Objectives
To study the nutritional status and prevalence of RBC folate, Serum folate and vitamin D deficiency among adolescents.

Methods
A cross sectional pilot study was carried out among 96 adolescents visiting outpatient department for refraction at tertiary care hospital in North India. Anthropometric data was obtained for height in centimetres and weight in kilograms. A pretested questionnaire was used to capture quantitative data. Venous blood samples were collected where red blood cell (RBC), serum folate and serum Vitamin D concentrations were measured. Anaemia was defined as normal, mild, moderate and severe as Hb > 12gm/dl, 11-11.9 gm/dl, 8-10.9 gm/dl and < 8 gm/dl respectively. Serum folate deficiency was defined as serum folate < 7 nmol/l, and RBC folate deficiency and insufficiency were defined as RBC folate < 305 nmol/l and & < 748 nmol/l, respectively. Vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency was defined as 25(OH)D < 20 ng/ml, 20-29 ng/ml and ≥ 30 ng/ml respectively. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used.

Results
Almost 46% of adolescents were malnourished (10.4% were underweight, 35.4% were overweight or obese) and mean BMI was 19.7 kg/meter2 however it did not differ significantly across gender. As compared to boys more girls were vegetarian by diet. The mean concentrations for Hb, serum folate and RBC folate were 12.7 (95% CI: 12.4, 13.0) gm/dl, 15.1 (95% CI 12.5, 17.7) nmol/L and 492.9 (95% CI 431.9, 553.9) nmol/L, respectively. Mean concentration for Hb was significantly different across gender (p - 0.0). Around 17% of adolescents were anaemic, 60% were deficient for serum folate and 79% were deficient for RBC folate. Mean serum vitamin D levels were 18 ng/dl (95% CI: 17.0, 22.3) no significant difference found across gender. A total of 62.5% were deficient and 28% were insufficient for vitamin D (ng/ml). Around 50% of the adolescents lack adequate sleep (<8 hours) and increase vitamin D levels were associated with increase sleep duration (r-0.02, p-0.02).

Conclusions
The nutritional status of adolescents in this study is poor and reflects a need to conduct a community-based study which can help in planning strategies to improve nutritional status during critical period of adolescence.

Funding Sources
nil.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Performance study of a High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) is a complex and multi dimensional activity involving analysis and evaluation of several processes and parameters. Theoretical estimation of peak performance is generally done using simple calculations involving processor clock speed, FLOP rating of processor and number of processors & cores. This estimation typically provides a quantitative number, which is within acceptable limits of variation as against actual numbers. There are many factors which affect the actual performance of a HPCC. In this paper we are presenting results of certain computational experiments carried out on a medium size HPCC. The cluster used for carrying out the experiment is built using six identical server machines interconnected using 1 Gbps Ethernet network switch. To study the performance standard HighPerformance Linpack (HPL) Benchmark has been used with certain variation in number of cores and complexity of task. Intel-optimized version of HPL has been used for carrying out the experiments. Obtained results have been analyzed to understand the behavior of HPC for varying complexity of task. Variation in complexity of task and changing number of processing cores for a particular level of complexity have been studied and presented. Keywords—HPCC, HPL, Peak Performance, Cluster


When the Supreme Court unanimously decided Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe on May 17, 1954, it did not decree a remedy for the segregated public school systems that it was declaring to be unconstitutional. Instead, the Court restored the school cases to its docket for the coming Term and ordered further briefing and oral argument on questions relating to the appropriate remedy. One year later, on May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court announced the decision that has come to be known as Brown II. The Court, again unanimously, decreed that it was remanding the cases to the trial courts that had heard them originally, and it ordered those courts to fashion decrees that would admit Negro students to schools on a non-discriminatory basis "with all deliberate speed." On May 18, 2005, two weeks before the 50th anniversary of Brown II, the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York, and the Supreme Court Historical Society assembled four attorneys who served as Supreme Court law clerks during 1954-1955 for a discussion of Brown II. In this roundtable, the attorneys share recollections of experiences at the Supreme Court during that year, and of working in the judicial process that culminated in Brown II. The introduction to this discussion traces the history of Brown v. Board of Education and its companion cases in the Supreme Court. It includes new discoveries, including circumstantial evidence that the Justices did not, contrary to Chief Justice Warren's memoir, actually vote on Brown I until March 1954; some detail on Gerald Gunther's central involvement in Brown II as Warren's law clerk; and information on the six law clerks who worked on special, undisclosed-to-the-parties factual research for the Justices as they considered the Brown II remedy question.


Examples from a case-oriented survey of fifty-six decision support systems are cited to illustrate each of four implementation patterns that were observed in the sample. These four system development patterns are defined in terms of high or low degrees of (1) initiation by the user and (2) participation in the development process. A surprising finding is that systems initiated by users and implemented with their active participation account for less than one fourth of all cases. A qualitative analysis of the cases explains this finding by interpreting the four patterns in terms of six frequently observed system development situations, each of which has its own purpose and dynamics. Categorizing these situations under the headings "built for," "sold to," or "forced upon," key questions and concerns for various stakeholders in system development efforts are cited. A concluding quandary for management involves the choice of a project portfolio that is neither too risky nor too safe.


Globally, aphid, Myzus persicae is an economically significant, polyphagous crop pest that feeds on more than 400 plant species and transmits more than 100 plant viruses. Aphid infestation is mostly managed by insecticides that cause heavy environmental contamination and insect resistance. Cloning of plant derived insecticidal genes to develop transgenic plants under suitable promoter is a promising technology. In the present study, ASAL (MN820725) was isolated from native garlic and cloned in plant transformation vector, pGA482 through Agrobacterium mediated tobacco transformation. PCR of genomic DNA of transgenic tobacco plants using gene specific primers confirmed the presence of asal gene of 546 bp. To detect the integration of gene Southern blot analysis was conducted that revealed stable integration of asal gene while, gene expression was analyzed through qRT-PCR that showed variable expression of asal gene in transgenic tobacco plants. Efficacy of asal gene was evaluated through aphid bioassay. Aphid bioassay revealed that transgenic tobacco lines LS-17, LS-20, LR-1, and LR-7 exhibited 100% aphid mortality and significantly reduced the aphid population. These findings suggested the potential of ASAL against aphids that can be further used against other notorious sap sucking pests.


Fossil-fuel fired steam power plants provide more than 60% of the electricity generated worldwide, and account for about one third of the global CO2 emissions. The thermal efficiency of the steam power plants is limited by the maximum allowed steam temperature and pressure, which in turn are determined by the long-term corrosion and creep resistance of economically viable materials. Today's best martensitic steels contain 9% Cr and can be used at ~ 600°C/300 bar. All attempts so far to reach 650°C with 11-12% Cr steels have failed, and the reason is the formation of a complex nitride, Z-phase, after a few years of service.
In this thesis it is shown that Z-phase can be used as strengthening rather than weakening phase to develop a new generation of martensitic steels. These contain 12% Cr for better corrosion resistance and densely distributed fine Z-phase precipitates for creep resistance. A high Cr content together with Ta and N additions were used to stimulate the formation of a fine distribution of Z-phase in two trial steels. Atom probe tomography, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were employed for a detailed characterization of the microstructure.
In the first trial steel, 12Cr7CoTa-uLC, the C content was limited to 0.005 wt.%, which resulted in a fast transformation from TaN to CrTaN Z-phase, and subsequently a fine distribution of Z-phase was achieved. In the second trial steel a higher C content of 0.06 wt.% was used, which resulted in a slower phase transformation from Ta(C,N) to CrTaN Z-phase.
In the 12Cr7CoTa-uLC trial steel Laves phase formed continuously at the prior austenite grain boundaries, which gave poor impact toughness. In the second trial steel, 12Cr3CoTa-HC, the addition of Cu and higher C content enhanced the distribution of Laves phase, and equiaxed Laves phase particles of a few hundred nanometer in size formed resulting in improved toughness.


A brain disease defined by any of the following conditions: At least two unprovoked (or reflex) seizures occurring > 24 hours apart; One unprovoked (or reflex) seizure and a probability of further seizures similar to the general recurrence risk (at least 60%) after two unprovoked seizures, occurring over the next 10 years; Diagnosis of an epilepsy syndrome . It will be greatly was troublesome on affirm the correct reason for epilepsy What's more just to 25 35% of the patients, particular case could conceivably be beyond any doubt of the accurate etiology. Taking after are few of the referred to reason for epilepsy Genetic, Trauma, Tumor, spoiling cerebral degeneration, cerebrovascular disease, numerous sclerosis,. Alcohol, metabolic issue. Survey for analgesic administration about epileptic patients and in addition anesthesia for epilepsy surgery.


