Brown-rice hydrolyzates with different degrees of hydrolysis (DH) were fermented using Leuconostoc mesenteroides (Ln. mesenteroides) KC51 strain at 30℃ for 15 hr. Changes in pH, titratable acidity, viable cell counts and phytate degradation during fermentation were investigated. The acid production was increased with increasing DH of brown-rice hydrolyzate. At high DH (48.2%), the pH and titratable acidity reached to pH 3.41 and 0.82% after 15 hr fermentation, respectively. Regardless of DH of brown-rice, however, the viable cell population of Ln. mesenteroides KC51 was slightly increased to 4.0~7.2×10? CFU/g during the 6 hr of cultivation. The phytate content in brown-rice hydrolyzates decreased with increasing DH of brown-rice hydrolyzates. The level of phytate was reduced to around 50% of initial concentration at high DH condition. When the fermented brown-rice was kept at 4℃, pH, titratable acidity and number of viable cells were nearly maintained for 14 days.


Suspension in a vehicle is provided primarily to improve the passenger comfort and road handling in different road conditions. Active suspension is proven to be better than a passive suspension system. In this paper, a quarter car model is considered to study the performance of the proposed controller. Choosing the proper database to train an adaptive neural fuzzy inference(ANFIS) plays an important role in improving the suspension system performance. The database used to train the proposed ANFIS controller was extracted from a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of an active suspension system using ANFIS and LQR controllers. MATLAB/SIMULINK was used to study the simulation of vehicle's performance on a road. The results show that both LQR and ANFIS controllers can effectively control the vertical vibration of the vehicle as compared to passive suspension system. Moreover the ANFIS control method is found to be more effective in reducing the acceleration of a sprung mass as compared to LQR control.


Data retention faults in CMOS SRAMs are tested by sensing the voltage at the data bus lines. Sensing the voltage at one of the data bus lines with proper DFT (design for testability) reading circuitry allows the fault-free memory cells to be discriminated from the defective cell(s). Two required DFT circuitries for applying this technique are proposed. The cost of the proposed approach in terms of area, test time and performance degradation is analysed. A CMOS memory array with the proposed DFT circuitries has been designed and fabricated. The experimental results show the feasibility of this technique.


The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) provided by the Li-Strahler geometric-optical forest canopy model has been integrated to provide spectral instantaneous hemispherical reflectances of sparsely vegetated surfaces. Further integration over the Sun's zenith angles can yield daily or longer interval hemispherical reflectances as well. A variety of simulated canopies were modeled with varying solar angles. In all cases, as the geometric-optical model introduced increased shadowing of the surface with increased solar zenith angle, the direct-beam hemispherical surface reflectance gradually decreased. The hemispherical reflectance values are direct beam calculations and do not directly include canopy multiple scattering and leaf specularity or consider the impact of diffuse irradiance. These limitations are acceptable for sparse canopies, in which 3D shadowing effects are large. However, radiative transfer calculations have shown that these phenomena must be incorporated before truly realistic modeling of hemispherical surface reflectances can be achieved for dense canopies. >


Development of a simple, easy and low-cost software for designing of waveguide-coupled single and cascaded microring resonator (MRRs) using semi-numerical calculation based on transfer matrix method (TMM), is presented in this paper. The software uses a device model which is embedded on the high index contrast (HIC) structure of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) with monomodal cavity for TE-mode polarizations, operating around 1550 nm optical wavelength. The main aim of the software is to estimate the microring resonator performance parameters, such as free spectral range (FSR) and quality factor (Q-factor). The software is very simple and easy to use. With a standard laptop computer, it only takes few seconds to obtain transmission response, FSR and Q-factor of single MRR for varied waveguides separation distance and ring radius. The results were then verified using simulation method based on finite integration technique using 3D electromagnetic simulator, which need a high memory and processor of computer and take days to execute the simulation. We found only small discrepancy, which in averages are about 4.25% and 10.80% for FSR and Q-factor, respectively. In general, the results obtained from this software are closer to 3D electromagnetic simulation results.


This paper is about localising across extreme lighting and weather conditions. We depart from the traditional point-feature-based approach as matching under dramatic appearance changes is a brittle and hard thing. Point feature detectors are fixed and rigid procedures which pass over an image examining small, low-level structure such as corners or blobs. They apply the same criteria applied all images of all places. This paper takes a contrary view and asks what is possible if instead we learn a bespoke detector for every place. Our localisation task then turns into curating a large bank of spatially indexed detectors and we show that this yields vastly superior performance in terms of robustness in exchange for a reduced but tolerable metric precision. We present an unsupervised system that produces broad-region detectors for distinctive visual elements, called scene signatures, which can be associated across almost all appearance changes. We show, using 21km of data collected over a period of 3 months, that our system is capable of producing metric localisation estimates from night-to-day or summer-to-winter conditions.


Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) is considered a minimally invasive procedure. Body mass index (BMI) has been rarely evaluated for pulmonary complications after TAVI. This study aimed to assess the influence of BMI on the pulmonary complications and other related outcomes after TAVI. Methods: The clinical data of 109 patients who underwent TAVI in our hospital from May 2018 to April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into three groups according to BMI: normal weight (BMI <24.0kg/m2, n=54), overweight (BMI 24.0-27.9kg/m2, n=41) and obesity (BMI >28kg/m2, n=14) and two groups according to vascular access: through femoral artery route (TF-TAVI) (n=94) and through the transapical route (TA-TAVI) (n=15). Procedure endpoints, procedure success, and adverse outcomes were evaluated according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC)-2 definitions. Results: Obese patients had higher proportion of older (p <0.01) and previous percutaneous coronary intervention patients (p <0.01) and higher percentage of diabetes mellitus (p = 0.016) and frailty (p = 0.024), lower level of glomerular filtration rate (p <0.01). Procedure success was found similar between the three groups. 30-day all-cause mortality of patients with normal weight, overweight, and obesity was 3.7% (2/54) vs 4.9% (2/41) vs 7.1% (1/14) , respectively. In the multivariable analysis, overweight and obese patients exhibited similar overall mortality (overweight vs normal, p = 0.550 and obese vs normal, p = 0.763) and similar intubation time compared to normal weight patients (9.3±5.2 hours vs 9.0±6.2 hours vs 8.8±4.3 hours in obesity, overweight, and normal weight patients, respectively, p = 0.699). Although obese patients had lower PaO2/FiO2 than the normal weight patients at baseline, transitional extubation and postextubation 12th hour (p=0.046, 0.036, 0.047 respectively), there was no difference at postextubation 24th hour, postextubation 48th hour and postextubation 72th hour ( p= 0.778, 0.866, 0.886 respectively). Chronic lung disease (OR=7.986, p=0.001) rather than obesity (OR=1.967, p=0.132) or overweight (OR=3.046, p=0.081) affected postoperative PaO2/FiO2 after TAVI. Conclusions: We did not found the existence of an obesity paradox after TAVI. BMI showed no effect on the postoperative intubation time. Patients with a higher BMI should be treated equally and do not need to deliberately extend the intubation time for TAVI.


The article is devoted to the study of spatial forms of organizing innovative infrastructure of Ukraine in terms of sustainable development. In the course of the study, modern trends of innovative development of the regions in Ukraine are highlighted. The peculiarities of implementing innovative policy in the context of smart specialization strategy are analyzed. Diagnostics of processes of formation and development of innovative infrastructure in regions of Ukraine is carried out. A conceptual approach to assessing the level of innovation infrastructure development is proposed.


The article is an attempt to present social effects of the transformation in Poland from the perspective of socialist «welfare state» dismantling. Economic, social and political transformation generated utterly new reality on a national level as well as in its individual regions and social groups. The analysis of Polish experience may be of interest amongst both the academic researchers and practitioners in the context of similar processes occurring in Ukraine.


Pseudotumoral uterine lesions include benign reactive and artefactual changes, epithelial and mesenchymal, which occasionally are incorrectly interpreted as malignant or even premalignant lesions. Although some of these changes may have architectural or cytological abnormality, they are different from those observed in premalignant and malignant uterine lesions. The most common pseudotumoral lesions of the endometrium include various types of epithelial and stromal metaplasia, pseudolymphomas, inflammatory pseudotumor, adenomyosis, post-therapy surgical changes, artefactual changes, etc. Most of these changes may coexist with endometrial hyperplasia or endometrial carcinoma, and also with some benign conditions such as polyps or in combination with hormonal therapy or even in normal cyclic endometrium. These associated endometrial changes may raise important issues regarding the diagnosis and subsequent therapy.


While this paper presents a Philippine perspective on Japanese and US official development assistance to the Philippines, it does not attempt to quantify its contributions to development. Rather, it reviews the flows of Japanese and US assistance in terms of both quantity and quality. It also indicates some possible directions regarding the future role of Japanese and US development assistance to the Philippines.


