A 28-year-old woman was admitted during the eighth week of her pregnancy because her clinical course was consistent with rapid progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN). Anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody (anti-GBM Ab) and myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA) were positive, and the anti-GBM Ab titer being extremely high. She was treated with hemodialysis, plasma exchange and prednisolone. She survived the illness; however, neither the fetus nor her kidney function could be rescued. She had human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1*1502:01, which differs from the DRB1*1501 associated with anti-GBM GN. When patients have particular symptoms, we should check the urine and serum creatinine to exclude RPGN, even in cases of pregnancy.


A group of high-affinity antibodies has been isolated from horse hyperimmune antiplague serum with the use of antigenic immunosorbent. High-affinity antibodies have proved to be homogeneous, which is indicated by the rectilinear character of the graph of the inverse values of the free antigen concentration.


Abstract This note is an attempt to trace the change and continuity of leftist political policies, and to analyse why the Left generally, especially the Malay Left, has not been successful in Malaysian politics. It questions why the Malaysian Left was stafter the Second World War but slowly dissipated until it is almost crippled now. Other than examining the formation and the roles of the Malaysian Left and their struggles for independence, this note also sorts out the factors of the unsuccessful struggles to get wide Malay support for the Malay-dominated Malay Nationalist Party of Malaya (PKMM) and the Chinese-dominated Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).


Intra-articular joint capsule injection is a common method used to control postoperative pain as a result of primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). It is generally considered a safe practice and is highly effective in reducing the need for postoperative opioid administration as well as decreasing recovery time through early mobilization. However, any injection into the posterior knee space has the potential to injure the vascular structures surrounding the knee. Iatrogenic formation of an arteriovenous fistula is a rare complication after TKA, and there are no reported cases of arteriovenous fistula formation as a direct result of intra-articular injection. This case report describes this complication that occurred several days after TKA. The patient had acute pain and swelling in the treated leg. An arteriovenous fistula of the popliteal artery and vein was identified with bilateral Doppler ultrasound and confirmed by angiogram. The most likely inciting event for the formation of the arteriovenous fistula was intra-articular injection of bupivacaine, which likely pierced the popliteal artery and vein, allowing the formation of the patent channel. The patient was treated successfully with stent placement through interventional radiology. Orthopedic surgeons performing intra-articular injections of the knee should refamiliarize themselves with the anatomy and location of the popliteal artery, use smaller-gauge needles, and aspirate the syringe before the injection to decrease the risk of iatrogenic damage to the vasculature or fistula formation. [Orthopedics.2016; 39(5):e976-e979.].


The error of a distributed algorithm for big data classification with a support vector machine (SVM) is analysed in this paper. First, the given big data sets are divided into small subsets, on which the classical SVM with Gaussian kernels is used. Then, the classification error of the SVM for each subset is analysed based on the Tsybakov exponent, geometric noise, and width of the Gaussian kernels. Finally, the whole error of the distributed algorithm is estimated in terms of the error of each subset.


filtering forms a significant class of DSP algorithms employed in several hand held mobile devices for applications like echo cancellation, signal de-noising, and channel equalization. This paper presents a different pipelined architecture for low-power implementation of Adaptive filter based on distributed arithmetic (DA). The traditional adder- based shift accumulation for Distributed Arithmetic based computation of inner-product is swapped by conditional signed carry-save accumulation. A fast bit clock is employed only for carry-save accumulation which results in reduction of power consumption in the proposed design, while use of a much slower bit clock is used for rest of the operations. It contains the smaller Look-Up Table (LUT), same quantity of multiplexers and almost half the number of adders in comparison to the existing Distributed Arithmetic-based design. By changing the inner block, a reduction in power consumption is aimed at. So the previous DA-based adaptive filter in average for filter lengths N=4 and N=16 have been implemented.


In this contribution, we describe our preliminary work on openAPE the open Accessibility and Personalization Extension framework. The main goal of the framework is to transfer platform independent context information from one device to another and infer personalized settings for user interface and device adaptation according to the user's needs. This shall contribute to improved usability and accessibility in smart environments. Two exemplary use cases are described, to illustrate in which contexts the framework can be used. Keywords-openAPE; Adaptive User Interfaces;Smart Environments; Eclipse Smart Home; Create@school


CFTR is a transmembrane anion channel that travels to the cell surface via the Golgi-mediated conventional secretion pathway. Previously, we identified that ER stress or ER-to-Golgi block could rescue the disease-causing mutant ΔF508-CFTR, which has folding and trafficking defects, from degradation to reach the cell surface through GRASP-mediated, Golgi bypassing unconventional secretion pathway. We showed that IRE1α mediated signaling plays as an upstream regulator during unconventional secretion of CFTR. IRE1α is one of the three major ER-stress sensors of UPR (Unfolded protein response) signaling which is an adaptive mechanism to maintain ER homeostasis. Classically, ER-stress triggers activation of IRE1α RNase and results in excising of transcription factor XBP1 into activated XBP1s(spliced) to upregulate UPR target genes. However, depletion of XBP1 does not abolish the ER-to-Golgi block or ER stress induced surface expression of ΔF508-CFTR. Interestingly, we show that inhibition of IRE1α RNase activity by treatment of STF -083010 targeting to catalytic core of IRE1α RNase domain does not interfere the unconventional secretion of CFTR. Whereas treatment of IRE1α kinase inhibitor APY29 which inhibits IRE1α trans-autophosphorylation leads to diminishment of ER-to-Golgi block induced surface expression of ΔF508-CFTR. Notably, the IRE1α pharmacological modulation results reveal that the kinase activity but not RNase activity of IRE1α is requisite for regulation of unconventional secretion of CFTR.


We present an intelligent tutoring system that teaches natural deduction to undergraduate students. An expert problem solver in the system provides basic instructional help, such as suggesting the use of a rule in the next step of solving a problem and indicating the inference drawn by applying the rule. The system provides help by using a complete problem solver as an expert instructor. Students learning with our tutoring system can vary the degree of help they receive (from low to high and vice versa). Empirical evaluation showed that the system enhanced the problem-solving performance of participants during the learning phase, and these performance gains were carried over to the post-test phase. The analysis of participants' interactions with the system revealed the between-participants adaptation of students, meaning that participants with lower scores learned using higher levels of assistance than those with higher scores. In addition, the analysis revealed the within-participants adaptation of students, meaning that they adaptively changed levels of support according to their learning progress and the degree of difficulty of the problem.


The results of laparoscopic diagnosis of splenic rupture in the closed abdominal trauma in 80 injured persons were analyzed. A splenic damage was excluded in 38 patients. In 12 of them hematoma, serohemorrhagic exudate, intestinal paresis were revealed. One patient with duodenal rupture was operated on, and in one more patient the idle laparotomy was conducted. Five patients died. According to the laparoscopic data a splenic rupture was diagnosed in 35 injured persons. Diagnostic failure was conceded in one patient, in whom a hepatic rupture was revealed while the laparoscopy conduction. A successful conservative treatment was conducted in three patients for subcapsular splenic hematoma. Relaparotomy conduction was needed in 3 patients. Three patients died: two of them--due to severe polytrauma and one--due to bronchopneumonia. One else patient died, which was hospitalized with severe polytrauma. In one patient bronchospasm have occurred.


The snap cure NCP(non-conducive paste) adhesive material is essentially required for the high productivity flip chip bonding process. In this study, the accessibility of DEA(dielectric analysis) method for the evaluation of snap cure behavior was investigated with comparison to the isothermal DSC(differential scanning calorimetry) method. NCP adhesive was mainly formulated with epoxy resin and imidazole curing agent. Even though there were some noise in the dielectric loss factor curve measured by DEA, the cure start and completion points could be specified clearly through the data processing of cumulation and deviation method. Degree of cure by DEA method which was measured from the variation of the dielectric loss factor of adhesive material was corresponded to about 80% of the degree of cure by DSC method which was measured from the heat of curing reaction. Because the adhesive joint cured to the degree of 80% in the view point of chemical reaction reveals the sufficient mechanical strength, DEA method is expected to be used effectively in the estimation of the high speed curing behavior of snap cure type NCP adhesive material for flip chip bonding.


To harness the full potential of colloidal self-assembly, the dynamics of the transition between colloids in suspension to a colloidal crystalline film should be better understood. In this report, the structural changes during the self-assembly process in a vertical configuration for colloids in the size range 200-400 nm are monitored in situ, using the transmission spectrum of the colloidal assembly treated as an emergent photonic crystal. It is found that there are several sequential stages of colloidal ordering: in suspension, with a larger lattice parameter than the solid state, in a close-packed wet state with solvent in the interstices, and, finally, in a close-packed dry state with air in the interstices. Assuming that these stages lead continuously from one to another, we can interpret colloidal crystallization as being initiated by interparticle forces in suspension first, followed by capillary forces. This result has implications for identifying the optimum conditions to obtain high-quality nanostructures of submicrometer-sized colloidal particles.


