We analyzed data from a shadow observation of the high density molecular cloud MBM36 (l ∼ 4°, b ∼ 35°) with Suzaku. MBM36 is located in a region that emits relatively weakly in the 3/4 keV band compared to the surrounding North Polar Spur (NPS)/Loop 1 structure and the Galactic Bulge (GB). The contrast between high and low density targets in the MBM36 area allows one to separate the local and distant contributors to the soft diffuse X-ray background, providing a much better characterization of the individual components compared to single pointing observations. We identify two non-local thermal components, one at kT ≈ 0.12 keV and one at kT ≈ 0.29 keV. The colder component matches well with models of emission from the higher latitude region of the GB. The emission of the warmer component is in agreement with models predicting that the NPS is due to a hypershell from the center of the Milky Way. Geometrical and pressure calculations rule out a nearby bubble as responsible for the emission associated with the NPS. Any Galactic Halo/circumgalactic halo emission, if present, is outshined by the other components. We also report an excess emission around 0.9 keV, likely due to an overabundance of Ne ix.


Highly condensed nitridosilicates doped with Eu2+ or Ce3+ play an important role in saving energy by converting the blue light of (In,Ga)N-LEDs. Although nitridosilicates are known for great structural variety based on covalent anionic Si-N networks, elemental variety is restricted. Presenting a significant extension of the latter, this work describes a general access to open-shell transition-metal nitridosilicates. As a proof-of-principle, the first iron nitridosilicate, namely Fe2 Si5 N8 , was prepared by exchanging Ca2+ in α-Ca2 Si5 N8 applying a FeCl2 melt (salt metathesis). The title compound was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction, EDX, ICP-OES, combustion analysis, TG/DSC, Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Furthermore, the structure of α-Ca2 Si5 N8 was determined at 1073 and 1173 K confirming the anionic network of α-Ca2 Si5 N8 providing possible migration pathways for the ion-exchange reaction.


Giving on occasions a talk on the subject of this book, one of the queries raised was, 'surely, what you mean are flat hierarchies'. This, I think, gives an indication of how difficult it can be to conceive of organizations which do not have a hierarchical structure. A rather similar response was obtained when, in the 1950's, an account was given to a manager of the British Coal Board of an autonomous composite team of more than 40 miners, who had taken over complete responsibility for a three-shift cycle, and divided the income obtained among themselves. His comment was that this could not possibly work. The new mode of work organization which had been evolved by the miners in several pits in the Durham coal fields was, at the time, well ahead of the prevailing concepts and philosophy of both management and the Trade Union. It did not help matters very much that the detailed accounts were presented in an academic and scientific form (Trist et aI., 1963; Herbst, 1962). I think that we felt that all the backing of systematic research and data analysis would be needed to present the case for modes of organization, which deviated from conventional practice. However, something was learned from this experience. When at the beginning of the 1960's the Norwegian Work Democratization Project was started, a number of demonstration sites were set up which people could look at, and which could function as centers for diffusion.


UNSW Sydney supports students experiencing financial difficulties to persist in their studies through the student loans system. All loans are repayable and interest free. Students currently enrolled in coursework and higher degree research programs, and UNSW enabling programs, are able to apply for a student loan. Both domestic and international students are eligible to apply. Students must satisfy specific application and approval criteria, and sign a legally binding contract that outlines the repayment arrangement. For further information read the Student Loans Procedure (pdf) or to apply for a loan follow the link that is relevant to you below:


The vanadium is a metal that presents great interest from the toxicological point of view, because of the numerous alterations that can take place in different biological systems. This work evaluated the capacity of vanadium accumulation and its correlation with genotoxic effects in root cells of Allium cepa L. The bulbs were cultivated in renovated filtered water each 24 h, at a temperature of 25 +/- 0.5 degrees C, in darkness and constant aeration. Treatments were carried out under the same experimental conditions, using water solutions of vanadium of 25, 50, 75 and 100 microg/g for 0, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h. A control was carried out where metal solution was substituted by distilled water. After the treatment, the meristems were fixed with alcohol--acetic acid (3:1) and stained according to the technique of Feulgen. The capacity of accumulation was determined by GFAAS. The analysis of the results revealed an accumulation of the metal for all times and concentrations. No correlation was presented among vanadium accumulation, growth and mitotic index; however, positive correlation was given with the induction of chromosomic aberrations. In conclusion, vanadium is able to induce cytotoxic effect in the exposed roots, but only genotoxic effect was correlated with metal accumulation.


Product-Service System (PSS) inventory control in Malaysian palm oil industry is a blend of product or services that offer a good worth in regards to economics and also environment. This paper intends to establish a support analytic device for implementation in the palm oil industry. Many smallholder businesses do not have any kind of supply systematic record-keeping to keep the supply in a respectable operating. The existing technique of figuring out supply takes a yearly physical inventory by comparing the real inventory with document levels. This method is a pricey as well as lengthy effort. In this paper, an inventory control web-based application device was developed to meet customer demand and methodical record management is significant to have respectable tracking and also analysis as part of being effective. This tool will certainly help the firm to save the main stock data-based on collected information and also to monitor the motion of the stocks to ensure that whatever is controlled as well as in great order. This tracking process makes it much easier for firms to decide and also for forecasting for products and services in palm oil plantation.


Climate models exhibit large biases in sea ice area (SIA) in their historical simulations. This study explores the impacts of these biases on multimodel uncertainty in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) ensemble projections of 21st century change in Antarctic surface temperature, net precipitation, and SIA. The analysis is based on time slice climatologies in the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 future scenario (2070–2099) and historical (1970–1999) simulations across 37 different CMIP5 models. Projected changes in net precipitation, temperature, and SIA are found to be strongly associated with simulated historical mean SIA (e.g., cross‐model correlations of r = 0.77, 0.71, and −0.85, respectively). Furthermore, historical SIA bias is found to have a large impact on the simulated ratio between net precipitation response and temperature response. This ratio is smaller in models with smaller‐than‐observed SIA. These strong emergent relationships on SIA bias could, if found to be physically robust, be exploited to give more precise climate projections for Antarctica.


SUMMARY The transition from print-based to digital format has profoundly influenced the way knowledge is organized, delivered, accessed, and archived. There are fundamental differences in the natures of print-based and online resources that have, in the short years of the digital information age, made necessary the advent of library professionals who possess skills and knowledge particular to the requirements of the digital information format. This chapter explores those differences in the context of digital resources management within the realm of the academic library. Issues that concern cataloging, maintenance, access, and archives are discussed. The impact of the new format on library staff and workflows is examined as well.


The magnetic ion-mass spectrometer is designed to measure the abundances of the ambient positive ions in the ionosphere. It will be calibrated in flight against the retarding-potential analyzer and the cylindrical electrostatic probe to give absolute concentration data for the ion species detected. These parameters can be measured to approximately ±10% in well-behaved regions where concentrations are above 103 cm−3. However, in highly structured polar regions, some degradation in accuracy may be expected.

Three mass ranges, covered simultaneously by the scan of the instrument, 1 to 4, 4 to 16, and 16 to 64 amu, permit measurement of the entire mass range, 1 to 64 amu, in 1 sec in the main (peaks) mode. An alternate mode, analog-long, will extend the mass range to 90 amu with a 9-sec period. Capability is provided to lock onto any set of mass numbers in the ratio 1:4:16 to give very high spatial resolution, e.g., 500, 250, and 125 m in the low-, mid-, and high-mass ranges, respectively. This mode will be most useful in the despun satellite orientation to provide fine-structure data on ion concentrations. In the spinning mode the phase shifts between roll modulation maxima of heavy and light ions determine the vertical component of the individual ion-drift velocities. Values from a few km sec−1 to over 20 km sec−1 can be determined. Such data are applicable to the study of polar wind phenomena.


Field research can consist of trekking across the globe to study peoples in exotic cultural settings. It can also mean strapping on your running shoes and observing behavior at the local market. Regardless of whether the researcher is "at home" or away, the development of research relationships is paramount to the success of the research project. In this book, the authors provide guidance to researchers on developing relationships in their field research. Using a myriad of examples from projects in a wide range of settings, Kaler and Beres offer helpful hints about how to navigate the personal side of conducting research-establishing and maintaining relationships, handling ethical dilemmas, and identifying how the personal identity of researchers help shape their projects.


Celebrity as a media person is not a new thing on the context of communication studies. On some various contexts, celebrities are benefited with its added value on popularity. The construction of value that been built by celebrities are also studied, particularly in relation with new media development, through the dynamic of information and communication technology. On the context of celebrity's consumption on the perspective of cultural function on new media, one of the concepts that appear is celebrity watchers. Consumption type also varied and it needs depth identification on academic studies, one of them is consumption practice that manifested on fandom. Fan typology inside the fandom also been analysed to see the meaning that been interpreted by audiences of the celebrity's message. By using case study on the context of Agnez Monica's fanbase (Nez In da Club or NIC), we found out that on the context of NIC Jogja and Jakarta, there are various type of fans, such as enthusiast, cultist, and petty producer.


The paper represents the first part of a series of
 papers on realization theory of switched systems. Part I presents realization theory of linear switched systems,
 Part II presents realization theory of bilinear switched systems.
 More precisely, in Part I necessary and sufficient conditions
 are formulated for a family of input-output maps to be
 realizable by a linear switched system and a characterization
 of minimal realizations is presented. The paper treats two types of switched systems.
 The first one is when all switching sequences are allowed. The second one is when only a subset of switching sequences is
 admissible, but within this restricted set the switching times are arbitrary.
 The paper uses the theory of formal power series to derive
 the results on realization theory.


