We proposed and demonstrated an unprecedented high-efficiency Brillouin random fiber laser (BRFL) by fiber length optimization in a half-open linear cavity. In terms of the trade-off between Brillouin gain saturation and weak distributed Rayleigh feedback strength, optimal laser efficiency associated to proper fiber length in a BRFL was theoretically predicted. As a proof-of-concept, a unidirectional-pumped BRFL with a half-open linear cavity was experimentally conducted, in which a fiber Bragg grating at one end of gain fiber served as a high-reflection mirror while Rayleigh scattering enabled distributed feedback for random lasing resonance. Results show that the optimal fiber length of ∼3.4 km in the BRFL offers sufficient Rayleigh scattered random feedback whilst alleviating the Brillouin gain saturation to a large extent. Consequently, an optimal laser efficiency of 77.0% in the BRFL was experimentally demonstrated, which reaches the state-of-the-art high record. Laser characteristics, including the linewidth, statistics and frequency jitter were also systematically investigated. It is believed that such efficient BRFL could provide a promising platform for inspiring new explorations of laser physics as well as potentials in long-haul coherent communication and fiber-optic sensing.


Introduction: Primary systemic amyloidosis is characterized by clonal plasma cell disorder, and its signs and symptoms are various and complex, damage to the skin and mucous membrane is often more likely to attract attention.Here we reported a case of a 61-year-old male patient who presented with topical mucocutaneous lesion, as well unusual skin vegetations. Case presentation: A 61-year-old man was hospitalized due to repeated burning sensation on his back, multiple ecchymosis, and skin vegetations. Through a series of examinations (mainly including skin histopathology, bone marrow cytology, bone marrow flow cytometry, immunofixation electrophoresis), Primary systemic amyloidosis was diagnosed, but multiple myeloma could not be diagnosed. Subsequently, he received chemotherapy. In the half-year follow-up, there was no significant change in his symptoms and signs. Discussion: In this case, in addition to the typical skin damage of primary amyloidosis, the multiple skin vegetations in the buttocks, abdomen, and arms are particularly noteworthy. According to the histopathology and Immunohistochemistry of the skin vegetation, we infer that the formation mechanism of these skin vegetation is lymphatic obstruction caused by amyloid, which leads to lymphatic dilatation, lymph leakage, and dermal edema. Conclusion: Primary systemic amyloidosis is a rare disease, which is often difficult to diagnose. We should be alert to those atypical skin features so as not to delay diagnosis.


The work presents a mathematical model of a fountain providing an hourglass-shaped water image based on four of its basic parameters: height H, coefficient of contraction χ, diameter of n nozzles arrangement Dna, and coefficient of contraction location σ. The developed model makes possible to determine the angle α specifying the slope of the nozzles to the horizontal plane and determining the remaining parameters of the fountain, especially its outer diameter Df as well as the diameter of the position of the stream tops Dmax. The developed model has been implemented in an Excel spreadsheet, which enables quick conversion of desired water images. The developed model works for n≤24 nozzles, however, derived dependencies allow for a quick extension of the model for n>24.


This paper presents a model of teacher and school executive satisfaction derived from a study involving 892 respondents in 71 government schools in Western Sydney, Australia. Factor analysis of survey items was utilised to develop an eight factor model of teacher satisfaction. The eight factors were named: school leadership, climate, decision making; merit promotion and local hiring; school infrastructure; school reputation; status and image of teachers; student achievement; workload and the impact of change; and professional self‐growth. Scores on the scales fell into three domains: "core business of teaching" factors (student achievement; professional self‐growth); school level factors (school leadership, climate, decision making; school infrastructure; school reputation); and system level/societal factors (workload and impact of change; status and image of teachers; merit promotion). Respondents were most satisfied with "core business" aspects and least satisfied with system level/societal factors, while school level factors showed the most variation, reflecting the influence of teachers' specific and varying within‐school experiences. Leadership, communication and decision making styles were found to be important contributing factors to satisfaction with school based aspects of respondents' roles. It is argued that within the important, school level domain, action to improve teacher satisfaction is most likely to be effective.


The gene mutated in Pendred syndrome (PDS), the PDS gene, is expressed in the inner ear, kidney, and thyroid. It encodes a membrane protein named pendrin that is endowed with the function of anion transporter or exchanger. It has been postulated that in the thyroid pendrin could participate in the transport of iodide from the cell to the lumen of follicles. We generated antipeptide antibodies directed against the C- terminal sequence of human pendrin 1) to characterize the protein expressed in the human thyroid, and 2) to analyze its expression level in relation to the functional activity of thyroid tissue. In denaturing conditions, a single molecular species of 110-115 kDa was identified in human thyroid membrane fractions. After treatment of thyroid membranes with N-glycosidase F, pendrin had an apparent molecular mass of 85 kDa. Analyzed by ultracentrifugation on sucrose gradient in nondenaturing conditions, pendrin sedimented as a main 120- to 140-kDa component. Pendrin was assayed by semiquantitative Western blot in thyroid membrane fractions from 25 hyper- or hypofunctioning tumors and paired normal tissue samples. Pendrin was increased 2-fold in toxic adenomas, was not significantly altered in follicular adenoma, and was decreased, on the average, by 35% in papillary carcinomas compared with levels in paired normal tissue. The variations in the pendrin tissue content and PDS transcript levels, assayed by RT-PCR on duplicate samples of the same tumors, were similar. In conclusion, we show that pendrin expressed by the human thyroid gland is a mainly monomeric glycoprotein and that the level of expression of pendrin, although somewhat related, only moderately varied with the functional status of the thyroid tissue.


We analyse the reconstruction error of principal component analysis (PCA) and prove non-asymptotic upper bounds for the corresponding excess risk. These bounds unify and improve existing upper bounds from the literature. In particular, they give oracle inequalities under relative eigenvalue conditions. The bounds reveal that the excess risk differs considerably from usually considered subspace distances based on canonical angles. Our approach relies on the analysis of empirical spectral projectors combined with concentration inequalities for weighted empirical covariance operators and empirical eigenvalues.


We investigate the formation of bow shocks around exoplanets as a result of the interaction of the planet with the coronal material of the host star, focusing on physical causes that can lead to temporal variations in the shock characteristics. We recently suggested that WASP-12b may host a bow shock around its magnetosphere, similarly to the one observed around the Earth. For WASP12b, the shock is detected in the near-UV transit light curve. Observational follow-up suggests that the near-UV light curve presents temporal variations, which may indicate that the stand-off distance between the shock and the planet is varying. This implies that the size of the planet's magnetosphere is adjusting itself in response to variations in the surrounding ambient medium. We investigate possible causes of shock variations for the known eccentric (e > 0.3) transiting planets. We show that, because the distance from the star changes along the orbit of an eccentric planet, the shock characteristics are modulated by orbital phase. During phases where the planet lies inside (outside) the corotation radius of its host star, shock is formed ahead of (behind) the planetary motion. We predict time offsets between the beginnings of the near-UV and optical light curves that are, in general, less than the transit duration. Variations in shock characteristics caused in eccentric systems can only be probed if the shock is observed at different orbital phases, which is, in general, not the case for transit observations. However, non-thermal radio emission produced by the interaction of the star and planet should be modulated by orbital phase. We also quantify the response of the shock to variations in the coronal material itself due to, e.g. a non-axisymmetric stellar corona, planetary obliquity (which may allow the planet to move through different regions of the host star's corona), intrinsic variations of the stellar magnetic field (resulting in stellar wind changes, coronal mass ejections, magnetic cycles). Such variations do not depend on the system eccentricity. We conclude that, for systems where a shock is detectable through transit light-curve observations, shock variations should be a common occurrence.


Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to brain tissue damage and cognitive dysfunction. It has been shown that heavy drinking is associated with an earlier onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Acetaldehyde, the most toxic metabolite of ethanol, is speculated to mediate the brain tissue damage and cognitive dysfunction induced by the chronic excessive consumption of alcohol. However, the exact mechanisms by which acetaldehyde induces neurotoxicity are not totally understood. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of acetaldehyde in SH-SY5Y cells and found that acetaldehyde induced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells by downregulating the expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL and upregulating the expression of proapoptotic Bax. Acetaldehyde treatment led to a significant decrease in the levels of activated Akt and cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB). In addition, acetaldehyde induced the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) while inhibiting the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs, p44/p42MAPK). Meanwhile, acetaldehyde treatment caused an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species and elevated the oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y cells. Therefore, acetaldehyde induces cytotoxicity of SH-SY5Y cells via promotion of apoptotic signaling, inhibition of cell survival pathway, and induction of oxidative stress.


Estimates of the motion of the spin axis over the past century either neglect plate motion or are relative to the mean lithosphere. To understand the response of the spin axis to mass changes, it is more useful to estimate spin axis motion relative to the hotspots because the hotspots well represent the solid earth. The hotspots originate in the lower mantle, which comprises 2/3 of the earth's volume. Relative to the lower mantle the plates and the upper mantle move in opposite directions, to a large extent canceling each other out. The mean lithosphere moves quickly relative to the hotspots and poorly represents the solid earth. The spin axis has moved relative to the hotspots over the past century along the 68.4°W meridian at 4.03 milliarcsecond/yr. This motion is 11° counterclockwise of, 0.5 milliarcsecond/yr faster than, and 25% different than spin axis motion relative to the mean lithosphere.


