Based on the surface wind and geopotential height fields of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data during the period from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2009 and forecast data of the JMA, NCEP GFS and NOGAPS models, statistical features of the strong wind have been investigated, and the bias-removed ensemble mean (BREM) forecast experiment of the sea surface wind has been conducted over the Bohai and Yellow Sea for the period from July 28 to August 10 in 2009. The results show that the strong wind days over the Bohai and Yellow Sea have a significant interannual variability and seasonal variability. On average, there are 50 strong wind events which last for at least 12 hours annually. In addition, strong windy weather events occur most frequently in winter and less frequently in summer. The strong wind events in summer are mainly attributed to the northward movement of the typhoons in the western Pacific, while those in winter are mainly brought by the cold fronts. The first two EOF eigenvectors describe the activities of tropical cyclones over the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, respectively, together with the high pressure system in the northeastern China. Large pressure gradient between the high and low pressure systems results in the strong windy weather over the Bohai and Yellow Sea. On the whole, the BREM forecast technique performs better than each of three single model forecast in terms of the forecast skill of the surface wind over the Bohai and Yellow Sea for the forecast period from July 28 to August 10 in 2009.


The depth one foliations with a single compact leaf are classified for twist knots and pretzel knots (3, -3, 2n + 1).


Peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) and free respiratory cells (RC) of the mast cell-basophil type were obtained from normal rhesus monkeys or rhesus monkeys with defined immediate-type hypersensitivity to ascaris antigen (AA). PBL or RC from the latter were exposed to AA and the former were exposed to anti-IgE. Histamine (H) release and release of a slow reacting substance of anaphylaxis (SRS-A) occurred following exposure of the appropriate cells to AA or anti-IgE. The release of both H and SRS-A from PBL was potentiated by D2O. D2O did not potentiate release of SRS-A or H from RC due to anti-IgE to the same extent. Although potentiation of H release from RC due to AA was observed in the presence of D2O in some individual animals, this could not be demonstrated by statistical analysis of group results. We could not demonstrate potentiation of SRS-A release from RC due to anti-IgE or AA. The results suggest the possibility that there may be differences in antigen reactive cells of the respiratory tree and peripheral blood and biochemical studies may be of use in demonstrating these differences.


SUMMARY Prediction of hydrocarbon column heights and contacts requires simultaneous evaluation of capillary and mechanical bed seal properties together with trap geometry (crest, spill), estimation and quantification of uncertainties, and propagation of these uncertainties through the analysis. We developed a method for making a probabilistic determination of total seal capacity for a hydrocarbon trap, simultaneously considering both bed seal leak mechanisms (capillary entry pressure and hydraulic fracture pressure), and accounting for trap geometry. Assuming unlimited gas and oil charge and uniform seal properties, simultaneous evaluation of top seal capacity and geometric controls on hydrocarbon fill, leads to recognition of only six possible combinations of hydrocarbon fill control in two-phase (gas and oil) systems. Single phase systems are controlled by only one of the three leak mechanisms. Different combinations of top seal and geometric spill controls can achieve very similar final hydrocarbon distributions in hydrocarbon traps. Without investigating all possible controls it is easy to draw incorrect conclusions about controls on hydrocarbon fill in any single accumulation, promoting incorrect prognostications about undrilled traps. When considering field development plans that include pressure support, misunderstanding actual controls on fluid distributions could lead to unanticipated outcomes, such as leakage through the top seal.


Summary Fossil echinoderms derived from the Chalk occur rarely as clasts eroded from erratic rafts on the beaches of north Norfolk and are almost invariably represented by the holasteroid echinoid Echinocorys scutata (Leske). A small collection of other echinoderms from the Overstrand to Cromer coast includes the crinoid Austinocrinus bicoronatus (von Hagenow), and the echinoids Temnocidaris ( Stereocidaris ) sp., phymosomatid sp. and Galerites sp. Most preserve at least some evidence of corrasion and/or bioerosion. The echinoids are preserved either as steinkerns or are otherwise protected by flint; the crinoid columnal had lost much of its surface detail due to corrasion. The known stratigraphic ranges of these species suggest that they are derived from the local part of the Norfolk Chalk, spanning the upper Campanian to lower Maastrichtian interval.


During the studies on fouling diatoms in Zuary estuary the overlying surface diatoms were also studied for comparison. In all 66 spp. of planktonic diatoms have been recorded, belonging to 29 genera. Out of these, 36 species (16 genera) were Pennales and 30 (13 genera) Centrales. The common diatoms observed were Chaetoceros borealis, C. decipiens, Biddulphia regia, B. sinensis, Coscinodiscus conscinnus, C. subtilis, C. grani, Navicula inflexa, N. oblonga, Amphora turgida, A. ovalis, Nitzschia sigma var. regidula, N. longissima var. closterium, Thalassiothrix nitzscheoides, Rhizosolenia stolterfothii and R. shrubsolei. Pennales were dominant over Centrales both in diversity of genera and species. Minimum number of diatoms were recorded during monsoon and maximum during postmonsoon and premonsoon months. Solitary forms were found in abundant quantity, while colonial forms were few. Occassional blooms of Chaetoceros sp. were only observed. Interestingly most of the fouling diatoms were represented in plankton also.


In this paper, we characterize and compare the characteristics of a poly-Si nanowire (NW) device with independent double-gated configuration under different operation modes. In the device, the tiny NW channels are surrounded by an inverted-T-shaped gate and a top gate. It is found that the device under double-gate (DG) mode exhibits significantly better performance with respect to the two single-gate (SG) modes, as indicated by a higher current drive than the combined sum of the two SG modes and a smaller subthreshold swing of less than 100 mV/dec. Origins of such improvement have been identified to be due to the elimination of the back-gate effect as well as an enhancement in the effective mobility with the DG operation.


We realized strongly index-coupled membrane buried-heterostructure (BH) distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers fabricated by electron-beam lithography, CH4/H2 reactive-ion etching, and regrowth by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy, using surface corrugation DFB. First, we fabricated narrow stripe membrane BH-DFB lasers with surface corrugation for stable single-mode operation. Under optically pumped room-temperature continuous-wave (RT-CW) operation, a wide stopband width of 68 nm was observed in spite of the narrow stripe width of 0.6 mum. The corresponding index-coupling coefficient of 2950 cm-1 is over two times larger than that of a flat-surface (conventional) membrane BH-DFB laser with a stripe width of 2.0 mum. In addition, we fabricated a short-cavity membrane DFB laser with a surface corrugation structure. A threshold optical pump power of as low as 0.34 mW was realized for a 2.0-mum-wide and 80-mum-long device under RT-CW conditions.


It may not be immediately apparent why ajournal of psych iatry, such as The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, should review a book which is almost solely about a new view of psychoanalytical practice. However, I feel it is worthwhile in this instance for two reasons. First, many senior Canadian psychiatrists have had an analytical training and although they may not be practicing as analysts (or only tokenly so) are nevertheless greatly influenced by their past and, hence, in their teaching of residents. Second, probably the major influence in Canadian psychoanalysis is American ego psychology, and what is occurring there will obviously be felt here. It is particularly because ofthe second reason that this is an important book for Canadian psychoanalytical and psychotherapy practice. This is so not for the ideas it propounds, but for the reasons for propounding them. By all reliable accounts, psychoanalysis in America is in many areas almost extinct as a profession, outside of the training analyses of prospective analysts. It is widely felt by the public to be greatly irrelevant and out of touch with present day needs, and obviously the question has to be asked, why? Against this background, a group in America have been putting forward the proposition that metapsychology has somehow intervened between the patient and the analyst to the detriment of clinical practice. The present book is part of this movement and seems to be clearly a revolt against the mechanistic, detached practice of American psychoanalysis as seen, for instance, by people like Bettelheim (I), particularly in his recent publication. Kris uses almost the same words as Bettelheim, feeling there has been neglect of free association with an overfocussing on metapsychology. The author, in developing his ideas that metapsychology stands between the therapist and the patient, effectively raises free association up to the level of "a thing in itself'. He seems unaware of Bion's (2) dictum that in therapy the therapist should have no memory or desires. He, consequently, overlooks what the therapist is supposed to be doing in his response to free association, viz. free-floating attention. In fact, from the bibliography, he seems greatly unaware of a very large number of psychoanalysts outside of America who have written extensively in this area. That he is a serious and dedicated clinician I have no doubt, but by attempting to throw out metapsychology, his convolutions using free association to explain everything become more and more obtuse. In the end, he becomes even more distant from the patient in the very theorical constructs he is so against. Kris is obviously looking for an answer to the question "how do we as analysts and therapists work with people who present today in our practices?" To be anchored in the Vienna ofthe 1900's is obviously to overlook much that has developed since. In my opinion, two quotes summarize a great deal of analytical practice, its present day needs and put into perspective what Kris has not been able to find in this book. Rycroft (3), in his book makes the statement, "If the hypothesis presented here is correct, the aim of psychoanalytical treatment is not primarily to make the unconscious conscious, nor to widen or strengthen the ego, but to reestablish the connexion between dissociated psychic functions, so that the patient ceases to feel that there is an inherent antagonism between his imaginative and adaptive capacities." And the quote that Masud Khan repeats of Lacan as follows: "The subject begins the analysis by speaking of himself without speaking directly to you, or by speaking to you without speaking of himself. When he can speak to you of himself, the analysis will be terminated." Thankfully, it is not a gargantuan tome of verbiage so beloved by many psychoanalysts. It is a recommended book for all those who wish to be stimulated and join in the debate about the future of psychoanalysis in America.


OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to assess the value of intraperitoneal use of rolipram for adhesion prevention and to compare the results with placebo and a sodium hyaluronate/carboxymethylcellulose absorbable barrier (Seprafilm), in a murine cecal abrasion model. DESIGNS: Twenty-four Balb/c mice were subjects of this study. Intra-abdominal adhesions were created with a multiple-abrasion model consisting of meticulous abrasion of the cecum and small-bowel segments with strokes of a dental toothbrush. Animals in groups R (n = 8) received 1 mL of rolipram intraperitoneally. Seprafilm was placed over the viscera under the incision in group S animals (n = 8). Group C animals (n = 8) were reserved as control and received nothing. Animals were killed on day 22. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The adhesions were evaluated with 2 different observational scoring systems, the Majuzi System and the Linsky Scale. After completion of observational evaluation, the cecum and small bowel of the animals were excised and sent to the pathology laboratory for histopathologic examination. The extent of inflammatory response, the extent of the fibrotic reaction, the extent of the necrosis and abscess formation, and the extent of foreign body reaction were histologically evaluated. RESULTS: The mean Majuzi System scores of groups R and S were similar to each other and significantly less than control group. Also, all scores of the Linsky Scale in group R were similar to those in group S, and significantly less than those in the control group. Histologically, the mean score of inflammatory response in group R was less than both those in group C and group S. The mean score of fibrotic reaction in group R was significantly less than those in the control group. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that rolipram may be an effective material in prevention of postoperative intra-abdominal adhesions, but it is obvious that further studies are needed to validate the results of this limited initial study.


The author considers different ways for determining the amount of insurance compensation to be paid to the participant of shared-quity construction in case of occurrence of an insured event in the form of recognition of the developer's insolvency (bankruptcy) or foreclosure of a collateral. The purpose of the paper is to identify approaches to the determination of this amount used by insurers at different stages of implementation of the mechanism of the developer's civil liability insurance and to analyze these approaches' legality. The author analyzes actual jurisprudence in cases involving insurers and participants in shared-equity construction. It is established that at the first stage in the legislation there were no rules for determining the amount of insurance compensation in this area, and insurers determined it at their discretion. At the second stage, when the minimum amount of insurance compensation was consolidated in law, insurers faced controversy caused by a mismatch between the amount originally paid by the construction participant under an equity participation agreement and the amount to be paid. The author concludes that, at the second stage, the disagreement concerning the amount of insurance compensation is caused by the insurers' abuse of right.


Very little attention has been paid to identifying the differential characteristics of primary and secondary dementia caregivers. The aims of this study were: to determine whether differences exist between primary and secondary caregivers of people with dementia (PwD) and to explore the profile of primary and secondary caregivers reporting symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. The participants were 146 caregivers of PwD, 73 primary caregivers and 73 secondary caregivers. The results revealed different patterns for each type of caregiver. Primary caregivers showed a more negative profile in terms of poorer self-rated health and higher levels of anxiety and depression: 61.6% of primary and 42.5% of secondary caregivers reported symptoms of anxiety, and 24.7% and 11% reported depression, respectively. The frequency of problem behavior, subjective burden, health, and the comorbidity between anxiety and depression were associated with depression and anxiety among primary caregivers, whereas gender (being a woman), subjective burden, health, and the comorbidity between anxiety and depression were associated among secondary caregivers. These findings may help to guide professionals in targeting psychological support programs and customizing the strategies and skills that need to be provided in accordance with the type of caregiver in question: primary or secondary. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.


Consideration is given to the queuing system, consisting of one server and a queue of unlimited capacity, with the implemented mechanism of general renovation and feedback. This mechanism, which may be considered as a variant of an active queue management scheme, works as follows. In this short note we show how the main ingredients needed to compute some of the main stationary performance characteristics of the system can be found. The basic methods are transform techniques and methods for the solutions of Volterra integral equations of the second kind with the kernels of convolution type. We concentrate on the stationary distribution of the embedded Markov chain, show how it is related with the stationary distribution of the process, describing the evolution of the total number of customers in the system. Under the two assumptions about the service discipline and the order in which the customers are removed from the queue whenever renovation occurs, we derive expressions for stationary loss probability and the sojourn time distribution in terms of Laplace-Stielties transform.


Many state-of-the-art adversarial training methods leverage upper bounds of the adversarial loss to provide security guarantees. Yet, these methods require computations at each training step that can not be incorporated in the gradient for backpropagation. We introduce a new, more principled approach to adversarial training based on a closed form solution of an upper bound of the adversarial loss, which can be effectively trained with backpropagation. This bound is facilitated by state-ofthe-art tools from robust optimization. We derive two new methods with our approach. The first method (Approximated Robust Upper Bound or aRUB) uses the first order approximation of the network as well as basic tools from linear robust optimization to obtain an approximate upper bound of the adversarial loss that can be easily implemented. The second method (Robust Upper Bound or RUB), computes an exact upper bound of the adversarial loss. Across a variety of tabular and vision data sets we demonstrate the effectiveness of our more principled approach —RUB is substantially more robust than state-of-the-art methods for larger perturbations, while aRUB matches the performance of state-of-the-art methods for small perturbations. Also, both RUB and aRUB run faster than standard adversarial training (at the expense of an increase in memory). All the code to reproduce the results can be found at https://github.com/kimvc7/Robustness.


A 74-year-old man was admitted for preoperative screening of aortic stenosis. Five months before this admission, he was found to have elevated serum immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4; 2,010 mg/dL). Computed tomography (CT) showed a soft tissue mass surrounding the abdominal aorta, suggestive of IgG4-related periaortitis. CT coronary angiography showed perivascular thickening of the right coronary artery, and subsequent coronary angiography showed a multi-vessel disease. The patient underwent aortic valve replacement and coronary bypass surgery. Immunohistochemical analysis showed IgG4-positive plasmacytic infiltration in specimens from the aortic valve, epicardium, and aortic adventitia, suggestive of the possible role of IgG4-related immune inflammation for the pathogenesis.


Urologic trauma continues to be a dynamic and evolving subspecialty of urology. This is evident by the trauma papers published this past year. Highlights of the 2011 literature include a needed revision of renal trauma grading, increased use of large population-based datasets and multiple papers examining the use of angioembolization.


At a meeting in Palma (on the Mediterranean island of Majorca), on October 20, 1986, ocean scientists affiliated with the Western Mediterranean Circulation Experiment (WMCE) met to discuss the completion of their 1-year field experiment. The convenors represented a consortium of 60 scientists from laboratories and institutions in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The consortium members pooled their talents, instruments, and resources to achieve their common goal: the derivation of the spatial and temporal variability of the circulation of the western Mediterranean Sea.


Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition and clinical diagnosis is often easily made. A system of direct referral for day-case carpal tunnel surgery was introduced. General practitioners, physicians and surgeons were advised of the service and the criteria for referral, which included female patients with bilateral symptoms and physical signs, and some response to conservative treatment. All patients were reviewed preoperatively by the senior author (GEBG). The service was an alternative to standard outpatient referral. A total of 51 patients was seen. Two were refused surgery. In all those who underwent surgery, the symptoms either resolved or were improved. The service was well received, although some patients felt that they were poorly informed preoperatively. The mean waiting time for surgery was reduced by four months and the patients avoided an outpatient appointment. Direct access day-case carpal tunnel surgery works well by reducing delays and the costs of treatment. Adequate patient information is important to make the best of the service.


The relatively bad prognosis in cases of aortic coarctation seemed to. be sufficient ju'stification for making an attempt at surgical treatment in these patients. One of us (Crafoord), during work with patent ductusarteriosus and as the result of both experimental and-clinical 'studies of the circulatory conditions existing when the aorta is shut off at differentlevels, gradually came to the conclusion that the surgical risk would not be too-great. In experimental studies on dogs, Crafoord (1939) demonstrated that the flow of blood to all the organs could remain suspended for as long as twenty to twenty-five minutes without any subsequent sign of organic damage, provided an' adequate flow to the brain was secured. This circulation to the brain -was maintained by creating anastomoses between the carotid and jugular vessels on one side in the animal under operation with the corresponding vessels in a dog of the same size lying beside it. On the strength of this observation Crafoord toQk the risk, in certain patients with a patent ductus arteriosus, of placing clamp forceps on the aorta above and below the point of entry of the duct into this artery and of keeping them attached during the time necessary to divide the duct and suture the aorta. In one of the patients this part-of the operation took no less than 27 minutes to perform. In spite of this long period, during which the aorta was shut off just below the point where the subclavian artery arises, no noticeable disturbances were subsequently observed in the patient's internal organs. As far as we -have been able to ascertain from the literature, the only other investigator besides Crafoord who has considered the possibility of relieving coarctation of the aortic isthmus by a surgical intervention is Blalock (Blalock and.Park, 1944; Blalock and Taussig, 1945). The latter, however, approached the problem .in. a more conjectural manner and from a different standpoint, having considered some fo'rm of anastomosing operation or plastic reconstruction


The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective evaluation of the success of patient referral for partner notification of chlamydial infections to the major Portuguese sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic. A total of 8277 patients were screened for Chlamydia trachomatis during 2000–2007, and 695 (8.4%) tested positive. The sexual partners of 34% of these index cases attended the clinic as contacts following partner referral. In univariate analysis, heterosexual men referred partners more frequently than men who have sex with men (MSM) and HIV-negative index cases referred partners four-fold more frequently than HIV-positives; however, these associations were non-significant after multivariate analysis (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7–2.6; adjusted OR 4.2, 95% CI 0.9–18.7, respectively). Index patients who reported lower numbers of partners referred more frequently, and this association remained significant after multivariate analysis. One-third of the referred individuals tested C. trachomatis-positive; the risk for infection was three-fold higher for referred partners from symptomatic index cases (P < 0.001, adjusted OR, 95% CI 1.8–6.3). In conclusion, the results of the present study concerning sexual behaviour, HIV status and clinical signs highlight the need for further evaluations that may shape future partner notification strategies in order to reduce the chlamydial disease burden.


