Plasma FSH concentration was significantly higher in Romanov than Ile-de-France ewe lambs at 5, 6 and 7 weeks of age (P less than 0.001, P less than 0.02 and P less than 0.02, respectively) and at 5, 6 and 7 weeks of age (P less than 0.001, P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.05, respectively) compared to Finn lambs. FSH concentrations were similar and unaffected by time in Ile-de-France and Finn lambs. Ovariectomy at 5 weeks of age produced similar increases in FSH concentrations in Romanov and Ile-de-France ewe lambs, but at 3 months of age the increase in FSH concentrations after ovariectomy was significantly steeper (P less than 0.02) in Romanov than Ile-de-France lambs. Sensitivity to oestradiol feedback was related to the age of the lambs. At 5 weeks of age, oestradiol (30 micrograms in oil per lamb) produced a significant decrease (P less than 0.001) in FSH concentrations in Romanov and Ile-de-France lambs, demonstrating that negative feedback can be triggered by oestradiol at this age. Positive feedback after an oestradiol challenge was identified in lambs of both breeds at 6 weeks of age. Sensitivity to the negative feedback of follicular fluid compounds was also established at 5-6 weeks and did not differ between breeds. At 9-10 weeks of age, while there was no breed effect of an oestradiol challenge on FSH concentrations, suppression of FSH concentrations by follicular fluid was shorter in Finn than in the other lambs. As all the feedback mechanisms are functional at 5-6 weeks of age, it is likely that the between breed differences of FSH profile during infancy are linked to differences in gonadal development.


Purpose: One of the effective mechanisms for better jumping in athletes is the induction of PAP in the warm-up protocol. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of dynamic warming and dynamic warming with PAP on power of muscle and agility in girls' volleyball player. Methods: In this study, 36 female volleyball players were selected and performed two types of dynamic warm-up and dynamic warm-up with PAP using the Counterbalance method. The dynamic protocol consisted of dynamic stretching exercises and the dynamic warm-up protocol with PAP includes warm-up with dynamic stretching plus three movements: 1Scott, 210 meter running by attaching load of 5% of body weight and 3jumping with load of 5% body weight. Then the Sargent, Bosco jump and T tests were performed before and 4, 6,9-11, and ultimately 30 minutes after the end of protocols were completed, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, dependent t-test, and linear modeling mixed with covariance at a significant level of P<0.05. Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the warming protocols in the Sargent jump and the Bosco test at any of the measurement times (P<0.005). 48 hours after exercise in both warm-ups, agility was significantly improved. Also, the dynamic warm-up with PAP showed a significant effect of group at the air time (AT) standing in 30 minutes after the end of protocol (P<0.005). Conclusion: Finally, the findings of the present study show that There was no difference between dynamic and dynamic warm-up with PAP methods with PAP in power of muscle and agility in girls' volleyball player.


The commemoration of the half-centenary of the Second Vatican Council has garnered enormous interest in the protagonists, circumstances and, interpretations that evolved in the period leading up to and following the council. Beyond the dialectics of hermeneutics of (dis)continuity of the council which has gained currency in recent post-conciliar discourse, however, attention has equally been drawn to the grand leitmotif that birthed the Council, namely, the cliched aggiornamento and the pentecostal renewal envisioned by Blessed Pope John XXIII. Despite its determining importance, Cardinal Walter Kasper opines that the Church is still certainly a long way from being able to speak of a new Pentecost. One of the architects of such ecclesial reforms and pneumatological renewal in the Council was the erudite French ecclesiologist and ecumenist Yves Marie Congar (1904–1995). This article seeks to demonstrate that Congar was not only a celebrated pneumatologist but also a visionary of charismatic ecclesiology, deemed as a resourceful tool for re-evangelization.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate clasp-retained removable partial dentures (RPDs) made in the Public Dental Health Service (PDHS) in Orebro County in 1989. Records from all 25 PDHS clinics concerning RPDs from 1989 were collected after eight years and available information was registered. The entire material consisted of 447 RPDs (both attachment-retained and clasp-retained RPDs) in 387 patients. Of the 316 clasp-retained RPDs that were traceable, 208 were followed from 1989 to 1997. In most instances, information on diagnoses, alternative treatments and design of the RPDs was lacking. One hundred and thirty-two (42%) of the 316 clasp-retained RPDs were judged to still be in use in 1997 while 75 were not in use. The main reason for ceased use was dislike by the patient. There were 108 clasp-retained RPDs that were not possible to follow from 1989 to 1997 because there were no notes regarding follow-ups in the records. The most common technical complications noted in the records during the observation period were clasp fractures and loosened artificial teeth.


This age is called the age of global trade, and the World Trade Organization is a forerunner in promoting the global free trade through multilateral negotiations as the global level. On the other hand, regional economic cooperation such as North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) is appearing, saying that promotion by WTO takes too much time. As is known to everybody, Europe is on the way of integrating member states through EU not to mention economic cooperation. Even in Asia such tendency is shown through ASEAN. Korea, China and Japan in Northeast Asia share geographical proximity, many common historical experiences, and similar cultural norms and values although they have disparities in stages of development, trade and economic policies, and financial and legal frameworks. Under the situation, efforts have been made between three countries of Korea, China and Japan for the conclusion of investment agreements including FTA. If the conclusion of the FTA between the three countries would be realized, it would promote regional trade and investment, contributing to economic growth in the Northeast Asian region. The writer in this paper reviewed the settlement of private commercial dispute including investment dispute arising from the FTA and investment agreements. The investment dispute is quite different from an ordinary commercial dispute arising from commercial transactions in view of disputing parties, applicable laws and rules, etc. Therefore it is a problem of vital importance that the parties interested in investment under the FTA as well as the relevant investment agreement should understand and cope with the settlement mechanism of investment disputes arising therefrom. The ICSID Convention provides facilities for the conciliation and arbitration of disputes between member countries and investors who qualify as nationals of other member countries. All contracting states of the ICSID Convention are required by the Convention to recognize and enforce the ICSID arbitral awards. The New York Convention(formally called "United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards") is also applicable for the enforcement of arbitral awards to be rendered under the FTA. As to applicable rules, the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules may be required for the settlement of investment disputes under the FTA. This Rules has adopted by the internationally recognized arbitral organizations although it was developed primarily for use in ad hoc arbitration. The promotion of arbitral cooperation may be realized through agreements between arbitral institutions. Especially under the NAFTA system, a central common system was established to resolve jointly private commercial disputes arising from such free trades by the initiative of arbitral organizations among the member countries. It is called Commercial Arbitration and Mediation Center for the Americas(CAMCA), which may be a good example for the settlement promotion of the private commercial disputes between Korea and other relevant countries.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate therapeutic effect of combined injection of salvizanolic acid B with triamcinolone acetonide on the treatment of the soft palate with oral submucous fibrosis.
 Methods: Salvizanolic acid B combined with triamcinolone acetonide was consecutively applied once a week for 30 weeks for 33 patients with middle and later periods of oral submucous fibrosis. The response rate of color change in the soft palate and the increase of capillary vessels (determined by degree I-IV visual analog scale) were evaluated at the 12th, 24th, and 36th months after 30 weeks treatment.
 Results: Thirty-three patients were fulfilled the study without obvious adverse reactions and they were followed up for 24 months, while 31 patients were followed up for 36 months. The color change in the soft palatal mucus and the increase of capillary vessels at the 36th month follow-up after treatment were significantly better than those at the 12th month (P=0.004).
 Conclusion: Combined injection of salvizanolic acid B with triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of the soft palate with oral submucous fibrosis is effective.


Animal welfare is a multiparameteral concept that encompasses the physical and mental health of animals and includes various aspects such as physical wellbeing, absence of hunger and thirst, and ability to express motivated behavior, to which farmers usually attach different importance. The objectives of this study were to evaluate animal welfare on Slovenian commercial pig farms, to determine whether farmers' perceived importance of animal welfare differ from actual animal welfare on farms and to determine, if farmer's age, gender, their level of education and participation in vocational training have an influence. For that purpose, we created an Animal Welfare Protocol/Questionnaire for Pig Farms (AWQ/P-P) that assessed several parameters of animal welfare: (1) general status, (2) animal behavior, (3) health status, (4) living conditions, and (5) environmental conditions. Each parameter included at least five observation points and was scored on a 5-point scale. The same observation points were used to measure farmers' perceived importance of animal welfare and for observational assessment. Consequently, we were able to compare both statistically. Farmers from 14 (N = 14) large Slovenian pig farms participated in the study. Results show that farmers rate all parameters of animal welfare very highly. For them, animal health status is the most important, and environmental conditions are the least important factors for animal welfare. Observational inspections yielded significantly lower scores for animal welfare conditions than those obtained from farmer ratings. The highest correlations between farmers' perceptions and observational inspections were found for the parameters of animal behavior and environmental conditions. The results of this study also suggest that vocational training is a significant variable in increasing levels of pig welfare. Age, gender, and education level are not significant variables, however, farms led by older male farmers with lower level of education but involved in vocational training from different sources had slightly better welfare on the farm. This should be further investigated before making conclusions, due to our small sample size. The significance of the study is to identify deficiencies in pig welfare as perceived by farmers and consequently improve pig welfare.


—Google's Spanner database serves multiple exabytes of data at well over a billion queries per second, distributed over a significant fraction of Google's fleet. Silent data corruption events due to hardware error are detected/prevented by Spanner several times per week. For every detected error there are some number of undetected errors that in rare (but not black swan) events cause corruption either transiently for reads or durably for writes, potentially violating the most fundamental contract that a database system makes with its users: to store and retrieve data with absolute reliability and availability. We describe the work we have done to detect and prevent silent data corruptions and (equally importantly) to remove faulty machines from the fleet. We present a simplified analytic model of corruption that provides some insights into the most effective ways to prevent end-user corruption events. We have made qualitative gains in detection and prevention of SDC events, but quantitative analysis remains difficult. We discuss various potential trajectories in hardware (un)reliability and how they will affect our ability to build reliable database systems on commodity hardware.


