The JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) is designed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and precisely measure oscillation parameters. The estimated data volume of raw data is about 2 PB/year. The event rate of reactor anti-neutrinos is about 60/day, while the event rate of background is about O(10) Hz. The challenge is the event correlation during the analysis, where the background events could not be discarded. In order to use big data techniques to search for rare events, a Jupyter-based interactive service is developed for JUNO analysis.
In this paper, an overview of this service is presented. The infrastructure is based on Jupyter and Kubernetes, which provides the user interface and resource management. In order to integrate the data processing framework and big data techniques, an index file is used as an intermediate file, which points to the interested events. Data processing framework SNiPER is used to select the candidate of neutrino signals and produce the index file. Apache Spark is then used to process such index file repeatedly with data cached in memory. With the index file produced from Spark and the complete event data files, SNiPER is used to process them and produce the final physics result. At the end of paper, the test-bed is presented and the testing result is shown.


Sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS) powder is in use for over 50 years for the treatment of hyperkalemia. SPS powder is official in United States Pharmacopoeia, British Pharmacopoeia and European Pharmacopoeia. However, till date, no study has been published on the assessment of organic impurities for this drug. The organic impurities in bulk drug and finished product are associated with their safety, efficacy and stability. A simple, rapid, specific, precise and an accurate HPLC method has been developed for the estimation of toxic organic impurities like styrene, naphthalene, divinyl benzene (DVB) and ethylvinyl benzene (EVB) from SPS bulk drug and finished product. The developed method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), solution stability, ruggedness and robustness. The influence of acid, alkali, oxidative stress, photolytic stress, thermal stress and humidity stress conditions on SPS bulk powder and finished product has been studied and reported. The proposed method can be successfully employed for the impurity testing of commercial batches of the bulk drug and finished products of both sodium salt and calcium salt of polystyrene sulfonate.


In econometrics some nonparametric instrumental regression models and nonparametric demand models with endogeneity lead to nonlinear integral equations with unknown integral kernels. We prove convergence rates of the risk for the iteratively regularized Newton method applied to these problems. Compared to related results we relay on a weaker non-linearity condition and have stronger convergence results. We demonstrate by numerical simulations for a nonparametric IV regression problem with continuous instrument and regressor that the method produces better results than the standard method.


In this note we extend the standard results for the limit theory of the popular quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) in the context of the non-stationary autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic ARCH(1) model by allowing the innovation process not to possess fourth moments. Depending on the value of the index of stability, we either derive α$\alpha $-stable weak limits with non-standard rates or inconsistency and non-tightness. We obtain the limit theory by the derivation of a limit theorem for multiplicative "martingale" transforms with limit mixtures of α$\alpha $-stable distributions for any α∈0,2$\alpha \in \left({0,2} \right]$.


The intense use of fertilisers for agricultural and forest management purposes as well as atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has changed ecosystem stoichiometry in some parts of the planet, drawing great attention to the long-term impacts of N additions on carbon (C) sequestration. Soil organic matters (SOMs) are the major sink of C in terrestrial ecosystems and hence it is essential to understand the impacts of N addition on SOM not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. In temperate and boreal forests, chronic N addition generally suppresses SOM decomposition and increases C accumulation. The potential mechanisms for this have long been discussed and yet to be unearthed.

Here, we examined the impacts of long-term N addition on the chemical composition of SOMs in boreal forests situated in northern Sweden under two vegetation types (Norway spruce or Scots pine) and a range of N addition regimes where N addition rates varied between 3 and 70 kg N ha-1 year-1, duration between 12 and 32 years and total added amount between 50 and 2000 kg N ha-1. Soil samples were collected from the organic layer (litter and humus layers) and analysed for the chemical composition of SOMs using two metrics: pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-NMR).

We found that the chemical composition of SOMs shifted with soil C:N ratios regardless of vegetation types, or duration and rates of N addition. Preliminary results suggest that the observed shift in chemical composition in SOMs may have been attributed to altered decomposition of lignin and carbohydrate-derived compounds. This was in line with previous research conducted in the same study sites that demonstrated added-N enhanced non-enzymatic brown-rot lignin oxidation relative to enzymatic white-lot lignin mineralisation. Here, the comprehensive examination of SOM chemical composition demonstrates altered molecular characteristics of SOMs with soil C:N conditions. This may help us to elucidate the mechanisms by which N addition alters the balance of decomposition and accumulation of SOMs.


This paper examines the organization of death. Through an ethnographic study, we examine how a geriatrics department guides the end of life. Drawing on Agamben, we show that organizations that are dedicated to life, but regularly confronted with death, develop dispositifs (mechanisms, technologies, practices and relationships) to turn biopolitics (power over life) into thanatopolitics (a regime of death). We also show how the inherently political meaning of life disrupts such government of death. The inclusion of political life in a regime of death disrupts organizational practices that find themselves facing fundamental questions of what makes a life worth living, who can decide not to prolong life, and based on which criteria.


Abstract The clinical role of liquid biopsy in oncology is growing significantly. In gliomas and other brain tumours, targeted sequencing of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from CSF may help differential diagnosis when surgery is not recommended and be more representative of tumour heterogeneity than surgical specimens, unveiling targetable genetic alterations. Given the invasive nature of lumbar puncture to obtain CSF, the quantitative analysis of cfDNA in plasma is a lively option for patient follow-up. Confounding factors may be represented by cfDNA variations due to concomitant pathologies (inflammatory diseases, seizures) or clonal haematopoiesis. Pilot studies suggest that methylome analysis of cfDNA from plasma and temporary opening of the blood–brain barrier by ultrasound have the potential to overcome some of these limitations. Together with this, an increased understanding of mechanisms modulating the shedding of cfDNA by the tumour may help to decrypt the meaning of cfDNA kinetics in blood or CSF.


On February 23, 1970, Sandoz Australia sponsored a symposium on "Bet.a Adrenergic Blocking Agents". The meeting was held at the Wentworth Hotel, and delegates attended from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Great Britain. MR CHARLES STUDER, Managing Director of Sandoz, welcomed participants, and in his opening address emphasized the extending relationship between industry and the academic world. The morning session was devoted to the pharmacology of beta blocking agents and was chaired by PROE'ElSSOR RICHARD LoVELL, of the University of Melbourne. In his opening remarks, he emphasized the difficulties which the clinician faces when required to evaluate a beta blocking agent in the management of Ischsemlc heart. disease and arrhythmias, particularly the problem of obtaining entirely suitable subjects for controlled, double-blind, cross-over studies. DR C. RAPER, of the University of Melbourne, outlined the general pharmacology of beta receptor antagonists. He said that the postulate of Ahlquist of alpha and beta adrenergic receptors had largely been substantiated, although anomalies existed. In addition to their beta blocking effects, beta receptor antagonists had been shown to possess sympathomimetic activity-for example, "Trasicor" (Ciba), "ICI 50,172", and "Visken" (Sandoz) quinidine-like activity, local aneesthettc and non-specific depressant effect.s. The significance of all these characteristics was discussed. DR WINIFRED NAYLER, of the Baker Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, presented the results of a number of studies involving cellular function and beta adrenergic blockade. She said that propranolol, "Trasicor", "Visken", KO 592" and "ICI 50,172" all interfered with the lipid solubility of ionized calcium and with ATP-dependent accumulation of calcium by the sarcotubular systems, but did not affect the affinity of troponin for calcium. This effect was in marked contrast to the effect. of the eatecholamines on the system. The significance of the positive inotropic effect of drugs such as "Visken", "ICI 50,172" and "Trasicor" probably depended more upon the sympathetic support which was already available.


The biosynthesis of the antifungal agent pimaricin by Streptomyces natalensis has been proposed to involve a cytochrome P450 encoded by the gene pimD. Pimaricin is derived from its immediate precursor de-epoxypimaricin by epoxidation of the C-4-C-5 double bond on the macrolactone ring. We have overproduced PimD with a N-terminal His6 affinity tag in Escherichia coli and purified the enzyme for kinetic analysis. The protein showed a reduced CO-difference spectrum with a Soret maximum at 450 nm, indicating that it is a cytochrome P450. Purified PimD was shown to catalyse the in vitro C-4-C-5 epoxidation of 4,5-de-epoxypimaricin to pimaricin. The enzyme was dependent on NADPH for activity with optimal pH at 7.5, and the temperature optimum was 30 degrees C. The kcat value for the epoxidation of de-epoxypimaricin was similar to the values reported for other macrolide oxidases. Enzyme activity was inhibited at high substrate concentration. This is the first time that a polyene macrolide P450 mono-oxygenase has been expressed heterologously and studied. The unique specificity of this epoxidase should be useful for the oxidative modification of novel polyene macrolide antibiotics.


Purpose – During the last decades, venture capital has become one of the main sources to finance start-ups.
However, one can still often notice that the resulting relationship between investor and start-up does not satisfy
either of the parties. This can partly be attributed to investors not knowing all about the upfront expectations and
needs of start-ups. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to increase the investor's awareness of these factors to
enhance the matching process and enable more effective cooperation.
Design/methodology – The required data was retrieved through surveys, which were completed by 35
entrepreneurs from Berlin. First, the respondents were separated into two focus groups. The first group consisted
of entrepreneurs from start-ups, which were not financed but looking for an investor. The other group was
composed of entrepreneurs, whose firms had already been financed. These respondents were asked to answer the
survey under the assumption that they could search their first investor again with their current knowledge and
expertise. Thereby, it could be analyzed to what extent the financing process has influence on the entrepreneur's
perception and compare the perceived needs between already financed and not-financed start-ups.
Findings – The analysis of the data revealed that the majority of the start-ups in the Berlin eco-system require
access to an investor's network in addition to the capital. By comparing the two focus groups, it is shown that this
applies to both. Furthermore, most entrepreneurs would select an investor based on the ability to engage in
activities, which bring additional value to the start-up. Finally, the majority expects an investor to take a
networking role and linking the entrepreneur with important stakeholders and further business contacts.
Originality/value – The uniqueness of this research refers to the consideration of start-up needs in addition
to the required capital and the corresponding expectation of an investor. Prior researchers have already extensively
discussed which factors enable a venture capital investor to select a promising start-up, but yet only little is known
about the specific needs and corresponding expectations of start-ups.


