Methodological concerns regarding the identification of neighborhood causal effects dominates research on neighborhood spatial health inequality. I contend that the myopic focus on these methodological concerns curtails the theoretical development into the nature of spatial health inequality by attempting to control away, rather than provide an account of, the process of residential mobility that differentially sorts residents by their health risk. In this paper, I use unique data from the 2004-5 Chicago Area Study that links individual-level health status with residential preferences for actual communities in a major city to study patterns of residential preferences. Combining these data with health assessments from residents already living in the queried communities using the 2002 Chicago Community Adult Health Study, I examine how much health composition of current residents influences health preferences.I argue populationlevel avoidance from stigmatized places marked by unhealthy and racial composition rather than individual-level selection structure spatial health inequality.


The discovery of a fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency in two sisters leads to the discussion of the various loading tests which are required for the diagnosis. The diagnosis may be discussed clinically with type I glycogenosis, and biologically with hereditary fructose intolerance. The specific characteristics of these disorders are analyzed as well as the problem of fructose induced hypoglucosemia. The failure of the treatment with folic acid in one of the cases leads to emphasize the suppression of prolonged fast in order to avoid acute accidents.


We develop a novel approach to Bell inequalities based on a constraint that the correlations exhibited by local variable theories must satisfy. This is used to construct a family of Bell inequalities for bipartite quantum systems of arbitrarily high dimensionality which are strongly resistant to noise. In particular, our work gives an analytic description of previous numerical results and generalizes them to arbitrarily high dimensionality.


Geochemical and geophysical prospecting methods (including measurements of soil heat flux and soil CO 2 flux, gravimetry, self-potential and geomagnetism) are used to produce an integrated data set aimed at imaging the migration of fluids in the sub-surface at the Salinelle mud volcanoes, located on the lower southwestern flank of Mt Etna (Sicily, Italy). This area was affected by magmatic eruptions from local volcanic centers between about 48 and 27 ka. Today, only pseudo-volcanic phenomena due to over-pressured multiphase pore fluids there occur. Carbon dioxide of magmatic origin, mixed with biogenic hydrocarbons, warm hypersaline waters and mud, are constantly released at the surface through the main conduits of mud volcanoes, whose activity is characterized by alternation of mild gas bubbling periods and strong paroxysmal phases. The latter produce violent gas eruptions that eject warm water (T ≈ 50° C) to a height up to about 1 m. Surface distribution of the geophysical and geochemical parameters have been investigated to detect the main pathways through which fluids move toward the shallow crust. Integration of geochemical, geophysical and geological maps allowed for the tracing of the fluid flow in the shallowest (a few tens of meters below the surface) part of the local hydrothermal system. Our results showed that the rising of fluids from a deep reservoir is controlled by the main structural and geological features of the area and their temporal and spatial evolution depends on pressure conditions inside the hydrothermal system.


To evaluate short-term clinical results of radiofrequency (RF) ablation combined with transcatheter chemoembolization for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to identify factors having influence on early intrahepatic recurrence. Sixty-four patients with 92 HCC lesions underwent RF ablation within 2 weeks after chemoembolization. The maximum tumor size was small (</=3 cm) in 36 patients, intermediate (3.1-5 cm) in 22 patients, and large (5.1-8.5 cm) in 6 patients. Tumors were solitary in 42 patients and multiple (2 or 3) in 22 patients. Factors affecting intrahepatic recurrence were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Intrahepatic recurrences were found in 13 patients (20%, 13/64) during the mean follow-up period of 18 months. Recurrences were found in the untreated liver in 11 patients and in both untreated liver and treated lesion in 2 patients. The cumulative intrahepatic recurrence rates were 15% at 1 year and 43% at 2 years. In the univariate analysis, multiple tumor burden and large tumor size (>5 cm) were significantly linked with higher probability of early intrahepatic recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, tumor number was the only independent factor having significant impact on early intrahepatic recurrence. The estimated 1- and 2-year survival rates were 100% and 93%, respectively. This combined therapy showed good early therapeutic effects on treated lesions and survival. Tumor number and maximum tumor size are important factors for early intrahepatic recurrence.


Abstract Will customers' intention to return to a restaurant increase with coupon promotion? To answer this question, this study examines the hypothetical effects of coupon promotion on return visits to restaurants. Based on a literature review, three hypotheses were developed to test the effect of a coupon, its face value, and a patron's prior dining experience on return intention. The authors found that neither coupon use nor coupon face value contributed to explaining respondents' return intentions. However, repeat customers have a greater likelihood of returning to the restaurant than new customers. The study also showed that the quality of food and service were key indicators of return intention.


This paper presents an accurate and fully analytical model of delay in subthreshold inverters. The model characterizes the direct connection between the input slew and output delay. It is also capable of predicting the signal slew at the inverter output. Delay and slew prediction models are used to compute delay and understand slew propagation in an inverter chain. These models can also provide insight into skew analysis of subthreshold clock networks. Variability analyses across power supply and threshold changes ensure the accuracy of the model.


This paper simulates regular waves propagating over a submerged parabolic obstacle in the presence of a uniform/shear current using a two-dimensional numerical model, named COBRAS (Cornell Breaking and Structure). The numerical model solves the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the free surface deformation is tracked using the volume of fluid method (VOF). The capability of the numerical model to simulate regular waves with a uniform or shear current over a constant water depth is first validated with available analytical solutions and experimental data. Comparisons among the experimental data, analytical solutions, and present numerical results show good agreements. Then, regular waves propagating over a submerged parabolic obstacle with a following current are investigated. Detailed discussions including those on the velocity and vorticity fields and the relation between free surface and vorticity are given.


The purpose of this exploratory research is to analyse the contents taught in undergraduate entrepreneurship programs. A total of 220 undergraduate programs were selected from the all around the world offering Entrepreneurship undergraduate programs (including BBA, BA, BS, B.Sc) in English language. Data was collected from official websites of the respective institutions. 48 programs were excluded from further processing and 164 programs were finalised for further processing. This paper recommends many improvement in Entrepreneurship curriculum and development which includes (a) need for change of mind-set from 'Corporate success' to 'Entrepreneurial Success'; (b) need for separate accreditation system of Entrepreneurship programs; (c) need for 'School of Entrepreneurship' or 'College of Entrepreneurship' separate from 'Business School'; (d) Need to establish and follow a new standardized name of the degree titled as 'Bachelors of Entrepreneurship' with abbreviation 'B.Ent.'; (e) need for linking Entrepreneurship curriculum with Entrepreneurial eco-systems rather than linking it with job placement services; and (f) need for customization of existing Entrepreneurship curriculum for the specific needs for future entrepreneurs.


In this paper, we present a novel pedestrian indoor positioning system that uses sensor fusion between a foot-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a vision-based fiducial marker tracking system. The goal is to provide an after-action review for first responders during training exercises. The main contribution of this work comes from the observation that different walking types (e.g., forward walking, sideways walking, backward walking) lead to different levels of position and heading error. Our approach takes this into account when accumulating the error, thereby leading to more-accurate estimations. Through experimentation, we show the variation in error accumulation and the improvement in accuracy alter when and how often to activate the camera tracking system, leading to better balance between accuracy and power consumption overall. The IMU and vision-based systems are loosely coupled using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to ensure accurate and unobstructed positioning computation. The motion model of the EKF is derived from the foot-mounted IMU data and the measurement model from the vision system. Existing indoor positioning systems for training exercises require extensive active infrastructure installation, which is not viable for exercises taking place in a remote area. With the use of passive infrastructure (i.e., fiducial markers), the positioning system can accurately track user position over a longer duration of time and can be easily integrated into the environment. We evaluated our system on an indoor trajectory of 250 m. Results show that even with discrete corrections, near a meter level of accuracy can be achieved. Our proposed system attains the positioning accuracy of 0.55 m for a forward walk, 1.05 m for a backward walk, and 1.68 m for a sideways walk with a 90% confidence level.


Abstract Background and Aims Proctitis after subtotal colectomy with ileostomy for ulcerative colitis [UC] is common, but its impact on short- and long-term outcome after pouch surgery is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of proctitis after subtotal colectomy and its impact on postoperative morbidity and pouchitis. Methods The distal margin of the rectal stump of all consecutive patients undergoing completion proctectomy and pouch procedure for UC, between 1999 and 2017, was revised and scored for active inflammation according to the validated Geboes score, and for diversion proctitis. Pathological findings were correlated to complications after pouch surgery and pouchitis [including therapy-refractory] using multivariate analyses. Results Out of 204 included patients, 167 [82%] had active inflammation in the rectal stump and diversion colitis was found in 170 specimens [83%]. Overall postoperative complications and anastomotic leakage rates were not significantly different between patients with and without active inflammation in the rectal stump [34.7% vs 32.4%, p = 0.79, and 10.2% vs 5.4%, p = 0.54, respectively]. Active inflammation of the rectal stump was significantly associated with the development of pouchitis [54.3% vs 25.5%, plog = 0.02], as well as with therapy refractory pouchitis [14% vs 0%, plog = 0.05]. Following multivariate analysis, active inflammation was an independent predictor for the development of pouchitis. Diversion proctitis showed no association with these outcome parameters. Conclusions Active inflammation in the rectal stump after subtotal colectomy occurs in 80% of UC patients and is a predictor for the development of pouchitis and therapy-refractory pouchitis.


The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory propose to build at LBL the Induction Linac Systems Experiments (ILSE), the next logical step toward the eventual goal of a heavy ion induction accelerator powerful enough to implode or drive inertial confinement fusion targets. Though much smaller than a driver, ILSE will be at full driver scale in several important parameters. Nearly all accelerator components and beam manipulations required for a driver will be tested. It is expected that ILSE will be built in stages as funds and technical progress allow. The first stage, called Elise will include all of the electrostatic quadrupole focused parts of ILSE.


Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite which infects approximately 50 million people worldwide, resulting in an estimated 70,000 deaths every year. Since the 1960s E. histolytica infection has been successfully treated with metronidazole. However, drawbacks to metronidazole therapy exist, including adverse effects, length of treatment, and the need for additional drugs to prevent transmission. All of these may decrease patient compliance and hence increase disease severity and spread of infection. In this study we identified the antimalarial drug mefloquine as possessing more potent, rapid, amoebicidal in vitro activity against E. histolytica trophozoites than metronidazole. We also showed that mefloquine could kill the cysts of a closely related reptilian parasite Entamoeba invadens unlike metronidazole. Additionally, mefloquine is known to possess a much longer half-life in human patients than metronidazole. This property, along with mefloquine's rapid and broad action against E. histolytica position it as a promising new drug candidate against this widespread and devastating disease. Author Summary Every year, around 70,000 people worldwide die from infection by the intestinal parasite Entamoeba histolytica, despite the widespread availability of the drug metronidazole as a treatment. Part of the reason for this may be due to issues with patients failing to comply with the full course of treatment for the drug, due either to unpleasant side-effects, to the somewhat long treatment period, or the need for a secondary drug to kill the transmissible life stage of the parasite. In this report we discovered that the antimalarial drug mefloquine killed E. histolytica more potently and more rapidly than metronidazole, and, importantly, also killed the transmissible cyst stage of another Entamoeba species used as a model system. These findings make mefloquine an excellent candidate for an alternative drug to the current standard, with a simpler course of treatment and a more effective strategy to reduce the spread of this disease.


Cross-talk between G protein-coupled receptors and protein tyrosine kinases is well established, but the phenotypic consequences of these signaling interactions are not completely understood. To investigate the role of Src family kinases in mitogenic signaling by G protein-coupled receptors, we used genetic and pharmacological inhibition of Src to study cell growth in response to endothelin-1. We found that dominant-negative Src and COOH-terminal Src kinase blocked mesangial cell growth in response to endothelin-1, whereas growth induced by v-Ras was unaffected. Endothelin-1-induced cell growth was blocked by the pharmacological Src antagonist 4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7-(t-butyl)pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine (PP2) but not by the inactive analog 4-amino-7-phenylpyrazol[3,4-d]pyrimidine. RNA interference knockdown of Src with on-target but not with off-target small interfering RNAs also inhibited growth in cells treated with endothelin-1. Dominant-negative Src prevented growth in cells activated by platelet-derived growth factor alone or in combination with endothelin-1, which suggests that Src integrates mitogenic signals from diverse classes of cell surface receptors. To further explore the role of Src in mitogenic signaling by G protein-coupled receptors, we sought to determine whether endothelin-1 induced cyclin D1 by a Src-based mechanism. We found that endothelin-1 increased cyclin D1 protein, which was blocked by preincubation with the Src antagonist PP2 and with the protein kinase C antagonist bisindolylmaleimide I. These results provide evidence for a Src- and protein kinase C-based pathway of mitogenic signaling by endothelin-1 receptors that involves cyclin D1.


. The purpose of this study was to find out whether or not the use of social media by youth decreases social interaction with friends. This study used a quantitative method using a simple random sampling technique to take the sample. The subjects of this study were Business English Communication students from batches 2019, 2020, and 2021. This study has two variables, namely social media (X) and interaction with friends (Y). A questionnaire was used as the method for collecting data for this study. Two types of questionnaires: open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires, were used as the instruments and data collection techniques. Data analysis employed the normality test, linearity test, and t-test for testing hypotheses. Based on the questionnaire results, data analysis was conducted, and the results for the two variables ell into the high category. The t-test results showed that when the value of t-count exceeds t-table (7.722> 2.002), H0 is rejected. Thus, it can be said that the findings are consistent with the Alternative Hypothesis, which contends that youth use of social media decreases friend interaction.


These days, multiplex assay with diverse functions on a single chip has become more and more imperative for biological cell research. Multipoint and multistep manipulation for single cells on a chip plays a significant role for cell characterization, immunoassays, and rare cell isolation, etc. In this article, a novel dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based manipulation method is proposed to flexibly move and position cells on a chip via applying various electrical signals onto microelectrodes. By modulating phases and amplitudes of alternating current (ac) signals applied onto the microelectrodes, single cells can be controllably moved from one position to another along diverse directions on a chip. Quantitative analysis is conducted for position and direction controls via simulation, which are validated through experiments. With this flexible manipulation method, single-cell biophysical parameters can be estimated in situ by moving the cell, and as an example, single HeLa and MCF-7 cells are measured. This method allows an efficient and flexible transportation of single cells in lab-on-a-chip systems and provides a fundamental platform for multioriented and multipoint manipulation. The chip is easy to scale up by means of array design for more multifunctional cell assays.


City growth goes together with the development of infrastructure, and the power network is one of the most relevant towards economic development. The study of urban infrastructure through the analysis of anthropization coupled with power network growth can produce a tool that supports sustainable infrastructure planning, both economic and environmental. The case study focuses on Ambato, Ecuador, in the period from 1950 to 2019, and assesses quantitatively the changes in the city layout and the evolution of its power network. The data are adjusted to a sigmoid-type objective function through a non-linear least squares problem, that is solved using the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) method. Anthropization data show how the urban area grew during the study period: 37% (1950–1960), 53% (1960–1970), 80% (1970–1980), 35% (1980–1990), 39% (1990–2000), 38% (2000–2010), and 11% (2010–2019), mostly at the expense of agricultural land. The forecast for new power network users by 2050 yields a result of 203,630 total users with a population density of 4850 people/km 2 . The conclusion is that this type of analysis can help city planners and decision makers further understand city and infrastructure growth dynamics and produce policies that bolster sustainable city growth.


This is a handbook which deals with every significant aspect of primary school teaching. It promotes teaching which is skilful, imaginative and rewarding for both pupil and teacher, and discusses the enormous recent changes which have occurred in education. The book has been completely redesigned, and now contains icons throughout to clarify the structure of the text, and there is frequent use of shading, bullet points and other design elements. Together with its companion text "Readings for Reflective Teaching", this book aims to provide both material and inspiration for all those involved in primary education.


Background Conventional radiography (CR) is the standard imaging modality in the assessment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but Ultrasonography (US) is recognised as a useful imaging modality for the detection of synovitis and osteophytes [1]. Objectives to validate a proposed ultrasonographic grading scale for severity of primary knee osteoarthritis. Methods The study included 160 knee primary osteoarthritis (KOA) patients with diagnosed according to the clinical or the radiological criteria for of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and 20 patients with knee pain but not fulfill ACR criteria for KOA. All patients were subjected to clinical assessment (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Index of Osteoarthritis and global visual analogue scale VAS) and radiological assessment in the form of x ray grading according to Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) grading scale (0-4),2 and ultrasonographic assessment of medial femoral osteophytes according to a scale (0-4) that was proposed by the first author as follow: grade 0: No osteophytes; regular ends of both femoral condyle without any projections, grade 1: minor osteophyte; just a small projection from the femoral condyle, grade 2A: Small osteophytes; a projection from the femoral condyle that appears to have a downward part in joint space zone, grade 2B: Large osteophyte appears to be separated from femoral condyle and descending downwards in joint space zone, grade 3: Large osteophyte appears to be separated from femoral condyle and descending downwards in joint space zone with small horizontal extension parallel to femoral bone, grade 4: Mainly horizontal osteophyte parallel to femoral bone. Results The proposed Ultrasound grading scale had high sensitivity and specificity in detecting the different grades of KOA compared with KL grading scale (a total sensitivity is 94.6% and a total specificity is 93.3%). Intra and inter-reader reliability of ultrasound was excellent (kappa >0.93 and >0.85 respectively). The proposed US grading scale was highly significantly correlated with age, disease duration and body mass index. While there was non-significant correlation between the proposed US grading scale and VAS and WOMAC subscales and total scale. Conclusions Ultrasound can reliably detect the severity of knee osteoarthritis. Good agreement was found between the proposed US grading scale and KL grading scale. The proposed US grading scale is simple and reliable. References Abraham AM, et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011;14:70. Kellgren JH, Lawrence JS. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific; 1963. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.1703


Religious considerations in medical decision-making have enjoyed newfound attention in recent years, challenging the assumption that the domains of biological and spiritual flourishing can be cleanly separated in clinical practice. A surprising majority of patients desire their physicians to engage their religious and spiritual concerns, yet most never receive such attention, particularly in cases near the end of life where such attention seems most warranted.1–3 As physicians Aparna Sajja and Christina Puchalski recently wrote in the AMA Journal of Ethics theme issue on 'Religion and Spirituality in Healthcare Practice', modern medical training is 'falling short of preparing physicians to help patients with the metaphysical needs of their illness'.4

It would seem then that both patients and physicians might challenge the conclusions proffered by philosophers Jake Greenblum and Ryan Hubbard in 'Responding to Religious Patients: Why Physicians Have No Business Doing Theology', in which they claim that physicians ought not to engage religious reasoning for medical decisions. Their conclusion relies on two core arguments: a 'public reason' argument and a 'fiduciary argument', both of which contend that theology and religious considerations have no place in medical reasoning.

We find that two central errors undergird these arguments. First is the fraught notion of an epistemically and ethically normative public reason, and second is a fundamental mischaracterisation of the fiduciary nature of the patient–physician relationship and the nature of medicine itself. In response, we argue that all physicians essentially 'do theology' and that, rather than divorcing theology from medical practice, clinicians should make it their business to do theology well.

