Natural language understanding typically maps single utterances to a dual level semantic frame, sentence level intent and slot labels at the word level. The best performing models force explicit interaction between intent detection and slot filling. We present a novel tri-level joint natural language understanding approach, adding domain, and explicitly exchange semantic information between all levels. This approach enables the use of multi-turn datasets which are a more natural conversational environment than single utterance. We evaluate our model on two multi-turn datasets for which we are the first to conduct joint slot-filling and intent detection. Our model outperforms state-of-the-art joint models in slot filling and intent detection on multi-turn data sets. We provide an analysis of explicit interaction locations between the layers. We conclude that including domain information improves model performance.


FP-Growth algorithm is a Frequent Pattern Mining (FPM) algorithm that has been extensively used to study correlations and patterns in large scale datasets. While several researchers have designed distributed memory FP-Growth algorithms, it is pivotal to consider fault tolerant FP-Growth, which can address the increasing fault rates in large scale systems. In this work, we propose a novel parallel, algorithm-level fault-tolerant FP-Growth algorithm. We leverage algorithmic properties and MPI advanced features to guarantee an O(1) space complexity, achieved by using the dataset memory space itself for checkpointing. We also propose a recovery algorithm that can use in-memory and disk-based checkpointing, though in many cases the recovery can be completed without any disk access, and incurring no memory overhead for checkpointing. We evaluate our FT algorithm on a large scale InfiniBand cluster with several large datasets using up to 2K cores. Our evaluation demonstrates excellent efficiency for checkpointing and recovery in comparison to the disk-based approach. We have also observed 20x average speed-up in comparison to Spark, establishing that a well designed algorithm can easily outperform a solution based on a general fault-tolerant programming model.


A young male patient from Somalia presented with a productive cough since a few days, and he complained about vomiting after meals and a rapid loss of weight of 20 kg. Endoscopic, radiological and clinical examinations revealed a broncho-esophageal fistula. Further examinations showed mycobacterium tuberculosis as the underlying cause of the disease; a malignancy was excluded. Antituberculous treatment resulted in the loss of the present symptoms as well as in a clinical and endoscopic closure of the fistula.


A mid-infrared BaGa4Se7 optical parametric oscillator with high conversion efficiency and beam quality is demonstrated, which is pumped by a 2.79-μm electro-optically Q-switched Cr, Er:YSGG laser. A pulse energy of 3.5 mJ with a pulse width of 21 ns at 10 Hz is obtained in the range of 3.94-9.55 μm, and the beam quality factors are measured to be Mx2=5.0 and My2=4.6. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 18.9%, and the slope efficiency is 31.6%, which is a 59% improvement on the best of the previously reported slope efficiencies for BaGa4Se7-based OPOs.


Controllers for a pitch and a stall regulated horizontal axial flow, variable-speed tidal stream turbine are developed, and a performance comparison is carried out. Below rated flow speed, both turbines are operated in variable-speed mode so that the optimum tip-speed ratio is maintained. One of the turbines has variable pitch blades, which above rated speed are pitched to feather in order to regulate power. The other turbine has fixed pitch blades and uses speed-assisted stall to regulate power. The control system design behind both strategies is examined in MATLAB, with the performance under turbulent flows, loading and energy yield analysis being evaluated in GH Tidal Bladed. Both strategies provide a satisfactory performance, but the out-of-plane loads on the stall regulated turbine were higher over the entire range of operation. In addition, the dynamic characteristics of the stall regulated turbine require a more complex control design. The results suggest that the pitch regulated turbine would be a more attractive solution for turbine developers.


The International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 11th Revision introduced a fully dimensional approach to personality disorders which conceptionally converges with the long-standing psychodynamic understanding of psychopathology through underlying intra- and interpersonal impairments. In this study, the diagnostic contributions of the two psychodynamic concepts of personality structure and psychodynamic conflicts were investigated through the comparison of self-report data of 189 adolescents with mental health problems and 321 mentally healthy controls. The study results reveal that adolescents with mental health problems show significantly higher impairments in all four domains of personality structure and significantly higher levels of several psychodynamic conflicts. Further, adolescents with different mental health problems significantly differ regarding the impairments in the personality structure domains and several levels of psychodynamic conflicts. While higher structural impairments are shown in adolescents with eating and anxiety disorders, higher levels of the passive self-worth conflict persist in adolescents with depressive disorders, and higher levels of the passive identity conflict are affecting adolescents with eating disorders. The findings suggest that a standardized diagnostic assessment of personality structure and psychodynamic conflicts in adolescent patients could contribute to a deeper understanding of mental health problems and appropriate treatment planning through the detection of underlying intra- and interpersonal impairments.


Background and Objectives:Diastolic heart failure (DHF) is defined as clinical evidences of heart failure, with a normal ejection fraction (EF) and abnormal diastolic function. However, the distinction between DHF and SHF is often difficult. Strain (S) and strain rate (SR) echocardiography can measure the regional myocardial function as a magnitude and rate of deformation. The hypothesis"myocardial velocity (Vel), S & SR can provide additional information for differentiation DHF from SHF"was assessed. Subjects and Methods: 30 patients with symptomatic HF and low EF (SHF group) and 27 with symptomatic HF, and normal EF and diastolic dysfunction (DHF group) were enrolled. 37 age-and sex-matched control subjects were recruited. Conventional echo and regional indices (Vel, S and SR), measured at the mid septum and posterior wall, were obtained. Results:Almost all clinical and echo indices of control were different between the two HF groups. The EF, LV mass, S' and DT in DHF were greater than those with SHF. The LA size, diastolic dysfunction grades; E, A, E/A, E', A' and E/E', were not different between the two HF groups. In the regional indices, the peak S (long axis: 12.0±5.4 vs. 17.6±5.9%, radial axis: 26.4±12.7 vs. 46.0±16.7%) and systolic Vel (long axis: 2.6±0.8 vs. 3.6±0.9 cm/s, radial axis: 2.1 (1.2 vs. 3.7±1.4 cm/s) with SHF were significantly lower than those with DHF. However, the SR of the two groups was not different. The best cutoff values of peak S were 13.7% (long axis) and 32.9% (radial axis), and the systolic Vel were 3.0 cm/s (long axis) and 2.8 cm/s (radial axis). Conclusion:The peak S and systolic Vel may be useful indices for differentiating DHF from SHF. A similarly decreased SR in the two HF groups suggests that DHF has decreased myocardial contractility, despite the normal EF. (Korean Circulation J 2004; 34(11):1090-1098)


Multi-target activities of small molecules must be distinguished from apparent promiscuity resulting from assay artifacts. The molecular origins of specific multi-target activities are currently poorly understood. Compounds from the medicinal chemistry literature with available high-confidence activity data were systematically searched for 'promiscuity cliffs', defined as pairs of structural analogs with large differences between the number of targets they are active against. During the search, compounds with detectable aggregator properties, pan-assay interference characteristics, or other possible chemical liabilities were eliminated. A large number of promiscuity cliffs remained, many of which were centered on a limited number of highly promiscuous compounds, as revealed by network representations. The analysis of promiscuity cliffs often suggested follow-up experiments to further explore the molecular basis of promiscuity and assess the influence of data sparseness. Therefore, promiscuity cliffs identified herein are made freely available to support follow-up investigations.


This study sought to establish the relationship between entrepreneur's motivation and growth of micro and small enterprises in the textile industry, in Thika town. The study adopted a survey research design to collect data. The study covered a sample of 226 drawn from a population of 526 micro and small enterprises of Thika Municipal Council who make thread to cloth. The sample was selected through simple random sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive (mean, percentages and frequencies) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression). The study achieved a response rate of 61.95%. Majority of the respondents (63%) indicated that the level of entrepreneurs' motivation in the study area was high. The study revealed that the level of growth of enterprises was high as reported by 57% of the respondents. The study established a positive correlation between motivation and growth of small and micro enterprises with a correlation coefficient of 0.350. The p-value was (0.000) less than the alpha of 0.01 hence establishing a high significant relationship between variables. The study concludes that there has been a remarkable growth in small and micro enterprise in Thika town. The enterprises reported an increase in sales, number of employees as well as their capital. In order to sustain the growth, owners of the enterprises should develop a sustainable programme of motivating the employees for their hard work.


The effects of Mn and N codoping on the crystal structure, defect formation energy, electronic structure, optical property and redox ability of anatase TiO 2 are investigated by first-principles calculations of plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential. The calculation results show that the octahedral dipole moment of anatase TiO 2 increases due to its lattice distortion after Mn, N codoping, which is favorable for effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Some impurity bands appear in the band gap, which leads to the red-shift of optical absorption edge and to the increase in coefficient of light absorption, thereby facilitating the enhancement of the photocatalytic efficiency. If the impurity band is not taken into account, the band edge redox potential of codoped TiO 2 is only slightly changed compared with that of pure TiO 2 . All of these results can explain the better photocatalytic performances of Mn, N codoped anatase TiO 2 under visible-light irradiation.


Having a scientific foundation of more than two decades, sensory analysis is an easy method for assessing the quality of a food product by bringing its characteristic features to the public consumers' attention. As a complementary method in food control and expertise, sensory analysis mirrors the outcome of certain physiological and psychological aspects of the tasters, which involve such actions as reception, recognition, ordering, description, and appreciation. Relying on the consumer's first contact with the product, the analysis measures its sensory properties that affect the subjects' choice power as well as their purchase decision. By describing the results obtained from the sensory analysis of apple chips, the present paper seeks to emphasize the importance of tasting in the presentation, refinement and promotion of the product. This objective was accomplished at the INDAGRA International Fair, which took place at Romexpo Bucharest on 4 November 2016. The apple chips and other food products were featured by the stand of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. 191 people, 21-60 years old, were invited to visit the stand of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest and taste the products. The apple chips were evaluated for different organoleptic features like appearance, taste and aroma as well as for the general impression to simulate a possible authentication of the product as a preferred registered trademark. At the same time, the experiment aimed to emphasize the importance of nutraceutical fruit consumption by attracting the consumer's attention with the present analysis and through raising awareness of healthy food and eating. The paper presents the results, being an important step to follow with the serial production of the tested products.


