The technique of Flow Cytometry for activation of basophils (TAB), expressed as the marker CD63, is at present one of the pathways of research applied to drug allergy. In this work are reported the results of TAB of Pneumoallergens and Hymenoptera venoms. TAB can define better than total IgE the atopy of the subject: in effect the fluorescence of the basophils is emphasized in comparison with non-atopic subjects. This hypothesis has been confirmed by a study of three groups of subjects. With regard to drug allergy, it is important to study patients in whom the observations have been documented very objectively by clinical history and positive skin tests to the drug, compared with a negative reference to the same drug. So, TAB has been shown to be very useful in diagnosis of allergy to certain drugs, such as the Myorelaxants.


Unlike traditional biosensors, based on the unique specificity endowed by the intrinsic characteristics of biological recognition elements, the greatest advantage of whole-cell biosensors is in the global nature of their responses. To assay the potential biological effects of a sample on a live system, one needs a live system as a part of the testing protocol. There are many good reasons to avoid the use of live animals for this purpose, and one of the most promising alternatives is the use of natural or genetically engineered microorganisms that respond to predetermined types of biological effects or classes of chemicals. While some of the specificity characterizing molecule-based biosensors may be lost, it is more than compensated for by the fact that by using live cells we are able to detect, by very simple means, very complex series of reactions that can exist only in an intact, functioning cell. Only a sensor of this type can report on the "well-being" of a system, on the toxicity of a sample, the genotoxicity of a chemical, or the bioavailability of a pollutant. No molecular recognition or chemical analysis can provide this type of information.

Genetically engineered whole-cell biosensors are usually constructed from a recognition/sensing element that drives a reporting element within a live host cell. To constitute a biosensor, such cells need to be incorporated into a solid platform and coupled into a signal transduction apparatus that will detect, amplify, and translate the biological signal emitted in response to the target conditions. The potential options for selecting and combining these four building blocks—sensor, reporter, cell, and hardware—are numerous. Some of these combinations are described in this chapter.

Keywords:

biosensors;
bioluminescence;
fluorescence;
genotoxicity;
pollution monitoring;
toxicity;
whole-cell biosensors


OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the Bloemfontein academic hospitals during the past 21 years.

DESIGN
Descriptive, retrospective study of clinical records of all CLL patients diagnosed at the Haematology clinics of the Universitas and Pelonomi Hospitals in Bloemfontein from 1975 to 1996.

METHODS
Age, sex and race distribution of CLL patients were analysed. The peripheral blood, bone marrow, clinical presentation and stage at time of diagnosis, were studied. Treatment modalities, response to treatment and survival of patients were also analysed. Categorical variables were summarised by frequencies and percentages, and numerical variables by means of percentiles. Subgroup comparisons were done by 95% confidence intervals (CI) for differences in percentages, medians or means.

RESULTS
A total of 185 CLL patients were studied. There were more males (62.7%) than females and the mean age of the patients was 63 years (19 to 98 years). Eighty six percent of the patients were older than 50 years. Racial distribution was as follow: 106 White, 77 Black and two patients of mixed race. Black patients more often presented with advanced disease and higher lymphocyte counts. A response to therapy was noted for 118 (82.5%) of the 143 patients who received treatment. A complete remission or partial response was noted for 38 (32.2%) of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS
The presentation of CLL in the Bloemfontein academic hospitals is similar to what is seen world-wide. This is the first study describing CLL in a large number of Black patients and demonstrates that although Black patients presented more often at a younger age and had high risk disease, their clinical course and progression according to stage, also correlated with what is described in the literature.


Japanese encephalitis (JE) is one of severe viral encephalitis that affects individuals in Asia, western Pacific countries, and northern Australia. Although 67,900 JE cases have been estimated among 24 JE epidemic countries annually. Japanese encephalitis epidemics have been reported in many parts of the India. The incidence has been reported to be high among pediatric group with high mortality. The incidence of JE in recent times is showing an increasing trend, it claims 1495 lives in 2014 in India. The MRI is an important tool for establishing the diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis and it helps to differentiate from other viral encephalitis. In this paper Particle filtering approach is used to segment the brain MR image of JE victim and its volumetric analysis is performed. This analysis play important role for neurologist for early detection of JE. KeywordsJapanese encephalitis; newborn; particle filter, MRI, segmentation.


Capabilities of a newly completed terminal-area air traffic control system are discussed, in terms of recent theories of flow control. Adaptability of the system to gain the benefits of early arrival scheduling, time separation, sequencing, schedule resolution, shortest common path, dual and crossing runways is described. The author defends close-control vectoring as the only means to achieving both improved safety and increased traffic rate and discusses the system's philosophy of increasing precision with decreasing range. Getting back to the pilot, means by which the system simplifies approach procedures, reduces congestion aloft, and provides continuous radar tracking are also discussed.


Characterizing the scaling with the total particle number ($N$) of the largest eigenvalue of the one--body density matrix ($\lambda_0$), provides informations on the occurrence of the off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO) according to the Penrose-Onsager criterion. Setting $\lambda_0\sim N^{\mathcal{C}_0}$, then $\mathcal{C}_0=1$ corresponds to ODLRO. The intermediate case, $0<\mathcal{C}_0<1$, corresponds for translational invariant systems to the power-law decaying of (non-connected) correlation functions and it can be seen as identifying quasi-long-range order. The goal of the present paper is to characterize the ODLRO properties encoded in $\mathcal{C}_0$ [and in the corresponding quantities $\mathcal{C}_{k \neq 0}$ for excited natural orbitals] exhibited by homogeneous interacting bosonic systems at finite temperature for different dimensions. We show that $\mathcal{C}_{k \neq 0}=0$ in the thermodynamic limit. In $1D$ it is $\mathcal{C}_0=0$ for non-vanishing temperature, while in $3D$ $\mathcal{C}_0=1$ ($\mathcal{C}_0=0$) for temperatures smaller (larger) than the Bose-Einstein critical temperature. We then focus our attention to $D=2$, studying the $XY$ and the Villain models, and the weakly interacting Bose gas. The universal value of $\mathcal{C}_0$ near the Berezinskii--Kosterlitz--Thouless temperature $T_{BKT}$ is $7/8$. The dependence of $\mathcal{C}_0$ on temperatures between $T=0$ (at which $\mathcal{C}_0=1$) and $T_{BKT}$ is studied in the different models. An estimate for the (non-perturbative) parameter $\xi$ entering the equation of state of the $2D$ Bose gases, is obtained using low temperature expansions and compared with the Monte Carlo result. We finally discuss a double jump behaviour for $\mathcal{C}_0$, and correspondingly of the anomalous dimension $\eta$, right below $T_{BKT}$ in the limit of vanishing interactions.


Despite the significant progress of deep learning based speech separation methods, it remains challenging to extract and track the speech from target speakers, especially in a single-channel multiple speaker situation. Previously, the authors proposed a source-aware context network to exploit the temporal context in mixtures and estimated sources for online speech separation. In this paper, we propose a speaker-aware approach based on the source-aware context network structure, in which the speaker information is explicitly modeled by an auxiliary speaker identification branch. Then speech separation and speaker tracking can be jointly optimized by multi-task learning. Furthermore, we study the effectiveness of time-domain representation by proposing a raw sparse waveform encoder to preserve discriminative information. Experimental results on the WSJ0-2mix benchmark show that the proposed system significantly improves Signal-to-Distortion Ratio (SDR) performance.


Idiopathic right atrial dilatation is a rare and probably congenital malformation. Two new cases are reported, in an 18 months old infant and a six week old baby, both presenting with supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. Clinical examination was normal. Chest X-ray showed bulging of the right heart border and electrocardiography revealed partial right bundle branch block. The diagnosis was made by echocardiography which showed aneurysmal dilatation of the right atrium. There were no signs of valvular heart disease or of an intracardiac shunt; the septal tricuspid leaflet was in its normal position. M-mode recordings showed no signs of Ebstein's anomaly. The diagnosis was confirmed by cardiac catheterisation in the first case; this investigation seemed to be pointless in the second case. Both children experienced many episodes of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. The first developed tricuspid regurgitation but the second remains asymptomatic.


A benchmark for calculation of neutron transport through iron is now available based upon a rigorous Monte Carlo treatment of ENDF/B-IV and ENDF/B-V cross sections. The currents, flux, and dose (from monoenergetic 2, 14, and 40 MeV sources) have been tabulated at various distances through the slab using a standard energy group structure. This tabulation is available in a Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory report. The benchmark is simple to model and should be useful for verifying the adequacy of one-dimensional transport codes and multigroup libraries for iron. This benchmark also provides useful insights regarding neutron penetration through iron and displays differences in fluxes calculated with ENDF/B-IV and ENDF/B-V data bases. (GHT)


William Shakespeare remains literature's most referenced playwright, whilst Cormac McCarthy is regarded not only as one of America's greatest living authors, but as a creator of contemporary fiction that debunks and reconstructs notions of the violent origins and potential future of his nation. This paper presents an intertextual reading of McCarthy's 1985 novel, Blood Meridian, focusing on the principal antagonist, Judge Holden. Firstly, I will consider what parallels link Blood Meridian's central relationship between Holden and its protagonist, the kid, to Falstaff and Prince Hal's connection in 1 Henry IV and 2 Henry IV. My analysis will continue by moving to the final play of Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, Henry V. This section will involve close investigation of the novel's various Shakespearean allusions, references and evocations, which include Holden's misquotation of the play and Henry's address to the people of Harfleur in grotesquely violent terms. The final section will draw comparison between Holden and Lear, exploring McCarthy's image of 'some scurrilous king stripped of his vestiture and driven together with his fool in the wilderness to die' and Blood Meridian's dystopian landscape of inescapable oppression and dominance, which recall King Lear's blasted heath. My objective is not to catalogue the moments of Shakespearean occurrence that are visible in McCarthy's construction of Judge Holden, but to use this intertextual reading to address questions about the character's origins, history and motivations. Holden has received the most widespread critical attention of any Blood Meridian character, primarily because of his enigmatic roots in the novel, which McCarthy makes clear by saying that 'whatever his antecedents he was something wholly other than their sum, nor was there a system by which to divide him back to his origins for he would not go'. Is he, as the author's ambiguous representation suggests, beyond human categorisation or comprehension: more grandiose and ominous than the mere exponent of a crude hegemonic agenda, specific to his own historical setting? Or, to what extent can Holden be understood as a military leader with nationalistic motivations, inherently rooted in the language and setting of the post-Vietnam America in which McCarthy was writing, despite the novel's setting against the backdrop of historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s? Is he a meta-textual representation of McCarthy's own anxiety of influence, with Shakespeare's spectral 'ghost in our cultural machinery' haunting the author's confession that 'books are made out of books'?


