Rates of CO(2) assimilation and leaf conductances to CO(2) transfer were measured in plants of Zea mays during a period of 14 days in which the plants were not rewatered, and leaf water potential decreased from -0.5 to -8.0 bar. At any given ambient partial pressure of CO(2), water stress reduced rate of assimilation and leaf conductance similarly, so that intercellular partial pressure of CO(2) remained almost constant. At normal ambient partial pressure of CO(2), the intercellular partial pressure of CO(2) was estimated to be 95 microbars. This is the same as had been estimated in plants of Zea mays grown with various levels of nitrogen supply, phosphate supply and irradiance, and in plants of Zea mays examined at different irradiances.After leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieb. ex Spreng had been exposed to high irradiance in an atmosphere of CO(2)-free N(2) with 10 millibars O(2), rates of assimilation and leaf conductances measured in standard conditions had decreased in similar proportions, so that intercellular partial pressure of CO(2) remained almost unchanged. As the conductance of each epidermis that had not been directly irradiated had declined as much as that in the opposite, irradiated surface it was hypothesized that conductance may have been influenced by photoinhibition within the mesophyll tissue.


Liver fibrosis is a major health concern occurring worldwide. It arises due to prolonged wound healing response of various insults like viral, autoimmune, cholestatic, drug-induced, and metabolic diseases. Currently, there is no clinically approved drug for liver fibrosis treatment. Hepatic stellate cells are the principal liver cells that are activated during liver fibrosis, and targeting these activated cells is an ideal therapeutic strategy. Numerous phytochemicals have been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo treating experimental liver fibrosis; however, none of them have been clinically approved for therapeutic use. This review mainly focuses on such hepatoprotective phytochemicals reported inhibiting major signaling pathways that are dysregulated in activated hepatic stellate cells. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Liver fibrosis is a global health concern and there is no FDA approved drug to treat liver fibrosis. Although notable pharmacological agents like pentoxifylline, gliotoxin, imatinibmesylate, Gleevec, and so on are reported to exhibit anti-fibrotic effect, the major concern is their side effect. Hence, phytochemicals are promising candidates that could be employed against liver fibrosis. In this review, the anti-fibrotic potential of phytochemicals targeting activated HSCs are summarized. Understanding these phytochemicals will further help in the development of agents that are more effective against liver fibrosis.


Global deterministic identifiability of nonlinear systems is studied by constructing the family of local state isomorphisms that preserve the structure of the parametric system. The method is simplified for homogeneous systems, where such isomorphisms are shown to be linear, thereby reducing the identifiability problem to solving a set of algebraic equations. The known conditions for global identifiability in linear and bilinear systems are special cases of these results. >


Commonly-used screening techniques for determination of biosurfactants production by microorganisms include haemolysis assay, generally depicted to confirm the ability of microorganisms in production of biosurfactants. Diameters of zones of haemolysis surrounding microbial colonies are considered as quantitative indication of biosurfactant production whereas; haemolytic reactions on blood agar plates are specifically associated with pathologic types of erythrocyte lysis by microorganisms, due to haemolysins production. Haemolytic microorganisms can destroy erythrocyte membranes, by compromise in integrity of cytoplasmic membranes, through pore-forming mechanisms, multiple-hit mechanism, formation of sphaerocytes, derangement of membrane integrity, detergentlike action, or lipase activity. Relative levels of acute toxicity, cell invasiveness and virulence factors, which can make biosurfactants become opportunistic pathogens that use haemin or haemoglobin as a source of iron, have also been reported. Haemolysins are further classically defined as exotoxins that can be thermostable, and can cross membranes of microorganisms. Haemolysis assay thus, identifies haemolytic microbial strains with lytic, pathogenic, toxigenic, and/or virulent potentials, rather than biosurfactant-producing potential, as the assay does not correlate particularly with specific characteristics of biosurfactants' production. However, based on new insights and perspectives appropriately extrapolated for the first time in this report, microbial haemolysis assay is considered, the easiest, most-economical, non-animal-based, highly-determinative, reliable and sensitive biosafety selection criterion protocol, for selection of safe and environmental-friendly biosurfactant candidates, for the petroleum industries' process conditions.


Because of its location, Canada is particularly affected by snow processes and their impact on the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Yet, snow mass observations that are ongoing, global, frequent (1–5 days), and at high enough spatial resolution (kilometer scale) for assimilation within operational prediction systems are presently not available. Recently, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) partnered with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to initiate a radar-focused snow mission concept study to define spaceborne technological solutions to this observational gap. In this context, an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) was performed to determine the impact of sensor configuration, snow water equivalent (SWE) retrieval performance, and snow wet/dry state on snow analyses from the Canadian Land Data Assimilation System (CaLDAS). The synthetic experiment shows that snow analyses are strongly sensitive to revisit frequency since more frequent assimilation leads to a more constrained land surface model. The greatest reduction in spatial (temporal) bias is from a 1-day revisit frequency with a 91% (93%) improvement. Temporal standard deviation of the error (STDE) is mostly reduced by a greater retrieval accuracy with a 65% improvement, while a 1-day revisit reduces the temporal STDE by 66%. The inability to detect SWE under wet snow conditions is particularly impactful during the spring meltdown, with an increase in spatial RMSE of up to 50 mm. Wet snow does not affect the domain-wide annual maximum SWE nor the timing of end-of-season snowmelt timing in this case, indicating that radar measurements, although uncertain during melting events, are very useful in adding skill to snow analyses.


SUMMARY Eight experiments investigated how different sowing and harvest dates, plant populations and fertilizers affect yield, germination and size of seed from hybrid monogerm sugar-beet seed crops, grown in situ when raised under barley cover in Lincolnshire, or open sown in Oxfordshire. Weather at seed harvest was wetter than average in 1968, average in 1969, and drier in 1970. Most seed of good quality came from plant populations of 300000 plants/ha sown in early July, given ample P and K fertilizer in the seed bed and 150–200 kg/ha of N in the spring of the second year in Oxfordshire or 200–250 kg/ha N in Lincolnshire. Harvesting in early September on average yielded most seed. Methods used to grow multigerm seed proved suitable also for monogerm seed but the percentage germination was lower for monogerm than multigerm seed.


Ideology in its simplest meanings is the system of thoughts and higher forms, especially those which form the basis of the political and economic theories. And some see that ideology is the group of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual, as the ideology in a lot of times points out to a group of political beliefs or a group of thoughts which distinguish a certain culture such as capitalism, communism, socialism, and Marxism which are considered ideologies. and therefore, it is opinions and beliefs, and when the media involved the meaning in communication, it was essential to connect to the opinion and belief then the ideology.That interactive process between who is known by the communicator and what is known as a recipient to the communicational message takes from the language element a basic in the formations of mutual understanding, interaction, and meanings between them from a side, or the meanings which the communicator desires to deliver to the recipient from their point of view from another side.  And the ideology here lies within the privacy of the meaning which that communicator tries to deliver to the audience of their message content, since people form meanings about the surrounding environment whether it was personalities, issues, events, or actions throughout the language means which the others convey to them via several communication media.Who contemplates these definitions infers that the ideology is a mental reference consists of a group of thoughts and concepts which the individual believes and translates in the reality to actions and social behavior change from to mental perceptions influence the nature of their behavior during their movement inside the society. Also, these definitions of the ideology clears an important matter that the individuals' ideology consists of a number of variables or value determinants such as thoughts, beliefs, language, concepts, and perceptions, etc. and Lilker considers that the major element influencing the ideology is the element of thoughts. Keywords: Ideology, media systems, communicational process


Enterprise information infrastructures are generally characterized by a multitude of information systems which support decision makers in fulfilling their duties. The object of information security management is the protection of these systems, whereas security information and event management (SIEM) addresses those information management tasks which focus on the short term handling of events, as well as on the long term improvement of the entire information security architectures. This is carried out based on those data which can be logged and collected within the enterprise information security infrastructure. An especially interesting type of log data is data created by anti-malware software. This paper demonstrates in the context of a project case study that data mining (DM) is a well suited approach to detect hidden patterns in malware data and thus to support SIEM.


A variety of assessment devices have been developed for scientific investigation on human movement that can also be used to assess the progress of a rehabilitation program. The present investigation was undertaken to show how this technology can be combined with the most aggressive type of medical intervention and rehabilitation. Advanced technology was used to assess the physical rehabilitation parameters of active range of motion (AROM) and sport-specific functional progression for an Olympic-caliber diver who had bilateral wrist problems. AROM was measured for both wrists using a Flock of Birds motion-tracking device, and functional progression was assessed with an Advanced Mechanical Technology Inc. force platform for measuring the center of pressure (CP) area. The results of the treatment were clinically favorable, with an increase in AROM and a decrease in the CP area for functional motor control. The technology provided useful information about the progress of a rehabilitation program.


The selectivity of analytical methods used to determine ethanol in body fluids has always been an important concern in connection with chemical testing for intoxication. Allegations of false high breath-alcohol readings obtained because of the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) other than ethanol is a well-known defense argument in trials concerning driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). However, not much information exists to substantiate this claim, especially when modern analytical technology such as multiple wavelength infrared breath-alcohol instruments is used for forensic purposes. Whenever breath tests were aborted because interfering substances were ostensibly detected during routine evidential breath-alcohol analysis in Sweden with the Intoxilyzer 5000S, a sample of venous blood was taken for analysis by headspace gas chromatography. Most of the aborted breath tests could be explained by abnormally high concentrations of acetone, isopropanol, or methyl ethyl ketone in the samples analyzed. These VOCs originate in blood and breath after DUI suspects consume denatured alcohol preparations containing these solvents. However, the intoxilyzer 5000S sometimes aborted the evidential breath test even though VOCs other than ethanol were not identified in the blood samples. The reason for these latter tests being aborted is hard to understand because the blood-breath ratios of ethanol were within the range expected (1900:1 to 2800:1) for a large number of other DUI suspects tested with Intoxilyzer 5000S under the same conditions when interfering substances were not detected.