The purpose of the present paper was to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of male breast cancer patients seen for adjuvant therapy at a single institution. A retrospective review of computerized records in the Departments of Medical and Radiation Oncology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) was undertaken. Between 1983 and 1996, 24 men were referred for treatment of breast cancer. Of these, 19 had localized breast cancer, four had metastatic disease and one had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The median age was 57.5 years (range: 26-78) and median follow-up was 6.2 years (range: 0.6-36). Pathological staging was performed. Survival was assessed using actuarial life table analysis. Of the 19 patients who presented with localized disease, there were 12 T1, five T2 and two T4 cancers. Eleven patients had axillary lymph node involvement. Ten patients were oestrogen receptor (ER) positive, two patients were ER negative and seven patients had unknown receptor status. All patients underwent surgery. Eleven patients received radiotherapy. The median dose and dose per fraction were 50 Gy and 2 Gy, respectively. Adjuvant systemic therapy was delivered to 10 patients, of whom nine were node-positive. Four patients received chemotherapy alone, three patients received chemotherapy and tamoxifen, and three patients received tamoxifen only. Seven patients relapsed (one local, five distant, one both). Of the two patients with local relapses, one had received radiotherapy. Of the distant failures, four of six patients had no systemic therapy. There were only two node-positive patients who were not given systemic treatment and both relapsed. Median survival in all patients with invasive cancer was 7.5 years, and in those with localized disease it was 7.6 years. The median survival of node-positive patients was 3.8 years. In node-negative patients the median survival had not been reached at a median follow-up of 6.2 years. The majority of patients (12/14) with known receptor status were ER+, a finding that parallels those of other studies. Local control rates were 88% (7/8) in patients who had mastectomy alone and 91% (10/11) in those patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy. Systemic therapy was found to be beneficial in patients with node-positive disease. Chemotherapy was administered more frequently than hormonal therapy. The median survivals were consistent with those reported in other series.


In the surrounding region of a metal immersed in an aqueous solution, a boundary layer with a complex structure is formed. When pulsed-laser-induced plasma is produced in the bulk of the liquid, galvanic pulses appear in the short term, while the pH, electrode potential, and temperature of the liquid (properties of the system related to the conduction mechanisms) vary in the long term. To prove that the plasma perturbs the dynamics of the boundary layer, via the shock wave resulting from the dielectric breakdown, the beam of a Nd+3:YAG laser was focused onto a cell containing a metal piece to create a plasma plume near its surface. To this end, the dependence of the galvanic pulse amplitude with both the distance from the plate to the plasma and the laser pulse energy was investigated. Moreover, the pH, the electrode potential of the metal, and the temperature variation of the solution along the duration of the experiments were systematically monitored. The results obtained suggest that the perturbation of the interface by the shock wave generated as a result of the laser-produced plasma is a reasonable hypothesis.


The bicultural policies of much of the public sector in Aotearoa/New Zealand are based on the Treaty of Waitangi.Broadcasting is taken by many Maori to be an important means of empowerment, especially with regard to cultural revival and language maintenance. In the field of broadcasting there have been three major cases before the Waitangi Tribunal. The Te Reo Maori Report (1986) identified the Maori language as a valued possession which the Crown ought to have protected. This looks at the state of Maori radio.


A theorem is proven which provides a sufficient condition that an isometry is a symmetry of a composite constructed from a component and a group of isometries. The concept of latent symmetry is broadened and this theorem is applied to deduce latent symmetry of example composites, including an example discussed by Litvin & Wadhawan [Acta Cryst. (2001), A57, 435-441], the latent symmetry of which could not be determined there systematically.


In given article is conducted analysis of proposed mathematical model of gas-compressor unit for subject of the possibility of the conducting to greatly exact parametric identification, is motivated choice of parameters of mathematical model of gas-compressor unit and way to identifications, and is estimated accuracy of identification. The Developed way to metrological qualification of mathematical model of gas-compressor unit for using them in task of the finding estimation degree of the compression, volumetric productivity and input power of a centrifugal supercharger and is approved offered way on real data.


Mitotic HeLa cells can be induced to undergo abnormal cleavage and to give rise thereby to clusters of buds and/or to free mini segregants. A wide range of morphologies can be produced and the mini segregants vary considerably in size and structure. Some contain DNA which may or may not be enclosed in a nuclear membrane. This DNA in some of the mini segregants originates from dense 'chromatin bodies' which migrate to the periphery of the parental cell at an early stage of mitotic perturbation. The percentage of mitotic cells which undergo abnormal cleavage is affected by a number of factors including the pH of the medium, the presence of dithiothreitol or certain other thiol compounds, the absence of serum and storage of the mitotic cells at 4 °C before treatment. To date, the optimal conditions are: incubation at 37 °C in Hanks solution buffered at pH 8.0–8.4, after storage of the mitotic cells for about 3 h at 4 °C. Under these conditions about 70 % of the total mitotic population undergoes abnormal cleavage to produce clusters of mini segregants in the course of an incubation period of 3½ h. Possible mechanisms underlying the phenomenon are discussed.


Illegal, malicious or dangerous uses of drones, require developing systems capable of detecting, tracking and recognizing them in a non-collaborative way, and with enough anticipation in order to assign adapted interception means to the threat. The reduced size of autonomous aircraft makes it difficult to be detected over long distances with sufficient awareness based on conventional techniques, and seems more suitable for observation by radar sensors. However, the radiofrequency detection of this kind of object poses other difficulties to be solved due to their slow speed characteristics which can cause confusion with other mobile echoes like land vehicles, birds and vegetation movements agitated by atmospheric turbulence. It is therefore necessary to design robust classification methods for these echoes to ensure their discrimination relative to criteria characterizing their movements (micro-movements of their moving parts and kinematic movements of their main body).


Background Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic recurrent skin follicular disease that usually presents with inflammatory lesions in the apocrine gland-bearing areas (axillar, inguinal and anogenital regions). Musculoskeletal symptoms such as inflammatory back pain, seronegative asymmetric oligoarthritis and enthesitis and radiological abnormalities (sacroiliitis, syndesmophytes, and erosions) have been scarcely reported among patients with HS, but the classification of these rheumatological features has never been fully addressed, and their nosology remains unknown. Objectives The aim of the study was to nosogically characterize the rheumatological involvement in patients diagnosed with HS Methods Prospective, multicentre study. All patients were recruited from tertiary care hospitals by rheumatologist and dermatologist investigators. Inclusion criteria were an established diagnosis of HS according to international criteria and a history of either arthritis, dactylitis, enthesitis or inflammatory back pain. Clinical and radiological features were recorded in a preformed data sheet over a 12month period. Results From 87 HS patients screened for suspicion of inflammatory rheumatic conditions, 32 fulfilled inclusion criteria, 84% women, with a mean age of 39.7±8.0 years. HS was exclusive dermatological finding in 71% of cases, and was associated with acne conglobata, psoriasis or palmo plantar pustulosis in 15%, 12% and 12% of patients, respectively. Four patients had an inflammatory bowel disease, and 2 had history of anterior uveitis. Prevalence of HLA-B27 positivity, tested in 16 patients, was 46%. Twenty-three out of 32 patients were receiving antibiotics for HS, 22 were taking NSAIDs, and 6 were treated with TNF-α blockers. HS antedated the rheumatologic symptoms in 85% of patients with a mean time delay of 17.5 (±8.4) years, whereas it occurred after or concomitantly in 15% of cases (mean delay: 6.8±2.4 years). Sixteen patients had enthesitis, 72% and 19% had axial and peripheral involvement, respectively. Dactylitis and anterior chest wall pain were present in 12%, and 35% of cases, respectively. Two patients had aseptic osteitis. Radiographs of both the pelvis and the spine were obtained in 20 patients. Sacroiliitis was seen in 8 patients, and syndesmophytes in 2 patients. MRI of the sacroiliac joints and the spine were obtained in 15 and 10 patients, respectively. In the spine, active inflammatory lesions were observed in 3 out of 15 patients, whereas they were seen in the sacroiliac joints of 3 out of 10 patients. Different sets of criteria were used to assess the prevalence of Spondyloarthritis (SpA) in these patients. The Amor criteria, ESSG criteria and ASAS criteria were met by 44%, 60% and 41% patients, respectively. Conclusions SpA appears to be a predominant phenotype among musculoskeletal inflammatory features in HS patients. The concomitant occurrence of skin and joint manifestations in some cases suggest that common pathogenic mechanisms underlie both SpA and HS. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


We present a principal component analysis (PCA)-based spectral classification, η, for the first 5600 galaxies observed in the DEEP2 Redshift Survey. This parameter provides a very pronounced separation between absorption- and emission-dominated galaxy spectra—corresponding to passively evolving and actively star-forming galaxies in the survey, respectively. In addition it is shown that, despite the high resolution of the observed spectra, this parameter alone can be used to quite accurately reconstruct any given galaxy spectrum, suggesting there are not many "degrees of freedom" in the observed spectra of this galaxy population. It is argued that this form of classification, η, will be particularly valuable in making future comparisons between high- and low-redshift galaxy surveys for which very large spectroscopic samples are now readily available, particularly when used in conjunction with high-resolution spectral synthesis models, which will be made public in the near future. We also discuss the relative advantages of this approach to distant galaxy classification compared to other methods such as colors and morphologies. Finally, we compare the classification derived here with that adopted for the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and in so doing show that the two systems are very similar. This will be particularly useful in subsequent analyses when making comparisons between results from each of these surveys to study evolution in the galaxy populations and large-scale structure.