Background Maintenance of bone homeostasis depends on the coupling between the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts that is locally regulated by B cells and T cells. Thus, both autoimmune diseases and immunosuppressive therapy can influence bone metabolism and bone turnover. Calcineurin inhibitors can induce high turnover osteopathy, with and without bone loss. There are only limited data on the influence of other immunosuppressants such as mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and mTOR inhibitors (sirolimus) on bone turnover and osteoblast proliferation. Objectives We analyzed the antiproliferative capacity of cyclosporine (CsA), MMF and sirolimus (sir) on primary human osteoblasts (hOB) and human osteosarcoma cells (TE85 cell line) in vitro. Methods hOB ad TE8-cells were cultured under standardized conditions with serum stimulation. Sirolimus and MMF were added in ascending concentrations of 1 – 100 μg/L and cyclosporine was given at 100 – 1000 μg/L for 24 hours. The antiproliferative capacity was measured by MTT-assay and compared to serum-stimulated controls. Results MMF dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of primary hOB. We saw a growth inhibition to 92% [at 1 μg/L MMF], 84% [at 10 μg/L MMF] and 69% respectively [at 100 μg/L MMF]. Sirolimus already inhibited hOB growth at the lowest concentration used. Cell growth was reduced to 69% compared to control cells [at 1 μg/L sir], 74% [at 10 μg/L sir] and 70% respectively [at 100 μg/L sir]. Also cyclosporine showed an inhibitory effect on hOB proliferation, however, only at higher doses: 93% [at 100 μg/L CsA], 84% [at 500 μg/L CsA], 77% [at 1000 μg/L CsA]. In the osteosarcoma cell line TE85, cyclosporine and sirolimus were without effect while MMF showed an inhibition of proliferation at the highest dose used: reduction to 83% cell growth [at 100 μg/L MMF]. Conclusions At doses used in clinical routine, sirolimus [1 μg/L] and MMF [10 μg/L] inhibited the proliferative capacity of primary human osteoblasts in vitro. Sirolimus and MMF may contribute to bone loss in autoimmune diseases via inhibition of osteoblast growth. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Determining high-resolution structures of biological macromolecules with masses of less than 100 kilodaltons (kDa) has long been a goal of the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) community. While the Volta Phase Plate has enabled cryo-EM structure determination of biological specimens of this size range, use of this instrumentation is not yet fully automated and can present technical challenges. Here, we show that conventional defocus-based cryo-EM methodologies can be used to determine the high-resolution structures of specimens amassing less than 100 kDa using a transmission electron microscope operating at 200 keV coupled with a direct electron detector. Our ∼2.9 Å structure of alcohol dehydrogenase (82 kDa) proves that bound ligands can be resolved with high fidelity, indicating that these methodologies can be used to investigate the molecular details of drug-target interactions. Our ∼2.8 Å and ∼3.2 Å resolution structures of methemoglobin demonstrate that distinct conformational states can be identified within a dataset for proteins as small as 64 kDa. Furthermore, we provide the first sub-nanometer cryo-EM structure of a protein smaller than 50 kDa.


St Paul has often been sadly misunderstood, both by Christians and non-Christians. Pan One of this book is a personal - indeed autobiographical - invitation to the reader to think of Paul as 'the fifth evangelist, the first in point of time and of value both'. Then, from his letters, Professor Hunter has portrayed him in turn as writer, liberator, pastor, theologian, churchman, friend and saint. In Part Two, after chapters on St John and the new look' that has come over his Gospel in our time, he has added further essays on the Lord's supper, the Holy Spirit, prayer, preaching and the church's hymns. The final chapters concentrate on those three little words, faith, love and hope, which, properly understood, take us back to the church's first beginnings, as still today they sum up what it means to be a Christian. A. M. Hunter, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, was formerly Master of Christ's College, Aberdeen.


Activation of the immune system and progressive fibrosis are prominent features of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The main histologic findings in affected exocrine glands are marked fibrosis of the interstitium and prominent increase in the number of fibroblasts, accompanied by mild lymphocytic infiltration. Clinically, the severity of dry eye is correlated with the degree of fibrotic changes, rather than with the amount of lymphocytic infiltration, indicating that excessive extracellular matrix accumulation primarily contributes to the exocrine dysfunction. We have found that accumulated fibroblasts in the lacrimal gland of patients with cGVHD have a chimeric status. Thus, fibroblasts originating from circulating donor-derived precursors and recipient-derived fibroblasts by local epithelial mesenchymal transition may participate in the excessive fibrosis in patients with cGVHD by interacting with T cells. In this article, the immune response and pathogenic fibrosis in ocular cGVHD will be discussed. In addition, clinical findings of ocular complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and currently available treatment will also be discussed.


CPCER (continuous pilot channel estimation with regression) algorithm based on LS spreading codes character of having IFW (interference free window) has been proposed to improve the performance of channel estimation in LAS-CDMA (large area synchronize code division multiple access) system. In this paper, system performance when CPCER employed is analyzed with a method called equivalent channel analysis method. It shows that the error rate probability can be expressed as a function of Doppler shift and the correlation coefficient that is decided by CPCER. The analysis proves that comparing with conventional continuous pilot channel estimation method (CCPCE), CPCER can improve channel estimation accuracy and system performance greatly.


Reconstructions arc presented of past growth rates of 10 Acacia tortilis trees, 5 growing at an arid site (Gebeit, Sudan) and 5 at a hyperarid site (Wadi Nuqrus, Egypt). The reconstructions were made using a free-shape age-depth model based on a series of 14C dates obtained on samples taken along the wood cores retrieved from the trunks of the trees (78 dates in total). In spite of the large difference in annual precipitation between the 2 sites, the range of ages of the trees (60–350 yr) and the variability in their growth rates are quite similar across both sites, whereas within-site growth rates are quite different even for closely spaced individuals. However, the pattern of growth rates of Acacias from the hyperarid Wadi Nuqrus indicates 2 periods of different aridity (the less arid AD 1650–1780 and more arid AD 1780–1930), while at Gebeit no such pattern has been detected.


Purified, soluble collagen was prepared from rat skin, and the tyrosine residues were labelled with 125 I by the chloramine T method. The collagen was added to platelet-rich plasma from rats or rabbits, and then layered on 23 % w/v Ficoll. After centrifugation at 3900 g for 20 min, the platelets were recovered from beneath the Ficoll, and the radioactivity associated with them was measured. This represented the platelet-bound collagen, since very little collagen penetrated the Ficoll if platelets were absent. The amount of platelet-bound collagen paralleled the extent of collagen microfibril formation, which in turn increased with the time the collagen was preincubated at 36 °C before being added to the plasma. The amount of binding in each sample was reproducible within groups of rats or rabbits, but the amount of collagen bound per platelet was about 3 times greater in samples from rabbits than from rats.


: Echodopplerography demonstrated a significant increase in the velocities of bloodflow and indices for the thyroid gland in diffuse toxic goiter. The presence of the increased velocity indexes and coefficients during remission permits predicting recurrent course of the affliction.


Prevailing Opinion in regard to Origin of Gypsum The prevailing opinion seems to be that most of the important gypsum deposits of the world have been formed under "salt-pan" conditions. This opinion is held, even though many persons have pointed out the difficulties which the theory involves. The classical illustration of the "salt-pan" theory for gypsum deposits is found in certain nearly detached basins at the eastern end of the Caspian Sea and elsewhere. Conditions in these basins, however, in at least one important particular, differ from those that characterize gypsum deposits. Myriads of organisms are drawn into the basin from the Caspian Sea and perish in its denser brine. Gypsum deposits, on the other hand, are generally devoid of fossils. To avoid this difficulty, certain students of the problem have postulated a second, or inner, basin in which the brine reaches the gypsum-depositing stage. According to this conception, the . . .


A new procedure for determining the noise parameters of on-wafer devices at W-band is presented. In this procedure the noise parameters of the device (DUT) are de-embedded using correlation matrices. The first reported noise parameter results for an on-wafer attenuator at 94GHz are also presented. These measured noise parameters show good agreement to those calculated from the DUT's scattering parameters.


BACKGROUND
Migraine is a common neurological condition that frequently presents to the emergency department (ED). Many medications are available to treat migraine. This study aims to characterize the demographics of patients who present to a large metropolitan ED with migraine, and to identify the medications used in treating this condition.

METHODS
This study is a retrospective database interrogation of clinical records, used to collect quantitative data on patient demographics and medication prescriptions in the ED.

RESULTS
A total of 2 228 patients were identified as being treated for migraine over a 10-year period. The proportion of the ED population presenting with migraine steadily increased in this time. Females (71%) more commonly presented to the ED with migraine than males. The migraine population was significantly younger (M=37.05, SD=13.23) than the whole ED population (M=46.17 SD=20.50) (P<0.001). A variety of medications were used in the treatment of migraine in the ED. Simple analgesics such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, anti-emetics and intravenous (IV) fluids with phenothiazine additives were commonly used. Over 20% of patients were prescribed oral or parenteral opiates (42 of 194 initial medication prescriptions, and 64 of 292 as required medication prescriptions). Triptans were very rarely used.

CONCLUSION
Migraine is an increasingly common presentation to the ED. People presenting to the ED with migraine are more likely to be younger and female than the general ED population. Peak presentations for migraines occurred in January and February. The medications that are prescribed in the ED for migraine is varied and are not always in line with current evidence for the treatment of migraine. The excessive reliance on opiates and lack of the use of triptans denotes a significant variation from published guidelines.


Missing transverse momentum (Emiss T ) is a useful way to signal particles not interacting with the detector such as those predicted by Beyond Standard Model theories. The ATLAS experiment at the LHC employs a missing transverse momentum trigger that uses calorimeter-based global energy sums, together with specifically developed pile-up mitigation techniques, to keep the selection efficiency high for events with non-interacting particles while minimizing the overall trigger rate. The high number of pile-up interactions was one of the major challenges faced during the Run 2 of the LHC and a continuous effort was needed to improve the pile-up rejection and to keep the trigger rate reasonable. This contribution presents the techniques used to improve the Run 2 missing transverse momentum trigger performance, describes the Run 2 performance and discusses an outlook for further improvements for Run 3 of the LHC.


