Human 5alpha-reductase catalyses the last step in androgen biosynthesis, namely the reduction of testosterone (T) to the more potent androgen dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The enzyme is therefore considered to be an important drug target for androgen related diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. The present study displays evidence that the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293 which is frequently used in recombinant target protein expression contains an endogenous 5alpha-reductase type II activity. After an incubation of 24 h 1 x 10(6) HEK293 cells converted 23% of the substrate 4-androstene-3,17-dione (7.5 nM) to the product 5alpha-androstane-3,17-dione. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was carried out to identify the mRNA of the isoform responsible for the 5alpha-reductase activity. Only with type II specific primers a fragment with the predicted size was amplified, while with type I specific primers no band could be observed. An antiserum against human 5alpha-reductase type II was raised by immunizing a rabbit with a hemocyanin-conjugated peptide corresponding to amino acid 29 to 44 of the type II enzyme. Western blot analysis of different fractions of a HEK293 homogenate performed with this antiserum detected a band at 45 kDa in the nuclear and microsomal fraction corresponding to 5alpha-reductase type II protein.


Policy attitude towards trade integration and foreign direct investment (FDI) is often a controversial yet popular subject. This note presents evidences from recent policy researches that arguing that engaging in an open trade and investment regime have brought productivity gains which is key factor for sustaining increase in income per-capita. Evidence from Indonesia also suggests that foreign owned plants have become increasingly important, generating a significant share of exports and overall output, as well as more productive and more export intensive than domestic plants, and to spend more on R&D and training. FDI also have positive impact on firms in the same sector, through competition and demonstration effects, and in upstream sectors, as suppliers to foreign-owned plants improve the quality of their own products to meet their clients more exacting needs. Evidence also suggests a positive impact from import competition in improving allocative efficiency across manufacturing plants which is a key element in driving productivity in manufacturing sector.


BACKGROUND
To assess pelvic (P) and/or paraaortic (PA) lymph node (LN) involvement in patients with primary stage IA-IVA cervical cancer, (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET, and MRI were compared with histological results.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Forty patients were prospectively evaluated. Twenty-eight patients underwent radio-chemotherapy (RT-CT) after initial staging and lymph node dissection (LND).

RESULTS
PLN metastases were present in 6/31 patients. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) and accuracy in detecting PLN metastases were 67%, 84%, 50%, 91% and 81%, with MRI, and 33%, 92%, 50%, 85% and 81%, with FDG-PET. PALN metastases were present in 5/27 patients. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy were 60%, 73%, 33%, 89% and 70% with MRI and 100%, 77%, 50%, 100% and 81% with FDG-PET in detecting PALN metastasis.

CONCLUSION
FDG-PET is less accurate than MRI for PLN, but more accurate for PALN; FDG-PET cannot replace PA surgical procedures, but could guide them.


Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of missed chemotherapy administrations (MCA) on the prognosis of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with definitive chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Materials and Methods: In total, 97 patients with NSCLC treated with definitive CRT were assessed for MCA due to toxicities. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with MCA. Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox Proportional Hazards models were conducted. Results: MCA occurred in 39% (n=38) of the patients. Median overall survival was 9.6 months for patients with MCA compared with 24.3 months for those receiving all doses (P=0.004). MCA due to decline in performance status was associated with the worst survival (4.6 mo) followed by allergic reaction (10.0 mo), hematologic toxicity (11 mo), and esophagitis (17.2 mo, P=0.027). In multivariate models, MCA was associated with higher mortality (hazard ratio, 1.97; P=0.01) and worse progression-free survival (hazard ratio, 1.96; P=0. 009). Conclusions: MCA correlated with worse prognosis and increased mortality. Methods to reduce toxicity may improve administration of all chemotherapy doses and increase overall survival in NSCLC treated with CRT.


Plasma sprayed ceramic coatings inherently contain pores and usually also cracks. Post-treatment of the plasma sprayed coatings is a way to close the connected pores and cracks. In this study, post-sealing treatment in plasma sprayed Al₂O₃ coatings was employed to overcome the reduction of coating properties. Al₂O₃ plasma thermal spray coating was made on aluminum alloys plate, CrO₃ post coating and heat treatment at 550℃ was carried out in order for final Cr₂O₃ to be saturated through phase transformation. Chromia sealing began at the fine defect in coated microstructure, while larger pores were permeated later. The increase in concentration and treatment frequency of sealing solution resulted in the decrease of porosity of coating layer, while cracks occurred partially after the third treatment. After twice treatment of 10 M CrO₃ solution, microhardness and breakdown voltage of Al₂O₃ coatings were found to increase by ≒ 50% and ≒ 390% respectively than without post-treatment.


The goal of the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program is to provide a powerful computational environment for advanced research and development in aeronautics and related disciplines. The present NAS system consists of a Cray 2 supercomputer connected by a data network to a large mass storage system, to sophisticated local graphics workstations, and by remote communications to researchers throughout the United States. The program plan is to continue acquiring the most powerful supercomputers as they become available. In the 1987/1988 time period it is anticipated that a computer with 4 times the processing speed of a Cray 2 will be obtained and by 1990 an additional supercomputer with 16 times the speed of the Cray 2. The implications of this 20-fold increase in processing power on the data communications requirements are described. The analysis was based on models of the projected workload and system architecture. The results are presented together with the estimates of their sensitivity to assumptions inherent in the models.


Sushi is a perishable ready to eat product composed by several raw ingredients, and the storage temperature is crucial in the maintenance of satisfactory hygiene. Aim of this study was the microbiological characterization of sushi mimicking a thermal abuse likely occurring in the summer season. Mixed sushi (rolls and nigiri) produced in a small scale factory in Northern Italy was stored for 2 h at 12°C ("transport") and subsequently for 4 days at 8°C ("home storage") and daily submitted to microbiological analyses coupled with the control of organoleptic quality. Total viable Count was above 5 Log since the production day and was mainly constituted by Pseudomonas spp.; the values increased during storage overcoming the 6 Log level from day 3, and reaching level above 8 Log CFU/g at the last sampling time. From a sensorial point of view, from the second day a decay in odour and colour was observed. LAB showed a gradual increase never overcoming 6 Log CFU/g, while Enterobacteriaceae increased and overcame 4 Log CFU/g after 2 days. Yeasts showed a moderate growth (always <5 Log CFU/g) while Bacillus cereus, Staphylococci and Clostridia were generally below the detection limits. Listeria monocytogenes was never detected. A reduction of shelf-life from 3 to 2 days should be applied especially in particular warm months in order to limit bacterial replication.


Abstract The author applies a critical fearanalysis from his own critical repertoire to the seven articles on Freire's "radical love" in the Special Issue IJCP 5(1), 2015. He concludes that the articles offer some useful insights on love but do not adequately nor fully engage the dialectic or dialogical Love-Fear dynamic found in most wisdom literature and major religions around the world through time. He provides his critical fearanalysis based on four Love-Fear models for inquiry that demonstrate linear binary, dialectic, and trialectic modes. His conclusion is that without a Freirean dialectic (e.g., Love-Fear as meta-motivational forces) applied to the understanding of "radical love," an inadequate radicality will be gained and such discourses will ultimately fail enhancing an effective critical pedagogy for today's political "culture of fear" context. Keywords: critical fearanalysis, radical love, Love-Fear dynamic, meta-motivation


Analyzing energy consumption is currently of great interest to define efficient energy management strategies. In particular, studying the evolution of the behavior of the consumption pattern can allow energy policies to be defined according to the time of the year. In this sense, this work proposes to study the evolution of energy behavior patterns using online clustering techniques. In particular, the centroids of the groups constructed by the techniques will represent their consumption patterns. Specifically, two unsupervised online machine learning techniques ideal for the stated objective will be analyzed, X-Means and LAMDA, since they are capable of varying and adapting the number of clusters at runtime. These techniques are applied to energy consumption data in commercial buildings, making groupings on previous groups, in our case, monthly and quarterly. We compared their performance by analyzing the evolution of the patterns over time. The results are very promising since the quality of the consumption patterns obtained is very good according to the performance metrics. Thus, the three main contributions of this article are to propose an approach to determine energy consumption patterns using online non-supervised learning approaches, a methodology to analyze and explain the evolution of energy consumption using centroids of clusters, and a comparison strategy of online learning techniques. The online clustering techniques have qualities of the order of 0.59 and 0.41 for Silhouette and Davies-Boulding, respectively, for X-Means and of the order of 0.71 and 0.24 for Silhouette and Davies-Boulding, respectively, for LAMDA in different datasets of energy. The results are motivating since very good results are obtained in terms of the quality of the clusters, particularly with LAMDA; therefore, analyzing its centroids as the patterns of user behaviors makes a lot of sense.


ASSERT Investigators

 Atrial fibrillation (AF) is frequently detected perioperatively or during acute medical illness. It is unclear if such AF is reversible and unlikely to recur, or is a manifestation of paroxysmal AF.

 To compare the prevalence of pacemaker-detected, subclinical AF (atrial rate >190 bpm) before and after hospitalization for noncardiac surgery or medical illness in patients without a history of clinical AF.

 ASSERT enrolled patients who were >65 years old and had hypertension but no known AF. Pacemakers and defibrillators recorded episodes of subclinical AF. We identified participants who were hospitalized for noncardiac surgery or medical illness, and created heart rhythm profiles, centred on the day of hospitalization. We compared the prevalence of subclinical AF before and after hospitalization. We blanked the 30 days before hospitalization, because of uncertainty in defining the precise onset of illness.