Some of the differences in reading the verses of the Qur'an represent the differences among the Arabic grammar schools besides the differences in the Arabic dialects. Such differences can influence the meaning of Quranic verses. However, such differences do not involve the fundamental beliefs in Islam but those related to the legal and juristical domains according to the Muslims in the Sunnite schools of theology and jurisprudence. This article discusses some aspects of differences between the Arabic grammar schools of Basra and Kufah with reference to the same verses of the Quran for observation and analysis. Some differences between them lead to the different meanings in understanding and interpretation some verses of the Qur'an. In the context of the translation of the Quranic verses into the Malaysian and Indonesian languages, it discovers that their translations incline towards either the Basra grammar school or the Kufah one. This short exposure indicates that the activities of the translation of the Qur'an into the Malaysian and Indonesian languages could be done more accurately and comprehensively according to the reliable sources


Japanese butterbur (Petasites japonicus) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Compositae. The petioles are used mainly as a human food source, and 'Aichi-Wase-Fuki,' the most widely grown cultivar, is triploid and propagated vegetatively. Growth problems have been caused by three types of wide-spreading virus, arabis mosaic virus, butterbur mosaic virus and cucumber mosaic virus in Osaka Prefecture. To establish efficient mass propagation of virus-free plants, adventitious buds were regenerated directly from immature flowerheads of Japanese butterbur. Osaka native lines of Japanese butterbur were collected from the production field, and the highest yielding clonal line was selected by comparison cultivation using virus-free plants regenerated from the collections. To induce somaclonal variation related to plant yield, adventitious buds were regenerated directly from immature flowerheads of Japanese butterbur. The total yield of the highest- yielding variant induced by somaclonal variation was 20.89 t/ha, which was 129.8% that of 'Aichi-Wase-Fuki'. Subsequently, the highest yielding variant was registered in 2002 as 'Osaka-Nougi-Ikusei No.1.' Currently, all farmers in Osaka Prefecture cultivate this high-yield cultivar 'Osaka-Nougi-Ikusei No.1.'


To analyse the clinical data of patients who developed incisional complications and those who did not develop incisional complications after lumbar internal fixation, and investigate the risk factors for incisional complications in patients after lumbar internal fixation with posterior midline incision. A standardised data collection form was used to collect the clinical data of patients who were admitted and underwent lumbar internal fixation in our hospital from July 2018 to July 2021. Patients who experienced any one of the incisional complications, such as incision exudates, swelling, blisters, bruising, superficial/deep incisional infections, poor healing and scarring, after surgery were included in the incisional complication group, and patients who did not develop the above‐mentioned incisional complications were included in the control group. Univariate logistic regression analysis was first performed to identify potential risk factors, significant factors from univariate analysis were then included in multivariable logistic regression analysis to identify independent risk factors for incisional complications after lumbar spine surgery. Among 455 patients included in the study, postoperative incision complications occurred in 82 patients, with an incidence rate of 18.02%. Multivariate regression analysis identified seven independent risk factors for incisional complications: age, body mass index, preoperative albumin level, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, operation time and local anaesthetic infiltration at the incision site after surgery. Our findings documented that age, body mass index, preoperative albumin level, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, operation time, and postoperative local anaesthetic infiltration at the incision site were risk factors for incisional complications after lumbar internal fixation with posterior median incision. Awareness of these risk factors can enable surgeons to develop a more appropriate perioperative management plan for patients undergoing lumbar internal fixation, thus helping them recover faster.


Characterization of plant genetic resources is the major description of germplazm for breeding. Their morpho-agronomic, biochemistry and molecular evoluation also plays an important role for creation new valuable varieties. With the support of information technologies it can be more effective collection, conservation and use of characterization and evluation data as a database format. So, for this purpose there were created characterization databases on leguminous plants within the structure of Central Databases System. As we mentioned above characterizing of each sample with more traits is very important for the breeding issues. We have tried to achieve it in our research also. For characterization and evaluation data we used international plant descriptors prepared by ICARDA (International Center of Agriculture in Dry Areas), FAO and Bioversity International .

It was created the leguminous plants (bean, cow pea, chickpea, horse bean, grass pea) databases by proper database management systems within the structure of Central Database (CDB) on PGR of Azerbaijan based on MS FoxPro. Evaluated samples were taken from the National Genebank collection by proper crop groups.


Substantial evidence for involvement of the APUD system in the normal reproductive tract is limited to the prostate gland and uterine cervix. Most supportive data simply documents the presence of neuro-endocrine cells in these tissues. A biological product(s) or role(s) remains to be discovered, but appears likely in the prostate. Tumors possessing cells with APUD characteristics have been described in many reproductive tissues including the prostate, cervix, endometrium, ovary, and testes. These tumors are generally aggressive in behavior, and optimum therapy needs to be determined.


This paper presents a robust non-linear state estimator for autonomous surface vehicles, where the movement is restricted to the horizontal plane. It is assumed that only the vehicle position and orientation can be measured, being the former affected by bounded noises. Then, under some fair standard assumptions concerning the maximum velocities and acceleration rates of the vehicle, the estimator is able to reconstruct not only the velocities, but also the lumped generalised disturbances, that cluster external disturbances, non-linearities, and unmodelled dynamics. The observer is easily tunable by the user, with a set of four scalars, two of them related to the velocity of convergence of the estimator, and the other two parameters to set the desired trade-off between noise sensitivity and disturbance rejection. Several simulations with a well-known test-bed craft are provided to show how the proposed algorithm outperforms previous ones in the literature.


There is growing recognition that meeting the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement will require the world to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions around or before mid-century1–4. Natural climate solutions (NCS), which aim to preserve and enhance carbon storage in terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems5,6, are increasingly being evoked as a potential contributor to net-zero emissions targets7,8. However, there is a risk that any carbon that we succeed in storing in land-based systems could be subsequently lost back to the atmosphere as a result of either climate-related or human-caused disturbances such as wildfire or deforestation9–12. Here, we show that temporary NCS-based carbon sequestration has the potential to decrease the peak temperature increase, but only if implemented alongside an ambitious mitigation scenario where fossil fuel CO2 emissions were decreased to net-zero during the time that NCS-sequestered carbon remained stored. We also demonstrate the importance of non-CO2 climate effects of NCS implementation, which have the potential to counter a substantial portion of the climate effect of carbon sequestration. Our results suggest that there is some climate benefit associated with temporary NCS, but only if implemented as a complement (and not an alternative) to ambitious fossil fuel CO2 emissions reductions.


We extend the notion of strong summability of sequences by matrix methods. Combining the notions of strong summability given by D. Borwein and I. J. Maddox we come to a more general notion. The properties of the extended strong summability are characterized and relations between strong and ordinary summabilities are described. The defined notion of strong summability is applied to certain families of summability methods, including some families of generalized Nörlund methods. Partial cases are the families of Cesàro and Euler-Knopp methods.


Shaft alignment is an important technique during installation and maintenance of a rotating machine. A high-precision laser alignment system has been designed with dual PSDs (Position Sensing Detector) to change traditional manual way of shaft alignment and to make the measurement easier and more accurate. The system is comprised of two small measuring units (laser transmitter and detector) and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with measurement software. The laser alignment system with dual PSDs was improved on a single PSD system, and yields higher measurement accuracy than the previous design, and has been successful for designing and implements actual shaft alignment. In the system, the range of offset measurement is ±4 mm, and the resolution is 1.5 μm, with accuracy being less than 2 μm.


In the recent paper by Call et al. (1), the authors show that sequence analysis of their IncA/C plasmids revealed that antimicrobial resistance genes were grouped in four main regions in addition to the region that harbors the blaCMY gene in an otherwise highly related plasmid backbone structure. The authors show that the floR resistance region is found in all three plasmids as well as in the pSN254 plasmid and is found in close proximity to what the authors (and also a previous paper [9]) call insA. The authors also note that another antibiotic resistance gene cluster includes the resistance gene aadA which is found in three of these plasmids and is always found adjacent to an insertion sequence termed insE (9). These two insertions, insE and insA, are typical of insertion sequences previously designated ISCR elements (6, 7). ISCR elements are closely related to an unusual family of insertion sequences called the IS91 family (6, 7). These elements are known to move by a process called rolling-circle replication, and a function of this process is the concomitant movement of additional sequences found upstream of their transposase genes (5). To be specific, insE is indeed ISCR2, and insF is ISCR16 (8). ISCR elements are now recognized as powerful antibiotic resistance gene capture and movement systems that are also capable of constructing extended clusters of antibiotic resistance genes on plasmids as well as on chromosomes (7). The IncA/C plasmid group is now known to be very widely distributed both geographically and in many species of bacteria because of the plasmids' promiscuous behavior (3, 4). The IncA/C reference plasmid, pRA1, isolated in 1971 from the fish pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila harbors ISCR2 (2), indicating that this element has been closely involved in recruiting antibiotic resistance genes with IncA/C plasmids for some time. ISCR2 is often found in close proximity to the sul2 gene and a truncated glmM gene as a conserved resistance array among IncA/C plasmids; ISCR2 is often called an ISVsa3-like IS element or simply orfA (2). Interestingly, a recent publication has indicated that the ICE element SXT shares a common ancestor with the IncA/C plasmids (2), and ISCR2 together with truncated copies of this element are always found as part as SXT, implicating ISCR2 in the construction of this element (6). The ISCR16 element appears to be a more recent addition to the IncA/C plasmids and has been found in only three plasmids so far and always adjacent to groEL or groES gene(s) (8). This also is very interesting as this element and the closely related elements ISCR3 and ISCR4 are also found adjacent to sections of groEL as well as resistance genes, which has allowed us to track the evolutionary history of this element (8). Therefore, it appears that ISCR elements are key players in the recent evolution of the IncA/C plasmid group. Furthermore, gene capture systems such as ISCR elements allied with the promiscuous nature of IncA/C plasmids provides a new and powerful combination for rapid dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.


