Background: Although citizens in countries worldwide took coordinated steps to support collective public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, the processes that encourage citizens to adhere with COVID-19 restrictions are not fully understood. Method: A three-wave study with a sample of Irish citizens (N Wave 1 = 1,800) was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to examine the effect of national trust on individual and normative compliance with COVID-19 restrictions directly or indirectly through social cohesion. Two longitudinal mediation models were tested. Results: In the first model, national trust significantly and positively predicted social cohesion, which in turn significantly and positively predicted personal compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. The second model showed a similar pattern, whereby national trust significantly predicted social cohesion, which in turn predicted normative compliance with the restrictions. Conclusions: National trust and social cohesion both work to promote adherence to COVID19 guidelines.


This study assessed the impact of climate change on flood frequency and flood source area at basin scale considering Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 General Circulation Models (CMIP5 GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios (2.6 and 8.5). For this purpose, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model was calibrated and validated for the Talar River Basin in northern Iran. Four empirical approaches including the Sangal, Fill–Steiner, Fuller, and Slope-based methods were used to estimate the Instantaneous Peak Flow (IPF) on a daily basis. The calibrated SWAT model was run under the two RCP scenarios using a combination of twenty GCMs from CMIP5 for the near future (2020–2040). To assess the impact of climate change on flood frequency pattern and to quantify the contribution of each subbasin on the total discharge from the Talar River Basin, Flood Frequency Index (FFI) and Subbasin Flood Source Area Index (SFSAI) were used. Results revealed that the projected climate change will likely lead to an average discharge decrease in January, February, and March for both RCPs and an increase in September and October for RCP 8.5. The maximum and minimum temperature will likely increase for all months in the near future. The annual precipitation could increase by more than 20% in the near future. This is likely to lead to an increase of IPF. The results can help managers and policy makers to better define mitigation and adaptation strategies for basins in similar climates.


Background Magnetic resonance image–guided high-intensity–focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) is a rather new, noninvasive option for the treatment of uterine fibroids. It is safe, effective, and has a very short recovery time. However, a lack of prospectively collected data on long-term (cost-)effectiveness of the MR-HIFU treatment compared with standard uterine fibroid care prevents the MR-HIFU treatment from being reimbursed for this indication. Therefore, at this point, when conservative treatment for uterine fibroid symptoms has failed or is not accepted by patients, standard care includes the more invasive treatments hysterectomy, myomectomy, and uterine artery embolization (UAE). Primary outcomes of currently available data on MR-HIFU treatment often consist of technical outcomes, instead of patient-centered outcomes such as quality of life (QoL), and do not include the use of the latest equipment or most up-to-date treatment strategies. Moreover, data on cost-effectiveness are rare and seldom include data on a societal level such as productivity loss or use of painkillers. Because of the lack of reimbursement, broad clinical implementation has not taken place, nor is the proper role of MR-HIFU in uterine fibroid care sufficiently clear. Objective The objective of our study is to determine the long-term (cost-)effectiveness of MR-HIFU compared with standard (minimally) invasive fibroid treatments. Methods The MYCHOICE study is a national, multicenter, open randomized controlled trial with randomization in a 2:1 ratio to MR-HIFU or standard care including hysterectomy, myomectomy, and UAE. The sample size is 240 patients in total. Women are included when they are 18 years or older, in premenopausal stage, diagnosed with symptomatic uterine fibroids, conservative treatment has failed or is not accepted, and eligible for MR-HIFU. Primary outcomes of the study are QoL 24 months after treatment and costs of treatment including direct health care costs, loss of productivity, and patient costs. Results Inclusion for the MYCHOICE study started in November 2020 and enrollment will continue until 2024. Data collection is expected to be completed in 2026. Conclusions By collecting data on the long-term (cost-)effectiveness of the MR-HIFU treatment in comparison to current standard fibroid care, we provide currently unavailable evidence about the proper place of MR-HIFU in the fibroid treatment spectrum. This will also facilitate reimbursement and inclusion of MR-HIFU in (inter)national uterine fibroid care guidelines. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register NL8863; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/8863 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/29467


Given a lamination in a compact space and a laminated vector field $X$ which is hyperbolic when restricted to the leaves of the lamination, we distinguish a class of $X$-invariant probabilities that describe the behavior of almost every $X$-orbit in every leaf, which we call Gibbs $u$-states. We apply this to the case of foliations in compact manifolds having leaves with negative curvature, using the foliated hyperbolic vector field on the unit tangent bundle to the foliation generating the leaf geodesics. When the Lyapunov exponents of such ergodic Gibbs $u$-states are negative, it is an SRB measure (having a positive Lebesgue basin of attraction). When the foliation is by hyperbolic leaves, this class of probabilities coincide with the classical harmonic measures introduced by Garnett. Furthermore, if the foliation is transversally conformal and does not admit a transverse invariant measure we show that there are finitely many ergodic Gibbs $u$-states, each supported in one minimal set of the foliation, each having negative Lyapunov exponents, and the union of their basins of attraction has full Lebesgue measure. The leaf geodesics emanating from a point have a proportion whose asymptotic statistics are described by each of these ergodic Gibbs $u$-states, giving rise to continuous visibility functions of the attractors. Reversing time, by considering $-X$, we obtain the existence of the same number of repellers of the foliated geodesic flow having the same harmonic measures as projections to $M$. In the case of only one attractor, we obtain a north to south pole dynamics.


Introduction:Diagnostic reasoning is a key skill practised by clinicians. It is a process by which correct clinical diagnosis is reached. Learning theories offer some guidance on how this cognitive skill is best taught; what curriculum best supports it and how it is learned and used by expert and novice learners. Novice and expert learners have different needs when it comes to developing this skill. This paper aims to explore the unique role of the medical educator; exploring how they facilitate diagnostic reasoning amongst learners with an emphasis on improving patient safety.Materials and methods:The bibliography assembled for this literature review includes original articles, quantitative and qualitative papers, narrative review articles, editorials and other documents identified through PubMed, Scopus, ERIC, Australian Education Index, British Education Index and Google Scholar Database searches. Results – Medical educators employ a variety of teaching strategies including 'thinking aloud' techniques and hypothesis generation. There is some dispute in the literature as to which teaching strategies and which curricula best support the learning of diagnostic reasoning. The contribution of good diagnostic reasoning skills in reducing clinical error and maintaining patient safety is clear.Conclusions – It is important to continue to encourage the teaching of diagnostic reasoning with an emphasis on patient safety and its role in reducing clinical error and adverse events for patients.


The current study endeavours to explore the application of the Vygotskian sociocultural approach to students' cognitive development, particularly as related to the employment of experiential and peer learning, from both teacher and student perspectives. This is followed by a discussion of the inferences made in relation to the contributions of experiential and peer learning as salient educational delivery modes. As such, a presentation of teachers' recounts about learning to teach, and students' reflections on teaching to learn are provided. Finally, the current study concludes with: 1) Insightful erudition learning and teaching curves impacting students' performance, retention and progression; and 2) Directions for future research in the area.


Since the discovery of Yamagiwa and Ichikawa that skin cancers could be induced in mice by the repeated application of gas tars, the number of animals utilised for testing the carcinogenic activity of different agents has steadily grown from year to year. Many of the experiments have been performed with a view to ascertaining what factors inhibit and what factors increase or hasten the yield of tumours, but when one attempts to analyse the experimental results available in the literature, it is often a matter of extreme difficulty to correlate the experiments of one worker with those of another. This difficulty is due in part to the variety of methods adopted by many workers when giving expression to their results, but usually in greater part to the inadequacy of the data given by the poor methods generally adopted.

It seems a matter of real importance that the results of different workers should be readily comparable one with another, and it is the urgent need for standardisation of results which has stimulated us to make a closer study of this subject. The object of this paper is to place before other cancer research workers some analyses of a variety of experiments on carcinogenesis, in the hope that one or other of the suggested methods, or some modification of them, may find favour, and be generally utilised to express the results of experiments of the class now under consideration.


Malonylglucoside isomers were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet/mass spectrometric detection and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The formation and interconversions of the isomers were monitored in heated buffer and soymilk systems. Two positional or steroisomers of malonylgenistin and malonydaidzin, showing similar UV spectra and molecular weights yet different fragmentation patterns, were detected. NMR characterization of the malonylgenistin isomer revealed its structure to be 4''-O-malonylgenistin, suggesting a malonyl migration from the glucose-6 position to the glucose-4 position. Interconversions of malonylgenistin and its isomer were observed in both buffered and soymilk systems. While malonylgenistin partially converted to the isomer upon thermal treatment, conversion of the isomer to malonylgenistin was more spontaneous. The malonylgenistin isomer represented 6-9% of the total calculated genistein content in soymilk heated at 100 °C for various periods of time. Consequently, disregarding the content of malonylglucoside isomers in processed soy matrices can lead to isoflavone underestimation and misinterpretation of the biological contributions.


This paper examines the impact of contemporary cross-boundary working on employee commitment. It contributes directly to the literature on employee commitment and in particular it advocates a multiplicity approach to commitment. We identify three foci of commitment which co-exist and illustrate their dynamic interaction. Importantly, our unit of analysis extends beyond the boundaries of the firm to include the actions of professional working which capture the main influences on employee commitment. Thematic analysis of data in 12 professional service firms identifies the interaction between the foci of commitment as well as managerial responses to tensions between the commitment foci that arise within the cross-boundary context.


