: Objective: The aim of this study is to interrogate the occurrence of the vascular injury in the operation of lumbar spine and find out the method for detection and therapy of this complication. Methodology: Total one thousand one hundred and eleven patients retroactively in Capital Development Hospital Islamabad who got treatment with the surgery of lumbar spine from October 2012 to December 2018. The initially measured outcomes consisted complications of the intra-operative vascular, loss of blood during surgery & mortality during surgery. Results: The prevalence of this injury is very high in the frontal exposure (9.10%) as compared to the latter exposure (0.290%) & the involvement of segment of L 4-5 was present in 84.40% vascular injuries. Total 19 patients faced the VI in2 level & Multi-level exposure & twenty-six suffered vascular injuries in 1 level exposure. There was no significant disparity among the patients of both groups. Only one death occurred and all other patients were available with satisfactory results. Conclusion: There is high prevalence of VI in segment of L4-5 particularly during the application of the anterior exposure & it is the responsibility of the spine specialists to give more consideration to this complication which can lead to the death.


Altica cyanea (Weber, 1801) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a biocontrol agent of Onagraceae rice-field weeds, Ludwigia adscendens (L.) Hara, L. parviflora Roxb. and L. octovalvis (Jacq.) Raven in India. Hence, it is relevant to study the life history traits and population growth of A. cyanea on three Ludwigia species using age-stage, two-sex life table. The nutritional and antinutritional contents from leaves of the Ludwigia species were measured to comment on the role of nutrients and antinutrients on growth, development and fecundity of A. cyanea . Total larval developmental time was the shortest on L. adscendens (17.78 ± 0.22 days), intermediate on L. parviflora (20.35 ± 0.24 days) and the longest on L. octovalvis (21.98 ± 0.24 days). Total fecundity was the highest on L. adscendens (147.22 ± 4.74 eggs/female) followed by L. parviflora (119.28 ± 4.70 eggs/female) and the lowest on L. octovalvis (89.62 ± 3.45 eggs/female). The intrinsic rate of increase ( r ) ranged from 0.0639 to 0.0875 d − 1 , which was the lowest on L. octovalvis and the highest on L. adscendens . Population projection indicates that the population growth would be the fastest on L. adscendens and the slowest on L. octovalvis . The nutrients (lipids, amino acids and nitrogen) and antinutrients (tannins) were higher and lower, respectively, in L. adscendens than the other two Ludwigia species, which influenced faster larval development, higher adult longevity and greater fecundity of A. cyanea on L. adscendens . This study suggested that mass release of A. cyanea could be applied in biocontol program of these three Ludwigia weeds.


Metastatic thyroid carcinoma is clinically silent and found only at autopsy in most instances. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common and constitutes 56% of all secondary malignancies. However, preoperative distinction between primary and secondary thyroid neoplasms is often challenging. Fine needle aspiration is helpful in establishing a correct preoperative diagnosis. A local surgical resection is curative if prompt preoperative diagnosis is established. We hereby report a case of isolated metastatic RCC to the thyroid in a 65-year-old woman, diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology and later confirmed with histopathological examination.


Maternal diabetes increases the risk of intrauterine hypoxia. Inflammation may play a role in the pathogenesis of hypoxia-related neonatal complications. We studied correlations between levels of cord serum C-reactive protein (CRP), measured by a highly sensitive immunofluorometric assay, and indices of fetal hypoxia in diabetic pregnancies. Cord serum CRP correlated positively with amniotic fluid erythropoietin and umbilical artery pCO2. A negative correlation existed between cord serum CRP and umbilical artery pH and pO2. Amniotic fluid erythropoietin showed an independent effect on cord serum CRP in multiple regression analysis. These data suggest that the fetus responds to hypoxia by an inflammatory reaction.


Eight cases of abdominopelvic surgery including 7 conducted uniquely by laparoscopy point out certain questions concerning diagnosis and management with this technique. These 8 cases included 6 cysts of the ovary, 1 appendectomy and 1 myomectomy. The consequences related to the operation or the anaesthesia and the foetal consequences were evaluated retrospectively. In particular, laparoscopic surgery induces certain pathophysiological modifications which remain to be studied.


A new test structure for measuring mask misalignment for critical levels like contact to gate is described. Alignment requirements have become very challenging because of the extremely small dimensions of current state-of-the-art CMOS devices. The method for measuring contact to gate alignment involves using a SEM to scan an array of contacts each with a different amount of overlap with a grounded gate. The voltage contrast signal indicates which contacts are touching the gate. The data for an example wafer are compared to optical alignment data. Addition work necessary to more thoroughly compare the accuracy of the two techniques is described.


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the activities of the abdominal muscles of women who had experienced vaginal delivery in comparison with those who had experienced Cesarean childbirth. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 14 subjects (7 vaginal delivery, 7 Cesarean section) performed an active straight leg raise to 20 cm above the ground, and we measured the activities of the internal oblique abdominal muscle, the external oblique abdominal muscle, and the rectus abdominal muscle on both sides using electromyography. The effort required to raise the leg was scored on a Likert scale. Then, the subjects conducted maximum isometric contraction for hip joint flexion with the leg raised at 20 cm, and maximum torque and abdominal muscle activities were measured using electromyography. [Results] During the active straight leg raise, abdominal muscle activities were higher in the Cesarean section subjects. The Likert scale did not show a significant difference. The activities of the abdominal muscles and the maximum torque of the hip joint flexion at maximum isometric contraction were higher in the vaginal delivery subjects. [Conclusion] The abdominal muscles of Cesarean section subjects showed greater recruitment for maintaining pelvic stability during the active straight leg raising, but were relatively weaker when powerful force was required. Therefore, we consider that more abdominal muscle training is necessary for maintaining pelvic stability of Cesarean section subjects.


OBJECTIVES
This study investigated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and illness perceptions in people who suffered the acute medical trauma of a myocardial infarction (MI) or a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The study tested hypotheses regarding changes in PTSD symptoms and illness perceptions over time, associations between PTSD and illness perceptions and cognitive predictors of PTSD.

DESIGN AND METHOD
The study employed a longitudinal design and measured the illness perceptions and PTSD symptoms of an MI group (N=17) and a SAH group (N=27). Data were collected within 2 weeks of admission (T1), 6 weeks after admission (T2) and 3 months after admission (T3). Statistical analysis was undertaken to examine associations between illness perceptions and PTSD and to examine cognitive predictors of PTSD.

RESULTS
The prevalence of PTSD within the total acute medical trauma sample was 16% at 2 weeks, 35% at 6 weeks and 16% at 3 months. Illness perception factors of identity, timeline (acute/chronic), consequences and emotional representation were strongly correlated with PTSD at all three time points. PTSD symptoms and illness perceptions were shown to have changed over time. The results also showed that several illness perception factors are significant predictors of PTSD.

CONCLUSIONS
Both PTSD symptoms and illness perceptions changed significantly over time following an MI or SAH. Illness perception factors are significant predictors of PTSD.


Employed primarily for outreach and education, the three-dimensional (3D) printer used in this analysis provides a means of producing tangible models of fragile and restricted-use specimens for students from a wide variety of disciplines, and is used here to produce prints associated with historic and prehistoric cultural objects. Recognizing that inconsistencies occur in 3D prints due to environmental variables, this exploratory effort was aimed at identifying the geometry that deviates most from the original scan data. A total of five replicas were printed then compared by calculating the gap distance between the nominal (original scan data) and measured data (scan of 3D printed replica) in Geomagic Control X. Results indicate that computer-aided inspection may prove useful in the refinement of 3D printing work flows, finishing, and the iterative refinement of 3D printer settings for specific real-world educationand outreach-based endeavors.


The g Attendance capture for large populations still remains a challenge for organizations such as Schools, Universities and Event organizers. This is due to the fact that the attendance capture process is sequential requiring individual identification and autentification process. This process usually takes up a lot of time and generates a lot of inconvenience for the attendees. This process is also subject to manipulations as the most common identification model involves the use of ID cards embedded with either RFIDs or identification methods to tie the user to the card. These cards can be given to third parties for the purpose of taking the attendance. This paper presents the development of a Bluetooth based system and a local identification system for the development of a contactless identification capture system for large halls. The system identifies the user using his fingerprint. When the identification is completed, the data is transmitted to a central data base using the Bluetooth transmission technology. This system will enable a contactless capturing of the attendance in large halls resulting in a system with a very high security level and no inconvenience for the attendees.


This paper develops a dynamic equilibrium model of overlapping generations to study the effect of an introduction of a retail sales tax (RST) in China. Total government tax revenue is fixed, consumption-type value-added tax (VAT) is reduced in response to the introduction of RST, and an output tax exists. An introduction of RST accompanied by a decrease in VAT increases capital accumulation and welfare in the steady state. In the transition period, an introduction of RST accompanied by a decrease in VAT increases capital accumulation but decreases the current generation's welfare. Simulations based on the data from China show that introducing an 8 percent RST increases capital accumulation by 0.43 percent in the steady state.


Histones are the fundamental components of the nucleosome. Physiologically relevant variation is introduced into this structure through chromatin remodeling, addition of covalent modifications, or replacement with specialized histone variants. The histone H3 family contains an evolutionary conserved variant, H3.3, which differs in sequence in only five amino acids from the canonical H3, H3.1, and was shown to play a role in the transcriptional activation of genes. Histone H3.3 contains a serine (S) to alanine (A) replacement at amino acid position 31 (S31). Here, we demonstrate by both MS and biochemical methods that this serine is phosphorylated (S31P) during mitosis in mammalian cells. In contrast to H3 S10 and H3 S28, which first become phosphorylated in prophase, H3.3 S31 phosphorylation is observed only in late prometaphase and metaphase and is absent in anaphase. Additionally, H3.3 S31P forms a speckled staining pattern on the metaphase plate, whereas H3 S10 and H3 S28 phosphorylation localizes to the outer regions of condensed DNA. Furthermore, in contrast to phosphorylated general H3, H3.3 S31P is localized in distinct chromosomal regions immediately adjacent to centromeres. These findings argue for a unique function for the phosphorylated isoform of H3.3 that is distinct from its suspected role in gene activation.


