In the Nash model, the number of reservoirs and storage coefficient describe the complete shape of IUH. In this model, the number of reservoirs which should be an integer values is generally a fractional value when derived from the observed data, and that is a major limitation for the model. Furthermore, a single linear reservoir of the Nash model yields an IUH without a rising limb which is physically unrealistic. To simulate a complete IUH with rising limb, the Nash model requires a minimum of two reservoirs connected in series. Splitting the Nash single linear reservoir into two serially connected reservoirs of unequal storage coefficients K1 and K2 (one hybrid unit), a hybrid model is introduced for derivation of a synthetic unit hydrograph. In this study,the Lighvan watershed was considered for application of the hybrid model. To exhibit the applicability of the hybrid model, the results, are compared with the Nash model results, using STDER and Nash- Satkolif output model values. The present approach yields STDER values lower and Nash-Satkolif output model values higher than those of the Nash method. Thus, the present approach performs better than the Nash method.


Professionally conditioned allergoses of the respiratory tract (BK 41) can occur in all industrial regions. The allergoses conditioned by organic dusts of vegetable or animal origin (regions food production, plant production and animal keeping) predominate. Since 1976 the BK 41 has been on the 10th rank of alases, 1977), above all conditioned by an improved establishment. Among the diagnoses bronchial asthma is in the first place. The high proportion of allergoses by cereal constituents is to be led back to the, as a rule, unproblematic allergologic clarification diagnostics. One may conclude that difficulties of the recognition in other allergens condition a considerable dark number, particularly in chemical working materials. The allergoses by cereal constituents are followed by the constituents of the animal epidermis (above all hair of laboratory animals). The remainder -- without any importance of the succession -- belongs to moulds, mites, plant pollen, parasubstituted aromates, chrome and rare allergens. Apart from the slight number of alveolitis diseases the allergoses conditioned by organic dusts belong to the type of early reaction (characteristic representatives: baker's asthma). Problematical are the allergoses of the type of the late reaction. Chemical substances of the hapten type are above all in question (characteristic representative: chrome asthma). Here is most cases expressed irritation effects are present so that this pathogenetic factor is frequently determining without proving any immune-specific effects. The report is based on forgiven criteria of decision.


Voltaire praised Alexander Pope's poem, An Essay on Man, as a magnificent and profound philosophical work that garnered widespread popularity and had a significant impact. It was believed that the poem's philosophical concepts were influenced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who drew inspiration from Jesuit writings and regarded Neo-Confucianism as China's "natural theology". In December 1897, Yan Fu translated six lines from Pope's poem into Chinese as a part of his translation of Tianyan lun. Subsequently, Timothy Richard and Ren Tingxu collaborated for five months to translate An Essay on Man into Chinese, known as Tianlun shi (A Poem of Heavenly Ethics), which was published in mid-summer 1898. This Chinese translation became the first extensive Western poem to be translated into Chinese. It consisted of four parts, with over 1300 lines in its original form and approximately 17,200 Chinese characters in translation. Ren rendered Pope's heroic couplets into a quatrain-style Chinese poem. The term "Tianlun" (Heavenly Ethic) was derived from Young John Allen's theory, which aimed to supplement Confucian ethics by illustrating the "man and heaven" (or "man and God") relationship. The poem successfully intertwined Christian and Confucian ideas, harmoniously blending the two discourses of natural theology and Neo-Confucianism. Ren's literary embellishments played a significant role in this remarkable achievement. Richard and Ren's translation of the poem served various purposes, including introducing Western knowledge to China and promoting political reform.


The authors present a case of dissecting aneurysm of the right posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) in a 47-year-old female, who suffered from mild subarachnoid hemorrhage. Right vertebral angiogram showed typical "pearl and string" sign of the PICA, but we could not fully understand the condition until a surgical exposure revealed a purple sausage-like dissecting aneurysm of the PICA. The aneurysm was wrapped with muscle pieces. Postoperatively she developed Wallenberg's syndrome, but it subsided gradually. No specific disorder concerning the mural dissection was found in this patient, except for a history of mild hypertension. This case is unusual because it affected not an arterial trunk but a small branch and we could find only one other case reported in the literature. Other formerly reported cases were of arterial trunks. The intracranial dissecting aneurysm has been known as a rare cause of cerebral infarct in children and adolescents. Infants are also affected and referred to as "infantile hemiplegia". It mainly affects one of the trunk arteries and cause a severe ischemic stroke, and surgically treatable case is rare. But as the typical angiographic findings are commonly known the number of the reported cases is increasing at an accelerating rate, and some of them are being noted to need surgical treatment because they cause subarachnoid hemorrhage. We here emphasize that not only trunk arteries but also small branch arteries can develop mural dissection, leading to subarachnoid hemorrhage. Dissecting aneurysm of a smaller artery would be milder in symptom, and would give more chance for surgical intervention.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A (p ,n) group G is a permutation group (on a set Ω) which possesses a regular normal elementary abelian subgroup of order pn. The set Ω may be identified with a vector space V on which Go, the stabilizer of a point in G, acts as a subgroup of the general linear group GL(n,p). By a line of a subset ∆ of V, we mean the intersection of ∆ with a one-dimensional subspace of V. The main result (Theorem 1.3.2) concerns (*) - groups, the term we give to rank 3 (p,n; groups in which the stabilizer of a point is doubly-transitive on the lines of a suborbit. The essence or the problem is that of finding those subgroups of PGL (n,p) which have two orbits on the projective space PG (n – 1,p) and act doubly-transitively on one of them.

The notion of rank of a permutation group is discussed in 1.1, outline D.G. Higman's combinatorial treatment of rank 3 groups.

Associated with each permutation group having a regular subgroup is a certain S - ring, an algebraic structure which is basic to our theory. In 2.1 we define parameters of a rank 3 S - ring whd.ch coincide with those of any associated rank :3 group. Hence (*) - group with given parameters may be classified by finding all S - rings with the same parameters and then finding the associated (*) - groups. To assist in this task the concepts of residual S-ring and the automorphism group of an S-ring are introduced. Also of great value is Tamaschke's notion of' the dual S-ring, whi.ch is adapted to use in 2.2.

In 3.1 we see how the imposition of conditions of transitivity on a suborbit of a rank 3 (p,n) groups leads to information about the parameters. In 3.3 the various relations connecting the parameters of' a (*)- group are combined to yield specific sets of parameters, all of which are found in §4: to admit rank 3 S - rings. From results concerning the uniqueness of these S – rings, certain finite simple groups are characterised as their automorphism groups, and the proof of the main theorem is completed. A number of results are obtained as by – products in §4:, notably the answer to a question raised by Wielandt and a new representation of the simple group PSL(3,4) as a subgroup of PO-(6,3, leading to an interesting presentation of a recently-discovered balanced block design.

§5 is devoted to rank 3 (p,n) groups in which the transitivity condition on Go is replaced by the condition that the associated block design is balanced.


Mutations in ribosomal proteins RPS19, RPS24 and RPS17 have been reported in Diamond‐Blackfan Anemia (DBA), an autosomal dominant disease characterised by pure red cell aplasia. DBA is the prototype of ribosomapathies: a protein synthesis defect in a tissue with a high cellular turnover is considered the cause of the erythroid progenitor failure. We have created the Diamond‐Blackfan Anemia mutation database to curate and record DBA gene mutations, together with their functional consequences and clinical phenotypes. This locus‐specific resource is open to future submissions and is available online (http://www.dbagenes.unito.it). It is founded on the Leiden Open (source) Variation Database (LOVD) system and includes data from sequence and structure analysis tools, genomic database resources and published reports. It lists all identified variants and background genomic information. Phenotypic data are accessed by selecting a particular mutation. The database includes 219 unique variants of which 86 are disease‐causing mutations. The database will be supplemented with other DBA genes as soon as they are reported and their mutations are identified and it should be of assistance to clinicians and investigators involved in DBA research and care. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Industrial processes release substantial quantities of waste heat, which can be harvested to generate electricity. At present, the conversion of low grade waste heat to electricity relies solely on thermoelectric materials, but such materials are expensive and have low thermodynamic efficiencies. Although thermomagnetic materials may offer a promising alternative, their performance remains to be evaluated, thereby hindering their real-world application. Here we evaluate the efficiency and cost effectiveness of thermomagnetic materials that can be used in motors, oscillators and generators for converting waste heat to electricity. Our analysis reveals that up to temperature differences of several 10 K the best thermomagnetic materials outperform thermoelectric materials. Importantly, we find that the price per watt for some thermomagnetic materials are much lower compared to present-day thermoelectrics and can become competitive with conventional power plants. The materials library that we present here enables the selection of the best available thermomagnetic materials for harvesting waste heat and gives guidelines for their future development.


Grasses characteristically produce a huge amount of small pollen grains, which pose a risk to allergy sufferers. In many aerobiological studies, great variations in the behaviour of the grass pollen season are stressed. We state that in Rzeszów and Ostrowiec Sw. there is some regularity in the pattern of the main grass pollen seasons, which is clearly double-peaked. The aim of our work was to elaborate the algorithm which defines the main grass pollen season. Next, the null hypothesis was tested about the lack of difference between daily pollen concentrations and meteorological parameters. Grass pollen seasons were defined using the method of fitting two bell curves. The estimated grass pollen season is characterised by two periods of high or relatively high concentrations, separated by a period of low concentration. In order to investigate the time dependence of the correlation between pollen concentration and the weather parameters, the Gaussian-weighted correlation coefficient has been calculated. Maximum temperature, mean temperature and sunshine positively correlated with pollen concentrations, but relative air humidity and rainfall on the previous day had a negative effect. The temperatures of the second and third ten-day periods of April were the best independent variables for forecasting the beginning and peak dates of the main pollen seasons. An analysis of the results shows that the pattern of successive flowering in grass species and meadow cutting dates appear to be the factors which cause the characteristic bimodal behaviour of the grass pollen season.