Universal Information Extraction (UIE) has been introduced as a unified framework for various Information Extraction (IE) tasks and has achieved widespread success. Despite this, UIE models have limitations. For example, they rely heavily on span boundaries in the data during training, which does not reflect the reality of span annotation challenges. Slight adjustments to positions can also meet requirements. Additionally, UIE models lack attention to the limited span length feature in IE. To address these deficiencies, we propose the Fuzzy Span Universal Information Extraction (FSUIE) framework. Specifically, our contribution consists of two concepts: fuzzy span loss and fuzzy span attention. Our experimental results on a series of main IE tasks show significant improvement compared to the baseline, especially in terms of fast convergence and strong performance with small amounts of data and training epochs. These results demonstrate the effectiveness and generalization of FSUIE in different tasks, settings, and scenarios.


Effect of estradiol benzoate (EB, Agofollin Depot Spofa, CSSR, 1 mg s.c. once a week for 4 weeks) on local blood flow through the tibia of intact and oophorectomized (OOX) female rats was studied using the 85Sr-microsphere method. In experiment A, the 85Sr-microsphere uptake and blood flow was increased 4 weeks after OOX and significantly decreased after EB in both the intact and OOX animals. In experiment B (intact female rats), the decrease after EB was confirmed both in microsphere uptake and tibial blood flow (48.8% and 57.1% respectively). No changes in the cardiac output and the marked fall of the uptake of labelled microspheres suggest a local circulatory reaction.


Social marginality and ill health can form an unholy dyad: firstly, groups who suffer from chronic or infectious diseases often find themselves pushed to the margins. Secondly, people who are already on the edge of society tend to suffer more from illness than those at the centre. In development discourse, marginal people are defined as those who are 'not yet' on the same level as the developed mainstream and are in urgent need of aid from the centre. The papers in this special issue take a different approach by insisting that marginality is a radically relational concept: the centre and its margins constitute each other, and the boundaries between them are constantly shifting. The papers show that there are many types of marginality (based on geography, class, caste, sex/gender, ethnicity, etc.), and that each of them has different effects on the health of a particular group. Yet instead of speaking of a plurality of unrelated 'group identities', marginality preserves a sharp sense of unequal power relations between groups. The specific ethnographic contribution to the study of marginality comes from its attention to the point of view of marginal people. This is of critical importance since marginality puts health most under stress when it is clearly and steadily perceived in everyday life. This, in turn, makes it possible to show that living on the margins is not always and everywhere bad for health. While all of the papers present South Asian case studies, the insights and questions are relevant for the study of the ills of marginality in a global perspective.


In this paper, a novel post-filtering method applied after the logSTSA filter is proposed. Since the post-filter is derived from vector quantization of clean speech database, it has an equivalent effect of imposing clean source spectral constraints on the enhanced speech. When combined with the logSTSA filter, the additional filter can noticeably suppress residual artifacts by effectively lowering the residual white noise of decision-directed estimation as well as reducing the musical noise of maximum likelihood estimation. Compared to the logSTSA enhanced speech, the overall enhanced speech is able to raise the PESQ score by nearly half a point.


A mechanism-based model for prediction of acute nitrile toxicity was developed using octanol-water partition coefficients (log P) and estimated rates of alpha-hydrogen atom abstraction as variables. Relative rates of hydrogen atom abstraction were derived from differences in heats of formation for ground-state and radical geometries and radical ionization potentials. Calculated energies of activation for all potential sites of oxidation for a given nitrile were used to estimate partitioning of metabolites among multiple oxidative pathways. logP and the resulting corrected rate constants for alpha-carbon oxidation were effective variables in an acute toxicity model of structurally diverse nitriles. The pharmacokinetics of substrate disposition is discussed in the context of multiple metabolic pathways. Structure-toxicity relationships are also discussed.


Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) leads to transient side effects such as headache and nausea during and after the infusion. We hypothesized that subcutaneous administration of smaller doses of immunoglobulin (SCIG) given more frequently leads to less severe headache and nausea and could be an alternative in patients experiencing side effects. Fifty‐nine patients diagnosed with neurological disorders (chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), multi‐focal motor neuropathy (MMN) or post‐polio syndrome) were treated with IVIG, and 27 CIDP or MMN patients with SCIG. For two consecutive weeks daily, registration of the severity of headache and nausea was registered on a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 to 100 mm. In the SCIG group, headache reached a peak value of 1 (0–13) mm at day 6 versus 11 (0–96) mm in the IVIG group at day 4 (p < 0.0001). For nausea, the SCIG group had a stable value of 0 (0–21) mm at all days, whereas a peak value of 3 (0–90) mm was reached at day 4 in the IVIG group (p < 0.0001). SCIG leads to less severe headache and nausea than IVIG without fluctuations of side effects in relation to the injections.


The University of Indonesia has six artificial lakes around Depok Campus Area, namely Lake Kenanga, Agathis, Mahoni, Puspa, Ulin, and Salam (KAMPUS). These campus lakes have an area of about 17.5 hectares with an average depth varying between 1.5-3 meters with capability store waters up to 52,500 m3 of water. The University of Indonesia has its commitment to observe and evaluate the environmental quality as a part of an environmental monitoring program every semester. The observation data of lake water quality can provide information about parameters which has exceeded the environmental quality standard only, but not for the whole information about its water quality status. STORET Method is the common method which can be used to determine the water quality status. In principle, it compares the data of water quality measurement against national water quality standard appropriate with its purpose to determine the status of water quality. Based on the measurement data from 2017 to 2018, we obtained that Kenanga Lake, Agathis Lake, Ulin Lake, and Salam Lake has A Class quality status and meet the quality standard. However, Mahoni Lake and Puspa Lake are in C Class moderately polluted.


The very important and interesting topic of coupled, harmonic oscillations is studied both theoretically and experimentally with a moving disk on a horizontal air table under the action of two identical springs. Attention is paid to the study of the normal modes and, with adequate and easily reproducible initial conditions, the beats phenomenon.


Marriage at its right time and with the right and self-selected person is one of the
best things that can happen to a man. Unfortunately, as glamorous such a day of espousal
would have been, child marriage has made it sour for child brides as most of them are forced
into it, particularly in their mid-teens; thereby aborting beautiful and achievable life goals and
future ambitions. This paper examines the factors inducing child marriage in the most
endemic location in the country North-Eastern Nigeria and the health implications on victims.
Primary data i.e. questionnaire andsecondary data from Nigerian Demographic and Health
Survey (NDHS, 2008) were used. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was also held with a
group of child wives, all of who are less than 18 years. Results show that povertyand limited
educational attainment are the two main cause of child marriage in the study resulting to
different health problems. Recommendations were made to curb this infamous practice in
Northeastern Nigeria as is a globally acceptable fact that delaying marriage until a lady is
physically and physiologically mature improves her health.


Accurate assessment of the abundance of pinnipeds from visual surveys requires estimation of both the available (hauled-out) and unavailable (in-water) components of the population (Eberhardt et al. 1979). Continental estimates of the abundance of the four Antarctic seals are based on limited information on haul-out behaviour. In developing continental estimates, Erickson & Hanson (1990) corrected visual surveys of the hauled-out component of the species' populations using data from observational studies of haulout behaviour by Erickson et al. (1989). Erickson & Hanson (1990) point out that, because the observational studies did not account for an unknown fraction of seals that remained in the water during the peak haul-out period, their abundance estimates are minimum values. Further, Erickson & Hanson (1990) corrected the visual surveys for all four species using haul-out data for the crabeater seal only, as observational data for the other species were not available. This assumes that haul-out patterns are constant across species, which is largely untested. Consequently, there is potential for bias, in both a relative and absolute sense, in the estimated abundance of Antarctic seals.


The present paper aims to investigate the practice of upcycling and redesign. The study draws on the multiple
organizations involved in the redesigning activities. The organizations selected for the study are located in the northern
part of Romania. Semi-structured interviews along with direct observations were used to collect information. The paper
provides practical insights to upcycling process.Various kinds of redesigned products are made out of consumer and
industrial wastes such as redesigned clothes, accessories for ladies, handbags, ladies purses and office stationery.
Upcycling is generally considered as economically non-feasible. However, this study has found contradictory results. The
demand-based redesign activities can help an organization to earn a profit. Two out of three selected organizations are
able to self-sustain. One of the organizations is newly entered into the Romanian used clothing markets and ables to
compete with existing players. This study could be seen as one of the early attempts to empirically explore the practice of
textile and accessories upcycling practice in Eastern Europe. The findings from the current case study can provide several
useful insights for other similar companies to make redesign activities profitable.


Abstract Studies on social factors that could influence the mental health-suicidal ideation link remain scarce, especially in non-Western contexts. This study examined the relationship between mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and suicidal ideation and whether one's perceived social rank moderates such a relationship. Data from 631 students from two universities in the Philippines collected between October to December 2018 was analyzed. Bivariate correlations show that greater symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with increased suicidal ideation. Hierarchical linear regression models supported the direct relationship between mental health symptoms and suicidal ideation and demonstrated that perceived social rank significantly moderated such a relationship. Johnson-Neyman plots and simple slopes analyses further illustrate how mental health symptoms and perceived social rank interact to impact suicidal ideation. The results show that as one's perceived social rank lowers, the strength of the positive association between depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms to suicidal ideation strengthens. The results held while controlling for age, gender, college year level, and family income. The findings are discussed using the social rank theory and the Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) model of suicide to view suicidal ideation from both an individual and a social perspective. We expound on the role of low perceived social rank on suicidal ideation among young adults. HIGHLIGHTS Higher depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms are associated with higher suicidal ideation. Perceived social rank moderates the link between mental health symptoms and suicidal ideation. One's perception of being inferior to others can exacerbate suicidal ideation.