Colorimetric pH strips (MColorpHast™) are very convenient to use, but the decision of pH is based on an individual's color perception and is, therefore, subjective. We developed a pH calculation program for the image of coloring strips on CIE1976 (L*a*b* color space), which slightly underestimated human judgment as the color of pH darker. This image analysis and three individuals' judgments were used for evaluating the strip's features for various qualities of meat from wild animals, and the results were compared with the assessments based on potentiometric pH. In both methods, dipping the strips in distilled water just before use improved the regression coefficient compared with that mentioned in the manual. The image analysis showed higher correlation than human judgments but slightly underestimate pH by a maximum of 0.13 unit from the regression line of the potentiometric pH. In addition, the image analysis revealed meat pigment changed pH higher on the color scale in the lower meat pH region. The strips must be used according to the manual, but dipping is effective when the meat surface is dry, and keeping the strips from touching the meat drip is important in lower pH region because the pigment affects the color of pH.


Public prosecution is an indispensable feature of the modern day administration of criminal justice. Public prosecution as we know it today, however, is a product of long evolution. Historically, pursuit of crime was a private affair and there was no official involvement in criminal prosecution. This article explores the development of criminal prosecution in England, on the European continent, and in America. The first part of the article traces the evolution of modes of accusation in England and on the European continent. The second part of the article focuses on the development of prosecution in America from the colonial days until the formation of the modern American prosecutorial system. The article highlights the historical events that contributed to the evolution and transition of modes of prosecution and analyzes the impact of different historical, cultural, and political values on the shaping of the present prosecutorial systems in Europe and in America.


Problem Definition: Ride-hailing platforms, which are currently struggling with profitability, view autonomous vehicles (AVs) as important to their long-term profitability and prospects. Are competing platforms helped or harmed by platforms' obtaining access to AVs? Are the humans that participate on the platforms--driver-workers and rider-consumers--(hereafter, agents) collectively helped or harmed by the platforms' access to AVs? How do the conditions under which access to AVs reduces platform profits, agent welfare, and social welfare depend on the AV ownership structure (i.e., whether platforms or individuals own AVs)?

Academic/Practical Relevance: AVs have the potential to transform the economics of ride-hailing, with welfare consequences for platforms, agents, and society.

Methodology: We employ a game-theoretic model that captures platforms' price, wage and AV fleet size decisions.

Results: We characterize necessary and sufficient conditions under which platforms' access to AVs reduces platform profit, agent welfare, and social welfare. The structural effect of access to AVs on agent welfare is robust regardless of AV ownership: agent welfare decreases if and only if the AV cost is high. In contrast, the structural effect of access to AVs on platform profit depends on who owns AVs. The necessary and sufficient condition under which access to AVs decreases platform profit is high AV cost under platform-owned AVs, and low AV cost under individually-owned AVs. Similarly, the structural effect of access to AVs on social welfare depends on who owns AVs. Access to individually-owned AVs increases social welfare; in contrast, access to platform-owned AVs decreases social welfare--if and only if the AV cost is high.

Managerial Implications: Our results provide guidance to platforms, labor and consumer advocates, and governmental entities regarding regulatory and public policy decisions affecting the ease with which platforms obtain access to AVs.


The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry is one of the most important productive sectors, hence also produce a high impact on the economic balances, societal stability, and global challenges in climate change. Regarding its adoption of technologies, applications and processes is also recognized by its status-quo, its slow innovation pace, and the conservative approaches. However, a new technological era - Industry 4.0 fueled by AI- is driving productive sectors in a highly pressurized global technological competition and sociopolitical landscape. In this paper, we develop an adaptive approach to mining text content in the literature research corpus related to the AEC and AI (AEC-AI) industries, in particular on its relation to technological processes and applications. We present a first stage approach to an adaptive assessment of AI algorithms, to form an integrative AI platform in the AEC industry, the AEC-AI industry 4.0. At this stage, a macroscopic adaptive method is deployed to characterize "Optimization," a key term in AEC-AI industry, using a mixed methodology incorporating machine learning and classical evaluation process. Our results show that effective use of metadata, constrained search queries, and domain knowledge allows getting a macroscopic assessment of the target concept. This allows the extraction of a high-level mapping and conceptual structure characterization of the literature corpus. The results are comparable, at this level, to classical methodologies for the literature review. In addition, our method is designed for an adaptive assessment to incorporate further stages.


The International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI), one of seven associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), has played an important role in organizing international meetings and collaboration to advance seismological research for nearly 100 years. In 1995 the IASPEI Committee on Education was established to help spread seismological knowledge more widely, especially through technological transfer to developing countries. At present the Committee has three ongoing projects: (1) preparing a handbook on earthquake and engineering seismology, (2) promoting training courses, and (3) organizing historical materials in seismology. Any interested person can contribute to these IASPEI efforts by contacting the project principal: (1) handbook: Willie Lee, lee{at}usgs.gov, (2) training: Peter Bormann, course{at}gfz-potsdam.de, and (3) historical materials: Graziano Ferrari, ferrari{at}sga-storiageo.it. This announcement calls for national, institutional, and personal contributions to the IASPEI Handbook.

IASPEI HANDBOOK

Paul Jennings, Hiroo Kanamori, and Willie Lee are now...


M2 macrophages are generally recognized to have a protumor role, while the effect of M1 macrophages in cancer is controversial. Here, the in vitro and in vivo effects of conditioned medium from M1 macrophages (M1-CM) on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells and a potential mechanism were studied. CCK-8, colony formation, EdU labeling, xenograft growth, and Transwell assays were utilized to observe cell survival/proliferation and migration/invasion, respectively, in OSCC cell lines treated with basic medium (BM) and M1-CM. The ErbB2 phosphorylation inhibitor (CI-1033) and GDF15 knockout cell lines were used to appraise the role of ErbB2 and GDF15 in mediating the effects of M1-CM. Compared with BM, M1-CM significantly enhanced the survival/proliferation of SCC25 cells. The migration/invasion of SCC25 and CAL27 cells also increased. Mechanically, M1-CM promoted GDF15 expression and increased the phosphorylation of ErbB2, AKT, and ErK. CI-1033 significantly declined the M1-CM-induced activation of p-AKT and p-ErK and its protumor effects. M1-CM stimulated enhancement of p-ErbB2 expression was significantly decreased in cells with GDF15 gene knockout vs without. In xenograft, M1-CM pretreatment significantly promoted the carcinogenic potential of OSCC cells. Our results demonstrate that M1 macrophages induce the proliferation, migration, invasion, and xenograft development of OSCC cells. Mechanistically, this protumor effect of M1 macrophages is partly associated with inducing GDF15-mediated ErbB2 phosphorylation.


Within the area of general-purpose fine-grained subjectivity analysis, opinion topic identification has, to date, received little attention due to both the difficulty of the task and the lack of appropriately annotated resources. In this paper, we provide an operational definition of opinion topic and present an algorithm for opinion topic identification that, following our new definition, treats the task as a problem in topic coreference resolution. We develop a methodology for the manual annotation of opinion topics and use it to annotate topic information for a portion of an existing general-purpose opinion corpus. In experiments using the corpus, our topic identification approach statistically significantly outperforms several non-trivial baselines according to three evaluation measures.


Levosimendan is a calcium sensitizer developed for the treatment of heart failure. It increases contractile force by enhancing the sensitivity of myofilaments to calcium. Besides this sensitizing effect, the drug has also been reported to show some inhibitory action on phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3). The inotropic effects of levosimendan have been studied on guinea pig paced perfused hearts by using modular control analysis (MoCA) (Diolez P, Deschodt-Arsac V, Raffard G, Simon C, Santos PD, Thiaudiere E, Arsac L, Franconi JM. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 293: R13-R19, 2007.), an integrative approach of heart energetics using noninvasive (31)P NMR. The aim was to evaluate quantitatively the respective effects of this drug on energy supply and demand modules. Under our experimental conditions, 0.7 muM levosimendan induced a 45% increase in paced heart output associated with a 7% decrease in phosphocreatine and a negligible increase in oxygen consumption. Because MoCA allows in situ study of the internal regulations in intact beating heart energetics, it was applied to describe quantitatively by which routes levosimendan exerts its inotropic action. MoCA demonstrated the absence of any significant effect of the drug on the supply module, which is responsible for the lower increase in oxygen consumption, compared with epinephrine, which increases the ratio between myocardial oxygen consumption and cardiac contraction. This result evidences that, under our conditions, a possible effect of levosimendan on PDE3 activity and/or intracellular calcium remains very low on mitochondrial activity and insignificant on integrated cardiac energetics. Thus, levosimendan inotropic effect on guinea pig heart depends almost entirely on the calcium-sensitizing properties leading to myofilament activation and the concomitant activation of energy supply by the decrease in PCr, therefore improving energetic efficiency of contraction.


The importance of modules in learning as enhancing student learning outcomes. Thus, it is necessary to conduct a needs analysis for the development of inquiry-based modules in improving student learning outcomes.Thus, through this module students are taught to study independently and think critically. This study aims to conduct a needs analysis of the implementation of inquiry-based learning modules in basic subjects of electricity and electronics. This type of research is a qualitative descriptive study. The respondents chosen in this study were subject teachers and tenth grade students of Audio Video Engineering in Vocational Schools in Padang, which were 70 students and randomly selected. The instrument used in this study was an observation sheet in the form of a questionnaire (yes-no Question). The results of the study shows that students need inquiry-based modules more than books or other independent teaching materials in which 100% of students answered needing independent teaching materials and 80% of students answered needing modules.