DOI: 10.15414/afz.2014.17.04.115–121 Received 30. June 2014 ǀ Accepted 1. October 2014 ǀ Available online 24. November 2014 In the experiment, we focused on the occurrence of weed density and weed diversity, in  maize and sugar beet growing region and the effectiveness of herbicide treatments on field experiment performed on site Santovka and Plave Vozokany in canopy of sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.) in 1998 – 2000. Plave Vozokany site is located in the southeastern part of the district Levice in maize growing production region. The average daily air temperature in the region is a 9.6 °C, and the annual amount of rainfall represents 604 mm and 330 mm during the growing season respectivelly. Santovka, the second experimental site, is located in the northeastern part of the district of Levice in sugar beet growing region. The average daily air temperature in the region is 9.2 °C and the annual amount of rainfall represents 637 mm and the annual amount of rainfall during the growing season is a 354 mm. Actual weed infestation was carried out by the numerous method with a five replication on the control treatments (without herbicide application), as well as on the areas treated with herbicides.  The occurence of weeds in sunflower was assessed for 3 times per growing season. The evaluated sites were infested on the level of high weed infestation. The total abundance of weeds without herbicidal treatments ranged from 39.62 pcs to 63.50 per m -2 . Herbicides application effectively decreased the weed infestation in range from 3.13 pcs to 14.81 pcs  per m -2 . The most dominant weed species in the canopy of sunflower was group of one year late spring weeds as fallows:  Chenopodium album L., Echinochloa crus - galli (L.) P. BEAUV, Persicaria lapathifolia RAF. S. F. GRAY, Persicaria maculata RAF. S. F. GRAY, Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Atriplex sp.. Another most abundant weeds species designated as very dangerous species were Tripleurospermum perforatum (L.) SCHULTZ-BIP., Avena fatua L., Elytrigia repens (L.) DESV, Cirsium arvense (L.) SCOP. and  Convolvulus arvensis L.. In pursuing the weed species diversity in Plave Vozokany site, we found medium dependence on air temperature during the year (r= 0.363427), and indirect dependence with rainfall pattern (r= -0.08196). The average weed density was in the indirect dependence on the air temperature (r= -0.98317), but strongly dependent on rainfall (r= 0.889926). Higher weed infestation was noted in the growing years when early spring to early summer was warm and humid. Lower weed infestation was noted when this period was dry. Differences in overall weed infestation, as well as the effectiveness of the used herbicides between experimental sites were at the same level of importance. Keywords : sunflower, herbicides control, weed density, weed diversity


Many experimental and numerical studies have been devoted to turbulent pipe flows due to the number of applications in which theses flows govern heat or mass transfer processes: heat exchangers, agricultural spraying machines, gasoline engines, and gas turbines for examples. The simplest case of non-rotating pipe has been extensively studied experimentally and numerically. Most of pipe flow numerical simulations have studied stability and transition. Some Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) have been performed, with a 3-D spectral code, or using mixed finite difference and spectral methods. There is few DNS of the turbulent rotating pipe flow in the literature. Investigations devoted to Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of turbulence pipe flow are very limited. With DNS and LES, one can derive more turbulence statistics and determine a well-resolved flow field which is a prerequisite for correct predictions of heat transfer. However, the turbulent pipe flows have not been so deeply studied through DNS and LES as the plane-channel flows, due to the peculiar numerical difficulties associated with the cylindrical coordinate system used for the numerical simulation of the pipe flows. This chapter presents Direct Numerical Simulations and Large Eddy Simulations of fully developed turbulent pipe flow in non-rotating and rotating cases. The governing equations are discretized on a staggered mesh in cylindrical coordinates. The numerical integration is performed by a finite difference scheme, second-order accurate in space and time. The time advancement employs a fractional step method. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the Reynolds number and of the rotation number on the turbulent flow characteristics. The mean velocity profiles and many turbulence statistics are compared to numerical and experimental data available in the literature, and reasonably good agreement is obtained. In particular, the results show that the axial velocity profile gradually approaches a laminar shape when increasing the rotation rate, due to the stability effect caused by the centrifugal force. Consequently, the friction factor decreases. The rotation of the wall has large effects on the root mean square (rms), these effects being more pronounced for the streamwise rms velocity. The influence of rotation is to reduce the Reynolds stress component and to increase the two other stresses and . The effect of the Reynolds number on the rms of the axial velocity (


Background The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been widely used as a brief behavioral screening. The aim of this study was to examine the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the 3- to 4-year-old version of the SDQ (SDQ 3–4) in Japanese preschool children. Methods The SDQ 3–4 was administered to 754 parents who had 4- to 6-year-old children attending kindergartens or childcare centers in Wako City, Japan, at 2 different times (Time 1 and Time 2) over a 2-week interval between June and July 2012. Cronbach's α and correlation coefficients were used to examine internal consistency and test-retest reliability, respectively. Results Of 393 parents who returned their responses at Time 1 (response rate 52.1%), 383 were used for analysis after excluding 10 responses with missing data. Their children's mean age was 4.7 (standard deviation 0.7) years. The internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was good for the total difficulties score (0.74) and the prosocial behavior scale (0.70). However, it was slightly worse for the emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity scales (0.61–0.66) and poor for the peer problems scale (0.45). Of the 383 included respondents at Time 1, 211 parents returned their responses at Time 2 (response rate: 55.1%). Test-retest reliability (correlation coefficients) was good (0.73–0.82), except for the peer problems scale (0.58). Conclusions The results support the reliability of the SDQ 3–4 being satisfactory for the total difficulties score and prosocial behavior scale and being acceptable for the emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity scales in Japanese preschool children aged 4–6 years.


Calcium phosphate granules associated with hydrogels were developed as bone substitutes for various clinical applications. These Injectable Bone Substitutes (IBS) should regenerate bone tissue. The efficiency of these multiphasic materials was due to the osteogenic properties of the Microporous Biphasic Calcium phosphate (BCP) granules. The hydrosoluble polymers associated to BCP were considered as a carrier alone. In this study we used hydrosoluble polymers with and without gelling properties in association with the BCP granules. The two suspensions were implanted in femoral epiphysis defects in rabbits and dogs. No foreign body reaction was observed in all samples. However, due to the higher density of the hydrogel/BCP composite caused by the gelling; cell colonization and bone tissue ingrowth was delayed. This study demonstrated that the gelling properties delayed on time biological colonization and decreased the rate of resorption.


This study was aimed at determining the characteristics of circular multi-family housing under the assumption that the shape of a residential building affects local identity. A total of six case studies were included in this study, three case studies on idle historical industrial facilities turned into residential buildings and another three on multi-family housing located in newly developed residential complexes. The study drew its conclusions as follows. First, the design of circular multi-family housing was intended to maximize security and defense from the outside in older times. This was later developed as the terrace house style with geometric urban squares designed under the urban planning of the Baroque period. This evolved high-density housing with a courtyard in the center offering a green open space, with the aim of restoring a sense of humanity. Second, the six case studies on circular multi-family housing were analyzed from the viewpoint of each factor of local identity, including historical and cultural, landscape, and community. Third, the historical and cultural elements of circular multi-family housing are found in some unused historical industrial facilities remodeled into residential buildings. They provide new capabilities and shapes desired by society at a given time, while maintaining familiar styles and elements of history, integrating a legacy of the past into the present. Fourth, circular multi-family housing with unique shapes and structures often become landmarks of a region with their distinctive appearance against a uniform urban environment and the monotonous scenery of residential complexes. They also show a high level of visual awareness with the distinctive shapes made possible when new elements are added to a historical exterior. Finally, circular multi-family housing with courtyards in the center prompt social contact between inhabitants, especially with dormitories and rental houses for the low-income bracket, which provide a small individual units with high use common space. Circular multi-family housing are planned in a manner similar to a small village or a city. They are designed to enhance sense of community, allocating various public amenities and provide cultural and commercial spaces on the ground floor and courtyard areas.


The main cause of maternal death in Bangladesh is postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). PPH accounts for 31%of maternal deaths. Proven interventions to prevent maternal mortality are active management of third stage of labour (AMTSL) and the availability of comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmOC); both include the administration of oxytocin. Traditional parenteral oxytocin administration requires a consistent cold chain and for a skilled attendant to administer the injection. Inhaled oxytocin (IHO), which does not require a cold chain, has been shown to have similar efficacy to parenteral oxytocin, in preventing PPH. In Bangladesh there are non-functioning institutionalized guidelines from the Director General of Health Services on the storage of parenteral oxytocin, which may impact the potency of oxytocin used during labour. To reduce preventable PPH morbidity and mortality, Bangladesh needs to consider replacing parenteral oxytocin with IHO, as the cold chain capacity in Bangladesh is strained, and institutional guidelines for injectable oxytocin are not used. In parallel, Bangladesh should also continue efforts to ensure universal access to quality AMSTL and CEmOC services.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease leads to impaired B cell and antibody responses through mechanisms that remain poorly defined. A unique memory B cell subpopulation (CD20hi/CD27lo/CD21lo) in human tonsillar tissues was recently defined by the expression of the inhibitory receptor Fc-receptor-like-4 (FCRL4). In this study, we describe a similar B cell subpopulation in the blood of HIV-viremic individuals. FCRL4 expression was increased on B cells of HIV-viremic compared with HIV-aviremic and HIV-negative individuals. It was enriched on B cells with a tissuelike memory phenotype (CD20hi/CD27−/CD21lo) when compared with B cells with a classical memory (CD27+) or naive (CD27−/CD21hi) B cell phenotype. Tissuelike memory B cells expressed patterns of homing and inhibitory receptors similar to those described for antigen-specific T cell exhaustion. The tissuelike memory B cells proliferated poorly in response to B cell stimuli, which is consistent with high-level expression of multiple inhibitory receptors. Immunoglobulin diversities and replication histories were lower in tissuelike, compared with classical, memory B cells, which is consistent with premature exhaustion. Strikingly, HIV-specific responses were enriched in these exhausted tissuelike memory B cells, whereas total immunoglobulin and influenza-specific responses were enriched in classical memory B cells. These data suggest that HIV-associated premature exhaustion of B cells may contribute to poor antibody responses against HIV in infected individuals.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between obesity, body image perception, and weight control for obesity management in adult women.

METHODS
The subjects of this study were 3,617 women aged over 19 years, who participated in the Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016. Data were analyzed through complex sampling design data analysis.

RESULTS
Right body image perception according to obesity was apparent between 70.6-81.7% of women and 76.5% of women with abdominal obesity perceived that they were normal. Obese women performed more weight control than non-obese women. Women with only abdominal obesity performed less weight control than non-obese women, and 47.3% of them performed weight control. Women who perceived themselves as obese performed more weight control than women who perceived themselves as non-obese (odds ratio, 2.08; confidence interval, 1.69-2.57), but body mass index was not observed to be associated with weight control. CONCLUSIONS: Education on abdominal obesity should be provided to increase awareness about abdominal obesity and its effective management, especially in women with only abdominal obesity. In addition, interventions for right body type perception should be provided for proper weight control along with prevention and management of obesity.


