Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the association between the TNF-α rs1800629 (also refers as -308G/A) polymorphism and asthma susceptibility. Methods We searched the Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Wanfang databases. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to calculate the strength of association. Results A total of 34 studies involving 5477 asthma patients and 5962 controls were included in present study. The results indicated that TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism was significantly associated with asthma risk in a recessive genetic model (OR = 1.46, 95% CI 1.21–1.76, P<0.0001). Subgroup analyses found that the TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism was significantly associated with asthma risk in West Asians and South Asians (OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.48–4.12, P = 0.0005; OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.42–2.36, P<0.00001), but not East Asians and Caucasians. Furthermore, significant association also was observed in allergic asthma (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.24–1.83, P<0.0001), adults and children (OR = 1.43, 95 CI% = 1.07–1.91, P = 0.02; OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.19–2.06, P = 0.001). Conclusions This meta-analysis suggested that the rs1800629 polymorphism in TNF-α was a risk factor for asthma.


Background: Food composition data, front-of-pack nutrition labelling and nutrition and health claims have an important role to play in the development of appropriate policy, regulation and public health interventions ultimately aimed at reducing the burden of diet-related chronic disease. The overarching aim of this thesis is to explore whether the communication of healthier food choice through front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling and health claims can be enhanced by the development of consumer derived frameworks (typologies) of these domains, a greater understanding of the degree to which the different FOP labelling schemes impact on consumer health inferences and an improved approach to the sharing of food composition data between stakeholders.
Method: The potential for more effective approaches to the transfer of food composition data on processed foods, was explored via a survey conducted within the UK food industry (Study 1). To facilitate the development of a consumer derived typology of FOP nutrition labelling schemes in Europe, a free-sorting study utilising the 'Multiple Sort Procedure' (MSP) was performed in four countries; France, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom (Study 2). Building on the MSP methodology utilised in Study 2, a further study on nutrition and health claims was performed in five countries; Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom. (Study 3). The final study in this thesis sought to quantify the extent to which consumer perceptions of healthiness are impacted by the interpretative elements of the prevalent FOP labelling schemes in four countries; Germany, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom (Study 4).
Conclusion: The outcomes of this research propose an optimised approach to the sharing of food composition data, an optimised approach to FOP labelling and consumer derived typologies for both the FOP labelling and nutrition and health claims domains.


Data communication can be developed through the propagation of radio waves. Data communication via radio is able to overcome the problem of limited telecommunication facilities in remote areas who have limited means of communication. In general, data communication can be said as the process of sending data or information which have been modified in a certain code (convert it into electrical signals) and data is transmitted. Transmission medium can be via satellite (VSAT-Very Small apertures Terminal), telephone cable, or via radio waves (HF / VHF / UHF).


We propose a new saliency-guided method for generating supervoxels in 3D space. Rather than using an evenly distributed spatial seeding procedure, our method uses visual saliency to guide the process of supervoxel generation. This results in densely distributed, small, and precise supervoxels in salient regions which often contain objects, and larger supervoxels in less salient regions that often correspond to background. Our approach largely improves the quality of the resulting supervoxel segmentation in terms of boundary recall and under-segmentation error on publicly available benchmarks.


In the last 50 years urbanization has become one of the most important evolution factors in the entire world. Over half of the population of the world has been living, from 2008, in the urban space and that fact turned this kind of space into one of major importance for humanity. It also made the branding and rebranding a must that led to the development of a real branding industry. Without it the urban space does not exist, it lacks both individuality and conscience. The brand and the brand industry becomes thus a major part of our day to day existence. Every day billions of people act, interact and are influenced by the life conditions offered by the world's cities. Billions of people use various routes and access various types of public services: transport, education, food services, communication and so on. As the number of persons that need these services is constantly growing, the need to individualize them grew stronger and stronger, just like the need to identify the authorities that provide them and the way they can be used. This need automatically led to another important need: that of an individualized and highly integrated communication. This is how the importance of branding industry got so high.


Recent development in affordable depth sensors opens new possibilities in action recognition problem. Depth information improves skeleton detection, therefore many authors focused on analyzing pose for action recognition. But still skeleton detection is not robust and fail in more challenging scenarios, where sensor is placed outside of optimal working range and serious occlusions occur. In this paper we investigate state-of-the-art methods designed for RGB videos, which have proved their performance. Then we extend current state-of-the-art algorithms to benefit from depth information without need of skeleton detection. In this paper we propose two novel video descriptors. First combines motion and 3D information. Second improves performance on actions with low movement rate. We validate our approach on challenging MSR Daily Activty 3D dataset.


In this study, Tarhana, which is a traditional and nutritious Turkish cereal food, was supplemented with whey concantrate (WC) in stead of yoghurt. The effects of WC addition on the chemical, nutritional and sensory properties of tarhana samples were determined and compared with the control sample made with yoghurt. The moisture, crude ash, protein and fat contents of the samples changed between 10.53 and 11.28%; 1.507 and 1.758%; 9.75 and 12.52% and 0.87 and 6.33%, respectively. As major minerals, Mg, Ca, P, Na and K contents of WC added tarhana samples versus the control, increased, while protein amounts were decreasing, significantly (P<0.01). The addition of WC resulted the samples lighter in color and lower in acidity. The phytic acid contents of WC added tarhana samples are decreased significantly (P<0.01) by the fermentation. Tarhana sample with 12.5% WC which is equivalent to the yoghurt in solid amount, were judged with high overall acceptability values by the taste panelists. It may be acceptible up to 25% whey addition level with higher nutritional value.


We investigate the tolerance to data loss of a double random phase encoding encryption system. The signal-to-noise ratio of the decrypted image is investigated when a part of the encrypted image is lost. The SNR can be enhanced by reducing the ratio of the sampling number of the image to the total sampling number when electronic implementation is performed. In optical implementation, the SNR can be increased by using a phase mask with higher spatial frequency. Both the theory and computer simulations are demonstrated.


Bone densitometry is becoming more widely available and is no longer limited to studying the elderly. Rapid, safe, and accurate methods of measuring BMD now allow serial determination of this important factor in fracture risk and will undoubtedly become even more accessible in the future. Likewise, our knowledge about the mechanisms and genetics of bone resorption and bone formation is rapidly expanding. Therefore, efforts to prevent osteoporosis in later life by maximizing peak BMD during adolescence and young adulthood must be directed at identifying young people who are at risk because of low body weight, inactivity, inadequate calcium intake, sex hormone deficiency, or because of disease or treatments associated with reduction of BMD. If BMD is found to be low, efforts to enhance bone formation (eg, weight gain, weightbearing exercise, increased calcium intake, and effective treatment of the underlying illness) should be encouraged. Antiresorptive agents, such as sex hormones, should be used cautiously, since they can have significant side effects and may not produce the expected results. Pediatricians must keep in mind the axiom: osteoporosis ... the only cure is prevention.


Invasive cervical cancer and combined oral contraceptives J V Parkin, FRCS; D B Thomas, MD; Bobbie Jacobson, MB .................. 1433 Doctors' dilemmas W R Lee, FFOM ....................... 1434 Preventing infant deaths O A Thurtle, MRCP, and others.......... 1434 Differences in duration of stay for surgery in the NHS and private sector K Hopayian, MB ...................... 1435 Public and private sectors Colonel R H MacKeith, MB ............. 1435 Intellectual ability and human feeling D Bolt,FRCS .......................... 1435


The detection of new information in a document stream is an important component of many potential applications. In this work, a new novelty detection approach based on the identification of sentence level information patterns is proposed. First, the information-pattern concept for novelty detection is presented with the emphasis on new information patterns for general topics (queries) that cannot be simply turned into specific questions whose answers are specific named entities (NEs). Then we elaborate a thorough analysis of sentence level information patterns on data from the TREC novelty tracks, including sentence lengths, named entities, sentence level opinion patterns. This analysis provides guidelines in applying those patterns in novelty detection particularly for the general topics. Finally, a unified pattern-based approach is presented to novelty detection for both general and specific topics. The new method for dealing with general topics will be the focus. Experimental results show that the proposed approach significantly improves the performance of novelty detection for general topics as well as the overall performance for all topics from the 2002-2004 TREC novelty tracks.


The mandate of the Institute for Maritime Medicine (IMM) is to support and enhance the operational performance of sailors of the South African Navy during maritime operations, while also ensuring positive long-term mental health outcomes of sailors who serve their country at sea. To achieve this, the IMM proposes to re-orientate the mobilisation and demobilisation programmes used for ship-based maritime operations towards a predict-and-promote (P&P) approach, to enhance the psychological adaptation of sailors to the emotional demands of deployment as well as to support more adaptive forms of mental health resilience, both before and after sea-going operations. First, this article aims to present the proposed P&P approach for enhancing psychological adaptation during and after seaward deployments, with a specific focus on assessing personal emotional regulation (ER). For effective implementation, this approach is contingent on several clinical assumptions about ER in the operational environment, namely: the absence of significant psychopathology; the stability of the ER measure; the role of dispositional factors in operational adaptation; and the availability of population-specific normative data, which act as an interpretative guide of ER profiles for sailors. The second aim is to consider support for these assumptions, using previous experience during the mobilisation and/or demobilisation of ships involved in maritime operations. Support was found for all four assumptions, indicating the clinical and operational utility of the P&P approach at the IMM broadly, and the assessment of ER for sailors in particular.


