Optical photon propagation is an embarrassingly parallel operation, well suited to acceleration on GPU devices. Rendering of images employs similar techniques -- for this reason, a pipeline to offload optical photon propagation from Geant4 to the industry-standard open-source renderer Mitsuba3 has been devised. With the creation of a dedicated plugin for single point multi-source emission, we find a photon propagation rate of $2\times10^{5}$ photons per second per CPU thread using LLVM and $1.2\times10^{6}$ photons per second per GPU using CUDA. This represents a speed-up of 70 on CPU and 400 on GPU over Geant4 and is competitive with other similar applications. The potential for further applications is discussed.


Investigation into reproductive biology and the food and feeding habit of the 240 specimens of catfish Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus from Asa Lake in Kwara State, Nigeria was made. The total length of Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus ranged from 12.20 – 19.80 cm. The total body weight ranged from 9.76 – 58.030 g. The male length ranged from 12.20 – 19.80 cm while the female length ranged from 13.40 – 19.50 cm. Their weight ranges include 9.76 – 58.03 and 10.01 – 56.61 g in male and female respectively. The mean condition factor of the fish was 0.95 for both male and female. Male has the mean condition factor of 1.12 while the female mean condition factor is 0.98. The sex ratio of male to female was 1:8:2.1. The number of specimen for the stages of the gonad development varied for all the stages. The mean gonado-somatic indices for male and female were 0.29 and 3.27 respectively. The food items discovered in the stomach of C. nigrodigitatus were plant materials, mollusks, insect and fries of the same fish. Others are protozoan, worm, detritus, ova, and sand grain. The feeding flexibility and the fish size with respect to breeding and feeding habit were discussed. Keywords : Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus , reproduction, feeding habit, Asa lake Nigerian Journal of Fisheries Vol. 5 (1) 2008: pp. 73-84


In addition to the original mating type, the opposite mating type appeared in the zoospore population of single isolates of Phytophthora parasitica after long-term storage or chloroneb treatment. Occasionally self-fertile zoospores were also detected, but their self-induction nature was transitory and unstable. Both hormone production and hormone reception were changed in the sexual variants. The results explain the apparent change from cross-induction ('heterothallic') to self-induction ('homothallic') in P. parasitica after long-term storage and chloroneb treatment, and suggest one possible evolutionary origin of sex in the lower fungi.


The processes associated with sol-to-molecular gel transitions are often difficult to follow in real time due to the characteristically short time-frames for pseudo-crystallization leading to fibrillar objects and establishment of their 3-dimensional networks. We use fast infrared spectroscopic methods to overcome these difficulties in a 'demonstration of principle' study: the nucleation and growth of crystallites of two amide derivatives of (R)-12-hydroxystearic acid, (R)-12-hydroxy-N-propyloctadecanamide (1) and (R)-12-hydroxyoctadecanamide (2), in mineral oil over a range of temperatures. First, the gel properties were established by optical microscopic, differential scanning calorimetric, and rheological measurements. Thereafter, the environments experienced by individual functional groups within 1 and 2 have been followed as a function of gelation time, and the data were treated by Avrami and fractal models in order to extract the kinetics, activation energies, and natures of the growth processes. The data both provide insights and raise new questions concerning the manner by which the amide and hydroxyl groups interact over the critical time periods during which the fibrillar networks of the gels are being established. The results demonstrate the utility of fast infrared spectroscopy as a valuable new tool to probe intimate details of the processes associated with self-assembly. The techniques and methodologies described are amenable to use with a wide range of gelating (or other aggregating) systems.


Organic semiconductors combine flexible tailoring of their optoelectronic properties by synthetic means with strong light-matter coupling, which is advantageous for organic electronic device applications. Although spatially selective deposition has been demonstrated, lateral patterning of organic films with simultaneous control of molecular and crystalline orientation is lacking as traditional lithography is not applicable. Here, a new patterning approach based on surface-localized F-centers (halide vacancies) generated by electron irradiation of alkali halides is presented, which allows structural control of molecular adlayers. Combining optical and atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, it is shown that dinaphthothienothiophene (DNTT) molecules adopt an upright orientation on pristine KCl surfaces, while the F-centers stabilize a recumbent orientation, and that these orientations are maintained in thicker films. This specific nucleation results also in different crystallographic morphologies, namely, densely packed islands and jagged fibers, each epitaxially aligned on the KCl surface. Spatially selective surface irradiation can also be used to create patterns of F-centers and thus laterally patterned DNTT films, which can be further transferred to any (including elastomer) substrate due to the water solubility of the alkali halide growth templates.


PURPOSE
This study used the cross-modal picture-word interference task of P. J. Brooks and B. MacWhinney (2000) to compare effects of phonologically related words on lexical access in children with specific language impairment (SLI).

METHOD
Children (7;1 [years;months]-11;2) named pictures while ignoring auditory distractors. Three stimulus asynchrony conditions varied the timing of distractors relative to the pictures. Experiment 1 presented onset-related (bell-bed), unrelated (clown-bed), neutral (go-bed), and identical (bed-bed) distractors. Experiment 2 presented rhyme-related instead of onset-related distractors (clock-sock).

RESULTS
Children with SLI produced longer reaction times (RTs) and more errors than their typical language development (TLD) peers. For children with SLI, onset-related distractors led to slower RTs than unrelated distractors (inhibition) when presented before the picture, and faster RTs (facilitation) when presented after the picture. Children with TLD showed facilitation from onset-related distractors when presented after the picture but no inhibition when presented before the picture. Both groups failed to show facilitation from rhyme-related distractors.

CONCLUSIONS
The priming effects from onset-related distractors and lack of effects from rhyme-related distractors in SLI supports "just-in-time" incremental processing, similar to children with TLD. However, children with SLI experience phonological interference from members of a lexical cohort while accessing words. Results are discussed with respect to observed word finding and word learning difficulties in SLI.


The generation of acidity from oxidation of pyrite in acid sulfate soils requires the transport of oxygen into the soil profile. The sink for this oxygen will not only be the chemical reaction with pyrite but the biological processes associated with both microbial and plant respiration. The biological sinks in burning the oxygen (O2) will release CO2. The respiratory quotient which is the molar volume ratio of O2 : CO2 varies between 1.3 and 0.7 depending on the source of the organic matter being oxidised, but is generally 1.0. The oxidation of pyrite by oxygen will, by comparison with the biological processes, produce minor amounts of CO2 (if any) by reaction with intrinsic carbonate minerals. Gas samplers were installed into the soil at various depths and samples collected from these at approximately fortnightly intervals. The samples were analysed by gas chromatography and the CO2 and O2 profiles obtained. The flux of these gases was calculated and the difference between these attributed to the oxidation of pyrite. The flux difference varied over the period of sampling and on average gave an in situ oxidation rate of 11.5 tonnes H2SO4/ha.year. This is considerably more that the rate of export of acidity from this site and would explain the considerable actual acidity storage in these soils. A model is developed for steady state transport of oxygen into soils with an exponentially decreasing biological sink with depth and an exponentially increasing chemical (pyrite) sink with depth. The model is developed in non-dimensional variables, which allows the relative strengths and rates of increase or decrease in sink terms to be explored. This model does not explicitly treat the flow of oxygen in macropores. Other models that do explicitly calculate macropore flow are compared and found to give similar results. These results suggest that the use of biological or other sinks near the soil surface could be a useful method for reducing the oxidation rate of pyrite in acid sulfate soils.


The curing behavior of a thermosetting material that influences the properties of the material is a key issue for predicting the changes in material properties during processing. An empirical equation can describe the reaction kinetics of the curing behavior of an investigated material, which is usually estimated using experimental methods. In this study, the curing process of an epoxy resin, the polymer matrix in an epoxy molding compound, is computed concerning thermal influence using molecular dynamics. Furthermore, the accelerated reaction kinetics, which are influenced by an increased reaction cutoff distance, are investigated. As a result, the simulated crosslink density with various cutoff distances increases to plateau at a crosslink density of approx. 90% for the investigated temperatures during curing time. The reaction kinetics are derived according to the numerical results and compared with the results using experimental methods (dielectric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry), whereby the comparison shows a good agreement between experiment and simulation.


Direct detection of a planet around a star by a nulling interferometer, requires to minimize as far as possible the stellar leaks due to the resolved angular size of the star. The original Bracewell configuration features a nulling function in $\theta^{2}$ which is insufficient in many cases. Several interferometric configurations have been proposed in order to improve the quality of the rejection with a nulling function $\theta^{n}$ with $2 \leq n \leq 6$. I proposed recently a method to build linear configurations of telescopes that achieve nulling function $\theta^{n}$ for any even value of n, using the Prouhet-Thué-Morse sequence to select those telescopes where a π phase shift is applied. In a first part, I recall the basis of this method and its generalization to 2D configurations and 1D arrays of non-identical telescopes, or even to configurations where the phase shift is not π. In a next step, I evaluate the efficiency of deep nulling interferometers in real world, i.e. when nulling is not perfect because of variations of distances or of phase shift between telescopes. I conclude that there is a clear advantage given by the highest order systems that keep a better nulling capability than conventional interferometers, even in severe conditions where parameters driving the nulling performance are highly fluctuating.


Summary: Surgical decompression of the greater occipital nerve is used in the treatment of migraine headaches. Generally, hair is removed from the posterior scalp to aid with exposure and minimize interference. The securing of occipital hair with surgical tape and rubber bands instead of preoperative hair removal is a viable alternative. The preservation of hair length can lead to better patient satisfaction by avoiding the hair length discrepancies and has demonstrated a low risk of surgical-site infection.


