Maturation of excitatory synaptic connections depends on the amount and pattern of their activity, and activity can affect development of inhibitory synapses as well. In the superficial visual layers of the superior colliculus (sSC), developmental increases in the effectiveness of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA(A)) receptor-mediated inhibition may be driven by the maturation of visual inputs. In the rat sSC, GABA(A) receptor currents significantly jump in amplitude between postnatal days 17 and 18 (P17 and P18), approximately when the effects of cortical inputs are first detected in collicular neurons. We manipulated the development of these currents in vivo by implanting a drug-infused slice of the ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer Elvax over the superior colliculus of P8 rats to chronically release from this plastic low levels of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). Sham-treated control animals received a similar implant containing only the solvent for NMDA. To examine the effects of this treatment on the development of GABA-mediated neurotransmission, we used whole cell voltage-clamp recording of spontaneous synaptic currents (sPSCs) from sSC neurons in untreated, NMDA-treated, and sham-treated superior colliculus slices ranging in age from 10 to 20 days postnatal. Both amplitude and frequency of sPSCs were studied at holding potentials of +50 mV in the presence and absence of the GABA(A) receptor antagonist, bicuculline methiodide (BMI). The normal developmental increase in GABA(A) receptor currents occurred on schedule (P18) in sham-treated sSC, but NMDA treatment caused premature up-regulation (P12). The average sPSCs in early NMDA-treated neurons were significantly larger than in age-matched sham controls or in age-matched, untreated neurons. No differences in average sPSC amplitudes across treatments or ages were present in BMI-insensitive, predominantly glutamatergic synaptic currents of the same neurons. NMDA treatment also significantly increased levels of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), measured by quantitative western blotting with staining at P13 and P19. Cell counting using the dissector method for MAP 2 and GAD(67) at P13 and P19 indicated that the differences in GABAergic transmission were not due to increases in the proportion of inhibitory to excitatory neurons after NMDA treatment. However, chronic treatments begun at P8 with Elvax containing both NMDA and BMI significantly decreased total neuron density at P19 ( approximately 15%), suggesting that the NMDA-induced increase in GABA(A) receptor currents may protect against excitotoxicity.


Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) is a low-maintenance, warmseason grass common throughout the southern United States. Slow establishment and growth rate of seeded centipedegrass often allows for increased weed competition, yet weed control options are limited. Tank-mixing simazine with mesotrione has been reported to improve weed control because of synergistic modes of action. A 2-year field trial was conducted to evaluate centipedegrass response to mesotrione and simazine applications applied 2 weeks after emergence. Mesotrione (0.25 lb/ acre) did not reduce centipedegrass cover at any rating when applied alone. All rates of simazine, alone and tank-mixed with mesotrione, resulted in decreased centipedegrass cover 7 days after treatment (DAT). However, simazine alone at 0.25 lb/ acre did not reduce turf cover 14, 28, and 49 DAT, and simazine at 0.25 lb/acre tank-mixed with mesotrione at 0.25 lb/acre did not reduce turf cover 28 and 49 DAT. Results indicate that newly established centipedegrass is vulnerable to cover reduction because of simazine and simazine plus mesotrione tank-mixture. Mesotrione and mesotrione tank-mixed with low rates of simazine is a viable option for newly seeded centipedegrass weed control; however, turf cover may be delayed.


Bit flips on instructions may affect the execution of the processor depending on the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and the location of the flipped bits. Intrinsically, ISAs may detect bit upsets if the errors on the instructions produce exceptions that halt the execution. Previous works exploit this fact to improve the error detection capabilities of ISAs with an addition of simple encoding/decoding scheme to propagate any single bit error to the "most vulnerable bit" of the instructions in order to detect the error by crashing the system. Although it was proven that this approach significantly reduces the Silent Data Corruptions (SDC), as an error detection scheme, it is not practical since detection causes system crash. In this paper, we propose using a Bloom Filter (BF) along with the encode/decode scheme to detect soft errors without executing the erroneous instruction and thus avoiding system crash. The contents of the BF are those obtained by inserting the valid program instructions and can be computed at compile time. Then prior to execution, the contents are loaded into the BF. During execution, instructions are first checked on the BF and on a negative an error is detected as the instruction is not any of the ones in the program. A small number of false positives can occur for erroneous instructions (due to the nature of the BF) and may still be detected with the system crash as in previous works. Our approach has two main benefits. The first one is an increase in the error detection rate as the set of valid instructions is restricted to those used in the program allowing the detection of invalid instructions even if they do not lead to a system crash. The second one is that errors are detected before the crash. This is done at the cost of adding a small memory for the BF and some control logic that requires a low overhead. We evaluated this approach on binary files of the ARM Cortex M0 core. According to our findings, the BF is able to significantly improve the error detection rate.


PURPOSE
Human cytomegalovirus retinitis, the most common ophthalmic infection of AIDS patients, has been modeled in BALB/c mice infected with murine cytomegalovirus by the supraciliary route. A series of depletion and adoptive transfer studies was performed to determine whether adoptive transfer of T cells protects mice from retinitis caused by murine cytomegalovirus infection after supraciliary inoculation and to determine which subset of T cells is responsible for protection.

METHODS
BALB/c mice were thymectomized and T cell-depleted by injection of monoclonal antibodies to CD4, CD8, or both. Murine cytomegalovirus (9 x 10(2) plaque forming units [pfu]) was injected into the supraciliary space. Experimental animals received murine cytomegalovirus-specific T cells or subsets of T cells 2 hours before virus injection, whereas control animals received herpes simplex virus type 1-specific T cells by tail vein injection. Eight days after virus injection, retinal pathology was scored by histopathologic examination of hematoxylin and eosin-stained ocular sections.

RESULTS
CD8+ T cell depletion was sufficient for development of retinitis after supraciliary injection of murine cytomegalovirus. Adoptive transfer of murine cytomegalovirus-specific T cells, but not herpes simplex virus type 1-specific T cells, provided protection from retinitis. Additionally, separation of the murine cytomegalovirus-specific T cells into CD8+ and CD4+ subsets before adoptive transfer showed that the CD8+ fraction of the adoptive T cells was responsible for protection.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that adoptive transfer of cytomegalovirus-specific T cells or T cell subsets might be used to treat or prevent cytomegalovirus retinitis in immunosuppressed human patients.


Cytokine storm is a phenomenon characterized by strong elevated circulating cytokines that most often occur after an overreactive immune system is activated by an acute systemic infection. A variety of cells participate in cytokine storm induction and progression, with profiles of cytokines released during cytokine storm varying from disease to disease. This review focuses on pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cytokine storm induction and progression induced by pathogenic invasive infectious diseases. Strategies for targeted treatment of various types of infection-induced cytokine storms are described from both host and pathogen perspectives. In summary, current studies indicate that cytokine storm-targeted therapies can effectively alleviate tissue damage while promoting the clearance of invading pathogens. Based on this premise, "multi-omics" immune system profiling should facilitate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies to alleviate cytokine storms caused by various diseases.


We have extracted the energy spectrum of the quantum dot in a Si single electron transistor from the gate voltage and drain voltage dependence of the drain current. The device used is a point contact MOSFET acting as a single quantum dot transistor fabricated on a SOI substrate using the anisotropic etching technique. The width of the most constricted part of the channel is less than 10 nm. Negative differential conductance is observed in the single electron transistor. The experimental results suggest that accurate understanding of the electronic states in the dot becomes much more important for the design of extremely small single electron devices for room temperature operation.


We introduce the problem of reconstructing a sequence of multidimensional real vectors where some of the data are missing. This problem contains regression and mapping inversion as particular cases where the pattern of missing data is independent of the sequence index. The problem is hard because it involves possibly multivalued mappings at each vector in the sequence, where the missing variables can take more than one value given the present variables; and the set of missing variables can vary from one vector to the next. To solve this problem, we propose an algorithm based on two redundancy assumptions: vector redundancy (the data live in a low-dimensional manifold), so that the present variables constrain the missing ones; and sequence redundancy (e.g. continuity), so that consecutive vectors constrain each other. We capture the low-dimensional nature of the data in a probabilistic way with a joint density model, here the generative topographic mapping, which results in a Gaussian mixture. Candidate reconstructions at each vector are obtained as all the modes of the conditional distribution of missing variables given present variables. The reconstructed sequence is obtained by minimising a global constraint, here the sequence length, by dynamic programming. We present experimental results for a toy problem and for inverse kinematics of a robot arm.


Benians (1913) demonstrated that all Gramnegative organisms were destroyed by toluene, which had an inhibitory action on diphtheroid bacilli and streptococci but little effect on spores and staphylococci. Webster (1942) suggested the use of toluene to suppress Gram-negative bacilli in mixed broth cultures; he added 10 per cent of toluene to broth cultures, shook them at intervals, and allowed them to stand for five minutes, by which time the toluene had risen to the surface. He removed a drop of the treated culture, taking precautions to avoid removing any toluene. Using this technique we have obtained results too variable to be of value, as sometimes coliform bacilli would survive or streptococci succumb. " Occasional" shaking is too haphazard, but vigorous shaking gives consistent results so long as the temperature of the broth is controlled.


In this paper, we formulate and solve a two-stage Bayesian sequential change diagnosis (SCD) problem in a multi-sensor setting. In the considered problem, a change first occurs at a sensor and then propagates across the sensor array gradually. After a change is detected, we are allowed to continue observing more samples so that we can identify the distribution after the change more accurately. Our goal is to minimize the total cost including delay, false alarm, and misdiagnosis probabilities. We first characterize the optimal SCD rule. Moreover, to address the high computational complexity issue of the optimal SCD rule, we propose a low-complexity threshold SCD rule. We further analyze the asymptotic optimality of the threshold SCD rule. In addition, we investigate how increasing the number of sensors can improve the performance of the proposed threshold SCD rule. Our analysis holds for different sensor array structures, including linear sensor arrays and 2D lattice sensor arrays.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To describe district nurses' perspectives on detecting mental health problems and promoting mental health among homebound older people with multimorbidity.

