Economic structural change in the Stuttgart region. The Stuttgart region is one of the most highly developed regions in the EU. Growth rates, competitiveness and purchasing power are far more dependent than in other regions of the EU on the basic and export activities of the industrial sector, especially on the region's closeley knit cluster of activities around the automobile industry. However, Baden-Württemberg's economically strongest region is no longer the fastest growing one. Economy and population are certainly continuing to grow but structural weaknesses are evident in the below average growth of value added in both the producing and services sectors. These weaknesses are also evident in the labour market despite the relatively low rate of unemployment and the difficulties associated with finding new growth areas. in contrast to the industrial sector with its outstanding national and and international companies, there is a lack of basic and export activities in the services sector in the Stuttgart region. The polarised structure of employment, a large share of highly qualified employees and, at the Same time, a large share of those with few skills can be explained by the economic structure which is atypical for urban regions of highly developed countries. Because of the structural weaknesses and the strong interregional competition, development of the region and improvement in the research and education infrastructure have priority as fields for policy action.


Today's clinical dual energy computed tomography (DECT) scanners generally measure different rays for different energy spectra and acquire spatial mismatched raw data sets. The deficits in clinical DECT technologies suggest that mainly image based material decomposition methods are in use nowadays. However, the image based material decomposition is an approximate technique, and beam hardening artifacts remain in decomposition results. A recently developed image based iterative method for material decomposition from inconsistent rays (MDIR) can achieve much better image quality than the conventional image based methods. Inspired by the MDIR method, this paper proposes an iterative method to indirectly perform raw data based DECT even with completely mismatched raw data sets. The iterative process is initialized by density images that were obtained from an image based material decomposition. Then the density images are iteratively corrected by comparing the estimated polychromatic projections and the measured polychromatic projections. Only three iterations of the method are sufficient to greatly improve the qualitative and quantitative information in material density images. Compared with the MDIR method, the proposed method needs not to perform additional water precorrection. The advantages of the method are verified with numerical experiments from inconsistent noise free and noisy raw data.


Extracting statistical structures (including textures or contrasts) from a natural stimulus is a central challenge in both biological and engineering contexts. This study interprets the process of statistical recognition in terms of hyperparameter estimations and free-energy minimization procedures with an empirical Bayesian approach. This mathematical interpretation resulted in a framework for relating physiological insights in animal sensory systems to the functional properties of recognizing stimulus statistics. We applied the present theoretical framework to two typical models of natural images that are encoded by a population of simulated retinal neurons, and demonstrated that the resulting cognitive performances could be quantified with the Fisher information measure. The current enterprise yielded predictions about the properties of human texture perception, suggesting that the perceptual resolution of image statistics depends on visual field angles, internal noise, and neuronal information processing pathways, such as the magnocellular, parvocellular, and koniocellular systems. Furthermore, the two conceptually similar natural-image models were found to yield qualitatively different predictions, striking a note of warning against confusing the two models when describing a natural image.


What is the business of a university in the 1990s and 2000s? Quantity and quality are both important considerations in modern universities as they seek to maintain important intellectual and physical spaces for their staff to pursue creative research and development, while at the same time needing to provide teaching for escalating numbers of students in all courses in order to shore up funding. These student cohorts have become increasingly diverse (Mclnnis, James and McNaught, 1995) with more part-time students and students from a greater variety of backgrounds. Flexible modes of delivery have been widely viewed as the prime way of meeting the challenges posed by this diversity. There has been a fair amount of naive equating of flexible delivery with production of online materials ('Plug them into the Web') and insufficient attention to the relationship between flexible modes of operation for students, the use of communication and information technologies, and the design of educationally sound learning environments (Kennedy and McNaught, 1997; Reeves and Reeves, 1997). However, there is no doubt that communication and information technologies will be a major part of future university planning, as several recent reports make clear (e.g. Yetton et al., 1997). DOI: 10.1080/0968776000080102


BACKGROUND
Blood glucose levels increase abruptly after graft reperfusion during living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), but studies on perioperative factors contributing to this phenomenon are rare. We developed a predictive model for post-reperfusion severe hyperglycemia (PRSH) based on donor-related factors.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Preoperative and intraoperative recipient data, as well as donor data, on 279 LDLT cases were reviewed. The mean blood glucose levels at each LDLT surgical phase were calculated, and patients were divided into PRSH and non-PRSH groups using a cutoff of 230 mg/dL mean blood glucose level during the neo-hepatic phase. Perioperative variables were compared between the 2 groups, and selected variables were subjected to multivariate logistic regression to establish a predictive model for PRSH.

RESULTS
There were 128 patients (45.9%) who developed PRSH, which was associated with preoperative diabetes mellitus but not with model for end-stage liver disease or Child-Pugh-Turcotte score. Intraoperatively, the PRSH group required more blood transfusions and experienced more circulatory insufficiency than did the non-PRSH group. PRSH patients received grafts with higher-level fatty changes and greater graft-to-recipient ratios (GRWRs) (both p<0.05). The multivariate predictive model included GRWR, graft fatty change ≥10% (OR 3.53), post-reperfusion syndrome ≥5 min in duration (OR 5.68), and recipient diabetes mellitus (OR 2.92) as independent risk factors. The risk of PRSH was proportional to the rise in GRWR.

CONCLUSIONS
PRSH development was heavily influenced by donor-related factors. Graft size, extent of fatty change, and post-reperfusion syndrome were identified as independent donor-associated predictors of PRSH.


School nurses played a key role in Maine's school-located influenza vaccination (SLV) clinics during the 2009–2010 pandemic season. The objective of this study was to determine, from the school district perspective, the labor hours and costs associated with outside-clinic coordination activities (OCA). The authors defined OCA as labor hours spent by staff outside of clinic operations. The authors surveyed a convenience sample of 10 school nurses from nine school districts. Eight nurses responded to the survey, representing seven districts, 45 schools and 84 SLV clinics that provided a total of 22,596 vaccine doses (H1N1 and seasonal combined) to children and adolescents. The mean total OCA time per clinic was 69 hours: out of total hours, 22 (36%) were spent outside regular clinic operation time. The authors estimated the mean cost of OCA to be $15.36 per dose. Survey respondents reported that costs would be lower during non-pandemic seasons and as schools become more proficient at planning clinics.


Hermann F. Eilts, former Ambassador to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, takes a broad look ahead: The Middle East in 1985Through a Murky Crystal. Eric Rouleau, "Le Monde, "discusses Prospects for Instability and New Leadership. Michael Sterner, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, counters with Prospects for Stability and New Leadership. William B. Quandt, Brookings Institution, examines American Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, while Stephen S. Rosenfield, "Washington Post, "offers An Alternative View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. William G. Hyland, Center for Strategic International Studies, discusses The Soviet Union and the Middle East; his view is modified by Robert Legvold, Council on Foreign Relations, in The Soviet Union and the Middle East: Another View. Lawrence R. Klein, Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, explores Oil Prices and the World Economy and is answered by John H. Lichtblau, Executive Director, Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, Inc., OPEC s Pricing Policy and Its Limits. George T. Abed, International Monetary Fund, scrutinizes Development Prospects in Arab Nations, while Odeh F. Aburdene, First National Bank, Chicago, cites The Hard Realities of Arab Development. International Migration, Manpower, and Economic Growth in the Arab Region is the topic of three from the World Bank: J. S. Birks, C. A. Sinclair, and J. A. Socknat. Charles B. Keely, Population Council, discusses Policy Dilemmas for International Migration in the Middle East. John V. James, Chairman, Dressler Industries, discusses Rebuilding America s Productive Capacity. Raymond Garcia, President, GRC Client Services, considers the Outlook for Congressional Action Affecting Middle East Economics. James Noyes, Hoover Institution, concludes with Military Factors Determining Middle East Security in the Eighties. "


Ge@C core–shell nanostructures were successfully synthesized by a facile n-hexane pyrogenation-reducing process. The Ge@C core–shell nanostructures exhibit excellent cycling performance and rate capability in comparison with pure Ge nanoparticles when used as an anode material for a lithium ion battery. The thin carbon shell endows the obtained Ge@C nanostructures with a high specific capacity of 985 mA h g−1 at a current density of 500 mA g−1 after 50 cycles. Furthermore, a discharge capacity of 850 mA h g−1 was observed at a current density of 4000 mA g−1. The excellent lithium storage performance can be attributed to the unique carbon shell structure. The carbon shell not only acts as the buffer layer to maintain structural stability during lithiation, but also increases electrical conductivity during the charge/discharge processes. The high rate capacity of the Ge@C nanostructures demonstrates it a promising anode material for high power lithium-ion batteries.


RATIONALE
Invasive aspergillosis is a severe fungal infection afflicting immunocompromised patients, particularly patients with neutrophil defects. CCR6, a beta-chemokine receptor, mediates migration of dendritic cells (DCs) and several lymphocyte subsets to sites of epithelial inflammation, but its role in infections has not been examined extensively.

OBJECTIVES
To test the hypothesis that CCR6-mediated leukocyte recruitment is necessary for effective host defense in neutropenic hosts with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

METHODS
Neutropenic wild-type mice and mice with targeted deletion of CCR6 were infected with Aspergillus fumigatus. The host responses to the infection were compared in vivo and leukocyte responses to the fungus were examined in vitro.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
In the context of infection, immature myeloid DCs were the major population of CCR6-expressing cells in the lungs. As compared with wild-type animals, CCR6-deficient mice developed a more severe infection when challenged with A. fumigatus conidia, as documented by a higher mortality rate and greater lung fungal burden. This was associated with reduced accumulation of DCs in the lungs. CCR6-deficient and wild-type DCs did not differ in their phagocytosis of conidia, cytokine response, or maturation in vitro. In adoptive transfer experiments, however, DCs from CCR6-deficient donors showed lesser accumulation in the lungs of infected mice as compared with wild-type cells, and transfer of wild-type, but not CCR6-deficient, DCs resulted in attenuated severity of infection in CCR6-deficient recipients.

CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, these results implicate CCR6-mediated DC influx into the lung in the initial host defense in invasive aspergillosis.


Since March 2010, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations have been taking place, where members have expanded into the 11 Asia-Pacific countries from the original Pacific 4 (P4: Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, and Brunei). The P4 has rooted in the P5, where the United States initiated the liberalization of trade and investment among only P5 countries (the United States, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and Chile) to overcome the limits of APEC's open regionalism in the late 1990s. However, the United States and Australia could not join the negotiations because of their respective domestic political problems. The current TPP negotiation is said to have been formally launched in March 2010 when the United States joined the P4 with Australia, Peru, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, Malaysia was approved to participate in the TPP negotiations since October 2010; Canada and Mexico joined in December 2012. The current 11 TPP negotiating countries aim to reach the framework agreement until the APEC summit that will be held in October 2013 in Bali, Indonesia, and the final agreement until the end of 2013. The TPP, as a part of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), has been known as an open and multilateral FTA that aims to be a comprehensive and a highly liberalized agree-ment among the 21 APEC countries.


Problem statement. Search of plants on the observable image is important function of the UAV onboard optoelectronic systems. One of methods of the observable surface image analysis is the textural analysis which allows to select homogeneous areas on the observable image and to define contours of the plants which are covered with various structures and not having boundaries accurately defined on the image.The purpose. To develop algorithm of the textural analysis of a site terrestrial or a water surface, fulfilled by the digital image processing. In paper the image textural analysis algorithm fulfilled on the basis of an evaluation of local spectral and statistical performances of the image is presented.Results. The algorithm according to which for each element of the analyzed image in a square environ from 1024 elements the local spectra oriented under different angles and local variances are calculated is developed. Calculated by digital image processing amplitudes of a spectrum and variances values characterize texture parameters in a environ of each element of the image. Points of considerable modifications of local properties define position of boundaries between various structures.The practical importance. Results of the considered algorithm trials as a part of simulation model have shown a possibility of its application in the UAV onboard image observed analysis system.


The Commonwealth of Virginia has a disorganized approach to enrolling their retired faculty in Medicare Supplement Insurance Programs. An organized approach to establishing Medicare Supplemental Insurance for retired University faculty should include the following administrative changes to correct this potential health-care crisis for retired state faculty members. First, the ombudsman for human resources for the state universities must receive educational programs that prepare the retired faculty members over the age of 65 to select the corporate insurance policy from Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company. Included in this educational program should be a review of the Advantage 65 Member Handbook. Second, they must point out to the faculty member that they are receiving a CORPORATE insurance policy rather than an individual insurance policy from Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company. They must provide the telephone numbers of the Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield offices in Roanoke, Virginia. Concomitantly, they must send the name and address of the faculty member to the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Human Resource Management. They should inform the faculty member that the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Human Resource Management will be sending them newsletters that outline any changes in the corporate insurance policy that they coordinate with the Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company. The Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Human Resource Management must take on some new responsibilities in their efforts to coordinate health-care coverage of the retired faculty over the age of 65. First, they must have a computer registry of all corporate health-care policies of the individual faculty members to ensure that newsletters are being sent to them. Ideally, this agency should have a computerized system that allows it to send out its newsletter update by email to those retired faculty members who have computers. They should urge the faculty members to initiate an automatic check payment withdrawal from their bank so that the premiums from their corporate insurance policy can be paid promptly to Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company. Whereas the universities and the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Human Resource Management are making these responsible changes, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company must undertake innovative changes in their corporate health-care policy to assist the retired faculty member. For instance, they must list on the insurance card that the faculty member has a corporate policy. Like the United Health Insurance Company, it would be advisable to offer a 2-5% reduction in the cost of the corporate insurance policy if the faculty member begins an automatic premium payment agreement through their bank. This insurance discount would be an added incentive for the faculty member to do automatic payments through their bank.


Purpose:  To compare the results of trabeculectomy with subconjunctival Bevacizumab and 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU); with trabeculectomy with 5-FU alone; in terms of intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering, bleb formation, and complications, in the long term.
Study Design:  Quasi experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study:  Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, from December 2013 to August, 2019.
Methods:  A total of 30 eyes (15 in each group) with glaucoma were recruited. Exclusion criteria were previous trabeculectomy, congenital, traumatic, uveitic, neovascular glaucomas, aphakia, or ocular surface disease. Trabeculectomy with 5FU was performed in both groups. In one group, subconjunctival Bevacizumab was injected into the bleb at the end of surgery. The patients were observed for IOP control, bleb configuration, and complications for 1 year.
Results:  Primary open angle glaucoma was the predominant diagnosis in 17 (56.7%) eyes. The mean pre-operative IOP in the 5-FU group was 30.8 ± 17.03 mmHg, & in the 5-FU+Bevacizumab group it was 28.9 ± 18.9 mmHg. The mean IOPs of the 5-FU group at 1 Year was 14.5 ± 5.04 mmHg. In 5-FU+Bevacizumab group, mean IOPs at 1 year was 12.7 ± 4.38 mmHg. The differences between pre-operative and post-operative IOPs in both groups at 6, 9 and 12 months were statistically significant. However, differences in mean IOPs between the two groups, bleb morphology and complications were not statistically significant.
Conclusion:  No added benefit of subconjunctival Bevacizumab used as an adjunct to 5-FU enhanced trabeculectomy was found at the end of 1 year follow-up.
Key Words:  Trabeculectomy, 5-Fluorouracil, Bevacizumab, Glaucoma, Intraocular pressure.


The main factor that has to be considered in the inductor designing is the power losses occurred in the core and windings, and temperature rise released depend on these power losses. In addition to worsening efficiency, temperature rise due to the power losses reduce lifespan of the isolation materials and cause significant change on electromagnetic behavior of the core. These effects become more important for the high power medium frequency inductors. Therefore, the cooling conditions have to be considered during the designing stage to keep the temperature rise of the inductors at a certain level. In this study, medium frequency inductor of an LCL filter used in the grid interactive inverter output has been designed. The toroidal gapped-core shape has been made up with silicon steel alloy. The core and the winding power losses of the inductor have been determined with finite element analysis (FEA) based co-simulations, and then its thermal behaviors have been investigated with the calculated heat sources for different ambient temperatures.


The first part of this book presents an introduction to the theory of finite fields, with emphasis on those aspects that are relevant for applications. The second part is devoted to a discussion of the most important applications of finite fields especially information theory, algebraic coding theory and cryptology (including some very recent material that has never before appeared in book form). There is also a chapter on applications within mathematics, such as finite geometries. combinatorics. and pseudorandom sequences. Worked-out examples and list of exercises found throughout the book make it useful as a textbook.


Object-based coding is one of the most challenging key features which the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 is trying to standardize. One approach to transform an arbitrary shaped image region is addressed. The proposed approach called object-based wavelet transform (OWT), is simple to implement and is a smooth extension of regular wavelet transform (WT). The OWT consist of two phase processes: one is an extrapolation phase for regular WT and the other is a coefficients handling phase for eliminating redundancy caused by the extrapolation. Due to some experimental results, it is confirmed that the method performs the same as other shape-adaptive approaches with low complexity.


A general discussion of a torsional type mechanical filter and its termination by mechanical and electrical means is followed by a detailed description of two 100-kc filters, one 50 cycles wide and the other 3.1 kc wide. The design, fabrication, and frequency adjustment of one-piece multiple section filters is described. Frequency stability better than 2 parts per million per degree centigrade is obtained with filters constructed of the metal alloy Ni-Span-C. Magnetostrictive ferrite and Ni-Span-C transducers resonant in the longitudinal mode of vibration are attached tangentially to the end resonators of the torsion filter. The filter is terminated by converting the electrical resistance in low-Q input and output circuits to mechanical damping. Responses due to spurious modes of vibration in the filter are reduced by the use of a pair of transducers in a balanced arrangement at each end of the filter, and by mechanical damping in the end supports.


This paper proposes a novel approach for simultaneously selecting. the parameters of all the stabilizers in multimachine power systems. The parameter optimization problem is cast into an eigenvalue. assignment formulation and. an algorithm enabling exact assignment of selected system modes is presented. The proposed algorithm is used to design the stabilizer loops for a three machine-infinite bus dynamically unstable power system.


Abstract. The North China Plain has been identified as a significant hotspot of ammonia
(NH3) due to extensive agricultural activities. Satellite
observations suggest a significant increase of about 30 % in tropospheric
gas-phase NH3 concentrations in this area during 2008–2016.
However, the estimated NH3 emissions decreased slightly by 7 %
because of changes in Chinese agricultural practices, i.e., the transition in
fertilizer types from ammonium carbonate fertilizer to urea, and in the
livestock rearing system from free-range to intensive farming. We note that
the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have rapidly declined by
about 60 % over the recent few years. By integrating measurements from
ground and satellite, a long-term anthropogenic NH3 emission
inventory, and chemical transport model simulations, we find that this large
SO2 emission reduction is responsible for the NH3
increase over the North China Plain. The simulations for the period
2008–2016 demonstrate that the annual average sulfate concentrations
decreased by about 50 %, which significantly weakens the formation of
ammonium sulfate and increases the average proportions of gas-phase
NH3 within the total NH3 column concentrations from
26 % (2008) to 37 % (2016). By fixing SO2 emissions of 2008
in those multi-year simulations, the increasing trend of the tropospheric
NH3 concentrations is not observed. Both the decreases in sulfate
and increases in NH3 concentrations show highest values in summer,
possibly because the formation of sulfate aerosols is more sensitive to
SO2 emission reductions in summer than in other seasons. Besides,
the changes in NOx emissions and meteorological conditions
both decreased the NH3 column concentrations by about 3 % in
the study period. Our simulations suggest that the moderate reduction in
NOx emissions (16 %) favors the formation of
particulate nitrate by elevating ozone concentrations in the lower
troposphere.