The concentrated poverty index, i.e. the proportion of a metro area's poor population living in extreme-poverty neighborhoods, is widely adopted as a policy-relevant measure of urban poverty. We challenge this view and develop a family of new indices of urban poverty that, differently from concentrated poverty measures, i) capture aspects of the incidence and distribution of poverty across neighborhoods and ii) are grounded on empirical evidence that living in a high-poverty neighborhood is detrimental for many dimensions of residents's well-being. We demonstrate that a parsimonious axiomatic model that incorporates these two aspects characterizes exactly one urban poverty index. We show that changes of this urban poverty index within the same city are additively decomposable into the contribution of demographic, convergence, re-ranking and spatial effects. We collect new evidence of heterogeneous patterns and trends of urban poverty across American metro areas over the last 35 years and use city characteristics to identify relevant drivers.


P versus NP is considered as one of the most important open problems in computer science. This consists in knowing the answer of the following question: Is P equal to NP? This question was first mentioned in a letter written by John Nash to the National Security Agency in 1955. A precise statement of the P versus NP problem was introduced independently in 1971 by Stephen Cook and Leonid Levin. Since that date, all efforts to find a proof for this problem have failed. TAUTOLOGY-L is a problem of deciding given an instance x of a language L whether every possible appro-priate answer for x is actually a solution in L. The class TAUTOLOGY-NP contains those languages TAUTOLOGY-L where L is in NP. Another major complexity class is NP-complete. To attack the P versus NP question the concept of NP-completeness has been very useful. We define the completeness of TAUTOLOGY-NP using the polynomial time reduction as well. We demonstrate there is a TAUTOLOGY-L language that is not only complete for TAUTOLOGY-NP, but it is also in P.


Histories of modern and Fascist Italy have usually given little space to Italian colonialism, and histories of colonialism rarely mention the Italian South. This paper considers the agrarian colonization of Libya and Sicily together, reading them as key components of Italy's nation-building and of the Fascist population politics. After the violent reconquest of Libya (1922–32) and the appropriation of all its fertile land, the Fascist regime turned to the rich and restless social fabric of the Italian South, which became the target for a new politics of space and population control. In a complex process of multiple exchanges, the agrarian colonization of Libya (1932–39) became the model for the agrarian colonization of Sicily (1939–43). By bringing together archives that have mostly been kept separate, this paper argues for a more nuanced notion of the South and colonialism. It does so by examining the ways colonialism was theorized and practiced, first by the Italian Liberal governments (1861–22) as a response to the nation's southern question, and second by the Fascist regime (1922–43) as part of a wider project of reclamation of land and people in Italy and abroad. In particular, the paper compares the uncanny similarities between Fascist architecture and urbanism produced at the height of Fascist rule by the Ente di Colonizzazione della Libia and the Ente di Colonizzazione del Latifondo Siciliano. The paper asks, what links the politics of land, grain, and displacement in Libya and Southern Italy?


We studied 3 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who developed thyroid cancer (TC). Potential risk factors for TC development was explored. Fifty-three patients with a clinical diagnosis of rheumatic diseases including SLE at our hospital between July 2014 and December 2014 were enrolled. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings were retrospectively compared between TC-positive and TC-negative patients. Among rheumatic diseases, lymphadenopathy/splenomegaly at treatment commencement, and lymphadenopathy/splenomegaly, painless ulcer (oral, nasal, or mucosal), and weight loss during the entire study period were precipitating factors. Lower current values of hemoglobin and methylprednisolone pulse therapy favored TC development. In 29 SLE patients, lymphadenopathy/splenomegaly at treatment commencement, lymphadenopathy/splenomegaly and weight loss during the entire study period, urinary granular casts at treatment commencement, and a lower current value of hemoglobin predisposed patients to TC. Several risk factors of TC are present in pediatric SLE. Patients with SLE should be investigated vigorously for TC with ultrasound.


Objective To determine the pattern of major congenital malformations in neonates admitted in a tertiaryCare NICU. Study Design Descriptive study. Place & Duration of study; Women's Hospital Doha Qatar, The only tertiary government hospital in Doha with 310 beds, 16500 deliveries per year and around 85% of delivery in this hospital. Method ALL neonates which admitted to NICU including those referred from outside. NeonateWith major congenital malformations were identified by clinical examination and confirmed byAppropriate radio-diagnostic methods. The pediatric service of the hospital has the subspecialties in cardiology, neonatology, neurology, nephrology, genetics and pediatric surgery. There are laboratory facilities for plain and contrast radiography, computerized tomography, ultrasound, echocardiography, chromosomal analysis and electron microscopy. Each case was investigated as indicate. Detail chromosomal analysis, Fish study and DNA was DONE infants with dysmorphic features and multisystem defects. Result During study period number of babies born 101160, number of admission to nicu11898, number of congenital malformations 1678, the incidence of major congenital malformations 1.67%. Conclusions The study gives an overview of pattern of congenital Anomalies in a tertiary care center. Surveillance and Monitoring of congenital conditions is important for Identifying patterns of malformations.


This paper investigates the question of agricultural, family and demographic innovations in the context of agrarian evolution in developing countries. This analysis uses case studies from rural societies in Togo, Cote-d'Ivoire and Yucatan (Mexico) to illustrate the limitations of Boserup's and Chayanov's models. It shows that changes in family and demographic cycles and systems follow agrarian evolution and population growth resulting from market integration. This is the reason why agricultural innovation cannot proceed directly from demographic pressure and remains dependant on organisational transformations of the family and production units. Innovation, which is a source of change in farming systems in which women and the youth play an increasing role, is thus primarily a social phenomenon and cancels most often the constraints that could have led to technical progress.


Palestinian women occupy a special place in Arab women's political history because of their dynamic involvement in the long Palestinian struggle. Similar to the case of women in the Algerian Revolution, Palestinian women's participation in the nationalist struggle provided an historical opportunity for their social and economic liberation (Hiltermann 1991; Kawar 1996; Peteet 1991; Sabbagh 1998). On the other hand, the Palestinian women's case is a good example of how the political context mandates parameters of women political participation and their struggle for equality.


An analyzed model of drillstem failure reason has been constructed based on SVM technology and clustering analysis theory in this paper, and the optimal kernel function and several appropriate factors also have been obtained by training the sample data. Using the drillstem failure data come from Daqing oilfield, according to the requirements of the model, the data have been pretreated and analyzed, finally the essential reasons for the drillstem failure here have been obtained successfully; what's more, six precautionary measures have been pointed out to solve the very problems in this paper. As showing in the paper, the new model is realer and more reliable to calculate and analyze the drillstem failure in drilling engineering, and it has been proved to provide a new technique to enrich the basic theory of drilling engineering.


Waste from healthcare institutions generally ought to be treated and disposed hygienically. However, the type of institution normally determines the material component and the nature of the waste generated whether it is hazardous or non-hazardous, infectious or non-infectious waste. Also health status of an individual or community is a function of standard of living, medical services available, social amenities and hygienic environment normally determined through impact assessment. These have been examined in relation to the leprosarium in Ogbomosho, Southwestern Nigeria. The leprosarium under study consists of a clinic and three camps located at about 1000m from the clinic. The leprosarium housed 30 patients, while the camps served as home for about 140 people under rehabilitation together including their children. As one of the health institutions, it is apparent that the waste generated is heterogeneous mixture of both general municipal waste and bio-medical waste. The percentage of biomedical waste which is hazardous in nature is low about 1.0% with average generation rate of 0.13kg/day while that of non-hazardous, non-infectious general waste is 0.288kg/person/day. The average waste generation rate in term of mass is determined to be between 0.084 – 0.095kg/person/day which reveals the poor status and rural nature of these leper settlements. The waste components consist of bandages and swabs, paper, nylon and plastic, domestic waste, animal waste (mostly goat manure), wood ash and yard trimmings which are being disposed on open dump sites and sometimes by open burning which are unhygienic causing health hazards. Accumulation of these waste components without proper disposal initiates its putrefaction which produces offensive odour. In addition, absence of adequate sanitary facilities has promoted open defecation which is a source of infectious, diseases. As an economical, appropriate and useful method of waste disposal, composting was proposed since it is found relevant and acceptable  for the leprosarium and the settlements around as the waste generated is predominantly biodegradable and decomposable materials. Key words: Solid waste, bio-medical waste, characterization, waste disposal, composting


Direct digital synthesis (DDS) is a useful tool for generating periodic waveforms. In this two-part article, the basic idea of this synthesis technique is presented and then focused on the quality of the sinewave a DDS can create, introducing the SFDR quality parameter. Next effective methods to increase the SFDR are presented through sinewave approximations, hardware schemes such as dithering and noise shaping, and an extensive list of reference. When the desired output is a digital signal, the signal's characteristics can be accurately predicted using the formulas given in this article. When the desired output is an analog signal, the reader should keep in mind that the performance of the DDS is eventually limited by the performance of the digital-to-analog converter and the follow-on analog filter. Hoping that this article would incite engineers to use DDS either in integrated circuits DDS or software-implemented DDS. From the author's experience, this technique has proven valuable when frequency resolution is the challenge, particularly when using low-cost microcontrollers.


