In this paper, the influence of bypasses in heat exchanger networks on theoretical control properties and closed-loop behavior was investigated. According to theoretical control properties obtained using the singular value decomposition technique, the presence of bypasses increases flexibility of the heat exchanger network. This result was corroborated using closed-loop dynamic simulations using a proportional integral controller and a proportional integral controller with dynamic estimation of uncertainties. The heat exchanger network including bypasses outperformed the dynamic behavior of the heat exchanger network without bypasses. Moreover, closed-loop dynamic responses were improved significantly using controllers with dynamic estimation of uncertainties.


3D printing has started making its way into the fashion apparel industry. A number of designers are making use of the additive manufacturing technology to produce one-off complex designs; 3D printing services dedicated to fashion and design are emerging in the market, fashion schools are adapting their programs, incorporating laser-cutting and 3D printing and annual hi-tech fashion weeks are popping up around the globe. Such a technology, which refers to the layer by layer creation of physical objects based on digital 3D files, has been described as having the power to disrupt and transform the manufacturing system as we know it. 3D printing transforms the design and development process by expanding spheres of possibilities, enhancing design quality and limiting development costs. It also incurs great consequences for manufacturing as it reduces transaction costs, resolves the scale-scope problem and fosters zero-waste production. Using a technological innovation systems approach, this research attempts to understand the processes of diffusion of 3D printing technology, and the consequences this incurs for the usage patterns of resulting product and process innovations. More precisely, this research explores to which extent 3D printing transforms the design and production process for independent fashion designers and small fashion firms.


This paper proposes a method for analyzing social interests. The most important characteristic of the proposed method is that its analysis is not disturbed by stealth marketing. Since conventional methods analyze social interests using posters' behavior, stealth marketers can mislead conventional methods by posting unreliable information. To solve this problem, the proposed method analyzes viewers' behavior. DNS query logs are the information source used to analyze viewers' behavior. By counting the number of viewers for each website, the proposed method tries to find current issues that attract social interests. The second characteristic of the proposed method is the use of cardinality. Cardinality is the number of unique viewers for each WWW page. Since the DNS caching mechanism hides the real access frequency of WWW pages, the proposed method uses cardinality to count the number of unique viewers. To show the usefulness of the proposed method, we have analyzed how Japanese people reacted on the eco-point system and the switchover to the digital TV broadcasts. The ability to analyze the relationship between the social interests and their changes is the third characteristic of the proposed method and is revealed by the experiments which use a three-year long country level DNS query log.


The growing demand for available frequency bands in contrast to the scarcity of allocated spectrum slots, is promoting the development of smart wireless transmission terminals generally called cognitive radios. These devices are able to select the most suitable operating frequency and modulation scheme in order to minimize the probability of interference with other users operating in the same area. A key operation to reach this goal, is an accurate and reliable spectrum sensing, especially in environment characterized by the contemporaneous presence of many users, which could even transmit with a very low power. In order to implement this operation in cost-effective hardware, efforts for containing the computational burden should be also pursued. Several techniques for spectrum sensing are today present in literature, many of them require some knowledge about the context in which the system works, while further ones do not require any hypothesis on the signal to be detected. In this framework the authors propose and compare three algorithms based on a wideband analysis, possibly suited for the purpose. They all are thought for working in blind scenarios.


Aspergillosis is a rare event in intensive care patients. Three cases of invasive aspergillosis due to Aspergillus fumigatus were diagnosed in a surgical critical care unit. Risk factors for aspergillosis were found in two liver transplanted patients. One of them had a primitive cutaneous aspergillosis, and the other, treatment difficulties due to the unavailability of an injectable preparation of itraconazole, a new triazole antifungal agent efficient against Aspergillus species. The third case occurred in a patient who had had surgery for gastric carcinoma with liver metastasis. The mycological examination of the air and workbench in the patients' rooms disclosed between 2 and 13 CFU.mm-3 of different Aspergillus species. Plasma itraconazole concentrations were measured in one patient only. They were below the therapeutic range, probably because of intestinal disturbances. The oral administration of itraconazole capsules through gastro-intestinal feeding tubes results in a poor availability of the drug. Such a technique of administration should therefore be undertaken with larger doses than those commonly recommended. Moreover, itraconazole plasma concentrations should be monitored. The association with amphotericin B is recommended until normal intestinal absorption has been obtained.


The Privacy Risk Area Assessment Tool (PRAAT) for audio monitoring has been developed in the frame of EAR-IT, a European research project exploring the potential of audio monitoring for smart buildings and smart cities. The project addresses several privacy related issues in different countries and contexts, including outdoor and indoor audio monitoring. By involving real end-users in different legal environments, the project has to be very careful in respecting the privacy rights and has to make sure that its experiments are compliant with the a complex web of international, European and national obligations. Based on a detailed legal analysis, the authors have elaborated a Privacy Risk Area Assessment Tool (PRAAT) for audio monitoring. It has been designed to be user-friendly for users with limited legal background, such as researchers, public administrations and other interested stake holders in evaluating the level of legal risk bound to any project of audio monitoring deployment.


Background: Lumbar spinal stenosis is one of the most common diseases in the elderly. It is characterized by narrowing of the spinal canal creating compression of the neural structures causing a constellation of symptoms that may include low back pain, lower extremity radiculopathy, neurogenic claudication, and gait impairment. LSS is the most frequent reason for spinal surgery in elderly people. But knowledge about the effectiveness, in particular of the conservative treatments, is scarce. There is some evidence that integrated intensive physiotherapy approach improves sign and symptoms in these patients. Thus, this study emphasizes to find out the role of physiotherapy in challenge with the management of Lumbar spinal stenosis. Aim and Objectives:  The aim is to concise the view of various studies about the effect of integrated physiotherapy approach in lumbar spinal stenosis by reviewing the articles. Methodology: This is a review to illustrate outcome of comprehensive physiotherapeutic measures in lumbar spinal stenosis. Articles are collected from various databases like Google Scholar, PubMed, biomed, JAMA and by studying all these articles review are being made. Result and Conclusion: There is some evidence from the literature which suggest that integrated physiotherapeutic approach is much more beneficial in lumbar spinal stenosis in comparison with single therapeutic approach. Integrated physiotherapy approaches like exercises therapy, electro therapy & functional activity. Keywords: Exercise therapy, lumbar spinal stenosis, neurogenic claudication, electro therapy, core muscle strengthening Cite this Article Saurabh Kumar, Narkeesh A.. Physiotherapeutic Challenges in Treatment of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis- A Review. Research and Reviews: Journal of Neuroscience . 2017; 7(2): 6–12p.


Abstract. Monitoring of crops during their growth period is essential to increase the profitability of production and reduce costs. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been introduced as an appropriate tool in precision farming, due to their affordability and high-spatial resolution data. The potential of plant height and vegetation indices derived from UAV-based RGB imagery at 12-leaf growth stage (V12) is investigated for prediction of corn forage yield. Using the structure from motion techniques, the crop height model (CHM) was created by subtracting crop surface model from digital elevation model. Next, by evaluating the CHM using ground measurements of plant height, it was shown that UAV imagery provides high capability in modeling the plant height (R2  =  0.85). Pearson's correlation coefficient (R) between variables showed that the plant height had the highest correlation with forage yield (R  =  0.84). Furthermore, among the vegetation indices, visible atmospherically resistant index with R  =  0.77, normalized difference index with R  =  0.75, and excess red with R  =  0.74 were better than other indices. Finally, the partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was constructed using plant height and vegetation indices to predict forage yield. The beta regression coefficients of the PLSR model were used to identify the most relevant predictors, and the final PLSR model was rebuilt with relevant predictors. The PLSR analysis confirmed that the plant height was the most important predictor, although integrating the vegetation indices in the PLSR model has slightly improved the prediction model (R2  =  0.74, RMSE  =  0.316  kg  /  m2, and relative RMSE  =  12.39  %  ), compared to the model that used only plant height (R2  =  0.702, RMSE  =  0.339  kg  /  m2, and relative RMSE  =  13.29  %  ). Overall, these results indicate that the UAV-based images are efficient and cost-effective data to predict corn forage yield as well as plant height modeling.


In recent years, and particularly in the context of the international economic and financial crisis during 2008-2009, enhancing the ability of the State to implement medium-and long-term policies has once again emerged as a core issue on the development agenda. During the past biennium, the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) has underscored the need for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to strike the necessary balance between private initiative and public action and to consolidate a fiscal and social covenant, defined as the institutional arrangements that ensure effective governance. In this context, it has sought to foster a healthy, long-term balance between the State, civil society and the market economy through the art of governing for sustainable economic, social and institutional development.


It is necessary to know sea ice surface thermal states under cloud cover to evaluate cloud effects in the overall climatic feedback mechanisms in polar regions. The challenge is that traditional methods using radiometers such as AVHRR for surface temperature measurements fail under cloudy conditions. The authors present a new method combining C-band radar data to study sea ice surface temperature change and visible/infrared radiometer data to identify clouds. From laboratory experiments, the authors show that C-band radar backscatter is sensitive to sea ice surface thermal states. This relationship is utilized to develop the methodology for the sea ice surface temperature study. The authors present an example with ERS-1 SAR data, AVHRR data, and field experiment measurements over first-year and multi-year sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to illustrate the methodology. In this example, SAR data show an increase in sea ice surface temperature, caused by an excess in the surface heat balance under cloud cover. The method is applicable to Arctic first-year ice. For Antarctic sea ice, this method is particularly appropriate since the Antarctic ice cover consists of vast regions of first-year ice where salinity levels are generally higher than those of Arctic sea ice of similar age and structure.


