: Mechanistic understanding and prediction of solute adsorption from fluids onto mineral surfaces is relevant for many natural and technical processes. Mineral surfaces in natural systems are often exposed to fluids at non-equilibrium conditions resulting in surface dissolution reactions. Such reactions cause the formation of surface nanotopography and, consequently, the exposure of different types of surface atoms. The quantitative effect of nanotopography on the efficiency of adsorption reactions at crystal surfaces is not known. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we combined a model of muscovite (001) face dissolution with a consequent model of radionuclide adsorption on the rough mineral surface. The model considers three different adsorption sites based on the muscovite surface cations: silicon, tetrahedral, and octahedral aluminum. Two different nanotopography configurations are investigated, both showing similar adsorption behavior. Octahedral aluminum surface atoms defined by having the highest reactivity toward adsorption are exposed solely on steps and pits on the muscovite (001) face. Thus, their availability directly depends on the surface nanotopography. The model results show the need for a more precise parameterization of surface site-specific adsorption, taking into account the coordination of the involved surface cation such as kink, step, or terrace sites. By combining the two reactions of dissolution and adsorption, the model aims to investigate the influence of


Background Prompt diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is important to avoid long term complications. Elevated serum 14-3-3η levels improve the diagnostic sensitivity of rheumatoid factor (RF) and cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody in adult rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and have been associated with more severe phenotype. We investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of serum 14-3-3η in different types of JIA.Methods JIA patients (n = 152) followed by the Pediatric Rheumatology Core at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles were categorized into 5 groups: polyarticular JIA RF+ (PJIA RF+; n = 39), PJIA RF- (n = 39), psoriatic arthritis (PsA; n = 20), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA; n = 18), and oligoarticular JIA (OJIA [control group]; n = 36). RF, CCP antibody, and 14-3-3η were measured for all patients. 14-3-3η serum levels ≥ 0.2 ng/mL were considered positive. Disease activity was assessed by the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score-71 (JADAS-71).Results Elevated 14-3-3η levels were detected in 35/152 (23%) patients, and across all groups tested. Most patients with 14-3-3η had titers ≥ 4 times above the cutoff value. The majority (23, 67%) of 14-3-3η-positive patients were also positive for RF or CCP antibodies, 17 (49%) were positive for all 3, and 12 (8%) were single-positive for 14-3-3η. The highest prevalence of 14-3-3η was in PJIA RF + patients (49%), followed by OJIA (22%). Positivity for 14-3-3η was not significantly associated with disease activity or age at diagnosis.Conclusion Serum 14-3-3η can be detected in all forms of JIA tested but appears to be most common in PJIA RF+. 14-3-3η does not appear to correlate with disease activity in JIA.


Current research on severe fire interactions with the atmosphere focuses largely on examination of correlations between fire growth and various atmospheric properties, and on the development of indices based on these correlations. The author proposes that progress requires understanding the physics and atmospheric dynamics behind the correlations. A conceptual 3-stage model of fire development, based on atmospheric structure, is presented. Using parcel theory and basic atmospheric dynamics equations, the author proposes possible causal explanations for some of the known correlations. The atmospheric dynamics are discussed in terms of the 3-stage model, but can also be viewed more generally. The overall goal is to reframe fire-atmosphere interactions in a way that will allow better understanding and progress in fire science, prediction, and safety.


Greek universities recently took responsibility for the preparation of future Elementary School teachers. Aspects of the four-year curriculum programme of the University of Athens in Physics Education are presented here and may help those planning similar programmes. Results so far have been fruitful enough for the Greek Ministry of Education to ask the universities to retrain present Elementary School teachers who attended the old-fashioned two-year studies.


We examine patent pools in the context of a consortium standard. Although such pools of complementary technologies are approved by antitrust authorities, the actual implementation has proved to be problematic. We identify two possible obstacles: free riding and bargaining failure. We also examine the traditional RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing condition. We suggest formation, licensing and rent distribution methods more conducive to a successful patent pool operation.


Occasional corruption of stored data is an unfortunate byproduct of the complexity of modern systems. Hardware errors, software bugs, and mistakes by human administrators can corrupt important sources of data. The dominant practice to deal with data corruption today involves administrators writing ad hoc scripts that run data-integrity tests at the application, database, file-system, and storage levels. This manual approach is tedious, error-prone, and provides no understanding of the potential system unavailability and data loss if a corruption were to occur. We introduce the Amulet system that addresses the problem of verifying the correctness of stored data proactively and continuously. To our knowledge, Amulet is the first system that: (i) gives administrators a declarative language to specify their objectives regarding the detection and repair of data corruption; (ii) contains optimization and execution algorithms to ensure that the administrator's objectives are met robustly and with least cost, e.g., using pay-as-you cloud resources; and (iii) provides timely notification when corruption is detected, allowing proactive repair of corruption before it impacts users and applications. We describe the implementation and a comprehensive evaluation of Amulet for a database software stack deployed on an infrastructure-as-a-service cloud provider.


By differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) the reaction enthalpies of the thermal splitting of the following photochemically produced dimers of meso-substituted anthracenes in fluid solutions were determined: the head-to-tail (ht) dimers of 9-decylanthracene (DEA) and 9-decyloxyanthracene (DOA) in hydrocarbon solvents, and the head-to-head (hh) dimer of 9-methoxyanthracene (MOA) and the mixed hh dimer of 9-methoxyanthracene and 9-methoxy-10-methylanthracene (MMOA) in chlorinated solvents. The molar reaction enthalpy (in kJ mol-1) is found to be lower for the ht dimers (-28 kJ mol-1, DEA and -29 kJ mol-1, DOA) than for the hh dimers (-43 kJ mol-1, MOA and -44 kJ mol-1, MMOA) with an estimated precision of ±3 kJ mol-1 each. Quantum mechanical computations give energy differences for the thermal splitting of dianthracene and the two dimers of 9-methoxyanthracene in reasonable agreement with the reaction enthalpies observed. An analysis of the change in bond energies caused by the dimerization reveals that the relative stability of the dimer is mainly caused by a large increase in bond strength of the lateral benzene rings on dimerization.


That micaceous schists were originally deposited as sand and mud, and that their present mineralogical and mechanical structure is due to subsequent metamorphic action, may appear to some geologists so thoroughly established as to make further proof needless. Since, however, some geologists in our own country and on the Continent have, within the last few years, argued that the bands of varying mineral character do not represent original stratification, but were due to causes similar to those which have produced thin-bedded and almost laminar trachytes, or to some little-understood force of polarity, it appears to me far from superfluous to describe certain facts very completely establishing the sedimentary and metamorphic origin of the schistose rocks of the localities mentioned in the sequel. That the mere repetition of layers of different mineral character is of itself no absolute proof of sedimentary formation is sufficiently apparent from what is often seen in well-known igneous rocks; but mica-schist sometimes possesses other peculiarities, to which I beg to call attention.


Background HER2 is one of the predominant therapeutic targets in breast cancer. The metastatic selection process may lead to discrepancies between the HER2 status of the primary tumor and circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This study analyzed the HER2 status of CTCs in patients with HER2-positive primary breast cancer at the time of diagnosis. Aim of the study was to assess potential discordance of HER2 status between primary tumor and CTCs, as this may have important implications for the use of HER2-targeted therapy. Methods The number and HER2 status of CTCs out of 30ml peripheral blood were assessed in 642 patients using the CellSearch System (Janssen Diagnostics, USA). The cutoff for CTC positivity was the presence of at least 1 CTC, and the cutoff for HER2 positivity of CTCs was the presence of at least 1 CTC with a strong HER2 staining. Results 258 (40.2%) of the 642 patients were positive for CTCs (median 2; range 1–1,689). 149 (57.8%) of these 258 patients had at least 1 CTC with strong HER2 staining. The presence of HER2-positive CTCs was not associated with tumor size (p = 0.335), histopathological grading (p = 0.976), hormone receptor status (ER: p = 0.626, PR: p = 0.263) or axillary lymph node involvement (p = 0.430). Overall, 83 (32.2%) of the CTC-positive patients exclusively had CTCs with strong HER2 staining, whereas 31 (12.0%) had only CTCs with negative HER2 staining. Within-sample variation in the HER2 status of CTCs was found in 86 (57.8%) of the 149 patients with more than 1 CTC. Conclusion This study demonstrated that discordance between the HER2 expression of CTCs and that of the primary tumor frequently occurs in early breast cancer. Future follow-up evaluation will assess whether this discrepancy may contribute to trastuzumab resistance.


By and large, anthropology's reflections on the concept of evidence have been couched within other discussions – on truth, knowledge, and related concerns. This essay, which introduces the special issue, makes the case that evidence deserves more considered attention in its own right. Drawing on the small but growing body of literature in social and cultural anthropology that does address questions of evidence, I situate the articles here in relation to several anthropological conversations, suggesting in the process how an exploration of evidence can shed light on three key issues: anthropology's standards of judgement, the potentials within interdisciplinary collaboration, and the benefits of a public anthropology. This article introduced a special issue of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute published in March 2008. It was subsequently issued as a book entitled The objects of evidence: Anthropological approaches to the production of knowledge. Oxford: Blackwell, 2009.


We consider a (non-Riemannian) metric-affine gravity theory, in particular its non-metricity-torsion sector `isomorphic' to Einstein-Maxwell theory. We map certain Einstein-Maxwell electrovacuum solutions to it, namely the Plebanski-Demianski class of Petrov type D metrics.


