According to theories of cognitive processing style or cognitive control mode, human performance is more effective when an individual's cognitive state (e.g., intuition/scramble vs. deliberate/strategic) matches his/her ecological constraints or context (e.g., utilize intuition to strive for a "good-enough" response instead of deliberating for the "best" response under high time pressure). Ill- mapping between cognitive state and ecolgoical constraints are believed to lead to degraded task performance. Consequently, incorporating support systems which are designed to specifically address multiple cognitive and functional states e.g., high workload, stress, boredom, and initiate appropriate mitigation strategies (e.g., reduce information load) is essential to reduce plant risk. Utilizing the concept of Cognitive Control Models, this paper will discuss he importance of tailoring support systems to match an operator's cognitive state, and will further discuss the importance of these ecological constraints in selecting and implementing mitigation strategies for safe and effective system performance. An example from the nuclear power plant industry illustrating how a support system might be tailored to support different cognitive states is included.


Commuting nowadays is a worldwide trend. Due to the urban development, cities become larger creating agglomerations. It leads to broader human mobility. One of the other key thoughts about commuting is the positive impact of commuting flows on creating new workplaces (Russo et. al., 2011; Xiao et. al, 2021). First, vast commuting flows can make it easy to find appropriate candidates for job vacancies to be filled. Secondly, there is a demand for different goods and services in receiving areas created by commuters. Therefore, by means of local demand, new workplaces can be produced. The aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between commuting flows and the creation of new workplaces in Kazakhstan. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in the paper. Secondary research is used to provide and compare existing models of commuting impact on the workplaces. Data on the workplaces created in Kazakhstan is collected via the Bureau of National Statistics of the RK. Descriptive statistical methods serve as a visual representation of the collected data. Finally, inferential statistics are used to find the relations between the commuting flows and the creation of new workplaces in Kazakhstan. This study can contribute to existing studies on commuting, especially to studies on urban development in Almaty since commuting is closely related to the urban topic.


Programmable wideband voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and quadrature VCO (QVCO) circuits which adopt modified gyrator-C-type active inductors with PMOS transistors in the feedback path are presented here. New design equations are derived for an active inductor considering the effects of the parasitic capacitance of PMOS and are used to design a high-Q active inductor. The fabricated VCO and QVCO achieve frequency tuning ranges from 1.85 to 3.66 GHz and 1.55 to 3.61 GHz, respectively. The measured phase noise of VCO and QVCO range from −81.1 to −111.3 dBc/Hz and from −80.1 to −107.7 dBc/Hz at 3 MHz offset, respectively.


The recitation of Quran verses according to the actual tajweed is obligatory and it must be accurate and precise in pronunciation. Hence, it should always be reviewed by an expert on the recitation of the Quran. Through the latest technology, this recitation review can be implemented through an application system and it is most appropriate in this current Covid-19 pandemic situation where system application online is deemed to be developed. In this empirical study, a recognition system so-called the Quranic Verse Recitation Recognition (QVR) system using PocketSphinx to convert the Quranic verse from Arabic sound to Roman text and determine the accuracy of reciters, has been developed. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the system with a user-friendly environment was designed using Microsoft Visual Basic 6 in an Ubuntu platform. A verse of surah al-Ikhlas has been chosen in this study and the data were collected by recording 855 audios as training data recorded by professional reciters. Another 105 audios were collected as testing data, to test the accuracy of the system. The results indicate that the system obtained a 100% accuracy with a 0.00% of word error rate (WER) for both training and testing data of the said audios via Quran Roman text. The system with automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine system demonstrates that it has been successfully designed and developed, and is significant to be extended further. Added, it will be improved with the addition of other Quran surahs.


This brief provides an overview and lessons on how countries of origin governments can play a major role in protecting their migrants abroad through migrant welfare funds. It draws from a study by the Migration Policy Institute, on the Philippine Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), a US$172 million government-operated welfare fund that is funded by a mandatory US$25 membership fee for departing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The Philippine experience shows that a welfare fund has to: (1) find the right balance of services; (2) create meaningful partnerships; (3) build accountability with its members; and (4) actively involve destination countries.


Abstract: Baylisascaris procyonis is a zoonotic nematode commonly found in raccoons (Procyon lotor). Human-altered landscapes can support dense populations of raccoons, increasing the potential for interaction between humans and these animals. We used raccoon feces provided by licensed fur trappers to investigate environmental variables that influence prevalence of B. procyonis at 2 sites in Wisconsin. Trappers submitted raccoon feces to us, along with information on sex, age (juvenile and adult), and approximate trap location for each animal. We used zinc sulfate (1.18 specific gravity) flotation to detect B. procyonis eggs in approximately 1 g of fecal matter from each host. We used ArcView software to determine the distance of each trap location to an urban area as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000. We compared the habitat components in buffered home ranges (0.805 km around trap locations) of infected animals with those from uninfected animals using Mann-Whitney U-tests (P < 0.05). Variables investigated were human population, road density, housing units per census block, and land cover, including area of agriculture, forest, developed, shrubland, water, and grassland. We positively identified eggs in 64.9% of the animals sampled. Raccoons infected with B. procyonis had significantly larger area of agricultural habitats and significantly smaller areas of forested habitats in buffered home ranges than uninfected individuals. We found that raccoons near Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are commonly infected with B. procyonis, indicating that public education regarding protection from disease is warranted.


ABSTRACT Thermoregulation and sleep are tightly coordinated, with evidence that impairments in thermoregulation as well as increases in ambient temperature increase the risk of sleep disturbance. As a period of rest and low demand for metabolic resources, sleep functions to support host responses to prior immunological challenges. In addition by priming the innate immune response, sleep prepares the body for injury or infection which might occur the following day. However when sleep is disrupted, this phasic organization between nocturnal sleep and the immune system becomes misaligned, cellular and genomic markers of inflammation are activated, and increases of proinflammatory cytokines shift from the nighttime to the day. Moreover, when sleep disturbance is perpetuated due to thermal factors such as elevated ambient temperature, the beneficial crosstalk between sleep and immune system becomes further imbalanced. Elevations in proinflammatory cytokines have reciprocal effects and induce sleep fragmentation with decreases in sleep efficiency, decreases in deep sleep, and increases in rapid eye movement sleep, further fomenting inflammation and inflammatory disease risk. Under these conditions, sleep disturbance has additional potent effects to decrease adaptive immune response, impair vaccine responses, and increase vulnerability to infectious disease. Behavioral interventions effectively treat insomnia and reverse systemic and cellular inflammation. Further, insomnia treatment redirects the misaligned inflammatory- and adaptive immune transcriptional profiles with the potential to mitigate risk of inflammation-related cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and mental health diseases, as well as susceptibility to infectious disease.


In order to study the effect of sowing dates on the yield and yield components of two safflower varieties, an experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Station of Isfahan Kabotar Abad in 2004. A split plot layout within randomized complete block design with three replications was used in the experimentation. Eight sowing dates were in the main plots, consist March 6, March 21, April 6, April 21, May 6, May 21, June 6 and June 21 and two varieties (Isfahan 14 and I.L111) were in the sub plots. The results showed that the number of seed per capitulum and seed yield were decreased significantly as the sowings dates were delayed. The Isfahan 14 variety in comparison with I.L111 produced more fertile capitulum in square meter and also, respectively seed per capitulum. The second sowing date (March 21) produced the highest seed yield (2306.2 kg ha(-1)), whereas the 7th sowing date (June 6) produced the lowest seed yield (622 kg ha(-1)). The effect of variety for seed yield was not significant. Farmers in the Kabotar Abad of Isfahan and in other areas with similar conditions are recommended to plant the Isfahan 14 variety on March 21.


Monocyte/macrophage (m phi) or mononuclear phagocytic system(MPS) play one of the key roles in defense mechanisms in human as well as animals. Informations as to their biological functions and significance in defense mechanisms or immune systems have increased. However, some of the details are still unknown and/or controversial. Prof. Takahashi lectured on some new findings: development of m phi precedes that of monocyte, factors regulating differentiation of m phi, differences between tissue m phi and monocyte/m phi and so on. He also stressed the complexity of the development and differentiation of monocyte/m phi. Prof Yamamoto lectured on a new factor, S19 ribosomal protein, which enhances migration of monocytes and connects natural immunity and acquired immunity. Following these lectures, all participants realized the complexity and also the mystery of defense mechanisms of our bodies.


In this thoughtful and engaging book, Feargal Cochrane looks at Northern Ireland's "Troubles" from the late 1960s to the present day. He explains why, a decade and a half after the peace process ended in political agreement in 1998, sectarian attitudes and violence continue to plague Northern Ireland today. Former members of the IRA now sit alongside their unionist adversaries in the Northern Ireland Assembly, but the region's attitudes have been slow to change and recent years have even seen an upsurge in violence on both sides. In this book, Cochrane, who grew up a Catholic in Belfast in the '70s and '80s, explores how divisions between Catholics and Protestants became so entrenched, and reviews the thirty years of political violence in Northern Ireland-which killed over 3,500 people-leading up to the peace agreement. The book asks whether the peace process has actually delivered for the citizens of Northern Ireland, and what more needs to be done to enhance the current reluctant peace.