The implementation of a maintenance management system is very important for organizations. The Calibration laboratory has a lot of reference equipment. Based on ISO/IEC 17025: 2017, maintenance management is essential for calibration laboratories. From the results of literature studies, the issue of maintenance management has been discussed in many studies, but maintenance management in calibration laboratories has not been studied. This paper identifies the factors that affect the maintenance management performance in the Indonesia calibration laboratory and also to analyze the correlation between maintenance management performance and ISO/IEC 17025's application through a survey of 40 calibration laboratories that for more than 10 years have implemented ISO/IEC 17025. The result shows that "human resource factors" and "information management and CMMs" significantly contribute to performance maintenance management. Maintenance management performance in Indonesia calibration laboratories does not affect the application of ISO / IEC 17025: 2017. The matrix grid shows that 47.5% of the laboratories have good maintenance practices. Calibration laboratory maintenance management practices can be categorized as "understanding" based on radar diagrams, this indicates that the implementation of maintenance is good even though the benefits have not been fully realized.


Industry 4.0 features the application of modern Information & Communication Technology concepts in industrial contexts to create more flexible and innovative products and services leading to new added-value business models. Realization of this fourth industrial revolution may be achieved only if enough effort is invested to introduce interoperability between industrial applications. For this reason, current literature presents a lot of proposals aimed to improve interoperability between reference communication standards of Industry 4.0. Among them, several research activities aim to reach this goal by proposing interworking solutions between standard communication systems. Although OPC UA and oneM2M play very important roles inside Industry 4.0, interworking between them is not available at this moment. For this reason, the paper aims to propose a novel solution towards OPC UA and oneM2M interworking.


This Letter proposes an approach to develop a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission line (TL) by loading short-circuited (SC) shunt stubs. Lower out-of-band rejections can be flexibly controlled without affecting the upper cutoff frequency by independently modifying the stubs. Dispersion analysis of the SSPP unit is realized by theoretical calculation and circuit simulation to predict the upper cutoff frequency of the proposed SSPP TL simultaneously. Also, parametric sweeping of the SC shunt stubs is performed based on circuit simulation to investigate their impacts on the lower and upper out-of-band rejections of the proposed SSPP TL. In addition, electric field distributions of different types of TLs are simulated and compared to study the transmission characteristics of the proposed SSPP TL. The lower cutoff frequency can be flexibly tuned in a wide range, from 1.2 to 2.1 GHz, in the simulations. The measured 3-dB fractional bandwidth is about 128.1%, covering a range from 1.19 to 5.43 GHz. The numerical and experimental results are compatible, which verifies the feasibility of the proposed approach. This approach can offer more convenience and flexibility for controlling the rejections of the SSPP by introducing up to four tuning parameters. More importantly, the proposed SSPP TL avoids using the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique, which shows the potential to decrease the transverse width (0.44λg), especially at lower frequencies (e.g., 1.2 GHz), and to reduce the complexity in designing the high-efficiency transition. This work paves the way for the development of novel SSPP-based microwave devices.


Endocrine tumours of the pancreas (ETPs) are rare neoplasms that are frequently malignant. Despite their usual slow growth, metastases do occur and have a major impact on prognosis. Metastases may be the first manifestation of disease, and recognition of particular radiological features of these hypervascular metastases should suggest their possible neuroendocrine origin. Although somatostatin receptor scintigraphy has changed the imaging strategy for these tumours and has become their principal imaging modality, radiological techniques are still required for precise localization of scintigraphic hot spots and monitoring of response to therapy. This pictorial review shows the typical radiological features of ETP metastases and emphasizes the role of different imaging modalities.


With the ongoing distribution of the coronavirus disease (COVID) vaccines, the pandemic of our age is ending, leaving the world to deal with its well-documented aftereffects. Long COVID comprises a variety of symptoms, of which the neurological component prevails. The most permeating theory on the genesis of these symptoms builds upon the development of microvascular dysfunction similar to that seen in numerous vascular diseases such as diabetes. This can occur through the peripheral activation of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors, or through exacerbations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that can remain in circulation even after the infection diminishes. Several drugs have been identified to act on the neurovascular unit to promote repair, such as gliptins, and others. They also succeeded in improving neurologic outcome in diabetic patients. The repurposing of such drugs for treatment of long COVID-19 can possibly shorten the time to recovery of long COVID-19 syndrome.


This paper is addressed to discuss about the subjective characteristics of entrepreneurs that allow them to start or to run small firms able to contribute in a stable and relevant manner to the local development (high-potential firms). For this purpose a literature analysis and a field research based on a sample of 101 small firms have been conducted. This topic is discussed with reference to a backward area context which is also characterized by the presence of many policy measures aimed to directly support small business. Some policy measures indication emerge, that address the necessity to propose innovative instruments aimed to reinforce and to support, in a business management perspective, the entrepreneurial role in order to sustain the economic development.


Cholinesterases occur in a family of molecular forms, both as homo-oligomers of catalytic subunits, which can be either soluble, amphiphilic or lipid-anchored to the membrane; and hetero-oligomers of catalytic subunits and structural subunits. The structural subunits afford a method for precise localization of cholinesterases for specific function. A number of mutagenesis studies suggest that the C-terminal region of one alternatively spliced form of cholinesterase is involved in association of catalytic subunits into tetramers and in the association of these tetramers with structural subunits, however, there is currently no structural information about this region. In addition, none of the mutagenesis studies have clearly defined the residues important in these interactions. Here, multiple sequence alignment, structure prediction techniques and analysis of three-dimensional structural data are combined with a re-examination of mutagenesis and biochemical data. Three-dimensional models for the C-terminal region and for soluble tetrameric cholinesterase are proposed, and a set of rules governing subunit association are formulated. The simple model for association of catalytic and structural subunits presented is consistent with data for all known cholinesterases from species as divergent as nematode and man.


During previous studies, we found that mdm2 mRNA levels were elevated in benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, a polycyclic aryl hydrocarbon)-treated cells under conditions of DNA damage-induced cell cycle arrest (Vaziri, C., and Faller, D. V. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 2762–2769). We have identified potential aryl-hydrocarbon receptor-binding sites in the mdm2 promoter. However, we show that induction of mdm2 mRNA by BaP is entirely dependent upon aryl-hydrocarbon-induced genotoxicity and does not involve direct aryl-hydrocarbon receptor-mediated transcriptional activation of the mdm2gene. Heterologous mdm2 promoter-reporter constructs containing p53-response elements were not responsive to BaP treatment. Therefore the p53-response elements in the mdm2 promoter are insufficient to confer DNA damage-dependent expression of mdm2. Furthermore, mdm2 transcripts were induced by BaP in p53 null cells from transgenic mice (although both basal and BaP-induced mdm2 expression levels were reduced in these cells relative to p53+/+ cultures). These data show that p53-mediated mechanisms cannot account for BaP/DNA damage-induced mdm2 expression.Mdm2 promoter-reporter gene assays and nuclear run-off analyses of nascent mdm2 transcripts showed that transcriptional induction was unable to account for the large changes in mdm2 transcript levels following BaP treatment. However, mdm2 mRNA half-life measurements showed stabilization of the mdm2 transcript (from ∼1 h to >4 h) in response to BaP. To our knowledge, this is the first report of control of mdm2 at the post-transcriptional level and in a p53-independent manner. Transient ectopic expression of mdm2 strongly augmented aryl-hydrocarbon-induced apoptosis, demonstrating that mdm2 levels can have a profound effect on the cellular response to DNA damage. Overall, our results suggest a potentially important link between DNA damage signaling and RNA stability that may be relevant to cell cycle regulation, tumor suppression, and environmental carcinogenesis.


The activity at the "Pangeran Antasari Balikpapan" Vocational School has several objectives: improving teacher competency by training and testing directly on Arduino-based practice modules that have multi-input and multi-output peripherals that have extensive functions for applications in automatic control systems. Analysis and discussion to partners there are 2 main problems, the problem of automation technology and teacher competence. The problem of automation technology is solved by training practice modules that are useful as learning media in the field of automatic control systems and can be implemented for various applications. The problem of teacher competence with technology updates is solved by the development of learning media so that the teacher is able to create and innovate in the control system. The method used in this activity is discussion, explanation, demonstration, practice, and observation.


Over the past several decades, the United States has experienced some of its largest immigrant inflows since the Great Depression. This higher level of immigration has generated significant debate on the effects of such inflows on receiving markets and natives. Education market studies have found that inflows of immigrant students can displace some natives from enrollment. Meanwhile, labor market studies have primarily examined the impact of immigrant labor inflows on the wages of similarly and dissimilarly skilled natives, with mixed results. The lack of consensus in the wage studies has spurred a growing line of research on whether natives respond endogenously to immigrant worker inflows. Yet, it remains unexplored whether native responses in the higher education market also contribute to the absorption of immigrants into the labor market and the effects on equilibrium in both markets. In a unified framework of the education and labor markets this paper addresses whether skill level via college enrollment is another margin on which natives endogenously adjust to immigrant inflows of students and labor. This study differs from previous research by separately identifying native human capital accumulation responses to both immigrant labor and student inflows at the college margin, where such responses may be strongest due to the high school-college wage gap. The analysis also contributes to our understanding of how local markets respond to immigrant inflows.