For a variety of mission-critical objectives in Space Domain Awareness (SDA), it is relevant to maintain estimates over large regions of state space using highly non-Gaussian distributions. This problem is broadly applicable in initial orbit determination, maneuver detection, and collision avoidance, and observing targets in this context often necessitates search over the feasible region. Often, this search process results in a large set of null detections. This paper explores methodologies for utilizing negative information in this context, with a special focus on the well-known admissible region. Given a Gaussian mixture representation of the admissible region, a novel methodology for splitting mixands in an arbitrary measurement space is presented. A mixand weight update is derived for the key scenario in which no detection is made at a measurement epoch. Merging methodologies are applied, and the resultant Gaussian sum filter is demonstrated for a representative case in which follow-on tracking of a geostationary object is desired.


Each 2D silhouette of a 3D unknown object O constrains O inside the volume obtained by back-projecting the silhouette from the corresponding viewpoint. A set of silhouettes specifies a boundary volume R obtained by intersecting the volumes due to each silhouette. R more or less closely approximates O, depending on the viewpoints and the object itself. This approach to the reconstruction of 3D objects is usually referred to as volume intersection. This correspondence addresses the problem of inferring the shape of the unknown object O from the reconstructed object R. For doing this, the author divides the points of the surface of R into hard points, which belong to the surface of any possible object originating R, and soft points, which may or may not belong to O. The author considers two cases: In the first case R is the closest approximation of O which can be obtained from its silhouettes, i.e., its visual hull; in the second case, R is a generic reconstructed object. In both cases the author supplies necessary and sufficient conditions for a point to be hard and gives rules for computing the hard surfaces. >


We isolated BalA1, a representative transformant of thiostrepton-producing strain Streptomyces azureus ATCC14921, which carries an approximately 2.5-kb chromosomal DNA fragment on a high-copy-number plasmid. While strain BalA1 formed little aerial hyphae, its morphological defect was restored by cultivation with S. azureus, S. laurentii, etc. Strain BalA1 strongly inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis more than its parent strain, and also inhibited the development of its parent and some Streptomyces strains with thiostrepton resistance. Furthermore, it induced Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) to produce undecylprodigiosin, at an early stage of growth. The 2.5-kb fragment contained two orfs, orf1 and truncated orf2. The deduced products were somewhat similar to phosphoserine phosphatase-like protein and the N-terminal region of MinD-like protein, respectively. The individual function of orf1 or the function of both orf1 and truncated orf2 seems to induce particular phenotypes or properties in strain BalA1.


The snowball sampling, as a network research, presents numerous advantages in registering "hidden populations" such as: drug consumers, people with deviant sexual behavior, people with rare diseases which are unapproved by society, illegal immigrants, people working in the black market, but also presents a major disadvantage "" the absence of objective, quantitative criteria in taking a decision to conclude the investigation. There is also a certain ambiguity on the number of interviewed persons, which cannot be established previously; thus, it depends on the researcher to stop the investigation when he considers the information gathered is satisfactory or sufficient relative to the objective of the investigation. The purpose of this material is to adapt and develop the sequential method (Wald's test) for the case of hidden populations, typical situations for sociologic researches where snowball sampling is adequate. The results obtained in this material, innovative in their development, can contribute significantly to improving sociological research methods in a special area "" field sociologic investigation developed in closed groups.


Purpose: To assess the knowledge of diabetes mellitus among diabetes patients and to identify knowledge deficits and patient specific characteristics that are associated with this knowledge.                              Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional observational clinic study conducted among previously diagnosed patients with diabetes attending the Consultant Outpatient Departments (COPD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). The study employed the use of a 14-item Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT), developed by the University of Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Centre (MDRTC) and a demographic questionnaire to assess patient's knowledge and its association with some patient specific variables. Results: The overall mean knowledge score of the subjects was 5.54 ± 2.3 (39.5 % ± 16.7 %) range 7 - 79 %. There was no statistically significant difference in knowledge scores with respect to family history of the disease, recent training in DM, age and sex p > 0.05. Respondents without any formal education scored significantly higher in the DKT (7.0 ± 2.27) followed by those with post graduate and University education 6.67 ± 2.41 and 6.65 ± 2.41 respectively. Higher score on the DKT was significantly correlated with duration of disease awareness (r = 0.217; 95 %CI = 0.02 – 0.39, p 0.05). Only 12 (13.5 %) of the respondents had FBG levels with the normal range of 5.6 – 6.9 mmole/L. Conclusion: Respondents' knowledge of diabetes mellitus based on the DKT was very poor. There were knowledge deficits which relate to misconceptions in the diabetics diet and knowledge of blood glucose monitoring with glycosylated haemoglobin test. Longer duration of diabetes, irrespective of educational status, was associated with higher knowledge score. Keywords: Diabetes, knowledge, Patient's characteristics.


Based on the ACM model curriculum guidelines, this easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate text covers all the fundamentals of computer science required for first year students embarking on a computing degree. Divided into five parts computer and data, computer hardware, computer software, data organization and with an introduction to some of the more advanced topics Foundations of Computer Science gives students a birds eye view of the subject. Each chapter includes key terms, summaries, review questions, multiple-choice questions, and exercises to enhance learning, while introducing tools such as UML, structure chart and pseudocode, which students will need in order to succeed in later courses. The text is also supported by numerous figures, examples, exercises, selected solutions and a test bank, all designed to ease and aid the learning process. Updated to cover the latest technologies and changes to course requirements, this second edition features new and updated coverage of: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Ethics and Crimes, Networking, LINUX, and Security.


The aims of this current research are to find the congruence of the minimum suspension wage conducted by entrepreneurs with the Decree of the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Number: KEP.231/MEN/2003 and to understand law protection for the worker who has many experience suspension of the minimum wage by the entrepreneur. In this study using the normative juridical method which does not recognize research down the field, because the research conducted is sourced from legal materials such as legislation, government regulations, ministerial decrees, books, journals and legal dictionaries.The conclusion that can be drawn from the results of this study is that the minimum wage deferment rules by employers which are carried out many times are permissible, because in the rules there are no clauses regarding the suspension restrictions,but in reality the employer does not carry out this based on applicable regulations. Unspecified restrictions on the suspension of minimum wages result in losses to workers' normative rights.


Self-regulation for pre-school children is very important to support children's adjustments in all situations and conditions. The current problem is the instrument of self-regulation is more focused on regulation in learning which is not suitable for young children. This study aims to examine the validity and reliability of Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA) in Indonesia by modifying several children self-regulation theories. The instrument was translated from English into Indonesian and it retranslated into the native language by linguists. The questions, then, were validated through a process of professional judgment and cognitive de-briefing. The study was carried out to 179 children aged 6 to 7 years old. Data were analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). It showed that there are 5 dimensions of children's self-regulation, namely: attentional focus, behavioral control, self-motivated, self-autonomy and emotional control. The result showed that the five-dimensional model is agreed with the data and prove to measure children's self-regulation. Cronbach's alpha coefficient value was 0.899, indicating high scale reliability. Thus, the pre-school children's self-regulation assessment has well psychometric for further use.
Keywords: Children's self-regulation, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Construct validation, Pre-school self-regulation assessment, Reliability
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The effect of magnesium hydride on the corrosion behavior of pure magnesium in 0.1 M NaCl solution was investigated using the gas collection method, potentiostatic current decay test, and in situ Raman spectrum. The formation of magnesium hydride (Mg, ) was observed at the cathodic region. Applying anodic potential leads to decomposition of magnesium hydride. Magnesium hydride plays an important role on the negative difference effect (NDE) in both the cathodic and anodic regions.


Statoliths of Nototodarus sloanii collected around New Zealand were examined to determine age. By comparing the increase in number of increments in statoliths with the number of days elapsed between sampling dates, the periodicity of the increment formation was validated. Estimated hatching month ranged from January to December. This result suggests that spawning occurs throughout the year. The relationship between statolith radius and dorsal mantle length suggests daily increment width must reflect squid growth well. Back-calculation was applied to compensate for the short sampling period. The differences in size at age are significant between the seasonal groups. The winter group is larger than the summer one between about 100 and 230 days old. This difference became smaller and finally the summer group became larger than the winter one at around 250 days old and after. It is suggested that differences in growth between the groups are consistent with seasonal changes in water temperature.


It is known that some foods improve health quality and prevent the formation of some common forms of cancer. To solve this nutrition problem, intensive researchs are performing and Training programs are organizing in all over the world especially in the developed countries. There is a balance between host and intestinal microbiota in the body and the causes which disrupt this equilibrium cause diseases. For a healthy and balanced diet, reducing the risk of diet related diseases is targeted by adding functional foods to diet. One of the functional foods is prebiotics. In this review, we aimed to describe the beneficial effects of prebiotics on human health.


The implementation of a renewed electrical grid is urgent and it must be flexible, reliable, efficient and manageable. In this context, sensors and actuators play an important part, thus being the "nerve cells" of the grid. The ZigBee standard is receiving an increased acceptance by the industry and is experiencing a fast implementation. Hence, several new field tests are presented in this paper in order to study the implementation challenges of different sensor systems, especially wireless ZigBee devices installation approaches in distributed generation sites for monitoring, management and control. Finally, conclusions are duly drawn. (5 pages)


Fractures of the occipital condyle are rare and occur when the head is severely injured; they may be associated with fractures of the skull and the cervical spine. Conservative management appears to give satisfactory results.