The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae), is one of the most important insect pest species of the Brassicaceae family plants in Brazil and in the world. The use of insecticidal plants extracts in the control of this insect is a promising alternative. Therefore, this research goal is to evaluate, in laboratory, the plants extracts effect on the oviposition and mortality of P. xylostella. In order to analyze the effect on the oviposition, kale leaf pieces were treated, in cage, as following: aqueous extracts (10% p/v) of leaf of chinaberry (Melia azedarach), of branch of chinaberry, of tobacco powder (Nicotiana tabacum), besides DalNeem (commercial product, based on Azadirachta indica), at 10% v/v. Inside the cage, 50 adults of P. xylostella were put and, 48h later, the egg number per leaf was counted, in seven repetitions. A second assay was consisted of the exposition of three larvae to the same cited extracts, in glass tube with a kale leaf piece previously treated. Three glass tubes were used per treatment, with four repetitions. The number of death larvae was evaluated daily. The aqueous extracts of chinaberry leaf, chinaberry branch and tobacco powder, besides DalNeem, reduce the oviposition of P. xylostella and the use of tobacco powder extract, DalNeem and chinaberry branch extract result in efficient control of P. xylostella larvae after the second, fifth and sixth days after application, respectively.


Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is characterized by an impaired contractile response to stress, diastolic dysfunction and the presence of electrophysiological abnormalities, and it may be diagnosed at rest in some patients or demasked by physiological or pharmacological stress. CCM seems to be involved in the development of hepatic nephropathy and is associated with an impaired survival. In the field of cardiac imaging, CCM is not yet a well‐characterized entity, hence various modalities of cardiac imaging have been applied. Stress testing with either physiologically or pharmacologically induced circulatory stress has been used to assess systolic dysfunction. Whereas echocardiography with tissue Doppler is by far the most preferred method to detect diastolic dysfunction with measurement of E/A‐ and E/E′‐ratio. In addition, echocardiography may also possess the potential to evaluate systolic dysfunction at rest by application of new myocardial strain techniques. Experience with other modalities such as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac computed tomography is limited. Future studies exploring these imaging modalities are necessary to characterize and monitor the cardiac changes in cirrhotic patients.


In business-related interactions such as the on-going highstakes FCC spectrum auctions, explicit communication among participants is regarded as collusion, and is therefore illegal. In this paper, we consider the possibility of autonomous agents engaging in implicit negotiation via their tacit interactions. In repeated general-sum games, our testbed for studying this type of interaction, an agent using a \best response" strategy maximizes its own payo assuming its behavior has no e ect on its opponent. This notion of best response requires some degree of learning to determine the xed opponent behavior. Against an unchanging opponent, the best-response agent performs optimally, and can be thought of as a \follower," since it adapts to its opponent. However, pairing two best-response agents in a repeated game can result in suboptimal behavior. We demonstrate this suboptimality in several di erent games using variants of Q-learning as an example of a best-response strategy. We then examine two \leader" strategies that induce better performance from opponent followers via stubbornness and threats. These tactics are forms of implicit negotiation in that they aim to achieve a mutually bene cial outcome without using explicit communication outside


The COVID-19 pandemic and technological development lead to a shift in economic, educational, and social behavior, subsequently influencing human life patterns and new realities through digital literacy. Education sector development and quality depend on how the employees are adapted to the current condition. Therefore, this study is directed to investigate whether and how organizational factors, including IT training, digital infrastructure, management support, and work-family conflict, affect employees who work in Indonesia's universities. It also examines how the mediators influence employee performance. 596 employees were recruited for a survey study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that IT training, digital infrastructure, and work-family conflict positively and significantly affect employees' digital literacy. Meanwhile, management support plays a more minor role in influencing employees' digital literacy. Furthermore, as a mediator variable, digital literacy strongly moderates the relationship between organizational and individual factors influencing employee performance. This study's findings provide stakeholders with information about the relationship between individual and organizational factors and employee performance. The organization's sustainability should not only attract the required market segmentation but also enhance, strengthen, and engage the employees' sense of belonging and commitment.


Introduction Standard upper endoscopy (SE) is an integral aspect of diagnostic and therapeutic gastroenterology. Patients frequently request conscious sedation as they perceive the procedure may cause pain or discomfort. Administration of sedation incurs additional costs and risks. Transnasal endoscopy (TNE) has the potential to overcome these issues as it does not induce the pharyngeal reflex and does not require conscious sedation. Aims/Background To compare the feasibility, safety and tolerance of TNE as a viable alternative to SE. Method Patients scheduled for routine upper endoscopy were prospectively recruited and invited to undergo a non-sedated TNE procedure. A further group of patients scheduled for non-sedated SE were invited to participate as a control group. The SE procedures were performed using standard protocol with topical application of oral Xylocaine 10–30 mgs and a standard size Olympus gastroscope. All TNE procedures were performed using a Pentax EG-1690K 5.4 mm transnasal gastroscope via the nasal floor following application of instillagel nasally and topical oral Xylocaine 10–30 mgs. Post procedure fasting (1 hour) and recovery advice was the same for both groups. The indication, duration and complications of each procedure were recorded. A visual analogue scale was used to assess overall patient tolerance and tolerance for each of the following parameters; pain, gagging, choking and anxiety graded on a 0-10 scale. All results were expressed as a mean and compared with a student T-test using SPSS 19. A P value 0f <0.05 was considered significant. Results To date, 22 patients, 12 men, mean age 56 years (range 35–74) have been enrolled, 12 in the TNE group and 10 in the SE group. Indications were GORD (n=7, 31%), dysphagia (n=6, 27%), epigastric pain (n=5, 22%) and nausea (n=4, 18%). All procedures were completed with intubation to D2. There were no complications. There were no differences in mean procedure duration for either TNE or SE (TNE 9.3 mins; SE 9 mins). Both procedures were well tolerated with VAS scores of 2.3 and 3.4 for TNE and SE respectively (p<0.03). However, there was a significant advantage for TNE versus SE for choking on intubation (3.2 vs 5.4, p<0.03 95% CI 1.4–4.9), gagging on intubation (2.4 vs 5.1, p<0.03 95% CI 1.2–3.8) and gagging during the procedure (1.8 vs 4.1=, p<0.03 CI 1.2–2.9). Conclusion Our pilot study suggests that TNE may be useful as a tool in diagnostic upper endoscopy. It is reliable, safe and better tolerated by patients compared to SE. Potential added advantages included improved views, reduced length of stay and fewer complications. Ongoing recruitment will be required to address this.


This position paper argues that at this time of Mexico's ongoing big transformation, legal educators and researchers in Mexico need to pay greater attention to international economic law, and that a renewal and perhaps some re-orientation of the approach to teaching international economic law, could provide significant contributions to and shape and support both the objectives and outcomes of reform in Mexico. International Economic Law courses and research can be made more useful, not only for students themselves, but also for their contribution towards the role that academics, lawyers, and other epistemic communities need to play in the political, economic and social evolution that is accelerating in Mexico.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the effect of mitochondrial autophagy on cognitive function in rats of early intermittent hypoxia by observing hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell mitochondrial autophagy and the expression of related proteins in a intermittent hypoxia(IH) animal model.

METHODS
Seventy-two adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into a control group (UC) and a 5% intermittent hypoxia (IH) group. The compressed air was given to the UC group while rats in 5% IH group suffered from 7-hour IH every day. At 1 d, 3 d, 5 d, 7 d, 10 d and 14 d after the completion of the model, transmission electron microscopy was used to observation rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell mitochondrial ultrastructural changes, and immunohistochemistry assay was used to detect the expression of Beclin-1 and LC3. The Morris water test was performed to detect the learning and memory function in the rats.

RESULTS
Compared with the UC group, the 5% IH group began to show mitochondrial size and shape changes, swelling, reduced matrix density, cristae, mitochondrial vacuolization, and typical mitochondria autophagosome formation from the 3 d. In the 5% IH group, Beclin-1 and LC3 protein expressions were significantly increased compared with the UC group (P < 0.05). The expressions of Beclin-1 and LC3were different among different time points (P < 0.05); with the extension of time, their expressions firstly increased, peaked at 10 d (P < 0.05), and then decreased at 14 d (P < 0.05). Their expressions in the UC group were not different significantly among different time points (P > 0.05). The level of learning and memory of the rats in the 5% IH group had no obvious changes compared with the UC group at 1 d, 3 d, 5 d, 7 d, and 10 d, but the level started to drop at 14 d with a significant difference (P < 0.05) . The level of learning and memory of the rats in the UC group was not different among different time points (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Early intermittent hypoxia induced hippocampus mitochondrial autophagy and autophagy-related protein expression in rats. Mitochondrial autophagy may reduce the damage to cognitive function of the rats exposed to early intermittent hypoxia.


The headway pattern of a traffic stream has a significant impact on the accident possibility of the road section. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of different rainfall intensities have on the headway pattern in Pekan Nenas, Pontian, Johor. In this study, the automatic traffic count system (ATC) is utilised to obtain vehicle headway on the site. Rainfall data were obtained from the Department of Drainage and Irrigation, Pontian. The rainfall data was categorised into three rainfall intensity categories which are light rain, moderate rain and heavy rain. The traffic data and rainfall data then were then embedded to analyse the headway pattern of road user on the road section during rainfall at night. The results from the analysis showed that the headway pattern at night time followed the gamma distribution model. It was found that the mean vehicle headway increases as the rainfall intensity increases.


We are developing scintillating-fiber detectors incorporating organic liquid scintillation cocktails in glass capillaries. The organic solvents have high refractive index, making them suitable as core materials for scintillation waveguides. Only one fluorescent dye at high concentration (1%) is utilized in the solution. This ensures that the dominant energy transfer between solvent and solute will be nonradiative, and that fluorescent emission from the dye will be local to the ionization deposition in the material. Hence such structures might be suitable for high resolution tracking devices. Liquid scintillation solutions may also provide advantages in radiation resistance and replaceability. 8 refs., 6 tabs.


Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional, non interventional 8-months observational study was to investigate the prevalence, type and risk factors of Drug related problem (DRPs) in cancer patients admitted to the Oncology Department of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, Punjab. Methods: A cross-sectional 8 months study was conducted from January to August 2015 at the Oncology Department of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, Punjab. A total of 283 cancer patients were recruited in the present investigation analysis. Results: A total of 283 cancer patients participated in this current study, out of which 135 (47.70%) were males and 148 (52.30%) were females. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were the most common DRP, nausea and vomiting was the most common ADR (155). Female subjects experienced more DRPs 56% as compare to 44% in male cancer survivors. Conclusion: This study showed that DRPs were common in our setup and the risk factors associated with DRPs were female gender, number of medications, Body mass index and extremes age (in year) ranges. Early detection and timely intervention is the key to ensure a better therapeutic outcome. Key words: Cancer Chemotherapy, Drug Related Problems (DRP), Adverse drug reactions (ADRs), Anti cancer Drugs.


This article reflects on the components of culture and art in the symposium and exhibit,  "The Arabs: An American Story". The project was born out of work done investigating constructions of Arab-American identity utilizing arts-based perspectives. Presented over a six-month period from April 2001 until September 2001, the project was founded on the belief that there is conflict amongst representations of Arabs and Arabic identity in mainstream American society.


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

Elevated activity of membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) promotes cancer cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. MT1-MMP is synthesized as a zymogen, the latency of which is maintained by its prodomain. Excision by furin was considered sufficient for the prodomain release and MT1-MMP activation. We determined, however, that the full-length intact prodomain released by furin alone is a potent autoinhibitor of MT1-MMP. Additional MMP cleavages within the prodomain sequence are required to release the MT1-MMP enzyme activity. Using mutagenesis of the prodomain sequence and mass spectrometry analysis of the prodomain fragments, we demonstrated that the intracellular intradomain cleavage of the PGD-L50 site initiates the MT1-MMP activation (first step), whereas the 108RRKR111-Y112 cleavage by furin completes the removal and the degradation of the autoinhibitory prodomain and the liberation of the functional activity of the emerging enzyme of MT1-MMP (second step). Here we used the prodomain-based fluorescent biosensors to demonstrate that the proteolytic steps in MT1-MMP activation are differentially regulated in cancer cells versus normal cells. We determined that the intracellular cleavage of the PGD-L50 site represents an "on" and "off" mechanism that discriminates cancer cells from normal cells. To evaluate the significance of the PGD-L50 site cleavage in tumorigenic potential of MT1-MMP, the MCF7 cells transfected with the wild type MT1-MMP (MCF7-MT1) and the uncleavable L50D mutant (MCF7-L50D) were inoculated in the breast fat pads of nude mice. In 4 weeks palpable tumors were evident in all of the mice that received MCF7-MT1 and MCF7-L50D cells. The MCF7-L50D cells formed small tumors that reached ∼50 mm3 volume and remained unchanged from week 4 till week 10. On the contrary, the MCF7-MT1 tumors grew rapidly and reached ∼700 mm3 volume in 10 weeks. These data suggest that the intracellular cleavage of PGD-L50 site is critical for MT1-MMP two-step activation and tumorigenic activity. This intracellular cleavage does not occur in normal cells and the enzyme remained inhibited by it's non-covalently associated prodomain.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1499. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1499


Introduction: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of computer-based, manual-based, and combined cognitive rehabilitation to improve cognitive functions among patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS). Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test, and a 2-month follow-up, as well as a control group design. Sixty female patients with RRMS were selected by convenience sampling technique. Then they were randomly assigned into three experimental groups (computer-based, manual-based, and combined cognitive rehabilitation, each group including 12 patients), a placebo group (12 patients), and a control group (12 patients). The interventions were conducted in 21 sessions for the experimental groups for 5 months. The placebo group received physical rehabilitation intervention, and the control group received no intervention. The study participants were assessed by Psychiatric-Neurological Profile, Mini-Mental State Examination, Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale, Stroop Color and Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test. The obtained data were analyzed by repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance in SPSS. Results: The effect of group factor was not significant (η2=0.129), but the effect of time (η2=0.884) and interaction effect of time and group (η2=0.295) were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the effects of all three rehabilitation interventions (P>0.05). In the post-test totally and in Follow-up partially, all comparisons among three experimental groups with control and placebo groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Cognitive rehabilitation was effective in improving cognitive functions in patients with RRMS. Thus, these interventions are recommended for application, along with other treatment protocols to treat RRMS in clinical settings.


After bone marrow transplantation (BMT), there is a rapid regeneration to normal pretransplantation levels in the number of hematopoietic progenitors and mature end cells, whereas hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) numbers recover to only 5% to 10% of normal levels. This suggests that HSC are significantly restricted in their self-renewal behavior and hence in their ability to repopulate the host stem cell compartment. Previously, we have reported that HSC engineered to overexpress the homeobox transcription factor HOXB4 have a large repopulation advantage over untransduced cells as assessed at 4 months in a murine transplantation model (Sauvageau et al, Genes Dev 9:1753, 1995). This phenomenon has now been examined in detail for periods extending to 12 months in cohorts of mice transplanted with various numbers of HOXB4-transduced HSC. In all mice analyzed, HOXB4-transduced HSC were capable of fully reconstituting the HSC compartment, resulting, on average, in some 14-fold greater numbers of HSC than observed when transplanting control, non-HOXB4-transduced bone marrow cells. These data indicate that HOXB4 is a limiting factor in the regeneration of HSC to normal levels after BMT. Furthermore, we show that HOXB4-transduced HSC did not expand above levels normally observed in unmanipulated mice, indicating that its overexpression does not override the regulatory mechanisms that maintain the HSC pool size within normal limits.


A bstract . The optimal magnesium ion concentration for chain initiation in a cell-free system derived from bovine eye lens which synthesizes 4 classes of crystallins appears to be 5 mM. In the synthesis of a-crystallin polypeptides which contain one internal methionine residue and the second one in N-terminal position, Met-RNAfMet functions exclusively as initiator. On the other hand at 5 mM Mg2+ Met-tRNAMet inserts its methionine into the internal position. However, at higher magnesium ion concentrations the initiator tRNA also donates methionine for chain elongation while at the same time the cell-free system loses its capacity to initiate new poly peptides.


As the increase of bilateral trade between China and sub-Saharan Africa in the last ten years has been skyrocketing at the expense of Western countries, paralleled by the renewed projection of Chinese soft power in the continent by means of technical aid and economic agreements, the author will analyse the scope, the underlying factors, and the potential consequences of Chinese development assistance to countries in the region. In a comparative manner, the paper also briefly describes the main features that make Chinese foreign assistance different from its Western counterpart. The author argues that there is a contradiction between the economic agenda of Beijing aimed at reproducing centre–periphery contradictions on the world stage with China at the centre of the envisaged world system, and a political discourse still based on the principle of non-interference and opposition to neo-colonialism.


SUMMARY Currently, vaccination is still the main strategy to prevent important pathologies in the poultry industry. Furthermore, with the growing trend to develop vectorized or nucleic acid vaccines, new obstacles have emerged, for instance, the low immunogenicity this type of vaccine generates. As a consequence, the search for new, safe, and effective adjuvants has taken on greater importance. With the recent advances in avian immunology and genetics, new alternatives to traditional adjuvants have emerged, such as the use of immunomodulatory proteins with the potential to enhance the humoral and cellular immune response generated by vaccines. These recently developed types of adjuvants are named molecular adjuvants. This review summarizes the advances achieved so far using molecular adjuvants to prevent some of the critical diseases in the poultry industry.


KRIT1 is an 84kDa protein that lacks any relevant catalytic domains, associated with the cerebral cavernous malformation disease. We have investigated by means of ultrastructural immunocytochemistry the nuclear distribution of KRIT1 in different cell lines, revealing its unexpected localization on actively transcribing nuclear domains such as the perichromatin fibrils and the nucleolar dense fibrillar component. These preliminary data indicate a still undescribed and unknown role for KRIT1 inside the nucleus.


The performance of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) depends critically on how learning rates are tuned and decreased over time. We propose a method to automatically adjust multiple learning rates so as to minimize the expected error at any one time. The method relies on local gradient variations across samples. In our approach, learning rates can increase as well as decrease, making it suitable for non-stationary problems. Using a number of convex and non-convex learning tasks, we show that the resulting algorithm matches the performance of SGD or other adaptive approaches with their best settings obtained through systematic search, and effectively removes the need for learning rate tuning.


This paper examines the characteristics of butt welding joint shrinkage for shipbuilding and marine structures main plate. The shrinkage strain of butt welding joint which is caused by the process of heat input and cooling, results in the difference between dimensions of the actual parent metal and the dimensions of design. This, in turn, leads to poor quality in the production of ship blocks and reworking through period of correction brings about impediment on improvement of productivity. Through experiments on butt welding joint's shrinkage strain on large structures main plate, the deformation of welding residual stress in the form of I, Y, V was obtained. In addition, the results of experiments indicate that there is limited range of shrinkage in the range of 1 ∼ 2 mm in 11t ∼ 21.5t thickness and the effect of heat transfer of weld appears to be limited within 1000 mm based on one side of seam line so there was limited impact of weight of parent metal on the shrinkage. Finally, it has been learned that Shrinkage margin needs to be applied differently based on groove phenomenon in the design phase in order to minimize shrinkage.