In this paper we present new measurements of the gas kinematics in M33 using the CO J = 1 - 0 line. The resulting rotational velocities complement previous 21-cm line data for a very accurate and extended rotation curve of this nearby galaxy. The implied dark matter mass, within the total gaseous extent, is a factor of 5 higher than the visible baryonic mass. Dark matter density profiles with an inner cusp as steep as R - 1 , suggested by some numerical simulation of structures formation, are compatible with the actual data. The dark matter concentrations required for fitting the M33 rotation curve are very low but still marginally consistent with haloes forming in a standard cold dark matter cosmology. The M33 virialized dark halo is at least 50 times more massive than the visible baryons and its size is comparable with the M33-M31 separation. Inner cusps as steep as R - 1 . 5 are ruled out, while halo models with a large size core of constant density are consistent with the M33 data. A central excess of stars is needed and we evaluate its dynamical mass range. Using accurate rotational velocity gradients and the azimuthally averaged baryonic surface densities, we show that a disc instability can regulate the star formation activity in M33. Considering the gaseous surface density alone, the predicted outer star formation threshold radius is consistent with the observed drop of the Ha surface brightness if a shear rate criterion is used with the lowest possible value of velocity dispersion. The classical Toomre criterion predicts the size of the unstable region correctly only when the stellar or dark halo gravity, derived in this paper, is added to that of the gaseous disc.


We review recent advances in optical fiber technologies that realize ultra-low losses as low as 0.142 dB/km including pure-silica core and reduction of microscopic density fluctuation.


The authors describe 76 schizophrenic children who fell ill at a preschool age. Nocturnal fears with a psychomotor excitement, illusions, hallucinations, and figurative delirium in the structure of dream (oneiric) derangement of consciousness were dominant in the disease picture. A relationship was established to mental automatisms. Conclusions are given about the type of the disease course, structure of the personality defect, and therapy of nocturnal fears.


Three new species of Pardosa, P. svatoni sp. n. (dy, SE Kazakhstan), P. fengisp. n. (male female, Central Xinjiang) and P lii sp. n. (male female, Central Xinjiang) are described and illustrated. The two former species cannot be placed in any species group. Pardosa lii sp. n. belongs to the P. wagleri species group. It is compared with P. italica Tongiorgi, 1966, whose embolic division has not previously been illustrated.


Introduction. In a paired comparison experiment n judges give a preference in some or all of the (~) pairs of t items. Frequently the purpose of the experiment is to test the null hypothesis that every preference is equally likely against a vaguely defined alternative of consistency. Our purpose is to study several of the tests used, from the point of view of a natural equivalence relation which arises in graph theory. In the first section we introduce graph theory notation, the equivalence relation, and some results on partial and strict orderings on the equivalence classes. The succeeding section applies these notions to Kendall and Babington Smith's statistic in detail (hereafter sinlply referred to as Kendall's statistic), and mentions applications in the Bradley-Terry model, and the strong-stochastic ordering model.


BACKGROUND
Portal hypertensive gastropathy is characterized by a hyperdynamic circulatory state in the gastric mucosa. We assessed the effect of bolus injection of somatostatin on gastric mucosal perfusion in a rat model of portal hypertension. We tested the hypothesis that somatostatin will reduce gastric mucosal perfusion in portal hypertension.

METHODS
Portal hypertension was induced by two-stage portal vein ligation (PVL). Two weeks after PVL significant elevation of portal venous pressure was demonstrated. Gastric mucosal hemodynamic changes were measured by reflectance spectrophotometry, which records the indexes of mucosal hemoglobin oxygen saturation (ISO2) and mucosal hemoglobin concentration (IHB).

RESULTS
After an intravenous bolus of 1 microgram somatostatin significant reductions of ISO2 and IHB were demonstrated in the rats with PVL (ISO2, -34 +/- 5%; IHB, -15 +/- 2%) and the controls (ISO2, -26 +/- 4%; IHB, -15 +/- 2%). A dose-response relationship was shown by using 0.01, 0.1, and 1 microgram of somatostatin. Somatostatin did not induce other hemodynamic changes except a transient drop in systemic blood pressure of 8-10%.

CONCLUSION
The significant reductions of gastric mucosal ISO2 and IHB by somatostatin support the hypothesis that somatostatin is capable of attenuating the hyperdynamic circulatory state in the gastric mucosa of rats with portal hypertension and may have a beneficial effect on portal hypertensive gastropathy. This hypothesis deserves to be evaluated in clinical studies.


This study describes the use of micro synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (μSR-XRF) to investigate citrus greening disease in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) plants. An experiment using healthy plants as control and plants of the same variety infected with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) was performed to verify variations of the mineral composition of citrus leaves. A μSR-XRF system using the D09B X-ray fluorescence beam line at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source (LNLS, Campinas, Sao Paulo State) was employed for this purpose. The data were analyzed using a chemometric tool called soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA). The promising results from SIMCA models reinforce the evidence that plants infected by citrus greening (both asymptomatic and symptomatic) undergo alterations in their microand macronutrient compositions.


Micro-sensor network system of Forward Scattering Radar (FSR) is used for detection and classification of any ground target (personnel, vehicle) crossing or entering its coverage area. The efficiency of the system is based on the classification performance that is highly dependent on the information extracted from the signal. Thus, it is of practical importance to choose suitable transformation techniques which is best to extract the relevant information in the target signal. This paper presents a Wavelet Technique (WT) used which give scales and variation information respectively. This information will be extracted and become the input to the classification process. The wavelet technique applied shows the similarity between signals of each target and dissimilarity between different targets.


On 11th March 2020, World Health Organization announced COVID19 outbreak as a pandemic. Starting from China, this virus has infected and killed thousands of people from Italy, Spain, USA, Iran and other European countries as well. While this pandemic has continued to affect the lives of millions, a number of countries have resorted to complete lockdown. During this lockdown, people have taken social networks to express their feelings and find a way to calm themselves down. In this research work, country wise sentiment analysis of the tweets has been done. This research work has taken into account the tweets from twelve countries. These tweets have been gathered from 11th March 2020 to 31st March 2020, and are related to COVID19 in some or the other way. This analysis has been done to analyse how the citizens of different countries are dealing with the situation. The tweets have been collected, pre-processed, and then used for text mining and sentiment analysis. The results of the study concludes that while majority of the people throughout the world are taking a positive and hopeful approach, there are instances of fear, sadness and disgust exhibited worldwide. However, four countries, France, Switzerland, Netherland and United States of America have shown signs of distrust and anger on a bigger scale as compared to remaining eight countries.


Rock glaciers and large ice‐debris complexes are common in many mountain ranges and are especially prominent in semi‐arid mountains such as the Andes or the Tien Shan. These features contain a significant amount of ice but their occurrence and evolution are not well known. Here, we present an inventory of the ice‐debris complexes for the Ak‐Shiirak, Tien Shan's second largest glacierised massif, and a holistic methodology to investigate two characteristic and large ice‐debris complexes in detail based on field investigations and remote sensing analysis using Sentinel‐1 SAR data, 1964 Corona and recent high resolution stereo images. Overall, we found 74 rock glaciers and ice‐debris complexes covering an area of 11.2 km2 (3.2% of the glacier coverage) with a mean elevation of about 3950 m asl. Most of the complexes are located south‐east of the main ridge of Ak‐Shiirak. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements reveal high ice content with the occurrence of massif debris‐covered dead‐ice bodies in the parts within the Little Ice Age glacier extent. These parts showed significant surface lowering, in some places exceeding 20 m between 1964 and 2015. The periglacial parts are characterised by complex rock glaciers of different ages. These rock glaciers could be remnants of debris‐covered ice located in permafrost conditions. They show stable surface elevations with no or only very low surface movement. However, the characteristics of the fronts of most rock glacier parts indicate slight activity and elevation gains at the fronts slight advances. GPR data indicated less ice content and slanting layers which coincide with the ridges and furrows and could mainly be formed by glacier advances under permafrost conditions. Overall, the ice content is decreasing from the upper to the lower part of the ice‐debris complexes. Hence, these complexes, and especially the glacier‐affected parts, should be considered when assessing the hydrological impacts of climate change. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


ISAR based on frequency-stepped chirp signal has greater capability of anti-jamming than that of the conventional radar due to its peculiar characteristic. Frequency-stepped chirp signal can achieve total large bandwidth while maintaining narrow instantaneous bandwidth, thus reducing the complexity of radar systems. A new method of jamming the ISAR imaging is proposed, where the received signal is retransmitted after the time delay has been done. Therefore the deception targets can be constructed and the deception jamming against frequency-stepped ISAR is successfully accomplished. Simulations are given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are a collection of vehicular nodes that perform as a mobile hosts form a temporary network without the aid of any centralised infrastructure, so it is a sub-class of ad hoc network. It ensures the quality of service (QoS) for different VANET applications. Although it provides the QoS services to the process, mobility and routing play an important challenge in the VANET environment. So, different researches have revealed that the hierarchical routing schemes have numerous benefits over the traditional ones. Stable cluster formation and maintenance with the guarantying QoS in intra-cluster communications has always remained as a great challenge. For overcoming this issue, this paper proposes a QoS enabled data dissemination using an improved Kruskal's algorithm to provide efficient data dissemination and QoS in hierarchical VANET. This approach constructs the minimum spanning trees using Kruskal's algorithm in every road segment, where the vehicle has been clustered using the fuzzy c-means clustering method by considering the intra-cluster QoS. Each spanning tree will have a cluster head that is responsible to collect the data from the leaf nodes and disseminates the data to other coordinator nodes and vice versa. The simulation results show that the proposed approach performs better than the existing routing approach in terms of delay, throughput and packet loss.


How does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 differ from the act as it stands today? Many changes have occurred, in Medicaid expansion, private insurance coverage, the American Health Benefit Exchanges, and the individual mandate.