Fertilization is a highly programmed process by which two radically different ceils, sperm and egg, unite to form a zygote, a cell with somatic chromosome numbers. The process is the net result of a complex sequence of molecular events that allow sperm to recognize and irreversibly bind to the egg's extracellular coat, the zona pellucida (ZP), undergo the acrosome reaction (AR), and fiise with the egg plasma membrane. The male gamete undergoes continuous morphological and biochemical modifications during sperm development in the testis, maturation in the epididymis, and capacitation in the female genital tract. Only the capacitated sperm are able to bind to the ZP, and undergo the signal transduction cascade that results in the exocytosis of acrosomal contents, i.e., induction of the AR. Accumulated evidence has helped consolidate the view that the carbohydrate recognizing receptor molecules (glycohydrolases, giycosyltransferases, and/or lectin-like molecules), present on the surface of capacitated spermatozoa, recognize and bind to the terminal sugar residue(s) of bioactive glycans (ligands) on the ZP, The carbohydrate-mediated adhesion event causes sperm to undergo the AR. The action of hydrolytic and proteolytic enzymes released during the AR, along with the enhanced thrust generated by the hyperactivated beat pattern of the bound spermatozoon, are important events that regulate sperm penetration through egg vestments. In this article, we have discussed extensive progress that has been made to enhance our understanding of molecules and molecular events that regulate fertilization.


In view of Min-Min algorithm prefers scheduling small tasks and Max-Min algorithm prefers scheduling big tasks led to the problem of load imbalance in cloud computing, a new algorithm named Min-Max is proposed. Min-Max makes good use of time of greedy strategy, small tasks and big tasks are put together for scheduling in order to solve the problem of load imbalance. Experimental results show that the Min-Max improves the utilization rate of the entire system and saves 9% of the overall execution time compared with Min-Min. As compared to Max-Min, Min-Max improves the utilization rate of the entire system and the total completion time and average response time are saved by 7% and 9%, re- spectively.


In children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) CD4 T-cell loss results in profound immunodeficiency and susceptibility to infection, however loss of CD4 Tcells can be partially reversed by antiretroviral therapy (ART). Although the Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy (CHER) trial demonstrated significant reduction in morbidity and mortality from early ART among South African infants, the immunological and virological mechanisms by which this survival advantage occurs are not completely understood. The work described here used stored specimens of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma from HIV-infected children in CHER and HIV-uninfected children from the Child Wellness Clinic, a cross-sectional study of healthy South African children. The overall aims were to explore the influence of HIV and ART on immunophenotypes, thymic and naive B-cell output, HIV serostatus and HIV proviral DNA. The main outcomes included: development of haematological and immunological reference ranges for South African children; and an observation of a naive/memory T-cell ratio of 1:1 within the first decade of life in South African children compared with the third decade in industrialised countries. Trajectories of thymic and naive Bcell output were created for healthy South African children. Overall early ART sustained thymic output and increased naive B-cell output in CHER participants compared to healthy controls. Higher CD4 counts were significantly associated with increased thymic output, and deferred/interrupted ART or poor clinical outcome were associated with lower thymic and naive B-cell output. Early ART and continuous HIV RNA suppression reduces HIV proviral DNA, however despite adequate viral suppression, immunological disturbances persist. Finally, almost half children receiving early ART were HIV-antibody seronegative by 2 years. These insights develop understanding of the interplay between the immunology and virology of HIV-infected children on ART, and could support further research to advance ART-strategies and optimise the immunological fitness and clinical health of HIV-infected children.


The phase behavior of lattice model dendrimers of generations from 2 to 5 in solution was studied using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The critical properties were calculated using multihistogram reweighting techniques combined with mixed field finite-size scaling. Power law exponents were obtained for the critical volume as well as for the dendrimer radius of gyration. Significant differences in these exponents occur compared to linear molecules. A systematic decrease of the critical volume exponent with the generation and the molecular weight was observed. A decrease of the power law exponent for the radius of gyration with respect to the molecular weight at the critical conditions is also reported. The phase coexistence envelopes of dendrimer−solvent mixtures were calculated. Finally, the local molecular structure and the local density profiles calculations indicate more compact molecules for higher generation dendrimers.


The feto-maternal safety of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) administration in the cervix of pregnant sheep is evaluated. Chronically catheterized pregnant sheep at ∼0.9 gestation were divided into 2 groups that received 0.1 mg/kg maternal body weight of SNP gel (2%) or placebo into the internal cervical os. SNP or placebo gel was administered at 9 AM with both maternal and fetal blood gas/pH, and cardiovascular parameters were monitored for 6 hours. Except for a slight transient decrease of maternal oxygen and meta-hemoglobin content, and fetal oxygen content in the SNP group, no other significant changes were observed. However, such changes are minimal and unlikely to be of any clinical significance. Moreover, nitric oxide metabolites were unchanged in both maternal and fetal circulations.These data demonstrate few, if any, effects of intrauterine SNP administration on both cellular oxygenation and cardiovascular indexes. Thus, SNP treatment, once applied into the cervix, could be considered a safe procedure.


Copper-zinc alloys of the present invention is greater than 35wt% of zinc included in an amount of not more than 43wt%, and has a two-phase structure on the α and β phase. In addition, the proportion of the β copper zinc alloy is greater than 10% control in less than 40%, the crystal grains on the α and β phase are arranged in layers up to the flat shape distorted by the cold working. The copper zinc alloy products, such as by reducing the copper content it is possible to achieve reduction of material costs, can also be suitably secured by the strength and cold workability that the proportion of the β are properly controlled. Further, a copper zinc alloy product, it is within the age cracking resistance and the stress corrosion cracking resistance by being excellent in the dent on the α phase and the β crystal grains with a flat shape are disposed in layers.


FEW taxa have suffered at the expansion of humanity to the extent of the birds of Pacific Islands. Of the 130 or so birds to become extinct as a consequence of European exploration and colonization of the Pacific, most were island birds and most were flightless rails. Not so well understood is the scale of extinctions that accompanied pre-European colonization of the Pacific islands. Only now is the paleontological record revealing the richness of the lost Pacific avifauna much of which can be put on a par with the loss of moas from New Zealand and the Dodo Raphus cucullatus from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.


Exome sequencing and Drosophila modeling revealed variants in SMARCA5 as a novel cause of a neurodevelopmental disorder. Intellectual disability encompasses a wide spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, with many linked genetic loci. However, the underlying molecular mechanism for more than 50% of the patients remains elusive. We describe pathogenic variants in SMARCA5, encoding the ATPase motor of the ISWI chromatin remodeler, as a cause of a previously unidentified neurodevelopmental disorder, identifying 12 individuals with de novo or dominantly segregating rare heterozygous variants. Accompanying phenotypes include mild developmental delay, frequent postnatal short stature and microcephaly, and recurrent dysmorphic features. Loss of function of the SMARCA5 Drosophila ortholog Iswi led to smaller body size, reduced sensory dendrite complexity, and tiling defects in larvae. In adult flies, Iswi neural knockdown caused decreased brain size, aberrant mushroom body morphology, and abnormal locomotor function. Iswi loss of function was rescued by wild-type but not mutant SMARCA5. Our results demonstrate that SMARCA5 pathogenic variants cause a neurodevelopmental syndrome with mild facial dysmorphia.


The first official involvement of the Nigerian government's promotion of alternative medicine can be traced to 1966. At that time, the Federal Ministry of Health formally gave permission to the premier university in the country; the University of Ibadan to undertake research into the "medicinal properties of local herbs". Prior to this, there was only a sort of casual relationship between the government and practitioners of traditional medicine, although, there has been greater appreciation and interest by the government in the traditional medical system. Efforts, however, in this direction, over the last thirty years, have been more policy-based than legal. Hence, any projection of progress for traditional medical practice in the country heavily depends on extant legal instruments for its advance. It is widely acknowledged, however, both formally and informally, that traditional medicine has become a reality that must be accommodated in the country medical provisions. Therefore, like any other indispensable aspect of Nigerian life, it cannot be left unregulated. In this paper, attempt is made to examine the legal framework for alternative medicine in Nigeria by revisiting the regulatory measures that were put in place by the Federal and Kwara State governments with the aim to proposing certain feasible measures and suggestions expected to further improve the practice of the traditional medicine in Nigeria. In the final analyses, the finding of the research shows that despite the commendable role played by the Federal Ministry of Health in promoting and standardizing the practice of traditional herbal medicine in Nigeria, there is no any clear-cut legally empowered federal regulatory body that controls the practice of traditional medicine in Nigeria.