The relationship between Scleractinia and Corallimorpharia, Orders within Anthozoa distinguished by the presence of an aragonite skeleton in the former, is controversial. Although classically considered distinct groups, some phylogenetic analyses have placed the Corallimorpharia within a larger Scleractinia/Corallimorpharia clade, leading to the suggestion that the Corallimorpharia are "naked corals" that arose via skeleton loss during the Cretaceous from a Scleractinian ancestor. Scleractinian paraphyly is, however, contradicted by a number of recent phylogenetic studies based on mt nucleotide (nt) sequence data. Whereas the "naked coral" hypothesis was based on analysis of the sequences of proteins encoded by a relatively small number of mt genomes, here a much-expanded dataset was used to reinvestigate hexacorallian phylogeny. The initial observation was that, whereas analyses based on nt data support scleractinian monophyly, those based on amino acid (aa) data support the "naked coral" hypothesis, irrespective of the method and with very strong support. To better understand the bases of these contrasting results, the effects of systematic errors were examined. Compared to other hexacorallians, the mt genomes of "Robust" corals have a higher (A+T) content, codon usage is far more constrained, and the proteins that they encode have a markedly higher phenylalanine content, leading us to suggest that mt DNA repair may be impaired in this lineage. Thus the "naked coral" topology could be caused by high levels of saturation in these mitochondrial sequences, long-branch effects or model violations. The equivocal results of these extensive analyses highlight the fundamental problems of basing coral phylogeny on mitochondrial sequence data.


GENERATING CONTENT-BASED SIGNATURES FOR DETECTING BOT-INFECTED MACHINES Leyla Bilge M.S. in Computer Engineering Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Aydın SELÇUK July, 2008 A botnet is a network of compromised machines that are remotely controlled and commanded by an attacker, who is often called the botmaster. Such botnets are often abused as platforms to launch distributed denial of service attacks, send spam mails or perform identity theft. In recent years, the basic motivations for malicious activity have shifted from script kiddie vandalism in the hacker community, to more organized attacks and intrusions for financial gain. This shift explains the reason for the rise of botnets that have capabilities to perform more sophisticated malicious activities. Recently, researchers have tried to develop botnet detection mechanisms. The botnet detection mechanisms proposed to date have serious limitations, since they either can handle only certain types of botnets or focus on only specific botnet attributes, such as the spreading mechanism, the attack mechanism, etc., in order to constitute their detection models. We present a system that monitors network traffic to identify bot-infected hosts. Our goal is to develop a more general detection model that identifies single infected machines without relying on the bot propagation vector. To this end, we leverage the insight that all of the bots get a command and perform an action as a response, since the command and response behavior is the unique characteristic that distinguishes the bots from other malware. Thus, we examine the network traffic generated by bots to locate command and response behaviors. Afterwards, we generate signatures from the similar commands that are followed by similar bot responses without any explicit knowledge about the command and control protocol. The signatures are deployed to an IDS that monitors the network traffic of a university. Finally, the experiments showed that our system is capable of detecting bot-infected machines with a low false positive rate.


In this study, the first purpose was to determine total phenolic, total flavonoid and total terpenoid content of the Acer tegmentosum ethanol extract and four different types of fractions, including chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water. Among the samples, Acer tegmentosum ethanol extract and fraction of ethyl acetate showed the highest total phenolic, total flavonoid and total terpenoid content. The second purpose was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the samples assessed by in vitro methods such as scavenging capacity of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid free radicals. Especially, Acer tegmentosum ethanol extract and fraction of ethyl acetate showed the strongest scavenging capacity with the lowest half maximal scavenging capacity values of these free radicals. The third purpose was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity in the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated Ralph and William's cell line 264.7 macrophages treated with various concentrations of Acer tegmentosum ethanol extract and fraction of ethyl acetate, and no cytotoxic effect on the macrophages was observed at the concentration of 100 μg/ml of this extract. It suggested that this extract suppresses the activation of macrophages to secrete both pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1 beta, tumour necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase and interleukin-6) and enzyme (inducible nitric oxide synthase) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-10). The fourth purpose was to identify some compounds in a sample responsible for the antioxidant and anti-inflammation activities. In high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms, the peak retention times detected from Acer tegmentosum ethanol extract and fraction of ethyl acetate in comparison with those from reference standards identified six compounds such as gallic acid, salidroside, (-)-epigallocatechin, (+)-catechin, scopoletin and trans-ferulic acid. It suggested that these compounds are responsible for antioxidant and anti-inflammation activities. Taken together, Acer tegmentosum seems to be one of the most promising species as a therapeutic source against diseases.


In this paper we propose a flexible framework for the design of weather index insurance (WII) based on penalized spline methods. The aim is to find the indemnity function which optimally characterizes the intricate relationship between agricultural production losses and weather variables and thus effectively improves policyholders' utilities. We use B-spline functions to define the feasible set of the optimization problem and a penalty function to avoid the "overfitting" issue. The proposed design framework is applied to an empirical study in which we use precipitation and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) to construct an index insurance contract for corn producers in Illinois. Numerical evidence shows that the resulting optimal insurance contract effectively enhances policyholder's utility, even in the absence of government's premium subsidy. In addition, performance of our proposed index insurance is robust to a variety of key factors, and the general payment structure is highly interpretable for marketing purposes. All these merits indicate its potential to increase efficiency of the agricultural insurance market and thus enhance social welfare.


OBJECTIVE
To determine managed care organizations' (MCOs) requirements for screening for alcohol, drug, or mental health problems in primary care settings.

STUDY DESIGN
A telephone survey was used to gather information on the 3 largest commercial products offered by MCOs. Products included health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, and point-of-service plans.

METHODS
Managed care organizations were asked whether their products required screening for alcohol, drug, or mental health problems in primary care settings. Chi-square tests were performed to ascertain whether screening requirements, the distribution of practice guidelines, and the topics addressed in those guidelines varied by product type and contracting with specialty behavioral health vendors. The data were weighted to produce national estimates.

RESULTS
Only 14.9% of the products surveyed required any alcohol, drug, or mental health screening by primary care practitioners. Slightly more than half of all the products surveyed distributed practice guidelines that addressed mental illness, and about one third distributed substance abuse practice guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the feasibility, utility, and effectiveness of screening are increasingly recognized, few MCOs currently require alcohol, drug, or mental health screening by primary care physicians in any of their product types.


ABSTRACT This article presents a practical example of the implementation of learning portfolios as a means to assessing competence in translator training. Details are given of how a portfolio may be used for both formative and summative assessment; the stages of competence development at which assessment should take place; and the criteria used for assessing the outcome of activities designed to develop translation competence. The results obtained are presented and discussed. The example presented shows that learning portfolios are the instruments of choice for assessing the progressive development of competence in trainee translators. They encourage learner autonomy, reflective and critical thinking and self-assessment, and the tasks set mobilise all the competences required to successfully develop translation competence. The use of learning portfolios, however, requires close collaboration between trainers and trainees, and a sustained effort to establish, and apply, effective competence assessment criteria.


Background: Caffeine has a long profile of use as an adjuvant therapy for headache and migraine. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of intravenous caffeine citrate for patients with acute migraine headache. Methods: In this single arm study, 61 patients were enrolled who were diagnosed with migraine according to International Headache Society criteria. Patients received 60 mg caffeine citrate intravenously (i.v.) in about 10 min. Visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores were measured on baseline and 1 h and 2 h after caffeine infusion. Results: The improvement in VAS pain score was > 3 point change from baseline to 1 h after i.v. infusion ( p < 0.001) and > 5 point change from baseline to 2 h after i.v. infusion ( p < 0.001). Patients who received other medication before caffeine i.v. infusion did not show better improvement after 1 h ( p = 0.304) or 2 h ( p = 0.926) compared with other patients. Conclusions: Infusion of 60 mg caffeine citrate i.v. is safe and well tolerated. It achieved therapeutic success for patients with acute migraine headache after 1 and 2 h. Further controlled studies are recommended.


Gay and lesbian adolescents are a socially oppressed group discriminated against by a heterosexist and homophobic society. Because of the negative stigma society places on lesbian and gay adolescents, they face numerous difficulties that require social support and intervention. Issues pertinent to social work with lesbian and gay adolescents are examined in the context of three main social institutions: the family, the social culture, and the educational setting. Suggestions are made for improving intervention with this population, including increasing personal awareness of one's own homophobia and heterosexist bias in working with client groups; educating oneself and client groups about homosexuality; establishing positive social support programs to serve lesbian and gay adolescents; advocating for sanctions to end gay and lesbian harassment in the educational system; supporting the hiring of openly gay and lesbian teachers to serve as positive role models; and advocating for the inclusion of sexual orientation information in school sex education curricula.


