The much-publicized rerelease of the movie The Exorcist, complete with eleven minutes of previously unseen footage, reflects a resurgence of interest within both the Church and popular culture in the topic of exorcism. Within the Roman Catholic Church it is strikingly evident in the Vatican's newly revised eighty-four page Latin ritual for exorcism, "De Exorcismus et Supplicationibus Quibusdam" ("Of All Kinds of Exorcisms and Supplications"), which replaces Chapter XII of the Roman Ritual, and which will eventually be published in vernacular editions for use throughout the world. Within the Anglican tradition the Church of England's inquiry into an increasing number of requests for exorcisms has forced the Church to contend also with the problem of a corresponding increase in unauthorized exorcisms by clergy. The result has been the assignment of a twelve-member working party, the Christian Deliverance Study Group, cochaired by the Rt. Rev. Dominic Walker, the Bishop of Reading, to consider the issue of the growing demand placed upon clergy by individuals seeking exorcisms or relief from phenomena of an apparently paranormal nature. It is not altogether surprising, therefore, that the latest report by the Church of England on the Church's ministry of healing, A Time to Heal,1 contains a chapter on the subject of deliverance. Surprisingly, despite the amount of attention given to the subject of exorcism by the Church of England, and in light of the wealth of material dating back to the 1960s from Church of England sources on the topics of deliverance and exorcism, the only official direction on the part of the Episcopal Church on this subject consists of the rather brief rubrics on page 170 of The Book of Occasional Services. One can't help but wonder at the reason for the disparity between this clearly documented ongoing interest and involvement in the subject of exorcism on the part of the Church of England and the contrasting silence regarding the subject on the other side of the Atlantic. However, closer examination will reveal that the answer lies in a complex sequence of events which include the aftermath of two World Wars and a cultural revolution, as well as a horrifying and bizarre murder in a quiet Yorkshire town which would bring the subject of exorcism in Great Britain to the attention not only of the media, but eventually of Parliament itself. Within the Church of England canon law had, until 1969, allowed for the use of exorcism, provided that permission was obtained from the diocesan bishop. In reality, however, the unofficial policy appears to have been one of "Don't ask-don't tell." Such permission was hardly ever requested, and for the Church of England, as well as for the Roman Catholic Church, exorcism remained something of an embarrassment. There had been no attempt to formulate new laws for its use. This whole area was something which the Church of England was reluctant to tackle officially, although certain parties such as Prebendary Henry Cooper2 had, as far back as 1958, urged the Church to consider the place of exorcism within its healing ministry. Unofficially, however, since the early sixties it had been the subject of considerable discussion. This was due in part to an explosion of interest in the occult and the paranormal in Great Britain, as elsewhere, fueled by reports of a disturbing number of cemetery desecrations throughout the country, which themselves were accompanied in the media by sensationalistic stories of Black Masses and witches' covens.The Rev. Elijah White's Exorcism as a Christian Ministry quotes Dom Robert Petitpierre, the Exeter Report's editor, as saying that "incidents of demonic interference, particularly with individual personalities, were sporadic from the 1920s and since 1960 have become `virtually an explosion.'"3 The doctrine of "deliverance"-roughly equivalent to what the Roman Catholic Church would term "minor" or "private" exorcismhad been gaining a growing acceptance within the religious mainstream. …


Although the virtual collocation of service providers (SPs) on top of infrastructure providers (InPs) via network virtualization brings various benefits, we posit that operational confidentiality has not been considered in this network model. We extend and apply the Secure Multiparty Computation (SMC) protocol to solving Minimum Disclosure Routing (MDR), namely, enabling an SP to route packets without disclosing routing information to InPs. We implement the proposed MDR protocol and evaluate its performance via experiments by comparing it against the prediction based on our analytical performance model. Our study reveals that MDR can be securely achieved with marginal latency overhead with regard to the convergence time in well-engineered nonsecure routing algorithms. Our study sheds light on the path for network virtualization to be used to resolve the challenges for the ISPs of today.


The original criteria of Riesz and of Hardy-Littlewood concerning the truth of the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) are revisited and further investigated in light of the recent formulations and results of Maslanka and of Baez-Duarte concerning a representation of the Riemann Zeta function. Then we introduce a general set of similar functions with the emergence of Poisson-like distributions and we present some numerical experiments which indicate that the RH may barely be true.


A Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry of Makerere University


The outbreak of COVID-19 highlights the need for a more harmonized, less privacy-concerning, easily accessible approach to monitoring the human mobility that has been proved to be associated with the viral transmission. In this study, we analyzed 587 million tweets worldwide to see how global collaborative efforts in reducing human mobility are reflected from the user-generated information at the global, country, and the U.S. state scale. Considering the multifaceted nature of mobility, we propose two types of distance: the single-day distance and the cross-day distance. To quantify the responsiveness in certain geographical regions, we further propose a mobility-based responsive index (MRI) that captures the overall degree of mobility changes within a time window. The results suggest that mobility patterns obtained from Twitter data are amendable to quantitatively reflect the mobility dynamics. Globally, the proposed two distances had greatly deviated from their baselines after March 11, 2020, when WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. The considerably less periodicity after the declaration suggests that the protection measures have obviously affected people's travel routines. The country scale comparisons reveal the discrepancies in responsiveness, evidenced by the contrasting mobility patterns in different epidemic phases. We find that the triggers of mobility changes correspond well with the national announcements of mitigation measures. In the U.S., the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on mobility is distinct. However, the impacts varied substantially among states. The strong mobility recovering momentum is further fueled by the Black Lives Matter protests, potentially fostering the second wave of infections in the U.S.


Medical equipment can unintentionally allow the flow of small amounts of AC current through the patient causing hemodynamic collapse without fibrillation. This study examines the mechanical response of the left ventricle during AC induced hemodynamic collapse. Six dogs received 5 seconds of AC current stimulation ranging from 4-160 Hz and 10-1000 /spl mu/A to the right ventricle. A quadripolar catheter was placed in the apex of the left ventricle to measure left ventricular volume. Short-axis ultrasound images were recorded to measure left ventricular cross sectional area and wall thickness. Our results showed that the mean volume of the left ventricle during collapse was significantly smaller (p < 0.05) than the mean volume preceding collapse. Cross sectional area also decreased significantly and wall thickness increased. This suggests that the heart assumes a contracted, systole-like state during collapse.


Background: Disparities in survival between adolescents and young adults (AYA) treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in pediatric versus adult centers are well documented. Whether similar disparities exist among AYA with mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) is unknown, despite substantial differences between pediatric and adult treatment protocols. We compared outcomes among AYA with B-NHL by locus of care (LOC; pediatric versus adult) using a population-based clinical AYA database. We also assessed whether socioeconomic status or geographic area impacted outcome in this population.
 Methods: The IMPACT cohort comprises all Ontario, Canada AYA aged 15-21 years diagnosed with one of six common cancers (including NHL) between 1992-2012. Detailed demographic, disease (histology, stage), treatment, and outcome data were collected through chart abstraction and validated by content experts. Postal code at diagnosis allowed determination of neighbourhood income quintile and rural residence. Linkage to population-based health administrative data identified additional events (second cancers, relapse, death). Event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined using Kaplan-Meier methods. The impact of LOC on EFS and OS was determined using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for demographics and disease-related variables.
 Results: Among 176 AYA with B-NHL, 62 (35.2%) received therapy at a pediatric center. Pediatric center AYA were more likely to have Burkitt lymphoma (BL) than diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) as compared to adult center AYA [26/62 (41.9%) vs. 21/114 (18.4%); p<0.001], and more likely to have advanced stage (i.e. Stage III/IV) disease [38/62 (61.3%) vs. 46/114 (40.4%); p=0.006]. The 5-year EFS and OS (with standard errors) for the whole cohort were 72.2%±3.4% and 76.1%±3.2%. Both EFS and OS were superior among pediatric center patients (EFS 82.2%±4.9% vs. 66.7%±4.4%; p=0.02), (OS 85.5%±4.5% vs. 71.1%±4.3%; p=0.03). When stratified by histology (BL vs. DLBCL), the EFS and OS were similar. However, the superior outcome of pediatric center AYA retained statistical significance only among those with DLBCL (Table 1). Adjusted for histology (BL vs. DLBCL), stage, and time period of diagnosis, adult center AYA had inferior EFS [hazard ratio (HR) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (95CI) 1.1-4.9, p=0.02] and OS (HR 2.5, CI 1.1-5.7, p=0.03). Neither neighbourhood income quintile nor rural residence was associated with EFS or OS.
 Conclusions: In this population-based cohort, AYA with B-NHL treated at pediatric centers experienced substantially superior EFS and OS compared to those treated at adult centers, even accounting for disease characteristics. In subgroup analyses, this difference retained statistical significance among patients with DLBCL but not among patients with BL, though the latter analyses were limited by small sample sizes. Future analyses will analyze whether patterns of treatment failure and late effects vary by locus of care. Further confirmatory studies are warranted, as are studies to determine the relative contribution of pediatric protocols versus other components of care. Our results nonetheless suggest that similar to AYA with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, AYA with B-NHL may benefit from being treated in pediatric centers with pediatric protocols.

 Baxter: Servier: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


OBJECTIVE
To identify tuberculosis-related health care and surveillance actions in Prison Health Units.

METHOD
Cross-sectional study, of quantitative, exploratory and descriptive character. We visited 13 Teams of Prison Health, and nurses and technicians were interviewed regarding epidemiological surveillance instruments, physical structure and materials.