This research was conducted to manufacture thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) for vehicles' underbody coating and to apply them on an industrial scale. TEMs heat resistance was studied depending on the ratios of a cross-linking agent and an initiator. This research focused on the content of a cross-linking agent and how it affected the results. The TEMs' outer shell was thickened to solve the problem of the foam expansion ratio's reduction that occurred due to the shrinkage after the maximum expansion (Tmax) was reached. After foaming, the cross-sectional thickness and surface of the sample with thickened outer shell were observed. The TEMs with the thickened shell showed the least shrinkage, which indicated excellent shrinkage stability, even after prolonged exposure to heat.


Background
Publicly funded prescription drug programs, such as state pharmacy assistance programs, provide critical benefits for the care of individuals, but they are frequently limited in their resources to optimize patient outcomes. The application of quality metrics to prescription drug claims may help to determine whether prescribers' adherence to national standards can be augmented through academic detailing.

Objective
To evaluate changes in diabetes drug prescribing patterns after an academic detailing educational intervention in 2013 and 2014 for prescribers in the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) program.

Methods
We used a retrospective, quasiexperimental study design that applied interrupted time series and segmented regression analysis, and examined PACE pharmacy claims data for 1 year before and 1 year after the academic detailing intervention. Four diabetes prescribing metrics were evaluated at monthly intervals for a sample of 574 prescribers who received academic detailing and for a propensity score-matched comparison sample of 574 prescribers who did not receive the intervention.

Results
The prescribers who received academic detailing did not differ significantly after the intervention from the providers who did not receive the intervention in their prescribing trends for the 4 diabetes metrics. The observed time series patterns suggest that diabetes-related ceiling effects were likely, with relatively small room for improvement at the group level during the study period.

Conclusion
The results of this study did not demonstrate group differences in prescribing trends that were attributable to the intervention. However, many prescribers in the detailed group had been exposed to similar educational outreach by PACE before 2013, which limits the interpretation of this finding. In addition, the diabetes quality metrics had been the standard of care during the preceding decade, with a broad dissemination of the treatment guidelines to the provider community. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect in the measured metrics, suggesting that most prescribers in both groups were largely following core diabetes guidelines before and after the intervention.


Non-conventional diffuser designs are introduced to minimize the energy losses associated with diffusion and to enhance stable operating range of the diffusion system. This is achieved by reducing width of the diffuser by modifying a hub or shroud curves by keeping the diffuser diameter ratio constant which is often known as pinch. The comparison of modified compressor with base model is accomplished by using performance characteristics such as static pressure recovery coefficient, stagnation pressure loss coefficient, energy coefficient and isentropic efficiency. Simulations are performed at various hub pinch (5%–20%), shroud pinch (5%–20%) and combined hub and shroud pinch (5%–20%). Among all the cases shroud pinch of 10% shows best results in terms of stagnation pressure loss coefficient, static pressure recovery coefficient and energy coefficient. Further, simulations are carried out with forced rotating vaneless diffuser. It gives better results in terms of pressure rise with lower stagnation pressure losses. But there is a moderate decrement in isentropic efficiency of compressor when compared to the base model.


This research discussed the concept of ' Tawhid ' as the doctrine in Islam; and the way Islam perceives Beauty in its decorative arts as a mean of contemplation and Remembering Allah. In order to understand these hidden functions and messages, the overall approach, roles, functions and typologies of decoration are explained. The uniqueness of Islamic Arts' characteristics, roles, meanings and principles are governed universally by the Islamic doctrine – ' Tawhid ' which expressed Oneness and Unity towards Contemplation to the One God – Allah. By looking at these aspects, one can truly assess whether the current usage of decorative motifs in mosque is in full success or not. A cross-reference of these usages is established with the true roles and functions of these decoration motifs as decoration in relation to Islamic Art as a whole. Successful applications of the interior decorative motifs can then be established and recommended for future applications. It is the intention of the study to be as an impetus for other broader and more critical analyses which can be made by others to fully comprehend the underlying concepts of the decorative motifs in the mosque interiors. A base reference study was made onto the oldest traditional mosque in the South East Asia region-  Masjid AgungDemak  in Central Java, Indonesia. Field studies were made to cover eight selected traditional mosques in Melaka:  Masjid Peringgit, Masjid KampungHulu, Masjid Tengkera, Masjid KampungKeling, Masjid KampungDuyong, Masjid SerkamPantai, Masjid Alai  and  Masjid Al Azim.  These mosques were chosen based on their built age – on two separate eras – the old traditional mosques:  Masjid Peringgit, Masjid KampungKeling,  Masjid KampungHulu, Masjid KampungDuyong,  Masjid Tengkera, Masjid SerkamPantai and Masjid Alai  have been built since the 18 th  and 19 th  Century and been treated as community mosques. These mosques are still in use, well maintained and conserved. The new traditional mosque,  Masjid Al Azim  is of the 20 th  Century, is a new and larger scale mosque, treated as the State Mosque in Melaka. Surveys were done to record and identify the decorative motifs in these mosques and to evaluate the users' awareness and the effectiveness of these decorations. The aesthetic criteria of the decoration elements which have profound impacts onto the users are also identified. Furthermore, a close examination and analyses regarding certain aspects of the physical characteristics of the decorative motifs are presented. Through the survey and observation study of these decorations, various physical and aesthetic factors were identified. These factors were then referred to formulate the general design criterion in relation to the application of decoration in mosque. By fully understanding the role of decoration, further improvements can be recommended to ensure better and effective usage of decoration particularly in mosques.


We demonstrate monolithic integration of an electro-optically (EO) tunable microring laser on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platform. The device is fabricated by photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching, and the pump laser is evanescently coupled into the erbium (${\rm{E}}{{\rm{r}}^{3 +}}$)-doped lithium niobate (LN) microring laser using an undoped LN waveguide mounted above the microring. The quality factor of the LN microring resonator is measured as high as ${1.54} \times {{1}}{{{0}}^5}$ at the wavelength of 1542 nm. Lasing action can be observed at a pump power threshold below 3.5 mW using a 980 nm continuous-wave pump laser. Finally, tuning of the laser wavelength is achieved by varying the electric voltage on the microelectrodes fabricated in the vicinity of a microring waveguide, showing an EO coefficient of 0.33 pm/V.


The history of electric fields in biology is summarized briefly. Physical concepts important for explaining the action of electric field pulses on biological objects are reviewed: relation of pulse width to frequency spectrum; precise meaning of "conductor" and "dielectric"; electrical properties of living tissues; translatory and rotational motion of electric charges and dipoles; effects of inhomogeneity, diffusion and viscosity; conditions for validity of linear models; electrical mobility of ions in membrane channels and membranes; conditions for radiation; reflection, refraction, and penetration of radiated fields; effect of radiated magnetic fields on chemical reaction rates; radiation pressure; electrostriction; the problem of distinguishing between thermal and nonthermal effects. The rationale for close collaboration among biologists, engineers, physicists, and physicians is discussed.


The world's globalization and consolidation result in increased competition for manufacturing industry. A factory must always attempt to achieve world class manufacturing and quality to survive long in the growing market. Therefore it is important for a MSME sector (Manufacturing Industry) to develop their way of working continuously as per World Class Standards. In this research work, current layout of a manufacturing MSME industry is studied and a new layout is developed based on the systematic layout planning to reduce the meter movement, searching time and increase productivity. The company has presently working on processes layout. The number of equipment/machineries available and meter movement have been analyzed. The detailed study of the plant layout such as operation process chart, activity relationship chart and the relationship between equipment and area has been investigated. The new plant layout has been designed and compared with existing plant layout with the help of Spaghetti Diagram. The new plant layout shows that distance and overall cost of material flow from stores to dispatch area are significantly decreased. The implementation of proposed model will help in the overall improvement of production performance of manufacturing industry. This research work also helps to other small industries having such type process layout in increasing their productivity and achieving 100 % efficiency.


beta-Lipotrophin (62-77) or Ac-gastrin releasing peptide was incubated with immobilized carboxypeptidase Y or aminopeptidase M. Subsequent aliquots of each incubation mixture were analysed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry using a dithiothreitol/dithioerythritol liquid matrix. The use of immobilized enzymes and volatile buffers for exopeptidase digestions enabled rapid and facile separation of enzyme from digestion products. This approach to mass spectral peptide analysis reduced spectral background arising from a glycerol matrix, buffer salts, or enzyme proteins and contaminants, enabling analysis of as little as 200 picomoles of a suitable peptide.


