Abstract Introduction Mismatch Negativity (MMN) corresponds to a response of the central auditory nervous system. Objective The objective of this study is to analyze MMN latencies and amplitudes in normal-hearing adults and compare the results between ears, gender and hand dominance. Methods This is a cross-sectional study. Forty subjects participated, 20 women and 20 men, aged 18 to 29 years and having normal auditory thresholds. A frequency of 1000Hz (standard stimuli) and 2000Hz (deviant stimuli) was used to evoked the MMN. Results Mean latencies in the right ear were 169.4ms and 175.3ms in the left ear, with mean amplitudes of 4.6µV in the right ear and 4.2µV in the left ear. There was no statistically significant difference between ears. The comparison of latencies between genders showed a statistically significant difference for the right ear, being higher in the men than in women. There was no significant statistical difference between ears for both right-handed and left-handed group. However, the results indicated that the latency of the right ear was significantly higher for the left handers than the right handers. We also found a significant result for the latency of the left ear, which was higher for the right handers. Conclusion It was possible to obtain references of values for the MMN. There are no differences in the MMN latencies and amplitudes between the ears. Regarding gender, the male group presented higher latencies in relation to the female group in the right ear. Some results indicate that there is a significant statistical difference of the MMN between right- and left-handed individuals.


Tamoxifen, an estrogen receptor antagonist used in the treatment of breast cancer, inhibits the inward rectifier potassium current (IK1) in cardiac myocytes by an unknown mechanism. We characterized the inhibitory effects of tamoxifen on Kir2.1, Kir2.2, and Kir2.3 potassium channels that underlie cardiac IK1. We also studied the effects of 4-hydroxytamoxifen and raloxifene. All three drugs inhibited inward rectifier K+ 2.x (Kir2.x) family members. The order of inhibition for all three drugs was Kir2.3 > Kir2.1 ∼ Kir2.2. The onset of inhibition of Kir2.x current by these compounds was slow (T1/2 ∼ 6 min) and only partially recovered after washout (∼30%). Kir2.x inhibition was concentration-dependent but voltage-independent. The time course and degree of inhibition was independent of external or internal drug application. We tested the hypothesis that tamoxifen interferes with the interaction between the channel and the membrane-delimited channel activator, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2). Inhibition of Kir2.3 currents was significantly reduced by a single point mutation of I213L, which enhances Kir2.3 interaction with membrane PIP2. Pretreatment with PIP2 significantly decreased the inhibition induced by tamoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, and raloxifene on Kir2.3 channels. Pretreatment with spermine (100 μM) decreased the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen on Kir2.1, probably by strengthening the channel's interaction with PIP2. In cat atrial and ventricular myocytes, 3 μM tamoxifen inhibited IK1, but the effect was greater in the former than the latter. The data strongly suggest that tamoxifen, its metabolite, and the estrogen receptor inhibitor raloxifene inhibit Kir2.x channels indirectly by interfering with the interaction between the channel and PIP2.


Summary
Rice gall dwarf virus (RGDV) was studied in infected rice plants and in its principal insect vector, the green leafhopper Nephotettix nigropictus, by electron microscopy. In plants, virions were restricted to the cytoplasm and vacuoles of phloem-related cells and of gall cells generated from the phloem. In the insects, virions occurred in the cytoplasm of many different kinds of cells including those of the salivary gland, the gut, the fat body, muscles and nerves. Virions in both plant and insect cells had dense cores 40 to 50 nm in diameter which were surrounded by a less dense region; the total diameter was 60 to 70 nm. Viroplasms, crystals and tubules were observed in cells both of plants and insects. Although virions often occupied most of infected plant cells, they occurred only in restricted areas of insect cells. The restriction of virions to phloemrelated cells in infected plants probably explains why yields of purified RGDV are usually about 1/30 of those of rice dwarf virus, which invades many types of cell. About 3% of the virus particles seen in thin sections of infected plants appeared to be empty. Empty particles were purified from infected rice plants and were found to lack nucleic acid and much of the 56000 mol. wt. protein present in intact particles.


Due to the increasing diversity and complexity of embedded systems, the use of high-level synthesis (HLS) and that of FPGAs have been both becoming prevalent in order to enhance the design productivity. Although a number of works for FPGA-oriented optimizations, particularly about resource binding, have been studied in HLS, the HLS technologies are still immature since most of them overlook some important facts on resource sharing. In this paper, for FPGA-based designs, we quantitatively evaluate effects of several resource sharing approaches in HLS using practically large benchmarks, on various FPGA devices. Through the comprehensive evaluation, the effects on clock frequency, execution time, area, and multiplexer distribution are examined. Several important discussions and findings will be disclosed, which are essential for further advance of the practical HLS technology.


How should states classify embryos? The war has often waged between two classifications, people versus property. But what if a state assumed something in between, finding the embryo to be a potential person entitled to special respect? If a state adopted this position, how would the law affect medical research? Presuming embryos constitute potential persons, the debate would continue with how to define "special respect." The status of a potential person runs along a spectrum between property and personhood. How one defines "special respect" determines where the potential person falls along this spectrum. Special respect would create a spectrum of treatment that extends from a property-like limitation of ownership rights to something resembling rights afforded to an absolute person. This comment theorizes about the impact of a state that statutorily regards an embryo as a potential person. Such a statute may assert that embryonic material with the active potential to develop into a live born offspring is a potential person due special respect. If special respect was presumed to lie on the person-oriented side of the spectrum, it would afford the potential person something akin to the most fundamental human rights. Such a definition draws into question the common practice of destroying embryos in IVF and stem cell research. Part I assesses the current perception of embryos as persons, potential persons afforded due respect, and property. Part II discusses the potential insufficiency of characterizing embryos as persons and property. Part III analyzes variances within the spectrum of interpreting embryos as potential persons, including property that offers its owner a limited bundle of rights and persons who possess limited rights of their own. Part III also explains the value of treating embryos as more akin to persons than property. Part IV reflects on the implications that regarding an embryo as a person with limited rights would have upon medical technology. This includes an analysis on IVF, a consideration of traditional techniques for culturing stem cell lines, and an assessment of the most recent medical advances in deriving embryonic stem cells.


abstract:This article considers Lisa Feldman Barrett's challenge to Darwin's claim—popularized by Paul Ekman's cross-cultural studies—that facial expressions are intelligible across the species. Barrett considers how Ekman's research expectations normalize Eurocentric gestures; she proposes that emotions are not hardwired but constructed in a dynamic interplay of interpretation and prediction. Drawing connections between this argument and decolonial feminist challenges to prominent Western accounts of what it means to be human—including Sylvia Wynter on the "ethnoclass of Man" and Sianne Ngai on racialized and feminized "animatedness"—this article explores what assumptions might underpin claims of affective intelligibility across cultures, and develops concepts toward a decolonial feminist affect theory.


Studies of the normal mitral-valve closure (Barnard et al., 1959, 1961) have shown that for practical purposes the valve orifice is guarded by two leaflets constituting a flap-type valve, activated by the differences in hydrostatic pressure between the atrial and the ventricular chambers, and passively restrained by their anchoring chordae and papillary muscles. The antero-medial leaflet is much larger than the postero-lateral one, and the chordae are attached only to the peripheral zone of the cusp, leaving a triangularshaped area, which is much thinner, free to billow towards the cavity of the left atrium during systole (Fig. 1). The closure of the mitral-valve orifice is thus mainly effected by the freely mobile antero-medial leaflet. In endocardial cushion defects, with a cleft of the mitral valve, abnormal restraints are present. These ensure the support of those portions of the mitral valve nearer the cleft. Three such abnormal restraints have been observed (Fig. 2): (a) accessory mitral chordae which anchor the valvular tissue bordering on the cleft to the ventricular septum (Wakai and Edwards, 1956; Edwards, 1960; Barnard et al., 1961); (b) chordae which anchor the cleft to the papillary muscles (note: in normal valves these chordae run only to the periphery of the cusp); and (c) a segment of the cleft, especially at the base, may be fused to the ventricular septum. Once the cleft is closed, these restraints are no longer necessary, as the normally inserted chordae will prevent eversion of the cusp. Moreover, they now prevent the free mobility of the central portion of the cusp, and mitral insufficiency will persist although the cleft has been securely closed (Fig. 3).


From the Book:
This book is one of an on-going series of books developed by the engineering staff of the Sun BluePrints? Program. The Sun BluePrints Program is managed by the Enterprise Engineering group, and provides a framework to identify, develop, and distribute best practices information for Sun products.

If you are new to clustering, we discuss how a cluster is built and configured, plus more (a lot more)—we recommend you read the book from cover to cover. For those with cluster experience, the book has been set out in modular fashion—each section covers specific areas that can be quickly identified and referenced.

This book builds a solid foundation by detailing the architecture and configuration of the Sun Cluster software. The information provided in this book extends beyond the Sun Cluster infrastructure and introduces Sun Cluster 2.2 (SC2.2) applications, maintenance, and datacenter best practices to enhance datacenter efficiency and application availability.

