Flow microfluorometric DNA analysis was applied on a routine basis additionally to the conventional pathologic diagnostics of biopsy samples. The evaluation of the DNA distributions for the determination of the fractions of cells in different stages of the cell cycle was complicated by varying portions of background debris, which was generally found to be present in suspensions of single dispersed cells prepared from solid tissues. By means of computerized subtraction of exponentially decreasing corrections, it was possible to clear the original flow microfluorometric distributions. The contribution of background debris was found to cause erroneous overestimation, particularly in the evaluation of low S-phase fractions. By means of the corrections, even samples containing more than 65 per cent nuclear fragments could be evaluated with sufficient accuracy. The correct evaluation of the S-phase fraction possibly could indicate the degree of differentiation and proliferative activity of tissues. Low S-phase fractions within the range of normal regeneration were found in benign alterations and well differentiated carcinomas. In contrast, S-phase fractions up to 40 per cent were present in poorly differentiated tumors with extended cellular atypia, largely varying nuclear size and staining properties. The combination of conventional pathologic diagnostics with quantitative determination of the fractions of cells within the stages of the cell cycle in biopsy samples on a routine basis could supplement the diagnoses by therapeutically relevant information.


In order to investigate the protective mechanism of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI), ten AKI patients and ten healthy controls were enrolled. In AKI patients, levels of creatinine (Cre), urea nitrogen (BUN), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity as well as concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were significantly increased compared with those of controls. However, plasma level of H2S decreased and was linearly correlated with levels of Cre and BUN. After that, an AKI mouse model by intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection was constructed for in vivo study. In AKI mice, H2S levels decreased with the decline of 3-MST activity and expression; similar changes were observed in other indicators mentioned above. However, the protein expressions of TLR4, NLRP3, and caspase-1 in mice kidney tissues were significantly increased 6 h after LPS injection. NaHS could improve renal function and kidney histopathological changes, attenuate LPS-induced inflammation and oxidative stress, and inhibit expressions of TLR4, NLRP3, and caspase-1. Our study demonstrated that endogenous H2S is involved in the pathogenesis of SA-AKI, and exogenous H2S exerts protective effects against LPS-induced AKI by inhibiting inflammation and oxidative stress via the TLR4/NLRP3 signaling pathway.


OBJECTIVES
We aimed to determine the best time period for an early invasive intervention in non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) patients.

BACKGROUND
Studies assessing the timing of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with NSTEACS have failed to generate a consensus on when PCI should be performed in such patients.

METHODS
Literature searches were conducted for randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) on NSTEACS from 1970 through September 2012. Patients were analyzed who were at moderate to high risk for NSTEACS and who underwent angiography within 96 hours. The major outcomes were the rate of death, recurrent myocardial infarction (re-MI), stroke, and major bleeding.

RESULTS
Eight RCTs, which included 5761 patients, were eligible. There were no significant differences in the odds of death or stroke between time points. Conversely, patients undergoing angiography before 2 hours were associated with a higher rate of re-MI, compared with those undergoing angiography more than 2 hours later (odds ratio [OR], 2.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.53-3.02; P<.001; I² = 0%). Major bleeding events decreased only with angiography performed within 12 hours, compared to more than 12 hours (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.44-0.96; P=.03; I² = 0%). Angiography before 2 hours was not associated with a lower rate of major bleeding compared with angiography after 2 hours (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.28-1.30; P=.20; I² = 0%).

CONCLUSIONS
Angiography within 12 hours reduces the risk of major bleeding. There is no need to push for angiography within 2 hours.


The scheduling of the final project / thesis lecturer examiners must be in accordance with the competency of the examining lecturer. In addition to considering the competency of examiners, the scheduling process must pay attention to several aspects, including the availability of rooms used in the session, the available schedule of examiners and the number of available sessions.So we need a final assignment examiner information system with Genetic algorithms, and calculate the accuracy value using k-fold cross validation. Through the approach of Genetic Algorithm, it is expected that the system designed to produce the most optimal final / thesis exam schedule based on fitness values, considering this algorithm uses a combination of the principle of natural selection and inheritance in order to get individuals or schedules as expected. The stages of algorithm testing using lecturer datasets, the field of lecturer science, the concentration of lecturers, students, the field of student knowledge and the concentration of students obtained from the Amikom website. The results of the tests were carried out statistical tests to find out the results of applying Genetic Algorithms. Then it will be concluded whether it has answered the problem statement and according to the research objectives. Berdasarkan hasil pengujian didapatkan nilai optimal berada pada kombinasi Probabilitas Crossover 0.7 dan Probabilitas Mutasi 0.4


Although significant advances have been made in the treatment of malignant diseases, many agents cause nausea and vomiting severe enough to cause patients to be hospitalised or to refuse further treatment. Several classes of anti-emetics are currently used, but are only partially effective and are often associated with side effects such as extrapyramidal reactions. Ondansetron, a specific 5-HT3 antagonist, has been fully evaluated in the clinic, both as an intravenous and oral presentation, and in open studies in patients receiving non-cisplatin chemotherapy regimens it was highly effective in controlling acute and delayed emesis -- more than 90% of patients had a complete or major response to treatment. In three randomised, double-blind studies comparing ondansetron and metoclopramide, ondansetron was found to be superior in the control of both emesis and nausea. Ondansetron was also shown to be safe and well tolerated; in particular, no extrapyramidal reactions were reported.


Duplex stainless steels (DSS) have been considered as one of new materials for equipment used in the offshore gas and oil industry since these steels possess favourable mechanical and high corrosion-resistance properties. However, the surface hardness and wear resistance of DSS are relatively poor and it had shown that their wear in sea water is a major concern. Improving the wear resistance without losing corrosion resistance was an arduous challenge throughout the surface engineering industry. Recently, a new low-temperature plasma surface alloying technique has been developed to achieve combined improvements in hardness, wear resistance and fatigue properties for austenitic stainless steels without impairing their corrosion behaviour due to the formation of S-phase (Prof. Hanshan Dong, 2010). A great quantity reports have been published about S-phase in austenite stainless steels during the past two decades. A few researches have been reported on formation of S-phase in duplex stainless steels. However, no conclusions have been made and some disputes are still active. Hence, the aim of this project is to study the response of three duplex stainless steels on forming S-phase surface layer by low-temperature plasma nitriding.


DESCRIPTION A 49-year-old male, status postresection of melanoma 2 years ago, presented with constipation, abdominal pain and abdominal distension for the last 1 week. CT abdomen with contrast showed small bowel obstruction and a transition point was identified in the central abdomen (figure 1). Also noted were innumerable hepatic and splenic metastases (figure 2), and innumerable abdominal lymph nodes, largest one measuring 6.9 cm. After 3 h, a repeat CT abdomen was performed to look for delayed passage of contrast beyond the transition point. In this interim, the patient developed small bowel pneumatosis, with new mesenteric and portal venous gas (figures 3 and 4). An emergency laparotomy was performed. The entire mid small bowel was covered with fibrinous exudate with evidence of ischaemia and perforation. Ischaemia and obstruction was from strangulation of the small bowel due to lymph node adhesions and external compression by massively enlarged lymph nodes. A wide mesenteric resection was carried out incorporating all the large lymph nodes in the area of perforation. A primary anastomosis was performed between the ileum and the mid jejunum. Postsurgery, the patient remained mechanically ventilated with pressure support, but the family decided to withdraw all the supportive measures and the patient expired in 2 days. This rare radiological sign was first described by Wolfe and Evans 1 in neonates secondary to necrotising enterocolitis. It is believed that air leaks through the obstructed gut into capillary veins due to perforation of ischaemic intestinal wall. The treatment and prognosis of portal venous gas depends on the underlying cause. 2 In adults, it is mostly seen secondary to bowel ischaemia, hence requires emergency laparotomy and carries a high mortality. 3 This sign is also reported in some benign conditions requiring only conservative management. 4


In this paper, an image de-noising algorithm based on the Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DT-CWT) is proposed, which takes the advantage of redundant coefficients transformed by DT-CWT. The model of bivariate shrinkage function is used to provide a nonlinear threshold strategy. It exploits the dependency between inter-scale parents and children coefficients to recover the original coefficients more accurate. With the shift-invariance property of DT-CWT coefficients, the algorithm prevents the Gibbs effect caused by the thresholding, which further improves the reconstructed quality. Experiment results show that the de-noised image using DT-CWT can achieve more than 1dB prior to DWT with impressive visual results.


The "arteries and veins" of the Ming Empire were the relay (驛 yi) and post station (急遞鋪 jidipu) systems, two networks that worked together to circulate people, information, and goods throughout the realm. The relay system was an infrastructure of stations, horses, carts, and other facilities provided at government expense for the transportation, accommodation, and provision of a select group of imperial officials, tribute-bearing foreign envoys, and messengers from other government offices on their journeys to the capital. The express post station network with its foot posts and mail handling procedures was the communications system of the Ming Empire. Together, the two systems helped the state consolidate control over the empire, allowed the emperor to manage his officials, supported the conduct of diplomatic relations, and facilitated the movement of people, goods, and information across the empire.


In this paper, a methodological data condensation approach for reducing tabular big datasets in classification problems is presented, named FDR2-BD. The key of our proposal is to analyze data in a dual way (vertical and horizontal), so as to provide a smart combination between feature selection to generate dense clusters of data and uniform sampling reduction to keep only a few representative samples from each problem area. Its main advantage is allowing the model's predictive quality to be kept in a range determined by a user's threshold. Its robustness is built on a hyper-parametrization process, in which all data are taken into consideration by following a k-fold procedure. Another significant capability is being fast and scalable by using fully optimized parallel operations provided by Apache Spark. An extensive experimental study is performed over 25 big datasets with different characteristics. In most cases, the obtained reduction percentages are above 95%, thus outperforming state-of-the-art solutions such as FCNN_MR that barely reach 70%. The most promising outcome is maintaining the representativeness of the original data information, with quality prediction values around 1% of the baseline.


