Lawful Interception is a very basic method used by the law enforcement agency (LEA) all over the world for identifying criminal act and actors by monitoring telecommunication network. It plays an important role for the homeland security. As soon as the VoIP is introduced, people switches from traditional telephone system to VoIP due to higher speeds, low cost, support for mobility, and easy nature for encryption. But there are some issues such as misuse of intercepted data by the members of LEA, privacy concern of the individuals, cost, legal liabilities, etc. On the other hand, VoIP has become a popular means of communication tool for the criminals and terrorists – as VoIP provides secure conversation by encrypting the messages transferred between two communication parties. Besides other difficulties for interception cause due to the architecture of the VoIP and use of smart devices – thus it is hard to intercept both the signaling and call contents [1]. This paper presents a Trusted Third Party (TTP) or Key Escrow Agent based Lawful Interception (LI) model that would provide lawful interception over VoIP while ensuring the individual privacy.


This study aimed to analyze the factors that influence underpricing on IPO. Variables used in this research is Underwriter Reputation (RU), Auditor Reputation (RA), Company Age (AGE), firm size (SIZE), Financial Leverage (FL), Return on Equity (ROE) and Total Asset Turnover (TATO) , This study uses a quantitative approach with a model of multiple linear regression analysis. This study used a sample of companies that conduct an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the period 2004 to 2014 that are listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The number of observations used in this study were 204 observations. The results showed that the companies doing IPOs in the period 2004-2014, the variable underwriter reputation, auditor reputation, and return on equity significantly negative effect on underpricing, while variable firm age, firm size, financial leverage, and total asset turnover negative not significantly to underpricing


With the rapid development of the cloud computing technology, it has matured enough for a lot of individuals and organizations to move their work into the cloud. Correspondingly, a variety of cloud services are emerging. It is a key issue to assess the cloud services in order to help the cloud users select the most suitable cloud service and the cloud providers offer this service with the highest quality. The criteria parameters defining the cloud services are complex which lead to cloud service deviation. In this paper, we propose an assessment method of parameters importance in cloud services using rough set theory. The method can effectively compute the importance of cloud services parameters and sort them. On the one hand, the calculation can be used as the credible reference when users choose their appropriate cloud services. On the other hand, it can help cloud service providers to meet user requirements and enhance the user experience. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the method and its relevance in the cloud context.


Software is an integrated part of new features within the automotive sector, car manufacturers, the Hersteller Initiative Software (HIS) consortium defined metrics to determine software quality. Yet, problems with assigning metrics to quality attributes often occur in practice. The specified boundary values lead to discussions between contractors and clients as different standards and metric sets are used. This paper studies metrics used in the automotive sector and the quality attributes they address. The HIS, ISO/IEC 25010:2011, and ISO/IEC 26262:2018 are utilized to draw a big picture illustrating (i) which metrics and boundary values are reported in literature, (ii) how the metrics match the standards, (iii) which quality attributes are addressed, and (iv) how the metrics are supported by tools. Our findings from analyzing 38 papers include a catalog of 112 metrics of which 17 define boundary values and 48 are supported by tools. Most of the metrics are concerned with source code, are generic, and not specifically designed for automotive software development. We conclude that many metrics exist, but a clear definition of the metrics' context, notably regarding the construction of flexible and efficient measurement suites, is missing.


A paradigm shift is under way in the Alzheimer's field. A view of Alzheimer's disease, AD, prevailing until now, the old paradigm, maintains that it is initiated and driven by the overproduction and extracellular accumulation of beta-amyloid, Aβ; a peptide assumed to be derived, both in health and disease, solely by proteolysis of its large precursor, βAPP. In AD, according to this view, Aβ overproduction-associated neurodegeneration begins early, accumulates throughout the lifespan, and manifests symptomatically late in life. A number of drugs, designed within the framework of exceptionality of the βAPP proteolytic/secretory pathway in Aβ production in Alzheimer's disease, achieved spectacular successes in treatment, even the reversal, of AD symptoms in animal models. Without exception, they all exhibited equally spectacular failures in human clinical trials. This paradigm provides few causes for optimism with regard to prevention and treatment of AD. In its context, the disease is considered untreatable in the symptomatic phase; even prodromal cases are assumed too advanced for treatment because Aβ-triggered damages have been accumulating for preceding decades, presumably starting in the early twenties and, to be effective, this is when therapeutic intervention should commence and continue for life. The new paradigm does not dispute the seminal role of Aβ in AD but posits that beta-amyloid produced in the βAPP proteolytic/secretory pathway causes AD in humans no more than it does in non-human mammals that share this pathway with humans, accumulate Aβ as they age, but do not develop the disease. Alzheimer's disease, according to this outlook, is driven by the AD-specific pathway of Aβ production, independent of βAPP and absent in animals. Its activation, late in life, occurs through accumulation, via both cellular uptake of secreted Aβ and neuronal retention of a fraction of beta-amyloid produced in the βAPP proteolytic pathway, of intraneuronal Aβ, which triggers mitochondrial dysfunction. Cellular stresses associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, or, probably, the integrated stress response, ISR, elicited by it, activate an AD-specific Aβ production pathway. In it, every conventionally produced βAPP mRNA molecule potentially serves repeatedly as a template for production of severely 5'-truncated mRNA encoding C99 fragment of βAPP, the immediate precursor of Aβ that is processed in a non-secretory pathway, apparently in a neuron-specific manner. The resulting intraneuronally retained Aβ augments mitochondrial dysfunction, which, in turn, sustains the activity of the βAPP mRNA amplification pathway. These self-propagating Aβ overproduction/mitochondrial dysfunction mutual feedback cycles constitute the engine that drives AD and ultimately triggers neuronal death. In this paradigm, preventive treatment can be initiated any time prior to commencement of βAPP mRNA amplification. Moreover, there are good reasons to believe that with a drug blocking the amplification pathway, it would be possible not only to preempt the disease but also stop and reverse it even when early AD symptoms are already manifested. Thus, the new paradigm introduces a novel theory of Alzheimer's disease. It explains the observed discordances, determines defined therapeutic targets, provides blueprints for a new generation of conceptually distinct AD models and specifies design of a reporter for the mRNA amplification pathway. Most importantly, it offers detailed guidance and tangible hope for prevention of the disease and its treatment at the early symptomatic stages.


Abstract This paper aims to show that (i) there are two micro-models of tourism capitalism in Antalya (Turkey) and (ii) different trajectories of (re)scaling of state–business relations form an integral part of each model of tourism capitalism. The paper bridges two debates in the literature that generally are very isolated from each other, namely those on state (re)scaling and variety of capitalism. Based on written documents and in-depth interviews with representatives of tourism associations, an enclave-tourism capitalism is distinguished from a disorganized tourism capitalism. The former is characterized by (i) local tourism–infrastructure associations and corporate company associations founded by central state and strong relations with each other, (ii) administrative customization, (iii) a mixture of a dominant developmental and a business-corporatist state, (iv) downward and upward scaling managed by central state and (v) a partly compartmentalized and partly collaborative business system. Disorganized tourism capitalism is characterized by (i) an organic tourism development, (ii) local voluntary business associations dominated by big hotels, (iii) administrative uniformity, (iv) a mixture of an arm's length and a particularistic state, (v) a fragmented and project-based business system and (vi) downward scaling managed by big tourism businesses.


AIM
To construct a tricistronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon with double internal ribosome entry sites (IRESes) of only 22 nucleotides for each, substituting the encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) IRESes, which are most often used as the translation initiation element to form HCV replicons.

METHODS
The alternative 22-nucleotide IRES, RNA-binding motif protein 3 IRES (Rbm3 IRES), was used to form a tricistronic HCV replicon, to facilitate constructing HCV-harboring stable cell lines and successive antiviral screening using a luciferase marker. Briefly, two sequential Rbm3 IRESes were inserted into bicistronic pUC19-HCV plasmid, consequently forming a tricistronic HCV replicon (pHCV-rep-NeoR-hRluc), initiating the translation of humanized Renilla luciferase and HCV non-structural gene, along with HCV authentic IRES initiating the translation of neomycin resistance gene. The sH7 cell lines, in which the novel replicon RNA stably replicated, were constructed by neomycin and luciferase activity screening. The intracellular HCV replicon RNA, expression of inserted foreign genes and HCV non-structural gene, as well as response to anti-HCV agents, were measured in sH7 cells and cells transiently transfected with tricistronic replicon RNA.

RESULTS
The intracellular HCV replicon RNA and expression of inserted foreign genes and HCV non-structural gene in sH7 cells and cells transiently transfected with tricistronic replicon RNA were comparable to those in cells stably or transiently transfected with traditional bicistronic HCV replicons. The average relative light unit in pHCV-rep-NeoR-hRluc group was approximately 2-fold of those in the pUC19-HCV-hRLuc and Tri-JFH1 groups (1.049 × 10(8) ± 2.747 × 10(7) vs 5.368 × 10(7) ± 1.016 × 10(7), P < 0.05; 1.049 × 10(8) ± 2.747 × 10(7) vs 5.243 × 10(7) ± 1.194 × 10(7), P < 0.05), suggesting that the translation initiation efficiency of the first Rbm3 IRES in the two sequential IRESes was stronger than the HCV authentic IRES and EMCV IRES. The fold changes of 72 h/4 h relative light units in the pHCV-rep-NeoR-hRluc and pUC19-HCV-hRLuc groups were similar (159.619 ± 9.083 vs 163.536 ± 24.031, P = 0.7707), and were both higher than the fold change in the Tri-JFH1 group 159.619± 9.083 vs 140.811 ± 9.882, P < 0.05; 163.536 ± 24.031 vs 140.811 ± 9.882, P < 0.05), suggesting that the replication potency of the Rbm3 IRES tricistronic replicon matched the replication of bicistronic replicon and exceeded the potency of EMCV IRES replicon. Replication of tricistronic replicons was suppressed by ribavirin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, telaprevir and boceprevir. Interferon-alpha 2b could not block replication of the novel replicon RNA in sH7 cells. After interferon stimulation, MxA mRNA and protein levels were lower in sH7 than in parental cells.