Discovering and maintaining routes between nodes are one of the biggest challenges in MANETs the ultimate goal of the MANET community is to provide a set of standardized protocols that can be both robust and scalable. This paper proposes routing protocols based on the {heading direction angle + Number of Hops, Number of Hops + heading direction angle, the best heading direction angle route}. The first one is designed to calculate the angle direction and when the angles are the same take the best hop count. The second one is designed to calculate the best hop count and when the hops counts are the same take the best angle direction. The last one is designed to calculate the average of all heading direction angles in the route and find the best route from the source to the destination. We measure the performance of the proposed approach by comparing it with the well known On-Demand (reactive) routing protocol (AODV).


BACKGROUND
The application of a Topical Skin Protectant (TSP) under chemical protective clothing may impair heat exchange and/or decrease tolerance time during exercise.

HYPOTHESIS
The extent to which TSP might act as a barrier to heat transfer was unknown. Since TSP may be permeable to water vapor, we hypothesized that there would be no significant differences between treatments on variables effecting heat exchange.

METHODS
There were 10 subjects who walked (3.5 mph, 3% grade) until volitional exhaustion in an environmental chamber (TA = 36.0 +/- 0.5 degrees C; TDP = 27.0 +/- 1.0 degrees C) in two conditions: no TSP application (CON) and TSP application (TSP). TSP was applied to 21% of body surface area on six specific areas. Esophageal temperature, skin temperature (8 sites), heart rate, and pre- and post-experimental weights were measured. Mean skin temperature, mean body temperature, changes in esophageal temperature per min of exercise, evaporative heat loss, and sweating rate were calculated.

RESULTS
There was no effect (p < 0.05) of TSP on esophageal temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate, tolerance time (CON: 139.3 +/- 32.5 vs. TSP: 132.3 +/- 37.0 min), sweating rate (CON: 9.5 +/- 1.9 vs. TSP: 9.4 +/- 3.03 g.min-1) and evaporative heat loss (CON: 200.9 +/- 31.6 vs. TSP: 215.9 +/- 25.9 W.m-2). The change in TES per min of exercise averaged 0.014 +/- 0.003 degree C during TSP and 0.012 +/- 0.003 degree C during CON, and was higher (p = 0.024) in TSP. At this rate, the difference between treatments for 4 h would be 0.48 degree C. There were no adverse local or systemic reactions to TSP application.

CONCLUSIONS
TSP application minimally affected heat exchange under the conditions of this study.


This study was designed to explore the psychological complaints of wives of military personnel on peace keeping mission. The study was considered significant in that it was the first of its kind in Kenya. Although Kenyan Armed Force first participated in peace keeping operation in 1979 in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where a small Kenyan Army contingent was developed within the auspices of the common wealth, no study has been carried out to determine how the wives of the military personnel left behind are coping in the face of their husbands' absence. A survey research design was used for the study. The sample for the study was composed, drawn from two armed forces camps, namely the Moi Air Base and the lan'gata barracks. These were used to represent the Air Force and the Kenyan Army respectively. On the whole wives of military Personnel on peace mission took part in the study. An attitude scale and a questionnaire formed the instruments for data collection. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. The findings show that wives of military Personnel on peace keeping mission are beleaguered by a number of psychosocial problems among which loneliness, fear that the husbands might lose their lives during the mission, children missing their fathers and lack of guidance and counseling on how coping could be achieved. Implications of the study were drawn and some recommendations were made to influence the review of military peace keeping policies in favor of these wives.


PURPOSE
"Behavioral bundling" is a theory that explains how some health behaviors reinforce one another. This study aims to investigate the relationship between preventive health behaviors (PHBs) and safe firearm storage.

DESIGN
This study used a cross-sectional design using 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data.

SETTING
Survey participants resided in California, Idaho, Kansas, Oregon, Texas, and Utah.

SUBJECTS
There were 12,817 people living in households with a firearm included in this study.

MEASURES
We classified individuals' engagement in 5 PHBs: cholesterol screening, influenza immunization, physical activity, primary care, and seatbelt use. We defined safe firearm storage as storing a firearm unloaded, or loaded but locked.

ANALYSIS
Using Poisson regression models, we calculated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) to estimate the association between engagement in the five PHBs with safe firearm storage.

RESULTS
Most firearm owners reported safe firearm storage (80.3%). The prevalence of safe firearm storage was 3% higher for each additional PHB engaged in (aPR = 1.03 [1.01, 1.05]). There was a higher prevalence of safe firearm storage among those who always wore a seatbelt while driving or riding in a car compared to those who did not (aPR = 1.12 [1.05, 1.18]).

CONCLUSION
This study found preliminary evidence to suggest that engagement in seatbelt usage may be bundled with safe firearm storage, though we are not able to determine causality.


Importance
Both epilepsy and enzyme-inducing antiseizure medications (eiASMs) having varying reports of an association with increased risks for osteoporosis.

Objective
To quantify and model the independent hazards for osteoporosis associated with incident epilepsy and eiASMS and non-eiASMs.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This open cohort study covered the years 1998 to 2019, with a median (IQR) follow-up of 5 (1.7-11.1) years. Data were collected for 6275 patients enrolled in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and from hospital electronic health records. No patients who met inclusion criteria (Clinical Practice Research Datalink-acceptable data, aged 18 years or older, follow-up after the Hospital Episode Statistics patient care linkage date of 1998, and free of osteoporosis at baseline) were excluded or declined.

Exposure
Incident adult-onset epilepsy using a 5-year washout and receipt of 4 consecutive ASMs.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The outcome was incident osteoporosis as determined through Cox proportional hazards or accelerated failure time models where appropriate. Incident epilepsy was treated as a time-varying covariate. Analyses controlled for age, sex, socioeconomic status, cancer, 1 or more years of corticosteroid use, body mass index, bariatric surgery, eating disorders, hyperthyroidism, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, smoking status, falls, fragility fractures, and osteoporosis screening tests. Subsequent analyses (1) excluded body mass index, which was missing in 30% of patients; (2) applied propensity score matching for receipt of an eiASM; (3) restricted analyses to only those with incident onset epilepsy; and (4) restricted analyses to patients who developed epilepsy at age 65 years or older. Analyses were performed between July 1 and October 31, 2022, and in February 2023 for revisions.

Results
Of 8 095 441 adults identified, 6275 had incident adult-onset epilepsy (3220 female [51%] and 3055 male [49%]; incidence rate, 62 per 100 000 person-years) with a median (IQR) age of 56 (38-73) years. When controlling for osteoporosis risk factors, incident epilepsy was independently associated with a 41% faster time to incident osteoporosis (time ratio [TR], 0.59; 95% CI, 0.52-0.67; P < .001). Both eiASMs (TR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.87-0.95; P < .001) and non-eiASMs (TR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.76-0.78; P < .001) were also associated with significant increased risks independent of epilepsy, accounting for 9% and 23% faster times to development of osteoporosis, respectively. The independent associations among epilepsy, eiASMs, and non-eiASMs remained consistent in propensity score-matched analyses, cohorts restricted to adult-onset epilepsy, and cohorts restricted to late-onset epilepsy.

Conclusions and Relevance
These findings suggest that epilepsy is independently associated with a clinically meaningful increase in the risk for osteoporosis, as are both eiASMs and non-eiASMs. Routine screening and prophylaxis should be considered in all people with epilepsy.


BACKGROUND
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and it affects 30% of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 20% of patients with type 2 DM. Clinical features in both types of DM are similar and are characterized by an underlying abnormality of the microcirculation, manifested by both retinopathy and nephropathy. Clinical hallmarks of DN include elevated blood pressure (BP) and elevated urinary protein excretion. Treatment consists of maintaining BP at <130/85 mm Hg in patients without proteinuria and <125/75 mm Hg in patients with microalbuminuria or overt DN. In addition, agents that inhibit the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) have been found to be effective in reducing the risk of progression to DN, a result independent of their antihypertensive effect.

SUMMARY
The earlier Collaborative Study Group (CGS) trial demonstrated that the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril lowered BP and provided renal protection in type 1 diabetic kidney disease beyond that attributable to the BP change. The Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial (IDNT) studied the effect of the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) irbesartan on the reduction of BP, urinary protein excretion, and progression to DN. The study end points in the IDNT demonstrated that ARB therapy reduced BP, reduced urinary protein excretion, and provided renal protection against progression to DN. The Reduction of Endpoints in NIDDM With the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan (RENAAL) trial demonstrated that the ARB losartan, when combined with conventional antihypertensive agents, decreased urinary protein excretion by 35%. Losartan both lowered BP and provided renal protection against DN. In a study comparing an ACE inhibitor (trandolapril), an ARB (losartan), and a combination of the 2 agents (trandolapril and losartan), data showed that all 3 arms reduced BP to the same degree. However, a combination of the ARB plus the ACE inhibitor produced both a significant reduction in urinary protein excretion beyond that seen with either agent alone and a significantly greater protection against progression to doubling of serum creatinine or ESRD. The reduction in urinary protein excretion and renal progression seen with individual agents were not statistically different from each other.