On 26 November 2019 an Mw6.4 earthquake ruptured along the Adriatic coast of Albania causing extensive destruction, mainly in Durrës city and Thumanë town, claiming 51 human lives. Maximum intensity in both areas reached the level of VIII-IX. On 21 September 2019 a strong foreshock (Mw5.6) occurred at nearly the same epicenter causing considerable damage. Fault-plane solutions of the main shock showed reverse faulting striking NW-SE and likely dipping to east indicated by the regional tectonics. In the long-term sense the earthquake has not been a surprise since the area experienced destructive earthquakes in the past as well. We present observations collected during a post-event field survey as well as a seismic source model of the main shock. Apart from the strong motion and amplification phenomena due to loose soil conditions and soil liquefaction, the severe building damage is attributed to the synergy of several other factors including poor workmanship and construction quality, ageing of materials, impact of the September 21st earthquake and pre-existing stress on buildings suffering differential displacements due to soft soil conditions in their foundations. A finite fault model was developed from the inversion of 30 teleseismic P-wave records following the methodology by Hartzell and Heaton (1983, 1986). The hypocenter was manually located offshore but close to Durrës at depth of ~22 km using the NLLoc procedure and the Ak135 velocity model based on 71 seismic phases at distances ≤550 km. Based on this solution a rectangular fault was assumed of 29 km in length with a depth ranging from 15 to 27 km which is large enough to describe successfully the slip for an earthquake of Mw=6.4. A kinematic parameterization of the earthquake fault was used to identify the space-time distribution of slip. Synthetics were calculated for each cell in which the fault is divided and are compared with the recorded data during an inversion producing the solution vector, i.e. the slip for each cell. Strike of 345° and dip of 22° were found to better fit the data. The rake vector was allowed to vary within the range from 65° to 155° permitting up-dip and possible left lateral strike-slip movement of the hanging wall domain relatively to the footwall. Rupture velocity was allowed to vary from 2.4 km/s to 3.6 km/s, the best fit found for 2.6 km/s. The heterogeneous spatial slip distribution obtained shows a complex rupture process with maximum slip at the source of ~1.5 m with the rake vector at that point being of 115° but an arithmetic mean of the rake for the cells with significant slip over 10 cm is 99°. This implies that the thrust component is the one that played the important role in the rupture process. Significant values of slip were also found in a second patch in the northern area of the fault at depths from 19 to 26 km. The total duration of rupture was nearly 16 s, while the total seismic moment released was Mo=5.0x1018 N*m, corresponding to Mw=6.4.


A series of pyrrolidine-2,4-dione and piperidine-2,4-dione derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their herbicidal activities where some of these compounds exhibited good bioactivity against Echinochloa crus-galli in comparison with sulcotrione. Quantitative structure-activity relationship studies were performed on these compounds using physicochemical parameters (hydrophobic, electronic, and Taft) as independent parameters and herbicidal activity as a dependent parameter, where herbicidal activity correlated best (r > 0.8) with hydrophobic (pi(o) + pi(p)), steric (Es), STERIMOL (B4), indicator (H(M)), van der Waals volume (V), and electronic parameter (sigma(m) + sigma(p)) in this set of molecules; the optimum van der Waals volume for R(2) is about 41.8 A3; when B4 is equal to 3, the target molecule possessed the lowest herbicidal activity.


We present a metaphor through which to study games: games as conversation, which casts gameplay as a communicative exchange between player and game. We propose to view aspects of gameplay as speech acts, as defined by Austin and Searle, and we present several examples that illustrate the diverse locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts present in the design of digital games. Through our perspective, we are able to cast problems relevant to the interactive entertainment community as discourse problems, where an interactive system must determine what to "say," in order to elicit in the minds of players a specific mental model that will allow them to perform successfully in the game. We conclude with a research agenda that proposes to leverage the artificial intelligence paradigm of discourse planning to tackle the discourse problems of interactive entertainment.


Forty-two nursery school children were exposed to two procedures designed to assess their discrimination of orientation. Under one procedure subjects had no difficulty in discriminating between stimuli which differed only in orientation. Under a second procedure, where color and size of stimuli were also varied, orientation proved to be a discriminative cue of relatively low salience. These findings obtained for perception both of realistic and of abstract forms.


For the gate last integration scheme, dummy poly silicon gate removal is one of the indispensable processes either for a high-k first or a high-k last route. In this paper, experimental results of dummy poly silicon gate removal using TetraMethyl Ammonium Hydroxide (TMAH) chemical etching are presented. The preliminary results show that the poly silicon removal rate was highly sensitive to the wet etch conditions. By optimizing the wet etch conditions, high selectivity of poly silicon with respect to SiO2, Si3N4 and hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSiON) was obtained. A gate trench of critical dimension (CD) of about 70 nm without poly silicon residue was fabricated using optimized conditions. The excellent etch capability of the optimized wet etch process was also demonstrated by controlling trench profiles.


Neurotoxic anti-retroviral therapy (ART) such as stavudine has now been replaced with safer therapies, reducing the prevalence of neuropathy from 34% to 15% in HIV+ Indonesians. However, it is unclear whether the residual cases display damage to small or large nerve fibres, and whether both are influenced by known risk factors, including alleles of CAMKK2 associated with neuropathy in HIV patients. The encoded protein influences the growth and repair of nerve fibres.HIV-positive adults on ART for > 12 months without exposure to stavudine were screened for neuropathy using the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Brief Peripheral Neuropathy Screen (BPNS). Large fibre neuropathy was assessed by nerve conduction (NC) and small fibre neuropathy using Stimulated Skin Wrinkling (SSW) applied to the fingers. CAMKK2 alleles were assessed by TaqMan OpenArray technology.Neuropathy diagnoses were more common with SSW than BPNS (49/173 vs 26/185, χ; p=0.0009), with poor alignment between these outcomes (p=0.60). NC and BPNS diagnosed neuropathy at similar frequencies (29/151 vs 26/185; p=0.12) and were aligned (p<0.0001). In bivariate analyses, all diagnoses were associated with patients' age and persistent HIV replication, with minor effects from CD4 T-cell counts and time on ART. CAMKK2 alleles associated with neuropathy diagnosed with BPNS and SSW, but not NC. Multivariable analyses confirmed the importance of age and HIV replication, with distinct CAMKK2 polymorphisms affecting BPNS and SSW. Paradoxically, height was protective against abnormal skin wrinkling.Overall the data link CAMKK2 genotypes with small rather than large fibre damage. SSW may reflect pathology distinct from that identified using BPNS.


Ocean temperature observations are crucial for a host of climate research and forecasting activities, such as climate monitoring, ocean reanalysis and state estimation, seasonal-to-decadal forecasts, and ocean forecasting. For all of these applications, it is crucial to understand the uncertainty attached to each of the observations, accounting for changes in instrument technology and observing practices over time. Here, we describe the rationale behind the uncertainty specification provided for all in situ ocean temperature observations in the International Quality-controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD) v0.1, a value-added data product served alongside the World Ocean Database (WOD). We collected information from manufacturer specifications and other publications, providing the end user with uncertainty estimates based mainly on instrument type, along with extant auxiliary information such as calibration and collection method. The provision of a consistent set of observation uncertainties will provide a more complete understanding of historical ocean observations used to examine the changing environment. Moving forward, IQuOD will continue to work with the ocean observation, data assimilation and ocean climate communities to further refine uncertainty quantification. We encourage submissions of metadata and information about historical practices to the IQuOD project and WOD.


Collecting data, producing plots such as histograms and scatter plots, and calculating numerical statistics such as means, medians, and regression coefficients are relatively concrete operations. In contrast, ideas related to the random variability of those statistics—sampling distributions, standard error, confidence intervals, central limit theorems, hypothesis tests, P-values, and statistical significance—are relatively abstract, and more difficult for students to understand. Bootstrap methods and permutation tests take those concrete tools, that students are used to using with data, and apply them to sampling distributions. This promotes understanding. We demonstrate using two examples—one involving linear regression, the other comparing two sample means. We finish by discussing why the bootstrap works, and what to watch out for.


Sparse-view CT is a promising approach for reducing the x-ray radiation dose in clinical CT imaging. However, the CT images reconstructed from the conventional filtered backprojection algorithm suffer from severe streaking artifacts. Iterative reconstruction algorithms have been widely adopted to mitigate these streaking artifacts, but they may prolong the CT imaging time due to the intense data-specific computations. Recently, a model-driven deep learning CT image reconstruction method, which unrolls the iterative optimization procedures into a deep neural network, has shown exciting prospects for improving image quality and shortening the reconstruction time. In this work, we explore a generalized unrolling scheme for such an iterative model to further enhance its performance on sparse-view CT imaging. By using it, the iteration parameters, regularizer term, data-fidelity term and even the mathematical operations are all assumed to be learned and optimized via network training. Results from the numerical and experimental sparse-view CT imaging demonstrate that the newly proposed network with the maximum generalization provides the best reconstruction performance.


This review presents the latest findings on ebola. Ebola presents one of the highest case-fatality rates of all infectious diseases, and in 2007 outbreaks were observed first in the Democratic Republic of Congo and later in Uganda with a new subtype. Accumulating evidence suggests that fruit bats are a likely reservoir for the ebola virus. The frequency of filovirus outbreaks in Central Africa is increasing and the potential for introduction and patient care in Denmark is evaluated.


