Background
 DNA hypomethylating agents (HMAs), including azacytidine (AZA) and decitabine, have been established as key drugs for higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Recently, a marked efficacy of decitabine has been reported in TP53-mutated myeloid malignancies, although it is not approved for MDS in many countries. Thus it is of an urgent interest whether the excellent response to TP53-mutated myeloid neoplasms is recapitulated with AZA and if so, what is the biomarkers reliably predicting response to AZA.
 Methods
 In this study we enrolled a total of 384 AZA-treated MDS patients, including 179 from a Japanese prospective study (JALSG MDS-212 trial), 163 from Karolinska Institute, and 42 from a Japanese multi-institutional registry, and analyzed mutations in 66 genes commonly mutated in myeloid neoplasms together with copy number abnormalities, using targeted-capture sequencing. For all patients, sequencing was performed on pre-AZA samples. Post-AZA samples were also analyzed for the majority (279/394, 73%) of patients.
 Results
 Analysis of pre-AZA specimens identified 1,085 driver mutations in 53 genes in 361 (94%) patients with a mean of 3.0 mutations/sample. CNAs were detected in 258 (67%) cases. Most frequently observed were mutations in TP53, RUNX1, TET2, SRSF2, and ASXL1, and other high-risk CNAs, such as -7/7q LOH, 5q LOH, and 17p LOH. TP53 lesions were found in 102 (27%) cases, of which 87 cases (85%) had biallelic lesions caused by either multiple mutations (N=28) or 17p LOH involving the TP53 locus (N=59). Sixty-seven cases (17%) achieved complete remission (CR) with a median observation period of 7.5 months. TP53 mutation, found in 48% of the cases, was the only lesion that was significantly associated with CR (OR=3.4, p<0.0001) together with hematological improvements (HI-E: OR=2.32, p=0.011, HI-N: OR=2.29, p=0.038, HI-P: OR=1.88, p=0.039). Marrow CR (mCR), PR, SD with HI were also achieved in additional 71 (18%), 11 (3%), and 37 (9.6%) cases, respectively. However, 51% of the cases that achieved any response had disease progression with a median duration of only 313 days. Despite favorable initial response, TP53-mutation was still associated with dismal long-term outcomes (median OS 374 days versus 687 days in TP53-unmutated cases, p<0.0001), which is in compatible with a short duration of remission period (median 199 days for CR cases and median 182 days for mCR/PR cases with TP53 mutation) in the former group. Given distinct characteristics in both genetic and clinical features in TP53 mutated cases, we subsequently inquired for additional biomarkers predicting outcomes according to the mutation status of TP53. In the TP53-mutated cases, platelet counts larger than median value of 7.1×104/μL was the only factor that predicted better survival (P=0.02). In the TP53-unmutated cases, higher age (>72 years old, hazard ratio: HR 1.36, p=0.03) and high karyotype risks (Very High/High according to IPSS-R-based classification system, HR 1.31, p=0.04) were associated with a shorter OS, while mutations in DDX41 predicted a significantly better OS (HR 0.62, p<0.001). Notably, those who received transplantation following AZA therapy (N=14) had a significantly prolonged survival with a median OS of 758 days for TP53-mutated cases, where TP53 mutations had disappeared after AZA treatment in six cases and decreased to <10% in VAF in other 4 patients. Clonal dynamics was evaluated by measuring change of copy number-adjusted variant allele frequency (aVAF) between pre- and post-AZA samples. Both post-AZA mutational burden (p<0.0001) and the size of reduction in aVAF during treatment (p<0.0001) significantly correlated with clinical response (trend test).
 Conclusions
 Our study revealed distinct response profile to AZA treatment according to TP53 mutation status, underscoring the need of different tools to estimate treatment outcomes for them. High remission rate in TP53-mutated cases does not lead to long-term outcomes due to short remission duration, if ever obtained. Successive transplantation to AZA treatment during remission phase might rescue patients from this intractable disease.

 Takaori: Novartis: Honoraria. Miyazaki:Chugai: Research Funding; Otsuka: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Nippon-Shinyaku: Honoraria; Dainippon-Sumitomo: Honoraria; Kyowa-Kirin: Honoraria. Papaemmanuil:Celgene: Research Funding. Ogawa:Asahi Genomics: Equity Ownership; Dainippon-Sumitomo Pharmaceutical, Inc.: Research Funding; ChordiaTherapeutics, Inc.: Consultancy, Equity Ownership; Qiagen Corporation: Patents & Royalties; RegCell Corporation: Equity Ownership; Kan Research Laboratory, Inc.: Consultancy.


This paper documents several advantages associated with using state level consumption data to examine consumption behavior and especially to estimate the Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution (IES). In contrast to the results of Hall (1988) and Campbell and Mankiw (1989), we provide substantial evidence indicating that the IES is significantly different from zero and probably close to one. Since the overidentifying restrictions of the standard Euler equation are generally rejected, we use these data to explore the nature of these rejections and evaluate an alternative specification of consumer behavior proposed by Campbell and Mankiw (1987, 1989, 1990). We take special care of examining the robustness of our results with respect to problems caused by the mismeasurement of the interest rate. In particular, we identify a common time component in expected consumption growth across states which, under the specifications of the theory, should reflect real interest rate movements. We find that the common time component closely matches the expected real return on Treasury bills as should be expected if the IES is different from zero and if the T-bill rate is an appropriate measure of interest rates.


One of the most studied secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2), the group IIA sPLA2, is found at high levels in inflammatory fluids of patients with autoimmune diseases. A characteristic of group IIA sPLA2 is its preference for negatively charged phospholipids, which become exposed on the extracellular leaflet of apoptotic cell membranes. We recently showed that low molecular weight heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) and uncharacterized detergent-insoluble binding site(s) contribute to the enhanced binding of human group IIA PLA2 (hGIIA) to apoptotic human T cells. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry we now identify vimentin as the major HSPG-independent binding protein of hGIIA on apoptotic primary T lymphocytes. Vimentin is partially exposed on the surface of apoptotic T cells and binds hGIIA via its rod domain in a calcium-independent manner. Studies with hGIIA mutants showed that specific motifs in the interfacial binding surface are involved in the interaction with vimentin. The sPLA2 inhibitor LY311727, but not heparin, inhibited this interaction. In contrast, heparin but not LY311727 abrogated the binding of hGIIA to cellular HSPGs. Importantly, vimentin does not inhibit the catalytic activity of hGIIA. Altogether, the results show that vimentin, in conjunction with HSPGs, contributes to the enhanced binding of hGIIA to apoptotic T cells.


The currently accepted interval of weekly cast changes in the treatment of clubfeet seems unsubstantiated. A force sensor is needed to determine the adaptation rate of a clubfoot to establish what cast change interval would be most effective and efficient. We developed a force sensor based on the principle that the resonance frequency of an LC-tank changes when a metal target is brought in close proximity. A thin rubber ring between the LC-tank and the metal target transformed this proximity sensor into a force sensor. With a static load test and an incremental load test, the performance of the constructed force sensors was characterized. The custom-made sensor showed excellent sensitivity ((1.7±0.8×105) counts/N), resolution ((0.15±0.06) mN), and accuracy ((3.5±3.0) %) for the application. The observed drift was (2.1±0.7) %/log10(h), which is lower than other thin force sensors. Preliminary results of measurements in the treatment of Dupuytren fingers and clubfeet show good functioning for long-term force measurements.


Human-impacted ecosystems affect both river runoff and inherent risks to society. At significant spatiotemporal scales, lakes and reservoirs gather a complexity of multiple risks with opportunities for decision-making under uncertainty. However, a reminder for classical and novel challenges of whichever-scale model addressing these problems is needed. In this contribution, we discuss some theoretical and practical problems, with solutions, related to the mutual interaction of both human-impacted river runoff with risks. Ranging feedbacks from local-to-global water-systems, we here mainly enhance yardsticks at the scales of lakes and reservoirs. We introduce sections, extracted from Japan-Brasil research partnership programs, adapted to the needs of international initiatives like UNESCO-IHP-IIWQ, ILEC and Pantha Rei. Firstly, eutrophication and climate-driven extremes like ENSO hazards are becoming as relevant as problem-oriented hotspots of classical approaches in poor or ungauged systems. Updating from a former review (i.e. Mendiondo, 2008***), on the one hand, we depict how eutrophication-under-ENSO risk stressors, multiple restoration measures, treatment costs, and planning scenarios do help to better model and manage those inherent risks under different adaptation strategy options. On the other hand, we present example of demonstrative pilot programs, viable to be replicated under regional and global approaches, to control and mitigate eutrophication of urban-affected reservoirs. Finally, we share resilience matrix of indicators and variables which help allied global management initiatives towards stakeholder`s empowerment.


As the prevalence of tuberculosis declines, the proportion of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease is increasing in Korea. The combined use of liquid and solid media increases the sensitivity of mycobacterial culture and shortens culture time. Because NTMs are ubiquitous in the environment, NTM lung disease requires strict diagnostic criteria to prevent over-diagnosis of NTM lung disease. Mycobacterium avium complex is the most common pathogen of NTM lung disease in Korea and present in two forms: upper lobe cavitary and nodular bronchiectatic form. Decision of treatment of NTM lung disease depends on the infecting species and overall condition of the patient. Because medical therapy requires the use of multiple drugs over 18 to 24 months, surgery for localized disease may be useful for those species refractory to medical therapy.