BACKGROUND
Mental health problems among older people with multiple chronic conditions, that is, multimorbidity, are challenging issues. These patients' homes often serve as arenas in which district nurses can promote health. Mental health promotion must be studied in greater depth within primary care because older people with multimorbidity are particularly prone to developing poor mental health, which can go undetected and untreated.

DESIGN
A descriptive, qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and content analysis.

METHODS
Twenty-five district nurses completed individual or focus group interviews. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS
Most district nurses stated that detecting mental health problems and promoting mental health were important tasks but that they typically focused on more practical home health care tasks. The findings revealed that district nurses focused on assessment, collaboration and social support as means of detecting mental health problems and promoting mental health.

CONCLUSIONS
The district nurses described various factors and actions that appeared to be important prerequisites for their involvement in primary mental health care. Nevertheless, there were no established goals for mental health promotion, and district nurses often seemed to depend on their collaboration with other actors. Our findings indicated that district nurses cannot bear the primary responsibility for the early detection of mental health problems and early interventions to promote mental health within this population.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
The findings of this study indicated that workforce training and collaboration between different care providers are important elements in the future development of this field. Early detection and early treatment of mental health-related issues should also be stated as explicit objectives in the provision of care to community-dwelling older people with multimorbidity.


We present a parallel/GPU implementation of our open-source reactive molecular dynamics code, PG-PuReMD (Parallel GPU-Purdue Reactive Molecular Dynamics). Using a variety of innovative algorithms and optimizations, PGPuReMD achieves over 350x speedup compared to a single CPU implementation on a cluster of 36 state of the art GPUs. This is a significant development, since it enables simulations of over 0.5M atoms in under 0.5 seconds per time-step of simulation time. We report on various design choices and implementation details of PG-PuReMD in this paper. PuReMD, on which this code is based, along with its integration into LAMMPS, is currently used by over 100 research groups worldwide and is an important community resource. PG-PuReMD is currently being independently validated at a small number of institutions and is in limited release. Keywords-Reactive Molecular Dynamics; Parallel GPU Implementations; Material Simulations;


Harmonis, Saud OR. 2016. Effects of habitat degradation and fragmentation on butterfly biodiversity in West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan. Biodiversitasx 18: 500-506. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of degradation and fragmentation habitats to butterfly communities. To be specific, species diversity, taxonomy structure, main species in every study sites were observed to find out the effects and correlation of each parameters. Field study was carried out in 8 sites in Kotawaringin Barat, Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The specimens were collected using aerial insect nets and baited traps in January-February 2016. From the result of the study, the total of 1085 individual in 130 species was successfully collected. Based on distribution analysis using Shannon-Wiener index, the diversity of butterfly was in the range of middle to high categories (H' = 2.7-3.5). Of another parameter analysis, it showed that butterfly communities were affected by degradation habitat, while fragmentation habitat did not influence to the butterfly communities. Furthermore, the range of degradation level in the study sites did not correlate with the number of species and taxonomy structures, but the distribution of the special-group of main species showed in correlation. Lexias dirtea was only found in dense forests (site S-7), then Neptis hylas and Parantica agleoides appeared in shrub habitat (site S-5 and S-6). The finding indicated that green patches have valuable contribution to conserve the ecosystem as valuable germplasm for butterflies and also arthropods.


Objective. We sought to examine factors that predisposed 1.5% (10/672) of renal transplant recipients treated with a cyclosporine (CsA)/sirolimus (SRL)/steroid immunosuppressive regimen to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Methods. Two cohorts of recipients were treated for 1–212 months (mean: 25.0±26.4, median: 18.1) with concentration-control CsA regimens based upon either area under the concentration-time curve (AUC; n=412 patients) or trough measurements (C0; n=260 patients). Results. The only demographic feature more common to affected patients was an original glomerulopathic disease in 7 patients, 4 of whom had displayed IgA glomerulonephritis. All 10 affected patients showed a clinical picture of hemolysis with schistocytes, thrombocytopenia (nadir: 35,000±19,600 platelets/mm3), as well as elevated serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase (1697±1427 IU) and creatinine (Scr; 2.05±1.52 mg/dL prediagnosis to 5.13±2.43 mg/dL at diagnosis). Seven patients experienced adverse events concomitant with the bout of HUS, namely, acute rejection episodes prior to (n=2) or during (n=3), and 2 patients, infections (Herpes simplex and pancolitis). The mean values of daily steroid dose and the immunosuppressive drug C0 values were above the putative therapeutic targets: namely, CsA C0=294.9±153.2 ng/ml versus 150±50 ng/ml and SRL C0=20.1±14.0 ng/ml versus 10±5 ng/ml, respectively. The therapeutic approach included discontinuation of CsA in 9/10, which was transient in 6/9; discontinuation of SRL in all 10, which was transient in 3, OKT3 for concurrent rejection in 3, and plasmapheresis in 5 patients. At 24 weeks postdiagnosis 9/10 patients have well-functioning kidneys with a mean Scr value of 1.6±0.59 mg/dL. One patient who underwent transplant nephrectomy subsequently succumbed due to a cluster of refractory thrombocytopenia, Aspergillus infection, and multiorgan failure. Conclusion. This initial experience suggests that a time-limited and reversible de novo HUS syndrome may be less frequent and milder among renal transplant recipients treated with SRL-based immunosuppression.


This research aims to determine: (1) Calculation of Activity Based Costing System to determine polyclinic tariff at Diponegoro National Hospital (RSND) in 2017, (2) Analyze polyclinic tariff differences based on hospital counting with calculations using the 2017 Activity Based Costing System, (3) Comparison between the calculation of Activity Based Costing System and traditional calculation, (4) Proving the influence of cost determination on hospital profitability. The research method used is descriptive-analytic analysis method. Data collection methods carried out in this research were using interview methods and secondary data analysis methods. The research data was obtained from the hospital's finance department, hospital outpatient installations, hospital renovation section, hospital and hospital repair. These data include, nurse salary costs, administrative costs, electricity costs, depreciation costs, building depreciation costs, facility maintenance costs and the costs of cleaning staff salaries. Based on the results of the study indicate that: (1) The method applied by the RSND to determine the polyclinic tariff is the estimated tariff, with a tariff for each poly of Rp. 28,000. (2) The tariff of the polyclinic with Activity Based Costing method gives results that are greater than the rates set by the hospital. (3) Activity-Based Costing System compared to the unit cost method provides more accurate and clear results because each activity is charged according to the cost driver. (4) The use of tariff estimates results in distortion because resource consumption is not taken into account and affects the profitability of hospitals. The difference that occurs due to the cost of each activity. The use of tariff estimation that is taken into consideration by the hospital is the competitor tariff and social condition of the community, while in Activity-Based Costing System each activity is charged according to the cost driver so that the Activity Based Costing System is able to allocate the cost of activities to each polyclinic appropriately based on each activity consumption


Through a linear fractional transformation in the frequency domain, a set of hyperellipsoids, containing only such points in the coefficient space which correspond to stable polynomials in linear discrete-time systems, was obtained. Procedures for searching for a suitable transform parameter beta that will achieve a possibly larger coefficient perturbation range (with guaranteed stability) than that obtained by C.B. Soh et al. (1985) are presented. When beta =0, the hyperellipsoid degenerates to the largest hypersphere. The result in this work is, therefore, a generalization of the result obtained by C.B. Soh et al. >


The proteins Foxa1 and Foxa2 belong to the forkhead family of transcription factors and are involved in the development of several tissues, including liver, pancreas, lung, prostate, and the neural system. Both Foxa1 and Foxa2 are also crucial for the specification and differentiation of dopamine (DA) neurons during embryonic development, while about 30% of mice with an embryonic deletion of a single allele of the Foxa2 gene exhibit an age-related asymmetric loss of DA neurons and develop locomotor symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease (PD). Notably, both Foxa1 and Foxa2 factors continue to be expressed in the adult dopamine system. To directly assess their functions selectively in adult DA neurons, we induced genetic deletions of Foxa1/2 transcription factors in mice using a tamoxifen inducible tissue-specific CreERT2 recombinase expressed under control of the dopamine transporter (DAT) promoter (DATCreERT2). The conditional DA neurons-specific ablation of both genes, but not of Foxa2 alone, in early adulthood, caused a decline of striatal dopamine and its metabolites, along with locomotor deficits. At early pre-symptomatic stages, we observed a decline in aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1, subfamily A1 (Aldh1a1) protein expression in DA neurons. Further analyses revealed a decline of aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) and a complete loss of DAT expression in these neurons. These molecular changes ultimately led to a reduction of DA neuron numbers in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) of aged cFoxa1/2−/− mice, resembling the progressive course of PD in humans. Altogether, in this study, we address the molecular, cellular, and functional role of both Foxa1 and Foxa2 factors in the maintenance of the adult dopamine system which may help to find better approaches for PD treatment.