 Among 2580 patients, 436 had a documented surgical or medical hospitalization. In the 30 days following a first hospitalization, 43 patients (9.9%) had >1 episode of >6 minutes of subclinical AF; 20 (4.6%) had >6 hours and 13 (3%) had >24 hours.
 A higher proportion of patients had >1 episode of subclinical AF >6 minutes in the 30 days following a first surgical or medical hospitalization, as compared to the period between 30 and 60 days before hospitalization (9.9% versus 4.4%, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference when comparing 0-90 days after hospitalization to 30-120 days before (13.7% versus 10.6%, P = 0.1). Similar results were observed for the same comparisons with episodes >6 hours (4.6% versus 2.3%, P = 0.03 and 5.9% versus 5.6%, P = 0.8, respectively).
 The majority of patients with subclinical AF in the 30 days following hospitalization had at least one episode of subclinical AF of the same duration in the 6 months prior (50% for episodes >6 minutes; 69% for >6 hours and 60% for >24 hours). Those who did have subclinical AF in the 30 days following hospitalization were more likely to have had subclinical AF in the past 6 months than those who did not (OR 7.2 95%CI 3.2-15.8 for episodes >6 minutes; OR 32.6, 95%CI 10.3-103.4 for >6 hours and OR 36.3 95%CI 9.0-146.0 for >24 hours).

 The prevalence of subclinical AF increased following hospitalization for noncardiac surgery or medical illness.  However, most patients with subclinical AF following hospitalization had previously experienced similar episodes, particularly those with longer episodes of subclinical AF.


Catalytically stabilized combustion represents an extremely promising but underexploited technology. Catalytic combustors can be designed to combine the high reaction rates of thermal combustors with the low NO(x) and soot levels of conventional catalytic oxidation reactors, and catalytic flame stabilization devices can be used to significantly improve the performance of conventional flame combustors. The GRI sponsored research focussed on examining the basic chemical and transport mechanisms from a fundamental point of view with the objective of determining how these mechanisms affect design considerations. The report summarizes the authors findings with respect to the effect of a platinum catalyst on the concentration of oxidizing radicals (O, OH) in a combustion boundary layer at both atmospheric and reduced pressures and the relation of this effect to gas phase combustion propagation. The analysis includes a reacting boundary layer model for combustion of methane over reactive and nonreactive surfaces. Thermal diffusion, complex chemistry in the gas phase, surface oxidation of methane and surface production of OH were considered.


Several experiments at the heavy ion storage ring TSR have shown the feasibility of wide range, efficient acceleration and deceleration. The newly developed method of mass selective acceleration enables an effective separation of ion species with relative mass differences of Δm m = 3.7 · 10−4. Parabola shaped short bunch lengths were measured for an electron cooled 50 MeV C ion beam in the space charge limit. To overcome the space charge limit the TSR was operated at a momentum compaction of α = 1.57.


OBJECTIVES
To assess whether TSH and fT4 have a role in the angiogenesis of vaso-obliteration and neovascularization which are the basic pathophysiology of ROP.

METHODS
In this retrospective case-control study, the control group (n = 56) included preterm newborns with risk for ROP while the laser group (n = 63) was recruited from cases who developed severe neovascularization and needed laser photocoagulation therapy. Considering the first (vaso-obliteration) and second (neovascularization) phases of the disease, in this study we researched the distribution of thyroid function tests between groups.

RESULTS
With regard to the first phase of the disease, TSH and fT4 showed no significant differences between the control and laser groups accordingly (P > 0.05). Likewise, in the second phase of ROP, there was no significant difference between the control and laser groups with respect to TSH and fT4 levels (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
We found that between the study groups, the levels of thyroid function tests did not have any significant differences, either in the first or the second phases of ROP which are the principal pathophysiology of the disease. Therefore, it was concluded that thyroid hormone values were not informative markers in the course of the disease in preterm babies at risk of developing ROP.


Objective: to develop a 2 % dorzolamide plus 0.5 % timolol eye drop solution with all the quality requirements to provide adequate therapeutic effect without adverse reactions for the patients. Methods: three preliminary trials were prepared with dorzolamide chlorhydrate and timolol maleate, a buffer solution based on monohydrated citric acid/dehydrated trisodic citrate with pH range 5-6, benzalkonium chloride and 10 % HPMC F4M (hydroxypropilmetylcellulose). These components replaced those recommended in the literature review. The chemical and physical stability of this formulation was studied for three months in terms of organoleptic characteristics, active ingredient concentration, pH, fluidmetric properties, eye irritability and effectiveness of preserver. The study formulation allowed developing and validating the analytical technique of the Center for the Drug Research and Development. Linearity, precision, specificity and accuracy of the method were determined. Three 5 L pilot batches were prepared. Master Batch 5 mL low-density polyethylene plastic bottles were used for packing. Results: active ingredients, dorzolamide chlorhydrate and timolol maleate, the pharmaceutical quality excipients and the packing material met the quality specifications according to USP 33. The physical and chemical analysis of the three batches at pilot and industrial scales met the quality specifications of the analytical technique devised by the Department of Stability of the Center for Drug Research and Development and the microbiological analysis reported in USP 33. Conclusions: the achieved results allowed introducing the formulation at industrial scale and replacing the imported drug.


Thirty infant survivors had a wide spectrum of neonatal cystic periventricular leukomalacia (CPVL) diagnosed by ultrasound scans: 11 minor forms, 12 moderate forms, 7 major forms (categorized by both sagittal extent and coronal thickness). Eight cases were pure CPVL and 22 were associated with minor to moderate peri-intraventricular haemorrhage (PIVH), i.e. from (0-I) to (II-II). Mean gestational age: 31 +/- 2 weeks; mean birthweight: 1,532 +/- 356 g. The length of neurodevelopmental (ND) follow-up ranged from 13 months to 3 years and eight months. Of 11 children with minor CPVL, 9 were normal and two had moderate sequelae. Of 12 moderate CPVL, one was lost to follow-up, one had no motor disturbance but did have severe mental retardation (partial 7 p-), two were normal, one had a minor sequela, three had moderate and four had severe sequelae. Of the 7 major CPVL, one had moderate and 6 had severe sequelae. Cases including posterior lesions or presenting solely with such lesions had a worse outcome. In that range of PIVH, the outcome was related to the severity of CPVL and not to PIVH grade. All major late dilatations were associated with severe ND sequelae. Of 29 infants with early EEG tracings, the 7 children with early severe EEG abnormalities all had severe ND sequelae; 17 persistent EEG abnormalities, even mild, were associated with 9 severe and five moderate ND sequelae, and three normal outcomes. Combining US scans and EEG gives valuable prognostic information in minor and major CPVL, but less in the moderate forms.


OBJECTIVES
This descriptive study aimed to compare the clinical and laboratory features of the children with the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), requiring pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), admission with the MIS-C patients who did not require PICU admission.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This study was conducted between March 2020 and February 2021 at the University of Health Sciences Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital, a referral center for pediatric infectious diseases in the Aegean Region of Turkey. All hospitalized patients aged 18 years old or less with MIS-C according to the definition of the universal guidelines were included in the study. Data of the patients with the diagnosis of MIS-C were recorded and collected from the electronic medical records of the hospital. The data included demographic characteristics, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory findings and clinical data.

RESULTS
A total of 58 patients with MIS-C were included in this study. Thirty-eight (65.5%) patients were male. The median age was 6 years (2 months-16 years). The patients admitted to PICU were 15 (25.9%). The rate of pulmonary involvement was 81.3% (n = 13) in the PICU group. The median procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-Dimer and ferritin values were significantly higher in the PICU group compared to non-PICU group (p < 0.001, p = 0.02, p < 0.001, p = 0.006 and p = 0.031).

CONCLUSIONS
Besides the depressing cardiac functions reported before, the pulmonary involvement and signs of shock are important factors for PICU admission in children with MIS-C.


Au and Ag were deposited on TiO2 modified with Ce, La, Fe or Mg in order to obtain bimetallic catalysts to be used for liquid-phase oxidation of 1-octanol. The effects of the deposition order of gold and silver, and the nature of the support modifying additives and redox pretreatments on the catalytic properties of the bimetallic Au-Ag catalysts were studied. Catalysts were characterized by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption–desorption, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. It was found that pretreatments with hydrogen and oxygen at 300 °C significantly decreased the activity of AuAg catalysts (silver was deposited first) and had little effect on the catalytic properties of AgAu samples (gold was deposited first). The density functional theory method demonstrated that the adsorption energy of 1-octanol increased for all positively charged AuxAgyq (x + y = 10, with a charge of q = 0 or +1) clusters compared with the neutral counterparts. Lanthanum oxide was a very effective promoter for both monometallic and bimetallic gold and silver catalysts in the studied process.


A great part of the population is under pharmacological treatment or takes herbal or other kinds of supplements. The influences between drugs and food/diet are of increasing interest for different reasons: - The increasing importance and detection of food-drug interactions; - The importance of an integrated dietetic-pharmacological treatment in diseases as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, etc; - The use of drugs and supplements in obesity; - The influence of diet in improving the nutritional status and reduction of drug adverse reactions in cancer and AIDS treatments. Therefore, dieticians need to have a broad knowledge of pharmacology, especially in the areas described before. In the dietician curriculum of the students of our school we have integrated applied pharmacology. We have worked in order to orient and adapt our pharmacology program to these specific subjects. This will provide the dietician with skills in order to obtain the optimum outcome in the treatment of their patients, working in a multidisciplinary team (nurses, physicians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, etc.).


