Background: Women with advanced cervical cancer at diagnosis have higher morbidity and mortality. Despite advancements in prevention and early detection, cervical cancer care disparities persist by race/ethnicity and geographical distribution. We aimed to identify spatial clusters of late-stage cervical cancer at diagnosis in Texas, a state with a higher than national cervical cancer rate, especially among racial/ethnic minority populations.Methods: Incident cervical cancer data were obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry for women aged 18 years or older diagnosed from 2000 to 2018. First, we conducted purely spatial scan analysis using the SaTScan Bernoulli model to identify geographic clusters (hot spots and cold spots) of late-stage cervical cancer (vs. early-stage) at diagnosis. Maximum cluster size was set at 50% of the at-risk population, and statistical significance at p <0.005 was explored by 999 Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we used multivariable logistic regression models to investigate the characteristics of cases within each of the identified clusters.Results: SaTScan identified six clusters, three with significantly lower than expected number of late-stage cervical cancer cases (cold spots) and three with significantly higher than expected number of late-stage cervical cancers cases at diagnosis (hot spots). Hot spots were found around Public Health Regions 5/6 (Houston, a large metropolitan city with the highest rate of uninsured residents in Texas), Region 10 (El Paso, a border region) and Region 8 (San Antonio, the largest majority Hispanic population region). Compared to White women, Black women were less likely to be in cold spots (Cluster 1: odds ratio (OR) 0.44 (95% CI 0.33-0.57), Cluster 2: OR 0.42 (95% CI 0.28-0.64)), but more likely to be in hot spots (Cluster 3 OR 1.33 (1.15-1.54). Similarly, Hispanic women had greater odds of being in hot spots (Cluster 4: OR 5.26 (95% CI 4.15-6.68), Cluster 5: OR 12.43 (95% CI 8.82-17.52)) than non-Hispanic women. Likewise, compared to women living in census tracts with lower neighborhood-level poverty, those women living in census tracts with higher deprivation were more likely to be in the hot spots (Cluster 3: OR 1.28 (95% CI 1.10-1.49), Cluster 4: OR 55.07 (95% CI 17.63-172.00), Cluster 5: OR 8.24 (95% CI 4.87-13.95)). Conclusions: Considerable inequalities exist in late-stage cervical cancer diagnosis in Texas, in terms of place, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood disadvantages. Strategic and multicomponent population-based interventions are needed to address cancer care inequities.Impact: The study findings could be incorporated into designing effective multilevel interventions, including place-based and race-targeted strategies to improve cervical cancer outcomes.
 Citation Format: Itunu O. Sokale, Aaron P. Thrift, Abiodun O. Oluyomi. Geospatial analyses identify hot spots of late-stage cervical cancer at diagnosis in Texas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4211.


This thesis proposes a new type of Input-Output Buffered ATM Switch which employs an arbiter and its performance under different traffic conditions studied. The proposed switch is designed with a view to exploit the architecture and other characteristics of the arbiter The primary aim of the proposed switch is the elimination, or at least, the reduction of HOL blocking phenomenon which occurs in the simple input buffered switch. Several HOL arbitration algorithms have been proposed for this purpose in the literature. The Proposed switch attempts to reduce the HOL blocking as it uses the arbiter and the buffer at the output Port in an effective manner. The arbiter is designed to work with Three Phase Algorithm which is one of the many well known HOL arbitration algorithms . The proposed switch acquires control over priority transmission through the REd signal. As the signals are transmitted to the arbiter, the latter controls the one which is sent by the input buffer. Computer simulation results have been provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed switch under non-uniform random traffic conditions.


In the present paper the role of linear discriminant analysis is delimitated all along with a range of problems which could be solved using this method in appropriate conditions. The analysis is given of possibilities on how to involve the decrease in number of variables in a model, and how to predict probability of incorrect classification. As an example of application, the prediction of dog survival is calculated in radiobiological experiment on the basis of biochemical and hematological values which were obtained by the 2nd day after the irradiation as well as an error probability was determined.


Subsequent to removal of impacted lower third molars the interrelationship of four postoperative variables (swelling, pain, trismus, and dysphagia) was assessed. Patient assessment of postoperative swelling using a visual analogue scale (VAS) was easily accepted by a group (n = 40) of patients aged 17 to 46 years. A significantly positive correlation (r = 0.66, p less than 0.01) existed between metric extraoral swelling and VAS-assessed swelling; however, the latter may represent a more sensitive method when swelling is discrete. Both extraorally and VAS-assessed swelling showed no correlation with dysphagia and VAS-assessed pain. Trismus correlated moderately positively with pain and extraoral swelling (r = 0.38, p less than 0.05) and dysphagia (p less than 0.01). In the present study dysphagia showed no correlation with pain. This study shows that registration of postoperative swelling by means of a VAS may be a sensitive and accurate method with obvious practical advantages.


I defend a necessary condition of local autonomy inspired by Aristotle and Marx. One does something autonomously, I argue, only if one does it for its own sake and not for the sake of further ends alone. I show that this idea steers an attractive middle path between the subjectivism of Dworkin- and Frankfurt-style theories of autonomy on the one hand and the objectivism of Raz-style theories on the other. By doing so, it vindicates and explains two important pieces of common sense of which those theories struggle to make sense. First, it explains how external sources of compulsion, such as coercion by other people and duress by unfavorable circumstances, can compromise the autonomy of an activity. Second, it explains this by articulating the sense in which to act autonomously is to do what one really or truly wants to do, and the correlative sense in which to do something unfreely is instead to be forced or necessitated to do it. At the same time, my proposal brings into view distinctive species of external unfreedom beyond the traditional paradigm cases of coercion and duress. Most importantly, it implies that toil—labor which is not valued intrinsically but is done purely on account of its instrumental necessity—is essentially unfree.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appears to be increasingly used, in addition to standard ultrasonography for the diagnosis of abnormalities in utero. Previous studies have recently drawn attention to the technical refinement of MRI to visualize the fetal bones and muscles. Beyond commonly used T2‐weighted MRI, echoplanar, thick‐slab T2‐weighted and dynamic sequences, and three‐dimensional MRI techniques, are about to provide new imaging insights into the normal and the pathological musculoskeletal system of the fetus. This review emphasizes the potential significance of MRI in the visualization of the fetal musculoskeletal system. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This qualitative case study aimed to investigate Early Childhood Education (ECE) pre-service teachers' perception of development in their technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK) after designing educational computer games for young children. Participants included 21 ECE pre-service teachers enrolled in the course Instructional Technology and Material Design. The data were collected through focus group interviews, observations, and journals. The results indicated a perceived improvement in TPACK. Moreover, participants described initial difficulty designing educational computer games since they had limited technological knowledge (TK), design knowledge (DK), or experience designing educational computer games (TPACK). However, during the game design, specific TPACK was disseminated, and participants reported increased abilities in using technology and designing computer games for educational purposes.


Twenty-four beam specimens were tested to examine the effect of the maximum aggregate size on the shear behavior of lightweight concrete continuous beams. The maximum aggregate size varied from 4 mm to 19 mm and shear span-to-depth ratio was 2.5 and 0.6 in each all-lightweight, sand-lightweight and normal weight concrete groups. The ratio of the normalized shear capacity of lightweight concrete beams to that of the company normal weight concrete beams was also compared with the modification factor specified in ACI 318-05 for lightweight concrete. The microphotograph showed that some unsplitted aggregates were observed in the failure planes of lightweight concrete beams, which contributed to the enhancement of the shear capacity of lightweight concrete beams. As a result, the normalized shear capacity of lightweight concrete continuous beams increased with the increase of the maximum aggregate size, though the increasing rate was lower than that of normal weight concrete continuous beams. The modification factor specified in ACI 318-05 was generally unconservative in the continuous lightweight concrete beams, showing an increase of the unconservatism with the increase of the maximum aggregate size. In addition, the conservatism.


Michael Della Rocca has recently argued that Kripkean essentialism is subtly self-defeating: to defend it, certain modal intuitions must be reconstrued in terms of similarity, but reconstruing them in this way threatens the principled rejection of similarity comparisons on which Kripke's essentialism depends. Della Rocca holds that Kripke's strategy must assume the necessity of identity, and that the necessity of identity already presupposes essentialism, which renders the defence circular. Against this, I argue that the necessity of identity may be accepted independently; therefore no circularity need arise. I also argue that Della Rocca fails to rebut an objection raised by Stephen Yablo.


Peaking industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is critical for China to achieve its CO2 peaking target by 2030 since industrial sector is a major contributor to CO2 emissions. Heavy industrial regions consume plenty of fossil fuels and emit a large amount of CO2 emissions, which also have huge CO2 emissions reduction potential. It is significant to accurately forecast CO2 emission peak of industrial sector in heavy industrial regions from multi-industry and multi-energy type perspectives. This study incorporates 41 industries and 16 types of energy into the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) model to predict the CO2 emission peak of the industrial sector in Jilin Province, a typical heavy industrial region. Four scenarios including business-as-usual scenario (BAU), energy-saving scenario (ESS), energy-saving and low-carbon scenario (ELS) and low-carbon scenario (LCS) are set for simulating the future CO2 emission trends during 2018–2050. The method of variable control is utilized to explore the degree and the direction of influencing factors of CO2 emission in four scenarios. The results indicate that the peak value of CO2 emission in the four scenarios are 165.65 million tons (Mt), 156.80 Mt, 128.16 Mt, and 114.17 Mt in 2040, 2040, 2030 and 2020, respectively. Taking ELS as an example, the larger energy-intensive industries such as ferrous metal smelting will peak CO2 emission in 2025, and low energy industries such as automobile manufacturing will continue to develop rapidly. The influence degree of the four factors is as follows: industrial added value (1.27) > industrial structure (1.19) > energy intensity of each industry (1.12) > energy consumption types of each industry (1.02). Among the four factors, industrial value added is a positive factor for CO2 emission, and the rest are inhibitory ones. The study provides a reference for developing industrial CO2 emission reduction policies from multi-industry and multi-energy type perspectives in heavy industrial regions of developing countries.