To determine the semen qualities of Kalahari Red goats fed Moringa oleifera leaf-based concentrates during dry season, sixteen (16) Kalahari Red bucks were fed MOLM-based concentrates at 0, 5, 10 and 15 % for 100 days in a Completely Randomised Design. Ten (10) induced does were used as teasers on 60th, 77th, 84th, 91st, and 98th day for semen quality. The highest semen volume of 1.9 ml per ejaculate was observed in Kalahari Red bucks fed 15 % MOLM inclusion level. 10 % of MOLM elicited sperm concentration of 3.42 x 109/mls (P 0.05) of 98.00 % and the lowest abnormality of 5.00 %. The lowest value of 0.71 μmol/ml malondialdehyde was recorded for the group fed 15 % inclusion level of MOLM. It could be concluded that MOLM improved semen qualities of Kalahari Red bucks.


Abstract Site U1359 is located on the eastern levée of the Jussieau submarine channel on the Wilkes Land margin, East Antarctica. The upper approximately 60 m of the sediment core records more than 2.5 Ma of the depositional history. Present work focuses on inferring provenance from the heavy mineral fraction from the Pleistocene sediments. Clay and non-clay fractions were characterized using X-ray diffraction and micro-beam techniques. Metamorphic minerals including orthopyroxene, high-Ca garnet and high-Ti biotite indicate a source in a high-grade metamorphic terrain. Mixing from a low- to medium-grade metamorphic component is also indicated. Several basaltic rock fragments, showing mineralogical affinities to the Ferrar volcanic province in the Ross Sea sector, are present. The metamorphic component is correlatable with the Proterozoic East Antarctic cratonic shield component. Ordovician–Silurian ages for the euhedral xenotime and monazite, coupled with the Ferrar equivalent basalts, indicate an additional sediment source from the Ross Orogen along with that from the craton.


ABSTRACT Biogenic gold nanotriangles have been used in this study to understand their cytotoxicity and biocompatibility in animal cells. These gold nanotriangles were synthesized using the leaf extract of the lemon grass (Cymbopogan flexuosus) plant. Cancerous as well as non-cancerous cells were used to study their dose dependent viability on exposure to the gold nanotriangles. Additionally, it has been shown that gold nanotriangles are internalized inside the cells and are compartmentalized into the cytoplasm. Thus, it has been inferred that the biologically synthesized gold nanotriangles are indeed biocompatible and, thus, are promising candidates as scaffolds for delivery of drug, genes, or growth factors inside the cells. Additionally, their unique optical properties make them a promising candidate for hyperthermic treatment of cancer. The AFM analysis of the cells treated with gold nanotriangles showed pits on their surface, which could be the probably point of entry of these nanotriangles into the c...


Large aperture phased array antennas operating at millimeter wave frequencies are designed for space-based communications and imaging. Array elements are comprised of active transmitlreceive (T/R) modules which are linked to the central processing unit through a high-speed fiberoptic network. This paper demonstrates optical control of active modules for satellite communication at 24GHz. An approach called T/R level data mixing, which utilizes fiberoptic transmission of data signal to individual T/R modules to be upconverted by an optically synchronized local oscillator, is demonstrated at 24GHz. In this study free-running HEMT oscillator, used as local oscillator at 24GHz, is synchronized using indirect subharmonic optical injection locking over a locking range of 14MHz. Results of data link performance over 500-1OOOMHz is also reported in terms of gain-bandwidth, linearity and third order intercept, sensitivity, and dynamic range.


Background/Objectives: Few therapeutic options are effective for triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) necessitating novel approaches. We previously reported a novel synthetic lethality with combined EGFR and PARP inhibition due to a homologous recombination (HR) repair defect induced EGFR inhibition. The mechanism of the HR deficiency involved disruption of EGFR/BRCA1 interaction and sequestration of EGFR and BRCA1 to the cytosol. In this study, we have extended these findings to encompass multiple subtypes of triple negative breast cancer and EGFR inhibitors. Additionally, we further investigated the mechanisms by which EGFR regulates HR DNA repair. Methods: TNBC cells, including MDA-MB-231 (mesenchymal stem-like), MDA-MB-468 (basal-like), HCC1187 (immunomodulatory), BT549 (mesenchymal), MDA-MB-453 (luminal androgen receptor), were assessed for cytotoxicity and cell viability following EGFR inhibition (lapatinib, erlotinib, or cetuximab), PARP inhibition, or both by colony formation or ATPlite assays. MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy was utilized to ascertain protein-protein interaction. To confirm interaction data and determine subcellular location we utilized immunoprecipitation and subcellular fractionation. To determine if interactions were dependent on DNA, lysates were treated with Ethidium Bromide and DNAse prior to immunoprecipitation. Results: EGFR inhibition with lapatinib, cetuximab, or erlotinib induced a contextual synthetic lethality with the PARP inhibitor, veliparib, in vitro in multiple TNBC subtypes, including MDA-MB-231 (mesenchymal stem-like), MDA-MB-468 (basal-like), HCC1187 (immunomodulatory), BT549 (mesenchymal), MDA-MB-453 (luminal androgen receptor). Interestingly, mass spectroscopy reaffirmed EGFR interaction with BRCA1 but also identified a novel interaction between EGFR and PARP1. These interactions were not found upon EGFR inhibition with lapatinib. Furthermore, we validated with immunoprecipitation and in vitro protein binding assays EGFR, BRCA1, and PARP1 protein-protein interactions that were disrupted upon EGFR inhibition. Additionally, these proteins were found to interact in the nucleus, independent of DNA. Lastly, EGFR inhibition also reduced nuclear EGFR and BRCA1 without significant changes in PARP1 localization. Conclusions: These results reveal a contextual synthetic lethality between combined EGFR and PARP inhibition in multiple subtypes of TNBC, suggesting potential generalizability of this combination in patients with TNBC. Furthermore understanding the mechanism by which EGFR regulates DNA repair may provide novel targets to confer other contextual synthetic lethalities that may be exploited to treat the aggressive TNBCs. Citation Format: Jennifer Anne Stanley, Somaira Nowsheen, Tiffiny Cooper, Andres Forero, Alfred LoBuglio, Eddy Yang. Contextual synthetic lethality in human triple negative breast cancer cells involving a novel interaction between DNA repair proteins EGFR, PARP1, and BRCA1. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5471. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5471


The profound roles of consumers have changed, and so have the conditions under which companies can successfully build brands. Consumers have gone from being isolated to connected, from unaware to informed and from passive to active. As a result consumers are to a larger extent seeking engagement in active dialogue with manufacturers of products and services – they have a desire co-create. Consequently, current predominant approaches to branding become less effective in the process of building brands in the minds of consumers, as they are rooted in an obsolete logic of marketing, in which consumers are regarded as passive recipients of company offerings. Motivated by the lack of an appropriate approach to brand management, this book sets out to build an approach to building brands that more appropriately responds to the increased needs for consumers to co-create. As a result, this book presents the Co-creation Approach to Brand Management; an approach combining predominant theory respectively within co-creation and branding, to better cater to the needs of consumers of today to establish closer and deeper relationships between these and brands.


In this paper, we propose a high‐resolution (HR) sedimentary budget quantification at basin‐scale for the Cenozoic deposits of the Pelotas Basin (South Atlantic). A new workflow is implemented including five main steps: (1) basin‐scale analysis and characterization, (2) quality control and selection of reference 2D dip‐sections, (3) HR seismic stratigraphy analysis, (4) sediment supply estimation taking into account lithology and porosity corrections and then (5) the estimation of the sedimentary budget curve including 41 time‐intervals for the last 65 Myr. Variance ranges were determined considering the parameters of the method on the case study. The main uncertainties are related to the seismic velocities for the time‐to‐depth conversion (5%–22%), the method for lithological parameters quantification and associated porosity correction (4.4%–14.3%), the absolute ages of stratigraphic markers (1%–25%), and the proportion of in‐situ sediment production (0.3%–0.5%). For the very first time, this method allows the identification of several cycles from an entire sedimentary basin fill characterized by pulses of sediment supply (Qs) whose growth phase lasts less than 1 Myr, followed by a constant phase lasting 1–2 Myr, and finally an exponentially decreasing phase lasting 2–5 Myr. These pulses alternate with phases where the sediment supply was very low for intervals of ca. 1–5 Myr. Ten major pulses were recognized during the Cenozoic. We propose that the sediment supply dynamic in the Pelotas basin records the orogenic phases of the Andes located more than 2,000 km upstream. The recorded Qs pulses in the basin are out of phase with respect to the active tectonic phases of the Central Andes. Finally, by comparing the volume of preserved sediment and the production capacity of the catchment, we suggest that a source of sediment in addition to the Brazilian craton and the Andes should be envisaged, potentially associated with deep‐water oceanic circulation.


Recent studies demonstrate the Dead Sea Scrolls attest to a wide variety of methods of technical divination. While scholars have analyzed these techniques, women's involvement in them has not been addressed. I argue that by choosing a methodological perspective that allows women's presence in the texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide an important witness to women's involvement in various divinatory techniques. By focusing on three avenues to inquire about the divine will: the oracle of the lot, astronomy, and physiognomy, I suggest that apart from being objects of these methods, women were involved in their practice. Women's participation in technical divinatory techniques is the most noticeable in inquiries that concern their own bodies and matters related to procreation.