Summary Pleiotropic anti-restenotic properties of drugs that are eluted from coated stents are critical for efficacy and safety. Little is known about comparative drug properties in appropriate human coronary target cell lines for the two compounds that are utilized on FDA-approved drug-eluting stent (DES) platforms, paclitaxel (PTX) and sirolimus (SRL). Target cell lines that play a pivotal role for the pathogenesis of restenosis and vascular healing include human coronary artery smooth muscle (CASMC) and endothelial cells (CAEC). PTX and SRL inhibited CASMC and CAEC proliferation and migration efficiently. However, there was a differential effect on proliferation and migration in CAEC with a more profound inhibition of both parameters by PTX, even at low dosages. Induction of cytotoxicity and apoptosis was pronounced in PTX- and very modest in SRL-treated CASMC and CAEC. PTX increased eNOS activity and nitric oxide (NO) release from CAEC. Neutrophilic leukocyte activation and transmigration, which should be avoided since it may precipitate adverse coronary events such as restenosis and stent thrombosis, was suppressed by SRL, whereas PTX tended to increase neutrophilic leucocyte activity. Therefore, although the primary drug target, inhibition of mitogen-mediated CASMC proliferation, is effectively accomplished by both drugs, auxiliary pharmacological properties that are crucial for the anti-restenotic drug effect and vascular healing are considerably different between PTX and SRL. In comparison with PTX, SRL shows minor interference with endothelial cell proliferation and migration, lower levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis, a broader therapeutic range and distinctive immunosuppressive properties.


In this study, LEGO robotics and cooperative learning were integrated into the design of a course. In the course, preservice teachers had to complete their assignments by cooperating, solving problems, and conducting team discussions. After the course, questionnaires were used to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the design of the robotics course, student satisfaction with the course, and changes of the preservice teachers' confidence in learning LEGO robotics. The satisfaction questionnaire covered three dimensions: teaching environment, teaching content, and teaching method. Results showed that by the end of the semester, students' satisfaction with the cooperative robotics course had improved. Furthermore, the results showed positive effects on preservice teachers' perceived self-efficacy when learning LEGO robotics.


This paper presents a novel way to design an inductor-less low noise amplifier. The LNA created uses an artificial tank (AT) created from a damped ring oscillator (RO) to replace the LC-tank normally used in tuned circuits. The measured results show the LNA has an 18 dB voltage gain, 2.3 dB noise figure, an IP3 of -11 dBm, a 1 dB compression point of -19 dBm, and a power consumption of 4.85 mW. The main advantage of using the AT is to minimize the silicon area and to operate at a high frequency of 5.9 GHz. The prototype, made using CMOS 0.18-micron technology, occupied one-fiftieth of the silicon area generally used by circuits of this type


In many CNS pathways, target innervation occurs by axon branching rather than extension of the primary growth cone into targets. To investigate mechanisms of branch formation, we studied the effects of attractive and inhibitory guidance cues on cortical axon branching. We found that netrin-1, which attracts cortical axons, and FGF-2 increased branching by >50%, whereas semaphorin 3A (Sema3A), which repels cortical axons, inhibited branching by 50%. Importantly, none of the factors affected axon length significantly. The increase in branching by FGF-2 and the inhibition of branching by Sema3A were mediated by opposing effects on the growth cone (expansion vs collapse) and on the cytoskeleton. FGF-2 increased actin polymerization and formation of microtubule loops in growth cones over many hours, whereas Sema3A depolymerized actin filaments, attenuated microtubule dynamics, and collapsed microtubule arrays within minutes. Netrin-1 promoted rapid axon branching, often without involving the growth cone. Branches formed de novo on the axon shaft within 30 min after local application of netrin-1, which induced rapid accumulation of actin filaments in filopodia. Importantly, increased actin polymerization and microtubule dynamics were necessary for axon branching to occur. Taken together, these results show that guidance factors influence the organization and dynamics of the cytoskeleton at the growth cone and the axon shaft to promote or inhibit axon branching. Independent of axon outgrowth, axon branching in response to guidance cues can occur over different time courses by different cellular mechanisms.


This paper reviews the previous research on the methodologies for evaluating structural integrity of wire bonds and die-attachments in power modules. Under power module operation, these parts are subjected to repeated temperature variations which induce repeated thermal stress due to the mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of the constituent materials. Thus, thermal fatigue phenomena are critical issues for the structural integrity of power modules. In the present paper, we also deal with the evaluation methodologies for thermal fatigue in the temperatures over 200 °C, which are expected operational temperatures for wide bandgap semiconductor power modules. The failure models based on the temperature range ΔT widely used in the power electronics community are critically reviewed from a mechanical engineering viewpoint. Detailed discussion is given concerning the superiority of failure models based on the physical quantities such as the inelastic strain range Δεin, the inelastic strain energy density range ΔWin, and the nonlinear fracture mechanics parameter range ΔT* over the conventional ΔT-based failure models. It is also pointed out that the distributed state concept (DSC) approaches based on the unified constitutive modeling and the unified mechanics theory are promising for evaluating the structural integrity of power modules. Two kinds of test methods, a power cycling test (PCT) and a thermal cycling test (TCT), are discussed in the relation to evaluating the lifetimes of wire-liftoff and die attach cracking.


We report a case of a 13-year-old girl with an osteosarcoma of the right humerus, which had been diagnosed as an aneurysmal bone cyst at our institution. She underwent curettage and bone grafting of the lesion, which resulted in implantation metastasis of the tumour to the ilium. She died 15 months after presentation owing to pulmonary metastases. This report highlights the possibility of metastasis occurring by direct implantation to a graft donor site. We strongly recommend that a biopsy be performed in cases of presumed benign lesions before proceeding with the definitive surgery.


The Soviet nuclear power establishment, the second largest in the world, has embarked on an ambitious program to build dozens of reactors between 2003 and 2020. The rejuvenation of that Soviet establishment through Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy (MinAtom) is based on the technological utopianism of Russian political and scientific leaders. They see nuclear energy as a way to maintain Russia's great power status. They have adopted approaches to reactor development prominent in the Soviet era. These include building dozens of new reactors in construction time faster than seen before in world history, upgrading several Chernobyl‐type reactors, accepting spent fuel from abroad for storage in exchange for cash, and floating—literally—nuclear power stations on barges for use in Russia's far north and for export. There are few controls on MinAtom within the government, and public involvement in the technology assessment process is limited.


From October 1990 to March 1994, 90 patients entered a prospectively randomised trial in head and neck cancer. All patients had verified squamous cell carcinoma and were referred for primary radiation therapy. Tumours originated in the oral cavity in 25, oropharynx in 37, larynx in 15 and hypopharynx in 13 cases. Patients' stages were predominantely T3 and T4 (71/90) and had lymph node metastases (60/90). Seventy-nine male patients and 11 female patients, with a median age of 57 years (range 37-76 years) were treated. Patients were randomised to one of three treatment options: conventional fractionation (CF) consisting of 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 7 weeks or continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiation therapy (Vienna-CHART) or Vienna-CHART with administration of a single dose of mitomycin C on day 5 of treatment (V-CHART + MMC). By the accelerated regimen a total dose of 55.3 Gy was given in 33 fractions within 17 consecutive days. Acute mucositis was the main toxicity recorded in those patients treated by accelerated fractionation, although the overall duration of mucosal reaction did not differ in the three treatment groups. There was no influence on local toxicity if MMC was added to radiation therapy or not. Those patients treated with additional MMC experienced a grade III/IV haematological toxicity in 4/28 cases. Complete remission (CR) was recorded in 48% following CF, 79% after Vienna-CHART (P < 0.05) and 71% after Vienna-CHART + MMC. The overall local failure rates were 73%, 59% and 42% (P = NS) for patients treated by CF, Vienna-CHART and Vienna-CHART + MMC respectively.


Parenting is one of the factors that are closely related to the growth and development of children, including several things, namely food, which is a source of nutrition, vaccination, exclusive breastfeeding, treatment when sick, and environmental cleanliness and clothing. This study aimed to determine the effect of maternal care patterns for stunting in children aged 0-23 months in the Gorontalo District. This type of descriptive-analytical research has a population of 1614 mothers under two and a sample of 188 mothers under two. The research results obtained were the effect of parenting style on the Incidence of stunting in children aged 0-23 months (p value=0.022) parenting health and sanitation parenting patterns on the Incidence of stunting in children aged 0-23 months (p-value = 0.000). The most influential factor is the factor of healthy parenting (p-value = 0.001). The conclusion from this study is that there is an influence of the mother's parenting style on the Incidence of stunting in children aged 0-23 months in Gorontalo Regency, with the most dominant influencing factor, namely health parenting factors. Future researchers are expected to be able to conduct further research on stunting outside of other variables besides maternal parenting.


