Energy consumption is one of the fundamental and challenging problems in the wireless sensor networks. It is considered from the view of energy consensus in this paper. Algebraic graph theory is used to describe topology structure of the wireless sensor networks(WSN). The energy consumption of nodes is analyzed and modeled. A hybrid model is built to describe the process of updating continuous energy state and the process of dynamic, discrete topology of WSN. Considering surplus energy information coupled with control message from base station, consensus algorithm for energy consumption is proposed. Integration analysis of the hybrid system reveals that the surplus energy state of each node converges to energy consumption balance. We evaluate the system with the simulation experience and performance data. The results can be a guideline to design and develop collaborative WSN with energy aware.


Existing data-driven methods for draping garments over human bodies, despite being effective, cannot handle garments of arbitrary topology and are typically not end-to-end differentiable. To address these limitations, we propose an end-to-end differentiable pipeline that represents garments using implicit surfaces and learns a skinning field conditioned on shape and pose parameters of an articulated body model. To limit body-garment interpenetrations and artifacts, we propose an interpenetration-aware pre-processing strategy of training data and a novel training loss that penalizes self-intersections while draping garments. We demonstrate that our method yields more accurate results for garment reconstruction and deformation with respect to state of the art methods. Furthermore, we show that our method, thanks to its end-to-end differentiability, allows to recover body and garments parameters jointly from image observations, something that previous work could not do.


GnRH I and its receptors have been demonstrated in the ovaries of various vertebrates, but their physiological significance in reproductive cascade is fragmentary. Bradykinin is a potent GnRH stimulator in the hypothalamus. In the present study, the presence of GnRH I and its receptor, and bradykinin and its receptor in the ovaries of non-mammalian vertebrates were investigated to understand their physiological significance. GnRH I immunoreactivity in the ovaries of fish, frog, reptile and bird were mainly found in the oocyte of early growing follicles and granulosa cells and theca cells of previtellogenic follicles. Vitellogenic follicles showed mild GnRH immunoreactivity. GnRH I-receptor and bradykinin were localized in the same cell types of the ovaries of these vertebrates. The presence of GnRH I, GnRH I-receptor and bradykinin in the ovaries of these vertebrates was confirmed by immunoblotting. The presence of GnRH I mRNA was demonstrated in the ovary of vertebrates using RT-PCR. The ovaries of reptiles and birds showed significantly higher intensity of immunoreactivity for GnRH I-receptor as compared with the fish and amphibian. This may have a correlation with the higher yolk content in the ovary of reptile and bird. These results suggest the possibility of GnRH I and bradykinin as important regulators of follicular development and vitellogenesis in the vertebrate ovary.


This paper intends on investigating the potential relationship that exists between the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States and the exportation of natural resources. It will stress how the increase seen in the exporting of America's natural resources over a thirty-three year period from 1980 to 2012, has coincided with significant job loss in the manufacturing sector. Specifically, this paper will show through a cross-sectional analysis of the United States that there has been a negative, linear, and significant relationship between these items of interest.


This paper presents an automatic procedure for the optimization of the hyperparameters of a delay rational model approximating the frequency-domain behavior of high-speed interconnects. The proposed model is built via a kernel-based regression, such as the Least-Square Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM), by considering an ad-hoc kernel with two hyperparameters related to the propagation delays introduced by the system. Such hyperparameters, along with the Tikhonov regularizer used by the LS-SVM regression, are carefully tuned via an automatic approach based on a k-fold cross-validation and Bayesian optimization. The feasibility of the effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach are investigated on a high-speed link.


An integrated system ultrafiltration membrane-coagulation has been employed for removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and turbidity from baker's yeast effluents. Fouling in the membrane is a common problem; chemical coagulation has been used as a pre-treatment method to mitigate fouling. Poly aluminum chloride (PACl), aluminum sulfate and lime had been used as coagulants. The results indicated that PACl exhibited higher removal efficiency than other coagulants. Two-stage coagulation and combination of coagulants were also investigated. The removal efficiency of COD and turbidity were achieved 68% and 81% by two-stage coagulation by PACl-lime, respectively. The effects of operating conditions on the ultrafiltration process for two types of hollow fiber membranes polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polypropylene (PP) on permeate flow rate, turbidity and COD removal of wastewater were further investigated. The results showed that by increasing the feed pressure, flow rate and feed temperature the permeate flow rate increased and the removal efficiency decreased. Under optimum conditions, PVDF membrane showed higher performance but compromised the flux compared to PP membrane.


In order to explore the effects of exogenous 5-aminolevulinic acid(ALA) on seeds germination and seedlings growth under NaCl stress,this experiment was conducted by presoaking the tomato seeds(Solanum lycopersicum cv.Zhongza9) with different concentrations of ALA(0,0.1,0.5,1.0,5.0,10.0mg/L) for 24 hours,and training under 0,25,50,and 100 mmol/L NaCl stress in growth cabinet at 28℃ for 7 days in darkness.The germination rate(GR),germination energy(GE),germination index(GI),vigor index(VI),shoot fresh weight(SFW),root fresh weight(RFW) and antioxidant enzymes(SOD,POD,CAT)activity and malondialdehyde(MDA) content in shoots and roots were emphatically analyzed in this paper.The results showed that: GE,GI,VI,FW of tomato seeds germinated with distilled water are significantly increased in ALA soaking treatment than that in non-ALA treatment,while SOD and POD activity in roots are largely reduced and MDA content decreased.Low concentration of NaCl(25mmol/L) treatment can improve GR,VI and FW,promote tomato seeds germination;high concentration of NaCl(50—100mmol/L) treatment reduce GR,GE,GI and VI,extremely inhibit seed germination;appropriate concentration of ALA(0.1—0.5mg/L) presoaking seeds can improve the GR,GI,VI,FW and antioxidant enzymes activity of tomato seeds,make MDA content decreased,have promoted effects on tomato seeds germination and after germination growth under NaCl stress;high concentration of ALA(10mg/L) presoaking seeds make GR,GI,VI reduced,inhibit seed germination.In conclusion,presoaking seeds with ALA can promote germination and after germination growth of tomato seeds,soaking concentration should not exceed 5.0mg/L,0.1mg/L ALA soaking treatment have the best effects on tomato seeds germination and after germination growth under NaCl stress.


This article explores the associational life of late imperial Kiev to gauge the extent of Jewish participation in the city's civil society and the nature of interethnic relations in the voluntary sphere. Natan Meir demonstrates that, despite political and societal circumstances that often discouraged positive interactions between Jews and their Russian and Ukrainian neighbors, the voluntary association made possible opportunities for constructive interethnic encounters. These opportunities included a range of experiences from full Jewish integration to a segregation of Jewish interests within the sphere of activity of a particular association. While taking into account the central role of intergroup tensions and hostility in Kiev, Meir notes that the frequency of contacts between Jews and non-Jews was higher than most scholars have assumed. By placing the case of Kiev against the larger framework of the Russian empire as well as other European states, Meir contributes to our understanding of the development of late imperial civil society and of the modern Jewish experience in the late Russian empire and across urban Europe.


Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is subject to annual emissions reporting requirements for regulated air pollutants under Title 20 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, Chapter 2, Part 73 (20.2.73 NMAC), ''Notice of Intent and Emissions Inventory Requirements''. The applicability of the requirements is based on the Laboratory's potential to emit 100 tons per year of suspended particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, or volatile organic compounds. Additionally, on April 30, 2004, LANL was issued a Title V Operating Permit from the New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, under 20.2.70 NMAC. This Title V Operating Permit (Permit No. P-100) includes emission limits and operating limits for all regulated sources of air pollution at LANL. The Title V Operating Permit also requires semi-annual emissions reporting for all sources included in the permit. This report summarizes both the annual emissions inventory reporting and the semi-annual emissions reporting for LANL for calendar year 2004. LANL's 2004 emissions are well below the emission limits in the Title V Operating Permit.


In investigating ion channel pharmacology, the manual patch clamp is still considered the gold standard for data quality, notwithstanding the major drawbacks of low throughput and the need for skilled operators. The automated patch clamp platform CytoPatch™ Instrument overcomes these restrictions. Its modular fully automated design makes it possible to obtain scalable throughput without the need for well-trained operators. Its chip design and perfusion system reproduces the manual patch technique, thus ensuring optimal data quality. Further, the use of stably transfected frozen cells, usable immediately after thawing, eliminates the cell quality impairment and low success rates associated with a running cell culture and renders screening costs accurately calculable. To demonstrate the applicability of this platform, 18 blinded compounds were assessed for their impact on the cardiac human Ether-à-go-go related gene K(+) channel. The IC(50) values obtained by the CytoPatch Instrument using the frozen human embryonic kidney 293 cells showed a high correlation (R(2)=0.928) with those obtained from manual patch clamp recordings with human embryonic kidney 293 cells from a running cell culture. Moreover, this correlation extended to sticky compounds such as terfenadine or astemizole. In conclusion, the CytoPatch Instrument operated with frozen cells ready to use directly after thawing provides the same high data quality known from the manual voltage clamp and has the added benefit of enhanced throughput for use in ion channel screening and safety assessment.


Recent technological advances provide the opportunities to bridge the physical world with cyber-space that leads to complex and multi-domain cyber physical systems (CPS) where physical systems are monitored and controlled using numerous smart sensors and cyber space to respond in real-time based on their operating environment. However, the rapid adoption of smart, adaptive and remotely accessible connected devices in CPS makes the cyberspace more complex and diverse as well as more vulnerable to multitude of cyber-attacks and adversaries. In this paper, we aim to design, develop and evaluate a distributed machine learning algorithm for adversarial resiliency where developed algorithm is expected to provide security in adversarial environment for critical mobile CPS.