The Sun Cluster 2.2 technology has evolved due in part to the involvement and commitment of its customers to achieve a high level of maturity and robustness. Sun Microsystems' participation in the cluster software arena began in the spring of 1995 with the introduction of the SPARCcluster? 1 product. Table P-1 is a timetable of cluster products released by Sun Microsystems (as of the time of this printing).
Table P-1 Sun Cluster Product Evolution Year Product
Spring 1995 SPARCcluster 1 to sustain highly available applications
Summer 1995 SPARCcluster PDB 1.0 support for Oracle Parallel Server (OPS), Informix Extended Parallel Server (XPS), and Sybase Navigation Server
Winter 1995 SPARCcluster HA 1.0
Spring 1996 SPARCcluster PDB 1.1
Summer 1996 SPARCcluster HA 1.1
Fall 1996 SPARCcluster PDB 1.2
Fall 1996 SPARCcluster HA 1.2
Spring 1997 SPARCcluster HA 1.3
Fall 1997 Sun Cluster 2.0 — Initial merge of SPARCcluster PDB and SPARCcluster HA product lines
Spring 1998 Sun Cluster 2.1
Summer 1999 Sun Cluster 2.2 — Final merge of SPARCcluster HA into Sun Cluster

In the summer of 1995, the SPARCcluster PDB (parallel database) 1.0 software was introduced to enable parallel node scalability—this product also supported a highly available application environment. The SPARCcluster PDB software enabled parallel database products such as Oracle Parallel Server (OPS), Informix Extended Parallel System (XPS), and Sybase Navigation Server to be used in a two-node cluster.

After the release of the SPARCcluster PDB software, a separate development group within Sun introduced the SPARCcluster HA (high availability) product in the winter of 1995. The SPARCcluster HA software enabled a highly available environment for mission-critical applications such as databases, NFS, and DNS Servers.

Although the SPARCcluster PDB and SPARCcluster HA software products had different architectures, and different algorithms for data protection, cluster membership, and data management, they shared functional similarities—both environments supported a subset of available Sun servers and storage devices, and used a network interconnect for cluster communications.

A fundamental difference between these cluster products was that SPARCcluster HA required Solstice DiskSuite? software to support shared disk storage, while SPARCcluster PDB required Veritas Cluster Volume Manager (CVM) software.

To maximize the investment in engineering resources, Sun Microsystems unified its cluster software development program and merged the SPARCcluster HA and SPARCcluster PDB solutions to create the Sun Cluster 2.0 software, which was released in the fall of 1997.
The Sun BluePrints Program
The primary purposes of the Sun BluePrints Program are research, development, and publishing of best practices using Sun products. These BluePrints provide the required building blocks to assist in the creation of high-performance, highly available, and highly reliable datacenters.

To ensure up-to-date information is available to customers, a Web site is provided to compliment the BluePrints Program:
http://www.sun.com/blueprints
The mission of the Sun BluePrints Program is to empower Sun customers with the technical knowledge required to implement an expandable, highly available, and secure information system within a datacenter using Sun products. The Sun BluePrints Program is managed by the Enterprise Engineering group. This group provides a framework to identify, develop, and distribute best practice information that can be applied across all Sun products. Subject matter experts in the areas of performance, resource management, security, high-performance computing, networking, and storage write articles that explain the best methods of integrating Sun products into a datacenter.

The Enterprise Engineering group is the primary contributor of technical content for the Sun BluePrints Program, which includes books, guides, and online articles. Through these vehicles, Sun provides down-to-earth guidance, installation tips, real-life implementation experiences, and late-breaking technical information.
Who Should Use this Book
This book is produced for experienced system administrators, system architects, and technologists interested in acquiring or enhancing their Sun cluster expertise. Those who use this book should be familiar with UNIX and the Solaris Operating Environment (Solaris OE).
How this Book Is Organized
This book is divided into two major sections:
Part I, Infrastructure
Describes basic availability concepts and Sun Cluster 2.2 architecture and its components. It contains the following chapters:
Chapter 1, "High Availability Fundamentals" on page 1
High availability is a fundamental component for today's mission-critical applications. Implementation of high availability now spans beyond the hardware and software platforms to include the total system infrastructure. This chapter focuses on the basic concepts and mathematical formulas that define reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS). Additionally, we discuss the best practices and elements that play a key role for increasing availability at the single node and datacenter levels.
Chapter 2, "Sun Cluster 2.2 Architecture" on page 31
The Sun Cluster 2.2 framework is a collection of integrated software modules that provides a highly available environment with horizontal scalability. Topics such as cluster topologies, cluster membership, quorum algorithms, failure fencing, and network monitoring are discussed.
Chapter 3, "Sun Cluster 2.2 Components" on page 77
There are many component choices to be made when assembling a cluster. This chapter discusses capacity, performance, and availability features of supported Sun Cluster 2.2 components-servers, disk storage, interconnect, and public networks. This information can help you assemble a cluster to match your requirements.
Part II, Implementation
Discusses the techniques necessary to design, implement, and maintain Sun Clusters.
Chapter 4, "Sun Cluster 2.2 Administration" on page 111
After a cluster environment has been installed, configured, and is in production, it needs to be correctly maintained to preserve its high availability. This chapter complements existing Sun Cluster 2.2 manuals, and addresses when, why, and how Sun Cluster 2.2 commands should be used to help increase availability.
Chapter 5, "Highly Available Databases" on page 187
Databases represent the transactional back-end of a large percentage of mission-critical applications. This chapter presents a general discussion on databases supported by the Sun Cluster 2.2 software—namely, Oracle. This chapter focuses primarily on the Oracle database, and discusses software installation, configuration options, logical host creation, and data service agent monitoring.
Chapter 6, "Sun Cluster 2.2 Application Notes" on page 231
This chapter provides the framework for implementing a cluster configuration from scratch. The techniques and issues involved in configuring a low-end, distributed NFS server are discussed.
Chapter 7, "Sun Cluster 2.2 Data Services" on page 281
Sun Cluster 2.2 software is equipped with a standard application programming interface (API) that enables programmers to transform existing applications into highly available applications. This chapter discusses the SC2.2 Data Services API and various routines required to manage an existing application under the SC2.2 infrastructure.
Chapter 8, "Beyond Sun Cluster 2.2" on page 301
This chapter provides an introduction to the pinnacle of the Sun Cluster technology (Sun Cluster 3.0). Topics discussed include global file services, scalable services, availability, and supported cluster configurations.
Appendix A: "SCSI-Initiator ID" on page 319
This appendix presents an in-depth tutorial for resolving SCSI controller issues when using multiple hosts that share SCSI storage.
Appendix B: "SC2.2 Data Service Templates" on page 339
This appendix is a collection of Bourne shell templates that support all data service agent routines.
Related Books
The books in Table P-2 provide additional useful information:
Table P-2 Related Books Title Author and Publisher ISBN Number
Resource Management Richard McDougall, Adrian Cockcroft, Evert Hoogendoorn, Enrique Vargas, Tom Bialaski; Sun Microsystems Press/Prentice Hall, Inc. (1999) ISBN 0-13-025855-5
Blueprints for High Availability Evan Marcus, Hal Stern; John Wiley & Sons Inc. (2000) ISBN 0471-35601-8
In Search of Clusters Gregory F. Pfister; Prentice Hall PTR (1998) ISBN 0-13-899709-8


Introduction: Nephroblastoma or Wilms' Tumor (WT) is the most common kidney tumor in children. While its incidence is close to 8 cases per million children, it is only 0.2 cases per million adults. In fact, no more than 300 cases have been described in the English or French literature. And while the treatment of nephroblastoma is very well codified in children, its rare incidence in adults leads to a lack of specific treatment regimen.
Observation: A 28-year-old female, with no medical history, presented with right flank pain for 4 months. Clinical examination revealed a palpable kidney. CT scan found a large heterogeneous renal mass measuring 15 × 14 × 11 cm without evidence of adjacent structure ' s infiltration. The patient underwent an open transperitoneal radical nephrectomy. Pathologic examination revealed a nephroblastoma. Due to lack of financial means, she was unable to have adjuvant chemotherapy. A control CT scan performed at 6 months revealed multiples recurrences. The patient died before being able to benefit from chemotherapy.
 Conclusion: This case illustrates the importance of adjuvant chemotherapy, despite R0 surgery in a localized nephroblastoma. The key to treat nephroblastoma is, first, nephrectomy, then chemotherapy, whatever the stage. Staging only plays a role in the chemotherapy protocol.


Purpose: The present study was aimed at clarifying the expression of astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), one of the target genes of oncogenic Ha-ras, in breast cancer and its correlation with clinicopathologic features, including the survival of patients with breast cancer. Experimental Design: The expression of AEG-1 in normal breast epithelial cells, breast cancer cell lines, and in four cases of paired primary breast tumor and normal breast tissue was examined using reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot. Real-time reverse transcription-PCR was applied to determine the mRNA level of AEG-1 in the four paired tissues, each from the same subject. Furthermore, AEG-1 protein expression was analyzed in 225 clinicopathologically characterized breast cancer cases using immunohistochemistry. Statistical analyses were applied to test for the prognostic and diagnostic associations. Results: Western blot and reverse transcription-PCR showed that the expression level of AEG-1 was markedly higher in breast cancer cell lines than that in the normal breast epithelial cells at both mRNA and protein levels. AEG-1 expression levels were significantly up-regulated by up to 35-fold in primary breast tumors in comparison to the paired normal breast tissue from the same patient. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed high expression of AEG-1 in 100 of 225 (44.4%) paraffin-embedded archival breast cancer biopsies. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation of AEG-1 expression with the clinical staging of the patients with breast cancer (P = 0.001), as well as with the tumor classification (P = 0.004), node classification (P = 0.026), and metastasis classification (P = 0.001). Patients with higher AEG-1 expression had shorter overall survival time, whereas patients with lower AEG-1 expression had better survival. Multivariate analysis suggested that AEG-1 expression might be an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of patients with breast cancer. Conclusions: Our results suggest that AEG-1 protein is a valuable marker of breast cancer progression. High AEG-1 expression is associated with poor overall survival in patients with breast cancer.