Due to the ongoing global and regional economic, political and social processes, educational systems of several Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), once being parts of a unified educational system, have been drifting away from each other, transforming in their unique ways, under the pressure of their local circumstances. The article discusses the evolution and the current state of higher education institutions (HEI) in Central Asian countries, concentrating on such topics as the accessibility of tertiary education, its funding, digitalization, global mobility, and accreditation processes. The systems are analyzed and compared within the given categories. The purpose of this article is to characterize some trends in the development of higher education systems in these countries, which are characteristic of the current period of their political and social development.


This article looks at two plays written after " Easter, 1916 " ; I argue that these plays revise the earlier poem's claim that " all [is] changed " and dramatise instead the persistence of past wounds and blemishes in the post-revolutionary present. In The Dreaming of the Bones, a young rebel who has just been fighting in the Rising is hiding from the police on the West coast of Ireland, where he encounters the ghosts of Diarmuid and Dervorgilla, whose betrayal, he says, " brought the Norman in " and thus started the colonisation of Ireland. Calvary (written in 1920, but never performed in Yeats's lifetime) is an unorthodox Passion play, dramatising Christ's " dreaming back " of his own Passion on Good Friday, as he is confronted by the ghosts of Lazarus, Judas and the three Roman soldiers who nailed him to the Cross. Although it is ostensibly unrelated to the Easter Rising, it reads as an ironic yet compassionate comment on the Passion play that the Easter Rising, at one level, replayed.


Precomputation is a recently proposed logic optimization technique which selectively disables the inputs of a sequential logic circuit, thereby reducing switching activity and power dissipation, without changing logic functionality. In this paper, we present new precomputation architectures for both combinational and sequential logic and describe new precomputation-based logic synthesis methods that optimize logic circuits for low power. We present a general precomputation architecture for sequential logic circuits and show that it is significantly more powerful than the architectures previously treated in the literature. In this architecture, output values required in a particular clock cycle are selectively precomputed one clock cycle earlier, and the original logic circuit is "turned off" in the succeeding clock cycle. The very power of this architecture makes the synthesis of precomputation logic a challenging problem and we present a method to automatically synthesize precomputation logic for this architecture. We introduce a powerful precomputation architecture for combinational logic circuits that uses transmission gates or transparent latches to disable parts of the logic. Unlike in the sequential circuit architecture, precomputation occurs in an early portion of a clock cycle, and parts of the combinational logic circuit are "turned off" in a later portion of the same clock cycle. Further we are not restricted to perform precomputation on the primary inputs. Preliminary results obtained using the described methods are presented. Up to 66 percent reductions in switching activity and power dissipation are possible using the proposed architectures. For many examples, the proposed architectures result in significantly less power dissipation than previously developed methods.


Most graphene field-effect transistor (G-FET) biosensors are fabricated through a routine process, in which graphene is transferred onto a Si/SiO2 substrate and then devices are subsequently produced by micromanufacture processes. However, such a fabrication approach can introduce contamination onto the graphene surface during the lithographic process, resulting in interference for the subsequent biosensing. In this work, we have developed a novel directional transfer technique to fabricate G-FET biosensors based on chemical-vapor-deposition- (CVD-) grown single-layer graphene (SLG) and applied this biosensor for the sensitive detection of DNA. A FET device with six individual array sensors was first fabricated, and SLG obtained by the CVD-growth method was transferred onto the sensor surface in a directional manner. Afterward, peptide nucleic acid (PNA) was covalently immobilized on the graphene surface, and DNA detection was realized by applying specific target DNA to the PNA-functionalized G-FET biosensor. The developed G-FET biosensor was able to detect target DNA at concentrations as low as 10 fM, which is 1 order of magnitude lower than those reported in a previous work. In addition, the biosensor was capable of distinguishing the complementary DNA from one-base-mismatched DNA and noncomplementary DNA. The directional transfer technique for the fabrication of G-FET biosensors is simple, and the as-constructed G-FET DNA biosensor shows ultrasensitivity and high specificity, indicating its potential application in disease diagnostics as a point-of-care tool.


OBJECTIVE
Based on magnetic resonance imaging technology, the dangerous depth of straight needling and the safety of deep needling at Dachangshu (BL 25) are discussed, and data support is provided for standardizing deep needling at Dachangshu (BL 25).

METHODS
The horizontal cross-sectional images of 148 healthy adult subjects under the spinous process of the 4th lumbar vertebra were collected by magnetic resonance instrument, the anatomical structure was analyzed, and the dangerous depth of straight needling at Dachangshu (BL 25) was measured.

RESULTS
The dangerous depth of straight needling at Dachangshu (BL 25) was (11.2±1.3) cm and (11.0±1.2) cm on the left and right sides of males, and (9.8±1.3) cm and (9.7±1.3) cm on the left and right sides of females. There was a positive correlation between the dangerous depth of straight needling at Dachangshu (BL 25) and body mass index (BMI). In the case of similar body size, the dangerous depth of straight needling at Dachangshu(BL 25) in males was greater than that in females (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
At present, the deep needling at Dachangshu (BL 25) used in clinic is safe. In clinical application of the deep needling at Dachangshu (BL 25), the depth of needle insertion can be determined according to body size and gender.


In this paper, we provide a number of new estimates on the stability and convergence of both hybrid discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) and weak Galerkin (WG) methods. By using the standard Brezzi theory on mixed methods, we carefully define appropriate norms for the various discretization variables and then establish that the stability and error estimates hold uniformly with respect to stabilization and discretization parameters. As a result, by taking appropriate limit of the stabilization parameters, we show that the HDG method converges to a primal conforming method and the WG method converge to a mixed conforming method.


Leaky surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducers (LDTs) formed on 36/spl deg/ YX-LiTaO/sub 3/ and 41/spl deg/ and 64/spl deg/ YX-LiNbO/sub 3/ are theoretically analyzed, and a new equivalent circuit representation is proposed. The influence of the attenuation constant due to leakage as well as conductance caused by bulk wave radiation are taken into account. A new treatment based on an integral equation approach provides all circuit parameters. Fundamental experiments show fairly good agreement between theoretical and experimental results, confirming that this treatment provides very accurate tools for designing leaky-SAW devices.


A new parallel distributed algorithm for Golomb (1977) ruler derivation is presented. This algorithm was used to prove computationally the optimality of three rulers. Two of these were previously proven but yet unpublished, and the authors' independent derivation confirmed these results. The last ruler, of 19 marks and size 246, was known to be near-optimal and was computationally proven optimal in this work.


The palliative treatment of tumorous stenosis of the esophagus and cardio-esophageal region by intubation with an endoprosthesis leads to an improved quality of life. The used endoscopic positioning provides better results than the surgical procedure. This method is easy in handling and has only few complications. The endoscopic positioning of endoprosthesis is also a really alternative of alimentary fistula. The positioning of plastic prosthesis under endoscopic control should be given preference in the palliative treatment of obstructing cardio-esophageal malignancy.


A supply chain is a complex and dynamic supply and demand network of agents, activities, resources, technology and information involved in moving products or services from supplier to customer. The suitability of supply chains can be measured by multiple criteria, such as environmental, social, economic, and others. Finding an equilibrium between the interests of members of a sustainable supply chain is a very important problem. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the design of sustainable supply chains and to create a comprehensive model and solution methods for designing sustainable supply chains. Multiple criteria analysis and game theory is a natural choice to effectively analyze and model decision making in such multiple agent situation with multiple criteria where the outcome depends on the choice made by every agent. Multiple criteria analysis is useful for assessing sustainability of supply chains. The De Novo approach focusses on designing optimal systems. Game theory has become a useful instrument in the analysis of supply chains with multiple agents. Games are used for behavior modeling of supply chains; they focus on the allocation of resources, capacities, costs, revenues and profits. The co-opetition concept combines the advantages of both competition and cooperation into new dynamics, which can be used to not only generate more profits, but also to change the nature of the business environment for the benefit of users. Keywords: supply chain, sustainability, multiple criteria, De Novo approach, game theory, biform games.


The effect of nedocromil sodium (4 mg; 7.8 × 10−6m) on adenosine‐induced bronchoconstriction was compared with that of a higher dose of sodium cromoglycate (10 mg; 24.1 × 10−6m). Eleven allergic asthmatic patients (mean age 26.28 ± 12.21 years) were studied. Adenosine (0.03–4.00 mg) was administered as nebulized aerosol. The dose of adenosine producing a 20% change in FEV1(PD20) was calculated from the individual semi‐logarithmic dose‐response curves. Patients were studied on 4 separate days. On the first day the adenosine challenge was performed; on subsequent days patients were pretreated (20 min before challenge) with either placebo or test drug (nedocromil sodium 2 × 2 mg or sodium cromoglycate 2 × 5 mg) administered by pressurized aerosol in a randomized, double‐blind manner. Statistical analysis was performed by two‐way analysis of variance. Neither sodium cromoglycate nor nedocromil sodium showed a significant bronchodilator effect. In patients treated with placebo, inhalation of adenosine produced a dose‐related bronchoconstriction with a geometric mean PD20 of 0.42 mg. After drug administration the mean PD20 values were 1.29 mg with sodium cromoglycate and 2.30 mg with nedocromil sodium. Both drugs produced a significant increase in mean PD20 value in comparison with placebo and baseline (P < 0.01). These results demonstrate that nedocromil sodium (4 mg) is significantly more potent than a larger dose of sodium cromoglycate (10 mg) in inhibiting adenosine‐induced bronchoconstriction (P < 0.05).