The husk of durian can be used as a source of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin to generate liquid smoke, and there are several types of researches that have done this. Liquid smokes can be used as natural food preservation because of the presence of antibacterial substance, there are two important compounds i.e., phenol and acetic acid. There are several factors influencing the concentration of an antimicrobial substance in liquid smoke, one of them is the temperature of the pyrolysis, as well as the type of wood used to generate the smoke. The type of wood defines the biomass content of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose, and this has been proven through two-way ANOVA analysis to be a significant factor in the concentration of phenol and acetic acid in liquid smoke. Meanwhile, temperature is not a significant factor in the generation of phenol and acetic acid. Durian husk has low lignin and hemicellulose content so coconut shell is added to increase the lignin and hemicellulose in the feed. This study aimed to obtain the best composition of durian husk and coconut shell in the liquid smoke generation based on phenol and acetic acid. Reviewing the literature through systematic review and meta-analysis was chosen as the method to determine the best variation of composition. The variations ratio between durian husk and coconut shell were 5:0; 4:1; 3:2; 2:3; 1:4 and 0:5 with a total mass of 5 kg and with temperature variation of 300C and 400C. The best variation was DTK6 at 300C, pyrolysis of 5 kg coconut shell which produced the highest amount of phenol and acetic acid with the value of 2.502% and 2.572%.


This paper proposes a unified semi-blind detection framework for sourced and unsourced random access (RA), which enables next-generation ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) with a massive number of devices. Specifically, the active devices transmit their uplink access signals in a grant-free manner to realize ultra-low access latency. Meanwhile, the base station aims to achieve ultra-reliable data detection under severe inter-device interference without exploiting explicit channel state information (CSI). We first propose an efficient transmitter design, where a small amount of reference information (RI) is embedded in the access signal to resolve the inherent ambiguities incurred by the unknown CSI. At the receiver, we further develop a successive interference cancellation-based semi-blind detection scheme, where a bilinear generalized approximate message passing algorithm is utilized for joint channel and signal estimation (JCSE), while the embedded RI is exploited for ambiguity elimination. Particularly, a rank selection approach and a RI-aided initialization strategy are incorporated to reduce the algorithmic computational complexity and to enhance the JCSE reliability, respectively. Besides, four enabling techniques are integrated to satisfy the stringent latency and reliability requirements of massive URLLC. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed semi-blind detection framework offers a better scalability-latency-reliability tradeoff than the state-of-the-art detection schemes dedicated to sourced or unsourced RA.


An ad-hoc network is a collection of temporary nodes that are capable of dynamically forming a temporary network without the support of any centralized fixed infrastructure. These networks can be formed, merged or partitioned into separate networks on the fly, without necessarily relying on a fixed infrastructure to manage the operation. Two important properties of an ad-hoc network are that it is self-organized and adaptive. In a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) where security is a crucial issue, trust plays an important factor that could improve the number of successful data transmission process. The higher the numbers of nodes that trust each other in the network means the higher successful communication process rates could be expected. Since there is no central controller to determine the reliable & Secure communication paths in MANET, each node in the ad hoc network has to rely on each other in order to forward packets, thus highly cooperative nodes are required to ensure that the initiated data transmission process does not fail. In this paper, we provide a model & evidence through experiments on how a friendship concept could be used to minimize the number of false alarms raised in MANET Intrusion Detection System (TDS).


CoFeB layer with amorphous structure has attracted much attention due to its soft magnetic properties and the realization of large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio at room temperature when used as the free layer in ferromagnet/insulator/ferromagnet magnetic tunnel junctions. Two types of multilayer films were prepared in this study. Type I is a full stack of MTJs to evaluate the transport properties, while type II is a partial stack of MTJ to analyse the crystalline structure of the reference layer (RL). The films were prepared on a thermally oxidized silicon wafer using a Canon ANELVA C-7100 sputtering system. All the metallic films were deposited using dc magnetron sputtering method. The CoFeB film composition was analyzed by inductive-coupled plasma spectroscopy method. The insulating MgO layer was deposited by rf sputtering directly from a sintered MgO target. After the film deposition, they were annealed at 360 C for 2 hours in a magnetic field of 8 kOe.


The investigation untitled: Conservation state of the vegetable species used for the craft in San Andres's valley, Pinar del Rio, Cuba was carried out during two years, in different stages, beginning with the physical and geographical characterization of the studying area and the not forestry products present on it, this work is based on field investigations, etnobiological requests, bibliography searching, biophenological observations on the not forestry products present in the studying area, its current state and different uses. The main results obtained were to know the vegetable products used by artisans, the manufactured products, the current state and the population perspectives of these products. When concluding the work it is recommended to deepen with the repopulation of these plants to guarantee in a future the prevail matter used by the artisans in the area of San Andre's' valley, arriving by this way to the objective of the investigation that was to systematize the knowledge of the existence and the use of these products and to know the environmental, social and economic impact that causes the exploitation of these natural resources in San Andres's valley.


Mercury telluride (HgTe) quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized in methanol at 5 degrees C using generation 5 (G5) and 7 (G7) polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers, which function both as nucleation sites and as nanoparticle stabilizers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data indicate these particles were slightly oblate, with an average aspect ratio of 1.3 +/- 0.1 and a minor axis of 2.6 +/- 0.3 nm. The crystal phase was determined to be coloradoite (cubic system) by analysis of the electron diffraction pattern. Absorption maxima for HgTe QDs ranged from 950 to 970 nm, depending on the dendrimer generation and concentration. QD size distribution was optimized by careful variation of the Hg(2+):dendrimer surface group molar ratio for both G5 and G7 dendrimers. An increase in molar ratio from 1:0.5 to 1:4 resulted in a decrease in the half-width at half-maximum (HWHM) of the HgTe bandgap absorption from 68 +/- 3 to 52 +/- 2 nm, indicating a size distribution focusing of 23 +/- 4%. Second-derivative analysis of HgTe QD FTIR absorption spectra suggested that the quantum dots were fully encapsulated by a single G7 dendrimer, whereas multiple G5 dendrimers were necessary to stabilize a single nanoparticle. TEM and FTIR data revealed that the HgTe QDs form two-dimensional necklace-type arrays through a self-organization process, which proceeds through interpenetration of dendritic arms. TEM data further indicated that the average nanonecklace contained 10-15 QDs with an average inter-QD separation of 1.3 +/- 0.7 nm and a total chain length of 46 +/- 6 nm.


A 75-year-old woman with jaundice was given a diagnosis of bile duct cancer using several imaging modalities. The proximal and middle bile ducts were evaluated as normal by multidetector-row CT and intraductal ultrasonography. However, peroral cholangioscopy (POCS) with narrow band imaging (NBI) clearly revealed the intraepithelial extent of the bile duct cancer from the distal bile duct to the hilar bile duct, which was confirmed by histological examination of the resected specimen. POCS combined with NBI is expected to be useful for determining the resection margin in bile duct cancer cases.


Galaxies behind the Milky Way suffer size reduction and dimming due to their obscuration by dust in the disc of our Galaxy. The degree of obscuration is wavelength dependent. It decreases towards longer wavelengths. Compared to the optical, the near-infrared (NIR) Ksband extinction is only ≈10 per cent that of the B band. This makes NIR surveys well suited for galaxy surveys close to the Galactic plane, where extinction is severe. While Galactic obscuration is less prominent in the NIR, it is not negligible. In this paper, we derive empirical relations to correct isophotal radii and magnitudes of galaxies observed in the NIR for foreground absorption. We simulate extinction in the J, H and Ks bands on 64 (unobscured) galaxies from the Two Micron All Sky Survey Large Galaxy Atlas. We propose two methods for the extinction correction, the first is optimized to provide the most accurate correction and the second provides a convenient statistical correction that works adequately in lower extinction regions. The optimized correction utilizes the galaxy surface brightness, either the disc central surface brightness, μ0, or the combined disc plus bulge central surface brightness, elliptical and disc/spiral Hubble types. A detailed comparison between the different methods and their accuracy is provided.


The current–voltage characteristic hysteresis of Bi-2223 tape in a silver matrix cooled by liquid nitrogen (LN2) at 77 K can be interpreted thermally, i.e. while the ramping-up temperature of the tape is higher than the ramping-down temperature for the same current levels. The reason for this could be hysteresis of the heat transfer coefficient. The coefficient is smaller during ramping up and larger (better cooling) during ramping down. To verify or deny this concept we have measured the surface temperature of the tape at LN2 temperature with and without a thermal insulation sheet upon the tape during ramping up over Ic and ramping down back under Ic. Different ramping rates were applied. The amplitudes of E on the tape was under 0.5 mV cm−1. In spite of measurement error and thermal fluctuations, we observed a difference between the surface temperature curve branch during ramping up and the higher branch during ramping down for a non-insulated tape. Furthermore, the measurements showed that a positive current–voltage (I–V) hysteresis pattern (with the down branch shifted to higher currents and smaller voltages) was observed even with thermal insulation. Under these conditions, however, the down branch of the temperature curve clearly revealed a higher temperature with respect to the up branch of the temperature, contrary to expectations of the thermal interpretation of I–V hysteresis. According to this result, the thermal concept of positive I–V hysteresis under stable cooling conditions can be denied. On the other hand, an accidental voltage drop in the I–V curve was observed on one degraded sample accompanied by a corresponding drop in temperature. This proves the thermal interpretation of voltage drops in I–V curves of locally degraded tapes.