Image classification problems often face the issues of high dimensionality and large variance within the same class. Deep convolutional neural networks are designed to solve the problem by extracting features using convolutional operations. Researchers have developed complex deep convolutional neural networks to achieve the outstanding performance that outperforms humans. However, the complexity of deep convolutional neural networks brings two side effects. First, the more complex the network architecture is, the harder it is to design. Second, it deteriorates the black-box nature of deep convolutional neural networks, which is harder to explain. To tackle the above two issues, neural architecture search and explainable deep learning have emerged as two promising research areas for automatically designing deep convolutional neural networks and providing explanations of the predictions made by deep learning models, respectively. Evolutionary computation based neural architecture search has been employed to automatically design deep convolutional neural networks that outperform those manually designed, but the computational cost is too high. Surrogate-assisted and transfer learning based methods can be utilised to reduce the computational cost. Furthermore, a branch in explainable deep learning called local approximation does not need machine learning expertise to understand the explanation. The target of local approximation is to find interpretable features. Evolutionary computation has successfully applied to many search problems, but it has never been used in finding local approximation.
The overall goal of this thesis is to improve the efficiency of evolutionary neural architecture search in image classification tasks and provide explanations in the inference phase. This can mitigate the major issues -- the difficulty of designing deep convolutional neural networks and the lack of explainability, that significantly affected deep learning being widely used in real-world applications.
This thesis proposes a surrogate-assisted particle swarm optimisation (an evolutionary computation algorithm) method to efficiently evolve deep convolutional neural networks. A surrogate model is proposed to predict a better solution from a pair of solutions, and a method for sampling a subset of the dataset as a surrogate dataset is proposed to reduce the computational cost to less than 3 GPU-days, but with very competitive classification accuracies across several benchmark datasets.
Next, this thesis proposes to use smaller datasets in multiple source domains to evolve deep convolutional neural networks, and then transfer the learned models to the target domain. This has achieved the goal of accelerating the evolutionary neural architecture search process and improving the generalisation performance, which is supported by the experiment results.
Furthermore, this thesis proposes a genetic algorithm (an evolutionary computation algorithm) based method to evolve local explanations to explain the predictions of deep convolutional neural networks. By combining the flexible encoding and the proposed fitness evaluation, the proposed method can efficiently evolve meaning interpretable features in the local explanation. It produces competitive explanations, but 10 times faster than Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) -- the state-of-the-art method.
Lastly, an evolutionary multi-objective approach is explored to evolve local explanations to reduce the human effort of examining the interpretable features in the local explanations. It adds the second objective of minimising the number of interpretable features, which reduces the human effort in checking them. Additionally, it proposes a method to select only two non-dominated solutions from the pareto front to save the labour cost for end users.


In view of recent economic and environmental pressures, the necessity of a paradigm shift in the production and utilization of energy has emerged. Key challenges associated with this shift include the development of efficient hydrogen production, storage and distribution technologies; the utilization of alternative and/or renewable energy sources, such as biomass; and the capture, storage and utilization of CO 2. Computational catalysis has and will continue to play an important role in overcoming these challenges, as the demand for a fundamental understanding of realistic catalyst structures necessitates the development of novel simulation methodologies and multiscale theoretical approaches. My research will address these challenges through the development of a framework capable of simulating complex catalytic structures, such as heterogeneous populations of supported nanoparticles. This multiscale modeling approach will combine quantum chemistry calculations at the electronic scale, with kinetic Monte Carlo simulation at the molecular and catalyst scales. The framework will be used to simulate chemistries of interest in energy applications such as hydrogen production through the water-gas shift reaction, which is relevant to biomass reforming, and CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol, a challenging problem in CO 2 utilization for fuel production. This work will introduce a novel component on the rational catalyst design principle, namely that of the structural optimization of the material, and will also provide directions for future research on catalyst deactivation through nanoparticle sintering.


In spectral analysis, achieving coherent sampling, especially when signals have large distortion, has been a challenge for many years. This paper introduces three algorithms to resolve this issue. In comparison to previous algorithms, and two widely used methods in industry: windowing and four-parameter sine wave fit, these new algorithms are capable of obtaining accurate spectral results of the signal, while achieving high accuracy as well as computational efficiency. The novel contribution of this paper is that not only does it propose two new algorithms, but also it analyzes their advantages and limitations in detail, providing their trade-offs and different fields of applications. Extensive simulations and measurements are performed to validate these algorithms. Combined with their high accuracy, computational efficiency, and robustness against signal purity, these algorithms are readily available to be implemented for bench or on-chip testing. In addition, it is suitable for data converter spectral testing when noncoherent sampling is present, and spectrally pure test signal source is not available.


In the coarse grained HAZ of conventional TiN steel, most TiN particles are dissolved and austenite grain growth easily occurrs during high heat input welding. To avoid this difficulty, thermal stability of TiN particles is improved by increasing nitrogen content in EH36-TM steel. Increased thermal stability of TiN particle is helpful for preventing austenite grain growth by the pinning effect. In this study, the mechanical properties and microstructures of high heat input welded Tandem EGW joint in EH36-TM steel with high nitrogen content were investigated. The austenite grain size in simulated HAZ of the steel at was much smaller than that of conventional TiN steel. Even for high heat input welding, the microstructure of coarse grained HAZ consisted of fine ferrite and pearlite and the mechanical properties of the joint were sufficient to meet all the requirements specified in classification rule.


As we move towards an era of personalised medicine, the identification of lead compounds requires years of research and considerable financial backing, in the development of targeted therapies for cancer. We use molecular modelling and simulation to screen a library of active compounds, and understand the ligandprotein interaction at the molecular level in appropriate protein targets, in a bid to identify the most active lead drug candidates. In recent times, good progress has been made in accurately predicting binding affinities for drug candidates. Advances in high-performance computation (HPC), mean it is now possible to run a larger number of calculations in parallel, paving the way for multiple replica simulations from which binding affinities are obtained. This, then, allows for a tighter control of errors and in turn, a higher confidence in the binding affinity predictions. Here, we present ESMACS (Enhanced Sampling of Molecular dynamics with Approximation of Continuum Solvent) and TIES (Thermodynamic Integration with Enhanced Sampling); a new framework from which binding affinities are calculated. ESMACS performs 25 replica simulations of the same ligand-receptor system with the only difference being the initial momentum of each atom. From this ensemble of trajectories, an extended MMPBSA (Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area) free energy method is employed. The TIES protocol constitutes 5 replicas simulations per lambda state followed by the integration of the potential derivatives of each lambda state, generating a relative binding affinity. This is all tied together using the BAC (Binding Affinity Calculator) which automates the ESMACS and TIES workflow. ESMACS and TIES, given suitable access to HPC resources, can compute binding affinities in a matter of hours on a supercomputer; the size of such machines therefore means that we can reach the industrial scale of demand necessary to impact drug discovery programmes.


There is a lack of information about alcohol use by transgender women. We estimated the prevalence of dangerous alcohol use in the last 12 months by transgender women, who are known as travestis in Brazil, and we identified the associated risk factors. Three hundred travestis were recruited using Respondent Driving Sampling (RDS). We applied the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). We controlled the sample by applying a weight to each interviewee. Three quarters (74.2%) of travestis were regular drinkers, half (48.7%) scored over eight in the AUDIT and 14.8% scored over 20. The risk factors for alcohol use were: aged over 24, low income and unprotected sex. The dangerous use of alcohol is prevalent among travestis. Given that this group has a greater risk of HIV infection and transmission, and that the dangerous use of alcohol was associated with unsafe sex, specific intervention strategies are required.


Deferne, J.L. and D. W. Pate, 1996. Hemp seed oil: A source of valuable essential fatty acids. Journal of the International Hemp Association 3(1): 1, 4-7. Interest in Cannabis has largely focused on its content of psychoactive substances (cannabinoids) or its potential industrial use as a source of cellulose fibre. While the whole seed has long been used as a source of food, its potential health contribution has never gained much attention. Hemp seed shares with no other plant resource, both a high content of easily digestible complete protein and a rich endowment of oil providing a favorable ratio of the linoleic (C18:2w6) and linolenic (C18:3w3) essential fatty acids required for proper human nutrition, in addition to a significant contribution of gamma-linolenic (C18:3w6) acid of potential therapeutic efficacy. With a recently acquired knowledge concerning the importance of these fatty acids in the human diet, it is time to both intensify research on their variable occurence among varieties of hemp seed, and investigate methods of oil extraction and storage suitable for their preservation.


An S band, high-linearity down-converter is implemented using a 0.25 um GaAs MMIC pHEMT-process. Using UMS' PPH25 process, an unbalanced FET resistive mixer with a lumped diplexer and an integrated square-wave LO-drive
performs the down-converting. The produced narrowband IF-signal is then amplified twice, first in an LNA and then in a highly linear amplifier. The chip has a dynamic gain variation of 10.5 dB and offers a maximum gain of 15 dB.
The input 1 dB-compression point at nominal gain is 10 dBm which estimates input IP3 to 20 dBm. The noise figure at nominal gain is 11 dB.

The chip offers down-converting of RF-frequencies between 2.9 and 3.4 GHz for input LO-signals of -4 - 0 dBm and an image rejection of 40 dBc. The chip size is 2.4×3.4 mm, and it is designed to fit in a 4×5mm QFN-capsule and consumes 1.0W of DC power. Three control signals govern the dynamic attenuation with an LSB of 1.6 dB.

Comparative studies regarding mixer topologies and process technologies are performed. The choice of a single cold FET resistive mixer type is motivated by its linearity, small size and simplicity. A medium-power pHEMT process is chosen, as this provides improved linearity of the amplifiers as well as acceptable noise features given the requirements.


Compared with conventional lamps, LED-based light sources have a superior lifetime, efficiency, and reliability, which promise significant reductions in power consumption and pollution from fossil fuel power plants. The main purpose of this paper is proposed and investigated the effect of the concentration of Ba[Mg2Al2N4]Eu2+conversion phosphor on the CCT deviation (D-CCT) and lumen output (LO) of the 6600 K conformal-packaging white LEDs (CPW-LEDs). For this purpose, we used the Light Tools and Mat Lab software to investigate this problem. From the research results, we can state that the concentration of the red phosphor crucially influenced on the optical quality of the 6600 K CPW-LEDs. The D-CCT can be decreased from 4700K to 2500K, and the LO can be increased from 600 lm. to 1200 lm. This research can provide the new recommendation for LEDs industry at this time.


