the patient at onset of the bone and joint lesion, those under sixteen years—sixty patients—averaged 42 per cent. and those over sixteen years—forty patients—averaged 40 per cent.

Eight per cent. of our cases had renal tuberculosis.

More frequent urinalyses, guinea-pig inoculation, and special search for tubercle bacilli are urged in the treatment of patients having an acid urine containing no organisms, but in which white and red blood cells are found by the usual staining methods.

A negative tuberculin skin test, especially if negative to repeated increasing dosage of a recently prepared or fresh solution of old tuberculin or tuberculoprotein trichloracetic, is of definite diagnostic value.


The invention relates to a solar-powered cooling device assembly with a gas cooler for an electric power well in a building. The cooling device assembly comprises a plurality of cooling devices which are separately arranged along the vertical direction of the electric power well, and is characterized in that a gas delivering pipe (61) provides gas for the cooling devices, each cooling device comprises a cooling device body (82) and fixed brackets (100) which are arranged at two sides of the cooling device body (82) are used for being fixed on two opposite side walls (102) of the electric power well respectively, each fixed bracket (100) is internally provided with cable fixing holes (103) provided for electric power cables (1030) to pass through, and each cooling device body (82) comprises an annular cavity shell (15) which is provided with a gas inlet pipe nozzle (6) so as to be communicated with the gas delivering pipe (61).


The Catholic colleges, founded both to prepare immigrant Catholics to swim in the mainstream of society, and to provide them with a set of spiritual water-wings, that they might not lose their faith there, are experiencing the stresses of any institution which must accommodate itself to a milieu that no longer takes its definitions of reality for granted. Faced with increasing costs and a diminished distinctiveness of educational product, the Catholic institutions of higher learning must face difficult decisions involving both their via bility and their desirability. A number of key issues which must be resolved are discussed under the headings of "Clientele," "Religious Communities," "The Institutional Church," "Faculty and Administration," and "The Future." It is suggested that there is no necessary contradiction between the terms "Catholic" and "university," and that it is possible that, freed from the constraints of state legislatures and boards of regents, the Catholic colleges may be able to shake loose from the false professionalism now characterizing higher edu cation in America, drawing from a distinctive set of values and traditions to work against the fragmentation which is at the root of much that is wrong in the groves of academe.


In this paper, we propose a model based approach for multi-resolution fusion of remotely sensed images. We obtain a high spatial resolution (HR) and high spectral resolution multi-spectral (MS) image using a high spatial resolution Panchromatic (Pan) image and a low spatial resolution (LR) MS image. This problem is ill-posed since we need to predict the missing high resolution pixels in each of the MS images and requires proper regularization in order to get better solution. Each of the low spatial resolution MS images is modeled as aliased and noisy versions of the corresponding fused HR image. The decimation matrix entries are estimated using the Pan data and the MS image. The prior for regularization is obtained by modeling the texture of the HR MS image as a Markov random field (MRF) that can be expressed as a joint probability density function (PDF) using the Gibbs distribution (GD). In our work we make inference about this joint PDF by using the available high spatial resolution Pan image. As proposed in [1] a set of filters is chosen from a filter bank to obtain the estimates of the marginal distributions of the GD as the histograms of the filtered outputs. Our final cost function consists of a data fitting term and a prior term which is then minimized to obtain the high spatial and spectral resolution MS image. The process is repeated for each of the MS images. The optimization is done using Particle swarm optimization (PSO) which can be implemented in parallel mode in order to reduce the time complexity. The main advantages of our approach are: 1) It requires no registration between Pan and MS images; 2) The spectral distortion is minimum as we are not using the actual Pan digital numbers; 3) The method can be applied to the fusion of Pan and MS images captured at different times and using different sensors. The drawback of the proposed method is its time complexity as one cannot use fast optimization approaches for minimization. However, we have attempted to reduce the computational complexity by using PSO. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by conducting experiments on real satellite data captured by Quickbird satellite.


Background : Nutritional status of an individual depends on whether or not one is getting correct amounts and types of the required nutrients failure to which malnutrition develops. Malnutrition remains a public health concern as it affects a great number of children globally. Objectives: To assess nutritional status, identify associated factors with nutritional status. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Rural community living in Kambi Odha Sub-location of Isiolo County, Kenya. Subjects: One hundred and ninety six children aged 3-5 years. Results : Eighteen percent, nine percent and two percent were stunted, underweight, wasted respectively. Factors significantly associated with poor nutritional status were the child's mother being a housewife (OR 6.7; 95% CI 1.3-19.9, p=0.0006), child's mother having no education (OR 6.2;95% CI 1.8-21.4,p=0.0040), head of the household being employed (OR 3.3;95% CI 1.3-8.2,p=0.0116), mother's child having seven or more children (OR 6.6; 95% CI 1.7-26.4,p=0.0236),child having poor appetite (OR 3.3; 95% CI 1-8, p=0.0285),spouse determining the food to be bought or prepared in the household (OR7.1; 95% CI 2.7-18.7, p< 0.0001), money determining the food to be prepared or bought (OR8.7; 95% CI 3.4-22.1, p<0.0001), buying or borrowing water for household use (OR 4.8; 95% CI 1.7-13.9, p=0.0039) and absence of own pit latrine (OR 4.2; 95% CI 1.3-13.3, p=0.0155). Conclusion : Child malnutrition continue to be a public health concern given that preventable factors such as environmental and family were demonstrated to have a higher association with nutritional status of the children.


Device-free passive (DFP) localization systems are a key solution for location-based services because they do not require any wireless device on a human body. Most of the existing DFP localization systems are based on the received signal strength (RSS) measurement only. However, the localization accuracy of RSS only-based systems is easily affected by the spatial and temporal variances of RSS due to multipath fading and noise, even in a static environment. In this paper, we propose a novel localization system for DFP using signal subspace eigenvectors from an antenna array. We present a fingerprinting technique using multiclass support vector machines (SVMs) based on a combination of array signal features with spatial and temporal averaging. We then evaluate the localization accuracy of our proposed system in different propagation environments: line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS). In addition, we analyze two types of receive antenna placement: centralized and distributed antennas. The experimental results show that the localization accuracy can be improved by the proposed system, particularly in the centralized antenna case. Moreover, they show that the proposed system can improve localization accuracy compared to the conventional RSS-only based system.


