OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to validate the use of tissue microarrays (TMA) in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) to analyse epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Ki-67 expression. We also analysed the relationship that the expression of these markers may have with clinical, pathological and survival variables.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The study sample comprised 39 unselected patients diagnosed and treated for OSCC. We analysed Ki-67 and EGFR expression by immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded surgical specimens. Whole sections (WS) were compared with double 1.5 mm core-tissue microarrays.

RESULTS
High EGFR expression was observed both on TMA (in 98% of the cases) and WS (in 100% of the cases) with substantial agreement kappa value (0.720). EGFR expression was not significantly associated with clinical, pathological and survival variables on TMA and WS. Ki-67 analysis showed a Spearman correlation of 0.741 with a Ki-67 mean labelling index of 45% in TMA and 56.8% in WS. We found a significant relationship between gender and Ki-67 labelling index on WS (P = 0.022) and TMA (P = 0.002). Clinical stage was the only parameter in multivariate analysis that had a significant predictive value.

CONCLUSION
We demonstrate that dual 1.5 mm core TMA is a valid, rapid, economical and tissue-saving way to study OSCC biopsies and that it presents strong correlation with the WS. EGFR overexpression in OSCC suggests that these tumours may be a candidate for therapy investigation directed to EGFR.


Report of a case with vaginal perforation by the catheter following a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. The possible causative factor and results observed are discussed.


Aim: To determine the frequency of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in patients with liver cirrhosis. Study Design: Retrospective/observational Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana from 1st July 2020 to 31st March 2021. Methodology: One hundred and twenty patients of both genders presented with liver cirrhosis were enrolled in this study. Patient's detailed demographics including age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption and family history of liver disease were recorded after taking written informed consent. Laboratory examination was done to examine the proportion of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Results: There were 68 (56.67%) males and 52 (43.33%) were females with mean age 45.74±10.54 years. Among all the patients hepatitis C virus was found in 62 (51.67%) patients, 15 (12.5%) had hepatitis B virus, 17 (14.17%) had hepatitis B virus + hepatitis C virus and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was found in 26 (21.67%) patients. Conclusion: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was the major cause of liver cirrhosis in Pakistani population. The proportion of NASH in liver cirrhosis patients was 21.67%. Keywords: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), Liver Cirrhosis, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus


An attempt was made to identify the users of a 78" curved touch screen based on images from three cameras placed around it. By assuming the existence of a robust facial detection algorithm, the work is limited to connecting each touch point to the most likely face. The cameras provide both color and depth information, allowing 3D logic to "see" that a touch point is connected to one of the detected faces. Multiple algorithms were implemented and evaluated, based on segmentation and pathnding. While the general approach is likely feasible, none of the tested solutions provided the accuracy necessary for a robust system. In order to achieve better robustness, the most promising improvement would be a better hardware con guration with more cameras.


The Kowalevski top in two constant fields is known as the unique profound example of an integrable Hamiltonian system with three degrees of freedom not reducible to a family of systems in fewer dimensions. As the first approach to topological analysis of this system we find the critical set of the integral map; this set consists of the trajectories with number of frequencies less than three. We obtain the equations of the bifurcation diagram in R. A correspondence to the Appelrot classes in the classical Kowalevski problem is established. The admissible regions for the values of the first integrals are found in the form of some inequalities of general character and boundary conditions for the induced diagrams on energy levels.


Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic disease of widespread and debilitating pain. The cause of FMS is unknown and its risk factors are poorly understood. It occurs frequently in the general population where it is often co-morbid with other rheumatoid and pain disorders, and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression, making diagnosis particularly difficult. Several types of drugs are used to treat FMS, but none are specifically approved for this indication. FMS appears to be strongly associated with depression or at least with some symptoms of depression, and antidepressants appear to be effective in the treatment of this disorder. The advent of new classes of antidepressants with fewer side effects than older drugs has suggested new avenues of therapy for patients diagnosed with FMS.


The optimal control scheme for powered prostheses can be determined using simulation experiments, for which an accurate model of prosthesis control is essential. This paper focuses on electromyographic (EMG) control signal characteristics across two different control schemes. We constructed a functional EMG model comprising three EMG signal characteristics-standard deviation, kurtosis, and median power frequency-using data collected under realistic conditions for prosthesis control (closed-loop, dynamic, anisometric contractions). We examined how the model changed when subjects used zero-order or first-order control. Control order had a statistically significant effect on EMG characteristics, but the effect size was small and generally did not exceed inter-subject variability. Therefore, we suggest that this functional EMG model remains valid across different control schemes.


A brief literature survey of transversal filters is followed by a design example of a binary transversal filter. A particular application in the modulator of the single channel per carrier data transmission equipment is described. Computer simulations and COS/MOS hardware implementation proved the validity and the feasibility of the theory described by Mueller. Design and evaluation of a linear phase filter approaching the Nyquist channel is the end result of our study.


Data Grid consists of geographically distributed computing and storage resources that are used in large scale scientific applications. Job scheduling and data replication are two well-known techniques to boost the performance of Data Grid. There has been extensive research on integrating both techniques to further improve performance in Data Grid. However, most of the current work are heuristic based without performance guarantees. In this paper, we propose to integrate data replication and job scheduling into one framework to minimize the total job execution time in Data Grid. We refer to the problem as {\em Integrated Scheduling and Replication Problem.} This problem is NP-hard. We first propose a job scheduling and data replication algorithm, which not only has theoretically provable performance but also dramatically reduces the time complexity compared to that of the optimal algorithm. We then design a series of polynomial heuristic algorithms. Using extensive simulations, we demonstrate that among the heuristic algorithms, the integrated replication and scheduling algorithm performs closest to the one with performance guarantee.


The moral and ethical situation in Ukraine is considered in an issue in the light of analysis of the realities which characterize the modern social, cultural and spiritual reality. Having concluded that the main right of any person is a right to own dignity, an author highlights that the realization of respect for Other is a problem for modern Ukraine which demands an urgent solution. A characteristic of presented in Ukrainian's society systems of "deeds" and "choices" is provided in the issue for determination of the key research arguments. The systems give the essential meanings to "good" and "evil" definitions on the way of highlighting some axiological vectors for imbalance correction that characterize Ukrainian social, cultural and spiritual realities. The methodological coordinate system of an issue refers to the elements of Fr. Nietzsche's work which is used for reality peculiarities' definition, and to the ethical system of Christian guidelines which are noted for ideas' expressiveness under current tradition. An author appeals to Ch. Taylor's studies for a search of crucial ethical ideas, which are able to harmonize the relationships with Others within a country as well as beyond it. Due to the author a way of positive realities transformation (in moral, spiritual, social and civil directions) in Ukraine consists in deliberate wish to overcome the stereotypes of slave morality (when everyone is a "threat" for everybody) and change the system of actions depended on such type of morality. That required the true community work in a direction of national intellectual enrichment, national spiritual development according to the system of educational and cultural initiatives.


A knowledge representation system provides an important service to the rest of a knowledge-based system: it computes automatically a set of inferences over the beliefs encoded within it. Given that the knowledge-based system relies on these inferences in the midst of its operation (i.e., its diagnosis, planning, or whatever), their computational tractability is an important concern. Here we present evidence as to how the cost of computing one kind of inference is directly related to the expressiveness of the representation language. As it turns out, this cost is perilously sensitive to small changes in the representation language. Even a seemingly simple frame-based description language can pose intractable computational obstacles.


We provide an accurate analytic expression for the Brillouin fiber amplifiers (BFAs) gain in the regime of pump depletion. The solutions are divided into three parts. In the first part, we review the weak pump regime where the highly accurate second-order corrected undepleted-pump-approximation-based solution is adopted; in the high-gain regime where both the fiber loss and nonlinear term are nonnegligible effects and need to be accounted for along with the pump depletion; and in the saturation regime where the Stokes power is at the rear end exceeds critical power. We provide an accurate analytic expression for the BFA gain and show results of experimental validation. The presented analysis can be used to accurately predict the performance of Brillouin fiber amplifiers working in any regime.


Patients with diabetes mellitus have impaired immunologic responses to combat infections. Infection and ulceration of the hand is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in certain populations in Africa; however, the condition is less well recognized than foot infections and is not classified generally as a specific diabetes complication. Hand ulceration and infection in diabetic patients was first described in the United States in 1977 and in Africa in 1984. Subsequently, the majority of reported cases have been from various parts of the African continent. The term "tropical diabetic hand syndrome" (TDHS) has been used to describe diabetes among patients who have progressive, fulminant hand sepsis. More recently, TDHS has been reported among patients in India. These data suggest that TDHS occurs primarily in diabetic patients who live in tropical or coastal areas and might result in loss of hand function, amputation, or death. This report describes the characteristics of 72 patients with TDHS examined at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Early recognition by patients, prompt medical attention, and improved glycemic control might reduce the incidence of disability or death.


