This article summarizes information on the taxonomy of 'Appar', a perennial blue flax cultivar (Linum perenne L. [Linaceae]), and characteristics that distinguish it from native Lewis flax (Linum lewisii Pursh [Linaceae]). 'Appar' apparently originated as a European flax that escaped from garden cultivation. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis places 'Appar' with other collections of European Linum perenne and separates it from native North American collections of Lewis flax. Morphologically, 'Appar' differs from Lewis flax in having an intense blue petal color, shorter internodes, leaves that point upward along the stem, and multiple slender stems suffused with red near the base. The heterostylous reproductive system, which it shares with its European cousins, keeps 'Appar' reproductively isolated from native populations of Lewis flax. All available data indicate that 'Appar' is not invasive and does not pose a threat to native flax populations. Ease of establishment, seed production, and showiness of the abundant flowers recommend 'Appar' for use in xeriscape plantings. Alternatively, the recent germplasm release of Lewis flax, 'Maple Grove', also establishes readily from seed and can be effectively used when objectives dictate the exclusive use of native germplasms.


Energy, development, and climate change are inextricably intertwined in the Indian context. Energy is an important contributor to development and the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, while climate change poses serious developmental threats. In this context, we identify a few key elements in the energy sector's transition which will shape India's response to this challenge of balancing multiple interests, providing access to modern energy, and ensuring a financially viable sector, while avoiding counterproductive lock-ins. These include programmes to promote energy efficiency and enhance energy access, the possible evolution of the transport sector, and the challenges of integrating renewables on the one hand and the gradual, but inevitable, phase out of coal on the other, while dealing with the vexed problem of its distribution utilities. That India has to walk this tightrope hamstrung by its traditionally weak institutions and governance structures and fractious politics makes it all the more challenging.


Objective: To understand the prevalence of biomass fuel exposure in women aged ≥40 years in China during 2014-2015, and provide evidence for the prevention and control of bio-fuel exposure. Methods: All participants were selected from a national representative cross-sectional survey during 2014-2015 in the mainland of China. A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling strategy was used. A total of 37 795 women aged ≥40 years received a face-to-face questionnaire survey at 125 surveillance points in 31 provinces. The level of biomass fuel exposure was analyzed after complex sample weighting to represent the overall Chinese women aged ≥40 years. Results: A total of 37 777 women were included in the analysis. With complex weighting, the rate of biomass fuel exposure in Chinese women aged ≥40 years was 35.8% (95%CI: 29.6%-42.1%), the exposure rate was higher in rural women than in urban women (P<0.001). The biomass fuel exposure rate was highest in northeastern and lowest in northern areas of China (χ(2)=17.03, P=0.009). The estimated biomass fuel exposure rate decreased with the increase of educational level (P<0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of biomass fuel exposure is high in women aged ≥40 years in China, especially in those in rural areas. The exposure level differs with age and area. Appropriate measures should be taken to reduce the level of biomass fuel exposure in Chinese women.


Hypertensive patients characteristically exhibit left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. The effects of antihypertensive agents on LV hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction do not always correlate with the degree of blood pressure reduction, but their effects on the sympathetic nervous system and renin–angiotensin system (RA system) are thought to be important. We investigated the effects of amlodipine and cilnidipine, N‐ and L‐type calcium channel antagonists that suppress both blood pressure elevation and sympathetic activities, on LV hypertrophy and diastolic function. Patients with essential hypertension were randomly assigned to receive either amlodipine, cilnidipine or nifedipine CR (which does not block N‐type calcium channels) for 6 months. The LV mass index was determined using M‐mode echocardiography. The E/A ratio, i.e., the ratio of maximum amplitude between the early diastolic wave (E wave) and the atrial systolic wave (A wave) in the LV inflow pattern, and the deceleration time for the E wave were determined using pulse Doppler echocardiography. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures significantly decreased from the baseline values in all three groups, with no significant differences among the groups. The LV mass index had significantly decreased when it was evaluated 3 months after the initiation of treatment in the cilnidipine group and when it was evaluated 6 months after the initiation of treatment in the amlodipine group; only a slight decrease was observed in the nifedipine CR group. A significant decrease in the deceleration time and a significant increase in the E/A ratio were observed after 3 months of treatment in the cilnidipine and amlodipine groups but not in the nifedipine CR group. Thus, the effects of long‐acting calcium channel antagonists on hypertensive LV hypertrophy and LV diastolic function varied from one antagonist to the other. Left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic function improved in the cilnidipine and amlodipine groups, but not in the nifedipine CR group. These results indicate that the suppression of sympathetic nerve activity by the blockade of N‐type calcium channels contributes to the improvement of LV hypertrophy and diastolic function.


The claim of Esperantists that their language is easier to learn than natural languages has seldom been subjected to an empirical test, and the few tests that have been carried out are not widely known outside the Esperanto community. After an introduction to the Esperanto movement and other experiments based on the teaching of Esperanto, the two "Five-country Experiments" carried out in the 1970s are described and evaluated here. The findings of these tests support the claim of Esperantists but could be challenged mainly because of the wide range of variable factors involved in language learning. These experiments are nevertheless valuable as an attempt to measure some of these variables in a very precise way.


Many organizations use business process models to document business operations and formalize business requirements in software-engineering projects. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), a specification by the Object Management Group, has evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. One challenge is BPMN's complexity: it offers a huge variety of elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN use from the practitioners' perspective are still missing. To close this gap, researchers analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies. They found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues. They give five specific recommendations on how to avoid these issues.


The ability to convert between different data formats is important in large and heterogeneous information systems. Although XML was established as an universal standard for data exchange, XML-related languages like XQuery lack the ability to access data in other formats; in particular, relational data and RDF. In this paper, we describe TriQuery - an extension of the XQuery language which adds records (tuples) and RDF-specific operators. Using the statically optimizable record types, relational data as well as the results from RDF sub-queries can be integrated more efficiently than with their traditional encoding using XML elements and attributes.


Bibliophilia is the important part of the national culture, but the history of Lithuanian bibliophilia was not studied enough yet. In this work the activity of book collector Vilhelmas Žanas Burkevicius is examined. The tasks of this work is to analyse his works (also published or not). The analysis of activity of V. Ž. Burkevicius confirmes the supposition that the character of his activity reflects basic tendencies of the first half of XXth century bibliophilia. His work was influenced by complicated and contradictory conditions of Lithuanian political and cultural life. His bibliophilical interests reflected his proffesional and personal interests. V. Ž. Burkevicius harmonized his bibliophilical activity with the activity of book science: wrote some works on press, book culture and the history of bibliophilia. In his works he talked about the script in the times of the ban of the press, the history and organization of various libraries (public and personal), the history of Lithuanian bibliophilical society XXVII knygos mėgėjai. V. Ž. Burkevicius described the history and structure of his own personal library. He was also interested in the place of the book in modern society. V. Ž. Burkevicius considered that the book is going to die because of more improved information technologies (then it was radio). This sentence is often repeated and nowadays in due to television and computer technologies. Continuing this work is very important to make complete descriptions of the funds of private libraries, because only this can give the rich material for the history of the bibliophilia in Lithuania.


Thirteen laboratories in 7 different countries participated in a collaborative trial to evaluate the immunoaffinity column cleanup procedure with quantitation by fluorescence liquid chromatography (post-column derivatization) for the determination of aflatoxins in peanut butters. Participants were sent 10 randomly numbered samples of roasted peanut butter for analysis (5 pairs of undisclosed duplicates). Two of the pairs were "blank" peanut butters to which aflatoxin standards had been added; these "spiked" samples were used for recovery purposes. The other 3 pairs of samples were a nominal "blank" and 2 naturally contaminated peanut butters. A full statistical presentation of the results is given. Coefficients of variation (CVs) for the total aflatoxin determinations for mean levels of 4, 15, and 38 microns/kg were between 32 and 44% for the blank and 2 trial samples. Recovery levels for the 2 spiked samples were 51-67%, with aflatoxin B1 recovery of 60%. Relative standard deviations for method repeatability (RSDr) and reproductibility (RSDR) for the 3 trial samples were 15-26% and 33-45%, respectively.


This article analyzes the effect that innovation with high social benefit has on financial performance, and to improve our understanding of this effect we extend our research by analyzing the effect of being an innovation leader has on financial performance. We intend to give insight about which innovation strategy impacts with more intensity on financial performance. To support this analysis we will make use of the resource-based view theory and the institutional theory. Our research used the panel data technique. The final sample contains 2025 observations for 418 firms. The results of this research demonstrate that there is a negative and significant effect between innovation with high social benefit and financial performance, highlighting the importance of the involvement of governmental and non-governmental institutions to create an incentive for firms to incur in innovative activities that produce social benefits.


Background: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of developing low bone mineral density. The aim of the present study was to compare the bone mineral density of Iranian female RA patients with healthy controls. Materials and methods: In this case-control study, bone mineral density of 391 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 391 healthy controls referred during a 4-year period (2003-2007) to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, were studied. Patients were assigned in two subgroups; group 1 (n=184) with a history of current oral corticosteroid use and group 2 (n=207) without corticosteroid use. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry technique was used to measure bone density. Differences between groups were analyzed using Fisher's exact test. Duncan test and Schaffer test were used to compare mean difference between each two groups. Results: Among ≤45 and >60 years females, bone density did not show a significant difference at lumbar region between the 3 groups, however, the differences at femoral neck were statistically significant (p 60 years). Among subjects aged 46-60 years, bone mineral density showed significant differences at both lumbar and femoral neck regions (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Low bone density in Iranian female patients with RA is in accordance with western societies. Among RA female patients the risk of BMD reduction is increased by age and partly by oral glucocorticoids. Therefore, routine BMD evaluation is strongly suggested for RA patients.