ABSTRACT Introduction The numerous links between allergic rhinitis and asthma have been extensively explored in the last two decades, gaining great concern within the scientific community. These two conditions frequently coexist in the same patient and share numerous pathogenetic and pathophysiological mechanisms. Areas covered We reviewed major pathophysiological, epidemiological, and clinical links between allergic rhinitis and asthma. We also provided a comprehensive discussion of allergic rhinitis treatment according to current guidelines, with a particular focus on the relevance of allergic rhinitis therapies in patients with comorbid asthma. Expert opinion We believe that there are several unmet needs for our patients, however, there are promising advances forecasted for the future. Although allergic rhinitis is a recognized risk factor for asthma, a proper asthma detection and prevention plan in allergic rhinitis patients is not available. Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) represents a promising preventive strategy and may deserve an earlier positioning in allergic rhinitis management. A multidisciplinary approach should characterize the journey of patients with respiratory allergies, with an adequate referral to specialized Allergy/Asthma centers. Molecular Allergy Diagnosis may provide support for optimal AIT use. Finally, a possible evolution of biological treatment can be envisaged, mainly if biosimilars decrease such therapies' costs.


Dubin, Champoux and Porter (1975) found a strong relationship between central life interests of workers and their commitment to the organization. This paper extends their findings by investigating the relationship between work values, defined as the Protestant Ethic of the worker, and commitment to the organization. A distinction is made between moral and calculative commitment, and it is shown that work values are related more to moral than calculative involvement.


This paper proposes a new hybrid 9-level inverter topology for single phase grid connected PV systems. This inverter has combined the features of neutral point clamped (NPC), flying capacitor (FC) multilevel inverters (MLI) and coupled inductor phenomenon. It produces 9-level output voltage with minimum number of power components, which improves the efficiency of the system and reduces the cost as well. Another advantage of this topology is that there is no need of additional balancing circuit to regulate the input DC capacitors and auxiliary capacitor. The proposed topology is investigated through MATLAB simulations for 1000W system and all the results are presented.


Series of returns to broad asset classes often possess histories of unequal length and have been subject to smoothing. Estimates of covariances are generally based on the common, although shorter, series length, and covariances for smoothed series are necessarily biased downward. These characteristics pose serious problems that can generate suboptimal and misleading allocations among asset classes. The article discusses elements of the underlying theory in proposing an informationally efficient covariance estimator. The estimator is then compared with conventional covariance estimates in an empirical application. Covariance estimates are found to be sensitive to both truncated estimates involving shorter series and the effects of smoothing.


The cellular events that occur following occupational percutaneous exposure to HIV have not been defined. In this study, we studied relevant host cellular and molecular targets used for acquisition of HIV infection using split-thickness human skin explants. Blockade of CD4 or CCR5 before R5 HIV application to the epithelial surface of skin explants completely blocked subsequent HIV transmission from skin emigrants to allogeneic T cells, whereas preincubation with C-type lectin receptor inhibitors did not. Immunomagnetic bead depletion studies demonstrated that epithelial Langerhans cells (LC) accounted for >95% of HIV dissemination. When skin explants were exposed to HIV variants engineered to express GFP during productive infection, GFP+ T cells were found adjacent to GFP+ LC. In three distinct dendritic cell (DC) subsets identified among skin emigrants (CD1a+langerin+DC-specific intercellular adhesion molecule grabbing non-integrin (SIGN)− LC, CD1a+langerin−DC-SIGN− dermal DC, and CD1a−langerin−DC-SIGN+ dermal macrophages), HIV infection was detected only in LC. These results suggest that productive HIV infection of LC plays a critical role in virus dissemination from epithelium to cells located within subepithelial tissue. Thus, initiation of antiretroviral drugs soon after percutaneous HIV exposure may not prevent infection of LC, which is likely to occur rapidly, but may prevent or limit subsequent LC-mediated infection of T cells.


Abstract : Mode 2 internal waves have been repeatedly observed in two separate bathymetry zones on the New Jersey (USA) continental shelf. In the first zone, the upslope propagating mode 2 internal waves were detected in a 15 km range interval shoreward of the shelf break in water depths ranging between 90 and 150 m. They were formed in conjunction with shoreward propagating internal tides and exhibited both nonlinear and linear characteristics. In the second zone, they were detected in 60 to 80 m water depths and appeared to be formed by flow over the local bathymetry. Simulations using the Shen Non-hydrostatic Model for Coastal Oceans (SNMCO) replicated the observed coupled internal tide and mode 2 internal wave generation process and separately the formation of mode 2 internal waves by flow over local bathymetry variability. The observations expand the knowledge base regarding the time window (fall, 7 days before and including neap tidal conditions), spatial distributions, packet evolution and conditions under which mode 2 internal waves are generated on the continental shelf.


Developing a universal pedestrian navigation framework that operates through extreme environmental conditions is essential. Such a navigation framework can enable Location-Based Services (LBS) in many applications, and one application in high demand of accurate and reliable positioning solutions is firefighter localization, primarily for navigating in indoor environments where signals of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) might degrade or fail, visibility is poor, and infrastructure dedicated to navigation is often not accessible. Jao et al. (2022a) reported a Pedestrian Indoor Navigation system integrating Deterministic, Opportunistic, and Cooperative localization approaches (PINDOC). The deterministic localization is a Zero-velocity-UPdaTe (ZUPT)-aided Inertial Navigation System (INS) enhanced with self-contained aiding approaches, including altimeter measurements and foot-to-foot ranging measurements. The opportunistic approach uses pseudorange measurements extracted from cellular Long-Term Evolution (LTE) towers and implements a Deep Neural Network (DNN)-based Synthetic Aperture Navigation (SAN) to spatially mitigate multipath. This approach operates in a base/rover framework, where a GNSS receiver and a "base" LTE receiver, both installed stationary in an outdoor environment, are used to estimate clock bias drifts of LTE towers, and the estimated clock biases are transmitted to "rover" LTE receivers equipped on agents navigating in indoor environments. The cooperative localization approach uses UWBs for inter-agent range measurements and differentiates Line-Of-Sight (LOS) and NLOS components using a power-metric-based detector. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the navigation performance of the PINDOC system. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment involved three agents, with one agent traversing in an indoor environment a trajectory of 600 meters in 14 minutes, during which the other two agents remained stationary. The traversed trajectory included terrains of flat surfaces, stairs, ramps, and elevators. The PINDOC system achieved a position Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), maximum error, and loop-closure error of 0.93 m, 2.23 m, and 1.28 m over the 600-meter trajectory, respectively. In the second experiment, all three agents traveled in the indoor environment for 12.5 minutes, and the navigation solutions estimated by the PINDOC system showed loop-closure errors of 0.35 m, 0.82, and 1.15 m for the three agents. In all cases, access to signals of opportunity and cooperative exchange of information between agents were available less than 20% of time for duration of the experiments.


We carried out geomorphologic and geological investigations in a south-eastern tributary valley of the Tiber River in Rome, the Grottaperfetta valley, aimed to reconstruct its buried geometry. Since results of the geomorphologic study evidenced anomalies of the stream beds, we performed geoelectric and boreholes prospecting to check whether recent faulting, rather than an inherited structural control, possibly contributed to the evolution of the alluvial valley. Vertical offsets of the stratigraphic horizons across adjacent boreholes were evidenced within the Late Pleistocene-Holocene alluvium and its substratum. In order to rule out the effects of irregular geometry of the alluvial deposits, we focussed on sectors where vertical offsets affected all the stratigraphic horizons (alluvium and pre-Holocene substratum), showing an increasing displacement with depth. We identified a site where repeated displacements occur coupled with a lateral variation of soil resistivity, and we drilled an oblique borehole aimed to cross and sample the possible fault zone affecting the terrain. A 7 cm thick granular layer, inclined 50°÷70° on the horizontal, was recovered 5 m b.g., and it was interpreted as the filling material of a fracture. The convergence of the reported features with independent evidence from geoelectric and geomorphologic investigations leads to hypothesize the presence of a faulting zone within the Holocene alluvial terrains and to propose the excavation of a trench to verify this hypothesis.


The continuous miniaturization of the electronics sets new requirements for the substrates, component packages and assembly technologies. Traditionally, the passive and active components are mounted on the surface of the PCB using SMA technology. The component size, I/O pitch and line width of the PCB's has been deceasing rapidly during past years. With traditional technologies, it is more difficult to increase the packaging density any more. This has increased interest toward embedding passive and active components inside the substrate. In this paper, the third generation manufacturing process to embed active components inside organic substrate is presented. In the integrated module board (IMB-R) technology, active components are integrated inside an organic substrate, e.g. the printed circuit board (PCB) structure. The manufacturing process allows for an entire product or some of its functional parts to be embedded inside the substrate. The process combines high-density PWB manufacturing, component packaging/assembly and the fabrication of the interconnection into one single manufacturing process flow. The interconnections of the IC's are done simultaneously using electroplating process. The technology enables high interconnection density with good reliability. Also, the IMB technology enables so-called "all-layer-assembly" where the whole three dimensional volume of the module (not only the surfaces) is used for component assembly.