The final task study was carried out on the buyer or customer of PT Jati
Agung Arsitama. The study aims were determined and analyzed the customer
complaints system which applied in the PT. Jati Agung Arsitama and known the
complaints types was filed by the buyer.
The study method was used descriptive method, which is a form of data
analysis to make the data easier to manage and can provide descriptive
information. The data source was used the data obtained from interviews with
some of the production staff on the application of the handling complaints system
and complaints type filed by customers and make observations. Discussion
method was used descriptive discussion model is a technique to create a picture or
description of a systematic, factual, and accurate information on an object to be
studied.
Based on the study results can be concluded that the PT Jati Agung
Arsitama in applying the complaint system not in accordance with proper
procedures. The procedure applied by the company is still very simple that only
by email. The complaints that occurred during 2014 are 7 kinds of complaints.
The seven complaints consist of the presence of white patches, flaws and uneven
paint color. The advice given to the company are to better maintain production
machines with special attention, companies should start using more sophisticated
tools that will facilitate the work and the need to improve complaint handling
system with the establishment of the form so that the company will be easier to
apply the system to complaints handling.
Keywords: Production Process, Complaint, Complaint Handling


Abstract Bibliographic relationships are very interesting but not very much dealt with or written about. Although Panizzi was aware of the significance of bibliograhic relationships in the catalogue, theoretical and empirical research began only in the 70s of the 20th century. It is believed that bibliographic relationships are not identified at all or are identified only implicitly. This is the reason for search problems and inaccuracy.


This study explored the impact of explicit instruction on argumentation-based pedagogy, coupled with modelling and hands-on learning activities on pre-service physics teachers' perceived self-efficacy to teach science through argumentation. Participants consisted of 24 pre-service physics teachers attending an established teacher education program at a Turkish university. The results showed that the intervention had a positive impact on participants' self-efficacy to teach science through argumentation. More specifically, pre-service teachers who participated in this study: 1) viewed argumentation as a pedagogical tool that can help students to engage in meaningful learning, 2) reported high self-efficacy to teach science through argumentation and 3) indicated high motivation to teach science through argumentation in their future classrooms. In spite of these positive outcomes, participants shared their hesitations to teach science through argumentation as well. The implications of these findings for teacher education, teacher induction and future research are discussed.


Natural substances and structures can serve increasingly well as biomedical products, given recent advances in understanding of requirements for biocompatibility and of methods for their preservation and surface tailoring. A successful example is the derivation of limb salvaging vessels, used in arterial reconstructive surgery, from human umbilical cords. There are numerous opportunities for additional product development from the umbilical cords' main ingredient, Wharton's gel, ranging from biolubricants to wound-healing aids. Major problems yet to be overcome with natural starting materials are their propensity for calcification and eventual biodeterioration. Surface modification of biomaterials to exhibit desired degrees of interaction with contacting viable tissues promises the greatest beneficial results. General principles of bioadhesion have broad applicability, predicting material behavior in environments as diverse as blood, saliva, and seawater.


Abstract As the home becomes an increasingly important site for health care, an increasing number of technology applications or devices are being introduced to support health at home. However, introducing new technology into a household raises a number of issues that must be considered prior to, during, and after the technology is implemented. This paper reviews the experiences of the UW-Madison Advanced Technologies for Health@Home Project, summarizing our assessment of household requirements that should be analyzed prior to introducing new technology. The overall goal of the Health@Home project is to improve the functionality and content of information technology innovations for the home. Using Venkatesh and Mazumdar's framework this article will summarize the relevant social, behavioral, technological, and physical dimensions of households that must be carefully assessed and understood to help ensure that the technology fits the needs of home residents.


In this paper the mechanism of carrier false lock phenomenon of a design of TDRS TT&C transponder is analyzed in details. It is found that the carrier false lock is due to the excessive time delays in the filters and other electronic components in the long tracking loop. The stability of the AGC and the command lock out issues of the same transponder are also addressed. Suggestions on the fixes are also provided.<<ETX>>


Intravenous administration of mesenchymal stem cells (IV-MSC) protects the ischemic rat brain in a stroke model, but the molecular mechanism underlying its therapeutic effect is unclear. We compared genomic profiles using the mRNA microarray technique in a rodent stroke model. Rats were treated with 1 × 106 IV-MSC or saline (sham group) 2 h after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). mRNA microarray was conducted 72 h after MCAo using brain tissue from normal rats (normal group) and the sham and MSC groups. Predicted pathway analysis was performed in differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and functional tests and immunohistochemistry for inflammation-related proteins were performed. We identified 857 DEGs between the sham and normal groups, with the majority of them (88.7%) upregulated in sham group. Predicted pathway analysis revealed that cerebral ischemia activated 10 signaling pathways mainly related to inflammation and cell cycle. IV-MSC attenuated the numbers of dysregulated genes in cerebral ischemia (118 DEGs between the MSC and normal groups). In addition, a total of 218 transcripts were differentially expressed between the MSC and sham groups, and most of them (175/218 DEGs, 80.2%) were downregulated in the MSC group. IV-MSC reduced the number of Iba-1+ cells in the peri-infarct area, reduced the overall infarct size, and improved functional deficits in MCAo rats. In conclusion, transcriptome analysis revealed that IV-MSC attenuated postischemic genomic alterations in the ischemic brain. Amelioration of dysregulated inflammation- and cell cycle-related gene expression in the host brain is one of the molecular mechanisms of IV-MSC therapy for cerebral ischemia.


Supporting ecological innovations and economic activities which lead to environmental protection is one of the important challenges to decision-makers. The above is related to the problem of specification of mechanisms resulting in introducing ecological innovations to the economy. The original vision of the economic evolution determined by innovation was firstly presented by Joseph Schumpeter who identified essential innovative changes as well as indicated different mechanisms governing the economic evolution. The aim of the paper is to suggest a cohesive topological approach maintained in the stream of Schumpeter's thought, to study changes in the economy, which result in the elimination of at least one harmful commodity or technology from the market, by incorporating Hurwicz apparatus in a suitably modified competitive economy. Qualitative properties of mechanisms which can occur within the economic evolution are also analyzed.


Lithium-based rechargeable batteries offer superior specific energy and power, and have enabled exponential growth in industries focused on small electronic devices. However, further increases in energy density, for example for electric transportation, face the challenge of harnessing the lithium metal as negative electrode instead of limited-capacity graphite and its heavy copper current collector. All-solid-state batteries utilize solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) to overcome the safety issues of liquid electrolytes. We demonstrate an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery by using plasticized poly(ethylene oxide)-based SPEs comprising anions grafted or co-grafted onto ceramic nanoparticles. This new approach using grafted ceramic nanoparticles enables the development of a new generation of nanohybrid polymer electrolytes with high ionic conductivity as well as high electrochemical and mechanical stability, enabling Li-ion batteries with long cycle life.


The simple anion inorganic nitrite (NO2 ) has previously been considered a relatively inert nitric oxide (NO) metabolite. However, recent evidence shows that NO2" exhibits an enhanced vasodilator effect in hypoxia. It has been suggested that this effect is mediated by intra-vascular reduction of NO2" to NO by deoxygenated-haemoglobin. This thesis investigated the effects of low-dose NO2" supplementation in man, in three different environments where the actions of NO2" may be potentiated. Firstly, the effect of systemic sodium nitrite (NaNO2) administration upon forearm and pulmonary haemodynamics were assessed in healthy volunteers in both hypoxia and normoxia conditions created by a controlled environmental chamber. The study- infusion resulted in an approximate doubling of plasma NO2", with similar pharmacokinetics observed in both hypoxia and normoxia. Forearm vasodilation occurred in hypoxia but not normoxia. In addition a pulmonary vasodilator effect was present in hypoxia only, and was not dependent upon simultaneous elevation of plasma NO2". The same dose of NaNO2 was given to patients with proven inducible myocardial ischaemia in the second study: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Objective markers of myocardial ischaemia were measured by tissue velocity imaging performed during dobutamine stress echocardiography. The results showed that low-dose NaNO2 acts as an anti-ischaemic agent despite no vasodilator effect being present in normoxia. A third set of experiments were performed to assess the potential role of NaNO2 as an ischaemic conditioning agent in a forearm model of ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Here NaNO2 was able to act as a pre-conditioning but not a post-conditioning agent. Two key results subtend this thesis. Firstly, tissue levels of NO2" are more important than intra-vascular levels, as its hypoxia-enhanced actions appear to be modulated from this site. Secondly, NaNO2 may find clinically relevance in the future as a targeted vasodilator, providing a therapeutic effect to tissues in need only.