The ability for DNA polymerases (Pols) to overcome a variety of obstacles in its path to maintain genomic stability during replication is a complex endeavor. It requires the coordination of multiple Pols with differing specificities through molecular control and access to the replisome. Although a number of contacts directly between Pols and accessory proteins have been identified, forming the basis of a variety of holoenzyme complexes, the dynamics of Pol active site substitutions remain uncharacterized. Substitutions can occur externally by recruiting new Pols to replisome complexes through an "exchange" of enzyme binding or internally through a "switch" in the engagement of DNA from preformed associated enzymes contained within supraholoenzyme complexes. Models for how high fidelity (HiFi) replication Pols can be substituted by translesion synthesis (TLS) Pols at sites of damage during active replication will be discussed. These substitution mechanisms may be as diverse as the number of Pol families and types of damage; however, common themes can be recognized across species. Overall, Pol substitutions will be controlled by explicit protein contacts, complex multiequilibrium processes, and specific kinetic activities. Insight into how these dynamic processes take place and are regulated will be of utmost importance for our greater understanding of the specifics of TLS as well as providing for future novel chemotherapeutic and antimicrobial strategies.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the noise and vibration characteristics of externally pressurized air journal bearings with a circular slot restrictor. To do this, the nonlinear transient analysis including rotor imbalance was performed for a rotor-bearing system. The effects of radial clearance and the length of the bearing and mass eccentricity of the rotor on the noise and vibration characteristics of the bearing are also examined. The results show that the noise and vibration of the rotor-bearing system first increase up to critical speed of the system, and then decrease up to instability threshold speed of the system as the rotational speed of the rotor increases, and the noise of the bearing is markedly influenced by the mass eccentricity of the rotor and the radial clearance and the length of the bearing.


Abstract The present research employs the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) method to evaluate the probability of adverse effects in the water supply of Bom Repouso (MG), a city where the agriculture has caused an advanced degree of degradation of its sources. The methodology is based on the integration of different variables, divided into three Lines of Evidence (chemical, physical-chemical and ecotoxicological), and allows for the evaluation of risk assessment between 0.0 and 1.0 in the sampled environment. Five sampling points were evaluated in three periods, with the results varying between the four possible ratings (from low to very high), and it was not possible to identify a pattern of risk evolution between them. Thus, the method used proved to be efficient in assessing the degree of degradation of the environment, however, additional studies are required to improve this type of systemic impact assessment, based on the evaluation of the environmental degradation.


The author provides an overview of various key features of De Bruijn graph-based VLSI architectures. The advantages of De Bruijn architectures over such other architectures as cube and shuffle-exchange are discussed. Important differences between De Bruijn interconnects and others are also described. The evolution of the De Bruijn interconnect is described. The FFT architecture and the Viterbi decoder for convolutional codes are examined in detail. The issues of routing and fault tolerance are addressed.<<ETX>>


Long neglected by scholars, the Dead Sea scrolls rewriting Samuel-Kings shed precious light on the ancient Jewish interpretation of these books. This volume brings all these texts together for the first time under one cover. Improved editions of the fragments, up-to-date commentary, and detailed discussions of the exegetical traditions embedded in these scrolls will be of interest to both scholars and students of Second Temple Jewish literature.


Purpose: This study is designed to evaluate the clinical and radiographical results for the displacement of fracture fragments after interlocking intramedullary nailing in humeral shaft fractures. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the results of 8 cases of humeral shaft fractures that have displacements of over 10 mm and under 20 mm after interlocking intramedullary nailing between July 2004 and August 2011. The mean age was 54.1 years (range, 43 to 70 years) and there were 3 male and 5 female patients. Radiographically, the time to bony union, change of displacement and angulation of the fracture site, and degree of improvement of these two factors were measured. Clinically, the range of motion of shoulder and elbow joints, postoperative pain and complications were evaluated. Results: All cases showed complete bony union in last follow-up. The mean time to bony union was 16.1 weeks. At the last follow-up, almost all cases had normal range of motion of shoulder and elbow joints. But, one case had stiffness of shoulder joint. Therefore, arthroscopic capsular release and manipulation was performed. One case had transient shoulder pain and the other case had transient elbow pain. In the two cases, pull-out of proximal interlocking screw were noted, but they finally had bony union. Conclusion: Although considerable displacement of fracture fragments after interlocking intramedullary nailing in humeral shaft fractures was present, we had excellent radiographical and clinical outcomes. Therefore, an additional procedure, such as open reduction or another fixation for the fracture site, was not necessary.


This study develops a maximum power point tracking algorithm that optimizes solar array performance and adapts to rapidly varying irradiance conditions. In particular, a novel extremum seeking (ES) controller that utilizes the natural inverter ripple is designed and tested on a simulated solar array with a grid-tied inverter. The new algorithm is benchmarked against the perturb and observe (PO) method using high-variance irradiance data gathered on a rooftop array experiment in Princeton, NJ. The ES controller achieves efficiencies exceeding 99% with transient rise-time to the maximum power point of less than 0.1 s. It is shown that voltage control is more stable than current control and allows for accurate tracking of faster irradiance transients. The limitations of current control are demonstrated in an example. Finally, the effect of capacitor size on the performance of ripple-based ES control is investigated.


In order to improve the understanding of the diffusive chain movements leading to protein folding, we have studied microsecond conformational fluctuations in denatured yeast cytochrome c by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). We show that emitted fluorescence from the dye Alexa-488 chemically attached to the protein depends on the extension of the chain, such that fluctuations in chain length will give fluctuations in fluorescence intensity. Exposure to chemical denaturants leads to an increase in diffusion times, indicating expansion of the molecule. Structural fluctuations of the unfolded protein give rise to fluctuations in the emitted fluorescence. However, FCS measurements fail to show conformational fluctuations of chain segments, establishing an upper bound of 4 µs on the timescale of chain fluctuations in the denatured state. This clearly shows that an early process with a time constant of 50 µs observed in folding experiments must involve passage of a free energy barrier, and cannot be barrierless chain collapse as has been proposed.


We present five patients with recurrent pterygium. Prior to our surgical procedure the patients had had several surgical interventions as well as radiotherapy. Up to four-fifths of their corneal surface was covered by a multilayered pterygium including symblepharon scarring in the lower and upper lid, completely immobilizing the globe. The pterygium was removed, the conjunctival strains excised, and corneal abrasion was carried out with a rotating diamond tool. Finally, an optical non-freeze epikeratoplasty processed by the Non-freeze Barraquer-Krumreich-Swinger refractive set (BKS-1000) was sewn on the recipient cornea with a double running antitorque suture. In all patients, the epikeratoplasty donor cornea remained clear. In one patient there was a small pterygium recurrence, which was treated successfully with 5-fluorouracil.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 12-16, 2008; San Diego, CA

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Prostate cancer (PCA) is the most frequent tumor type in males and a major cause of death due to malignancy. Although the diagnosis of prostate cancer using serum based PSA assays has improved during the past decades, surprisingly little is currently known about early alterations in prostate cancer development. It is highly likely, that currently detectable morphological features of non-invasive neoplasia are preceded by specific molecular processes and that the volume of molecularly altered areas is substantially larger than the histologically manifest cancer or even the PIN area therein. The identification of such molecular changes could lead to novel strategies in the clinical management of cancer. We performed large-scale gene expression analysis on tissue samples, followed by real-time PCR validation on 114 prostate biopsy samples. We identified six genes, which displayed significant differential expression between morphologically normal prostate biopsy tissues from three groups of individuals differing by their risks of having prostate cancer. These results were independent of age, PSA (prostate specific antigen), frequency and timing of previous prostate biopsies, tissue composition (gland vs. stroma) and tumor stage or grade. In univariate logistic regression analyses the transcription levels of these genes were found to be highly discriminative markers to estimate the presence of prostate cancer based on the analysis of histologically tumor-free prostate biopsies. Our results suggest a measurable molecular cancer phenotype in histologically normal prostate tissue indicating the presence of prostate cancer elsewhere in the organ.


The objective of the research was to find the effective traps fro trapping the imago of Spodoptera exigua Hbn. The research was conducted in Dusun Taeno Atas, Rumah Tiga Village, Teluk Ambon District, Central Maluku Regency, from September to December 2020. The study used shallot seeds cv. bauji. The treatments used were exi pheromone trap (PF), yellow trap + exi pheromone (PKF) and yellow trap (PK). The control treatment was without pheromone. The study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The results showed that pheromone traps were the most effective for trapping Spodoptera exigua Hbn pests.


Abstract Despite advocacy in favour of benefit sharing with research participants in genomics research that is conducted in South Africa, there has been little critical legal engagement with this concept. That is what this article provides by posing the hitherto unexplored—but foundational—question: Is benefit sharing with research participants lawful in South Africa? The answer is clearly 'no'. South African law provides that it is unlawful to provide any financial or other reward to research participants for donating biospecimens—except for reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred. Accordingly, benefit sharing would be unlawful. The ramifications of this conclusion are far-reaching. Most pertinently, should any benefit-sharing agreements with research be put into practice, such agreements would be unenforceable and would expose all parties involved—including foreign collaborators—to criminal prosecution. The solution for proponents of benefit sharing in South Africa would be to lobby the South African government to revise the relevant law. However, as long as the law remains as it currently is, institutions and individuals all over the world who are involved in genomics research in South Africa would be well advised to comply with the law by not engaging in benefit sharing with research participants.