This paper considers a manufacturer with a two-station make-to-stock and make-to-order serial production system. The MTS facility produces a single type of component and provides components for the MTO facility that produces customized products. In addition to the internal demand from the MTO facility, the MTS facility faces demands from the spot market with the option of to accept or reject each incoming demand. This paper addresses a joint component inventory rationing and batch production control which maximizes the manufacturer's profit. Using the Markov decision process model, we investigate the structural properties of the optimal inventory rationing and batch production policy, and present two types of heuristics. We implement a numerical experiment to compare the performance of the optimal and heuristic policies and a simulation study to examine the impact of the stochastic process variability on the inventory rationing and batch production control.


Azarakhsh Hamedi: Bayesian networks in additive manufacturing and reliability engineering Master of Science Thesis Tampere University Automation Engineering, Factory Automation and Industrial Informatics February 2019 A Bayesian network (BN) is a powerful tool to represent the quantitative and qualitative features of a system in an intuitive yet sophisticated manner. The qualitative aspect is represented with a directed acyclic graph (DAG), depicting dependency relations between the random variables of the system. In a DAG, the variables of the system are shown with a set of nodes and the dependencies between them are shown with a directed edge. A DAG in the Bayesian network can be a causal graph under certain circumstances. The quantitative aspect is the local conditional probabilities associated with each variable, which is a factorization of the joint probability distribution of the variables in the system based on the dependency relation represented in the DAG. In this study, the benefits of using BNs in reliability engineering and additive manufacturing is investigated. In the case of reliability engineering, there are several methods to create predictive models for reliability features of a system. Predicting the possibility and the time of a possible failure is one of the important tasks in the reliability engineering principle. The quality of the corrective maintenance after each failure is affecting consecutive failure times. If a maintenance task after each failure involves replacing all the components of an equipment, called perfect maintenance, it is considered that the equipment is restored to an "as good as new" (AGAN) condition, and based on that, the consecutive failure times are considered independent. Not only in most of the cases the maintenance is not perfect, but the environment of the equipment and the usage patterns have a significant effect on the consecutive failure times. In this study, this effect is investigated by using Bayesian network structural learning algorithms to learn a BN based on the failure data of an industrial water pump. In additive manufacturing (AM) field, manufacturing systems are normally a complex combination of multiple components. This complex nature and the associated uncertainties in design and manufacturing parameters in additive manufacturing promotes the need for models that can handle uncertainties and are efficient in calculations. Moreover, the lack of AM knowledge in practitioners is one of the main obstacles for democratizing it. In this study, a method is developed for creating Bayesian network models for AM systems that includes experts' and domain knowledge. To form the structure of the model, causal graphs obtained through dimensional analysis conceptual modeling (DACM) framework is used as the DAG for a Bayesian network after some modifications. DACM is a framework for extracting the causal graph and the governing equations between the variables of a complex system. The experts' knowledge is extracted through a probability assessment process, called the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and encoded into local probability tables associated with the independent variables of the model. To complete the model, a sampling technique is used along with the governing equations between the intermediate and output variables to obtain the rest of the probability tables. Such models can be used in many use cases, namely domain knowledge representation, defect prognosis and diagnosis and design space exploration. The qualitative aspect of the model is obtained from the physical phenomena in the system and the quantitative aspect is obtained from the experts' knowledge, therefore the model can interactively represent the domain and the experts' knowledge. In prognosis tasks, the probability distribution for the values that an output variable can take is calculated based on the values chosen for the input variables. In diagnosis tasks, the designer can investigate the reason for having a specific value in an output variable among the inputs. Finally, the model can be used to perform design space exploration. The model reduces the design space into a discretized and interactive Bayesian network space which is very convenient for design space exploration.


Cancer cachexia and the associated skeletal muscle wasting are considered poor prognostic factors, although effective treatment has not yet been established. Recent studies have indicated that the pathogenesis of skeletal muscle loss may involve dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and the accompanying chronic inflammation or altered metabolism. In this study, we evaluated the possible effects of modifying the gut microenvironment with partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), a soluble dietary fiber, on cancer‐related muscle wasting and its mechanism using a colon‐26 murine cachexia model. Compared with a fiber‐free (FF) diet, PHGG contained fiber‐rich (FR) diet–attenuated skeletal muscle loss in cachectic mice by suppressing the elevation of the major muscle‐specific ubiquitin ligases Atrogin‐1 and MuRF1, as well as the autophagy markers LC3 and Bnip3. Although tight‐junction markers were partially reduced in both FR and FF diet–fed cachectic mice, the abundance of Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia, and unclassified S24‐7 family increased by FR diet, contributing to the retention of the colonic mucus layer. The reinforcement of the gut barrier function resulted in the controlled entry of pathogens into the host system and reduced circulating levels of lipopolysaccharide‐binding protein (LBP) and IL‐6, which in turn led to the suppression of proteolysis by downregulating the ubiquitin‐proteasome system and autophagy pathway. These results suggest that dietary fiber may have the potential to alleviate skeletal muscle loss in cancer cachexia, providing new insights for developing effective strategies in the future.


Breast cancer is the second leading cause for death among women and it is diagnosed with the help of mammograms. Oncologists are miserably failed in identifying the micro calcification at the early stage with the help of the mammogram visually. In order to improve the performance of the breast cancer screening, most of the researchers have proposed Computer Aided Diagnosis using image processing. In this study mammograms are preprocessed and features are extracted, then the abnormality is identified through the classification. If all the extracted features are used, most of the cases are misidentified. Hence feature selection procedure is sought. In this paper, Fuzzy-Rough feature selection with {\pi} membership function is proposed. The selected features are used to classify the abnormalities with help of Ant-Miner and Weka tools. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed method improves the mammograms classification accuracy.


. Purpose: within the framework of the scientific article, the group of authors thoroughly analyzed the administrative and legal principles of the organization of state registration and certification of airfields of civil aviation in the context of Ukraine's international obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation and its Annexes. Methods: methodological basis of the study consisted of both general scientific and special-legal methods of scientific knowledge. The application of the logical-semantic method in combination with the formal-legal one allowed to highlight and define the essence and content of the procedures for state registration of certification in the aspect of aviation activity related to the operation of civil aviation airfields by subjects of relevant public legal relations. The application of the analysis method in combination with the formal legal method enabled the legal basis for the procedures for registration and certification of aerodromes of civil aviation to be worked out, as well as to study the peculiarities of the legal status of subjects of power and management powers in the process of their implementation. The grouping method allowed systematizing the stages and procedural phases of registration and certification procedures. By means of the synthesis method in combination with rather-legal (comparative) and formally-legal methods were generalized international standards and recommended practices of ICAO for the construction, commission-ing, reconstruction of airfields of civil aviation, carrying out repair, technological or other types of works within their framework. Discussion: the administrative and legal aspects of the procedures for state registration and certification of civil aviation airfields remain the subject of purely scientific developments, which enables full comprehension of their content and legal nature. The raised issues acquire particular topicality in the context of the need for proper implementation of Ukraine's international obligations to ensure aviation safety, regularity and efficiency of flights by introducing rules, practices and procedures that provide for measures to protect against acts of unlawful interference.


The study is aimed at estimating the natural vulnerability of groundwater resources using Dar Zarrouk geoelectrical parameters. Hence, ground-based earth resistance measuring device (OYO McOHM resistivity meter, Model 2115A) and its accessories were deployed for the study. 15 Schlumberger vertical electrical soundings (VES) points distributed along three profiles within the Mbo plain area were conducted. The VES field data were interpreted manually on bilogarithmic plot and then by applying the auxiliary point-partial resistivity curve matching technique. The interpretation was enhanced by sophisticated computer software (IPI2Win). The Dar Zarrouk geoelectrical parameters were deduced from the advanced interpreted results and use to produce contour maps. The lithology identified was of sands sequence of different grain sizes for aquifer zone. The absence of clay formation in the lithology log and low resistivity value (21.49 Ωm) at aquifer's depth within the VES 5 column suggested saline water ingress. The low range of overburden thickness lies between 0.3 and 4.6 m. The associated overburden longitudinal conductance was found to range from 0.000 to 0.019 Siemens, which was generally low. Therefore, suggesting that groundwater resources in the study area are vulnerable to contamination. Hence, aquifers in the study area were considered to be at high risk of contamination from environmental activities and saline water ingress. The information from study could help in the planning, monitoring and management of potable water supply and development in deltaic coastal aquifer system.


There are multiple nonlinearities during the course of powder rolling and there is a difficulty for constructing its mechanical model and keeping the stability during the numerical calculation process. In addition, mechanical parameters determined by means of numerical simulation of rolling process are great significance both in theory and practical applications for the optimization of the process parameters and the design and manufacture of rolling equipment. Considering Material and Geometrical Nonlinearity during powder rolling, a constitutive model aiming to the powder rolling is constructed based on the Updated Lagrange (U.L.) formulation by which the basic theory of numerical simulation is deduced. The reasons are analyzed based on the experiments of powder rolling which led to the error during the numerical simulation and the effect of the different factors on powder rolling are analyzed. It is shown that the result of simulation is less than that of experiment and the whole result is dependable. The effect of various process factors is analyzed by the simulation of the rolling process and based on visual analysis of the simulation result, the primary and secondary factors affecting the relative density and the rolling force are obtained.