Learning high-quality word embeddings is of significant importance in achieving better performance in many down-stream learning tasks. On one hand, traditional word embeddings are trained on a large scale corpus for general-purpose tasks, which are often sub-optimal for many domain-specific tasks. On the other hand, many domain-specific tasks do not have a large enough domain corpus to obtain high-quality embeddings. We observe that domains are not isolated and a small domain corpus can leverage the learned knowledge from many past domains to augment that corpus in order to generate high-quality embeddings. In this paper, we formulate the learning of word embeddings as a lifelong learning process. Given knowledge learned from many previous domains and a small new domain corpus, the proposed method can effectively generate new domain embeddings by leveraging a simple but effective algorithm and a meta-learner, where the meta-learner is able to provide word context similarity information at the domain-level. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively learn new domain embeddings from a small corpus and past domain knowledges\footnote{We will release the code after final revisions.}. We also demonstrate that general-purpose embeddings trained from a large scale corpus are sub-optimal in domain-specific tasks.


Viscoelastic and electrophysiological mechanisms have been implicated in the resetting of baroreceptors in hypertension, but resetting in response to hypotension has been less studied. To evaluate the temporal relationship between viscoelastic mechanisms and acute resetting, we examined the "in vivo" behavior of aortic caliber and aortic baroreceptor activity during step changes in pressure. Fifteen-minute hemorrhage in Wistar rats produced stable hypotension (30 mmHg) and viscoelastic contraction (111 +/- 14.2 microns systolic caliber; P < 0.01). Integrated aortic activity fell to 19.8 +/- 3.9% of control (P < 0.001) after 3 s of hypotension but recovered to 64 +/- 4.1% 15 min later (P < 0.01 from 3 s). Recovery of baroreceptor activity was linearly correlated to viscoelastic contraction (r = 0.963; P < 0.0001). Thirty-minute phenylephrine infusion (1.0-4.0 micrograms/min) produced stable hypertension (30 mmHg) and viscoelastic dilation (211 +/- 37.0 microns systolic caliber). Integrated aortic activity increased to 218.0 +/- 18% of control values (P < 0.001) 30 s after hypertension and was reduced to 164.0 +/- 12.0% (P < 0.001 from 3 s) within 30 min. Reduction of baroreceptor activity correlated linearly with viscoelastic relaxation (r = 0.963; P < 0.0001). The results indicate that in the in vivo rat aorta, viscoelastic mechanisms parallel and may contribute to the baroreceptor resetting during hypotension and hypertension.


Arctic warming has increased vegetation growth and soil respiration during recent decades. The rate of Arctic warming will likely amplify over the 21st century. Previous studies have revealed that the most severe Arctic warming occurred during the cold season (September to May). The cold-season warming has posited significant CO2 emissions to the atmosphere via respiration, possibly offsetting warm-season (June to August) net CO2 uptake. However, prevailing Earth system land models poorly represent cold-season CO2 emissions, making estimates of Arctic tundra annual CO2 budgets highly uncertain. Here, we demonstrate that an improved version of the energy exascale Earth system model (E3SM) land model (ELMv1-ECA) captures the large amount of cold-season CO2 emissions over Alaskan Arctic tundra as reported by two independent, observationally-constrained datasets. We found that the recent seven-decades warming trend of cold-season soil temperature is three times that of the warm-season. The climate sensitivity of warm-season net CO2 uptake, however, is threefold higher than for the cold-season net CO2 loss, mainly due to stronger plant resilience than microbial resilience to hydroclimatic extremes. Consequently, the modeled warm-season net CO2 uptake has a larger positive trend (0.74 ± 0.14 gC m−2 yr−1) than that of cold-season CO2 emissions (0.64 ± 0.11 gC m−2 yr−1) from 1950 to 2017, supported by enhanced plant nutrient uptake and increased light- and water-use efficiency. With continued warming and elevated CO2 concentrations under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario, the increasing rate of warm-season net CO2 uptake is more than twice the rate of cold-season emissions (1.33 ± 0.32 gC m−2 yr−1 vs 0.50 ± 0.12 gC m−2 yr−1), making the modeled Alaskan Arctic tundra ecosystem a net CO2 sink by 2100. However, other geomorphological and ecological disturbances (e.g. abrupt permafrost thaw, thermokarst development, landscape-scale hydrological changes, wildfire, and insects) that are not considered here might alter our conclusion.


In 84 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) the pulmonary resection for primarily revealed tuberculosis was done. Postoperative complications occurred in 16.7% of patients, one woman died. Clinical efficacy was achieved in 98.8% of patients. In 96.1% of patients the effect was preserved up to one-fourteen years of follow-up. In majority of patients significant improvement of a DM course was noted.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on the different dimensions of well-being that can occur in work integration social enterprises (WISEs). This study aims to call for a future discussion on the role of meaningful work (MW) and its impact upon well-being beyond satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach
Explorative interviews were undertaken with professional workers and beneficiaries within a Spanish WISE. These interviews aimed to uncover similarities and differences across aspects of what makes work meaningful to them as workers. Both eudaimonic and hedonic dimensions of well-being were used to analyse the data.

Findings
Different groups of employees show that professional employees (those working in the WISE, not because of their disadvantages in the labour market) create their narratives based on MW experiences (eudaimonic well-being), whereas beneficiaries (those working in the WISE because of their disadvantages in the labour market) often describe how satisfied they are at work (hedonic).

Originality/value
The concept of MW within WISEs to achieve well-being for both beneficiaries and professional workers could be enhanced through discussion of the different types of well-being that are being realised in such settings. Engaging with the concept of "eudaimonia" helps the authors to achieve this aim.


Hierdie artikel is 'n ondersoek na T T Cloete se gebruik van die internasionale Simbolisme. Die aaname is dat hy daardie digterlike stelsel op drie maniere herskryf het, naamlik om deur vermenging nuwe vorme te ontwikkel, deur die uitdrukkingskrag daarvan te verhoog en deur dit plaaslik en Suid-Afrikaans te maak, maar dit terselfdertyd vir homself toe te eien en dit aan te pas binne sy eie poetika. Vier aspekte van die Simbolisme word bespreek, naamlik die simbolistiese werkwyse, Simbolisme en musiek, die simbolistiese toon en die korrespondensies. Die vernaamste bevindings is dat Cloete die uitdrukkingskrag van die Simbolisme vergroot het deur dit te moderniseer, maar ook deur dit te deologiseer - dit wil se deur dit in 'n instrument te omvorm vir die bestudering van Deus, God.
Creolization of Symbolism in T T Cloete's poetry
This article is an investigation of T T Cloete's rewriting of international Symbolism, the assumption being that he has creolized this poetic system in three ways, namely by developing new forms by mixing, by increasing its expressive power and by making it local and South African, but also by appropriating and adapting it to his own poetical system. After pointing out two indications of creolization in Cloete's work, namely the creative mixing of words and concepts and the mixing of indigenous and colonial language, Symbolism is defined as a deliberate exploitation of ambiguity based on the notion of correspondences between all earthly things. Natural elements are used as metaphors, combined with all the resources of language to suggest a deeper or truer but unformulated second content in a poem. Creolization is here, in accordance with the views of E. Glissant, defined as a rhizomatic understanding of texts in complex webs of relations with three important core meanings, namely mixing of languages, cultures and traditions, a making-local that also entails appropriation and emulation and an expansion of the expressive power of the tradition. The analysis of the ways in which Cloete has transformed the symbolist tradition in poetry along these lines focuses on four aspects of Symbolism, namely the symbolist technique, Symbolism and music, the symbolist tone and the correspondences. Cloete's creolization of the symbolist method is explored in two poems, namely "oopooggebed aan ontbyttafel" (open-eyed prayer at the breakfast table) from Allotroop (1985) and "Insinjes" (Ensigns) from Met die aarde praat (Talking to the earth, 1992). In these poems Cloete evokes a second meaning without really giving it form in the way he uses natural things as metaphors and by subtle allusions to the Symbolists and their favourite colours. The latter poem also shows how Cloete enriches the symbolist tradition with words and concepts from natural science but also transforms it into a way of evoking the in-living of God. The next section links Cloete's symbolist use of bird imagery and bird song to the symbolist equation of music and poetry. In Cloete's poetry the ear is a favourite organ, since it brings disparate elements together. The sound of poetry is in his work a powerful instrument for the expression of the coherence of the whole cosmos and for evoking a second meaning, namely the presence of God in everything. The same goes for the way in which Cloete's poetry deals with the symbolist view of the imminence of death and the passing away of all things. His poetry presents an alternative to mortality by showing a universal interconnectedness and by developing new, modern metaphors for the synthetic power of poetry. One of them is the "laseraspaai" (laser I spy) - a modern instrument for spying out the rich interconnected diversity of creation. This universal interconnectedness, the idea that each thing contains a fine hidden essence of every other thing, is a central tenet of Symbolism and is creolized in Cloete's poetry in a variety of ways and, in his different collections, each time in a different metaphor that underlines this interconnectedness as well as the terrible state of being unconnected : juxtaposition, allotropy, entelegy, idiolect, curiosity. The all-inclusive whole is God, and His presence is evoked in Cloete's poetry in a myriad symbolist ways. Mixing languages and creating new compound words are but two of them. Though it focuses in the small and the local, in Cloete's poetry the unique time and place of every element is illuminated by the illimitable and the universal. Everything has its place in a great chain of being. On the whole, Cloete increases the expressive power of Symbolism not only by modernizing, but also by deologizing it, that is, by turning it into an instrument for the study of Deus, God.