[reaction: see text] A unique reaction of 4-hydroxycoumarins with p-benzoquinone and pyridine was found, and through the reaction, six zwitterionic 4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives were synthesized. The structures of these compounds were determined by IR, MS(ESI), 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies.


The interactions of both normal and transformed cells with their environment is mediated to a large extent by the cell surface. Succinylated concanavalin A (succinyl-Con A) is a nontoxic and nonagglutinating derivative of the jack-bean lectin concanavalin A. Succinyl-Con A, presumably through an interaction with the cell surface, reversibly inhibits the growth of normal cells and restores a normal growth phenotype to transformed cells. Whereas at high cell densities migration was inhibited, it turned out that at low cell densities where cells are not in contact with each other, cell movement was not affected by succinyl-Con A. Together with some additional observations, this suggests that this lectin derivative increases cell- to-cell adhesion in culture and thereby may influence cell migration. An increase in cell-to-cell adhesion by this lectin derivative may not be brought about simply by physically linking cells together. It occurs after a lag time, possibly by inducing surface changes. The relationship between cell adhesion in culture, cell movement, and cell growth is discussed.


We report a case of angiosarcoma arising from the frontal scalp in an 82-year-old woman. Imprint cytology from a metastatic lung tumor showed that most tumor cells were spindle or polygonal, and were arranged in a trabecular pattern. Some tumor cells contained hemosiderin granules in the cytoplasm, and severe hemorrhage occurred in the background, consistent with the cytological features of angiosarcoma. Furthermore, immunocytochemical examination revealed that the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, Factor VIII-relating antigen, and CD 34. These results sugges that a cytological approach including immunocytochemistry is potentially useful to establish a precise diagnosis of angiosarcoma.


Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy and is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related death among women. The current study was designed to investigate the epidemiological and pathological correlates of postoperative mortality of ovarian cancer at a tertiary care center in Mansoura, Egypt.
Methods: An epidemiological analysis of prospectively collected data of ninety five primary ovarian cancer cases referred to the Surgical Oncology Center at Mansoura University Hospitals, Mansoura, Egypt. The association of the epidemiological, pathological data and the serum levels of the tumor marker CA-125 and 6-months and 1-year mortality was statistically tested.
Results: A total of 95 ovarian cancer cases were included in the current study. The mean age of patients was 52.18 ranging from 14 to 98 years, and the median age was 53 years. Pathological examination showed that serous cancers were the most common type detected in 46 (48%), followed by adenocarcinoma in 24 (25%) and then mucinous in 9 (9 %) patients. Cases presented at late stages of the ovarian cancer disease with 51 (55%) cases presenting with stage III and IV. The majority of cases (n=83, 88.1%) received neo adjuvant chemotherapy. The average serum CA- 125 level was 325.38 U/ml with 50 % of cases had readings equal to or more than 233.15 U/ml. The mortality rate at 6 months was 4% and at 1-year was 17%. Age was positively correlated with 6 months mortality (p<0.05). Ninety percent of deaths at one year occurred in patients more than 45 years of age and 50% of deaths occurred in patients more than 60 years of age.
Conclusion: In a tertiary care surgical oncology center in Mansoura, Egypt, patients with ovarian cancer are more commonly to present with later stage


In the past decade, over 3000 samples of soybean transcriptomic data have accumulated in public repositories. Here, we review the state of the art in soybean transcriptomics, highlighting the major microarray and RNA-seq studies that investigated soybean transcriptional programs in different tissues and conditions. Further, we propose approaches for integrating such big data using gene coexpression network and outline important web resources that may facilitate soybean data acquisition and analysis, contributing to the acceleration of soybean breeding and functional genomics research.


Among the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria, dancers have the ability to relate not only to music and rhythm, but also to the Yoruba tonal language. This is due to the fact that instruments being played during a dance event, once they are manipulated by the drummer, can follow the Yoruba language's tonality. Therefore, the so-called talking drums have the ability to articulate proverbs, poems, stories. The dancers' representations or interpretations of what the drums are saying create different artistic and cognitive dimensions during the dancing. When does a dancer follow only the rhythms of the drums and when does he or she have meaning in his/her gestures? What happens when the meanings derive from proverbial language? And moreover, what happens with the newest Yoruba dance generation which is said to have neglected their indigenous language for English? Going beyond choreomusical relationships, improvising, mimicking, interpreting and verbalising the content of the tonal percussions are some dimensions of Yoruba dance, which derive from exploring the personal dance experiences of a community of thought in Yorubaland.


This paper reports three cases of hypoglycemia in one family and an unrelated case in which profound hypoglycemia and convulsions were produced by the administration of proteins or amino acids. The patients described are similar to the group which have been reported in the literature as infantile idiopathic hypoglycemosis. Casein, leucine, and isovaleric acid fed to the patients caused a marked fall in the fasting concentration of true blood sugar. High protein feeding led to more convulsions and lower concentrations of sugar in the blood than did a low protein diet. Leucine had the most dramatic effect. Casein and leucine did not produce a fall in the sugar in the blood in normal individuals. The literature on metabolic interrelations between amino acids and carbohydrates and the concentration of sugar in the blood is reviewed. The mode of action of amino acids in depressing the concentration of sugar in the blood in infants with spontaneous hypoglycemia is considered and several hypotheses proposed. This paper is of unusual interest and of great importance for the treatment of infants with spontaneous idiopathic hypoglycemia. It is suggested that in this particular type of hypoglycemia high protein diets should be avoided. Small amounts of carbohydrate may be given 30 to 40 minutes after the ingestion of a meal containing protein to offset the effect of protein in lowering the concentration of sugar in the blood.


The aim of the study was to create an in-house normative data for neurodiagnostic auditory brainstem response test for the Korlebu Teaching Hospital Hearing Assessment Center, to enable the Centre to provide a comparative standard for making informed diagnostic decisions about patients' auditory function using the Intelligent Hearing System (IHSSEP). A purposive sample of 25 females aged between 18-35 years with normal hearing thresholds were selected for the study. Data was analyzed using one sample independent t-test, mean, and standard deviation with the statistical significance set to p<0.05 to determine how the clinical norms compared with the manufacturer's norm. Results showed that the absolute latencies generated by the study varied slightly from the IHSSEP norms. However, the variations emanated from the testing environment, the protocol used, and the software specifications of the testing equipment rather than pathological conditions from the participants. Besides, the norm data fulfilled the requirement of the upper and lower limits allowable for norm data to be considered as appropriate - thus a ±2 SD. It was concluded that the norms values were appropriate to use in testing and estimating hearing sensitivity at Korlebu Teaching Hospital Hearing Assessment Centre taking into account the clinical conditions and the varying parameters of the testing equipment.


Jobshop scheduling problems are NP-hard problems. The durations in the reality of manufacturing are often imprecise and the imprecision in data is very critical for the scheduling procedures. Therefore, the fuzzy approach, in the framework of the Dempster-Shafer theory, commands attention. The fuzzy numbers are considered as sets of possible probabilistic distributions. After a review of some issues concerning fuzzy numbers, we discuss the determination of a unique optimal solution of the problem and then we cast a meta-heuristic (simulated annealing-SA) to this particular framework for optimization. It should be stressed that the obtained schedule remains feasible for all realizations of the operations durations.


ABSTRACT A data-driven estimation method for the plastic properties of alloys was proposed using indentations at neighboring positions. An instrumented indentation test is an efficient approach to measure mechanical properties such as equivalent elastic modulus and hardness. In the mechanical test, subsequent experiments are generally performed apart from existing indentations to avoid the interaction effect caused by the dependency on the deformation history of metal plasticity. In this study, the interaction effect was utilized to estimate the plastic properties, based on the difference of load–depth curves between the first and second indentations at neighboring positions. Using finite element simulations of the neighboring indentation tests, the effective experimental conditions were examined, and response surfaces of the loading curvatures were characterized to determine two material constants of a simple constitutive model of plasticity. Finally, the proposed approach was validated for application to aluminum alloys and stainless steel. It can be also applied to various alloys characterized by different elastic moduli. Graphical abstract


Abstract. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated herbaceous biomass availability through simulations with the Policy Analysis System (POLYSYS) agricultural modeling framework. An operational assumption for POLYSYS limited conversion of pastureland to perennial grass crops to counties east of the 100th meridian as a proxy for precipitation sufficient for economically viable yield, but allowed cropland conversion regardless of location. Knowledge of local conditions raised questions about predicted biomass quantities for Texas counties in the 2011 assessment. POLYSYS was rerun with different assumptions, specifically replacing the 100th meridian boundary with annual average precipitation data and limiting cropland conversion in low-rainfall counties. Perennial grass production was found to be overestimated by 8% and 87% in the U.S. and Texas, respectively (at $66.14 DMg-1), when limiting all land conversion to regions with >635 mm precipitation. Total herbaceous biomass predicted was approximately the same as in the BT2, but the biomass geographical location changed across the nation. Texas' biomass contribution decreased from 6% to 1% at $66.14 DMg-1 and from 16% to 11% at $88.18 DMg-1. Subsequent to this research being conducted, the DOE released the 2016 biomass inventory assessment, and these results are compared to those newest estimates.