In a technical paper (Humphreys, 2014), I presented Biblical and scientific evidence that (a) space is a physical material that we do not perceive, (b) this fabric of space, and objects within it, are thin in a 4th spatial direction we do not ordinarily perceive, and (c) the fabric is surrounded by a hyperspace of four spatial dimensions. End note 27 of the paper explained that light emitted by objects within the fabric ordinarily would be constrained to travel entirely within the fabric. The end note also proposed that under certain extraordinary conditions the Bible calls the opening of the heavens, some of the emitted light could leak directly into hyperspace. Here I point out that such leakage would include other types of electromagnetic radiation, particularly black-body (thermal) radiation. This would allow the interiors of hot objects to cool rapidly, proportionally to the 4th power of their absolute temperature, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law. Cooler objects would lose their heat much less rapidly. This mechanism appears to be a good way to get rid of the excess heat generated by accelerated nuclear decay during several episodes in the Earth's history, and it explains the evidence that this accelerated cooling did occur (Humphreys, 2005). It also would be a good way to get rid of other heat generated in creationist geologic models, such as heat in batholiths and new ocean floors. Last, I will briefly discuss the possibility that the opening of the heavens also caused accelerated nuclear decay.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that causes both an acute lung disease in patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia and a chronic lung disease in individuals with cystic fibrosis. Many of the pathophysiologic effects of P. aeruginosa infection are due to factors secreted by the bacterium. Conditioned media from cultures of P. aeruginosa increased interleukin-8 expression and decreased regulated on activation, normal T cells expressed and secreted (RANTES) expression by human airway epithelial cells. Both of these activities were present in heat-treated, protease-treated, small molecular weight fractions. The activities were not inhibited by polymyxin B and were not extracted into ethyl acetate, suggesting that they were not due to endotoxin or autoinducer. Conversely, results from chloroform extractions and studies with a phenazine-minus mutant suggested that the blue pigment pyocyanin contributes to these activities when present. In addition to the effects of small molecular weight factors on cytokine expression, proteases in bacterial-conditioned media further decreased levels of RANTES. By altering expression, release, and/or activity of inflammatory cytokines, secretory factors from P. aeruginosa could disrupt the delicate balance that constitutes the immune response to bacterial infection and thus could contribute to the lung damage that occurs in P. aeruginosa-infected airways.


Hydroxyethyl starch nanocapsules (NCs) are potentially interesting hydrophilic drug delivery carriers, since they do not show non-specific interactions with the living cells. Only the presence of a targeting agent on their surface allows them to target specifically the desired site of action. In this paper, we report the synthesis and cell uptake of crosslinked hydroxyethyl starch (HES) NCs decorated with (oligo)mannose, which is an effective targeting agent for macrophage and dendritic cells. The crosslinked HES NCs were prepared via the interfacial polyaddition of HES with 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI) in inverse (water-in-oil) miniemulsion and then functionalized with (oligo)mannose following two different strategies. To compare the activity and availability of a targeting agent, different types of mannose molecules such as α-d-mannopyranosylphenyl isothiocyanate, 3-O-(α-d-mannopyranosyl)-d-mannose and α3,α6-mannotriose were used for the functionalization of NCs. The availability of the mannose was unambiguously assessed by interaction with a fluorescent lectin. Moreover, the accessibility of the pilot molecule was improved by the presence of a PEG linker at the surface of the NCs. To simulate in vivo conditions, where proteins interact with nanoparticles with a possible hindrance of the accessibility to the targeting agent, the mannosylated NCs were first incubated with human serum before interaction with the fluorescent lectin. Enhancement of uptake into dendritic cells demonstrates the targeting ability in in vitro studies.


Herein, we present the structural characterization of the core and surface of colloidally stable ultrathin bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanowires using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (EXAFS and XANES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). These three techniques allowed the conclusive structural characterization of the inorganic core as well as the coordination chemistry of the surface ligands of these structures, despite the absence of significant translational periodicity dictated by their ultrathin diameter (1.6 nm) and their polycrystallinity. The atomic structure of the inorganic core is analogous to bulk bismuthinite, but Bi atoms display a remarkably higher coordination number than in the bulk. This can be only explained by a model in which each bismuth atom at the surface (or in close proximity to it) is bound to at least one ligand at any time.


Depression is common and disabling in primary health care. Treatment of this condition with simple and inexpensive approaches such as screening or physician education alone do not appear to produce any significant or lasting benefit. Evidence of the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for cases of mild severity is limited but quite encouraging for major depressive episodes. Both pharmacological and psychological interventions appear almost equally effective. Evidence is accumulating that, irrespective of the active components of treatment, more intensive and organized treatment of depression in primary health care is needed in order to improve clinical and functional outcomes. However these intensive approaches are more expensive and a careful cost-benefit analysis of treatment packages and intervention components is needed to guide further management decisions in this field.


The consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market has been growing rapidly worldwide. Based on Fishibein's behavioral intention model, this paper investigates the factors influencing consumers' apparel purchasing intention in the C2C e-commerce market. Data for this study were obtained from 400 students of Hunan University. It is found that two attitudinal factors and one social factor significantly influence the consumers' apparel purchasing intention in the C2C e-commerce market. The findings will be helpful for the online market creators to establish practical guidance and improve services for consumers in the C2C e-commerce market.


A study to investigate impurity production and transport in the divertor and edge regions of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak through spectroscopic techniques is described. A 0.75-meter Czerny-Turner spectrometer with a 1200-g/mm grating and a 35-meter quartz optic bundle transmission line were tested. A high-resolution 2-meter spectrometer will be ordered. Data acquisition considerations are being addressed. (RWR)


A spectral radiance responsivity (SRR) scale derived from the spectral irradiance responsivity scale has been realized on the newly developed NIST facility for Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations with Uniform Sources (SIRCUS). The scales were directly derived from the primary standard cryogenic radiometer using transfer standard irradiance trap detectors and laser-based uniform sources. Silicon radiance meters of standards quality have been developed to hold the SRR scale. The radiance meters were characterized and optimized for size-of-source effects. The optimized meters were calibrated for SRR against the monochromatic uniform source. In addition to the SIRCUS calibrations, preliminary tests were also made on the Spectral Comparator Facility (SCF) of the NIST. These relative SRR tests were made in both imaging and non-imaging measurement modes. The results of the different SRR calibrations are compared and evaluated.


A novel actinomycete, designated strain OU-40(T), was isolated from farm soil collected from the Hyderabad region of Andhra Pradesh, southern India. The strain was found to have morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics typical of species of the genus Streptomyces. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain OU-40(T) belonged to the genus Streptomyces, and was related most closely to Streptomyces pactum NBRC 13433(T) (99.0 % sequence similarity), Streptomyces olivaceus NBRC 12805(T) (99.0 %) and Streptomyces parvulus NBRC 13193(T) (98.8 %). Strain OU-40(T) could be distinguished from the type strains of its closest phylogenetic relatives based on levels of DNA-DNA relatedness and comparison of morphological and phenotypic data. It is therefore concluded that strain OU-40(T) represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces hyderabadensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is OU-40(T) (=CCTCC AA 209024(T) =PCM 2692(T)).


In 2018, 3.2 per cent of all fertility treatments were undertaken by single patients. Despite this prevalence, there is limited research that explores the experiences of single mothers by choice through sperm donation. Previous studies have highlighted the value of online forums, in terms of accessible support and information sharing with others who have similar experiences. This paper aims to offer an insight into women's experiences and concerns, and the advice they offer and receive when pursuing this pathway to motherhood. A thematic analysis of an online fertility forum of 39 forum posts by 28 different forum contributors was undertaken. Three themes were identified: 'Making the choice', 'the challenges of becoming a single mother by choice' and 'support provided by the forum'. Women seeking solo motherhood through sperm donation appeared to carefully consider this decision, and plan for the potential future challenges. Furthermore, the use of online forums provided a sense of belonging and validation that created a safe space to share experiences. This enabled women to receive support that was presented as a crucial element in their journey to motherhood.


The objective of this paper is to study the vulnerabilities of sensor networks, design, and implement new approaches for routing attack. As one of the cornerstones of network infrastructure, routing systems are facing more threats than ever; they are vulnerable by nature and challenging to protect. We present a new attack, Swarm Flooding Attack, against Directed Diffusion based WSNs, which targets the consumption of sensors computational resources, such as bandwidth, disk space, or processor time. Two variants of swarm attack have been introduced: Bee and Ant. Both approaches are inspired from the natural swarming difference between bees and ants. In all cases, the strategy used to mount an attack is the same. An attack consists of a set of malicious user queries represented by interests that are inserted into the network. However, the two forms of attack vary in the synchronization aspects among attackers. These types of attacks are hard to defend against as illustrated. For each of the proposed attack models, we present analysis, simulation, and experimental measurements. We show that the system achieves maximal damage on system performance represented by many metrics.


We compared the foliar antioxidant status of native Agrostis stolonifera L. communities growing at two distinct CO2-enriched sites of geothermal origin (E) and at a control field location with normal CO2. Compared to the control, plants from both E-sites showed an increased size of the GSH pool, essentially due to enhanced GSSG levels, and a consequent decrease in the ratio between reduced and oxidised glutathione forms. Such differences were maintained and even enhanced in the vegetatively-propagated progenies of control and E-plants, grown under both greenhouse conditions and normal CO2 levels. The above results confirmed previous observations on native and crop plants exposed to elevated CO2. It is therefore suggested that changes in the glutathione redox balance might be of adaptive significance under conditions of permanent exposure to high CO2.