Exclusive proton-antiproton annihilation into two photons at large s ( approximately 10 GeV2) and /t/,/u/ approximately s can be described by a generalized parton picture analogous to the "soft mechanism" in wide-angle real Compton scattering. The two photons are emitted in the annihilation of a single fast quark and antiquark. The matrix element describing the transition of the pp system to a qq pair can be related to the timelike proton elastic form factors as well as to the quark/antiquark distributions measured in inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The reaction could be studied with the proposed 1.5-15 GeV high-luminosity antiproton storage ring (HESR) at GSI.


The conventional thermal instability criterion cannot be applied to the advection-dominated accretion disks around black holes where the radiative cooling is insufficient to balance the viscous heating. The surface density change associated with the temperature perturbations, which was usually neglected in deriving the conventional criterion, was recently shown to be much significant in the advection-dominated disks. Considering both advection and surface density change, a generalized thermal instability criterion is suggested. By applying it to the optically thin and optically thick advection-dominated disks, it is found that the former one is thermally stable and the latter one is thermally unstable against short wavelength perturbations, which agrees well to those found recently by both analytic and quantitative stability analyses.


Fatigue is one of the most prioritized outcomes among haemodialyis (HD) patients with great impact on health-related quality of life. However, evidence-based therapies are lacking. A better understanding of fatigue symptoms and related behavioral, social and psychological factors in HD patients is of primary importance. Conventionally used fatigue measurement instruments, such as the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), only provide a general picture of fatigue severity and are prone to memory bias due to their retrospective nature. However, they cannot provide detailed insight in diurnal variations in fatigue and related factors in daily life. The Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) overcomes these limitations by repeated "real-time" assessments in patients' natural environments using digital questionnaires. The aims of this study were (i) to gain in-depth understanding of HD patients' diurnal fatigue patterns and related variables using a mobile Health (mHealth) ESM application, (ii) to better understand the nature of their interrelationships, and (iii) to explore the relationship between real-time experience of fatigue and its retrospective assessment.

 Forty chronic HD patients used the mHealth ESM application for seven consecutive days to assess momentary fatigue and potentially related variables, including daily activities, self-reported physical activity, social company, location and mood patterns. In addition, patients retrospectively evaluated their fatigue experience over the preceding day and week by means of end-of-day, and end-of-week questionnaires and the FSS.

 Multilevel regression analyses of momentary observations (N=1778) revealed that fatigue varied between and within individuals (Fig.1). Fatigue was significantly related to type of daily activity and mood. Time-lagged analyses showed that HD treatment predicted higher fatigue scores at a later time point, β = 0.22, p = 0.013. Interestingly, higher momentary fatigue also significantly predicted more depressed feelings at a later time point, β = 0.05, p = 0.019, but not the other way around. Retrospective evaluation of fatigue experience over the preceding week was significantly higher than the average of momentary fatigue scores, t(38) = 3.54, p = 0.001. The FSS correlated moderately with the average of momentary fatigue scores, r = 0.63.

 This study demonstrates diurnal variability of fatigue in chronic HD patients. It also corroborates a previous result from our research group showing that fatigue increases as a response to HD treatment (i.e. post-dialysis fatigue) and should, at least partially, be distinguished from a more general fatigue experience. Furthermore, our findings may suggest that depressed mood is secondary to fatigue in HD patients given their temporal relationship. Finally, retrospective fatigue assessment led to overestimation of the real-time fatigue experience. ESM offers novel insights in fatigue in HD patients by capturing informative symptom variability in the flow of daily life, which is not provided by conventional fatigue measures. Moreover, ESM provides personalized information about fatigue symptoms and their relationship with other variables in daily life, paving the way towards personalized interventions for HD patients.


The role of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in glucocorticoid physiology and during development was investigated by generation of GR-deficient mice by gene targeting. GR -/- mice die within a few hours after birth because of respiratory failure. The lungs at birth are severely atelectatic, and development is impaired from day 15.5 p.c. Newborn livers have a reduced capacity to activate genes for key gluconeogenic enzymes. Feedback regulation via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is severely impaired resulting in elevated levels of plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone (15-fold) and plasma corticosterone (2.5-fold). Accordingly, adrenal glands are enlarged because of hypertrophy of the cortex, resulting in increased expression of key cortical steroid biosynthetic enzymes, such as side-chain cleavage enzyme, steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase, and aldosterone synthase. Adrenal glands lack a central medulla and synthesize no adrenaline. They contain no adrenergic chromaffin cells and only scattered noradrenergic chromaffin cells even when analyzed from the earliest stages of medulla development. These results suggest that the adrenal medulla may be formed from two different cell populations: adrenergic-specific cells that require glucocorticoids for proliferation and/or survival, and a smaller noradrenergic population that differentiates normally in the absence of glucocorticoid signaling.


In the field of product modular design, it is desirable to have a methodology leading to a dynamic product design responding to the changing market. In this article, an option-pricing method is proposed for the module introduction decision making. At each stage of the module introduction processes, the decision maker can decide to add, reject and merge modules to form different kinds of configurations. The proposed approach is demonstrated through the design of mobile phones. The results indicate that the proposed decision models can effectively respond to the customer demands and bring greater net present value for companies.


Fin-angle feedback control is usually used in conventional fin stabilizers, and its actual anti-rolling effect is difficult to reach theoretical design requirements. Primarily, lift of control torque is a theoretical value calculated by static hydrodynamic characteristics of fin. However, hydrodynamic characteristics of fin are dynamic while fin is moving in waves. As a result, there is a large deviation between actual value and theoretical value of lift. Firstly, the reasons of deviation are analyzed theoretically, which could avoid a variety of interference factors and complex theoretical derivations. Secondly, a new device is designed for direct measurement of actual lift, which is composed of fin-shaft combined mechanism and sensors. This new device can make fin-shaft not only be the basic function of rotating fin, but also detect actual lift. Through analysis using stiffness matrix of Euler-Bernoulli beam, displacement of shaft-core end is measured instead of lift which is difficult to measure. Then quantitative relationship between lift and displacement is defined. Three main factors are analyzed with quantitative relationship. What is more, two installation modes of sensors and a removable shaft-end cover are proposed according to hydrodynamic characteristics of fin. Thus the new device contributes to maintenance and measurement. Lastly, the effectiveness and accuracy of device are verified by contrasting calculation and simulation on the basis of actual design parameters. And the new measuring lift method can be proved to be effective through experiments. The new device is achieved from conventional fin stabilizers. Accordingly, the reliability of original equipment is inherited. The alteration of fin stabilizers is minor, which is suitable for engineering application. In addition, the flexural properties of fin-shaft are digitized with analysis of stiffness matrix. This method provides theoretical support for engineering application by carrying out finite element analysis with computers.


An analysis method for a microwave mixer, based on an active nonlinear device, is developed. The method is a two-port extension of Kerr's work on a one-port (diode)-type mixer and utilizes the harmonic balance approach for the large-signal analysis portion. It results in a relatively fast and efficient program, the use of which is demonstrated by simulating the operation of a mixer based on a NEC MESFET for a range of local oscillator available power and frequency conditions.


Significant phase distortion corrections were achieved by optimizing the digital driving patterns of phase-only liquid crystal on silicon devices for digital holographic applications. Nearly perfect phase linearity and phase flicker of 0.09% over 256 addressed phase levels in respect to the total modulation range of 2π were realized, enabling a meaningful increase of phase levels from 8 bits (256 levels) to 9 bits (512 levels). Tests were carried out to evaluate the qualities of optically reconstructed holographic images with reduced phase flicker and optimized phase linearity, and an increase of 17.7% in the root-mean-square contrast was demonstrated.


Abstract Several factors should be considered by the owner and general contractor in the process of contractors` and subcontractors` selection and evaluation. The paper reviews the recent models addressed to guide general contractors in subcontractors' selection process and in evaluation of different contractors during the execution of the project. Moreover the paper suggests the impact of different contractors' performance to the overall level of occupational health and safety culture at the sites. It deals with the factors influencing the safety performance of contractors during construction and analyses the methods for assessing the safety performance of construction contractors. The results of contractors' safety performance evaluation could be a useful tool in motivating contractors to achieve better safety outcomes or could have effect on owners` or general contractors' decision making about contractors suitability for future contracting works.


Breast cancer is a major health problem that threatens millions of women's lives each year worldwide. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which constitute the major component of the tumor stroma, have been reported to actively contribute to tumor cells proliferation and invasion. Recently, we have shown down-regulation of the tumor suppressor p16INK4a protein in breast cancer-associated fibroblasts. Moreover, p16INK4a deficiency led to the activation of the stromal fibroblasts, which express/secrete elevated levels of IL-6, a major player in breast carcinogenesis. We have shown here that p16INK4a negatively regulates the IL-6 expression and secretion in breast stromal fibroblasts. Furthermore, we have shown that IL-6 is playing a major role in mediating the paracrine pro-carcinogenic effect of p16-deficient fibroblasts. We have also shown that p16INK4a inhibits the IL-6 expression in a miRNA-146b-5p-dependent manner. Importantly, we present clear evidence that miR-146b-5p inhibition activates breast stromal fibroblast. Indeed, miR-146b-5p inhibition increased the migration/invasion abilities of breast stromal fibroblasts, and the paracrine effect of these cells on the migration/invasion of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, miR-146b-5p-deficient stromal fibroblasts triggered epithelial to mesenchymal transition in breast cancer cells in a paracrine manner. In addition, we have shown that miR-146b-5p is down-regulated in CAFs as compared to their adjacent counterpart fibroblasts. These results indicate that p16INK4a negatively regulates IL-6 through the activation of miR-146b-5p, which plays a major role in repressing breast stromal fibroblasts and inhibiting their pro-carcinogenic effects. This indicates that miR-146b-5p has cell-non-autonomous tumor suppressor function. Therefore, this miRNA could be of great therapeutic value. Citation Format: Mysoon M Al-Ansari, Abdelilah Aboussekhra. Down-regulation of p16INK4a inhibits miR-146b-5p and modulates IL-6 in breast stromal fibroblasts [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-04-26.