A class of networked multi-agent systems is studied in this study where each agent has an identical dynamics of a simple integrator and the topology of the connections is fixed. It is proved that, when there are saturation constraints, a general consensus protocol widely used in the literatures for this class of multi-agent systems remains valid. As an extension, a 'bang-bang' type of consensus protocol is proposed to achieve the finite-time consensus, which relaxes the previous undirected connection assumption.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether events such as acts of terrorism, political and social turmoil, military conflicts, epidemics, and similar influence preferences of Russian tourists for international and domestic travel (DT) and the role of psychographic and demographic factors in this process.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is a survey of 139 international tourists from a large Russian city. Variables representing the influence of instability in the world on selecting international vacations (unstable world, UW) and the willingness to turn to DT instead (domestic tourism, DT) were operationalized. The study operationalized the constructs of national attachment and consumer ethnocentrism and then converted them into manifest variables, NAT and CET. Hierarchical linear regression and logistic regression were conducted to investigate the relationship between UW and DT variables and personal factors. Supporting ANOVA and χ2 tests were conducted to further explore those relationships.

Findings
The study found that being a female, older and more attached to the homeland make Russian tourists more receptive to threats and risks of international travel; however, being wealthier, makes them less susceptible to those threats. Those with higher ethnocentric tendencies are more likely to turn to DT instead, while those with higher income are less likely.

Originality/value
The study does not pertain to a particular "destination-negative event" context. Nor the study is interested in a particular travel risk or whether or not Russian tourists perceive international travel as risky. The study focuses on to what degree those perceptions influence their decisions to travel internationally or domestically. Psychographic consumer ethnocentrism and national attachment variables that are rarely used in tourism studies were employed to better understand the destination selection process of Russian tourists in the UW.


The anemia of dialyzed uremic patients is due to several factors: loss of blood and proteins; increased destruction of erythrocytes, and alteration of erythropoietin feedback. In an anemic dialyzed patient the number of reticulocytes is normal while a sudden worsening of the anemia is followed by severe reticulocytosis.


The Extensometer is a new device capable of continuous accurate measurement of length over convex surfaces with a rapid response rate. This makes it a powerful research tool and a useful clinical instrument, particularly in the field of respiratory monitoring. This paper describes the principles behind the device. The linearity of its response was demonstrated in laboratory tests and its ability to quantify abdominal and chest wall movement was assessed in anaesthetised patients. Potential applications in the field of ventilatory pattern analysis and respiratory monitoring in anaesthesia and intensive care are discussed.


The article discusses the distribution and meaning of 'locally free reflexives' ('untriggered reflexives', 'viewpoint reflexives', 'perspective logophors') in English. After a thorough assessment of the contextual constraints on the use of such locally free self-forms, three analyses are discussed and compared: (a) the view that such self-forms are bound by a minimal subject of consciousness within their discourse (Zribi-Hertz, 1989); (b) the view that the relevant forms exhibit essentially the same distribution as pronouns and that the choice between the two is motivated by discourse considerations (Reinhart & Reuland, 1993); and (c) the view that locally free self-forms are intensifiers without pronominal heads (Baker, 1995). It is shown that the third analysis is by far the most adequate one, and that both the distribution and the meaning of such expressions can be explained on the basis of this analysis if it is combined with a suitable semantic analysis of intensifiers.


A new method for calculating inductances is presented. The method results in analytically simple expressions that replace the traditional tables and working formulae. Moreover, it overcomes the diverging self-inductances of thin wires.


Sequence similarities exist between terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of some miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) families isolated from a wide range of organisms, including plants, insects, and humans, and TIRs of DNA transposons from the pogo family. We present here evidence that one of these MITE families, previously described for Arabidopsis thaliana, is derived from a larger element encoding a putative transposase. We have named this novel class II transposon Lemi1. We show that its putative product is related to transposases of the Tc1/mariner superfamily, being closer to the pogo family. A similar truncated element was found in a tomato DNA sequence, indicating an ancient origin and/or horizontal transfer for this family of elements. These results are reminiscent of those recently reported for the human genome, where other members of the pogo family, named Tiggers, are believed to be responsible for the generation of abundant MITE-like elements in an early primate ancestor. These results further suggest that some MITE families, which are highly reiterated in plant, insect, and human genomes, could have arisen from a similar mechanism, implicating pogo-like elements.


Abstract Many institutional investors depend on the returns they generate to fund their operations and liabilities. How do these investors' financial conditions affect the management of their portfolios? We address this issue using the insurance industry because insurers are large investors for which detailed portfolio data are available, and can face financial shocks from exogenous weather events which help us establish causality. Among corporate bonds, for which we can control for regulatory treatment, results suggest that when Property & Casualty (P&C) insurers become more constrained due to operating losses, they shift towards safer bonds. The effect of losses on allocations is likely to be causal because it holds when instrumenting for losses with weather shocks. The change in allocations following losses is larger for smaller or worse-rated insurers and during the financial crisis, suggesting that the shift toward safer securities is driven by concerns about financial flexibility. The results highlight the importance of financial conditions in institutional investors' portfolio decisions.


It is a common thought that mathematics can be not only true but also beautiful, and many of the greatest mathematicians have attached central importance to the aesthetic merit of their theorems, proofs and theories. But how, exactly, should we conceive of the character of beauty in mathematics? In this paper I suggest that Kant's philosophy provides the resources for a compelling answer to this question. Focusing on §62 of the 'Critique of Aesthetic Judgment', I argue against the common view that Kant's aesthetics leaves no room for beauty in mathematics. More specifically, I show that on the Kantian account beauty in mathematics is a non-conceptual response felt in light of our own creative activities involved in the process of mathematical reasoning. The Kantian proposal I thus develop provides a promising alternative to Platonist accounts of beauty widespread among mathematicians. While on the Platonist conception the experience of mathematical beauty consists in an intellectual insight into the fundamental structures of the universe, according to the Kantian proposal the experience of beauty in mathematics is grounded in our felt awareness of the imaginative processes that lead to mathematical knowledge. The Kantian account I develop thus offers to elucidate the connection between aesthetic reflection, creative imagination and mathematical cognition.


Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy has been causally linked to a constellation of neurodevelopmental deformities in the fetus resulting in a disease termed congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). Here we detail how ZIKV infection produces extensive neuropathology in the developing mouse brain and spinal cord of both sexes. Surprisingly, neuropathology differs depending on viral strain with a French Polynesian isolate producing primarily excitotoxicity and a Brazilian isolate being almost exclusively apoptotic but occurring over a prolonged period that is more likely to produce severe hypoplasia. We also show exposure can produce a characteristic pattern of infection that mirrors neuropathology and ultimately results in gross morphological deformities strikingly similar to CZS. This research provides a valuable mouse model mirroring the clinical course of disease that can be used to test potential therapies to improve treatment and gain a better understanding of the disabilities associated with CZS. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy has been causally linked to a constellation of neurodevelopmental deformities in the fetus resulting in a disease termed congenital Zika syndrome. Despite its devastating effects, very little is known about how ZIKV infection produces fetal neuropathology. Here we detail the temporal progression of ZIKV infection in the mouse brain and spinal cord resulting in massive neurodegeneration of infected regions. We also report a ZIKV strain from a region of Brazil with high levels of microcephaly (abnormally small head circumference) produces particularly devastating neuropathology.


In this paper, a feature matching strategy is developed. It is realized by introducing a function whose independent variable is the match matrix, which describes the correspondence of the features. It combines spatial relations and feature similarity organically and makes sure that its global maximum can be reached when the sensed image is aligned with the reference image completely. Thus the feature correspondence can be estimated by finding the maximum of the function. The branch-and-bound strategy is employed in the integer programming problem. A lot of real images are used to demonstrate its performance. Compared with some existing methods, it is automated, robust, and has the highest accuracy.


We investigated the relationship between expatriate candidates' cultural intelligence (CQ) and organizational attractiveness, and examined the moderating role of the host location as a boundary condition of this relationship. Korean participants (N = 407) randomly took one of
 two assignment locations (Vietnam or US) and answered questions on individual ability in acceptance of cultures, and willingness to be assigned to an expatriate position in each location. Results show that CQ was positively related to organizational attractiveness, and applicants with high
 CQ were more positive in their choice of an assignment in Vietnam (vs. US). Therefore, to recruit talented expatriates to emerging countries, in particular, managers should consider the CQ of expatriate candidates.


Tamoxifen is an estrogen modulator that acts to competitively inhibit the binding of endogenous estrogens. It is widely used for treatment of breast cancer; however, analogous with many antineoplastic agents, tamoxifen is associated with numerous adverse effects, most prominently nausea. We have identified several off-target receptors of tamoxifen and 22 of its metabolites that include histamine H1 and H3, and muscarinic M1, M4, and M5 subtypes, and dopamine D2 receptor. We have shown how they are associated with tamoxifen and its metabolites' toxicity through a comprehensive computational analysis of their interaction modes, which were also compared to that of the related endogenous substrates of each receptor. The results were further evaluated using available in vivo and in vitro data. The presented work provides foundational knowledge toward the determination of the precise mechanism of nausea induction, and in particular, interactions of tamoxifen and its metabolites with the receptors involved in that biomolecular pathway. This study can assist in predicting the potential undesired effects of the chemicals with common pharmacophores or similar fragments to that of tamoxifen and its metabolites and serve drug discovery research in developing more effective and tolerable tamoxifen analogues or chemotherapeutic agents.


