Fire has a major impact on the structure and function of many ecosystems globally. Pyrodiversity, the diversity of fires within a region (where diversity is based on fire characteristics such as extent, severity, and frequency), has been hypothesized to promote biodiversity, but changing climate and land management practices have eroded pyrodiversity. To assess whether changes in pyrodiversity will have impacts on ecological communities, we must first understand the mechanisms that might enable pyrodiversity to sustain biodiversity, and how such changes might interact with other disturbances such as drought. Focusing on plant–pollinator communities in mixed‐conifer forest with frequent fire in Yosemite National Park, California, we examine how pyrodiversity, combined with drought intensity, influences those communities. We find that pyrodiversity is positively related to the richness of the pollinators, flowering plants, and plant–pollinator interactions. On average, a 5% increase in pyrodiversity led to the gain of approximately one pollinator and one flowering plant species and nearly two interactions. We also find that a diversity of fire characteristics contributes to the spatial heterogeneity (β‐diversity) of plant and pollinator communities. Lastly, we find evidence that fire diversity buffers pollinator communities against the effects of drought‐induced floral resource scarcity. Fire diversity is thus important for the maintenance of flowering plant and pollinator diversity and predicted shifts in fire regimes to include less pyrodiversity compounded with increasing drought occurrence will negatively influence the richness of these communities in this and other forested ecosystems. In addition, lower heterogeneity of fire severity may act to reduce spatial turnover of plant–pollinator communities. The heterogeneity of community composition is a primary determinant of the total species diversity present in a landscape, and thus, lower pyrodiversity may negatively affect the richness of plant–pollinator communities across large spatial scales.


From 1978 to 1993, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) transformed the country's economic system from the planned economy to the 'socialist market economy' system. Throughout this reform, there was a political struggle due to the co-existence of two groups within the CCP: the innovationists who promoted marketization and the conservatives who tried to maintain the planned economy. By focusing on the discourse of economic system in important official texts, this study aims to investigate how the trajectory of economic system reform was guided by the political struggle. In the study, Corpus Analysis and Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are employed. The study analyses 26 documents including 16 Government Work Reports (GWRs, from 1978 to 1993), 6 party documents, 2 pieces of leaders' talk and 2 newspaper articles. The corpus analysis identified economic development as the main topic of the GWRs during the period indicating how the CCP theorized the relationship between market and development. Also, it demonstrated a trajectory of marketization, which indicated the innovationists' success, albeit complicated because of the political struggle. With the employment of CDA, we gain a deeper understanding of how the political struggle shaped the discourse of economic system from beginning to end and its influence lasted until today. We find that it shaped the reform in three stages: (1) introduce 'the law of value' to guide the plan (1978-1979); (2) weaken the plan by applying market as auxiliary of the planned economy (1980-1987); (3) stagnate but restart the reform as the political struggle became intense (1988-1993). In 1993, the economic system reform ended with the socialist market economy system: the market plays a fundamental role in resource allocation under the socialist national macro-control of the CCP. This macro-control remains a significant policy instrument in today's China.


Context and lattice orbifolds have been discussed by M. Zick- wol (1,2), B. Ganter and D. Borchmann(3,4). Preordering the folding automorphisms by set inclusion of their orbits gives rise to further devel- opment. The minimal elements of this preorder have a prime group order and any group element can be dissolved into the product of group ele- ments whose group order is a prime power. This contribution describes a way to compress an orbifold annotation to sets of such minimal au- tomorphisms. This way a hierarchical annotation is described together with an interpretation of the annotation. Based on this annotation an example is given that illustrates the construction of an automaton for certain pattern matching problems in music processing.


At all times, art has quickly responded to the evident and concealed socio-political processes in the society. Starting from the first decades of the twentieth century, the semantic meaning of the terms "art" and "work of art" gradually has changed; art does not always refer to the category of beauty, and therefore the criteria for the selection of artefacts to works of art also has changed. The transformation of the phenomenon into art occurs gradually: first it arises spontaneously, then specific genres and professionals appear, then it becomes a social phenomenon and holds a particular niche in the cultural life of society. So, art should be a means of educating society, which develops according to the laws of aesthetics and composition, and in this case, the elemental phenomenon becomes an artistic phenomenon.
The restoration industry is quite conservative; it adheres to the criteria for defining a work of art and the basics of preserving and reproducing a work of art that developed during the 20th and 21st centuries, in which restoration includes painting, murals, sculpture, carving, iconostasis, furniture, fabrics.

REFERENCES
Dyomin, M. M., Orlenko, M. I., The systematic approach to monuments and restoration activities. Urban planning and territorial planning: Scientific and technical collection. Osietrin, M. M. (Ed.) Kyiv, KNUCA. Issue 65, 2017, pp. 21-32.
Iwaszko, O. Spoleczna Przyroda Nowych Artystycznych kierunkow w Miejskim Środowisku. Przestrzen / Urbanistyka / Architektura, 2/2018, pp. 167-176.
Conservation and restoration of architectural monuments. Guidance manual. Edited by M. I. OrlenkoKyiv-Lviv, 1996.
Marder, A. P., Yevreinov, Yu. M., Plamenytska, O. A. et al. Architecture. Abridged dictionary. Under the general editorship of A. P. Marder. Kyiv, 1995.
The Mariinskyi Palace. The technology of painting an experimental plot of plaster on the facades. Conclusion on the results of the technological survey. Recommendations on the technology of repair and restoration work on the facades. Conclusion on the results of a technological survey of brickwork of the Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv. The draft project of reconstruction and restoration. Photo fixation album. Kyiv, 1987, 1989, 1997, 2002.
Art – a short dictionary on aesthetics. http://esthetics.ru – iskusstvo. July 29, 2013.
International principles of the protection of immovable cultural heritage. Kyiv, 2008.
The monument of architecture of the XIX century Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Restoration project II stage. Working project. Project proposals for the restoration of interiors. East portico. Complex program for the preservation of Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Kyiv, 1995-1998.
Prokofiev, V. N. About art and art history. M., 1985.
Shestakov, V. P., Kemerov, V. E., & Kukrak, O. N. Art. The centre of humanistic technology. 2019 Access method https://gtmarket.ru/concepts/7065
Weitz, Morris. The Role of Theory in Aesthetics. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 15, 1956. pp. 27-35.


Abstract:In 2012, Okwui Enwezor was appointed artistic director of the third iteration of La Triennale, which he titled Intense Proximité (IP). While Enwezor had the credentials to legitimize the French art scene, he was also keenly aware of his own revolving roles as guest and host. This article considers his exhibition-making practice within the context of hospitality. Conventionally, hospitality entails warmly welcoming guests to make themselves at home. This interaction between guest and host involves not only implicit codes of etiquette and manners but also an economy of exchange that revolves around constant transaction and negotiation. In general, a curator's duties are similar to those of a host in setting up the conditions to welcome a diverse array of artists, ideas, and viewers into a designated space. Keeping in mind how curating, in the words of Erica Lehrer and Cynthia Milton, is also "a kind of intimate, intersubjective, interrelational obligation," Enwezor never presumed his role as positionality to be sovereign. The first half of the article introduces the concept of hospitality and sets up Enwezor's curatorial premise of IP. The second half mobilizes his curatorial practice as a means to open up ways to reconceive hospitality as a site of interruption, absolution, and abolition, and it reaffirms scholarship that conceives Enwezor's exhibition making as a decolonial practice.


As we know, TMF eTOM framework has been widely accepted, but we still have some doubt about the real value in applying eTOM to telecom operation, which is mainly because that eTOM does not include a reasonable consideration of organizational levels. Organizational level is an important factor that it can bring demand on operation support and management improvement which are remarkable and general in enterprise operation. In this paper, we present "Break Point Section" (BP Section) to expand eTOM framework. BP Section can give a clear description of the function and related issues of organizational levels in telecom operation system. With this expansion and improvement, Expanded-eTOM framework not only retains the original basic functions but also reflects relations and interactions between organizational level and core value-creating activity and end-to-end process, achieveing to refelct the organizaional level factor in eTOM famework. Additionally, this paper uses a case study-infrastructure Iifecycle management research on a mobile telecom operator- to explain the value of such expansion on eTOM framework. Keywords-eTOMframework; Break Point Section; case study; organizationallevel


We examine in detail an alternative method of retrieving the information written into an atomic ensemble of three-level atoms using electromagnetically induced transparency. We find that the behavior of the retrieved pulse is strongly influenced by the relative atom-light coupling strengths of the two relevant transitions. When the individual atom-light coupling strength for the retrieval beam is the stronger of the two transitions, regeneration of the stored pulse is possible. Otherwise, we show the retrieval process can lead to creation of solitonlike pulses.


This master thesis describes our work with Team Sweden and how we have attempted to perform a Software Process Improvement using groupware. Team Sweden is a distributed academic software development organization doing research on artificial intelligence and robotics. Such an organization has a lot to gain from the introduction of a more structured process model. We have investigated the possibility of supporting the development processes of a small software development organization by introducing groupware. Only introducing a groupware tool or technique is not enough to improve the processes of an organization. Process improvement requires an infrastructure and groupware could be a useful tool for establishing it. Improved communication and knowledge sharing through groupware can be beneficial for establishing a process infrastructure. Groupware should be used in conjunction with other process improvement measures in order to be effective and improve the capability of the targeted organization.


Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the commonest complications occurring during the antenatal period. It can result in adverse outcomes like abortion, premature delivery, low birth weight. Screening of antenatal patients help in early diagnosis of UTI and thus to prevent maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Aims: The present study was carried out: 1. To determine the prevalence of UTI in pregnant women. 2. To study the bacteriological profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the uropathogens. Materials and Method: 269 antenatal patients who attended the antenatal clinic during the study period January 2015 – December 2016 were included in this study. Mid stream urine sample was collected from these patients. Samples were processed and isolates were identified. Antibiotic susceptibility was recorded as per CLSI guidelines. Results: The prevalence of UTI among pregnant women was 16.9%. Majority of the culture positive patients belonged to the age group of 25-29 yrs. 91.3% were Gram negative isolates and 8.7% were Gram positive organisms. E.coli was the most common uropathogen. Ampicillin, amoxicillin clavulanic acid, cotrimoxazole were found to be resistant to most of the Gram negative uropathogens. Most of the Gram negative isolates were sensitive to amikacin, nitrofurantoin, ceftriaxone, quinolones. For Gram positive uropathogens, ampicillin can still be safely prescribed as first line antibiotic. Conclusion: This study reveals the importance of screening of pregnant women for UTI. Increasing resistance observed among the uropathogens emphasizes the need to rationalize the use of antibiotics which would eventually prevent the development of


System thinking ability; enables to consider events, states or a problem not only as a whole but also to see them both in pieces and to observe the relation among the pieces. At this point it is thought that system thinking ability has an important place in terms of both education environments and for our daily life. Within this study it is aimed to determine the states of secondary school sixth grade students regarding system thinking ability. Integrated single state study was used among research methods. The study was carried out in Bursa in 2015 and 207 secondary school sixth grade students participated in the study. Within the study, questionnaire form was used, which consisted of open ended questions regarding system thinking ability concerning systems in our body unit. Within the stage of analysis of the questions rubric, which was developed by the researchers, was used. It is understood that secondary school students' system thinking abilities were at low level in systems in our body unit especially within the dimension of making generalizations. As it is known making conclusions takes place among high level of thinking abilities and it is thought that it is hardly understood by the students.


Actually the technological community has an interest in developing flexible circuits and antennas with particular characteristics e.g. robust, flexible, lightweight load-bearing, economical and efficient antennas for integrated millimeter wave systems. Microstrip antennas are an excellent solution because those have all the characteristics before mentioned, but they have the problem of being rigid antennas and this makes impossible that those antennas can be use in portable devices. A practical solution is developing flexible microstrip antennas that can be integrated to different devices. One axis of work is the analysis of the electromagnetic field to the microstrip antennas using Bessel function and after generalize for application inflexible microstrip antennas.


The FAA currently uses its Automated Flight Inspection System (AFIS) to check the accuracy of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) and other navaids. It is desirable to measure the deviations of the ILS to within 0.015 degree accuracy. Therefore, a flight inspection system requires a high level of accuracy in determining position which is computed by a Flight Inspection Truth System (FITS). The AFIS has a navigation grade inertial navigation system (INS), a barometric altimeter, a radar altimeter, GPS, and a TeleVision Positioning System (TVPS). The AFIS is self-contained in that it does not require any facilities on the ground. The primary sensor in the AFIS is the INS whose error characteristics are limited by drifts. These drifts are measured by using a TVPS and a radar altimeter, and then the measurements from each sensor are fused with proprietary filtering techniques to result in the best possible accuracy in position. The error characteristics of the navigation grade INS causes the position computed from the current AFIS to have errors at distances far from the runway that are larger than desirable. This paper discusses techniques that will improve the accuracy and allow for better efficiency in the flight inspection procedures. The FAA has recently commissioned the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which provides corrections to GPS through a network of 25 reference stations throughout the U.S. WAAS accuracy (95%) over the U.S. is better than 1 meter in horizontal and 2 meters in vertical. The current standalone WAAS does not meet the ILS calibration accuracy requirements by itself, but WAAS can be used as a complementary sensor to the INS and radar altimeter for the flight inspection system because the position error in WAAS for the duration of an approach is approximately constant. This research focuses on the developments of the enhanced flight inspection system aided by WAAS, which does not require significant changes in the current AFIS. It has been found that the fusion of WAAS, radar altimeter, and INS makes it possible to obtain the required position accuracy. Another advantage is that an inspecting aircraft no longer has to fly over both ends of the runway in order to calibrate the INS drifts. The TVPS may also be eliminated for the inspection of CAT1 or CAT2 ILS. Preliminary results using the data from flight tests assure the WAAS-aided flight inspection system provides drift-free accurate positions.


In the presence of dust particles in the plasma, it is shown that the well-known stability of the drift wave in a sheared slab geometry does not hold. Due to the presence of dust particles in tokamaks, the magnetic shear damping is reduced drastically. As a result, both the collisionless and collisional (dissipative) drift modes become unstable under the typical parameter regimes of a tokamak. Consequently, drift waves must still be considered as an underlying dynamic of anomalous transport in tokamak edges, where dust particles are found to be abundant.


Abstract Hotspots, recurrently mutated DNA positions in cancer, are thought to be oncogenic drivers because random chance is unlikely and the knowledge of clear examples of oncogenic hotspots in genes like BRAF, IDH1, KRAS and NRAS among many other genes. Hotspots are attractive because provide opportunities for biomedical research and novel treatments. Nevertheless, recent evidence, such as DNA hairpins for APOBEC3A, suggests that a considerable fraction of hotspots seem to be passengers rather than drivers. To document hotspots, the database HotSpotsAnnotations is proposed. For this, a statistical model was implemented to detect putative hotspots, which was applied to TCGA cancer datasets covering 33 cancer types, 10 182 patients and 3 175 929 mutations. Then, genes and hotspots were annotated by two published methods (APOBEC3A hairpins and dN/dS ratio) that may inform and warn researchers about possible false functional hotspots. Moreover, manual annotation from users can be added and shared. From the 23 198 detected as possible hotspots, 4435 were selected after false discovery rate correction and minimum mutation count. From these, 305 were annotated as likely for APOBEC3A whereas 442 were annotated as unlikely. To date, this is the first database dedicated to annotating hotspots for possible false functional hotspots.


State actors increasingly involve private parties in the development of binding alternative regulation in private law. This involvement may be welcomed as an exercise of parties' rights, but private parties may simultaneously limit other parties' rights.Consequently, state actors have sought to control the influence of private parties particularly in the German legal order, where the constitutional principle of private autonomy is interpreted so as to require the protection of weaker private parties from Fremdbestimmung (hetero-determination) coming from structurally much more powerful private parties. In comparison, while Dutch law generally recognizes principles of private autonomy and the need to protect parties from heterodetermination ('heteronomie'), so far this has not permeated the Dutch discussion on alternative regulation. The idea of hetero-determination may serve as a starting point for a more active and consistent approach towards the development and limitation of alternative regulation in the Dutch legal order.


Central sleep apnea is a period of at least 10 s without airflow, during which no ventilatory effort is present. Most of the central apneas occur in Non-Rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Central apnea occuring in Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is extremely rare. We present our patient who had a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in another sleep center since 2003. His Auto Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine was disrupted so he admitted to our center to renew his machine and for daytime sleepiness while using his machine. The polysomnography revealed central apneas ending with respiratory arousals and periodic leg movements in rapid eye movement (REM) stage. We found no cause for central apneas. The patient benefited from servo ventilator therapy. We present this case as an unusual form of central apnea with the review of the literatures. Even the patients diagnosed as obstructive sleep apnea should be analyzed carefully. The diagnosis and the therapeutic approach may change in the favor of the patient.


Eight compounds were isolated from Oxytropis myriophylla. On the basis of spectral analyses, their structures were elucidated to be (6R,9R)-roseoside (1), (6R,9S)-roseoside (2), adenosine (3), myriophylloside B (4), myriophylloside C (5), myriophylloside D (6), myriophylloside E (7), and myriophylloside F (8). Five flavonoids (4-8) were new compounds, and the three known compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time.


Abstract The physiognomy as well as the main floristic features of the vegetation types found in French Guiana are described and illustrated. Their distribution is shown on maps. The lowland vegetation, on marine sediment, includes principally beach communities, mangrove forests, swamp forests and savannahs. The upland vegetation, on the hills of the Precambrian base, consists of various forest types depending on the soils, the drainage conditions and the altitude. Occasionally, herbaceous communities are observed on the rocks of the streams and on granite outcrops.