Architectural recovery techniques analyze a software system's implementation-level artifacts to suggest its likely architecture. However, different techniques will often suggest different architectures for the same system, making it difficult to interpret these results and determine the best technique without significant human intervention. Researchers have tried to assess the quality of recovery techniques by comparing their results with authoritative recoveries: meticulous, labor-intensive recoveries of existing well-known systems in which one or more engineers is integrally involved. However, these engineers are usually not a system's original architects or even developers. This carries the risk that the authoritative recoveries may miss domain-, application-, and system context-specific information. To deal with this problem, we propose a framework comprising a set of principles and a process for recovering a system's ground-truth architecture. The proposed recovery process ensures the accuracy of the obtained architecture by involving a given system's architect or engineer in a limited, but critical fashion. The application of our work has the potential to establish a set of "ground truths" for assessing existing and new architectural recovery techniques. We illustrate the framework on a case study involving Apache Hadoop.


6 pages.-- Communication presented at ForumAcusticum 2005 Budapest: "Acoustics: Science and Technology for Knowledge Based Society and Healthy Environment" (Aug 29-Sep 2, 2005).


In this paper, we consider the class of Ω-stable flows on surfaces, i.e. flows on surfaces with the non-wandering set consisting of a finite number of hyperbolic fixed points and a finite number of hyperbolic limit cycles. The class of Ω -stable flows is a generalization of the class of Morse-Smale flows, admitting the presence of saddle connections that do not form cycles. The authors have constructed the Morse-Bott energy function for any such flow. The results obtained are an ideological continuation of the classical works of S. Smale, who proved the existence of the Morse energy function for gradient-like flows, and K. Meyer, who established the existence of the Morse-Bott energy function for Morse-Smale flows. The specificity of Ω-stable flows takes them beyond the framework of structural stability, but the decrease along the trajectories of such flows is still tracked by the regular Lyapunov function.


This case is presented as an example of the diagnostic difficulty that can be associated with radiolucencies around the apices of teeth. The discovery of a monomorphic adenoma within bone was unexpected because of its very rare occurrence.


Various inequities and challenges facing Latinx students in community colleges continue to be documented. Yet, less documented are the challenges associated with advocacy efforts to support Latinx and other underrepresented Students of Color within the community college sector. There is not often pause to consider: who advocates for Latinx students? When and how does this advocacy take shape ? In this article, we offer Chicana testimonios as institutional research (IR) professionals to highlight ways we experience, respond to, and challenge institutionalized racism and systemic obstacles to advocate for Latinx students in the California community college system. We situate our testimonios within a critique of the pillar of neutrality associated with the institutional research profession and argue for a critical examination of the ways in which IR may play an active role in the perpetuation or the dismantling of educational inequities in California community colleges.


This article explores the development of treasure law in England and Scotland, tracing its evolution since the time of Edward the Confessor to contemporary legislation and recent revisions. Literature on the subject is not extensive and treasure law has, at times, been ridiculed; as such, this article seeks to properly chronicle the development of this unique and intriguing area of both historic and contemporary law in England and Scotland.


Vascular diseases contribute to intensive and irreversible damage, and current treatments include medications, rehabilitation, and surgical interventions. Often, these diseases require some form of vascular replacement therapy (VRT) to help patients overcome life-threatening conditions and traumatic injuries annually. Current VRTs rely on harvesting blood vessels from various regions of the body like the arms, legs, chest, and abdomen. However, these procedures also produce further complications like donor site morbidity. Such common comorbidities may lead to substantial pain, infections, decreased function, and additional reconstructive or cosmetic surgeries. Vascular tissue engineering technology promises to reduce or eliminate these issues, and the existing state-of-the-art approach is based on synthetic or natural polymer tubes aiming to mimic various types of blood vessel. Burgeoning decellularization techniques are considered as the most viable tissue engineering strategy to fill these gaps. This review discusses various approaches and the mechanisms behind decellularization techniques and outlines a simplified model for a replacement vascular unit. The current state-of-the-art method used to create decellularized vessel segments is identified. Also, perspectives on future directions to engineer small- (inner diameter >1 mm and <6 mm) to large-caliber (inner diameter >6 mm) vessel substitutes are presented.


Aim: This study was conducted for the purpose of identifying the relation between the attitudes of nursing undergraduate students on gender equality and dating violence. Material and Methods: The study was conducted with 310 undergraduate students who studied in the nursing department of a university. The Personal Information Form, Gender Equality Scale (GES) and Dating Violence Scale (DVS) were used as the data collection tools. Shapiro-Wilk test, histogram, Q-Q graphics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman's correlation test were used in data analysis. Before beginning the research, ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee. Results: Regarding dating relations of nursing students; 39.4% stated about their dating relationships that they had a dating relationship, 78.0% stated that they continued their relationship "orderly/serious", 7.3% stated that they "committed violence" in their dating relationship, and 2.4% stated that they "were exposed to violence" in their dating relationship. It was identified that the students had the lowest score from the emotional and economical sub-scale and that the students did not generally support the dating violence. A positive and moderate relation was determined between the GES and the DVS scores of the nursing students (p<0.05). Conclusion: In nursing education curricula, it is necessary to address the concept of gender together with the dating violence.


Square mesh panels (SMPs) are often integrated into trawl sections ahead of diamond-mesh codends to improve release efficiency of undersized individuals of some species. Often, these release panels are integrated into the top panel of the trawl. This is particularly true for some mixed-trawl fisheries in western European Atlantic waters, where a diamond-mesh codend with a mesh size of only 70 mm can be applied, on the condition that an SMP with a mesh size of at least 100 mm is integrated into the upper panel of the trawl. The purpose of this SMP is to avoid catching undersized hake, for which the codend of 70 mm diamond mesh has been shown to have insufficient release potential. However, some studies have demonstrated this configuration to have poor release efficiency because most of the hake simply do not make contact with the SMP. Based on these poor results, we tested the release efficiency using 10 m long SMPs, integrated into the sides of the trawl in the last tapered section of the belly. The system is supplemented by a pentagon-shaped device, mounted in the belly to guide fish towards the SMPs. Based on the data collected we quantified the contact probability, i.e. the fraction of individuals that, during their travel towards the codend, came into contact with the SMPs to be size selected by them. Analysis revealed that 62% of hake (Merluccius merluccius ), 44% of four-spotted megrim (Lepidorhombus boscii ), 51% of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus ), and 41% of blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus ) made contact with the SMPs. Therefore, the contact probability estimated for side long escape panels (SLEP) by far exceeded that of SMPs integrated into the top of the gear. Based on these promising results, SLEP might be a potential tool for improving species and size selection also in other trawl fisheries where the traditional use of SMP's is not effective.


Background: Few prospective studies have evaluated the impact of race and ethnicity on clinical outcomes, during lung cancer treatment. This prospective observational study evaluated the impact of ethnicity on disease control rate (DCR) in patients with NSCLC treated with second-line pemetrexed (P). Methods: Eligibility criteria included stage IIIB or IV NSCLC pts receiving single-agent P for second-line therapy in routine clinical practice. Sites were selected to ensure high minority representation. Due to persistent challenges in achieving desired enrollment of minority, the focus of the study was narrowed to a comparison of patients self-reporting as either Caucasian (C) or African American (AA). This report describes findings regarding the primary endpoint of the study, DCR. Non-inferiority was evaluated using logistic regression analysis for DCR controlling for predefined covariates: age, gender, income, marital status, insurance type, smoking status, ECOG performance score, disease stage, histology, comorbidities, time from end of first-line to initiation with P, prior exposure to first-line platinum, exposure to first-line paclitaxel, and number of first-line cycles. The DCR of AAs was considered non-inferior to Cs if the upper 95% confidence bound on the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for Cs vs AAs was less than 1.78, corresponding to a difference in proportion of 14% assuming Cs to have a DCR of approximately 50%. The pre-specified bound was chosen to be one-half of the anticipated difference between treatment and no second-line treatment. Secondary endpoints reported here include progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: The unadjusted DCR was 43.4% (116/267) for C and 45.8% (27/59) for AA (unadjusted OR=0.91). The adjusted OR for the comparison of C to AA in the final logistic regression model was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.41, 1.51). This upper 95% confidence bound was within the pre-specified acceptable bound of 1.78. Median PFS times were 2.7 months (95% CI: 2.4, 3.4) for Cs and 3.0 months (95% CI: 2.3, 4.7) for AAs (P=0.91). Median OS times were 6.7 months (95% CI, 5.7, 7.9) for Caucasians and 6.9 months (95% CI: 4.5, 8.9) for AAs (P=0.92). Conclusions: Based on pre-specified analyses, DCR of AAs was non-inferior to Cs. The adjusted and unadjusted OR (0.79 and 0.91) were in favor of AA. Hence, ethnicity is not considered a significant predictor of disease control following second-line treatment with P. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):B78.