India, consisting of 16 percent of world population subsists only on 2.4 percent land resources.  Agriculture is the only source of livelihood to the two third of the population which gives employment to 57 percent of the workforce. Agriculture in India is often regarded as gambling with monsoons, because of its almost exclusive dependency on precipitation from monsoons. The failure of monsoons leading to a series of droughts, lack of better prices, exploitation by middlemen, and Gene Modified (GM) seed companies who are selling expensive cotton seeds and fertilizers, all of which have led to a series of suicides committed by farmers across India. Farmers' suicides are a complex phenomenon. Since the 1990s farmer suicides in India have made headlines.  The journalist   Palagummi Sainath highlighted that 17,500 farmers were suicides between 2002 to 2006. The government figures show 14,000 farmers took their own lives in 2011. The total number of farmers' suicides crossed 3 lakh mark till in 2014.  That most suicides occurred in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab. This study seeks to investigate news items on farmers' suicides in the Indian newspapers. A quantitative content analysis was adopted in this research. This study used two English dailies i.e. The Hindu and The New Indian Express and two Telugu dailies i.e. Eenadu and Andhrajyothi were taken for analysis. It is not a random sample.  In this, a purposive sample method was adopted. The selection time period was one year i.e. from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015. Keeping in view ten subject categories have been mainly identified for this research. All the data collected were analyzed simple percentage and mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, Chi-square have been used for analysis.


Objective To date, the influence of the carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) rs2244613 genotype on the pharmacokinetics (PKs) and safety of dabigatran remains controversial. Hence, a systematic review was performed to study the association between CES1 rs2244613 genotype and the PKs and safety of dabigatran and CES1 relative expression. Methods In addition to the three English databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and Embase), two Chinese databases (CNKI and Wanfang) were thoroughly revised. The mean differences (MD) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were applied to evaluate the differences in PKs between the CES1 rs2244613 genotype. Odds ratio (OR) was used to study the risk for bleeding events between the CES1 rs2244613 genotypes. Subsequent expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analyses were performed to evaluate genotype-specific expressions in human tissues. Results Ten studies (n = 2,777) were included. CES1 rs2244613 G allele carriers exhibited significantly lower dabigatran trough concentrations compared to T allele carriers (MD: −8.00 ng/mL; 95% CI: −15.08 to −0.92; p = 0.03). The risk for bleeding events was significantly lower in carriers of the G allele compared to T allele carriers (OR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.44–0.96; p = 0.03). Subsequent eQTL analysis showed significant genome-wide expressions in two human tissues, whole blood (p = 5.1 × 10–10) and liver (p = 6.2 × 10–43). Conclusion Our meta-analysis indicated a definite relation between the CES1 rs2244613 genotype and tolerability variations or pharmacokinetic fluctuations. The carriers of T allele showed higher dabigatran concentrations; therefore, they would benefit from a dose reduction. Systematic review registration [https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-6-0027/], identifier [NPLASY202260027]. Graphical Abstract


PURPOSE
To examine whether dynamic contrast material-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging measurement of bone marrow perfusion in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in complete remission (CR) is associated with outcome and survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
After institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained, from September 2004 to October 2007, 51 patients (29 women, 22 men; mean age, 43.5 years; range, 17-66 years) agreed to undergo DCE MR imaging to assess bone marrow perfusion, among 96 patients with newly diagnosed de novo AML who had received induction chemotherapy and achieved CR. Two semiquantitative parameters (peak and slope) and another three quantitative parameters (amplitude, K(ep) [efflux rate constant], and K(el) [elimination rate constant]) were calculated. Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) were assessed with the Kaplan-Meier model, while differences between patient groups with high and low DCE MR imaging parameter values were assessed by using the two-sided log-rank test.

RESULTS
The median follow-up was 25.9 months. Univariate analysis results showed that high values of peak (≥0.42), slope (≥0.0235), amplitude (≥0.03), and K(ep) (≥0.0082) were associated with shorter OS (P = .004, 0.01, 0.034, and 0.026, respectively). Besides, a high value of K(ep) was also associated with shorter RFS (P = .008). When age, sex, and initial karyotype at diagnosis were included in multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis, the results showed that only K(ep), but not other DCE MR imaging parameters, was an independent factor for OS (relative risk [RR], 30.305; P = .021) and RFS (RR, 6.477; P = .009).

CONCLUSION
Bone marrow perfusion measured with DCE MR imaging in AML patients in CR can be an indicator of outcome and survival. K(ep) measured with kinetic modeling was useful and significantly associated with RFS, while heuristic parameters (peak and slope) were not.


The Italians had conflicting sentiments regarding the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in Italy in 1355: from the enthusiastic expectations of the impact the Emperor would have on the local political life to contemptuous scepticism and even to overt disdain. Two Italian Trecento madrigals have traditionally been considered to refer to this visit: (1) the three-voice polytextual madrigal Aquil altera/Creatura gentil/Uccel di Dio by Jacopo da Bologna, seen as related to Charles's coronation with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan; and (2) the two-voice madrigal Sovran uccello by Donato da Firenze, considered a celebratory piece for Charles's coronation as well. This essay explores the relevant historical contexts, Milanese for Jacopo's madrigal and Florentine for Donato's, with a view to placing both pieces.


Returning to school is accompanied by changes in role in the work setting and in the home setting, each of which may result in increased stress and conflict and may lead to burnout for RNs. A convenience sample of 54 students enrolled in an RN baccalaureate-completion program were surveyed to explore the relationships among life stress; the multiple time commitments of work, school, and home life; perceived support for returning to school from employer, colleagues, and family; and burnout in the work setting. Pearson's correlations indicated significant negative relationships among burnout and support from family and colleagues, and perceived control of the situation. There were no significant relationships between burnout and life stress or time commitments.


Background: In resource poor countries like Ethiopia the survival of patients treated with ART depends on a variety of factors, which might vary greatly with economic, demographic, behavioral and health risk factors. However, factors affecting survival in Ethiopia are poorly understood. The aim of this study is to determine causes of mortality in adult HIV-positive patients receiving highly active anti-retroviral treatment (HAART) in Dilla referral Hospital. Methods: The medical records of 1391 ART patients who enrolled at Dilla Hospital between 2010 and 2014 were reviewed and sociodemographic, clinical, behavioral and immunological data were collected. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to measure risk of death and identify the independent predictors of mortality. Result: Out of 1391 cohorts of adults ART patients 1081 (77.7%) were alive and continued their treatment in the hospital, 128 (9.2%) were reported dead, 111 (8%) were transfer out, and 71 (5.1%) were lost follow up. The probability of remaining alive and on treatment after 60 months of follow up was 89.3% for TB/HIV patients and 91.1% for HIV only infected patients. HIV patients who developed TB had shorter survival time than not developed TB. Death occurred 26% and 52% in the first 3 and 12 months of ART initiation respectively. The overall incidence rate of mortality during ART treatment was 3.5 per 100 person year observations (PYO). In multivariate analysis low body weight BMI <18.5 kg/m 2 (HR 3.12, 95% CI 1.39-7.76, P<0.0001), CD4 countless than 50 cells/mm3 (HR 4.55, 95% CI 1.19 – 8.44, p <0.002), anemia, WHO clinical stage III and IV, drug addiction and presence of active TB infection were predictor of survival and statistically significant association with mortality in HIV patients under ART follow up. Conclusion: The presence of lower baseline CD4-cell, TB infection, WHO clinical stage III and IV, lower body weight, anemia, and drug addiction were factors associated with mortality among ART clients. Improving nutritional status, prevention and control of TB and other opportunistic infections were the recalled recommendations to decrease AIDS-related morality. These determinants should be taken into account by health care providers to enhance better clinical outcomes of ART attendees.


The field of sequential decision making (SDM) captures a range of mathematical frameworks geared towards the synthesis of goal-directed behaviors for autonomous systems. Abstract benchmark problems such as the blocks-world do-benchmark problems such as the blocks-world domain have facilitated immense progress in solution algorithms for SDM. there is some evidence that a direct application of SDM algorithms in real-world situations can produce unsafe behaviors. This is particularly apparent in task and motion planning in robotics. We believe that the reliability of today's SDM algorithms is limited because SDM models, such as the blocks-world domain, are unsound abstractions (those that yield false inferences) of real world situations. This position paper presents the case for a focused research effort towards the study of sound abstractions of models for SDM and algorithms for efficiently computing safe goaldirected behavior using such abstractions.


This article aims to find out and compare the attitude towards yoga among girl students in the public campuses of Kathmandu and Rautahat districts. A comparative descriptive study including multistage (convenient, census and simple random) sampling methods was done among the total 60 respondent students from two campuses of Kathmandu and one campus from Rautahat. An interview schedule including ten statements (five positive and five negative statements) in a five-point Likert scale format was used as the tool. The attitudes' score of the students of Kathmandu was found better in all aspects than Rautahat. Total respondents of both districts had shown favorable scores i.e. obtained score > neutral score (1286 and 1065 > 900) or had positive attitude towards yoga. There was a significant difference on attitude towards yoga between the girls of both districts. The supporting variables in Kathmandu, i.e. positive gender feeling, leisure time, information, teachers' factor, yoga proficiency, social belief, home and campus environment than in Rautahat, are indicated as role player in creating the difference in the attitudes of the girls.


The main aim of the paper was to understand the different issues of unit of analysis in a business research. The qualitative approach was used to explore the different issues related to unit of analysis through in-depth review of literature. In this paper different levels of unit of analysis are described. The relation between the unit of analysis and unit of observation is explained. Faulty reasoning about the unit of analysis is discussed with suitable examples. The possible data analysis options are discussed taking into consideration the unit of analysis. This paper will be a good reference material for new researchers in understanding the unit of analysis for the planning and designing their research work at master's and doctorate level.


Follicular bronchiolitis is a rare pulmonary disorder characterized by the presence of multiple hyperplastic lymphoid follicles with a peribronchiolar distribution. An 11-year-old girl with total atelectasis of the right middle lobe (RML) and diffuse multiple small nodules at both lung bases presented to our hospital with frequent upper respiratory infections and pneumonia. The disease progressed during a 3-month period of macrolide therapy, and thoracoscopic biopsy with lobectomy of the atelectatic RML was performed. The histopathologic diagnosis was follicular bronchiolitis. The patient's pulmonary function improved dramatically after oral steroid treatment. It can be difficult to diagnose follicular bronchiolitis based solely on clinical, laboratory, and radiologic findings; the disorder must be confirmed histopathologically. A patient with longstanding irreversible atelectasis and resulting recurrent respiratory infection may require lobectomy for the diagnosis and treatment of follicular bronchiolitis.