The widths of distributions obtained in central 16O + Au interactions at 200 A GeV are examined. It is shown that the width of the rapidity region is important when fluctuations in the distributions of transverse energy and charged particle multiplicity are studied. We investigate the origin of the fluctuations, and conclude that they originate predominantly from the underlying distribution of emitting sources.


Given the serious social problems confronting Americans and others worldwide, the authors propose that Dewey's 1932 challenge to teachers is worthy of reconsideration by educators at all levels. In times similar to our own, Dewey challenged teachers to cultivate students' capacities to identify their happiness with what they can do to improve the conditions of others. At first glance, his challenge seems utopian. In order to justify their proposal for reconsideration, the authors explicate Dewey's challenge by discussing two aspects of the thinking that lies behind it. These are 1) Dewey's concept of ethical love and his argument that it is a means to social reform and 2) Dewey's concept of happiness and his argument that ethical love is the means to happiness. The authors conclude that in an educational climate focused principally on helping students earn a living, we need to be, like Dewey, equally concerned with helping students have a life worth living.


With the full introduction of the Marauders characters (James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew) into the Harry Potter series in The Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling shifted away from the storybook tone of the first two volumes to something darker and widened the scope of her story in depth and breadth. This paper examines how Rowling uses these characters to create what J.R.R. Tolkien called the "impression of depth" in her fictional world. While contrasting Rowling's specific techniques with Tolkien's, this paper argues that Rowling scales this literary device down to meet her young hero (and implied reader[s]), focusing primarily on character and personal history to create this effect. Specific attention will be paid to the way in which the Marauders are characterized before their proper appearances in the narrative, the function of questions and answers, the craft of exposition, the use of backstory and untold tales, and the role of tragedy. This paper will demonstrate how Prisoner, and the Marauders in particular, laid the foundation for the darker and more mature novels later in the series. Cover Page Footnote I would like to thank Kathryn McDaniel, host of the Reading, Writing, Rowling podcast, for having me as a guest to discuss the Marauders (Episode 19), providing the impetus for this essay. This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol38/iss1/9 Mythlore 38.1, Fall/Winter 2019  155 SENSE OF DARKER PERSPECTIVE : HOW THE MARAUDERS CONVEY TOLKIEN 'S " IMPRESS ION OF DEPTH " IN HARRY POTTER AND THE PR ISONER OF AZKABAN


Extracellular signaling during inflammation and chronic diseases involves molecules referred to as 'Danger Signals' (DS), including the small molecule adenosine. We demonstrate that primary gingival epithelial cells (GEC) express a family of G-protein coupled receptors known as adenosine receptors, including the high-affinity receptors A1 and A2a and low-affinity receptors A2b and A3. Treatment of Porphyromonas gingivalis-infected GEC with the A2a receptor-specific agonist CGS-21680 resulted in elevated intracellular bacterial replication as determined by fluorescence microscopy and antibiotic protection assay. Additionally, A2a receptor antagonism and knockdown via RNA interference significantly reduced metabolically active intracellular P. gingivalis. Furthermore, analysis of anti-inflammatory mediator cyclic AMP (cAMP) following A2a receptor selective agonist CGS-21680 stimulation induced significantly higher levels of cAMP during P. gingivalis infection, indicating that adenosine signaling may attenuate inflammatory processes associated with bacterial infection. This study reveals that the GEC express functional A2a receptor and P. gingivalis may use the A2a receptor coupled DS adenosine signaling as a means to establish successful persistence in the oral mucosa, possibly via downregulation of the pro-inflammatory response.


A recent paper (Riboche et al 2003) gave a treatment of this problem as a generalization of earlier work by Lieberman (1988). The expressions produced are intrinsically complicated and there is a natural tendency to resort to numerical methods at an early stage. This note adopts an alternative approach and seeks to evaluate the integrals concerned in a systematic manner so as to obtain analytical expressions, albeit approximations, but ones with known accuracy.


Abstract. We propose a security-enhanced optical interference-based multiple-image encryption (IBMIE) using a modified multiplane phase retrieval algorithm (MPPRA) in the Fresnel transform domain. In this IBMIE scheme, while a phase-only mask (POM) distributing randomly between   [  0  ,  2π  ]   is fixed, the other POM is iteratively extracted based on a modified mMPPRA, and thus, multiple plaintexts are simultaneously encrypted into two POMs with different distances to the image planes. At last, the retrieved POM is pixel scrambled by chaotic pixel scrambling (CPS). During image decryption, the decrypted images can be obtained at their preset positions by an intensity detector directly. The silhouette of the original images cannot be obtained using either of the two POMs. The parameters of both CPS and Fresnel transform can serve as security keys to enhance the security. Numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed mMPPRA-based IBMIE.


Among multiple services delivered over future mobile networks, the most demanding (from the required bandwidth point of view) are related to media streaming, which is a key component in smart applications (entertainment, tourism, surveillance, etc.). Such applications have to exploit a considerable amount of data, which is difficult to achieve especially in dense urban environments. In this context, the article presents a new solution for HTTP-compliant adaptive media streaming applicable to future 5G mobile networks, aimed at increasing bandwidth availability through the use of multiple radio access technologies and direct connections between devices if they are in proximity of each other. The proposed solution considers a scenario in which a high-quality media stream is received by multipath transmission through the radio access network. Collaboration of neighboring devices is exploited by using direct device-to-device links. Thus, proxy nodes can be inserted between a given media receiver and an access network. Toward ensuring optimized resource allocation at both levels, base station-to-device and device-to-device, this article introduces the architectural modules required for collaboration streaming inside the radio access network and end user's device, and proposes enhancements in HTTP-compliant adaptive streaming protocols in order to become suitable for a multipath collaborative scenario.


This study presents a novel measurement framework for assessing and predicting maximum and typical performance. The proposed measurement approach addresses the need for organizations to assess maximum and typical performance changes over time in complex job settings requiring coordination of multiple tasks with changing priorities. We present results of an experiment in which participants engaged in a complex task with multiple task elements and instructions to either maximize a different task element in each of four performance blocks (variable-priority condition) or treat all task elements with equal priority (stable-priority condition). We estimated growth curves corresponding to each task element and calculated the area under each growth curve as a summary performance index. Growth curves corresponding to the maximized, high-priority task element in the variable-priority condition reflected maximum performance, whereas those corresponding to the deemphasized, lower priority elements reflected typical performance. We compared the shape of the maximum and typical growth curves in the variable-priority condition to their corresponding performance trajectories in the stable-priority condition. In addition, we tested the moderating influence of individual differences in action-state orientation on the obtained maximum and typical performance estimates. Results indicated support for the proposed measurement framework in terms of its usefulness for inducing sustained levels of maximum performance and for identifying and correcting sources of the maximum-typical performance discrepancy.


The purpose of our study was to quantify the serum content of alpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha 1-AT) and polymorphonuclear leukocyte elastase (PMN-E) in of 21 patients affected by active and stationary psoriasis, and 12 normal controls. HLA typing was also performed to identify a correlation among HLA antigens, age at onset of psoriasis and biochemical results. alpha 1-AT levels were within the normal range in all patients, even in those with active, extensive, inherited and juvenile psoriasis, and in the controls. These data allow us to exclude, in our patients, the presence of rare or defective phenotypes, frequently associated with reduced serine levels of alpha 1-AT. The PMN-E serine content was greatly increased in 3 patients, increased in 2, and slightly modified in 6 cases. All patients with the highest PMN-E levels reported a positive family history and absence of pulmonary, hepatic and atopic diseases. An increased psoriatic inheritance has been observed in the CW6-positive subjects (7/20), comparing B13 and DR6 antigen frequency. No correlation among HLA antigens, age at onset, clinical phase, or biochemical results could be established.


Keywords Deaf/hard-of-hearing, Health-care communication, Narrative, Effective communication access, Cultural competency, Social model of deafness Abstract Deaf people experience disparities in health care that are often the result of (or exacerbated by) difficulties of communication. Health care providers often lack cultural understandings of Deaf communication and culture and thus do not provide effective communication access. U.S. disability law is meant to guarantee communication access, but deaf people's stories of access indicate that they may still encounter barriers to effective access. We report on an action research project designed to enhance communication among deaf people, health care professionals, and sign-language interpreters. We draw upon a social model of disability, which locates barriers to inclusion in society and the environment rather than the embodied difference or impairment, and extend that to the condition of deafness. We argue that narrative and dialogue that develops cultural understandings of Deaf communication and culture can offer a means of facilitating mutual understanding among the parties involved. Our hope is that interventions based on this approach will contribute to greater health-care access for deaf people.


We analyze the invariant mass spectrum of ΛΛ in 12C(K−, K+ΛΛ) reaction at P (K−) = 1.65 GeV/c by using a combined framework of IntraNuclear Cascade (INC) model and the correlation function technique. The observed enhancement at low-invariant masses can be well reproduced with attractive ΛΛ interactions with the scattering length either in the range a = −6 ∼ −4 fm (no bound state) or a = 7 ∼ 12 fm (with bound state) within the present theoretical treatment. We also discuss ΛΛ correlation functions in central relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a possible way to eliminate this discrete ambiguity.