Aim: The druggability of epigenetic targets has prompted researchers to develop small-molecule therapeutics. However, no systematic assessment has ever been done to investigate the chemical space of epigenetic modulators. Herein, we report a comprehensive chemoinformatic analysis of epigenetic ligands from EpiDBase, HEMD, ChEMBL and PubChem databases. Results: Nearly, 0.45 × 106 ligands were analyzed for assay interference compounds, target profiling, drug-like properties and hit prioritization. After eliminating approximately 96,000 problematic compounds, the remaining 0.36 × 106 compounds were studied for their physicochemical distributions, principal component analysis and hit prioritization. More than 30% of assay interference compounds were determined for many proteins. Conclusion: This systematic assessment of epigenetic ligands will help in the enrichment of screening libraries with high-quality compounds and thus, the generation of efficacious drug candidates.


ABSTRACT The distribution of the test statistics of homogeneity tests is often unknown, requiring the estimation of the critical values through Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The computation of the critical values at low α, especially when the distribution of the statistics changes with the series length (sample cardinality), requires a considerable number of simulations to achieve a reasonable precision of the estimates (i.e. 106 simulations or more for each series length). If, in addition, the test requires a noteworthy computational effort, the estimation of the critical values may need unacceptably long runtimes. To overcome the problem, the paper proposes a regression-based refinement of an initial MC estimate of the critical values, also allowing an approximation of the achieved improvement. Moreover, the paper presents an application of the method to two tests: SNHT (standard normal homogeneity test, widely used in climatology), and SNH2T (a version of SNHT showing a squared numerical complexity). For both, the paper reports the critical values for α ranging between 0.1 and 0.0001 (useful for the p-value estimation), and the series length ranging from 10 (widely adopted size in climatological change-point detection literature) to 70,000 elements (nearly the length of a daily data time series 200 years long), estimated with coefficients of variation within 0.22%. For SNHT, a comparison of our results with approximated, theoretically derived, critical values is also performed; we suggest adopting those values for the series exceeding 70,000 elements.


Members of the Enterobacter cloacae complex are important opportunistic human pathogens capable of causing a wide variety of infections. During recent decades, aminoglycoside-resistant E. cloacae complex isolates have increasingly been reported and have become a major concern. Here, we employed high-throughput sequencing in combination with specific PCR assays to investigate the prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance genes among 170 isolates of the E. cloacae complex collected from a teaching hospital in Wenzhou, China. ABSTRACT Members of the Enterobacter cloacae complex are important opportunistic human pathogens capable of causing a wide variety of infections. During recent decades, aminoglycoside-resistant E. cloacae complex isolates have increasingly been reported and have become a major concern. Here, we employed high-throughput sequencing in combination with specific PCR assays to investigate the prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance genes among 170 isolates of the E. cloacae complex collected from a teaching hospital in Wenzhou, China. A total of 12 known genes [aphA-1, strA, strB, aac(6′)-IIc, aadA2, aac(3)-IId, aadB, aadA1, rmtB, armA, aadA5, and aac(6′)-Ie–aph(2′')-Ia] and 1 novel gene [aac(3)-IIg] were identified, with aphA-1 (71.18%), strA (55.29%), and strB (52.35%) being the most prevalent, and aac(3)-IIg was detected with a positive rate of 21.76% (37/170). The aac(3)-IIg gene was 810 bp in length and encoded a protein that shared 72 to 78% identities with previously known AAC(3)-II aminoglycoside 3-N-acetyltransferases. The MICs of gentamicin and tobramycin were 512 μg/ml and 64 μg/ml, respectively, when aac(3)-IIg was cloned into Escherichia coli DH5α. All aac(3)-IIg-positive isolates exerted broad aminoglycoside resistance profiles, mediated by the coexistence of multiple resistance genes. Moreover, aminoglycoside resistance and resistance genes were found to be transferable in most strains (24/37). Nevertheless, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and dendrogram analysis showed clonal diversity among these isolates. S1 nuclease PFGE, Southern hybridization, and whole-genome sequencing indicated that aac(3)-IIg was located on transferable as well as nontransferable plasmids of various sizes. The analysis of the genetic environment suggested that aac(3)-IIg is embedded within a class 1 integron, with IS26 playing an important role in its mobility.


Role of urban planning and management in Hyderabad is becoming more and more crucial due to the dramatic increase in urban population and allied urban problems. Hyderabad is experiencing a rapid urbanization rate. Urbanization contributes many advantages in terms of economics, but if uncontrolled, would produce negative consequences to the physical, social and natural environment. With the advancement of GIS, which considerably influenced the dynamic nature of urban and regional planning, incorporation of GIS becomes imperative for better and improved decision-making in urban planning and management. It offers a solution to the urban problems and decision-making, which is more reliant to the real-time spatial modelling.


We present an ultra low-power driver system for driving the column lines of an active matrix liquid-crystal display. The demonstration system is a 160/spl times/120 pixel liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) microdisplay. Laboratory measurements show an energy saving of 50% to 65% relative to CV/sub dd/V/sub out/, which is the lower limit for the energy consumed by a conventional driver. The column drivers of this display dissipate only 10 /spl mu/W when displaying a checkered, black and white image at a 25 MHz pixel frequency, 60 Hz refresh rate, and 5 V operating voltage.


The mouse small intestinal in vitro organoid model was first described by Sato et al in 2009. We have further developed this model as a robust screening tool to aid the selection of lead candidates that may have efficacy preventing or treating GI toxicity, and to allow early identification of candidate toxicity. More specifically, we have been assessing the model9s potential to progress the development of novel therapeutic agents to treat the GI mucositis, a common toxicity associated with cancer therapy. The intestinal organoid culture conditions were designed to mimic the stem cell niche allowing cell differentiation and proliferation to occur. Indeed all intestinal lineages are present in the organoids and the epithelial hierarchy closely resembles that observed in vivo. Alteration of these organoid culture conditions allows identification of proliferative or cytotoxic effects, changes in differentiation and gene expression profiling of target pathways. Sub-optimal culture conditions reduce the background level of branching within an organoid population, allowing the quantification of proliferative effects through an increase in branching above the background upon agent exposure. Examples of agents inducing branching of organoids include Wnt pathway modulators. Optimal culture conditions allow assessment of toxicity caused by agents such as chemotherapy drugs. Organoid viability can be assessed either visually or with MTS techniques. In addition, differentiation by agents such as the Notch pathway inhibitor DAPT can be assessed by histological examination of the organoids. All of these cultures can undergo gene expression profiling forming links to the observed biological observations. Proof of concept gene expression data has been generated using known GI growth factors and modulators, which have been linked to in vivo gene expression profiling to demonstrate PD linkages. In addition, we have developed a model using APCMin+/- mice, which develop a phenotype in culture more consistent with a deregulated adenoma. Parallel assessment of agents on this model and the organoids has been useful for discriminating normal vs tumour responses, identifying agents with differential activities. Our intestinal organoid models allow screening of multiple agents, with over 5000 screened to date including Wnt pathway regulators, cytokines, growth factor, chemotherapy drugs, steroids and lectins. Citation Format: Sarah Hoyle, Shaun Ainsworth, Aude-Marine Bonavita, Jo Read, Alan Murdoch, Lorna Woolford, Elliott Harrison, Gino Miele, Cath Booth. Use of intestinal organoids as a preclinical screen for agents modulating epithelial regeneration and gastrointestinal toxicity. [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 3737. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3737


The problem of random allocation is that of placing n balls independently with equal probability to N boxes. For several domains of increasing numbers of balls and boxes, the final number of empty boxes is known to be asymptotically either normally or Poissonian distributed. In this paper we first derive a certain two-index transfer theorem for mixtures of the domains by considering random numbers of balls and boxes. As a consequence of a well known invariance principle this enables us to prove a corresponding general almost sure limit theorem. Both theorems inherit a mixture of normal and Poisson distributions in the limit. Applications of the general almost sure limit theorem for logarithmic weights complement and extend results of Fazekas and Chuprunov [10] and show that asymptotic normality dominates.


