Monitoring of population weight status is valuable in order to track changes and identify likely causes and implications, and to adjust policy and program priorities. A monitoring framework sets out what information should be collected, when and how it should be collected, and systems for the reporting of this information. The framework covers dietary behaviours, physical activity and sedentary behaviours, food environment factors, physical activity environment factors, socio-demographic and other factors.


The role of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in XPC gene silencing and bladder cancer development Xiaoxin S. Xu, Le Wang, and Gan Wang Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Wayne State University, 259 Mack Ave., Detroit, MI 48202 Bladder cancer is one of the most common malignancies and causes hundreds thousands of death worldwide each year. Bladder cancer is strongly associated with exposure to environmental carcinogens. It is believed that DNA damage generated by environmental carcinogens and their metabolites causes development of bladder cancer. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is the major DNA repair pathway for repairing bulk DNA damage generated by most environmental carcinogens and XPC is a DNA damage recognition protein required for initiation of the NER process. Recent studies demonstrate reduced levels of XPC protein in tumors for a majority of bladder cancer patients. In this work we investigated the role of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in XPC gene silencing and bladder cancer development. The results of our HDAC inhibitor study revealed that the treatment of HTB4 and HTB9 bladder cancer cells with HDAC inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) caused an increase in transcription of the XPC gene in these cells. The results of our chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) studies indicated that the VPA treatment caused increased bindings of both CREB1 and Sp1 transcription factors at the promoter of XPC gene for both HTB4 and HTB9 cells. The results of our immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining studies further revealed a strong correlation between the presence of HDAC4 and the occurrence of bladder tumors. In addition, the results of our caspase 3 activation studies demonstrated that the prior treatment with VPA increased the anticancer drug cisplatin-induced activation of caspase 3 in both HTB4 and HTB9 cells. All these results suggest that the HDACs negatively regulate transcription of the XPC gene in bladder cancer cells and contribute to the development of bladder cancer. 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 4861.


In recent years, the changing and globalizing conditions caused the rapid changes and demand uncertainty by changing human needs. Under these rapid changes and uncertain conditions, the way for companies to make effective planning is to make accurate and reliable forecasting. As the technological developments increases artificial intelligence-based forecasting algorithms are widely used for demand forecasting instead of the classical methods such as time series analysis. These methods yield much more successful results than classical forecasting methods, especially in cases where the uncertainty and variability are high. In this study, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) are employed to forecast the demands of the products with high variability and uncertainty in a food company. Before the methods were applied, an experimental design was conducted to find the best parameter values, and in this way, the accuracy of forecasts was increased. Numerical results showed that ANN makes better forecasts than SVR for the examined products.


X-ray reference powder patterns and structures have been determined for a series of cobalt-, nickel- and zinc-containing niobates, Co(Ni x Zn1−x )Nb4O12 (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8). The Co(Ni x Zn1−x )Nb4O12 series crystallize in the space group of Pbcn, which is of the disordered columbite-type structure (α-PbO2). The lattice parameters range from a = 14.11190(13) to 14.1569(3) Å, b = 5.69965(6) to 5.71209(13) Å, c = 5.03332(5) to 5.03673(11) Å, and V = 404.844(8) to 407.296(17) Å3 from x = 0.8 to 0.2, respectively. Co(Ni x Zn1−x )Nb4O12 contains double zig-zag chains of NbO6 octahedra and single chain of (Ni,Zn,Co)O6 octahedra run parallel to the bc-plane. Within the same chain the NbO6 octahedra share edges, while the adjacent NbO6 chains are joined to each other through common oxygen corners. These double NbO6 chains are further linked together along the [100]-direction through another (Co,Ni,Zn)O6 units, via common oxygen corners. The edge-sharing (Co,Ni,Zn)O6 also forms zig-zag chains along the c-axis. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of this series of compounds have been submitted to be included in the Powder Diffraction File.


The focus of most research nowadays in the field of communication technology is on increasing bandwidth in wireless connectivity. Adaptive modulation can be used to enhance efficiency of communication systems. Adaptive modulation requires modulation format identification (MFI) at the receiver side to avoid the overhead required to determine the modulation type at the receiver. We present an MFI algorithm based on fan-beam projection to generate patterns from the constellation diagrams that are more discriminative. The constellation diagrams are obtained as images for eight different modulation formats (2/4/8/16 - PSK and 8/16/32/64 - QAM). Different classifiers such as AlexNet, VGG16, and VGG19 are studied and compared for the task of MFI. Evaluation of this proposed algorithm is performed by estimating the classification accuracy at different optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNRs) ranging from 5 to 30 dB. The simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm succeeds in identifying the wireless optical modulation format blindly with a classification accuracy up to 100% even at low OSNR values less than 8 dB compared with the related work.


Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) ambush is one of the majorly recorded assaults in personal computer safety. Man-In-The-Middle aims at a certain info which passes among two end terminals, and privacy and righteousness of the data. We tend to broadly study the writings on Man In The Middle to scrutinize and reach the range of Man-In-TheMiddle blitz, taking into account the referral model in the similar way as OSI design and also taking into consideration of two set of widely utilized networking technologies that is the Global System for Mobile and Universal Mobile Telecommunication System.In particular the Man-In-The-Middle assaults can be occurred due to the criteria like location of the sender, receiver and the attacker according to the channel of communication, the type of transmission and the spoofing techniques and provide implementation for the all possible Man-In-The-Middle groups. We draw the resemblance by understanding the pros and cons of the existing methods which prevent attacks. Eventually, according to our analysis we provide a system which gives the secured information and reduced attacks.


ABSTRACT. Mattos D.P.B.G., Lopes L.M.S., Vericimo M.A., Alvares T.S. & Sao Clemente S.C. Anisakidae larvae infection in five commercially important fish species from the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [Infeccao por larvas Anisakidae em cinco especies de peixes comercialmente importantes do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.] Revista Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinaria, 36(4):375-379, 2014. Laboratorio de Inspecao e Tecnologia de Pescado, Faculdade de Veterinaria, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Vital Brazil, 64, Santa Rosa, Niteroi, RJ 24230-340, Brasil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com From March 2009 to March 2012, 213 teleostei fish were obtained from fish markets and fishermen from Niteroi and Cabo Frio municipalities, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The fish belonged to the species Micropogonias furnieri (107); Trichiurus lepturus (35); Centropomus undecimalis (22); Genypterus brasiliensis (18); Pagrus pagrus (18); Pomatomus saltatrix (7) e Merluccius hubbsi (6). Nematode larvae of Anisakidae were found in P. saltatrix (85.71%); T. lepturus (71.42%), P. pagrus (55.55%), G. brasiliensis (50.00%), and M. furnieri (0.93%). The prevalence rates raised as fish size increased. The highest mean intensity was observed in T. lepturus parasitized by Contracaecum sp. (30.50 larvae per fish). The sites of infection were only mesenteries, hepatic capsule and gastric serosa. No larvae were found in flesh, however, the high prevalence and intensity observed in some species, could represent a risk to human health by the larvae migration to flesh.


One of the main ingredients in making edible films is starch. Arrowroot has a high starch content so that it can be used as raw material for making edible films. To increase the tensile strength and improve the surface structure of the edible film, it is necessary to add carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). However, it is necessary to have the right CMC concentration in order to produce an edible filmwith optimal tensile strength. The purpose of this study was to determine the correct CMC concentration of corn stalks to produce edible films with the best physical and chemical characteristics. The experimental design used in this study was a non-factorial completely randomized design, namely the concentration of commercial CMC: CMC corn stalks (ml) with five treatment levels, namely: A1 = 1: 0; A2 = 0.75: 0.25; A3 = 0.5: 0.5; A4 = 0.25: 0.75; and A5 = 0: 1. Each treatment was repeated four times in order to obtain the experimental unit 5 x 4 = 20 experimental units. The product analysis carried out was the moisture content, thickness, and pH of the edible film. The data obtained were calculated statistically with Anova and if there was a significant difference between treatments, it was continued with the Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT). The highest water content and thickness were obtained in the addition of 1 ml (A) CMC treatment.Keywords: arrowroot,  carboxymethylcellulose, corn, edible film


When some factors are hard to change and others are relatively easier, split-plot experiments are often an economic alternative to fully randomized designs. Split-plot experiments, with their structure of subplot arrays imbedded within whole-plot arrays, have a tendency to become large, particularly in screening situations when many factors are considered. To alleviate this problem, we explore, for the case of two-level designs, various ways to use orthogonal arrays of the Plackett–Burman type to reduce the number of individual tests. General construction principles are outlined, and the resulting alias structure is derived and discussed.


Labeling certain developments which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s as a "sexual revolution" may make us believe that needed changes have already happened and that we can now direct our attention to other matters. Forthcoming changes in human sexuality are complex and multifaceted issues. Our control over the outcomes of sexual relating--with contraceptives, artificial insemination, germinal banks, and in vitro fertilization--have already altered many aspects of both sexual and human relating, and will alter them even more in the future. Another development offering greater control over the consequences of sexual relating comes from shifting from 1 discipline as an authority for moral sexual decision-making to another, and later still another. The locus of control has shifted from Christianity to medicine to a more human acceptance of sex and a more rational process of decision making. The integration of sexuality into a broader concept of thinking is moving us away from a concentration on the genitals and genital activity toward an awareness that we all are sexual persons. Judgments relating to suitable criteria for determining the rightness and wrongness of sexual behavior have experienced a marked change. There are, however, 4 factors which may lead in diametrically opposite directions: 1)the militaristic buildup which, if it continues, threatens to divide the world into armed camps; 2) dealing with certain environmental elements or technological developments--such as Chernobly--that may in the end exert so much power over our lives that we will be reduced to a struggle simply to remain alive; 3) our fragmented personal relationships and the often confusing and antagonistic attitude of 1 group to another; and 4) the spread of AIDS which is decreasing our present level of sexual activity and curtailing our freedom.