Orthodontics has witnessed not only an exponential rise in demand from adult patients but accompanying this, the emergence of alternate aesthetic treatment options to the more traditional fixed labial appliance. The concept of using clear aligners as a means of achieving tooth movement has increased in popularity among both patients and clinicians alike. However, the question over best research evidence as to their clinical effectiveness to treat a range of malocclusion traits remains elusive and controversial among the profession. In an attempt to offer the profession some clear guidance, The Angle Society of Europe reviewed and discussed the current published evidence (2005–2018) on their clinical use, during the annual meeting in January 2020, to help formulate a consensus viewpoint on the clinical applications.


The Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) climate transition (ca. 34 Ma) marks a period of Antarctic ice growth and a major step from early Cenozoic greenhouse conditions toward today's glaciated climate state. The transition is represented by an increase in deep-sea benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope (18O) values occurring in two main steps that reflect the temperature and 18O of seawater. Existing benthic Mg/Ca paleotemperature records do not display a cooling across the transition, possibly reflecting a saturation state effect on benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios at deep-water sites. Here we present data from exceptionally well preserved foraminifera deposited well above the calcite compensation depth that provide the first proxy evidence for an 2.5 °C ocean cooling associated with the ice growth. This permits interpretation of E-O 18O records without invoking Northern Hemisphere continental-scale ice.


The antigen binding to the B cell receptor (BCR) induces a rise in cytoplasmic Ca2+ and initiates cell responses such as apoptosis, proliferation, and differentiation in B lymphocytes. We previously showed that the inhibition of mitochondrial Na+-Ca2+ exchange (NCXm) by 7-chloro-5- (2-chlorophenyl)-1,5-dihydro-4,1-benzothiazepin-2(3H)-one [CGP-37157] dose-dependently reduced BCR-mediated rise in cytoplasmic Ca2+ in DT40 B lymphocytes. However, the effect of CGP-37157 on BCR-mediated apoptosis is not yet fully understood. Here, we studied the effect of NCXm inhibition on BCR-mediated apoptosis in DT40 B lymphocytes. Apoptotic cells (Annexin V+ and PI − ) were increased by the BCR-stimulation while the treatment of cells with 20-μM CGP-37157 attenuated the apoptosis induction. On the other hand, 24-hr treatments with 0.2 − 20 μM CGP- 37157 without the BCR stimulation did not affect the apoptotic-cell population. In the NCLX (a gene encoding NCXm) knockout cells, although the apoptotic cells were increased in the control, the appearance of late apoptotic cells (Annexin V+ and PI+) was decreased by BCR stimulation when compared to the wild-type cells. Our findings suggest that the inhibition of NCXm attenuates BCR-mediated apoptosis in DT40 B lymphocytes.


We examine how different forms of co-action give rise to feelings of solidarity. We propose that (a) coordinated action elicits a sense of solidarity, and (b) the process through which such solidarity emerges differs for different forms of co-action. We suggest that whether solidarity within groups emerges from uniform action (e.g. synchronizing, as when people speak in unison) or from more complementary forms of action (e.g. alternating, when speaking in turns) has important consequences for the emergent position of individuals within the group. Uniform action relies on commonality, leaving little scope for individuality. In complementary action each individual makes a distinctive contribution to the group, thereby increasing a sense of personal value to the group, which should contribute to the emergence of solidarity. The predictions receive support from five studies, in which we study groups in laboratory and field settings. Results show that both complementary and uniform co-action increase a sense of solidarity compared to control conditions. However, in the complementary action condition, but not in the uniform action (or synchrony) condition, the effect on feelings of solidarity is mediated by a sense of personal value to the group.


Even today much time is lost in bringing effective help when an accident with a truck carrying dangerous goods occurs. The location of the accident is often not well described by the people reporting it. Often it is difficult to determine what sort of freight a lorry is carrying, for example when the vehicle is burning, and sometimes the fire brigade does not bring the appropriate extinguishing equipment for the first help approach. Now an emergency location system is under development which will remove all these disadvantages. For immediate help on car accidents, an automatic alert message is transferred from the crashed vehicle via the emergency call centre to the fire brigade, the police station or the headquarters of an ambulance. The alert is initiated by a crash sensor within the car or the truck. The data channel between vehicle and base can be a radio link or, for longer distances, a mobile telephone connection using CNET or GSM. AS help is faster and more effective with this system, environmental damage caused by dangerous goods can be reduced. In Stuttgart the mobile part of the DGPS-based emergency location system has been integrated in several vehicles. The full system is being tested within a field trial of a pilot project called STORM (Stuttgart Transport Operation by Regional Management), which is part of a programme of the European Community. The results of these tests are summarized in this paper. The integration of the system into fleet management applications is also considered.


Have you wondered why coaches are often the first people athletes turn to, both when they are performing poorly and when they are winning? It is because the coach-athlete relationship is the most important relationship developed in sport. Athletes spend more time with their coaches than with any other people in their lives generally. They look up to their coaches and rely on them for technical, tactical, and personal advice. Gold medal-winning Olympic athletes like Wayde van Niekerk, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, Laura Muir, and LeBron James have said that their coaches are the reason for their success. In this article, we will discuss what makes a successful coach-athlete relationship, describe the impact of the coach-athlete relationship on an athlete's success, and provide tips that you and your coaches can use to develop a good working partnership.


LHCb is one of the four major experiments under completion at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Monitoring the quality of the acquired data is important, because it allows the verification of the detector performance. Anomalies, such as missing values or unexpected distributions can be indicators of a malfunctioning detector, resulting in poor data quality. Spotting faulty or ageing components can be either done visually using instruments, such as the LHCb Histogram Presenter, or with the help of automated tools. In order to assist detector experts in handling the vast monitoring information resulting from the sheer size of the detector, we propose a graph based clustering tool combined with machine learning algorithm and demonstrate its use by processing histograms representing 2D hitmaps events. We prove the concept by detecting ion feedback events in the LHCb experiment's RICH subdetector.


Tensile tests were carried out on SUS304 Stainless steel single crystals, whose respective tensile axes were parallel to [001], [111] and 0.5 in Schmid factor, under cathodic charging in 0.5kmol/m3 H2SO4 solution with a small amount of NaAsO2 at room temperature, and the characterristics of hydrogen embrittlement of this material in tension were evaluated from the nominal stress-strain curve.The susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement appeared prominently in the elongation and fracture morphology. The elongation decreased with increasing current density and the resulting fracture surface morphology changed from ductile to cleavage manner. The cracks produced by hydrogen initiated at the deformation bands and propagated perpendicular to the tensile axis, then connected each other and fractured.The orientation dependence of hydrogen embrittlement was recognized on the fracture morphology when the current density was between 4 to 10A/m2. The morphology of fracture surface under the present test condition was dependent on both amount of martensite induced by deformation and the concentration of hydrogen.


Local drainage analyses have been performed for the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants during an extreme storm having an approximate 10,000-yr recurrence interval. This review discusses the methods utilized to accomplish the analyses in accordance with US Department of Energy (DOE) design and evaluation guidelines, and summarizes trends, results, generalizations, and uncertainties applicable to other DOE facilities. Results indicate that some culverts may be undersized, and that the storm sewer system cannot drain the influx of precipitation from the base of buildings. Roofs have not been designed to sustain ponding when the primary drainage system is clogged. Some underground tunnels, building entrances, and ground level air intakes may require waterproofing.


A no‐significant‐risk‐level of 20 mg day–1 was derived for tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Uterine tumors (adenomas, adenocarcinomas, and malignant mixed Müllerian) observed in female Wistar Han rats from a National Toxicology Program 2‐year cancer bioassay were identified as the critical effect. Studies suggest that TBBPA is acting through a non‐mutagenic mode of action. Thus, the most appropriate approach to derivation of a cancer risk value based on US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines is a threshold approach, akin to a cancer safe dose (RfDcancer). Using the National Toxicology Program data, we utilized Benchmark dose software to derive a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL10) as the point of departure (POD) of 103 mg kg–1 day–1. The POD was adjusted to a human equivalent dose of 25.6 mg kg–1 day–1 using allometric scaling. We applied a composite adjustment factor of 100 to the POD to derive an RfDcancer of 0.26 mg kg–1 day–1. Based on a human body weight of 70 kg, the RfDcancer was adjusted to a no‐significant‐risk‐level of 20 mg day–1. This was compared to other available non‐cancer and cancer risk values, and aligns well with our understanding of the underlying biology based on the toxicology data. Overall, the weight of evidence from animal studies indicates that TBBPA has low toxicity and suggests that high doses over long exposure durations are needed to induce uterine tumor formation. Future research needs include a thorough and detailed vetting of the proposed adverse outcome pathway, including further support for key events leading to uterine tumor formation and a quantitative weight of evidence analysis.


We report on magnetization, sound-velocity, and magnetocaloric-effect measurements of the Ising-like spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic chain system BaCo_{2}V_{2}O_{8} as a function of temperature down to 1.3 K and an applied transverse magnetic field up to 60 T. While across the Néel temperature of T_{N}∼5  K anomalies in magnetization and sound velocity confirm the antiferromagnetic ordering transition, at the lowest temperature the field-dependent measurements reveal a sharp softening of sound velocity v(B) and a clear minimum of temperature T(B) at B_{⊥}^{c,3D}=21.4  T, indicating the suppression of the antiferromagnetic order. At higher fields, the T(B) curve shows a broad minimum at B_{⊥}^{c}=40  T, accompanied by a broad minimum in the sound velocity and a saturationlike magnetization. These features signal a quantum phase transition, which is further characterized by the divergent behavior of the Grüneisen parameter Γ_{B}∝(B-B_{⊥}^{c})^{-1}. By contrast, around the critical field, the Grüneisen parameter converges as temperature decreases, pointing to a quantum critical point of the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model.