The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a robust technique used to make multiple copies of a segment of DNA. However, the available PCR platforms require elaborate and time-consuming operations or costly instruments, hindering their application. Herein, we introduce a sandwiched glass–polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)–glass microchip containing an array of reactors for the real-time PCR-based detection of multiple waterborne bacteria. The PCR solution was loaded into the array of reactors in a single step utilising capillary filling, eliminating the need for pumps, valves, and liquid handling instruments. Issues of generating and trapping bubbles during the loading chip step were addressed by creating smooth internal reactor surfaces. Triton X-100 was used to enhance PCR compatibility in the chip by minimising the nonspecific adsorption of enzymes. A custom-made real-time PCR instrument was also fabricated to provide thermal cycling to the array chip. The microfluidic device was successfully demonstrated for microbial faecal source tracking (MST) in water.


This paper describes satellite data collected as part of the 2002/03 Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX). These data include multispectral and hyperspectral optical imaging, and passive and active microwave observations of the test areas. The CLPX multispectral optical data include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Landsat Thematic Mapper/Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM/ETM (cid:1) ), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR). The spaceborne hyperspectral optical data consist of measurements ac- quired with the NASA Earth Observing-1 ( EO-1 ) Hyperion imaging spectrometer. The passive microwave data include observations from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and the Advanced Micro- wave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) for Earth Observing System (EOS; AMSR-E). Observations from the Radarsat synthetic aperture radar and the SeaWinds scatterometer flown on QuikSCAT make up the active microwave data.


The purpose of this study was to compare metabolic and cardiopulmonary responses for forward wheelchair ergometry (FOR) and reverse wheelchair ergometry (REV) at equal power outputs (PO) levels. Moderately active able-bodies (N = 21) subjects exercised at 3-min stages at PO levels of 15, 20, 25, and 30 W for each mode of ergometry. Oxygen uptake (VO2), pulmonary ventilation (VE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), heart rate (HR), percent net mechanical efficiency (ME), revolutions per minute (RPM) and strikes per minute (SPM) were determined at each PO level. With the exception of RER, all the physiological responses (VO2, VE, and HR) were higher for FOR exercise (P < 0.05) than REV exercise. ME increased with PO and was higher (P < 0.05) for REV than FOR at each PO level. SPM values for the REV were lower (P < 0.01) by almost half of that for the FOR exercise, although RPM remained constant between modes during all four stages. In general, these data suggest that reverse wheelchair ergometry is physiologically more efficient than conventional wheelchair ergometry and should be studied further as an alternative method for wheelchair ambulation.


We consider the actual problem of synthesizing specialized computing devices (SCDs) for periodic task scheduling to support autonomous functioning of a small UAV having limited computing resources. A specialized processor implements a given system of concurrent local algorithms. The problems of minimizing the number of processing units (PUs) in SCDs and minimizing the number of inter-processor connections are solved. We consider the issues of designing a control unit for switching PUs to optimize periodic computational process. The solution to the problem of partitioning a connection graph of PUs into weakly coupled fragments is proposed. To determine the expediency of partitioning optimization we propose an efficiency function.


Eighteen large bowel adenomas with invasion of the head or the stalk were removed by endoscopic polypectomy or by segmental resection at University Hospital, London, Ontario between 1973 and 1982. All were completely removed by histological criteria. All the patients were traced for an average follow-up period of 4.6 years. None had developed disseminated large bowel cancer. Adding these results to those in the literature, it appears that, provided there is not a high degree of anaplasia of the tumor or lymphatic or venous invasion, endoscopic polypectomy is adequate therapy for such adenomas. An endoscopic recheck of the site of removal after approximately 2 months may be worthwhile as a few local recurrences of benign tumor were reported, although not in the present series. The patients should be followed for life.


The Long Term Evolution (LTE) system is designed to provide a high quality data service for fast moving mobile users. It is based on the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and relies its channel estimation on the training samples which are systematically built within the transmitting data. Either a preamble or a lattice type is used for the distribution of training samples and the latter suits better for the multipath fading channel environment whose channel frequency response (CFR) fluctuates rapidly with time. In the lattice-type structure, the estimation of the CFR makes use of the least squares estimate (LSE) for each pilot samples, followed by an interpolation both in time-and in frequency-domain to fill up the channel estimates for subcarriers corresponding to data samples. All interpolation schemes should rely on the pilot estimates only, and thus, their performances are bounded by the quality of pilot estimates. However, the additive noise give rise to high fluctuation on the pilot estimates, especially in a communication environment with low signal-to-noise ratio. These high fluctuations could be monitored in the alternating high values of the first forward differences (FFD) between pilot estimates. In this paper, we analyzed statistically those FFD values and propose a postprocessing algorithm to suppress high fluctuations in the noisy pilot estimates. The proposed method is based on a localized adaptive moving-average filtering. The performance of the proposed technique is verified on a multipath environment suggested on a 3GPP LTE specification. It is shown that the mean-squared error (MSE) between the actual CFR and pilot estimates could be reduced up to 68% from the noisy pilot estimates.


The main reason for visiting an obstetrician-gynecologist is the vaginal discharge syndrome (VDS) of infectious etiology. The most common causes of infectious vaginitis wich are identifed by European researchers are bacterial vaginosis (BV), aerobic vaginitis, vulvovaginal candidiasis and mixed infections. Treatment of VDS is a serious problem not only because of the pathogens's resistance and frequent recurrences, but especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic which can complicate further patient`s examination for determination of infectious agent and the choice of individual approach to etiotropic therapy. Purpose of study: to investigate the structure of causes of pathological vaginal discharge in Ukrainian women, as well as assess the compliance and effectiveness of their treatment. Methods: 472 doctors of women's consultation centres, gynecological hospitals and centers of reproductive medicine from 23 regions of Ukraine were enrolled in multi-center study of vulvovaginal infections management. During the study, which lasted from August to December 2019, were examined 45,295 patients aged 18 to 59 years who complained for pathological vaginal discharge. Results: analysis of the structure of nosologies that caused VDS showed that the examined patients were most often diagnosed with BV (41.1%), colpitis of mixed etiology (26.59%) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (19.22%), trichomoniasis was confirmed in 8.44%. The interviewed gynecologists preferred topical therapy in 95,99% cases of BV and colpitis of mixed etiology. Topical combined medications were prescribed in 85,21% of cases, monoforms – in 14.79%. Among the combined vaginal dosage forms the combination of metronidazole 750 mg /miconazole 200 mg was preferred in 48.81% of cases with clinical efficacy 87.1% in patients with BV and 86,9% in women with mixed infection. Normalization of the vaginal biocenosis was observed in 93.50% of the examined patients. The study demonstrated the safety, good tolerability and compliance of patients to therapy with the combined medications metronidazole 750 mg / miconazole 200 mg in vaginal suppositories. Conclusion: BV, colpitis of mixed etiology and vulvovaginal candidiasis are predominated in structure of main causes of VDS in Ukraine. In the treatment of VDS, priority is given to vaginal forms with the most compliant (89.8%) regimen: once a day for a short period (7 days). The obtained high bacteriological (93.50%) and clinical (86,9%) efficacy of therapy of BV and vaginal mixed infections with the combined drug metronidazole 750 mg / miconazole 200 mg allows to recommend it as the drug of choice.


Examining programs that work as well as the gaps in current knowledge about school readiness, this paper concentrates on the transition to school for Indigenous Australian children. What we know • School readiness is a multidimensional construct, recognising the interplay of children's individual characteristics and the contexts in which they live, and have lived, as they grow and develop. • School readiness incorporates three major components: – children's readiness for school – schools' readiness for children – the capacity of families and communities to provide the necessary opportunities, conditions and supports to optimise children's development and learning. What works • Schools that employ and value Indigenous staff provide 'ready' links between school, families and communities which can enhance the transition to school for Indigenous children. • Positive professional links and regular communication between prior-to-school educators and school educators support children's transition to school. • Positive involvement of families and engagement with other community members in Indigenous children's transition to school are important components of making a school 'ready'. • High-quality early childhood education helps prepare children for school. What doesn't work • 'Lack of readiness' is not a problem of children being insufficiently skilled to learn at school, but instead it is where there is a mismatch between the attributes of individual children and families, and the ability and resources of the school and/or system to engage and respond appropriately. • Assessment of Indigenous children through tests based in non-Indigenous culture can reinforce 'gaps' in knowledge and skills, rather than building positive images of Indigenous children as learners. • Approaches to readiness and transition to school that focus only on developing Indigenous children's skills and not on broader factors such as schools, families and communities do not necessarily lead to improved school success. What we don't know • There is insufficient information on what Indigenous parents and communities understand by 'readiness for school'. • There is no national agreement on what is important in terms of readiness for school, how to measure it and what the indicators of readiness might be. • We don't know whether United States' and other international interventions will work in Australia. • There is no solid evidence of benefits, particularly cost benefits, of many early childhood interventions in Australia. Image: 'Remote Education, Arnhem Land, Australia', Rusty Stewart / flickr


Chronic stress occurs in everyday life, and often results in memory impairments and depressive symptoms. Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol that possesses numerous biological properties, including potent antidepressant‑like effects. The present study aimed to examine the effects of resveratrol treatment on chronic restraint stress (CRS)‑induced cognitive impairment and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Male Wistar rats were exposed to CRS for 21 days in order to induce depressive‑like behavior. The results demonstrated that CRS (6 h/day, 21 days) was able to induce cognitive deficits in rats, as evidenced by Morris water maze and novel object recognition tests. In addition, CRS exposure significantly decreased the mRNA and protein expression levels of hippocampal brain‑derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the rats. Conversely, chronic treatment with resveratrol (80 mg/kg, i.p.; 21 days) significantly prevented the behavioral and biochemical alterations induced by CRS. The effects of resveratrol were nearly identical to those observed with fluoxetine treatment. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that resveratrol may be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of chronic stress‑induced cognitive impairments, and its underlying molecular mechanism may be associated with the increased levels of hippocampal BDNF.