The processes of non-linear celerity distortion due to amplitude dispersion and energy dissipation due to bottom friction, whose effects are intensified in shallow waters, are incorporated into a finite volume solver of the mild-slope equation. Amplitude dispersion is taken into account in an iterative manner. The local energy dissipation due to bottom friction is computed using an existing model with appropriate expressions for the friction coefficient. Solutions to wave propagation problems are obtained on unstructured triangular meshes. Roe's flux function is used to evaluate the numerical fluxes at the triangular cell edges, and the conserved variables are updated implicitly in time. The incorporation of non-linear amplitude dispersion is found to improve significantly the agreement of computed results with laboratory data in non-linear wave propagation problems, while the effects of bottom friction are of secondary importance.


In the manuscript, Intercomparison of Vaisala RS92 and RS41 radiosonde temperature sensors under controlled laboratory conditions, the authors describe a laboratory setup to characterise the temperature sensors of the Vaisala RS92 and RS41 radiosondes. The concept to characterize radiosonde's sensors in a dedicated setup under well-controlled laboratory conditions is employed to achieve measurement traceability for reference observations. This could answer the long-standing need in the research-community for independent and traceable assessment of measurementand calibration errors of radiosondes.


This paper studies a balance whose unobservable fulcrum is not necessarily located at the middle of its two pans. It presents three different models, showing how this lack of symmetry modifies the observation, the formalism and the interpretation of such a biased measuring device. It argues that the biased balance can be an interesting source of inspiration for broadening the representational theory of measurement.


To estimate the substance abuse and thus assess the basic indicators of health risk behavior of the adolescents in Georgia: frequencies of their tobacco, alcohol and drugs consumption. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was adapted from the Swiss Survey (SMASH2002), translated into Georgian and other languages mainly used in schools (Russian, Armenian and Azeri). It contained 87 questions. Two-stage cluster sampling was devised. Weight was adjusted. A total of 599 classes were selected. Field work took place in 2004. All questionnaires (n=9499; 56,8% filled out by girls, 39,6% - by boys; the mean age was 15,5+/-1,1 years) before being processed into the Epidata were edited. The final data were analysed by SPSS 11.0. 10,4% of adolescents have reported to smoke. The average age of starting to smoke is 13,4 years. 61,2% girls and 67.8% boys drink vine. 56,7% out of the total number of respondents claimed to have been never drunk, 30,0% - answered positively. 2,3% said that they had intravenous drug injection. The drug of preference is cannabis - 6,8%. 72,2% of those who have had intravenous drug injections answered positively to the question "Have you ever been really drunk?" Performed survey is a first one done among adolescents in Georgia. It gave us basic information for planning and implementation of necessary measures in order to improve the health of adolescents and raise awareness of professionals involved in health care and prevention settings for adolescents.


The development of a modern city and the increase of its transport infrastructure, in particular metro facilities, has a significant impact on the urban environment and requires the development and implementation of a set of special protective measures. Moreover, if the construction of metro station complexes is carried out, as a rule, in relatively free areas with minimal impact on the surrounding buildings, then during the construction of tunnels and tunnel structures, engineering communications, buildings and structures located on the earth's surface, including transport facilities, architectural monuments and cultural heritage objects fall into the zone of their influence.

The effectiveness of design solutions for the protection of objects that are in the zone of influence of the construction of underground structures is largely determined by the degree of reliability of the assessment of geotechnical conditions and the results of the survey of the technical condition of building structures.

Analysis of the causes of the formation and development of emergency situations and incidents arising in the construction and operation of underground structures shows that they are mainly the result of the use of unreliable initial engineering-geological and hydrogeological conditions, significantly changing due to intensive urban development. The resulting barrage effect, changes in groundwater levels and directions that are not taken into account at the design stage, can be accompanied by significant deterioration of soil properties and the General stress-strain state at the base of existing buildings and structures.

This suggests the need for careful study of the properties of soils at significant depths, the development of forecasts of possible changes of the state of the soil massif and hydrogeological conditions, the implementation of a comprehensive survey of the bases of closely spaced buildings and structures, and significantly larger volume of engineering-geological surveys compared to the current regulations.


In this paper we investigate the relationship between money growth uncertainty and the level of economic activity in the United States. We pay explicit attention to the Divisia monetary aggregates. In doing so, we use the new vintage of the data [called MSI (monetary services indices) by the St. Louis Fed], together with the simple sum monetary aggregates, over the period from 1967:1 to 2011:3. In the context of a bivariate VARMA, GARCH-in-mean, asymmetric BEKK model, we show that increased Divisia money growth volatility (irrespective of the level of aggregation and the method of calculation) is associated with a lower average growth rate of real economic activity. However, there are no effects of simple-sum money growth volatility on real economic activity, except with the Sum M1 and perhaps Sum M2M aggregates. We conclude that monetary policies that focus on the Divisia monetary aggregates and target their growth rates will contribute to higher overall economic growth.


Drainage after cholecystectomy remains routine despite the lack of scientific supportive data. Numerous clinical studies in the past have attempted to address this controversy but have failed to resolve the issue for different reasons. These include retrospective design, inclusion of only selected cases, and randomization before surgery. In this study 479 patients undergoing cholecystectomy were randomly allocated to a drainage group (a high-pressure suction drain in Morison's pouch for 48 hours) or a nondrainage group. Randomization was performed at the time of peritoneal closure. All patients undergoing cholecystectomy, both elective and urgent, were included and the operations were performed by all grades of surgeons. There were two deaths from cardiopulmonary causes, both in the drainage group. No patient required reoperation in either group. The incidence of both wound infections (15 vs 5; p less than 0.05) and chest infections (56 vs 19, p less than 0.02) was significantly higher in the drainage group. Three hundred fifty-six patients underwent abdominal ultrasonography 72 hours after surgery. The number of subhepatic fluid collections thus detected was significantly higher in the patients who received a drain (17 vs 6, p less than 0.05). None of these collections was clinically significant. The postoperative hospital stay was longer in the patients with drains (10.3 vs 9.1 days), but this difference failed to reach statistical significance. We conclude from this study that the use of a drain after cholecystectomy serves no useful purpose and is potentially harmful. This practice should be abandoned.


The effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on urinary protein excretion were examined in patients with renal parenchymal diseases (RPD, n = 18) and those with diabetes mellitus (DM, n = 12). Before and 30 min after intravenous injection of ANP (50 micrograms), urine samples were collected. ANP injection increased urinary volume and urinary sodium excretion in both groups. In RPD, urinary protein excretion (UprV) increased by 87% (1.5 +/- 0.7 [SEM] to 2.8 +/- 1.1 mg/min, p less than 0.05). ANP also increased UprV in patients with diabetic nephropathy [N(+); 1.7 +/- 0.8 to 5.0 +/- 2.5 mg/min, p less than 0.05] and those without nephropathy [N(-); 0.10 +/- 0.02 to 0.22 +/- 0.07 mg/min, p less than 0.05]. Since ANP increased creatinin clearance in both groups (+9.4 +/- 2.5 ml/min in RPD and +24.1 +/- 3.5 ml/min in DM, p less than 0.01 for both), urinary protein to creatinine excretion ratios (UprV/UcrV) were determined, which should be a parameter of glomerular protein permeability. The UprV/UcrV ratio increased by 48% (p less than 0.01) and 24% (p less than 0.05) in RPD and in DM, respectively. ANP did not change urinary composition of albumin and globulin. In RPD, increases in UprV by ANP were positively related to the basal serum creatinin levels (r = 0.57, p less than 0.01). In DM group, ANP-induced increases in the UprV/UcrV ratio were higher in the N(+) subgroup than in the N(-) subgroup (+0.8 +/- 0.4 vs +0.09 +/- 0.04, p less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Community‐based cancer organizations provide services to support patients. An anticipated benefit of these services is patient empowerment. However, this outcome has not been evaluated because of the lack of validated health‐related empowerment questionnaires in the cancer context. In this validation study, the authors assessed the extent to which 16 indicators used by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Cancer Council Victoria, Australia (CCV) to evaluate their services were associated with health‐related empowerment.


Abstract: Rorschach tests were performed on patients with primary generalized epilepsy (PGE) and on patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) combined with generalized tonic‐clonic convulsions. Each group consisted of 20 cases and the two groups were matched as closely as possible. Patients with PGE were found to be characterized by variable responses, sensitivity, extroversion and undifferentiated tendencies. Patients with TLE are practical but inefficient and constricted in character. Cases not on medication displayed the same character types. On the basis of the above findings, speculation is made concerning the features of neurotic or psychotic PGE patients.


This paper addresses the assessment of destabilizing effects of gravity, usually referred to as P-Delta effects, in highly inelastic structures when subjected to seismic excitations. The proposed approach is based on an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (ESDOF) system of the actual building. Appropriate properties of the ESDOF system are defined, based on results of a corresponding global pushover analyses. P-Delta effects are incorporated via an auxiliary backbone curve, which is rotated by a uniform stability coefficient. The procedure is evaluated for several multistory generic frame structures. The collapse capacity of these structures is derived from a set of Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) studies involving 40 ground motions whose intensity is increased until P-Delta instability occurs. The results are translated from the ESDOF domain into the domain of the multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system, and utilized for the estimation of P-Delta effects in MDOF structures. "Exact" results are contrasted with outcomes of the analyses utilizing ESDOF systems. Assumptions and limitations of the ESDOF system approach are discussed. The emphasis is on the level of response at which the structure approaches dynamic instability (sidesway collapse).


Since many years, using tridimensional (3D) models is increasing in order to compute hazardous consequences of dangerous phenomena such as fire, explosion or atmospheric gas dispersion and then estimate safety distances. In the specific context of the French regulation and mainly for the land use planning in the neighbourhood of industrial facilities as depicted in the Technological risk prevention plan (PPRT), prediction of safety distances is a key issue. First computations that were achieved has highlighted discrepancies between atmospheric 3D models (CFD, mass consistent, ...) results but also with conventional approach as Gaussian or integral models. In order to prevent such discrepancies and to enlighten scientific reasons of those differences, a French working group was created in November 2009 on the demand of French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development. To reach these objectives, several simulation benchmark tests were carried out. In a first part we present the benchmark tests as well as their interpretations and we describe efforts of harmonization on practice and input data. In a second part we focus on the scientific analysis to perform more homogeneous input data between the several kinds of 3D atmospheric dispersion models. Some of the best practices and requirements are presented and discussed in the last part.