Condensation of methyl 2-O-benzoyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-alpha-D-galactopyranoside with 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-2-phthalimido-beta-D-glucopyranosyl bromide (1) in dichloromethane, in the presence of silver trifluoromethanesulfonate, 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine, and molecular sieves, afforded methyl 2-O-benzoyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-3-O-(3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-2-phthalim ido- beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-alpha-D-galactopyranoside (4). Deacetalation of 4 in hot, 80% aqueous acetic acid gave methyl 2-O-benzoyl-3-O-(3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-2-phthalimido- beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-alpha-D-galactopyranoside (5), which, on deacylation, followed by peracetylation, furnished the peracetylated disaccharide derivative (6). The structures of 5 and 6 were established by 1H-n.m.r. spectroscopy. O-Deacetylation of 6 afforded the title beta-(1 leads to 3)-linked disaccharide 7. For the synthesis of the beta-(1 leads to 2)-linked isomer, methyl 3-O-benzoyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-alpha-D-galactopyranoside was similarly condensed with bromide 1 to give the fully protected disaccharide derivative (8). Cleavage of the benzylidene group of 8 gave methyl 3-O-benzoyl-2-O-(3,4,6- tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-2-phthalimido-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-alpha-D- galactopyranoside (9). Deacetylation of 9, followed by peracetylation, afforded the peracetate (10). O-Deacetylation of 10 gave the beta-(1 leads to 2)-linked disaccharide (11). The structures of the disaccharides 7 and 11 were confirmed by 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy.


In this paper, the header ratio is defined as the ratio between the SEG Y header data volume and the SEG Y file size, a formula describing the relationship between the header ratio, the compression ratio of SEG Y header data and the compression ratio of the SEG Y file is derived. It is discovered from the formula that the theoretical limit of the SEG Y file compression ratio is the quotient of the SEG Y header data compression ratio divided by the header ratio, therefore, it is necessary to compress the header data efficiently in order to get a high compression of the SEG Y file. Furthermore, the statistical properties of the SEG Y reel header data and trace header data are analyzed. An efficient lossless compression method for SEG Y header data, known as Header Identification Data Lossless Prediction Coding (HIDLPC) method, is proposed based on the statistical properties of the SEG Y header data. Experimental results show that the lossless compression ratio by using HIDLPC to compress SEG Y header data locates between 30 and 1000, much higher than the corresponding compression ratios by using Winzip and WinRAR.


Thank you for downloading abortion in a changing world. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search numerous times for their favorite books like this abortion in a changing world, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious virus inside their desktop computer. abortion in a changing world is available in our book collection an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers saves in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the abortion in a changing world is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Accurate positioning systems can be realized via ultra-wideband signals due to their high time resolution. In this article, position estimation is studied for UWB systems. After a brief introduction to UWB signals and their positioning applications, two-step positioning systems are investigated from a UWB perspective. It is observed that time-based positioning is well suited for UWB systems. Then time-based UWB ranging is studied in detail, and the main challenges, theoretical limits, and range estimation algorithms are presented. Performance of some practical time-based ranging algorithms is investigated and compared against the maximum likelihood estimator and the theoretical limits. The trade-off between complexity and accuracy is observed.


Ectothermic vertebrates have a well‐developed system of melanin‐containing cells, which localize in several organs and tissues and compose an extracutaneous pigmentary system. This research aimed at characterizing histological and ultrastructural patterns of pigmented cells in the testes of the anura Eupemphix nattereri (Steindachner, 1963), including the stereological and quantitative evaluation of this cell type in the gonads. Ten adult males were collected in Nova Itapirema, São Paulo, Brazil, and submitted to morphological studies with light and transmission electron microscopy. The testis presents a great number of large cells with many brown granules and long cytoplasmic processes. The pigmented cells found in the testis are structurally similar to melanocytes, characterized by large amounts of melanosomes. The cells may be in intimate contact with the same cell type, with myoid cells surrounded by a large amount of collagen fibers, Leydig cells, and next to fibroblasts. The distribution and amount of extracutaneous melanocytes is variable when other organs and membranes are analyzed, allowing the establishment of species‐specific patterns for the extracutaneous pigmentary system. Anat Rec, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Thank you for downloading abortion and unborn human life. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite novels like this abortion and unborn human life, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful virus inside their laptop. abortion and unborn human life is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our books collection hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the abortion and unborn human life is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Private enforcement is essential in the EU legal order. It has however long been left mainly to the Member States to lay down the rules on remedies and procedures that apply in such proceedings before their national courts. Nevertheless, with a view to facilitating this form of enforcement and addressing concerns in light of the reliance on national law, the EU has established a growing body of secondary EU law on the matter. This paper analyses that body of law. It concentrates on the four main private enforcement remedies (actions for damages, injunctive relief, contractual remedies, interim relief) provided for in selected acts of EU legislation relating to four fields of law (public procurement, intellectual property, consumer protection and competition law). It seeks to shed light also on the content and functioning of this kind of EU legislation more generally and on how it fits into the broader body of EU law.


The error recovery problem in wireless sensor networks is studied from a generic resource-constrained energy-optimization perspective. To characterize the features of error recovery schemes that suit the majority of applications, an energy model is developed and inferences are drawn based on a suitable performance metric. For applications that require error control coding, an efficient scheme is proposed based on an interesting observation related to shortened ReedSolomon (RS) codes for packet reliability. It is shown that multiple instances (γ) of RS codes defined on a smaller alphabet combined with interleaving results in smaller resource usage, while the performance exceeds the benefits of a shortened RS code defined over a larger alphabet. In particular, the proposed scheme can have an error correction capability of up to γ times larger than that of the conventional RS scheme without changing the rate of the code with much lower power, timing and memory requirements. Implementation results show that such a scheme is 43% more power efficient compared with the RS scheme with the same code rate. Besides, such an approach results in 46% faster computations and 53% reduction in memory requirements. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Part of this paper was presented in IEEE European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design ECCTD [1].


The classical gravitational two-body problem is generalized in order to be applicable also to weak gravitational fields. The equation of motion holds both for terrestrial and large cosmic scales, the Newtonian gravitational law represents a mathematical limit of the generalized form. Motivation comes from observational results on rotation curves of galaxies. Existence of a dark matter is not assumed. The crucial laws of physics hold and also the potential energy of the system is symmetric with respect to masses of the two bodies. Shortcomings of the results published for decades, including MOND theories and false-yet-familiar approaches, are overcome. The impact on searching for a fundamental physical theory is stressed. Some of the conventional ideas of the past centuries do not hold for the zone of small accelerations, e.g., the principle of least action using the Lagrangian density of potentials and fields does not work. We may look forward to great changes in our understanding of the evolution of the Universe.


Abstract Elderly patients with end stage kidney disease represent a challenge for surgeons to create a vascular access. Determine predictive parameters functionality of the arteriovenous fistulas for hemodialysis in the elderly. The study was organized as a retrospective study at the Center for Dialysis, Clinic for Urology and Nephrology, Clinical Center Kragujevac. The study included patients older than 65 years with arteriovenous fistula thrombosis, in the period of four years, in which there is information on the length of the functioning fistula. The study included 48 patients, mean age 71.3±5.2 years, 29 (60%) men and 19 (40%) women. The data were analyzed according to gender and demographic structure, type of anastomosis, positioning, length of functioning fistulas, and the lumen diameter of the arteries and veins that are used to create a fistula. The median length of functioning arteriovenous fistula, based on Kaplan-Meier model, is 16 months (95% CI 6.9-25.1). Median functioning for proximaly located fistulas was 24 months (range, 1-259), while median functioning in patient with distally located fistulas was 8 months (range, 1-96). The difference in relation to the positioning of the fistula was statistically significant (p=0.006). In univariate Cox regression model, a statistically significant predictor of the functioning of arteriovenous fistulae is fistula positioning (B=0.700; p=0.022). The predictive parameter of survival of arteriovenous fistulas in elderly is proximally located fistula.


Abstract In this article we provide an evidence-based review of appendicitis, which is one of the most challenging conditions to diagnose in patients presenting with abdominal pain. Almost all clinicians are faced with the diagnostic work-up of these patients, and missing the diagnosis can result in patient decompensation. We review the literature from the initial description of McBurney's point to the clinical presentation, as well as the most appropriate imaging testing. Additionally, we review the usefulness of specific diagnostic laboratory tests. The use of computed tomography scans has reduced negative appendectomy rates when combined with a physical examination, and assists in ruling out appendicitis. Computed tomography scans with no contrast or just rectal contrast are becoming the standard in many institutions. It is essential that when the diagnosis of abdominal pain of unclear etiology is suspected, the clinician's discussion with the patient is well documented on the patient's chart.


Motivation: The European Capital Market Union (CMU) is a comprehensive initiative with an aim to support the competitiveness of the European Union (EU) economy. Its main tasks are to improve the access for European enterprises to long-term financing, especially in case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-up companies as well as broadening the variety of financing sources thanks to the development of equity and corporate bonds markets. Aim: The main aim of the article is to present the CMU in the light of the literature related to structural changes in financial systems and in the context of current shape of the European financial sector. As a result, the assessment of CMU and main potential obstacles, the EU lawmakers may encounter are presented. Results: The scope of the reform is a major challenge in terms of regulatory (different degree of harmonization of different law branches in the EU) and political issues (related to deepening of the integration among EU countries) and due to financial systems' diversity in the EU countries. However, according to economic researches on institutional complementarity, among others B. Amable (2003), the scope of effective regulation must be broad and embrace both demand and supply side of the market. Deriving conclusions from Anglo-Saxon countries' experiences with market-based economy seems to be reasonable in this case, especially taking into consideration still non-saturated market for this type of financing in the EU.