This book investigates the minimization of torque ripples and harmonic noises in PMSM generated due to inverter switching system. In order to reduce torque ripples and harmonic noises in PMSM, three different methods have been proposed: a new dissipative passive filter topology to reduce torque ripples and harmonic noises in PMSM derived by FOC and HDTC algorithms have been proposed.In the second method an active filter topology have been proposed. The third method describes a new direct torque control algorithm for interior permanent magnet synchronous motor to improve the performance of hysteresis direct torque control (HDTC).The simulation results of this proposed algorithm show adequate dynamic torque performance and considerable torque ripples reduction as well as lower harmonic current and lower EMI noise level as compared to HDTC. These simulation resuls are supported by expeimental work


Abstract. Surface soils interact strongly with both climate and
biota and provide fundamental ecosystem services that maintain food,
climate and human security. However, the quantitative linkages between soil
properties, climate and biota remain unclear at the global scale. By
compiling a comprehensive global soil database, we mapped eight major soil
properties (bulk density; clay, silt, and sand fractions; soil pH; soil
organic carbon, SOC, density; soil total nitrogen, STN, density; and soil
C:N mass ratios) in the surface soil layer (0–30 cm), based on machine
learning algorithms, and demonstrated the quantitative linkages between
surface soil properties, climate and biota at the global scale, which we
call the global soil–climate–biome diagram. In the diagram, bulk density
increased significantly with higher mean annual temperature (MAT) and lower
mean annual precipitation (MAP); soil clay fraction increased significantly
with higher MAT and MAP; soil pH decreased with higher MAP and lower MAT
and the "critical MAP", which means the corresponding MAP at a soil pH of =7.0 (a shift from alkaline to acidic soil), decreased with lower MAT. SOC
density and STN density were both jointly affected by MAT and MAP, showing
an increase at lower MAT and a saturation towards higher MAP. Surface soil
physical and chemical properties also showed remarkable variation across
biomes. The soil–climate–biome diagram suggests shifts in soil
properties under global climate and land cover change.


The papers presents the algorithm of computer program for calculation of the coefficients used in calculating dimension chains regarding the chosen theoretical law for approximation of the empirical curve.


The successful use of radar for locating objects has led the authors to consider the possibility of using it to determine discontinuities within the earth. Knowledge of the propagation characteristics of waves in the earth is required before such a development might be undertaken. The present article reviews the literature in this field and reports experiments in which the velocity, attenuation, and wave length of electromagnetic waves in certain earthy materials were measured. The conclusion describes the possibilities of such development based on the experimental results.


The permeability of cell membrane was enhanced by exogenous SA in the culture of Taxus cuspidata. Nuclei condense and fragments were observed in some cells by using fluorescent microscope, and the degraded chromosomal DNA was observed by using agarose gel electrophoresis. The changes in soluble proteins of the suspension cultures of Taxus cuspidata induced by salicylic acids were analyzed by using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Comparing with the control, seven new protein spots were found and six protein spots were not found in the cultures grown with SA at 48h. The results obtained showed that SA could induce the expression of some special proteins that might be related with the action of SA in the suspension cultures of Taxus cuspidata.


Recent policy in relation to clinical research proposals in the UK has distinguished between two types of review: scientific and ethical. This distinction has been formally enshrined in the recent changes to research ethics committee (REC) structure and operating procedures, introduced as the UK response to the EU Directive on clinical trials. Recent reviews and recommendations have confirmed the place of the distinction and the separate review processes. However, serious reservations can be mounted about the science/ethics distinction and the policy of separate review that has been built upon it. We argue here that, first, the science/ethics distinction is incoherent, and, second, that RECs should not only be permitted to consider a study's science, but that they have anobligation do so.


Calcium alginate (CaAlg) hydrogel filtration membrane was prepared using urea as pore-forming agent. The effects of preparation and operating conditions on the removal rate of Cd2+ were researched. The removal mechanism of Cd2+ and the anti-fouling property of CaAlg membrane were investigated. The removal rate of the CaAlg filtration membrane reached over 99.5% within 120 min when 20 mg/L Cd2+ was used, and the flux was 15.5 L/m2h at 0.1 MPa when the thickness of the membrane was 0.28 ± 0.08 mm. However, the removal rate of Cd2+ was below 10.0% when the same concentration Cd2+ solution was adsorbed by CaAlg membrane with the same size. Energy dispersive spectroscope analysis demonstrated that the removal of Cd2+ depended on the adsorption and ion exchange of Ca2+ by Cd2+. CaAlg membrane exhibited a higher removal rate for Cd2+ (almost 100%). It was the filtration process that promoted the adsorption and ion exchange of Cd2+ in CaAlg hydrogel.


It is estimated that the medical tourism industry in Asia will be worth US$4bil (RM14.2 bil) by 2012, and Malaysia is positioning itself as one of the major players in this region, expecting to earn up to US$590 mil (RM2.1 bil) within five years (The Star, Nov 8, 2008). In 2007 alone, Malaysia received 341,288 medical tourists with revenue of RM253.84 million (www.tourism.gov.my). Thus, the potential of the industry is enormous, and the Malaysian government is making the right strategic move in this direction. Medical tourism as is practised and promoted today is a relatively new concept, although patients travelling far and wide in search for medical treatment is not anything new. The paper explores the development and growth of medical tourism in the global context, as well as among the Asian key players in the industry, before moving into the Malaysian experience. The role of key players in advancing the agenda of the industry, namely the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Association of Private Hospitals, Malaysian Healthcare Travel Council etc, will also be discussed. Finally, challenges faced by an industry still in its infancy will also be discussed.


Here Tr is the trace operator. The discussion in [1] goes on by arguing that R must be Hermitian (have real eigenvalues) and that ρ ought to be positive with trace 1. An important special case is when ρ is one-dimensional: ρ = |ψ〉〈ψ| for a vector |ψ〉. Then the state is pure, and is equivalently specified by the vector |ψ〉. In general the formula (1) is a consequence of Born's formula: The probability of observing a pure state |φ〉 when the system is prepared in a pure state |ψ〉 is given by |〈φ|ψ〉|2.


Abstract T he main purpose of this study was to explain personality disorders in terms of attachment theory in a sample of patients with personality disorder. Sixty eight patients (43 male, 25 female) referred to the University of Tehran and the Iran University of Science and Technology clinics were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Millon Clinical Multiaxel Inventory-II (MCMI-II) and the Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI). Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviations, chi-square tests, and correlation coefficients. The results revealed that ambivalent attachment style was significantly associated with dependent, histrionic, obsessive-compulsive, and passive-aggressive personality disorders while avoidant attachment style was significantly associated with paranoid personality disorder. The correlations of avoidant attachment style and personality disorders of schizoid, narcissistic, schizotypal, and borderline were in the positive directions but just failed to reach levels of statistical significance. The association of personality disorders to attachment disorders is explained by internal working models through negative evaluation of self, positive/negative evaluation of others, and constant preoccupation with interpersonal relationships.


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to quantify the extent to which socioeconomic-related inequality in self-reported oral health status among Thais is present after the country implemented the Universal Coverage policy and to decompose the determinants and their associations with inequality in self-reported oral health status in particular with the worse condition.

DESIGN AND METHOD
The study employed a concentration index to measure socioeconomic-related inequality in self-reported oral health status, and the decomposition method to identify the determinants and their associations with inequality in oral health-related measures. Data from 32,748 Thai adults aged 15-75 years from the nationally representative Health &Welfare Survey and Socio-Economic Survey 2006 were used in analyses.

RESULTS
Reports of worse oral health status of the lower socioeconomic-status group were more common than their higher socioeconomic-status counterparts. The concentration index (equaling -0.208) corroborates the finding of pro-poor inequality in self-reported worse oral health. Decomposition analysis demonstrated certain demographic-, socioeconomic-, and geographic characteristics are particularly associated with poor-rich differences in self-reported oral health status among Thai adults.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated socioeconomic-related inequality in oral health is discernable along the entire spectrum of socioeconomic status. Inequality in perceived oral health status among Thais is present even while the country has virtually achieved universality of health coverage. The study also indicates population subgroups, particularly the poor, should receive consideration for improving oral health status as revealed by underlying determinants.


OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of cold ischaemia time (CIT) on the outcome of cadaveric renal transplantation in the Netherlands. DESIGN: Retrospective, comparative. METHODS: We studied data from the Netherlands organ transplant registry of cadaveric renal transplants from 1990-2007. RESULTS: 6322 cadaveric renal transplant recipients were studied, of whom 5306 were from heart-beating donors (HBD) and 1016 from non-heart-beating donors (NHBD). The mean CIT was 24.0 h in the HBD group and 21.6 h in the NHBD group. The rate of delayed graft function (DGF) was 12.3% in the HBD group and 50.4% in the NHBD group. Multivariate analysis showed that prolonged CIT was an independent risk factor for graft failure. Prolonged CIT was also associated with the more frequent occurrence of DGF and primary non-function (PNF). Recipients of renal allografts from HBD with CIT <or= 20 hours showed a 3% higher 5-year graft survival rate than in recipients of kidneys with longer CIT. In recipients of NHBD kidneys with CIT < 16 hours, the 5-year graft survival rate was 10% higher than in recipients of kidneys with a longer CIT. CONCLUSION: Prolonged cold ischaemia times are related to a more frequent occurrence of DGF, PNF and decreased graft survival after kidney transplantation. These results underline the need to reduce cold ischaemia times in the Netherlands.


Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) has attracted growing interest, due to its great advantages for the extraction of bioactive compounds from plant species. Ultrasound efficiency is affected by various factors such as extraction temperature, extraction time, intensity of ultrasound waves, and type of ultrasound system. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the process conditions of two ultrasonic systems (bath and probe) to determine the highest extraction efficiency of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in oregano leaves and the best ultrasound extraction conditions. The effects of different combinations of the ultrasonic variables include bath (40-60 °C; 30-60 minutes) and probe (40-60°C; 5-25 minutes and ultrasound amplitude: 2040%) were studied using ethanol-water (50:50v/v) solvent. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were then evaluated by the 2, 2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and reducing power tests.The best conditions for extraction of phenolic compounds and flavonoids were obtained using ultrasonic probe system at 50 ° C for 15 minutes and amplitude of 40%. The maximum total phenol and flavonoid were 473.22 ± 25.9 μg of gallic acid equivalent and 46± 1.24 μg of quercetin equivalent per mg of dry extract, respectively. The results showed that the UAE method had a considerable effect on the extraction of bioactive compounds from oregano leaves, and also the probe system had a higher efficiency than the bath system.


