This study is among the first that attempt to define a methodology for creativity-centred
software design in educational contexts, more specifically for musical activities in
ubiquitous settings. We propose and apply a set of design techniques – the Ubimus
Planning and the Ubimus Design protocols – as alternatives to experimental procedures
that leave out relevant aspects of social and procedural dimensions in educational
research. Two workshops were conducted to assess both technological and domain-
specific requirements for support of creative musical activities. The first workshop
was conducted with music teachers and school teachers that had no formal musical
training. The objective of this workshop was to assess domain-specific requirements
for musical creative activities by educational staff. The second workshop focused on
technological support for tool development by non-musicians. This workshop yielded
two software projects that involved user evaluations of creative processes. Participants
in the corresponding user studies included both musicians and non-musicians. The
Ubimus Planning protocol served to raise important questions regarding technolog
-
ical usage by musicians and naive subjects in educational contexts. Non-technical
approaches, such as those proposed by traditional soundscape activities, may not
be suited for introducing non-musicians to sonic composition. Naive subjects may
respond better to technologically based approaches, such as those used in ecocomposi
-
tion. The Ubimus Design approach proved to be effective to test the usability of musi
-
cal tools at early stages of development. Prototypes were implemented and usability
studies were carried out by undergraduate IT students within a three-week time slot.
Sharp differences were observed in the type of requirements expressed by musicians
and non-musicians regarding creativity support tools. Nevertheless, both groups of
subjects assessed the use of software prototypes within exploratory musical activities
as being fun and expressive.


In this paper a compact parallel edge coupled bandpass filter has been designed with Microstrip technology which is suitable for Bluetooth and GPS communications. This filter will work at a centre frequency 2.4 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 20%. This filter has been implemented on FR4 substrate with relative permittivity 4.4 and substrate height 1.59 mm. The simulation of the filter has been done using IE3D full wave EM simulator. Also for the calculations of the design parameters of the filter, a design software `SmartCalc' is developed.


After biological treatment, pulp and paper mill effluent still may contain large amounts of recalcitrant organic pollutants that need to be further treated. In this study, Fe supported on activated carbon (Fe@AC) was prepared and used as a catalyst in the catalytic ozonation of pulp and paper mill effluent. The activity of this catalyst was studied in terms of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies. Results showed that the COD removal rate was increased by 21% in the presence of the Fe@AC catalyst. After 60 min of ozonation (3g/h ozone flow rate) of the pulp and paper mill effluent (initial COD 360 mg/L), COD removal rates reached 56% in the presence of Fe@AC, 43% using AC as catalyst, and only 35% with ozonation alone. Ozone alone can achieve satisfactory color removal results. Owing to the scavenging effect of carbonate and bicarbonate ions towards hydroxyl radicals, the COD removal rate in Fe/AC catalytic ozonation of the effluent was strongly inhibited in the presence of these two ions. The COD removal rate followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model well. The COD removal rate constant in the Fe@AC/O3 process was about 1.6 times higher than that of the AC/O3 process, and approximately 2.1 times higher than that of ozone alone.


Networking technologies have been fast evolving over the past two decades leading to a broad range of technologies (numerous PHY/MACs, routing, QoS, high availability, security, ....) while requiring increasingly stringent requirements (from best effort to deterministic). Advanced analytics with Machine Learning is already playing a key role in today's networks, a trend that will undoubtedly increase very quickly in the coming years. That being said, the gap between what is being claimed in research papers and implementable at scale in commercial products keeps increasing, at the risk of disillusions in a near future. This talk will take a pragmatic approach sharing almost decade of experience implementing ML/AI product for networking, beyond "Proof of Concepts". Several breakthrough networking ML/AI applications (IoT, Wireless/Wired networks) will be discussed, providing fascinating results. The last part will be dedicated to the main challenges implementing ML/AI. Mérouane Debbah, is a Full Professor at CentraleSupelec (Gif-sur-Yvette, France) and the Director of the Mathematical and Algorithmic Sciences Lab, Huawei. His research interests lie in fundamental mathematics, algorithms, statistics, information & communication sciences research. He is an IEEE Fellow, a WWRF Fellow and a member of the academic senate of Paris-Saclay. He is a leading researcher in wireless communications and recipient of several prestigious awards. Mérouane Debbah entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay (France) in 1996 where he received his M.Sc and Ph.D. degrees respectively. He worked for Motorola Labs (Saclay, France) from 1999-2002 and the Vienna Research Center for Telecommunications (Vienna, Austria) until 2003. From 2003 to 2007, he joined the Mobile Communications department of the Institut Eurecom (Sophia Antipolis, France) as an Assistant Professor. Since 2007, he is a Full Professor at CentraleSupelec (Gif-sur-Yvette, France). From 2007 to 2014, he was the director of the Alcatel-Lucent Chair on Flexible Radio. Since 2014, he is the director of the Mathematical and Algorithmic Sciences Lab. Abstract: Mobile cellular networks are becoming increasingly complex to manage while classical deployment/optimization techniques are costineffective and thus seen as stopgaps. This is all the more difficult considering the extreme constraints of 5G networks in terms of data rate (more than 10 Gb/s), massive connectivity (more than 1,000,000 devices per km2), latency (under 1ms) and energy efficiency (a reduction by a factor of 100 with respect to 4G network). Unfortunately, the development of adequate solutions is severely limited by the scarcity of the actual resources (energy, bandwidth and space). Recently, the community has turned to a new resource known as Artificial Intelligence at all layers of the network to exploit the increasing computing power afforded by the improvement in Moore's law in combination with the availability of huge data in 5G networks. This is an important paradigm shift which considers the increasing data flood/huge number of nodes as an opportunity rather than a curse. In this talk, we will discuss through various examples how the recent advances in big data algorithms can provide an efficient framework for the design of Next Generation Intelligent Networks. ICIN 2019 Keynote Speakers Mobile cellular networks are becoming increasingly complex to manage while classical deployment/optimization techniques are costineffective and thus seen as stopgaps. This is all the more difficult considering the extreme constraints of 5G networks in terms of data rate (more than 10 Gb/s), massive connectivity (more than 1,000,000 devices per km2), latency (under 1ms) and energy efficiency (a reduction by a factor of 100 with respect to 4G network). Unfortunately, the development of adequate solutions is severely limited by the scarcity of the actual resources (energy, bandwidth and space). Recently, the community has turned to a new resource known as Artificial Intelligence at all layers of the network to exploit the increasing computing power afforded by the improvement in Moore's law in combination with the availability of huge data in 5G networks. This is an important paradigm shift which considers the increasing data flood/huge number of nodes as an opportunity rather than a curse. In this talk, we will discuss through various examples how the recent advances in big data algorithms can provide an efficient framework for the design of Next Generation Intelligent Networks. ICIN 2019 Keynote Speakers


ABSTRACT. In this study, 17Mn4 pressure vessel steel and AISI 304 stainless steels were joined with using ER 309L TIG welding wire. Variation of hardness values along the welded specimens was determined. Finite element (FE) analyses were conducted by fixing 2-D models for welded component. After entering the linear and nonlinear properties of the materials for different regions on the welded samples, static analyses were conducted for the different stress values. Finally, fatigue analyses were performed in order to determine fatigue life of each region as the welded component.


The location and interactions of solutes in microheterogeneous environments, such as reverse micelles, critically influence understanding of many phenomena that utilize probe molecules to characterize properties in chemical, biological, and physical systems. The information gained in such studies depends substantially on the location of the probe used. Often, intuition leads to the assumption that ionic probe molecules reside in the polar water pool of a system. In this work, the location of a charged polar transition metal coordination complex in a reverse micellar system is determined using NMR spectroscopy. Despite the expected Coulomb repulsion between the surfactant headgroups and the negatively charged complex, the complex spends significant time penetrating into the hydrophobic portion of the reverse micellar interface. These results challenge the assumption that ionic probe molecules reside solvated by water in microheterogeneous environments and suggest that probe molecule location be carefully considered before interpreting data from similar systems.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physical properties of different self-adhesive resin cements and their shear bond strength on dentin and lithium disilicate ceramic and compare these result with that of conventional resin cement. For this study, four self-adhesive resin cements (Rely-X Unicem, Embrace Wetbond, Mexcem, BisCem), one conventional resin cement (Rely-X ARC) and one restorative resin composite (Z-350) were used. In order to evaluate the physical properties, compressive strength, diametral tensile strength and flexural strength were measured. To evaluate the shear bond strength on dentin, each cement was adhered to buccal dentinal surface of extracted human lower molars. Dentin bonding agent was applied after acid etching for groups of Rely-X ARC and Z-350. In order to evaluate the shear bond strength on ceramic, lithium disilicate glass ceramic (IPS Empress 2) disks were prepared. Only Rely-X ARC and Z-350 groups were pretreated with hydrofluoric acid and silane. And then each resin cement was adhered to ceramic surface in 2 mm diameter. Physical properties and shear bond strengths were measured using a universal testing machine. Results were as follows 1. BisCem showed the lowest compressive strength, diametral tensile strength and flexural strength. (P


This article argues that 'sack posset', a treasured beverage that was the culinary pinnacle of seventeenth-century wedding celebrations, was vital to the rituals and emotions of early modern marriage; its consumption sealed a marriage's contractual formation and it was essential in
 forging lusty nuptial affections and the procreative fortunes of newlywed couples. Drawing on early modern recipe books, dietetic and medical knowledge, and agricultural practices, sack posset's 'foodway' is reconstructed for the first time, from grazing pastures to the marriage bed. In so
 doing it reveals an extended and multispecies material community of plants, animals and culinary expertise that was essential to a wedding day's success, and to its affective power. By uncovering the embodied co-dependencies of early modern bodies and their environments, the article calls
 for a reappraisal of anthropocentric models of 'emotional communities' and offers a new framework for recognising their material and multispecies complexity.