Chromatin structure and function are dynamically regulated in stem cells of the brain, which serve as an important paradigm for understanding the regulatory mechanisms that transduce physiological and pathophysiological signals to the stem cell genome. In the adult vertebrate brain, the production of newborn neurons from stem cells (neurogenesis) takes place in discrete proliferation zones (niches), such as the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle and the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (Gage 2000). A variety of signals, ranging from excitation due to locally released neurotransmitters to systemic factors or drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier, converge upon clusters of neuronal stem/progenitor cells (NSCs) residing in these niches, which are intimately associated with the cerebral microvasculature. Balanced control of self-renewal, differentiation, and survival of NSCs produces new neurons and glial cells necessary for functional homeostasis of the brain and also has an important role in brain function such as memory and learning. Moreover, as potential cancer stem cells, NSCs are suspected to be the root of brain malignancies such as glioblastoma multiforme. To become neurons, NSCs require coordinated changes in the pattern of gene expression, primarily regulated at the level of gene transcription. Epigenetic chromatin remodeling has emerged as a fundamental higher-order mechanism for fine-tuning and coordinating gene expression during neurogenesis. Important aspects of brain function such as synaptic plasticity are also governed by chromatin-remodeling enzymes, cell-type-specific transcriptional regulators, and small regulatory noncoding RNAs. Thus, signaling to the genome through diverse epigenetic regulatory mechanisms...


Seventy-two Jatropha curcas clonal accessions, collected from different parts of India, were grown in randomized block design and evaluated for 13 characters. These showed significant differences in growth, yield and seed characteristics, except for number of primary branches per plant. The accessions AFRI-35, AFRI-52 and AFRI-56 showed above mean value for 12 growth, fruit and seed yield characters except for number of primary branches, seed width and seed thickness. Accessions AFRI-12, AFRI-20, AFRI-21 and AFRI-39 showed above mean value for 11 traits. All the growth traits except for number of primary branches were positively correlated with fruit and seed yield. The magnitude of genotypic correlation coefficient (r g ) was higher than their corresponding phenotypic coefficient of correlations (r p ) for almost all the growth and yield characters, indicating the strong genetic linkage among all the characters. Kernel oil percentage was positively correlated with 20-seed weight and seed/kernel ratio. Seed/kernel ratio and oil percentage were negatively and non-significantly correlated with seed length and width. Principal component analysis revealed that plant height, collar diameter, number of secondary branches, crown diameter, fruit yield, seed yield, 20-seed weight, seed length, seed width, seed thickness, S/K ratio and oil percentage could be used as characters to distinguish the germplasm entries. K -means clustering revealed that trees from different geographic regions were grouped together in a cluster as well as trees from the same geographical area were placed in different clusters, suggesting that geographical diversity did not go hand in hand with genetic diversity. In addition, clustering identified promising accessions with favourable traits for future establishment of elite Seedling Seed Orchard (SSO) and Clonal Seed Orchard (CSO) for varietal and hybridization programmes.


The present concern that exists in the economy on account of the high level of debt facing non-financial companies in Spain also exists in the fish and seafood processing industry, particularly to the extent that it might affect the fisheries sector as a whole. Given that Spain has generated an important processing sector and has become the main producer of canned fish and seafood in the EU, it is undoubtedly a pertinent case of reference to analyse this problem.  Along these lines, this study specifically looks at the economic structure and financial viability of the canning industry in Spain's largest area of production (Galicia), analysing the possible interrelationships that may exist between debt levels and the business structure in this sector of the economy. Furthermore, the study is carried out in a scenario of increased demand and of risks associated with international competition, which makes the implementation of competitive strategies to guarantee the future of this activity recommendable. The results obtained show the existence of a close relationship between the size of the companies and the debt level.


. The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the influence of leadership style, work motivation and organizational culture on PG Employee Performance. Asembagus. The research method used is exploratory research, where variables are measured by a Likert scale. The data collection method was carried out by interview (interview), with a questionnaire and documentary study. The population in this study were all PG employees. Asembagus as many as 215 people. Withdrawal of the number of samples with the Slovin formula 68 people. Data processing using SPSS software, with descriptive analysis and hypothesis testing multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that: (1) partially the leadership style variable affects the performance of PG employees. Asembagus (2) partially work motivation variables affect employee performance at PG. Asembagus; (3) partially organizational culture variables affect employee performance at PG. Asembagus; (4) Simultaneously there is a positive and significant influence between the variables of leadership style, work motivation and organizational culture on employee performance at PG. Asembagus.


Warfarin, a coumarin vitamin K antagonist, is the most widely prescribed anticoagulant agent for the control and prevention of atrial fibrillation-related thrombus formation, stroke, and arterial and venous thrombembolism (Hirsh J et al., 1998). The recommend warfarin therapy consists of the lowest dose required to maintain the target international normalized ratio (INR) because of the drug's narrow therapeutic window. However, there can be a 20fold difference in the dose required by patients to achieve this target INR. It is well known that cytochrome P450 (CYP), predominantly CYP2C9, activity is an important source of variability (Kaminsky LS and Zhang ZY, 1997) . Additionally, Rieder et al. (2005) have reported that an effect of the vitamin K epooxide reductase complex subunit 1 gene (VKORC1) has an important role on dose requirement. However, Takahashi et al. (2006) shows that Caucasians and African-Americans have high frequencies of VKORC1 and CYP2C9 genotypes, which lead to either reduced metabolic activity or attenuated sensitivity to warfarin, whereas only about 20% of the Japanese population possesses these genotypes. Therefore, further study of sources of variability in warfarin dose requirements among Japanese patients is warranted.


This paper proposes a non-linear distortion noise power control method with bandwidth control for multiple frequency band transmission which simultaneously uses plural frequency bands in wireless communication systems. The control method employs clipping and filtering, and generates out-of-band noise reduction signals using a part of used signal bands to reduce harmful interference in a primary existing system which shares frequency bands with the multi-band system. The improvement of Signalto- Noise Ratios (SNRs) in the bands used by the primary system is evaluated by computer simulations. The simulation results show that the proposed method at the band use rate of 50 % can improve them by 15 dB at the receiving power ratio of -30 dB to the spectrum sharing multi-band system.


[1] With the U.S. federal deficit on target to hit $1.5 trillion this year, President Barack Obama's proposed federal budget of $3.73 trillion for fiscal year (FY) 2012, which begins on 1 October, has been greeted with mixed reviews since its release on 14 February. The proposal, which calls for a 5-year overall freeze on discretionary spending outside of security, generally is favorable for science and science agencies—particularly the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) laboratories. However, some other agencies and bureaus, including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), do not fare as well. A number of Republicans in Congress have panned the budget. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chair of the House of Representatives Committee on the Budget, said the president "has failed to tackle the urgent fiscal and economic threats before us." Also, with the FY 2011 budget never having been enacted, House Committee on Appropriations chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) introduced a continuing resolution (H.R. 1) on 11 February that would fund the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year at a level $100 billion below the administration's request for this year.


Blőndal examines the key institutional features in the reform of public expenditure management systems in OECD countries. He notes that the countries which are experiencing the best fiscal outcomes are generally those that have more successfully modernized their budget processes. The paper identifies the most relevant aspects for the control of public expenditure: the use of medium-term frameworks, prudent economic assumptions and top-down budgeting techniques; the relaxation of central input controls; the focus on results; the emphasis on budgetary transparency and the introduction of modern financial management practices concerning, inter alia, accruals, capital charges, carry-overs of unused appropriations and interest-bearing accounts. The paper examines the benefits and the problematic aspects of each of these factors and stresses that they must be taken as a package.


Great efforts and progress have been made in terms of noise protection measures in both urban, suburban and rural environments. Local or regional urban planning guidelines and anti-noise-manuals provide experienced and practical advice to reduce noise, in order to provide a better quality of life. Most of the anticipated solutions such as noise-protection-walls, fences, planted mounds etc. will address issues caused by land traffic. However, due to their nature, they fail to respond to "airborne" noise immission. In addition, there is a common public misconception that sound should be interpreted as noise ie. as a waste to get rid of, instead of critically identifying sound and sound clusters as a potential and as a resource to be integrated. The concept of the sound-absorbing city applies the same principles of sound reflection and sound absorption, as applied to an architectural space, in an urban space. It also investigates the possibility of combining unwanted sound, such as air traffic noise with wanted sound, such as nature and community sound. The paper discusses the concept of the sound-absorbing city, its potentials and its apparent limits, with regard to new settlements and existing agglomerations around airports.


A fundamental property of electrostatic potentials is their additivity. This study demonstrates that the electrostatic potential of a negatively charged, cation-substituted phyllosilicate layer can be represented as the sum of two potentials. Viewing cation substitution as a defect, one potential is derived from the atoms in a charge-neutral, unsubstituted layer such as pyrophyllite or talc. The "neutral-layer" potential rapidly decays to zero with distance from the layer and is determined primarily by the atoms in the first two atomic planes parallel to the (001) surface, i.e., the basal oxygens and tetrahedral cations. The second component, characterized as a "defect" potential, is a long-range potential derived from cation-substitution. The model used to compute the electrostatic potentials, a two-dimensional Ewald lattice sum, represents the atoms of a single phyllosilicate layer as point charges.