SKS, the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in India, opened its IPO on July 28, 2010, forging the way for other Indian MFIs to follow. The IPO valued SKS at 4.2 times its post-issue book value and 40 times its fiscal year 2010 earnings, making it consistent with the best performing Indian banks, but high compared with publicly listed low-income finance institutions. Its price-to-earnings multiple is 40 times its fiscal year 2010 earnings, making it a statistical outlier. On the first day of trading on both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 20.6 million shares changed hands, resulting in a post-listing gain of 11 percent. This paper asserts that the SKS IPO is significant because of its influence in a sizeable market and because it further increases the stakes of investors whose primary objectives are more decidedly commercial. Having attracted leading investors such as JP Morgan and George Soros' Quantum Fund, SKS will necessarily have to adhere to stricter corporate governance requirements, as its stakeholder base expands to include organizations that are more conscious about their reputations and long-term goals. Going forward the authors believe that India is well-positioned for more IPOs because of its combination of fast-growing MFIs, well-developed capital markets, and a large market demand for microfinance services that is waiting to be met.


Soil erosion by water is the most important land degradation problem worldwide. Spatial information on erosion is required for defining effective soil and water conservation strategies. Satellite remote sensing can provide relevant input to regional erosion assessment. This thesis comprises a review on how satellite data have been used previously for evaluating water erosion. Options include erosion detection and the assessment of controlling factors such as topography, soil, and vegetation. Due to the complexity of erosion processes, regional differences, and scale dependency, remote sensing techniques and data integration methods should be tailored to regional characteristics. However, often erosion models are applied without questioning their assumptions, which is aggravated by a general lack of validation. On the basis of several case studies in different tropical regions, this thesis presents new methodologies for qualitative erosion mapping using satellite data. Automatic identification of large erosion gullies from optical imagery was performed for an area in the Brazilian Cerrados. For the same area, an approach using multi-resolution and multi-temporal satellite data accurately identified erosion risk patterns related to sheet and rill erosion. For the Colombian Eastern Plains expert knowledge assisted erosion risk mapping by selecting and combining relevant parameters to be extracted from available data sources. For the West Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, accurate evaluation of erosion risk was possible using only remotely-sensed information on vegetation and slope. It was concluded that flexible, qualitative, region-dependent approaches that effectively use data from spaceborne sensors, can provide good means for quick and accurate regional mapping of erosion risk.


The bacterial communities within the human body have important associations with health and disease. Understanding their complexity requires ecological approaches. In this thesis, I apply ecological techniques and models to explore the microbial ecology of human-associated bacterial communities at multiple scales. In the first half of this thesis, I explore the oral microbiome using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data to characterise the effect of various factors on its diversity. Multiple factors apart from disease can also affect the oral microbiome, but their relative importance remains a matter of debate. In Chapter 2, I use a dataset of saliva samples from a family of related Ashkenazi Jewish individuals to show that host genetics plays much less of a role than shared household in explaining bacterial community composition. In Chapter 3, I use a large dataset of plaque samples from women in Malawi to investigate associations between bacterial taxa and periodontal disease. I show that the signals from gingivitis and periodontitis can be distinguished, and use correlation networks to identify important taxa for the development of disease. The second half of this thesis deals with the effect of antibiotics on the human microbiome. I demonstrate new approaches at two extremes of scale: abstracting the gut microbiome to a single metric, and also investigating the worldwide distribution and diversity of a single resistance gene. In Chapter 4, I develop a new and simple mathematical model of the gut microbiome's response to antibiotic perturbation and fit it to empirical data, showing that in some individuals the gut microbiome appears to return to an alternative stable state, raising questions about the long-term impact of antibiotics on previously healthy bacterial communities. Antibiotic use also selects for resistance, which is a growing concern, particularly as resistance can be transmitted horizontally on mobile genetic elements. In Chapter 5, I describe a global dataset of isolates containing the mobilized colistin resistance gene mcr-1 and use the diversity present within a composite transposon alignment to explore its distribution and spread across multiple bacterial communities.


The problems of attempting inflationary model-building in a theory containing a dilaton are explained. In particular, I study the shape of the dilaton potential today and during inflation, based on a weakly-coupled heterotic string model where corrections to the Kahler potential are assumed to be responsible for dilaton stabilization. Although no specific model-building is attempted, if the inflationary energy density is related to the scale of gaugino condensation, then the dilaton may be stabilized close enough to today's value that there is no significant change in the GUT scale coupling. This can occur in a very wide range of models, and helps to provide some justification for the standard predictions of the spectral index. I explain how this result can ultimately be traced to the supersymmetry structure of the theory.


The expansion of the literature is necessary. A significance of the framework of the current condition of Hajj service development is required. This study aims to provide an overview of the publication activities and trend of research in relation to Hajj services using bibliometric analysis. The method in this research used descriptive statistical tools with meta-analysis employing bibliometric analysis of secondary data from 142 papers published during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2019 to 2022. The development trends of hajj service publications were also evaluated using the VOSviewer program. This study found that the number of research publications on the Hajj services has increased in the last four years (2019-2022) indicating that themes regarding Hajj services show uptrend patterns. These seem to lead scholars to provide contributions to the body of knowledge. In addition, the interest of scholars has been shifting toward topics related to digitalization systems.


Farming communities have been seriously affected by climate variability, in this sense, many of them have developed certain skills to properly observe and explain astronomical dynamics, rituals and other forms of fauna and flora. The objective of this study was recognize the cultural autonomy of the indigenous community Karina, south of the state of Anzoategui, in the context of climate, through the assessment of the diversity of ancestral knowledge to determine the effects and adjustments related to natural resources. The participatory research approach through technical dialogue of knowledge, involving 49 participants from three generations: the elderly, adult and youth was considered. The principal component analysis (PCA) for data interpretation was used. Through the PCA were selected the top five components that explained 72.0% of the total variation. A first component associated with the variables: Location and Sex accounted for 23.0% of the total variance. Were identified: El congorocho, pajaro Tijereta, Chicharra, El Bachaco, El Relampago and moon phase as bioindicators astronomical climatic and farming demonstrations. These were mostly used by adults over Karina culture representing 10.0% of the participants. The results allowed us to recreate, rebuild and add value to local knowledge in everyday practices in the weather forecast for the use and management of their crops. This analysis allowed the generation of tools for rural education with greater social and cultural relevance for new generations.


Modern chip-level multiprocessors (CMPs) contain multiple processor cores sharing a common last-level cache, memory interconnects, and other hardware resources. Workloads running on separate cores compete for these resources, often resulting in highly-variable performance. To improve fairness and performance, it is helpful to co-schedule workloads having minimal cache and other forms of resource contention. In this work, we develop several cache modeling techniques to help make informed resource management decisions. Using only commonly-available performance counters on existing processors, we introduce an efficient online technique for estimating the cache occupancies of software threads. We derive an analytical model that considers the impact of set-associativity, line replacement policy, and memory locality effects. We demonstrate the effectiveness of occupancy estimation with a series of CMP simulations using SPEC benchmarks. Our occupancy estimation technique is currently being used to develop online utility functions, such as miss-ratio curves (MRCs), which capture performance impacts as a function of resource usage. We are leveraging both online cache occupancy estimation and MRC construction in our ongoing studies of cache-aware scheduling.


The present paper describes two patients with Sturge-Weber and Klippel Trénaunay-Weber syndromes. Some etiopathogenic factors are analyzed. We suggest that the association of both diseases in the same patient may be due to a single autosomal dominant gene.


Despite the success of contextualized language models on various NLP tasks, it is still unclear what these models really learn. In this paper, we contribute to the current efforts of explaining such models by exploring the continuum between function and content words with respect to contextualization in BERT, based on linguistically-informed insights. In particular, we utilize scoring and visual analytics techniques: we use an existing similarity-based score to measure contextualization and integrate it into a novel visual analytics technique, presenting the model's layers simultaneously and highlighting intra-layer properties and inter-layer differences. We show that contextualization is neither driven by polysemy nor by pure context variation. We also provide insights on why BERT fails to model words in the middle of the functionality continuum.


Regulations require that consent be obtained before accepting a kidney donation, and respect for the competent adult requires the living donor to think, decide, and act freely, without any form of pressure or coercion. This article describes the results of a program, Les Compagnons de la Donation (Donation Companions), that attempts to meet these needs. A descriptive, non-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the degree of participant satisfaction and the program's influence on consent. Thirty-nine (n = 39) potential donors took part in the study. For each of the items evaluated, the mean change of participants pre- and post-intervention perception was statistically significant. The change was even more marked for feeling informed or prepared compared to being convinced or confident about the decision. Almost all participants strongly agreed the program was satisfactory. This study demonstrated a structured program, such as the Les Compagnons de la Donation program, meets the needs of the target audience and appears to provide significant support to the decision-making process.


Antibodies were prepared against the DNA polymerases (reverse transcriptases) of three potentially oncogenic RNA viruses of primates. Two type C viruses, isolated from a woolly monkey fibrosarcoma and from a gibbon ape lymphosarcoma, have polymerases that are immunologically related to each other and are distinct from the type C viruses isolated from other mammals.