Privacy-providing tools, including tools that provide anonymity, are gaining popularity in the modern world. Among the goals of their users is avoiding tracking and pro(cid:12)ling. While some businesses are unhappy with the growth of privacy-enhancing technologies, others can use lack of information about their users to avoid unnecessary liability and even possible harassment by parties with contrary business interests, and to gain a competitive market edge. Currently, users interested in anonymous browsing have the choice only between single-hop proxies and the few more complex systems that are available. These still leave the user vulnerable to long-term intersection attacks. Inthis paper, we propose a caching proxy system for allowing users to retrieve data from the World-Wide Web in a way that would provide recipient unobservability by a third party and sender unobservability by the recipient and thus dispose with intersection attacks, and report on the prototype we built using Google.


Currently, unit-selection text-to-speech technology is the common approach for near-natural speech synthesis systems. Such systems provide an important aid for blind or partially-sighted people, when combined with screen reading software. However, although the overall quality of the synthetic speech achieved by such systems can be quite high, this fact alone does not guarantee a high level of user satisfaction. Many issues have to be coped with in order to fulfill users' expectations when integrating such systems with screen reading tools aiming to assist blind users. This work describes the design and the implementation approaches for the efficient integration of this technology into screen reading environments. In particular, the issues of natural language processing, speed optimization, multilingual design and overall quality optimization are mainly addressed in this paper. In order to evaluate the resulting system, we carried out subjective assessment tests where expert users provided feedback about performance, quality and overall experience.


Abstract This review summarizes the current state of knowledge of pugheadedness in fish. Records in the scientific literature range from detailed descriptions to brief notes and mere remarks. In total, at least 164 species from 60 families were identified to exhibit pugheadedness, with records published over a span of 465 years (1555 − 2020). The main osteological feature behind pugheadedness appears to be shortening or deformation of the parasphenoid bone, which leads to additional deformations of the ethmovomer- and frontal region. Several other deformations and abnormalities of other cranial bones, eyes, and tongue are occasionally observed, depending on the severity of the pugheadedness. Possible cases in elasmobranchs are also encountered, although the developmental causation may differ from actinopterygians, since their crania have a different organization. Natural cases of pugheadedness are found world-wide, covering a wide range of environments and lifestyles (freshwater-, brackish- and marine environments; benthic, neritic and pelagic species). Cases are found in all life-stages, from embryo to mature adults, suggesting that it does not necessarily lead to early-life mortality. There is some evidence for natural selection acting against pugheaded individuals, likely because of e.g. inappropriately functioning mouth parts, sense organs, and possibly brain deformation. High numbers of pugheads are mainly found in aquaculture, but moderate numbers have been found at some localities also in the wild. Abnormally high occurrence in the wild is commonly attributed to pollution, non-normal water chemistry parameters, or temperature. The causation, however, it typically speculated upon. Based on the reviewed literature, there is support for several causative factors, including genetic mutation and embryonic environmental conditions (toxic and non-toxic) affecting development. Pugheadedness, as the term has been used in the literature, is not a single well-defined pathology, but rather a suite of pathological conditions with similar phenotypic expression.


Children under-five are most vulnerable and bear the adverse effects of Malaria worldwide. In Kenya, 20% of all deaths in children are due to malaria, and 88.9% of all deaths among HIV positive children are malaria related. Correct and consistence ITN utilization is proven to protect against anopheles mosquito bites hence Malaria, however, despite free distribution of ITN to the study population and civic education on proper ITN use, the prevalence of Malaria is still high in this cohort. Therefore, there was an indelible need to establish the levels of household ITN ownership and utilization vis-à-vis demographic characteristics of participants and Malaria attacks among households with HIV positive children in Kimilili. Method: This was a community based study conducted between March and August, 2016 through a cross-sectional survey. The under-five children were recruited randomly at the comprehensive care centre in Kimilili Sub-County Referral Hospital and studied at their households; they were consented through their parents/caretakers. Data on demographic variables, ITN usage and Malaria attacks were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists, percentages and chi square. Results: The ownership of ITN among the 222 study participants was 98%. The study established that there was poor (88.7%) household utilization of Insecticide Treated Nets. we further established that among poor ITN users, malaria attacks were high – 65.3%. Conclusion: Utilization of ITN at household level was poor; to the extent that it could not contribute to reduction of malaria associated morbidity and mortality. Efforts should be targeted at households to ensure correct utilization of ITN


Brazil is the second largest coffee consumer in the world. The development of new products related to healthy eating is one of the demands to maintain this scenario. This research aimed to investigate the role of socio-demographic, cognitive and behavioral characteristics on the acceptance of functional foods by coffee consumers. A questionnaire developed and applied in Belgium was previously translated and validated for application with Brazilian consumers. The habits of coffee consumption, knowledge and interest were investigated regarding functional soluble coffee enriched with antioxidants. The self-administered study was performed with 270 consumers. Acceptance was measured by two items: "Functional foods are all right for me as long as they taste good" and "Functional foods are all right for me even if they taste worse than their conventional counterpart foods", obtaining a mean score of 4.03 and 2.79 (scale 1: totally disagree and 5: totally agree), respectively. The acceptance of functional foods increased with age, schooling, income, belief in the health benefits and knowledge about functional foods for both items. There was no significant correlation between price and acceptance. With regards to a functional soluble coffee product, the sensory quality was more determinant for its acceptance than price.


Monomial ideals are widely studied in commutative algebra. In this thesis, we study a special class of monomial ideals called polymatroidal ideals which admit many nice algebraic and homological properties. They are distinguished by the fact that they satisfy "exchange property" and their powers have linear resolutions. Another important property of polymatroidal ideals is that their monomial localization at any monomial prime ideal is again a polymatroidal ideal. In [1], Bandari and Herzog gave a conjecture that if all monomial localizations of a monomial ideal I have linear resolution then I is polymatroidal. In chapter 4, we discuss persistence and stability properties of polymatroidal ideals and we see that their index of depth stability and the index of stability for the associated prime ideals are bounded by their analytic spread. Finally, we examine the strong persistence property of polymatroidal ideals.


The research in this thesis aims to develop new mechanistic knowledge for coating processes at 2024-Al alloy surfaces, ultimately to aid the design of new protective coatings. Coatings formed by phosphating, chromating, and permanganating were characterized especially by scanning Auger microscopy (SAM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy . The objective was to learn about growth (nm level) as a function of time for different coating baths, as well as a function of lateral position across the different surface microstructural regions, specifically on the μm-sized Al-Cu-Mg and Al-CuFe-Mn particles which are embedded in the alloy matrix . The research characterizes coating thickness, composition, and morphology. The thesis emphasizes learning about the effect of different additives in zinc phosphating baths . It was found that the Nit+ additive has two main roles : first, the rate of increase in local solution pH is limited by the slower kinetics of reactions involving Ni t+ compared to Zn2+, leading to thinner zinc phosphate (ZPO) coatings when Ni t+ is present. Second, most Ni t+ deposition occurs during the later stages of the coating process in the form of nickel phosphate and a Ni-Al oxide in the coating pores on the alloy surface, increasing the corrosion resistance. Aluminum fluoride precipitates first during the initial stages of the coating process, followed by aluminum phosphate, zinc oxide, and finally ZPO. When Nit+ is present in the coating solution at 2000 ppm, ZnO predominates in the coating above the Al-Cu-Fe-Mn particle while ZPO dominates on the rest of the surface. The Mn2+ additive gives a more even coating distribution (compared with Ni t+) across the whole surface . The Mn2+-containing ZPO coating is similar to the chromate coating in terms of evenness, while there is more coating deposition at the second-phase particles for


Introduction: Intertrochantric fracture treatment is one of the orthopedic problems in the elderly. Especially in unstable fractures and patients with osteoporosis the outcome of treatment is not satisfactory. This study introduces criterion which might be effective in the prognosis of the treatment. Methods: Between 2002-2007, 128 patients with unstable intertrochantric fracture who had a severe osteoporosis in terms of sigh's criterion (grade 1-3) and were treated with DHS and had a Tip Apex Distance (TAD) below 25mm were followed up. In this patient Y/B (diameter of femoral neck/diameter of body of nail) and X/A (great diameter of femoral head/ diameter of pitch of nail) were calculated and failure of treatment was evaluated in different groups. Results: The total amount of treatment failure was 33 (26%). the average age of patients was 74.4 years old. 86 patients were female and 42 of them were male. The greatest failure rate was seen in B 1 group (21 cases) with Y/B≥3.6mm and in B 2 group (23 cases) with X/A≥3mm. The mean of Y/B and X/A were 3.64 and 3.08 millimeters, respectively. Conclusion: Noting the high incidence of treatment failure especially in B 1 and B 2 groups which shows great incidence of the treatment failure in patients with large femoral neck and head diameter, new treatment measures should be taken to improve the treatment prognosis of unstable intertrochantric fractures especially in patients with large femoral neck and head diameter.