Russia's strategic interests in the Caucasus have both benefited from and been fundamentally challenged by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. While far removed from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Russia succeeded in rhetorically linking the actions of Chechen insurgents to al-Qaeda, and thereby forging commonality with the US in fighting a shared international 'Islamic' foe. Wrote an American account: 'No longer are 85,000 Russian troops and police officers simply engaged in crushing a battle for independence; instead, Chechnya has become Russia's war on terror." The Moscow hostage crisis of October 2002, when some 50 bombladen Chechens seized a crowded theatre, further served to illustrate this apparent commonality. The potential gains to Russia from a realignment with the US are great. As other contributions in this collection explain, President Vladimir Putin will not achieve all his foreign policy objectives, but he nevertheless has qualitatively changed the US-Russian relationship to that of being partners. In more practical terms, the increased criticism by Western governments of Russian military actions in Chechnya, which even extended to the suspension of Russian participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, has since abated.


about converting them. In an illuminating discussion of the caste system in Hinduism, the author argues that, at any rate in the eighteenth century, the divisions between the four main jathis, or castes, were much less rigid than is commonly supposed though distinctions between them were maintained, even in Ziegenbalg's churches. Much of the second half of the book is devoted to the life and work of Vedanayagam Sastriyar, a prot6g6 of one of Ziegenbalg's successors, C. F. Schwarz. Vedanayagam


A relatively rapid transbilayer motion of phospholipids in the microsomal membrane seems to be required due to their asymmetric synthesis in the cytoplasmic leaflet. Marked discrepancies exist with regard to the rate and specificity of this flip-flop process. To reinvestigate this problem, we have used both spin-labeled and radioactively labeled long chain phospholipids with a new fast translocation assay. Identical results were obtained with both types of probes. Transbilayer motion of glycerophospholipids was found to be much more rapid than previously reported (half-time less than 25 s) and to occur identically for phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Such transport is nonvectorial and leads to a symmetric transbilayer distribution of phospholipids. In contrast, transverse diffusion of sphingomyelin was 1 order of magnitude slower. Phospholipid flip-flop appears to occur by a protein-mediated transport process displaying saturable and competitive behavior. Proteolysis, chemical modification, and competition experiments suggest that this transport process may be related to that previously described in the endoplasmic reticulum for short-chain phosphatidylcholine (Bishop, W. R., and Bell, R. M.(1985) Cell 42, 51-60). The relationship between phospholipid flip-flop and nonbilayer structures occurring in the endoplasmic reticulum was also investigated by P-NMR. Several conditions were found under which the P isotropic NMR signal previously attributed to nonbilayer structures is decreased or abolished, whereas transbilayer diffusion is unaffected, suggesting that the flip-flop process is independent of such structures. It is concluded that flip-flop in the endoplasmic reticulum is mediated by a bidirectional protein transporter with a high efficiency for glycerophospholipids and a low efficiency for sphingomyelin. In vivo, the activity of this transporter would be able to redistribute all changes in phospholipid composition due to biosynthetic processes between the two leaflets of the endoplasmic reticulum membranes within a time scale of seconds.


Many analysts have described the current global economic crisis
as being cataclysmic and unprecedented. Though the crisis originated
with the sub-prime mortgages and risk hedging instruments
in the financial sector of the United States, soon its effects have
reached countries in Europe, Asia and Africa not to mention
neighbours within Americas. As we write this editorial, violent
protests in Greece and the loss of life of three bank workers
exemplify how the tremors from the financial world translate into
events with a true human cost. Many people, also in the global
South have lost their jobs or fear to lose them if the economic
situation does not improve. They, often the same ones, have lost
their houses; others have lost their life-long savings. But this is not
just an economic crisis; it is much more.


The relation between the adsorption structure and the work function of succinic acid (HOOC-CH2-CH2-COOH) on Cu(110) surface, has been investigated as a function of the surface temperature using reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy, low energy electron diffraction, He atom scattering, temperature programmed desorption and Kelvin probe. From 350 to 450 K, succinic acid adsorbed as monosuccinate (HOOC-CH2-CH2-COO-) form. As the temperature increases, each monosuccinate make a dimer structure. From 450 K, monosuccinate changes to bisuccinate (-OOC-CH2-CH2-COO-) form. Bisuccinate structure is stable until 600 K and then desorption and dissociation occurred. The work function increased by adsorption due to ionization of molecules, and decreased with increasing the temperature until 450 K due to the effects of change in the dipole moment of the conformational change of the molecule. From 450 K to 600 K the work function was constant, because of competition between desorption and change in the dipole moment of molecules, and then it reached the value of clean surface. It was experimentally clarified that the work function was affected by the difference in the state of conformation of molecules adsorbed.


Weird numbers are abundant numbers that are not pseudoperfect. Since their introduction, the existence of odd weird numbers has been an open problem. In this work, we describe our computational effort to search for odd weird numbers, which shows their non-existence up to $10^{21}$. We also searched up to $10^{28}$ for numbers with an abundance below $10^{14}$, to no avail. Our approach to speed up the search can be viewed as an application of reverse search in the domain of combinatorial optimization, and may be useful for other similar quest for natural numbers with special properties that depend crucially on their factorization.


Nominal concord is a phenomenon whereby nominal modifiers (e.g., adjectives, demonstratives, numerals) agree with their nominals along various dimensions (e.g., gender, number, case, definiteness). Here, drawing on a rich and typologically diverse database of nominal concord (Norris 2020), we build a Bayesian mixed effect model of nominal concord. Specifically, we consider two competing hypotheses regarding the statistical relationship between different types of concord within a language: (1) concord begets concord : the presence of some type of concord in a language makes it more likely that it has other types of concord vs. (2) a little concord goes a long way : if a language has some kind of concord, it is less likely to have other types of concord. We present evidence strongly in favor of the first hypothesis, that concord begets concord. Languages with nominal concord tend to have concord in more than one place and of more than one type. Using posterior draws from our model, we also provide quantitative evidence for a number of the tendencies described by Norris (2019a). Future work will build on this model to understand the functional role of nominal concord in language systems, how it evolves, and how it co-evolves with other typological features.


Motivated by the Bike Angels Program in New York's Citi Bike and Boston's Blue Bikes, we study the use of (registered) volunteers to re-position empty bikes for riders in a bike sharing system. We propose a method that can be used to deploy the volunteers in the system, based on the real time distribution of the bikes in different stations. To account for (random) route demand in the network, we solve a related transshipment network design model and construct a sparse structure to restrict the re-balancing activities of the volunteers (concentrating re-balancing activities on essential routes). We also develop a comprehensive simulation model using a threshold-based policy to deploy the volunteers in real time, to test the effect of choice restriction on volunteers (suitably deployed) to re-position bikes. We use the Hubway system in Boston (with 60 stations) to demonstrate that using a sparse structure to concentrate the re-balancing activities of the volunteers, instead of allowing all admissible flows in the system (as in current practice), can reduce the number of re-balancing moves by a huge amount, losing only a small proportion of demand satisfied.


The era of digital transformation provides the opportunity for leading companies to change priorities - to begin to take care of the support environment using innovative technologies and become a leading creative platform open for innovation. The successful development of the digital world, the blockchain technology, the Internet of things – the mechanism which will change the financial world.


The magnetosphere of Mercury is rather small and highly dynamic, due to its weak internal magnetic field and its close proximity to the Sun. The changing solar wind conditions principally determine the locations of both the Hermean bow shock and magnetopause. In 2011 – 2015 MESSENGER spacecraft completed more than 4000 orbits around Mercury, thus giving a data of more than 8000 crossings of bow shock and magnetopause of the planet. This makes it possible to study in detail the bow shock, the magnetopause and the magnetosheath structures.

In this work, we determine crossings of the bow shock and the magnetopause of Mercury by applying machine learning methods to the MESSENGER magnetometer data. We try to identify the crossings for the complete orbital mission and model the average three-dimensional shape of these boundaries depending on the external interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Further, we try to clarify the dependence of the two boundary locations on the heliocentric distance of Mercury and on the solar activity cycle phase. Also, we study the effect of the IMF partial penetration into the Hermean magnetosphere. The results are compared with the obtained previously in other works.

This work may be of interest for future Mercury research related to the BepiColombo spacecraft mission, which will enter the orbit around the planet at December 2025.


The electronic properties of the cleavage InAs(110) surface are studied using a semi-empirical tight-binding method which employs an extended atomic-like basis set. We calculate the surface electronic band structure which is studied as a function of the structural parameters of the surface. We describe and discuss the electronic character of the surface electronic states and we compare with other theoretical approaches, and with experimental observations. Finally, we discuss which atomic model better resembles the available experimental data.


To investigate the mechanisms of adrenergic stimulation of the parietal cell and to study the possible relationship between the stress hormone adrenaline and duodenal ulcer, the effects of adrenaline and various adrenoceptor agonists and antagonists were investigated in parietal cells isolated from pig stomachs and from endoscopic biopsy specimens taken from the gastric mucosa of patients. Parietal cell acid production was assayed by the aminopyrine accumulation technique. Adrenaline as the sole drug showed poor or no stimulatory effect but potentiated histamine-stimulated acid production. In the presence of histamine, beta-adrenoceptor agonists caused a stimulation of acid formation with the potency order isoproterenol greater than adrenaline greater than noradrenaline. The beta-2-selective antagonist ICI118551 was a more potent inhibitor of acid production than both the beta-1 antagonist practolol and the H2-receptor antagonist cimetidine. Studies of (3H)-dihydroalprenolol (DHA) binding to purified parietal cell membranes showed a protein-concentration-dependent and specific binding of 2.2 +/- 0.6 pmol DHA/microgram. Adrenaline increased gastric acid production in both pig and human parietal cells, most likely through a beta-2 receptor on the parietal cell. The adrenaline stimulatory effect in cells obtained from patients with peptic ulcer was more pronounced than in cells from non-ulcer patients, which indicates a possible role of adrenaline in some types of ulcer disease.


Ubiquitin-specific protease 14, also known as the 60 kDa subunit of tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (USP14/TGT60 kD), belongs to the ubiquitin-specific processing protease (UBP) family. USP14/TGT60 kD expression in leukemic and colorectal cancer cell lines, and the suppression of such an expression after the induction of cell differentiation have been reported. In the present study, we attempted to clarify whether USP14/TGT60 kD overexpression affects the clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemically, USP14/TGT60 kD was absent or weakly localized in the cytoplasm of normal colorectal epithelial cells. In 18 of 99 (18.2%) colorectal cancer patients, USP14/TGT60 kD was strongly detected in the cytoplasm of cancer cells. USP14/TGT60 kD expression correlated with pathological stage (P=0.03), and lymph node (P=0.03) and liver (P=0.03) metastases. Furthermore, the percentage of patients strongly positive for USP14/TGT60 kD expression increased with pathological stage. The overall survival rate was worse in patients with a high USP14/TGT60 kD expression level than in those with a low USP14/TGT60 kD expression level. Our results suggest that USP14/TGT60 kD also controls the fate of proteins that regulate tumor invasion and metastasis.