We study the minimal speed of propagating fronts of convection-reaction-diffusion equations of the form u(t)+microphi(u)u(x)=u(xx)+f(u) for positive reaction terms with f(')(0)>0. The function phi(u) is continuous and vanishes at u=0. A variational principle for the minimal speed of the waves is constructed from which upper and lower bounds are obtained. This permits the a priori assessment of the effect of the convective term on the minimal speed of the traveling fronts. If the convective term is not strong enough, it produces no effect on the minimal speed of the fronts. We show that if f(")(u)/sqrt[f(')(0)]+microphi(')(u)<0, then the minimal speed is given by the linear value 2sqrt[f(')(0)], and the convective term has no effect on the minimal speed. The results are illustrated by applying them to the exactly solvable case u(t)+microuu(x)=u(xx)+u(1-u). Results are also given for the density dependent diffusion case u(t)+microphi(u)u(x)=[D(u)u(x)](x)+f(u).


PURPOSE
We evaluate the outcome vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in duplicated collecting systems compared to single collecting systems corrected using an extravesical detrusorrhaphy approach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We reviewed the records of 266 patients (422 ureters) treated for VUR using an extravesical approach between 1991 and 2001. Inclusion criteria were primary reflux in single (201 patients, 125 bilateral) or duplicated collecting systems (65, 31 bilateral) in patients not undergoing other concomitant surgery with at least 1 year of postoperative followup. The indication for surgical intervention was unresolved reflux (greater than 4 years) in more than 70% of patients. Postoperative evaluation included a voiding cystourethrogram at 3 months and 12 months if reflux was unresolved at 3 months. Also ultrasound was performed at 6 weeks or earlier if clinically indicated and 12 months.

RESULTS
Group 1 (duplicated collecting systems) and group 2 (single collecting systems) were comparable for age, sex distribution and reflux grade distribution. Overall success rate at 3 and 12 months was 94.7% and 98.9% for group 1, and 95.1% and 98.5% for group 2, respectively. The difference in success rate at 3 and 12 months was not statistically significant (p >0.05). Of note in both groups postoperative VUR was contralateral in more than 40% of cases. Postoperative hydronephrosis (Society for Fetal Urology grade 1, 2 or 1 increment in grade from preoperative status) was observed in 5.3% and 7.3% of ureteral units at 6 weeks in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p >0.05). At 12 months less than 1% of ureteral units exhibited low grade residual hydronephrosis. No high grade postoperative hydronephrosis was observed in either group, and there were no intraoperative complications. Postoperative urinary retention occurred in 4.7% and 4% of patients in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p >0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Common sheath extravesical reimplantation is highly effective in treating VUR. The common sheath extravesical reimplantation for duplicated collecting systems is as effective in nonduplicated systems and is associated with minimal perioperative morbidity.


Objective:This report evaluates the subjective, clinical, and functional long-term results comparing surgical and conservative treatment in patients with a primary traumatic patellar dislocation. Design and Setting:This retrospective clinical study focuses on patients with primary acute traumatic patellar dislocation. Patients with radiologic signs indicative of a predisposition for recurrent patellar instability were excluded from this study. Patients:A total of 126 patients were examined a mean of 8.1 years after initial treatment of their primary patellar dislocation. Interventions and Main Outcome Measurements:Patients were retrospectively divided into groups with conservative therapy (n = 63), diagnostic arthroscopy only (n = 20), immediate surgical reconstruction of the parapatellar ligament complex (n = 37), and refixation of osteochondral fragments (n = 6). Redislocation and resurgery rate, activity level, and subjective, clinical, and functional results were evaluated in these patients, and the outcomes in these groups were compared. Results:In the long term, functional results (as expressed in the Lysholm score) were excellent or good in 85% of the patients, and good subjective results were reported by 71%, but follow-up revealed a recurrence rate of 26% in the total study population. The high activity level before the initial trauma could not be completely regained after treatment. There was no significant difference between the surgically and conservatively treated groups in the redislocation and reoperation rates, level of activity, or functional and subjective outcomes. Conclusions:Even with a focus on acute traumatic etiology and when factors predisposing to recurrent instability are largely excluded, the redislocation rate after treatment of acute patellar dislocation is still high, despite good clinical and subjective results. Conservative management seems to be the treatment of choice in patients with acute patellar dislocation, provided that the generally accepted indications for surgery, such as evidence of osteochondral fragments and major defects of the parapatellar ligament complex, are given due consideration.


Health disparities in CKD remain widespread and deserve continued efforts towards elimination. Future research and policy goals should be targeted towards an understanding of the contribution of health care system practices, poor health literacy, lack of access to health care, urban segregation, and on rural isolation on the perpetuation of CKD health disparities. Eliminating these disparities will require understanding the contribution of health care system practices, geography, health care policy, biology, and genetics, which can lead to the development of novel interventions, innovative health care strategies, and ground-breaking policy interventions targeted at decreasing CKD associated health disparities.


This research is about the analysis of internal and external environment was done in STIE Galileo Batam. The aims of the research are and analyze the internal and external environments towards the achievement of organization goals. The researchs use a qualitative approach with descriptive type. Meanwhile the data collection used the documentation and observation. The data analysis technique used some kind of procedures such as the reduction data, the display of data and the conclusion. The conclusions from this research were shown that based on the analysis technique using internal and external evaluation factors. Based on that conclusion, the writer has suggested some advices such as the cost leadership and differentiation, increase quality of lecture and human resources, and improvement skill and experience of human resource to supporting for achievement of organization goals.


Revelation is a concept that has historically sparked many discussions due to its relationship with the metaphysic, its perception of its meaning and its truth. So, throughout the history, subject of metaphysics has faced many challenges. There are different views about the truth and the way of revelation. Ibn Arabi believes that revelation is the descent of the immaterial and rational meanings in the sensual forms on the level of the power of imagination. And he also believes that if man is elevated from the level of humanity to the level of spirituality, God himself speaks to him without intermediary. Imam Khomeini (peace be upon him) believes that understanding the essence of revelation is specific to divine special servants; having self-purity, it is necessary to receive the revelation truths.


Abstract. Nearly 30% of the world's population is currently suffering from one or more of the many forms of malnutrition. In Cameroon, 32% of under-five children suffer from moderate and chronic under nutrition, and 13% from the severe chronic form.    This study aimed at evaluating the nutritional status of preschool children using anthropometric indices and the relationship of these to the mothers' socioeconomic status in a regional setting in Cameroon. It was a cross sectional, descriptive and analytic study in which the anthropometric indicators of 375 preschool children were measured. Z scores of height for age, weight for height and weight for age were calculated using the WHO references.  These Z scores were correlated with the mother's age, her level of education, her marital status and the size of household. Z scores 2.0 for at least one of the two parameters, weight-to-height and weight-to-age, were noted in 8 (2.1%) children. Hence, the overall prevalence of malnutrition among pre-school children was 19.2% and 8.5% were underweight, wasting was observed in 7.5% and obesity was observed in 0.5% of the children. Being underweight was significantly correlated with household size (P=0.036), and stunting was significantly associated with maternal age (P=0.02). Malnutrition is frequent in apparently healthy pre school children in northern Cameroon and significantly associated with the selected socio-economic parameters of the mothers. Hence, anthropometric measurements should be done during routine school health visits. This helps to diagnose growth faltering and timely referral to hospitals for appropriate management. Key words:  Anthropometry - Preschool children - Garoua - Cameroon - Z-scores


The aims of the study were to understand the physiological and phenological relationship between Bruchus rufimanus and Vicia faba in the perspective of IPM strategies. V. faba, an important food resource for humans and livestock is the main host plant of B. rufimanus. Adults feed on the pollen, females lay eggs on pods, and larvae develop into the seeds. Pending the blooming phase, the weevil may feed on the pollen from wild plants. Depending on the sowing date, the phenological time lag should lead the plant parts, most utilized by the weevil, less or more available during the key life stages of the pest. The aims of the study were therefore (1) to assess the impact of the sowing date (i.e., cultivars) on the phenological relationship between B. rufimanus and V. faba, and (2) to identify alternative pollen resources during the vegetative phase. Insects were collected weekly on two cultivars: winter-sown and spring-sown fields. Ovarian development, fecundity, and diet were monitored using dissected adults. Results showed that immature adults colonized the blooming winter-sown field and then 2 weeks later, the blooming spring-sown field. Sexual maturity of the weevils is related with V. faba pollen consumption. The sexual maturity of females increased with the growing density of flowers and the first pods were quickly covered with eggs. In spring-sown field, first pods grew 19 days later, while collected females in winter sown field had already laid most of their eggs. Feeding tests were carried using flowers collected from plants growing close to the fields: wild chervil, oilseed rape and wild Prunus. All this pollen were consumed by the weevils. The study showed a perfect synchrony between the host and the pest. Late sowing date and control of the early blooming wild plants surrounding the crops might reduce the attacks in field beans. More broadly, the study helps to understand the eco-ethology of the insect in cultivated areas.


Aim: To synthesize relevant literature speci fi c to disaster vulnerability of elderly and medically frail individuals in the USA and investigate the role of the public health nurse in mitigating the problem. Methods: Focused review of the literature, including peer-reviewed research, journal articles, news articles, education materials and reports from governmental and senior advocacy groups. Results: Disaster vulnerability of the elderly and the medically frail is related to sociodemographic factors such as advanced age, low socioeconomic status, female gender, low education and language barriers. The presence of chronic illnesses, de fi cits in mobility, cognitive, and sensory capacity, reliance on others and devices, lack of social support, and previous experience with disaster also contribute to their vulnerability. Conclusions: The elderly and the medically frail are highly vulnerable to the negative consequences of disaster. Implications for public health nursing practice before, during and after disaster, as well as nursing research, are highlighted.