In this paper, effects of non-line of sight propagation in an urban-street environment on routing performance in mobile ad hoc network are investigated. We implement a reliable propagation model in network simulator (NS2) named peer to peer propagation model which has been proved to be suitable for our street-grid environment by taking into account non-line of sight paths. Our simulation result shows that multiple reflected signals in an urban street grid environment are significant, and received signal strength cannot not be arbitrarily chosen or underestimate.


In this paper we study the problem of detecting and grouping multi-variant audio tracks in large audio datasets. To address this issue, a fast and reliable retrieval method is necessary. But reliability requires elaborate representations of audio content, which challenges fast retrieval by similarity from a large audio database. To find a better tradeoff between retrieval quality and efficiency, we put forward an approach relying on local summarization and multi-level Locality-Sensitive Hashing (LSH). More precisely, each audio track is divided into multiple Continuously Correlated Periods (CCP) of variable length according to spectral similarity. The description for each CCP is calculated based on its Weighted Mean Chroma (WMC). A track is thus represented as a sequence of WMCs. Then, an adapted two-level LSH is employed for efficiently delineating a narrow relevant search region. The "coarse" hashing level restricts search to items having a non-negligible similarity to the query. The subsequent, "refined" level only returns items showing a much higher similarity. Experimental evaluations performed on a real multi-variant audio dataset confirm that our approach supports fast and reliable retrieval of audio track variants.


A remarkable achievement. Ammaniti and Stern have brought together an outstanding group of thinkers who address the problem of representation and psychoanalysis with depth and originality. Individually, each chapter is a joy to read. Collectively, the book is an essential addition to our thinking about the parameters of subjectivity and their role in the therapeutic process." --Alicia F. Lieberman, Professor of Psychology, Univeristy of California San Francisco at San Francisco General Hospital and author of The Emotional Life of the Toddler Representations and Narratives provides an innovative approach to understanding the internal world of infants and children. The creativity tht is needed to develop such an understanding is contained in thi an understanding is contained in this new and exciting edited volume. The two editors, from different backgrounds and cultures, have brought together a similarly diverse group of contributors who draw on their differences to develop important new integrations of psychoanalytic and developmental approaches to understanding psychic reality in early development. This volume moves this field an important step forward in creative and innovative thinking in this area." --Joy D. Orlofsky, President, The World Association for Infant Mental Health and Editor, Infant Mental Health Journal The concepts of representation and narratives have played a key role in the development of psychoanalysis, clinical research and theoretical speculation. This work carefully analyze the growth of representation and narratives in the history and practice of psychoanalysis. Found in the early writings of Freud, the term representation identifies the process of internalization; the building of an internal mental world, separate from external reality, which allows us to give meaning to our own experiences. Also found in Freud's early works, the concept of narration as the idea that personal experience might assume the character of a narrative construction provided the impetus for the war between Freudian metapsychology and American psychoanalysts in the 1970's. This significant addition to the Psychoanalytic Crosscurrents series explores the close and necessary relationship between the two theories and illustrate how they have developed the language of therapy and affected the practice of both psychoanalysis and developmental psychology.


One of the biggest aims in marketing strategy is how to attract and retain customers through product promotion. Over the past sixteen years, social media has created revolutionary new ways of reaching customers (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). Since the globalization of online purchases, corporations have engaged in a plethora of novel strategies to gain new customers. One of these strategies is called Behavioral retargeting. Behavioral Retargeting is a form of targeted advertising whereby advertisements are displayed to consumers, based on their previous browsing history (Stephen, 2015). When organizations use behavioral retargeting, they tag consumers allowing a cookie to be inserted in the user's browser. When the cookie is inserted, the organization is able to display advertisements to the user on other Internet websites through an advertisement exchange (Stephen, 2015). The purpose is to increase conversion rates where visitors to sites become customers.


Turbulence is abundant in fully ionized fusion plasmas, with unique turbulent characteristics in different phases of the discharge. Using Fourier and chaos-based techniques, a set of parameters have been developed to profile the time evolution of turbulence in high temperature, fusion plasmas, specifically in self-organized, reversed-field pinch plasma in the Madison Symmetric Torus. With constant density and plasma current, the turbulence profile is measured during ramp-up, magnetic reconnection, and increased confinement phases. During magnetic reconnection, a scan of plasma current is performed with a constant density. Analysis revealed that the energy associated with turbulence (turbulent energy) is found to increase when changes in magnetic energy occur and is correlated to edge ion temperatures. As the turbulent energy increases with increasing current, the rate at which this energy flow between scales (spectral index) and anti-persistence of the fluctuations increases (Hurst exponent). These turbulent parameters are then compared to the ramp-up phase and increased confinement regime.


Biological inspiration for engineering design has occurred through a variety of techniques such as creation and use of databases, keyword searches of biological information in natural-language format, prior knowledge of biology, and chance observations of nature. This research focuses on utilizing the reconciled Functional Basis function and flow terms to identify suitable biological inspiration for function based design. The organized search provides two levels of results: (1) associated with verb function only and (2) narrowed results associated with verb-noun (function-flow). A set of heuristics has been complied to promote efficient searching using this technique. An example for creating smart flooring is also presented and discussed.


Evolution and learning are two of the fundamental mechanisms by which life adapts in order to survive and to transcend limitations. These biological phenomena inspired successful computational methods such as evolutionary algorithms and deep learning. Evolution relies on random mutations and on random genetic recombination. Here we show that learning to evolve, i.e. learning to mutate and recombine better than at random, improves the result of evolution in terms of fitness increase per generation and even in terms of attainable fitness. We use deep reinforcement learning to learn to dynamically adjust the strategy of evolutionary algorithms to varying circumstances. Our methods outperform classical evolutionary algorithms on combinatorial and continuous optimization problems.


A highly efficient approach to (Z)-conjugated enynes has been developed by utilizing an Au(III)-catalyzed ring opening reaction of 1-cyclopropyl-2-yn-1-ols with nucleophiles under mild conditions; the method is valuable due to the excellent yield and high regio- and stereoselectivity.


A new phenomenon of periodic oscillations is observed in I-V characteristics of porous silicon under illumination by visible light. The measurements are performed at room temperature using a scanning tunnelling microscope. The heights of the oscillation peaks appear to be a linear function of the oscillation number. The experimental value of the Coulomb energy determined from the oscillation period is much smaller than . The oscillations are attributed to a Coulomb effect, i.e. to the periodic trapping of a multi-electron level in a quantum well within a Si nanocrystal under the combined influence of the Coulomb interaction among the carriers and the variation of the potential difference between the STM tip and the semiconductor surface.


In previous studies, identification of individuals using 61 channel Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) signals from the brain has been shown to be feasible. These studies used neural network classification of gamma band spectral power of VEP signals from 20 individuals. This paper explores our continuing work in this area to include more subjects in the experiment and to reduce the number of required channels using Fisher Discriminant Ratio function. The experimental study showed that 27 optimal channels were sufficient to yield an average classification rate of 90.97% across 800 test VEP patterns from 40 subjects. Being fewer in number than 61 channels, it is less cumbersome, requires lower computational time, design complexity and cost. This was achieved without loss of performance as 61 channels gave an average classification result of 89.11%. The positive results obtained here showed that the neural activity during perception of visual stimulus was different across individuals. This method could be explored further as a biometric tool to identify individuals as the brain signals are difficult to be forged.


Inside an automobile engine, there are a camshaft, a crankshaft, a chain sprocket, etc. that transmit driving force. There are many rotating parts installed there. For example, there are gears soaking in engine oil, and bubbles are generated by rotating gears which drag air into engine oil. That raises void fraction of the engine oil. The void fraction is the gas phase fraction per unit volume. In general, high void fraction causes decreasing performance of the engine oil, such as lubrication, cooling and pressure transmission. Although it is required to reduce void fraction and establish a defoaming technique, the processes of bubble generation have not been clarified. One of the reasons is difficulty to measure void fraction and other physical parameters in oil flow using a real engine. Therefore, the influence of rotating speed, number of teeth, and kinematic viscosity of test fluid on bubble generation behavior is not grasped in detail.
 In this study, the motivation is to understand the mechanism of bubble generation behavior around a rotating body. Detailed visualization was conducted around a rotating body soaking in fluid. The actual phenomena were reproduced by using silicone oil having the same kinematic viscosity of real engine oil. From the visualization using a high speed video camera, there are some characteristic phenomena such as dragging air, subdividing bubbles, and bubbles coalescence. By using observed images, we measured bubble diameter and bubble number density with image processing. Rotating speed, shapes of the rotating bodies, and kinematic viscosity of the test fluids affected on bubble generation behavior. In particular, as the rotating speed increased, the bubble diameter decreased and the bubble number density increased.