RESULTS
Search for respiratory symptoms in admission was reported by 6 (46.2%) of the teams, and the smear microscopy was the most requested test. The Logbook of Respiratory Symptoms and the Logbook for Monitoring Tuberculosis Cases were used in 7 (53.8%) institutions. Two of them (15.4%) had a location for sputum collection and 1 (7.7%) had a radiographer. The Directly Observed Therapy was reported in 7 (53.8%) units.

CONCLUSION
Health care actions related to the search for respiratory symptoms and Directly Observed Therapy should be expanded, as well as surveillance actions and recording in official documents of the National Tuberculosis Control Program.


TORCAPP calculates the motion of charged particles in electromagnetic fields with time as the independent variable, and produces a variety of printed and plotted output of results. Finite-size beam behavior is studied conveniently by following groups of particles which define an appropriate phase space area. Since time is the independent variable, general motion in the near-median-plane region may be followed. This includes, for example, loops not enclosing the origin and strongly radial motions. Thus, TORCAPP is particularly useful for injection studies for isochronous cyclotrons, or other devices with near-median-plane charged particle motion.


In order to clarify the hydration characteristics of free CaO phase, the contents of divalent metal oxides in crystallized CaO phase in BOF, remelted BOF and synthetic slags were determined as functions of slag composition and cooling rate. The contents of divalent metal oxides increased by slow cooling to 1474 K, followed by rapid cooling so as not to precipitate the calcium ferrite phase in crystallized CaO phase. As a result, free CaO with the divalent metal oxides of more than 20 mass% was not corroded with ethylene glycol.


The vitamin D status of vegetarians was studied in the winter. The groups studied were strict vegetarians (G1), lactovegetarians (G2), lactoovovegetarians eating some fish (G3), and vegetarians who were taking vitamin D supplements or who had been exposed to abundant sunlight during the last 6 mo (G4). A group of healthy women served as control subjects (C). The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration was significantly lower, the serum intact parathyroid hormone (S-iPTH) concentration significantly higher, and the dietary vitamin D intake significantly lower in G1 than in C. S-iPTH correlated negatively with serum 25(OH)D and dietary calcium intake. In conclusion, white strict vegetarians are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, at least in the winter, primarily because of a low dietary vitamin D intake, despite a normal sunlight exposure in summer. Low serum 25(OH)D concentrations are accompanied by high S-iPTH concentrations, which also are affected by a low calcium intake. The effect of these changes on bone health remains to be evaluated.


dence and to weigh the variant versions of the same event. The secondary literature has been extensively utilized up to 1930. Why the study has not been brought bibliographically down to date is not plain. Perhaps the work was completed twenty years ago and has only now been able to achieve publication. That sort of thing happens because of very limited financial resources to subsidize scholarly works. One of the main impressions of this biography is the ironing out of the crises in Luther's career. Two factors contribute to this impression. The first is the detailed narrative of what Luther was doing all of the time, and this makes it plain that he was not preoccupied with crises. In the very midst of crises he carried on with a daily round of duties, monastic, academic, and pastoral. The other factor is derived from the author's point of view. He is disposed to discount the statements of the older Luther with regard to the crises of the younger Luther. Such statements, Fife believes, were exaggerations prompted by polemical concerns. Such a judgment raises an interesting problem in historical cr i t ic ism. Is the p r i nc ip l e sound that a strictly contemporary account is always to be preferred to one by the same person at a later date? Is it not possible that a man in his later years may have a better perspective and a deeper insight into what was taking place within him in the past than was possible to him at the time? My own conviction is that he may. But there is no rule of thumb in such matters. I would propose the principle that the later version is to be trusted if it serves better to explain how the young man actually behaved. In Luther's case the young man did have crises in his deportment and the old man's account makes them intelligible.


On the occasion of centenary anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake and commencement of radio broadcasting in Japan, this study reiterates the paramount importance of medium-wave (MW) AM broadcasting in safeguarding public safety and security. Utilizing the electromagnetic principles of MW, the author has earlier developed hoop-shaped radio (HOOPRA), which is a battery-free sustainable radio receiver. This study aims to determine the maximum achievable reception distance with HOOPRA for broadcasts from public stations, such as Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) JOFG (927 kHz, 5 kW) in Fukui; and NHK JOAK (594 kHz, 300 kW) and JOAB (693 kHz, 500 kW) in the Kanto region. The significance of the findings in this study is that approximately 38 million individuals in the Kanto region, residing within an 80-km radius of JOAK or JOAB, can access broadcasts using only the energy of radio waves with HOOPRA. Additionally, ∼0.4 million people in Fukui, within a 15-km radius of JOFG, can potentially be recipients of the broadcast. Given that most transmitting stations operate at 5-kW power nationwide, HOOPRA can be effectively utilized within a 15-km radius of each station. Moreover, these outcomes validate the efficacy of HOOPRA as a radio receiver and provide valuable insights into the global potential applicability of MW AM radios. Furthermore, the current investigation underscores the need to reevaluate the significance of terrestrial MW broadcasting as a vital source of emergency information, especially in the event of anticipated natural disasters, such as the predicted Nankai Trough Earthquake.


Studies of how native speakerism deeply influences many facets of English Language Teaching (ELT) have been conducted for more than 20 years. As one of the entrenched ideologies unconsciously held by many ELT practitioners, especially in Indonesia, the distinction of native/non-native English teacher is often prevalent in everyday academic life. For example, many English classes that depend on speaking natural English would most likely employ native English speakers, instead of local English teachers with the same qualification. Only few studies have examined this phenomenon, especially in Indonesia's academic context, on how this deeply-held native speaker-ism influences the self-perceived credibility of non-native English speaking English language teachers (NNEST). In this study, the author investigated how the NNEST perceive themselves as a "non-native" compared to a "native" English teacher. The study employed semi-structured interviews and followed by questionnaires to gain insightful data to three NNEST lecturers. The study showed that all three non-native English teachers were not really influenced by the native-speaker-ism, especially in their self-perceived credibility, and they produce various results based on the questionnaires, contradicting several studies that show that many non-native English teachers indeed are influenced by native speakerism.


We present InBox, an in-situ multiple-selection and multiple-view interface for interactive exploration of dense tube-based diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) visualization. Optimal experience for such exploration demands concentration on the tract of interest (TOI). InBox facilitates such concentration by designing interaction within the three-dimensional (3D) model context. It leverages the use of screen space for splitting actions. The primary interface is for box-based selection featured by DTI model sculpturing. Multiple boxes can function together using two working modes (select and removal) and two associative logics (AND and OR) to support a rich set of operations. Results from a pilot study showed that our design of InBox was on the right track and users were inclined to use one-dimensional (1D) input. A high efficacy of selection was also observed specially within non-DTI participants.


This thesis consists of four papers.In paper 1, we prove central limit theorems for Markov chains under (local) contraction conditions. As a corollary we obtain a central limit theorem for Markov chains associated with iterated function systems with contractive maps and place-dependent Dini-continuous probabilities.In paper 2, properties of inverse subordinators are investigated, in particular similarities with renewal processes. The main tool is a theorem on processes that are both renewal and Cox processes.In paper 3, distributional properties of supercritical and especially immortal branching processes are derived. The marginal distributions of immortal branching processes are found to be compound geometric.In paper 4, a description of a dynamic population model is presented, such that samples from the population have genealogies as given by a Lambda-coalescent with mutations. Depending on whether the sample is grouped according to litters or families, the sampling distribution is either regenerative or non-regenerative.


Nowadays, technologies are attempting to increase systems speed beyond the limits imposed by the capacity of the systems themselves. That is the case of finite state machines where improving the iteration bound is critical for reaching the desired performance. A good solution to improve them is to parallelize the finite state machines in order to improve their speed. In this paper we propose a methodology that makes use of the Z transform, better known as an important tool for discrete time system characterization. The proposed algorithm, starts from the canonical description of the finite state machine and generates the parallel version of the finite state machine with the desired level of parallelism while preserving its original behavior


In this paper the author raises the question of the existence and the extension of philosophy of mathematics in classical Islam. He considers three types of interactions between mathematics and theoretical philosophy. The first is that used by al-Kindi who uses the means and methods of mathematics to reconstruct his philosophical system. The second type emerges when the mathematician al-Tusi tries to solve a philosophical question: the emanation of the multiplicity. The third type is comes from the mathematician al-Sijzi, who philosophically solves a mathematical problem but does not yet have the means to do so mathematically. Keywords: Philosophy and mathematics in Islamic tradition; links between philosophy and science; history of Islamic science; al-Kindi; al-Tusi; al-Sijzi; Islamic scientific tradition; science, religion and philosophy. ********** Historians of Islamic philosophy have a keen interest in what is often readily called falsafa. According to their understanding, it deals with the doctrines of Being and the Soul, as developed by the authors of the Islamic culture, without any consideration for other fields of knowledge and independent of all determination, if it were not for the link these doctrines may have with religion. Thus, Islamic philosophers are perceived to be evolving within the Aristotelian tradition of neo- Platonism, and to be no more than heirs of late Antiquity, albeit with an Islamic 'touch'. This kind of historical understanding appears to assure us that from the ninth century onwards, the passage of Aristotle, Plotinus, and Proclus, among others, to the Islamic philosophers had taken place safely, without the slightest trouble. But this historical account is advanced not without some serious consequences: not only does it paint for us a very pale and an impoverished picture of philosophical activity, it also transforms the historian into an archaeologist whose skills he happens to lack. Indeed, it is not at all rare that historians set themselves the task of rummaging through the terrain of Islamic philosophy in search of vestiges of Greek works whose originals are lost but are thought to be preserved in the Arabic translations, or that, for lack of better resources, they are at least satisfied with the traces of writings of the philosophers of Antiquity, often studied with the competence and talent characteristic of the historians of Greek philosophy. It is in this manner that the history of Islamic philosophy is transformed into archaeology, so to speak. It is true that aside from the Greek heritage some historians have recently turned their attention to doctrines developed in other disciplines, such as philosophy of law, masterly developed by the jurists; philosophy of kalam, which reached important depths and stages of refinement; the Sufism of the great masters like al-Hallaj and Ibn 'Arabi, and so on. There is no doubt that studies of this sort go a long way towards enriching and rectifying our vision and better reflecting the philosophical activity of the time. Science and mathematics, however, are far from having received the same favourable attention given to law, kalam, linguistics, or Sufism. Furthermore, the examining of the relationships, which we regard as essential, between the sciences and philosophy, and notably between mathematics and philosophy, is completely disregarded. This serious lacuna is not the sole responsibility of the historians of philosophy; it is that of the historians of science as well. It is true that the examination of these relationships requires various competencies and an in-depth knowledge of these areas: in addition to a linguistic knowledge which goes beyond that called for in geometry (there one might do with elementary syntax and a poor lexicon), one is also asked to have a grasp of the history of philosophy itself. If we realize these requirements are not often met, and on top of that the conception of the relationships between science and philosophy is inherited from an oft-ambient positivism, we may come to better appreciate the profound indifference exhibited by the historians of science vis-a-vis the kind of examination we are calling for. …