Emerging evidence has suggested that the capability to sustain tumor formation, growth and resistance to chemotherapy in ovarian as well as other human malignancies, exclusively resides in a small proportion of tumor cells termed cancer stem cells (CSC). If this hypothesis is correct, different therapeutic approaches need to be considered for the elimination of the cancer stem cell population. During the characterization of CD44+ ovarian CSC we found a high expression of the genes encoding for claudin-4. Because this tight junction protein is the natural high affinity receptor for the cytotoxic effect of Clostridium Perfringens Enterotoxin (CPE), we have extensively investigated the sensitivity of ovarian CSC to CPE treatment in vitro and in vivo. We report that CD44+ ovarian CSC expressed claudin-4 gene at significantly higher levels when compared to matched autologous CD44- ovarian cancer cells and, regardless of their higher resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, died within 1 hr to the exposure to 1.0 μg/mL of CPE in vitro. Importantly, multiple intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of sublethal doses of CPE in SCID mouse harboring established xenografts of chemotherapy resistant CD44+ ovarian CSC had a significant inhibitory effect on tumor progression leading to the cure and/or long term survival of all treated animals (p = 0.001). CPE may represent an unconventional, potentially highly effective strategy to eradicate chemotherapy resistant CSC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4369. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4369


ACCEPTED: December 18, 2020 Aim: To present a therapeutic modality of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Case report: A 24-year-old female patient, with no prior known diagnosis, was admitted to the Department of Cardiology with signs of acute heart failure. A 45 days prior to admission she delivered a healthy baby (first pregnancy) via cesarean section, while 20 days before hospitalization she developed symptoms like dyspnea, orthopnea, fatigue, weakness and extremely low tolerance to effort. Upon admission on X-ray, heart shadow was enlarged and, while on electrocardiogram (ECG) there was a sinus tachycardia with negative T waves from V1-V5. Echocardiography on admission showed initial dilatation of cardiac chambers, reduced ejection fraction of left ventricle (EFLV; estimated about 25%) with global hypokinesia, signs of moderate to severe mitral and tricuspid regurgitation with mild pulmonary hypertension, along with hemodynamically nonsignificant circumferential pericardial effusion (diastolic separation of 8mm). Laboratory findings were as follows: NT-pro BNP 1810.0 pg/mL; signs of anemia, while inflammatory parameters, cardiac necrosis markers, urea, creatinine, D-dimer and thyroid hormones values remained in reference values. Testing for known cardiotropic viruses was not positive and PPCM was diagnosed. The patient was treated with cardio selective beta blocker (metoprolol), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor (ramipril), diuretics (furosemide), spironolactone, and digoxin along with supportive therapy. After twelve days of hospital treatment, there was significant improvement of the clinical status of our patient. Her symptoms were notably ameliorated. EFLV before discharge improved to 40%, heart chambers dimensions were in referral values, while mitral and tricuspid regurgitation were significantly reduced into a mild grade, while pericardial effusion was also in regression. Follow-up examination after two and six months showed further improvement of patients' conditions while after six months only beta-blocker and acetylsalicylic acid were prescribed in therapy.


Electroactive biomaterials are fascinating for tissue engineering applications because of their ability to deliver electrical stimulation directly to cells, tissue, and organs. One particularly attractive conductive filler for electroactive biomaterials is silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) because of their high conductivity, antibacterial activity, and ability to promote bone healing. However, production of AgNPs involves a toxic reducing agent which would inhibit biological scaffold performance. This work explores facile and green synthesis of AgNPs using extract of Cilembu sweet potato and studies the effect of baking and precursor concentrations (1, 10 and 100 mM) on AgNPs' properties. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) results revealed that the smallest particle size of AgNPs (9.95 ± 3.69 nm) with nodular morphology was obtained by utilization of baked extract and ten mM AgNO3. Polycaprolactone (PCL)/AgNPs scaffolds exhibited several enhancements compared to PCL scaffolds. Compressive strength was six times greater (3.88 ± 0.42 MPa), more hydrophilic (contact angle of 76.8 ± 1.7°), conductive (2.3 ± 0.5 × 10−3 S/cm) and exhibited anti-bacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC3658 (99.5% reduction of surviving bacteria). Despite the promising results, further investigation on biological assessment is required to obtain comprehensive study of this scaffold. This green synthesis approach together with the use of 3D printing opens a new route to manufacture AgNPs-based electroactive with improved anti-bacterial properties without utilization of any toxic organic solvents.


The requirement of furfural as solvent in extraction of purification of lubricating oil in Kilang Pertamina and others furfural requirement in Indonesia still be imported. Though many agricultural wastes containing pentosan as furfural source is available in our state, for example : corn cobs ( 30 %) and bagasse ( 25%) and agriculture solid waste generally. The agricultural wastes hydrolysis with low concentration-acid catalyst yields furfural crude with maximum purity 94 % ( mass). Pure furfural required by minimum 98,5 % ( mass). To get level of purity required done with purification process by using vacuum distillation. Crude furfural is feed into column vacuum distillation In the early process is obtained  water and some light phases, formed 2 phase. Longer distillate 1 phase in the form of furfural with level of high purety. In this research, pure furfural is obtained with distillation yields 75,9 % from crude furfural. Keyword s: crude furfural ; vacuum distillation ; pure furfural


Elgiloy CP Titanium Grade 1 / Ti 25 is an unalloyed commercially pure titanium. It has the highest purity, lowest strength, and best ductility and formability of the four ASTM unalloyed titanium grades. This grade can be used in the temperature range -184 to 540 °C (-300 to 1000 °F). This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: Ti-193. Producer or source: Elgiloy Specialty Metals.


ABSTRACT A combined experimental numerical approach is applied for sensitivity analysis of the transformation induced plasticity (TRIP)-parameter K on weld residual stresses for welding of structural steel of grade S355J2+ N. K was determined experimentally using the Gleeble 3500 facility. A thermomechanical FE model of the real welding process was experimentally validated against temperature field and X-ray stress measurements. Within sensitivity analyses K was varied by several orders of magnitude and the influence on the calculated residual stresses is evaluated by performing corresponding FEA. The correct order of magnitude is sufficient to reproduce the residual stresses qualitatively and quantitatively.


Adding detergent to urine intended for drug testing is one of many ways to adulterate the specimen. This modified methylene blue procedure allows the detection and quantitation of anionic surfactants in urine. One-hundred urine specimens that exhibited normal foaming when shaken gave anionic surfactant values lower than 36 microg/mL with a mean of 8.73 microg/mL. Most of the suspected adulterated specimens and spiked samples with only 100 microL of detergent in 60 mL of urine had values greater than 750 microg/mL. Based on the analysis of negative samples, a urine specimen with an anionic surfactant level of 100 microg/mL or greater could be considered adulterated and most likely will have levels greater than 800 microg/mL.


Mainstream distance learning nowadays is heavily influenced by traditional educational approaches that produces homogenised learning scenarios for all learners through learning management systems. Any differentiation between learners and personalisation of their learning scenarios is left to the teacher, who gets minimum support from the system in this respect. This way, the truly digital native , the computer , is left out of the move, unable to better support the teaching-learning processes because it is not provided with the means to transform into knowledge all the information that it stores and manages. I believe learning management systems should care for supporting adaptation and personalisation of both individual learning and the formation of communities of learning. Open learner modelling and intelligent collaborative learning environments are proposed as a means to care. The proposal is complemented with a general architecture for an environment for distance and an educational model based on the principles of self-management,


Traditional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms have been used to great effect in flat, indoor environments such as corridors and offices. We demonstrate that with a few augmentations, existing 2D SLAM technology can be extended to perform full 3D SLAM in less benign, outdoor, undulating environments. In particular, we use data acquired with a 3D laser range finder. We use a simple segmentation algorithm to separate the data stream into distinct point clouds, each referenced to a vehicle position. The SLAM technique we then adopt inherits much from 2D delayed state (or scan-matching) SLAM in that the state vector is an ever growing stack of past vehicle positions and inter-scan registrations are used to form measurements between them. The registration algorithm used is a novel combination of previous techniques carefully balancing the need for maximally wide convergence basins, robustness and speed. In addition, we introduce a novel post-registration classification technique to detect matches which have converged to incorrect local minima


Dr. Brian Day had a simple solution when it became increasingly difficult to book operating room time in Vancouver. He built his own hospital. The Cambie Surgical Centre, which treats patients from BC and around the world, has 2 main operating rooms, 10 recovery beds and 5 private rooms for extended stays. "What I've done," says Day, "is say that if there are no operating rooms at UBC, I'll build my own."


Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is the most common type of adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is considered to be heterogeneous in cytogenetics, immunophenotype and clinical feature. As the results of gene expression profiling, DLBCL can be divided into prognostically significant 3 subgroups of germinal center B-like (GCB), activated B-like and type 3. Chromosomal translocations affecting the BCL6 locus at the 3q27 locus are common in DLBCL, however, the prognostic significance of BCL6 rearrangement is still controversial. Methods: Twenty-six cases of DLBCL were examined with interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on touch preparations of lymph nodes using LSI BCL6 dual color probes (Vysis) for the incidence of BCL6 rearrangement and immunohistochemistry on paraffin section using CD10, BCL6 and MUM1 for subclassfying "GCB phenotype" and "non-GCB phenotype". The correlation of BCL6 rearrangement with survival was investigated in two subgroups of DLBCL. Results: Of the 26 DLBCL cases, 6 cases (23%) were considered GCB phenotype and 20 cases (77%) non-GCB phenotype. BCL6 rearrangements were detected in 2 of 6 cases (33%) with GCB phenotype and 9 of 20 (45%) with non-GCB phenotype (total 11/26, 42%). ALL 6 cases with the GCB phenotype achieved sustained complete remission after chemotherapy and are alive. On the other hand, complete remission rate was 22% for the cases with BCL6 rearrangement but 73% for the cases without BCL6 rearrangement in the non-GCB phenotype (p=0.069). BCL6 rearrangement had a significant adverse effect on progression free survival within the non-GCB phenotype (P=0.016), but there was no significant correlation between BCL6 rearrangement and overall survival. Conclusion: FISH-based technique of the BCL6 rearrangements using touch preparations of lymph nodes could be developed for the retrospective analysis on survival. BCL6 rearrangement showed a poor prognostic effect particular in the non-GCB subgroup of DLBCL.