The acceleration of economic growth in the region is supported by the potential of sectoral support the local economy in which one sector is tourism. The development of tourism has an important role for the development of an area, and evenly expand  and employment opportunities, encouraging the development of local, regional and national income increase in order to improve the welfare and prosperity of the community. Stone City is one city where the tourism destination which is Tourism Songgoriti. The potential is very supportive in the growth of the real economy both in terms of products and services. Structuring economic support infrastructure around the holidays can be a priority so that regional economic growth is expected to not only provide opportunities for people with middle and upper economic level but more in favor of increasing the value of the benefit to the surrounding community. To support a more targeted policy measures, especially for the Holidays Songgoriti, it would require an identification of potential research activity in particular economic and business prospects around the area of service quality attributes identified tourism areas Songgoriti desired by consumers (consumer expectations) and how consumer perceptions of attributes -attributes by field survey methods and questionnaires to the respondents who are consumers who have traveled to Songgoiti. Based on data from surveys and questionnaires and supported other secondary data and then do performance Index Analysis (IPA), SWOT Analysis. From the results of the new analyst made recommendations on the business prospects of the development plan Songgoriti tourism area in accordance with the desires of consumers, among others, relating to the restructuring and renovation Songgoriti markets, development of adequate parking facilities, arrangement of PKL to localize them along the roadside as they usually occupy This unique vehicle build date Doloe case of traditional stalls, performances of dance and music studio tadsional, etc.. In order to realize these plans is the management Songgoriti should coordinate intensively with people around the area with government policy support and consistent progressive Rock. Keywords: SWOT Analysis, Index Performance Analysis, intensive coordination


This research investigated how the level of disruptive behavior and friend influence on disruptive behavior varies across classrooms in relation to teacher emotional support. Data were collected from 48 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms (N = 879 students) and included classroom observations at Wave 1 and student reports of their disruptive behavior and peer nominations of their friends at Waves 1 and 2 (fall and spring of the school year, about 6 months apart). In the fall, there were no differences in the level of disruptive behavior between classes that were low versus high in teacher emotional support. However, by spring, disruptive behavior was higher in classes with low teacher emotional support compared to classes high in teacher emotional support. Social network analyses, conducted with stochastic actor-based models, indicated that students were more likely to become similar to their friends in regards to disruptive behavior in classes low in teacher emotional support compared to classes high in teacher emotional support. Thus, the level of disruptive behavior and students' susceptibility to friend influence on disruptive behavior depend on the nature of the classroom context. This study contributes to a growing body of research showing that teachers play an important role in shaping the nature of peer relationships in the classroom.


Three more senior scientists have been caught up in the crackdown on researchers who receive U.S. government funds and allegedly fail to disclose ties to China. First, a husband-and-wife team of neuroscientists at Emory University in Atlanta, Li Xiao-Jiang and Li Shihua, on 16 May learned that the school had fired them and shuttered their lab. The Lis have worked at Emory for 23 years, both are U.S. citizens, and Li Xiao-Jiang is tenured. In a statement to  Science , the Lis insisted they had disclosed their ties to China, and this was a misunderstanding about discussions in progress regarding patents, future contracts, and the founding of a potential biotechnology company. Emory also terminated many of their lab workers, forcing four postdoctoral students to return to China within 30 days. The Lis are well known for their work in developing animal models for Huntington disease. Li Xiao-Jiang is part of the Thousand Talents Program, which aims to recruit researchers back to China and is a central concern of the U.S. government. The third case involves the arrest of physicist Turab Lookman, who formerly worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. A 22 May indictment alleges that Lookman lied to the federal government about his application to and acceptance in the Thousand Talents Program. In contrast to the Lis, Lookman was charged with a federal crime and was taken into custody. He has pleaded not guilty and at press time was on home detention.


Scaling rules have been developed which are able to change the dimension of a pressure swing adsorption plant keeping its main performance constant. Such scaling rules result from a system of algebraic equations which arises by constraining the solution of a fairly general dimensionless mathematical model to be the same in the old and new plant configuration. Different heat and mass transfer mechanisms, purification, and multicomponent bulk separation processes, both isothermal and nonisothermal, have been considered. Furthermore, the influence of different equilibrium isotherms and the main practical limitations have been discussed. The application of these rules shows that column size can be reduced significantly by using smaller particles in shorter beds with rapid cycles.


There is ample evidence that the success or failure of language learning is influenced by psychological processes in learners' minds. This review attempted to review the related studies on the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' emotional intelligence, communication apprehension, and self-efficacy. Few studies have been done on the correlation between self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. A positive significant correlation between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy has been confirmed in the literature. Studies have shown that interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, problem-solving skills, self-adequacy, self-confidence, self-actualization, and stress tolerance can act as mediator variables in the correlation between self-efficacy and emotional intelligence among EFL learners. Moreover, the related studies have shown that emotional intelligence is significantly correlated with communication apprehension. The investigations have accentuated the mediating role of learners' willingness to communicate and academic achievement in the correlation between emotional intelligence and communication apprehension. The correlation between communication apprehension and self-efficacy has been verified in the related literature. Finally, the pedagogical implications are expanded to foster language learning quality. This review also provides some suggestions for further research to elucidate our viewpoints over emotional variables and their interactions with each other.


This research is about innovation or policy of a region in the context of poverty alleviation. This research is relevant and interesting to discuss because with the creation of this innovation, the Prabumulih City Government received a MURI Record certificate for the Poverty Alleviation Program (Development) of 10 livable houses/month without using APBD, APBN, and CSR funds in 2016. This innovation is of course can be a motivation for other regions that have similar problems, so as to minimize the occurrence of poverty.The population in this study is an area that has created innovations in the context of poverty alleviation. While the sample in this study is a livable house as a policy of the Prabumulih City Government to Empower the Participation of Civil Servants and Non Civil Servants in Poverty Alleviation of the Prabumulih City Community. The results of this study indicate that the innovations created by Prabumulih Regency have succeeded in achieving the goals that have been set, where the construction of habitable houses has helped many poor people to have houses that meet health standards so that they become comfortable housing for regional innovation programs with zakat/ infaq of employees within the Prabumulih City Government.


Mixed infections of enteric viruses and parasite can infected the human alimentary canal and quite complex physiological changes can result from such infection. To study the association between enteric viruses and giardiasis among diarrheal children as well as to clearly the relationship with Giardia lamblia genotypes in Diyala province, Iraq. Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in Al-Batool Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children in Baqubah city, during the period from June 2017 till November 2017. One hundred and sixty stool samples were collected from children with gastroenteritis using a clean and dry container. Samples, screened for rotavirus, adenovirus, astrovirus and norovirus using Cer Test Biotec, and G. lamblia by ELISA kits.The positive G. lamblia samples were further analyzed by nested polymerase chain reaction. Rotavirus was detected in 20%, adenovirus in 18.75% and norovirus in 13.75% while no positive result with astrovirus. G. lamblia were detected in 42 cases (26.25%), amplification triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) gene was successful in 28/42 (66.66%) samples, 8 (28.57%) contained genotype A and 20 (71.43%) samples contained genotype B. The majority of infected children were males less than five years old. Rotavirus infection rate amongst children in Diyala appears to be relatively higher than other enteric viruses. Co-infection with G. lamblia type B have important role.


─ The large utility of cloud computing has enabled enormous advances inside the real-time overall performance of systems. However, this approach results in extra storage area being used, even though reducing facts duplications would result in a decrease in information acquisitions and real time overall performance. We recommend an overall performance-oriented I/O(Input,output) deduplication(POD),instead of a capabilityoriented I/O deduplication, exemplified via iDedup, to enhance the I/O performance of primary garage systems inside the Cloud without sacrificing potential savings of the latter. POD(Performance Oriented Deduplication) takes a two-pronged approach to improving the performance of primary garage systems and minimizing overall performance overhead of deduplication, particularly, a request-primarily based selective deduplication method, called Select-Dedupe, to relieve the statistics fragmentation and an adaptive reminiscence management scheme, called iCache, to ease the reminiscence competition between the bursty study traffic and the bursty write traffic. Moreover, our assessment results also display that POD achieves similar or better potential financial savings


Abstract. This article is the result of the work of four years of field trips (2016-2019) to the village of Gatlang (Nepal) and visits to some of the surrounding villages in the Rasuwa district. This area is mainly inhabited by Tamang, of Buddhist culture and of distant Mongolian origin. The architecture of the Tamang ethnic group is unique although shares some common characteristics with other mountain or isolated architectures around the world. Due to its difficult access and remote location of these communities, the architecture uses mostly local materials (stone and wood). Although this characteristic is common to many other communities of the Himalayan mountain range, even today it is possible to differentiate architectural styles associated with ethnic groups in different regions. The primitive state of these constructions is progressively altered by the inclusion of new materials, especially in areas affected by earthquakes, such as this one, where the urgency and need to guarantee the safety of new constructions has resulted in disparate and uncontrolled reconstructions. The article aims to identify and analyze Tamang vernacular architecture constructions, their invariants, and gain in-depth knowledge of their general behavior when faced with environmental factors, as well as conservation possibilities. The final objective is to promote the recovery of this architecture, guaranteeing its structural safety and adapting it to the current habitability needs, but trying to maintain the typological invariants that preserve its value as a set of historical, cultural and tourist interests, which form part of the Tamang Heritage Trail.


There is great interest in growing blueberries in Chile. Although only a few hundred hectares are now planted, thousands of hectares are predicted by the turn of the century. There are many areas in the country that are adaptable to blueberry culture, and labor costs are extremely low. Chileans feel they have a golden opportunity to make a profit by producing blueberries during the North American off-season.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare breast cancer stage at diagnosis in two groups of women between 40 and 49 years old: women undergoing screening mammography and women with a symptom needing diagnostic workup. This comparison is indicative of the impact of forgoing screening in this age group, as recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective chart review was used to collect the results of imaging-guided core needle biopsies performed in women between the ages of 40 and 49 years from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2009. In patients diagnosed with breast cancer or a high-risk lesion, the reason for presentation, pathology, tumor size, stage, and receptor characteristics were recorded. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
Of 108 primary breast cancers, 71 were detected in the screened group and 37 in the unscreened group. The screened group was significantly more likely to be diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ than the unscreened group (22 vs 1, chi-square = 11.6, p = 0.001). Furthermore, screened patients with invasive carcinoma were significantly more likely to be diagnosed at earlier stages (chi-square = 5.02, p = 0.025). The size of invasive breast cancer in the screened group was significantly smaller as well (chi-square = 9.3, p = 0.002). Of the high-risk lesions, atypical ductal hyperplasia (n = 29) and lobular carcinoma in situ (n = 8) were most frequently seen.