Direct comparisons were made of expert highway engineers' use of analytical, quasirational, and intuitive cognition on three different tasks, each displayed in three different ways. Use of a systems approach made it possible to develop indices for measuring the location of each of the nine information display conditions on a continuum ranging from intuition-inducing to analysis-inducing and for measuring the location of each expert engineer's cognition on a continuum ranging from intuition to analysis. Individual analyses of each expert's performance over the nine conditions showed that the location of the task on the task index induced the expert's cognition to be located at the corresponding region on the cognitive continuum index. Intuitive and quasirational cognition frequently outperformed analytical cognition in terms of the empirical accuracy of judgments. Judgmental accuracy was related to the degree of correspondence between the type of task and the type of cognitive activity on the cognitive continuum.


The purpose of the present study was comparison of acute and chronic effects of the two types of continuous and intermittent resistance trainings on relaxation and in response to sport proteinuria, in active young men. Thereby, 21 males of this research were randomly divided to three continuous training, intermittent training and control groups. The two training groups participated in 8 weeks progressive trainings. Before, immediately then and 1 hr after first test (48 hrs before trainings beginning) and final one (48 hrs after trainings ending), urinary samples were taken from the subjects. Variance analysis test with repeated measurements was used, to investigate variations of the under study variables in both continuous and intermittent training groups. Results indicated that the 8 weeks resistance trainings (both continuous and intermittent) would cause increases in both glomerular and tubular proteinuria, in active young men. In the other hand, there wasn't observed any significant difference in increments of urinary proteins excretions, comparing between the continuous and intermittent resistance trainings. Though, urinary protein to creatinine didn't show any significant change of relaxation and in response to sport values, in both continuous and intermittent groups, after 8 weeks trainings. It appears, although resistance trainings, either continuous or intermittent type, would cause increments of pressure on kidneys and urinary excretions of proteins, but their thereafter proteinuria probably couldn't be a limiting factor of the activity and it's different from the pathologic conditions. However, annual physical examinations are necessary. * Corresponding Author: Somayeh Moeini  email@example.com International Journal of Biosciences | IJB | ISSN: 2220-6655 (Print) 2222-5234 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 351-364, 2014


Article history: Received 19 August 2014 Received in revised form 19 September 2014 Accepted 29 September 2014 Available online 10 November 2014


This paper presents an infinite variational autoencoder (VAE) whose capacity adapts to suit the input data. This is achieved using a mixture model where the mixing coefficients are modeled by a Dirichlet process, allowing us to integrate over the coefficients when performing inference. Critically, this then allows us to automatically vary the number of autoencoders in the mixture based on the data. Experiments show the flexibility of our method, particularly for semi-supervised learning, where only a small number of training samples are available.


OBJECTIVE
To study the renal toxicity caused by mercury administrated once and to observe the effects of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), gluthionein (GSH), vitamin C (VC), and sodium 2,3-dimercato-1-propanesulfonate (DMPS) pretreatment on the nephrotoxicity of mercury.

METHODS
Sixty-four Wistar rats were divided randomly into eight groups, i. e., control group, low, middle and high dose mercury groups and BSO, GSH, VC, DMPS pretreatment groups. The low, middle, and high dose mercury group rats were subcutaneously (sc) injected with 0.75, 1.5, and 2.5 mg/kg HgCl2, respectively. The BSO pretreatment group rats were intraperitoneally (ip) injected with 0.5 mmol/kg BSO and four hours later sc administrated with 0.75mg/kg HgCl2. The GSH, VC and DMPS pretreatment group rats were ip injected with 3 mmol/kg GSH, 4mmol/kg VC, 200 micromol/kg DMPS, respectively, and two hours later sc administrated with 2.5 mg/kg HgCl2. The control group rats were sc injected with saline at corresponding time. The volume of injection was 5 ml/kg body weight. The 12 h urine samples were collected after 12 hours. After 48 hours, the blood samples were collected and then centrifuged to get the serum. The liver and renal cortex were also removed. Mercury contents in the liver, renal cortex, and urine samples were measured. Urinary NAG, ALP, LDH activities, urinary protein and BUN contents were also determined.

RESULTS
Mercury concentrations in the liver, renal cortex, and urine samples increased with mercury dose increasing. Mercury contents in the renal cortex presented evident dose-effect relationship. Mercury concentrations in the liver of high-dose mercury group were higher significantly than that of low, middle-dose mercury group, and control group. The concentrations of urinary mercury in the middle and high dose mercury groups were higher significantly than that of control group. Compared with 0.75mg/kg HgCl2 alone group, BSO pretreatment increased mercury concentrations in the liver, but decreased the concentrations in the renal cortex and urine. Mercury concentrations in the liver of GSH, VC and DMPS pretreatment groups were lower than that of 2.5 mg/kg HgCl2 alone group. Urinary NAG, ALP, LDH activities, urinary protein and BUN contents increased with mercury dose increasing, and the values in the animals of 2.5 mg/kg HgCl2 mercury group were higher significantly than that of control, 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg HgCl2 groups. Urinary NAG, ALP activities, urinary protein and BUN contents in the rats of BSO pretreatment were higher than that of 0.75 mg/kg HgCl2 alone group and control group. Compared with 2.5 mg/kg HgCl2 alone group, urinary NAG, ALP, LDH activities, urinary protein and BUN contents decreased significantly.

CONCLUSION
Mercury concentrations in the liver, renal cortex, and urine of the rats increased with mercury dose increasing. BSO pretreatment could enhance the renal toxicity induced by mercury, however, GSH, VC, and DMPS pretreatment had antagonistic effects on nephrotoxicity of the mercury.


Ion energies in reversed-field pinch plasmas are observed to be considerably higher than expected from ohmic heating and collisional transfer from electrons. Other mechanisms must be involved and seem to be related to tearing-mode fluctuations. Observations of ion heating and fluctuation spectra are reviewed here as well as various mechanisms proposed to be responsible for the ion heating. A mechanism is proposed, where induced currents due to rotating tearing-mode perturbations passing by irregularities in the wall structure excite plasma waves, which in turn are absorbed at the Alfven-wave resonance. The partition of energy between electrons and ions is discussed.


In this letter, we propose a power-based call admission control (CAC) scheme to accommodate multiclass traffic by directly extending the number-based CAC scheme in multicode CDMA networks, and develop some related mathematical properties. Against the conventional findings, we demonstrate that complete partitioning (CP) of the received signal power at a basestation for each traffic class can be an approach as useful as complete sharing (CS) in accommodating an appropriate number of users. The main advantage of CP scheme over CS scheme is its simplicity in resource management


The style and format of court judgments have been subject to developments worldwide as courts adapt to the increasingly important issue of visibility and accessibility of judicial decisions. This article considers the evolving nature of the form of judgments within the common law focussing upon the UK Supreme Court, and analysing recent changes within a historical and comparative law perspective. It is argued that the Supreme Court should now be ready to leave the experimental stage and establish one main form of judgment, a change which will require changes to working methods, particularly in terms of deliberations and drafting.


ABSTRACT Pretreatment and packaging or rose cut flowers during stroage and transportation should be designed in order to keep its quality during vase life of the flowers. The objective of this study was to find out the pulsing solution and the design of packaging to prolong the vase life of the rose cut flowers. The flowers were harvested from Loji, Cipanas, when the flower was at two bud open stages. Before storage, the flowers were pulsed in the chemical solution of sucrose, glyserin, Na-benzoat and citric acid at different concentrations. Each 20  cuts of flower were placed in the boxes of 60 ´ 15 ´ 7 cm 3 with different ventilation system. The result showed that the pulsing solution with 3 % sucrose, 25% glyserin, 300 ppm Na-benzoat and 375 ppm citrit acid caused a signioficant decrease in the respiration rate and prolonged the vase life of the flowers. The  packaging model gave an effect of modified atmospheric environment inside the packaging and significantly affected the flower quality during stronge. The result suggested that the use of the packaging with the ventilation of 3.5 cm in diameter using polypropilene film would be suitable for rose cut flowers packaging during storage. The packaging model prolonged the vase lilfe of the flowers until 6 days after 5 days of storage and decreased the flowers senescene up to 20-25%. Keyword: rose cut flower, pulsing solution, modified atmosphere packaging, vase life.


Managing credit risk is a vital part of financial institutions. While the research into credit risk models is extensive, transaction data is a relatively untapped data source in these models. We investigate the explanatory value of transaction data for the Bank by developing default classification models for their small medium enterprises (SME) portfolio. We develop measures that summarize the transaction behaviour on a client level for different time windows. Variables that are included into traditional models are positive income shocks, balance returns, zero transactions (indicating rejected direct debits), and relative cash expenditure. By combining these variables with client characteristics and loan behaviour information, we develop a hierarchical logistic regression model which has a good overall classification performance, reflected by an area under curve (AUC) of 0.850. Tolerating 2 out of 3 false warnings, the model identifies more than 50% of the defaults on average. We investigate relational classification methods, which classify clients according to similarity in terms of their transaction behaviour. The relational neighbour classifier achieves an AUC of 0.768, using similarity between to clients that are determined according to a flexible weight function of the number of shared entities. By combining this approach with the aggregated transaction variables, we develop a model which is solely based on transaction data. The strong performance of this model is reflected by an AUC of 0.804, illustrating the effectiveness of transaction data in default classification. keywords: credit scoring, monitoring, transaction data, default classification, relational neighbour, hierarchical logistic regression


INTRODUCTION Early detection of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) prevents impaired cognitive and motor development at problems. To increase the screening program specificity, we defined reference intervals for serum TSH in newborns between 2 and 14 days of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS Newborn infants from our neonatal screening program between 2001 and 2007. Serum TSH was determined by electrochemiluminescence. There were excluded neonates who died before the first month of life or with less than 1500 grams at birth, samples with TSH <0,01 µU/ml., processed after 14 days of life and from other medical centers. Statistical tools: Student t-tests, measures of centrality and dispersion, and logarithmic transformations. RESULTS Studied population: 6772 newborn infants out of 7869, 50.49% were males. The male/ female ratio was similar during the 14 days. The mean age at testing was 5.85 days (± 2.58), and the mean of TSH value was 4.42 µU/ml (± 4.17). Inverse relationship was found between age and TSH (mean TSH at days 2 and 14 was 5.82 µU/ ml and 2.58 respectively). CONCLUSION We found statistical evidence on an inverse relationship between TSH and age in newborn infants with 14 days of age. Reference intervals for TSH contribute to a better assessment of thyroid status in neonates and to define an appropriate conduct for individual therapy.