CONCLUSION
These studies demonstrated that the combination blockade of the RAAS axis with an ARB plus an ACE inhibitor may play an important role in the prevention and treatment of DN and may turn the tide of increasing kidney disease due to DM, improve the overall quality of life of patients


The metabolic half-times and excretion rates of labeled cardiac glycosides are related to pharmacologic or therapeutic activity. Digoxin, a short-acting glycoside, is excreted primarily in the urine and has a serum half-time of 34 hours. This function is related primarily to digoxin excretion. Digitoxin, a long-acting glycoside, has a serum half-time of 50+ hours and a physiologic half-time of 51/2 days. It is excreted primarily in the urine as metabolites of the parent compound. Renal failure compromises digoxin excretion and prolongs the digoxin serum half-time and thereby the pharmacologic activity of the drug. As excretion is related to creatinine clearance, dosage should be reduced in proportion to reduction in creatinine clearance in renal insufficiency. Hyper-thyroid patients have lower digoxin serum levels and hypothyroid patients higher digoxin serum levels when compared to euthyroid patients. This finding confirms the clinical impression of digitalis resistance in hyperthyoidism and sensitivity in myxe-dema. Appropriate alterations in digoxin dosage in thyroid disease are justified. Patients with liver disease and cor pulmonale have normal digoxin serum levels, half-times and excretion rates. Increased digitalis sensitivity in these patients is related to other factors. Knowledge of the serum half-time, route of excretion, and rate of excretion of the cardiac glycosides is now available. Application of this information to the patient receiving digitalis assists in avoiding over- and under-digitalization—both common clinical problems. If doubt exists regarding digitalis dosage, smaller, rather than larger, doses are suggested to avoid toxicity.


Implementing energy-efficient optical transceiver modules with silicon photonics (SiPh) and 3DIC technologies will help alleviate the increasing energy consumption for hyperscale data centers. To facilitate effective 3DIC heterogenous integration of these photonics integrated circuits for optical transceivers, high precision, repeatable and reliable SiPh wafer acceptance tests are essential and vital. This paper successfully demonstrated incident angle optimization for optical wafer tests as well as evaluation of a fully automatic SiPh wafer test architecture that is accurate and dependable, achieving excellent test correlations between passive and active devices designed with grating-couplers and edge couplers.


Leaf epidermal studies of three species of Euphorbia in Akwa Ibom State are described. The mature stomata were paracytic, staurocytic, anisocytic, anomocytic, laterocytic and brachyparacytic stomata. The paracytic stomata was the commonest. Abnormalities notice here include vertical and parallel contiguous stomata, stomata with one guard cell, unopened stomatal pore, one subsidiary cell shared by two stomata variously orientated. Parallel and vertical contiguous stomata were distributed on both surfaces of E. hirta and E. heterophylla but absent in E. milli. Leaves are amphistomatic in E. hirta and E. heterophylla, but hypostomatic in E. milli. Uniseriate non-glandular trichomes were distributed on both surfaces of E. hirta and E. heterophylla but absent in E. milli. Other systematically useful characters are stomata index, guard cell area and the shape of the anticlinal cell walls can also be used for distinguishing the species.


BackgroundThe preoperative identification of patients who might need constrained condylar knee (CCK) prosthesis in total knee arthroplasty (TKA), is essential to ensure the availability of equipment and to address the patients' expectations accurately. ObjectivesIn this study, we aimed at investigating if the preoperative features of the patients can provide this data.MethodsA total of 30 patients who underwent primary TKA for severe osteoarthritic genu varum deformity (varus angle ≥20o) were evaluated in this retrospective study. Prosthesis selection was based on preoperative and intraoperative information. Demographic data, preoperative correctability of the deformity, and intraoperative information, including the reduction osteotomy, soft-tissue release, and pie-crust technique, were retrospectively collected. Soft-tissue release was performed in a sequential manner in 3 steps.ResultsThe study population included 4 males and 26 females with a mean±SD age of 64.6±8.7 years. A CCK prosthesis was used in 11 (36.7%) cases. A significant association was found between the preoperative correctability and the type of prosthesis. In other words, all CCK prostheses were used in patients who were preoperatively non-correctable (P<0.001). Also, the step of release was significantly associated with the type of prosthesis, and CCK prosthesis was used in all patients with step 3 release (P<0.001). Preoperative correctability was significantly related to the step of release, as well. It means that all deformities with step 3 release were preoperatively non-correctable (P=0.008).


2 Corinthians provides us with our most detailed exposition of Paul's self conscious reflection on the nature of his apostleship and the significance of his self-presentation in fulfilling that ministry. This study examines the settings of the epistle and the literary integrity of the book. DeSilva proposes the unity of 2 Corinthians 1--7 based on a rhetoricalcritical analysis.


A base-mediated trans-hydroboration of propiolamides that provides access to previously elusive primary and secondary (E)-β-borylacrylamide products has been developed. In the presence of n-butyllithium and pinacolborane, complete regioselectivity and stereoselectivity is observed, affording the corresponding vinylboronate products in up to 91% yield. A wide variety of primary and secondary amides served as efficient substrates for this transformation. A plausible reaction mechanism that involves substrate-assisted activation and a key intramolecular cyclization is discussed.


The study described the academic reading proficiency level of incoming college freshmen which served as an input to the design of learning modules. It used a validated 50-item researchermade test and two sets of questionnaires to determine the adequacy of learning activities and the extent of utilization of academic reading strategies by content area teacher s. The research found the studentrespondents unprepared for college work given the moderate academic reading proficiency index. Concerned language and content area teachers failed to provide enough learning activities and sufficient opportunity and training in the use of academic reading strategies that will enhance students' level of proficiency in content area reading. It is recommended that topics designed to develop academic reading skills of senior high school students be included in the course content in secondary schools; that English teachers provide more learning activities and experiences expected in content area reading; and that content area teachers become active reading teachers by facilitating comprehension through the use of time-tested academic reading strategies. Keywords - academic reading strategies, proficiency test, content area reading, instructional materials


Structured laser beam based microfabrication technology provides a rapid and flexible way to create some special microstructures. As an important member in the propagation of invariant structured optical fields, Mathieu beams (MBs) exhibit regular intensity distribution and diverse controllable parameters, which makes it extremely suitable for flexible fabrication of functional microstructures. In this study, MBs are generated by a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) and used for femtosecond laser two-photon polymerization (TPP) fabrication. Based on structured beams, a dynamic holographic processing method for controllable three-dimensional (3D) microcage fabrication has been presented. MBs with diverse intensity distributions are generated by controlling the phase factors imprinted on MBs with a SLM, including feature parity, ellipticity parameter q, and integer m. The focusing properties of MBs in a high numerical aperture laser microfabrication system are theoretically and experimentally investigated. On this basis, complex two-dimensional microstructures and functional 3D microcages are rapidly and flexibly fabricated by the controllable patterned focus, which enhances the fabrication speed by 2 orders of magnitude compared with conventional single-point TPP. The fabricated microcages act as a nontrivial tool for trapping and sorting microparticles with different sizes. Finally, culturing of budding yeasts is investigated with these microcages, which demonstrates its application as 3D cell culture scaffolds.


This paper establishes the flight control system model using the Harmony-SE method, and realizes simulation of the aeronautical weapon trajectory from the launching point to the target point. The characteristic of flight control system of aeronautical weapon is that all functions revolved around the calculation and iteration of system state. Since the main idea of Harmony-SE is to design the system architecture and system function based on use cases, there are redundant steps such as analyzing the context of use cases in the process of modeling the system with this characteristic, which is inefficient. To solve this problem, this paper puts forward an optimization method. On the basis of Harmony-SE, this paper optimizes the architecture analysis and design method based on the function flow in the Harmony-SE method, simplifies the system model architecture, proposes the architecture design method based on the information flow, which simplifies Harmony-SE steps by using the information flow to suture function flow, thus improve the modeling efficiency of the flight control system.


The provision of reliable treatment has always been a priority in sanitary engineering. However, there is an ever-increasing pressure to meet desirable standards at reduced costs. This paper sets out a methodology to enhance the likelihood of a satisfactory allocation of the resources while providing reliable treatment. The procedure was gradually developed to optimise the massive capital investment of the Flemish Government to comply with the effluent standards set in the EU Directive 271/91. The methodology makes an extended use of dynamic modelling. To facilitate the identification and estimation of the uncertainty, a probabilistic Monte Carlo engine is coupled to the dynamic models. In doing so this approach provides a way of explicitly incorporating uncertainty and variability in the process analysis. The procedure is examined in an upgrade of a conventional WWTP towards stricter effluent norms on nutrients. The results suggest that the procedure can support the decision-making process under uncertainty conditions and enhance the likelihood of meeting effluent standards not entailing above-normal capital investments. The analysis led to reducing the capital investment by 43%, producing savings of more than 1.2 million Euros.


Gaussian geostatistical space-time modeling is an effective tool for performing statistical inference of field data evolving in space and time, generalizing spatial modeling alone at the cost of the greater complexity of operations and storage, and pushing geostatistical modeling even further into the arms of high-performance computing. It makes inferences for missing data by leveraging space-time measurements of one or more fields. We propose a high-performance implementation of a widely applied space-time model for large-scale systems using a two-level parallelization technique. At the inner level, we rely on state-of-the-art dense linear algebra libraries and parallel runtime systems to perform complex matrix operations required to evaluate the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). At the outer level, we parallelize the optimization process using a distributed implementation of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. At this level, parallelization is accomplished using MPI sub-communicators, such that the nodes in each sub-communicator perform a single MLE iteration at a time. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, we assess the accuracy of the newly implemented space-time model on a set of large-scale synthetic space-time datasets. Moreover, we use the proposed implementation to model two air pollution datasets from the Middle East and US regions with 550 spatial locations X730 time slots and 945 spatial locations X500 time slots, respectively. The evaluation shows that the proposed approach satisfies high prediction accuracy on both synthetic datasets and real particulate matter (PM) datasets in the context of the air pollution problem. We achieve up to 757.16 TFLOPS/s using 1024 nodes (75% of the peak performance) using 490K geospatial locations on Shaheen-II Cray XC40 system.