Background Tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial infectious disease, persisted to be a public health concern in many developing countries. However, lack of enough data concerning the public health burden and potential risk factors for the disease hampered control programs in target areas. Therefore, the present study aimed in determining the prevalence of TB and genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in South Gondar Zone, northwest Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectonal study was conducte between March 2015 and April 2017. Bacteriological examination, region of difference (RD) 9 based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and spoligotyping were used to undertake the study. Results The overall prevalence of smear positive all forms TB was 6.3% (186/2953). Extra pulmonary TB (EPTB) was clinically characterized on about 62.4% (116/186) TB-positive cases. Some of the patients' demographic characteristics such as [patients' origin (chi-square (χ2) value; 62.8, p<0.001) were found to be significantly associated risk factors for the occurrence of TB in the study area. All the mycobacterial isolates were found to be M. tuberculosis. Among the 35 different spoligotype patterns identified, 22 patterns were shared types. The three dominantly identified families were T, CAS and Manu, each consisting of 46.9%, 24.0% and 10.4% of the isolates, respectively Conclusion The presented study revealed that TB continued to be a public health problem in South Gondar Zone which suggests a need of implementing effective disease control strategies.


We deal with the motion of a charged particle in a constant magnetic field when immersed in a medium that exerts some type of friction. We analyse the problem classically and also quantum mechanically. In the latter case we use coherent state solutions of the problem that, for large energies, compared with the one associated with the cyclotron frequency, reduce to the classical limit. To study the dynamical behaviour we use time-dependent wave packets that can be constructed by superposition of the coherent states.


We address the two-dimensional bin packing problem with fixed orientation. This problem requires packing a set of small rectangular items into a minimum number of standard two-dimensional bins. It is a notoriously intractable combinatorial optimization problem and has numerous applications in packing and cutting. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we propose a comprehensive theoretical analysis of lower bounds and we elucidate dominance relationships. We show that a previously presented dominance result is incorrect. Second, we present the results of an extensive computational study that was carried out, on a large set of 500 benchmark instances, to assess the empirical performance of the lower bounds. We found that the so-called Carlier-Clautiaux-Moukrim lower bounds exhibits an excellent relative performance and yields the tightest value for all of the benchmark instances.


OBJECTIVE
To explore clinical evaluate of CK19 mRNA and EGFR mRNA for diagnosis of laryngeal carcinoma micrometastasis, correlation between circulation tumor cell and lymph node metastasis.

METHOD
Of 30 nude mice, 25 were randomly divided into 5 experimental groups (5 mice in each group), 5 were acted as control group. The mice were killed 2,4,6,8 and 10 weeks after injection. The expression of CK19 and EGFR mRNA in the peripheral blood and tumor tissue were detected by RT-PCR assay. The expression of EGFR in tumor tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry and lymph node transfer were confirmed using continuous pathological dying.

RESULT
None of CK19 and EGFR mRNA were detected in peripheral blood of control group, CK19 mRNA-positive rate was 48% and 80% in peripheral blood and tumor tissue from the experimental group, respectively, and EGFR mRNA-positive rate was 36% and 76%, respectively. Lymph node metastasis happened in the exponential growth phase and transfer rate was 60%(15/25). The expression of CK19 mRNA and EGFR mRNA in lymphatic metastasis groups was higher than that of control, with a positive correlation between lymphatic metastasis and CTC (r = 0.655 , P < 0.01). The protein positive expression rate of EGFR were 88%(22/25) in tumor tissue. All peripheral blood expressed EGFR concomitant EGFR expressing in tumor tissues, and a high expression of EGFR in tumor tissue displayed high expression of EGFR in peripheral blood as well.

CONCLUSION
The expression of CK19 and EGFR mRNA in the peripheral blood can provide predictive information of lymphatic metastasis, EGFR mRNA might be a new target of treatment and diagnosis for malignant tumour.


Most urban bus operators collect detailed data on their respective transportation networks using electronic fare collection systems. However, contrary to the opinion of other service industries that this data is a valuable resource, many bus operators have tended not to fully utilise these resources. International experience suggests using innovative technologies and methodologies such as data warehousing, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), and data mining, to derive the maximum benefit from this data. Still bus operators tend not to keep the full range of data in a form, which is easy to access or utilise, and therefore, are not able to apply these technologies. The aim of the research project on which this paper reports is to describe the initial data structure of an electronic fare collection system (installed by a public transport operator in Ireland), the storage and enrichment of that data in a relational database, and finally, the representation of the public transport data in a data warehouse. This data warehouse forms the basis of all future data analysis. A 4-phase framework describes the import process leading to a relational database storing the transactional data. The paper concludes with the development of a data warehouse using the star schema.


The study aims to determine the potential of earthquake that could lead to tsunamis in the Flores Sea. Furthermore, based on the potential of earthquake magnitude, can be known high run-up of tsunami in the southern coastal region of Bulukumba regency. The height run-up of tsunami can show the vulnerability of tsunami impact and eects spatially based on the eect of land function in the southern coastal area of Bulukumba Regency. To plan an eective mitigation scenario in the southern coastal area of Bulukumba Regency can be based on the vulnerability of tsunami impacts and eects. This study uses secondary data consisting of three data. The condition of land function and the density of community infrastructure is obtained based on RTRW data of Bulukumba District and Satellite Bing Maps image data; historical data of earthquake events in the Flores Sea from 1927 to 2016 from the USGS site, and BMKG; as well as topographic data. Field check activity on land function condition is done as a form of conformity of secondary data. The results showed that the potential of seismicity in the Flores Sea is high, with magnitude (M 7 SR) potentially causing tsunamis around it, not least Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The area of tsunami inundation in Bulukumba Regency is 13.617 km2. The coastal area of Ujungbulu sub-district is a dense residential area that has the highest risk to the tsunami with an estimated 3,331 km2 inundation. Land cover in Bontotiro sub-district dominated by vegetation with kerapatandengan interval distance of more than 3 m is seen able to reduce the tsunami with a height of 17 m and 25 m. Tsunami disaster mitigation scenario in Bulukumba regency is to make coastal area as conservation area of coastal forest (mangrove plant) that function as green belt of tsunami wave holder.


Biofilms are aggregates of bacteria encased in an extracellular polymer matrix that acts as a diffusion barrier protecting the microbial community. Bacterial communication occurs by small signaling molecules called quorum sensing (QS) factors, which are involved in the activation of virulence genes and formation of biofilms. Larvae of the green bottle blowfly Lucilia sericata remove necrotic tissue by mechanical action (debridement) and proteolytic digestion. We produced a freeze-dried storable powder from larval extract and investigated its therapeutic effect on biofilms. Larval extract in concentrations of 6 and 12 mg/mL in combination with 0.5% antibiotics (≙50 U/mL penicillin and 50 μg/mL streptomycin) diminished free-floating (planktonic) Pseudomonas aeruginosa maintenance, while it showed no effect on Staphylococcus aureus and was not toxic to dermal cells. We established an ex vivo human dermal wound model. Larval extract in concentrations of 24 and 75 mg/mL in the presence of antibiotics (0.5%) significantly destroyed the biofilm stability of both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus biofilms. Furthermore, SEM analyses revealed crack and gap formations on P. aeruginosa. biofilm surface and decreased expression of P. aeruginosa biofilm maturation and virulence genes (lasR, rhlR and rhlA) was observed after treatment by larval extract in combination with antibiotics.


Radio Astronomy in the U.S. went through two distinct phases, the
 pioneering phase before the Second World War, when Karl Jansky and
 Grote Reber were the only two radio astronomers in the world, and the
 post-WWII era, when the subject blossomed throughout the world,
 especially in England and Australia, while U.S. radio astronomy
 languished at a relatively low level, until its resurgence a decade
 later. Here in Budapest we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of
 Jansky's discovery, and I shall start with a review of his work, and
 the subsequent work of Grote Reber, who died, regrettably, in December
 2002. Two historical references will be cited frequently: Serendipitous Discoveries in Radio Astronomy (Kellermann & Sheets,
 eds. 1983, referred to as Paper 1) and the two historical
 collections edited by W.T. Sullivan, Classics in Radio
 Astronomy (1982, referred to as Paper 2) and The Early Years
 of Radio Astronomy (1984, Paper 3).


Sociological research on family structure suggests that living in a stepfamily may constitute an important risk factor for a number of outcomes of adolescent well-being. In our data, the prevalence of violent victimization is significantly higher among children from stepfamilies than among those living in either single parent or intact two-parent families. In an effort to develop an explanation for the stepfamily effect, we draw on two theoretical perspectives, the stress-conflict model and evolutionary psychology. The mediating variables derived from the stress-conflict model explain a meaningful share of the increased risk associated with stepfamily status. By contrast, our research finds little support for the assumptions of evolutionary psychology.