A review is made of the state-of-the-art in regard to the use of composite materials for reducing the structural mass of automobiles. Reduction of mass provides, in addition to other engineering improvements, increased performance/range advantages that are particularly needed in the electric and hybrid vehicle field. Problems encountered include the attainment of mass production techniques and the prevention of environmental hazards.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly malignant tumor characterized by intrinsic or rapidly acquired chemoresistance. The remarkable desmoplastic response has been reported as a major contributor to chemoresistance, suggesting that PDAC progression could be highly influenced by mechanical factors (1). A recent study showed a key role of epithelial tension and matricellular fibrosis in the aggressiveness of SMAD4 mutant PDAC (2). Here we aimed at evaluating new mechanopharmacology approaches to overcome chemoresistance. PDAC cells attached to collagen and fibronectin showed a decreased sensitivity to chemotherapy, while the malignant phenotype was highly correlated to α2β1 integrin(ITGA2)-mediated adhesion to type I collagen (3). We hence hypothesized that this integrin might modulate chemoresistance. In two cohorts of 50 radically resected patients treated with gemcitabine, high expression of ITGA2 (assessed by immunohistochemistry in tissue-microarrays with 4 cores for each tumor) correlated to significantly shorter progression and overall free survival. Our hypothesis was further investigated in a gemcitabine-resistant clone (PANC1-R). In this clone, ITGA2 was among the top 10 most differentially upregulated genes at next-generation sequencing analysis. Using migration assays, we found that PANC1-R were more invasive than PANC1 cells, and a specific siRNA for ITGA2 caused a significant reduction of invasiveness while enhancing both gemcitabine antiproliferative effects and apoptosis induction. Using elastic micropillar arrays of varying stiffness (20-150kPa) (4), we observed delayed spreading of PANC1-R compared to PANC1 while a 24-hour treatment with a non-cytotoxic dose of gemcitabine activated traction forces in both lines, albeit to a lesser extent in PANC1-R. Remarkably, these cells showed also a significant increase of CXCR4 and MMP2 expression when growing in spheroids embedded in stiff collagen, as well as a different trend in modulation of E2F1 after exposure to gemcitabine, when growing as 2D collagen monolayers on soft and stiff flat PDMS, suggesting that aggressive/invasive behavior and response to gemcitabine are altered by both collagen and stiffness. These results define ITGA2 as a new prognostic factor, exerting its function through the promotion of metastatic behavior and altered drug response of PDAC cells under differential biomechanical conditions, which holds a potential as a novel therapeutic target to overcome PDAC resistance. References: 1. Coppola et al. Drug Resist Updates 2017;31:43. 2. Laklai et al. Nat Med 2016;22:497. 3. Grzesiak, Bouvet. Br J Cancer 2016;94:1311. 4. van Hoorn et al. Nano Lett 2014;14:4257. Citation Format: Ilaria Carnevale, Stefano Coppola, Niccola Funel, Erik H. Danen, Thomas Schmidt, Elisa Giovannetti. α2β1 integrins are potential regulators of chemoresistance through modulation of biomechanical cues in pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4040.


Corrosion behaviors of pure Ni and three NiCr alloys were investigated in an HCl-containing oxidizing atmosphere at 700 ℃ and 800 ℃. All materials suffer from accelerated corrosion at both temperatures. NiCr alloys show an initial mass loss due to the formation of volatile CrCl_3 and CrO_2Cl_2. Some chlorides are detected at the scale/substrate interface and many voids are also found there. NiCr alloys with higher chromium content have better corrosion resistance. However, Ni50Cr is inferior to Ni25Cr due to its two-phase structure, which makes it easy for chlorine to diffuse along grain boundary and to occur inner oxidation. The relevant corrosion mechanism was also discussed.


Yttrium orthosilicate (Y$_2$SiO$_5$, or YSO) has proved to be a convenient host for rare-earth ions used in demonstrations of microwave quantum memories and optical memories with microwave interfaces, and shows promise for coherent microwave--optical conversion owing to its favourable optical and spin properties. The strong coupling required by such microwave applications could be achieved using superconducting resonators patterned directly on Y$_2$SiO$_5$, and hence we investigate here the use of Y$_2$SiO$_5$ as an alternative to sapphire or silicon substrates for superconducting hybrid device fabrication. A NbN resonator with frequency 6.008 GHz and low power quality factor $Q \approx 400000$ was fabricated on a Y$_2$SiO$_5$ substrate doped with isotopically enriched Nd$^{145}$. Measurements of dielectric loss yield a loss-tangent $\tan\delta = 4 \times 10^{-6}$, comparable to sapphire. Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements performed using the resonator show the characteristic angular dependence expected from the anisotropic Nd$^{145}$ spin, and the coupling strength between resonator and electron spins is in the high cooperativity regime ($C = 30$). These results demonstrate Y$_2$SiO$_5$ as an excellent substrate for low-loss, high-Q microwave resonators, especially in applications for coupling to optically-accessible rare earth spins.


This paper describes how Denmark has implemented the directive 2013/59/EURATOM, laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers caused by exposure to ionising radiation. Ionising radiation develops from radon. Furthermore, the paper describes a procedure to determine the value of the mean year concentration of radon based on short-term measurements. Procedures are described both for radon measurements in the indoor environment of buildings used for accommodation and buildings used for other purposes such as workspace, day-care for children and schools. In addition, the paper argues for the described requirements that short-term measurements should follow in order to be used for estimating the concentration of radon indoors as the mean year value.


The first Congress on North-South collaboration in Physics research was held in Oujda Morocco, between April 9th and 13th, 2007. The congress was based on talks giving an overview of relevant subjects both from experiments and theory in all fields of physics. They focused on projects which could bring fruitful collaborations between Europe and under developed countries. The congress was meant to bring experience and skills to these countries in research and teaching at the doctoral level.


Human microbial alterations are associated with environmental stress, nutritional, genetic and triggering de-novo variations. Nevertheless, human gut microbiome at extreme altitude (>5800 m) remains unexplored. We aimed to demonstrate the microbial predominance in individuals with same ethnicity and dietary pattern at extreme altitude with unique challenges like cold, hypoxia, radiation etc. Different analysis pipelines were used for fecal whole genome sequencing at 210m, 3500m, 4420m and 5805m, and 16s rRNA V3-V4 regions amplification sequencing of 19 individuals belonging to the same ethnicity and dietary pattern, for presence of taxonomy & functional potential and confirming the prediction upto the strain level within the same cohort. Principal component analysis, revealed distinct microbiome changes at different altitudes, with varied and higher Bacteroides and Prevotella ratio. There was predominance of genus Prevotella at altitudes 4420m & 5805m than at 210m & 3500m. Appearance of species Prevotella copri strain 61740 was increasing significantly at extreme altitudes, whereas co-occurrence of other bacterial strains had different pattern than Prevotella. The extensive strain level analysis indicated alteration in the metabolic pathways. This study under stressful and hypoxic environment of extreme altitudes, associated microbial variation with altered metabolic pathways, reveals influence of extreme environment on human gut microbiota with predominance of Prevotella.


An investigation was made to obtain some fundamental information concerning the relation of the impedance of a vertical antenna over a finite ground plane as a function of the size and shape of the ground plane when dimensions of the ground plane are relatively small in terms of wavelength. It was found that the input impedance is a damped oscillating function of wavelength and ground-plane dimensions, the impedance of a circular ground plane varying from ±5 to ±20 per cent. Similar variations were observed on a square ground plane, which were approximately 50 per cent of those of the circular ground plane except when the dimensions of the ground plane were small. In general, it was found that the impedance is quite critical with respect to the size and shape of the ground plane, and relatively independent of the thickness of the antenna. Measurements were made at microwaves by a modified Chipman method capable of measuring small differences in antenna impedance. Recent emphasis on improved microwave measurement techniques led to the investigation of the merits of the Chipman method as compared to those of the more conventional slotted-line standingwave method. Although the two methods are shown to be closely related from a theoretical viewpoint, practical mechanical and electrical limitations are encountered which dictate preference of method entirely dependent on the application.


Transmission characteristics of an optical signal, which is converted from a high-speed terahertz-wave signal with high spectral efficiency, are investigated and reported. A Nyquist time division multiplexing 40 Gbit/s on–off keying signal in the terahertz band is generated with high-speed photo-mixing. The generated terahertz-wave signal is again converted into an optical signal with heterodyne detection, optical intensity modulation, and optical filtering. Then the chromatic dispersion tolerance of the converted optical signal is investigated in order to obtain knowledge for realising the connection between the fibre-optic and the wireless links. After briefly explaining the conversion method, some related experimental results are reported. The results include evaluation of chromatic dispersion tolerance with regard to the optical signal at the final stage. As a sequel to bit error rate measurement, the optical signal can be transmitted to a 9 km-long single-mode fibre without chromatic dispersion compensation.


BACKGROUND: The prognosis and treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) has evolved greatly over the past decade. The development and incorporation of new agents such as immunomodulators and proteasome inhibitors into therapy has improved outcomes and is helping patients enjoy longer periods of remission. OBJECTIVES: To review current treatments for MM, including overview of drug therapy and management of adverse effects of therapy and comorbidities. Additionally, an overview of agents being studied and evaluated for use in MM and myeloma-related conditions, such as metastatic bone disease and venous thromboembolism, will be discussed. SUMMARY: Great strides have been made regarding the understanding of disease pathology in MM, leading to therapies that may be targeted to each individual, based on their unique biology of disease. Therapy is currently tailored based on patient issues and stage of disease, but may soon betailored individually based on the cytogenetic profile of a patient. Recent treatment guidelines have been published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network which were updated with impressive results fromclinical trials involving agents such as immunomodulators and proteasome inhibitors. This guideline also provides information on the management of myeloma and treatment-related morbidities. As with the treatment of any cancer, clinicians must weigh risk versus benefit when determining the most appropriate therapy. Currently, corticosteroids, lenalidomide, thalidomide, and bortezomib are all used in patient swith MM. The use of chemotherapy, including high-dose therapy with stemcell transplant, is an important component of treatment for many patients.The use of high-dose therapy is continually being evaluated, and the issueof risk versus benefit is weighed for individual patients. Depending on the prognosis, it may be of benefit to endure the toxicity of higher doses toachieve a better overall response and achieve longer remission periods. Although stem cell transplantation is often performed in MM to improve survival and remission rates, some patients are unable to undergo transplant for a variety of reasons, including age (older than 65 years), comorbidities, and/or organ dysfunction.Newer drug therapies and combinations of therapy are being evaluated to better manage this population and patients who previously received high-dose chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant. Additionally, the management of relapsed, or refractory, disease continues to be a challenge in treating the myeloma patient. Despite aggressive and improved treatments, most myeloma patients will eventually have resistance to therapyor relapse. Treatment strategies in these patients are also evolving. CONCLUSIONS: Major advancements in the diagnosis, staging, and treatmentof myeloma offer promise in the future for changing MM from a terminal illness into a chronic, manageable condition.