Conventional analytical method for organic pollutants in water requires extraction of the pollutants, using hazardous solvent. Solid phase microextraction is a solvent free equilibrium extraction method, in which, proper calibration can allow quantitative determinations of organic pollutants at a very good sensitivity without the use of any organic solvent. Because individual volatile organic carbons are generally exposed environmentally and present in urine only at trace levels, a sensitive and accurate determination technique is essential. So, this study describes the optimization of headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by GC-FID for benzene in spiked urine. Through this investigations, the parameters affecting the extraction and gas chromatographic determination of analytes, including extraction time, temperature, desorption temperature, desorption time, salt addition, sample pH, sample volume and sample agitation were studied. An optimized headspace extraction was carried out at 30°C for 6 min in the presence of 0.2 g/mL of NaCl in the sample solution. Desorption of the analytes was carried out for 60 sec. at 250°C. The optimized procedure was also validated with three different pools of spiked urine samples and showed a good reproducibility over six consecutive days as well as six within-day experiments. The accuracy, linearity, detection limits were also determined. The headspace solid phase microextraction, GC-FID technique provides a relatively simple, convenient, practical procedure, which was here successfully applied to determine benzene in spiked urine.


Automatic RF modulation recognition is a primary signal intelligence (SIGINT) technique that serves as a physical layer authentication enabler and automated signal processing scheme for the beyond 5G and military networks. Most existing works rely on adopting deep neural network architectures to enable RF modulation recognition. The application of deep compression for the wireless domain, especially automatic RF modulation classification, is still in its infancy. Lightweight neural networks are key to sustain edge computation capability on resource-constrained platforms. In this letter, we provide an in-depth view of the state-of-the-art deep compression and acceleration techniques with an emphasis on edge deployment for beyond 5G networks. Finally, we present an extensive analysis of the representative acceleration approaches as a case study on automatic radar modulation classification and evaluate them in terms of the computational metrics.


Recorded international remittances to sub-Saharan African countries reached US $28 billion in 2009 and are projected to increase to reach US$ 41 billion in 2016. However, empirically it is unclear how these private transfers affect the financial sector. This paper investigates the effect of international remittances on the level of credit provided by the domestic banking sector in sub-Saharan Africa using a panel of thirty countries over five time periods, composed of non-overlapping averages from 1990 to 2012. Though sub-Saharan African region receives the least portion of the total recorded remittance flows to all developing regions, the study finds that international remittances have positive and significant effect on aggregate level of credit provided by the banking sector in the region after controlling for macroeconomic variables that are commonly used to explain financial development in developing countries. The results hold after accounting for potential endogeneity of remittances (other explanatory variables) in a system GMM estimation using both internal and external instruments for the remittance variable. The paper recommends that policy should be focused on increasing remittances through the formal financial system. Keywords : Remittances, Bank Credit, system GMM, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)


In this paper a dual crypto-processor for elliptic curve cryptography has been proposed. The proposed architecture can perform two independent scalar multiplications in parallel over GF(2m). Although in this crypto-processor two independent scalar multiplications are performed in parallel, no extra arithmetic unit is employed in this crypto-processor (except an addition unit). Thus the architecture includes a field multiplier, a field divider, a field squarer and two field adders over the extension field with the degree of 163, which could perform complete arithmetic operations for elliptic curve cryptography. In this crypto-processor two scalar multipliers are synchronized and no conflicts occur in using the arithmetic units (during the execution of scalar multiplication). The implemented results of the Synchronized Dual Elliptic Curve Crypto-processor show that two scalar multiplications could be performed in1.95 msec, (in XC3S1500 platform) while one scalar multiplication takes approximately the same time for this crypto-processor.


Karakocan-Elazig-Turkey earthquake with M = 6.0 occurred on 8 March 2010 at 04:32 a.m. (local time) in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages, as well. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically deficient, unreinforced masonry buildings. In this paper, a site survey of the damaged buildings is presented and the reasons behind the damages are discussed.


Distraction osteogenesis is widely used for the treatment of craniofacial deformities. In patients with cleft lip and palate, distraction osteogenesis can be employed to repair the alveolar cleft. In this report, we describe the management of three cases of unilateral cleft lip and palate by interdental distraction osteogenesis. Interdental distraction osteogenesis of the maxillary bone was performed to reduce the width of the alveolar cleft in these patients in conjunction with orthodontic treatment. Tooth-tooth type distraction devices were fabricated and delivered at the same time as osteotomy. Distraction was continued until the midline of the dentition coincided with the facial midline, and until the width of the alveolar cleft was reduced to the width of lateral incisor or had closed. One month after distraction was complete, orthodontic treatment with an edgewise appliance was initiated, and neighboring teeth were moved into the newly created bone. A favorable treatment outcome was achieved in all three cases.


In our work, the task of complex computer-based system design optimization involves exploration of a number of possible candidate designs matching the optimisation criteria. However, the process by which the possible candidate designs are generated and rated is fundamental to an optimal outcome. It is dependent upon the set of system characteristics deemed relevant by the designer given the systems requirements. We propose a method which is aimed at providing the designer with guidance based upon description of the possible causal relationships between various system characteristics and qualities. This guidance information is obtained by employing principles of multiparadigm simulation to generate a set of data which is then processed by an algorithm to generate a Bayesian Belief Network representation of causalities present in the source system. Furthermore, we address the issues and tools associated with application of the proposed method by presenting a detailed simulation and network generation effort undertaken as part of a significant industrial case study.


Acute graft pyelonephritis (AGP) is the leading cause of bloodstream infection in kidney transplant (KT) recipients. The prevalence of urinary tract infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacilli is increasing. This 14-year prospective observational study sought to determine the clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of AGP with bacteremia due to MDR Gram-negative bacilli. Overall, 278 episodes of AGP with bacteremia due to MDR Gram-negative and non-MDR Gram-negative bacilli were identified and compared in 214 KT recipients; MDR Gram-negative bacilli were the cause in 28.4%. Overall 30-day mortality was low (1.1%). Risk factors independently associated with AGP due to MDR Gram-negative bacilli were male sex (OR 3.08; 95%CI 1.60–5.93), previous episode of bacteremic AGP (OR 2.11, 95%CI 1.09–4.09), prior antibiotic therapy in the preceding month (OR 2.47, 95%CI 1.33–4.57), and nosocomial acquisition (OR 2.03, 95%CI 1.14–3.62). Forty-three percent of MDR Gram-negative episodes received inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy. The risk factors identified in this study may help physicians when selecting empirical antibiotic treatment for AGP. Previous antibiotic use was the main modifiable factor. Its presence highlights the importance of avoiding unnecessary antibiotics in order to bring down the high rates of MDR Gram-negative bacilli infections in this population.


Feedback on government performance can affect how much citizens trust government. The City of Buenos Aires ran an experiment testing different framings of government performance and their impact on citizens perceptions of institutional trust. Government perceptions were not changed by a language of empathy nor efficiency in communications, but trust was increased by providing positive feedback. The effect of communications had a significantly smaller impact on those already familiar with performance information, suggesting that providing information can have a long-lasting effect on citizens perceptions of government efficiency.


The clinical signs and symptoms of sexual dysfunction with amenorrhoea, loss of libido and infertility, are frequently found in chronic alcoholic women. But few investigations have been made concerning hormonal changes in fertile aged women experiencing sexual dysfunction. In order to assess prolactin levels of fertile-aged women with alcoholism under 40 years of age-excluding those with liver cirrhosis were surveyed. We found that many of them (82.6%) had moderate elevations of plasma prolactin. Hyperprolactinemia is commonly associated with amenorrhoea and hypogonadism. An acute alcohol loading experiment was conducted on 6 healthy female volunteers in luteal phases of their menstrual cycles in order to evaluate the effects of alcohol on the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovarian axis. Evidence was obtained that alcohol intake caused transient hyperprolactinemia. The present results indicated that hyperprolactinemia can occur with high frequency among alcoholic women and this causes sexual dysfunction and ovarian dysfunction. The etiology of hyperprolactinemia could not be explained solely by the direct action of alcohol, rather, liver dysfunction must be implicated.


A personal, portable, continuing health record is an important adjunct to superior medical care in a complex and mobile modern society, and the medical profession should encourage and facilitate its voluntary adoption by patients.


Leaders have their own unique and distinctive traits, habits, temperament, character, and personality so that their behavior and style can be distinguished from others. This style or lifestyle will color his behavior and type of leadership. Leadership refers to someone influencing the behavior of others for a purpose. With power, leaders can influence the behavior of their subordinates. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of leaders and effective leadership styles. Ideal leadership is a dream or a hope for every organization. There are 8 (eight) ideal leadership characteristics, namely: honest, intelligent, responsible, visionary, correct, disciplined behavior, initiative and, direct. Character is the key to an organization's success. An organization will move forward or backward depending on the leader. Because the leader is the one who directs and determines the organizational objectives to be achieved. The method used in this research is the study of literature or library research and by conducting observational studies from previous studies. Library research, Researchers study and collect data through several kinds of literature and reading sources that support and are relevant to research. In this case, literature research is carried out through books, magazines, internet.


An efficient and compact continuous-wave Yb:YAG laser with a slope efficiency of 50.3% with respect to the absorbed power was demonstrated using a multipass ring cavity (MPRC). Large cavity length ranges can be implemented using MPRCs with the same optical elements but different beam configurations. When Cr:YAG was used as the saturable absorber for passive Q-switching, various pulse widths and repetition rates were obtained. When a two-mirror MPRC, which is a compact ring laser cavity was used, the spatial hole-burning effect was reduced, and the spontaneous noise from the gain medium was not directly incident on the saturable absorber, causing less perturbation of the population difference of the saturable absorber than that of a linear cavity. This indicates that MPRCs can reduce the time jitter problem of a passively Q-switched laser. In this study, a Yb:YAG MPRC laser with a 33 ns pulse width is demonstrated, and the timing jitter of the repetition period was restrained to around 11%. The obtained experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results.