ABSTRACT This study investigated whether two educational strategies, providing material and active adult support during play, promote pretend play quality in a group of preschoolers. The sample consisted of 101 preschoolers (50% females; mean age at t1= 43.02 months, SD= 5.94) from 14 Swiss educational play groups. These were randomly allocated to the experimental conditions: material (n=4 groups, n=35 children), play tutoring (n=5 groups, n=32 children), and treatment as usual (control; n=5 groups, n=34 children). Children's and adults' behavior during six play sessions, each lasting 30 minutes, was videotaped. Children's play activities, social pretend play quality (SPPQ) and adults' level of active pretend play support, were assessed using standardized observation tools. Research Findings: Material and play tutoring groups showed significantly higher frequency of pretend play than the control group. Regarding SPPQ, the material group scored significantly lower than the play tutoring group, but significantly higher than the control group. Additional analyses showed that differences in SPPQ between the control and material condition can be fully explained by adults' active play support. Practice or Policy: The results suggest that providing roleplay material stimulates children to engage in social pretend play, but adults' play support increases the quality of social pretend play.


In this study, the influence of micro- and nano-filler content on the mechanical properties of epoxy composites was studied. The matrix material is epoxy; the micro-fillers are Al2O3, TiO2 and fly ash added in 10 wt% to 30 wt% by weight ratio; the nano-fillers are Al2O3, TiO2 and clay added in 2.5 wt% to 10 wt% by weight ratio. Test samples were prepared using an open mould type die. Tensile, three-point bending and hardness tests were carried out. The tensile strength, elastic modulus, elongation at break, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and the hardness of the composite materials were obtained and evaluated. The results show that the tensile strength, flexural strength and elongation at the break values of composites decreased while the tensile modulus and flexural modulus increased with the increasing micro- and nano-filler content


We propose a new proof method for direct coding theorems for wiretap channels where the eavesdropper has access to a quantum version of the transmitted signal on an infinite dimensional Hilbert space. This method yields errors that decay exponentially with increasing block lengths. Moreover, it provides a guarantee of a quantum version of semantic security, which is an established concept in classical cryptography and physical layer security. Semantic security has strong operational implications meaning essentially that the eavesdropper cannot use its quantum observation to gather any meaningful information about the transmitted signal. Therefore, it complements existing works which either do not prove the exponential error decay or use weaker notions of security. The main part of this proof method is a direct coding result on channel resolvability which states that there is only a doubly exponentially small probability that a standard random codebook does not solve the channel resolvability problem for the classical-quantum channel.


Abstract When forming opinions, mass publics may implicitly or explicitly value some people's well-being more than others. Here we examine how two forms of this phenomenon—ethnocentric valuation and moral exclusion—affect attitudes toward international trade. We hypothesize that attitudes toward competition and believing that trade is a competition moderate the extent of ethnocentric valuation and moral exclusion; although all citizens value their co-nationals' livelihoods systematically more than those of people in trading partner countries, greater ethnocentric valuation and moral exclusion occur when trade is seen as a competition and when individuals hold more positive attitudes toward competition. Using two survey experiments conducted on representative samples of both Americans and Canadians, we examine how differential valuation of in-country and out-country job gains and losses influences trade policy preferences. We test a series of hypotheses using multiple variables tied to competitive attitudes across two countries that differ in their attitudes toward competition.


This paper describes an indirect analog TCXO (Temperature-Compensated Crystal Oscillator) which has achieved a temperature compensation functioning much more accurately in view of the theoretical f-T behavior of crystal unit than those expected at present. This TCXO consists of two blocks. One is a temperature compensation circuit which fits in well with IC process, which outputs cubic functional variation of voltage with temperature (it consists of cubic and linear terms), while the other is VCXO (Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator), which has good linearity of frequency-control voltage characteristics (f-Vc characteristics). The TCXO achieved /spl plusmn/1[ppm]/-30/spl sim/85[/spl deg/C] (crystal resonator: /spl plusmn/25[ppm]/-30/spl sim/85[/spl deg/C]) in laboratory measurements. This paper discusses the device with an emphasis on its temperature compensation circuit.


The New Management Reader examines the circumstances and ideas that are currently shaping management. The book is divided into two sections. Part I looks at the ways in which change will have a lasting impact on management. Key areas covered include gender issues, ethical and green awareness, information technology and the shrinking world. Part II focuses on the emerging issues and concepts that will shape management thinking and practice in the future, looking at information management, networking and collaboration, new models of management, and high involvement organizations.


By p(|K|) denote the characteristic class of a combinatorial manifold K given by the polynomial p in Pontrjagin classes of K. We prove that for any polynomial p there exists a function taking each combinatorial manifold K to a rational simplicial cycle z(K) such that: (1) the Poincaré dual of z(K) represents the cohomology class p(|K|); (2) a coefficient of each simplex ∆ in the cycle z(K) is determined only by the combinatorial type of Lk∆. We also prove that if a function z satisfies the condition (2), then this function automatically satisfies the condition (1) for some polinomial p. We describe explicitly all such functions z for the first Pontrjagin class. We obtain estimates for denominators of coefficients of simplices in the cycles z(K).


Synapsin I is a neuronal phosphoprotein that can bundle actin filaments in vitro. This activity is under phosphorylation control, and may be related to its putative in vivo role of regulating the clustering and release of small synaptic vesicles. We have compared human and bovine synapsin I by peptide mapping, and have used NTCB (2‐nitro‐5‐thiocyano benzoic acid) cleavage to generate a series of peptide fragments from bovine synapsin I. After chymotryptic digestion, 88% of the tyrosine‐containing fragments appear to be structurally identical in human and bovine synapsin I, as judged by their positions on high‐resolution two‐dimensional peptide maps. The alignment of the NTCB peptides within the parent protein have been determined by peptide mapping, and the ability of these fragments to precipitate with actin bundles has been measured. Only peptides that are derived from regions near the ends of the protein are active. One such 25‐kDa peptide which sediments with actin also cross‐reacts with antibodies to chicken villin, an actin binding and bundling protein derived from the intestinal microvillus. Since in other respects villin appears to be an unrelated protein, these results suggest the possibility that certain actin binding proteins may show immunologic cross‐reactivity due to convergent evolution within the acting binding domain.


This article demonstrates how the strategic planning process was utilized to determine organizational priorities for the Navy Nurse Corps amidst a time of ongoing conflicts in Iraq and professional duress resulting from the national nursing shortage. The authors denote how overarching organizational goals of the US Navy and Navy medicine are woven into the priorities that were established for Navy Nursing. The emerging 6 priorities are relevant and vital to the sustainment of Navy Nursing today and in the future. They reflect the challenges associated with the development of clinical proficiency, educational policies, force structure/recruitment and retention, mid-grade and senior leadership roles, productivity measurement, and organizational communication. Similarly, these priorities mirror those that confront and warrant the attention of chief nursing officers in the civilian sector as they lead and develop their workforce.


The last decade has witnessed the emergence and popularity of event-based social networks (EBSNs), which extend online social networks to the physical world. Fundamental on EBSN platforms is to appropriately assign EBSN users to events they are interested to attend, known as event-participant arrangement. Previous event-participant arrangement studies either fail to avoid conflicts among events or ignore the social interactions among participants. In this work, we propose a new event-participant arrangement problem called Interaction-aware Global Event-Participant Arrangement (IGEPA). It globally optimizes arrangements between events and participants to avoid conflicts in events, and not only accounts for user interests, but also encourages socially active participants to join. To solve the IGEPA problem, we design an approximation algorithm which has an approximation ratio of at least 1\4. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our solution.


2D materials have attracted tremendous interest as functional materials because of their diverse and tunable properties, especially at their edges. A material's work function is a critical parameter in many electronic devices; however, a fundamental understanding and a path toward large alterations of the work function in 2D materials still remain elusive. Here, we report the first evidence for anisotropy of the work function in 2D MoS2 from first-principles calculations. We also demonstrate large work-function tunability (in the range of 3.45-6.29 eV) choosing the 2H phase of MoS2 as a model system by sampling various edge configurations. We furthermore reveal the origin of this work function anisotropy and tunability by extending the existing work function relation to the local dipole moment at surfaces of 3D materials to those at edges in 2D materials. We then use machine-learning approaches to correlate work function with edge structures. These results pave the way for intrinsic edge engineering for electronic and catalytic applications.


OBJECTIVES
Mushroom management, which has entered the management literature using the metaphor of growing mushrooms, is a management style in which managers generally keep their power and knowledge in one centre and do not like to be questioned and criticized. This study conducted to determine the effect of the mushroom management style of administrative staff working in the healthcare sector and perceived supervisor support on job performance.

METHODS
A total of 234 healthcare professionals included in the study. To achieve the purpose of the study, the 'Mushroom Management Scale', the 'Perceived Supervisor Support Scale' and the 'Job Performance Scale' were used. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to analyse.

RESULTS
When the effect of mushroom management style on job performance was examined, it was found that inadequate information sharing, the anxiety of power loss, inadequate communication and lack of participatory management did not have a significant effect on job performance alone. According to the regression analysis, perceived supervisor supports have a significant effect on a job performance. This effect explains 0.045 of the total variance. The fact that employees received tangible support from their managers increased their performance levels positively (t = 2.945; p < 0.05). Finally, employee performance had a significant effect on perceived supervisor support. This effect explains 0.513 of the total variance.

CONCLUSIONS
As a result of this study, it was found that mushroom management style had no effect on job performance, but had a significant effect on perceived supervisor support.


ABSTRACT. Since March 2018, the Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action project, implemented as a national sample registration system by the Mozambique Instituto Nacional de Saude and the Instituto Nacional de Estatistica in 700 geographic clusters randomly distributed across the 11 provinces, has trained and deployed community surveillance agents (CSAs) to report births and deaths in each cluster prospectively. An independent, retrospective data collection was conducted to assess the completeness of surveillance data. Record linkage procedures were used to match households and vital events reported in the two data sources. We calculated birth and death reporting rates and used a regression model to determine factors associated with the likelihood of vital events being reported by the CSAs. Between March 2018 and December 2019, CSAs reported 54% of births (8,787/16,421) and 45% of deaths (1,726/3,867). Births of smaller cluster sizes (< 1,000 people) were more likely to be reported (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.15–1.83) compared with those of larger cluster sizes (> 1,500 people). Deaths of rural clusters were more likely to be reported (aOR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.07–1.85) than those of urban clusters. Adult deaths were more likely to be reported (aOR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.10–2.02) than child deaths. Our findings suggest that a fully functioning sample vital registration system must adopt a dual system with high-quality surveys or other ways to estimate underregistration periodically, consider a smaller cluster size manageable by a community worker, and pay special attention to urban clusters as underreporting is larger.