The propagation of transverse elastic waves both perpendicular and parallel to the laminations of infinite and semi‐infinite periodically layered media is studied. The displacement fields and the dispersion relations for such waves are obtained analytically, and the latter are solved numerically to yield the corresponding dispersion curves. It is shown that a semi‐infinite medium layered periodically parallel to its stress‐free surface can support shear horizontal surface acoustic waves that have no counterpart in a homogeneous medium. Finally, the dynamical elastic Green's function for a semi‐infinite medium layered periodically parallel to its stress‐free surface is obtained, and its possible application to Brillouin scattering studies of the surface acoustic waves on such a medium is discussed.


Background: A special pillow was designed to redistribute mechanical stress during sleeping in order to slow down the formation of facial skin wrinkles. Objective: To investigate whether sleeping on a specially designed pillow reduces facial skin wrinkles. Participants and Methods: A 28-day pilot study was carried out in which fifteen healthy female volunteers aged 23 - 55 years (mean age 35. 6 ± 8.5) slept on an antiwrinkle pillow. Evaluation of facial wrinkles was conducted before commencing the study (T0), following at 14 days (T14), and at 28 days (T28) when the study ended. Wrinkle density was assessed by computerized analysis of 2D images of participants' faces. Results: A statistically significant decrease in wrinkle density was detected while smiling around both eyes, around the right eye in a relaxed facial expression, on average in all observed facial areas, around the left periorbital area in participants who predominantly slept on their left side of the body, but not on the frontal area. Limitations: A 3D camera could be used to better visualize and analyze wrinkle density. Conclusions: Sleeping on the specially designed pillow reduces facial wrinkles.


In the recent decades with improving the health and nutrition of people in the world, Zahedan as an emerging metropolitan in the South East area, despite its green space per capita is low but has numerous parks., Mellat Park of Zahedan that situated on the road of Zahedan to
Khash can has a function in the region. However, this park suffered from serious damage in the terms of aesthetic. This study for determining these damages examined two hypotheses: 1. Visitors of Zahedan Mellat Park ' with regarding public preferences, prefer area of designed
spaces to other areas. 2. Different age groups in the Mellat Park have different evaluation for visual landscape.
This paper is based on public preferences using a classification model quality (Q-Sort) visual assessment of the present situation in the parks is based on the tastes of the citizens. According to this model .The 495 photos were taken at two different times of the area and
with regard to the objectives of the study and a total of 24 images for each area were elected eight shots photos, the images according to the preferences are ranked in five categories (very nice picture, nice, ordinary, ugly and too ugly). The results show a preference respectively from most to least important priorities: area designed spaces 40%, natural area cover 38% and of the area games 22% with the
preferences of visitors. The highest visitor preferences in the age group 15 to 24, is the area covered by natural surveyed, with preference 50%, Most visitors preferences within the age group 25 to 49, with 46% of preferences area design space and Most visitors preferences within the age group above of 50 years, the three area, area games 36%.


Social networks are an opportunity to foster and strengthen dialogue between companies and their audiences and also to integrate social expectations into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. This research analyses communication on CSR on Twitter and its main objectives are: 1) to analyze if there are CSR concepts which can lead the conversation among Twitter users and companies when discourse is limited to CSR related concepts; and 2) to detect those concepts which might create engagement (underlying conversations) between companies and Twitter users. Our research is focused on insurance companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices ( DJSI ). The methodology used is qualitative and the sample comprises more than 8,500 tweets which include a set of keywords related to CSR, that were published by the companies in the sample and/or mentioned those companies. The results show that industry-related words, financial performance messages and the local activities of the company are opportunities to spread the CSR commitment. We concluded that communication is scarce between companies and users related to CSR. In general, companies and users shared interests, but these were not related to a real conversation about CSR and sustainability.


Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a potent inflammatory phospholipid mediator that is known to play a role in early-phase responses in asthma and other diseases. Through its high affinity receptor, PAFR, PAF is known to activate multiple signalling pathways contributing to its proinflammatory effects. Of these pathways, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is initiated upon PAF stimulation, leading to the activation of the conventional MAPKs ERK1/2, p38 and JNK. Since dual-specificity phosphatases (DUSP) downregulated MAPK activity, we postulated that PAF could also enhance DUSP expression and thus induced an autoregulatory loop. In this report, we studied the effect of PAF on DUSP mRNA expression in human monocytes. Our results demonstrate that PAF induces DUSP1 and DUSP5 gene expression in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, with maximal effects at PAF 100 nM and at 20 - 30 min of stimulation. In contrast, DUSP2 and DUSP6 gene expression was not enhanced by PAF. Moreover, leukotriene D4, another lipid mediator of inflammation, was unable to modulate DUSP expression. PAF-induced DUSP expression was prevented by the PAFR antagonist WEB2170 and by pretreatment with the transcriptional inhibitor Actinomycin D. Moreover, enhanced DUSP5, but not DUSP1 expression was prevented by pretreatment with the ERK inhibitor PD98059 or the PI3K inhibitor Wortmannin. Taken together, our results indicate that PAF selectively enhances DUSP1 and DUSP5 gene expressions through PAFR activation, and suggest that PAF may have an active role in the resolution of inflammation by its ability to upregulate the two DUSPs and thus provide a negative auto-regulatory signalling mechanism.


The subject matter of the article is the process of olfactometric research of a human olfactory function. The object of the study is a biotechnical system which includes a method for increasing the objectivity of olfactometric diagnostics. The goal is to develop a biotechnical system for complex olfactometry, which enables increasing the objectivity of olfactometric studies and connecting breathing parameters with olfactory function by placing an odorant carrier in the airway of the rhinomanometer, as well as by using procedures for determining the energy characteristics of respiration. The methods used are: methods of digital signal processing, the theory of biotechnical systems. The following results are obtained. A structural diagram of a biotechnical system for olfactometric diagnostics of a human olfactory analyser was developed. As a result of the analysis of the cyclogram of nasal breathing, it is found that by changing the frequency and nature of breathing upon reaching the sensitivity threshold, it is possible to objectify the method of assessing respiratory and olfactory disorders according to the energy criterion of pneumatic power when inhaling appropriate odorivectors, and also to study the olfactory and respiratory function with the capability of estimating respiratory cycles in a dynamic mode. The studies were carried out on the basis of typical inspiration cycles: with a quiet breathing in the normal conditions, in the forceful breathing mode with a stiff nasal valve, with a nasal valve with natural functional mobility which restricts the flow of air, and also a stepped inspiration – a short "sipping" of air, which can be characterized as a kind of "sniffing". Conclusions. Computer olfactometry is one of the most promising methods for diagnosing olfactory disorders of respiratory genesis. The developed biotechnical system is based on the use of a fundamentally new design, combining a rhinomanometer and an olfactometric nozzle with a container for an odorant. A feature of this system is also the capability to determine the energy characteristics of nasal breathing when the sensitivity threshold of the odorivector is reached. The future direction of the work is to specify the concentrations of odorants for the biotechnical system for olfactometric diagnostics, which enables testing the sensitivity of the olfactory analyser on outpatient basis.


The dissemination of Islamic da'wah in the area of Rancakalong District, Sumedang Regency, began in 1957. At the time, a kiai (Islamic scholar) came from the southern Sumedang aiming to spread the Islamic da'wah in Rancakalong District. Before his arrival, The religious conditions of Rancakalong people are not so prominent. Although at that time, the mosques already existed in several places, but there was no religious leader who could guide the community yet to be able to prosper the mosque and other forms of religious activities. The  was called K.H. Sholeh Abdul Hafidz. This study uses qualitative methods, namely data collection through interviews and documentation. The data analysis technique is done by the heuristic, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The results of this study indicate that K.H. Sholeh Abdul Hafidz came to Rancakalong in 1957. The initial step of the preaching carried out by K.H. Sholeh Abdul Hafidz, began with his approach to the young and the old group of the community. The contribution form of his da'wah in Rancakalong District consisted of the establishment of the Bunsiari Islamic Boarding School I, then the Majelis Taklim of Bunsiari Islamic Boarding School I, and four Madrasa Diniyah Takmiliyah which were founded by K.H. Sholeh Abdul Hafidz'schildren.