Objective This study investigated the treatment response and cognitive enhancement effects of buspirone augmentation of escitalopram in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), according to atypical feature subtypes of MDD. Methods An 8 week, randomized, parallel-controlled, open-label study was conducted. The Columbia Atypical Depression Diagnostic Scale was administered to evaluate atypical features. Patients were assigned randomly to the buspirone augmentation or non-buspirone groups. Symptom severity and cognitive function were evaluated using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, digit span test, word fluency test, and Trail Making Tests A and B. Results A total of 89 patients were recruited. There were no significant differences in the measures between the groups; however, among the MDD patients without atypical features, the digit span and word fluency tests were improved by treatment. In the MDD patients without atypical features, the buspirone augmentation group showed a significant improvement on the digit span test compared to the non-buspirone group. Conclusion Buspirone augmentation did not demonstrate significant benefits in MDD patients; however, buspirone augmentation showed greater efficacy for the improvement of cognitive function in MDD patients without atypical features. Our study suggests that atypical features are an important factor for cognitive enhancement in buspirone augmentation treatment in patients with MDD.


Standards are being developed by the cellular industry to support vehicular communication networks. The cellular digital packet data (CDPD) standard has been developed for analog cellular systems (AMPS) by a consortium of cellular carriers. Data standards for CDMA cellular systems are being developed by the CDMA Development Group. Both CDPD and CDMA-based cellular data standards provide the necessary communication technology to support vehicular communication networks. The paper provides a summary of the standards being developed in the area of wireless data communication networks.


Extensive research interest has been attracted by the fact that recent experiments in cold atoms simulate the chiral edge states of (1 + 1)-dimensional quantum Hall systems with laser-assisted transitions between different atomic nuclear spin states in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Within such an optical lattice, we study the phase diagrams of filling hard-core fermions and hard-core bosons with internal spin states in the presence of dipole-dipolar interactions. Our results show that the interaction drives the fermionic (bosonic) systems from the normal (superfluid) phase into the fractional topological phase with possible crystalline orderings. The topological nature of the latter phase is identified by the numerical evaluation of the many-body Chern number. Remarkably, we find that a considerable spectrum gap stabilizes the fractional topological phase with a moderate interaction strength, while, for the normal/superfluid phase, the Thouless charge pumping fluctuates strongly for small spin systems but approaches its universal value 1/3 for fermionic and 1/2 for bosonic systems with large spins.


The ruling of the House of Lords in Anisminic was quickly in "every administrative lawyer's manual" but was not necessarily in their good books. Analysis of the judgment was produced in a steady stream in the years after it was handed down. In keeping with the dominant style of the times, much of this commentary was in the best traditions of technical, doctrinal administrative law, only obliquely connected to normative concerns about constitutional order. Fifty years later, styles of public law scholarship have changed significantly but Anisminic remains relevant and the subject of debate. Also in keeping with the prevailing style of public law, contemporary analysis of ouster clauses frames the core issue as a perpetual, complex conflict between the Rule of Law, Parliamentary Sovereignty, and the separation of powers — and differing conceptions of the nature, status, and relationship of those constitutional principles. For the most part, the debate consists of some scholars critiquing the continued application of the ruling as an affront to Parliamentary Sovereignty and others suggesting it recognises and protects the fundamental character of the Rule of Law. Between these two stances are a spectrum of different views about how these two principles, along with the separation of powers, ought to relate to each other. The contours of the contemporary debate around ouster clauses are very well-known, almost to the extent that the debate around the next ouster clauses case (whenever it may arise) is largely predictable. When this state of affairs is seen in light of the fact that the UK Supreme Court has once again effectively confirmed the Anisminic approach in a recent case, there is almost a sense that we appear to have reached, to coin a phrase, the "end of ouster clause history." It therefore seems a fitting moment to ask one of the most basic questions that can be posed of any legal principle: does it work? If we assume the broad purpose of Anisminc was to ensure common law control on minimum access to judicial review, does it achieve that end?

The argument in this paper is that, when placed in the wider context of restrictions on access to judicial review, the Anisminic approach can only make a minimal substantive contribution to ensuring the accessibility of the judicial review process. Other factors, such as the cost risks of bringing a case, exclude far more people from judicial review than ouster clauses. Given this state of affairs, I suggest that those genuinely concerned with access to judicial review, and how it may be protected through law, must now move beyond traditional Anisminc-type arguments and towards considering what the ruling's underlying philosophy may have to say about other types of restriction.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the frequency and characteristic of sleep disorders and consumption of hypnotic drugs in a population attended by primary care physicians (PC).

METHODS
Interviewing a population of 602 patients at the office exit of 87 PC physicians in 32 institution in Mallorca 1994. Questionnaire on sleep: hypnotic drugs and scale hospital anxiety-depression, others.

RESULTS
17.4% (95% CI: 14.4%-20.5%) sleepless (DSM-III-R), 27.0% (95% CI: 23.5%-30.6%) complained from poor sleep quality and 16.4% (95% CI: 13.4%-19.4%) usually consumed hypnotic drugs (56.7%, for longer than one year).

CONCLUSION
The high frequency of both sleep disorders and chronic consumption of hypnotic drugs represents a relevant health problem.


Abstract The lattice parameters of kyanite were measured at various pressures up to about 60 kbar by single-crystal X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell. Unit-cell dimensions decreased linearly with an almost uniform rate: βa = 2.00(8) × 10-4, βb = 1.90(4) × 10-4, βc = 2.00(4) × 10 4 kbar-1. The principal compressibility coefficients were β1 = 2.23 × 10-4, β2 = 2.04 ×10-4, β3 = 1.65 × 10-4 kbar-1, with β1 forming an angle of 35° with the c axis. K0, calculated by fitting pressure- volume data to a third-order Birch-Mumaghan equation of state, was 1560(100) kbar. with K′ 5.6(5.5): when K′ was set at 4, K0 became 1600(30) kbar. Structural refinements were carried out on data collected at 0.001 kbar with the crystal m air and at 0.1. 25.4. 37. and 47 kbar with the crystal in the diamond anvil cell. Whereas the Si tetrahedra and A14 octahedron were incompressible in this P range, the polyhedral bulk modulus for Al1 and Al2 was 1280(150) kbar and 2380(200) kbar for Al3. These octahedra became more regular with increasing pressure. The almost isotropic compression pattern was due to the many shared edges between the polyhedra. uniformly distributed in the cell. The evolution of Al-Al separation showed that the largest reduction regarded the Al2-Al3 and Al2-Al4 distances, whereas the average Al1-Al2 distance was almost unchanged, resulting from linkage with Si tetrahedra having rigid edges. The result was that the largest reduction did not occur along the c axis but along the Al4-Al1-Al2-Al3 directions. The geometrical structural invariance, expressed by the βv/αv ratio and obtained from the average compressibility and average thermal expansion of the cell volume (Winter and Ghose 1979), was 23 °C/kbar. The following equation of state, which applies in crustal P-T conditions, may be defined as: V/V0 = 1 + 3.00(7) × 10-5T- 5.8(1) × 10-4 P, where T is in °C and P in kbar. The present volume-pressure data support multi-anvil experiments by Schmidt et al. (1997) defining the P-T conditions necessary for decomposition of kyanite into stishovite + corundum.


Maurice Pialat's assiduously cultivated reputation as enfant terrible of French film-making from the 1970s onwards has combined with the inaccessibility of many of his films in English-speaking countries to marginalize a powerful and significant body of work. His death in 2003 led to a retrospective and the issue of the complete works on DVD in France, but only now has he generated an Englishlanguage monograph, in which Marja Warehime ably contextualizes the work of one who so often set himself up as unclassifiable. Pialat is seen as drawing on a number of currents in French cinema, primarily the artisanal tradition de qualité epitomized by Carné and the improvisatory auteurship of Renoir — a dual filiation that brings into focus the importance of the father-and-son trope for his life and work. The comparison with Bresson, perhaps inevitable given both directors' adaptation of Bernanos, becomes more of a contrast, unsurprisingly given the older filmmaker's determined anti-naturalism and the spiritual dimension to his work. Among the New Wave film-makers who were Pialat's biographical contemporaries — though emphatically not his 'brothers' — Chabrol might appear to be the most akin, but Warehime goes so far as to describe Pialat as 'an anti-Chabrol' (p. 29), primarily because his work avoids the bourgeoisie to which he nevertheless belonged. A chronological survey of Pialat's ten feature films — a slender output for one not generally regarded as a minimalist director — gives thorough accounts and analyses, paying due heed to the fact that many Anglo-American readers will have had little or no opportunity to see many of the works analysed. If from time to time 'work' and 'life' are a trifle unproblematically conflated, this is because Pialat's choice of actors, of names for his characters and of locales make separation between the two difficult in the light of his well-documented biography. The 'place in a larger family history' (p. 163) with which Warehime's analysis concludes is also that she gives to Pialat, placing his work (perhaps in spite of himself) in a variety of overlapping contexts. The book, as usual with this series, is well presented, though Brigitte Roüan's name is disconcertingly given as 'Rohan' and there are an annoying number of 'sentences' beginning with 'Although' in which one waits in vain for the main verb. It is to be hoped that Warehime's work may help to make more Pialat films available on DVD in anglophone countries.