In this paper, we propose a novel blind equalizer which can deal with high-order modulated QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) signals. This new scheme is based on the signal selection (SS) and the iterative weighted-least-mean-square (IWLMS) algorithm. The incurred additional complexity by the SS scheme is linear with respect to the sample size of the received signal and the IWLMS method is also very efficient. We employ numerous Monte Carlo experiments to compare our proposed blind equalization method with the popular constant modulus algorithm (CMA). The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed scheme is more robust than CMA especially when the QAM modulation order is large.


SIR, The autosomal, dominantly inherited Muir–Torre syndrome (MTS) is defined by the occurrence of certain types of cutaneous sebaceous neoplasms in association with one or more low-grade visceral malignancies, most frequently colorectal cancer. A complex histopathological spectrum of sebaceous neoplasms with tumours which are often hard to classify is typically found. The exclusion of sebaceous carcinoma based on conventional histopathology and immunohistochemistry alone may be very difficult in tumours showing borderline features, and thus, additional techniques may be necessary. DNA image cytometry (ICM-DNA) represents such an additional method, and has been helpful in identifying prospective malignancy in a variety of borderline lesions. Prospective malignancy means that a lesion has the potential to proceed to morphologically or biologically obvious cancer. Owing to recent improvements in the methodology and its standardization, the method is used increasingly in routine diagnostic practice. Conflicting data about the significance of DNA ploidy analysis in skin tumours reported by earlier studies are, at least in part, due to significant differences in the applied methods. Herein, we describe the application of ICM-DNA to sebaceous tumours in MTS according to the recently updated recommendations of the European Society for Analytical Cellular Pathology (ESACP). To the best of our knowledge, this has not previously been reported. A 59-year-old woman presented with multiple, pale yellow, partly umbilicated papules and small nodules on the face and British Journal of Dermatology 1998; 138: 706–723.


Studies on the metabolic fate of aromatic nitriles, in contrast to their aliphatic counterparts, have been minimal and the subject of controversy. The in vitro metabolic fate of several aromatic nitriles with varying substituents was investigated by using rat liver subcellular fractions, with a particular emphasis on the nitrile moiety. Benzonitriles and 4-cyanophenols underwent oxidative metabolism to produce ring-hydroxylated metabolites. On the other hand, 2-cyanophenol was resistant to metabolism. o-Tolunitrile was metabolized and produced o-cyanobenzyl alcohol and phthalide. Phthalide, however, was chemically derived from o-cyanobenzyl alcohol, the initial metabolite. 4-Nitrobenzonitrile was resistant to oxidation on the ring, but was readily reduced to the corresponding amine metabolite under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Nitroxynil (3-iodo-4-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzonitrile) was metabolized to produce 3-iodo-4-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzamide and 3-iodo-4-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzoic acid. The enzyme(s) responsible for this hydrolytic metabolism was primarily localized in the cytosol. Among the nitriles tested, o-tolunitrile and nitroxynil produced metabolites in which the nitrile moiety was modified. Nitroxynil, however, was the only compound that was directly metabolized on the nitrile moiety by the rat liver enzyme(s).


fficient search is a challenging task in unstructured peer-to- peer networks. In this paper, Knowledge and Cache based Adaptive Query Searching (KCAQS) is proposed that adaptively performs a query searching through either directed flooding or biased random walk based on the number of hop counts in query message. In addition, knowledge intended forwarding is deployed for forwarding a query to the high quality peers through probabilistic knowledge predicted from the previously requested queries. Searched results are properly cached in the peers along the returning path. Synchronized caching is performed to properly update the responses of each peer to its connected corresponding high degree connectivity peer in the overlay network. Due to caching of the same files in many peers, most of the cached responses may become redundant. In order to avoid redundant data, cache consistency is sustained through the flexible polling mechanism where a proper cache update is performed through Additive Decrease Multiplicative Increase (ADMI) algorithm based on file utility. Our experimental study shows that the proposed searching scheme significantly reduces the network search traffic and communication overhead. Performance metrics such as success rate, access latency, network traffic response time and cache hit ratio are evaluated for the proposed scheme.


A simple strategy is proposed to assess the propensity of a given monomer to follow or not follow a particular helical scheme and to study helix reversal phenomena within helical oligomers. It consists of placing a monomer having a low helix propensity between two conformationally stable helical segments. Helix reversion then occurs preferentially at the site of this monomer, leading to the formation of isomers having P (right-handed) or M (left-handed) helicities at each of the two helical segments. The proportion between the P-P/M-M and P-M isomers is indicative of the stereochemical relations between the inserted monomer and the helical frame. Thus, xylylene or carboxylic acid anhydride spacers have been introduced between two helical oligoamides of 8-amino-2-quinolinecarboxylic acid. Both these spacers presumably lack some of the structural features that confer quinoline units with a high helix propensity. Only one species is observed in solution in the case of an anhydride spacer. This species was shown by x-ray crystallography to be a racemic mixture of P-P and M-M helices. Unexpectedly, the anhydride is consistently incorporated within helical oligoamides. For the xylylene spacer, the P-P/M-M racemate and P-M meso compound are in equal proportions in chloroform, showing that this spacer does not have a propensity to adopt any helical conformation in this solvent. However, the equilibria between the various isomers are shifted in toluene, where one species largely prevails. This species was shown by x-ray crystallography to be the P-P/M-M racemate. Molecular dynamics simulations are consistent with these solution data.


Tall fescue is an important temperate grassland species globally, but in many regions the effects of drought, heat and poor grazing management, reduce its persistence in summer. Furthermore, poor ground cover and low tiller population density (TP) in winter result in low radiation capture and thus limited potential to increase the low growth rates at that time. Knowledge of the effect of fertilization, defoliation managements and establishment methods on demography of tall fescue would help to improve sward management for better persistence and winter growth. Accordingly, an experiment was carried out in Pergamino, Argentina, to study the effects of two N- fertilizer levels, two grazing frequencies and two seeding row arrangements upon tall fescue TP demography. Herbage mass, tiller appearance (TA) and death rates were measured over 3 years. Seasonal fluctuations in TA and death rates determined well-defined periods of increase and decrease in TP density. Maximum values were found at the end of winter and minimum ones at the end of spring, after the reproductive period. Nitrogen shortage and high herbage mass limited TA. Tiller death rate followed TA rate and was affected by nitrogen supply and defoliation frequency in the same way that TA was. Sowing arrangement affected tiller demography at the beginning of the experiment.


The need for flexible network structures has created a successful Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) market, promising to replace many wired LANs in the near future. The latest draft of IEEE 802.11n offers the potential of throughputs beyond 200 Mbps, based on physical layer data rates up to 600 Mbps. IEEE 802.11n standard adopts low density parity check coding as optional coding scheme to offer higher reliability in PHY level. LDPC may end up as the standard scheme in a host of sectors including communications, broadcasting and even hard disk drives. This paper presents LDPC efficient encoder and decoder then the performance of LDPC based on IEEE 802.11n standard is studied. Different modulation and coding schemes were compared to get the best choice.


Split magnetic fluid sealing is a combination of magnetic fluid rotary and plane sealing. Using the theory of equivalent magnetic circuit design as basis, the author theorized the pressure resistance performance of magnetic fluid plane sealing. To determine the pressure resistance of magnetic fluid plane sealing, the author adopted the method of finite element analysis to calculate the magnetic field intensity in the gap between plane sealing structures. The author also analyzed the effect of different sealing gaps, as well as different ratios between the sealing gap and tooth and solt width, on the sealing performance of split magnetic fluid. Results showed that the wider the sealing gap, the lower the sealing performance. Tooth width strongly affects sealing performance; the sealing performance is best when the ratio between tooth width and sealing gap is 2, whereas the sealing performance is poor when the ratio is over 8. The sealing performance is best when the ratio between the solt width and sealing gap is 4, indicating a slight effect on sealing performance when the ratio between the solt width and sealing gap is higher. Theoretical analysis and simulation results provide reference for the performance evaluation of different sealing equipment and estimation of critical pressure at interface failure.


In an attempt to model occupational and environmental Mn exposures and their possible interaction, young male Wistar rats were exposed to Mn by oral administration in dissolved form (MnCl2 ·4H2O, 14.84 and 59.36 mg/kg b.w.) and by intratracheal application of MnO2 nanoparticles (2.63 mg/kg b.w.). After 3 and 6 weeks oral, or 3 weeks oral plus 3 weeks intratracheal, exposure, general toxicological, and electrophysiological tests were done. Body weight gain was significantly reduced after 6 and 3 plus 3 weeks exposure, but the effect of the latter on the pace of weight gain was stronger. Organ weights signalized systemic stress and effect on lungs. Changes in evoked electrophysiological responses (cortical sensory evoked potential and nerve action potential) indicated that the 3 plus 3 weeks combined exposure caused equal or higher changes in the latency of these responses than 6 weeks of exposure, although the calculated summed Mn dose in the former case was lower. The results showed the importance of the physicochemical form of Mn in determining the toxic outcome, and suggested that neurofunctional markers of Mn action may indicate the human health effect better than conventional blood Mn measurement.