H. Rahman and B. H. Khan have given a new model for simultaneous AC-DC power transmission through a transmission line. This paper model formation to evaluate the reliability of main electrical scheme. Use advanced four state component model, redefined abnormal state and maintainable state, combined maintenance state based on condition of component and schedule maintenance state to maintenance state on the basis of taking account of the condition-based maintenance and then confirmed the conversion relationship and the parameter to each state. The main electrical scheme is simplified on the basis of function and gets more simple net. For DC station, it simplified with the method of combining components and dividing subzone. Apply advanced four state component model to make certain reliability parameters of each part and get reliability parameters of main electric scheme through Markov model.


We propose a new algorithm to incorporate class conditional information into the discriminator of GANs via a multi-class generalization of the commonly used Hinge loss. Our approach is in contrast to most GAN frameworks in that we train a single classifier for K+1 classes with one loss function, instead of a real/fake discriminator, or a discriminator classifier pair. We show that learning a single good classifier and a single state of the art generator simultaneously is possible in supervised and semi-supervised settings. With our multi-hinge loss modification we were able to improve the state of the art CIFAR10 IS & FID to 9.58 & 6.40, CIFAR100 IS & FID to 14.36 & 13.32, and STL10 IS & FID to 12.16 & 17.44. The code written with PyTorch is available at this https URL.


We classify the minimum volume smooth complex hyperbolic surfaces that admit smooth toroidal compactifications, and we explicitly construct their compactifications. There are five such surfaces and they are all arithmetic, i.e., they are associated with quotients of the ball by an arithmetic lattice. Moreover, the associated lattices are all commensurable. The first compactification, originally discovered by Hirzebruch, is the blowup of an Abelian surface at one point. The others are bielliptic surfaces blown up at one point. The bielliptic examples are new, and are the first known examples of smooth toroidal compactifications birational to bielliptic surfaces.


Abstract Objective: This review aims to make a brief overview of blood biomarkers' clinical decision limits, possibly aiding in outcome prediction in all-aged Tetralogy of Fallot patients. Potentially, these biomarkers could also assist in necessity and timing of pulmonary valve replacement. Methods: Studies with all-aged patients with Tetralogy or Pentalogy of Fallot and blood biomarkers, BNP, NT-proBNP and hs-cTn, usage in clinical outcome prediction were included. Additionally, pulmonary valve replacement indications were considered. Other congenital heart diseases, biomarkers irrelevant to clinical outcome and associated pathologies or physiological status were the exclusion criteria. Keywords, Tetralogy and Pentalogy of Fallot, pulmonary valve replacement, blood biomarkers, yielded 69 suitable studies from Google Scholar, PubMed and Web-of-Science. 30 studies were selected. Results: Blood biomarkers were increased in TOF patients in comparison to controls; the higher the values, the worse adverse outcomes. Blood biomarkers combined with other biomarkers, imagistic methods or parameters showed promising results in outcome prediction. Conclusions: Blood biomarkers are validated as follow-up predictors in congenital heart disease paediatric patients. Further research is required to establish age-appropriate clinical decision limits. Pulmonary valve replacement timing remains controversial.


Using a mixed-methods intervention approach this study examined the impact and process of a professional development and whether it induces changes in attitudes and practices related to autism among preschool professionals. We assessed professionals' understanding of autism and their inclusion skills using questionnaires, audio-recorded seminars, and interviews pre- and post-intervention. Professionals, autistic children, and their parents participated. The results indicate that professional development improved attitudes and inclusive practices related to autism as experienced by professionals and parents but not as evident by autistic children. We conclude that professional development is likely to improve preschool staff's autism knowledge and skills that may be beneficial to create inclusive education and enhance equity and learning outcomes for autistic children. We discuss organizational prerequisites as decisive for the implementation of professional development.


Thermal stability of core-shell structured nanoparticles is of vital importance to their practical applications at elevated temperature. Understanding the evolution of chemical distribution and the crystal structure of core-shell nanostructures with temperature variation at the nanoscale will open the route for practical applications and property enhancement of nanoparticles through proper design of new nanomaterials. In this study, core-shell non-stoichiometric Cu5FeS4 icosahedral nanoparticles were investigated by in situ heating transmission electron microscopy. Compared to the high structural and compositional stability at room temperature, the interdiffusion of Cu and Fe atoms became significant, ending up with disappearance of chemical difference in the core and shell over 300 °C. In contrast, different crystal structures of the core and shell were preserved even after heating at 350 °C, indicating the high structural stability. The inconsistency between chemical composition and crystal structure should be ascribed to the interaction between the intrinsic strain existing in the icosahedrons and various structures of this material system. In other words, the geometrically intrinsic strain of the nano-icosahedrons is helpful to modulate/maintain the core-shell structure. These findings open new opportunities for revealing the thermal stability of core-shell nanostructures for various applications and are helpful for the controllable design of new core-shell nanostructures.


Purpose: We did not encounter a study dealing with the knowledge of fever and attitudes of caregivers having children with a diagnosis of malignant disease toward fever in English literature. Materials and Methods: Caregivers of 124 pediatric oncology patients and 72 patients without any malignant disease were recruited and interviewed using a 26-item questionnaire about fever and its management in two hospital clinics in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Results: Seventy point one percent of the mothers in oncology group were illiterate and in 75% of the cases, caregiver was the mother of the patient. Most of the caregivers in control group (72.2%) knew at least one harmful effect of high fever (p=0.001). The primary method of measurement however was palpation in both groups. 41.9% of the caregivers in oncology group knew the correct measurement of fever, but only 2.7% in control group (p=0.001). Resources of fever konowledge was mainly doctors and nurses in oncology group (p=0.001). Conclusion: Pediatric health care providers must have more initiative and exploit oppportunities on parental understanding of fever and its management. Educational interventions are needed to correct caregivers" misconceptions about fever and to promote appropriate management of febrile pediatric oncology patients.


Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, endoscopic surgical procedures, and therapeutic effect of blunt laryngeal trauma with arytenoid injury. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 12 patients who suffered blunt laryngeal trauma with laryngeal mucosa avulsion and arytenoid region injury at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital from April 2007 to December 2018. Among the 12 patients, 10 were males, 2 were females, aged from 7 to 48 years old, with a median age of 21 years old. All patients were performed with transoral endoscopic laryngeal microsurgery under general anesthesia. Clinical characteristics, laryngoscopic signs, laryngeal CT, endoscopic surgical findings and procedures, and therapeutic effect were analyzed. The subjective and objective parameters of the voice quality of patients before and after surgery were compared using SPSS 22.0 statistical software by paired T test. Results: All patients had a history of obvious dysphonia immediately after trauma, accompanied by throat pain and hemoptysis without obvious dyspnea and dysphagia. Slight subcutaneous emphysema was found in 3 patients by physical examination. Laryngoscope revealed that 14 sides of vocal folds immobilized, arytenoid and/or ventricular region and posterior glottis mucosa were avulsed in 4 patients within 48 h of injury, and arytenoid cartilage was exposed in 4 sides. The arytenoid and ventricular regions were covered with thick pseudo-membrane or granulation, with abnormal structure in 8 patients with damage of more than 48 h. Intraoperative exploration revealed that there were 17 sides of arytenoid region (bilateral 5 cases, unilateral 7 cases) with varying degrees of injury. There was only limited laceration on three sides of the vocal folds. The lateral ventricular and vocal fold mucosae were avulsed vertically from the arytenoid region and arytenoid cartilage was exposed in 14 sides, among which 6 sides had abnormal arytenoid cartilage morphology and 8 sides had fracture displacement. Laryngeal CT showed irregular thickening of lateral glottis and/or supratroglottic structures in patients with vocal folds immobility, among which asymmetry of arytenoid cartilage structure on both sides in 3 cases and displacement in 2 cases were found. Restoration and microsuture of the fractured arytenoid, perichondrium and avulsion laryngeal mucosa under the direct laryngoscope were performed. The degree of dysphonia was significantly improved immediately after laryngeal microsurgery, the voice significantly improved in G, R, B, A, jitter, shimmer, NHR, and MPT three months after surgery(t=12.792, 12.792, 10.340, 3.276, 2.865, 3.781, 3.173, 3.090, respectively, P<0.05). Except for 1 patient with scar on vocal fold, all the other patients had normal laryngeal morphology and normal vocal fold movement. No laryngeal stenosis was found during the follow-up period. Conclusions: For patients with blunt laryngeal trauma, the injury of arytenoid region and arytenoid cartilage should be evaluated if there is obvious hoarseness, vocal fold immobility, avulsion of ventricular/vocal folds mucosa, or structural abnormality of arytenoid region under laryngoscopic examination. For highly suspected cases, microrphonosurgery under the direct laryngoscope should be performed as soon as possible, which can effectively reduce the occurrence of vocal fold movement disorders and laryngeal scar/stenosis, reconstruct the normal laryngeal structure, and restore the vocal function.