We sought to delineate further the immunological significance of T lymphocytes infiltrating the valve leaflets in calcific aortic stenosis (CAS) and determine whether there were associated alterations in circulating T cells. Using clonotypic TCR β-chain length and sequence analysis we confirmed that the repertoire of tricuspid CAS valves contains numerous expanded T cell clones with varying degrees of additional polyclonality, which was greatest in cases with severe calcification. We now report a similar proportion of clonal expansions in the much younger bicuspid valve CAS cases. Peripheral blood flow cytometry revealed elevations in HLA-DR+ activated CD8 cells and in the CD8+CD28nullCD57+ memory-effector subset that were significantly greater in both bicuspid and tricuspid CAS cases with more severe valve calcification. Lesser increases of CD4+CD28null T cells were identified, principally in cases with concurrent atherosclerotic disease. Upon immunostaining the CD8 T cells in all valves were mainly CD28null, and CD8 T cell percentages were greatest in valves with oligoclonal repertoires. T cell clones identified by their clonotypic sequence as expanded in the valve were also found expanded in the circulating blood CD28nullCD8+ T cells and to a lesser degree in the CD8+CD28+ subset, directly supporting the relationship between immunologic events in the blood and the valve. The results suggest that an ongoing systemic adaptive immune response is occurring in cases with bicuspid and tricuspid CAS, involving circulating CD8 T cell activation, clonal expansion, and differentiation to a memory-effector phenotype, with trafficking of T cells in expanded clones between blood and the valve.


OBJECTIVE
To study the differences in the prevalence of neurological complications following coronary artery bypass (CAB) carried out by conventional, on-pump beating and off-pump techniques.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of all isolated coronary bypass operations (n=127) performed in King Fahad Cardiac Center, Riyadh over a period of one year starting from January 2005. Out of 127 patients, 73 underwent conventional CAB graft (CABG), 33 patents on-pump beating heart coronary bypass, and 21 had off pump coronary bypass grafting (OPCAB). All patients had preoperative carotid scans and those who developed neurological complications underwent CT-brain and expert neuro-psychiatric assessment.

RESULTS
Preoperative characteristics of patients in all 3 groups were similar. The bypass times in the conventional CABG group were significantly longer than the on-pump beating group. The maximum number of grafts was in the on-pump beating group, followed by the conventional CABG, and the least in the OPCAB group. Seven out of 73 cases in the conventional bypass group developed neurological events of various severities. Only one out of 33 patients developed acute confusional state in the on-pump beating group and no neurological events were noticed in 21 patients operated by the OPCAB technique. Low ejection fraction, preoperative congestive cardiac failure, non-elective surgery and preoperative catastrophic state were found to be significant risk factors independent of the bypass technique.

CONCLUSION
This study shows no significant difference in the prevalence of neurological complications among different types of bypass surgery in our institution. There was a trend towards less neurological outcomes in the OPCAB and on-pump beating groups.


The last decade has witnessed an explosion of religious activity in the public sphere. Political candidates of both parties loudly pronounce their individual faith and link. that faith directly to their political values. Candidates use religious gatherings as political podiums and confidently assert that their God and His teachings define the country's very nature. Meanwhile, activities conducted by religious groups in public schools have become both more numerous and more prominent in the last decade. These activities include public prayer sessions at graduation ceremonies and extracurricular events, meetings by religious organizations on public school properly, prayer sessions around flagpoles outside public school buildings, and religious assemblies on school property, sometimes during the school day. Religious activities by groups of adults in public spaces other than schools have also multiplied. Religious groups conduct large-scale religious ceremonies in public parks, erect religious displays inside and outside public buildings, and even build permanent religious structures on public land.


Abstract The study of graph ${{C}^{*}}$ -algebras has a long history in operator algebras. Surprisingly, their quantum symmetries have not yet been computed. We close this gap by proving that the quantum automorphism group of a finite, directed graph without multiple edges acts maximally on the corresponding graph ${{C}^{*}}$ -algebra. This shows that the quantum symmetry of a graph coincides with the quantum symmetry of the graph ${{C}^{*}}$ -algebra. In our result, we use the definition of quantum automorphism groups of graphs as given by Banica in 2005. Note that Bichon gave a different definition in 2003; our action is inspired from his work. We review and compare these two definitions and we give a complete table of quantum automorphism groups (with respect to either of the two definitions) for undirected graphs on four vertices.


Autogenic cycles of channelization, terminal deposit formation, channel backfilling and channel abandonment have been observed in the formation of fans and deltas. In subcritical flow, these terminal deposits are characterized as mouth bars that lead to flow bifurcation, backwater and eventual channel backfilling. Similar, although less well characterized, cycles also take place on supercritical subaerial and submarine fans. This study investigates the hydraulics and morphodynamics of autogenic incision and backfilling cycles associated with supercritical distributive channel flow in alluvial fans. The research questions of the study are: (i) how are supercritical autogenic cycles on alluvial fans different from the subcritical cycles; (ii) what are the hydraulic and sediment transport characteristics at the various stages of autogenic feedback cycles; and (iii) what role do the cycles play in the overall fan evolution? These questions are investigated in the laboratory, and emphasis is placed on measuring the hydraulic and topographic evolution of the systems during the cycles. The cycles arise quasi‐periodically under constant water and sediment discharge. Periods of sheet‐like flow are competent to move sediment ( τ*>τcr * ) but not competent enough to carry the full imposed load. The net result is preferential deposition near the inlet, resulting in fan steepening and an increase in flow competency with time. At a sediment supply to capacity ratio of Qs/Qc≈0·75 , the sheet‐like flow is unstable to small erosional events near the inlet, resulting in the collapse of the distributed flow to a strong channelized state. During channelization, a graded ( Qs/Qc≈1 ) supercritical (Fr > 1) channel develops and transports eroded and fed sediment up to and through the fan front – extending the fan, initiating a lobe shaped deposit and reducing the local slope. The slopes defined by a sheet‐like flow with Qs/Qc≈0·75 and channelized flow with Qs/Qc≈1 set the maximum and minimum slopes on the fan, respectively. Once formed, graded channels act as bypass conduits linking the inlet with the terminal deposit. On average, deposits are up to six channel depths in thickness and have volumes approximately five times that of the excavated channel. The main distinctive characteristics of the supercritical cycles relate to how the flow interacts with the terminal deposit. At the channel to deposit transition, the flow undergoes a weak hydraulic jump, resulting in rapid sedimentation, dechannelization and lateral expansion of the flow, and deposition of any remaining sediment on top of the channel fill and floodplain. This process often caps the channel as the deposit propagates up channel erasing memory of the excavated channel.


Research into wind turbine condition monitoring is continually receiving greater attention due to the potential benefits from condition monitoring systems (CMS). These benefits can only be realised with high reliability of the condition monitoring system itself. This paper discusses how CMS reliability can be increased, by introducing four types of robustness and how to design the CMS to meet these requirements. The paper uses a case study CMS installation to illustrate the design requirements, and lessons learned from the installation process.


Fallopian tube epithelial cells (FTEC) are thought to be the cell of origin of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. FTEC organoids can be used as research models for the disease. Nevertheless, culturing organoids requires a medium supplemented with several expensive growth factors. We proposed that a combined conditioned medium based on the composition of the fallopian tubes, including epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cells could enhance FTEC organoid formation. We derived two primary culture cell lines from the fimbria portion of the fallopian tubes. The organoids were split into conventional or combined medium groups based on what medium they were grown in and compared. The number and size of the organoids were evaluated. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to evaluate gene and protein expression (PAX8, FOXJ1, beta-catenin, and stemness genes). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure Wnt3a and RSPO1 in both mediums. DKK1 and LiCl were added to the mediums to evaluate their influence on beta-catenin signaling. The growth factor in the combined medium was evaluated by the growth factor array. We found that the conventional medium was better for organoids regarding proliferation (number and size). In addition, WNT3A and RSPO1 concentrations were too low in the combined medium and needed to be added making the cost equivalent to the conventional medium. However, the organoid formation rate was 100% in both groups. Furthermore, the combined medium group had higher PAX8 and stemness gene expression (OLFM4, SSEA4, LGR5, B3GALT5) when compared with the conventional medium group. Wnt signaling was evident in the organoids grown in the conventional medium but not in the combined medium. PLGF, IGFBP6, VEGF, bFGF, and SCFR were found to be enriched in the combined medium. In conclusion, the combined medium could successfully culture organoids and enhance PAX8 and stemness gene expression. However, the conventional medium was a better medium for organoid proliferation. The expense of both mediums was comparable. The benefit of using a combined medium requires further exploration.


markdownabstractAbstract
Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) are public private entities that have
begun to appear in several European nations and are set up specifically to manage and
implement Urban Regeneration projects. One of the core ideas behind the establishment
of these partnerships is that in order to effectively tackle the challenging process of
restructuring, these organizations should function at arm's length from the political
institutions that oversee them. However, the literature on governance suggests that
organizational form may be less of a factor than management capability.
Using survey data obtained from individuals who are heavily involved in Dutch Urban
Regeneration Partnerships, this paper shows that the organizational features of URCs
(functioning at arm's length from the government, the tightness of the organizational
form) are not important to their performance, while the use of multiple management
strategies is relevant to their performance.