Simultaneous three-frequency (30, 401, and 800 Mc/s) radar studies of the aurora were made from a site in northern Scotland. A completely steerable 142-foot-diameter antenna was used at all frequencies, providing a 15° antenna beam at 30 Mc/s and identical scaled beams of 1.2° at 401 and 800 Mc/s. Detailed results on the position in space indicate that most echoes arise from a layerlike form of auroral scatterers whose thickness is about 10–20 km. The height distribution of the auroral return was peaked at about 100 to 120 km, but heights as great as 200 km were observed. The highest amplitude and greatest percentage of auroral echoes were found to arise from the intersection of the maximum of the visual auroral zone and the 100- to 120-km orthogonality loci. Wavelength dependence and aspect sensitivity measurements at 401 and 800 Mc/s resulted in a power law dependence of λ7 and aspect sensitivity of 10 db per degree of off-perpendicular angle. Interpretation of these results in terms of the Booker scattering formula indicates that the size of the irregularities is 45 to 90 meters along the magnetic field lines and 0.7 meter across the field lines. The wavelength dependence results from the 30- and 401-Mc/s data indicate that questionable beam filling at 30 Mc/s introduces an unresolvable uncertainty of 45 db. The 30-Mc/s aspect sensitivity results indicate an amplitude drop of 10 db per 5° of off-perpendicular angle, or a length of the scatterers of 120 meters along the magnetic field line. Detailed comparison of magnetic activity auroral Doppler shifts and auroral echo amplitude indicates that the auroral Doppler spectrums and the amplitude of the echoes have a close relationship to the auroral current system. The auroral echoes seen at 401 Mc/s appear at times to be completely depolarized, possibly owing to Faraday rotation, but in general have a considerable degree of polarization retention. At 30 Mc/s, long-range auroral echoes propagated by an intervening F-layer reflection were seen as well as ground backscatter propagated by auroral sporadic E. The data indicate that the present theories for auroral scattering are insufficient to explain all the experimental characteristics observed. The plasma acoustic wave model developed for equatorial field-aligned irregularities appears to fit most of the auroral data obtained but warrants further investigation.


Zero forcing is a deterministic iterative graph colouring process in which vertices are coloured either blue or white, and in every round, any blue vertices that have a single white neighbour force these white vertices to become blue. Here we study probabilistic zero forcing, where blue vertices have a non-zero probability of forcing each white neighbour to become blue. We explore the propagation time for probabilistic zero forcing on hypercubes and grids.


Many existing works have made great strides towards reducing racial bias in face recognition. However, most of these methods attempt to rectify bias that manifests in models during training instead of directly addressing a major source of the bias, the dataset itself. Exceptions to this are BUPT-Balancedface/RFW [34] and Fairface [14], but these works assume that primarily training on a single race or not racially balancing the dataset are inherently disadvantageous. We demonstrate that these assumptions are not necessarily valid. In our experiments, training on only African faces induced less bias than training on a balanced distribution of faces and distributions skewed to include more African faces produced more equitable models. We additionally notice that adding more images of existing identities to a dataset in place of adding new identities can lead to accuracy boosts across racial categories. Our code is available at https://github.com/j-alex-hanson/rethinking-race-face-datasets.


ABSTRACT:Interest rate uncertainty has adverse effects on stock market performance. Despite the considerable studies on the relationship between interest rate and stock market return, the relationship between interest rate volatility and stock market development still is enigma. This paper investigates the effect of interest rate uncertainty on stock market development. We examine the long-run and short-run relationship between these variables using Pesaran et al (2001) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modeling for 12 emerging economies over the period 1980-2011. This methodology has two main advantages over other cointegration methods which have made it unique: first there is no need to do pre-unit root resting, which is an essential requirement in other methods, and second, we are able to distinguish short -run effects from its long- run effect. Diagnostic statistics applied in this study indicate that our models are stable, well specified and normally distributed residual free of autocorrelation. The estimated results here show a significant short-run effect of interest rate uncertainty on stock market developing in all of 12 emerging economies under study. Furthermore, our results indicate that in 9 out of 12 countries the short-run effects have been seen in the long-run as well, and the cointegration relationship is confirmed in almost all of the models by either the F-test results or negative sign of error correction term. Also, the long run real income estimated elasticity is significantly positive in all countries (except for Brazil, Chile and Thailand) which would be a major long-run factor affecting stock market development in most of emerging economies in this study. Moreover, we found a mixed long- run effect of interest rate on stock market development. The results obtained in this paper suggest that emerging economies need to be cautious in implementing financial market and interest rate policies. A well-developed financial system improves capital formation and the efficiency of resource allocation, enhancing investment, and therefore economic growth. Interest rate uncertainty significantly affects stock market development. Therefore, a sound monetary policy creates a safer investment environment and stock market development. The role of stock market development towards achieving economic growth is crucial.


ABSTRA C T We investigate the evolution of the metallicity of the intergalactic medium (IGM) with particular emphasis on its spatial distribution. We propose that metal enrichment occurs as a two-step process. First, supernova (SN) explosions eject metals into relatively small regions confined to the surroundings of star-forming galaxies. From a comprehensive treatment of blowout we show that SN by themselves fail by more than one order of magnitude to distribute the products of stellar nucleosynthesis over volumes large enough to pollute the whole IGM to the metallicity levels observed. Thus, an additional (but as yet unknown) physical mechanism must be invoked to mix the metals on scales comparable to the mean distance between the galaxies that are most efficient pollutants. From this simple hypothesis we derive a number of testable predictions for the evolution of the IGM metallicity. Specifically, we find that: (i) the fraction of metals ejected over the starformation history of the Universe is about 50 per cent at za 0; that is, approximately half of the metals today are found in the IGM; (ii) if the ejected metals were homogeneously mixed with the baryons in the Universe, the average IGM metallicity would be kZla V ej =Vb . 1=25Z( at za 3: However, due to spatial inhomogeneities, the mean of the distribution of metallicities in the diffusive zones has a wide (more than 2 orders of magnitude) spread around this value; (iii) if metals become more uniformly distributed at z & 1; as assumed, at za 0 the metallicity of the IGM is narrowly confined within the range Z < 0:1 ^ 0:03Z(: Finally, we point out that our results can account for the observed metal content of the intracluster medium.


A correlation study has been made to evaluate the effectiveness of finite-element modeling for vibrations of composite material panels. The three types of composite material panels studied were: (1) symmetrically laminated cross-ply panels, (2) unsymmetrically laminated cross-ply panels, and (3) a 1/6-scale sandwich wing model. Correlations of finite-element predictions for frequencies and vibration modes were made with Rayleigh-Ritz analyses and experimental data. For the symmetrically laminated panels, the finite-element representation predicted vibration modes very accurately. For the unsymmetrically laminated panels it was found that predictions using uncoupled finite-element plate bending elements did not give good agreement with experimental data. The constant-chord, swept-wing model was effectively analyzed by finite-element presentations using either sandwich elements or ribs and spars.


The present paper aims at designing a monitoring framework for a yet new interdisciplinary research and education program in Japan, "Cultural Resources Studies.", "Bunkashigengaku" in Japanese. We analyze the linkage between a university, an academic association, and the practitioners' institutions closely related with cultural resources through the mining of the principal texts produced by them. Our findings reveal the complicated relations among these stakeholder institutions, and attest to the importance of the revision cycle for the advance of interdisciplinary studies.


The EMI/EMC field came into practice in this country as far back as 1978. The DRDO labs have been following these standards in one form or other ever since that time. Besides the DRDO labs, public sector undertakings and ISRO organizations are also following these standards. In India these standards are regulated and controlled by the JEMCAB from 1984. The services follow these standards finalized by the JEMCAB which are taken into consideration while placing supply orders. While the standards and specifications have to be followed there must be a way to arrive at these standards realistically to fit in a given environment. This paper highlights some of these issues and presents a way to arrive at meaningful solutions in complex environments.


Most of DFM emphasis has been placed on those so called "lithography critical layers" like diffusion, poly, contact and metal layers. However, "non-lithography-critical layers" impact on the manufacture and the yield has not been investigated well. This paper addresses the DFM issue for one of "non-lithography-critical layers", i.e. thick gate oxide layout in dual oxide product, which in this case impacts the product yield significantly. In this paper, a yield loss in a dual oxide FPGA product is analyzed, and the root cause is demonstrated and finally the DFM approaches for gate oxide design and layout are proposed


The changes in reactivity resulting from the initial fuel and clad motions that occur during an unprotected loss-of-flow (ULOF) accident in LMFBRs strongly influence the accident's course. To study these accident-induced phenomena, a series of in-pile experiments using small bundles of pins (the Sandia Transient Axial Relocation (STAR) experiments) were performed. In these experiments, ULOF-accident conditions were simulated, and the accident-induced clad motion and fuel dispersal were recorded using high-speed photography. The major parameters varied in the series were power level, type of fuel (fresh versus preirradiated), and the number of pins. The results of the first four experiments are presented here. The observations made in these experiments show that early fuel disruption caused by fission products occurs in ULOF accidents and is followed almost immediately by both fuel sweepout and axial clad relocation. 36 refs., 22 figs., 2 tabs.


Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is crucial in facilitating preventive care and to delay further progression. Speech based automatic AD screening systems provide a non-intrusive and more scalable alternative to other clinical screening techniques. Textual embedding features produced by pre-trained language models (PLMs) such as BERT are widely used in such systems. However, PLM domain fine-tuning is commonly based on the masked word or sentence prediction costs that are inconsistent with the back-end AD detection task. To this end, this paper investigates the use of prompt-based fine-tuning of PLMs that consistently uses AD classification errors as the training objective function. Disfluency features based on hesitation or pause filler token frequencies are further incorporated into prompt phrases during PLM fine-tuning. The decision voting based combination among systems using different PLMs (BERT and RoBERTa) or systems with different fine-tuning paradigms (conventional masked-language modelling fine-tuning and prompt-based fine-tuning) is further applied. Mean, standard deviation (std) and the maximum among accuracy scores over 15 experiment runs are adopted as performance measurements for the AD detection system. Mean detection accuracy of 84.20% (with std 2.09%, best 87.5%) and 82.64% (with std 4.0%, best 89.58%) were obtained using manual and ASR speech transcripts respectively on the ADReSS20 test set consisting of 48 elderly speakers.


Hybridized sol–gel processing has been adopted to fabricate magnetic CoFe2O4 composite thick films onto Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by the spin coating technique. The process includes the chemical synthesis of CoFe2O4 sol–gel solution, the modified CoFe2O4 particles via high-energy ball milling, and the synthesis of uniform CoFe2O4 hybrid slurry. Thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis studies indicate the baking and pyrolysis temperatures of 140° and 300°C, respectively. After annealing from 550° to 700°C in air, pure CoFe2O4 spinel phase was observed above 600°C by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. The resulting thick films were measured to be 10 μm thick by a surface profiler and verified by a cross-sectional scanning electronic microscope. The increasing annealing temperature increases the grain size of CoFe2O4 composite thick films, confirming the increasing magnetic coercivity and saturation magnetization. Furthermore, electric measurement indicates an annealing temperature-dependent impedance relaxation behavior in the frequency range of 10 Hz–10 kHz. Above 10 kHz, impedance curves merge together; while below 10 Hz, diffusion phenomenon is observed in impedance spectroscopy. This behavior has not been reported in CoFe2O4 bulks or thin films. Further investigation of ac conductivity spectra used by "universal dynamic response" law demonstrates the ion motion nature in the composite thick films. Optimized annealing temperature of 650°C was concluded for the fabrication of CoFe2O4 composite thick films with promising electric properties.


Purpose: This study was done to investigate the correlation among symptom experience, self-efficacy, depression, and medication adherence in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Participants were 100 patients with COPD recruited in one general hospital in Seoul. A structured questionnaire was used to measure the study variables. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: Symptom experience and depression were positively correlated (r=.41, p<.001), symptom experience and self-efficacy were negatively correlated (r=-.21, p=.035). Depression was negatively correlated with self-efficacy (r=-.60, p<.001) and medication adherence (r=-.48, p<.001). Self-efficacy and medication adherence were positively correlated(r=.76 p<.001). Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate that depression and self-efficacy are important variables related to medication adherence in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, depression and self-efficacy should be assessed, and customized nursing interventions should be provided in order to increase medication adherence.


Background: Migraine is one of the most common types of headache. Many patients with migraine have precipitating factors known as trigger factors, recognition of which may lead to a better diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic approach. Objective: To study the prevalence of various trigger factors in patients with migraine, and to analyse various socio-demographic factors with respect to trigger factors. Materials and Methods: A total number of 500 patients of either sex fulfilling the ICHD3 diagnostic criteria for migraine aged more than 15 years attending Neurology Department of SMS Medical College, Jaipur, between January 2018 and February 2019 were studied. Patient enrolled in the study underwent a detailed structured interview and the information regarding the characteristics of headache including the time of onset, duration, frequency, character, site and associated features with due stress on the trigger or precipitating factors. Chi-square and t-test were performed to determine the statistical significance of the results. Results: As per the analysis, 91% of the patients reported more than one trigger factor for headache. Bright sunlight (43%), physical activity (43%), noise (42%), stressful events (41%), tea/coffee deprivation (38%), travelling (34%), hunger (33%), sleep (31%), and fatigue (29%) were some of the major trigger factors reported by the sample. People living in urban areas reported a higher number of trigger factor as compared to rural areas, which includes factors such as stress and fatigue. Sleep deprivation and physical stress were higher among rural areas. Conclusion: The present study presents a general idea about trigger factors related to headache in the North-western part of India. Bright sunlight, physical activity, noise, stressful events, tea/coffee deprivation, travelling, hunger, sleep, and fatigue parameters were some of the major trigger factors reported by the sample. Moreover, people living in urban areas reported a higher number of trigger factor as compared to rural areas.Hence including these into the diagnostic criteria should be taken into consideration. Future studies should focus on the whole context that surrounds the trigger and the probable trigger synergy in headache precipitation, as these could help in the prevention and management of these disabling conditions.


This paper uses case histories to introduce a graphical method for easily quantifying reservoir flow units based on geologic framework, petrophysical rock/pore types, storage capacity, flow capacity, and reservoir process speed. Using these parameters and four graphical tools, this paper outlines a quantitative approach to transform rock-type-based zonations into petrophysically based flow units that can be input into a numerical flow simulator. This method provides a tool for determining the minimum number of flow units to input into a numerical flow simulator that honors the foot-by-foot characteristics at the wellbore. A flow unit is a stratigraphically continuous interval of similar reservoir process speed that maintains the geologic framework and characteristics of rock types. Rock types are representative reservoir units with a distinct porosity-permeability relationship and a unique water saturation for a given height above free water level. The ideal data for this method is continuous core porosity, permeability, and saturation information drawn from throughout the entire reservoir. If such a data set is not available, it is necessary to calibrate wireline log data with information to produce reliable estimates of porosity, permeability, and saturation. A full discussion of these data transforms are beyond the scope of this paper. The four graphical tools used to determine flow units are: Winland porosity-permeability cross plot, Stratigraphic Flow Profile (SFP), Stratigraphic Modified Lorenz Plot (SMLP) and Modified Lorenz Plot (MLP). This method begins by establishing rock types within a geologic framework. The geologic framework allows the flow units to be interpreted within a sequence stratigraphic model determining well-to-well correlation strategies. The key flow unit characteristics to be identified are barriers (seal to flow), speed zones (conduits), and baffles (zones that throttle fluid movement). This integrated, petrophysically based method of determining flow units has been successfully used in a wide array of reservoirs. We have applied it to young, unconsolidated sediments; structurally complex naturally fractured/vuggy carbonates; low permeability tight formation gas sands; diagenetically altered carbonates; complex mixed lithologies; and interbedded sand-shale sequences. The earlier in the life of a reservoir this process is used, the greater the understanding of future reservoir performance. This method allows the user to employ the least number of flow units and honor the character of the foot by foot data for simulation studies.


A suite of recently developed statistical methods to estimate the abundance and density of unmarked animals from camera traps require accurate estimates of the area sampled by each camera. Although viewshed area is fundamental to achieving accurate abundance estimates, there are no established guidelines for collecting this information in the field. Furthermore, while the complexities of the detection process from motion sensor photography are generally acknowledged, viewable area (the common factor between motion sensor and time lapse photography) on its own has been underemphasized. We establish a common set of terminology to identify the component parts of viewshed area, contrast the photographic capture process and area measurements for time lapse and motion sensor photography, and review methods for estimating viewable area in the field. We use a case study to demonstrate the importance of accurate estimates of viewable area on abundance estimates. Time lapse photography combined with accurate measurements of viewable area allow researchers to assume that capture probability equals 1. Motion sensor photography requires measuring distances to each animal and fitting a distance sampling curve to account for capture probability of <1.


Aims As of 2018, there were over 11 million people imprisoned globally. Suicide and self-harm rates have been found to be markedly elevated among imprisoned individuals, however there is much less literature reporting on risk factors for suicide and self-harm following prison release. The immediate post-release period has been found to be a particularly high-risk period for suicide and self-harm. Since many more people are released into the community every year than people kept imprisoned, released prisoners' health is a matter of public health concern. With the societal impact of this topic in mind, this systematic review aims to collate the risk factors for suicide and self-harm upon release from prison. Methods PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Cochrane were systematically searched using keywords relating to prison release, self-harm and suicide for articles published since 1/1/12. Studies were included if they reported data on risk factors for self-harm or suicide and followed prespecified inclusion criteria. Articles were screened by the author and uncertainty was settled by two independent reviewers. Included studies were evaluated using standardised quality assessment tools. Quantitative data were narratively synthesised due to a high level of heterogeneity in between studies. Results 248 articles were identified in total. 10 articles were included, reporting data on self-harm and suicide risk factors from 5 countries. Studies ranged from moderate (n = 2) to high quality (n = 8). Risk factors were categorised into the following: demographic characteristics, psychiatric history, conviction type, and imprisonment history. Risk factors which did not fit into any of these categories were categorised into an "other" group. It was found that there were many non-modifiable factors such as violent convictions, female sex, Indigenous (Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal) ethnicity, and single relationship status which increase self-harm or suicide risk upon release. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review to collate the risk factors for suicide and self-harm following prison release. The results show a complex variety of risk factors. The high mortality rate in this group necessitates the need for strategies to intervene before community re-entry. Study into risk factors post-release may guide identification of at-risk groups to target with proactive, coordinated care pre- and post-release. It is likely this will require a multifactorial approach including health, social and community programmes.


