BACKGROUND
There is limited data on the use of the balloon-assisted subintimal entry (BASE) technique in chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODS
We analyzed the baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics and outcomes of 155 CTO PCIs that utilized the BASE technique at 31 US and non-US centers between 2016 and 2023.

RESULTS
The BASE technique was used in 155 (7.9%) of 1968 antegrade dissection and re-entry (ADR) cases performed during the study period. The mean age was 66 ± 10 years, 88.9% of the patients were men, and the prevalence of diabetes (44.6%), hypertension (90.5%), and dyslipidemia (88.7%) was high. Compared with 1813 ADR cases that did not use BASE, the target vessel of the BASE cases was more commonly the RCA and less commonly the LAD. Lesions requiring BASE had longer occlusion length (42 ± 23 vs. 37 ± 23 mm, p = 0.011), higher Japanese CTO (J-CTO) (3.4 ± 1.0 vs. 3.0 ± 1.1, p < 0.001) and PROGRESS-CTO (Prospective Global Registry for the Study of Chronic Total Occlusion Intervention chronic total occlusion) (1.8 ± 1.0 vs. 1.5 ± 1.0, p = 0.008) scores, and were more likely to have proximal cap ambiguity, side branch at the proximal cap, blunt/no stump, moderate to severe calcification, and proximal tortuosity. Technical (71.6% vs. 75.5%, p = 0.334) and procedural success (71.6% vs. 72.8%, p = 0.821), as well as major adverse cardiac events (MACE) (1.3% vs. 4.1%, p = 0.124), were similar in ADR cases that used BASE and those that did not.

CONCLUSIONS
The BASE technique is used in CTOs with longer occlusion length, higher J-CTO score, and more complex angiographic characteristics, and is associated with moderate success but also low MACE.


This study develops the tire/pavement noise measuring trailer that can minimize the effect of various environmental noise and evaluate road noise characteristics without regard to time and spots. As literature reviews, it is examined into road noise characteristics and case studies of various CPX Trailer, and made a development plan of device. Based on these, HEART CPX Trailer is developed and conduct experiments for verification of the semi-anechoic chamber suitability, precision and field application of device. In the result of the experiment for verification of semi-anechoic chamber suitability, we can make sure that it is suitable and reliable among frequency bands. In the test of repetition measurement, we can verify excellent measurement accuracy among speeds and microphone's locations. In case of field tests using HEART CPX Trailer, it is founded that the result is similar to CPB test result carried out by Chung-Ang university in 2003. It can be concluded caused that the effect of environmental noise in and around the road including mechanical noise of a tow car was excluded. This paper confirmed and suggested that HEART CPX Trailer is suitable for evaluation of real road noise characteristics.


Crucial to the cultural analysis of "found footage" horror films is understanding the period in which the subgenre grew to mainstream prominence. Although the found footage concept was formally established in 1999 with the release of The Blair Witch Project (Myrick & Sanchez 1999), it wasn't until the mid-to-late 2000s that entries became popular and plentiful. Like horror films from preceding decades, found footage absorbs and expresses the prevailing social anxieties of the 2000s, notably the traumatic imagery of 9/11, the increased threat of domestic terrorist attacks, random (rather than morally defined) victimisation, environmental and ecological degeneration, and a chaotic, invisible enemy. Moreover, the subgenre is effective because it appropriates what Neil McRobert terms the "representational modes" through which contemporary crises are communicated. The films examined in this presentation—including Cloverfield (Reeves 2008) and REC ( Balaguero & Plaza 2007)—are typical of post-9/11 horror, both in their modes of recording, which are notably raw and amateurish, as well as their content, which is marked by large panicked crowds and breached urban spaces. Unlike traditional disaster films, which take an overarching perspective of the event (for example, government, military or scientific personnel trying to combat the problem), these films unfold specifically from the point-of-view of one of the victims caught in the midst of "ground zero". That the personal or handheld camera becomes the witness to this event, in contrast with the traditional cinematic perspective of the state, found footage horror emphasises the bewilderment of the average person as their reality is violently ruptured.


The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is seeking comments on a number of the agency's draft 10-year science strategies, including those for USGS core science systems, energy and minerals, environmental health, ecosystems, natural hazards, and water. The deadline for providing comments is 1 September. To review and comment on the draft strategies, see http://www.usgs.gov/start_with_science/index.php.


Abstract. Hydrological modeling of ungauged basins which have a high risk of natural hazards (e.g., flooding, droughts) is always imperative for policymakers and stakeholders. The Aluoi district in Hue province is a representative case study in Central Vietnam, as it is under extreme pressure of natural and anthropogenic factors. Flooding, soil erosion and sedimentation are the main hazards in this area, which threaten socio-economic activities not only in this district but also those of the area downstream. To evaluate the water resources and risk of natural hazards, we used Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) to set up a hydrological model in the ungauged basin of Aluoi district. A regionalization approach was used to predict the river discharge at the outlet of the basin. The model was calibrated in three time scales: daily, monthly and yearly by river discharge, actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and crop yield, respectively. The model was calibrated with Nash-Sutcliff and an R2 coefficients greater than 0.7, in daily and monthly scales, respectively. In the yearly scale, the crop yield inside the model was calibrated and validated with RMSE less than 2.4 ton/ha, which showed the high performance of the model. The water resource components were mapped temporally and spatially. The outcomes showed that the highest mean monthly surface runoff, 700 to 765 mm, between September and November, resulted in extreme soil erosion and sedimentation. The monthly average of actual evapotranspiration was the highest in May and lowest in December. Furthermore, installing "Best Management Practice" (BMPs) reduced surface runoff and soil erosion in agricultural lands. However, using event-based hydrological and hydraulically models in the prediction and simulation of flooding events is recommended in further studies.


DAX1/NR0B1 mutations are responsible for X-linked congenital adrenal hypoplasia (AHC) associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH). Few data are available concerning testicular function and fertility in men with DAX1 mutations. Azoospermia as well as failure of gonadotrophin treatment have been reported. We induced spermatogenesis in a patient who has a DAX1 mutation (c.1210C>T), leading to a stop codon in position 404 (p.Gln404X). His endocrine testing revealed a low testosterone level at 1.2 nmol/l (N: 12–40) with low FSH and LH levels at 2.1 IU/l (N: 1–5 IU/l) and 0.1 IU/l (N: 1–4 IU/l), respectively. Baseline semen analysis revealed azoospermia. Menotropin (Menopur®:150 IU, three times weekly) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (1500 IU, twice weekly) were used. After 20 months of treatment, as azoospermia persisted, bilateral multiple site testicular biopsies were performed. Histology revealed severe hypospermatogenesis. Rare spermatozoa were extracted from the right posterior fragment and ICSI was performed. Four embryos were obtained and, after a frozen–thawed single-embryo transfer, the patient's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy boy. We report the first case of paternity after TESE–ICSI in a patient with DAX1 mutation, giving potential hope to these patients to father non-affected children. Furthermore, this case illustrates the fact that patients with X-linked AHC have a primary testicular defect in addition to HH.


In quadruped gait learning, policy search methods that scale high dimensional continuous action spaces are commonly used. In most approaches, it is necessary to introduce prior knowledge on the gaits to limit the highly non-convex search space of the policies. In this work, we propose a new approach to encode the symmetry properties of the desired gaits, on the initial covariance of the Gaussian search distribution, allowing for strategic exploration. Using episode-based likelihood ratio policy gradient and relative entropy policy search, we learned the gaits walk and trot on a simulated quadruped. Comparing these gaits to random gaits learned by initialized diagonal covariance matrix, we show that the performance can be significantly enhanced.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a pathogen of global public health concern. This threat is exacerbated by the emergence of multidrug-resistant and extremely-drug-resistant strains of the pathogen. We have obtained two distinct clones of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium smegmatis after gradual exposure of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 to increasing concentrations of erythromycin. The resulting resistant strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis exhibited robust viability in the presence of high concentrations of erythromycin and were found to be resistant to a wide range of other antimicrobials. They also displayed a unique growth phenotype in comparison to the parental drug-susceptible Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155, and a distinct colony morphology in the presence of cholesterol. We propose that these two multidrug-resistant clones of Mycobacterium smegmatis could be used as model organisms at the inceptive phase of routine in vitro screening of novel antimicrobial agents targeted against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterial tuberculosis.


Abstract Strontium ranelate (SrR) is an anti-osteoporosis drug with excellent osteogenic and angiogenic capacity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the osteogenesis and angiogenesis effects of SrR and the underlying mechanism involved. RNA-Seq was conducted to examine the effects of SrR on gene expression in ovariectomy rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (OVX-rBMSCs). To validate the different expressed gene in vitro, the effects of gene interference and overexpression in osteogenic induction environment of OVX-rBMSCs and in primary osteoblasts were studied. RNA-Seq showed that ROCK1 significantly increased after SrR treatment in OVX-rBMSCs, and further validated by real-time PCR and western blotting. Overexpression of ROCK1 promoted osteogenic differentiation of OVX-rBMSCs and induced cell viability and inhibited apoptosis of primary osteoblasts, which was reversed by inhibition of ROCK1 by RNA interference or ROCK1 inhibitor (Y-27632) after SrR treatment. Furthermore, the SrR was loaded on nano-structured hydroxyapatite (nano-HAp) particulates to promote osteogenesis and angiogenesis in repairing of the femoral condyle bone defect using ovariectomy rat model. Taken together, ROCK1 is one of the targets that SrR promotes the osteogenic differentiation of OVX-rBMSCs and cell viability of primary osteoblasts, the nano-HAp particles could act as carriers for SrR to repair bone defects.