Benign febrile convulsions occur early in the course of fever of extracranial origin in children six months to five years old. The first seizure always calls for a spinal tap to exclude meningitis, as well as appropriate studies to exclude other causes of seizure activity. An EEG one week later is indicated but more extensive studies are usually nonproductive. The question of whether to employ long-term phenobarbital therapy has not been resolved.


One has no desire to compare and contrast two working units, both of which at this point in time are doubtless functioning effectively with somewhat different emphases, as dictated by such factors as patient population, accommodation, staffing, extent of catchment area, transport facilities, ad infinitum; but to concentrate on some reputable treatment form in a situation, and then make this emphasis a prerequisite for calling something a therapeutic community, would seem to me to be unnecessary. One example only of such pseudo criteria will be giventhat of family therapy, with the value of which I am fully cognizant. Long after Maxwell Jones' unit at the then Belmont Hospital was accepted by him and the psychiatric world as a therapeutic community, the involvement of family members (conjoint group) or whole families (family therapy) was not necessary for admission. (I have both successfully and unsuccessfully made application for admission of patients to this unit.) In fact, such was impossible at least in the early days, as the unit accepted mainly "interhospital missiles" (psychopaths) from all over England. Forest House Neurosis Unit at Claybury Hospital, probably the first therapeutic community to attempt to measure personality, attitude, and symptom changes emanating from its management programme, for at least five years from its inception to my ftrst-hand knowledge did not treat families as such.


We have cloned a pullulanase gene from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. The pullulanase expressed from this clone in Escherichia coli was cell associated and soluble and had a molecular mass of 72 kilodaltons by gel filtration. Maxicell analysis of proteins coded by the cloned insert showed that a 71.6- to 73.2-kilodalton doublet was associated with pullulanase activity. Thus, the pullulanase is probably a monomer. The cloned pullulanase produced maltotriose as an end product of pullulan digestion. In B. thetaiotaomicron the pullulanase activity was cell associated. Approximately 80% of the activity was soluble, and 16 to 18% was membrane associated. The molecular mass of the soluble pullulanase was 77 kilodaltons by gel filtration. To determine whether the cloned pullulanase gene was essential for pullulan utilization, we used directed insertional mutagenesis to inactivate the B. thetaiotaomicron pullulanase gene. The pullulanase specific activity of the mutant was approximately 45% of that of wild-type B. thetaiotaomicron. However, the pullulanase-negative insertional mutant 95-1 was still able to grow on pullulan at a rate similar to that of wild-type B. thetaiotaomicron. Thus, there must be a second pullulanase in B. thetaiotaomicron.


We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that cation vacancy can be the origin of ferromagnetism in intrinsic dilute magnetic semiconductors. The vacancies can be controlled to tune the ferromagnetism. Using Li-doped ZnO as an example, we found that while Li itself is nonmagnetic, it generates holes in ZnO, and its presence reduces the formation energy of Zn vacancy, and thereby stabilizes the zinc vacancy. Room temperature ferromagnetism with p type conduction was observed in pulsed laser deposited ZnO:Li films with certain doping concentration and oxygen partial pressure.


Nowadays, there is an increase in the usage of geometric 3D models in movie industry, games and virtual environments.There are several existing solutions like user-driven models, 3D scanners but they are not fully satisfying in either in terms of cost and or in efficiency. To overcome these problems, we have introduced a costeffective solution based on analyzing image sequences. The main focus of this paper is on stereo vision, it is the process of recovering depth from camera images by comparing two or more views of the same scene.This paper mainly focuses on how to compute the depth map between two rectified stereo images.In this paper we use block matching, which is the standard algorithm for high-speed stereo vision in hardware systems. We first explore basic block matching, and then apply dynamic programming to improve accuracy, and image pyramiding to improve speed.


In the Swedish abattoirs there are assistants that judge the slaughtered animals in regard to diseases and injuries. All diseases and injuries assign different codes. This master's thesis is about code 42 which means injuries of different kinds like for example bruises etc. These injuries have risen during the transport from the farm to the abattoir lairage or during the stay at the lairage before slaughter. The value the slaughtered body looses because of the fact that meat has to be whittled away charges the abattoirs (SLVFS 1996).

The cattle at Swedish Meats facilities in Uppsala and Skara have more frequent officially recorded code 42 injuries than the rest of Swedish Meats plants in Sweden. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate why Uppsala and Skara more frequently record cattle with code 42 and try to understand where the injuries arise. Because of the fact that Swedish Meats has to stand for all costs from losses of excised meat it is an important issue for Swedish Meats both ethically and financially.

Bruises arise when the skin is exposed for hard beats and the blood vessels tear and blood flows into the surrounding tissue. The blood can be seen through the skin as swollen and blue (Hoffman et al, 1998). Humane pathology books have been used to be able to describe the healing of an injury. The healing starts with an inflammatory phase that consists of three different mechanisms, contraction, reparation and reconstruction. In most cases this three mechanisms work simultaneously (Rubin, 2000).

The study was carried out by working with data that was collected during 1st of January 2005 to 24th of March 2006. Factors that can affect the occurrence of injuries were recorded. These factors are transporters, farms, time in the transport, time at the lairage, category of the animal and weight of the animal. An own study was also carried out where the animals location in the lairage was recorded, which means in which line or loose box the animals were before slaughter. The slaughtered bodies were followed up in the slaughtering hall to see if the animals had injuries and the placement on the of these possible injuries.

Factors that matter the most why an animal is getting injuries are:

• Which category of animals the animal belongs to, the females are the category that is the most inclined to injuries and above all the cows.

• Which side of the body the animal lands on when falling out from the stunning box. This means that many injuries arise when the animal is stunned and no longer conscious.


The "rapproachment" is a way of reading religious paradigms that lead to the intersubjectivity of religious studies. Kim Knott as a researcher who focuses on the field of religious studies in providing new offers in the methodology of religious studies. This arises because of the many obstacles faced by academics in various universities regarding religious studies, starting from stagnation in methodology and approaches. Kim Knott's offer is based on two approaches, namely outsider and insider, then she developed into four elements, on the outsider includes pure researchers and researchers as participants, while in insider includes pure participants and participants as researchers, then to sharpen the objectivity of the research he offers a circular approach between subjects and object towards inter-subjectivity called the 'rapprochement' approach as reflective links that complement each other and lead to the intersection between religions.


Viral infection in perinatal period may affect early brain development, which increases the risk for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Our previous findings showed that polyriboioinic-polyribocytidylic acid (polyI:C) treatment in neonatal mice, which mimics virus infection by inducing innate immune system, leads to behavioral abnormality in adulthood. Furthermore, polyI:C treatment induces the expression of interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (Ifitm3) in astrocytes but not neurons. Ifitm3 may mediate polyI:C-induced neuronal impairment through the induction of humoral factors secreted from astrocytes. However, it remains unknown which molecular entity leads to the neuronal impairment. We screened humoral factors secreted from astrocytes by proteomic approach. As a result, we identified Follistatin like-1 (Fstl1) as a candidate astroglial factor. Astrocyte condition medium (ACM) from secondary cultured astrocytes treated with polyI:C contained a significantly higher amount of Fstl1 protein than the level in control ACM. Increase in Fstl1 level by polyI:C treatment was not observed in astrocytes from Ifitm3 KO mice. Treatment of recombinant Fstl1 on primary cultured neurons induced an impairment of neurite elongation, whereas, knockdown of Fstl1 in astrocytes diminished the neuronal impairment caused by treatment with ACM. These results suggest that astrocyte-derived Fstl1 plays a crucial role in polyI:C-induced neuronal impairment.


The N-terminal amino-acid sequence was determined for a major rice phloem protein with a molecular mass of 31 kDa, named RPP31. The corresponding full-length rice EST-clone was cloned based on the amino acid sequence. The predicted total amino-acid sequence of RPP31 shared high similarity with plant glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Recombinant RPP31 produced in Escherichia coli and rice phloem sap showed GST activity. Immunocytological analysis indicated that RPP31 is localized in the phloem region of leaves. In mature leaves, the signal was restricted to sieve element-companion cell complexes, and was stronger in sieve elements than in companion cells. Although some plant GSTs are known to be induced by xenobiotics, the amount of RPP31 was not affected by treatments with an herbicide, pretilachlor, and/or its safener, fenclorim. These results suggest that RPP31 is an active GST restricted to the phloem region of normal rice leaves.


Context: Denosumab and zoledronic acid (ZOL) are parenteral treatments for patients with osteoporosis. Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the effect of transitioning from oral bisphosphonates to denosumab or ZOL on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover. Design and Setting: This was an international, multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial. Participants: A total of 643 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis previously treated with oral bisphosphonates participated in the study. Interventions: Subjects were randomized 1:1 to sc denosumab 60 mg every 6 months plus iv placebo once or ZOL 5 mg iv once plus sc placebo every 6 months for 12 months. Main Outcome Measures: Changes in BMD and bone turnover markers were measured. Results: BMD change from baseline at month 12 was significantly greater with denosumab compared with ZOL at the lumbar spine (primary end point; 3.2% vs 1.1%; P < .0001), total hip (1.9% vs 0.6%; P < .0001), femoral neck (1.2% vs −0.1%; P < .0001), and one-third radius (0.6% vs 0.0%; P < .05). The median decrease from baseline was greater with denosumab than ZOL for serum C-telopeptide of type 1 collagen at all time points after day 10 and for serum procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide at month 1 and at all time points after month 3 (all P < .05). Median percentage changes from baseline in serum intact PTH were significantly greater at months 3 and 9 with denosumab compared with ZOL (all P < .05). Adverse events were similar between groups. Three events consistent with the definition of atypical femoral fracture were observed (two denosumab and one ZOL). Conclusions: In postmenopausal women with osteoporosis previously treated with oral bisphosphonates, denosumab was associated with greater BMD increases at all measured skeletal sites and greater inhibition of bone remodeling compared with ZOL.