The presence of regulatory T (Treg) cells is thought to be an important mechanism by which head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) successfully evades the immune system. Using multicolour flow cytometry, the frequency and functional capacity of two CD4+ CD127low/− Treg cell populations, separated on the basis of different levels of CD25 expression (CD25inter and CD25high), from the peripheral circulation of newly presenting HNSCC patients were assessed with regard to clinicopathological features and healthy controls. The frequency of circulating Treg cells was similar between HNSCC patients and healthy controls, and for patients with HNSCC developing from different subsites (laryngeal compared with oropharyngeal). However, patients with advanced stage tumours and those with nodal involvement had significantly elevated levels of CD4+ CD25high CD127low/− Treg cells compared with patients who had early stage tumours (P = 0·03) and those without nodal involvement (P = 0·03), respectively. CD4+ CD25high CD127low/− Treg cells from the entire HNSCC patient cohort and from patients whose tumours had metastasized to the lymph nodes were also shown to suppress the proliferation of effector T cells significantly more, compared with those from healthy controls (P = 0·04) or patients with no nodal involvement (P = 0·04). Additionally, CD4+ CD25inter CD127low/− Treg cells consistently induced greater suppressive activity than CD4+ CD25high CD127low/− Treg cells on the proliferation of the effector T‐cell populations (CD4+ CD25− CD127−/+ and CD4+ CD25+ CD127+). Peripheral Treg cells, identified by the CD127low/− phenotype, have been shown to be influenced by a patient's tumour stage and/or nodal status in HNSCC; suggesting a role in tumour progression that could be manipulated by future immunotherapy.


In this paper, a Multi-scale Contrastive Graph Convolutional Network (MC-GCN) method is proposed for unconstrained face recognition with image sets, which takes a set of media (orderless images and videos) as a face subject instead of single media (an image or video). Due to factors such as illumination, posture, media source, etc., there are huge intra-set variances in a face set, and the importance of different face prototypes varies considerably. How to model the attention mechanism according to the relationship between prototypes or images in a set is the main content of this paper. In this work, we formulate a framework based on graph convolutional network (GCN), which considers face prototypes as nodes to build relations. Specifically, we first present a multi-scale graph module to learn the relationship between prototypes at multiple scales. Moreover, a Contrastive Graph Convolutional (CGC) block is introduced to build attention control model, which focuses on those frames with similar prototypes (contrastive information) between pair of sets instead of simply evaluating the frame quality. The experiments on IJB-A, YouTube Face, and an animal face dataset clearly demonstrate that our proposed MC-GCN outperforms the state-of-the-art methods significantly.


Four new tropane alkaloids were isolated from the leaves of Erythroxylum moonii and identified as 3 alpha-isobutyryloxy-7 beta-hydroxynortropane (1), 3 alpha-hydroxy-7 beta-phenylacetoxynortropane (2), 3 alpha-cis-cinnamoyloxytropane (3), and 3 alpha-hydroxy-6 beta-(3'-hydroxy-2'-methyl-3'-phenylpropionyloxy)-7 beta-hydroxytropane (4). Other alkaloids isolated for the first time from E. moonii were 3 alpha-benzoyloxytropane, 3 alpha-phenylacetoxytropane, 3 alpha-trans-cinnamoyloxytropane, and 3 alpha-phenylacetoxy-6 beta,7 beta-dihydroxynortropane. The structures of compounds 1-4 were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.


Introduction: Paediatric patients usually present with various painful conditions that require immediate surgical interventions. Many studies have been done on ketamine propofol combination to prove its efficacy. Aim: The aim was to compare the effect of propofol-ketamine and propofol-fentanyl infusion in terms of haemodynamic stability, postoperative sedation, postoperative nausea and vomiting and adverse effects if any. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, double blind controlled trial conducted in 60 patients of ASA Grade I & II of age group 3 to 14 years. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups to receive either ketamine 1mg/kg before induction (group PK, n=30) or fentanyl 1.5 ug/ kg before induction (group PF, n=30) and patients in both groups were induced with propofol 2 mg kg and maintained on propofol infusion at rate of 50 ug/ kg /min. Heart rate and blood pressure were monitored throughout the procedure. Sedation was monitored by Ramsay sedation score and side effects were noted. Results: In PF group there was a fall in heart rate as compared to PK group. There was a statistically significant fall in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in PF group (P 0.05). In PK group there is no significant fall in SBP, DBP and MAP. The patients in group PF were more sedated postoperatively and there was increased incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in group PF as compared to group PK. Conclusion: Propofol-ketamine combination is better as compared to propofol-fentanyl in terms of haemodynamic stability and better recovery with less side effects.


A 36-year-old man presented to hospital with gross haematuria and evidence of severe, refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Initial treatment with high-volume plasma exchange therapy and early administration of rituximab failed to achieve a sustained clinical response. His clinical course was complicated by left hemianopsia and despite an urgent splenectomy he developed a large right-sided stroke with malignant cerebral oedema that required an emergent decompressive craniotomy. He also had numerous infectious complications as a consequence of an aggressive immunosuppressive strategy. While the patient did not respond to cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, N-acetylcysteine, and one course of bortezomib, he eventually responded to a second course of bortezomib. One year later, the patient remains in remission and maintains excellent cognitive function. However, he has not completely recovered from his stroke and continues to participate in rehabilitation for his residual physical deficits.


The User Centric Smart Card Ownership Model (UCOM) provides an open and dynamic smart card environment enabling cardholders to request installation/deletion of an application to which they are entitled. As in this model, smart cards are not under the control of a centralised authority; hence, it is difficult for an application provider to ascertain their trustworthiness. At present, proposed secure channel protocols for the smart card environment do not provide adequate assurance required by the UCOM. In this paper, we explore the reasons behind their failure to meet the UCOM requirements and then propose a secure and trusted channel protocol that meets them. In addition, the proposed protocol is also suitable to GlobalPlatform's consumer-centric smart cards. A comparison of the proposed protocol with existing smart card and selected Internet protocols is provided. Then we analyse the protocol with the CasperFDR tool. Finally, we detail the implementation and the performance measurement.


We study a Brownian motor moving in a sawtooth potential in the presence of an external driving force and two heat reservoirs. Based on the corresponding Fokker—Planck equation, the analytical expressions of the current and efficiency in the quasi-steady-state limit are obtained. The effects of temperature difference and the amplitude of the external driving force on the current and efficiency are discussed, respectively. The following is our findings. (i) The current increases with both δ and A. In other words, δ and A enhance the transport of the Brownian motor. (ii) The competition between the temperature difference and the amplitude of the external driving force can lead to efficiency optimization. The efficiency is a peaked function of temperature, i.e., δ > 0 and a lower amplitude value of the external driving force is necessary for efficiency optimization. (iii) The efficiency increases with δ, and decreases with A. δ and A play opposite roles with respect to the efficiency, which indicates that δ enhances the efficiency of energy transformation while A weakens it.


Humayon B Dewan, Fawad Kaiser
Brief descriptions of an illness resembling schizophrenia can be found hundreds of years
ago but it was not until the middle of 19th Century that Morel1 first coined the term
"demence precoce" to describe a disorder starting in adolescence and leading first to
withdrawal, odd mannerisms and self neglect then eventually to intellectual deterioration.
Morel searched for specific entities and argued for a classification based on cause,
symptoms and outcome. In 1868, Kahlbam described the syndrome of catatonia and 3
years later Hecker wrote an account of a condition he called hebephrenia


This study assesses the adequacy of the pension system in Tanzania by using membership data of pension schemes. The analysis, which is based on the life cycle hypothesis, includes an assessment of pension system adequacy by using replacement rate, coverage rate, catchment rate, and demographic rates. The results of the study reveal several things. First, replacement rate is 29 percent, far below the international minimum standards of 40 percent due to generous commutation factors, and commutation being inversely related to monthly pension. Second, the lack of indexation diminishes adequacy of benefits. Third, actual contribution rate is 15 percent, lower than the statutory contribution rate of 20 percent of salary, which could lead to low density of contribution and cause depletion of assets by 2022 if no action is taken. Fourth, inadequacy of benefits was found to be caused by low catchment rate, which was found to be positively correlated with benefits payment. Fifth, the analysis establishes that the demographic structure would support increase in coverage of membership should the government institute appropriate policies.


In the Arab world, the study of "illegal" and/or "anomalous" sexualities have disturbed the political powers. Indeed, studying these sexualities as social phenomena is a way to recognize their existence and the difficulties faced by the religious authorities to limit sex to the marriage institutions. Therefore the study of these sexualities could become an ideological weapon to contest the Arab/Islamo political power legitimacy.


A two-dimensional 128 x 128 detector array for the 1.0 - 1.7 micron spectral region has been demonstrated with indium gallium arsenide. The 30 micron square pixels had 60 micron spacing in both directions and were designed to be compatible with a 2D Reticon multiplexer. Dark currents below 100 pA, capacitance near 0.1 pF, and quantum efficiencies above 80 percent were measured. Probe maps of dark current and quantum efficiency are presented along with pixel dropout data and wafer yield which was as high as 99.89 percent (7 dropouts) in an area of 6528 pixels and 99.37 percent (103 dropouts) over an entire 128 x 128 pixel region.