CHAP not only promises quality control for health care delivered in the community but also provides for nursing autonomy in regulating its own practice. Mitchell, the senior vice president of CHAP, explains.


Nowadays global collaborative environments in the corporate world require engineers with professional global competences. In response to such need, different active-learning initiatives have been introduced in academia to prepare engineering students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to be competitive in the global market. Consequently, multinational design projects have been used by the authors as means of introducing professional global skills to engineering students while exposing them to a project-based learning experience. This educational activity faces many challenges including cultural and academic background differences, language and time zone barriers, and issues with communication tools among others. Therefore, this activity is expected to motivate students so they can start developing the professional skills that will help them to overcome difficulties and to carry out the project successfully. This work studies the motivation of students before and after participating in a multinational design project and makes a comparison of this parameter's results based on the effect of gender. To accomplish this objective, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) was adapted to the multinational experience and administered to the participating students. For this study, three motivation constructs are taken into consideration: (a) interest/enjoyment, (b) perception of choice, and (c) perceived competence. Results are discussed based on the research questions posted for this work, and some reflections based on the results are presented.


The zebrafish Danio rerio is a teleost model species widely used in developmental genetics, biomedical studies, toxicology, and drug screening. Despite the interest of this species in research, little is known through indirect observations about its blood osmolality, which is a key parameter for diverse experiments. In this study, we directly measured blood osmolality using nano-osmometry at different stages of zebrafish postembryonic development. We found that blood osmolality is close to 240 mOsm·kg−1 in early larvae. It progressively increased to ∼270 mOsm·kg−1 during the larval development before reaching ∼300 mOsm·kg−1 after metamorphosis in juveniles and later in adults. These ontogenetic changes in blood osmolality illustrate the physiological changes in osmoregulation associated with postembryonic development, including metamorphosis. These values are of practical interest for adjusting the osmolality of fixatives and cell and tissue culture media for research using zebrafish as a model.


Aim: Brugada syndrome is a genetic disorder associated with fatal ventricular arrhythmias. Type 1 (cove-type) ECG pattern is diagnostic for Brugada syndrome while Type 2 (saddle-type) ECG pattern requires ajmaline test to convert it to Type 1 ECG pattern to make the diagnosis. However, this test may cause ventricular arrhythmias and death. Intrinsicoid deflection time (IDT) is an ECG parameter reflecting intraventricular conduction delay, which is one of the pathophysiological mechanisms for Brugada syndrome. We examined IDT for conversion of type 2 Brugada pattern to type 1 Brugada pattern in ajmaline test. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study involved patients with Type 2 ECG pattern that was converted to Type 1 ECG pattern with ajmaline test (Group 1) and an ageand sex-matched control group with a normal ECG (Group 2). IDT was digitally measured in the lead V2, from the onset of the QRS complex to the peak of the R wave and compared between the study groups. A ROC curve was drawn to test the predictive ability of IDT for conversion to Type 1 ECG pattern. Results: There were 28 subjects (21 men, 7 women) in Group 1 and 28 subjects (21 men, 7 women) in Group 2. Group 1 had a significantly greater IDT than Group 2 (28 (17.1-78.0) msec vs 21 (16.0-36.9) msec; p<0.05). In ROC analysis, IDT significantly predicted conversion to Type 1 ECG pattern, and a cut-off value of 25 msec for IDT had a sensitivity of 55.6% and a specificity of 81.5% for predicting conversion to Type 1 ECG pattern. Conclusion: IDT was significantly longer in patients with Type 2 ECG pattern converted to Type 1 ECG pattern by ajmaline compared with the control subjects. IDT has a good specificity and a modest sensitivity for prediction of conversion to Type 1 ECG pattern.


This paper presents a novel technique for estimating directions of arrival of uncorrelated narrowband sources. It is also shown that, if a uniform linear array is assumed, the estimation can be performed by a computationally attractive rooting technique. It is further shown that the asymptotic covariance of the estimation error attains the proper Cramer-Rao lower bound. The theoretical results presented are compared to computer simulations.


In data mining, classification rule learning extracts the knowledge in the representation of IF_THEN rule which is comprehensive and readable. It is a challenging problem due to the complexity of data sets. Various meta-heuristic machine learning algorithms are proposed for rule learning. Cooperative rule learning is the discovery process of all classification rules with a single run concurrently. In this paper, a novel cooperative rule learning algorithm, called CoABCMiner, based on Artificial Bee Colony is introduced. The proposed algorithm handles the training data set and discovers the classification model containing the rule list. Token competition, new updating strategy used in onlooker and employed phases, and new scout bee mechanism are proposed in CoABCMiner to achieve cooperative learning of different rules belonging to different classes. We compared the results of CoABCMiner with several state-of-the-art algorithms using 14 benchmark data sets. Non parametric statistical tests, such as Friedman test, post hoc test, and contrast estimation based on medians are performed. Nonparametric tests determine the similarity of control algorithm among other algorithms on multiple problems. Sensitivity analysis of CoABCMiner is conducted. It is concluded that CoABCMiner can be used to discover classification rules for the data sets used in experiments, efficiently.


Tumors of striated muscle are sufficiently rare to make the observation of a new and characteristic case worthy of record. The rhabdomyoma which is the subject of the present discussion is of special interest because of the peculiar forms assumed by the myogenic cells and the wide variations of structure in the tumor. At the present time a detailed discussion of the literature of this neoplasm is unnecessary; but the facts which are of more direct bearing on the present case may be mentioned. Benenati9s list of 65 cases was published in 1903; and the cases reported since then do not show any material change in the relative frequency of this tumor in the various parts of the body. They may be divided according to the regions in which they occur. Rhabdomyoma is found most often in the genitourinary tract. There are 39 cases occurring in this region: kidney, 13; testis, 9; uterus, 6; pelvis of the kidney, 3; vagina, 3; bladder, 3; ovary or uterus, 1; ovary, 2. The tumor of the ovary described by Virchow in 1850 was a papillary cystic rhabdomyosarcoma, some of the papillae being formed of striated muscle. A second rhabdomyoma of the ovary was reported by Vignard. It was similar to the tumor about to be described, the greater part being striated muscular tissue with cystic degeneration at one extremity. Wolfensberger noted the frequency of this tumor in the neck and adjoining regions, which stand second to the genitourinary tract with 9 cases. These localities are: orbit, 2; temporal bone, nose, tongue, parotid, mandible, esophagus, and mediastinum. Four examples are found posterior to the pelvis. They were in the lumbar region, hip, ischial tuberosity, and anus.


Ultraviolet-written Long Period Fibre Gratings are demonstrated to be affective tools when measuring thermal gradients of a thermally conductive material. More specifically, variations in the thermal system of a substrate are detected through transmission spectrum responses. While it is well known that uniform temperature leads to pure wavelength shifts of the transmission spectrum minimum, observed changes in transmission loss lead to predictions of thermal gradients. Since Fourier's law of heat conduction implies that heat flux measurements of known conductive materials can be predicted with knowledge of the temperature gradient, the present work demonstrates that optical fibres may be used to develop photonic heat flux sensors. Such an advancement would have a significant impact in industries, such as building materials, in which embedded sensors are used to predict surface thermal boundary layer conditions.


This article presents the student-teachers' perceived strengths and weaknesses of a study conducted to explain the extent to which reflective teaching can improve the student-teachers' pedagogy competence in teaching English as a foreign language. The study was conducted with 29 EFL students who were taking a Micro Teaching subject at the English Department of a state university in Indonesia. The data were collected through journal, observation, and interview. The results of the analysis show that the studentteachers:1) focused their attention on five aspects of teaching, 2) perceived that the most problematic aspect was how to teach rather than what to teach, 3) thought that their difficulties were mostly due to lack of practical models, 4) did not think they had problems in their English. Except the last, the student-teachers' perception about their teaching was generally congruent with the researcher's observation note.There are three important conclusions that can be drawn from this study. First, reflective teaching was a good strategy to raise the student-teachers' awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Second, the student-teachers had relatively good capability to judge their own performance. Third, journal can be considered asuseful instrument to unveil the student-teachers' concerns and difficulties in teaching English.


Dual phase (DP) steels consisting of two phases, ferrite and dispersed martensite, offer an attractive combination of strength and stretchability, which is a result of the strong distinctions of these constituents in mechanical properties. To properly describe th e new features of these steels, various phenomenological uncoupled models or criteria are proposed in the past decade. These models or criteria determine more accurately the ductile fracture dependency on stress states in terms of stress triaxiality and Lode angle. However, they miss the softening effect caused by damage for materials in which damage is very much pronounced d uring large plastic deformation. In this study, a conventional Lemaitre damage model with isotropic hardening is adopted and modified in a phenomenological way to account for the Lode angle effect on ductile fracture. To demonstrate the necessity of in corporating the damage effect to stress-strain response, interrupted tests are performed to examine the damage evolution h istory. Notched dog-bone specimens with different radii are subsequently tested under the tensile loading to calibrate the material p arameters and validate the model after material parameter calibration. With only five independent damage material p arameters, the proposed model achieved a good accuracy on the prediction of the force–displacement response of deformation f rom uniaxial tension to plane-strain tension. The prediction of the final ductile fracture is also in a good agreement with the ex perimental data, which is a considerable improvement from the conventional Lemaitre damage model.


An efficient nickel-catalyzed deoxygenative silylation reaction of aromatic amides with silylboranes in the presence of a Sm/SmI2 system for the construction of α-aminosilanes is described. This strategy provides a direct method for synthesizing α-aminosilanes with high efficiency and good functional group compatibility and includes readily accessible starting materials and valuable products.