Laser tissue welding is the process of using laser energy to join tissues without sutures or with a reduced number of sutures. Recently, diode lasers have been added to the list of fusion lasers (Lewis and Uribe 1993, Reali et al 1993). Typically, for tissue welding, deep penetrating diode lasers emitting at 800-810 nm are used, in combination with a strong absorbing protein solder containing the dye indocyanine green. Indocyanine green has a maximum absorption coefficient at 805 nm and binds preferentially with proteins (Sauda et al 1986). The greatest advantage of diode lasers is their compact size, easy use and low cost. In this issue of Physics in Medicine and Biology (pp 983-1002, `Photothermal effects of laser tissue soldering'), in an in vitro study, McNally et al investigate the optimal laser settings and welding temperatures in relation to the tensile strength and thermal damage of bovine aorta specimens. An interesting statement in their introduction is that the low strength of laser produced anastomoses can lead to aneurysm formation. The increased chance of aneurysm formation may merely be due to the thermal effect of the laser on the vascular wall, especially on the adventitia and media layers, which become necrotic after thermal injury. Subsequent haemodynamic stress exerted on a damaged vascular wall is a significant contributing factor for aneurysmal initiation. Also interesting is the remark that `by the application of wavelength-specific chromophores in tissue welding ... the requirement for precise focusing and aiming of the laser beam may be removed'. Though perhaps not yet fully justified, this statement, if true, would facilitate surgical procedures. While the experiments are conducted in a proper manner, the use of bovine aorta specimens, which were stored at -70°C and subsequently thawed for the tissue welding experiments, may not be the most appropriate for studying tissue effects or tensile strength measurements, as the freezing and thawing induces extracellular and intracellular damage. The study is methodologically sound, and the findings in agreement with those of previous studies, i.e. increasing the concentration of the solder results in a greater tensile strength of the bonded tissue and the higher the tissue temperature the greater the thermal damage. As proteins are believed to be the primary component of the welding process, topical applied proteins, used as solders, may provide the necessary amount of protein for welding and result in a greater tensile strength (Poppas et al 1992). A surprising finding is that no colour changes were observed at the irradiances producing optimal tensile strength (corresponding to a temerature of 85°C), as it is above the denaturisation temperature of proteins and logically would be expected to result in some colour changes. Availability and cost are the biggest obstacles to the widespread use of lasers in tissue welding. Most lasers are not equipped with a stable milliwatt mode and/or a micromanipulator. Sutures, on the contrary, are cheap, reliable and always readily available. From a technical point of view, elements of the laser welding technique are unfamiliar to most surgeons. Therefore, acquisition of technical skills and handling of the laser is essential in a laboratory set-up before proceeding to the clinic. For repair of tissues in humans, placement of sutures seems to be mandatory to facilitate manipulation of the tissue during laser irradiation and to lower the risk of post-operative dehiscence. To use the laser only to avoid the placement of extra sutures (and thus proceeding to standard suture repair) seems, at present, unjustified as many studies have failed to show significant results in favour of laser welding. The end point in tissue welding is, at the moment, based on visual changes of the tissue and the surgeon must `see and feel' whether the welding is complete. It is important that many investigations continue in the field of laser dosimetry such as in this study, aiming at developing a temperature feedback system to control the temperature at the repair site. This should result in more reproducible and reliable tissue welds (Barak, 1997; Cilesiz et al 1997; Pohl et al 1998). By monitoring the surface temperature during the laser procedure, the optimal temperature range for tissue welding can be determined. Once the optimal range is known, which is believed to be between 70 and 90°C (also confirmed by this study) a computer-assisted feedback system can be employed to maintain the surface temperature within this range by altering the laser power output. Temperature measurements using infrared cameras, radiometers, and changes in reflectance have extensively been tested, but so far the limitation of these systems for microsurgical tissue welding is the relatively large spatial resolution for a small spot size resulting in incorrect temperature measurements (Torres et al 1990, Shenfeld et al 1994). In addition, the feedback system requires several adaptations to the laser set-up, including to the surgical microscope (for microsurgical procedures), which ultimately makes its use more cumbersome. As can be seen in figure 1 of the paper, incorporating the set-up in a surgical microscope without interfering with the view is a technological challenge. Until the technology has advanced to clinical feasibility, the best results of tissue welding are probably achieved when performed by a physician with a large amount of experience with the laser system and the execution of the welding technique. References Barak A, Eyal O, Rosner M, Belotserkousky E, Solomon A, Belkin M and Katzir A 1997 Temperature-controlled CO2 laser tissue welding of ocular tissues Surv. Ophthalmol. 42 (suppl) 77-81 Cilesiz I, Thomsen S, Welch A J and Chan E K 1997 Controlled temperature tissue fusion: Ho:YAG laser welding of rat intestine in vivo. Part two Lasers Surg. Med. 21 278-86 Lewis J W and Uribe A 1993 Contact diode laser microvascular anastomosis Laryngoscope 103 850-3 Pohl D, Bass L S, Stewart R and Chiu D T 1998 Effect of optical temperature feedback control on patency in laser-soldered microvascular anastomosis J. Reconstruct. Microsurg. 14 23-9 Poppas D P, Rooke C T and Schlossberg S M 1992 Optimal parameters for CO2 laser reconstruction of urethral tissue using a protein solder J. Urol. 148 220-4 Reali U M, Gelli R, Giannotti V, Gori F, Pratesi R and Pini R 1993 Experimental diode laser-assisted microvascular anastomosis J. Reconstruct. Microsurg. 9 203-18 Sauda K, Imasaka T and Ishibashi N 1986 Determination of protein in human serum by high performance liquid chromatography Anal. Chem. 58 2649-53 Shenfeld O, Ophir E, Goldwasser B and Katzir A 1994 Silver halide fiber optic radiometric temperature measurement and control of CO2 laser-irradiated tissues and application to tissue welding Lasers Surg. Med. 14 323-8 Torres J H, Springer T A, Welch A J and Pearce J A 1990 Limitations of a thermal camera in measuring surface temperature of laser-irradiated tissues Lasers Surg. Med. 10 510-23


A novel nature-inspired swarm intelligence (SI) optimization is proposed called dolphin swarm optimization algorithm (DSOA), which is based on mimicking the mechanism of dolphins in detecting, chasing after, and preying on swarms of sardines to perform optimization. In order to test the performance, the DSOA is evaluated against the corresponding results of three existing well-known SI optimization algorithms, namely, particle swarm optimization (PSO), bat algorithm (BA), and artificial bee colony (ABC), in the terms of the ability to find the global optimum of a range of the popular benchmark functions. The experimental results show that the proposed optimization seems superior to the other three algorithms, and the proposed algorithm has the performance of fast convergence rate, and high local optimal avoidance.


Public demand on formal education has increased, especially on universities. This has caused universities as strategic sectors that are expected to create a quality human resource. The completion amongst universities tends to increase year to year. This condition demands universities to improve the quality of its education and institution to be excellent in the tight competition. Therefore, this study aims to find out the effect of the trust and the image of universities on student intention using word-of-mouth (wom) as moderating variables. The population of this study is prospective students in Bandung. This study uses deductive quantitative and survey methods. The analytical tool that is used is structural equation modeling (SEM) based on component or a variance that is known as partial least square (PLS) with 135 prospective students in Bandung as respondents . The result of the study shows the positive and significant effect of trust and the image of institutions on students intention. WOM is proved to give a positive and significant effect as a variable that strengthens the relations between the image of universities and student intention and also strengthens the relations between Trust and student intention. This empirical evidence explains that trust and the image of universities are other important factors that can build student intention because students rely on word-of-mouth (WOM) which has a persuasive role in influencing students' decision. Keywords—Image; Trust; Intention; and WOM


This article contends that an emerging 'mobilities paradigm' within the social sciences reproduces an analytical gaze that is predominantly fixated on the movement of people across national borders. This privileging of state borders and categories in many of the mobilities studies should alert us to the extent to which it brings novelty to our examination of human mobility in the world. By analysing the flow of migrant workers from rural China to Israel, this article demonstrates how new insights regarding the importance and meaning of crossing national borders can be generated by looking at mobilities through the eyes of those involved in them, allowing state categories and national borders to prefigure in the analysis to an extent and form that are relevant for migrants. The article depicts the mobility-ridden life of Tseng, who comes from a small village in Fujian province and who, after migrating internally in China several times, decides to go to Israel. Highlighting the importance of unequal capital accumulation in shaping human mobility, the article questions some taken-for-granted assumptions about the motivation and situation of those who exercise international mobility; it particularly upsets a prevalent association in migration studies between physical and socio-economic mobility.


Yaws is one of the three endemic treponematoses and is recognised by the World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease. Yaws is currently reported in 15 countries in the Pacific, South-East Asia, West and Central Africa, predominantly affects children, and results in destructive lesions of the skin and soft tissues. For most of the twentieth century penicillin-based treatment was the standard of care and resistance to penicillin has still not been described. Recently, oral azithromycin has been shown to be an effective treatment for yaws, facilitating renewed yaws eradication efforts. Resistance to azithromycin is an emerging threat and close surveillance will be required as yaws eradication efforts are scaled up globally.


In Southern European countries, the long-lasting economic crisis has worsened the already difficult school-to-work transition among new generations, as highlighted by the increasing number of NEETs. The process of work socialisation itself has weakened and young people have been pushed to take on the burden and develop a sort of «auto-socialisation». The European Youth Guarantee Programme (YG) claims to be a successful strategy to improve NEET activation and employment, by promoting individual and professional youth empowerment. But does the YG programme offer a real chance of work socialisation? Work socialisation is intended here as a «capacitating process», capable of taking into account both individual, social and institutional responsibilities in shaping work and life opportunities for young. Focusing on the implementation of YG at the local level in Italy, the paper investigates to what extent the programme actually accomplishes these objectives.


This report introduces modified cellulose polymers as new emulsifiers of cubosomes. We prepared novel nanoparticles containing cubic-phase-forming lipids using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMCAS). Small-angle X-ray scattering showed a much lower incorporation of HPMCAS into the cubic structure of monoolein than did a conventional emulsifier, Pluronic F127, which is known to modify the cubic structure. Cubosomes prepared with HPMCAS showed roughly equal stability as nanoparticles with Pluronic F127. These results suggest that HPMCAS can be a novel emulsifier of cubosomes, which brings about no internal structure modification.


Richard West was undoubtedly the greatest British Quaternary geologist of his generation. Following National Service in India, he was admitted to Clare College, Cambridge in 1948 to study the Natural Sciences Tripos. Considering Geology for Part II, he finally selected Botany and was awarded First Class Honours. Under the supervision of Professor Harry Godwin FRS, in the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research (SDQR) for his PhD thesis he studied Pleistocene interglacial deposits in East Anglia. His detailed investigations at Hoxne and Ipswich led to a lifetime unravelling the environmental, geological and vegetational history of Quaternary deposits in Britain, particularly in East Anglia. In the course of this work, he was responsible for recognizing and defining the majority of the cold or glacial and interglacial stages into which the Quaternary Period in Britain is subdivided. His expertise extended from pollen and plant macrofossil analysis to physical geological evidence, glacial deposits, periglacial phenomena, and sea-level change. These studies required extensive cooperation with specialist colleagues, to the extent that the majority of his investigations are determinedly multi-disciplinary, an approach in which he was undoubtedly a leader. At Cambridge, becoming Director of the SDQR and later Professor of Botany, he supervised, nurtured and inspired numerous research and Master's students and influenced many others, both academics and amateurs alike. His research articles (over 150) and books provide a lasting legacy in Quaternary research. After retirement and up to the time of his death he continued to research, producing several important publications, principally on the evolution of the East Anglian Fenland.