Understanding the link between tectonic-driven extensional faulting and volcanism is crucial from a hazard perspective in active volcanic environments, while ancient volcanic successions provide records on how volcanic eruption styles, compositions, magnitudes and frequencies can change in response to extension timing, distribution and intensity. This study draws on intimate relationships of volcanism and extension preserved in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) and Gulf of California (GoC) regions of western Mexico. Here, a major Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite "flare-up" (>300,000 km3) switched to a dominantly bimodal and mixed effusive-explosive volcanic phase in the Early Miocene (~100,000 km3), associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous grabens. Rhyolitic dome fields were emplaced along graben edges and at intersections of cross-graben and graben-parallel structures during early stages of graben development. Concomitant with this change in rhyolite eruption style was a change in crustal source as revealed by zircon chronochemistry with rapid rates of rhyolite magma generation due to remelting of mid- to upper crustal, highly differentiated igneous rocks emplaced during earlier SMO magmatism. Extension became more focused ~18 Ma resulting in volcanic activity being localised along the site of GoC opening. This localised volcanism (known as the Comondu "arc") was dominantly effusive and andesite-dacite in composition. This compositional change resulted from increased mixing of basaltic and rhyolitic magmas rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting Guadalupe Plate. A poor understanding of space-time relationships of volcanism and extension has thus led to incorrect past tectonic interpretations of Comondu-age volcanism.


ABSTRACT In-situ precipitation method is widely used and reported in the literature for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles based on their applications in many fields. However, the rate of reaction and rate constant for the production of Magnetite Phase of iron oxide did not study in depth. Reaction rates are required to design a scale-up of the process. In this study, Magnetite phase of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4) are synthesized by the in-situ precipitation method, and the overall reaction rate is evaluated based on the concentration of Magnetite produced during the process. Further, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy are used to confirm the presence of a higher proportion of magnetite (Fe3O4) in the final product, which is responsible for more top magnetic properties 74.615 emu. Changes in morphology of these nanoparticles at different intervals of the reaction are reported by transmission electron microscope. The results showed that spherical nanoparticles synthesized at different intervals of the reaction have a very narrow range of particle size, i.e. 9–15 nm. Detailed analysis reveals the presence of a higher share of maghemite (Fe2O3) at the start of the reaction. However, maghemite eventually is converted to magnetite by the end of the reaction, thereby enhancing the magnetic strength of the nanoparticles.


Seed germination and seedling growth are two essential early determinants of subsequent crop yield and quality. A high germination percentage of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seed is required to import into Australia. The viability of hemp seed can decline rapidly depending on storage and other factors; hence, the quality of imported seed is not always reliable. Here, we aimed to investigate germination and early seedling growth responses of 14 industrial hemp varieties after being imported from various countries. Germination trials were conducted with 100 seeds of 14 varieties using a soil-less Petri dish assay and a compost growth medium under glasshouse conditions. We also assessed the effect of seed pre-treatments such as gibberellic acid (500 and 1000 mg·L−1), chlorine dioxide (500 and 1000 mg·L−1) and cold temperature (4 °C for 72 h) using 300 seeds of each of the three selected varieties in compost growth medium. Hemp varieties imported from China had higher germination and better seedling growth indices than those imported from Europe. All seed pre-treatments were associated with a decreasing trend in germination, but a positive effect on early growth responses was observed. Our findings indicate that the hemp variety Han FNQ performed better than many other varieties did regarding seed germination and seedling growth. Hemp seeds sanitising with 500 mg·L−1 of chlorine dioxide might improve the germination and early growth of seedlings.


Green roof technology has a history that predates the modern era. Many functions of green roofs utilized during human history are analogous to contemporary functions. The justification of the use of green roof technology based on a review of literature shows the multiple and documented benefits that these systems can impart to the urban environment. A case study of the installation of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale green roof, showed the actual process of constructing the system. The maintenance and observation of this system gives firsthand experience. Interviews with green roof professionals allow greater understanding of current research needs. Finally, from these resources, recommendations for future research can be identified. This could ensure cogent direction in future research.


Objective: Carotid wall intima-media thickness (IMT) has been recognized as a surrogate measure of atherosclerosis. This study investigated the associations between cardiovascular risk factors and carotid IMT at three different segments of the carotid artery in young individuals. Design and method: Apparently healthy adolescents and young adults (age 12–26 years) referred for elevated blood pressure and healthy volunteers were subjected to: (i) 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring, (ii) assessment of blood lipid and glucose profile, and (iii) IMT measurement (high resolution B-mode ultrasonography) at the level of common carotid, bulb and internal carotid bilaterally. Results: Data from 79 subjects were analyzed (mean age 18.5 ± 4.8 [SD] years, 61 males, body mass index [BMI] 24.5 ± 5.5 kg/m2, 24 volunteers, 19 with elevated 24-hour ABP [>=95th percentile for adolescents or >=130/80 mmHg for adults]). Bivariate associations between carotid IMT and cardiovascular risk factors are shown in Table. In multivariate regression analyses, common carotid IMT was determined (R2 = 0.31) by 24-hour weighted SD of systolic ABP and male gender, bulb IMT (R2 = 0.52) by LDL-cholesterol and male gender, and internal carotid IMT (R2 = 0.15) by waist circumference. Figure. No caption available. Conclusions: These data suggest that in adolescents and young adults common carotid IMT best reflects the burden of high blood pressure variability, whereas bulb and internal carotid IMT are mainly determined by lipids and central obesity respectively.


Abstract : This paper reports on the Scaleable High Performance LAN (SHPL), the networking infrastructure for the Navy's FY-96 Joint Power Projection/Real Time Support (JPP/RTS) Core Technology Program aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). The program demonstrates advanced concepts in strike planning, visualization, and execution using the latest technology in high speed computing, 3-D graphics, and networking. The Joint Power Projection application that SHPL supports involves the coordination of Air Tasking Orders (ATOs) among CTAPS, TSCM and APPEX, the display via APPEX of TSCM auto-route missions, the review of missions by Strike Lead, the passing of missions to TAMPS for detailed aircraft planning, the review of the mission concept by CAG, and the overall mission preview by TSCM and APPEX. The SHPL, or networking element of the JPP/RTS Core Technology Program, is a totally fiber optic shipboard network that is based on asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and switched Ethernet technology. The SHPL network demonstrates both permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) and switched virtual circuits (SVCs), handles IP frames via both classical IP (RFC 1577) and FORE IP, and demonstrates the LAN emulation functionality of the ATM Forum's LANE 1.0 standard. In addition to handling computer data such as file transfer, imagery and email, the SHPL network handles voice and video in the form of interactive video teleconferencing (VTC), shared X-windows applications via SharedX, interactive electronic whiteboarding, and NTSC video via ATM. SHPL also demonstrates the network management of a hybrid ATM and Switched Ethernet network, and cable plant configuration management. The use of SHPL on the CVN-71 demonstrates what high performance networking technology can do for next generation Navy ships, and how networking can extend the useful life of current ships.


A metaheuristic optimization procedure integrated with discrete event simulation (DES) is proposed in this work. The procedure was applied to the operation of the bus fleet owned by Al-Oroba Transportation Company in Amman, Jordan. The fleet operation was modeled and simulated using ARENA® software. Two key performance indicators (KPIs) were defined to validate the developed model and characterize system performance; namely the bus activity ratio (BAR) and the average waiting time in the queue (AWT). Improvement in system performance was achieved by optimizing the number of buses and ticket cashiers in the system subject to some bound constraints. Aiming at maximizing the net profit, an optimal solution was reached at a total number of buses of 28 and one ticket cashier in the system. Simulation values of BAR and AWT parameters were improved maximum by +88.9% and -35.6%, respectively, compared to the actual system.


The existence of extra chiral generations with all fermions heavier than $m_Z$ is strongly disfavored by the precision electroweak data. However the data still allow a few extra generations if the neutral leptons have masses close to 50 GeV. Such heavy neutrino can be searched in the reaction $e^+ e^- \to N\bar{N}\gamma$. Existence of 50 GeV neutrinos makes standard model Higgs boson invisible.


We have identified 14 Asian patients with homozygous β° thalassaemia who had a mild clinical disorder related to an augmented production of haemoglobin F. None of their parents had an elevated level of Hb F. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the β‐globin cluster of these patients and a control group of Asian thalassaemia major patients showed that 6/14 of the thalassaemia intermedia patients were homozgyous for a particular 5′β‐globin haplotype (−+−++), in contrast to 1/42 of the thalassaemia major patients. Furthermore, the —+—++β haplotype is also associated with amelioration of disease severity in β thalassaemia in an Italian population. This β haplotype is linked to a DNA sequence variation 5′ (at position — 158) to the cγ globin gene which can be detected by the presence (+) of an Xmn I restriction enzyme site. The possible role of the Xmn I‐γ polymorphism in relation to this variant HPFH is discussed. We conclude that much of the observed clinical variability of β thalassaemia can now be explained by the inheritance of β thalassaemia chromosomes with different propensities for fetal haemoglobin production.