This chapter attempts to explore the meanings of some central concepts in 1 the field of race, ethnicity, and identity, and to show how these underpin 2 contemporary arguments about multiculturalism, migration, and 'Britishness'. 3 The aim is to provide initial clarification of the issues explored in more 4 detail in subsequent chapters. In pursuit of this, the chapter moves from a 5 discussion of fundamental theories of race, in their historical development 6 and their current expression, to an exploration of some of the key issues in 7 recent political and policy debates. It explores the move away from biological 8 understandings of 'race' towards themore sociologically and culturally sensitive 9 concept of 'ethnicity', and how racist ideology has followed a similar path, from 10 claims based on a biological hierarchy of 'races' to claims about the threats to 11 traditional and national identity posed by cultural diversity and difference. 12 The chapter explores, and takes issue with, recent claims that policies of 13 multiculturalism have promoted segregation and eroded national identity. 14 It also shows how anti-racist arguments have also become more complex, 15 as simple polarities of white and black, oppressor and oppressed, have been 16 replaced by a less essentialist appreciation of the complexity and ambiguity of 17 racial identities. 18


The fungicide oxafun decreased the production of antibiotic substances active against Phoma betae, by Bacillus subtillis. This was confirmed by reduced effectiveness of antibiotic substances against Phoma infection in micropot experiment. Besides, the bacterial metabolites effected cell membrane permeability of mycelium and resulted in some relationships of fungicide and antibiotic substances.


Superconducting thin films with composition Mg1−xAlxB2 (0 ≤ × ≤ 0.5) were prepared in situ by simultaneous thermal evaporation of magnesium, rf sputtering of boron and dc sputtering of aluminium. The superconducting transition temperature decreased gradually with increasing doping from 34 K (undoped MgB2) down to 7 K (Mg0.53Al0.47B2). The films allowed a successful preparation of sandwich-type crossed-strip tunnel junctions suitable for reproducible low-noise tunnel measurements. The junctions were prepared using both artificial aluminium oxide barriers and natural barriers resulting from oxidation of the film surface. As counter-electrodes evaporated indium films were used. Differential conductance measurements at low-bias voltage allowed a direct determination of the energy gap on the Fermi surface π sheet. Conductance measurements at high-bias voltage revealed the energies of the electron-coupled phonons, which are responsible for the superconductivity in Mg1−xAlxB2. Compared to the undoped MgB2 significant changes in the phonon spectrum could be observed, e.g. a renormalisation of the optical phonons at the high-energy end, which is in agreement with the measurements on bulk samples by inelastic neutron scattering.


Data-to-Text Generation (D2T) problems can be considered as a stream of time-stamped events with a text summary being produced for each. The problem becomes more challenging when event summaries contain complex insights derived from multiple records either within an event, or across several events from the event stream. It is important to understand the different types of content present in the summary to help us better define the system requirements so that we can build better systems. In this paper, we propose a novel typology of content types, that we use to classify the contents of event summaries. Using the typology, a profile of a dataset is generated as the distribution of the aggregated content types which captures the specific characteristics of the dataset and gives a measure of the complexity present in the problem. Extensive experimentation on different D2T datasets is performed and these demonstrate that neural systems struggle in generating contents of complex types.


Hedge Hedge funds are alternative investment vehicles where the fund managerâ??s is to general positive returns regardless of the market conditions. A fund of hedge funds is a portfolio of hedge funds generally characterized by positive return and a high degree of diversification. In this paper, we analyse two portfolio optimization models for constructing a fund of hedge funds. Both models, which we refer to as the two-step model and the single-step model, are based on a zero-value strategy, a strategy which combines long and short selling in order to attain(ignoring margin and the cost of short selling) a zero initial investment. The principal difference between the two models is the selection techniques of the funds included in the long/short portfolio. The two-step model requires as the first step the classification of the funds into winner and loser groups according their historical performance as is done in the literature on momentum strategies. After the pre-selection step, the model is solved via linear programming, the modelâ??s second step. The single-step model avoids the pre-selection of hedge funds at the cost of introducing binary variables to exclude the possibility that a hedge fund is present in both the short and long portfolios. Both models are solved with respect to a set of scenarios, based either on historical scenarios, or forecasted scenarios generated by GARCH modeling. Combining the two models and the two sets of scenarios, we end up with four strategies. Finally, we evaluate the ex post one-year performance of the four strategies with monthly portfolio rebalancing using hedge fund data from that encompasses the sub-prime crisis.


Sensitization to mould spores was investigated in six patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, eight patients with idiopathic lung fibrosis, and six healthy controls by immunodiffusion and immunofluorescent testing of personal spore samples. The new technique of personal spore sampling with the Burkard personal volumetric air sampler and indirect immunofluorescent test for detection of spore‐specific IgG and IgM confirmed that five patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis and four with lung fibrosis were actually exposed and sensitized to moulds. Personal spore sampling and subsequent immunofluorescent tests represent sensitive tools for detection of individual mould sensitization and air quality control.


Objectives Echocardiographic (echo) screening is an important tool to estimate rheumatic heart disease (RHD) prevalence, but the natural history of screen-detected RHD remains unclear. The PROVAR+ (Programa de RastreamentO da VAlvopatia Reumática) study, which uses non-experts, telemedicine and portable echo, pioneered RHD screening in Brazil. We aimed to assess the mid-term evolution of Brazilian schoolchildren (5–18 years) with echocardiography-detected subclinical RHD and to assess the performance of a simplified score consisting of five components of the World Heart Federation criteria, as a predictor of unfavourable echo outcomes. Setting Public schools of underserved areas and private schools in Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. Participants A total of 197 patients (170 borderline and 27 definite RHD) with follow-up of 29±9 months were included. Median age was 14 (12–16) years, and 130 (66%) were woman. Only four patients in the definite group were regularly receiving penicillin. Primary and secondary outcome measures Unfavourable outcome was based on the 2-year follow-up echo, defined as worsening diagnostic category, remaining with mild definite RHD or development/worsening of valve regurgitation/stenosis. Results Among patients with borderline RHD, 29 (17.1%) progressed to definite, 49 (28.8%) remained stable, 86 (50.6%) regressed to normal and 6 (3.5%) were reclassified as other heart diseases. Among those with definite RHD, 13 (48.1%) remained in the category, while 5 (18.5%) regressed to borderline, 5 (18.5%) regressed to normal and 4 (14.8%) were reclassified as other heart diseases. The simplified echo score was a significant predictor of RHD unfavourable outcome (HR 1.197, 95% CI 1.098 to 1.305, p<0.001). Conclusion The simple risk score provided an accurate prediction of RHD status at 2-year follow-up, showing a good performance in Brazilian schoolchildren, with a potential value for risk stratification and monitoring of echocardiography-detected RHD.


Approximate and exact mathematical techniques for the calculation of the scattering properties of a single ice particle are first reviewed. Then, for dealing with practical applications such as radar meteorology or radio wave transmission along earth-space links, the problem of the scattering by an assembly of particles is examined. This problem involves the knowledge of the particle size distribution and of the orienting mechanisms which can affect the ice crystals in the clouds. Although the T matrix formalism has been successfully used in a greater range of scattering problems than the other techniques, the Rayleigh approximation may be used with confidence for calculating the cross-polarization properties of radio waves at frequencies up to at least 25 GHz. Alignment of ice particles is not expected to occur in high-altitude cirrus clouds while alignment is observed in strong thunderstorms. Thus different models are to be used in order to predict the cross polarization along earth-space links.


The results of an extended analysis of the chloride breakthrough curves (BTCs) obtained from transport experiments on undisturbed soil monoliths previously reported by Sassner et al. are discussed. Parameter values for different forms of the advection-dispersion equation (ADE) were obtained by curve-fitting using the nonlinear least-squares optimization code XTFIT developed by Parker and van Genuchten. Good fits to the experimental BTCs from the individual soil monoliths were obtained for three different forms of the ADE, allowing for anion exclusion, immobile water, and both of these processes, respectively. Although the more complex forms of the ADE possess more flexibility to provide a slightly more refined fit to the individual breakthrough curves, larger uncertainty is associated with the fitted parameter values. Due to the limited amount of information manifested in the BTCs it is not possible on the basis of this information to distinguish which of the models is physically more meaningful. Furthermore, when more parameters are included in the optimization procedure, the resulting values are more uncertain. The same ADE models were also fitted with equally good results to a hypothetical large-scale BTC derived by flux-averaging the responses from the individual monoliths. However, regardless of the form of the ADE used,more » the resulting parameter values for the large-scale transport (i.e., not only the dispersivity value that is expected to increase) were inconsistent with the corresponding parameter values obtained for the individual BTCs. This supports previous indications that ADE models may not be accurate for predicting large-scale transport in heterogeneous soil systems corresponding to e.g. the scale of an agricultural field or a grid element in a numerical catchment model because model parameters are not determinable from independent measurements on a scale corresponding to a practical manageable core size or to standard instrumentation.« less


One aspect of a recent restructuring of urban economies, societies, and spaces has been a change in urban planning practice. Planning is increasingly privatized and decentralized in U.S. cities. Private planning consultants are often hired by public-private coalitions in order to shape the future of cities, while the planning processes they institute are frequently claimed to be consensus-based, collaborative, and inclusionary, rather than elite-centered and expert-driven. This paper discusses the use of "visioning"—an increasingly popular technique that develops goals for the future of a city through consensus-based meetings, open to all parties—as developed by New Century Lexington, a public-private planning initiative in Lexington, Kentucky. It argues that: (1) new public-private planning procedures, incorporating collaborative techniques, frequently become the institutional sites of political struggle over how future urban geographies are produced; (2) in order to understand the role of visioning in contemporary urban politics and in policy making outcomes, we must recognize the sociospatial context in which it is deployed; and (3) in the case of New Century, the way in which local elites controlled the mechanics of the visioning process made dissent difficult and, therefore, produced a vision of the future largely parallel to their standard economic development models.