On 22 Nov.2014,an M6.3earthquake hit Kangding County in Sichuan Province,southwestern China.3days later,another M5.8earthquake occurred in the same region,about10 km southeastwards from the epicenter of the M6.3mainshock.Both earthquakes were on the NW-striking Xianshuihe fault zone where no M≥6.0earthquakes were reported after the 1982M6.0Ganzi event.From the relocated aftershock distribution and focal mechanism solutions,we aim to analyze the seismogenic structure of the 2014 M6.3Kangding earthquake sequence.Along with the analysis on the characteristics of the strong earthquake ruptures and the spatial distribution of the relocated small earthquakes,we will further discuss the future strongearthquake risk between Daofu and Kangding on the central segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone.Based on the digital waveform data from China National Seismic Network and Sichuan Regional Network,the Kangding earthquake sequence was relocated by a multi-step locating method developed by Long et al.The focal mechanism solutions and the centriod depths of the M6.3and M5.8earthquakes were inverted simultaneously by the gCAP(generalized Cut and Paste)moment tensor inversion method.The spatial-temporal distribution of the M≥6.5strong earthquake ruptures since 1725 and the focal depth distribution of relocated small earthquakes from Jan.2001 to Oct.2014 along the central-southern segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone were used to identify the potential seismogenic region of the next strong earthquakes on the segment between Daofu and Kangding.The epicentral relocation of the M6.3 mainshock is at 101.69°E、30.27°N,and its initial rupture depth is about 10 km,while the centroid depth is 9km;the relocated M5.8earthquake is at 101.73°E、30.18°N with the initial rupture depth at about 11 km and the centroid depth of9 km.The moment tensor solutions from gCAP method show that the two events are dominated by the double-couple component.The parameters of the best double-couple solutions are as follows,strike 143°,dip 82°,rake-9°for nodal planeⅠ,and strike 234°,dip 81°,rake-172°for nodal planeⅡ for the M6.3earthquake.For the M5.8earthquake,the parameters are listed as,strike 151°,dip 83°,rake-6°for the nodal planeⅠ,and strike 242°,dip 84°,rake-173°for the nodal planeⅡ.Most aftershocks during the first 3days were distributed on the NW side of the M6.3mainshock,and majority of the aftershocks after M5.8earthquake were concentrated around the epicenter of the M5.8event.The average focal depth of the 459 relocated earthquakes of the sequence is about 9 km.Focal depth distribution reveals that the sequence mainly concentrated in the depth range of 6~11km and most of the aftershocks are shallower than the M6.3and M5.8earthquakes.The seismic source scale is estimated to be about 30 km in length and 4km in width with 6km in depth according to the aftershock distribution.On the space-time diagram of the historical M ≥6.5strong earthquake ruptures,we observe a gap on the Selaha fault of the central Xianshuihe fault zone,where no M≥6.5earthquakes occurred since the 1748M61/2event.Aseismic gap below the depth 7km between Kangding and Tagong and a lowseismicity region below the depth 2km between Tagong and Songlinkou were identified on the vertical cross-section of the relocated small earthquakes since 2001 along the central-southern segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone.The nodel planeⅠ of the focal mechanism solution was interpreted as the coseismic rupture plane for the M6.3and M5.8earthquakes based on the aftershock distribution and the fault strike.Both earthquakes are of left-lateral strike-slip faulting with some normal component.The relocated M6.3earthquake and its aftershocks during the first three days are on the NW-striking Selaha fault with a near-vertical dip angle of 82°,while the M5.8earthquake and its adjacent aftershocks are on the northern portion of the NW-striking Zheduotang fault with a dip angle of83°,implying that the M5.8earthquake on the Zheduotang fault may be induced by the M6.3earthquake in the adjacent Selaha fault.The scarce aftershock region around the M6.3mainshock may belong to a relatively large asperity where the accumulated energy was totally released as the M6.3mainshock occurred.The 2014 M6.3Kangding earthquake sequence occurred within the Selaha strong-earthquake rupture gap between Qianning and Kangding.Due to the duration of quiescence longer than the estimated average recurrence interval for the M7 earthquakes,we propose that the ruptures of the M6.3and M5.8earthquakes are too limited to fill up the gap,posing future M7 earthquake risk on the Selaha and its adjacent Qianning segments along the central segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone.Since most area of the previous seismic gap below the depth 7km between Kangding and Tagong along the central-southern Xianshuihe fault zone was filled by the 2014 M6.3Kangding earthquake sequence,and the most likely place of future strong earthquake occurrence will be below the segment between Tagong and Songlinkou where low seismicity is observed.


The Hanford Environmental Dosimetry Upgrade Project was undertaken to incorporate the internal dosimetry models recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in updated versions of the environmental pathway analysis models used at Hanford. The resulting second generation of Hanford environmental dosimetry computer codes is compiled in the Hanford Environmental Dosimetry System (Generation II, or GENII). This coupled system of computer codes is intended for analysis of environmental contamination resulting from acute or chronic releases to, or initial contamination of, air, water, or soil, on through the calculation of radiation doses to individuals or populations. GENII is described in three volumes of documentation. This volume is a Code Maintenance Manual for the serious user, including code logic diagrams, global dictionary, worksheets to assist with hand calculations, and listings of the code and its associated data libraries. The first volume describes the theoretical considerations of the system. The second volume is a Users' Manual, providing code structure, users' instructions, required system configurations, and QA-related topics. 7 figs., 5 tabs.


OBJECTIVE
This in vitro study evaluated the influence of the surface pretreatment of a feldspathic ceramic on the shear bond strength of two different resin cements.

BACKGROUND DATA
Although several conventional surface treatments have been used on feldspathic ceramic, few studies have investigated the effects of an alternative surface treatment, the association of aluminum oxide sandblasting with Nd:YAG and Er: YAG lasers.

METHODS
Sixty samples made of a feldspathic ceramic were divided into three groups (n = 20) and treated with (1) controlled-air abrasion with Al(2)O(3) + 10% hydrofluoric acid (HF), (2) Al(2)O(3) + Er:YAG laser, and (3) Al(2)O(3) +Nd:YAG laser. Afterward, silane (Dentsply) was applied on each treated surface. Each of the three main groups was divided into two subgroups (n = 10), where a different resin cement was employed for each subgroup. It was built a cylinder with resin cement (RelyX Arc) in subgroup (A) and with self-adhesive cement (RelyX U100) in subgroup (B). After 24 h at 37 degrees C, the prepared specimens were submitted to shear bond strength test and stereoscopic evaluation to determine the type of failure.

RESULTS
Bond strength mean values were not statistically significant for the surface treatment methods or resin cements.

CONCLUSION
The null surface treatment proposed with aluminum oxide sandblasting associated with the Er:YAG or Nd:YAG laser and using cementation with self-adhesive cement can be an alternative bonding technique for feldspathic ceramic, since it was as effective as the conventional treatment with aluminum oxide sandblasting and hydrofluoric acid using the conventional resin cement.


Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has the highest morbidity, disability, and mortality rates of any stroke subtype, including ischemic stroke. When a hemorrhagic stroke occurs, the blood-brain barrier is broken and blood components enter the brain. A major cause of morbidity and mortality following ICH is the direct toxicity of blood metabolites, notably free heme, on adjacent brain tissue. Hemopexin (Hpx) is the endogenous protein responsible for scavenging free heme; thereby, modulating its proxidant and proinflammatory properties. Given the low relative level of Hpx expression in the brain, we hypothesized that overexpression of Hpx would improve anatomical and functional outcomes after ICH. Unique adeno-associated viral vectors (and control vectors) were designed to specifically overexpress Hpx-(tags) locally within the brain. Hpx-overexpressing mice have smaller lesion volumes (p<0.05) and reduced blood accumulation (p<0.05) at 72h post-ICH (n=12-13/group). Improved anatomical outcomes are also associated with better neurologic functional recovery as measured by a 24-point neurological deficit scale (p<0.05). Histological staining for ferric iron, 4-hydroxynonenal, GFAP, Iba-1, heme oxygenase-1, and myeloperoxidase was performed and the distribution of Hpx-tag proteins was evaluated by Western blotting with anti-tag probing of brain homogenates, cerebrospinal fluid, and serum. Hpx-overexpressing mice have significantly increased cortical microgliosis and astrogliosis and peripheral neutrophil infiltration, but no changes in striatal microgliosis and astrogliosis, ferric iron content, heme oxygenase-1 expression, or lipid peroxidation. Additionally, Hpx-tag proteins were highly expressed in all three types of biological specimens evaluated. The increased levels of Hpx in the serum of Hpx-overexpressing mice were confirmed to be 62% higher by ELISA (p<0.01). These results indicate that the local overexpression of Hpx in the brain results in the capacity to facilitate the clearance of heme likely by central and peripheral mechanisms. Specific modulation of local Hpx levels may represent a clinically relevant strategy for the treatment of secondary brain injury following ICH.


The next generation of jobs will be characterized by an increased demand for people with computational and problem solving skills. In Austria, computer science topics are underrepresented in school curricula hence teaching time for these topics is limited. From primary through secondary school, only a few opportunities exist for young students to explore programming. Furthermore, today's teachers are rarely trained in computer science, which impairs their potential to motivate students in these courses. Within the "No One Left Behind" (NOLB) project, teachers were supported to guide and assist their students in their learning processes by constructing ideas through game making. Thus, students created games that referred to different subject areas by using the programming tool Pocket Code, an app developed at Graz University of Technology (TU-Graz). This tool helps students to take control of their own education, becoming more engaged, interested, and empowered as a result. To ensure an optimal integration of the app in diverse subjects the different backgrounds (technical and non-technical) of teachers must be considered as well. First, teachers were supported to use Pocket Code in the different subjects in school within the feasibility study of the project. Observed challenges and difficulties using the app have been gathered. Second, we conducted interviews with teachers and students to underpin our onsite observations. As a result, it was possible to validate Pocket Codes' potential to be used in a diverse range of subjects. Third, we focused especially on those teachers who were not technically trained to provide them with a framework for Pocket Code units, e.g., with the help of structured lesson plans and predefined templates.