The requirements of some major electrical parameters of HF symmetrical cables and the method to improve these parameters are presented.Some techniques in the cable design and manufacture are analysed and the minimum back-twist rate for the twisted pair is recommended.In this part,cables design is mainly presented.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant clonal expansion of plasma cells in the bone marrow and belongs to the mature B-cell neoplams. The pathogenesis of MM is associated with constitutive NF-κB activation. However, genetic alterations causing constitutive NF-κB activation are still incompletely understood. Since A20 (TNFAIP3) is a suppressor of the NF-κB pathway and is frequently inactivated in various lymphoid malignancies, we investigated the genetic and epigenetic properties of A20 in MM. In total, of 46 patient specimens analyzed, 3 single base pair exchanges, 2 synonymous mutations and one missense mutation were detected by direct sequencing. Gene copy number analysis revealed a reduced A20 gene copy number in 8 of 45 (17.7%) patients. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining confirmed that A20 expression correlates with the reduction of A20 gene copy number. These data suggest that A20 contributes to tumor formation in a significant fraction of myeloma patients.


Surgical techniques for correcting midfacial deformities have used bone grafting with direct wire fixation, occlusal overcorrection, and maxillomandibular fixation for 6 to 8 weeks. With the advent of rigid internal fixation, the need for occlusal overcorrection and maxillomandibular fixation has been reduced or eliminated. A technique of rigid internal fixation using titanium mesh is presented. Two representative cases and their 18-month followups are described.


A case of displacing the nearest relative under s.29 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is described. Difficulties in achieving displacement and some ethical dilemmas, particularly in an elderly couple married for nearly 50 years, are discussed. Improvements to the Mental Health Act to avoid delays in displacing the nearest relative and to ensure financial safeguards to the patient are suggested.


This paper proposes a new beam steering antenna system consisting of two variable reflection-type phase shifters, a 3 dB coupler, and a 90° phase transition. The entire structure is designed and fabricated on a single layer of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW), which makes it a low loss and low-profile antenna system. Surface mount tuning varactor diodes are chosen as electrical phase control elements. By changing the biasing voltage of the varactor diodes in the phase shifter circuits, the far-field radiation pattern of the antenna steers from −25° to 25°. The system has a reflection coefficient better than −10 dB for a 2 GHz bandwidth centered at 17 GHz, a directive radiation pattern with a maximum of 10.7 dB gain at the mid-band frequency, and cross polarization better than 20 dB. A prototype is fabricated and measured for design verification. The measured far-field radiation patterns, co and cross polarization, and the reflection coefficient of the antenna system agree with simulated results.


Abstract. Balilo G, Aschalew A, Manikandan R, Feyisa A. 2023. Physico-chemical, heavy metal analysis and physical composition of household solid waste, Shone Town, Ethiopia. Nusantara Bioscience 15: 32-37. In Ethiopia, Shone is one of the country's fast-developing towns; inadequate solid waste management was observed. Therefore, the objective of the study was to determine the generation rate and selected physico-chemical characterization and heavy metal analysis of household solid waste. The study was conducted on randomly selected 120 households from two Kebele of the town. The physico-chemical analysis results revealed that moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity (dS/cm), nitrogen, organic carbon, (%), phosphorus and potassium content of household solid waste were 54.6, 8.25, 2.52 (dS/cm), 2.47, 10.25, 0.54, and 0.82%, respectively. In addition, in the decomposed household solid waste samples, heavy metals such as iron, manganese, copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, chromium, lead, and cadmium were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results showed the concentration of these heavy metals in the decomposed solid waste samples was in the order of iron>manganese>zinc>copper>nickel>chromium>cobalt>lead>cadmium. Daily solid waste from those households was separated into its components, and each component was measured. That was conducted for 7 consecutive days to quantify and characterize household solid waste. The result revealed that the household solid waste generation rate in the study area was 0.206 kilogram/capita/day. The physical composition of the solid waste in Shone Town is mainly organic, constituting 92.8%. The organic waste of the town has a high content of biodegradable waste such as food waste (49.56%), ash and dust (29.74%), yard waste (4.95%), textile (4.006%), old shoes and bone (2.5%), paper and cardboard (2.04%) and recyclable material such as plastic (3.28%), glass and metal (3.88%) all account for 92.8% (biodegradable) and 7.17% (non-biodegradable), respectively.


Modern medicine is increasingly confronted with diseases in the field of neuropsychology and often people suffer from impaired cognitive function. Therefore, the issue of rehabilitation in the field of cognitive neuropsychology has always remained relevant. Moreover, the rapid development of modern technology is also helping to improve the process of rehabilitation and recovery. The neuropsychological direction is the most important aspect of the neurorehabilitation of this category of patients. Methods of neuropsychological diagnostics have proven their validity in the clinic of strokes, traumatic brain injuries, neuroinfections, brain tumors, etc. In this regard, this article examines the role of cognitive neuropsychology in the system of modern neurorehabilitation.


How exactly auditory stimulation initiates language comprehension is still unknown. Some lines of research point to the possible involvement of sub-cortical and cortical circuits, particularly through a functional network comprising the striatum-thalamus-cortex and cerebellum, in which FOXP2 is expressed. This network is thought to support the production and perception of time intervals. In order to evaluate if deficient perception and timing of short time interval words (SIW) in the range of 20 to 200 ms - crucial for timing correctly the integration of long time interval words (LIW) above 200ms - can increase the degree of difficulty in comprehension, we study here a 11 year old subject, A, with a break at some point in the 7q31 region, where FOXP2 is located. Using an audio-visual test with linguistically relevant SIWs contained in basic grammatical constructions and comparing A's difficulty score with that of a 4-11 year old normal population (NP) and that of a control matched in age, sex, schooling, language and socioeconomic background, it was found that A scored higher than a 6 year old but lower than a 7 year old. Subject A's anomalous degree of difficulty for specific constructions with SIWs is not consistent with these ages' performance, but rather suggests an anomalous impairment in perceiving and timing SIWs without which timing correctly the integration of LIWs might be disrupted.


In 2007, the online publication Crikey (https://www. crikey.com.au) estimated that over 20 such reports had been issued since the above comment was made. While clinicians focus on medical advances to benefit health care, real improvement in Indigenous health will come through attention to factors such as education, gender, power, racism and employment conditions. These daily living factors constitute the social determinants of health, which are responsible formajor health inequities between population groups. It follows that, for different Indigenous population groups, social determinants, rather than biological characteristics, explain the large variances in health status and life expectancy at birth. While these relationships are well recognised, the inertia so repetitively documented describes an inability to operationalise an effective approach. This article describes education attainment as a potent, practical and achievable road to change, which has largely been overlooked as a force for health improvement. We define education attainment as "the formal skills acquired through the western system of compulsory school-based instruction, measured in terms of English literacy and numeracy outcomes, at levels adequate for adept navigation within wider literate and numerate social contexts".


Although learning from data is effective and has achieved significant milestones, it has many challenges and limitations. Learning from data starts from observations and then proceeds to broader generalizations. This framework is controversial in science, yet it has achieved remarkable engineering successes. This paper reflects on some epistemological issues and some of the limitations of the knowledge discovered in data. The document discusses the common perception that getting more data is the key to achieving better machine learning models from theoretical and practical perspectives. The paper sheds some light on the shortcomings of using generic mathematical theories to describe the process. It further highlights the need for theories specialized in learning from data. While more data leverages the performance of machine learning models in general, the relation in practice is shown to be logarithmic at its best; After a specific limit, more data stabilize or degrade the machine learning models. Recent work in reinforcement learning showed that the trend is shifting away from data-oriented approaches and relying more on algorithms. The paper concludes that learning from data is hindered by many limitations. Hence an approach that has an intensional orientation is needed.


Abstract The article describes the role of thinking about the future and its importance in architectural and urban education. The first part deals with the scientific discipline of futurology and the possibilities of its use in architectural and urban practice. It covers topics that futurology makes available to architecture and their influence on the urbanized environment. It relates the creation of strategic visions for urban development with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Habitat III initiative. The second part is dedicated to introducing the futurological method of scenario planning, and its origin and use. It mentions so-called megatrends as the driving forces of future scenarios, effecting future challenges and threats that cities will have to deal with. Further, it provides insight into how this method can benefit architectural and urban work and represents the way it was used during architectural teaching. It reflects on the advantages of creating visions in the educational process. In the last part, it shows the off-grid design as a suitable simulator of structural and system thinking, leading to a better understanding of how complex architectural and urban systems function. It highlights the contribution of space architecture projects as a source of innovative thinking. It anticipates that working on space projects where self-sufficiency is a necessity can also benefit thinking about ecology, self-sufficiency, and the sustainability of settlements on Earth.


The paper describes a method to phase-steer a linear array antenna to a discrete number of directions by rearranging the sequence of phase cables that are connected to each array element. The phase cables must be precut to specific lengths which are evaluated. The idea is applied to the EISCAT parabolic cylinder antenna in Tromso Norway.


