The complex ambiguity function based on second-order statistics (CAF-SOS) has been used to simultaneously estimate the frequency-delay of arrival (FDOA) and time-delay of arrival (TDOA) between two signal measurements; its performance, however, is sensitive to the correlation between two additive noise sources. When the noise sources are assumed to be Gaussian, we develop a new complex ambiguity function based on higher order statistics (CAF-HOS) that reduces the unknown noise-correlation effect. The new CAF-HOS algorithm utilizes nonstationary higher order cross cumulant estimates and their Fourier transform. In fact, we suggest a nonstationary estimate of fourth-order cross-cumulants and obtain the analytical expressions for its mean value and variance. We compare the analytical expressions with results obtained by Monte Carlo runs. Also, we compare the performance of the new complex ambiguity function based on fourth-order statistics (CAF-FOS) against the CAF-SOS algorithm using different Gaussian noise sources, different signals of interest, different signal-to-noise ratios, and different lengths of data.


Immigrants usually are pro-social towards their hometowns and try to improve them. However, the lack of trust in their government can drive immigrants to work individually. As a result, their pro-social activities are usually limited in impact and scope. This paper studies the interface factors that ease collaborations between immigrants and their home governments. We specifically focus on Mexican immigrants in the US who want to improve their rural communities. We identify that for Mexican immigrants having clear workflows of how their money flows and a sense of control over this workflow is important for collaborating with their government. Based on these findings, we create a blockchain based system for building trust between governments and immigrants.We finish by discussing design implications of our work and future directions.


Dioscin derivatives from the Dioscorea villosa roots were isolated and purified by centrifugal partition chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detection. The two-phase solvent system composed of chloroform-methanol-isopropanol-water (7:6:1:4, v/v/v/v) was used to obtain prosapogenin A of dioscin (1, 11.1 mg), dioscin (2, 8.9 mg), deltonin (3, 29.2 mg) and diosgenin 3-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1 --> 2)]-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1 --> 3)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1 --> 4)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside (4, 6.2 mg) from 300 mg of saponin-rich extract from the roots of D. villosa. The purities of 1, 2, 3 and 4 were determined to be 98.9, 97.4, 99.2 and 99.5%, respectively. Their chemical structures were determined by spectroscopic data of ESI-MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR and comparing with those of previously reported values.


To detect underwater moving targets effectively in the active sonar systems, the linear frequency modulation signal (LFM) is commonly used as a broadband signal for achieving more processing gain. However, the conventional method that uses the matched filter for detecting the LFM signal cannot remove these undesirable signals easily since its reverberation spectrum structure has a certain similarity to the LFM signal spectrum itself. To improve the ability of detecting the LFM signal in the shallow water region where the influence of noise and reverberation are large, this paper proposes a new signal detection method based on the spectrum characteristics of the LFM matched spectrum by using an adaptive technology that can effectively eliminate only the undesirable signals. Firstly, a detailed theoretical derivation is given in this paper. It shows that the spectrum of the LFM signal matched processing in frequency domain can be represented by cosine sequence. Simulation proof by means of spectrum analysis is used to verify the single frequency characteristics of the FM signal matched filter output, which shows that the spectrum peak has a corresponding relation to the target echo's position. Therefore the problem of detecting the LFM signal in reverberation can be converted into detecting single frequency signals in noise, while the adaptive technology is a powerful tool for single frequency signal detection in noise. Based on the considerations above, the adaptive technology is developed in this paper to detect the LFM echo of the underwater slowly moving target. Because the noise is not related to the measured signal, the adaptive technology can achieve inhibition of attenuation interference or noise as much as possible through adaptively adjusting the transmission characteristics of the filter, so as to improve signal-to-noise ratio(SNR). By applying the proposed method to some actual experimental data, the new method in this paper has high detection performance as compared to conventional methods. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified.


Abstract We examined patterns of vertical distribution within an assemblage of seven species of large wandering spiders in a lowland rainforest on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica. Over 16 months, 22 trees were surveyed regularly at night, up to a height of 43 m, using a rope climbing technique. Local climate and canopy microclimate exhibited only weak seasonal fluctuations. There was a distinct vertical segregation between ground-dwelling and arboreal species. The arboreal species used almost the entire available height range, whereby immature Cupiennius coccineus F.O.P.-Cambridge, 1901 occupied higher parts of the trees than adults. The two most abundant arboreal species differed also in their use of arboreal microhabitats: while Cu. coccineus occurred most frequently on trunk bark and on epiphyte leaves, the smaller Ctenus sp. 4 was more restricted to trunk bark. We detected effects of structural complexity of the host trees but no effects of canopy microclimate or of local climate on vertical distribution of Cu. coccineus, by far the most abundant arboreal species. The differences in vertical distribution both between age classes of Cu. coccineus, and between Cu. coccineus and the smaller Ctenus sp. 4 suggest size-dependent habitat segregation in arboreal species along the vertical axis, which might diminish cannibalism and/or intra-guild predation. Moreover, the wide range of vertical distribution of arboreal spiders suggests that they may connect the understory and canopy food webs.


BACKGROUND
Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a valuable techhique for diagnosing benign and malignant space occupying masses of liver. It is a cost effective and safe method that can differentiate benign and malignant lesions accurately. The objective of this study was to analyse cases of radiologically guided fine needle aspiration cytology of space occupying lesions of liver.

METHODS
Ultrasound guided FNAC of liver masses was carried out on 450 admitted patients with focal lesions liver on ultrasound. Patients of all ages and both sexes were included. The study was conducted in department of Diagnostic radiology in collaboration with the Pathology Department at Nishtar Medical College & Hospital, Multan over a period of two years from August, 2009 to August, 2011. The aspirates were done by senior radiologist in - Radiology Department.

RESULTS
Most of the aspirates were from males. Ten cases were considered inadequate. There were more malignant cases (320 cases) as compared to benign lesions (120 cases). Metastatic lesions were more common as compared to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however the ratio of metastatic adenocarcinoma and primary HCC was almost equal.

CONCLUSION
Ultrasound guided FNAC is a simple, quick and complication free procedure for diagnosing space occupying lesions of liver.


PRINCE is a 64-bit lightweight block cipher with a 128-bit key published at ASIACRYPT 2012. Assuming one nibble fault is injected, previous different fault analysis (DFA) on PRINCE adopted the technique from DFA on AES and current results are different. This paper aims to make a comprehensive study of algebraic fault analysis (AFA) on PRINCE. How to build the equations for PRINCE and faults are explained. Extensive experiments are conducted. Under nibble-based fault model, AFA with three or four fault injections can succeed within 300 seconds with a very high probability. Under other fault models such as byte-based, half word-based, word-based fault models, the faults become overlapped in the last round and previous DFAs are difficult to work. Our results show that AFA can still succeed to recover the full master key. To evaluate security of PRINCE against fault attacks, we utilize AFA to calculate the reduced entropy of the secret key for given amount of fault injections. The results can interpret and compare the efficiency of previous work. Under nibble-based fault model, the master key of PRINCE can be reduced to 29.69 and 236.10 with 3 and 2 fault injections on average, respectively.


Mobile agents are expected to run in partially unknown and untrustworthy environments. They transport from one host to another host through insecure channels and may execute on non-trusted hosts. Thus, they are vulnerable to direct security attacks of intruders and non-trusted hosts. The security of information the agents collect is a fundamental requirement for a trusted implementation of electronic business applications and trade negotiations. This chapter discusses the security protocols presented in the literature that aim to secure the data mobile agents gather while searching the Internet, and identifies the security flaws revealed in the protocols. The protocols are analyzed with respect to the security properties, and the security flaws are identified. Two recent promising protocols that fulfill the various security properties are described. The chapter also introduces common notations used in describing security protocols and describes the security properties of the data that mobile agents gather.


In a review of his experience with thoracic outlet compression, the author attempts to define factors that will help select patients for operation. Fifty-three patients underwent 59 transaxillary resections of the first rib. In almost all cases the diagnosis was clinical, based mainly on the history. Aortography was useful only when intrinsic vascular disease was suspected. Nerve-conduction studies were not helpful and were used only to confirm a diagnosis of peripheral nerve compression. Of 44 patients followed up, 33 had good or excellent results. Of the 11 patients with poor results, 8 complained of persistent neck and shoulder pain. The author concludes that the diagnosis of thoracic outlet compression is clinical and is based mainly on the patient's history. Transaxillary resection is safe and effective, particularly for patients whose symptoms are mainly in the hand and arm. It is not effective for those whose predominant complaint is neck and shoulder pain.


LiteBIRD is a JAXA strategic L-class mission devoted to the measurement of polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, searching for the signature of primordial gravitational waves in the B-modes pattern of the polarization. The onboard instrumentation includes a Middle and High Frequency Telescope (MHFT), based on a pair of cryogenically cooled refractive telescopes covering, respectively, the 89-224 GHz and the 166-448 GHz bands. Given the high target sensitivity and the careful systematics control needed to achieve the scientific goals of the mission, optical modeling and characterization are performed with the aim to capture most of the physical effects potentially affecting the real performance of the two refractors. We describe the main features of the MHFT, its design drivers and the major challenges in system optimization and characterization. We provide the current status of the development of the optical system and we describe the current plan of activities related to optical performance simulation and validation.