We study a Markov switching stochastic volatility model with heavy tail innovations in the observable process. Due to the economic interpretation of the hidden volatility regimes, these models have many financial applications like asset allocation, option pricing and risk management. The Markov switching process is able to capture clustering effects and jumps in volatility. Heavy tail innovations account for extreme variations in the observed process. Accurate modelling of the tails is important when estimating quantiles is the major interest like in risk management applications. Moreover we follow a Bayesian approach to filtering and estimation, focusing on recently developed simulation based filtering techniques, called Particle Filters. Simulation based filters are recursive techniques, which are useful when assuming non-linear and non-Gaussian latent variable models and when processing data sequentially. They allow to update parameter estimates and state filtering as new observations become available.


Abstract The hyacinth macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthinus), considered the largest psittacine bird species in the world, is an endangered species, with a remaining population of approximately 6500 birds in the wild. To establish hematologic and plasma biochemical reference ranges and to verify differences related to sex, samples from 29 hyacinth macaws (14 males, 15 females) were obtained from birds apprehended from illegal wildlife trade and subsequently housed at the Sorocaba Zoo, Brazil. No significant differences in hematologic or plasma biochemical values were found between females and males. Compared with published reference values, differences were found in mean concentrations of total red blood cell count, corpuscular volume, corpuscular hemoglobin level, total white blood cell count, aspartate aminotransferase level, creatine kinase concentration, alkaline phosphatase concentration, and phosphorus level. Baseline hematologic and plasma biochemical ranges were established, which may be useful as reference values for clinicians working with this endangered species in captivity or rehabilitation centers.


Abstract Introduction: The aim of the study was to determine microbiota in the cloacal samples of European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and to compare a variety of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance in cultivable and non-cultivable bacteria. Material and Methods: Cloacal samples from European herring gulls were collected from a Kaunas city dump. Cultivable microbiota were isolated, their microbial susceptibility was tested, and genes encoding antimicrobial resistance were detected. Additionally, a metagenomic study was performed using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Results: In total, 697 different operational taxonomic units at genus level were detected; however, only 63 taxonomic units were detected at the amount of ≥0.1% of the total number of DNA copies. Catellicoccus marimammalium was found to have the highest prevalence. The bacterial amount of other genera was up to 5% with the most highly prevalent being Psychrobacter (4.7%), Helicobacter (4.5%), unclassified Enterococcaceae (3.2%), Pseudomonas (2.9%), and Brachyspira (2.6%). Conclusions: C. marimammalium are predominant microbiota in the cloacal samples of Larus argentatus. This species of gulls is a reservoir of bacteria carrying a wide-spectrum of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance. The same genes were detected in both cultivable microbiota and in the total DNA of the samples.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the proliferation and phenotype-switching of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cell (PASMC) induced by hypoxia and interfered by Ad-PKGIα. And to investigate the potential regulative role of PKGIα gene in the molecule mechanism of hypoxia pulmonary vessel remodeling (HPVR).

METHODS
To establish the pure PASMC cultured by tissue-sticking methods. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot were used to examine the PKGIα mRNA and protein expression after PASMC were transfected by Ad-PKG. The mRNA and protein expressive change of smooth muscle alpha actin (SM-alpha-actin) determined the degree of cell phenotype-switching. The changes of PASMC proliferation were determined by flow cytometry and ³H-TdR incorporated way.

RESULTS
Ad-PKGIα could transfect into PASMC and highly express. Hypoxia down-regulated the expression of SM-alpha-actin protein (44.25 ± 5.34 in normoxia, 32.18 ± 4.19 in 12 h hypoxia condition, 21.90 ± 2.44 in 24 h hypoxia condition, P < 0.05), that could be blocked by the transfection of Ad-PKGIα. Hypoxia could push PASMC mitosis and proliferating (³H-TdR incorporated way: 7570 ± 371 in normoxia, 12,020 ± 831 in 12 h hypoxia condition, 14,924 ± 1491 in 24 h hypoxia condition, P < 0.05), that could be blocked by the transfection of Ad-PKGIα, too.

CONCLUSIONS
The results suggested that PKGIα signaling pathway might play an important role in the molecule mechanism of HPVR. And PKGIα gene might be a target point of gene therapy.


This chapter looks at the relationship of two historically and institutionally related research communities: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and the Learning Sciences (LS). It presents them from the perspective of the author as a participant in those communities during the past twenty years. It reviews the institutional history of their relationship within the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). The question is then posed: Do CSCL or LS represent a new paradigm of educational research? Trends in the history of philosophy and social theory are reviewed to motivate a contemporary paradigm. A post-cognitive educational paradigm is proposed that focuses on group interaction as the unit of analysis. Finally, the author's CSCL research agenda is described as an illustration of a candidate approach. In conclusion, it is proposed that CSCL research should focus on the analysis of group processes and practices, and that the analysis at this level should be considered foundational for LS.


For Run 2 of the LHC, LHCb is replacing a significant part of its event filter farm with new compute nodes. For the evaluation of the best performing solution, we have developed a method to convert our high level trigger application into a stand-alone, bootable benchmark image. With additional instrumentation we turned it into a self-optimising benchmark which explores techniques such as late forking, NUMA balancing and optimal number of threads, i.e. it automatically optimises box-level performance. We have run this procedure on a wide range of Haswell-E CPUs and numerous other architectures from both Intel and AMD, including also the latest Intel micro-blade servers. We present results in terms of performance, power consumption, overheads and relative cost.


[structure: see text] The syntheses of five pairs of novel inherently chiral calix[4]arenes are described. Two synthetic routes were adopted to generate racemic 3-carboxylic or 2-carboxylic group substituted calix[4]quinolines in the cone or the partial-cone conformation, respectively. The chiral products were thoroughly characterized by various spectroscopic methods. The optical resolutions of chiral calix[4]quinolines 5, 6, 11, and 17 were successfully achieved through the separation of their diastereomers using common column chromatography or preparative TLC. The chirality of compound 20 was proven by the splitting of the 1H NMR signals in the presence of Pirkle's reagent. The 1H NMR features of the diastereomers are discussed. The CD spectra of each pair of enantiomers showed excellent mirror images. The experimental results disclose that 3-carboxylic calix[4]quinolines can be resolved more easily than the 2-carboxylic ones in both the cone conformation and the partial-cone conformation.


Cognitive biases in information processing of valenced stimuli are a major contributor to the phenomenology of mood disorders. However, current screening tools for mood disorders rely on self-report questionnaires, which include uncomfortably invasive questions and are confounded by socially desirable responding. Taken together, assessing information processing biases may be a promising proxy to screen non-invasively for mood disorders.

Here, we report data of 60 participants that performed a continuous statistical learning task in which respondents were asked to predict the next event in a sequence of musical chords. An underlying transitional probability matrix governed the chord sequences. Each participant performed both a positive- and negative-valence block of this task, where blocks differed in the precise musical chords used. A pilot experiment established that the sequences from both blocks evoked their intended perceived valence. Furthermore, cognitive assessment (Raven's advanced matrices) as well as mood scores (DASS-21) were collected.

Bayesian mixed effects models revealed that participants were able to extract the underlying transitional probabilities and that higher cognitive ability predicted higher performance. Furthermore, there was strong evidence that the depression, anxiety, and stress subscales all predicted learning trajectories, and interacted with stimulus valence. Thus, the present results show that information processing differences in a musical context are consistent with the phenomenology of mood disorders. The present study is one step towards a non-invasive musical tool to screen for mood disorders.


Mercury-lead-antimony based superconductors with the formula Hg0.5 Pb0.5xSbxBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ (x=0, 0.10 and 0.15) have been prepared by useing three step solid state reaction processes. Electrical resistivity, using four probe technique, is used to find the transition temperature Tc. It is found from that sample Hg0.5 Pb0.5Ba2Ca2Cu3O8.437 is semiconductor , sample Hg0.5 Pb0.4Sb0.1Ba2Ca2Cu3O8.353 is normal state with metallic behaviors, while sample Hg0.5 Pb0.35Sb0.15Ba2Ca2Cu3O8.233 is superconducting state with critical transition temperature (Tc) is 126K. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed a tetragonal structure with decrease in the c-axis lattice constant for the samples doped with Sb as compared with these which have no Sb content. It was found that the increase of  the Sb  concentrations of all our samples produce an increase of the volume fraction (Vphase) and decrease c/a and Mass density ρM .