Most machine learning applications using neural networks seek to approximate some function g(x) by minimizing some cost criterion. In the simplest case, if one has access to pairs of the form (x, y) where y = g(x), the problem can be framed as a regression problem. Beyond this family of problems, we find many cases where the unavailability of data pairs makes this approach unfeasible. However, similar to what we find in the reinforcement learning literature, if we have some known properties of the function we are seeking to approximate, there is still hope to frame the problem as a regression problem. In this context, we present an algorithm that approximates the solution to a partial differential equation known as the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs PDE and compare it to current state of the art tools. This PDE, which is found in the fields of control theory and robotics, is of particular importance in safety critical systems where guarantees of performance are a must.


To fight against the high cost and the increasing scarcity of cement and at the same time to reduce the CO2 greenhouse gases emission associated with the production of Portland cement, two types of wood ashes as a substitute of cement in the production of concretes were investigated. In this paper, we substituted cement by two types of species of wood ashes namely, avocado and eucalyptus ashes following the proportions ranging from 0% to 30% on one hand, and on the other hand, we added these two types of species of wood ashes namely, avocado and eucalyptus ashes following the proportions ranging from 0% to 10% by weight of cement in the concrete samples. After 7, 14 and 28 days of curing, compressive strength tests were conducted on these concrete samples. The findings revealed that using wood ashes as additives/admixtures or as a substitute of cement in the production/manufacturing of concrete decreased the compressive strength of concrete. Hence, it can be said that wood ash has a negative influence on the strength of concrete. At three percent (3%) and ten percent (10%) of addition, the wood ash from eucalyptus specie offers better resistance compared to the wood ash from avocado specie, whereas at five percent (5%) of addition, the wood ash from avocado specie offers better resistance compared to the wood ash from eucalyptus specie. At thirty percent (30%) of substitution, the wood ash from eucalyptus specie offers better resistance compared to the wood ash from avocado specie. The compressive strengths increase with the increase of curing age.


GPRS and EDGE are narrowband wireless data services that are deployed by GSM operators to provide higher data rate. This paper provides a set of measurements that are used to evaluate, from user perspective, GPRS and EDGE services in the State of Kuwait. The Measurements are taken in the Alsalam suburb which has no PSTN network. Measurements show that the GPRS performance is worst than the analog 56 kbpd modem while the EDGE, even with two mobile stations connected, outperforms the 56 kbps modem connection. The measurements are based on measuring the Quality of Service (QoS) experienced by one or two mobile users running applications such as FTP and WWW on laptops connected to GPRS or EDGE networks.


The phase separation between a liquid amine and the solid carbamic acid exhibited >99% CO2 removal efficiency under a large-scale gas stream of 400 ppm CO2. Isophorone diamine [IPDA; 3-(aminomethyl)-3,5,5-trimethylcyclohexylamine] reacted with CO2 in the CO2/IPDA molar ratio of ≥ 1 even in H2O as a solvent. The captured CO2 was completely desorbed at 333 K because the disolved carbamate ion releases CO2 at low temperature. The reusability of IPDA under CO2 adsorption-and-desorption cycles without degradation, the >95% efficinecy kept for 100 hours under direct air capture condition, and high CO2 capture rate (214 mmol/h for 1 mol amine) suggest that the phase separation system using IPDA is robust and durable for practical use.


We have studied the relationship between perturbations of fibroblast turnover in inflamed gingiva of different severities. To perform detailed spatial analyses of gingival fibroblast progenitor cells, inflammatory cell infiltrates and blood vessels, 3 Cynomolgus monkeys with healthy periodontium and 2 with naturally occurring gingivitis and ligature-induced periodontitis were pulse-labeled with 3H-thymidine. Morphometric analyses of radioautographs from mid-sagittal supra-alveolar gingival connective tissues of incisors were performed in sites subjacent to junctional sulcular and oral epithelium, in the body of the lamina propria and just superior to the alveolar crest. The percentage of fibroblasts incorporating 3H-thymidine label, expressed as the labeling index (LI), was higher subjacent to the sulcular epithelium in periodontitis (1.73 +/- 0.37) than in healthy sites (1.06 +/- 0.22). This was not statistically significant (0.05 < p < 0.1) due to the small number of animals used. The sites subjacent to the sulcular epithelium also exhibited the largest increase in lymphocyte density from health to gingivitis (p < 0.01). In contrast, the LI of fibroblasts subjacent to the oral epithelium was 5-fold higher in healthy (0.82 +/- 0.17) compared to periodontitis sites (0.13 +/- 0.09; p < 0.05). Labeled fibroblasts were found close to blood vessels in all compartments and in all disease states; distance to blood vessels was reduced in inflamed sites (p < 0.10). There were increased numbers of blood vessels per unit area in the lamina propria of gingivitis compared to healthy sites. However, there were no regional differences with respect to blood vessel numbers or area in sites subjacent to junctional epithelium with different disease states. The results indicate that: 1) experimentally-induced inflammation in the gingiva of Cynomolgus monkeys is associated with site-specific perturbations of cell turnover; 2) fibroblast progenitors are preferentially situated adjacent to blood vessels as in the periodontal ligament; 3) the vascular response to inflammation is a generalized increase in blood vessel numbers, but not their size; 4) reactive proliferation of fibroblasts may compensate for cell death in the lamina propria but is not detectable at the site of connective tissue attachment loss subjacent to the junctional epithelium. Failure to maintain the fibroblast progenitor population may be an important component of attachment loss in progressive periodontitis lesions.


We present a unified analytical framework within which power control and routing for wireless networks can be optimized on a node-by-node basis. We consider a multicommodity flow model for an interference-limited wireless network in which power control and routing variables are chosen to minimize convex link costs. Distributed scaled gradient projection algorithms are developed to iteratively adjust power control and routing schemes at individual nodes. We specify appropriate scaling matrices with which the algorithms quickly converge to the global optimum from any initial point. These scaling matrices can be computed locally at each node with limited control message overhead


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Exploration of TCGA generated DNA copy number data in ovarian cancer points to interesting proapaptotic gene for survival prediction

Using data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, we investigated the use of copy number changes in prediction of both response to therapy as well as identification of possible prognostic survival bio-markers. The analysis was performed using an initial data set of 557 arrays (68 Affymetrix 6.0 and 489 Agilent 244K arrays). The raw data was processed using Nexus Copy Number version 5.1 software (BioDiscovery, El Segundo CA) and regions of copy number change were identified using the built-in FASST and SNP-FASST algorithms. As previously reported, using only the Agilent data set, we had identified a number of regions with statistically significant differences across between sample groups that responded to therapy as compared to those with progressive disease1. Performing gene enrichment analysis on these regions indicated a relationship with apoptosis. In our current study, we have also considered survival and have identified FAM105A located on the short arm of chromosome 5 as a possible component of Ovarian Cancer. A number of studies have identified the small 728Kb region between TRIO and ANKH gained in various cancers and hypothesized that these genes are possible oncognes2–3. Using Kaplan-Mier survival analysis, we have in fact been able to show that the FAM105A gene located between TRIO and ANKH is highly predictive of survival (p=0.00024) with the deletion causing a much poorer prognosis. This result was validated using the Affymetrix data on a different set of samples. Very little is known about this gene except the fact that using functional screening, it has demonstrated strong proapaptotic behavior which is in concordance with our findings here4. We are in the process of expanding the validation data set to several hundred samples.

2 Judith N Kloth, Jan Oosting, Tom van Wezel, Karoly Szuhai, Jeroen Knijnenburg, Arko Gorter, Gemma G Kenter, Gert Jan Fleuren, and Ekaterina S Jordanova, Combined array-comparative genomic hybridization and single-nucleotide polymorphism-loss of heterozygosity analysis reveals complex genetic alterations in cervical cancer, BMC Genomics. 2007; 8: 53. Published online 2007 February 20. doi: 10.1186/1471–2164–8-53.

3 Coe BP, Henderson LJ, Garnis C, Tsao MS, Gazdar AF, Minna J, Lam S, Macaulay C, Lam WL., High-resolution chromosome arm 5p array CGH analysis of small cell lung carcinoma cell lines, Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2005 Mar;42(3):308–13.

4 Otto Mannherz, Daniel Mertens, Meinhard Hahn, Peter Lichter, Functional screening for proapoptotic genes by reverse transfection cell array technology, Genomics, Volume 87, Issue 5, May 2006, Pages 665–672, ISSN 0888–7543, DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2005.12.009.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-270. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-270


The present study aimed to explore the renoprotective effect of metformin on diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetic rats. A rat model of type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) was successfully induced via a high-fat diet combined with a single low-dose of streptozotocin. Metformin was administered intragastrically for 13 weeks, and fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), HDL-c, LDL-c, urinary and serum creatinine levels were subsequently examined at the end of administration. Renal function was determined after the treatment protocol. Expression levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were assessed via immunohistochemical analysis. Superoxide dismutase activity, malondialdehyde content and glutathione peroxidase levels were assessed in kidney tissues using commercially available kits. The results of the present study demonstrated that metformin administration significantly decreased the levels of serum blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, urinary albumin excretion and fasting blood glucose in rats with T2DN. Furthermore, TG, TC and LDL-c levels were significantly decreased following metformin treatment, whereas HDL-c was increased. Metformin treatment significantly increased SOD activity and significantly decreased malondialdehyde levels, as compared with the model group. It was also demonstrated that metformin administration significantly decreased the expression levels of TGF-β1 and attenuated the morphological changes associated with T2DN in rats. These data clearly demonstrated the renoprotective effects of metformin against the development and progression of T2DN in rats. The underlying mechanism of this protective effect may be associated with glycemic control, lipid metabolism, and anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory functions.