In recent years, outsourcing has gained considerable management attention. However, the benefits of outsourcing are not without concessions. One major risk is losing the flexibility to change the extent, nature, or scope of the outsourced business services, and such flexibility is strategically imperative in today's dynamic business environment. This paper seeks to clarify the multi-dimensional notion of flexibility in outsourcing by examining robustness, modifiability, new capability, and ease of exit. Adapting from Evans (1991), we also develop a framework to classify existing practices in managing outsourcing flexibility. We go beyond contractual provision to surface a portfolio of pre-emptive, protective, exploitive, and corrective maneuvers. These strategic maneuvers map well to traditional notions in coordination theory, both in advanced structuring through loose coupling and dependency diversification, and in dynamic adjustment through proactive sensing and reactive adapting. We put forward a set of propositions hypothesizing the relationships between the various strategic maneuvers and the different dimensions of outsourcing flexibility, and discuss the moderating impact of such maneuvers on outsourcing success. We hope the greater conceptual clarity will not only contribute to the effectiveness of outsourcing management but also spawn a new research agenda on outsourcing flexibility.


Long-term stability of the continental lithosphere is attained through a cumulative increase in net buoyancy and rigidity due to progressive compositional differentiation (i.e., cratonization). As stable cratons provided the nucleus for the subsequent accretionary growth and tectono-magmatic reworking that produced modern continental crust, the geodynamic processes that facilitated the stabilization of cratons are critical for understanding the evolution of Earth's lithosphere. This study uses a portion of the Winnipeg River terrane, one of the oldest terranes of the western Superior Province, as a natural laboratory to investigate Archean crustal growth (partial melting of mantle) and reworking (partial melting of crust) and provides insights into the geodynamic processes driving mantle depletion and crustal remelting. Zircon U-Pb data obtained by laser ablation−inductively coupled plasma−mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) from an extensive Winnipeg River terrane gneiss complex reveal six major magmatic events at ca. 3060 Ma, 2930‒2920 Ma, ca. 2910 Ma, 2830‒2800 Ma, 2735‒2730 Ma, and ca. 2700 Ma and regional metamorphism at ca. 2900 Ma. Whole-rock geochemistry and zircon Lu-Hf and trace element data indicate that (1) the magmatism at ca. 3060 Ma and ca. 2930‒2920 Ma represents reworking of the isotopically evolved components of the incipient Winnipeg River terrane at shallow depths, (2) the ca. 2910 Ma magmatism features a step-change of Hf isotopic compositions from subchondritic to suprachondritic and records the formation of new juvenile magmas and the first reworking of existing juvenile crust, and (3) the magmatism after ca. 2830 Ma largely reflects reworking of the juvenile components of the incipient Winnipeg River terrane at medium to shallow depths prior to the ca. 2700 Ma trans-crustal magmatism associated with the convergence of the Winnipeg River terrane and western Wabigoon terrane. Juvenile magmatism and crustal growth in the Winnipeg River terrane at ca. 2910 Ma are inferred to correspond with significant mantle depletion below the Winnipeg River terrane, which led to a more stable lithospheric mantle in this part of the western Superior Province. Zircon trace element data support a mantle upwelling model rather than lithosphere recycling models for the depletion of mantle at ca. 2910 Ma. This study suggests that crustal growth and mantle depletion bracketed by prolonged, episodic crustal reworking may be a fundamental characteristic of the cratonization process.


Pancreas-specific protein (PASP) was compared with serum amylase in 95 episodes of acute pancreatitis with the diagnoses supported by elevated amylase levels. The etiology was typical for Scandinavian countries, with alcohol as the predominant factor, followed by cholelithiasis. PASP values were clearly raised in all patients, except in three cases found to have high salivary-type amylase levels, and one patient with recurrent alcohol pancreatitis. The rise of PASP levels were in general more pronounced than the corresponding amylase elevations, especially in severe pancreatitis. The elevations were generally parallel for the two analytes, but in 41% of the cases PASP levels remained elevated 2–11 days longer than the corresponding amylase levels. PASP was, however, eliminated from the circulation at a rate comparable to that of amylase. The serum range of PASP for 259 healthy subjects was 15–111 μg/L with 95% of the values within 16–98 μg/L. The upper reference level was set at 100 kg/L. PASP levels were also determined for 291 patients with disorders other than acute pancreatitis. Serum levels in patients with renal insufficiency (n = 12), primary biliary cirrhosis (n = 9), and diabetes mellitus (n = 17) were equal to those in healthy subjects. Eight patients of 173 with acute abdominal disorders and no evidence of pancreatitis had elevated PASP levels as well as 4 patients with prostatic carcinoma (n = 28) and 2 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 16). PASP values were low in chronic painful pancreatitis (n = 15) and pancreatic cancer (n = 11).


Community structure of complex network by genetic algorithm has drawn much attention of researchers in various field in recent years. Genetic algorithm is easy to trap into local optimal and also easy to obtain unstable solutions. In order to solve this problem, an effective mutation method combined with node-to-community membership function that is based on the local information of each node in networks is proposed. The heuristic initialization algorithm is also used to produce initial population with the accurate and diverse, which can further improve the search efficiency and the stability of the algorithm. In addition, we used modularity as fitness function, which can simplify the algorithm, in this paper the method has been tested on computer-generated network and real world network, and compared to classical algorithm. The experimental results have been shown that the proposed algorithm has a higher precision and effective for community structure.


Lost circulation is one of the frequent challenges encountered in the well drilling and completion process, which can not only increase well construction time and operational cost but also pose great risk to the formation. However, choosing the most useful treatments may still be a problem due to the complexity of the drilling and geological condition.
 In this paper, machine-learning algorithms and big data technology are employed to mine and analyze drilling data of wells in South China Sea where lost circulation is severe. Geological characteristics, drilling fluids property parameters and operational drilling parameters are both considered. Moreover, an artificial neural network is employed to conduct supervised learning. The four metrics: accuracy, precision, f1 score and recall are used to evaluate the model. The trained artificial neural network model is employed to predict the lost circulation risks.
 To train and test the proposed model, drilling operation parameters, geological parameters and drilling property parameters are collected for lost circulation events for 50 drilled wells over past two years in South China Sea. The trained model is excellent with the most important evaluation metrics, attaining an accuracy up to 92%, with f1 score, recall and precision up to 89% similarly. This suggests that the model have a good generalization ability and can be applied to other fields. Data analysis through an artificial neural network is carried out to develop a lost circulation prediction system model. This methodology can predict six lost circulation risks, each is defined according to drilling mud loss rate.
 This is one of the first attempts to predict lost circulation using data-analytics and artificial intelligence. The proposed intelligent lost circulation prediction method can assist the drilling engineer to choose the optimal drilling parameters prior to drilling and avoid lost circulation events.