The aim of this review is to give highlights about technical imaging aspects with which researchers in the neuro-ophthalmologic fields ought to be familiar. After a short overview of history of anatomy of the visual system, a review of the main anatomic details and their corresponding MRI aspects concerning the visual pathways is proposed. Reference lines suitable for MR imaging of the visual system in normal and in diseased states are proposed to orient the neuroradio-ophthalmologic investigations. Brain, cutaneous, and bony landmarks are given to help multimodality imaging approaches, indispensable for anatomofunctional correlations. The neuro-ocular plane is used as the reference for the screening of the visual pathway in its entirety and retained as the orientation of choice for studying orbital optic nerves and eyes. Two other reference lines primarily devoted to temporal lobe imaging, are proposed for the study of the intracranial optic path: the chiasmatocommissural line and the commissural-obex, brainstem axis reference line. Based on brain commissural landmarks present in all vertebrates, these two lines are also helpful in comparative brain anatomic and physiologic studies in vivo as well as in vitro.


Inoculation of plants by spraying with a suspension of zoospores (released from sporangia of Sclerospora graminicola) induced immediate encystment of the zoospores and drastically reduced their ability to cause disease. The incidence of infection in spray-inoculated pearl millet seedlings was reduced from 90% when sporangia were sprayed, to less than 30% when zoospores were sprayed. Rapid encystment was observed when zoospores were sprayed from both a hand-pumped sprayer and a compressed-gas sprayer and was probably caused by shearing forces. Chilling suspensions of sporangia prior to spraying delayed zoospore release and was an effective method for maintaining infection potential. Disease incidence was higher when sporangia were chilled to 0·2°C rather than to 4°C. Chilling resulted in some abnormal zoospore structures being released from sporangia when suspensions were returned to 20°C. The frequency of these structures increased with increasing chilling time. For seedlings sprayed with sporangia before zoospore release, a small reduction in disease incidence was observed when chilled inoculum was used, probably due to cold disruption of zoosporogenesis. For large-scale disease resistance screening, this reduction is outweighed by the benefit of a uniform and adequately high disease pressure that can be obtained over many hours using chilled spore suspensions.


Background What we mean by having "an advance care planning conversation," in the US has been largely undefined. It is typically driven by laws and regulations regarding advance directive form completion. The consequences are a single, hurried conversation between the healthcare professional and an individual using the form as a checklist of questions quickly answered and documented. The unintended consequences of this approach have been unprepared individuals making uninformed decisions without first exploring their goals, values and beliefs or considering their state of health. A secondary unintended consequence is unprepared healthcare agents unable to adequately fill the surrogate decision making role. Advance care planning (ACP) as a facilitated process of communication including understanding, reflection and discussion has emerged as an alternative to this failed approach. The Respecting Choices ACP facilitated conversation includes person-centred interactions and shared decision-making with trained professionals in a standardised approach. This approach can be successfully completed in a group (individuals and their healthcare agents) setting as well as individual conversations. Aim This workshop will be an interactive experience of the ACP facilitated conversation in a group setting. The speakers will discuss advantages and outcomes of this approach. Engaging the audience in portions of an ACP facilitated conversation will lead to understanding how organisational commitment to Respecting Choices ACP facilitation skills training and resources is well worth the investment to achieve a service that enables individuals, their healthcare agent and other loved ones to experience the power of this conversation.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in term and near term infants. Conventional ventilation (CV) has been used for many years but may lead to lung injury, require the subsequent use of more invasive treatment such as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), or result in death. There are some studies indicating that high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) may be more effective in these infants as compared to CV.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this review is to determine if HFOV, as compared to conventional ventilation, reduces mortality and morbidity in term or near term infants with intractable lung disease without an increase in adverse effects.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Standard search methods of the Cochrane Neonatal Review group were used. These included searches of the Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, previous reviews including cross references, abstracts, conferences and symposia proceedings, expert informants, and journal hand searching by the Cochrane Collaboration.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized or quasi-randomized trials comparing HFOV and CV in term or near term infants with intractable respiratory failure were included in this review.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The standard methods of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group were used. The investigators separately extracted, assessed and coded all data for each study. Any disagreement was resolved by discussion. Data were synthesized using relative risk (RR) and risk difference (RD).

MAIN RESULTS
Only one trial met the inclusion criteria. This rescue trial of 81 infants showed no evidence of a reduction in mortality at 28 days [RR 0.51 (0.05, 5.43)] or in failed therapy on the assigned mode of ventilation requiring cross-over to the other mode [RR 0.73 (0.47, 1.13)]. There were no significant differences in the numbers of patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation [RR 2.05 (0.85, 4.92)], days on a ventilator, days in oxygen or days in hospital.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
There are no data from randomized controlled trials supporting the routine use of rescue HFOV in term or near term infants with severe pulmonary dysfunction. The area is complicated by diverse pathology in such infants and by the occurrence of other interventions (surfactant, inhaled nitric oxide, inotropes). Randomized controlled trials are needed to establish the role of rescue HFOV in near term and term infants with pulmonary dysfunction before widespread use of this mode of ventilation in such infants.


Eutrophication is the process that a body of water acquires additional nutrients (Smith et al., 1999). Sometimes this process lead less oxygen of a body of water also warmer water temperatures can also cause lower level of oxygen. We hypothesize that if we heat up and pollute a water sample, and then there will be less dissolved oxygen than in a regular, non-polluted heated water sample. We test this by polluting and heating different samples of water and measuring their dissolved oxygen level. From the information we gathered we saw that a water sample that was heated and not polluted had less dissolved oxygen.


Granular cell tumors (GCTs) are typically benign tumors of neuronal origin that stain positive for S-100. They traditionally occur in the skin and subcutaneous tissue with gastrointestinal tumor sites, such as the colon, being rare. On colonoscopy, they appear as a well-circumscribed, yellow, submucosal lesion. Biopsy prior to endoscopic or surgical removal can be inconclusive due to the submucosal nature of the lesion. Although GCTs are rarely malignant, they can metastasize with a high mortality rate. Endoscopic resection has been described as an appropriate treatment for tumors up to 5 cm in diameter. We present the case of a 19-year-old male who experienced a 60-pound weight loss, which was initially attributed to depression. On clinical examination, a GCT was found in his ascending colon.


The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has developed, and runs, real-time bathing water quality predictions at ten sites throughout Scotland since 2004. Daily bathing water quality predictions are posted on electronic variable message signs at 10 beach locations networked to a central communication centre and updates are simultaneously made on the SEPA website, phone and text message service. Antecedent rainfall and subsequent river flow can significantly increase the concentrations of faecal indicator organisms in bathing waters. The SEPA signage prediction tool, an Excel spreadsheet based model, was developed and used to set site-specific criteria for rainfall and river flow to predict bathing water quality based on historical data. Real-time predictions against the current EU Bathing Water Directive were correct or precautionary on 99% of days and correct for 82% of compliance samples during 2007, and 81% of compliance samples during the 2008 season. The revised 2006 Directive sets out more stringent bathing water quality standards which require increased model performance. New predictive models are now being trailed using decision tree statistical software and are intended to replace the existing prediction tool by 2012.


We introduce a new method with a motion-analysis system (MAS) to study the vertebral model in vitro. Compared with the currently most accurate technique, roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA), the difference between the RSA and the MAS is 0.12 degree +/- 1.64 degrees. An accuracy with an error of 0.08 degree +/- 1.15 degrees is determined by means of an angle gauge. Although a significant difference between the MAS and the goniometer (p = 0.04) is found around the X-axis (theta; transverse plane), it is limited to < 1 degree. The MAS provides an in-depth insight into the mechanism of the three-dimensional rotation at each vertebra in vivo. The backward inclination of the apical vertebra (AV) and forward inclination of the upper-end vertebra (UEV) around the Y-axis (phi) results in a correction of the hypokyphosis shown by the Cobb angle in the sagittal plane. The clockwise rotation of the UEV in the Z-axis (psi) leads to a reduction of the Cobb angle in the frontal plane. Additionally, the MAS as an intraoperative alternative shows different results of the derotation maneuver by the Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation (CDI) compared with the computed tomography (CT) scan. Our method gives more direct details of the derotation not influenced by patient posture, as observed in the CT scan.


Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is the second most common benign solid tumor of the liver and is usually found in young females. In FNH, spontaneous bleeding or rupture rarely occurs and malignant transformation is unlikely. The etiology of FNH is unclear, but because of female predominance and young age at onset, it seems that female hormone has an important role for the development of FNH. Although the development and the complications of hepatocellular adenomas have been related to the use of oral contraceptives and pregnancy, the influence of oral contraceptives and pregnancy on the growth and complications of FNH is controversial. Most FNH are stable in size and rarely complicated during pregnancy. We describe here a case of FNH with growth progression during pregnancy in a 27-year-old female. Her course of pregnancy and delivery was uneventful. Two months after delivery, the size of FNH was decreased.