It is well known that discrepancies between mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (man-PCWP) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) exist in the pathological heart with sinus rhythm. We discussed the mechanism of these discrepancies in the aspect of increased LV end-diastolic stiffness. Fifty-two patients observed in this study included 23 with old myocardial infarction (OMI), 4 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 9 with hypertensive heart disease (LVH group), 6 with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and 10 normal subjects (N). All 52 patients had sinus rhythm. Those with significant mitral and aortic regurgitation were excluded. End-diastolic LV stiffness was evaluated by the ratio of increases in LV pressure and volume during atrial systole (delta P/delta V), as proved by cardiac catheterization and cine-angiography. Discrepancies between m-PCWP and LVEDP were 5.9 +/- 4.3 mmHg in OMI group, 4.5 +/- 4.6 mmHg in LVH group, 5.8 +/- 4.5 mmHg in DCM, and 1.6 +/- 1.8 mmHg in N group. These discrepancies correlated well with delta P/delta V (r = 0.74). More significant discrepancies were observed in patients with so-called pseudo-normalized left ventricular inflow velocities proved by pulsed Doppler echocardiography, and in patients with marked concentric LV hypertrophy with increased delta P/delta V. In clinical observation, symptoms of heart failure may be determined by m-PCWP rather than LVEDP. We concluded that discrepancies between m-PCWP and LVEDP were caused by the booster pump function of the left atrium against increased LV end-diastolic stiffness. By the use of apexcardiogram and echocardiogram including the pulsed Doppler method, it was possible to predict these discrepancies non-invasively.


Although reef-building corals are threatened by a number of anthropogenic
impacts, certain scleractinian-dinoflagellate (genus Symbiodinium) endosymbioses
have proven markedly resilient to environmental change. For instance,
corals from upwelling habitats of Southern Taiwan withstand both short- and
long-term increases in temperature, potentially due to their routine exposure
to highly variable temperature regimes in situ. To gain a greater understanding
of the proteomic basis for such acclimatization to unstable environmental
conditions, specimens of the Indo-Pacific reef-building coral Seriatopora hystrix Dana 1846 were sampled during a period of stable temperature conditions
from 1) a site characterized by frequent upwelling events in Southern
Taiwan and 2) a nearby, non-upwelling control site in the Taiwan Strait.
Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by sequencing of differentially
concentrated proteins with mass spectrometry unveiled significantly more
proteins involved in the cellular stress response in coral hosts of the upwelling
site. Although such stress protein signatures could be indicative of sub-lethal
levels of cellular stress, especially given the relatively higher sediment loads
characteristic of the upwelling site, these proteins may, in contrast, have been
constitutively maintained at high levels in preparation for large fluctuations in
temperature and other abiotic parameters (e.g., nutrient levels) brought upon
by upwelling events.


A novel multichannel signal-processing technique, capable of achieving stable high-speed underwater acoustic communication with a fairly low complexity of implementation, is presented. The approach is to split the space and time processing into two separate suboptimal processes to reduce computational complexity and instabilities associated with large tap vectors at large spread factors or BL products. The first suboptimal process starts with the eigen-spatial decomposition of the acoustic channel into multiple coherent orthogonal paths. Only the most energetic coherent paths are retained. For each selected path, individual synchronization is performed, the mean Doppler shift is estimated, and the message is decoded. The message binary information obtained for each individual path is recombined using maximal-ratio combining (MRC) to generate a decision binary sequence along with an array of quality factors, or metrics, associated with each bit. Each metric corresponds to the signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNIR) associated with each bit. The second suboptimal process is a linear multichannel equalizer (LME). The mean Doppler estimate of the most energetic coherent path is used to resample each input signal of the array that go into the LME, to reduce the rate of fluctuation of the resulting effective channel. These resampled input signals appear as if they have passed through a channel with a lower B (Doppler spread), which allows the final space-time processor (the LME) to operate in a stable manner. The decision binary sequence and the array of quality metrics obtained at the output of the MRC are used as inputs in the decision process of the LME. If the metric associated with a decision bit exceeds a computed threshold, this bit, obtained at the output of the first suboptimal process, is used as a decision input to the LME. This technique is applied to achieve high-speed acoustic communication in very shallow water using coherent modulation techniques. As compared with coherent beamforming alone, the proposed technique causes a significant increase in SNIR, a significant decrease of the bit-error rate, and provides an estimate of the BL product. Experimental results demonstrate that stable acoustic communication can be achieved at 16000 coded bits per second (b/s) over 3.2 km in 40 ft of water and in sea-state 2 conditions. The fading properties of the channel are measured. Experimental results show that the BL product can vary by a decade in 116 ms and by two decades within minutes, from 0.001 to 0.1. The real-time analysis shows a strong correlation between the communication performance, the spread factor, and the spatial coherence of the channel.


Community empowerment is one form of implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) carried out by companies. In its implementation, there are various models and strategies that can be used to support implementation. In Indonesia, the study of community empowerment by companies has become a new tradition in the development of CSR models. In the last decade, various models of community empowerment by companies have developed resulting from research related to CSR, especially those that examine community empowerment. This research is a systematic literature review to analyze the model of community empowerment by companies that are reviewed based on dissertation research sources published in the 2013-2020 period by Sebelas Maret University. There are 9 dissertation studies that were analyzed to find a synthesis of community empowerment models in corporate social responsibility programs. The majority of the studies were conducted in case studies with a qualitative approach. The findings of this study are that the model of community empowerment by companies in Indonesia is developed based on the "local context" and "actor relations" that exist within the scope of the community empowerment program.


We present a visual tool and facile method to detect MCF-7 breast cancer cells by using YVO4:Eu3+@silica-NH-GDA-IgG bio-nanocomplexes. To obtain these complexes, YVO4:Eu3+ nanoparticles with a uniform size of 10–25 nm have been prepared firstly by the hydrothermal process, followed by surface functionalization to be bio-compatible and conjugated with cancer cells. The YVO4:Eu3+@silica-NH-GDA-IgG nanoparticles exhibited an enhanced red emission at 618 nm under an excitation wavelength of 355 nm and were strongly coupled with MCF-7 breast cancer cells via biological conjugation. These bio-nanocomplexes showed a superior sensitiveness for MCF-7 cancer cell labelling with a detection percentage as high as 82%, while no HEK-293A healthy cells were probed under the same conditions of in vitro experiments. In addition, the detection percentage of MCF-7 breast cancer cells increased significantly via the functionalization and conjugation of YVO4:Eu3+ nanoparticles. The experimental results demonstrated that the YVO4:Eu3+@silica-NH-GDA-IgG bio-nanocomplexes can be used as a promising labelling agent for biomedical imaging and diagnostics.


OBJECTIVE
Diabetes mellitus is a common disease and costly public health concern and an expressive number of affected individuals have undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. In 2001, the Brazilian Ministry of Health conducted a national diabetes screening campaign. The purpose of this study was to estimate the yield and economic impact of this screening strategy.

METHODS
Based on positive screenees (fasting glucose >100 mg/dL or nonfasting >140 mg/dL) probable new cases of diabetes were estimated and a decision analytic model was built up. Primary and secondary data were used to estimate screening cost (in Brazilian Reais, R$) and yield (new cases of diabetes detected), assuming a single-payer-perspective. Sensitivity analyses were performed.

RESULTS
Assuming a prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus of 4.8%, probable new cases of diabetes were 518,579 (23 new cases per 1,000 subjects screened), considering that 33% of positive-screening individuals underwent confirmatory glucose testing. The cost per new case of diabetes diagnosed would be R$89. The results were sensitive to percentage of confirmatory tests performed.

CONCLUSIONS
The costs of nationwide community screening in Brazil were significant, however, in absolute terms lower than those described by other countries.


Introduction: Panoramic radiography is one type of extra oral application of X-rays. Objective: To determine the severity of periodontal disease at 17-45 yearspatients using panoramic radiograph at Hasanuddin University Dental Hospital. Method: Observational descriptive study using cross sectional study got all panoramic radiograph archive from June 2018 to June 2019, and presents in tables. Result: There was no significant relationship between age and the severity of periodontal disease, but there was a significant correlation between sex and the severity of attachment loss in second incisors. Conclusion: It was concluded that the prevalence of periodontal disease was highest on women and most vulnerable at the age of 27-36 years. That there was no significant relationship between age and sex in the severity of periodontal disease.


The technologically relevant properties of materials and their electronic structure are intimately connected, but such a connection is by no means intuitive. Chemists rationalize the electronic structure of compounds through the analysis of their chemical bonding network, that is through the construction of a set of paradigms that aim at predict and explain the properties of materials. This chapter gives a broad overview of the most widely adopted chemical bonding investigation tools. For each of them, we review the theory behind its underpinning paradigms and illustrate some representative applications. The last section of the chapter is devoted to discussing the synergic use of chemical bonding tools in compounds with non-conventional bonding patterns as well as in technologically-relevant materials.


This work approaches the difficult situation of the Andean area during the 1780's, and points out the contradictions and paradoxes inside the group of enlightened reformers sent to the area in order to implement the new Bourbon Reform. A group educated in the best and the most advanced Spanish academic centres, but whose intervention in the big Andean rebellion of 1780-8 1 became into a nightmare of blood and terror which proves the fragility of their enlightened program and the real sense of these reforms, a way to implement new mechanisms of colonial domination and extortion on the American World. Through the primary testimonies of these reformers we can get into the interior of this complex social and political universe; reformers who going deep further into the heart of darkness on the other side of the world, marked deeply the whole area for the future, pointing out what the Enlightenment meant beyond the European borders: terror, political and economic submission and an absolute racial discrimination.


The effect of powder properties of filler on the flowability for molding compound of thermosetting plastic was investigated. The size distribution of filler was varied with classifiers. The compressive property and tapping property of fillers were measured by a compressive strength tester and a powder property tester. The flowability of filler in the form of slit flow and spiral flow was compared. Experimental results showed that 1) the powder packing characteristics such as the compressive property or tapping property affect the flowability when the particle size is considerably smaller than the channel thickness of a die, 2) the particle size distribution, especially the volume fraction of coarse particles, directly affects the flowability of filler when the particle size is close to the channel thickness.


UNLABELLED
Pancreatic cancer is third most common cancer of the gastrointestinal tract in Bulgaria, accouting for 11, 6% in 2008. The leading symptom in patients with pancreatic cancer is the pain. The pain can be related with neoplasms and their metastasis. We should use all kind of resourses for pain relief: conventional drugs (according to the three steps strategy of WHO), interventional or surgical procedures.