Since the landmark papers of Conway and Abrahamson many studies have tried to quantify spatial variability. Many different methods have been used and the studies covered a variety of scales. Accordingly, some results appear contradictory, suggesting that the degree of spatial variation varies widely. This is not surprising, and is partly due to the methodology used and of course, due to varying natural conditions. Spatial variability is doubtless an inherent property of the snowpack. One important result seems to be that the layering is less variable than, for example, the stability of small column tests. Whereas it is often perceived that the results of the studies were not conclusive, it seems clear that they completely changed our view of spatial variability. We realized the importance of scale issues. For example, the variation will strongly depend on the measurement scale - the so-called support - of the method (SnowMicroPen vs. compression test vs. rutschblock test). Geostatistical analysis has been intro- duced and used to derive appropriate input data for numerical models. Model results suggest that spatial variation of strength properties have a substantial knockdown effect on slope stability and that the effect increases with increasing spatial correlation. The focus on scale has also revealed that spatial variations can promote instability or inhibit it. With the awareness of scale we can now address the causes of spatial variability. Many processes such as radiation and wind act at several scales. The most challenging process is probably wind that might hinder prediction of variability at the slope scale. However, at the regional scale, already today, many avalanche forecasting services try to address differences in respect to slope aspect. We will review the present state of knowledge, discuss consequences for avalanche forecasting and snow stability evaluation, and recommend future research directions.


We assess a country's influence on decision-making in the Council not merely on the basis of the number of its votes, but based on a novel measure that also takes into account the voting behaviour of other countries. A country that is likely to receive support from other countries will be more influential than a country with more votes, but which tends to be isolated in its policy preferences. We apply the methodology to a novel dataset and use it to assess whether changes in voting weights in the Lisbon Treaty influence the odds of whether countries get what they want when decisions are taken in the Council. We show that large Member States are less successful in getting support from others for their positions, while the changes in voting weights increase large Member States' influence, but statistically significant decrease it only for a subgroup of small Member States.


Increasing medical specialization has undoubtedly resulted in better outcomes for patients with defined conditions. The converse to this is the lack of a generalist opinion for the presentation that is less obvious. One of the functions of the menopause clinic is to stand back and look at the bigger picture: to make an experienced analysis of a multisystem presentation. We routinely integrate risks and benefits affecting different bodily systems and in this respect differ from most other specialities. Just under a year ago, I was asked by her general practitioner (GP) to think about Tracey who was 54. I was given selected hospital correspondence and results from the previous three years and Tracey had written reams about what had happened to her. I take the view that in such situations the more information the better. From this I gleaned: Twenty years previously, age 33, Tracey had developed menopausal flushes. Her mother had been prematurely menopausal in her 30s. No other explanation was identified and she was treated successfully with cyclical HRT. Sixteen years before, age 37, Tracey had changed to continuous combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the form of 2mg estradiol þ1mg norethisterone (Kliofem , NovoNordisk). This was also effective and she had no obvious flushes or other menopausal symptoms. Three years before, age 51, Tracey had begun intermittently to bleed vaginally. This was more like discoloured discharge than a period but varied from pink to brown and occasionally red. The GP notes indicated that when examined her vagina had looked atrophic. Tracey had been advised to reduce the Kliofem and with that alteration, the blood loss had increased rather than reduced. An ultrasound at the time had revealed a uniform and thin endometrium with no structural anomaly. A month later, a gynaecology out patient letter noted both the ultrasound result and that Tracey had an atrophic vagina. An endometrial biopsy had been taken and reported as scanty and atrophic. Tracey had been advised to use vaginal estradiol 25 mg tablets (Vagifem , NovoNordisk) for six weeks and to plan to reduce the Kliofem. She had continued to use the vaginal tablets twice a week ever since and also to use the 2mg combination daily as any attempt to reduce the HRT had resulted in an increase in bleeding. At about the same time, Tracey had presented with symptoms of feeling hot and unwell, almost flu-like. She had developed low abdominal pain that varied but could be severe and debilitating. At one stage, this was bad enough that she had collapsed and an ambulance was called. When reviewed by her GP her urine had been positive for blood and leucocytes and she was treated for urinary tract infection though no positive culture was obtained on that or any other occasion since. The urologists had been involved noting blood and leucocytes on dipstick testing and proposing a 'semiresistant bug'. Flexible cystoscopy was reported as normal, renal ultrasound was unremarkable and despite negative cultures prophylactic antibiotics were advised. After two years, she continued regularly to have symptoms summarized as back ache, suprapubic pain, a flu-like feeling but no dysuria. Bladder washes weekly for six weeks were tried without marked improvement. Two years after the first attempt, a gynaecological review occurred in a postmenopausal bleeding (PMB) clinic. The discharge summary noted the absence of endometrium on ultrasound (no thickness measured) and that no endometrium was obtained on endometrial (Pipelle ) sampling. No management advice was offered. As bleeding persisted, a third gynaecology appointment was considered as mention had been made of fitting a levonorgestrel IUS. Tracey had done her research and thinking there may be a link between her problems asked to come to the menopause clinic. Her GP agreed and provided me with information. At that point her treatment consisted of generic estradiol 2mgþ norethisterone 1mg with estradiol 25 mg vaginal tablets twice a week. She was using no complementary menopause therapies but emptied out a


Knowledge of communication between parietal abdominal veins, testicular vein and mesenteric veins is important for Surgeons, Urologists and Radiologists. These communications can result in varicocele or hemorrhoids and may lead to low success rate in hemorrhoid and varicocele surgeries. During routine dissection classes, we observed an unusual large venous plexus on the left psoas major muscle. The venous plexus was unilateral and was formed by many anastomotic venous channels on the psoas fascia and communicated with the left testicular and inferior mesenteric veins. The testicular and inferior mesenteric veins were significantly enlarged below the level of communication with the venous plexus.


This study investigated preschoolers' use of two word-learning tendencies in combination. 22 Japanese preschoolers were tested on a task with three forced choices that demanded use of mutual exclusivity and taxonomic bias in the single trials. When presented an object whose label they had learned, an object from the same category as the learned object, and an object from another category, the children chose the third object, suggesting that they use the two constraints in combination. This tendency is discussed with respect to its specific application to word learning.


The growing social significance of international sport competition, and the benefits of sport at socio-political level, have resulted in increased  recognition for systems in sport that promote the development of elite athletes. Elite sport systems are globally becoming increasingly more uniform, with local variations characterising the differences in  implementation such as higher levels of complexity, greater financial investment and optimising talent identification and talent development processes to function more effectively. The question therefore arises as to what extent differences could be measured amongst elite sport systems of different national judo federations. The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of elite sport systems of three national judo  federations (Great Britain, South Africa and The Netherlands). Judo in England forms part of the British Judo Association. The study followed an international comparative case study design utilising qualitative methods (document analysis and interviews), in order to explore the management of elite judo systems in depth. The research model consisted of a vertical (micro, meso and macro-levels), and horizontal analyses, with multilevel elements articulated as a subset within a subsequent higher level for analysis. The horizontal analysis assisted in seeking similar and distinct trends between the judo federations at each level. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with one (n=1) executive member of the British and South African judo federations (n=1), as well as a sample of elite judo coaches from Britain (n=3), South Africa (n=3) and the Netherlands (n=2). Results indicated that elite sport systems are guided by a sound vision, mission, strategy and plan supported by relevant and sufficient human, financial and physical resources systems. The extent to which these systems are aligned and integrated with the strategy and plan, will determine the success of the input of elite sport systems. Britain, South Africa and the Netherlands have are similar in terms of structural components; however the main differences that exist are related to the contextual realities of these countries. Keywords : Elite sport systems, long-term athlete development, strategic management.


Natural compounds from certain timber trees are highly valued and recommended to protect wood and wood products against mold fungi. This study highlighted the use of some natural extracts and Paraloid B-72 against the growth of two mold fungi, namely Alternaria tenuissima and Fusarium culmorum. From the in vitro experiment, the methanol extracts of Callistemon viminalis bark were effective against the growth of F. culmorum, as were Magnolia grandiflora leaves against A. tenuissima. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis of treated Acacia saligna wood with the two fungi and Paraloid B-72 demonstrated the clear hyphal growth of F. culmorum and A. tenuissima and changes in elemental chemical composition. After three months, no fungal growth on the wood surface treated with the methanol extract of M. pomifera bark was found. After three months of treating wood with Paraloid B-72 at 5% and 10%, the mold growth was visible. Almost all of the wood treated with methanol extracts showed growth of the A. tenuissima hypha, as well as some contamination by other microorganisms, except for the wood treated with the methanol extract of M. pomifera bark.


In the tangent plane at any point of a surface in the four-dimensional Euclidean space we consider an invariant linear map of Weingarten-type and find a geometrically determined moving frame field. Writing derivative formulas of Frenet-type for this frame field, we obtain eight invariant functions. We prove a fundamental theorem of Bonnettype, stating that these eight invariants under some natural conditions determine the surface up to a motion. We show that the basic geometric classes of surfaces in the four-dimensional Euclidean space, determined by conditions on their invariants, can be interpreted in terms of the properties of two geometric figures: the tangent indicatrix, which is a conic in the tangent plane, and the normal curvature ellipse. We construct a family of surfaces with flat normal connection.


A method is presented to determine tropopause height from gridded temperature data with coarse vertical resolution. The algorithm uses a thermal definition of the tropopause, which is based on the concept of a "threshold lapse‐rate". Interpolation is performed to identify the pressure at which this threshold is reached and maintained for a prescribed vertical distance. The method is verified by comparing the heights calculated from analyses of the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with the observed heights at individual radiosonde stations. RMS errors in the calculated tropopause heights are generally small. They range from 30–40 hPa in the extratropics to 10–20 hPa in the tropics. The largest deviations occur in the subtropics, where the tropopause has strong meridional gradients that are not adequately resolved by the input data.