Anaplastic carcinoma not only infiltrates the surrounding tissue but also rarely metastasize to the gastrointestinal tract. Thus far, there are no reported cases of distant metastasis to the duodenum. Herein, we report a case of duodenal metastasis in a 65-year-old man. He had loss of appetite for a month, and his previous upper gastrointestinal endoscopy results revealed multiple sub-epithelial lesions with depression in the duodenum. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography then showed an intra-abdominal tumor with internal necrosis approximately 80 mm in size between the ventral segment of the pancreatic body, the lateral segment of the liver, and the lesser curvature of the stomach, multiple enlarged lymph nodes between the mediastinum and pelvic cavity, multiple intramuscular mass, and ascites. Biopsies taken from the duodenal lesion, intra-abdominal tumor, enlarged cervical lymph nodes, and immune-histology, revealed AE1/3 positive, maspin positive, CK7 negative, CK20 negative, and CA19-9 negative. We considered the possibility of a primary origin in the pancreas but failed to reach a definite diagnosis. We also considered chemotherapy for carcinoma of unknown primary origin, but the patient's general health deteriorated rapidly, and he died on day 35 of admission. Pathological autopsy revealed that the intra-abdominal tumor contained a mixture of giant cells and spindle cells. Finally, we diagnosed the tumor as an anaplastic pancreatic carcinoma with rare duodenal metastasis.


The cytotoxicity of CoO nanoparticles on two micro algae (Navicula sp. and Chetoceros sp.) and Bivalve Gill cells was investigated. Cytotoxicity was determined by cellular morphological changes and LDH (Lactose Dehydrogenase), AP (Acid phosphatase) assays. It is observed that CoO nanoparticles have a detrimental effect on microalgae, promoting shrinkage and cell death. There was a significant increase in percentage of cell death when microalgae were exposed to different concentrations of CoO Nanoparticles. Increase in cell death was accompanied by elevation in LDH and acid phosphatase release indicating cell necrosis/cell injuries. Cell Necrosis was observed when Bivalve gill cells were exposed to different concentrations of CoO Nanoparticles.


Celiac disease (CD) is a permanent glutensensitive enteropathy characterised by reversible small-bowel mucosal atrophy in a genetically predisposed person, resulting from an inappropriate immune response to dietary gliadin, a component of wheat proteins. CD can have a varied clinical presentation, with most symptoms being attributed to malabsorption [1]. CD has long been known to cause metabolic bone disease. Early reports focused mainly on the association with vitamin D deficiency and osteomalacia, but more recently attention has turned to Osteoporosis (OS) [2,3]. OS can be reliably detected by measurement of bone mineral density (BMD), which can be expressed as the number of standard deviation (SD) above or below either the mean BMD for young adults (T score) or the mean BMD for age matched controls (Z score). A BMD more than 2.5 SD below the mean for a young adult is generally taken to indicate OS [4]. Stratification for fracture risk is possible using BMD. The risk increases roughly twofold for each SD decline in BMD below the population mean. The risk of low BMD seems to rise with increasing age at diagnosis, decreased body weight and in postmenopausal women [5]. Low BMD can be detected even in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed CD [6]. Furthermore, the need to consider CD as a pathogenetic factor in individuals presenting with OS has been emphasised; this particularly applies to those with clinical features of the disease and those who fail to respond to treatment for their OS. As the risk of sustaining an osteoporotic fracture is estimated to double with each standard deviation decrease in bone mineral density [7], various groups, including the British Society of Gastroenterology [8], have recommended that adult celiacs should have regular bone scans and if OS is detected prolonged treatment with hormone replacement therapy or bisphosphonates.


Most considerations of daughtering and mothering take for granted that the subjectivities of mothers and daughters are negotiated in contexts of physical proximity throughout daughters' childhoods. Yet many mothers and daughters spend periods separated from each other, sometimes across national borders. Globally, an increasing number of children experience life in transnational families. This paper examines the retrospective narratives of four women selected from a larger corpus who were serial migrants as children (whose parents migrated before they did). It focuses on their accounts of the reunion with their mothers and how these fit with the ways in which they construct their mother–daughter relationships. We take a psychosocial approach by using a psychoanalytically informed reading of these narratives to acknowledge the complexities of the attachments produced in the context of migration and to attend to the multi-layered psychodynamics of the resulting relationships. The paper argues that serial migration positioned many of the daughters in a conflictual emotional landscape from which they had to negotiate 'strangerhood' in the context of sadness at leaving people to whom they were attached in order to join their mothers (or parents). As a result, many were resistant to being positioned as daughters, doing daughtering and being mothered in their new homes.


Creep tests are usually performed under constant load. The remarkable reduction of time to rupture due to the increase of true stress with the elongation of the specimen and with necking is estimated on the basis of the theories by Hoff, Brooklyn, and Kachanov. The influence of necking in tests under constant load and constant stress is investigated using the finite element method (FEM) with specimens containing an initial geometric imperfection. Results of the two types of tests show specimens have different sensitivities to these imperfections. To verify the theoretical statements, two types of creep tests under constant stress were performed in which the behavior of the AISI 316 L(N) austenitic steel at 700°C was investigated. In the first type, tests under constant homogenized stress, necking of the specimen was ignored. In the second type, tests under constant true stress, the mean axial stress in the minimal cross-section was held constant. To perform this type of test, an optical measuring technique was employed to determine the minimal diameter of the specimen during the test. The observed data, in particular the time to rupture, are compared with those from creep tests performed under constant load. Remarkable differences are observed. Theory and experiments confirm that problems arise if creep tests under constant load on ductile materials yielding too conservative data are interpreted with lifetime rules or continuum damage models.


Estimating the length of the longest increasing subsequence (LIS) in an array is a problem of fundamental importance. Despite the significance of the LIS estimation problem and the amount of attention it has received, there are important aspects of the problem that are not yet fully understood. There are no better lower bounds for LIS estimation than the obvious bounds implied by testing monotonicity (for adaptive or nonadaptive algorithms). In this paper, we give the first nontrivial lower bound on the complexity of LIS estimation, and also provide novel algorithms that complement our lower bound. Specifically, for every constant $\epsilon \in (0,1)$, every nonadaptive algorithm that outputs an estimate of the length of the LIS in an array of length $n$ to within an additive error of $\epsilon \cdot n$ has to make $\log^{\Omega(\log (1/\epsilon))} n)$ queries. Next, we design nonadaptive LIS estimation algorithms whose complexity decreases as the the number of distinct values, $r$, in the array decreases. We first present a simple algorithm that makes $\tilde{O}(r/\epsilon^3)$ queries and approximates the LIS length with an additive error bounded by $\epsilon n$. We then use it to construct a nonadaptive algorithm with query complexity $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{r} \cdot \text{poly}(1/\lambda))$ that, for an array with LIS length at least $\lambda n$, outputs a multiplicative $\Omega(\lambda)$-approximation to the LIS length. Finally, we describe a nonadaptive erasure-resilient tester for sortedness, with query complexity $O(\log n)$. Our result implies that nonadaptive tolerant testing is strictly harder than nonadaptive erasure-resilient testing for the natural property of monotonicity.


In recent years, operators addressed the explosive growth of mobile data demand by densifying the cellular network so as to achieve a higher spectral efficiency and increase their capacity. The intense proliferation of wireless devices resulted in interference limited networks, which suggests the use of interference mitigation and coordination techniques. In this work, we study successive interference cancellation (SIC) for uplink communications and we define an analytical framework that describes the performance benefits of SIC which accounts for the computational complexity of the cancellation scheme and the relevant network related parameters such as the random position and density of the base stations and mobile users, and the characteristics of the propagation channel. In our analysis, we explicitly model the consecutive events of canceling interferers and we derive expressions of the success probability to cancel the kth strongest signal and to decode the signal of interest (SoI) after k cancellations. The analysis indicates that the performance benefit of SIC diminishes quickly with k. The framework also reveals that a substantial performance gain can only be obtained for low values of the target signal-to-interference ratio (SIR).


Abstract Objectives: Adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy are the oldest surgical procedures. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is an inflammatory marker. This study aimed to investigate neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios in chronic tonsillitis patients and to determine whether this ratio reflects the pre- and post-operative inflammatory status in these patients. Methods: Patients and healthy individuals were assigned to four groups: the adenoid hypertrophy, adenotonsillar hypertrophy, chronic tonsillitis and control groups. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was calculated for each patient before surgery and one month post-surgery. Pre- and post-operative white blood cell, neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios were compared both within and between groups. Results: Pre- and post-operative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios were significantly higher in the chronic tonsillitis group than in the adenoid hypertrophy and adenotonsillar hypertrophy groups (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). In the chronic tonsillitis group, post-operative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios were significantly lower than pre-operative ratios (p = 0.045). The pre-operative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher in the chronic tonsillitis group than in the adenoid hypertrophy, adenotonsillar hypertrophy and control groups (p = 0.000). In contrast, there was no significant difference in post-operative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios among all groups (p = 0.584). Conclusion: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio measurement can be used in chronic tonsillitis patients as an effective auxiliary method for determining the necessity and timing of tonsillectomy and post-operative follow up, thereby helping prevent complications due to delayed or inadequate treatment.