To support the exclusion of religious reasoning from medical decision-making, the authors open with a 'public reason argument', suggesting that physicians serve in roles closely resembling those of public officials. As such, the physician as public official ought to limit himself …


Using plasma membrane-enriched vesicles, the properties of the H+-ATPase (EC 126.96.36.199) from the rust fungus Uromyces viciae-fabae were studied. The enzyme is strictly Mg2+-dependent and is inhibited by vanadate. The pH-optimum is at 6.7. By Western blot analysis using a monoclonal antibody against corn plasma membrane H+-ATPase a polypeptide of approximately 104 kDa could be detected. The vanadate-sensitive H+-ATPase activity of microsomal vesicles obtained from different stages of rust development was determined. Uredospores had only a very low enzyme activity (1.9 μmol Pi x mg-1 protein x h-1). In germ tubes the ATPase activity was about twofold higher (4.0 μmol Pi x mg-1 protein x h-1). An eightfold higher ATPase activity (16.1 μmol Pi x mg-1 protein x h-1) was found in microsomal vesicles from haustoria which had been isolated from rust-infected Vicia faba leaves. These results suggest, that the electrochemical gradient generated by the H+-ATPase of haustoria plays an important role for their function, possibly by promoting nutrient uptake from host cells.


Two classes of diastereomerically enriched chiral tridentate ligands incorporating either two oxazolidine and one pyridine ( 1) or two pyridine and one oxazolidine ( 2a-c) donor groups have been made in a high-yielding modular fashion from readily available enantiopure amino alcohols and aldehydes. Both ligand classes readily formed metal complexes via 1:1 reactions with trans-PdCl 2(PhCN) 2. The compounds Pd( 1)Cl 2 and Pd( 2a-c)Cl 2 were formed as mixtures of 3 and 2 diastereomers, respectively, owing to indeterminate absolute configuration at the C (2) position of their constituent oxazolidine rings. Within each diastereomeric manifold, the metal complexes existed as equilibrium mixtures of bi- and tridentate isomers in solution, the interconversion between which was very rapid even at -50 degrees C. The fluxional nature of the compounds was inferred from a combination of (1)H and (15)N NMR spectroscopic and solution conductivity data. Substitution of one chloride ligand for hexafluorophosphate gave as mixtures of diastereomers the salts [Pd( 1-kappa N,kappa (2) N')Cl]PF 6 ( 8) and [Pd( 2a-c-kappa N,kappa N',kappa N'')Cl]PF 6 ( 12a-c) in which the ligands were coordinated through all three N-donors. A single recrystallization of 8 gave in optically pure form the major diastereomer 8 ( maj ), which was characterized crystallographically. Complexes of 2a-c differed substantially from those of the bis(pyridylmethyl)amine (bpma) ligand family with which they shared direct atom-for-atom connectivity in the coordinating groups. The amines are known to form exclusively the static tridentate complexes [PdCl(bpma-kappa N,kappa (2) N')]Cl; the difference was attributed to torsional strain associated with the rigid oxazolidine ring in tricoordinated 2a-c.


Traditionally components made from prepreg materials are laid up by hand, this is labor intense and thus expensive. An alternative is to lay up a prepreg stack using an ATL machine and then use drape forming to form this stack. To predict how this stack deforms it is important to know how it behaves during forming. Important parameters are friction between prepreg layers as well as well as the friction between the prepreg and the tool. For this thesis experiments were performed to obtain friction data between the tool and prepreg surfaces. This data showed that this friction is about 20-50% of the friction ompared to the friction between prepreg layers. Based on this data friction models adopted for software implementation were designed; these models were also implemented in the FEM software AniFrom.


In this work we investigated the structural and electrical characteristics of SiO 2 films deposited by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) under various deposition pressures and temperatures and their application as gate dielectrics in thin film transistors. It was found using Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FTIR) that films deposited at temperatures lower than 635 °C are carbon contaminated, so this temperature was considered as the lowest limit for depositing SiO 2 films with an acceptable carbon contamination. The threshold voltage of TFTs utilizing these oxides was correlated with the structural properties of the oxides. The degradation of the TFT transfer characteristics under various stressing gate bias values was studied and the evolution of the electrical parameters with stressing time was determined. The degradation of both the threshold voltage and the subthreshold swing exhibits a logarithmic dependence with stressing time, indicating a charge trapping process occurring in the oxide and at the polysilicon / SiO 2 interface.


Traffic control and vehicle owner identification has become major problem in every country. Sometimes it becomes difficult to identify vehicle owner who violates traffic rules and drives too fast. Therefore, it is not possible to catch and punish those kinds of people because the traffic personal might not be able to retrieve vehicle number from the moving vehicle because of the speed of the vehicle. Therefore, there is a need to develop Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system as a one of the solutions to this problem. There are numerous ANPR systems available today. These systems are based on different methodologies but still it is really challenging task as some of the factors like high speed of vehicle, non-uniform vehicle number plate, language of vehicle number and different lighting conditions can affect a lot in the overall recognition rate. Most of the systems work under these limitations. In this paper, different approaches of ANPR are discussed by considering image size, success rate and processing time as parameters. Towards the end of this paper, an extension to ANPR is suggested.


The Performance of Curation in WifiBody 2020 as Virtual BodyThe main goal of curating the initiative WifiBody Choreographers Competition for solo and duet forms, presented as part of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Choreographers Series, has been to discover emerging choreographers and offer them an educational and mentoring component. In migrating this live dance event during the COVID pandemic to an online platform, we asked, "Can we determine where the dance ends and the dance-film begins?" This critical text is indebted to Erin Branningan who, in her seminal book Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image, proposed the term filmic performance as a "comprehensive term incorporating all aspects of cinematic production, so that the choreographic quality of the dancefilm can be considered in relation to both the profilmic and filmic elements" (2011: viii). The profilmic here refers to that aspect of the initiative that coincides with the live event, the writing on the dancing body. The filmic elements are those that considered how the responsibility for this was assigned to both artist and video mentors and editors. A third level of performance discussed here is that at which these works were rolled out online, and in particular on social media platforms. The performative aspect of this eff ort will be fleshed out and will touch on the curator's responsibility as they navigate the terrain of social media.The Gates of Discomfort: Making Contemporary Dance PresentThis article critically examines the state of dance-specific curatorial practices and, more specifically, the underlying politics of choosing what bodies are seen on stage. I argue that dance presenters directly perpetuate Eurocentric bodily imaginaries by anchoring their curatorial choices in flawed interpretations of the "contemporary." By favoring the conceptual over the representational, and by dismissing referentiality and signification, dance presenters relegate differences of technique, temporality, and bodily situatedness to the realm of tradition, thus actively contributing to deterritorializing the corporealities of contemporary dance and to excluding a whole range of embodied subjectivities from the stage. This article invites presenters to consider self-reflexively unchecked programming behaviors and their curatorial praxes more broadly.A Rural Dance Festival in the Palm of Your Hand: My Body My Space Translated onto WhatsApp during COVID-19In 2021, aft er a year's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual My Body My Space Public Arts Festival in South Africa, was relaunched in a radically different online form. Under the lockdown conditions of 2021, the festival was presented exclusively through the WhatsApp messaging application, running on a "behavioral chat platform" originally developed for public health text messaging. The experience of launching the festival into this new medium led to several unexpected insights, notably the specific affordances and limitations of the chosen online platform, an expanded understanding of the "interactivity" possible with online communications, and the digital empowerment that the process offered to practitioners who were mentored through the process of online translation. At a theoretical level, the experience of My Body My Space as an online festival also challenges the dichotomy between the relative status of performance and documentation in live arts.Merging Asynchronous Sounds into Synchronous Voices: Reimagining Gatherings through the Process of Making the Adow ne Domaget 2020 KKK Radio Program-Festival in the Time of Physical DistancingWhen COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, the world as we know it came to a halt—and along with it, many communities, especially among the remote Indigenous peoples, were isolated. This article outlines my process
of creative collaboration with the Dumagat Indigenous peoples' community in Dingalan, Aurora in making and presenting the Adow ne Domaget 2020 KKK (Kuwento, Kultura at Kalusugan sa Katutubong Komunidad) radio program-festival during the COVID-19 lockdown in the Philippines. Highlighting the method of saluhan—a Filipino term meaning "to catch each other," "to share," and "to gather"—in collaborative making, I will provide insights on the role of an immersive and fluid curatorial practice in reimagining places, moments, and acts of gathering and collective action, in bringing out the stories and the voice of the community, in the time of
lockdown, distance, and forced isolation.


The electronic structure and the magnetic properties of Mn3GaN are studied as a function of lattice constant and are compared with those of Mn4N. The local moments on the Mn atom in Mn3GaN and the face centered Mn atoms in Mn4N show very similar values and behavior as a function of lattice constant. Mn3GaN is found to be ferromagnetic near its equilibrium volume. Under volume expansion, the spins become antiparallel in the 001 direction. However, the total spins in successive planes are different, leading to a net nonzero magnetic moment. The density of states at the Fermi level is very different for majority and minority spins for both Mn3GaN and Mn4N, indicating they can be used for spin injection.


This series of articles seeks to examine three issues of current importance to nurses: Firstly the duty of care which nurses are legally bound to observe. Secondly the ways in which nurses may enhance their confidence in their ability to advocate on behalf of their patients/clients, thus attaining competence. Thirdly, the effects upon individuals who do speak out in obedience to the code of practice as laid down by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nurses, Health Visitors, and Midwives. The articles are adapted from a lecture given by the writer at the annual NATN conference in Harrogate in October 1994, entitled "Are Nurses the Patients' Advocates?".


The studies of pyrolysis of caffeic acid (CA) and its surface complexes is important for the development of technologies of heterogeneous catalytic pyrolysis of plant- and wood- based renewable biomass components. In this work, the structure and thermal transformations of the surface complexes of CA on the surface of nanoceria were investigated using Fourier transform–infrared (FT–IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and temperature-programmed desorption mass spectrometry (TPD MS). It was found that CA on the surface of cerium dioxide forms several types of complexes: bidentate carboxylates, monodentate carboxylates and complexes formed as a result of interaction with phenolic hydroxyl groups. This is due to the ability of nanosized cerium dioxide to generate basic hydroxyl groups that can deprotonate phenolic groups to form phenolates on the surface. The main pyrolysis products were identified. The possible ways of forming 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylene, acetylene carboxylic acid, pyrocatechol and phenol from surface complexes of CA were suggested. It was established that on the nanoceria surface effectively occur the decarboxylation, decarbonylation, and dehydration reactions of the CA, which are the desirable processes in biomass conversion technologies.