This review describes the achievements in improving the properties of anaerobic adhesives used in various fields of technology for locking, sealing and bonding of metal parts.


AbstractMany recent studies have shown that observed El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events are spatially and temporally diverse and that they have undergone changes in characteristics. To quantitatively capture these features, multidimensional ensemble empirical mode decomposition (MEEMD) is employed to isolate the temporal–spatial evolution of the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) on naturally separated time scales. An alternative Nino-3.4 index is also defined to reflect more on the interannual variability of equatorial Pacific SSTAs. Using this alternative index, 27 ENSO warm events are identified and the spatial–temporal evolution of each event is examined. It is found that a patch of SSTAs off Baja California appears to extend southwestward and reach the equatorial region near the international date line in about 1 year. This warm signal then amplifies and extends eastward, developing into an ENSO warm event. This type of development has been dominant in recent decades. For this type of ...


The generation of high‐affinity antibody‐secreting plasma cells critically depends on the presence of CD4 T cells during the germinal center (GC) reaction. GC T cells are so far incompletely characterized in terms of phenotype and function. Here, we show that human follicular B helper T (TFH) cells are characterized by high expression of the homeostatic chemokine receptor CXCR5 and the costimulatory molecule ICOS, but not CD57 expression. CXCR5hiICOShi CD4 T cells are the most potent inducers of IgG production that also secrete large amounts of the B cell‐attracting chemokine CXCL13. CXCR5hiICOShi CD4 T cells differ from other tonsillar CD4 T cell subsets in their stimulatory activity, proliferative capacity and susceptibility to apoptosis. Large‐scale gene expression analysis revealed that TFH cells are only distantly related to CXCR5– and CXCR5+ central memory T (TCM) as well as effector memory T (TEM) cells present in the periphery. CXCR5hiICOShi CD4 T cells appear to be terminally differentiated T helper cells that express a unique set of transcription factors related to the Notch signaling pathway and thus differentiate independent of other T helper cell populations.


In this paper, a novel motion vector-based video steganographic scheme is proposed, which is capable of withstanding the current best statistical detection method. With this scheme, secret message bits are embedded into motion vector (MV) values by slightly perturbing their motion estimation (ME) processes. In general, two measures are taken for steganographic security (statistical undetectability) enhancement. First, the ME perturbations are optimized ensuring the modified MVs are still local optimal, which essentially makes targeted detectors ineffective. Secondly, to minimize the overall embedding impact under a given relative payload, a double-layered coding structure is used to control the ME perturbations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves a much higher level of security compared with other existing MV-based approaches. Meanwhile, the reconstructed visual quality and the coding efficiency are slightly affected as well.


The objective of this systematic literature review was to determine the association between cardiovascular events (CVEs) and antirheumatic drugs in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA)/psoriasis (Pso). Systematic searches were performed of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases (1960 to December 2012) and proceedings from major relevant congresses (2010-2012) for controlled studies and randomised trials reporting confirmed CVEs in patients with RA or PsA/Pso treated with antirheumatic drugs. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed on extracted data. Out of 2630 references screened, 34 studies were included: 28 in RA and 6 in PsA/Pso. In RA, a reduced risk of all CVEs was reported with tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (relative risk (RR), 0.70; 95% CI 0.54 to 0.90; p=0.005) and methotrexate (RR, 0.72; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.91; p=0.007). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increased the risk of all CVEs (RR, 1.18; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.38; p=0.04), which may have been specifically related to the effects of rofecoxib. Corticosteroids increased the risk of all CVEs (RR, 1.47; 95% CI 1.34 to 1.60; p<0.001). In PsA/Pso, systemic therapy decreased the risk of all CVEs (RR, 0.75; 95% CI 0.63 to 0.91; p=0.003). In RA, tumour necrosis factor inhibitors and methotrexate are associated with a decreased risk of all CVEs while corticosteroids and NSAIDs are associated with an increased risk. Targeting inflammation with tumour necrosis factor inhibitors or methotrexate may have positive cardiovascular effects in RA. In PsA/Pso, limited evidence suggests that systemic therapies are associated with a decrease in all CVE risk.


Multi-modal non-rigid image registration is widely used in different areas, including medical image analysis and image processing. In this paper, we introduce a new learning-based method for non-rigid image registration. The proposed method is based on a priori knowledge of the joint intensity distribution of a pre-aligned image pair. The similarity and dissimilarity of the expected and observed joint intensity distributions are measured by two Kullback-Leibler distances (KLD). Free-Form Deformation (FFD) is employed as the transformation model along with the L-BFGS-B optimizer. The derivatives of KLDs are derived to work with the L-BFGS-B optimizer. Moreover, we have tested our method with CT-T1 image pairs and compared the results obtained by using the mutual information based FFD and the conventional KLD based FFD. The experimental results show that our method gives remarkable improvement on the registration quality.


Abstract In 1966, the National Austrian Newborn Screening Program for inherited metabolic and endocrine disorders was initiated. In the last five decades, around four million babies were screened and in more than 2600 babies, various inborn errors of metabolism and endocrine disorders were detected. This health-preventive program was continuously expanded from phenylketonuria and galactosemia to congenital hypothyroidism, biotinidase deficiency, cystic fibrosis, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In 2002, the introduction of tandem mass spectrometry substantially increased the number of detectable rare diseases, and now includes disorders of fatty acid oxidation, organic acidurias, and various disorders of amino acid metabolism. In this review, we highlight the development of the Austrian screening program, and pinpoint future disorders and challenges.


Treatment-induced osteoporosis is an increasing problem for women diagnosed with breast cancer. As more women receive adjuvant endocrine therapy and chemotherapy, and breast cancer survival improves, the impact of cancer treatment on bone health and the morbidity associated with chemotherapy-induced bone loss becomes more of a significant medical concern. Endocrine agents like aromatase inhibitors and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists decrease the production of ovarian and adrenal estrogens and are widely used in the adjuvant and metastatic settings for treatment of women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Estrogen is important for bone health. It stimulates osteoblasts and maintains bone integrity. As bone density decreases, the risk of fracture increases. This can include fractures of the wrist, femur, and vertebrae. Several potent bisphosphonates have been developed to prevent or treat cancer treatment-induced bone loss.


Introduction The processes involved in how the attention system selectively focuses on perceptual and motor aspects related to a specific task, while suppressing features of other tasks and/or objects in the environment, are of considerable interest for cognitive neuroscience. The goal of this experiment was to investigate neural processes involved in selective attention and performance under multi-task situations. Several studies have suggested that attention-related gamma-band activity facilitates processing in task-specific modalities, while alpha-band activity inhibits processing in non-task-related modalities. However, investigations into the phenomenon of inattentional deafness/blindness (inability to observe stimuli in non-dominant task when primary task is demanding) have yet to observe gamma-band activity. Methods This EEG experiment utilizes an engaging whole-body perceptual motor task while carrying out a secondary auditory detection task to investigate neural correlates of inattentional deafness in natural immersive high workload conditions. Differences between hits and misses on the auditory detection task in the gamma (30–50 Hz) and alpha frequency (8–12 Hz) range were carried out at the cortical source level using LORETA. Results Participant auditory task performance correlated with an increase in gamma-band activity for hits over misses pre- and post-stimulus in left auditory processing regions. Alpha-band activity was greater for misses relative to hits in right auditory processing regions pre- and post-stimulus onset. These results are consistent with the facilitatory/inhibitory role of gamma/alpha-band activity for neural processing. Additional gamma- and alpha-band activity was found in frontal and parietal brain regions which are thought to reflect various attentional monitoring, selection, and switching processes. Discussion The results of this study help to elucidate the role of gamma and alpha frequency bands in frontal and modality-specific regions involved with selective attention in multi-task immersive situations.


South African businesses operating globally are facing many economic challenges.  This paper discusses Altech UEC South Africa's evolution of manufacturing and the importance of adapting to survive.  This evolution entails changing facets of the business such as structure, systems and technology.  It requires implementing theories such as design for manufacture, changing the operational structure and the flow of processes, lean manufacturing concepts and investigating alternatives to reduce energy usage.  All of these strategies have the goal of reducing operating cost.  An industry case study on the rare event of a factory relocation project, combined with a focus on design for manufacture and importance of corporate culture is investigated.  Motivating for large financial expenses is a challenge with demands changing with the agility of the market and the necessity to stay financially viable against other emerging markets.  It is therefore such an achievement not just motivating for a factory relocation, but also the development and progress brought about by embracing it.