B6C3F1 mice were infected with 200 or 500 larvae of Trichinella spiralis per mouse and pulmonary NK cell-mediated clearance of semisyngeneic tumour cells was determined in vivo on days 10, 20, 30, and 60 after the infection. Cytotoxic activity of NK cells in the lungs was substantially elevated on days 20 and 30 after challenge with both "doses" of the parasite. At the same time large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) as well as cells expressing surface asialo-GM1 molecules were isolated in elevated numbers from spleens of the infected as opposed to the normal mice. Expression of other markers of differentiation, such as THy 1, CD4, and CD8 was also enhanced on splenocytes isolated from the infected mice on day 30 but not 20 after administration of the larvae. The present results indicate that NK cell-mediated activity in vivo is stimulated above the baseline level during migration and early muscle phases of the infection with T. spiralis in mice. The possible impact of this effect upon the course of trichinellosis as well as upon the growth of tumours in the infected host is discussed.


This note computes revenue-maximising tax rates in personal income taxes in the presence of consumption taxes. It finds that the traditional Laffer analysis, which neglects the effects of marginal tax rates on consumption, overestimates the magnitude of revenue-maximising tax rates. The bias caused by this oversight is computed.


—In this work, we propose MAGES 4.0, a novel Software Development Kit (SDK) to accelerate the creation of collaborative medical training scenarios in VR/AR. Our solution offers a versatile authoring platform for developers to create medical simulations in a future-proof, low-code environment. MAGES breaks the boundaries between realities since students can collaborate using virtual and augmented reality devices at the same medical scene. With MAGES we provide a solution to the 150-year-old training model which is unable to meet the level of healthcare professionals needed. Our platform incorporates, among others, the following novel advancements: a) 5G edge-cloud remote rendering and physics dissection, b) realistic real-time simulation of organic tissues as soft-bodies, c) a highly realistic cutting and tearing algorithm, d) neural network assessment for user profiling and, e) a VR recorder to record and replay or resume the training simulation from any perspective.


We report on the measurement of the beam asymmetry $\Sigma$ for the reactions $\vec{\gamma}p\rightarrow p\eta$ and $\vec{\gamma}p \rightarrow p\eta^{\prime}$ from the GlueX experiment, using an 8.2--8.8 GeV linearly polarized tagged photon beam incident on a liquid hydrogen target in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. These measurements are made as a function of momentum transfer $-t$, with significantly higher statistical precision than our earlier $\eta$ measurements, and are the first measurements of $\eta^{\prime}$ in this energy range. We compare the results to theoretical predictions based on $t$--channel quasi-particle exchange. We also compare the ratio of $\Sigma_{\eta}$ to $\Sigma_{\eta^{\prime}}$ to these models, as this ratio is predicted to be sensitive to the amount of $s\bar{s}$ exchange in the production. We find that photoproduction of both $\eta$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ is dominated by natural parity exchange with little dependence on $-t$.


Today the halls of Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) and Davos reverberate with optimism that hacking, brainstorming, and crowdsourcing can transform citizenship, development, and education alike. This article examines these claims ethnographically and historically with an eye toward the kinds of social orders such practices produce. This article focuses on a hackathon, one emblematic site of social practice where techniques from information technology (IT) production become ways of remaking culture. Hackathons sometimes produce technologies, and they always, however, produce subjects. This article argues that the hackathon rehearses an entrepreneurial citizenship celebrated in transnational cultures that orient toward Silicon Valley for models of social change. Such optimistic, high-velocity practice aligns, in India, with middle-class politics that favor quick and forceful action with socially similar collaborators over the contestations of mass democracy or the slow construction of coalition across difference.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Chronic inflammation predisposes to a variety of human cancers. Affected tissues slowly accumulate mutations, some of which affect growth regulation and drive successive waves of clonal evolution whereas a far greater number are functionally neutral and serve only to passively mark expanding clones. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease in which up to 10% of patients eventually develop colon cancer. We have recently reported on mapping of mutations in non-coding polyguanine tracts in patients with UC to delineate the extent of clonal expansions associated with carcinogenesis. We genotyped colon biopsies for length altering mutations at 28 different polyguanine markers. In eight UC patients without neoplasia, blinded genotyping detected only two mutations in a single individual from among 37 total biopsies. In contrast, in eleven UC patients with neoplasia elsewhere in the colon, blinded genotyping identified 63 mutations in 51 nondysplastic biopsies, and every patient possessed at least one mutant clone. As a biomarker of cancer progression the presence of one or more clones was 100% sensitive and 88% specific. A subset of clones were large and extended over many square centimeters of colon. Of these, some occurred as isolated populations in non-dysplastic tissue, considerably distant from neoplastic lesions. Other large clones included regions of cancer, suggesting that the tumor arose within a pre-existing clonal field. This preliminary work indicated that neutral mutations in polyguanine tracts serve as a powerful tool for identifying clonally expanded populations, and suggested that these clones may be clinically useful for distinguishing a subset of UC patients who are at greatest risk for developing cancer. Here we provide updated results of a new and larger case-control study and discuss ongoing efforts to streamline clone detection using other types of neutral genetic markers and next-generation sequencing.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4707.


Arenaviruses cause severe diseases in humans but establish asymptomatic, lifelong infections in rodent reservoirs. Persistently-infected rodents harbor high levels of defective interfering (DI) particles, which are thought to be important for establishing persistence and mitigating virus-induced cytopathic effect. Little is known about what drives the production of DI particles. We show that neither the PPXY late domain encoded within the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) matrix protein nor a functional endosomal sorting complex transport (ESCRT) pathway is absolutely required for the generation of standard infectious virus particles. In contrast, DI particle release critically requires the PPXY late domain and is ESCRT-dependent. Additionally, the terminal tyrosine in the PPXY motif is reversibly phosphorylated and our findings indicate that this posttranslational modification may regulate DI particle formation. Thus we have uncovered a new role for the PPXY late domain and a possible mechanism for its regulation.