Dysplasia in squamous metaplasia of the respiratory tract was believed to be a reversible premalignant lesion. Recently, presumably irreversible genetic alterations have been demonstrated in squamous metaplasia with dysplasia in lung-resection specimens. The genetic alterations were closely similar to those in adjacent bronchial carcinoma. There remains the question of which changes in squamous metaplastic lesions are premalignant, and which of these changes predict the occurrence of carcinoma of the respiratory tract. The purpose of this study was to determine the positive predictive value for respiratory-tract malignancy of the grade of dysplasia, p53 immunoreactivity, proliferative activity, and Bcl-2 in bronchial biopsy specimens exhibiting squamous metaplasia. Bronchial biopsies of 51 patients with squamous metaplasia diagnosed between 1982 and 1993 were used. Immunohistochemistry was done after microwave pretreatment of the biopsy specimens. Only unequivocally stained nuclei were counted. Normal bronchial epithelium obtained from autopsies was used as a control. In 31 patients, a synchronous or metachronous carcinoma was present (61%). Positive p53 immunoreactivity was found in 22 of the 51 patients (43%). The positive predictive values of p53 and of a high grade of dysplasia for carcinoma of the respiratory tract were 91% and 80%, respectively. Although the hyperproliferative state of squamous metaplastic lesions was clearly established, neither the percentage of MIB-1 labelling nor the mitotic index distinguished patient groups with and without carcinoma. No increased Bcl-2 immunostaining was found in squamous metaplasia. In conclusion, p53 immunoreactivity in squamous metaplastic lesions in bronchial biopsies is a marker of carcinoma of the respiratory tract.


The vehicle re-identification (ReID) plays a critical role in the perception system of autonomous driving, which attracts more and more attention in recent years. However, to our best knowledge, there is no existing complete solution for the surround-view system mounted on the vehicle. In this paper, we argue two main challenges in above scenario: i) In single camera view, it is difficult to recognize the same vehicle from the past image frames due to the fisheye distortion, occlusion, truncation, etc. ii) In multi-camera view, the appearance of the same vehicle varies greatly from different camera's viewpoints. Thus, we present an integral vehicle Re-ID solution to address these problems. Specifically, we propose a novel quality evaluation mechanism to balance the effect of tracking box's drift and target's consistency. Besides, we take advantage of the Re-ID network based on attention mechanism, then combined with a spatial constraint strategy to further boost the performance between different cameras. The experiments demonstrate that our solution achieves state-of-the-art accuracy while being real-time in practice. Besides, we will release the code and annotated fisheye dataset for the benefit of community.


BACKGROUND
This phase II study evaluates the antitumor activity and tolerance of cisplatin and prolonged oral administration of etoposide in metastatic breast cancer previously exposed to anthracyclines.

PROCEDURE
Twenty-seven patients with metastatic breast cancer who developed tumor progression following anthracyclines wer e entered in the study. The patients were treated with combination chemotherapy of cisplatin 50 mg/m(2) IV day 1 and oral etoposide 50 mg/m(2) days 1-17. Cycles were repeated every 29 days.

RESULTS
Twenty-six patients were evaluated for toxicity and response. Complete remission was observed in 1 of 26 (4%) patients and partial remission in 12 of 26 (46%). Median duration of response was seven months. Pain relief was noted in 9 of 15 (60%) of the symptomatic patients. Myelosuppression was the major toxicity encountered and four (15%) patients required hospitalization for granulocytopenic fever. Nonhematologic toxicity was mild.

CONCLUSIONS
The combination of cisplatin with prolonged oral etoposide is active and tolerable in the management of patients with relapsed metastatic breast cancer previously treated with an anthracycline-based regimen.


Having a daughter of deservingly respected musical accomplishment writing about one's life and work is a great benefit, but the obverse of that coin appears in subsequent work failing to take discourse much beyond her writing. A matter in part of respect? At least, this is one feasible reason for the comparative paucity of critical work on Holst's music, whilst acknowledging particularly Messrs Rubbra, Short and Greene as well as Imogen Holst. Compared with what? Holst is popularly remembered, principally for the orchestral suite The Planets, and a small handful of other works. Why so few? Herbert Howells, in a filmed interview in the 1970s, considered that 10% of any important composer's works remaining in the accepted performance canon may be considered a good result. One might compare César Franck here, in the canon principally with just three works (organ works accessit). However, Raymond Head, composer, teacher and Holst scholar, wishes to see Holst recognised as more than the composer of a few popular works, however powerful, but also as a true pioneer, creating musical innovations in his quest for a personal style, innovations which re-appeared decades later in the work of others, reflective of an attitude towards the Orient now commonplace. Raymond is well placed to author this study as he has been actively promoting Indian-influenced works since the early 1980s via concerts and writings. After a preliminary account of Holst's motivation for and researches into Indian culture, citing literary and other influences, and pencilled annotations in books he owned, Raymond provides careful analyses of the 'Indian' works in historical and Holstian context, together with critiques and performance receptions. For example, discussion of the Hymns from the Rig Veda by the deity addressed, rather than by Holst's performance groupings, reveals much about which deities attracted him, and the musical connexions between the settings. They, and the other 'Indian' works, including the innovative chamber opera S avitri, evidence seeds which blossomed much later in The Planets and elsewhere – polytonality, irregular time signatures, modal writing. There is detail in this worthwhile study not found elsewhere. Illustrations and musical examples amply elucidate. Rather many typos reveal the absence of good copy editing, but this cavil does not detract from the value of the work, an important addition to critical work on Holst.


OBJECTIVE--To determine whether low protein diets retard the development of end stage renal disease. DESIGN--Meta-analysis of 46 trials since 1975, from which six randomised controlled trials were selected. SETTING--Five trials in Europe and one in Australia between 1982 and 1991. SUBJECTS--890 patients with mild to severe chronic renal failure who were followed up for at least one year. 450 patients received a low protein diet and 440 a control diet. INTERVENTION--Difference in protein intake between control and treated groups of at least 0.2 g protein/kg/day. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--Number of renal deaths (the necessity to start dialysis or death of patient during study). RESULTS--156 renal deaths were recorded, 61 in the low protein diet group and 95 in the control group, leading to an odds ratio of low protein to control of 0.54 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.37 to 0.79. CONCLUSIONS--This result, obtained on a large population of patients suffering from chronic renal insufficiency, strongly supports the effectiveness of low protein diets in delaying the onset of end stage renal disease.


Individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) become sensitive to H(2) gas when their surfaces are decorated with Pd metal, and previous reports measure typical chemoresistive increases to be approximately 2-fold. Here, thousand-fold increases in resistance are demonstrated in the specific case where a Pd cluster decorates a SWCNT sidewall defect site. Measurements on single SWCNTs, performed both before and after defect incorporation, prove that defects have extraordinary consequences on the chemoresistive response, especially in the case of SWCNTs with metallic band structure. Undecorated defects do not contribute to H(2) chemosensitivity, indicating that this amplification is due to a specific but complex interdependence between a defect site's electronic transmission and the chemistry of the defect-Pd-H(2) system. Dosage experiments suggest a primary role is played by spillover of atomic H onto the defect site.


A cosmetic composition comprises a) an N-acyl amino acid compound selected from the group consisting of N-acyl amino acid, its isomers, its salts, derivatives thereof, and mixtures thereof, and b) hexyldecanol.


1. The metabolism of 1,4-dihydro-6-trifluoromethylquinoxaline-2,3-dione (Lilly 72525), a sedative hypnotic drug, was studied in rat and cat. 2. Plasma concentrations of Lilly 72525 were measured fluorometrically after oral and intravenous doses of the compound in rats. A comparison of the area under the two curves suggested that 84% of the oral dose was absorbed. 3. Studies with 14C-labelled material in both species confirmed that the drug was well absorbed after oral administration and revealed that the dione was mainly eliminated unchanged in the urine. Bile duct cannulation experiments suggested that biliary excretion accounted for most or all of the drug present in faeces of rats. 4. Metabolites isolated from urinary extracts by t.l.c. were identified by g.l.c.-mass spectrometry. The only metabolite detected in rat urine or bile extracts was a ring-hydroxylated compound. This metabolite plus two N-hydroxylated metabolites were identified in extracts of cat urine.


Abstract Under the influence of a pulsed field, dilute clay sols become birefringent as the particles undergo orientational order. The rate of decay of the birefringence on removal of the field is characteristic of the particle geometry. Measurement of the decay rates under two specific experimental conditions provides sufficient information from which the particle-size distribution can be evaluated in terms of a two-parameter function. Experimental data are reported and analysed in terms of a log-normal distribution of particle sizes for attapulgite (rods), kaolinite (discs) and halloysite (ellipsoids) sols and compared with success to electron microscopic data. The ability of the method to determine size distributions in terms of the major dimensions of the clay particles, rather than those of the often used equivalent sphere, is highlighted.


Anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA) are a group of autoantibodies primarily associated with systemic vasculitis. Hitherto, the method of choice for ANCA detection has been indirect immunofluorescence (IIF). By this method two major patterns can be seen: a cytoplasmic pattern (cANCA) or a perinuclear pattern (pANCA). The cANCA pattern is most often caused by antibodies directed against proteinase-3 (PR3) and in rare cases it is caused by anti-myeloperoixdase (MPO) antibodies. The pANCA pattern can de caused by antibodies directed against a large group of proteins i.e. MPO, lactofenin and bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein. Often there is a discrepancy between the results obtained by IIF and those reported from the use of assays with purified antigens. This causes confusion. Until now only anti-PR3 and anti-MPO have been found of any clinical value. Therefore, it would be more proper to use assays with these highly purified antigens instead of an unspecific method like IIF.