We explored 15 HIV-positive substance users' experiences with health care alongside theperspectives of 14 health professionals. Substance users with HIV reported positive and negative experiences.Positive experiences included equal treatment, receiving social support and extra care, and good continuityof care. Negative experiences included being met with fear and apprehension, excessive or differentialprecautions, unnecessary referrals, outright care refusal, confidentiality breaches, and poor care provision.Health professionals reported limited experience caring for substance users with HIV. Most spoke generallyabout substance users, claiming that they can be difficult clients who are demanding, impatient,unpredictable, and untrustworthy. Also, health professionals indicated that substance users can be shoppersin search of unnecessary prescriptions or avoiders of health care. Efforts to improve interactions shouldencourage positive contact, and should focus on combating attributions of personal responsibility, creatingan awareness of behaviors that are stigmatizing, and improving knowledge of occupational risks for HIV.


Background Drivers for introducing Multiprofessional simulation in education include changes in junior doctor's hours,1 endorsement by the NPSA,2 CMO,3 and need to reduce medical error4. The use of simulation across different specialties allows for acquisition of skills and team-work training in a realistic safe clinical environment. The question is whether multi professional simulation training can be demonstrated as an evidence based cost-effective education intervention to improve clinical outcomes. Methodology An intervention study assessing the potential impact of Multiprofessional simulation on certain neonatal outcomes has been performed over a 4 year period. The MPROvE programme is a Multiprofessional curriculum mapped modular programme (neonatal nurses, doctors and nurse practitioners) categorised into neonatal airway, access, respiratory and preterm care, surgical, and cardiac care modules. Areas of high risk (preterm golden hour management, accidental extubation and vascular access) have been incorporated into the programme to evaluate if deliberate multiprofessional practice can positively impact these areas. These areas are covered at the beginning of each training cycle. Results Total of 5 cycles (45 training sessions) have been delivered over 4 years. Incidence of hypothermia from 2010 to 2014 in neonates under 32 weeks has significantly improved annually (14.2%; 4.3%; 3.2%; 0.9% p = 0.0001). The incidence of UVC (umbilical venous catheter) extravasation has been reduced by 50% (4.5% vs 2.2% p = 0.1) during the same period. Serious complications related to UVC extravasation (Death, Ascites, and Intracranial haemorrhage) have been reduced from 3.1% to 0% (p = 0.03). We have done cost analysis keeping these improvements in context. Conclusions This programme demonstrates that deliberate multiprofessional simulation can improve patient outcomes. Along with improving patient outcomes, we present cost-effectiveness of the programme to maintain such a model. It serves as an example for provision of multiprofessional curriculum mapped educational intervention which is reproducible, sustainable and improves quality of care. References Templeton J. A Review of the Impact of European Working Time Directive on the Quality of Training. England, Med Educ 2010 National Patient Safety Agency. Review of patient safety for children and young people (June2009). NPSA Website http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=60227&type=full&servicetype=Attachment. Accessed October 13, 2012 Donaldson L. Safer medical practice: machines, manikins and polo mints, 150 Years of the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer: On the State of the Public Health 2008. Department of Health, 2009, pp49–55 Kohn LT, Donaldson MS, Corrigan JM. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1999


The aim of this study is to obtain an automated medical diagnosis-support system about epilepsy by classifying EEG signal epochs as ictal, inter-ictal and normal. EEG signals were analyzed in their sub-bands obtained via discrete wavelet transform. Linear and non-linear methods are used for extracting features of normal, ictal and inter-ictal states. Support vector machine classification is realized by using time domain features which are autoregressive coefficients and linear prediction error energy; and information theory based features which are Shannon entropy and approximate entropy. In order to improve accuracy, linear and non-linear features are combined and then SVM trained by these features. By the proposed method, 99.0%, 96.0%, 100% accuracy, sensitivity and specificity are obtained for epileptic and non-epileptic classification, while accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 98.2%, 95.0 and 99.0% are obtained for normal, ictal, and inter-ictal activity classification, respectively.


Abstract Currently, fish helminth parasites, especially cestodes and acanthocephalans, are regarded as sentinel organisms to elucidate metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Here, 34 specimens of the fish Siganus rivulatus were collected in the Red Sea, from a seriously polluted, small lagoon named Sharm-Elmaya Bay, at Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt; 22 (64.7%) were infected by Sclerocollum saudii (Acanthocephala: Cavisomidae). Thus, 22 natural infrapopulations (26–245 individuals) of this parasite were collected from infected fish. Samples of water and sediments from the bay, samples of muscle, intestine and liver from each fish, and samples from the parasite were taken for analysis of heavy metals (cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb)). Both Cd and Pb concentrations in sediments were higher than those in water. The concentration of these metals were significantly higher in tissues (intestine, liver and muscle) of non-infected fish than those in infected fish, with Pb concentrations consistently higher than those of Cd, and both were drastically decreased in the order: liver > intestine > muscle. Metal concentrations in this acanthocephalan were much higher than those in its fish host. There were strong negative relationships between metal concentrations in tissues (intestine, liver and muscle) of infected fish and infrapopulation size, and between metal concentrations in the acanthocephalan and its infrapopulation size. These relationships strongly suggest competition for these metals between the fish host and its acanthocephalan parasite, and intraspecific competition among acanthocephalan individuals for available metals in the fish intestine. Bioconcentration factors were relatively high, since the mean Cd concentration in S. saudii was 239, 68 and 329 times higher than those in intestine, liver and muscle tissues, respectively, of its fish host. Also, mean Pb concentration was 55, 13 and 289 times higher than those in these tissues, respectively. The host–parasite system described here seems to be promising for biomonitoring of metal pollution in the Red Sea.


Famous features such as "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death", "Johnny Allegro", "My Forbidden Past", "His Kind of Woman", "The Big Carnival", and "After the Thin Man" are examined, plus the "Bulldog Drummond" series, and a number of serials including "The Clutching Hand", "Chick Carter, Detective", "Panther Girl of the Congo", "Holt of the Secret Service" and "The Last of the Mohicans". Two bonus features are monographs on Robert Siodmak (of "Cobra Woman", "The Phantom Lady", "The Spiral Staircase", etc.) and Otto Preminger, who made "Laura", "Fallen Angel", "Whirlpool", "Where the Sidewalk Ends", "The 13th Letter" and "Angel Face".


Introduction:Sarcoidosis is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disorder that is characterized by the formation of noncaseating granulomas. Patients may present with cranial nerve palsy, paresthesia, paresis, pyramidal signs, progressive cognitive decline, urinary retention, seizures, or hypothalamic-pituitary syndrome. Although the diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis can be challenging, neurological manifestations of sarcoidosis occur more frequently than previously described. Case Report:A 23-year-old African American man presented to our emergency department with diplopia, which was worsened on left horizontal gaze. On the day of admission, he had a witnessed seizure. Laboratory studies were significant only for mild leukopenia and erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 17 mm/h. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed diffuse thickening and enhancement of the dura, mild mass effect, and soft tissue enhancement through the foramen rotundum and left orbital apex. The patient was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone and discharged on 60 mg oral prednisone daily followed by a taper over a 2-month period. Conclusions:Our case demonstrates that mild neurological deficits can be the initial presentation of neurosarcoidosis in patients with undiagnosed or proven sarcoidosis.


In a double-blind study involving 172 patients, the author investigated the effect of sulfhydryl-containing agents (cysteine and methylmethionine sulfonium chloride [MMSC]) on hematemesis resulting from erosive gastritis induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The 56 patients who received cysteine (200 mg orally four times a day) and the 59 patients who received MMSC (500 mg orally four times a day) were significantly (p < 0.01) more hemodynamically stable, with no rebleeding, than the 57 patients who made up a control group. Endoscopy carried out 48 hours after admission demonstrated that gastric erosions were still present in a significantly (p < 0.01) higher number of patients in the control group (20 [35%]) than in patients receiving cysteine (6 [11%]) and in patients receiving MMSC (7 [12%]). Eighteen patients (32%) in the control group required blood transfusion because of continued bleeding or rebleeding compared with only 3 patients (5%) receiving cysteine and 2 patients (3%) receiving MMSC (p < 0.01). Emergency surgery was necessary in 13 patients (23%) in the control group and in 1 patient (2%) in the group receiving cysteine who had rebleeding. Four patients in the control group died postoperatively. The results show that sulfhydryl-containing agents stimulate the healing of erosive gastritis induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and protect against the complications of bleeding produced by the gastritis.


This chapter introduces statistical tools to extract geologically meaningful information from fission-track (FT) data using both the external detector and LA-ICP-MS methods. The spontaneous fission of U is a Poisson process resulting in large single-grain age uncertainties. To overcome this imprecision, it is nearly always necessary to analyse multiple grains per sample. The degree to which the analytical uncertainties can explain the observed scatter of the single-grain data can be visually assessed on a radial plot and objectively quantified by a chi-square test. For sufficiently low values of the chi-square statistic (or sufficiently high p values), the pooled age of all the grains gives a suitable description of the underlying 'true' age population. Samples may fail the chi-square test for several reasons. A first possibility is that the true age population does not consist of a single discrete age component, but is characterised by a continuous range of ages. In this case, a 'random effects' model can constrain the true age distribution using two parameters: the 'central age' and the '(over)dispersion'. A second reason why FT data sets might fail the chi-square test is if they are underlain by multimodal age distributions. Such distributions may consist of discrete age components, continuous age distributions, or a combination of the two. Formalised statistical tests such as chi-square can be useful in preventing overfitting of relatively small data sets. However, they should be used with caution when applied to large data sets (including length measurements) which generate sufficient statistical 'power' to reject any simple yet geologically plausible hypothesis. 6.