The dry weight and nitrogen content of Hymenolepis diminuta were studied after a period of 15 days' growth in rats receiving different diets. The special diets were fed during the last 7 days of this period, that is, while the major part of growth is occurring but before shedding proglottids. Replacement of all the protein (casein) of the diet by carbohydrate resulted in greater development of the worm. However, replacement of casein by fat had no effect on worm development, indicating that removal of protein is not a significant factor, whereas addition of carbohydrate is effective. Since exchange of casein by the nutritionally incomplete protein zein did not affect worm development significantly, protein quality appears not to be a factor in growth of H. diminuta. The addition of tryptophan and lysine to the meal containing zein, in order to raise its nutritional value to that of casein, did not influence the growth of the parasite. However, the feeding of the same amounts of these two amino acids at times other than those of giving zein depressed the growth of the parasite. This was not due to type of protein (zein) fed in the rest of the diet, since a similar phenomenon occurs when casein is the dietary protein, or when a protein-free diet rich in carbohydrate is given. Addition of these amino acids, singly, either to diets containing protein or deficient in protein, had significant actions on worm growth, which was sometimes stimulated and in other circumstances reduced. The nitrogen balance of the host was unaffected by the worm burden. We are deeply indebted to Dr C. A. Hopkins for providing facilities, for infection of rats with the cestode, and for his helpful advice. Miss M. Cowan provided skilled technical assistance during the feeding of the animals and analysis of the host and parasite tissues. One of us (D.F.M.) gratefully acknowledges the Award of a Commonwealth Bursary from the Royal Society and the Nuffield Foundation.


The worst-case probability of undetected error for a linear [n,k;q] code used on a local binomial channel is studied. For the two most important cases it is determined in terms of the weight hierarchy of the code. The worst-case probability of undetected error for simplex codes is determined explicitly. A conjecture about Hamming codes is given.


During the last years, several studies on Italian medium-sized firms (MSF) have been published in this Journal, some of them collected in a special issue (n. 2/2005). As this subject is attracting growing interest from economists, opinion and policy makers, three new articles are presented in this issue, providing further evidence from different points of view: role of private equity investors, internationalization strategies, focus on a specific sector (pharmaceutical industry). This paper presents the results emerging from these three articles in the framework of the general research agenda on MSF. Some critical issues are discussed, as the methodology for identifying the size boundaries of MSF, the need for more disaggregated analysis, the need for caveat in attributing "optimality" to MSF vis-a-vis small and large firms. Public policy implications are analysed in brief concluding remarks.


Objective: To evaluate the marginal fit and microleakage of monolithic zirconia crowns cemented with bioactive cement (Ceramir) compared to that cemented with glass ionomer cement and to evaluate the effect of thermocycling on marginal fit. Materials and methods: Twenty sound human molar teeth were prepared to receive a monolithic zirconia crowns. Teeth were divided randomly into two equal groups according to the type of luting cement. Group I: glass ionomer cement and group II: Ceramir cement. After cementation, the vertical marginal gap was assessed by using stereomicroscope before and after thermocycling. Twenty equidistant measurement points were taken for each crown. Leakage assessment was carried out using Fuchsin dye penetration followed by digital photography under a stereomicroscope. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test to compare between the two luting cements. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to evaluate the effect of thermocycling on the marginal fit (P ≤ 0.05)
 Results: Whether before or after thermocycling, the results showed no significant difference between the marginal gap values of the two tested groups. For both groups, there was a significant increase in marginal gap values after thermocycling. Also, there was no significant difference between leakage scores of the two tested groups. Conclusions: Similarity in the physical properties and chemical composition of the two cements result in a non- significant effect on the vertical marginal fit and the extent of microleakage of translucent zirconia crowns.  Thermocycling had a negative impact on the vertical marginal gap of the two tested luting agents.


Objective: To evaluate the relation between QT variables and disproportion of left ventricular wall hypertrophy in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Design: Retrospective analysis of the results of echocardiography and electrocardiography. Setting: University hospital (tertiary referral centre). Patients: 70 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were divided into four groups according to the distribution of left ventricular wall hypertrophy on cross sectional echocardiography: group A—hypertrophy confined to the interventricular septum; group B—hypertrophy confined to the interventricular septum and left ventricular anterior wall; group C—hypertrophy confined to the interventricular septum, left ventricular anterior wall, and lateral free wall; group D—hypertrophy involving all portions of the left ventricle. Main outcome measures: QT intervals and QT dispersion in precordial six lead ECGs. Results: There were no significant differences in the maximum left ventricular wall thickness among the four groups, and maximum and minimum QTc intervals also did not differ. QTc dispersion was increased significantly in groups A and B compared with groups C and D. Dispersions of the interval from the J point to the end of the T wave (JTc dispersions) in groups A and B were also increased significantly compared with groups C and D. By linear regression analysis, QTc and JTc dispersions correlated with the ratio of the interventricular septal thickness to left ventricular posterior wall thickness (p = 0.0152 and p = 0.0075, respectively). Conclusions: QT dispersion may be affected by not only electrical inhomogeneity but also by morphological inhomogeneity of the left ventricle in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.


The Local Position Measurement system (LPM) is one of the most precise systems for 3D position estimation. It is able to operate in- and outdoor and updates at a rate up to 1000 measurements per second. Previous scientific publications focused on the time of arrival equation (TOA) provided by the LPM and filtering after the numerical position estimation. This paper investigates the advantages of the TOA over the time difference of arrival equation transformation (TDOA) and the signal smoothing prior to its fitting. The LPM was designed under the general assumption that the position of the base station and position of the reference station are known. The information resulting from this research can prove vital for the system's self-calibration, providing data aiding in locating the relative position of the base station without prior knowledge of the transponder and reference station positions.


A field programmable gate array (FPGA) -based implementation of a physical random number generator (PRNG) is presented. The PRNG uses an alternating step generator construction to decorrelate an oscillator-phase-noise-based physical random source. The resulting design can be implemented completely in digital technology, requires no external components, is very small in area, achieves very high throughput and has good statistical properties. The PRNG was implemented on an FPGA device and tested using the NIST, Diehard and TestU01 random number test suites.


The most popular models to predict sound propagation in architectural spaces involve the tracing of rays, images, or beams. Most current beam-tracing methods use conical or triangular beams that may produce overlaps and holes in the predicted sound field. Hence a new method has been developed whereby the shape of reflected beams is governed by the shape of reflecting surfaces so as to produce a geometrically perfect description of the sound propagation for halls with occluding surfaces. The method also facilitates the calculation of diffuse sound propagation by managing the energy transfer from a specular model to a diffuse model. This adaptive beam-tracing method compares well with other methods in terms of speed and accuracy.


Urinary excretion of N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG) was measured in random urine as the ratio of NAG to grams of urinary creatinine in 120 normal Chinese children. The results showed that the NAG was elevated in newborn babies and infants, and decreased to adult level after two years of age. Thirteen children with urinary tract infection, who were clinically suggested or proved to have pyelonephritis, were evaluated for their urinary NAG excretion. The level of enzymuria at diagnosis in these patients was significantly higher than that of normal children for age. Eleven longitudinal follow-up data including levels at diagnosis, end of treatment, and two to four weeks after treatment showed that the mean urinary NAG at diagnosis was 109.82 +/- 87.30 u/g creatinine, compared with 75.26 +/- 48.82 u/g creatinine at the end of treatment and 15.37 +/- 9.69 u/g creatinine after recovery. These data suggest the presence of renal tubular cell injury in upper urinary tract infection. Thus urinary NAG may play a role in differentiating lower from upper urinary tract infections.


Rhabdomyosarcoma is a muscle-derived malignant tumor mainly affecting children. The most frequent variant, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is characterized by overexpression of the transcription factor, PAX7 which prevents ERMS cells from exiting the cell cycle and terminally differentiating. However, a role for PAX7 in the invasive properties of ERMS cells has not been investigated in detail thus far. Here we show that ectopic expression of receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) in human ERMS cells results in the activation of a RAGE/myogenin axis which downregulates PAX7 by transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms, as in normal myoblasts, and reduces metastasis formation. High PAX7 sustains migration and invasiveness in ERMS cells by upregulating EPHA3 and EFNA1 and downregulating NCAM1 thus decreasing the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM)/polysialylated-NCAM ratio. Microarray gene expression analysis shows that compared with the RAGE(-ve) TE671/WT cells and similarly to primary human myoblasts, TE671/RAGE cells show upregulation of genes involved in muscle differentiation and cell adhesion, and downregulation of cell migration related and major histocompatibility complex class I genes. Our data reveal a link between PAX7 and metastasis occurrence in ERMSs, and support a role for the RAGE/myogenin axis in metastasis suppression. Thus, low RAGE expression in ERMS primary tumors may be predictive of metastatic behavior.


We present a new pipeline based on the Support Vector Machine algorithm to confirm the detection and perform classification of small solar system objects by serendipitous stellar occultations. This pipeline is designed to analyze light curves and to identify the occultation events and the classification of the occulting bodies according to their size, typically from a fraction to a few kilometers, and their distance from the Sun, typically a few tens of astronomical units. The input light curves for this pipeline were obtained from the event simulator for the Trans-Neptunian Automated Occultation Survey (TAOS II). We explore parameters affecting occultation light curves such as spectral type, apparent magnitude and finite angular size of the occulted star, angle from opposition, and readout cadence for the observations; also we assumed a Poisson noise distribution as expected from the TAOS II project. We find that occultation events, especially by trans-Neptunian objects with diameters ≥2 km are detected with 99.99%, 99.53%, and 86% efficiency for stars with a visual apparent magnitude of 12, 14, and 16, respectively at 0.05 s of exposure time. In terms of size and distance classification the overall accuracy is 94%. However, for smaller objects the confirmation and classification depends mostly upon the signal-to-noise ratio.


Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-caspase 9 (Cas9) genome editing technology holds great promise for the field of human gene therapy. However, a lack of safe and effective delivery systems restricts its biomedical application. Here, a folate receptor-targeted liposome (F-LP) was used to deliver CRISPR plasmid DNA co-expressing Cas9 and single-guide RNA targeting the ovarian cancer-related DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) gene (gDNMT1). F-LP efficiently bound the gDNMT1 plasmid and formed a stable complex (F-LP/gDNMT1) that was safe for injection. F-LP/gDNMT1 effectively mutated endogenous DNMT1 in vitro, and then expressed the Cas9 endonuclease and downregulated DNMT1 in vivo. The tumor growth of both paclitaxel-sensitive and -resistant ovarian cancers were inhibited by F-LP/gDNMT1, which shows fewer adverse effects than paclitaxel injection. Therefore, CRISPR-Cas9-targeted DNMT1 manipulation may be a potential therapeutic regimen for ovarian cancer, and lipid-mediated delivery systems represent promising delivery vectors of CRISPR-Cas9 technology for precise genome editing therapeutics.


This article assesses a recent body of research on economic development and socio-political change in northern and other remote regions of developed Western nations. The regions include northern Canada, Alaska, northern Scandinavia, Australia's Northern Territory, and Micronesia. Research topics covered are theoretical perspectives, resource development, Native claims, and village economies. "Remote regions" are physically, economically, and politically distant from centers of wealth and power, they are culturally or ethnically diverse and sparsely settled; and they exhibit extreme limits on their autonomy, self-sufficiency, and welfare. "Development" of these regions is defined as the overcoming of internal and external obstacles to change in conditions associated with their remoteness. The authors ask whether the research has increased our understanding of the nature of these regions and of their development problems. Their answer is generally affirmative, but they also identify specific research gaps, problems, and needs. The latter include needs for more explicit theorizing, comparative and historical approaches, and research on resource ownership, Native claims outcomes, village subsistence, and population migration. Key words: Canada, Alaska, remote regions, development, resources, Native claims, village economies


Different developmental stages of maturation in the Leydig cells in the interstitial tissue are described. The ultrastructure of Leydig cells in chickens submitted to early embryonic surgical bursectomy was compared to sham-operated controls. Subsequent quantitative studies in the testis of the 17.5 days old chick embryo and in newly hatched chickens showed a greater number of differentiated Leydig cells in the bursectomized animals as compared with controls. This phenomenon has been observed at both ages studied and is in agreement with the higher testosterone production previously described in the bursectomized chickens.


This is a chapter prepared for the volume: Bill Davies and Fernanda Nicola Eds., EU LAW STORIES: CONTEXTUAL AND CRITICAL HISTORIES OF EUROPEAN JURISPRUDENCE, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2016. In line with the spirit of the book, this chapter tells the story of Melki – a landmark case in the jurisprudence of the CJEU, in a novel way and connects the individual journey of Mr. Melki to the broader context of north-south relations. Besides recounting the lawyerly strategy of Melki's pro-bono counsel and the predicament of Algerian sans-papiers in France, the chapter aims to contribute to the literature on the structural causes of north-bound economic migration, upon which Melki is grounded. Towards this goal, it analyzes in historical perspective the evolving trade and cooperation deals between the European Union and Algeria. Starting with the late 1950s, when Algeria was a part (though not a member state) of the European Economic Community, the chapter recalls crucial episodes in the history of EU-Algeria relations, which exemplify structural problems and contradictions in the EU's policies vis-a-vis North Africa. Part III of this chapter builds on our piece "Trade and History: The Case of EU-Algeria Relations" published on line by the Boston University International Law Journal (February 2015).


Adhesive procedures are essential to most restorative protocols used in modern dentistry. Increasing demand and constant interest in new products have stimulated dental manufacturers to produce new adhesive systems and marketing campaigns that announce fast and easy bonding. However, laboratorial and clinical studies show that, usually, ease of application of an adhesive system does not relate to its competence in creating a quality, long-term adhesive interface. This article will present relevant data from the scientific literature to help clinicians understand quality adhesion and achieve excellent results with the current adhesion systems.


Synchrotron radiation (SR) X-ray has great potential for its applications in both diagnosis and treatment of diseases, due to its characteristic properties including coherence, collimation, monochromaticity, and exceptional brightness. Great advances have been made regarding potential medical applications of SR X-ray in recent years, particularly with the development of the third generation of SR light sources. However, multiple studies have also suggested damaging effects of SR X-ray on biological samples ranging from protein crystals to cells and biological tissues. It has become increasingly important to conduct comprehensive studies on two closely related topics regarding SR X-ray in medical applications: The safety issues regarding the medical applications of SR X-ray and the fundamental mechanisms underlying the interactions between SR X-ray and biological tissues. In this article, we attempted to provide an overview of the literatures regarding these two increasingly significant topics. We also proposed our hypothesis that there are significant differences between the biological tissue-damaging mechanisms of SR X-ray and those of normal X-ray, due to the characteristic properties of SR X-ray such as high dose rate. Future studies are warranted to test this hypothesis, which may profoundly improve our understanding regarding the fundamental mechanisms underlying the interactions between light and matter. These studies would also constitute an essential basis for establishing the safety standard for the medical applications of SR X-ray.


We address the problem of healthcare systems performance evaluation under uncertainty by a cross-efficiency fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. Triangular fuzzy numbers are employed to deal with uncertain data. More precisely, a fuzzy triangular efficiency is associated to each hospital/ward through a cross-evaluation by a compromise between objectives. Results are defuzzified to obtain the ranking. The method is applied to evaluate hospitals in a region of Southern Italy and estimate the temporal evolution of the performance of one of them, showing the ease of application and usefulness in validating and planning healthcare reforms.


The Sustainable Human Resources Management (Sustainable HRM) adds organizational sustainability to people management subsystems. All areas of an organization depend largely on the action of the people. Therefore, if the organization's purpose is to be sustainable, it must provide the alignment between the guidelines of sustainability and their people management initiatives. The challenge of the Sustainable HRM is therefore to manage the organizations in relation to their human and social, natural and economic resources, involving organizational sustainability to their areas. Balance investments to meet the three aspects of sustainability tripod are part of the changes suggested by the Sustainable HRM. Although interest in Sustainable HRM is recurrent, more research is needed to develop a practical, clear and objective guide to be followed by organizations. Through the Soft System Methodology, a systemic methodology, a conceptual model and a framework of actions and indicators for Sustainable HRM were developed in this study, in order to provide support both strategic and operational to organizations. As a result, the HRM subsystems were adapted to encompass sustainable actions according to the sustainability pillars (environmental, social and economic), generating a framework of actions and indicators that companies can use to carry out the Sustainable HRM.


Construction equipment is an important type of resources of heavy construction contractors. Since equipment breakdowns can cause project delays and significant financial losses, the contractors are eager to know those factors causing equipment failures directly or indirectly, related to equipment design, maintenance, and operations. Although Bayesian network can be used for diagnostic analysis of failure events or making predictive analysis, building a Bayesian network for such purpose can be difficult as the cause-effect relations can be subjective and their conditional probabilities change with a wide variety of causal factors. A hybrid approach is proposed in this paper to update the Bayesian diagnostic network structures and parameters using real life data, the conditional probabilities and cause-effect relationships can be dynamically updated with observed failure records to reflect the real life situations of a complex equipment system. A case study is conducted to show the benefits of the hybrid approach in construction equipment diagnostic analysis.


Fracture and environmentally assisted subcritical crack-growth processes are examined in bulk Y-Si-Al-O-N oxynitride glasses with compositions typical of the grain boundary phase of silicon nitride ceramics. Both long-crack (in compact tension specimens) as well as short-crack behavior (using indentation techniques) were investigated to establish a reliable fracture toughness and to elucidate the anomalous densification behavior of the oxynitride glass. Environmentally assisted subcritical crack-growth processes were studied in inert, moist, and wet environments under both cyclic and static loading conditions. Behavior is discussed in terms of the interaction of the environment with the crack tip. Likely mechanisms for environmentally assisted crack growth are discussed and related to the subcritical crack-growth behavior of silicon nitride ceramics.


Because the subject of relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) contains all of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, we expect quantum field computation to contain (non-relativistic) quantum computation. Although we do not yet have a quantum theory of the gravitational field, and are far from a practical implementation of a quantum field computer, some pieces of the puzzle (without gravity) are now available. We consider a general model for computation with quantum field theory, and obtain some results for relativistic quantum computation. Moreover, it is possible to see new connections between principal models of computation, namely, computation over the continuum and computation over the integers (Turing computation). Thus we identify a basic problem in QFT, namely Wightman's computation problem for domains of holomorphy, which we call WHOLO. Inspired by the same analytic functions which are central to the famous CPT theorem of QFT, it is possible to obtain a computational complexity structure for QFT and shed new light on certain complexity classes for this problem WHOLO.


A 54-year-old patient with long-standing rheumatoid arthritis developed chronic eosinophilic pneumonia in association with a relapse of his arthritic condition. There was a rapid and complete response to oral steroid therapy.


Smart phones are very popular in today's life. Cameras with high resolution, High end processors and built-in sensors such as accelerometer, orientation sensor and light-sensors are equipped in today's phones. Motivated by this statistic and the diverse capability of smart phones, we focus on utilizing them for biomedical applications. Blood pressure is a significant vital sign; blood pressure monitoring has a great significance to determine the health status of patients. In this project blood pressure, Temperature and heart beat are estimated by using sensors and the result is viewed in smart phones by using GSM and if any abnormal result is showed then the result is send to the particular mobile number through SMS. An application is created in smart phone to view the result in waveform. We estimate the systolic and diastolic pressure. It would be useful to have a device which can measure all vital signs in such an event. Transmission of the vital signs measured using the smart phone can be a life saver in critical situations.