To reduce the computational complexity of the protocol, a transformed method of Diffie-Hellman key exchange scheme is used as an authentication test in some protocols. The paper proposes a way in which protocols that use the transformed method can be verified by using Strand Space Model. First, the adversary's behavior is extended, and the three concepts of transformed edge, transforming edge and test component for Strand Space are redefined. Then, Strand Space terminology is used to define an authentication test that is guaranteed by the DiffieHellman problem. The applicability and usefulness of this authentication test are demonstrated by analyzing a sample protocol. Furthermore, the unknown keyshare attack, which takes this protocol as an aim, is given in this paper, and it has not been found by the others. Eventually, an improved method is proposed which can remedy the fault.


It used to be so easy to bike past the Capitol Building. But lately this task has become ever more daunting, as an increasingly dense maze of concrete barriers, police officers, and plastic fencing has sprung up. Today, I achieved my goal only after ducking under ropes, squeezing by barricades, and zig-zagging across once-pristine lawns. This, symbolic of the most recent event to rattle this town, adds one more exclamation mark to a string of memories making up my year as AGU's 2000–2001 Congressional Science Fellow.


Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are tight integrations of computational and physical worlds for various kinds of applications. For example, a humanoid robot, which is a typical application of CPS, has required timing constraints, low-latency execution, and parallel processing to achieve fine-grained real-time execution. Therefore low-latency parallel real-time computing is an important factor for CPS. In order to achieve such CPS applications, commercial off-the-shelf systems including processors and operating systems are difficult due to many requirements including such system performance and space constraints, and hence proprietary systems are favored. We had developed Dependable Responsive Multithreaded Processor I (D-RMTP I), which has one Responsive Multithreaded Processing Unit (RMT PU) with an 8-way prioritized Simultaneous Multithreading architecture, for parallel real-time computing. In addition, we have developed a high-end processor of D-RMTP I, called Dependable Responsive Multithreaded Processor II (D-RMTP II). D-RMTP II has two RMT PUs for high throughput and eight Flower cores for I/O processing. Our previous work presented Responsive Task, which is a low-latency real-time task with the interrupt wake-up structure to occupy a hardware thread in D-RMTP I for fine-grained real-time execution. Responsive Task can be executed in dozens of microsecond periods with low-jitter though executing real-time tasks simultaneously. Unfortunately, Responsive Task does not support parallel computing. This paper presents Parallel Responsive Task, which is an extension to Responsive Task for parallel computing on D-RMTP II. Evaluations show that Parallel Responsive Task improves the throughput and achieves fine-grained real-time execution with reasonable overhead.


Cisplatin(ctr-diamminedichlorop1atium) is one of the most effective anti-cancer drugs being clinically used in the treatment of solid tumors. Despite its therapeutic benefits, its use in clinical practice is often limited because of dose related toxicity. It is known that yeast cell wall beta-glucans possess immuno-modulating properties, which allows for their application in antitumor therapy. 1S2 is a kind of beta-glucan derived from the cell wall of mutated Sacchammyces cerevisiae, which exhibits anti-cancer activity in vitro and in vivo. The present study explored the possibility of combination therapy of IS2 with cisplatin. In experimental metastasis of colon26M3.1 cells, prophylactic intravenous administration of IS-2 in combination with cisplatin effectively inhibited tumor metastasis compared with cisplatin alone or IS-2 treatment in vivo. IS-2 effectively enhanced Thl type cytokines including IFN-r, IL-2, ILf2 and GM-CSF. Simultaneously, this combined treatment inhibited production of Th2 type cytokines compared with control. These results suggested that IS-2 can be applied in combination therapy with anti-cancer drugs to minimize their side effects.


Recently, with the revolutionary neural style transferring methods, creditable paintings can be synthesized automatically from content images and style images. However, when it comes to the task of applying a painting's style to an anime sketch, these methods will just randomly colorize sketch lines as outputs and fail in the main task: specific style transfer. In this paper, we integrated residual U-net to apply the style to the gray-scale sketch with auxiliary classifier generative adversarial network (AC-GAN). The whole process is automatic and fast. Generated results are creditable in the quality of art style as well as colorization.


Steam/CO 2 reforming of methane was studied at 600–900 °C, molar ratio CO 2 /H 2 O 0–2 and contact time 0.04–0.15 s over impregnated Ni/CeO 2 catalysts of various compositions. It has been established that with an increase in the Ni content from 2 to 10 wt.%, both the conversion of reactants (X) and the yield of products (Y) increase in the range X CH4 25→80%, X CO2 35→72%, Y H2 30→80%, Y CO 30→75% (at 750 °C). With a further increase in the nickel content to 15%, the process parameters changed slightly, reaching a plateau. Higher nickel content (10 vs. 2 wt.%) ensures stable operation of the catalyst over time. The functional performance of the catalysts was correlated with physicochemical properties of as-synthesized, activated and spent samples using X-ray fluorescence analysis, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction analysis, electron microscopy, and thermal analysis. It was shown that the Ni content affects the thermal stability, the textural, structural and redox characteristics of the samples. The 10% Ni/CeO 2 catalyst was chosen as the optimal one due to higher H 2 productivity, and sufficient resistance to sintering and coking. This sample provides a stable hydrogen yield of 85% in steam/CO 2 reforming of methane at 800 °C, CO 2 /H 2 O = 2 and a contact time 0.15 s.


Valuing the built environment with the support of GIS and housing price model is an interesting topic because it connects the spatial thinking with economic concerns. In this paper, we chose the ordinary commercial housing in Xiamen City as our research targets, and the technology of GIS and Hedonic price model were used. Xiamen city is a typical coastal city, and from the research result, we found that the distribution of higher housing price was kept consistent with the coastal areas of Xiamen city. Besides, the average housing price of Xiamen inner-island (the old urban island area) was far higher than the outer-island. To reveal the degree of different spatial elements affecting housing price, we chose 21 variables (three types: location characteristic, structure characteristic and neighbourhood characteristic) and measured them in GIS platform. The Hedonic model showed that the main elements that influencing the price of commodity housings in Xiamen included Property Management Fee, Distance to Commercial Center, Distance to Hospital, Distance to Primary School, Near Village or Not, Near Green space or Not, Near kindergarten or Not. At the end of the paper, we provided three suggestions to balance the spatial variation of housing price in Xiamen City.


This article investigates the predictability of dry bulk shipments' physical shipping costs while testing the predictive significance of derivative products. Accordingly, a comprehensive grid search procedure is needed to simulate combinations of model structures subject to a cross-validation process. In this regard, the intelligent model search engine (IMSE) is implemented as the search algorithm. The IMSE algorithm is selected due to its broad model space naturally consisting most of the traditional econometric model structures and advanced features, such as sample size optimization (also detects structural breaks), lag structure optimization (also reflects seasonality), among others. In contrast to the previous studies in the shipping market research, IMSE executes a relaxation of statistical significance criteria to target the out of sample predictive accuracy (instead of the goodness of fit). Sparsification is retained by utilizing a dropout procedure in line with the cross-validation process. The empirical results indicate the fact that predictive accuracy can be achieved or improved with a shorter sample period. More than half of the entire dataset has not been utilized in the final selections for most simulations. One-month and two-month maturity derivative contracts are tested for predictive features, while none of them is selected for the sparse model selections.


The catalytic activity of the guanidinium units toward the cleavage of phosphoric diesters is deeply investigated both with kinetic experiments and DFT calculations. The first part of the investigation aims to determine how the structure of the substrate (phenyl or alkyl esters) is able to influence the guanidinium-catalyzed hydrolysis changing the mechanism from ANDN to AN+DN. In the cleavage of the DNA model bis(4-nitrophenyl)phospate (BNPP), experimental kinetic data highlight the operation of a guanidine-guanidinium catalytic dyad that can act both intermolecularly and intramolecularly on different molecular scaffolds exhibiting notable values of effective molarity. 31P NMR spectra and DFT investigation provide indication that the deprotonated guanidine involved in such a catalysis acts as a general base in the deprotonation of a water molecule involved in the cleavage, and not as nucleophilic unit. Moreover, DFT calculations were carried out to determine the guanidinium promoted activation energy of pseudorotation. The results indicate a remarkable drop in the activation energy of this process for dialkylphosphate esters explaining, in part, the higher sensitivity of diribonucleoside to the presence of guanidinium-based catalysts compared to the more activated RNA model HPNP.


The synthesis and antihypertensive activity of 4-(1,2-dihydro-2-oxo-1-pyridyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-3-ols are described. The unsubstituted pyridone adduct lead compound 7e is highly active, with substituents on the pyridone ring leading to a decrease in activity. Strongly electron-withdrawing substituents at the C-6 position are required for optimal activity. When the 2-pyridone ring is replaced by other heterocycles such as 4-pyridone, pyrimidone, pyridazinone, pyrazinone, and 1,4-butanesultam, the activity is maintained. The removal of the 3-hydroxy function (----17a) does not significantly reduce the activity. The elimination of water from the chromanols leads to the formation of the chromenes, which are among the most potent antihypertensives known. The influence of diverse substituents, in particular heterocyclic C-6 substituents, was investigated in the 4-(2-oxo-1-pyrrolidinyl)chroman-3-ol series. Chromanols esterified at the 3-hydroxy group with short-chain acids, maintain their activity. The epoxidation of the chromene double bond also produces active compounds. The rearrangement of the epoxides 22 produces the 3-keto compounds 23 and the enol derivatives 25. The reduction of the ketone 23a produces cis-chromanol 7ab along with its trans isomer 7e. All compounds were tested for oral antihypertensive activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats with a dose of 1 mg/kg; for selected compounds ED30 values as well as the duration of the antihypertensive effect were determined. 4-(1,2-Dihydro-2-oxo-1-pyridyl)-2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyran-6- carbonitrile (18a) is under development as a coronary vasodilator and a drug for treating angina pectoris.