The authors define a semi-symmetric non-holonomic(SSNH)-projective connection on sub-Riemannian manifolds and find an invariant of the SSNH-projective transformation. The authors further derive that a sub-Riemannian manifold is of projective flat if and only if the Schouten curvature tensor of a special SSNH-connection is zero.


Some CAT tool vendors describe their software as providing 'subsegment' matching, sometimes called 'advanced leveraging.' The descriptions can seem quite similar, but different tools in fact provide very different subsegment matching techniques and performance, with no typology available to distinguish implementations. This article first describes subsegment matching, then proposes just such a typology. The results of the first survey of translators to gauge their interpretations of vendor descriptions and their expectations of the software are presented and analysed in terms of the typology. A matrix of all CAT tools providing subsegment matching and available for trial (or free) use by translators is used to cross-reference their features with the typology. Finally, for the four CAT tools that provide the more advanced functionality, the first detailed analysis of their subsegment matching performance is presented, using an extensive series of tests. The overall findings show that interesting subsegment matching functionality is available, but that performance could be improved to meet translator expectations better. This in turn helps highlight the functionality to translators who may benefit from it, and the differences so as to help them make informed CAT tool purchase decisions.


In this review paper, available data on radioembolization of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using commercially available radiopharmaceuticals, respectively (131)I-Lipiodol, Therasphere (glass-microspheres) and SIRspheres (resin-microspheres) are reviewed. In the palliative setting, (131)I-Lipiodol was shown to yield response rates of 17-92% which in patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) translate into a survival benefit as evidenced by a phase III randomized trial. Furthermore, in terms of efficacy, (131)I-Lipiodol is as efficacious as trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) but far better tolerated. In the adjuvant setting, improved recurrence-free and overall survival when compared to surgery alone have been reported but these results warrant confirmation by randomized prospective trials. Similar to (131)I-Lipiodol, when administered in a palliative setting, radioembolization using (90)Y microspheres was proven effective for selected cases of non-resectable HCC and well tolerated. Available data suggest that Therasphere treatment outperforms TACE both in terms of response as in terms of event-free survival in unresectable HCC. However, this finding needs confirmation by randomized prospective trials. Therasphere treatment was also shown to limit progression of HCC allowing potential candidates for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) more time to wait for donor organs as well as to downstage the HCC disease to such an extent that patients that were initially not, as yet become eligible for OLT with a gain in survival. Finally, Therasphere was shown to be safe and efficacious in HCC patients presenting with PVT, reason for which approval was granted for this indication by the FDA.


23 | IJREAMV02I082017 www.ijream.org © 2016, IJREAM All Rights Reserved. Abstract We Consider multi-dimensional dataset where each data point has set of keyword in feature space allows for the development of new tools to query and explore these multidimensional dataset. In this paper, we study nearest keyword set Queries on text reach multidimensional dataset. We propose a novel method called ProMiSH(Projection and Multiscale Hashing) that uses random projection and hash-based index structure. Our experimental result shows that ProMiSH has Speedup over state-of-art-tree-based techniques. Keyword-based search in text-rich multi-dimensional datasets facilitates many novel applications and tools. In this paper, we consider objects that are tagged with keywords and are embedded in a vector space. For these datasets, we study queries that ask for the tightest groups of points satisfying a given set of keywords.


Asthma is a very common disease affecting around 8.8 % of the global population. In Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), data on asthma are very limited and most patients with asthma will not be diagnosed or treated because of lack of resources. In this thesis we conducted studies to understand how many people suffer from asthma, asthma risk factors and the impact asthma had on the people in Uganda as an example of a Sub Saharan African country. We assessed 3416 persons and found 11.0% of them had asthma. Asthma was associated with smoking, family history of asthma and smoke from biomass (mostly wood fires) used for cooking and lighting indoors, history of TB, HIV infection and living in the cities. Air pollution (particles) was 5.3 times the safety levels (132.1 μg/m3). A follow-up study of 449 patients for 2-years documented 17 deaths. Calculated from this we estimate that the mortality is over 20 times higher than in developed high income countries. Only 14% of patients in this study had access to appropriate asthma medications, mainly because the medications were not available or patients could not afford them. The combination of socio economic problems and the low availability of medication makes asthma a disease with a high mortality in Sub Saharan countries surpassing the current mortality from HIV and TB combined. We conclude that asthma is common in Africa, probably because of a high prevalence of HIV, TB and air pollution. The high mortality observed seems due to lack of medication.


Thermal Claisen rearrangements of derivatives of 4′-O-methyl and 4′-O-benzyl methyl coumarates 3, prepared from the corresponding umbelliferone derivatives, have been investigated. Simple allyl derivatives rearrange predominantly to the vacant ortho-position while prenyl derivatives undergo a sterically driven tandem para-Claisen rearrangement. After thermal rearrangement, the resulting 2′-hydroxycinnamate esters readily relactonise to yield 3-, 6- and 8-allylated coumarin derivatives in synthetically useful yields.


This paper focuses on the dual dependencies apparent at the intersection of the media society and the audit society by empirically exploring and discussing the relationship between Swedish local newspaper coverage and school inspection activities. The research questions pertain to the Inspectorate's media strategy, how inspection is represented and conveyed, the messages sent, and who gets to speak. Literature on governance, and the role and function of the media in the wider audit society is applied theoretically. Four municipalities were selected to represent different demographical and economical structures and previous inspection experiences. The empirical material includes interviews with leading inspection officers and newspaper articles. The local newspapers portray the Inspectorate as a legitimate institution acting on behalf of and protecting the public, and even more so, the educational consumer. The current format used by the Inspectorate – a succinct reporting only on deviations – links with a favored format of the media, reinforcing the tight media–inspection relationship and leading to implications for education governance and policy.


The objective of this study was to determine Salmonella levels (presence and numbers) in turkey drumstick bone, spleen, and neck skin samples in relation to Salmonella contamination levels in ground turkey at the flock level. Over a 10-month period, a total of 300 samples of each turkey part (i.e., neck skin, spleen, and drumstick) from 20 flocks were collected at a commercial turkey processing plant after the evisceration step. Turkey flocks included in this study were classified as "targeted" and "nontargeted" based on the company's historical ground turkey contamination data. A flock that originated from a turkey farm that had previously produced one or more flocks with ≥20% Salmonella prevalence in ground turkey was labeled as a targeted flock (n = 13). The remaining seven flocks with <20% prevalence were labeled as nontargeted. All samples collected were tested for Salmonella presence and numbers by using most-probable-number and selective enrichment methods. Further genotypic analysis (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) of the isolates was performed. Ground turkey samples were collected and analyzed for Salmonella levels by the cooperating turkey company. The outside surface of bone and spleen were sterilized prior to Salmonella analysis. The overall Salmonella prevalence in neck skin, drumstick bone, spleen, and ground turkey samples was 42.0, 9.3, 6.7, and 14.5%, respectively. Salmonella prevalence in neck skin, spleen, drumstick bone, and ground turkey from the targeted flocks was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those from nontargeted flocks. There was a significant relationship between Salmonella presence in neck skin (when most probable numbers were ≥2 log) and Salmonella-positive ground turkey lot. Based on our findings, Salmonella was detected internally in drumstick bones and spleens at low levels, whereas Salmonella presence at higher levels in neck skin may indicate a flock with greater potential for Salmonella contamination of ground turkey.


OBJECTIVE: The early diagnosis of nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) is difficult. The objective of this study was to find specific protein biomarkers to aid in the early detection of NFPA. METHODS: Serum samples from 34 patients with NFPA and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were analysed using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF—MS) technology. The spectra were generated, protein peak clustering was performed and classification analyses were carried out using a decision tree classification algorithm. RESULTS: Nine differentially expressed serum proteins were identified in the patients with NFPA compared with the control subjects. Both the sensitivity and specificity of the decision tree classification algorithm were 82.4% for NFPA. CONCLUSIONS: Nine new serum protein biomarkers for NFPA were identified. SELDI-TOF—MS coupled with data mining tools might provide a novel approach for the early diagnosis of NFPA and population screening for the disease.