Bernhard and Leblang (1999) argue that since adopting a pegged exchange rate in an era of mobile capital inhibits the use of monetary policy for electoral purposes, elements of domestic political institutions that influence the expected utility of controlling office ought to help determine the choice of exchange rate regime. Clark (2001) argues that since adopting a pegged exchange rate enhances the effectiveness of fiscal policy when capital is mobile, there is no direct relationship between the choice of exchange rate regime and the institutions Bernhard and Leblang identify. This paper presents evidence that incumbents facing an independent central bank are more likely to peg the exchange rate and that the domestic institutions identified by Bernhard and Leblang influence the choice of exchange rate indirectly, through their effect on the degree of central bank independence. 1 Paper prepared for presentation at the American Political Science Association annual meeting. San


DFTB+ is a recent general purpose implementation of density-functional based tight binding. One of the early motivators to develop this code was to investigate lanthanide impurities in nitride semiconductors, leading to a series of successful studies into structure and electrical properties of these systems. Here we describe our general framework to treat the physical effects needed for these problematic impurities within a tight-binding formalism, additionally discussing forces and stresses in DFTB. We also present an approach to evaluate the general case of Slater-Koster transforms and all of their derivatives in Cartesian coordinates. These developments are illustrated by simulating isolated Gd impurities in GaN.


A brain-computer interface (BCI) provides technology that allows communication and control for people who are unable to interact with their environment. A P300 BCI exploits the fact that external or internal stimuli may provide a recognition response in the brain's electrical activity which may be recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG) to act as a control signal. Additionally an auditory BCI does not require the user to avert their visual attention away from the task at hand and is thus more practical in a real environment than other visual stimulus BCIs.


now been isolated in homogeneous form from the plasma and pleural fluid of two of these patients by the use of affinity chromatography with vitamin B12Sepharose. The hepatoma Bu BP belongs to the R-type group of B12-binding proteins and is essentially indistinguishable from the recently isolated human milk and saliva R-type proteins in terms of: (a) immunologic properties based on immunodiffusion and immunoprecipitation assays; (b) amino acid composition; (c) molecular weight based on amino acid and carbohydrate content; and (d) absorption spectra. Both hepatoma B22 BPs contain more sialic acid and less fucose than the milk and saliva B12 BPs. All four proteins contain similar amounts of galactose, mannose, galactosamine, and glucosamine. Differences in sialic acid content appear to account for the differences in electrophoretic mobility that were observed among the four proteins. Differences in total carbohydrate content appear to account for the differences in apparent molecular weight that were observed with both gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Tumor tissue from one of the patients contained 10 times as much R-type protein as did normal liver tissue from the same patient. This suggests, although it does not prove, that synthesis by the tumor is the Received for publication 30 December 1974 and in revised form 8 July 1975. cause of the high levels of R-type protein found in the plasma of certain patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Plasma survival studies performed with rabbits indicate that the hepatoma B,2 BP has a prolonged plasma survival and suggests that this parameter is also of importance.


A central retinal detachment caused by coloboma of the optic nerve head in one eye of a 34-year-old Caucasian male was treated successfully by pars-plana vitrectomy, endodiathermy of the hole situated at the periphery of the optic nerve head, drainage of the subretinal fluid and injection of silicone oil into the vitreous cavity. After removal of the silicone oil, the retina was still attached and the retinal function was unchanged. The clinical course is described.


After being absorbed, drugs distribute in the body in part to reach target tissues, in part to be disposed in tissues where they do not exert clinically-relevant effects. Therapeutically-relevant effects are usually terminated by drug metabolism and/or elimination. The role that has been traditionally ascribed to the spleen in these fundamental pharmacokinetic processes was definitely marginal. However, due to its high blood flow and to the characteristics of its microcirculation, this organ would be expected to be significantly exposed to large, new generation drugs that can hardly penetrate in other tissues with tight endothelial barriers. In the present review, we examine the involvement of the spleen in the disposition of monoclonal antibodies, nanoparticles and exosomes and the possible implications for their therapeutic efficacy and toxicity. The data that we will review lead to the conclusion that a new role is emerging for the spleen in the pharmacokinetics of new generation drugs, hence suggesting that this small, neglected organ will certainly deserve stronger attention by pharmacologists in the future.


BACKGROUND
Carcinogenesis is a severe consequence of chronic ulcerative colitis. We investigated the somatic mutations and pathway alterations in ulcerative colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CRC) in Chinese patients compared with sporadic CRCs to reveal potential therapeutic targets in ulcerative colitis-associated CRC.

METHODS
Whole exome sequencing was performed on archival tumor tissues and paired adjacent nondysplastic mucosa from 10 ulcerative colitis-associated CRC patients at a high risk of carcinogenesis. Genomic alteration profiles from 223 primary CRCs from The Cancer Genome Atlas served as sporadic CRC controls. A meta-analysis was performed to investigate differences in major genetic mutations between ulcerative colitis-associated and Crohn's disease-associated CRCs.

RESULTS
We identified 44 nonsilent recurrent somatic mutations via whole exome sequencing, including 25 deleterious mutations involved in apoptosis and the PI3K-Akt pathway (COL6A3, FN1), autophagy (ULK1), cell adhesion (PODXL, PTPRT, ZFHX4), and epigenetic regulation (ARID1A, NCOR2, KMT2D, NCOA6, MECP2, SUPT6H). In total, 11 of the 25 mutated genes significantly differed between ulcerative colitis-associated CRC and sporadic CRC (APC, APOB, MECP2, NCOR2, NTRK2, PODXL, RABGAP1, SIK3, SUPT6H, ULK1, USP48). Somatic TP53 mutations occurred in 33% of ulcerative colitis-associated CRCs. Subsequent meta-analysis revealed distinct mutation profiles for Crohn's disease- and ulcerative colitis-associated CRCs. Mutations involving the NF-kB pathway and epigenetic regulation were more common in ulcerative colitis-associated CRCs than in sporadic CRCs.

CONCLUSION
Distinct genomic alteration profiles of deleterious somatic mutations were found in ulcerative colitis-associated and sporadic CRCs. Mutations of epigenetic regulators, such as KMT2D and NCOA6, were common, suggesting an epigenetic pathomechanism for colitis-associated carcinoma in Chinese patients.


IntroductionClinical Communication teaching has relied heavily on face-to-face teaching using Patient Partners. The current situation with COVID-19 has led to lockdown, social isolation and travel difficulty. This leads to challenges in delivering this teaching. The study aim is to pilot a clinical communication teaching session remotely, using a virtual learning environment and video conferencing. This study evaluates the pilot about achieving learning outcomes on Musculo Skeleton disease and experience of student's and patient partner.MethodsMixed qualitative and quantitative data are obtained through an online survey. The thematic framework is used to analyse the qualitative data and the descriptive statistics are used to evaluate the quantitative responses. Results The study provided satisfaction on proceeding this new pilot remote communication session to the routine medical curriculum, with 100% recommendation by the students. The majority of students had transformed their theoretical knowledge in the Musculo Skeleton disease system to consult with patient partners. The study also finds some gaps such as delays due to internet and device faults, limited time to build rapport with patients, nonverbal expressions are not being conveyed via the screen and difficulties in adapting to new remote sessions in short transition.ConclusionLooking into the future of new normal. Remote clinical communication session worked well during the pilot study. New innovatory methods in delivering remote teaching and more studies on different diseases topics should be implemented to analyse the sustainability and validity of the remote session for continuous delivery in medical education.


This paper presents different aspects related to the thunderbolt and associated rituals in the Jujuy Puna, in Argentina, drawing on data collected from early 20th century documents and contemporary ethnography. This study reflects on the new conception of thunderbolts that appeared in the colonial period relating them with Saint James. It shows the relation between thunderbolts and production, analysing the offerings made through rituals, the ways the Puna landscape is signalled by marks related to production and the sacred, and the relation between thunderbolts and the name/surname Quipildor. The material presented and analysed in this study allows us to reflect on the conceptions and practices concerning space, nature and divinities in the Jujuy Puna region.


This article highlights the relationship of Malay literature in Singapore with literature in Malaysia and other countries within the Malay Archipelago. It examines the effects of the secession of Singapore on the 9th of August, 1965 on Malay literature. Has the political separation of almost 50 years truly severed the literary ties between Malaysia and Singapore as far as Malay literature is concerned? Is there a dividing line that can be drawn between Malay culture in Malaysia and in Singapore, as reflected in the literary works produced? Is there still a continuity of the spirit of a common origin? This article attempts to answer these questions by discussing the development of the shared literature before 1965, the effects and themes of "separation" in these literary works, and the levels of development of literature since 1965, as well as the pattern of the literary relationship between Malaysia and Singapore.


This paper presents an optimization approach to design ax-isymmetric wave energy converters (WECs) based on a nonlinear hydrodynamic model. This paper shows optimal nonlinear shapes of buoy can be generated by combing basic shapes in an optimal sense. The time domain non-linear Froude-Krylov force can be computed for a complex buoy shape, by adopting analytical formulas of its basic shape components. The time domain Forude-Krylov force is decomposed into its dynamic and static components, and then contribute to the calculation of the excitation force and the hydrostatic force. A non-linear control is assumed in the form of the combination of linear and nonlinear damping terms. A variable size genetic algorithm (GA) optimization tool is developed to search for the optimal buoy shape along with the optimal control coefficients simultaneously. Chromosome of the GA tool is designed to improve computational efficiency and to leverage variable size genes to search for the optimal non-linear buoy shape. Different criteria of wave energy conversion can be implemented by the variable size GA tool. Simulation results presented in this paper show that it is possible to find non-linear buoy shapes and non-linear controllers that take advantage of non-linear hydrodynamics to improve energy harvesting efficiency with out adding reactive terms to the system.


A distributed interference coordination scheme is proposed to alleviate cross-tier and inner-tier interference in heterogeneous network (HetNet), consisting of a power control strategy based on game theory to acquire both Nash equilibrium among femtocells and Stackelberg equilibrium between femtocells and macrocells. Component carrier assignment is the other interference coordination dimension for HetNet with carrier aggregation. The proposed method is a twodimensional interference coordination scheme combining power control and component carrier assignment. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and improvement of the proposed scheme.