Formation which is an indicator of nonuniformity in fiber distribution is concerned with small scale variation in roughness, optical properties, print density, and so on. This study evaluated the formation of sheets which were made usning handsheet former and papermachine with hydraulic headbox. Optical method and β-ray method were used for formation test. The fiber type, freeness and basis weight of sheet were considered as variables. The formation of handsheet was affected by fiber type and freeness, and floc size distribution was influenced by basis weight. For machine made sheet, its formation seemed to be dependent on the hydraulic forces in headbox and former. When two formation test methods were compared, there was the highest relationship between optical formation index and normalized standard deviation from β-ray method.


Background Various immunological abnormalities contribute to the development and perpetuation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Since SLE is a molecularly heterogeneous disease, targeted therapy has not yet been fully established. It seems to be important to explore the characteristic and interaction among the immune cell phenotypes in this disease. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the peripheral immune cell phenotypes with clinical manifestations and responsiveness to immunosuppressive therapy in patients with SLE. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained from 143 SLE patients and 26 healthy donors (HD). The blood samples were taken at baseline and week 24 after treatment. The subset of circulating B, T and dendritic cells was defined based on comprehensive 8-color flow cytometric analysis for human immune system termed "the Human Immunology Project" proposed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS). The correlation of immune cell phenotypes with clinical characteristics and responsiveness to immunosuppressive therapies, such as cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, or calcineurin, in addition to high-dose glucocorticoids, were evaluated. Patients who were required more than two different immunosuppressant therapies in addition to glucocorticoids were considered treatment resistant. Results The frequency of CD3+CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+ T follicular helper (Tfh) cell, but not CD3+CD4+CXCR3+CCR6- Th1 cell and CD3+CD4+CXCR3-CCR6+ Th17 cell, were higher in SLE than that in HD (mean 1.1 vs 0.8, p=0.01). The frequency of CD19+CD20+IgD+CD27+ central memory B cell and CD19+CD20+IgD-CD27- effector B cell were higher in SLE than that in HD (mean 23.6 vs 15.1 and 10.7 vs 5.2, p≤0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). The largest difference relative to the HD was observed in the proportion of CD19+CD20-CD27+CD38+ plasmablast, which was higher in SLE (mean 16.2 vs 3.7, p<0001) and correlated with BILAG index (r=0.24, p<0.001). The proportion of Tfh cell significantly correlated with serum IgG level (r=0.35, p<0.001), and the proportion of CD3+CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+ CD69+ activated Tfh cell correlated with serum anti-Sm antibody level (r=0.26, p=0.01). Among helper T cell subsets (Th1, Th17, Treg and Tfh), the proportion of Tfh cell only showed positive correlation with that of plasmablast (r=0.24, p=0.02). Treatment resulted in marked improvement in disease activity scores, such as SLEDAI and BILAG and resulted in significant decreased proportions of plasmablast and Tfh cell (plasmablast; mean 17.6 to 10.1, p<0.01, Tfh; mean 1.1 to 0.7, p<0.01). The percentage of patients who showed treatment resistance was highest among patients with high percentage of Tfh cell (p=0.03). Conclusions Peripheral immuno-phenotyping confirmed the importance of Tfh cell and plasmablast in patients with SLE, i.e. activation of Tfh cell correlated with autoantibody production while plasmablast did with disease activity of SLE. Our findings supported the relevance of Tfh cell-plasmablast axis as a potential therapeutic target for SLE. The peripheral immunophenotyping might be useful in evaluating the pathogenesis and in determining the therapeutic target of each patient. Disclosure of Interest S. Nakayamada: None declared, S. Kubo Speakers bureau: Bristol-Myers, M. Yoshikawa: None declared, Y. Miyazaki: None declared, S. Iwata: None declared, I. Miyagawa: None declared, K. Nakano: None declared, K. Saito: None declared, Y. Tanaka Grant/research support from: Mitsubishi-Tanabe, Takeda, Daiichi-Sankyo, Chugai, Bristol-Myers, MSD, Astellas, Abbvie, Eisai, Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Chugai, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bristol-Myers, Mitsubishi-Tanabe, Astellas, Takeda, Pfizer, Teijin, Asahi-kasei, YL Biologics, Sanofi, Janssen, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline


Background. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in Hispanic populations represents a public health problem that requires priority attention because its incidence and mortality increase annually. Intensive chemotherapeutic schemes in the last decade in the United States and other countries and have led to higher rates of durable remissions. However, these schemes have shown disappointing results in Hispanic populations. In Colombia, for example, the median overall survival (OS) is less than 11.3 months, the event-free survival (EFS) is 7.34 months, and only 61% of patients achieve complete remission (CR). Therefore, it is interesting to explore the underlying molecular characteristics of the disease in Hispanic patients. Previously we identified a gene expression signature associated with response to induction treatment and outcome of adult Hispanic patients with B-ALL. These ID1, ID3 and IGJ seem to be involved in many tumorigenic processes. The goal of our study is identify the role of these genes in B-ALL and its relevance in the prognosis and progression of disease in an in vitro model. Methods. CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Engineering and expression-ready ORF cDNA clones were used to either down-regulate or over-express, respectively, the expression of ID1, ID3 and IGJ genes in the adult B-ALL cell line NALM6. We used TaqMan to quantify the levels of mRNA expression of ID1/ID3/IGJ genes after over-expression. Protein expression by Flow Cytometry was used to verify silencing and over-expression of our 3-genes signature. Cell viability and proliferation were determined by anexin V-PI and MTT assay, respectively at 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after modulation. Cell cycle analysis was performed using BrdU and 7-AAD. Separately, increasing doses of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and cytarabine were used to determine the role of ID1, ID3, and IGJ genes in chemo resistance at 24, 48, 72, 96, and 144 hours. Total RNA from leukemic cells was isolated using Trizol method. We used microarray analysis to identify genes differentially expressed after silencing/overexpression. We performed Immunophenotype analysis of 43 B-ALL adult Hispanic patient Bone Marrow samples using the panel of antibodies recommended and standardized by the European consortium Euroflow. Correlation analysis were used to establish the association between our 3-Gene expression signature and the expression of surface markers currently used for diagnostic and follow-up of B-ALL patients. Results. We observed that both overexpression and silencing of ID1, ID3 and IGJ modulated B-ALL cells cell cycle. ID1/ID3/IGJ overexpression resulted in a loss of S phase and arrest of the cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. On the contrary, ID1/ID3/IGJ silencing induced a loss of G0/G1 phase and gain in the number of cells in G2/M and S phases. Gain-of-expression and loss-of-expression analyses using incremental doses of chemotherapy agents currently used in the B-ALL treatment, demonstrate that ID1/ID3/IGJ signature promotes drug resistance of the NALM6 B-ALL cell line. Clinically, patients with higher ID1/ID3/IGJ expression have high expression of CD20 and CD10 markers (aberrantly expressed in immature cells) and shorter OS and EFS. In addition, more than 2,000 genes that are differentially expressed in the cells with modulation of the expression of ID1/ID3/IGJ suggesting a complex network of biological processes implicated in the drug resistance and poor prognosis present in the patients with this 3-gene signature. Conclusions. Our data identify the ID1/ID3/IGJ signature as possible modulator of molecular events during B-ALL differentiation, proliferation and drug resistance. These results highlight the potential role of this gene signature both as a risk stratification tool and as a candidate therapeutic target in Hispanic population. Citation Format: Nataly Cruz-Rodriguez, Alba Lucia Combita, Jone Garai, Leonardo Jose Enciso, Sandra Milena Quijano, Silvia Serrano-Gomez, Li Li, Jovanny Zabaleta. Biological and clinical significance of ID1/ID3/IGJ expression signature modulation in B-Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B36.


Myeloma cells as well as other hematopoietic cells exist in the bone marrow (BM), where adhesion molecules, cytokines and chemokines may play very important roles in regulating the survival, proliferation and lodgment of myeloma cells. Galectin-1(Gal-1) is a 14 KDa protein with the binding affinity to the molecules which carry β galactosides in their structure such as CD3, CD4, CD7, CD43, CD45 and integrins. Although Gal-1 is considered to be ubiquitously present in the BM, it remains to be clarified what is the effect of Gal-1 on the survival of myeloma cells. First, we confirmed that Gal-1 as well as SDF-1 was ubiquitously present in the extracellular space of BM samples from MM patients by the immunohistochemical staining. Furthermore, the expression of Gal-1 gene was found in a BM stromal cell line, KM-102, and also in primary myeloma cells as well as myeloma cell lines, while the expression of SDF-1 gene was detected in KM-102 cells but not in myeloma cells. In the serum-free culture in vitro , Gal-1 could support the survival of primary myeloma cells in the combination with IL-6 and SDF-1 at least for 2 weeks. In order to clarify the mechanism of the effect of Gal-1, we examined the effect of Gal-1 on the survival of myeloma cell lines and B cell l,ines; Ga-1 could support the survival of CD45- U266 and KMS-5 cells, but not support and suppress the survival of B cell lines (Raji and KUS cells) which express CD45, CD45RA and CD45RB but not CD45RO. By using the transfectants of CD45RA, CD45RB or CD45RO in U266 cells, we confirmed that Gal-1 could suppress the survival of CD45RA+ U266 cells as well as B cell lines but not of CD45RB or CD45RO transfectants of U266 cells. These data confirmed that Gal-1 could bind to the CD45RA molecule more effectively than CD45RB or CD45RO. We also revealed that Gal-1 stimulation inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in CD45RA+ U266 cells as well as B cell lines, while in CD45- myeloma cells as well as CD45RO+ myeloma cells Gal-1 induced the activation of Akt. Therefore, these data suggest that Gal-1 plays an important role in the supporting the survival of myeloma cells but not B cells in the BM microenvironment.