We would like to take this opportunity to respond to the above comment by Jenkins et al., who raised some good points that we would like to address concerning out letter. However, the primary point of their comment is to question whether flip-chip heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's) offer any advantage over the thermal-shunt technology developed by Bayraktaroglu et al. This question has been answered unambiguously in a recent report by Bayraktaroglu et al. that directly compared the thermal resistance of thermal-shunt and flip-chip devices. In this report, flip-chip devices on the average had 37% lower thermal resistance compared to conventional thermally shunted devices of similar size.


Intracellular recordings were made from single photoreceptors of the frontal part in the compound eye of the cockroach Blatta orientalis. Two spectral types of cells were revealed: UV-receptors with lambda max = 361 +/- 8 nm and green-receptors with lambda max = 503 +/- 12 nm. Spectral curve of the whole eye measured by ERG had two peaks (at lambda = 350-370 and 500 nm) and minimum in the range of 400-430 nm. The finding has been interpreted as an additional evidence for dichromatic vision of the cockroach.


There is a paucity of data on the spectrum of benign gastric outlet obstruction in India. Our aim was to evaluate its spectrum and to identify the subgroup which would be most amenable to endoscopic therapy. We studied 64 patients whose aetiology revealed in approximately equal proportions: corrosive injury; gastroduodenal tuberculosis (TB); and peptic ulcer disease. The median number of endoscopic dilations required was two for TB, four for peptic ulcer disease and five for corrosive injury. Gastroduodenal TB and corrosive injury appear now to be more, or at least as, common as peptic ulcer disease as causes of benign gastric outlet obstruction in India. Gastroduodenal TB responds best to endoscopic therapy.


The purpose of the study was to find out the techniques of translation used by the subtitler in translating cultural words,and to explain the results of implementing the techniques in the English to Indonesian subtitles of Frozen as the manifestation of foreignization and domestication,loss and gain of the translation.The method of collecting data in this study was through observing by note-taking technique. Documentary study guides were used as the instruments. The collected data were analyzed descriptively using qualitative method. There were forty three data of cultural words and eleven techniques of translating cultural words identified in the subtitles.The most tendency application of ideology of translation in translating the cultural words related to English cultural words was domestication.The next orientation used in the translation of the cultural words was followed by foreignization.The last tendency was partial foreignization and partial domestication.Based on the result of the research, the factors leading to the applications of foreignization and domestication were cultural differences,linguistic differences,and the subtitler's preference.It is necessary for the subtitler to be more creative,have good understanding about politeness and wide knowledge of both the source and target language,and recommended to realize the effective translation work.


The possible transformation of a giant congenital melanocytic nevi (GCMN) in malignant melanoma estimated from 0.05% to 40% depend on the size of the lesions. Many are the surgical procedures proposed, including: full or partial-thickness excisions, dermabrasion, curettage in the first weeks of life and laser treatment. The curettage technique has been proposed in the literature for the treatment of GCMN in the first few weeks of life and defined as a relatively atraumatic surgery procedure without general complications. The authors report the first case in the literature of embolization due to use of subcutaneous peroxide infiltration before a tardive curettage procedure in a newborn case of GCMN resulting in spastic quadriplegia with dystonic reaction. Consequently, a lawsuit, due to this medical malpractice, has been opened.


This paper reports on the conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) characterisation, with high lateral resolution, a commercially available positive temperature coefficient of resistance (ptcr) BaTiO3-based thermistor. The sample has been investigated in the 25 to 250 °C temperature range, to study the conduction mechanisms below and above the ferroelectric-paraelectric transition around the Curie temperature (Tc ~ 130 °C). The combined effective thickness of the Schottky barrier regions associated with the grain-shell and grain boundary regions has been measured directly using C-AFM and is found to decrease from ~ 547(1) nm below Tc to 468(1) nm above Tc. The C-AFM results demonstrate the ptcr-effect is associated with both the grain boundaries and outer grain-shells of the ceramics. This confirms conventional Impedance Spectroscopy measurements that have been used to propose that the ptcr-effect is both a grain boundary and bulk phenomenon.


Background As a member of m6A methylated binding protein, RNA binding motif protein X-linked (RBMX) has been reported to be associated with tumor invasion, metastasis and prognosis. However, the prognostic significance of RBMX expression in esophageal cancer (ESCA) remains unclear. Methods Based on the TIMER database, GEPIA database, cBioPortal database, CIBERSORT deconvolution algorithm, String-DB database, LinkedOmics database, etc., the RBMX expression level, mRNA expression level, prognostic relationship, genetic mutation, immune cell infiltration level, protein interaction network, differential co-expression genes and functional enrichment in esophageal carcinoma were analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of RBMX in 53 cases of esophageal carcinoma and adjacent esophageal tissues. Results The RBMX expression in ESCA tissue was significantly higher than that in the normal tissues. The overall survival (OS) of patients with high RBMX expression was significantly lower than that of patients with low expression (P=0.04). The protein encoded by the RBMX gene appeared to copy number amplification, mutation and deep deletion. The expression level of RBMX was positively correlated with the levels of follicular helper T cells, eosinophils and initial B cells (P<0.05). Genes significantly and positively correlated with RBMX expression included HNRNPA1L2, SFRS13A, HNRNPA1, etc., which were mainly enriched in biological processes (BPs) such as cell division, mRNA splicing, RNA binding and mRNA 3'-UTR binding. Conclusions RBMX may be as a biomarker of poor prognosis of ESCA. RBMX is closely related to the survival and prognosis, genetic mutation and immune cell infiltration of patients with ESCA.


The competition between foreign currencies and domestic currencies is a phenomenon that exists in many developing countries, and it is one of the hot issues in the study of the international currency. An important feature of the currency market in modern China is the long-term circulation of foreign banknotes in China. Foreign banknotes have been circulating in China since the 1870s, while domestic banknotes gradually emerged after the 20th century. After the 1920s, they became increasingly prosperous, forming a competing situation with foreign banknotes. As the most widely circulated area of domestic banknotes, Northeast China is also popular with foreign banknotes. After the 1920s, a competitive monetary system dominated by Fengpiao issued by the official Northeast bank and Jinpiao issued by a Japanese bank was gradually formed.This paper constructs a theoretical model of currency search, and combines the theory of seigniorage, taking the Northeast currency market as an example to explore the mechanism of the currency competition between the two currencies. According to the results of the model, with the change in the exchange rate of the two currencies and the constraints of government policies, the Northeast currency market formed two different competitive equilibriums before and after 1925. Although Jinpiao was subject to the policy of Fengtian authorities in the competition with Fengpiao, it still played an important role in the Northeast currency market. The increasing circulation of Fengpiao reduced the credit of it, and replaced it with Jinpiao. This is an important reason for the continued circulation of Jinpiao in the Northeast.This paper shows that when domestic currencies face the threat of foreign currencies, if the government only restricts the circulation of foreign currencies and ignores the improvement of the credit of domestic currencies, it is difficult to prohibit the use of foreign currencies. Currency competition mainly depends on currency credit, and currency credit is subject to maximizing seigniorage. The decline in money demand is an important factor restricting the government's issuance of banknotes. An important way to reduce the demand for domestic money is to find alternative currencies. Therefore, the government can balance the currency circulation and money demand to ensure a certain amount of seigniorage and maintain good currency credit, so that the domestic currencies can occupy a dominant position in the competition.In short, this paper mainly contributes in three aspects: First, it supplements and deepens the understanding of the reasons for the circulation of foreign banknotes and the competition mechanism, and makes up for the lack of research on the foreign currency circulation in modern China. Second, it provides empirical evidence for the theory of the currency competition, and demonstrates the important role of currency credit in competition. Third, it deepens our understanding of the current international currency competition and the internationalization of RMB, and provides strategic guidance for the internationalization of RMB. Only by upholding the long-term stability of RMB and building good government credibility, can we promote its competitiveness in various currencies.


SUMMARY Large scale production capability of silicon based tin oxide gas sensors has been established. It is well known that metal oxide gas sensors are sensitive to both ambient temperature and relative humidity. Humidity compensation is accomplishd through use of a specific sequential mode of operation. Device sensitivity from zero to 400ppm CO over the range of 20% to 80% relative humidity is presented.


Eight University Grant Committee (UGC)-funded public universities in Hong Kong positively and successfully responded to the global call for sustainability efforts in higher education institutions (HEIs). Various initiatives are transpiring within these eight campuses. The Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium (HKSCC) was co-established by eight UGC-funded universities, which is an excellent example of integrating resources and efforts to achieve sustainable development goals and exert positive social impacts. Through interviews with HKSCC administrators and members and reviewing relevant documents, this study aims to examine the roles and challenges of HKSCC toward Hong Kong HEIs' sustainability efforts, and present the good practices and achievements of HKSCC. Findings of this study reveal that although HKSCC and each UGC-funded university contribute in reaching the sustainability goals, they should pay considerable attention to the external impact of sustainability practices on communities and society. Moreover, we propose that the sustainable development of public universities in Hong Kong should look beyond the narrowed definition of sustainable development and broaden their roles to exert a social impact by addressing the negative consequences of the massification, privatization, and internationalization of higher education.


Aim: To develop a timely and accurate method for predicting acute myeloid leukemia (AML) prognosis after chemotherapy treatment by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Methods: Biomolecular differences between AML patients with good and poor prognosis and individuals without AML were investigated based on SERS measurements of bone marrow supernatant fluid samples. Multivariate analysis was implemented on the SERS measurements to establish an AML prognostic model. Results: Significant differences in amino acid, saccharide and lipid levels were observed between AML patients with good and poor prognoses. The AML prognostic model achieved a prediction accuracy of 84.78%. Conclusion: The proposed method could be a potential diagnostic tool for timely and precise prediction of AML prognosis.