The Wasson field is near the central part of the Staked Plains or "Llano Estacado," in southern Yoakum and northwestern Gaines counties, Texas. It occupies a triangular area 15 miles long and 14 miles wide, containing approximately 55,000 acres or 86 square miles, and is defined at only a few points by dry holes. Geologically, the field lies on the extended axis of the Central Basin platform, but appears to be separated from it by a trough in northern Gaines County. For the purpose of this paper the structural-stratigraphic feature under discussion is referred to as part of North Basin platform. Two major axes, one trending N. 60° W., the other N. 30° E., combine with several minor parallel axes to form a compound structure. The combined effect of the structural elements gives the whole the appearance of a terraced platform tilted northeast by post-Permian movement. The stratigraphy is typical of West Texas, in that massive, porous dolomites with few clastics are present and grade basinward into thicker sections of interbedded dolomite and anhydrite containing more clastic material. The section penetrated by wells consists of: Recent, Tertiary, Cretaceous, Triassic, and Permian rocks. The reservoir is in porous dolomite 300-600 feet below the top of the San Andres formation. Detailed examination of the well cuttings show the body of the reservoir to have a reef-like cross section which may be accounted for by (1) physico-chemical deposition on a submarine "high," and (2) reef growth with attendant chemical deposition and recrystallization of the dolomite. The combination of Permian structure and stratigraphy appear to have controlled the permeability, porosity, and the accumulation of fluids. Later folding has modified the position of these fluids somewhat but for the field as a whole there is no direct relationship between the present structural elevation and the ability to produce oil. The discovery well, the Honolulu Oil Corporation and the Davidson Drilling Company's Bennett No. 1, found oil on September 28, 1935. Development has been continuous since 1936 and 42,631,627 barrels of oil had been recovered from the field by Jan. 1, 1943.


The combination of diflucortolone valerate (DIF) and isoconazole nitrate (ISO) is commonly used in pharmaceutical preparations. Though there are already few methods in the literature for the simultaneous determination of these two compounds, none of them involves the stability indicating property that is emphasized by the ICH guidelines. In the present study, a stability-indicating HPLC assay method was developed and subsequently validated for the simultaneous determination of diflucortolone valerate (DIF) and isoconazole nitrate (ISO) in their combined pharmaceutical cream formulations. Separation of active substances and their degradation products was achieved on an ACE column (150 × 4.6 mm id, 5μm particle size) with an isocratic mobile phase of sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer and methanol mixture in the ratio of 27 : 73, v/v with UV detection at 240 nm. The chromatographic separation was performed in very short run time with a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. The developed method was validated as per United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. DIF and ISO active substances were exposed to stress conditions separately and also in their combined drug product form in order to examine the stability indicating a property of the proposed method. Stressed samples were analyzed by using HPLC equipped with a photodiode array (PDA) detector and the method was found to be stability-indicating. Therefore, we introduced a facile method for routine analysis of DIF and ISO in combined cream pharmaceutical dosage forms and their corresponding


AIMS
To assess the cost implications of changing prescribing patterns for antihypertensive drugs and to analyse adherence to guidelines and formulary in Grampian region over a 1 year period.

METHODS
Data on all prescriptions for antihypertensive medicines between November 2001 and October 2002 were obtained from Grampian Health Board. The total quantity and cost of each drug prescribed was calculated and compared with November 1998 to October 1999. Adherence to the local formulary and 1999 British Hypertension Society guidelines for first line agents and prescribing of generic drug names were analyzed for each practice.

RESULTS
There was an increase in the total number of prescriptions for antihypertensive drugs from 504929 in 1998/99 to 741620 in 2001/02, and a corresponding increase in total cost from pound 4.52 million to pound 6.79 million. Increases were seen in all drug classes, particularly angiotensin II antagonists (246.27%). Adherence to the local formulary was good, with an average of 91.25% (SD 5.94%) of prescribing consistent with recommended agents. This fell to 71.70% (SD 23.10%) for angiotensin II antagonists. Prescription using generic name was related to whether the practice dispensed medication or not: the mean level of generic prescribing in dispensing practices was 75.25% and in nondispensing practices was 89.02% (mean difference 13.76 (9.27, 18.26), P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
There was a substantial increase in prescribing volume and cost of antihypertensives between 1998/99 and 2001/02. This trend is likely to have continued, given changing targets and indications for therapy. Although practices generally showed high concordance with formulary recommendations, newer agents such as angiotensin II antagonists were less consistent, possibly related to pharmaceutical influences on prescribing. Dispensing practices were more likely to prescribe branded drugs which may reflect current reimbursement policies. Changing prescribing practices by encouraging formulary based prescribing and prescribing of generic agents may help offset the cost implications of guideline driven increases in antihypertensive drug prescribing. Education, and reviewing payment practices in dispensing and smaller practices, may also have a role.


In this work we present a protocol for a self- synchronized duty-cycling mechanism in wireless sensor net- works with energy harvesting capabilities. The protocol is im- plemented in Wiselib, a library of generic algorithms for sensor networks. Simulations are conducted with the sensor network simulator Shawn. They are based on the specifications of real hardware known as iSense sensor nodes. The experimental results show that the proposed mechanism is able to adapt to changing energy availabilities. Moreover, it is shown that the system is very robust against packet loss.


BACKGROUND
Anti-psychotic drugs are usually given orally but compliance with medication given by this route may be difficult to quantify. The development of depot injections in the 1960s gave rise to extensive use of depots as a means of long-term maintenance treatment. Perphenazine decanoate and enanthate are depot antipsychotics that belong to the phenothiazine family and have a piperazine ethanol side chain.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of depot perphenazine decanoate and enanthate versus placebo, oral anti-psychotics and other depot antipsychotic preparations for people with schizophrenia in terms of clinical, social and economic outcomes.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Biological Abstracts (1982-1998), the Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 1998), the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (June 1998), EMBASE (1980-1998), MEDLINE (1966-1998), and PsycLIT (1974-1998) were searched. References of all identified trials were also inspected for more studies and industry contacted.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised clinical trials focusing on people with schizophrenia where depot perphenazine decanoate and enanthate, oral anti-psychotics or other depot preparations were compared.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Studies were reliably selected, quality rated and data extracted. For dichotomous data Peto odds ratios (OR) with the 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. Where possible, the number needed to treat statistic (NNT) was calculated. Analysis was by intention-to-treat.

MAIN RESULTS
One study of six months duration, compared perphenazine enanthate to clopenthixol decanoate. There was no differences between the two for outcomes of global improvement, relapse and leaving the study early. More people in the perphenazine enanthate group required anticholinergic drugs than those allocated to clopenthixol decanoate (OR 3.6 CI 1.2-10, NNT 10). A single study (n=64, duration six weeks) compared perphenazine enanthate and its longer acting decanoate ester. Data on relapse and leaving the study early failed to show convincing differences. The enanthate group, however, experienced more movement disorders (OR 0.2 CI 0.06-0.7) than those allocated the decanoate ester of the same drug (NNT 4.0) and required more anticholinergic drugs (OR 0.2 CI 0.08-0.7, NNT 3.7).

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
Depot perphenazine is in clinical use in the Nordic countries, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. At a conservative estimate a quarter of a million people suffer from schizophrenia in those countries and could be treated with depot perphenazine. The total number of participants in the two trials with useful data is 236. Neither study observes the effect of oral versus depot antipsychotic drugs. Until well conducted and reported randomised trials are undertaken clinicians will be in doubt as to the effects of perphenazine depots and people with schizophrenia should exercise their own judgement or ask to be randomised.


AIMS
This article reports a study of organizational risk management approaches to resistance to care episodes in specific clinical areas: prevention measures, provision of subsequent support and follow-up by management and resultant organizational change.

BACKGROUND
Resistance to care describes a patient's unwillingness to be assisted by healthcare staff and is manifested in defensive behaviours ranging from minor non-compliance/dissent to aggression. It has previously been studied in aged care settings and focused on patient behaviours and appropriate responses.

METHODS
This was a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of nurses (n = 5044) who were members of the New South Wales Nurses' Association in Australia, in 2008-2009.

RESULTS
Of 1132 participants, 80% reported being involved in resistance to care episodes during the previous month and this was higher in some settings. Episodes were not routinely reported internally, and often did not lead to organizational change. Nurses reported that talking with other staff was the most effective action in dealing with the consequences of these episodes. Half of the respondents considered that they were provided with sufficient support and follow-up after a resistance to care episode. Prevention measures and follow-up strategies adopted by employers varied across clinical settings.

CONCLUSION
Resistance to care is not confined to aged care settings, and risk management of resistance to care can increase safety in the workplace. Preventive strategies such as increased staff, training and security should be focused on high risk clinical areas; and appropriate support, follow-up and organizational change instituted in response to these episodes.


Cerebral specialization between the left and right hemisphere is a fundamental concept in neuroscience. Left–right brain asymmetries of macroscopic structures or functions in human brain are well characterized (Toga & Thompson, 2003). For example, the left hemisphere is dominant for language and logical processing, whereas the right hemisphere prevails in spatial cognition. The brain is also lateralized for several behavioural functions in non-human animals (Walker, 1980). For example, the activation of the left hemisphere is dominant in songbirds and primates in response to visual or auditory stimuli, whereas the right hemisphere leads in space and emotion processing in rodents and chick, respectively. Recently, an intriguing lateralization of emotional processing has been observed in the mouse suggesting that only the right, but not the left, anterior cingulate cortex encodes fear learning (Kim et al. 2012).