This paper addresses Cheeger and Gromoll's question of which vector bundles admit a complete metric of nonnegative curvature, and relates their question to the issue of which sphere bundles admit a metric of positive curvature. We show that any vector bundle which admits a metric of nonnegative curvature must admit a connection, a tensor, and a metric on the base space which together satisfy a certain differential inequality. On the other hand, a slight sharpening of this condition is sufficient for the associated sphere bundle to admit a metric of positive curvature. Our results sharpen and generalize Walschap and Strake's conditions under which a vector bundle admits a connection metric of nonnegative curvature.


Abstract The balance between the meltwater supply of suspended sediment from an increasingly distal ice front and the local sources of clastic sediments through turbulent reworking is reflected in the stratigraphy of Weichselian glacimarine deposits near Göteborg. Descriptions from cored and exposed sections and process interpretations are reviewed in order to make generalized comparisons between the proximal to distal trends and the contrasting lithofacies in very distal settings. Since nearly all sediment was initially supplied by the meltwater overflow the distance to ice-front standstills, the seasonal or non-seasonal variability of the discharge and the local drainage were major influences on the textural and geochemical characteristics. This is best illustrated by the rhythmites interpreted to be annual varves. In very distal settings the fine sediments that the meltwater could supply are interrupted in the stratigraphy by silty and sand laminated clays interpreted to be the result of the increased importance of near-shore erosion. Granular sediments could be transported from local sources and concentrated in the stratigraphy during long periods of low meltwater discharge, such as with glacial stadial conditions. During high-discharge phases the fine-grained sedimentation predominated at localities along regional drainage paths for the meltwater and the coarser input from local sources was diluted.


This paper gives a detailed description of the consonant system of Campidanese Sardinian and makes methodological and theoretical contributions to the study of lenition. The data are drawn from a corpus of field recordings, including roughly 400 utterances produced by 15 speakers from the Trexenta and Western Campidanese areas. Campidanese has a complex lenition system that interacts with length, voicing, and manner contrasts. We show that the semi-automated lenition analysis presented in this journal by Ennever, Meakins, and Round can be fruitfully extended to our corpus, despite its much more heterogeneous set of materials in a genetically distant language. Intensity measurements from this method do not differ qualitatively from more traditional ones in their ability to detect lenition-fortition patterns, but do differ in interactions with stress. Lenition-fortition patterns reveal at least three levels of prosodic constituent in Campidanese, each of which is associated with medial lenition and initial fortition. Lenition affects all consonants and V-V transitions. It reduces duration, increases intensity, and probabilistically affects qualitative manner and voicing features in obstruents. Mediation analysis using regression modeling suggests that some intensity and most qualitative reflexes of lenition are explained by changes in duration, but not vice versa.


: Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of plants to undergo changes in morphology and yield components to adapt themselves to distinct environmental conditions. The knowledge on the changes in yield components of branches and stems at varied plant spatial arrangements needs to be updated due to recent changes in soybean production system. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the yield components of branches and stems, as well as to assess the share of these plant parts in the total grain yield of soybean cultivars with indeterminate growth type, under different spatial arrangements. The experiment was conducted during the growing seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, under a randomized complete-block design and in a 4 × 3 × 2 factorial scheme with three replications. Treatments consisted of four row spacing patterns (narrow rows, twin rows, traditional row spacing, and crossed rows), three seeding rates (150, 300, and 450 thousand viable seeds∙ha –1 ), and two cultivars (BMX Potência RR and BRS 359 RR). Narrow rows reduce pods and grains production in branches in relation to the traditional row spacing. The number of grains per pod of stem and of branches is not altered by the changes in plant arrangement. The increase in seeding rate reduces the number of pods per plant of branches in greater magnitude than that of stems. The rise in seeding rate results in larger thousand-grain mass both of branches and of stems, but varies with the growing season.


Using a repeated game approach, this paper models a North-South trade agreement under which North offers South improved market access (via a tariff reduction) if South agrees to prevent local imitation by strengthening its protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs). We show that such an agreement arises in equilibrium if South's imitative capacity is neither too high nor too low. The paper also considers a scenario where Southern protection of IPRs is induced via a North-South transfer. A comparison of the two instruments shows that one instrument does not unambiguously dominate the other in terms of sustaining cooperation. We also analyze whether and how the availability of the second instrument affects cooperation given that one instrument is already available.


This study aimed to appraise two quantitative magnetic resonance imaging techniques, T2* imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), for the diagnosis of the intervertebral disc degeneration of the cervico-thoracic junction. Influence of specific factors and diagnostic accuracy of both techniques were particularly explored. Sixty-one volunteers with neck and upper back pain were recruited and evaluated with both T2* imaging and DWI. The Pfirrmann grade, T2* relaxation time and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of each disc between C7 and T3 were recorded. Stratified analyses were performed for different anatomic levels, genders, age ranges and Pfirrmann grades. The diagnostic accuracy of both techniques was investigated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. No statistically significant difference of either T2* relaxation time or ADC value was detected between males and females. Both parameters decreased with the increasing age and Pfirrmann grade. The ROC curves showed the higher sensitivity and specificity for T2* imaging than DWI to quantitatively identify the disc degeneration. Particularly, T2* imaging allowed for a quantitative distinguishing the normal, mild and moderate disc degeneration from the severe degeneration, which was unable to accomplish with DWI. In conclusion, we demonstrated that T2* imaging possess a better accuracy than DWI to quantitatively diagnose the intervertebral disc degeneration at the cervico-thoracic junction.


Objective Discussion 25G vitrectomy system for idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane treatment. Methods Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center collected in July 2007-2009 in January 43 cases of idiopathic macular epiretinal membranes in patients with clinical data and follow-up records,23 of which use the traditional,three-channel by the ciliary body 20G pars plana vitrectomy,20 eyes Conjunctival Suture after 25G vitrecto my-free system. The average operation time of the two groups,postoperative visual acuity,eye performance were analyzed,and the two groups wete observed during post-operative complications. Results 25G group operation time 20-28min,an average of 25 min,20G Group 30-40 min,an average of 35. 5 min; Two groups of patients to improve postoperative visual acuity was no significant difference ( P 0. 05) . Metamorphopsia as partof the disappearance of sympoms, most significantly improved. Fundus punctate capillary bleeding were similar,20G group to form a macular hole,no other postoperative complications in patients. Conclusion Group 20G and 25G vitrectomy system can effectively remove the macular epiretinal membrane,significantly improve visual acuity,complications rare, 25G vitrectomy system to simplify surgical procedures,increasing patient comfort and improve the efficiency and quality of surgery.


Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of liquid GeSe2 show that the first sharp diffraction peak in the concentration-concentration structure factor S-CC(k) is due to a sequence of connected fourfold rings. These subunits can be viewed as chains of edge-sharing tetrahedra. Ge atoms at the opposite tails of these chains are mostly miscoordinated and separated from each other by intermediate range distances. This result correlates a specific structural subunit to a subtle intermediate range order property, involving both the structural and chemical composition of the disordered network.


OBJECTIVES
Pediatric oncology patients are at risk of adverse drug events. The incidence and etiologies of liver injury in this population are not well characterized. We utilized a large, single-center pediatric oncology registry to investigate the incidence, causes, and outcomes of liver injury during treatment for solid tumor malignancies.

METHODS
We reviewed all young individuals (age < 25 years) who received treatment for any solid tumor at the University of Michigan between January 2004 and July 2016. Subjects with liver injury meeting predetermined laboratory criteria were identified. Cases were independently reviewed by two expert hepatologists to assign a cause of liver injury. Clinical characteristics of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and non-DILI cases were compared. Cases of liver injury occurring after bone marrow or liver transplant were excluded.

RESULTS
Of 1136 solid tumor patients, 160 (14%) experienced liver injury, and the overall frequency of DILI was 4%. DILI was the leading identified cause of liver injury (31%), followed by infection (17%), metastatic/malignant biliary disease (13%) and perioperative liver injury (13%). Most DILI cases (>90%) were mild acute hepatocellular injury episodes that did not result in modification to the chemotherapy plan, and all DILI eventually resolved. Severe presentations involving jaundice and/or prolonged hospital course were significantly more common among non-DILI vs. DILI cases (23% vs 2%, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
DILI is the leading cause of liver injury events among pediatric solid tumor patients. In our registry, DILI was of mild severity and did not result in an alteration of the treatment plan in most patients. In contrast, non-DILI related liver injury events, including infection, were more likely to have a more severe presentation and a complicated course with a greater mortality during follow-up.


Mature and aging clastic-dominated hydrocarbon fields commonly become increasingly difficult to produce, causing lower economic return than initially forecast. A major cause of this reduced economic viability is compartmentalization, defined as limitation on the ability to produce hydrocarbons resulting from permeability barriers within a field. Three primary causes of compartmentalization are (i) structural variations in permeability, (ii) stratigraphic variations in permeability, and (iii) permeability reduction resulting from compaction adjacent to producing wellbores. Recognition and delineation of compartmentalization permits formulation of development and depletion plans to maximize recovery and economic value. Here we examine one of several reservoir-scale faults that compartmentalize a portion of the Eastern Shallow Oil Zone, Elk Hills Field, California. Using well log, stratigraphic, structural, and pressure data, we apply standard fault seal analyses to the selected fault. Results are compared with known pressure conditions across the fault, and show the fault capable of supporting pressure differentials two to three times those expected from standard fault seal measures. Reasons for this apparently anomalous behavior include (i) reduction of pore fluid pressure resulting from hydrocarbon production over the last 90 years has reduced the slip tendency of all faults in the field, and concomitantly increased their sealing potential; (ii) fault zones contain structures that may not seal the fault over millions of years, but create permeability barriers at production time scales; and (iii) the presence of uninterpreted smalldisplacement faults adjacent to mapped faults that contribute to permeability reduction important at production, but not trap formation, time scales.