Indonesian is constitutionally as the state of Pancasila and not as a religious state, but the state is able to accommodate a number of religious norms in the formation of legislation. Indonesia, as the largest Muslim country in the world with a diversity of ethnic, religious and ethnic groups, has chosen the plural of legal system. This situation provides an opportunity to source a specific law affects the formation and preparation of the norms of national law. Islamic law has long been used in the community, even before the colonial period, has significant effect in certain customary law in society. This paper describes the existence of Islamic Law in the plurality of national law amidst the process of the tug of political struggle of national law in reform era. This discussion is focused on the following; first, the prospect legal institution of Islamic law in Indonesia; second, the resistance and constraint in course of legal institution of Islamic law in Indonesia. This paper was as a result of library research using legal normative status, historical, and sociological point of view.


Within the past few years data base management systems have received an increasingly large share of the computing world's efforts. They are attractive, despite their high processing cost, because they relieve the programmer of the need to program gram frequently used operations such as access methods for complicated data structures and variable- length fields, records, and files. As data base management systems become more flexible they also allow unanticipated queries to be answered with relative ease.


This research is based on the view that literature is basically a reflection of reality, including social reality. The reality that becomes a picture in Indonesia is family poverty which is a picture of the perspective in Indonesia in the novel Padang Bulan by Andrea Hirata. The theory underlying this research is the sociology of literature. The research method used in this study is qualitative descriptive method. The source of data in this study is novel. The technique used to obtain data using the read-record technique. The results of this study show that there is economic inequality in the form of poverty and social class by Belitung families which is one of the reflections in Indonesia.


We identified an NH2-terminally truncated HER-2/neu product of M(r) 95,000 with in vitro kinase activity by Western blotting and immunoprecipitations using domain-specific antibodies. p95 levels correlated with the extracellular domain (ECD) shed from different cells under varied conditions. Both ECD and p95 were at approximately 20-fold lower levels in SKOV3 ovarian carcinoma cells, as compared to BT474 breast carcinoma cells. Both were stimulated by treatment of cells with the phorbol ester tumor promoter phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and the lysosomotrophic agent chloroquine. The hydroxamate inhibitor of metalloproteases, TAPI, suppressed both p95 and ECD in a dose-dependent fashion, with maximal inhibition at < or = 10 microM in BT474 cells. Cancer tissues were analyzed by Western blotting and scored for p95HER-2/neu and for p185HER-2/neu expression. Breast and ovarian cancer tissues were both found to express p95HER-2/neu in addition to p185HER-2/neu. Of 161 breast cancer tissues, 22.4% expressed p95, 21.7% overexpressed p185, and 14.3% were p95 positive and overexpressed p185. A higher proportion of node-positive patients (23 of 78) than node-negative patients (9 of 63) expressed p95 in all tumors combined (P = 0.032). In the group that overexpressed p185, those that contained p95 were associated with node-positive patients (15 of 21), whereas those that were p95 negative were associated with node-negative patients (8 of 11; P = 0.017). Neither p95- nor p185-rich patients significantly correlated with tumor size or with hormone receptor status in this study. Our findings show that breast cancers, which express the HER-2/neu oncogene, are heterogeneous with respect to HER-2/neu protein products. p95HER-2/neu appears to distinguish tumors that have metastasized to the lymph nodes from those in node-negative patients.


Due to the variable characteristics of photovoltaic energy production or the variation of the load, batteries used in storage systems renewable power can undergo many irregular cycles of charge / discharge. In turn, this can also have a detrimental effect on the life of the battery and can increase project costs. This paper presents an embedded energy share method between the energy storage system (battery) and the auxiliary energy storage system such as supercapacitors (SC). Supercapacitors are used to improve batteries life and reduce their stresses by providing or absorbing peaks currents as demanded by the load. The photovoltaic cells are connected to DC bus with boost converter and controlled with MPPT algorithm, Supercapacitors and batteries are linked to the DC bus through the buck-boost converter. The inductive load is connected to the DC bus by a DC-AC converter. The static converters associated with batteries and supercapacitors are controlled by current. The components of the systems are supervised through a block of energy management. The complete model of the system is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Simulation results are given to show the performance of the proposed control strategy, for the overall system.


The sirolimus-eluting stent (Cypher) was the first approved drug- eluting stent by the Food and Drug Administration in April 2003. This is a stent that is based on a bare-metal stent and is coated with a layer of polymer incorporating sirolimus and releasing it by diffusion. Drug-eluting stents reduced risk of restenosis and repeat revascularization as compared with bare-metal stents. Clinical data has raised concerns that drug-eluting stents are associated with late untoward events. Objectives: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that stenting is safe and effective treatment for coronary artery disease. Methods and Results: Sirolimus-eluting stenting was performed in 30 patients with 34 coronary lesions. Detailed clinical follow-up data was collected by personal interview or telephone contact at 1, 6, 12 and 24 months. Patients were followed for 2 years for the occurrence of angina and cardiovascular events namely death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis and target lesion revascularization. The mean age of the cohort was 62.33±10.99 years; 83 percent were male, 6 percent were diabetic, 53 percent had hypertension. In spite of the overall patient and lesion complexity there were no incidences of major adverse cardiac events and all patients remained angina free out to two years. Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and plavix varied from at least four weeks to one year. One patient had a bleeding event. Conclusions: Treatment of lesions with sirolimus-eluting stents is associated with a sustained clinical benefit two years after device implantation.


In this topical issue of Semiconductor Science and Technology, 18 invited papers have been devoted to reviewing the current status of research and development in III–N–V semiconductor alloys. Leading researchers in this field discuss the growth and processing, experimental characterization, theoretical understanding, and device design and fabrication of this recently developed class of semiconductor alloys.


Although updated consensus guidelines, and effective therapies, are available for management of gout, suboptimal management remains an issue. Barriers were identified and addressed as part of a dedicated, structured gout clinic. More frequent appointments resulted in a faster rate of serum urate reduction, and the clinic provided the opportunity for the education of both patients and general practitioners in the management of gout.


The human brain has been proposed to represent a genetic mosaic, containing a small but constant number of neurons with an amount of DNA exceeding the diploid level that appear to be generated through various chromosome segregation defects initially. While a portion of these cells apparently die during development, neurons with abnormal chromosomal copy number have been identified in the mature brain. This genomic alteration might to lead to chromosomal instability affecting neuronal viability and could thus contribute to age‐related mental disorders. Changes in the frequency of neurons with such structural genomic variation in the adult and aging brain, however, are unknown. Here, we quantified the frequency of neurons with a more than diploid DNA content in the cerebral cortex of normal human brain and analyzed its changes between the fourth and ninth decades of life. We applied a protocol of slide‐based cytometry optimized for DNA quantification of single identified neurons, which allowed to analyze the DNA content of about 500 000 neurons for each brain. On average, 11.5% of cortical neurons showed DNA content above the diploid level. The frequency of neurons with this genomic alteration was highest at younger age and declined with age. Our results indicate that the genomic variation associated with DNA content exceeding the diploid level might compromise viability of these neurons in the aging brain and might thus contribute to susceptibilities for age‐related CNS disorders. Alternatively, a potential selection bias of "healthy aging brains" needs to be considered, assuming that DNA content variation above a certain threshold associates with Alzheimer′s disease.


Context. The Lyα emitter (LAE) fraction, XLAE, is a potentially powerful probe of the evolution of the intergalactic neutral hydrogen gas fraction. However, uncertainties in the measurement of XLAE are still under debate. Aims. Thanks to deep data obtained with the integral field spectrograph Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), we can measure the evolution of the LAE fraction homogeneously over a wide redshift range of z ≈ 3–6 for UV-faint galaxies (down to UV magnitudes of M1500 ≈ −17.75). This is a significantly fainter range than in former studies (M1500 ≤ −18.75) and it allows us to probe the bulk of the population of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. Methods. We constructed a UV-complete photometric-redshift sample following UV luminosity functions and measured the Lyα emission with MUSE using the latest (second) data release from the MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey. Results. We derived the redshift evolution of XLAE for M1500 ∈ [−21.75;−17.75] for the first time with a equivalent width range EW(Lyα) ≥ 65 Å and found low values of XLAE . 30% at z . 6. The best-fit linear relation is XLAE = 0.07+0.06 −0.03z − 0.22+0.12 −0.24. For M1500 ∈ [−20.25;−18.75] and EW(Lyα) ≥ 25 Å, our XLAE values are consistent with those in the literature within 1σ at z . 5, but our median values are systematically lower than reported values over the whole redshift range. In addition, we do not find a significant dependence of XLAE on M1500 for EW(Lyα) ≥ 50 Å at z ≈ 3–4, in contrast with previous work. The differences in XLAE mainly arise from selection biases for Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) in the literature: UV-faint LBGs are more easily selected if they have strong Lyα emission, hence XLAE is biased towards higher values when those samples are used. Conclusions. Our results suggest either a lower increase of XLAE towards z ≈ 6 than previously suggested, or even a turnover of XLAE at z ≈ 5.5, which may be the signature of a late or patchy reionization process. We compared our results with predictions from a cosmological galaxy evolution model. We find that a model with a bursty star formation (SF) can reproduce our observed LAE fractions much better than models where SF is a smooth function of time.