Purpose: This study was designed to find out the fact that the followership types of nurses would effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and nursing task performance. Methods: The sample consisted of 219 nurses working in 2 medical institutions. SPSS program was used for descriptive statistics, ANOVA, chi-square test, Duncan test, Pearson Correlation, and Multiple Regression. Results: In the followership type, effective follower was the largest as 47.0% and passive follower was 26.9%. Nurses who had a effective followership style had the highest level of organizational commitment, job satisfaction and those who had a passive followership style had the lowest level of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and nursing performance. The followership was significantly related to the organizational commitment, job satisfaction and nursing task performance. The active involvement had a positive effect on the organizational commitment, job satisfaction and nursing task performance. The critical thinking had a positive effect on the job satisfaction. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the most effective followership is effective follower. And organizational managers must take into account followership types when they develop the strategies for organizational effectiveness.


Abstract Some characteristics of rainfall rate relevant to the evaluation of microwave attenuation due to tropical rainfall are presented, making use of rain rate data collected with a rapid response raingage at Ile-Ife between September 1979 and December 1981. The effect of integration time on the cumulative distribution has been compared with results obtained in other parts of the world. The conversion factors Ce and CT obtained at Ile-Ife are generally lower than the values obtained for various locations in Europe. The number of occasions N(R) when a specified rainfall rate was continuously exceeded for durations of Δt seconds was found to obey the relationship N(R) = α(Δt)β, where α and β are functions of rainfall rate. At high rain rates, the majority of the return periods have been found to be due to rain rate variations within single cells and small mesoscale systems.


The Foxo3 transcription factor regulates cell cycle progression, survival and DNA repair pathways. In addition to its role as a tumor suppressor gene, studies have established the crucial role of Foxo3 in immune cells, notably in dendritic cells and CD8 T cells in the context of a viral infection. However, the role of Foxo3 in CD4 T cell function is still unknown. Here, we show that Foxo3 expression levels are increased in CD4 T cells after TCR engagement. We also show that Foxo3 deficiency in CD4 T cell leads to decreased secretion of IFN-γ and GM-CSF but not of IL-17. By dissecting the underlying molecular mechanisms, we have identified a new direct target gene of Foxo3 that participates to IFN-γ production and that was previously identified as a susceptibility gene for multiple sclerosis. This led us to hypothesize that Foxo3 could be involved in the susceptibility to central nervous system inflammation. To test this hypothesis, we used the well-established animal model of multiple sclerosis, the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by MOG immunization. We show that Foxo3 deficiency is associated with significantly decreased EAE severity and that Foxo3-deficient MOG-specific CD4 T cells fail to differentiate into pathogenic IFN-γ+GM-CSF+cells. Thus, our results show for the first time that Foxo3 plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of neuroinflammation by directly controlling the expression of genes involved in CD4 T cell differentiation.


Using a fragment of the estrogen receptor (ER) cDNA as a probe, Southern blots of HindIII-digested genomic DNA, from breast tumours and non-cancerous tissue, revealed a 1.6 kb hybridizing fragment (1.6KbHF) in 3 out of 30 tumours, and in 31 out of 80 mastectomy samples (16 sectors from each of 5 patients), which was significantly correlated with the absence of progesterone receptor. In 4 of the patients, sectors which showed the 1.6KbHF co-existed in the same breast with sectors which did not. Neither the use of higher concentrations of the restriction enzyme, not high salt extraction of DNA changed the abundance of the 1.6KbHF relative to other bands. Similar studies on EcoRI digests of the same DNA samples failed to show any variants. As a further control, hybridization of the same Southern blots of HindIII-digested DNA, with a cytochrome P450IIA3 cDNA, also failed to show variants in these samples. It is concluded that the presence of the 1.6KbHF represents a somatic change in the nucleus of these samples which may have functional importance.


According to the theory given in the paper , the long time electrolysis experiment with titanium cathode in heavy water (D 2O) were done for many times by using the open-loop multi-parameters electrolysis calorimetry system, which is established by us. The specialty is that the cathode is titanium rod and the anode is platinum wire. The early experiment result is still repeated in our recent experiment. The obvious "excess heat" phenomenon can take place only when the electrolysis last more than ten days and amount of "excess heat" increased with the electrolysis time. The "excess heat" can also be obtained from the "boiling to dry" experiment. In the recent experiment, we obtain the results that the amount of "excess heat" is about 3.6 times the input energy, the "excess heat" power is 76.5 W, and the "excess heat" power density is 121.7 W/cm 3. After the electrolysis, the crystal structure of the Ti cathode was measured with x-ray diffraction apparatus. We found that the crystal structure of Ti cathode was changed to face-centered cubic structure of TiD 2 from its hexagonal structure. This result is in agreement with the Gou's theory mentioned in reference .


A metabolic circuit in T cell immunity Naïve T cells are metabolically reprogrammed when they differentiate into T effector (Teff) cells, transitioning from a reliance on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis. Xu et al. found that lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA), a glycolytic enzyme that converts pyruvate to lactate, is a key player in this process. Teff cells that differentiate in mice infected with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes turned on LDHA through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. By promoting adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, LDHA in turn facilitated PI3K-dependent inactivation of the transcription factor Foxo1 needed for effective Teff cell responses. Thus, glycolytic ATP acts like a rheostat that both gauges and regulates PI3K-dependent signaling. This type of positive feedback circuit may also provide a mechanistic explanation for the Warburg effect observed in cancer cells. Science, this issue p. 405 A metabolic positive-feedback loop enables immunological T cell effector function. Infection triggers expansion and effector differentiation of T cells specific for microbial antigens in association with metabolic reprograming. We found that the glycolytic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is induced in CD8+ T effector cells through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. In turn, ablation of LDHA inhibits PI3K-dependent phosphorylation of Akt and its transcription factor target Foxo1, causing defective antimicrobial immunity. LDHA deficiency cripples cellular redox control and diminishes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production in effector T cells, resulting in attenuated PI3K signaling. Thus, nutrient metabolism and growth factor signaling are highly integrated processes, with glycolytic ATP serving as a rheostat to gauge PI3K-Akt-Foxo1 signaling in the control of T cell immunity. Such a bioenergetic mechanism for the regulation of signaling may explain the Warburg effect.


The presented study examines public-private partnership with respect to investments in the Russian infrastructure. Aim . The study aims to assess the feasibility of using public-private partnership for investments in the country's transport infrastructure. Tasks. The author examines the projected investments in the Russian transport infrastructure, determines the segment of the transport infrastructure that needs the most investment, and analyzes the possible applications of public-private partnership for investments in transport infrastructure. The task is to examine the existing legal framework for the implementation of public-private partnership in the investments in transport infrastructure. Methods . The study uses such methods as analysis, synthesis, and comparison. Results. The author identifies the major directions for investments in transport infrastructure, determines the priority area in the implementation of public-private partnership in infrastructure — transport infrastructure, in which roads are the main area for the application of public-private partnership. The types of implementation of public-private partnership for the construction of roads are examined. Conclusions. It is established that there is an increasing need to apply public-private partnership to the development of the country's infrastructure and its transport sector, and the major mechanisms for the implementation of public-private partnership in the construction of roads are revealed.


The deployment of autonomous robots in various domains has raised significant concerns about their trustworthiness and accountability. This study explores the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in analyzing ROS 2 logs generated by autonomous robots and proposes a framework for log analysis that categorizes log files into different aspects. The study evaluates the performance of three different language models in answering questions related to StartUp, Warning, and PDDL logs. The results suggest that GPT 4, a transformer-based model, outperforms other models, however, their verbosity is not enough to answer why or how questions for all kinds of actors involved in the interaction.


Abstract. Climate change may significantly increase flood risk across Great Britain (GB), but there are large uncertainties in both future climatic changes and how these propagate into changing river flows. Here, the impact of climate change on the magnitude and frequency of high flows is modelled for 346 larger (> 144 km2) catchments across GB using the latest UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) and the DECIPHeR hydrological modelling framework. This study provides the first spatially consistent GB projections including both climate ensembles and hydrological model parameter uncertainties. Generally, results indicated an increase in the magnitude and frequency of high flows (Q10, Q1 and annual maximum) along the west coast of GB in the future (2050–2075), with increases in annual maximum flows of up to 65 % for west Scotland. In contrast, median flows (Q50) were projected to decrease across GB. All flow projections contained large uncertainties, and while the RCMs were the largest source of uncertainty overall, hydrological modelling uncertainties were considerable in east and south-east England. Regional variation in flow projections were found to relate to i) differences in climatic change and ii) catchment conditions during the baseline period as characterised by the runoff coefficient (mean discharge divided by mean precipitation). Importantly, increased heavy-precipitation events (defined by an increase in 99th percentile precipitation) did not always result in increased flood flows for catchments with low runoff coefficients, highlighting the varying factors leading to changes in high flows. These results provide a national overview of climate change impacts on high flows across GB, which will inform climate change adaptation, while also highlighting the need to account for uncertainty sources when modelling climate change impact on high flows.


The paper contains results of a study aimed at an experimental evaluation of fatigue resistance and initiation mechanisms of heat treated and laser hardened 42CrMo4 steel. Experiments were performed using quite small specimens of 8 x 8 mm cross section, under three point bend fatigue loading. Two different parameters of laser hardening were used, one of them resulted in considerable longitudinal residual stresses – surface speed of laser beam 4 mm/s. Results of fatigue tests of basic reference material, just heat treated, were characteristic by a surprisingly high scatter, particularly in the region near fatigue limit. Fractographical analyses indicated that this scatter was connected with presence of surface or subsurface defects, mostly inclusions, even quite large, which in some cases caused fatigue crack initiation. Compressive residual stresses after the laser treatment, dependent on laser treatment parameters, improved fatigue strength and reduced the scatter, likely due to short crack retardation in the compressive residuals stress field. Further analyses were carried out using Murakami method of evaluation of fatigue life of materials containing defects. The Murakami model of fatigue limit evaluation of specimens containing defects was just slightly conservative, when applied to specimens just conventionally heat treated, but quite strongly conservative particularly in case of laser surface hardening with high longitudinal compressive residual stresses. The results indirectly confirm significant beneficial effects of compressive stresses induced by laser hardening on fatigue resistance caused by retardation or arrest of short fatigue cracks emanating from microstructure defects. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Meccanica.