CONCLUSION
Tricistronic HCV replicon with double Rbm3 IRESes could be applied to evaluate the replication inhibition efficacy of anti-HCV agents.


A massive outbreak of Chikungunya occurred in Bangladesh during the period of April-September, 2017 and over two million people were at risk of getting infected by the virus. A prospective cohort of viremic patients was constituted and analyzed to define the clinical, hematological and long-term aspects of this outbreak. A 35-day long comprehensive survey was conducted in two major, neighboring cities, Dhaka and Mymensingh. One-hundred and eighty-seven clinically proven Chikungunya cases were enrolled in the cross-sectional cohort study. Additionally, a smaller group of 48 Chikungunya patients was monitored for post-infection effects for 12 months. Clinical data revealed that a combination of fever and arthralgia (oligoarthralgia and/or polyarthralgia) was the cardinal hallmark (97.9% of cases) of the infection. Hematological analysis showed that, irrespective of age groups, hemoglobin level significantly decreased and erythrocyte sedimentation rate remarkably increased in Chikungunya confirmed patients. However, the majority of the patients had a normal range of whole WBC and platelet counts; RBC counts for mid aged (40 – 60 years) and senior (61+ years) patients (especially in the females) were beyond the reference values. The post-infection study revealed that children had an early recovery from the infection compared to the adults. Moreover, post-infection weakness, successive relapse of arthralgic pain and memory problems were the most significant aftereffects, which had an impact on daily activities of patients. This study represents a comprehensive overview of clinical and epidemiological features of the 2017 outbreak of Chikungunya in Bangladesh as well as its chronic outcomes till the 12th month. It provides insights into the natural history of this disease which may help to improve management of the Chikungunya patients. Author summery The clinical profile, epidemiology and the economic impacts during the acute phase of Chikungunya infection has been studied quite rigorously. However, studies regarding the hematological features and chronic consequences are very limited. In this study, a dataset of 187 clinically proven chikungunya patients were analyzed for the clinical and hematological features at acute phase of the infection. Additionally, the long-term consequences till month 12 after the infection were studied for a smaller group of 48 patients. Clinical data revealed that a combination of fever and joint pain (arthralgia) was the cardinal hallmark in the acute phase of the infection. Hematological analysis showed that, hemoglobin levels of the patients were significantly reduced and erythrocyte sedimentation rate increased remarkably. Also, RBC counts for mid-aged and older patients were beyond the reference values. The post-infection consequence study unveiled that children recovered better from the infection compared to the adults. Further, post-infection weakness, successive relapse of joint pain and memory problems were the most significant aftereffects. Overall, the infection had moderate to severe impact on daily activities of the respondents. This study provides insights into the clinical and hematological aspects of Chikungunya infection during the acute phase as well as describes an account for its chronic outcomes which puts forward to the knowledge for clinicians and epidemiologists regarding the infection diversity and to help improved patient management.


Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine (SPARC) is an extracellular matrix protein with diverse biologic functions. We have shown that SPARC is a scavenger chaperone that regulates matrix degradation, remodeling, and repair. We have also demonstrated that SPARC blocks angiogenesis and inhibits the growth of several cancers, including neuroblastoma. In this study we examined how extracellular chaperone SPARC affects neuroblastoma tumor progression. The chaperone properties of SPARC were characterized with cell biology methods and Surface Plasmon Resonance. Neuroblastoma cell lines derived from the high-risk tumors were treated with SPARC. The effect of SPARC on cancer cell metabolism was characterized using the Seahorse analyzer with and without inhibitors of glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidation. Standard cell culture techniques were used to assess the effect of SPARC-induced metabolic changes on neuroblastoma cell proliferation and survival. We demonstrate that SPARC functions as a chaperone, shuttling extracellular ligands between cellular and extracellular tissue compartments. We characterize physical and biological properties of SPARC-mediated ligand transport, and further demonstrate that as a chaperone, SPARC can significantly affect tissue physiology, to the degree of altering cell metabolism. We show that in addition to inhibition of neuroblastoma progression in vivo, SPARC-induced changes in cellular metabolism severely impair neuroblastoma growth and survival in vitro. This novel mechanism of metabolism regulation by an extracellular chaperone SPARC may lead to additional insights into the therapy of neuroblastoma. Citation Format: Alexandre Chlenski, Marija Dobratic, Helen R. Salwen, Mark Applebaum, Susan L. Cohn. Modulation of neuroblastoma metabolism by an extracellular chaperone SPARC. [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 3607. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3607


HY2B is now the latest altimetry mission that provides global nadir significant wave height (SWH) and sea surface wind speed. The validation and calibration of HY2B are carried out against National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) buoy observations from April 2019 to April 2020. In general, the HY2B altimeter measurements agree well with buoy observation, with scatter index of 9.4% for SWH, and 15.1% for wind speed. However, we observed a significant bias of 0.14 m for SWH and −0.42 m/s for wind speed. A deep learning technique is novelly applied for the calibration of HY2B SWH and wind speed. Deep neural network (DNN) is built and trained to correct SWH and wind speed by using input from parameters provided by the altimeter such as sigma0, sigma0 standard deviation (STD). The results based on DNN show a significant reduction of the bias, root mean square error (RMSE), and scatter index (SI) for both SWH and wind speed. Several DNN schemes based on different combination of input parameters have been examined in order to obtain the best model for the calibration. The analysis reveals that sigma0 STD is a key parameter for the calibration of HY2B SWH and wind speed.


Berk, A. & Gungor, C. (2019). Determination of factors affecting on dried beans production decisions in Turkey. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 25 (6), 1076–1082 In this study, it was examined the dried beans farms in 7 provinces which constitute 61% of total production of Turkey, and putting forwarded the factors affecting on socioeconomic characteristics of producers and farmers' production decisions. In the context of those fi ndings obtained, solution proposals for dried beans production were developed. According to results, average farm size investigated was 132 da and 25.3 da for dried beans area as well. Average yield of dried beans farms were calculated as 244.4 kg/da. The factors affecting on decision of farmers were founded as numbers of family member, fi nance, habit, age, and dried beans farming experience, family labor, and transportation and information source, respectively.


Bernard Charlot has thought in a different way about the role of practice and knowledge at school. He, in fact, through revisiting school achievements and not school failure opposes the current postures linked with the transmission of knowledge; for instance, those that consider the transmission as a "banking" capital or better yet as a finished product that reduces pedagogy to a simple technique of learning. From radically questioning what learning means, Bernard Charlot is forced to consider knowledge as a process with its own shapes. The student he presents can disappear in objectivation. Its schooling process is previewed from the sole angle of trajectory, meaning linear. But seen from the perspective of a construction, the schooling process turns devious in itself by integrating multiple senses, even contradictory or conflictive.


Introduction
Introduction: total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is considered as a reliable indicator of the antioxidant content of the diet and it is associated to a reduced risk of chronic disease. Objectives: to estimate the TAC related to the intake of fruits and vegetables in young adults from urban areas of Paraguay. Methods: a minimum of three 24-hour dietary recalls were recorded from to a random sample of 190 university students in Asunción-Paraguay, between 2012 and 2014, to determine the intake of fruits and vegetables, their TAC value and the contents of specific antioxidants, applying the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data bases. Results: the mean value of the total vegetable intake and its TAC value were 262 g/d and 3,093 oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), respectively, distributed as follows: 76.9 g/d from fruits (1,624 ORAC), 57.9 g/d from fruit juices (444 ORAC), 47.8 g/d from raw vegetables (314 ORAC), 75.1 g/d from cooked vegetables (604 ORAC) and 4.5 g/d from legumes (106 ORAC). The mean C-vitamin intake was 73.2 mg/d, and fl avonoids and carotenoids were present with 26.4 mg/d and 4,848 μg/d, respectively. Conclusions: the total fruit and vegetable intake, distributed by groups of foods, was low, considering the World Health Organization (WHO) fruit and vegetable recommendation. The TAC value related to vegetable intake was lower than those reported in other studies. The major contribution to both intake and antioxidants was provided by fruits, and the minor by legumes. Our results reveal the need to increase the vegetable intake above 400 g/d, including antioxidant-rich food sources.