The iterative method is a tool of solving the non-linear equations to get their approximate roots with some errors of tolerance. Repetition of the similar process is applied successively on such iterations to compute a sequence of increasingly accurate estimates of the roots. In this paper, the construction of an iterative method for solving an equation, its convergence and the determination of interval of convergence for the approximate choice of initial guess and the speed of convergence are highlighted. The Himalayan Physics Vol. 6 & 7, April 2017 (112-114)


We present limits on the ejection of solar-metallicity ("metal-rich") old-population hypervelocity stars (HVS) from a sample of over 290,000 stars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We derive the speed at the solar circle from the measured positions and radial velocities (RVs) by assuming a radial orbit and adopting a simple isothermal model of the Galactic halo, which enables us to identify candidate bound and unbound ejectees. We examine the kinematics and metallicity distribution of this sample and find no metal-rich ejectees, from which our limits are derived. However, while tuned for metal-rich stars, our experiment is also sensitive to metal-poor ejectees. We find four candidate bound metal-poor F-stars from this sample, all with negative Galactocentric RV (i.e., returning toward the Galactic center (GC)). We additionally find two candidate metal-poor unbound stars (one F and one G). However, existing proper-motion measurements of these two stars make them unlikely to be emerging from the GC. The metal-rich nondetection places a limit on the rate of ejection of old-population stars from the GC of <35 Myr−1. Comparing to the rate for more massive B-star ejectees of ∼0.6 Myr−1, our limit on the rate of ejection of old-population HVS shows that the mass function at the GC is not bottom-heavy and is consistent with being normal to top-heavy. Future targeted surveys of old-population HVS could determine if it is indeed top-heavy.


Introduction: Hypertension is the most common medical problem encountered in pregnancy. Approximately 18% of maternal deaths worldwide are due to hypertension complicating pregnancy. For every woman who dies, it is estimated that 20 others suffer severe morbidity or disability. The proportion of women surviving severe maternal complications has been proposed as a useful gauge for the evaluation of the quality of maternal health care and its determinants, with the potential to complement the information obtained from the reviews of maternal deaths. Objectives: To study the prevalence and document the incidence of various maternal complications in women with hypertension in pregnancy. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at JSS hospital, Mysuru. The medical records of women with hypertension in pregnancy from 2011 to 2015 were retrieved. The maternal complications were documented. Results: The prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy was 8.5%. Mild pre eclampsia was the most commonly encountered problem. Majority of the women developed hypertension only after 34 weeks. However, various complications such as abruptio placentae, HELLP, acute renal shutdown, disseminated intravascular coagulation, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, retinal changes, and ascites were observed. The mortality rate was 1.6%. Conclusion: Hypertension continues to be a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. However, with timely management, the complications and mortality can be reduced.


Biosolids are rich in plant nutrients and are a byproduct of municipal wastewater treatment and those that meet strict government safety standards can be land applied in most agricultural settings except for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified organic production. Across the United States, about 60% of biosolids are land applied, but in Mississippi almost no biosolids are land applied. Our research goal was to compare plant size in southeastern U.S. soils amended with biosolids at rates of 2, 8, 14, and 20 tons/acre in contrast to soils amended with synthetic fertilizers using 'Floral Lace Cherry' dianthus (Dianthus chinensis ·barbatus), 'Dreams Coral Morn' petunia (Petunia ·hybrida), 'Pidgeon White' kale (Brassica oleraceae var. acephala), and 'Bright Lights' swiss chard (Beta vulgaris ssp. cicla). To accomplish this, fertilizers and biosolids were applied to prebedded fields in a randomized complete block design with a split-plot arrangement of nutrient treatments. Plant performance data and soil data were taken 43 and 56 days after transplant. Soil pH was reduced and organic matter increased at the highest application rates (14 and 20 tons/acre) of biosolids, and higher levels of phosphorus, zinc, and sulfur were found in these soils. In plant shoots, higher levels of copper, manganese, magnesium, and zinc were found when grown in soils amended with biosolids at a rate of 20 tons/acre compared with plants grown with synthetic fertilizers. Except for swiss chard, no crops fertilized with biosolids exhibited a difference in dry weights (DW) compared with conventional fertilizers. These data demonstrate that soil properties can be improved and similar plant sizes can be achieved through biosolid applications. We conclude that Grade A biosolids produced in Mississippi can be used to supplement synthetic fertilizers for ornamental and vegetable production.


Abstract: Digital control technique is a technique for high frequency switching mode power supply (SMPS). Being widely used in the new generation portable systems, the regulation requirement for high frequency integrated DC-DC switching mode power supply becomes more and more demanding in industry, at very high frequency beyond 10 Mega Hertz range. Analysis and experimental study of buck converter is presented to achieve desired output voltage. The SMPS are emerging in terms of higher dynamic response performances, less output ripple, smaller size and weight. The sliding mode controller is associated with a digital pulse width modulation (DPWM) block to operate at high switching frequency. Sliding mode control (SMC) can reduce the voltage ripple voltage ripple of SMPS. Sliding mode controller will be used by means of analog to digital conversion (ADC) and Digital pulse width modulation (DPWM). Keywords-Analog to Digital converter(ADC), Digital pulse width modulation(DPWM), Sliding mode control


There are several regions in the PEP-I1 B Factory at SLAC that require distributed pumping to deal with large photo-desorbed gas loads or to produce very low pressures(< 10.' Torr). These regions include the Low Energy Ring Wiggler dump chambers, the transitions between the High Energy Ring arcs and straight sections, and most importantly the Interaction Region. We have designed a compact Non-Evaporable Getter pump using commercial getters that combines high pumping speed and high sorption capacity. We describe the design features of the NEG pumps, and our test results from prototype pumps. In addition, we discuss future variations of this style of NEG pump.


Genotype-environment interaction on milk yield of Holstein cows. The effects of sire-environment interaction on genetic evaluation were investigated by analyzing 108,702 records of milk yield (305ME) of Holstein cows from the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. A Multivariate animal model was applied to estimate of genetic variance and covariance components, using Gibbs sampling. The a posteriori means of genetic variance in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul were higher (p 0.05) between these two states. Heritability estimates of states ranged from 0.24 to 0.38. Genetic correlations among states were low and ranged from 0.07 to 0.33. Spearman's correlation among sire breeding values ranged from 0.73 to 0.86. These results suggest sire-environment interaction for 305ME in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Parana and between the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.


Is it possible to actually make Harry's invisibility cloaks? The most promising approach for realizing such magical cloaking in our real world would be to use transformation optics, where an empty space with a distorted geometry is imitated with a non-distorted space but filled with transformation medium having appropriate permittivity and permeability. An important requirement for true invisibility cloaks is nonreciprocity; that is, a person in the cloak should not be seen from the outside but should be able to see the outside. This invisibility cloak, or a nonreciprocal shield, cannot be created as far as we stay in conventional transformation optics. Conventional transformation optics is based on Riemann geometry with a metric tensor independent of direction, and therefore cannot be used to design the nonreciprocal shield. To overcome this problem, we propose an improved theory of transformation optics that is based on Finsler geometry, an extended version of Riemann geometry. Our theory shows that nonreciprocal shielding can be realized by covering cloaking space with transformation medium having anisotropic, nonreciprocal permittivity and permeability. This theory includes conventional transformation optics as special cases. We show the method for designing the spatial distribution of the permittivity and permeability required to make the nonreciprocal shield.


Fluorescent imaging of the thyroid was performed successfully in 43 patients with incident low-energy photons generated by an x-ray tube. The images were comparable in quality and information content to those obtained with 123l or 99mTc pertechnetate. The estimated absorbed radiation dose to the gland is approximately 40 mrads. Fluorescent imaging is a clinically useful means of evaluating the thyroid.


In this paper, we addressed the immune adjuvant effects of interleukin(IL)-21 on DNA vaccine constructs expressing mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) Ag85A and compared immune responses induced in mice inoculated DNA vaccine constructs expressing Ag85A and IL-21 with mice inoculated DNA vaccine constructs expressing Ag85A alone or Bacillus Galmette-Guérin(BCG.). In this experiment, the gene of IL-21 was firstly amplified from plasmid pcDNA3.1-mIL21 by PCR and cloned into the plasmid pRSC, forming recombinant plasmid pRSC-IL21. Then, the gene of Ag85A was amplified from the plasmid pIRES-Ag85A by PCR and cloned into the recombinant pRSC-IL21 again, finally forming co-expression DNA vaccine constructs pRSC-IL21-Ag85A. It was identified by the analysis of endonuclease digestion, DNA sequencing, the IL-21 and Ag85A expression in SP2/0 cells. Mice were i.m. immunized with BCG, DNA vaccine constructs pRSC-Ag85A or pRSC-IL21-Ag85A respectively, and the immune responses induced in mice was compared with other vaccines. The results showed that the DNA vaccine constructs pRSC-IL21-Ag85A was successfully constructed since the Ag85A and IL-21 was correctly expressed in SP2/0 cells respectively, and it elicited stronger immune responses in Balb/c mice than that of mice immunized with pRSC-Ag85A and the efficiency was as BCG did. We concluded that the IL-21 was a promising immune adjunctive modality to enhance immunigenicity of DNA vaccine containing Ag85A and the study provided the possibility of further development of immune accessory effect of IL-21 on DNA vaccine against TB.