OBJECTIVE
Early worsening of diabetic retinopathy (EWDR) due to the rapid decrease of blood glucose levels is a concern in diabetes treatment. The aim of the current study is to evaluate whether this is an important issue in subjects with type 2 diabetes with mild or moderate nonproliferative DR (NPDR), who represent the vast majority of subjects with DR attended in primary care.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This is a retrospective nested case-control study of subjects with type 2 diabetes and previous mild or moderate NPDR. Using the SIDIAP ("Sistema d'informació pel Desenvolupament de la Recerca a Atenció Primària") database, we selected 1,150 individuals with EWDR and 1,150 matched controls (DR without EWDR). The main variable analyzed was the magnitude of the reduction of HbA1c in the previous 12 months. The reduction of HbA1c was categorized as rapid (>1.5% reduction in <12 months) or very rapid (>2% in <6 months).

RESULTS
We did not find any significant difference in HbA1c reduction between cases and controls (0.13 ± 1.21 vs. 0.21 ± 1.18; P = 0.12). HbA1c reduction did not show significant association with worsening of DR, neither in the unadjusted analyses nor in adjusted statistical models that included the main confounding variables: duration of diabetes, baseline HbA1c, presence of hypertension, and antidiabetic drugs. In addition, when stratification by baseline HbA1c was performed, we did not find that those patients with higher levels of HbA1c presented a higher risk to EWDR.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the rapid reduction of HbA1c is not associated with progression of mild or moderate NPDR.


This article concerns the use of diagnostic test information in medical diagnosis. Traditionally, the association between a diagnostic test and the true state of disease has been quantified in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The application of Bayes Theorem allows the formal incorporation of the diagnostic test information as a post-test probability of disease. The positive and negative likelihood ratios (LRs) are alternative expressions of the informational properties of the diagnostic test, which are computed from sensitivity and specificity. LRs offer several advantages including (a) simplifying the calculation of post-test probability (via odds), (b) providing a more direct indication of the diagnostic value of the test, and (c) avoiding the need to dichotomize a quantitative test. Given enough data, one could estimate a continuous LR curve and thus compute post-test probability for any test value.

Keywords:

diagnostic tests;
likelihood ratios;
sensitivity;
specificity;
predictive value;
Bayes Theorem


Objectives Routine clinical assessment to evaluate the hearing performance in a cochlear implant (CI) population should include individual self-assessment tools. Because of pragmatic and psychometric considerations, there's a growing need for reduced self-assessment questionnaires. The aim of the study is twofold. First, the study aims to ascertain a disability profile, using the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ), in a CI population and to compare this profile with a hearing impaired group with similar average hearing thresholds. The second aim of the study is to investigate the degree of agreement between the total SSQ scores and the total scores of the reduced 5-item version of the SSQ, namely, the SSQ5. Methods and Subjects This cross-sectional study uses the SSQ obtained from CI patients from the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department of the Antwerp University Hospital. Fifty-four postlingually deaf CI patients completed the SSQ questionnaire. All subjects were implanted with a CI at an average age of 55 years. At the time they completed the questionnaire, they had, on average, 3 (SD, 3) years of CI experience. To determine the disability profile in a CI population, the following criteria were assayed: standard values, internal consistency, sensitivity, and floor (or ceiling) effects of the SSQ. These criteria were compared with those of a hearing-impaired group (n = 153) reported in the original study. Second, Spearman correlations coefficients and intraclass correlations coefficients (ICCs) were used to determine the degree of agreement between the total SSQ scores and the total SSQ5 scores. Results Analysis of internal consistency, sensitivity, and floor and ceiling effects showed that self-assessment using the SSQ is feasible in a CI population. The obtained disability profile presents a mean total SSQ C I group of 4:25 ( S D = 1:65). When comparing item results, significant differences were found between CI users and moderate hearing-impaired patients (SSQ hearing impaired group = 5.5; S D1:9). Intraclass correlation (ICC = 0.78; p < 0.01) and Spearman correlations coefficients (R = 0.77; p < 0.01) indicate a significantly high degree of agreement between the total SSQ scores and the total SSQ5 scores. Conclusion This article shows the disability profile in a CI population, using SSQ. Significant differences regarding dynamic aspects of hearing between CI users and moderate hearing-impaired patients were found, to the detriment of the CI users. The static aspects of hearing represented in the Speech section, on the other hand, showed more similarities. The reduced 5-item version of the SSQ, namely, the SSQ5, is robust to effectively measure evolutions in hearing (dis)abilities in CI users.


The complexities of teaching English as a second language to those newly arrived in Canada are addressed with insight and humour in this book. Brian Morgan draws extensively on his own teaching experience in Canada and China to reinvestigate the nature and aims of ESL teaching and to formulate approaches to becoming a more effective ESL teacher.Morgan's central principle is that ESL theories, materials, and approaches should be relevant to the social, political, and cultural conditions of each group of students. He stresses the importance of finding subject matter that will provide meaningful content for lessons, suggesting that discussion topics such as ecology, gender roles, changing social identity, and employment equity are often valid and appropriate for immigrant groups. Written for teachers by a teacher, the book includes lesson plans, examples of students' work, and vivid anecdotes of classroom incidents, presenting an important new perspective on ESL teaching.


This review focuses on significant advances in the field of pediatric hemostasis and thrombosis, with a focus on published studies within the past decade. The evaluation and management of patients with excessive bleeding remain a cornerstone of consultative hematology. We will describe the development of validated bleeding assessment tools relevant to pediatric practice, laboratory advances in the evaluation of von Willebrand Disease, and a shift in clinical practice regarding the interpretation of normal coagulation studies in patients with significant bleeding phenotypes. There have also been critical advances in the management of hemostatic disorders. This review highlights new treatment paradigms in hemophilia and the rise of multidisciplinary medical homes for women living with bleeding disorders. Given the continued increase in the incidence of thrombosis, particularly in the hospital setting, a full call to arms against pediatric venous thromboembolism is now essential. This review will describe recently completed clinical trials of direct oral anticoagulants in children and adolescents and ongoing work to elucidate the appropriate duration of therapy for children with provoked thrombosis. Recent work regarding the prevention of pediatric venous thromboembolism is highlighted, including studies of thromboprophylaxis and the development of risk-prediction models for hospital-acquired thrombosis. Finally, we review advances in our understanding of post-thrombotic sequelae and the need for continued refinement of our evaluation tools. Despite the significant advances in pediatric hemostasis and thrombosis over the past decade, many unanswered questions remain for the next generation of investigators.


We present log-linear models for use in the tasks of parse disambiguation and realisation ranking in German. Forst (2007a) shows that by extending the set of features used in parse disambiguation to include more linguistically motivated information, disambiguation results can be significantly improved for German data. The question we address in this paper is to what extent this improved set of features can also be used in realisation ranking. We carry out a number of experiments on German newspaper text. In parse disambiguation, we achieve an error reduction of 51%, compared to an error reduction of 34.5% with the original model that does not include the additional features of Forst (2007a). In realisation ranking, BLEU score increases from 0.7306 to 0.7939, and we achieve a 10 point improvement in exact match over a baseline language model. This being said, our results also show that further features need to be taken into account for realisation ranking in order to improve the quality of the corresponding model.


Currently, immersive experience is the main highlight of mobile AR applications, but the impact of different interaction methods of virtual objects, which are the main experience content, is less studied.The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of different interaction methods of virtual objects on the immersive experience, usability and satisfaction of mobile AR applications.In this study, 30 users experienced two different AR model presentation methods by customizing the independent variables (two different model interaction viewing methods, steering viewing Demo1 and free viewing Demo2), using a one-way within-group experimental design, and the data were processed by repeated measures ANOVA.The experimental report showed that Demo1 outperformed Demo2 in terms of spatial sense of immersion experience and ease of learning in usability; Demo2 outperformed Demo1 in terms of realism of immersion experience and efficiency of interaction with virtual objects; and Demo1/2 differed less in terms of fluency of the experiment.Our conclusion is that the interaction method of turning to view Demo1 is more immersive and spatial, and can be used in exhibition AR applications, and the interaction method of free view Demo2 is more novel and efficient in operation, and can be used in new AR games to improve user satisfaction. In general, AR applications should consider the age range of audience users when designing the viewing method of virtual objects, and choose the operation method that is more suitable for most people, easier to learn and more convenient.


In contemporary copyright law, there is an ongoing debate around the nature and scope of the rights users should have to copyright works, exacerbated by ongoing technological developments. Within that debate, this article queries the value of looking at the remedies users may have against copyright holders restricting their legitimate uses of works, as a means to further elucidate the nature and scope of user rights. While there is some value in looking at remedies to situate copyright user rights, an access to justice perspective to rights and remedies suggests that such approach may be too limiting with respect to the position of potential claimants in a legal system. On that basis, this paper identifies structural deficiencies of copyright user rights and proposes an analytical framework towards achieving greater "justice for users" both in the realm of public law and private law.


Heart volume and the prevalence of coronary heart disease, certain ECG-registered abnormalities, hypertension and congestive heart failure were studied in a representative sample of 70-year-olds, who were re-examined at the age of 75. Although previous and the present observations indicate that the heart volume increases with age earlier in adult life in apparently healthy individuals, no further volume change was observed between age 70 and 75. A significant correlation between heart volume and symptoms indicating congestive heart failure was only observed at volumes above 550-600 ml m-2 BSA in males and 500-550 ml m-2 BSA in females. 38% of the men and 26% of the women were without signs of heart disease or treatment for such disease at both 70 and 75 years of age. These figures are, however, obviously too low since a considerable overdiagnosis and overtreatment, mainly of hypertension in females and congestive heart failure exist in the sample. Anginal pain occurred in about 10% of males and females at both ages while ECG-abnormalities suggesting myocardial ischaemia increased in prevalence between age 70 and 75. The prevalence of congestive heart failure was 11% and 8% respectively in males and females of age 70, and had increased in both sexes by about 50% at age 75.