A contemporary design for a recirculated flow dual remediation system was successfully developed for phenol remediation. The system involved Corona Discharge Plasma (CDP), accompanied by Polyaniline Nanofiber (PANNFs) as a solid adsorbent. PANNFs was obtained using simple chemical oxidation polymerization at room temperature. Different chemo-physical characterization techniques were employed to examine the produced polyaniline such as Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The primary purpose of the used PANNF powder is to facilitate the phenol degradation using plasma by collecting the phenol molecules on the surface of PANNFs. The phenol removal percentage of 99% was attained at a treatment time of 60 min using the developed dual system. Finally, a slight synergetic effect between the used two remediation processes, PANI as adsorbent and CDP treatment, was approved. PANNFs existence in the remediation system also helps to save the consumed power in degradation using CDP.


Aim of this work is to determine the theoretical and experimental properties of filament wound glass fiber/epoxy resin composite pipes with different winding design subjected under bending. For determination of bending strength of composite samples three point bending tests were conducted. Good correlation between theoretical and experimental results has been obtained, where sample N4 has shown the highest value of bending strength. All samples have demonstrated matrix cracking and fiber failure followed by layers delamination during testing. Also, it was found that smaller winding angles lead to an increase in bending stress. From presented results good merger between glass fibers and epoxy resin was confirmed by SEM analysis. Keywords—Bending properties, composite pipe, winding design.


Thermal sprayed ceramic coatings are well used as the electrode of corona discharge treatment in order to modify the surface of many kinds of films and papers due to its superior durability and adaptability. Some kinds of Al2O3-TiO2 were sprayed by APS on the parallel plate electrodes, and output power of corona discharge generated by the electrodes was measured by using Sawyer-Tower circuit. In addition, discharge output power was calculated with an equivalent circuit of corona discharge. By comparing them, effects of the electrical property of the coating on discharge was researched. As a result, the electrostatic capacitance of the coatings influences the impedance of the whole circuit, and higher relative permittivity of the coating brought higher output power in a constant voltage.


The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes code for proteins that play a central role in the function of the immune system by presenting peptide antigens to T cells. As HLA genes show extremely high genetic polymorphism, HLA typing on the allele level is demanding and is based on DNA sequencing. Determination of HLA alleles is warranted as many HLA alleles are major genetic factors that confer susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and is important for the matching of HLA alleles in transplantation. Here, we compared the accuracy of several published HLA-typing algorithms that are based on next generation sequencing (NGS) data. As genome screens are becoming increasingly routine in research, we wanted to test how well HLA alleles can be deduced from genome screens not designed for HLA typing. The accuracies were assessed using datasets consisting of NGS data produced using the ImmunoSEQ platform, including the full 4 Mbp HLA segment, from 94 stem cell transplantation patients and exome sequences from the 1000 Genomes collection. When used with the default settings none of the methods gave perfect results for all the genes and samples. However, we found that ensemble prediction of the results or modifications of the settings could be used to improve accuracy. Most of the algorithms did not perform very well for the exome-only data. The results indicate that the use of these algorithms for accurate HLA allele determination based on NGS data is not straightforward.


To evaluate the clinical course of temporomandibular joint osteoarthrosis and internal derangement, 99 patients who had received nonsurgical treatment for temporomandibular problems were reexamined 30 years after the original treatment. Results were compared with information obtained from patients' clinical examinations before and a few years after the original treatment as well as information from the clinical examination of 35 control subjects. During the first years after treatment, the main signs of temporomandibular joint osteoarthrosis and internal derangement decreased significantly. In the next three decades, very few changes were noticed. Clicking and crepitus were the most common remaining signs. These signs, however, did not appear to be bothersome to the patients. It was concluded that the disorders in question eventually reach a state of quiescence.


In inflammatory dermatoses, adhesion molecules are involved in the interaction of leukocytes with endothelial cells, extra-cellular matrix and epidermal cells. In dermatosis where epidermal cells are the main targets of inflammation, the keratinocytes are activated and participate to the local immune reaction through the secretion of cytokines and the expression of the adhesion molecule ICAM-1 and the HLA-DR antigens. Induction of ICAM-1 by IFN gamma or TNF alpha on keratinocytes that do not express this molecule in normal skin may account for the recruitment of T cells into the epidermis. In the dermis, an up-regulation of ICAM-1 expression occurs on endothelial cells activated by cytokines (IL-1, TNF alpha...) and is usually correlated with an induction of ELAM-1 and less frequently VCAM-1. These adhesion molecules are involved in the recruitment of inflammatory cells but also in the control of their retention and migration through the skin.


Record-replay is effective to reproduce non-deterministic bugs, and has gained attentions in research community. However, current approaches fall short of handling nondeterministic bugs in multi-processor platforms and distributed systems due to several reasons. First, multi-thread programs on multi-processor platforms, which are common in today's distributed systems, are difficult to be recorded and replayed because of data-races. Second, increasing systems scale makes production environment more sensitive to perturbation from recording. Even hacking control scripts has been unacceptable because of the boosting complexity comes from variety of programs and large number of computing cores. Third, when deployed in distributed systems, large scale will also multiply recording traces, which overwhelms developers, and also slows down the whole system dramatically. To address the above issues, we propose following mechanisms to efficiently record-reply in multi-processor distributed systems: control-flow based record-replay, low-perturbation loading and proportion sampling. We have implemented these mechanisms in ReBranch -- a practical record-replay system for debugging multi-thread programs in multi-processor platforms and distributed systems. ReBranch has already shown its power on dealing with real bugs. We also present our debugging experiences using ReBranch with a case study on handling a bug in memcached -- an important component in many commercial systems.


We consider the problem of length-constrained maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoding of a Markov sequence that is variable length encoded and transmitted over a binary symmetric channel. We convert this problem into one of maximum-weight k-link path in a weighted directed acyclic graph. The induced graph optimization problem can be solved by a fast parameterized search algorithm that finds either the optimal solution with high probability or a good approximate solution otherwise. The proposed algorithm has lower complexity and superior performance than previous heuristic algorithms.


The economic progress of the Internet of Things (IoT) is phenomenal. Applications range from checking the alignment of some components during a manufacturing process, monitoring of transportation and pedestrian levels to enhance driving and walking path, remotely observing terminally ill patients by means of medical devices such as implanted devices and infusion pumps, and so on. To provide security, encrypting the data becomes an indispensable requirement, and symmetric encryptions algorithms are becoming a crucial implementation in the resource constrained environments. Typical symmetric encryption algorithms like Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) showcases an assumption that end points of communications are secured and that the encryption key being securely stored. However, devices might be physically unprotected, and attackers may have access to the memory while the data is still encrypted. It is essential to reserve the key in such a way that an attacker finds it hard to extract it. At present, techniques like White-Box cryptography has been utilized in these circumstances. But it has been reported that applying White-Box cryptography in IoT devices have resulted in other security issues like the adversary having access to the intermediate values, and the practical implementations leading to Code lifting attacks and differential attacks. In this paper, a solution is presented to overcome these problems by demonstrating the need of White-Box Cryptography to enhance the security by utilizing the cipher block chaining (CBC) mode.


The duty of loyalty is highly developed in Anglo-American countries, while in continental European countries it has only received more hesitant attention. Yet more recently there are tendencies to more convergence. They stem from company law scholarship, but also from more institutionally driven developments such as the independent director movement, the corporate governance codes, to a certain degree also the harmonization efforts of the European Commission and the general influence of US American law on European company law and practices. This article concentrates on conflict of interest, secrecy and insider information of corporate directors in a functional and comparative way. The main concepts are loans and credit to directors, self-dealing, competition with the company, corporate opportunities, wrongful profiting from position and remuneration. Prevention techniques, remedies and enforcement are also in the focus. The main jurisdictions dealt with are the European Union, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, but references to other countries are made where appropriate.


The objective of this paper is to collect and analyze data that can be used to model mode- and different route-choice paradigms using same subjects and same experiment. In this paper, the authors estimated five models to address drivers' diversion, compliance, and route choice. In addition, the effect of advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) on the mode choice is also considered. A travel simulator was used as a dynamic data collection tool. The simulator uses a realistic network, two modes of travel, real historical volumes, and different weather conditions. It provides five different levels of traffic information/advice, one at a time, and collects dynamic mode choices and pretrip (long-term) and en-route (short-term) route choices. The binomial and multinomial generalized extreme equations (BGEE and MGEE) were used to account for the correlation between repeated choices made by the same subject. In addition, MGEE accounts for the correlation between alternatives in multidimensional route-choice models. The modeling results showed that travel time and familiarity with the device that provides the information had significant effects on the first four models. It is shown that developing in-vehicle information devices may lead to a less transit usage in some cases; this indicates a potential drawback of this technology. Expressway users are shown as the most travel-time savers who would divert if they are guided to a less-travel-time alternative. The number of traffic signals on the normal and advised routes affects the diversion from the normal route and compliance with the pretrip advised route. This paper underlines the importance of modeling correlation, if it exists, in mode/route-choice data