Microblogging websites, like Twitter and Weibo, are used by billions of people to create and spread information. This activity depends on various factors such as the friendship links between users, their topic interests and social influence between them. Making sense of these behaviors is very important for fully understanding and utilizing these platforms. Most prior work on modeling social-media either ignores the effect of social influence, or considers its effect only on link formation or post generation. In contrast, in this paper we propose POLIM, which jointly models the effect of influence on both link and post generation, leveraging weak supervision. We also give POLIM-FIT, an efficient parallel inference algorithm for POLIM which scales to large datasets. In our experiments on a large tweets corpus, we detect meaningful topical communities, celebrities, as well as the influence strengths patterns among them. Further, we find that there are significant portions of posts and links that are caused by influence, and this portion increases when the data focuses on a specific event. We also show that differentiating and identifying these influenced content benefits other quantitative downstream tasks as well, like predicting future tweets and link formation.


A kind of infinite demensional nonlinear dynamical system described by functional differential equations with finite time delay is investigated in this paper The comparison principles of LRC type are established and applied to the problems of averaging principle and practical stability in terms of two measures for the system with time delay


Received: Revised: Accepted: September 27, 2012 May 16, 2013 June 16, 2013 Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) are useful electrophysiological diagnostic tools for evaluating retinal response of the visual cortex and detecting its functional integrity in humans and animals. To analyze the VEPs and physiologic response of the visual pathway of a random population of captive-bred monkeys of the Macaca mulatta species throughout different physiologic stages after stimulation with stroboscopic light flashes. In this study we used 20 non-human primates (M. mulatta), 10 males and 10 females, divided into five age-dependant cohorts of 2 males and 2 females. Two replicable negative waveforms and one positive were recorded, as reliable indicators of electrical conductivity at specific anatomical nuclei of the visual pathways. Statistically significant differences were primarily observed in group 1 when compared against the remaining groups for the three evaluated waveforms. Waveform morphology characteristically presented steady deviations related to ontogenetic development of the studied population. ©2013 PVJ. All rights reserved


To the Editor:

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-blocking agents are widely used currently in treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)1, but there may be as-yet unknown longterm toxicities. There is controversy regarding the increased risk of lymphoma with anti-TNF agents in adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but according to a recent metaanalysis based on 9 randomized controlled clinical trials, there were higher rates of malignancies in patients treated with TNF inhibitors (0.8%) compared to placebo or active controls (0.2%)2. Additionally, there have been 8 cases reported of hepatosplenic T cell lymphoma occurring in patients with pediatric Crohn's disease treated with infliximab3,…


Abstract The European spruce sawfly, Diprion hercyniae (Htg.), was first discovered in Canada in 1930 and in the next few years attained outbreak proportions in spruce forests over large areas in the Gaspé Peninsula and New Brunswick. The accidental introduction of a polyhedrosis in the early 1930's was responsible for the rapid decline of the infestation, and under the influence of both disease and introduced parasites, densities throughout the range of the sawfly have been fluctuating at very low levels for the past 20 years. Population studies have been conducted on this insect in New Brunswick since 1938 and data are now available for 50 consecutive generations over a 25-year period. Morris' key-factor approach, using parasites, disease and weather as the key factors, has been used in the analyses of the data. Although disease obscured the effect of other control factors, during high sawfly densities, larval parasites have been largely responsible for maintaining the low densities experienced in New Brunswick for the past 20 years. A pronounced change in the relative importance of the different parasite species and in the amount of cocoon predation attributable to small mammals and wireworms has occurred during the change from high to low host densities.


One of the key issues in a core disruptive accident (CDA) evaluation in sodium-cooled fast reactors is eutectic reactions between boron carbide (B4C) and stainless steel (SS) as well as its relocation. Such behaviors have never been simulated in CDA numerical analyses in the past, therefore it is necessary to develop a physical model and incorporate the model into the CDA analysis code. This study focuses on B4C-SS eutectic melting experiments, thermophysical property measurement of the eutectic melt, and physical model development for the eutectic melting reaction. The eutectic experiments involve the visualization experiments, eutectic reaction rate experiments and material analyses. The thermophysical properties are measured in a range from solid to liquid state. The physical model is developed for a severe accident computer code based on the measured data of the eutectic reaction rate and the physical properties. This paper describes the project overview and progress of experimental and analytical studies conducted until 2018. Specific results in this paper are boron concentration distributions of solidified B4C-SS eutectic sample in the eutectic melting experiments, which would be used for the validation of the eutectic physical model implemented into the computer code.


For tropical countries that do not have extensive ground sampling programs such as national forest inventories, the gain-loss approach for greenhouse gas inventories is often used. With the gain-loss approach, emissions and removals are estimated as the product of activity data defined as the areas of human-caused emissions and removals and emissions factors defined as the per unit area responses of carbon stocks for those activities. Remotely sensed imagery and remote sensing-based land use and land use change maps have emerged as crucial information sources for facilitating the statistically rigorous estimation of activity data. Similarly, remote sensing-based biomass maps have been used as sources of auxiliary data for enhancing estimates of emissions and removals factors and as sources of biomass data for remote and inaccessible regions. The current status of statistically rigorous methods for combining ground and remotely sensed data that comply with the good practice guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is reviewed.


Using parametrized curves (Section 1) or parametrized sheets (Section 3), and suitable metrics, we treat the jet bundle of order one as a semi-Riemann manifold. This point of view allows the description of solutions of DEs as pregeodesics (Section 1) and the solutions of PDEs as potential maps (Section 3), via Lagrangians of order one or via generalized Lorentz world-force laws. Implicitly, we solved a problem rised first by Poincar\'e: find a suitable geometric structure that converts the trajectories of a given vector field into geodesics (see also [6] - [11]). Section 2 and Section 3 realize the passage from the Lagrangian dynamics to the covariant Hamilton equations.


Serious games, including immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) experiences, can be challenging for players due to their unfamiliar control systems and mechanics. This study focuses on designing a gamified tutorial for iVR serious games that not only teaches iVR interactions but also enhances user enjoyment and engagement. The tutorial consists of progressively challenging mini-games that adapt to the user's performance. Tips and recommendations are provided through a robot avatar if users struggle or make mistakes. An optional narrative is included to enhance user engagement, but it is not mandatory for the iVR experience. Gamification elements, such as point collection and progress updates, are incorporated into the tutorial. It can be played independently or as an introduction to iVR serious games. The goal is to use gamification principles to maintain user engagement and flow while enhancing the learning experience in the virtual world.


Various processes are modelled using a discrete phase, where particles are seeded from a source. Such particles can represent liquid water droplets, which are affecting the continuous phase by exchanging thermal energy, momentum, species etc. Discrete phases are typically modelled using parcel, which represents a collection of particles, which share properties such as temperature, velocity etc. When coupling the phases, the exchange rates are integrated over the cell, in which the parcel is located. This can cause spikes and fluctuating exchange rates. This paper presents an alternative method of coupling a discrete and a continuous plug flow phase. This is done using triangular parcels, which span between nodes following the dynamics of single droplets. Thus, the triangular parcels are propagated using the corner nodes. At each time step, the exchange rates are spatially integrated over the surface of the triangular parcels, which yields a smooth continuous exchange rate to the continuous phase. The results shows that the method is more stable, converges slightly faster and yields smooth exchange rates compared with the steam tube approach. However, the computational requirements are about five times greater, so the applicability of the alternative method should be limited to processes, where the exchange rates are important. The overall balances of the exchanged properties did not change significantly using the new approach. Keywords—CFD, coupling, discrete phase, parcel.


Timothy Marshall, a failure and damage consultant with the Haag Engineering Company in Dallas, Texas, possesses a passion for storm chasing. On the afternoon of May 3, 1999, with atmospheric conditions creating a potentially explosive situation, Marshall drove several hours north to central Oklahoma to spot tornadoes. A storm started blowing up near Lawton and moved parallel to Interstate 44, with Marshall ahead of it in his Chevy pickup. He parked on the Newcastle overpass bridge, videotaping the long-tracked twister for later study At 7:04 p.m. local time, with the vortex now just one mile away and moving straight toward him, it started appearing three-dimensional, debris and projectiles flying about, the tornado roaring like freight trains, wind howling, red mud raining down, and things "getting a little out of hand," Marshall recalled. He drove out of its path, only to watch the tornado tear through the suburban streets and houses of Moore, on its way to Oklahoma City.


Turbulent transport is known to limit the plasma confinement of present-day optimized stellarators. To address this issue, a novel method to strongly suppress turbulence in such devices is proposed, namely the resonant wave-particle interaction of suprathermal particles-e.g., from ion-cyclotron-resonance-frequency heating-with turbulence-driving microinstabilities like ion-temperature-gradient modes. The effectiveness of this mechanism is demonstrated via large-scale gyrokinetic simulations, revealing an overall turbulence reduction by up to 65% in the case under consideration. Comparisons with a tokamak configuration highlight the critical role played by the magnetic geometry and the first steps into the optimization of fast particle effects in stellarator devices are discussed. These results hold the promise of new and still unexplored stellarator scenarios with reduced turbulent transport, essential for achieving burning plasmas in future devices.