: The results of research into the environmental conditions in the regions of location of the pressurized water reactor WWR-K, fast neutron breeder BN-350 and on the territory of the Semipalatinsk Test Site are represented. The effects of the exposure to aerosol emissions from WWR-K and BN-350 reactors on the environment are summarized. We present some arguments in favor of the safe operation of fission reactors in compliance with the rules and norms of nuclear and radiation protection and the efficient disposal of radioactive waste on the territory of the Republic.


In this paper, we propose a non-parametric Bayesian network method to generate synthetic scenarios of hourly generation for variable renewable energy(VRE) plants. The methodology consists of a non-parametric estimation of the probability distribution of VRE generation, followed by an inverse probability integral transform, in order to obtain normally distributed variables of VRE generation. Then, we build a Bayesian network based on the evaluation of the spatial correlation between variables (VRE generation and hydro inflows, but load forecast, temperature, and other types of random variables could also be used with the proposed framework), to generate future synthetic scenarios while keeping the historical spatial correlation structure. Finally, we present a real-life case study, that uses real data from the Brazilian power system, to show the improvements that the present methodology allows for real-life studies.


The he purpose of this study is to examine the effects of ball velocity, court illumination, and volley type on the reaction time (RT) of a tennis athlete for a volley stroke. Eights cases with two different ball velocities (high and low), two volley types (forehand and backhand ) and two court illumination levels (dark and bright) were studied. The 30 participating subjects consisted of 18 male and 12 female college tennis athletes (age: 24 ± 3.2 yr), with a United States Tennis Association (USTA) ranking above 2.5. In order to ensure the validity of real-world correlations, the experiments were designed to simulate real competition situations. Reaction times were measured for volley strokes in response to different approaching ball velocities (high: 25.05 ± 0.37 m/s and low: 17.56 ± 0.92 m·s(-1)) for several volley types (forehand and backhand) and court illumination levels (55649 ± 4292 lux and 363.24 ± 6.53 lux on the court). During the tests, the signals from an electromyogram sensor and a 3-axis accelerometer (± 50 g) were recorded using an NI DAQ card (NI PXI-6251) and then analyzed to determine reaction time (RT), premotor reaction time (PRT), and motor reaction time (MRT) through the LabVIEW system. Subsequent 3-way ANOVA analysis indicated no RT, PRT, or MRT interaction between ball velocity, volley type and illumination. The ball velocity and illumination parameters did affect RT and PRT values significantly with p < 0.05, no significant variation in MRT was observed across any implemented experimental conditions. All experimental results indicate that ball velocity and illumination levels strongly affect the value of PRT, but have no significant effect on the value of MRT, the changes in RT were dominated by PRT. Key pointsRT can generally be divided into two components with the help of the electromyogram (EMG) signal - the premotor reaction time (PRT) and the motor reaction time (MRT).The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of ball velocity, court illumination level, and volley type on the reaction time (RT) of the tennis athlete for volley strokes.Results strongly suggest that changes in RT were dominated by PRT; in light of this correspondence, it is clear that the ability to sense visual stimuli may be enhanced by proper training and practice.


Remotely operated Vehicles ROV are devices that make easy sub water exploration, when the communication is in real time. This article looks the system identification and the turn control design of a laboratory scale ROV vehicle. Make the system identification to look for the transfer function that apply hard theoretical calculation parameters; to the design of PID control used Simulink Matlab software. As a result a transfer function based on a variable frequency sine wave was obtained and employ the PID control algorithm about a ROV device. Finally a control point with low oscillations was obtained, besides the response of control algorithm is one second in the turn vehicle.


In recent years, with the rapid development of network information technology, such as IoT, cloud computing, big data and so on, smart city presents a development trend of networking, distributed, intelligence and systemization. Because smart city system is a dynamic, complex, distributed, uncertainty and heterogeneity system, in which sub-element has large influence on each other in the respective field. More research should be done to smart city, especially in the development evaluation. In this paper, we firstly define and put forward the physical model of complex smart city system which includes smart people, smart economy, smart mobility, smart environment, smart living, smart governance,. Then, a non-linear information dynamics mode for integrated smart city evaluation is introduced based on the maximum flux principle during the modeling process. The integrated evaluation frameworks of smart city can be done by giving reasonable weights of each influence factors to stabilize the system. Finally, using empirical analysis method, we obtain the ideal results to prove the correctness and efficacy of the evaluation model.


It is well known that using orthogonal polarizations for sub-pulses in multi-pulse sequences can be used to reduce clutter contributions in these modes. In this paper we show that further improvements are achieved if the orthogonality is taken into account already when constructing the codes. Using orthogonal polarizations one can use denser transmission patterns, including elementary pulses without gaps between them, patterns that have severe range ambiguities when only a single polarization is used. Furthermore, correlations are computed separately for each combination of elementary pulse polarizations. Consequently, it is possible to have longer multi-pulse sequences without gaps in the lag sequence; it is possible to compute the odd lags as well as the even ones; and it is permissible to have some lags multiply obtained without range ambiguity. This means that using orthogonal polarizations when creating the multi-pulse transmission pattern gives flexibility well beyond the single-polarization case. This flexibility can be used to design patterns suited to particular experimental requirements. Furthermore, we point out that the improvement in clutter might have a more dramatic impact than is generally realized, particularly in high SNR situations where the improvement in speed is up to a factor of 4. Examples are given of singleand multiple-frequency patterns that are not usable if only one polarization is available. Although all IS radars in use today, except Jicamarca, lack orthogonal polarization capabilities, designers of the next generation of radars might find the improvements described herein to be of interest.


Computational modeling of healthy and diseased electrocardiology (EC) has a great potential for use in improved diagnosis and prognosis of cardiac arrhythmia and also better therapy planning. However, recent computational methods in electrocardiology usually suffer from three major limitations that hinder their use in the clinic: lack of efficient model personalization strategy; high computational demand from the EC solver; lack of good trade-off between the simplification of cellular ionic models and the demand on keeping sufficient biophysical details. The work in this thesis aims at solving these challenging issues. The principal part of the work is on the estimation of cardiac conductivities that parameterize the bidomain/monodomain modelthe current standard model for simulating cardiac potential propagation. We consider a variational data assimilation approach by regarding the parameters as control variables to minimize the mismatch between computed and measured potentials. The existence of a minimizer of this misfit function is proved. We significantly improve the numerical approaches in the literature by resorting to a derivative-based optimization method with the settlement of some challenges due to discontinuity. The core of our numerical results is in 3D, on both idealized and real geometries. The reliability and stability of the conductivity estimation approach are demonstrated in presence of noise and with an imperfect knowledge of other model parameters. We then focus on the computational cost reduction for the inverse conductivity problem. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) approach was taken for forward model reduction, along with the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM) for tackling nonlinearity. The POD-DEIM combination is finally applied for the inverse problem of conductivity estimation. In this application, we obtain a very small set of samples by sampling the parameter space using the polar coordinates and densifying the boundary layer utilizing Gauss-Lobatto nodes. In usage of the POD-DEIM reduced order model, the computational effort can be reduced to up to 10estimation. The last part of the work is on the development of a data-driven approach to the reduction of state-of-the-art cellular models used for atria simulation. The reduced model predicts cellular action potentials (AP) in a simple form but is effective in capturing the physiological complexity of the original model. We start from an AP manifold learning, and continue with a regression model construction to predict few leading components in the reduced AP manifold. The reduced cellular model drastically improves the performance of atrial tissue-level electrophysiological modeling (up to two order of magnitudes) …


Introduction: The most common musculoskeletal problems associated with pregnancy are low back pain (LBP) and pelvic girdle pain. The belief that LBP is a problem that occurs during the normal course of pregnancy and it will go away after delivery impairs women's quality of life. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of LBP and the factors associated with LBP in pregnant women in Türkiye. It also aims to increase health-care professionals' awareness of this situation. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 147 pregnant women who applied to the obstetric clinic of Haydarpasa Nu-mune Training and Research Hospital between September 2020 and December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. All questionnaires were filled in by a single midwife during face-to-face interviews. Functional disability was measured by the Turkish version of the Oswestry Disability Index. Results: The prevalence of pregnancy-related low back pain (PRLBP) was 86%. The prevalence of a history of LBP is 44%. Pregnant with a history of LBP had higher PRLBP during pregnancy (94.2%, p<0.001). Age, gestational week, and weight gain during pregnancy were the risk factors related to PRLBP (p<0.05). Women with PRLBP had significantly increased Oswestry score, maternal age, gestational age, and weight gain compared to pregnant without LBP (p<0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: A significant increase in the prevalence of PRLBP was observed in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Especially, young pregnant with excess weight gain during pregnancy and LBP history are candidates for PRLBP.