Abstract Background Evidence has demonstrated associations of bipolar disorder (BD) with cognitive impairment, dysregulated proinflammatory cytokines, and appetite hormones. Aim To compare executive dysfunction, proinflammatory cytokines, and appetite hormones between patients with first-episode and multiple-episode BDs. Methods This cross-sectional study included young adults aged 18 to 39 years who were diagnosed as having type 1 BD in the first or recurrent episode and a group of age-/sex-matched healthy controls. Data regarding patient characteristics, clinical symptoms, cytokines (C-reactive protein [CRP], interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α), appetite hormones (leptin, adiponectin, ghrelin, and insulin), and executive function evaluated using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were collected. Results A total of 112 participants (38 patients in the multiple-episode BD group, 31 patients in the first-episode BD group, and 43 in the control group) were included. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients in the multiple-episode BD group performed significantly worse in the WCST (P < .05) and had higher levels of ghrelin (P = .002), and lower levels of CRP (P = .040) than those in the first-episode BD group. Patients with BD had significantly higher TNF-α and ghrelin levels compared with the healthy controls. No significant associations of CRP, TNF-α, and ghrelin levels with executive function were observed. Conclusions Profiles in proinflammatory cytokines and appetite hormones as well as executive function significantly differed between patients with first-episode and multiple-episode BDs and controls, which may suggest their potential roles in the clinical stages and pathophysiology of type 1 BD.


We have been working on finding new bioactive microbial metabolites at the Kitasato Institute. Their microbial natural products have a variety of unique and complex skeletones with many chiral centers and functional groups, and biological activities. We also have been working on total synthesis of them, which is effective and concise convergent approach, designed to afford easy access to both the natural products and a variety of analogs to clarify the structure-activity relationships. We have succeeded the efficient total syntheses of bioactive microbial metabolites; pyripyropene A (1) and E, arisugacin (2), paspalicine (3) and paspalinine (4), lactacystin (5), macrosphelide (6), and madindoline (7). We also have succeeded to create better analogs of pyripyropene A (1) and lactacystin (5).


The goal of this work is to find ways of enhancing the speed of computer memory cells by using structures that employ operating principles other than those of traditional semiconductors' schemes. One of the applications of the unique properties of Josephson structures is their usage in novel superfast computer memory cells. Thanks to their high working characteristic frequencies close to 1 THz, the Josephson structures are most promising candidates to be used in petaflop computers. Moreover, both Josephson cryotrons and Josephson SQUIDs can be used in qubits, which are basic units in quantum computers, and also for describing a macroscopic quantum behavior, for example, during read-out processes in quantum computations. In the present work, we have created a mathematical model of transition processes in Josephson cryotrons during direct, "1" → "0", as well as inverse, "0" → "1", logical transitions. We have considered controlling the logical state of Josephson memory cells based on Josephson tunneling junctions of the S-I-S type via external current pulses. By means of mathematical modelling, we have studied transition processes in cryotrons during the change of their logical state and calculated their transition characteristics for working temperatures T1 = 11.6 K and T2 = 81.2 K, which ale close to the boiling temperatures of helium and nitrogen, respectively. It has been shown that such memory cells can effectively operate at the working temperature T2 = 81.2 K. We have determined commutation times for both the direct "0" → "1" and inverse "0" → "1" transitions. We have also identified peculiar behaviors of the Josephson cryotrons based memory cells and studied the stability of their operation.


A method to inspect hysteresis parameter is presented in this article. The hysteresis of whole camera module with liquid lens can be measured rather than a single lens merely. Because the variation in focal length influences image quality, we propose utilizing the sharpness of images which is captured from camera module for hysteresis evaluation. Experiments reveal that the profile of sharpness hysteresis corresponds to the characteristic of contact angle of liquid lens. Therefore, it can infer that the hysteresis of camera module is induced by the contact angle of liquid lens. An inspection process takes only 20 s to complete. Thus comparing with other instruments, this inspection method is more suitable to integrate into the mass production lines for online quality assurance.


Natural gas is more and more proving to be the most efficient fuel in the production of electricity in thermal power plants, from the aspect of minimizing the pollution. Burning gas that usually carries negligible amounts of sulfur containing substances therefore results in low sulfur oxides pollution. Due to the fact that gas has negligible amount of particles, the production of soot will also be limited. Therefore, the main pollutants left are the nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. With different methods the concentrations of those pollutants can be minimized. In order to advise those methods, detailed chemistry of methane/ethane combustion in air has to be studied and all significant mechanisms isolated. The most important mechanisms of the production of NOx while burning natural gas in furnaces, which mainly occurs in oxygen rich (fuel lean - superstoichiometric) mixtures are thermal or Zeldovich mechanism and N2O mechanism. The carbon monoxide chemistry is a very important part of the combustion of any carbohydrates, since nearly all carbon atoms get first oxidized to carbon monoxide, and only then to carbon dioxide. But what is of utmost importance for the concentration of carbon monoxide that leave the furnace, and therefore cause the pollution, is the amount of free radicals containing oxygen. In order to model natural gas combustion with all the details necessary to calculate the rate of formation of pollutants, the reaction system consisting of 143 elementary chemical reactions was devised. The reaction model was linked to the three dimensional mathematical model of heat and mass transfer previously developed by the authors. The model was tested by comparing the experimental results obtained from the literature with results of calculation. The model was then applied to the utility steam generator furnace, and the results considering pollution formation where discussed with the respect to the national regulation.


We present a technique to represent the structure of large social networks through ego-centered network neighborhoods. This provides a local view of the network, focusing on the vertices and their kth order neighborhoods allowing discovery of interesting patterns and features of the network that would be hidden in a global network analysis. We present several examples from a corporate phone call network revealing the ability of our methods to discover interesting network behavior that is only available at the local level. In addition, we present an approach to use these concepts to identify abrupt or subtle anomalies in dynamic networks.


This volume, the first of two volumes is a compilation of 25 unclassified/unlimited-distribution technical papers presented at the Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) 19th Propulsion Systems Hazards Subcommittee (PSHS) meeting held jointly with the 37th Combustion Subcommittee (CS) and 25th Airbreathing Propulsion Subcommittee (APS), and 1st Modeling and Simulation Subcommittee (MSS) meetings. The meeting was held 13-17 November 2000 at the Naval Postgraduate School and Hyatt Regency Hotel, Monterey, California. Topics covered at the PSHS meeting include: impact and thermal vulnerability of gun propellants; thermal decomposition and cookoff behavior of energetic materials; violent reaction and detonation phenomena of solid energetic materials subjected to shock and impact loading; and hazard classification, and insensitive munitions testing of propellants and propulsion systems.


Ava is a pro at starting fires just by imagining them, but she's not so great at controlling this ability yet, especially in stressful situations. Unfortunately, being roped into a contract with a supernatural mafia who kills the disobedient is a pretty stressful situation. After she refuses to take out a family friend, Ava and a very small group of allies have to go on the run, trying to stay alive, right some wrongs the evil Coterie have done, and, for Ava at least, find a balance between the horrific things she is capable of and the ways in which her powers can be beneficial. Ava is intriguing, and though her fiery methodology is dramatic, most teens will be familiar with many of the inner demons she battles. She's also surrounded by a complex cast of allies and enemies, all of whom McBride carefully develops; any one of these characters could have their own spinoff novels. Clever chapter titles, an overlapping setting, and a snappy, world-weary teen narrator hearken back to McBride's equally sharp Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (BCCB 12/10) and the sequel Necromancing the Stone (BCCB 11/12). AS


Annual infusions of zoledronic acid (5 mg) significantly reduced the risk of vertebral, hip, and nonvertebral fractures in a study of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and significantly reduced clinical fractures and all‐cause mortality in another study of women and men who had recently undergone surgical repair of hip fracture. In this analysis, we examined whether timing of the first infusion of zoledronic acid study drug after hip fracture repair influenced the antifracture efficacy and mortality benefit observed in the study. A total of 2127 patients (1065 on active treatment and 1062 on placebo; mean age, 75 yr; 76% women and 24% men) were administered zoledronic acid or placebo within 90 days after surgical repair of an osteoporotic hip fracture and annually thereafter, with a median follow‐up time of 1.9 yr. Median time to first dose after the incident hip fracture surgery was ∼6 wk. Posthoc analyses were performed by dividing the study population into 2‐wk intervals (calculated from time of first infusion in relation to surgical repair) to examine effects on BMD, fracture, and mortality. Analysis by 2‐wk intervals showed a significant total hip BMD response and a consistent reduction of overall clinical fractures and mortality in patients receiving the first dose 2‐wk or later after surgical repair. Clinical fracture subgroups (vertebral, nonvertebral, and hip) were also reduced, albeit with more variation and 95% CIs crossing 1 at most time points. We concluded that administration of zoledronic acid to patients suffering a low‐trauma hip fracture 2 wk or later after surgical repair increases hip BMD, induces significant reductions in the risk of subsequent clinical vertebral, nonvertebral, and hip fractures, and reduces mortality.


Glucosylceramide (GlcCer) plays an active role in the regulation of various cellular events. Moreover, GlcCer is also a key modulator of membrane biophysical properties, which might be linked to the mechanism of its biological action. In order to understand the biophysical implications of GlcCer on membranes of living cells, we first studied the effect of GlcCer on artificial membranes containing 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol (Chol). Using an array of biophysical methods, we demonstrate that at lower GlcCer/Chol ratios, GlcCer stabilizes SM/Chol-enriched liquid-ordered domains. However, upon decreasing the Chol content, GlcCer significantly increased membrane order through the formation of gel domains. Changes in pH disturbed the packing properties of GlcCer-containing membranes, leading to an increase in membrane fluidity and reduced membrane electronegativity. To address the biophysical impact of GlcCer in biological membranes, studies were performed in wild type and in fibroblasts treated with conduritol-B-epoxide (CBE), which causes intracellular GlcCer accumulation, and in fibroblasts from patients with type I Gaucher disease (GD). Decreased membrane fluidity was observed in cells containing higher levels of GlcCer, such as in CBE-treated and GD cells. Together, we demonstrate that elevated GlcCer levels change the biophysical properties of cellular membranes, which might compromise membrane-associated cellular events and be of relevance for understanding the pathology of diseases, such as GD, in which GlcCer accumulates at high levels.