Introduction: Recent studies suggest that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are effective at slowing the progression of kidney disease and lowering the risk of kidney failure in people with kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. There is no such study from India. The present study was performed to evaluate the effects of SGLT2i in Indian patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Materials and Methods: This prospective study included 86 patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease and with an estimated creatinine clearance of >30 mL/minute. Forty-one patients received SGLT2i and 45 patients did not receive SGLT2i. Patients were followed up for at least 12 months. Body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, HbA1c, urine protein to creatinine ratio (UPCR), doubling of serum creatinine and rate of decline of the estimated creatinine clearance were compared between the two groups. Results: The two groups were comparable at baseline in terms of age, sex, blood pressure, BMI, HbA1c, and degree of renal impairment. Over 12 months the UPCR decreased by 0.03 in SGLT2i group and increased by 1.1 in non SGLT2i group (P < 0.05). Doubling of serum creatinine occurred in 4.8% of patients in the SGLT2i group as compared to 18% in the control group (P < 0.05). The rate of decline of the estimated creatinine clearance in the SGLT2i group was 4.9 ml/min/year as compared to 9.4 ml/min/year in the non SGLT2i group (P < 0.05). At 12 months the BMI in the SGLT2i group decreased by 1.49 as compared to 0.12 in the non SGLT2i group (P < 0.05). The blood pressure and HbA1c control were similar in both groups during the study period suggesting that the observed effect was due to SGLT2 inhibition itself and not due to blood pressure or blood glucose control. Conclusion: Our study showed that treatment with SGLT2i had significant renoprotective effects, as shown by a reduction in urinary protein excretion, less percentage of patients developing doubling of serum creatinine, and a slower rate of decline in creatinine clearance.


Preventing users from accessing adult videos and at the same time allowing them to access good educational videos and other materials through campus wide network is a big challenge for organizations. Major existing web filtering systems are textual content or link analysis based. As a result, potential users cannot access qualitative and informative video content which is available online. Adult content detection in video based on motion features or skin detection requires significant computing power and time. Judgment to identify pornography videos is taken based on processing of every chunk from video, consisting specific number of frames, sequentially one after another. This solution is not feasible in real time when user has started watching the video and decision about blocking needs to be taken within few seconds. In this paper, we propose a model where user is allowed to start watching any video; at the backend porn detection process using extracted video and image features shall run on distributed nodes with multiple GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). The video is processed on parallel and distributed platform in shortest time and decision about filtering the video is taken in real time. Track record of blocked content and websites is cached, too. For every new video downloads, cache is verified to prevent repetitive content analysis. On the fly blocking is feasible due to latest GPU architecture, CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) and CUDA aware MPI (Message Passing Interface). It is possible to achieve coarse grained as well as fine grained parallelism. Video Chunks are processed parallel on distributed nodes. Porn detection algorithm on frames of chunks of videos can also achieve parallelism using GPUs on single node. It ultimately results into blocking porn video on the fly and allowing educational and informative videos.


Hospice palliative care volunteer work—being with dying persons and their often distraught family members—has the potential to take an emotional toll on volunteers. The aim of this review article is to examine the types of stressors hospice palliative care volunteers typically experience in their work and how they cope with them. The results of this literature review suggest that hospice palliative care volunteers do not generally perceive their volunteer work as highly stressful. Nonetheless, a number of potential stressors and challenges were identified in the literature, along with some strategies that volunteers commonly employ to cope with them. The implications for volunteers and volunteer training/management are discussed.


The invention provides a green health-care platycodon root steamed bun formula and a preparation process thereof. The preparation process is characterized by cleaning and juicing the platycodon root, then proportionally mixing the original platycodon root juice, wheat flour, sorghum flour and soybean flour, adding defined amount of ferment powder and water and stirring the materials uniformly, manually or mechanically kneading the mixture into dough, putting the dough into a pot, covering the pot with a heat preservation cotton quilt, manually or mechanically preparing dough buns with the dough after the dough is fermented for a certain time, and then steaming the dough buns at high temperature, thus preparing edible steamed buns. The steamed bun formula and the preparation process have the following beneficial effects: the steamed buns are convenient to prepare and eat, are rich in nutrition, have low cost, are suitable for mass consumption and have health maintenance and care functions after being regularly eaten.


Middleboxes that process confidential data cannot be securely deployed in untrusted cloud environments. To securely outsource middleboxes to the cloud, state-of-the-art systems advocate network processing over the encrypted traffic. Unfortunately, these systems support only restrictive functionalities, and incur prohibitively high overheads. This motivated the design of ShieldBox---a secure middlebox framework for deploying high-performance network functions (NFs) over untrusted commodity servers. ShieldBox securely processes encrypted traffic inside a secure container by leveraging shielded execution. More specifically, ShieldBox builds on hardware-assisted memory protection based on Intel SGX to provide strong confidentiality and integrity guarantees. For middlebox developers, ShieldBox exposes a generic interface based on Click to design and implement a wide-range of NFs using its out-of-the-box elements and C++ extensions. For network operators, ShieldBox provides configuration and attestation service for seamless and verifiable deployment of middleboxes. We have implemented ShieldBox supporting important end-to-end features required for secure network processing, and performance optimizations. Our extensive evaluation shows that ShieldBox achieves a near-native throughput and latency to securely process confidential data at line rate.


SH U 454 is a new echocontrast agent which was developed primarily for echocardiography. It seems that there is a further potential in ophthalmic ultrasound diagnostics. SH U 454 produces contrast enhancement in the orbit, choroid and ciliary body, and permits determination of intraocular blood flow parameters in dogs' eyes. The effects are measured with digital picture processing techniques.


In this paper we describe a technique that may be used to model the geometric uncertainties that accrue during the radiotherapy process. Using data from in-treatment cone beam CT scans, we simultaneously analyse non-uniform observer delineation variability and organ motion together with patient set-up errors via the creation of a point distribution model (PDM). We introduce a novel method of generating a coverage probability matrix, that may be used to determine treatment margins and calculate uncertainties in dose, from this statistical shape model. The technique does not assume rigid body motion and can extrapolate shape variability in a statistically meaningful manner. In order to construct the PDM, we generate corresponding surface points over a set of delineations. Correspondences are established at a set of points in parameter space on spherically parameterized and canonical aligned outlines. The method is demonstrated using rectal delineations from serially acquired in-treatment cone beam CT image volumes of a prostate patient (44 image volumes total), each delineated by a minimum of two observers (maximum six). Two PDMs are constructed, one with set-up errors included and one without. We test the normality assumptions of the PDMs and find the distributions to be Gaussian in nature. The rectal PDM variability is in general agreement with data in the literature. The two resultant coverage probability matrices show differences as expected.


Digital circuits operated in the subthreshold region (supply voltage less than the transistor threshold voltage) is suitable for applica- tions requiring ultralow-power and medium frequency of operation. It is also shown that by optimizing the device structure for subthreshold operation, power dissipation can further be reduced. The impact of gate underlap on the effective gate capacitance of double-gate MOS (DGMOS) transistor for digital-subthreshold operation is analyzed in this paper. It shows that with optimum gate underlap, the parasitic fringe capacitances of DGMOS can be significantly reduced resulting in higher performance and lower power consumption. Results on a ring oscillator show that with optimum underlap, 40% improvement in delay can be achieved with 7.3× reduction in power delay product and a 1-bit full-adder circuit can be operated at 1.25 GHz (Vdd =0 .2 V) with 6.2× less power than the one with standard (overlap) DGMOS device. Index Terms—Subthreshold operation, ultralow-power operation, underlap double-gate MOS (DGMOS).


In mosaic art, tiles of unique color, material, and shape are arranged on a plane to form patterns and shapes. Although previous research has been carried out on creating static mosaic-like images from non-mosaic input, mosaic animation requires a method to maintain the temporal coherence of tiles. Here we introduce a method that creates mosaic animations from videos by applying a temporally and spatially coherent tile-arrangement technique. We extract coherent feature lines from video input using video segmentation, and arrange tiles based on the feature lines. We then animate tiles along the motion of video, add and delete tiles to preserve the tile density, and smooth tile color via frames.


Three-dimensional foams were produced by mixing air and water+Extran solutions in a shaker. Long-time observations revealed that bubble radius distributions become stationary. Differently from the maximum-entropy coarsened distributions for 2D foams, we found radius distributions to be Gaussian. The stationary distributions are found above a threshold shaking energy. Foams created at the threshold store finite energy which increases roughly linearly with applied energy.


The accessory functions attributed to macrophages, such as antigen presentation, are probably carried out by specialized, marrow-derived cells which always have Ia antigen on their surfaces. These cells are not actively phagocytic, but are mainly engaged in engulfing large volumes on fluid. They are found in the epidermis as sessile cells, the Langerhans cells, but some re-enter the dermis and appear in afferent lymph as actively moving, veiled cells. Here they are joined by other veiled cells which have differentiated in the dermis: both populations then enter the draining lymph node. A similar process of differentiation probably occurs in other specialized tissues leading to the formation of cells that enter the afferent lymph and become veiled cells. In the lymph node, veiled cells localize in the paracortex or T-dependent area and later differentiate into another sessile cell type, the interdigitating cell. The life-style of this family of cells appears to be well-adapted for the transport of antigen into the paracortex, an area from which free antigen is largely excluded, and it seems likely that T-cell activation is triggered by the arrival of veiled cells bearing a new antigen on their surfaces.