Background: One of the most important prognostic factors of oral cancer is the stage at the time of diagnosis. Unfortunately, most of the patients present in the late stages (stage III and IV). Aim: To assess the role of socioeconomic status and literacy in the treatment delay in patients of oral cancer. By identifying their role, we can educate the general public and healthcare doctors to detect and treat oral cancer. Method: This was a prospective study conducted in the Mayo hospital, a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan, from June 2018 to June 2020. Results: Out of 120 patients, 84 (70%) were males and 36 (30%) were females. The age range was 14 to 85 years. One hundred and eight patients (90%) presented with the late stages (stage III and IV). These late-stage presenter patients belonged to the low socioeconomic status (88.88%) and 83.33% of them were illiterate (<high school education). Only twelve patients (10%) presented with the early stage at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: Low socioeconomic and lack of education have a significant association with the late presentation of oral cancer patients in the Pakistani population. Keywords: squamous cell carcinoma, treatment delay, socioeconomic status


Background The mortality data of COVID cases around the world has less explored in relation to comorbidities.The dogma/question to be answered is that the virus perse resulting or any comorbidities contributing to such frightened deaths.The aim of the study is to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 201 deceased from Telangana. We retrospectively collected all consecutive death cases with laboratory‐confirmed COVID‐19 infection admitted from March to mid-June at Gandhi Hospital the nodal centre designated for COVID-19 in Telangana. Clinical history, comorbidities, laboratory findings and treatment were recorded for each patient.Results A total of 15394 patients with confirmed COVID‐19 test were admitted at Isolation wards between March 2020 and June 2020 and 253 death cases were reported till the submission of this paper. The mean age of death is 57.0 ys in our study, 40.7% (88) deaths were above 60 years and 71.4% (147) were male. Several comorbid conditions existed with COVID-19 death cases among which hypertension being the most common comorbidity (60.1%). Lymphopenia was observed in 46% cases while lymphopenia with comorbidity was recorded in 63% cases.Conclusion In this retrospective study, most of the COVID‐19 deceased patients were elderly male aged with an age range from 50-60 yrs and above. Mortality rate and severity are higher in males than females. Our study indicated the importance of understanding comorbid conditions in COVID‐19 cases especially Hypertension and Diabetes mellitus as they were more likely succumb to death.


Abstract : The problem of roll, sway and yaw motions of surface ships is considered. A mathematical model is developed which consists of the nonlinear maneuvering equations and incorporates cross coupling between sway force, yaw moment and the roll angle induced during a steady turn. The hydrodynamic derivatives and coefficients of a typical container ship were used as the base- line study model. The coupled system of nonlinear algebraic equations is formulated and solved to predict the steady state roll angle, sway velocity and turning rate as a function of the rudder angle and compared to the decoupled systems currently employed. A local perturbation is implemented in the vicinity of the above steady states to investigate dynamic stability of motion. Sensitivity analysis with respect to important design parameters such as speed loss during turing, approach speed, transverse metacentric height and trim is performed. Results demonstrate the significance of the coupling between roll, sway and yaw and the need to incorporate similar studies in the ship design and analysis process.


We show that the stabilization of any countable ergodic p.m.p. equivalence relation which is not Schmidt, i.e. admits no central sequences in its full group, always gives rise to a stable equivalence relation with a unique stable decomposition, providing the first non-strongly ergodic such examples. In the proof, we moreover establish a new local characterization of the Schmidt property. We also prove some new structural results for product equivalence relations and orbit equivalence relations of diagonal product actions.


Objective This study was to detect micrometastases in the axillary lymph nodes in primary breast cancer patients and investigate its clinical significance. Methods The cytokeratin 19 gene expression was examined by RT-PCR and Southern hybridization methods. The sensitivity was compared with that of immunohistochemistry(IHC) method.Results The sensitivity was 1∶5×105, 1∶106 and 1∶5×104 by RT-PCR, Southern hybridization and IHC methods,respectively. Thirty-five of 170 routine pathology negative lymph nodes (206%)in 52 primary breast cancer patients contained CK-19 positive signals. Twenty-one out of 33(636%) routine negative lymph nodes were found micrometastases positive in 17 patients who proved to be with lymph node metastases by routine pathologic examination.Eleven out of 35(314%) metastasis negative patients by routine pathology were CK-19 gene positive.Hence the micrometastasis found by our method is an independent parameter.Conclusion RT-PCR method, using CK-19 as a biological marker,was sensitive and specific in detecting micrometastases in primary breast cancer,it could be a new prognostic parameter for breast cancer patients.


speakers, how can I increase how much sound my structure makes, and craft its frequency dependence to be more pleasing to human listeners? The answers to all of these questions depend on a structure's shape and material properties, which define how fast and strongly different structural waves propagate through it. We will start by studying how structures vibrate in this first part of the article, and then consider in the second part of the article (to appear in a future issue of Acoustics Today) how a structural surface's vibration patterns act on surrounding fluids, radiating acoustic sound fields. Also in part two, we will analyze how structures are excited by incident sound fields. I have written mostly about simple structures, like flat plates and cylindrical shells, and use plenty of examples to explain the concepts of vibration and sound radiation. I have tried to make this tutorial general and interesting to the non-structural acoustician, while also including enough detailed information (yes, equations) for those interested in pursuing structuralacoustics further. I have drawn from the course I teach at Penn State, several outstanding textbooks and articles in the field (see the Reference list at the end of the article), and research performed by several members of the Penn State Graduate Program in Acoustics.


Plant cells are encased in a semi-rigid cell wall of complex build. As a consequence, cell wall remodeling is essential for the control of growth and development as well as the regulation of abiotic and biotic stress responses. Plant cells actively sense physico-chemical changes in the cell wall and initiate corresponding cellular responses. However, the underlying cell wall monitoring mechanisms remain poorly understood. In Arabidopsis the atypical receptor kinase STRUBBELIG (SUB) mediates tissue morphogenesis. Here, we show that SUB-mediated signal transduction also regulates the cellular response to a reduction in the biosynthesis of cellulose, a central carbohydrate component of the cell wall. SUB signaling affects early increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species, stress gene induction as well as ectopic lignin and callose accumulation upon exogenous application of the cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor isoxaben. Moreover, our data reveal that SUB signaling is required for maintaining cell size and shape of root epidermal cells and the recovery of root growth after transient exposure to isoxaben. SUB is also required for root growth arrest in mutants with defective cellulose biosynthesis. Genetic data further indicate that SUB controls the isoxaben-induced cell wall stress response independently from other known receptor kinase genes mediating this response, such as THESEUS1 or MIK2. We propose that SUB functions in a least two distinct biological processes: the control of tissue morphogenesis and the response to cell wall damage. Taken together, our results reveal a novel signal transduction pathway that contributes to the molecular framework underlying cell wall integrity signaling. Author Summary Plant cells are encapsulated by a semi-rigid and biochemically complex cell wall. This particular feature has consequences for multiple biologically important processes, such as cell and organ growth or various stress responses. For a plant cell to grow the cell wall has to be modified to allow cell expansion, which is driven by outward-directed turgor pressure generated inside the cell. In return, changes in cell wall architecture need to be monitored by individual cells, and to be coordinated across cells in a growing tissue, for an organ to attain its regular size and shape. Cell wall surveillance also comes also into play in the reaction against certain stresses, including for example infection by plant pathogens, many of which break through the cell wall during infection, thereby generating wall-derived factors that can induce defense responses. There is only limited knowledge regarding the molecular system that monitors the composition and status of the cell wall. Here we provide further insight into the mechanism. We show that the cell surface receptor STRUBBELIG, previously known to control organ development in Arabidopsis, also promotes the cell's response to reduced amounts of cellulose, a main component of the cell wall.


The present study investigates to growth and relative contribution of area and yield in production of green gram, black gram chickpea, pigeon pea and lentil pulse crops in India. The study period (1998-99 to 2017-18) is divided into three periods viz., period-I (1998-99 to 2007-08), period-II (2008-09 to 2017-18) and period-III (1998-99 to 2017-18). Time series data on area, production and yield were collected from Directorate of Pulses Development, Bhopal, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India. The semi-log model, Cuddy-Della Valle instability index and decomposition analysis models were used to analyze the CAGR, instability and relative contribution of area, yield and interaction components. The study clearly finds that area and production of green gram (Vigna radiata) is notified highest compound annual growth rate 1.84 and 1.76 percent respectively, during period-I. In case of yield highest growth rate is reported in black gram (0.26 percent) during the same period. During second period, highest CAGR in area, production and yield is found in black gram at 6.00, 10.30 and 4.10 percent respectively. During all three periods, instability in area, production and yield was very low, except total pulse in second period. The decomposition analysis of production is revealed that yield effect and area effect are major sources of output growth in kharif and rabi pulses, respectively. The Identified growth rate in individual pulse crop is a great informative work because it provides chronological background of how the cultivation of pulses persuades the life of farmers either in negative or positive way. The study also tries to know the peak or trough in past cultivation of pulses crops.