Abstract:This article recovers the largely forgotten Asia-Pacific Peace Conference which took place in Beijing in October 1952 and elaborates what has been lost in its forgetting. Moving beyond the traditional focus on the diplomatic "summitry" of Bandung and non-alignment, it insists on reading back into diplomatic histories the emotive and affective dimensions of Third World internationalism in the 1950s, and for the expansion of our idea of the political to encompass them. Turning to peace expressions in Southeast Asia, it argues not only for the inadequacy of Cold War labels like "communist" and "front" to understanding these mobilities, but also that we cannot understand the broad popular appeal of the "Bandung spirit" and later Afro-Asianisms without attempting to take account of the realms of affect and emotion in underpinning and driving them to expression in the contested international spaces of the early Cold War.


Rock pressuremeter tests can accurately measure the in-situ deformation modulus of rock. Comparisons are made with the Rock Quality Designation (RQD) and the Rock Mass Rating (RMR). Foundation design without direct measurements of rock properties tends to be highly overconservative. A case study is presented showing lateral load analyses of deep foundation design with rock pressuremeter results.


We have developed a continuous cam phase variable mechanism wherein an electromagnetic clutis is utilized for controlling a helical mechanism "New Technology Variable Cam Phaser (NT-VCP)" for the first time in the world. NT-VCP is called "Electromagnetic Valve Timing Control (eVTC)", carried Nissan's new "V" type six cylinders engine. NT-VCP has implemented an extensive control range and a fast response. As a result that engine was able to get excelled acceleration performance.


Background: Ovarian cancer and ovarian related diseases affect reproductive health. Therapeutic molecules are needed to improve treatment outcomes and overcome drug resistance. The benzimidazole-based sulphonamide LLW-3-6 has both anti-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects when used to treat prostate, breast, and brain cancer cells. Objective: The study described herein evaluates the anti-proliferative and anti-migratory effects of LLW-3-6 in SKOV-3 ovarian cystadenocarcinoma cell line. Methods: Studies were conducted using SKOV-3 cells treated with LLW-3-6. The cell line was propagated and proliferative activity was evaluated by hemocytometric and MTT colorimetric assays. Cellular apoptosis was assessed using caspase-3 spectrophotometric analysis. Lastly, a scratch wound assay was conducted at several concentrations and time points to assess the effect of LLW-3-6 on migration. Results & Discussion: Proliferative studies suggest, SKOV-3 cells exposed to LLW-3-6 in culture resulted in decreased growth and proliferation of cells in a time and dose-dependent manner. The apoptotic effect of this agent was noted with the confirmed presence of Caspase-3 in a dose and time-dependent manner as well. Preliminary studies also suggest an anti-migratory effect of LLW-36, confirmed by scratch wound analysis. Conclusion: LLW-3-6 is potentially a chemotherapeutic option for decreasing proliferation and inducing apoptosis in ovarian carcinomas. Additional biological analysis are ongoing to further assess the utility of the molecule and its mechanism of action. A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: August 16, 2019 Revised: December 01, 2019 Accepted: January 10, 2020 DOI: 10.2174/1570180817666200129142949


Purpose: To examine the effect of immediate irrigation on ocular alkali burn. Methods: Information on the injury, immediate irrigation, and ocular findings was retrospectively obtained from each patient's record. Results: 36 patients (49 eyes) irrigated their eyes with tap water (the irrigation group) and 17 patients (29 eyes) did not (no irrigation group). The mean age of patients in the irrigation and no irrigation groups was 30 and 53 years, respectively. According to Hugher's classification, 76% of eyes in the irrigation group had grade 1 injury, while 86% of eyes in the no irrigation group had grade 2 injuries. Mean time from the injury until healing was 8 days in the irrigation group and 29 days in the no irrigation group, respectively. Conclusion: Immediate copious irrigation with tap water reduced the severity in alkali burns of the eye and shortened the healing time.


Air pollution is a crucial issue affecting human health and livelihoods, as well as one of the barriers to economic growth. Forecasting air quality has become an increasingly important endeavor with significant social impacts, especially in emerging countries. In this paper, we present a novel Transformer termed AirFormer to predict nationwide air quality in China, with an unprecedented fine spatial granularity covering thousands of locations. AirFormer decouples the learning process into two stages: 1) a bottom-up deterministic stage that contains two new types of self-attention mechanisms to efficiently learn spatio-temporal representations; 2) a top-down stochastic stage with latent variables to capture the intrinsic uncertainty of air quality data. We evaluate AirFormer with 4-year data from 1,085 stations in Chinese Mainland. Compared to prior models, AirFormer reduces prediction errors by 5%∼8% on 72-hour future predictions. Our source code is available at https://github.com/yoshall/airformer.


3d transition metal ions, like Fe(II) in a planar organic environment are subject to the details of the ligand coordination. In this study the 3d orbital splitting in planar D4h symmetry is investigated for Fe(II) using the charge transfer multiplet program. By variation of the 10Dq, Ds and Dt crystal field parameters, the 3d orbitals split differently giving rise to different spin multiplicity. The relative occupations of the 3d orbitals yield a range of ground states. Experimental x-ray absorption spectra of FePc powder are compared with theoretical simulations, resulting in the spin ground state of the Fe(II) ion being 3E.


Centrosomal protein 55 (CEP55) is a centrosome- and midbody-associated protein that is overexpressed in several cancers. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of CEP55-mediated progression and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is not clear. In the current study, we detected CEP55 mRNA by qRT-PCR while protein expression was detected by western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC). In addition, we knocked down CEP55 and investigated the ability of CEP55 to affect colony formation and migration. Here, we report that CEP55 mRNA and protein expression was significantly increased in ESCC. IHC staining showed that CEP55 expression correlated with TNM stage (p=0.046) and lymph node metastases (p=0.024). According to overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), patients whose tumors expressed a higher level of CEP55 had a poorer prognosis than those with low expression level of CEP55. A multivariate analysis revealed that CEP55 expression was an independent prognostic indicator for patients with ESCC. Knockdown of CEP55 decreased the colony formation ability and migration of ESCC cells and also reduced the phosphorylation of Src, FAK, and ERK. Therefore, our study implied that CEP55 may be a valuable biomarker and a potential target in the treatment of patients with ESCC.


In critically ill patients monitored with an arterial catheter, the arterial pressure signal provides two types of information that may help the clinician to interpret haemodynamic status better: the mean values of systolic, diastolic, mean and pulse pressures; and the magnitude of the respiratory variation in arterial pressure in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. In this review we briefly discuss the physiological mechanisms responsible for arterial pressure generation, with special focus on resistance, compliance and pulse wave amplification phenomena. We also emphasize the utility of taking into consideration the overall arterial pressure set (systolic, diastolic, mean and pulse pressures) in order to define haemodynamic status better. Finally, we review recent studies showing that quantification of respiratory variation in pulse and systolic arterial pressures can allow one to identify the mechanically ventilated patients who may benefit from volume resuscitation.


The peer-review process is a form of self-regulation by qualified members of the profession to evaluate works done by one or more individuals. However, without a clear structure, the peer-review process can be problematic. Rubrics have been shown to increase peer reviewer satisfaction and author compliance, but only when they convey clear and specific descriptions for task-specific criteria. Sigma developed a peer-review rubric to provide consistency in judging scientific abstracts. An asynchronous provider-directed, provider-paced educational activity can be used to successfully educate peer reviewers on the benefit and use of a peer-review rubric. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(2):64-66.].


We investigate local MCMC algorithms, namely the random-walk Metropolis and the Langevin algorithms, and identify the optimal choice of the local step-size as a function of the dimension n of the state space, asymptotically as n→∞. We consider target distributions defined as a change of measure from a product law. Such structures arise, for instance, in inverse problems or Bayesian contexts when a product prior is combined with the likelihood. We state analytical results on the asymptotic behavior of the algorithms under general conditions on the change of measure. Our theory is motivated by applications on conditioned diffusion processes and inverse problems related to the 2D Navier–Stokes equation.


The present work considers the thermodynamic behaviour of moist air as a function of the state variables temperature, density and humidity ratio. Moist air is treated as an ideal mixture which is composed of two real gases, air and steam. The state functions of the mixture are expressed using the corresponding explicit relations of the two species from which the three isentropic exponents describing the real gas isentropic change are calculated. Saturated conditions are determined by solving the Vapour Liquid Equilibrium problem for real water. Numerical results show the effect of humidity as well as the effect of pressure on the thermodynamic behaviour of atmospheric air (such as the three isentropic exponents kpρ, kTp, kTρ, the classical isentropic exponent k and the velocity of sound) for a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Furthermore the isentropic change is approximated by explicit relations having mathematical forms similar to those of the ideal gas but with different constants and exponents. The obtained accuracy is remarkable, being better than 0.32%. In this way the isentropic change, of moist air can be computed by simple explicit relations having as independent variable the Mach number and the humidity ratio. The effects of humidity are examined on certain cases of practical interest such as the critical state (M = 1), the impulse function and the mass flow rate.