Lung cancer is one of the most fatal cancers worldwide. Resistance to conventional therapies remains a hindrance to patient treatment. Therefore, the development of more effective anti‐cancer therapeutic strategies is imperative. Solid tumors exhibit a hyperglycolytic phenotype, leading to enhanced lactate production; and, consequently, its extrusion to the tumor microenvironment. Previous data reveals that inhibition of CD147, the chaperone of lactate transporters (MCTs), decreases lactate export in lung cancer cells and sensitizes them to phenformin, leading to a drastic decrease in cell growth. In this study, the development of anti‐CD147 targeted liposomes (LUVs) carrying phenformin is envisioned, and their efficacy is evaluated to eliminate lung cancer cells. Herein, the therapeutic effect of free phenformin and anti‐CD147 antibody, as well as the efficacy of anti‐CD147 LUVs carrying phenformin on A549, H292, and PC‐9 cell growth, metabolism, and invasion, are evaluated. Data reveals that phenformin decreases 2D and 3D‐cancer cell growth and that the anti‐CD147 antibody reduces cell invasion. Importantly, anti‐CD147 LUVs carrying phenformin are internalized by cancer cells and impaired lung cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Overall, these results provide evidence for the effectiveness of anti‐CD147 LUVs carrying phenformin in compromising lung cancer cell aggressiveness.


The systematic value of the middle-ear ossicles, in particular the malleus, has been long recognized for diverse groups. We present systematic work on the characters of the middle-ear ossicles of pinnipeds, focusing on until now poorly studied Southern Hemisphere species. Mallei were extracted from 16 specimens of pinnipeds belonging to five austral and one boreal species of Phocidae and two austral species of Otariidae. Several characters used in this study have been described previously, and some were here modified. Three new characters are here defined and analysed. All characters were mapped onto the phylogeny. Our character analysis shows the transformations that have occurred in the evolution of middle ear ossicles in pinnipeds and identifies diagnostic features of many of its clades. Beyond the identification of specific changes within eachclade, our study of pinniped ossicle evolution documents the occurrence of anatomical convergences with other groups of mammals that live in an aquatic environment, as has occurred in other organ systems as well.


Late varieties of the garden pea are quantitatively long day photo-periodically sensitive and can be vernalised (Barberm, 1959). This was verified and the increased response to day length and vernalisation in the tall late variety Telephone over the dwarf late variety Greenfeast was noted. Late varieties of garden pea grown in the field flowered at a lower average node than was found with any of the plants grown in growth environmental chambers and attempts were made to simulate under controlled conditions the variations between plants grown in the field and plants grown in growth cabinets. Lowering the intensity of light incident on plants reduces plant height and dry weight but does not affect flowering. High intensity blue light and various ratios of red to far red supplementary light were tested but these did not affect plant growth or flowering. Different growth media (soil, peralite with nutrient solution) and the presence or absence of root nodules were tested and found to have no effect on growth or flowering. The effect of gibberellic acid on growth and flowering were studied and it was shown that a natural dwarf late variety given the phenotype of a tall variety by applications of gibberellic acid would respond to day-length and vernalisation in a similar manner to a natural tall late variety. A general delay in flowering and fruit set in both natural tall and natural dwarf varieties was noted after applications of gibberellic acid and this was noted to be more pronounced under short day growth conditions. The effects of the removal of cotyledons on growth, development and flowering of garden pea plants was studied and it was shown that after removal of the cotyledons plant growth rate was reduced, internodes were shorter, leaflets were smaller and plants flowered earlier than control plants which had retained their cotyledons. It was also shown that the reduced vegetative growth rate continued throughout the entire life of the plant provided that the cotyledons were removed before 240 hours after planting, and that plants without cotyledons flowered at a lower average node than controls provided that the cotyledons were removed within 120 hours of planting. Various compounds (gibberellic acid, sucrose, kinetin, indolyl acetic acid and pea cotyledon extracts) were applied to decotylised plants in attempts to restore vegetative vigour and normal flowering pattern. All compounds failed completely to restore the vegetative vigour and normal flowering pattern of the controls. Parts of the cotyledon complement were removed and the effects on growth and flowering were recorded. One quarter of the cotyledon complement was shown to be adequate to allow plants to flower normally and one complete cotyledon was sufficient to allow for normal growth. It was shown that decotylised plants could be vernalised and that the cotyledons are not the site of perception of the cold stimulus of a period of vernalisation.


Abstract Many epidemiological studies have shown an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA and VTE share some background factors, such as increasing age, smoking, and obesity. At the same time, other VTE factors, such as knee replacement and oral contraceptive pills, occur commonly in RA patients. In addition, the chronic inflammatory state of RA might hypothetically lead to endothelial injury and a hypercoagulable state. Two critical pathophysiological pathways lead to VTE. Recently, concerns increased about the increased risk of VTE in patients using Janus Kinase inhibitors. This review aims at reviewing the risk of VTE in RA and the role of traditional risk factors and disease-related inflammation and develops a conceptual framework that describes the interaction between these factors.


The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction (MBSR) on perceived pain intensity and quality of life in patients with chronic headache. Thus, forty patients based on the diagnosis of a neurologist and diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS) for migraine and chronic tension-type headache were selected and randomly assigned to the intervention group and control group, respectively. The participants completed the Pain and quality of life (SF-36) questionnaire. The intervention group enrolled in an eight-week MBSR program that incorporated meditation and daily home practice, per week, session of 90-minutes. Results of covariance analysis with the elimination of the pre-test showed significantly improvement of pain and quality of life in the intervention group compared with the control group. The findings from this study revealed that MBSR can be used non-pharmacological intervention for improvement the quality of life and development of strategies to cope with pain in patients with chronic headache. And can be used in combination with other therapies such as pharmacotherapy.


Purpose: This study is to suggest a direction for comprehensive planning of educational environment in which children`s cognitive development and emotional needs are achieved in childcare facilities. The importance of educational environment in childcare facilities has increased since it was discovered that high quality educational environment can not be guaranteed in current childcare facilities while the number of women participating in labor force, hence the number of children spending most of their time in these facilities is rapidly increasing. Methods: Correlation analysis on Reggio Emilia Approach to education environment and Max Luscher`s psychological healing theory, and case study. Results: The result of the correlation analysis, the 4 key elements of educational environment and the 4 emotional status have significant relationship. Based on the elements of educational environment in Reggio Emilia Approach, case studies were pursued in 3 different childcare facilities in Korea. Implications: Evaluation of these case studies addresses the important elements to be considered in comprehensive planning of the educational environment in childcare facilities.


The present work aims to identify changes in the macroinvertebrate community of the Tagus estuary (Portugal) due to improvements in water quality and to climate change. Data was collected over a period of 16 years (1998–2014) from different sites located along the estuarine gradient. The AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) was used to assess the ecological quality status based on benthic invertebrate communities and identify possible variations associated with changes in water quality. The overall distribution of each species was examined to detect possible changes associated with climate, based on species' affinity for more temperate or subtropical climates. Results demonstrate that there was an overall improvement of AMBI scores during the assessment period. The analysis of the geographical distribution of benthic species seems to indicate that there has been an increase of species which prefer subtropical climates in the shallower waters of the estuary, whereas in the deeper estuarine sections the propensity is for species that prefer temperate climates.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the mental health and substance use of residents of the Rockaways, which is a lower income, ethnically diverse region of NYC that was devastated by the hurricane.

DESIGN
Prospective, cross sectional.

SETTING
Rockaways, Queens, NYC community residents.

PARTICIPANTS
From October 2013 to April 2015, 407 adult residents of the Rockaways completed self-report, validated measures of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms as well as indicators of substance use (alcohol, illicit substance, and tobacco use) and exposure to Hurricane Sandy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, alcohol use, illicit substance use, and tobacco use.

RESULTS
Differences in exposure scores on outcomes were compared using Wilcoxon tests. Associations between hurricane exposure (categorized into "personal" and "property" exposure) and outcomes were investigated using logistic regression, adjusting for demographic covariates, mental health history, and time since hurricane. The study participants were predominately female (57.5 percent) and black (63.9 percent) and average age was 44.7 years. Multivariable results showed that property exposure scores were positively associated with increased risks of mental health difficulties across all three mental health symptom outcomes, but not substance use. Increased personal and total exposures were also significantly associated with increased Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. Substance use variables were not significantly associated with any of the hurricane exposure indicators.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study quantifies the lasting impact that Hurricane Sandy has had on the mental health of Rockaways residents indicating the need for continued recovery efforts and increased mental health service provision in this vulnerable region.


Rammed earth is considered a very sustainable construction system due to its low embodied energy, long service life and high recyclability. However, authors found that there is a lack of experimental results at real scale regarding rammed earth thermal behaviour. For this reason, this paper is first focused on the characterization of two different types of earth in order to check the suitability of being used in rammed earth walls. After the characterization, two experimental cubicle-shape buildings were built in Barcelona and Puigverd de Lleida (Spain) in order to test the thermal behaviour of their walls in two different climatic conditions. Temperature profiles inside walls have been monitored using thermocouples and temperature profile of southern walls was analysed in free floating conditions during summer and winter periods of 2013. Results show that thermal amplitude from outside to inside temperatures are decreased by rammed earth walls, achieving constant temperatures in inner surface of southern walls.