Venous malformations (VMs) are congenital disorders that constitute about 40% of all vascular anomalies. These lesions do not regress spontaneously and may increase in size during childhood. The case of a 10-year-old girl with an extensive oral VM is reported. Intraoral examination revealed the presence of purplish nodules in the alveolar mucosa and gingiva from anterior maxilla. Doppler ultrasound showed a well-defined hypoechoic image and increased vascularization with low blood flow for the alveolar mucosa lesion. The patient was submitted to intralesional injections of the ethanolamine oleate/mepivacaine sclerosing solution. After four sessions, there was a significant reduction of the lesions. However, the patient abandoned the treatment and the oral VM grew progressively. After 1 year, sclerotherapy was resumed and performed weekly. After 10 session of sclerotherapy, the oral VM totally regressed. The childhood is a critical period for oral VM growth. Doppler ultrasound and sclerotherapy can be effective for the management of extensive lesions in children.


The meiofauna from Isthmus of Olinda (Lat. 8° 2' 24" S; Long. 34° 51' 48"W) was collected from November/1988 to October/1989, in seven transects, with distance on 300m between each other, and stations at supratidal, intertidal and subtidal level. The granulometric analysis showed a sediment with predominance of medium sands. Accordind to effective diameter, it was evident that inside medium sand class, the variance of grain size demanded a subdivision to verify the effect of granulometry in animais distribution. So, the fraction medium sand was subdivided on: higer, intermediate and smaller. With X² test was showed that Nematoda was indifferent to this granulometric variance, while Copepoda Harpacticoida and Ostracoda suffered influence by granulometry probably because they seem more adapted to swimming.


An important parameter in deciding to eliminate technical debt (TD) is the probability of a module to generate interest along software evolution. In this study, we explore code smells, which according to practitioners are the most commonly occurring type of TD in industry, by assessing the associated interest probability. As a proxy of smell interest probability we use the frequency of smell occurrences and the change proneness of the modules in which they are identified. To achieve this goal we present a case study on 47,751 methods extracted from two well-known open source projects. The results of the case study suggest that: (a) modules in which "code smells" are concentrated are more change-prone than smell-free modules, (b) there are specific types of "code smells" that are concentrated in the most change-prone modules, and (c) interest probability of code clones seems to be higher than the other two examined code smells. These results can be useful for both researchers and practitioners, in the sense that the former can focus their research on resolving "code smells" that produce more interest, and the latter can improve accordingly the prioritization of their repayment strategy and their training.


The information theory approach is suggested to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) problem for negatively curved homogeneous and isotropic Universe. Namely, the Kolmogorov complexity of anisotropy spots of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation sky maps is proposed as a new descriptor for revealing crucial cosmological information, particularly on the curvature of the Universe. Such profound descriptor can be especially valuable while analyzing the data of forthcoming space- and ground-based experiments MAP, Planck surveyor, CAT, etc.


ABSTRACTClinical guidelines are increasingly being implemented in an attempt to control the rising costs of medical care. The objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate the safety and impact of a clinical practice guideline defining the medically appropriate length of stay for patients with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. A previously validated scoring system comprising four independent variables [hemodynamics, time from bleeding, comorbidity, and endoscopic (EGD) findings] was used to identify a subset of patients thought to be at low risk for developing subsequent complications. According to the guideline, patients in the low-risk category were to be discharged within 24 h of achieving low-risk status. The guideline was applied to all adult patients admitted to a 1000-bed, university-affiliated hospital in an alternating month design. Concurrent feedback of a patient's risk score and guideline recommendations were provided to the managing physicians during the 7 intervention months. The guideline and risk stratification tools were not available during the 7 control months. Outcomes surveyors and patients were blinded to study group allocation.During the 14-month study period, 299 patients were admitted with a diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, of which 209 achieved low-risk status. Comparison of control and intervention months revealed an increase in guideline adherence from 30–70%, respectively. The improvement in guideline adherence was associated with a decrease in overall length of stay from an average of 4.6–2.9 days and a mean reduction of 1.7 hospital days per patient. No differences were identified between the groups when measured 1 month after discharge with respect to complications, patient health status, or patient satisfaction. Further analysis indicated that early endoscopy, defined as endoscopy on the same day as admission, was an independent predictor of decreased hospital length of stay for patients in the low risk group. (Am J Gastroenterol 1998;93:1384–1385. © 1998 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology)


Female house crickets are attracted to male calling song containing a relatively high number of syllables per 'chirp', which tends to be produced by large males. In a previous study, we showed that this song characteristic is also positively and independently correlated with haemocyte load, an important determinant of the ability to produce an encapsulation response in insects. Females will therefore tend to select males with high encapsulation ability (and large body size) as mates. The present study demonstrates that variation in haemocyte load and body size, together with a second parameter of immune function (the ability to encapsulate a synthetic substrate), is heritable in the same population. Moreover, all three traits are shown to be positively genetically correlated. In favouring males that produce calling song with the preferred characteristics, females should therefore also tend to produce larger offspring with a greater ability to produce an encapsulation response.


This paper analyzed the degree of perception and performance of technology-humanities convergence in Korean SMEs. First, the meaning and activities of technology-humanities convergence were defined. Second, a survey data was collected from 277 Korean SMEs and analyzed from two perspectives-degree of performance and degree of perceived importance. Finally, based on the results, this paper signposted the important points to activate the technology-humanities convergence in SMEs. †


Abstract 3745 Introduction: Recently, it has been recognized that some chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with a complete molecular response (CMR) are able to maintain the CMR after discontinuation of imatinib. Mahon et al. reported that among patients with a CMR lasting at least 2 years, CMR was sustained in 41% after discontinuation of imatinib (Lancet Oncol. 2010;11:1029). Similarly, Takahashi et al. reported that 47% of Japanese CML patients with CMR maintained CMR after imatinib discontinuation (Haematologica 2012;97:903). Moreover, Ohyashiki et al. have recently demonstrated that higher peripheral natural killer (NK) cell counts are associated with a reduced risk of relapse after halting imatinib (Br. J. Haematol. 2012;157:254). These findings suggest that, although CML stem cells may remain, even if CMR status is attained, some CML patients could discontinue imatinib therapy and maintain a stable condition, possibly owing to immune surveillance. Aim: To more precisely identify these patients who can safely discontinue imatinib, we characterized the immunophenotype profiles of CML patients. We compared the profiles among CML patients who received imatinib with CMR for more than 2 consecutive years (CMR group), those who could not sustain CMR but maintained a major molecular response (fluctuated CMR group), those who sustained CMR for more than 6 months after discontinuation of imatinib (STIM group), those who relapsed after discontinuation of imatinib (relapse group), and healthy volunteers (control group). Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CML patients and healthy volunteers were separated using a Ficoll density gradient, and immunophenotyping analysis was performed with a 5-color flow cytometry panel, including antibodies against the following cell surface antigens and effector molecules: CD3, CD8, CD45RO, CD56, CCR7, IFN-g, granzyme B, and perforin. After PBMCs were stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin for 4 h in the presence of monensin, cell surface antigens were stained, fixed, and permeabilized. Resultant cells were then intracellularly stained and analyzed with the FACSCanto II flow cytometer. Results: The percentage of effector populations of NK cells, such as interferon (IFN)-g + CD3 − CD56 + cells, was significantly higher in the CMR and STIM groups than in the control group. In contrast, the percentage of effector populations of CD8 + T cells, such as IFN-g + CD8 + T cells, was significantly higher in the STIM and control groups than in the CMR group. Moreover, the percentage of effector populations of NK cells, but not CD8 + T cells, was significantly higher in the CMR group than in the fluctuated CMR group. On the other hand, CML patients with a lower percentage of effector populations of NK cells and CD8 + T cells, and those with a higher percentage of these effector populations, but whose percentage had decreased after imatinib cessation, had a tendency to relapse after discontinuation of imatinib. Conclusion: The percentage of effector populations of NK cells and CD8 + T cells, such as those expressing IFN-g, correlated highly with sustained CMR after discontinuation of imatinib. Moreover, the activation level of NK cells, but not CD8 + T cells, inversely correlated with the BCR-ABL1 transcript level. Taken together, these results suggest that whether imatinib treatment can be safely discontinued may depend greatly on the immunological activation status of both NK cells and CD8 + T cells in CML patients. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions are central to a wide range of chemical and biochemical processes. The past decade has seen great strides in both experimental and theoretical understanding of PCET, but connecting these two perspectives is often challenging. This chapter shows that the Marcus cross relation is a valuable quantitative and conceptual model for solution PCET reactions that can be described as hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), X–H+Y → X+H–Y. The cross relation holds well – in many cases within an order of magnitude – for a large number of such reactions. This includes both purely organic reactions such as those involving phenoxyl radicals or ascorbate, and reactions where the electron change occurs primarily at a transition metal center, as in reactions of iron bi-imidazoline complexes. The cross relation was derived as a corollary of the Marcus Theory of electron transfer and provides a conceptual picture and an experimental entry into intrinsic barriers and other parameters. However, the cross relation is an essentially classical model that does not take into account proton tunneling or nonadiabatic effects. In addition, PCET brings a set of issues not found in electron transfer. For instance, the substantial solvent effects found in some of these reactions derive primarily from pre-equilibrium hydrogen bonding effects rather than changes in intrinsic barriers. The strengths as well as the weaknesses and limitations of using the cross relation for PCET reactions are discussed.