Wireless power transfer systems using near-field magnetic coupling are attractive as they allow power transfer with high efficiency and do not require an unobstructed path between transmitter and receiver. In this work a two coil wireless power transmission system is analyzed, including the driving amplifier, and a demonstration system is built and characterized. The system achieves 76% efficiency for a distance of 1 meter for 40W transferred power. The effects of changes to the geometry of the system (pitch angle of coils, separation distance) are also examined, and the effect on amplifier topologies analyzed.


Diagnosis and precise risk stratification of prostate cancer (PCa) is essential for individualized treatment decisions.

 This single-centred retrospective study included consecutive patients undergoing elective RP due to PCa with prior mpMRI and TPMBs biopsy between 2017-2022. We evaluated the value of PI-RAD v2 score, Gleason score (GS) and TPMB cores against RP specimens to determine its efficacy in identifying csPCa i.e Gleason score ≥3+4, or any cancer >6mm in size.

 A total of 49 patients were included. Mean age was 70 years (IQR 67-75) and PSA 11.7 ng/ml (IQR 6.4-13.6). For PI-RAD ≥ 3, 86% (42/49) vs 96% (47/49) had csPCa on TPMB and RP respectively. No statistically significant association was found between PI-RAD v2 score and GS of TPMB or RP (p = 0.9). When comparing the cumulative GS of TPMB versus RP (p<0.001), 49% (n = 24) had identical scores, 29% (n = 14) were downgraded, 22% (n = 11) were upgraded. For upgrading, 6/11 (55%) were PI-RAD 5 lesions. Only 2/11 (18%) and 3/11 (27%) constituted of PI-RAD 3 & 4 respectively.

 There is no correlation between the PI-RAD v2 scoring system and final histopathology of RP specimens, and a low proportion of PI-RAD 3 or 4 lesions are upgraded at final pathology.


The traumatic spondylolisthesis C2/3 presents a potential disco-ligamentous unstable cervical spine injury. In the past several times conservative treatment of unstable types of these fractures lead to failure or change of the attempted treatment. With experience of more than 20 years in the operative treatment of these unstable injuries we present our long-term results of 34 cases. In most cases anterior fusion C2/3 was performed. With a view of our entirely good to very good results we present our recommendations for diagnostic, classification and therapy in a comprehensive discussion.


Crowdfunding has emerged as an alternative mechanism to traditional financing mechanisms in which individuals solicit financial capital or donation from the crowd. The success factors of crowdfunding are not well-understood, particularly for donationbased crowdfunding platforms. This study identifies key drivers of donation-based crowdfunding campaign success using a machine learning approach. Based on an analysis of crowdfunding campaigns from Gofundme.com, we show that our models were able to predict the average daily amount received at a high level of accuracy using variables available at the beginning of the campaign and the number of days it had been posted. In addition, Facebook and Twitter shares and the number of likes, improved the accuracy of the models. Among the six machine learning algorithms we used, support vector machine (SVM) performs the best in predicting campaign success.


A case of delayed myelopathy appearing 15 years after a stab wound to the thoracic spine with a retained foreign body in the spinal canal is reported. Severe inflammatory reaction to iron corrosion was found, with granuloma and sterile pus formation. Removal of the foreign body and partial excision of the granuloma resulted in clinical improvement. Reaction to foreign body corrosion is believed to be the major cause of delayed neurologic deficit and is an important guideline for removal of asymptomatic intraspinal foreign bodies.


Improved probabilistic routing on generalized hypercubes.- Efficient data communication in Incomplete Hypercube.- Efficient communication in the folded Petersen interconnection networks.- Compiling rewriting onto SIMD and MIMD/SIMD machines.- A compilation technique for varying communication cost NUMA architectures.- A data partitioning algorithm for distributed memory compilation.- Towards a high precision massively parallel computer.- On the testability of purely recursive digital filters.- Voting on synchronous communications.- Protocol validation: A parallel technique to reduce the reachability tree.- Optimal parallel execution of complete binary trees and grids into most popular interconnection networks.- Time-optimal nearest-neighbor computations on enhanced meshes.- Simulation of PRAM models on meshes.- On the multisearching problem for hypercubes.- Code Liberation - A tool for refitting code to a parallel environment.- High-level visualisation of parallel logic program execution.- Next-generation parallel performance visualization: A prototyping environment for visualization development.- A formal approach to modeling expected behavior in parallel program visualizations.- An improvement in the size-depth tradeoff for strictly non-blocking generalized-concentration networks.- Bypass strategy in hypercube multiprocessors by adding bus connections.- Optimul: A hybrid multiprocessor for distributed and shared memory multiprocessing with WDM optical fiber interconnections.- ILIAS, a sequential language for parallel matrix computations.- Static communications in parallel scientific programs.- Load balancing for extrapolation methods on distributed memory multiprocessors.- On the definition of speedup.- Petri net performance models of parallel systems - Methodology and case study.- Run-time optimization of sparse matrix-vector multiplication on SIMD machines.- A new approach to array redistribution: Strip mining redistribution.- Analytic model of a Cache Only Memory Architecture.- Memory assignment for multiprocessor caches through grey coloring.- An adaptive update-based cache coherence protocol for reduction of miss rate and traffic.- Eliminating invalidation in coherent-cache parallel graph reduction.- Enhancing parallelism by removing cyclic data dependencies.- An interaction-based language and its typing system.- On the parallelism of data.- Predicative polymorphism in ?-calculus.- Improving the execution of the dependent and-parallel Prolog DDAS.- OR-parallel Prolog on distributed memory systems.- Efficient distributed memory implementation of a data parallel functional language.- Modelling photochemical pollution using parallel and distributed computing platforms.- Parallel algorithms and interval selection strategies for globally adaptive quadrature.- Systolic designs for evaluating linear combinations of Chebyshev polynomials.- The impact of the KSR1 allcache architecture on the behaviour of the DBS3 parallel DBMS.- Sparse Generalized HyperGrids for performance scalability.- A distributed garbage collector for active objects.- Bus based parallel computers: A viable way for massive parallelism.- Implementation of GTS.- A hierarchical activation management technique for fine-grain multithreaded execution.- Scheduling task graphs onto distributed memory multiprocessors under realistic constraints.- A dynamic algorithm for online scheduling of parallel processes.- CoReA: A synchronous calculus of parallel communicating reactive automata.- Deriving histories of nets with priority relation.- What do you get from a ?-calculus semantics?.- Rewriting: An effective model of concurrency.- Mercury: Object-affinity scheduling and continuation passing on multiprocessors.- Dynamic allocation of communication bandwidth in multicomputers.- Load balanced priority queues on distributed memory machines.- Parallel computations with algebraic numbers a case study: Jordan normal form of matrices.- Batch dynamic algorithms for two graph problems.- A general method for maximizing the error-detecting ability of distributed algorithms.- MAGE: A Massively Agent Execution System for logic programming.- Checking the serial correctness of control-parallel programs.- NXLib - A parallel programming environment for workstation clusters.- Applying human factors techniques to the design of a tool for parallel program performance analysis and tuning.- An Actor based programming system for heterogeneous processing.- Introducing fairness in CSP systems specified with state variables.- A dataflow-based massively parallel programming language and its implementation.- Using subpages for coherency control in parallel database systems.- A new multi-dimensional interconnection network for SIMD architectures.- A scalable bit-sequential SIMD architecture for pattern recognition.- An iterative array processor architecture for matrix computation.- Datarol-II: A fine-grain massively parallel architecture.- From BSP to a virtual von Neumann machine.- Data parallel relational database processing on the connection machine CM-2 with DataVault.- Staggered scheme: A loop allocation policy.- Using parallel simulated annealing in the mapping problem.- A new parallel MIMD Connected Component Labeling algorithm.- Using reference counters in update based coherent memory.- Compositional reasoning about real-time distributed systems with limited resources.- Dynamic load balancing on a virtually-shared memory parallel computer system.- Analysing the load balancing scheme of a parallel system on multiprocessors - A modeling approach -.- Performance of interconnection network in multithreaded architectures.- Scheduling algorithms performance with the pSystem parallel programming environment.- A new routing scheme for concatenating two omega networks.


We extend the analysis of a mean-field model for biaxial liquid crystals recently proposed by Sonnet et al. [Phys. Rev. E 67, 061701 (2003)]. In particular, we perform a bifurcation analysis of the equilibrium equations and derive the complete phase diagram. We show that two order parameters suffice to label all equilibrium phases, though they exhibit different bifurcation patterns. A Monte Carlo simulation study is performed as well, confirming qualitatively the predictions of this analysis.


Perovskite-based tandem solar cells are of increasing interest as they approach commercialization. Here we use experimental parameters from optical spectroscopy measurements to calculate the limiting efficiency of perovskite–silicon and all-perovskite two-terminal tandems, employing currently available bandgap materials, as 42.0% and 40.8%, respectively. We show luminescence coupling between subcells (the optical transfer of photons from the high-bandgap to low-bandgap subcell) relaxes current matching when the high-bandgap subcell is a luminescent perovskite. We calculate that luminescence coupling becomes important at charge trapping rates (≤106 s–1) already being achieved in relevant halide perovskites. Luminescence coupling increases flexibility in subcell thicknesses and tolerance to different spectral conditions. For maximal benefit, the high-bandgap subcell should have the higher short-circuit current under average spectral conditions. This can be achieved by reducing the bandgap of the high-bandgap subcell, allowing wider, unstable bandgap compositions to be avoided. Lastly, we visualize luminescence coupling in an all-perovskite tandem through cross-section luminescence imaging.


Orient, its publications and other actmties, and the libraries, archives, learned societies, journals, and periodicals of the country generally, concluding with seven pages of population statistics. This volume constitutes, therefore, a useful work of reference on many different subjects. I have noticed few misprints. On p. 52 of vol. i, par should be p-dr (i.e. padr, the word being of two syllables). Near the bottom of p. 38 in the same volume a line is repeated and something is consequently missing. The first two lines of p. 26 of vol. ii should have appeared at the top of p. 25. The illustrations, though not numerous, are very good. A map and an index would have been useful additions ; but the two tables of contents are somewhat more detailed than the mere lists of chapter headings which usually serve as such.