Distinct inositol and phosphatidylinositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases have recently been cloned. Primers were designated coding for highly conserved amino acid regions that are shared between sequences of 5-phosphatases. We used degenerate primers to amplify polymerase chain reaction products from rat brain cDNA. A product with a novel sequence was identified and used to clone a 4.9 kb cDNA from human placenta cDNA libraries (hp51CN). COS-7 cells transfected with a C-terminal truncated form of this cDNA showed an increase in Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 and PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 hydrolyzing activity, but not in Ins(1,4,5)P3 5-phosphatase. Enzymatic activity was inhibited in the presence of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate and p-hydroxymercuribenzoate. The presence of an SH2 domain and proline-rich sequence motifs within hp51CN suggests that this 5-phosphatase interacts with various proteins in signal transduction.


Few now believe the myth that Troy's defenders succumbed to a booby-trapped wooden horse, which assumes both incredible Trojan stupidity and unlikely Greek confidence in their opponent's witlessness. Indeed, Homer—who treated both Greeks and Trojans with dignity—barely mentions such a horse; the story of Troy's downfall by the ruse of a great wooden horse derives from Quintus of Smyrna's epic in fourteen books, part of the "Posthomerica." Yet hints of the Great Horse were secreted in the Illiad and a slighted passage indicates that Homer's listeners understood exactly what he was talking about. Subsequent misunderstanding arose when Homer's exquisitely concise literary allusion was overlooked. Modern scholars trust that a siege machine, specifically some sort of battering ram, rumbled up to the walls of Troy. We can identify Homer's own allusion to the horse, its probable function, its builder, and the origins of associating the horse with Poseidon.


The thesis put forward in this paper is that Herbert A. Simon was a distinctive theoretician of decentralized decisional systems alternative to the market, from planning to organizations. This issue emerges from the convergence of four perspectives, each with a different role and influence on his intellectual life: administrative and organization theories, the bounded rationality approach, economic theory, and the epistemology of complex systems. Notwithstanding the changes over time in his scientific interests and methods, the conviction that planning and organizations as decentralized structures can often perform a coordinating function better than the market appears in both his juvenile and mature works.


A decade of coastal ecosystem studies in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (NEP) have been carried out by the U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) program. Our understanding of how these ecosystems respond to climate forcing was assessed by way of a forecasting exercise conducted during the annual GLOBEC-NEP scientific investigator meeting held 24–25 September 2007 in Seattle, Wash. The forecasting exercise used a real-life situation as a means of identifying the strengths and gaps in the understanding of climate/ocean physics/ecosystems interactions. The nature of the exercise was not divulged ahead of time, in part to encourage interactions among participants, and also to simulate conditions under which such requests are made by the media or by local regulatory agencies and policy makers.


they arise in a healed state. Guenther probes the stories for their message and sees . it as a narrative of individuation and regaining wholeness. His interpretation is based on a profound familiarity with the rdzogs chen literature from which he quotes extensively (in particular from Klong-chen-pa and rGod-Idem-can) to substantiate his reading of the texts but also on a general erudition that is rare today. Often he foregrounds his understanding of the Tibetan texts with quotations from works of classical German literature (e.g., those by Goethe and Novalis) and with Jungian psychology. Readers may find themselves alienated by Guenther's unusual terminology. However, when reading the Tibetan texts closely, his translation of text and technical terms offers a freshness and depth of insight so often lost in


At the center of graph mining lies free extension of bases where a base or subgraph autonomously develops into various bigger bases in every cycle. Such a free development, perpetually, prompts the age of copies. Within the sight of chart segments, copies are created both inside and across allotments. Wiping out these copies brings about age and capacity cost as well as extra calculation for its end. Essential point is to plan methods to decrease creating copy foundations as we show that they can't be dispensed with. Proposed philosophy presents three requirement based enhancement strategies, each essentially improving the general mining cost by diminishing the quantity of copies produced. These options give adaptability to pick the correct procedure dependent on chart properties. Proposed philosophy tests show noteworthy advantages of these imperatives regarding capacity, calculation, and correspondence cost (explicit to divided methodologies) across graphs with differed qualities. Index Terms Graph mining, substructure discovery, constraint-based heuristics, duplicates reduction


Hitherto in work on the new statistics the method of probabilities has always been used, a method which consists in the measuring of the phase space by counting complexions. Now this method is certainly very useful and valuable on account of its generality and convenience, but it has the drawback that only equilibrium states and fluctuations can be treated, not the more general streaming and conductivity phenomena. In the classical physics a method for such problems has been created in the dynamical theory of gases by Max well and Boltzmann, and it seems therefore useful to try to adapt it to the new statistics. That task has become particularly necessary, because a corresponding method, due to H. A. Lorentz, has been applied by Sommerfeld* in his theory of metallic conductivity. As it will be shown, the dynamical theory can be worked out in the new statistics, both for the Einstein-Bose and the Fermi-Dirac statistics, in a way completely analogous to the corresponding one of Boltzmann, only some characteristic additional terms occurring. The latter, however, just cancel out in the special case of the electronic conductivity under certain assumptions, so that Sommerfeld's procedure is justified.


With the development of wireless communication technique, intelligent agent technique is becoming a new researching direction in mobile communication fields. At the same time, mobile peer-to-peer technique gains more and more attention, because it could level the difference between mobile clients and servers. As intelligent agent technique was proved to be an effective means to administer mobile peer-to-peer network in mobile communication fields, it seems logical to combine the benefits of both worlds. This paper discusses how to use intelligent agent to setup a mobile peer-to-peer network and search the resources in the mobile peer-to-peer network. The experimental results show that using intelligent agent technique in the MP2P network has better efficiency than traditional administrative technique.


Introduction: Health technology assessments (HTA) for combination drug therapies in oncology are increasingly common. Companies face multiple challenges when determining their economic value due to their complexity and high cost, while payers must balance the need for these vital innovations with sensitivity to rising costs. The study objective was to evaluate the current HTA frameworks in Europe and identify the potential barriers/solutions to reimbursement of brand-on-brand (BoB) combination therapy. Methods: A targeted literature review of HTA agency websites was undertaken to identify any literature/guidance relating to HTA decision-making for combination oncology therapies in France, Germany, Sweden, and the UK. Results: In France and the UK, BoB HTA decisions reflect clinical- and cost-effectiveness. Combination therapies have been accepted for use in France and the UK, for example, dabrafenib plus trametinib, are assessed through standard HTA processes, exemplifying that positive reimbursement is not unattainable where there is an unmet need and high clinical value. Despite this flexibility, many therapies will fail to prove their cost-effectiveness, resulting in delays or arbitrary pricing decisions. Potential solutions are the use of the 'efficiency frontier', as typified by the German HTA system, giving more 'scope' to expensive innovations; or the Swedish HTA approach, which applies variable cost-effectiveness thresholds according to therapeutic area, disease severity, and social criteria. Other possibilities include indication-specific pricing, multiple-criteria decision analysis, and net monetary benefit with willingness-to-trade weights. One likely issue to arise is when different companies are involved, necessitating co-operation. In this scenario, a simplistic solution would be arbitration of the division of the combined price, circumventing the need for HTA agencies to make changes to decision-making criteria. Conclusions: Constructive debates and collaboration between industry and decision-makers are vital to achieve a harmonized HTA process for high-cost combination therapies which offer advanced benefits and improved safety outcomes, whilst satisfying HTA bodies and providing better access for patients.


The first geothermal well of Illkirch located South of Strasbourg (France), GIL-1, has been drilled to 3.8 km deep in a granitic basement. Drill cuttings and geophysical logs from basement were investigated in terms of hydrothermal alteration and natural fractures respectively. Petrographic observations of the 250 cuttings samples between 2900 and 3800 m MD were conducted on-site during the drilling with binocular loupe and enabled to identify the hydrothermal alteration grades in the open-hole granitic section of the well. From binocular examination, secondary minerals like drusy quartz, carbonates and anhydrite were spatially correlated to the occurrences of natural fractures. In the granitic section corresponding to propylitic alteration, phyllosilicates include primary biotite, muscovite and secondary chlorite. Then, 48 cuttings samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the secondary clay mineralogy corresponding to poorly crystallized illite (PCI) and illite-rich illite-smectite mixed layers (I/S ML) which generally takes place within fractured zones (FZs). Mud logging and geophysical logs acquired in the granitic section of GIL-1 well have been used for characterizing fracture location (calcimetry, temperature log) and fracture orientation (electrical image logs). The granitic section of the well is characterized by a dense network of natural fractures. From 2900 to 3300 m MD, about 220 electrical conductive fractures have been observed on the image logs. From temperature logs, three main permeable zones have been identified and correlated with the occurrences of natural conductive fractures. From 2900 to 3200 m MD, the clay signature is mainly governed by the occurrences of PCI and I/S ML which are correlated to permeable FZs. In the deepest part of the granitic section, secondary chlorite and possible secondary well crystallized illite (WCI) have been observed. In parallel, an innovative short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectroscopy method was developed for characterization of clay minerals in those fractured reservoirs. It was first applied to the granitic section of the Soultz and Rittershoffen geothermal wells (Alsace, France). This timesaving method allows the quantification of illitic hydrothermal alteration and indirectly the recognition of permeable FZs. In perspective, SWIR data acquired in GIL-1 will also be analyzed in order to confirm the applicability of this routine and cheap method for deep geothermal well in the Upper Rhine Graben (URG).