Purpose To determine the thyroid clearance effective half‐life Symbol with a common handheld electronic dosimeter (ED) in patients undergoing radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism. Symbol. No caption available. Methods Dose rates from 12 inpatients were measured daily with an ED and with a clinical uptake counter. The ED was attached to the patient with two different setups, one using a cervical collar and another employing a neck strap. Estimation of Symbol was performed by linear regression analysis of the log of both the ED and the uptake counter measurements versus time. The latter provided the reference data. Symbol. No caption available. Results Based on repeated neck strap dose rate measurements, individual Symbols were determined with clinically required accuracy. The mean difference from the reference method equaled to −0.09 ± 0.35 days. Symbol. No caption available. Conclusions Determination of individual Symbol is feasible with a common handheld ED using the simple and easy to instruct neck strap measurement setup. This simple method complements stationary uptake counter measurements and thus may improve the accuracy of radioiodine treatment planning by adding an individual Symbol for dose calculation. Symbol. No caption available. Symbol. No caption available.


Objective. To examine perinatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus treated with glyburide compared to insulin injections. Study design. This is a retrospective cohort study of women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who required pharmaceutical therapy and were enrolled in the Sweet Success California Diabetes and Pregnancy Program between 2001 and 2004, a California state-wide program. Women managed with glyburide were compared to women treated with insulin injections. Perinatal outcomes were compared using chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression models; statistical significance was indicated by p < 0.05 and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results. Among the 10,682 women with GDM who required medical therapy and met study criteria, 2073 (19.4%) received glyburide and 8609 (80.6%) received subcutaneous insulin injections. Compared to insulin therapy and controlling for confounders, oral hypoglycemic treatment was associated with increased risk of birthweight >4000 g (aOR = 1.29; 95% CI [1.03–1.64]), and admission to the intensive care nursery (aOR = 1.46 [1.07–2.00]). Conclusion. Neonates born to women with gestational diabetes managed on glyburide, and were more likely to be macrosomic and to be admitted to the intensive care unit compared to those treated with insulin injections. These findings should be examined in a large, prospective trial.


Variable endoscopic and histological findings of esophageal lining are often detected in celiac disease, with unknown significance. We investigated the frequency and significance of such abnormalities in children. Macroscopic esophageal findings as reported by endoscopist and histological results by pathologist were compared between 316 celiac disease patients and 378 disease controls who had undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with systematic esophageal biopsy sampling. Association between esophageal abnormalities and other clinical and histological characteristics of the disease was evaluated in celiac disease patients. Endoscopic esophageal findings were reported least often (3.8%) of all diseases in celiac disease, whereas histopathologic abnormalities were frequent (16.8%, n = 53). Children with celiac disease and esophageal histopathology reported more reflux than those with normal esophagus (5.7 vs. 0.8%, P = 0.032), whereas the groups were comparable in the frequency and severity of other symptoms, demographic data, prevalence of celiac disease-associated and other coexisting chronic conditions, family history of celiac disease, anthropometric and laboratory parameters, and degree of villous atrophy. Only 2 (3.7%) out of the 53 children with histologic findings had esophageal symptoms at diagnosis, and altogether seven were treated with acid blockers. Four children had increased number (≥15 eosinophils per high-power field) of esophageal eosinophils, but none of them had definite eosinophilic esophagitis. The remaining 45 children had only unspecific inflammation in the esophagus and reported no esophageal problems during a median of 6.9 years follow-up. To conclude, although relatively common, histopathological esophageal findings in celiac disease are mostly unspecific and without major clinical significance even in a long-term follow-up.


In addition to promoting protein folding and translocation, molecular chaperones of Hsp70/DnaJ families are essential for the selective breakdown of many unfolded proteins. It has been proposed that chaperones function in degradation to maintain the substrates in a soluble form. In Escherichia coli, a nonsecreted alkaline phosphatase mutant that lacks its signal sequence (PhoAΔ2–22) fails to fold in the cytosol and is rapidly degraded at 37 °C. We show that PhoAΔ2–22 is degraded by two ATP-dependent proteases, La (Lon) and ClpAP, and breakdown by both is blocked in a dnaJ259-ts mutant at 37 °C. Both proteases could be immunoprecipitated with PhoA, but to a much lesser extent in the dnaJ mutant. Therefore, DnaJ appears to promote formation of protease-substrate complexes. DnaJ could be coimmunoprecipitated with PhoA, and the extent of this association directly correlated with its rate of degradation. Although PhoA was not degraded when DnaJ was inactivated, 50% or more of the PhoA remained soluble. PhoA breakdown and solubility did not require ClpB. PhoA degradation was reduced in a thioredoxin-reductase mutant (trxB), which allowed PhoAΔ2–22to fold into an active form in the cytosol. Introduction of thednaJ mutation into trxB cells further stabilized PhoA, increased enzyme activity, and left PhoA completely soluble. Thus, DnaJ, although not necessary for folding (or preventing PhoA aggregation), is required for PhoA degradation and must play an active role in this process beyond maintaining the substrate in a soluble form.


Nettle (Urtica dioica L.), a new industrial crop, has been cultivated since the 12th century for its fibers. This study was conducted to specify the optimal density of plants in order to move from wild harvest to nettle cultivation. For the present study, sampling was performed in 21 different fields throughout Greece, during October 2018. The effect of nine different plant densities on several agronomic (plants height, leaf area and dry matter) and fiber quality (straw length, fiber percentage, yield, extension at break, strength, length, diameter) characteristics was determined. The higher fiber yield occurred at the lower density (4 plants m2), while the higher fiber diameter observed at the highest density (12 plants m2). Comparisons were performed at the 5% level of significance (p ≤ 0.05). According to our results, there have been negative correlations between plant density and certain agronomic and quality characteristics such as plant height and fiber length, hence the optimal density is about seven plants per m2.


Within nonlinear electrodynamics (NED), photons follow null geodesics of an effective geometry, which is different from the geometry of the spacetime itself. Over the last years, several works were dedicated to investigate the motion of photons in the effective geometry of NED-based magnetically charged regular black hole (RBH) solutions. However, there are few works considering electrically charged RBHs. We study the light rings, shadows, and gravitational lensing of the electrically charged RBH solution proposed by Irina Dymnikova (ID), which is a static and spherically symmetric spacetime with a NED source. We show that the shadow associated to the effective geometry can be almost 10% bigger that the one associated to the standard geometry. We also find that the ID solution may mimic the shadow properties of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om (RN) BH, for low-to-extreme values of the electric charge. Besides that, by using the backwards ray-tracing technique, we obtain that ID and RN BH solutions can have a very similar gravitational lensing, for some values of the correspondent electric charges. We also show that the motion of photons in the effective geometry can be interpreted as a non-geodesic curve submitted to a 4-force term, from the perspective of an observer in the standard geometry.


Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) is a landmark diagnostic technology. Clinicians should keep top of mind that SD-OCTs, as sophisticated as they are, do not think or interpret. That is solely the job of the clinician. In addition, visually assessing the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) directly can yield more qualitative information than SD-OCT scans provide.


People like to consume content by downloading it from the internet, together with contribution and creation of new content, thanks to the growth of social networks and the Web. People also turn out to be more anxious to communicate and impart their insights on the web with respect to everyday exercises or worldwide issues. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining are rapidly evolving as a result of the rapid growth of web-based platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and others. This is from the world of data mining and NLP, especially in the mining of web data and the mining of texts. Why has sentiment analysis been more popular in recent years, which is also known as opinion mining? Whenever we attempt to choose to buy an item, we are probably going to hear the thoughts of companions or family members and do a few overviews before we buy the item. Opinions are now undoubtedly the main drivers of our behavior. The positive, negative, or neutral polarities are consistently seen in the opinions. Opinion mining can be used to discover opinion polarity classification, subjectivity identification, spam detection, and opinion summarization using emotional classification.


Material and Methods: Fifty eyes of 48 patients with sclerally fixated IOL were included in the study. In general these eyes were lacking adequate posterior capsular (PC) support for routine posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation. 9/0 Nylon (Ethicon), 10/0 polypropylene(Proline) and occasionally 10/0 Nylon were the sutures used for transscleral fixation of the lens heptics. Transscleral suture passage was performed with Ab Externo Cum Ab Interno Technique in 21 patients and modified Ab Externo Technique in 29 patients


In general, macro-monetary and financial variables are among the factors that can affect the performance of companies. Exchange rates are one of the factors that affect the business relations of economic enterprises with the outside world. Exchange rate risk arises from changes in stock returns as a result of foreign exchange fluctuations. On the other hand, earnings management has always been a challenge for managers and investors, and in the meantime, most studies have focused on internal factors of earnings management and less on external variables, especially the impact of an important variable such as exchange rate. In this study, the asymmetric effects of exchange rate passage on earnings management of 131 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2008-2019 have been investigated using the generalized torque approach. Based on the results, positive currency shocks on SEM1 and SEM2 have a negative and statistically significant positive effect on SEM4 and negative shocks have a positive and significant effect on SEM3. While the degree of positive exchange rate shock passed only on SEM4 and the rate of positive exchange rate shock passed on SEM3 is greater than one, but in relation to other cases, the degree of the passage of the exchange rate is incomplete. Based on the results, the degree of exchange rate passage has asymmetric effects on earnings management depending on the type of currency shock and earnings management variable.


The focus of this study is the unravelling of the microbial dynamics of the biodegradation of naphthalene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, in an aqueous–sediment matrix. The Pour plate procedure was adopted for the isolation of the microbial colonies, while the sub‐culturing of the isolates was based on their cultural (biochemical) and morphological characteristics. Investigations showed that the microbial colonies consisted of the bacterial and fungal strains. The logarithmic growth curve was characterized by an initial lag phase, a rapid and exponential increase in cell biomass, a stationary phase and finally a death phase. Both strains in the presence of naphthalene‐impacted basal salt medium demonstrated that the microbial growth results in an almost linear increase in biomass concentration – an indication that mass transfer from the solid phase to the liquid phase (lag phase) is limiting for growth. The kinetics of the utilization of naphthalene expressed as the growth and consumption rates indicated that all the microbial strains isolated from an indigenous soil used in this study exhibited a high metabolic affinity for naphthalene. Optimal performance was demonstrated by the bacterial strains that could use naphthalene as their sole carbon and energy source.