This article presents research findings on image construction as a strategy of resistance used by progressive community agencies to be responsive to the increasing marginalization of their service users in current times. The agencies project nuanced images in representing their work to service users, funders and stakeholders and community partner agencies. These nuanced images serve to demonstrate the multiple and complex identities of these agencies. The agencies have used this strategy successfully to reclaim their power with funders and use their power effectively in making their services responsive and relevant to the situations of service users. The article provides an interesting presentation on the dynamics of the use of this strategy by progressive community organizations.


To investigate the low-atmosphere turbulence at the South Pole, we have measured, using a SODAR, the temperature fluctuation constant (C 2 ) during winter, as a function of altitude up to 890 m. We found that the turbulence was on average concentrated inside a boundary layer sitting below 270 m. While at the peak of winter the turbulence was stable and clearly bounded, during other seasons there was a more complex turbulence profile which extended to higher altitudes. We found that this behaviour could be explained by the horizontal wind speed conditions whose altitude profile closely matched the turbulence profile. We also observed the presence of a vertical wind velocity change of direction at an altitude range corresponding to the turbulent region. The turbulence gives rise to an average seeing of 1:73 00 , which compares poorly with the best astronomy sites. The location of the turbulence, however, means that the seeing quickly decreases above the boundary layer (dropping to 0:37 00 above 300 m). We also have recorded the largest isoplanatic angle (AO= 3:3 00 ) and the longest coherence time (AO= 2: 9m s)


The close and stable relationships between the large commercial banks and non-financial corporations in Sweden came under severe strain over the last decade. The financial system experienced wide-ranging financial deregulation and a rapid expansion of bank lending followed by a dramatic banking crisis and a severe contraction of credits. Using detailed, confidential, and internationally unique data on individual credit contracts, this paper documents the main bank relationships and their evolution during this period. The main findings are: (1) firms continue to rely on a single dominant bank lender throughout the period; (2) the turnover of main bank relationships increases dramatically; (3) the level of bank exposure in individual firms jumps as a result of both higher credit volumes and falling collateralization of credits; (4) many firms establish a second, underutilized, credit facility with another bank; (5) main banks have less collateral than these side banks; and (6) main banks have substantial ownership of equity in borrower firms through related institutions. The strong link between lending and such indirect equity ownership is perhaps the most striking aspect of the Swedish main bank arrangement, and equity holdings are important in sustaining these relationships.


The renowned anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff spent most of his working life among tribes living in the vast rainforests of the Colombian Northwest Amazon. This book brings together eleven of his essays and articles about the Tukano Indians. Many of the essays are concerned with the role of shamanism in Tukanoan society:?initiation practices, the rock crystal (the shamans' principal power tool), which provides the model for many aspects of the shamanistic world-view; and their curing spells, which show the Tukanoan concepts of illness and its cure. Other essays describe their concepts of universal energies and the ways they can be balanced, and the ecological dimensions of their world-view.


Abstract A total of 180 pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 17.0 ±1.6 lb) were used to determine feed intake preference from various corn protein sources. A series of 5-day preference trials were used with two diets offered within each comparison with feeder location rotated daily within each pen. Feed consumption was used to determine preference between each diet comparison. There were 6 replicates of each diet comparison. The corn protein sources utilized in this experiment included: fermented corn protein, high protein distillers dried grains with solubles (HPDDGs), whole stillage solids (approximately 2/3 content of fermented corn protein), and thin stillage solids (approximately 1/3 content of fermented corn protein). Fermented corn protein and HPDDGs were included in the diet at 15% as a replacement for corn. Whole stillage solids and thin stillage solids were included in the diet at 10% and 5%, respectively, as a replacement to corn to match its contribution in fermented corn protein. The control diet was a standard nursery diet. Diet comparisons included: 1) Control vs. Fermented corn protein; 2) Whole stillage solids vs. Fermented corn protein; 3) Thin stillage solids vs. Fermented corn protein; 4) HPDDGs vs. Fermented corn protein; 5) Control vs. Whole stillage solids; 6) Control vs. Thin stillage solids. For comparison 1, pigs preferred (P < 0.001) the control diet by consuming 82.5% of their intake with this diet compared with the diet containing fermented corn protein. For comparison 2, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in feed consumption of diets containing whole stillage solids and the fermented corn protein. For comparison 3, pigs preferred (P = 0.001) the diet containing thin stillage solids by consuming 75.8% of their intake with this diet compared to the diet containing fermented corn protein. There was no difference when comparing fermented corn protein and whole stillage solids, but thin stillage solids had a higher percentage intake than fermented corn protein. Therefore, it is likely that whole stillage solids are the component of fermented corn protein that negatively affect feed consumption.


In August of 2006, a new bacterial disease was noted in Hangzhou mulberry orchards of Zhejiang Province, China where bacterial wilt of mulberry caused by Ralstonia solanacearum was previously reported (3). In the summer, the disease caused severe wilt, especially on 1- or 2-year-old mulberry plants, that resulted in premature plant death. Leaf wilt symptoms generally started on older leaves at the bottom of the plant and spread to the younger leaves. The leaves of infected plants became withered and dry, turned dark brown, and eventually the plants became defoliated. The root xylem of infected plants was moist and discolored with brown stripes. The phloem was asymptomatic, however, in severe infections, the phloem was decayed. The observation of wilting proceeding from the bottom of the plant to the top distinguishes this disease from bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum. Five bacterial strains isolated from infected mulberry plants showed characteristics similar to those of the standard reference strain of Enterobacter cloacae subsp. cloacae IBJ0611from China, but differed from R. solanacearum IBJ35, E. cancerogenus LMG2693T, and E. cloacae subsp. dissolvens LMG2683T from the University of Gent, Belgium in phenotypic tests, including the Biolog Identification System version 4.2 (Biolog Inc., Hayward CA), pathogenicity tests, transmission electron microscopy (TEM,KYKY-1000B, Japan) observation, and gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) using the Microbial Identification System (MIDI Company, Newark, DE) with the aerobic bacterial library (TABA50). Isolates were gram negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped, 0.3 to 1.0 × 1.0 to 3.0 μm with peritrichous flagella. Colonies on nutrient agar were light yellow, smooth, circular, entire, and convex with no green fluorescent diffusible pigment on King's medium B (3). Weak hypersensitive reaction was observed on tobacco 3 days after inoculation. All five strains were identified as E. cloacae with Biolog similarity of 0.662 to 0.863 and FAMEs similarity of 0.632 to 0.701. Inoculation of 10 6-month-old intact mulberry plants of cv Husang with cell suspensions containing 109 CFU/ml by pinprick at the base of the stem reproduced symptoms observed in natural infections. No symptoms were noted on the two control plants inoculated by the same method but with sterilized distilled water. The bacterium was reisolated from the symptomatic mulberry plants. E. cloacae has been reported from the United States as the cause of internal yellowing of papaya fruits (1) and rhizome rot of edible ginger (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of mulberry wilt caused by E. cloacae in China. References: (1) K. Nishijima et al. Plant Dis. 71:1029, 1987. (2) K. Nishijima et al. Plant Dis. 88:1318, 2004. (3) L. Xu et al. Acta Phytophylacica. Sin. 34:141, 2007.


Despite the marked increase in incarceration over the past 30 years and the fact that roughly two thirds of released offenders are rearrested within 3 years of release, we know little about how the social ecology of the areas to which offenders return may influence their recidivism or whether it disproportionately affects some groups more than others. Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and macrolevel predictors of crime, this study examines a large sample of prisoners released to Florida communities to investigate how two dimensions of social ecology—resource deprivation and racial segregation—may independently, and in interaction with specific populations, influence recidivism. The findings suggest that ecology indeed is consequential for recidivism, and it differentially influences some groups more than others. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.


Suppressing expert knowledge can hide environmentally damaging practices and policies from public scrutiny. We surveyed ecologists and conservation scientists from universities, government, and industry across Australia to understand the prevalence and consequences of suppressing science communication. Government (34%) and industry (30%) respondents reported higher rates of undue interference by employers than did university respondents (5%). Internal communications (29%) and media (28%) were curtailed most, followed by journal articles (11%), and presentations (12%). When university and industry researchers avoided public commentary, this was mainly for fear of media misrepresentation, while government employees were most often constrained by senior management and workplace policy. One third of respondents reported personal suffering related to suppression, including job losses and deteriorating mental health. Substantial reforms are needed, including to codes of practice, and governance of environmental assessments and research, so that scientific advice can be reported openly, in a timely manner and free from interference.