Book reviewed in this article:

Charles Goodhart and Gerhard Illing (eds.), Financial Crises, Contagion, and the Lender of Last Resort, a Reader


Three building components exposed to natural climate were studied: a dynamic insulation in the ceiling of a house, an outer wall and one window in the same wall. The term dynamic insulation implies that part of the inlet or exhaust air passes through the insulation of a house. A house with dynamic insulation was continuously measured for approximately a year and a half. The performance of the dynamic insulation was estimated by using hourly values of the temperature distribution inside the insulation. The air flow through the insulation was calculated as the air flow that best matched the measured temperature distribution. For the calculations both the transient and steady state heat transfer equations were used. The dynamic U-value for the insulation was about 0.05 W/m2°C for the ceiling. This corresponds to a dynamic energy efficiency for the insulation of 35%. Taking into account that only 40% of the total supply air passed through the insulation, the total efficiency became 14%. A heat exchanger for ventilation air have an efficiency above 60%. The general conclusion from the measurements was that dynamic insulation requires a house constructed to much higher standards, as far as air leakage is concerned, in order to work properly. An outer ambient wall with a window were studied with both theoretical analyses and measurements performed under conditions with natural climate. The method used was to estimate the heat flow through wall and window from measured temperatures and solar radiation. The longwave radiation was calculated from surface temperatures. The convective heat transfer was calculated as the difference between the heat flow through the building element and the longwave radiation. With the one-dimensional dynamic heat transfer model for the window which included shortwave radiation it was possible to measure the continuous heat flow through a window from temperature sensors and solar radiation measurements. With the one-dimensional finite difference model for the heat transfer through the wall it was possible to calculate the heat flow through a wall from temperature sensors. It was possible to continuously measure the convective heat transfer coefficient on the inner surface of a wall or a window. The accuracy was not very good: at best ±15% for the window and ± 20% for the wall. Even with this low accuracy the effect of different heating and ventilation strategies on the inside could clearly be detected. The results showed that the importance of the ventilation design and the position of the radiator is crucial. Local convective heat transfer coefficients may be more than 10 times the expected, due to ventilation or position of the radiator. (Less)


2 Abstract: In the domain of food, many efforts were conducted in the past to study the diet and health linkages. However, the variety of food components and their effects on human metabolism demands thorough research scientist to bring systematic and coherent information for the end-user. Thus current research was performed to determine the total Trans fat content in selected brands of hydrogenate d vegetable oils which are more popular among people of Pakistan. Five different brands for each of vegetable ghee and margarine were analyzed for assorted physicochemical characteristics and total trans fat content in hydrogenated vegetable oils available in Pakistan. Results showed that physicochemical characteristics varied significantly according to commercial brands. Specific gravity and refractive index revealed non significant variations. Among vegetable ghee samples, the highest value for melting point was found in V3 (37.0°C) and lowest value was observed in the V2 (35.6°C). On the other hand, for margarine it ranged from 37.1-49.7°C. Highest acid value and FFA contents were recorded in M1 (0.25%, 0.5%) and V5 (0.24%, 0.46%). Pakistani vanaspati has iodine value 69% while margarine has 64.7% Total trans fat content was significantly higher for all vegetable ghee, ranged from 5.36-33.03% and in margarine samples these varied from 1.56-23.99%. In the nutshell, quality and stability of V2 and M2 brand from vegetable ghee and margarine was found good and also trans fat content were low in these brands.


Clubroot, a disease of Brassicaceae species, is caused by the soilborne pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae. High soil water content was previously described to favour the motility of zoospores and their penetration into root cells. In this study, the effect of irrigation regimes on clubroot development during the post-invasive secondary phase of infection was investigated. Three irrigation regimes (low, standard, high) were tested on two Arabidopsis accessions, Col-0 (susceptible) and Bur-0, a partially resistant line. In Col-0, clubroot symptoms and resting spore content were higher under the 'low irrigation' regime than the other two regimes, thus enhancing the phenotypic contrast between the two Arabidopsis accessions. Clubroot severity under high and low irrigation regimes was evaluated in near-isogenic lines derived from a Col-0 ×  Bur-0 cross, to assess the effect of soil moisture on the expression of each of four quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling partial resistance. The presence of the Bur-0 allele at the QTL PbAt5.2 resulted in reduced severity only under low irrigation, whereas the Bur-0 allele at QTL PbAt5.1 was associated with partial resistance only under high irrigation. QTL PbAt4 reduced the number of resting spores in infected roots, but was not associated with reduced clubroot symptoms. The results indicated that soil moisture could have consequences for the secondary phase of clubroot development, depending on plant genotype. Future genetic studies may benefit from using combinations of watering conditions during the secondary stage of infection, thus opening up the possibility of identifying genetic factors expressed under specific environmental conditions.


Abstract : A time-accurate finite element model for predicting the coupled dynamic response of tanker trucks and their liquid payloads is presented along with an experimental validation of the model. The tanker truck components are modeled using rigid bodies, flexible bodies, joints and actuators. The model is validated using a full-scale army heavy class tactical trailer carrying a water tank. The trailer is placed on an n-post motion base simulator which was used to perform harmonic/ramp pitch, roll and stir excitations of the trailer in order to simulate typical road maneuvers. Experiments were carried out with an empty tank and a 65%-filled tank. The time-histories of the tires and suspension system deflections are measured for the various input motion excitations. The experiment's measurements are compared with the results predicted using the computational model. The comparison shows that the model can predict with reasonably good accuracy the test tanker-trailer's dynamic response.


Salt priming as a tool to establish Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene cv. Yensen-4a (NyPa Forage) plants into saline conditions was investigated in sand culture. Plants were pre-treated with 3 levels of salinity (0, 2, and 4 g NaCl/kg sand) for 36 days and then transplanted into 4 salinity treatments of 0, 2, 4, and 8 g NaCl/kg sand. Soil electrical conductivity (EC), Na and Cl concentrations in the sand, growth initiation, tiller formation, dry matter production, and salt excretion and uptake were measured. Plants pre-treated with 4 g NaCl/kg sand produced 6-fold more dry matter than plants pre-treated with 0 and 2 g NaCl/kg sand when transplanted into sand containing 2 g NaCl/kg. Survival and tiller formation were also higher with plants that had been pre-treated with 4 g NaCl/kg sand compared with plants pre-treated with 0 and 2 g NaCl/kg, when transplanted into 2 and 4 g NaCl/kg sand. The results suggest that salt priming improves establishment of Distichlis spicata when transplanted into low to moderate salinity conditions.


When mortality is high, animals run a risk if they wait to accumulate resources for improved reproduction so they may trade-off the time of reproduction with number and size of offspring. Animals may attempt to improve food acquisition by relocation, even in 'sit and wait' predators. We examine these factors in an isolated population of an orb-web spider Zygiella x-notata. The population was monitored for 200 days from first egg laying until all adults had died. Large females produced their first clutch earlier than did small females and there was a positive correlation between female size and the number and size of eggs produced. Many females, presumably without eggs, abandoned their web site and relocated their web position. This is presumed because female Zygiella typically guard their eggs. In total, c. 25% of females reproduced but those that relocated were less likely to do so, and if they did, they produced the clutch at a later date than those that remained. When the date of lay was controlled there was no effect of relocation on egg number but relocated females produced smaller eggs. The data are consistent with the idea that females in resource-poor sites are more likely to relocate. Relocation seems to be a gamble to find a more productive site but one that achieves only a late clutch of small eggs and few achieve that.


The differential gain of a three-op-amp difference amplifier is determined by the product of the gain values of its two stages. Usually, the total desired differential gain is assigned to the first stage while the gain of the second stage is set to unity in order to achieve higher common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) values. On the other hand, the effect of this choice on the frequency response of the amplifier is not fully understood. For this purpose, this paper presents a theoretical study on the influence of gain choice for the first and second stages of the amplifier on its 3-dB bandwidth. To achieve this, the closed-loop transfer function of the amplifier is derived while considering the effect of the finite open-loop gain and bandwidth of the op-amps used to implement this type of amplifier. The equations presented here demonstrate that the 3-dB bandwidth is increased considerably when the gain of the first stage is reduced and that of the second stage is raised while keeping the value of the total differential gain constant. Although this happens at the expense of CMRR, designers of this type of amplifier should consider the tradeoff between the two.


The pharmaceutical market is not tailored to cater the needs of patients who are located in the economically disadvantaged Southern countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. International organizations are working in numerous ways to overcome this challenge and to increase the access to medicines at affordable prices in the global South. They recommend and proscribe drugs, shape national policies, assure drug quality, provide funding and technical assistance, manage the supply chain, negotiate prices with manufacturers, decide who can compete and influence the behavior of competitors. Recently, some international organizations like Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) have successfully ventured into new drug development for tropical diseases. This has resulted in the evolution of complex relational dynamics and interdependencies between states, firms and international organizations. The structural power to bargain in such relationships often does not lie with states but rather with international organizations who create conditions under which firms would agree to invest in a particular venture. Thus, international organizations have acquired the role of "market makers" who not only convert the need for medicines into real demand but also shape the institutional environment for market functioning by setting up the rules of exchange for market transactions.
However, this phenomenon is not well studied. In this regard, this study sheds light on the role of international organizations in the creation and functioning of the market for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malaria. It explains the role of WHO treatment guidelines in the global acceptance and legitimization of ACTs and WHO prequalification program in assuring quality. It further elaborates on the importance of donor funding, negotiation with manufacturers, the introduction of new ACT formulations to increase competition and stabilization of the supply of raw artemisinin on the reduction of treatment prices. It also explains how business strategies of firms are shaped by the action of international organizations.