Abstract The devastating Haiti earthquake rightly resulted in an outpouring of international aid. Relief teams can be of tremendous value during disasters due to natural hazards. Although nobly motivated to help, all emergency interventions have unintended consequences. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, many selfless individuals committed to help, but was this really all in the name of reaching out a helping hand? This case report illustrates that medical disaster tourism is alive and well.


Analysis of fast MOSFET based High voltage switch for High Voltage Electro-Optic Devices is presented. Single MOSFET connection is considered by using Laplace transformation. Based on executed mathematical transforms, directions of improvement ways for typical engineering solutions are analyzed. Improvement directions including fastest operation, optical losses minimization, optical behaviors improvement, cost reducing, size and weight decreasing are considered. Modern Optical Arrangements of an Electro-Optic Shutter Schematic are compared. Different schematic designs of Q-Switch Drivers for Pockels Cell are presented. Parameters of constructed based on presented analysis Q-Switch Driver are given.


Tamil language has an agglutinative, diglossic, alpha-syllabary structure which provides a significant combinatorial explosion of morphological forms all of which are effectively used in Tamil prose, poetry from antiquity to the modern age in an unbroken chain of continuity. However, for the language understanding, spelling correction purposes some of these present challenges as out-of-dictionary words. In this paper the authors propose algorithmic techniques to handle specific problems of conjoined-words (out-of-dictionary) (transliteration)[thendRalkattRu] = [thendRal]+[kattRu] when parts are alone present in word-list in efficient way. Morphological structure of Tamil makes it necessary to depend on synthesis-analysis approach and dictionary lists will never be sufficient to truly capture the language. In this paper we have attempted to make a summary of various known algorithms for specific classes of Tamil spelling errors. We believe this collection of suggestions to improve future spelling checkers. We also note do not cover many important techniques like affix removal and other such techniques of key importance in rule-based spell checkers.


One important issue raised in magnetism studies is the thermal response of various mag‐ netic properties. This topic is known as the magnetic thermal hysteresis (MTH) which is principally associated with magnetic phase transitions. The MTH is of particular interest for both quantum and applied physics researches on magnetization of nanomaterials. Hysteresis of the temperature-induced structural phase transitions in some materials and nanostructures with first-order phase transitions reduces useful magnetocaloric effect to transform cycling between martensite (M) and austenite (A) phases under application. In additional, the size, surface and boundary effects on thermal hysteresis loops have been under consideration for the development of research on nanostructured materials. Exper‐ imental data indicate that nanostructured materials offer many interesting prospects for the magnetization data and for understanding of temperature-induced M-A phase transi‐ tions. In this chapter, we have presented a review of the the latest theoretical develop‐ ments in the field of MTH related to the structural phase transitions for the core-surface nanoparticles based on the fundamental formulation of pair approximation in Kikuchi version.


Introduction: Spinal anaesthesia in the paediatric population is a safe and reliable method of anaesthesia for infraumbilical surgical procedures. As there is greater variation in intrathecal dosing using a conventional weight-based schedule, a prospective cohort study was designed to administer an age-based intrathecal dosing schedule using 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine for infraumbilical surgeries in paediatric patients. Aim: To find the efficacy of age-based intrathecal dosing in terms of level of sensory blockade, success rate and adequacy of blockade for infraumbilical surgery in the paediatric age group. Materials and Methods: One hundred and thirty paediatric patients, aged between 2-12 years, posted for elective infraumbilical surgeries were given spinal anaesthesia at a dose of Age/5 (Partha formula) using 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. Sedation during the procedure was provided using a combination of effective doses of pentazocine, midazolam, and atropine. The number of attempts, the success rate, the level of sensory blockade, the duration of anaesthesia and cardio-respiratory complications if any were noted. Results: The mean age of the children was 8±2.55 years. The mean dose of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine used in this study was 8±2.55 milligrams. The desired sensory level of T10 was achieved in the first attempt in all the cases (100%) within 10 minutes of the subarachnoid block. The mean duration of anaesthesia was 73.42±18.6 minutes. In all the patients, the surgical procedures were completed within this anaesthetic time and none of the cases had any conversion to general anaesthesia. No complications were found in any of the patients. Conclusion: Administration of intrathecal dosing of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine using Partha formula (Age/5) is a safe and successful method to provide subarachnoid blockade for infraumbilical surgeries in the Indian paediatric population.


In the absence of a corrosive environment, brittle materials such as silicon should be immune to cyclic fatigue. However, fatigue effects are well known in micrometer-sized polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) samples tested in air. To investigate the origins of this phenomenon in polysilicon, we developed a fixed-grip fracture mechanics microspecimen but could find no evidence of static stress corrosion cracking. The environmental sensitivity of the fatigue resistance was also investigated under cyclic loading. For low-cycle fatigue, the behavior is independent of the ambient conditions, whether air or vacuum, but is strongly influenced by the ratio of compressive to tensile stresses experienced during each cycle. The fatigue damage most likely originates from contact stresses at processing-related surface asperities; subcritical crack growth then ensues during further cyclic loading. The lower far-field stresses involved in high-cycle fatigue induce reduced levels of fatigue damage. Under these conditions, a corrosive ambient such as laboratory air exacerbates the fatigue process. Without cyclic loading, polysilicon does not undergo stress corrosion cracking.


It is of crucial interest to observe fluids and measure their properties in the field of process engineering. Capacitive measurement techniques have the advantage of being low-cost and having the ability to distinguish between higher-permittivity liquids such as water and gases such as air. A possible application for this technique is the non-invasive and non-intrusive determination of the water fill level in a pipe. In this paper we report on the design, implementation, and test of such a capacitive measurement system and on the finite element (FE) modeling of the system and typical application cases. The system consists of electrodes that are mounted around the circumference of a polycarbonate pipe. These elementary electrodes can be combined electronically via software to form larger 'synthetic' electrodes. The capacitances between the electrodes are measured to obtain information about the phase distribution inside the pipe (liquid or gaseous). While the spatial resolution depends on the size of the configurable electrodes, it is possible to first obtain coarse fill level information with larger electrodes and then obtain refined spatial resolution with a small-electrode configuration in a smaller region of interest. The disadvantage of using smaller electrodes is that the measurement time increases. The system was tested on a test bench with a pipe in which the liquid could be made to slosh by axial movements. The results of capacitance measurements in a 16-electrode system were compared to FE simulation results in Ansys. The results of the simulation were used to create a characteristic curve for the fill level as a function of the capacitance of every electrode combination. The fill level change was also observed optically to identify the most appropriate electrode combinations to fit the fill-level change best. An algorithm was developed to choose suitable 'essential' electrode combinations for adaptive spatial resolution refinement. In the end, 28 capacitance measurements were needed to observe the sloshing in a coarse way, followed by 56 measurements for resolution enhancement. The straightforward approach based on the 16 elementary electrodes would have required 120 measurements. It is also shown that the resolution enhancement using the 56 electrode combinations can determine the fill level more accurately than the standard approach using the information from all 120 electrode combinations.


ABSTRACT The Achanarras fish bed of Middle Devonian age in the Orcadian Basin was deposited in a large freshwater lake of variable productivity in which thermal stratification was normally developed. The fish bed consists of lacustrine laminites of organic, carbonate (dolomite and calcite) and clastic types. Carbonate laminae were precipitated as a result of photosynthetic activity and organic laminae were deposited following algal decay, clastic material was introduced by processes including overflow and interflow currents and wind transport. The fish bed represents a major lacustrine transgression during a wetter climatic period which provided connections to other lakes and by overflow to the sea. Calcitic laminites represent the deepest water (>60 m) phase with greatest faunal variety due to availability of migration routes and stability of environments caused by lake overflow. Initial lake transgression was characterised by Dipteras-dominated faunas which reappear as the last surviving fish during lake regression. Further regression resulted in the introduction of turbidites to the laminites. Many fish were preserved following mass mortalities induced by algal blooms, mixing of waters by storms and lake overturn. Most of the fish inhabited shallow areas of the lake and drifted as rotting carcases to their final site of deposition. The fauna comprises a variety of benthonic and nektonic fish including predators, scavengers and omnivorous forms. Fish such as Coccosteus represented almost exclusively by adults may have bred outside the area of the lake.


In order to improve the accuracy of lung registration, a new hybrid non-rigid approach is proposed to deform the intra-subject lung images with the assistance of the anatomical landmark information. Firstly, the two volumes, respectively for expiration and inspiration breath-hold lung, are segmented to extract the airways which have tree-like topology. Secondly, the two extracted airways are skeletonized by an efficient voxel-coding based method. Thirdly, the points with distinct topological features in the two breath-hold skeletons are picked as the landmarks and the correspondence anatomical relationship between the landmarks are described by Huffman-coding. Finally, a coarse-to-fine registration scheme, combined with landmark-based algorithm (thin-plate spline, TPS) and intensity-based (modified Demons) algorithm is proposed to warp and deform the intra-subject volumetric CT images. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is more accurate and inverse-consistent owing to the intrinsic one-to-one mapping of correspondent points and improved registration strategy.


In this paper, an algorithm for computing the Janet bases of linear differential equations is described, which is the differential analogue of the algorithm JanetBasis improved by Gerdt. An implementation of the algorithm in Maple is given. The implemented algorithm includes some subalgorithms: Janet division,Pommaret division, the judgement of involutive divisor and reducible, the judgement of conventional divisor and reducible, involutive normal form and conventional normal form, involutive autoreduction and conventional autoreduction, PJ-autoreduction and so on. As an application, the Janet Bases of the determining system of classical Lie symmetries of some partial differential equations are obtained using our package.