Healthcare educators are in a unique position to support students' personal and professional development. The UOIT-DC Nursing Program curriculum is founded on caring values that assert a commitment to the primacy of relationships. According to humanistic nursing, caring involves the interrelated concepts of 'being' and 'doing' in which both require an active presence and willingness to come to know another person (Paterson  and  Zderad, 1976). A deeply held tenet of nursing practice is the notion that when a nurse knows or understands a person, he or she will be better able to care for that person. We believe that this notion also pertains to student and faculty relationships in nursing education, ultimately leading to more effective and meaningful learning opportunities and experiences. This poster will report on a qualitative study exploring undergraduate nursing students' hopes and dreams when they begin their education and the ways these hopes and dreams may shift and evolve as they progress through the program. The intersections of students' hopes and dreams for their education and faculty members' hopes and dreams in teaching students will be presented. The impetus for the project arose from conversations among faculty members about the complex relational nature of nursing education and our hope to enhance relational awareness and practices through a deeper understanding of the aspirations and goals that students hold. Exploration of how the findings may contribute to deeper understandings of and responsiveness to students and the significance of nursing practice and education to them will be presented. References Paterson, J. G.,  and  Zderad, L. T. (1976). Humanistic nursing. New York: John Wiley and Sons.


Further development of high performance computing hardware and software is focused on energy and parallel efficiency that are both crucial for future exascale level of supercomputer performance. Real applications tests as well as small-scale benchmarks of new architectures are important for the choice of the best development strategies. ARM CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs are among the most energy efficient hardware. Recently both architectures have been combined in the NVIDIA Tegra systems-on-chip. In this work we benchmark the development boards with Tegra K1 and X1 both with the Roofline model toolkit as well as with different classical molecular dynamics algorithms implemented in LAMMPS. We consider the utilization of the single and double peak floating-point performance and the power and energy consumption of the corresponding Cortex-A15, Cortex-A57, Kepler and Maxwell cores.


The rapid spread of COVID-19 among Mexican population has had a great impact on the rates of infected people and the daily confirmed deaths by the new coronavirus. As a consequence, the public and private sector response was self-isolation and keep the strategy called "jornada de sana distancia" along two months. However, Mexican government declared that on June 1st the reopening of the country and economy will be conducted gradually; this means that many people will come back to their workplace. This paper proposes a new method to evaluate the risk to be infected by COVID-19, using the people mobility and the presence of some comorbidities.


The problem and the solution. The pattern of Spanish national culture in terms of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity leads to a strong orientation toward rules and deference to leadership. Group harmony as validation of the individual is a strong value inhibiting open disagreement and generative conflict. Leaders play a central role in framing norms that support both the collective identity of the group and task accomplishment, create task designs that honor interdependence, and balance the need for saving face with open discussion and productive disagreement. Initially, these issues can be constructively resolved through informal networks.


Mutations of the Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) tumor suppressor gene have been reported in 5-70% of human breast cancers. APC is most well known for its role as a negative regulator of the Wnt/b-catenin pathway, where APC sequesters β-catenin and targets it for degradation via the proteasome. The breast cancer cell line, DU4475, has a single point mutation in the mutation cluster region of APC, coding for an early stop and subsequent truncated protein, lacking the β-catenin binding domain. Preliminary data using a TOPFlash reporter assay suggested that Wnt/β-catenin pathway was active, which was validated with immunofluorescence (IF) showing nuclear localization of β-catenin. Our overall hypothesis is that restoration of APC will decrease tumorigenic potential in DU4475 breast cancer cells. To test our hypothesis, we have generated DU4475 cells stably expressing GFP (control) (DU4475-GFP), a GFP-tagged internal fragment of APC that includes the β-catenin binding domain (DU4475-APCmid), and a GFP-tagged C-terminal fragment of APC that includes the microtubule binding domain of APC (DU4475-APCC-ter). After selection using G418, the GFP positive cells were sorted using a cell sorter. Results from TOPFlash reporter assay and IF demonstrated a modest decrease in Wnt/β-catenin activity in DU4475-APCmid cells. In addition, we observed decreased proliferation as measured in a growth assay in DU4475-APCmid cells compared to the control cells. We also observed a 17% increase in cleaved caspase-3 and only a minimal decrease in cell proliferation as measured by phospho-Histone H3 using IF in 3D cultures upon APCmid re-introduction. We also observed decreases in Cyclin D1, Cyclin B1, Early Growth Response 1, and HIF1α in DU4475-APCmid using real time PCR. These changes suggest that the re-introduction of the central domain of the APC tumor suppressor results in alterations in cell growth and gene expression changes indicative of an increased tumorigenic phenotype in vitro. Ongoing studies in the laboratory are dissecting the signaling pathways downstream of APC restoration to identify therapeutic targets that may be used to restore the functional alterations of mutant APC. These studies have generated a system to be utilized for in vivo tumor and metastasis formation under the control of APC mutation in a human cell culture model. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P5-07-08.


The one-to-multiparty quantum secret sharing scheme [Phys. Rev. A 71 (2005) 044301] proposed recently is extended to a multiparty-to-multiparty case. Furthermore, the continuous variable operations are employed in the extended scheme to replace the specific discrete unitary operations used in the original scheme. The complete randomicity of the continuous variable characterizing the unitary operations can ensure the security of secret sharing. Moreover, the present scheme is compared with the recent similar scheme [Phys. Rev. A 72 (2005) 012304]. It is found that the efficiency of the present scheme is n times of that of the previous one.


Will electronic money become the new medium of exchange, or will it be confined to just a few special niches? Money has three functions in society, and how well electronics serves these functions will determine its future. First, money is a unit of account, or a way to measure and record value. Second, it is a way to store value conveniently for future use. Finally, it is a medium of exchange. For money to fulfil these three functions, it must satisfy certain requirements. It should be easily and broadly recognizable and hard to fake (counterfeit), its value should be reasonably stable, and it should be durable and not deteriorate. Finally and crucially, it should be convenient and inexpensive to use. How will electronics fit into this matrix of functions and requirements? The products being developed today fall into two groups, and it is important to distinguish between them because only one of them is a new form of money. Those referred to as electronic banking do not represent a new kind of money, but rather offer a new way to access a number of traditional bank services with traditional money. Such activities as bill paying and shifting funds among accounts over a telephone or computer connection belong here. The many emerging types of stored value cards and other media, however, do create a new money, as they represent an alternative to government issued or guaranteed instruments. In stored value systems, the liability of the issuer is recorded directly on the card, and a corresponding deposit account is not necessarily maintained for the individual card holder.


A 54-year-old woman was diagnosed as having polycystic kidney in 1990. Renal transplantation was performed in 1995. She received immunosuppressive therapy postoperatively. Skin lesion was recognized on the left leg in April 2002 and skin biopsy demonstrated diffuse large B cell lymphoma in March 2006. EBV-LMP, EBNA-2 and EBER were positive and she was diagnosed as having EBV-related posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD). Radiation therapy and rituximab therapy were administered. The skin ulcer worsened and she was referred to our hospital. We reduced the dose of immunosuppressive drug and performed debridement of the ulcer, which responded well to treatment. PTLD presenting with skin involvement rarely manifests as lesions, and such lesions develop slowly, when they occur. PTLD presenting with skin involvement after transplantation must be treated.


The present paper is inclined to introduce our investigation and analysis of the characteristic features of the vascular bundle species diversity under the influence by the water of the middle reach- es of the Tarim River.In our investigation,we have collected sam- ples from 18 plots of the three monitoring sections in the middle reaches of the Tarim River,Xinjiang,and analyzed the environmental variables and species diversity by using diversity formula,with the help of ANOVA and regression analysis plant communities.The result of our investigation and analysis indicate that the moisture factor of the environmental variables serves as the dominant factor in deciding the distribution of species diversity.Although the moisture content of the three monitoring sections proves to be significantly different by ANOVA,the other contents of the soil factors are significantly differ- ent.Of the factors here mentioned,the water conditions of Wusiman section is better than the other two sections,while that of Shazihe section is rather poor.And,it is found that the increasing trend proves related with the variation of the richness of herbaceous plants along with the increased moisture content of soil by regression analy- sis.At the same time,the trends would decrease with the increase of the groundwater depth.However,significant variation of the richness cannot be found in the woody with the changes on the environmental factors from our regression analysis.In addition,many species in the middle reaches of the river were photophilous,with the drastic inter- species competitions in the given environments that were provided with high groundwater level,at which some herbs can simply be hard to make their survival due to dense coverage of some shrubs.Howev- er,at the same section of the river,not significant distribution gap was found in the area with better moisture condition near the stream channel than in the other ordinary areas.As a result of investigation, we have found that 16 species of the total 23 plant species belong to herbs.That is to say,the richness of herbs may perhaps directly in- fluence the richness of the plant community.Comparing the distribu- tion of species diversities of the three sections in a distance 100 me- ters' away from the river bank areas,it can be found that the combi- nation of high species richness and low evenness would be character- istic of the plant communities in the Wusiman section,while the in- verse combination of species richness and evenness can be found in the Shazihe section.


Civic skills, knowledge and attitudes are the elements forming the citizenship concept. How do they suit multicultural societies? What are the mutual links among civic attitudes, knowledge and skills of different ethnic groups? The aim of the research is to establish the model of students' civic competence and to find out factors which explain the influence of civic achievements on civic attitudes. IEA (the International Association for the Evolution of Educational Achievement) ICCS 2009 (the International Civic and Citizenship Studies 2009) are used for the analysis. SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) is used for data processing. The authors used multi-modelling to compare Latvian and Estonian majority and minority sample groups. The results indicate that the level of civic knowledge and skills influences civic attitudes of Estonian and Latvian students. Students with a higher level of civic knowledge and skills have a more pronounced sense of global belonging and ability to adjust and live a multicultural society. The civic knowledge of Estonian students with the Estonian language of instruction influences most essentially the civic attitudes and a sense of belonging to Europe. Latvian students with the Russian language of instruction have the least influence on the mentioned factors.
Key words: civic and citizenship education, Estonia, Latvia, SEM method.