The effect of radiation damage on minority carriers (holes) has been investigated by optical deep-level transient spectroscopy on initially low- and high-resistivity (phosphorus-doped) neutron-transmission-doped silicon. New experimental data are compared with prior data on majority carrier traps in the same material. Four minority carrier traps are dominant. In initially low-resistivity material H3 (Ev+0.34 eV) and H5 (Ev+0.40 eV) are dominant and anneal out at 560 degrees C. In initially high-resistivity two other traps H4 (Ev+0.35 eV) and H6 (Ev+0.46 eV) are dominant and remain upon annealing up to around 700 degrees C. The results suggest that the latter traps H4 and H6, are closely related to the transmutation-doped phosphorus atoms, and they are constituents of the defect clusters introduced by the fast-neutron knock-on process.


We prove the existence of various families of irreducible homaloidal hypersurfaces in projective space Pr, for all r ≥ 3. Some of these are families of homaloidal hypersurfaces whose degrees are arbitrarily large as compared to the dimension of the ambient projective space. The existence of such a family solves a question that has naturally arisen from the consideration of the classes of homaloidal hypersurfaces known so far. The result relies on a fine analysis of dual hypersurfaces to certain scroll surfaces. We also introduce an infinite family of determinantal homaloidal hypersurfaces based on a certain degeneration of a generic Hankel matrix. These examples fit non–classical versions of de Jonquières transformations. As a natural counterpoint, we broaden up aspects of the theory of Gordan–Noether hypersurfaces with vanishing Hessian determinant, bringing over some more precision to the present knowledge.


SUMMARY Current theories on diversity–disease relationships describe host species diversity and species identity as important factors influencing disease risk, either diluting or amplifying disease prevalence in a community. Whereas the simple term 'diversity' embodies a set of animal community characteristics, it is not clear how different measures of species diversity are correlated with disease risk. We therefore tested the effects of species richness, Pielou's evenness and Shannon's diversity on bovine tuberculosis (bTB) risk in cattle in the Afar Region and Awash National Park between November 2013 and April 2015. We also analysed the identity effect of a particular species and the effect of host habitat use overlap on bTB risk. We used the comparative intradermal tuberculin test to assess the number of bTB-infected cattle. Our results suggested a dilution effect through species evenness. We found that the identity effect of greater kudu – a maintenance host – confounded the dilution effect of species diversity on bTB risk. bTB infection was positively correlated with habitat use overlap between greater kudu and cattle. Different diversity indices have to be considered together for assessing diversity–disease relationships, for understanding the underlying causal mechanisms. We posit that unpacking diversity metrics is also relevant for formulating disease control strategies to manage cattle in ecosystems characterized by seasonally limited resources and intense wildlife–livestock interactions.


Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever, is an obligate intracellular bacterial parasite of macrophages, is classified as a select agent and can be readily weaponized. To date, there is no approved vaccine for C. burnetti in the U.S. and antibiotic therapy is only effective if given very early following initial infection. Infected macrophages can be induced to kill the bacterium, suggesting that "adjuvant therapy" may be an alternative approach to countering infection. As a first test of this approach, the capacity of TLR2 and TLR4 agonists to activate and induce increased killing of Phase II C. burnetii was tested in vitro and in vivo. TLR agonists induced activation and increased killing in vitro, yet showed minimal activity in vivo. In a concurrent drug discovery effort we screened 2,000 natural compounds on macrophage cells as well as on other innate cells for their potential use in "adjuvant therapy". These novel activating agents identified in the drug screens induced IL-8 release and upregulation of cathepsin D and reproducibly increased clearance of C. burnetii both in vitro and in vivo. These results show that Phase II C. burnetii is susceptible to adjuvant therapy, but TLR agonists are not consistent in inducing protection. Novel agonists from a screen of a natural product library hold promise as potential therapeutic adjuvants for Q-fever.
 Funded by: NIH AI-04018 and DoD W91 13M-04-1-0001.


The antiviral and virucidal effect of methanolic extract fraction of leaves of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) (NCL-11) was studied regarding its activity and possible mechanism of action against Coxsackie B group of viruses. NCL-11 inhibited plaque formation in 6 antigenic types of Coxsackie virus B at a concentration of 1000 micrograms/ml at 96 hrs. 'in vitro'. Additionally virus inactivation, yield reduction and effect of time of addition assays suggested that NCL-11 was most effective against coxsackie virus B-4 as a virucidal agent besides interfering at an early event of its replicative cycle. The evidence suggested that presence of a battery of compounds besides flavonoids, triterpenoids and their glycosides in NCL-11 have antiviral action for coxsackie B group of viruses 'in vitro.' The minimal inhibitory concentrations were not toxic to Vero (African green monkey kidney), cells; subtoxic concentration was 8,000 micrograms/ml and cytotoxic concentration 10,000 micrograms/ml, which was confirmed by trypan blue dye exclusion test.


ABSTRACT Many studies have underlined the role of updates, pictures, videos, and narrative sections in reducing information asymmetry and producing positive signaling effects for crowdfunding projects. However, research on the role of external entities that partially co-finance projects and thus mitigate information asymmetry problems is almost non-existent. Based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study focuses on two groups of factors capable of mitigating asymmetric information problems: content communication (measured by words, videos, pictures, and updates) and endorsement from third-party. The study sample consists of 114 successful social crowdfunding projects posted on Eppela, an Italian crowdfunding platform launched in 2011. The study provides new evidence of the role of third-party investors. In social crowdfunding, the relevance of content communication seems to vary depending on the presence or absence of a third-party investor. The study also highlights the role of a broad content communication approach in fundraising in the social crowdfunding market.


One of the principal means by which state management of rapid economic development has been attempted in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has been the creation and maintenance of special economic zones (SEZs). The purpose of SEZs is to encourage domestic and international investment in specific areas to promote mainly export-oriented manufacturing. They have been created in large numbers in Thailand, Vietnam and the Yunnan Province of China, and they are being built across Cambodia, Laos and now Myanmar. Negative effects, such as pollution and the forcible clearances of people, are balanced by the provision of new jobs and better income-generating opportunities for people and their families. SEZs in the GMS are being increasingly drawn together by the large-scale creation of the Asian Highway Network, in addition to investment by domestic governments and by capital from Chinese corporations and the state. The creation of these linkages will have additional changes on the economic geography of the region and on the distribution of the factors leading to uneven development. This article seeks to identify the social and human implications of the spread of SEZs across the GMS. It seeks to draw together conclusions that lead to recommendations for public policy that will reduce the risks that people will face as a result.


While most proteins have critical thiols whose oxidation affects their activity, it has been suggested that S-nitrosation and denitrosation of cellular thiols are fundamental processes similar to protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, respectively. However, understanding the biosynthesis and catabolism of S-nitrosothiols has proven to be difficult, in part because of the low stability of this class of metabolites. Herein, we report that thioredoxin catalyzes the denitrosation of a series of S-nitrosoamino acids and S-nitrosoproteins derived from HepG2 cells. Notably, all S-nitrosoproteins with a molecular mass of 23-30 kDa were catabolized by thioredoxin. Experimental evidence is presented which shows that both glutathione and reduced human thioredoxin denitrosate S-nitrosothioredoxin, which has been suggested to act as an anti-apoptotic factor via trans-S-nitrosation of caspase 3. In HepG2 cells, we observed that S-nitrosocysteine ethyl ester impedes the activity of caspase 3. However, a subsequent incubation of the cells in nitrosothiol-free medium resulted in reconstitution of the enzymatic activity, most likely due to endogenous denitrosation of S-nitrosocaspase 3. The latter process was markedly inhibited in thioredoxin reductase-deficient HepG2 cells, suggesting that the thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase system tends to maintain intracellular caspase 3 in a reduced, SH state. The data obtained are discussed within the general reaction mechanisms encompassing the cellular homeostasis of S-nitrosothiols.


We present a practical process to fabricate InGaN-GaN multiple quantum well nanorod structures. By using silica nanoparticles as the etch mask and followed by dry etching, nanorods with diameter 100 nm can be uniformly fabricated over the entire 2-in wafer. The photoluminescence spectra of the InGaN-GaN p-i-n nanorod structure are extracted at room and low temperatures. Also, discrete density of states can be observed at the temperature below 60 K. We further fabricate nanorod light emitting devices using a planarization approach to deposit p-type electrode on the tips of nanorods. Current-voltage curves and electroluminescent results of nanorod light emitting diode arrays are demonstrated.


The interface which connects the agent to its environment is usually based on the particular architecture of the agent. This makes it difficult for agents of different architectures to interact with each other within the same virtual environment. In this paper, we present a model to describe the agent/world interface in a generic, architecture independent way. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated in a generic testbed library which facilitates rapid prototyping for experimental multi-agent systems. Also, a network protocol derived from the basic model which allows for the development of distributed testbeds is presented.


IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol employs two techniques for packet transmission; the basic access scheme and the RTS/CTS-based reservation scheme. A parameter called RTS Threshold determines which scheme to use. If packet size is smaller than the RTS Threshold then the basic scheme is used otherwise the reservation scheme is used. With current standard, the RTS Threshold is fixed. In this paper, we, first point out the advantages and disadvantages of RTS/CTS based scheme. Then we state the problems of having a fixed RTS Threshold. Next, we present a numerical way to fix the RTS Threshold adaptively based on network traffic. The proposed adaptive scheme creates a balance between the basic scheme and the RTS/CTS based scheme and optimizes the network throughput. Considering multi-hop networks with hidden node problems we have validated our proposal through simulation.