Introduction: There is broad consensus that patient –centered care demands that health and social care be viewed as a single, interdependent system, taking into account all of the individual's needs. In most countries, barriers must be overcome to achieve this. In Israel, Assuta Medical Centers, a private hospital network now building a new public hospital in the city of Ashdod, initiated the development of an integrated care system for Ashdod with Maccabi Healthcare Services, the second largest non-profit HMO with an integrated community healthcare system, the Municipality of Ashdod Social Services department, and the National Insurance Institute's Southern Region (NII), responsible for domiciliary care as well welfare subsidies system. The challenges faced included different organizational cultures, a lack of work processes to support integration and separate IT systems that do not 'speak' to each other. Methodology: A multidisciplinary task force, representing all four organizations, has been working together for over a year to develop a comprehensive, integrated-care model wherein municipality social services, the NII, the hospital and community healthcare services will work together to meet the needs of Ashdod citizens. Sub-task forces have been set up to address four target populations: Complex elderly patients Oncology patients Children with juvenile diabetes Maternity and newborns, including premature births The task forces are multidisciplinary, with representatives from all four organizations, and are in advanced stages of delineating work processes and interventions. Results: The task force has successfully established an ongoing collaborative dialogue and has agreed to create the necessary interfaces among the IT systems of all four organizations. They have established what information will be shared, conditional upon signed consent of the patient. Interfaces have been defined and are in the process of development. The Assuta Ashdod hospital will begin operation mid-2017 and the interfaces with the social services department and NII will be completed by February 2017. The interfaces with Maccabi exist and are being upgraded. A major structural change will be the creation of a case manager function in the hospital for each target group to assure full integration.   Maccabi already has a multidisciplinary unit to assure integration of community services for newly discharged complex patients. To improve integration, a care manager in the community will be assigned to coordinate ongoing care for the complex elderly. For oncology patients, a joint Assuta-Maccabi care manager will be assigned to assure full integration between hospital, community healthcare and social services. For children with diabetes, the municipality's department of education has become a full partner. Discussion: The process of collaboration has already made major changes in the organizational cultures of the participating organizations. The commitment to full implementation of integrated care processes is very high at all levels of the organizations. While this has been a bottom-up innovation, the relevant Ministries are closely following developments and other parts of the country are eager to follow suit. Multi-national research is already underway to assess the impact of these processes on the quality and cost of care for the target populations, as well as transferability to other countries.


We present a novel latent embedding model for learning a compatibility function between image and class embeddings, in the context of zero-shot classification. The proposed method augments the state-of-the-art bilinear compatibility model by incorporating latent variables. Instead of learning a single bilinear map, it learns a collection of maps with the selection, of which map to use, being a latent variable for the current image-class pair. We train the model with a ranking based objective function which penalizes incorrect rankings of the true class for a given image. We empirically demonstrate that our model improves the state-of-the-art for various class embeddings consistently on three challenging publicly available datasets for the zero-shot setting. Moreover, our method leads to visually highly interpretable results with clear clusters of different fine-grained object properties that correspond to different latent variable maps.


The levels of TRP, 5-HTP, 5-HT and 5-HIAA were measured in the proximal colon of the rabbit using ion exchange chromatography and spectrofluorimetry. Assays were performed on fragments of the intact colonic wall, on the muscle layers containing nerve plexuses, and on the mucosa-containing enterochromaffin cells. In spite of identical TRP concentration, 5-HT levels were higher in the mucosa than in the muscle containing nerve plexus. In the muscle, the ratio 5-HIAA/5-HT was about 1, i.e., comparable to that of the brain, whereas the ratio was very low in the mucosa, suggesting a weak 5-HT catabolism in the enterochromaffin cells. When the mucosa was severed from the muscle, 5-HT synthesis was increased. In this case, 5-HT and 5-HIAA concentrations in the reconstituted wall (muscles + mucosa) were higher than in the intact wall. In in vitro studies, levels of newly synthesized (3H)5-HT from (3H)TRP were 3 times higher in the reconstituted wall than in the intact one, and the conversion index of TRP to 5-HT was higher in the mucosa and in the reconstituted wall respectively. These results suggest that enterochromaffin cells do synthesize 5-HT from TRP when the mucosa is divided from the muscle. (3H)5-HT was taken up by both nerve plexuses and mucosa, with a high affinity mechanism. Results from tryptophan loading experiments indicated that 5-HTP decarboxylase in the gut might be involved in the regulation of 5-HT synthesis. The mucosa severed from the muscles might represent a good model for the study of carcinoid tumour development.


Patients with the familial cancer syndrome neurofibromatosis type I possess mutations in the NF1 tumor suppressor gene, which encodes a RasGAP. However a subset of patients carry a larger deletion that encompasses NF1 and the surrounding 13 genes. These patients develop hundreds of benign nervous system tumors, are at much higher risk for developing malignancies, and exhibit specific developmental defects. Therefore we hypothesized that a cooperating tumor suppressor must lie within this region. Notably, this entire region is frequently deleted in in a number of different cancers, including glioblastoma (GBM). To identify a potential cooperating tumor suppressor we analyzed a large number of NF1-associated malignancies by array CGH and detected homozygous loss of SUZ12, a member of the PRC2 repressor complex. Subsequent mutation analysis showed that SUZ12 was homozygously inactivated in a large subset of MPNSTs. Importantly, reintroduction of SUZ12 in SUZ12 deficient Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath tumors (MPNST) cell lines restored the function of the PRC2 complex and induced cell death. Conversely, RNAi mediated inactivation of SUZ12 significantly enhanced the tumorigenic properties of NF1-deficient GBMs. Additionally, we found that mice carrying compound heterozygous mutations in Nf1 and Suz12 developed a variety of tumor types and had a marked decrease in overall survival. As expected, knockdown of SUZ12 dramatically decreased the global H3K27 tri-methylation (repressive mark) and increased the global H3K27 acetylation (activation mark). This suggests that the pathogenic effect of SUZ12-loss is, at least in part, caused by an aberrant activation of genes due to an increase in H3K27 acetylation. Interestingly this H3K27 acetylation mark is read by BRD4, suggesting that inhibition of BRD4 might decrease the expression of critical targets. In vitro and in vivo studies indeed confirmed a hypersensitivity to BRD4 inhibition of cell lines and primary tumors lacking SUZ12. Additionally our preliminary data show an inverse correlation between the H3K27 tri-methylation level and the response to treatment with the BRD4 inhibitor JQ1, suggesting that SUZ12 levels, and thus H3K27 tri-methylation status, could be used as a biomarker. In conclusion, we showed that SUZ12 is a tumor suppressor in a number of different cancers, including MPNSTs and gliomas. These tumors are exquisitely sensitive to inhibition of BRD4. Loss of SUZ12 leads to complete ablation of the H3K27 tri-methylation mark, which could serve as a biomarker for treatment with the BRD4 inhibitor JQ1. This abstract is also presented as Poster B51. Citation Format: Thomas De Raedt, Eline Beert, Eric Pasmant, James E. Bradner, Pierre Wolkenstein, Eric Legius, Karen Cichowski. SUZ12: A novel tumor suppressor and potential biomarker for efficacy of BRD4 inhibition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chromatin and Epigenetics in Cancer; Jun 19-22, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(13 Suppl):Abstract nr PR15.


The capacity and reach of today's long-haul fiber optical communication systems is limited by amplifier noise and fiber nonlinearities. Conventional, phase-insensitive
amplifiers (PIAs), have a quantum limited noise figure (NF) of 3 dB at high gain, meaning that with a shot-noise limited input signal the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
is degraded by at least 3 dB. Phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs), have a quantum limited NF of 0 dB, meaning that a shot-noise limited input signal can be amplified without degrading the SNR. The capability of PSAs to provide noiseless amplification makes them interesting for transmission system applications.

The objective of this thesis has been to experimentally realize transmission systems based on two-mode PSAs and explore their properties, both experimentally and numerically. We present the first demonstrations of multi-channel compatible and modulation format independent single-span and multi-span PSA-amplifield
transmission systems. In addition to demonstrating a performance benefit due to reduced amplifier noise we also show that two-mode PSA-amplified transmission
systems can mitigate distortions originating from fiber nonlinearities, such as selfphase modulation (SPM) and nonlinear phase noise (NLPN).

In particular, we demonstrate PSA-amplified transmission of 10 GBd quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) signals over 105 km single-span transmission systems showing significant
performance improvements, in terms of sensitivity, compared to conventional PIA-amplified transmission systems. In the case of 16QAM transmission the improved
sensitivity allows for 12 dB larger span loss. We also demonstrate PSA-amplified multi-span transmission of a 10 GBd QPSK signal achieving a maximum reach of 3465 km, a threefold reach improvement compared to the maximum reach of 1050 km that was obtained using in-line PIAs at optimal launch power.


CLEARANCE ALWAYS EXISTS IN ACTUAL JOINT DUE TO MANY UNCERTAINTIES SUCH AS MACHINING TOLERANCE, ASSEMBLAGE AND LOAD DEFORMATION. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO PROPOSE A COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A PLANAR MULTIBODY MECHANICAL SYSTEM WITH JOINT CLEARANCE. FOR THIS PURPOSE, A SUITABLE DYNAMIC MODEL PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN SIMULATING THE OVERALL PERFOR-MANCE OF THE MECHANICAL SYSTEMS. TO DESCRIBE THE INTERACTION IN JOINTS WITH CLEARANCE, THE NORMAL CONTACT MODEL IS ESTABLISHED BASED ON THE LANKARANI€"NIKRAVESH CONTACT FORCE MODEL, WHILE THE FRICTION EFFECT IS CONDUCTED USING THE COULOMB FRICTION MODEL. MEANWHILE, THE EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM IS SET UP AND A PLANAR MECHANISM WITH CLEAR-ANCE JOINT IS EMPLOYED AS A MODEL MECHANISM. THE OBTAINED RESULTS DEMONSTRATE THAT THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF THE MECHANISM CAN BE EFFECTIVELY PREDICTED BY THIS METHODOLOGY. FURTHERMORE, THE EFFECTS OF THE ROTATIONAL SPEED OF CRANK SHAFT AND SIZE OF JOINT CLEARANCE ON THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF THE MECHANISM ARE INVESTIGATED.


A blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B-ELISA), using two neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), was established and compared with the virus neutralization test (VNT) for detecting specific peste-des-petits-ruminants virus (PPRV) antibody in caprine and ovine sera. This technique was developed because VNT, the only available specific serological test for PPRV and the cross-reactive rinderpest virus (RPV), is time-consuming and unaffordable for most laboratories in regions where both peste des petits ruminants and rinderpest occur. The test depends on the blocking of the binding of the MAb to a specific epitope in the presence of positive serum. Test conditions were optimized by using peste-des-petits-ruminants and rinderpest sera that were known to be VNT positive and negative. A blocking format, in which serum is preincubated with a solid-phase PPRV antigen and then incubated with the MAb, yielded levels of sensitivity and specificity superior to those of a competitive format, in which the two reagents are added simultaneously. A threshold value of 45% inhibition, representing the mean for a negative population (n = 277) plus 2.7 standard deviations, was adopted for routine screening. A total of 605 serum samples were screened by B-ELISA and the VNT. The sensitivity and specificity of B-ELISA relative to the VNT were 90.4 and 98.9%, respectively. Of 264 field serum samples tested, 11 (4.2%) could not be assayed by the VNT because of contamination or cytotoxicity; the overall agreement quotient between results of the two tests (n = 253) was 0.91. A high correlation (r>/=0.98) was observed between B-ELISA and the VNT for endpoint titration of sera (n=57). Because B-ELISA proved to be nearlyas sensitive and specific as the VNT while being simpler and more rapid, it would be an adequate substitute for the VNT for assessing herd immune status and for epidemiologic surveillance.


The ability to transmit video and carry real-time multimedia applications such as video-streaming, video conferencing and mobile TV are considered important to support the viability and survivability of next generation mobile wireless networks. High peak transmission rate, spectral efficiency and multiple channel bandwidth requirements influence the design of next generation networks. For efficient usage of resources a number of block assignment strategies are followed based on congestion of traffic and priority of the service. Efficient block assignment schemes such as dynamic channel assignment (DCA) and dynamic packet Assignment (DPA) have been analysed in the literature. The authors propose a block assignment strategy for video traffic which sends video bursts over multiple blocks of orthogonal frequency division multiplexed access subcarriers simultaneously considering the interference characteristics of the channel. They present an analytical model using stochastic petrinets and compute the performance of the system in terms of mean delay and normalised system throughput. The results are validated using simulations. They compare the performance of the proposed sub-sequence DPA scheme in terms of mean delay and normalised throughput with DPA and DCA. It is observed that with the proposed strategy there is an increase in normalised throughput by 66 and 57% and reduction in mean delay by 74 and 61% for DCA and DPA, respectively.


Zero-difference balanced (ZDB) functions integrate a number of subjects in combinatorics and algebra, and have many applications in coding theory, cryptography, and communications engineering. In this paper, three new families of ZDB functions are presented. The first construction gives ZDB functions defined on the abelian groups (GF(q1)×,...,×GF(qk),+) with new and flexible parameters. The other two constructions are based on 2-cyclotomic cosets and yield ZDB functions on \BBZn with new parameters. The parameters of optimal constant composition codes, optimal, and perfect difference systems of sets obtained from these new families of ZDB functions are also summarized.


Search engines and recommendation systems attempt to continually improve the quality of the experience they afford to their users. Refining the ranker that produces the lists displayed in response to user requests is an important component of this process. A common practice is for the service providers to make changes (e.g. new ranking features, different ranking models) and A/B test them on a fraction of their users to establish the value of the change. An alternative approach estimates the effectiveness of the proposed changes offline, utilising previously collected clickthrough data on the old ranker to posit what the user behaviour on ranked lists produced by the new ranker would have been. A majority of offline evaluation approaches invoke the well studied inverse propensity weighting to adjust for biases inherent in logged data. In this paper, we propose the use of parametric estimates for these propensities. Specifically, by leveraging well known learning-to-rank methods as subroutines, we show how accurate offline evaluation can be achieved when the new rankings to be evaluated differ from the logged ones.


Details, Technology, and Form is the third volume in the continuing AsBuilt series, which features formal and material innovations in architecture with an emphasis on architectural detailing and the ways that architects and engineers are getting the maximum out what contemporary technology can do. The twenty-five projects in the book have been selected from current architecture built in the United States and Canada, including work by architects from abroad collaborating with North American teams. Layouts for each project comprise ten or twelve pages of architectural and technical drawings, diagrams, illustrations, and full-colour photographs of the finished building, as well as work-in-progress material that illustrates fabrication and assembly and an explanatory text


Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a mono-clonal B-cell malignancy characterised by heterogeneous clinical course and response to treatment. Recent studies with whole genome or whole exome sequencing have identified novel recurrent genomic lesions, and associated them with adverse clinical outcome of this disease. Owing to their limited sensitivity, the true incidence of these mutations, subclonal complexity and evolution and their roles in disease progression and treatment resistance are still not quite clear. To gain insight into these issues, I developed a highly sensitive (with an average coverage depth being 2250x and the lowest limit of detection 1%) and robust next generation sequencing (NGS) test using HaloPlex and Ion Torrent PGM to target exons of 15 recurrently mutated genes including TP53, ATM, SF3B1, PCLO, NOTCH1, LRP1B, SAMHD1, FBXW7, BIRC3, HISTIH1E, XPO1, CHD2, MYD88, POT1 and ZFPM2 in CLL. In the initial study using this technique, samples from a cohort of 32 cases with progressive and/or therapy resistant CLL before (n = 10) or after chemotherapy (n = 22) were screened. 87.5% of the patients were found to carry at least one somatic non-synonymous mutation in the first 12 targeted genes (VAF: 2-98%). The most commonly mutated genes were SF3B1, ATM, TP53 and PCLO identified in 11, 10, 9 and 8 cases, respectively. Mutations in TP53 and its upstream regulator ATM appeared to be dominant over other concurrent gene mutations compared to other genes (P = 0.011). Combining NGS and global SNP array analyses revealed a significant association between genomic aberrations in the ATM-p53 pathway and genomic instability. Moreover, prior exposure to DNA-damaging chemotherapy was associated with the bigger numbers of mutation events and mutated genes, although the increases were borderline significant. These results suggest that ATM-p53 pathway defects contribute to the acquisition of additional genomic aberrations and that treatment with DNA-damaging chemotherapy may play a role in the induction or selection of mutations. In the subsequent longitudinal study of 33 additional samples of 23 mutated cases from the same cohort, I showed the existence of different mutational processes operative in CLL including mutations related to AID, ageing and other factors. I confirmed the significant contribution of AID-related mutations to CLL clonal evolution, implying on-going activity of this enzyme in off-target genes. In addition, I demonstrated the predominance of a linear path of clonal evolution in this cohort. Thus, 89.3% of the mutated clones/subclones identified at advanced disease stages were detectable at time of diagnosis or prior to treatment. Hence, the early detection of these mutations may potentially serve as predictive biomarkers to inform on therapeutic decisions. I also documented convergent clonal evolution with priori-selection of clones carrying deleterious mutations in 2 target genes including ATM and TP53. This observation suggests that not all the mutations in the same gene play an equal role in disease progression and/or treatment resistance. Analysis of mutation doubling time revealed that driver mutations, including those in TP53, BIRC3, NOTCH1 and SF3B1, were significantly correlated with faster evolution as indicated by the shorter doubling time of variant allele frequency. Importantly, I found that increased subclonal sizes were strongly associated with shorter treatment-free survival in patients with driver mutations. Taken together, the results from this thesis have provided strong evidence emphasising the importance and usefulness of applying the ultra-sensitive NGS test in the early detection and subsequent monitoring of these recurrent somatic mutations in CLL. A translational study based on findings in this thesis is now ongoing, with an aim to convert this test into a regional clinical service.


This paper discusses the growing concern over the counterfeiting of electronics components and systems. Three key factors are identified as the root cause of this problem: the shift of manufacturing to China where intellectual property laws are not strictly enforced and supply chains are convoluted; the growing sophistication of technology that enables cheaper and more convincing fakes; and the rise of the Internet as a marketplace, allowing buyers and sellers make fast trades without ever meeting face to face. As many companies are learning the hard way, counterfeiting requires a constant, deliberate, and multifaceted effort, vigorous monitoring of potential trouble spots, and judicious use of anticounterfeiting technologies.


We present a case of a 61-year-old woman who suffered a haemorrhagic complication of an aneurysmal left lingual artery, secondary to fibromuscular dysplasia, following transoral robotic surgery (TORS). She was admitted through the emergency department 3 days after resection of a central base of tongue tumour. She suffered a massive haemorrhage requiring intensive care admission, blood transfusion, intubation, operative and endovascular intervention. The diagnosis of fibromuscular dysplasia was made at angiography. During attempts to embolise the culprit left lingual artery, the vessel dissected at its origin leading to arrest of bleeding. Repeat angiograms during her admission demonstrated unchanged appearances and ruled out recanalisation of the vessel. She was extubated and remained stable on the ward, discharged home some days later in good health. To our knowledge, this is the first ever reported case of fibromuscular dysplasia affecting the lingual artery leading to aneurysmal dilation and severe haemorrhage following TORS.