Cell balancing control for Li-ion battery pack plays an important role in battery management system. It contributes to maintaining the maximum usable capacity, extending the cycle life of cells, and preventing overheating and thermal runaway during operation. This paper presents an optimal control of active cell balancing for serially connected battery pack that maintain the cell's current and temperature in a suitable range during the equalizing process. Using the cell-to-cell balancing circuit based on CuK converter for two adjacent cells, the state of charge (SoC) and temperature dynamic of cells in the pack is modelled. Then, the optimal control problem for active cell balancing is established with constraints on cells' current and temperature. The solution of this nonlinear optimal problem solved by using sequential quadratic programming(SQP) is the optimal duties fed to the cell balancing circuits. The experimental test applied to battery pack of 07 Samsung cells connected in series, the reliable and efficient results show that cell balancing process takes place shortly and adaptively depending on the discharge/charge current of pack, the desired temperature increasing limit, and technical constraints of balancing circuits.


Brazil possesses great biological and cultural diversity, above all, in view of the great number of indigenous ethnic groups - 218 in all - that inhabit the five main biomas in Brazil. The purpose of this review is to analyze the relationship between chemical constituents of species utilized by several groups of Brazilian Indians and the uses/indications made of the species by these same groups using ethnopharmacological surveys by different researchers, as from the seventies. The 34 publications selected, involving 26 indigenous ethnic groups, showed a total of 307 species utilized for 67 different diseases or effects possibly related to the Central Nervous System (CNS). These plants belong to 85 taxonomic families, mostly Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Apocynaceae, Bignoniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Solanaceae. The chemical constitution of these plants was researched as from the Pubmed and Web of Science and the information obtained was crossed with different indigenous uses, grouped in 12 categories according to similarities between their expected effects on the CNS: analgesics, to counteract fever, tonics and/or adaptogens, hallucinogens, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, head illnesses, hypnotics, stimulants, weight control, memory enhancers, and others. Some phytochemical classes were observed to be more common among plants utilized for certain purposes: flavonoids (analgesia, fever, anxiety, hypnotic, weight control, and as a stimulant), alkaloids (hallucinogens, head illnesses, and as a stimulant), essential oils (fever and anxiety), lignans (hallucinogen), tannins (anxiety), triterpenes and saponins (hypnotic). These data suggest that these phytochemical classes possibly possess a greater number of chemical constituents that perform the effects described or that, in some way, assist in determining the use of the plant by the Indians.


From February 1988 through October 1988, 23 samples of peritoneal dialysis fluid from 20 patients with end‐stage renal disease were cytologically analyzed in an attempt to determine the effect of the dialysate on the mesothelial cells lining the peritoneal cavity. The patients, five female and 15; male, ranging in age from 26 to 75 yr, had been on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) from 1 mo to 6 yr, 4 mo. The patients had no history of cirrhosis, neoplastic disease, radiation and/or chemotherapy, or current findings of infection. Smears and cytosieve filter preparations were made. Smear analysis included the mesothelial cell pattern, the degree of mesothelial cell atypia, and the presence of atypical multinucleated cells and mitoses. In the majority of the fluid samples, reactive mesothelial cells were arranged singly and in sheets. Moderately and severely atypical mesothelial cells were glandular and papillary in configuration. All samples contained at least a few reactive mesothelial cells: in six, the highest degree of cellular atypia was moderate: in 17, it was severe. The development of severe cellular atypia did not appear to be time dependent (a finding noted in samples from patients on dialysis for 6 mo up to 6 yr). When present, multinucleated mesothelial cells showed moderate to severe atypia. In four cases mitotic figures were present. On the basis of these findings, it is proposed that peritoneal dialysis plays a role in the development of mesothelial cell atypia.


The successful production of metallic workpieces through selective laser melting requires a quality assurance process that can effectively and nondestructively assess internal defects. Ultrasound testing is a nondestructive testing modality that can be used to identify defects and characterize the microstructure and properties of a material. Moreover, developments in computer vision techniques have led to the increased use of neural networks (NNs) in quality assurance processes. Therefore, a novel multiscale convolutional fuzzy NN (MCFNN) that uses ultrasound images as input data was developed in this study to automatically evaluate Inconel 718 workpieces fabricated through selective laser melting under various combinations of process parameters. The average accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and number of required parameters for the developed MCFNN were comparable to those of state-of-the-art models. Moreover, several concatenation methods, multiscale fusion strategies, and fuzzy inference systems were implemented in the developed MCFNN for performance comparison. Subsequently, the workpieces were examined through microcomputed tomography to verify the results obtained using ultrasound images. The experimental results indicated that among the compared models, the MCFNN achieved the highest average accuracy (91.44% ± 4.73%), precision (92.74% ± 3.79%), recall (91.44% ± 4.73%), and F1 score (91.35% ± 4.82%) and required the fewest parameters (107,138). The experimental results demonstrate that the developed MCFNN has high potential for implementation in the embedded devices of portable ultrasound scanning systems.


Research subject.Sphalerite (ZnS) is a widespread mineral that can be found in various depositional environments. During formation, this mineral can accumulate minor and trace impurities, with gold being one of the most valuable component. The issue of the chemical state of Au in sphalerite has been much discussed recently.Methods.Samples of In-, Fe- and In-Febearing sphalerite with a composition ranging from 0 to 2.5 mol.% In2S3 and 0 – 40 mol.% FeS were synthesized in an Ausaturated system using gas transport and salt flux techniques. The resulting products were subsequently investigated using EPMA and LA-ICP-MS.Results.All the elements under investigation are found to be homogeneously distributed within the sphalerite matrix. After quenching, sphalerite is shown to retain Au. Our data indicates that the observed increase in Au concentration is caused by the presence of In (up to 1.02 wt % Au) and, to a lesser extent, by that of Fe (up to ≈600 ppm Au). These elements substitute Zn in the crystal structure of sphalerite following the scheme Au+ + In3+(Fe3+) ↔ 2Zn2+, which is in good agreement with previous data obtained using the XAS method.Conclusions.A higher sulphur fugacity in the system leads to a more significant accumulation of Au in sphalerite. The concentration of Au in pure sphalerite does not exceed 10 ppm under our experimental conditions and does not depend on the activity of sulphur in the system.


The olive moth, Prays oleae, is one of the most common insects that damages olives in the Mediterranean region. The establishment of ground cover within olive orchards has been promoted in this region in recent years to avoid erosion and soil degradation. Nevertheless, its role as a shelter for natural enemies of pests has been controversial. In this study, we have investigated the effectiveness of the biological control of P. oleae in organic olive orchards with ground cover (mowed) and without ground cover (tilled). For this, (1) we assessed the relationship between predated eggs and the abundance of natural enemies in both types of orchards; (2) we compared both the potential damage of the pest and the egg hatching in the two types of orchards; and (3) we examined the interaction amongst families of natural enemies and P. oleae (as adults and as predated eggs). The results showed that there is a high rate of predation in the studied olive orchards, 81% of the eggs were predated, 12.2% hatched, and 6.9% were live eggs. However, mowed orchards were more effective for controlling P. oleae by means of egg predation rather than tilled orchards, i.e., in mowed orchards, whilst the potential damage of the pest was higher, egg hatching was rather low. The structure of the adult arthropod community, i.e., the composition and abundance of families of natural enemies did not differ between the orchards, but the abundance of the families Anthocoridae, Miridae and Scelionidae was significantly higher in the mowed orchards. Finally, the interaction amongst natural enemies and P. oleae showed that the families that better explained the effects on egg predation were Aeolothripidae, Anthocoridae, Miridae, Chrysopidae (predators), and Formicidae (omnivore). We discuss the results in terms of ecological interactions of trophic guilds and we conclude that the establishment and maintenance of ground cover in organic olive orchards, at least in June and July, is of great significance because it positively affects the egg predation of P. oleae. This effect is especially significant when there is a low abundance of natural enemies in the olive orchards.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a major nosocomial pathogen worldwide since the 1960's. For decades the bacteria was almost exclusively associated with healthcare settings. However, community outbreaks have emerged in the 1990's and since then the prevalence of MRSA infections is rapidly increasing in the community. Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) differs from healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) in terms of its epidemiological, clinical, and bacteriological characteristics. Reports of outbreaks caused by CA-MRSA are usually related to "closed populations". Most outbreaks have been linked with a single-clone strain and affected individuals are otherwise healthy with no known risk factors for acquisition of the bacteria. The spectrum of disease caused by CA-MRSA has changed in recent years and new syndromes vary from minor skin and soft tissue infections to rapidly overwhelming and often fatal infections. Also, CA-MRSA differs from the nosocomial strain regarding the bacteriologic characteristics which include different antimicrobial susceptibility profiles and the presence of certain virulence factors and exotoxins. Because CA-MRSA is generally not multidrug resistant, good therapeutic options are still available. To provide an effective therapy is necessary to first have the clinical suspicion. Therefore, physicians should be aware of the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of this emergin infection in the community.


Why are we talking about climbing infinite ladders? Well, it turns out this is a good way to think about how induction works. The base case says that we can reach the first step of the ladder. The inductive hypothesis says that we can get to the k step of the ladder. The inductive step says that if we can get to the k step of the ladder, then we can get to step k + 1. Therefore, once we get to step 1, we can get to step 2. Once we get to step 2, we can get to step 3. And so on for all steps of the infinite ladder.


The Operation and Maintenance Management of small towns water supply schemes have been neglected in the past in
Ghana. This has affected the functionality of many water supply schemes and impacted negatively on the well-being of
concerned people. There is the tendency to redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in operation
and maintenance. The government, because of heavy financial burdens and efficiency problems, is gradually changing its
role of "provider of services" to that of "facilitator of processes". Communities, therefore, have increasing responsibilities,
not only in the operation and maintenance of their water supply schemes, but also in the financial management of these
schemes. Some experiences and best practices that have been learnt in this case study are shared and recommendations
made to enhance effective O&M management.