Despite the success of classical traffic flow (e.g., second-order macroscopic) models and data-driven (e.g., Machine Learning - ML) approaches in traffic state estimation, those approaches either require great efforts for parameter calibrations or lack theoretical interpretation. To fill this research gap, this study presents a new modeling framework, named physics regularized Gaussian process (PRGP). This novel approach can encode physics models, i.e., classical traffic flow models, into the Gaussian process architecture and so as to regularize the ML training process. Particularly, this study aims to discuss how to develop a PRGP model when the original physics model is with discrete formulations. Then based on the posterior regularization inference framework, an efficient stochastic optimization algorithm is developed to maximize the evidence lowerbound of the system likelihood. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed model, this paper conducts empirical studies on a real-world dataset that is collected from a stretch of I-15 freeway, Utah. Results show the new PRGP model can outperform the previous compatible methods, such as calibrated physics models and pure machine learning methods, in estimation precision and input robustness.


In this thesis we are designing machine learning methodologies for solving the problem of video annotation and retrieval using either pre-defined semantic concepts or ad-hoc queries. Concept-based video annotation refers to the annotation of video fragments with one or more semantic concepts (e.g. hand, sky, running), chosen from a predefined concept list. Ad-hoc queries refer to textual descriptions that may contain objects, activities, locations etc., and combinations of the former. Our contributions are: i) A thorough analysis on extending and using different local descriptors towards improved concept-based video annotation and a stacking architecture that uses in the first layer, concept classifiers trained on local descriptors and improves their prediction accuracy by implicitly capturing concept relations, in the last layer of the stack. ii) A cascade architecture that orders and combines many classifiers, trained on different visual descriptors, for the same concept. iii) A deep learning architecture that exploits concept relations at two different levels. At the first level, we build on ideas from multi-task learning, and propose an approach to learn concept-specific representations that are sparse, linear combinations of representations of latent concepts. At a second level, we build on ideas from structured output learning, and propose the introduction, at training time, of a new cost term that explicitly models the correlations between the concepts. By doing so, we explicitly model the structure in the output space (i.e., the concept labels). iv) A fully-automatic ad-hoc video search architecture that combines concept-based video annotation and textual query analysis, and transforms concept-based keyframe and query representations into a common semantic embedding space. Our architectures have been extensively evaluated on the TRECVID SIN 2013, the TRECVID AVS 2016, and other large-scale datasets presenting their effectiveness compared to other similar approaches.


Historically, teacher evaluation systems have identified few teachers as low performing and needing improvement. In 2012 at the beginning of a national reform movement, Chicago Public Schools implemented its overhauled evaluation system, which incorporated multiple measures of teaching practice and dismissal plans for low-rated teachers. We find that the reform increased the exit rate of low-rated tenured teachers by 50 percent. At the same time, the teachers who replaced the exited teachers were significantly higher performing. Ultimately, the accountability function of the reformed teacher evaluation policy resulted in higher teaching quality. However, the policy impact was limited because very few teachers received low ratings under the reformed system. Policy simulation results suggest the available teacher labor supply is likely sufficient to set a higher standard for satisfactory teaching.


Background The quantification of non-calcified coronary plaques using multidetector computed tomography has not been extensively investigated. Objective To evaluate the ability of dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) to quantify non-calcified plaque volumes using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as the standard of reference. Methods The datasets of 70 patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease who underwent DSCT (330 ms gantry rotation, 2×64×0.6 mm collimation, 60–90 ml contrast agent) were analysed before invasive coronary angiography, with IVUS performed as part of the diagnostic procedure. 100 individual non-calcified coronary atherosclerotic plaques (one to three plaques per patient) with suitable fiducial markers were matched and selected for plaque volume measurements using manual segmentation. Only DSCT datasets with good or excellent image quality were considered for analysis. Results Intra and interobserver variability for plaque volume measurements by DSCT were 6±5% and 11±7%, respectively. Mean total plaque volume by DSCT was 89±66 mm3 (range 14–400 mm3). Mean total plaque volume by IVUS was 90±73 mm3 (range 16–409 mm3). The mean difference between DSCT and IVUS was 1±34 mm3 (range −131–85 mm3). Despite the good correlation for plaque volume measurements (r=0.89, p<0.001), agreement between the two methods was only modest (Bland–Altman limits of agreement −67 to +65 mm3). Conclusions Non-calcified plaque volumes as determined by DSCT yielded good correlation but only modest agreement in comparison with IVUS.


In 1848, Anne Bronte produced one of the Victorian period's few Kunstlerromane written by a woman, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The novel unfolds as a framed narrative: the outer panels related by Gilbert Markham, the inner panel related by Helen Huntingdon. Markham tells the story of the arrival of a mysterious young widow, Helen Graham, and the subsequent growth of his affection for her, ending with their marriage in the final panel. In the form of her journal, Helen Huntingdon tells the story of her previous existence, the story of a young woman whose artistic abilities provide her an escape from an abusive first marriage. In the interaction of these two narratives, Bronte examines the nature of the woman artist. Her examination begins with what Germaine Greer identifies as the essential problem facing any artist, the problem of "finding one's authenticity, of speaking in a language or imagery that is essentially one's own." (1) In addressing this issue, Bronte also recognizes the interference created by V ictorian societal mores. This interference is, in part, an outgrowth of the ambivalence that has long been an element of the artist's image. In Legend. Myth, and Magic iii the Image of the Artist, Ernst Kris and Otto Kurtz examine the anecdotes about the great masters, their youth, their early display of unique talent, the superiority of their judgment and ability, and their creative imagination. From these they construct the image of the artist as it has developed over time. They further note that historically that image has been dichotomous, including both admirable and dangerous qualities: the "evil magician and the mighty creator." (2) For the Victorians, the gender variable seems only to exacerbate this sense of ambivalence. Women were often regarded as lacking the mighty attribute and possessing the evil one. In Worlds of Art: Painters in Victorian Society, Paula Gillett describes the mid-century debate concerning women artist, which depicted women as less capable artists than men. She cites the wide acceptance of this view alo ng with domestic responsibilities and the critical expectation of dilettantism as major obstacles to professional artists. (3) Denied the role of the mighty creators, women were often assigned the negative role. Elizabeth K. Helsinger, Robin Lauterbach Sheets, and William Veeder suggest in volume 3, chapter 1 of The Woman Question: Society and Literature in Britain and America, 1837-1883 that negative reactions to the woman artist may be attributed to Victorian theories of the female imagination. First, the female imagination was thought to be volatile and erotic and therefore had to be repressed. While addressing the subject of fiction in 1842, Mary Ann Stodart comments: In women, the imagination is commonly too active, the judgment not sufficiently so: and there is no occasion to add fuel to flame, and thus increase the difficulty of bringing into subjection that faculty, which like fire itself. may be said to be a good servant but a bad master.... If the evils to a woman from novel-reading are not small, those which arise from novel writing are alarmingly great. (4) Second, women's imagination was supposed to indicate frustration, both emotional and sexual. Even George Henry Lewes, who satirized male writers' fears about women writers, attributes women's literature to an attempt: to solace by some intellectual activity the sorrow that in silence wastes their lives, and by a withdrawal of the intellect from the contemplation of their pain, or by a transmutation of their secret anxieties into types, they escape from the pressure of that burden. (5) Thus, because a woman's art supposedly found its source either in an overwrought imagination or in frustration, it could be described as tainted from its conception. This is not to say that dissenting voices did not exist. Despite finding women's art somewhat imitative and as yet immature, John Stuart Mill maintained that with time originality would match execution. …


This paper proposes a method for determining the optimal sites and sizes of multi-type distributed generations (DG) and capacitors for minimizing reactive power losses (RPL) in distribution systems. The proposed method is developed based on generic closed-form analytical expressions for calculating optimal sizes of DG units and capacitors at their candidate sites. The reduction in RPL with DG and capacitors is evaluated using another analytical expression that relates power injections of DG and capacitors with RPL. An optimal power flow algorithm (OPF) is incorporated in the proposed method to consider the constraints of the distribution systems, DG, and capacitors. Various types of DG are considered, and their optimal power factors can be accurately computed while optimizing the sizes of capacitors in a simultaneous manner to reduce RPL. The 69-bus distribution system is used to test the proposed method. An exact search method is employed to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated for solving the optimal allocation problem with different combinations of multi-type DG units and capacitors.


Mammogr aphy aims to detect, characterize and evaluate the findings of breast cancer and related breast diseases. An X-ray of a patient's breast is a diagnostic mammogram which can show anomalies being detected through screening mammography or earlier mammography findings requiring follow-up. In automated mammogram classification, features are extracted and classified. The number of features is high, and the feature set contains irrelevant and redundant features leading to degradation of classifiers. In this work, the features from the mammograms are extracted using Multi-scale filter bank and Genetic Algorithm (GA) based feature selection is evaluated. This study proposes to classify features using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLPNN). Results show improvement of the


Biocatalysis opens the door to green and sustainable processes in synthetic chemistry, in the production of natural products, and in waste management. Furthermore, due to the often similar reaction conditions, biocatalysis is ideally suited for realization of multi-step reactions. The key to successful process optimization, especially for industrial applications of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, is immobilization. Enzyme immobilization on ordered mesoporous supports enhances their operational stability and enables the use of enzymes as reusable and robust biocatalysts even for continuous processes. In this feature article, the use of enzymes immobilized on mesoporous supports in biocatalysis is reviewed and future trends are pointed out.