The large number of reliability challenges in stand-alone MOS transistors publications in last decades IRPS conferences put forward the difficulty to make high quality, low cost and reliable process transistor. A large work has been done at transistor level, and it is now interesting to verify experimentally the link between transistors degradation and circuit performance decrease. The 6T-SRAM cell has been chosen since its performances are directly impacted by negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) and hot carrier injection (HCI) degradation (Li, 2005)


So you've finally decided to get that EMR. It's a big investment, and you're convinced it will help you be a better doctor - that in the end it will pay for itself. Great. But how do you get past all the implementation hurdles after you've made your choice? Expert advice on making it happen.


The mechanisms of ascent, assembly, and emplacement of granitic magma in the crust are critical to understanding the dynamics of continental margin growth, yet these mechanisms remain controversial and poorly understood. Detailed study of structural and petrologic fabrics in the middle Cretaceous Jackass Lakes pluton-wall-rock system, central Sierra Nevada, California, coupled with U-Pb geochronology, indicates that the pluton formed via sheet-like assembly of a dike-fed magma chamber. Final emplacement of the pluton was facilitated by multiple brittle and ductile mechanisms that were active at different times and places within the system; this supports hybrid viscoelastic emplacement models as realistic alternatives to end-member models (i.e., dike versus diapir). Fracture propagation, which initiated ≈40% of the space required for emplacement, may have been facilitated by a small component of arc-parallel dextral shear that produced north-northwest-striking tension gashes. A combination of ductile wall-rock shortening during lateral expansion of sheets, and return flow of elongate, strongly deformed wall-rock septa, produced an additional ≈25% of the space required. Other mechanisms, including coeval formation of the overlying Minarets caldera and stoping in the subvolcanic part of the magma chamber, must account for the remaining ≈35% space, implying that vertical transfer of material is an important emplacement mechanism at shallow crustal levels.


There has been considerable interest recently in the topic of renewable energy. This is primarily due to concerns about environmental impacts. Moreover, fluctuating and rising oil prices, increases in demand, supply uncertainties and other factors have led to increased calls for alternative energy sources. Small hydropower, especially using water supply system, attracts high attentions because of relatively lower cost and smaller space requirements to construct the plant. Moreover, newly developed positive displacement turbine has high acceptability for the system. Therefore, the purpose of this study is focused on the examination of the performance characteristics and proposition of a optimum design method of the turbine for the improvement of the performance. The results show that newly proposed optimum design method for the turbine has high accuracy of performance prediction and good applicability for the performance improvement of the turbine.


High-resolution silicon-29 NMR spectroscopic studies of a wide range of natural and synthetic silicates indicate (1) considerable overlap among the ranges of isotropic chemical shifts for crystals of different polymer types. This expands upon the work of Lippmaa et al. (1980), who found well-separated ranges: (2) a wide range of chemical shift anisotropies (CSA) and asymmetry parameters (n) that are related to symmetry and structure; (3) a relatively poor correlation between isotropic chemical shift and average Si-O bond length; (4) a better correlation between isotropic chemical shift and total cation-oxygen bond strength for the four oxygens of each silicon tetrahedron: and (5) discrepancies between the NMR results and crystal structure refinements for kyanite and wollastonite. The results indicate that both the Si-O bond length-chemical shift and bond strength-chemical shift relationships are useful tools for investigating the structures of crystalline silicates and, perhaps more importantly, silicate glasses, clays, and zeolites that cannot be examined by single crystal X-ray or neutron diffraction methods.--Modified journal abstract.


Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), with positivity as a core conceptual component, is a major innovation in recent decades in management and organizational studies. Just as organization is an inherently paradox laden process, so too, we argue, is positivity. Yet in classrooms and in practice, POS is mostly taught in a manner that accepts only one side of the paradox, that which, at first glance, appears positive. Against such linear approaches we propose another possibility: teaching positivity through a pedagogy of generative paradoxes emergent from creatively harmonizing the energy of competing and interdependent positive and negative tensions. In the process we extend the notion of generative paradox as discussed in paradox literature by embracing the notion of generativity as discussed in POS theorizing where it is associated with organizational processes that facilitate outcomes of collective flourishing, abundance, wellbeing, and virtue. Our proposed three-part generative paradox pedagogy contributes to the literature on POS, organizational paradox, and management learning.


A model of reconstruction of fields of losses of a polydisperse impurity from an instant source on a trace axis is proposed. For the description of process of carrying over of aerosols in atmosphere the semiempirical equation of turbulent diffusion is used. The fractional structure of an impurity in a source on speeds of subsidence is set by means of double gamma distribution. Approbation of the model of reconstruction on the data of monitoring of emergency pollution of vicinities of radiochemical factory the nuclear power station «Fukushima-1» is spent.


Mucormycosis is a clinical entity attributed to opportunistic fungal infection of order Mucorales. This includes several pathogenic subtypes. It commonly affects the rhinocerebral sites and the immunocompromized patients with devastating results. Visceral mucormycosis is a relatively rare complication. We report the first free sigmoid colon perforation secondary to invasive mucormycosis and discuss the risk factors, methods of diagnosis, and pathogenesis of this clinical entity. Iran J Med Sci 2008; 33(3): 180-182.


Although the normative instruments of urban planning include the environmental impact assessment, there is a loosening of these laws due to public and private interests that have purposes contrary to environmental policies. In the municipality of Ribeirão Preto, coffee and sugarcane monocultures have contributed to the fragmentation of native vegetation, reducing it to 6% of the municipal area (4,200 ha). The Ecological Station of Ribeirão Preto (ESRP) is the larger native remnant (155 ha) and suffers pressures for being located in the urban environment. This work investigated the urban pressure in the Buffer Zone (BZ) and its relation to the changes in the  Master Plan (MP) and complementary laws.  The land cover maps  (2010 and 2017) were also analyzed in order to quantify the conversion of native forests to anthropic uses, showing an intense urban expansion in the BZ over the period analyzed. On the other hand, municipal urban environmental legislation has evolved seeing that the previous MP (dated from 1995) approached the environment in a very specific way, which was modified in the 2018 law, which attempts to integrate the urban zoning to the buffer zone in order to make land use compatible with the ESRP Management Plan.


Transactions where goods are successively supplied by several businesses and transported directly from the first supplier to the last customer are defined as chain transactions. There is currently no provision in the VAT Directive which generally defines and determines the VAT treatment of chain transactions. The concept of chain transactions has been implemented by the CJEU through its case law (e.g. in EMAG / Euro Tyre / Toridas). This however leads to legal uncertainty for the parties involved, as there are questions that have not been subject to the case law of the Court. In case the case law is not interpreted uniformly in the Member States, the different VAT treatment might lead to double (non) taxation or multiple registration obligations in different Member States related to high compliance costs. There is however a special form of chain transactions which is defined in Art. 141 of the VAT Directive. The scheme for triangulation provides a simplified VAT treatment especially for the intermediary in case the requirements are fulfilled. The Council has already adopted a new provision which will enter into force with effect of 1 January 2020. The aim of the provision is to harmonize the VAT treatment of chain transactions within the European Union. It however only targets situations where the intermediary is responsible for the transport of the goods. In case the first supplier or the last customer arrange for transport, the VAT treatment has to be determined in accordance with the case law of the CJEU. It neither clarifies when the requirements for chain transactions are fulfilled, as it is only applicable where those are satisfied. The definition of chain transactions developed by the CJEU requires that the transfer of the goods gives rise to single intra-Community dispatch. It needs to be verified if that requirement is still fulfilled where the transport responsibility for the goods is shared. At least one Member State in the European Union (Germany) takes the view, that the requirements for chain transactions are not satisfied in such a situation. This might lead to double (non) taxation and a non-harmonized VAT treatment within the European Union. Further, it is not clear if goods that are processed or temporarily stored still can give rise to single intra-Community supply of those goods. Where this is not the case, the transactions have to be regarded individually for VAT purposes. In case the last customer is a private person, it needs to be verified to what extent the rules for distance sales are applicable. The thesis aims at clarifying when the requirements for chain transactions are fulfilled and will analyze different situations where it can be questioned if those are fulfilled. (Less)


Epigenetic regulation is the process by which a gene's activity is modulated through covalent modifications to the DNA, the histones around which it wrapped, or the physical packaging of the chromatin in which it is embedded. Use of this term explicitly requires that the gene's state be heritable, that is, it can be stably transmitted through one or more cycles of mitosis. Mechanisms of epigenetic regulation are likely to have originated as a defense against parasitic DNAs, such as transposons and viruses, but they also are used to control the expression of many genes crucial for development or environmental responses. Genetic studies have identified the molecular pathways for DNA and chromatin modification that underlie these processes, and genome profiling tools have revealed that they are pervasive and have a role in regulating most of the genome. Eukaryotic DNA wraps around highly conserved histone octamers, a protein structure composed of two each of four histone proteins. The histone/DNA complex is called a nucleosome. Nucleosomes pack together in various ways along with additional proteins to make chromatin. Chromatin condenses dramatically during mitosis and becomes less densely packed during interphase. Classical cytogenetic studies identified regions of chromosomes called heterochromatin that remain relatively tightly condensed during interphase. Heterochromatin mostly comprises nongenic DNA including the centromeres and repeat-rich regions around the centromeres (pericentromeric regions), rDNA genes, repetitive elements, and transposons. Euchromatin consists of the gene-rich regions that are less densely packaged and accessible for transcription. DNA and histones in heterochromatin carry specific silencing modifications; collectively, these modifications (called epigenetic marks), along with the dense packaging, help act to suppress transcriptional activity in these regions. Epigenetic marks also regulate some genes in euchromatin, especially those involved in critical developmental transitions.