The purpose of our study is to test the feasibility of transoral thyroid chondrolaryngoplasty using a similar approach to transoral thyroidectomy. This approach would allow for gender-affirming surgery while avoiding an external neck scar. We carried out our cadaveric feasibility study in an anatomy laboratory at an academic center. Five fresh cadavers were used for this study. We used a lower oral vestibular incision, along with retractors and an endoscope to dissect and gain access to the laryngeal prominence of the thyroid cartilage. Portions of the laryngeal prominence were then removed using scissors to achieve a satisfactory neck contour. Endoscopic as well as extracorporeal photographs were taken to demonstrate the approach. We were able to remove the laryngeal prominence successfully in all of our cadaveric specimens with this transoral approach.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Lung adenocarcinoma (AC) induced by carcinogen inhalation never came close to the human counterpart. This has changed with the creation of genetically engineered models.

Different types of mouse AC were studied, some of them with a KRAS codon12 mutation background, others with HRAS mutants inserted; in most additional hits were introduced (ATG5, PTEN, PI3K, p53). Development of AC was followed for 28 weeks. Human lung AC subtypes and precursor lesions served for comparison.

AC in mice starts with papillary growth at the bronchoalveolar junction (baJ). Tumor spreads into the alveolar periphery. Due to different cell to alveolar size alveoli are filled almost completely, simulating solid growth. At a certain size hypoxic necrosis is seen in centers, followed by neoangiogenesis and desmoplastic stroma formation. Finally invasion of tumor cells into stroma occur. Metastasis is rare, due to high tumor load, causing early death. Vascular invasion is seen, if second carcinogenic hits are applied.

Dissimilarities with human precursor and AC types are: AC in mice are all non-mucinous, they are predominant papillary or solid, often with a high degree of signet ring cell formation; in addition there seems to be a requirement of large tumor size before invasion and metastasis occur. To understand AC development knowledge of the anatomy and histology of mouse and human lung is necessary, but these models open a new way of investigating lung AC.

Citation Format: Helmut H. Popper, Beatrice Grabner, Emilio Casanova, Robert Eferl, Rao Shuan, Josef Penninger. Comparison of lung adenocarcinoma development in genetically engineered mouse and in humans - similarities and differences. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1209. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1209


NOTES ON DEVELOPMENT AND STRATIGRAPHY OF BUNTER SANDSTONE IN NORTHEASTERN POLAND In the territory of Northeastern Poland, sediments of the Bunter Sandstone appear underneath an overburden of younger sediments of several hundred meters thickness, and are known here solely from deep bore-holes (Fig. 1). In their majority, these series are very much reduced and devoid of fauna; their division into a lower and a higher series was made chiefly on the basis of lithoIogical analogies and sedimentological premises. The development of the Bunter Sandstone in this area differs markedly from the structure of the Bunter Sandstone in the central part of the Lower Triassic basin, and illustrates to a high degree the differentiation in geomorphological structure of the Subtriasic substratum. The maximum thickness of the Bunter Sandstone in this area has been observed in bore-hole Paslek where it exceeds 500 m. On the remaining area, this thickness gradually changes towards north, northeast and southeast (Fag. 2). On the basis of more recent investigations and with due consideration of data from the adjoining Soviet regions it seems necessary to shift the boundary of occurrence of the Bunter Satndstone far eastwards, embracing almost the entire area of Northeastern Poland. Sediments of the lower Bunter Sandstone cover nearly all of this area, with the exception of some eastern most sections situated on its eastern boundary. The eastern boundary of their actual occurrence has been illustrated in Fig. 3. The boundary of the present-day range of the upper part of the Bunter Sandstone shifts somewhat further east than does the range of the lower part (Fig. 4). Northwards, sediments of the Bunter Sandstone reach far beyond the territory of Poland, their range comprising the entire Lithuanian depression (Fig. 2).


This programmesoundsa very ambitious one; obviously many more X-ray examinationsmust be made than are being madeat the moment. Nevertheless,at a time when the public are prepared to have mass radiology for pulmonary tuberculosis, it would seem that this field is a much more profitable one than that of tuberculosis,for if theseresidual pulmonary complicationsare picked up at a stagewhen the dilatation of the bronchi is still reversible, then thesepatientscan be returnedcompletely to normal; moreover,the incidenceof this disease,which in its manifestationsis only less horrible than tuberculosisby reason of the fact that it is not infectious, can be greatly diminished.


Highway with it's accessories are a mode of land transport infrastructure wich are essential to the flow of services and commodity that pass through the land. With the flow of commodity and services, it will affect the economic and social development around the existing road infrastructure. Semarang has a strategic location in the development of the Province of Central Java, because Semarang crossed by important lines that connect to the regional growth centers such as Semarang, Surakarta, and Yogyakarta and it's location close to the capital city of Central Java Province, wich is the center of economic activity, governance, social and cultural areas in Central Java. However, various problems of traffic jam occurs in the area of Semarang, this requiring an improvement road planning that will be an alternative way into the city of Semarang. Passageway of Jl. Ambarawa- Jl. Soekarno Hatta located between Ambarawa and Bawen with land use as residential areas, schools, fields, and forests. The main problem that occurred in this passageway are a pretty damage road caused by overload traffic flow and also because of pavement over time factor and because of the road capacity doesn't required yet to accommodate the current traffic load. The purpose and goal of this evaluation and improvement are to maximize road function as an alternative way, in the end it'll support a movement that can achieve economic growth of the area as well as reduce the problem, with a longer design time. The results of evaluation for the existing roads are gives several factors to improvement road. Due to the improvement and widening of road, it is automaticaly should redesign the geometry. The entire analysis and engineering calculations are based on the Highways Regulations and Indonesian National Standard. The results of improvement design it is carried one step of planning to widen this road in 2016, for a Rengas-Bawen segment, Gembol-Doplang segment and Harjosari-Doplang segment now widened into 7 m, for Rengas – Bawen segment before was 5 m of lane, and was 3 m for Gembol-Doplang and Doplang-Harjosari, three of them are design with 2/2 undevided lane, with new shoulder width 1 m. Design pavement used flexible ones and for the existing pavement need overlay with thick layer of 7 cm using Laston MS 454. For widening used surface course with thick layer of 10 cm using Laston MS 454, for base course using a class A crushed stone with a thickness of 20 cm CBR 100% and the subbase course using class B gravel CBR 50% with thick layer of 12 cm and lied on subgrade form browny red silty clay with sand in CBR 6%. Hope that this evaluation and improvement design can provide comfort services to road users during the specified design time of 10 years with a plan of speed 50 km / hour and a maximum slope of 9%.


The purpose of research was the analysis of own observations of hip dislocations after primary total hip arthroplasty, the identification of predisposing factors and optimization of program of rehabilitation of patients. Predisposing factors were identified on the basis of preoperative clinical and radiological examination, intraoperative observation and analysis of the features of the rehabilitation period of 844 patients undergone total hip arthroplasty. Dislocations after surgery were noted in 69 (7.56 %) cases. The following factors were identified: violation of the movement mode in the early postoperative period, the axial deformation on the level of the hip, knee, shin and foot, which violate the function of support and movement of the operated limb. Necessity of revision surgery on the hip joint in the repeated dislocations has been caused due to a lack of anteversion of acetabular component. Planning primary arthroplasty, including the choice of implant and surgical approach, there must be taken into account the physical and mental state of the patient, local and systemic biomechanical disorders. The rehabilitation period is required an individual choice of a program of rehabilitation treatment.


Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is one of the most economically destructive and scientifically challenging plant viruses, which has seriously affected the production of commercial crops. At present, there is no effective strategy to control this virus. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a rapid and simple method to detect TSWV, which is of great significance to prevent its spread. In this study, an isolate of TSWV (TSWV-LNTL) infecting pepper from Liaoning Province of northeast China was obtained. A phylogenetic tree based on neighbor-joining using coat protein (CP) gene was established. A rapid method for detecting TSWV by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) was established. The phylogenetic tree based on the nucleotide sequences of coat protein (CP) genes of different TSWV isolates showed that the genetic relationship of TSWV-LNTL was most closely related to that of TSWV-LX-Lettuce-12 (Yunnan) and TSWV-TSHL (Shandong) isolates in China. It can be finished at 39 °C for 20 min and then purified by heating at 65 °C for 10 min. The RPA primers were highly specific and no cross-reactivity was detected with other selected viruses infecting pepper. The results of sensitivity test revealed that the detection limit of RPA is 1.0 × 103 copies/μL, which was tenfold lower than that of PCR method. In addition, the RPA method was successfully applied to detect TSWV in field samples. These results reported the occurrence of TSWV on crop in Liaoning Province of northeast China and demonstrated that the established RPA assay provided an effective molecular diagnostic tool for the accurate and rapid detection of TSWV to prevent its spread.