The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it argues that the Mycenaean Greek world served as a nexus for international trade between the Near East and Europe during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600 to 1100 BCE). Rather than a barbarian periphery, Europe – and in particular regions such as the Carpathian basin and the southern Baltic (Denmark and Scania) – was an integral part of the much better known 'civilised' world of the ancient Near East. Second, it argues that 'mercenaries' (a term that I will use rather loosely, and which includes both private entrepreneurs and military captives) served as a hitherto overlooked conduit for knowledge exchange between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Near East. It will do so by highlighting a number of remarkable archaeological finds, and by discussing these against the backdrop of contemporary (Late Bronze Age and Iron Age) texts as well as later legends.


32-bit software implementations become increasingly popular for embedded security applications. As a result, profiling 32-bit target intermediate values becomes increasingly needed to evaluate their side-channel security. This implies the need of statistical tools that can deal with long traces and large number of classes. While there are good options to solve these issues separately (e.g., linear regression and linear discriminant analysis), the current state of the art lacks efficient tools to solve them jointly. To the best of our knowledge, the best-known option is to fragment the profiling in smaller parts, which is suboptimal from the information theoretic viewpoint. In this paper, we therefore revisit regression-based linear discriminant analysis, which combines linear regression and linear discriminant analysis, and improve its efficiency so that it can be used for profiling long traces corresponding to 32-bit implementations. Besides introducing the optimizations needed for this purpose, we show how to use regression-based linear discriminant analysis in order to obtain efficient bounds for the perceived information, an information theoretic metric characterizing the security of an implementation against profiled attacks. We also combine this tool with optimizations of soft analytical side-channel attack that apply to bitslice implementations. We use these results to attack a 32-bit implementation of SAP instantiated with Ascon's permutation, and show that breaking the initialization of its re-keying in one trace is feasible for determined adversaries.


Objectives To correlate cartilage thickness as measured by ultrasound (US) with joint space narrowing (JSN) and joint space width (JSW) as measured by conventional radiography in the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. To validate US for measuring cartilage thickness, cadaver specimens of MCP joints were evaluated by US and by anatomical measurement. Methods Bilateral MCP 2-5 joints of 35 consecutive patients (280 joints) recruited in our outpatient clinic who had conventional radiographs (<1 years) of both hands available as well as cadaver specimens of MCP 2-5 joints (n:12) were included in the analysis. The cartilage layer of the metacarpal heads and proximal phalangeal bases 2-5 of included patients as well as of cadavers were assessed bilaterally using a 15 Mhz linear transducer (GE Logic E9) from dorsal longitudinal and transverse views in midline by 2 sonographers blinded to clinical/radiographic data. Cartilage thickness was measured in cm with an integrated caliper on static US images. Both JSW and JSN were evaluated on conventional posterior-anterior radiographs. JSW was quantified as the shortest distance betweenthe subchondral bone plates using a standard measurementtool, while JSN was evaluated using the van der Heijde modified Sharp scoring method (vdHS). Ankylosed and luxated joints were excluded from the analysis. Anatomical metacarpal cartilage thickness (MCT) was also evaluated on static digital images of fresh frozen cadaver specimens, split in the mid-sagittal plane. Cartilage thickness was correlated with x-ray findings using Spearman's or Pearson's correlation. Intra- and interobserver reliability of US, and agreement between US and anatomic measurements were assessed by estimating the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results In the patient population mean age was 63.1±11.3 years, mean disease duration was 10.6±7.8 years, mean CDAI was 8.1±7.3; 82.9% were female and 51% were rheumatoid factor positive. US measurement of MCT of MCP 2-5 was 0,42+/-0,19 mm. MCT of individual joints of the left and right hand correlated with individual MCP JSN (r=-0.799 and -0.702 respectively, p<0.01) and individual MCP JSW (r=0.588 and 0.401 respectively, p<0.01). The sum score of MCT for MCP joint 2-5 correlated with total MCP JSW (r=0.771, p<0.01), total JSN (r=-0.412, p<0.05), sum erosion score of the vdHS (r=-0.500, p<0.01) and the total vdHS (r=-0.576, p<0.01). No correlation was found between phalangeal cartilage thickness and JSN or JSW. Intra- and interobserver reliability of the US measurement of MCT in the clinical cohort and in the cadavers was 0.77 and 0.62, and 0.91 and 0.75 respectively. Agreement between US and anatomic measurement of MCT on cadaver specimens of MCP joints was 0.62. Conclusions Both JSW and JSN by radiography indeed represent cartilage thickness at least in MCP joints. US is a valid tool for measuring MCT. Phalangeal cartilage thickness has no added value beyond the measurement of MCT. When radiographic scoring is not available, US measurement of MCT might be a feasible alternative to depict cartilage damage in patients with RA. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Comparisons made by the Large Core Code Evaluation Working Group (LCCEWG) show that excellent agreement is obtained by different diffusion theory codes run on different computers at different installations in computing representative models of large fast reactors. It is noted that finite difference diffusion theory computer codes are still not fast enough to run the largest problems, but the coarse-mesh nodal expansion methods now seem capable not only of providing accurate global results in very short computing times, but also of recovering consistent local flux shapes. A new multigrid method due to Brandt gives promise of very effective acceleration of diffusion equation iterations and also makes possible adaptive mesh solution procedures. The latest version of the discrete ordinates code DOT-IV allows energy and spatial variation of the discrete ordinates quadrature order as well as a form of line deletion. The three-dimensional discrete ordinates code THREETRAN (hex,.z) has been successfully used to analyze problems representative of fast reactor systems during the approach-to-critical loading phase. New discrete ordinates difference schemes are described that include a more accurate, positive weighed diamond scheme, a positive geometric mean scheme, and the analog of the diamond scheme for triangular meshes.


After characterizing the so called  possesive genitive as a case mark on nominal DP arguments, this article proposes that Basque structural genitive case is checked in the specifier of the head possessive , right below DP. This position attracts both subject and object genitives thus creating a multiple specifier configuration. As a result, Basque multiple genitive constructions display the features described by Richards (2001) for multiple A-specifiers (superiority, lack of scope ambiguity) and provide the basis to analyze several word order restrictions observed in Eguzkitza (1993); moreover, the derived order  SO(X)N shows  Person Case Constraint effects. The main consequences are that: (a) DP raising is pervasive in Basque noun phrases; and (b) we confirm that UG allows multiple case (here genitive) checking but disallows multiple person checking (Boeckx 2003, Jeong 2004, Ormazabal & Romero 2007, Rezac 2008).


In the past decade, oocyte donation has become a widely used assisted reproduction technique with reported pregnancy rates often higher than those for conventional in-vitro fertilization. Recipients of donated oocytes include women with premature ovarian failure or severe genetic disorders, those who respond poorly to ovarian hyperstimulation, women over 40 years of age, and, recently, postmenopausal women. The donation of oocytes to older women raises many medical and social issues which have to be addressed.


Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is generated in serpentine soils and exported to surface and groundwaters at levels above health-based drinking water standards. Although Cr(VI) concentrations are elevated in serpentine soil pore water, few studies have reported field evidence documenting Cr(VI) production rates and fluxes that govern Cr(VI) transport from soil to water sources. We report Cr speciation (i) in four serpentine soil depth profiles derived from the California Coast Range serpentinite belt and (ii) in local surface waters. Within soils, we detected Cr(VI) in the same horizons where Cr(III)-minerals are colocated with biogenic Mn(III/IV)-oxides, suggesting Cr(VI) generation through oxidation by Mn-oxides. Water-extractable Cr(VI) concentrations increase with depth constituting a 7.8 to 12 kg/km2 reservoir of Cr(VI) in soil. Here, Cr(VI) is produced at a rate of 0.3 to 4.8 kg Cr(VI)/km2/yr and subsequently flushed from soil during water infiltration, exporting 0.01 to 3.9 kg Cr(VI)/km2/yr at concentrations ranging from 25 to 172 μg/L. Although soil-derived Cr(VI) is leached from soil at concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L, due to reduction and dilution during transport to streams, Cr(VI) levels measured in local surface waters largely remain below California's drinking water limit.


High-performance structural composite components have historically been most often manufactured with prepreg materials cured in an autoclave oven. To remain cost-competitive, it is generally assumed that in the future an increasing fraction of parts will be manufactured with a faster, less expensive process such as liquid composite moulding (LCM). The weakness of LCM processes is the generally higher void content compared with prepreg and autoclave processing, due to entrapment of bubbles during infusion. The effect of voids on the resulting mechanical properties is still relatively unclear, especially for heterogeneous void distributions, which is always the case in LCM. Intuitively it is expected that void parameters such as size, shape, location, clustering, and local concentration would play a role in damage development and failure, but their relative effects are currently not well understood. A better understanding of these micromechanisms could ideally give some indications as to how to supress damage formation and improve the mechanical performance.This study focuses on the formation of voids in resin transfer moulded carbon fibre reinforced polymers and their effect on damage development that ultimately leads to final failure. This was done by characterising voids in the resin of the cured laminates using X-ray computed tomography (CT), and by looking at the material failure mechanisms associated with in-plane and out-of-plane behaviour. Laminate coupons were tested under low cycle tension fatigue and low velocity out-of-plane impact/indentation. The void distribution was found to be heterogeneous with voids nucleating in plies where the fibre orientation was not parallel to the flow direction, at the ply interfaces, and along woven yarns. In out-of-plane loading, multiple cracks/delaminations were seen to interact with these void regions. As a consequence of increased loading, these delaminations grew and coalesced with their neighbours to form a single larger delamination prior to final failure. In open-hole, in-plane tension fatigue testing, larger voids resulted in delaminations initiating at the void. Transverse (out-of-plane) cracks are seen to form around smaller voids.