Microgravity and its inherent reduction in body-weight associated mechanical loading encountered during spaceflight have been shown to produce deleterious effects on important human physiological processes. Rodent hindlimb unloading is the most widely-used ground-based microgravity model. Unfortunately, results from these studies are difficult to translate to the human condition due to major anatomic and physiologic differences between the two species such as bone microarchitecture and healing rates. The use of translatable ovine models to investigate orthopedic-related conditions has become increasingly popular due to similarities in size and skeletal architecture of the two species. Thus, a new translational model of simulated microgravity was developed using common external fixation techniques to shield the metatarsal bone of the ovine hindlimb during normal daily activity over an 8 week period. Bone mineral density, quantified via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, decreased 29.0% (p < 0.001) in the treated metatarsi. Post-sacrifice biomechanical evaluation revealed reduced bending modulus (-25.8%, p < 0.05) and failure load (-27.8%, p < 0.001) following the microgravity treatment. Microcomputed tomography and histology revealed reduced bone volume (-35.9%, p < 0.01), trabecular thickness (-30.9%, p < 0.01), trabecular number (-22.5%, p < 0.05), bone formation rate (-57.7%, p < 0.01), and osteoblast number (-52.5%, p < 0.001), as well as increased osteoclast number (269.1%, p < 0.001) in the treated metatarsi of the microgravity group. No significant alterations occurred for any outcome parameter in the Sham Surgery Group. These data indicate that the external fixation technique utilized in this model was able to effectively unload the metatarsus and induce significant radiographic, biomechanical, and histomorphometric alterations that are known to be induced by spaceflight. Further, these findings demonstrate that the physiologic mechanisms driving bone remodeling in sheep and humans during prolonged periods of unloading (specifically increased osteoclast activity) are more similar than previously utilized models, allowing more comprehensive investigations of microgravity-related bone remodeling as it relates to human spaceflight.


Education world through learning in the classroom has a huge influence in building the values of student characters. Mathematics as a subject is given at all levels of education and has more time allocated each week than other subject has the opportunity to build student character value. This study aims to develop mathematics student worksheets and their effectiveness in the context of student character. This type of research is research with design and development. This research consists of three stages, namely Self Evaluation, Prototyping, and Field Test. The initial step of the research is to use various sources in the field and literature review. Product design is done by preparing student worksheets and student character observation sheets. Products that have been designed are then developed by means of judgment, trials and revisions. From the results of the development then a student worksheets hypothetical product is obtained and will be tested for its effectiveness. Effectiveness testing is carried out in the use of trial activities through the implementation of student worksheets hypothetical product. The results showed that the hypothetical student worksheets was effective in establishing honest, maos, mamaos, tanginas, someah, sauyunan, and discipline characters.


The effective delivery of bioimaging probes to a selected cancerous tissue has extensive significance for biological studies and clinical investigations. Herein, the peptide functionalized NaGdF4 nanodots (termed as, pPeptide-NaGdF4 nanodots) have been prepared for highly efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumor by formation of Gd-phosphonate coordinate bonds among hydrophobic NaGdF4 nanodots (4.2 nm in diameter) with mixed phosphorylated peptide ligands including a tumor targeting phosphopeptide and a cell penetrating phosphopeptide. The tumor targeting pPeptide-NaGdF4 nanodots have paramagnetic property with ultrasmall hydrodynamic diameter (HD, c.a., 7.3 nm) which greatly improves their MRI contrast ability of tumor and facilitates renal clearance. In detail, the capability of the pPeptide-NaGdF4 nanodots as high efficient contrast agent for in vivo MRI is evaluated successfully through tracking small drug induced orthotopic colorectal tumor (c.a., 195 mm3 in volume) in mouse.


We present a comprehensive numerical model to simulate self-heating effects of oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) under continuous-wave operation. The model self-consistently accounts for the close interaction between optical, electrical, and thermal processes in VCSELs. In particular, hot carriers and nonequilibrium optical phonons in the quantum wells are modeled by solving a carrier energy balance equation and an optical phonon rate equation. Our numerical simulations reveal that they are responsible for aggravated thermal rollovers in VCSELs' L-I characteristics. Detailed comparisons are made and good agreement is obtained between simulations and experiments for the L-I-V and lasing wavelength characteristics of VCSELs with varying oxide aperture size. Various mechanisms that result in the L-I thermal rollover behavior are also investigated with the aid of simulations.


The nucleotide (nt) sequence of the thymidine kinase (TK) gene (a 918 nt long coding region) of two TK-deficient (TK) strains of bovine herpesvirus 2 (BHV-2) was determined. The candidate vaccine strain C290BU5, which was no longer able to cause disease, was found to have an A deletion after nt 887 of the TK gene with a predicted change of His 296 to Pro, altering the last 10 amino acids (aa) and extending the gene by another 34 aa. The strain which still caused disease, C290BU3, had a T insertion after nt 16 causing a predicted chain termination after only 16 aa.


The problem of employment is a dilemma that has a high complexity, but it demands to be addressed immediately because if it is not addressed it will increase the number of unemployed, while the future trend of growth in employment opportunities is relatively small, this will lead to a larger gap between job seekers and opportunities. available, will then have implications in various aspects of people's lives such as decreasing purchasing power, and increasing the number of poor people. The consequences will continue in the ability of education, health, and people's welfare. This study aims to find out the efforts or policies of the Medan City Manpower Service to provide employment placement services to 2 parties, namely job seekers and companies providing job opportunities, not only that the role of the Medan City Manpower Office can mediate disputes between workers and companies due to concurrency of work energy experiencing Termination of Employment (PHK) and prizes. Rights and employment guarantees. This research was conducted through interview guidelines with narrative research, the author directly observed the field. The availability of a skilled workforce and education is one of the formal conditions for company field providers, of course, the Medan City Manpower Office must be able to prepare skills training for job candidates. Provision of information technology where job market services using an online system are not yet available so that the process of registering job seekers, making yellow cards, registering job vacancies, and presenting job market issues still uses a manual system


The relief of Bela Krajina and Semiska Reber in southeastern Slovenia is mainly a consequence of post Late Miocene tectonic movements and karstic, mostly subsoil, erosion. In the lower half of the slope at Vrtaca in the northwestern part of Bela Krajina, 1.3 km northeast of the center of Semic and 15 to 25 meters above the surroundings, a 250-meter long and about 150-meter wide lateral ridge rises at an inclination of 8°. The formation of the medium-sized relief between the elevated lateral ridge and the lower elongated side depressions is most probably to a large extent the consequence of differences in the rock fissuring and the varying intensity of hundreds of thousands of years lasting corrosion related to it. Traces of subsoil formation are the prevailing feature found on hundreds of rock ribs (i.e., subsoil rock formations that are not cone-shaped like teeth but rather elongated with their longer axes largely parallel to the dip of the surface) dissecting the surface area of one of the vineyard plots on the rocky lateral ridge. This indicates they were relatively recently exposed, as a consequence of human activity when soil was removed from an abandoned plot.


Langmuir turbulence (LT) due to the Craik–Leibovich vortex force had a clear impact on the thermal response of the ocean mixed layer to Supertyphoon Haitang (2005) east of the Luzon Strait. This impact is investigated using a 3D wave–current coupled framework consisting of the Princeton Ocean Model with the generalized coordinate system (POMgcs) and the Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) wave model. The Coriolis–Stokes forcing (CSF), the Craik–Leibovich vortex forcing (CLVF), and the second-moment closure model of LT developed by Harcourt are introduced into the circulation model. The coupled system is able to reproduce the upper-ocean temperature and surface mixed layer depth reasonably well during the forced stage of the supertyphoon. The typhoon-induced "cold suction" and "heat pump" processes are significantly affected by LT. Local LT mixing strengthened the sea surface cooling by more than 0.5°C in most typhoon-affected regions. Besides LT, Lagrangian advection of temperature also modulates the SST cooling, inducing a negative (positive) SST difference in the vicinity of the typhoon center (outside of the cooling region). In addition, CLVF has the same order of magnitude as the horizontal advection in the typhoon-induced strong-vorticity region. While the geostrophy is broken down during the forced stage of Haitang, CLVF can help establish and maintain typhoon-induced quasigeostrophy during and after the typhoon. Finally, the effect of LT on the countergradient turbulent flux under the supertyphoon is discussed.


Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in monkey palatal lamina propria plus both fatty and glandular zones of palatal submucosa were compared. Chemical analysis revealed that GAG contents of the lamina propria and glandular zone were higher than that of the fatty zone. The four GAGs identified by electrophoretic analysis were hyaluronic acid, dermatan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate. Each mucosal layer contained all four GAG components. The predominant GAG in both the lamina propria and glandular zone was dermatan sulfate followed by hyaluronic acid. The reverse situation (predominant hyaluronic acid, less prominent dermatan sulfate) was noted in the fatty zone of the submucosa. The three tissue regions showed different molar ratios of unsaturated chondroitin sulfate disaccharides. The ratio of delta Di-4S to delta Di-6S was lower in the lamina propria than in either the fatty or glandular submucosal zones.


A patient having renal cell carcinoma with multiple pulmonary metastasis was treated with recombinant interleukin-2. Pulmonary metastatic nodes were markedly diminished. The response was maintained for 4 months. At Autopsy, many fibrotic areas in which metastatic carcinoma was thought to have previously existed and then healed were observed in the bilateral pulmonary lobes, although a few microscopically tiny metastatic lesions still remained.