The first section of this dissertation describes the synthesis of a tethered macrocyclic ring system based on the natural product westiellamide. As expected, this system was shown to increase the affinity and ease of complexation to Ag(I) ions as confirmed by NMR and fluorescence Ag(I) titration studies.The second section describes the synthesis of a new series of heterocyclic inhibitors of the BoNT serotype A metalloprotease based on the therapeutic lead NSC 240898. Preliminary structure-activity relationship studies afford detailed insights into the steric and lectrostaticproperties of the pharmacophore of this molecular scaffold. Four of the newly synthesized inhibitors exhibited elevated inhibition against BoNT/A LC when compared to the lead agent.The third section describes an approach towards the total synthesis of haouamine A. A promising route to the marine alkaloid was established, including a highly efficient Suzuki crosscouplingreaction, aldol condensation and aromatization reaction. Several late-stage intermediates were analyzed by X-ray diffraction to provide valuable information about the relationships between conformation and reactivity.


Computational neural models are essential tools for neuroscientists to study the functional roles of single neurons or neural circuits. With the recent advances in experimental techniques, there is a growing demand to build up neural models at single neuron or large-scale circuit levels. A long-standing challenge to build up such models lies in tuning the free parameters of the models to closely reproduce experimental recordings. There are many advanced machine-learning-based methods developed recently for parameter tuning, but many of them are task-specific or requires onerous manual interference. There lacks a general and fully-automated method since now. Here, we present a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)-based deep learning method, General Neural Estimator (GNE), to fully automate the parameter tuning procedure, which can be directly applied to both single neuronal models and large-scale neural circuits. We made comprehensive comparisons with many advanced methods, and GNE showed outstanding performance on both synthesized data and experimental data. Finally, we proposed a roadmap centered on GNE to help guide neuroscientists to computationally reconstruct single neurons and neural circuits, which might inspire future brain reconstruction techniques and corresponding experimental design. The code of our work will be publicly available upon acceptance of this paper.


Peru is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, this fact highlighted by several destructive earthquakes in recent years. The centre of Lima has a large number of historic structures with a ground floor in adobe, and their upper storeys in quincha, a traditional technique consisting of a timber frame with an infill of canes and mud. Despite the existence of a large number of buildings containing this technique, very little is known about its seismic performance. In order to investigate this, a series of experimental tests on quincha frames, with and without the infill, have been carried out previously, with the aim of quantifying the lateral behaviour and identifying vulnerable areas. The present paper details work carried out to develop a finite element model of the test frames without infill. This model of the timber frame will enable an accurate representation of the frame behaviour to be developed before adding the infill of canes and mud to the model. As the behaviour of the infill material and its connection to the frame is difficult to determine, characterising the timber frame with a high degree of accuracy ensures that the contribution of the infill can be globally quantified from the overall experimental results. The beams and posts are connected by cylindrical mortice and tenon joints, with a diagonal bracing member providing some lateral restraint. The connections have been modelled semi-rigid springs, with the stiffness calculated using variations of the component method. This was found to give very similar results to those obtained experimentally.


Experiments were performed on an electron cyclotron resonance plasma in a dc magnetic mirror to determine the effects of lower hybrid resonance radiation on the anisotropy of the plasma. It was found that the anisotropy of the plasma hot electrons decreased, the flux of hot electrons escaping through the mirror throats decreased and the midplane wall bremsstrahlung rate slightly increased as lower hybrid resonance power was increased. This is explained by observing that cold plasma, expelled by the lower hybrid radiation, decreases the number of scattering centers in the midplane, which results in a deeper diamagnetic well for the hot electrons.


We propose a variant of an algorithm introduced by Schewe and also studied by Luttenberger for solving parity or mean-payoff games. We present it over energy games and call our variant the ESL algorithm (for Energy-Schewe-Luttenberger). We find that using potential reductions as introduced by Gurvich, Karzanov and Khachiyan allows for a simple and elegant presentation of the algorithm, which repeatedly applies a natural generalisation of Dijkstra's algorithm to the two-player setting due to Khachiyan, Gurvich and Zhao.


Logistic regression is a sophisticated statistical tool for data analysis in both control experimentation and observational studies. The goal of logistic regression is to correctly predict the category of outcome for individual cases using the most parsimonious model. To accomplish this goal, a model is created that includes all predictor variables that are useful in predicting the response variable. The logistic regression model is being used with increasing rate in various fields in data analysis. In spite of such increase, there has been no commensurate increase in the use of commonly available methods for assessing the model adequacy. Failure to address model adequacy may lead to misleading or incorrect inferences. Therefore, the goal of this study is to present an overview of a few easily employed methods for assessing the fit of logistic regression models. The summary measures of goodness-of-fit as Likelihood Ratio Test, Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, Osius-Rojek large sample approximation test, Stukel test and area under Receiver Operating Characteristic curve indicate that the logistic regression model fits the data quite well. However, recommendations are made for the use of methods for assessing the model adequacy in different aspects before proceed to present the results from a fitted logistic regression model.


The 7S nerve growth factor protein (7S NGF) is a multisubunit zinc metalloprotein containing a masked trypsin-like esteropeptidase activity. Reaction of the native 7S NGF oligomer with divalent metal ion chelators effects an approximately sevenfold activation of the esteropeptidase activity via the sequestering and dissociation of the 7S NGF-bound zinc ion (Pattison, S. E., and Dunn, M. F. (1975), Biochemistry 14, 2733; Pattison, S. E., and Dunn, M. F. (1976), Biochemistry, preceding paper in this issue). In this study, investigation of the relationship between chelator concentration and the extent of activation, as measured by the steady-state rate of hydrolysis of alpha-N-benzoyl-D,L-arginine-p-nitroanilide, has demonstrated that (a) the chelator-induced activation is a freely reversible process, (b) activated 7S NGF undergoes a slow loss of reversibility when incubated with chelator over long time-periods, (c) the affinity constant of 7S NGF for zinc ion is approximately 10(10.5) +/- 10(0.5) M(-1), (d) chelator activation depends only on the ability of the chelator to sequester zinc ion, and (e) the activation process does not involve dissociation of the 7S oligomer to smaller subunit aggregates under conditions of low ionic strength.


The paper investigated the magnitude of social parameters' impacts on effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agricultural marketing by the farmers. In addition, how farmers identify information sources and how they access to those sources in selected areas of Jamalpur district were also examined. Purposive sampling method was used in this investigation and data were collected from eighty farmer's thorough survey questionnaire.  Descriptive statistics, Likert scale and multivariate regression model were used to analyze the data. Multivariate regression model was specified and estimated to identify the factors affecting use of ICT by farmers. The outcome of this study highlights important factors for the use of ICT. It is evident from the findings that the users of ICT are getting better quality information and are hence making significantly better decisions on all aspects of agricultural marketing. Regression analysis revealed that two factors i.e. cultivated land of farmers and level of education were the important factors of using of ICT by farmers. Modern ICT tool such as mobile phone was the most used device by the farmers due to low price and availability. They collected most of the information regarding the marketing activities of their produce by mobile phone from other progressive farmers, traders and agricultural extension workers. Social imperative findings of this paper might be helpful for the policy maker to emphasis on further extension of mobile phone based agricultural marketing information system in Bangladesh.
J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 17(2): 226–231, June 2019


This paper presents a FE2 multi-scale framework for numerical modeling of the structural failure of heterogeneous quasi-brittle materials. The model is assessed by application to cementitious materials. Using the Continuum Strong Discontinuity Approach (CSD), innovative numerical tools, such as strain injection and crack path field techniques, provide a robust, and mesh-size, mesh-bias and RVE-size objective, procedure to model crack onset and propagation at the macro-scale.


This study aimed to find practical programs to investigate Hidayats of Quran in the reality of the nation, and to achieve this goal the researcher used the inductive and then deductive method, and divided the research into an introduction, five sections and a conclusion, which included talking about the importance of Hidayats of Quran with an explanation of practical programs to achieve Quranic gifts in the reality of the nation These gifts are passed on when verified, and this study concluded the following results: Hidayats of Quran are of great importance and a decent life is not suitable without them, and we can deliver them to all members of the nation through a practical program based on effective contemporary methods and means. For the Hidayats of Quran to be realized in the reality of the nation, it is necessary to reach all its gatherings and sectors, including mosques, universities, schools, cultural and sports clubs, hospitals and prisons, places of events, means of transportation, camps, waiting halls, homes, etc. A team of scholars, preachers and preachers must be formed. It publishes the Hidayats of Quran and sets models that begin with what the Muslim cannot afford to receive from the Hidayats of Quran, and then they communicate with all the parties that can adopt or help in spreading these Hidayats of Quran. The most important things to achieve Hidayats of Quran in the reality of the nation are the establishment of devotional rites, and transactions The correct way, protecting the religion and its people, avoiding taboos, and avoiding suspicion.


In 2012, the CDC Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program approved its first recognized organization. Since then, it has recognized 4,000+ organizations to deliver the National DPP lifestyle change program to 600,000+ participants at type 2 diabetes risk. This analysis examined data from 624,422 participants to determine the impact of 5 organization types on priority population outcomes: community centers, higher education, government, healthcare providers, and for-profit/insurers. Most participants (65.7%) enrolled in for-profit/insurer organizations. Community centers enrolled the highest percentage of participants who identified as Hispanic/Latino (20.8%) and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander (3%), and government organizations the highest percentage of Black/African American (17.7%) and American Indian/Alaska Native participants (10.8%). Higher education organizations enrolled the highest percentage of Asian/Asian American participants (3.4%). Men primarily enrolled in for-profit/insurer organizations (25.3%), and those aged 65+ enrolled mainly in healthcare-based programs (30.6%). Time in the program is associated with type 2 diabetes risk reduction. Those enrolled in higher education organizations stayed in the program the longest, with a mean of 233 days. Community centers and government organizations, which lead in the enrollment of some priority populations, had means of 196 and 218 days, respectively. Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander participants stayed in community center programs above the mean of 226 days. In government organizations, Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native participants remained for an average of 227 and 219 days, respectively. Understanding which types of organizations better serve priority populations, and assisting them in recruitment and retention, is key to reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among these groups and reducing disparities in outcomes.