Objective: To evaluate the protective effect of glibenclamide against the experimental diabetes-induced nuclear damage in Wistar rats. Materials and Methods: The anti-mutagenic effect of glibenclamide (0.5, 5 and 50 mg/kg, p.o daily for 4 weeks) was evaluated against the nicotinamide (NA)-streptozotocin (STZ) induced type-2 diabetes mellitus using bone marrow micronucleus and sperm abnormalities tests. The antioxidant status was tested by estimating the serum levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Results: The results indicated that glibenclamide at 50 mg/kg decreased the frequency of micronuclei in erythrocytes (P < 0.05) and sperm shape abnormality (P < 0.01) besides enhancing the antioxidant status (P < 0.05) in the diabetic rats. However, glibenclamide treatment did not enhance the polychromatic and normochromatic erythrocytes (P/N) ratio and sperm count in the diabetic condition. Conclusion: The observations indicate that the glibenclamide has anti-mutagenic potential which could be related to the antioxidant effect and might also possess anti-proliferative property.


We read with great interest the recent study by Copelan et al in which the authors concluded that recent administration (, 8 hours) of iodinated contrast renders infarct estimations inaccurate using a commercial CTP processing software. We believe that the conclusions suffer from unassessed confounders and misinterpretations deserving of clarification for the prospective reader. First, the small cohort (n1⁄4 38) differs not only in the use of iodine, but also in presentation time and infarct size. The transfer patient group arrived approximately 3.2 hours later than the direct presenters. In our experience, this delay increases the likelihood of distal clot migration (eg, from the ICA terminus to the M1 or M2 segment), which may explain the reported core underestimation using CBF. It is unclear whether this confounder was excluded after comparison of the emergent large-vessel occlusion location on each patient's baseline and post-transfer CTAs. Second, both core underand overestimations are welldescribed limitations of CTP that are inherent to using perfusion as a surrogate of the core. As shown in Fig 7, the authors compared a delay-insensitive CTP processing method (RApid processing of PerfusIon and Diffusion [RAPID; iSchemaView]) with a delay-compensated (but not delay-insensitive) parametric CTP processing method (Advanced-Visualization Workstation; GE Healthcare). The apparent CBF reduction on the parametric deconvolution methods is not easily disambiguated from artifactual changes arising from delay-estimation and compensation errors between the arterial input function and the tissue. Prior studies have shown that CBF observed with delay-compensated deconvolution methods can be underestimated by as much as 40% for delays of 5 seconds. Third, CTP maps are derived from dynamic attenuation changes caused by the iodine bolus, relative to the prebolus baseline attenuation values. Provided that a reliable prebolus baseline attenuation measurement is obtained, any attenuation offset caused by persistent intravascular or extravascular tissue iodine (from preceding injections) is negligible. It is unclear if the authors' CTP acquisitions had an adequate baseline measurement. The authors also acquired their CTP in 2 sequential slabs, each with a separate bolus injection, to achieve the desired 80mm coverage. This means that the second CTP slab is, by definition, a postcontrast scan in both patient groups. Thus, any confounding effects from prior iodine administration should be observed in the second CTP slab in both groups. However, when allowing at least 90 seconds between the 2 CTP acquisitions, we have not encountered such issues in our experience with either dual slab protocols or cases in which the CTA is acquired before the CTP. If leakage is the culprit (either first pass or at a steadystate from an earlier injection for the CTP or the outside CTA study), then this would affect CBV and, to a much lesser extent, CBF. Although the authors reference contrast leakage as a potential explanation for core underestimation, they did not report on whether, or to what extent, patients demonstrated contrast staining on their preand postcontrast head CTs. Last, the authors state that "rather than delay the reporting of such a clinically relevant pitfall to augment our sample size, we thought it pertinent to alert our [...] colleagues to our finding." While the effort to bring urgent findings to the attention of the broader scientific community is laudable, doing so at the expense of scientific rigor is fraught with danger. On the basis of the reported number of cases, we are uncertain whether meaningful conclusions can be drawn regarding the association between CBF-derived core and the robustness of collaterals. Specifically, only 2 and 3 cases with "poor collaterals" were reported in the iodine and noniodine groups, respectively, while "intermediate collaterals" were reported only in 6 and 3 cases, respectively. Moreover, the initial power analysis was based on a 50% core overestimation, not underestimation. Therefore, we are concerned for the potential conflation of correlation with causality. In summary, we thank Copelan et al for sharing their findings and we agree with their conclusion that CBF can underestimate (or overestimate) core, and critically, that one should always cross-reference CTP with an unenhanced CT. We believe, however, that the authors' conclusions are excessively extrapolated and potentially without attention to well-recognized confounders. Several potential sources of bias may have had further influences upon the results, including the tendency to promote http://dx.doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A7139


The types of callers and calls received by the Hawaii Poison Center's telephone triage service during the last fiscal year (July 1, 1996 through June 30, 1997) are described. A comparison to national data for human toxic exposures is provided. Methods included a review of Hawaii Poison Center statistics, the American Association of Poison Control Centers annual report, and retrospective recall of cases.


Both subunit and attenuated whole sporozoite vaccination strategies against Plasmodium infection have shown promising initial results in malaria-naïve westerners but exhibited less efficacy in malaria-exposed individuals in endemic areas. It has been hypothesized that preexisting immunity to malaria represents a significant roadblock to the development of a protective vaccine. Here, we demonstrate proof-of-concept that non-neutralizing antibodies (nNAb) can directly interfere with protective anti-PyCSP humoral responses. We developed and characterized a novel monoclonal antibody, RAM1, against the P. yoelii sporozoite major surface antigen, circumsporozoite protein (CSP). Unlike the canonical PyCSP repeat domain binding and neutralizing antibody (NAb) 2F6, RAM1 does not inhibit sporozoite traversal or entry of hepatocytes in vitro. Though 2F6 and RAM1 bind non-overlapping regions of the CSP-repeat domain, pretreatment with RAM1 abrogated 2F6's capacity to block sporozoite traversal and invasion in vitro. Importantly, RAM1 reduced the efficacy of the polyclonal humoral response against CSP in vivo, paralleling the observed reduced efficacy of RTS,S in malaria-exposed populations. Taken together, our data demonstrate the interference of non-neutralizing antibodies with the efficacy of NAbs and may impact the efficacy of anti-CSP vaccines in malaria-exposed individuals.


DOI:10.31629/jit.v2i1.3206 Abstract Nagari Sianok Anam Suku is a historical village where 6 indigenous Minangkabau tribes' settlements have lived since the 16th century. Due to the urbanization development era in Bukit Tinggi City, forcing the surrounding area to change the Nagari Sianok Anam Spatial Pattern; Mass Layout, Road Network, Land Use, Building Forms, and Open Space. The purpose of this study is to analyze changes in the spatial pattern of the Nagari Sianok Anam Suku which is adjacent to Bukit Tinggi City. The method used is a descriptive quantitative method, the researcher aims to describe how spatial pattern change occurred. It can be seen from spatial changes analysis in the Sianok Anam Suku area from 16th to 20th centuries how area change was carried out by the people living in the area.


Learning Analytics (LA) and tools for intelligent analysis of data accumulated in the information systems used in higher education institutions (HEIs) allow quality experts to increase the effectiveness of processes for monitoring, quality assurance and evaluation of training. The paper presents LA model and a correspondent software tool designed for the needs of quality experts in Bulgarian higher education institutions. The tool allows them to monitor and improve the learning process. However, the experiments presented here show that the tool can also significantly assist in the preparation of selfassessment reports for internal and external quality assessment in HE. Research and experiments with the model and the LA tool under consideration are conducted on the basis of the information infrastructure of a typical Bulgarian university – University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski". Keywords—Learning Analytics, Intelligent Data Analysis, Decision Making, Self-evaluation Report, Higher Education.


The case of 59 year old man treated for larynx carcinoma was presented. The potentially oncogenic human papillomavirus type 16/18 was detected in the tissue surrounding the tumor.


In order to efficiently utilize Cloud Computing environments (more specifically, Infrastructure as a Service offerings), developers must be able to quickly incorporate their applications into integrated systems commonly called software appliances. This paper describes a system that can be used to construct and maintain software appliances called Conary. The core of Conary is a software configuration management system that places all the components included in an appliance in a versioned repository. The version control system properties of Conary's software configuration management design naturally facilities image creation and updates. An approach utilizing Conary solves many of the challenges faced by adopters of Cloud Computing.


As dental material science and technology rapidly evolve and enable dentists to render more efficient treatment, an old challenge persists--preventing the formation of secondary caries at the restorative margin. Research has indicated that the existence of an acid-base resistant zone (ABRZ), which forms between the adhesive layer and the tooth, may have a preventive effect. The ABRZ is also known as super dentin, and the thickness of this zone is material dependent. Functional monomers such as 10-methacryloyloxyethyl dihydrogen phosphate and materials such as flowable composites used as luting agents may play roles in formation of the ABRZ. This article also includes a case study to illustrate the author's technique in helping to create the ABRZ.


This paper presents a participatory methodology to design cards on social issues with the purpose to democratise knowledge among co-designers on the learning content of educational games. Situated on the topic of everyday sexism, the methodology has been developed through an iterative process involving two collaborative workshops, two iterations of card design and a feedback survey. Extracting findings from the workshops and the feedback gathered on the co- designed cards, this paper presents insights that could be used to inform similar studies using cards to inspire and foster reflection on social issues.