This study evaluated whether bobcats (Lynx rufus) could be photographed effectively using automatically triggered cameras and whether adult bobcats could be individually identi- fied by their natural markings. Active, infrared-triggered cameras were placed randomly along improved and unimproved ranch roads in south Texas at a density of 1/130 ha. We obtained 76 photographs of bobcats, of which 88% contributed to individual identifica- tion. The ability to identify bobcats was influenced by the position in which they were photographed. The most common positions enabled the identification of unique pelt and facial markings. Though not symmetrically marked, bobcats were identified using body characteristics and natural markings. The ability to identify bobcats by natural markings can provide an alternative to physical capture for mark-recapture experiments.


Developers constantly learn new APIs, but often lack necessary information from documentation, resorting instead to popular question-and-answer platforms such as Stack Overflow. In this paper, we investigate how to use recent machine-Iearning-based knowledge extraction techniques to automatically identify pairs of comparable API methods and the sentences describing the comparison from Stack Overflow answers. We first built a prototype that can be stocked with a dataset of comparable API methods and provides tool-tips to users in search results and in API documentation. We conducted a user study with this tool based on a dataset of TensorFlow comparable API methods spanning 198 hand-annotated facts from Stack Overflow posts. This study confirmed that providing comparable API methods can be useful for helping developers understand the design space of APIs: developers using our tool were significantly more aware of the comparable API methods and better understood the differences between them. We then created SOREL, an comparable API methods knowledge extraction tool trained on our hand-annotated corpus, which achieves a 71% precision and 55% recall at discovering our manually extracted facts and discovers 433 pairs of comparable API methods from thousands of unseen Stack Overflow posts. This work highlights the merit of jointly studying programming assistance tools and constructing machine learning techniques to power them.


This paper investigates the kinematics of spin-rolling motion of rigid objects. This paper does not consider slipping but applies a Darboux frame to develop kinematics of spin-rolling motion, which occurs in a nonholonomic system. A new formulation of spin-rolling motion of the moving object is derived in terms of contravariant vectors, rolling velocity, and geometric invariants, including normal curvature, geodesic curvature, and geodesic torsion of the respective contact curve. The equation is represented with geometric invariants. It can be readily generalized to suit both arbitrary parametric surface and contact trajectory and can be differentiated to any order. Effect of the relative curvatures and torsion on spin-rolling kinematics is explicitly presented. The translation velocity of an arbitrary point on the moving object is also derived based on the Darboux frame.


The concentrations of proanthocyanidins (PAs) were measured during red winemaking. In Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), PA concentration during maceration increased with increasing alcohol concentration and became constant after reaching a maximum. In contrast, in Muscat Bailey A (hybrid: Muscat Hamburg × Bailey, MBA), PA concentration increased, reached a maximum, and then decreased rapidly to below 20 mg catechin equivalent (CAE)/L. PA concentration was affected by the cap management method (submerged and punched down) and pressing. The decrease in PA concentration was suppressed in the submerged method compared to the punched down method. The final PA concentration in the submerged method was higher than that in the punched down method. Early pressing resulted in reduction on the rate of loss of PA.


Penecontemporaneous dissolution has been considered as the dominant origin of reservoir formation, whereas epigenetic dissolution has also played certain roles in the improvement of reservoir capacity in the Upper Cretaceous Mishrif Formation in the Middle East. Here, we report a possible new reservoir origin based on a case study in the Halfaya oilfield of Iraq, that is, facies‐controlled eogenetic karstification. The most representative evidence is that early selective dissolution is not only present in relative high‐energy categories of rocks but also in low‐energy ones in the cored intervals. Meanwhile, the occurrence frequency of karstification varies among different environments and associated lithologies. In grainstones and packstones, spongy‐like dissolution pores and irregular karst channels are widely developed, with fillings and massive plastic breccias. In contrast, in wackestones, lots of high‐angle karst channels are developed based on biological burrows, and the karst is more frequently observed in the shoal environment than in the low‐energy environments. These characteristics are indication of eogenetic karstification. The model of this karstification can be attributed to a multiple superimposition of short‐term exposure during the penecontemporaneous stage and the medium‐term exposure after the shallow burial stage. The karst has impact on reservoir capacity, according to which 3 areas are divided in the increasing order, namely, the tight bedrock area, spongy‐like dissolution pores area, and karst channels and vugs‐filled area, among which the karst channels and vugs‐filled area is the most favourable for oil accumulation. This understanding might be general to the Mishrif reservoirs in the entire Middle East.


The states of linear momentum that satisfy the equality in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle for position and momentum, that is the intelligent states, are also the states that minimize the uncertainty product for position and momentum. The corresponding uncertainty relation for angular momentum and angular position, however, is more complicated and the intelligent states need not be the constrained minimum uncertainty product states. In this paper, we investigate the differences between the intelligent and the constrained minimum uncertainty product states for the angular case by means of instructive approximations, a numerical iterative search and the exact solution. We find that these differences can be quite significant for particular values of angular position uncertainty and indeed may be amenable to experimental measurement with the present technology.


In this paper we present a instant and real-time mobile vehicle license plate recognition system in an open environment. Using a nonfixed video camera installed in the car, the system tries to capture the image of the car in front and to process instant vehicle license plate detection and recognition. Relying on the instant vehicle body recognition, the system can detect and locate the vehicle license plate without the need of background image. Vehicle body detection system utilizes the color characteristics of the barking lights to carry out detection. It first detects the location of the two barking lights in the captured image. Then set license plate detection region using the probability distribution of the license plate between the two lights, thus quickly locate the license plate. This method can eliminate any environmental interference during the license plate detection. From the results of experiment, it is determined that this system can effectively and quickly capture the vehicle image, detect and recognize the license plate whether it is dark, raining or under complicated environments.


Treatment of [MoO2(eta2-Pz)2] (Pz = 3,5-di-tert-butylpyrazolate) with the diketiminate ligand NacNacH (NacNac = CH[C(Me)NAr]2-, Ar = 2,6-Me2C6H3) at 55 degrees C leads under reduction of the metal to the formation of the dimeric molybdenum(V) compound [{MoO2(NacNac)}2] (1). The compound was characterized by spectroscopic means and by X-ray crystal structure analysis. The dimer consists of a [Mo2O4]2+ core with a short Mo-Mo bond (2.5591(5) A) and one coordinated diketiminate ligand on each metal atom. The reaction of [MoO2(eta2-Pz)2] with NacNacH in benzene at room temperature leads to a mixture of 1 and the monomeric molybdenum(VI) compound [MoO2(NacNac)(eta2-Pz)] (2). From such solutions, yellow crystals of 2 suitable for X-ray structural analysis were obtained revealing the coordination of one bidentate NacNac and one eta2-coordinate Pz ligand. This renders the two oxo groups inequivalent. Further high oxidation state molybdenum compounds containing the NacNac ligand were obtained by the reaction of [Mo(NAr)2Cl2(dme)] (Ar = 2,6-Me2C6H3) and [Mo(N-t-Bu)2Cl2(dme)] (dme = dimethoxyethane) with 1 equiv of the potassium salt NacNacK forming [Mo(NAr)2Cl(NacNac)] (3) and [Mo(N-t-Bu)2Cl(NacNac)] (4), respectively, in good yields. The X-ray structure analysis of 3 revealed a penta-coordinate compound where the geometry is best described as trigonal-bipyramidal.


Recently developed strategies use molecular targeting agents specifically designed to target core regulatory signaling pathways of prostate cancers. Growth factors mediate such signaling pathways that include the PI3K/Akt/PTEN/mTOR and Ras/Raf/MEK/MAPK as well as other essential pathways. However various mitigating factors such a genetic variation, molecular diversity, diverging and converging of signaling pathways make it improbable that treatment with any single agent will result in any long-term enhanced tumor. To overcome such problems we investigated the toxicity and antitumor effects of combined targeted therapy with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus and the mulitkinase inhibitor sorafenib in a prostate-specific PTEN conditional knockout mouse model of human prostate cancer. Non-castrated and castrated (castrate-resistant prostate cancer model, CRPC) PSA Cre ;PTEN loxP/loxP mutant mice, harboring prostate tumors, were treated with everolimus and sorafenib alone or in combination for 4 weeks beginning at 16 weeks of age. All mice appeared healthy and there were no significant differences in body weights, appearance or histological findings between treatment and control groups at the end of the experiment. Our analysis shows that combination therapy has a significant additive inhibitory effect on tumor growth in non-castrate prostate cancer model (8.8 mm 2 , 7.7 mm 2 , 7.1 mm 2 and 5.2 mm 2 in control, everolimus, sorafenib and combination treatment groups, respectively, p=0.005). Ki67 expression was decreased and positive TUNEL apoptotic bodies was increased in combination treatment groups compared to everolimus and sorafenib monotherapy in both non-castrated and CRPC treatment groups. We also show that combination therapy, but not monotherapy, cooperated to inhibit phosphorylation of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4B (eIF4B). Our study provides preclinical evidence that a targeted combination treatment strategy with everolimus and sorafenib is tolerable and leads to improved treatment efficacy over single agent therapy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2755. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2755


This dissertation examines the early years of the Morongo Indian Reservation from 1885 to 1934. In the face of growing encroachment by Anglo civilization and competition for land and natural resources in southern California, Indian people on the reservation reacted to change and resisted efforts to assimilate them into American society. Cahuilla, Serrano, and Cupeno people often integrated Indian ways with the programs and policies imposed upon them by the Office of Indian Affairs. The people of Morongo used this method of adaptation as a means of survival and for preserving their culture and traditions. This is the thesis of the dissertation. This study focuses upon three key aspects of reservation life where Indians challenged federal policies in an effort to maintain tribal sovereignty and control. The development of reservation farming and agriculture, the growth of the range-cattle industry, and the reactions of Indians to changes affecting tribal health and healing all provide examples of how native people resisted the efforts of the federal government to control all aspects of their lives.
 The materials used to produce this study consisted primarily of government reports, correspondence, and tribal documents contained in the Papers of the Mission Indian Agency of the National Archives in Laguna Niguel, California. Oral interviews with various tribal members of the Morongo Reservation supplemented my research. I also utilized the relevant holdings in repositories such as the Bancroft Library, the Huntington Library in San Marino, and the Rupert Costo Library of the American Indian at the University of California, Riverside. The conclusions in this study challenge the argument that San Gorgonio Pass Indians were passive spectators of the events around them. The people of the Morongo Reservation displayed pragmatic self-determination and they adapted to change. They took an active role in preserving their culture, religion, and heritage, rather than abandoning their identity to assimilate into a foreign world. The Indians successfully fought to maintain and preserve their sovereignty and tribal identity. This history begins to explain how the once-struggling Morongo Band of Mission Indians has evolved to become the largest employer in the San Gorgonio Pass region today.