Month‐season of birth (M‐SOB) is a risk factor in multiple chronic diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), where the lowest and greatest risk of developing MS coincide with the lowest and highest birth rates, respectively. To determine whether M‐SOB effects in such chronic diseases as MS can be experimentally modeled, we examined the effect of M‐SOB on susceptibility of C57BL/6J mice to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). As in MS, mice that were born during the M‐SOB with the lowest birth rate were less susceptible to EAE than mice born during the M‐SOB with the highest birth rate. We also show that the M‐SOB effect on EAE susceptibility is associated with differential production of multiple cytokines/chemokines by neuroantigen‐specific T cells that are known to play a role in EAE pathogenesis. Taken together, these results support the existence of an M‐SOB effect that may reflect seasonally dependent developmental differences in adaptive immune responses to self‐antigens independent of external stimuli, including exposure to sunlight and vitamin D. Moreover, our documentation of an M‐SOB effect on EAE susceptibility in mice allows for modeling and detailed analysis of mechanisms that underlie the M‐SOB effect in not only MS but in numerous other diseases in which M‐SOB impacts susceptibility.—Reynolds, J. D., Case, L. K., Krementsov, D. N., Raza, A., Bartiss, R., Teuscher, C. Modeling month‐season of birth as a risk factor in mouse models of chronic disease: from multiple sclerosis to autoimmune encephalomyelitis. FASEB J. 31, 2709–2719 (2017). www.fasebj.org


Charactertistics of growth from graft induced three stock of red pepper cultivar were analysed. R-safe rootstock was more higher and vigorous than that of the Yeok kang, Konesian hot cultivar at seedling stage and had good characteristics for grafting in the space of cut surface and the amount of sap released. Numbers of branches were more numerous in the grafted plants than those of non-grafted as grafting affected their growths in the process of branching. There was no distinct difference in plant height among the different rootstock. However the R-safe rootstock showed considerably high growth in the 41st days after grafting. Grafting was effective in the early flowering and the R-safe was the earliest in flowering because of it's good growth under the low temperature.


This article analyses the first attempt made by the Indian government, through the Finance Budget of 2016–2017, to implement the measures proposed under the OECD / G 20 BEPS Action Plan released on 5 October 2015. It closely examines the Equalization Levy, a unilateral measure that has been taken by the Indian government to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in the digital economy, from an international tax perspective. It also analyses the constitutionality of this levy. Further, it examines issues relating to the legal protection of the confidentiality of information reported under the Country-by-Country Reporting requirements as adopted in India. The impact of other measures, including the newly introduced test of residency for companies and the rationalization of certain tax rates through the Finance Budget of 2016–2017, have also been examined in light of the objectives of the BEPS Action Plan.


In this paper we present a bottom-up method to instance-level Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) that learns to discover positive instances with globally constrained reasoning about local pairwise similarities. We discover positive instances by optimizing for a ranking such that positive (top rank) instances are highly and consistently similar to each other and dissimilar to negative instances. Our approach takes advantage of a discriminative notion of pairwise similarity coupled with a structural cue in the form of a consistency metric that measures the quality of each similarity. We learn a similarity function for every pair of instances in positive bags by how similarly they differ from instances in negative bags, the only certain labels in MIL. Our experiments demonstrate that our method consistently outperforms state-of-the-art MIL methods both at bag-level and instance-level predictions in standard benchmarks, image category recognition, and text categorization datasets.


In this paper, we propose a new architecture-level parameterized transient thermal behavioral modeling algorithm for emerging thermal related design and optimization problems for high-performance chip-multiprocessor (CMP) design. We propose a new approach, called ParThermPOF, to build the parameterized thermal performance models from the given architecture thermal and power information. The new method can include a number of parameters such as the locations of thermal sensors in a heat sink, different components (heat sink, heat spread, core, cache, etc.), thermal conductivity of heat sink materials, etc. The method consists of two steps: first, response surface method based on low-order polynomials is applied to build the parameterized models at each time point for all the given sampling nodes in the parameter space. Second, an improved generalized pencil-of-function (GPOF) method is employed to build the transfer-function based behavioral models for each time-varying coefficient of the polynomials generated in the first step. Experimental results on a practical quad-core microprocessor show that the generated parameterized thermal model matchs the given data very well. ParThermPOF is very suitable for design space exploration and optimization where both time and system parameters need to be considered.


We present a prototype of agent-based intrusion detection system designed for deployment on high-speed backbone networks. The main contribution of the system is the integration of several anomaly detection techniques by means of collective trust modeling within a group of collaborative detection agents, each featuring a specific detection algorithm. The anomalies are used as an input for the trust modeling. In this stage, each agent determines the flow trustfulness from aggregated anomalies. The aggregation is performed by extended trust models that model the trustfulness of generalized situated identities, represented by a set of observable features. The system is based on traffic statistics in NetFlow format acquired by dedicated hardware-accelerated network cards, and is able to perform a real-time surveillance of the gigabit networks.


In this study, we introduce a multi-modal mixed reality (MR) application for advertising the main touristic landmarks on Jeju Island, and evaluate its effectiveness based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with a focus on the user's involvement in Korean culture (K-Culture). Specifically, we deployed several stimuli to enable users to retrieve information, visualize a variety of heritage content such as text, images, videos, virtual artifacts, and immerse in a VR environment to experience the heritage locations. The results of the online survey with 436 participants showed that for consumers with low K-Culture involvement, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease-of-Use did not affect their Intention to Visit the island. Still, it had a significant impact on their Intention to Use the application. On the other hand, for the group with high K-Culture involvement, Perceived Usefulness had no effect on the Intention to Use and Intention to Visit. However, Perceived Ease-of-Use had a significant impact on their Intention to Use the application and Intention to Visit Jeju Island. Therefore, when user involvement in K-Culture is high, convenience of use has played a significant role in sensory media usage and the intention to visit, regardless of the usefulness of the mixed reality content. In contrast, users with low K-Culture involvement primarily focused on the functional aspects of the application. These findings open the path for follow-up studies on K-Culture involvement and immersive media tourism marketing, which will benefit digital tourism marketing and Korea's tourism industry.


Light is a very important environmental factor which affects plant growth and development in various important ways. Not only quantity, but also quality is very essential in determining the plant growth. The influence of light quality on chlorophyll and carotenoid content of strawberry leaves was examined. Plants were grown in a greenhouse under differing light qualities provided by polypropylene filter film (control without colored cover, yellow, green, blue, transparent, and red). The treatments were laid out in a randomized design, each treatment was replicated ten times. The filter films were set 1m above the crop canopy at the moment of transplanting and left until the end of the experiment. Eight months after transplanting both chlorophyll and carotenoid content in leaves were determined in alcoholic dilution using a spectrophotometer. The effect of different light qualities influenced chlorophyll content in leaves. The chlorophyll a content was highest in leaves under green and red light followed by blue, transparent and yellow light; the lowest chlorophyll a content was found in control plants. There were no differences in chlorophyll b content. The carotene / chlorophyll ratio was highest in leaves developed without cover, and lowest in leaves under green and red light. Results indicate that the use of colored covers for provision of selective light quality may be a used for increasing strawberry production.


This article focuses on the link between social norms and behavioral development as presented in research on norms regarding bullying and aggression. The aim is to present a conceptual framework for how classroom norms may explain children's decisions to defend others or refrain from defending. Norms emerge from group consensus about what is appropriate in given social circumstances, and can also shape, constrain, and redirect behavior at the individual level. The study of norms has gained much attraction in peer relation research, and has turned attention to group-level processes, often defined at the classroom level, which create and sustain shared meanings that impact behavioral and social adjustment. Norm conformity, pluralistic ignorance, and power balance are presented as potential micro-level mechanisms for the link between classroom popularity (or rejection) norms and defending behavior. Directions for further research are discussed, including the need to assess and test the microfoundations directly, examine gender-specific versus common norms, focus on competing classroom norms, test developmental effects of norms, examine the impact of teachers on social norms, and pay attention to the influence of personal norms.


The Swedish public library was founded in the years when the society in Sweden went from being a society of agriculture to industrialism. Modernism was sweeping over the country, everything was possible, which influenced the new society that was built. Now Sweden was going to be a true democracy with responsible and empathic citizens. One of the main tools in this process was to educate people, to get them to read and write and the public library fitted very well into these new ideas. It represented a place, free of charge, where everyone could go to take part of the knowledge and cultural learning that they needed in order to become the citizen that the society required. This task gave the public library its identity - and a democratic value.

Since then the society has changed and the expectations and demands of the library has changed with it.

The purpose of this study is to find out whether the core activity of the Swedish public library has changed over time and what impact such kind of a change would have on the identity of the public library and on the societal role that it constitutes. To do so we visited two libraries and interviewed six librarians, of which two also were chief librarians as well as head of the Department of Culture. The study is divided into three main parts. The first one is a theoretical background in which we present the reason why we became interested in discussing the questions mentioned above. In the second part we look at the ideological identity of the public library since we believe that it has been influenced by ideological movements over the years. We also present some new ideas related to this issue concerning strategy and management and its influence on the contents of the work. The interviews and the observations that were carried out the two libraries are presented in part three.

We found that the definition of core activity in the Swedish public libraries often is very vague which results in a difficulty when it comes to prove the libraries many virtues in the social progress. The outcome of our study also reveals a tendency amongst library staff which were interviewed to define everything - every part of the work of the library - as core activity. We find that this definition, or a lack of definition, runs the risk of making library work somewhat anonymous and limited.


A novel kind of potentiometric sensor for the determination of risedronate in pharmaceutical products is proposed. This potentiometric sensor is comprised of a poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) membrane based on an anion-exchanger, tridodecylmethylammonium chloride (TDDMACl), and coated with a polyaniline (PANI) layer. The potentiometric response towards a highly hydrated risedronate species was strongly promoted by the presence of the PANI layer. In contrast to uncoated membranes, the PANI-coated membrane exhibited a sensitivity of −39.9 ± 0.9 mV decade−1 and the detection limit reached 0.45 mg mL−1. The results of the potentiometric analysis of risedronate agreed with those obtained with a validated chromatographic method. The TDDMACl-based membrane coated with the PANI layer differentiated 0.94 wt % and 3.44 wt % of a specific contaminant in 1.6 mg mL−1 risedronate.