 S.Bowen: None. E.O.Landau: None. E.Ely: None.


The paper proposes a fast and reduced complexity frame and carrier acquisition scheme for OFDM systems which assume either a continuous or a burst mode operation in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and frequency-selective channels. By exploiting the repetitive structure of a training symbol, a robust frame synchronizer is obtained and shown to resume to finding the peak of a certain correlation metric that is obtained by invoking maximum likelihood principles. A new carrier estimator that can correct frequency offsets by up to two subcarrier spacings is also proposed and achieves the lowest mean-square error among the existing estimators that exploit a similarly structured signaling set-up. The efficiency of the proposed synchronization algorithms is illustrated by both theoretical performance analysis and computer simulations.


The sanding process is important to the quality of wood products. Sanding reduces imperfections in wood surfaces and it is important to the final product and application of paints or varnishes. There are few studies about sanding in the literature and finding out the relationship between the input parameters (i.e., species of wood, grit size, abrasive) on the output parameters (i.e., roughness, force, pressure) will help to improve this process. This study analyzed the influence of input parameters as belt speed (cutting speed), grit size and pressure on the output parameters as surface roughness, cutting force (sanding force) and power consumption on cross-grain sanding of Eucalyptus grandis wood. The tests were performed with 3 types of grit sizes (80, 100 and 120 grit), 3 belt speeds (10, 11 and 12 m/s) and 2 pressures (219.89 and 283.44 g/cm²). The surface roughness was analyzed based on roughness average (Ra). Sanding efforts were analyzed by cutting force and power consumption. It was found that the 100 grit size provided the lowest cutting force. It was observed that the belt speed, pressure and grit size influenced the surface roughness, cutting force and power consumption. The best surface finishes were obtained in tests with higher pressure.


Fractures of the lower bones of the leg are produced more frequently by direct than by indirect violence and hence are frequently compound. The lines of fracture in the fractures by direct violence are transverse or oblique and both bones are usually involved near the middle third and less frequently in the lower and upper thirds. In the fractures by indirect violence the mechanism is usually one of torsion and hence the lines of fracture are spiral with the fibular fractures at a lower or higher level (fig. 1 A ). The associated injuries are few, lacerations of the muscles and engagement of the skin on one of the projecting fragments of the tibia being the most frequent. Vascular injuries are rare. Involvement of the external popliteal nerve is also rare. The symptoms are those of fracture, the most marked being the immediate disability and deformity with abnormal motion in the


Independently of the natural or synthetic origin, flavylium derivatives follow the same network of chemical reactions. Actually, the flavylium cation is stable only at low pH values. Increasing the pH gives rise to the formation of several species: quinoidal bases, hemiketal, cis- and trans-chalcones, and their deprotonated forms. A deep knowledge of the thermodynamics and kinetics of these species is an essential tool to practical applications of these compounds, in particular, in the domain of food chemistry. In this work the network of chemical reactions involving flavylium derivatives is presented, and the respective thermodynamics and kinetics are discussed in detail, including the mathematical expressions and a step-by-step procedure to calculate all of the rate and equilibrium constants of the system. Examples of systems possessing a high or low cis-trans isomerization barrier are shown. Recent practical applications of anthocyanins and related compounds illustrate the potentialities of the flavylium-based family of compounds.


The reddish-violet complex of vanadium with xylenol orange has been studied spectrophotometrically, and the conditions for using xylenol orange as a reagent for the determination of trace amounts of vanadium have been established. The complex shows a maximum absorption at 562 mμ, and the molar extinction coefficient of the complex is found to be 24000. It is a 1:1 complex and has a formation constant of 2.8×106 under the conditions studied. Such anions as oxalate, citrate and EDTA inhibit the color formation of the complex. Some of the interfering cations can, however, be completely or partially masked by adding a fluoride solution.


The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of influenza virus is composed of three viral P proteins (PB1, PB2, and PA) and involved in both transcription and replication of the RNA genome. The PB1 subunit plays a key role in both the assembly of three P protein subunits and the catalytic function of RNA polymerization. We have established a simultaneous expression system of three P proteins in various combinations using recombinant baculoviruses, and isolated the PA–PB1–PB2 ternary (3P) complex and two kinds of the binary (2P) complex, PA–PB1 and PB1–PB2. The affinity-purified 3P complex showed all of the catalytic properties characteristic of the transcriptase, including capped RNA-binding, capped RNA cleavage, model viral RNA binding, model viral RNA-directed RNA synthesis, and polyadenylation of newly synthesized RNA. The PB1–PB2 binary complex showed essentially the same catalytic properties as does the 3P complex, whereas the PA–PB1 complex catalyzed de novo initiation of RNA synthesis in the absence of primers. Taken together we propose that the catalytic specificity of PB1 subunit is modulated to the transcriptase by binding PB2 or the replicase by interaction with PA.


We have previously reported that male DBA/1 mice are more susceptible to collagen-induced arthritis than are females. Here we report that oophorectomy makes female mice as susceptible to collagen arthritis as are normal males. Induction of collagen-induced arthritis in mice is a T cell-dependent process. The role of female sex hormones in modulating T cell-dependent autoimmune diseases is discussed.


This study aims to determine the effect of the work environment and stress on the performance of operational employees at PT. Cipta Cipta Unggul Nusantara Where three independent variables are submitted, one is dependent variable, and one is intervening var iable, namely training, work stress and work facilities as independent variables and employee productivity act as a dynamic variable and organizational commitment as an intervening variable. This research was carried out by survey method to production empl oyees in furniture companies and analyzed by regression. The first stage examines the validity and reliability of questions for each variable. The second stage, regressing the variables of training, work stress, and work facilities on employee performance productivity towards organizational commitment. The results showed that the variables of training and facilities had a significant positive effect on employee productivity. As well as work stress variables have a significant negative effect on employee performance. However, work stress that is at a low to moderate level will create good employee production and will worsen employees if in a very long time and excessive. Keywords: Training, work stress, employee work productivity facilities, organizational commitment


This essay addresses the question of whether the regulation of international competition might be conceived of in a manner that better anticipates and adapts around fundamental and unforeseen challenges. This essay presents a theory of diversity as a potential solution to problems of international coordination caused by changed systemic assumptions of a type represented by global environmental degradation. The theme of diversity refers to the differentiation of individual competitive strategies, and builds upon this notion to articulate an ideal of group benefit that is consistent with individuality and furthered by self-interest. The systemic goal to be achieved is responsiveness to fundamental change, and the means of solutions is argued to lie in a regulatory system designed to encourage the utmost attempts at ongoing innovation. The first advantage of diversity and differentiation is argued to be as a means of stable and adaptive progress; increasing the number of possible techniques with which to meet future challenges of a degree as presented by global environmental problems such as climate change. As the first principle of diversity entails a method for systemic responsiveness, the second principle gives content to this method by proposing that social goals should serve as the incentives encouraging competitors toward differentiation. The advantage offered is that social non-economic goals may be advanced in the present by looking to future adaptability, as individuals are encouraged toward new routes to personal reward via the satisfaction of collective objectives that previously had little or no economic value.As the ideal of diversity contemplates a method of systemic incentives, rather than mandated outcomes, the location of innovation remains individual competitors. Accordingly, the ideal of diversity is justified and articulated from a basis in individuality. Diversity is argued to be the optimal set of principles which individuals would select if given the ability to design a new competitive system anew and as if in abstraction. In joining a method of differentiation with the added social content of non-economic priority, diversity offers a unique blend of economic efficiency and equity; or of self-interest and concern for the welfare of others. Diversity allows an individual to think of their own pursuit of gain, but also and simultaneously further collective goals by selecting the priorities that should influence competitors toward differentiation. Ultimately, other's welfare becomes a route to individual success.


Abstract In a previous study, the lung function, as indicated by the tidal volume, minute volume, and peak inspiration flow, decreased during 90 days of exposure to silver nanoparticles and was accompanied by inflammatory lesions in the lung morphology. Therefore, this study investigated the recovery from such lung function changes in rats following the cessation of 12 weeks of nanoparticle exposure. Male and female rats were exposed to silver nanoparticles (14–15 nm diameter) at concentrations of 0.66 × 106 particles/cm3 (49 μg/m3, low dose), 1.41 × 106 particles/cm3 (117 μg/m3, middle dose), and 3.24 × 106 particles/cm3 (381 μg/m3, high dose) for 6 h/day in an inhalation chamber for 12 weeks. The rats were then allowed to recover. The lung function was measured every week during the exposure period and after the cessation of exposure, plus animals were sacrificed after the 12-week exposure period, and 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the exposure cessation. An exposure-related lung function decrease was measured in the male rats after the 12-week exposure period and 12 weeks after the exposure cessation. In contrast, the female rats did not show a consistent lung function decrease either during the exposure period or following the exposure cessation. The histopathology showed a gradual recovery from the lung inflammation in the female rats, whereas the male rats in the high-dose group exhibited persistent inflammation throughout the 12-week recovery period. Therefore, the present results suggest a potential persistence of lung function changes and inflammation induced by silver nanoparticle exposure above the no observed adverse effect level.