Differentiation of naïve CD4+ cells into functionally distinct effector helper T cell subsets, characterised by distinct "cytokine signatures," is a cardinal strategy employed by the mammalian immune system to efficiently deal with the rapidly evolving array of pathogenic microorganisms encountered by the host. Since the TH1/TH2 paradigm was first described by Mosmann and Coffman, research in the field of helper T cell biology has grown exponentially with seven functionally unique subsets having now been described. In this review, recent insights into the molecular mechanisms that govern differentiation and function of effector helper T cell subsets will be discussed in the context of microbial infections, with a focus on how these different helper T cell subsets orchestrate immune responses tailored to combat the nature of the pathogenic threat encountered.


Summary The trace element chemistry, including the rare earth elements, of two Proterozoic metavolcanic sequences in the Central Metasedimentary Belt of the Grenville Province is presented. The older Tudor suite is a bimodal mafic-silicic sequence comprising dominant tholeiitic basalts with minor rhyodacites. The younger Turriff metavolcanic sequence, is also a bimodal mafic-silicic series made up predominantly of tholeiitic basalts with some calcalkaline andesites and minor rhyolites. In each suite the tholeiitic basalts and the felsic rocks were formed by fractional crystallization of mafic magmas formed by partial melting of enriched (spinel) lherzolite source materials. The Turriff andesites are considered to have formed by fractional crystallization of a parental basaltic andesite produced by partial melting of an eclogite source. Both suites are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE), heavy rare earth elements (HREE), and high field strength elements (HFSE). This enrichment is interpreted as resulting largely from metasomatism of the sub-continental lithosphere sources. The two sequences are interpreted as having erupted in a marginal basin formed by rifting of the continental crust. Comparisons are made with similar Proterozoic volcanic sequences from the southwestern USA and with Mesozoic and Quaternary suites formed in marginal basins in central and southern Chile.


Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are increasingly being used within safety-critical cyber-physical systems (CPSs). It is important to validate both the timing and functional correctness of these systems. However, most approaches in the literature consider guaranteeing only the functionality of the ANN-based controllers. This issue stems largely from the implementation strategies used within common neural network frameworks—their underlying source code is often simply unsuitable for formal techniques such as static timing analysis. As a result, developers of safety-critical CPS must rely on informal techniques, such as measurement-based approaches, to prove correctness, techniques that provide weak guarantees at best. In this letter, we address this challenge. We propose a design pipeline whereby neural networks trained using the popular deep learning framework Keras are compiled to functionally equivalent C code. This C code is restricted to simple constructs that may be analyzed by the existing static timing analysis tools. As a result, if compiled to a suitable time-predictable platform, all execution bounds may be statically derived. To demonstrate the benefits of our approach, we execute an ANN trained to drive an autonomous vehicle around a race track. We compile the ANN to the Patmos time-predictable controller and show that we can derive the worst-case execution timings.


We report recent progress in 2G-HTS wire technology at Superpower Inc. The throughputs of 4mm-wide tape have reached 750m/h for sputtering Al O 3 +Y 2 O 3 base layer, 360m/h for IBAD MgO template, 345m/h for sputtering Homo-epi MgO+LMO buffer, 180m/h for MOCVD REBCO. Critical current (Ic) of 813A/cm-width at 77K and self-field has been achieved on 1 meter length of 12mm-wide tape in which the thickness of GdYBCO film is 3.3 microns. Ic in a magnetic field has been significantly improved through composition modification, doping and MOCVD condition optimization. Ic of 185.6A/cm-width at 77K and 1Tesla has been obtained. For Ic on long lengths, 314A/cm-width on 202m, 221A/cm-width on 610m and 170A/cm-width on 935m have been achieved. A coil of 19.1mm diameter we made with our 2G wires generated 26.8T magnetic field in the magnet. A 30m-long cable made with nearly 10,000 meters of Superpower 2G wires showed excellent overall performance and has been installed and energized in the power grid.


Astrocytes are a type of glial cell anatomically and functionally integrated into the neuronal regulatory circuits for the neuroendocrine control of metabolism. Being functional integral compounds of synapses, astrocytes are actively involved in the physiological regulatory aspects of metabolic control, but also in the pathological processes that link neuronal dysfunction and obesity. Between brain areas, the hypothalamus harbors specialized functional circuits that seem selectively vulnerable to metabolic damage, undergoing early cellular rearrangements which are thought to be at the core of the pathogenesis of diet-induced obesity. Such changes in the hypothalamic brain region consist of a rise in proinflammatory cytokines, the presence of a reactive phenotype in astrocytes and microglia, alterations in the cytoarchitecture and synaptology of hypothalamic circuits, and angiogenesis, a phenomenon that cannot be found elsewhere in the brain. Increasing evidence points to the direct involvement of hypothalamic astrocytes in such early metabolic disturbances, thus moving the study of these glial cells to the forefront of obesity research. Here we provide a comprehensive review of the most relevant findings of molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms by which hypothalamic astrocytes might be involved in the pathogenesis of obesity.


With the increasing adoption of renewable energy and electric vehicles in the power grid, dealing with uncertainty in both supply and demand is critical to ensuring reliable and efficient operations. In this study, we discuss the value of a twostage stochastic control framework for an aggregator to address such problems by promoting improved decision making and performance despite inherent uncertainty. An uncertaintyaware transactive control framework was de veloped to account for uncertainties in future conditions due to occupancy patterns, weather conditions, onsite power generation, and realtime pricing schemes. In the dayahead period, the aggregator decides the electricity procurement plan considering the possible realtime control strategies for operation of the commercial building thermal energy stor age (TES) assets and residential building electric water heaters. During realtime operations, the aggregator modulates controllable loads based on transactive market mechanisms with model predictive control (MPC). In order to evaluate the performance, this study quantified the expected value of perfect information (EVPI) and the value of the stochastic solution (VSS) to analyze the cost of uncertain information and potential benefits of solving the stochastic optimal control problem. This paper demonstrates how the stochastic solution of the developed framework can provide useful information for customers and grid operators in the management of uncertain situations to support grid reliability and sustainability.


Multiracial people report repeated experiences of racial identity invalidation, in which their racial identity is rejected by others. The current study examined whether the race of the perpetrator of these invalidating experiences matters in determining the impact of invalidation. A sample of 221 Black multiracial people was recruited to take an online survey investigating their experiences of identity invalidation, levels of cultural homelessness, and challenges with racial identity. Participants reported that Black people invalidated their racial identity the most, and they were most hurt by invalidation perpetrated by Black people. Finally, those whose experiences of identity invalidation were mostly perpetrated by Black people, as opposed to other racial groups, were more likely to exhibit racial homelessness and challenges with racial identity. Results highlight the importance of racial identity affirmation by the Black community for Black multiracial individuals.


In the review the biological properties (antitumor, antiviral, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, etc.) and bioavailability of betulin and betulinic acid derivatives were discussed. These compounds are isolated from various natural sources, including birch bark (Betula, Betulaceae). The structure-activity correlation was considered for well-known betulinic acid derivatives. The perspectivity of this compounds as active pharmaceutical ingredients was demonstrated by in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo experiments. The type of antitumor actions, generally, depends on substituents at the C-3 and C-28 carbon atoms of the lupane skeleton. It is very important that the carboxyl group of betulinic acid in the C-28 position was present. In this case, the cytotoxicity of C-3 modified derivatives is extremely high for all tested cell lines.
The use of these compounds in the medical practice is complicated because they have low bioavailability and poor water solubility (from 1 to 100 µg*l-1). The main chemical syntheses for solubility improvement of betulin derivatives by grafting of hydrophilic groups were discussed. Moreover, the colloid-chemical approaches for the bioavailability improving of triterpenoids include: 1) including of these compounds in liposomes, vesicles and other nanoparticles; 2) obtaining of micelles with high-molecular compounds; 3) colloid-chemical dissolution due to physico-mechanical action; 4) inclusion complexes formation; 5) using of polymers for triterpenoids grafting. Chemical modification of betulin and betulinic acid by polar groups, such as phosphate/phosphonate, sulfate, amino acids, etc. has been shown for bioavailability improving.


In traditional voting schemes the integrity has always been questionable and it is also not feasible for some voters to vote because of inter-state residency. In order to solve this problem we are using distributed ledger technology to build the application for voting which is accessible to everyone and from everywhere. The application is based on the ethereum blockchain which is making the whole system secure and unaltered in nature, which means that the every vote is counted correctly and no fraud can be possible regarding the voting. This blockchain technology stores the data in blocks and it is nearly impossible to temper the data because of the interconnected blocks which are cryptographically secured. This system solves the problem of lack of trust and transparency.


Health and nutrition education is challenging when facing a diverse population such as that of South Africa. Although most consumers are receptive to nutritional messages about dairy - regardless of race, culture, level of education or income status - careful understanding of the needs of each population segment is required to ensure messages are interpreted correctly and that positive attitudes towards dairy are promoted.