A development project for a design workstation for advanced life-support systems (called the DAWN Project, for Design Assistant Workstation), incorporating qualitative simulation, required the implementation of a useful qualitative simulation capability and the integration of qualitative and quantitative simulation such that simulation capabilities are maximized without duplication. The reason is that to produce design solutions to a system goal, the behavior of the system in both a steady and perturbed state must be represented. The Qualitative Simulation Tool (QST), on an expert-system-like model building and simulation interface toll called ScratchPad (SP), and on the integration of QST and SP with more conventional, commercially available simulation packages now being applied in the evaluation of life-support system processes and components are discussed.


It is well established that two-kidney, one clip renovascular hypertension can be rapidly reversed by unclipping. We hypothesized that rapid renal reperfusion and the subsequent fall in blood pressure are mediated in part by nitric oxide, the endothelium-derived relaxing factor. We tested whether the hypotensive response to unclipping could be blocked by nitric oxide synthesis inhibition using a bolus of 10 mg/kg body wt N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. Rats were made hypertensive by placing a silver clip on the left renal artery. After 4 weeks, they were anesthetized and either not treated (controls) or had nitric oxide synthesis blockade. After 10 minutes, the clip was removed and blood pressure monitored over 60 minutes. Initial pressure in controls was 157 +/- 8 mm Hg, and heart rate was 310 +/- 21 beats per minute. Unclipping resulted in pressure falling to 125 +/- 6 mm Hg within 45 minutes (P < .005). Heart rate was unchanged (312 +/- 9 beats per minute). In contrast, nitric oxide synthesis inhibition increased blood pressure from 149 +/- 6 to 174 +/- 9 mm Hg (P < .001). Unclipping did not change blood pressure, which was 167 +/- 8 mm Hg after 60 minutes (P < .005 versus controls), and heart rate remained unchanged (282 +/- 13 versus 276 +/- 16 beats per minute). We determined the blood flow to the clipped kidneys using radioactive microspheres. Unclipping untreated hypertensive rats resulted in a 10-fold increase in renal blood flow (P < .001), concomitant with a decrease in blood pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Successful development of unconventional resources (UCR) depends on the planning and execution of economic and efficient hydraulic fracturing stimulation. In the last decade, multistage hydraulic fracturing technologies have significantly improved and matured with more than 50,000 wells being drilled and completed every year across different UCR resources. Still, opportunities exist for continuous improvement and optimization of multiple design parameters of hydraulic fracturing job planning and execution. Solutions have been developed for these opportunities to maximize productivity and Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR) with economic development practices.
 The key components of hydraulic fracturing in UCR wells were reviewed to identify opportunities for improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. This covered design and decisions regarding horizontal well landing, number of fracture clusters per stage, proppant and frac fluid type and quantity, propped and unpropped fracture contribution, fracture interaction and stress evolution during well life. Collection & analysis of various diagnostic data along with application of fit-for-purpose software tools in area of numerical geomechanics, fracture modeling, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling and reservoir simulations were used to study the mechanisms and gain learnings. In-house tools and integrated workflows are developed to achieve solutions for optimum stimulation design and develop best practices for each of opportunities identified in hydraulic fracture stimulation of UCR wells.
 The integrated solution has provided economic and efficient design to maximize productivity and EUR by capturing all segments of hydraulic fracturing process. The integrated workflow showed the importance of incorporating geomechanical parameters in addition to geologic and geophysical properties while selecting best rock for horizontal well landing to ensure maximum coverage of good quality rock with fracture and fracture to wellbore connectivity. The case specific optimum perforation cluster design using in-house developed fracture entry optimization tool reduced cost with ability to successfully pump up to 15 cluster per stage with increased fracture placement efficiency. The proppant transport study in wellbore and fracture using CFD modeling highlighted the optimum combination of fracture fluid viscosity range and proppant type (size and density) to maximize proppant transport for required propped and unpropped conductivity as per formation petrophysical properties. The analysis of stress evolution during fracturing and production life of well due to depletion using numerical coupled geomechanics provided quantification of effective stress on proppant for selection of low-cost local sand as proppant and drawdown management solution.
 The integrated analysis of individual component of overall stimulation process provided many key learnings and best practices to achieve economic improvement of productivity and EUR. The fit-for-purpose tools and workflows provided optimum economic solution to maximize both early time production and EUR with ability to successfully pump 10-14 clusters per stage using smaller local sands and slickwater in horizontal wells landed in best rock and produced at optimum drawdown.


Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a novel imaging technique that is a promising candidate for practical use in the medical field. The field-free line (FFL) selection field method in MPI provides spatial encoding along a line, resulting in a faster acquisition time and enhanced sensitivity with increased signal-to-noise ratio. To obtain FFL, a magnet system was designed using nested Halbach rings with octagonal-shaped permanent magnets. In this specific study, simulation studies were implemented using this magnet system for a real case. For this purpose, gradient values and stabilities of the magnet system were calculated. In this investigation, a gradient field within 60 mm stability was obtained along each axis. The gradient field attained values up to 6.1 T/m, which is a highly important parameter for spatial resolution in MPI systems.


Based on the research articles about the strategic emerging industries in China of Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) on http://www.cnki.net/ from 2010 to 2014, we analyze the research literature from quantitative and qualitative perspective and prospect the future research directions of the strategic emerging industries in China. The research data shows that the studies on strategic emerging industries in China have developed rapidly these years, the high-level research results are increasingly abundant, but some problems should be further studied. And we believe that the researchers should focus on the empirical studies based on the development of the practices, and make efforts to construct a whole systematic research framework and pay more attention to the studies on strategic human resources.


This paper presents a design technique for computational systems based on the concepts of Model, Abstraction, and Simulation. This technique, developed and evaluated especially in Real Time System applications, is particularly useful to design hierarchical multiprocessor microprogrammed systems. A set of tools and facilities for designing and building the system is also shown.


The Sindirgi District (Balikesir, western Turkey) lies within the Western Anatolian volcanic and extensional province, adjacent to the WNW-trending Simav graben, approximately 130 km NE of Izmir. The Sindirgi mining district is underlain mainly by Miocene volcanic rocks and hosts several low-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag deposits and prospects located near the towns of Sindirgi and Bigadic. The Kiziltepe low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver deposit is located southeast of Yusufcam village (Sindirgi, Balikesir), and other prospects, including the Kepez, Kavakliduz, and Karaduz prospects, are located northeast of Kiziltepe. Potentially economic grades occur at Kiziltepe, which contains a measured and indicated resource of 1.754.790 Mt @3.0 g/t Au, 44 g/t Ag, hosted by quartz veins showing colloform/crustiform banding, quartz pseudomorphs after bladed calcite, and multiphase brecciations, all typical textures noted in low-sulfidation epithermal deposits. Alteration minerals include mixed-layer illite/smectite, high-crystallinity illite, and kandite group minerals (dickite and nacrite). Precious metal minerals include traces of electrum, acanthite, Au-rich acanthite, and Ag-Hg-Au-Tl-Pb series, occurring mainly within quartz. Pyrite is the most common opaque mineral at Kiziltepe. 40Ar/39Ar dating of adularia from the quartz veins indicates an age of mineralization of 18.3 ± 0.2 Ma. The ore mineralization is divided into three main phases. These comprise the deposition of: coarse-grained quartz, illite, pyrite, and minor precious metals (Phase I); major gold–silver-bearing medium-grained quartz, which commonly exhibits crustiform banding, carbonate replacement, and hydrothermal breccia textures (Phase II); and fine-grained chalcedonic quartz with colloform/crustiform banding (Phase III). Phase II is economically the most important in terms of precious metal content. Phase II quartz contains fluid inclusions, which range from predominantly vapor-rich to predominantly liquid-rich with homogenization temperatures (Th) varying from 157 to 330 °C, showing a cluster between 190 and 300 °C, and ice-melting temperatures (Tm) ranging from -0.2 to -2.9 °C (salinity from 0.5-4.8 wt.% NaCl equiv.). Moderate to strong positive correlations occur between Au-Ag (R = 0.8) and Au-Cu (R = 0.5), whereas there is no correlation between As and Au or Ag.


In his talk, "Diffuse Optical Methods for Assessing Breast Cancer Chemotherapy," SPIE Fellow Bruce Tromberg (Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic) describes a method combining frequency domain photon migration, essentially a method of tracking photon motion in tissue, with a NIR spectroscopy technique using 850nm LEDs. The result is a scatter corrected absorption spectra. The technique takes advantage of elevated blood and water levels and decreased lipid levels in the presence of tumors to provide a more accurate mapping of the breast, allowing more effective treatment. Tromberg's team recently completed their first full mapping of the breast and have taken the instrument from a standalone unit to a portable one suitable for travel. In addition to providing feedback to enhance breast cancer treatment, Tromberg expects that this technique will be applicable in treating other forms of cancer as well.


The problem of round-rolled surface products improving quality by reducing roughness and waviness is solved. Traditionally, grinding is used to improve the surface quality, but at the same time new defects appear in the form of cracks, tinge colours and the abrasive particles infiltration into the surface layer. Surface pressure processing instead of grinding is not associated with such defects, therefore, it is proposed to use a transverse rolling. Rolling rational profile for transverse rolling of round-rolled surface was theoretically determined. Analytical dependences were obtained for rolls in cage with support rings calibration calculations. Such calibration use ensures uniform deterioration of rolls and rings bearing surfaces, as well as the rolls balance with their one-sided load during rolling. A parametric analysis of the deformation conditions effect on the rolls geometry was performed. The conditions when rolls profile can be limited to a circle or a straight line were considered. The obtained results were used in rolls profiling for drawing the rolling surface in laboratory and industrial conditions.