In plagiarism detection (PD) systems, two important problems should be considered: the problem of retrieving candidate documents that are globally similar to a document q under investigation, and the problem of side-by-side comparison of q and its candidates to pinpoint plagiarized fragments in detail. In this article, the authors investigate the usage of structural information of scientific publications in both problems, and the consideration of citation evidence in the second problem. Three statistical measures namely Inverse Generic Class Frequency, Spread, and Depth are introduced to assign a degree of importance (i.e., weight) to structural components in scientific articles. A term-weighting scheme is adjusted to incorporate component-weight factors, which is used to improve the retrieval of potential sources of plagiarism. A plagiarism screening process is applied based on a measure of resemblance, in which component-weight factors are exploited to ignore less or nonsignificant plagiarism cases. Using the notion of citation evidence, parts with proper citation evidence are excluded, and remaining cases are suspected and used to calculate the similarity index. The authors compare their approach to two flat-based baselines, TF-IDF weighting with a Cosine coefficient, and shingling with a Jaccard coefficient. In both baselines, they use different comparison units with overlapping measures for plagiarism screening. They conducted extensive experiments using a dataset of 15,412 documents divided into 8,657 source publications and 6,755 suspicious queries, which included 18,147 plagiarism cases inserted automatically. Component-weight factors are assessed using precision, recall, and F-measure averaged over a 10-fold cross-validation and compared using the ANOVA statistical test. Results from structural-based candidate retrieval and plagiarism detection are evaluated statistically against the flat baselines using paired-t tests on 10-fold cross-validation runs, which demonstrate the efficacy achieved by the proposed framework. An empirical study on the system's response shows that structural information, unlike existing plagiarism detectors, helps to flag significant plagiarism cases, improve the similarity index, and provide human-like plagiarism screening results. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Eating disorders have emerged over the last decade as a serious health and social problem. The challenge in understanding the developmental processes for eating disorders is in moving past the strange and fascinating behaviour. The literature points to three constellations of factors as significant in the emergence of eating disorders. These are: socio-cultural norms and expectations, family composition and relationships, and personal characteristics. -- This study explores three women's experiences with the emergence and treatment of an eating disorder. The study examines, through the medium of in-depth personal histories, the life and treatment experiences of women who had been diagnosed as having anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or both. -- The data analysis attempts to bring together the collective wisdom of the existing literature and the information provided by the women in this study. There was a great deal of consistency between the participant's stories with respect to their obsessions and rituals related to body shape, weight, and control of eating. The analysis revealed that the eating disorder is symbolic of more deep-seated emotional problems. Family experiences and socio-cultural pressures towards thinness were also seen as significant factors. -- These issues are further analyzed to develop an understanding of the role of social work in the treatment of eating disorders. Consideration is given to the directions indicated for the development of early intervention strategies.


Helicobacter pylori is susceptible to many antibacterial drugs in vitro but has proved difficult to eradicate in vivo. The macrolide clarithromycin has good activity against H. pylori in vitro and has demonstrated the highest eradication rate for any antibacterial monotherapy in vivo. However, it is clear that antibacterial monotherapy is not a sufficiently effective treatment for patients with H. pylori infection. The suggestion that high intragastric acidity impairs the action of antibacterial drugs led to the evaluation of combination H. pylori eradication regimens including H+,K+-ATPase inhibitors and antibacterial drug(s) with or without bismuth compounds. Noncomparative studies evaluating the efficacy of dual therapy with clarithromycin plus omeprazole in patients with H. pylori infection have reported eradication rates of between 58 and 83% > or = 4-weeks after therapy. In comparative studies, clarithromycin plus omeprazole was at least as effective as amoxicillin plus omeprazole. However, direct comparisons have shown that eradication rates achieved by dual therapy are not as high as those achieved by triple therapy. Indeed, triple therapy with clarithromycin plus omeprazole in combination with amoxicillin or a nitroimidazole has achieved eradication rates of up to 100%. Although 14-day triple drug regimes were initially considered necessary for effective eradication, it now seems clear that 7-day regimes are equally effective. Factors known to influence response to H. pylori eradication therapy include bacterial resistance and patient compliance. A review of 4 studies evaluating the efficacy of dual eradication therapy with clarithromycin plus omeprazole reported an overall incidence of adverse events (patient or investigator reported, whether related to treatment or not) of 45%. The most common adverse event was taste disturbance (an adverse event commonly reported during the development of clarithromycin); nausea, headache, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain occurred less frequently. Although dual therapy might be expected to cause fewer adverse events than triple therapy this has not been the case in direct comparisons conducted to date. Thus, although clarithromycin plus omeprazole is associated with an H. pylori eradication rate of approximately 70%, 1 week of triple therapy with these 2 drugs together with amoxicillin or a nitroimidazole, which eradicates the organism in approximately 90% of cases, may represent optimal H. pylori eradication therapy.


Emerging medical devices are highly relying on embedded software that runs on the specific platform in real time. The development of embedded software is different from ordinary software development due to the hardware-software dependency. MDevSPICE® has been developed to provide guidance to support such development. To increase the flexibility of this framework agile practices have been introduced. This paper outlines the challenges for embedded medical device software development and the structure of MDevSPICE and suggests a suitable combination of agile practices that will help to add flexibility and address corresponding challenges of embedded medical device software development. Keywords—Agile practices, challenges, embedded software, MDevSPICE®, medical device.


Traditional supervised keyphrase extraction models depend on the features of labelled keyphrases while prevailing unsupervised models mainly rely on structure of the word graph, with candidate words as nodes and edges capturing the co-occurrence information between words. However, systematically integrating all these multidimensional heterogeneous information into a uni€ed model is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we focus on how to e'ectively exploit multidimensional information to improve the keyphrase extraction performance (MIKE). Speci€cally, we propose a random-walk parametric model, MIKE, that learns the latent representation for a candidate keyphrase that captures the mutual inƒuences among all information, and simultaneously optimizes the parameters and ranking scores of candidates in the word graph. We use the gradient-descent algorithm to optimize our model and show the comprehensive experiments with two publicly-available WWW and KDD datasets in Computer Science. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach signi€cantly outperforms the state-of-the-art graph-based keyphrase extraction approaches.


Background Polysaccharides, one of the main bioactive compounds in natural resources such as fungi, plants and algae, have attracted lots of attention in biomedical and functional food science due to their significant pharmaceutical activity. In this study, four extraction methods were compared regarding the production, physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of polysaccharides from Lepista sordida using hot water, an alkaline solution, a multiplex- enzyme method and an ultrasonic-assisted method. Methods Bioactive polysaccharides from L. sordida were extracted using hot water, an alkaline solution, a multiplex-enzyme method and an ultrasonic-assisted method. The anthrone-sulfuric acid method was applied to measure the crude polysaccharide content and Coomassie Brilliant Blue (CBB) G-250 staining was used to detect protein content. The scavenging effect of the hydrolysates on α, α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical was measured. Results Polysaccharides extracted using the multiplex-enzyme method had the highest DPPH scavenging efficiency of 91.62%. The extraction efficiency of the multiplex-enzyme method was 19.61 ± 0.60%, only 1.49% lower than that of the alkaline solution method, but the polysaccharide content was 94.47 ± 3.84%, which was much higher than the 74.93 ± 5.98% obtained using the alkaline solution. The polysaccharides extracted using the multiplex-enzyme method had a low protein content. Conclusions The multiplex-enzyme method was selected to extract the antioxidant polysaccharides of L. sordida due to a higher extraction efficiency, better purity and powerful DPPH radical scavenging ability, and lower energy consumption than the other methods. The results are of great significant for developing functional food from L. sordida bioactive polysaccharides in the future. Acknowledgments This study was supported Guangdong Provincial College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (Nos. DC2016062 and DC2016063).


Synopsis The Kuroko deposits of Japan are predominantly massive, stratiform sulphide ores with associated underlying stockwork ores of Miocene age in the Green Tuff volcanic sequences. They formed during a very limited period around 13 m.y. ago in association with the late-stage felsic rocks of the mafic to felsic volcanic cycle that began in the late Oligocene or early Miocene. They occur in narrow zones parallel to island arcs. The Benioff zone is at about 150-km depth below the Kuroko zones, which were areas of high heat flow during the Miocene. The major constituents of the deposits are pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, barite and quartz. They are zoned vertically. Gypsum and/or anhydrite commonly occur as separate bodies beside the sulphide-barite bodies. It is thought that the ores were precipitated on the Miocene sea-floor from saline solutions in a weakly acidic, reducing environment at about 200–250°C as a result of falling temperatures. The zoning of minerals may have resulted from changes in density of the ore solution-sea water mixtures as precipitation proceeded. Studies of light stable isotopes suggest that the mineralizing solutions were predominantly coeval sea water. Lead isotope data, together with base-metal contents of the host rocks, however, indicate that leaching by circulating sea water cannot have been the dominant mechanism. So, magmatic water probably played an important role in the mineralization. The following model is therefore proposed. About 20–25 m.y. ago, as the Pacific plate was being subducted, a large amount of basic to intermediate magma was generated and differentiated in the lower crustal region. Magmatic fluids produced at the last stage of differentiation, about 13 m.y. ago, rose to the sea-floor and, on mixing with sea water, produced the Kuroko deposits. Subsidence of the sedimentary basins before the felsic volcanism could have been the result of volume decrease during solidification of underlying magma.


We develop the integral approach [1] for the analysis of nonlocal ductile damage in metals. The starting point is the previously proposed phenomenological model of finite strain plasticity [2]. The original damage model is delocalized by the averaging operator [1], applied to damage-related quantities like porosity and continuity. Depending on the implemented delocalization procedure, at least one internal length parameter in introduced into the formulation. As a result, the damage localization is controlled by the presence of length-like parameters, thus regularizing the boundary value problem. Owing to the regularization, numerically robust and physically sound simulations of crack initiation and propagation are possible. Unphysical localization of strain and damage into a zero thickness layer is effectively prevented. From the theoretical standpoint, the basic properties of the new material model are analysed. Model's thermodynamic consistency, objectivity, and winvariance [3] are established. Efficient numerical algorithms are proposed. To test the robustness of the integral-based approach, low-order meshless smoothed particle simulations are carried out. As a demonstration problem, we simulate crack initiation and propagation in a compact tension specimen. The resulting force-displacement curves, apparent fracture toughness, energy dissipation, and patterns of damage distribution provide insight into the mechanical phenomena, captured by the framework. The impact of the modelling assumptions on the predicted structural strength is clarified: Isotropic and anisotropic averaging is discussed; the delocalization is applied on various configurations; continuity is introduced as a dual damage variable to minimize the unrealistic diffusion of damage. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation within the project 19-19-00126.