In the decades before the United States Supreme Court recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges, Americans disdained, denounced, and debated same-sex marriage. When state courts recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry, opponents passed laws and state constitutional amendments that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. This fierce conflict provoked argument about the capacity of courts to defend minority rights. Critics argued that judicial judgments shutting down politics were counterproductive and provoked a backlash that exacerbated political polarization. Conversation about the backlash ranged widely from academics and advocates to judges. These "realist" accounts of judicial review depicted courts as majoritarian institutions whose authority is tied to public consensus. In this lecture, I argue that the backlash narrative and the consensus model of constitutionalism on which it rests simultaneously underestimates and overestimates the power of judicial review. The Court's decision in Obergefell was possible not simply because public opinion changed, but also because the struggle over the courts helped change public opinion and forge new constitutional understandings. Even so, Obergefell has not ended debate over marriage but instead has channeled it into new forms. Constitutions do not merely reflect consensus; they also structure conflict. I employ concepts of constitutional culture to explore how constitutions can give contested beliefs legal form and structure conflict in ways that help sustain community in disagreement.


The article presents constructional methods of increasing the efficiency of the polymer extrusion process. Increasing the efficiency of the polymer extrusion process consists in the increase of the flow rate of the processed polymer and the energy efficiency of polymer processing extruders and the decrease of the specific energy consumption and the pulsation of the flow rate and polymer pressure, as well as quality improvement of the received extrudate as a result of better homogenization of mechanical and thermal properties and polymer structure. Therefore, the improvement of the constructional solution of the screw and barrel of the extruder plasticating system was discussed. The improvement of the construction of the screw lies in using the active and passive grooved barrel section. Original constructional solutions of the active grooved section with both longitudinal and helical grooves were shown. The devices increasing the efficiency of the extrusion were also shown, which included a screen changer, a melt pump, and a static mixer. Appropriate conclusions were drawn. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers


Introduction: Traditional difficulties with measurement of atrial function may have been addressed by development of atrial strain. Atrial mechanics may be involved in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. Hypothesis: Atrial pump function but not conduit function is independent of left ventricular (LV) mechanics. Methods: In a community-based study of 576 pts (age 70.7±4.7 yrs, male 46%), participants ≥65 years were recruited if they had 1 or more risk factors (eg. hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity). Baseline echo was undertaken in all pts and LV/atrial strain analysis was conducted using a dedicated software package (Image Arena, Tomtec, Germany). Atrial strain analysis was performed using R-R gating. Patients were grouped according to global longitudinal strain (GLS) (≤ or > than the cut-off -18%) and global circumferential strain (GCS) (≤ or > than the cut-off -22%). The associations between GLS/GCS and atrial reservoir/conduit/pump strain were assessed using univariable and multivariable linear regression. Results: Pts with reduced GLS had higher blood pressure and rates of diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity (p 0.05). GCS was not associated with atrial strain. GLS was independently associated with atrial reservoir and conduit strain (p Conclusion: Atrial pump strain is independent of LV mechanics.


The 2009 swine flu (influenza A H1N1) pandemic defied predictions that the next influenza outbreak was likely to be due to avian influenza arising from H5N1-endemic countries in Southeast Asia. As the world struggled to cope with the global financial meltdown, a new unexpected influenza challenge emerged from the Americas, but with the public health community better prepared than before. Although the avian influenza predictions have not occurred yet, the dire warnings were not misplaced, as the pandemic planning that ensued greatly helped decision makers and healthcare professionals around the planet to deal with the current A(H1N1) outbreak.

The numbers of A(H1N1) infections have increased rapidly. On 11 June 2009, after nearly 30 000 laboratory confirmed cases reported in 74 countries, the WHO declared the A(H1N1) outbreak the first pandemic of this century.1 Estimates of the reproduction number (defined as the "number of cases that one case generates on average over the course of their infectious period") for A(H1N1) range from 1.4 to 1.6, which are higher than for the usual strains of seasonal influenza. However, compared to the 10% mortality rate seen with SARS, the case fatality ratio for A(H1N1) is lower and estimated to be from 0.2% to 0.4%.2 3

Although no official numbers have …


This study examined people's lived experiences with social media through 10 focus groups with 82 total participants across five countries: Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. Findings demonstrate that social media make people's lives less complex, but this belies heightened complexity as they negotiate three paradoxes when using social media. We describe these as dialectics between: convenience versus privacy, trust versus distrust, and meaningful versus wasted time. These dialectics fit into one over-arching theme that social media make people feel better but also worse, sometimes at the same time. We characterize these experiences as negative—and likely unintended—side effects of reflexive modernization. According to our participants, these tensions leave people in a sort of existential limbo—knowing social media can distress them but not always having the will to leave.


This study investigates probabilistic characteristics of the peak ductility demand of inelastic single-degree-of-freedom systems. The hysteretic behavior of structural systems is represented by the Bouc-Wen model, which takes various hysteretic curves with degradation and pinching behavior into account, and a prediction equation of the peak ductility demand is developed. The application of the developed equation in reliability analysis of structures subject to earthquake loading is illustrated. The results indicate that the effects due to degradation and pinching behavior on the peak ductility demand as well as the reliability of structures can be significant, especially for stiff structures.


Background and aim: Access to adequate healthcare systems is seen as a fundamental human right. Therefore, healthcare services must be distributed and accessible in the most efficient way possible to those who need them the most. Primary healthcare centers are the backbone of any healthcare system as they provide essential healthcare services to the general population. Inequalities in the distribution of primary healthcare centers can lead to disparities in healthcare access and outcomes. This study aimed to assess the equity of primary healthcare centers distribution, we analyzed and evaluated the allocation of primary healthcare centers in Saudi Arabia from 2017 to 2021. Method: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the Health Statistical Yearbook published by the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia, during the period of 2017-2021. The number of primary healthcare centers per 10,000 population was calculated for the 20 health regions. We used the Gini index to measure inequality in the distribution of primary healthcare centers. The Pearson coefficient was calculated to assess the correlation between the number of primary healthcare centers and the population in each health region. Result: The overall ratio of primary healthcare centers to population decreased from 0.72 to 0.62 between 2017 and 2021. The Gini index showed relative equality in the distribution of primary healthcare centers from 2017 to 2021 with values between 0.2 and 0.3. There was a positive correlation between the population and the primary healthcare centers in Jeddah, Tabouk, and the Northern Region. However, in Riyadh, Makkah, Taif, Madinah, Qaseem, Eastern Region, Al-Ahsa, Aseer, Hail, Jazan, Najran, Al-Baha, and Al-Jouf, the correlation was found to be negative. Conclusion: From 2017 to 2021, primary healthcare facilities are distributed fairly throughout 20 health regions of Saudi Arabia. However, there are still some disparities between provinces, and efforts must be made to ensure that primary healthcare centers are distributed equitably across the country to improve healthcare access and outcomes for all.


The Economics of Property-Casualty Insurance presents new research and findings on key aspects of the economics of the property-casualty insurance industry. The volume explores the industrial organization, regulation, financing, and taxation of this business. The first paper, on external financing and insurance cycles, contains a wealth of information on trends and patterns in the industry's financial structure. The last essay, which compares performance of stock and mutual insurance companies, takes a fresh look at the way a company's organizational structure affects its responses to different economic situations. Two papers focus on rate regulation in the auto insurance industry, and provide broad overviews of the structure and economics of the insurance industry as a whole. Also addressed are the system of regulating insurance companies in the United States, who insures the insurers, and the effects of tax law changes in the 1980s on the prices of insurance policies.


Static NMR experiments on insensitive nuclei (e.g., (13)C) have been generally difficult because of low magnetogyric ratios and/or poor natural abundance, even at the highest magnetic fields available. One method of overcoming these sensitivity limitations is dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), which can be utilized to enhance NMR signals relative to those obtained with static NMR detection. In this study, we report a recycled-flow DNP apparatus capable of monitoring (13)C scalar-dominated enhancements 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than those obtainable using the conventional recycled-flow (13)C NMR experiment. Specifically, a mixture of benzene and several chlorocarbons were continuously "recycled" through a (13)C DNP spectrometer. Results indicate successful detection with the (13)C DNP approach in scalar-dominated cases, where analytes could not be observed with conventional static or flow NMR detection in a reasonable length of time.


The present article discusses panel unit root tests for two classes of models. One is the moving average (MA) model and the other is the error components model. We conduct score type tests for these models, allowing for various types of regressors, and examine the cross-sectional effect explicitly by presenting an efficient way of computing limiting local powers. It is found that the existence of common regressors does not affect the asymptotic behavior of tests, although heterogeneous regressors do. We also derive the limiting power envelopes for some simple panel models, which shows that the score type panel tests are asymptotically efficient, unlike the time series case.


A heterogeneous Pt single-atom catalyst promotes E-selective synthesis of hydrazones en route to bioactive 1H-indazoles. Unprotected E-hydrazone esters are prized building blocks for the preparation of 1H-indazoles and countless other N-containing biologically active molecules. Despite previous advances, efficient and stereoselective synthesis of these compounds remains nontrivial. Here, we show that Pt single atoms anchored on defect-rich CeO2 nanorods (Pt1/CeO2), in conjunction with the alcoholysis of ammonia borane, promotes exceptionally E-selective hydrogenation of α-diazoesters to afford a wide assortment of N-H hydrazone esters with an overall turnover frequency of up to 566 hours−1 upon reaction completion. The α-diazoester substrates could be generated in situ from readily available carboxylic esters in one-pot hydrogenation reaction. Utility is demonstrated through concise, scalable synthesis of 1H-indazole–derived pharmaceuticals and their 15N-labeled analogs. The present protocol highlights a key mechanistic nuance wherein simultaneous coordination of a Pt site with the diazo N═N and ester carbonyl motifs plays a central role in controlling stereoselectivity, which is supported by density functional theory calculations.