The field of Psychology, which is the study of the mind, is one of extraordinary breadth. As a field of study, Psychology must encompass not only a description of the many and various aspects of everything minds do, but of increasing interest in the 20th Century, the mechanisms by which specific brain processes develop and maintain the various and numerous components and functions of the mind. A primary shift in the 20th Century was for Psychology to move beyond its initial focus on describing what minds do, with a major focus on disturbed or abnormal behavior, to an in depth, scientific study of how, and even why, the various components and functions of the mind work as they do, specifically in terms of brain function. Put simply, Psychology in the 20th Century became a science. Central to the scientific study of Psychology has been the need to encompass and explain the vast individual differences that comprise the broad spectrum of mental and neurological functioning, from what is considered within the range of normal to what is classified or diagnosed as abnormal. Similarly, it has been necessary to account for individual differences in the rate and order of acquisition of a myriad of developmental processes, as well as for factors effecting creativity and originality throughout the life span.


By hydrolysis and hydrogenolysis, plant polysaccharides, i.e. mainly cellulose and hemicelluloses, can be converted with high yields into polyhydric alcohols (hexitols, pentitols, glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol). Procedures which have been developed in the U.S.S.R. are described. Of particular interest is the simultaneous hydrolysis and hydrogenolysis of plant polysaccharides with noble metal catalysts. Here yields are almost quantitative.


The characteristics that detectives believe are required to be an 'effective detective' were explored in this study. A Repertory Grid Technique and Critical Incident Technique were used to explore in detail the views of experienced detectives (N = 30) from five different police services in Australia and New Zealand about what makes an effective detective. The findings suggest that detectives hold a complex and challenging role that requires 11 key skills. By far, the most important factor was communication skills, particularly how to communicate effectively with a variety of people varying from victims and suspects to colleagues and scientific experts. High levels of motivation and thoroughness closely followed communication as essential skills. The implications of these findings for the recruitment, training and management of detectives are discussed.


In this study, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was used to analyze the genealogical relationship of 7 introgressed cotton varieties from the hybridization of upland (Gossypium hirsutum L) and sea-island cottons (Gossypium barbadense L). Ten pairs of primer combinations with high polymorphism and resolution were selected from 64 primers. These 10 primer combinations resulted in a total of 480 bands, of which 374 bands (77.9%) were polymorphic and 51 bands (10.6%) were specific. Cluster analyses showed that 7 varieties of cottons were divided into two groups. Our results suggested that interspecific hybridization is feasible to broaden germplasm of upland cotton and AFLP technique could be applied for the identification of variety purity and genealogical relationship.


Incubation of inner mitochondrial membranes from rat liver in the presence of inducers of peroxidation reactions, such as ascorbate or cysteine, produced a large loss in cytochrome oxidase activity parallel to the disappearance of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine molecular species, which contained a saturated and an unsaturated fatty acid. The loss in enzyme activity was unrelated to alterations in other species of these phospholipids or other ones. These results may reflect the existence of specific associations within the membrane between cytochrome oxidase and monosaturated phosphatidylcholines and/or phosphatidylethanolamines.


All possible stereoisomeric alcohols (6-benzyl-8-(4-methoxybenzyl)-6,8-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonan-2-ol) and methyl ethers (6-benzyl-2-methoxy-8-(4-methoxybenzyl)-6,8-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane) are prepared from (R)- and (S)-glutamate. A Dieckmann analogous cyclization, which makes use of trapping the primary cyclization product with Me3SiCl, generates the bicyclic framework. Stereoselective LiBH4 reduction and Mitsunobu inversion establish the configuration in position 2. Enantiomeric alcohols 15 (1S,2S,5R) and ent-15 (1R,2R,5S) as well as diastereomeric methyl ethers ent-17 (1R,2R,5S) and ent-22 (1R,2S,5S) display high sigma1 receptor affinity. Cell growth inhibition of the stereoisomeric alcohols and methyl ethers against five human tumor cell lines is investigated. In particular, at a concentration of 20 muM the four methyl ethers stop completely the cell growth of the small cell lung cancer cell line A-427, indicating a specific target in this cell line. The IC50-values of methyl ethers ent-17 and ent-22 are in the range of the antitumor drugs cisplatin and oxaliplatin. Binding assays show that the investigated tumor cell lines express considerable amounts of sigma1 and sigma2 receptors.


Epidemiological studies of workers in weaving units in carpet industries have shown relationships between the airborne dust concentrations and pulmonary ill health. Therefore, to predict the health risk of carpet weavers, this preliminary experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of carpet dust (knotted, tufted) on cellular and biochemical mediators considered as potential biological markers of lung injury. Lung cytoplasmic (lactate dehydrogenase, LDH), lysosomal (acid phosphatase, ACP), type II (alkaline phoshatase, ALP) and Clara-cell marker enzymes (gamma-glutamyl transferase, GGT) were monitored in rat cell-free lung lavage (BAL) during postexposure days 1, 4, 8, and 16. Furthermore, lung microsomal cytochrome P-450 (CYP450) and Clara-cell secretory protein (CC16) content in BAL was also evaluated. These pulmonary marker enzymes were significantly elevated during the postexposure period over the respective untreated control; however, tufted carpet dust shows more responses than knotted carpet dust. Lung CYP450 content was reduced significantly at early days; the pattern shows the reoccurrence of CYP450 content in the later stage of postexposure to carpet dust. Clara-cell secretory protein in BAL shows decline in the carpet-treated group; however, tufted carpet shows more decline than knotted carpet. Thus, reduction in CC16 level may have important implication in the development of chronic lung inflammation and diseases. Present investigation found that modulation of these cellular marker enzymes is clear evidence of pulmonary damage caused by exposure to carpet dust.


The echolocation range and the remote sensing of ethylene in the atmosphere are simulated for a differential-absorption lidar based on TEA CO2 lasers. The dependence of the lidar echolocation range on the energy and the peak power of probe pulses is shown to be close to logarithmic. It is demonstrated that the use of narrow-band spectral filters is justified only for low-noise detectors and viewing angles of the receiver exceeding 5 mrad. The relative measurement error of the ethylene concentration in the atmosphere is estimated for various detection modes.


Closed ankle injury without fracture is a common finding in the emergency room. Outcome is generally spontaneously favorable, the injury having no long-term clinical impact. Exceptionally, these injuries can be associated with arterial damage. We report a case of an apparently benign closed ankle injury which was found to be associated with serious arterial damage. Forced dorsal flexion of the ankle joint during a traffic accident caused an arterial lesion without any apparent damage to the bone and joints. The posterior tibial artery was interrupted leading to subacute ischemia of the foot. The diagnosis was established 17 days after trauma. Revascularization could not be achieved and leg amputation was necessary. This case illustrates the difficulties encountered in this type of vascular injury. Most cases in the literature have also involved late diagnosis with often serious clinical impact. Clinicians should be aware of this rare complication of apparently benign ankle injury because of the risk of major loss of function.


ABSTRACT This paper contends that play, not achievement, is the primary intrinsic good internal to game-playing, and supports a relational, as opposed to formal, conception of achievement.


Capacitive crosstalk between adjacent signal wires has significant effect on performance and delay uncertainty of point-to-point on-chip buses in deep submicrometer (DSM) VLSI technologies. We propose a hybrid polarity repeater insertion technique that combines inverting and non-inverting repeater insertion to achieve constant average effective coupling capacitance per wire transition for all possible switching patterns. Theoretical analysis shows the superiority of the proposed method in terms of performance and delay uncertainty compared to conventional and staggered repeater insertion methods. Simulations at the 90-nm node on semi-global METAL5 layer show around 25% reduction in worst case delay and around 86% delay uncertainty minimization compared to standard bus with optimal repeater configuration. The reduction in worst case capacitive coupling reduces peak energy which is a critical factor for thermal regulation and packaging. Isodelay comparisons with standard bus show that the proposed technique achieves considerable reduction in total buffers area, which in turn reduces average energy and peak current. Comparisons with staggered repeater which is one of the simplest and most effective crosstalk reduction techniques in the literature show that hybrid polarity repeater offers higher performance, less delay uncertainty, and reduced sensitivity to repeater placement variation.


Block ciphers are protected against side-channel attacks by masking. On one hand, when the leakage model is unknown, second-order correlation attacks are typically used. On the other hand, when the leakage model can be profiled, template attacks are prescribed. But what if the profiled model does not exactly match that of the attacked device?One solution consists in regressing on-the-fly the scaling parameters from the model. In this paper, we leverage an Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to implement such an attack. The resulting unprofiled EM attack, termed U-EM, is shown to be both efficient (in terms of number of traces) and effective (computationally speaking). Based on synthetic and real traces, we introduce variants of our U-EM attack to optimize its performance, depending on trade-offs between model complexity and epistemic noise. We show that the approach is flexible, in that it can easily be adapted to refinements such as different points of interest and number of parameters in the leakage model.


Abstract. The paper investigates the ionospheric variations before some large earthquakes that occurred during 2004–2007 in Sumatra using GPS and CHAMP data. The TEC shows the occurrence of positive and negative anomalies detected within a few hours to 6 days before the earthquakes. These anomalies mostly occur during the daytime hours between 4 and 17 LT. The TEC anomalies are mostly consistent with the CHAMP satellite electron density data. The electron density analysis over the 28 March 2005 earthquake epicenter shows that an equatorial anomaly modification took place a few days before the event. The modification took shape in the form of crest amplification during the daytime. The comparison between the TEC and electron density measurements during very quiet geomagnetic conditions is shown to be a useful indicator of a forthcoming earthquake.