This paper is an attempt to develop a critical reflection on the social, political, and economic transformation that Russia experienced in the last couple of decades. I argue that the continuity of elites in Russia is one of the major features of its transition. This paper attempts to illuminate the continuity of elites as a general trend by using the case study of the privatization process in Veliky Novgord, Russia. This project looks at privatization as an avenue or means of resource allocation by elites during the transition. The data were obtained from 16 structured and unstructured interviews conducted in Veliky Novgorod in the summer 2004 among the representatives of the business and political elites. This paper deals with one group of the nomenklatura elite – top enterprise managers.


At the edge of the Sicilian coast, a family gathers to celebrate the birthday of an ancestral godfather. Unfortunately, the wind rises...


With read-aloud speech synthesis achieving high naturalness scores, there is a growing research interest in synthesising spontaneous speech. However, human spontaneous face-to-face conversation has both spoken and non-verbal aspects (here, co-speech gestures). Only recently has research begun to explore the benefits of jointly synthesising these two modalities in a single system. The previous state of the art used non-probabilistic methods, which fail to capture the variability of human speech and motion, and risk producing oversmoothing artefacts and sub-optimal synthesis quality. We present the first diffusion-based probabilistic model, called Diff-TTSG, that jointly learns to synthesise speech and gestures together. Our method can be trained on small datasets from scratch. Furthermore, we describe a set of careful uni- and multi-modal subjective tests for evaluating integrated speech and gesture synthesis systems, and use them to validate our proposed approach. Please see https://shivammehta25.github.io/Diff-TTSG/ for video examples, data, and code.


Abstract Objectives The aim was to develop a prediction model of sustained remission after cessation of biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD (b/tsDMARD) in RA. Methods We conducted an explorative cohort study among b/tsDMARD RA treatment episode courses stopped owing to remission in the Swiss Clinical Quality Management registry (SCQM; 2008–2019). The outcome was sustained b/tsDMARD-free remission of ≥12 months. We applied logistic regression model selection algorithms using stepwise, forward selection, backward selection and penalized regression to identify patient characteristics predictive of sustained b/tsDMARD-free remission. We compared c-statistics corrected for optimism between models. The three models with the highest c-statistics were validated in new SCQM data until 2020 (validation dataset). Results We identified 302 eligible episodes, of which 177 episodes (59%) achieved sustained b/tsDMARD-free remission. Two backward and one forward selection model, with eight, four and seven variables, respectively, obtained the highest c-statistics corrected for optimism of c = 0.72, c = 0.70 and c = 0.69, respectively. In the validation dataset (47 eligible episodes), the models performed with c = 0.99, c = 0.80 and c = 0.74, respectively, and excellent calibration. The best model included the following eight variables (measured at b/tsDMARD stop): RA duration, b/tsDMARD duration, other pain/anti-inflammatory drug use, quality of life (EuroQol), DAS28-ESR score, HAQ score, education, and interactions of RA duration and other pain/anti-inflammatory drug use and of b/tsDMARD duration and HAQ score. Conclusion Our results suggest that models with up to eight unique variables may predict sustained b/tsDMARD-free remission with good efficiency. External validation is warranted.


We investigated the influence of sorbed water concentration on the molecular mobility and crystallization behavior in a model amorphous drug and a solid dispersion. The temperature scaling (Tg/T) allowed us to simultaneously evaluate the effects of water content and temperature on the relaxation time. In the supercooled dispersions, once scaled, the relaxation times of the systems with different water content overlapped. Thus, the observed increase in mobility could be explained by the "plasticization" effect of water. This effect also explained the decrease in crystallization onset temperature brought about by water. That is, plasticization is the underlying mechanism governing the observed increase in mobility and physical instability in the supercooled state. Similar results were observed in the glassy drug substance. A single linear relationship was observed between crystallization time (time for 0.5% crystallization) and Tg/T in both dry and water containing systems. Since fragility is unaffected by modest amounts of water, much like crystallization time, the mobility in the glass is expected to scale with Tg.


Continuous recognition and tracking of objects in live video captured on a mobile device enables real-time user interaction. We demonstrate a streaming mobile augmented reality system with 1 second latency. User interest is automatically inferred from camera movements, so the user never has to press a button. Our system is used to identify and track book and CD covers in real time on a phone's viewfinder. Efficient motion estimation is performed at 30 frames per second on a phone, while fast search through a database of 20,000 images is performed on a server.


Tokenization is considered a solved problem when reduced to just word borders identification, punctuation and white spaces handling. Obtaining a high quality outcome from this process is essential for subsequent NLP piped processes (POS-tagging, WSD). In this paper we claim that to obtain this quality we need to use in the tokenization disambiguation process all linguistic, morphosyntactic, and semantic-level word-related information as necessary. We also claim that semantic disambiguation performs much better in a bilingual context than in a monolingual one. Then we prove that for the disambiguation purposes the bilingual text provided by high profile on-line machine translation services performs almost to the same level with human-originated parallel texts (Gold standard). Finally we claim that the tokenization algorithm incorporated in TORO can be used as a criterion for on-line machine translation services comparative quality assessment and we provide a setup for this purpose.


Chipita International, Inc., one of Greece's largest manufacturers of bakery products and snacks, makes croissants on seven specialized processing lines in Lamia, Greece. A rise in the demand for croissants over the past years called for an increase in output. We undertook a project to determine cost-effective ways of speeding up the croissant-processing lines. We found that the efficiency of a typical line (the ratio of the effective processing rate to the nominal processing rate) was 86 percent because of equipment failures. To reduce the impact of failures and increase the efficiency of the line, we proposed to modify the line by inserting an in-process buffer-refrigerator having a capacity of 40,000 croissants in the middle of the line and by speeding up the part of the line upstream of the buffer. We found that the efficiency of the modified line would rise to just under 98 percent at a cost of a minor increase in in-process inventory. We estimated that the modified design of the line would bring in extra earnings and savings of $19,150 per week because of the resulting increase in output, the elimination of the first shift of the week, and the reduction of scrapped material during long failures.


This article presents a study that was carried out two years after teachers completed a training course in computerized instruction, entitled "Intel Education for the Future". The purpose of the study was to measure the degree to which the teachers internalized the skills taught in the training course, thereby, assisting them in integrating the use of the computer in the classroom. For this purpose, certain parameters were chosen: the teacher's method of working in the classroom, the effect of computer instruction on the students and the difficulties encountered upon integrating the computer in the classroom. The research tools were questionnaires and interviews. The main conclusion of the research was that the teachers successfully internalized the skills needed for the use of technology. Teachers are now using the computer to search for information suitable for worksheets and tests and for e-mailing their colleagues. Most of the teachers noted that the most useful tool for their work is the office program. The teachers pointed out that the use of computers raises the students' motivation and improves their understanding of the material. They did not report any special difficulties in integrating the computer into their teaching methods.


PURPOSE
The anatomical changes that occur between the simulation CT and daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) are investigated using an automated landmark-guided deformable image registration (LDIR) algorithm with simultaneous intensity correction. LDIR was designed to be accurate in the presence of tissue intensity mismatch and heavy noise contamination.

METHOD
An auto-landmark generation algorithm was used in conjunction with a local small volume (LSV) gradient matching search engine to map corresponding landmarks between the CBCT and planning CT. The LSVs offsets were used to perform an initial deformation, generate landmarks, and correct local intensity mismatch. The landmarks act as stabilizing controlpoints in the Demons objective function. The accuracy of the LDIR algorithm was evaluated on one synthetic case with ground truth and data of ten head and neck cancer patients. The deformation vector field (DVF) accuracy was accessed using a synthetic case. The Root mean square error of the 3D canny edge (RMSECE), mutual information (MI), and feature similarity index metric (FSIM) were used to access the accuracy of LDIR on the patient data. The quality of the corresponding deformed contours was verified by an attending physician.

RESULTS
The resulting 90 percentile DVF error for the synthetic case was within 5.63mm for the original demons algorithm, 2.84mm for intensity correction alone, 2.45mm using controlpoints without intensity correction, and 1.48 mm for the LDIR algorithm. For the five patients the mean RMSECE of the original CT, Demons deformed CT, intensity corrected Demons CT, control-point stabilized deformed CT, and LDIR CT was 0.24, 0.26, 0.20, 0.20, and 0.16 respectively.

CONCLUSION
LDIR is accurate in the presence of multimodal intensity mismatch and CBCT noise contamination. Since LDIR is GPU based it can be implemented with minimal additional strain on clinical resources. This project has been supported by a CPRIT individual investigator award RP11032.


Exponential stability of time varying singular distributed parameter system are discussed in Hilbert space. Some necessary and sufficient conditions for the exponential stability are obtained by using functional analysis and GE-evolution operator (i.e., generalized evolution operator). This research is theoretically important for studying the stability of the time varying singular distributed parameter systems.


If space is compact, then a traveller twin can leave Earth, travel back home without changing direction and find her sedentary twin older than herself. We show that the asymmetry between their spacetime trajectories lies in a topological invariant of their spatial geodesics, namely the homotopy class. This illustrates how the spacetime symmetry invariance group, although valid locally, is broken down globally as soon as some points of space are identified. As a consequence, any non-trivial space topology defines preferred inertial frames along which the proper time is longer than along any other one.


Podosomes are specialized adhesion sites found in rapidly migrating and invasive cells, most notably in cells from the myeloid lineage that participate in immune surveillance and phagocyte defence mechanisms. In this review, we describe the nature of leukocyte podosomes and the regulation of their turnover during migration by the key regulatory molecules Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein and WASP‐interacting protein.