There are three steps New Zealand can take to make its bilateral development assistance more effective in reducing poverty. These steps are 'easy' because they are unilateral: they improve the effectiveness of development assistance without requiring changes in the politics or policies of developing countries. By far the most important of these three steps is to focus New Zealand's bilateral aid on those poor countries that are democracies pursing policies of market-led growth. One of the major findings of recent research is that development aid only reinforces what is already there. New Zealand should accept the developing countries as it finds them and pick and choose so that it helps those already helping themselves.


In recent years there has been significant progress in the calculation of two-loop amplitudes [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. These amplitudes are needed for fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations to improve the accuracy of theoretical predictions relevant to high-energy collider experiments. At the next-to-next-to-leading order level the ingredients for the third order term in the perrturbative expansion for quantities depending on n resolved "hard" partons are the already mentionendn-parton two-loop amplitudes, the (n + 1)parton one-loop amplitudes and the (n+2) Born amplitudes. Taken separately, each one of these contributions is infrared divergent. Only the sum of all contributions is infrared finite. Here I review the state of the art for the cancellation of infrared divergences between these different contributions at NNLO. Infrared divergences occur already at next-toleading order. At NLO real and virtual corrections contribute. The virtual corrections contain the loop integrals and can have, in addition to ultraviolet divergences, infrared divergences. If loop amplitudes are calculated in dimensional regularisation, the IR divergences manifest themselves as explicit poles in the dimensional regularisation parameter ε = 2−D/2. These poles cancel with similar poles arising from amplitudes with additional partons but less internal loops, when integrated over phase space regions where two (or more) partons become "close" to each other. In general, the Kinoshita-Lee-Nauenberg theorem [ 14, 15] guarantees that any infrared-safe observable, when summed over all states degenerate according to some resolution criteria, will be finite. However, the cancellation occurs only after the integration


To investigate the effects of electromyography (EMG)-biofeedback on pain experienced during the immediate post-operative period following abdominal surgery, twelve patients were randomly assigned to either (1) EMG-biofeedback from abdominal muscles; (2) EMG-biofeedback from the frontalis muscles; or (3) were given no EMG treatment. EMG training consisted of one pre-operative 30 minute session, and three 30 minute postoperative sessions. All patients were able to reduce EMG activity. A within-sessions analysis of pain reports (on a 0–10 pain intensity scale) indicated that EMG biofeedback is an effective method of pain relief only when feedback is given to the muscle site involved in the operation.


Non-equilibrium Green's function formalism (NEGF) by employing time-dependent (TD) perturbation theory is used to solve the electronic equations of motion of model systems under potential biasing conditions. The time propagation is performed in the full frequency domain of the two time variables representation. We analyze transient aspects of the resulting conductance under effects of applied direct-current and alternating current potentials. The coherence induced response dependence on different aspects of the applied perturbation is resolved in time and analyzed using calculated TD distributions of the current operator.


Globally more is being spent on education than ever before. Understanding which educational inputs are most important for achievement is essential for improving efficiency of that spending. In this chapter, we review the literature that has used the education production function to model the relationship between educational inputs such as genetics, parental investments, school type, teacher quality and school resources, and educational outputs. We summarise the evidence from key studies that have produced credible estimates of the relationship between inputs and a variety of these different education and labour market outcomes. We conclude with some insights into potential avenues for future research.


Current IR theories are not necessarily international theories. IR theories are still basically based on historical experiences of the Western Christian world and serve Western interests. Therefore, they have difficulties in understanding globalization. They also have difficulties in accommodating the rise of BRICs and especially that of China and India. This article demonstrates that traditional peace research has much potential to contribute to constructing a true international approach in understanding international politics in the era of globalization.


This thesis unites the issues derived from the research on the relationship between culture and performance, where commitment is regarded as its vital index, in the domain of international business (IB). Despite its importance the concept of transmission of culture has not been examined quantitatively, regardless of qualitative studies proving that organizational culture has significant influence on a firm's overall performance, and particularly on commitment. In addressing the above gaps, the present thesis develops a resource-based framework that examines whether organizational culture can be regarded as a strategic resource of a multinational company (MNC), what are the factors composing two concepts such as 'organizational culture' and 'organizational commitment' and whether there is a relationship between these concepts at three levels: a) HQs level in the home country, Japan, b) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, Thailand, which is culturally very similar to the home country, and c) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, India, which is culturally very distant to the home country. This theoretical framework essentially integrates theoretical perspectives on HQs-subsidiary relationship and transmission of culture in the multinational company in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV). This constitutes an innovative approach both in MNC-related literatures and literatures on culture and commitment. This study adopts positivism as a philosophical approach and uses the extensive review and analysis of literature to build a theory and three studies to test the theory. The methodology of quantitative research employs the three-stage research design; thus, triangulation, a research technique, is used to enhance the rigor of the research findings. Quantitative data analysis involved hypotheses testing using Correlation Analysis, Covariance Analysis, Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) research techniques. Major contributions to theory include the development of a research methodology which provides robust conceptualization and measurement of the culture-commitment link and transmission of the culture of the HQs of multinational companies to their subsidiary operations in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV) theoretical framework for the analysis of multinational companies in the era of globalization. The results of this research may lead to the conclusion that (a) culture can be regarded as a valuable strategic resource of a company based on the fact of the existence of a strong relationship between culture and commitment, where commitment is considered to be one of the indices of performance, and (b) the transmission of culture in the form of a successful transfer of its major value-components from HQs to subsidiaries indeed takes place. This enables the creation of commitment of the employees in subsidiaries similar to that in HQs, which in turn provides the company with unique and valuable resources that should be regarded as the sources of competitive advantage of this Japanese MNC.


We consider random perturbations of a topologically transitive local diffeomorphism of a Riemannian manifold. We show that if an absolutely continuous ergodic stationary measures is expanding (all Lyapunov exponents positive), then there is a random Gibbs–Markov–Young structure which can be used to lift that measure. We also prove that if the original map admits a finite number of expanding invariant measures then the stationary measures of a sufficiently small stochastic perturbation are expanding.


Sir: In response to the recent paper by Yang, Chen and Chiang', I would like to draw attention to an earlier described colonic (caecal) tumour with a rhabdoid phenotype2. There are striking clinical, morphological, immunophenotypic and biological similarities in these two reported cases1i2. In addition, rhabdoid gastric carcinomas have also been described recently, which share the aforementioned characteristics3. The patients with gastric and colonic rhabdoid adenocarcinomas tended to be elderly. The tumours were composed predominantly of sheets of rhabdoid cells, individual tumour cells frequently (but not always) co-expressed cytokeratin and vimentin and, finally, the tumours were advanced at initial presentation and resulted in rapid death in most cases. The report by Yang and colleagues' does not mention whether any accompanying epithelial dysplasia was present, or, indeed, if any glandular differentiation was evident. The caecal tumour that I encountered showed a diffusely infiltrative growth pattern with apparently intact, non-dysplastic overlying epithelium'. It was only after taking multiple sections that a malignant glandular component merging with rhabdoid cells was discerned. Furthermore, rhabdoid cells were detected within malignant glandular structures. Rhabdoid cells have been noted within in situ bladder carcinoma4. These features, together with the characteristic immunophenotype, lend credence to these tumours being epithelial in origin. There are now three reports of rhabdoid carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract'-" The majority of these tumours were extensive at presentation and behaved aggressively. It is worth reiterating that rhabdoid change in extra-renal tumours is a characteristic but non-specific phenotype (pattern) and a careful search should be made to demonstrate evidence of differentiation (in the case of gastrointestinal tumours, epithelial dysplasia and/or malignant glands in association with or merging into the rhabdoid component). It would appear that the rhabdoid phenotype rather than the typical immunohistochemical findings dictate behaviour.


In their excellent review of neuropsychiatric problems in Parkinson's disease (PD), the authors made one small error but more importantly raised an interesting question about drug trials. Also, as they wrote their article, both melperone (personal communication) and pimavanserin, subjected to randomized, double blind placebo controlled trials (DBPCT), failed to be efficacious. The authors erred in stating that clozapine was tested only on nondemented subjects. The American study had no exclusion for dementia and the mean mini-mental state exam scores were 21.7 in one treatment arm and 23.8 in the other. The French study required a MMSE score greater than 20. The mean score of their placebo treated group was 24.1. The authors noted that ''more novel antipsychotics, such as ziprasidone and aripiprrazole, have not yet been tested systematically and preliminary reports are inconclusive.'' There have been numerous reports of aripiprazole worsening motor function in PD patients but less so with ziprasidone. More importantly, it has been a common observation in both movement disorder clinics and psychiatry treatment centers (personal communications) that both aripiprazole and ziprasidone induce dose dependent parkinsonism quite commonly in patients who are too young to likely have idiopathic PD. What data would be sufficient to prevent a doomed attempt to test either of these drugs? I doubt the authors would be more likely to participate in a trial of either of these drugs than they would be in a study of risperidone, which also has no level I evidence against its use.


Tracheopathia osteoplastica is a rare benign disorder of the trachea and major bronchi. It is characterized by multiple cartilaginous or osseous submucosal nodules that project into the tracheobronchial lumen. Awareness of the condition is important to avoid unnecessary surgery. We report here on the CT and bronchoscopic findings of tracheopathia osteoplastica associated with anthracofibrosis in a 67-year old woman, and we will then discuss our findings.