Hard L10-ordered FePd ultra-thin films were epitaxially grown by means of a molecular beam epitaxy system on MgO-(100) monocrystalline substrates. Because of the very low thickness of the films, small amounts of superparamagnetic L10-FePd particles were also formed on the surface. The magnetic properties of the films are typical of highly coercive systems showing a strong perpendicular anisotropy. These hard films were used for the development of soft/hard exchange-spring magnets, by depositing different thickness of iron. Fe reacts with the surface FePd small particles giving rise to a Fe(Pd) compound with a broad distribution of particle sizes. The resulting systems are bi-layers constituted by a soft Fe(Pd) and a hard L10-FePd layer intercalated by a very thin region of small particles. For soft/hard thickness ratio nominally equal to 1 the magnetic behaviour is typical of a single-phase hard magnet. By increasing the nominal thickness ratio up to 3, the behaviour becomes typical of an exchange-coupled magnet with hysteresis loops characterized by two critical fields.


An electrochemical technique has been used to synthesize Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 (TCNQF4 = 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane). The method involves the reduction of solid TCNQF4 immobilized on an electrode surface in contact with Ni2+ (aq.)-containing electrolyte. The electrochemically irreversible, but chemically reversiblesolid–solid TCNQF4/Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 interconversion process is governed by nucleation and growth kinetics and is represented by the overall reaction: 2TCNQF4 (s, electrode) + Ni2+ (aq.) + 2H2O + 2e [rlhar2] Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 (s, electrode). Thus, the formation of Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 involves the one-electron reduction of TCNQF4 to [TCNQF4]·– coupled with an ingress of Ni2+ (aq.) from the aqueous electrolyte, while the reverse scan represents the oxidation of [TCNQF4]·– to TCNQF4 coupled with the egress of Ni2+ (aq.). Cyclic voltammograms for the TCNQF4/Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 solid–solid phase transformation are independent of the electrode material and the identity of the Ni2+ (aq.) counteranion but are strongly dependent on the concentration of Ni2+ (aq.) and the scan rate. UV/Vis, infrared, and Raman spectra confirm the presence of [TCNQF4]·– in the newly synthesized material. The composition of Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 was deduced from thermogravimetric and elemental analyses. Scanning electron microscopic images of Ni(TCNQF4)2(H2O)2 electrocrystallized onto the surface of an indium tin oxide electrode show a thin film morphology. Magnetic and conductivity data demonstrate that the complex behaves as a classical paramagnet and is a typical semiconductor with a band gap close to that of an insulator.


"Despite the constant flow of foreign aid, and decades of aid-financed development efforts, Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world and the poorest in the South Asia. Until the mid 1960s, almost all development projects in Nepal were financed by foreign aid. Aid as a percentage of GDP is still over 6 per cent, and aid still finances over 50 per cent of Nepal's development expenditure. Yet slow economic growth persists and almost 40 per cent of the population lives in absolute poverty. Serious doubts about the effectiveness of aid in Nepal have therefore arisen. A casual observer of these facts could easily draw the conclusion that aid to Nepal has not been effective; however, they would not be able to say what would have happened in the absence of aid. Furthermore, aid is only one factor; there are many other factors that contribute to economic growth".


The fungus isolated from diseased Echinochloa crus-galli was identified as Exserohilum monoceras, based on the conidial morphology, germination characteristics and hilum morphology. The objectives of this study were to screen and isolate fungal pathogen of E. monoceras from infected E. crus-galli as well as to determine the pathogenicity of E. monoceras and the optimum conditions for growth and sporulation of E. monoceras. In repeated trials, the pathogenicity of this fungus to its host was confirmed by Koch's postulate. The pathogen caused a high level of disease on E. crus-galli where symptoms appeared within 24 h of inoculation. It induced eyespot lesions typical of infection by Exserohilum spp. and induced a severe 'burnt' appearance on the foliage of E. crus-galli. The leaf tissues in the vicinity of heavy infestation were completely killed. The disease did not develop on non-inoculated plants, which was indicative of localized infection and lack of significant secondary disease cycles. The laboratory study indicated that better growth and appressoria production can be attained when the fungus is exposed to temperature in the range of 25 to 30 oC. This study also indicated that Maxigreen®, which is an adjuvant, when mixed with sunflower in the ratio of 0:5:7 is ideal for formulating the conidia. This research has illustrated that solid media such as agar is an excellent growth media, but spore production has been influenced by the nutrient content of the media. The best medium for sporulation was half strength V8 juice agar.


The chemical content of living algal food is an important determinant of zooplankton herbivore fitness. Previous studies have restricted diets to a single food type presented over multiple body mass turnover times; these have established that phosphorus content is one factor closely associated with growth of some zooplankton. In nature, however, algal P content and other potentially important dimensions to food quality vary in space and time. It would be unlikely for a grazing animal to experience a single constant food type over a major portion of its life. Many grazers likely experience diel variation in food quality associated with their vertical migration through nutritional gradients. It is not known how long‐term growth under fluctuating food relates to growth rates expected for single, constant food types. We tested whether grazers could integrate over daily variation in their food and thus realize body growth rates higher than would be expected from growth determined on single constant food types alone. We found that Daphnia magna grow near maximal rates when exposed to high‐quality food for half or less of the day. These results suggest that nutritional gradients associated with vertical migration bear close examination. They also strongly suggest that some form of diel P storage in zooplankton, a form of luxury consumption, occurs, and allows for integration over temporal variation in supply of this essential dietary ingredient.


Hyla miyatai is described from the upper Rio Napo region of Ecuador. This new species is characterized by its small size, short truncate snout, concealed tympanum, and dorsal color pattern of bright red and yellow. It apparently breeds in deep, vegetation-choked streams.


The perinucleolar compartment (PNC) is a nuclear body that forms specifically in highly malignant cancer cells. PNC prevalence is shown to reflect metastatic potential of cancer cells from solid tissue origins. A high-content screen was performed to identify small molecules that reduce PNC prevalence. Medicinal chemistry optimizations of confirmed hits yield metarrestin, having 95% of oral bioavailability and a PNC disassembly IC50 between 100 to 400 nM across multiple cancer cell lines. Metarrestin inhibits soft agar growth and the invasive capabilities of cancer cells in vitro. In vivo mouse xenograft metastatic studies showed that metarrestin effectively inhibits lung and/or liver metastasis of prostate cancer (PC3M), pancreatic cancer (organotypic spheroids of PANC1), and a breast cancer patient xenograft (PDX) model derived from metastatic cells isolated from a pleural effusion. Treated animals tolerate metarrestin well with no discernable impact on animal well-being including weight compared with control animals. These data supports the idea that the pharmacological disassembly of PNC produces the inhibition of malignant behavior of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Cellular and molecular analyses of the mechanisms of action of metarrestin show that this compound induces significant and reversible changes in the nucleolar structure, accompanied by a selective reduction of pol I transcription. These studies suggest that PNC structural integrity directly associates with pol I function and nucleolar structure. Experiments are currently underway to identify the cellular factors and pathways by which metarrestin reduces PNCs, disrupts nucleolar structure, regulates transcriptions, and blocks malignant behaviors. Citation Format: Chen Wang, Kevin Frankowski, Teper Yaroslav, Samarjit Patnaik, Frank Schoenen, Noel Southall, Wei Sun, Steve Titus, Lesley Griner, Christopher Dextras, Jamey Sultan, Irawati Kandela, Marzena Lewandowska, Yi-Ping Wen, John Norton, Jin Sol Kang, Andrew Mazar, Wei Zhang, Jeffrey Aube, Marc Ferrer, Udo Rudloff, Juan Jose Marugan, Sui Huang. Metarrestin effectively disassembles PNCs and inhibits metastasis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5368. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5368


The idea of quantifying order in disordered systems has been introduced recently by Torquato and co-workers (2000 Phys. Rev. E 62 993–1001). We are interested in the application of this idea to measure structure in non-equilibrium systems. Here we focus on gels, using as a model system colloidal gels formed from hard spheres with polymer added to the systems to induce a controlled, weak attraction. To describe the structure of the gels we use real space imaging via confocal microscopy to obtain the full three-dimensional structure. We measure experimentally both translational order and bond angle correlations, defining a new (refined) translational order parameter that is sensitive to long range order in these non-random packings. This metric is also sensitive to anisotropy, which should be important in the many physical situations where an external force is present. The bond angle distribution shows coordinated organization. To give a clearer physical picture for gels, we compare the experimental data to computer generated hard sphere systems.


We analyse holomorphic discs on Lagrangian SU(2)-orbits in a family of quasihomogeneous threefolds of SL(2, C), previously studied by Evans-Lekili, introducing several techniques that should be applicable to wider classes of homogeneous Lagrangians. By studying the closed-open map we place strong restrictions on the self-Floer cohomology of these Lagrangians, which we then compute using the Biran-Cornea pearl complex.


ABSTRACT During Substitution Industrialization (1930-1975), wages rose, and unemployment and poverty were low. During the "neoliberal process" (1976-2002) the liberalization of the goods and financial markets resulted in the regression of the productive structure, high unemployment and the decline of real wages. Finally, since the collapse of 2002, Argentina has had enormous success in terms of unemployment, with limited achievements in wages or poverty. This paper tries to answer why Argentina faces difficulties to return to past labor market figures highlighting the process of capital differentiation and the new international division of labor.


Recently, as 3rd-generation mobile communication services using high-speed data rate system are widely employed, the demand for a variety of real-time data services such as VoIP service are also increased. Unlike typical data packets, VoIP packets have delay bound and low loss rate requirement. In this paper we propose a new scheduling algorithm that schedule two deferent kinds of packets efficiently, considering the characteristics of VoIP. Basically this algorithm considers both time delay and channel condition and gives priority depending on the time delay. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm works more efficiently than conventional algorithms.


A 25-year-old Japanese woman was admitted due to acute inferior myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography showed complete occlusion of the proximal right coronary artery and vague calcification distal to the complete occlusion. Using ultrafast computed tomography, two coronary artery aneurysms in the right coronary artery that could not be detected by coronary angiography were visualized.