AIM
To present the interventional and surgical techniques in our practice and to share our experience for pain control in patients with nonresectable pancreatic cancer to improve their quality of life.

MATERIAL
In a seven year period (2004-2011) we performed 59 thoracoscopic splanhnicectomies/30--bilateral/ 4 intraoperative resections of celiac ganglion, 25 CT--control celiac plexus neurolysis and 90 cases pain relief with epidural analgesia. Concerning the quality of life we applied a questionnaire of a spannish medical center " City of Hope" adapted for patients with cancer and the level of pain with visual analogue scale VAS.

RESULTS
The long-term duration of the pain relief technique depends on applied technic, of cancer invasion and of the technic itself. The technique with the longest effect are the intraoperative celiac ganglion removal and the bilateral thoracoscopic splanhnicectomy. On the other hand the shortest effect we report the celiac plexus neurolysis, and the epudural analgesia. These data are in correlation with the reduction of the pain shown using VAS thus improving the quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS
The surgical and interventional methods for control of cancer pain have their own collocation improving the quality of life of these patients. New strategies for the pain control are need in the future.


Abstract : The role of the oceans in Earth systems ecology, and the effects of climate variability on the ocean and its ecosystems, can be understood only by observing, describing, and ultimately predicting the state of the ocean as a physically forced ecological and biogeochemical system. This is a daunting but exciting challenge, because the ocean-atmosphere system is dynamically linked, and oceanic habitats are both diverse and complex, providing tremendous variety in environmental conditions and associated life forms. And paradoxically, as we learn more and more about ocean life, for example, through the genomics revolution (Doney et al., 2004), the number of unanswered questions increases. Models, be they conceptual, statistical, or numerical simulations, are useful and necessary tools for studying the complex interactions that influence ecosystem structure and function.


Honeycomb films were prepared by using a photo-responsive amphiphilic copolymer containing photochromic spiropyran. Through the photo-responsivity of spiropyran, the molecular polarities provide solubility changes against chloroform vapor after UV irradiation. The merocyanine area formed with UV irradiation retained its honeycomb-pattern against chloroform vapor, though the spiropyran area without UV irradiation dissolved.


Article type: Review Article Hyper IgE Syndrome (HIES) is a rare primary immunodeficiency disease. Most of HIES cases are sporadic. Autosomal dominant HIES is caused by mutation in signal transducer and activator of transcription -3 (STAT-3). A number of mosaicism HIES has been reported that is associated with intermediate phenotype. Autosomal recessive HIES is due to mutation in Dock-8 or cytokine sis 8 and TYK2 or tyrosine kinase 2. The common manifestations are atopic eczema, staphylococcal dermatitis, cellulitis and folliculitis (cold dermal abscesses that are not warm, painful and without redness), recurrent pneumonia and pulmonary abscesses, os teopenia and recurrent bone fracture. The diagnosis of standard HIES is based on clinical suspicion. There is no specific treatment for HIES. The treatment should be based on the prevention of developing infections. Prophylactic antibiotics such as cotrimoxazole and IVIG are administered. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was done for all types of HIES, but there is a little information and experience about the long term results of this therapy.


Charlie and Dinesh bring important skills to this project that enable them to show how LINQ works and the practical ways you can use it in your daily development process. From the Foreword by Anders HejlsbergLINQ is one of Microsofts most exciting, powerful new development technologies. Essential LINQ is the first LINQ book written by leading members of Microsofts LINQ and C# teams. Writing for architects, developers, and development managers, these Microsoft insiders share their intimate understanding of LINQ, revealing new patterns and best practices for getting the most out of it. Calvert and Kulkarni begin by clearly explaining how LINQ resolves the long-time impedance mismatch between object-oriented code and relational databases. Next, they show how LINQ integrates querying into C# as a first-class citizen. Using realistic code examples, they show how LINQ provides a strongly typed, IntelliSense-aware technology for working with data from any source, including SQL databases, XML files, and generic data structures. Calvert and Kulkarni carefully explain LINQs transformative, composable, and declarative capabilities. By fully illuminating these three concepts, the authors allow developers to discover LINQs full power. In addition to covering core concepts and hands-on LINQ development in C# with LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to Entities, they also present advanced topics and new LINQ implementations developed by the LINQ community. This book Explains the entire lifecycle of a LINQ project: design, development, debugging, and much more Teaches LINQ from both a practical and theoretical perspectiveLeverages C# language features that simplify LINQ development Offers developers powerful LINQ query expressions to perform virtually any data-related task Teaches how to query SQL databases for objects and how to modify those objects Demonstrates effective use stored procedures and database functions with LINQ Shows how to add business logic that reflects the specific requirements of your organization Teaches developers to create, query, and transform XML data with LINQ Shows how to transform object, relational, and XML data between each other Offers best patterns and practices for writing robust, easy-to-maintain LINQ code


A frequency-selective surface based on the aperture coupled microstrip is presented. This surface has a narrow bandpass response useful for building radomes with low out-of-band radar cross section (RCS). The analysis employs the spectral domain moment method. The design criteria and a simple lumped element model are derived and presented. Experimental data from a waveguide simulator are presented which confirm the theory. >


The annual incidence of Type 1 diabetes in children under 15 years in northern Thailand from 1991 to 1997 was a retrospective study by analyzing the data gathered from the Pediatric Endocrine Division, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University and through a mail survey to 202 hospitals in the government and private sector in northern Thailand. The response to the mail survey from 1991 to 1992 and 1993 to 1997 was 90.1 per cent and 94.5 per cent respectively. During the seven year period, 76 new cases of Type 1 diabetes were identified. The crude annual incidence ranged from 0.31-0.56/100,000 per year, with an average incidence of 0.37/100,000 per year (95% C.I. = 0.29-0.46). This very low figure had risen 2.2 fold (over 100%) from that reported in 1984. The annual incidence was relatively constant from 1991 to 1996, although there was a moderate rise in 1997 (0.56/100,000 per year). There was no statistically significant difference between the annual incidence of 1996 and 1997. It remains for further studies to confirm the trend of increased incidence. The median age of onset was 11 years, whereas, the peak age of onset occurred in the 10-14 year age group of both sexes. There was a greater incidence among female in this study. These date confirm the need to develop a national registry of Type 1 diabetes for further epidemiological research.


We propose low-rank representation (LRR) to segment data drawn from a union of multiple linear (or affine) subspaces. Given a set of data vectors, LRR seeks the lowest-rank representation among all the candidates that represent all vectors as the linear combination of the bases in a dictionary. Unlike the well-known sparse representation (SR), which computes the sparsest representation of each data vector individually, LRR aims at finding the lowest-rank representation of a collection of vectors jointly. LRR better captures the global structure of data, giving a more effective tool for robust subspace segmentation from corrupted data. Both theoretical and experimental results show that LRR is a promising tool for subspace segmentation.


Tight junctions of epithelial and endothelial cells form selective barriers that regulate paracellular transport of solutes, immune cells, and drugs. Tight junctions consist of proteins that physically "seal" the tight junction but also form channels that allow for permeation between the cells, resulting in epithelial surfaces of different tightness. The tight junction proteins occludin, tricellulin, and at least 24 members of the claudin family are characterized by four transmembranal domains and two extracellular loops that, like teeth of a zipper, contact the appropriate loops from opposing cell membranes. Tight junctions are regulated in their molecular composition, ultrastructure, and function by intracellular scaffolding proteins and the cytoskeleton; such regulation serves normal, physiologic adaptation but also occurs in numerous diseases.


INTRODUCTION
Gymnemagenin is the bioactive metabolite found in Gymnema sylvestre leaves and possesses different therapeutic potential. Due to its lower abundance and higher market potential, gymnemagenin was obtained from chemical conversion and bacterial biotransformation.

OBJECTIVE
To obtain the probiotic-based fermentative conversion of gymnemic acid-enriched G. sylvestre leaf extract to gymnemagenin-containing nutraceuticals and its metabolites based chromatographic comparison.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Gymnema sylvestre leaves were extracted through soxhalation, and the extract was prepared and characterised. Gymnemic acid was fermented, separately, by Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and by their mix co-culture. The fermented materials were analysed for their gymnemagenin content, antioxidant potential, antidiabetic potential, and metabolomics analysis.

RESULTS
Extraction yielded about 35% w/w of raw plant material, and 8.5% was found to be as total saponin content. Extract at higher concentration (≥ 5%, w/v) significantly altered the growth behaviour of probiotics. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) based quantification of gymnemagenin revealed that a maximum increase of 95.5% gymnemagenin was found in extract incubated with B. bifidum followed by mix co-culture containing (B. bifidum, L. casei, and L. rhamnosus), L. casei, and L. rhamnosus. However, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis resulted in the identification of a total of 56 metabolites.

CONCLUSION
Chromatographically profiled, and probiotic-based fermented G. sylvestre leaves can be used as a potent nutraceutical for diabetes and other metabolic disorders.


Cryptology is a field that concerned with cryptography and cryptanalysis. Cryptography, which is a key technology in providing a secure transmission of information, is a study of designing strong cryptographic algorithms, while cryptanalysis is a study of breaking the cipher. Recently biological approaches provide inspiration in solving problems from various fields. This paper reviews major works in the application of biological inspired computational (BIC) paradigm in cryptology. The paper focuses on three BIC approaches, namely, genetic algorithm (GA), artificial neural network (ANN) and artificial immune system (AIS). The findings show that the research on applications of biological approaches in cryptology is minimal as compared to other fields. To date only ANN and GA have been used in cryptanalysis and design of cryptographic primitives and protocols. Based on similarities that AIS has with ANN and GA, this paper provides insights for potential application of AIS in cryptology for further research.