Following the military defeat of LTTE terrorism in May 2009, the relationship between ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka became seriously fragmented as a result of intensified anti-minority sentiments and violence. Consequently, the ethnic Muslims (Moors) became the major target in this conflict. The major objective of this study is to critically evaluate the nature and the impact of the anti-Muslim sentiments expressed and violence committed by the extreme nationalist forces during the process of ethnic reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka. The findings of the study reveal that, with the end of civil war, Muslims have become "another other" and also the target of ethno-religious hatred and violence from the vigilante right-wing ethno-nationalist forces that claim to be protecting the Sinhala-Buddhist nation, race, and culture in Sri Lanka. These acts are perpetrated as part of their tactics aimed to consolidate a strong Sinhala-Buddhist nation—and motivated by the state. Furthermore, the recourse deficit and lack of autonomy within the organizational hierarchy of the Buddhist clergy have motivated the nationalist monks to engage in politics and promote a radical anti-minority rhetoric. This study recommends institutional and procedural reforms to guide and monitor the activities of religious organizations, parties, and movements, together with the teaching of religious tolerance, as the preconditions for ethnic reconciliation and ethnic harmony in post-war Sri Lanka. This study has used only secondary data, which are analyzed in a descriptive and interpretive manner.


There has been a recent flurry of interest in providing query capability on raw data in today's big data systems. These raw data must be parsed before processing or use in analytics. Thus, a fundamental challenge in distributed big data systems is that of efficient parallel parsing of raw data. The difficulties come from the inherent ambiguity while independently parsing chunks of raw data without knowing the context of these chunks. Specifically, it can be difficult to find the beginnings and ends of fields and records in these chunks of raw data. To parallelize parsing, this paper proposes a speculation-based approach for the CSV format, arguably the most commonly used raw data format. Due to the syntactic and statistical properties of the format, speculative parsing rarely fails and therefore parsing is efficiently parallelized in a distributed setting. Our speculative approach is also robust, meaning that it can reliably detect syntax errors in CSV data. We experimentally evaluate the speculative, distributed parsing approach in Apache Spark using more than 11,000 real-world datasets, and show that our parser produces significant performance benefits over existing methods.


The present paper discusses aspects of the statistical analysis of toxicokinetic data by reference to 102 case studies. In toxicokinetic studies, dose dependence of exposure is the most important subject. For this purpose, and because variability in concentration is closely related to the mean value, before beginning the standard procedures of analysis of variance and regression analysis concentration data should be transformed into logarithms. This data transformation also assists assessment of nonlinear kinetics. The paper discusses a special issue in the analysis of experiments for which measurement on each subject has been repeated. A simple procedure is proposed for estimating the daily exposure level in rodent studies when test chemicals have been mixed in diet and exposure level is measured on different animals at each time point. Experimental designs are classified into three types, and these are illustrated by data from representative case studies. Conclusions from 102 case studies are summarized, with attention to how often sex differences, change in exposure level during repeated dosing, and how often evidence is strong for nonlinear kinetics. Various key points of study design are discussed.


Editor, W e would like to thank Grzybowski & Brona (2016) for their interest in our work regarding the use of chlorhexidine gluconate as an alternative to povidone–iodine for asepsis in intravitreal injections (IVI). Highlighting possible resistance to our antiseptic preparations is an important consideration for such prevalent procedures as intravitreal injections. While multiple outbreaks in other settings have been linked to contaminated chlorhexidine, typically these have been traced to use of contaminated water to prepare diluted preparations, failure to adequately disinfect bottles being reused to dispense chlorhexidine or inappropriate disinfection applications (rather than antisepsis applications) (Weber et al. 2007). For the outbreak referenced (vigeant), nonsterile water was used for dilution to 2% concentration anddistribution occurred in reusable non-sterile containers. We agree that more research is required to quantify theantimicrobial effectofaqueous chlorhexidine gluconate 0.1%, including demonstrated reduction in flora counts using chlorhexidine gluconate solutions,particularly inresistant bacterial strains. In our cohort, though, the rate of endophthalmitis was comparable with published rates suggesting efficacy in the clinical setting (Oakley & Vote 2016). However, multiple outbreaks have also been reported duetocontaminatediodophorsandhave typically represented intrinsic (manufacturing) contamination (Weber et al. 2007). Our understanding of iodophor chemistry improved from analysis of these outbreaks, highlighting that 'free' iodine (I2) contributes to thebactericidal activity with more dilute solutions demonstrating more rapid bactericidal action, possibly byweakening the iodine linkage to the carrier polymer povidone, with an accompanying increase in free iodine in solution (Berkelman et al. 1982;Weber et al. 2007). We agree with the authors' points raised regarding the proven efficacy of povidone–iodine solutions and that reduced concentrations of povidone iodine, such as 2.5% used by Shimada et al. (2013), may be another method for reducing pain related to IVI while retaining efficacious antisepsis; however, patient comfort and pain studies are lacking in this area (Berkelman et al. 1982).We agree that future studies are warranted to find the optimal povidone–iodine concentration, balancing patient comfort with effective antisepsis. With the prevalence of intravitreal injections, these are studies that should be proceeding as the significance to patients of post-injection pain is not representative in our literature. Finally,we thank the authors for their valuable comments and highlight that our study was not intended to suggest chlorhexidine gluconate as a replacement antiseptic agent of choice. Rather, it was intended to highlight that postinjection pain from povidone–iodine sensitivity is significant for many patients. In our experience, this can be reduced for thosepatientswith the useof aqueous chlorhexidine gluconate 0.1%, with our study also providing clinical evidence for its utilization as antisepsis in the intravitreal injection setting.


We survey progress over the past 25 years in the development of microscale devices for pumping fluids. We attempt to provide both a reference for micropump researchers and a resource for those outside the field who wish to identify the best micropump for a particular application. Reciprocating displacement micropumps have been the subject of extensive research in both academia and the private sector and have been produced with a wide range of actuators, valve configurations and materials. Aperiodic displacement micropumps based on mechanisms such as localized phase change have been shown to be suitable for specialized applications. Electroosmotic micropumps exhibit favorable scaling and are promising for a variety of applications requiring high flow rates and pressures. Dynamic micropumps based on electrohydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic effects have also been developed. Much progress has been made, but with micropumps suitable for important applications still not available, this remains a fertile area for future research.


This study was designed to check whether complexation of royal jelly (RJ) proteins with green tea extract enriched with EGCG, would enhance the bioavailability on C2BBe1 cells. The total phenolic and EGCG of green tea extract (GTex) as well as the protein level of RJ were measured. The best entrapment efficiency (30.47%) was noted at a 10:4 ratio (RJ:EGCG of GTex) to confirm the maximum EGCG-RJ complexation. Followed by in vitro studies to check the cytotoxicity, morphological changes, EGCG uptake, and TBARS (antioxidant) activity were evaluated on C2BBe1 cells. The EGCG-RJ protein complex showed less toxicity without any morphological changes with better cellular EGCG uptake than GTex or GTex-RJ mixture on CeBBe1 cells. Besides, the EGCG-RJ protein complex display maximum TBARS suppressing activity to showcase better stability. This study infers that complexation of RJ proteins with EGCG (EGCG-RJ protein complex) could significantly improve the bioavailability of EGCG. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: EGCG is the major active component of green tea, which is responsible for various biological functions. Previous studies have indicated that complexation of EGCG with proteins (act as a carrier) could considerably improve the bioavailability of EGCG. Hence, the author speculates that complexation or combination of RJ with green tea (EGCG), might improve the bioavailability as well as enhance its biological properties. The outcome of this cell line study showed that the EGCG-RJ protein complex showed better bioavailability than EGCG or GTex, and thus, indicating that this novel complex can be used in the future for better EGCG bioavailability with improved biological function. However, further studies are needed to confirm the types of interaction and the reason for better bioavailability.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to determine whether expressions of the excision repair cross-complementing (ERCC1), thymidylate synthase (TS), and glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) predict clinical outcome in patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with fluorouracil (5-fluorouracil)/oxaliplatin chemotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The study population consisted of 64 advanced gastric cancer patients (median age 51 years). Patients were treated with oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) as a 2-h infusion at day 1 plus leucovorin 20 mg/m(2) over 10 min, followed by 5-FU bolus 400 mg/m(2) and 22-h continuous infusion of 600 mg/m(2) at days 1-2. Treatment was repeated in 2-week intervals. The expressions of ERCC1, TS, and GSTP1 of primary tumors were examined by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
The positive rates of ERCC1, TS, and GSTP1 were 70.3%, 29.7%, and 50.0%, respectively. The patients without ERCC1 expression were more likely to respond to chemotherapy (P = 0.045). There were no significant differences between response and TS or GSTP1 expression pattern (P = 0.813, P = 0.305, respectively). Median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in patients without ERCC1 expression (P = 0.0396). TS or GSTP1 expression were not related to survival (P = 0.4578, P = 0.8121, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that ERCC1 expression significantly impacted on OS (hazard ratio 1.92, P = 0.037).

CONCLUSION
Immunohistochemical studies for ERCC1 may be useful in prediction of the clinical outcome in advanced gastric cancer patients treated with 5-FU and oxaliplatin.