Media websites are all available information on the Internet. Needs also use websites in need in an enterprise, companies can more easily promote their products using the website penjualan.Kualitas services in disseminating information on the sales website has become a very important requirement, as this may impact the level of subscriber satisfaction and community wide that will access the company's website. INDONESIA CV.PUSLIT website. INDONESIA Research Center or the IT Solution Center Indonesia is one of the companies engaged in the sale of which is highly dependent to the Internet. It is important for a website to be able to make the Research Center INDONESIA assessment of the quality of the website using the WebQual is one method or technique of measuring the quality of the website is based on the perception of the end user. This is because the Research Center is a company focused to serve the development of the product - software products (software or system) based Information Technology is marketed only through the website. This method is an extension of the widely used SERVQUAL prior to the measurement of service quality


We report the demonstration of a Cr:forsterite laser pumped by broad-area laser diodes producing non-diffraction-limited beams. The use of a thin crystal to reduce losses at the lasing wavelength and of short-wavelength pump diodes reduces the lasing threshold to <500 mW .Relatively low output powers (5 mW) are obtained, but prospects for increasing the power and achieving mode-locked operation of this laser are good and are discussed.


We report the results of fully relativistic distorted-wave calculations for (e,2e) collisions at high energies on gold and uranium targets in a coplanar symmetric geometry. The results for gold are in excellent agreement with available absolute experimental data. We also observe a peak in the triple differential cross section at large angles which may be interpreted in terms of a multiple scattering mechanism. In the present case of large impact energies, the ratio of the large angle to the binary peak is several orders of magnitude larger than that previously observed at non-relativistic energies. Our calculations indicate that this peak should be accessible to experiment. We propose a new geometrical arrangement for experiments which we believe offers distinct advantages in the study of distortion effects in relativistic (e,2e) processes.


In view of the existing problems in compressor control system,this paper introduced the applications of a PLC-based industrial Ethernet network control in the compressor,and had a full represent to the systems design and implementation process.


A 78-year-old man with a history of surgical resection for ameloblastoma 31 years earlier visited our hospital for prolonged cough. Chest computed tomography showed multiple nodules in both lungs. Although there was no local recurrence in the mandible, the specimen taken from a transbronchoscopic bronchial biopsy showed recurrent ameloblastoma. Despite receiving no treatment, the disease in our patient remained clinically stable for 8.4 years. Chest physicians should be aware that pulmonary malignant ameloblastoma can first relapse several decades after curative surgery. In addition, pulmonary malignant ameloblastoma without local recurrence may be associated with a good prognosis.


This month, BBC1 screened a television programme, Inside the Human Body: First to Last, in which a man's death was shown. This event was apportioned only a fraction of the total running time, but it garnered a lot of attention in the media. What did the programme, and the reactions of the national press and general public, tell us about current attitudes towards death and dying?


Presented is a novel method that can detect pedestrians in images based on the combination of AdaBoost learning with a local histogram's features. Instead of using the raw image for further processing, introduced is a layer enhanced by orientation filters which are superimposed to the original image. Experimental results obtained using the INRIA dataset show the superior performance of the presented method and thus demonstrate its robustness with the novel enhanced layer embedded pedestrian detector.


Olecranon fracture is relatively common and accounts for approximately 40% of elbow joint fractures. It is an intra-articular fracture, so the aim of treatment is anatomic reduction, stable fixation and early mobilization. Tension band wiring (TBW) may be a popular and widely practiced method using either single knot or two knots techniques. Now two knots TBW are widely accepted by AO foundation as well as various countries. But single knot technique is commonly practiced in Bangladesh. The present study was done to see the clinical, radiologi- cal and functional outcome of two knots Tension band wiring (TBW) in Mayo type IIA olecranon fracture. This observational study was carried out by the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 32 patients with Mayo type IIA olecranon fractures were treated with two knots TBW, out of which 30 cases had completed at least 24 weeks of follow-up and analyzed for final functional outcome with Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS). The mean age was 32.58±14.21 years and the male to female ratio was 2.6:1. The mean radiological union time was 8.15±2.25 weeks. In 6 (18.75%) cases, it took 6 weeks, in 18 (56.25%) cases, it took 8 weeks and in 8 (25.0%), it took 12 weeks. Complications were found in 21.9% of patients. At first follow-up after the operation showed that 21 (70.0%) had moderate pain and the final follow-up showed 21 (70.0%) had no pain. The mean arc of elbow motion at first follow-up and final follow-up were 61.090±16.2340 and 122.820±15.2870, respectively. The mean functional score at 1st follow-up was 6.75±5.63 and the last follow-up was 24.76±1.69. The mean total Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) scores at first and last follow-up were 40.65±14.48 and 94.13±8.35, respectively. Excellent and good outcomes were found among 21 (70.0%) and 9 (30.0%) patients, respectively. Two knots TBW technique is safe regarding overall complication rate, pain status and excellent outcome.
BSMMU J 2022; 15(2): 90-95


Questions about usual drinking play an important role in the construction of alcohol consumption measures. However, little is known about difficulties in answering these questions for respondents with variability in their drinking patterns. We investigated this in a community sample of 945 drinkers and in a clinical sample of 400 patients treated for alcohol and/or drug problems. Demographic variables were not consistently related to self-reported difficulty in answering, but a diagnosis of current DSM-IV alcohol dependence was significantly related in both samples. In modeling the relationship between alcohol consumption and DSM-IV alcohol dependence, the fit of the model to the data was significantly improved by the addition of a variable indicating respondents' difficulty answering the usual drinking questions. Using this information in the development of alcohol consumption questions may provide more precise estimates of the risk from alcohol consumption to outcomes such as alcohol dependence.


This paper reports an experimental comparison and analysis of latency for different modulation techniques at different data rates in W-band Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) transmission links. In addition, a software defined radio called GNU-Radio is employed with Universal Software Radio Peripherals (USRP) to generate and retrieve the transmitted signals. Likewise, it is used to test the end to end latency in the W-band RoF link. Our main contribution is achieving a W-Band low-latency wireless fiber link which fits to the key performance indicators of 5G networks.


This paper presents a measurement-based assessment of the impact of a high penetration of plug-in electric vehicles with on-board charger (EVC) and photovoltaic inverters (PVI) on Power Quality in a public low voltage (LV) network. The paper consists of two parts. This first part is focused on the impact on unbalance, the second part is related to harmonics. The results are based on extensive measurements in an urban residential grid with almost 100 households (HH), 43 PVIs and 36 EVCs. The impact of PVI and EVC on unbalance at different levels of aggregation is described in detail. At first the individual impact of a single PVI and EVC is discussed for different operating conditions. In particular, a sunny day, a cloudy day and hours during the night are used for PVI, while periods of charging and periods of no charging are considered for EVC. Next sections analyse the interaction between PVI, EVC and residual load at household level as well as the overall impact of PVIs and EVCs in the low voltage grid. The analysis considers current unbalance and voltage unbalance.


Provisions of the wajibah testament to adopted child contained in the Compilation of Islamic Law Article 209 verse 1 and 2 constitute a renewal of Islamic inheritance law in Indonesia, but many legal experts doubt the validity of this provision and assume it does not have a clear legal basic in the form of naṣ (maṣadir al- ahkām), the method of istinbath (qaidah al-ahkām) and the purpose or legal implications (maqaṣid al-ahkam). This study aims to verify the validity of the wajibah testament to adopted child with the siyāsah al-shar'iyyah approach. The results of the study showed that the wajibah testament to the adopted child are legal rules that run based on government policy to resolve the issue of inheritance between heirs or persons who have a close relationship with the heir but is prevented from inheriting. The government is making the wajibah testament for adopted child in KHI as a solution to resolve this problem.


Global investment in housing accounts for 15% to 35% of most developed nation's national budgets. In Nigeria, the figure is a dismal 0.4%! Although successive governments since independence in 1960 have implemented various policies and programs aimed at the provision of decent and affordable housing to the citizens, these have resulted in little or no effective solutions to the ever-increasing demand for housing in Nigeria. Rather, maladies of the deficits typified by slum settlements in urban fabrics characterized by naked absence of basic infrastructure, poor sanitary surroundings, dilapidated structures, physical dullness in the landscapes etc. making life disenchanting with challenges of social exclusion. This review is aimed at determining the housing shortage in Nigeria and its implications for sustainable urban planning development. Through explorative review of relevant literature on government efforts in public housing delivery, estimated demand, and slum option, a planning framework to ameliorate the consequence is recommended. Keywords: Housing, Planning, Sustainable Development.