The seasonal variation of planktonic primary productivity was measured during one year in the main channel in the interior part of the mangrove forest of the Estero de Morales (Estero de Punta Morales), a mangrove system located in the Golfo de Nicoya at the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Samples were incubated at the surface, 0.5 m and 1.0 m depth and the "light and dark bottle technique" was employed. The annual gross primary productivity (PPg) was 457 and the net primary productivity (PPn) was 278 g C m(-2) a(-1). Daily PPg ranged from 0.29 to 3.88 and PPn from 0.12 to 2.76 g C m(-2) d(-1). The highest rates observed in May and September were due to red tide blooms. The seasonal variation of primary productivity inside the mangrove forest depends closely on the PP in the adjacent area of the upper Golfo de Nicoya. Obviously the PP was light-limited since the compensation depth in the ebb current was found at only 1 m depth. In the flood current it was somewhat deeper. The planktonic primary productivity inside the mangrove forest was completely restricted to the open channels. A simultaneous measurement demonstrated that PPn of the phytoplankton could not take place under the canopy of the mangroves. Additional studies on the time course of the oxygen concentration in the mouth of the main channel over 24 hrs demonstrated a relation between the O2 and the tidal curves. The ebb current had always lower O2 concentrations than the flood current, regardless of the time of the day. The difference to the foregoing high tide, however, was much smaller when the low tide occurred during the day. This indicates that under the canopy the net primary production and hence O2 liberation of the attached macro- and microalgae, together with the high PPn of the phytoplankton in the channels, helped the oxygen concentration not to decrease as far as during the night. Nevertheless it shows that the consumtion of organic material in the submersed part of the mangrove forest exceeds always its production.


Sir Keith O'Nions has successfully parlayed a distinguished academic career in earth sciences into a role as the key source of scientific advice at the Ministry of Defence. So how does a distinguished earth scientist service those needs? According to the MoD, O'Nions was selected in an open competition on the basis of the breadth of his scientific experience obtained in the UK and US, through membership of the joint UK Research Council's Individual Merit Promotions Committee, and his extensive involvement with EU, UK and US research programmes. This paper outlines O'Nions career and impact at the MoD.


Background/introduction In the UK, HIV transmission remains ongoing among men who have sex with men (MSM). Data on mental health and sexual behaviour is limited among MSM whose HIV-status is negative/unknown. Aim(s)/objectives To describe the association of depressive symptoms with measures of condomless sex (CLS). Methods AURAH (Attitudes to, and Understanding of, Risk of Acquisition of HIV) is a cross-sectional questionnaire study in 20 UK STI clinics. We included MSM recruited from May 2013–January 2014 who reported anal sex in the past three months. Depressive symptoms were defined as a PHQ-9 score ≥10. We examined the association of depressive symptoms with: CLS in the past three months with (i) ≥2 partners (ii) discordant status partner(s) (unknown/HIV-positive) and self-reported STI diagnosis in the past year, using logistic regression. Results Of 457 MSM included (20% non-white, mean[IQR] age 33[13]), 130 (29%), 167 (37%) and 184 (40%) reported ≥2 CLS partners, discordant CLS and diagnosed STI respectively. Fifty-nine men (13%) had depressive symptoms; 78% of whom were not receiving treatment for depression. Adjusting for age, non-white ethnicity, university education, having a stable partner and recruitment region, depressive symptoms were associated with ≥2 CLS partners [adjusted OR (95% CI): 1.83 (1.01, 3.31), p = 0.048], discordant CLS [2.67 (1.49, 4.77), p = 0.001] and diagnosed STI [2.03 (1.13, 3.63), p = 0.017]. Discussion/conclusion Depressive symptoms are associated with CLS and recent STI among MSM. Management of mental health may play a role in HIV/STI prevention, although causality cannot be inferred and other factors may influence both sexual behaviour and depression.


Modern large-scale computers have shifted to Multi-socket Multi-core (MSMC) architectures, where multiple CPU chips are integrated into a machine as sockets and multiple memory nodes are integrated into the shared main memory (NUMA). To improve the hardware utilization of MSMC computers, multiple programs are often executed concurrently. However, most work-stealing schedulers are designed for single-socket architectures and contention-free scenarios. Work-stealing programs suffer from very-high-frequency remote memory access and serious interference from co-located programs in MSMC architectures, which in turn significantly degrade their performance. To solve these two problems, we propose a Contention- and Locality-Aware Work-Stealing (CLAWS) scheduler. CLAWS first evenly distributes the data set of a program to all the memory nodes and allocates a task to the socket where the local memory node stores its data. Then, according to the real-time contention situation for each socket collected at runtime, CLAWS dynamically migrates data and re-allocates the corresponding tasks to balance the workload and reduce remote memory accesses. Experimental results show that CLAWS can improve the performance of memory-bound programs by 40.1 percent on average compared with traditional work-stealing schedulers. Meanwhile, CLAWS is also more energy efficient than traditional work-stealing schedulers.


We report a rare case of gastric perforation due to cytomegalovirus infection that required surgical treatment. A 41-year-old man presented weight loss, low grade fever, and vomiting. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a large ulcer on the antrum of the stomach. The biopsy specimen of the ulcer showed cytomegalic cells with intranuclear inclusion bodies and blood test was positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody. A diagnosis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection of the stomach due to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was made and he was admitted to our hospital. We conducted conservative medical therapy with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and antiviral agent. How-ever, we could not continue antiviral therapy due to pancytopenia. Three weeks later he had abdominal pain, and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a huge perforation of the ulcer on the antrum of the stomach. The abdominal CT showed a large quantity of free air and ascites. Based on the diagnosis of ulcer perforation due to cytomegalovirus infection of the stomach, we conducted emergency laparotomy. Laparotomy revealed a large perforated ulcer (approximately 4 cm in diameter) on the antrum of the stomach, and we performed distal gastrectomy. The resected specimen showed a cytomegalic cell infil-tration 11 mm apart from the ulcer margin. Although his condition was improved, AIDS progressed gradually and he died 239 days after the operation.


Background Defining a positive MRI in early axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) requires a gold standard criterion for the diagnosis of SpA and is typically based on clinical findings because structural changes on pelvic radiographs may take more than 10 years to become apparent. However, clinician expert opinion as gold standard has inherent limitations leading to false positive or negative assignments and requires lengthy follow up to ascertain development of radiographic sacroiliitis. Level of confidence in the diagnosis of SpA according to expert global assessment of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) MRI may constitute a candidate gold standard criterion for defining a positive MRI in non-radiographic axial SpA (nr-axSpA). Objectives (1) To assess the inter-reader reliability of the level of confidence in the diagnosis of SpA according to expert global assessment of SIJ MRI; (2) To compare this MRI-based criterion with clinician expert opinion. Methods The study population comprised 220 consecutive patients with back pain ≤50 years old newly referred to 2 university clinics, and 79 healthy controls. Patients were classified by clinical examination and pelvic radiography as having nr-axSpA (n=74), ankylosing spondylitis (n=60), or mechanical back pain (n=86). SIJ MRI were assessed in random order by 4 blinded expert readers according to a standardized module. Readers recorded their level of confidence in the diagnosis of SpA by global evaluation of the MRI scan on a 0-10 scale (0 = definitely not SpA; 10 = definite SpA). Assignment of a definitive diagnosis of SpA was pre-specified as the majority (at least 3 of 4) of readers recording definite SpA with a confidence level of 8-10. Absence of SpA required all 4 expert readers to record non-SpA (≤4 on 0-10 scale). We calculated the inter-reader agreement for a diagnosis of SpA or non-SpA according to these confidence level cut-offs on global SIJ MRI assessments, and we compared this MRI-based criterion with clinician diagnosis, both by percentage agreement and kappa statistics. Results The mean percentage agreement among 6 reader pairs for a diagnosis of SpA/non-SpA according to global SIJ MRI was 92.0% and the mean kappa 0.83. Kappa for agreement regarding level of confidence in the diagnosis of SpA by all 4 readers was excellent (0.83; CI 0.78-0.88). Table 1. Comparison of the MRI criterion versus clinician expert classification Level of confidence N % Agreement Kappa (CI) 0-4 by 4R and 8-10 by ≥2R 245 91.4% 0.83 (0.75-0.89) 0-4 by 4R and 8-10 by ≥3R 237 91.6% 0.83 (0.75-0.89) 0-4 by 4R and 8-10 by 4R 216 91.2% 0.81 (0.72-0.88) R: Reader. N: Number of subjects enrolled for analysis. Conclusions Level of confidence in the diagnosis of SpA according to expert global assessment of SIJ MRI by expert readers may constitute a candidate gold standard criterion for defining a positive MRI in nr-axSpA. This alternative to clinician expert classification deserves further validation in other inception cohorts of early SpA patients. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The complexity of the primary structure of human DNA is explored using methods from nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, dynamical systems theory, and information theory. A collection of statistical analyses is performed on the DNA data and the results are compared with sequences derived from different stochastic processes. The use of χ^{2} tests shows that DNA can not be described as a low order Markov chain of order up to r=6. Although detailed balance seems to hold at the level of a binary alphabet, it fails when all four base pairs are considered, suggesting spatial asymmetry and irreversibility. Furthermore, the block entropy does not increase linearly with the block size, reflecting the long-range nature of the correlations in the human genomic sequences. To probe locally the spatial structure of the chain, we study the exit distances from a specific symbol, the distribution of recurrence distances, and the Hurst exponent, all of which show power law tails and long-range characteristics. These results suggest that human DNA can be viewed as a nonequilibrium structure maintained in its state through interactions with a constantly changing environment. Based solely on the exit distance distribution accounting for the nonequilibrium statistics and using the Monte Carlo rejection sampling method, we construct a model DNA sequence. This method allows us to keep both long- and short-range statistical characteristics of the native DNA data. The model sequence presents the same characteristic exponents as the natural DNA but fails to capture spatial correlations and point-to-point details.