The present work has evaluated the spatial and temporal distribution of fish species richness of the vegetated littoral zone of 15 marginal lagoons in the floodplain of the Cuiaba River, Pantanal. The lagoons were sampled in three periods along of the dry season (June, September and December of 2005), through nine sieve throws distributed systematically at a minimum distance of five meters from each other. We caught 12,784 individuals belonging to seven orders, 21 families and 98 species of fish. Most of the captured species were rare and presented restricted geographical distribution. Drought intensification did not affect the spatial species distribution and the loss of species as dry season proceeded was proportional in the different orders. The total abundance of individuals as well as the richness varied with time. Rarefaction curves indicated that the reduction in richness was an artifact of the reduction in the abundance of individuals. When we compared the estimated richness under a same abundance level we did not find difference among the richness of species in the beginning and at the end of the dry season. Richness estimators indicated that to distribute the samples in the time was an appropriate strategy to reduce the problem of the false absences and to improve the efficiency of the sampling. Thus, our results suggest that for the design of reserves in the Pantanal, areas with a large number of lagoons of different forms and sizes would conserve the regional fish diversity, as the distribution of most small size species is restricted to a few lagoons.


The literature indicates that peer influence is important in understanding adolescent drug use. The nature of peer interactions predicts a high degree of similarity in drug use among friends. To test that hypothesis, a detailed analysis of this correspondence was conducted on a large sample of junior and senior high school students. Findings indicated that a youth who used specific drugs in the last thirty days almost invariably has friends who also use those same drugs, but is considerably less likely to have friends who use other drugs or no drugs. In addition, friends' use is strongly associated with the adolescent's use of marijuana, uppers, cocaine, downers, and PCP across five distinct drug use styles.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Therapeutic drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is not only inefficient but also nonspecific, thereby posing a major shortcoming in effective treatment of brain cancer. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a localized treatment modality, relying on both a photosensitizer and drug activation using a specific wavelength. The widespread use of PDT in brain tumor therapy has been partially hampered by non-targeted phototoxicity towards healthy tissue. The development of nanoparticles selectively targeted to cell surface receptors that can act as drug delivery vehicles is critical for improving the treatment and therapeutic responsiveness in inaccessible tumors, such as glioblastomas. Gold nanoparticles (Au NP) provide an excellent platform with a surface that can be tailored to attach biomolecules for targeted drug delivery and biocompatible coatings that can efficiently encapsulate the hydrophobic photosensitizer drug, Pc 4, thereby reducing off-site cytotoxicity. In this study, we demonstrate a novel double targeted, noncovalent Au NP drug delivery agent, which selectively delivers drugs to brain tumors for PDT. These double-targeted Au NPs loaded with Pc 4 have been compared with previously studied single targeted Au NPs. Hydrophobic Au NPs have been cap exchanged with mono- and bi-functional PEG linkers. Specific targeting of the PEGylated Au NPs to glioma cells is achieved by coupling receptor-binding peptides to the carboxyl moiety of the bi-functional PEG linker. Subsequently, hydrophobic Pc 4 is adsorbed in the PEG corona (mono-functional linker) to form Pc 4 loaded and targeted Au NPs. Packaging of Pc 4 within the PEG core impedes leaching of the drug into the extracellular environment and improves circulation in vivo. UV-Vis absorption measurements indicate encapsulation of Pc 4 within the PEGylated Au NPs. Hydrodynamic diameter of these agents lies well within the limits needed to cross the BBB as determined by dynamic light scattering. In vitro cell uptake studies in glioma cell lines, LN229 and U87, which express differential patterns of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transferrin (Tf) receptor targets, show a significant increase in cellular uptake and intracellular localization for double targeted conjugates as compared to either single targeted Au NPs. Titration studies have been carried out in cells to optimize delivery; the optimal concentration for double targeted Au NPs is 500 nM, half of the current clinical standard observed for single targeted Au NPs over the same period of incubation. In vivo imaging utilizing real time, longitudinal fluorescence in mice shows notable accumulation of these agents in the tumor. Co-localization of the targeted Au NPs in regions overexpressing EGF and Tf receptors has been validated by immunohistochemistry. Future experiments involve activation of Pc 4 by PDT after delivery by the double-targeted Au NPs and monitoring tumor cell death.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting.

Citation Format: Suraj K. Dixit, Yun Zhu, Alfred Moore, Malcolm Kenney, Ann-Marie Broome. Double-targeted theranostic gold nanoparticles for treatment of brain tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5413. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5413


Numerous climate models predict that the geography of the supercontinent Pangea was conducive to the establishment of a llmegamonsoonalJ1 circulation. In general, geologic evidence supports the hypothesis of a megamonsoon that reached maximum strength in the Triassic. Pangea in the Late Carboniferous had widespread peat formation in what is now central and eastern North America and Europe and relatively dry conditions on the Colorado Plateau. The equatorial region of the continent became drier through the end of the Carboniferous. By the Permian, the equatorial region of Pangea was dry, and indicators of aridity and rainfall seasonality became more widespread. Wind directions from Colorado Plateau eolian sandstones are consistent with an increasing influence of monsoonal circulation at this time. In the Triassic, climate in the Colorado Plateau region became relatively wet, though still seasonal, and the few eolian sandstones indicate a major shift in wind direction at that time. In addition, sedimenta-tion in Australia, which was in relatively high latitudes, took on a much drier and more seasonal character. These two events support the hypothesis that the Pangean monsoon was at maximum strength during the Triassic. In the Early Jurassic, the Colorado Plateau region became arid again, but climate apparently became wetter in eastern Laurussia and Gondwana. Finally, drying occurred in Gondwana and southern Laurasia, indicative of the breakdown of the Pangean monsoon.


"Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1853) is a story of passive resistance. And as the narrator is forced to admit, "Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance." Refusing to kow-tow to the demands of his employer, and working to his own individual rule, Bartleby represents a challenge to capitalist, corporatist ideologies. He declines to do what is asked of him over and above the basic task of copying documents. He is an unostentatious figure, "pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn", who works "silently, palely, mechanically", but he exercises enormous power by refusing to comply with simple and undemanding requests. On the third day of being installed in a legal office in Wall Street, he is asked by his boss to examine a paper with him, but "without moving from his privacy", he replies "I would prefer not to". Towards the end of the story, he is discovered occupying the office at weekends. Bartleby's verbal obstruction becomes physical.


This paper presents the results of 44 well known memory tests applied to 1896 1M*4 DRAM chips, using up to 96 different stress combinations with each test. The results show the importance of selecting the right stress combination, and that the theoretically better tests (i.e. those covering different functional faults) also have a higher fault coverage. However the currently used fault models still leave much to be explained; e.g., the used data backgrounds and address orders show an unexplainable large variation in fault coverage.


India is the world's second largest producer of engineering and technical graduates. Unfortunately, many of these graduates are not immediately 'employable'. Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President, NASSCOM said, "Our engineers are not unemployable, they just don't have industry-ready talent. In other words, they lack the skills required for the jobs that are available to them."Technical educations and Degrees alone do not suffice to the expanding needs and requirements of Industries. Many employers today look for a set of skills that are often developed on cross-functional assignments. The need today is of those 'workers', be it at unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled level, who are adequately trained and equally confident.Unfortunately, many of the technical degrees and educational programs do not have a comprehensive curriculum along with a skill development plan that will make all their students 'industry-ready'.Deemed unfit in communication skills, confidence, presentation, problem-solving capabilities and generic abilities, many young people are trapped in low-productivity, temporary or other types of work that don't pave the way for better jobs. In developed economies, youth are increasingly employed in temporary and part-time jobs while in the developing world many perform low underpaying or unpaid work supporting informal family businesses or organizations. An alarming figure presenting hard reality had been brought to the notice of the teachers, planners, executors and administrators in the education system. This called for immediate action and a ruffling up of the education system. It brought a thought about the problem and what was the 'gap' that was causing the mismatch between the demand and the supply of qualified and 'technically able professionals' for the industry.The gap was felt to be in between the education and practical application of technical methods. There was a discrepancy seen when the theory learnt in the top institutes was not practiced well and when the same students joined the industry in their specific area of expertise. They were unable to go beyond the book and think of new and novel concepts. Many intelligent students often lack the best presentation skills, are not confident conversing in languages other than their mother tongue, lack initiative, do not display leadership and cannot adapt easily to new surroundings.The system came up with the practical method of training, as suitable to the students which has potential to be developed to a greater extent relative to the traditional pedagogical means of teaching.For training to be effective it has to be a planned activity conducted after a thorough need analysis and target at certain competencies. Focusing solely on skills defined as transferable, many experts have and continue to examine the development of communication, leadership, team working, and adaptability skills in technical education programmes at the undergraduate level. In particular, the potential contribution of mentors in providing feedback to students to help them develop and assess more clearly their skill levels in these areas is very important of late. Developing effective student-mentor relationships and highlighting the vital need for management students' transferable skills to be developed to a greater extent relative to traditional pedagogical education is the focus.The problem lies mainly in the thought, planning, customization or execution of educational means and the currently evolving methods of training. The paper is primarily exploratory in nature. The paper gives a brief review of the professional educational system with analysis of a section of the technical institutions. Students' views are briefly presented. It seeks to explore the industry's needs and requirements from recruitment . It seeks to analyze challenges in the current educational system and how training aims to provide an able opportunity to bridge the 'gap' between the campus and the corporate.