The response of a two-level system to a few-cycle pulse pair has been investigated with a special focus on the relation between population inversion and the carrier-envelope phases (CEPs) of the two pulses. The goal is to explore possible schemes of coherent control based on sequential ultrafast pulses. Simulation results indicate a close CEP-inversion relation, which stems from the coherent nature of the interaction. The impact of the pulse amplitudes is evaluated and is shown to create weak-field and strong-field interaction regions with drastically different characteristics. The important role of carrier-wave Rabi flopping in defining these characteristics is also analyzed. Finally, advantages of the method and experimental realization are discussed. © 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement


Abstract. Antarctic geothermal heat flow (GHF) affects the temperature of the ice sheet, determining its ability to slide and internally deform, as well as the behaviour of the continental crust. However, GHF remains poorly constrained, with few and sparse local, borehole-derived estimates, and large discrepancies in the magnitude and distribution of existing continent-scale estimates from geophysical models. We review the methods to extract GHF, compile borehole and probe-derived estimates from measured temperature profiles, and recommend the following future directions: 1) Obtain more borehole-derived estimates from the subglacial bedrock and englacial temperature profiles. 2) Estimate GHF beneath the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (the region most sensitive to GHF variation) via long-wavelength microwave emissivity. 3) Estimate GHF from inverse glaciological modelling, constrained by evidence for basal melting. 4) Revise geophysically-derived GHF estimates using a combination of Curie depth, seismic, and thermal isostasy models. 5) Integrate in these geophysical approaches a more accurate model of the structure and distribution of heat production elements within the crust, and considering heterogeneities in the underlying mantle. And 6) continue international interdisciplinary communication and data access.


For a long time, extracellular proteinases were thought to be expressed by the cancerous cells and only able to cleave extracellular matrix components, in order to promote tumor cell invasion. Recent works have now demonstrated that these proteinases are currently synthesized by stromal fibroblastic cells and that some of them may exhibit additive function(s). These findings lead to a new therapeutical concept leading to target the activity of stromal proteinases, and most notably of the matrix metalloproteinases.


Yang‐Mills theories in 2+1 (or 3) dimensions are interesting as nontrivial gauge theories in their own right and as effective theories of QCD at high temperatures. I shall review the basics of our Hamiltonian approach to this theory, emphasizing symmetries with a short update on its status. We will show that the calculation of the vacuum wave function for Yang‐Mills theory in 2+1 dimensions is in the lowest order of a systematic expansion. Expectation values of observables can be calculated using an effective interacting chiral boson theory, which also leads to a natural expansion as a double series in the coupling constant (to be interpreted within a resummed perturbation series) and a particular kinematical factor. The calculation of the first set of corrections in this expansion shows that the string tension is modified by about −0.3% to −2.8% compared to the lowest order value. This is in good agreement with lattice estimates.


This chapter presents the modeling, identification and the motion control of serial robot manipulators with rigid and flexible joints. The perfectly rigid joint assumption, often at the basis of the study of manufacturing robots, can be insufficient in many situations. Flexible joint robots raise specific control issues, both in terms of static (deflections) and dynamic (vibrations) behavior. The chapter highlights the major differences compared to the perfectly rigid case and the characteristics related to flexibilities in modeling, identification and design of control laws. The reduced dynamic model of flexible joint robots is first recalled with its remarkable properties. Several identification approaches of this model are then presented and analyzed in terms of their implementation complexity and the instrumentation required by the experimental protocol. Finally, the chapter describes the main theoretical concepts and their application in several practical control strategies.


This paper explores ERP as an ambivalent technology of power. On the one hand, it may tighten management control by bringing a new level of panoptic visibility to organizational activities; on the other hand, the embedded business model within the ERP may drive empowerment of employees and greater control relaxation through the configuration of new process design. How will the implementation of an ERP system affect organizational control? Our This research seeks to understand how the different forces play out in the context of ERP implementation, and to explore the implications for traditional power distribution in organizations.This paper adopts a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology in an intensive case study of a restructured hospital in Singapore. A survey of 260 users was administered, supplemented by approximately 27 hours of individual interviews with 23 people. Results reveal that although ERP as a technology can facilitate both empowerment and panoptic control, management has consciously resisted empowerment by working to re-institute the "loss of power" driven by power lost through the ERP implementation. On the other hand, the new panoptic visibility, though partially unintended, appears to have evolved naturally and was readily learnted and applied in the organization. This study is significant in exposing the likelihood of ERP implementation as a technology to that perpetuates management power. At least in the context of the hospital studied, it is yet another means of enlarging the management authority for "total control."


Ultrashort pulses, 85 fs long, have been generated in a Cr:Mg2SiO4 (forsterite) laser pumped by a cw Nd:YAG laser. Self-mode locking was observed in experiments with no intracavity elements except two prisms used to compensate for group-velocity dispersion.


Abstract : This Report presents a critical assessment of the cylindrical rotary form of the follower-tooth reduction gear, indicating deficiencies and suggesting improvements. Consideration has been given to the mechanism's application to helicopter main gearboxes and a design study formulated. It is not considered competitive with current types because: (1) Although the specific mass of a basic follower-tooth gear is about the same as that of conventional transmissions in similar configurations, the latter have more potential for mass reduction, and their efficiency is higher. (2) The addition of tail rotor and ancillary drive take-offs would increase complexity and weight to a greater extent than in conventional systems. (3) The geometric arrangement and the type and function of the speed reducing components are such that the mechanism would be more sensitive to environmental conditions. (4) Although components are geometrically simple, high manufacturing standards, quality control and assembly difficulties would reflect adversely on costs. (5) Refurbishment would probably entail replacement of most power-transmitting components, bearings and seals, whereas conventional systems normally require only new bearings and seals. (Author)


Sodium ion (Na) influx through cardiac Na channels triggers the action potential in cells of the working myocardium and the specialized conduction system. Na channels thus act as key molecular determinants of cardiac excitability and impulse propagation. Na channel dysfunction may cause life-threatening arrhythmias. Here, we review the ways in which Na channel function can be aberrant due to genetic changes. We discuss how biophysical studies of mutant Na channels combined with precise clinical phenotyping may improve our understanding of Na channel function in health and disease and may be useful as a model from which to derive improved treatment strategies for common disease.  2003 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
The information on malaria related knowledge, practices and behaviour of the people of Nepal living in malaria endemic areas are essential to develop behavioural change communication messages and for producing policy to prevent and control malaria in the country. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, practices and behaviour of the people living in malaria endemic districts and relate with malaria control policy in Nepal.

METHODS
The paper utilizes data from a cross-sectional study of 1330 households conducted during December 2004 to April 2005 in rural areas of Jhapa, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts. The method used includes structured questionnaire and focus group discussions.

RESULTS
The results revealed that 40% respondents were illiterates. Eighty-six percent respondents have heard about malaria but only 50% responded fever with chills as the sign and symptom of malaria. Seventy-three percent responded that mosquito bite causes malaria transmission and 74% respondents considered that malaria is the fatal disease but very few have knowledge that the treatment of malaria in time can save life. More than 50% did not have information on availability of free treatment of malaria in Nepal. Still 16% were found consulting traditional healers for the treatment. The outside sleeping habit was found in almost one fourth of the population mainly in summer season indicating no knowledge about prevention of malaria. Although bednet use practice was higher, only 4% had knowledge on insecticide impregnated bednets and 23% of them practicing it. Issues regarding the proper and regular use of bednets, the quality of the bednet and use of free treatment provided by the government, since these districts are reporting high incidence of malaria.

INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION
Health education must be taken into account for communities in malaria endemic areas to produce desired outcomes in malaria control.


The importance of financial frictions for the business cycle is widely recognized, but it is less recognized that their effects depend heavily on the underlying asset pricing theory. This paper examines the implications of learning-based asset pricing. I construct a model in which firms' ability to access credit depends on their market value, and investors rely on past observation to predict future stock prices. Agents' expectations remain model-consistent conditional on their beliefs about stock prices, which disciplines the expectation formation process. The model matches several asset price properties such as return volatility and predictability and also leads to a powerful feedback loop between asset prices and real activity, substantially amplifying business cycle shocks. Agents' expectational errors on asset prices spill over to forecasts of economic activity, resulting in forecast error predictability that closely matches survey data. A reaction of monetary policy to asset prices is welfare-improving under learning but not under rational expectations.


The development of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has progressed very rapidly. These developments also triggered the development of wireless modules used in WSN. Xbee and ESP8266 are wireless modules that are often used to design wireless sensor networks. Xbee uses the IEEE 802.15.4 standard while ESP8266 uses the IEEE 802.11 b / g / n standard. In this research will be comparison of wireless modules between Xbee and ESP8266 to test the performance of the wireless module. Comparison is performed by testing the value of throughput, delay packet, and packet lost. The test will be applied to the air quality monitoring system using the MQ135 sensor. The result of the research is the comparison of parameters tested from both wireless modules.