The design of university entrance area has begun to focus on the space and environment design from one-sided emphasizing on the form. However, behavioral psychological design didn't get enough attention In the process of this development. Therefore this paper suggests that in space and environment design of university entrance area, human should be the starting point, people's behavioral and psychological needs should be respected, the artificial environment that we created should be advantageous to the consumer behavior, humanity conception should be strengthened in design and the relations between and among campus, city and people should be coordinated well.


The study was undertaken to establish the socioeconomic determinants of A' level subject choice in Zimbabwe in an effort to understand why there is the low uptake of sciences in Zimbabwean high schools. Using data from over 2300 randomly selected Advanced level students from all provinces and across each of the three main subject specializations, under the Logit and Granger causality methods, we established that students who are more exposed to science environment prior to enrolling by having relatives with a science-related profession or attending a carrier guidance, are more likely to take up sciences. Boys are more likely to take sciences so are those who would have performed well in sciences relative to non-sciences at ordinary level. Children whose tuition is paid by biological parents are more likely to take up sciences at A' level, so are children from smaller families. Students with either or all of their parents deceased are less likely to take sciences. The results show that those enrolling at boarding schools are more likely to take up sciences than their day school counterparts. Rural students are less likely to take up sciences so are students learning at school with poor prior science pass rate. We recommend collaborative effort from governments, NGOs, industry and tertiary education institutions to improve student's interest in science. This can be accomplished by undertaking well-timed carrier guidance workshops. More so, the government should improve the quality of schools to improve their ability to teach sciences. This involves improving the quality of both laboratories and teaching staff. Like any investment, uptake of sciences is seen to be heavily dependent on the perceived rate of return, and hence the government should improve employment opportunities for science graduates by resuscitating industry and provide funding for research and development so that students can be inspired by observing successful people from science backgrounds.


In this work, we propose a framework for allowing autonomous robots deployed for extended periods of time in public spaces to adapt their own behaviour online from user interactions. The robot behaviour planning is embedded in a Reinforcement Learning (RL) framework, where the objective is maximising the level of overall user engagement during the interactions. We use the Upper-Confidence-Bound Value-Iteration (UCBVI) algorithm, which gives a helpful way of managing the exploration-exploitation trade-off for real-time interactions. An engagement model trained end-to-end generates the reward function in real-time during policy execution. We test this approach in a public museum in Lincoln (U.K.), where the robot is deployed as a tour guide for the visitors. Results show that after a couple of months of exploration, the robot policy learned to maintain the engagement of users for longer, with an increase of 22.8% over the initial static policy in the number of items visited during the tour and a 30% increase in the probability of completing the tour. This work is a promising step toward behavioural adaptation in long-term scenarios for robotics applications in social settings.


In recent years, the population density and socio-economic variables are regarded as the strongest predictors of energy use. The present world energy consumption primarily depends on the conventional fossil fuel resources. The utilization of these fossil fuel resources is in increasing trend and therefore it is essential to investigate the existing energy usage, consumption pattern and demand, especially in urban areas of developing countries for efficient utilization and conservation of energy. Hence, the present paper deals about the dynamics of energy end-use in service sector at Madurai and Salem cities, Tamil Nadu, India. We have been examined the energy consumption pattern in the service sector through questioner survey and the energy demand has been calculated. Since the energy demand and environmental deterioration are in rising trend, it is essential to frame the energy conservation measures and moreover shift to the renewable energy sources to overcome the energy demand in the Madurai and Salem cities.


The extent of cellular metabolic deterioration and its reversibility was studied on human skeletal muscle needle biopsies during operations in bloodless field. The tissue levels of high energy phosphates and glycolytic metabolites were analyzed after various times of tourniquet ischemia and compared to contralateral control extremity levels. In the ischemic extremity the phosphocreatine (CrP) levels decreased by 40% within 30-60 min and after 60-90 min a 60% reduction was found. No significant ATP changes occurred. Lactate levels increased by 225% after 30-60 min and by 300% after 60-90 min. The glucose and G-6-P levels increased slightly and indicated glycogenolysis. The rate of the metabolic changes decreased with ischemia time. In the control leg no significant metabolic changes could be seen. After the release of the tourniquet there was a rapid restoration of the phosphagen content and clearance of lactate in the ischemic leg. Near control levels of these substances were seen already after 5 min. The present results show that clinical tourniquet ischemia of up to 90 min duration produces less pronounced metabolic alterations than those seen in working muscle.


A study of the sources of variability in particle size measurements using a dilution minitunnel and a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) has been conducted in order to obtain a comprehensive and repeatable methodology that can be used for measuring the particle size distribution of the exhaust aerosol emitted by a heavy duty diesel engine. The paper includes three experimental phases: an experimental analysis of the SMPS operating parameters' influence; an evaluation of the effect of dilution conditions, such as the dilution ratio and the dilution residence time; and a study of the influence of sampling factors, such as measurement stabilization and the effect of exhaust system pre-conditioning. An examination of the type and degree of influence of each studied factor is presented, recommendations for reducing variability are given and critical parameter values are identified to develop a measurement methodology of low uncertainty that could be applied to a further study concerning the effect of engine operating parameters on the exhaust particle size distribution.


Industrial international competitiveness is a hot research issue of the current economic field. Many scholars at home and abroad make a great deal of research on it, but a broad overview of its theory and analysis model is not common. This paper firstly analyzed the different explanation on the industrial international competitiveness by the absolute cost advantage theory, the relative competitive advantage theory, and the factor endowment theory and their shortages, and introduced the improvements and breakthrough of the "Diamond model" by Porter. At the same time, domestic research situation and existing problems are also analyzed from the five aspects: industrial background, industrial scale, industrial structure, industry value chain, industry trend, which laid the foundation for the future study.


The Czerny-Turner layout, which is most frequently used in miniature spectrometers, should follow Shafer's coma-free condition and Fastie's flat-field principal to eliminate the central wave's primary coma and maximize its resolution. However, the design process does not take the comas and resolutions at non-central waves into consideration. Based on the theory of primary coma in reflection optical system, the present paper points out that in the crossed beam design, the resolutions at wide 'spectral region present a "V" shape, while in the M design, the resolutions change little over the whole region, and present an approximately straight line shape, so the latter kind of spectrometer maintains a far more consistent resolution than the former one. Accordingly, this paper designs two kinds of spectrometers with spectrum regions from 400 to 600 nm, and carries out theoretical simulation and contrast experiment. The result demonstrates that for the two designs the resolutions at the fringe wavelength are 3.8 times and 1.5 times respectively that at the central wavelength, which accords with the conclusion of the theoretical simulation.


The purposes of this predictive correlational research were to examine weight control behaviors  and to examine the predictability of predicting factors; perceived benefit, perceived self-efficacy, perceived barriers, parents influence, and peers influence among overweight female adolescents. Four hundred and twenty-two overweight female adolescents were recruited from a purposive random sampling technique in the secondary public schools, Office of the Basic Commission, Ministry of Education. The instruments used for data collection were the demographic data, weight control behaviors questionnaire, perceived benefit, perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, parent influence, and peer influence. All questionnaires were tested for content validities by five panel of experts, the reliabilities were .78, .80, .85, .77, and .83, respectively. Descriptive statistic, Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient and Multiple regression were used to analyze data. The results revealed: The mean score of  weight control behaviors in diet control, exercise, and diet pills among overweight female adolescent was at a moderate level (= 2.84, SD = 0.42). Perceived self-efficacy, parents influence, peers influence, perceived barriers, and perceived benefit  were good predictors for weight control behaviors. Variables accounted for 41.2% of total variance in weight control behaviors. The results were used to promoted for change the diet control behaviors with exercise cooperate participant by parents and peers for individually obese female adolescents, besides basing on plan and strategies for promoting weight control among overweight female adolescents. The equation derived from the standardized score was: Z weight control behaviors = 0.460 Z perceived benefit* + 0.136 Z parents influences*+ 0.066 Z friends influences - 0.159 Z perceived barriers*+ 0.098 Z perceived benefit*


We describe a novel route for future Si integration technology in which atomically controlled nanostructures are designed to the level of full wafers based on self‐organization processes. As an example of the scenario, we present a Ge quantum dot network where individual dots interact with the neighboring dots through tunneling barriers, Schottky junctions, and so on. Ge dots are patterned on Si(111) surfaces by preferential nucleation of Ge islands at atomic steps and boundaries between reconstructed domains. It is then demonstrated that atomic step arrangement can be designed by patterning assisted control; this means that Ge quantum dot network can also be designed. Selective oxidation and silicidation in the Si/Ge systems are effectively utilized to form semiconductor/insulator/metal nanostructures from well‐ordered semiconductor structures. Based on the above processes, we propose a new approach to design nanostructure integration organized on wafer scale.