Abstract Purpose To compare the Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System (RMHAS) with Integrative Vessel Analysis (IVAN) for retinal vessel caliber measurement. Methods Eligible fundus photographs from the Lingtou Eye Cohort Study were obtained alongside their corresponding participant data. Vascular diameter was automatically measured using IVAN and RMHAS software, and intersoftware variations were assessed by intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Scatterplots and Bland–Altman plots assessed the agreement between programs, and a Pearson's correlation test assessed the strength of associations between systemic variables and retinal calibers. An algorithm was proposed to convert measurements between software for interchangeability. Results ICCs between IVAN and RMHAS were moderate for CRAE and AVR (ICC; 95%CI)(0.62; 0.60 to 0.63 and 0.42; 0.40 to 0.44 respectively) and excellent for CRVE (0.76; 0.75 to 0.77). When comparing retinal vascular calibre measurements between tools, mean differences (MD, 95% confidence intervals) in CRAE, CRVE, and AVR were 22.34 (–7.29 to 51.97 µm),–7.01 (–37.68 to 23.67 µm), and 0.12 (–0.02 to 0.26 µm), respectively. The correlation of systemic parameters with CRAE/CRVE was poor and the correlation of CRAE with age, sex, systolic blood pressure, and CRVE with age, sex, and serum glucose were significantly different between IVAN and RMHAS (p < 0.05). Conclusions CRAE and AVR correlated moderately between retinal measurement software systems while CRVE correlated well. Further studies confirming this agreeability and interchangeability in large-scale datasets are needed before softwares are deemed comparable in clinical practice.


Leaving the parental home is a key step in successful transitions to adulthood. Early home-leaving (HL) is associated with lower educational attainment, but the role of early versus later home-leaving in the intergenerational transmission of education has not been assessed in previous research. We used a longitudinal register-based total sample of families in Finland to examine whether the association between parental and offspring education differs between early (below age 19) and later home-leavers, including a comparison between early and later leaving siblings. We found the lower probability of completing any secondary degree among early leavers to be larger among those with lower-educated than higher-educated parents. In contrast, in continuing to tertiary-level education, the educational disadvantage among early leavers was much larger among offspring of the higher-educated parents. Differences by HL across levels of parental education persisted adjustment for other parental and childhood resources, although only modest evidence of moderation was found when comparing early and later leaving siblings. Our findings on weaker intergenerational transmission of education among early leavers with an advantaged background, and accumulation of disadvantage among early leavers with less advantaged background suggest that timing of HL has an independent role in educational inequalities.


Individuals with prediabetes can lower their diabetes risk by participating in the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP), an evidence-based, group lifestyle change program that is taught by a certified lifestyle coach. To date, studies have not explicitly compared National DPP implementation across multiple settings (i.e., types of organizations) to understand comparative setting advantages or challenges to engaging priority groups. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of: (a) the variation in National DPP implementation across clinic, community-based, and digital settings and (b) associated facilitators and barriers. The study focused on three core implementation domains: recruitment, retention, and data reporting. This study used a descriptive, qualitative approach to identify current practices, facilitators, and barriers to National DPP implementation by conducting semistructured key informant interviews in spring 2018 with 12 organizations delivering the National DPP in Los Angeles County. There was a general commonality between in-person settings (clinics and community-based), while the experiences of digital providers were relatively distinct. Recruitment and retention were widely described by all settings as labor- and time-intensive, while data reporting was seen as relatively less burdensome. All respondents reported using multiple recruitment strategies. Lifestyle coaches were seen as key to retention, and they spent substantial time engaging with participants outside of class, which often was not accounted for in program costs. Data reporting was easier for organizations that invested in sophisticated data management systems and had staff with sufficient data experience. This study advances knowledge around the translation of the National DPP in diverse settings in the nation's largest county and highlights opportunities for targeted, setting-specific support.


This paper reviews the guidelines for behavioral programs published by the National Association of Retarded Children. The review discusses a number of reasons why guidelines should not be enunciated for behavior modification, e.g., the procedures of behavior modification appear to be no more or less subject to abuse and no more or less in need of ethical regulation than intervention procedures derived from any other set of principles and called by other terms. The review recommends alternative methods for protecting the rights of clients who participate in behavioral programs. Specifically, behavioral clinicians, like other therapists, should be governed by the ethics codes of their professions; also, the ethics of all intervention programs should be evaluated in terms of a number of critical issues.


This paper extends the single equation method of prediction in a simultaneous equations system by Takeuchi(1972) to a system method of prediction associated with the full information maximum }ikelihood(FIML)estimator. We derive the asymptotic expansion of the bias and the mean squal:e error of the proposed predictor to terms of order T-'(T is the sample size).


The root system of birch in the Genhe area of the Greater Hinggan Mountains region of Inner Mongolia was taken as the research object. The analytical method of wood and all mining method were used to measure different old birch root biomass to study the distribution features of white birch root biomass. The results show that ratio of root and stem of birch changes between 0. 1449 ± 0. 0439 and 0. 0930± 0. 0090,and has a tendency to decrease with increasing age. For each age group of birch root system small roots account for small proporation,about 2% to 5%,medium roots occupied 12% to 26%,large roots and coarse roots were main contribution part of the biomass,making up 60% to 80%. With the increase of tree age,the big root biomass proportion decreases continuously,and coarse root biomass proportion enhances unceasingly,this might be the result of roots system periclinal growth. Based on the data of20 parse trees,birch root biomass regression model,birch root biomass accumulated growth model,birch root biomass current annual growth model was established,each model has a high precision,which can be used in the Greater Hinggan Mountains Region of Inner Mongolia.


BACKGROUND
There is no gold standard on how national tuberculosis programs should design retreatment regimens. Often drug susceptibility testing (DST) is not available for all patients, and representative DST patterns in patient populations are used to guide therapy.

OBJECTIVES
To examine DST patterns in different patient populations based on previous treatment and to estimate the number of effective anti-tuberculosis agents in several retreatment regimens.

METHODS
We reviewed DST results from patients treated with individualized regimens in Peru between January 1998 and July 2004. We stratified patients into four groups based on previous treatment exposure from Group 1 who had failed only one regimen to Group 4 who had failed three regimens. We compared resistance frequencies across the four groups. In Groups 1 and 3, the number of likely effective agents under six possible retreatment regimen scenarios was estimated.

RESULTS
Resistance to second-line drugs was significantly higher in groups with more previous courses of treatment. A few retreatment regimens could be identified that would allow at least 80% of patients to receive at least four likely effective drugs.

CONCLUSION
Because it is associated with resistance frequencies, previous treatment exposure can serve to guide the design of non-individualized MDR-TB regimens.


The single electron capture process from adenine molecules by H+, 3He+, N+, O+, and Ne+ ions with an energy of 6.3 keV has been studied. It was found that when one electron is captured by He+ and Ne+ ions, the dissociative capture process is dominant, which is fundamentally different from the processes of capture by singly charged ions of atoms with a lower ionization potential and multiply charged ions, as well as from the process of electron impact ionization. This effect is qualitatively explained within the framework of a quasimolecular model.


A defining feature of radical behaviorism is the explicit inclusion of private events as material phenomena within a science of behavior. Surprisingly, however, despite much theorizing, there is a notable paucity within behavior analysis of controlled experimentation and analysis of private events, especially in nonhuman animals. One technique that is amenable to the study of private events is drug discrimination. For over 40 years, drug discrimination procedures have been an incredibly effective tool providing a wealth of in vivo pharmacological information about drugs including receptor selectivity, potency, and efficacy. In addition, this procedure has provided important preclinical indications of abuse liability. However, despite its prowess as a pharmacologic tool, or perhaps because of it, empirical investigation of its parameters, procedural elements, and variants is not currently an active research domain. This review highlights the drug discrimination procedure as a powerful means to systematically investigate private events by using drugs as interoceptive stimuli. In addition to the opportunity to study privacy, empirical evaluation of the drug discrimination procedure will likely inform and improve the standard practice for future endeavors in basic and clinical pharmacology.


Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) have been evaluated as promising anticancer drugs against glioblastoma cells. However, there are still lack of animal experiments and new HDAC inhibitors for clinical trials. In this study, we demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of novel pan-HDACi, SNUCH-1, comparing with other traditional pan-HDACi such as trichostatin A (TSA) and vorinostat (SAHA) in vitro and vivo. We performed cell viability, proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, HDAC enzyme activity and western blot assay using the three glioblastoma cell lines and two primary cultured cells. Furthermore, we examined the effects of SNUCH-1 by intracisternal administration on the orthotopic human xenograft glioblastoma mice model. We showed that SNUCH-1 decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner and suppressed proliferation with a stronger apoptotic activity than TSA and SAHA. SNUCH-1 inhibited HDAC enzyme activity and blocked cell cycle progression at G2/M, regulating cell cycle related protein expression more effectively than TSA and SAHA. In addition, SNUCH-1 significantly reduced tumor volume and revealed more powerful anti-tumor effect in vivo than TSA. Our results suggest that the novel HDAC inhibitor, SNUCH-1, is a potent therapeutic candidate for glioblastoma. Key words: Histone deacetylase inhibitor, glioblastoma, intracisternal administration Citation Format: Seung Ah Choi, Phi Ae Kwak, Young Eun Lee, Ji Hoon Phi, Jung Won Choi, Kyu-Chang Wang, Chul-Kee Park, Seung-Ki Kim. Anticancer effects of a novel histone deacetylase inhibitor, SNUCH-1, in glioblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5385. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5385


The SLCTM-96 subscriber loop carrier system is a digital subscriber carrier system serving up to 96 single-party customers. The system can be configured with an optional plug-in which digitally concentrates two standard, 1.544 megabit, serial pulse-code modulation (PCM) bit streams into a single stream, thereby concentrating 48 customers onto a single T1 digital line. The concentrator employs a custom NMOS lsi chip providing a full-access, time-slot interchange function. It has microcomputer controllers at the two ends of the system to control time-slot assignments. The development of the concentrator involved challenges in chip design, software design, and performance testing.