Introduction
 Disease relapse and infection cause significant morbidity and mortality after allogeneic HSCT for AML and MDS. Wilms' tumour 1 (WT1) and preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) are both commonly overexpressed in these conditions, and are attractive targets for immunotherapy. We have assessed the safety of a novel combination of tumour associated antigen (TAA) specific and multipathogen (MP) specific T cells administered prophylactically after HSCT in a phase 1 trial.
 Methods
 Patients were eligible for the study if WT1 or PRAME gene expression was elevated as determined by droplet digital PCR on diagnostic tumour samples. TAA and MP specific T cells were generated from stem cell donors by stimulating apheresis-derived mononuclear cells with autologous antigen presenting cells expressing tumour, viral or fungal antigens. T cells specific for CMV, EBV and Aspergillus antigens were produced separately and pooled in equal parts into a MP product. Patients received 1 infusion of MP specific T cells and up to 4 infusions of TAA specific T cells at 4-weekly intervals dosed at 2x107/m2, from 28 days post HSCT.
 Results
 Seven HSCT recipients have received a total of 26 T cell infusions to date. Median age was 49 years (range 26-67), disease AML (n=4) or high risk MDS (n=3), conditioning myeloablative (n=6) or reduced-intensity (n=1), donor source sibling (n=4) or matched unrelated (n=3). Median expression of WT1 on diagnostic bone marrow tissue was 1464 copies/104 copies of ABL (0-3870), PRAME 131 copies/104 copies of ABL (4-1670). Mean tumour antigen specificity in the TAA product was 2.2% of CD3+ cells for WT1 and 7.3% of CD4+ cells for PRAME. Mean total pathogen specificity in the MP product was approximately 15% (CMV=4.7% and EBV=5.4% of CD3+ cells, Aspergillus=5.3% of CD4+ cells). Patients received WT1 specific (n=3), PRAME specific (n=3) or both WT1 and PRAME specific T cells (n=1). All patients received MP specific T cells. No immediate infusion-related adverse events were reported. At the time of report, at a median of 375 days post-transplant (80-847), 5 out of 7 patients remain alive. Four patients remain in complete disease remission without graft versus host disease (GVHD). One patient did not proceed after 3 of 5 planned infusions after developing chronic lung GVHD but remains in disease remission. There have been 2 deaths (progressive disease and multiorgan failure). The patient with progressive disease had MDS with complex cytogenetics with evidence of persistent disease pre and post-HSCT, prior to T cell infusions. The patient with multiorgan failure had multiple post-transplant complications including bacterial sepsis, hepatic venoocclusive disease and grade 3 acute GVHD of the gut prior to infusion. Patients had low level viral reactivation (CMV n=3, EBV n=5, BKV n=3, HHV6 n=2), however none required treatment and there were no cases of viral tissue disease or EBV post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. There were no invasive fungal infections.
 Conclusion
 Prophylactic infusions of donor derived WT1/PRAME specific and multipathogen specific T cells post HSCT are well-tolerated and associated with low rates of infection and relapse in patients treated to date.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


The paper deals with the controlled parameters of the system for assessing the regulatory impact (RIA) in a federal subject of Russia. The methodological basis of the study is a set of regional economics approaches and neo-institutional economic theory. Based on the methods of system-structural and factor analysis, the author points out a number of elements of the RIA system in a federal subject of Russia: actors, organisational structure, subject field and assessment technique. We analyse the content and effect of the controlled parameters on the quality of assessment, the functioning and the development of the entire RIA system. In particular, the paper specifies the system's actors, clarifies their functional roles and interconnections in federal subjects of Russia. The study develops effective measures for managing the revealed parameters of the RIA system, including those conditioned by digitalisation of economy. The research results and the author's proposals can be useful for government officials to perfect the RIA system in federal subjects of Russia, which, in turn, can contrubute to the formation of a favourable regulatory environment and business climate of a region.


Abstract The high rate of job loss in most crude oil dependent countries, which may be attributed to the recent drop in the price of this commodity in international markets, has intensified the perception of threats associated with potential job loss among the employees who are still employed. Hence, perceived job insecurity, its associated outcome, coupled with how it can be mitigated has become a global phenomenon, which requires the attention of managers and practitioners alike. In this work, we built upon Hobfall's conservation of resource theory (CRT) to present a research model that links employee's self-efficacy and gender to the strength or weakness of the relationship between self-esteem and self-perceived job insecurity. Research data were collected from 153 randomly selected Nigerian Bank employees out of 217 drawn from a total population of 509. Based on the results from relevant statistical analysis, it is discovered that, while increase in self-esteem would lead to a significant decrease in job insecurity perception, such significant decrease is, however, not associated with self-efficacy and gender meaning that these variables are not moderators in the self-esteem/perceived job insecurity relationship. In line with these outcomes, we conclude by recommending that managers should focus on developing intervention strategies aimed at improving employee self-esteem with a view of reducing perceived job insecurity. In addition, important areas in need of future research were also identified.


Summary Quantal bioassay experiments relate the amount or potency of some compound; for example, poison, antibody, or drug to a binary outcome such as death or infection in animals. For infectious diseases, probit regression is commonly used for inference and a key measure of potency is given by the IDP, the amount that results in P% of the animals being infected. In some experiments, a validation set may be used where both direct and proxy measures of the dose are available on a subset of animals with the proxy being available on all. The proxy variable can be viewed as a messy reflection of the direct variable, leading to an errors‐in‐variables problem. We develop a model for the validation set and use a constrained seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model to obtain the distribution of the direct measure conditional on the proxy. We use the conditional distribution to derive a pseudo‐likelihood based on probit regression and use the parametric bootstrap for statistical inference. We re‐evaluate an old experiment in 21 monkeys where neutralizing antibodies (nABs) to HIV were measured using an old (proxy) assay in all monkeys and with a new (direct) assay in a validation set of 11 who had sufficient stored plasma. Using our methods, we obtain an estimate of the ID1 for the new assay, an important target for HIV vaccine candidates. In simulations, we compare the pseudo‐likelihood estimates with regression calibration and a full joint likelihood approach.


This paper presents an investigation of the effects of trivalent chromium on biomass growth (RGR), water use efficiency (WUE) and distribution of nutrient elements in young rice seedlings (Oryza sativa L. cv. XZX 45) exposed to chromium nitrate (Cr(III)) hydroponically. Results indicated that phytotoxicity of Cr(III) to rice seedlings was apparent, showing an linear decrease in both RGR and WUE with increasing Cr(III) concentrations. Using the Leven-berg-Marquardt Algorithm, the effective concentrations (EC) obtained from the RGR were always smaller than these from WUE, indicating that the former was more sensitive to change of Cr(III) application than the latter. Although a dose-dependent total accumulation rate of Cr in plant materials was observed, the translocation of Cr into shoots was a restricted process during phytotransport of Cr within plant materials. Results also showed that the effect of Cr(III) application on uptake and distribution of nutrient elements in rice seedlings was variable. In conclusion, the toxic response of young rice seedlings to Cr(III) was obvious and inhibitory effects were highly dependent on the total accumulation rate of Cr in plant materials.


We review briefly the existing vertex-operator-algebraic constructions of various tensor category structures on module categories for affine Lie algebras. We discuss the results that were first conjectured in the work of Moore and Seiberg and led us to the construction of the modular tensor category structure in the positive integral level case. Then we review the existing constructions and results in the following three cases: (i) the level plus the dual Coxeter number is not a nonnegative rational number, (ii) the level is a positive integer and (iii) the level is an admissible number. We also present several open problems.


Any material can be considered a composite consisting of grains of different orientations which possess different properties depending on the history of their reorientation upon thermomechanical processing. A well-known selective character of X-ray methods is attributed to the fact that only grains of certain orientations participate in the formation of reflected radiation. A comprehensive description of the material including information about the substructure of grains of all orientations necessitates developing of the method providing description of the substructural state of grains located in the volume under study by analyzing the profile of x-ray lines. The proposed x-ray diffractometric method of Generalized Direct Pole Figures (GPF) which suggests combination of texture imaging and recording the profile of x-ray lines appeared to be rather efficient in a systematic x-ray study of the substructural heterogeneity of textured metallic materials. The measured parameters of the X-ray line profile — the true angular half-width β and angular peak position 2θ — are determined by the distortion (fragmentation) of the reflecting grains and interplanar spacings in their crystal lattice, respectively. The method provides a possibility to compare the substructure features of grains with different crystallographic orientations. An algorithm for calculation of the true physical half-width of the x-ray line using the necessary computer programs is presented. GPF β and GPF 2θ are presented for metal materials with hcp, fcc, and bcc crystalline lattices, as well as characteristic diagrams of their mutual correlation with texture PF. The use of the developed GPF method makes it possible to identify patterns of the formation of substructural heterogeneity during plastic deformation of metals.


Introduction: Postpartum hemorrhage is one of the maternal mortality and morbidity etiologies. Recognizing predisposing factors, forecasting the risk of hemorrhage, preparing for that and using perfect medical and surgical interventions on appropriate time can decrease in mortality and morbidity of pregnant women. This study was done aimed to investigate the causes of hemorrhage and treatments of postpartum hemorrhage. Methods: This descriptive analytical and retrospective study was conducted on all women who have had delivery in two governmental hospitals of Mashhad, Iran, 2010-2011. Women who needed to transfusion or reservation of two units of packed cells were included in this study. The predisposing factor, delivery method, therapeutic methods of controlling hemorrhage and maternal complications were evaluated. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 14. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: 21181 deliveries have performed during 2010-2011 and only 248 cases (11.8) needed to transfusion or reservation of packed cells. Cause of hemorrhage were atony in 138 cases (55.6), residue in 66 cases (26.6), genital rupture in 42 cases (16.9) and myoma in 2 cases (0.08). Pregnancy termination techniques were cesarean in 66 cases (48) and normal vaginal delivery in 71 cases (52). Medical interventions that used to control hemorrhage were administration of oxytocin, methergine, misoprostol, bimanual massage and revision, and only one patient needed ten medical and surgical procedures to control hemorrhage. No case of maternal death was observed due to hemorrhage. Conclusion: There are various medical and surgical procedures to control postpartum hemorrhage, and if the intervention was done correctly and timely, the need for invasive procedures, complications and mortality is reduced.