We are interested in the subjective perception of older people and focus on the perceived changes in their living environments and the patterns of their everyday outdoor mobility and activities as a function of the type of rurality. The majority of older people have perceived considerable change in their neighbourhoods over the years. They are aware of the building of new houses and infrastructure, the expansion of tourism, but also the decline of past agricultural cooperatives, industrial facilities, and historical buildings as well as a rise in unemployment. In contrast, respondents report little or only moderate change with respect to neighbours remaining in the same area. The concerns of older people arise mainly from increasing levels of traffic, decreasing numbers of public and private services, and declining levels of public transport. On the other hand, the majority asses shops and services to be generally easily accessible. The ways older people adjust to such changes are investigated, the types of change differing according to the type of rurality and geographical location of the settlement. Overall, older people living in rural areas asses their living environments positively and appreciate the reconstruction of buildings, roads and public areas. The second thread of our research is directed at different types of activities (obligatory as well as discretionary) and how they are influenced by the nature of the surrounding environment and access to services. Patterns of mobility are analysed in terms of the environment, on the one hand, and the possession among older people of various forms and levels of cultural, social and economic capital, on the other. The main advantages and disadvantages of the defined types of ruralities for older people are identified.


Throughout the history of the American musical, the chorus, has remained a key component in the foundation of the form. The anonymous men and women who sing and dance help create the spectacle that is an intrinsic part of the musical. While the chorus line of fifty that characterized the revues in the early part of the twentieth century has dwindled, for economic and aesthetic reasons, it has not disappeared. The role of the chorus has changed from a titillating backdrop for headlining stars to an accomplished ensemble of dancer/singers who may be the featured performers in their own right. This dissertation creates a cultural history of the chorus as it has evolved from the The Black Crook in 1866 to the beginning of the twenty first-century. Specifically, how have the issues of sexuality, gender, race and class affected the development of the chorus? Chapter one is an overview of the history of the Broadway chorus, beginning with a brief look at the origins of the chorus in Greek drama, through various dance trends, the popularity of the revue, and the emergence of director/choreographers and their influence on the form. Chapter two investigates how gender informed the construction of the image of chorus girls and boys, and how that image was manipulated through the years to reflect social concerns and anxieties around the issue of changing gender roles. Along with the schism created by the performance of gender in the chorus, the performance of race also marks a serious divide in the American musical theatre world. Chapter three examines the history of African-American performers in the chorus. The chorus is one small, but significant, component of a musical. Yet, this usually anonymous group of performers has often figured as the subject of the story in a medium that admittedly, enjoys talking, singing and dancing about itself. The final chapter of this study looks at how the chorus as a subject functions in the musical by focusing on four examples that span fifty-two years: Allegro (1947), A Chorus Line (1975), and 42nd Street (1981), and Contact (1999).


An elderly man presented with right homonymous hemianopia and gait instability. He was found to have a left occipital ring enhancing lesion that was resected. Neuropathologic examination demonstrated a Cladophialophora bantiana brain abscess (cerebral phaeohyphomycosis).


Biometric based digital transaction system is used for various kinds of payment system instead of carrying the ATM cards to different places and to memorize their different passwords and pin numbers which is most difficult. Biometric digital transaction system is much safe, secure and very easy to use even without using any password or secret codes to remember as compare with previous system like credit card payment system, wireless system and mobile system etc. Biometric digital transaction system is reliable, economical and it has more advantage as compared with others. In daily life the usage of credit cards, check card for shopping, bus card, subway card for travelling, student card for library and department, and many kinds of cards for unlimited purposes and so on. Since a person has to take many cards and has to remember their passwords or secret codes and to keep secure to take with him all time, it is difficult, so the biometric payment system will solve many problems. Greater adoption of biometric digital transaction system will drive down the cost of biometric readers and thus making it more affordable to small business owners. In this paper we proposed high speed and more secured Biometric based digital transaction system using Raspberry Pi 3.


When I began my studies in the United Sates soon after the Pacific War, I was deeply moved to read Harukanaru sanga-ni (In the faraway mountains and rivers), a collection of writings by students at the University of Tokyo or Todai (then the Tokyo Imperial University) who had been killed in the war. It was published in December 1947 by the University of Tokyo Co-op Publishing Department. I was filled with sorrow that those fine, able men had to die in a war that they did not want and could not control. The book was followed, in October 1949, by a sequel, Kike wadatsumi no koe (Listen to the voices from the sea), a collection of letters, diary entries, and other writings by students from Todai and other colleges and universities.


We consider a set of small cells deployed over a macrocell. To coexist under the same spectrum, the two systems must cooperate, so that one system can adapt to the other. In this letter, we assume that the macrocell has accurate channel information (about its channel and the cross-tier channels), which is quantized and then forwarded to the small cells. The aim is to minimize the required cross-tier information exchange rate and, at the same time, guarantee that the macrocell performance is not affected by the small cells. If the information exchange rate is adjusted as a function of the average SNR to achieve a BER target, then the required rate increases with the log of the average SNR. Therefore, we propose two adaptive approaches, where the exchange rate adapts to the instantaneous channel conditions, and show that the requirements can be exponentially reduced, i.e., only a log[log[.]] increase with the SNR is enough.


A bacterial strain designated TAPG2T was isolated from a freshwater creek in Taiwan and characterized using the polyphasic taxonomic approach. Cells of TAPG2T were Gram-stain negative, aerobic, motile, non-spore forming, short rods surrounded by a thick capsules and forming cream to dark-green colonies. Growth occurred at 15-37 °C (optimum, 25-30 °C), at pH 6.5-8 (optimum, pH 7) and with 0-1 % NaCl (optimum, 0.5 %). The major fatty acids (>10 %) of TAPG2T were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), C16 : 0 and C18 : 1ω7c. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an uncharacterized aminophospholipid, an uncharacterized phospholipid, an uncharacterized aminolipid and an uncharacterized lipid. The polyamine profile was composed of the major compound putrescine and moderate amounts of spermidine. The only isoprenoid quinone was Q-8. The DNA G+C content was 53.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that TAPG2T represented a member of the genus Rheinheimera and was most closely related to Rheinheimera aquatica GR5T and Rheinheimera texasensis A62-14BT with 98.6 and 98.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence identities, respectively. However, DNA-DNA hybridization values of TAPG2T with type strains of the species with validly published names were lower than 30 %. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic inference, demonstrate that TAPG2T should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Rheinheimera, for which the name Rheinheimera coerulea sp. nov. is presented. The type strain is TAPG2T (=BCRC 81054T=LMG 30056T=KCTC 52815T).


Quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD-SOA) characteristics are analyzed by rate equations governing carrier dynamics in ground, excited, and upper continuum states and wetting layer. In this paper, using transfer matrix method, we analyze the picosecond pulse propagation in QD-SOA, considering cross gain modulation and gain saturation nonlinear effects. The effects of various parameters, including bias current and inhomogeneous broadening on pulse propagation, are researched. It is shown that for bias current densities beyond 8 kA/cm2, distortion-free pulse amplification can be achieved for input powers up to 80 mW. Lower inhomogeneous broadening leads to higher gain at central frequencies. In addition, our simulation procedure is capable of including co and counter multiwavelength signals. The simulation algorithm can handle various schemes of signal propagation in QD-SOA in reasonable simulation time, a fact that is extremely precious, especially in multiwavelength counter propagation, considering the numerous and lengthy equations that must be considered. In counter propagation, output shapes of signals are shown to be completely different from those of copropagation. The underlying reason for the differences is thoroughly researched.


Aging is associated with several changes in sleep patterns. Older adults have increased prevalence of primary sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep disordered breathing, restless legs syndrome, REM sleep behavior disorder, and circadian rhythm disturbances. These can be further compromised by sleep disturbances secondary to medical or psychiatric disorders, and medication side effects. This review discusses age-related changes in sleep architecture, etiology, clinical presentation, and treatment options of various sleep disorders in the elderly.


Abstract: Using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays, we measured the concentrations of serum thrombopoietin (TPO) and plasma glycocalicin, a proteolytic fragment of platelet glycoprotein Ibα, in 13 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), aplastic anaemia (AA) or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). In the patients with AA or MDS, the TPO concentrations were remarkably increased, and their glycocalicin concentrations were decreased compared with the normal control individuals. In the patients with ITP, however, the TPO and glycocalicin levels were not changed as much as in the AA/MDS patients in spite of the same degree of thrombocytopenia. During immunosuppressive treatment of ITP patients, there was an inverse relationship between the level of TPO and the platelet count. Thus, measurements of TPO and glycocalicin levels are useful for the diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, and our results from ITP patients did not support the model which suggested the simple feedback regulation of TPO in thrombocytopenia.