Community leaders are not focused on the literacy skills of the people they lead. It can be construed that the higher the rate of a community's illiteracy, the more difficult it is for the community to develop. A look at Kenya shows that well equipped libraries for various constituencies is abysmal. Libraries can accelerate knowledge acquisition by the public through distance education. The study uses analytic methodology to critique lack of public libraries in Kenya. Analysis of community illiteracy rate reveals that the problem can better be addressed by community members playing the part of activists. Since activism is allowed in Kenya Constitution 2010, it becomes the only recourse to impel members of parliament and county assemblies to accelerate the setting up libraries in their areas of their jurisdiction and in this regard, activism is vital for social change. This study recommends more research to be carried out in Kenya on the need for and setting up more libraries for the citizens.


This report analyzes the equity effects of public subsidization of private schools in Cote d'Ivoire, updates previous analyses, and attempts to assess how efficiently public spending is targeted. The subsidy per student in private (and public) schools increases at higher quintiles. Students from families in the highest quintile receive more than twice the subsidy received by students from families in the lowest quintile, compared with four times more in the case of students attending public schools. However, the subsidy system is progressive as there is a clear tendency for the share of family education expenditure covered by subsidies to decline at higher quintiles. This element of progressivity is stronger in the case of private school attendance.


Sun photometers operating in the strong water vapor absorption 940-nm combination-vibrational band have been used to determine water column abundance in the atmosphere when the path to the Sun is clear of clouds. We describe a procedure to perform a rapid determination of the water column abundance, using sun photometers with an accuracy that is easily comparable to that of the radiosondes. The effect of parameters, such as filter bandwidth, atmospheric lapse rate, and the water vapor amount, on the accuracy of the retrieved abundance is examined. It is seen that a narrow filter band of approximately 10-nm bandwidth, positioned at the peak of absorption, is quite insensitive to the type of atmosphere present during calibration or measurement with less than 1% variability under extreme atmospheric conditions. A comparison of the retrieved water column abundance using sun photometers with contemporaneously measured values using radiosondes and microwave radiometers shows that the latest version of the radiative transfer algorithm used in this procedure, MODTRAN-3, gives far superior results in comparison with earlier versions because of the use of improved absorption coefficients in the 940-nm bands. Results from a network of sun photometers spread throughout the globe will be discussed.


Burned and raw limestone powder is a kind of binder that has been widely used in traditional construction of masonry and clay brick wall. Nowadays, limestone powder also widely used in many construction projects as a portland cement admixture. This research is designed to examine the effects of burned and raw limestone powder on the compressive strength of mortar. This research has been done with experimental method using various composition in mortar mix design. The compositions that used in this research are 1:1/4:3, 1:3/4:3, 1:1:3 and 1:2:3 of portland cement, limestone powder and sand, with six standard cubes for each average of mortar compressive strength, that have been tested in the Laboratory of Building Material, Department of Civil Engineering and Planning Education, Faculty of Engineering in State University of Yogyakarta. Test results indicate that (a) average of mortar compressive strength using 1:1/4:3 composition of portland cement, limestone powder and sand is 24,79 MPa for burned limestone powder and 16,3 MPa for raw limestone powder, (b) average of mortar compressive strength using 1:3/4:3 composition of portland cement, limestone powder and sand is 14,14 MPa for burned limestone powder and 13,28 MPa for raw limestone powder, (c) average of mortar compressive strength using 1:1:3 composition of portland cement, limestone powder and sand is 12,28 MPa forburned limestone powder and 7,78 MPa for raw limestone powder, (d) average of mortar compressive strength using 1:2:3 composition of portland cement, limestone powder and sand is 8,56 MPa for burned limestone powder and 7,18 MPa for raw limestone powder, (e) There is a significant difference of mortar compressive strength using burned limestone powder and raw limestone powder, (f) the use of burned limestone powder as portland cement admixture is better than raw limestone powder that indicated from the result of compressive strength tests.


An adaptive predictor is proposed in which the decision rule takes into account the dynamic behaviour of a set of fixed predictors in an assigned neighborhood of the actual pel. The differences between the proposed rule and the most usual criteria are outlined. The results of the measurements show that the dynamic rule performances are at least on a level with the performances of the other criteria examined, and the point of view of predictor sensitivity to changes in image statistics, the dynamic rule may even be preferable.


Conversion of the normal membrane-bound prion protein (PrP-sen) to its pathological isoform (PrP-res) is a key event in the pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Although the subcellular sites of conversion are poorly characterized, several lines of evidence have suggested the involvement of membrane lipid rafts in the conversion process. Here we report that copper stimulates the endocytosis of PrP-sen via a caveolin-dependent pathway in both microglia and neuroblastoma cells. We show that the polyene antibiotic filipin both limits endocytosis of PrP-sen and dramatically reduces the amount of membrane-bound PrP-sen. This reduction results from a rapid and massive release of full matured PrP-sen into the culture medium. Finally, we demonstrate that filipin is a potent inhibitor of PrP-res formation into chronically infected neuroblastoma cells. Our results reinforce the role of rafts in PrP trafficking and raise the possibility that the release of PrP-sen from the plasma membrane decreases the amount of available substrate PrP-sen at the conversion sites.


The impacts of adopting agricultural innovation and technology are widely examined. This paper synthesises 154 studies, which yielded a total of 600 estimates of the impact of adopting agricultural innovation and technology on production, social and economic outcomes. Using meta†regression analysis, the empirical results show that the reported impact of adopting agricultural innovation and technology rises significantly over time, notwithstanding a significant publication bias. Whether studies find significant impacts of adopting agricultural innovation and technology depends on the use of experimental research designs, parametric method, endogenous switching regression and region. Our results show a large bias in the literature towards agricultural innovations and technologies that focus on high†yielding varieties and thus, neglect other forms of complementary innovations and technologies.


Reactive atomic species play a key role in emerging cold atmospheric pressure plasma applications, in particular, in plasma medicine. Absolute densities of atomic oxygen and atomic nitrogen were measured in a radio-frequency driven non-equilibrium plasma operated at atmospheric pressure using vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) absorption spectroscopy. The experiment was conducted on the DESIRS synchrotron beamline using a unique VUV Fourier-transform spectrometer. Measurements were carried out in plasmas operated in helium with air-like N2/O2 (4:1) admixtures. A maximum in the O-atom concentration of (9.1 ± 0.7)×1020 m−3 was found at admixtures of 0.35 vol. %, while the N-atom concentration exhibits a maximum of (5.7 ± 0.4)×1019 m−3 at 0.1 vol. %.


Background
Occupational exposure to methylene bisphenyl isocyanate (MDI) presents serious worker health concerns as it may lead to short- and long-term health effects such as asthma, airway irritation, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and irritation of skin and mucous membranes. While studies of worker isocyanate exposures during vehicle painting activities are widespread, few studies have investigated the spray-on truck bed-liner (STBL) industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of several ventilation system variables and process characteristics in controlling MDI concentrations in the STBL industry.

Methods
A total of 47 personal air samples were collected for MDI during 18 site visits at nine STBL companies in Colorado and Wyoming. Ventilation system and process characteristics that were assessed included: ventilation system face velocity, airflow, air changes per minute (AC/M), capture velocity, percent of MDI in bed-liner product, application temperature, application pressure, paint booth temperature, paint booth relative humidity, paint booth volume, and quantity of bed-liner product applied.

Results
Pearson correlation revealed percentage of MDI in bed-liner product (r = 0.557, n = 14, P < 0.05) and process temperature (r = 0.677, n = 14, P < 0.05) had high positive correlation with MDI concentration. Ventilation system face velocity (r = -0.578, n = 14, P < 0.05) and AC/M (r = -0.657, n = 14, P < 0.05) had high negative correlation with MDI concentration while airflow (r = -0.475, n = 14, P < 0.05) and capture velocity (r = -0.415, n = 14, P = 0.07) had moderate negative correlation with MDI concentration. Multiple linear regression revealed process temperature and capture velocity made a statistically significant and unique contribution in estimating MDI concentration (F (2, 11) = 10.99, P < 0.05) with an adjusted R2 of 0.61, explaining 61% of the variability in MDI concentration.

Conclusions
This investigation contributed to an understudied STBL industry by targeting determinants germane to MDI exposures during STBL application processes. Increasing ventilation performance for AC/M, airflow, face velocity, and capture velocity while also decreasing bed-liner application temperature and bed-liner product MDI content may have the greatest effect on reducing worker MDI exposures during STBL activities.


An intermolecular potential model of H2O with six interaction sites is proposed. The model is developed for the simulation of ice and water near the melting point. Parameters in the potential are determined to reproduce the real melting point of ice, and densities of ice and water near the melting point, which are predicted by calculating derivatives of the free energies and volumes of ice and water against potential parameters. Free energy calculations are carried out for several ice structures and water, and the results are compared with those obtained in four- and five-site models, which are currently in use. It is shown that, only in the present six-site model, the proton-disordered hexagonal ice is the stable structure at the melting point, as in real ice. The melting point of the proton-disordered hexagonal ice at 1 atm is estimated to be 271±9 K in the present model, which is in good agreement with the real melting point of 273.15 K. Moreover, results of Monte Carlo simulations of ice and water sho...


This chapter assesses the principal components of an effective tobacco control programme in relation to efficacy, reach (i.e. numbers of smokers influenced) and cost-effectiveness. National targets for the reduction of prevalence are most likely to be achieved through the use of high reach interventions such as fiscal policy and mass communications. Restrictions on smoking at work may contribute to declines in consumption, but advice from health professionals, though effective, has limited impact owing to low reach. Measures aimed primarily at youth can delay, but not prevent, recruitment to smoking. Media publicity not only reduces smoking, but also creates a climate of opinion in favour of effective measures such as fiscal policy. In the long run, health professionals can achieve more for their patients through the media than through personal advice.