To improve the chronology of sediments containing information about Holocene ice shelf and oceanic dynamics in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula, we compare bulk acid-insoluble radiocarbon dating to ramped pyrolysis 14C dating in a sediment core containing ample organic material. This core spans the last 12,000 yr of open-shelf sedimentation in the Bellingshausen Sea, western Antarctic Peninsula. By estimating the spectrum of 14C ages within a given core horizon, the ramped pyrolysis 14C method separates organic carbon relative to thermal stability, isolating younger parts of the mixture from older ones and providing an estimate of the geological uncertainty inherent in a bulk 14C age. Employing the ramped pyrolysis 14C method to this core demonstrates variable bulk 14C age bias and increasing age spectrum downcore, neither of which can be associated with major changes in lithology of the core. The chronology of the sediment core using the youngest ages from the ramped pyrolysis technique allows for correlation between nearby Palmer Deep sediments and these sediments from the Hugo Island Trough.


This study was carried out at the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan to investigate the phyto-accumulation capacity of heavy metals [lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd)] by two cultivars of sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.). The experiment was conducted in pots using completely randomized (CR) design with three replications. Three heavy metals, that is, Pb, Cr and Cd were applied to the pots containing soil before sowing. Statistical analysis of the data recorded eight weeks after sowing revealed that heavy metal and interaction between ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) x cultivar and EDTA x cultivar x heavy metal had a significant (p 0.05) on all the parameters, except heavy metal accumulation. The data revealed that maximum plant height, number of leaves plant -1 , shoot fresh weight and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight was noted in the control pots (0 mg kg -1 heavy metal). The data shown eight weeks after sowing suggested that maximum shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight and root dry weight were noted in pots kept at control with San Sun-33 applied with 5 mM EDTA. Similarly, maximum heavy metal accumulation was recorded in treatment sown with Hisun-33 and applied with 5 mM EDTA and 50 mM chromium. Key words : Phytoaccumulation, heavy metals, sunflower, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA).


For the last decade, there has been a debate on how to achieve a more sustainable mass tourism. Mass tourism has been, and still is, considered to be a "bad" type of tourism and must be further developed to become more sustainable. Previous research has focused on defining the concept of sustainable development but without any success, there are still over 70 different interpretations. The purpose is to discuss and analyze the concept of sustainable mass tourism from a conceptual perspective. The implication of the paper is that sustainable mass tourism, as a concept, must be discussed from a new perspective which divides and studies the three different aspects of sustainable mass tourism (e.g. economic sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability) separately. Sustainable mass tourism is today only an ideology which cannot be successfully implemented in the tourism industry. By dividing the concept into three different parts, it might become more transformable and useable for mass tourism producers. © Common Ground, Anna Sorensson, All Rights Reserved, Permissions.


A series of experiments for understanding hydraulic characteristics inside of artificial hollow reef was conducted. The mean velocity and turbulent components in the reef were measured by the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The dependence of wave characteristics are investigated for estimation of transmission coefficinets of the incident waves. The experimental data shows steady offshore current in the reef and indicates the downward flow into the mound of the reef.


Active magnetic bearings(AMBs) present a technology which has many advantages compared to traditional bearing concepts. However, they require backup bearings in order to prevent damages in the event of a system failure. In this study, the dynamics of an AMB supported rotor during impact on backup bearings is studied employing a detailed simulation model. The backup bearings are modeled using an accurate ball bearing model, and the model for a flexible rotor system is described using the finite element approach with the component mode synthesis. Not only the influence of the support stiffness, clearance and friction coefficient on the rotor orbit, but also bearing load are compared for various rotor system parameters. Comparing these results it is shown that the optimum backup bearing system can be applicable for a specific rotor system.


Considering public participation as one of the key components of "smart cities", efforts have been made by local governments to provide opportunities for citizens to take an active role in smart cities planning. This paper presents preliminary results of a collaboration between academics and municipal staff to identify the best practices in terms of public participation in smart and sustainable development projects. From the legal framework enforcing minimum requirements for public participation as information and consultation to the implementation one of the first online participatory budget initiative in Norway; this study analyzes the context in which public participation initiatives work in practice to achieve the highest degree of participation, namely citizen empowerment. Documents provided by the municipality as well as other publicly available ones were analyzed in order to identify the different degrees of public participation at each step of the project. Results from this study indicate that pushing the threshold a little bit higher at each step can help concretizing citizen empowerment at the neighborhood level.


The article analyzes one of the key issues when it comes to the application of legal definitions in the tax law. The tax legislator, regardless of the fact that the legal definition of economic activity was introduced in the provisions of public commercial law, formulates its own definition of this concept in general tax law. In such a case, the determinants of formulating the definition of legal business activity in the Tax Ordinance Act should be determined.Two determinants were chosen and the defi nition of economic activity from the Tax Ordinance Act was analyzed from this point of view. The hypothesis was confirmed that the tax legislator did not use these determinants. For tax theory and practice, this makes it necessary to assess whether a definition of this concept is needed in general tax law.


A squalene synthase gene cloned (GuSQS1, accession number in GenBank database: AM182329) from Glycyrrhiza uralensis was transferred into G. uralensis via Agrobacterium rhizogenes A4 for investigating biosynthesis pathway and enhancing synthesis of glycyrrhizic acid (GA). Hypocotyl explants from G. uralensis were infected with A. rhizogenes A4 containing GuSQS1 gene to induce the hairy roots. The hairy root lines established were selected in medium containing 0.8 mg x L(-1) phosphinothricin (PPT) and analyzed by PCR and southern blotting. The transgenic hairy roots were cultured in liquid MS medium. GA contents in transgenic hairy roots were detected by HPLC. Results showed that maximal GA content in transgenic hairy root lines was 3.6 times as high as in wild type hairy roots.


Sir .—Bell et al 1 have to be commended for focusing their attention on the long-term pulmonary outcome of two patients born with sublethal forms of lung hypoplasia. There is remarkably little information available in the literature on what happens to lung structure and function of these infants and children as they develop. Clinicians all too often assume that lung structure has normalized when the patient is asymptomatic and has a clear chest roentgenogram and normal pulmonary function study results. A very instructive case was reported in detail by Thurlbeck et al. 2 Their patient was born with a left-sided diaphragmatic hernia and hypoplastic lung documented at the time of the successful surgical repair. His chest roentgenogram and pulmonary function study results were normal at 1 year of age and he died in an accident at age 5 years. At necropsy, the volumes of both lungs were normal, but the


Of the fifteen verbal links Wiggins associates with Q1 Hamlet in his catalogue of British Drama, the inclusion of Dido, Queen of Carthage is potentially the most problematic in terms of establishing a 1588–1589 date for the play. This article re-examines the editorial and critical history of the most commonly cited overlap between these two plays – the entirety of 'Aeneas's tale to Dido' – and it provides new evidence that challenges their continued association.


The Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) is one of the biggest impacts for the microelectronics packaging today. Main benefit is the high potential in significant package miniaturization by the substrate-less short interconnects, which are realized by thin film metallization directly on the embedded dies instead of wire bonding or flip chip - bumps. This allows a cost effective and robust generation of multi-chip packages for System in Package (SiP) solutions. The thickness of the FOWLP's which are in volume production is in the range of 300 to 400 um [1]. The stacking of FOWLP packages for higher integrations set demands for thinner packages. Main limitation for high volume production of packages below 300 um is the handling of the thin substrates during the processing and the assembly of thin and also warped packages. This paper presents an innovative concept (Hybrid Fan-Out - hFO) for generation and handling of thin FOWLP substrates. A fundamental process change is realized in the so called chip-first approach which enables packages with thickness down to 30 um and below. The mold-first approach based on the assembly of dies on a thermal release tape, which is followed by the embedding process. The epoxy mold compound (EMC) substrate with the embedded dies is released from the carrier by peeling of the TRT and the redistribution layer (RDL) is generated. For the new approach the dies are directly assembled on a glass carrier with a die adhesive. The temperature stable bond of the dies to the glass carrier enables a thinning and backside processing of the EMC / glass carrier stack. The embedded dies are coincidently thinned together the mold material with the benefit, that no thinned dies are demanded for generation of thin packages and simplifies the assembly process. A RDL process is applied on the backside, which stabilize the ultra-thin package. A ultra-fine routing layer could realized because the stiff glass carrier inhibits any EMC substrate deformation or length changes, like it is happen by cure shrinkage or humidity uptake. The RDL on the front side is generated after the release from the carrier. The symmetric build-up structure with an EMC core and a double sided RDL allows to increase the number of routing layers, which are demanded for shielding and supply layers for RF applications. FOWLP packages with a thickness down to 50 um are demonstrated in this paper.


Within international relations one seldom finds discussion of how legitimacy affects 'state capacity'—a state's capacity to enact and adapt to domestic and international change. This is especially surprising for neoWeberian approaches that have viewed state capacity as a major concern for over two decades. And although legitimacy was a key ingredient to Max Weber's approach to the state, the concept is eschewed or ignored in the three discernible neo-Weberian approaches to state capacity. The first two of these approaches, 'isolated autonomy' and 'embedded autonomy', produce functionalist view of a state which responds to an anarchical international system. The third, 'social embeddedness', conceives of the state–society complex as a contested rather than functional space but does not produce a substantive conception of legitimacy. I argue that a reinvigorated conception of legitimacy provides us with a substantive neoWeberian 'historicist' approach that provides a deeper understanding of how both norms and material interests shape the state. This approach is applied to a brief case study of financial reform in the United States and Japan to illustrate that bringing legitimacy back in provides a better means of understanding state capacity.