We have recently established a clonal mesenchymal stem cell line (rBM25/S3) from adult rat bone marrow. The cells have practically unlimited proliferation capacity (over 300 PDL), maintaining multipotency for differentiation. In the present study, we examined the potential for rBM25/S3 cells to differentiate into insulin-secreting cells. When cultured in the presence of HGF and FGF-4 on Matrigel, rBM25/S3 cells expressed genes specific to pancreatic beta-cells as well as those specific to hepatocytes. They still maintained proliferation capacity with a doubling time of approximately 30 h. These hepato-pancreatic intermediate progenitor cells, but not the original undifferentiated rBM25/S3 cells, were induced by the overexpression of PDX-1 to produce significant amounts of insulin in a manner responding to glucose concentration in medium. The present culture system indicates a direction for further studies aimed at the realization of cell transplantation therapy for type I diabetes mellitus.


The taxonomic statUs of Anopheles subalpinus Hackett & Lewis, a member of the Palaearctic Anopheles maculipennis complex, was investigated by re-examining specimens from a study conducted in 1986. The presence of two different taxa was detected in the sample by sequencing ITS2 and a mitochondrial fragment (310 bp) of the COl gene. The re-e,c1lminllfionof 71 larval specimens for the biometric character of the branches of setae 2-IV, V also indicated the presence of two species within the sample. These species were identified as An. messeae and An. melanoon. Our results confirm the findings of Linton et al. (2002) that An. subalpinus is simply an alternative egg phenotype ofAn. melanoon.


Ayoung boywithmild developmental delay and autism presentedwith a 1-week history of progressive left periorbital swelling. His parents reported that he complained of left orbital pain just before they noticed the swelling, and he was treated with cold compresses with only slight improvement. He had never experienced these symptoms before. The patient had not experienced diplopia, change in visual acuity, nasal obstruction, change in oral intake, weight loss, recent upper respiratory infection, sick contacts, fevers, or chills. At the time of presentation, the patient was breathing comfortably and was afebrile. Findings from his head and neck examination were significant for a firm mass over the left zygoma and lateral infraorbital rim, 2 × 3 cm in diameter. The mass was nontender, nonerythematous, and fixed to the underlying zygoma and lateral infraorbital rim. There was no cervical lymphadenopathy. Ophthalmology examination revealed intact extraocular movements, bilateral visual acuity of 20/50, and no evidence of afferent papillary defect. Computed tomographic (CT) images showed a round, soft-tissue mass with osseous destruction and erosion into the zygoma, infratemporal fossa, inferolateral orbit, and maxillary sinus (Figure, A and B). Concern for orbital involvement prompted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the maxillofacial region (Figure, C and D). He was taken to the operating room the following day for open biopsy. A B


Facade design has significant impact on daylight. This paper presents a facade based on origami: kaleidocycle rings that can be morphed enhancing daylight performance in residential spaces, which complies with both LEED V4 and Daylight availability. Daylighting analysis was integrated using Grasshopper, Diva and Genetic optimization for a south-oriented living room facade in Cairo, Egypt, through two phases. First phase dealt with base cases of specific typology. Second phase was conducted using parametric optimization process. Results demonstrate that Kaleidocycle rings of 30 cm size and 64 rotation's angle reached results that exceed LEED v4 requirements while passing Daylight availability standards.


The objective of this work is to offer a suggestion of Literature teaching at high school recovering primitive aspects of its history to seek a contextualization of its concept and the extension of the importance of its teaching, since the literature can be recognized as one of the basic necessities of the human being, which fables and fantasy. For this, there is a conceptual rescue with support in the idea of cronotope and the dialogue in the great time, from Bakhtin, and in its exemplification, establishing a dialogue between some of the primitive forms of narrative, called "myths of the creation".


The paper, after making quantitative statistics and qualitative theoretical analysis of admission fees in domestic tourist attractions, initially determines seven influencing factors that affect the fixing of admission fees, including grade of scenic spot, management system, product type, trade environment, area of tourist attraction, industry environment and social economy. The paper points out the complexity and particularity of the fixing of admission fees and offers related suggestions through positive study.


Developments in data science like data-mining and analytics have also become the catchwords raising concerns of those engaged with the question of privacy infringements and state surveillance. The mere idea of an individual's privacy being sold out to the corporates for customized advertisements and commercial micro-targeting is in itself disturbing as one's personal information is being commodified, but then it is relatively harmless. The situation becomes dangerous and poses a threat when analytics pushes the limit further and engages in predicting the activities of the people such as electoral behaviour and employs tools of political micro-targeting to manipulate the electorate. The paper attempts to evaluate the potential threats to individual privacy and security when data-mining and analytics are clubbed with artificial-intelligence-powered election campaigns, surveillance mechanisms, warfare strategies and so on.


The new technological scenarios in digital systems demand the introduction of FPGA very early in digital design curricula. The approach that we present in the paper is based on a new tool that extends the features of Deeds, the design suite for digital circuits developed in our department. The FPGA extension allows students to compile a project generated with Deeds into an FPGA chip, reducing to a minimum the interaction with the FPGA-specific CAD. The tool is centered around a module that allows the student to associate all the input and output of the Deeds project to the devices and resources of an FPGA development board. A code generator will produce all the VHDL and script files needed by the CAD to compile the project and load it on the board for testing.


In accordance with the paradigm of 21st century education, teachers are required to facilitate students with the learning process which addresses the improvement of students' higher thinking skill. The community service which was conducted in  MTs Al Ikhlas Soe, East Nusa Tenggara was aimed at: 1) culturing as well as developing students' literacy in school; 2) improving students' capacity in literacy; 3) managing students' knowledge and higher thinking skill, as considerable as 4) elevating teachers' professionalism so that learning process can be more effective and efficient. The methods used were lecture, discussion, brainstorming, simulation, and assignment. The materials delivered were about the arrangement and development of literacy-oriented teaching materials. The product produced from the training was implemented in learning process on VII graders. This was aimed to observe whether there was an improvement gained after the training given. The participants of this community service were 13 teachers and 34 students of MTs Al Ikhlas Soe. The results showed that teachers' skill in arranging teaching materials has been improved. Furthermore, students' understanding about the concept or their knowledge related to the materials has been upgraded after experiencing the implementation of literacy-oriented learning.


This paper presents a model suited for the design of mechanically bistable beams used in Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters (PEHs). The proposed model accounts for the bending and compression of post-buckled beams used in the PEH. The effect of the beam's geometry on the generated power and frequency bandwidth is evaluated with a performance criterion. It is concluded that a low beam compression stiffness can have a negative impact on the performance of the PEH and that the bending stiffness solely implies a prestress on the piezoelectric transducer.


The visualization techniques used in current software visualization frameworks make use of a limited set of graphical elements to highlight relevant aspects of a software system. Typical examples of such elements are text, simple geometric shapes and uniform color fills. Although human visual perception enables rapid processing of additional visual cues like shading and texture, they are not used. We contend that such 2D and 3D computer graphics techniques for achieving visual realism can be used to increase the information throughput of software visualization techniques. Visualization results are presented to show how treemaps, cushions, color, texture, and bump mapping can be used to visualize software metrics of hierarchically organized elements of a software system


To further probe into the paternal origins and domestication area of swamp buffaloes, we examined Y-chromosome diversity of 482 bulls representing 22 populations from China and Southeast Asia. A total of 40 bovine Y-chromosome-specific microsatellite (Y-STR) markers were screened in this study. The results showed that seven Y-STR markers (UMN2405, UMN0504, UMN0103, UMN1307, BC1.2, UMN0304 and INRA008) were specific and polymorphic in male swamp buffaloes, which can define 9 Y-haplotypes corresponding to four Y-haplogroups (Y1, Y2, Y3 and Y4). Haplogroup Y1 was predominant (83.4%) in all swamp buffalo populations, indicating haplogroup Y1 was the major domestication event of swamp buffalo. In addition, the abundant genetic background and backbone of haplogroup Y1 suggested Yangtze Valley as the major domestication area of swamp buffalo. Interestingly, haplogroup Y4 was only confined in Hainan Island which was more ancient than other haplogroups. We hypothesized that haplogroup Y4 was the descendants of the wild Asian buffalo trapped on Hainan Island in prehistoric glacier period and preserved by later introgression into domesticated cows after the domestication. In conclusion, our findings revealed four divergent paternal origins in swamp buffaloes based on Y-STR markers.


Social philosophers during the course of history and modern day researchers have expressed the belief that interpersonal trust is essential for harmonious and co-operative relationships among people. Interpersonal trust has been described as the social cement that binds interpersonal relationships in society and is necessary for its survival. This book provides researchers and professionals who deal with children with an insight into a critical facet of children's social functioning. Interpersonal trust is conceptualized as children's confidence that a person's verbal or nonverbal coomunication accurately conveys facts or internal states. This includes children's sensitivity to lying, deception and promise violations.


Abstract Background Nurse educators are challenged to design courses that maintain rigor, promote student learning, maximize resource utilization, and ultimately prepare graduates for clinical practice. Purpose An innovative teaching strategy was used to educate BSN level students in nursing inquiry with a collaborative project. Methods Course faculty incorporated information literacy (IL) and evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies into an undergraduate research course by taking the traditional practicum research project and redesigning it as a longitudinal scoping review (ScR) collaborative project. Results At course conclusion, students verbalized having a deeper appreciation for nursing research, confidence in performing a literature search, and conducting a research critique. Conclusions The students' contributions towards the ScR through their collaborative project work fostered personal growth in IL and EBP competencies through a meaningful project that can extend beyond the classroom to possibly influence patient care.