Gaucher's disease is the most common group of lysosomal storage disorders caused by defective activity of an enzyme β-
glucosidase leading to accumulation of glucocerebroside in cells of macrophage lineage. Accumulation of glucosylceramide
in tissues leads to multisystem organ involvement. The "Gaucher cells" can be found in the spleen, liver, bone, and central
nervous system in affected individuals, causing hepatosplenomegaly, anemia, thrombocytopenia and skeletal diseases.
Serum β glucosidase levels <15% of mean normal activity confirms the diagnosis, enzyme replacement being the only
definitive treatment. We hereby report a case of Gauchers disease type 1 or non-neuropathic form presented with
pulmonary involvement. Despite its rarity in incidence, we presented this case to emphasize the importance of clinical
examination and bone marrow finding in the diagnosis of G.D. Early diagnosis is important, because the disease is rare and
diagnosis may be delayed.


This paper studies the effects of tuning delay of transmitters in packet-based optical broadcast networks. We consider scheduling of random traffic with tunable transmitters and fixed-tuned receivers and obtain the degradation imposed by tuning delay using several performance criteria, such as schedule completion time, average packet delay, and session blocking rates. We show that for off-line scheduling the effects of tuning delay are small even if the tuning time is as large as the packet duration. We provide a lower bound to the expected completion time of any off-line schedule with an arbitrary number of wavelengths. We then describe a near-optimal schedule which is based on the principle of having idle transmitters tune to wavelengths just-in-time to start their transmissions. Stability and capacity issues in the transmission of real-time traffic are considered and a queueing-theoretic analysis of average packet delay is given. The packet delay is found to be insensitive to tuning delay under near-optimal transmission scheduling. Finally we extend the model to connection-oriented networks and evaluate the session blocking performance for scheduled circuit connections.


Radar sensors are an attractive technology for different kinds of applications, especially, in the case of safety driving systems. This research deals with designing the target return signal detection algorithm for radar sensors using the generalized detector (GD) with adaptive detection threshold based on a sliding window technique to estimate the noise power. The general GD structure is introduced, and the proposed method to define the adaptive detection threshold is assumed to be employed by 24 GHz frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar sensor and the simulation results show the better detection performance in comparison with the cell averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) detector one which is widely used by radar sensor systems for car applications.


Minority student enrollment in engineering graduate programs continues to be a challenge especially among Hispanics. A relatively small number of Hispanics in undergraduate engineering programs decide to continue their education once they receive a bachelor degree. An array of factors affects each the student decision making process and commitment to pursue advanced degrees. Fortunately, many top ranked universities in the US have outreach summer programs to help guide undergraduate students through the unpredictable world of graduate studies. Unfortunately, many minority students do not know these programs exist nor know how to fully take advantage of the unique opportunities they offer. Outreach programs should have a strong marketing component to be completely successful. One successful way to increase minority participation in undergraduate summer programs is by active participation and involvement of faculty members at both ends of the outreach program. In this paper, a successful approach used in the recruiting of minority students is presented. The approach consists in networking faculty members at top ranked universities with faculty at minority serving institutions, who can help identify potential students. Once minority students are invited to participate in a particular undergraduate research program, the designated faculty should closely monitors the students' performance. In a typical outreach program, students are quickly introduced to an interesting research project and asked to perform a variety of tasks and activities similar to the ones assigned to any regular graduate students. They include literature search and review, organization and selection of research ideas and results, and development and implementation of a research plan. Students are highly encouraged to be self-reliant, innovative, highly motivated, organized and methodical which are necessary characteristics of any successful graduate student in graduate school. In the paper, a specific case study is presented, which discusses the importance of assessing the students abilities and skills early in the program to ensure successful completion of the research program objectives. Finally, a list of successful outcomes and recommendations are presented.


Traffic flow is a fundamental measure in transportation. Accurate traffic flow prediction also is crucial to the development of intelligent transportation systems and advanced traveler information systems. A novel multiscale wavelet support vector regression method (MW-SVR) is proposed for traffic flow prediction. Based on wavelet multi-resolution analysis, a scaling kernel function with multi-resolution characteristics is constructed, implements the combination of the wavelet technique with support vector regression. A variety of experiments are carried out. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach with multiscale wavelet kernel provides more optimal performance than that with radial basis function kernel, and the feasibility of applying MW-SVR in traffic flow prediction.


Introduction Social isolation has been found to be a significant risk factor for health outcomes, on par with traditional risk factors. This isolation is characterised by reduced social interactions, which can be detected acoustically. To accomplish this, we created a machine learning algorithm called SocialBit. SocialBit runs on a smartwatch and detects minutes of social interaction based on vocal features from ambient audio samples without natural language processing. Methods and analysis In this study, we aim to validate the accuracy of SocialBit in stroke survivors with varying speech, cognitive and physical deficits. Training and testing on persons with diverse neurological abilities allows SocialBit to be a universally accessible social sensor. We are recruiting 200 patients and following them for up to 8 days during hospitalisation and rehabilitation, while they wear a SocialBit-equipped smartwatch and engage in naturalistic daily interactions. Human observers tally the interactions via a video livestream (ground truth) to analyse the performance of SocialBit against it. We also examine the association of social interaction time with stroke characteristics and outcomes. If successful, SocialBit would be the first social sensor available on commercial devices for persons with diverse abilities. Ethics and dissemination This study has received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of Mass General Brigham (Protocol #2020P003739). The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.


This chapter argues that Emma Goldman's anarchist feminism is a vital, if under-studied, influence on modernist women's communities. Despite the generation separating them, Goldman and modernist women, such as Margaret Anderson and Emily Holmes Coleman, were united by their improvised personal lives and pursuit of individual liberty in the realm of art and politics. In the fight against censorship, Goldman's little magazine Mother Earth was a direct role model for Anderson in her fight to publish James Joyce's Ulysses in the Little Review; a decade later, Coleman provided Goldman with editorial assistance (and occasional resistance) in the writing of Goldman's Living My Life. Further, both Anderson and Coleman introduced Goldman to modernist writers like Joyce and Virginia Woolf, challenging Goldman to reconsider her ideas of what counted as revolutionary in the fields of art and literature. Through their aesthetic and political differences, we observe an early example of intergenerational American feminism negotiating influence and relevance. Ultimately, Goldman's work as an anarchist activist and public speaker, especially her focus on women's autonomy and freedom, provided the groundwork for the experimental personal lives and networks of support that shaped modernist women's communities.


In the context of Monte Carlo simulations, the analysis of the probability distribution PL(m) of the order parameter m, as obtained in simulation boxes of finite linear extension L, allows for an easy estimation of the location of the critical point and the critical exponents. For Ising-like systems without quenched disorder, PL(m) becomes scale-invariant at the critical point, where it assumes a characteristic bimodal shape featuring two overlapping peaks. In particular, the ratio between the value of PL(m) at the peaks (PL, max) and the value at the minimum in between (PL, min) becomes L-independent at criticality. However, for Ising-like systems with quenched random fields, we argue that instead should be observed, where θ > 0 is the 'violation of hyperscaling' exponent. Since θ is substantially non-zero, the scaling of ΔFL with system size should be easily detectable in simulations. For two fluid models with quenched disorder, ΔFL versus L was measured and the expected scaling was confirmed. This provides further evidence that fluids with quenched disorder belong to the universality class of the random field Ising model.


Isomeric C6H6 species produced by high-pressure shock tube pyrolysis of 1,5-hexadiyne have been investigated by gas chromatography-matrix isolation FTIR spectroscopy-mass spectrometry. In addition to benzene (stable end product) and 1,5-hexadiyne (starting material), six isomeric C6H6 species have been identified on the basis of spectroscopic characteristics. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions of stable species that will be formed in the pyrolysis of 1,5-hexadiyne and key species have been positively identified for the first time.


Working memory (WM) problems are frequently present in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Even though hippocampal damage has been repeatedly shown to play an important role, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the neurophysiological underpinnings of WM impairment in MS using magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from a visual‐verbal 2‐back task. We analysed MEG recordings of 79 MS patients and 38 healthy subjects through event‐related fields and theta (4–8 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) oscillatory processes. Data was source reconstructed and parcellated based on previous findings in the healthy subject sample. MS patients showed a smaller maximum theta power increase in the right hippocampus between 0 and 400 ms than healthy subjects (p = .014). This theta power increase value correlated negatively with reaction time on the task in MS (r = −.32, p = .029). Evidence was provided that this relationship could not be explained by a 'common cause' confounding relationship with MS‐related neuronal damage. This study provides the first neurophysiological evidence of the influence of hippocampal dysfunction on WM performance in MS.


Overloading is a technique to accommodate more number of users than the spreading factor N. This is a bandwidth efficient scheme to increase the number users or data rate in a fixed bandwidth. These schemes can be used to avoid the orthogonal code shortage problem to provide broadband wireless access in cellular communication. One of the efficient schemes to overload a CDMA system is to use two sets of orthogonal signal waveforms (O/O). The first set is assigned to the N users and the second set is assigned to the additional users. An iterative multistage detection (IMSD) technique is used to cancel interference between the two sets of users. In this paper, the BER performance of a new overloading scheme using orthogonal Gold code (OG/OG) sets is evaluated with soft decision interference cancellation scheme (SDIC). It is observed that this scheme provides 25% channel overloading for synchronous DS-CDMA system in an AWGN channel for spreading factor length N = 64, assuming perfect power control. The SNR degradation is about 0.35 dB as compared to single user bound at a BER of 1e-5. With imperfect power control, the BER performance degrades considerably and we can only overload up to 11% with an SNR degradation of about 1.25 dB as compared to perfect power control single user bound at a BER of 1e-5.