The main results of the research, which consist in determining the essence and features of the infrastructure provision of the agrarian market in the globalized environment, are formed. The priority of approaches in the development of logistics activities in the context of guaranteeing food security of regions and countries of the world is determined. The essence of the logistic process, strengthening the influence of the global market on the quality of agrarian products, is determined. The influence of the infrastructure provision of the agrarian market on the competitive positions of commodity producers is generalized, advantages and disadvantages in development are determined. The essence of informational logistics, its influence on the development of infrastructure provision of agricultural products market, satisfaction of consumers' needs is investigated. The urgency of the introduction of e-commerce, which allows commodity producers to combine marketing activities with optimization of advertising costs, to ensure the efficiency and convenience of carrying out operations for the sale of agricultural products, its transportation, manage all logistics processes. It is proved that improvement of the infrastructure provision of the agrarian market of the world countries that adapts to the global market should be based on the dissemination of information opportunities, and the interaction of all participants in the process of selling agricultural products on an e-commerce basis, i.e. on cooperation of the network of producers, banking institutions, Internet providers, supermarket chains, processing enterprises, including export-oriented agricultural products, as well as regional representatives of state authorities. The combination of actions and systematical implementation of the logistical approach will reduce the level of information, production, business risks, as well as significantly increase the export opportunities of producers of agrarian products, especially in the context of the urgency of the issue of ensuring food security of the world, its regions and countries. It is stipulated that in the global market the solution of a problem should have a wide range of actions that should be directed at the ordering of economic, social and environmental interests of the world society. It is proved that improvement of the infrastructure provision of the agrarian market should be a matter of food safety and availability, considering the need to level out obvious and hidden hunger, and not only the spread of innovative technologies of production and the receipt of super-profits.


Properties of single pulses of millisecond pulsar PSR J0437−4715 have been investigated. We examined and found no evidences for nulling, giant pulses, or giant micropulses. The gated pulse profiles show a relative variation among the flux densities of main peak and other components. The investigation of stability of pulses suggests the pulse profile is easy to be stable. Single pulse studies have long been concerned as a key to understanding the structure of pulsar emission region. Most of previous works has been done with regards to normal pulsars, and few millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are bright enough for such investigations. PSR J0437−4715 is one of the brightest MSP with a low dispersion measure of 2.6469 cm−3 pc, thus it is an ideal source for single pulse investigations. Our data were obtained at 1517 MHz using Parkes 64 m telescope with a sampling time of 0.08 ms and total bandwidth of 256 MHz. 1 Nulling and Giant Pulses Pulse nulling takes place when the pulse power drops dramatically for some periods, while giant pulses are very luminous pulses occational occuring at some pulse periods. Normalized flux density distribution is plotted in Fig.1. According to Ritchings (1976), an increasing fraction of noise probability distribution centred on zero energy has to be subtracted from the observed probability distribution until some portion of the ′residual′ distribution either became negative or no longer remained smooth. This particular value of the fraction is adopted as an upper limit of probability for pulse nulling. We got the upper limit of 0.61%. In addition, there is apparently not many luminous pulses in Fig.1.


The fast and computationally inexpensive Modified Transfer Matrix Method (MTM) is employed to simulate the optical response of kesterite Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells. This method can partially take into account the scattering effects due to roughness at the interfaces between the layers of the stack. We analyzed the optical behavior of the whole cell structure by varying the thickness of the TCO layer (iZnO + ITO) between 50 and 1200 nm and the buffer CdS layer between 0 and 100 nm. We propose optimal combinations of the TCO/CdS thicknesses that can locally maximize the device photocurrent. We provide experimental data that qualitatively confirm our theoretical predictions.


To the Editor: We wish to report a death from an inadvertent overdose of chloroquine, taken as prophylaxis for malaria. A previously healthy 20-year-old woman, who had experienced flu-like symptoms for several days, was found at home at midnight, vomiting. She complained of tightness in the throat, numbness and diplopia. She had returned from Bali the previous week and had been taking chloroquine and pyrimethamine/dapsone for malaria prophylaxis. She was taken to hospital by her family but collapsed as she walked into the emergency department. There was no demonstrable cardiac output and the electrocardiogram showed ventricular tachycardia. She was resuscitated and sinus rhythm was restored after 40 minutes, although her systolic blood pressure was 80 mmHg. Further arrhythmias ensued, followed by a return to sinus rhythm with right bundle branch block. A diagnosis of acute viral myocarditis was made on the basis of recent flulike symptoms. Two and a half hours after presentation she was admitted to the Regional Intensive Care Unit with a heart rate of 109 beats per minute and blood pressure of 130/60 mmHg. Her serum potassium level was 1.6 mmol/L, her glucose level was 15.9 mmol/L and thick and thin blood films revealed no malarial parasites. The clinical presentation and access to antimalarial drugs suggested the likelihood of a chloroquine overdose. Blood taken on admission, in fact, had a chloroquine concentration of 11.5mglL, indicative of a large overdose.' Mechanical ventilation was continued and activated charcoal was administered to prevent further chloroquine absorption.s Diazepam was administered intravenously in an attempt to reduce chloroquine toxlclty.' Potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate were also infused. Twelve hours after admission, the woman's systolic blood pressure was 70 mmHg and her central venous pressure was 25 mmHg. An echocardiogram showed global hypokinesia. Over the next 12 hours, the patient had multiple generalised seizures (despite 1 g of phenytoin administered intravenously and an infusion of clonazepam, 2 mglh) , and multiple episodes of ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, despite correction of the electrolyte abnormalities, overdrive pacing and lignocaine administered intravenously. She died of intractable hypotension, refractory to adrenaline, followed by asystole, 26 hours after admission. Autopsy revealed a dilated heart with occasional small loci of inflammatory cells and early centrilobular hepatic necrosis. Apart from chloroquine, no other drugs were detected on toxicological examination. According to the patient's family, a box of 100 x 200mg chloroquine tablets had been prescribed for the 10-day trip to Bali. The patient had initially taken two tablets weekly. However, on return from Bali, she reread the instructions on the bottle and increased the dose to two tablets daily. After a few days, she developed flu-like symptoms and stopped all medication. On the day of admission she had taken about 45 tablets as a single dose to make up the number she thought she ought to have taken. The patient demonstrated the classical features of chloroquine polsoning.t The drug is absorbed rapidly and distributes widely to the tissues. Toxicity is manifested in the cardiovascular, nervous and gastrointestinal symptoms. Four important lessons can be learned from this accidental overdose: 1. It is essential that the dosing regimen of any drug is explained clearly to the patient; 2. The dosing instructions must be written unambiguously; 3. Chloroquine is extremely toxic when taken in overdose; 4. The number of tablets prescribed for such a potentially toxic drug should be appropriate for the anticipated course of treatment. In this case, 100 chloroquine tablets (the maximum quantity allowed by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) were prescribed for a course of malaria prophylaxis requiring less than 20. Had she been prescribed only 20 tablets she may not have misinterpreted the dose and could not have taken the large overdose.


Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) shows durable long-term weight loss and control of comorbidities in randomized controlled trials. However, the impact of the proportions of the biliopancreatic limb (BPL) and the total alimentary limb (TALL) on weight loss or glucose metabolism is still unclear.

 Six weeks old C57BL/6J mice were fed high fat diet (HFD) to induce obesity and glucose intolerance. Mice underwent RYGB surgery with a very-long BPL (35% of total bowel length [TBL]), long BPL (25% of TBL), short BPL (15 % of TBL), or sham surgery. The alimentary limb (AL) was adjusted in dependency on the BPL to achieve a fixed CC length. Glycemia was assessment by intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests.

 Mice undergoing RYGB with a very-long BPL showed excessive weight loss and mortality and were therefore excluded for further analyses. Total weight loss (TWL%) was significantly higher in the long BPL- compared to short BPL-group. Mice with a long BPL showed significantly improved glucose tolerance 14 days postoperatively, while 35 days postoperatively, the improvement in glucose tolerance with a long BPL was much less distinctive.

 RYGB with a longer BPL leads to improved results including weight loss and glucose tolerance. However, the metabolic improvements seem to decrease over time. These findings could potentially be translated to humans by adjusting the BPL according to body weight and comorbidities. To avoid possible negative effects of a longer BPL total bowel length measurement is mandatory.


Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have transformed genomic research and have the potential to revolutionize clinical medicine. However, the background error rates of sequencing instruments and limitations in targeted read coverage have precluded the detection of rare DNA sequence variants by NGS. Here we describe a method, termed CypherSeq, which combines double-stranded barcoding error correction and rolling circle amplification (RCA)-based target enrichment to vastly improve NGS-based rare variant detection. The CypherSeq methodology involves the ligation of sample DNA into circular vectors, which contain double-stranded barcodes for computational error correction and adapters for library preparation and sequencing. CypherSeq is capable of detecting rare mutations genome-wide as well as those within specific target genes via RCA-based enrichment. We demonstrate that CypherSeq is capable of correcting errors incurred during library preparation and sequencing to reproducibly detect mutations down to a frequency of 2.4 × 10−7 per base pair, and report the frequency and spectra of spontaneous and ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutations across the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome.