This contribution explores the associations between suicide attempts; bullying; and the familial, educational, legal, and institutional characteristics of young offenders in custody. The sample was 152 randomly selected male young offenders aged 16-21 years (M = 18.9, SD = 1.3) years from the largest young offenders' institution in Scotland, who completed structured personal interviews. Rates of reported suicide attempts were significantly higher in the population of young offenders than reported rates from general population samples. Being in residential care, the presence of a social worker for the family, family history of alcohol abuse, family history of suicide attempts, the experience of being bullied in custody, contact with a psychologist in the community, and being a violent offender were significantly related to increased risk of suicide attempts in custody. Compared to those who were not bullied, offenders who were bullied in custody were 9.22 times more likely to attempt suicide. The implications these findings for reducing bullying in penal settings are discussed.


Phosphorus (P) deficiency is a common crop growth-limiting factor in Mediterranean climatic and soil conditions because of low availability of native and added P, with consequent low use efficiency. Adaptation to such conditions is a function of the type of crop and also varies with genotypes within crops. The study evaluated responses of some of wheat genotypes to P application rates under typical rainfed Mediterranean climatic conditions in southern Turkey. Five wheat genotypes (Genc-99, Balatilla, Adana-99, Golia, and Panda) and five P application rates (0, 9, 17, 35 and 70 kg P ha ) were used in a 2year (2002/03, 2003/04) field experiment. In general, increasing P application level enhanced the leaf (0.18 0.44 %) and grain P (0.08 0.18%) concentrations of the genotypes. Grain yields values ranged from 1.48 4.85 t ha and optimum yields were achieved with 35 kg P ha -1 application rate in both years. The relationship between leaf P and grain yield was significant in the first year, but grain P and grain yield were not significantly related. Thus, leaf P (flag leaves) concentration can be used for identification of genotypes that could be adapted to low or high soil P availability under rainfed conditions. The relative yield changed among the genotypes, especially Balatilla and Adana-99 were different from the other genotypes and had a fairly good performance. While yield and drought efficiency are major objectives in wheat breeding programs in the Mediterranean region, the study indicates that attention should also be given to crop P efficiency.


This study uses corn yield data from McLean County, Illinois to test whether farmer skill influences yields. This analysis is conducted by performing persistency tests on unadjusted, soil productivity adjusted (PA), and productivity and input intensity adjusted (PIA) yields. Correlation analysis and winner/loser tables indicate that unadjusted, PA, and PIA yields exhibit persistency across time. PIA yields exhibiting persistency is consistent with farmer skill influencing yield. Hence, our results support the hypothesis that farmer skill influences yields.


The response of an integrating optical fiber (OF) ultrasound detector to varying sensor length and orientation with respect to the acoustic source has been experimentally investigated using Lamb waves, analyzed theoretically, and simulated in the Matlab environment. The experimental results and the theoretical models show very similar trends in both sensitivity and directivity. These properties have immense potential as a new tool in damage detection systems. Finally, we briefly discuss the prospects for the use of these sensor systems, possibly combined with other fiber optic techniques, as the basis for realizing integrated structural health monitoring systems.


Assyrian sculptures: Reign of Ashurnasirpal is now continued by this volume, illustrating reliefs and statues dating from the reigns of Shalmaneser I I I , Shamshi-Adad V, Adad-nirari III,Tiglathpileser I I I , Sargon,and Sennacherib (the latter to be concluded in a later volume). The difficulty of reproducing the finely modelled surfaces, as Mr. Smith states, was largely overcome by employing general lighting from both sides and a spot-light from one side, and the result is a remarkably accurate rendering of detail, which is particularly successful in the reliefs of Tiglathpileser III and Sennacherib. Among the reliefs of Sennacherib included in this volume is the series portraying the battle in the marshes, identified with .the campaign of 700— 699 B.C. against the Chaldaean tribes in South Babylonia (pis. XLIX-LV); the Assyrian army advancing to the attack (pis. LVI—LIX); a pursuit in a marsh (pi. xxxvn); archers and slingers at a siege (pi. XXXVIII), and a Phoenician war-galley being rowed down the Euphrates (pi. XL). In all of these the Assyrian method of portraying landscape is shown to the best advantage, and although the ambitious nature of these large pictorial designs necessitates a certain stylization of mountains, marshy ground, rivers or lakes, and the formal treatment of different kinds of trees, yet this is combined with a striking wealth of detail, carefully executed by the sculptor. Excellent examples of such detail are the crab and the fishes (pis. XL, LI), the vines (pis. XLII, XLIII, LVI), and the spoil and weapons which are being counted by Assyrian and Aramaean scribes (pi. XLVII). The description of the plates is invaluable for tracing the development of the art of the Assyrian sculptor, and for studying both the methods of warfare employed by the Assyrian armies, and the ritual scenes portrayed on the reliefs. References are given to the circumstances of discovery of the sculptures (as given in Gadd, The Stones of Assyria) and to the publication and translation of the inscriptions.


The relevance of the study is that the number of patients with osteochondrosis increases every year. The disease causes severe neurological and orthopedic disorders that lead to losing workability and disability. Objective of the work: to study the effectiveness of physical exercises applying due to the results of orthopedic research methods and talks with students of special medical groups who suffer from cervical spinal osteochondrosis. While organizing medical gymnastics trainings we should take into account etiopathogenetical processes of course of the disease and practice exercises aimed at muscles relaxation, increasing of stability of vestibular system, coordination, dynamic exercises for all muscle groups, special respiratory exercises, exercises on strengthening of muscles of neck and trunk. After the experiment students noticed that pain in neck disappeared, general state has improved; indices of movements in cervical spine have increased. All these facts prove the positive influence of medical gymnastics on organism and its functional abilities.


OBJECTIVES
The relevance of anti-HLA antibodies in patients awaiting kidney transplants is well recognized. During the past 40 years, kidney transplant candidates have been tested for these antibodies, and the choice of the detection assay has become essential. Recently, the pioneer method, the complement-dependent cytotoxicity, has been integrated but has not been replaced by more-sensitive solid-phase assays, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the bead-based technology (ie, flow cytometry: FlowPRA, and FlowAnalyzer: Luminex).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We compared the sensitivity and antibody specificity of these 4 techniques for detecting panel-reactive antibodies in a population of 101 consecutive patients awaiting a renal transplant (which had already resulted positive in a prescreening analysis).

RESULTS
Sera positive for class I and class II antibodies were 62 and 90 as assessed by the complement-dependent cytotoxicity method, 76 and 58 by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, 83 and 65 with Flow-panel-reactive antibodies, and 90 and 79 by Luminex. Luminex gave more positive scores than the others for class I HLA antibodies, whereas complement-dependent cytotoxicity revealed more positives for those of class II.

CONCLUSIONS
Although Luminex appears more efficient among these assays, our results indicate that use of multiple methods is still the best approach for characterizing the immunologic status of these patients.


The purpose of this study are to: (1) Determine the level of management efficiency and effectiveness in the marketplace service levies Sukoharjo and Wonogiri 2002-2004, (2) to compare the level of management efficiency and effectiveness of service charges between the market and Wonogiri Sukoharjo year 2002 - 2004.
This research uses descriptive quantitative method. The population is Sukoharjo market service charges and Wonogiri. Data collection techniques with variable efficiency and the effectiveness of using documentation obtained from the Office of Management and Wealth Disperindagkop District Sukoharjo and Wonogiri 2002-2004. The data analysis technique used is the Kolmogorov-Smirnov analysis of two independent samples.
Based on the results of this study concluded: (1) The efficiency levels of service levy market in Sukoharjo district in 2002, 2003, and 2004 was 31.75%, 29.68% and 29.12%, while its effectiveness rate is 102.08%; 98 , 28% and 100.20%. The level of efficiency in the market service charges Wonogiri 2002, 2003, and 2004 was 42.17%, 37.27% and 37.37% while the level of effectiveness is 88.33%, 169.56% and 47.94%. (2) The level of management efficiency and effectiveness in the marketplace service levy is greater Sukoharjo same Wonogiri (critical Z


A series of molecular sieve catalysts (Cu–Mn/SAPO-34) with different loadings of Cu and Mn components were prepared by the impregnation method. The deNOx activity of the catalyst was investigated during the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3 in the temperature range of 120 ◦C to 330 ◦C, including the effects of H2O vapors and SO2. In order to understand the poisoning mechanism by the injection of H2O and/or SO2 into the feeding gas, the characteristics of the fresh and spent catalyst were identified by means of Brunner−Emmet−Teller (BET), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and Thermal GravityDifferential Thermal Gravity (TG-DTG). The conversion of NO by the catalyst can achieve at 72% under the reaction temperature of 120 ◦C, while the value reached more than 90% under the temperature between 180 ◦C and 330 ◦C. The deNOx activity test shows that the H2O has a reversible negative effect on NO conversion, which is mainly due to the competitive adsorption of H2O and NH3 on Lewis acid sites. When the reaction temperature increases to 300 ◦C, the poisoning effect of H2O can be negligible. The poisoning effect of SO2 on deNOx activity is dependent on the reaction temperature. At low temperature, the poisoning effect of SO2 is permanent with no recovery of deNOx activity after the elimination of SO2. The formation of (NH4)2SO4, which results in the plug of active sites and a decrease of surface area, and the competitive adsorption of SO2 and NO should be responsible for the loss of deNOx activity over Cu/SAPO-34.