After a short overview of the foreign trade relations of Switzerland, the present paper examines the trade flows between Switzerland and the Third World. Furthermore, it deeply investigates Swiss export stability as well as the amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) abroad.


A federal standard for fuel tank integrity in cars was applied to 1977 and subsequent models. National data indicate that fatalities per 10,000 occupants in rear-end crashes of small cars, where fire was the most harmful event, were reduced by approximately 57% if the fuel tank was located behind the rear axle and 77% if the tank was situated directly above or in front of the rear axle.


Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are able to undergo large deformation in response to external electric stimuli and have been widely used to drive soft robotic systems, due to their advantageous attributes comparable to biological muscles. However, due to their isotropic material properties, it has been challenging to generate programmable actuation, e.g., along a predefined direction. In this paper, we provide an innovative solution to this problem by harnessing honeycomb metastructures to program the mechanical behavior of dielectric elastomers. The honeycomb metastructures not only provide mechanical prestretches for DEAs but, more importantly, transfer the areal expansion of DEAs into directional deformation, by virtue of the inherent anisotropy. To achieve uniaxial actuation and maximize its magnitude, we develop a finite element analysis model and study how the prestretch ratios and the honeycomb structuring tailor the voltage-induced deformation. We also provide an easy-to-implement and scalable fabrication solution by directly printing honeycomb lattices made of thermoplastic polyurethane on dielectric membranes with natural bonding. The preliminary experiments demonstrate that our designed DEA is able to undergo unidirectional motion, with the nominal strain reaching up to 15.8%. Our work represents an initial step to program deformation of DEAs with metastructures.


Background Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an essential tool in emergency medicine (EM). We aimed to investigate the current status and perception of POCUS use in emergency medical centers in Korea. Methods A cross-sectional, nationwide survey was conducted using a mobile survey of physicians at emergency medical centers in Korea. The first message was sent on November 27, 2020, and the second message was sent on December 3, 2020 to the non-responders. The questionnaire comprised 6 categories and 24 questionnaires on demographics, current practice, education, perception, and barriers to the use of POCUS. Results A total of 467 physicians participated in the survey (a response rate of 32% among 1,458 target physicians), of which 43% were residents and 57% were EM specialists. Most of the respondents (96%) answered that they use POCUS, of which 89% reported using it at least once a week. The most frequently used types of POCUS were focused assessment with sonography for trauma (68%) and echocardiography (66%). Musculoskeletal, male genital, and pediatric scans were rarely performed tests but ranked as of the scans physicians most wanted to learn. About 73% of the respondents received ultrasound education, and 41% received ultrasound education at their own institutions. Nevertheless, education-related barriers are still the biggest deterrent to POCUS use (60%). In addition, multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the greater the number of ultrasound devices and the total number of physicians in the emergency center, the more likely they were to use POCUS every day. Conclusion This study found that most physicians currently working in emergency medical centers in Korea more frequently perform various types of ultrasound scans compared to those 10 years prior. To further promote the use of POCUS, it is important to have an appropriate number of ultrasound devices and physicians in the emergency center along with systematic POCUS education.


In this study, Co-W thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering were demonstrated to be perpendicular magnetic anisotropic with large magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE). Thermodynamic calculations based on Miedema's semi-empirical model have been used to estimate the phase in this binary alloy system. Based on the thermodynamic calculations results, a series of Co-W thin films were deposited on amorphous Ta underlayer with different tungsten concentrations. According to the X-ray diffraction results, the crystal structure of Co-W thin films is consistent well with that of thermodynamic calculations. Large MAE of Co-W thin films can be obtained with Ku over 2.1 × 105 J/m3 after vacuum annealing. The perpendicular coercivity (Hc) of Co-W thin film reaches 9.1 × 104 A/m. Therefore, the Co-W thin film is considered as a potential choice of high-density magnetic recording media materials.


The objective of this work consists in valuing the carob pods (very rich in sugars and in nourishing elements) as being a medium of culture for growth of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and comparison this natural syrup with MRS medium for lactic acid production curve. By its biochemical composition, the carob syrup is very rich in carbohydrates 16 g/L, protein 0.25 %, ash 0.8% including potassium (110 mg/100 mL of MF), sodium (80) and calcium (150). Kinetics study of growth of Lactobacillus bulgaricus in MRS and carob pods syrup showed that high biomass and lactic acid were obtained in the end of carob fermentations respectively (5.51 and 13.8) compared to MRS fermentation (4.57 and 10.9). This study clearly showed that carob pods have potential to be used as feedstock for lactic acid production by Lactobacillus bulgaricus using batch culture. Keyword: Carob pods syrup, fermentation, Lactobacillus bulgaricus.


Metallic nanofilms are important components of nanoscale electronic circuits and nanoscale sensors. The accurate characterization of the thermophysical properties of nanofilms is very important for nanoscience and nanotechnology. Currently, there is very little specific heat data for metallic nanofilms, and the existing measurements indicate distinct differences according to the nanofilm size. The present work reports the specific heats of 40-nm-thick suspended platinum nanofilms at 80–380 K and ~5×10−4 Pa using the 3ω method. Over 80–380 K, the specific heats of the Pt nanofilms range from 166–304 J/(kgK), which are 1.65–2.60 times the bulk values, indicating significant size effects. These results are useful for both scientific research in nanoscale thermophysics and evaluating the transient thermal response of nanoscale devices.


Because of the distributing and heterogeneity of grid, system monitoring is very important to the grid environment. Now, a lot of grid monitoring systems have been developed and a grid monitoring architecture (GMA) has been proposed by Global Grid Forum. This paper describes the monitoring system GMS (grid monitoring service). GMS is a general purposed, scalable and distributed grid monitoring service based on GMA. This paper presents information regarding the design and implementation of GMS. It describes the architecture, components, implementation and application of GMS. Finally, it summarizes the characteristics of GMS and figures out the emphasis of future work.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic joint disease worldwide, where knee OA takes more than 80% of commonly affected joints. Knee OA is not a curable disease yet, and it affects large columns of patients, making it costly to patients and healthcare systems. Etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of knee OA might be argued by variability in its clinical and physical manifestations. Although knee OA carries a list of well-known terminology aiming to standardize the nomenclature of the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and clinical outcomes of the chronic joint disease, in practice there is a wide range of terminology associated with knee OA across different data sources, including but not limited to biomedical literature, clinical notes, healthcare literacy, and health-related social media. Among these data sources, the scientific articles published in the biomedical literature usually make a principled pipeline to study disease. Rapid yet, accurate text mining on large-scale scientific literature may discover novel knowledge and terminology to better understand knee OA and to improve the quality of knee OA diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. The present works aim to utilize artificial neural network strategies to automatically extract vocabularies associated with knee OA diseases. Our finding indicates the feasibility of developing word embedding neural networks for autonomous keyword extraction and abstraction of knee OA.


From the fluvial Old Red Sandstone (ORS) of the Lower to Middle Devonian Wood Bay Formation (NW-Spitsbergen), a diverse trace fossil assemblage, including two new ichnotaxa, is described: Svalbardichnus trilobus igen. n., isp. n. is interpreted as the three-lobed resting trace of an early phyllocarid crustacean (Rhinocarididae). Cruziana polaris isp. n. yields morphological details that point towards a trilobite origin. This occurence of presumably marine trace makers in a fluvial red bed sequence raises the question of whether we are dealing with marine ingressions that are not sedimentologically expressed, with homeomorphy, or with an adaptation of marine groups to non-marine environments.


Background: For health care personnelhandhygieneandwearing appropriate protective gloves are compulsory. We have noticed an increase of hand eczema caused by contact allergy from rubber chemicals such as diphenylguanidine (DPG) in synthetic rubber gloves used by surgeons and surgical nurses. The exposure time to surgical gloves as well as the number of gloves used per day vary. Furthermore surgery very often includes the use of skin disinfectants before glove donning. Objectives: Does the exposure time influence the amount of DPG released from the gloves? Does the exposure of skin disinfectants before glove donning influence the release of DPG? Methods: Using synthetic sweat, the amount of DPG released from the inside of the gloves at different timeswas measured by HPLC. The remaining extractable DPG was estimated by washing the inside of the gloves with ethanol (50% in water) for 10min. The amount of DPG found on the hands exposed to 3ml skin disinfectant allowed to dry prior to glove donning was compared to the amount found on unexposed hands. After wearing gloves for 60 min the handswerewashedwith ethanol and the amount of DPG recovered was analysed with HPLC. Results: After 10, 30, 60 and 180 min approximately 73%, 79%, 82%, 87% of the total amount of DPG was released. For all comparisons the amount of DPG released was higher on the hand exposed to disinfectants compared with the unexposed hand. Conclusions: A comparatively short exposure time to gloves (10min) implies a substantial exposure to DPG. Thus, repeated usage of glovesmight enhance skin exposure to this rubber chemical. Skin disinfectants does increase the amount of DPG released from the gloves. Thus, possibly the components of the disinfectant remaining on the skin or some othermechanism add to the exposure to DPG. (Less)


Introduction: PITS is a serious disease can caused many diagnostic problems. It caused by cuff pressure during tracheal intubation. Generally, invasive diagnostic methods, based on fiber-optic or rigid bronchoscopy, are suggested for initial treatments. Aims and objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the plethysmography findings, as a diagnostic method for PITS; and assess the relationship between plethysmography and bronchoscopy findings in patients with PITS. Methods: The sample included 30 patients, who were admitted to an ICU or in a surgical ward during the course of a year and had been diagnosed with PITS. All patients after taken an history underwent plethysmography and then rigid bronchoscopy; and the relation between plethysmography and bronchoscopy findings was able to be examined. Results: Regarding the relationship of the variables under evaluation by bronchoscopy with plethysmography findings, stricture intensity had the highest correlation with SRaw (resistance of upper airways) with a p-value=0.001.The relationship of the length of stricture with FEV1, MEF 50 and MEF 75 was significant (P-value = 0.039, 0.042 and 0.036 respectively) in the univariate and with RV% and TLC% in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Significant relationships were found between plethysmography and rigid bronchoscopy findings in patients with PITS; some statistical formulas were developed which allow medical practitioners additional opportunities to estimate the stricture intensity without bronchoscopy. Other significant relationships were also found - regarding the length of stricture - which affirmed the effectiveness of plethysmography for evaluation of patients with PITS.