Mouse conceptuses homozygous for mutations in brachyury (T) exhibit a short, misshapen allantois that fails to fuse with the chorion. Ultimately, mutant embryos die during mid-gestation. In the 60 years since this discovery, the role of T in allantoic development has remained obscure. T protein was recently identified in several new sites during mouse gastrulation, including the core of the allantois, where its function is not known. Here, using molecular, genetic and classical techniques of embryology, we have investigated the role of T in allantoic development. Conceptuses homozygous for the TCurtailed (TC) mutation (TC/TC) exhibited allantoic dysmorphogenesis shortly after the allantoic bud formed. Diminution in allantoic cell number and proliferation was followed by cell death within the core. Fetal liver kinase (Flk1)-positive angioblasts were significantly decreased in TC/TC allantoises and did not coalesce into endothelial tubules, possibly as a result of the absence of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (Pecam1), whose spatiotemporal relationship to Flk1 suggested a role in patterning the umbilical vasculature. Remarkably, microsurgical perturbation of the wild-type allantoic core phenocopied the TC/TC vascularization defect, providing further support that an intact core is essential for vascularization. Last, abnormalities were observed in the TC/TC heart and yolk sac, recently reported sites of T localization. Our findings reveal that T is required to maintain the allantoic core, which is essential for allantoic elongation and vascular patterning. In addition, morphological defects in other extraembryonic and embryonic vascular organs suggest a global role for T in vascularization of the conceptus.


PurposeIn recent decades, companies have increasingly engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with the goal of providing benefit to both society and the company. While these efforts can have measurable social impact at the local level, the cumulative impact may be much harder to observe and measure, due to the wide variety in both the CSR initiatives and the social challenges they seek to address. This study is an initial investigation of the relationship between national levels of commitment to CSR and national measures of social progress, in a sample of developing countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing country-level participation in the UN Global Compact (UNGC) as a proxy for the level of CSR commitment, and 2018 Social Progress Index (SPI) scores, we investigate the relationship between these variables. SPI component and sub-component scores serve as dependent variables in several OLS regression models. Independent variables included the total number of companies participating in the UNGC, along with economic and socio-political control variables.FindingsRegression models indicate that higher CSR commitment levels are related with higher scores in the primary components of social progress, but only in some sub-components and not others. Practitioners and policymakers can leverage this understanding when developing and supporting corporate social initiatives.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to demonstrate the country-level impact of firm-level CSR commitment and is among the first to employ the Social Progress Index.


Background: Community involvement in the disease surveillance and notification (DSN) systems aids in leveraging community structures for improved disease prevention and control. Objective: To determine the completeness of reporting in the CBSS in Anambra State, Nigeria. Materials and methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive mix method study of the CBSS in Anambra State. Quantitative data were obtained using pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaires, interview-administered on 360 community informants, selected by multistage sampling technique, while data on completeness of filling of the community registers were obtained using observation checklist. Analyses were with SPSS version 20 and associations were tested using Chi square, Fisher's exact and t tests as appropriate. Level of statistical significance was set at 5%. Key informant interviews (KII) were conducted among selected DSN key officers. Data from KII were transcribed verbatim, thematic content analysis done and key quotes noted. Results: The completeness of reporting in the system was 28.1%. Factors such as the source of information on detected disease, record of detected disease kept by community informant in the last one year, the number of times reports were sent in the last one year, feedback received by community informants given to community members, volunteer benefit and satisfaction with being a community informant had associations with completeness (p Conclusions: This study revealed low level of completeness of reporting of notifiable diseases and sub-optimal functioning of the CBSS in the State. We recommend improved supervision, record keeping, information transmission process and funding of the CBSS in Anambra State.


Paint discoloration by bacterial species and its control using phytobiactive agents was investigated. The bacterial species; Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, and Bacillus used in the study exhibited high degree of paint discoloration. The rate of discoloration significantly (p<0.05) is influenced by the type of organisms, incubation time, bacterial speciation. The level of preservation and control is considered the function of each extracts composition. Within the period of 24 and 96 hours, Micrococcus sp (71.1 – 85.2%) and Bacillus sp (71.6 – 86.6%) exhibited higher discoloration capabilities than Pseudomonas sp (68.7 – 74.3%) with a mean percentage discoloration of eighty (80%) per cent. The consortia of Micrococcus/ Bacillus spp exhibited higher percentage discoloration rate than that of Pseudomonas/ Micrococcus and Pseudomonas/Bacillus spp with no significant difference (p<0.05). B. pinnatum extract exhibited strong antibactactial potency than extract of T. tetraptera. However succeptibility of the cell to phytoextracts was positively correlated (r=0.05) and significant (p<0.01). Hence, B. pinnatum extract discolorations control and paint preservation rate at 250µg/100ml and 500µg/100ml concentration were higher than that of T. tetraptera. The preservation rate at (MBC) of 500µg/100ml of each extract was double against 250µg/100ml. Result obtained suggested that latex paint is subjected to bacterial discoloration can be control with phytobioactive  agents and these bioactive agents significantly bring about paint   preservation especially in the humid-dried environment . Therefore, B. pinnatum and T. tetraptera   bioactive compounds could be supplemented in paint to control discoloration and paint preservation without any toxicity effect


The current cryogenic distillation technology used for olefin–paraffin separation incurs extensive capital and operating costs. An alternative olefin–paraffin separation process, based on reactive absorption, could yield significant cost reductions. The research efforts described herein explored the structural characteristics of an NMP-CuCl-aniline absorption solution with ethylene to aid future development of olefin–paraffin separation systems. Solution IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy suggested weak and labile Cu(I)-ethylene and Cu(I)-aniline coordination, which point to the coexistence of multiple structures in solution. Experiments also revealed solvent-dependent and temperature-dependent coordination. The agreement of the collected spectral data with literature implied single ethylene coordination, whereas the Cl− ion likely remained coordinated with Cu(I). Solvent interference prohibited detailed investigation of IR spectra, but 1H NMR spectroscopy showed more promise as an analytical technique for the NMP-CuCl-aniline-ethylene system. Finally, a tradeoff appears to exist between ethylene capacity and complex stability, and thus, an optimal ligand must be found that balances these two competing needs. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011


AST-021p, which is derived from HLA class II binding epitopes of human HSP90 protein, is an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine for the malignant neoplasms. AST-021p is designed to demonstrate the immunologic efficacy by activating antigen-specific CD4+ Th1 cell in humans. Due to their ability to link the innate with the adaptive immune response, Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are highly promising as adjuvants in vaccines against life-threatening and complex diseases such as cancer, AIDS and malaria. In this study, AST-021p was investigated to evaluate the immunogenicity and tumor growth inhibitory effect under the condition of combining with various immune adjuvants derived from TLR agonists, using in-vivo model.Three different agonists of TLR (TLR-4, TLR-2/3, TLR-7/8) were assigned to investigate the immunogenicity in each group (4 FVB mice/group, total 4 groups). AST-021p was intradermally injected 3 times with different TLR-agonists and the immunogenicity was assessed from mouse splenocyte by HSP90-specific IFN-γ ELISpot method. We also examined the efficacy of AST-021p and selected TLR-agonist in MMTVneu Tg mice (4 mice/group, conducted twice and A total 8 mice was assigned to each group). The combination of AST-021p and TLR-2/3 agonist (AST-021p plus TLR-2/3 agonist) was injected 3 times every 10 days to mice followed by inoculated mouse mammary cancer cell line. The tumor volume change and immunogenicity were evaluated.The most effective TLR-agonist as a potent immune adjuvant was a TLR-2/3 agonist (L-pampoTM, supplied by CHA Vaccine Institute). In MMTV-Neu transgenic mice, AST-021p (100 μg) plus TLR-2/3 agonist significantly enhanced immunogenicity by increasing up to 130±10 HSP-90 epitope specific T cells per 1x105 splenocytes (P<0.001). AST-021p plus TLR-2/3 agonist also showed higher tumor growth inhibitory effect (170±108 mm3) on post-implantation 35th day by suppressing mouse mammary cancer cell line (5x105)-derived tumor growth, compared with a TLR-2/3 agonist alone (1031±450 mm3).Combination regimen of AST-021p and TLR-2/3 agonist (as immune adjuvant) demonstrated significant immunogenicity and tumor prevention effect in in-vivo study. These data supported the clinical study of AST-021p combined with TLR-2/3 agonist as active immune adjuvant in certain tumor types, and phase 1/2 clinical program would be expected to be initiated.Not applicableNot applicableCsermely P, Schnaider T, Soti C, Prohaszka Z, Nardai G. The 90-kDa molecular chaperone family: structure, function, and clinical applications. A comprehensive review. Pharmacol Ther 1998;79,129–168.Wang H, Lu M, Yao M, Zhu W. Effects of treatment with an Hsp90 inhibitor in tumors based on 15 phase II clinical trials. Mol Clin Oncol 2016;5,326–334.Ramalingam S, Goss G, Rosell R. Schmid-Bindert G, Zaric B, Andric Z, Bondarenko I, Komov D, Ceric T, Khuri F. A randomized phase II study of ganetespib, a heat shock protein 90 inhibitor, in combination with docetaxel in second-line therapy of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (GALAXY-1). Ann Oncol Off J Eur Soc Med Oncol 2015,26,1741–1748.All experimental procedures involving mice were performed with the guidance protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Korea University (IACUC, Approval number: KOREA-2019-129)It is not an abstract containing sensitive or identifiable information.