Abstract The archeological discoveries of the past several decades have radically expanded our knowledge of the Laozi and its context. Thus far, most research has focused on the various manuscript versions of the text itself, but there is another way in which archeological evidence has changed our knowledge of the Laozi: the discovery of several other cosmogonic texts, all dated to around the same time as the Guodian materials. While these texts share some concerns and assumptions, they also disagree and offer conflicting positions. Thus rather than assuming that anything sounding vaguely like the Laozi is saying the same thing in different words, we should be attuned to subtle differences on issues ranging from cosmogony to conceptions of action. We should also allow for the possibility that the Laozi itself incorporates diverse positions. This article analyzes one particular example, the role of "the one" (yi 一) in the Laozi. It argues that the five chapters discussing the one represent an attempt to incorporate what was originally a distinct position that took the one as the ultimate and had no concern with the interdependence of opposites. That position is expressed in the recently discovered Fanwu liuxing. 摘要 過去數十年的考古學發現極大的擴大了我們對於《老子》及其寫作背景的了解。但迄今為止,大多數研究仍集中在文本自身不同版本的研究。其實,考古證據從另一個途徑同樣改變了我們對於《老子》的認識: 其它幾個大約與郭店文本同時期的有關宇宙生成文本的發現 。這些文本在持有一些相同關注點和構想的同時,也存在著一些爭議和矛盾。因此,與其假設任何聽起來像《老子》一樣語意模糊的文本都是在用不同的語言敘述同樣的東西,我們更應該習慣那些從宇宙論到行為的不同概念之間的細微差別。不但如此,我們還應該接納這樣的一種可能性,那就是,《老子》文本自身即包含多元的立場。本文將對《老子》中 "一" 的概念進行特例分析,並指出,對於 "一" 這一概念作出討論的五個章節,實際是一種對原本已有觀點的吸納嘗試。這一觀點把 "一" 看作終極依據而並不考慮矛盾雙方的相互依存性。此點在新近發現的《凡物流形》中亦有闡發。


Background. Despite the availability of efficacious medications and psychotherapies, care of bipolar disorder in everyday practice is often deficient. This trial evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-component care management program in a population-based sample of people with bipolar disorder. Method. Four hundred and forty-one patients treated for bipolar disorder during the prior year were randomly assigned to continued usual care or usual care plus a systematic care management program including: initial assessment and care planning, monthly telephone monitoring including brief symptom assessment and medication monitoring, feedback to and coordination with the mental health treatment team, and a structured group psychoeducational program – all provided by a nurse care manager. Blinded quarterly assessments generated week-by-week ratings of severity of depression and mania symptoms using the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation. Results. Participants assigned to the intervention group had significantly lower mean mania ratings averaged across the 12-month follow-up period (Z=2·44, p=0·015) and approximately one-third less time in hypomanic or manic episode (2·59 weeks v. 1·69 weeks). Mean depression ratings across the entire follow-up period did not differ significantly between the two groups, but the intervention group showed a greater decline in depression ratings over time (Z statistic for group-by-time interaction=1·98, p=0·048). Conclusions. A systematic care program for bipolar disorder significantly reduces risk of mania over 12 months. Preliminary results suggest a growing effect on depression over time, but longer follow-up will be needed.


Burnout denotes an occupational health concept of emotional and physical exhaustion, depersonalization und decreased personal accomplishment. Prevalence rates range from 10% to 50%, depending from profession, assessment tools and population. Generally, both women and men are equally affected by burnout. Poor sleep is specifically associated rather with emotional and physical exhaustion than with depressive symptoms. Treating burnout focuses on change of work-related conditions and of dysfunctional cognitive-emotional structures.


A total of 1580 pigs killed in three slaughter -plants were held in lairage for ≥ 1 h, 3 h or overnight before slaughter. Blood samples were collected at exsanguination and subsequent carcass and meat quality monitored. Longer lairage reduced stress levels based on the concentration of cortisol, lactate and creatine phosphokinase in the blood. It also reduced the prevalence of pale, soft, exudative (PSE) but increased the prevalence of dark, firm, dry (DFD) meat. Additionally, it produced progressively greater amounts of skin damage caused by fighting between unfamiliar pigs and an overnight lairage reduced carcass yield and backfat thickness. The overall conclusion ivas that a period of between 1 and 3 h rest in lairage was optimal. There was no evidence that leaner, potentially more stress-susceptible pigs reacted differently from fatter, potentially more stress-resistant animals with regard to the effects of lairage time.


Six young healthy subjects underwent a 20 day exposure to altitude, at 4930 m (16,174 ft), to evaluate possible plasma and urine digoxin-like immunoreactive substance (DLIS) changes accompanying the altered water and electrolyte balance induced by hypoxia. We studied DLIS, plasma renin activity (PRA), aldosterone, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and arginine vasopressin (ADH) in serial blood and urine samples. An increase in DLIS in plasma (P less than .005) and urine (P less than .01) was found, while aldosterone was decreased (P less than .02). PRA, ADH, and ANP did not change significantly. A trend to a greater loss of sodium through urinary excretion, correlated with urinary DLIS values (r = 0.47, P less than .01), was observed. Data suggest a possible important role of DLIS in adaptive response of human organism to high altitude.


Representation and measurement are two important issues for saliency models. Different with previous works that learnt sparse features from large scale natural statistics, we propose to learn features from short-term statistics of single images. For saliency measurement, we define background firing rate (BFR) for each sparse feature, and then we propose to use feature activation rate (FAR) to measure the bottom-up visual saliency. The proposed FAR measure is biological plausible and easy to compute, also with satisfied performance. Experiments on human eye fixations and psychological patterns demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed method.


Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4/Co0.8Fe2.2O4 (NZFO/CFO) multilayer films are fabricated on Si(100) substrates by the chemical solution deposition method. The microstructure and magnetic properties are systematically investigated. The results of field-emission scanning electronic microscopy show that the grain size of the NZFO/CFO multilayer film is quite uniform and the thickness is about 300 nm. The remanence enhancement effect of the NZFO/CFO multilayer film can be mainly attributed to the exchange coupling interaction between NZFO and CFO ferrite films, which is in favor of the design and fabrication of modern electronic devices.


Whenever an adequate below-the-knee stump cannot be obtained, a knee disarticulation is the next procedure of choice. The operative procedure is quick, safe, and causes less shock than amputations through the thigh. The circulation in the thigh is preserved, to supply skin flaps which are accustomed to pressure.

Because muscle and bone are not transected, the spread of infection is minimized and the stump heals rapidly. When the patellar tendon has been fixed distally, patellar pain and swelling have not been significant problems. The largest surface available in the lower extremity is provided for weight-bearing. The stump is firm and insensitive. There is less atrophy of the muscles in the stump than after amputations at a higher level and, because of this, earlier fitting of a prosthesis is possible. The shape of the stump provides greater balance and stability without rotation than that of stumps in higher amputations. The patient can walk with an excellent gait almost immediately.

The prosthesis for such stumps is easy to construct and to fit, requires fewer adjustments, and is superior to prostheses for higher levels of amputation through the thigh.

Without a prosthesis the patient can kneel in work or play, bearing weight on the end of the stump in much the same way as the Symes amputee can on his longer stump.

Knee disarticulation as a definitive procedure deserves the consideration of all orthopaedic surgeons.


An analysis of cell lines representing different stages of the B-cell differentiation pathway indicated that about 50% of the cell lines examined expressed exclusively wild type p53 protein. These lines therefore offer a convenient system to study the involvement of p53 in cell differentiation. When 70Z/3, a pre-B cell line which expresses wild type p53, was treated with the differentiation inducer lipopolysaccharide (LPS), it was seen that increased levels of p53 mRNA preceded specific changes in kappa (kappa) immunoglobulin expression. This increased expression of kappa specific mRNA, which was evaluated by specific PCR analysis, was blocked following transfection with mutant p53 coding plasmids. Treatment of 13A60, another cell line which endogenously expresses wild type p53, with LPS caused a secretion of IgA antibodies, also accompanied by increased p53 mRNA expression. The conclusion was that induction of B-cell differentiation involves the transcription of the p53 gene. This was further substantiated by experiments showing that differentiation of stable clones derived from the 70Z/3 cell line, harboring a p53-promoter-CAT plasmid, induced increased CAT activity. Furthermore, wild type p53 transactivated the promoter control sequences of the kappa light chain gene. Taken together, these results suggest that p53 is involved in B-cell differentiation, a pathway which involves DNA rearrangements that may be accompanied by generation of faulty DNA. The fact that wild type p53 was shown to function as a transcriptional factor, coupled with the notion that it is associated with DNA repair systems, may designate p53 as a control protein in the B-cell differentiation pathway.


The project to map the human genome and the field of genetics in general offer unique opportunities for not only clinical medicine, but also for public health to address and prevent disease. At the same time, genomics is fraught with ethical challenges, not the least of which is how to prevent misuse and abuse of genetic information by virtue of the legal powers conferred on public health organizations. This article examines the role that public health can perform in the 21st Century in using the knowledge gained from the human genome project, including how to address the barriers to widespread application. The article also examines the challenges facing public health in dealing with the legal and ethical issues arising from genomics and in avoiding misapplication. While the opportunities that genomics offers public health agencies are unprecedented, so too are the challenges, which include the fact that genomics exists within a legal and policy paradigm that is the opposite of the one in which public health has traditionally existed. The danger of abuse and misuse, therefore, is very real.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiology studies have shown an inconclusive relationship between phytoestrogen intake and ovarian cancer risk and there have been no relevant meta-analyses directly regarding this topic. The purpose of the present meta-analysis was therefore to investigate any association between phytoestrogen intake and ovarian cancer in detail.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a search of PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCO, the Cochrane Library, CNKI and Chinese Biomedical Database (up to April 2014) using common keywords for studies that focused on phytoestrogen and ovarian cancer risk. Study-specific risk estimates (RRs) were pooled using fixed effect or random-effect models.