Background and Purpose Little information is available regarding black-white differences in stroke incidence in young adults. Methods Cerebral infarction and intracerebral hemorrhage rates among adults 15 to 44 years of age were studied in Baltimore City and Baltimore County for 1988. Diagnoses were based on neurologist review of data obtained from medical records at 41 hospitals by neurological nurses. Results The cerebral infarction rates per 100 000 were 22.8 for black males, 10.3 for white males, 20.7 for black females, and 10.8 for white females. The intracerebral hemorrhage rates per 100 000 were 14.2 for black males, 4.6 for white males, 4.8 for black females, and 1.5 for white females. Conclusions Blacks had significantly (P<.05) higher rates than whites for both cerebral infarction and intracerebral hemorrhage. Cerebral infarction rates are high in Baltimore compared with Florence, Italy, or Stockholm, Sweden. (Stroke. 1993;24[suppl I]:I-13-I-15.)


Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals typically have ligands attached to their surfaces that afford solubility in common solvents but hinder charge transport in nanocrystal films. Here, an alternative route is explored in which bare germanium nanocrystals are solubilized by select solvents to form stable colloids without the use of ligands. A survey of candidate solvents shows that germanium nanocrystals are completely solubilized by benzonitrile, likely because of electrostatic stabilization. Films cast from these dispersions are uniform, dense, and smooth, making them suitable for device applications without postdeposition treatment.


Can we translate manndalipakara in Theragatha 863 with "a circular rampart"?In the Jataka there are many concepts of vastu-purusa-mandala which is a plan for a temple or a city, but this is not expressed with the word mandala/mandalin. The meaning of mandala/mandalin in verses of the Pali canon can be figured through synthesis with "a theory of mandala" in the Arthasastra of Kautilya and "tisu mandalesu" of the Milindapanha.It means "a unit with peripheral countries led by one great power in the center" and should be treated as the mandala of politics/military affairs.The mandala comes to mean "the whole unit with order relation in the center and the outskirts" in primitive Buddhism. And when it is located in the latter half of a compound, it means "a thing in the center (or the best thing) among the aggregation of the kind".On the other hand, mandalin means "ruler of a (minor) region" used in "a theory of mandala" as explained in the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary.Mandalipakara should be translated with "the rampart for (or to protect) a lord or a king of a (minor) region".


Hoffa's syndrome involves inflammation of the infrapatellar fat pad secondary to direct trauma or microtrauma. Alternative sources of inflammation of Hoffa's fat pad include synovial processes such as pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) and osteochondromatosis. Recently, a few cases of inflammation of Hoffa's fat pad secondary to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been described. Our case presents an HIV patient with Hoffa's fat-pad inflammation as well as prefemoral fat-pad edema, posterior soft-tissue inflammation, and bone infarction. Since patients with HIV now live longer due to improved treatment regimens, it is important for radiologists to recognize HIV-related musculoskeletal manifestations, such as non-neoplastic inflammation in Hoffa's fat pad (as seen in our patient).


Over the past four decades Delhi, India, has witnessed rapid urbanization and change in land use land cover (LULC) pattern, with most of the cultivable areas and wasteland being converted into built-up areas. Presently around 40% land is under built-up area, a drastic rise of 30% from 1977. The effect of changing LULC, at a local scale, on various variables-land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), emissivity, albedo, evaporation, Bowen ratio, and planetary boundary layer (PBL) height, from 1991–2016, is investigated. To assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of land-air interactions, we select two different 100 km transects covering the NE-SW and NW-SE expanse of Delhi and its adjoining areas. High NDVI and emissivity is found for regions with green cover and drastic reduction is noted in built-up area clusters. In both of the transects, land surface variations manifest itself in patterns of LST variation. Parametric and non-parametric correlations are able to statistically establish the land-air interactions in the city. NDVI, an indirect indicator for LULC classes, significantly helps in understanding the modifications in LST and ultimately air temperature. Significant, strong positive relationships exist between skin temperature and evaporation, skin temperature and PBL height, and PBL height and evaporation, providing insights into the meteorological changes that are associated with urbanization.


Physical design process commonly consumes hours to days for large designs, and routing is known as the most critical step. Demands for accurate routing quality prediction raise to a new level to accel-erate hardware innovation with advanced technology nodes. This work presents an approach that forecasts the density of all routing channels over the entire floorplan, with features collected up to placement, using conditional GANs. Specifically, forecasting the routing congestion is constructed as an image translation (colorization) problem. The proposed approach is applied to a) placement exploration for minimum congestion, b) constrained placement exploration and c) forecasting congestion in real-time during incremental placement, using eight designs targeting a fixed FPGA architecture.


A recent approach to simulating localized feedback from active galactic nuclei by Power et al. (2011) uses an accretion disc particle to represent both the black hole and its accretion disc. We have extrapolated and adapted this approach to simulations of Milky Way-sized galaxy mergers containing black holes and explored the impact of the various parameters in this model as well as its resolution dependence. The two key parameters in the model are an effective accretion radius, which determines the radius within which gas particles are added to the accretion disc, and a viscous time-scale which determines how long it takes for material in the accretion disc to accrete on to the black hole itself. We find that there is a limited range of permitted accretion radii and viscous time-scales, with unphysical results produced outside this range. For permitted model parameters, the nuclear regions of simulations with the same resolution follow similar evolutionary paths, producing final black hole masses that are consistent within a factor of two. When comparing the resolution dependence of the model, there is a trend towards higher resolution producing slightly lower mass black holes, but values for the two resolutions studied again agree within a factor of two. We also compare these results to two other AGN feedback algorithms found in the literature. While the evolution of the systems vary, most notably the intermediate total black hole mass, the final black hole masses differ by less than a factor of five amongst all of our models, and the remnants exhibit similar structural parameters. The implication of this accretion model is that, unlike most accretion algorithms, a decoupling of the accretion rate on to the black hole and the local gas properties is permitted and obtained; this allows for black hole growth even after feedback has prevented additional accretion events on to the disc.