While forest degradation rates and extent exceed deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, less attention is given to the factors controlling its spatial distribution. No quantified correlation exists between changes of forest structure due to anthropogenic disturbances and dynamics of land use and cover change occurring at broader spatial levels. This study examines the influence of multi-scale landscape structure factors (i.e. spatial composition, configuration and dynamic of land use/cover) on primary forest's aboveground biomass (AGB), spanning from low to highly degraded, in Paragominas municipality (Pará state). We used random forest models to identify the most important landscape predictors of degradation and clustering methods to analyze their distribution and interactions. We found that 58% of the variance of AGB could be explained by metrics reflecting land use practices and agricultural dynamics around primary forest patches and that their spatial patterns were not randomly distributed. Forest degradation is mainly driven by fragmentation effects resulting from old deforestation and colonization events linked with cropland expansion (e.g. soybean and maize) coupled with high accessibility to market. To a lesser extent, degradation is driven by recent and ongoing (1985–2015) deforestation and fragmentation in slash-and-burn agricultural areas, characterized by heterogeneous mosaics of pastures and fallow lands combined with high use of fire. Our findings highlight the potential of landscape-level framework and remotely sensed land cover data for a thorough understanding of the distribution of forest degradation across human-modified landscapes. Addressing these spatial determinants by looking at agricultural dynamics beyond forest cover is necessary to improve forest management which has major implications for biodiversity, carbon and other ecosystem services.


The treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors has improved clinical outcome for a proportion of patients. The current challenge is to find biomarkers that will identify patients likely to benefit from this therapy. In this study we assessed the difference of T cell subsets and PD-1 expression levels on T cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLN), non-TDLN (NTDLN) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). To evaluate this, flow cytometric analyses were performed on endobronchial ultrasound-guided (EBUS) fine-needle aspirates (FNA) from TDLN and NTDLN of patients with NSCLC and compared to PBMC. Our data show that the frequency of PD-1+ CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as the PD-1 expression level on activated regulatory T (aTreg) and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, are higher in TDLNs as compared to NTDLNs or PBMC. These elevated PD-1 expression levels in TDLN may reflect tumor-specific T cell priming and may serve as a predictive or early response biomarker during PD-1 checkpoint blockade. Citation Format: Rieneke Van De Ven, Anna-Larissa N. Niemeijer, Anita G. Stam, Sayed M. Hashemi, Christian G. Slockers, Johannes M. Daniels, Erik Thunnissen, Egbert F. Smit, Tanja D. de Gruijl, Adrianus J. de Langen. High PD-1 expression on regulatory and effector T cells in lung cancer draining lymph nodes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4584. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4584


This study assesses long‐term rainfall records in the KwaZulu‐Natal Drakensberg, South Africa's most valuable source of surface runoff. Records from 11 stations covering the Drakensberg region in South Africa indicate that no statistically significant trend in interannual variability existed during the last half of the twentieth century. Annual rainfall in the Drakensberg is highly seasonal, and analysis of monthly rainfall indicates an increase in the variability of the distribution of monthly rainfall and the strengthening of rainfall seasonality in the Drakensberg through a significant decrease in autumn rainfall. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences summer rainfall variability of the KwaZulu‐Natal Drakensberg, and a strong correlation also exists between summer rainfall and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) for preceding periods. This correlation between summer rainfall and ENSO events suggests that changes in the frequency and intensity of the ENSO should affect the rainfall in the Drakensberg. The lagged correlation between summer rainfall in the Drakensberg and the SOI could be used as an indicator for seasonal forecasting. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society


Total Quality Management (TQM) has been a most important manufacturing practice in the aspect of business. The implementation of TQM will increase the level of performance for the Small-sized and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to review the literature for implementation of TQM in SMEs. The study reviewed the research papers from the period of 1994 to 2018 for implementation of TQM in SMEs. The review of literature showed that there are many studies conducted for TQM in technology-intensive SMEs like automobile, electronics and other engineering when compared to labour-intensive SMEs including leather, garment and textile for implementation of TQM.


Pension system adaption during the "age of austerity" since 1980 is expected to vary between industrialized countries broadly in line with their membership of conservative, liberal, or social democratic worlds of welfare. Empirical testing on the liberal world focuses on the later period and differs in its conclusions. This paper is based on a systematic study of the scale, nature, and trajectory of change in six liberal pension systems between 1980 and 2017 using expenditure, economic, demographic, and social rights data. These data are analysed using a framework developed through critical engagement with Pierson's three welfare state change criteria and the welfare state "dependent variable problem." The paper finds a significant retrenchment of public pension provision in most liberal welfare states after 1980 but largely during the first half of the period. This has been partly reversed in most countries since the mid-1990s, though the scale of this reversal varies between countries. The recent rise of the state in liberal systems has been noted by some commentators, but to be properly understood, the paper argues, it must be considered in the context of the significant retrenchment, which preceded it. There is a scope especially for research on the broader social context of recent reforms, particularly how middle-income groups were affected by retrenchment and how recent reforms have mitigated this.


B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is one of the most common pediatric cancers, wherein regulatory T cells (Treg) and exhausted CD8+ T cells may be important in its development and maintenance. In this bioinformatics study, we evaluated the expression of 20 Treg/CD8 exhaustion markers and their possible roles in patients with B-ALL. The mRNA expression values of peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples from 25 patients with B-ALL and 93 healthy subjects (HSs) were downloaded from publicly available datasets. Treg/CD8 exhaustion marker expression was normalized with that of the T cell signature and correlated with the expression of Ki-67, regulatory transcription factors (FoxP3, Helios), cytokines (IL-10, TGF-β), CD8+ markers (CD8α chain, CD8β chain), and CD8+ activation markers (Granzyme B, Granulysin). The mean expression level of 19 Treg/CD8 exhaustion markers was higher in the patients than in the HSs. In patients, the expression of five markers (CD39, CTLA-4, TNFR2, TIGIT, and TIM-3) correlated positively with Ki-67, FoxP3, and IL-10 expression. Moreover, the expression of some of them correlated positively with Helios or TGF-β. Our results suggested that Treg/CD8+ T cells expressing CD39, CTLA-4, TNFR2, TIGIT, and TIM-3 favor B-ALL progression, and targeted immunotherapy against these markers could be a promising approach for treating B-ALL.


The aims of this research are to describe the character', of the figures on
Madre and Menunggu Layang-layang story; to describe the figure internal conflicts
of Madre and Menunggu Layang-layang story by psychoanalysis theory of Sigmund
Freud; to describe the perception of readers to Madre and Menunggu Layang story.
The method of this research which is used is the descriptive-qualitative method by
literary psychology approach. The sample of this research taken by purposive
sampling technique and the data taken from content analysis and interview.
Interactive analysis is used to analysis on this research. As result of this reseach
are: first, Tansen as a good boy and hard worker, Pak Hadi as a man who has
strong principle, Mei as a hardworker although she has a mistake when she was a
child, Bu Cory and Bu Sum as subordinate have a big loyality to their leader,
Christian as a hardworker who has a regimentation, Starla as a hardworker, but she
has a bad personality, and Rako as a man who afiaid with the commitment." Second,
the historical of Tansen 's family is not clear and suddenly he gets the legacy fi'om
anonymous person; Pak Hadi afraid of lost his life identity,' Mei has a mistake when
she was a child and until now she feels it,' Christian afraid of alteration and
indeterminancy; Starla afraid of commitment; Rako 's desirability to have a
relationship with Starla isn 't attained.
Keywords: literature, story, conflict, fiqure


Objectives: To evaluate the changes over time in survival of COPD patients on long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in Denmark.

Setting: The Danish Oxygen Register, covering >99% of all Danish patients on LTOT.

Subjects: 14.967 COPD patients who started LTOT in the study period from 01.01.2001 to 31.12.2010.

Results: During the study period, the incidence of LTOT increased from 30.5 to 32.2 per 100,000. Mean age at start on LTOT was 74.0 (SD: 9.4), and 60.1% were females. Most of the patients (85.3%) started LTOT in connection with discharge after hospitalisation for an exacerbation. During the study, this proportion of patients increased from 76.5% to 91.7%.

The median survival was 1.5 years – better for females than males (1.69 versus 1.26 years; p<0.001) and better for patients who started LTOT from the outpatient clinic compared to patients who started LTOT after a hospitalisation (hazard ratio (95% CI): 0.85 (0.80-0.90). During the study period, the survival for all patients didn't change (p=0.4), but the difference in survival between women and men increased significantly. The hazard ratios (95% CI) for men compared to women starting in 2001 was 1.16 (1.03-1.30) in 2001 versus 1.41 (1.22-1.63) in 2010; increasing 1.022 (1.007-1.037) per year, adjusted for start of LTOT after hospitalisation.

Conclusions: The difference in survival between women and men increased significantly from 2001 to 2010.


Globalization of trade and easy movement of money and people across borders, along with the growth of e-commerce, have created an environment where international tax avoidance ("ICTA") and aggressive tax planning are becoming increasingly important. Over half of world trade passes through tax havens, and over 60% of international trade occurs within MNEs, making ICTA a significant source of revenue loss for governments. ICTA results from misuse of domestic and international laws to separate the earning of revenue from the liability to taxation. By abusing inconsistencies between domestic and international tax rules, MNEs are able to earn large revenues in a country without being liable to full taxation on those revenues. This is achieved by shifting income out of, and expenses into, a country. This artificial movement of money across borders can result in cases where income is earned and not taxed at all in any country.
One common method of shifting income from one jurisdiction to another is through the use of incorporeal properties such as the domestic-statutorily created and protected intellectual property rights such as patents, the mixed statutory-common-law protected intellectual property rights such as copyrights and trademarks, and contractually created and protected intellectual property rights such as trade-secret. This paper attempts to draw a meaningful distinction, at least for international taxation purposes, as between these three categories of incorporeal properties by reference to current Canadian non-resident tax treatment of Taxable Canadian Property.