In the paper, the definite and unique analytical solution of the matrix operators of alternating separation algorithm is provided. Furthermore, the operators satisfying the signal steering vector excision and preservation as well as other important properties are proved. Finally, the theory analysis is confirmed by the simulation results.


We report low-temperature (77 K) electroreflectance and photoreflectance measurements of the Ei-like optical transitions on a series of Ge/Si heterostructures (superlattices and quantum wells). For single and double quantum wells of any thickness, as well as for thick-layer superlattices (period 100 A) the spectra can be understood in terms of quantum-confined bulk-Ge Ei states. For thin ( 10 A) multiple quantum wells and superlattices, zone-folding effects dominate the spectra. Actual confinement of the electronic states is determined by measuring the Raman spectrum of each sample in and out of resonance with a given transition.


The treatment of complete clefts of the lip and palate is controversial; many protocols and surgical techniques are utilized. In addition, long-term outcome assessments of these many clinical approaches are generally not available. In contrast, the protocol presented here, which includes presurgical orthopedics in the form of a passive palatal plate, functional cleft lip repair, and primary (early) autogenous bone grafting, has been followed without modification since its inception in 1965. Numerous long-term studies that include examination of graft survival, effect on facial growth, integrity of the dentition adjacent to the cleft, and subsequent need for orthognathic surgery are discussed. This protocol results in a successful outcome for the child with a complete cleft of the lip and palate. The appliance fabrication, cleft lip repair, and bone graft placement are uncomplicated and technically easy to learn. Most important, the results (i.e., maxillary growth, esthetic and functional results of lip repair, and occlusion) are impressive in spite of a protocol that is straightforward and can be followed incorporating any type of lip repair with muscle realignment and any palate closure that results in an early complete closure.


In the article "Low-Level Image Properties of Visual Objects Predict Patterns of Neural Response across Category-Selective Regions of the Ventral Visual Pathway" by Grace E. Rice, David M. Watson, Tom Hartley, and Timothy J. Andrews, which appeared on pages 8837-8844 of the June 25, 2014 issue, we state in the Materials and Methods section that "the significance of the correlation was assessed by determining the reliability of the r value across all subjects." To do this, we calculated the correlation for each participant. The significance of these correlations was then tested against the null-hypothesis (zero) using a one-sample t test. However, we did not provide the t values or mean individual level correlation values. The values for all the significant correlations can now be found in the following Table 1.


Between AD 1000 and 1940 North American arctic communities made continuous modifications of their economies demographic behavior and social relations in response to changes in their physical and social environments. Some communities unable to make appropriate changes became extinct; others were able to use the opportunities of specific physical and social environments to create and maintain flourishing societies. Responses to particular events within the two kinds of environments included migration expansion of population and territory and occupational diversification. In their external relations with each other and with other aboriginal communities Paleo-Eskimo Neo-Eskimo and Inuit societies used war alliance and trade as means of ensuring access to adequate supplies of necessary resources. Between 1700 and 1950 depending on place Asians Europeans and Americans entered the arctic and again depending on place created new social environments. Initially and in nearly all cases they opened up new opportunities for solving problems of economic uncertainty and unpredictability. Historic Inuit responded with a wide range of strategies balancing traditional approaches with innovations. Inuit worldviews not only provided descriptions of the arctic world but they also offered prescriptions for behaviors appropriate to that world. Social organization both reflected worldview and supported it. In spite of failures of the ideological and social systems which resulted in the extinction of some communities Inuit society as a whole had survived extreme pressures from both physical and social environments until the early 20th century. The successes reinforced worldviews and contributed to the maintenance of an essentially Eskimo way of life. Until the imposition of government and government-backed agencies Historic Inuit societies continued to direct their own affairs. The "Government Era" or more accurately the "Government Eras" began at different times in different places and resulted in the destruction of Inuit corporate autonomy. On the Atlantic coast of Labrador Historic Inuit experienced an almost continuous European presence from as early as the beginning of the 18th century and had effectively lost control of their collective self-direction by the 1770s as was also the case in Greenland. In other parts of the arctic the timetable varied as did the responses with which Inuit societies attempted to deal with the presence of non-Eskimo societies and individuals. Until the first decade of the 20th century Inuit made many superficial changes to their economic and social systems but few transformations in the Braudelian sense. Events in both physical and social environments after 1915 made it clear that the successful strategies of the past were no longer capable of sustaining an old way of life in the face of new realities. (full text)


Introduction Mild intermittent asthma is common in children and viral infections are responsible for the majority of exacerbations. As leukotrienes are potent inflammatory mediators, some studies have shown that Montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, may be effective on reduction of asthma symptom. To determine whether a short course of Montelukast in asthmatic children with common cold would modify the severity of an asthma episode. Materials and Methods Children, aged 6-12 years with intermittent asthma participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Treatment with Montelukast or placebo was initiated at the onset of viral upper respiratory tract infection and continued for 7 days. Primary outcomes included the clinical manifestation: duration of episodes, daily symptom, nights symptoms and activity limitation. Secondary outcomes included the need for beta agonist usage, oral prednisolone, physician visit, hospital admission and school absence. Results                                                              A total of 187 children with intermittent asthma were randomized, 93 to Montelukast group and 94 to placebo group. Montelukast significantly decreased the cough by 17.3% (P<0.001), nighttime awakenings by 5.4% (P=0.01), interference with normal activity by 6% (P<0.01), time off from school by 6% (P<0.01), β-agonist usage by 17.2% (P<0.001) and doctor visits by12.2% (P<0.01) compared to placebo. Whereas there was a non significant reduction in wheezing, tachypnea, respiratory distress, asthma exacerbation, oral prednisolone and hospitalization (P=0.8). Conclusion                                                       A short course of Montelukast, introduced at the first sign of a viral infection, results in a reduction in cough, β-agonist use and nights awakened, time off from school and limitation of activity. More studies are needed to evaluate the optimal dose and duration of treatment.


Performance of a CFR engine over a wide range of experimental conditions is reported in detail for standard spark ignition operation and for heat balanced configurations. Operating conditions were mapped for primary combustion chamber and balancing chamber volumes giving nearly constant balancing ratios for three selected compression ratios; edge gap clearance was also varied. Three secondary air modes were investigated during optimization of performance giving more than a 30% increase in output over standard S.I. operation, an improvement in ISFC of 10% at best economy, 30% at best power with CO emission decreased to less than 0.1% and UHC to less than 100 ppm. A new method of engine performance analysis, the Run Quality Index (RQI) is proposed to help evaluate the heat balanced engine and compare it to other engines.


Surface functionalization of nanoparticles (NPs) may alter their biological interactions such as uptake by alveolar macrophages (AMs). Pulmonary delivery of gold NPs (Au NPs) has theranostic potential due to their optoelectronic properties, minimal alveoli to blood translocation, and possibility of specific cell targeting. Here, we examined whether coating Au NPs with transferrin alters their protein corona, uptake by macrophages, and pulmonary translocation. Methods: Rats were intratracheally instilled with transferrin-coated Au NPs (Tf-Au NPs) or polyethylene glycol-coated Au NPs (PEG-Au NPs). AMs were collected and processed for quantitation of Au cell uptake using ICP-MS and electron microscopy. Au retention in the lungs and other organs was also determined. The uptake of fluorescently labeled Tf-Au NPs and PEG-Au NPs by monocyte-derived human macrophages was also evaluated in vitro. Results: We showed that Tf-Au NPs were endocytosed by AMs and were retained in the lungs to a greater extent than PEG-Au NPs. Both Au NPs acquired similar protein coronas after incubation in rat broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALf). The translocation of Au from both NPs to other organs was less than 0.5% of the instilled dose. Transferrin coating enhanced the uptake of Au NPs by primary monocyte-derived human macrophages. Conclusions: We report that coating of NP surface with transferrin can target them to rat AMs and human monocyte-derived macrophages. NP functionalization with transferrin may enhance NP-based therapeutic strategies for lung diseases.


AbstractThis study was planned to determine the effects of occupational risk factors in 180 textile industry workers. For this purpose a questionnaire was filled by 180 textile workers whose duties were dyeing (n = 40), sewing (n = 40), quality controlling (n = 49) and packaging (n = 51). Our results have shown that all subjects had pain localised in upper extremities; shoulder/neck, and low back. Pain increased during working. As a result of our study, when the collected data were examined for environmental risk factors, in most of the dyeing (97.5%), sewing (97.5%), quality controlling (93.9%), and packaging (86.3%) workers, their discomfort was due to environmental factors. It was determined that every group worked standing except sewing workers and all the workers except the dyeing group worked in a constant position with rhythmic and repetitive movements. We concluded that workers in the textile industry are exposed to many occupational risk factors for developing musculo-skeletal system pain.


This paper provides a survey of ancient and traditional rainwater harvesting applications as effective climate adaptation strategies. Rainwater harvesting has a more significant past than a present. The fifteen identified ancient and traditional rainwater harvesting practices and the societies that practiced them may provide a key water conservation strategy for the future in vulnerable regions found in the dry-wet, semi-arid, and arid climatic regions. In the past several decades, there has been a call from scientific and non-governmental organization communities to combine modern water systems and old rainwater harvesting methods or to modernize the existing rainwater harvesting knowledge to benefit human settlements facing water scarcity.