Supranuclear disorders of eye movement result from a relative deafferentiation of oculomotor nuclei (III, IV, VI) in the presence of intact nuclei, cranial nerves and extraocular muscles. In supranuclear oculomotility disorders there is often a dissociation of eye movements (for example, gaze palsy with preserved vestibulo‐ocular reflex, or saccadic palsy with preserved pursuit). This presentation will discuss the most important supranuclear disorders, including internuclear ophthalmoplegia, dorsal mesencephalic syndrome, skew deviation, and progressive supranuclear palsy. At the end of the session, participants should be able to recognize and provide a differential diagnosis for the aforementioned supranuclear disorders.


Abstract Identifying the mechanisms maintaining population structure in marine fish species with more than a single dispersing life stage is challenging because of the difficulty in tracking all life stages. Here, a two‐stage otolith microchemistry approach to examining life‐stage movement was adopted, tracking a year‐class from the juvenile to adult stage and inferring larval sources from clustering, in order to consider the mechanisms maintaining population structuring in North Sea cod. Clustering of near‐core chemistry identified four clusters, two of which had either a southern or northern affinity and were similar to juvenile edge chemistry. The other two clusters, common to the central North Sea, had intermediate chemical composition and may have reflected either larval mixing in this region or a lack of geographic heterogeneity in the elemental signature. From the comparison of whole juvenile and the corresponding component of adult otoliths, adults from the southern North Sea mostly recruited from adjacent nursery grounds. In contrast, many adults in the northern North Sea had a juvenile chemistry consistent with the Skagerrak and juveniles from the northern Skagerrak site had a near‐core chemistry consistent with the northern North Sea. Similarities in otolith chemistry were consistent with retention of early life stages at a regional level and also juvenile and adult fidelity. The links between the northern North Sea and Skagerrak indicate natal homing, which when considered in the context of genetic evidence is suggestive of philopatry. The approach used here should be useful in exploring the mechanisms underlying population structuring in other species with multiple dispersive life stages and calcified hard parts.


ABSTRACT This article presents the cases of two migrant men, a Senegalese and a Nigerian, who spent many years in Istanbul. Although their backgrounds, personalities and circumstances were different, they both did export-related commercial work in the city. After describing sub-Saharan migration to Turkey and the literature concerning it, the text focuses on the stories these migrants spontaneously presented as they explained why they had become migrants. It was striking that with very different personal details, events and coincidences, both stories attribute the decision to migrate to Istanbul to a traumatic accident that forced the protagonists to change a life that until that point did not involve transnational migration. In the stories the protagonist's ambition, determination and will are rendered invisible and he is presented as a victim. I call this rhetorical topos 'great mishap'. It resonates with stories I have heard from other migrants. I interpret it as an expression of compunction, of social responsibility weighing on the actor for abandoning close others in favour of an individual quest for self-realisation.


Background Septic cavernous sinus thrombosis is a rare complication of paranasal sinusitis. Objective To familiarize the clinician with the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and appropriate management of septic cavernous sinus thrombosis. Design Case report and literature review. Setting Pediatric intensive care unit in a university hospital. Patient We present a 12-yr-old female with a 1 wk history of an upper respiratory tract infection with worsening dyspnea, cough, and swelling of the left eye progressing to adult respiratory distress syndrome. Secondary to the need for significant mechanical ventilatory support, venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was initiated. Computed tomography scan of the head and neck with contrast revealed bilateral cavernous sinus thrombosis. After broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics and aggressive supportive care in conjunction with surgical intervention (maxillary sinus lavage and right orbital exploration) and anticoagulation therapy, the patient recovered. Blood cultures were positive for Viridans streptococcus. At discharge 3 wks later, the patient had improved, but had right-eye blindness. Conclusions The diagnosis of septic cavernous sinus thrombosis requires a high index of suspicion and confirmation by imaging; early diagnosis and surgical drainage of the underlying primary source of infection in conjunction with long-term intravenous antibiotic therapy are critical for an optimal clinical outcome.


Abstract An elastic half-space containing a suddenly-loaded spherical cavity is considered. The motion of the half-space, representing waves from the cavity to the surface of the half-space and back again to its interior including the associated Rayleigh waves, is obtained. The solution for the case of a linearly-expanding cavity due to a high explosive charge is also presented, including the case of a half-space of limited strength. These cases exhibit higher values for displacements and stresses as compared with the corresponding nonexpanding case. The applicability of the method of solution to other problems of interest is mentioned.


Seafood mislabeling is a widely documented problem that has significant implications for human and environmental health. Defined as when seafood is sold under something other than its true species name, seafood fraud allows less-desired or illegally-caught species to be marketed as one recognizable to consumers. Red snapper is one of the most frequently mislabeled species, with previous studies showing mislabeling rates as high as 77%. We assessed whether red snapper mislabeling rates varied among states or vendor type. We also determined the stock status of substituted species to assess whether frequently substituted stocks were more or less at-risk than red snapper stocks. We used standard DNA barcoding protocols to determine the identity of products labeled as "red snapper" from sushi restaurants, seafood markets, and grocery stores in the Southeastern United States. Overall, 72.6% of samples (out of 62) were mislabeled, with sushi restaurants mislabeling samples 100% of the time. Out of 13 substituted species (including samples that were indistinguishable between two species), seven (53.8%) were not native to the U.S. Of the ten substituted species assessed by the IUCN red list, nine (90%) were listed as less threatened than red snapper. These results contribute to a growing body of mislabeling research that can be used by government agencies trying to develop effective policy to combat seafood fraud and consumers attempting to avoid mislabeled products.


—The paper summarizes the results of studies by the authors of the gas-discharge method for the fast remote registration of alpha and beta radioactive contaminants on the surfaces of a complex profile and in limited volumes of workplaces of radiation-hazardous objects. Specific features of technical solutions ensuring the detection stability of alpha and beta radiation with the help of a gas-discharge counter open to the air are considered. The design variants and main characteristics of search devices are given that allowing quickly (less than 3 seconds) detecting spot and distributed alpha-radioactive contamination at distances of about 50 cm. The design and operation modes of the portal pedestrian radiation monitor recording small alpha and beta radioactive contamination on clothes and open parts of a person's body are shown.


The title complex, [La(2)(C(6)H(7))(4)(C(6)H(5)S)(2)(C(4)H(8)O)(2)].2C(4)H(8)O, is a centrosymmetric dimer bridged through the S atoms of the benzenethiolate ligands. The bridging La(2)S(2) unit is completely planar, while the geometry around the nine-coordinate La atom is that of a distorted trigonal bipyramid. The La-S-La and S-La-S angles are 117.51 (4) and 62.5 (1) degrees, respectively, and the average La-S bond length is 2.9759 A. The crystals contain two tetrahydrofuran solvate molecules for every complex molecule.


In this paper, we present a modular and pipeline architecture for lifting-based multilevel 2-D DWT, without using line-buffer and frame-buffer. Overall area-delay product is reduced in the proposed design by appropriate partitioning and scheduling of the computation of individual decomposition-levels. The processing for different levels is performed by a cascaded pipeline structure to maximize the hardware utilization efficiency (HUE). Moreover, the proposed structure is scalable for high-throughput and area-constrained implementation. We have removed all the redundancies resulting from decimated wavelet filtering to maximize the HUE. The proposed design involves L pyramid algorithm (PA) units and one recursive pyramid algorithm (RPA) unit, where R=N/P , L=⌈log4P̅ ⌉ and P is the input block size, M and N, respectively, being the height and width of the image. The entire multilevel DWT is computed by the proposed structure in MR cycles. The proposed structure has O(8R×2L) cycles of output latency, which is very small compared to the latency of the existing structures. Interestingly, the proposed structure does not require any line-buffer or frame-buffer, unlike the existing folded structures which otherwise require a line-buffer of size O(N) and frame-buffer of size O(M/2×N/2) for multilevel 2-D computation. Instead of those buffers, the proposed structure involves only local registers and RAM of size O(N). The saving of line-buffer and frame-buffer achieved by the proposed design is an important advantage, since the image size could very often be as large as 512 × 512. From the simulation results we find that, the proposed scalable structure offers better slice-delay-product (SDP) for higher throughput of implementation since the on-chip memory of this structure remains almost unchanged with input block size. It has 17% less SDP than the best of the corresponding existing structures on average, for different input-block sizes and image sizes. It involves 1.92 times more transistors, but offers 12.2 times higher throughput and consumes 52% less power per output (PPO) compared to the other, on average for different input sizes.


Recent research into asynchronous CMC-based interactions between native speakers (NS) and nonnative speakers (NNS) of a language has linked them to increased motivation and participation, and a reduction in anxiety (Beauvois & Eledge, 1996; Leh, 1997; Aitsiselmi, 1999), and studies suggesting that such interactions may lead to increases in L2 proficiency have begun to appear in the literature (e.g., Floréz-Estrada, 1995; Ioanniou-Georgiou, 1999; Stockwell & Harrington, 2003). However, a problem faced by many second language teachers is the difficulty in finding suitable native speaking email partners with whom to hold exchanges, and teachers are often forced to conduct such projects solely with other nonnative speakers. This study is a follow-up study based on the methodology of previous research by Stockwell and Harrington (2003) to investigate if similar patterns of interaction and target language (TL) development were also evident in an NNS-NNS setting. The study investigates 24 nonnative speakers of English studying at two different universities in Japan involved in a five-week email exchange project. Learner output was investigated for lexical and syntactic development over the exchange period through a combination of type/token ratio and T-unit analyses. The results of the study showed that there was evidence of TL development in the NNS-NNS interactions across the interaction period following a similar pattern to that found in the NS-NNS interactions, although significantly less pronounced. Examination of the interactions suggested that there were aspects that differed from the NS-NNS, which are also discussed.