Probabilistic programming is a programming paradigm for expressing flexible probabilistic models. Implementations of probabilistic programming languages employ a variety of inference algorithms, where sequential Monte Carlo methods are commonly used. A problem with current state-of-the-art implementations using sequential Monte Carlo inference is the alignment of program synchronization points. We propose a new static analysis approach based on the 0-CFA algorithm for automatically aligning higher-order probabilistic programs. We evaluate the automatic alignment on a phylogenetic model, showing a significant decrease in runtime and increase in accuracy.


Background: Wild type Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is taken up by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and has the capability to escape destruction in the phagolysosome and proliferate in the cytosol of the APC. ADXS31-164 is a live attenuated Lm-listeriolysin O (LLO) immunotherapy bioengineered to express the intracellular domain 1 and extracellular domains 1 and 2 of chimeric human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (cHER2) as a fusion protein to a truncated form of the LLO (tLLO) in the cytoplasm of APCs. The resultant immunologic response generates tumor antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes while also inhibiting regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the tumor microenvironment. Preclinical studies have shown ADXS31-164 can delay the progression of tumors in both transplantable and autochthonous HER2-expressing mouse tumor models. Trial Design: This is an open-label, multicenter Phase 1b trial (NCT02386501). Patients will receive ADXS31-164 every 3 weeks until progression of disease or unacceptable toxicity. Dose escalations will be performed according to a standard 3+3 design starting at 1 × 109 colony forming units (CFU) to a maximum dose level of 1 × 1010 CFU. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) will be identified as the dose level in which a dose-limiting toxicity is seen in 2 of 6 patients; the previous dose level will be selected as the recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D). Once the MTD and RP2D have been identified, up to 4 HER2-overexpressing tumor-specific expansion cohorts will be evaluated. Treatment cycles can be repeated at the RP2D (or less) for each patient until a study discontinuation criterion is met or the subject completes 1 cycle of treatment post-observation of complete response. Blood samples will be evaluated for immunologic effects in cycle 1 only. Descriptive statistics will be used to evaluate the safety and tolerability of ADXS31-164. Objectives: The primary aim of this trial is to evaluate safety and tolerability of ADXS31-164 in patients with solid tumors that express HER2, and to select the RP2D. Secondary objectives include tumor response rates and progression-free survival (measured by Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors [RECIST] 1.1 and immune-related RECIST criteria). Exploratory analyses will describe and evaluate data from correlative immunologic studies. Key Eligibility Criteria: Patients aged ≥18 years with HER2-positive tumors determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or immunohistochemistry (IHC, at least 1 positive in 1% of the evaluable tumor cells) and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–1 are eligible. Additional criteria include a diagnosis of locally advanced/metastatic solid tumor that has progressed or become intolerant to standard therapy or for which no standard therapy is available, measurable and/or evaluable disease per RECIST 1.1, and a left ventricular ejection fraction within normal limits. Citation Format: Tan AR, Olszanski A, Golan T, Mauro D, Rugo H. A multicenter, phase 1b, first-in-human dose-escalation study of ADXS31-164, a Listeria monocytogenes-LLO immunotherapy, in patients with HER2-expressing solid tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT1-01-04.


Bronchial angiography was performed in 17 patients with advanced non-oat cell bronchogenic carcinoma. The patients were treated 1 to 5 times with infusions of 10 mg of mitomycin-C (MMC) into the tumor-feeding bronchial artery. All but 2 patients received in addition small doses of vincristine (intravenously) and bleomycin (intramuscularly) or only bleomycin to potentiate the effect of MMC. No major side effects occurred and the systemic toxicity was insignificant. An objective tumor reponse was encountered in 11/17 patients. Intraarterial chemotherapy is strictly local and therefore effective especially in patients with limited or locally advanced disease. In patients with more extensive disease an adjunctive therapy of a more regional or systemic modality must be given.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has over the last few years achieved a key position in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as well as spondyloarthritis (SpA). In the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria for RA, MRI as well as ultrasonography (US) can be used to count involved joints (1) and can therefore be used to provide an earlier diagnosis of RA. In more detail, classification as definite RA according to the criteria is based on presence of definite clinical synovitis (swelling at clinical examination) in at least 1 joint, absence of an alternative diagnosis that better explains the synovitis, and achievement of a total score of at least 6 (of a possible 10) from the individual scores in 4 domains: number/site of involved joints (score range 0-5), serologic abnormality (range 0-3), elevated acute phase response (range 0-1), and symptom duration (range 0-1) Presence of joint inflammation on MRI and/or US count in the "joint involvement domain" (2;3). In SpA, MRI of the sacroiliac joints is a key examination in the diagnosis of both peripheral SpA (4) and axial SpA (5), according to the definitions of these conditions made by the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS). In peripheral SpA (4), a patient can be classified as peripheral SpA, if arthritis or enthesitis or dactylitis is present together with at least one of a number of different criteria, including sacroiliitis on MRI. In axial SpA (5), the requirement for classification is presence of sacroiliitis on either MRI or X-ray plus at least one clinical feature characteristic of SpA. ASAS has defined sacroiliitis on MRI ("A positive MRI") as active inflammatory lesions highly suggestive of SpA, based on consensus expert opinion (6). The definition of an ASAS "positive MRI" does not include structural changes. However, recent research has documented that including structural changes (erosions) in the criteria would increase the sensitivity of the MRI criteria for SpA, without decreasing the specificity (7;8). An ASAS definition of a positive MRI of the spine has recently been proposed (9). The present talk will describe the recent criteria and briefly outline the underlying scientific work. Aletaha D et al. 2010 rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: an American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative. Ann Rheum Dis 2010; 69(9):1580-8. Østergaard M. Clarification of the role of ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging and conventional radiography in the ACR/EULAR 2010 rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria - comment to the article by Aletaha et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2010; e-letter:Published Online December 2, 2010. Aletaha D et al. Re: Clarification of the role of ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging and conventional radiography in the ACR/EULAR 2010 rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria - Reply to comment to the article by Aletaha et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2011; E-letter:Published online January 11, 2011. Rudwaleit M, et al. The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society classification criteria for peripheral spondyloarthritis and for spondyloarthritis in general. Ann Rheum Dis 2011; 70(1):25-31. Rudwaleit M et al. The development of Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society classification criteria for axial spondyloarthritis (part II): validation and final selection. Ann Rheum Dis 2009; 68(6):777-83. Rudwaleit M et al. Defining active sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for classification of axial spondyloarthritis: a consensual approach by the ASAS/OMERACT MRI group. Ann Rheum Dis 2009; 68(10):1520-7. Weber U et al. Assessment of structural lesions in sacroiliac joints enhances diagnostic utility of magnetic resonance imaging in early spondylarthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2010; 62(12):1763-71. Weber U et al. The diagnostic utility of magnetic resonance imaging in spondylarthritis: an international multicenter evaluation of one hundred eighty-seven subjects. Arthritis Rheum 2010; 62(10):3048-58. Hermann KG et al. Descriptions of spinal MRI lesions and definition of a positive MRI of the spine in axial spondyloarthritis: a consensual approach by the ASAS/OMERACT MRI study group. Ann Rheum Dis 2012; 71(8):1278-88. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


ABSTRACT Objective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of subclinical infection by agents of tick fever in dairy cattle on milk parameters, such as production, composition, and quality. Materials and methods . The study was conducted in a private farm with 75 free-stall-housed dairy cows, from which 37 were evaluated. Monthly, individual milk samples were collected for compositional (fat, lactose, protein, and total solids) and quality (somatic cell counts (SCC)) analyses. In addition, blood samples were collected in order to identify cows that were tick fever-negative and positive by PCR for one or more of the following etiological agents: Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale. Results . The results showed increased SCC in positive animals for at least one of the agents when compared to non-infected cows (p<0.05). Milk production was significantly lower in A. marginale positive animals (p<0.05). An increase of about 40% in milk solids content was found in B. bovis positive cows. Also, an increment of approximately 23% in lactose was found on cows positives for B. bigemina. Conclusions . We may conclude that the presence of at least one of these parasites in dairy cattle affects composition or quality of their milk.