Lamina-associated polypeptide 1 (LAP1) resides at the nuclear envelope and interacts with Torsins, poorly understood endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-localized AAA+ ATPases, through a conserved, perinuclear domain. We determined the crystal structure of the perinuclear domain of human LAP1. LAP1 possesses an atypical AAA+ fold. While LAP1 lacks canonical nucleotide binding motifs, its strictly conserved arginine 563 is positioned exactly where the arginine finger of canonical AAA+ ATPases is found. Based on modeling and electron microscopic analysis, we propose that LAP1 targets Torsin to the nuclear envelope by forming an alternating, heterohexameric (LAP1-Torsin)3 ring, in which LAP1 acts as the Torsin activator. The experimental data show that mutation of arginine 563 in LAP1 reduces its ability to stimulate TorsinA ATPase hydrolysis. This knowledge may help scientists understand the etiology of DYT1 primary dystonia, a movement disorder caused by a single glutamate deletion in TorsinA. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03239.001


In most studies, the intended (full) data, i.e., the data that the study investigators wish to collect, are inevitably incompletely observed. In modern studies, the full data are typically high dimensional, usually comprising many baseline and timevarying variables. Scientific interest, however, often focuses on some low-dimensional parameter of the distribution of the full data. Specification of realistic parametric models for the mechanism generating high-dimensional data is most often very challenging, if not impossible. Nonparametric and semiparametric models, i.e., models in which the data-generating process is characterized by parameters ranging over a large, non-Euclidean, space and, possibly, also a few meaningful real-valued parameters, meet the analytic challenge posed by these high-dimensional data because they do not make assumptions about the components of the full data distribution that are of little scientific interest. Analytic strategies based on semiparametric models avoid the possibility of incorrect inferences due to misspecification of models for the secondary parts of the full data law. Drawing from the modern theory of semiparametric efficient inference developed since the 1980s, Robins and Rotnitzky (1992) derived a general estimating equations methodology in coarsened, i.e., incompletely observed, data models under nonor semiparametric models for arbitrary full data configurations. This methodology, based on the geometry of scores and influence functions, applies when the


Pooled data from forage and nonforage digestibility trials with steers were analyzed. Forages were higher in total fiber content, principally cellulose; nonforages were lower in total fiber content, principally hemicellulose. The fiber fractions of forages and non-forages both together and separately were regressed upon their respective digestible fractions (P < .01). The results indicated significant linear relationships and coefficients of variation for the digestible fraction estimated from the total ranged from 4 to 20 percent. Regression of digestible upon total holocellulose (P < .01) indicated a greater association than either of the regressions of cellulose or hemicellulose. Cellulose content and lignification contributed 85 percent (P < .01) and 12 percent (P < .01) to digestible cellulose, respectively. Hemicellulose content and lignification explained 74 percent (P < .01) and 0.6 percent, respectively, of the variation in digestible hemicellulose. Neutral detergent soluble digestibility is highly dependent on ration cellulose and hemicellulose content, due possibly to rates of passage and digestion of the fibrous fractions. Differences in digestibility between forages and nonforages were attributed to differences in the total fiber fractions, indicating there was a continuum between concentrates and forage, when all rations were considered.


Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type I is a devastating diagnosis for 'the smiling infant, who progressively develops weakness, hypotonia and respiratory distress, related to respiratory failure and life-threatening infections caused by common pathogens' (1). These pathogens include bacteria and various viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and seasonal influenza viruses. Despite the fact that there is, currently, no cure [iasis (ἴασις) in Greek] for SMA type I, it does not mean that that there are no therapeutic options [therapia (θεραπεία) in Greek] and hope (2,3). There are several paths the families of the affected children can follow, depending on the country they live in and the medical specialized services that can be offered to them. These options aim at managing symptoms, reducing the complications of muscle weakness and maintaining optimal quality of life. One of the options is non-invasive ventilation, which 'when combined with nutritional support, can indeed prolong survival' (1); the use of invasive ventilation remains controversial. In several countries worldwide, it is currently possible to access a new therapeutic intervention for SMA, a drug named Nusinersen, also known as SpinrazaTM. The child's parents/guardians and the child's medical team are expected to come to a decision as to its potential benefit for their child with SMA type I. In the meantime, there is ongoing research in leading worldwide centers, such as the Boston Children's Hospital in Boston (MA, USA), with hope that this research will lead to other treatments for SMA (4). Thus, at the moment, the question remains as to which path is the optimal choice for a child newly diagnosed with SMA type I based on evidence-based medicine. This is a very difficult 'personal decision, depending on parental preference' (1). A decision though, which accepts the weakness of modern medicine and brings to our mind the Hippocratic saying, which asks medical physicians 'not to interfere in cases, where the patients are completely defeated by their illness, knowing that medicine does not have the power to do everything' [καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐγχειρέειν τοῖσι κεκρατημένοισιν ὑπὸ τῶν νοσημάτων, εἰδότας ὅτι ταῦτα οὐ δύναται ἰητρική] (5). In these cases, almost even 2,500 years ago, the quality of life seemed to be the principal value instead of endless interventions, invasive treatments and surgical options that lead to nowhere. Hippocrates (Island of Kos, 460 BC Larissa, 370 BC) is the same, who in his Oath denies with emphasis euthanasia saying that medical physicians 'should never give to their patients drugs leading to death, or relevant advice, even if they are asked to do so' [οὐ δώσω δὲ οὐδὲ φάρμακον οὐδενὶ αἰτηθεὶς θανάσιμον, οὐδὲ ὑφηγήσομαι ξυμβουλίην τοιήνδε] (6). A future intervention may involve gene therapy. ''Gene therapy using viral vectors is expected to offer an 'one and done' therapy and possibly cure the disease if administered early in life before symptoms appear'' (1). What is of great interest is that 'viruses, which at the moment can be the cause of death in these children, with proper genetic engineering, could be used for their treatment in the future' (1). Our current weakness has to make us stronger, while waiting and endeavoring into the future with hope for an eventual cure or full prevention for one of the most devastating diseases of modern medicine. In addition, as it is also noted in our interview, which is dedicated to the memory of our young patient from Greece, 'the cure of SMA does not seem as far into the future as it looked 5 or 10 years ago' (1).


Rabbits subjected to subtotal hepatectomy failed to develop increased serum cholesterol levels following parenteral injection of triton WR 1339, the finding indicating that the liver is essential for the establishment of the hypercholesterolemia induced by surface-active agents. The cholesterol content of the livers of rabbits rendered hyperlipemic by means of triton remained unchanged both during the rapid rise of the serum cholesterol levels and during the return to normal values. By contrast, the cholesterol content of the livers of rabbits fed cholesterol rose progressively over a period of 5 weeks, concommittant with the increase in serum cholesterol levels. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that surface-active agents bring about hyperlipemia by altering the circulating lipoproteins in some manner so that they are retained in the circulating body fluids.


We propose an analytically tractable model of loading-dependent cascading failurethat captures some of the salient features of large blackouts of electric power trans-mission systems+ This leads to a new application and derivation of the quasibino-mial distribution and its generalization to a saturating form with an extendedparameter range+The saturating quasibinomial distribution of the number of failedcomponents has a power-law region at a critical loading and a significant proba-bility of total failure at higher loadings+


DESCRIPTION
This guideline is an official statement of the American College of Physicians (ACP), American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), American Thoracic Society (ATS), and European Respiratory Society (ERS). It represents an update of the 2007 ACP clinical practice guideline on diagnosis and management of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is intended for clinicians who manage patients with COPD. This guideline addresses the value of history and physical examination for predicting airflow obstruction; the value of spirometry for screening or diagnosis of COPD; and COPD management strategies, specifically evaluation of various inhaled therapies (anticholinergics, long-acting β-agonists, and corticosteroids), pulmonary rehabilitation programs, and supplemental oxygen therapy.

METHODS
This guideline is based on a targeted literature update from March 2007 to December 2009 to evaluate the evidence and update the 2007 ACP clinical practice guideline on diagnosis and management of stable COPD. RECOMMENDATION 1: ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS recommend that spirometry should be obtained to diagnose airflow obstruction in patients with respiratory symptoms (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). Spirometry should not be used to screen for airflow obstruction in individuals without respiratory symptoms (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). RECOMMENDATION 2: For stable COPD patients with respiratory symptoms and FEV(1) between 60% and 80% predicted, ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS suggest that treatment with inhaled bronchodilators may be used (Grade: weak recommendation, low-quality evidence). RECOMMENDATION 3: For stable COPD patients with respiratory symptoms and FEV(1) <60% predicted, ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS recommend treatment with inhaled bronchodilators (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). RECOMMENDATION 4: ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS recommend that clinicians prescribe monotherapy using either long-acting inhaled anticholinergics or long-acting inhaled β-agonists for symptomatic patients with COPD and FEV(1) <60% predicted. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). Clinicians should base the choice of specific monotherapy on patient preference, cost, and adverse effect profile. RECOMMENDATION 5: ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS suggest that clinicians may administer combination inhaled therapies (long-acting inhaled anticholinergics, long-acting inhaled β-agonists, or inhaled corticosteroids) for symptomatic patients with stable COPD and FEV(1)<60% predicted (Grade: weak recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). RECOMMENDATION 6: ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS recommend that clinicians should prescribe pulmonary rehabilitation for symptomatic patients with an FEV(1) <50% predicted (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). Clinicians may consider pulmonary rehabilitation for symptomatic or exercise-limited patients with an FEV(1) >50% predicted. (Grade: weak recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). RECOMMENDATION 7: ACP, ACCP, ATS, and ERS recommend that clinicians should prescribe continuous oxygen therapy in patients with COPD who have severe resting hypoxemia (Pao(2) ≤55 mm Hg or Spo(2) ≤88%) (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).


This paper describes the string-to-tree systems built at the University of Edinburgh for the WMT 2014 shared translation task. We developed systems for English-German, Czech-English, French-English, German-English, Hindi-English, and Russian-English. This year we improved our English-German system through target-side compound splitting, morphosyntactic constraints, and refinements to parse tree annotation; we ad-dressed the out-of-vocabulary problem using transliteration for Hindi and Russian and using morphological reduction for Russian; we improved our German-English system through tree binarization; and we reduced system development time by filtering the tuning sets.