In Nepal, drug sensitivity test for M. tuberculosis has been carrying out at the clinic of German-Nepal Tuberculosis Project (GENETUP) since 1986 and at National Tuberculosis Centre (NTC) since 1991. The studies of primary drug resistance and acquired drug resistance were performed at NTC. On the other hand, results of drug sensitivity test at GENETUP and NTC were compared and analyzed. In total, 160 M. tuberculosis strains which were isolated from new smear positive patients were studied for the primary drug resistance. One of 160 strains, 21 (13.1%) strains were resistant to one or more drugs. Resistance rate to one drug, two drugs and three drugs were 9.4%, 3.1% and 0.6% respectively. Resistance to four drugs and five drugs were not found. Prevalence of resistance of each drug were INH 8.1%, SM 5.0%, RFP 2.5%, EB 0.6% and Tb1 1.3% respectively. In total, 125 strains which were isolated from previously treated patients were studied for the acquired drug resistance. Out of 125 strains, 103 (82.4%) strains had resistance to one or more drugs. Resistance rate to one drug, two drugs, three drugs, four drugs and five drugs were 13.6%, 28.0%, 31.2%, 4.0% and 5.6% respectively. Resistance rate of each drug were INH 56.8%, SM 38.4%, RFP 71.2%, EB 16.8% and Tb1 24.0% respectively. Since media, criteria of resistance and definition of resistance for drug sensitivity test are different between GENETUP and NTC, it is difficult to compare the results. However, it is necessary to understand the differences well and get good agreement with both sides.


SLLP1 is a unique non-bacteriolytic c-lysozyme-like protein isolated from human spermatozoa. Antisera to SLLP1 blocks binding in the hamster egg penetration assay, suggesting that SLLP1 may be involved in sperm/egg adhesion. A recent study by dot blot analysis on RNA showed that SLLP1 was expressed only in the testis and in Burkitt lymphoma Raji cell line, suggesting that further studies are warranted to determine and characterize SLLP1 expression in tumor cells, in particular, fresh tumor specimens. Using a pair of sequence-specific primers in RT-PCR, we found that SLLP1 transcripts could be detected in 5/8 myeloma cell lines, suggesting that SLLP1 may be expressed in tumor cells from some hematologic malignancies. When we applied the investigations to 52 primary hematologic malignant specimens, SLLP1 transcripts were detected in 6/17 myeloma, 4/14 CML, 3/11 CLL, 2/9 AML and 0/1 hairy cell leukemia. In contrast, SLLP1 transcripts were not detected in the peripheral blood (n=12) or bone marrow (n=3) from any healthy donors. The specificity of the PCR products was confirmed by either sequence analysis or restriction digest with Pvu II. SLLP1 transcripts were translated into its corresponding protein in these tumor cells. Using tumor cell lysate in Western blot analysis, we detected SLLP1 protein in the myeloma cell lines and also in fresh malignant specimens, although positivities were only observed in specimens with high RT-PCR signals. All PCR-negative specimens were also negative in Western blot analysis. The specificity of the Western blot signals were confirmed in all cases by blocking assays with a high concentration of recombinant SLLP1 protein. We next investigated the expression of SLLP1 in a large panel of normal tissues using RT-PCR and real time quantitative PCR. Both approaches showed that SLLP1 is a novel Cancer-Testis antigen in hematologic malignancies. SLLP1 was detected, at a level of 8206 copies/0.25 mcg total RNA, only in normal testis. We also found that the SLLP1 mRNA copy numbers in fresh hematologic tumor specimens were up to 2316 copies/0.25 mcg total RNA, i.e. more than 25% of the level found in normal testis. We cloned and generated SLLP1 recombinant protein from E coli and used the purified recombinant SLLP1 in an ELISA system to detect anti-SLLP1 antibodies. Using sera from 24 healthy donors and the mean + 2SD as the cut-off signal intensities, we found that high titer IgG antibodies directed at SLLP1 could be detected in the sera from 2/9 AML, 5/23 CLL, 6/27 CML and 14/51 myeloma patients. The specificity of the antibodies was confirmed in Western blot analysis. Probably due to the decreased sensitivity of the detection system in Western blot analysis, only 1/2 AML, 3/5 CLL, 4/6 CML and 7/14 myeloma SLLP1 antibody+ sera produced a signal in the Western blot analysis. Interesting, IgG2 was by far the commonest SLLP1 antibodies in these patients. There was a good correlation between SLLP1 gene expression and immune responses. In summary, SLLP1 is a novel CT antigen in hematologic malignancies and is capable of eliciting B-cell immune responses in vivo in cancer-bearing patients. Our results support SLLP1 as a protein target appropriate for further in vitro study to define its suitability for immunotherapy.


Modeling of the spatial distribution of favorable climatic conditions for transmission of dirofilariasis in European part of Russia was carried out in order to identify the climatic parameters affecting its distribution. To build the model, the method of modeling ecological niches with optimization by the method of maximum entropy (MaxEnt) was used. The following parameters were considered: average annual air temperature, average annual precipitation, maximum temperature of the warmest month and minimum temperature of the coldest month. The most important climatic factor influencing the spread of dirofilariasis are thermal conditions (air temperature). The average annual rainfall has no significant effect. The most favorable territories of European part of Russia include the Black Earth Region, the Rostov Oblast, the Krasnodar Kray and the Crimea.


WAIGHT, LEONARD. The History and Mechanism of the Exchange Equalisation Account. Pp. xiv, 191. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1939. $2.50. Mr. Waight believes that since the publication in 1935 of Professor Hall's wellknown volume, The Exchange Equalisation Account, which he praises and frequently cites, there has arisen a need for a general textbook on the subject. In a clear style, free from excessive use of technical terms, he traces simply and rapidly the conditions which called for the Exchange Equalisation Account, and concisely examines the manner in which it has apparently functioned. By and large, he accomplishes his purpose. The book is almost wholly concerned with technique, and makes little attempt to deal with fundamental monetary theories or with basic questions of relationships with international trade and prices and the balance of payments. One of the most interesting features is the attempt to explain how an inflow of foreign capital under certain conditions nowadays may have a deflationary rather than an inflationary effect. The study is none too objective. It expresses throughout a somewhat uncritical enthusiasm for the Exchange Equalisation Account, and even concludes that the organization, in addition to its success in exchange equalization, &dquo;has brought the country great benefits, not least the loan of vast sums of foreign money without security at the lowest possible rate of interest,&dquo; thus providing British industries &dquo;the inestimable benefits of cheap money.&dquo; One wonders whether in the preceding chapters this has been fully proved, and whether England's enviable (?) financial and industrial conditions of recent years may be attributed, at least in part, to other factors. But the author's pride is consistent, for one of his mottoes, printed on the title page, is: &dquo;We do not copy our neighbors, but are an example to them.&dquo; It is not surprising, therefore, that foreign criticisms, like those of Professor Charles Rist, are resisted. This useful book would have been slightly more usable if the chapters had been given titles. It would be much more useful today if it included the experiences of the autumn of 1939. But for this, of course, the author is not to be blamed; he signed his preface in April. Perhaps his next edition will include wartime changes. JOHN DONALDSON George Washington University


Fear and apprehension usually accompany surgery on the human heart. Experience and research have demonstrated that many patients who have undergone open heart surgery have less than optimal psychological outcomes. This article describes the response of one university hospital to the physiological and psychological needs of the cardiovascular surgery patient during the final phase of hospitalization. To give patients and families an opportunity to deal with their questions and concerns about discharge, one-sessional educational support groups are co-led by a social worker and cardiovascular nurse specialist. The development and implementation of patient and relative groups and the process through which a more comprehensive program evolved are described. An analysis of the experience and conclusions and recommendations for the future are reviewed.


. We analyze electronic noise in field-eect transistors associated with plasma waves in the terahertz frequency domain by using a numerical approach based on the coupled hydrodynamic and Poisson equations. The current and voltage noise spectra, calculated by means of the transfer impedance method, exhibit a series of peaks associated with two- and three-dimensional plasma resonances. The two-dimensional plasma peaks have been found to depend on the channel length including gated and ungated regions. Under asymmetric boundary conditions, electrical instabilities characterized by terahertz oscillations of the drain voltage and gate current can be reached at suciently high values of the total drain current. A resonant enhancement of the plasma peaks in the noise spectra has been found to be a precursor of the instability onset. Through a spatial analysis of the local contributions we have shown that the main contribution to the total noise at frequencies near the plasma resonance comes from the ungated n-region placed between the source and the gate contacts.


AbstractThe effect of the molecular weight of polyvinylpyrrolidone on the solubility and dissolution properties of naproxen using solid dispersions (coevaporates and colyophilized products) and physical mixtures was investigated. Factors such as method of drug incorporation with the polymer and polymer mass fraction influence the dissolution rate of naproxen from both powders and constant surface area discs. The best results were obtained with the colyophilized products at the drug-to-polymer 7:3 weight ratio, in the rank order (most effective to least) K15>K30>lK90 (dispersed amount) and K30>K90>K15 (rotating disc). The physical state of naproxen, i.e. amorphous or crystalline, in solid combinations with polyvinylpyrrolidone was checked by means of X-ray powder diffraction. Drug-polymer interactions in the liquid state were revealed with solubility experiments. Drug-polymer interactions in solid state were demonstrated by combining the X-ray diffraction data with the results of thermal analysis (DSC, TGA...


Objective: To study the effects of hyperbaric air exposure on the functions of peritoneal macrophages of mice. Methods: Forty-eight mice were equally randomized to 6 groups: (1) normal air group (NA); (2) hyperbaric air group 1 (HA1); (3) hyperbaric air group 2 (HA2); (4) hyperbaric air group 3 (HA3); (5) hyperbaric oxygen group (HO); (6) hyperbaric nitrogen group (HN). Every group was exposed to corresponding pressure for 60 min, twice a day for 3 d. Peritoneal macrophages were obtained at the corresponding time to observe the changes of phagocytosis, acid phosphatase, antigen presentation function and the produce of NO and TNF-α. Results: Compared with those in NA group, the activity of phagocytosis, acid phosphatase, antigen presentation function and the produce of NO and TNF-α were markedly inhibited in hyperbaric oxygen group and hyperbaric air group l ( P < 0.05, P < 0.01) and they changed little in HN group. These changes could disappear in 3 - 5 d. Conclusion: The functions of mice peritoneal macrophages were obviously inhibited in simulated air diving environment and hyperoxia may play an important role in it.