A luminogenic bioprobe TPE-DMAB for simple and specific detection of peroxynitrite (ONOO−) has been developed. TPE-DMAB exhibits aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic and shows fluorescence enhancement (up to 100-fold) upon cleavage of phenylboronic moieties by ONOO−. TPE-DMAB can be facilely synthesized and displays excellent specificity and sensitivity towards ONOO− (detection limit of 54 nM). Based on these novel properties of TPE-DMAB, we further produced its encapsulated nanoparticles and successfully used them to detect endogenous ONOO− in macrophage cells and visualize the inflammation sites of mice, verifying the great potential of TPE-DMAB for biological applications.


Nigeria possesses a wealth of natural resources including major oil and gas deposits, a variety of solid minerals, good agricultural land, a well developed industrial base, an extensive banking system, a large labor force, and a vibrant private sector. However, the country's tremendous potential for growth and development has yet to be fulfilled. Real income and consumption per capita today are scarcely higher than they were in 1971 before the start of the oil boom. Social indicators have been improving somewhat but remain far acceptable levels. There is an urgent need to put in place, over the medium term, mechanisms that will ensure sustained improvements in the quality and quantity of social services.


Teaching professional issues to computer scientists presents academics with the two challenges. Firstly there is the issue of motivating students whose primary driver is their technical specialism. Secondly; how to persuade learners who may have chosen their field of studies with the explicit preference to avoid anything which is textual or discursive. Biglan's extensive study of disciplinary differences, work has been sustained and developed by a number of authors from a disciplinary and technology in learning perspective. He would have classified the approaches, content and epistemology of computer science as belonging predominantly to the 'hard applied' field of study, with a component of 'hard pure' which varies according to the particular specialism. By contrast, the curriculum of professional issues modules sit squarely in the 'soft applied' area. Understanding these differences, is, we believe, a powerful aid to integrating professional issues into the wider computing and technology curriculum. This challenge is not confined to computer science and is one which might find resonance with many involved in education in the STEM disciplines. This oral presentation will recount experiences from the first iteration of a newly redesigned first year professional issues module which has been radically redesigned to incorporate a mixture of face to face and online educational activities. The design seeks to preserve the active participative student-centred nature of the existing module which it replaces, and at the same time provide a sustainable and compelling resource-set to which students will be able and willing to use throughout their degree studies. The presentation will provide a detailed explanation of the rationale for these changes, alongside a discussion of the impact and implications of this type of change. It will also include analysis and interim evaluation of the impact and reception of the module by students.


BACKGROUND
The CYP17 gene codes for the cytochrome P450c17a enzyme, which mediates two key steps in sex steroid synthesis In this study, the association between CYP17 polymorphism and the risk of prostate cancer in comparison to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in a north Indian population was investigated.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This study included 157 prostate cancer patients and 170 BPH patients as controls. A 451-bp fragment encompassing the polymorphic site was amplified by PCR and treated with the restriction enzyme MspA1. The undigested allele was recognized as A1 and the MspA1-digested variant allele was designated as the A2 allele.

RESULTS
Men with the A2/A2 CYP17 genotype had an increased risk of prostate cancer (OR=3.56; 95% CI=1.49-8.53; p=0.004) compared with those with the A1/A1 genotype. A significantly increased risk of prostate cancer was also found in smokers as well as non-vegetarians by four-fold as compared to their counterparts. There was a significant association between the CYP17 genotype and the tumour status (stage) of prostate cancer. The A2 allele showed a 1.90- (95% CI=1.09-3.32; p=0.02) and a 1.51- (95% CI=1.08-2.13; p=0.017) fold increased risk of prostate cancer in localized and metastatic prostate cancer cases respectively.

CONCLUSION
The A2 allele of the CYP17 polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and has a role in the development of prostate cancer in smokers and non-vegetarians.


We report a simple, rapid, and high throughput method which allows the simultaneous processing of multiple whole blood samples for routine DNA purification and analysis. The method is based on a microscale DNA preparation and digestion using minimal amounts of reagents and handling. The amount of material necessary for a Southern blot analysis (5–7 μg) is obtained from 200 μl of whole blood. All steps involved in DNA preparation and restriction digestion are processed in a single 1.5‐ml Eppendorf™ tube. DNA preparation is performed using a salting out procedure with a proteinase K digestion step but no phenol/chloroform extraction. Restricted fragments are separated by electrophoresis through polyacrylamide slab gels followed by electrotransfer to nylon membranes. By varying the electrophoresis parameters (V/cm or duration), fragments of interest up to 12 kb length can be separated with high resolution. At least 80 samples can be processed at once per DNA preparation, and multiples of this number depend on the available equipment. This economical and rapid method allows routine DNA analysis for mutation or RFLP detection to be performed on a large scale which is a mandatory feature in any DNA‐based population screening program. In addition, the DNA purified by the minimethod can be used as an economical source for PCR analysis. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Bacterial pyomyositis in tropical or temperate climates is usually associated with gram-positive organisms, and Staphylococcus aureus has been recovered most often. In contrast, skeletal muscle infection due to aerobic gram-negative bacteria is an acknowledged rarity, even in tropical areas. A literature review revealed only five organisms implicated in gram-negative pyomyositis in the United States; to this list, we add a unique case of pyomyositis caused by Serratia marcescens that occurred in a patient with multiple myeloma. Although the data are limited, it appears that lower leg muscles are more likely to be involved and that clinical cure is often achieved following appropriate drainage and antibiotic therapy.


Introduction and methods
Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is a potent endogenous competitive inhibitor of nitric oxide synthases, which has attracted considerable attention as a marker and mediator of atherosclerotic disease and as a potential mediator of multiple organ failure in critical illness due to endothelial dysfunction. However, data regarding basic aspects of its biology such as biological variation and its response to acute inflammation are lacking. Moreover, significant methodological variability has been a barrier to collating the burgeoning data available. Therefore, this thesis describes the development and validation of a reliable assay for measurement of ADMA and related compounds in plasma, urine and other biological fluids based on isocratic reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This method was used to determine the biological variation of ADMA in human plasma, and its response to acute inflammation using a model of elective knee arthroplasty. Further HPLC methods for measurement of dimethylamine (DMA), the main metabolite of ADMA, and nitrate were developed and used to determine excretion of these compounds in acute inflammation to complement the observed changes in plasma ADMA concentration.

Results
Complete chromatographic separation of arginine, homoarginine, monomethyl-arginine, ADMA and its structural isomer SDMA was achieved, permitting their accurate quantification using a novel, non-endogenous, internal standard. The intra-individual biological variation of ADMA was found to be low at 7.4%, imposing a tight imprecision goal for analytical methods. Plasma ADMA concentration decreases rapidly during the acute inflammatory response, with a median decrease of around 30%, and a significant change already evident as little as 12 hours following the onset of inflammation. No similar change was seen in the concentration of the closely related compound SDMA. No significant increase in the urine excretion of DMA was noted during the early phase of the response, with a significant increase seen 5 days following the insult by which point the plasma ADMA concentration had returned to baseline levels. A small, but significant, decrease in nitrate excretion during the inflammatory response was seen, mirroring the observed changes in plasma ADMA.

Conclusion
The low biological variation of ADMA suggests physiological regulation. The rapid and significant decrease in plasma concentration during inflammation does not appear due to increased catabolism, but rather is more likely to represent increased cellular partitioning. This may be associated with an impairment in NOS activity. It is unclear whether this is of pathological significance, or represents a physiological response to regulate NO production in inflammation. Further study is warranted in relevant models, particularly with attention to intracellular concentrations.


Purpose of reviewTo highlight recent breakthroughs and controversies in the use of myoblast models to uncover cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. Recent findingsMyoblast cultures provide key mechanistic models of the signalling and molecular pathways potentially employed by skeletal muscle in-vivo to regulate hypertrophy and atrophy. Recently the controversy as to whether insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I is important in hypertrophy following mechanical stimuli vs. alternative pathways has been hotly debated and is discussed. The role of myostatin in myoblast models of atrophy and interactions between protein synthetic pathways including Akt/mTOR and the 'atrogenes' are explored. SummaryTargeted in-vivo experimentation directed by skeletal muscle cell culture and bioengineering (three-dimensional skeletal muscle cell culture models) will provide key biomimetic and mechanistic data regarding hypertrophy and atrophy and thus enable the development of important strategies for tackling muscle wasting associated with ageing and disease processes.


A thermodiffuso-mechanical modelling is proposed in this article with the aim of describing the coupled behaviour of polymers, which are initially placed in a gaseous environment and subjected to an "explosive" decompression. Some descriptions of the elementary representative volume (ERV) are considered and detailed. The modelling is then developed from the simplest representation, which consists in describing the ERV as a homogenous mixture of polymer and gas. In the framework of generalized standard media, coupled constitutive equations are only proposed for a linear elastic behaviour. The numerical implementation of this model in ABAQUSTM led to a first qualitative study of the direct couplings. Its main results are discussed here.


Objective
This study aims to investigate whether there was a difference between the levels of safety in terms of the postoperative residual liver volume in living transplant donors with normal liver anatomy and beaver tail liver.

Materials and Methods
Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT) images of 158 volunteers were retrospectively scanned. They were divided into 2 groups; with and without beaver tail liver. The total and left lobe volumes of the liver in all the candidates were calculated. The data were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U test. Statistical values of p<0.05 were considered significant.

Results
The median value of the total liver volume was 1.252 mL and that of the left lobe percentage was 38% in the beaver tail group and 1.375 mL and 35%, respectively, in the normal liver group. A significant difference was observed in terms of the total liver volume and left lobe volume percentages of the 2 groups (p=0.012 and p<0.001, respectively).

Conclusion
The percentage of the left lobe in the beaver tail group was significantly higher, which indicates that liver transplantation donors with the beaver tail feature may be safer in terms of residual liver volume.