In this paper we will demonstrate the interesting multiple quantized switching behaviours (MQSB), or the multiple negative differential resistance (MNDR) phenomena, resulting from the avalanche multiplication process and multiple carrier confinement effect of functional heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistors (HEBTs) under inverted operation mode. As the applied emitter - collector (E - C) bias is high enough, electron - hole pairs would be generated by avalanche multiplication near the reverse biased emitter - base (E - B) junction. This leads to the sequential carrier confinement process and successively suppresses the potential barrier height. Thus, the MQSB or MNDR are observed. For the AlGaAs/GaAs HEBT, because hole and electron accumulation may occur simultaneously, only a single S-shaped NDR is obtained due to the potential barrier lowering effect. However, for the InGaP/GaAs HEBT and AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs HEHBT interesting MNDR phenomena are obtained due to the distinct two-stage barrier lowering mechanisms. These effects are caused by the large ratio of valence band discontinuity to conduction band discontinuity at InGaP/GaAs heterointerface and the insertion of an InGaAs quantum well (QW) at the base regime respectively.


Tourism is being impacted by climate change all around the world. Tourism is now seen as one of the economic sectors least equipped for the risks and opportunities provided by climate change, and it is just now establishing the capacity to advance the knowledge required to teach businesses, communities, and governments about the concerns and potential solutions. As a small coastal island, Prince Edward Island (PEI) on Canada's Atlantic coast is highly vulnerable to climate change extremes, including coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and flooding. The island's tourism industry generates substantial revenue for businesses and the government, yet it is highly vulnerable to the climate extremes that impact beach and sea-faring attractions. Limited research has been reported on this topic, and most information on island tourism and how sustainable tourism is achievable is out of date. Here, we present evidence of climate-related impacts and vulnerabilities in tourism within PEI and highlight existing and future adaptation strategies to support sustainability in this sector. Key information gaps are highlighted, and recommendations are proposed to facilitate climate resilience in Prince Edward Island's tourism sector.


Despite the common association of π-conjugated polymers with flexible and stretchable electronics, these materials can be rigid and brittle unless they are designed otherwise. For example, low modulus, high extensibility, and high toughness are treated as prerequisites for integration with soft and biological structures. One of the most successful and commercially available organic electronic materials is the conductive and brittle polyelectrolyte complex poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). To make this material stretchable, additives such as ionic liquids must be used. These additives may render the composite incompatible with biological tissue. In this work, we describe the synthesis of an intrinsically stretchable variant of the conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS that is free of additives. The approach involves the synthesis of a block copolymer comprising soft segments of poly(polyethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate) (PPEGMEA) and hard segments of poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) using a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Subsequently, we used the newly synthesized ionic elastomer PSS-b-PPEGMEA as a matrix for the oxidative polymerization of EDOT. The resulting polyelectrolyte elastomer, PEDOT:PSS-b-PPEGMEA, can withstand elongations up to 128% and has a toughness up to 10.1 MJ m-3. While the polyelectrolyte elastomer is not as conductive as the commercial material, the toughness and extensibility are each more than an order of magnitude higher. Moreover, the electrical conductivity of the polyelectrolyte elastomer exhibits minimal decrease with strain within the elastic regime. We then compared the block copolymer to physical blends of PEDOT:PSS and PPEGMEA. The blend material had a much lower failure strain of only 38% and a maximum toughness of 4.9 MJ m-3. This approach thus emphasizes the importance of the covalent linking of the PSS and PPEGMEA blocks. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the conductivity of scratched films can be restored upon exposure to water.


A novel 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase (YqhD-1) found in Klebsiella oxytoca M5al was purified to homogeneity with a his-tag on a Ni-NTA column. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of the purified protein showed a molecular weight of 42 kDa. When YqhD-1 was tested as a dehydrogenase, the optimal pH was 11 and the optimal temperature was 37°C. Both Zn 2+ and Fe 2+ promoted YqhD-1 activity, whereas Mn 2+ , Ni 2+ , SO 4 2- and EDTA markedly inhibited YqhD-1 activity. Broad substrate specificity was observed for YqhD-1 with activity for several alcohols, including 1,3-propanediol, 1,2-propanediol, propanol, glycerol, 1-butanol, 1,3-butanediol and isopentanol. However, the enzyme preferred high carbon number alcohols such as 1-butanol and isopentanol. When tested as an aldehyde reductase, YqhD-1 could convert acetaldehyde and propaldehyde to their respective alcohols. When 1,3-PD and propaldehyde served as substrates, the apparent Km values of the enzyme for NADP and NADPH were 0.14 and 0.64 mM, respectively. Key words: Klebsiella oxytoca, 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase, purification, YqhD.


Abstract In the current study, we assessed the relationship between mutations and the blood cell counts and early progression of patients with diffuse large-B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). A total of 109 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL were included in this study. UBE2A mutation was only found in patients with bone marrow involvement. The mutations of ZNF608, SF3B1, DTX1, and NCOR2 were related to blood cell counts. NCOR2 mutations were only detected in patients of the noncomplete response group (PR + SD + PD). In addition, the mutations of ATM, BTG2, TBL1XR1, and TP53 were linked to lower PFS/OS rate, while SGK1, SCOS1, and NFKBIE were related to higher PFS/OS rate. Importantly, we identified that Ann Arbor stage (III–IV), B symptoms, absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) abnormity, and MTOR mutation were the four independent influencing factors of the 12-month progression of DLBCL patients. Overall, this study revealed that mutations were associated with the early progression of DLBCL.


Congenital cysts are malformations developing from the endoderm and mesoderm of the digestive and respiratory system in the early weeks of gestation. Unilocular or multilocular dysontogenic cysts are most commonly thoracically located adjacent to the trachea and bronchus and the development of an oesophageal duplication cyst in the oesophageal wall is extremely rare. The duplication cyst in the adult is usually asymptomatic and an incidental diagnosis. Potential symptoms include dysphagia and retrosternal pain. Next to endoscopy and computer tomography, endoscopic ultrasonography is mandatory for a distinguished and accurate preoperative evaluation. Transthoracic excision is crucial for definitive diagnosis and inhibition of complications.


This paper considers pole assignment control of nonlinear dynamic systems described by State Dependent Parameter (SDP) models. The approach follows from earlier research into linear Proportional-Integral-Plus (PIP) methods but, in SDP system control, the control coefficients are updated at each sampling instant on the basis of the latest SDP relationships. Alternatively, algebraic solutions can be derived off-line to yield a practically useful control algorithm that is relatively straightforward to implement on a digital computer, requiring only the storage of lagged system variables, coupled with straightforward arithmetic expressions in the control software. Although the analysis is limited to the case when the open-loop system has no zeros, time delays are handled automatically. The paper shows that the closed-loop system reduces to a linear transfer function with the specified (design) poles. Hence, assuming pole assignability at each sample, global stability of the nonlinear system is guaranteed at the design stage. The associated conditions for pole assignability are stated.


OBJECTIVE
Long-chain non-coding RNA (LncRNA) is abnormally expressed in various malignant tumors. In recent years, it has been found that the expression of LncRNA SNHG6 is upregulated in gallbladder carcinoma tissues, which participated in the occurrence and development of gallbladder carcinoma. However, the clinical value of SNHG6 in gallbladder cancer serum is not clear, and there are few studies regulating the biological function of gallbladder carcinoma cells. This study aimed to investigate LncRNA SNHG6 and miR-26b-5p in gallbladder carcinoma and its related mechanisms.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From February 2017 to February 2019, altogether 68 cases of gallbladder cancer patients admitted to the Yantai Yeda Hospital were collected as a study group, 70 healthy people as a control group. Gallbladder cancer cells and human colorectal mucosa cells were purchased. Sh-SNHG6, si-SNHG6, NC, miR-26b-5p-inhibitor, and miR-26b-5p-mimics were transfected into GBC-SD and NOZ cells. For the detection of SNHG6 and miR-26b-5p in samples we used qRT-PCR, WB was applied for the decreased protein expression of Gli1, Gli2, Shh, Smo, N-cadherin, vimentin, Snail, E-Cadherin, and Gli3 in cells. MTT assay was applied for the detection of cell proliferation, transwell assay for cell invasion, and flow cytometry assay for apoptosis.

RESULTS
SNHG6 was highly expressed in gallbladder carcinoma, miR-26b-5p was downregulated, and the area under curve (AUC) of LncRNA SNHG6 and miR-26b-5p was more than 0.8. LncRNA SNHG6 and miR-26b-5p were related to age, sex, tumor invasion, differentiation degree, tumor location, and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging of gallbladder cancer patients. Silencing of SNHG6 and upregulation of miR-26b-5p could promote cell apoptosis, inhibit cell growth, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (ETM). Silencing of SNHG6 and upregulation of miR-26b-5p could inhibit Gli1, Gli2, Shh, Smo, N-cadherin, vimentin and Snail proteins, and promote upregulation of Gli3 and E-Cadherin expression. Dual-Luciferase report confirmed that SNHG6 and miR-26b-5p have targeted relationship. Rescue experiments showed that after co-transfecting sh-SNHG6+miR-26b-5p-mimics, and si-SNHG6+miR-26b-5p-inhibitor into GBC-SD and NOZ, the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of cells were not different from those of miR-NC group without transfection sequence.

CONCLUSIONS
Inhibition of LncRNA SNHG6 expression can upregulate miR-26b-5p mediated Hedgehog signaling pathway, affect epithelial-mesenchymal transition, proliferation and invasion of cells, so LncRNA SNHG6is hoped to be a latent therapeutic target for gallbladder carcinoma.