Abstract. In 2018 and 2019, the STIMTEC hydraulic stimulation experiment was conducted at 130 m depth in the Reiche Zeche underground research laboratory in Freiberg/Germany. The experiment was designed to investigate the rock damage resulting from hydraulic stimulation and to link seismic activity and enhancement of hydraulic properties in strongly foliated metamorphic gneiss. We present results from active and passive seismic monitoring prior to and during hydraulic stimulations. We characterise the structural anisotropy and heterogeneity of the reservoir rocks at the STIMTEC site and the induced, high-frequency (> 1 kHz) acoustic emission (AE) activity, associated with brittle deformation at the cm to dm-scale. We derived the best velocity model per recording station from over 200 active ultrasonic transmission measurements for high accuracy AE event location. The average P-wave anisotropy is 12 %, in agreement with values derived from laboratory tests on core material. We use a 16-station, seismic monitoring network comprising AE sensors, accelerometers, one broadband sensor and one AE-hydrophone. All instrumentation was removable, providing us with the flexibility to use existing boreholes for multiple purposes. This approach also allowed for optimising the (near) real-time passive monitoring system during the experiment. To locate AE events, we tested the effect of different velocity models and inferred their location accuracy. Based on the known active ultrasonic transmission measurement points, we obtained an average relocation error of 0.26 ± 0.06 m using a transverse isotropic velocity model per station. The uncertainty resulting from using a simplified velocity model increased to 0.5–2.6 m, depending on whether anisotropy was considered or not. Structural heterogeneity overprints anisotropy of the host rock and has a significant influence on velocity and attenuation, with up to 4 % and up to 50 % decrease on velocity and wave amplitude, respectively. Significant variations in seismic responses to stimulation were observed ranging from abundant AE events (several thousand per stimulated interval) to no activity with breakdown pressure values ranging between 6.4 and 15.6 MPa. Low-frequency seismic signals with varying amplitudes were observed for all stimulated intervals that correspond to the injection pressure curve rather than the flow rate. We discuss the observations from STIMTEC in context of similar experiments performed in underground research facilities to highlight the effect of small-scale rock, stress and structural heterogeneity and/or anisotropy observed at the decameter scale. The reservoir complexity at this scale supports our conclusion that field-scale experiments benefit from high-sensitivity, wide-bandwidth instrumentation, and flexible monitoring approaches to adapt to unexpected challenges during all stages of the experiment.


Nitric oxide (NO) possesses many physiological effects and S-nitrosothiols have been identified in a variety of tissues exhibiting many NO-like activities. This review focuses on the latest discoveries pertaining to the biological functions of S-nitrosothiols and the recent research progress in the chemical properties and biomedical applications of RSNOs.


Adult planarians possess somatic pluripotent stem cells called neoblasts that give rise to all missing cell types during regeneration and homeostasis. Recent studies revealed that the Yorkie (Yki)/Yes‐associated protein (YAP) transcriptional coactivator family plays an important role in the regulation of tissue growth during development and regeneration, and therefore we investigated the role of a planarian yki‐related gene (termed Djyki) during regeneration and homeostasis of the freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica. We found that knockdown of the function of Djyki by RNA interference (RNAi) downregulated neoblast proliferation and caused regeneration defects after amputation. In addition, Djyki RNAi caused edema during homeostasis. These seemingly distinct defects induced by Djyki RNAi were rescued by simultaneous RNAi of a planarian mats‐related gene (termed Djmats), suggesting an important role of Djmats in the negative regulation of Djyki, in accordance with the conservation of the functional relationship of these two genes during the course of evolution. Interestingly, Djyki RNAi did not prevent normal protonephridial structure, suggesting that Djyki RNAi induced the edema phenotype without affecting the excretory system. Further analyses revealed that increased expression of the D. japonica gene DjaquaporinA (DjaqpA), which belongs to a large gene family that encodes a water channel protein for the regulation of transcellular water flow, promoted the induction of edema, but not defects in neoblast dynamics, in Djyki(RNAi) animals. Thus, we conclude that Djyki plays two distinct roles in the regulation of active proliferation of stem cells and in osmotic water transport across the body surface in D. japonica.


This paper discusses evidence-based management of dental caries with regard to: (1) need to adopt new office methods, (2) potential barriers to change, and (3) possible practical solutions to aid change. The need for classifying individual patients into low-, medium-, and high-risk caries groups is justified from a review of the epidemiological characteristics of caries. In addition, a deficiency is identified in traditional caries recording methods since they are unable to grade the severity and activity of individual lesions. The traditional basis of six-monthly recall examinations for all patients is shown from the literature to have no scientific support. It is suggested a three-twelve month recall interval be used, depending on a patient's risk group classification. Some barriers to change are identified as: (1) the collection of more comprehensive history and clinical caries data, (2) the complexity of evidence-based decision-making, and (3) dentists' difficulty in standardizing decision-making. A new pictorial classification for caries severity and activity is described. A demonstration decision-support system is presented in terms of assisting collection of data, automatic identification of risk factors, patient risk classification, and generation of a suggested treatment plan. Evidence-based management may result in change of professional manpower levels.


: Dynamic performance of transmission has a substantial effect on dynamic performance and fuel efficiency of a vehicles. Dynamic performance of transmission and mass moments of inertia of transmission gears are related directly each other. Then a smaller amount of kinetic energy from vehicles that repeat acceleration and deceleration requires lighter rotating part in transmission. It is going to increases fuel efficiency as a result. In this study, equivalent inertia moments of inertia at different speeds were calculated by simplifying the transmission system. To find out lightening effect at low speed level gear on fuel efficiency, the powerflow of transmission was analyzed. And the lightning effect of the rotating parts in transmission is compared with the mass reduction of sprung parts in vehicle.


Abstract. Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals that have significant advantages over organic fluorophores, including their extremely narrow Gaussian emission bands and broad absorption bands. Thus, QDs have a wide range of potential applications, such as in quantum computing, photovoltaic cells, biological sensing, and electronics. For these applications, aliasing provides a detrimental effect on signal identification efficiency. This can be avoided through characterization of the QD fluorescence signals. Characterization of the emissivity of CdTe QDs as a function of concentration (1 to 10  mg/ml aqueous) was conducted on 12 commercially available CdTe QDs (emission peaks 550 to 730 nm). The samples were excited by a 50-mW 405-nm laser with emission collected via a free-space CCD spectrometer. All QDs showed a redshift effect as concentration increased. On average, the CdTe QDs exhibited a maximum shift of +35.6  nm at 10  mg/ml and a minimum shift of +27.24  nm at 1  mg/ml, indicating a concentration dependence for shift magnitude. The concentration-dependent redshift function can be used to predict emission response as QD concentration is changed in a complex system.


Development of methods for Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) is typically carried out more or less isolated from the practical context in which the method is intended to be used. This means that practical limitations, constraints and challenges are missed, potentially leading to the proposed method is not suited for its intended end-users and giving poor results. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to suggest a framework for development, implementation and evaluation of methods for RVA with an explicit focus on the challenges faced in practice. The framework draws inspiration from three theoretical domains; Design science, Action research, and Evaluation theory. The proposed framework has been tested in the development, implementation and evaluation of a method for Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) in the municipality of Malmo in Southern Sweden. The paper presents preliminary findings from this method development and implementation process.