Capitellum fractures are exceedingly rare. The five observations reported herein show that the clinical aspect is often discrete, necessitating a detailed radiographic study, especially with the elbow seen in profile. As the spontaneous evolution of this type of fracture presents a poor prognosis, surgical reduction of the fracture is immediately indicated and systematic osteosynthesis guarantees a satisfactory functional result.


This article presents a method to uncover universal patterns and similarities in the urban road networks of the 80 most populated cities in the world. To that end, we used degree distribution, link length distribution, and intersection angle distribution as topological and geometric properties of road networks. Moreover, we used ISOMAP, a nonlinear dimension reduction technique, to better express variations across cities, and we used K-means to cluster cities. Overall, we uncovered one universal pattern between the number of nodes and links across all cities and identified five classes of cities. Gridiron Cities tend to have many 90° angles. Long Link Cities have a disproportionately high number of long links and include mostly Chinese cities that developed towards the end of the 20th century. Organic Cities tend to have short links and more non-90 and 180° angles; they also include relatively more historical cities. Hybrid Cities tend to have both short and long links; they include cities that evolved both historically and recently. Finally, Mixed Cities exhibit features from all other classes. These findings can help transport planners and policymakers identify peer cities that share similar characteristics and use their characteristics to craft tailored transport policies.


A deeper level of sedation by an anaesthesiologist is requirement for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in paediatric populations and sedation of children is different from sedation of adults. The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy, safety, tolerability and cost effectiveness of ketamine, diazepam combination to midazolam, fentanyl combination for sedation of children during MRI. One hundred twenty children of both sex, age between 1-10 years, American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) physical status I and II were distributed into two groups. Group A (n=60) were sedated with 1.5 mg/kg body weight ketamine and 0.1 mg/kg body weight diazepam intravenously. Group B (n=60) were sedated with midazolam 0.05 mg/kg bodyweight and fentanyl 1 microg/kg body weight intravenously. Both groups showed satisfactory sedating condition for MRI. Incidences of side effects of drug regimens during sedation and recovery were recorded in both groups; those were transient and minor inconveniences. Pulse, blood pressure and respiration were within normal range in both groups. Mean procedure time was almost same in both groups and mean recovery time was more in group A than group B and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Every child of both groups was discharged to home. Sedation regimen of group B found 5 times more costly than group A. Both the regimens were found safe and effective for paediatric sedation during MRI but ketamine, diazepam combination found more cost effective which, is a considerable matter in Bangladesh.


While the emerging nanoscale devices show promises in terms of integration density and computing power, system design with these devices involve some major challenges, such as bottom-up design approach, effective integration with CMOS and defect tolerance. To address some of these challenges, we propose MBARC, a reconfigurable framework using memory as the primary computing element. The proposed framework leverages on the reported advantages of memory array design with nanodevices, which are compatible to fabrication into dense and regular structures. The main idea is to partition a logic circuit, implement the partitions as multi-input multi-output lookup tables in a memory array, and then use a simple CMOS-based scheduler to evaluate the partitions in topological time-multiplexed manner. Compared to existing reconfigurable nanocomputing models, the proposed memory based computing has three major advantages: 1) it minimizes the requirement of programmable interconnects, thus, saving design cost; 2) it minimizes the number of CMOS interfacing elements (required for level restoration and cascading logic blocks); 3) existing techniques for defect tolerance in memory array can be easily extended to this framework. Simulation results for a set of ISCAS benchmarks show average improvement of 32% in area, 21% in delay and 34% in energy per vector compared to nanoscale FPGA implementation.


An enzyme-free terahertz uric acid sensor based on a metallic slot array metamaterial was proposed and realized both theoretically and experimentally. The sensing model was verified in simulation and femtosecond laser processing technology was employed to ablate slots in the copper plate to fabricate metamaterials. Analytes were tested with liquid phase deposition on the metamaterial by a terahertz frequency domain spectroscopy system. Gradient concentrations of uric acid, ascorbic acid, and a mixture of them were measured separately with a good linear response. A significant decrease in sensitivity was observed in the ascorbic acid assay compared with the uric acid assay. The test results of the mixture also proved that our device is resistant to ascorbic acid. It is a simple and effective method for monitoring uric acid concentrations and the strategy of eliminating interference while modulating the resonance peak location mentioned here can be rationally projected for the development of other sensors.


We estimate the effect of interstate highways on the level and composition of trade for us cities. Highways within cities have a large effect on the weight of city exports with an elasticity of approximately 0.5. We find little effect of highways on the total value of exports. Consistent with this, we find that cities with more highways specialize in sectors producing heavy goods.


ABSTRACT: The detection of early pregnancy factor (EPF) is a controversial subject. The findings of independent groups attempting to confirm the phenomenon of EPF have been quite variable. The present article gives details of an improved rosette inhibition assay using a monoclonal antibody (anti‐human‐Lyt‐3), instead of an anti‐lymphocyte serum (ALS), in order to increase reproducibility. Results are calculated for the first time in terms of absolute monoclonal anti‐Lyt‐3 concentrations. It is suggested that results be expressed as the Rosette Inhibition Antibody Concentration (RIAC) or the more accurate extrapolated 25% Rosette Inhibition Antibody Concentration (25% RIAC), in place of the previously used Rosette Inhibition Titer (RIT), when monoclonal antibodies are used. Following a 1.5 h incubation period the mean 25% RIAC for pregnant serum was 15.9 ± 4.0 ng/ml and for control serum 48.0 ±12.7 ng anti‐Lyt‐3/ml. The improved method described should enable different groups to establish the test and compare results.


Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common malignancy. Tumors have always been graded to assess the biological behaviour and predict the prognosis. However with development of Molecular science Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has come out as an important marker for predicting disease progression.We need to correlate specific markers in various tumor grades to predict the overall prognosis. Methods: An observational study aimed at studying the LOH at 3p &9 p by PCR in HNSCC. Results: 30 cases were studied and LOH either at 3p or 9p was seen progressively more in MDSCC & PDSCCC. Interpretation: More studies for risk stratification and LOH collectively need to be done before incorporating LOH as a biomarker for predicting prognosis.


Despite Western autobiographical theory's ongoing efforts to render it impossible, African autobiography—and autobiography in general—thrives. Examining the process of decolonization in African autobiography, this essay traces a discursive shift from tragedy to comedy in three African autobiographies by explaining how these texts negotiate the challenging terrains of history, language, genre, modernity, and colonialism. Camara Laye's haunting The Dark Child tragically narrates his discursive alienation from African society, while the other two—Dugmore Boetie's Familiarity Is the Kingdom of the Lost and Buchi Emecheta's Head above Water—comically challenge Western autobiographical discourse by denying the possibility of verifying autobiographical truth or by contesting the Western success narrative. Thus, in its analysis, this essay seeks to avoid a crippling essentialism by approaching Africans texts both as specific, localized narratives and as a part of an emerging global discourse of "noncoercive knowledge."


Hyaluronic acid (HA) based nanocomposites are considered excellent for improving wound healing. HA is biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic, biologically active, has hemostatic ability, and resists bacterial adhesion. HA-based nanocomposites promote wound healing in four different sequential phases hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. The unique biological characteristics of HA enable it to serve as a drug, an antibacterial agent, and a growth factor, which combine to accelerate the healing process. In this review, we focus on the use of HA-based nanocomposites for wound healing applications and we describe the importance of HA for the wound healing process in each sequential phase, such as hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. Metal nanoparticles (MNPs) or metal oxide nanoparticles (MO-NPs) loaded with HA nanocomposite are used for wound healing applications. Insights into important antibacterial mechanisms are described in HA nanocomposites. Furthermore, we explain antibiotics loaded with HA nanocomposite and its combination with the MNPs/MO-NPs used for wound healing applications. In addition, HA derivatives are discussed and used in combination with the other polymers of the composite for the wound healing process, as is the role of the polymer in wound healing applications. Finally, HA-based nanocomposites used for clinical trials in animal models are presented for wound healing applications.


Management of life-threatening acute severe asthma in children and adults may require anaesthetic and intensive care. The inhaled route for drug delivery is not appropriate when only small respiratory gas volumes are shifted; the i.v. route may be associated with greater side-effects. Magnesium sulphate i.v. has a place in acute asthma management because it is a mild bronchodilator, and has a stabilizing effect on the atria which may attenuate tachycardia occurring after inhaled and i.v. salbutamol. If intubation and ventilation are required, a reduction in bronchoconstriction by any means before and during these procedures should reduce morbidity. This narrative review aims to show strengths and weakness of the evidence, present controversies, and forward opinions of the author. The review contains a practical guide to the setting up, use and efficiency of nebulizers, metered dose inhalers, and spacers (chambers). It also presents a commonsense approach to the management of severe asthmatics in whom delay in bronchodilatation would cause clinical deterioration. When self-inhaled agents have had no effect, i.v. drugs may help avoid intubation and ventilation. The review includes suggestions for the use of inhaled anaesthetics, anaesthetic induction, and brief notes on subsequent ventilation of the lungs.