CONCLUSION
Breast cancer patients undergoing screening mammography were diagnosed at earlier stages with smaller tumors. Screening also allows detection of high-risk lesions, which may prompt chemoprevention and lower subsequent breast cancer risk. We continue to support screening mammography in women between the ages of 40 and 49 years.


Despite increasing global prevalence, the precise pathogenesis and terms for objective diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementias remain controversial, and comprehensive understanding of the disease remains lacking. Here, we conducted metabolomic analysis of serum and saliva obtained from patients with neurodegenerative dementias (n = 10), including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobe dementia, and Lewy body disease, as well as from age‐matched healthy controls (n = 9). Using CE‐TOF‐MS, six metabolites in serum (β‐alanine, creatinine, hydroxyproline, glutamine, iso‐citrate, and cytidine) and two in saliva (arginine and tyrosine) were significantly different between dementias and controls. Using multivariate analysis, serum was confirmed as a more efficient biological fluid for diagnosis compared to saliva; additionally, 45 metabolites in total were identified as candidate markers that could discriminate at least one pair of diagnostic groups from the healthy control group. These metabolites possibly provide an objective method for diagnosing dementia‐type by multiphase screening. Moreover, diagnostic‐type‐dependent differences were observed in several tricarboxylic acid cycle compounds detected in serum, indicating that some pathways in glucose metabolism may be altered in dementia patients. This pilot study revealed novel alterations in metabolomic profiles between various neurodegenerative dementias, which would contribute to etiological investigations.


Occurrence the heavy metals in water is one of the most important concerns. may cause savior health problems. In this work we made an attempt to know the quantity of six heavy metals in groundwater in different locations of Baghdad city. Examinations were made on groundwater of the review region to assess the heavy metals. Groundwater samples were gathered and analyzed utilizing Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer for their Manganese, Iron, Zinc, Cadmium, Copper and Lead content and their levels compared with World Health Organization (WHO) specified maximum contaminant level. In order to accomplish this, water samples were obtained from 10 randomly selected wells in the region, in February and August, 2016. The study showed that the groundwater in the study area were generally alkaline (moderate) and contained Cu +2 , Fe +2 , Pb +2 , Cd +2 , Cu +2 and lead concentrations that are higher than the permissible limits suggested by the (WHO). The study can then be concluded to be contaminated with some heavy metals because of the effect of many activities in the survey area. Decreased the operation of Industrial treatment, laws and the integrated management led to deteriorating the groundwater quality. Also the study inclusion the TDS and EC in the groundwater in these locations. Keywords: Determination, Heavy metal, Atomic absorption, Groundwater wells.


In this paper, the small-signal averaged model of a new Sheppard-Taylor-based DC-DC converter, used in single-phase power factor correction (PFC) applications, is derived. Compared to the conventional Sheppard-Taylor converter, this topology allows lower voltage stresses across the capacitors and larger output voltage range for the same operating area. Based on the proposed model, a carrier-based Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) linear control system is developed in order to ensure a unity power factor at the rectifier AC-side and a regulated voltage at the rectifier DC-side. Both current and voltage regulators are PI-type. The performance of the proposed control scheme is tested through simulations. The system performance is evaluated in terms of source current total harmonic distortion (THD), input power factor and DC-voltage regulation.


The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project has provided the climate community 20 years of globally observed top of the atmosphere (TOA) fluxes critical for climate and cloud feedback studies. The CERES Flux By Cloud Type (FBCT) product contains radiative fluxes by cloud-type, which can provide more stringent constraints when validating models and also reveal more insight into the interactions between clouds and climate. The FBCT product provides 1° regional daily and monthly shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) cloud-type fluxes and cloud properties sorted by 7 pressure layers and 6 optical depth bins. Historically, cloud-type fluxes have been computed using radiative transfer models based on observed cloud properties. Instead of relying on radiative transfer models, the FBCT product utilizes Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) radiances partitioned by cloud-type within a CERES footprint to estimate the cloud-type broadband fluxes. The MODIS multi-channel derived broadband fluxes were compared with the CERES observed footprint fluxes and were found to be within 1% and 2.5% for LW and SW, respectively, as well as being mostly free of cloud property dependencies. These biases are mitigated by constraining the cloud-type fluxes within each footprint with the CERES Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) observed flux. The FBCT all-sky and clear-sky monthly averaged fluxes were found to be consistent with the CERES SSF1deg product. Several examples of FBCT data are presented to highlight its utility for scientific applications.


Pioneering CEOs are backing ideals with their own money: They're linking bonuses to how well they improve community health. The day may be near when CEO pay hinges on meeting community health needs.


The production of laboratory reports is generally considered necessary for undergraduate chemistry students. These reports are a record of the activities carried out and are typically assessed to determine students understanding of the chemical techniques and concepts covered. The assessment of laboratory reports tends to be itemised with a strict marking breakdown. The repeated writing of laboratory reports can be excessively time consuming and not lead to life-long skills which are useful in research or industrial laboratories. Students often tend to focus too much on unnecessary procedural detail and not enough on the meaning of their results. For this reason, the maintenance of laboratory notebooks was introduced into a chemistry laboratory module for a pre-service teacher programme for Physical Education and Biology teachers. The assessment of this module was based on class tests and a laboratory notebook which the students maintained throughout the module. Students were given guidelines for what was expected of the content of their notebooks. Their notebooks were to include all the information necessary to repeat the experiments, address the chemical concepts covered using molecular level drawings where possible, and also suggest ideas of how the experiment/activity could be used in their future teaching. Students were not given a marking scheme of how their notebooks were to be graded. An assessment rubric for the module was developed based on the notebook guidelines provided. The variety of students interpretation of the guidelines given is discussed and the results are compared to class tests associated with each laboratory activity.


Background: The rapid growth of e-health could have the unintended effect of deepening health disparities between population sub-groups. Most concerns to date have focused on population differences in access to technology, but differences may also exist in the appropriateness of online health content for diverse populations. Objective: This paper reports findings from the first descriptive study of online cancer survivor stories by race and ethnicity of the survivor. Methods: Using the five highest rated Internet search engines and a set of search terms a layperson would use to find cancer survivor stories online, we identified 3738 distinct sites. Of these, 106 met study criteria and contained 7995 total stories, including 1708 with an accompanying photo or video image of the survivor. Characteristics of both Web sites and survivor stories were coded. Results: All racial minority groups combined accounted for 9.7% of online cancer survivor stories, despite making up over 30% of the U.S. population. Also notably underrepresented were stories from those of Hispanic ethnicity (4%), men (36%), survivors of colon cancer (3%), and older adults. Conclusions: Because minority cancer survivors are underrepresented in survivor stories available online, it is unlikely that this e-health resource in its current form will help eliminate the disproportionate burden of cancer experienced by these groups.


A computed tomography examination was carried out in a group of 43 children, of whom 15 had learning disabilities (LD). Children were selected with electrophysiological abnormalities in the routine EEG, in the quantitative EEG analysis and/or in the visual cortical and auditory brainstem evoked responses. Seven children, 1 control and 6 LD, had abnormalities in the computed tomography. The most frequent localization of the lesion was the left temporal lobe. This localization might explain the origin of the learning disorder, since the left temporal lobe is involved in reading and writing processes. There was a great concordance between the anatomical localization of the lesion by the computed tomography and the place of electrical abnormalities in the quantitative EEG and the visual evoked responses. These results strongly support the indication of a computed tomography examination in LD children.


Corporate social responsibility is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business activities and interactions with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. In this global context, voluntary social and environmental practices of business which go beyond companies' existing legal obligations play a major role in filling the governance gap in an innovative way. The sector is characterized by controls across the entire value-chain of sugar production and sale, which not only hampers its efficiency but also exacerbates the cyclicality in sugar and sugarcane production. The growth and development in sugar sector in the country in general and in the state of Uttar Pradesh in particular has multiple linkages with social, economic and environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to conduct a triple bottom line assessment of sugarcane value chain and suggest alternatives that could improve the current sustainable practices of CSR across various stakeholders.


Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is the second interpretation after Tarjuman al-Mustafid written in the Malay language in the 19th century AD by Omar (1970). The main objective of this study is to identify the influence of the external source in the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan about al-Hadiths. Intertextual reading method is used in the process of analyzing Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan founded by Bakhtin and descriptions, developed and analyzed by Krestiva (1980). This study employslibrary research and field work using the subjective approach which are descriptive and qualitative data. The study found 10 works which have influenced the essence of al-Hadiths, which are Tafsir al-Jalalyn, Tafsir al-Jamal, Tafsir al-Baydawi, Tafsir al-Khazin, Tafsir al-Baghawi, Tafsir al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Tafsir al-Razi, Tafsir al-Nasafi, and Tafsir Ibn Kathir.The finding analysis also shows that Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is mostly influenced by Tafsir al-Jalalyn.


To develop perfusion applications in neuromuscular diseases, we examined the SNR and noise sensitivity of pulsed ASL for estimating microvascular reactivity and perfusion in skeletal muscle. We determined muscle blood flow and arterial transit time in volunteers after exercise and used these to inform simulations to establish the minimum ASL SNR required for accurate and precise perfusion parameter estimation. We observed a peak SNR of 10 in the tibialis anterior muscle. Simulations indicated that SNR>6 is sufficient for accurate parameter estimation, while SNR>12 is preferred for good precision. These findings will inform future exercise ASL protocol development in patient cohorts.