This chapter will cover some of the issues mentioned by European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) and has its starting point in the knowledge and experience from four different EU-funded projects dealing with automation and human factors. It might be expected that there is no difference in how human factors should be considered in relation to automation depending on the country it is used in. However, there are reasons to believe that there are differences in understanding and in acceptance of new functions depending on experience or not from modern vehicles with, for example integrated driver support systems. This chapter has its starting point mainly from work done in Europe, which may be considered to be generic and valid for other countries in the world with the same type of car fleets. The focus will be on challenges covering: the need to have an adaptive Human-Machine Interface (HMI) to achieve trust and acceptance in relation to automated functionalities and system, the importance of considering different driver states and finally the evaluations of automated systems.


In this paper, cycle performance analysis of two-stage compression and one-stage expansion refrigeration system applied various refrigerants is presented to offer the basic design data for the operating parameters of the system. The operating parameters considered in this study include degree of superheating and subcooling, compressor efficiency, evaporation temperature, condensing temperature, mass flow rate ration into inter-cooler, effectiveness of internal heat exchanger. The main results were summarized as follows : The COP of two-stage compression and 1-stage expansion refrigeration system increases with the increasing subcooling, mass flow rate ration of inter-cooler, evaporation temperature, but decreases with the increasing condensing temperature and superheating degree. Therefore, subcooling degree, mass flow rate ratio of inter-cooler of two-stage compression and 1-stage expansion using substitute refrigerant have an effect on COP of this system. The COP of alternative refrigerants was higher than the COP of R22 in this study, although the COP of some mixed refrigerants were lower than COP of R22.


The activities of ouabain-sensitive (Na-5-) and ouabain-insensitive ATPases were determined in 3.6 mM calcium-containing and calcium-free media. Three lens tissue segments were studied: the epithelium/capsule segment, the anterior cortical segment and the posterior cortical segment. In the presence of calcium, the Na-K-ATPase activity in each segment was reduced, whereas the ouabain-insensitive ATPase activity in each segment was increased.


This paper presents a modified nonlinear continuum damage model (CDM) applying to analyze compressor blades fatigue developed by Chaboche. The proposed model has been formulated to take into account the effect of different load levels and loading sequence. From a multiaxial fatigue point of view, the mean stress effect has been considered in order to extend the proposed model to multiaxial fatigue conditions. The unsymmetrical cycle fatigue test of TC4 alloy has been carried out to verify the model proposed in this paper and the results show a good agreement to predict fatigue life and damage. Finally, the fatigue life of a compressor blade is predicted using the proposed model under multi-level loading.


This paper deals with a new method for controlling kinematically articulated systems. Unlike traditional approaches, we pose the problem in a new distance space. We propose a novel distance-based formalization of kinematic control, and an optimization method for solving a set of classical for motion adaptation and inverse kinematics problems. The originality of the method lies also in the possibility to introduce distance constraints with priorities. The approach is validated by a set of experiments using several classical kinematic operations applied to motion control of articulated figures, and compared to other approaches by means of stability, convergence and performance issues.


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

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes exert control over gene transcription and cell cycle progression and their inhibition has recently emerged as an efficacious strategy to treat cancer. However, current HDAC inhibitors have been linked to a shared undesirable toxicological profile that prompts the development of new entities. The present study evaluates the in vitro and in vivo PK/PD of a newly developed HDAC inhibitor, HDAC-C1A.

HDAC-C1A inhibited class I, II and sirtuins, with highest affinity for HDAC6 (IC50 = 63 ng/mL), an HDAC subtype thought to be associated with low toxicity; HDAC6 knockout does not lead to embryonic lethality. The drug irreversibly inhibited HDAC from HeLa cell extract; in HCT116 cells inhibition of enzyme activity as assessed by levels of acetyl-histone H3, H4 and acetyl-tubulin was maintained after washout demonstrating an irreversible mechanism. HDAC-C1A treatment was associated with a dose and time dependent increase of histone and non-histone targets that was maintained at 4 hours after washout; acetylation was lost by 4 h with clinically licensed HDAC inhibitor SAHA. HDAC-C1A inhibited the growth of a panel of 7 cancer cell lines with a mean GI50 of 1.6 ± 0.6 µg/mL. The drug was relatively stable after parenteral administration for 4 h. The Cmax and AUC0-4h following i.p. injection (160 mg/kg) were 20.4 µg/mL and 50 µg/mL*h, respectively.

Regarding efficacy, HDAC-C1A treatment was associated with a Tumor Growth Delay (TGD2x) of 5.7 ± 1.4 days and a Tumor Growth Inhibition (TGI) of 78% compared with vehicle when given i.p. at 20 mg/kg b.i.d. in a HCT116 human colon cancer xenograft model. This dose was non-toxic (no reduction in body weight). We also assessed the potential of [18F]fluorothymidine positron emission tomography ([18F]FLT-PET) to measure early response to HDAC-C1A treatment in HCT116 xenograft bearing mice. There was a 2-fold decrease in tumor [18F]FLT uptake compared to vehicle treated animals at 48 h post-treatment; the area under the normalized [18F]FLT time versus activity curve was 117 ± 6.9 at before treatment and decreased to 106 ± 5.5 (P = 0.02) at 24 hours and 54 ± 5 (P = 0.0001) at 48 h after initiating treatment.

In summary, HDAC-C1A combines irreversible HDAC inhibition with a favourable pharmacokinetic profile leading to significant anti-tumor activity in the HCT116 tumor model. Early response to the drug was detectable by [18F]FLT-PET. These preclinical data support further development of HDAC-C1A. This work was supported in part by Cancer Research U.K.-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant C2536/A10337.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2608. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2608


During the COVID-19 pandemic, many millions have worn masks made of woven fabric to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. Masks are essentially air filters worn on the face that should filter out as many of the dangerous particles as possible. Here, the dangerous particles are the droplets containing the virus that are exhaled by an infected person. Woven fabric is unlike the material used in standard air filters. Woven fabric consists of fibers twisted together into yarns that are then woven into fabric. There are, therefore, two lengthscales: the diameters of (i) the fiber and (ii) the yarn. Standard air filters have only (i). To understand how woven fabrics filter, we have used confocal microscopy to take three-dimensional images of woven fabric. We then used the image to perform lattice Boltzmann simulations of the air flow through fabric. With this flow field, we calculated the filtration efficiency for particles a micrometer and larger in diameter. In agreement with experimental measurements by others, we found that for particles in this size range, the filtration efficiency is low. For particles with a diameter of 1.5 μm, our estimated efficiency is in the range 2.5%–10%. The low efficiency is due to most of the air flow being channeled through relatively large (tens of micrometers across) inter-yarn pores. So, we conclude that due to the hierarchical structure of woven fabrics, they are expected to filter poorly.