This paper extends the Downsian-Hotelling model of electoral competition to allow for unobserved qualitative differences between candidates. I show that these underlying qualitative differences generate pure strategy Nash equilibria, even if policies are defined in a multidimensional space, and explain platform divergence from the median. Moreover, the extension gives content to a second (well-known) role elections play apart from bridging conflict: to reveal information about candidates.


We have isolated and sequenced a cDNA (mrfms) encoding rat c-fms gene (CSF-1 receptor) from proliferating L6 alpha 1 myoblasts. The predicted amino acid sequence was highly identical with the c-fms protein found in monocytes and macrophages (98, 76 and 84% identity from mouse, cat and human c-fms proteins, respectively). The mechanisms responsible for the regulation of mrfms gene expression during myogenesis were examined. Mrfms products were observed during proliferation of L6 alpha 1 myoblasts and were downregulated during differentiation. Run-on transcription assays demonstrated that the mrfms gene was transcriptionally active only in undifferentiated myoblasts. These findings suggested that mrfms levels in L6 alpha 1 myoblasts are controlled by transcriptional mechanisms. The half-life of mrfms transcripts was found to be at least 5 hr while inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide (CHX) decreased this half-life to 30 min without changes in the rate of mrfms gene transcription. In addition oncogenic transformation of L6 alpha 1 myoblasts by the v-fms induced constitutive upregulation of mrfms mRNAs, and nuclear run-on assays demonstrated that mrfms transcription was not growth-factor dependent. Furthermore, these findings with others previously published indicate that mrfms gene products may play a role in the normal and neoplastic growth of muscular cells.


The authors studied the dynamic of changes in auditory-vestibular system as well as the mechanisms of general and specific adaptation of organism to different extreme effects. 94 volunteers were examined in conditions of hyperbarism, hypobarism, hypergravitation and sea extreme factors. For registration of morphological changes and their correlation with biochemical and electrophysiological changes, experiments were performed on 272 animals using the same extreme factors. Complex clinical, biochemical, electrophysiological psychophysiological, and in the animals-morphological studies were performed. The state of the auditory-vestibular, cardiovascular, nerve, respiratory systems as well as the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, mineral-electrolytes and biogenic amines are followed up. It is well known that the immediate adaptation to extreme effects occurs on three levels-biochemical, anatomo-physiological and nerve-psychic. These levels are comparatively independent but also mutually related and determining each other. It was found out that in the different types of extreme effects the leading role is played by a different level. For example in sea extreme effects the nerve psychic adaptation level is dominating while in hyperbaric overstrain the anatomo-physiologic level plays the leading role. It is found out that 70% of the incidents during divers' experience is due to changes mainly in the middle year and in the labyrinth. Attention is paid on the role of genotype characteristics of adaptation as well as on the organism's tolerance towards the nitrous narcosis and oxidative intoxication. An interesting finding is that the animals and volunteers who decrease the blood serotonin values following the extreme effect are with higher stability and the immediate adaptation occurs quicker and is more effective. There is no data in the literature on this topic. These results could be used for prognosing the stability of the organism and for decreasing the health risk for the working under extreme effects, for their prevention and treatment as well as in the professional selection.


F A Gonçalves, Isabel; Pesco, Sinesio (Advisor); Silva, Thiago M. D. (Co-Advisor). Machine learning strategies to predict oil field performance as time-series forecasting. Rio de Janeiro, 2023. 100p. Dissertação de Mestrado – Departamento de Matemática, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Precisely forecasting oil field performance is essential in oil reservoir planning and management. Nevertheless, forecasting oil production is a complex nonlinear problem due to all geophysical and petrophysical properties that may result in different effects with a bit of change. Thus, all decisions to be made during an exploitation project must consider different efficient algorithms to simulate data, providing robust scenarios to lead to the best deductions. To reduce the uncertainty in the simulation process, recent studies have efficiently introduced machine learning algorithms for solving reservoir engineering problems since they can extract the maximum information from the dataset. This thesis proposes using two machine learning techniques to predict the daily oil production of an offshore reservoir. Initially, the oil rate production is considered a time series and is pre-processed and restructured to fit a supervised learning problem. The Random Forest model is used to forecast a one-time step, which is an extension of decision tree learning, widely used in regression and classification problems for supervised machine learning. Regardless, the restrictions of this approach lead us to a more robust model, the LSTM RNN's, which are proposed by several studies as a suitable deep learning technique for time series modeling. Various configurations of LSTM RNN's were constructed to implement single-step and multi-step oil rate forecasting and down-hole pressure was incorporated to the inputs. For testing the robustness of the proposed models, we use four different datasets, three of them synthetically generated and one from a public real dataset, the Volve oil field, as a case study to conduct the experiments. The results indicate that the Random Forest model could sufficiently estimate the one-time step of the oil field production, and LSTM could handle more inputs and adequately estimate multiple-time steps of oil production.


The main objective of this master thesis is to design, implement and test a systematicmethodology for integration of Network Manager, an electric power systemcontrol center package from ABB Ventyx, and Aristo, a real-time power system simulatorfrom Svenska Kraftnatt. Such a setup is useful for Demand Response studiesin Active Distribution Networks. A case study has been performed to demonstratethe usefulness of the implemented setup in such a scenario.The integration between the two programs is done via CIM for topology exchangefrom Aristo to Network Manager and via a combination of OPC UA and OPC DAfor bidirectional real-time data exchange. By making the required adjustments, theprograms are successfully interfaced. The integration encompassed changes to theAristo CIM Exporter and Network Manager CIM Importer, specifically the XSLTsand import definitions. Also changes to Network Manager's OPC UA Client aremade.In parallel a local controller is developed that can perform local control actions onthe simulated power system as well. It performs a Transformer Mode SwitchingOptimization function with the help of OPC UA. The program itself is written inJACK with the help of a pre-fabricated Java OPC UA stack and client from ProsysOPC.Finally the three programs (Network Manager, Aristo and the local controller) areused together to simulate a test scenario. In this test scenario, manual changesare made to the simulated power grid via Network Manager, as well as automaticchanges via the local controller. In order to perform this scenario, all programshave to cooperate. The test scenario shows that every aspect of the integration isa success.Industrial significance of this master thesis is the provision of a useful integrationthat can actually be used to improve the operations. It is likely that ABB will usethe the integration for operator training, enabling operator proactive control andanalysis of grid investment effects.


This research hinges upon the relationship between fiscal decentralization (FD) and subjective well-being (SWB) in Chile. We merge data from two household surveys (2011 and 2013) in which a life satisfaction question was included, with municipal-level information. By using a FD proxy that measures the share of municipal unconditional grants on all revenues, we produce an instrumental variable to test in the context of an ordered logistic multilevel model. Our contribution is twofold. First, we find evidence that, on average, FD does affect SWB positively. Second, we find this effect to depend on the satisfaction group in which individuals belong. Evidence from this study indicates that the effect in question is non-linear and that only high SWB groups are clearly benefitted. Since this reflects different priorities across SWB groups, this paper's evidence is a call for a more aggressive inter-municipal fiscal equalization scheme.


Why did the Confederacy lose the Civil War? Most historians point to the larger number of Union troops, for example, or the North's greater industrial might. Now, in The South Vs. the South, one of America's leading authorities on the Civil War era offers an entirely new answer to this question. William Freehling argues that anti-Confederate Southerners-specifically, border state whites and southern blacks-helped cost the Confederacy the war. White men in such border states as Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, Freehling points out, were divided in their loyalties-but far more joined the Union army (or simply stayed home) than marched off in Confederate gray. If they had enlisted as rebel troops in the same proportion as white men did farther south, their numbers would have offset all the Confederate casualties during four years of war. In addition, when those states stayed loyal, the vast majority of the South's urban population and industrial capacity remained in Union hands. And many forget, Freehling writes, that the slaves' own decisions led to a series of white decisions (culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation) that turned federal forces into an army of liberation, depriving the South of labor and adding essential troops to the blue ranks. Whether revising our conception of slavery or of Abraham Lincoln, or establishing the antecedents of Martin Luther King, or analyzing Union military strategy, or uncovering new meanings in what is arguably America's greatest piece of sculpture, Augustus St.-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial, Freehling writes with piercing insight and rhetorical verve. Concise and provocative, The South Vs. the South will forever change the way we view the Civil War.


Objectives
Perceptions of future time are of key interest to aging research because of their implications for subjective well-being. Interestingly, perceptions about future time are only moderately associated with age when looking at the second half of life, pointing to a vast heterogeneity in future time perceptions among older adults. We examine associations between future time perceptions, age, and subjective well-being across two studies, including moderations by individual resources.

Method
Using data from the Berlin Aging Study (N = 516; Mage = 85 years), we link one operationalization (subjective nearness to death) and age to subjective well-being. Using Health and Retirement Study data (N = 2,596; Mage = 77 years), we examine associations of another future time perception indicator (subjective future life expectancy) and age with subjective well-being.

Results
Consistent across studies, perceptions of limited time left were associated with poorer subjective well-being (lower life satisfaction and positive affect; more negative affect and depressive symptoms). Importantly, individual resources moderated future time perception-subjective well-being associations with those of better health exhibiting reduced future time perception-subjective well-being associations.

Discussion
We discuss our findings in the context of the Model of Strength and Vulnerability Integration.


The preparation of Hypericum perforatum L. has been shown to possess radioprotective properties. The effect found depends on the time of its taking and its concentration. A statistically reliable protection of marrow and the mucus of the thin intestine of mice from X-rays is observed.