Honeybee venom plays a central role in the biodiversity and self-defense of honey bee, which protect them by allowing the stinger to immobilize, puncture, and initiate allergy on their predators. Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) is one of the main allergic enzymes of honeybee venom, and it has been extensively studied in biochemical properties due to the toxicity to insects and other invaders causing hemolysis on erythrocytes. The present study described the results of cDNA cloning and chemical characterizations analysis of venom PLA2 from honeybee, Apis mellifera spp., an economically important insect for pollination on crops. The gene encoding Phospholipase A2 from honeybee (A. mellifera spp.) venom was isolated, cloned and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The nucleotide of PLA2 is 507 bp in length, and shared 99% and 96% homology with those of Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis cerana cerana, respectively. The amino acid sequence deduced of PLA2 resembled those of other bee subspecies, such as western honey bee (A. mellifera lingustica). Predicted amino acid sequences of PLA2 is 99% identical with that of A. mellifera lingustica, and its pI is 7.01 and lower than those of A. mellifera lingustica and A. cerana cerana. In order to understand better the phylogeny of PLA2, we analyzed its nucleic acid sequence and compared with those of other sources from NCBI database, and modeled its 3D structure based on template d1poca. Amino acid sequences of PLA2 from related species were obtained to construct a phylogenetic tree and revealed that PLA2 of A.mellifera spp. was belong to group of the western honey bee, and was most closely related to that of A. mellifera ligustica than other bee subspecies.


Groundnut rosette virus disease is the most destructive disease of groundnut in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda inclusive. Over the past years, a wide range of management options for this disease have been developed and recommended for farmers in Uganda.  Relevant efforts have also been made by researchers in disseminating improved technologies to farmers in several parts of the country. However, questions on the extent to which farmers are currently utilizing these technologies and their effectiveness in controlling the disease in their fields remain unanswered. This study aimed at assessing the effect of farmers' practices on the severity patterns of groundnut rosette virus disease in Uganda. A survey was conducted within five agro-ecological zones in Uganda to obtain information on the various practices farmers employ in the management of the crop and disease in their fields using a structured questionnaire. Disease severity was scored in each farmer's field.  Farmers were found to be employing a range of practices in groundnut production, including: early sowing, intercropping, use of improved groundnut genotypes, crop rotation; and uprooting and burning diseased plants among others. However, only two management practices: early sowing and use of improved varieties were found to significantly (P<0.05) reduce rosette severity in groundnut fields. Special consideration should therefore be given to these two GRVD management strategies while developing and promoting management packages for this disease.

 Key words: Groundnut, rosette, incidence, severity, farmers, management.


Spleens from 16 splenectomized patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) were compared with 10 controls (accidental and incidental splenectomy, staging laparotomy). Fresh unfixed material was secured for smears and cryostat sections, and splenic tissue was fixed by perfusion for histomorphometric, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural examination. The volumes of white pulp, including germinal centres, red pulp, and trabeculae and vessels were estimated. The ratio plasma cells containing various Ig-classes/total nucleated cells and the ratio immature/mature plasma cells were determined and the occurrence and character of foamy cells examined. There were slightly increased absolute volumes of white pulp, red pulp and trabeculae + major vessels in ITP, but the differences were not statistically significant. There was a statistically significant raised number of IgG-, IgA- and IgM-containing plasma cells in the germinal centres in ITP. More IgG-containing cells seemed to be immature than in controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. Light microscopy showed foamy histiocytes in 7 of 16 cases, but electron microscopy showed them in all cases of ITP. Foamy histiocytes reacted with antithrombocyte serum.


A considerable activity of digestive hydrolases (carbohydrases in particular) was found in fish during feeding. The enzyme activity increases 2-6-fold at low values of the pH due, probably, to autolysis. This mechanism is important for the digestion in fish and other wild animals.


This study compared number sense instruction in three first-grade traditional mathematics textbooks and one reform-based textbook (Everyday Mathematics [EM]). Textbooks were evaluated with regard to their adherence to principles of effective instruction (e.g., big ideas, conspicuous instruction). The results indicated that traditional textbooks included more opportunities for number relationship tasks than did EM; in contrast, EM emphasized more real-world connections than did traditional textbooks. However, EM did better than traditional textbooks in (a) promoting relational understanding and (b) integrating spatial relationship tasks with other more complex skills. Whereas instruction was more direct and explicit and feedback was more common in traditional textbooks than it was in EM, there were differences among traditional textbooks with respect to these two criteria. Although EM excelled in scaffolding instruction by devoting more lessons to concrete and semiconcrete activities, traditional textbooks provided more opportunities for engaging in all three representations. However, EM emphasized (a) a variety of models to develop number sense concepts, (b) a concrete, or semiconcrete, to symbolic representational sequence, and (c) hands-on activities using real-world objects to enhance learner engagement. Finally, even though traditional textbooks excelled over EM in providing more opportunities to practice number sense skills, this finding may be an artifact of the worksheet format employed in traditional textbooks. At the same time, adequate distribution of review in subsequent lessons was evident in EM and in only one of the traditional textbooks. Implications for practice in accessing the general education curriculum for students with learning problems are discussed.


A new building with total floor area of 3,000m2 or above, which public agency currently constructs, is required to obtain a building energy efficiency rating level 1 or better. Although construction cost is caused to increase as building energy efficiency increases, precise standards for construction cost according to each rating level are not established. Some studies presented a difference in construction cost according to rating, based on the estimated construction cost of single building. However, analysis of construction cost based on actual construction cost according to each rating level is still insufficient. Therefore, this study presents a difference in actual construction cost according to building energy efficiency rating for non-residential building. To this end, first, data on the actual construction cost of non-residential building obtaining level 1+, 1++ in main certification were collected through survey. Second, outliers were removed by Interquartile Ranges. Third, total construction costs according to building energy efficiency rating were comparatively analyzed. As a result, the analysis showed that level 1++ additionally needed approximately 37% of construction cost of office building, compared with level 1+, and the difference was statistically significant.


Extensive ground fissures frequently occur within the eastern Thessaly basin, in central Greece and have been since 1989. This paper aims to give a preliminary explanation for their generation reasons by interpreting the results of a dense geophysical survey along the basin. This is combined with drilling data, as well as field work tectonic measurements, morphotectonic analysis and remote sensing data interpretation throughout the marginal areas of the basin. The gathering, homogenisation and organisation of different types of geo-data by using various GIS software packages led to the discovery of the alpine basement surface, which is covered by recent sediments, and possible structures that contributed to the development of the basin. The methodology of producing a 3D basement surface model and various lithology profiles across the basin, along with sediment isopach maps by combining surface with subsurface data, is described in this paper.


The effect of various modifiers on the structure and properties of clay/natural rubber nanocomposites are investigated with the aim to evaluate the effect of size and structure of the modifier. Nanocomposites are prepared by melt intercalation method. Mechanical properties of the cured rubber containing nanoclay are compared with the reference compound without the filler. No improvement of mechanical properties is observed for small organic cations; however, stress and strain at break of clay/rubber nanocomposites increase with rising number of octyl chains in the interlayer spaces of organo-clays. Concerning organo-cations with the same number of carbon atoms, more effective are the modifiers with several shorter carbon chains compared to those with one long chain. The composites exhibit hybrid structure of nanocomposite and microcomposite as revealed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The details of the structure are supported by DMTA and hysteresis measurements. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 127: 3447-3455, 2013


OBJECTIVE
the objective of this study is to identify how Medical Waste (MW) is managed in Mobile Prehospital Care (MPC) services in the state of São Paulo as well as characterize and quantify this waste.

METHOD
exploratory and descriptive field study with data collection based on the methodology proposed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which was conducted over eight consecutive days to identify the production and characteristics of generated waste.

RESULTS
it was found that the MW management of the MPC is not yet in line with the requirements of RDC 306/04, which could affect the occupational safety of workers, patients, the community, and the environment.

CONCLUSION
it is recommended for the health managers to focus on this issue. The lack of studies with regard to MPC also indicates the need for further studies on the waste management.


Tthe present work studied the cationic substitution of Y3+ by Bi3+ on the crystal structure of orthorhombic YFeO3 and its effect over magnetic, dielectric and electric properties of multiferroic yttrium orthoferrite. Stoichiometric mixtures of Y2O3, Fe2O3 and Bi2O3 were mixed and milled for 5 h using a ball to powder weight ratio of 10:1 by high-energy ball milling. The obtained powders were pressed at 1500 MPa and sintered at 700 °C for 2 h. The test samples were characterized at room temperature by X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and impedance spectroscopy (IS). The X-ray diffraction patterns disclosed a maximum solubility of 30 % mol. of Bi3+ into the orthorhombic YFeO3. For higher concentrations, a transformation from orthorhombic to garnet structure was produced, obtaining partially Y3Fe5O12 phase. The substitution of Bi3+ in Y3+ sites promoted a distortion into the orthorhombic structure and modified Fe-O-Fe angles and octahedral tilt. In addition, it promoted a ferromagnetic (FM) order, which was attributed to both the crystal distortion and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. For doped samples, an increase in real permittivity values was observed, and reduced with the increase of frequency. This in good agreement with the Maxwell-Wagner effect.


In fungi, phototropism, the induction of carotenogenesis and reproductive structures, and resetting of the circadian rhythm are controlled by blue light. Trichoderma atroviride, a fungus used in biological control, sporulates in a synchronized manner following a brief pulse of blue light. Due to its apparent simplicity, this response was chosen for pursuing photoreceptor isolation. Two genes were cloned, blue-light regulators 1 and 2 (blr-1 and blr-2), similar to the Neurospora crassa white-collar 1 and 2, respectively. The BLR-1 protein has all the characteristics of a blue-light photoreceptor, whereas the structure of the deduced BLR-2 protein suggests that it interacts with BLR-1 through PAS domains to form a complex. Disruption of the corresponding genes demonstrated that they are essential for blue-light-induced conidiation. blr-1 and blr-2 were also shown to be essential for the light-induced expression of the photolyase-encoding gene (phr-1). Mechanical injury of mycelia was found to trigger conidiation of T. atroviride, a response not described previously. This response was not altered in the mutants. A novel effect of both red and blue light on mycelial growth was found involving another light receptor, which is compensated by the BLR proteins.