Locally induced alterations in pulmonary lobar blood flow and vascular resistance produced by atelectasis, hypoxia, or hypercarbia were studied in the autoperfused, innervated, separately ventilated right lower lobes of 14 dogs. Systemic effects of hypoxia or hypercarbia were excluded by shunting the lobar blood back to the vena cava; a second shunt between the internal mammary artery and the lobar artery permitted perfusion with either oxygenated or desaturated blood. Lobar blood flow was monitored with a magnetic flowmeter, and pressures were measured in the lobar artery, lobar vein, and femoral artery. Oxygen saturation was measured at these sites in nine of the dogs with a cuvette oximeter. Although systemic arterial pressure and oxygen saturation remained normal throughout these studies, hypoxia secondary to nitrogen ventilation produced average flow decreases of 19% and 14% with desaturated and saturated blood, respectively, and resistance increases of 26% and 15%. Atelectasis decreased flow by 37% and 23% and caused resistance to rise 93% and 65%. Ventilation of the lobe with 5% and 30% carbon dioxide in oxygen was without apparent effect.


olibri coruscans is distributed on both slopes of the Central and Eastem Andes of Colombia. However, there are no reports of this species in the Westem range of the Andes. This work was carried out in «Jardin Botanico de Bogota» for nine months during which period, territorial, breeding and feeding behavior wasstudied, through 1125 hours of observa tion. In addition, the nestling behavior during each one of the growing stages is described. Three different territorial spaces were established for Sparkling Violetear: one for display, one for nestling and another one for feeding. The former is the srnallest one and consists of only a tree branch; the nesting territory is 383m2 in size and that of feeding is 284 m2• Reproduction begins with male sexual display which consists of acrobatic flights done on one or between two trees; nest building last approximately seven days and incubation 16, with a constancy of 69%. Growing of nestlings take 21 days. The diet ofSparkling Violetear consists of nectar and insects; the former is obtained from 12 species of plants belonging to 9 families; the latter, wich was deterrilined by means of faecal bags analysis, was found to be made of insects belonging to 4 orders of which up to 60% were Diptera.


We quantitated in vivo migration of neutrophils into the knees of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis, using 99mtechnetium-hexamethyl-propylene-amineoxime-labeled leukocytes and gamma scintigraphy. Significant neutrophil migration occurred in patients with RA irrespective of disease duration, and it was reduced by 60% following intraarticular steroid injection. The reduction in neutrophil migration correlated with reduction in pain. Leukocyte migration into osteoarthritic joints was also demonstrated, although it was much less than that seen in rheumatoid joints. No significant leukocyte migration into the joints of patients without arthritis was demonstrated. This technique appears to provide a sensitive method for quantitatively assessing the neutrophil component of inflammation in individual joints of patients with arthritis.


In recent years, a strong effort has been dedicated to the development of tokamak plasma regimes alternative to the standard high confinement mode (H-mode) with type-I edge localized mode (ELM), i.e. ELM-free and small-ELM regimes, given the associated hardly sustainable energy and particle fluxes on plasma facing components. In this work, we will focus on new H-mode regimes with small-ELMs, the so-called baseline small-ELMs (BSE), characterized by high thermal confinement and low core impurity accumulation, which have been recently found at JET. In order to characterize the micro-turbulence at play at the top of the pedestal, an extensive local linear gyrokinetic analysis with the GKW code has been carried out. In particular, a comparison between a reference type-I ELM (#97395) and two BSE plasmas (#96994 and #94442) has been performed. The ion-scale (0.1 ≤ k θ ρ i ≤ 2) micro-turbulence is found to have different characteristics in the two regimes. Indeed, kinetic-ballooning modes (KBM) are destabilized in the type-I ELM regime at k θ ρ i ∼ 0.1, while they are stable in BSE regimes. In addition, negative (i.e. electron-diamagnetic-direction) frequency modes, identified as electron-temperature-gradient (ETG) modes, are destabilized at k θ ρ i ∼ 1.5 in the type-I ELM regime while BSE regimes are characterized by positive (i.e. ion-diamagnetic-direction) frequency modes. Meanwhile, at electron-scale (10 ≤ k θ ρ i ≤ 700) ETG modes are the dominant micro-instabilities in both regimes. Then, since BSE regimes are characterized by a higher impurity concentration at the pedestal, particular attention has been given to the role played by them. We found that impurities represent a critical player in the linear dynamics, strongly affecting the nature of micro-instabilities at ion-scale.


The use of computer-based and online education systems has made new data available that can describe the temporal and process-level progression of learning. To date, machine learning research has not considered the impacts of these properties on the machine learning prediction task in educational settings. Machine learning algorithms may have applications in supporting targeted intervention approaches. The goals of this paper are to: 1) determine the impact of process-level information on machine learning prediction results and 2) establish the effect of type of machine learning algorithm used on prediction results. Data were collected from a university level course in human factors engineering (n=35), which included both traditional classroom assessment and computer-based assessment methods. A set of common regression and classification algorithms were applied to the data to predict final course score. The overall prediction accuracy as well as the chronological progression of prediction accuracy was analyzed for each algorithm. Simple machine learning algorithms (linear regression, logistic regression) had comparable performance with more complex methods (support vector machines, artificial neural networks). Process-level information was not useful in post-hoc predictions, but contributed significantly to allowing for accurate predictions to be made earlier in the course. Process level information provides useful prediction features for development of targeted intervention techniques, as it allows more accurate predictions to be made earlier in the course. For small course data sets, the prediction accuracy and simplicity of linear regression and logistic regression make these methods preferable to more complex algorithms.


Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of central nervous system. Myelin basic protein (MBP) is the major protein in the structure of the myelin sheath, and the abnormal autoimmune response to MBP is related to the demiyelinization in MS. This autoimmune response is thought to be related to extensive post-translational modifications that may occur in the primary structure of MBP. Considering the role of post-translational modifications of MBP in the pathogenesis of MS, this study aimed to investigate the role of carbamylation in the pathogenesis of MS by measuring Hcit levels in patients with MS.

Materials and Methods: This study included 80 patients with MS according to McDonald criteria by clinicians, and 60 healthy volunteers. Patients were divided into 2 groups as relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) (n=44) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS) (n=36) according to Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score evaluated by clinicians. Serum homocitrulline and lysine levels were measured with validated tandem mass spectrometric method.

Results: Serum Hcit levels in patients with MS were statistically significantly higher than the healthy controls. Comparison of MS subgroups according to Hcit levels showed that serum Hcit levels were higher in patients with SPMS than in patients with RRMS. Serum Hcit levels were positively correlated with EDSS and disease duration.

Conclusion: Serum Hcit levels were significantly elevated in patients with MS. Moreover, there was a correlation between serum Hcit levels and disease activity and duration of disease.


Assemblages of Middle Devonian (Givetian) phytoplankton from the Holy Cross Mountains include sphaeromorphs possessing blister-like ornamentation typical of the genus Tapajonites Sommer & van Boekel, 1963. Study of the sculptural elements under high magnification indicates the presence of patterns resembling impressions of pyrite crystals. It is suggested that ornamentation in Tapajonites, or at least in some sphaeromorphs assignable to that genus, is of a secondary nature.


OBJECTIVES
The relationship between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease is complex and bidirectional. This relationship may be partially linked to thrombophilic genetic anomalies that may predispose to the progression of both diseases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We analyzed blood samples from 102 Lebanese patients with end-stage renal disease and undergoing hemodialysis and 20 randomly selected healthy volunteers for frequencies of 12 cardiovascular disease gene mutations and traditional risk factors. The frequencies of these mutations were calculated and compared in both groups. We stratified patients by quartiles according to their mean score of genetic mutations and traditional risk factors, as well as their mean age at dialysis initiation. Correlation analyses were performed on the various patient groups.

RESULTS
We observed a high frequency of mutations in patients on dialysis. Homozygous mutations (> 10% of patients) were observed in the PAI-1 (11%), MTHFR A1298C sequence variant (12.7%), and ACE genes (12%); in addition, the FXIII V34L and PAI-1 4G/5G genotypes were significantly associated with early dialysis initiation (P < .001 and P = .004, respectively). We observed a strong linear relationship between the different scores and age at dialysis initiation, with older patients exhibiting the highest genetic, traditional, and total scores versus those shown in the youngest patients (R2 = 0.72 and P < .001; R2 = 0.98 and P < .001; and R2 =0.96 and P < .001, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results revealed a polygenic thrombophilic profile in our population of Lebanese patients with end-stage renal disease. This profile showed a strong association between early dialysis initiation and specific homozygous cardiovascular disease gene mutations. The cumulative load of these genetic and traditional risk factors may be partly responsible for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and risk of progression to end-stage renal disease in patients with chronic kidney disease.


This article examines major epidemics of bacillary dysentery in the German army as well as among civilians in eastern Europe and in Germany during World War I. These epidemics were all the more surprising in light of prewar advances in understanding the disease and limiting dysentery outbreaks. Three major reasons are adduced for the incapacity of German military hygienists to prevent wartime epidemics. First was the difficulty of bacteriological testing at the front, especially early in the war, with negative consequences for diagnosis, therapy, and disease control. Second was inadequate hygiene including major shortcomings in latrine cleanliness and attempts to grapple with the "fly plague." Third was the lack of a Pasteur-type vaccine until late in the war. Susceptibility to dysentery was also heightened by war-related nutritional deficiencies. Taking off from an article by the English medical historian Roger Cooter, this article shows that the concept of "war dysentery" was socially constructed and served a variety of professional interests but at the same time takes issue with Cooter's arguments against linking "war" and "epidemics" pathogenetically.