It is well known that the presence of comorbidities and age-related health issues may hide biochemical and metabolic features triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection and other diseases associated to hypoxia, as they are by themselves chronic inflammatory conditions that may potentially disturb metabolic homeostasis and thereby negatively impact on COVID-19 progression. To unveil the metabolic abnormalities inherent to hypoxemia caused by COVID-19, we here applied gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to analyze the main metabolic changes exhibited by a population of male patients less than 50 years of age with mild/moderate and severe COVID-19 without pre-existing comorbidities known to predispose to life-threatening complications from this infection. Several differences in serum levels of particular metabolites between normal controls and patients with COVID-19 as well as between mild/moderate and severe COVID-19 were identified. These included increased glutamic acid and reduced glutamine, cystine, threonic acid, and proline levels. In particular, using the entire metabolomic fingerprint obtained, we observed that glutamine/glutamate metabolism was associated with disease severity as patients in the severe COVID-19 group presented the lowest and higher serum levels of these amino acids, respectively. These data highlight the hypoxia-derived metabolic alterations provoked by SARS-CoV-2 infection in the absence of pre-existing co-morbidities as well as the value of amino acid metabolism in determining reactive oxygen species recycling pathways, which when impaired may lead to increased oxidation of proteins and cell damage. They also provide insights on new supportive therapies for COVID-19 and other disorders that involve altered redox homeostasis and lower oxygen levels that may lead to better outcomes of disease severity.


 Abstract — The exploration of urban spatial evolution is an important part of urban development research. Therefore, the evolutionary modern Yangzhou urban spatial texture was taken as the research object, and Spatial Syntax was used as the main research tool, this paper explored Yangzhou spatial evolution law and its driving factors from the urban street network scale, district scale and street scale. The study has concluded that at the urban scale, Yangzhou urban spatial evolution is the result of a variety of causes, including physical and geographical condition, policy and planning factors, and traffic conditions, and the evolution of space also has an impact on social, economic, environmental and cultural factors. At the district and street scales, changes in space will have a profound influence on the history of the city and the activities of people. At the end of the article, the matters needing attention during the evolution of urban space were summarized.


In this work we would define an historical arrangement of the state of knowledge regarding the ecological impact of anthropogenic litter on marine mammals, assessing the role of different type of impacts (ingestion vs. entanglement) and pressures (three size-based categories). Analyzing 203 references (from 1976 to 2016), we obtained a "black-list" of 101 species impacted by marine litter (78.9% on 128 species totally known). At species level, four cetacean (Megaptera novaeangliae, Physeter macrocephalus, Tursiops truncatus, Eubalaena glacialis) showed the highest number of bibliographic citations. A significant higher number of species was impacted by entanglement when compared to ingestion. Macro-litter represents the main factor of pressure in all groups; micro-litter showed the highest frequency in Mysticeti, probably explained from their food filtration behaviour. Both intrinsic eco-biogeographic traits (e.g. trophic niche, food catching behaviour, species range) and extrinsic methodological biases could explain our patterns. Since the entanglement is easier to record because of imply only an external observation without further post-mortem examination, and that large litter is easier to detect in respect to mesoand micro-litter, we hypothesize that both this information could be largely biased. Moreover, we observed a direct correlation between the research effort on species (obtained from Scholar recurrences) and the number of citations related to marine litter events, although some exceptions are present: therefore our "black" list of impacted species is not complete and could be increased focusing research on poor-studied neglected species. After 2005 the number of studies on this topic showed a large increase: however, literature appeared extremely heterogeneous. In this sense, we suggest the use of a standardized nomenclature for pressures and impacts to reduce the loss of information.


We show that a point process of hard spheres exhibits long-range orientational order. This process is designed to be a random perturbation of a three-dimensional lattice that satisfies a specific rigidity property; examples include the FCC and HCP lattices. We also define two-dimensional near-lattice processes by local geometry-dependent hard disk conditions. Earlier results about the existence of long-range orientational order carry over, and we obtain the existence of infinite-volume measures on two-dimensional point configurations that turn out to follow the orientation of a fixed triangular lattice arbitrarily closely.


This thesis addresses the problems of initialization and separability in liquid state NMR based quantum information processors. We prepare pure quantum states lying above the entanglement threshold. Our pure state quantum computer derives its purity from the highly polarized nuclear spin states in the para-hydrogen molecule. The thesis begins with a critique of conventional NMR based quantum information processing outlining the major strengths and weaknesses of the technology. We describe the enhanced magnetic ordering of the nuclear spin states in para-hydrogen and an initialization experiment exploiting this effect to achieve pure, entangled states. These states can indeed be used as initial states in implementing quantum algorithms: we describe mplementations of the Deutsch and the Grover quantum algorithms. The "twirl" operation converts a completely arbitrary input state to a Werner singlet. The NMR implementation of this operation is taken up. We also analyze the possibility of sharing the purity of some highly polarized qubits in a quantum computer onto quantum subspaces of arbitrary dimensions, and whether these sharing operations increase or decrease the likelihood of entanglement.


We present an efficient and green methodology for the synthesis of glycerol monoethers, starting from glycidol and different alcohols, by means of heterogeneous acid catalysis. A scope of Brønsted and Lewis acid catalysts were applied to the benchmark reaction of glycidol and methanol. The selected catalysts were cationic exchangers, such as Nafion NR50, Dowex 50WX2, Amberlyst 15 and K10-Montmorillonite, both in their protonic form and exchanged with Al(III), Zn(II) and Fe(III). Thus, total conversions were reached in short times by using 1 and 5% mol catalyst loading and room temperature, without the need for excess glycidol or the presence of a solvent. Finally, these conditions and the best catalysts were successfully applied to the reaction of glycidol with several alcohols such as butanol or isopropanol.


ABSTRACT Drug delivery and triggered release in tumor cells would realize the ultimate goal of precise cancer treatment. An APE1 triggered DNA nanoprism was designed, aiming at the applications of both drug delivery and precise triggered drug release in cancer cell. We demonstrate that the AP-Prism was successfully used as a vehicle based on the intracellular endogenous enzyme APE1 triggered for controlled drug delivery and triggered release. The box like DNA prism was self-assembled by annealing process and Doxorubicin molecules were then inserted into the GC base pairs. The reaction of AP-Prism enzymolysis and stability of DNA prism were investigated. Encouraged by the demonstration of AP-Prism as a drug delivery carrier, the cellular uptake and Dox release were with investigated in a human cervical cancer cell HeLa and human embryonic kidney cell HEK-293 T. Thanks to the overexpression level of APE1 in cancer cells, DNA prism could selectively release the trapped doxorubicin in response to APE1 activity in cancer cells, and provide a new strategy for the development of precision medicine.


Zoological institutions use environmental enrichment to increase opportunities for animals to engage in species-appropriate behavior. In these facilities, enrichment for giraffe typically consists of different types of feeders to increase the percentage of time spent foraging. The current study explored the use of scent enrichment as a way to increase exploration, activity levels and space use in zoo-housed Rothschild giraffe. Study one investigated the preferences of individual giraffe to six scents while study two investigated how scent enrichment affected behavior when applied in their main exhibit. Results suggest that there are individual differences in scent preference in giraffe and that scents can be used to decrease inactivity and alter exhibit utilization in the short-term. If provided in appropriate areas, depending on the species, scent enrichment may promote a better experience for zoo visitors by bringing the animals closer to the viewing areas while benefiting the animals. Future research is still needed to better understand the effects of olfactory enrichment on zoo animals.


In this paper, we present a method for the recognition of handwritten words extracted from real incoming mail documents. The word recognition process is based on three different sources of information: outputs of a character classifier, contextual information extracted from word shapes and some a priori knowledge. Reported results demonstrate the benefit of those additional information on the word recognition rates. This approach is evaluated on a database of 5000 words= examples.


Background: Several ways to assess pathologic response of breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) are currently used, including Miller-Payne system and residual cancer burden. However, the relationship between pathologic response pattern and molecular subtype of breast cancer is unclear. Methods: We investigated the pathologic response pattern of breast cancer after NAC in each molecular subtype. Female breast cancer patients who received NAC and subsequent breast operation were retrospectively analyzed. The NAC regimen used for breast cancer was primarily anthracycline and taxane-based, depending on the axillary lymph node involvement. We evaluated the molecular subtypes by immunohistochemistry, pretreatment tumor sizes by MRI, absolute invasive tumor cellularities in pretreatment biopsy and operation specimens, pathologic complete response (pCR) rates, posttreatment pathologic tumor sizes, overall residual tumor cellularities, and grades for Miller-Payne system. Results: A total of 119 patients (age: 45.2 ± 9.5 yr) were enrolled. Sixty-six cases were hormone receptor positive (ER or PR positive), 18 cases were HER2 positive (ER and PR negative), and 35 cases were triple negative. There were no significant differences in pretreatment tumor size by MRI and absolute cellularity in biopsy between three groups. After NAC, hormone receptor positive tumors showed the lowest pCR rate (18.2 %) while triple negative tumors showed the highest pCR rate (45.7 %, p=0.013). In patients with residual carcinoma, hormone receptor positive tumors showed the largest ypT size (p=0.016), the least reduction of tumor size (p=0.001), and the least absolute invasive tumor cellularity (p=0.006). Overall residual tumor cellularity and Miller-Payne grade were not significantly different between three groups (p=0.4 and p=0.703, respectively). Conclusion: These results suggest that each molecular subtype of breast cancer shows characteristic pathologic response patterns following NAC. Citation Format: In-Hye Song, Hee Jin Lee, Gyungyub Gong. Pathologic response pattern of breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: its correlation with molecular subtypes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1880. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1880


Biochar, carbon rich stable solid material, is used mostly for soil amendment. The main objective of this study was to assess false yam tuber biochar performance or effect on the vegetative growth of pepper. Pepper seeds were obtained at Wumpini agrochemical shop in Tamale which were sown, and growth parameters were assessed (germination percentage, plant height, number of leaves and leaf area index). The soil was amended with biochar produced from false yam tuber. The experiment consisted of seven treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T0) replicated three times including the control (soil only). The soil and biochar mixture were done in two different levels (6 g/pot and 12 g/pot) each at three different times (four weeks before planting (4WBP), two weeks before planting (2WBP) and at planting (DOP)) with control as soil only. Results obtained indicated that there were no significant differences in germination percentage among the treatments both at one week and two weeks after planting. The highest growth performance (plant height, number of leaves and leaf area index) was recorded in the control. The least growth performance was recorded in treatment T1 (6 g of biochar applied at 4 weeks before planting (4WBP)). The application rate of false yam tuber biochar (6 g/pot and 12 g/pot) as soil amendment might not be the right amendment for sweet pepper production.