Abstract Owing to the close neighbourhood of Ga and As in Mendeleev's table, GaAs shows two fundamental classes of X-ray structure amplitudes distinguished by their extremely different scattering power. They are differently sensitive to the valence electron density (VED) redistribution caused by the chemical bond and must be measured by different experimental methods. Using such data, both the VED and the difference electron densities (DED) are calculated here. Comparison with theoret-ical densities shows that the VED is characterized by covalent, ionic and metallic contributions. The DED constructed from GaAs and Ge data demonstrates the electronic response caused by a "protonic" charge transfer between both f.c.c. sublattices as well as the transition from a purely covalent to a mixed covalent-ionic bond. Especially the charge-density accumulation between nearest neighbours (bond charge (BC)) depends on the distance between the bonding atoms and changes under the influence of any lattice deformation. This phenomenon is described by a BC-transfer model. Its direct experimental proof is given by measuring the variation of the scattering power of weak reflections under the influence of an external electric field. This experiment demonstrates that the ionicity of the bond changes in addition to the BC variation.


As one of the major phenomena in the contemporary global context, consumerism has been shaping lifestyles in different aspects. Signifying the demand for the consumption of the properties that are produced and accessed quickly, consumerism has not only shaped the tendencies for the consumption of products, but it has also had impact on the approach to interpersonal relations in cultural, social and individual areas. In contemporary British fiction, Kamila Shamsie focuses on the disillusionment of the immigrants with their hopes for a civilised life due to their consideration as "outsiders" and she views this as an embodiment of the consumption of their dreams for the future in Home Fire (2017). Zadie Smith reflects the consumerist approach to the relations among family members in On Beauty (2005) with reference to Howard Belsey's affair with Victoria as a signification of the quest for his new self and his failed efforts for the reconciliation with his family. However, in The Nothing (2017), Kureishi reveals that consumerism also leads to temporary sexual relations among the people. Focusing on Zee's affair with Eddie instead of her husband, Waldo because of his old age and infertility, Eddie's sexual relations with Patricia and Sarah, Kureishi's The Nothing invites reading in relation to its focus on the short-term sexual relations among the people as an embodiment of the consumerist approach to interpersonal relations and an inevitable quest for a new personal identity within the dynamism of the contemporary world.


In the first section of the paper, P-V-T-x data for the systems carbon dioxide/propylene, carbon dioxide/ethylene and ethylene/propylene are presented and the phase-boundary data are discussed in terms of the laws of rectilinear diameters and corresponding states. In the second section, the thermodynamic properties of the carbon dioxide/propylene system are derived as accurately as possible, over a range of conditions including part of the critical region. For use in these calculations, suitable formulae are derived for evaluating the isothermal latent heats of the mixtures. It is found that the liquid mixtures obey the relation (U — U0)V = constant; a theoretical interpretation of this relationship is offered and, based on this theory, an equation is developed which is found to represent the variation of the enthalpy of the binary system carbon dioxide/propylene with volume and composition quite closely.


This study explores the personality factors behind Filipino college students' social media usage. Using descriptive-correlational design, a random sample of 338 Filipino undergraduate students, between ages of 16 to 22, was employed to generate relationships and understand predictions among factors derived from NEO Personality Inventory and Facebook Intensity Scale. Results indicated that respondents tend to be more neurotic and less agreeable but conscientious. Regression analysis model delineated that among the personality factors, extraversion and neuroticism traits were contributory factors of Facebook use. Pearson's correlations suggested that the extraversion trait has significant positive associations with Facebook use, number of Facebook friends, and time spent on Facebook while neuroticism trait showed significant negative influence with number of Facebook friends. Thus, findings affirmed the claim that some aspects of personality lead to increase Facebook usage, and that these constructs are largely influenced by their personal characteristics.

 Key words: Personality, Facebook Use.


Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed simultaneously with pericardiocentesis in an attempt to visualize the pericardiocentesis needle. Rapid penetration of the right ventricular myocardium by the pericardiocentesis needle occurred and was only appreciated in a slow-motion analysis of the two-dimensional echocardiogram videotape. Development of an intrapericardial thrombus was clearly detected by the two-dimensional echocardiogram videotape. Development of an intrapericardial thrombus was clearly detected by the two-dimensional echocardiogram within 24 hours following this traumatic pericardiocentesis. While two-dimensional echocardiography may offer the possibility for seeing the pericardiocentesis needle, technical considerations may limit the easy visualization of the pericardiocentesis needle and accurate localization of its tip. However, two-dimensional echocardiography may be useful in identifying consequences of suspected or proved traumatic pericardiocentesis procedures.


This essay interrogates the transmedial, transnational expansion of platforms by analyzing the mediation functions and affective experiences of a discursive interface, danmaku . It is a unique interface design originally featured by the Japanese video-sharing platform Niconico to render user comments flying over videos on screen. The danmaku interface has been widely adopted in China by video-streaming websites, social media, and theatrical film exhibitions. Examining the fundamental incoherence that is structured by the interface – the incoherence between content and platform, between the temporal experiences of pseudo-live-ness and spectral past – the paper underlines the notion of 'contact' as the central logic of platforms and argues that danmaku functions as a volatile contact zone among conflicting modes, logics, and structures of digital media. Such contested contacts generate affective intensity of media regionalism, in which the transmedial/transnational processes managed by platforms in material/textual traffic are mapped by the flow of affect on the interface.


This paper deals with the robust series and parallel fractional-order PID synthesis controllers with the automatic selection of the adjustable performance weights, which are given in the weighted-mixed sensitivity problem. The significant contribution of the paper is to achieve the good trade-off between nominal performances and robust stability for DC motor regardless its nonlinear dynamic behavior, the unstructured model uncertainties and the effect of the sensor noises on the feedback control system. The main goal is formulated as the weighted-mixed sensitivity problem with unknown adjustable performance weight.  This problem is then solved using an adequate optimization algorithm and its optimal solution leads to determine simultaneously the robust fractional PID controller, which is proposed by the series and the parallel fractional structures, As well as, the obtained optimal solution determines the corresponding adjustable performance weight. The proposed control technique is applied on DC motor where its dynamic behavior is modeled by unstructured multiplicative model uncertainty. The obtained performances are compared in frequency- and time-domains with those given by both integer controllers such classical PID and H∞ controllers.


Contains links to free online resources for finding statistics and other data about U.S. cities and states, library database suggestions, and tips for finding local news sources.


To aid in the prediction of stock prices, forecasting algorithms can be beneficial. Black box modelling techniques can be, and have been, applied to the prediction of stock prices, but do not offer any clarity on the parameters that have impact on the model predictions. Hence, the focus of this work is to utilise a transparent model to enable the understanding and interpretation of the model output. Stock market data between 2009 and 2019 (a 10-year period) were analysed to determine if a Nonlinear AutoRegressive Moving Average model with eXogenous input (NARMAX) model could accurately predict day ahead stock prices. A NARMAX model was initially developed using a single input variable (Open) and then extended using multiple input variables which included Open, High and Low stock prices. Obtained results revealed that the NARMAX model has strong potential for day ahead price prediction and can be compared against existing techniques for stock market price prediction. Performance evaluation, demonstrated across multiple stock market datasets, demonstrate that NARMAX is efficient in predicting stock market closing price.


The statistical properties of the EEG and the MEG can be described mathematically as the result of randomly distributed dipoles representing the interactions of cortical neurons. If the dipoles are in a spherical volume conductor and have no preference for any direction, the variance of a differentially measured EEG signal is only a function of the electrode distance. The theoretically derived variance function is compared with EEG and MEG measurements. It is shown that a dipole with a fixed position and a randomly fluctuating amplitude is an adequate model for the alpha -rhythm. An expression for the covariance between the magnetic field and a differentially measured EEG signal is derived. This covariance is considered as a function of the magnetometer position. The theory can be used to obtain a (spatial) covariance matrix of the background noise, which occurs in evoked potential measurements. Such a covariance matrix can be used to obtain a maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the dipole parameters in evoked potential studies.<<ETX>>


Conotoxins, disulfide-rich peptides from the venom of cone snails, have created much excitement over recent years due to their potency and specificity for ion channels and their therapeutic potential. One recently identified conotoxin, MrIA, a 13-residue member of the chi-conotoxin family, inhibits the human norepinephrine transporter (NET) and has potential applications in the treatment of pain. In the current study, we show that the beta-hairpin structure of native MrIA is retained in a synthetic cyclic version, as is biological activity at the NET. Furthermore, the cyclic version has increased resistance to trypsin digestion relative to the native peptide, an intriguing result because the cleavage site for the trypsin is not close to the cyclization site. The use of peptides as drugs is generally hampered by susceptibility to proteolysis, and so, the increase in enzymatic stability against trypsin observed in the current study may be useful in improving the therapeutic potential of MrIA. Furthermore, the structure reported here for cyclic MrIA represents a new topology among a growing number of circular disulfide-rich peptides.


Recently, the rs6232 (N221D) and rs6235 (S690T) SNPs in the PCSK1 gene were associated with obesity in a meta-analysis comprising more than 13 000 individuals of European ancestry. Each additional minor allele of rs6232 or rs6235 was associated with a 1.34- or 1.22-fold increase in the risk of obesity, respectively. So far, only one relatively small study has aimed to replicate these findings, but could not confirm the association of the rs6235 SNP and did not study the rs6232 variant. In the present study, we examined the associations of the rs6232 and rs6235 SNPs with obesity in a population-based cohort consisting of 20 249 individuals of European descent from Norfolk, UK. Logistic regression and generalized linear models were used to test the associations of the risk alleles with obesity and related quantitative traits, respectively. Neither of the SNPs was significantly associated with obesity, BMI or waist circumference under the additive genetic model (P > 0.05). However, we observed an interaction between rs6232 and age on the level of BMI (P = 0.010) and risk of obesity (P = 0.020). The rs6232 SNP was associated with BMI (P = 0.021) and obesity (P = 0.022) in the younger individuals [less than median age (59 years)], but not among the older age group (P = 0.81 and P = 0.68 for BMI and obesity, respectively). In conclusion, our data suggest that the PCSK1 rs6232 and rs6235 SNPs are not major contributors to common obesity in the general population. However, the effect of rs6232 may be age-dependent.