Now it's a trend to install a series of white fluorescent light and orange high pressure sodium lamps because tunnel lighting should be opaque to the safety of drivers from soot, dust, humidity, and fog. Also fluorescent lighting is replaced to LED due to the fact that it improves amenity and object recognition and LED lighting has gradually been improved its nature. In this paper, we have implemented the circuits of the yellow series of high-pressure sodium lamps and white series of LED lights at one board to improve the transparency and recognition of objects. It is possible for inductive high-pressure sodium lamps and the capacitive LED drivers to circuit without power factor compensation. Two circuit parts share only a small number of parts, so low cost LED drivers compared to conventional ones are possible. Therefore, the implementation of the hybrid lighting with high-pressure sodium lamps and LED lights that can be driven at the same time by one driving circuit is possible. The LED capacitive power factor was 0.91 while individually implemented the sodium lamp power factor was 0.98. It shows not only the 2% improvement of hybrid forms but also the efficiency and THD.


Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been identified as major risk factor for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cervical cancer. About 40 HPV viral types are commonly found in the genital tract. Most HPV infections resolve spontaneously, while persistent infection with oncogenic types, namely HPV 16 and 18 is necessary for CIN to occur and progress to cancer. Cervical screening is presently based on the Pap smear that is designed to diagnose precancerous lesions and cervical cancer The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HPV DNA and to determine HPV types distribution among 361 women attending regular gynecological visit. There were 205 women (29+/-8 years old) without determined abnormal cervical lesions and 156 women (34+/-15 years old) with abnormal Pap smear; low grade squamous intraepitehelial lesions (LSIL, n=69), high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL, n=72) and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS, n=15). HPV DNA detection and genotyping was performed by Hybrid Capture 2 assay and additionally by consensus and type-specific primers directed PCR. The overall prevalence of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) in women with abnormal Pap smears was 67.9% (106/156), of which in ASCUS 33.4% (5/15), LSIL 62.3% (43/69) and HSIL 80.6% (58/72). In HPV positive specimens, HPV 16 was found as predominant type in 60.4% cases, followed by HPV 31 (8.5%), HPV 33 (6.6%) and HPV 18 (3.7%). In the group of women without obvious cervical changes the overall hrHPV prevalence was 35.6% with HPV 16 found in 43.8% cases, followed by HPV 31 (17.8%), HPV33 (9.5%) and HPV18 (6.8%). In both study groups, women with and without cervical lesions, the prevalence of HPVof indeterminate type was 14.2% and 13.7%, respectively. Our results indicate that cervical intraepithelial lesions are largely associated with HPV type 16, followed by HPV types 31, 33, 18 and HPV of indeterminate type. Although there is a significant difference in hrHPV DNA prevalence among two groups, no significant differences between particular hrHPV types distribution were observed.


Dispersed nanoparticles of solid lubricants in sheet metal forming fluids are studied for enhanced lubrication that can lead to improved product surface quality and reduced tool wear. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanoparticles of varying size and concentrations have shown marked reduction in wear of steel counterfaces representing the tool and in scoring of titanium sheet surfaces. The most effective particle concentration and size ranges were 0.25–4% and 70–100 nm. The counterface wear was reduced by 50–75% while the friction coefficient only marginally improved.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


As he explores the causes of the East-West conflict from its most remote antecedents, Herodotus includes conflicting traditions about different historical periods as well as apparently tangential descriptions of the customs of faraway peoples. What was his aim in combining such diverse material? Rosaria Vignolo Munson argues that Herodotus' aim was two-fold: to use historical narrative to illuminate the present and to describe barbarian customs so that the Greeks might understand themselves.Herodotus assumes the role of advisor to his audience, acting as a master of metaphor and oracular speech and as an intellectual fully aware of new philosophical and political trends. By comparing, interpreting, and evaluating facts through time and space or simply by pointing them out as objects of "wonder," he teaches that correct political action is linked to an appropriate approach to foreigners and additional "others." Munson relies on traditional scholarship and modern studies in narratology and related critical fields to distinguish between narrative and metanarrative, providing a framework for analyzing the construction of Herodotus' discourse and his presentation of himself through it.Munson's work will be useful to classicists and ancient historians and will also engage anthropologists interested in cultural interaction and notions of ethnicity and literary critics interested in narrative constructions.Rosaria Vignolo Munson is Associate Professor of Classics, Swarthmore College.


Subject
 CEE influence in the new Commission.

 Significance
 Disunited Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) lacks the power to influence EU agenda-building and needs support from others. This increases the role of French President Emmanuel Macron as his administration, the Renew Europe group, European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen and the European People's Party (EPP) divide spheres of influence in the Eastern EU.

 Impacts
 Maintaining the status quo will require functional collaboration between EU member states and getting CEE on board.
 Interest in further enlargement will continue to fade and Western Balkan support for the EU will fall without more EU involvement.
 Pro-EU and social modernisation movements may form in some CEE states in reaction to the dominant parties of recent years.


The credit risk is the potential that a bank borrower or counterparty will fail to meet its obligations in accordance with agreed terms. Using a large dataset of corporate balance sheets we develop a survival model to predict default. Unlike previous works, we consider forecasts of probability of default for small corporate, we take into account regional macroeconomic conditions as well as national macroeconomic indicators and we use a large sample of balance sheet. We define our model after a series of steps designed to select only the significant variables; we examine the scale of the continuous covariates in the preliminary main effect model and we apply, when required, appropriate transformations to respect the linearity in the log hazard. Last but not least, we check the proportionality hazard assumption.


Objective: Type 5 phosphodiesterase inhibitors (PDE5i) are efficient drugs used for treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED); however, a large discontinuation rate due to major side effects is reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible improvement of sildenafil (Sild) pharmacokinetics associated to the sublingual administration of the new available oro-dispersible film (ODF), compared to both the oro-dispersible tablet (ODT) and the film-coated tablet (FCT) as original per os formulation. Methods: In vitro disaggregation test, dissolution test, and permeation test in specific devices to estimate the trans-mucosal absorption. In vivo analysis of serum Sild levels, by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), was performed in 20 patients with psychogenic ED receiving alternatively per os FCT or sublingual ODT or ODF, at an equal dosage (50 mg). Pharmacokinetic parameters of Sild and adverse drug reactions experienced after the dosing of each formulation were compared. Results: In vitro, ODF showed the highest time to disaggregation and an increased rate of permeation compared to both ODT and FCT (P = 0.017 and P = 0.008, respectively). In vivo, compared to both FCT and ODT, ODF showed a faster increase of serum Sild levels (serum levels at 15 min from dosing, respectively: 2.24 ± 1.4 ng/ml FCT, 0.5 ± 0.3 ng/ml ODT, and 13.5 ± 9.1 ng/ml ODF; P < 0.01 and P < 0.05 vs. ODF) together with a higher drug bioavailability within 60 min from dosing (relative AUC60 min vs. FCT, respectively: 100.0 ± 44.9% FCT, 183.8 ± 75.4% ODT, and 304.2 ± 156.0% ODF). A trend toward lower peak serum levels was observed for ODF. Finally, ODF showed a lower prevalence of headache compared to FCT (1 vs. 35%; P < 0.05) and improved pattern of flushing and nasal congestion. Conclusion: Sublingual Sild ODF improves the drug tolerability through a likely modified pharmacokinetic, suggesting a possible implication also in the clinical efficacy profile. Sublingual administration of oro-dispersible formulations may represent a strategy to ameliorate the adherence to therapy with PDE5i, particularly in patients discouraged by side effects.


We propose a new "smart parking" system for an urban environment. The system assigns and reserves an optimal resource (parking space) for a user (driver) based on the user's objective function that combines proximity to destination and parking cost, while also ensuring that the overall parking capacity is efficiently utilized. Our approach solves a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) problem at each decision point in a time-driven sequence. The solution of each MILP is an optimal allocation based on current state information and subject to random events such as new user requests or parking spaces becoming available. The allocation is updated at the next decision point ensuring that there is no resource reservation conflict and that no user is ever assigned a resource with higher than the current cost function value. Simulated case studies are included based on parking at part of the Boston University campus showing that we can achieve significant improvement over uncontrolled parking processes or state-of-the-art guidance-based systems. We also describe a laboratory setting where this system has been tested in real time.


Should we tax a talented, yet idle, computer engineer on her relatively low income or her relatively high earning capacity? In the last decade, an overwhelming consensus has developed among leading tax scholars that taxing individual capacity, or endowment, would offer a more equitable and efficient alternative to the income tax. Earning capacity, however, has always been perceived as unobservable. As a result, the tax scholarship promoting the endowment tax never squarely confronted the challenges that such a tax would pose to our political reality and moral intuitions. Recently, however, three of the country's leading public finance and tax law scholars showed in two independent articles that certain aspects of earning capacity are indeed observable through the analysis of genetics and empirical social science research. These articles force tax theory to a fork in the road - either find ways to transition the endowment tax consensus into actual tax arrangements or explain why it is not an ideal tax base.This Article argues the consensus is wrong because it assigns the market price an inappropriate normative weight. Market prices represent the aggregated preferences of society as reflected through a set of voluntary transactions. Embracing the market price to assess earning capacity for tax-transfer purposes in a non-voluntary coercive setting is therefore analytically flawed. With respect to earning capacity, the price signal only gains credibility as a measurement of well-being when an individual voluntarily agrees to accept it. The Article further demonstrates that the endowment tax promotes an ex ante form of redistribution, which may be insufficient to accommodate liberal and democratic concerns over redistribution. The impact of these conclusions reaches beyond the tax debate. The endowment tax agenda and its popularity represent symptoms of the expanding role played by efficiency considerations within legal discourse. Therefore, challenging the endowment tax contributes to a broader debate about the role of efficiency considerations within the existing political framework.