Objective: Identify nematodes of the digestive tract of the lizard Sceloporus variabilis. Methodology: In different localities in the Altas Montañas region, 11 individuals of S. variabilis were collected and a range of morphological characteristics measured. Their intestines were dissected to identify the nematodes present. Results: Were identified 17 nematodes belonging to the Oxyuridae family, present in the lizard S. variabilis. Not found differences in the frequency of nematodes between sexes and localities. Implications: Identification of nematodes in S. variabilis is basic information for the knowledge of the parasite-host relationship. Conclusions: The nematodes of the Oxyuridae family may cause mechanical symptoms in S. variabilis.


Reconstruction of the natural course of lunate necrosis is difficult because of incomplete findings, especially in the initial stages. The necrosis progresses steadily from initial lunate oedema with a normal X-ray appearance to condensation, fragmentation and collapse of the lunate within months. The collapse of the whole carpus means a dramatic deterioration in therapeutic possibilities not much later. In order to start treatment successfully in the initial stage, suspicious findings should be repeatedly followed up by X-ray films and magnetic resonance imaging. The development of degenerative changes often takes years. The clinical findings are not helpful in judging the course of the disease as pain varies and only the collapse of the lunate and late arthrosis accentuate pain.


ABSTRACT This study performed an experimental modal analysis and investigated the mechanical properties of graphene nanoparticle (GNP)-reinforced, adhesively bonded double strap joints (DSJs). The DP270 structural adhesive was reinforced with graphene nanoparticles by using five different manufacturing methods and bulk specimens were prepared with 1%, 2% and 3% reinforcement by weight. The dispersion of graphene was observed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) because its efficient distribution in the adhesive is directly affected by the mechanical and modal properties of the modified polymer. Furthermore, the damping ratios and natural frequencies of the bulk specimens were also determined. Based on the dynamic characteristics and SEM observations, the most appropriate method to manufacture the joints was selected, and DSJs were prepared by using AA 2024-T3 aluminum alloy as the adherend. After that, the modal and tensile properties of the graphene-reinforced DSJs were determined. Consequently, it was observed that a graphene reinforcement ratio of 2% by weight showed a 36% increase in the damping ratio of the adhesive and a 23% increase in the damping ratio of the joint. In addition, it was observed that graphene reinforcement resulted in up to an 81% increase in the failure strength of the modified DSJs.


ABSTRACT Much has been made of the 'imperial' influence of international actors (Chopra 2000) and their view of Timor-Leste as a petri dish for post-conflict development. However, this view obscures the ways in which conflict-era actors and their networks shape core decision regarding resource allocation. This article examines the political economies of resistance-era networks in the post-conflict period, focusing specifically on the large-scale pensions programme. The article argues that these former fighters tasked with registration verification serve as 'street level bureaucrats' and have re-shaped the programme to reflect their views of the conflict and interests. This is not a trivial matter – in 2015 the programme consumed 9 per cent of the national budget – and this work suggests that pensions should be viewed as a core aspect of post-conflict economic development in Timor-Leste and, more broadly, that the role of conflict actors in defining such programmes is essential to understanding redistributive policies after conflict.


Major depressive disorder (MDD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are both widespread and cause enormous morbidity. The presence of one syndrome approximately doubles the risk of the other. Standard antidepressant treatments lead to remission in less than a third of the patients; a majority of patients experience treatment resistance at some point during their illness.


Background and Objectives: Immediate implant placement (IIP) is a popular surgical procedure with a 94.9–98.4% survival rate and 97.8–100% success rate. In the posterior mandible, it poses a risk of injury to adjacent anatomical structures if the implant engages apical bone. This study sought to assess the implant dimensions that allow for circumferential bone engagement at each position in the posterior mandible without additional apical drilling. Materials and Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study design was used. The pre-extraction cone beam computed tomography scans of 100 candidates for IIP were analyzed. Measurements of each root of the posterior mandibular second premolar, first molar, and second molar were taken from three aspects: buccolingual, mesiodistal, and vertical. Two-sided p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 478 mandibular teeth and 781 roots were assessed. Based on Straumann® BLX/BLT implant-drilling protocols, predicted rates of radiological circumferential engagement (RCE) were 96% for implants 5 mm in diameter in the second premolar root position; 94% for implants 4.0–4.2 mm in diameter in the first molar root position; and 99% for implants 4.5–4.8 mm in diameter in the second molar root position. Corresponding rates of achieving an available implant length (AIL) of 10 mm were 99%, 90%, and 86%. Patients <40 years old were at higher risk of lower RCE and lower AIL (p < 0.005) than older patients for all roots measured. Conclusions: The high primary stability prediction rates based on the calculation of RCE and AIL support the use of IIPs without further apical drilling in the posterior mandible in most cases.


A variable gain amplifier (VGA) has been developed for equalizing the gains of integrating amplifier channels used with multiple photomultiplier tubes operating from common high-voltage supplies. The PHENIX lead-scintillator electromagnetic calorimeter will operate in that manner, and gain equalization is needed to preserve the dynamic range of the analog memory and ADC following the integrating amplifier. The VGA is also needed for matching energy channel gains prior to forming analog sums for trigger purposes. The gain of the VGA is variable over a 3:1 range using a 5-bit digital control, and the risetime is held between 15 and 23 ns using switched compensation in the VGA. An additional feature is gated baseline restoration. Details of the design and results from several prototype devices fabricated in 1.2-/spl mu/m Orbit CMOS are presented.


Howard Leichter has written an interesting book, scholarly in its methods and tone, wideranging in its topics and evidence, thoughtful in its treatment of how and why the governments of Japan, Germany, Great Britain and the Soviet Union came to have the health care programs and policies they do. But the long title is a clue to the dilemmas he faced in giving focus to the effort. On the one hand he addresses the issues of comparative policy analysis, offering in the first part of this book a review of the competing conceptions, differing approaches, and conflicting findings of comparative analysts. For this effort, health care policy is not central at all, just one of many possible applications of the mixed approach he recommends. On the other hand, he "applies" his method to four cases in comparative health politics. Between the two efforts there is a large gap, one which Leichter only partially bridges.


Billing may not be prominent on academic physicians' lists of priorities because of other demands and commitments for their time. The authors developed and examined the use of an electronic inpatient billing tool that also facilitated physician rounding responsibilities. The results show that use of an electronic tool was more acceptable to physicians than their original card system, and it significantly decreased charge-processing lag time.


Approximately equal numbers of bacteria were isolated from primarily tropical soils by growth on biphenyl and naphthalene to compare their competence in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) degradation. The strains isolated by growth on biphenyl catalyzed more extensive PCB degradation than the strains isolated by growth on naphthalene, suggesting that naphthalene cocontamination may be only partially effective in stimulating the cometabolism of lower chlorinated PCBs. Probes were made from the bph, nah, and tod genes encoding the large iron iron sulfur protein of the dioxygenase complex and hybridized to 19 different strains. The hybridization patterns did not correlate well with the substrates of isolation, suggesting that there is considerable diversity in these genes in nature and that probe hybridization is not a reliable indication of catabolic capacity. The strains with the most extensive PCB degradation capacity did strongly hybridize to the bph probe, but a few strains that exhibited strong hybridization had poor PCB-degrading ability. Of the 19 strains studied, 5 hybridized to more than one probe and 2, including one strong PCB degrader, hybridized to all three probes. Southern blots showed that the bph and nah probes hybridized to separate bands, suggesting that multiple dioxygenases were present. Multiple dioxygenases may be an important feature of competitive decomposers in nature and hence may not be rare. Most of the isolates identified were members of the beta subgroup of the Proteobacteria, a few were gram positive, and none were true Pseudomonas species.


We demonstrate a strong evidence of entropy matching that rotating dyonic black holes in Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion (EMDA) theory is holographically dual to a 2D conformal field theory. We first investigate the duality on dyonic Kerr-Sen black hole with non-vanishing dilaton and axion charges. The near-horizon geometry of extremal dyonic Kerr-Sen spacetime possesses the SL (2 , R ) × U (1) isometry where the asymptotic symmetry group method can be used to find the corresponding central charge. We find two different branches of masses which correspond to CFT with two different central charges c L = 12 am + and c L = 12 am − . The exact agreement between the Bekenstain-Hawking entropy and entropy from CFT is then found also in two different branches of extremal entropy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this duality is robust insofar for non-zero AdS length. The duality holds for both dyonic Kerr-Sen-AdS black hole and its ultraspinning counterpart. In both cases, we obtain the expected entropy from CFT which matches exactly with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Since dyonic and axion charges are proportional to 1 /m , we note that there are possibly more than two branches of the central charge for non-zero AdS length in terms of mass. When we turn off dyonic charge, the axion charge vanishes giving the results of Kerr-Sen-AdS black hole. Moreover, when we assume the equal electromagnetic charges, it recovers the results when the dilaton charge vanishes. Lastly, we compare the results of dyonic Kerr-Sen-AdS black hole and its ultraspinning counterpart to those of the dyonic Kerr-Newman-AdS black hole and the ultraspinning counterpart. Depending on the dyonic charge parameters, it is found that extremal ultraspinning dyonic Kerr-Sen-AdS black hole is not always superentropic.