The following article is devoted to identification of key aspects concerning future wars and armed conflicts, and to systematisation of the existing knowledge on this extremally interesting topic. The conducted analysis is based upon an assumption that it is necessary to, at least generally, outline prognoses of most probable types of wars and conflicts, and not just the single one and universal vision of the war and armed conflict. Use of the plural here is therefore fully justified, since elaboration of the single vision would be too much simplified an attempt that could negatively influence, not only the development of the theory of war and conflicts, but also their practice. A solution, thereby, to this problem required answering the following question: what will the future wars look like in relation to prognosed geopolitical conditions, development of the military technology, information warfare and the law?While realising this study, theoretical research methods were employed, such as: synthesis, analysis, generalisation and comparison. However, due to the characteristics of the research field, a qualitative method, the scenario-based approach was crucial in realising the following study.


ABSTRACT:  The minimum requirement for the general dermatologist for clinically assessing pigmented skin lesions is dermoscopy. In expert hands, this technique has been shown to improve both the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of melanoma. This is also reflected by lower benign melanoma excision ratios and decreased excision rates. Evidence is mounting for the routine use of total body skin photography for patients with a very high risk of developing cutaneous melanoma. Both long‐term (12 months) and short‐term (3 months) digital dermoscopy monitoring has been shown to allow the detection of dermoscopically featureless melanoma and is central for the clinical assessment of melanocytic lesions at the Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Center. The use of automated instruments for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma is still in an experimental phase, and its utility is dependent on the evidence that such instruments give a clinically useful expert second opinion. Currently, other noninvasive diagnostic techniques, such as in vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy, are reserved for clinical research settings.


Public administrations have been facing problems with geographical information use and management for years: difficult software interoperability, incompatible data formats and little knowledge about the available geodata are among the most common ones. This was the case of the Galicia Department of Environment, in charge of managing environmental resources in that NUTS-2 region. INSPIRE work in progress toward a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI), currently focused on environmental issues, led to a solution based on this European Commission initiative recommendations on architecture and standards. This paper will show that this solution has proven to be both adequate to solve this department's needs, and able to establish itself as the core of a future Galician SDI. This successful example may be a pattern to be followed by other regional governments.


Abstract:Jazz historiography is replete with a variety of contradictions and points of departure among those who write about jazz, critics and historians alike. Because jazz is a relatively new genre in musicological terms, the conversation among musicologists writing about jazz has been relatively myopic only until very recently. One of the most dynamic and significant developmental moments in this history is connected with the origins of what is commonly referred to as the modern jazz era. This moment, associated with the development of bebop as a clearly defined style, has been the subject of much discourse in terms of origins, specific figures involved and consequences within the jazz genre as a whole. Furthermore, new perspectives and approaches to understanding the origins of modern jazz are continually added to the conversation. This article seeks to summarize the prominent approaches to understanding the development of modern jazz, and address points of disagreement and outright dissention among these approaches. This study will explore the main points of the arguments for considering the development of modern jazz as evolution or revolution and seek to identify a reasonable discourse that helps define the functions and figures important in this transition.


Abstract Hydration of the <1 μm size fraction of a high-charge montmorillonite (Clay Minerals Society Source Clay SAz-1), and of low- and high-charge beidellites (Source Clays SbId-1 and SbCa-1, respectively) was studied by modeling of X-ray diffraction patterns recorded under controlled relative humidity (RH) for Sr- and/or Ca-saturated specimens. The influence of layer charge and charge location on smectite hydration was studied. Distribution of layers with different hydration states (dehydrated-0W, monohydrated-1W, bihydrated-2W, or tri-hydrated-3W) within smectite crystals often leads to two distinct contributions to the X-ray diffraction pattern, each contribution having different layer types randomly interstratified. Structure models are more heterogeneous for beidellite than for montmorillonite. For beidellite, two distinct populations of particles with different coherent scattering domain sizes account for the heterogeneity. Increased hydration heterogeneity in beidellite originates also from the presence of 0W (non-expandable) and of 1W layers under high relative humidity (RH) conditions. Similarly, after ethylene-glycol (EG) solvation, some beidellite layers incorporate only one plane of EG molecules whereas homogeneous swelling was observed for montmorillonite with the systematic presence of two planes of EG molecules. For montmorillonite and beidellite, the increase of layer charge shifts the 2W-to-1W and the 1Wto- 0W transitions toward lower RH values. For all samples, layer thickness of 0, 1, and 2W layer types was similar to that determined for low-charge SWy-1 montmorillonite (Source Clay SWy-1), and no change of layer thickness was observed as a function of the amount or of the location of layer charge. However, layer thickness increased with increasing RH conditions.


This paper critically engages with the European Regulatory Private Law thesis (ERPL). The main strength of ERPL is that it offers an entirely new perspective on European private law. However, as a complete theory of European private law, ERPL is too one-sided, both from a descriptive and from a normative point of view. With its strong focus on the private law locked up in regulatory silos for specific market sectors it obscures the reality of the consumer acquis and its transformative force. A fuller picture would include the contours of a loosely coherent system of European private law that is currently emerging. The main pillars of that pragmatic system are (for now) the withdrawal rights, unfair terms control, and remedies for non-conformity. Moreover, the contribution of European private law to access justice cannot be the only standard for its evaluation and critique; at least as important are interpersonal justice and democratic legitimacy.


Objective: To identify common types of symptoms associated with virus infections, their patterns and distribution on pumpkin leaves in Benue State, Nigeria. Methodology and results: Pumpkin fields and private gardens in nine pumpkin producing local government areas (LGAs) of Benue State were sampled between June to July 2015 for virus symptom expressions, types, their frequencies and distribution. Using visual observation of virus symptoms in pumpkin farms, 486 plants from 81 fields were examined and symptomatic plants counted according to symptom types. Young leaf samples from plants showing symptoms and those without symptoms were collected. These were preserved on cotton wool in 25 cm bottles containing CaCl 2 for other investigations. Data on types of symptoms were converted to percentages and analysed using ANOVA (p  ≤ 0.05). Symptom types differed significantly (P  ≤  0.05) among pumpkin fields from 2% in necrosis to 25% in mosaic. Six symptom types and a mixture of symptoms were observed on pumpkins in the field. Significant differences (P  ≤  0.05) were recorded on symptom types also across LGAs. Most of the mosaic and vein banding symptoms (31%) and (19%), respectively were observed on pumpkins in Buruku LGA followed by Gwer (27%). Leaf size reduction were more (20%) in Vandeikya while necrosis was found only in Makurdi (7%) and Ukum (9%) LGAs. Mixed symptoms were found in all the LGAs surveyed except Makurdi, being highest (33%) in Vandeikya and Oju LGAs. Patterns of symptom spread were mostly scattered (67%) Conclusion and application of findings: Data provided by this study will serve as a guide for field detection of the virus diseases of the crop by farmers and researchers in the field for further identification and management measures of the diseases. Keywords: Symptom types, Telfairia, Virus, Survey


In this work the role of the blood vessels surrounding the epiphysial growth plate has been studied. The nutritional dependence of the proliferative cells on the epiphysial vessels has been established whereas the metaphysial vessels were seen to take part in calcification and ossification at the metaphysis.

As it does not seem likely that the blood circulating in the two systems of vessels had a different constitution, particularly in hormones and vitamins, it seems permissible to assume that it is the characteristics, particularly in shape and number, of such vessels that make growth the orderly process it is, with the repeated birth of a cell at the top of a column and burial at the bottom end. But, despite this undeniable role of the vessels, growth depends on the ability of the cartilage cell to form a matrix which, in due course, will be avid for apatite crystals.


A synchronized multimedia presentation consists of a collection of objects, with each object having one or more rendering intervals within the presentation timeline. These intervals specify the objects' start times and end times relative to the presentation timeline. In this paper we consider the problem of streaming a multimedia presentation from a server to a client over a bandwidth-limited communication network. We suppose that each of the static objects is layered-encoded. For a given maximum delay, we consider the problem of finding the optimal number of layers in each object in order to maximize a measure of the overall quality of the presentation. We devise efficient algorithms for determining an optimal policy for several natural criteria. We also consider the problem of gradual rendering of objects after their start times. We then apply the algorithms to a randomly generated presentation containing layer-encoded JPEG images.


Backgroud: Dental traumas represents the second cause of pediatric dentistry care affecting the population under 19 years old. Objective: to identify the dental traumas in the population between 15-18 years old at Camilo Cienfuegos Military School from Sancti Spíritus city. Methodology: a descriptive study was carried out. The population was composed by 417 students with a simple of 121 adolescents with dental trauma with a previous consent. The variables were age, sex, etiology and type of trauma as well as the tooth affected, risk factors and treatment received. For the processing of the information the absolute and relative frequency were used. Results: the age group mostly affected was between 15-16 years old, prevailing males. The most affected tooth was the central right upper incisive and the non complicated fracture of crown had the most incidence followed by the infraction of the enamel. Conclusions: Dental traumas were present in the majority of the students between 15-18 years old and at the same time they did not receive dental care which affects greatly the preservation of the dental organ.


Introduction/Objectives. The shape and size of the orbital cavity are
 important parameters in planning surgical interventions and have
 significance in anthropology and forensic medicine. The aim of this study
 was to determine the morphometric characteristics of orbital cavity in
 Serbian population and to examine if there are differences in examined
 parameters between Serbs and the Roma ethnic group of Serbia. Methods.
 Using computer tomography and subsequent multiplanar reconstruction we
 analyzed orbits from 76 Serbian and 18 Roma healthy volunteers. There was no
 significant difference in age between the ethnicities. Results. The height
 and width of the left orbit and the height of the right orbit were
 significantly higher in Roma group, whereas the width of the right orbit was
 not statistically different between ethnicities. Orbital indices, however,
 for both left and right orbit did not significantly differ between Serbian
 and Roma examinees. Right orbital volume did not differ between the groups,
 but left orbits had significantly larger volumes in Roma population.
 Finally, biorbital and interorbital width were both significantly higher in
 Roma than in Serbian examinees. We could not show differences between sexes
 except for the biorbital width, which had lower values in Serbian, but not
 Roma women than in men. Conclusion. Taken together, our results indicate
 larger orbits, as well as greater distances between the eyes in Roma than in
 Serbian examinees.