This paper studied the permittivity of carbon black/epoxy composites at microwave frequencies. The measurements were performed for permittivity at a frequency band of 0.5–18 GHz and for DC conductivity to find the percolation threshold of composite samples of 0.0–1.5 wt % of carbon black in epoxy resin. The experimental results show that the complex permittivity of the composite depends strongly on the nature and concentration of the carbon black dispersion. The frequency spectrums of dielectric constants and AC conductivities of composites were investigated by using the descriptions found in percolation theory. A new model, that is a branch of Lichtenecker–Rother formula, is proposed to obtain a rule of mixture to describe the complex permittivity of the composite as function of frequency and concentration of carbon black. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 2189–2195, 2006


It has been demonstrated that the phospholipase C-gamma (PLC-gamma) molecule contains within it a phospholipase C inhibitor (PCI) region and that synthetic peptides based on the sequence of this region (PCI peptides) suppress the enzymatic activity of PLC isoforms [Y. Homma and T. Takenawa (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 21884-21889]. In order to improve the permeability of the plasma membrane to PCI peptides, we synthesized myristoylated PCI peptides, myr-GLYRKAMRLRYPV [myr-PCI(Y)] and myr-GLFRKAMRLRFPV [myr-PCI(F)], which are identical except for the replacement of the two tyrosine residues in myr-PCI(Y) by phenylalanines in myr-PCI(F), and examined their inhibitory activity on PLC enzymes in vitro and in vivo. This fatty acid modification potentiated the inhibitory activity of the original PCI peptides and both myr-PCI(Y) and myr-PCI(F) suppressed the PIP2-hydrolyzing activity of purified PLC isoforms in vitro. The Ki values of myr-PCI(Y) and myr-PCI(F) for purified PLC-gamma1 were 3.5 and 55 microM, respectively. Myr-PCI(Y) at concentrations in the sub-micromolar range significantly suppressed IP3 formation induced by EGF, PDGF, bombesin, or serum in Swiss 3T3 cells. Furthermore, myr-PCI(Y) also strongly inhibited cell proliferation induced by these stimuli. The inhibitory effect on IP3 formation and proliferation of myr-PCI(F) was much less potent than that of myr-PCI(Y). These results suggest that myristoylated PCI peptides could be applied to living cells as specific inhibitors of PLC signaling pathways and that PLC pathways are at least in part required for growth in Swiss 3T3 cells.


An experiment was carried out to optimize the doses and combinations of growth regulators for in vitro propagation of Dendrobium Red Bull through shoot tip culture. The experiment was laid out according to completely randomized design with 15 treatments and three replications. For multiple shoot induction, newly grown shoot buds (keikies) were cultured on MS supplemented with various combinations of NAA and BAP. The regenerated plants were transferred to ex vitro in different substrates and acclimatized. Best response for the shoot length (21.19 mm) was obtained from the medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/l BAP with 1.5 mg/l NAA. Similarly maximum number of leaves was observed from the same combination at all the recorded days except 60 days, whereas the maximum shoot number (7.66) was obtained from the medium containing 3.0 mg/l BAP + 1.0 mg/l NAA. The shoots were then transferred to root inducing medium and well rooted plants were transferred to different substrates. Survivability of the regenerated plants varied from 60 to 92%. The substrate containing cocodust showed maximum survivability (92%) whereas minimum (60%) was observed from the substrate containing course sand. BAP and NAA proved to be good growth regulators for in vitro multiplication of Dendrobium.
Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 28(2): 161-169, 2018 (December)


Abstract The Honggong pluton is the largest ferroan alkalic (A-type) granite intrusion emplaced along the Jiangshan–Shaoxing fault zone in southwestern Zhejiang Province, and has important implications for understanding the Late Mesozoic tectonic evolution of SE China. U–Pb ages of 138.7 ± 0.8, 134.2 ± 1.1, 128.5 ± 1.5 and 126.1 ± 0.9 Ma were obtained from zircon by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry, indicating that the Honggong pluton formed in the Early Cretaceous. The Honggong pluton has a clear ferroan alkalic (A-type) granite geochemical signature with, for example, high total alkali contents and FeOt/(FeOt + MgO) values. The Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic compositions suggest that there was juvenile material in the magma source. Geochemical evidence indicates that the pluton was derived through extensive fractionation of melts that contained both asthenospheric mantle and Mesoproterozoic crustal components. These rare granites in southern China were emplaced during five episodes at 235–225, 190, 165–155, 100–90 and 140–120 Ma. The age of the Honggong pluton suggests that localized extension in southwestern Zhejiang Province began as early as ~138 Ma and continued to 126 Ma. This Early Cretaceous extensional event was triggered by localized rollback of the subducting Pacific Plate.


Human action recognition from the unconstrained surveillance videos and anticipating human action from onset of video is a challenging task. This work focuses on the study of action recognition, action classification followed by action anticipation. We have used the UT Interaction data set containing interactive videos with six types of activities, the system developed classifies three interactive actions punching, pushing and kicking with accuracy. Anticipating action is a probabilistic process and the all possible outcomes are predicted during anticipation. The framework developed can take any interactive video as input from the web camera or any other camera connected to the laptop and will classify the three interactive actions as said above; similarly when the onset of video is given it produces the probable predictions. Action is modeled as a sequence of changes in Spatio Temporal features and histogram of the gradients helps in identifying the changes. The motion boundary descriptors, histogram of oriented gradients and optical flow features are extracted and SVM algorithm is used for classification. Bag of words approach is used for anticipation. Prediction methodologies are highly needed in surveillance environments for efficient monitoring and management.


The Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility testing at site 41BX1764. The archaeological testing associated with the Salado Creek Greenway project located in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas was completed to fulfill contract requirements with Adams Environmental, Inc. of San Antonio. The survey was conducted under the requirements of the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code Chapter 35, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, and the Texas Antiquities Code. The archaeological testing was performed under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 4989, with Cynthia M. Muñoz, serving as Principal Investigator and Antonia L. Figueroa serving as Project Archaeologist. The work was conducted in advance of construction of a multi-use greenway trail proposed by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Antonio. Results from testing revealed a multi-component site with a Late Prehistoric Toyah component. A deeper second component, of unknown date, was also identified. The Late Prehistoric component has been impacted by erosion and the existing trail, while the lower component appears to be in a secondary depositional context. No features were revealed during testing and the CAR does not recommend the site as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or for formal designation as a State Archeological Landmark. All materials recovered during the investigation and all project related documents are curated at the Center for Archaeological Research.


Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding, a life-threatening condition, is a common presentation of the emergency room visits. Objective: To determine the frequencies of various causes of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) amongst the patients presenting at emergency department with upper gastrointestinal bleed mandating urgent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD). Study Design: It is a retrospective observational study. Settings: Department of Gastroenterology, Combined Military Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Duration: 12 months from January 2019 to December 2019. Methods: All the patients who presented to emergency department with AUGIB and were referred for endoscopy after initial resuscitation were included in study. Their record was reviewed including the epidemiologic data, history, clinical details and endoscopic findings. Patients who had routine, non-urgent OGD to screen for varices or anemia, were excluded from the study. Results: Records of 270 patients, aged between 18-96 years were analyzed, 206(76.3%) were males and 64 (23.7%) were females. The most common finding was esophageal varices (26.0%) followed by gastritis (20.7%). Esophageal varices were found more frequently in males (76.1%) as compared to females (23.9%). Conclusion: This study strengthened the hypothesis that bleeding due to variceal hemorrhage is now actually the leading cause for AUGIB, mandating inclusion of medical treatment for variceal bleed in treatment protocol of all upper GI bleeds in the emergency assessment room, pending OGD.


Background: In 2019, in Romania, a legislative event of special importance took place – the adoption of the Administrative Code. The scientific problem addressed in this article refers to the way in which the recently adopted Code realises the general regulation of public services respecting the best practices in order to create a good administration that is flexible and adaptable to the constantly changing needs of citizens today.
Methods: This article investigates how the general regulation of public services in the Administrative Code is realised, taking into account the trends manifested in the field at the EU level and in comparative law. The categories of public services with which the EU operates (services of general economic interest, non-economic services, and social services of general interest) and the concept of universal service are highlighted. Then, the principles of organisation and functioning of public services in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK are investigated. In a separate section, the challenges and limitations in the regulation of local public services are analysed critically against the Administrative Code of Romania, starting from the regulation of the EU and the good practices observed in comparative law.
Results and Conclusions: At the end of the article, I proposed we use the observations resulting from research on the Administrative Code to increase the degree of administrative convergence with the other member states of the EU.


This correlational cross-sectional study identifies and tests research-based constructs of school leadership and teacher job satisfaction on the 2012 Tell MASS survey using exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability analyses. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to examine the relationship between the survey's school leadership and teacher job satisfaction scales. Multiple regression analyses are used to investigate the hypothesis that school leadership and student achievement on standardized tests in English Language Arts and Mathematics are also related, though this relationship is mediated by teacher job satisfaction. Analyses revealed four major findings. First, EFA, CFA, and reliability analyses determined that the survey scales of two school leadership dimensions and five dimensions of teacher job satisfaction were valid and reliable. Second, HLM analyses confirmed the significant relationship of the dimensions of school leadership to overall teacher job satisfaction. Third, multiple regression analyses confirmed the significant relationships of teacher job satisfaction and school leadership to student achievement on the 2012 MCAS ELA and Mathematics assessments. Fourth, school leadership was indirectly related to student achievement, mediated through teacher job satisfaction, as hypothesized. Findings from this study are of interest to education policy makers, education leadership preparation program leaders, and school district leaders, as they provide additional evidence regarding the importance of cultivating the soft skills needed for effective school leadership. Findings from this study should also be considered in the design of future research studies in this area, as the use of individual student-level data that could be linked to individual teacher level data would allow for a three-level HLM approach to analysis. Therefore, being able to account for the multicollinearity encountered during the analysis of the relationships between leadership, teachers, and student achievement. In addition, consideration of the missing dimension of school leadership, involvement and stakeholder influences, and the extrinsic influences on teacher job satisfaction should be added to test the fully research-based frameworks.