Whereas innovation has become part of daily language, in practice, realizing new product and new service development is a complex and daunting task for engineers, design engineering managers, managers, and those involved in other functions in organizations. Most books on innovation management approach this topic from a managerial or economic perspective; this text takes the actual design and engineering processes as starting point. To this purpose, it relates product design and engineering processes and their management to sources of innovation, collaboration with suppliers, and knowledge providers (for example, inventors and universities), and users. The managerial aspects get ample attention as well as the socioeconomic aspects in the context of product design and engineering.

For this wide range of topics, the book provides both theoretical underpinning and practical guidance. Readers and students will benefit from this book by not only understanding the key mechanisms for innovation but also by the practical guidance it offers. The author uses diagrams, models, methods, and steps to guide readers to a better understanding of innovation projects. This practical approach and the link to theory make the book valuable to practitioners as well as engineering students.


This paper focuses on Physical Education (PE) as a curriculum subject which is struggling in the education system from the local to the international level. The paper relied on document analysis, unstructured interviews and observations. It will give an understanding of value chain as it has developed since Porter (1985) popularized it. The paper attempts to transform the treatment of the subject in the school system and in general by creating and taking advantage of value chains. It will identify and analyse both the primary and support activities that can form the value chains in the subject. The paper examines success theories of value chains in business and suggests that PE should be treated like a business since it culminates into sport which is itself a business. The paper will show that even though it is not treated like a business in the education system, PE encounters competitive forces such as those experienced in business. The paper will also show how each independent partner can be known to every other partner, all of whom should acknowledge that they are connected to the demand side of the market. It will show the importance of specialization to eradicate assumptions that PE can be anybody's job.


The provision of lifelong learning facilities is considered to be a major new direction for higher and distance teaching educational institutes catering for the demands of industry and society. ICT networks will in future support seamless, ubiquitous access to lifelong learning facilities at home, at work, in schools and universities. This implies the development of new ways of organizing learning delivery that goes beyond course and programme-centric models. It envisions a learner-centred, learner-controlled model of distributed lifelong learning. We present a conceptual model for the support of lifelong learning which is based on notions from self-organization theory, learning communities, agent technologies and learning technology specifications such as IMS Learning Design. An exploratory implementation has been developed and used in practice. We reflect on the findings and future directions.


Since the late 1970s, the area of agricultural land dedicated to hybrid rice has rapidly increased throughout Asia, particularly in China, India, and Vietnam. The pace of hybrid adoption, a generally low genetic diversity of hybrid varieties, and higher agrochemical inputs with hybrid rice compared to conventional varieties has significantly changed the rice landscape. Some authors have associated these changes with an increasing incidence of damage to rice by herbivorous insects. This review examines trends in hybrid adoption in Asia, the associated problems with insect herbivores, and possible solutions to these problems. A series of hypotheses are presented to explain the increased incidence of damage as related to issues of crop susceptibility (hybrid physiology and genetics) and crop vulnerability (management‐related issues). Evidence suggests that hybrid rice has been highly vulnerable to damage from a range of insects. Inadequate attention to issues of planthopper resistance, linked with high agrochemical inputs and a new, vigorous rice type, likely contributed to high levels of planthopper damage in some hybrid rice varieties. Furthermore, hybrid susceptibility to the whitebacked planthopper, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), has been linked to the female (wild abortive‐cytoplasmic male sterile) parent of some hybrid lines. Meanwhile, a high incidence of stem borer damage to hybrids has likely resulted from the interaction of several plant traits with normal hybrid management, and particularly with the higher fertilizer applications associated with hybrid rice. Despite apparently low levels of resistance, hybrid varieties have high tolerance to herbivore damage; however, aspects of hybrid tolerance have been largely neglected in the literature, in breeding programs, and during development of pest management actions. This review suggests that research into the entomology of hybrid rice needs updating as hybrid varieties and management options continue to change over time. Pest management areas that require further research (including strategies for deployment of resistant varieties) are highlighted and a call is made for increased attention to issues of hybrid tolerance for sustainable herbivore management.


This paper examines the attitudes toward application of viral marketing in the food industry in Serbia. The research consisted of both an extensive theory review and empirical research, including case studies, surveys and in-depth interviews. Viral marketing has been defined as any marketing program (online or offline) that is designed to achieve an exponential growth by spreading marketing effects from customer to customer. The paper's hypothesis, stating that marketing managers in Serbia have positive attitudes toward the usefulness of viral marketing in the food industry, has been supported by the results of both primary and secondary research. Finally, a number of limitations and risks associated with the viral marketing strategy have been presented, followed by a brief discussion of possible ways to overcome the challenges.


The concept is to use a grounded co-planar waveguide (GCPW) to enhance useful characteristics of a fractal antenna. In this case 9.54 dB return loss and input impedance bandwidths are increased. The specific candidate antennas are printed fractal monopoles such as the Penta–Gasket–Koch (PGK) antenna. These topical antennas are used to compare a coaxial fed system with GCPW-fed system. A PGK is applied for two bands germane to ultra-wideband (UWB). These are 5.35–7.35 GHz and 10.07 to 11 GHz (refer to VSWR<2). A modified PGK is presented with a wideband input match from 4.25 to 11 GHz (refer to VSWR<2). Results suggest that these antennas are possible candidates for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) UWB radio short fat pipe systems with time-domain analysis indicating reduced ringing for impulse excitation over the proposed FCC bandwidth. In addition, the correlation between the time-domain transmitting antenna's input signal and the receiving conventional PGK antenna output signal is obtained which demonstrates approximately 89% antipodal resemblance. The modified PGK antenna improves the antipodal resemblance up to 95%


Similar in design to radioimmunoassay, comparable in sensitivity and specificity but easier, safer, and less expensive, this new diagnostic technique uses enzyme-labeled rather than isotope-labeled reagents. The end point is a color change that can be assessed by colorimetry or with the naked eye. Various techniques of ELISA are described, along with examples of current and potential clinical applications.