Abstract : The Fourth Workshop of the International Committee on Gas Hydrates Research and Development was held during 9-11 May 2005 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Invited national agency representatives and international researchers from university, government, and industry convened to assess research priorities and to promote international collaboration on methane hydrate research. The 2.5-day workshop included plenary lectures and panel discussions, conducted as a working event where all participants engaged in open discussions to develop collaborative methane hydrate studies. The workshop was organized by the Centre for Earth and Ocean Research at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; the Marine Biogeochemistry Section at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, and in cooperation with the Institute for Energy Utilization, AIST, Hokkaido, Japan; the Department of Physics and Technology at the University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; the Office of Naval Research - Global; the Geological Survey of Canada, and the United States Department of Energy. This series of annual international methane hydrate research and development workshops was initiated during March 2001 at the University of Hawaii. Subsequent workshops have been held in Washington, DC, USA and Vina Del Mar, Chile. At the previous three meetings, the focus was on presentaiton of research results on selected hydrate themes and description of national hydrate research programs. The workshops have resulted in international field and laboratory collaborations between U.S., Candadian, Japanese, Chilean, and German scientists working on methane hydrate exploration off the coasts of U.S., Canada, Chile, and Japan. At the Victoria workshop, the objective was more ambitious. A primary goal was to begin discussions


As a representative natural porphyrin derivative, it is interesting to know the chemical form of lanthanide in chlorophyll a. We select the natural fern dicranopteris dichotoma, the most lanthanide-concentrated plant known, to isolate the chlorophyll a for our study. It is found by EXAFS that lanthanum substitutes in the magnesium position in chlorophyll and coordinates with the porphyrin ring. The lanthanum is seen to have a similar coordination structure to a sandwich-type lanthanide complex, with the La surrounded by eight nitrogen atoms from two porphyrin rings with average La-N bond length of 2.65 A.


Diel variation in physicochemistry and assemblage composition of the hyporheos, below and beyond the terminus of an arid-zone intermittent stream, was studied in Brachina Creek, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Surface water downwelled at the terminus, and physicochemical conditions in the hyporheic zone at 30 cm resembled those in the stream above. With increasing distance beyond the terminus and presumably greater hyporheic residence time, diel fluctuations in water temperature and dissolved oxygen became dampened, and were absent 80 m beyond the terminus. At least 31 taxa were collected, 19 of which were surface species temporarily occupying the hyporheic zone. These epigean taxa commonly occurred as tiny instars in the hyporheos below the stream in regions of strong downwelling. Further downstream, the hyporheos became dominated by phreatic species (e.g. blind amphipods, syncarids) that are obligate subsurface residents. At the most downstream site, where dissolved oxygen concentrations were lowest and water temperatures highest, species richness was least, although biomass (mainly amphipods) was greatest. There was no diel variation in assemblage composition, species richness, total abundance and biomass, or the abundance of common species at any of the sites below the stream. The longitudinal pattern in the spatial distribution of the hyporheos appeared to be related to stream hydrology (downwelling), bed permeability, and the hyporheic residence time of the water.


This thesis proposes that the spectral power distribution (SPD) of lighting can be modified to enhance spatial brightness. Energy saving is then possible by using SPD that allows illuminance to be reduced whilst maintaining the same level of spatial brightness. The Akashi and Boyce study demonstrates an energy saving of 33% by using lamps of higher correlated colour temperature but it is widely known that this is not a good metric for predicting spatial brightness.

The aim of this study was to identify a metric for predicting spatial brightness. The first approach followed the method of Cowan and Ware: use the results of past experiments to test potential metrics. 65 studies of spatial brightness and SPD were found. Initially, these lead to different conclusions as to whether SPD affects spatial brightness. The reasons for this are that they used different methodologies and hence review of method was used to screen the credible data from within these 65 studies: only 19 of them were considered to be credible. This thesis focussed on the category rating procedure. The review of methods included an experiment comparing rating scales with different response ranges and a meta-analysis comparing results gained when either brightness or visual clarity were the objective of the experiment. Two potential metrics for spatial brightness are the scotopic to photopic (S/P) luminance ratio and the area of the colour gamut (GA). Results from the credible studies were used to test these models: while both models suggest a reasonable prediction, it was found that they were not independent for this set of data and it was therefore not possible to discriminate between them.

Hence an experiment was carried out to directly test these metrics. The experiment employed full field sequential evaluation of stimulus pairs, with matching and discrimination procedures. Three SPDs were compared, these chosen to isolate the S/P and GA effects. Following Berman et al, one pair had identical chromaticity but different S/P ratios: a second pair had identical S/P ratio but different gamut area; the third pair had different S/P and gamut area. The two procedures led to similar results: null condition trials confirmed that doubt about interval bias in the Berman et al data was unwarranted. It was found that lighting of higher S/P or higher GA enhance spatial brightness: it was also found that their effects appear to be additive.

When the final remodelling was done by adding the data points from the new experiment to the data set, the models of the difference of S/P ratio and the log ratio of GA had the best fits with spatial brightness. Their correlations were equally plausible with mean illuminance ratio of the data set.

This thesis demonstrates that SPD affects spatial brightness, allowing lower illuminances to be used when using lighting of higher S/P ratio and gamut area.


BACKGROUND
Estimations of iron absorption from infant formulas are based on 20-year-old data. Data about iron bioavailability from currently used infant formulas are scarce, considering that during the last decades, formulas have had modifications that could affect iron absorption.

METHODS
Bioavailability of isotopically labeled iron (55Fe and 59Fe) from several infant formulas administered to contraceptive-using women between the ages of 30 to 50 years was measured. Six infant formulas and one follow-on formula were compared with a powdered, whole cow's milk, and the results were normalized to an absorption of 40% from a reference dose of iron.

RESULTS
Iron bioavailability from the infant formulas was consistently higher (19%), contrasting with the low value (4%) of the unmodified cow's milk (p < 0.0001). Iron absorption of the follow-on formula was intermediate (13%). Formulas with 8 mg/l iron and one with 7 mg/l supply approximately 1 mg of absorbed iron, assuming a consumption of 750 ml/day of formula. This amount covers the iron needs of most infants during their period of greatest vulnerability. Formulas containing 12 mg/l iron would allow the absorption of approximately twice the infant iron requirements.

CONCLUSIONS
Current infant formulas have a high iron bioavailability, which is an appealing argument for lowering the level of iron fortification in these products.


In German, the course of phrase-final rising intonation can be modelled by an interpolation between three points in the pitch contour, giving a more appropriate description than current approaches to German intonation that only include the alignment of rises and their pitch range. Within this 3-point model, the parameter range proportion produces different contour shapes: concave and convex. The perceived meaning of concave and convex rises is studied using the semantic differential technique, starting with the functional distinction of activating vs. restricting contours. Communicative meaning differences between concave and convex contour shapes are supported by data of 31 listeners.


This paper reports experimental results of a high performance (real-time) memory-based translation. Memory-based translation is a new approach to machine translation which uses examples, or cases, of past translations to carry out translation of sentences. This idea is counter to traditional machine translation systems which rely on extensive use of rules in parsing, transfer and generation. Although, there are some preliminary reports on the superiority of the memory-based translation in terms of its scalability, quality of translation, and easiness of grammar writing, we have not seen any reports on its performance. This is perhaps, the first report discussing the feasibility and problems of the approach based on actual massively parallel implementation using real data. We also claim that the architecture of the IXM2 associative processor is highly suitable for memory-based translation tasks. Parsing performance of the memory-based translation system attained a few milliseconds per sentence.


Direct HPLC separation of stereoisomers of three novel 5-methyl-2-(alkylthio)-6-(2,6-difluorophenylalkyl)-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-4(3H)-ones endowed with antiviral and potential antiproliferative and morphological differentiation activity against melanoma cells was performed by using the new immobilised amylose-based Chiralpak IA chiral stationary phase. Stereoselective conditions were achieved using normal phase eluents containing "non-standard" solvents such as ethyl acetate, methyl tertbutyl ether, or dichloromethane. In order to study the chiroptical properties of single stereoisomers, mg-scale separations were performed on analytical and semipreparative size Chiralpak IA columns in combination with ethyl acetate-based eluents.