BACKGROUND
Anatomical variations of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) are an important clinical issue, due to high prevalence of intracranial aneurysms. Anatomical variations of vessels can lead to higher shear stress, which is thought to be the main factor leading to aneurysm formation and consequently to higher prevalence of aneurysms. The aim of this study was to evaluate anatomy of the MCA; to classify MCA aneurysms using computed tomography angiography and to correlate anatomical variations of MCA and circle of Willis with prevalence of MCA aneurysms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two hundred and fifty patients without MCA aneurysms and 100 patients with unruptured MCA aneurysms were qualified for the study, with exclusion of patients after MCA clipping. Four aspects of MCA anatomy were evaluated: division point, its relation to the genu, distance to M1 division and the genu and domination of post-division trunks.

RESULTS
Middle cerebral artery bifurcation was found in 86.2% and trifurcation in 13.8% of the cases. 78.4% of MCAs divided before the genu, 19.2% in the genu and 2.4% after the genu. Upper branch domination was seen in 26%, lower branch in 25.4%, middle branch in 4% and no domination in 44.6% of the cases. In the study group 116 aneurysms were found. 86.2% of the aneurysms were located in M1 division point, 6.9% in M2 segment, 3.4% near lenticulostriatae arteries and 3.4% near early cortical branches. The only anatomical variation, which had significantly higher prevalence in patients with left MCA aneurysms, was domination of upper post-division trunk of MCA. No other statistically significant differences in circle of Willis and MCA variations were found between patients with aneurysms and without them.

CONCLUSIONS
The most common configuration of MCA is bifurcation before the genu with no dominating post-division trunk. Incidence of MCA aneurysms is not correlated with anatomical variations of MCA and the circle of Willis.


China's water resources are scarce and unevenly distributed. It has the sixth largest amount of renewable resources in the world, but a per capita availability that is only one-fourth the world average and among the lowest for a major country. The country is under serious water stress, and its problems are made more severe by the fact that resources are unevenly distributed, both spatially and temporally. Per capita water availability in northern China is less than one-fourth that in southern China, one eleventh of the world average, and less than the threshold level that defines water scarcity. A monsoonal climate also means that China is subject to frequent droughts and floods, often simultaneously in different regions, as precipitation varies greatly from year to year and season to season. The complexity of water resource management in China requires a transition from a traditional system with the government as the main decision making entity toward a modern approach that relies on a sound legal framework, effective institutional arrangements, transparent decision making and information disclosure, and active public participation. This will require that laws are straightforward and not contradictory, with mechanisms and procedures for enforcing them. It also should entail the creation of a new multi-sectoral state agency tasked with overseeing water management policy at the national level.


Co-amorphous systems have been shown to be a promising strategy to address the poor water solubility of many drug candidates. However, little is known about the effect of downstream processing-induced stress on these systems. The aim of this study is to investigate the compaction properties of co-amorphous materials and their solid-state stability upon compaction. Model systems of co-amorphous materials consisting of carvedilol and the two co-formers aspartic acid and tryptophan were produced via spray drying. The solid state of matter was characterized using XRPD, DSC, and SEM. Co-amorphous tablets were produced with a compaction simulator, using varying amounts of MCC in the range of 24 to 95.5% (w/w) as a filler, and showed high compressibility. Higher contents of co-amorphous material led to an increase in the disintegration time; however, the tensile strength remained rather constant at around 3.8 MPa. No indication of recrystallization of the co-amorphous systems was observed. This study found that co-amorphous systems are able to deform plastically under pressure and form mechanically stable tablets.


Alzheimer's disease is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Clinically early detection of Alzheimer's disease is helpful in taking care of the patients. The nuclear imaging method, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), is a useful tool in analyzing the cerebral blood flow. Most common regional abnormalities for Alzheimer's disease are symmetric or asymmetric bilateral temporal or parietal hypoperfusion, or frontal hypoperfusion. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) is employed to do pre-processing of SPECT volumes. Due to its effectiveness, easiness and fastness, SPM has been widely applied to the diagnosis and function research of brain diseases. The proposed system can provide a quantitatively automatic analysis of the SPECT volumes. The selection of three variables based on the statistical parametric t maps between Alzheimer's and normal volumes are proposed. Then an optimal linear classifier is applied to discriminate between these two group of volumes. In statistical pattern recognition, the Bayes error, the overlap among different class densities, is the smallest possible error in the current measurement space. Due to the effectiveness of the variable selection, the simple optimal linear classifier achieves a near-Bayes error ratio. The sensitivity and specificity of the proposed method are 88% and 90%, respectively. With the high sensitivity and specificity performance, the proposed automatic analysis of brain SPECT volumes can assist in the clinical practice of radiologists.


BACKGROUND
Heterotopic pregnancy is a potentially catastrophic form of ectopic pregnancy and is increasing in incidence secondary to assisted reproductive technology. Early diagnosis and intervention are important in avoiding short- and long-term morbidity.

CASE
A 36-year-old, nulliparous woman became pregnant by in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. A total of three embryos were transferred. She presented to the emergency room approximately six weeks after transfer with the complaint of severe abdominal pain. Laboratory analysis revealed a decreasing hematocrit with stable vital signs despite continued abdominal pain. On transvaginal ultrasound, two fetal poles were present, with cardiac activity in two of the three gestational sacs. At surgery the patient was found to have a ruptured tubal pregnancy in addition to the intrauterine gestations. Pathologic analysis revealed a twin tubal pregnancy.

CONCLUSION
Heterotopic pregnancy should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient who becomes pregnant by assisted reproduction techniques and presents with signs and symptoms of ectopic pregnancy.


Describes the use of a bifurcated fibre-optics bundle as a light transmission guide to measure the autocorrelation function of light dynamically backscattered from within aqueous suspensions of micron-sized polystyrene latex particles. The measurements cover the volume fraction range from phi approximately 10-3 to phi approximately 0.1. Exploiting the diffusive nature of the passage of light within such systems, it is demonstrated that such measurements provide a valuable estimate of particle size for a wide range of diameters from 0.1 to 6 mu m. By making measurements on mixtures of the monodisperse lattices, an empirical weighting function is derived to take account of the effects of polydispersity in particle size.


Even though the people of Afghanistan in general suffered under the rule of the Taliban, women lived difficult lives, enduring terrible hardships. They were denied basic human rights, forced to wear veils and kept in seclusion. This work addresses the society, politics, and national identity of Afghan women and places them within their gender-political and religious-political roles, thus elevating our understanding of their abuse, imprisonment and murder, and offering a basis for their reconstruction efforts. Powerful and moving interviews with Afghan women parliamentarians conducted and translated are presented and a brief history of the struggle of the Afghan women and an overview of the conflict between the Afghans and the Taliban are included.


Reading comprehension levels of elementary students have not significantly improved in the 21 st century and as a result, the need for systematic and intensive reading interventions is as high as ever.  Literacy clinics are an ideal setting for struggling readers to experience success through the implementation of a cyclical approach to individual assessment, planning, instruction, and evaluation.  Yet, additional research is needed to create current models of literacy clinics.  This investigation aims to measure the effects of an experimental approach to reading comprehension instruction in the third grade within an off-campus literacy clinic.  Its findings are relevant to those involved in literacy remediation, including literacy clinic directors, preservice educators, and curriculum directors.  Keywords : literacy, reading clinics, intervention, remediation, individualized instruction, elementary


RNA has a diverse array of cellular functions, and relies on molecular structure to carry them out. The vast majority of current methods for prediction of RNA secondary structure (i.e. the set of base pairs in the molecule) consider the minimum free energy structure (i.e. the most thermodynamically stable structure), and thus disregard the process of structural formation. There exists substantial evidence that the process of structure formation is important, and that it does impact the resulting functional RNA structure. Several methods currently exist that explicitly simulate the kinetic folding pathway as a time-ordered sequence of structural changes. However, these methods not only suffer from a long list of limiting assumptions about the cellular environment, but also are restricted to short sequences. In this thesis, we explore the idea of capturing the effects of kinetic folding rather than simulating in detail the process over time, and propose that accounting for kinetic effects of structural formation is crucial to further improve non-comparative RNA secondary structure prediction methods. During transcription, RNA structure begins to form immediately as the molecule emerges from the polymerase (i.e. co-transcriptionally). Long-range base pairs suffer a disadvantage during this process, as quicklyforming short-range base pairs act to block their formation (i.e. due to kinetic barriers). We propose a novel method, CoFold, that captures the reachability of potential pairing partners during co-transcriptional folding. We show that it significantly improves prediction accuracy over free energy minimization alone, particularly for long sequences. CoFold depends on only two free parameters that are highly correlated, and we demonstrate robust training. Furthermore, the resulting structures predicted by CoFold have a free energy measurement that does not significantly differ from that of the respective RNAfold prediction, indicating that they are indeed stable secondary structures. We propose that consideration of kinetics in RNA secondary structure prediction is crucial, and we hope that this work encourages further exploration of its effect on biological RNA structure.


We study the possibility of correctly identifying, from the smooth galaxy density field of the PSCz flux-limited catalogue, high-density regions (superclusters) and recovering their true shapes in the presence of a bias introduced by the coupling between the selection function and the constant radius smoothing. We quantify such systematic biases in the smoothed PSCz density field and after applying the necessary corrections we study supercluster multiplicity and morphologies using a differential geometry definition of shape. Our results strongly suggest that filamentary morphology is the dominant feature of PSCz superclusters. Finally, we compare our results with those expected in three different cosmological models and find that the Λ cold dark matter (CDM) model (ΩΛ=1−Ωm=0.7) performs better than Ωm=1 CDM models.