Summary form only given, as follows. NSWC Carderock Division is presently supporting the Mine and Undersea Warfare Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Office PMS-403 by conducting test and evaluation of large Li/SOCl/sub 2/ cells and battery assemblies to be used in the AN/BLQ-11 Long Term Mine Reconnaissance System vehicle. These tests support performance evaluations, but are foremost safety verification and evaluation tests for the battery and the LMRS vehicle. This vehicle is intended to be launched from and recovered into 688-Class submarines. The cells represent the outgrowth of specialized development and optimization for exceptionally high energy density with high power. The battery is capable of producing 1500 watts of sustained power and consists of 24 series connected cells containing yielding 95 kWh in a 21" diameter, 52" long, 680 pound cylinder that is replaceable within the confines of the torpedo room of the submarine. The battery must perform efficiently and reliably, have intelligent communications with the UUV, and foremost and utmost, the battery must be fault tolerant to prevent any potential for hazard or harm to personnel and the submarine platform. The authors describe the development of the test program, the requirements for demonstration, performance of the cell and the battery, and describe special characteristics of the battery and cell design to assure safety. They describe the environmental and safety tests that have been conducted. They outline specific challenges they are addressing and outline future prospects.


In this article the problem of improving the competitiveness of gas stations by automating the sales of petroleum products on the Russian enterprises. The author analyzes the features, advantages and disadvantages of automation of petrol stations in Russia. Particular attention is paid to the comparative performance of different types of gas stations.


Late Quaternary fluvial deposits in the Tunica Hills region of Louisiana and Mississippi are rich in spruce macrofossils of the extinct species Picea critchfieldii, the one recognized plant extinction of the Late Quaternary. However, the morphology of P. critchfieldii pollen is unknown, presenting a barrier to the interpretation of pollen spectra from the last glacial of North America. To address this issue, we undertook a morphometric study of Picea pollen from Tunica Hills. Morphometric data, together with qualitative observations of pollen morphology using Apotome fluorescence microscopy, indicate that Picea pollen from Tunica Hills is morphologically distinct from the pollen of P. glauca, P. mariana and P. rubens. Measurements of grain length, corpus width and corpus height indicate that Picea pollen from Tunica Hills is larger than the pollen of P. mariana and P. rubens, and is slightly larger than P. glauca pollen. We argue that the morphologically distinctive Tunica Hills Picea pollen was probably produced by the extinct spruce species P. critchfieldii. These morphological differences could be used to identify P. critchfieldii in existing and newly collected pollen records, which would refine its paleoecologic and biogeographic history and clarify the nature and timing of its extinction in the Late Quaternary.


The notion of aesthetic ideas is of great importance to Kant's thinking about art. Despite its importance, he says little about it. He characterizes aesthetic ideas as representations of the imagination and says that the gift of artistic genius is the inscrutable capacity to envision them. Furthermore, they are counterparts of rational ideas. Works of art thus sensibly present rational ideas; the pleasure they occasion is a consequence of the enriching process of reflection upon the wealth of content they sensibly present. The purpose of this article is to ask whether all rational ideas have aesthetic ideas as counterparts, and so can be presented in art, or whether only some do and which. The answer should reveal what, for Kant, is the subject-matter of art. I argue that for Kant art is concerned with the range and variety of human freedom as well as with its highest fulfillment in morality.


Aims : Intracerebral drug delivery is an emerging strategy for the treatment of refractory epilepsies. Recently, the GABA
 A receptor agonist muscimol was infused into the epileptic focus in drug-resistant epilepsy patients (Heiss et al. 2019 Neurosurgery). In seizure and epilepsy models in rats, muscimol has shown anticonvulsant potential when injected acutely into the subthalamic nucleus (STN). However, continuous administration would be required for the clinical setting. Thus, we hypothesized that chronic convection-enhanced muscimol delivery into the STN produces anticonvulsant effects in an acute rat seizure model. Methods : We examined the effects of intra-STN muscimol following a single microinjection (30 and 60 ng/250 nl) and during continuous administration via a microinfusion pump (60 and 600 ng/day over 3 weeks) on the seizure threshold of female Wistar Unilever rats. Timed intravenous pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) infusion was used as an acute seizure test particularly sensitive to GABA-potentiating manipulations. Results : Acute STN muscimol infusion significantly increased PTZ seizure thresholds compared to vehicle-injected animals. The anticonvulsant effect persisted in the first week during chronic STN inhibition and diminished in the second week, indicating tolerance. Low doses of muscimol were well tolerated and not associated with behavioral adverse effects (e.g., sedation, circling) observed after infusion of higher doses. Evaluation of the spatial distribution of BODIPY-labeled muscimol revealed behavioral adverse effects may be attributable to drug spread into adjacent regions of the STN. Conclusions : These results substantiate the STN as a key region in seizure control and indicate the potential of chronic targeted muscimol delivery for prolonged anticonvulsant effects.


PURPOSE
To demonstrate high-speed, high axial resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 1060 nm with penetration to the sclera. The clinical feasibility of dense, high-speed sampling for higher levels of detail at the macula and optic nerve head is explored with respect to motion artifacts.

METHODS
A three-dimensional (3D) OCT system making use of a high-speed camera operating at 47,000 depth scans/s was developed. The 1010- to 1080-nm wavelength band leads to 6.7 microm effective axial resolution and enables the acquisition of retinal and choroidal 130 Megavoxel volumes of human subjects within 7 seconds. Motion artifacts were reduced by numeric postprocessing techniques.

RESULTS
Drift motion artifacts could be suppressed within fields up to 38 degrees x 38 degrees (approximately 1 cm(2)) using acquisition speeds of up to 74 frames/s at 512 x 512 pixel/frame. This isotropic OCT sampling of the human retina in vivo allowed reconstruction of the retinal microvasculature solely on vessel reflectivity, without the use of contrast agents, and revealed three interconnected capillary meshworks. Simultaneously in the choroid, the structure of the choriocapillaris, Sattler's layer, and Haller's layer were differentiated, and the choroidal-scleral interface was clearly delineated in densely sampled narrow- and wide-angle scans (>38 degrees). At the optic nerve head, the 3D fine structure of the lamina cribrosa and the circle of Zinn-Haller were visualized.

CONCLUSIONS
OCT almost centered within the 1060-nm water transmission window significantly profits from lower scattering and allows investigation of the retina and choroid at an unprecedented combination of penetration and high speed at high resolution and may provide superior clinical feasibility to commercial 800-nm devices.