The European Spallation Source, ESS, is a joint collaboration of 17 European countries, where the world's most powerful neutron source will be built for future research within a vast variety of fields. In order to deliver the highly energetic neutrons, protons are accelerated to energies in the GeV range and then collided with a spallation target. This acceleration process requires superconducting cavities cooled down to slightly over 2 K, and this cooling is done through the cryogenic system using helium.
 In this project, the cryogenic system at ESS has been modeled in Dymola. Simulations have been made of the cool-down and warm-up of the superconducting part of the accelerator. This was done in separate simulations for the cryogenic distribution line and for an individual cryomodule. Additionally, a model was created for the helium discharge system, in order to size the vent line leading rapidly expanded
helium from the cold masses back to the cryoplant. The mathematical tools and structure of the modeling are described in a separate chapter.


Historical data (July 1998 – June 2018) for the middle Olifants River, Limpopo River system, were compiled to evaluate the dynamics of selected water physico-chemical parameters with river discharge. The concentration of most water quality parameters increased over time. However, these concentrations are rapidly decreased, or reset, by the rapid filling, or spilling, of Loskop and/or Flag Boshielo Dams during a high-flow event. The flow-duration curves for stations below impoundments in the middle catchment on the Olifants River are typical of highly regulated rivers, although releases from Flag Boshielo Dam were more consistent through the 20 years. No outflow from Loskop Dam was recorded for 5.4% of the 20 years. The load-duration curves for gauging weirs on the Olifants and Elands rivers immediately upstream of Flag Boshielo Dam showed that the 'tolerable' concentrations were exceeded for total dissolved solids at the 60th and 20th percentiles of the flow, respectively. In addition, records for electrical conductivity, sodium, chloride, and alkalinity frequently exceeded the 'tolerable' concentrations at these sites. The results for Loskop and Flag Boshielo dams are generally lower than the tolerable concentrations for the parameters evaluated. Management of the flow regulation of the Olifants River should be aimed at meeting the water quality stipulations for all users in the agricultural, domestic, industrial, and recreational sectors.


We report a 28-year-old man admitted postmotorcycle versus car in September 2017. The patient sustained multiple injuries in both the upper and lower limbs. He sustained a complex brachial plexus injury on his left side and was transferred immediately to Stanmore Hospital to undergo specialist surgery (supraclavicular brachial plexus exploration and neurolysis) to repair his brachial plexus injury. The patient was transferred back to the specialist trauma ward for additional surgeries for his subsequent injuries. Due to the complexity of the injury and surgery the patient was not able to start rehabilitation until six weeks post operation, at which point he was referred to outpatient physiotherapy. Prior to this his left upper limb was in a sling but was instructed to move it as able. The patient commenced his comprehensive physiotherapy programme in January 2018.


Quantum mechanics permits particles to follow bizarre, looping and curving trajectories, usually with very low probability. But a calculation shows that in some cases, these paths can have significant and possibly measurable effects.


The prevalence, range, and associations of congenital heart disease (CHD) were studied among 400 spontaneous abortuses between 9 and 40 weeks' gestation. Fifty-two (13.0%) cases of CHD were detected. To minimize selection bias the specimens were grouped by external appearance and the prevalence expressed accordingly. CHD was detected in 21 (7.3%) of 289 externally normal and 31 (27.9%) of 111 externally abnormal fetuses. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most frequent CHD found in isolation as well as in combination with extracardiac malformations. Seventy-five percent of isolated CHD was VSD. Forty (69.2%) of the 52 cases of CHD were associated with extracardiac malformations. Chromosomal syndromes were responsible for a minimum of 19.2% of the cases and suspected in up to 36.5%. The most frequent associations involved the musculoskeletal system, central nervous system, abdominal wall, and kidneys. In contrast, studies of liveborn infants have reported 70% of CHD as isolated defects, including many CHD infrequently seen among spontaneous abortuses. This suggests that fetuses with isolated CHD often survive to term, and CHD does not significantly affect the survival of the fetus in utero. Ventricular septum formation may be particularly susceptible to hemodynamic changes and may be indicative of an underlying pathologic condition that also leads to a spontaneous abortion.


The choice of available infrared (IR) detectors for insertion into modern IR systems is both large and confusing. The purpose of this volume is to provide a technical database from which rational IR detector selection criteria evolve, and thus clarify the options open to the modern IR system designer. Emphasis concentrates mainly on high-performance IR systems operating in a tactical environment, although there also is discussion of both strategic environments and low- to medium-performance system requirements.


The enthusiasm which attended the successful use of sulfanilamide in a remarkably wide range of infections has now been transferred to sulfapyridine. The undoubted ability of this drug to combat pneumococcic infections has naturally led to its widespread adoption in the treatment of pneumonia; but, because it is apparently as potent as sulfanilamide in other types of infection, there is a growing tendency to employ the new in place of the old and proved compound. Before this trend becomes too pronounced it seems timely to inquire into the relative toxicity of the two drugs. This is the more necessary when it is recalled that clinicians have not yet reached agreement as to the blood concentrations of sulfapyridine that are adequate to control pneumonia of pneumococcic origin. Until matters of such fundamental importance are settled, expediency should be tempered by caution. In the present communication an attempt has been made to


During the Turonian and Coniacian, up to the early Santonian, the present-day Polish Jura Chain composed a positive submarine palaeotectonic feature referred to as the Cracow Swell, separating the deeper Opole Trough to the SW from the Danish-Polish Trough to the NE. At present the Turonian and Santonian deposits at the margin of the Polish Jura Chain and the Miechow Trough are fragmentarily preserved. They are characterised by numerous stratigraphic hiatuses and the occurrence of many unconformity surfaces. One of the most spectacular unconformities is a hardground at the Turonian/Coniacian boundary described herein from the vicinity of Wielkanoc. Its development took place in several stages. Three main stages can be distinguished with a composite middle stage. In the first stage during the early late Turonian, a gradual drowning of the carbonate Cracow Swell took place followed by eutrophication of the environment. The second stage from the latest Turonian to the earliest Coniacian was linked with a crisis of a carbonate sedimentation leading to its cessation. A firmground with Thalassinoides traces was formed, followed by a hardground with bivalve borings and ? Trypanites . Carbonate-clastic sedimentation recommenced at least twice (with quartz arenites), followed by rejuventation of burrows and/or borings, lithification of the sediment, glauconitization and phosphatization, as well as the development of microbial mats undergoing early phosphatization. This led to the formation of phosphatic stromatolites. In consequence a composite hardground was formed. The third stage took place in the late early Coniacian. Carbonate-clastic sedimentation resumed. Deposits, developed as carbonate arenites with quartz and glauconite admixtures (non-phosphatized), filled the last generation of the rejuvenated burrows and finally covered the hardground.


BACKGROUND
Electroencephalography (EEG) and related measures have a long and productive history in child psychopathology research and are currently experiencing a renaissance in interest, particularly for use as putative biomarkers.

METHOD AND SCOPE
First, the recent history leading to the use of EEG measures as endophenotypes and biomarkers for disease and treatment response are reviewed. Two key controversies within the area of noninvasive human electrophysiology research are discussed, and problems that currently either function as barriers or provide gateways to progress. First, the differences between the main types of EEG measurements (event-related potentials, quantitative EEG, and time-frequency measures) and how they can contribute collectively to better understanding of cortical dynamics underlying cognition and behavior are highlighted. Second, we focus on the ongoing shift in analytic focus to specific cortical sources and source networks whose dynamics are relevant to the clinical and experimental focus of the study, and the effective increase in source signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that may be obtained in the process.

CONCLUSIONS
Understanding of these issues informs any discussion of current trends in EEG research. We highlight possible ways to evolve our understanding of brain dynamics beyond the apparent contradictions in understanding and modeling EEG activity highlighted by these controversies. Finally, we summarize some promising future directions of EEG biomarker research in child psychopathology.


Recently, there is a need to use and adopt of axle bearings for railway vehicles which is ease of assembly and maintenance, adequacy of the grease in the bearing and high reliability and safety. For this reason, we are import and use a developed country railways bearing such as TIMKEN, NTN, FAG, NSK, SNR, SKF, etc. Moreover, axle bearing value for metro railway using in the special environment with heavy load and vibration is very high but this bearing does not produced in Korea because of the complexity of the technology applied and not easy to obtain materials or documents relating thereto in Korea. Therefore, it is important to analyze bearing failure cases which are used in the domestic environment and to identify the type and the cause of the fault to localize of the product development of the bearing which will be applied to rolling stock. This study is intended to analyze cases of axle bearing damage occurred recently and to raise the quality level of the product development and localization process.


This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications, ICETE 2010, held in Athens, Greece, in July 2010. The 28 revised full papers presented together with 1 invited paper in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 422 initial submissions. They have passed two rounds of selection and improvement. According to the topics of the particular conference the papers are organized in thematical parts on data communication networking (DCNET), e-business (ICE-B), optical communication systems (OPTICS), security and cryptography (SECRYPT), signal processing and multimedia applications (SIGMAP), wireless information networks and systems (WINSYS).


Yoga philosophy includes ethical codes of conduct, guidelines, meditation and other practices that respect the Earth, its natural resources, humans and other living beings. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of yoga practice on practitioners' environmental behaviours and sustainability. A total of 195 adults (66 men and 129 women) from two cities in Greece participated in this study. The participants completed the General Environmental Responsible Behaviour scale (Zafeiroudi & Hatzigeorgiadis, 2013) and provided additional information about their personal lifestyles, leisure activity preferences and frequency of participation in outdoor activities. Independent sample T-test analysis was used to investigate differences between practitioners' demographics and the General Environmental Responsible Behaviour scale as the dependent variable. The results indicated statistically significant differences in environmental behaviour scores among practitioners in different yoga demographics. On the basis of yoga philosophy, the study findings suggested that participation in yoga practices strengthens beliefs, behaviours and awareness regarding the environment. The individual values taught by the philosophy of yoga also foster friendlier attitudes and behaviours towards the environment. Moreover, the findings indicated that yoga practice might be an effective supplement and tool to promote green sustainable programs currently run by environmental and social organizations.