Nitric oxide (NO) has recently gained wide attention as a representative of a newly discovered class of messenger molecule serving a variety offunctions in several different tissues. NO, and perhaps other gaseous messengers, is produced by cells serving a wide variety of functions ranging from vascular endothelium (1, 2), immune cells (3, 4), neurons (5, 6), smooth muscle (7, 8), and cardiac muscle (9). The functions of this released NO appear to be as diverse as the cells that produce it, having actions in immune cytotoxicity, in the production of synaptic plasticity in the brain, in neurotoxicity, and others. Because NO produced in one cell can diffuse to and activate biochemical processes in neighboring cells, it has been widely hailed as a solution to many processes that require intercellular communication but for which specific messenger molecules have not been defined or in which traditional messengers, such as neurotransmitters, are not appropriate. Five papers have appeared recently (10-14) concerning various aspects of signaling systems using NO in different tissues. Here we see the description of the molecular cloning of a form of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) from human hepatocytes, definition of a signaling pathway for NO involving cyclic GMP and phosphorylation of the protein DARPP-32, two examples of how viral-induced neural toxicity may be mediated by NO, and proposition ofa NO-dependent brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) release mechanism stimulated by interleukin 2 (IL-2) and acetylcholine. Examination of these reports provides insight into potential mechanisms of NO signaling and an expanding role for this messenger molecule in signaling in a diverse array of biological systems. Beginning with the observation that a NOS could be induced in hepatocytes by treatment with a combination of interleukin 1, tumor necrosis factor, interferon y, and lipopolysaccharide, Geller et al. (10) have cloned an inducible form of NOS with interesting properties. This NOS is designated as hep-NOS. hep-NOS cDNA is possessed of 80% sequence homology with the other known sequence of iNOS (the macrophage form) but just over 50% identity with the endothelial and brain constitutive forms of the enzyme. hepNOS and human endothelial NOS appear to be distinct gene products since they show different genetic restriction enzyme fragments on Southern blots. The sequence contains recognition sites for FMN, FAD, and NADPH, like other NOSs, and also, somewhat surprisingly for an inducible NOS, a consensus calmodulin binding site. This report provides more than just another sequence for NOS in a different cell type. The hep-NOS cDNA, when expressed in human 293 kidney cells, makes a functional enzyme having unique properties that are certainly very intriguing and may prove to be of great importance. While the activity of the previously known macrophage form of inducible NOS has activity that is not regulated by calcium/calmodulin, the inducible hep-NOS does appear to be regulated by calcium/calmodulin. Thus, once induced, this NOS may be regulated in much the same way as is usually thought to be a characteristic of the constitutive forms of the enzyme, which makes this particular NOS quite unique from the other known forms-different in sequence, and perhaps function, from the constitutive forms, and different in regulation from other inducible forms. This work is interesting in another regard in that it demonstrates that a particular type ofhuman cell possesses NOS. In addition to existing in hepatocytes, Northern blot analysis reveals that it may also be induced in aorta smooth muscle tissue. One of the most important issues in understanding the role ofNO in biological systems is an understanding of the messenger pathways that can transduce an increase in NO levels into a biological response. The report by Tsou et al. (11) demonstrates an interesting way that NO actions may be so transduced. DARPP-32 is a 32-kDa phosphoprotein that is phosphorylated in response to activation of dopamine receptors (15). Once so phosphorylated, it exerts an inhibitory action on protein phosphatase 1 (16). While DARPP-32 can be phosphorylated in vitro by either cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase or cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase, dopamine in vivo stimulates phosphorylation of DARPP-32 only via cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Here it is shown that application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a molecule that can be used to donate NO in tissues, results in phosphorylation ofDARPP-32 in the substantia nigra of rat. Since some reported actions of SNP have been shown to be unrelated to NO, it was demonstrated that SNP-stimulated phosphorylation was blocked by application of hemoglobin. Since hemoglobin will bind NO, removing it from the reaction mixture, this serves as a good control, indicating that the actions ofSNP in this case were most likely mediated through NO. Interestingly, when SNP was applied and the levels of cyclic nucleotides were measured, it was found that the same concentration of SNP that stimulated phosphorylation of DARPP-32 also produced a 4-fold increase in the levels of cyclic GMP in the tissue without causing any change in cyclicAMPlevels. Furthermore, application of membrane-permeant analogs of cyclic GMP mimicked the ability of SNP to cause phosphorylation of DARPP-32, while similar cyclic AMP analogs fail to stimulate this phosphorylation. This latter result is somewhat unexpected given that DARPP-32 can be phosphorylated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase; nonetheless, these results show a NO/cGMP-mediated mechanism for phosphorylating DARPP-32 in the nerve terminals of substantia nigra. This or a similar NO-sensitive effector may prove to be of great importance in understanding mechanisms of NO signal transduction in a variety of processes, both within and outside the substantia nigra. Besides a role in normal physiological processes, two reports reinforce the notion that NO may participate in production of certain types of pathologies. The report by Koprowski et al. (12) shows that both infection with one of several viruses known to cause neural pathology and induction of experimental allergic encephalitis can cause the appearance of disease pathology and also the induction ofNOS. The report by Dawson et al. (13) shows that the neural toxicity caused by the coat protein to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the infectious agent in AIDS, may be mediated through NO. In a report dealing with disease pathology and NO, Koprowski et al. (12) in-


In real-life applications, machine learning models often face scenarios where there is a change in data distribution between training and test domains. When the aim is to make predictions on distributions different from those seen at training, we incur in a domain generalization problem. Methods to address this issue learn a model using data from multiple source domains, and then apply this model to the unseen target domain. Our hypothesis is that when training with multiple domains, conflicting gradients within each mini-batch contain information specific to the individual domains which is irrelevant to the others, including the test domain. If left untouched, such disagreement may degrade generalization performance. In this work, we characterize the conflicting gradients emerging in domain shift scenarios and devise novel gradient agreement strategies based on gradient surgery to alleviate their effect. We validate our approach in image classification tasks with three multi-domain datasets, showing the value of the proposed agreement strategy in enhancing the generalization capability of deep learning models in domain shift scenarios.


This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Churkhai village of Bhavokhali union during December 2018 to find out common health problems among 200 agricultural workers in a selected rural area of Mymensingh as a part of Residential Field Site Training by 3rd year MBBS students session 2016-17. 63 percent of population lives in rural area. Agricultural workers have illnesses common to general population. Moreover socioeconomic and work condition poses extra burden. The study was carried out on 200 agricultural workers who were selected purposively. Data were collected on a predesigned questionnaire by face to face interviewing agricultural workers. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 20.0. Age distribution of respondents ranged from 19 years to 80 years; mean age 46.53 years and standard deviation 14.891 years. Males were predominant (male: female ratio 506.06: 100. Majority of them (57.50%) were literate. Most of them (65.00%) belonged to middle class family. More than half (55.00%) of agricultural workers were suffering from illness. Respiratory illnesses 16.00% were predominant followed by skin disease 10.50%, gastrointestinal disease 6.50%, conjunctivitis 6.00%, arthritis 6.00%, hypertension 6.00%, diabetes mellitus 5.00%, anemia 4.50% and hearing loss 0.50%. In summer heat exhaustion (14.50%) was predominant followed by heat syncope (10.00%. In rainy season ARI (12.00%) was predominant followed by diarrheal diseases (10.50%). In winter mild hypothermia (27.00%) was predominant followed by ARI (4.50%). In recall of last 1 year the important events were crop loss 12.50%, damage to house 10.00%, and unemployment 2.50%. There was no case of anthrax and bird flu. Prevalence of occupational accidents was 5.00%. which includes fall from height 0.50%, heavy object fallen on body 1%, domestic fire 1%, electrocution in house 1%, electrocution by power pump 0.50%, cattle hitting by horn 0.50% and accidental insecticide poisoning 0.5%. Most of the injury occurred in the current week. Majority of the workers (66.50%) had partial tetanus toxoid immunization. Morbidity in this study was better than several studies conducted in Bangladesh and India. By knowing health problems we can give health care to agricultural workers which will prevent diseases and illnesses of them, prolong their healthy life, promote their health and efficiency.
CBMJ 2022 July: vol. 11 no. 02 P: 125-130


Introduction Although previous studies have shown that vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) has the advantages of causing less pain, faster recovery, and better concealment of surgical incisions, which aligns with the concept of the day-care procedure, this approach poses a greater risk of damaging adjacent organs (i. e., rectum and bladder) due to its anatomical specificity. Moreover, the day-care procedure may lead to relatively less preoperative evaluation and postoperative care. Hence, it is necessary to explore the safety and effectiveness of vNOTES for ovarian cystectomy in the day-care procedure, to provide a theoretical basis for the wider development of vNOTES surgery. Materials and methods This retrospective study included 131 patients at our hospital who underwent ovarian cystectomy from September 2021 to October 2022. Based on the surgical approach, patients were classified into transumbilical laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) and vNOTES groups. The patients' demographic characteristics and follow-up data were collected during the perioperative period and 1-month postoperatively. Results Vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery has less postoperative exhaust time, a lower postoperative 6-hour pain score, and a lower incidence of analgesic drug use, with higher surgical conversion incidence. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the surgical conversion, chocolate cyst, bilateral cyst, and pelvic adhesion increased the operation duration by ~43 (95% CI: 10.309, 68.152, p < 0.001), 15 (95% CI: 6.342, 45.961, p = 0.036), 10 (95% CI: 3.07, 40.166, p = 0.019), and 8 (95% CI: 4.555, 26.779, p = 0.035) min, respectively. Interestingly, vNOTES decreased the operation duration by ~8.5 min (95% CI: −18.313, −2.699, p = 0.033). Conclusion Vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery was equally safe and effective for ovarian cystectomy compared to LESS. vNOTES aligned with the concept of the day-care procedure due to its reduced postoperative pain, shorter exhaust time, and absence of scarring. However, surgeons should conduct a comprehensive preoperative evaluation and exclude patients suspected to have severe pelvic adhesions.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition diagnosed in approximately 2% of children. Reliance on the emergence of clinically observable behavioral patterns only delays the mean age of diagnosis to approximately 4 years. However, neural pathways critical to language and social functions develop during infancy, and current diagnostic protocols miss the age when therapy would be most effective. We developed non-invasive ASD biomarkers using mass spectrometry analyses of elemental metabolism in single hair strands, coupled with machine learning. We undertook a national prospective study in Japan, where hair samples were collected at 1 month and clinical diagnosis was undertaken at 4 years. Next, we analyzed a national sample of Swedish twins and, in our third study, participants from a specialist ASD center in the US. In a blinded analysis, a predictive algorithm detected ASD risk as early as 1 month with 96.4% sensitivity, 75.4% specificity, and 81.4% accuracy (n = 486; 175 cases). These findings emphasize that the dynamics in elemental metabolism are systemically dysregulated in autism, and these signatures can be detected and leveraged in hair samples to predict the emergence of ASD as early as 1 month of age.


Deletion of the relaxin-like factor (RLF) gene in mice causes retention of testicles and infertility. The development of a synthetic RLF has made it possible to investigate the events that connect the genomic event and the basic biological responses that cause gonadal positioning. Anti-RLF antibodies were raised against synthetic RLF, allowing determination of RLF concentrations during the critical period, testing for RLF receptors on the gubernaculum and exploration of the temporal relationship between receptor display and migration of the testes in developing rats. In male rat pups, serum RLF concentrations were high at day 2 before parturition (2.4 ng ml(-1)) and decreased sharply just before parturition. Thereafter, males and females had the same low serum concentrations until RLF concen-trations began to increase in males only, starting at day 10 after parturition and continuing until adult RLF concentrations (0.6 ng ml(-1)) were reached on day 39 after parturition. The testicles are descending into the scrotum during this phase of increasing RLF concentrations and are descended fully by day 19-21 after parturition, before adult hormone concentrations are established. The high prenatal serum RLF concentration coincides with high expression of RLF receptors in the gubernaculum tissue. Competitive binding of RLF per mg of membrane protein prepared from rat gubernacula at various developmental stages showed no increase in receptor density as sexual maturity was reached. Gubernaculum cells in primary culture showed an increased uptake of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine in the presence of RLF compared with controls. These studies demonstrate that the synthetic RLF is biologically active and indicate that the cryptorchid phenotype INSL3(-/-) is a direct consequence of defective gubernaculum growth, caused by the absence of RLF during early phases of development.