Aims: To examine the effectiveness of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to screen people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), to associate the MoCA score with the presence of infarction, and to detect the characteristics of people with very mild subcortical vascular dementia (vmSVD). Methods: 392 out of 886 community dwellers aged 75 years and above living in Kurihara, Northern Japan, agreed to participate in our study; 164 scored a Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) of 0 (healthy), 184 scored a CDR of 0.5 (MCI) and 44 scored a CDR of 1+ (dementia). The participants scoring a CDR of 0.5 were divided into 2 subtypes: 37 had vmSVD and 147 had other types of dementia. The objective variables were the total MoCA, the MoCA subscale and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: There was a difference in the MoCA and MMSE scores between the 3 CDR groups. The MoCA score overlapped in participants with CDR 0 and 0.5. There were significant CDR effects, while there were no significant infarction effects for the MoCA and MMSE. vmSVD participants had lower scores on the total MoCA, the MoCA attention subscale and MMSE than healthy elderly people and participants with other types of dementia. Conclusion: Our results suggested that MMSE performed rather well and that the MoCA is not superior to MMSE in MCI and vmSVD participants aged 75 and above in a community.


Asparagus racemosus Willd. is an important medicinal plant of tropical and subtropical regions of Nepal and India. Its medicinal usage has been reported in the Indian and British Pharmacopoeias and in traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha. Asparagus curillus Buch-Ham.ex Roxb. is also one of the species found in higher altitude of Nepal. Its roots are used as substitute for A. racemosus . Phytochemical investigation was done for these two species of Nepalese Asparagus as per Methodology for Analysis of Vegetable Drugs by I. Ciulei.1982. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of coumarin, flavonoid, catecholic tannin, reducing compound in alcoholic extract of A. racemosus while its aqueous extract revealed polyuronoid, reducing compound, polyoses, saponin, gallic tannin, catecholic tannin, etc. Similarly, alcoholic extract of A. curillus revealed catecholic tannin, reducing compound and aqueous extract revealed polyuronoid polyoses, saponin, gallic tannin as main phytochemical compounds. Comparative antimicrobial activity of ethanolic extract of these two species has been evaluated using Kirby-Bauer Agar well diffusion method. The extracts were screened for their antimicrobial activity on nine different strains of human pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalies, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans . Among them A. racemosus has shown selected antimicrobial effects against B. subtilis, E. coli, E. faecalis, S. cerevisiae and C. albicans with zone of inhibition of 25 mm in an average. While A. curillus showed effects on S. cerevisiae and C. albicans only with zone of inhibition about12 mm. J. Nat. Hist. Mus. Vol. 29, 2015, Page: 91-102


In order to evaluate the direct effects of morphine sulfate (MS) on vascular smooth muscle (VSM), a helical strip preparation of canine cutaneous VSM was prepared from vessels of approximately 150 to 250 mug internal diameter. When evaluated at a variety of muscle lengths from 20% to 60% above unstretched length, in the absence and in the presence of norepinephrine (2 to 10x10(-4) mg/cc), MS (10(-3) to 10(-1) mg/cc) failed to produce any noticeable effect. Thus, the well-known arteriolar dilator effect of MS is not a direct effect of the drug on VSM and it is not secondary to blockade of vascular alpha-adrenergic receptors.


Rationale: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have high annual mortality mainly due to cardiovascular causes. The acute effects of obstructive and central sleep apnea on cardiac function in ESRD patients have not been determined. We therefore tested, in patients with ESRD, the hypotheses that (1) sleep apnea induces deterioration in cardiac function overnight and (2) attenuation of sleep apnea severity by ultrafiltration (UF) attenuates this deterioration. Methods: At baseline, ESRD patients, on conventional hemodialysis, with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >45% had polysomnography (PSG) performed on a non-dialysis day to determine the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). Echocardiography was performed at the bedside, before and after sleep. Isovolumetric contraction time divided by left ventricular ejection time (IVCT/ET) and isovolumetric relaxation time divided by ET (IVRT/ET) were measured by tissue doppler imaging. The myocardial performance index (MPI), a composite of systolic and diastolic function was also calculated. One week later, subjects with sleep apnea (AHI ≥15) had fluid removed by UF, followed by repeat PSG and echocardiography. Results: Fifteen subjects had baseline measurements, of which 7 had an AHI <15 (no–sleep-apnea group) and 8 had an AHI ≥15 (sleep-apnea group). At baseline, there was no overnight change in the LVEF in either the no-sleep-apnea group or the sleep-apnea group. In the no-sleep-apnea group, there was also no overnight change in MPI, IVCT/ET and IVRT/ET. However, in the sleep-apnea group there were overnight increases in MPI, IVCT/ET and IVRT/ET (p = 0.008, 0.007 and 0.031, respectively), indicating deterioration in systolic and diastolic function. Following fluid removal by UF in the sleep-apnea group, the AHI decreased by 48.7% (p = 0.012) and overnight increases in MPI, IVCT/ET and IVRT/ET observed at baseline were abolished. Conclusions: In ESRD, cardiac function deteriorates overnight in those with sleep apnea, but not in those without sleep apnea. This overnight deterioration in the sleep-apnea group may be at least partially due to sleep apnea, since attenuation of sleep apnea by UF was accompanied by elimination of this deleterious overnight effect.


Next-generation sequencing studies on ocular adnexal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (OAML) have to date revealed several targets of genetic aberrations. However, most of our current understanding of the pathogenesis and prognosis of OAML is primarily based on studies conducted in populations from Europe and the US. Furthermore, the majority were based on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, which generally has poor integrity and creates many sequencing artifacts. To better investigate the coding genome landscapes of OAML, especially in the Chinese population, we performed whole-exome sequencing of 21 OAML cases with fresh frozen tumor tissue and matched peripheral blood samples. IGLL5, as a novel recurrently mutated gene, was found in 24% (5/21) of patients, with a higher relapse rate (P=0.032). In addition, mutations of MSH6, DIS3, FAT1, and TMEM127 were found in 10% of cases. These novel somatic mutations indicate the existence of additional/alternative lymphomagenesis pathways in OAML. Moreover, the difference between our and previous studies suggests genetic heterogeneity of OAML between Asian and Western individuals.


The load-bearing capacity of pavement structures is a fundamental structural performance metric of transportation infrastructure networks in the context of safe and efficient movement of people and goods from one place to another. Non-destructive test (NDT) methods are typically employed to routinely evaluate the structural condition of pavement structures, their lifespan and the appropriate maintenance activities to be carried out. This involves computing the Young's modulus of each layer of the pavement structure through inverse analysis of acquired NDT data. Over the past two decades, soft computing techniques such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Genetic Algorithms (GAs), and Fuzzy Logic Approach (FLA) have been applied in numerous civil engineering fields for pattern recognition, function approximation, etc. This paper proposes the use of an Adaptive-Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) combined with Finite Element Modeling (FEM) for inverse analysis of multi-layered flexible pavement structures subjected to dynamic loading. Using the proposed approach, it will be possible for pavement engineers to characterize the non-linear, stress-dependent modulus of the pavement layers based on the NDT data in real time, identify the pavement defects, and better determine the appropriate rehabilitation strategy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Gopalakrishnan, K., Khaitan, S. K., and Ceylan, H. (2009). "Non-linear Inverse Analysis of Transportation Structures Using Neuro-Adaptive Networks with Hybrid Learning Algorithm ," ANNIE 2009, ANNs in Engineering, St. Louis, Missouri, November 2-4, pp. 99-106. 2


BACKGROUND
Inflammatory processes are suggested to play a pathogenic role in the development and progression of non-rheumatic aortic stenosis (AS). Major surgery causes an inflammatory reaction. With the increasing prevalence of non-rheumatic AS, the number of affected patients undergoing major surgery increases. We hypothesized that major non-cardiac surgery (MNCS) could accelerate the progression of non-rheumatic AS.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We enrolled 218 consecutive patients with non-rheumatic AS who underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) at least twice more than 6 months apart. Study patients were divided into the MNCS group and the non-MNCS group. The MNCS group consisted of patients who underwent MNCS during the TTE follow-up interval. At baseline, peak pressure gradient across the aortic valve (AVG) was similar between the groups. Also baseline clinical characteristics and TTE follow-up interval were similar. The annual rate of peak AVG increase was much higher in the MNCS group than in the non-MNCS group. The proportion of patients with rapid hemodynamic progression was much higher in the MNCS group than in the non-MNCS group. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that MNCS was an independent predictor of rapid hemodynamic progression of non-rheumatic AS.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study indicates for the first time that MNCS is associated with the rapid progression of non-rheumatic AS.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary hypertension is a disorder that is perpetually fatal unless a tentative therapy is instituted. It can be described as a syndrome considering its clinical and pathophysiological manifestations. In this disorder, there is an imbalance within the vascular mediators which possibly arises due to pulmonary endothelial cell injury or dysfunction. Pharmacotherapy in PAH is aimed to reverse the imbalance present among the chemical mediators, offer relief to patients from symptoms and prolong their survival. In addition to other supportive measures, iloprost and bosentan form the cornerstone of treatment. Iloprost, a vasodilator and stable analogue of prostacyclin, confers great benefit through vasodilation, antiproliferative effects and inhibition of platelet aggregation. Bosentan, an oral non-specific endothelin-receptor antagonist with dual activity on both ETA and ETB receptors, has been shown to improve the patient's quality of life on the overall.

METHOD
Review of relevant literature was conducted using manual library search and internet articles. The key words employed were pulmonary hypertension, prostacyclin, endothelin-receptor antagonist, hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia, iloprost and bosentan. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute website was also used in the course of this review.