This article is the third part of a series designed as a precursor of the forthcoming catalogue Bibliotheca Homiletica Balcano-Slavica. The series presents hitherto undescribed, unknown, or little known codices, all of which need some additional clarification of the information related to them. The present article introduces the hitherto undescribed Codex N 390 from the collection of the Hilandar Monastery in Mount Athos. The aim is to provide a complete description of the content of the manuscript, and also to give the basic and most important information about every one of the works included. Thе detailed description of the manuscript is of great importance for the completion of the catalogue Bibliotheca Homiletica Balcano-Slavica, and it will bring to the scholarly attention many valuable, unknown, or little known, mostly translated, works, enhancing our understanding of the reception of Byzantine rhetoric in the South Slavonic Medieval milieu.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the anesthetic management experiences of patients with Stanford A aortic dissection undergoing surgical treatment through moderate or deep hypothermia circulatory arrest (DHCA).

METHODS
From June 2008 to December 2011, a total of 77 patients undergoing surgical treatment of Stanford A aortic dissection was recruited.

RESULTS
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was established under general anesthesia in all patients. The procedures included moderate hypothermia (n = 51) and DHCA (n = 26). The total surgical duration was 152 - 600 (292 ± 91) min, CPB time 38 - 310 (128 ± 43) min and aortic cross-clamp time 31 - 169 (87 ± 26) min. The time of circulatory arrest under deep hypothermia was 20 - 113 (41 ± 19) min in 26 patients. Among 77 patients, there were 5 intraoperative and 7 postoperative fatalities. The remained 65 patients were discharged postoperatively and received a regular outpatient follow-up. None of them died or required reoperation.

CONCLUSION
Surgical treatment is appropriate and efficient for the patients with Stanford A aortic dissection. During surgery, the keys of preventing neurological complications are blood volume monitoring and blood protection.


We propose OntoGain, a method for ontology learning from multi-word concept terms extracted from plain text. OntoGain follows an ontology learning process defined by distinct processing layers. Building upon plain term extraction a concept hierarchy is formed by clustering the extracted concepts. The derived term taxonomy is then enriched with non-taxonomic relations. Several different stateof-the-art methods have been examined for implementing each layer. OntoGain is based upon multi-word term concepts, as multi-word or compound terms are vested with more solid and distinctive semantics than plain single word terms. We opted for a hierarchical clustering method and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) algorithm for building the term taxonomy. Furthermore an association rule algorithm is applied for revealing non-taxonomic relations. A method which tries to carry out the most appropriate generalization level between a relation's concepts is also implemented. To show proof of concept, a system prototype is implemented. The OntoGain allows transformation of the derived ontology into OWL using Jena Semantic Web Framework. OntoGain is applied on two separate data sources (a medical and computer corpus) and its results are compared with similar results obtained by Text2Onto, a state-of-the-art-ontology learning method. The analysis of the results indicates that OntoGain performs better than Text2Onto in terms of precision (extracts more correct concepts) while being more selective (extracts fewer but more reasonable concepts). http://jena.sourceforge.net/


Robust sensing and perception in adverse weather conditions remain one of the biggest challenges for realizing reliable autonomous vehicle mobility services. Prior work has established that rainfall rate is a useful measure for the adversity of atmospheric weather conditions. This work presents a probabilistic hierarchical Bayesian model that infers rainfall rate from automotive lidar point cloud sequences with high accuracy and reliability. The model is a hierarchical mixture of experts model, or a probabilistic decision tree, with gating and expert nodes consisting of variational logistic and linear regression models. Experimental data used to train and evaluate the model is collected in a large-scale rainfall experiment facility from both stationary and moving vehicle platforms. The results show prediction accuracy comparable to the measurement resolution of a disdrometer, and the soundness and usefulness of the uncertainty estimation. The model achieves RMSE 2.42mm/h after filtering out uncertain predictions. The error is comparable to the mean rainfall rate change of 3.5mm/h between measurements. Model parameter studies show how predictive performance changes with tree depth, sampling duration, and crop box dimension. A second experiment demonstrates the predictability of higher rainfall above 300mm/h using a different lidar sensor, demonstrating sensor independence.


A functional analysis was made of the verbal domain as it is defined by the test development process at Educational Testing Service. The thesis of the study is that the verbal domain consists of semantic relations that examinees must interpret. Test developers use a system of rules to sample stimulus materials from among infinite possibilities that elicit an interpretive response. Many of these rules are codified in a body of memoranda and corporate publications, and others are in different stages of formation, beginning in the use by individual test development professionals, and eventually becoming part of generally accepted practice. Because the process of test development is central to the formation of the verbal domain, a job analysis approach was used to examine how rules are employed to present the desired semantic relations to the examinees for their interpretation. This approach explains the process of delimiting the verbal domain through a comprehensive review of the uses of the rule system that defines when the items are functioning properly and when they are not. Test developers from two major divisions of ETS were observed and interviewed. They also rated the importance of each of the rules, suggested rules that they use in their work that were not listed, and delineated the professional activities for which these rules are most important. The study indicates that the rule system for sampling semantic relations is an evolving body, both for the individual test developer and for test development as an institution.


We examined the effects of fit between leader consideration and initiating structure needed and received on employees' work-related attitudes (i.e., trust in the supervisor, job satisfaction, and affective commitment to the organization). Consistent with predictions that derive from the person-environment fit research tradition, results from Study 1 suggested that deficient amounts of both leadership behaviors were associated with unfavorable attitudinal outcomes. However, while excess levels of consideration were associated with favorable attitudinal outcomes, excess levels of initiating structure were associated with unfavorable attitudes, and for both forms of leadership, higher levels of absolute fit were associated with more favorable outcomes. Results from Study 2 suggested that attitudes generated by the fit between leadership needed and received influence employees' organizational citizenship behavior as reported by their supervisors. The relationship between consideration needed and received and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior relating to individuals (OCBI) and organizational citizenship behavior relating to the organization itself (OCBO) was partially mediated by employees' trust in the supervisor, while the relationship between initiating structure needed and received and OCBI was fully mediated by trust in the supervisor, and for OCBO was partially mediated.


ABSTRACT:The article proposes that the root cause of liturgical difficulties today is a divorce between two ways of knowing: rational and intuitive. This is a question of epistemology that can be traced back to Enlightenment philosophy. While it is good to pay attention to symptoms of the problems of liturgical participation, this essay attempts to identify their causes. The goal, of course, is a reconciliation between these two parts of the soul, a union of two ways of knowing, and thus a healing of the liturgy of the Church.


The growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor-1 axis is responsible for glucose homeostasis. In the present study we assessed the expression levels of miRNA-124, miRNA-210 and miRNA-375 and immunoexpression of IGFBP-3 in relation to the concentrations of IGF-1 and glucose in athletes performing different types of effort. Sixty-six young male athletes (age 25.4±4.1 years) were divided into: group EN (33 male athletes; age 25.6±4.4 years) with endurance-type efforts (disciplines: triathlon, long distance running, cycling) and group ST (33 male athletes; age 25.2±3.9 years) with strength-type efforts (disciplines: weightlifting, body building, CrossFit). The control group consisted of 28 non-training men (age 29.1±4.7 years). Statistically significantly higher IGF-1 concentration and lower glucose concentration (P<0.05) in serum were observed in the group of athletes (vs. controls). Immunoexpression of IGFBP-3 was higher in athletes (vs. controls), and a higher value of immunoexpression was obtained in athlete group ST vs. group EN (P>0.05). Levels of expression of miRNA-210 and miRNA-375 were higher in athletes vs. controls (P>0.05). The obtained data confirmed the importance of the somatotropic axis in the regulation of metabolic adaptation to physical exercise. The detected variation in the concentrations and expression levels of the studied molecules involved in the somatotropic axis in athletes confirmed the role of the somatotropic axis in adaptation to physical effort. Statistically significant reduction of glucose concentration and the highest expression of IGF-1in serum in athletes suggest the anabolic effect of IGF-1 through insulin receptors on many tissues under the influence of moderate physical exercises (mainly during resistance training).


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

Background: DNA methylation due to tobacco smoking have been reported in studies of blood genomic DNA, indicating a possible role of methylation changes due to smoking in multiple adverse health outcomes. Since DNA methylation is known to be tissue-specific, we profiled methylation in normal human lung tissues and evaluated the association with cigarette smoking based on a large sample size.

Methods: We studied histologically normal lung tissues of 237 lung cancer patients (121 current cigarette smokers and 116 current nonsmokers) from the Environment And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology study. DNA methylation was assayed using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays and methylation for 338,456 autosomal probes remained after quality control filters. We examined the association of log-transformed methylation with current smoking status, as well as with quantitative measures of smoking, using linear regression models adjusting for covariates. We sought to replicate the findings in The Cancer Genome Atlas normal lung samples (12 current smokers and 50 nonsmokers).

Results: Eight CpG sites were significantly hypomethylated in lung tissues of current smokers after Bonferroni-correction (P<1.48×10-7). Of them, six were associated with smoking duration, pack-years and years from quitting smoking, and were replicated in TCGA samples (P<0.10), including cg17113147 (NXN), cg05575921 (AHRR), cg07992500 (CDC42EP3), cg14120703 (NOTCH1), cg11152412 (EDC3), and cg03224163 (HIPK2). These loci have not been reported in prior studies, except for cg05575921, which was shown to be hypomethylated in smokers in studies of blood DNA.

Conclusions: Our study in lung tissues shows that smoking is associated with alterations in DNA methylation in genes involved in tobacco smoking metabolism or cancer progression. These findings suggest that smoking-associated epigenetic changes may have an important role in lung tumorigenesis.

Citation Format: Wen-Qing Li, Jianxin Shi, William Wheeler, Neil Caporaso, Ite Laird-Offspringa, Maria Teresa Landi. Epigenome-wide association study of normal lung tissues identifies hypomethylation of multiple CpG sites associated with cigarette smoking. [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 286. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-286