The caloric requirements for weight gain were studied in 29 patients during 35 days of treatment for anorexia nervosa. Associations between the caloric requirements for weight gain and the amount of body weight depletion at the beginning of treatment were analyzed. There was a positive correlation between the percentage standard weight on the 1st day of treatment and the excess calories required to gain a kilogram. This highly significant correlation was possibly due to differences in type to tissue formed and/or an increase in metabolic rate as part of an adaptive response, as the patient nears target weight.


Gene expression can be regulated by nuclear factors at the transcriptional level. Many such factors regulate MDR1 gene expression, but what are the sequence elements and transcription factors that control the basal and inducible expression of this gene? The general principles through which transcription factors participate in drug resistance are now beginning to be understood. Here, we review the factors involved in the transcriptional regulation of the MDR1 gene. In particular, we focus on the transcription factor Y-box binding protein 1 and discuss the possible links between Y-box binding protein 1 expression and drug resistance in cancer, which are mediated by the transmembrane P-glycoprotein or non-P-glycoprotein.


Genomic DNAs from 3 species of Metagonimus in the Republic of Korea, M. yokogawai, M. miyatai, and M. takahashii, were amplified by simple sequence repeat anchored polymerase chain reaction. Primers of 3′ or 5′ termini of the (CA)n repeats were used; 3 kinds of 3′ anchored primers (CA)8RG, (CA)4RG, and (CA)8RY, and 2 kinds of 5′ anchored primers BDB(CA)7C and DBDA(CA)7. The results showed distinguishable banding patterns among the 3 species of Metagonimus, suggesting that they have different genotypes.


The goal to administer tissue plasminogen activator within 60 minutes of patient arrival to the Emergency Department is attainable through rigorous attention to a standardized process and interdisciplinary collaboration.
 This pilot sought to enhance safety and improve reliability of administration for tissue plasminogen activator with implementation of a time out prior to administration.

 An interdisciplinary team designed an improvement strategy related to the process reliability of tissue plasminogen activator administration. Four errors occurred in 12 months, a failure rate of 10¯
 1
 (failure of 1 in 10 administrations). Primary goal: design a process with a failure rate of <10¯
 3
 (failure of 1 in 1000 administrations). Secondary goal: ensure alignment with current work flow associated with bar code medication administration. The concept of a safety time out was adopted with 7 confirmatory elements: time last known well, blood glucose, anticoagulation status, blood pressure, contraindications, team consensus, and assurance of a patent intravenous catheter. The Informatics team designed a tool within the electronic health record. A standardized communication process was written. Participants in the time out included a physician and nurse at the patient's bedside. All stakeholders received training. Prior to redesign, there was a failure rate of 10¯
 1
 with confirmation of all safety elements in 88% of tissue plasminogen activator recipients. The time out procedure was trialed in 5 patients with 100% compliance and an extrapolated failure rate of 10¯
 3
 . The average door to needle time was 60 minutes versus 69 minutes prior to the pilot. The time out process took less than 1 minute in all cases. In this group, the time-out successfully identified a missing element - a blood glucose result - the process was stopped until the result was available.

 The redesigned process is safe. There was no negative impact to achieving the standard of care. The primary goal of 10¯
 3
 performance was achieved. Secondary goal: alignment with current medication administration process achieved. Unanticipated results: decrease door to needle time and greater satisfaction with a collaborative approach to medication administration.


Developing teacher education programmes founded upon principles of critical pedagogy and social justice has become increasingly difficult in the current neoliberal climate of higher education. In this article, we adopt a narrative approach to illuminate some of the dilemmas which advocates of education for social justice face and to reflect upon how pedagogy for inclusion in the field of physical education (PE) teacher education (PETE) is defined and practiced. As a professional group, teacher educators seem largely hesitant to expose themselves to the researcher's gaze, which is problematic if we expect preservice teachers to engage in messy, biographical reflexivity with regard to their own teaching practice. By engaging in self- and collective biographical story sharing about 'our' teacher educator struggles in England and Norway, we hope that the reader can identify 'her/his' struggles in the narratives about power and domination, and the spaces of opportunity in between.


Achieving a high response rate is often expensive and time consuming. Does an extensive survey effort change prevalence estimates and exposure-disease relations? In 1998-1999, the authors conducted a population-based respiratory health survey in two Norwegian counties (Oslo, n = 20,000; Hordaland, n = 5,000) of a random sample of the adult population aged 15-70 years. A postal questionnaire was mailed, with as many as two reminder letters. A 25% random sample of postal nonresponders was contacted by ordinary or cellular telephone. Cumulative response rates after the first mailing, first reminder, second reminder, and telephone follow-up were 42.7%, 60.7%, 68.3%, and 79.9%, respectively. Compared with initial postal responders, responders at later stages were younger, and more were male. Late responders had a lower educational level, were more often smokers, and were occupationally exposed to dusts or gases more frequently. After the authors adjusted for these factors, late responders were found to have less asthma, attacks of breathlessness, and hay fever. Hardly any changes in prevalences and odds ratios were noted when initial responders were compared with all responders. The additional contribution of sending reminder letters and conducting a telephone follow-up to prevalence estimates and the exposure-disease relation was small. A single letter would have produced nearly the same prevalence estimates and risk factor associations.


An incompletely specified function can be given by an interval (g, h) or alternatively by a function f and a don't care set d. Depending on the assignment of don't cares, a different compatible function with a possibly support set may be derived. In this paper, efficient symbolic algorithms based on BDDs are presented for finding a compatible function with the minimum support. Efficient solution to this problem has important application in FPGA synthesis.<<ETX>>


Infections are a rare but recognized complication of carotid endarterectomy with patch angioplasty. Its prevalence is approximately 1% of all synthetic patch angioplasties and may present with a variety of symptoms including local swelling, pain, hemorrhage, and/or neurological deficit. The presentation of suspected infection can be early in the post-operative period or delayed by years. The underlying micro-organism tends to direct, at least in part, the timing of presentation. Patients with suspected infections require urgent vascular surgery evaluation. We present a case of a patient with a suspected infected Dacron graft patch angioplasty four weeks post carotid endarterectomy. The patient presented with pain, swelling, and erythema without signs of systemic infection. This patient was managed with explanation of the Dacron graft and vein patch with extended antibiotic therapy. We additionally performed a thorough review of all current literature and case series to identify symptomatology, infectious etiologies, recommended antibiotic regiments and length of therapy, and evaluated multiple surgical treatment modalities.


Fixed-Field Alternating-Gradient (FFAG) accelerators are being proposed as an alternative to Super-conducting Linacs (SCL), Rapid-Cycling Synchrotrons (RCS) and Cyclotrons for the acceleration of very intense Heavy-Ion and Proton beams in the medium energy range. One application is the acceleration of ions of Uranium-238 to an energy of 400 MeVh, and the average power of 400 kWaq and the other a 1-GeV Proton Driver with an average beam power of 10 W a t t . One or two FFAG rings are needed for acceleration of both beams. They adopt a Non-Scaling Lattice (NSL) to reduce the size and the cost of the accelerator. The continuous wave (CW) mode of operation is achieved with the method of Harmonic Number Jump (IINJ).


Abstract:This paper examines the services sector in Thailand with a focus on regional and global value chains, highlighting the case of the logistics sector. Overall, the results indicate that in Thailand, services exhibit relatively low labour productivity as compared to other sectors. The logistics sector, however, is well integrated into global value chains with links to prominent multinational firms. The findings also suggest that many opportunities lie ahead for Thai firms to move up regional and global value chains.


This study used an electric discharge machine (EDM) to perform the electrical spark discharge method (ESDM) to prepare a graphene colloid and a graphene-Ag colloid. The characteristic wavelengths of graphene, and graphene-Ag are both 262 nm. They had the properties of high dispersion and are unlikely to aggregate. The XRD patterns of graphene and graphene-Ag are typical carbon diffraction peak angles and crystal orientations. Graphene-Ag in DW can increase the Raman signal intensity of graphene. Regarding the graphene colloid and graphene-Ag colloid, their average sheet resistance values are 0.0329 MΩ/sq and 0.00136 MΩ/sq, respectively. Moreover, when AgNPs composited with graphene layers, the average sheet resistance is only 1/24 that of graphene layers, indicating that graphene-Ag has superior conductivity.