Phosphorous doped carbon dots (P-CDs) are prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. The phenomenon of aggregation induced red shift emission (AIRSE) is observed in the obtained P-CDs. The emission wavelength of a P-CD solution can be tuned in the range from 455 nm to 595 nm by changing the solution concentration.


The tungsten dinitrogen complex [W(N2)(PMe2PPPh2)] (2) (PMe2PPPh2 = [2-({bis[3-(diphenylphosphino)propyl]-phosphino}methyl)-2-methylpropane-1,3-diyl]bis(dimethylphosphine)) is synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction as well as IR and NMR spectroscopies, showing strong analogies to its molybdenum analogue [Mo(N2)(PMe2PPPh2)] (1). Whereas cyclic voltammetry studies indicate very similar redox potentials, detailed electrochemical and IR-spectroelectrochemical investigations reveal characteristic differences between 1 and 2 upon electrochemical oxidation in THF. Protonation of 2 with HBArF (BArF = tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)-phenyl)borate) leads to the hydrazido(2-) derivative 3 which is spectroscopically characterized as well. In the presence of SmI2/H2O slightly overstoichiometric conversion of N2 to ammonia (2.75 equiv.) is observed. Although this is far below the activity of the Mo-complex 1, it renders 2 the first W complex to produce more than 2 equivalents of NH3 from N2 upon addition of protons and reductant.


Heme oxygenase (HO) and carbon monoxide (CO), a product of HO activity generated during heme catalysis, exert differential effects on the apoptotic response dependently on the environmental milieu and cell types involved. The role of HO‐1 and CO in modulating chemotherapeutic treatment in prostate cancer has not been tested. Our focus in this work explored the role of HO‐1 and CO in modulating PCa cell death via DNA damage mechanisms. We examined HO‐1 expression in PCa samples from 482 patients and found strong nuclear staining in moderately differentiated tumors (Gleason grade 3). Treatment of PCa cells with the chemotherapeutic agents, camptothecin or doxorubicin increased HO‐1 activity in the cytosol, which correlated with increased cell death. Nuclear translocation of HO‐1 resulted in decreased enzymatic activity. Low activity of HO‐1 in the nucleus may confer resistance to chemotherapy due to the antiapoptotic effects of HO‐1. Overexpression of cytosolic and active HO‐1 or exogenous delivery of CO at low non‐toxic concentrations (250 parts per million) in combination with a chemotherapeutic led to enhanced tumor cell death via caspase‐3 activation. CO exposure of mice with established PC3 xenografts delayed tumor growth via accelerated apoptosis (TUNEL staining) and mitotic catastrophe of cancer cells as well as strong inhibition of angiogenesis (CD31 staining). Further, CO sensitized tumors to doxorubicin treatment with enhanced apoptosis and blockage of mitosis. In contrast, CO blocked chemotherapeutic‐induced cell death in normal cells supporting a new function for HO‐1/CO as cellular sensors of DNA damage. Taken together, our data demonstrate the importance of cellular localization of HO‐1 in PCa progression and importantly that CO, in part regulates cellular sensitivity to DNA damaging agents. We propose a novel strategy to overcome resistance to chemotherapy as well as reducing the chemotherapeutic burden by employing CO at safe, non‐toxic concentrations that permits preservation of normal cells and tissue. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(23 Suppl):C41.


BACKGROUND
Lead is a strong neurotoxin. The effects of lead on the activity of the autonomic nervous system, assessed by the use of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, have not yet been established.

AIM
To assess the effects of occupational chronic lead exposure on the autonomic nervous system activity.

METHODS
The study group consisted of 22 copper foundry workers (mean age 41.8+/-8.7 years) who had elevated parameters of lead overload and were admitted to the hospital for chelate therapy. The control group consisted of 13 age-matched healthy males. Lead concentration was measured with the use of atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and concentration of free protoporphyrins in erythrocytes (FEP) using a fluorometric method. Each patient underwent 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring, and standard short-term as well as long-term HRV parameters were obtained.

RESULTS
There were no significant differences between patients and controls in HRV parameters. In the control group, HRV parameters correlated with age. In patients, a significant negative correlation between lead concentration and some short-term HRV parameters calculated during the night was found: SDNN (r=-0.48, p<0.05), TP (r=-0.48, p<0.01) and LF (r=-0.48, p<0.01). In patients, a negative correlation between lead concentration and HFnight/HFday index was found (r=-0.47 p<0.01), whereas in controls this correlation was positive (r=0.66 p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Overall HRV indices are similar in subjects exposed to lead and in healthy controls. A decrease in the physiological elevation of HF values during the night, together with an increase in lead blood concentration and lack of relationship between age and HRV parameters in workers chronically exposed to lead may suggest disturbances of the autonomic system. In subjects not exposed to lead a decrease in heart rate with an increase in FEP concentration was observed.


For a complete noncompact connected Riemannian manifold with bounded geometry $M^n$, we prove that the isoperimetric profile function $I_{M^n}$ is continuous. Here for bounded geometry we mean that $M$ have $Ricci$ curvature bounded below and volume of balls of radius $1$, uniformly bounded below with respect to its centers. Then under an extra hypothesis on the geometry of $M$, we apply this result to prove some differentiability property of $I_M$ and a differential inequality satisfied by $I_M$, extending in this way well known results for compact manifolds, to this class of noncompact complete Riemannian manifolds with bounded geometry.


One unresolved question in the high-temperature superconductors and their copper oxide parent compounds is the absence of a Cu[sup 2+] electron-spin-resonance (ESR) signal even at temperatures well above the Neel temperature. We have extended the measurements up to 1150 K in both single crystals and ceramic pellets of La[sub 2]CuO[sub 4+[delta]], 0[approx lt][delta][approx lt]0.12, and no ESR signal has been observed. Our data are not compatible with the models based only on magnetic fluctuations which predict an ESR linewidth of a few hundred Oe at such high temperatures. Other suggested explanations for the absence of a Cu[sup 2+] ESR signal are discussed.


In July 1996, Tennessee initiated a managed mental health and substance abuse program called TennCare Partners. This publicly funded "carve-out" experiment started chaotically and soon deteriorated into a crisis. Many patients did not receive care or lost continuity of care, and the traditional "safety net" mental health system nearly disintegrated. This qualitative case study sought to ascertain the impact of the TennCare Partners program. It points out that the program's difficulties stemmed directly from a flawed design that spread funds previously earmarked for severely mentally ill patients across the entire Medicaid population. States contemplating similar reforms should strive to protect vulnerable patients by risk-adjusting capitation payments and by focusing resources on care for severely mentally ill persons. States should also minimize program complexity and ensure the accountability of managed care networks for their patients' behavioral health care needs.


Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a promising intervention to promote upper limb recovery after stroke. We aimed to identify differences in the efficacy of rTMS treatment on upper limb function depending on the onset time post-stroke. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify relevant RCTs from their inception to February 2018. RCTs on the effects of rTMS on upper limb function in adult patients with stroke were included. Study quality and risk of bias were assessed independently by two authors. Meta-analyses were performed for outcomes on individual upper limb outcome measures (function or activity) and for function and activity measures jointly, categorized by timing of treatment initiation. Timing of treatment initiation post-stroke was categorized as follows: acute to early subacute (<1 month), early subacute (1–3 months), late subacute (3–6 months), and chronic (>6 months). Results: We included 38 studies involving 1,074 stroke patients. Subgroup analysis demonstrated benefit of rTMS applied within the first month post-stroke [MD = 9.31; 95% confidence interval (6.27–12.34); P < 0.0001], but not in the early subacute phase (1–3 months post-stroke) [MD = 1.14; 95% confidence interval (−5.32 to 7.59), P = 0.73) or chronic phase (>6 months post-stroke) [MD = 1.79; 95% confidence interval (−2.00 to 5.59]; P = 0.35), when assessed with a function test [Fugl-Meyer Arm test (FMA)]. There were no studies within the late subacute phase (3–6 months post-stroke) that used the FMA. Tests at the level of function revealed improved upper limb function after rTMS [SMD = 0.43; 95% confidence interval (0.02–0.75); P = 0.0001], but tests at the level of activity did not, independent of rTMS onset post-stroke [SMD = 0.17; 95% confidence interval (−0.09 to 0.44); P = 0.19]. Heterogeneities in the results of the individual studies included in the main analyses were large, as suggested by funnel plot asymmetry. Conclusions: Based on the FMA, rTMS seems more beneficial only when started in the first month post-stroke. Tests at the level of function are likely more sensitive to detect beneficial rTMS effects on upper limb function than tests at the level of activity. However, heterogeneities in treatment designs and outcomes are high. Future rTMS trials should include the FMA and work toward a core set of outcome measures.


To produce the white light, there are a single chip method using the blue light and phosphor coating, a multi chip method by mixing R, G, B light.. Multi chip method is proper for the smart lighting system by controling color and color temperature. And color rendering of single chip LED is good by even spectral distribution. To apply application technic like smart light system, this paper analyzed the properties of single chip LED and RGB multi chip LED, and implemented the 2 part subject evaluation for single chip LED and RGB multi chip LED. The first part is comparison of properties for single chip LED and RGB multi chip and second part is color appearance evaluation of 8 colors in each lighting environment.


Sequence labelling tasks like Dialog Act and Emotion/Sentiment identification are a key component of spoken dialog systems. In this work, we propose a new approach to learn generic representations adapted to spoken dialog, which we evaluate on a new benchmark we call Sequence labellIng evaLuatIon benChmark fOr spoken laNguagE benchmark (SILICONE). SILICONE is model-agnostic and contains 10 different datasets of various sizes. We obtain our representations with a hierarchical encoder based on transformer architectures, for which we extend two well-known pre-training objectives. Pre-training is performed on OpenSubtitles: a large corpus of spoken dialog containing over 2.3 billion of tokens. We demonstrate how hierarchical encoders achieve competitive results with consistently fewer parameters compared to state-of-the-art models and we show their importance for both pre-training and fine-tuning.