RESULTS
Ten epidemiologic studies were finally included in the meta-analysis. The total results indicated higher phytoestrogen intake was associated with a reduced ovarian cancer risk (RR, 0.70; 95%CI: 0.56-0.87). The association was similar in sensitivity analysis. Meta regression analysis demonstrated sources and possibly types and regions as heterogeneous factors. Subgroup analysis of types, sources and regions showed that isoflavones (RR: 0.63; 95%CI: 0.46, 0.86), soy foods (RR: 0.51; 95%CI: 0.39, 0.68) and an Asian diet (RR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.37, 0.63) intake could reduce the incidence of ovarian cancer.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show possible protection by phytoestrogens against ovarian cancer. We emphasize specific phytoestrogens from soy foods, but not all could reduce the risk. The habit of plentiful phytoestrogen intake by Asians is worthy to recommendation. However, we still need additional larger well designed observational studies to fully characterize underlying associations.


Abstract In the new post-Cold War security era, there is a perception that the nature of cross-border security threats has changed. The need to respond to these new threats has led to a proliferation of multilateral international and regional treaties in this area, as well as unilateral demands made by the United States post-9/11. We have, then, seen a process of globalisation of criminal law, a field traditionally linked to State sovereignty. This chapter examines, first, EU action with regard to UN multilateral conventions and the impact of those conventions on internal EU law, as well as the impact of EU action within the framework of the regional treaties of the Council of Europe; secondly, the interrelationship between Union law and the global production of norms in criminal matters by the UN Security Council and by the Financial Action Task Force; thirdly, bilateral cooperation between the EU and the US, in particular in connection with the transfer of Passenger Name Records data; fourthly, the question of compliance by the EU in this area, in both the internal and the external context; and, fifthly, the Court of Justice's approach to the protection of fundamental rights when global criminal law is engaged. The EU has managed to take centre stage in international developments in the field of global criminal law through a clear commitment to multilateral negotiations as well as a clear political will to implement at the Union level norms agreed internationally without a high degree of transparency. The Court of Justice has also been reluctant to overturn Union security decisions in the name of fundamental rights. The coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty will eliminate some complexity in this area, but not all, and it still remains to be seen whether in the process of globalisation of criminal law the European values proclaimed in Article 2 of the new EU Treaty will be promoted or compromised.


Panel data are a sort of multi-dimensional time-series data that consist of several sets of the observation unit as an identical community over time. Panel data include more information than time-series data or cross-section data. Using panel data, we are able to estimate more accurately, increase degrees of freedom, and avoid multi-collinearity. In this paper, we consider a change point problem in panel data. Detection methods for change points in panel data have not been extensively proposed. This paper proposes a detection method for change points in panel data using the Mahalanobis–Taguchi (MT) method (Taguchi (2002)). As the MT method does not assume panel data or time-series data, we must extend the theory of the MT method. Furthermore, when the sample size is small, it is difficult to estimate the covariance matrix precisely (Miyakawa et al. (2007)). In this paper, the MT method is extended using Bayesian inference to resolve the above-mentioned difficulties. Conducting Monte Carlo simulations and a real data analysis, we show that our proposed method is useful.


Abstract This paper documents the structural history of the central Oman Mountains after the obduction of the Semail ophiolite onto the eastern margin of the Arabian continent during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian/Campanian). The post-obduction history is recorded by a Late Campanian/Maastrichian-Tertiary sedimentary cover to the mountain belt. These sediments have been deformed within an extensional tectonic regime which is continuous northeastwards into the Gulf of Oman hinterland basin and southwestwards away from the SW foothills. Large-scale down-to-the-basin normal faults have been recognized on the Batinah Coastal Plain NE of the mountain belt. Localized block-faulting and roll-over folds are associated with major faults that separate the Late Campanian to Tertiary sediments from older basement rocks of the Oman Mountains and with Late Cretaceous thrusts reactivated as normal faults. To the SW of the mountains, large NW-SE striking folds are thought to be gravity structures developed above a decollement in Late Cretaceous shales. Syn-sedimentary tectonic influences are summarized and integrated with the structural analysis to identify the style and timing of tectonism on the S margin of the Gulf of Oman from the Late Campanian/Maastrichtian to present. There is evidence to suggest that penecontemporaneous tectonics controlled rates of subsidence and facies development during this time. A major E-W trending palaeo-high running close to the present-day shoreline affected Palaeogene sedimentation. Unlike the northern Oman Mountains (Musandam Peninsula), there is no unequivocal evidence of mid-Tertiary (Zagros) compressional structures in the central Oman Mountains. Structural development of the cover sediments in the central mountain belt is believed to be controlled by underlying Late Cretaceous basement structures. In particular the Saih Hatat culmination was a positive structure throughout the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, affecting both the stratigraphic and structural history of adjacent areas. The northern end of the Nakhl culmination seems to have had little effect on sedimentation but did influence deformation in the Tertiary.


SUMMARY The seasonal rate and extent of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) degradation of the African sourveld grasses Alloteropsis semialata, Andropogon appendiculatus, Cynodon dactylon, Elionurus muticus, Eragrostis plana, Harpochloa falx, Heteropogon contortus, Hyparrhenia hirta, Microchloa caffra, Themeda triandra and Tristachya leucothrix in the rumen were measured using the nylon bag technique at the Döhne Agricultural Development Institute, South Africa, in 1993. The size of the soluble fraction (SF) was markedly different (P < 0·05) between species, being largest in A. semialata (22·6%) and smallest in E. plana (13%). Over all species, the mean SF was highest (P < 0·01) in spring (21·6%) and lowest in winter (11·8%). Species differed (P < 0·05) in the size of the potentially digestible fraction (PDF), with H. contortus and T. leucothrix having the largest (71%) and M. caffra the smallest (53%) PDF. Mean PDF declined (P < 0·01) from spring (77·3%) through to winter (55·8 %). The rate of DM degradation (kd) in the rumen also differed (P < 0·01) between species, with C. dactylon and A. semialata having the fastest (0·054) and E. plana and A. appendiculatus the slowest (0·039) degradation rates. Mean kd values were lower (P < 0·05) in winter (0·039) than in the other seasons (0·048). Neutral detergent soluble (NDS) content was highest in A. semialata (29%) and lowest in E. plana (21·5%). Species similarly varied in the amount of potentially digestible cell wall (PDCW), with E. plana having the highest (57%) and C. dactylon the lowest (45·1%) PDCW content. Mean PDCW content was highest in spring (59·5 %) and lowest in winter (44·6%). Cell wall degradation (kc) rates were fastest (0·04) in C. dactylon and slowest in M. caffra (0·03). Overall, kc declined from spring (0·039) through to winter (0·029). In general, A. semialata, T. triandra and H. hirta appeared to have the most favourable, and E. plana, A. appendiculatusand M. caffra the least favourable, ruminal degradation characteristics. These differences suggest that species composition is likely to have a major impact on potential animal production on these low quality grasslands.


Aim: The aim of the study is to compare and evaluate the shear bond strength of color changing adhesives Transbond Plus, Grengloo and Blugloo when contaminated with saliva. Methodology: One hundred and twenty premolars extracted for orthodontic purpose or due to periodontal involvement was collected, rinsed thoroughly and stored in 0.1% (wt/vol) thymol. The teeth were divided into three groups; group Itransbond plus, group IIgrengloo, group III-blugloo. Each group was subdivided into: A. No Contamination, B. Contamination with saliva before application of bonding agent, C. Contamination with saliva after application of bonding agent, D. Contamination with saliva both before and after application of bonding agent. All teeth were mounted on the acrylic jig individually. The procedure of etching and priming of the teeth was carried out according to manufacturer's instruction. Contamination of the mounted teeth with artificial saliva was performed in the order of the above-mentioned categories. The metal premolar brackets were then bonded using color changing adhesives Transbond Plus (n=40), Grengloo (n=40), Blugloo (n=40). After 24 hours the brackets were tested for shear bond strength using a Universal Testing Machine. The results obtained were analysed with ANOVA test followed by Tukey's HSD post hoc Analysis. Result: The bonding performance of Grengloo and Blugloo was comparable. However, the bond strength of Grengloo and Blugloo was relatively higher than Transbond Plus. This may be due to the sealant, Ortho Solo, used in these groups. Conclusion: All three color changing adhesives can be used safely in orthodontic practice since they show acceptable bond strengths. Even though Transbond Plus showed acceptable bond strength during saliva contamination procedures, it was less than that of Grengloo and Blugloo. In situations where extra bond strength is needed, Grengloo and Blugloo may be preferred.


The invention provides a five-stage microstrip line bridge, and relates to the technical field of bridges. The five-stage microstrip line bridge comprises a cavity, a cover board, a circuit board, dielectric boards and additional dielectric boards, wherein the cover board is mounted above the cavity; the circuit board is arranged in the cavity; the upper surface and the lower surface of the circuit board are respectively provided with a microstrip line; four ends of each microstrip line can be respectively connected with the outside through the cavity; the dielectric boards are respectively arranged on and under the circuit board; and the additional dielectric boards are respectively arranged outside the dielectric boards. According to the invention, the symmetrical design of the five-stage microstrip lines of coupled strip lines is adopted, so that the requirements of a common columnar coupled rod bridge for coverage bandwidth can be met; meanwhile, the situations that the rigidity can not be ensured and a strip line is easy to deform in case of an over-long length are changed; and the processing required accuracy, assembling requirement and production cost in the production process are lowered.