Abstract : This report responds to questions that you raised about Air Force engine maintenance and repair work currently performed at Kelly Aviation Center (KAC) and the potential transfer of that work to another location. In 1999, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC) awarded a contract to KAC to perform work, including depot-level maintenance, repair, and overhaul on TF39 engines, which are typically used for C-5 Galaxy aircraft; T56 engines, which are typically used for C-130 aircraft; and fuel accessories on these engines. The Air Force estimates the total expenditure under the contract for this work to be $3.7 billion from February 16, 1999, through December 1, 2010. The contract is not to exceed 15 years (the contract had an initial 7-year ordering period that could be extended to 15 years or reduced to 5 years based on performance), and will expire not later than February 15, 2014. The Air Force will need to determine how to conduct the engine maintenance work after the term of the contract ends. You requested that we review the potential transfer of the engine maintenance and repair workload from KAC. Our objectives were to determine (1) the extent to which the Air Force has identified the costs and benefits of possibly moving engine maintenance for selected aircraft from KAC and (2) the steps the Air Force has taken and plans to take to mitigate any potential aircraft readiness risks that might occur if the work is moved.


The access to scientific knowledge is a construction of objectivity which needs the critical insight of "negative results". These consist in the explicit construction of internal limits to current theories and methods. We shall hint to the role of some results which, in Logic, in Physics or Computing, opened up new areas for knowledge, by saying "No, we cannot compute this, we cannot decide that...". The idea is that both the sciences of life and of cognition, in particular in connection to Mathematics and Computing, need similar results, in order to set limits to the passive transfer of physicomathematical methods into their autonomous construction of knowledge and open the way to new tools and perspectives. We will compare this perspective with the requirement, both at the national and European levels, to finalize most (all ?) research activities into foreseeable industrial applications.


Platinum-acridine conjugates were prepared from [PtCl2(ethane-1,2-diamine)] and the novel acridinylthioureas MeHNC(S)NMeAcr (6) and MeHNC(S)NMe(CH2CH2)NHAcr (15) by replacing one chloro leaving group in the cisplatin analogue with thiourea sulfur. In HL-60 leukemia cells, IC(50) values for 7 (Pt-tethered 6) and 16 (Pt-tethered 15) were 75 and 0.13 microM, respectively. In the ovarian cell lines 2008 and C13, 16 was active at micromolar concentrations and showed only partial cross-resistance with clinical cisplatin. Possible structure-activity relationships are discussed.


Increasing wind power penetration into power grids is desirable because of its environmental and other benefits, unfortunately wind farms could cause serious voltage stability problems due to their output variability and intermittency. So this paper proposes a method that determines the optimum penetration level of wind plants into power systems. To achieve this purpose, a nonlinear optimization problem is considered that combines the economical affects of the utilization of wind farms and voltage stability, with Voltage Stability Constrained Optimal Power Flow (VSC-OPF). Probabilistic nature of wind is incorporated with expected values of parameters that vary with wind speed. Furthermore, the impacts of this plant on voltage profile and power losses are evaluated with defined indices. The proposed method is implemented on IEEE 24 bus RTS. Results of simulation, comparison between various states and conclusion are duly drawn.


Steganography is the art of hiding the existence of data in another transmission medium, archive secrete communication.[1] The goal of stegannography is to hide an information message inside harmless cover medium in such way that it is not possible even to detect that secrete message. It does not replace cryptography but rather boosts the security using its obscurity features. Steganography method used in this paper is based on biometrics. And the biometric feature used to implement steganography is skin tone region of images [2]. Here secret data is embedded within skin region of image that will provide an excellent secure location for data hiding. For this skin tone detection is performed using HSV (Hue, Saturation and Value) color space. Additionally secret data embedding is performed using frequency domain approach – DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform), DWT outperforms than DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform). Secret data is hidden in one of the high frequency sub-band of DWT by tracing skin pixels in that sub-band. Different steps of data hiding are applied by cropping an image interactively. With the help of cropping an enhanced security than hiding data without cropping i.e. in whole image, so cropped region works as a key at decoding side. So with this object oriented steganogaphy we track skin tone objects in image with the higher security and satisfactory PSNR (Peak-Signal-to-Noise Ratio) .Modern steganography's goal is to keep its mere presence undetectable.


Recently cosmic ray electrons and positrons, i.e. cosmic ray charged leptons, have been observed. To understand the distances from our solar system to the sources of such lepton cosmic rays, it is important to understand energy losses from cosmic electrodynamic fields. Energy losses for ultra-relativistic electrons and/or positrons due to classical electrodynamic bremsstrahlung are computed. The energy losses considered are (i) due to Thompson scattering from fluctuating electromagnetic fields in the background cosmic thermal black body radiation and (ii) due to the synchrotron radiation losses from quasi-static domains of cosmic magnetic fields. For distances to sources of galactic length proportions, the lepton cosmic ray energy must be lass than about a TeV.


Abstract : Contrast sensitivity, acuity through binoculars, depth perception, and riflery were measured as subjects looked through goggles with various degrees of optical distortion. The amount of distortion necessary to produce a statistically significant degradation of performance was determined for each task in order to specify the maximum allowable optical distortion in goggles. The degree of distortion was quantified by projecting a Snellen chart through the goggles and determining the Snellen line which could then be read. By this criterion, the maximum permissible distortion is that which degrades acuity from 20/20 to the 20/30 line.


This study aims to produce a digital pocket book based on ethnoscience in science subject of heat matter and its transfer which is feasible and interesting to use by students in Singkawang City. The method in this research is development research with the ADDIE model research procedure. The sample at the implementation stage consisted of 31 PGSD STKIP Singkawang students and 141 grade V students at three singkawang city public elementary schools. Data collection techniques in this study consisted of interviews, validation, and questionnaires. The data analysis technique was in the form of a descriptive analysis of scores obtained from the validation results of experts, practitioners and response questionnaires. The results of the research for each stage obtained that the implentation stage was carried out by small-scale trials on the linguistic aspect reached 3.31, large-scale trials reached 3.46. For the material and graphic aspects of the small-scale trial, each had a value of 3.23 and 3.22 in the attractive criteria. Whereas in the large-scale trial each had a value of 3.33 and 3.39 in the very attractive category. It means that ethnosaians-based digital pocketbooks are in general easy to understand and interesting to use because they have a new appearance concept that is coherently integrated with local culture and design according to development.


A five-year follow-up study of respiratory function in patients with mediastinal irradiation following mastectomy for carcinoma of the breast revealed the following: Physiological dead space diminishes progressively, reaching a maximum decline at 12 months following irradiation. Partial recovery occurs thereafter with a levelling out at about 62% of the pre-radiation level. Pulmonary diffusing capacity also declines rapidly but recovery begins after 18 months and improves to within normal limits by the fifth year of the follow-up. The residual volume immediately increases at the end of irradiation therapy but rapidly and permanently returns to normal. Some increase in alveolar ventilation is apparent throughout and continues for at least four years, presumably as a result of the permanently reduced dead space.


This paper presents our first results of an ongoing research dedicated to the analysis of Ti-Al surface alloy obtained by a new duplex e-beam treatment. The crack-free Ti3Al-based surface alloy was synthesized by cyclic pulsed melting/mixing of pre-deposited Al film (100nm) on Ti substrate with a low-energy (10–20keV) high-current electron beam (3μs, 3.5J/cm2) followed by additional pulsed e-beam melting (100μs, 15keV, 15J/cm2). The surface analysis has revealed the complexity of the local transformation paths associated with this synthesis mode. A fairly good surface chemical homogeneity was obtained but a duplex microstructures formed because of local changes in the primary phase under rapid solidification and the subsequent modifications of the solid state transformation paths.


Over a decade, the demand for development of orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) has enormously increased as it has significant impact on the patient compliance. Orally disintegrating tablets offer an advantage for populations who have difficulty in swallowing. Prescription ODT products initially were developed to overcome the difficulty in swallowing conventional tablets with water among pediatric, geriatric, and psychiatric patients with dysphagia. Today, ODTs are more widely available as over-the-counter products for the treatment of allergies and cold and flu symptoms. Technologies used for manufacturing of orally disintegrating tablets are either conventional technologies or patented technologies. In conventional freeze drying, tablet molding, sublimation, spray drying etc. and in patented Zydis technology, Orasolv technology, Durasolv technology, Wowtab technology, Flashdose technology are important. Important ingredients that are used in the formulation of ODTs should allow quick release of the drug, resulting in faster dissolution. Evaluation of these tablets are done by following weight variation, friability, tensile strength, wetting time, water absorption ratio, In vitro dispersion time and dissolution test.


Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), is a pregnancy-related glucose intolerance, and it represents one of the most common metabolic disorders during pregnancy. GDM is associated with serious short- and long-term maternal and fetal morbidity. The prevalence of both pre-gestational and gestational diabetes mellitus is increasing among women due to older maternal age at childbearing and the growing prevalence of obesity and overweight worldwide. This review summarizes the recommendations of the main scientific societies on mode and time of delivery in GDM women, highlighting the absence of unique clinical management. Moreover, analyzing the literature, only three Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on this topic are available, and also the largest of these appears underpowered and it does not provide statistically significant data. In conclusion, the lack of evidence and meta-analyses, suggests the necessity of further studies to draw up guidelines about time and mode of delivery to help clinicians in their decision making