Recent studies have shown that CD73 could be a new promising target in breast cancer (BC). CD73 is a cell surface ecto-nucleotidase, expressed by both tumor cells and immune cells, that catalyses the hydrolysis of AMP into adenosine in the tumor microenvironment. Adenosine has immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting effects and is therefore implicated in the mechanism of tumor immune escape. High CD73 gene expression has recently been associated with a poor prognosis in triple negative BC. While tumor expression of CD73 is well documented, expression of CD73 on tumor-infiltrating immune cells remains poorly characterized. We evaluated the expression of CD73 on immune cells present in fresh tissue homogenates (GentleMACS with no enzymatic digestion) from untreated primary breast tumors and compared to its expression to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with breast cancer. In the peripheral blood, CD73 was found mostly expressed on CD4+ (mean percentage: 13.24±12.88%) and CD8+T cells (mean percentage: 40.78±19.42%) and a major subset of B cells (mean percentage: 51.93±21.83%). Analysis of fresh tumor tissues revealed that less than 25% of CD45+ tumor immune infiltrates express CD73 (mean percentage: 17.63± 5,1%) and was relatively similar to its expression on PBMC (mean percentage: 14.87± 9.5%). In the tumor immune infiltrates, B cells were the immune subset with the higher proportion of CD73+ cells (mean percentage: 53.27±14.63%) while the proportion of CD73+ was lower on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells compared to CD8+ PBMC (p value: 0.022). Notably, we observed that CD73 expression was significantly higher on tumor-infiltrating NK cells and CD14+ myeloid cells compared to peripheral cells (p = 0.005 for NK cells, and p = 0.015 for CD14+ cells). Immunofluorescence analysis confirmed that CD73 is expressed by both tumor cells, CD45+ immune cells and stromal cells in breast cancer. These results suggest that CD73 is differentially expressed on tumor-infiltrating leukocytes compared to PBMCs. Modulation of CD73 activity on tumor-infiltrating leukocytes may therefore contribute to the mechanism-of-action of anti-CD73 therapies. Citation Format: Laurence Buisseret, Soizic Garaud, Bertrand Allard, Isabelle Cousineau, Guillaume Chouinard, Christos Sotiriou, Karen Willard-Gallo, John Stagg. CD73 expression on tumor-infiltrating breast cancer leukocytes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3361. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3361


Non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema has not been previously described in calcium channel blocker overdose. We describe a case of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema occurring during the course of therapy for massive diltiazem overdose in a young patient with anorexia nervosa. Review of the current literature suggests that major and minor pulmonary complications occur with some frequency in the setting of calcium channel blocker overdose although their exact incidence remains unclear.


ABSTRACT
 Proteomics is an emerging area of systems biology that allows simultaneous study of thousands of proteins expressed in cells, tissues, or whole organisms. We have developed this activity to enable high school or college students to explore proteomic databases using mass spectrometry data files generated from yeast proteins in a college laboratory course. Students upload files of "unknown" proteins from our public website, enter them into a proteomics search engine (Mascot), identify the proteins, and use additional proteomics websites to learn about their functions and three-dimensional structures. This activity is suitable for use in units exploring protein structure and function, metabolism, or bioinformatics.


Predicting personalized sequential behavior is a key task for recommender systems. In order to predict user actions such as the next product to purchase, movie to watch, or place to visit, it is essential to take into account both long-term user preferences and sequential patterns (i.e., short-term dynamics). Matrix Factorization and Markov Chain methods have emerged as two separate but powerful paradigms for modeling the two respectively. Combining these ideas has led to unified methods that accommodate long-and short-term dynamics simultaneously by modeling pairwise user-item and item-item interactions. In spite of the success of such methods for tackling dense data, they are challenged by sparsity issues, which are prevalent in real-world datasets. In recent years, similarity-based methods have been proposed for (sequentially-unaware) item recommendation with promising results on sparse datasets. In this paper, we propose to fuse such methods with Markov Chains to make personalized sequential recommendations. We evaluate our method, Fossil, on a variety of large, real-world datasets. We show quantitatively that Fossil outperforms alternative algorithms, especially on sparse datasets, and qualitatively that it captures personalized dynamics and is able to make meaningful recommendations.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Transcriptional regulation lies at the heart of biological processes. To further understand the regulatory mechanism, we are studying the transcriptional networks of nuclear receptors in breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Based on whole-genome gene expression microarray data, we observed very different transcriptional programs induced by ligands of nuclear receptors between these two cell lines. In order to systematically explain cell-type-specific transcriptional regulation, we are trying to build a quantitative model to predict gene expression in different cellular contexts under different ligand stimulations. The model will be trained using data including genomic binding sites of nuclear receptors (ChIP-Seq), and time-series expression of nuclear receptors, cofactors and their target genes (Nanostring). The output of the model will be gene expression trajectories after ligand treatments in the two cell lines.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4935. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4935


Although prostate cancer initially responds well to endocrine therapy, it becomes resistant to the therapy a few years later, and is called hormone-refractory cancer. In general, hormone-refractory prostate cancer is resistant to all kinds of therapy and the prognosis is extremely poor. Here we report an unusual case of a person with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, who has been surviving for more than 5 years after being diagnosed as having this type of cancer. A 75-year-old man was diagnosed with prostate cancer (poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, T3 N0 M1, stage D2) and initial endocrine therapy combined with castration and estrogen was effective. Four years later, the tumor marker of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) increased and the cancer was thought to be hormone-independent, refractory state. Alteration of antiandrogen from chlormadinone acetate to flutamide was effective and PSA was kept at low levels for 6 months. When PSA rose again, we started oral chemotherapy with tegafur.uracil. PSA decreased to normal range (complete response) and remained stable for 10 months. After that, a rapid increase of PSA was controlled for 7 months by oral chemotherapy with estramustine phosphate sodium and VP-16. This case indicates that alteration of antiandrogens or oral chemotherapy may be useful in some cases with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.


The present invention provides a light emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same. In the method, a semiconductor layer is formed, and a mask layer is formed on the semiconductor layer. Laser is irradiated onto a scribing region of the mask layer to divide the semiconductor layer into a plurality of light emitting diodes. The scribing region is etched, and then the mask layer is removed. The plurality of light emitting diodes are then separated from each other.


: The author presents the case history of a 40-year-old patient with angiopathia retinae syphilitica. The ophthalmoscopic picture of prethrombosis of the central retinal vein of the right eye was the only symptom of seropositive latent syphilis at the time of examination.


DNA is a well characterized intracellular target but its large size and sequential nature make it an elusive target for selective drug action. Binding of low molecular weight ligands to DNA causes a wide variety of potential biological responses. In this respect the main consideration is given to recent developments in DNA sequence selective binding agents bearing conjugated effectors because of their potential application in diagnosis and treatment of cancers as well as in molecular biology. Recent progress in the development of cross linked lexitropsin oligopeptides and hairpins, which bind selectively to the minor groove of duplex DNA, is discussed. Bis-distamycins and related lexitropsins show inhibitory activity against HIV-1 and HIV-2 integrases at low nanomolar concentrations. Benzoyl nitrogen mustard analogs of lexitropsins are active against a variety of tumor models. Certain of the bis-benzimidazoles show altered DNA sequence preference and bind to DNA at 5'CG and TG sequences rather than at the preferred AT sites of the parent drug. A comparison of bifunctional bizelesin with monoalkylating adozelesin shows that it appears to have an increased sequence selectivity such that monoalkylating compounds react at more than one site but bizelesin reacts only at sites where there are two suitably positioned alkylation sites. Adozelesin, bizelesin and carzelesin are far more potent as cytotoxic agents than cisplatin or doxorubicin. A new class of 1,2,9,9a-tetrahydrocyclo-propa[c]benz[e]indole-4-one (CBI) analogs i.e., CBI-lexitropsin conjugates arising from the latter leads are also discussed.A number of cyclopropylpyrroloindole (CPI) and CBI-lexitropsin conjugates related to CC-1065 alkylate at the N3 position of adenine in the minor groove of DNA in a sequence specific manner, and also show cytotoxicities in the femtomolar range. The cross linking efficiency of PBD dimers is much greater than that of other cross linkers including cisplatin, and melphalan. A new class of PBD-lexitropsin conjugates is also discussed. Certain functional models of the bleomycins (BLMs) show outstanding DNA cleavage activity comparable with that of and positionally distinct from natural BLM.


In this study, we propose an ensemble long short-term memory (EnLSTM) network, which can be trained on a small dataset and process sequential data. The EnLSTM is built by combining the ensemble neural network (ENN) and the cascaded long short-term memory (C-LSTM) network to leverage their complementary strengths. In order to resolve the issues of over-convergence and disturbance compensation associated with training failure owing to the nature of small-data problems, model parameter perturbation and high-fidelity observation perturbation methods are introduced. The EnLSTM is compared with commonly-used models on a published dataset, and proven to be the state-of-the-art model in generating well logs with a mean-square-error (MSE) reduction of 34%. In the case study, 12 well logs that cannot be measured while drilling are generated based on logging-while-drilling (LWD) data. The EnLSTM is capable to reduce cost and save time in practice.


It is intuitive that with new tools to analyze nature, new domains can be explored. Ultrafast electromagnetic fields are one of those tools, as they allow the probing of matter on new time scales, both for new applications and for basic research. However they are on their own right an important phenomenon that deserves to be analyzed, studied and probed. This work is divided in two parts one that deals with the generation and amplification of ultrashort pulses the second with the diagnostics of these lasers. We present a home-built tunable, narrow spectrum CPA amplification chain. We study the features of optical parametric amplification in several configurations. We made simulations regarding the amplification of a seed pulse that is angularly chirped, we also make some analytical calculations based on the same principle. Two mode-locked oscillators are presented one is a sub-12 fs laser oscillator used to produce the seed of the amplification chain, the second is a sub-6 fs laser oscillator. We describe the first laser oscillator in great detail. We devise and discuss models that can explain the parameters of the sub-cavity and the ability of these lasers to enter into mode-locking (ML), we compare the simulation results precise experimental measures made on the sub-6 fs oscillator. The measurement of ultrafast phenomena is also very challenging because their time scale is too short for common electronic devices. We have examined known measurements, such as third order cross correlations (TOCC) and interferometric second order autocorrelations (IAC) and obtained new analysis methods and new facts that broaden their usefulness. In particular, we have fully reconstructed the spectral phase of a pulse using an IAC trace and its power spectrum. We also prove that the existence of a TOCC plus an intensity autocorrelation is sufficient to retrieve the intensity profile of a pulse we present initial results on reconstruction algorithms, that might be able to do this with a high temporal contrast. We end this thesis with a study on simulation and implementation of a new configuration for single shot correlation measurements.