RESULTS
Several studies were able to outline the haemodynamic advantages of iloprost and bosentan in pulmonary arterial hypertension, as evident by improvement in six-minute walk test of patients treated with these agents.

CONCLUSION
This review was able to outline the pharmacotherapeutic benefits and role played by inhaled iloprost (in addition to its stable nature and minimal adverse effects) and bosentan in the management of PAH. Several studies have shown that these agents improve the patient's quality of life on the overall considering their favourable effect on pulmonary haemodynamics, symptoms reduction and exercise tolerance.


The Anticlinal of Estremoz, in Portugal, is one of world's main sites of marble extraction. Annually, millions-of-tons of marble are extracted from the multiple quarries present in the area, but only 9% of picked material is marketed because only this percentage is considered of "quality". Due to economic reasons, today, only a small number of quarries remains active and this has contributed to the degradation of the site. The remaining 91% of the unused material is shelved in stone accumulations, designated by "Escombreiras", creating a strong impact on the landscape that cannot be disposed due to cost. The present research is based on the paradigm shift of going beyond the appearance, considering the mounds of waste not as imperfections but as having a great eco-friendly potential for the requalification of the area. Their reuse will be the basis for the promotion of new buildings inside and above the mounds of waste, integrated with the surrounding landscape, ecology and geology using interdisciplinarity as the key driver for innovation. The advantages are: sustainability, because it uses the local waste materials that are reused in situ preserving the identity of the industrial place; there will also be energy savings, because the wastes don't need to be moved elsewhere; finally, the buildings will be naturally heated or cooled due to the large thickness of the marble walls and other inherent features. Therefore, these buildings can generate nearly zero emissions of CO2 and they will contribute to the reduction of pollution, helped by the presence of the existing vegetal cover, which fixes the pollutants in the air and produces oxygen. The abandoned area will be transformed into a liveable and sustainable touristic place, reusing, in a contemporary way, the concept of vernacular architecture, keeping the tradition, but also using the present technologies to achieve significant energy savings.


Cotton is an important natural fiber crop; its seeds are the main oil source. Abiotic stresses cause a significant decline in its production. The WUSCHEL-related Homeobox (WOX) genes have been involved in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, the functions of WOX genes are less known in cotton. This study identified 39, 40, 21, and 20 WOX genes in Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium arboreum, and Gossypium raimondii, respectively. All the WOX genes in four cotton species could be classified into three clades, which is consistent with previous research. The gene structure and conserved domain of all WOX genes were analyzed. The expressions of WOX genes in germinating hypocotyls and callus were characterized, and it was found that most genes were up-regulated. One candidate gene Gh_ A01G127500 was selected to perform the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) experiment, and it was found that the growth of the silenced plant (pCLCrVA: GhWOX4_A01) was significantly inhibited compared with the wild type. In the silenced plant, there is an increase in antioxidant activities and a decrease in oxidant activities compared with the control plant. In physiological analysis, the relative electrolyte leakage level and the excised leaf water loss of the infected plant were increased. Still, both the relative leaf water content and the chlorophyll content were decreased. This study proved that WOX genes play important roles in drought stress and callus induction, but more work must be performed to address the molecular functions of WOX genes.


With the increasing complexity of embedded systems, the firmware has become a valuable asset. At the same time, pressure for cost reductions in hardware is imminent. These two aspects are united at the heart of the system, i.e., the microcontroller. It runs and protects its firmware, but simultaneously has to prevail against cheaper alternatives. For the very popular STM32F1 microcontroller series, this has caused the emergence of many competitors in the last few years who offer drop-in replacements or even sell counterfeit devices at a fraction of the original price. Thus, the question emerges whether the replacements are silicon-level clones and, if not, whether they provide better, equal, or less security. In this paper, we analyze a total of six devices by four manufacturers, including the original device, in depth. Via a low-level analysis, we identify all of them as being individually developed devices. We further put the focus on debug and hardware security, discovering several novel vulnerabilities in all devices, causing the exposure of the entire firmware. All of the presented vulnerabilities, including invasive ones, are on a Do it Yourself (DiY) level without the demand for a sophisticated lab -- thereby underlining the urgency for hardware fixes. To facilitate further research, reproduction, and testing of other devices, we provide a comprehensive description of all vulnerabilities in this paper and code for proofs-of-concepts online.


Colonial powers in China and northern Indochina employed the built environment for many purposes: as an expression of imperial aspirations, a manifestation of colonial power, a tool in the mission to civilize, a recreation of a home away from home, or simply as a place to live and work for the colonizers and the colonized. In this volume, scholars of city planning, architecture, and Asian and imperial history provide a detailed analysis of how colonization worked both at the top and bottom levels of the society and how it was expressed in stone, iron, and concrete. The process of creating the colonial built environment was multilayered, complicated, and unpredictable. This book stresses the regional diversity of the colonial built form found from Harbin to Hanoi, diverse experiences of the foreign powers in Asia, flexible interactions between the colonizers and the colonized, and the many risks entailed in building and living in these colonies and treaty ports.


In observations with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, we have discovered quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) near 1 kHz from 4U 1705-44, a low-mass X-ray binary with a neutron star classified as an atoll source. In six separate observations, we detect one QPO with a frequency ranging between 770 and 870 Hz and a 4% rms fraction in the full detector energy band. There is evidence for a second QPO at 1073 Hz in one interval. The separation in frequency of the two QPOs is 298±11 Hz. The QPOs are present only in observations where the mass accretion rate is inferred to be at an intermediate level, based on the atoll source phenomenology. At the highest accretion rates, the QPOs are not detected with upper limits to the rms fraction of about 2%. At the lowest accretion rates, the upper limits are about 4%. The QPO frequency increases with inferred mass accretion rate. This is expected in models where the QPO frequency is generated by motion at an inner edge of the accretion disk. An increased mass accretion rate causes the disk edge to move in, increasing the orbital frequency. Five type I X-ray bursts are observed with no detectable oscillations.


The authors exploit an unusual policy experiment to evaluate the effects of increased public access to information as a tool to reduce capture and corruption of public funds. In the late 1990s, the Ugandan government initiated a newspaper campaign to boost schools' and parents' ability to monitor local officials' handling of a large school-grant program. The results were striking: capture was reduced from 80 percent in 1995 to less than 20 percent in 2001. The authors use distance to the nearest newspaper outlet as an instrument for exposure to the campaign. Proximity to a newspaper outlet is positively correlated with the head teachers' knowledge about rules governing the grant program and the timing of releases of funds from the center, but uncorrelated with test scores of general ability. A strong (reduced-form) relationship exists between proximity to a newspaper outlet and reduction in capture of school funds since the newspaper campaign started. This pattern contrasts sharply with the outcomes in the five-year period prior to the campaign. Instrumenting for head teachers' knowledge about the grant program, the authors find that public access to information is a powerful deterrent to capture at the local level.


The paper considers the problem of ship autopilot design based on Bech's model of the vessel. Since the ship model is highly nonlinear and the state vector is not completely measurable, the control system synthesis is performed by means of output feedback linearization method combined with a state observer. Due to considerable parameter variations and other substantial uncertainties a robust-adaptive version of the method has been applied. The whole control system is able to ensure tracking performance on the H∞ optimal attenuation level. This is the so-called H∞ tracking problem in an adaptive system. Simulations of the ship course-changing process have confirmed a good performance of the proposed controller.


We report the case of a 62-year-old man with a long-standing lesion on the dorsum of his right foot. The patient had diabetes mellitus and was under treatment with oral antidiabetic agents. The lesion contained abundant necrotic tissue, the borders showed evident signs of inflammation, and there was abundant prurulent exudate. Symptoms of infection were observed and a long course of broad-spectum antibiotics was administered. Given the site and characteristics of the lesion, unselective cleansing techniques were avoided. Collagen powder and silver dressing were applied to control bacteria and finally alginate and silicone sponge dressings were applied to soak up the exudate and keep the area moist. After 22 weeks of treatment, evident signs of improvement were observed, allowing the patient to perform activities of daily living.


ABSTRACT Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates have previously been classified into major epidemic clonal types by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in combination with multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing. We aimed to investigate whether genetic variability in potentially polymorphic domains of virulence-related factors could provide another level of differentiation in a diverse collection of epidemic MRSA clones. The target regions of strains representative of epidemic clones and genetically related methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates from the 1960s that were sequenced included the R domains of clfA and clfB; the D, W, and M regions of fnbA and fnbB; and three regions in the agr operon. Sequence variation ranged from very conserved regions, such as those for RNAIII and the agr interpromoter region, to the highly polymorphic R regions of the clf genes. The sequences of the clf R domains could be grouped into six major sequence types on the basis of the sequences in their 3′ regions. Six sequence types were also observed for the fnb sequences at the amino acid level. From an evolutionary point of view, it was interesting that a small DNA stretch at the 3′ clf R-domain sequence and the fnb sequences agreed with the results of MLST for this set of strains. In particular, clfB R-domain sequences, which had a high discriminatory capacity and with which the types distinguished were congruent with those obtained by other molecular typing methods, have potential for use for the typing of S. aureus. Clone- and strain-specific sequence motifs in the clf and fnb genes may represent useful additions to a typing methodology with a DNA array.


Intensive care in hospitals is distributed to different units that care for patient populations reflecting specific comorbidities, treatments, and outcomes. Unit expertise can be shared to potentially improve the quality of methods and outcomes for patients across units. We propose an algorithmic rule pruning approach for use in building short lists of human-interpretable rules that reliably identify patient beneficiaries of expertise transfers in the form of machine learning risk models. Our experimental results, obtained with two intensive care monitoring datasets, demonstrate the potential utility of the proposed method in practice.