Background The differentiation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) to terminally differentiated immune cells is accompanied by large-scale remodeling of the DNA methylation landscape. While significant insights into the molecular mechanisms of hematopoietic tissue regeneration were derived from mouse models, profiling of DNA methylation changes has been hampered by high cost or low resolution using the methods available. This problem has been overcome by the recent development of the Infinium Mouse Methylation BeadChip (MMBC) array, facilitating methylation profiling of the mouse genome at single CpG resolution at affordable cost. Results We extended the RnBeads package to provide a computational framework for the analysis of MMBC data. This framework was applied to a newly generated MMBC reference map of mouse hematopoiesis encompassing nine different cell types. The analysis of dynamically regulated CpG sites showed progressive and unidirectional DNA methylation changes from HSPCs to differentiated hematopoietic cells and allowed the identification of lineage- and cell type-specific DNA methylation programs. Comparison to previously published catalogues of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) revealed 12,856 novel putative CREs which were dynamically regulated by DNA methylation (mdCREs). These mdCREs were predominantly associated with patterns of cell type-specific DNA hypomethylation and could be identified as epigenetic control regions regulating the expression of key hematopoietic genes during differentiation. Conclusions We established a publicly available analysis pipeline for MMBC datasets and provide a DNA methylation atlas of mouse hematopoiesis. This resource allowed us to identify novel putative CREs involved in hematopoiesis and will serve as a platform to study epigenetic regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis.


In the late nineteenth century Oxford colleges opened up their ancient muniments to be catalogued by external scholars. Their cataloguing was heavily influenced by the culture of records printing that relied on a linear way of thinking about documents and on the selection of records, so that only the most significant documents utilized the limited space. This essay will examine this culture at work in the early publications of the Oxford Historical Society and show how it influenced the college archivists to concentrate on the content of records in their cataloguing, and ignore their context and provenance.


Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with attenuated acute-phase response and hypercoagulable state compared with the open procedure. Single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a new technique aiming to minimize the invasiveness of the procedure. By comparing the degree of coagulation and fibrinolysis activation after conventional multiport (CLC) and single-incision (SILC) laparoscopic cholecystectomy, we aimed to determine whether the reduced incision size induces a lower thrombophilic tendency. Thirty-two adult patients with noncomplicated symptomatic cholelithiasis were nonrandomly assigned to CLC or SILC. Prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2), thrombin–antithrombin complexes (TAT), D-dimers, fibrinogen, and von Willebrand factor levels were measured at baseline, at 1st, and 24th hour, postoperatively. Twenty-six patients were finally included in the study. Fifteen patients underwent CLC (male/female: 5/10) and 11 underwent SILC (male/female: 1/10). There were no perioperative complications. An almost similar postoperative pattern and degree of activation of coagulation and fibrinolysis pathways was noted in both groups. No statistically significant differences were found between SILC and CLC for F1 + 2, TAT, D-dimers, fibrinogen, and von Willebrand factor levels, duration of surgery, length of hospital stay, and postoperative morbidity. A similar pattern and extent of coagulation and fibrinolysis activation is present in SILC and CLC, and therefore there is no difference in tendency for thrombosis. Thromboembolic prophylaxis should be considered in SILC as recommended for CLC, pharmacologic or mechanical, considering the hemorrhagic risk and the presence of additional thromboembolism risk factors. SILC appears to be a safe, feasible technique that can be recommended for its potential advantages in cosmesis and reduced incisional pain.


Drought stress massively restricts plant growth and the yield of crops. Reducing the deleterious effects of drought is necessary for agricultural industry. The plant-specific NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2 and CUC2) transcription factors (TFs) are widely involved in the regulation of plant development and stress response. One of the NAC TF, JUNGBRUNNEN1 (JUB1), has been reported to involve in drought resistance in Arabidopsis. However, little is known of how the JUB1 gene respond to drought stress in cotton. In the present study, we cloned GhJUB1L1, a homologous gene of JUB1 in upland cotton. GhJUB1L1 is preferentially expressed in stem and leaf and could be induced by drought stress. GhJUB1L1 protein localizes to the cell nucleus, and the transcription activation region of which is located in the C-terminal region. Silencing GhJUB1L1 gene via VIGS () reduced cotton drought tolerance, and retarded secondary cell wall (SCW) development. Additionally, the expression of some drought stress-related genes and SCW synthesis-related genes were altered in the GhJUB1L1 silencing plants. Collectively, our findings indicate that GhJUB1L1 may act as a positive regulator in response to drought stress and SCW development in cotton. Our results enriched the roles of NAC TFs in cotton drought tolerance and laid a foundation for the cultivation of transgenic cotton with higher drought tolerance.


Spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage is a devastating condition with high morbidity and mortality. Haematoma expansion and subsequent secondary brain injuries lead to worse outcomes in intracerebral haemorrhage. Tranexamic acid is a promising haemostatic agent that may prevent haematoma expansion and improve outcomes. The current thesis explores the effects of tranexamic acid in intracerebral haemorrhage from clinical, radiological and biochemical aspects, based on data from the now completed Tranexamic acid in IntraCerebral Haemorrhage-2 (TICH-2) trial.

Two systematic reviews explore available evidence on efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid and other haemostatic therapies in intracerebral haemorrhage. There was insufficient evidence to support the routine use of tranexamic acid or blood clotting factors in treating intracerebral haemorrhage. Platelet transfusion had been found to be harmful and should be avoided in intracerebral haemorrhage.

Predictors of neurological deterioration and seizures and the effects of tranexamic acid on both were explored. Older age, more severe stroke, larger haematoma volume, intraventricular and subarachnoid extension, previous intracerebral haemorrhage and antiplatelet therapy independently predicted neurological deterioration. Tranexamic acid reduced early neurological deterioration occurring within 48 hours from symptom onset through a reduction in haematoma expansion, but had no significant effect on late neurological deterioration (48 hours to 7 days).

Lobar location of haematoma was the strongest predictor of early (≤ 7 days) and late seizures (> 7 days). The risk of seizures in intracerebral haemorrhage was not increased in patients treated with tranexamic acid.

The role of several noncontrast CT signs, namely blend sign, black hole sign, hypodensities and island sign, in predicting haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome was assessed. Blend sign, black hole sign and hypodensities independently predicted haematoma expansion while black hole sign, hypodensities and island sign predicted poor functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale of 4 to 6). Tranexamic acid reduced haematoma expansion but there was no benefit on functional outcome. There was no significant interaction between the presence of noncontrast CT signs and benefit from tranexamic acid in terms of reduction in haematoma expansion or improvement in functional outcome

From a biochemical aspect, a range of plasma biomarkers involved in fibrinolysis and haemostasis were examined in a single-centre substudy of the TICH-2 trial involving 22 patients and 9 healthy volunteers. Patients with intracerebral haemorrhage had higher D-dimer and plasmin-alpha-2-antiplasmin complex levels compared to healthy controls. Elevated baseline tissue-type plasminogen activator and urokinase-type plasminogen activator, lower baseline plasminogen and elevated day 2 matrix metalloproteinase-9 levels were associated with haematoma progression. Tranexamic acid did not have significant effects on plasma biomarker levels.

In summary, there were clinical and radiological signals that tranexamic acid may be beneficial in patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage. Plasma biomarker results suggest fibrinolysis may be a pathophysiological mechanism in intracerebral haemorrhage. There is a role for further trials of tranexamic acid in intracerebral haemorrhage.


Abstract:Internet and data-based technologies are ubiquitous in most societies around the world. People use online technologies (i.e., devices, software, platforms, applications, etc., that connect to the Internet through wired or wireless means) in almost all aspects of their daily lives, including sexuality. Yet, researchers have been slow to integrate online technologies in sexuality studies. The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the opportunities and challenges associated with integrating research about online technology with research about human sexuality. We argue that researchers focused on (almost) all topics of human sexuality would benefit from considering online technologies in their studies. We describe how people's online and in-person experiences do not exist in separate vacuums; rather, they influence and are influenced by one another in an ongoing and dynamic fashion. We propose three ways that sexuality researchers can integrate technology and technology-informed research in their future studies that address some of the opportunities and challenges: adding variables and constructs, using technology-focused theories, and collaboration.


Abstract In Being Realistic About Reasons (Oxford University Press, 2014) T. M. Scanlon argues that particular fact about reasons are explained by contingent non-normative facts together with pure normative principles. A question then arises about the modal status of these pure principles. Scanlon maintains that they are necessary in a sense, and suggests that they are 'metaphysically' necessary. I argue that the best view for Scanlon to take, given his other commitments, is that these pure normative principles are metaphysically contingent in some cases and necessary only in a weaker sense.


Cervicofacial emphysema is an infrequently reported sequela to dental surgery. Most cases result from the accidental introduction of air into the soft tissues during the use of air-driven, high-speed handpieces or air/water syringes. Surgical procedures, in particular removal of lower third molars, predispose to the development of an emphysema. The clinical presentation is usually a facial or cervicofacial swelling coincident with the dental treatment. The use of air instruments, immediate onset, crepitus and often a radiographically discernible enlarged facial space are the diagnostic features. Pain is not usually a feature. The possibility of mediastinal involvement should be recognized and the patient monitored appropriately. Active treatment requirements are minimal. Reassurance of the patient, antibiotic prophylaxis and analgesics, if required, are generally sufficient. This paper reviews the above features and discusses means of prevention. Early recognition and appropriate management are emphasized.


To assess metaphorical understanding and proverb interpretation in cardiac transplant candidates, the neuropsychological assessment records of 22 adults with end-stage cardiac disease under consideration for transplantation were analyzed. Neuropsychological tests consisted of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Halstead Category Test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (Copy), Trail Making Test, and summed scores for the proverb items of the WAIS–R Comprehension subtest. Analysis showed that the group tended to interpret proverbs literally. Proverb scores were significantly associated with scores on the Similarities and Picture Arrangement subtests of the WAIS–R. There was a moderate negative association between number of reported heart attacks and Proverb scores. The need for brief yet robust assessments including measures of inferential thinking and conceptualization in transplant candidates are highlighted.