Objective:To evaluate immune reconstitution within HIV-infected lymphoid tissue during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Design and methods:In situ cellular responses were studied in sequential tonsillar biopsies in three asymptomatic HIV-infected (CD4 cells greater than 400 × 106/l) antiretroviral treatment-naive volunteers enrolled in a clinical trial to determine the early effect of HAART. Computerized image analysis was used to study immunohistochemically stained sequential tonsil sections for the patterns of local cytokine production, chemokine receptor expression and cellular distribution. Replicate quantitative assessments of samples before and after 4 weeks of therapy were used for the evaluation of drug effects and compared with four uninfected controls. Tonsillar HIV proviral-DNA was determined by fluorescent in situ 5′-nuclease assay. Results:HIV-infected tonsil tissue was characterized by extensive pro-inflammatory and type 1 cytokine expression. A five- to 15-fold elevation of interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-12, IL-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ protein expression was found compared with controls, and each encompassed a mean of at least 4.5% of the tissue compartment. This was reduced by 20–90% in all individuals after 4 weeks of HAART. In contrast, type 2 cytokine expression (IL-4, IL-10), plus tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, remained low throughout the study. HAART reduced, by 40%, the expression of HIV co-receptors, CCR5 and CXCR4, which initially were elevated four to six times over the control values. In addition, the myelomonocytic inflammatory proteins, CD68 and calprotectin, diminished by 26–83% after therapy. The HIV RNA was reduced to undetectable levels in plasma by HAART. However, a large pool of tonsil cells (2–7%), remained HIV DNA positive after 4 weeks of therapy. Conclusions:Although immune activation may be the direct consequence of HIV replication, HAART-associated reconstitution begins with a reduction in inflammatory cytokine production which precedes the elimination of local proviral reservoirs.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States. Oxidative stress and DNA damage have been associated with a variety of human pathophysiological conditions, including colon cancer. Complex DNA damage may manifest in double strand breaks (DSBs) and non-DSB, bi-stranded, oxidatively-induced clustered DNA lesions (OCDLs). To date, there is very limited knowledge regarding the possible accrual of OCDLs in human colon tumors or the OCDL repair efficiency of primary colonic malignant cells. Therefore, the impact of oxidatively-induced clustered DNA damage in the predisposition to or progression of colon cancer remains undefined. We hypothesized that colon adenocarcinoma tissue and cells would have increased levels of DNA damage compared with normal counterparts. Furthermore, we expected that malignant colon cells would exhibit a defective Base Excision Repair (BER) pathway. To test this hypothesis, normal and malignant colonic tissue from 10 consented female patients was collected and number of DNA lesions measured using neutral constant field gel electrophoresis. Quantitative measurement of OCDL difference in each group was achieved using QuantiScan analysis. DNA repair efficiency of colon tissue-derived primary normal and malignant cells was assessed by single-cell gel electrophoresis. Expression and localization of BER-associated proteins was determined through Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. We found that degree of complex DNA damage varied among individual subjects. Forty percent of patients had tumors with increased levels of APE1-induced OCDLs compared to normal counterparts. The vast majority (80%) of malignant tissue expressed higher levels of APE1, XRCC1 and PARP1, ranging from 3- to >10-fold, compared to normal peri-tumoral tissue. However, 20% of malignant tissue had reduced levels of the aforementioned proteins as compared to peri-tumoral matched normal tissue. Oxidatively-induced DNA damage was more efficiently repaired in primary cells derived from normal tissue compared to cells from paired malignant tissue (1 hour versus >6 hours) following treatment with 6 mM H2O2. Since the expression of most BER-associated proteins (e.g., XRCC1, OGG1, etc.) was similar in both malignant and normal cells, the DNA repair defect may be the result of a 2.5-fold lower expression of APE1 protein measured in these cancerous cells compared to normal primary cells. Furthermore, a differential cytoplasmic to nuclear translocation of APE1 was also observed in cancerous cells compared to normal cells during the DNA damage and repair process. In conclusion, these findings strongly indicate that there is variation in oxidatively-induced complex DNA damage – perhaps mediated through a defective BER pathway – among patients with colon cancer, thus underscoring the need for patient-specific approaches to diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3920. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3920


Introduction: Worldwide data indicate that exposure to passive smoking as well as to occupational dusts and chemicals and indoor air pollution is associated with COPD development. Aims and objectives: To identify the association between burning coal smoke exposure and COPD development in Greek urban and rural population. Methods: The study was conducted in Greek rural and urban population in Thessaly, Greece, after an open invitation in residents over 65 years old. The study team visited the study participants and performed spirometry. Data regarding smoking status, respiratory symptoms, wood stoves and coal burning smoke exposure were recorded. Results: Finally, 494 subjects (248 males – 246 females) were included in the study. Overall COPD prevalence was 41.2% being more prevalent in males. In females, COPD prevalence was 32.4%, although only 10.6% were current or ex-smokers. COPD diagnosis in the total population was associated with male sex (OR: 1.973, p=0.01), type of area of residence (OR: 1.458, p=0.009), smoking status (OR: 1.714, p=0.003), dyspnea (OR: 0.620, p=0.019) and exposure to wood stoves and coal burning smoke exposure (OR: 1.722, p=0.046). However, COPD diagnosis was associated with smoking status only in males (OR: 1.923, p=0.002), whereas with the type of area of residence (OR: 2.216, p=0.001) and wood stoves and coal burning smoke exposure (OR: 2.305, p=0.039) in females Conclusion: Exposure to wood stoves and coal burning smoke was associated with COPD development especially in women of rural areas in Greece. Such type of exposure may explain the high prevalence of COPD in nonsmoking women.


The RGK family of proteins, small GTPases of the Ras superfamily, are known to regulate calcium currents. Iit is commonly thought that this is due to an interaction with the Cavβ subunit, however, the mechanism of this inhibition is unclear. There have been conflicting reports of whether RGK proteins can affect channel trafficking or whether they reduce calcium currents by interacting with channels at the membrane. In the last year, several studies have emerged which explore the intricacies of RGK protein interaction with the channel itself and the importance of the Cavβ subunit for this interaction, in addition to providing some tantalizing suggestions for the mechanism by which RGK proteins reduce or eliminate calcium currents. In this review, we present an overview of these recent advances and suggest a model that may synthesize these latest works.


Light-gauge steel framed (LSF) walls with plasterboard lining are increasingly used in modern building construction due to their numerous advantages. Their fire performance has been investigated using both numerical and experimental studies in the past for lipped channel section (LCS) and welded hollow flange section (HFC) studs. A new riveted HFC stud was also considered. However, no attempt was made to use a structurally and economically optimum stud section in the wall configurations. This paper investigates the fire performance of a new stiffened channel section (SCS) as LSF wall studs. The proposed section succeeds in delaying both local and distortional buckling modes. At ambient temperature, the member compression capacity of each stud section, normalized to its squash capacity, was used to compare the performance of the three sections. It was found that the performance of SCS is equivalent to the LSB and superior to the LCS. The fire performance of LSF wall studs made of LCS, LSB, and the proposed section has also been assessed for three common wall configurations using finite element (FE) analyses. The walls were exposed to the standard ISO 834-1 fire curve on one side. Stud time-temperature profiles were developed for the three wall configurations using finite element thermal analyses and validated using available full-scale fire test data. Fire Resistance Levels (FRL) of load bearing and non-load bearing walls were determined and validated using previous experimental and numerical results. For the same load ratio, the three stud sections perform similarly, giving close FRL values for each of the configurations considered. Due to the elimination of the necessity for welding or riveting, it is proposed that SCS is used to develop structurally and economically optimum LSF walls compared to those made using LCS and welded or riveted HFC sections. FRL versus Load Ratio curves were developed for the full range of load ratio using both steady and transient state FE analyses. Using them, the susceptibility of cavity insulated, non-load bearing LSF walls to failure due to structural inadequacy was also identified.


Trading decisions are based on market conditions with changing volatility levels. Periods with low volatility induce positively autocorrelated returns and autocorrelations turn negative during periods of high volatility. The Brexit referendum serves as a suitable event in order to depict investors' behavior under distress. Evidence for autocorrelation of index returns is provided by capturing global market movements without to specify an explicit measure of volatility. Furthermore, asset types have a mutual relationship among each other. Thereby, the dependency is affected by both the return type and the particular state. Keeping this in mind, investors can diversify risk by investing in different asset classes or select a suitable class given a particular state. To be more precise, investors should incorporate bitcoin in their portfolios because we argue that it can be grouped as in between a safe haven and a risky investment.


Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has been specified by the IEEE 802.11a standard as the transmission technique for high-rate wireless local area networks (WLANs). The performance of an OFDM system, however, is heavily degraded by random Wiener phase noise, which causes both common phase error (CPE) and inter-carrier interference (ICI). To mitigate this problem, a new phase noise suppression (PNS) algorithm is proposed to efficiently eliminate the effect of phase noise on OFDM-based WLANs. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


Machine learning pushes the frontiers of algorithmic achievements, though the striving for state-of-the-art performance often obscures the fragility of enforcing decisions amid uncertainty. This paper interprets machine learning within Karl Popper's epistemology. We assess machine learning paradigms' fit for falsificationism and argue that the new interpretation can improve robustness. Though the price is to accept unambiguous decisions, the restriction of the hypothesis space still adds value. The context for our work is established by comparison with similar techniques and highlighting its limitations.