In contrast to the knowledge of brain lateralization at the macroscopic level, virtually nothing was known about brain left–right asymmetries at microscopic levels involving molecules, synapses and neurons. A breakthrough occurred 10 years ago when the groups of Ito and Shigemoto reported an unexpected molecular difference at excitatory synapses of the left and right mouse hippocampus. They found that the synaptic distribution of one of the four N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor GluN2 subunits, namely the GluRɛ2 (GluN2B), is asymmetrical between the left and right (L–R) and between the apical and basal dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons (Kawakami et al. 2003; Fig. 1A). Presynaptic axons from the left CA3 pyramidal neurons form ɛ2-dominant synapses on the apical dendrites of postsynaptic pyramidal neurons in both left and right hippocampus. Conversely, presynaptic axons from the right CA3 pyramidal neurons form ɛ2-dominant synapses on the basal dendrites of postsynaptic pyramidal neurons in both left and right hippocampus. Subsequently, they demonstrated that such functional asymmetry has structural correlates: GluRɛ2-dominant synapses are often found on small thin dendritic spines whereas GluRɛ2 non-dominant synapses are present on large mushroom-type spines (Shinohara et al. 2008). Furthermore, this molecular asymmetry is target specific, namely it does not occur in excitatory synapses on interneurons (Wu et al. 2005). It also has functional consequences since spike-timing-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by optogenetic stimulation of afferent fibres from the left CA3, targeting GluN2B-dominant spines in the apical dendrites, is larger than LTP at GluN2B non-dominant spines targeted by afferents from the right CA3 (Kohl et al. 2011).

Figure 1

Hippocampal asymmetry in wild-type (WT, A) or β2m knockout (KO, B) mice

In spite of this progress, many questions remained to be answered, and in particular it was not known what molecules regulate the generation of the L–R and apical–basal asymmetries. In this issue of The Journal of Physiology, Kawahara et al. (2013) identify the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) as key molecules involved in the regulation of the asymmetry of NMDA receptors at hippocampal synapses.

The authors started off by using the β2-microglobulin (β2m)-deficient mouse that lacks cell surface expression of MHCI. To reveal molecular asymmetries, as in their previous papers, they tested the inhibitory effect of Ro 25-6981, a highly potent and selective blocker of NMDA receptors containing the GluRɛ2 (GluN2B) subunit, on NMDA-excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) evoked by the stimulation either of the stratum radiatum or the stratum oriens to activate apical or basal synapses, respectively. As in their previous papers, to selectively stimulate Schaffer collaterals, originating in ipsilateral CA3 pyramidal cells, they cut the commissural fibres coming from contralateral CA3 pyramidal neurons. This was needed since commissural fibres are intermingled with Schaffer fibres, and also excite CA1 pyramidal neurons. In control experiments, they also tested the hippocampus of the iv mouse that possess a spontaneous mutation in a gene encoding the motor protein Left-right dynein. These mice display normal apical–basal asymmetry but lack L–R asymmetry (Kawakami et al. 2008). Strikingly, they observed neither L–R asymmetry nor apical–basal asymmetry in the β2m-deficient synapses (Fig. 1B). Furthermore, commissural–CA3 synapses of wild-type mice were preferentially ɛ2-dominant on the left side, but this asymmetry was not present in the β2m-deficient mice. Consistent with their main findings, the authors also observed a lack of asymmetries in the frequency dependency of synaptic plasticity and in morphological aspects of dendritic spines in the β2m-deficient mice. Further experiments indicated that NMDA-EPSC sensitivity to Ro 25-6981 was similar in β2m-deficient and in GluRɛ2-dominant synapses, and that β2m proteins were expressed by hippocampal synapses in control mice.

This paper is the first attempt to dissect out the cellular processes that generate molecular asymmetries in the brain. However, the exact role of MHCI molecules in this process is still unclear. As the authors pointed out, their work does not allow one to distinguish whether the lack of asymmetries in the β2m-deficient mouse is due to a specific effect on circuit asymmetries or a consequence of generalized failure of synapse maturation caused by MHCI deficiency. Immune molecules, including MHCI proteins, play an important role in the formation and plasticity of glutamatergic synapses (Fourgeaud & Boulanger, 2010). Therefore, the lack of synaptic asymmetries could simply be due to abnormal synaptic development. Moreover, the role of other synapse-associated molecules, such as those involved in the target recognition between pre- and postsynaptic neurons during synapse formation, remains to be investigated.

The study of brain asymmetry is a fascinating topic and has an intrinsic aesthetic value. Not surprisingly, symmetry and asymmetry capture the attention of artists too. For example, the mirror-image asymmetry for NMDA receptors expressed by CA1 hippocampal neurons can be detected in the main motif of the work of art shown in Fig. 1C.


The rapid development of free and open-access hydrological models and coupling framework tools continues to present more opportunities for coupled model development for improved assessment of floodplain hydrology. In this study, we set up an Upper Zambezi hydrological model and a fully spatially hydrological-hydrodynamic coupled model for the Barotse Floodplain using GLOFRIM (GLObally applicable computational FRamework for Integrated hydrological–hydrodynamic Modelling). The hydrological and hydrodynamic models used are WFLOW and LISFLOOD-FP, respectively. The simulated flows generated by the wflow model for the upstream gauge stations before the Barotse Floodplain were quite similar and closely matched the observed flow as indicated by the evaluation statistics; Chavuma, nse = 0.738; kge = 0.738; pbias = 2.561 and RSR = 0.511; Watopa, nse = 0.684; kge = 0.816; pbias = 10.577 and RSR = 0.557; and Lukulu, nse = 0.736; kge = 0.795; pbias = 10.437 and RSR = 0.509. However, even though the wflow hydrological model was able to simulate the upstream hydrology very well, the results at the floodplain outlet gauge stations did not quite match the observed monthly flows at Senanga gauge station as indicated by the evaluation statistics: nse = 0.132; kge = 0.509; pbias = 37.740 and RSR = 0.9233. This is mainly because the representation of both floodplain channel hydrodynamics and vertical hydrological processes is necessary to correctly capture floodplain dynamics. Thus, the need for an approach that saves as a basis for developing fully spatially distributed coupled hydrodynamic and hydraulic models' assessments for groundwater dependent tropical floodplains such as the Barotse floodplain, in closing the gap between hydrology and hydrodynamics in floodplain assessments. A fully coupled model has the potential to be used in implementing adaptive wetland management strategies for water resources allocation, environmental flow (eflows), flood control, land use and climate change impact assessments. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2022-03-02-09 Full Text: PDF


Chalkbrood, a widespread fungal disease of bee larvae, is caused by the fungus Ascosphaera apis. In this article, mecylia and spores of A. apis were respectively collected followed by DNA isolation, bisulfite conversion, cDNA library construction and next-generation sequencing. Using whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), 69,844,360 and 60,570,990 raw reads were yielded from Aam and Aas, and after quality control, 9,982,386,951 and 8,825,601,434 clean reads were obtained, respectively. In addition, 67,685,866 and 58,886,072 clean reads were mapped to the reference genome of A. apis, including 37,643,592 and 31,568,442 unique mapped clean reads, and 49,686 and 13,348 multiple mapped clean reads. Furthermore, after bisulfite treatment, the conversion ratio of clean reads from Aam and Aas were 99.38% and 99.51%, respectively. The WGBS data ducumented here contributes to genome-wide identification of 5mC methylation sites in A. apis and comparison of methylomes between mycelium and spore. Value of the data This dataset can be used for genome-wide identification of 5mC methylation sites in A. apis. The accessible data could be used to systematically compare methylomes between mycelium and spore of A. apis. Current data provides a useful resource for further study on DNA methylation-mediated mechanism underlying mycelium growth, spore germination and sexual reproduction of mycelium with the opposite sex.


Trained nutritionists surveyed 92 female infants and their mothers in Western Massachusetts at monthly intervals from birth to age 6 months. A diet history, a three-day record of food intake and 11 anthropometric measurements were obtained at each home visit. Skinfold measurements showed an earlier plateau than in other published studies. There were no significant differences in fat thicknesses when infants were classified by method of feeding until age 2 months, but formula-fed infants with solids started before age 2 months had the largest mean skinfolds which peaked at age 3 months and then decreased and became similar to those of the other groups by age 5 months.


INTRODUCTION
Footrot in sheep should be eradicated in Switzerland in the future. Based on scientific findings, this can be achieved with disinfectant footbaths. It is unknown how many sheep farmers are already using this means and how it is used. The current study evaluated the farm operation, the design of the footbath, the use of disinfectants and footbath with a written survey of a representative sample of all sheep farmers. The sample population was selected randomly, however stratified by language region and herdsize to control for differences between these groups. 45.3% (n=1134) of the distributed questionnaires were received for evaluation. On average 32.8% of the respondents used a footbath. Even on large farms (> 50 animals), which were more frequently affected by footrot, a footbath was available only in 52.6% of the farms in the French-speaking part and 67.7% in the German/Italian speaking part of Switzerland. The footbaths were correctly applied in most respects (e.g., pre-claw cleaning, liquid level and concentration of disinfectants, time in the footbath, post-bath drying phase) in the current study. Most commonly mobile plastic baths were in use. The disinfectants used were mainly formalin, copper and zinc sulfate. The incorrect disposal of the heavy-metal containing copper and zinc sulfate solutions was identified as an important problem: In 59% of the sheep farms the remaining footbath solutions were disposed in the slurry pit or manure storage. In summary the current study recommends (i) to motivate sheep farmers to use a footbath for the treatment and prevention of footrot, and (ii) to replace the currently used disinfectants with substances that are non-toxic to humans, animals and the environment.