The solubilization of toluene into water by propylene glycol and methanol was measured by a novel liquid chromatographic procedure. The relationship between solubilization and cosolvent content is linear up to 10-20 vol % of cosolvent, beyond which conventional logarithmic behavior is observed. The point of departure from linearity is believed to signal the onset of interaction between the extended hydration shells of the cosolvent. For propylene glycol, the volume of this shell is about 500 mL/mol, and the solubility of toluene within the shell is about 1.3 times its solubility in pure water.


Today's era is the era of scientific validation. So, it's much more important to prove the thinks which we do either theoretically or practically. As we all know Vrana Chikitsa is being the matter of concern since time immemorial for all the system of medical science. If we unfold the pages of Ancient Ayurvedic literature then we will find a number of miraculous drugs or combined preparations which have magnificent effect of the treatment of Vrana. But the cause behind the back step is the unavailability of such drugs. By combining some of those drugs as per the reference of Acharya Shusruta, which are available now, we have taken a Taila preparation named as per the first ingredient in it as Samangadi Taila. Ingredients, properties, and its effect on the management of Vrana through different mode of actions as per Ayurveda are described here individually and combinedly as one preparation.
In this review we are discuss on individual drug properties concerning of Vrana Chikitsa, Formulation of drugs as per classical text and explain of probable mode of action of Samangadi Taila, in addition to mentioned of source of drugs and analytical study of combined preparation under completion of formulation.


Anticipating all possible attacks on a system is hard work. Malicious actors seem to have an inherent advantage, since they can win by finding single vulnerabilities. In our MIT team within the DARPA SSITH program, we are exploring principled ways to rule out human error as a source of security issues in computer processors. A typical security audit involves prose arguments about attack models and why they are thwarted. We instead write down formal mathematical theorems about real digital hardware designs, and we build their formal proofs that can be checked algorithmically. That is, a program, rather than a potentially distracted human, confirms that the security argument is convincing. After giving some background on the general technology, I would like to focus on two concrete uses in the SSITH program. First, we are exploring flexible tagging support, to flow additional security-relevant information through the microarchitectural state of a Linux-capable processor. Unusually, however, we propose to compile custom processor descriptions automatically from descriptions of security policies to be enforced. We aim to do this compilation in a way that gives formal theorems that the generated processors truly enforce the security policies. Second, we are tackling the issues with timing side channels exposed by the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. Through a synergistic connection with work funded by the National Science Foundation, we are able to prove security theorems for whole hardwaresoftware system stacks. For instance, we can show that a compiled C program with a cryptographic function will run on a specific RISC-V processor, in a way where a secret input flowing into the function provably has no effect on timing of output events flowing out of the processor. Keywords—formal verification; tagged architectures; timing side channels; RISC-V; DARPA; SSITH


We consider limits on the local (z=0) density (n0) of extragalactic neutrino sources set by the nondetection of steady high-energy neutrino sources producing ≳50  TeV muon multiplets in the present IceCube data, taking into account the redshift evolution, luminosity function, and neutrino spectrum of the sources. We show that the lower limit depends moderately on source spectra and strongly on redshift evolution. We find n0≳10-8–10-7  Mpc-3 for standard candle sources evolving rapidly, ns∝(1+z)3, and n0≳10-6–10-5  Mpc-3 for nonevolving sources. The corresponding upper limits on their neutrino luminosity are Lνμeff≲1042–1043  erg s-1 and Lνμeff≲1041–1042  erg s-1, respectively. Applying these results to a wide range of classes of potential sources, we show that powerful "blazar" jets associated with active galactic nuclei are unlikely to be the dominant sources. For almost all other steady candidate source classes (including starbursts, radio galaxies, and galaxy clusters and groups), an order of magnitude increase in the detector sensitivity at ∼0.1–1  PeV will enable a detection (as point sources) of the few brightest objects. Such an increase, which may be provided by next-generation detectors like IceCube-Gen2 and an upgraded KM3NET, can improve the limit on n0 by more than 2 orders of magnitude. Future gamma-ray observations (by Fermi, the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, and the Cherenkov Telescope Array) will play a key role in confirming the association of the neutrinos with their sources.


This paper presents the design of Schmitt trigger-based 8T SRAM Architecture for low power sub-threshold (or) near- threshold CMOS SRAM for power constrained Applications. Power Consumption, Power Dissipation and Leakage Power are the main factors in the IC Design. Memory unit is the primary block in design of any chip like Micro Processor and Micro Controller. As SRAMs comprise a significant percentage of the area and power for many digital chips and leakage can dominate total chip leakage. The proposed paper used to reduce the leakage power by using High-Vth nMOS as pull-down transistors for standard 6T SRAM. This paper demonstrates the Architecture Design and Analysis of 256bitcell 8T SRAM in 45nm technology. The design implementation and analysis is performed using 45nm CMOS technology in CADENCE IDE. KeywordsSub-Threshold, Low power, Low Leakage


The electrical impedance of blood is used in biomedical applications such as impedance cardiography for monitoring blood flow. Impedance cardiography assumes a constant value for the conductivity of blood. However, this assumption has been shown to be invalid for the case of flowing blood since the conductivity is affected by flow induced changes in the orientation of red blood cells. A number of previous studies have modeled the conductivity of blood in constant flow. This study investigates the conductivity changes due to pulsatile flow as experienced during the cardiac cycle. This is achieved through the development of a theoretical model of the conductivity of pulsatile blood flowing through rigid tubes. Conductivity waveforms of pulsatile blood were generated by incorporating realistic physiological flow and cell orientation dynamics into previously reported steady flow conductivity models. Results show that conductivity correlates with the spatial average blood velocity and that features of the velocity waveform are reproduced in the conductivity signal. Conductivity was also shown to be dependent on the shape of the velocity profile. The modeled conductivity change is comparable with previously published experimental results for pulsatile blood flow, supporting the reliability of the model.


Silicone-gel breast implant rupture is difficult to diagnose preoperatively. A variety of radiological methods have been used for diagnosis. This study prospectively compares film-screen mammography, high-resolution sonography, and magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of implant rupture using predetermined diagnostic criteria. Thirteen patients (24 implants) underwent film-screen mammography, sonography, and magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the integrity of their implants. All patients subsequently underwent surgical removal of the implants. Preoperatively, the integrity of each implant was rated on a three-level classification system on the basis of one modality by a reviewer who was unaware of the results of the other two modalities. The three imaging modalities achieved the following sensitivities and specificities, respectively: mammography, 69% and 82%; sonography, 54% and 64%; MRI, 69% and 55%. Even though each modality addresses some of the limitations of the others, in this group of patients, there was no clearly superior imaging tool.