A widely used halo implant process of counter doping has a tradeoff between the short channel effects and the parasitic junction capacitance. In this letter, we propose a novel drain engineering concept, large-angle-tilt-implantation of nitrogen (LATIN) to improve the short-channel effects without the increase of the junction capacitance in the buried-channel pMOSFET using sub-0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. We compare the electrical characteristics of devices fabricated using LATIN, a conventional arsenic halo implant process (As HALO), and BF/sub 2//sup +/ source/drain (S/D) implantation only. The LATIN improves the short-channel effects when compared to the case of BF/sub 2//sup +/ S/D implant only. In addition, the LATIN reduces junction capacitance by 18% when compared to As HALO. As a consequence, the LATIN is shown to be a drain engineering concept to simultaneously optimize the short-channel effects and junction capacitance. Calibrated two-dimensional simulations confirm the improvement with LATIN.


OBJECTIVES
Moderate or severe degree tricuspid valve regurgitation (TVR) is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Surgical correction as the only therapeutic option offers unsatisfactory results. Recently, several interventional procedures have been introduced clinically in a limited cohort. We present our initial experiments with an innovative interventional valved stent graft for treatment of TVR.

METHODS
A newly designed porcine pericardium-covered nitinol stent graft with a lateral bicuspid valve was adapted to size in a cadaver study. After haemodynamic testing in an ex vivo perfusion setup, vascular access, valve delivery and function were investigated in an ovine animal model ( n  = 7).

RESULTS
The device was implanted successfully in all animals. Vascular access was established surgically via the femoral vein without any vascular complications. Angiography demonstrated the correct position of the device with proper sealing of both venae cavae in 6 animals. In 1 extremely large animal, the position of the device was considered too cranial but still acceptable. Correct valve function was verified in all animals by both angiography and echocardiography. There were no persistent arrhythmias other than during valve implant. All animals survived the implant procedure and were sacrificed electively.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that this new valved stent graft could be delivered safely with correct positioning and valve function in this ovine model. Further long-term studies in animals implanted with the device after creation of tricuspid regurgitation are necessary to prove the haemodynamic benefit of this procedure.


High levels of total cholesterol are a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. An oral formulation comprised of two types of capsules was tested in adult women (n = 14) with total cholesterol values >200 mg/ dL. In the first capsule were red yeast rice extract, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, pteroylglutamic acid and cyanocobalamin, and in the second, a mixture of fish oils containing docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. After four weeks of supplementation, a significant (p =0.001) decrease was observed in the mean values of total cholesterol.


Ethanol dual injection (DualEI) is a new technology to maximise the benefits of ethanol fuel to the spark-ignition engine. In this study, the combustion and emissions characteristics in a DualEI spark-ignition engine with a variation of the direct injection (DI) ratio and engine speed were experimentally investigated. The volume ratio of DI was varied from 0% (DI0%) to 100% (DI100%), and two engine speeds of 3500 and 4000 RPM were tested. The spark timing for maximum brake torque (MBT) was first determined, and then the results of the effect of DI ratio on the engine performance at the MBT conditions were discussed and analysed. The results showed that the MBT timing for the DI and spark timings were 330 and 30 CAD bTDC, respectively. At the MBT timing, the indicated mean effective pressure slightly increased from 0.47 to 0.50 MPa when the DI ratio increased from DI0% to DI100%. However, the maximum combustion pressure significantly decreased by 8.32%, and volumetric efficiency increased by 4.04%. This was attributed to the reduced combustion temperature due to the cooling effect of ethanol fuel enhanced by the DI strategy. The indicated specific carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons significantly increased due to poor mixture quality caused by fuel impingement associated with the overcooling effect. However, the indicated specific nitric oxides significantly decreased due to the temperature reduction inside the combustion chamber. Results showed the potential of DualEI to increase the compression ratio and consequently increase the engine thermal efficiency without the risk of engine knock.


This work proposes a tool for understanding feature scattering through the graphical visualization of the intersection between features and source code. The tool collects trace events of multi-threaded programs for selected features and shows matrices that help analyzing where those features are implemented. Our claim is that the tool reduces the effort to identify where features are implemented and which source code is specific to a feature.


BACKGROUND
To successfully prevent secondary health conditions (SHCs) and promote longevity after spinal cord injury (SCI), we must first understand the risk factors precipitating their occurrence and develop strategies to address these risk factors. Conceptual models may aid in identifying the nature of SHCs and guide research, clinical practice, and the development of prevention strategies.

OBJECTIVE
Our purpose is to review and refine an existing theoretical risk and prevention model (TRPM) as a means of classifying risk and protective factors for SHCs and mortality after SCI and for identifying points of intervention.

METHODS
We describe conceptual work within the field of SCI research and SHCs, including a description of the TRPM, a review of research using the TRPM, and conceptual enhancements to the TRPM based on previous research.

CONCLUSIONS
The enhanced TRPM directs research to the timing and chronicity of the SHCs and their relationship with overall health and physiologic decline. Future research should identify differences in the nature of SHCs, the extent to which they relate to risk and protective factors, and the degree to which they may be prevented with appropriate research-based strategies.


This article presents a comparison of research ethics in psychopharmacology in France and the United States. The authors present some elements of definition, etymology and of history. In addition, they study how this very specific research is actually done. Many questions are discussed, including the right of the patient, and the problem of normal volunteers. Other aspects are more technical i.e. remuneration, protocol, and the product. Finally the role of the ethics committees is investigated. These committees comprise the third component of the trial that consists of the research and the subject.


Adoptive cell therapy with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has revolutionized the treatment of certain B cell malignancies but has been in ineffective against solid tumors. Recent studies have highlighted the potential of targeting negative regulators of T cell signaling to enhance the efficacy and extend the utility of CAR T cells to solid tumors. SUMMARY Adoptive cell therapy with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has revolutionized the treatment of certain B cell malignancies but has been in ineffective against solid tumors. Recent studies have highlighted the potential of targeting negative regulators of T cell signaling to enhance the efficacy and extend the utility of CAR T cells to solid tumors. Autoimmunity-linked protein tyrosine phosphatase N22 (PTPN22) has been proposed as a target for cancer immunotherapy. Here, we have used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to generate PTPN22-deficient (Ptpn22Δ/Δ) mice (C57BL/6) and assessed the impact of PTPN22 deficiency on the cytotoxicity and efficacy of CAR T cells in vitro and in vivo. As reported previously, PTPN22 deficiency was accompanied by the promotion of effector T cell responses ex vivo and the repression of syngeneic tumor growth in vivo. However, PTPN22 deficiency did not enhance the cytotoxic activity of murine CAR T cells targeting the extracellular domain of the human oncoprotein HER2 in vitro. Moreover, PTPN22-deficient α-HER2 CAR T cells or ovalbumin-specific OT-I CD8+ T cells adoptively transferred into mice bearing HER2+ mammary tumors or ovalbumin-expressing mammary or colorectal tumors, respectively, were no more effective than their wild-type counterparts in suppressing tumor growth. The deletion of PTPN22 using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing also did not affect the cytotoxic activity of human CAR T cells targeting the Lewis Y antigen that is expressed by many human solid tumors. Therefore, PTPN22 deficiency does not enhance the antitumor activity of CAR T cells in solid organ malignancies.


The literature describes several methods for mouse intubation that either require visualization of the glottis through the oral cavity or incision in the ventral neck for direct confirmation of cannula placement in the trachea. The relative difficulty or the tissue trauma induced to the subject by such procedures can be an impediment to an investigator's ability to perform longitudinal studies. This article illustrates a technique in which physical manipulation of the mouse following the use of a depilatory to remove hair from the ventral neck permits transcutaneous visualization of the trachea for orotracheal intubation regardless of degree of skin pigmentation. This method is innocuous to the subject and easily achieved with a limited understanding of murine anatomy. This refined approach facilitates repeated intubation, which may be necessary for monitoring progression of disease or instillation of treatments. Using this method may result in a reduction of the number of animals and technical skill required to measure lung function in mouse models of respiratory disease.


We present a search, using KamLAND, a kiloton-scale anti-neutrino detector, for low-energy anti-neutrino events that were coincident with the gravitational-wave (GW) events GW150914 and GW151226, and the candidate event LVT151012. We find no inverse beta-decay neutrino events within ±500 s of either GW signal. This non-detection is used to constrain the electron anti-neutrino fluence and the total integrated luminosity of the astrophysical sources.