It has become accepted doctrine among economists that the rate of profit in the United States has declined since the mid-1960s. What is less a matter of agreement is whether this decline represents a stage in a long-term secular decline. In a recent article Dumenil, Glick, and Rangel (1987) reviewed the existing empirical evidence on this topic and found that independent of variation in the definition of the rate of profit. any series extending back to 1929 reveals a stable or increasing trend. Although two periods of serious decline exist (after World War I and in the late 1950s) they are connected by a "leap forward" during World War II In fact in any measure which does not subtract taxes from profit World War II coincides with a considerable restoration of the rate of profit. This is an important anomaly for Marxists who predict a long-term declining tendency yet it has never been addressed in the empirical literature on this topic. There is no doubt that a restoration of the rate of profit discovered in the 1940s questions the relevance of Marx s famous thesis of a falling tendency of the rate of profit in capitalist economics. Certainly when Marx discussed the tendency of the rate of profit he acknowledged the important role of counter tendencies. However one would not expect the counter tendencies which Marx discussed to have such a concentrated impact over such a short span of time. The purpose of the present study is to investigate more carefully this leap forward in profitability. In a first part we will fully explore the statistical characteristics of the leap forward. Specifically we will compare the leap forward with earlier and future fluctuations and trends in profitability (an effort will be made in spite of the deficiencies of the data, to cover a period of 120 years). We will further determine whether the leap forward is invariant to the choice of the definition of the rate of profit or whether it can be explained by a specific choice of statistical categories. A second part will consider whether the leap forward is the expression of changes in the relative price of fixed capital, or a variation in the workweek of capital. The final part will explore whether the leap occurred in specific industries or whether it was a general feature of the economy. In the conclusion we will discuss a number of further alternative explanations.


[1] Mass loading, 20 elemental concentrations, and time series of aerosol particles were investigated over the China Dust Storm Research (ChinaDSR) observational network stations from March to May 2001 during the intensive field campaign period of ACE-Asia. Four extensive and several minor dust storm (DS) events were observed. Mass balance calculations showed that 45 - 82% of the observed aerosol mass was attributable to Asian soil dust particles among the sites, in which Ca and Fe contents are enriched to 12% and 6%, respectively, in the Western High-Dust source regions compared with dust aerosols ejected from the Northern High- Dust source regions. For the latter areas, elemental contents exhibited high Si (30%) and low Fe (4%). For all major source areas and depositional regions, aluminium (Al) comprises 7% of Asian dust. Air mass back-trajectory analysis showed that five major transport pathways of Asian dust storms dominated dust transport in China during spring 2001, all of which passed over Beijing. Measurements also suggest that the sand land in northeastern China is a potential source for Asian dust. The size distribution for estimating vertical dust flux was derived from the observed surface dust size distributions in the desert regions. For particle diameters between 0.25 and 16 mum, a lognormal distribution was obtained from averaging observations at various deserts with a mass mean diameter of 4.5 mum and a standard deviation of 1.5. This range of soil dust constitutes about 69% of the total dust loading. The fractions for particles in the size ranges of 16 mum are around 1.7% and 30%, respectively.


Evaluating the effective properties of materials containing various types of in-homogeneities is an important issue in the analysis of structures composed of those materials. A simple and effective method for the purpose is to impose the periodic displacement boundary conditions on the finite element model of a unit cell. Their theoretical background is explained based on the purely kinematical relations in the regularly spaced in-homogeneity problems, and the strategies to implement them into the analysis and to evaluate the homogenized material constants are introduced. The creep behavior of a thin sheet with square arrayed rectangular voids is characterized, where the orthotropy is induced by the presence of the voids. The homogenization method is validated through the comparison of the analysis of detailed model with that of the simplified one with the effective parameters.


Rivers of Florida is an edited book originating from a conference held in Tallahassee in 1987 concerning ecological relationships and current conditions of the major river systems in Florida. Indeed, these issues are highly relevant in that river systems in Florida are physically and biologically diversified and have been highly modified because of population pressures and rapid growth in development. The book is largely qualitative and is intended primarily for ecologists rather than geomorphologists or hydrologists, but could be useful for other scientists conducting interdisciplinary studies of rivers.


Complex systems in science and engineering sometimes exhibit behavior that changes across different regimes. Traditional global models struggle to capture the full range of this complex behavior, limiting their ability to accurately represent the system. In response to this challenge, we propose a novel competitive learning approach for obtaining data-driven models of physical systems. The primary idea behind the proposed approach is to employ dynamic loss functions for a set of models that are trained concurrently on the data. Each model competes for each observation during training, allowing for the identification of distinct functional regimes within the dataset. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the learning approach, we coupled it with various regression methods that employ gradient-based optimizers for training. The proposed approach was tested on various problems involving model discovery and function approximation, demonstrating its ability to successfully identify functional regimes, discover true governing equations, and reduce test errors.


Various macromolecules of widely different chemistry and structure show unusual rotational diffusion time constants in stopped flow experiments. These effects have been characterized by measurements of electric dichroism in a combined stopped-flow-electric-field-jump instrument. DNA restriction fragments in the range of chain lengths up to 179 base pairs do not show anything unusual yet: the dichroism decay times correspond to the standard values reflecting unperturbed rotational diffusion. For fragments with more than 200 base pairs, the dichroism measured directly after stop of the flow revealed decay time constants clearly smaller than the corresponding values found without flow. The reduction of the time constants for overall rotational diffusion is 10% for a fragment with 256 bp and increases to 70% for DNA with 800 bp. The decay time constants return to the usual values within a few ms after stop of flow. The limiting electric dichroism of the flow induced state is virtually identical with that of standard DNA and, thus, the local secondary structure remains in the B-form. However, the polarizability of the flow induced state is clearly reduced. These results seem to indicate a flexible state of DNA induced by shear stress, resulting from breaking of stacking interactions. The kinetics can be described by a model with parallel reactions leading to the native state with a time constant of 1 ms. Effects observed for single stranded poly(A) are virtually identical to those of double stranded DNA for samples of corresponding hydrodynamic dimensions. The time constants for the transition to the standard state are again 1 ms, although stacking reactions of poly(A) occur in the time range e 1 Is. Further experiments with other macromolecules or macromolecular aggregates indicate that acceleration of rotational motion is a general phenomenon under stopped flow conditions: for example bacteriorhodopsin membrane disks and colloidal suspensions of the fibrous claylike silicate attapulgite show very high accelerations of their rotational diffusion time constants after stopped flow by factors of about 3000. The return to the usual state both for bacteriorhodopsin and for attapulgite extends over a broad time range up to 100 ms. Although it cannot be excluded that these effects are partly due to kinking of the structures, the similarity of the data for materials of very different structures indicates that the acceleration of rotational diffusion is mainly due to the existence of turbulence. The rotational motion of small molecules, such as 95 bp DNA, is much faster than rotational motion of corresponding volume elements of the solvent and, thus, these molecules do not indicate turbulence. The data demonstrate that turbulence decays over a broad time range: small vortices with high rates of rotational motion decay first, merge into larger ones with lower rotation rates, until finally the largest ones compatible with the dimension of the observation chamber are reflected only by particles with relatively large dimensions and slow rotational diffusion. These results demonstrate the mode of turbulence in stopped flow observation cells, the scaling of its decay, and the utility of electrooptical techniques for the characterization of turbulence.


Tea plants have high demand of potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S), but in Lam Dong tea mainly grown on basaltic soil (rhodic ferrasols) which poor in these elements. Polyhalite is introduced as the new 4-in-1 fertilizer, which contain 48% SO3, 14% K2O, 6% MgO and 17% CaO. This is research on effect of polyhalite to tea productivity and quality in Lam Dong province, Vietnam. An experiment with 5 treatments of 0, 200, 400, 600 and 800 kg polyhalite ha with background of 750N in urea, 250 P2O5 in fused magnesium phosphate and 240 K2O in KCl or polyhalite was conducted on basaltic soil in Lam Dong province of Vietnam during 2015-2016. The trials were designed to Randomized Complete Bock (RCB) with 4 replications and plot area of 180 m. The results showed that polyhalite demonstrated the ability to supply plant K, Ca, Mg and S requirements, enhanced the density, weight and size of tea buds, thus increasing tea productivity by 3.3-6.0 t ha, corresponding 11.6-19.8% in comparison with control. Also, polyhalite slightly improved tea quality parameters such as dry matter content and the concentrations of soluble substances, tannins and caffeine. Polyhalite dose gave highest tea yield was 600 kg ha, with tea productivity of 3.95 t ha.


Mez is a novel publish-subscribe messaging system for latency sensitive multi-camera machine vision applications at the IoT Edge. The unlicensed wireless communication in IoT Edge systems are characterized by large latency variations due to intermittent channel interference. To achieve user specified latency in the presence of wireless channel interference, Mez takes advantage of the ability of machine vision applications to temporarily tolerate lower quality video frames if overall application accuracy is not too adversely affected. Control knobs that involve lossy image transformation techniques that modify the frame size, and thereby the video frame transfer latency, are identified. Mez implements a network latency feedback controller that adapts to channel conditions by dynamically adjusting the video frame quality using the image transformation control knobs, so as to simultaneously satisfy latency and application accuracy requirements. Additionally, Mez uses an application domain specific design of the storage layer to provide low latency operations. Experimental evaluation on an IoT Edge testbed with a pedestrian detection machine vision application indicates that Mez is able to tolerate latency variations of up to 10x with a worst-case reduction of 4.2% of the application accuracy F1 score metric. The performance of Mez is also experimentally evaluated against state-of-the-art low latency NATS messaging system.


The level of exposure to a wide range of musical styles through the ever increasing use of mass and social media amongst young people has had a major impact on their musical tastes. In a similar way, the individuals who rapidly gain success through singing in bands, or who make their careers as singers, appear to be impacting in an important way on the aspirations of many young people. In Estonia, private music and singing studios constitute an increasingly popular trend. The differences between classical singing and contemporary pop singing are significant, and the training required to enable students of singing to master these two often contrasting styles requires the presence of a very knowledgeable vocal teacher who can prevent a young singer from harming their voice. The questionnaires were distributed to 45 students of solo singing, and 43 students studying solo singing in three well known singing studios of Estonia returned the completed questionnaires. There were 11 male singers and 28 female singers among the respondents and four respondents chose not to provide details of their gender. The study revealed that solo singing is primarily studied in order to learn vocal technique and develop performance confidence, along with developing the ability to carry the tune and increase their vocal range in a range of vocal styles.