The cat's spleen perfused with homologous blood containing prostaglandin E1 provides an admirable preparation for the study of the liberation and uptake of the sympathetic transmitter. Obstruction of the circulation with platelet thrombi is eliminated; blood flow is high, and overflow of transmitter when the nerves are stimulated is higher than in other preparations. The high overflow of transmitter is attributed to adequate perfusion of a large mass of splenic tissue. There is no evidence that the amount of transmitter liberated per unit mass of tissue is increased. Uptake of liberated transmitter and of infused L-noradrenaline is no different from that observed in other preparations of the spleen.


We present the public version of hi_class (www.hiclass-code.net), an extension of the Boltzmann code CLASS to a broad ensemble of modifications to general relativity. In particular, hi_class can calculate predictions for models based on Horndeski's theory, which is the most general scalar-tensor theory described by second-order equations of motion and encompasses any perfect-fluid dark energy, quintessence, Brans-Dicke, f(R) and covariant Galileon models. hi_class has been thoroughly tested and can be readily used to understand the impact of alternative theories of gravity on linear structure formation as well as for cosmological parameter extraction.


Abstract Impressive electoral performances by Podemos in its first European, municipal and regional elections have not been sustained in the Spanish general elections of December 2015 and June 2016. In the context of government austerity policies and systemic political crisis, this radical left populist party has certainly attracted much support among youth and disadvantaged sectors, and had a great impact on Spain's political life, yet so far Podemos has not managed to become the main alternative to the conservative Popular Party. Its alignment with the old United Left has proved unproductive and controversial. There have been tensions between the organizational centralism of the Podemos leadership and a desire for more decentralized expressions of radical politics in places such as Catalonia, as well as more generally from defenders of citizen politics or the original protest orientation of the party. For some currents of the left, Podemos has become too electorally oriented. Other critics point to a failure to reconcile left-wing objectives with the desire to capitalize on initial transversal appeal, extending beyond the traditional support base of the radical left. None the less, with Spain in a period of political stasis, there are still opportunities for Podemos to play a more influential role in the future, if it can address the challenges it faces without suffering schisms in the process.


Madurai and Virudhunagar Districts of Tamil Nadu is blessed with vast resource potentials especially of soil and water which had motivated the farming community to adopt different seasonal and perennial crops like vegetables, cereals, pulses, and fruits. After the harvest of farm produce, the residues are left unutilized and go waste and sometimes add to production problems. A project was aimed to find the means of effectively utilizing the biowaste resources into the value-added products like Organic Manure, Cultivation of Milky Mushroom and Biopesticide Production etc. These practices are successful and hence it is planned to impart capacity building programs to empower the landless, marginal Rural Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Women are hailing in the poverty line. Accordingly, one hundred beneficiary women were identified and selected for capacity building and guided them to establish value-added products like Milky Mushroom from the biowaste resources. During the training and demonstration programs, the method of erection of mushroom shed, cultivation of milky mushroom, methods of spawn production, bed preparation utilizing the waste resources, harvesting and marketing of mushroom to the beneficiaries through identified experts in the related field. Though all the respondents were actively participated in Bio degradation, Bio Pesticide, and Milky Mushroom production activities, the impact created in the study area were found to be only to the level of 45 per cent whom had shown much interest in establishing Milky Mushroom and the Spawn Production activities and started earning considerable income per month motivated them to run quality life in their environs. Besides, the details of activities performed by the respondents and their enhancement in earning capacity and the marketing practices followed are also discussed in this paper.


For the diagnosis of atherosclerosis, one acoustical method involves measuring the change in thickness of the arterial wall during one cardiac cycle and then noninvasively evaluating the elastic properties of the arterial wall. An alternative method for obtaining such a diagnosis is proposed, the phased tracking method, which can be used to accurately measure the instantaneous displacement signals on the intima and adventitia of the arterial wall from the skin surface using pulsive ultrasonic waves. A minute change in the thickness of the arterial wall of several micrometres is obtained by integrating the difference between two instantaneous displacement signals. Using a rubber plate in a water tank, the accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated by measuring such microscopic changes in thickness.


It is pointed out that the theorems in the above-titled letter (ibid., vol.25, no.6, p.846-7, June 1987) concerning existence and uniqueness of solutions to f(x)=y are incorrect as stated. Corrected versions are given, and the related mathematical literature is briefly reviewed. The authors identify the three main points of the commenter's argument, agreeing with one of them and refuting the other two. >


Recent work has demonstrated that network traffic has self similar properties. These properties make short term control of traffic very difficult. Heavy tailed distributions of burst sizes contribute to traffic self similarity. The effects of heavy tailed file transfer traffic on queueing behavior are demonstrated using a simulated traffic source based on empirical Unix file size data. A method of application level traffic shaping, whereby selected large traffic bursts are shaped, is developed. This shaping method is shown to dramatically decrease ATM cell loss at a bottleneck queue. At the expense of a few large file transfers being increased in time duration, many smaller file transfers are decreased in time duration and cell loss is decreased for all file transfers.


The research aimed to formulate and prepare hydrogel of low molecular weight chitosan nanoparticles with the help of antifungal agents such as clotrimazole and Nystatin for the topical application. Using the ionic gelation process, placebo and nanoparticles containing drugs were prepared. By cationic interaction is suitable for pH, and gel sodium tripolyphosphate is used as a crosslinker which cross-links the chitosan particles to form the gel, interaction between drug and polymer was observed during the formulation development. Formulated nanoparticle with chitosan and nystatin and clotrimazole showed the mean diameter 273.7nm, 983nm, and 501nm. Clotrimazole and Nystatin had encapsulation capacity was about 74.6% and 63.0%, respectively. In vitro drug release at pH 4.7 chitosan molecules are examined for the version of clotrimazole and nystatin.it has noticed that both the formulation shows sustained drug release about 12 hours. Using SEM, nanoparticles are directed for surface morphology character; it shows that nanoparticles are smooth and spherical in structure. Chitosan itself has the antimicrobial property; it was carried out for the antifungal activity against the fungus Candida Albicans along with the prepared formulations drugs for the comparative study. And the result showed that clotrimazole had maximum fungal growth inhibition next followed by the nystatin and chitosan is least. This inhibitory effect was due to the parameter such as zeta potential and particle size of chitosan nanoparticles. And it shows the least antifungal activity of nanoparticles, which are formulated from the TMC. Hence CTZ and Chitosan were formulated and applied as a natural antifungal agent into nanoparticle to increase the fungal activity. According to the ICH Q1A (R2) guidelines, stability studies are conducted to prove no degradation of the drug. The prepared formulation of chitosan nanoparticles based hydrogel incorporated with clotrimazole and nystatin are promising and significant properties for the efficient treatment of topical fungal infections


Space charge accumulation is a major problem in the development of insulating materials. The aim of this work is to suppress charge injection from electrode into cellulose insulating pressboard under DC field by Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> nano-structure layer. The Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> nano-structure layer was deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering under room temperature. Physicochemical and electrical properties of the insulation pressborad modified by sputtering Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> nano-structure layer on its surface was investigated. With reference to the new pressboard sample without prepared, space charge suppression was observed in the pressboard deposited Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> layer. The Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>nano-structure does not decrease the breakdown voltage and thermal property of the sputtered cellulose insulation pressboard. This research provides a new point of view for improving the electrical property of the cellulose insulation materials.


Based on the chicken hypothalamic analysis using the Nissl, Golgi-Cox and silver staining methods, a first attempt to make the cyto-, dendro- and fibro-architectonic atlases of the frontal planes at the same level was performed. In the preparations stained with Nissl method, the hypothalamus was subdivisible basically into the preoptic, rostral and caudal hypothalamic regions, each of which was composed of medial and lateral parts respectively. A well-defined boundaries between the preoptic and rostral hypothalamic regions was decided at the level of the rostral margin of the commissura rostralis. On the other hand, the one between the rostral and caudal hypothalamic regions was also visible between the nucleus hypothalamicus caudalis medialis and the nucleus hypothalamicus inferior. However, no distinct borderlines between two hypothalamic nuclei, as shown in the preparations using the silver method, were designated, when the distribution of the dendrites of nerve cells was used as criteria for analysis. Furthermore, the nerve cells of all hypothalamic nuclei showed almost the same morphological patterns: namely the nerve cells were generally triangular, round or spindle shape and they had a few long relatively straight fine dendrites leaving the cell body in all directions and having very fine dendritic spines.


Academic writing is an indispensable requirement at tertiary level. The relationship between writing skills and attitudes towards writing has received much attention from scholars. However, less is known about how EFL learners' attitudes towards academic writing are correlated with their self-efficacy in this particular skill. Thus, the present study aims at examining this relationship among third-year English major learners at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. A total of 89 learners participated in the study by completing a questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using quantitative methods. Results showed that there was no difference in academic writing self-efficacy among the participants whereas the females felt more positive about their academic writing compared to the males. Notably, a correlation exists between academic writing attitudes and self-efficacy. These findings confirmed the need of raising teachers' awareness of motivational factors that can increase academic writing attitudes and self-efficacy among EFL learners.


Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is the etiological agent of paracoccidioidomycosis, an endemic mycosis of Latin America. This fungus presents a dimorphic character; it grows as a mycelium at room temperature, but it is isolated as yeast from infected individuals. It is believed that the transition from mycelium to yeast is important for the infective process. The Functional and Differential Genome of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Project--PbGenome Project was developed to study the infection process by analyzing expressed sequence tags--ESTs, isolated from both mycelial and yeast forms. The PbGenome Project was executed by a consortium that included 70 researchers (professors and students) from two sequencing laboratories of the midwest region of Brazil; this project produced 25,741 ESTs, 19,718 of which with sufficient quality to be analyzed. We describe the computational procedures used to receive process, analyze these ESTs, and help with their functional annotations; we also detail the services that were used for sequence data exploration. Various programs were compared for filtering and grouping the sequences, and they were adapted to a user-friendly interface. This system made the analysis of the differential transcriptome of P. brasiliensis possible.


This paper describes two experiments in the domain of Cross Language Information Retrieval. Our basic approach is to translate queries word by word using machine readable dictionaries. The first experiment compared different strategies to deal with word sense ambiguity: i) keeping all translations and integrate translation probabilities in the model, ii) a single translation is selected on the basis of the number of occurrences in the dictionary iii) word by word translation after word sense disambiguation in the source language. In a second experiment we constructed parallel corpora from web documents in order to construct bilingual dictionaries or improve translation probability estimates. We conclude that our best dictionary based CLIR approach is based on keeping all possible translations, not by simple substitution of a query term by its translations but by creating a structured query and including reverse translation probabilities in the retrieval model.


Reviewing cine display of planar projections just after data acquisition of myocardial perfusion imaging is helpful not only for checking quality of the study but also for better interpretation of incidental findings by acquiring more helpful images. We present a patient with significant skeletal Tc-MIBI uptake accompanied by a large photopenic area in abdominal cavity in myocardial perfusion imaging raw images that were further confirmed as multiple myeloma and thrombotic abdominal aortic aneurysm, respectively.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence of asthma, a common disorder in childhood, is often estimated by cross-sectional studies based on questionnaires, with the drawback that estimates are limited to certain age groups and areas. The use of electronic health data is increasingly allowing researchers to overcome these limitations. This study is aimed at assessing asthma occurrence of a school-aged population in Northeast Italy using two different data sources.

METHODS
In 2004, a population-based survey using a standardized questionnaire was conducted to estimate asthma occurrence among a resident population of children aged 6-7 years and adolescents aged 13 years. A selection of dispensed asthma medications was extracted from electronic databases for a 4-year period prior to questionnaire completion (2000-03). Asthma prevalence was estimated by commonly used questionnaire classifications and compared with use of inhaled bronchodilators (alone or in combination) in various time periods. Correlations between the two approaches were calculated.

RESULTS
A total of 10 252 subjects were eligible for analysis (85% of the resident population). A total of 4747 subjects (38% of the resident population) were registered in the drug database during 2000-03. Asthma prevalence was higher in males and in children. Congruence between the two enquiry methods varied according to criteria applied and improved with the protraction of the observation period.

CONCLUSION
A longer period for the capture of medication data yielded higher congruence. A degree of mismatch was observed between the two methods most likely related to factors of drug use and questionnaire reliability. Nonetheless, the benefits of using easily accessible population data prevail, and further studies are warranted.


Siliciclastic rocks of the upper Byrd Group in the Transantarctic Mountains record rapid denudation and molasse deposition during Ross orogenesis along the early Paleozoic convergent margin of Gondwana. These rocks, which stratigraphically overlie Lower Cambrian Byrd carbonate deposits, are dominated by fresh detritus from proximal igneous and metamorphic sources within the Ross Orogen. Biostratigraphic evidence indicates that deposition of the siliciclastic succession is late Botomian or younger (<515 Ma). The largest modes of U-Pb and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from detrital zircons and muscovites respectively in the siliciclastic molasse are Early to Middle Cambrian, but based on ages from crosscutting igneous bodies and neoblastic metamorphic phases, deposition of individual molasse units continued until ~490–485 Ma (earliest Ordovician). The entire episode of interrelated tectonic, denudational, sedimentary, deformational, and magmatic events is restricted to a time interval of 7–25 m.y. in the late Early Cambrian to earliest Ordovician, within the resolution of these stratigraphic and geochronologic data. Stratigraphic relationships suggest that the detrital zircon and muscovite in the sediments came from the same source terrain, consistent with large volumes of molasse having been shed into forearc and/or marginal basins at this time, primarily due to erosion of igneous rocks and metamorphic basement of the early Ross magmatic arc. Rapid erosion and unroofing in the axial Ross Orogen is consistent with a sharp carbonate-to-clastic stratigraphic transition observed in the upper Byrd Group, reflecting an outpouring of alluvial fan and flu vial-marine clastic detritus. The short time lag between tectonism and sedimentary response is similar to that determined for the corresponding section of the RossDelamerian orogen in South Australia and other continental-margin arc systems, such as in the Mesozoic Peninsular Ranges of California. Mineral cooling ages from metamorphic basement adjacent to the orogen yield a syn- to late-orogenic cooling


Porous graphene (PG) has a promising future in gas storage due to its unique pore characteristics and large specific surface area. The adsorption properties of PG and PG modified by Mn atoms (Mn-PG) for CH4 molecules have been studied based on firstprinciples density functional theory. It was found that the optimal adsorption position of CH4 on PG was the carbon annulus pore, and the adsorption energy was -0.174 eV. The optimal position of the PG system modified by a single Mn atom is the central hole of the carbon ring, and the optimal position of the two Mn atoms is that Mn atoms are respectively located at different carbon ring holes on the opposite side of PG, with an average binding energy of -4.101 eV. The modification of Mn atom enhances the electronegativity of PG substrate and forms a negative charge center at the carbon ring, which is beneficial to enhance the adsorption performance of CH4 molecules with positive charge on the surface. The CH4 molecules are adsorbed on the PG surface through the electrostatic interaction with Mn atoms and PG substrates as well as the intermolecular force of CH4 molecules. Mn-PG system can adsorb 6 CH4 molecules on one side, and the average adsorption energy is -0.345 eV. When PG was modified with two Mn atoms, 12 CH4 molecules could be adsorbed on both sides, and the average adsorption energy was -0.338 eV, the adsorption capacity can reach 38.43 wt.%.


Floral and reproductive biology of Vaccinium meridionale (Ericaceae) in the Eastern Andes of Colombia. Vaccinium meridionale is a wild plant producing edible fruits in the mountain areas of Northern South America. However, the fruits of this species has been under an unsustainable extraction and there is a growing interest of establishing this species as a crop; nevertheless, the information about its breeding system is scarce, which is essential for its sustainable management and conservation. This research aimed to study the flo- ral and reproductive biology of V. meridionale in natural conditions, and to analyze the importance of pollinators on its reproduction, in two wild populations of V. meridionale in the states of Cundinamarca and Boyaca, in the Oriental Cordillera of Colombia. For this, we have made different observations and experiments to describe its flower morphology, floral phenology, pollen viability, stigma receptivity, pollen-ovule ratio and nectar produc- tion. To study its reproductive system, we performed experiments of flower emasculation, pollinator exclusion and hand pollination (self-and cross-pollination). We found that although the flowers have poricidal anthers, the release of pollen could occur easily without vibration. V. meridionale shows a large floral display, long floral longevity and has female-biased nectar production. The pollen-ovule ratio was of 571±133, which classified the species as facultative xenogamy. This result agreed with the pollination experiments because the plants pro- duced fruits by agamospermy, selfing and outcrossing. However, we registered a strong inbreeding depression, observed in high rates of fruit abortions, after self-pollination. Unlike of self-pollinating fruits, the plant retains those produced by cross-pollination since its formation. The floral traits showed by this species are mechanisms to favor a more diverse guild of floral visitors than only insects able to buzz-pollination. In addition, these floral traits may enhance the pollination probability, and reduce geitonogamy. Moreover, the inbreeding depression suggests that V. meridionale promotes outcrossing as its main reproductive strategy. Therefore, pollinators, par- ticularly bees, are essential for this species reproduction and conservation, and are critical in the maintenance of its genetic variability and fruits production. Rev. Biol. Trop. 63 (4): 1197-1212. Epub 2015 December 01.


Background Longevity, combined with a higher prevalence of obesity, particularly visceral obesity, has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Insulin resistance (IR) is an important link between visceral obesity and cardiovascular diseases. An important association has been found between sagittal abdominal diameter, visceral obesity and IR. The objective of this study is to evaluate sagittal abdominal diameter as a marker of visceral obesity and correlate it with IR in older primary health care patients. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed with 389 patients over 60 years of age (70.6 ± 6.9), of whom 74% were female. Their clinical, anthropometric and metabolic profiles were assessed and their fasting serum insulin level was used to calculate the homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Sagittal abdominal diameter was measured in the supine position at the midpoint between the iliac crest and the last rib with abdominal calipers. Results Sagittal abdominal diameter was significantly correlated with anthropometric measures of general and visceral obesity and with HOMA-IR in both genders. There was no change in the association between sagittal abdominal diameter and HOMA-IR after adjusting for age, sex, diabetes and hypertension. Conclusion It is feasible to use sagittal abdominal diameter in older primary care patients as a tool to evaluate visceral obesity, which is an indicator of cardiovascular risk.