The duobinary signalling concept is applied to direct frequency modulation of a semiconductor laser. The main goal is the achievement of a low-cost high bit-rate transmission with reduced modulation bandwidth requirement of the laser diode. The simulation and experimental work demonstrate a laser modulation bandwidth reduction of about 50%. The system exhibits a high tolerance against fibre nonlinear effects, up to 20 dBm, and phase noise, up to 170 MHz of linewidth at 10 Gbit/s.


th , 2010, accepted March 23 th , 2011, final version April, 4 th , 2011 ABSTRACT: The phenomenon of loss of the student status due to low academic performance is a serious problem that affects the main universities of Colombia. Low performance is also related in a direct way to student dropout. This is why it is of fundamental importance to identify factors which can be associated with the student's loss of his/her status due to low academic performance. Based on information about academic performance collected at the National University of Colombia at Medellin, a survival analysis model for discrete time (based on the logit transformation in which the response variable under consideration was the probability for an individual of losing his/her student status for the first time in a determined time) was implemented. This model allowed us to identify and quantify the effect of socio-demographic variables related with the loss of the student status for the first time.


The anthracyclines (Dox), anthracenediones (Mito) and anthrapyrazoles (losoxantrone) are all intercalating topoisomerase II inhibitors that have significant anti-tumor activity but have the potential to cause severe, treatment limiting cardiotoxicity. Each of these drugs contains at least one hydroxyquinone element capable of binding iron. Given the putative role of iron in free radical generation and drug induced cardiotoxicity, we synthesized Pixantrone (BBR 2778; Pix), an aza-anthracenedione heterocyclic compound devoid of hydroxyquinone moieties. Pix has recently successfully completed a Phase 3 clinical trial showing excellent anti-tumor activity. Results obtained in animal models demonstrated that Pix caused minimal cardiotoxicity in mice, even those pretreated with Dox. To determine whether Pix binds iron, we used a well established spectrophotometric method to assess drug: iron interactions. Adding increasing amounts of iron to a drug solution we noted the previously reported hypochromic and bathychromic shifts in drug absorption patterns for both Dox and Mito in a 3:1 and 2:1 drug: iron ratios, respectively. In contrast, no iron binding was noted when iron was added to Pix solution at iron: drug ratios ranging from 0.1 to 10.0. To assess the effect of pH on drug binding Pix was incubated with iron at pH of 5, 6, 7 and 8 and at no pH was iron binding detected. Further studies assessing the effect of incubation temperature (4 0 C - 50 0 C) and time of incubation (1 to120 min) demonstrated the lack of iron binding by Pix. Studies performed with the rat myocardial cell line H9C2 indicated that Pix (ID 50 >50 μg/ml) was far less toxic to confluent myocardial cells than doxorubicin (ID 50 ∼1μg/ml). Further, Pix did not induce a significant increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) compared to vehicle treated controls. In summary, our results demonstrate that the lack of iron binding and concomitant lack of SOD production may provide the mechanism for lack of cardiotoxicity in animals and an apparent decrease in cardiotoxic potential in humans for Pix. Our results also substantiate the idea that ROS are not necessary for tumor cell cytotoxicity. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3576.


Starting from the considerations on the complex notions of the original text, the article speaks of some antecedents of the textual criticism practiced in antiquity. The quest for the original text of the Old Testament began more than two thousand years ago. A summary of the previous critical editions of the Hebrew Bible places the ongoing project of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) in its historical and methodological context. The experience of the author in his work on 2 Kgs illustrates the importance of BHQ for historians and Biblical scholars, as well as its possible consequences for hermeneutics and theology.


Designers are first and foremost members of society, sharing the same concerns around education, finance, career prospects, social status, and self-fulfillment as any other practitioners. The creative and humanistic nature of designer roles, however, often places them in an inferior position in meritocratic, progressivist systems. In a total of three sections, designers are contextualized in a scape of lived experiences, anecdotal evidence, statistics, investigative reports, and theoretical resources, interwoven to picture a specific contemporary designer situation. The Human Capital discussed the systemic occupational discrimination against designers made visible and measurable by the US and Canadian immigration offices, attributing this phenomenon to the awkward classification of academic disciplines, the poor understanding of designer roles at the administrative level, and the skewed emphasis on solving hard technical problems. It was argued that said skewed emphasis can be traced back to the setup of goals and incentives in the existing educational institutions, overshadowing the value of designers' ability to solve real-world problems and improve the wellbeing of many. The (Great) Expectations touched on the homogenous admission schemes in China and the profound implications of Eurocentric ideologies on Chinese design students' choice of postgrad education. These factors, combined with the disproportionate expansion of design schools in the UK and the less-than-transparent rankings that favored British schools, gave birth to a tutoring industry that aims at sending Chinese design students to the UK for higher education. The discrepancy between the expectations from the education systems and the requirements from the job market, however, contributed to a new norm where graduates from prestigious programs overseas went back to the sector where they once received tutoring, instead of working as designers in the field. The Job raised personal observations and reflections on graphic design jobs. Juxtaposed with David Graeber's bullshit jobs theory, the repetitive, substitutable, and nonautonomous aspects were brought up to question the meaningfulness and prospects of the very occupation, followed by a brief mention of emergent AI image generators both as opportunities to reduce workload and threats to the job security of graphic designers. Further, it was argued that because corporate design principles were postulated upon unsustainable business models, when designers are doing good in a contemporary corporate context, there is the danger of them causing more harm in the long run than their "average" counterparts. Stefan Sagmeister and Jaron Lanier were referenced to call for more justified specifications of "good design" versus "bad design", as well as more subversive transformations of corporate design principles and know-hows. As a semi-open closing mark, opportunities for improvement and reframing of the afore-mentioned situation were identified to evoke further discussions on the very status of designers.


Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common disorder that often is underdiagnosed and undertreated. Patients with RLS describe an urge to move their legs, especially in the evenings and during periods of inactivity. The prevalence of clinically significant RLS is approximately 2% to 3% in adults in Europe and North America. RLS can be an independent disorder or may occur in conjunction with other conditions (eg, iron deficiency, pregnancy, chronic renal failure). Diagnosis is based on clinical history. Routine polysomnography typically is not recommended unless there is suspicion of other sleep disorders (eg, obstructive sleep apnea). Management includes a combination of supportive measures, dopaminergic drugs, gabapentinoids, opioids, or benzodiazepines. Good sleep hygiene can help prevent development of insomnia related to RLS. Avoiding alcohol and reducing caffeine intake is recommended. If iron stores are low, iron supplementation may improve symptoms. The main pharmacologic options for RLS management are dopaminergic agonists (eg, pramipexole and ropinirole); gabapentinoids also are good options. Patients may experience augmentation, an increase in RLS symptom severity with increasing drug dosage, which is the main complication of dopaminergic drugs. There is no evidence to support use of vibratory devices that provide stimulation to the lower extremities.


In this paper the numerical modelling study over the performance of multi-bladed Hydrokinetic Turbine is presented. The main objective of the numerical analysis is to evaluate the values of the turbine's theoretical static torque. Three different major design of the turbine were examined, each of which includes several subdesigns. The obtained theoretical results from the numerical analysis were used to evaluate the efficiency of the different designs. The most effective design of the hydrokinetic turbine was chosen for further investigations and development.


Relapse of tumors in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is associated with a poor prognosis. In addition, salvage therapy may be a significant source of morbidity in patients with relapsing OSCC. The objective of the current study was to determine prognostic factors that predict which patients may benefit from such treatment.


This paper aims to explore a nomadic desire of the second-generation Chinese-Americans in Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land. The paradigm of diaspora in the United States has shifted from the moved-to-here immigrants to born-here immigrants, from the longing for the re-turn to the authentic origin to the longing for the emergence of a self-affirmative nomadic subjectivity. Mona, the heroine of the novel, torn between the anxious hope of being firmly rooted and the imminent fear of being fully totalized, is lost and wanders from place to place in her nomadic journey of identity. In this paper, I will mainly use Deleuzo-Guattarian theory to explore the idea of nomadic desire, a simultaneous double-desire of the nomadic subject per se. Then I hope, within this theoretical framework of nomadic desire, to cast light upon the emerging identity problems of the America-Born Chinese in this novel.


The CMS all-silicon tracker consists of 16588 modules. Therefore its alignment procedures require sophisticated algorithms. Advanced tools of computing, tracking and data analysis have been deployed for reaching the targeted performance. Ultimate local precision is now achieved by the determination of sensor curvatures, challenging the algorithms to determine about 200k parameters simultaneously. Systematic biases in the geometry are controlled by adding further information into the alignment workflow, e.g. the mass of decaying resonances. The orientation of the tracker with respect to the magnetic field of CMS is determined with a stand-alone chi-square minimization procedure. The geometries are finally carefully validated. The monitored quantities include the basic track quantities for tracks from both collisions and cosmic muons and physics observables.


Background Worksite nutrition and physical activity interventions are important to help overweight and obese employees lose weight, but costs and insufficient sustained motivation prevent the majority of these programs from succeeding. Tailored text messaging in aiding weight management has been effective in several studies, but no studies have evaluated the effect of a tailored text message service on weight loss in a worksite health promotion program. Objective We studied the efficacy of a tailored text-messaging intervention for obese male participants in a worksite weight loss program of 6 months duration. Methods The study was an unblinded, randomized controlled trial. Men with a body mass index greater than 25 kg/m2 were recruited from the Korea District Heating Corporation, the Korea Expressway Corporation, and the Korea Gas Corporation. The participants were identified by nurse managers. Participants were randomly allocated to 1 of the following 2 groups for 24 weeks: (1) intervention group, which received tailored text message reminders every other day plus 4 offline education sessions and brief counseling with monthly weight check by nurses for weight control over 6 months and (2) control group, which received the 4 offline education sessions and brief counseling with monthly weight check by nurses about weight control over 6 months. The primary outcome was the difference in weight loss at 6 months. A mixed-model repeated-measures analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of the intervention group's weight loss compared with the control group. Results A total of 205 obese men were randomized into either the intervention (n=104) or the control group (n=101). At the end of 6 months, the intervention group (n=63) had lost 1.71 kg (95% CI –2.53 to –0.88) and the control group (n=59) had lost 1.56 kg (95% CI –2.45 to –0.66); the difference between the 2 groups was not significant (mean difference –0.15, 95% CI –1.36 to 1.07). At the end of the study, 60% (34/57) of the intervention group rated the message program as helpful for weight control and 46% (26/57) would recommend the text message service to their friends. Conclusions Tailored text message reminders did not have a significant effect on weight loss in obese men as part of a worksite weight loss program. Trial Registration International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 39629189; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN39629189?q=39629189&filters=&sort=&offset=1&totalResults=1&page=1&pageSize=10&searchType=basic-search (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6VsFkwJH6).