As integrated circuit technologies get smaller, circuit and architectural trends make transmitting data across long on-chip wires increasingly important yet increasingly expensive in both latency and throughput. Inserting repeaters can reduce latency by breaking up long wires with gain stages but offers only limited throughput improvement, while breaking long wires with clocked latches improves latency and throughput but requires generating fast local clocks. In contrast, asynchronous handshaking over long wires can improve both latency and bandwidth with lower control overhead. We introduce simple latency models that relate best stage separation to technology parameters. In addition, the transactional nature of handshaking presents a fundamental limitation on throughput exacerbated by long wires. We present twin request/acknowledge control scheme that overcomes this throughput cost.


Radiation hardness measurements have been done by irradiating lateral position sensitive (Si) detectors (LPSD) with 93 eV photons. Three different passivation layers have been investigated, SiO2, oxynitride and deposited 4 nm titanium-layer, on p in n-substrate LPSD and deposited 4 nm titanium layer on n in p-substrate LPSD. Best radiation hardness for 93 eV photon is obtained by using a 4 nm titanium layer. Only a slight decrease in response can be seen in the p in n-substrate LPSD. The best radiation hardness is achieved by using the n in p-substrate LPSD, which show no significant decrease in response. Scanning after irradiation with 93 eV gives only a variation in response of 0.26% in the surrounding area of exposure. No decrease in response can be detected during the scan. Test with a 108 eV photon beam gives an increased variation in response of 0.7%, caused by the shallower absorption in Si.


(S,E)-4-Amino-5-fluoropent-2-enoic acid (6) is synthesized in six steps starting from the known gamma-aminobutyric acid aminotransferase (gamma-Abu-T) inactivator, (S)-4-amino-5-fluoropentanoic acid (1). Compound 6 is a mechanism-based inactivator of gamma-Abu-T: time-dependent inactivation is saturatable and protected by substrate; thiols do not protect the enzyme from inactivation; no enzyme activity returns upon dialysis. This compound (6) binds 50 times more tightly to gamma-Abu-T than does the saturated analogue (1). No transamination of 6 occurs prior to inactivation. However, five molecules of 6 are required to inactivate the enzyme with concomitant release of five fluoride ions. Therefore, four molecules are being converted to product for each inactivation event. (E)-3-(1-Aminocyclopropyl)-2-propenoic acid is synthesized in seven steps from 1-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid. It is prepared as a cyclopropyl derivative of the proposed intermediate in the inactivation of gamma-Abu-T by 6. The cyclopropyl derivative, however, is a noncompetitive inhibitor and does not inactivate the enzyme. This study shows the usefulness and hazards of incorporation of a trans double bond into potential gamma-Abu-T inactivators.


A new fossil species in the Satyrinae, Lethe montana, spec. nov. is described from the Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Southwestern Montana, from a deposit of early Oligocene age (32±.01 Mya). Comparative analyses and discussion with extant taxa are discussed. The proposed ancestral stock originates from Oriental region and the historical biogeography and evolutionary and ecological implications are discussed.


From its first appearance nearly two hundred years ago, the genre of crime fiction has had a compulsive hold on the imagination of audiences all around the world. Many different detectives have appeared: from the plodding policemen (and a few -women) of the nineteenth century, to the heroic detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe; and on to the innovative investigators who, in recent years, have embodied the concerns of newly-heard social forces - detectives who are feminist, Afro-American, lesbian, gay, and even postmodern.

Stephen Knight's fascinating book is a full analytic survey of crime fiction from its origins in the nineteenth century to the most recent developments. Knight explains how and why the various forms of the genre have evolved, explores major authors and movements, and examines the work of many little-known writers of significance. Drawing on the insights of the best scholarship and criticism, both traditional and up-to-date, Knight argues that the genre as a whole has three parts - the early development of Detection, the growing emphasis on Death, and the modern celebration of Diversity.

With full references, and written in a highly readable style, this is the essential guide to a popular and enduring genre - a must-have for readers of crime fiction everywhere!


Clusters of 512 SF6 molecules in their condensed phases are simulated by molecular dynamics on the DAP computers, using a Lennard-Jones rigid-molecule model. The results are presented in the form of orientational distribution plots (dot-plots) and powder diffraction patterns. As the clusters approach melting, the outermost two molecular layers appear to melt first. Cooling the melt gives rise only to a glassy phase. However, nucleation can be identified in a cluster being cooled from the plastic phase, showing that the growth of the true crystal is initiated in the inner regions of the cluster. The crystalline clusters form generally as polycrystals, often bi-crystals, and these can be classified in terms of three different types of pseudo-twins. Attempts to anneal these clusters to give perfect single crystals failed below 100 K, and even above 100 K annealing tended to produce the more stable forms of pseudo-twin. Smaller clusters of 128 molecules readily formed perfect single crystals ; the simulation of clusters substantially larger than 512 would be computationally very demanding.


The charge-simulation technique is applied to solve the Poissonian field problem, which is governed by Poisson's equation, the equation for current density, and the current continuity condition in transmission line arrangements. These include the coaxial cylinder arrangement, the monopolar line with single and bundle conductors, and the homopolar line with single conductors. The surface charge on the stressed conductor as well as the charge in the space around it are represented by a discrete set of unknown infinite line charges. Satisfying properly chosen boundary conditions at the transmission line conductors results in a system of algebraic equations whose iterative solution evaluates the unknown line charges. Having determined these unknowns, the potential, electric field and volume charge density can be calculated everywhere between the stressed conductor and the ground plane. The I-V characteristic was evaluated for the investigated arrangements and agreed satisfactorily with those reported earlier.


The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of how to measure the impact of information management (IM), to demonstrate its added value. The study is undertaken within UK local government and seeks to introduce an outcomes based way of thinking, mainly through the application of Outcomes Mapping (OM), taken from the overseas development arena. The organisation participating in this research believes that IM is of value but is unable to make explicit its contribution towards organisational outcomes. [Continues.]


Changes in matrix texture of chalk are observed in the walls of normal faults, with a decrease in porosity and pore-sizes, mainly due to pressure-solution and cementation. A closer analysis of a 50 mm thick fringe along a fault plane using SEM and image analysis indicates the possible formation of wall-like structures partitioning the medium and of few large pores forming channels. A method of 3D reconstruction of porous media is applied in order to quantify the geometrical properties and to predict macroscopic transport properties such as permeability. The strained material forms a sort of barrier, with a lowered permeability, between the unstrained material (50 mm from the fault plane) and the faulted material (5 mm from the fault plane). The latter displays heterogeneous permeabilities which seem to be randomly distributed.


Behavior of mucus glycoproteins in tracheal secretory cells after treatment with pilocarpine was investigated histologically and histochemically using the isolated canine trachea. Following pilocarpine treatment, the number of total and neutral glycoprotein-containing goblet cells was reduced concentration-dependently. The number of acid glycoprotein (AGP)-containing goblet cells was not altered with 10(-7) and 10(-6) M pilocarpine, but significantly decreased with 10(-5) and 10(-4) M pilocarpine. The thickness of the acini of submucosal glands significantly decreased, and the ratio of acinar inner diameter to tracheal wall thickness increased in 10(-5) and 10(-4) M pilocarpine. AGP content in glandular cells increased in 10(-7) and 10(-6) M pilocarpine, but markedly decreased at concentrations of 10(-5) and 10(-4) M. Pilocarpine treatment caused an increase in N-acetylhexosamine concentration in the incubation fluid. Total saccharide concentration in the incubation fluid decreased in 10(-7) and 10(-6) M pilocarpine, but was not apparently altered at concentrations of 10(-5) and 10(-4) M. These findings suggest that lower concentrations of pilocarpine stimulate synthesis of AGP in goblet and glandular cells much more preferentially than it stimulates discharge of AGP from the cells. While at higher concentrations, the AGP-discharge effect overcomes the stimulation in synthesis.


The author of paper [1] presents a brief tutorial on phased arrays of overlapped subarrays, and gives a review of some recent publications on this subject. Of course, the indicated paper can be useful for students and beginning engineers having no experience in the area in question. However, the author of these comments would like to bring the attention of the author of [1] and of the readers to the existence of some publications having direct respect to the subject of [1] but missed in review there.


Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitously present in the environment and suspected of carcinogenic, neurological, and immunological effects. Our purpose was to identify predictors of adipose tissue levels of mono-, di-, and tri-ortho-substituted PCBs experienced by a general population and to establish whether predictors vary according to substitution group. In this study of 245 randomly selected persons from a prospective Danish cohort of 57,053 persons, we examined geographical area, age, lactation, BMI, and intake of eight major dietary groups as potential determinants of adipose concentrations of mono-, di-, and tri-ortho-substituted PCBs by linear regression analyses. Lactation, BMI, and intake of fruit, vegetables, and dairy products showed negative associations with PCB concentrations in adipose tissue in all models, and living in Copenhagen city, age, and consumption of fish (particularly fatty fish) were positively associated. The associations between several of the predictors and mono-ortho-substituted PCBs tended to differ from the associations found for di- and tri-ortho-substituted PCBs. In conclusion, geography, age, lactation, BMI, and consumption of fatty fish consistently predicted the concentration of PCBs in adipose tissue. Our results indicate that predictors of PCBs varied according to substitution group, suggesting that ortho-substituted groups should be analyzed separately.


For persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), comprehensive multidisciplinary care can effectively improve overall quality of life from diagnosis to end of life [16]. Considering the rapidly progressive loss in overall function experienced by persons with ALS, it is essential to provide comprehensive multidisciplinary care, including Assistive Technology (AT) services, in an effective and efficient manner. AT is an important adjunctive therapy for people with neurological disability. For people with complex conditions, access to a comprehensive AT clinic can be the best way to access these tools. Unfortunately, few medical centers have invested in AT clinics, and managers may not understand how to go about developing AT resources at their facility. This article chronicles the step-by-step development of The Johns Hopkins Assistive Technology Clinic for persons with ALS. It offers background evidence, the process of program development, and insight into the experience of professional accountability of one occupational therapist turned AT Director. It also details descriptions of the stakeholders and their roles in the development process, funding and ethical considerations, and barriers to implementation. It is hoped that this may provide guidance for teams who may wish to build AT facilities in their own practice settings.


We report a high power, narrow linewidth, linearly polarized, MOPA based fiber laser at 1064.46 nm with 520W average power, 30 GHz linewidth, 18 dB polarization extinction ratio, 88.7% slope efficiency, and diffraction-limited beam quality.


The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published new rules defining conflict of interests between drug companies and medical researchers and clinicians. Certain financial arrangements will need to be disclosed, although the FDA estimates that only one to ten percent of pharmaceutical companies will need to submit disclosures for one or more of their investigators. The purpose of the new rule is to prevent bias in safety and efficacy studies of drugs and medical devices. The full rule is published in the Federal Register.


Recent advances in environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) provide a non-invasive way to evaluate the intraspecific diversity of aquatic macro-organisms. However, many erroneous sequences included in HTS data are detected as false positive haplotypes; therefore, reliable strategies are necessary to eliminate them for evaluation of the intraspecific diversity using eDNA analysis. In this study, we propose an approach combining the denoising using amplicon sequence variant (ASV) method and the removal of haplotypes based on detection rates. A mixture of rearing water including nine haplotypes of Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis) mitochondrial D-loop region was used as an eDNA sample, and the 15 replicates of sequencing libraries were prepared. All library replications were sequenced by HTS, and the total number of detected true haplotypes and false positive haplotypes were compared with and without the denoising using the ASV method. As a result, the use of the ASV method considerably reduced the number of false positive haplotypes from 5,692 to 31, and it detected 8/9 true haplotypes. In addition, eight true haplotypes were detected in all 15 library replicates; however, false positive haplotypes had various detection rates from 1/15 to 15/15. Thus, by removing haplotypes with lower detection rates than 15/15, the number of false positive haplotypes were more reduced from 31 to seven. The approach proposed in this study successfully eliminated most of false positive haplotypes in the HTS data obtained from eDNA samples, which allowed us to improve the detection accuracy for evaluating intraspecific diversity using eDNA analysis


Tetrandrine (TET) is an alkaloid extracted from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant. It exerts remarkable anticancer activity and induces apoptotic cell death in various human cancer cells. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of TET on the inhibition of tumor growth and the induction of apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer in xenograft mice. Tumor weight and volume were measured. The histopathological changes in the tumor tissue were observed. Immunohistochemistry analysis of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) and B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (Bcl-2) was carried out. The expression of apoptosis-associated genes and proteins, such as cysteine aspartic acid-specific protease-3 (Caspase-3), Survivin, Bax, Bcl-2, BH3-interacting domain death agonist (Bid), and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. TET inhibited tumor growth and induced apoptosis in TNBC cell line MDA-MB-231. The mechanism underlying this effect might be mediated by TET-upregulated Caspase-3, Bax, and Bid and downregulated by Bcl-2, Survivin, and PARP. Taken together, this study supported the fact that TET is a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of TNBC, thereby providing experimental evidence for its use in the treatment of breast cancer.


In 1606, Claudio Acquaviva received the results of an enquiry into the state of spiritual health of the Society of Jesus: the De detrimentis Societatis. It revealed the main threats and weaknesses to which the Jesuit order was exposed. Generally speaking, the report De detrimentis Societatis laid bare a Society suffering from a kind of pubertal crisis.2 True to its mission of reconciling the active and the contemplative life, the young Society now felt itself torn between the opposites of its ideal. From the earliest days, the gradual institutionalization of the order and the endless flow of administrative norms produced for the sake of its global governance had irritated the more spiritually minded followers of Ignatius.3 Debates over the right interpretation of the Constitutions, the legal statutes of the Jesuit order, were fierce4. Jesuits were so good at counselling businessmen about the moral pitfalls involved in trading, that they became exposed to this risk themselves. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Claudio Acquaviva found that the overextension of the Jesuits' "out-reach" (effusio ad exteriora) was posing threats to the spiritual identity of the Society itself. Tensions arose that stemmed not only from differences in character, race and nationality of individual members, but also from their worldly ambitions and heavy work schedules. The Jesuits were kept so busy saying Masses and performing pastoral duties that their inner relationship to God actually began to suffer from it. It was being reported that in France many Jesuits were more eager to concentrate on academic studies necessary for success in the outer world than to contemplate true Christian doctrine. A lot of them had become experts in legal, economic and political affairs, but their hearts often seemed to have turned away from God.


To The Editor:

In his address to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, "The Academy on the Edge: Taking Charge of Our Future," which was read at their Annual Meeting in 2001 and appeared in The Journal (2001;83:946-50), Dr. Richard Gelberman reported that black men over the age of sixty-five are 50% to 75% less likely to have a total hip replacement but are 35% more likely to have hip osteoarthritis than are white men. The reduced rate of hip replacement surgery to treat osteoarthritis in American black men can be confirmed by Medicare data. However, the excessive rate of hip osteoarthritis among black men 1, which was based on the findings in a cohort of North Carolina people enlisted to study osteoarthritis, is not in agreement with the findings of other studies 2 on this disease.

In the landmark population studies of osteoarthritis that were initiated by Kellgren and Lawrence 3 in the early 1960s, moderate and severe osteoarthritis of the hip was found to affect 3% to 12% of white Europeans. However, in other population studies 3-5, the prevalence of hip osteoarthritis in South African blacks, Jamaicans, Nigerians, and Liberians was found to be only 1%.

Primary osteoarthritis of the hip has been proven to be a genetic disease 6,7, with a heritability of 60%, which was based on the findings of studies comparing concordance rates between white (British and American) monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The virtual absence of this disease among Hong Kong Chinese …


The method described here employs a high-content cell-based assay format for the detection of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) to panitumumab, a fully human monoclonal antagonistic antibody to the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor in human serum (screening assay). A specificity assay was also developed and qualified to confirm that the neutralizing activity was attributable to the presence of NAbs and not due to serum interference (serum interference assay). The ArrayScan IV HCS reader was used for the measurement of tyrosine phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and STAT-1 redistribution between the cytoplasm and nucleus in the human epidermoid carcinoma cell line A431. Assay conditions were developed by (1) optimizing the response of the A431 cells to recombinant human EGF in pooled human serum, (2) evaluating the ability of panitumumab to inhibit the EGF response, and (3) assessing the assay's sensitivity for detecting a positive control affinity purified rabbit polyclonal anti-panitumumab antibody. Panitumumab dose-dependently inhibited 4 ng/mL EGF, and the positive control antibody showed a dose-dependent neutralization of 50 ng/mL panitumumab. The experiments indicated that in comparison to STAT-1 translocation, EGFR phosphorylation was the optimal endpoint for the screening and serum interference assays. Assay cut points were derived for the screening and serum interference assays by obtaining normalized ratios of mean fluorescence intensity values obtained with EGFR phosphorylation by testing sera from healthy human donor sera. The assay sensitivity was determined to be 0.125 µg/mL for the positive control antibody.


The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teacher characteristics on students' performance in Kiswahili subject in Secondary schools in Kenya. This research focused on teacher characteristics in education, more so in Kiswahili language. Every year results in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations depict different achievements by students in Kiswahili subject. This raises mixed reactions from teachers, parents and other stakeholders. Nevertheless, it is this disparity in students' performance that made the researcher interested in determining its cause. This research therefore aimed at determining if teacher characteristics predicts students' performance. The study objective was to find out how teacher characteristics of Kiswahili teachers in secondary schools influence students' performance in Kiswahili subject. This study was guided by the theory of Input and Output which was advanced by Psacharapoulos and Patrinos (2004). It states that input reflects output. The research adopted a case study design and used library and field research oriented methods. Purposive sampling technique was used to acquire data based on teacher characteristics such as experience, level of academic achievement, specialization in the areas of study, responsibility, teamwork, creativity and linguistic competence. The research was carried out in 12 schools of levels of national, county and sub-county, which were purposively sampled in Kakamega and Siaya counties. The research involved 36 secondary school teachers of which 3 teachers were selected from each school inclusive of the principal. In this research, 24 form four students were involved in the study representing 2 students from each of the schools selected. Different questionnaires and observation guides were used for the different categories of respondents. Statistically Quantitative data was analyzed by way of descriptive as well as inferential statistics by use of SPSS program and presented graphs, pie charts and tables of frequencies and percentages. The findings of the research showed that teachers 18 (79%) who posted good results exhibited three major characteristics, namely: teamwork, regular class attendance and good preparation before going to class. This research recommended that there was an urgent need by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the Ministry of Education to still hold seminars and workshops for Kiswahili teachers on effect of teacher qualities on student performance in Kiswahili in secondary schools in Kenya. Better still there is need for KICD to review the curriculum with the view of reducing workload and increasing time allocated for Kiswahili lessons in secondary schools in Kenya. Keywords: Teacher characteristics, Student Performance, Kiswalihi subject


Acyclic enynes undergo a tandem enyne metathesis/cyclopropanation sequence in the presence of Grubbs' 1st generation metathesis catalyst and diazo compounds. In practice, the acyclic substrates in the presence of the ruthenium alkylidene first undergo a ring-closing enyne metathesis to generate cyclic 1,3-dienes; then upon addition of a diazo compound, these products are cyclopropanated selectively at the more accessible olefin. Overall, the reaction sequence converts acyclic enynes into vinyl cyclopropanes in single operation through two unique ruthenium-catalyzed transformations.