Although the World Health Organization recommends contact investigations around air travel-associated sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients, evidence suggests that the information thus obtained may have overestimated the risk of TB infection because it involved some contacts born in countries with high TB burden who were likely to have been infected with TB in the past, or because tuberculin skin tests were used, which are less specific than the interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) particularly in areas where Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination coverage is high. We conducted a questionnaire survey on air travel-associated TB contact investigations in local health offices of Japan from 2012 to 2015, focusing on IGRA positivity. Among 651 air travel-associated TB contacts, average positivity was 3.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.5–5.6) with a statistically significant increasing trend with older age (p < 0.0094). Positivity among 0–34 year-old contacts was 1.0% (95% CI: 0.12–3.5%), suggesting their risk of TB infection is as small as among Japanese young adults with low risk of TB infection (positivity: 0.85–0.90%). Limiting the contact investigation to fewer passengers (within two seats surrounding the index case, rather than two rows) seems reasonable in the case of aircraft with many seats per row.


Today, the Swedish industry is budgeting billions in maintenance related costs on a yearly basis. The high costs come from productivity losses due to low availability. With condition based maintenance the maintenance intervals will be a lot more dynamic and no actions will be done unnecessarily. Sensor technology makes it possible to monitor an assets most important components. Different Artificial Intelligence techniques make it possible to analyze the measured data. With process knowledge of the monitored asset the analysis will show whether maintenance actions need to be performed or not. The condition based maintenance approach has been tried successfully on different engineering industries; now, the time has come to rail vehicles.


Backgound and objective A postal survey was conducted in order to investigate current practice in airway management amongst Dutch anaesthetists and to investigate the role of recent training and the role of an 'Access to the Airway' airway management course. Methods A questionnaire containing 27 questions was sent to all practising anaesthetists in The Netherlands. Questionnaires were returned anonymously and were analysed using the Pearson &khgr;2-test (P < 0.05) with the SPSS® version 8.0 statistical software program. Results The response rate was 42%. Of the respondents, 78% claim often or always to assess the expected degree of difficulty in tracheal intubation as part of routine preoperative assessment. The American Society of Anesthesiologist's Difficult Airway Algorithm was used by 19% of respondents. A wide variety of airway management techniques is being used. In 36% of all general anaesthetics a laryngeal mask airway is used. In 1.1% of all general anaesthetics tracheal intubation is performed with the flexible fibrescope. Conclusions Dutch anaesthetists, who commenced anaesthetic training after 1988, and those who attended the airway management course 'Access to the Airway' are significantly more likely to follow the American Society of Anesthesiologist's Difficult Airway Algorithm and to use adjunctive techniques for airway management.


The alkaline earth aluminate phosphor SrAl2O4: Sm synthesized by solution combustion method at low temperature (550˚C) using metal nitrates with oxalyne dihydrazine as fuel. This process results in large production of phosphor with low density, can be achieved within 5 minutes when compared to other conventional methods. The synthesized product was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction studies, Scanning Electron Microscope, Thermal studies, FTIR, Atomic Force Microscopy and UV-VISIBLE. XRD confirms monoclinic phase, Scanning Eectron Microscope prove that the nano phosphor is highly voluminous and porus. Thermal behaviour shows that loss of weight is less when compared to other methods. Atomic force microscopy shows that the particle size varies with calcination temperature. The average particle size without calcination is found to be 50 to 100nm. The band gap of nano phosphor found to be 5.18ev.


Cross-point memory architecture offers high device density, yet it suffers from substantial sneak path leakages, which result in large power dissipation and a small sensing margin. The parasitic resistance associated with the interconnects further degrades the output signal and imposes an additional limitation on the maximum allowable array size. In this paper, we study the device requirements of a resistive cross-point memory array under the worst-case write and read operations. We focus on the data pattern dependence of the memory array and compare the effect of the memory cell resistance values and resistance ratio for determining the maximum array size. The number of cells in the array can reach 106 with a signal swing > 50% of the reading voltage when Ron is beyond 3 M and Roff/Ron is greater than 2. A large memory cell resistance value can further reduce the power consumption, obviate the need for a large Roff/Ron ratio, and avoid the inclusion of cell selection devices. The effect of the nonlinearity of the I -V characteristics of the memory cells is also investigated. The nonlinearity calls for a substantial tradeoff between the memory cell resistance values and the resistance ratio, and must be taken into consideration for the device design.


This paper presents two kinds of monolithically integrated ultra-wideband photoreceivers that use HBT-compatible HPTs with novel base circuits. The HPT photoreceiver, which consists of an HPT with an inductor and series resistor base circuit, yields ultra-broadband operation with 3 dB bandwidth from 0.43-12.1 GHz and over 11 dB gain compared to a photodiode with identical quantum efficiency. The HPT/HBT photoreceiver, which consists of an HPT with an inductor at the base terminal followed by an HBT amplifier circuit, yields ultra-wideband operation from 8.5-20.5 GHz (bandwidth of 12 GHz) with over 20 dB gain. The bandwidths of these photoreceivers are state-of-the art for monolithically integrated photoreceivers using HPT/HBT structures. The proposed photoreceivers, which are based on mature MMIC technologies, offer several other remarkable features such as good design accuracy and extremely small chip size.


Previously, we proposed a physically-inspired method to construct data points into an effective in-tree (IT) structure, in which the underlying cluster structure in the dataset is well revealed. Although there are some edges in the IT structure requiring to be removed, such undesired edges are generally distinguishable from other edges and thus are easy to be determined. For instance, when the IT structures for the 2-dimensional (2D) datasets are graphically presented, those undesired edges can be easily spotted and interactively determined. However, in practice, there are many datasets that do not lie in the 2D Euclidean space, thus their IT structures cannot be graphically presented. But if we can effectively map those IT structures into a visualized space in which the salient features of those undesired edges are preserved, then the undesired edges in the IT structures can still be visually determined in a visualization environment. Previously, this purpose was reached by our method called IT-map. The outstanding advantage of IT-map is that clusters can still be found even with the so-called crowding problem in the embedding.
In this paper, we propose another method, called IT-Dendrogram, to achieve the same goal through an effective combination of the IT structure and the single link hierarchical clustering (SLHC) method. Like IT-map, IT-Dendrogram can also effectively represent the IT structures in a visualization environment, whereas using another form, called the Dendrogram. IT-Dendrogram can serve as another visualization method to determine the undesired edges in the IT structures and thus benefit the IT-based clustering analysis. This was demonstrated on several datasets with different shapes, dimensions, and attributes. Unlike IT-map, IT-Dendrogram can always avoid the crowding problem, which could help users make more reliable cluster analysis in certain problems.


Background The prevalence of hypertension in low‐ and middle‐income countries is rapidly increasing, with most cases undiagnosed and many poorly controlled among those diagnosed. Medication reconciliation studies from high‐income countries have demonstrated a high occurrence of antihypertensive medication errors and a strong association between medication errors and inadequate blood pressure control, but data from low‐ and middle‐income countries are lacking. Methods and Results We conducted a cross‐sectional study from April to October 2018 of adult patients on pharmacologic management for known hypertension at 7 public health facilities in Kweneng East District, Botswana. Our aims included to evaluate the frequency of uncontrolled hypertension, the frequency and type of medication errors causing discrepancies between patient‐reported and prescribed antihypertensive medications, and the association between medication errors and uncontrolled hypertension. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression were used. The prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension was 55% among 280 enrolled adult patients, and 95 (34%) had ≥1 medication error. The most common errors included patients taking medications incorrectly (11.1%; 31/280), patients omitting medications (7.9%; 22/280), and unfilled prescriptions caused by pharmacy stock outs (7.5%%; 21/280). Uncontrolled hypertension was significantly associated with having ≥1 medication error compared with no errors (adjusted odds ratio, 3.26; 95% CI, 1.75–6.06; P<0.001). Conclusions Medication errors are strongly associated with poor blood pressure control in this setting. Further research is warranted to assess whether medication reconciliation and other low‐cost interventions addressing root causes of medication errors can improve the control of hypertension and other chronic conditions in low‐ and middle‐income countries.


Abstract 3991 Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematalogic malignancy characterized by the clonal proliferation and uncontrolled accumulation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. In recent years a breath of new data has been reported on the genomics of MM. Nearly all MM patients studied to date show numerous genomic changes; however most studies to date have not included clinical annotation to correlate these markers to clinical outcomes. Methods: We reviewed the "Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium9s (MMRC) copy number" data set and corresponding clinical annotation available from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) Genomics Portal in attempt to identify clinically relevant mutations. Agilent 244k aCGH on DNA from CD138-selected plasma cells were performed on 254 MM patients. We identified 105 untreated patients from this data set for further analysis that had at least partial clinical annotation available. Results: Median age of the population at diagnosis was 63-years-old (range 40–89), 84% were Caucasian, and 63% were male. Fifty-eight percent had IgG isotype, 18% had IgA, 10% had no heavy chain, and 2% had IgD. Eighty-five patients had albumin and beta-2 available to calculate ISS stage. Fifty- three percent were ISS stage I, 26% were stage II, and 21% were stage III. Median M-Spike was 3.0 g/dL, 78% had elevated free light chains, and 56% had lytic bone disease. Patients received a variety of therapies for MM. A univariate analysis of the clinical annotation found several previously discovered high-risk groups that were prognostic for survival including: age > 65 years at diagnosis (HR 3.424; p = 0.012), serum creatinine > 2.0 mg/dL (HR 3.197; p = 0.028), and ISS stage 3 compared to 1 and 2 (HR 2.701; p = 0.077). Genome-wide copy number analysis yielded several genomic aberrations that were significantly more common in these high risk sub-groups. Patients 65-years-old or older at diagnosis were more likely to have deletions at chromosome 1p12, 8p21, 10p12, 13q34, 14q24, 16p13, 22q13 and amplifications at 5q35 and 15q15. Deletion of chromosome 10p12 (HR 3.618; p ANKRD26 , MEG4 and amplification of 5q35 involving GRK6, DBN1, DOK3, DDX41, ABS, PDLIM7, F12 and SLC34A1 (HR 2.358; p = 0.07) both correlated with survival. Patients with serum creatinine > 2g/dL were more likely to have deletions of chromosome 1p21, 2p11, and amplifications at 8q24, 14q32.2 and 16p11 (p EVL and RNB6 ) correlated with survival (HR 5.539; p Our analysis revealed that patients with ISS stage III had higher percent of deletion on chromosome 12q23, 13q32, 16q and amplification of 1q (p 300 units/L, CRP > 6.0 mg/dL and patients with lytic bone disease. Several genetic aberrations were more frequent in these groups (p Conclusion: Several high-risk groups have been previously identified using clinical characteristics or genetic data, but are rarely analyzed together. In this data set, we found several factors that correlated with survival including: Age >65, serum creatinine >2.0mg/dL, ISS stage 3, amplification of chromosomes 5q35, 14q32, deletions of chromosomes 8p21, and 10p12. Additional multivariate analysis would determine if these genetic aberrations or the clinical characteristics are independently significant for survival. The heterogeneity of treatments limits the ability of retrospective studies to draw firm conclusions; however, this study is illustrative of the power of combing clinical and genomic data to narrow the multitude of genomic changes to those of clinical relevance. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