Every country's desire is sustainable economic development through economic growth. For most countries, the consistency of its gross domestic product is of huge concern for its government and policymakers. Either a developed or developing country, economic growth has been seen to promote export; similarly, export is viewed to be an essential determinant of economic growth. But the debate of what causes economic development is heated among researchers and economists as there is yet to be any consensus on the topic. This paper contributes to the investigation of the relationship between export and economic growth for the Gambia from 1990 to 2017. Using annual time series economic data, we applied the econometric techniques of ADF test to prove stationarity, acceptance of the null hypothesis of Granger causality and Johansen's cointegration test. The Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model was conducted and the findings indicate a positive relationship between export and economic growth. The Rsquared of 77.67% from the vector autoregressive test results made us accept the export-led growth hypothesis for the Gambia. Thus, we recommended policymakers to create judicious and strategic policies that would promote export to boost the economic growth of the Gambia.


This paper presents a compact Ka-band TDD front-end chip with temperature compensation technology. The front-end chip is integrated with a passive switch, a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a power amplifier (PA). Temperature compensation bias network is used to reduce the gain ripple versus temperature, and co-design method between the amplifiers and the switch is used to enhance the bandwidth. The gain ripple is less than 20.7 dB when the temperature ranges from −55°C to +85°C. The circuit works from 30.5GHz∼39.1GHz, with a 24.7% relative bandwidth. The chip is fabricated with GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) technology. The gain of the receiver (RX) link is 26.6 dB, and the noise figure of it is 2.95 dB at 36.5GHz. The gain of the transmitter (TX) link is 26.0 dB, and the output 1 dB compression point of it is 16 dBm.


The aim of
this research is the try to implement a new type of haptic feedback namely skin stretch. Some
research already has been done on using skin stretch but it is still in an early stage of development.
In this research more precision towards directional skin stretch feedback is added to
bring it to a new level. This is desired because a doctor should be able to move the endoscope
precisely. A small system is designed which has a sticky end effector attached to the skin. The
structure surrounding the end effector has 4 servo motors attached to it which are able to pull
the end effector (and thus the skin) in any direction. The skin stretch feedback is tested with a
computer, the mouse should be moved along a certain path which is invisible for the user. The
user has to trust the feedback in order to follow the right path and finally get to the correct end
point. The results show that people have a hard time identifying in which direction the feedback
moves. It is also shown that people are able to improve themselves with more training.
Finally are the results compared with visual feedback and a combination of both. This comparison
points out that the combination of both types of feedback works the best. Therefore can it
be concluded that it is a helpful tool towards the operating doctor.


BACKGROUND
The safety of ergonovine/ergometrine stress testing for coronary vasospasm when performed outside the cath lab has vigorously been questioned. The aim of this study was to assess the value of ergonovine/ergometrine stress testing performed in the echo lab.

METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the data prospectively collected in the echo lab of the Institute of Clinical Physiology of Pisa (Italy) from January 1, 1985, to October 1, 1998, on 478 tests performed on 464 patients with either ergonovine or ergometrine stress echo testing. By selection, all patients had history of chest pain, consistent with vasospastic angina, negative or ambiguous exercise stress testing, and normal or near normal resting left ventricular function. Ergonovine or ergometrine maleate was injected up to a total cumulative dosage of 0.35 mg, under continuous 12 lead ECG and two-dimensional echo monitoring.

RESULTS
There were no death, myocardial infarction, ventricular fibrillation or III degree atrioventricular block. One patient had non-sustained ventricular tachycardia associated with transient ST segment elevation 30 min after the test. Two patients had II degree atrioventricular block, associated with positive echocardiography test and promptly reversed by nitrate administration. Transient regional myocardial dysfunction occurred in 74 patients (15%). Limiting ischemia-independent side effects were present in 13 patients (3%): hypotension in 1, arterial hypertension in 5, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in 2, and nausea/vomiting in 5. The overall feasibility was 97%.

CONCLUSIONS
Pharmacological stress echocardiography with either ergonovine or ergometrine is highly feasible and can be safely performed in the echo lab in properly selected patients in whom coronary vasospasm is suspected. It is often the only way to document coronary vasospasm otherwise missed by conventional noninvasive stress test and even by coronary angiography.


Background: Diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging (DOSI) can be exploited as a marker of tumor blood volume quantified by tissue hemoglobin (tHb) concentration. In DOSI, frequent measurement is possible for breast cancer patients because of its non-invasiveness. The tHb concentration determined by DOSI is expected to be a new biomarker for prediction of breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Purpose: Our objective is to determine whether early change of tumor tHb concentration predicts pathological complete response (pCR) to NAC in patients with operable breast cancer. Methods: In a prospective study, one hundred patients with primary breast cancer were enrolled for primary objective analysis. The regimens of NAC were according to the standard of care. Patients underwent sequential scans using DOSI at baseline, after 1st course and 2nd course of chemotherapy. The mean value of tHb (tHbmean) concentration of the targeted lesion was measured and the percentage change in tHbmean (ΔtHbmean) concentration was calculated. Receiver operating curve analysis demonstrated diagnostic performance of DOSI for predicting a pCR. Results: In interim analysis, it was regarded as a good outcome that area under the curve (AUC) for ΔtHbmean after 1nd course was 0.797 (SE 0.104, 95%CI 0.633-0.911), and after 2st course was 0.867 (SE 0.06, 95%CI 0.715-0.956). Conclusion: DOSI could predict accurately a pCR to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with primary breast cancer. Citation Format: Ogura H, Yoshizawa N, Ueda S, Hosokawa Y, Matsunuma R, Tochikubo J, Nasu H, Shigekawa T, Takeuchi H, Osaki A, Saeki T, Yoshimoto K, Ohmae E, Suzuki T, Ueda Y, Yamashita Y, Sakahara H. Near-infrared diffuse optical imaging for early prediction to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with primary breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-06.


Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) are involved in both detrimental and beneficial consequences of microbial aggregates such as biofilms, flocs and biological sludges. In biofouling, they are responsible for the increase of friction resistance, change of surface properties such as hydrophobicity, roughness, colour, etc. In biocorrosion of metals they are involved by their ability to bind metal ions. In bioweathering, they contribute by their complexing properties to the dissolution of minerals. The EPSs represent a sorption site for pollutants such as heavy metal ions and organic molecules. This can lead to a burden in wastewater sludge; on the other hand, the sorption properties can be used for water purification. Other biotechnological uses of EPS exploit their contribution to viscosity, e.g., in food, paints and oil-drilling 'muds'; their hydrating properties are also used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, EPSs may have potential uses as biosurfactants, e.g., in tertiary oil production, and as biological glue. EPSs are an interesting component of all biofilm systems and still hold a large biotechnological potential.


We introduce a smooth linear control algorithm for the set-point regulation of a robot with uncertainties in its mathematical model. This control algorithm incorporates position measurement only, while compensating for the unknown gravity forces. We also discuss its performance in comparison to other algorithms with similar structure.


School-based prevention and promotion interventions (SBPPI) improve desirable outcomes (e.g., commitment to school and attendance) and reduce undesirable outcomes (e.g., suspensions and violence). Unfortunately, our understanding of how to effectively implement and sustain SBPPI outside of well-controlled conditions is lacking. To bridge this science/"real world" practice gap, a system of sustainable implementation, which merges implementation strategies and sustainability strategies, is proposed for SBPPI. Ecological levels and phases affect this system. This conceptualization is supported by analyses from a diverse sample of 157 schools implementing Social-Emotional Character Development, a type of SBPPI. The system of sustainable implementation was measured using the Schools Implementing Towards Sustainability (SITS) scale, which was designed to be "user-friendly" in field settings by being viable and scalable. The SITS demonstrated strong reliability as well as promising concurrent and construct validity. Implications are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Background Abatacept (ABA) is a selective co-stimulation modulator, which is widely used in treatment of RA. There isn't enough data about its effectiveness and impact on functional status in patients with early (ERA) and long-standing (LS) rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives To assess the impact of ABA on disease activity and functional status in patients with different duration of RA. Methods 85 patients (pts) with active RA and an inadequate response to synthetic DMARDs or biologics were enrolled in the study. They were grouped into 2 arms based on RA duration: less than three years (early RA) and more than three years (LS RA), i.e. 51% and 49% pts in each group, respectively. Most of them were middle aged females (48,8±13,5 years) with high disease activity (DAS28=5,25±1,15), RF-positive (76,7%) and ACPA-positive (73,1%). ABA (10 mg/kg) was administered intravenously following the adult intravenous dosing regimen. Disease activity was assessed by DAS28, functional status by HAQ-DI and results by EULAR criteria every 12 weeks. Results Before treatment DAS28 in ERA pts was 5,1±0,9, in LS RA – 5,3±1,3 and HAQ-DI in ERA pts was 1,3±0,6, in LS RA - 1,6±0,9. In three months after ABA therapy initiation a significant improvement in DAS28 and HAQ-DI was achieved in both groups (p<0,05). Improvement by EULAR response criteria was registered in 80% of pts with ERA and 67% of pts with LS RA. There was no significant difference between two groups after 3 and 6 months of treatment in achieving a good EULAR response: 27,5% and 43,75% – in early RA pts, 28,57% and 38,4% – in LS RA pts. There was a comparable percentage of non-responders after 3 and 6 months of therapy in both groups (at 3 months – 20% in early RA group, 31,4% – in LS RA group; at 6 months – 18,7% and 19,2% respectively). After 3 months and 6 months the improvement of HAQ-DI in ERA group was significantly higher, than in LS RA group (p<0.05). 28 adverse events (AEs) in 17 (20%) pts were registered. The most frequent AE were upper respiratory tract infections – 10 (11,8%) pts. Serious AEs (SAEs) occurred in 4 (4,7%) pts. Conclusions ABA has shown significant improvement in reduction of disease activity and improvement in functional status in pts with RA. No significant difference was seen between the groups of ERA and LS RA by EULAR criteria. However, pts in ERA group had significant improvement of HAQ-DI comparing with LS RA group. ABA has good safety profile, adverse events were registered only in 20% of patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Concern is growing for the welfare of human rights activists and victims of torture in Sudan after last month's security service raids on the offices of organisations that provide rehabilitation to survivors of torture.