Abstract Starting with the fundamental relation that state prices are the product of physical probabilities and the stochastic discount factor, Ross (2015) shows that, given strong assumptions, knowing state prices suffices to back out physical probabilities and the stochastic discount factor at the same time. We find that such recovered physical distributions based on the S&P 500 index are incompatible with future returns and fail to predict future returns and realized variances. These negative results are even stronger when we add economically reasonable constraints. Simple benchmark methods based on a power utility agent or the historical return distribution cannot be rejected.


The electronic information industry has an important influence on the industrial upgrading, industrial structure adjustment, and transformation of economic development mode, which is treated as an important driving force to our country economic development. Based on the relevant literatures, this paper establishes the determinants of electronic information manufacturing industry development, and does an empirical study by the method of grey correlation analysis. The results show that the level of economic development, the labor input, the input of research and development (R&D), the industrial competition and industrial demand are themaindeterminants of electronic information manufacturing industry development. However, the capital factor, the industrial policy and the opening-up level don't have a significant impact onthe current development of electronic information manufacturing industry. In addition, the paper puts forward someproposals to accelerate the development of China's electronic informationmanufacturing industry.


A brief sketch of the present status of gravitational wave experiments is given. Attention is concentrated to recent observations with the gravitational detector network. The project OGRAN for a combined optic-interferometrical and acoustical gravitation wave antenna planned for installation into underground facilities of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory is presented. We describe general principles of the apparatus, expected sensitivity and current characteristics of the antenna prototype; some ways for sensitivity improvement are also discussed.


This study concerned development and validation of a simple and inexpensive method involving partial coherence interferometry for measuring retinal shape, and its use in exploring association between retinal shape and myopia. Retinal shapes estimates using partial coherence interferometry were validated against estimates obtained from magnetic resonance imaging. Steeper retinas were found along the horizontal than along the vertical meridian, in myopes than in emmetropes, and in East Asian myopes than in Caucasian myopes. The racial differences, combined with the high prevalence of myopia in East Asia, suggest that retinal shape may play a role in myopia development.


An analytical analysis is presented for the magnetic coupling between separated, radially-polarized multipole cylinders. These cylinders function as a magnetic gear and a formula is derived for computing the torque developed by such gears. The theory applies to rare-earth materials such as NdFeB, and is demonstrated via simulation of a practical device.


Seasonal stratospheric ozone depletion in the Arctic has raised the question of whether the associated increases in ultraviolet-B (290-320 nm) constitute a significant health risk in Arctic populations. Increases in skin cancer in Europe and the USA from excess UV-B resulting from ozone depletion have been predicted. Skin cancer is, however, rare in Inuit populations. UV-B also causes a selective down regulation of the immune system which may be a natural regulatory mechanism evolved to prevent autoimmune attack on sunlight-altered skin. The action spectrum for UV-B immunosuppression implicated a unique skin photoreceptor molecule, urocanic acid (UCA), which isomerizes from the trans to the cis isomer on exposure to UV-B, the cis isomer being immunosuppressive. This form of immunosuppression is important in skin cancer and possibly in infectious diseases. The epidemiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma shows a relationship with UV exposure, postulated to be via the immunosuppressive effects of UV-B. Cancers which show an excess in Inuit populations include nasopharyngeal and salivary gland cancer. Genetic factors appear to be involved, but these are thought to be virally related cancers possibly associated with the high viral load in these populations. In several studies on non-Arctic populations, salivary gland cancer has been linked to ultraviolet exposure. A potential role for UV-B exposure in these cancers in the Arctic needs to be explored. In view of the high levels of POPS in some Arctic regions, potential interactions between the immunosuppression caused by some of these pollutants and the effects of UV-B need to be investigated.


This study sought to determine whether the self-perceived image of a young adult's anterior dental esthetics is linked with periodontal health, dental caries, and oral hygiene practices. Two hundred subjects were assessed via a clinical examination, including intraoral photographs. The subjects were questioned about their demographics and oral hygiene practices and given the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) to measure their self-perceived variables related to dental esthetics. A high PIDAQ score indicates a negative image of one's own dental esthetics, while a low PIDAQ score indicates a positive outlook. A self-perceived negative psychosocial impact of anterior dental esthetics was detected in subjects with higher levels of dental caries and visible gingival inflammation in the anterior region of the mouth.


Chronic urticaria (CU) is a common, vascular skin reaction that is characterized with erythema and edema in skin and mucosa. Etiology is exactly unknown. Various local infections such as sinusitis, Helicobacter pylori (HP) infections and dental infections may be responsible in etiology of CU. However, the relationship between the periodontal findings and urticaria was not investigated sufficiently until now. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of periodontal findings in CU patients compared with healty controls and periodontal findings of CU patients with positive autologous serum skin test (ASST) and those with negative ASST. Forty-eight CU patients and 58 healty subjects with similar age and gender were included in the study. The periodontal status of all subjects was evaluated according to the CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs). The mean CPITN values were 1.5p1.0 in patients with CU and 1.37p1.0 in healty controls. No statistically significant difference was observed among the groups (pg0.05). In addition, we found no statistically significant difference between the patients with positive ASST and those with negative ASST (pg0.05). Result: Periodontal findings are not considered as a risk factor for CU however further studies with larger groups are needed to compare the periodontal status. Key Words: Chronic Urticaria; Periodontal Disease; Dental Infection.


Tight oil and gas accumulation commonly has heterogeneities within the reservoir formation. This heterogeneity, however, is hard to investigate by conventional geological and (organic) geochemical tools and thus is critical and challenging to study. Here, we attempted multivariate statistical analysis to reveal the heterogeneity based on a case study in the lacustrine tight oil accumulation in the middle Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Jimusar sag, Junggar Basin, NW China. Clustering heat maps and multi-dimensional scaling analysis revealed the heterogeneity of tight oil accumulation. The heterogeneity is reflected by the complex relationship between the two reservoir sweet spots as well as the oil migration and accumulation vertically and spatially, rather than the previous thoughts that it is a closed system associated with proximal hydrocarbon accumulation patterns. Multiple biomarkers show that the source rocks and reservoirs have similar characteristics in the lower part of the formation, reflecting a proximal hydrocarbon accumulation pattern in the lower sweet spot (near-source accumulation, abbreviated as NA). This represents a relatively closed system. However, the upper sweet spot and the middle section mudstone sequence intervening the two sweet spots are not a completely closed system in a strict sense. These sequences can be divided into three tight oil segments, i.e., lower, middle, and upper from deep to shallow. The lower segment is sited in the lower part of the middle section mudstone sequence. The middle segment is composed of the upper part of the middle section mudstone sequence and the lower part of the upper sweet spot. The upper segment is composed of the upper part of the upper sweet spot and the overlying upper Permian Wutonggou Formation reservoirs. Oils generated in the lower segment migrated vertically to upper sweet spot reservoirs through faults/fractures, and laterally to distal reservoirs. Oils generated in the middle segment were preserved in reservoirs of the upper sweet spot. Oils in the upper segment require accumulation by vertical and lateral migration through faults/fractures. As such, the tight oil accumulation is complex in the Lucaogou Formation. From base to top, the accumulation mechanisms in the Lucaogou Formation were NA, VLMA (vertical and lateral migration and accumulation), NA and VLMA, thereby showing strong heterogeneities. Our data suggest that these processes might be typical of tight oil accumulations universally, and are important for future exploration and exploitation in the region to consider the heterogeneities rather than a closed system. The multivariate statistical analysis is an effective tool for investigating complex oilsource correlations and accumulation in petroleum basins.


A compliant constant-force mechanism is a passive force regulation device that can generate a nearly constant output force over a range of input or output displacements while without the use of sensors and feedback control. In topology synthesis of a compliant constant-force mechanism for a given input displacement range, the constant output force can be achieved by maintaining the output displacement to be nearly a same value while the input displacement increases. In order to further control the desired output displacement for the compliant constant-force mechanism before contacting the object, this article introduces a new composite objective function that can consider both the output force (with contact) and the output displacement (without contact) of the synthesized compliant mechanism. The sensitivity for the proposed objective function with respect to the element density is derived while considering the effect of nonlinearity in the large deformation condition. The proposed topology optimization method is used to design an innovative constant-force compliant finger, and its prototype is manufactured by 3-D printing using a flexible thermoplastic elastomer. The experimental results show the developed constant-force compliant finger can provide a nearly constant output force of 41.9 N over the input displacement ranging from 15 to 30 mm while the maximum and average force variations within the constant-force range are 2.2% and 0.9%, respectively. In addition, the developed constant-force compliant finger is used to design a three-fingered constant-force compliant gripper that can be used in robotic grasping of fragile objects.


Aim: The phenolic potential and suitability of seasoned and toasted Portuguese chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill) and oak wood (Quercus pyrenaica) as alternative cooperage materials were evaluated.Methods and results: Low-molecular-weight phenols and ellagitannins from seasoned and toasted Portuguese wood species were analysed by HPLC. C. sativa was found to be richer in phenolic compounds than Q. pyrenaica. High concentrations of vescalagin and gallic acid were specific to C. sativa. Toasting significantly reduced the ellagitannin content in both wood types, albeit less markedly in C. sativa. As regards phenolic aldehydes, C. sativa contained substantially greater amounts of vanillic aldehyde, an odour-active compound, than Q. pyrenaica.Conclusion: Both types of Portuguese wood are suitable for use as cooperage materials, although chestnut wood is better suited to the heat treatment involved in the coopering process.Significance and impact of the study: Portuguese wood species provide an effective alternative to the oak wood species traditionally used for aging alcoholic beverages.