The specimen as received was a hard, ball-shaped mass some five centimeters in diameter. Its surface was torn, shaggy and brownish. The specimen had been in formalin for several weeks. The cut surface was grayish, irregular in color and showed no structure to the naked eye.

The tumor is a partly papillary adenocarcinoma. The stroma is thin, containing few blood vessels; the epithelial cells are small, mostly equal in size, their protoplasm being apparently homogeneous; the nuclei are round-ovoid, showing small peripheral thickenings of chromatin. Some of the glandular lumina contain homogeneous masses which stain red with eosin. At many points the tissue is compressed and here the papillary structure is much less outspoken. There are large areas of necrosis, interrupted by blood-vessels which are surrounded by coats of well-preserved adenocarcinoma.

The surrounding kidney tissue is compressed by an increase of connective tissue. No inflammatory reaction is found. The blood vessels give no hint concerning the age of the jackal. It is probable that this tumor originated from the tubules of the kidney, although no proof can be given of this inference.

As far as I have been able to find in the literature, cancer of the kidney is not as rare in domesticated animals as it is in man. It has been found in dogs, cats, rabbits, fowl, horses, sheep and cows. Most of the cases reported have been in dogs (1, 2).

Among twelve primary carcinomata in pigs Sticker (3) found seven cancers of the kidney. Fox (4) has reported a primary tumor in the kidney of a squirrel, composed of irregular acini.


The rank ordering of samples is widely used in robust statistics and robust signal processing. Advances in these areas have focused on utilizing joint time-rank (TR) information. The TR information utilized to date is that resulting from a binary, or crisp, relation between the marginal time and rank ordering of samples. This crisp relation, while powerful, contains no information on sample values or spread. This paper generalizes the TR relation through fuzzy set theory. This generalization includes information on sample spread and leads to the concepts of fuzzy TR relations, fuzzy time and rank ordered samples, and fuzzy time and rank indices. These concepts are developed and analyzed through the derivation of fundamental properties. It is shown that the fuzzy TR relations, samples, and indices contain their crisp (standard) counterparts as special cases. These fuzzy generalizations constitute powerful tools that can be exploited in the design of signal processing algorithms.


Calcium ions (Ca2+) are indispensable for the physiology of organisms and the molecular regulation of cells. We observed that CGK733, a synthetic chemical substance, induced non-apoptotic cell death and stimulated reversible calcium sequestration by vesicles in pancreatic cancer cells. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3/C/EBP homologous protein (PERK/CHOP) signaling pathway was shown to be activated by treatment with CGK733. Ionomycin, an ER stress drug and calcium ionophore, can activate PERK/CHOP signaling and accelerate CGK733-induced calcium sequestration. Knockdown of CHOP diminished CGK733-induced vesicular calcium sequestration, but had no effects on the cell death. Proteomic analysis demonstrated that the ER-located calcium-binding proteins, calumenin and protein S100-A11, were altered in CGK733-treated cells compared to non-treated controls. Our study reveals that CGK733-induced intracellular calcium sequestration is correlated with the PERK/CHOP signaling pathway and may also be involved in the dysregulations of calcium-binding proteins.


An analysis of two-dimensional scattering from a narrow groove in an impedance plane is presented. The groove is represented by an impedance surface and hence the problem reduces to that of scattering from an impedance strip in an otherwise uniform impedance plane. On the basis of this model, appropriate integral equations are constructed using a form of the impedance plane Green's functions involving rapidly convergent integrals. The integral equations are solved by introducing a single-basis representation of the equivalent current on the narrow impedance insert. Both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations are treated. The resulting solution is validated by comparison with results from the standard boundary integral method and a high-frequency solution. It is found that the presented solution for narrow impedance inserts can be used in conjunction with the high-frequency solution for the characterization of impedance inserts of any given width.


Abstract We report the complete mitochondrial genome of Cuora mccordi. The complete genome is a closed circular molecule of 16,551 bp, with an overall base composition of 34.06% for A, 26.73% for T, 12.84% for G, and 26.37% for C. The A + T content is 60.79%. The full length consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and one control region (D-loop). Phylogenetic analysis results showed that the mitogenome of Cuora mccordi was the closest to Cuora pani. The complete mitochondrial genome of Cuora mccordi (GenBank accession number: OM327796) can aid in understanding evolutionary relationships within Cuora.


We calculate the critical temperature Tc of a wide range of diborides which have the same crystal structure as MgB2. Their electronic structure is also calculated in the framework of the local density approximation method of density functional theory by using the pseudopotential plane wave approach. The Hopfield factors η of these materials are calculated by the frozen phonon method. Our results show that most of these diborides have low η, and hence low or no Tc; this is consistent with experimental observations. The most important result of our calculation is that AgB2 and AuB2 have higher Tc than MgB2. The high Tc of these two materials comes from the combination of the high density of states and high deformation potential of the σ bands.


Introduction : Human cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease and is increasingly recognized as a major public health problem. It is associated with significant effects on growth, physical and cognitive functions and excess mortality especially among children. Aim : To determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocyst excretion in children less than 5years with diarrhoea in ABUTH Zaria. Methods : Children aged 0 to 59 months managed in paediatrics wards of ABUTH for diarrhoea were studied between July 2008 and June 2009. Stool specimens obtained from these subjects were analysed for Cryptosporidium oocysts using the modified ZN staining technique. Results : A total of 185 children were enrolled. There were 78 (42.2%) boys and 107(57.8%) girls. A total of 33 children studied excreted oocysts in their stools, giving a prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocysts of 17.8%. The highest rate (21.7%) was observed in children aged between 13 and 36 months, and no oocysts were observed in stools of neonates. Oocyst excretion was observed to be commoner in the rainy season. Conclusion : Cryptosporidium is a common cause of diarrhoea among under-five children in our environment. It was commoner after infancy and in the rainy season. Recommendation: Routine screening for  Cryptosporidium should be part of evaluation of diarrhoeal illness especially in children beyond the neonatal age group. Key words : Cryptosporidiosis; diarrhoea; under-five; children


Introduction
 Intestinal graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), has a high mortality rate and a reduced life-expectancy. In this context, failure to respond to steroid therapy is associated with limited further therapeutic options, thereby representing an unmet medical need. Aiming at restoring microbiome functions, fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) has proved to be a promising treatment modality in this challenging clinical setting, with recent studies reporting favorable results in steroid refractory-acute GVHD (SR-aGvHD) patients. Here we report on the use of a next-gen FMT product "MaaT013", a standardized, pooled-donor, high-richness microbiota biotherapeutic, used to treat 29 patients with intestinal aGvHD as part of a compassionate use/expanded access treatment program.
 Patients and methods
 Twenty-nine allo-HSCT recipients with steroid-dependent or SR intestinal GvHD (classical aGVHD n=22, late-onset aGVHD n=2; aGvHD with overlap syndrome n=5) were treated with MaaT013 biotherapeutic as part of a compassionate use/expanded access treatment program of the developer MaaT Pharma. These patients had previously received and failed 1 to 5 lines (median 3; 22/29 received ruxolitinib) of GvHD systemic treatments. Each patient received 1 to 3 doses (median: 3; total doses administered: 71) of MaaT013, a 150 mL bag, by enema (n=28) or nasogastric tube (n=1). GI-GvHD response was evaluated 7 days after each administration and 28 days after the first dose.
 Prepared under Good Manufacturing Practices, MaaT013 biotherapeutics are characterized by a highly consistent richness of 455 ±3% Operational Taxonomic Units and an Inverse Simpson index greater than 20. Batch release specifications are based on potency (viability), identity (diversity), and purity (microbiological safety testing and proportion of proinflammatory species), ensuring the desired consistency across batches.
 Results
 We observed a GI overall response rate of 59% (17/29) at day 28 after first dosing, including 9 complete response (CR), 6 very good partial response (VGPR), and 2 partial response (PR). Considering the best GI response achieved, 20/29 patients (69%) achieved at least a PR, with 9 CR, 8 VGPR and 3 PR. Among the 29 treated patients, 16 were still alive at last follow-up (median follow-up (FU): 131.5 days; range [28; 413]) and 6 months overall survival was 54%. Among the 9 patients achieving CR, all were still alive at last follow-up (median FU: 197 days; [49; 301]) and were able to taper or stop steroids and immunosuppressants. Among these 9 patients, three patients presented GI symptom recurrence between 2 and 3 months after dosing. In 2 patients, this recurrence occurred after heavy antibiotic treatment, one of them received an additional MaaT013 dose and achieved a second CR. Of note, among these 9 patients, mild chronic mucosal GvHD symptoms persisted in one patient, and molecular relapse of hematologic malignancy was observed in another.
 The safety of the MaaT013 microbiota biotherapeutic was satisfactory for all patients. One patient developed "possibly related" sepsis one day after the third dosing but no pathogen was identified in blood cultures, and the patient recovered after a course of antibiotics. Another patient developed C. difficile diarrhea 24 hours post-administration. This was not causally related to MaaT013, as C. difficile testing was negative in the MaaT013 lot. Nosocomial transmission was suspected as the cause as several patients with C. difficile infection were hospitalized in the same unit during this period.
 Conclusions
 We herein report for the first time the treatment of 29 patients with steroid-dependent or SR intestinal aGvHD using a full ecosystem, standardized, pooled-donor, high-richness biotherapeutic. The overall response rate was 59% with the off-the-shelf MaaT013 product, which was shown to be safe and effective in these heavily pre-treated and immunocompromised patients, warranting further exploration of the full ecosystem microbiota restoration approach.