This study analyses the impact of supplementary nutrition provided through ICDS on intakes of calories, proteins, vitamin A and iron among young children in Bihar. The analysis is based on 24-hour dietary recall data collected for 320 children in four villages in rural Bihar in 2013, and uses matching methods to estimate impact. The results suggest that cooked meals, provided to children in the age-group 3-6 years, increase net intake of food by approximately 135 calories (about a third of the intended transfer), 6 grams of proteins (two-fifths of the intended transfer) and 2 grams of iron (half of the intended transfer), but there is no change in the net intake of vitamin A. There is also no evidence of any reduction in food allocated to these children at home. For children below 3 years of age, who receive take-home rations, there are no improvements in intakes of calories or any nutrients. Since the income elasticity of demand for calories and nutrients have been estimated to be of small magnitude, ex-ante there is no reason to expect the implicit ICDS income transfer to lead to substantial changes in intakes. That nonetheless, a significant positive effect is observed for children above 3 years suggests that parents view cooked meals differently than take-home rations, the latter being easier to allocate to other household members than cooked meals provided at the ICDS centre.


A commodity, according to the classical political economists, comprises and combines a use value and an exchange value. Value, they recognized, was the product of human labour; for Marx it was measured by socially necessary labour time. Capital, he argued, was 'value in motion', and capital accumulation was the process by which capitalist societies multiplied social value through the exploitation of labour. Capitalism has always employed labour power to invest value in use values harvested from nature, and so what could it mean to suggest, as the title of this paper does, that nature has become an accumulation strategy? It is increasingly evident, I want to argue that in the past three decades a new dimension of the capitalist production of nature has considerably transformed the social relationship with the natural world.


The genus Neodohrniphora, subgenus Eibesfeldtphora, is revised and found to include 15 species, 11 of which are new to science, as follows: N. arcuata, bragancai, dissita, elongata, erthali, inferna, isomorpha, leei, pala, prolixa and tonhascai. Subgenus Wallerphora and its single included species, N. mexicanae Disney, is considered part of subgenus Eibesfeldtphora (new synonymy). The taxonomy of N. declinata Borgmeier and a species with which it has frequently been confused is clarified.


The paper describes an unconventional method of solving the amplitude-phase problem. The main properties of the Hilbert transform in the discrete and continual cases for one-dimensional and two-dimensional mappings are considered. These transformations are widely used to solve amplitude-phase problem. A numerical method for solving of two-dimensional amplitudephase problem is proposed. Preliminary information about the zeros of the Fourier transform of the initial signal is not required for this method. The method is based on the apparatus of nonlinear singular integral equations. Computational schemes for solving the corresponding nonlinear singular integral equations are developed. An algorithm for finding initial values for realization of iterative methods is proposed. Quadrature formulas of the calculation of singular integrals are proposed.


Relentless development of technology triggers the smartphone production. The increasing number of smartphone use is followed by escalation of its waste, where its battery is usually left unrecycled. The analysis of the battery content shows that it is consist of a considerable amount of cobalt that can be reutilized based on its relatively high economic value, which valued USD 61/kg. Leaching as a form of hydrometallurgy was used in this research to recover cobalt using HNO 3 as leaching agent and H 2 O 2 as reducing agent. Process optimization was done by varying concentration of nitric acid and reaction temperature. The result showed that the optimum leaching condition was earned in 30 minutes of leaching reaction using 3.0 M HNO 3 at the reaction temperature of 90°C, resulting 98.01% of cobalt leaching efficiency. Reaction kinetics study was also done in this research and the result demonstrates that recovery of cobalt from spent lithium-ion battery by nitric acid leaching was controlled by diffusion through product layer with activation energy value of 44.67 kJ/mol.


Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) consisting of FRP composites and thin metal foils are gathering attention as structural materials for aircrafts. However, it is difficult to apply the conventional ultrasonic method to detect the inside damages because of the total reflection at the first interface between the FRP and the metal. Recently, the authors have developed a new delamination detection method based on the mode conversion of Lamb waves. In this research, therefore, this method was applied to detect the inner delamination in the FML. MFC actuators and FBG sensors were bonded to both top and bottom surfaces of the laminate in order to excite or receive only A modes or S modes separately. The laminates with an artificial delamination were manufactured by embedment of Teflon films in the middle of the thickness, and Lamb waves were propagated through the delaminated area. The results indicated that excited A1 mode was converted into S0 mode in the delaminated area and it returned to A1 mode again after passing through the delamination. Since the velocity dispersion is clearly different between the two modes, the delamination length could be estimated quantitatively from the change in the dispersion of received A1 mode.


This article proposes a non-conventional calorimeter for the power losses quantification of microelectronic devices during their operation. The system is based on the constant-volume calorimetry principle, mainly employed in bio-chemical applications. Additionally, this document presents a primary numerical study for proposed device. Several experiments were conducted to observe the heat transfer performance inside the system. Results were found useful for the eventual practical implementation.


The use of Gaussian process emulators is now widespread in the analysis of computer experiments. These methods generally assume that all the simulator inputs are continuous. In this paper we consider the design problem for the case where one or more simulator inputs is a switch, a factor that can take the values on or off. We propose two possible designs: one based on Sobol sequences and one on Latin Hypercubes. In both cases a small, but space filling, subset of simulator runs are carried out at both switch settings. This design is then nested within larger space filling designs one for each of the switch settings. If the switch is found to not affect the results these two designs can be combined into a much larger also space filling design.


There are many efforts underway to document the differences in health status and health services access of women in distinct cultural segments in the U.S. Along with the measurable aspects of health status and utilization, each cultural segment carries its unique perspective on what constitutes "quality" in women's health services. These definitions of quality may reflect access, interactions, process, and outcomes. Health care providers that aspire to provide quality women's health care need to identify the distinct cultural segments in their own communities; document the gaps in women's health services; and develop programs that are specific to clinical needs and quality criteria of these populations.


The switched Ethernet has become present research focus toward real-time Ethernet because in which stations are directly connected on switches with full-duplex links to break up collision domains into small groups of devices, effectively reducing the number of collisions. This paper proposes a solution to use the switched Ethernet in the CNC systems including the star topology architecture and the real-time communication mechanism according to the character of the traffic flow in the CNC systems. Finally the implementation of a prototype system is introduced and the results based on the prototype system show this method is feasible and effective.


Objective To quantify the impact of a practical, hospital-based nurse-coordinated prevention programme on cardiovascular risk, integrated into the routine clinical care of patients discharged after an acute coronary syndrome, as compared with usual care only. Design RESPONSE (Randomised Evaluation of Secondary Prevention by Outpatient Nurse SpEcialists) was a randomised clinical trial. Setting Multicentre trial in secondary and tertiary healthcare settings. Participants 754 patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome. Intervention A nurse-coordinated prevention programme, consisting of four outpatient nurse clinic visits, focusing on healthy lifestyles, biometric risk factors and medication adherence, in addition to usual care. Main outcome measures The main outcome was 10-year cardiovascular mortality risk as estimated by Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation at 12 months follow-up. Secondary outcomes included Framingham Coronary Risk Score at 12 months, in addition to changes in individual risk factors. Risk factor control was classified as 'poor' if 0 to 3 factors were on target, 'fair' if 4 to 6 factors were on target, and 'good' if 7 to 9 were on target. Results The mean Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation at 12 months was 4.4 per cent (SD 4.5) in the intervention group and 5.4 per cent (SD 6.2) in the control group (p=0.021), representing a 17.4% relative risk reduction. At 12 months, risk factor control classified as 'good' was achieved in 35% of patients in the intervention group compared with 25% in the control group (p=0.003). Attendance to the nurse-coordinated prevention programme was 92%. In the intervention group, 86 rehospitalisations were observed against 132 in the control group (relative risk reduction 34.8%, p=0.023). Conclusions The nurse-coordinated hospital-based prevention programme in addition to usual care is a practical, yet effective method for reduction of cardiovascular risk in patients with coronary disease. Our data suggest that the counselling component of the programme may lead to a reduction in hospital readmissions. Trial Registration trialregister.nl Identifier TC1290.


A 54-year-old man with general fatigue and lumbago was admitted for further examination of hypercalcemia and leukocytosis. CT showed a huge renal tumor and extension of the tumor thrombus to the inferior vena cava (IVC). Moreover, the serum granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and the C-terminal of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) were elevated. Under the diagnosis of advanced renal tumor, we performed nephro-ureterectomy and throbectomy. Pathological examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis. To our knowledge, this is the first case in Japan that of the simultaneous production of G-CSF and PTHrP in squamous cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis accompanied with IVC thrombus.


The thermodynamics of the O(N) nonlinear sigma model in 1+1 dimensions is studied. We calculate the pressure to next-to-leading order in the 1/N expansion and show that at this order, only the minimum of the effective potential can be rendered finite by temperature-independent renormalization. To obtain a finite effective potential away from the minimum requires an arbitrary choice of prescription, which implies that the temperature dependence is ambiguous. We show that the problem is linked to thermal infrared renormalons.


In this article, the development of integrated security model for the next generation using big data technology is proposed. The main objective of this model is to make a paradigm shift from managing separate security to managing integrated security with real time basis monitoring of hacking attacks which are coming from all kinds of security input channels, using big data analysis technology. This new model technology can be a more enhanced approach than conventional security technology in terms of detection and response speed. This new model will contribute to governance and management of security in many areas significantly.