This study analyzed the expression of hanbok in online fashion styling games, and examined the main themes of and user reactions to hanbok fashion styling games through semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis. KrKwic, Textom, and NodeXL were used for data collection and analysis. The findings of the study are as follows: First, depending on the designer's expressive method, hanbok fashion styling games provide typical traditional hanbok, modern hanbok, and dress-like fusion hanbok, demonstrating contents with various themes for different sexes, classes, and situations. Second, as a result of analyzing the themes of hanbok-related styling game contents, it turned out that the main themes are tradition, color, historical drama, fusion hanbok, holiday, and love. Most of them produce modernized hanbok that reflect the situation and utility rather than strictly traditional ones. Third, as a result of analyzing user reviews of hanbok styling game contents, positive factors mostly turned out to be the satisfaction of the hanbok contents, with the users also showing positive intent to wear hanbok. Through this, it was found out that hanboks portrayed in game contents could potentially cause the user's positive intent to wear hanbok. Negative factors turned out to be the discordance between the intrinsic image of hanbok and the game character's image.


Social human beings must communicate with the environment in order to survive throughout his life. Successful communication network of individuals make them successful in their social and professional life. Successful communication requires high communication skills. Communication skills aimed to be measured with different scales in different studies. Korkut Owen and Bugay (2014) they have developed communication skills scale (CSS) and they have determined that, skills consist of these factors: Communication Principles and Basic Skills (CPBS), Self-Expression (SE), Communication Willingness (CW) and Active Listening and Nonverbal Communication (ALNC). In this study, it is aimed to assess the impact of communication skills on customer satisfaction and sales performance based on the scale developed by Korkut Owen ve Bugay'ın (2014). Research universe selected as agency representatives, CSS was applied to 217 agency representatives working in two travel agency. As the result of research, four main factors of CSS have obtained. The research results; reveals that there are significant differences between the gender in terms of communication skills, sales performance and customer satisfaction. Also it has been found that two of CSS factors effective on customer satisfaction and one on sales performance.


The application of new knowledge and technological change is a key driver of the achievements in policy decisions in health care environments at macro and micro level to achieve better health outcomes. The newly emerging stem cell therapies and genomics technologies stay at the interface of Research and Development (R&D) endeavours and clinical trials. However, as should be noted, health care decisions need to be based on Health Technology Assessments (HTA) that should be based on objective criteria as efficacy, effectiveness, quality, safety, psychological, social, ethical, organisational and professional implications as well as cost effectiveness and further macro public health economical assessments. At the present state, neither stem cell therapies nor genomic technologies are supported by such data to allow health and public policy decision makers to take evidence based decisions which makes the time still early for these R&D applications to be disseminated and used extensively on broad international settings.


It has recently been shown that, in addition to parasitics, the dipole domain which forms in FET-type devices produces a complex conjugate pole-pair which leads to a 12dB/octave gain roll-off in the millimetre-wave region. As a result the actual Fmax of millimetre-wave transistors is considerably less than that determined from the commonly used extrapolation of microwave frequency gain measurements at 6dB per octave roll-off. Here device models are used to compare the millimetre-wave performance of state-of-the-art MESFET, MODFET and PBT transistors. A parametric study indicates that frequency performance is particularly sensitive to drain parasitics.


Background Mechanical thrombectomy offers a unique opportunity to examine neurophysiological changes occurring during stroke. We developed a tissue banking protocol to capture intracranial thrombi as well as the blood immediately proximal and distal. These tissues provide a rare resource to correlate changes occurring at the time of stroke to patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to develop a tissue banking protocol in order to provide high-quality yields of RNA for gene expression analysis and protein for proteomics. Methods We instituted an IRB-approved protocol for tissue processing during mechanical thrombectomy (www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT03153683). The protocol is a joint clinical/basic science effort among multiple laboratories and the NeuroInterventional Radiology service line. We developed a step-by-step process for specimen retrieval, initial processing, and storage, which begins in a designated workspace constructed for the study in the angiography suite. Further processing and analysis is performed in our basic science laboratories, and includes extraction of RNA from thrombi with distal and proximal blood samples to assess RNA integrity number (RIN) values. To demonstrate viability of the collected plasma, proteomics of distal and proximal blood was evaluated through an outside vendor (Olink Proteomics). Results We have enrolled 34 subjects (age=66±13.3, 14 males) in the BACTRAC registry thusfar. In our preliminary dataset, the process yielded adequate RNA for gene expression analysis and protein for proteomics. RNA integrity analysis reveal mean RIN values (±SD) for distal arterial blood (n=8) were 8.89±0.41 (range from 8.30 to 9.60) and mean RIN values (±SD) for proximal arterial blood (n=8) were 6.98±0.29 (range from 6.60 to 7.50), indicating moderate to high quality RNA with minimal degradation. Mean RIN values for the thrombi (n=7) were undetectable. The first subject samples of distal and proximal blood were analyzed for proteomics. Duplicates of these samples passed quality control, and were run on all 11 of their proteomic panels (92 proteins/panel) for a total of 1012 proteins. 100% of proteins were detected on cardiovascular 3 and neurology panels. The organ damage panel detected the fewest, with 61% of this panel. The cardiometabolic and cardiovascular 3 panels each showed the most proteins with the greatest differences in expression. Conclusion We have developed a novel tissue banking protocol utilizing mechanical thrombectomy to capture thrombus along with arterial blood distal and proximal to it. The protocol provides high-quality specimens facilitating analysis of the initial molecular response to ischemic stroke in the human condition for the first time. In addition, preliminary integrity analyses demonstrated high-quality yields for RNA and protein in distal and proximal blood samples. Disclosures S. Martha: None. L. Collier: None. A. Gorman: None. K. Salmeron: None. A. Trout: None. D. Edwards: None. S. Davis: None. A. Alhajeri: None. S. Grupke: None. J. Roberts: None. G. Bix: None. K. Pennypacker: None. J. Fraser: None.


BACKGROUND
Endothelial dysfunction of coronary and peripheral arteries has been demonstrated in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and appears to be associated with functional implications. However, it is unknown whether endothelial dysfunction in CHF is independently associated with impaired outcome or progression of the disease.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We assessed the follow-up of 67 consecutive patients with CHF [New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II-III] in which flow-dependent, endothelium-mediated vasodilation (FDD) of the radial artery was assessed by high resolution ultrasound. The primary endpoint was defined by cardiac death, hospitalization due to worsening of heart failure (NYHA class IV, pulmonary oedema), or heart transplantation. Cox regression analysis was used to determine whether FDD was associated with these heart failure-related events. During a median follow-up of 45.7 months 24 patients had an event: 18 patients were hospitalized due to worsening of heart failure or heart transplantation, six patients died for cardiac reasons. Cox regression analysis demonstrated that FDD (P<0.01), diabetes mellitus (P<0.01), and ejection fraction (P<0.01) were independent predictive factors for the occurrence of the primary endpoint. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve revealed a significantly better clinical outcome in patients with FDD above the median (6.2%) compared with those with FDD below the median (P<0.013).

CONCLUSION
These observations suggest that endothelium-mediated vasodilation represents an independent predictor of cardiac death and hospitalization in patients with CHF, consistent with the notion that endothelium-derived nitric oxide may play a protective role in heart failure.


Resilience is an individual's ability to adapt to stress and adversity that allows the individual to tolerate their quality of life in a dynamic process (Garcia-Dia et al., 2013; Masten & Obradovic, 2006). However, resilience seems to be more than just "tolerating" life; it is "reacting positively" to adversity. According to a psychologist named Boris Cyrulnik, modern neuroscience techniques have confirmed that the absence of sensory stimulation during periods of maximal synaptic expansion provides the substrate for a subsequent mood disorder (Cyrulnik, 1992; 2005). He argued that people can use resilience in every difficult circumstance, whether that could be a physical or psychological challenge. It is also important to understand how those people can triumph over adversity, especially in the case of children reared in orphanages and children who are abused, due to their ability to react positively to challenging situations. The characteristics of resilience are most often identified within the context of disruptive life events in the area of psychiatry and social behavior (Holaday & McPhearson, 1997); however, the emphasis can also be applied to musculoskeletal injuries.


We develop a scheme to exactly evaluate the correlation energy in the random-phase approximation, based on linear response theory [Y. R. Shimizu, J. D. Garrett, R. A. Broglia, M. Gallardo, and E. Vigezzi, Rev. Mod. Phys. 61, 131 (1989)]. It is demonstrated that our formula is equivalent to a contour integral representation recently proposed [F. Donau, D. Almehed, and R. G. Nazmitdinov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 280 (1999)] being numerically more efficient for realistic calculations. Examples are presented for pairing correlations in rapidly rotating nuclei.