Abstract In Pacific Northwest (USA) streams, historical levels of marine-derived subsidies of C, N, and P from spawning salmon and steelhead are either greatly diminished or no longer present. A novel nutrient enrichment form, pasteurized salmon carcass analogue (SCA), has been developed as a management tool to increase freshwater productivity. We analyzed macroinvertebrate assemblages in 4 central Idaho (USA) streams to explore the relative influence of reach-scale SCA treatments on macroinvertebrate assemblages. We stratified study streams into upstream (control) and downstream (treatment) reaches and applied a single SCA treatment in mid-September to the downstream reaches of 2 treatment streams. We measured chemical, physical, and biological variables in all study streams and used nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination of macroinvertebrate communities to illustrate relationships to foodweb and environmental variables. Macroinvertebrate assemblages differed significantly among streams (p < 0.001) and between treated and control reaches in treatment streams (p < 0.030). No reach-level differences were found in control streams (p > 0.458) or in treatment streams before SCA additions (p > 0.130). Variables that were significantly and positively correlated with NMDS ordination scores and suggested an SCA response included presence of SCA, elevated periphyton and macroinvertebrate δ15N, increased periphyton ash-free dry mass, and increased relative abundances of dipterans, collectors, and Chironomidae. A weaker autotrophic response in 1 treatment stream relative to the other appeared to be explained partially by differences in canopy shading, as indicated by periphyton autotrophic index values. Increased autotrophic productivity and the absence of major shifts in treatment stream macroinvertebrate community composition and structure suggest that SCA is a viable nutrient-enrichment strategy.


Unhealthy eating habits increase the risk of obesity. This study investigated the association between obesity and the intake of snacks and lifestyle behaviors among university students in Saudi Arabia. The study included 662 students aged 18–29 years, studying at King Abdulaziz University. An online survey collected data on sociodemographic characteristics, height, and weight, to calculate body mass index (BMI), lifestyle behaviors, dietary habits, and snack intake. The prevalence of overweight and obese students was 18.6% and 12.7%, respectively. Sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors had insignificant effects on obesity. Obese students consumed two meals daily and more cereals during breakfast. Non-obese students consumed more beverages at breakfast and had their daily meals with their families. The frequency of intake of snacks had an insignificant effect on obesity. However, obese students had a significantly higher intake of potato chips, popcorn, and biscuits, while non-obese students had a significantly higher intake of salads compared with obese students. Students consumed significantly less fruit and vegetables, chocolate, biscuits, nuts, and dairy products as snacks when inside the university compared to outside. To reduce obesity among students, universities should ensure access to healthy snacks, and provide health education programs to encourage healthy eating habits and lifestyles.


For pt.I see ibid., vol.3, no.2, p.349-56 (1988). Emphasis on energy conservation demands an improvement of the efficiency of single-phase induction motors. The optimization techniques formulated in part I are used to compute the optimal design parameters of a commercially available 2 HP, 115 V single-phase induction motor, resulting in maximum efficiency and minimum cost. Based on the optimization results due to four optimization components, the relationships between efficiency, power factor, cost, active materials, and the values of the capacitance of the run capacitor are studied and the limited validity of the model law is discussed. The method of boundary search along active constraints and the Han-Powell method are applied to the above single-phase induction motor and the optimization results are compared. A hybrid method incorporating the advantages of both above-mentioned methods yields the best numerical optimization results. >


The multiple signal classification (MUSIC) delay estimation algorithm is well known to be insensitive to the near-far effect in an asynchronous DS-CDMA system. Most MUSIC based estimators assume the channel is time invariant. In this paper we consider the performance of signal subspace tracking algorithms applicable to a time varying channel, and the effect of a time variant subspace dimension. In particular, we consider the singular value decomposition (SVD) function, the power method algorithm incorporating hotelling deflation (PMHd), and the projection approximation subspace tracking (PASTd) RLS-type algorithm. Simulations show that these algorithms can offer comparable performance, where the PASTd outperforms the latter functions in terms of computational load. This trait allows the use of the MUSIC algorithm for real-time delay acquisition schemes.


BACKGROUND
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a platinum-sensitive cancer and excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) polymorphisms have been shown to predict survival in several cancers following platinum therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This multicenter study evaluated the activity of oxaliplatin and prolonged infusion of gemcitabine ('GEMOX' regimen) in recurrent NPC. Baseline blood samples were genotyped for the presence of ERCC1-118 gene polymorphisms.

RESULTS
Forty-two patients were recruited, of whom most (61%) had metastatic disease. Of the 40 patients evaluated for response, the respective overall response and disease control rates were 56.1% and 90.2%. At a median follow-up of 14.8 months, the respective median overall survival and time to progression were 19.6 months [95% confidence interval (CI) = 12.8-22 months] and 9 months (95% CI = 7.3-10 months). Grade 3-4 toxic effects were uncommon. The distribution of ERCC1-118 genotypes from 29 patients was C/C (n = 17, 40.5%), C/T (n = 10, 23.8%) and T/T (n = 2, 4.8%). No differences in survival or response rates were found between genotypes.

CONCLUSIONS
GEMOX is active in the treatment of recurrent NPC. Detection of single-nucleotide gene polymorphisms from genomic DNA in peripheral blood is feasible in NPC and further studies are warranted.


Present contribution describes modified Stober synthesis of silica nanoparticles in oil-in-water microemulsion, formulated using heptane, 2-ethylhexanol, Tween® 85 nonionic surfactant, and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). After some specified incubation time, ammonium hydroxide was added and the reaction mixture was stirred for 24 hours at room temperature. Prior to synthesis, pseudoternary diagram was created for oil-rich area and Winsor IV region was identified. These microemulsions were used for synthesis of silica particles. Resulting particles were characterized by dynamic light scattering, electrokinetic measurements, specific surface area measurements, and powder diffraction. Particles' diameter was ranging between ca. 130 and 500 nm; usually monodisperse distribution was obtained. The specific surface area of nanoparticles was ranging between 250 and 300 m2/g. Notably, productivity per unit volume of solution was 3 to 5 times higher than for previously reported procedures. Our method can be extended, because polymeric materials can be added to dispersed aqueous phase. In our studies, β-cyclodextrin and hydroxyethylcellulose have been used, giving particles between 170 and 422 nm, with the surface area larger than 300 m2/g.


Heart rate was monitored before and after beak trimming in restrained chickens to measure responses to beak trimming at hatch and at 10 and 42 days of age. Immediately after trimming chickens sham-trimmed (control) and trimmed at 10 and 42 days of age had an increase in heart rate, with the 42-day-old chickens showing the greater change. Chickens sham-trimmed and trimmed at hatch showed no change in heart rate. No difference between trimmed and sham-trimmed chickens occurred at any age for heart rate response. These data indicate that heart rate at trimming may be inadequate as a measure of the stress response associated with beak trimming, especially with the concurrent stressors of handling and restraint. Beak trimming and handling of chickens at hatch is either less stressful than trimming at 10 and 42 days of age, as indicated by the lack of a heart rate response, or heart rate is already at a maximum in chickens at hatch, due to stress associated with hatching. Food intake and body weight were measured for 3-4 weeks after trimming to assess the longer term effects of age and level of trimming on performance of the chicken. Removal of 3 mm of beak at hatch or 4.5 mm at 10 days of age depressed feeding levels and a reduced body weight, indicative of a chronic stress associated with beak trimming.


euphoria after intravenous lidocaine in a patient who was addicted to cocaine [3]. The euphoric properties of cocaine are due primarily to inhibition of catecholamine reuptake at CNS synapses. Other local anaesthetics do not block the uptake of norepinephrine. Our patients denied any history of cocaine or alcohol abuse. The euphoric effect of lidocaine can be attributed to its central action. Anaesthetists usually ask about tinnitus, vision alterations, metallic taste and tongue numbness to detect early evidence of lidocaine toxicity. Mood changes may pass unrecognised if the patient's personality is unknown to the physician, the behaviour is considered the result of a psychotic personality; or if the behaviour is masked by premedication or sedatives. In summary, it is possible that mood alterations, especially euphoria, may be an early sign of CNS reaction following lidocaine administration.


This paper describes a novel force-directed placement approach for 3D drawing of large graphs. The main idea behind our approach consists in optimizing the layout by equitably distributing vertices in the space. We consider the largest sphere inscribed in the 3D space and the vertices are then assigned random initial positions that are improved by force-directed placement. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the algorithm, we propose a new energy function minimization which uses the conjugated gradient of Fletcher-Reeves [1, 2]. Our algorithm is not only addressed to general undirected graphs but also it produces good layout of large trees. This work is motivated by our need to offer 3D visualization tools for large computing networks but this first phase will be focused on the graph representation.


A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the impacts of bioremediation on microbial communities and various nitrogen shifts in petroleum contaminated soil by using GC-MS and Illumia MiSeq technique. Results showed the concentrations of alkane reduced from 25987.8 mg·kg-1 to 12788.6 mg·kg-1, and the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) decreased from 5322.9 mg·kg-1 to 2917.2 mg·kg-1. Illumia MiSeq results showed that soil microbial communities shifted significantly after remediation, and the relative abundance of some phylum of hydrocarbon degraders (Firmicutes, Bacterodetes), and some genus of degraders (Dietzia, Acinetobacter) increased. Besides, the contents of total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen increased firstly and then decreased during remediation. However, the contents of nitrate nitrogen decreased at the early stage, and then kept stable in the later stage of remediation. It can be concluded that bioremediation effectively promoted petroleum hydrocarbon degradation, and the different fractional hydrocarbon degradation was related to the relative abundance of hydrocarbon degraders and available nitrogen contents.


Although the number of migrant Roma living in the UK is not known, estimates by the
Council of Europe suggest that 225,000 Roma live in the United Kingdom, which amounts to
0.36% of the entire population. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights,
however, claims that the real figure is between 500,000 and 1,000,000 , excluding
indigenous Gypsies and Irish Travellers. In the wake of Brexit this group faces an uncertain
future. A recent report of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) on 'Roma
communities and Brexit' has highlighted what it called 'a triple whammy of risks:
uncertainty over their future legal status, rising concerns about hate crime, and a potential
loss of EU funding for integration and support services'.....