In scope of this study, coastline of Candarl? and Alia?a shore was studied according to yearly distribution by using the method of Remote Sensing. In order to determine coastline change, the satellite imagery of Landsat MSS dated 31.05.1975, Landsat TM dated 11.05.1987 and Landsat ETM dated 07.06.2000 were used in the study. Only methods that are based on the analysis of data obtained with Remote Sensing methods were used. With supervised and unsupervised classification methods, land and sea areas were determined from Landsat satellite imagery dated 1975, 1987 and 2000. Change detection was used to determine the direction and amount of change. Using the obtained classified imagery, a convergence matrix was created between the years of 1975- 1987 and 1987-2000. This way, the coastline changes were monitored in two periods, namely 1975-1987 and 1987-2000, by using Post-Classification Compasion Technique. Shortly, coastline was changed rapidly in research area. It is thought that this change is influenced by anthropogenic factors and socio-economical development of research area.


Polyphonic sound event localization and detection is not only detecting what sound events are happening but localizing corresponding sound sources. This series of tasks was first introduced in DCASE 2019 Task 3. In 2020, the sound event localization and detection task introduces additional challenges in moving sound sources and overlapping-event cases, which include two events of the same type with two different direction-of-arrival (DoA) angles. In this paper, a novel event-independent network for polyphonic sound event localization and detection is proposed. Unlike the two-stage method we proposed in DCASE 2019 Task 3, this new network is fully end-to-end. Inputs to the network are first-order Ambisonics (FOA) time-domain signals, which are then fed into a 1-D convolutional layer to extract acoustic features. The network is then split into two parallel branches. The first branch is for sound event detection (SED), and the second branch is for DoA estimation. There are three types of predictions from the network, SED predictions, DoA predictions, and event activity detection (EAD) predictions that are used to combine the SED and DoA features for on-set and off-set estimation. All of these predictions have the format of two tracks indicating that there are at most two overlapping events. Within each track, there could be at most one event happening. This architecture introduces a problem of track permutation. To address this problem, a frame-level permutation invariant training method is used. Experimental results show that the proposed method can detect polyphonic sound events and their corresponding DoAs. Its performance on the Task 3 dataset is greatly increased as compared with that of the baseline method.


BACKGROUND
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a central role in the acute phase of inflammation after surgical injury. The serum concentration of IL-6 increases during an operation. The mechanisms of this increase in the serum IL-6 level, however, has not yet been fully clarified.

STUDY DESIGN
To determine the possibility of production of IL-6 at the operative wound site and its regulation by humoral factors in surgical patients, the IL-6 secretion of biopsied skin obtained from an operative wound both before and after the operation were quantitated by using organ culture techniques.

RESULTS
When skin explants obtained from the uninjured skin were cultivated and the amounts of IL-6 secreted into the culture medium were measured, IL-6 secretion increased exponentially during culture, which indicated that the stress of the skin incision induced IL-6 production. The skin specimens obtained from the operative wounds postoperatively secreted a significantly larger amount of IL-6 than those obtained from uninjured skin either preoperatively or postoperatively, implying that skin at the site of the operative wound had been more sensitized to produce IL-6 because of the surgical injury. The IL-6 secretion by skin explants was significantly enhanced either by tumor necrosis factor or interleukin-1, while it was inhibited by corticosteroids.

CONCLUSIONS
Interleukin-6 production at the site of the operative wound is partly responsible for the elevation of the serum IL-6 level during the operation. Organ cultures of the skin explants may provide a feasible system for research on the cytokine networks in surgical patients.


As a discipline, environmental education (EE) has been criticized for lacking empirical evidence on the behavioral outcomes of its programs. While the behavioral outcomes of EE activities are often associated with the youth learner, teachers are one target audience of EE training programs who have received increasing attention with regards to behavior change. Previous research has identified numerous barriers to teaching EE in the classroom. Barriers include a lack of natural spaces to conduct EE activities, little administrative support, limited time, and lack of teacher comfort and confidence with science. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how Trinity School's culture has influenced EE integration. A number of domains emerged from the data regarding characteristics of the school which have influenced EE integration, including: administration, freedom in curriculum and exploration, and collaboration among teachers. A series of domains also emerged regarding barriers to teaching EE, including: comfort, lack of time, lack of interest among teachers, politics, and dangers and safety concerns.


The presence of plasminogen activator (PA) inhibitor in human articular cartilage extracts was shown using a microtiter plate assay using immunofixed urokinase. Cartilage urokinase inhibitor had a molecular weight of 66,000 on gel chromatography. Cartilage extracts also contained alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor; however, the urokinase inhibitor was distinguishable from such serum inhibitors immunologically. In sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) followed by fibrin overlay, inhibition of urokinase was observed accompanying higher molecular weight complex formation. The cartilage urokinase inhibitor was unstable with acid, heat and SDS treatment, and required the active site of urokinase for inhibition.


The purposes of this study were to quantify the degree and distribution of lower extremity weakness in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) compared to apparently healthy older patients and to determine if performance of a simple functional measure correlates with lower extremity strength. Older patients (n=46), 31 with PAOD (mean age = 69.9 years; mean ankle-brachial index = 0.67) and 15 without PAOD (mean age = 62.6 years; mean ankle brachial index = 1.20), underwent isometric strength testing of hip, knee, and ankle musculature. In patients with PAOD, dorsiflexion strength was 15% lower (p<0.05) in the more affected limb (55 ±4 Newton-meters; mean ±SE) versus the less affected limb (65 ±5 Newton-meters). Overall, the dorsiflexor muscles of the more affected extremity were 22% weaker (p<0.05) in the PAOD group than in the non-PAOD group (73 ±6 Newton-meters). No other significant differences in strength were found between the PAOD and the healthy elderly groups or between the more affected and less affected limbs in the PAOD patients. The time to perform five sequential sit-to- stand transfers using an armless chair was 23% greater (p<0.01 ) in the PAOD group (13.0 ±0.5 s) than in the healthy elderly (10.7 ±0.9 s). In the PAOD patients, dorsiflexor strength was corre lated with chair stand time (r = -0.37, p<0.05). The authors conclude that PAOD patients with intermittent claudication are functionally limited by dorsiflexion weakness, impairing their ability to perform tasks requiring distal lower extremity strength.


Settlement geographical functions of certain settlements have their social "dimensions": We can also put it this way: factors analyzed by settlement geography as local, central or specific settlement functions, and of these especially the central or urban basic functions, the level and composition of higher service functions influence the chances of reproduction of not only the economic, but also the cultural and symbolic capital. If we reflect Bourdieu's capital concept to the level of settlement network we can say that economic, cultural and symbolic capitals are distributed unevenly not only among different social groups and strata, but also among different settlements. The settlement-specific characteristics of the interrelationship among economic, cultural and symbolic capitals at different levels of settlement hierarchy should be analyzed separately. It is also evident that the "historic rhythm" of the reproduction of the three different kinds of capital is different at national level, and the intensity the different types of capital join the international division of labour is also different. Capitalism as an international, world system can be characterized by the asymetric reproduction of not only the economic, but also the cultural and symbolic capitals as well. Asymetric character appears at national level as well: we think, that in the case of smaller countries not so much at regional, but rather at settlement levels. As "historical differences are the products of the historical dialectics of cumulative differences", the rhythm of reproduction of economic capital in certain settlements might be completely different from that of the cultural capital.


Contemporary US jurisprudence is confronted with a constellation of issues that, while frequently masked as purely technical in nature, concern fundamental themes such as privacy and freedom of expression. Future court decisions will require an increased recognition of the ethical and social claims presented within technical contexts. This article is a study of comparative motion. On the one hand, there is the realm of technology where change is expected and unceasing. On the other hand, there is the law-embodying a tradition of rules and a methodology of interpretation which alters only slowly. The speed with which technology operates upon society is certainly a partial explanation for its clash with the more measured process of law, but it is not the only reason. The rapid generation of new knowledge is itself a force that challenges the stability of professions and philosophies, shifting claims of expertise among multiple contenders, sometimes with little warning. The power of expertise is not restricted to human beings. Rather than being situated solely within human agency, technology's "expert" ability to influence the decisions of courts is derived from its own character, is concerned with its own ends, and transmits values and purposes that are not necessarily consistent with human values or purposes.


To study the roles of translational accuracy, translational efficiency, and the Hill-Robertson effect in codon usage bias, we studied the intragenic spatial distribution of synonymous codon usage bias in four prokaryotic (Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Sulfolobus tokodaii, and Thermotoga maritima) and two eukaryotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster) genomes. We generated supersequences at each codon position across genes in a genome and computed the overall bias at each codon position. By quantitatively evaluating the trend of spatial patterns using isotonic regression, we show that in yeast and prokaryotic genomes, codon usage bias increases along translational direction, which is consistent with purifying selection against nonsense errors. Fruit fly genes show a nearly symmetric M-shaped spatial pattern of codon usage bias, with less bias in the middle and both ends. The low codon usage bias in the middle region is best explained by interference (the Hill-Robertson effect) between selections at different codon positions. In both yeast and fruit fly, spatial patterns of codon usage bias are characteristically different from patterns of GC-content variations. Effect of expression level on the strength of codon usage bias is more conspicuous than its effect on the shape of the spatial distribution.