Select Research on People from the 2014 Cornell Hospitality Research Summit Technology is essential, data has become indispensable, and organizations remain fundamental, but people—both employees and customers—have been and will continue to be the core element of the hospitality and service industries. The Cornell Hospitality Research Summit (CHRS) held in October 2014 was organized to examine service innovation in a new light, focusing on a scientific and disciplined approach to the topic. This is the final report in the series of four that feature expanded summaries of select research on service innovation based on CHRS presentations. This third report highlights innovative strategies related to people—both employees and customers—including the differences in how customers view tangible and intangible premiums connected to a service experience, the effect of culture on innovation, and the differential approach that women take to service businesses, as compared to other industries. This report highlights research presentation from the summit addressing service experiences and women entrepreneurs: • "Managing Service Experience with Experiential vs. Material Complimentary Premiums," by HaeEun Helen Chun and Yue Woon Hiang (page 3) • "Women Entrepreneurs in the Consumer Services Sector," by Michele Williams (page 8) • Implications of National Culture for Incremental and Radical Service Innovation, by Muge YaylaKullu, Jeffrey Durgee, Adelina Gnanlet, Christopher McDermott, and Praowpan Tansitpong (page 13) • "The Use of Video and Storyboard Experiments to Test Service Innovations," by Michael Dixon, Liana Victorino, Rob Kwortnik, and Rohit Verma (page 16)


Techniques for obtaining quantitative values of the temperatures and concentrations of remote hot gaseous effluents from their measured passive emission spectra have been examined in laboratory experiments and on field trials. These emission spectra were obtained using an adapted FTIR spectrometer with 0.25 cm-1 spectral resolution. The CO2 and H2O vapour content in the plume from a 55 m smoke stack and the temperature of these gases were obtained by comparing the measured emission spectra with those modelled using the HITRAN atmospheric transmission database. The spatial distributions of CO2, CO and unburnt CH4 in a laboratory methane flame were reconstructed tomographically using a matrix inversion technique.


Cryptomeria japonica D. Don is one of the most important forest trees in Japan, but more than 10% of the Japanese population is allergic to its pollen. We constructed a cDNA library derived from pollen grains of C. japonica and performed an analysis of expressed sequence tags (ESTs). We obtained partial sequences from 1929 clones, which represented 1365 unique transcripts. Among the unique transcripts, 984 (72%) encoded proteins that were similar to Arabidopsis proteins with E-values of < 10(-5). Analysis of funtional composition of the pollen ESTs revealed the overrepresentation of mRNAs for proteins involved in protein synthesis and post-translational modification. The most abundant transcripts were derived from novel genes (CjMP1-related genes) and encoded proteins that were not homologous to any proteins in current databases. The CjMP1-related genes formed a multi-gene family and were expressed specifically in the pollen grains of C. japonica. An analysis of homologies between ESTs from C. japonica pollen and proteins in the Structural Database of Allergenic Proteins revealed that products of 48 of the clones (2.5%) exhibited significant homology to known plant allergens. Our results provide new information about pollen-specific genes and potential allergens in C. japonica pollen.


Enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE) induced by Chlamydophila abortus (formerly Chlamydia psittaci serotype1) is a major cause of reproductive failures in most sheep producing countries. In this study, the abortion prevalence of Chlamydophila abortus (C. abortus) in sheep abortion cases are evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and objectives are considered Chlamydiosis incidence of abortion in sheep in the northwest region of Iran. For this purpose, the contents of fetal tissue from 50 aborted fetuses were homogenized and DNA extracted from them and then PCR is done using specific primers for Chlamydophila (CHOMP191, CHOMP371). The study showed that about 26% of the total sample is contained Chlamydophila. This study confirms that C. abortus as an important cause of ovine abortion in the northwest of Iran and showed the PCR in tissue pools of aborted fetuses is a useful method for rapid detection of Chlamydophila abortus Ovis infections.


The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and predict genotypic values in sugarcane clones (series RB96) by the Reml/Blup methodology. The trial was installed in an unbalanced block design to evaluate the yield at three locations in the state of Parana. The ranking of the clones regarding yield differed from one location to the other, due to the genotypic correlation of intermediate magnitude (0.62) across the locations. The two best clones presented a mean superiority of 28% (RB955466) and 19% (RB965518) over the general mean of the three locations. A comparison of the methods Mhprvg (harmonic mean of the relative performance of genetic values, according to Resende 2004) and Lin and Binns (1988) showed that both selected practically the same clones but the Mhprvg method presented the advantage of providing results in the measurement scale of the evaluated trait.


This article discusses theories designed by medieval Arabic grammarians to explain one of the most puzzling topics in Arabic grammar, mamnūʿ min al-ṣarf (diptotes). The mainstream theory of mamnūʿ min al-ṣarf probably took on its definitive form in the early 4th/10th century; it differs from Sībawayhi's (d. ca 180/796) theory, yet consists of a generalisation of features found in the latter. A later modification, which retained its basic elements, was presented to the mainstream theory probably during the 7th/13th century. A radically different theory was presented by al-Suhaylī (d. 581/1185), who harshly criticised the mainstream theory as inadequate and arbitrary.


4604 Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between pathologic biomarkers and objective response (OR), time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) in advanced gas...


The induction characteristics of a solar cell to radiated electromagnetic disturbances have been studied experimentally and theoretically in order to clarify the antenna effect of the solar cell. First, the inducted the voltage in a solar cell has been measured when an electric field is impressed on a solar cell by a dipole antenna. Next, the solar cell is modeled by a conducting wire and was simulated by the method of moments. The calculated inducted voltage in the horizontal direction is in good agreement with the measured one, but that in the vertical direction disagrees somewhat. Consequently, it is shown that the conducting wire model with limited electric conductivity can apply to the induction characteristics of a solar cell. On the other hand, we try to measure the radiated emission frequency characteristics and induct voltage frequency characteristics, and compared then with each other. The emission measurement value is in good agreement with the inducted one, and so it is confirmed that the reciprocity theorem in the solar cell module applies.


Isolated porcine thyroid cells, cultured in the presence of thyrotropin (greater than or equal to 0.25 mU/ml) or prostaglandin E2 (greater than or equal to 0.1 micron), showed decreased adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) response to further thyrotropin or prostaglandin E2 stimulation, respectively. Kinetics of the refractory process to thyrotropin and prostaglandin E2 are different: (a) maximal refractoriness to prostaglandin E2 was attained after 2--6 h exposure to prostaglandin E2 while refractoriness to thyrotropin was maximal only after 12--24 h; (b) the degree of refractoriness to prostaglandin E2 was much greater than that to thyrotropin. Refractoriness to thyrotropin or prostaglandin E2 is characterized: by specificity for each thyroid stimulator; by dependence upon the dose of thyrotropin or prostaglandin E2 in culture, e.g. induction of high degree of refractoriness with 0.5 mU/ml thyrotropin (or 1 micron prostaglandin E2), which elicits only a small cyclic AMP increase; by time requirement for induction; by partial effect; by changes of maximum activation of cyclic AMP response; by reversibility. This refractoriness of the cyclic AMP response was not induced by dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate. It was not attributed to increased cyclic AMP-phosphodiesterase activity, but to alterations in the receptor-adenylate cyclase system. Prevention of refractoriness to thyrotropin or prostaglandin E2 by incubation of cells in the presence of actinomycin D, puromycin and cycloheximide suggests that new RNA and protein syntheses are required for the development of the refractory state.


The time course of DNA repair, using (3H)thymidine uptake as parameter, was measured during 8 h after a single exposure to 2, 8, and 16 UV-C J/m2 in lymphocytes of 8 cancer patients, 1 xeroderma pigmentosum patient and 10 controls. All patients had reduced repair, and all controls normal repair, as calculated 2 h after a single exposure. Six patients reached normal levels with a delay of 2-6 h, whereas 2 patients and the xeroderma pigmentosum patient did not. Although the kinetic curves in controls and patients had a similar form, those for 8 and 16 J/m2 in patients were shifted so that they corresponded to that of 2 J/m2 in controls. Additionally the ability to repair repeated damage (cells irradiated twice or three times at 2-hour intervals with doses of 2 or 8 J/m2) was investigated in 6 patients and in 7 controls. The incorporation values showed significant differences between patients and controls at each dose and time point. Cancer patients tend to repair repeated damage less efficiently than controls. Using these parameters subtle differences between the repair ability of individuals might be identified. Because of the known connection between reduced DNA repair and carcinogenesis, this might help to distinguish cancer-prone individuals.


Objectives
Maternal anemia is a well-recognized global health problem; however, there remain questions on specific hemoglobin thresholds that predict health risk or protection for mother and child. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the associations of maternal hemoglobin concentrations with a range of maternal and infant health outcomes, accounting for timing of measurement (preconception, first, second and third trimesters), etiology of anemia and cut-off category.

Methods
Our search strategy identified 7,677 articles. Screening and article selection was conducted using Covidence systematic review software to organize search results from PubMed and Cochrane Review. The systematic review included 272 studies and the meta-analysis included 102 studies.