This report examines uncertainties in data inputs used in estimating drought vulnerability and yield of community surface water systems in Illinois. Not only are uncertainties in individual data components characterized, but also comparative influence of those data components in the overall computation of yield. The two most influential data components identified through this analysis are: 1) existing reservoir capacity for community systems that use reservoir storage and 2) streamflow characteristics during drought, both for determining availability of flow for direct withdrawals from those streams as well as determining the cumulative amount of water that flows into or can be pumped to reservoirs. Additional uncertainties from climate data (precipitation and evaporation) are considerably less influential in yield estimation. Data needs for estimating surface water system yields are identified not only by the uncertainties in and influences of various data components, but also are prioritized by cost and timeline for obtaining data and the expected likelihood that additional data noticeably could affect conclusions regarding drought vulnerability of individual systems. Considering these factors, obtaining bathymetric surveys for water supply reservoirs that do not already have such data represents the most effective way to improve yield estimates for Illinois surface water supplies as a whole. Many reservoirs in Illinois never have had sedimentation or bathymetric surveys. Results of this study show that available capacity estimates for these reservoirs are apt to be biased toward overestimation and have an estimated standard error of 28 percent. The amount of bias and error is greater for smaller reservoirs. Reservoirs with sedimentation surveys that are more than 35 years old may be subject to the same level of bias and uncertainty as unsurveyed reservoirs. Streamflow data for water supply analyses remains a long-term data need. Most community supply reservoirs (impounding and off-channel) are in relatively small rural watersheds of less than 50 square miles. In most of these cases, there never has been a streamgage in the watershed, and estimates of drought inflow used for yield analyses typically are based on historical streamgage records from nearby watersheds that are assumed to have hydrologically similar flow regimes. Because the number of small watershed gages in the Illinois streamgaging network has been reduced substantially over the past three decades, very few gages in operation are appropriate for regional analysis of small watersheds. As a result, if a severe drought occurred today, there would be few continuous flow records to document the type of drought flow conditions necessary for application in future water supply analyses. Establishment of streamgages in small watersheds near existing water supply reservoirs is necessary to maintain, much less improve, levels of uncertainty in flow data for future water supply analyses and planning.


Objective: To analyse barriers and facilitators in substituting hospital care with primary care to define preconditions for successful implementation. Methods: A descriptive feasibility study was performed to collect information on the feasibility of substituting hospital care with primary care. General practitioners were able to refer patients, about whom they had doubts regarding diagnosis, treatment and/or the need to refer to hospital care, to medical specialists who performed low-complex consultations at general practitioner practices. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with general practitioners and medical specialists, focus groups and notes from meetings in the Netherlands between April 2013 and January 2014. Data were analysed using a conventional content analysis which resulted in categorised barriers, facilitators and policy adjustments, after which preconditions were formulated. Results: The most important preconditions were make arrangements on governmental level, arrange a collective integrated IT-system, determine the appropriate profile for medical specialists, design a referral protocol for eligible patients, arrange deliberation possibilities for general practitioners and medical specialists and formulate a diagnostic protocol. Conclusions: The barriers, facilitators and formulated preconditions provided relevant input to change the design of substituting hospital care with primary care.


BACKGROUND
This study examines the extent of illnesses encountered in a general practice setting that are related to occupational factors and their distribution in relation to specific occupations and diagnostic groups.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
From December 2000 until May 2001, all patients between 20 and 67 years of age who came in to our rural community medical centre on the coast of central Norway, were asked to fill in a questionnaire about their reason for seeing a doctor, their occupational status, and whether they saw their current illness as related to occupational factors. If they did, they were also asked about what factors they deemed the most important.

RESULTS
Among the 412 occupationally active respondents, 40% of women and 54% of men saw a possible or definite relationship between occupational factors and their current illness. Repetitive work and physically hard work were the two factors most frequently mentioned.

INTERPRETATION
Occupational factors as causes of or influencing factors for illness in general practice seem to be more frequent than anticipated. There also seems to be a potential for prevention of illness and disability through better collaboration between general practitioners, occupational health services hospital based departments of occupational medicine.


Abstract Benzyl- and acetyl-protected glycosyl dimethylthiophosphates were readily prepared from corresponding 1-hydroxyl sugars in good yield, and acted as very stable and efficient glycosyl donors in the construction of glycosidic bonds in the presence of various promoters.


The use of resistance heaters to simulate heat from fission allows extensive development of fission systems to be performed in non-nuclear test facilities, saving time and money. Resistance heated tests on the Module Unfueled Thermal- hydraulic Test (MUTT) article has been performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center. This paper discusses the results of these experiments to date, and describes the additional testing that will be performed. Recommendations related to the design of testable space fission power and propulsion systems are made.


The construction of a nano-heterojunction photoanode is an attractive strategy for accelerated charge separation. Here, α-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays (Fe2O3 NAs) top-decorated with an MIL-101 layer are achieved via the CVD method for constructing one intimate contact between two layers. The systematical analysis in time-dependent deposition shows that the photoelectric response capability can be modulated by controlling the thickness of the MIL-101 layer as a function of CVD duration. An optimized thickness of 4-6 nm MIL-101 in the Fe2O3/MIL-101 photoanode presents the best PEC performance with the IPCE of 25% and a photocurrent density of 1 mA cm-2 at 1.3 V vs. RHE, about 2.5 times higher than that of pristine Fe2O3 NAs. The exciton lifetime and the electrochemical active surface area of the composited electrode are greatly improved by 14 and 1.3 times respectively compared to that of pristine Fe2O3. The notable advancement can be attributed to the fact that the top-decorated MOF layer can promote charge separation efficiency led by the built-in electric field and form a tight interface between Fe2O3 and MIL-101 with a favorable diffusion length for holes, as well as the fact that it can reduce surface defects and provide more reaction sites.


A pedestrian navigation system (PNS) in indoor environments, where global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal access is difficult, is necessary, particularly for search and rescue (SAR) operations in large buildings. This paper focuses on studying pedestrian walking behaviors to enhance the performance of indoor pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) and map matching techniques. Specifically, our research aims to detect pedestrian turning motions using smartphone inertial measurement unit (IMU) information in a given PDR trajectory. To improve existing methods, including the threshold-based turn detection method, hidden Markov model (HMM)-based turn detection method, and pruned exact linear time (PELT) algorithm-based turn detection method, we propose enhanced algorithms that better detect pedestrian turning motions. During field tests, using the threshold-based method, we observed a missed detection rate of 20.35% and a false alarm rate of 7.65%. The PELT-based method achieved a significant improvement with a missed detection rate of 8.93% and a false alarm rate of 6.97%. However, the best results were obtained using the HMM-based method, which demonstrated a missed detection rate of 5.14% and a false alarm rate of 2.00%. In summary, our research contributes to the development of a more accurate and reliable pedestrian navigation system by leveraging smartphone IMU data and advanced algorithms for turn detection in indoor environments.


We propose a novel distortion minimization technique for the transmission of a packetized progressive bitstream. The optimality of our proposed algorithm is analytically proved for a class of sources satisfying a stated condition. It is shown that Gauss-Markov sources belong to the latter class for which the algorithm is optimal. We show that our proposed optimization technique is robust and has a linear complexity in the transmission rate. Simulation results show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.


AbstractSalivary gland neoplasia is often considered one of the more challenging areas of diagnostic surgical pathology. Given the overall rarity of salivary gland tumors, most surgical pathologists encounter them infrequently in practice. Naturally, this creates a risk for misclassification and inappropriate treatment. Challenges in salivary gland pathology are rooted in the dramatic histomorphologic overlap within between benign and malignant tumors. Although our understanding of the morphologic and immunophenotypic nuances of salivary gland neoplasia has improved over the years, even expert head and neck pathologists continue to struggle with a subset of cases using conventional surgical pathology techniques (morphology, histochemistry, and immunohistochemistry). Similarly, our understanding of salivary gland pathogenesis was historically based on morphologic and immunophenotypic observations rather than the molecular events that precede them. In recent decades, however, we have seen the unveiling of disease-defining fusion transcripts that encode novel oncoproteins or ectopically expressed normal or truncated oncoproteins in several salivary gland tumors. These fusion oncogenes typically encode transcriptional coactivators, transcription factors, and tyrosine kinases. Naturally, this offers significant promise with respect to diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive utility in the future. This review discusses fourmalignancies of salivary gland origin characterized by recurrent fusion gene events: mucoepidermoid carcinoma (CRTC1-MAML2), mammary analogue secretory carcinoma of salivary glands (ETV6-NTRK3), adenoid cystic carcinoma (MYB-NFIB), and hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma (EWSR1-ATF1).


Liquid biopsy for detection of mutation from circulating tumor DNA is a new technology which is attractive in that it is non-invasive. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) is an effective first line drug for advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients who harbor activating EGFR mutation. During the course of treatment, resistance against TKI arises which can be contributed to EGFR T790M mutation in about 50–60% of patients. Third generation TKI may overcome the resistance. In patients who cannot undergo tissue biopsy due to variable reasons, liquid biopsy is an excellent alternative for the detection of EGFR T790M mutation. However, this relatively novel method requires standardization and vigorous quality insurance. Thus, a standard set of guideline recommendations for liquid biopsy for EGFR mutation testing suitable for the Korean medical community is necessary. In this article, we propose a set of provisional guideline recommendations that was discussed and approved by the Cardiopulmonary Pathology Study Group of the Korean Society of Pathologists.