This study aimed to develop a new auxiliary heterotopic partial liver transplantation (AHPLT) technique in minipigs using a model of liver cirrhosis. Based on our previous study, 14 minipigs were induced to cirrhosis by administration of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) through intraperitoneal injection. All of the cirrhotic animals were utilized as recipients. The donor's liver was placed on the recipient's splenic bed, and the anastomosis was performed as follows: end-to-end anastomosis between the donor's portal vein and the recipient's splenic vein, end-to-side anastomosis between the donor's suprahepatic vena cava and the recipient's suprahepatic vena cava, and end-to-end anastomosis between the donor's hepatic artery and the recipient's splenic artery. The common bile duct of the donor was intubated and bile was collected with an extracorporeal bag. Vital signs, portal vein pressure (PVP), hepatic venous pressure (HVP) and portal vein pressure gradient (PVPG) were monitored throughout the transplantation. All 8 minipigs that developed liver cirrhosis were utilized to establish the new AHPLT; 7 cases survived. Following the surgical intervention, the PVP and PVPG of the recipients were lower than those prior to the operation (P<0.05), whereas the PVP and PVPG of the donors increased significantly compared to those of the normal animals (P<0.05). A new operative technique for AHPLT has been successfully described herein using a model of liver cirrhosis.


Alterations in optical structural characteristics of nuclear chromatin, in comparison with healthy individuals (10) and patients with fibroadenoma (29), were detected in 57 patients with a breast cancer by densitometric investigation of peripheral blood lymphocytes. The degree of these alterations are closely associated with the level of malignancy in the initial neoplasia and the aggregation of oncopathology in pedigrees.


Bai Ciou (白萩, 1937-) shows his literary talent at the age of 18. In 1955, he won the 1. Poetry Award from "Chinese Poetry Association" (中國新詩協會) for his work "compass" (羅盤). He is then hailed as a "poet of genius", attracting much attention from his colleagues. Owing to this, his poetics and poetry, emphasizing the modern essences of lonely existence and intellectual reflection, has certain inspiration for the writing of modern poetry.Bai Ciou (白萩) emphasizes the importance of experiment and innovation. He re-thinks the relationship between tradition and individuals, and suggests that poets cannot be subordinated to tradition, but has to go through and transcend it. This is indeed his interpretation of modernity. Besides, he puts forward the intellectuality of poetry, analyzing the difference between emotion and feeling and emphasizing the strict structure and organization of ideas. Those are the elements which keep the poetry in its integrality and eternality. Technically, he focuses on the arrangement of space (pictorial) and time (musical) of poetry, building the original relationship between poetry and things, which makes the poetry innovative in its images, rhymes and melodies. These novel approaches are introduced for showing the deep meaning of poetry, the real situation of existence and the loneliness in the reality in 1950s' and 1960s'. Bai Ciou's (白萩) poetry, being written in accurate language, is a kind of "seduction of heresy" and offers a new approach for modern poetry. Bai Ciou (白萩), as a real poet, is always at the forefront of the times.


Infection with a virulent Ehrlichia strain (IOE) results in toxic shock-like syndrome characterized by severe liver injury, a weak CD4+ Th1 response, and systemic overproduction of TNF-α by CD8+ T cells. Mice lacking functional CD8+ T cells (β2m−/−) survived infection with a lethal low-dose of IOE to 30 days post-infection. Since β2m−/− mice lack conventional CD8+ T cells and CD1d-restricted NKT cells, we examined the role of NKT cells in the pathogenesis of ehrlichiosis using CD1d−/− mice. CD1d−/−mice also succumbed to lethal infection with high dose IOE, yet did not develop signs of toxic shock-like syndrome, i.e. serum TNF-α was low, liver enzymes were normal, lymphopenia was not present, and there were few apoptotic hepatic cells. CD1d−/− mice also had less activation of CD8+ T cells in the spleen and liver as indicated by lower expression of intracellular granzyme B in lymphocytes harvested from these sites. Our data provide evidence that NKT cells play a role in initiating the pathogenic CD8+ T cell response in IOE-induced toxic shock-like syndrome.


The recent transfiguration of cassava from a low profile into an industrial raw material, coupled with the new cassava revolutionary policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria have resulted in a serious surge in the demand for cassava and cassava-based products locally and the world over. However, cassava processors are currently finding it extremely difficult to respond positively to this increase in demand due to the prevalence of the traditional processing methods employed in the processing operations. This has made the review of the current processing technologies imperative in order to address the areas requiring technical improvement and further research efforts towards the evolution of cost effective technologies with improved efficiencies which would enhance the capacity to exploit the cassava market potential the world over. Therefore, this paper reviews the presents status of knowledge as regards cassava processing technology and a critical appraisal of the existing cassava processing technologies available to cassava processors and highlights the research need towards the evolution of better and improved cassava processing equipment.


Bacteria produce specialized metabolites to compete with other microbes. Though the biological activities of many specialized metabolites have been determined, our understanding of their ecology is limited, particularly within the human microbiome. ABSTRACT The aerodigestive tract (ADT) is the primary portal through which pathogens and other invading microbes enter the body. As the direct interface with the environment, we hypothesize that the ADT microbiota possess biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for antibiotics and other specialized metabolites to compete with both endogenous and exogenous microbes. From 1,214 bacterial genomes, representing 136 genera and 387 species that colonize the ADT, we identified 3,895 BGCs. To determine the distribution of BGCs and bacteria in different ADT sites, we aligned 1,424 metagenomes, from nine different ADT sites, onto the predicted BGCs. We show that alpha diversity varies across the ADT and that each site is associated with distinct bacterial communities and BGCs. We identify specific BGC families enriched in the buccal mucosa, external naris, gingiva, and tongue dorsum despite these sites harboring closely related bacteria. We reveal BGC enrichment patterns indicative of the ecology at each site. For instance, aryl polyene and resorcinol BGCs are enriched in the gingiva and tongue, which are colonized by many anaerobes. In addition, we find that streptococci colonizing the tongue and cheek possess different ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptide BGCs. Finally, we highlight bacterial genera with BGCs but are underexplored for specialized metabolism and demonstrate the bioactivity of Actinomyces against other bacteria, including human pathogens. Together, our results demonstrate that specialized metabolism in the ADT is extensive and that by exploring these microbiomes further, we will better understand the ecology and biogeography of this system and identify new bioactive natural products. IMPORTANCE Bacteria produce specialized metabolites to compete with other microbes. Though the biological activities of many specialized metabolites have been determined, our understanding of their ecology is limited, particularly within the human microbiome. As the aerodigestive tract (ADT) faces the external environment, bacteria colonizing this tract must compete both among themselves and with invading microbes, including human pathogens. We analyzed the genomes of ADT bacteria to identify biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for specialized metabolites. We found that the majority of ADT BGCs are uncharacterized and the metabolites they encode are unknown. We mapped the distribution of BGCs across the ADT and determined that each site is associated with its own distinct bacterial community and BGCs. By further characterizing these BGCs, we will inform our understanding of ecology and biogeography across the ADT, and we may uncover new specialized metabolites, including antibiotics.


: Insulin resistance is the main cause of type 2 diabetes. The hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp is a gold standard method for determination of the insulin resistance. However, the test cannot directly measure the insulin resistance, and it is time consuming, costly, labor-intensive and requires an experienced operator. This study aims to develop the protein marker for insulin resistance. Two serum proteins, i.e. carbonic anhydrase and adiponectin were determined by using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 3 groups of volunteers' sera: healthy group ( n = 35), insulin resistance group ( n = 32) and diabetic group ( n = 32). We explored the associations between these proteins and the insulin resistance. Adiponectin (cutoff (cid:182) 4.73 µ g / ml, area under the curve [ AUC ] = 0.644 [ 0.51, 0.777 ] ) ( p < 0.05) and carbonic anhydrase (cut off (cid:190) 47 pg / ml, AUC = 0.65 [ 0.518, 0.783 ] ( p < 0.050) have the potential as the biomarkers for diabetes. When used together, adiponectin at cutoff level (cid:182) 4.96 µ g / ml and carbonic anhydrase at cutoff level (cid:190) 36 pg / ml have the potential as the biomarkers for insulin resistance (AUC = 0.664 [ 0.532, 0.796 ] ) ( p < 0.05). These serum protein levels will be a useful tool to diagnose the insulin resistance in human and to guide the right direction of treatment and the behavior change accordingly.


The purpose of this research is to (1) identify project corporate entrepreneurship with the application of lean canvas; (2) identify constraints in the application of lean  canvas  in  corporate entrepreneurship  projects;  (3) identify the  benefits contained in the application of lean canvas in corporate entrepreneurship projects. Data is collected from October 2018 to December 2018. The method used is descriptive research method with qualitative approach. The researcher conducted interviews with 5 informants. The analysis tools used are lean start up and lean canvas. The data analysis techniques used is Creswell data analysis techniques (2014). The results of this study are (1) project corporate entrepreneurship can be implemented in nine lean canvas blocks and can easily see the concept of optimization model and linkages between nine blocks in lean canvas; (2) the most difficult constraints experienced are when filling key metric blocks and unfair advantages in the lean canvas; (3) the researcher can easily analyze project corporate entrepreneurship in determining future strategies in order to find out which projects are effective or not to be continued or developed based on the achievement measured in the key metric blocks in one of the lean canvas blocks and the integration of nine blocks in lean canvas.


In linear finite-impulse-response filter design, it is desirable that the filter frequency response has linear phase (LP). In this brief, we investigate the LP concept for nonlinear Volterra filters. The LP condition of Volterra filters is defined in terms of its output spectrum in which the phase term introduced by the Volterra kernels is linear. It is shown that under certain symmetry conditions, the LP condition is satisfied by Volterra filters. Moreover, the LP condition for Volterra filters can be considered as an extension to the linear filter case.