Results
Low maternal hemoglobin (< 110 g/L) was associated with poor birth outcomes (low birth weight, OR (95%CI): 1.43 (1.31-1.55); preterm birth, 1.35 (1.25-1.46); small-for-gestational age, 1.08 (1.00-1.18); stillbirth, 1.43 (1.05-1.95); perinatal mortality, 1.73 (1.32-2.26); and neonatal mortality, 1.49 (1.19-1.87); and adverse maternal outcomes (post-partum hemorrhage, 2.17 (1.51-3.10); preeclampsia, 1.84 (1.31-2.59); and blood-transfusion, 6.57 (3.59-12.00). High maternal hemoglobin (> 130 g/L) was associated with increased odds of small-for-gestational age, 1.22 (1.08-1.37); stillbirth, 1.88 (1.21-2.91); preeclampsia, 1.48 (1.10-2.01); and gestational diabetes, 2.02 (1.63-2.50). Relationships varied by timing of measurement and cut-off category; limited data were available on anemia etiology. There were insufficient data for other maternal outcomes and long-term child health outcomes.

Conclusions
Current data are insufficient for determining if revisions to current hemoglobin cut-offs are required. Pooled high-quality individual-level data analyses as well as prospective cohort studies that measure hemoglobin throughout pregnancy would be valuable to inform the re-evaluation of hemoglobin cut-offs.

Funding Sources
This work was commissioned and financially supported by the Evidence and Programme Guidance Unit, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development of the World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland.


Femoral nerve palsy seconder to iliacus hematoma has been rarely reported in terms of blood coagulation abnormalities, either from anticoagulant medications or from hemophilia. The clinical symptoms vary from femoral neuropathy to fatal hypovolemic shock with increased used of anticoagulant agents; femoral nerve palsy subsequent to hemorrhage within the iliopsoas muscle has become a frequent clinical problem. In our case, a 73-year-old male patient presented to hospital with left leg pain and weakness. Lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and abdomen computed tomography (CT) showed a left-sided iliopsoas hematoma. An extraperitoneal inguinal incision (Gibson incision) was made. The hematoma was superior of the external iliac artery in the iliopsoas muscle. It was nearly 8 cm deep and was drained and evacuated. After the operation, the left leg pain decreased, and the weakness of left leg improved (3/5).


Computer Vision is considered to be one of the most important areas in research and has focused on developing many applications that has proved to be useful for both research and societal benefits. Today we have been witnessing many of the road mishaps happening just because of the lack of concentration while this http URL a part of avoiding this kind of disaster happening in day to day life there are many technologies focusing on keeping track of the vehicle drivers concentration.One such technology uses the method of eye blink detection to find out the concentration level of the driver.With the advent of many high end camera devices with cost effectiveness factor today it has become more efficient and cheaper to use eye blink detection for keeping track of the concentration level of the driver.Hence this paper presents an exhaustive review on the implementations of various eye blink detection algorithms.The detection system has also extended its application in various other fields like drowsiness detection and fatigue detection and expression detection.


Ground state energies of shallow states of donor impurities on cosine-shaped periodically rough interfaces formed by two isotropic semiconductors, such as GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs or GaAs/vacuum are calculated variationally with the approximation that interfaces represent infinitely high potential barriers. The results show that changes in the ground state energies of interface impurity states caused by rough interface are not negligible especially for GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs interfaces with sharp defects.


Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design, conceived and curated by Poynor for the Moravian Gallery in Brno, is the first major exhibition to explore the influence of Surrealism on graphic image-making and graphic design. Featuring more than 250 items — posters, prints, books, magazines, record sleeves, typefaces and films — Uncanny investigates the profound impact of Surrealist ideas and images on visual communication from the 1930s to the present.

The exhibition presents this material in seven sections. "Birth of the Marvelous" uncovers the origins of Surrealist design. "The Polymorphous Image" shows diverse examples of fantastical transformation. "The Surreal Body" focuses on treatments of anatomy, including the body in fragments and the eye. "Cabinets of Wonder" traces the influence of the Wunderkammer on graphic image-making. "Obscure Objects of Desire" considers the portrayal of woman as Surrealist muse. In "The Liberated Letterform" the alphabet assumes bizarre new shapes and words become as malleable and potent as other kinds of surreal image. "Dream Cinema" shows short films made by graphic artists under the spell of Surrealism.

Uncanny includes images and designs by Karel Teige, Jindřich Styrský, Toyen, Jindřich Heisler, Jan Svankmajer, Eva Svankmajerova, Josef Vylet'al, Karel Teissig (Czechoslovakia); Roman Cieslewicz, Jan Lenica, Franciszek Starowieyski, Bronislaw Zelek (Poland); M/M (Paris), Marion Bataille, Laboratoires CCCP (France); Andrzej Klimowski, Vaughan Oliver, Quay Brothers, Graham Rawle (UK); Elliott Earls, Brian Schorn, Edward Fella, Jonathon Rosen (US), and many others.


Does inflation have to happen all in one go? The answer is a resounding no! All cosmological problems can be solved by a sequence of short bursts of cosmic acceleration, interrupted by short epochs of decelerated expansion. The spectrum of perturbations will still match the CMB and LSS if the earliest stage of the last O(50)- O(60) efolds is at least O(15) efolds long. Other stages can be considerably shorter. But as long as they add up to O(50)- O(60) efolds and the stages of decelerated expansion in between them are shorter and also overall last less, the ensuing cosmology will pass muster. The presence of the interruptions resets the efold clock of each accelerating stage, and changes its value at the CMB pivot point. This change opens up the theory space, loosening the bounds. In particular some models that seem excluded at N=60 fit very well as shorter stages with N=30. Interesting predictions are that both the scalar and tensor spectra of perturbations are rapidly modified at short wavelengths. In the simplest cases the perturbations are suppressed relative to the perturbations at large scales just because when they freeze out, the background curvature is smaller. The modes which do leave the horizon however will remain frozen as long as the subsequent intervening stages of decelerated expansion remain short. These features could be tested with future CMB spectroscopy searches and with short wavelength primordial gravity probes. The spatial curvature in these models can be larger than the largest wavelength scalar perturbations, because Ωk evolves differently than the scalar perturbations δρ/ρ|S. Finally, with many short stages of accelerated expansion, the abundance of reheating products from previous accelerated stages does not get completely wiped out. This implies that the universe may contain additional populations of particles, more rare than the visible ones, or even primordial black holes, created during a late decelerated epoch before last reheating, which may be dark matter.


Kimura disease is a rare chronic inflammatory disorder mostly reported in males in second to third decades from south-east Asia. Head and neck is the most commonly involved region. The usual presentation is painless facial swelling with salivary gland involvement and regional lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis can be suspected on imaging but needs to be proven on histopathology. We describe three histopathology proven cases of Kimura disease and emphasize the specific clinic-radiological findings which can help in early identification of the condition and its differentiation from other diseases with similar presentation. Gray scale Ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CE-MRI) were done in all patients and Computed Tomography (CT) was done in one. The salient imaging features were ill-defined solid mass in the subcutaneous location of the facial region which was heteroechoic on Gray scale Ultrasound, heterogeneously hyperintense on T2W MRI and without much diffusion restriction. There was involvement of salivary glands with ipsilateral cervical adenopathy. The lesion showed avid contrast enhancement on contrast-enhanced ultrasound and CE-MRI. We also present a systematic literature review of clinico-radiological features in Kimura disease in the head and neck. The articles with histopathologically proven cases and satisfactory description of imaging findings were included and we have compared the findings in our cases with published literature. In addition, we have included examples of radiological mimics of this disease. Certain imaging findings are highly suggestive and can aid in early diagnosis of Kimura disease which helps in early initiation of treatment with better patient prognosis.


Observations of the water level in Beaver Lake, an epishelf lake in East Antarctica, show a
regular tidal signal that is lagged and attenuated from the tides beneath the adjacent Amery Ice Shelf.
The phase lag and amplitude attenuation can be created by a narrow inlet connection between Beaver
Lake and the cavity beneath the Amery Ice Shelf. A forced linear damped oscillator is used to determine
the inlet dimensions that are required to produce the observed phase lag and amplitude attenuation. The
model shows that the observations are consistent with a tidal flow that is restricted by the drag created
by flow in the narrow inlet. Analysis shows that the phase lag and amplitude attenuation of the tides in
Beaver Lake has increased over the years 1991–2002, probably due to a thickening of the overlying ice
shelf. The response is sensitive to subtle variations in the dimensions of the inlet.


Single image blind deblurring is highly ill-posed as neither the latent sharp image nor the blur kernel is known. Even though considerable progress has been made, several major difficulties remain for blind deblurring, including the trade-off between high-performance deblurring and real-time processing. Besides, we observe that current single image blind deblurring networks cannot further improve or stabilize the performance but significantly degrades the performance when re-deblurring is repeatedly applied. This implies the limitation of these networks in modeling an ideal deblurring process. In this work, we make two contributions to tackle the above difficulties: (1) We introduce the idempotent constraint into the deblurring framework and present a deep idempotent network to achieve improved blind non-uniform deblurring performance with stable re-deblurring. (2) We propose a simple yet efficient deblurring network with lightweight encoder-decoder units and a recurrent structure that can deblur images in a progressive residual fashion. Extensive experiments on synthetic and realistic datasets prove the superiority of our proposed framework. Remarkably, our proposed network is nearly $6.5\times $ smaller and $6.4\times $ faster than the state-of-the-art while achieving comparable high performance.