Paleoseimological investigations in the 1990s identified a surface faulting event in the Fucino Plain (central Italy) related to the 5th-6th century AD. This event originated along the same seismogenic source responsible for the 1915 earthquake (Mw 7.0) that caused damage over a vast region, including Rome. This earthquake was associated to the one that was responsible for damage to the Colosseum in Rome, just before 484 AD or 508 AD. Considering that this event was energetic enough to create surface faulting, significant effects would be expected on the settlements of the 5th-6th century AD. In modern archaeological publications, the destruction of Alba Fucens in the north-western sector of the Fucino area has been related to the effects of a destructive earthquake that occurred during the Late Antiquity. Archaeological evidence on the effects of the earthquake is mostly made up of collapsed layers including columns, statues, coins and other materials and layers formed by burnt remains (mainly parts of the wooden structures of the buildings). However, this Late Antique earthquake has been attributed to the 4th century AD in archaeological literature. With this discrepancy in mind, we have carried out a study of the archaeological sources and have collected new archaeological data, in order to cast light on this chronological problem. The review of the published and unpublished archaeological information regarding the excavations carried out at Alba Fucens between 1949 and 1979, plus the data collected at new excavations that have been going on since 2004 at different sites in the Fucino basin, suggest that the destruction of Alba Fucens and other towns and settlements of the region occurred later than assumed in archaeological literature. On the whole, the gathered data are consistent with the published paleoseismological information, and suggest that this destruction occurred during the 5th-6th century AD. Although the processing of the data concerning the archaeological investigations at Alba Fucens in 2006-2008 is still ongoing, the current, most plausible hypothesis at present, is that the 484-508 AD earthquake was probably responsible for the destruction of Alba Fucens.


Background: Field matching problems in abutting electron fields can be managed by using spoilers. Objective: The aim of this study was to design a Monte Carlo framework for the assessment of spoiler application in abutting electron fields. Methods: A Siemens Primus treatment head was simulated for a 5 MeV electron beam using BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc, EGSnrc user codes. Validation of beam model was done by measurement using a MP3-M water tank and a Semi-flex Chamber-31010 (PTW, Freiburg, Germany). An in-house routine was developed to calculate the combined isodose curves resulting from simulated adjacent fields. The developed framework was analyzed using PMMA and chromium spoilers. Results: The penumbra width increased from 27.5 mm for open fields to 42 mm for PMMA and 40 mm for chromium. The maximum junction dose reduced from 115% for open fields to 107% for PMMA and 108% for chromium. R90 reduced about 6 mm for PMMA and 3 mm for chromium. Uniformity index reduced from 93% to 77% for both spoilers. Surface dose increased from 79% to 89% for PMMA and 88% for chromium. Conclusion: Using spoilers, penumbra width at the surface increased, size and depth of hot spots as well as the therapeutic range decreased and dose homogeneity at the junction of abutting electron fields improved. For both spoilers, the uniformity index reduced, and surface percent dose increased. The results of this research can be used to optimize dose distribution in electron beam treatment using abutting fields.


The aims of this research is to analyze an effect of motivation, ability dan organizational commitment to operational nurse's performance at Malang Aisyiyah Islamic Hospital. The object of this study is the 67 operational nurse's at Malang Aisyiyah Islamic Hospital. All of the nurses became the respondents. Research data were analyzed with the technique of multiple linear regression by using SPSS 11,5 software. The research resulted that the multiple coefficient regression showed that there was simultaneously significant influence among independent variables to dependent variable. This meant that variables of motivation, ability and organizational commitment significantly influenced the nurse's performance. Keyword: motivation, ability, organizational commitment, nurse's performance .


The Great East Japan Earthquake (magnitude 9.0; occurred on 11 th March 2011) and subsequent huge tsunami caused widespread damage along the Pacific Ocean coast of eastern Honshu, Japan. This research utilizes multi-resolution remote sensing images to clarify the impact on landscapes caused by this disaster, and also to monitor the subsequent survival and recovery process in the Sendai Bay region. The coastal landscape in the target area features a narrow strip of coastal sand barrier, historically stabilized by planted pine groves; backed by a low-lying plain that has traditionally been diked and converted to irrigated rice paddies. Farmsteads on the flat alluvial plain are surrounded by groves called "Igune", consisting primarily of conifers. MODIS data (250 m resolution) were employed to map the overall extent of inundation and damage on the regional landscape scale. The major damage caused by the tsunami, destruction of coastal pine forests and inundation or rice paddies on the plain, was identified at this level. Progressively finer scale analysis were then implemented using SPOT/HRG-2 (10 m resolution) data; GeoEye-1 fine resolution data (0.5 m) and very fine resolution aerial photographs (10 cm) and LiDAR. These results demonstrated the minute details of the damage and recovery process. Some patches of pine forest, for example, were seen to have survived, and some coastal plant communities were already recovering only a year after the disaster. Continuous monitoring using field work and remote sensing is required for balanced regional strategies that provide for economic and social recovery and as well as restoration of vegetation, biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.


csPCa cancer identified on mpMRI by microultrasound (reference 7 in article) and, therefore, it has the potential to enhance the accuracy of mpMRI in detecting csPCa when used in conjunction. This article adds to the preliminary existing data of the benefit of micro-ultrasound over conventional TRUS. However, results of prospective ongoing trials (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03938376) are awaited to confirm that this emerging technique will decrease the ever increasing burden on prostate mpMRI and the need for fusion MRITRUS technology.


A single crystal of Na2W2O7 was grown by using the conventional Czochralski technique. The crystal structure of the grown sample was verified by using a powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The luminescence, as well as scintillation, properties of the crystals were evaluated at room temperature. The emission spectra of the crystal were obtained by irradiating the sample with X-ray and proton sources. The trap level of the grown crystal was studied from 325 K to 500 K, and different kinematic parameters were calculated. The scintillation properties such as; energy resolution, light yield, fluorescence decay time and α/β ratio of the crystal, were studied by using γ- (662 keV from 137Cs) and α- (5.4 MeV from 241Am) sources. The luminescence and the scintillation results revealed that the Na2W2O7 crystal would be a good material for the dark matter search and for high-energy physics experiment.


This article outlines a cognitive-affective model of the role of social groups in political thinking. The model is based on the assumptions that people have stored information and emotional reactions to social groups, and that people are purposive in their thinking about social groups in the sense that they are interested in understanding what various groups have obtained and whether it is deserved. The process through which social groups influence political thinking varies significantly depending upon whether an individual identifies with the group in question. Generally, people are more inclined to feel sympathetic towards the groups to which they belong. These ideas are illustrated with an empirical analysis that focuses on women's issues and makes use of data collected in the 1984 National Election Study Pilot Study.


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

Background: Most cytotoxic agents are often broadly active but non-selective, and have the disadvantage of high toxicity due to collateral damage to normal tissues. Drugs that target specific protein drivers of cancer cell growth are more tumor selective, yet often lead to tumor resistance via point mutations in their target or activation of alternative signaling pathways. Targeted delivery strategies, such as Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs), offer a solution to these limitations by delivering potent anti-cancer payloads more directly to tumors. Hsp90 is a chaperone protein required by many cancer cells to maintain the stability and function of numerous proteins that drive cancer cell growth, survival, and metastasis. Small molecule inhibitors of Hsp90 such as ganetespib, PU-H71 and 17-AAG are found to be retained in tumors with half- time up to 65 hours in mouse xenografts. These properties are believed to be due to overexpression of an active form of Hsp90 in cancer cells as compared to normal tissues, and have recently been applied for tumor imaging in patients.

Results: We have developed a small molecule drug conjugate platform technology using the unique properties of Hsp90 proteins and Hsp90 inhibitors. We have synthesized HDCs with various Hsp90 inhibitor scaffolds including resorcinol, purine, geldanamycin, etc. A cell-based client protein degradation assay is carried out to confirm the intracellular uptake and the Hsp90 binding of the conjugates. While different Hsp90 inhibitor scaffolds offer different DMPK and toxicology profiles, cellular uptake and Hsp90 binding are not greatly affected by the different chemical classes of Hsp90 inhibitors. Over 30 payloads have been conjugated with Hsp90 inhibitors so far. We have selected the payloads based on the hypothesis that HDC can improve the safety profile of a cytotoxic drug, expand the application of chemotherapeutic agents to different tumor types, combat drug resistance, and enable novel anticancer approach. Examples of payloads include topoisomerase inhibitors (camptothecin), microtubule modulators (taxanes), proteasome inhibitors (carfilzomib), CDK inhibitors (flavopiridol) and others. Unlike most other conjugate technologies, HDC does not require lengthy spacing between the anchor Hsp90 inhibitor and the payload. Linker cleavage mechanism is considered a key feature in the HDC design. We have been able to incorporate several linkers such as disulfide, hydrazone, peptide, carbamate, carboxylate, etc. into our HDC designs.

Conclusion: In this HDC platform, we provide a method which can be applied to many well-studied mechanisms for modulating cancer pathways and stopping tumor cell growth. We have created a promising platform technology which can result in many anticancer agents in the near future.