To address the emerging issues of aging society, new technology creates many opportunities to solve the problem of care service and increases added-value in the digital family. Therefore, this paper analyzes the characteristics of WiMAX wireless technology and its applications in healthcare service. To investigate the local users' demand of wireless service, this research conducted a questionnaire survey in Hualien County, Taiwan. The findings from the analysis of the 230 returned sample data demonstrate that the new applications and service provided through WiMAX wireless technology is highly appreciated by the people. Based on these findings from surveys and indepth interviews conducted in the local area, this paper proposes a strategy map for the development of the M-care (Mobile care) service through a five-force analysis of the industrial value chain and a SWOT analysis of wireless healthcare delivery in order to provide advice to WiMAX venders on how to create new business for M-service provision.


During the last decade, lattice-Boltzmann simulations have been improved to become an efficient tool for determining the permeability of porous media samples. However, well-known improvements of the original algorithm are often not implemented. These include, for example, multirelaxation time schemes or improved boundary conditions, as well as different possibilities to impose a pressure gradient. This paper shows that a significant difference of the calculated permeabilities can be found unless one uses a carefully selected set-up. We present a detailed discussion of possible simulation set-ups and quantitative studies of the influence of simulation parameters. We illustrate our results by applying the algorithm to a Fontainebleau sandstone and by comparing our benchmark studies to other numerical permeability measurements in the literature.


Abstract Microbial transformations of isoxanthohumol (1), a beer prenylated flavonoid, by 51 fungi were investigated. Many of the tested fungi cultures were capable of effective transformation of 1. Mucor hiemalis and Fusarium oxysporum converted isoxanthohumol (1) into isoxanthohumol 7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (3) and (2R)-2″-(2″′-hydroxyisopropyl)-dihydrofurano[2″,3″:7,8]-4″,5-hydroxy-5-methoxyflavanone (4), respectively. No product was obtained in the transformation of 1 by Absidia glauca conducted in a phosphate buffer. In the same medium, Beauveria bassiana converted isoxanthohumol (1) to isoxanthohumol 7-O-β-d-4″′-O-methylglucopyranoside (2).


IgA nephropathy (Berger's disease) is one of the commonest forms of glomerular disease, not rarely progressing to renal failure. Hemostatic system activation may play a role in the development of glomerular injury. In a series of 12 adult patients affected with IgA nephropathy we have observed increased plasma levels of D-dimer, a stable end-product of cross-linked fibrin degradation that is considered a reliable index of blood clotting activation, as well as "in vitro" raised generation of thromboxane, the main platelet product of arachidonic acid metabolism that seems to play an important role in glomerulosclerosis. Picotamide, a novel antiplatelet drug acting as thromboxane synthase inhibitor as well as thromboxane receptor antagonist, administered for 8-12 weeks, was effective in reducing thromboxane generation. We conclude that picotamide may be useful in the management of glomerular nephropathy.


Abdominal compartment syndrome is an under-recognized cause of acute kidney injury in critically ill patients. We report a case of a patient with severe obstructive lung disease who, while intubated for respiratory failure, developed abdominal compartment syndrome and oliguric acute kidney injury due to air-trapping and excessive auto-positive end-expiratory pressure (auto-PEEP; also known as intrinsic PEEP). When chemical paralysis was initiated and the auto-PEEP resolved, the patient's intra-abdominal hypertension rapidly improved and kidney function recovered immediately. Abdominal compartment syndrome secondary to excessive auto-PEEP appears to be unreported in the literature; however, any process that significantly increases intrathoracic pressure conceivably could cause increased pressure to be transmitted to the abdominal compartment, resulting in organ failure. Patients undergoing mechanical ventilation, which puts them at risk of airflow obstruction and the development of intra-abdominal hypertension, should be evaluated for air-trapping and excessive auto-PEEP.


The aim of this study was to investigate the appropriateness of high school students' definitions. The participants in this study were 269 high school students from a public school in Ordu city, which is on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. The participants were asked to write their definitions with no time constraints. In the analysis of the definitions, students' ability to distinguish necessary and sufficient conditions and their ability to use appropriate mathematical terminology were taken into account. The task used in this study enabled us to mirror students' difficulties and inadequacies about their definitions of a parallelogram. The findings indicated that most of the students defined parallelogram inappropriately because they had used incomplete or incorrect statements. On the other hand, for the appropriate definitions, it was found that the number of uneconomical definitions was almost the same as the number of economical ones. At the end of the study, it was suggested that defining activities should be integrated into curriculums explicitly and should be given importance in our mathematic lessons.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
To investigate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic biliary stenting for difficult common bile duct (CBD) stones in elderly patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Elderly patients (≥65 years) with large (≥20 mm) or multiple (≥3) CBD stones were studied. The patients underwent placement of single (n=34, group A) or double (n=30, group B) plastic stents at the time of initial endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Approximately 3 months later, stone removal was attempted at the second ERCP. The reduction of stone size and number before and after biliary stenting, complete stone removal, 3-month stent patency rate, and complications were compared.

RESULTS
The mean size (longitudinal/transverse diameter) of the CBD stones was significantly reduced after biliary stenting in both groups (p<0.001). Complete stone removal at the second ERCP was 94.1% in group A and 100% in group B (p=0.494). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that group B had a higher 3-month stent patency rate than group A (p=0.008).

CONCLUSION
Endoscopic biliary stenting is safe and feasible for the management of difficult CBD stones in elderly patients, while double biliary stenting is superior to single stenting in maintaining higher stent patency rates.


Background: No medical therapies exist to treat right ventricular (RV) remodeling and RV failure (RVF), in large part because molecular pathways that are specifically activated in pathologic human RV remodeling remain poorly defined. Murine models have suggested involvement of Wnt signaling, but this has not been well-defined in human RVF. Methods: Using a candidate gene approach, we sought to identify genes specifically expressed in human pathologic RV remodeling by assessing the expression of 28 WNT-related genes in the RVs of three groups: explanted nonfailing donors (NF, n = 29), explanted dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy, obtained at the time of cardiac transplantation, either with preserved RV function (pRV, n = 78) or with RVF (n = 35). Results: We identified the noncanonical WNT receptor ROR2 as transcriptionally strongly upregulated in RVF compared to pRV and NF (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted P < 0.05). ROR2 protein expression correlated linearly to mRNA expression (R2 = 0.41, P = 8.1 × 10−18) among all RVs, and to higher right atrial to pulmonary capillary wedge ratio in RVF (R2 = 0.40, P = 3.0 × 10−5). Utilizing Masson's trichrome and ROR2 immunohistochemistry, we identified preferential ROR2 protein expression in fibrotic regions by both cardiomyocytes and noncardiomyocytes. We compared RVF with high and low ROR2 expression, and found that high ROR2 expression was associated with increased expression of the WNT5A/ROR2/Ca2+ responsive protease calpain-μ, cleavage of its target FLNA, and FLNA phosphorylation, another marker of activation downstream of ROR2. ROR2 protein expression as a continuous variable, correlated strongly to expression of calpain-μ (R2 = 0.25), total FLNA (R2 = 0.67), calpain cleaved FLNA (R2 = 0.32) and FLNA phosphorylation (R2 = 0.62, P < 0.05 for all). Conclusion: We demonstrate robust reactivation of a fetal WNT gene program, specifically its noncanonical arm, in human RVF characterized by activation of ROR2/calpain mediated cytoskeleton protein cleavage.


Quite a number of coordination methods have been proposed for the distributed optimal design of large-scale systems consisting of a number of interacting subsystems. Several coordination methods are known to have numerical convergence difficulties that can be explained theoretically. The methods for which convergence proofs are available have mostly been developed for so called quasi-separable problems (i.e. problems with individual subsystems coupled only through a set of shared variables, not through constraints and/or objectives). In this paper we present a new coordination method for MDO problems with coupling variables as well as coupling objectives and constraints. Our approach employs an augmented Lagrangian penalty relaxation in combination with a block coordinate descent method. The coordination method can be shown to converge to KKT points of the original problem by using existing convergence results. Two formulation variants are presented offering a large degree of freedom in tailoring the coordination algorithm to the design problem at hand. The first centralized variant introduces a master problem to coordinate coupling of the subsystems. The second distributed variant coordinates coupling directly between subsystems. In a sequel paper we demonstrate the flexibility of the formulations, and investigate the numerical behavior of the proposed method.


The combination of sirenomelia and anencephaly was observed in a stillborn dizygotic twin. A review of the literature revealed no other patients reported to have both conditions. Various explanations concerning the genesis of sirenomelia, and also the combination with anencephaly, are discussed.


The chief objective of this research study was to find out major causes of drug addiction with special reference to adoption of criminal behavior in Peshawar city, Pakistan with main focus on drug addicts admitted in rehabilitation centers run by Dost Welfare Foundation as the universe. A total of 108 respondents were randomly selected from the universe. Psychological causes were tested using Chai square test to associate causes of drug addiction with adoption of criminal behavior. Chai square results reveal a highly significant (P=0.020) relationship between psychological cause feeling more self esteem using drug and criminal behavior was found. Moreover the relationship between cause using drugs to improve sexual potential and criminal behavior was found highly significant (P=0.000). Also a highly significant (P=0.000) relationship was established between addiction due to removing inferiority complex and criminal behavior. Similarly a highly significant (P=0.007) relationship was found between drug addiction cause failure in love and criminal behavior. Furthermore relationship between cause addiction due to loneliness and criminal behavior was found significant (P=0.013). The relationship between drug addiction cause curiosity and criminal behavior was also found highly significant (P=0.001). A range of guidelines on reducing causes of drug addiction at family and societal level by adopting socio-psychological and economic measures, besides strict law enforcement and awareness raising at all levels were the derived policy recommendation of the studies.