The raids occurred within hours of an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court against President Omar al Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which also led to the expulsion of numerous international humanitarian charities.

Amnesty International last week warned that Mohamed Al-Mahjoub, director of the Amal Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation for Victims of Torture in North Darfur, was arrested on 11 April and taken to a National Intelligence and Security Services detention centre in El Fasher. So far he …


In late 2019, there were reports of an outbreak of infection caused by a new strain of beta coronavirus SARSCoV-2, the WHO identified the disease as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In Tatarstan, the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed on March 16, 2020, it was an imported case from France. The period of increase in the incidence lasted during the 12th to the 19th week, when the highest rate was recorded, amounting to 16.7 per 100 thousand population. Subsequently, a statistically significant decrease in the incidence was noted. Seroprevalence study was conducted at week 27 (8th week of decline of morbidity).The purpose of the seroepidemiological study was to measure the level and to identify the structure of herd immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus among the population of the Republic of Tatarstan during the rapid spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.Materials and methods. The selection of volunteers for the study was carried out by the method of questionnaires and randomization by random sampling. The exclusion criterion was active COVID-19 infection at the time of the survey. 2,946 people were examined for the presence of specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The age of the surveyed volunteers ranged from 1 year to 70 years and older.Results. The results of the study showed that in the Republic of Tatarstan during the period of COVID-19 incidence, there was a moderate seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2, which amounted to 31.3%, against the background of a high frequency (94.5%) of asymptomatic infection in seropositive individuals who did not have a history of past COVID-19 disease, positive PCR result and ARVI symptoms on the day of the examination. The maximum indicators of herd immunity were established in children aged 7–13 years (42.0%), children 14–17 years old (40.3%), with a simultaneous decrease in seroprevalence in persons aged 70 and older (24.0%). In different regions of the Republic of Tatarstan, there was a wide variation in seropositivity results from the minimum in the Zainsky district (8.6%) to the maximum in the Arsky district (74.3%). In 21 out of 38 surveyed districts, the results were unrepresentative due to the small sample size. In COVID-19 convalescents, antibodies are produced in 83.3% of cases. In persons with a positive result of the PCR analysis carried out earlier, antibodies were detected in 100% of cases. Among the volunteers who had contact with patients with COVID-19, the proportion of seropositive is 37%Conclusion. The dynamics of seroprevalence among the population of the Republic of Tatarstan can be qualified as positive, the results obtained can be used to develop a forecast for the development of the epidemiological situation, as well as to plan measures for specific and non-specific prevention of COVID-19.


Research on the democratic legitimacy of non-elected actors influencing policy while acting as representatives is often lacking in governance literature, despite being increasingly relevant worldwide. Recent theories of representation argue that there are non-electoral mechanisms to appoint such non-elected representatives and hold them responsible for their actions. Consequently, democratic non-electoral representation can be achieved. Through empirical analysis, this article explores democratic non-electoral representation in governance networks by comparing how non-elected representatives, their constituents and the decision-making audience understand the outcome of representation to benefit the constituency, authorisation and accountability. The research findings conclude that all three groups mostly share the understanding of democratic non-electoral representation as ongoing interactions between representatives and constituents, multiple (if any) organisational and discursive sources of authorisation and deliberative aspects of accountability. All of these are non-electoral mechanisms that secure democratic representation. These findings make an important contribution to the literature on non-electoral representation in policymaking.


The effect of application alternating current on the modification of primary Mg2Si crystals in the hypereutectic Mg-4.8 mass%Si alloy has been investigated in the present study. The liquidus and eutectic temperatures of the Mg-4.8 mass%Si alloy are 761C and 638C, respectively. An alternating current of 60 A with frequency of 1 kHz was applied into the hypereutectic Mg-Si melt from different starting temperatures (770, 740, 700 and 670C) till 630C. The results show that primary Mg2Si crystals could be refined effectively by application alternating current. The average sizes of primary Mg2Si crystals were decreased to almost a half after being subjected to the alternating current. The starting temperature of the application alternating current is a very significant factor to determine the size uniformity of the primary Mg2Si crystals, while it has no obvious effect on the average size of the primary Mg2Si crystals. The refined primary Mg2Si crystals have the lowest average size and the highest uniformity in sizes when the hypereutectic Mg-Si melt was treated by application alternating current from the starting temperature of 700C. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MRA2008235]


Cancer treatment typically involves administration of combination of targeted therapies, but initial response is often followed by disease relapse. The efficacy of a treatment regimen depends on the complex interplay between cancer growth dynamics, drug specificity and kinetics, treatment dose and its scheduling. In standard high-throughput drug screening assays, cells are treated with a single drug cocktail bolus and cell viability is assessed after 2-3 days, thus not considering treatment interactions and long-term effects. Recently we have reported a promising synergistic combination of crizotinib (ALK/MET inhibitor) and ABT-263 (BCL2/BCL-XL inhibitor) against triple negative breast cancer cells. To understand the effect of the sequence and combination doses of crizotnib and ABT-263, we designed a comprehensive experimental plan that involved a total of 567 treatment regimens by varying treatment duration with the first drug (1, 2, or 3 days), followed by drug withdrawal and recovery period (2, 5 or 10 days) and then by a second cycle of treatment and recovery periods over a 26-day period. Cell viability was assessed by the CellTiter-Glo luminescence assay. Interestingly, ABT-263 alone induced higher cytotoxicity than an equivalent dose of crizotinib, but the remaining viable cells recovered much faster after ABT-263 withdrawal than cells after crizotinib withdrawal. Furthermore, cells exposed to higher doses of ABT-263 eventually become less sensitive to crizotinib. Among sequential regimens, crizotinib followed by ABT-263 was significantly more effective than ABT-263 followed by crizotinib, and combinations that included lower doses of ABT-263 were most effective. Taken together, our results show a significant interaction between the two targeted therapies, and suggest that it may be possible to select treatment scheduling that can delay drug resistance and tumor relapse in vivo. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Gauri A. Patwardhan, Vikram B. Wali, Lajos Pusztai, Christos Hatzis. A systematic investigation of the effect of scheduling of targeted combination therapies on response and dynamics of relapse in triple negative breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2073. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2073


This thesis deals with the specification and construction of syntax and operational semantics of a programming language. We work with a general notion of signature for specifying objects of a given category as initial objects in a suitable category of models.This characterization, in the spirit of Initial Semantics, gives a justification of the recursion principle. Languages with variable binding, such as the pure lambda calculus, are monads on the category of sets specified through the classical algebraic signatures. The first extensions to syntaxes with equations that we consider are quotients of these algebraic signatures. They allow, for example, to specify a binary commutative operation. But some equations, such as associativity, seem to remain out of reach. We thus introduce the notion of 2-signature, consisting in two parts: a specification of operations through a usual signature as before, and a set of equations among them. We identify the class of algebraic 2-signatures for which the existence of the associated syntax is guaranteed. Finally, we takle the specification of the operational semantics of a programming language such as lambda calculus with beta-reduction. To this end, we introduce the notion of reduction monad and their signatures, then we generalize them to get the notion of operational monad.


The complexity of handling multiple – often conflicting – tasks, coupled with the collaboration required by wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes to accomplish such tasks, exacerbate concerns about the effectiveness and longevity of the network. Handling multiple dynamic contexts and offering autonomic context-aware WSN management are severely limited by the network's resource constraints. This may affect the ability of sensors to join fully or partially in the missions of the network, restricting the quality of users' experience. Moreover, WSNs should work unattended and cannot assume global visibility or centralized services. Hence, we conceptualize next generation WSNs as autonomous distributed systems capable of dynamic and adaptive reconfiguration. Such networks should be capable of performing dynamic task allocation according to application demand, network conditions, and task context. In this paper we present an efficient distributed task allocation method for WSNs. We look at the task allocation problem in WSNs from a new perspective, where we show how it can be mapped to a clustering problem, and we leverage our previously proposed Affinity Propagation (AP) inspired clustering protocol [1] to solve it. We contrast our approach against both optimal and naïve greedy solutions. By means of simulation, we show that our method is capable of achieving near-optimal results at only a fraction of the optimal solution cost.