In the course of preliminary experiments on the penetration of nitrates into Valonia macrophysa, Kiitz., in Bermuda in the winter of 1935-36, it was found that living cells invariably contained significant concentrations of nitrate ions. Previously WodehousO had shown that Valonia sap gave a test for nitrate by means of the nitron reagent, although the surrounding sea water did not. An analysis made in this laboratory on preserved sap 2 yielded the low value of 0.002 •, and it was conjectured that it might be higher in fresh sap. In 1934, Ullrich, 3 working in Naples, found that freshly collected cells had no nitrate detectable by the phenol-disulfonic method but that after 5 days in the circulating sea water of the station the nitrate concentration rose to the neighborhood of 0.015 ~t, which was also the average concentration of nitrate in the circulating sea water at the time of the experiments. He did not find accumulation of nitrate in any of his experiments. On the basis of earlier work we had assumed that the nitrate concentration of the sap could be neglected. The object of the present paper is to show that in Valonia macrophysa in Bermuda nitrate is accumulated to a large extent, as Wodehouse has already shown qualitatively. Analyses made on Halicystis Osterhoutii, Blinks and Blinks in 1936-37 showed nitrate inside greater than outside by 500 times or more. The work on Valonia falls into two parts, 13 analyses made in the


Interspecies competition is the main factor determining the trophic niche width of sympatric species on both ecological and evolutionary levels. In August 2004, a microscopic analysis of feces was made to analyze the diet compositions of Pantholops hodgsoni, Procapra picticaudata and Equus kiang under free-living circumstances between Chuma River and Wudaoliang in the Kekexili National Nature Reserve. The trophic niche widths and overlaps of these herbivorous ungulates were calculated based on the diet compositions, and the results showed that these three ungulates had similar foods, but the proportions of their diet compositions were different. Gramineous plants were the main food sources for P. hodgsoni, P. picticaudata and E. kiang, accounting for 58.7%, 44.57% and 92.28% of the diet, respectively. The trophic niche widths of P. hodgsoni, P. picticaudata and E. kianthese were 0.878, 0.735 and 0.695, and the niche overlaps of P. hodgsoni and E. kiang, P. hodgsoni and P. picticaudata, and E. kiang and P. picticaudata were 0.869, 0.985 and 0.785, respectively, which suggested that there was a potential intense competition among them, especially for P. hodgsoni and P. picticaudata. The relations between competition and coexistence among P. hodgsoni, P. picticaudata and E. kiang were discussed from the viewpoints of their ecological characteristics and trophic ecology.


In the complex and articulated machinery of the human genome, less than 2% of the transcriptome encodes for proteins, while at least 75% is actively transcribed into non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Among the non-coding transcripts, those ≥200 nucleotides long (lncRNAs) are receiving growing attention for their involvement in human diseases, particularly cancer. Genomic studies have revealed the multiplicity of processes, including neoplastic transformation and tumor progression, in which lncRNAs are involved by regulating gene expression at epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional levels by mechanism(s) that still need to be clarified. In breast cancer, several lncRNAs were identified and demonstrated to have either oncogenic or tumor-suppressive roles. The functional understanding of the mechanisms of lncRNA action in this disease could represent a potential for translational applications, as these molecules may serve as novel biomarkers of clinical use and potential therapeutic targets. This review highlights the relationship between lncRNAs and the principal hallmark of the luminal breast cancer phenotype, estrogen receptor α (ERα), providing an overview of new potential ways to inhibit estrogenic signaling via this nuclear receptor toward escaping resistance to endocrine therapy.


The influence of pH, temperature, water activity, and curing agents on germination of spores of Clostridium sporogenes (PA 3679) was examined. The most influential factor was pH; least germination occurred at pH 5.5, and most at pH 7.0, the highest pH tested. Germination occurred over a temperature range of 4 to 55 C, with maximal germination at 35 and 45 C. NaCl was more inhibitory than NaNO2 and NaNO3 at pH 7.0 at the levels used. At pH 5.5 and 6.0, NaNO2 stimulated germination.


Process mining techniques need to know not only the activity that is recorded at each moment but also its execution context, i.e., how the activity is related to the rest of process activities. This information is very relevant for addressing many process mining problems, such as predictive monitoring, especially when applying deep learning techniques. However, the representation of this execution context has not received much attention in the literature. In this paper, we present a novel approach based on an autoencoder for the generation and training of embeddings that properly capture the contextual information related to the execution of an activity. This deep learning-based architecture allows to obtain representations at the level of individual activity, roles, or any other categorical attributes. To evaluate this proposal, an experimentation has been conducted that shows how the embeddings generated with the proposed autoencoder allow to improve the accuracy of the next activity prediction with three of the main state-of-the-art predictive models. Particularly noteworthy are the results on complex processes, where the contextual information provided by our embeddings can significantly improve the state-of-the-art results.


The debate over the domestic status of customary international law (CIL) implicates two potentially competing concerns — one for the effectiveness of international law and the other for proper governance. On one hand, international law has the potential to help bring order to international relations and constrain improper state behavior. Allowing international law to be enforced in U.S. federal courts like domestic law would presumably help international law achieve these ends. On the other hand, a prominent role for international law in federal courts raises concerns for proper governance as it potentially disrupts traditional separation of powers and federalism protections. The concerns for the effectiveness of international law and for proper governance are often pitted against each other in the debate over CIL's domestic legal status. However, these concerns are not mutually exclusive and the Court in Sosa adopted an approach to CIL's domestic status that accommodates both, leaving room for CIL to play a prominent role in federal courts, while respecting concerns for proper governance.


SUMMARY Minimum weight design of laminated composite structures involving geometric nonlinearities is considered. A constrained multi-criteria optimization problem is formulated for maximizing failure margin and critical buckling load factor of a composite structure with the minimum number of layers. The constrained optimization problem is tranferred into a sequence of unconstrained problems and solved iteratively using deterministic search with the achievement scalarizing function approach of Wierzbicki. Reissner-Mindlin-Von K´ arm´ an type plate model has been implemented to determine the actual nonlinear mechanical response of the structure. Load-displacement behaviour of the optimized structure as well as the failure prediction and the identification of the critical areas of the FE-model are illustrated with a numerical example.


This study aims to improve and expedite healthcare services for inpatients at Siti Suaibah Clinic in Krian. By implementing an effective Inpatient Information System, the study sought to provide accurate, efficient, and effective patient care. The research methodology involved data processing and analysis, resulting in several findings. The system facilitated patient data management, including medical histories, treatment schedules, and procedures. However, challenges such as development and maintenance costs, training for medical staff, and data security concerns were identified. Overall, the study highlights the benefits and implications of implementing the Inpatient Information System, emphasizing the need for careful planning and management. The outcome underscores the significance of optimizing healthcare services through innovative technology.
Highlights:

Improved patient care efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of an Inpatient Information System.
Challenges in implementing the system: development and maintenance costs, training for medical staff, and data security concerns.
The significance of careful planning and management to optimize healthcare services and ensure the successful implementation of the Inpatient Information System.

Keywords: Inpatient care, Information system, Healthcare services, Clinic, Implementation


Post-traumatic arthritis of the hip can develop in 12–57% of patients after an acetabular fracture. Once it develops, salvage treatment options include arthroplasty or arthrodesis. Delayed total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been shown to be a viable treatment option to decrease pain, improve stability and increase functional outcomes. Using cemented designs, earlier long-term studies reported satisfactory functional outcomes of delayed THA used to treat previously failed acetabular fractures. However, high aseptic loosening rates were also observed. Recent advances in cementless acetabular designs have shown comparable functional outcomes and loosening rates compared to those undergoing THA for non-traumatic arthritis. However, even with improvements in functional and radiographic outcomes, unique complications are commonly encountered in patients with previous acetabular fractures, including heterotopic bone around the hip, increased operative times and blood loss, aseptic loosening, sciatic nerve injury and dislocation. The outcomes and complications of delayed THA in patients with previous acetabular fracture will be reviewed.


Oral anticoagulants block the coagulation cascade either by an indirect mechanism (e.g., vitamin K antagonists) or by a direct one (e.g., the novel oral anticoagulants). Vitamin K antagonists are widely used as treatment of venous thromboembolism and for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. Although low molecular weight heparin remains the first line in venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, more recently the novel oral anticoagulants such as dabigatran (initial dose of 110 mg within 1-4 h after surgery, followed by the full dose of 220 mg once daily), rivaroxaban (dose of 10 mg once daily, with the first dose administered 6-10 h after the surgery), and apixaban (dose of 2.5 mg twice daily, starting 12-24 h after surgery, but available only in Europe) are approved for prophylaxis in patients undergoing major orthopedic surgery. The period in which thromboembolic risk abates remains uncertain, and trials of extended therapy are still ongoing. After showing at least noninferiority to warfarin in RE-LY, ROCKET-AF, and ARISTOTLE trials, dabigatran (110 or 150 mg twice daily), rivaroxaban (20 or 15 mg once daily), and apixaban (5 mg twice daily), respectively, were approved also for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. While awaiting long-term safety data, the choice among all these available therapies should be based on patient preferences, compliance, and ease of administration, as well as on local factors affecting cost-effectiveness.


The lungs are one of the important and vital organs in the body that function as a respiratory system process. One way to detect lung disease is to do an X-rays test. Chest X-ray is a radiographic projection to detect abnormalities in lung organ by using x-ray radiation. In the process of diagnosing, doctors see the condition of the results of Chest X-rays in the form of a thorax image (chest) to know the patient has an abnormal or normal lung. However, doctors' diagnosis of chest X-rays results-based abnormalities is likely to differ depending on the doctor's abilities and experience. This problem is expected to be solved by segmenting the lung image to help make the diagnosis appropriately. The purpose of this study is to conduct an analysis that can differentiate abnormal and normal lungs. The process of recognition of these patterns consists of the pre-processing stage of image segmentation by using morphology and then proceed to grouping by using fuzzy c-means method to express the pattern of the already segmented image. This research produces normal and abnormal lung images that can be identified with an accuracy of 80%.


Cylindrical and spherical amplitude modulation of quantum ion-acoustic (QIA) envelope solitary waves in a dense quantum plasma comprised of electrons and ions is investigated. For this purpose, a one-dimensional quantum hydrodynamic model and the Poisson equation are considered. By using the standard reductive perturbation technique, a modified nonlinear Schrodinger equation with the geometrical and the quantum effects is derived. The effect of quantum corrections and the effect due to the cylindrical and spherical geometries on the propagation of the QIA envelope solitary waves are examined. It is shown that there exists a modulation instability period depending on the quantum parameter, which does not exist for the one-dimensional classical case.