An adaptive array code acquisition for direct-sequence/ code-division multiple access (DS/CDMA) systems was recently proposed to enhance the performance of the conventional correlator-based method. The scheme consists of an adaptive spatial and an adaptive temporal filter, and can simultaneously perform beamforming and code-delay estimation. Unfortunately, the scheme uses a least-mean-square (LMS) adaptive algorithm, and its convergence is slow. Although the recursive-least-squares (RLS) algorithm can be applied, the computational complexity will greatly increase. In this paper, we solve the dilemma with a low-complexity conjugate gradient (LCG) algorithm, which can be considered as a special case of a modified conjugate gradient (MCG) algorithm. Unlike the original conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm developed for adaptive applications, the proposed method, exploiting the special structure inherent in the input correlation matrix, requires a low computational-complexity. It can be shown that the computational complexity of the proposed method is on the same order of the LMS algorithm. However, the convergence rate is improved significantly. Simulation results show that the performance of adaptive array code acquisition with the proposed CG algorithm is comparable to that with the original CG algorithm.


Femtosecond, 8.04 keV x-ray pulses are used to probe the lattice dynamics of a 150 nm Cu (111) single crystal on a mica substrate irradiated with 400 nm, 100 fs laser pulses. For pump fluences below the damage and melting thresholds, we observed lattice contraction due to the formation of a blast force and coherent acoustic phonons with a period of ∼69 ps. At larger pump fluence, solid to liquid phase transition, annealing, and recrystallization were measured in real time by monitoring the intensity evolution of the probing fs x-ray rocking curves, which agreed well with theoretical simulation results. The experimental data suggest that the melting process is a purely thermal phase transition. This study provides, in real time, an ultrafast time-resolved detailed description of the significant processes that occur as a result of the interaction of a femtosecond light-pulse with the Cu (111) crystal surface.


The purpose of this study was to examine typically developing infants' integration of audio-visual sensory information as a fundamental process involved in early word learning. One hundred sixty pre-linguistic children were randomly assigned to watch one of four counterbalanced versions of audio-visual video sequences. The infants' eye-movements were recorded and their looking behavior was analyzed throughout three repetitions of exposure-test-phases. The results indicate that the infants were able to learn covariance between shapes and colors of arbitrary geometrical objects and to them corresponding nonsense words. Implications of audio-visual integration in infants and in non-human animals for modeling within speech recognition systems, neural networks and robotics are discussed. Index Terms: language acquisition, audio-visual, modeling


Objective: To review the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of bempedoic acid for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction. Data Sources: A PubMed search was conducted from January 2000 to June 15, 2020, using the keyword bempedoic acid for phase III clinical trials published in the English language. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Articles related to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of bempedoic acid and other trials relating to the safety and efficacy of this drug were included. Data Synthesis: The findings from this review show that bempedoic acid is a safe and effective option for lowering LDL-C levels in patients requiring LDL-C lowering for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice: Statin therapy remains the mainstay of treatment for both primary and secondary prevention. However, many patients cannot tolerate statin therapy because of statin-associated muscle symptoms. Bempedoic acid may be a reasonable adjunct for LDL-C reduction, though further evaluation of cardiovascular outcomes with bempedoic acid in this population is needed. Conclusions: The recent FDA approval of bempedoic acid offers an additional option for lowering LDL-C levels in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or heterozygous familial hyperlipidemia. Additional data regarding effect on long-term cardiovascular outcomes with bempedoic acid are currently being studied.


This project focuses on the development and characterization of a high speed video motion capture system for the measurement of planar, rigid body motions. The ability to collect information related to the accelerations, velocities and positions of points on a rigid body as it moves in planar space is very important in the fields of science and engineering. Traditional techniques, including the use of accelerometers, extensors and lasers, either rely on contact between the rigid body and the sensor or only measure out of plane motion. In this project, an inexpensive monochromatic high speed camera was used in conjunction with markers adhered to the objects under investigation to measure the planar displacement of a point on a moving object. The high speed camera is able to capture video at a rate of up to 20,000 frames per second, however, at this speed the field of view is very small. For a larger field of view, the frames per second is diminished to close to 3,000 frames per second.
 The goal of this project was to develop the hardware parameters and software necessary to collect and process 2D motion data at different frequencies and then evaluate the efficacy of video motion capture through comparison with simultaneously captured acceleration data. The efficacy was evaluated over a range of accelerations using variable frequency oscillations. The video footage was processed, frame by frame in order to extract x and y position for the center of the marker. Extraction of the position data was completed using the MATLAB computer vision toolbox, which provides tools for identifying the x and y locations of corners, circle centers and other defining features.
 The project began by identifying size, shape, color and material of markers for effective data collection using the motion capture system. Additionally, camera settings, field of view, capture rate, lighting and mounting conditions were evaluated to determine what conditions would result in the most accurate position sensing. In order to validate the measurements from the motion capture system, position data were correlated with accelerations measured from a traditional accelerometer located on the object under test. In order for the position data collected through the high speed video capture to be compared with the acceleration data collected using measurement from accelerometers, numerical differentiation of the position signals gathered from the high speed footage was performed. The efficacy of different shape and size markers, along with other camera settings, will be demonstrated for specific oscillatory test profiles.


Locating faults in embedded software, especially in microcontrollers, is still difficult. Quite recently, it became possible to recover execution traces from microcontrollers using specific hardware probes. However, the collected traces contain a huge volume of low-level data. Consequently, manual analysis is difficult and our industrial partners call for automatic and more effective fault-localization methods for embedded software. This paper presents a new approach to automatically locate faults in embedded programs given a single faulty execution trace. Our approach exploits the cyclic nature of embedded programs and uses several adapted spectrum-based methods in order to find faults on a single execution, rather than a set of multiple failing and passing executions. Our approach is implemented in the tool CoMET and evaluated on several faulty programs. The evaluation shows that our single-trace fault-localization method using Ochiai [1] allows engineers to find a fault by inspecting less than 5% of the program in most cases, and it confirms the interest of automatic fault localization for microcontrollers.


With the advent of remote sensing satellites, a huge repository of remotely sensed images is available. Change detection in remotely sensed images has been an active research area as it helps us understand the transitions that are taking place on the Earth's surface . This paper discusses the methods and their classifications proposed by various researchers for change detection. Since use of soft computing based techniques are now very popular among research community, this paper also presents a classification based on learning techniques used in soft-computing methods for change detection.


We propose a noncoherent, decoder-assisted (NDA) frame synchronizer, a two-stage synchronization scheme based on the list-synchronization principle, for the serially concatenated coded differential modulation (SCCD) system in the packet transmission. For the first stage, we derive a suitable noncoherent, maximum likelihood (SNML) rule, more effective for the noncoherent decoder's operating region of smaller channel phase changes, to provide a reliable list of potential frame starting positions. For the second stage, we propose a hybrid sync method by exploiting the combined sign difference ratio (SDR) and sync word Log-likelihood ratio (SW LLR) information to obtain more reliable final decisions and reduce computational complexity. Performance and complexity of the proposed scheme are evaluated under constant and time-varying phase changes in the AWGN channel via Monte Carlo simulation.


OBJECTIVE
To compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in those with and without metabolic syndrome in a general Iranian population.

METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of HRQOL conducted in a sample of individuals with and without metabolic syndrome using the data obtained from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) and information specifically collected for the present investigation. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the adult treatment panel III (ATPIII) and HRQOL was assessed using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Logistic regression analyses were performed for the whole sample and both sexes while adjusting for potential confounders in order to estimate odds ratios for predicting HRQOL in this population.

RESULTS
In all, 950 participants with (n = 361) and without (n = 589) metabolic syndrome were studied. The mean age of participants was 46.5 +/- 14.4 years. In women, but not in men, metabolic syndrome had an independent role in predicting poor HRQOL. With increase in the number of metabolic syndrome components, there was a significant decreasing trend in women's physical component summary scores.

CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that metabolic syndrome is associated with poor HRQOL in women but not in men, and the association is formed mainly in relation to physical rather than mental health.


. For Bryan Stanley Johnson, a British post-war avant-garde author, space was a crucial as-pect of a literary work. Inspired by architects and film makers, he was convinced that "form follows function" ("Introduction" to Aren't You Rather Young to Be Writing Your Memoirs ) and exercised the book as a material object, thus anticipating liberature – a literary genre defined in 1999 by Zenon Fajfer and Katarzyna Bazarnik, which encompasses works whose authors purposefully fuse content with form. The goal of this paper is to analyse the cityscape theme in Johnson's second novel, Albert Angelo (1964), in which London is presented as space that accompanies the character in his everyday life and becomes a witness of the formation of his identity. The protagonist is an architect by profession, so special attention is paid to his visual sensitivity and the way the cityscape is reflected in his thoughts. Furthermore, Johnson's formal exploitation of the book as an object and its correspondence to the con tent is analysed with reference to the metaphor of "[t]he book as an architectural structure" discussed by Bazarnik in Liberature. A Book-bound Genre .


More elaborate multivariate analyses are illustrated in the papers with usually the same kind of result.3-6 The other mechanisms that may mediate between exercise, coronary atherosclerosis, and myocardial ischaemia cannot be considered here. 8-10 That men reporting less exercise at entry to a cohort may do so because they already are less healthy is, of course, another of the abiding issues of this kind of study. Several approaches to it have been made, but I find the kind of evidence shown in table III particularly reassuring.