A series of 10-membered cyclic 1,5-diynes has been prepared with arene rings fused at positions C-3/C-4. The arenes include simple benzene rings, a naphthoquinone and naphthohydroquinone, and an anthraquinone and anthracene unit. Consistent with a simple picture relating the extent of double bond character in the ene part of the ene-diyne with the rate of arene-1,4-diyl formation, the hydroquinone derivatives were much less reactive compared to the corresponding quinones. Substituents such as propargylic hydroxyl or keto group have a small but significant activating effect. The parent 3,4-benzo-1,8-decadiyne shows a half-life for rearrangement of 24 h at 84°C while the corresponding alkene, cyclodec-3-ene-1,5-diyne is reported to have a half-life of 18 h at 37°C


Summary: Scarring and fibrosis are an enormous public health concern, resulting in excessive morbidity and mortality in addition to countless lost health care dollars. Recent advances in cell and developmental biology promise a better understanding of scarring and fibrosis and may translate to new clinical therapies.


Like other forms of engineering, metabolic engineering requires knowledge of the components (the 'parts list') of the target system. Lack of such knowledge impairs both rational engineering design and diagnosis of the reasons for failures; it also poses problems for the related field of metabolic reconstruction, which uses a cell's parts list to recreate its metabolic activities in silico. Despite spectacular progress in genome sequencing, the parts lists for most organisms that we seek to manipulate remain highly incomplete, due to the dual problem of 'unknown' proteins and 'orphan' enzymes. The former are all the proteins deduced from genome sequence that have no known function, and the latter are all the enzymes described in the literature (and often catalogued in the EC database) for which no corresponding gene has been reported. Unknown proteins constitute up to about half of the proteins in prokaryotic genomes, and much more than this in higher plants and animals. Orphan enzymes make up more than a third of the EC database. Attacking the 'missing parts list' problem is accordingly one of the great challenges for post-genomic biology, and a tremendous opportunity to discover new facets of life's machinery. Success will require a co-ordinated community-wide attack, sustained over years. In this attack, comparative genomics is probably the single most effective strategy, for it can reliably predict functions for unknown proteins and genes for orphan enzymes. Furthermore, it is cost-efficient and increasingly straightforward to deploy owing to a proliferation of databases and associated tools.


Abstract Segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (s-MFBIA) has been adopted recently to evaluate the volume of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). This procedure uses the segmental phase angle (s-PhA) as an indicator of cellular integrity. In the smaller-built Asian population, the BCRL often has a small volume difference and can be overlooked by tape circumference volume measurement (TVM). This study aimed to investigate the clinical feasibility of s-MFBIA for the assessment of lymphedema severity compared with TVM and evaluate the association between lymphedema severity and cellular integrity of the affected arm based on s-PhA values for a patient with mild- to moderate-degree BCRL. Segmental PhA and extracellular water (ECW)/total body water (TBW) ratio of bilateral arms were measured using InBody S10, an s-MFBIA device, in 128 BCRL patients. Inter-limb volume ratio was measured using TVM. The inter-limb ECW/TBW ratio was correlated with inter-limb volume ratio. Inter-limb ECW/TBW ratio and inter-limb volume ratio were then correlated with inter-limb PhA ratio to demonstrate the association between lymphedema severity and arm cellular integrity. The inter-limb ECW/TBW ratio and inter-limb volume ratio were positively correlated (r = 0.654, P < .001). The same result was obtained after adjusting for age, body mass index, postoperative survival, and duration of lymphedema (r = 0.636, 0.653, 0.652, and 0.648, P < .001). The inter-limb PhA ratio demonstrated significant negative correlation with inter-limb ECW/TBW ratio and inter-limb volume ratio (r = −0.896, −0.562, P < .001). s-MFBIA has high consistency with the conventional TVM method, and its relation to cellular integrity by segmental PhA enables better understanding of the cellular state of the affected limb in mild- to moderate-degree BCRL. Therefore, it is clinically feasible for severity assessment and monitoring of mild- to moderate-degree BCRL in smaller-built Asian patients.


Anglo-American studies on terrorism have largely ignored Carl Schmitt's Theorie des Partisanen since its appearance in 19631. In the massive 1988 bibliography on terrorism by Alex Schmid, Albert Jongman et al.2 Carl Schmitt's Theorie der Partisanen managed to get a listing, but only under the specific bibliography on 'Terrorism from a military perspective'. In recent books on terrorism Schmitt's name does not even make the bibliography. In a passionate attack against recent attempts to engage with Carl Schmitt, Jef Huysmans has forcibly argued that the spectre of Nazism and the Holocaust 'should always haunt any invoking of Schmitt or Schmittean understandings of the political' and that 'normative questions about the ethico-political project his concept of the political incorporates 'ought to be 'the kernel of any working with or on Schmitt's ideas'.3 For Huysmans the history-of-ideas approach is partially to blame for the unwillingness of writers to engage with the possible normative implications of Carl Schmitt's notion of the political. He writes: '[i]ntroducing Schmitt's work by means of a history of ideas shaped around an epistemological puzzle considerably limits the possibility of incorporating the shadow of the Holocaust and Nazism in the story.'4 This paper does not engage with Jef Huysmans' claim, but suggests that abhorrence of Schmitt's ideological stance does not justify the neglect in the Anglophone literature of Theorie des Partisanen5. The paper claims that


Among materials with six-membered aliphatic rings coordinated to a metal center, the [C4H10NO]+[InCl5(C4H10NO)]− morpholinium complex is a rare example of a system characterized by a polar crystal structure. The noncentrosymmetry results from the unidirectional alignment of the z components of the dipole moments of both anionic and cationic units. The anomalies observed on the electric permittivity curves are characteristic of acentric materials and confirm that the crystals possess piezoelectric properties. A discussion regarding the potential ferroelectric properties of the compound is provided.


Definition and categorization of heavy oils and natural bitumens are generally based on physical or chemical attributes or on methods of extraction. Ultimately, the hydrocarbon's chemical composition will govern both its physical state and the extraction technique applicable. These oils and bitumens closely resemble the residuum from wholecrude distillation to about 1,000/degree/F; if the residuum constitutes at least 15% of the crude, it is considered to be heavy. In this material is concentrated most of the trace elements, such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen, and metals, such as nickel and vanadium. A widely used definition separates heavy oil from natural bitumen by viscosity, crude oil being less, and bitumen more viscous than 10,000 cp. Heavy crude then falls in the range 10/degree/-20/degree/ API inclusive and extra-heavy oil less than 10/degree/ API. Most natural bitumen is natural asphalt (tar sands, oil sands) and has been defined as rock containing hydrocarbons more viscous than 10,000 cp or else hydrocarbons that may be extracted from mined or quarried rock. Other natural bitumens are solids, such as gilsonite, grahamite, and ozokerite, which are distinguished by streak, fusibility, and solubility. The upper limit for heavy oil may also be set at 18/degree/ API, the approximatemore » limit for recovery by waterflood.« less


Genetic algorithm (GA) is used in automatic qualitative analysis by a sequential inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ICP-AES) and a computer program is developed in this paper. No any standard samples are needed, and spectroscopic interferences can be eliminated. All elements and their concentration ranges of an unknown sample can be reported. The replication rate Pr, crossover rate Pc, and mutation rate of the genetic algorithm were adjusted to be 0.6, 0.4 and 0 respectively. The analytical results of GA are in good agreement with the reference values. It indicates that, combined with the intensity information, the GA can be applied to spectroscopic qualitative analysis and expected to become an effective method in qualitative analysis in ICP-AES after further work.


Transmitting large packets over wireless networks helps to reduce header overhead, but may have an adverse effect on loss rate due to corruptions in a radio link. Packet loss in lower layers, however, is typically hidden from the upper protocol layers by link or MAC layer protocols. For this reason, errors in the physical layer are observed by the application as higher variance in end-to-end delay rather than increased packet loss rate. We study the effect of packet size on loss rate and delay characteristics in a wireless real-time application. We derive an analytical model for the dependency between packet length and delay characteristics. We validate our theoretical analysis through experiments in an ad hoc network using WLAN technologies. We show that careful design of packetization schemes in the application layer may significantly improve radio link resource utilization in delay sensitive media streaming under difficult wireless network conditions.


In this paper we study the number of carries occurring while performing an addition modulo 2k − 1. For a fixed modular integer t, it is natural to expect the number of carries occurring when adding a random modular integer a to be roughly the Hamming weight of t. Here we are interested in the number of modular integers in Z/(2k − 1)Z producing strictly more than this number of carries when added to a fixed modular integer t ∈ Z/(2k− 1)Z. In particular it is conjectured that less than half of them do so. An equivalent conjecture was proposed by Tu and Deng in a different context. Although quite innocent, this conjecture has resisted different attempts of proof and only a few cases have been proved so far. The most manageable cases involve modular integers t whose bits equal to 0 are sparse. In this paper we continue to investigate the properties of Pt,k, the fraction of modular integers a to enumerate, for t in this class of integers. Doing so we prove that Pt,k has a polynomial expression and describe a closed form for this expression. This is of particular interest for computing the function giving Pt,k and studying it analytically. Finally, we bring to light additional properties of Pt,k in an asymptotic setting and give closed-form expressions for its asymptotic values.


Interference of laser pulses is an essential ingredient of quantum randomness; therefore, probabilistic properties of laser pulses gains new relevance. Here, we consider in detail the combined influence of the three effects – chirp, jitter and relaxation oscillations – on the probability density function of the interference of pulses from a gain-switched semiconductor laser. We develop a rigorous model based on laser rate equations and demonstrate that only consideration of all these three effects together allows describing the interference statistics properly. We supplement our theoretical calculations with corresponding measurements at various pump currents. Experimental results demonstrate perfect agreement with predictions of the model and are well reproduced by Monte-Carlo simulations.


An expedient one-pot rhodium catalyzed C-H bond functionalization/electrocyclization/dehydration procedure has been developed for the synthesis of highly substituted pyridine derivatives from terminal alkynes and α,β-unsaturated ketoximes. The use of electron-deficient phosphite ligands is important to suppress dimerization of the terminal alkynes to enynes.