 Malard: Astellas: Honoraria; JAZZ pharmaceutical: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Keocyt: Honoraria; Theralos/Mallinckrodt: Honoraria; Biocodex: Honoraria. Plantamura:MaaT Pharma: Current Employment. Mohty:BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


A 30-year-old female was admitted to our hospital complaining of high fever and fatigue. Laboratory findings showed as follows; WBC 41,500/microliter (40% of blasts), Hb 8.5g/dl, platelets 4.4 x 10(4)/microliter. Cytochemical staining of blasts was positive for peroxidase and non-specific esterase with NaF inhibition. Chromosome analysis showed 46, XX, inv (16p+,q-). AML with eosinophilia was diagnosed. During myelosuppression after remission induction therapy, she developed high fever, and did not respond to transfusions. Marrow smears showed the presence of phagocytic histiocytes consisting of 18% total nuclear cells. A diagnosis of reactive histiocytosis (RH) was made. She recovered spontaneously, but suffered two episode of recurrence during subsequent chemotherapy. Reactive histiocytosis is characterized by proliferation of histiocytes which phagocyte blood cells in immunodeficient cases, e.g. a myelosuppressive state after chemotherapy. RH causes high fever and prolonged myelosuppression. It is considered to be one of the poor prognostic factors in AML during chemotherapy, and spontaneous recovery is rare. In this report, the effect of hydrocortisone on histiocytes derived from patient marrow was also investigated in vitro.


This paper introduces the field programmable gate array (fpga) application in high-speed visual inspection system.ALTERA EP1K30QC208-2 are used in the system for system calculation and control of the core, to perform high-speed real-time visual detection algorithm, this paper adopts a yawning based on eye closure and to detect driver fatigue, the method of in YCr, Cb in the color space using gaussian model skin detection of human face area, in the face of a gray binarization figure using a priori knowledge of facial features geometry in rough positioning the human eye, eye contour are obtained by region growing and morphological operation and calculation of the closure of the eye;Best threshold detection lips when using lip color roughly locate the lips, on the basis of accurate positioning lips by face grey value characteristics, and then through the mouth level to determine whether a driver yawn;Based on the two characteristics of driving fatigue, experiments show that this system detection speed, excellent versatility, and can improve the detection accuracy.


The author designs a volcano smoke planar ultra-wide band antenna, which is composed of the planar volcano smoke antenna and the resistance loop circuit. The lower cut-off frequency of the antenna bandwidth is studied. The return loss (S11) of the input port of the antenna is measured. The research finds that the lower cut-off frequency of antenna with and without resistance loop circuits is 0.5GHz and 0.8GHz, respectively. The results show the resistance loop circuit can expand the bandwidth of the antenna toward the lower frequency direction.


Background: The female lower genital is habited by various microorganisms as normal resident which help to protect the woman against various form of infections.
Aims and objectives: This is to assess the bacterial microflora of vagina and cervix in women of rural community in a developing country.
Subjects and Methods: A qualitative comparative study of the bacterial flora of the vagina and cervix of 220 nonpregnant women of childbearing age (18- 40 years) in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State was undertaken.
Results: The study revealed that both aerobic and microaerophilic organisms as well as the strictly anaerobic bacteria constituted the microflora of the lower genital of this group of women. Of the 220 women sampled, Lactobacilli were the most frequently isolated organism in both the cervix and vagina, occurring in 62.2% and 75.6% samples respectively. Proteus species were the least in incidence, occurring in only 4.1% and 5.3% in the vaginal and cervical specimens respectively. The following pathogenic organisms were isolated in both the vagina and cervix: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Clostridium species and Beta-haemolytic Steptococci. In general, the same types of organisms were isolated in both the cervical and vaginal samples, although the incidence in the two sources varied.
Conclusion: the organism from the cervix and vagina were essentially the same despite the anatomical and physiological differences of these structures.


Dear Editor, We write in response to Sasieni et al. who refer to our article on the benefit of screening young women. We accept that their calculations (based on modeling) may be more or less correct in saying that ''only'' 3% of CIN3 would become invasive by age 25 years. During 2003, before implementing the policy of not inviting women aged 20–24 years for screening, 4,000 cases of CIN3 were registered in England in that age band. Those 120 women [3%] might disagree that screening was unnecessary. Furthermore, not all women are screened as soon as they reach age 25 years. Treating highgrade CIN is essentially a treatment of risk and reduces the likelihood of invasive cancer developing in subsequent years of life—after an unknown interval for any individual woman. We quoted the evidence of Peto et al. that at least 50% of CIN3 would eventually become invasive later in life. Highgrade CIN has always been detected and in most cases treated primarily in women aged 20–39 years. We accept that some may regress and that regression is probably more likely in younger women. But we see no clear evidence that management of CIN3 in women aged 20–24 should be any different from in those aged 25–34 years. In England as a whole, following the increased incidence in young women that led to the launch of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in 1988, there was no decline during the following decade of incidence in women aged 20–24 years—but there was a decline both in women aged 25–29 and 30–34 years. In both those age bands it is beginning to rise again (Fig. 1). Furthermore, a 12-year audit of 382 cancers in Southampton and south west Hampshire showed a significant shift between 1985–87 and 1994–96 from highstage symptomatic cancers to screen-detected 1A and 1B cancers in women aged 20–34 years. In our view, screening young women has several purposes: i) to reduce the risk of invasive cancer by detecting and treating high-grade CIN when it is small enough in volume to be treated effectively, ii) to detect microinvasive and early cancers at a stage when treatment can often be offered without loss of fertility, iii) to monitor low-grade lesions so that highgrade CIN can be treated if it occurs during follow-up, and iv) to offer life-style advice (on diet, smoking cessation and use of condoms) to reduce the risk of low-grade lesions progressing to high-grade. The concern that this age group is more vulnerable to anxiety and may have unnecessary and potentially harmful treatment must be addressed not by excluding them from screening but by counseling and adherence to evidence-based protocols, especially for low-grade abnormalities. We see no evidence in the article by Sasieni et al. for the final clause (our italics) in the abstract ''From this analysis, at most 1.5% of women treated (equivalent to 3% of CIN3 registrations) would have cancer by age 25 whereas it is reasonable to assume that over half of them would have regressed by age 25'', which the authors misquote from their discussion: ''This should be balanced against the likelihood that over half of the CIN2 and CIN3 treated at ages 20–24 would have regressed (without treatment) by age 25''. We accept that 30–50% of CIN2 may regress, which was shown in the ALTS trial, but that did not apply to CIN3 (or HPV16þ CIN2) and is contrary to the evidence of molecular biological features of CIN3 as well as follow-up studies and reviews of false negative smears of women with cancer, which were referred to in our article. We believe that the final statement in the abstract, which we have already seen quoted out of context, is at best highly misleading.


In this paper, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings were prepared by plasma spraying of ready-to-spray suspensions provided by three different manufacturers. High-enthalpy hybrid water-argon plasma torch WSPH 500 was successfully used for deposition of coatings with porous and columnar microstructure consisting of tetragonal non-transformable phase. Sensitivity of the deposition process to variation of deposition conditions was also evaluated by the change of suspension injection point position. Slight differences in the microstructures of the deposited coatings (in particular character of porosity and mutual bonding of the microsplats) were reflected in slight but measurable differences in hardness and wear resistance of the coatings indicating changes in the coating cohesion. Tensile adhesion/cohesion strength of the coatings was found to be in the range of 9 to 15 MPa. High coating porosity desirable for low thermal conductivity combined with high suspension feed rate (from about 100 to 120 ml/min in this study) makes the WSP-H coatings promising for further development for example in thermal barrier coatings applications.


Unmanned underwater vehicle have many applications in scientific, military, and commercial areas because of their autonomy. In my cases, an underwater vehicle adopts a control algorithm based on a tactical inertial sensor for precise control. However, a control algorithm that uses a tactical inertial sensor is unsuitable for some underwater vehicle missions such as torpedo decoys. This paper proposes a control algorithm for an unmanned underwater vehicle that does not require precise control. The control algorithm proposed for an unmanned underwater vehicle adopts a low cost MEMS inertial sensor, and simulations using the specifications of the MEMS inertial sensor under development are performed to verify the control algorithm under a real environment. The results of these simulations are presented.


In this paper, we conduct an in-depth evaluation of a broad spectrum of scheduling alternatives for clusters. These include the widely used batch scheduling, local scheduling, gang scheduling, all prior communication-driven coscheduling algorithms (Dynamic Coscheduling (DCS), Spin Block (SB), Periodic Boost (PB), and Co-ordinated Coscheduling (CC)) and a newly proposed HYBRID coscheduling algorithm on a 16-node, Myrinet-connected Linux cluster. Performance and energy measurements using several NAS, LLNL and ANL benchmarks on the Linux cluster provide several interesting conclusions. First, although batch scheduling is currently used in most clusters, all blocking-based coscheduling techniques such as SB, CC and HYBRID and the gang scheduling can provide much better performance even in a dedicated cluster platform. Second, in contrast to some of the prior studies, we observe that blocking-based schemes like SB and HYBRID can provide better performance than spin-based techniques like PB on a Linux platform. Third, the proposed HYBRID scheduling provides the best performance-energy behavior and can be implemented on any cluster with little effort. All these results suggest that blocking-based coscheduling techniques are viable candidates to be used in clusters for significant performance-energy benefits.