We have developed a unique metal nanoparticle (mNPs)-based assay to detect sequence-specific interactions between transcription factor and its corresponding DNA-binding elements. This assay exploits the interparticle-distance dependent optical properties of noble mNPs as sensing element and utilizes specific protein-DNA interactions to control the dispersion status of the mNPs. The assay involves two sets of double-stranded (ds)DNA modified-mNPs, each carrying a half site segment of a functional DNA sequence for the protein of interest. Each of these half sites is designed to contain a short complementary sticky end that introduces base-pairing forces to facilitate particle aggregation and to form a transient full dsDNA sequence. The detection of specific protein-DNA binding is founded on the premise that the mixture of these two sets of dsDNA-mNPs experiences a remarkable particle aggregation under certain salt conditions; whereas the aggregation can be retarded in the presence of a specific protein that binds and stabilizes the transient full dsDNA structure and therefore introduces steric protection forces between particles. We have demonstrated the concept using estrogen receptor α and its response elements, with gold and silver NPs as the sensing platform. UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering measurements were conducted to provide full characterization of the particle aggregation/dispersion mechanism. Differing from most of the mNP-based colorimetric sensors that are designed based on the analyte-induced aggregation mechanism, current protein binding-stabilization sensing strategy reduces the false signals caused by unrelated particle destabilizing effects. It is expected that this assay principle can be directed toward other transcription factors by simply changing the recognition sequence to form different segmented dsDNA-mNP constructs.


We recently reported the discovery of a 17-kDa Plasmodium yoelii protein expressed in infected hepatocytes and erythrocytes, P. yoelii hepatocyte erythrocyte protein 17 (PyHEP17), and have demonstrated that this protein is a target of protective antibodies and T cells. Here, we report the identification and characterization of the gene encoding this protein and reveal that it is composed of two exons. Immunization of mice with PyHEP17 plasmid DNA induces antibodies, cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and protective immunity directed against the infected hepatocyte. Based on extensive sequence homology, expression pattern, and antigenic cross-reactivity, the Plasmodium falciparum homolog of PyHEP17 is identified as the protein known as exported protein-1 (PfExp-1), also called antigen 5.1, circumsporozoite related antigen, or QF116. Identity between PyHEP17 and PfExp-1 is 37% at the amino acid level (60/161 residues), mapping primarily to two regions within the second exon of 73% (16/22 residues) and 71% (25/35 residues) identity. On this basis, PfExp-1 is proposed as an important component of pre-erythrocytic human malaria vaccines.


The Birch reduction is a reaction commonly taught in the second-year undergraduate organic curriculum that involves the reduction of an aromatic compound to an alicyclic product using sodium metal and liquid ammonia. The experimental procedure can be challenging for novice chemists and thus has not been widely performed in introductory organic laboratories. An experimental procedure appropriate for introductory organic students is described that utilizes commercially available sodium-impregnated silica gel that is safer and easier to handle. This modified Birch reduction effectively reduces naphthalene to 1,4-dihydronaphthalene while minimizing safety concerns associated with the use of alkali metals and liquid ammonia.


The effects of super gravity field (super gravity coefficient and working direction) on the electrodeposition process of Pb (underpotential deposition, bulk deposition and hydrogen evolution reaction) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry. Results indicated that, in Pb(NO3)2 aqueous solution, both the bulk deposition and the underpotential deposition of Pb2+ can be intensified under all super gravity conditions and the hydrogen evolution reaction is depressed. When the working direction of super gravity is in the vertical-back-direction (VBD), the largest effect of super gravity on the electrodeposition process is achieved. After electrolytic removal of Pb2+ from wastewater under super gravity field, the residual concentration of Pb2+ was much lower than that under the normal gravity condition.


The feasibility of providing transparent access to a collection of persistent, complex objects was investigated. An architecture for interfacing a persistent store of complex objects to a hierarchical storage system is described. Persistent-object stores support the uniform creation, storage, and access of complex objects, regardless of their lifetimes. In other words, a mechanism is provided by which persistent objects outlive the processes which create them and can be accessed in a uniform manner by other processes. This architecture was validated by implementing a proof-of-concept system and testing the system on two stores of data. These tests indicate that this architecture supports the creation, storage, and access of very large, persistent-object stores.<<ETX>>


In this paper, we show how a large demographic data set that includes only high-level information about health and disability can be used to specify user requirements for people with specific needs and impairments. As a case study, we consider adapting spoken dialogue systems (SDS) to the needs of older adults. Such interfaces are becoming increasingly prevalent in telecare and home care, where they will often be used by older adults. As our data set, we chose the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA), a large representative survey of the health, wellbeing, and socioeconomic status of English older adults. In an inclusion audit, we show that one in four older people surveyed by ELSA might benefit from SDS due to problems with dexterity, mobility, vision, or literacy. Next, we examine the technology that is available to our target users (technology audit) and estimate factors that might prevent older people from using SDS (exclusion audit). We conclude that while SDS are ideal for solutions that are delivered on the near ubiquitous landlines, they need to be accessible for people with mild to moderate hearing problems, and thus multimodal solutions should be based on the television, a technology even more widespread than landlines.


Abstract Interlocus sexual conflict theory predicts that some male adaptations are harmful to their mates. Females are therefore expected to evolve resistance to this harm. Using cytogenetic cloning techniques, we tested for heritable genetic variation among females for resistance to harm from males and determined whether propensity to remate, female body size, and intralocus conflict contributes to this variation. We found low but significant heritability for female resistance, but this variation accounted for more than half of the standing genetic variation for net fitness among females. We found no association between female resistance and female body size or level of intralocus sexual conflict. Reluctance to remate was found to be an important factor contributing to the female resistance phenotype, and we found a positive selection gradient on this trait. However, we observed only a nonsignificant positive correlation between a female's resistance and her net fitness. One factor contributing to the observed nominal level of selection on female resistance was that males cause the greatest amount of harm to females with the highest intrinsic fecundity.


The goal of this study was to measure radiation doses for 64-slice cardiac CT angiography studies and to study the dose-savings features of these CT scanners. This was done using various phantoms. These radiation doses were compared with those from typical helical body CT scans, fluoroscopy cardiac catheterization studies and mammography examinations. Radiation measurements were made with a CT ionization detector and a solid state dosimeter. A GE 64-slice Lightspeed VCT and a Siemens Somatom Sensation 64 CT were used to scan a standard 32 cm acrylic phantom and an anthropomorphic phantom. Data were collected in axial and various gated cardiac helical modes. Organ doses and the effective doses were calculated from the measurements. In gated CT cardiac mode with the 32 cm acrylic phantom, the measured radiation doses per study were generally three to seven times greater than those from typical body helical CT examinations; the range depended upon selectable scan parameters. With the anatomical phantom, the surface doses in the anteroposterior (AP) plane were typically 20-60% higher than those measured using the 32 cm phantom. The lateral surface doses were -4% to +15%. These results can be attributed to the shorter AP dimension and the air in the lungs. The CT skin entrance radiation doses were 80-90% less than diagnostic cardiac catheterization studies, and organ doses were similar. Because 64-slice cardiac gated CT uses pitches equal to 0.20-0.27 and high mAs values, the patient radiation doses are appreciably higher than in routine body CT examinations. The female breast, which could receive a radiation dose 10-30 times that received from mammography screening, is an organ of particular concern.


Gene expression profile is a kind of useful biological resource in recent years. The original data is usually in the form of large matrix with missing values in it. Missing value estimation method is in active demand as many downstream analysis methods suffered from the missing values. Several methods dealing with this problem have been reported (proposed) recently. We proposed a novel missing value estimation method based on support vector regression. Various parameter sets and input coding schemes were employed, and the performance of our method was evaluated over different data sets by comparing with other existing methods. Results show that our method is comparative, if not better than, those previous methods


There is frequently more or less acrimonious discussion about artificial intelligence and intelligent machines and their place in science. Usually the discussion settles down to the reiteration of two points of view. This paper is concerned with the difference between them. Do they merely reflect two emotional or ethical biases, or is there an underlying technical judgment on which they disagree? The authors claim the latter and purport to show what that judgment is.