Published data suggest that ketorolac pharmacokinetics are different in children than in adults. We sought to better characterize ketorolac pharmacokinetics in children. Thirty-six children, aged 1–16 yr, were stratified into four age groups: 1–3 yr, 4–7 yr, 8–11 yr, and 12–16 yr. Each child received 0.5 mg/kg of ketorolac tromethamine IV after completion of elective surgery. A maximum of 16 venous blood samples (mean, 13 ± 2) were collected at predetermined times up to 10 h after drug administration. Plasma ketorolac concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography after solid-phase extraction. Individual concentration-versus-time relationships were best fit to a two-compartment pharmacokinetic model by using SAAM II. Body weight-normalized pharmacokinetic variables did not differ among the age groups and were similar to those reported for adults, including a volume of distribution at steady state of 113 ± 33 mL/kg (mean ± sd) and an elimination clearance of 0.57 ± 0.17 mL · min−1 · kg−1. Our study demonstrates that a single dose of ketorolac (0.5 mg/kg) results in plasma concentrations in the adult therapeutic concentration range for 6 h in most children. Our data provide no evidence that children require either larger weight-adjusted doses or shorter dosing intervals than adults to provide similar plasma drug concentrations.


The book comprises eight chapters of varying length. The inclusion of sections at the end of the main chapters to collect more technical arguments and to give bibliographic notes works well and helps the readers explore in more depth aspects of RSS in which they are interested. Chapter 1 introduces the notion and general procedure of RSS. This very useful chapter will enable readers to quickly enter into the realm of RSS, learn about its historical developments, and identify applications of particular interest. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss balanced RSS. In particular, Chapter 2 focuses on nonparametric RSS, in which no assumption on the underlying distribution of the variable of interest is made. This chapter studies in detail the relative efficiency of RSS with respect to SRS in the estimation of a population mean, a smooth function of means, and population quantiles. The authors also consider the inference procedures, such as the construction of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. To facilitate the inference procedures based on RSS sample quantiles, they also discuss the kernel method of density estimation. This section is quite interesting. The chapter also presents some robust procedure based on M-estimates with RSS data. Chapter 3 addresses parametric RSS, where the underlying distribution of the variable of interest is assumed to belong to some parametric family (e.g., location-scale family and shape-scale family) of distributions. The authors nicely lay out the theoretical foundation for the parametric RSS via Fisher information. The maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) based on RSS and its relative efficiency with respect to MLE based on SRS are studied, and the best linear unbiased estimate for location family of distributions is dealt with. Chapter 4 studies unbalanced RSS. This chapter first develops the methodology of analyzing RSS data for the inferences on distribution functions and quantiles, as well as general statistical functionals. The optimal designs for the parametric location-scale family and for nonparametric estimation of quantiles are discussed in detail. This chapter also contains methods of Bayes design and adaptive design. Chapter 5 explores classical distribution-free tests in the context of RSS. The authors consider the sign test, signed rank test, and Mann–Whitney– Wilcoxon tests and revisit the issue of the optimal design for distribution-free tests. Readers with a prior knowledge of nonparametric tests at the level of Gibbons and Chakraborti (2003) will find this chapter informative and easy to understand. For readers not familiar with these standard topics, some brief additional explanation and references might have been beneficial for the wider accessibility. Chapter 6 describes RSS with concomitant variables. A multilayer RSS scheme and an adaptive RSS scheme using multiple concomitant variables are developed; the general regression analysis using RSS is discussed; and the design of optimal RSS schemes for regression analysis, on the basis of the concomitant variables, is explored. Chapter 7 illustrates RSS as a data reduction tool for data mining, whereas Chapter 8 exemplifies the practical features of RSS via case studies. The inclusion of this last chapter on case studies with RSS further enhances the value of this monograph for practitioners and applied statisticians. In the development of RSS, the choices of ranked set size k and cycle number m are directly pertinent to practical problems. This book would have been more useful had some more detailed discussion on the choices been added. However, overall I would highly recommend this well-written and reasonably priced book to researchers and practitioners, all of whom are likely to use one or more of the methods it discusses.


The formation of a Poison Substance Information System (PSIS) using existing computer databases is proposed. This would be an inquiry/response search system using interactive data communications. Chemical codes are the essential data elements that link the databases. Product codes allow easy and accurate end-user access to the system. Ten component databases are described. Two of these form the core of any PSIS, the other eight are of a type that can be attached to the system. Some of the databases need modification so that they can be used in the PSIS. For the most part, the modifications provide a natural extension of the database's capability and would not be done solely for the purpose of incorporating the databases into the PSIS. It is concluded that information is available in existing databases, and it is possible, with some modification, to link them into a comprehensive online poison information retrieval system.


The aim of this study was to compare the indoor air quality in newly built energy-efficient (passive) buildings in Sweden with the Swedish residential housing stock and new conventional buildings. We have used data from our previous publications to calculate Indoor Environmental Index (IEI), which is an average of Indoor Discomfort Index (IDI) that regards temperature and relative humidity, and Indoor Air Pollution Index (IAPI) that regards concentrations of indoor air pollutants. The passive building had significantly worse IEQ than the housing stock (p <0.05). Further disentangling of the partial indexes revealed that the difference was almost entirely caused by low to very low relative humidity in the passive buildings which affected the IDI. It could be speculated that the low relative humidity is coupled to operation of the ventilation systems and air exchange rates. It might be of importance to review the ventilation requirements in the energy-efficient buildings


We prove an extension theorem for Pexider equation on a restricted domain in a uniquely 2-divisible Abelian topological group which has a base of open neighbourhoods of 0 satisfying some 2-divisibility conditions.


Abstract Recently, a special group of global spherical coordinate transformations has been introduced in order to focus attention on the interactions of an enlarged spectral band of only one selected area, while de-focusing the rest of the globe and thus keeping the overall cost low. Applied to spherical harmonic expansions, the filter properties are studied diagnostically and prognostically. In the former case, the low-pass character of the filter is displayed by application to while noise and to locally sounding bell-shaped functions among others. In the latter case, the shallow-water equations are integrated for different kinds of focusing. Also the equations have been perturbed in order to simulate still smaller scale effects and test their implications in the current context. Locally the variably resolving harmonics behave like untransformed harmonies of the same actual local degree. No fading due to resolution gradients is observed. In order to set up a meaningful simulation only meteorological aspe...


Zamia lacandona, a member of the Z. splendens species group, is described from the Selva Lacandona of eastern Chiapas, Mexico. It is distinguished from Zamia splendens Schutzman by its usually single arcuate leaf with falcate leaflets, erect short-peduncled megasporangiate strobili, decumbent microstrobili, and chromosome number of 2n = 16, 17, or 18. When Zamia splendens was described (Schutzman, 1984), collections from the Selva Lacandona of eastern Chiapas were recognized as somewhat more robust and possibly distinct, but were still ascribed to Z. splendens in the publication. During two subsequent botanical expeditions to southern Mexico, one in 1984 by the first author and a second one in 1993 by the second author and Terrence Walters and Charles Hubbuch of Fairchild Tropical Garden, specimens were collected in the vicinity of the Mayan ruins in the Selva Lacandona. Schutzman's (1984) earlier decision to include the eastern populations was conservative, because it was not known at that time whether a continuum in morphological features would bridge the morphological "gap" or discontinuity between the western and eastern Chiapan populations. Three significant facts clarified the question. First, specimens collected by the first author in the Lacandona forest produced cones for the first time in 1993, demonstrating differences in cone morphology and habit from Z. splendens. Second, plants of Z. splendens almost identical to the type specimen were discovered in nearby Tabasco during the above-mentioned 1993 expedition, extending the distribution range of Z. splendens; this greatly reduced the possibility that a morphological continuum of one large variable species existed. Third, the Lacandona plants have distinct cytological features distinguishing them from Z. splendens. Thus, it was decided that the Lacandona plants are, indeed, worthy of specific status. The large, normally solitary, robust-petioled leaf and relatively small caudex distinguish this species from its congeners in the wild, but in cultivation these features can change and should only be used to distinguish species in conjunction with other characteristics, such as the finely toothed leaflets and cone habit characters (discussed below). Zamia lacandona Schutzman & Vovides, sp. nov. TYPE: Mexico. Chiapas: Selva Lacandona, July 1984 (male pi), Schutzman 517 (holotype, FLAS; isotype, XAL). Figure la-h. Haec species Z. splendenti Schutzman affinis sed apice strobilorum femineorum apiculato, erecto, foliolis novis xerampelinis et non roseis. et dentibus foliolorum tenuibus et non grossis differt. Plants dioecious, 15-60 cm tall. Caudex subterranean, 17—40 cm long, 4.5-8 cm diam. Leaves usually 1, occasionally 2, depending upon condition of the plant and its environment, arcuate, sparingly pubescent upon emergence, 30-100 cm long, 34—80 cm wide; leaflets 7—12 pairs per leaf, opposite to subopposite on a single leaf, linear-lanceolate to slightly oblanceolate, proximal leaflets subfalcate, 13—42 cm long, 1.5—5 cm wide; apex acuminate, equal to unequal; margin subrevolute; marginal teeth in upper half of leaf, 1.0—1.25 mm; base attenuate, reddish brown when expanding, dark green when mature; articulation with rachis dark brown, 5-10 mm wide; petiole semi-terete, dark greenish brown covered with brown tomentum, spinose through approximately % of its length from the base, 20-70 cm long, 10-20 mm diam.; spines terete, 0.8-4 mm long, 0.5-1 mm diam.; petiole base massive and almost encompassing entire apex of caudex, 1.5—3 cm wide; cataphylls chartaceous, elongate triangular, cone cataphylls narrow-triangular, pubescent, 2.8-6.3 cm long, 0.4—1.2 cm wide, leaf cataphylls deltoid with aristate apex, 2.2—3.4 cm long, base 2.3—3.8 cm wide. MicrospoNOVON 8: 441-446. 1998.


A method, based on solid-phase technology and oxidative phosphorylation, has been developed for preparation of modified oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing internucleotide ethylphosphate group.