The decentralized and loosely coupled virtual enterprise's appearance prompts a new form of project realization, i.e., the distributed and collaborated project realization, which challenges the research and application of the traditional project management. The imprecise data for scheduling and potential interest conflicts between the individual member enterprises and the whole project cause the difficulties and complexities of the global level scheduling in virtual enterprise. In this work, based on the fuzzy specification of the corresponding information, we present an approach, through the coordination between the manager and the partners, to obtain the global predictive scheduling integrating the member enterprise selection and its sub-scheduling by which the time performance is optimized. Also the strategies of the resources allocation in the member enterprises are given.


While many Indian feel good to see, touch and go round the retail outlets for shopping but however, Internet has transformed many aspects of life. For some services like booking ticket and travel plans this has definitely become the most preferred source of purchase due to convenience. This paper is an attempt to bring out different aspects of this trend of online buying behavior which has picked up since almost 15 years, it highlight the factors influencing the online buying decision along with the negative factors which deter the consumer to go online purchase. Further, the study focuses on how the demographic factors influence the online buying decision along with the informational sources that influence the choice of websites. From the study it was found that clothes, footwear and accessories are the most purchase online, while the factors that interests the online shopper was found to be discounts and the negative motivation was due to poor quality of product and fake product. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 38-43


Introduction: There is an urgent need for efficacious interventions to combat the global mental health crisis, and mental health promotion and primary preventive approaches are paramount. Objective: This study examined whether an online multimodal intervention that incorporates evidence-based strategies from the disciplines of Lifestyle Medicine and Positive Psychology improved measures of mental health and emotional wellness. Methods: 425 adults (68.8% females, aged 46.5 ± 15.6) from Australia and New Zealand were randomised to an intervention or control group. The intervention group participated in a ten-week online multimodal intervention. Measures of mental health and emotional wellness were taken at baseline (Week 1), post-intervention (Week 12), and 12 weeks post-intervention (Week 24). The control group completed the same assessments. Results: The intervention group experienced significant improvements from Week 1 to 12 in: mental health (10%, p < 0.001, d = 0.50) and vitality (22%, p < 0.001, d = 0.54) subscales of the Short Form Survey (SF-36); depression (-42%, p < 0.001, d = 0.48), anxiety (-38%, p < 0.001, d = 0.39) and stress (-31%, p < 0.001, d = 0.52) subscales of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and life satisfaction (8%, p < 0.001, d = 0.48) as measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS).The control group experienced significant improvements only in the mental health (3%, p = 0.028, d = 0.16) subscale of the SF-36, and the stress subscale (-9%, p = 0.038, d = 0.15) of the DASS-21. The changes in the intervention group were significantly greater (p < 0.001) than the control group for all measures. Improvements in the outcome measures were generally sustained for the intervention group at 12 weeks post-intervention. Conclusion: The online multimodal intervention improved measures of mental health and emotional wellness suggesting that such interventions may be useful for mental health promotion and prevention. Trial registration: The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619000993190. Registered on 12 July 2019 (Retrospectively registered). The ANZCTRN is part of the WHO Primary Registries.


Wound botulism is an uncommon disorder that continues to be rarely reported in the United States. A 34-year-old intravenous heroin user was admitted to the Loma Linda, Calif., Veterans Administration hospital with multiple abscesses on his forearms. His clinical course was compatible with botulism, and his culture and serum were positive for Clostridium botulinum toxin type A. Early culture and/or serum identification can lead to prompt diagnosis, treatment, and improvement in the morbidity and mortality rates of this disease.


Introduction: Allergic asthma (AA) patients develop different asthmatic response types after allergen challenge. Differences concerning Th9 cells and iterleukin-9 (IL9) in early asthmatic response (EAR) and dual asthmatic response (DAR) are not investigated. Study aim was to estimate the count of peripheral blood Th9 cells and interleukin-9 (IL-9) level in asthma patients with EAR and DAR.

Material and Methods: 47 patients free of steroids with mild or moderate AA and 29 healthy individuals (HI) as control group were examined. Peripheral blood was collected 24h before and 24h after bronchial allergen challenge (BAC). Th9 cells were defined by flow cytometry as CD4+IL9+IFNγ-TGFβ1-IL4-IL17-, serum interleukin-9 (IL-9) concentration was investigated by ELISA.

Results: 30 AA patients developed EAR, 17 AA patients developed DAR after BAC. In baseline data DAR group had higher percentage of peripheral blood Th9 cells compare with EAR and HI group (0.98% vs. 0.55% vs. 0.09%, P<0.01). 24h after BAC percentage of Th9 cells significantly increased in AA patients compare to HI (0.64% vs. 0.11%, P<0.01). Greater percentage of Th9 cells was found in DAR group compare with EAR asthma patients group (1,82% vs.1,03%, P<0.01). At the baseline serum IL-9 concentration was higher in DAR group compare to EAR and HI groups (78pg/ml vs. 67pg/ml vs. 37pg/ml, P<0.01). IL-9 concentration increased in all AA patients but especially in DAR group 24h after BAC (P<0.01). No significant IL-9 level differences was found HI group.

Conclusions: Asthma patients with DAR demonstrate greater percentage of peripheral blood Th9 cell count and IL-9 level compared to patients with EAR.


ABSTRACT Background: Tobacco use is higher among homeless individuals than the general population. Homeless individuals are also more likely to have symptoms of depression. Depression symptoms may add to the burden of homelessness by increasing psychological distress and serve as a barrier to quitting smoking. Objectives: The primary goal of this study is to assess the impact of depression symptoms on psychological distress in homeless smokers. The effect of depression symptoms on abstinence and the effect of Motivational Interviewing (MI) on cessation among smokers is also explored. Methods: Homeless smokers (N = 430) enrolled in a smoking cessation study were randomized to Motivational Interviewing (MI) or standard care (SC). Participants received nicotine replacement therapy and were followed for 26 weeks. Participants were categorized into a depression symptoms (DS) group or control group using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Between group differences of perceived stress, hopelessness, confidence, craving and abstinence were assessed at weeks 8 and 26. The interaction between depression symptoms (levels: DS and control) and the intervention (levels: MI and SC) was also assessed. Results: Homeless smokers in the DS group reported higher levels of hopelessness, perceived stress, and craving. There was no effect of DS status on abstinence at week 8 or week 26. There was no significant interaction between depression symptoms (DS vs. Control) and the intervention (MI vs. SC). Conclusion: Despite reporting greater psychological distress, homeless smokers with depression symptoms in this sample had abstinence levels similar to the control group. Future research should explore protective factors among depressed smokers.


Scrapie agent contains a proteinaceous component as well as an 'informational' molecule (suggested by the existence of distinct strains of scrapie). These operationally defined entities may be the same molecule, an infectious protein, or distinct, in which case a nucleic acid might encode the genetic information. Purification of scrapie agent enriched a protein, PrPSc, by virtue of its relative protease resistance. There is only a single PrP gene and the primary translation product of PrP mRNA is the same in normal and scrapie-infected brain; therefore the normal PrPC and the protease-resistant isoform, PrPSc, found in scrapie, probably result from different post-translational events. To search for scrapie-specific nucleic acid, globin RNA made in vitro was added to highly purified infectious preparations at a ratio of 10(3) molecules per infectious unit, nucleic acids were isolated and denatured, and cDNA synthesized using random oligonucleotide primers. Clones containing globin-related sequences were identified by in situ hybridization. 150 plaques not hybridizing to the globin probe were isolated. Inserts larger than 50 base pairs were analysed. By hybridization to a globin probe at reduced stringency all but four clones were found to contain small globin related inserts; two of these hybridized to hamster repetitive sequences as shown by Southern blot analysis. The other clones not related to hamster nucleic acids may be derived from unknown sources of contamination or from scrapie-specific nucleic acids.


Background Acoustic rhinometry (AR) has been used to assess nasal valve obstruction. Standard AR measurement of the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the nasal valve is done in the apneic phase, whereas collapse often occurs on inspiration. We used the ratio of the CSA obtained during active inspiration and during apnea to compute a more meaningful method of diagnosing nasal valve collapse. Methods AR was performed in 40 patients without nasal valve obstruction and 47 patients diagnosed with nasal valve obstruction. Patients with septal deflection or anterior inferior turbinate hypertrophy were excluded. The internal and external nasal valve area was observed during apnea and on active inspiration. AR measurement of the CSA of both nasal valves was performed during the apneic phase and during active inspiration and the CSA (inspiratory)/CSA (apneic) ratio was calculated. Results The CSA (inspiratory)/CSA (apneic) ratio was ≥1 in normal patients and in patients with fixed nasal valve collapse. The ratio was <1 in patients with inspiratory collapse. Data from history, physical examination, and dual-mode AR testing successfully differentiated patients into (1) normal valves, (2) fixed valve collapse, and (3) inspiratory valve collapse. A large number of patients with collapse had both internal and external valve obstruction and a large number also had a combination of inspiratory and fixed collapse. Conclusion Dual-mode AR testing is an effective tool in more precisely identifying nasal valve obstruction and is the first objective test shown to be highly diagnostic of inspiratory nasal valve collapse.