This thesis focuses on professional strategies carried out by the Finnish socialworkers union Talentia to strengthen social welfare professions in Finland. Specialfocus lies on the social worker's occupation and quest for licensure. The period investigated spans from 1949 until 2019. Licensure granted by the state is considered a significant attribute for a successful professionalization process and desirable for occupational groups. Research shows that licensure can also be experienced as a reduction of professional autonomy and therefore be opposed collectively. In Finland, licensure for social welfare workers came into effect in 2016. Many members of occupational groups regulated by The Act on Social Welfare Professionals are also members of Talentia, whose position concerning professionalization and licensure has not been longitudinally investigated previously. The study methodology is based on a qualitative single-case study design. The data consists of archived documents of Talentia, organizational journals, governmental reports, laws, directives, and secondary sources of knowledge such as Talentia's written history. Interviews were undertaken with four key persons that had been working in leading positions of the organization. The analytical approach is abductive, including theoretical concepts and perspectives from sociology of professions, organizational theory, and policy research. The development of collective strategies for professionalization can be roughly divided into the periods of Establishment (1949–1962), Consolidation (1963–1980), Professionalization(1981–1999) and Licensure (2000–2019). The main strategy identified is ideological optimism for professionalization, which led Talentia to strive for political influence, educational development, and expansion of occupational monopoly on the labor market as strategies for professionalization. Other supportive strategies concerning internationalization, work ethics, and information campaigns have also been identified, implemented by individual actors in the organization. Continuity and change in the strategies can be summarized as developing an optimism for professionalization that combined professional- and labor union interests. Talentia has retained its rather ambitious main strategy and adapted it and the other strategies flexibly to changes in society during the period investigated. The results indicate that ideology, political influence, and alliances with representatives of interest groups in higher education can be important for the quest for professionalization in different contexts.


During the last decade or so Polish women writers have published variety of titles which are symptomatic of the 'new times' and fashionable literary trends. The most prominent samples include not only texts which can be broadly defined as 'queer writing' (novels by Ewa Schelling and Marta Dzido) but also works which are associated with pop culture and has been defined outside of Poland as 'chick lit'. I would argue that various novels authored by Katarzyna Grochola, who was once famously called the 'Polish Bridget Jones', belong to this category. Besides these two types of writing there has also been a significant development of 'erotic novels,' exemplified by such titles as Rdza (2008) by Ewa Berent and Nielegalne związki (2010) by Grazyna Plebanek. Although the two novels are quite diverse, they both transgress the conventional way of describing heterosexual sex scenes and erotic encounters. What interests me especially in this type of literature is its depiction of cultural diversity on one hand and its local context on the other. Thus my primary concern in analysing the newly emerging type of women writing comes with the following question: To what extent do these writers consciously imitate the 'Western European' models and to what extent do they create their own local genre by responding to the needs of culture that no longer holds taboo topics regarding sexuality?


Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a complex disorder with a clear genetic component but no clearly identified genes with variation of etiologic relevance. Various candidate regions and genes show some evidence of affecting risk, though clearly not all patients/families can be explained by any one of them. Resequencing one candidate gene, SLITRK1, has identified four new variants. Including them, we have typed over 2,300 normal individuals from 44 populations for 11 SNPs spanning the gene. The unusual global pattern seen is that one non‐ancestral haplotype is the single most common haplotype worldwide. Other haplotypes appear to result from accumulation of mutations with no evidence of historical recombination. Although there is no evidence of selection, the haplotype frequency variation seen around the world will need to be considered in any future association studies of this locus with GTS or any other neuropsychiatric disorder. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Objective To analyze the genetic subtypes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the prevalence of pretreatment drug resistance in the newly reported HIV-infected men in Guangxi. Methods The stratified random sampling method was employed to select the newly reported HIV-infected men aged≥50 years old in 14 cities of Guangxi from January to June in 2020.The pol gene of HIV-1 was amplified by nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and then sequenced.The mutation sites associated with drug resistance and the degree of drug resistance were then analyzed. Results A total of 615 HIV-infected men were included in the study.The genetic subtypes of CRF01_AE,CRF07_BC,and CRF08_BC accounted for 57.4% (353/615),17.1% (105/615),and 22.4% (138/615),respectively.The mutations associated with the resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI),non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI),and protease inhibitors occurred in 8 (1.3%),18 (2.9%),and 0 patients,respectively.M184V (0.7%) and K103N (1.8%) were the mutations with the highest occurrence rates for the resistance to NRTIs and NNRTIs,respectively.Twenty-two (3.6%) patients were resistant to at least one type of inhibitors.Specifically,4 (0.7%),14 (2.3%),4 (0.7%),and 0 patients were resistant to NRTIs,NNRTIs,both NRTIs and NNRTIs,and protease inhibitors,respectively.The pretreatment resistance to NNRTIs had much higher frequency than that to NRTIs (2.9% vs.1.3%;χ2=3.929,P=0.047).The prevalence of pretreatment resistance to lamivudine,zidovudine,tenofovir,abacavir,rilpivirine,efavirenz,nevirapine,and lopinavir/ritonavir was 0.8%, 0.3%, 0.7%, 1.0%, 1.3%, 2.8%, 2.9%, and 0, respectively. Conclusions CRF01_AE,CRF07_BC,and CRF08_BC are the three major strains of HIV-infected men≥50 years old newly reported in Guangxi,2020,and the pretreatment drug resistance demonstrates low prevalence.


A rare case of phalangeal metastasis of extramammary Paget's disease in a 68‐year‐old man is described. The patient developed an erythematous, slightly elevated area in the pubic region. A biopsy specimen demonstrated numerous, large, rounded cells with ample pale‐staining cytoplasm proliferating in the epidermis. With a diagnosis of ***extra‐mammary Paget's disease, he underwent wide local excision and inguinal node dissection. Eleven months postoperatively, the patient developed a tender, red, swollen right ring finger. Bone X‐ray showed that the distal phalanx of the ring finger had completely dissolved. Histopathological examination demonstrated proliferation of tumor cells in the adipose tissue. They had poorer and darker cytoplasm than the Paget's cells in the epidermis of the pubic region. Immunohistochemically, these cells showed the same staining pattern as did the Paget's cells at the primary site. Accordingly, the patient was diagnosed with distal phalangeal metastasis of extramammary Paget's disease. Two weeks after the appearance of the distal phalangeal metastasis, the patient died of cancerous pleurisy. It has been reported that patients with phalangeal metastasis have a very poor prognosis.


The US Academy of Motion Picture Awards breaks down film sound into discrete areas of technical proficiency: sound mixers and re-recording mixers, aesthetic sound editing or design, and sound effects editing. Unsurprisingly, when the audience is asked to report on the sound of a movie, the elements most commented on are the volume and the music. Little critical attention has been given to the use of sound in the hands of the sound designer. In this paper, Damian Candusso, Sound Effects Editor on Australia, peels back the layers of sound and effects that he used to design the dreamtime and landscape sequences for the film Australia. The concept of the 'objective correlative' (Eliot 1950) describes the way in which the sound designer assembles the auditory elements then acts as a creative catalyst in synthesising these into an emotional effect. This offers a rare insight into the way in which the audience is positioned by the subliminal artistry of sound design.


Background There is a scarcity of studies that evaluate adherence to the utilization of guideline-recommended oral anticoagulant agents (OACs) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Middle East. The Jordan Atrial Fibrillation (JoFib) Study evaluated baseline clinical profiles and the utilization of OACs, including vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and direct OACs (DOACs), in patients with valvular AF (VAF) and nonvalvular AF (NVAF) according to the 2019 focused update of the 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guidelines. Methods Consecutive patients with AF were enrolled in 29 hospitals and outpatient clinics. The use of OACs was evaluated in patients with VAF and NVAF according to the prespecified guideline. Results Of 2000 patients, 177 (8.9%) had VAF and 1823 (91.1%) had NVAF. A VKA was prescribed for 88.1% of the VAF group. In the NVAF group, 1468 (80.5%) of patients had a high CHA2DS2-VASc score, i.e., a score of ≥3 in women and ≥2 in men; 202 (11.1%) patients had an intermediate CHA2DS2-VASc score, i.e., a score of 2 in women and 1 in men; and 153 (8.4%) patients had a low CHA2DS2-VASc score, i.e., a score of 1 in women and 0 in men. Of patients with a high CHA2DS2-VASc score, 1204 (82.0%) received OACs, including DOACs for 784 (53.4%) and VKA for 420 (28.6%) patients. Among patients with an intermediate score, OACs were prescribed for 148 (73.3%) patients, including 107 (53.0%) who received DOACs and 41 (20.3%) patients who received VKA. In patients with a low score, OACs were omitted in 94 (61.4%) patients and prescribed for 59 (38.6%) patients. Multivariate analysis showed that age between 50 and 70 years, CHA2DS2-VASc score of ≥2, a diagnosis of stroke or systemic embolization, and nonparoxysmal AF were significantly associated with increased odds of OAC prescription. Conclusions The current status of the utilization of OACs in Middle Eastern AF patients appears to be promising and is consistent with the 2019 focused update of the 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline. This trial is registered with NCT03917992.


Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode that causes strongyloidiasis, which affects 30 to 100 million people worldwide. Risk factors for hyperinfection and disseminated disease include immunosuppressive drug therapy, human T-lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1) infection, solid organ and bone marrow transplantation, hematologic malignant diseases, hypogammaglobulinemia, and severe malnutrition and associated conditions. The diagnosis can be difficult because a single stool examination fails to detect larvae in up to 70% of the cases, and the symptoms are nonspecific. Although eosinophilia is a common finding in patients with chronic Strongyloides infection, it is an unreliable predictor of hyperinfection. Furthermore, the lack of eosinophilia while receiving immunosuppressive therapy cannot reliably exclude the underlying chronic Strongyloides infection. We report here a fatal Strongyloides hyperinfection in a patient receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation; risk factors and outcome in this clinical setting are discussed.