Citation Format: Weiwen Ying, Dinesh Chimmanamada, Junyi Zhang, Teresa Przewloka, Jun Jiang, Genliang Lu, Sami Osman, James Loch, Dharma Vutukuri, Shoujun Chen, Robert Stein, John Chu, David Proia, Pat Rao, Takayo Inoue, Luisa Shin Ogawa, Ritu Singh, Noriaki Tatsuta. Hsp90 inhibitor drug conjugates (HDCs): Construct design and preliminary evaluation. [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 1619. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1619


The endoparasite fauna of 59 slaughtered sheep (30 lambs, 29 ewes) from the Swabian Alb, Germany, was examined. One species of trematodes, 3 species of cestodes, 29 species of nematodes (23 species of gastro-intestinal and 6 species of lung nematodes), 1 species of arthropodes and 1 species of protozoa were recorded. All animals were infected with Dicrocoelium dentriticum as well as gastro-intestinal and lung nematodes, 45.8% with Moniezia spp., 15.3% with Cysticercus tenuicollis, 55.9% with Oestrus ovis and 11.9% with Sarcocystis gigantea. The most important gastro-intestinal nematodes were Ostertagia circumcincta and Cooperia curticei, which were recorded in all sheep, Ostertagia trifurcata and Chabertia ovine (98.3% each), Oesophagostumum venulosum (96.6%), Nematodirus filicollis (81.4% each), Ostertagia pinnata (78.0%), Trichuris ovis and Trichostrongylus colubriformis (76.3% each). The ewes harboured more abomasal and small intestinal nematodes (1819 and 3702) than the lambs (695 and 1730), which haboured more large intestinal nematodes (177) than those (56). The most often recorded lungworms were Cystocaulus ocreatus (74.6%) and Muellerius capillaris (72.9%), followed by Neostrongylus linearis (57.6%), Dictyocaulus filaria (50.8%), Protostrongylus brevispiculum (37.3%) and Protostrongylus rufescens (28.8%). The ewes carried higher lungworm burdens than the lambs.


Whole-body FDG–PET scan if available. In case of pathological mediastinal lymph node uptake, biopsy of an abnormal node is recommended (required if positivity would rule out curative treatment). If FDG–PET not available or result inconclusive (i.e. primary tumor without pathological uptake): biopsy of mediastinal lymph nodes ‡1 cm in short axis. MRI of the brain for clinical stage III (to be substituted by CT scan if MRI not available) planned for definitive local treatment. Biopsy to rule out metastatic disease in otherwise potentially resectable patients with an isolated extra thoracic lesion. Cytology of pleural/pericardial effusions in patients otherwise resectable.


Multi-user broadcast downlink communication where the Base Station (BS) is equipped with massive array of antenna elements serving multiple users (MU-MIMO) is a key enabler for realizing increased spectral and energy efficiencies in current and future wireless communication networks. For using complexity efficient signal processing techniques and yet achieving these promising gains, the availability of highly accurate Channel State Information (CSI) at the transmitter is a must. As the mobility of the served user and/or its surrounding environment increases, the CSI present at the transmitter becomes outdated, so if it was used for downlink transmission it would cause performance degradation due to residual inter-user interference In this paper a CSI prediction method is proposed, that uses exponentially weighted current and past channel measurements to efficiently predict the future channel realizations. A closed form lower bound expression for the rate per user is provided, moreover simulation results presented show the robustness of the proposed method against model mismatch and longer channel prediction horizons in comparison with other conventional methods.


New artificial in-plane heterojunctions based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides fabricated in recent reports are considered able to offer great scope for applications. Here, we study by first principles calculations the adsorption of CO, H2O, NH3, NO, and NO2 gas molecules on the MoS2/WS2 heterojunction. We have determined the optimal adsorption positions and the adsorption strength, which is driven by charge transfer between the molecules and the heterojunction. Except NH3, which performs as the charge donor, all the other studied molecules act as charge acceptors to the heterojunction. The charge transfer mechanism has been discussed by analyzing the electronic structure of the molecules and the heterojunction. Further calculations show that the molecule adsorption significantly affects the electronic transport properties of the heterojunction. Both the rectification behavior and the value of the passing current can be altered by adsorption, and such sensitivity to adsorption makes the heterojunction a superior gas sensor that promises wide-ranging applications.


[1] Measurements of black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) were conducted in Bangkok during 2007–2008. Annual trends of BC and OC show strong seasonality with lower and higher concentrations during wet and dry seasons, respectively. Flow of cleaner air, wet removal, and negligible biomass burning resulted in the lowest concentrations of aerosols in the wet season. In addition to anthropogenic sources, long-range transport and biomass burning caused higher concentrations in the dry and hot seasons, respectively. Despite extensive biomass burning in the hot season, moderate levels of aerosols were due to the mixing with air masses from the Pacific Ocean. Diurnal distributions exhibit peaks during rush hour marked by minima in the OC/BC ratio and stagnant wind flow. The lowest concentrations in the afternoon hours could be due to deeper planetary boundary layer and reduced traffic. Overall, the concentrations of both BC and OC decrease with the increase in wind speed. The weekend effects, due to reduced emission during weekends, in the concentrations of both BC and OC were significant. Therefore, stricter abatement in vehicular emissions could substantially reduce pollution. A slope of ΔBC/ΔCO of 9.8 ngm−3 ppbv−1 for the wet season represents the emission ratio from vehicular sources. The highest of ΔOC/ΔBC (3 μg μg−1) in the hot season was due to the predominant influence of biomass burning and significant formation of secondary OC. The levels of BC and OC in Bangkok fall within the ranges of their concentrations measured in the major cities of East Asia.


Background: Experimental data suggest that zinc, copper, and magnesium are involved in carcinogenesis and atherogenesis. Few longitudinal studies have related these minerals to cancer or cardiovascular disease mortality in a population. Methods: Data from the Paris Prospective Study 2, a cohort of 4035 men age 30–60 years at baseline, were used to assess the association between serum zinc, copper, and magnesium and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality. Serum mineral values measured at baseline were divided into quartiles and classified into low (1st quartile, referent group), medium (2nd–3rd quartiles), and high (4th quartile) values. During 18-year follow up, 339 deaths occurred, 176 as a result of cancer and 56 of cardiovascular origin. Relative risks (RRs) for each element were inferred using Cox's proportional hazard model after controlling for various potential confounders. Results: High copper values (4th quartile) were associated with a 50% increase in RRs for all-cause deaths (RR = 1.5; 95% confidence interval = 1.1–2.1), a 40% increase for cancer mortality (1.4; 0.9–2.2), and a 30% increase for cardiovascular mortality (1.3; 0.6–2.8) compared with low values (1st quartile). High magnesium values were negatively related to mortality with a 40% decrease in RR for all-cause (0.6; 0.4–0.8) and cardiovascular deaths (0.6; 0.2–1.2) and by 50% for cancer deaths (0.5; 0.3–0.8). Additionally, subjects with a combination of low zinc and high copper values had synergistically increased all-cause (2.6; 1.4–5.0) and cancer (2.7; 1.0–7.3) mortality risks. Similarly, combined low zinc and high magnesium values were associated with decreased all-cause (0.2; 0.1–0.5) and cancer (0.2; 0.1–0.8) mortality risks. Conclusions: High serum copper, low serum magnesium, and concomitance of low serum zinc with high serum copper or low serum magnesium contribute to an increased mortality risk in middle-aged men.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate direct medical costs among patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD).

STUDY DESIGN
Observational longitudinal cohort study.

METHODS
We identified 12,278 patients who were added to the Kaiser Permanente Northwest CVD registry from 2000 to 2005. We observed patients until they died or left the health plan or until June 30, 2008. Total direct medical costs were calculated over an individual's entire follow-up and were then annualized by dividing by the months of follow-up. We also calculated and compared age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates per 1000 person-years of secondary CVD hospitalization and all-cause mortality and a composite outcome of both.

RESULTS
The total mean (SD) annual direct medical costs for the entire sample were $18,953 ($39,036). With approximately 22 million US residents having prevalent CVD or stroke, this extrapolates to direct costs of more than $400 billion. Inpatient costs accounted for 42.8% of total costs (mean [SD], $8114 [$25,410]). The greatest differences in costs were found when comparing patients who did versus did not experience a secondary CVD hospitalization ($62,755 vs $13,509, P <.001). Other large differences were found in comparisons of patients with versus without diabetes ($27,258 vs $17,210), an estimated glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) ($29,498 vs $16,326), depression ($26,681 vs $17,303), and death ($28,689 vs $17,779) (P <.001 for all).

CONCLUSIONS
The economic burden of providing care to patients with CVD may be substantially greater than current American Heart Association estimates. Although several comorbid conditions undoubtedly contribute to these costs, avoidance of secondary CVD hospitalization may be the key to substantially reducing healthcare consumption.


It may be very difficult to design in advance a global system model which accomplishes all organizational unit idiosyncrasies in complex organizations dispersed across large geographical regions. In this work, we propose the use of our Coppeer framework for agent based peer-to-peer application development to implement an environment in which distributed systems can be collaboratively and incrementally built. The key points of the approach are the use of semi-structured documents as data model, the partitioning of system code in several loosely coupled agents and the use of ontologies to conciliate differences in organizational unit vocabularies.


CANCER RESEARCHThe tumor suppressor protein p53 helps short-circuit tumor formation by preventing cells that have suffered malignant mutations from continuing to grow. Yet the p53 gene itself is susceptible to damage, which is thought to contribute to the development of half of all cancers, including common ones such as skin, breast, and colon cancers. Now, in work described on page [2507][1], cancer biologists have identified a drug that may be able to restore the normal function of some mutated p53 proteins and might therefore point the way to a new kind of cancer therapy.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/286/5449/2507


For utilizing distributed resources in optical grid environment advanced reservations play a very crucial role. For applications like the co-allocation of distributed resources and deadline driven applications advance reservations are essential. Also for enhancing capabilities of resource brokers advance reservations play a major role. The objective is to determine a scheduling algorithm that minimizes the blocking probability, i.e. the probability of not scheduling a request within its window, minimizes reservation delay and maximizes network utilization. In this paper, we proposed revision of Slide Window First (RSWF) algorithm. Also the comparison has been done depending on parameters such as reservation delay, blocking probability, link utilization and so on with Slide Window First (SWF) algorithm. Here, RSWF algorithm checks one path at a time for all of the scheduling window slots. If a path cannot be reserved during the scheduling window, the next shortest path is checked. In this, Parallel Dijkstra's algorithm is used for finding the shortest path.