We have demonstrated the Solc-type wavelength filters in a 52 mm long periodically poled Ti-diffused lithium niobate channel waveguide which has a domain period of 16.6 𝜇m. At room temperature, the center wavelength and the full-width at half maximum of the filter were about 1272.49 nm and 0.23 nm, respectively. The nearest side-lobe is about 7 dB. New structure of optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) utilizing Solc-type TE↔TM mode converters was proposed for the first time.


The smaller or the bigger role which the state has in the economy arises or, on the contrary, reduces the cohesion of the socio-economic function, in the conditions in which it is able to orientate through public policies the development trends of the economy.


SUMMARY In 3 separate experiments carried out in 3 years, supplementation with lupins (100 g/day), oats (120 o/day) or a lupin/oat mix (114 g/day) generally resulted in no significant differences in wool free a change or clean wool growth rate of young sheep grazing annual pastures. There were also no significant differences between these supplements for wool production, fibre diameter, staple length or strength of the wool grown. Addition of gypsum to lupins had no significant effects on any of the production parameters measured when compared to the other supplements. However, compared to unsupplemented controls, supplemented animals had higher (P < 0.05-0.01) wool growth rates through parts of the feeding period, and produced more (P c 0.01) clean wool with longer (P c 0.05) staples of higher (P c 0.01) strength. Differences between years in wool production and staple strength were highly significant (P c 0.01).


PURPOSE
To evaluate the impact on free-breathing CBCT (FBCBCT) image quality to properly visualize the motion range of moving tumors as a function of imaging dose.

METHODS
A multi-purpose body phantom (QUASAR) with a cylindrical cedar wood (density = 0.330g/cc), and an embedded 3-cm diameter Polystyrene sphere (density = 0.855g/cc) were used to simulate lung tumor motion. Varian Trilogy with OBI system was used to acquire CBCT images (high-dose mode: 125kVp, 80mA, 25ms/frame & low-dose mode: 110kVp, 20mA, 20ms/frame). As the FBCBCT projections were acquired, the sphere moved in accordance to 30 simulated sinusoidal patient breathing patterns using a programmable motion platform, which were given the parameters: inhalation-to-exhalation (I/E) ratio ranging from 1-0.2131, amplitudes of 1 and 3 cm, and periods 2, 4, and 6 seconds. Following the acquisition of FBCBCT images, the ITV contrast, defined as = (target pixel values inside the sphere - avg. pixel values in background)/(avg. pixel values in background), were calculated per image slice.

RESULTS
All parameters, I/E ratio, period, and amplitude did not seem to have much impact on the percentage change of the ITV contrast as a function of imaging dose. The percentage-change for all coronal images with a reduced ITV contrast when going from high-dose to low-dose was - 4.61 ± 3.04%, while the percentage-change for all coronal images with an ncreased ITV contrast when going from high-dose to low-dose, was 8.19 ± 3.61%. The overall percentage-change of all 30 coronal images was 5.21 ± 6.49%.

CONCLUSIONS
We found that imaging dose did not have much impact on the visibility of the ITV volume, irrespective of the amplitude, I/E ratio, or period. Thus, it seems that low-dose FBCBCT may be just as suitable for clinical use while sparing a significant imaging dose to the patients.


Many companies are changing their financial behavior and corporate governance model in order to achieve a sufficient level of competitiveness. Corporate governance is a process of overcoming the problems of a company's growth and identifying sources of funding, one of which is emission. At present, the problem of the relationship between corporate governance and other aspects of management, for example, with competitiveness and the search for investments, is poorly consecrated. A change in the format of financing inevitably affects the nature of corporate governance - one or another version of insider corporate governance arises. The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of the corporate governance model on the company's growth indicators and its competitiveness. Currently, additional drivers of economic growth and tools for strengthening competitiveness are needed. If earlier, companies tried to increase the capitalization of companies, increase the efficiency of the use of resources and production, and thus increase the income of shareholders, now shareholders are interested in creating a competitive stable company with stable growth prospects. The problems of optimizing the structure of equity capital, its dependence on the stage of the life cycle, capitalization, break-even point, the number of shareholders and the status of the company are constantly being discussed. The financial behavior of market entities has changed, the volumes of disintermediation have been reduced, further differentiation of tax rates has occurred, which leads to the need for: formation of a mechanism for sustainable growth and strengthening the competitiveness of the company; creation of stable profit distribution schemes and optimization of the tax burden on investors, both for companies and individuals; differentiation of investors; ensuring adequate dividend payments.


Phytoene synthase (PSY) regulates the first committed step of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in plants. The present work reports identification and characterization of the three PSY genes (TaPSY1, TaPSY2 and TaPSY3) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The TaPSY1, TaPSY2, and TaPSY3 genes consisted of three homoeologs on the long arm of group 7 chromosome (7L), short arm of group 5 chromosome (5S), and long arm of group 5 chromosome (5L), respectively in each subgenomes (A, B, and D) with a similarity range from 89% to 97%. The protein sequence analysis demonstrated that TaPSY1 and TaPSY3 retain most of conserved motifs for enzyme activity. Phylogenetic analysis of all TaPSY revealed an evolutionary relationship among PSY proteins of various monocot species. TaPSY derived from A and D subgenomes shared proximity to the PSY of Triticum urartu and Aegilops tauschii, respectively. The differential expression of TaPSY1, TaPSY2, and TaPSY3 in the various tissues, seed development stages, and stress treatments suggested their role in plant development, and stress condition. TaPSY3 showed higher expression in all tissues, followed by TaPSY1. The presence of multiple stress responsive cis-regulatory elements in promoter region of TaPSY3 correlated with the higher expression during drought and heat stresses has suggested their role in these conditions. The expression pattern of TaPSY3 was correlated with the accumulation of β-carotene in the seed developmental stages. Bacterial complementation assay has validated the functional activity of each TaPSY protein. Hence, TaPSY can be explored in developing genetically improved wheat crop.


Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, circulation of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) has continued without interruption in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. During April-December 2013, a polio outbreak caused by WPV type 1 (WPV1) of Nigerian origin resulted in 217 cases in or near the Horn of Africa, including 194 cases in Somalia, 14 cases in Kenya, and nine cases in Ethiopia (all cases were reported as of March 10, 2014). During December 14-18, 2013, Kenya conducted the first-ever campaign providing inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) together with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) as part of its outbreak response. The campaign targeted 126,000 children aged ≤59 months who resided in Somali refugee camps and surrounding communities near the Kenya-Somalia border, where most WPV1 cases had been reported, with the aim of increasing population immunity levels to ensure interruption of any residual WPV transmission and prevent spread from potential new importations. A campaign evaluation and vaccination coverage survey demonstrated that combined administration of IPV and OPV in a mass campaign is feasible and can achieve coverage >90%, although combined IPV and OPV campaigns come at a higher cost than OPV-only campaigns and require particular attention to vaccinator training and supervision. Future operational studies could assess the impact on population immunity and the cost-effectiveness of combined IPV and OPV campaigns to accelerate interruption of poliovirus transmission during polio outbreaks and in certain areas in which WPV circulation is endemic.


It is shown that the current climate policy largest national economies is based on the conjugate benefits - benefits that reduce greenhouse gas emissions provides for energy efficiency, new technologies, health, energy security, etc. This has influenced the development and conclusion of a new climate agreement.. UN. In the years 2020-2030 the country must change climate policy, optimizing their long-term costs of reducing emissions and adaptation to the adverse climate change. A set of elements of the Russian climate policy.


ABSTRACT The means by which e-commerce websites can reach and track online customers have expanded enormously through the use of various digital marketing referral channels. However, evaluating comparative effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) across different referral channels remain difficult undertakings for many companies. This study aims to contribute to this line of investigation by quantifying the relative effectiveness, the dynamics, and the interdependencies among three types of major online referral channels: search engines, social media, and third-party websites. To this end, we employ the vector autoregressive (VARX) model on a large-scale clickstream dataset and have the following findings. Though search engine referrals demonstrate strong impact on sales, our results show that social media referrals have the strongest immediate and cumulative effects on e-commerce websites' conversion rates. Our results also demonstrate the synergies and interdependencies across these channels. This study contributes to the multi-channel analytics literature and sheds new light to digital marketing managers on assessing the cumulative impact and the economic value of online referral channels.


Abstract Recycling is a highly relevant issue in environmental behavior. To make it work, it is necessary to involve people. Many efforts have been made to increase people's participation in recycling. This study proposes an informal education to raise awareness among homemakers about recycling, especially aluminum packaging recycling, using workshops and compensating the factors that act as barriers to recycling in Spain. The results are the "Spaces for Dialogue" strategy to increase knowledge, awareness, and recycling intention. The findings present the main barriers to closing the gap between intention to action, and the study highlights the role that mentors play as teachers in facilitating communication and education for sustainable development.


An investigation is made of a perturbation in the vicinity of focal points over a laboratory path of a laser beam used in the processing of materials. The following situations are considered: a beam emerges from a focal point and expands; horizontal and vertical beams focused on a control surface. Rigorous numerical solutions are obtained of the aero-optics equations describing beam perturbations in front and behind the focal plane. The results are compared with the experimental data.