We compare beauty contests with first-price sealed-bid and scoring auctions, using data on public procurement of cleaning services in Swedish municipalities. The lowest submitted and winning bids are similar in all auction designs despite a higher price sensitivity of procurement bureaucrats in scoring (and first-price) auctions. There is more entry in beauty contests, by firms favored in them. Reduced entry into the scoring and price only auctions largely explains why the procurement costs are not lowered compared to beauty contests.


Ficus is a pan-tropical genus of trees, shrubs and vines occupying a wide variety of ecological niches; mos t are evergreen, but some deciduous species are endemic t o areas outside of the tropics and to higher elevat ions. Healthy Wistar rats weighing between 180-220 g were used to carry out acute oral toxicity studies by the 'stai rc se' method. All successive extracts of Anjir leaves in 0.5% tween 80 was administered orally by gavages in graduated dose to several groups of experimental animals, one dose be ing used per group. The preliminary phytochemical s reening like Saponins, Tannins, Amino acids, Proteins, Glycoside s, Cardiac glycosides, Alkaloids, Carbohydrates and Flavonoids was done with the ethanolic extract of Anjir Leaves according to the procedure. The present stud y, diabetic rats had lower body weights, high blood glucose level as com pared to the normal rats, which confirmed the induc tion of diabetic by alloxan. In spite of the increased food consumption, loss of body weight due to defect in glucose metabolism and excessive breakdown of tissue protei n is a characteristic condition in diabetics. The t reatment with ethanolic extract of Anjir leaves improved the average body weights of rats w hich indicate control over polyphagia and muscle wasting resulted due to hyperglycemic condit ion.


BACKGROUND
Pigmentary changes in people of different ethnic origins are controlled by slight variations in key biological pathways leading to different outcomes from the same treatment. It is important to develop and test products for desired outcomes in varying ethnic populations.

OBJECTIVES
To develop a comprehensive product (LYT2) that affects all major biological pathways controlling pigmentation and test for clinical efficacy and safety in different ethnic populations.

METHODS
A thorough analysis of biological pathways was used to identify ingredient combinations for LYT2 that provided optimal melanin reduction in a 3-D skin model. Expression of four key genes for melanogenesis, TYR, TYRP-1, DCT, and MITF was analyzed by qPCR. Clinical study was conducted to compare the efficacy and tolerability of LYT2 against 4% hydroquinone (HQ).

RESULTS
Average melanin suppression by LYT2 in 7 independent experiments was 45%. All four key genes show significant down- regulation of expression. LYT2 provided statistically significant reductions in mean overall hyperpigmentation grades as early as week 2 compared to baseline, with continued significant improvements through week 12 in all ethnic groups tested.

CONCLUSION
We have successfully combined management of 6 categories of pathways related to melanogenesis: melanocyte activation, melanosome development, melanin production, melanin distribution, keratinocyte turnover, and barrier function to create a comprehensive HQ-free product. The outcome clearly shows greater pigmentation control with LYT2 compared to other HQ-free products in skin tissue models and earlier control in clinical studies compared to 4% HQ. Clinical study shows pigmentation control benefits of LYT2 in people of Caucasian, Hispanic, and African ethnic origins. J Drugs Dermatol. 2016;15(12):1562-1570.


Background: Transurethral resection of prostate has been regarded as the gold standard surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).With the evolution of new technologies, laser prostatectomy emerged as an alternative. Aim of the study: To compare the rate of outcome of diode laser vaporization of prostate and Transurethral Resection of Prostate in Al Diwaniya governorate. Patients and methods: From October 2017 to October 2018, forty patients with surgical indications of prostatectomy were enrolled in this study. Their ages ranged from 60-75 years with a mean age 68.6 years and prostate size ranged from 40-80 ml with a mean size 62.175 ml. Twenty patients underwent diode laser vaporization of prostate and another 20 patients underwent Transurethral Resection of Prostate. The choice based on surgeon preference and patient ability. Preoperative evaluation was done for all patients by history, physical examination and investigations. International Prostate Symptoms Score, maximum flow rate, digital rectal examination, prostate specific antigen, abdominal ultrasound, urinalysis, blood urea, s.creatinine, complete blood count were all done preoperatively. One pint of compatible fresh blood prepared. Results: The rate of significant bleeding and transfusion in diode PVP and TURP was (zero vs. 35% respectively) , in PVP and TURP the mean irrigation amount perioperatively was (10.10 vs. 33.15 pints respectively) , mean operative time was (70.80 vs. 50.00 min respectively) ,mean hospital stay was (16.03 vs. 30.09 hours respectively), mean time to urethral catheter removal was (24 vs. 81.71 hours respectively), postoperative complication rate (mainly dysuria) was (75% vs. 65% respectively), mean postoperative IPSS was (14.40 vs. 14.20 respectively) , mean postoperative Qmax was (15.45 vs. 16.30 ml/sec respectively). There was no statistical difference between both groups in regard to lowering IPSS or increment in Qmax. The mean cost was (1500 vs. 500.42 dollars) in diode PVP and TURP respectively. Conclusion: Diode laser vaporization of prostate is a good alternative to TURP with comparable results in treatment of BPH especially in patients taking anticoagulant drugs who cannot stop their medication. However, the high cost of this procedure and dysuria as a complication may prevent the common use of this technique.


We search and find no evidence for CP violation in tau decays into the K(pi)nu(tau) final state. We provide limits on the imaginary part of the coupling constant Lambda describing a relative contribution of the CP violating processes with respect to the standard model to be -0.172


The mazzeru or the mazzera is a key character of the Corsican society, he is at the same time an intermediary psychopompe and an actor of the symbolic passage of the land of the living towards the world of the deaths. In Corsica, the said person mazzeru is a very real individual being a member of the community, which dreams mostly about a hunting during its sleep. During this dream, he brings (shoots) down an animal; at this precise moment his function of intermediary of the worlds, boatman of souls, is going to become a reality because when he turns the animal, the head represents a person who will soon die. This intermediary of the worlds is situated in the sociopolitical limits of the villages of the island, his powers him being similar in a genre of chamane. In Corsica, this phenomenon seems to have resisted partially the christianization and the numerous religious prohibitions, which were able neither to cover completely this archaic religion, nor to transform it. The mazzeru is situated after all in the center of a vision meadow and post-mortem specific, which makes perceive (collect) the death as a passage. We shall develop our reflection around the testimonies, the evolutions of this survival and the problem of its transmission at the time of the globalization. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p764


The authors consider the conversion of a single-phase reference signal into three-phase signals using a switched-capacitor frequency-independent phase-shifting network. This circuit provides a constant phase-shift of 120 degrees and 240 degrees between 40 and 75 Hz. The phase-shift can be changed by changing the divide-by-N factor or the capacitor values.


A team from Stanford University won the Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle race organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Using a Volkswagen Touareg SUV they called Stanley, the Stanford team was able to finish the 211 km racecourse stretching through Nevada's Mojave Desert in six hours and 53 minutes, winning the $2 million purse. With three other vehicles finishing the race in less than 10 hours, the Grand Challenge showcases how far robotics has improved over the last few years.


Micropiles are reinforced grouted piles that have
small diameters commonly not higher than 30 cm. They are
widely used for slope stabilization, controlling structural
settlement, and in some cases, as retaining structures. Also, they
are used for resisting dynamic uplift loads, seismic retrofit mainly
in restrictive and low headroom areas, and retrofitting of
historical monuments. The main goal of this research is to
develop a finite element model that can capture the different
aspects of seismic behavior of multi-story structure supported
with deep foundation via using of micropiles. Also, a main target
for the executing numerical modelling is to show the influence of
the surrounding soil on this system and vice versa. Firstly, a
representative two-dimensional finite element model is conducted
to represent the soil-structure interaction system under seismic
excitation supported with proper boundary conditions in PLAXIS
2D V20 for dynamic analysis based on previous recommendations
considering the nonlinear soil behavior. The behavior of
micropiles is studied and verified using previous results. Based on
these models, the effect of lateral dynamic loads on the response
of a structure with different foundation types is investigated. Also,
a wide range of parametric studies, considering structure
properties, earthquake magnitude, micropile diameter, micropile
length, and the number of micropiles, have been carried out in
order to investigate the actual interaction between soil, substructure, and superstructures. The study results showed that the
seismic response of the structure is highly affected by the
properties of the sub-surface soil layer. Consequently and
similarly, analysis results established that underpinning using
micropiles is an efficient technique for controlling the seismic
response of existing structures.


A high-resolution X-ray emission spectrum of molecular oxygen is presented. Comparisons with ab initio calculations are made regarding relative intensities, energies, and band profiles for the outer valence, 2 Pi g, 4 Pi u, 2 Pi u, 4 Sigma -g, 2 Sigma -g, levels. The importance of lifetime-vibrational interference is discussed.


Caragana tibetica KOM. (Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant that has been traditionally used in western part of China. In the course of our screening study on antioxidant activity of medicinal plants, the 70% acetone extract of the stems of C. tibetica was found to have a potent superoxide anion scavenging activity. Tibeticanol (1), a new piceatannol dimer possessing antioxidant activity, was isolated along with eleven known aromatic compounds. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of NMR and MS data. Enzyme oxidation of monomeric stilbene, piceatannol (3), with horseradish peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide yielded cassigarol E (5) and G (6) as major products. Most of the isolated compounds exhibited superoxide anion scavenging activity.