Thermal transport across hard-soft interfaces is critical to many applications, such as polymer composites, solar thermal evaporation, and photothermal cancer therapy. In this work, we use wave packets (WP) in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the phonon energy transmission coefficients (ETCs) across different Au-self-assembled monolayer (SAM)-organic liquid interfaces. Three types of thiol SAMs with different terminal groups and chain length heterogeneities are studied, including "-CH3," "-COOH," and "hetero" SAMs. Two types of organic liquids, hexamine and hexane, are investigated. When the liquid changes from hexamine to hexane, the Au-CH3 SAM-liquid interfaces show similar ETCs across different phonon modes, since the interactions between nonpolar SAM and different liquids are similar, while the ETCs across the Au-CH3 SAM-liquid interfaces are much higher than those involving bare Au-liquid interfaces. Due to the -COOH functionalization, the Au-COOH SAM-hexamine interface shows the highest ETCs for all phonon modes compared to the other interfaces, which explains why its interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) is also the highest. We find that the Au-hetero-SAM-hexamine interface has higher ETCs in the longitudinal acoustic (LA) modes than the Au-CH3 SAM-hexamine interface; as a result, the ITC of the Au-hetero-SAM-hexamine interface is slightly higher. The ETCs calculated in our WP simulations can interpret the ITCs calculated from our previous MD simulations. Using the mode-resolved ETCs, the ITC contributions for each phonon mode are also calculated. We find that the LA modes play an important role in thermal transport across Au-SAM-liquid interfaces. Results from this WP study will help design interfaces with desirable thermal transport properties.Thermal transport across hard-soft interfaces is critical to many applications, such as polymer composites, solar thermal evaporation, and photothermal cancer therapy. In this work, we use wave packets (WP) in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the phonon energy transmission coefficients (ETCs) across different Au-self-assembled monolayer (SAM)-organic liquid interfaces. Three types of thiol SAMs with different terminal groups and chain length heterogeneities are studied, including "-CH3," "-COOH," and "hetero" SAMs. Two types of organic liquids, hexamine and hexane, are investigated. When the liquid changes from hexamine to hexane, the Au-CH3 SAM-liquid interfaces show similar ETCs across different phonon modes, since the interactions between nonpolar SAM and different liquids are similar, while the ETCs across the Au-CH3 SAM-liquid interfaces are much higher than those involving bare Au-liquid interfaces. Due to the -COOH functionalization, the Au-COOH SAM-hexamine interface shows the highest ...


Chronic inflammation and astrocytosis are characteristic histopathological features of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Astrocytes are one of the predominant cell types in the brain. In AD they are activated and produce inflammatory components such as complement components, acute phase proteins, and cytokines. In this study we analyzed the effect of cytokines on the production of amyloid beta (Abeta) in the astrocytoma cell line U373 and in primary human astrocytes isolated postmortem from healthy aged persons as well as from patients with AD. Astrocytes did not produce Abeta in the absence of stimuli or following stimulation with IL-1beta, TNFalpha, IL-6, and TGF-beta1. Neither did combinations of TNFalpha and IL-1beta, IL-6 or TGF-beta1, or the coadministration of IFNgamma and IL-6 or TGF-beta1 induce Abeta production. In contrast, pronounced production of Abeta1-40 and Abeta1-42 was observed when primary astrocytes or astrocytoma cells were stimulated with combinations of IFNgamma and TNFalpha or IFNgamma and IL-1beta. Induction of Abeta production was accompanied by decreased glycosylation of APP as well as by increased secretion of APPsbeta. Our results suggest that astrocytes may be an important source of Abeta in the presence of certain combinations of inflammatory cytokines. IFNgamma in combination with TNFalpha or IL-1beta seems to trigger Abeta production by supporting beta-secretase cleavage of the immature APP molecule.


specialist should attract a higher fee, but that this treatment should be limited to short simple procedures. Other cases definitely needing general anaesthesia should be admitted to an oral surgical unit and the work done under the best conditions possible. Persistence in the enlightenment of the authorities will produce sufficient oral surgical beds.-I am, etc., F. G. HARDMAN. Royal Alexandra Hospital, Rhyl, Flintshire.


This paper compares the irreversible and
reversible rate equations from several uni-uni kinetic mechanisms (Michaelis-Menten,
Hill and Adair equations) and bi-bi mechanisms (single- and double- displacement
equations). In reversible reactions, Haldane relationship is considered to be
identical for all mechanisms considered and reversible equations can be also
obtained from this rela- tionship. Some reversible reactions of the metabolism
are also presented, with their equilibrium constant.


Serpin family A member 1 (SERPINA1) encodes a protease inhibitor participating in many human diseases, but its value in immunoregulation and prognosis of human cancers remains unclear. In this study, through comprehensive analysis of data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets, we found that SERPINA1 was dysregulated in many cancers compared with normal tissues. SERPINA1 expression was significantly associated with prognosis, immune subtype, molecular subtype, immune checkpoint (ICP) genes, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and the estimation of stromal and immune cells in malignant tumor tissues using expression data (ESTIMATE) score. There was a strong connection between SERPINA1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and SERPINA1 showed significant relation to gene markers of immune cells in digestive tumors. Fluorescence-based multiplex immunohistochemistry confirmed that SERPINA1 protein expression was related to clinicopathologic features and immune infiltrates in hepatic cancer. This study suggests that SERPINA can potentially serve as a novel biomarker for cancer prognosis and immunotherapy.


This paper aims to examine the attractiveness of the Tong Ren Tang (TRT) as a Chinese corporate heritage tourism brand and consider the significance of TRT for Chinese national identity. The study considers the saliency of Balmer's augmented role identity notion vis-a-vis corporate heritage institutions/corporate brands. Insights are made from and for corporate heritage, heritage tourism and national identity literature.,A conceptual model comprising five hypotheses was developed and this informed a survey-based questionnaire administered to domestic tourists/customers visiting Tong Ren Tang's flagship shop in Beijing.,The attractiveness to domestic Chinese tourists/customers of the TRT corporate heritage tourism brand was found to be attributable to its multiple role identities: national, corporate, temporal, familial and imperial. As such, this study lends credence to Balmer's augmented role identity notion. Chinese domestic tourists/customers – as members of an ethnic Chinese community – in visiting TRT not only consume an extant corporate heritage by tangible and intangible means but can also be seen to express, and reaffirm, their sense of Chinese national identity.,For TRT's managers, there should be an appreciation that the attractiveness of TRT as a corporate heritage tourism brand rests not only on what it sells but also in what it symbolises in national and cultural terms. This finding is applicable to the managers of many other corporate heritage/corporate heritage tourism brands.,Adopting a primordial perspective, the TRT pharmacy was found to be of singular significance to China's national identity. Traditional Chinese Medicine, Confucian and Daoist religious/philosophical and China's erstwhile Imperial polity are significant and enduring precepts of Chinese national identity. As such the TRT flagship shop/brand is of singular importance, as China has eviscerated much of its cultural heritage – particularly in relation to its corporate heritage brands.,This is the first empirical study to focus on corporate heritage tourism brands and one of the first studies to examine a Chinese corporate heritage/corporate heritage tourism brand. Also significant in focussing on the TRT corporate heritage brand. Established in 1669, TRT's history spans five centuries: a corporate provenance which is exceptional within the People's Republic of China. The study links the corporate brand notion with the nascent corporate heritage brand domain and the established area of heritage tourism.


Urethral prolapse is a circular protrusion of the distal urethra through the external meatus. It is very rare condition seen mostly in black premenercheal black girl and occasionally in postmenopausal white women. We present a case of spontaneous urethral prolapse in 63-year-old postmenopousal white women with succesful management with estrogen treatment.


Background: FBXL5 belonging to SKP1-cullin 1-F-box protein E3 ligase complexes (F-BOX) been shown to promote snail nuclear ubiquitination thereby regulating snail induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes. However, cancer associated enhancement in the nuclear exporter Exportin1 (Xpo1) expression results in nuclear expulsion of FBXL5 causing snail stability and EMT. Here we demonstrate that Xpo1 inhibition by specific inhibitors of nuclear export (SINEs) results in nuclear retention FBXL5, causing nuclear degradation of SNAIL leading to reversal of mesenchymal phenotype to epithelial in HMLE-SNAIL models. Methods: Molecular assays (MTT, Annexin V FITC, Histone DNA ELISA, Spheroid formation, Western Blotting, Confocal microscopy, Co-immunoprecipitation, Xpo1 site directed mutagenesis) and computational techniques (gene expression microarray, pathway analysis) were used. In vivo activity of Selinexor was evaluated in xenografts developed from HMLE-SNAIL cells in ICR-SCID mice. Results: SINEs [Selinexor (KPT-330) and +ve controls KPT-185 and Leptomycin B (LMB)) not KPT-301 (-ve control)] reverse mesenchymal morphology, induce growth inhibition and apoptosis in HMLE-SNAIL and Kras-HMLE-SNAIL cells and prevent spheroid formation (IC50s ∼150 nM). Immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that SINE treatment resulted in nuclear retention of FBXL5 that was concurrent with nuclear degradation of snail. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed nuclear ubiquitination of snail by SINEs. Western blotting analysis verified nuclear enhancement of FBXL5 that was consistent with down-regulation of EMT markers (Vimentin, snail, EpCAM) and enhancement of E-Cadherin. SiRNA against FBXL5 or transfecting cells with cys528 mut-Xpo1 that lacks SINE binding site markedly abrogated SINE activity thereby verifying the Xpo1 and FBXL5 mediated mechanisms of action. Pathways analysis of quadruplet microarray expression arrays from SINE treated HMLE-SNAIL cells demonstrated differential expression of F-Box family proteins [FBXO2, FBXL17, FBXO33, FBXO37, FBXW7 (p Conclusion: This is the first proof of concept study demonstrating that targeted inhibition of Xpo1 can inhibit EMT through nuclear retention of FBOX protein, particularly FBXL5 and consequent snail ubiquitination and degradation. Our findings open a unique possibility to block EMT at the nuclear pore. Citation Format: Irfana Muqbil, Amro Aboukameel, Yosef Landesman, Michael Kauffman, Sharon Shacham, Ramzi M. Mohammad, Asfar S. Azmi. F-box protein fbxl5 nuclear retention by specific inhibitors of nuclear export induces snail ubiquitination leading to reversal of EMT. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1424. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1424


It is widely assumed that the observed Universe is accelerating due to the existence of a new uid component called dark energy. In this article, the thermodynamics consequences of a nonzero chemical potential on the dark energy component is discussed with special emphasis to the phantom uid case. It is found that if the dark energy uid is endowed with a negative chemical potential, the phantom eld hypothesis becomes thermodynamically consistent with no need of negative temperatures as recently assumed in the literature.