Background Psychosocial factors may significantly affect post-transplant outcomes. The Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT) was developed as an assessment tool to enhance the pre-transplant psychosocial evaluation. Methods We identified heart, lung, liver, or kidney transplant recipients assessed with the SIPAT pre-transplantation and transplanted between June 1, 2008, and July 31, 2011, at our institution. We analyzed prospectively accumulated psychosocial and medical outcomes at 1 year of follow-up. Results 217 patients were identified and included in the analysis. The primary outcomes of organ failure and mortality occurred in 12 and 21 patients, respectively, and were not significantly associated with the pre-transplant SIPAT scores. On the other hand, SIPAT scores were significantly correlated with the probability of poor medical and psychosocial outcomes (secondary outcomes). In fact, higher SIPAT scores predicted higher rates of rejection episodes (Spearman &rgr; = 0.15, 95% 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.02–0.28, p = .023), medical hospitalizations (&rgr; = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.16–0.41, p < .001), infection rates (p = .020), psychiatric decompensation (p = .005), and support system failure (area under the curve = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.60–0.79, p < .001). The relationship with nonadherence suggested a trend, but no statistical significance was observed (area under the curve = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.50–0.71, p = .058). Conclusions Study outcomes suggest that SIPAT is a promising pre-transplantation assessment tool that helps identify candidate's areas of psychosocial vulnerability and whose scores are associated with both psychosocial and medical outcomes after transplantation.


The systemic structure of a school provides opportunities for both prosocial and antisocial behavior. Actions in a school may be motivated by (1) the extrinsic mechanisms of discipline and grades, (2) the means-end rela tionship of school behavior to students' long-term goals, and (3) the immediate intrinsic satisfactions obtainable in different activities. This paper treats the third type, intrinsic motivation. Using previous research, the authors propose that the state of enjoyment occurs when a person is challenged at a level matched to his level of skills. According to the model, the experience of meetable challenges requires the perception of a constrained set of possible actions, clearly defined goals, and opportunities for unambiguous feedback. The system of rules in a formal game provides these prerequisites. The systemic structure of a school can also provide the conditions of enjoyable involvement. Ideally, learning should involve systemic involvement in sequences of challenges internalized by students. However, evidence indicates that such involvement is rare and is often subverted by the school itself. Without such opportunities, antisocial be havior provides an alternate framework of challenges for bored students. Disruption of classes, vandalism, and violence in schools are, in part, attempts by adolescents to obtain enjoyment in otherwise lifeless schools. Restructuring education in terms of intrinsic motivation would not only reduce school crime but would also accomplish the goal of teaching youths how to enjoy life constructively.


Profiled endwall is an effective method to improve aerodynamic performance of turbine. This approach has been widely studied in the past decade on many engines. When automatic design optimisation is considered, most of the researches are usually based on the assumption of a simplified simulation model without considering cooling and rim seal flows. However, many researchers find out that some of the benefits achieved by optimization procedure are lost when applying the high-fidelity geometry configuration. Previously, an optimization procedure has been implemented by integrating the in-house geometry manipulator, a commercial three-dimensional CFD flow solver and the optimization driver, IsightTM. This optimization procedure has been executed [12] to design profiled endwalls for a turbine cascade and a one-and-half stage axial turbine. Improvements of the turbine performance have been achieved. As the profiled endwall is applied to a high pressure turbine, the problems of cooling and rim seal flows should be addressed. In this work, the effects of rim seal flow and cooling on the flow field of two-stage high pressure turbine have been presented. Three optimization runs are performed to design the profiled endwall of Rotor-One with different optimization model to consider the effects of rim flow and cooling separately. It is found that the rim seal flow has a significant impact on the flow field. The cooling is able to change the operation condition greatly, but barely affects the secondary flow in the turbine. The influences of the profiled endwalls on the flow field in turbine and cavities have been analyzed in detail. A significant reduction of secondary flows and corresponding increase of performance are achieved when taking account of the rim flows into the optimization. The traditional optimization mechanism of profiled endwall is to reduce the cross passage gradient, which has great influence on the strength of the secondary flow. However, with considering the rim seal flows, the profiled endwall improves the turbine performance mainly by controlling the path of rim seal flow. Then the optimization procedure with consideration of rim seal flow has also been applied to the design of the profiled endwall for Stator Two.© 2016 ASME


A reliable video communication system is proposed based on data partitioning feature of H.264/AVC, used to create a layered stream, and LT codes for erasure protection. The proposed scheme termed rate adaptive selective segment assignment (RASSA) is an adaptive low-complexity solution to varying channel conditions. The comparison of the results of the proposed scheme is also provided for slice-partitioned H.264/AVC data. Simulation results show competitiveness of the proposed scheme compared to optimized unequal and equal error protection solutions. The simulation results also demonstrate that a high visual quality video transmission can be maintained despite the adverse effect of varying channel conditions and the number of decoding failures can be reduced.


Low cost and low power consumption are two major design criteria in wireless sensor networks (WSN). To meet the increasing demand for localized fine-grained sensing with densely deployed WSNs, this paper proposes the use of a hybrid WSN that consists of nodes with standard transceivers and nodes with only transmitters. A two-phase Constrained-Scheduling based MAC protocol is proposed, which employs the "Automatic Resource Estimation (ARE)" method. Through analysis and extensive simulations, the proposed protocol is shown to achieve a significant performance improvement in terms of data delivery probability, QoS differentiation and energy minimization over existing MAC protocols for such networks. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first effort to bring scheduling to WSNs that contains asynchronous and uncoordinated transmit-only nodes.


The purpose of this study is to identify the major formation processes of the ionic and isotopic composition of chloride brines in the sedimentary basins of the Siberian platform. The object and subject of research are deep-seated strong, very strong and extremely saturated brines as well as their strontium content and the ratio of Sr stable isotopes. The groundwater ionic-salt composition was determined by traditional methods (titrimetric, gravimetric, flame photometry), the 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio was measured using mass-spectrometers (Irkutsk, Russia and Canada). The brines lying at the depth of 1500–3000 m were tapped and classified into saline and subsalt hydrogeological formations. Their feature is high salinity (385–530 g/L) and high content of strontium (2.3–7 g/L). The 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio ranges from 0.708 to 0.713062. By isotopic composition most of the brine samples are close to the waters of the Vendian-Cambrian paleoocean. However, some brine samples from the subsalt part of the sedimentary section of the basin are significantly enriched in the isotope 87Sr compared to the paleoocean waters and other samples. It could be due to the substantial input of 87Sr into the brines during the long-term interaction of groundwater with the host Lower Cambrian sandstones.


The objective of this study was to experimentally observe the effects of externally perturbing a hollow cone spray sheet with acoustic excitation. These effects were quantified by measuring changes in the spray breakup length, swirl angle, and oscillatory behaviour of the sheet edge. We used a pressure swirl nozzle embedded into a swirler with 60° vane angles and a geometric swirl no. of SG = 0.981. Water was used to produce a hollow cone spray sheet and air was used as our swirler agent. For asymmetric forcing, only one side of the spray chamber was attached to a transverse duct (aligned perpendicular to the spray axis) along with two speakers. The duct harmonics were found to be 115 Hz, 204 Hz, and 313 Hz. Our experimental modes were also found to be comparable with results obtained numerically using the acoustic solver package from ANSYS. Our results show that for most cases the spray edges, cone angle, and breakup length responds to the acoustic forcing. While the cone angle increased with air swirl, for some cases without acoustic forcing the breakup length increased with air swirl.


In this paper, cupric oxides was found to effectively oxidize levulinic acid (LA) and lead to the decarboxylation of levulinic acid to 2-butanone. The effects of cupric oxide dosage, reaction time and initial pH value were investigated in batch experiments and a plausible mechanism was proposed. The results showed that LA decarboxylation over cupric oxides at around 300 °C under acidic conditions produced the highest yield of butanone (67.5%). In order to elucidate the catalytic activity of cupric oxides, XRD, AFM, XPS and H2-TPR techniques was applied to examine their molecular surfaces and their effects on the reaction process.


We introduce the concept of an \ff-maximal error-detecting block code, for some parameter \ff{} between 0 and 1, in order to formalize the situation where a block code is close to maximal with respect to being error-detecting. Our motivation for this is that constructing a maximal error-detecting code is a computationally hard problem. We present a randomized algorithm that takes as input two positive integers $N,\ell$, a probability value \ff, and a specification of the errors permitted in some application, and generates an error-detecting, or error-correcting, block code having up to $N$ codewords of length $\ell$. If the algorithm finds less than $N$ codewords, then those codewords constitute a code that is \ff-maximal with high probability. The error specification (also called channel) is modelled as a transducer, which allows one to model any rational combination of substitution and synchronization errors. We also present some elements of our implementation of various error-detecting properties and their associated methods. Then, we show several tests of the implemented randomized algorithm on various channels. A methodological contribution is the presentation of how various desirable error combinations can be expressed formally and processed algorithmically.


Honey components (sugars, aminoacids, lactic acid) may behave as humectants and also enhance humectant properties in a formulation. Active principles of functional properties in honey vary according to visited flora, type of bee and localities where honey is produced. Studies of honey in dermo-cosmetic applications are scarce. In this work we review the topical use of honey through history, cutaneous interventions with honey, and toxicity. Hydrating power was measured with a corneometer in emulsions prepared with six honey types. Polyphenol contents and antioxidant properties of honey were measured to contrast Apis mellifera, imitation honey and pothoney types of Tetragonula carbonaria and three species of Melipona, with two methods (DPPH and TEAC). The Australian pot-honey of Tetragonula carbonaria was the most active with the DPPH method (IC50 83.33 mg/ml) and the Brazilian pot-honey of Melipona fasciculata was the most active with the TEAC method (307.2 μ moles Trolox equivalents/100g honey) as well as in polyphenol contents (718.7 mg gallic acid/100 g honey), and higher hydrating power of the emulsion (51.23%).


We present a parallel implementation of a multiscale coupling method for material simulations. We describe the models used for our application and we focus on the design of our numerical simulation, which is based on a coupling involving a parallel code for molecular dynamics and a parallel finite element code for continuum mechanics. Data redistribution and atom migration issues are discussed, and an experimental validation on a real crack propagation problem is provided, thanks to the LibMultiScale software.