Multi-tier systems that combine SSDs with SAS/FC and/or SATA disks mitigate the capital cost burden of SSDs, while benefiting from their superior I/O performance per unit cost and low power. Though commercial SSD-based multi-tier solutions are available, configuring such a system with the optimal number of devices per tier to achieve performance goals at minimum cost remains a challenge. Furthermore, these solutions do not leverage the opportunity to dynamically consolidate load and reduce power/operating cost.

Our extent-based dynamic tiering solution, EDT, addresses these limitations via two key components of its design. A Configuration Adviser EDT-CA determines the adequate mix of storage devices to buy and install to satisfy a given workload at minimum cost, and a Dynamic Tier Manager EDT-DTM performs dynamic extent placement once the system is running to satisfy performance requirements while minimizing dynamic power consumption. Key to the cost minimization of EDT-CA is its ability to simulate the dynamic extent placement afforded by EDT-DTM. Key to the overall effectiveness of EDT-DTM is its ability to consolidate load within tiers when feasible, rapidly respond to unexpected changes in the workload, and carefully control the overhead due to extent migration. Our results using production workloads show that EDT incurs lower capital and operating cost, consumes less power, and delivers similar or better performance relative to SAS-only storage systems as well as other simpler approaches to extent-based tiering.


A finite difference model for predicting time-dependent, wave-induced nearshore current is studied. The model includes wave refraction, wave-current interaction, bottom friction and wind effect. This model iteratively solved the linear the linear set of conservation of both mass and momentum, which were time averaged (over one wave period) and depth integrated, for mean velocities and free surface displacement. Numerical simulations of nearshore current under oblique wave attack, and for wave and wind induced current on a longshore periodic beach are carried out. Longshore velocities tend to zero in some distances outside the breaker line. And the peak velocity is shifted shoreward at the breaker line. The results represent the general characteristics of the nearshore current induced by wave.


Objective. The national Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), started in 1987, provided training to hospital delivery room personnel to standardize knowledge and skills to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality and increase successful resuscitation during the first few critical minutes after birth. The Apgar score continues to be used as the best established index of immediate postnatal health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the NRP instruction in Illinois hospitals by examining Apgar scores among high-risk infants who are likely to benefit from the NRP. Methods. A retrospective 3-time period cohort design was used (before the introduction of the NRP, 1985–1988; transition when NRP training occurred, 1989–1990; and after NRP training was completed at least once for some delivery room personnel in each Illinois hospital, 1991–1995). Illinois computerized birth certificate files on a selected group of 636 429 high-risk neonates provided information on Apgar scores and maternal characteristics. The American Academy of Pediatrics provided instructor lists to determine when NRP training started and when it was fully implemented in Illinois. Illinois Department of Public Health provided data to categorize hospitals into levels based on type and intensity of neonatal services (Level I, II, II+, III). High-risk neonates were defined as meeting 1 of the following criteria: maternal age <20 years old or >35 years old, birth weight <2500 g or >4000 g, presence of a maternal medical risk factor, and no prenatal care or prenatal care started after the first trimester. Several exclusion criteria were applied including the following: birth records with missing data, multiple birth or congenital anomaly, and hospital information that indicate no birth deliveries in 1 of the 11 study years or delivery outside of a hospital. One-minute and 5-minute Apgar scores were divided into categories for analysis (0–3, 4–6, 7–10). No change or a decrease in a low (0–6) 1-minute Apgar when compared with the 5-minute Apgar was a primary measure to evaluate effect of NRP resuscitation. Variables examined included the following: race/ethnicity, maternal age, level of education, presence of maternal medical risk factor, trimester started prenatal care, complications of labor and delivery, and a low birth weight. Analysis consisted of χ2 tests, relative risk calculations, and logistic regression to reveal independent associations with no change in low 1-minute Apgar score or continued low (0–6) 5-minute Apgar. Results. A total of 636 429 high-risk birth records was selected for detailed analyses out of 2 077 533 births in Illinois between 1985 and 1995 for 193 hospitals. The number of active NRP instructors in Illinois changed dramatically during the study period; for example, 1 to 6 between 1987 and 1988 to 1096 to 1242 between 1991 and 1995. The percentage of neonates reported to have low (<7) 1-minute Apgar score decreased in 1991 to 1995 overall and for each of 4 hospital levels. Overall and by hospital level, there was a statistically significant lower proportion of high-risk newborns who showed a decrease or no change in their 5-minute Apgar scores after the NRP instruction. After adjusting for several maternal characteristics, logistic regression analysis revealed that high-risk newborns with a low 1-minute Apgar were more likely to increase their 5-minute Apgar after the NRP instruction in 1991 to 1995. Additional analyses indicated that very low birth weight and low birth weight newborns benefited the most from NRP instruction. Conclusion. Although previous research has shown that the NRP instruction improves knowledge and skill among health care personnel in the delivery room, both short-term and long-term, there has been little evidence to demonstrate NRP impact on infant morbidity. Several strategies were used in this study to control for bias and to adjust for secular trends in decreased infant morbidity during the study period. This study demonstrated sufficient support for the hypothesis that a significant improvement occurred among neonates in their Apgar score after the NRP instruction in Illinois. Empirical support is provided for the clinical effectiveness of NRP instruction.


The impact of poverty on student achievement was thoroughly researched. Researchers have determined that poverty has a direct negative impact on student achievement. This study analyzed four aspects of teacher quality potentially mediating the relationship between achievement and poverty. The studied variables were (a) years of experience (b) advanced degree status (c) highly qualified status and (d) National Board Certification. North Carolina public schools with valid End-of-Grade test data for 2006-07 2007-08 and 2008-09 were included. Descriptive statistics cross tabulations and the Fisher's Exact test were used to analyze the data. The Fisher's Exact Test was performed to examine the variables within a two by two framework. Twelve contingency tables were constructed to express the relationships among the variables for high poverty schools. The series of Fisher's Exact Tests indicated a significant relationship between teacher years of experience and achievement for high poverty schools for all three years of the study. The test did not indicate a significant association between advanced degree status and achievement for any of the years of the study. The test produced mixed findings for the final two variables with one out of three years indicating a significant association between highly qualified status and achievement and two out of three years indicating a significant association between National Board Certification and achievement.


Abstract Higher education in general is regulated through government regulations and policies. This paper reports on part of an investigation done for a master's dissertation. The broad research aim of the study was to provide research-based documented evidence of the impact of the higher education regulatory context on the management of a private higher education institution in South Africa. This paper is limited to the findings of the study, though it focused on how the management team of a private higher education institution perceived the impact of regulatory legislation on private higher education. To study the phenomenon, a qualitative research methodology was used and data were collected through interviews with management team members. Official documents on higher education legislation also served as data sources. A case study using an accredited and registered private higher education institution was undertaken.


AISI 304 stainless steel which is widely used almost in all industrial applications is accounted for approximately 50% of the world's stainless steel production and consumption. Because of its aesthetic view in architectures, resistance against corrosion and chemicals, it became as the most preferred material. Today several methods for machining of AISI 304 stainless steel are available. Most of these methods result in loss of superior properties of the stainless steel material and makes it to act like other ordinary materials within the machined zones. In this study, specimens taken from the AISI 304 material are cut by the cutting methods which are commonly used in machining. The resulting surface properties of these specimens are compared with original materials with respect to different methods. Finally mechanical and metallurgical properties of the cut face obtained by each method are examined. The results show that cutting with abrasive water jet gives the most favorable result while oxygen cutting gives the worst.


BACKGROUND
The main objective of this study was to explore the effect of acute creatine (Cr) ingestion on the secretion of human growth hormone (GH).

METHODS
In a comparative cross-sectional study, 6 healthy male subjects ingested in resting conditions a single dose of 20 g creatine (Cr-test) vs a control (c-test). During 6 hours the Cr, creatinine and GH concentrations in blood serum were measured after Cr ingestion (Cr-test).

RESULTS
During the Cr-test, all subjects showed a significant stimulation of GH (p<0.05), but with a large interindividual variability in the GH response: the difference between Cr-test and c-test averaged 83% (SD 45%). For the majority of subjects the maximum GH concentration occurred between 2 hrs and 6 hrs after the acute Cr ingestion.

CONCLUSIONS
In resting conditions and at high dosages Cr enhances GH secretion, mimicking the response of strong exercise which also stimulates GH secretion. Acute body weight gain and strength increase observed after Cr supplementation should consider the indirect anabolic property of Cr.


Computer experiments are performed on a model system of coupled mode equations designed to represent the Gunn instability, in order to investigate the origin of anomalously large fluctuations observed often over a wide range beyond an instability point in a dissipa tive system. The experiments deal with a system of 40 modes which possesses a number of steady states (attractors) beyond the instability point. It is shown that the system travels in phase space along an erratic or chaotic trajectory for long time in the approach to one of these attractors from an unstable equilibrium point. According to the modern ergodic theory, trajectories are proved to be stochastic by demonstrating that they satisfy the expo nential law of growth of stochastic instability, that is, they are unstable with respect to small disturbances. The system provides an example of rigidly deterministic systems whose dynamics are best described in stochastic terms. It is found that under the influence of random forces the system escapes from the reached attractor after fluctuating around it for some time and travels again along a long-lived stochastic trajectory. The system wanders erratically from attractor to attractor via macroscopically stochastic trajectories, which do not arise from external random forces, but from the nonlinearity inherent in the system. This wandering motion is observed as large fluctuations.