The likelihood-based influence analysis methodology introduced in Cook (1986) uses a parameterised space of local perturbations of a base model. It is frequently the case that such perturbation schemes involve more parameters of interest and perturbation parameters than there are observations, and hence the perturbation space is often explored rather than estimated, where exploration means discovering the effect on inference of putatively choosing values of perturbation parameters. This paper considers the question of what can be learned about the perturbation parameters through the data. It extends Cook's methodology to take account of information available in the data regarding the perturbations, the general philosophy of the approach being that of learn what you can and explore what you cannot learn. Both local and global analyses are possible, as indicated by the data, while the eigenvector sign indeterminacy of local analysis is removed. Numerical examples are given and further developments are briefly indicated. Copyright Biometrika Trust 2004, Oxford University Press.


Detailed observations of the air flow velocity, pressure and Reynolds stresses above water waves in a wave flume are presented. The static pressure fluctuations induced by the waves are observed following a new procedure that eliminates acoustical contamination by the wave maker. The measurements are analysed by comparing them with numerical simulations of the air flow over waves. In these numerical simulations the sensitivity to the choice of turbulence closure is studied. We considered both first-order turbulence closure schemes based on the eddy viscosity concept, and a second-order Reynolds stress model. The comparison shows that turbulence closure schemes based on the eddy viscosity concept overestimate the modulation of the Reynolds stress in a significant part of the vertical domain. When an eddy viscosity closure is used, the overestimated modulation of the Reynolds stress gives a significant contribution to the wave growth rate. Our results confirm the conclusions Belcher & Hunt reached on the basis of the rapid distortion theory. The ratio of the wind speed to the phase speed of the paddle wave in the experiment varies between 3 and 6. The observed amplitudes of the velocity and pressure perturbation are in excellent agreement with the simulations. Comparison of the observed phases of the pressure and velocity perturbations shows that the numerical model underpredicts the downwind phase shift of the undulating flow. The sheltering coefficients for the flow over hills and the growth rates of waves that are slow compared to the wind calculated with the Reynolds stress model are in excellent agreement with the analytical model of Belcher & Hunt. Extending the calculations to fast waves, we find that the energy flux to waves travelling almost as fast as the wind is increased on going from the mixing length turbulence closure to the Reynolds stress model.


The dough characteristics of fifty popular Indian hexaploid wheat varieties were assessed by testing various rheological properties using a Brabender Farinograph and an Extensograph. These studies were aimed at evaluating the flour quality and functionality of the wheat dough. Based on the rheological dough properties of 50 Indian hexaploid wheat varieties it was recommended that 13 wheats could be useful for blending purposes, 31 varieties could be used for both bread and chapatti making, and the remaining 6 wheats were found suitable for biscuit making. The outcome of the experiments will be useful for plant breeders, millers and bakers.


OBJECTIVE To assess whether long term treatment with epoprostenol might restore primary non-responsiveness to nitric oxide (NO) in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. METHODS Seven patients with primary pulmonary hypertension receiving intravenous epoprostenol continuously because of failure of NO to influence pulmonary haemodynamics during initial testing were followed over a period of 13–29 months. Afterwards, acute vascular reactivity towards NO was tested again during right heart catheterisation. RESULTS Administration of NO after continuous epoprostenol treatment for a mean period of 18 months improved arterial oxygen saturation (p < 0.01) and cardiac index (p < 0.05), and decreased mean pulmonary artery pressure (p < 0.01) and total pulmonary vascular resistance (p < 0.01) in patients previously unresponsive to NO. CONCLUSIONS Long term treatment with epoprostenol reverts initial refractoriness to NO in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. Thus the addition of NO to epoprostenol treatment might cause further improvement in the course of the disease.


Retention of public child welfare workers has been a recognized problem and a topic of interest among child welfare researchers for many years. However, findings in the literature are conflicting and the research is largely atheoretical. While many variables relevant to retention and turnover have been identified, the literature lacks explanation of how the variables are related. The goals of this study were, thus, twofold. The first objective was to build a conceptual model using qualitative data generated from interviews of child welfare workers, theoretical works, as well empirical research which might explain retention and turnover specifically in the field of child welfare. The second objective was to test the conceptual model using logistic regression techniques on a large quantitative sample (N=1,121). This study employs mixed methods and draws its data from a larger ongoing study, utilizing a voluntary sample of child welfare workers who have participated in a Title IV-E MSW program in the state of California, have completed their work obligation period, and have either chosen to remain in public child welfare (stayers) or leave (leavers). Results suggest that the conceptual model successfully identifies the complexity of the process that leads to retention and turnover behavior. Variables from three categories (individual, organizational, and response to job factors) are identified as predicting retention. Previous county employment, supervisor support, and client-related stress were all related to predicting retention. The implications of the study findings for social work education, agency practice, theory building and research are offered.


A new radial three-cavity structure of the coaxial virtual cathode oscillator is proposed and studied numerically in this paper. Using the radial three-cavity structure, the beam-wave conversion efficiency is enhanced by modulating the electric field in the beam-wave interaction area, while the resonator composed of the radial three-cavity configuration and the mesh anode helps restrain mode competition effectively . And then the coaxial extraction structure benefits the energy extraction, and it can also absorb the used electrons entering into the drifting tube. Therefore, this new kind of virtual cathode oscillator can achieve a high output power. With an electron beam of 50 kA at 400 kV, a peak power of about 6 GW is achieved by simulation at 4.5 GHz. The mean power reaches 3.1 GW and the beam-wave conversion efficiency is about 15%.


We study temporally extended goals expressed in Pure-Past LTL (PPLTL). PPLTL is particularly interesting for expressing goals since it allows to express sophisticated tasks as in the Formal Methods literature, while the worst-case computational complexity of Planning in both deterministic and nondeterministic domains (FOND) remains the same as for classical reachability goals. However, while the theory of planning for PPLTL goals is well understood, practical tools have not been specifically investigated. In this paper, we make a significant leap forward in the construction of actual tools to handle PPLTL goals. We devise a technique to polynomially translate planning for PPLTL goals into standard planning. We show the formal correctness of the translation, its complexity, and its practical effectiveness through some comparative experiments. As a result, our translation enables state-of-the-art tools, such as FD or MyND, to handle PPLTL goals seamlessly, maintaining the impressive performances they have for classical reachability goals.


Cytokines and chemokines are responsible for the attraction and activation of eosinophils in allergic and inflammatory diseases. Whereas cytokines such as IL-3, IL-5, and GM-CSF activate eosinophils via heterodimeric receptors containing a distinct α-chain (binding domain) and a common β-chain (signaling domain), chemokines such as eotaxin activate eosinophils via seven-transmembrane Gi protein-coupled CCRs. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of CCR3 on human eosinophils that undergo receptor recycling after chemokine activation, but the modulation of this receptor by cytokines has not yet been addressed. In this study, we demonstrate that IL-3 induces a dose- and time-dependent down-regulation of CCR3 from the surface of human eosinophils comparable to the CCR3-specific ligand eotaxin, whereas IL-5, GM-CSF, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, IFN-γ, and TNF-α had no effect. Maximal down-regulation of CCR3 in response to IL-3 was reached at 24 h. Reduction of CCR3 surface protein in response to IL-3 could be prevented by an anti-IL-3 mAb and was neither due to the release of CC chemokines nor to nonspecific binding of IL-3 to CCR3. Moreover, down-regulation was prevented by phenylarsine oxide, a nonspecific inhibitor of receptor internalization. After 24 h, IL-3-induced decrease of CCR3 surface expression correlated with diminished mRNA expression, suggesting a transcriptional regulation mechanism. Since wortmannin partially inhibited IL-3- but not eotaxin-induced CCR3 down-regulation, receptor down-modulation seems to underlie different signaling events. Therefore, these data suggest a novel role for the cytokine IL-3 in the activation process of eosinophils and its predominant chemokine receptor CCR3.


We study a random circuit model of constrained fracton dynamics, in which particles on a one-dimensional lattice undergo random local motion subject to both charge and dipole moment conservation. The configuration space of this system exhibits a continuous phase transition between a weakly fragmented ("thermalizing") phase and a strongly fragmented ("nonthermalizing") phase as a function of the number density of particles. Here, by mapping to two different problems in combinatorics, we identify an exact solution for the critical density $n_c$. Specifically, when evolution proceeds by operators that act on $\ell$ contiguous sites, the critical density is given by $n_c = 1/(\ell -2)$. We identify the critical scaling near the transition, and we show that there is a universal value of the correlation length exponent $\nu = 2$. We confirm our theoretical results with numeric simulations. In the thermalizing phase the dynamical exponent is subdiffusive: $z=4$, while at the critical point it increases to $z_c \gtrsim 6$.


Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are a vexing global health problem and have rendered ineffective many previously-used antibiotics. Here we demonstrate that antibiotic-linkage to surface-functionalized silica nanoparticles (sNP) significantly enhances their effectiveness against Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, and even methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains that are resistant to most antibiotics. The commonly-used antibiotic penicillin-G (PenG) was complexed to dye-labeled sNPs (15 nm diameter) containing carboxyl groups located as either surface-functional groups, or on polymer-chains extending from surfaces. Both sNPs configurations efficiently killed bacteria, including MRSA strains. This suggests that activities of currently-ineffective antibiotics can be restored by nanoparticle-complexation and used to avert certain forms of antibiotic-resistance.