ABSTRACT This paper presents an algorithm for accurately solving the full two-dimensional governing equations, along with the interface conditions that govern laminar/laminar annular/stratified internal condensing flows. The simulation approach - which can be generalized to adiabatic and evaporating flows, a 3-D level-set technique, and so on - uses a sharp-interface model, separate liquid and vapor domain computational solutions with interface conditions embedded as boundary conditions, and a moving grid technique to locate the dynamic wavy interface (in amplitude and phase) by a method of characteristics solution of the interface tracking equation. The moving grid is spatially fixed for a defined number of instants, but changes when the current marker instant advances in time.


Companies require tools to change towards a new way of developing and producing innovative products to be manufactured considering the economic, social and environmental impact along the product life cycle. Based on translating Lean principles in Product Development (PD) from the design stage and, along the entire product life cycle, it is aimed to address both sustainability and environmental issues. The drivers of sustainable culture within a lean PD have been identified and a baseline for future research on the development of appropriate tools and techniques has been provided. This research provide industry with a framework which balance environmental and sustainable factors with lean principles to be considered and incorporated from the beginning of product design and development covering the entire product lifecycle.


In connection with the increased importance of serum triacylglycerols (TAG) in atherogenesis and with a view to their eventual changes wth age, their subfractions were studied in practically healthy subjects via thin-layer chromatography. Comparative assessments for "norm" of TAG-subfractions are elaborated according to saturation rate, depending on age, and sex. No regular sex differences were established in the rest age groups. With age advancing reduction of S3 was established for both sexes, of MD2--for females and M3--for males and increase of M2 in females and D2 in males. In quantitative respect, for both sexes, most frequent are MD and M2, followed by S2M and SD2. The saturated fatty acids predominate at 1 and 3 positions of TAG in practically healthy subjects and at 2 position--unsaturated fatty acids.


The purpose of our study was to investigate the diagnostic value of expression of IMP3, nucleophosmin, and correlation of these markers with Ki-67 proliferation index in papillary thyroid carcinoma and benign neoplasms of thyroid gland. The aim was also to investigate whether there is a difference between papillary and micropapillary carcinomas with regard to clinicopathologic parameters beside IMP3, nucleophosmin, and Ki-67 proliferation index. It was concluded that IMP3 and nucleophosmin cannot be a routine diagnostic marker for discrimination of papillary carcinomas and benign lesions. IMP3 positive staining was quite scarce in IMP3 positive papillary carcinomas although specifity of IMP3 is 100%. A statistically significant correlation was not detected between nucleophosmin, IMP-3, and Ki-67 proliferation index. A statistically significant correlation was found between tumor size, lymphovascular embolism, and Ki-67 proliferation index. There was also significant correlation between tumor size and lymphovascular embolism.


Since the discovery of neurexins (Nrxns) as essential and evolutionarily conserved synaptic adhesion molecules, focus has largely centered on their functional contributions to glutamatergic synapses. Recently, significant advances to our understanding of neurexin function at GABAergic synapses have revealed that neurexins can play pleiotropic roles in regulating inhibitory synapse maintenance and function in a brain-region and synapse-specific manner. GABAergic neurons are incredibly diverse, exhibiting distinct synaptic properties, sites of innervation, neuromodulation, and plasticity. Different classes of GABAergic neurons often express distinct repertoires of Nrxn isoforms that exhibit differential alternative exon usage. Further, Nrxn ligands can be differentially expressed and can display synapse-specific localization patterns, which may contribute to the formation of a complex trans-synaptic molecular code that establishes the properties of inhibitory synapse function and properties of local circuitry. In this review, we will discuss how Nrxns and their ligands sculpt synaptic inhibition in a brain-region, cell-type and synapse-specific manner.


We present a microscopic analysis of current fluctuations in a GaAs n/sup +/-n-metal Schottky barrier diode containing electron traps in the active layer. An ensemble Monte Carlo simulation is used for the calculations. We analyze the influence of generation-recombination mechanisms of electrons with traps on the current-voltage characteristics and noise spectra of the diode. The presence of traps reduces both the flat-band voltage and the current level in the series-resistance regime. With respect to the noise, significant modifications are observed in the current noise spectra. In the barrier-limited regime, while at low frequency shot noise is not found to change, the returning-carriers peak is strongly modulated by the influence of the traps. Beyond flat-band conditions generation-recombination noise becomes evident at low frequency, exhibiting a quadratic dependence on the current.


Although large language models (LLMs) have achieved significant success in various tasks, they often struggle with hallucination problems, especially in scenarios requiring deep and responsible reasoning. These issues could be partially addressed by introducing external knowledge graphs (KG) in LLM reasoning. In this paper, we propose a new LLM-KG integrating paradigm ``$\hbox{LLM}\otimes\hbox{KG}$'' which treats the LLM as an agent to interactively explore related entities and relations on KGs and perform reasoning based on the retrieved knowledge. We further implement this paradigm by introducing a new approach called Think-on-Graph (ToG), in which the LLM agent iteratively executes beam search on KG, discovers the most promising reasoning paths, and returns the most likely reasoning results. We use a number of well-designed experiments to examine and illustrate the following advantages of ToG: 1) compared with LLMs, ToG has better deep reasoning power; 2) ToG has the ability of knowledge traceability and knowledge correctability by leveraging LLMs reasoning and expert feedback; 3) ToG provides a flexible plug-and-play framework for different LLMs, KGs and prompting strategies without any additional training cost; 4) the performance of ToG with small LLM models could exceed large LLM such as GPT-4 in certain scenarios and this reduces the cost of LLM deployment and application. As a training-free method with lower computational cost and better generality, ToG achieves overall SOTA in 6 out of 9 datasets where most previous SOTAs rely on additional training.


The current development of films and drama series as mass media has a role as an effective form for conveying a message and "Mega Series Suara Hati Istri: Zahra" is one that raises a discussion with gender issues in the form of social relations between women and men. This drama series also tells the culture of polygamy and women's role is still dominated by men in social life. Based on this description, this research is built on the issue of gender and the role of women which represented in the media. The research uses Sara's Mills discourse analysis in order to see how women represented in a polygamy genre. Focused on the micro features to analyzed how women represented by level such as subject-object position and director-viewers position. There are ten scene in total which analyzed and described by the visual images, forming dialog into text to analyze it from the text form , and also the symbols that shown in by the scenes. Based on the methods, in this research was found that there are differences in the position of women and men in the practice of polygamy where the men's role is dominance. the formation of this drama series, which is considered to reflect the values of everyday life as well by depicting the position of women as discourse which seen from the position of the reader role and is considered by the director.


The effectiveness of the strain CPA-2 of Pantoea agglomerans alone or in combination with a curing treatment at 33 degrees C for 65 h to control green mold was evaluated on lemons stored at ambient temperature and in cold storage. An application of P. agglomerans at 2 x 10(8) CFU/ml effectively reduced green mold incidence on recently inoculated lemons stored at temperatures from 5 to 25 degrees C. Moreover, a 30-s immersion of lemons in a P. agglomerans suspension at 2 x 10(8) CFU/ml significantly reduced green mold incidence, even when delayed up to 15 h after inoculation with Penicillium digitatum at either 20 degrees C or while in cold storage. However, it failed to control established infections of P. digitatum of more than 24 h. Curing P. agglomerans-treated lemons at 33 degrees C for 65 h completely controlled 24-h-old infections on artificially inoculated lemons stored at 20 degrees C for 14 days and on naturally infected lemons stored at 10 degrees C for 3 weeks plus 7 additional days at 20 degrees C. When applied before curing, population growth of P. agglomerans in wounds was similar to that within wounds of control fruits at 20 degrees C. In contrast, when it was applied immediately after curing treatment, P. agglomerans populations within wounds did not increase.


This article is a synthesis of a phenomenon – banditry in Catalonia – which peaked in the century and a half between approximately 1500 and 1630. In this article, by 'banditry' we mean the kind waged by both the upper classes and nobility and the lower classes. With forerunners in the late Middle Ages, banditry is ultimately part of a history of social transversality in all sectors, which seriously hindered its official repression – from the Crown to the Diputacio del General (General Deputation) – because bandits had infiltrated all the institutions, including the Reial Audiencia (Appellate Court). This article then describes the most vivid periods of banditry, its leading personalities or groups, including the nyerros and cadells, and the savage violence that it generated far and wide. Nonetheless, a minimal comparison with broad swaths of the Mediterranean reveals that banditry is not unique to the history of Catalonia.


Much of the debate on Plan S seems to concentrate on how to make toll access journals open access, taking for granted that existing open access journals are Plan S compliant. We suspected this was not so, and set out to explore this using DOAJ's journal metadata. We conclude that an overwhelmingly large majority of open access journals are not Plan S compliant, and that it is small HSS publishers not charging APCs that are least compliant and will face major challenges with becoming compliant. Plan S need to give special considerations to smaller publishers and/or non-APC-based journals.


In De veritate, sacrifice is appealed to as a universal rite and the ultimate guarantee of immutable truth, beyond reasonable deduction or natural instinct (Book 1, Chapter 7; cf. De satisfactione Christi). But sacrifice also stands as the ultimate example of the abrogation and alteration of law (Book 5, chs. 6–8). As an example of the abrogation of law, sacrifice signifies in both directions. The case of Abraham (Genesis 22) demonstrates God's sovereign power of dispensatio. Divine right to radical revision is demonstrated in the command to sacrifice. But more generally it is the suspension of the command to sacrifice that stands as the ultimate sign of sovereign right not just to annotate but to radically rewrite the law. In this paper I explore how sacrifice operates as a guarantee of immutability and mutability: the intractability of scripture, and its equally necessary revision and alteration. Sacrifice reaches across all time and space, and stands as a sign of the parochialisation of biblical time and space. This tension relates to the principle of accommodation which, I argue, is already in operation in the Bible. By extrapolating this fundamentally biblical operation, Grotius produces a paradox that will help to sustain the Bible in modernity. The Bible (as emblematised in sacrifice) is localised and parochialised but also persists as a 'universal' foundation.