Objectives: To evaluate student perspectives of a clinical controversy debate activity designed to improve their skills to effectively approach and communicate complex therapeutic dilemmas.
Design: A clinical controversy debate activity was implemented in the fall semester of the third year pharmaceutical care laboratory curriculum. Topics were chosen based on controversies encountered in practice. Students were assigned to groups of 5-6 and subdivided to the pro or con of the topic. Each debate lasted 25 minutes. Students completed a self-assessment asking them to rate eight skills (e.g. selecting appropriate references, analysis of literature, defending and predicting arguments, composing and delivering the presentation, and persuading the audience) before and after the debate as: novice, developing, skilled, facilitating/leading, or educating. Results were analyzed descriptively and the pre-post ratings were compared using a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.
Results: 140 (84.8%) students responded to the self-assessment survey. The skill that students rated most highly prior to the debate was selecting appropriate resources and primary literature, with only 7.1% rating themselves as novice. After completing the debate, the skill rated with the greatest improvement was predicting opposing arguments with 47.1% rating as developing and 40% rating as skilled. All eight skills had statistically significant improvements pre- and post- assignment (p < 0.001).
Implications: Preparing arguments for and against treatment options is an important clinical skill, used regularly by pharmacists. A clinical controversy debate activity resulted in reports of improvement on eight measures of evidence based medicine-related skills.

Type: Case Study


X-Ray diffraction is used to analyse the lattice structure of Cd0.96Zn0.04Te (CZT), and the lattice constant is measured to be 0.647 nm. The atomic structure of the clean CZT(110) surface obtained by Ar+ etching in vacuum is observed by low-energy electron diffraction, where no surface reconstruction is discovered. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy was used to characterize the surface state of the clean CZT (110) surface, by which we find a 1.5-eV-wide surface band with the peak at 0.9 eV below the Fermi energy containing about 6.9×1014 electrons/cm2, approximately one electron per surface atom.


Faced with the impossibility of saying Being directly given that all language is language of beings, Heidegger proposes an overcoming of logic in favor of what he calls Sigetik: a way of addressing Being in and through silence, i.e., without asserting anything of Being. After considering what such a Sigetik actually involves and how it is possible, this paper asks why Heidegger rejects the alternative of that indirect saying of Being that he identifies with dialectic. It is then argued both that Heidegger's arguments against dialectic are not compelling and that the Beitrage itself, in mostly failing to achieve and sustain the Sigetik it prescribes, cannot fully escape some form of dialectic. Sigetik may prove a lure more threatening to philosophical questioning than the dialectic it seeks, unsuccessfully, to overcome.


It seems a fact that modern architecture still has not reached people at home, within their own four walls. I was therefore seeking for an instrument which bears the potential of bringing architects and users into closer contact, and found it with the prefabricated house. Making use of prefabrication for domestic architecture involves a third partner, the building industry. Consequentially, I have explored ways of forming fruitful collaborations between architects, users and the building industry, for a "trialectic"1 design of a home. My report is structured into two parts: in PART I, I investigate the peculiar reputation of the pre fabricated house, being historically split into a modernist, "architectural" and a commercial, "non- architectural" development. The first represents the architectural profession, the latter the building industry, which succeeded where modernism failed—in reaching the wider public. This leads to two different points of view looking at the 'prefab': the architect's and the housing industry's view, representing the mass of homebuilders. For understanding these, I shed light onto the characteristics of architectural practice, the particular meaning of 'home' and the demands and needs of the user, resulting in contrary under standings of the 'design' of a home. Concerning the last point, the field of participation in architecture demonstrates how architect and user can be united into a—very particular—building project. Complementing the first part—the theory, PART II illustrates the thoughts and ideas with the help of built examples—the practice. I therefore present a collection of recent projects in prefabricated housing, as a 'catalogue' of the recent state of affairs. The precondition for selecting a model was that each had to include elements of modern architecture, participation and prefabrication—enabling a trialectic design. Since there are very different attempts to use prefabrication, I divided the case studies into five categories and set up an overall tabular list for evaluation. This enables the reader a quick overview and an easy comparison of all models and evokes questions regarding social, political, economical, architectural and urban issues. Form and contents of my report express that there are various elements with potential for an application for a contemporary home. If I regarded the built environment as a 'catalogue', it would be possible to extract valuable elements for a particular home, setting the elements together in the required way. This does not mean to take a window here and a roof there, but adopting and transforming existing ideas how to tackle current questions related to a quality modern home, which is equally created by architect and user.


INTRODUCTION
Nonattendance is a critical problem that affects health care worldwide. Our aim was to build and validate predictive models of nonattendance in all outpatients appointments, general practitioners, and clinical and surgical specialties.

METHODS
A cohort study of adult patients, who had scheduled outpatient appointments for General Practitioners, Clinical and Surgical specialties, was conducted between January 2015 and December 2016, at the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires. We evaluated potential predictors grouped in baseline patient characteristics, characteristics of the appointment scheduling process, patient history, characteristics of the appointment, and comorbidities. Patients were divided between those who attended their appointments, and those who did not. We generated predictive models for nonattendance for all appointments and the three subgroups.

RESULTS
Of 2,526,549 appointments included, 703,449 were missed (27.8%). The predictive model for all appointments contains 30 variables, with an area under the ROC (AUROC) curve of 0.71, calibration-in-the-large (CITL) of 0.046, and calibration slope of 1.03 in the validation cohort. For General Practitioners the model has 28 variables (AUROC of 0.72, CITL of 0.053, and calibration slope of 1.01). For clinical subspecialties, the model has 23 variables (AUROC of 0.71, CITL of 0.039, and calibration slope of 1), and for surgical specialties, the model has 22 variables (AUROC of 0.70, CITL of 0.023, and calibration slope of 1.01).

CONCLUSION
We build robust predictive models of nonattendance with adequate precision and calibration for each of the subgroups.


Abstract Background: Hantaviruses cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in humans. Hantavirus infections are characterized by thrombocytopenia. Our objective was to assess the association of thrombocytopenia with disease severity in HFRS induced by Puumala hantavirus (PUUV). Methods: Altogether 546 patients treated for acute serologically confirmed PUUV infection during 1982–2013 at Tampere University Hospital, Finland, were examined. Blood platelet count was determined daily and analysed in relation to different variables reflecting disease severity. The patients were divided into two groups according to the minimum platelet count: severe thrombocytopenia (<69 × 109/L, i.e. below median) and no severe thrombocytopenia (≥69 × 109/L). Results: Thrombocytopenia (platelet count <150 × 109/L) was detected in 90% of patients, and in 28% of patients platelet count was <50 × 109/L. Patients with severe thrombocytopenia had longer stay (8 versus 7 days, p = 0.002) and greater weight gain (2.8 versus 2.0 kg, p < 0.001) at the hospital, higher blood leukocyte count (11.2 × 109/L versus 9.6 × 109/L, p < 0.001), plasma C-reactive protein (81 versus 59 mg/L, p < 0.001), maximum hematocrit (0.44 versus 0.42, p < 0.001), urinary protein excretion (1.7 versus 1.1 g/24 h, p = 0.002), and lower plasma albumin concentration (27 versus 32 g/L, p < 0.001) than patients without severe thrombocytopenia (comparisons between medians). Maximum creatinine concentration did not differ between patients with or without severe thrombocytopenia (median 235 versus 214 μmol/L, p = 0.217). Conclusions: The severity of thrombocytopenia associates with the degree of inflammation and variables reflecting capillary leakage, but not with the severity of acute kidney injury in PUUV infected Finnish patients.


method for Extracting signature from image document is proposed based on the auto cropping method. This method improves the performance of security system based on signature images as well as provides the region of interest of the used image for the biometric system. This method also reduces the time cost associated with signature detection. Region of Interest in an image document is taking attention in research area. In this method, the signature document image converted into the binary image. This Binary image is normalized (resize) the signature image. To show the signature effective areas in signature image resizing may be required. Now we are performing Adaptive thresholding because it dynamically set all pixels whose intensity values are above a threshold to a foreground value and all the remaining pixels to a background value over the signature document image. This signature document image has some discontinuity between the pixels to remove this discontinuity we are using morphology. This morphological method uses bridge to connect the pixels and remove operator to remove the interior pixel region. The remaining pixel makes the signature image skeleton. This skeleton is used to select the signature Region of Interest (ROI) using auto cropping method. Auto cropping is the fast procedure to select the ROI. In this auto cropping method we are using Image Station Automatic Elevations (ISAE) technique to select the connected pixel which sizes are greater than 250 pixels. This cropped signature has no garbage region it crops only the ROI of signature image. This method takes less processing time then other methods. To extract the features of cropped image we are using the 'Sobel' edge detection to identify the points in a digital image at which the image brightness changes sharply or, more formally has discontinuities.


We introduce CARETS, a systematic test suite to measure consistency and robustness of modern VQA models through a series of six fine-grained capability tests. In contrast to existing VQA test sets, CARETS features balanced question generation to create pairs of instances to test models, with each pair focusing on a specific capability such as rephrasing, logical symmetry or image obfuscation. We evaluate six modern VQA systems on CARETS and identify several actionable weaknesses in model comprehension, especially with concepts such as negation, disjunction, or hypernym invariance. Interestingly, even the most sophisticated models are sensitive to aspects such as swapping the order of terms in a conjunction or varying the number of answer choices mentioned in the question. We release CARETS to be used as an extensible tool for evaluating multi-modal model robustness.