Abstract:
This article discusses the application of distributed simulation in the context of vehicle production planning. The experiences are derived from a real industrial project which aimed at connecting up to seven individually developed simulation models. The article reports on lessons learned which include the need for efficient ways to manage and control HLA-based distributed federations, to maintain a single code base for the models as well as lookahead considerations for synchronization.


This document, along with referenced supporting documents provides a defensible and auditable record of acceptable knowledge for one of the waste streams from the FB-Line. This heterogeneous debris transuranic waste stream was generated after January 25, 1990 and before March 20, 1997. The waste was packaged in 55-gallon drums, then shipped to the transuranic waste storage facility in ''E'' area of the Savannah River Site. This acceptable knowledge report includes information relating to the facility's history, configuration, equipment, process operations and waste management practices. Information contained in this report was obtained from numerous sources including: facility safety basis documentation, historical document archives, generator and storage facility waste records and documents, and interviews with cognizant personnel.


The new generation of communication systems takes advantage of satellite infrastructure. One of the main scenarios of satellite communication is the transmission of information from satellite (down link) to wireless mobile users in the spot coverage area. Information theory gives us a well-known expression for the capacity of a communication channel. In mobile wireless communication systems the probability of finding a user in a specific location may be determined from the user's location density distribution function (ULDDF). The distribution of satellite transmitter power on the ground determines the channel capacity for each location. The information rate is the integral of the capacity weighted by the user's location density distribution function over the spot coverage area. The expansion to the multi-user problem is immediate, using multi-users' statistics. We present a model of the transmitter power distribution (the satellite antenna pattern), which maximizes the information rate between a satellite and terrestrial mobile users, for code division multi access (CDMA).


AI methods and ubiquitous data sensors have enabled a new algorithmic quantification of affect with the possibility to detect or verify users' identities, characteristics, emotional states, and physical traits. By scrutinizing how transient datasets are produced by user applied pressure on touch-screens (via fingertip commands) this paper showcases how sensory technology creeps into users' everyday life with potential implementations connected to a series of emerging data issues engineered by a black-box design: one which obfuscates data production and precludes user consent under the disguise of "non-intrusive" features. Thereby, this paper explores the limits of user-based interrogation of black-boxes by researching tactile modes of operation, as a subset of behavioural biometrics, and sensors that register force in touch analysis and haptic technologies.
Presenting a citation analysis of biometric techniques around the proposed usage of pressure; the authors offer a case-study examination of zinc-based force-sensing materials that are cost-effective and scalable to ubiquitous-computing and a prototype developed using 'each pixel as a sensor'. By combining these approaches, this paper argues that such developments constitute a phenomenological shift away from users' perception to data infrastructures working as assemblages of hidden technical sensations, and there is a need to expose these complex networks to afford some grasp, if not direct agency, over their micro temporal operation. This work aims not simply to theorise, but to help reveal ways users may revise, embrace, resist, subvert or even live data practices that operate unlike conventional data harvesting techniques.


The U.S. Army's second generation (GEN II) of weather decision aids includes MyWIDA (My Weather Impacts Decision Aid) and AIR (Automated Impacts Routing) applications and web services. Users may take advantage of the supplied applications or develop their own making use of the underlying web services. MyWIDA is a rules-based expert system that can automatically identify and provide favorable, marginal, and unfavorable weather impacts on rotary and fixed wing aircraft. These impacts are presented in the form of a stop light chart overlaid on a map background and are based on operating limitations of those systems. A color-coded Weather Effects Matrix (WEM) can be queried to display detailed textual weather impacts statements/explanations for a specific location. The forecast weather information, available from numerous originating centers, is ingested through a meteorological gridded database which automatically drives MyWIDA. AIR was designed to determine a least-cost path across multiple waypoints based on a 3D grid of adverse weather impacts. Additionally, AIR provides a mechanism to identify non-weather 3D volumes to avoid when calculating a path, thereby allowing identification of exclusion zones due to terrain, conflicting airspace, closed aviation corridors, or other user-defined conditions. AIR provides a highlyflexible and efficient route planning capability that is applicable to multiple domains, including both air and surface operations, and may be executed either as a standalone desktop application or deployed as a web service.


A modified local-density approximation is developed to treat self-consistently exchange and correlations in a quantum wire (QW) subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field. The influence of many-body interactions on the spin splitting between the two lowest Landau levels (LLs) is calculated within the screened Hartree-Fock approximation (SHFA), for filling factor , and the strong spatial dependence of the screening properties of electrons is taken into account. In comparison with the Hartree-Fock result, the spatial behaviour of the occupied LLs in a QW is strongly modified when correlations are included. Correlations caused by bulk screening are very weak whereas those caused by screening at the edges are very strong. The latter strongly suppress the exchange splitting and smoothen the energy dispersion at the edges. The theory is in reasonable agreement with the observed strong suppression of the spin splitting pertinent to the quantum Hall effect (QHE) state and the destruction of this state in long QWs.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) exerts its action through CRF receptors 1 and 2 (CRF-R1 and CRF-R2). CRF has preferential affinity for CRF-R1, whereas urocortin displays high affinity for both. We investigated changes in colonic motor function after intraperitoneal (IP) injection of CRF-related peptides.

METHODS
Colonic motility was recorded in vivo in conscious rats equipped with electrodes chronically implanted in the cecum and proximal colon or in vitro in distal colon; fecal output was monitored in naive rats.

RESULTS
Rat CRF, rat urocortin, and amphibian sauvagine (10 microg/kg, IP) induced a new pattern of cecocolonic myoelectric activity characterized by clustered spike bursts of long duration; the percentage of occurrence was highest after CRF. The rank order of potency to increase fecal pellet output after IP peptide injection (0.3-10 microg/kg, IP) was CRF > urocortin = sauvagine. The CRF-R1/R2 antagonist astressin (33 microg/kg, IP) and the CRF-R1 antagonist CP-154,526 (20 mg/kg, subcutaneously) inhibited IP CRF-induced changes in cecocolonic myoelectric activity and IP CRF- and water avoidance stress-induced fecal output. In vitro, CRF injected into the inferior mesenteric artery increased distal colonic myoelectric activity compared with saline injection.

CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that CRF acts peripherally to stimulate colonic motility and that CRF-R1 is primarily involved in mediating IP CRF/urocortin- and water avoidance stress-induced colonic motor response.


This paper introduces a new method for adaptively estimating the time-varying autocorrelation (TV-AC) of nonstationary signals and studies its application to time-frequency analysis. The proposed method employs local estimation with a sliding window having a certain bandwidth to estimate the TV-AC locally. The window bandwidths are selected adaptively by a local plug-in rule to address the bias and variance tradeoff problem. Further, based on the proposed adaptive TV-AC estimation, a new time-frequency analysis method called adaptive windowed minimum variance spectral estimation (AWMVSE) is developed. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive TV-AC estimation method and AWMVSE method have improved performances over conventional estimators with a fixed window.


We have discovered that bicyclohexyl is suitable for extracting liquid crystals from liquid crystal/polymer composites consisting of a continuous phase of nematic liquid crystal and a three-dimensional polymer network. It was confirmed in optical microscopic observation for the morphology of composites that a polymer structure, observed after extraction of liquid crystals from composites by bicyclohexyl, accorded well with the structure observed by a non-destructive method at a higher temperature than the nematic–isotropic transition point of the liquid crystal. The relationship between the polymer structure in the composite which was evaluated by the non-destructive method and the condition of phase separation induced by photo-polymerization was closely investigated from an aspect of a phase diagram and the speed of phase separation controlled by the intensity of irradiation by UV light. The electro-optical characteristics of the liquid crystal/polymer composite cells were found to be strongly affected by the polymer structure, especially the pore size of the three-dimensional network, which was especially sensitive to the intensity of UV light.


Elderly mothers pick pineapple in Taiwanese fields and cook curry rice in a Singaporean hawker stand in Lin Cheng-sheng9s biopic, 27°C: Loaf Rock, and Eric Khoo9s telefilm, Recipe: A Film on Dementia, respectively. Both 2013 Chinese language films employ flashbacks to portray maternal food memories. Lin and Khoo depict food as comforting and possessing a unique ability to stimulate long-term memory to counter the short-term memory loss symptomatic of this form of dementia. The gustatory and the olfactory act directly upon the limbic brain, which houses emotions. In depicting Alzheimer9s sufferers and their responses to food, 27°C and Recipe fight for causes. Lin calls attention to the marginalized in his portrayal of the mother succumbing to the disease from the perspective of her son—a character based on contemporary Taiwanese baker Wu Pao-chun, who overcame the adversity of impoverishment to win the world famous Master9s de la Boulangerie and found prestigious eponymous bakeries. Parallel to its role in individual memory, food preserves cultural memory. Analogous to culinary arts, cinema, which is made for consumption, combines art and science, embodies culture, and incorporates tradition and innovation, as I show in this comparative study.


Auxin plays an important role in the plant growth. There are different auxin binding and auxin responsive proteins which bind and interact with auxin hormone and helps for plant development. Two different rice proteins considered for study, one protein binding to auxin and another is the auxin responsive protein. The Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) crystallographic structures of both the proteins are not available at Protein Data Bank (PDB). So the tertiary structures were generated by using homology modeling method. Model visualization was performed by using PyMol and discovery studio visualiser which showed the helix, sheets and turns. The model evaluation, backbone conformation and optimization were done by using PROCHECK Saves server, Atomic Non-Local Environment Assessment ( ANOLEA). The Risk Management Services (RMS) values, potential energy after and before the energy minimisation was studied by using Yet Another Scientific Artificial Reality Application (YASARA) tool and SWISS-PDB viewer. The protein-protein interaction was studied by using HEX server. The protein models which were generated showed similarity with zea-mays and vititsvinifera, respectively. Keywords: Auxin-binding protein, Auxin-responsive GH3-8 protein, homology modeling, sterio-chemical evaluation