Transthyretin (TTR, or prealbumin) is a tetrameric protein found in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. Its major role is to transport thyroid hormones (thyroxin‐T4) and retinol (through association with retinol‐binding protein). TTR has been studied extensively due to the great number of point mutations that result in sequence heterogeneity. Many of these variants are associated with pathological conditions that result in extracellular deposition of amyloid fibers in tissues. In this work, we have developed a rapid mass spectrometric immunoassay for determination and quantification of TTR and its variants from human serum and plasma samples. The assay was fully characterized in terms of its precision, linearity and recovery characteristics. The new assay was also compared with a conventional TTR ELISA. Furthermore, we have applied the optimized method to analyze TTR and its modifications in 44 human plasma samples, and in the process optimized a method for TTR proteolytic digestion and identification of point mutations.


The vast majority of today's Internet traffic uses TCP connections whose lengths range from a few packets to many orders of magnitude more. Even though short flows are prevalent in web traffic and their completion time can directly impact user experience, these flows are generally not prioritized and can experience drops because of the load caused by longer TCP flows on routers. In this paper, we describe a novel way to improve the latency of these flows. One possible solution to lower latency is to increase the Maximum Segment Size (MSS), which would allow transmitting as much information using fewer packets. However, this impairs efficient packet multiplexing by routers. Another approach to reduce latency is to increase TCP's initial window size, which also allows sending more data at once. However, the benefits of this for short flows can be wiped out if the flow experiences even a single packet drop as this will cause retransmissions and in some cases timeouts. In this paper, we propose the concept of super-packets to deal with this "all-or-nothing" property of flows. Super-packets are a collection of packets whose collective performance is critical for applications. End-hosts explicitly request reservation of buffer space for super-packets in routers who in turn look at their buffer utilization and guarantee forwarding of all packets in the given super-packet. This paper proposes a simple and efficient algorithm for such reservations in routers. We use simulations to demonstrate how the use of super-packets has the same effect as increasing the MSS without the downsides. Extensive evaluation of an implementation on the Click Modular Router shows that super-packets can improve average latency of flows and also effectively solve the problem of incast. Additionally, our results demonstrate that super-packets can prioritize short flows without the need for explicit priorities.


The present paper is a case study about exploitation of Kheir Abad river (Khoozestan, Iran) water resources and the problems caused by river sediments around the pumping stations. The weak points and strong points of Boneh Basht pumping station have been studied by experienced experts, work teams, and consulting engineers and technical and executive solutions have been suggested. Therefore, the suggestions of this article are based on the performed studies and are proposed in order to evaluate the logical solutions. Rather complicated processes resulting from the interaction of water flows and sediments observed at Boneh Basht pumping station occur at other pumping stations in almost the same way. Therefore, Boneh Basht pumping station can be selected as a sample (pilot) and up-to-date theories and experiences can be applied to this station and the results can be offered to other stations. Keywords—Boneh Basht , Iran , Pumping Station, Sedimentation


Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have been shown to promote the regeneration of injured peripheral nerves. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) reportedly promotes the proliferation and neuronal differentiation of BMSCs. Low-frequency PEMF can induce the neuronal differentiation of BMSCs in the absence of nerve growth factors. This study was designed to investigate the effects of low-frequency PEMF pretreatment on the proliferation and function of BMSCs and the effects of low-frequency PEMF pre-treated BMSCs on the regeneration of injured peripheral nerve using in vitro and in vivo experiments. In in vitro experiments, quantitative DNA analysis was performed to determine the proliferation of BMSCs, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect S100 (Schwann cell marker), glial fibrillary acidic protein (astrocyte marker), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor (neurotrophic factors) mRNA expression. In the in vivo experiments, rat models of crush-injured mental nerve established using clamp method were randomly injected with low-frequency PEMF pretreated BMSCs, unpretreated BMSCs or PBS at the injury site (1 × 106 cells). DiI-labeled BMSCs injected at the injury site were counted under the fluorescence microscope to determine cell survival. One or two weeks after cell injection, functional recovery of the injured nerve was assessed using the sensory test with von Frey filaments. Two weeks after cell injection, axonal regeneration was evaluated using histomorphometric analysis and retrograde labeling of trigeminal ganglion neurons. In vitro experiment results revealed that low-frequency PEMF pretreated BMSCs proliferated faster and had greater mRNA expression of growth factors than unpretreated BMSCs. In vivo experiment results revealed that compared with injection of unpretreated BMSCs, injection of low-frequency PEMF pretreated BMSCs led to higher myelinated axon count and axon density and more DiI-labeled neurons in the trigeminal ganglia, contributing to rapider functional recovery of injured mental nerve. These findings suggest that low-frequency PEMF pretreatment is a promising approach to enhance the efficacy of cell therapy for peripheral nerve injury repair.


In this essay a method for the evaluation of building design is formed, which takes into consideration the crucial parameters of design and evaluates their environmental impact during the life-cycle of a building (construction, operation, and demolition). Buildings of similar geometrical characteristics, but constructed of different materials are being compared. According to this method, the parameters being evaluated are the energy consumed during the construction and operation of a building, as well as its toxic behavior and the different pollutants that appear in the various stages of its life-cycle. In addition, the assimilation of its materials and therefore of the building itself by the environment is being considered. At first, the quantity of construction materials used is being measured out, in order to determine the embodied energy of the total structure. Secondly, with the use of proper software, the required energy for the heating and cooling of each residence is being calculated. As a result, an energy-time diagram is formed which indicates the long-term energy behavior of the residences, starting from their embodied energy. Following the above, a comparison of the different type of residences is being made regarding their assimilation by the environment, the evaluation of materials' toxic behavior and the presence of pollutants in the various stages of construction. Moreover, due to the fact that the lifetime of modern buildings can be exceptionally variable, each residence should be recycled or reused along with its materials.


Recent studies apply the Monte Carlo method to try to solve multiple data problems for dynamic macroeconomic models such as measurement errors, residue correlation, and omitted variables. This paper evaluates the estimate of economic growth regressions from the Solow model by applying the Next Reaction Method, similar to the Monte Carlo kinetic methods. Our results indicate that with the said algorithm the estimation of these models improves since they increase the levels of precision of the existing models simulated with Monte Carlo, achieving faster the convergence of the coefficients of the variables reduces the possible measurement errors and the level of deviations. These results can be very useful in their application in dynamic macroeconomic models, which help the estimation challenges of policymakers and other related stakeholders.


The hardware trend toward multicore processors has so far been driven by technology limitations of wire delays, power efficiency, and limited capability to exploit instruction-level parallelism. Software evolution has lead to the rise of the cloud. This multicore + cloud evolution provides several challenges and has led to a call for parallelism. In this paper, we first examine the drivers behind these trends to address three fallacies: software is driven by hardware, multicores will be everywhere, and multicore hardware implies parallelism is exposed to all developers. We first address these fallacies and then present our simple view of the future cloud-based ecosystem, based on what we refer to as data-centric concurrency.


Multiple sources of evidence suggest that soluble amyloid β (Aβ)-oligomers are responsible for the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In order to specifically eliminate these toxic Aβ-oligomers, our group has developed a variety of all-d-peptides over the past years. One of them, RD2, has been intensively studied and showed such convincing in vitro and in vivo properties that it is currently in clinical trials. In order to further optimize the compounds and to elucidate the characteristics of therapeutic d-peptides, several rational drug design approaches have been performed. Two of these d-peptides are the linear tandem (head-to-tail) d-peptide RD2D3 and its cyclized form cRD2D3. Tandemization and cyclization should result in an increased in vitro potency and increase pharmacokinetic properties, especially crossing the blood–brain-barrier. In comparison, cRD2D3 showed a superior pharmacokinetic profile to RD2D3. This fact suggests that higher efficacy can be achieved in vivo at equally administered concentrations. To prove this hypothesis, we first established the in vitro profile of both d-peptides here. Subsequently, we performed an intraperitoneal treatment study. This study failed to provide evidence that cRD2D3 is superior to RD2D3 in vivo as in some tests cRD2D3 failed to show equal or higher efficacy.


The goal of the current study was to analyze major factors for improvement of quality of life in contract foodservice customers. This study investigated how characteristics of customers, foodservice management, and competitors differ in different contract foodservice business environments in order to understand increasing concerns over health, in-house working, and the environment, which are directly connected to work and life satisfaction and company profits. For the foodservice business environment, this study classified environmental factors reported by Duncan (1972) into three factors: customer environment, foodservice management environment, and competitor environment. Multi-regression analysis was conducted on quality of life using the Korean version of the WHO Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOLBREF). Sub-factors of the contract foodservice business environment included foodservice management environment, customer environment, and competitor environment in the order of importance. The results indicate that the foodservice management environment of the company or organization where the customer is employed has the most substantial influence on quality of customer life.


The effects of the sodium alginate (SA) coating incorporated with cinnamon essential oil nanocapsules (CEO-NPs) and Nisin, as a new edible coating, were investigated on the preservation of beef slices in the refrigerated storage for 15 days. All beef samples were analyzed for physicochemical properties (pH value, weight loss, the total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N)) and antimicrobial activity against total bacterial count (TBC). Besides, the changes in color parameters and sensory attributes of all beef samples were evaluated. The results revealed that the incorporation of the complex of CEO-NPs and Nisin retarded the growth of the microorganism and reduced lipid oxidation, as determined by pH, TVB-N, and TBC. This can extend the shelf life of beef slices to 15 days. Moreover, the treatment with the SA coating, incorporating CEO-NPs and Nisin, significantly improved the weight loss, color, odor, textural, and broth attributes of the beef samples. The results suggest that the coating treatment enriched with CEO-NPs and Nisin could significantly inhibit quality deterioration of beef slices, and the complex of CEO-NPs and Nisin can improve antioxidant, antibacterial and sensory properties of the SA coating. Thus, the new edible coating could be regarded as a potential material to preserve beef slices.