Solutions of DNA, spin-labelled with the radical cation of chlorpromazine, were used to produce oriented species of fibres pulled from a gel obtained by ultracentrifugation. The electron spin resonance spectra, recorded at X and Q band frequencies, are given for both gel and fibres; 14N hyperfine coupling parameters were obtained by computer fitting. The spectra are explained in terms of a strongly immobilized label having one principal hyperfine tensor axis parallel to the axis of the DNA helix, and the preferential orientation of the chlorpromazine ions with their planes perpendicular to the DNA helical axis.


Valproic acid (VPA), a widely used antiepileptic drug, is an inhibitor of histone deacetylases, which epigenetically modify cell proliferation/differentiation in developing tissues. A series of recent clinical studies in humans reported that VPA exposure in utero impaired histogenesis and the development of the central nervous system, leading to increased risks of congenital malformation and the impairment of higher brain functions in children. In the present study conducted in mice, we report that VPA exposure in utero (1) increases the amount of acetylated histone proteins, (2) alters the expression of G1-phase regulatory proteins, (3) inhibits the cell cycle exit of neural progenitor cells during the early stage of neocortical histogenesis, and (4) increases the production of projection neurons distributed in the superficial neocortical layers in embryonic brains. Together, our findings show that VPA exposure in utero alters proliferation/differentiation characteristics of neural progenitor cells and hence leads to the neocortical dysgenesis. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study provides new insight into the mechanisms of how an altered in utero environment, such as drug exposure, affects the generation of neurons prenatally. The antiepileptic drug valproic acid (VPA) is a good target molecule as in utero exposure to VPA has been repeatedly reported to increase the risk of nervous system malformations and to impair higher brain functions in children. We show that VPA decreases the probability of differentiation of the neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in mice, resulting in an abnormally increased number of projection neurons in the superficial layers of the neocortex. Further, we suggest that histone deacetylase inhibition by VPA may be involved in the dysregulation of proliferation/differentiation characteristics of NPCs.


The aim of this paper is to characterize the species diversity of freshwater decapod crustaceans (crabs and shrimps) from Colombia by using a dataset containing 964 digitized records and 13 881 specimens collected between 1910 and 2016, information that has been assembled with data from 21 museums and other institutions worldwide. The characterization of species diversity is based on the estimation of relative abundance of species and it is calculated in three separate analyses in which the data were partitioned as follows: (a) by decapod families (six in Colombia) (b) the unpartitioned dataset of all 139 Colombian species and (c) by the five biogeographic regions in the country. In each case, Campos & Isaza's species diversity index and the Shannon entropy index were calculated. The calculations performed here also allowed the identification of predominant species and those that are least represented in collections and might therefore be at greater risk of extinction.


Under-nutrition is a serious problem facing pre-schoolers worldwide and especially in developing countries. Peri- urban populations are normally characterized by difficult socio- economic situations which are likely to have direct or indirect implications on the health of pre-scholars hence may contribute to the prevalence of under-nutrition. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of under-nutrition of pre-schoolers and the associated risk factors. The study used a cross-sectional survey of pre-scholars from Matisi peri-urban location, Trans- Nzoia district. Children's anthropometric measurements including body weight, height, and MUAC were taken. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to gather socio- demographic and environmental factors of the pre-scholars. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Chi square test and logistic regression were used to find associations between factors and under-nutrition. Epi- Info version 3.5.1 was used to analyze anthropometric data which generated z scores (SD). Results were considered significant at 5% ?-level. The results obtained were;- the mean age (in months) was 38±10.7. Majority (95.2%) of the children were immunized. Prevalence of Under-nutrition (stunting, underweight and wasting) was (24%), (21.6%) and (5.3%) respectively. Children who were fed colostrums had 96.6% less chances of stunting and those who had completed immunization had 83.3% less likely to be stunted (p=0.010, OR 0.034, 95%CI 0.003–0.443: p=0.019 OR 0.167, 95% CI 0.037 – 0.747) respectively. Preschoolers who had suffered fever two weeks prior to the study (p=0.032 OR 3.660, 95% CI 1.118-11.982) were four times likely to be stunted and mothers with a high parity were twice likely to have stunted children. Complete immunization and fecal waste disposal site were associated with underweight (p= 0.028 OR 0.205 95% CI 0.05-0.844 and p=0.002 OR 3.7 95% CI 1.601-8.911) respectively. We therefore conclude the most prevalent forms of under-nutrition were stunting and underweight. The government and partners should put emphasis on the importance of complete immunization, proper disposal of fecal waste, proper child feeding methods. There is also need for slum upgrading projects and residents should be assisted to start Income Generating Activities to raise their living standards. Key words: Peri-urban, pre-school, Prevalence, Under-nutrition


Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of microwave ablation in 42 patients with NSCLC.

Materials and Methods: The last three years, 42 patients were submitted for percutaneous microwave ablation sessions. All tumors were larger than 3cm. The procedure was performed under local anesthesia. A thin (14,5G) antenna was placed directly into the tumor. Duration of each session ranged between 3-12 minutes. Follow-up contrast enhanced CT scans were obtained.

Results: Follow up CT scans revealed lack of enhancement in 19 patients (45.2%), partial enhancement in 10 (23.8%), who all underwent a second session and four (9.52%) even a third session.

![Figure][1]

![Figure][1]

No major complications occurred. No significant worsening in pulmonary function occurred. Post-ablation syndrome was reported in 9 patients (21.42%). Minor complications occurred in a minority of patients; productive cough in 13 patients (25.49%), small pleural effusions in 6 patients (14.28%). Small pneumothorax occurred in 4 patients (9.52%) and was self limited.

Conclusion: Microwave ablation is effective and may be safely applied to NSCLC tumors.

 [1]: pending:yes


Application of quantitative techniques in regional analysis can provide an understanding of both the change in time of regional economic performance and the interdependencies between economic sectors, including the use of projections to test the potential future development of the region. Qualitative techniques allow also the explanation of the reason for regional development patterns occurring in a region and the improvement of analysts' ability to reflect on the results and economic opportunities for a future based on collective experience, wisdom and judgment of the actors in region economies.


Contemporary archaeology confronts with many issues relating to broader societal challenges. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a relevant role within this confrontation. Understanding the role and effects of ICTs in society is still in the process and so is for archaeology. The relation between archaeological thought and computer technologies has witnessed a preliminary and strong commitment of archaeologist to computer's potentials as part of the positivistic strand of the New Archaeology, going through to the acquisition of the GIS and virtual reality potentials since the 1980s. The data enriching environment of post-processual archaeology and the increasing development in computers power and means, have brought to the fore issues of data archiving, management, retrieval, sharing and access. The digital environment requires an ever increasing amount of space for the ever increasing amount of digitally-born data to be preserved and shared. The present dissertation aims to analyze the digital world of archaeology and, particularly, photogrammetry applied to the survey and recording of underwater cultural heritage, with an eye on theoretical and methodological aspects that affect the way photogrammetry and 3D models enter the process of archaeological interpretation. Photogrammetry and the resulting three-dimensional models are useful in the interpretation process as part of a larger digital framework for the analysis of spatial data in underwater archaeology.


The surgeon removed the tonsils of the poet, discussing literature with him as long as he was awake. That afternoon the surgeon returned several times to the nursing home and helped the poet construct a dying speech. Luckily for Western literature, their composition was not required and the poet continued his golden path. The poet was the greatest writing in English in this century—it has been said the greatest since Milton—William Butler Yeats. Some of us may shrink from the thought of a surgeon coming to our sick bed to discuss literature, not because of the possible distracting influence of literature on these men of steel and blood, but because we fear what their taste in literature may be. But the surgeon, Oliver St. John Gogarty, was unusual. As Mr. Ulick O'Connor tells us in this biography, he was a poet, playwright, champion athlete, champion conversationalist, and senator of Ireland.


Human epidermal Langerhans' cells (LC) are HLA-DR+/DQ+, CD1+, CD4+ dendritic antigen-presenting leukocytes. Based on the observation that in certain human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected individuals, LC are the only epidermal cells to react with monoclonal antibodies against HIV-1 isolate termed human T-lymphotropic virus IIIB/83 core proteins p17 and p24, we have proposed that LC can serve as a target for HIV-1. This contention was strengthened by the ultrastructural finding of HIV-1-like particles in the close proximity of LC and by the demonstration of signs of moderate to severe LC damage. Detailed electron microscopic analysis of skin and mucosal biopsies from an AIDS patient with p17/p24-positive LC now revealed not only mature HIV-1-like virions in the extracellular space surrounding LC and in intracytoplasmic LC vacuoles, but also developmental forms of HIV-1-like particles budding from LC surface membranes. Using peripheral blood derived monocytes/macrophages as targets for HIV-1 isolation, a virus isolate, designated human T-lymphotropic virus III WR-SK/86, was recovered from skin tissue from this patient by cocultivation and identified as unique by nucleic acid hybridization analysis. These findings now conclusively show that HIV-1 replicates in and is released from LC and support the concept that antigen-presenting cells (mononuclear phagocytes, LC) can serve as a reservoir for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome virus.


IT HAS been well established that there is a strong hereditary tendency in retinoblastoma. Although the exact way in which the disease is transmitted has not been agreed on, evidence largely points to its being a dominant trait irregular in type. Some cases have been reported of collateral involvement in siblings whose parents were apparently normal, and many cases of direct transmission from parent to child. There remains, however, the majority of cases in which the appearance of the neoplasm seems to be sporadic, no relative of the child having had the disease and the parents both having normal eyes. This sporadic type may be a somatic mutation arising from a developmental disturbance, but it must be borne in mind that should such a case be arrested the patient might well found a fraternity in which the growth would become a dominant trait. Two questions of genetic interest in relation