Background: Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis (PC) from colorectal cancer have a poor prognosis. Aggressive treatments by Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) offer a cure in selected patients with PC. However, in the great majority of patients the disease will recur in liver or lung. The underlying cause for recurrence could be the existence of Circulating Cancer Cells (CTCs) in PC patients prior to or at the time of CRS and HIPEC. There is a need for new cell-surface marker independent techniques to detect and isolate CTCs. We decided to try one such new technique, developed by Liquid Biopsy, and made available to us as a pre-production model. This method isolates both EpCAM positive and EpCAM negative CTCs potentially detecting a wider, more representative, sample of cells than samples restricted to certain known cell surface markers (Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 375).
Methods: This report focuses on a PC patient treated by CRS and HIPEC. The patient presented with PC from caecal cancer. Prior to CRS and HIPEC, the patient was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. CTCs were isolated from peripheral blood preoperatively, at one week and one month after CRS and HIPEC using the novel marker independent method (Liquid Biopsy, patent pending). Conventional soluble serum tumour markers were also taken and analysed at the same time as the CTCs.
Findings: The preoperative level of CTCs was 25 cells/5 ml bloods. One-week post CRS and HIPEC, CTCs level was 21 cells/5 ml blood and one-month after CRS and HIPEC no CTC cells could be detected in 5 ml blood. Serum tumour marker analysis of preoperative CEA showed 5.8 (ref 600 (ref <6.9 KE/L). One week post CRS and HIPEC, CEA was normalised (1.6) and CA72-4 was significantly reduced to 31.1.
Interpretation: It appears that CTCs can be detected successfully in peritoneal carcinomatosis opening up the possibility to study the molecular characteristics of these CTCs. CTC numbers are also seen to drop to undetectable levels following radical surgery. Thus the occurrence and characteristics of CTCs in blood have the potential to assist decision making when considering treating patients with postoperative adjuvant systemic chemotherapy.


BACKGROUND
In order to obtain an optimal visual outcome in the isolated transplantation of Descemet's membrane (DM) with the endothelial cell layer, a regular interface between the receiver cornea and the graft is important for the prognosis. The purpose of this histological and ultrastructural study was to investigate how precise the descemetorhexis works using the Sinskey hook and whether the precision of DM removal depends on the clinical and pathological diagnosis of the underlying corneal endothelial disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
22 DM specimens of 22 patients obtained after descemetorhexis in DMEK using a Sinskey hook were examined using histological analyses and transmission electron microscopy for the presence of residual stroma, thickness of the DM, endothelial cell count, and presence of guttae. 17 patients had a Fuchs corneal dystrophy, 5 pseudophakic bullous keratopathy.

RESULTS
Light and electron microscopy showed no evidence of adherent stroma in all 22 specimes after descemetorhexis independent of the different underlying endothelial pathological abnormalities. The mean total thickness of the DM was 20.58 ± 4.23 µm in patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and 21.31 ± 5.41 µm in patients with bullous keratopathy. There was no significant difference between both pathological abnormalities. The anterior banded layer measured a mean of 3.04 ± 0.40 µm and 3.25 ± 0.22 µm thick; the posterior non-banded layer 17. 63 ± 4.07 µm and 17.60 ± 5.0 µm thick in each case of Fuchs corneal dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. There was no significant difference between the two diseases.

CONCLUSIONS
Descemetorhexis allows a selective removal of the DM without adherent stroma in different underlying endothelial pathological abnormalities and in different variability of disease expression.


Extraction and deposition of single atoms using an atomic force microscope tip is a promising technique for building nanostructures. Previous theoretical models for this technique, based on adiabatic atom motion in either classical or quantum mechanics settings, encountered an apparent difficulty in explaining atom extraction and deposition for the same experimental conditions. We resolve that difficulty by showing that both extraction and deposition of atoms can be formulated in terms of pure classical mechanics as a resonance effect, arising from a combination of interatomic forces and vibrations of individual atoms.


Groundwater variation can cause land-surface movement, which in turn can cause significant and recurrent harm to infrastructure and the water storage capacity of aquifers. The capital cities in the England (London) and India (Delhi) are witnessing an ever-increasing population that has resulted in excess pressure on groundwater resources. Thus, monitoring groundwater-induced land movement in both these cities is very important in terms of understanding the risk posed to assets. Here, Sentinel-1 C-band radar images and the persistent scatterer interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PSInSAR) methodology are used to study land movement for London and National Capital Territory (NCT)-Delhi from October 2016 to December 2020. The land movement velocities were found to vary between −24 and +24 mm/year for London and between −18 and +30 mm/year for NCT-Delhi. This land movement was compared with observed groundwater levels, and spatio-temporal variation of groundwater and land movement was studied in conjunction. It was broadly observed that the extraction of a large quantity of groundwater leads to land subsidence, whereas groundwater recharge leads to uplift. A mathematical model was used to quantify land subsidence/uplift which occurred due to groundwater depletion/rebound. This is the first study that compares C-band PSInSAR-derived land subsidence response to observed groundwater change for London and NCT-Delhi during this time-period. The results of this study could be helpful to examine the potential implications of ground-level movement on the resource management, safety, and economics of both these cities.


Pressure by crystallizing salts against pore walls has caused disruption of rock, stone, and concrete, both in urban and desert environments. The Van9t Hoff-type equation for osmosis, as modified by Correns, is the basis for theoretical calculations of salt pressures. Under ideal conditions, halite can exert up to 650 atm pressure when it is oversaturated by a factor of 2. Air pollution, saline ground waters, and street salting in winter readily supply enough salt to inflict severe damage.


Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian women. Despite advances in the past decade, current diagnostic and treatment modalities remain limited. Nanomedicine may overcome some drawbacks of conventional breast oncology. Based on their composition and physical properties, different types of nanoparticles can be designed as drug delivery vehicles, contrast agents and/or diagnostic devices. Their use allows for more accurate molecular profiling of cancer biomarkers, improved in vivo tumour and sentinel node imaging and better selective therapeutic targeting so that tumour exposure to antineoplastic drugs is maximized while systemic exposure is minimized. The general principles of nanomedicine, role of nanoparticles in breast cancer management, their current clinical uses, challenges and future prospects are reviewed, all in relation to breast cancer specifically. Nanomedicine appears to be a promising avenue by which breast oncology can advance.


We provide a novel Bayesian justification of inference to the best explanation (IBE). More specifically, we present conditions under which explanatory considerations can provide a significant confirmatory boost for hypotheses that provide the best explanation of the relevant evidence. Furthermore, we show that the proposed Bayesian model of IBE is able to deal naturally with the best known criticisms of IBE such as van Fraassen?s ?bad lot? argument.


This paper introduces a model and a job scheduling algorithm in grid computing environments. In grid computing several applications require numerous resources for execution which are not often available for them, thus presence of a scheduling system to allocate resources to input jobs is vital. The resource selection criteria in the proposed algorithm are based on input jobs, communication links and resource computational capability. Then, the proposed algorithm will be assessed in simulated grid environment with statistical patterns of job insertion into system which each of them follow the normal, Poisson and exponential distribution. The results show that the new proposed algorithm has a better efficiency in comparison with the results obtained from other known algorithms.


Infinite dilution binary diffusion coefficients D12 for arabinose, xylose, glucose, mannose, galactose, and sucrose in water were measured over the temperature range from (273.2 to 353.2) K at 0.1 MPa with the Taylor dispersion method. The values of D12/T were well correlated with water viscosity for each solute with average absolute deviation AAD < 1.7 %. The accuracies for various predictive correlations were also examined.


An effective content recommendation in modern social media platforms should benefit both creators to bring genuine benefits to them and consumers to help them get really interesting content. In this paper, we propose a model called Social Explorative Attention Network (SEAN) for content recommendation. SEAN uses a personalized content recommendation model to encourage personal interests driven recommendation. Moreover, SEAN allows the personalization factors to attend to users' higher-order friends on the social network to improve the accuracy and diversity of recommendation results. Constructing two datasets from a popular decentralized content distribution platform, Steemit, we compare SEAN with state-of-the-art CF and content based recommendation approaches. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of SEAN in terms of both Gini coefficients for recommendation equality and F1 scores for recommendation performance.


This report examines military airstrikes and ground operations that Russia launched against its Chechnya region in late September 1999. It provides background information on earlier Chechen guerrilla attacks on the neighboring Dagestan region of Russia and on the unsolved terrorist bombing of several apartment buildings in Russia. Current problems of governance in Chechnya are discussed, as well as Chechnya's response to the Russian offensive. The concerns of the United States and other Western governments about the conflict are examined. A map is included. This report supersedes CRS Report RS20358, Chechnya Conflict.


The study investigated the effect of oxytetracycline (OTC) on the anti-oxidative defense system, the structure (hemolysis rate and morphology) and function (ATP enzyme activity) of human red blood cells (hRBCs) to investigate the possible toxic mechanism of OTC to hRBCs. The experimental results indicate that OTC can cause a decline in the function of the antioxidant defense system of hRBCs, resulting in oxidative stress. OTC can bring about morphological changes to hRBCs, and further leads to hemolysis, when the concentration of OTC is over 8×10−5 M (about 164 µg/ml). At a low OTC concentration, below 4×10−5 M (82 µg/ml), OTC can enhance the activity of ATP enzyme of hRBCs, known as hormesis. However, at a high concentration, above 4×10−5 M (about 82 µg/ml), the ATP enzymatic activity was inhibited, affecting the function of hRBCs. The estalished mechanism of toxicity of OTC to hRBCs can facilitate a deeper understanding of the toxicity of OTC in vivo.


Differential treatment of sons and daughters by parents is a potential explanation of the gender gap in education in developing countries. This study empirically tests this explanation for India using household survey data collected in urban Uttar Pradesh in 1995. We estimate educational enrolment functions and selectivity-corrected educational attainment functions, conditional on enrolment. The gender difference in educational attainment is decomposed into the part that is explained by men and women's differential characteristics and the part that is not so explained (the conventional 'discrimination' component). The analysis suggests that girls face significantly different treatment in the intra-household allocation of education - there is a large unexplained component in the gender gap in schooling attainment. A detailed decomposition exercise attempts to discover the individual factors most responsible for the differential treatment.