In selected cases there is a need for microscopic information found on the surface of tooth specimens. Scanning electron microscopy is the method of choice. Based on the knowledge of the structural organization of the mineralized dental tissues differential diagnoses of physical and chemical changes can be made. It is suggested that the forensic dental profession cooperates in establishing a collection of reference material illustrating different traumas to enamel and dentin, deposits on teeth and the structure of restorative dental materials as they will appear after some years in position on a tooth. Four different cases are presented.


Background UK prehospital services receive poor information about what happens to patients beyond the prehospital phase of care; this limits the opportunity to assess patient outcomes following non-conveyance. We aimed to identify what happens to patients after prehospital discharge, as part of two studies 1) to develop better ways of measuring prehospital quality and performance (Prehospital Outcomes for Evidence Based Evaluation, (PhOEBE)) and 2) to assess Variation in Ambulance Non-conveyance decisions (VAN). Method We developed a patient level dataset, linking ambulance call and clinical data to subsequent ED, hospital and mortality data. Data for 6 months of 2013 was provided by one ambulance service and linked to national datasets using NHS Digital's data-linking service. We identified a sub-group of non-conveyed patients and identified recontacts (EMS, ED, hospital admission or death) within 3 days of the call. We traced 24% (2514/10634) of hear and treat calls and 84% (42,796/50894) of see and treat calls. Results Within our sample, 20.6% of see and treat calls had a recontact within 3 days, 6.3% (2694/42.796) were admitted to hospital and 0.3% (129/42796) died. Poor hear and treat linkage rates limited data reliability, therefore we conducted a sensitivity analysis using traced calls only and traced plus non-traced calls as the denominator. We found that hear and treat hospital admissions within 3 days range from 2.5%–10.5% and deaths within 3 days range from 0.06%–0.24% We developed a new indicator to monitor the quality and safety of non-transport decisions "Proportion of calls left at home which result in hospital admission or death within 3 days". Conclusions We linked multiple data sources to identify what happens to patients following prehospital care and identified low rates of hospital admission and death following non-conveyance. We developed a new non-conveyance indicator to assess safety and monitor non-conveyance rates over time.


In Reply.— The interesting experiences of Drs Bonchek and Glass hint at a vast, unknown reservoir of anecdotes about medical emergencies during air travel. Since publication of our articles1-3on this topic, we have received numerous personal accounts of the resourcefulness of traveling emergency personnel as well as airline employees. Simply asking for medications possessed by other passengers has been so effective so often that all traveling physicians should try it. The technique succeeds most noticeably with tranquilizers and hypnotics (at least with US passengers), but can also quickly produce nitroglycerin, aerosolized bronchodilators, antiemetics, insulin, diuretics, and analgesics. We have received accounts of passengers who have performed intubation in flight (a traveling anesthesiologist), relieved obstructed airways, and organized passenger teams to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation for more than 2 hours. Some occasional rigid thinking on the part of flight attendants has led to unfortunate episodes, such as failure to let


Hundreds of bacterial species produce proteinaceous microcompartments (MCPs) that act as simple organelles by confining the enzymes of metabolic pathways that have toxic or volatile intermediates. A fundamental unanswered question about bacterial MCPs is how enzymes are packaged within the protein shell that forms their outer surface. Here, we report that a short N-terminal peptide is necessary and sufficient for packaging enzymes into the lumen of an MCP involved in B12-dependent 1,2-propanediol utilization (Pdu MCP). Deletion of 10 or 14 amino acids from the N terminus of the propionaldehyde dehydrogenase (PduP) enzyme, which is normally found within the Pdu MCP, substantially impaired packaging, with minimal effects on its enzymatic activity. Fusion of the 18 N-terminal amino acids from PduP to GFP, GST, or maltose-binding protein resulted in their encapsulation within MCPs. Bioinformatic analyses revealed N-terminal extensions in two additional Pdu proteins and three proteins from two unrelated MCPs, suggesting that N-terminal peptides may be used to package proteins into diverse MCPs. The potential uses of MCP assembly principles in nature and in biotechnology are discussed.


Even though camels (Camelus dromedarius) were traditionally believed to be resistant to most livestock diseases, research has demonstrated that they are susceptible to a large number of infectious agents. Based on the clinical appearance of typical lesions, camel contagious ecthyma (CCE), caused by a Parapoxvirus (PPV), is thought to be one of the most common viral diseases of camels in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to April 2014 in the Arero district of Borena Zone, Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia to investigate the epidemiological aspect of CCE and molecularly identify the causative agent. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on B2L gene-specific primers of PPV was used for the confirmatory diagnosis of the CCE virus from the skin lesion of camels showing suspected clinical signs of CCE infection. Eighty-seven percent (87.0%) of camel owners reported the occurrence of CCE outbreaks in their herds in the past year (a year preceding the start of the study). The overall morbidity and mortality rates attributed to CCE were 20% (95% CI: 11– 36%) and 6.3% (95 % CI: 5.2 –7.6%), respectively. Younger camels had higher odds of becoming affected by CCE than adults [OR=3.44 (95 % CI: 2.29 –4.09)] and the difference was statistically significant. Confirmatory diagnosis of the suspected cases using conventional PCR generated the expected amplification product size of 1200bp for one of the samples. Therefore, the study confirms the presence and importance of CCE in Ethiopia and establishes the basis for further investigation.


NAC transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators of expressional reprogramming during plant development, stress responses and leaf senescence. NAC TFs also play important roles in fruit ripening. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), one of the best characterized NAC involved in fruit ripening is NON-RIPENING (NOR) and the non-ripening (nor) mutation has been widely used to extend fruit shelf life in elite varieties. Here, we show that NOR additionally controls leaf senescence. Expression of NOR increases with leaf age, and developmental as well as dark-induced senescence are delayed in the nor mutant, while overexpression of NOR promotes leaf senescence. Genes associated with chlorophyll degradation as well as senescence-associated genes (SAGs) show reduced and elevated expression, respectively, in nor mutants and NOR overexpressors. Overexpression of NOR also stimulates leaf senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana. In tomato, NOR supports senescence by directly and positively regulating the expression of several senescence-associated genes including, besides others, SlSAG15 and SlSAG113, SlSGR1 and SlYLS4. Finally, we find that another senescence control NAC TF, namely SlNAP2, acts upstream of NOR to regulate its expression. Our data support a model whereby NAC TFs have often been recruited by higher plants for both, the control of leaf senescence and fruit ripening.


Detection-driven real-time video analytics require continuous detection of objects contained in the video frames using deep learning models like YOLOV3, EfficientDet, etc. However, running these detectors on each and every frame in resource-constrained edge devices is computationally intensive. By taking the temporal correlation between consecutive video frames into account, we note that detection outputs tend to be overlapping in successive frames. Elimination of "similar" consecutive frames (the same set of objects with slightly offset bounding boxes) will lead to a negligible drop in performance while offering significant performance benefits by reducing overall computation and communication costs. The key technical questions are, therefore, (a) how to identify which frames to be processed by the object detector, and (b) how many successive frames can be skipped (called skip-length) once a frame is selected to be processed. The overall goal of the process is to keep the error due to skipping frames as small as possible. We introduce a novel error vs processing rate optimization problem with respect to the object detection task that balances between the error rate and the fraction of frames actually passed and processed. Subsequently, we propose an off-line Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based algorithm to determine these skip-lengths as a state-action policy of the RL agent from a recorded video and then deploy the agent online for live video streams. To this end, we develop FrameHopper, an edge-cloud collaborative video analytics framework, that runs a lightweight trained RL agent on the camera and passes filtered frames to the cloud/edge server where the object detection model runs for a set of applications. We have tested our approach on a number of live videos captured from real-life scenarios and show that FrameHopper processes only a handful of frames but produces detection results closer to the "oracle" solution and outperforms recent state-of-the-art solutions in most cases.


This article provides a comprehensive review on the nutritional management of preterm infants. The review also describes the methodology developed and implemented in the BabyGrow longitudinal nutrition and growth study to assess the nutritional status of preterm infants. Nutrient intake data revealed substantial cumulative protein deficits, which persisted for at least 5 weeks of life at the same time as energy excesses were accumulating. These data show that actual nutrient intake assessment is important for developing effective nutritional strategies. Postnatal growth was evaluated, and body composition was assessed by air displacement plethysmography up to 2 months corrected age.


An unsupervised time series change detection method based on an extension of Vector Quantization (VQ) clustering is proposed. The method clusters the subsequences extracted with a sliding window in feature space. Changes can be defined as transition of subsequences from one cluster to another. The method can be used to achieve real time detection of the change points in a time series. Using data on road casualties in Great Britain, historical data on Nile river discharges, MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data and x simulated data. It is shown that the detected changes coincide with identifiable political, historical, environmental or simulated events that might have caused these changes. Further, the online method has the potential for revealing the insights into the nature of the changes and the transition behaviours of the system.