The properties of superconducting transition metal tunnel junctions are sensitive to the methods of junction preparation. The derivatives of a tantalum‐silver junction made by a sputtering method clearly show much poorer gap and phonon induced characteristics than a junction made on an outgassed surface. Analysis of the latter gives α2(ω)F(ω) with phonon peaks at energies in agreement with neutron scattering, μ* = 0.11 and λ = 0.69 in good agreement with calculated values. It is concluded that tantalum is an electron‐phonon coupled superconductor.The data from niobium‐gold and lanthanum‐aluminum junctions are analyzed and presented. Even though the niobium and lanthanum junctions are the best ones ever made using these materials, they still possess sufficient surface contamination to affect the gap characteristic and weaken the phonon‐induced structures in the tunneling characteristics. As a result, the Coulomb pseudopotentials μ* for both Nb and La are found to be −0.04, a significant deviation from the μ* = 0.1 to 0.15 range typical of most superconductors. The electron phonon coupling strengths λ are 0.58 for Nb, and 0.66 for La, compared to 0.82 and 0.75 expected on the basis of their Tc and θD. However, at present we believe these disagreements are the result of studying junctions with contaminated transition metal surfaces rather than evidence for a second coupling mechanism of superconductivity.The properties of superconducting transition metal tunnel junctions are sensitive to the methods of junction preparation. The derivatives of a tantalum‐silver junction made by a sputtering method clearly show much poorer gap and phonon induced characteristics than a junction made on an outgassed surface. Analysis of the latter gives α2(ω)F(ω) with phonon peaks at energies in agreement with neutron scattering, μ* = 0.11 and λ = 0.69 in good agreement with calculated values. It is concluded that tantalum is an electron‐phonon coupled superconductor.The data from niobium‐gold and lanthanum‐aluminum junctions are analyzed and presented. Even though the niobium and lanthanum junctions are the best ones ever made using these materials, they still possess sufficient surface contamination to affect the gap characteristic and weaken the phonon‐induced structures in the tunneling characteristics. As a result, the Coulomb pseudopotentials μ* for both Nb and La are found to be −0.04, a significant deviation from the ...


Wall thickness (w), wall thickness to lumen radius ratio (w/r) and vasomotor reactions produced by electrical stimulation of the sympathetic tract were studied by intravital microscopy of the skeletal muscle (extensor hallucis proprius) and compared in normal Wistar rats (NWR) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). It was established that w and w/r of arterioles with an equal lumen was greater in SHR than in NWR. Sympathetic stimulation with 6 mA, 3 imp/sec for 10 sec produced an almost 50% reduced arteriolar constriction in SHR, as compared to NWR. Linear positive correlation was shown between w/r and the degree of the lumen narrowing in both groups of animals. A bias for the increase in arteriolar response to neurogenic stimuli was manifested after a drop in blood pressure due to an acute hemorrhage in SHR. It is suggested that high blood pressure in SHR ensures the perfusion of the microcirculatory bed with a constant blood volume and prevents arteriolar constriction.


To study the effect of virus-specific antisense RNA expression on vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infectivity in cultured cells, a HeLaS3 cell line constitutively expressing antisense RNA complimentary to a portion of the VSV large RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene (L) was established (HeAntiL). At an m.o.i. of 0.01 or 0.1, the HeAntiL cell line was able to reduce virus titre and delay virus-induced cell death by 9 or 5 h, respectively, when compared to a HeLa cell line stably transfected with the expression vector devoid of antisense sequence. Ribonuclease protection experiments showed a 10-20-fold reduction of hybridizable virus L mRNA in infected HeAntiL cells compared to infected control cells at various times before cell death. These results indicate that the antisense RNA approach can significantly reduce VSV mRNA transcription and virus production for a reasonable period of time. The robust growth rate of VSV eventually overwhelms the available antisense RNA and leads to delayed cell death.


Mounting evidence has linked the metabolic disease to neurovascular disorders and cognitive decline. Using a murine model of a high‐fat high‐sugar diet mimicking obesity‐induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in humans, we show that pro‐inflammatory mediators and altered immune responses damage the blood‐brain barrier (BBB) structure, triggering a proinflammatory metabolic phenotype. We find that disruption to tight junctions and basal lamina due to loss of control in the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) causes BBB impairment. Together the disruption to the structural and functional integrity of the BBB results in enhanced transmigration of leukocytes across the BBB that could contribute to an initiation of a neuroinflammatory response through activation of microglia. Using a humanized in vitro model of the BBB and T2DM patient post‐mortem brains, we show the translatable applicability of our results. We find a leaky BBB phenotype in T2DM patients can be attributed to a loss of junctional proteins through changes in inflammatory mediators and MMP/TIMP levels, resulting in increased leukocyte extravasation into the brain parenchyma. We further investigated therapeutic avenues to reduce and restore the BBB damage caused by HFHS‐feeding. Pharmacological treatment with recombinant annexin A1 (hrANXA1) or reversion from a high‐fat high‐sugar diet to a control chow diet (dietary intervention), attenuated T2DM development, reduced inflammation, and restored BBB integrity in the animals. Given the rising incidence of diabetes worldwide, understanding metabolic‐disease‐associated brain microvessel damage is vital and the proposed therapeutic avenues could help alleviate the burden of these diseases.


China and North Korea have had good bilateral relations, as the result of their geographical proximity and their similar ideology (communist). China's status as a member of the UN Security Council and its stable economy, causes North Korea to depend on diplomatic and economic support from China. North Korea needs diplomatic support from China because its nuclear proliferation since North Korea decided to withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty. As North Korea's closest ally, China provided diplomatic support by not fully supporting UN sanctions for North Korea's first and second nuclear tests. However, China did not provide diplomatic support when North Korea launched the third nuclear test, on the contrary, China supported UN Sanction towards North Korea. This research aims to analyze the causes of China's policy changes toward North Korea nuclear test. The theoritical framework in this research is the concept of neo-classical realism. The type of this research is descriptive, using qualitative data analysis techniques from literatures review. This research shows that there are two causes of China's policy changes toward North Korea nuclear test, which are: the international structure (pressure from the United States) and China's domestic conditions (leader, power, and society).


Abstract Objectives The aim of this initiative was to examine collaboratively, in a multi-stakeholder team (health technology assessment (HTA) practitioners with patient involvement expertise, health technology industry, patient advocates, health policy experts, patient engagement experts), whether evidence generated through social media research (SMR) fills current information gaps relating to insights on specific aspects of patient experiences, preferences, or patient needs and delivers additional value to HTA. Methods The framing of the project was done in a co-creative, deliberative multi-stakeholder process. Challenge and refinement happened through discussions with 25 independent stakeholders from HTA bodies, industry, academia, and patient advocacy. For critical themes identified during the framing phase, scoping literature reviews were performed including the state of methods and examples for the use of SMR in HTA. Results The framing and stakeholder discussions specified a set of expectations and requirements, and the scoping reviews revealed the current state of methods and usage of SMR in health-policy decision making. Conclusions The project concluded that SMR can contribute new, relevant evidence to HTA. It is however recommended to evolve the science through defining best practices when planning, conducting, and using SMR and to conduct multi-stakeholder pilot SMR projects to address questions relevant to current HTAs and to validate and improve the proposed practices.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
To summarize the experience of diagnosis and surgical treatment of mucin-producing bile duct tumors (MPBTs).

METHODOLOGY
A retrospective analysis was undertaken to determine the radiography characteristics and results of surgical treatment of MPBTs over the past 9 years. Only eight patients underwent such treatment. The detailed data of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis were carefully studied.

RESULTS
Intermittent jaundice was the most frequently clinical manifestation of MPBTs, with unique characteristics on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MPCP) when compared with gallbladder carcino-ma, hilar cholangiocarcinoma and distal bile duct can-cer. All the 8 patients with MPBTs received appropriate surgical procedure and were cured.

CONCLUSIONS
Appropriate diagnosis and curative hepatectomy for MPBTs made it possible to achieve long-term survival.


There is a wealth of literature suggesting that breastfeeding for 6 months offers the ideal balance of nutrients for complete infant growth, and that all infants should be: "exclusively breastfed from birth to six months of age" (WHO 2003). However, although 98 percent of new mothers are capable of breastfeeding, only a minority of infants continue to be breastfed at six months following birth. In addition, breastfeeding rates are socially patterned whereby women living in the most affluent neighbourhoods are three times more likely to breastfeed their infants than women living in the least affluent areas (Bolling et al 2007).
This thesis set out to address a range of research questions in relation to women's lived experiences of breastfeeding in private and public spaces throughout the first 6 months of motherhood within a sample of mothers from the most and least affluent neighbourhoods. Given that breastfeeding is an embodied health behaviour, the epistemology adopted a position of interpretivism as a means of capturing the meaning and lived experiences of women's breastfeeding. Breastfeeding women were recruited at 2 days following birth from the most and least affluent areas of Glasgow south and 41 in-depth interviews were conducted over 3 time periods following birth: 4 weeks (n18), 10 weeks (n12) and 26 weeks (n11).
The results from this public policy health service research study suggest that breastfeeding is a learnt skill and women work hard to develop their skills and confidence in order to breastfeed comfortably and discreetly in private and public spaces. Breastfeeding is commonly discussed as a private domestic activity, and home is generally considered the most appropriate place for breastfeeding to take place. However, with the constant flow of visitors a new baby attracts, the boundaries between what are considered private and public space breaks down. As a result, women develop an awareness of appropriate and inappropriate spaces for breastfeeding both at home and outside the home. Women suggest, at times, they feel a greater degree of privacy breastfeeding within public spaces than they do in the private space of their own home.


Preliminary studies were performed to evaluate the usefulness of lumbar bone marrow MRI using the dual chemical-shift GRE sequence in the detection of diffuse bone metastasis. Two GRE images (TE = 2.3 msec and 4.6 msec) were obtained, and SIR was calculated. SIR was designated as the ratio of in-phase to out-of-phase signal intensity. Among 45 patients with suspicious lumbar bone metastases, diffuse bone metastases were present in 7. Mean SIRs were compared by unpaired t-test. SIRs of diffuse bone metastases had significantly higher signal intensities than those of non-diffuse bone metastases of vertebrae (p < 0.01).