We herein describe an ultrasensitive RNase H assay by utilizing CRISPR/Cas12a collateral cleavage activity. Based on this unique design principle, the RNase H activity was successfully determined down to 0.00024 U mL-1, which is quite superior to those of alternative approaches.


Antitrust problems affecting markets for intermediate goods or services raise the input costs of firms operating in the downstream sectors, which often face tough international competition. Such firms lose market shares, thus worsening the economic performance of the country. We try to document the importance of this link between competition problems and growth by analysing Italian sectoral data. We find that sectors which depend more heavily on inputs and services produced in sectors suffering from competition problems perform worse in terms of net exports, export growth and output growth.


The design of regular virtual topologies to facilitate optical packet switching in networks with arbitrary physical topologies is studied. Due to the intractable nature of the problem, two different artificial intelligence based heuristics are used to find favourable solutions expeditiously. The impact that the spread of the degree of physical topology nodes has on the quality of solutions obtained is investigated. Two important counter-intuitive findings emerge from this paper. Firstly, increasing the spread of the nodal degree in the physical topology leads to an improvement in the quality of initial non-optimised (or random) solutions. Secondly and conversely, increasing the spread of nodal degree has a detrimental impact on the final optimised solutions obtained. Both these surprising conclusions are explained by introducing novel estimates for the initial cost and the margin for improvement on this cost. The results produced in this paper are interesting and are applicable to the design of regular virtual topologies in generic physical topologies and additionally, suggest principles that are applicable to the wider area of telecommunication network design.


Lymphangiomas are congenital malformations of the lymphatic vessels. They are rare in the oral cavity and when present in this area they may cause functional disturbances of the stomatognathic system. The objective is to report a case of cavernous lymphangioma of the dorsum of the tongue, reviewing the clinical and treatment features of the disease, with emphasis on the oral cavity location, mainly the tongue. A 17-year-old male patient presented with a lesion on dorsum of his tongue of approximately 10 years of evolution. The lesion had a pebbly appearance and a sessile base, and measured about 3 cm. The patient was submitted to surgical excision of the lesion, without any intercurrences. Currently, the patient is under clinical follow-up, without any clinical sign of tumor recurrence after 2 years of treatment. Surgical excision of the lesion seems to be the most adequate treatment for tongue lymphangiomas, with low rates of recurrence.


BOULDER, COLORADO--
 When biologists think of the comings and goings of species, they often think of war--of new species invading and pushing out the old. In midwestern lakes, however, love seems to be the driving force. In lake after lake, an invading crayfish species is pushing local crayfish to extinction. But the invader itself is vanishing in the process, mating with the local crayfish to produce a new population of vigorous hybrids.


A new analytical model for deep bed filtration of colloidal/suspension transport under size exclusion particle capture is developed and validated. The laboratory tests on suspension flow in engineered porous media, which simulate the injection of colloidal and particle suspensions in rocks, have been carried out. The model was successfully matched with the laboratory coreflood results, predicting particle breakthrough and stabilised concentration. Compared to the previous population balance model, the present one provides a better prediction of the normalised particle concentration versus jamming ratio. The sensitivity analysis shows that among the three parameters: the mean pore radius, the standard deviation and the inter-chamber distance, the first one has the largest effect on the outlet concentration. Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers.


We present an ongoing project where five identical experimental constructions with external walls of different composite building materials have been created (the indoor area 9 m, the height of ceiling 3 m). All external wall constructions (U=0.16 W/(mK)) have ventilated facades. Five different insulated materials are used: aerated concrete, ceramic, lightweight concrete, wooden constructions and an innovative composite building material developed in the course of the project. To provide identical thermal performance of the constructions, infrared (EN 13187) and fan pressurization (EN 13829) tests will be performed. In all the experimental constructions it is planned to ensure air exchange of 0.6 h and indoor air temperature corresponding to category A (EN 15251), while keeping the HVAC system solution identical. To analyze the energy efficiency parameters and the quality of indoor environment, outdoor parameters, indoor air quality, and thermal environment parameters will be measured. The monitoring will continue for a whole year, in order to evaluate and analyze the influence of different outdoor parameters in the natural meteorological conditions for Riga, Latvia, which correspond to cold maritime climate. The collected energy efficiency data and the quality of indoor environment parameters will be used to verify a corresponding multi-physical model. The project aim is, by using a multi-physical modelling method, to forecast the influence of different building envelope materials on energy efficiency and the quality of indoor environment.


Smart Grid (SG) is a brand new architecture for the next generation's power grid system. Delivering control, monitoring and management data to grid elements securely in the network is a basic requirement for SG. This paper proposes 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as a security solution for SG network terminals. A pair of prototyping nodes is also implemented via Altera's DE2 boards' Nios II architecture. The two-node system works properly with AES encryption/decryption functions. It suggests a potential solution for SG security.


A preliminary study has shown that 3, 8-Di-O-methylellagic acid 2-O-glucoside (DMAG), an ellagic tannin from Sanguisorba officinalis L., has the potential in relieving thrombocytopenia. However, there is a lack of information on the pharmacokinetics of DMAG in thrombocytopenia rats. Therefore, we aimed to establish a simple, rapid, and sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method for quantifying DMAG and study its pharmacokinetic behavior in this study. DMAG and hispidulin (internal standard, IS) were separated on an Acquity Shim-pack GIST column using 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile as the mobile phase with a total run time of 5 min and gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The recovery and matrix effects of DMAG were within 94.85%–100.40% and 94.55%–102.46%, respectively. The intraday RSD and interday RSD were between 3.31% and 13.19%, accuracy RE was ≤6.69%, and stability RSD changes were 3.38%–8.78%. As for intragastric administration, with shortened Tmax (3.00 vs. 2.16 h), Cmax (25.67 vs. 35.38 ng/mL) was added for a 2 mg/kg dose after the establishment of the thrombocytopenia rat model. Relative to normal rats treated with 4 mg/kg, in thrombocytopenia rats treated with the same dose, Cmax (49.13 vs. 67.78 ng/mL), AUC(0–t) (234.60 vs. 318.17 ng·h/mL), and AUC(0–∞) (322.74 vs. 498.57 ng h/mL) increased, MRT (18.15 vs. 26.32 h) prolonged, Tmax (3.00 vs. 2.33 h) shortened, and CL/F (12746.50 vs. 8093.50 mL/h/kg) reduced. As for intravenous administration, Cmax (1679.54 ng/mL), AUC(0–t) (589.02 g·h/mL), and AUC(0–∞) (605.58 g·h/mL) were significantly increased in thrombocytopenia rats than that in normal rats (743.76 ng/mL for Cmax, 242.46 g·h/mL for AUC(0–t), and 245.19 g·h/mL for AUC(0–∞)). Vz/F and CL/F were remarkably decreased from 343196.86 to 194659.43 mL/kg for Vz/F and 8236.18 to 3326.01 mL/h/kg for CL/F with the model establishment, respectively. Overall, we successfully developed a reliable UHPLC-MS/MS method for determining DMAG levels in rat plasma. The pharmacokinetic difference could be attributed to the pathological state of the thrombocytopenia rats, which may affect the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of DMAG. These findings lay the foundation for further evaluating the clinical efficiency and safety of DMAG in the treatment of thrombocytopenia.


When stimulated, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may differentiate into chondroblasts, adipocytes or osteoblasts. Leptin is an adipocyte-derived hormone, which regulates food intake and glucose homeostasis. The aim of the present study was to identify the potential role of mitogen-activated protein kinase in the leptin-induced growth of rabbit bone MSCs (rBMSCs). Various concentrations of leptin were used to culture rBMSCs and the viability of cells was observed as well as alterations in the phosphorylation state of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38. It was revealed that the growth of leptin-treated rBMSCs was primarily inhibited by phosphorylated ERK1/2, which was mediated by the leptin receptor. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that leptin inhibits the growth of rBMSCs principally via the ERK1/2 signaling pathway.


The thermal structure of convergent margins is an important control on earthquakes and magmatic activity of these regions. Thermal modelling provides the most complete method of estimating this thermal structure. Useful information can also be obtained from pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions estimated in the subduction–type metamorphic belts. The presence of rocks formed under relatively high– P and low–T conditions such as eclogite and blueschist in subduction–type metamorphic belts is in general agreement with the models. More detailed comparisons between natural examples and models are possible using P–T paths. However, such paths are generally derived from a limited number of well-preserved samples and may not be representative of the whole belt. Recent developments in Raman carbonaceous material geothermometry allow good determinations of peak temperature in a wide range of rock types. Combining such temperature determinations with accurate GPS position information, ductile strain, and orientation of the geological boundary between the subducted slab and former wedge mantle allows reconstruction of the angles between a set of isothermal surfaces and the paleo subduction boundary surface to be made. This comparison has the potential to be used to examine in more detail the relationship between thermal history recorded by subduction–type metamorphic belts and thermal models. Applying this approach to the Sanbagawa belt reveals a systematic change in the angles between isotherms and the subduction boundary as predicted by the thermal models. The temperature of the isotherm which is perpendicular to the subduction boundary occurs in the temperature range 340–430° C. A comparison with isotherms suggested by thermal models, shows the results in this study are in good agreement with modelling results for young slabs with an age of around 20 Ma. This result lies between previous estimates of the slab age of c. 60 Ma based on radiometric dating of ore deposits and close to 0 Ma based on the P–T pathsmainly derived from metamafic