3 ABSTRACT: Flexible electronics materials demand better mechanical properties along with electronic conductivity. However, these materials in their pure form are relatively more susceptible to structural failures, limiting flexibility for electronic applications, which is impeding its growth in commercial use. Therefore it is necessary to improve their respective properties by means of additives, fillers etc. Graphite powder has been an effective filler material to enhance the mechanical and electrical properties which can be further improved by using graphite in its nano-form. We report effect of reinforcement of nano graphite powder on hardness and electrical conductivity of PAni. The nano graphite powder is prepared by planetary ball milling with different time cycles and characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope. Polyaniline (PAni) and its composite are prepared in the form of pellets. The pellets are prepared by cold pressing. The graphite filled PAni composites are characterized for electrical conductivity and hardness. The outcome of this work is the composite materials with improved mechanical and electronic performance.


Empirical evidence from several animal groups suggests that sex chromosomes may disproportionately contribute to reproductive isolation. This occurs particularly when sex chromosomes are associated with turnover of sex determination systems resulting from structural rearrangements to the sex chromosomes. We investigated these predictions in the dioecious plant Rumex hastatulus, which is comprised of populations of two sex chromosome cytotypes. Using population genomic analyses, we investigated the demographic history of R. hastatulus and explored the contributions of ancestral and neo-sex chromosomes to population genetic divergence. Our study revealed that the cytotypes represented genetically divergent populations with evidence for historical but not contemporary gene flow between them. In agreement with classical predictions, we found that the ancestral X chromosome was disproportionately divergent compared with the rest of the genome. Excess differentiation was also observed on the Y chromosome, even when using measures of differentiation that control for differences in effective population size. Our estimates of the timing of the origin of the neo-sex chromosomes in R. hastatulus are coincident with cessation of gene flow, suggesting that the chromosomal fusion event that gave rise to the origin of the XYY cytotype may have also been a key driver of reproductive isolation.


Privacy Preserving on microdata publishing different anonymization techniques named as generalization and bucketization have been proposed. In generalization amount of information loses on high-dimensional data. Bucketization does not prevent membership disclosure and does not provide a clear separation between quasi-identifying attributes and sensitive attributes. In this Paper, we present a new technique called slicing which partitions the data both horizontally and vertically. Slicing preserves better data utility than generalization and can be used for membership disclosure protection. Another important advantage of slicing is that it can handle high-dimensional data. Slicing can be used for attribute disclosure protection and develop an efficient algorithm for computing the sliced data that obey the l-diversity requirement. Not only providing privacy for micro data, mining the micro data also important. This system uses clusters identified in multiple time periods and identifies trends based on similarities between clusters over time. Our experiments shows that slicing gives a better and effective utility better than the existing one.


Salient features associated with the variation in the BOD sub(5) and dissolved oxygen concentration in the Kadinamkulam Kayal, Kerala, India based on fortnightly data from two selected stations from October 1987 to September 1988 are discussed. The BOD sub(5) ranged from 5.76 to 24.39 mg/l in the surface water and from 4.96 to 22.60 mg/l in the bottom water at station-1 whereas at station-2, it ranged from 0 to 3.74 mg/l and from 0 to 3.40 mg/l respectively. The dissolved oxygen concentration ranged from 0 to 0.72 mg/l in the surface water and from 0 to 0.42 mg/l in the bottom water at station-1. At station-2 it ranged from 2.69 to 6.21 mg/l in the surface water and from 1.97 to 5.74 mg/l in the bottom water. The pre-monsoon period showed the highest BOD sub(5) of 16.68 mg/l while the monsoon period showed the lowest of 0.61 mg/l. The dissolved oxygen concentration reached its peak during the monsoon period (5.52 mg/l). Long spells of anoxic condition during the post and pre-monsoon periods was a characteristic feature of the retting zone


The crystal structures, electronic structures and optical properties of nitrogen or/and praseodymium doped anatase TiO2 were calculated by first principles with the plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method based on density functional theory. Highly efficient visible-light-induced nitrogen or/and praseodymium doped anatase TiO2 nanocrystal photocatalyst were synthesized by a microwave chemical method. The calculated results show that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 can be enhanced by N doping or Pr doping, and can be further enhanced by N+Pr codoping. The band gap change of the codoping TiO2 is more obvious than that of the single ion doping, which results in the red shift of the optical absorption edges. The results are of great significance for the understanding and further development of visible-light response high activity modified TiO2 photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity of the samples for methyl blue degradation was investigated under the irradiation of fluorescent light. The experimental results show that the codoping TiO2 photocatalytic activity is obviously higher than that of the single ion doping. The experimental results accord with the calculated results.


Interlayer cooling is the only heat removal concept which scales with the number of active tiers in a vertically integrated chip stack. In this work, we numerically and experimentally characterize the performance of a three tier chip stack with a footprint of 1cm2. The implementation of 100µm pitch area array interconnect compatible heat transfer structures results in a maximal junction temperature increase of 54.7K at 1bar pressure drop with water as coolant for 250W/cm2 hot-spot and 50W/cm2 background heat flux. The total power removed was 390W which corresponds to a 3.9kW/cm3 volumetric heat flow.


This paper develops a multimode control strategy which allows for efficient operation of the buck converter over a wide load range. A method for control of synchronous rectifiers as a direct function of the load current is introduced . The function relating the synchronous-rectifier timing to the load current is optimized on-line with a gradient power-loss-minimizing algorithm. Only low-bandwidth measurements of the load current and a power-loss-related quantity are required, making the technique suitable for digital controller implementations. Compared to alternative loss-minimizing approaches, this method has superior adjustment speed and robustness to disturbances, and can simultaneously optimize multiple parameters. The proposed synchronous-rectifier control also accomplishes an automatic, optimal transition to discontinuous-conduction mode at light load. Further, by imposing a minimum duty-ratio, the converter automatically enters pulse-skipping mode at very light load. Thus, the same controller structure can be used in both fixed-frequency pulsewidth modulation and variable-frequency pulse-skipping modes. These techniques are demonstrated on a digitally-controlled 100-W buck converter


A critical review of the papers related to Friedreich Ataxia published from 1968 up to now is presented in this work taking into account that man evolution began in the African continent and the genetic information received from its predecessors traveled with them when expanding towards other territories. A mutation in the FRDA gene took place 24 000 years ago, this was not identified but until year 1996, that is why in Cuba a research project by using the modern technologies at world-wide level and favors gratuitously to the families affected by this mutation is being developed, in contrast with the genetic discrimination established in capitalist countries by a man who involutionates and will finish doing it to the time in which he destroys his planet.


Barrier-bar sand bodies are a complex mosaic of barrier-core, shoreface, inlet-fill, tidal-delta, and back-barrier facies. In addition, sandbody stratigraphy and internal depositional architecture are determined by the progradational, aggradational, or transgressive origin of the barrier complex. The Frio barrier/strandplain system of the middle Texas Gulf Coast has produced more than 3 billion bbl of oil. Examination of the Greta, Glasscock, and 41-A sands in West Ranch field illustrates the variability of barrier reservoirs. Each reservoir is a mosaic of variably interconnected compartments having sheet, tab, pod, or channel geometries. Conventional facies analysis (isolith and log-pattern mapping and limited core examination) combined with semiquantitative delineation of hydrocarbon-saturation distribution using resistivity logs defined the facies components of each reservoir. The 41-A sand consists of juxtaposed progradational barrier-core, inlet-fill, and flood tidal-delta units. The Glasscock sand is largely a transgressive barrier-flat and washoverfan deposit. The Greta sand is a complex of aggradational barrier-core and inlet-fill facies. Productive attributes of each reservoir are influenced by its facies architecture and attendant relative permeabilities. Natural water drive is ineffective in the volumetrically restricted transgressive Glasscock reservoir. Permeability distribution in the 41-A reservoir is facies defined. Erratic injection response, irregular oil-water contact advance, and variable water/oil ratios observed during the productive history of individual reservoirs document localized facies effects on fluid flow. Spatial variation of the gas/oil ratio may also reflect facies distribution. End_of_Article - Last_Page 478------------


The early development of second language acquisition [SLA] research in the area of morphology and syntax can be traced in some excellent publications both exemplifying and evaluating the state of the art in this area (e.g., Anderson 1981, Davies, Criper, and Howatt 1984, Hatch 1983, Wode 1981b). The research questions identified and pursued at that time have continued to occupy researchers. (The ones which are the most important and relevant for the discussion here are as follows: 1 the problem of regularity in interlanguage [IL] morphology and syntax; 2) the contribution of Universal Grammar to SLA, and 3) variability in IL performance. The problems enumerated above will provide a framework for the discussion of the acquisition of morphology and syntax. Some additional comments on other, related issues will be included.


Unmanned construction with remotely operated construction machines is actively used a means of construction work in dangerous areas with no access to people such as rehabilitation work sites damaged by natural disasters including earthquakes or volcano eruptions. Unmanned construction is expected to progress in the field as a quick and safe technique for restoration from disaster damage. However, unmanned construction with remotely operated hydraulic excavators is known to be much poorer in work efficiency than construction work with directly operated machines. The Public Work Research Institute (PWRI) has been promoting research on the actual status of, causes of, and solutions to reduced work efficiency of unmanned construction with remotely operated hydraulic excavators. Our research focused on the impact that different operation systems of a remotely operated hydraulic excavator had on the work efficiency with the aim of obtaining knowledge that will help improve the work efficiency of unmanned construction. To fulfil this purpose, a comparative experiment was conducted using a few operation systems with changed parameters of operation interface for a hydraulic excavator. The data obtained from the experiment were analysed for each operation system and work element, with important points that express differences in work time and work efficiency analysed for clarification. Causes that resulted in differences were also discussed using video records. Based on the experiment, the authors successfully clarified the status of the impact of interface operability for a remotely operated hydraulic excavator on the work efficiency and obtained knowledge that will lead to improved work efficiency of unmanned construction.