In recent years, time information is more and more important in collaborative filtering (CF) based recommender system because many systems have collected rating data for a long time, and time effects in user preference is stronger. In this paper, we focus on modeling time effects in CF and analyze how temporal features influence CF. There are four main types of time effects in CF: (1) time bias, the interest of whole society changes with time; (2) user bias shifting, a user may change his/her rating habit over time; (3) item bias shifting, the popularity of items changes with time; (4) user preference shifting, a user may change his/her attitude to some types of items. In this work, these four time effects are used by factorized model, which is called TimeSVD. Moreover, many other time effects are used by simple methods. Our time-dependent models are tested on Netflix data from Nov. 1999 to Dec. 2005. Experimental results show that prediction accuracy in CF can be improved significantly by using time information.


Studies were conducted to develop a weed management strategy for common purslane in lettuce based on available cultural and chemical control methods and an understanding of common purslane biology. A wide-band application of bensulide or pronamide reduced common purslane emergence compared with the standard narrow band. Both narrow and wide bands of pronamide as well as a wide band of bensulide reduced the time required to thin and hoe lettuce. The wide-band pronamide treatment reduced thinning time more than did the narrow band. Overall, none of the herbicide weed management expenses were lower for pronamide treatments than for bensulide and the control. Wide-band bensulide reduced weed management expenses compared with the control, whereas narrow bands did not. Common purslane plants uprooted 1 or 2 wk after emergence (WAE) did not produce any viable seed. Plants uprooted 3 WAE produced from 1 to 60 viable seeds, and seed production increased rapidly from 4 to 6 WAE. Flame and 2% (v/v) glyphosate treatments reduced seed production by uprooted common purslane. Nomenclature: Bensulide; pronamide; common purslane, Portulaca oleracea L. #3 POROL; lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. Additional index words: Banded herbicide, weed seed production. Abbreviations: DAT, days after treatment; GDD, growing degree day; WAE, weeks after emergence.


Introduction: Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) is defined by the presence of HBV DNA in patient sera in the absence of HBsAg. Occult HBV has been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, reactivation during immune suppression, and transmission to others. While the hepatitis B vaccine is very effective at preventing chronic HBV infection, recent studies indicate it is less effective at preventing occult HBV following infant vaccination. No studies, however, have examined the efficacy of adult HBV vaccination at preventing occult HBV. Here, we present the first report of occult HBV following adult vaccination. Case Presentation: A 21-year old Caucasian female presented with tricuspid valve endocarditis secondary to methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. She reported active use of intravenous drugs. Her liver enzymes were elevated (ALT = 1873 IU/mL; AST = 4518 IU/mL), and she was found to have HCV and occult HBV. HBV viral loads ranged from 4608 - 8364 copies IU/mL during hospitalization. The patient's HBV was sequenced and found to be genotype D3 without any known diagnostic escape mutations. Immune complexes that may have prevented HBsAg detection were not observed. Conclusions: HBV vaccination in infancy is effective at preventing chronic HBV infection but is less effective at preventing occult HBV infection. Similar studies examining the efficacy of adult HBV vaccination in preventing occult HBV have not been performed. This case highlights the importance of carefully determining the HBV status of high-risk individuals, as vaccination history and the presence of anti-HBs may not be adequate to rule out HBV infection, even in the absence of HBsAg.


Arithmetic Circuits for DSP Applications is a complete resource on arithmetic circuits for digital signal processing (DSP). It covers the key concepts, designs and developments of different types of arithmetic circuits, which can be used for improving the efficiency of implementation of a multitude of DSP applications. Each chapter includes various applications of the respective class of arithmetic circuits along with information on the future scope of research. Written for students, engineers, and researchers in electrical and computer engineering, this comprehensive text offers a clear understanding of different types of arithmetic circuits used for digital signal processing applications.


Dislocations in the three-dimensional topological insulator have a similar effect as a hole threading magnetic flux. In this study, we have analytically considered a dislocation in three-dimensional topological insulator using the Dirac and the modified Dirac equation. A quantum singularity that originated in the dislocation creates a defect in momentum space. This defect relates to a phase transition and causes topologically protected zero-energy mode bound to the quantum singularity.


Apart from the traditional literature on trade policy, this paper establishes a trade model that includes the home country's domestic tax system. In the case where the home country manufacturers' cost structures are heterogeneous, we make several important discoveries. First of all, the home country government can upgrade the home country industry's allocative production efficiency by strategically distorting the tax system, and thereby achieve the objective of enhancing the home country's social welfare. Secondly, as long as the market demand curve is not too concave, or the coefficient of variation of the home country manufacturers' costs is sufficiently low, the tax policy and the export tax trade policy will be substitutes for each other, in the sense that if the corporate tax system is introduced, the optimal export tax rate (subsidy rate) will be reduced (increased). Finally, when the market inverse demand function is convex (linear, concave), the market equilibrium price will decrease (remain constant, increase), after the tax system is introduced.


This paper presents 14C, 13C and chemical data of soil organic matter (SOM) in three soil profiles under native forests from Brazil: Londrina (southern), Piracicaba (southeastern) and Altamira (northern). The main objective is to use carbon isotopes in tropical and subtropical soils of Brazil to provide information about vegetation changes that occurred in relation to climate changes during the Holocene. 14C data from SOM indicate that the organic matter in the soils studied is of at least Holocene age. 13C data indicate that C4 plants probably provided the dominant vegetation in Londrina and Piracicaba during the early and mid-Holocene and that C3 plants provided the dominant vegetation in the Altamira region during the Holocene.


This study presents an adaptive analogue calibration method to compensate electrode–skin impedance mismatch during biopotential signal (electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram and electromyogram) acquisition with enhanced immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). The method continuously measures the variation of the impedance mismatch between the electrode–skin interfaces arising primarily due to motion artefacts, and thereafter compensate for the resulting distortions at the output. The compensation is done with the help a proportional–integral–derivative controller in the feedback loop, together with the acquisition of the biopotential signals. A common mode shunt feedback at the output attenuates the common mode EMI and reduces the common mode deviation. As compared to previously reported techniques, the proposed technique refutes any need for offline manual calibration and shows a significant improvement in EMI attenuation without interrupting the main system's operation. This study explains the proposed technique with the comprising blocks, illustrates the theoretical models and analyses, and evaluates the superior performances of the proposed method by comparing the responses with those obtained from the other EMI-Immune electrode mismatch compensating front-ends existing in the literature.


Because of a lack of such information, computed self-noise spectra are presented for a total of 34 frequently used electromagnetic-seismometer/preamplifier combinations. For convenience, most of these data are given in three sets of units. Peterson's Low Noise Model is included on each plot for comparison. The self noises of nine frequently employed electromagnetic seismometers properly matched to their operational amplifier (op-amp) preamplifiers are plotted. In terms of amplitude density spectra in (m/sec**2)/Hz**0.5, the values of the self-noise spectra at resonance range from a low of 3 × 10−10 for the GS-13 to a high of 1.3 × 10−8 for the HS-1. Between these two seismometers, in order of increasing noise at resonance, are the SV-1, SL-210V, S-13, SS-1, L-4C, S-6000CD, and the L-22D.
 To show which seismometers exhibit the lowest noise with which operational amplifier preamplifiers, the self noises of the HS-1, L-22D, L-4C, GS-13, SV-1, and SL-210V are plotted each paired with four commonly used op-amps: the LT1028, OP-227, OP-77, and the LT1012. For the GS-13, the LT1012 was the quietest. For the rest, the OP-227 was the best. For a given seismometer, the differences in self noise between op-amps were frequently a factor of 2 or 3, and as large as 10 in one case. The use of these op-amps in the analog front ends of five current digital seismic recorders is discussed.


During the last century, canalization of the Rhine river led to disconnection of side‐arms, over‐sedimentation of these channels, loss of the fluvial dynamics, and aquatic vegetation change or disappearance. Recent restoration projects aim to reconnect disconnected arms to the main channel. The objective of this study was to assess the nutrient dynamics in restored channels during the vegetation colonization process. In spring, summer, and autumn 2009, the phosphorus and nitrogen contents were measured in water, sediment, and plants, sampled in six channels, two reference sites and four restored ones at different dates. Aquatic vegetation was monitored during the same period. Sites were mesotrophic related to the water nutrient concentrations. However, vegetation communities indicated a eutrophic level, as they were dominated by species like Elodea nuttallii, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Potamogeton perfoliatus. Sites were discriminated by P content and mineral nitrogen in the sediment. We showed an effect of species and season on the plant nutrient content, but there was no relationship between plant nutrient content and nutrients in water and sediment. A negative correlation between mean N plant content and the cover of each species was found. Vegetation characteristics (species richness and cover) and bioavailable phosphorus in the sediment were also correlated. In the restored side‐arms of the river Rhine, phosphorus‐rich sediment seems to be important in the recolonization dynamics, as it was linked to higher species richness, whereas nitrogen played a role in the colonization patterns as a growth limiting factor.


The data obtained so far indicate that house dust mite immunotherapy stimulates an IgG antibody response that is predominantly of IgG4 subclass. Early in the course, however, a rise in IgG1 antibodies can be detected, but as treatment goes on IgG4 becomes more prominent. The association between the development of IgG4 antibodies and objectively measured clinical improvements resulting from immunotherapy, strongly suggests that IgG4 antibodies might exert a blocking effect on IgE-mediated immediate hypersensitivity.