Long-term total phosphorus loads from 17 urban catchments in the USA were predicted using five different measures of central tendency defining site mean concentration (arithmetic mean, geometric mean, median, harmonic mean and flow-weighted mean). Overall, the flow-weighted mean concentration produced the most accurate predictions of long-term loads. The geometric mean produced the second most accurate predictions. Along with the median and harmonic mean, the geometric mean predicted long-term load relatively well at most catchments exhibiting negative correlations between event mean concentration and total event runoff depth. However, they significantly underestimated long-term load at catchments exhibiting a positive correlation between these variables. Better estimates of long-term load at these two catchments were produced using the flow-weighted mean and arithmetic mean. However, the arithmetic mean tended to overestimate long-term load at the remainder of catchments.


Cirrhosis of the liver is a comparatively rare disease in childhood. Poynton and Wyllie' describe seven ' types,' one of these being a type associated with icterus gravis neonatorum. They say: Pathologically, there may seem to be very little evidence in favour of grouping such cases among cirrhoses of the liver. In affected infants dying in the first few days after birth . . . (there was) found no indication of increased connective tissue. . . . In the more chronic cases, however, as in the fourth child in Pfannenstiel's family which died on the 21st day, the liver was enlarged, coarse and dark green . . . Microscopically, the interstitial tissue of the liver was irregularly broadened and had an oedematous appearance, with here and there small collections of cells. The liver cells contained bile and the cell columns were very narrow; the bile ducts were widened at several points. These details are strongly suggestive of an early biliary cirrhosis, the fibrosis not commencing till after birth. This thesis is supported by Hawkesley and Lightwood2 in their clinical and pathological study of icterus gravis neonatorum. They found, in seven cases out of nine of more than five weeks of age, signs of hepatic fibrosis. The fibrosis was most conspicuous in relation to the portal tracts but an intercellular fibrosis was also observed. They suggest that survival from icterus gravis may be accompanied by cirrhotic changes in the liver and that infants so surviving may become the subjects of multilobular cirrhosis of the liver in early childhood. Several cases of liver cirrhosis with a history of jaundice in the neo-natal period have been reported. The patient reported by Smith' at the age of


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We present a numerical study of Anderson localization in disordered non-Hermitian lattice models with flat bands. Specifically we consider one-dimensional stub and two-dimensional kagome lattices that have a random scalar potential and a uniform imaginary vector potential and calculate the spectra of the complex energy, the participation ratio, and the winding number as a function of the strength of the imaginary vector potential, h . The flat-band states are found to show a double transition from localized to delocalized and back to localized states with h , in contrast to the dispersive-band states going through a single delocalization transition. When h is sufficiently small, all flat-band states are localized. As h increases above a certain critical value h 1 , some pair of flat-band states become delocalized. The participation ratio associated with them increases substantially and their winding numbers become nonzero. As h increases further, more and more flat-band states get delocalized until the fraction of the delocalized states reaches and a flat simultaneously. We explore the spatial characteristics of the flat-band states by calculating the local density distribution.


In the religious democracy system, the election is the area of power generation and its continual. In the electoral realm, the people fulfill the democracy by choosing the rulers, and since Islam forms the essence and framework of people's movement and life, in Islamic democracy, the executives, candidates, and supervisors of election, people, and more than others, the electoral candidates must realize the Islamic ethical principles. Politics serves morality and religion in the religious democracy. The present article evaluated some of the coordinates and requirements of electoral ethics in the religious democracy system. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this essay described some basic principles of the electoral ethics charter, which should be considered by those involved in the election process, including voters, candidates, executives, supervisors and observers, and the media.


Environmental sanitation prioritizes the prevention of environmental factors to avoid negative environmental impacts such as diseases. This study used a descriptive quantitative method to describe access to clean water facilities and family latrines supported by secondary data from the Sanggona Public Health Center, Uluiwoi District, East Kolaka Regency. The results of this study indicated that the types of clean water facilities used in the working area of Sanggona Public Health Center consisted of wells, drilled wells with pumps, and non-processing piping. Of the clean water facilities examined, most of the conditions of clean water facilities (94.7%) had a low level of pollution risk. Some of the conditions of clean water facilities (5.3%) in dug wells were still in the medium category at contamination risk level. The respondents in the family latrine conditions who were in the Sanggona Public Health Center area, had gooseneck latrines, and met the sanitation requirements were 738 houses (97.6%). The family latrines category respondents who still needed to meet the criteria were those with cemplung latrines, namely 18 homes (2.4%). As a suggestion, with the existence of a small number of clean water facilities that still have a moderate risk of contamination, namely dug wells, the community should make repairs and pay attention to dug well facilities that still have a chance of contamination, especially the distance to the disposal site (septic tank), which is close to clean water facilities and do not meet health requirements. Furthermore, socialization/counseling activities are needed to provide knowledge and encourage the community to improve community latrines that do not meet the criteria.
Keywords: Family Latrines, Clean Water Facilities, Sanggona Public Health Center


Sarcina are gram-positive anaerobic bacteria found to be associated with delayed gastric emptying and gastric outlet obstruction. We describe two cases of Sarcina co-existing with Helicobacter pylori organisms in pediatric siblings presenting within four months of each other with pyloric obstruction secondary to severe gastritis/duodenitis. The co-existence of Sarcina and Helicobacter pylori has not, to our knowledge, been previously reported. Its characteristic tetrad packeted morphology permits Sarcina to be readily identified on routine sections. Detection of these organisms in gastric biopsies should prompt consideration of gastric outlet obstruction and/or delayed gastric emptying as a possible etiologic factor.


Land reclamation and ecological reconstruction in mining subsidence area are important measures to improve the ecological environment of mining areas. Soil is the key factor to mainten the functional stability of restored ecosystem, different reclamation and utilization patterns have different effects on soil characteristics. The reclaimed soil microbial characteristics of artificial lawn, red maple forest, acacia forest, and flower bed in forest park of Jiaozuo city are studied through the field investigation and laboratory analysis. The results show that, compared with the artificial lawn, the other three vegetation restoration patterns significantly improve the soil microbial characteristics of the reclaimed soil. The effects of four vegetation restoration patterns on soil nutrients and soil biological characteristics are artificial lawn<red maple forest< acacia forest < flower bed. Relevant analysis shows that, the biological characteristics of the reclaimed soil are closely related to soil nutrients. Especially soil organic carbon is significantly positively correlated with each of the soil microbial properties (P<0.01), such as SMBC, SMBN, SMBC/ SMBN, qMB, soil enzyme activity and soil respiration rate.


This paper explores how decentralized, national fiscal policies interact with a common monetary policy in a monetary union. We show that fiscal policy plays a more important role in stabilizing country-specific shocks than with national monetary policies. Whereas monetary unification with an optimally designed central bank reduces both expected inflation and the variance of inflation, it harms overall welfare by reducing output and public spending and increasing the variability of these variables. However, international transfers may avoid this decline in welfare.


SUMMARY Four methods of measuring crop production are reviewed in the context of different survey objectives. A popular technique, crop cutting, tends to overestimate yields and does not produce good estimates of individual plots. For high accuracy, harvest of the whole plot is the best method. If statistics of regional production are required output can be sampled after harvest, or, if the farmer harvests in consistent units, his own estimate can be taken. Limited evidence shows that farmers' estimates may be no more biased than crop cutting, but require fewer resources and supervision. There is no best method. The method used must be chosen for the purpose of the study. Whichever method is chosen a distinction should be made between biological and economic yield and correction must be made for threshing and moisture content.


This paper proposes a design method for the energy management strategy to explore the potential fuel saving of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) equipped with an automated manual transmission. The control algorithm is developed based on the combination of dynamic programming (DP) and Pontryagin's minimum principle (PMP) to optimally control the discrete gearshift command, in addition to the continuous power split between the internal combustion engine and the electric machine. The proposed method outperforms DP in terms of computational efficiency, being 171 times faster, without loss of accuracy. Simulation results for a middle-sized HEV on the New European Drive Cycle show that, to further optimize the gearshift strategy, an additional fuel saving of 20.3% can be reached. Furthermore, with the start-stop functionality available, it is shown that the two-point boundary-value problem following from PMP cannot be solved with sufficient accuracy without loss of optimality. This means that the finding of a constant value for the Lagrange multiplier while satisfying the battery state-of-energy (SOE) at the terminal time is not always guaranteed. Therefore, an alternative approach of SOE feedback control to adapt the Lagrange multiplier is adopted. The obtained results are very close to the globally optimal solution from DP. Simulation results, including the start-stop functionality, show that the relative fuel saving can be up to 26.8% compared with the case of a standard gearshift strategy.


In the research on the construction of cold chain logistics intelligent system based on 5G ubiquitous Internet of Things as an emerging technology, the Internet of Things is penetrating into the logistics field with its technical advantages and changing the original industry form. According to the development status of cold chain logistics, this paper constructs a set of cold chain logistics intelligent system by using RFID technology, sensing equipment, GPS system, fuzzy PID hierarchical control, and other Internet of Things technologies and analyzes the impact of the cost sharing ratio of Internet of Things on the income of wholesalers, retailers, and supply chain. The example analysis shows that when retailers share all the adoption costs of the Internet of Things, the benefit of the whole fresh agricultural product cold chain logistics is the largest. This study provides a scientific basis for logistics decision-making for wholesalers and retailers and has important application value for improving the logistics efficiency of the whole fresh agricultural product cold chain.


The detection errors of a single-bit digital crosscorrelator for detecting bandlimited Gaussian reflections in noise are investigated, and the probability-density function of the correlator output due to finite-interval crosscorrelation and corruption of the received waveform by wideband Gaussian noise is derived and compared with experimental results.