Article type: Original Article Introduction: Clinical education is part of medical education where students gradually acquire skills by attending patients' bedside. In fact, students use the acquired skills and logical experiences to resolve patients' problems. Material and Methods: This qualitative study was performed using the nonguided content analysis method. The study population included 240 assistants from 13 educational groups in the School of Medicine of Mashhad, Iran, 121 of whom were enrolled in the study. Results: The clinical education methods included four main indicators of content, implementation process, professor, and interaction. According to the results, there were three components in the professor indicator, including the use of experiences of professors, application of expert professors, and continuous presence in all the methods. In addition, components of more practice and training were confirmed in all the methods. In the implementation process indicator, the component of feedback was emphasized in all the methods. Conclusion: According to our results, attention to the quality indicators of clinical education methods leads to the improvement of education status and performance. Article history: Received: 10 Aug 2018 Revised: 24 Oct 2018 Accepted: 30 Oct 2018


Background Helicobacter pylori has become very important recently due to infecting around 50% of the population worldwide. This infection can cause peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of common triple treatment, sequential treatment, and other regimens for Helicobacter pylori eradication in children. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 40 children who were diagnosed with Helicobacter pylori infection by endoscopic and pathologic features in the Children's Medical Center of Tehran, Iran, in 2018 were included. The questionnaire was completed by telephone interview. Types of protocols include triple therapy (proton pump inhibitors with clarithromycin and amoxicillin or metronidazole for 2 weeks), sequential therapy (proton pump inhibitors with amoxicillin for 5 days followed by proton pump inhibitors with clarithromycin and metronidazole for 5 days), and other treatments (every protocol except triple and sequential regimens). At the end, we compared the efficacy of the different protocols for eradicating this infection by urea breath test or stool antigen test 8 weeks after therapy. Results: The age of patients with and without successful eradication was 8.12 and 7.8 years, respectively (p=0.8). There was no significant difference between both sexes (p=0.999) in the frequencies of eradication. The eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori was 95.5% in sequential therapy, 100% in conventional triple therapy, and 87.5%in other regimens. There was no significant difference between different protocols (p=0.422). Conclusion Determining first-line treatment for eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection is important to increase treatment success and reduce rate of secondary antimicrobial resistance. Our study showed that sequential treatment is as effective as conventional treatment in eradication of this infection in children.


BACKGROUND
Sex steroids have been demonstrated as important modulators of vaginal function. The RhoA/ROCK calcium-sensitizing pathway plays a role in genital smooth muscle contractile mechanism, but its regulation has never been elucidated.

AIM
This study investigated the sex steroid regulation of the vaginal smooth muscle RhoA/ROCK pathway using a validated animal model.

METHODS
Ovariectomized (OVX) Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with 17β-estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and T with letrozole (T + L) and compared with intact animals. Contractility studies were performed to test the effect of the ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 and the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor L-NAME. In vaginal tissues, ROCK1 immunolocalization was investigated; mRNA expression was analyzed by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction; and RhoA membrane translocation was evaluated by Western blot. Finally, rat vaginal smooth muscle cells (rvSMCs) were isolated from the distal vagina of intact and OVX animals, and quantification of the RhoA inhibitory protein RhoGDI was performed after stimulation with NO donor sodium nitroprusside, with or without administration of the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ or PRKG1 inhibitor KT5823.

OUTCOMES
Androgens are critical in inhibiting the RhoA/ROCK pathway of the smooth muscle compartment in the distal vagina.

RESULTS
ROCK1 was immunolocalized in the smooth muscle bundles and blood vessel wall of the vagina, with weak positivity detected in the epithelium. Y-27632 induced a dose-dependent relaxation of noradrenaline precontracted vaginal strips, decreased by OVX and restored by E2, while T and T + L decreased it below the OVX level. In Western blot analysis, when compared with control, OVX significantly induced RhoA activation, as revealed by its membrane translocation, with T reverting it at a level significantly lower than in controls. This effect was not exerted by E2. Abolishing NO formation via L-NAME increased Y-27632 responsiveness in the OVX + T group; L-NAME had partial effects in controls while not modulating Y-27632 responsiveness in the OVX and OVX + E2 groups. Finally, stimulation of rvSMCs from control animals with sodium nitroprusside significantly increased RhoGDI protein expression, counteracted by ODQ and partially by KT5823 incubation; no effect was observed in rvSMCs from OVX rats.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
Androgens, by inhibiting the RhoA/ROCK pathway, could positively contribute to vaginal smooth muscle relaxation, favoring sexual intercourse.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
This study describes the role of androgens in maintaining vaginal well-being. The absence of a sham-operated animal group and the use of the only intact animal as control represented a limitation to the study.


The interplay between healthcare service quality, health IT, and variation in reimbursements for healthcare services is an understudied phenomenon. We propose a unified framework to empirically examine the association between healthcare quality, health IT usage and Medicare reimbursements for congestive heart failure cases. Hospital-level data from multiple sources, including Medicare, CMS hospital compare, and HIMSS Analytics, were obtained and integrated for the analyses reported in this study. Our empirical analyses, based on a three-year panel dataset of CHF patients, indicates a negative association between hospital mortality rates and average Medicare reimbursements, and a positive association between readmission rates and Medicare payments. We report a weak positive association between the usage of health IT systems and magnitude of average Medicare payments, suggesting that hospitals with greater usage of health IT exhibit higher Medicare reimbursements.


Background In the phase 2 study JAHH (NCT02708095), treatment with baricitinib, an oral selective Janus kinase 1/2 inhibitor approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, resulted in significant improvements in patients with active SLE receiving standard background therapy compared with placebo.1 Expression of type I-associated interferon (IFN) responsive genes (IRGs) is elevated in patients with SLE.2 We developed a robust quantitative assay to measure changes in the IFN signature, and examined the relationship between the IFN signature and measures of clinical outcome. Methods 314 patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive placebo, baricitinib 2- or 4 mg once daily for 24 weeks in study JAHH. Total RNA isolated from whole blood was analyzed using a multiplex assay panel of 6 IRGs at baseline, and Weeks 2, 12, and 24. The assay was developed and optimized using RNA samples from 1760 patients with SLE enrolled in phase 3 trials of tabalumab (an anti-B cell activating factor monoclonal antibody),(2) along with healthy controls. The IFN signature assay produced a bimodal distribution. Results 70% of patients had an elevated IFN signature at baseline. Baricitinib significantly reduced the IFN signature by Week 24 compared with placebo (2 mg:−20%, 4 mg:−24%, p0.05), with decreases observed as early as Week 2. In patients who had a high IFN signature at baseline, baricitinib 4 mg significantly reduced the IFN signature at Weeks 12 (-24%) and 24 (-23%) compared with placebo (p0.01); decreases were also observed at Weeks 12 and 24 with baricitinib 2 mg, but the difference from placebo was not statistically significant. Baricitinib 4 mg treatment resulted in significant clinical improvement in the resolution of arthritis or rash determined by the SLEDAI-2K.1 However, the effect of baricitinib on IFN signature reduction (change from baseline and absolute baseline value) did not correlate with SLEDAI-2K-defined clinical improvement at Week 12 or 24. Conclusions A dose-dependent decrease in the IFN signature was observed in baricitinib-treated patients with SLE. Baricitinib treatment resulted in clinical improvement across various measures of SLE disease activity.1 Response was observed with baricitinib regardless of the change in the IFN gene signature. These data suggest that the clinical improvement observed in baricitinib-treated patients with SLE may be the result of baricitinib-mediated effects on multiple cytokine pathways that may include, but are not limited to, IFN signaling. Ongoing studies using gene arrays are now surveying global immune pathways to better characterize the mechanism of action of baricitinib in SLE. Funding Source(s): Eli Lilly and Company References Wallace, D. et al. DOI:10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-eular.1918 Hoffman,W. et al. Arthritis Rheumatol 2017;69:643–654.


Introduction: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting are the most common side-effects feared by patients. Although significant advances have been made, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting remain an important adverse effect of treatment.
Purpose: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in an oncology day unit in France. We described then the management of this side-effect.
Methods: This retrospective mono-centric observational study assessed 65 patients in our oncology day unit. They all were on chemotherapy for solid tumors and should have had already received one cycle of chemotherapy. Patients were metastatic or treated with a curative intent. During three days, patients were asked if they had experienced nausea and/or vomiting after their last cycle of treatment.
Results: 65 patients were enrolled, 45 women (69%) and 20 men (31%). The median age was 63 years. 20 patients were elderly people. 48 patients were metastatic (74%) and 17(26%) were on neo-adjuvant or adjuvant therapy. 24 people (37%) experienced nausea (20 patients) or vomited (4 patients). Nausea was essentially grade I (60%). All patients received anti-emetic therapies. In the 24 patients who suffered from adverse effects, only 6 had corticosteroids, 15 had NK1 receptor inhibitors, 12 received 5-HT3 receptor inhibitors and 12 anti D2 treatments. 9 patients (14%) experienced refractory nausea and vomiting.
Conclusion: Even if guidelines exist and despite many therapeutics agents have improved patients' quality of life in terms of nausea and vomiting, in some cases it seems not to be enough.


A lot of work is devoted to formalizing and devising architectures for agents' cooperative behaviour, for coordinating the behaviour of individual agents within groups, as well as to designing agent societies using social laws. However, providing agents with abilities to automatically devise societies so as to form coherent emergent groups that coordinate their behaviour via social laws, is highly challenging. These systems are called self-organised. We are beginning to understand some of the ways in which self-organised agent systems can be devised. In this perspective, this paper provides several examples of multi-agent systems in which self-organisation, based on different mechanisms, is used to solve complex problems. Several criteria for comparison of self-organisation between the different applications are provided.