In May 2010, a delegation of Papua New Guinean politicians travelled to a remote village on the country's north coast to receive a petition against proposed mine activity. The encounter between the politicians and the villagers who had invited them involved two very different articulations of power and authority, and two competing cartographies of centrality and marginality. The encounter speaks to the need to approach the concepts of custom and modernity not only as powerful discourses which are taken up and performed in local places, but also as analytical descriptors of actually existing patterns of practice and meaning which are structurally and ontological distinct. At the same time, however, analysis of the encounter between villagers and politicians makes clear that this structural difference cannot be written straightforwardly onto the social bodies of opposing collectivities. Rather, customary and modern forms of social relations exist in dynamic and ambivalent entanglements, pulled into contingent and differently weighted configurations by actors in local places.


We have recently demonstrated in multiple independent population-based longitudinal and cross sectional analyses that the haptoglobin 2-2 genotype is associated with an increased risk for diabetic cardiovascular disease. The chief function of haptoglobin (Hp) is to bind to hemoglobin and thereby prevent hemoglobin-induced oxidative tissue damage. This antioxidant function of haptoglobin is mediated in part by the ability of haptoglobin to prevent the release of iron from hemoglobin on its binding. We hypothesized that there may be diabetes- and haptoglobin genotype–dependent differences in the amount of catalytically active redox active iron derived from hemoglobin. We tested this hypothesis using several complementary approaches both in vitro and in vivo. First, measuring redox active iron associated with haptoglobin-hemoglobin complexes in vitro, we demonstrate a marked increase in redox active iron associated with Hp 2-2-glycohemoglobin complexes. Second, we demonstrate increased oxidative stress in tissue culture cells exposed to haptoglobin 2-2-hemoglobin complexes as opposed to haptoglobin 1-1-hemoglobin complexes, which is inhibitable by desferrioxamine by either a chelation or reduction mechanism. Third, we demonstrate marked diabetes-dependent differences in the amount of redox active iron present in the plasma of mice genetically modified expressing the Hp 2 allele as compared with the Hp 1 allele. Taken together these data implicate redox active iron in the increased susceptibility of individuals with the Hp 2 allele to diabetic vascular disease.


In this study, the contribution of utilizing hyperspectral unmixing algorithms on signature based target detection algorithms is studied. Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), Spectral Matched Filter (SMF) and Adaptive Cosine Estimator (ACE) algorithms are selected as target detection methods and the performance change related to the target spectral acquisition is evaluated. The spectral signature of the desired target, corn, is acquired from ASD hyperspectral library as well as from the hypespectral unmixing endmembers with a minimum angular distance to ASD signature. It is seen that the performance of the corn detection has increased significantly with the utilization of the closest endmember extracted from the hyperspectral data cube. Among all methods, SAM has been designated as the most successful method based on the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves.


One of the explanations for development and utilisation of local technology falling behind expectations is un- fair competition from foreign technologies. The nature of such competition is a severe disincentive to the development of local technological alternatives. Efforts at promotion of local technology, therefore, need to be supplemented by protection against foreign competition. Noting the inadequacy of the existing protection afforded to local technology, this paper argues that such protection needs to be complemented by price protection.


Abstract This paper, reviews about the working and performance of Organic Rankine cycle with different heat sources. There are various sources of heat are available, from the range of low temperature to very high temperature. The source of this heat is of many types such as various types of engines, chemical industries, machines and various processes. This cycle allows re-cycling the waste heat from various sources is converted into useful work and later used as electricity. Essentially Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a very economic and pollution free cycle and gives pollution free and clean energy. Recovery of heat from waste is very important field of development for Organic Rankine Cycle. And basically, it can be applied to the low temperature sources. The working and performance of organic Rankine cycle with various operations and working fluids is studied in this review. Keywords: low temperature sources, waste heat, pollution free cycle, clean energy Cite this Article Yogesh Sharma, Shahrukh Ansari and Anurag Paigwar. Review of Organic Rankine Cycle with various Heat Sources. Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology . 2019; 9(2): 33–36p.


Background: Arena football is an indoor version of American football played in indoor arenas on a smaller field with 8 players per team. Only 1 study has evaluated injury rates in arena football, and no study had compared 2 distinct cohorts of players. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare injury rates in American versus Chinese athletes in the Chinese Arena Football League. Our hypothesis was that the rate of significant injuries (≥7 days of time lost from play) would be statistically significantly higher in Chinese athletes. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Each of the 6 teams included in this study comprised 11 American and 11 Chinese athletes, for a total of 132 included athletes (66 Chinese, 66 American). All players stayed in the same hotel, trained and played in the same facilities, and were covered by the same medical staff. A total of 18 games were played consecutively in 6 cities from October 1 to November 6, 2016. At least 4 Chinese players had to be on the field for each team at all times during game play. Results: American athletes were significantly older, taller, and heavier than Chinese athletes. The total exposure was 759 athlete-hours, and there were 80 reported injuries, with 74 (92.5%) occurring during games (overall injury rate, 105.4 injuries per 1000 athlete-hours). For American athletes, the exposure was 387 athlete-hours with 38 injuries observed, and the injury rate was 98.2 injuries per 1000 athlete-hours. For Chinese athletes, the exposure was 372 athlete-hours with 42 injuries observed, and the injury rate was 112.9 injuries per 1000 athlete-hours. There was no statistically significant difference in exposure or overall injury rate between American and Chinese athletes. The rate of significant injuries was 30.3 per 1000 athlete-hours; there were 17 such injuries in Chinese athletes compared with 6 such injuries for American athletes. The rate of significant injuries was 45.7 (Chinese) and 15.5 (American) injuries per 1000 athlete-hours, and the relative risk for Chinese versus American athletes for significant injuries was 3.0 (95% CI, 1.2-7.8; P = .019) . Binary logistic regression models were utilized to analyze whether the baseline variables (height, weight, body mass index, age, years of experience, and nationality) were potential predictors for an injury, and only years of experience (odds ratio, 1.147 [95% CI, 1.034-1.271]; P = .009) was found to be associated with severe injuries (>21 days of time loss). Conclusion: The overall risk of injuries was similar between Chinese and American athletes, but Chinese athletes showed statistically higher rates of significant injuries than their American counterparts. Years of experience was the only factor that was associated with severe injuries. As professional sports become more global, medical personnel must take into account the distinct differences and levels of experience between the national and international professional athletes. The results of this study will be used to make recommendations to develop preventive training measures, including techniques to improve tackling.


Meso-diencephalic dopaminergic (mdDA) neurons control voluntary movement, cognition and the reward response, and their degeneration is associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Prospective cell transplantation therapies for PD require full knowledge of the developmental pathways that control mdDA neurogenesis. We have previously shown that Otx2 is required for the establishment of the mesencephalic field and molecular code of the entire ventral mesencephalon (VM). Here, we investigate whether Otx2 is a specific determinant of mesencephalic dopaminergic (mesDA) neurogenesis by studying mouse mutants that conditionally overexpress or lack Otx2. Our data show that Otx2 overexpression in the VM causes a dose-dependent and selective increase in both mesDA progenitors and neurons, which correlates with a remarkable and specific enhancement in the proliferating activity of mesDA progenitors. Consistently, lack of Otx2 in the VM specifically affects the proliferation of Sox2+ mesDA progenitors and causes their premature post-mitotic transition. Analysis of the developmental pathway that controls the differentiation of mesDA neurons shows that, in the absence of Otx2, the expression of Lmx1a and Msx1, and the proneural genes Ngn2 and Mash1 is not activated in Sox2+ mesDA progenitors, which largely fail to differentiate into Nurr1+ mesDA precursors. Furthermore, proliferation and differentiation abnormalities exhibit increasing severity along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the VM. These findings demonstrate that Otx2, through an AP graded effect, is intrinsically required to control proliferation and differentiation of mesDA progenitors. Thus, our data provide new insights into the mechanism of mesDA neuron specification and suggest Otx2 as a potential target for cell replacement-based therapeutic approaches in PD.


Synthesis of natural clay magnetite composite has been done. The composite was applicated as adsorbent of methylene blue dye in aqueous solution. natural clay was activated with acid solution, synthesis of natural clay magnetite composite was done by coprecipitation method in the molar ratio Fe 2+ : Fe 3+ = 1 : 2 at temperature 85 ο C. Characterization of the synthesis results is done by XRD and FTIR. Adsorption using batch system with the optimum pH, kinetic and equilibrium aspects of adsorption were studied. The characterization results shows that iron oxide Fe 3 O 4 (magnetite) can be composited with natural clay. The activated and natural clay magnetite composite can adsorbed methylene blue dye from aqueous solution, with the optimum adsorption at pH 3. Adsorption of those adsorbent followed the kinetic eqution of pseudo order 2 with reaction rate constant for activated and natural clay magnetite composite was 1.68 x 10 -3 and 7.13 x 10 -3 g/mg.minute. The isotherm adsorption is Langmuir isotherm with adsorption capacity was 1.72 x 10 -4 mol/g and 1.84 x 10 -4 mol/g. This kinetic reactions model shows that the natural clay magnetite composite is able to adsorbed rhodamine B in aqueous solution and accelerated separation of adsorbent from aqueous phase by external magnet field. Keywords: natural clay, magnetite, composite and adsorption.