In this paper, a near-zero-index metamaterial is proposed by the composite I-shaped unit cell and the refraction index of this metamaterial is close to zero from 6.12GHz to 6.19 GHz. To study the characteristics and application of this near-zero-index metamaterial, especially the ability of focusing energy, a microstrip antenna is designed. According to the formulations for designing microstrip patch antenna, the conventional microstrip antenna, which resonance at 6.19GHz, is designed and optimized. This metamaterial is placed right above the conventional microstrip antenna and this system is tested by the finite element method (FEM). Simulation results show that the maximum radiation gain in H-plane of the microstrip antenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is 9.24dB, while the maximum radiation gain in H-plane of the conventional microstrip antenna is 2.63dB, improving about 6.61dB than conventional microstrip antenna; the maximum radiation gain in E-plane of the microstrip antenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is 9.24dB, while the maximum radiation gain in E-plane of the conventional microstrip antenna is 5.12dB, improving about 4.12dB than conventional microstrip antenna. Simulation results also show that the directivity of the microstrip antenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is much higher, compared with the conventional microstrip antenna. Radiation gain at other frequencies, from 6.12GHz to 6.19GHz, is also obtained, the value is much higher than the conventional microstrip antenna at the corresponding frequency. The results indicate that near-zero-index metamaterials can improve the radiation gain and the directivity of the conventional microstrip antenna.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world. It is particularly prevalent in developing countries in Asia and Africa. In the US alone, it is estimated that 26,190 adults will be diagnosed with primary liver cancer this year, and 19,590 people will die of the disease. Hepatocellular carcinoma has no efficient cure, has a 5-year survival rate of 14% and is highly metastatic. In the last couple of decades, it has been established that many types of cancer involve major changes in the DNA methylation machinery and in turn, widespread yet highly specific changes in cytosine methylation. DNA methylation is a chemical modification on the DNA associated with gene inactivation, and in contrast to genetic mutation, is dynamic and reversible, making it a preferable target for therapeutics. Methylated-DNA Binding Proteins (MBD) have been shown to play a critical role in the progression and metastasis of cancers in general and specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma. We have identified two isoforms of the MBD2 protein (hcMBD2) that have not been previously reported in any somatic cells: these isoforms are totally silenced in normal liver cells and active in hepatocellular carcinoma. Specific inhibition of these isoforms of MBD2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HePG2 cell line) has a dramatic effect on cell growth and cellular transformation, but no effect in normal cells, where the isoforms are not expressed. Knockdown experiments show dramatic reduction in cell invasiveness, reduced cell growth rate and increased cell death in HepG2 cells, while primary liver hepatocytes remain largely unaffected. A survey of several types of cancers and their surrounding tissue of origin shows the expression of hcMBD2 in several other types of cancer, such as breast cancer. These results position hcMBD as a promising candidate for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4103. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4103


This is contribution no. 16-114-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. The Kansas State University Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative provides grants to faculty members to replace textbooks with open/alternative educational resources (OAERs) that are available at no cost to students. Open educational resources are available for anyone to access, while alternative educational resources are not open. The objective of this study was to determine the perceptions towards OAERs and the initiative, of students enrolled in, and faculty members teaching, courses using OAERs. A survey was sent out to 2,074 students in 13 courses using the OAERs. A total of 524 (25.3%) students completed the survey and a faculty member from each of the 13 courses using OAERs was interviewed. Students rated the OAERs as good quality, preferred using them instead of buying textbooks for their courses, and agreed that they would like OAERs used in other courses. Faculty felt that student learning was somewhat better and it was somewhat easier to teach using OAERs than when they used the traditional textbooks. Nearly all faculty members preferred teaching with OAERs and planned to continue to do so after the funding period. These results, combined with the tremendous savings to students, support the continued funding of the initiative and similar approaches at other institutions. Keywords: e-textbook; college; open educational resources; Kansas State; open textbook (Published: 8 June 2016) Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2016, 24: 29920 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v24.29920


Neuroprotective agents have long been proposed to be effective in the management of stroke. These agents have been evaluated experimentally in a myriad of studies. However, satisfying results have not been achieved, and translation of these findings from bench to bedside has failed so far. These studies have examined many different strategies in the animal models of stroke which are classically divided into those that halt ischemic cascades such as thrombolytic agent use, sodium and calcium channels blockers, and potassium channel modulators, or those that decrease reperfusion damage including, free radicals scavengers, anti-inflammation therapies, therapeutic hypothermia and barbiturate use [1, 2]. Despite some positive results in the experimental phase and laboratory, unfortunately, these agents have failed to yield significant results in the clinical trials. This is also known as "reproducibility crisis". There appears to be some reasons justifying why these agents are effective in the laboratory but are futile in the clinic. First, the preclinical studies are biased, many of which have been performed in an uncontrolled condition with an urge to publish the results. Second, some of these studies are not well-designed and have either small sample size or problems with the methods reporting. Third, there is a publishing bias which discourages publishing negative results [2, 3]. For example, in an analytic study by Macleod et al. the authors concluded that unblindness of the animal studies in this field have led to the overestimation of the efficacy of interventions with neuroprotective agents [4]. In a recent study by Llovera et al. the authors tried to overcome these issues by designing an animal study similar to randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter clinical trials which is merely called preclinical randomized controlled trial (pRCT) [5]. On the other hand, additional factors contribute to the issues mentioned above and dampen neuroprotective agents efficacy in the clinic. It is possible that the most efficacious neuroprotective agent might not be a "single compound", but rather a combination of neuroprotective strategies [6]. Namely, in a new registered and ongoing multicenter randomized clinical trial (ESCAPE NA-1), neuroprotective agent is being administered intravenously in a single dose in selected acute stroke patients treated by endovascular revascularization. In this study, the design was improved by the use of NA-1 in acute phase during elimination of occlusion in special stroke patients with appropriate salvageable tissue [7]. In other trials, neuroprotective agent is applied in the early phases of probable stroke cases when the patients are transferred by the emergency department personnel and before administration of thrombolytic agents or endovascular thrombectomy. Researches about the targeted use of neuroprotective agents in the penumbra or ischemic tissue are also on the go and may lead to the promising results shortly [8]. The mentioned trials are just some of the new approaches that are being tried to address the major pitfalls we are facing with, in this field. Generally, despite disappointing results in this research area in the past years, it seems that promising results will be accomplished soon.


In this paper, fuzzy logic method is used to detect two types of incipient faults viz. inter-turn insulation failure and bearing wear in single-phase induction motor. The fuzzy rules are framed depending upon the experimental data for five input parameters viz. motor intake current, rotor speed, winding temperature, bearing temperature and noise. The simulation and experimental results are given to verify the proposed method. Initially the performance is tested with two inputs i.e., motor intake current, and rotor speed, later the remaining three input parameters were added and the performance is tested with five inputs. It is found that the performance with five inputs gives better results.


Resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) carbon gel has gained much attention in various commercial applications including electro-catalysis, ion exchange resin and hydrogen and electrical energy storage owing to its highly sensitive nanostructure. In this work, the resorcinol-formaldehyde carbon gels were synthesised via a sol-gel method from polymerisation of resorcinol and formaldehyde with sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) as a catalyst. Different resorcinol to catalyst (R/C) ratios (mol/mol) of 1,000 (RC3) and 2,000 (RC4) were used, and the effect of nitric acid (HNO3) modification was investigated. The oxidised RC3 and RC4 were denoted as RC7 and RC8,. It was found that a further increase in R/C ratio above 1,000 caused a decline in surface area, pore volume and pore size. RC7 gave the highest surface area of 711.49 m2/g with pore size of 7.68 nm. The HNO3 modification step increased the surface area of RC7, but slightly decreased the surface area of RC8 probably due to crystallisation of the gel to graphite. Adsorptive study was carried out using congo red (CR) as an adsorbate. The carbon gels with higher surface area, pore volume and pore size exhibit a better CR adsorption performance. The HNO3-modified resorcinol-formaldehyde carbon gels gave a better performance for the removal of congo red. The kinetics data of congo red adsorption could be explained by the pseudosecond- order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption of congo red on resorcinol-formaldehyde carbon gel is comparable to other adsorbents and activated carbons.


Title of Document: The Role of Cultural Models of Self-Worth in Vicarious Experiences of Wrongdoing Sarah Louise Lyons, Master of Science, 2012 Directed By: Professor Michele Gelfand, Department of Psychology This research sought to understand why people from different cultures respond in fundamentally different ways to their own ingroup transgressions. We predicted that in face cultures, where self-worth is defined by one's reputation, ingroup transgressions would elicit vicarious shame and withdrawal tendencies, especially in public; in dignity cultures, however, where self-worth does not depend on reputation and justice is a focal concern, ingroup transgressions would elicit vicarious guilt and reparative behavior. In Study 1, participants responded to hypothetical ingroup transgressions. In Study 2, sorority and fraternity members recalled a time when a group member committed a wrongdoing. In Study 3, we simulated a real ingroup offense in the lab. We found partial support for our hypotheses in Study 1; face predicted distancing behavior, mediated by image-threat appraisals and shame, but only in public. The results in Studies 2 and 3 were less clear, and suggest evidence for motivated distortion. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL MODELS OF SELF-WORTH IN VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES OF WRONGDOING


The paper presents an analysis of the approach to the numerical study of vacuum microwave electronic systems by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The results on approximating the boundary between two materials are presented. The influence of changes in the geometric shape of the resonator on the frequency obtained in the numerical experiment is analyzed. The sensitivity of the boundary approximation methods to small changes in geometric parameters is investigated.


The principles that ought to be followed in closed fracture operative treatment have been presented. All relevant factors of surgical management were considered, beginning from qualification of the patient with motor system trauma for operative treatment, right choice of stabilization technique, as well as appropriate soft tissue and early posttraumatic care. It was emphasized that, even a "technically perfect" stabilization of fractured bone pieces using the right technique gave no guarantee of success if soft tissue care was inappropriate, inadequate was limb blood supply and if treatment of infection complicated cases in the early stage was solely limited to systematic antibiotic administration.