Purpose To report a case of macular edema secondary to congenital retinal macrovessels (CRMs), which resolved spontaneously without any treatment. Observations A 39-year-old female presented with blurry vision of the right eye for one day. Fundus examination revealed a branch of artery and vein of the inferior retinal arcade crossing the horizontal raphe. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) through the fovea showed cystoid macular edema in the outer plexiform layer. However, no leakage of the vessels was noticed by fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA). Observation was recommended with close follow-up. Two weeks later, the patient returned with good visual acuity, and the macular edema was resolved spontaneously. Conclusions Macular edema is a possible complication of CRM by increasing retinal capillary hydrostatic pressure. Treatment is not necessary for this kind of macular edema if no leakage of the vessels is noticed on FFA.


Purpose

The aim of the current study is to measure the dynamic relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and firm performance in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economies.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study applies dynamic panel system generalized method of moments estimator to investigate the dynamic relationship between IC and firm performance of 6,045 publically listed firms in BRICS economies for the period of 2005-2014.

Findings

The results revealed that IC efficiency is significantly associated with return on assets and return on equity. Furthermore, human, structural and physical capitals have a positive and significant impact on firm performance. The results, while endorsing resource-based, resource-dependency and learning organization theories, emphasize the importance of IC for firm performance.

Practical implications

The current study does not only provides new direction for future research to analyze dynamic nature of IC and firm performance relationship but also emphasizes the importance of intangibles because of their contribution toward value added. The current study does provide cross-country comparison of top five emerging economies which is useful for the policy makers to evaluate investments in intangibles.

Originality/value

The current study is the first study to use dynamic ordinary least square (OLS) and Wooldridge strict exogeneity test to test the dynamic nature of the relationship between IC and firm performance. Moreover, unlike previous studies which ignore South Africa, this study covers all BRICS economies.


Wireless sensor networks comprise individual sensor nodes with limited storage and computational power. These restrictions can cause difficulty when establishing secure communication links between nodes. Expensive encryption schemes, such as Diffie-Hellman key exchange, simply cannot be effectively implemented. As a consequence, alternative methods are necessary to provide adequate security. One such technique involves randomly distributing several encryption keys and then requiring nodes to discover neighbors that share a subset of these assigned keys. Once compatible neighbors are located, communication is secured through the use of symmetric encryption. Though the requirements for this scheme are less than complex asymmetrical algorithms, each sensor node is still required to store several keys and node-to-key associations. In this paper, we advocate a simplistic approach that reduces key storage while limiting a network's susceptibility to being compromised. The approach is based on assigning a single randomly-selected key to each node. The paper presents a detailed analysis of the resilience of the proposed scheme to the collusion attacks and studies the implications on the network connectivity.


We introduce RUS, a recommender that assists users by providing personalized and justified suggestions to facilitate the task of deciding which items, among the recommended ones, are best tailored towards their individual interests. We exploit users' reviews and matrix factorization to generate recommendations that include reviewers' opinions related to item characteristics that each individual user frequently mentions. To demonstrate the validity of RUS we use the Amazon dataset.


The two methods and the hard core of economics. While methodological sciences have no object and are supposed to adopt a hypothetical-deductive method, substantive sciences including economics should use an empirical or historicaldeductive method. The great classical economists and Keynes did that and were able to develop open models explaining how equally open economic systems work. Thus, the hard core of relevant economics is formed by the classical microeconomics and the classical theory of capitalist economic growth, and by Keynesian macroeconomics. In contrast, neoclassical economist aiming to build a mathematical science wrongly adopted the hypothetical-deductive method, and came to macroeconomic and growth models that do not have practical use in policymaking. The exception is Marshall's microeconomics that does not provide a model of real economic systems, but is useful to the analysis of markets.


Inferences drawn from long-term field studies are vulnerable to biases in observability of different classes of individuals, which may lead to biases in the estimates of selection, or fitness. Population surveys that monitor breeding individuals can introduce such biases by not identifying individuals that fail early in their reproductive attempts. Here, we quantify how the standard protocol for detecting breeding females introduces bias in a long-term population study of the great tit, Parus major. We do so by identifying females whose breeding attempts fail before they would normally be censused and explore whether this early failure can be predicted by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. We investigate the effect of these biases on estimates of reproductive performance and selection. We show that females that go undetected by standard censusing because they fail early in their breeding attempt were less likely to have been previously trapped within our study site and were more likely to breed in poor-quality habitats. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this bias sampling had lead previous studies on this population to overestimate the reproductive performance of unringed females, which are likely to be immigrants to the population. Finally, we show that these biases in detectability influence estimates of selection on a key life-history trait. While these conclusions are specific to this study, we suggest that such effects are likely to be widespread and that more attention should be given to whether or not methods for surveying natural populations introduce systematic bias that will influence conclusions about ecological and evolutionary processes.


One of the most serious challenges facing the exponential performance growth in the information industry is a bandwidth bottleneck for inter-chip interconnects. We propose a photonics-electronics convergence system in response to this issue. To demonstrate the feasibility of the system, we fabricated a high density optical interposer integrated with an arrayed laser diode, an optical splitter, optical modulators, photodetectors, and optical waveguides on a single silicon substrate. Using this system, a 12.5-Gbps error free data transmission and a 6.6-Tbps/cm2 transmission density were achieved. We believe this technology will solve the bottleneck problem among LSI chips in the future.


The article discusses the methods developed by the author for assessing the proximity of the description of conferences in order to detect duplicates, as well as building groups of conferences. An overview of the existing catalogs of conferences on the Internet is given. Their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. The necessity of developing methods for more thorough verification of input data about conferences is substantiated. The description of the algorithms developed by the author and their software implementation and testing on big data is given on the example of the scientometric system IAS ISTINA. The developed algorithms make it possible to search for similar conferences by primary descriptions when registering a conference, search for duplicates in the database of the scientometric system, and combine conferences of different years into groups. The described methods can be used in the development of conference catalogs and scientometric systems to improve the quality of initial data verification.


Objective: Many studies have shown that non-motor symptoms can precede the decline of cognitive and motor function in neurocognitive disorders, and constipation is known to be one of them. Our aim is to evaluate cognitive functions in Korean elderly taking laxatives due to constipation. Method: We used data from the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging (KLoSHA), which is a community-based cohort of aged ≥65 year. Among the cohort participants, 692 individuals (300 men and 392 women) taking prescription medication were enrolled. Eight tests of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease neuropsychological battery (CERAD-NP) and Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and digit span test were applied to all study subjects. We compared the cognitive functions between the group is not taking laxatives and the group is taking it. The regression analysis was performed to assess the risk of cognitive impairment of the group taking laxatives. Results: Of the Korean elderly studied, 35(5.1%, mean age: 76.27 ± 8.45) were on laxatives, and 657(94.9%, mean age: 76.77 ± 8.15) were not. There were no differences in age, sex, education, illness burden, sleep quality and score of depression scale between two groups. Scores of CERAD-NP tests and digit span test were not also observed differences. Only the score of FAB was lower in the group taking laxatives (OR=-1.53, 95% Confidence Interval (Cl), -2.83 to -0.29). Conclusion: The Korean elderly taking laxative showed a decrease in the frontal lobe function. Psychiatrist needs to be of interest to the constipation in the elderly with regard to cognitive impairment not just as the simple physical symptom. PT588 Neural predictors of memory improvement by multistrategic memory training based on metamemory concept in older adults with subjective memory complaints Youngsung Cho, Jun Young Lee SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Republic of Korea Abstract Many older people get help from a memory training and others don't. Understanding individual differences to get memory improvement by a memory training is important to maximize the training efficiency. The purpose of this study was to find which initial neuropsychological and brain morphological characteristics predict memory improvement by memory training based on metamemory concept. A  total 39 older adults with aged over 55 years who are diagnosed as aMCI participated in metamemory training. They underwent neuropsychological tests and MRI at the entry of the training. Average age of 39 participants was 69.82(SD = 4.90) and 11 of them were male(28.20%). Average years of education was 11.41(SD = 4.31). Average SMCQ and MMSE were 4.95(SD = 3.34) and 27.13(SD = 2.67) respectively. CS difference ranged between -0.65 and 0.93 and the average value was 0.03(SD = 0.32). Stepwise multiple regression revealed Table 1. Baseline clinical characteristics of the study populationMany older people get help from a memory training and others don't. Understanding individual differences to get memory improvement by a memory training is important to maximize the training efficiency. The purpose of this study was to find which initial neuropsychological and brain morphological characteristics predict memory improvement by memory training based on metamemory concept. A  total 39 older adults with aged over 55 years who are diagnosed as aMCI participated in metamemory training. They underwent neuropsychological tests and MRI at the entry of the training. Average age of 39 participants was 69.82(SD = 4.90) and 11 of them were male(28.20%). Average years of education was 11.41(SD = 4.31). Average SMCQ and MMSE were 4.95(SD = 3.34) and 27.13(SD = 2.67) respectively. CS difference ranged between -0.65 and 0.93 and the average value was 0.03(SD = 0.32). Stepwise multiple regression revealed Table 1. Baseline clinical characteristics of the study population


: A review is presented of dental damage resulting from radiotherapy for malignant lesions in the head and neck region.