Negative sampling approaches are prevalent in implicit collaborative filtering for obtaining negative labels from massive unlabeled data. As two major concerns in negative sampling, efficiency and effectiveness are still not fully achieved by recent works that use complicate structures and overlook risk of false negative instances. In this paper, we first provide a novel understanding of negative instances by empirically observing that only a few instances are potentially important for model learning, and false negatives tend to have stable predictions over many training iterations. Above findings motivate us to simplify the model by sampling from designed memory that only stores a few important candidates and, more importantly, tackle the untouched false negative problem by favouring high-variance samples stored in memory, which achieves efficient sampling of true negatives with high-quality. Empirical results on two synthetic datasets and three real-world datasets demonstrate both robustness and superiorities of our negative sampling method.


Several weakly transported sugars were tested for transport by the Na(+)-dependent sugar carrier with slices of everted hamster intestinal tissue. Sugars were assumed to be transported by this carrier if the accumulation was diminished in the absence of Na(+) and in the presence of the competitive inhibitor 1,5-anhydro-d-glucitol. The extent of accumulation was correlated with the number of hydroxyl groups in the d-gluco configuration if the ring oxygen was placed in the normal d-glucose position. 5-Thio-d-glucose, with a sulphur atom in the ring, was transported at about the same rate as d-glucose and had a similar K(i) for d-galactose transport, but myoinositol was poorly accumulated. It is suggested that there is no hydrogen bonding at the ring oxygen atom, but that the oxygen atom is found at this position as a result of steric constraints. No sugar without a hydroxyl group in the d-gluco position at C-2 of the sugar, including d-mannose, 2-deoxy-d-glucose, 2-chloro-2-deoxy-d-glucose and 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-d-glucose, was transported by the Na(+)-dependent carrier, but these sugars and l-fucose weakly and competitively inhibit the Na(+)-dependent accumulation of l-glucose into slices of everted hamster intestinal tissue. It is concluded that the bond between the carrier and C-2 of the sugar may be covalent, and a possible mechanism for active intestinal transport is proposed.


The mechanisms that determine greater P absorption by mycorrhizal plants are still not completely clear, and are attributed, in part, to an increase in the number of absorption sites promoted by the hyphae, and/or to a greater affinity of the colonized hypha or root carriers to P. The effect of mycorrhizae formed by Glomus etunicatum on the kinetic parameters of P absorption by the roots and on P influx in bean plants of the IAC-Carioca cultivar was evaluated, in two distinct plant development periods: at the onset of flowering and at the pod-filling stage (35 and 50 days after sowing, respectively). A mixture of sand and silica (9:1) was utilized as substrate and irrigated with nutrient solution. The kinetics assay was performed by the method of 32P depletion from the solution (depletion curve), using intact plants. Mycorrhization promoted greater growth and P absorption by bean plants, which was more conspicuously observed at the pod-filling stage. Mycorrhizal plants showed higher values of maximum ion uptake rate (Vmax) and net P influx at the flowering stage. Lower minimum ion concentration (Cmin) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) values were verified in mycorrhizal plants at the pod-filling stage. Mycorrhizal plants also presented higher net P influx per plant, in both stages. Cmin was the kinetic parameter more intimately related to P absorption, and a significant correlation was obtained between this parameter and shoot P content and accumulation in bean plants.


Purpose: To quantify the impact of pre‐fraction helical CT isocenter verification vs. setup based on planning CT in fractionated extracranial stereotactic radiosurgery.Method and Materials:Treatment plans (Elekta PrecisePlan) and pre‐fraction isocenter verification helical CT scans for 12 patients (40 fractions) were recovered from treatment plan archives. All structures were contoured by a single physician at the time of treatment. Each plan was imported into a customizable treatment plan analysis suite (CERR). Using CERR, pre‐fraction isocenter verification CT scans were fused with the original treatment plan using the external body frame as a reference. The original planned dose distribution was then translated from original treatment plan isocenter to pre‐fraction verification isocenters in each fraction. Dose and volume parameters for pertinent structures were automatically extracted using both registration methods (planned or pre‐fraction scans) for the original treatment plan and for all subsequent fractions. All patients were treated using the pre‐fraction verified isocenter rather than pre‐calculated body frame fiducials as per our institutional policies. Results: GTV volumes on pre‐fraction CTs varied from original planned GTV volume (64%–203%, mean=101.8+/−26.5%) largely due to helical sampling of a mobile target. Using the external body frame as the only setup reference would have resulted in geographic misses (<80% coverage of 95% of GTV) in 7/40 (17.5%) fractions. Pre‐fraction isocenter verification resulted in improved D95 GTV coverage (88–102%, mean=99.3% +/−2.4%) with no geographic misses. Conclusion: The current RTOG protocol (0236) evaluating extracranial stereotactic radiosurgery does not require pre‐fraction CTtumor position verification. Our institutional policy is to verify isocenter/tumor position prior to each fraction via CT. Although helical scanning artifacts are present, pre‐fraction CT‐based isocenter verification may provide more consistent tumor coverage than setup to planned body frame fiducials. Conflict of Interest: Support for this research was provided in part by Elekta, Inc.


Two Bloembergen–Purcell–Pound (BPP) models for analysing nuclear spin relaxation data for translational diffusion in disordered systems are compared with Monte Carlo simulations. One model (the a-BPP model, 'a' standing for average) is commonly used for disordered systems and the other (the Cameron–Sholl BPP model) is more rigorously based and can distinguish between site-and barrier-energy disorder. Simulated relaxation data produced using Gaussian distributions of energy disorder are analysed using the models, and the parameters obtained from the fits are compared with the values used for the simulations. It is found that both models can give reasonable fits to the data. Both models also give reasonable agreement with the simulation parameters provided that the standard deviation of the energy distribution for the a-BPP model is interpreted as the average of the site-and barrier-energy standard deviations. Quantitative estimates are given of the accuracy of the parameters from the fits.


ABSTRACTWe found a data calibration scheme for frequency-domain full-waveform inversion (FWI). The scheme is based on the variable projection technique. With this scheme, the FWI algorithm can incorporate the data calibration procedure into the inversion process without introducing additional unknown parameters. The calibration variable for each frequency is computed using a minimum norm solution between the measured and simulated data. This process is directly included in the data misfit cost function. Therefore, the inversion algorithm becomes source independent. Moreover, because all the data points are considered in the calibration process, this scheme increases the robustness of the algorithm. Numerical tests determined that the FWI algorithm can reconstruct velocity distributions accurately without the source waveform information.


The primary objective of this study is to assess the accuracy of satellite derived estimates of cloud top pressure. These estimates are derived using single field of view hourly data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-12) Imager and Sounder instruments. Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) data taken during the AtlanticTHORPEX Regional Campaign (ATReC) are used as reference data set. Using airborne lidar data provides the advantage that the cloud top heights are measured rather than derived, as they are when ground based data are used. For comparison with the lidar data, satellite derived estimates of cloud top pressure are converted to cloud top height using aircraft dropsonde data where available, or ground-based radiosonde data. Future space borne weather satellites will most likely contain hyperspectral instruments (GOES-R HES, GIFTS). In preparation for this next generation of instruments, some research has focused on what information may be attained using hyperspectral technology, and how current products may be improved using these data. This study includes an assessment of cloud top height using data from the University of Wisconsin Scanning High resolution Interferometer Sounder (SHIS), a hyperspectral sensor that also flew aboard the NASA ER-2 during AtREC. Since the SHIS and the CPL were co-located on the same aircraft, we expect their assessment of cloud top height will be in good agreement. However, differences in field of view, as well as differences in the actual quantities measured by the two instruments make this a useful and informative comparison, especially given the need to assess hyperspectral cloud products in preparation for future satellite missions.


Magnetization measurements of well-characterized monodisperse Pt clusters consisting of 13+/-2 atoms in a zeolite confirm the predicted extraordinary magnetic polarization with up to 8 unpaired electrons on a cluster, corresponding to a magnetic moment of 0.65(5) microB per atom. The effect is partly quenched by hydrogen chemisorption. The study provides insight into the electronic structure of the cluster and is fundamental for an understanding of how magnetism develops in small clusters.


Integrated transmit and receive MMICs for automotive applications have been realized in coplanar waveguide technology, using a 0.15 /spl mu/m PHEMT process. The transmitter chip delivers an output power of 10 dBm at the antenna and the LO-ports. The receiver has an overall conversion gain of 10 dB for an LO-power of -10 dBm. Both chips only require an area of 3/spl times/2 mm/sup 2/. For an improved higher power version of the transmitter, a new nonlinear HEMT-model has been used for the design of a power amplifier, resulting in excellent agreement between predicted and measured output performance at 76 GHz.


The idea of forced external synchronization of the heart dynamics by the canonical FPU spectrum with a purpose to lower the rate of its desynchronization in some pathological cases has been hypothesized by the authors. It was concluded that a heart being a multi resonant distributed dynamic ion containing system may be resonantly influenced by applying to it the canonical FPU electromagnetic spectrum, which can supposedly decrease the rate of desynchronization in the ECG Fourier spectrum for example in case of arrhythmia. The complex FPU recurrences found in the deep-water dynamics studies were compared with real ECG Fourier images in a sequence of time periods. For choosing the appropriate form of the external FPU canonical spectrum, the two different forms of the ECG Fourier spectra were studied: a rectangular pulse spectrum and exponential pulse spectrum. The two functions were taken to form the external synchronizing canonical FPU recurrence spectrum and were put into the right part of the equations of the previously developed mathematical model as perturbing functions. The computer study of the model simulating arrhythmia with a synchronizing perturbing part in a form of the canonical FPU recurrence spectrum changed the solutions of the model to the forms characteristic for normally functioning heart. Thus, the hypothesis has been confirmed,