Background: Internationally, colleagues from minoritized groups and backgrounds are typically underrepresented within scientific journals. The benefits and importance of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, to further enhance science, scholarship, and practice are increasingly evident. Historical systems, structures, beliefs, policies, processes, and practices often advantage some and disadvantage others (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender minorities), thus, it is important to be reflective and proactive in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) in scientific journals. Aims: It is imperative that leaders of scientific journals engage in intentional, purposeful, and sustained actions to advocate for and advance DEI, scholarship, science, and practice. There are numerous strategies that may be implemented by journal leadership to contribute to advancing DEI. Methods: Herein, a succinct summary of several recommendations is provided, followed by a case study illustrating the implementation of actionable strategies and current outcomes associated with the School Psychology Review journal. Strategies discussed include: (a) establishing individual and collective commitments to advocating for and advancing DEI as the foundation of our scholarship; (b) diversifying the journal leadership; (c) diversifying the editorial advisory board; (d) preparing future diverse journal leadership through mentored editorial fellowship programs, especially focused on early research career individuals; (e) mentoring future colleagues by establishing a student editorial board with members from diverse backgrounds; (f) focusing on special topics relevant to diverse and minoritized children, youth, families, and school communities; (g) making available professional-development opportunities and resources; and (h) establishing a journal action plan focused on advancing DEI. Results: The outcomes delineated in the present case study illustrate that the journal engages and benefits from the contributions of many distinguished colleagues from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. Moreover, the journal contents that have followed from these efforts further advance science, scholarship, and practice that supports disadvantaged children, youth, and families, including those from minoritized groups. Conclusions: Colleagues, organizations, and entities involved with scientific journals around the world are encouraged to advance and sustain DEI efforts in science, scholarship, and practice.


Abstract The early Paleocene Purgatorius Van Valen and Sloan is the most primitive plesiadapiform primate yet discovered, mostly known from middle to late Puercan strata in Montana, deposited during the interval C29N of the geomagnetic polarity time scale. Here we describe Purgatorius coracis n. sp. from the Ravenscrag Formation, at the Rav W-1 horizon, Medicine Hat Brick and Tile Quarry, southwestern Saskatchewan. This horizon occurs within C29R, making P. coracis the earliest known primate, while strengthening the evidence that plesiadapiforms, and hence primates, originated and underwent their initial evolutionary diversification in North America. Most North American mammalian local faunas correlating with C29R have been assigned to the Pu1 (earliest Puercan) interval zone, but the taxonomic composition of the mammals accompanying P. coracis at Rav W-1 more resembles local faunas of Pu2 age. The occurrence at Rav W-1 of Pu2 aspect mammals within C29R agrees with similar occurrences at the Hiatt and PITA Flats localities in Montana and North Dakota, also possibly correlated with C29R. The evidence from these three sites, all in the Williston Basin, suggests that in some areas of the Western Interior Pu2 aspect local faunas were coeval with those of latest Pu1 age, having evolved earlier than has commonly been assumed.


The reaction of phenoxyl radicals with acids is investigated. 2,4,6-Tri-tert-butylphenoxyl radical (13), a persistent radical, deteriorates in MeOH/PhH in the presence of an acid yielding 4-methoxycyclohexa-2,5-dienone 18a and the parent phenol (14). The reaction is facilitated by a strong acid. Treatment of 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenoxyl radical (2), a short-lived radical, generated by dissociation of its dimer, with an acid in MeOH provides 4-methoxycyclohexa-2,5-dienone 4 and the products from disproportionation of 2 including the parent phenol (3). A strong acid in a high concentration favors the formation of 4 while the yield of 3 is always kept high. Oxidation of the parent phenol (33) with PbO(2) to generate transient 2,6-di-tert-butylphenoxyl radical (35) in AcOH/H(2)O containing an added acid provides eventually p-benzoquinone 39 and 4,4'-diphenoquinone 42, the product from dimerization of 35. A strong acid in a high concentration favors the formation of 39. These results suggest that a phenoxyl radical is protonated by an acid and electron transfer takes place from another phenoxyl radical to the protonated phenoxyl radical, thus generating the phenoxyl cation, which can add an oxygen nucleophile, and the phenol (eq 5). The electron transfer is a fast reaction.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) show a molecular and functional phenotype that is different from their normal counterparts (normal fibroblasts, NAFs). It is a well established phenomenon that these modified and activated fibroblasts possess permissive and promoting properties for epithelial tumor cells and therefore play a central role in tumor progression, metastasis, and probably also in sensitivity to antitumor agents. We asked whether CAFs could be reverted back pharmacologically to normal homeostasis by inhibiting PDGFR signalling.

We therefore evaluated the efficacy of the FDA approved PDGFR inhibitor Dasatinib on proliferation and gene expression profile of CAF strains isolated from different lung carcinoma specimens. Dasatinib significantly reduced proliferation without inducing cell death in all 40 CAF strains investigated. Genome-wide microarray analysis of 9 CAF strains cultivated in presence or absence of Dasatinib identified 491 genes whose expression was significantly changed at least twofold. 104 of these encoded cell cycle related proteins with a great majority of 97 being down-regulated by Dasatinib. To determine the relevance of the differentially regulated genes in Dasatinib treated cells, we compared the Dasatinib expression signature to the previously described signatures of NAFs and CAFs derived from breast cancer patients (Sadlanova et al., 2008). Importantly, 102 of the 491 genes regulated by Dasatinib were also shown to be differentially expressed in CAFs versus NAFs. The expression of 72 of the genes we identified as down-regulated by Dasatinib was also reduced in NAFs compared to CAFs (p<0.0001 in Fisher's exact analysis). In addition, 30 genes identified as up-regulated by Dasatinib were also found to be elevated in NAFs compared to CAFs (p<0.0001 in Fisher's exact analysis).

In summary, our data suggest that Dasatinib may reverse the cancer-activated phenotype of CAFs to a normal fibroblast like phenotype. Dasatinib treatment may therefore also reverse the tumor-promoting properties of CAFs.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1425.


Background and aims: The general concept is that as Vibrio cholerae is not invasive, it mediates a non-inflammatory type of infection. This is being re-evaluated based on available data that natural cholera infection or cholera toxin induces a Th2-type of immune profile and stimulates the humoral immune response, innate cells, and mediators in the host. Methods: To perform a comprehensive analyses of the inflammatory components, we studied mucosal biopsies from patients, both adults and children with acute watery diarrhoea caused by V cholerae O1 and O139. Patients with cholera, adults (n = 30) and children (n = 18), as well as healthy controls (n = 24) were studied. Histochemical, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural studies were carried out to elucidate the contribution of the different factors using paraffin and frozen duodenal and/or rectal sections as appropriate. Samples were collected during the acute stage and during early and/or late convalescence. Results: Following natural cholera infection, patients responded with increases in neutrophil polymorphs during the acute stage (p<0.001) compared with healthy controls whereas mucosal mast cells (MMC) (p = 0.008) and eosinophils (p = 0.034) increased in the gut during convalescence. Electron microscopic analyses of duodenal biopsies from adult patients showed increased piecemeal degranulation in both MMC and eosinophils and accumulation of lipid bodies in MMC. Duodenal biopsies from V cholerae O1 infected patients showed upregulation of myeloperoxidase, lactoferrin, PGHS-1, SCF, tryptase, tumour necrosis factor α, α-defensin, and eotaxin during the acute stage and chymase, interleukin 3 and major basic protein during convalescence. Conclusion: We have shown that innate cells and their mediators are upregulated in acute watery diarrhoea. These cells and factors of the innate arm may be important in the host's defence against cholera. Such effects may need to be simulated in a vaccine to achieve long lasting protection from cholera.


Neoliberal approaches to tourism have typically focused on economic growth, contributing to a "Tragedy of the Commons" in terms of degradation of shared resources. This has significant adverse effects on the social and environmental well-being of host communities. In a post-COVID-19 era, where the tourism industry has already suffered significant impacts, the adverse effects of neoliberal tourism will be compounded if there is no change to economic models of "growth". In the age of climate change, we know that there are social and ecological limits to that growth, but responsible and sustainable tourism approaches do not go far enough to address the challenges highlighted by COVID-19 and future crises. What we need now is transformative change in a way that socialises tourism within social and ecological planetary boundaries. Buen Vivir can act as a guide for socialising tourism towards transformative change by reframing tourism objectives, with greater emphasis on the collective well-being of host communities and their natural environment. This would place the focus on the benefits to communities and their ecological and social limits rather than just on the desire of the traveller, seeking to address the growing inequalities on vulnerable host communities. Buen Vivir offers a guide to "reset tourism" in the post-COVID-19 era in the fight against the commodification of people, places and public commons for tourism development.


Hamburg currently exemplifies the departure from a straightforward neoliberal urban track. The city's neoliberal path only moved into full swing in the first decade of the 2000s. During this period, urban development was primarily subject to property market mechanisms-with projects being granted to the highest bidder-prompting effects such as rapidly rising rents, deepened social segregation and increased property-led displacement. Since 2009, however, the city's entrepreneurial urban policy encountered comprehensive resistance movements that eventually led to the rediscovery of a political will for a new housing policy and interventionist policy instruments. This article focuses on the turning point of neoliberal policies and examines the wider scope of the contemporary urban agenda in Hamburg. We first conceptualize potential limits of the neoliberal city in general and then discuss three momentous local policy experiments-the International Building Exhibition, promising 'improvement without displacement'; the rediscovery of housing regulations through the 'Social Preservation Statute'; and the 'Alliance for Housing', aiming to tackle the housing shortage. We discuss these approaches as funding, regulation, and actor-based approaches to limiting the neoliberal city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


A bacterial strain, WL(T), which was isolated from an activated sludge, was able to degrade alkylphenols. 16S rDNA sequence analysis indicated that strain WL(T) belonged to the genus Pseudomonas (sensu stricto) and formed a monophyletic clade with the type strain of Pseudomonas graminis and other members in the Pseudomonas putida subcluster with sequence similarity values higher than 97%. Genomic relatedness based on DNA-DNA hybridization of strain WL(T) to these strains is 2-41%. Strain WL(T) contained ubiquinone-9 as the main respiratory quinone, and the G+C content of DNA was 66 mol%. The organism contained hexadecanoic acid (16:0), hexadecenoic acid (16:1) and octadecenoic acid (18:1) as major cellular fatty acids. The hydroxy fatty acids detected were 3-hydroxydecanoic acid (3-OH 10:0), 3-hydroxydodecanoic acid (3-OH 12:0) and 2-hydroxydodecanoic acid (2-OH 12:0). These results, as well as physiological and biochemical characteristics clearly indicate that the strain WL(T) represents a new Pseudomonas species, for which the name Pseudomonas japonica is proposed. The type strain is strain WL(T) (=IAM 15071T=TISTR 1526T).