River flow management and modification is a global issue, and its effects on river-dependent organisms are pervasive. Flow modification can directly affect avian species through mortality or habitat loss, but less is known about indirect and sublethal effects of flow modification on reproductive output in these species. Young birds are more vulnerable to predation between hatching and fledging than after flight is achieved, but tradeoffs must be made to balance growth and survival. Predation pressure appears to be a significant factor affecting the time to fledging in altricial birds, but less is known about this threat for precocial birds. Birds reaching fledging earlier should have greater rates of survival to migration because their predator escape repertoire includes flight at an earlier age. We evaluated the effect of varying outflows from the Gavins Point Dam on the growth, age at fledging, and survival of piping plover (Charadrius melodus) chicks on the Missouri River (2006–2009). The study was characterized by 2 relatively high flow years (2006 and 2009) and 2 relatively low flow years (2007 and 2008). We used success rate in recapturing chicks in capture–mark–recapture models as an index for fledging. We attempted to recapture all chicks (n = 1,099) by hand every 3–4 days throughout the season to acquire morphological measurements. Models indicated that as flows from the dam increased, age at fledging increased. We also found that increasing flows were associated with decreasing daily survival rates (βflow = −2.401, 95% CI: −4.351 to −0.452). Flow was also negatively related to chick mass gain, but we found less evidence for an effect on wing-chord length. Increased flows covered wet-substrate foraging habitat, and likely affected plover reproductive output directly through chick survival and indirectly through decreased growth and increased fledging times. © The Wildlife Society, 2013


The structure, stability, and electronic state of Li(H2O)n (n = 1−6 and 8) clusters have been investigated by an ab initio molecular orbital method, including electron correlation, and compared with those of their cations. The interior structure where the Li atom is surrounded by four H2O molecules in the first shell and more in the second shell is found to be the most stable for both neutral and cationic n ≥ 4 clusters. The size dependence of the vertical ionization potentials of Li(H2O)n is in good agreement with the recent experiment. It decreases successively until n = 4 and becomes nearly constant for n ≥ 4 being close to the bulk limit of vertical detachment energies of (H2O)n-. The excess electron is separated from Li and distributed outside the first-shell cavity in n ≥ 4 clusters. The electronic state of the clusters changes from a one-center atomic state for n ≤ 3 to a two-center ionic state for n ≥ 4 with a gradual localization of the excess electron. Dangling hydrogens interacting with the exc...


The compensation heat pulse method is widely used to estimate sap flow in conducting organs of woody plants. Being an invasive technique, calibration is crucial to derive correction factors for accurately estimating the sap flow value from the measured heat pulse velocity. We compared the results of excision and perfusion calibration experiments made with mature olive (Olea europaea L. 'Manzanilla de Sevilla'), plum (Prunus domestica L. 'Songal') and orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck. 'Cadenero') trees. The calibration experiments were designed according to current knowledge on the application of the technique and the analysis of measured heat pulse velocities. Data on xylem characteristics were obtained from the experimental trees and related to the results of the calibration experiments. The most accurate sap flow values were obtained by assuming a wound width of 2.0 mm for olive and 2.4 mm for plum and orange. Although the three possible methods of integrating the sap velocity profiles produced similar results for all three species, the best results were obtained by calculating sap flow as the weighted sum of the product of sap velocity and the associated sapwood area across the four sensors of the heat-pulse-velocity probes. Anatomical observations showed that the xylem of the studied species can be considered thermally homogeneous. Vessel lumen diameter in orange trees was about twice that in the olive and plum, but vessel density was less than half. Total vessel lumen area per transverse section of xylem tissue was greater in plum than in the other species. These and other anatomical and hydraulic differences may account for the different calibration results obtained for each species.


Commercial topical solutions of erythromycin 1.5 percent and clindamycin phosphate 1.0 percent were evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, twelve-week comparison in sixty-six patients with moderate acne. Both treatment groups showed significant reductions of total lesions, inflammatory lesions, and papules. Additionally, the group using erythromycin 1.5 percent showed significant decreases in total noninflammatory lesions and closed comedones, and the group using clindamycin phosphate 1.0 percent showed significant reductions in pustules. The only statistically significant differences between the treatments were the greater reductions in closed comedones for those patients using erythromycin 1.5 percent and greater reductions in pustules for those patients using clindamycin 1.0 percent. Nearly two thirds of the patients in each group had a good or excellent overall response after twelve weeks. One erythromycin-treated patient discontinued treatment because his wife became sensitized to it. This reportedly also occurred with the use of topical clindamycin. Other side effects were minor or transient. In this study, topical erythromycin 1.5 percent and clindamycin 1.0 percent appeared to be clinically equivalent for treating moderate facial acne.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are an emerging class of deep learning models on graphs, with many successful applications, such as, recommendation systems, drug discovery, and social network analysis. The GNN computation includes both regular neural network operations and general graph convolution operations, which take the majority of the total computation time. Though several recent works have been proposed to accelerate the computation for GNNs, they face the limitations of heavy pre-processing, low efficient atomic operations, and unnecessary kernel launches. In this paper, we design TLPGNN, a lightweight two-level parallelism paradigm for GNN computation. First, we conduct a systematic analysis on the hardware resource usage of GNN workloads to deeply understand the specialties of GNN workloads. With the insightful observations, we then divide the GNN computation into two levels, i.e., vertex parallelism for the first level and feature par- allelism for the second. Next, we employ a novel hybrid dynamic workload assignment to address the imbalanced workload distribution. Furthermore, we fuse the kernels to reduce the number of kernel launches and cache the frequently accessed data into registers to avoid unnecessary memory traffics. Together, TLPGNN is able to significantly outperform existing GNN computation systems, such as DGL, GNNAdivsor, and FeatGraph, by 5.6×, 7.7×, and 3.3×, respectively, on the average.


The author introduces his approach to the volume whereby he will study "Buddy Holly" as  'the precipitate of a network of practices involving numerous other individuals (e.g. musicians, disc jockeys, promoters, producers), technologies (e.g. radio, jukebox, phonography, electric guitar), and artefacts, most notably sound recordings. He proceeds then to describe the 'musicscape' of Lubbock, West Texas. After a brief section on the city of Lubbock, the remainder of this chapter describes five sites or musicscapes in which Buddy Holly and his informal network of friends and collaborators were immersed in the mid-1950s. The term "musicscape" is derived from the concept of soundscape elaborated by Canadian musicologist Murray Schafer, who defined  (Schafer 1977).


A 21/2-year-old local bitch was diagnosed as having vaginal hyperplasia by both physical examination and histopathology. The mass, which was firm and whitish in colour, measured about 5cm in diameter, was reducible and protruded out of the vulva.
Vagina cytology confirmed that the bitch was in proestrus. The mass was surgically resected due to frequent prolapses and contamination. Histopathology showed the mass to be vagina epithelium with numerous fibrous connective tissue.
Trop. Vet. Vol. 20(3) 2002: 149-152


Bovine colostrum contains various essential nutrients, antibodies, hormones and growth factors that are important for nutrient supply, host defense, growth and for general neonatal adaptation. We have studied effects of colostrum fed for different durations on selected metabolic and endocrine traits in the first week of life in calves. Calves were fed colostrum twice daily for 3 d (group C6) or colostrum only as their first meal (group C1), followed by milk replacer up to d 7, or they were only fed milk replacer but no colostrum (group M). Plasma concentrations of immunoglobuline G and activities of enzymes (gamma-glutamyltransferase, aspartate-aminotransferase, lactate-dehydrogenase, glutamate-dehydrogenase) increased in groups C6 and C1 after first feeding, but not in group M. Postprandial plasma glucose concentrations on d 2 increased significantly more in groups C6 and C1 than in group M. Plasma triglycerides on d 2 and plasma phospholipid and cholesterol concentrations on d 7 were significantly higher in group C6 than in groups C1 and M. Plasma insulin concentrations on d 2 tended (P = 0.07) to increase more postprandially in group C6 than in group M and postprandial plasma glucagon concentrations on d 1 increased more in groups C6 and C1 than in group M and remained elevated on d 2 only in group C6. Plasma cortisol concentrations decreased postprandially in all three groups and were highest on d 2 and d 7 in group M. Plasma triiodthyronine and thyroxine concentrations decreased in the first week of life in all calves, whereas plasma prolactin concentrations were greatest on d 7 in group C6. In conclusion, various metabolic and endocrine traits were influenced by whether colostrum was fed and the duration of colostrum feeding.


We show that two polynomial time methods, a Lasso estimator with adaptively chosen tuning parameter and a Slope estimator, adaptively achieve the minimax prediction and `2 estimation rate (s/n) log(p/s) in high-dimensional linear regression on the class of s-sparse vectors in R. This is done under the Restricted Eigenvalue (RE) condition for the Lasso and under a slightly more constraining assumption on the design for the Slope. The main results have the form of sharp oracle inequalities accounting for the model misspecification error. The minimax optimal bounds are also obtained for the `q estimation errors with 1 ≤ q ≤ 2 when the model is well-specified. The results are non-asymptotic, and hold both in probability and in expectation. The assumptions that we impose on the design are satisfied with high probability for a large class of random matrices with independent and possibly anisotropically distributed rows. We give a comparative analysis of conditions, under which oracle bounds for the Lasso and Slope estimators can be obtained. In particular, we show that several known conditions, such as the RE condition and the sparse eigenvalue condition are equivalent if the `2-norms of regressors are uniformly bounded.


Moving away from politicised and institutional agendas, research on Muslims has now begun to document the voices and concerns of individual Muslim women. Based on two years of doctoral fieldwork in and around London, this paper raises methodological dilemmas in the study of Muslim communities. It then presents data showcasing how Muslim women are successfully creating hybrid identities, and navigating new sites and opportunities for mutual exchange with non-Muslims. It argues that their public interactions as religious women living in a liberal secular society provide hope for a plural Britain, built on a convivial and interactive model of integration.