Pure CO ice has been irradiated with electrons of energy in the range 150−1000 eV with the Interstellar Energetic-Process System. The main products of irradiation are carbon chains Cn (n = 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12), suboxides, CnO (n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), and CnO2 (n = 1, 3, 4, 5, 7) species. CO2 is by far the most abundant reaction product in all the experiments. The destruction cross section of CO peaks at about 250 eV, decreases with the energy of the electrons and is more than one order of magnitude higher than for gas-phase CO ionization. The production cross section of carbon dioxide has been also derived and is characterized by the competition between chemistry and desorption. Desorption of CO and of new species during the radiolysis follows the electron distribution in the ice. Low-energy electrons having short penetration depths induce significant desorption. Finally, as the ice thickness approaches the electron penetration depth the abundance of the products starts to saturate. Implications on the atmospheric photochemistry of cold planets hosting surface CO ices are also discussed.


We use nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) to identify the Fe-NO stretching frequency in the NO adduct of myoglobin (MbNO) and in the related six-coordinate porphyrin Fe(TPP)(1-MeIm)(NO). Frequency shifts observed in MbNO Raman spectra upon isotopic substitution of Fe or the nitrosyl nitrogen confirm and extend the NRVS results. In contrast with previous assignments, the Fe-NO frequency of these six-coordinate complexes lies 70-100 cm-1 lower than in the analogous five-coordinate nitrosyl complexes, indicating a significant weakening of the Fe-NO bond in the presence of a trans imidazole ligand. This result supports proposed mechanisms for NO activation of heme proteins and underscores the value of NRVS as a direct probe of metal reactivity in complex biomolecules.


The effects of levoprotiline (LEV), a (-)-enantiomer of oxaprotiline (OXA) and a clinically effective antidepressant, on the binding parameters of hippocampal 5-HT1A and cortical 5-HT2 receptors of rats were compared with those of (+)-enantiomer of OXA ((+)-OXA), imipramine and mianserin. Both LEV and (+)-OXA displayed in vitro some affinity for 5-HT1A receptors labelled with [3H]-8-OH-DPAT, and for 5-HT2 receptors labelled with [3H]-ketanserin. Repeated administration of LEV, for 14 days led to a marked increase in the number of 5-HT1A binding sites in the rat hippocampus, with no change in the KD values. (+)-OXA, imipramine and mianserin produced similar effects on 5-HT1A binding parameters. The number of 5-HT2 receptors was increased after two weeks of LEV administration, not altered after (+)-OXA, and decreased after imipramine or mianserin. The number of [3H]-ketanserin binding sites was decreased after four weeks of (+)-OXA administration, but not altered after LEV. The specific binding of [3H]-ketanserin in the rat cerebral cortex was decreased after repeated treatment with LEV and (+)-OXA (ex vivo). In competition studies the affinity of serotonin for [3H]-ketanserin binding sites was decreased in LEV- and increased in (+)-OXA-treated rats. The results suggest that LEV similarly to other antidepressants increases the number of 5-HT1A receptors, however without common alteration in 5-HT2 receptor number and function.


This book will provide more understanding about the historical relationship between Christians and Muslims in the 16th Century. In addition to Hungarian and Latin texts, many of the documents used are translated from 16th Century Ottoman Turkish. Modern Turkish texts also contribute a significant amount of reference material for this work. Isabella Sforza Zapolya (1520 - 1559) was a remarkable woman, though almost unknown. The eldest child of King Sigismund Stary of Poland and Queen Bona Sforza, Isabella grew up in Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland. She was given a humanist education and was fluent in Latin, Polish, Italian and Hungarian. Isabella was widowed after a year of marriage to John Zapolya I, King of Hungary, just fifteen days after the birth of his son, who became the King of Transylvania. After she was widowed, Sultan Suleyman promised Isabella that he would protect her and her son. During Isabella's life, he never broke that promise. Exchanges between two cultures and the crossing of boundaries around gender, class, religion, race and geography are constant in the lives of Isabella and Sultan Suleyman.The history that has most frequently been related by western historians regarding the Ottoman Empire has relegated them to the status of the other. This book is Turkish friendly without glossing over harsh truths about all of the players in a treacherous, bloody struggle for power.


OBJECTIVES
Our aim was to identify factors associated with overall survival and the efficacy of postrelapse treatment protocols and to determine whether pretransplant consolidation therapy and minimal residual disease status pose a survival benefit.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients with acute myeloid leukemia who underwent stem cell transplant between 2007 and 2018 were enrolled retrospectively. The effects of pretransplant cytogenetic and minimal residual disease status, pretransplant consolidation therapies, development of graft-versus-host disease, postrelapse treatment protocols, and type of con-ditioning regimens on overall survival were analyzed.

RESULTS
In 76 study patients, the cumulative overall 1- and 5-year relapse probabilities were 67.8% and 58.7%, respectively. Overall survival rates at 3 and 5 years in patients with and without relapse were 23.5% and 0% and 95.9% and 91.1% (P < .001), respectively. Although mean postrelapse overall survival was better with intensive salvage plus donor lymphocyte infusion, no significant differences were shown versus other therapies (intensive salvage, nonintensive salvage, intensive salvage or nonintensive salvage plus donor lymphocyte infusion, or supportive therapy). Twenty-three patients (30.3%) died during the study period with a median survival of 9.6 months. Patients with favorable, intermediate, and unfavorable cytogenetic status showed overall survival of 46.6 ± 10.4, 54.6 ± 4.4, and 36.9 ± 5.9 months (P = .807). Patients with and without minimal residual disease and patients who received or did not receive consolidation therapy had similar overall survival. Relapse was an independent predictor of overall survival (increased mortality risk of 26.22). Patients who developed graft-versus-host disease showed decreased relapse.

CONCLUSIONS
Relapse is the most important predictor of overall survival and is associated with poor prognosis. Pretransplant minimal residual status and cytogenetic status showed no effect on relapse rates and overall survival, and consolidation therapy did not improve outcomes.


To assess the effects of different habitat conditions on the genetic diversity of Apis cerana cerana, 2400 individual workers from 120 colonies in four localities of South Anhui mountainous area were analyzed using microsatellite DNA loci. Results showed that in the tea tree monoculture, the number of alleles, average expected heterozygosity and polymorphism information content showed no significant difference with those in the natural forest. The number of alleles and polymorphic information content in domesticated population were significantly different from those in the wild population. The average expected heterozygosity was not significantly different between those two populations. The number of alleles, the average expected heterozygous and polymorphic information content were significantly different from those in the wild for samples collected in 2006. There was significant genetic differentiation among populations, with an average differential coefficient of 0.32. Our results indicated that the cultivation of tea plantation in South Anhui would not affect the genetic structure and conservation of bees.


This work presents the fabrication of 1 bit comparator circuit based on quantum dot gate non-volatile memory (QDNVM) for both analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue signal processing applications. The charge accumulation in the gate region varies the threshold voltage of QDNVM, which can be used as a reference voltage source in a comparator circuit. A simplified comparator circuit can be implemented using the QDNVM. In this work, the authors discuss the fabrication of QDNVM-based comparators in designing analogue-to-digital converters and digital-to-analogue converters.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the optimal doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for the management of Chinese asthmatics in order to enhance cost-effectiveness.

METHODS
A randomized, paralleled and controlled multi-center study was carried out in 11 provincial hospitals. After one week run-in period when only inhaled salbutamol as needed was given, the asthmatic patients (n = 86) were divided into two groups: patients in group G (n = 42) received inhaled ICS with the doses recommended by Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), ie, fluticasone propionate (FP) 250 microg bid for moderate asthma and 375 microg bid for severe asthma. Patients in group H (n = 44) received half of the above doses of FP (125 microg bid for moderate asthma and 125 microg in the morning, 250 microg in the evening for severe asthma).

RESULTS
There were no significant differences between group G and group H in the 32 measurements after management, including day symptom score (severe asthma in group G 0.7 +/- 0.8, group H 0.4 +/- 0.6 and moderate asthma in group G 0.4 +/- 0.5, group H 0.3 +/- 0.5), FEV(1) [severe asthma in group G (1.5 +/- 0.5) L, group H (1.8 +/- 0.6) L/min and moderate asthma in group G (2.3 +/- 0.6) L, group H (2.3 +/- 0.8) L/min, FEV(1)% of predicted [severe asthma in group G (54 +/- 17)%, group H (59 +/- 19)%, and moderate asthma in group G (79 +/- 14)%, group H (79 +/- 15)%], the increased morning PEF value (45, 67 L/min in moderate and severe asthma in group G and 56, 65 L/min in moderate and severe asthma in group H respectively), frequency of nights awakened (81, 69 in severe asthma in groups G and H respectively), numbers of well controlled cases (88 and 98 d in severe asthma in groups G and H respectively) and the use of extra bronchodilators (salbutamol, puff/day, 5.0 and 3.4 d in severe asthma in groups G and H respectively, P > 0.05). On the other hand, in the subgroups of moderate asthma, night symptom score (0.30 +/- 0.22 in group G, 0.13 +/- 0.33, t = -2.06, P < 0.05), number of exacerbations (3/22 in group G, 11/24 in group H, chi(2) = 4.74, P < 0.05), number of total controlled cases (18/22 cases in group G, 12/24 cases in group H, chi(2) = 4.97, P < 0.05) were significantly different between group G and group H. In the subgroups of severe asthma, the total days of exacerbations were different between group G and group H (11 days in group G, 6 days in group H, U = 31, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
As a whole, similar therapeutic effect was achieved using half of the GINA recommended dose of ICS with/without salbutamol inhalation as needed compared with those receiving the GINA recommended full dose of ICS in most Chinese asthmatics.