ABSTRACT This paper analyzed the effects of the spatial distribution of the firewood gross production value (GPV) of northeast Brazil through an exploratory approach using spatial data for the period from 1994 to 2013. Identification of spatial clusters in firewood production through the spatial weighting matrices of 2 nearest neighbors and "queen" and "rook" contiguity matrices were used. Based on the analyses, the following can be concluded: there is a positive autocorrelation for firewood GPV; the high-high spatial cluster was formed predominantly in the Bahia region; the high-high spatial cluster, which considers the weight matrix per area, was composed of the Ceará and Pernambuco mesoregions; the low-low spatial cluster consisted of the Sergipe and Alagoas mesoregions; and the low-low cluster, which considers the weight matrix per area, was formed by the Sergipe, Alagoas and Piauí regions.


Syncopation is a privileged issue in popular music studies that reappears here in a number of considerations that, marked by the bias of knowledge of the old disciplines of Counterpoint and Harmony, underline the interaction and, especially, the inseparability between metric (division, rhythm, accentuation, prosody, etc.) and pitches (notes, intervals, dissonance-consonance relationship, chords, auxiliary notes, etc.) in a critical analysis of the figures of syncopation. The first part covers up a minimum memory of the art and theory of syncopation in the Western erudite tradition, so that, in the second part, it can be noted that, in tacit and subtle manner, residues of this tradition can affect the value judgment in some of the syncopated worlds of popular music today.


Background  Although treatment acceptability scales in intellectual and developmental disabilities research have been used in large- and small-scale applications, large-scale application has been limited to analogue (i.e. contrived) investigations. This study extended the application of treatment acceptability by assessing a large sample of care givers' perceptions of treatment for children with cerebral palsy (CP) in a real-world setting and tested if responses differed across child characteristics, type of medical service or respondent demographics.

Method  One hundred and fifty four care givers' for children with CP rated the acceptability of treatments and related medical services by clinicians working in a multi-disciplinary children's specialty setting using Kazdin's (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 13, 1980, 259) Treatment Evaluation Inventory.

Results  There were significant (P < 0.05) differences between male and female respondents' ratings of treatment acceptability. There were no other significant differences for caregiver ratings in relation to child characteristics, type of appointment, severity of CP or other respondent demographic characteristics.

Conclusion  Mothers and fathers of children with developmental disabilities may differ in their perceptions of the acceptability of medical treatment services for children with developmental disabilities. Future studies addressing treatment acceptability should expand the scope of demographic information assessed and include items specific to the roles respondents have in providing and coordinating therapeutic regimens for their children's medical needs.


OBJECTIVES
To describe the process of implementing the Spanish Triage System (SET, in its Spanish abbreviation) in nonspecialist hospital emergency departments (EDs) in the public health service.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Multicenter cross-sectional study at 4 time cut-points (6 months before implementation and at the end of 1, 2 and 3 semesters afterwards). The study was carried out in 29 public hospital EDs in Andalusia. We recorded the following data: type of hospital, proportion of cases in which the SET was applied, priority classifications assigned on triage, wait time before triage, and duration of the triage process. We also recorded the following proportions: patients waiting less than 10 minutes for the assigned priority, cases with a triage processing time less than 5 minutes, ED revisits within 72 hours, ED deaths, and patients leaving before discharge.

RESULTS
We saw SET use increase progressively over the 3 semesters. The mean wait time decreased, and the proportion of patients waiting less than 10 minutes increased. The mean triage processing time tended to decrease nonsignificantly as the proportion of cases triaged in less than 5 minutes rose. The proportion of patients leaving before discharge increased with time; in overall and by hospital type. The proportion of ED deaths did not change significantly, and revisits within 72 hours increased only in more complex hospitals (P = .019).

CONCLUSION
Implementing a structured triage approach like SET is a gradual process. Quality indicators must be followed over time so that the impact of a triage system on ED care processes can be assessed.


Force-measuring equipment is widely used in all sectors of the economy, primarily in industry. Force measurement is used to determine loads affecting operation capability of various types of equipment and their components to ensure safe operation as well as during tests and research of the systems and mechanisms. The most effective are devices consisting of an elastic element and a transducer of its deformation into an electric signal. An analysis of known force-measuring devices shows that at a large range of loads the most effective form of the elastic element is the ring. As electric transducers of deformation in similar gauges, capacity, inductive, vibrating-wire and strain gauges are used. The disadvantages of existing devices are slow response, suitability for a narrow range of loads, low contact reliability, non-linearity. There are significant prospects of the circular type sensors development with optoelectronic signal transducers, which allows increasing significantly the efficiency, reliability and accuracy of force measurement. The compensation principle is supposed to be used in the dynamometric gauges where as a control input variable, a value of an elastic element deformation is used. The control algorithm of a compensation scheme of undesirable discrepancies of a control variable is made so that to reduce a deformation value to naught. Due to this fact, operation of a dynamometric gauge based on the principle of force compensation is carried out with a lot of accuracy. The construction of the gauge contains a sensing zerobody, an amplifier, feedback and a measuring device.


Despite advances in breast cancer treatment, it remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. In this context, microRNAs have emerged as potential therapeutic targets but still present some limitations for in vivo applications. Particularly, miR-200c-3p is a well-known tumor suppressor microRNA that inhibits tumor progression and metastasis in breast cancer through downregulating ZEB1 and ZEB2. Based on the above, we describe the design and validation of a nanodevice using mesoporous silica nanoparticles for miR-200c-3p delivery for breast cancer treatment. We demonstrate the biocompatibility of the synthesized nanodevices as well as their ability to escape from endosomes/lysosomes and inhibit tumorigenesis, invasion, migration, and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro. Moreover, tumor targeting and effective delivery of miR-200c-3p from the nanoparticles in vivo are confirmed in an orthotopic breast cancer mouse model, and the therapeutic efficacy is also evidenced by a decrease in tumor size and lung metastasis, while showing no signs of toxicity. Overall, our results provide evidence that miR-200c-3p-loaded nanoparticles are a potential strategy for breast cancer therapy and a safe and effective system for tumor-targeted delivery of microRNAs.


This study compared how nurses perceived their assessment of infant pain and how the pain was actually assessed in an intensive care unit. A descriptive design was used to collect data about nurses' beliefs and documentation practices related to pain assessment in infants. An anonymous subset of the unit nurses (n = 24) responded to a questionnaire regarding infant pain assessment. Pain assessment documentation of the unit nurses was examined in a retrospective chart review (n = 107). Results showed an inconsistency between what nurses believe about infant pain assessment and the documentation practice in the unit. According to the questionnaire, the nurses believed that pain assessment was important to providing effective pain relief and that nurses are capable of assessing infant pain. However, it was not evident in the documentation that nurses used pain tools or other means to document their evaluations of infant pain or the infant's response to pain medication interventions. Conclusion: Greater consistency of nurses in documenting pain assessment, thereby improving care provider communication of an infant's pain experience, is needed to improve the standard of care in managing infant pain.


Programmable multi-core and many-core platforms increase exponentially the challenge of task mapping and scheduling, provided that enough task-parallelism does exist for each application. This problem worsens when dealing with small ecosystems such as embedded systems-on-chip. In fact, in this case, the assumption of exploiting a traditional operating system is out of context given the memory available to satisfy the run-time footprint of such a configuration.


1. In the spring of 1975 on Kitt Peak, the cosmological significance of superclusters and voids was clearly recognized by the small group of astronomers who were completing redshift surveys that first demonstrated the existence of the Coma supercluster and void. 2. A redshift survey to a faint magnitude limit over a large region of the sky can include, e. g., (a) all galaxies, (b) the galaxies in representative probes, or (c) randomly-sampled galaxies. Each of these map-making strategies has its own special virtues. 3. Redshifts for the Abell clusters and very distant objects are being measured from spectra of (a) individual galaxies recorded electronically and (b) several galaxies recorded simultaneously by means of (1) multiobject spectroscopy via multiaperture or fiber-optic coupling devices, (2) analysis of features on objective-prism spectral plates of Schmidt telescopes, and (3) computer synthesization of spectra from observed multicolor CCD images of a field. 4. A beautiful consistency now exists between the observed kinematics of the solar system and the predictions of Newtonian/general relativistic dynamics. However, a century ago serious discrepancies existed, and explanations were sought in terms of hypothesized missing mass and non-Newtonian dynamics. Today, the same approach is being applied toward resolving discrepancies apparent in extragalactic dynamics. 5. Future observational research on voids will include redshift surveys of galaxies and other objects to very faint magnitude limits. These objects will be selected from catalogs of data measured off direct-survey photographic plates by means of an automated plate scanner.


Extending the author's previous studies of Chinese onomastics, this paper examines the true meaning of a large group of medieval Chinese personal names containing the character chou, "ugly." Contrary to conventional interpretation, it is found, based on contemporary inscriptional data, that these names actually marked the birth-year of the name-bearers. Further, they represented a special case of theophoric names newly introduced from Iranian-speaking Central Asia, and reflected the deification and anthropomorphization of the twelve-animal cycle. The paper also provides a succinct description of the general genre of Chinese opprobrious names, which are found to be closely related to similar names in Central Asia. Both findings help illustrate pre-Islamic Iranian-Sogdian cultural influence in China.