Beside their inhibitory effect upon lipase adsorption, bile salts at low concentration (around 0.2 mM) have repeatedly been shown to enhance lipolysis slightly. From the data reported in this paper, this activation has been attributed to a stabilization of the adsorbed lipase brought about by low concentrations of bile salts. This hypothesis relies on the following observations. (a) For a given temperature, the activation by bile salts depends on the substrate. It is maximum for trihexanoin (trihexanoylglycerol) and does not exist for tripropionin (tripropionylglycerol). (b) In the absence of bile salts, the optimal activities are obtained for different temperatures depending on the substrate. (c) For a given substrate, the activation by a low concentration of bile salts depends on the temperature. It increases when the temperature is raised (up to 35-40 degrees C) and completely disappears at a sufficiently low temperature (around 10 degrees C). (d) This temperature effect does not seem to be due to a modification of the physical parameters of the interface as measured by the interfacial tension. (r) Colipase, like bile salts, increases the lipase activity on short-chain triglycerides but only at high temperature when lipase denaturation occurs. It has no influence upon the activity when the temperature is sufficiently low (around 10 degrees C).


Sixteen barley genotype were grown in three growing season at Gachsaran Dryland Agricultural Research Station. Each experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications under rainfed condition. Main objective of the present study was to estimate the correlations and partition of the coefficient of correlation between grain yield with its primary components, into direct and indirect effects. The results obtained from 16 barley genotypes indicated that the coefficient of determination were 63 to 87% in three growing season. It represents high influence of the considered traits on total variability of grain yield. The results of path analysis in three growing season showed that barley grain yield were stably influenced by grain filling period, thousand kernel weight and the number of tillers per square meter. It lead to conclude that barley grain yield could be improved via the above mentioned traits and these traits might be used as criteria variables in barley breeding program. The influence of 1000 kernel weight on grain yield in three environments seems to cause from the fact that grain yield in barley is frequently limited by source capabilities and it has suggested as a promising trait for increasing barley grain yield under different water stress conditions.


In recent decades, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) have become more attractive due to the depleting fossil fuel resources and environmental issues such as global warming due to emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants. However, the intermittent nature of RES may cause a power imbalance between the generation and the demand. *e power imbalance is overcome with the help of Distributed Generators (DG), storage devices, and RES. *e aggregation of DGs, storage devices, and controllable loads that form a single virtual entity is called a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). In this article, the optimal scheduling of DGs in a VPP is done to minimize the generation cost. *e optimal scheduling of power is done by exchanging the power between the utility grid and the VPP with the help of storage devices based on the bidding price. In this work, the state of charge (SOC) of the batteries is also considered, which is a limiting factor for charging and discharging of the batteries.*is improves the lifetime of the batteries and their performance. Energy management of VPP using the teaching-and-learning-based optimization algorithm (TLBO) is proposed to minimize the total operating cost of VPP for 24 hours of the day.*e power loss in the VPP is also considered in this work.*e proposed methodology is validated for the IEEE 16-bus and IEEE 33-bus test systems for four different cases. *e results are compared with other evolutionary algorithms, like Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm and Ant Lion Optimization (ALO) algorithm.


This paper presents a laboratory experiment that directly tests the theoretical predictions of consumption choices under rational inattention. Subjects are asked to select consumption when income is random. They can optimally decide to reduce uncertainty about income by acquiring signals about it. The informativeness of the signals directly relates to the cognitive effort required to process the information. We find that subjects? behavior is largely in line with the predictions of the theory: 1) Subjects optimally make stochastic consumption choices; 2) They respond to incentives and changes in the economic environment by varying their attention and consumption; 3) They respond asymmetrically to positive and negative shocks to income, with negative shocks triggering stronger and faster reactions than positive shocks.


Column Base Connections are one of the most critical components of Special Steel Moment Frames (SMFs). These building components transfer the demands from the super-structure to the concrete foundation and constitute an interface between them. Because of their importance, these connections have been extensively studied during the last years. Experimental and analytical studies have been conducted to determine their primary modes of response, limit states, strength and stiffness methods, ending up in design guidelines (e.g. Steel Design Guide 1). Traditionally, exposed base plates are preferred for low to mid-rise buildings while embedded base connections are the norm for taller buildings. This research presents a methodology to design and estimate the strength of a ductile type of exposed base plates with extended anchor bolts. This type of connection is common in seismic areas such as Chile, especially for industrial facility buildings. This method aims at concentrating all plasticity in the extended region of the anchor bolts. The rest of the components (i.e. base plate, steel chair and stiffeners) are detailed by Capacity Design Criteria to sustain the anchor bolts strength. The extended length of the rods relies on an assumed target rotation capacity of the connection (e.g. 0.02, 0.04 rad). The method is validated against sophisticated nonlinear finite element simulations. These simulations serve for two purposes: i) provide general insights into the connection behavior that permit develop the strength method; ii) constitutes a test-bed to validate the proposed strength method. General recommendations for design are suggested, and limitations of the method and recommendations for future research are provided.


Abstract : Using a semi-geostrophic, reduced gravity thin jet model, we analytically study the evolution of initial meanders into pinched-off rings. The model used is similar to the path equation developed by Flierl and Robinson (1984) for vertically coherent meanders. However, in the present model, the meanders are baroclinic, and a stretching term arises due to the motion of the interface. It can be shown that the equation governing the time-dependent meander of this jet (Pratt, 1988) can be transformed into the Modified Korteweg- deVries (MKdV) equation in intrinsic coordinates. The MKdV equation admits two types of solitary wave solutions, loop solitons and breathers. The breathers are permanent meanders which propagate on the path, and some are able to form rings. Using the inverse scattering transform, we can predict breather and ring formation for simple initial meanders. The inverse scattering transform is applied to S and Q shaped meanders with piecewise constant and continuous curvature. S shaped meanders, or steps, must be multi-valued to form breathers, and must have very steep angles in order to form rings. Due to integral constraints, Q shaped meanders, or lobes, are unable to pinch together to form rings unless they are wide enough so that the two side flanks of the lobe act as two independent steps. The numerical solutions indicate that the breathers predicted by the inverse scattering is a very good approximation to the full solution.


Abstract Four Class I maser sources were detected at 44, 84, and 95 GHz toward chemically rich outflows in the regions of low-mass star formation NGC 1333I4A, NGC 1333I2A, HH25, and L1157. One more maser was found at 36 GHz toward a similar outflow, NGC 2023. Flux densities of the newly detected masers are no more than 18 Jy, being much lower than those of strong masers in regions of high-mass star formation. The brightness temperatures of the strongest peaks in NGC 1333I4A, HH25, and L1157 at 44 GHz are higher than 2000 K, whereas that of the peak in NGC 1333I2A is only 176 K. However, a rotational diagram analysis showed that the latter source is also a maser. The main properties of the newly detected masers are similar to those of Class I methanol masers in regions of massive star formation. The former masers are likely to be an extension of the latter maser population toward low luminosities of both the masers and the corresponding YSOs.


The control of In adlayer during plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) of InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells (MQWs) is critical to achieve good structural and optical properties. This contribution focuses on the investigation by real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry, corroborated by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), of In adlayer during the PAMBE growth of InGaN/GaN MQWs. The ellipsometric data reveal In accumulation during InGaN growth, which results in thicker quantum well than designed. We address the effect of the indium adlayer on the growth of InGaN/GaN with an indium composition between 7% and 13%, and on their optical and structural properties determined by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Due to recent long term follow up studies, the patients with Bipolar Disorder are in the Bipolar Depression phase most of the time. Is in the Depressive phase where most of the suicide attempts and the consumed suicides occur. The Bipolar Depression is the reason why the patients with Bipolar Disorder have an important functional deterioration. The treatments of the Bipolar Depression don't fulfill the expectations of the clinicians. There is a consensus about the use of mood stabilizers, and is controversial the use of antidepressants in the acute and in the maintenance phase due to the potential damage that they might produce in both phases. New drugs and new combinations are in study to improve the therapeutic results.


With the prospect of economic growth, governments in many parts of the world where English is spoken as an additional language have pushed for educational reforms and introduced English at the primary school level. However, the implementation of such reforms along with a general lack of training opportunities available to primary school teachers has caused considerable uncertainty and anxiety among practitioners. This article reports on a small-scale ethnographic case study that explored a Japanese approach to English teaching/learning with the aim of identifying pedagogical practices that nonnative-English–speaking teachers could implement in their primary English lessons. Seven observations, four unstructured interviews, and five semistructured interviews were triangulated to collect data in the Kansai and Tokyo areas over a period of 4 weeks. Findings show that the approach consists of seven distinct stages that not only include a multitude of pedagogical practices but also provide a rich learning environment. Findings further suggest that two practices could be of particular use in primary school contexts: input-focused teaching and theme-based teaching.