This paper centers on the identification of sorne differences and similarities between the conceptions about scientific change as outlined by Karl Popper in the The rationality of the scientific revolutions and by Thomas Kuhn in The structure of the scientific revolutions. The review focuses particularly on view of each one about the evolutionist progress of science. In the last part of the review I refer to the point of view of Larry Laudan, as stated in Approaches of solution of problems to the scientific progress, which is a complementary and pluralist way of interpretation of scientific change. Although Laudan is very critic ofthem, he agrees in some key concepts by both authors.


The current application of QOL measurements and outcomes in managed care organizations is minimal, but potential applications are significant, since a fundamental goal of managed care is to optimize member/patient health, well-being, and satisfaction with efficient resource use. The challenge for researchers and clinicians in this field is to demonstrate the validity and value of a select number of instruments and to galvanize practicing physicians to put them to use in their practices. Managed care organizations would then use their influence over providers, including contract requirements and economic incentives, as well as their internal resources for data collection, analysis, and reporting, to push broader application and dissemination of QOL instruments.


Country brand equity (CBE) is expanding in theory and in practice; however, little has been published on its conceptualization. By incorporating 'reputation' into the place brand equity construct at a country level, we provide a theoretical multidimensional framework for CBE. Seventeen interviews with international researchers were undertaken for theory building. A seven-dimensional CBE framework was developed according to the interpretations of two constructs — country brand reputation ('share of experience') and country brand image ('share of mind') — along with country brand associations, country brand awareness, country brand loyalty, country brand perceived quality, and channel relationships. We conclude by outlining potential further research avenues and implications for managerial practice. These contributions may guide policymakers, government officials, executives, and scholars in maximizing the value of a place brand (e.g., country, region, or city) by focusing on 'reputation' as an added (qualitative and/or quantitative) construct. This study may also inspire insights into joint efforts of public and private strategies and actions on economic performance, consumer welfare, and business decisions for national prosperity.


Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) is poisonous to both human and animals often causing systemic and nervous damage. The possible neuroprotective activity of bromocriptine (BRC), a dopamine agonist and alpha-tocopherol (TOCO) against mercuric chloride intoxication was investigated. Forty-two rats were randomized into six groups for this study. Group1 rats served as control; Group 2, TOCO (500 mg/kg); Group 3, BRC (10mg/kg); Group 4, HgCl2 (4mg/kg); Group 5, BRC (10mg/kg) + HgCl2 (4mg/kg); Group 6, TOCO (500 mg/kg) + HgCl 2 (4mg/kg). HgCl2 and TOCO were administered with oral cannula for 14 days while BRC was given i.p. On day 15, behavioural studies were conducted and rats were euthanized by cervical dislocation the next day. Skulls were carefully dissected open and brains carefully extracted, rinsed, blotted with filter paper, weighed and fixed in 10% formalin. The cerebellum was separated from the brain and processed for paraffin wax embedment and slides stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin. There was significant difference in body weight of rats of TOCO group when compared with control. Behavioural results showed that HgCl2 treatment significantly (p<0.05) reduced the number of lines crossed, vertical movement (rearing) and forelimb grip when compared with the control. These parameters were significantly (p<0.05) elevated by BRC+HgCl2 treatment demonstrating the ameliorative effect of BRC co-treatment with HgCl2. The forelimb grip strength was elevated by BRC treatment while HgCl2 treatment elevated the duration recorded for negative geotaxis. Histological studies demonstrated degenerated Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum of HgCl2 -treated rats confirming neural damage. Mercuric chloride caused behavioural alterations in rats and was also toxic to rat Purkinje neurons. Both effects were mitigated by bromocriptine and alpha-tocopherol. Keywords : Bromocriptine, alpha-tocopherol, mercuric chloride, Purkinje neurons, neuroprotection


Currently, there is an extensive set of bankruptcy prediction models, but almost all of them are classification based, i.e., they allow to estimate the posterior probability that a particular firm will fail, given its financial characteristics. The expected time to failure is not considered explicitly. On the other hand, there is a survival analysis that deals with the time of the occurrence of the event of interest (while this event may not occur during observation). However, despite its popularity in the medical and technical sciences, survival analysis is relatively rarely used in predicting financial failure. Even when it is applied, most authors use the simplest form of a model. The goal of our work is to evaluate the applicability of survival analysis to bankruptcy prediction. We compare a few state-of-art statistical and machine learning models using a real dataset. Our findings confirm that survival analysis allows (1) to extract from given data valuable information regarding the dynamics of risks and (2) to estimate the impact of features.


Nowadays many people are aware of the importance of protecting the environment. The fashion industry became one of the contributors to environmental damage, especially with the emergence of fast fashion which has a shorter life cycle that leads to water pollution, carbon emission, and waste problem. The emergence of criticism makes the fast fashion industry make more eco-friendly products. Unfortunately, many big brands do greenwashing which misleads consumers with their label of "eco-friendly". That is why this research is done to know Indonesian people greenwashing perception of one of the big fast fashion brands by looking at their gender, age, and education. Using a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, 86 respondents were gathered. A descriptive analysis was done with the result that both gender females and males have the equal perception of greenwashing. People with the age of 22-32 and 33-40 have more positive greenwashing perception, and people with bachelor's degree have more positive greenwashing perceptions. The research shows that Indonesian people are aware of greenwashing especially with the young people.


The growth in distorting loads has given an interest in the design of three-wire active power filters, switching circuits which can be installed in an installation and generate harmonic currents to neutralize the loads' distorting current. With no neutral, the currents have two degrees of freedom and can be represented by two-dimensional (2-D) vectors. This approach leads to a control strategy which can compensate for balanced three-phase distorting loads. However, there has been a growth of single-phase distorting loads which give large neutral currents at triplen frequencies and which cannot be dealt with by the three-wire active power filter control. This paper reports the development of a three-dimensional (3-D) vector treatment of unbalanced three-phase circuits which can be used instead for the development of a control strategy. Simulation studies show that the control is effective, not only for the removal of harmonics, but also for the compensation of fundamental unbalance currents.


The service life of critical aerospace components is governed by the modes of degradation and failure such as: yielding, fatigue, fracture, creep, corrosion, wear, etc. A single disc is used for over-speed and burst-speed tests to know the growths (plastic deformation). In this paper, a cyclic symmetry sector of disc model with non linear elastic-plastic material is considered. A non-linear finite element method is utilized to determine the stress and strain state of the disc under over-speed and burst-speed conditions using material stress strain curves.Permanent growths and strains obtained from the over-speed analysis are incorporated in the burst-speed Finite element Model. The original stress strain curve used in over-speed analysis is modified with plastic strain and used in burst-speed analysis of same disc.Elastic strains obtained from the over-speed and burst-speed analysis are utilized in stress strain relationship equations to calculate the permanent growths at critical locations of disc.Growths predicted from Analysis are comparable with the experimental results of disc where a maximum variation of 11% at bore and rim of disc is observed.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


In this review of Jonathan Harvey's In Quest of Spirit: Thoughts on Music, special attention is given to the question of how the musical domain may be related to the spiritual one, e.g. by representation ('giving a picture', 'portrayal'), symbolism, parallelism, mediation and 'overlap'. Harvey's sources and personal experiences are discussed, and the relationships between the different parts the author plays in his book assessed: the spiritual seeker, the thinker about music, and the composer. A possible conflict between spiritual search and professional music composition is pointed out, given an implicit tendency in the former to surrender, and in the latter to mastery and control. One of the questions looked into is how music, especially by articulating contrasts, may convey insight into 'unity'. Other issues discussed are the possible addiction to music as a spiritual means at the expense of the spiritual quest itself; the alleged special role of electronics and spectrality in the composition of spiritual music; the possibility of developing spiritual listening; and possible modernist overtones in the notion of making progress as a composer while mediating spiritual insights and experiences.


Germline stem cells (GSCs) in Caenorhabditis elegans are maintained by GLP-1/Notch signaling from the niche and by a downstream RNA regulatory network. Loss of the GLP-1 receptor causes GSCs to precociously undergo meiotic differentiation, the "Glp" phenotype, due to a failure to self-renew. lst-1 and sygl-1 are functionally redundant direct targets of GLP-1 signaling whose gene products work with PUF RNA binding proteins to promote GSC self-renewal. Whereas single loss-of-function mutants are fertile, lst-1 sygl-1 double mutants are sterile and Glp. We set out to identify genes that function redundantly with either lst-1 or sygl-1 to maintain GSCs. To this end, we conducted forward genetic screens for Glp mutants in genetic backgrounds lacking functional copies of either lst-1 or sygl-1. The screens generated nine glp-1 alleles, two lst-1 alleles, and one allele of pole-1, which encodes the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase ε. Three glp-1 alleles reside in Ankyrin (ANK) repeats not previously mutated. pole-1 single mutants have a low penetrance Glp that is enhanced by loss of either lst-1 or sygl-1. Thus, the screen uncovered one locus that interacts genetically with both lst-1 and sygl-1 and generated useful mutations for further studies of GSC regulation.


In a thin film of an oxadiazole-based liquid crystal, 2,5-bis(4-octadecyloxybenzilidene-4-aminophenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 1, fairly high electron mobility enhanced by molecular orientation was observed; electron mobility in the glassy liquid crystalline film of oxadiazole 1 was 3.6 × 10−5cm2V−1s−1 at an electric field of 2 × 105 Vcm−1 at room temperature, and the value was about ten times that in the isotropic glassy film of oxadiazole 1.