Spontaneous Potential (SP) is commonly measured during reservoir characterization. The SP signals are also generated during hydrocarbon production due to the streaming potential occurrence. Measurement of streaming potential has been previously proposed to detect the water encroachment towards a production well. The objectives of this study are to quantify the magnitude of the SP signal during production by WAG injection and to investigate the possibility of using SP measurements to monitor the sweep efficiency. The peak of the signal corresponds to the waterfront, where there is a change of saturation from ionic water to non-polar hydrocarbon. Similar trend is predicted in the case of WAG, where we have several interfaces between the injected water and the injected gas. This project involves numerical modeling and experimental work. Results from the experimental work will be used in the simulation work to correlate the measured SP signals with the distance of the waterfront in the WAG process. These observations suggest that WAG displacement process can be monitored indirectly from the signal acquired. Water or gas override can be detected and controlled if wells were equipped with inflow-control valves. This study is significant because monitoring the progress of water and gas in a WAG process is key in the effectiveness of this enhanced oil recovery method. Measurement of the streaming potential provides another method besides using tracers to monitor the WAG profile. Better monitoring will lead to more efficient displacement and great benefits in term of economy and environment.


A time-release protocol enables one to send secrets into a future release time. The main technical challenge lies in incorporating timing control into the protocol, especially in the absence of a central trusted party. To leverage on the regular heartbeats emitted from decentralized blockchains, in this paper, we advocate an incentive-based approach that combines threshold secret sharing and blockchain based smart contract . In particular, the secret is split into shares and distributed to a set of incentivized participants, with the payment settlement contractualized and enforced by the autonomous smart contract. We highlight that such approach needs to achieve two goals: to reward honest participants who release their shares honestly after the release date (the "carrots"), and to punish premature leakage of the shares (the "sticks"). While it is not difficult to contractualize a carrot mechanism for punctual releases, it is not clear how to realise the stick. In the first place, it is not clear how to identify premature leakage. Our main idea is to encourage public vigilantism by incorporating an informer-bounty mechanism that pays bounty to any informer who can provide evidence of the leakage. The possibility of being punished constitute a deterrent to the misbehaviour of premature releases. Since various entities, including the owner, participants and the informers, might act maliciously for their own interests, there are many security requirements. In particular, to prevent a malicious owner from acting as the informer, the protocol must ensure that the owner does not know the distributed shares, which is counter-intuitive and not addressed by known techniques. We investigate various attack scenarios, and propose a secure and efficient protocol based on a combination of cryptographic primitives. Our technique could be of independent interest to other applications of threshold secret sharing in deterring sharing.


A contactless method of measuring a foundry mould filling degree in course of its pouring with liquid metal is suggested. The concept is based on infrared radiation of molten metal appearing in venting and flow-off holes. As the detector, an infrared channel receiving diode is applied. Three solutions were tested. In the first solution, the diode is placed at the calculated distance from the radiation source, in a housing that suppresses the scattered signal. The housing contains the electronics, while power supply and control signals are delivered by conductors. A diode actuation threshold is established in order to obtain high resolution and repeatability of the results. On the output, a miniature relay transmits the signal to the control system. In the second solution, the measuring system is supplied with a battery and the signal in transmitted through a plastic optical fibre. In the third solution, the optical fibre serves as an energy carrier. The optical system focuses the infrared radiation and introduces the energy to the optical fibre. On the other end of the fibre, a phototransistor amplifies the signal, forms it and transmits to the control system. Some experiments were carried out. Their results permitted noting disadvantages and advantages of individual solutions. It was evidenced that the measurement results obtained using the infrared radiation are independent on a constructional design. The solutions utilising optical fibres proved to be more useful in industrial conditions. Targets and further directions of research works using transceivers for wireless data transmission are presented.


Animal and human studies have implicated oxytocin in affiliative and prosocial behaviors. We tested whether genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene is associated with conduct disorder (CD). Utilizing a family-based sample of adolescent probands recruited from an adolescent substance abuse treatment program, control probands and their families (total sample, n=1750), we conducted three tests of association with CD and 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the OXTR gene: (a) family-based comparison utilizing the entire sample; (b) within-Whites, case–control comparison of adolescent patients with CD and controls without CD; and (c) within-Whites case–control comparison of parents of patients and parents of controls. Family-based association tests failed to show significant results (no results P<0.05). While strictly correcting for the number of tests (&agr;=0.002), adolescent patients with CD did not differ significantly from adolescent controls in genotype frequency for the OXTR SNPs tested; similarly, comparison of OXTR genotype frequencies for parents failed to differentiate patient and control family type, except a trend association for rs237889 (P=0.004). We concluded that in this sample, 10 SNPs in the OXTR gene were not significantly associated with CD.


In this paper Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory is used to simulate basic traffic behaviours such as car following, lane changing, overtaking, etc. A single link with a pre-set traffic density is simulated. In the system each car is a dependent unit to other cars, which applies an independent DAC algorithm. The car interacts with adjacent environment while driving on the road and adapts its behaviour according to front cars' behaviour to make decisions whether accelerating, decelerating or changing lanes. The DAC integrated in each car is actually an unsupervised learning algorithm modified from Hebbian learning. So these cars not only learn how to drive in the system, but also forget a small amount of their previous experiences to adapt themselves to the dynamic environment. Compare to the other micro simulating softwares, the big advantage of this model is that each car is an intelligent unit that can learn and forget to adapt itself to the real situations instead of applying certain pre-defined rules. The simulating result is compared to a similar scenario in VISSIM as well as real data, and the result looks promising.


We present novel distributed algorithms for estimating the number of nodes in a wireless sensor network without any a-priori knowledge or node preferences. The algorithms originate from distributed forms of Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization algorithms where the goal is to distributively find a set of orthogonal vectors. Using concepts from linear algebra, by finding the number of independent (orthogonal) vectors, we also find the number of nodes in a network.


From 1921 on, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands had a study fund, especially for Hungarian students. Until the Second World War, about 40 students studied with funding from that scholarship, neatly distributed between the Free University and the Theological School in Kampen. The chairman of the fund was Prof. F.W. Grosheide (1881–1972) of the Free University, its secretary was Rev. H.A. Munnik (1884–1969), from Zwolle. Both were involved in the fund from 1921 on, Grosheide retired in 1952, Munnik a few years later. Munnik became an honorary member of the Association of Hungarian Pastors and Honorary Professor in Debrecen (1938), Grosheide became Honorary Doctor in Sárospatak (1931), Debrecen (1938), and Budapest (1946). This indicates their significance for the Hungarian ministerial corps and for the contacts between Hungary and the Netherlands in those years.


Aim: This study investigated the incidence of sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia and its predictors in Type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. Patients & methods: In this prospective, observational study, T2D patients on maximal sulfonylurea-metformin therapy >1 year were enrolled. Hypoglycemia was defined as having symptoms or a blood glucose level <3.9 mmol/l. Results: Of the 401 patients, 120 (29.9%) developed sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia during the 12-month follow-up. The ABCC8 rs757110, KCNJ11 rs5219, CDKAL1 rs7756992 and KCNQ1 rs2237892 gene polymorphisms were not associated with sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia (p > 0.05). Prior history of hypoglycemia admission (odds ratio = 16.44; 95% CI: 1.74-154.33, p = 0.014) independently predicted its risk. Conclusion: Sulfonylurea-treated T2D patients who experienced severe hypoglycemia are at increased risk of future hypoglycemia episodes.


This study was designed to appraise the effect of licorice herbal supplement on the immune status of rainbow trout fingerlings. Accordingly, five diets were formulated with different levels of licorice extract (LE) including 0 (control), 0.5 g kg−1 (LE0.5), 1 g kg−1 (LE1), 2 g kg−1 (LE2), and 3 g kg−1 (LE3). The fingerlings (10.0 ± 0.1 g initial mean weight) received the diets in triplicates (30 fish in each replicate) for 56 days. The results showed that the white blood cells and their differential number (lymphocytes and monocytes) were remarkably increased by LE2 supplementation (P < 0.05). The oral administration of LE2 significantly increased the levels of serum immunoglobulin (Ig), lysozyme activity, and complement components (C3 and C4) compared with others. Meanwhile, the serum bactericidal activity against Yersinia ruckeri in LE2 and LE3 treatments was significantly higher than others except for LE1 (P < 0.05). In addition, serum alternative complement activity significantly improved in all treated groups except LE0.5 compared with the control group (P < 0.05). In terms of skin mucosal immunity, the fish fed with LE2 and LE3 diets exhibited notably higher lysozyme activity, alkaline phosphatase activity, and Ig value than other groups (P < 0.05). The highest skin mucus bactericidal activity against Y. ruckeri was obtained in LE2 treatment (P < 0.05). In addition, dietary LE2 significantly increased the relative expression of immune-associated genes including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-8, and IgM and the former treatments showed higher values than the control group. The cumulative mortality of fish against Y. ruckeri infection was notably reduced from 53.6% in the control group to 29.0% in LE3 treatment. Overall, the dietary administration of LE at 2 g kg−1 had the best effects on immunocompetence in rainbow trout.


The research presented in this paper is aimed at developing an automated imaging system for classification of engineered surfaces with appropriate roughness measures. The method uses dual domain of Radon transform and wavelet transform. Radon transform helps to locate directional information of surface textures whereas wavelet transform is used to compute features from textures. To extract significant information from textures we first employ Canny edge detection to texture image and then undergo Radon and wavelet transformation. Further we carryout the process on a set of four images original and rotated to form the robust feature set. Our feature vector has 36 features. Experimentation is carried out on three surface texture databases manufactured by machining processes milling, casting and shaping. We achieved 95.56% correct classification performance for milling samples where as 67.04% for casting and 87.08% for shaping samples.