During 1991 and 1992, 2,800 market-age pigs were sampled at federally inspected abattoirs from across Canada. Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG at titers of > or =1:32 were found in 240 pigs examined by a commercial, latex agglutination test. Seroprevalences ranged from 3.5 to 13.2% in the different regions of the country. Tissue hybridization studies using a previously developed probe demonstrated T. gondii ribosomal RNA in 9 of 36 animals, whereas mouse bioassay testing of heart muscle and diaphragm from all 2,800 pigs failed to demonstrate the presence of infective stages of T. gondii in tissues. Although serology results from this study indicated that Canadian market-age pigs are infected with T. gondii at rates similar to those reported from other parts of North America, mouse bioassay results suggested that Canadian pork products contain low levels of infective organisms. This apparent discrepancy suggests that serological evidence of T. gondii infection in pigs alone does not accurately assess the public health risks associated with consuming improperly cooked pork products.


From the outset the Coleman Report (1966) on the equality of educational opportunity provoked controversy which will not abate for many years. Its critics focused on the poor sample response, the inadequacy of statistical analysis (e.g., Bowles & Levin, 1968), and the refusal of a disproportionately large number of cities to participate. Inadequate representation of urban schools is illustrated by the fact that thirteen of the fifteen largest cities in the United States refused to participate in the survey. Despite these criticisms, Coleman and his associates examined a great number of variables. Two of these, academic self-concept and sense of environmental control, were investigated further in the present study of Chicago students. Coleman found that students' characteristics show stronger association with achievement than do family background or school factors. For whites and Orientals academic self-concept was highly related to academic achievement; but for all other minority groups, the variance in academic achievement was better accounted for by sense of environmental control than any other variable. Although the Report was more concerned


This case study demonstrates how leadership was harnessed to turn around a decline in the performance of an aged persons' mental health service - the Namarra Nursing Home at Caulfield General Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia. In 2000 the nursing home faced a crisis of public confidence due to failings in the management of quality, clinical risk and human resources within the service. These problems reflected structural and operational shortcomings in the clinical directorate and wider organisation. In this article, we detail the process of turnaround from the perspective of senior executive managers with professional and operational responsibility for the service. This turnaround required attention to local clinical accountability and transformation of the mental health program from a collocated but operationally isolated service to one integrated within the governance structures of the auspicing organisation.


Decomposition of nitric oxide (NO) gas on a reactive transition-metal cluster of W2TcO6 has been examined and investigated via selective catalytic reduction by ammonia (NH3-SCR) using the M06-L density functional method. The transition-metal cluster of W2TcO6 can be employed to transform NO to N2 gas efficiently over an active site of tungsten (W). A reaction mechanism of NO conversion based on the NH3-SCR process has been elucidated by a potential energy surface along the reaction pathways. The reaction pathways of this NH3-SCR process begin with adsorption of NH3, adsorption of NO to the cluster, formation of nitrosamine (NH2NO) and NHNO/NHNOH intermediates, and rearrangement of NHNO/NHNOH to obtain N2 and H2O, respectively. Notably, a significant NH2NO as a key intermediate, namely, "nitrosamine", must be formed before further steps can take place in the generation of N2 from NO, followed by the involvement of the NHNO or NHNOH intermediate. From our calculated results, the NHNO intermediate via TS3a is found in pathway a, while NHNOH is found in pathway b via TS3b. Pathway b has a lower energy barrier of 35.1 kcal/mol than pathway a with an energy barrier of 41.8 kcal/mol, indicating that pathway b should be more energetically favorable. The step for NHNO intermediate rearrangement is a rate-determining step for the reaction occurring through pathway a, which is found to be more difficult in accordance with a difficult N-H bond cleavage to form the NNOH intermediate before N2 formation. The overall reaction is an exothermic process with thermodynamic and kinetic favors. Thus, this bimetallic W2TcO6 cluster could be used as a promising and active catalyst for NO decomposition via the NH3-SCR process to an eco-friendly gas, that is, N2.


A directed cycle separator of an n-vertex directed graph is a simple directed cycle such that when the vertices of the cycle are deleted, the resulting graph has no strongly connected component with more than n/2 vertices. This paper shows that the problem of finding a directed cycle separator is in randomized NC. The paper also proves that computing cycle separators and conducting depth-first search in directed graphs are deterministic NC-equivalent. These two results together yield the first RNC algorithm for depth-first search in directed graphs.


Rotational dynamics of two structurally similar hydrophobic solutes, 2,5-dimethyl-1,4-dioxo-3,6-diphenylpyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole (DMDPP) and 1,4-dioxo-3,6-diphenylpyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole (DPP), has been investigated in 30% wv aqueous solution of triblock copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)(20)-poly(propylene oxide)(70)-poly(ethylene oxide)(20) as a function of temperature. This study has been undertaken in an attempt to explore how the dynamics of a solute molecule solubilized in a copolymer solution is influenced when it undergoes sol-to-gel transition. It has been observed that the anisotropy decays of both DMDPP and DPP can be described by biexponential functions in the sol as well as in the gel phase. This observation has been rationalized on the basis of the probe molecule undergoing two different kinds of motion rather than being located in two different regions of the micelle. Even in the gel phase, which results as a consequence of micelle-micelle entanglement due to an increase in their volume fraction, the rotational relaxation of the solutes is similar to that observed in the micellar solution. The outcome of this work indicates that even though these gels have very high macroscopic viscosities and hence do not flow, the microenvironments experienced by the solutes are akin to that of a micellar solution.


The effects of calcium on parathyroid hormone (PTH) release were studied in vivo and in vitro in primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) and in vitro in secondary HPT. In vivo the serum PTH was clearly reduced by intravenous calcium infusion in all the examined patients with primary HPT caused by adenoma. In vitro the release of PTH from dispersed parathyroid cells was likewise suppressed by raising the calcium concentrations in the incubation media, though in all cases a basal release of PTH still persisted even at high calcium concentrations. The degree of suppressibility in vitro varied, but in both primary HPT with adenoma and in secondary HPT it was inversely related to the patients' serum calcium values. These results suggest that the secretion of PTH in patients with primary and secondary HPT is not autonomous either in vivo or in vitro. Furthermore, the non-suppressible basal release of PTH indicates that a major cause for the increased secretion of PTH is the increased number of parenchymal cells. However, the degree of suppressibility of the individual cells rather than the absolute number of cells, seems to be of great importance for the individual serum calcium values in HPT.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models have emerged as key model systems to understand the efficacy of anti-cancer agents. PDX systems have demonstrated superiority over cell lines with regards to higher histological resemblance to primary tumor, presence of stroma and also in mimicking response to therapeutic agents. However, the genomic evolution landscape of model establishment is not a well studied topic. In order to do that, we systematically collected materials from the first three passages of xenografts derived from eight gastric cancer patients from Seoul National University, Korea from 2008-2011. We subsequently generated comprehensive genomic profiles of the first three passages, parent primary tumor, and matched normal tissues for the eight patients. The genomic profiling data included whole-exome sequencing data (Agilent exome capture, paired-end sequencing on Illumina HiSeq 2000), mRNA expression (Affymetrix U133 Plus2.0), copy number data (Affymetrix SNP6), miRNA expression (Agilent miRNA array v16.0) and DNA methylation data (Illumina HumanMethylation27). The analysis is focused on two types of events: a) Cancer-related genomic changes derived from normal vs. tumor comparison, and their subsequent assessment in early passages; b) Passage-specific genomic changes derived from tumor vs. passages comparison. A further refinement of passage-specific genomic changes is done to differentiate 'true' passage-specific events from the ones that appear due to the difference in tumor purity that is lower in primary tumor due to the normal contamination. Overall, we describe the genomic landscape of evolution along xenograft establishment in gastric cancer and provide a comprehensive picture of genetic and genomic similarities (and differences) of xenografts to the primary tumor. This analysis will help us to better interpret the in vivo results emanating from experiments using xenografts and to translate the findings appropriately to the clinic.

Citation Format: Kun Yu, Swee Seong Wong, Jason C. Ting, Thompson N. Doman, Yong Yue, Amit aggarwal, Gregory P. Donoho, Rebekka Krumbach, Heiner H. Feibig, Seong-Ho kong, Woo-ho Kim, Han-kwang Yang, Christoph Reinhard. Genomic evolution landscape of patient tumor derived xenograft of gastric cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 817. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-817

Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 because the presenter was unable to attend.


Extensive evaluative literature has pointed to the conclusion that there is no significant difference between the face-to-face and the various models of distance learning. Nevertheless, there exists the other face of the fact that some authorities still maintain that online education is never equal to traditional classroom instruction (Phipps & Merisotis, 1999). One critic even branded virtual schools as "digital diploma mills" (Noble 1997). There is thus a perceptible need to confirm or disconfirm the claims of both camps regarding comparable effectiveness between traditional and online teaching. This book presents an effort to compare traditional classroom-based instruction with online instruction. The participants of two different sections of a technology course were tapped for a quasi-experimental study. While one section of the course was exposed to classroom based instruction, another section of the same course was delivered online. Learning outcomes and course satisfaction were measured for both classes using quantitative (pre and post-test, readiness survey, learning inventory, student portfolios) and qualitative methods (focus interviews with both groups).


This paper addresses the use of Hebbian learning principles to model in an adaptive manner capabilities to interpret somebody else's emotions. First a non-adaptive neural model for emotion reading is described involving (preparatory) mirror neurons and a recursive body loop: a converging positive feedback loop based on reciprocal causation between mirror neuron activations and neuron activations underlying emotions felt. Thus emotion reading is modelled taking into account the Simulation Theory perspective as known from the literature, involving the own emotions in reading somebody else's emotions. Next the neural model is extended to an adaptive neural model based on Hebbian learning within which a direct connection between a sensed stimulus concerning another person's body state (e.g., face expression) and the emotion recognition state is strengthened.