In a bid to end debates about the nature of consciousness, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, a nonprofit best known for funding research at the intersection of science and religion, is funding experiments that directly pit theories of consciousness against each other. The first phase of the $20 million project, launched this week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, Illinois, will compare two theories of consciousness by scanning the brains of participants during cleverly designed tests. Proponents of each theory have agreed to admit it is flawed if the outcomes go against them.


Background Research into parenting and mental illness seldom includes forensic mental health service users, despite its relevance to therapeutic, family work and risk management. Aims This study aimed to understand the experiences of parents and the variety of parenting roles maintained during admission to a secure forensic hospital. Methods Narrative interviews with 18 parents (eight mothers and 10 fathers) at an English medium security hospital were analysed thematically, using the framework approach. The proportion of patients who are parents and their contact patterns with their children were estimated from records. Results About a quarter of men and 38% of women were parents. Parenthood was of central importance to their emotional life, spanning experiences of loss, shame and failed expectations, joy, responsibility and hope. Fewer fathers maintained contact with their children than mothers yet fatherhood remained a vital aspect of men's identities, with impact on their self-esteem. Parenting during lengthy admissions – while constrained and dependent on professional support and surveillance – ranged from sending gifts and money to visits and phone calls. Offending was seen as a particularly shameful aspect of admission, contributing to distancing from the children and difficulty explaining detention to them. Conclusions Such complex experiences call for multidisciplinary knowledge and skills. Provision of focused therapy, as well as appropriate visiting spaces, creative approaches to contact time and support for patients in explaining their mental illness and detention to their children are recommended. © 2015 The Authors. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.


Estimating Relative Abundance of Young-of-Year American Eel, Anguilla rostrata, in the Virginia Tributaries of Chesapeake Bay (Spring 2011) Final Report Submitted by Troy D. Tuckey and Mary C. Fabrizio Department of Fisheries Science Virginia Institute of Marine Science College of William and Mary Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 Submitted to Virginia Marine Resources Commission Marine Recreational Fishing and Commercial Fishing Advisory Boards


As declarative query processing techniques expand to the Web, data streams, network routers, and cloud platforms, there is an increasing need to re-plan execution in the presence of unanticipated performance changes. New runtime information may affect which query plan we prefer to run. Adaptive techniques require innovation both in terms of the algorithms used to estimate costs, and in terms of the search algorithm that finds the best plan. We investigate how to build a cost-based optimizer that recomputes the optimal plan incrementally given new cost information, much as a stream engine constantly updates its outputs given new data. Our implementation especially shows benefits for stream processing workloads. It lays the foundations upon which a variety of novel adaptive optimization algorithms can be built. We start by leveraging the recently proposed approach of formulating query plan enumeration as a set of recursive datalog queries; we develop a variety of novel optimization approaches to ensure effective pruning in both static and incremental cases. We further show that the lessons learned in the declarative implementation can be equally applied to more traditional optimizer implementations.


The erosivity factor in the universal soil loss equation (USLE) provides an effective means of evaluating the erosivity power of rainfall. This study evaluated the erosivity factor based on monthly and annual precipitation rainfall data of Auchi, Edo State covering a period of 2005 – 2014 using Lombardi method (EI =1.03V d 1.51 ).  It was discovered that higher rainfall values resulted in high erosivity index values which was in line with other tropical climates. The average annual erosivity index for the city during the period of study was 587.32 MJ mm/hr. The R 2 of 0.651 shows that precipitation alone contributed 65.1% of the erosion risk within the study period. The knowledge of impact of rainfall on erosivity is essential in soil erosion risk assessment and for soil and water conservation planning. Keywords : Erosivity, Kinetic energy, Erosion, Rainfall intensity, Lombardi, Erodibility, Auchi, Soil loss DOI : 10.7176/CER/11-1-02


We analyse long-term optical photometry for two Galactic recurrent novae (V745 Sco and V3890 Sgr) and one Large Magellanic Cloud object (Nova LMC 1990b) observed over several years by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) sky survey. We do not find variability with the previously claimed orbital period of V745 Sco. This voids previous findings based on this value (e.g. the distance determination). The quiescence variability of this object is dominated by semiregular pulsations of the red giant secondary (with periods of 136.5 and 77.4 d). The photometry of Nova LMC 1990b reveals an unnoticed eruption in 2010 and eclipse-like variability in quiescence with a period of 1.26432(8) d. The photometric properties make this object very similar to U Sco. Finally, we describe the eruptions of two likely symbiotic novae, V5590 Sgr and OGLE-2011-BLG-1444. The secondary of V5590 Sgr is a Mira star with pulsation period of 236 d.


PURPOSE
To evaluate objective optical quality and intraocular scattering in adults with myopia.

METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study. Patients between 18 and 40 years of age were recruited from those undergoing routine preoperative examinations prior to myopic refractive surgery. The spherical equivalent refraction (SE) ranged from -14.25 to -0.63 diopters (D). Right eyes of 274 subjects were included for factor analyses: 25 eyes were super-high myopia (SE < -9 D), 88 eyes were high myopia (-6 D > SE ≥ -9 D),133 eyes were moderate myopia (-3 D > SE ≥ -6 D), and 28 eyes were low myopia (SE ≥ -3 D). A double-pass system was used to measure the modulation transfer function cutoff frequency (MTFcutoff) and objective scatter index (OSI).

RESULTS
Mean MTFcutoff was 32.38 ± 9.73 and 27.61 ± 8.11 cycles per degree (cyc/deg) in the high and super-high myopia groups, significantly lower than 39.92 ± 10.53 and 37.39 ± 8.74 cyc/deg in the low and moderate groups (P < 0.01). Mean OSI was 0.89 ± 0.61 and 1.33 ± 0.65 in the high and super-high myopia groups, significantly higher than in the low and moderate groups, 0.50 ± 0.39 and 0.57 ± 0.44 (P < 0.01). No significant difference was found between the low myopia and the moderate myopia group in any of the parameters (P > 0.05). Other factors such as eye side, sex, and age did not significantly affect optical quality parameters or OSI in this study population (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Optical quality and intraocular scattering varied among individuals with myopia. High myopia has more influence on retinal image quality and scattering than moderate and low myopia. Our study also helps to establish MTFcutoff and OSI standards for Chinese refractive surgery candidates.


Animation, apart from being able to make digital content more interesting, is also able to convey information to make it more effective. Content creators, whether in the fields of education, advertising, or entertainment need to use animation, especially motion graphics, to increase the value of the content they create. However, many content creators have difficulty designing animated content with a simple and fast method. The purpose of this research activity is to design a motion graphic using the Animaker software. This process is a guide for content creators in making animations with simpler and faster methods. The method used is design. This process includes data search and analysis, scripting and storyboarding, asset customization, animation, editing, and rendering. The result of this design is a motion graphic bumper video/intro for educational content.
Keywords: designing animation, motion graphics, content creator, Animaker


The Venus clam, Cyclina sinensis, is one of the most important bivalves in China. In recent years, increasing expansive morbidity has occurred in breeding areas, imposing significant losses on the national economy. To understand the molecular mechanisms of immune-related genes, we analyzed and sequenced hemolymph samples that were injected with two pathogenic microorganisms using the Illumina Miseq system. After trimming, more than 12 M PE reads with an average length greater than 410 bp were assembled into 70,079 transcripts with a mean length of 980 bp. Using a homology analysis, 102 (135 transcripts) potentially immune-related genes were identified, and most of them exhibited a similar pattern in both samples. These data indicated that the response of the clam to both types of bacterial infection might follow a similar molecular mechanism. Using the TreeFam method, 9,904 gene families and 1,031 unique families of the clam were preliminarily classified in comparison to five related species. A significant number of SSRs were identified, which could facilitate the identification of polymorphisms in Venus clam populations. These datasets will improve our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms driving the immune response to bacterial infection in clam populations and will provide basic data about clam breeding and disease control.


Thermodynamic data of the LiBH4 compound are reviewed and critically assessed. On the basis of literature data of heat capacity, heat of formation, temperature and enthalpy of phase transitions, a CALPHAD optimized Gibbs energy function is derived for the condensed phases i.e. orthorhombic and hexagonal solid phases and the liquid phase. Considering hydrogen as an ideal gas phase, the thermodynamics of decomposition reactions of LiBH4 is calculated, showing good agreement with existing experimental data.


A self-organizing neural network (SONN) is subjected to a training and calibration process using continuous speech spoken by three talkers. The aim of this process is to establish a system which is able to transform speech frame cepstrum vectors into vectors of continuous valued acoustic-phonetic features. The calibration process also involves a stage where each neuron of the SONN is assigned a vector defining the links between speech technology and articulatory phonetic concepts. The validity of the transformation approach is shown by applying a speech test corpus to the SONN transformation. The main results of the established transformation technique are given in a number of histograms by which it is shown that the computed acoustic-phonetic feature values to a large extent are in accordance with the phonological specifications used in the feature transformation. The histograms are further used to demonstrate the ability of the acoustic-phonetic features to identify individual phonemes and to discriminate between vocalic and consonantal phonemes.<<ETX>>