We present a declarative language for compositional specification of contracts governing the exchange of resources. It extends Eber and Peyton Jones's declarative language for specifying financial contracts [JE03] to the exchange of money, goods and services amongst multiple parties, and it complements McCarthy's Resources, Events and Agents (REA) accounting model [McC82] with a view-independent formal contract model that supports definition of user-defined contracts, automatic monitoring under execution, and user-definable analysis of their state before, during and after execution. We provide several realistic examples of commercial contracts and their analyses. A variety of (real) contracts can be expressed in such a fashion as to support their integration, management and analysis in an operational environment that registers events. The language design is driven by both domain considerations and semantic language design methods: A contract denotes a set of traces of events, each of which is an alternative way of concluding the contract successfully, which gives rise to a CSP-style [BHR84,Hoa85] denotational semantics. The denotational semantics drives the development of a sound and complete small-step operational semantics, where a partially executed contract is represented as a (full) contract that represents the remaining contractual commitments. This operational semantics is then systematically refined in two stages to an instrumented operational semantics that reflects the bookkeeping practice of identifying the specific contractual commitment a particular event matches at the time the event occurs, as opposed to delaying this matching until the contract is concluded.


Landing on Earth. This now famous formula, which appears in the title of the exhibition/catalogue Critical Zones. The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth, curated by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel, sums up Latour's ecological-political project and his attempt to respond to the Anthropocene's need to bring us back to Earth, to this unstable soil that reacts to our actions and from which the project of Modernity had progressively distanced us. For Latour, climate change and the definition of anthropos as a geological force impose the search for a new habitable territory: the Earth we thought we knew, but which now presents itself as a new terra incognita. However, because of the uncertainty about the shape of the Earth, the need to develop new tools to orient ourselves and describe the situation in which we find ourselves becomes more and more urgent. If what is at stake after the disorientation (spatial, temporal, identity) caused by Gaia's intrusion is the re-politicization of belonging to the land, what are the cartographic representations that will be able to effectively describe our co-belonging to the space we inhabit, helping to make visible the different chains of agency? What are the tools we can use to learn to see things differently and thus become more "sensitive and responsive" to the fragile shells of this metastable world where life forms other than our own intersect their paths? What kind of map is an earthly map?


Following a brief portrayal of the state-of-the-art a range of Coded Modulation (CM) assisted Radial Basis Function (RBF) based Turbo Equalisation (TEQ) schemes are investigated when communicating over dispersive Rayleigh fading channels. Furthermore, a reduced complexity RBF TEQ is proposed, which is referred to as an In-phase/Quadrature-phase RBF Turbo Equaliser (I/Q-RBF-TEQ). It is demonstrated that the I/Q-RBF-TEQ is capable of reducing the associated implementational complexity by equalising the I and Q components of a complex-valued phasor constellation separately. It is demonstrated that the detrimental effects of this seemingly flawed simplification may be eliminated with the aid of the proposed low-complexity turbo equaliser. The I/Q-RBF-TEQ employs iterative channel estimation and it is capable of attaining the same performance, as the significantly more complex conventional turbo equaliser. The attainable coding gain of the various CM schemes increased substantially, when employing the proposed RBF-TEQ or RBF-I/Q-TEQ, rather than the conventional non-iterative Decision Feedback Equaliser (DFE). The best overall performer was the RBF-I/Q-TEQ-TTCM scheme, requiring only 1.88~dB higher SNR at a BER of 10$^{-5}$, than the identical throughput 3~BPS uncoded 8PSK scheme communicating over an AWGN channel. The coding gain of the scheme was 16.78~dB.


Efforts of Indonesian Government in diversifying the available fuels from domestic coal in the forms of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels open the pissibility to overcome the depleted domestic oil reserves. Within the coming few years, Indonesia will be a net oil consumer after being the net oil importer in 2003. In the last forty years, Indonesian energy consumption was heavily depended on oil fuel. To meet the increase domestic energy demand, a large quantity of domestic coal reserves should be diversified into briquette, synthetic oil and gas as well as other non-fuel or chemical products. All these diversified products are expected to be economically competitive as well as environmental friendly using clean coal technology. This article is an evaluation on study results compilation of Indonesian coal utilization and diversification in the last 15 years.


This contribution presents a sequel to our previously published nonlinear stochastic model for bacterial disinfection whose intensity function is explicitly proportional to the contact time of the bacteria with the disinfecting agent. In the current model, the intensity function is proportional to the square of the contact time to account for an accelerated rate of a disinfection process. The model gives rise to the process' master equation whose solution renders it possible to obtain the analytical expressions of the process' mean, variance (or standard deviation), and coefficient of variation. Moreover, the master equation has been simulated via the Monte Carlo method, thereby yielding the numerical estimates of these quantities. The estimates' values are compared with those computed via the analytical expressions; they are in excellent accord. They are also compared with the available experimental data as well as with the results obtained from our earlier model.


This paper provides a deeper insight into the train platforming problem (TPP). Many studies have focused on different versions of train scheduling and routing problems, and most of them assume that the platform track's capacity is one train. However, especially in busy and complex railway stations, most platform tracks are divided into two parts, allowing two trains to simultaneously share the same platform track for passenger boarding/alighting. This results in more efficient train assignment to the platform tracks. In addition, consideration of the track capacity makes the problem more difficult because directions of trains are problematic. Motivated by this challenge, we consider the TPP with two-train-capacity tracks. We first describe the problem in detail and then propose a mixed-integer programming model. The objective of the considered problem is to minimize the total weighted train delays, which are defined as the difference between the departure times calculated by the mathematical model (M1) and the scheduled departure times of the trains in the timetable. Because of the NP-hard nature of the problem, the proposed M1 may not find feasible solutions for large-size problems. Thus, a matheuristic algorithm (MA) is developed to solve large-size problems. We used randomly generated test problems to demonstrate the performance of the proposed M1 and MA. Experimental results showed that MA outperforms M1 in both solution quality and solution time. Additionally, a case study was conducted at the central station of Prague, Czechia.


Purpose Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) permits visualization of the changes to the retinal circulation due to diabetic retinopathy (DR), a microvascular complication of diabetes. We demonstrate accurate segmentation of the vascular morphology for the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep vascular complex (DVC) using a convolutional neural network (CNN) for quantitative analysis. Methods The main CNN training dataset consisted of retinal OCT-A with a 6 × 6-mm field of view (FOV), acquired using a Zeiss PlexElite. Multiple-volume acquisition and averaging enhanced the vasculature contrast used for constructing the ground truth for neural network training. We used transfer learning from a CNN trained on smaller FOVs of the SCP acquired using different OCT instruments. Quantitative analysis of perfusion was performed on the resulting automated vasculature segmentations in representative patients with DR. Results The automated segmentations of the OCT-A images maintained the distinct morphologies of the SCP and DVC. The network segmented the SCP with an accuracy and Dice index of 0.8599 and 0.8618, respectively, and 0.7986 and 0.8139, respectively, for the DVC. The inter-rater comparisons for the SCP had an accuracy and Dice index of 0.8300 and 0.6700, respectively, and 0.6874 and 0.7416, respectively, for the DVC. Conclusions Transfer learning reduces the amount of manually annotated images required while producing high-quality automatic segmentations of the SCP and DVC that exceed inter-rater comparisons. The resulting intercapillary area quantification provides a tool for in-depth clinical analysis of retinal perfusion. Translational Relevance Accurate retinal microvasculature segmentation with the CNN results in improved perfusion analysis in diabetic retinopathy.


The Pharmacokinetics informations of aminoglycosides, their monograph and clinical Pharmacokinetics parameters are reported in this review. The Aminoglycosides are highly polarity and in reserve for serious infections caused by aerobic gram-negative bacteria and some gram-positive bacteria but their toxicity are major limitations in clinical use.


Purpose – The purpose of the study is to present three models of organising library services for the homeless. The work experience of Zagreb City Libraries in each of the models provides a better insight into the challenges of each model and into the ways of overcoming them. Furthermore, it may indicate to others what to expect during the implementation of such models. Design/methodology/approach – The study presents first-hand real-life experiences in organising the project for the homeless and its programs. The project of Zagreb City Libraries "A Book for a Roof" was made possible by the grant awarded by the international non-profit organisation EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries). Findings – The author's experience shows that each model poses certain challenges and opportunities for the library and its partners regardless of the location of the library services – whether they were organised in the library or the shelter – and regardless of the necessary attendance – regular or occasional. Originality/value – The author's experience from the pioneering project of the Zagreb City Libraries "A Book for a Roof" is particularly valuable in that the project has the goal of empowering the homeless to become actively involved in the labor market. Furthermore, most of the project was implemented at the largest homeless shelter in Zagreb. Librarians in public libraries thus found themselves in front of new and more complex challenges in organising services for the homeless.


SUMMARY Professor Isaac Adetayo Grillo was born on January 15, 1931, in Lagos. He had both his elementary and secondary school education at Baptist Academy, Lagos. His autobiography recorded that he excelled brilliantly at the school. He earned the Doctor of Medicine at the University of Kansas in 1960. He completed his residency training in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery, passing the American Board of General Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery examinations in 1966 and 1967 respectively. He returned to Nigeria in 1968. Of particular note, Professor Grillo led a team that performed the first open heart Surgery in Nigeria by a group of all Nigerian Doctors and Nurses in 1978. He lived an illustrious life. Always wanting to excel and do his very best, he became Nigeria's most famous Cardiothoracic Surgeon during his time. Professor Grillo passed on after a brief illness on the 4th of April, 2022.