The intestinal mucosa is composed of three layers: the innermost muscularis mucosae, lamina propria, and the epithelial layer which is exposed to the lumen. Besides being the structural support for the epithelium, the lamina propria contains elements important for immunological and absorptive functions. Thus in the lamina propria we find blood and lymph vessels, nerve varicosities, and a plethora of immune cells (plasma cells, lymphocytes, macrophages, eosinophils, mast cells, dendritic cells, etc).1 The lamina propria is densely innervated via both intrinsic (mainly from the submucosal plexus) and extrinsic nerve fibres. From the lamina propria, chemical messengers from nerves and immune cells reach and act on epithelial cell receptors.

The intestinal epithelium is a single layer of columnar cells. The most common cells are the enterocytes (absorptive cells). However, a rich variety of cells are also present, including goblet cells (secrete mucus), endocrine cells (secrete hormones and neuropeptides), Paneth cells, caveolated (tuft) and cup cells, M cells, stem cells (crypt), and intraepithelial lymphocytes. Epithelial cells are bound together by junctional complexes in the apical membrane1: the tight junction (zona occludens), the intermediate junction (zonula adherens), and the desmosomes (macula adherens). These structures define the paracellular space.

The epithelial lining serves several functions in the intestinal tract.2 The junctional complex acts as a physical barrier limiting the uptake of microbial and food derived antigens. However, in certain conditions macromolecules and even cells (mainly neutrophils) may be able to cross it to reach the lamina propria or the luminal surface, respectively. The presence of various enzymes on the apical surface and within epithelial cells contributes to the digestion and absorption of nutrients as well as to the degradation of immunogenic particles. Absorption and secretion of water and electrolytes is regulated by the epithelium. The epithelium maintains its own integrity …


In 1976, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as part of the Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. Since then, the Guidelines have been updated five times and today constitute the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on Responsible Business Conduct in existence. In 2016, on the Guidelines' 40th Anniversary, a Roundtable - co-organised by the International Law Association (ILA/ADI), the Societe francaise pour le droit international (SFDI) and the OECD - brought together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the history and future of the Guidelines. This book contains papers prepared in follow-up to that Roundtable.


The Membership of the European Union, brings along guidelines for national tax provisions, securing the freedoms of movement which exists within the European Community. It is above all the four fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty, the freedom of movement of goods, service, capital and labour which aim to secure removal of obstacles and safeguard the free movement within the inner market of the Community. Having a fiscal approach I first of all intended to investigate the freedom of movement of workers within the EU. This means, analysing case law where tax provisions have breached the Treaty laws of freedom of movement, to see to what extent this freedoms apply. Along the road I came across another angle which has not been so frequently debated, namely the fiscal approach from the Member States' point of view, not the individuals. This led me to taking into consideration ''the flip side of the fiscal coin of freedom''. Seemingly the freedom to move have developed further, with the creation of new Treaty articles which expands the right to freely move and reside, on the basis of being a Union Citizen. The concept of free movement of persons has evolved to also be relevant in a concept of Union Citizenship, which has taken over the role of securing the freedoms for the individual in the EC. The question is however, if this could lead to an unreasonable economic burden for the Member States? The obligations of the Member States towards the Treaty are also discussed, as well as some trends in the Swedish legal practice in the taxation area, which respectively are linked to Sweden's obligations as a Member State in the European Union.


A novel switch-mode voltage-doubler rectifier for single-phase supply is presented. It consists of diode bridge circuit and pump circuit with symmetrical arrangement of capacitors. The capacitors with energy storage/transfer capability are charged and discharged by employing the active power semiconductor devices. The rectifier can be operated in the switch mode for pumping action to pump twice the peak supply voltage into the output capacitor and for forcing the input current to follow its sinusoidal reference independent of the working conditions. The prototype tested, using two dual-IGBT power modules, has been implemented to investigate the operation with a PI controller for output voltage regulation. Experimental and simulated results are provided to verify the expected performance in both steady-state and transient conditions.


Abstract
Spiritual ecology explores the interface of religions and spiritualities on the one hand, and environments, ecologies, and environmentalisms on the other. As an international environmental movement, spiritual ecology involves a multitude of diverse leaders, organizations, and initiatives. They share a common concern and commitment to pursuing the vital role of religion and spirituality in environmentalism to complement secular approaches to environmental problems and issues from the local to the global levels. Here, after some background, spiritual ecology as a component of the phenomena of international environmental movements is exemplified through three cases: the Green Belt Movement beginning in Kenya, the Green Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation affiliate of the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund).


The psychometric properties of the Buss and Plomin (1984) EAS Temperament Survey for Children (Parental Ratings) were examined in a sample of Dutch children between 4 and 13 years of age. Ratings were obtained from 230 mothers and 172 fathers. The findings presented here provide the lacking cross-validation of the original analyses by Rowe and Plomin (1977): Emotionality, activity, and shyness were independent temperaments, regardless of age and gender. The factorial position of the yet experimental Sociability scale is more ambiguous: Sociability was significantly related to both shyness and activity but was more strongly associated with shyness in the youngest age cohort and most strongly with activity in the oldest cohort. This age trend, combined with a positive association with activity, supports the premise that sociability cannot be equated to nonshyness and justifies the inclusion of a separate Sociability scale in the EAS. All four EAS scales are reliable in terms of internal consistency and interrater agreement, but one modification of the Sociability scale is needed.


This article presents experiments with pseudonymised Swedish clinical text used as training data to de-identify real clinical text with the future aim to transfer non-sensitive training data to other hospitals. Conditional Random Fields (CFR) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) machine learning algorithms were used to train de-identification models. The two models were trained on pseudonymised data and evaluated on real data. For benchmarking, models were also trained on real data, and evaluated on real data as well as trained on pseudonymised data and evaluated on pseudonymised data. CRF showed better performance for some PHI information like Date Part, First Name and Last Name; consistent with some reports in the literature. In contrast, poor performances on Location and Health Care Unit information were noted, partially due to the constrained vocabulary in the pseudonymised training data. It is concluded that it is possible to train transferable models based on pseudonymised Swedish clinical data, but even small narrative and distributional variation could negatively impact performance.


Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a genetic disease characterized by an overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Nimotuzumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody against human EGFR. The aim of this study was to develop a population pharmacokinetic model for nimotuzumab and to identify demographic and clinical predictive factors of the pharmacokinetic variability. The population pharmacokinetics (PopPK) of nimotuzumab was characterized using a nonlinear mixed-effect modeling approach with NONMEM®. A total of 422 log-transformed concentration-versus-time datapoints from 20 patients enrolled in a single-center phase I clinical trial were used. Quasi steady state approximation of the full TMDD (target-mediated drug disposition) model with constant target concentration best described the concentration-time profiles. A turnover mediator was included which stimulates the non-specific clearance of mAb in the central compartment in order to explain the reduced levels at higher doses. Covariates had no influence on the PK (pharmacokinetics) parameters. The model was able to detect that the maximum effective dose in ADPKD subjects is 100 mg. The developed PopPK model may be used to guide the dose selection for nimotuzumab during routine clinical practice in patients with polycystic kidney disease. The model will further support the ongoing investigations of the PK/PD relationships of nimotuzumab to improve its therapeutic use in other disease areas.


Agricultural land preparation cost has increased to a new high label due to increase in fossil fuel prices. This directly increases the cost of food. Demand of food also increases due to high population rise and smaller land sizes (< 2-4 ha) due to fragmentation of land. So farmers are more interested to reduce the land preparation cost and increase the yield. Due to these facts, preparation of seedbeds for deep tillage in conventional tillage system, particularly in Indian farming, the situation is worsening day by day. This system of tillage escalates land preparation costs because it requires a series of operations using passive tillage tools to realize an acceptable till quality. It also ties down capital in the form of additional machinery and tillage tools; thus increasing significantly the cost of land preparation. Rotary tiller or rotavator is a tillage machine most suitable for seedbed preparation. In a Rotary tiller, Blades are the main critical parts which are engaged with soil to prepare the land. These blades interact with soil in a different way than normal plows which are subjected to impact and high friction that creates unbalancing and non uniform forces which result in blade wear. This actually decreases the service life of a blade. Therefore, it is necessary to design and develop a suitable blade so that self life is enhanced. This paper presents design and development of rotavator blade through the interrogation of computer aided design (CAD) method.


ABSTRACT The four polar years are used as windows for highlighting changes in the character of polar research over the past 125 years. The approach taken may be seen as one of an archaeology of knowledge. As such it fixes on four separate strata in the history of science and seeks to lay bare distinctive features in each of these. To simplify, the focus is selective, mainly presenting three types of aspect for each year. The first is the character of the instruments and research technologies employed in each, and the second is the kinds of problems tackled, while the third is the associated view or ideal of science that stands out. The latter aspect has to do with epistemology. The paper suggests that whereas work during the first International Polar Year (IPY) reflected an empirical inductivist philosophy of science, during the second IPY a mix of problem oriented, and hypothesis driven, approaches existed alongside inductivism. By the time of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) the theoretical foundations of polar research had grown stronger and much of the focus had shifted to larger scale geophysical processes. Finally, today's ambition to develop an integrated Earth system science reflects an ideal that is systemic, constructivist and predictive. Such epistemological features are evident in some of the most advanced forms of computer aided analysis of Arctic and Antarctic processes, as well as in visualisation methodologies used to interpret and present data, concepts, models and theories. This latest approach is evident in some of the planning and agenda setting documents generated under the auspices of the current IPY.