Abstract To localize a rover on small planetary body, a method using round-trip propagation delay of radio waves is most promising. In order to improve the estimation accuracy, it is necessary to estimate rotational motion of the small planetary body. A method of localization has been expanded to estimate also the rotational parameters of the small planetary body. The expanded problem includes complex nonlinear and dynamical issues that it cannot be solved analytically. So, the estimation problem has been formulated as an optimization problem to minimize the loss function defined based on the estimation errors derived in comparison with actual measurement data. A solution for the optimization problem has been proposed, which uses Powell's conjugate direction method for local searches. Although this solution does not require calculation of derivatives, it requires a large amount of computation since several forward calculations of the state are required for each minimum search. In this paper, a method to select measurement data is described, which provides as accurate estimation as the original results with reducing the computational amount. The main idea of selection is to conserve the sensitivity of the measurement data. The proposed method to select data is compared with the results using the decimated data of equal interval. Simulation results and experimental results are shown to evaluate computational reduction and estimation accuracy.


Vaginal discharge in prepubescent girls is not an uncommon problem in pediatric outpatient practice. Among its various etiologies, foreign body lodgement is quite frequent in this age group. Diagnosis is sometimes forthcoming after history and physical exam, and the removal of the foreign object is followed by a prompt resolution of symptoms. However, in rare circumstances, an intravaginal foreign body may mimic other pathologies, including infections and neoplasms, as well as raising suspicion for child abuse. In such cases, diagnosis may remain unclear even after laboratory tests and imaging studies. We describe a seven-year-old girl with vaginal discharge, who needed inpatient admission, multiple imaging studies and, finally, exploration under anesthesia to confirm the diagnosis of foreign body (fecal mass) lodgement and its removal. This is a very rare case where the lodgement of an intravaginal fecal mass in a child led to such protracted symptoms requiring extensive diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers, in the absence of any structural abnormality of the urogenital tract.


Retroperitoneal hematoma occurs rarely in an obstetric patient. Renal hematoma may present with signs and symptoms, which may mimic the clinical presentation of abruptio placentae or rupture uterus. Although renal hematoma is sometimes a surgical emergency due to hypovolemic shock, conservative management by angiographic embolization may be done. Timely diagnosis and management is required to decrease the maternal mortality and morbidity. We hereby report a case of spontaneous renal hematoma in a patient with severe pre-eclampsia who presented with acute abdomen and intrauterine fetal death.


We present new results with a prototype detector that is being developed by the DMTPC collaboration for the measurement of the direction tag ('head-tail') of dark matter wind. We use neutrons from a 252Cf source to create low-momentum nuclear recoils in elastic scattering with the residual gas nuclei. The recoil track is imaged in low-pressure time-projection chamber with optical readout. We measure the ionization rate along the recoil trajectory, which allows us to determine the direction tag of the incoming neutrons.


The shipping industry constantly strives to improve – allowing productivity and sustainability to be tapped in the best possible way. The concept of sail-assisted propulsion of modern ships is a major step in that direction. It basically adds the natural advantage of direction-dependent wind force to the conventional primary drive in the form of a diesel engine. The idea of using sails and natural wind as a means of transport is richly derived from maritime history. An effective combination with modern technology would massively help in economic ship transportation with largely reduced carbon footprints. This thesis is a step closer to that goal. The focus here is to describe the added wave resistance acting on a sail-assisted ship model, Ecoliner. There are two major technical aspects to this general situation: 1) description of the hydrostatic stability and response of sails to winds 2) the hydrodynamic investigation of loads effects on the hull Point 2 is the obvious focus of attention in this work. This thesis is a follow-up of an experiment done at TU Delft, November 2013 to determine the influence of heel and leeway on added wave resistance on the said ship model. Diffraction method based numerical analyses have been carried out to establish the added resistance for three different ship heel angles and three leeway angles over two different sailing speeds. Validation of the performed experiment is done as well as new findings regarding the sensitivity of the model variables are reported. The highest leeway angle of 9 degrees, in particular, is seen to have a significant effect in the increasing the added resistance. This effect was previously not captured by experiments and helps give an overview on which parameters the Ecoliner ship's performance is more sensitive to. Effect of constraining or allowing roll is also found to be an especially important parameter. The margin of difference between analysis and experiment results improves by about 20 to 25\% after a proper analysis of roll hydrodynamics and putting that factor in. This work will hopefully be a stepping stone in further research endeavours in this field concerning optimizing Ecoliner as an end market product. Recommendations are given in this report for specific follow-up work in both the analytical as well as the experimental domain for the hull-related study.


Depression is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and economic cost. Although effective pharmacologic therapy has been available for nearly 40 years, most patients have been treated inadequately. The side effects associated with available antidepressants usually led to subtherapeutic dosing, premature discontinuation of therapy, or lack of patient compliance. The introduction in 1988 of fluoxetine hydrochloride, the first selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSUI) or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) available in the United States, represented a major advance in the pharmacologic management of depression. Large-scale trials showed fluoxetine to be as effective as existing agents, but because of its selectivity, the side effects of fluoxetine treatment are generally mild and transient and rarely cause premature discontinuation of therapy. In clinical trials approximately twice as many patients discontinue treatment because of side effects with tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) as with fluoxetine. In contrast to older agents fluoxetine requires no titration and can be dosed once daily. It is also safer in overdose than TCAs. Numerous clinical trials and widespread postintroduction clinical experience have demonstrated the advantages of fluoxetine compared with older antidepressants. It may also have some advantages over the two SSUIs that have followed thus far, sertraline and paroxetine, although comparative trials will be required to resolve this issue.


The binding of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) to a cell-surface receptor for AGEs (RAGE) induces the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have been causally implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular complications. Pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) contains, a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound reported to possess potent radical-scavenging and antioxidant properties and to display significant cardiovascular protective action. In this study, we investigated whether PFE could inhibit glycated protein-iron chelate-induced toxicity by interfering with ROS generation in human umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Glycated fetal bovine serum (GFBS) was prepared by incubating fetal bovine serum (FBS) with high-concentration glucose. Stimulation of cultured HUVECs with 50 mM 1 ml of GFBS significantly enhanced lipid peroxidation and decreased antioxidant enzyme activities and levels of phase II enzymes. However, preincubation of the cultures with PFE resulted in a marked decrease in the level of lipid peroxide (LPO) and increase in the levels of antioxidant enzymes in a PFE concentration-dependent manner. These results demonstrate that PFE could inhibit LPO and enhance the antioxidant enzyme status in GFBS-iron chelate exposed endothelial cells by suppressing ROS generation, thereby limiting the effects of the AGE-RAGE interaction. Hence, PFE may have therapeutic potential in the prevention and treatment of vascular complications in diabetic patients.


: Taxes are one of the great sources of wealth for the states of Indonesia that are used for expenditure in order to transfer people. Some factors that influenced taxation are tax sanctions and services. This research is a quantitative study. The population is the research is the taxpayer body registered at KPP Pratama Surabaya Karangpilang. The data used are primary data with data collection techniques using questionnaires. The samples used in this study were about 98 taxpayers using sampling techniques incidental sampling. Analytical techniques used Partial Least Square (Smart PLS). The results of this study show that tax sanctions have a positive effect on the compliance of corporate taxpayers. The second result indicated that tax services by the KPP have a negative effect on the relationship between tax sanctions and taxpayers' compliance. Based on these results, the implication for KPP is to enforce the tax sanction for corporate taxpayers to be more compliant in paying their taxes. However, tax services need to be identified and customized to the corporate taxpayer's needs, so that tax services will have an impact on corporate compliance in paying taxes.


Objective To ascertain whether use of the term "obs stable" with respect to the nursing observations is so liberal as to render it meaningless. Design Retrospective study. Setting Three teaching hospitals in London, United Kingdom. Methods We searched progress notes for the current admission of 46 inpatients for entries containing the phrases "obs stable" and "observations stable," and reviewed the nursing observations recorded during the 24 hour period preceding each entry containing at least one phrase. We calculated the frequency of abnormalities and of persistent abnormalities (defined as occurring in every observation) observed during these 24 hour periods, and the range of observation values over a 24 hour period if at least two observations had been recorded. Results We found at least one entry in 36 (78%) progress notes (95% confidence interval 66% to 90%). Observations in the 24 hours preceding an entry included at least one abnormality for 113 (71%) of 159 cases and at least one persistent abnormality for 31 (19%). The most frequently occurring abnormalities were tachypnoea (respiratory rate ≥20 breaths/min) and hypotension (systolic blood pressure <100 mm Hg). An abnormality occurred in the observations immediately preceding an entry in 42% of cases. Mean ranges of observations over 24 hours were within the limits of normal diurnal variation, although we found that some instances of greater than normal variability were described as "stable." Conclusions The expression "obs stable" does not reliably indicate normal observations or variations in observations within physiological limits. Doctors should avoid using the expression altogether or clarify it with further information.


In this paper, the robust control problem for spacecraft formation flying in virtual structure algorithm is addressed. The effects of external disturbances, model uncertainties, sensor noises and actuator saturation are taken into account. A robust controller based on μ-Synthesis is first designed to overcome the environmental disturbances. To obtain a control law with lower order, an H∞-based LMI controller is designed, using the linearized model with uncertainties. Then, a robust adaptive controller, based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, is presented to overcome a broader range of model uncertainties, which also guarantees the stability. From a comparison viewpoint, the numerical results are also demonstrated to show the performance of the robust controllers in tracking the desired attitude and position.