THE PAST decade has seen considerable changes in epilepsy management, to which the introduction of new anticonvulsant drugs has contributed. Unfortunately, the ideal drug, one that is long-acting, nonsedative, well-tolerated, useful against various types of seizures, and without a substantive effect on vital organs, while at the same time restoring the EEG to normal, does not exist. Drugs that have been introduced into the therapy of epilepsy in recent years have tended to have more specific actions against particular seizure types, and this has necessitated a more accurate identification and classification of the epilepsies (Table). 1 Thus, drugs useful against absence seizures are not useful in the treatment of complex partial seizures, which may closely mimic absence seizures, and this mandates the distinction between these different types of seizure phenomenons. The introduction of new drugs has been aided by the development of the science of biostatistics, resulting in improved study


Hybridization is a hot topic in the location field. Since there is no universal location technique that is capable of positioning in indoor and outdoor environments, two or more techniques must be coupled to produce a complete location solution. Accordingly, information on the availability of each of the techniques being coupled is of great relevance in the design and implementation stages of the location system. In public cellular networks, this coupling usually involves a terrestrial triangulation technique (e.g. E-OTD, OTDOA) and a GNSS-based technique (e.g. A-GPS). The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it presents a software tool developed for studying the availability of location systems in certain environments, which is able to capture and present information on the availability of satellites in the NAVSTAR constellation (i.e. GPS) and the GSM/GPRS base stations being received in the user terminal. Secondly, it studies the coverage of these techniques using the tool described. Availability data for three routes in an urban environment are gathered and analyzed. In two of them, GPS did not cover 100% of the route, which demonstrated the need to couple the technique with another terrestrial technique to cope with the "dark" areas.


The author presents the cases of three depressed women whose libido increased to above premorbid levels during trazodone treatment. Two patients resisted discontinuing the drug because of this pleasurable side effect.


Background
 Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene TP53 are found in up to 20% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Allogeneic hematopoietic SCT remains the only potentially curative therapy however outcomes remain poor, with a 1-year relapse-free survival (RFS) of ~30% and median overall survival (OS) of ~8 months. Prior data on post-SCT maintenance therapies, including AZA, have failed to demonstrate improved post-SCT outcomes. Eprenetapopt, a small molecule p53 stabilizer, targets cellular redox balance resulting in tumor cell apoptosis and ferroptosis as well as immune modulation of the tumor microenvironment. Pre-clinical data demonstrates synergistic myeloid cell cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo AML burden reduction when eprenetapopt is combined with AZA. Additionally, the known tolerability of this combination in AML/MDS patients makes it an attractive maintenance strategy.
 Methods
 This is a multi-center, open label, Phase II clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of eprenetapopt in combination with AZA as maintenance therapy after SCT for patients with TP53 mutant AML and MDS. Patients with MDS and AML with a known TP53 mutation were prescreened prior to SCT and protocol eligibility was confirmed post-SCT. Treatment consisted of up to 12 cycles of eprenetapopt 3.7 g/day Days 1-4 with AZA 36 mg/m 2/day IV/SC on Days 1-5 every 28 days.
 The primary objectives of this study are to assess RFS and the safety and tolerability of the combination. Additional endpoints include OS, time to progression (TTP), non-relapse mortality (NRM) and cumulative incidence of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).
 Results
 The study enrolled a total of 33 patients (19 MDS, 14 AML) for active therapy. Demographics across all patients included median age 65 years (range: 40-74), 64% males, and Karnofsky performance status of ≥ 80 in 79%. The majority (76%) received a reduced intensity conditioning regimen. At initial diagnosis, 97% (32) had TP53 mutations, 9% (3) had >1 TP53 mutation, 82% (27) had complex cytogenetics (>=3), 45% (15) had chromosome (chr) 17, 76% (25) had chr 5, and 45% (15) had chr 7 abnormalities. Among 25 patients with available molecular data from a pre-SCT sample, 22 (88%) patients had a residual detectable TP53 gene mutation, 8 (36%) had > 1 TP53 mutation, and 9 (36%) patients had non-TP53 gene mutations: ASXL1 (2 ), JAK2 (4), DNMT3A (3), IDH2 (2), IDH1 (2), NRAS (1) and SF3B1 (1). As of the data cutoff date of 22 June 2021, patients completed a median of 7 cycles (1,12) of study treatment with 6 patients (18.2%) remaining on study treatment. The primary reasons for study treatment discontinuation among 27 patients, were completion of 12 cycles of treatment (9) and disease relapse (9).
 With median duration of RFS follow up of 413 days the median RFS was 368 days [95% CI (233-not evaluable)] and the 1-year RFS was 58%. With median duration of OS follow up of 429 days the median OS was 586 days [95% CI (369-not evaluable)] and 1-year OS 79%.
 All-grade treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurring in ≥20% of patients included nausea (61%), platelet count decreased (49%), vomiting (46%), anemia, dizziness, and white blood cell count decreased (39% each), fatigue (36%), diarrhea and tremor (33% each), cough, neutrophil count decreased, pruritus, and pyrexia (24% each), abdominal pain, constipation, decreased appetite, headache and hypocalcemia (21% each). Grade ≥3 TEAEs in ≥10% of patients were platelet count decreased (36%), white blood cell count decreased (33%), anemia (27%), neutrophil count decreased (24%), thrombocytopenia and hypertension (12% each). SAEs in ≥2 patients were pyrexia (12%), febrile neutropenia and dyspnea (6% each). Two patients (6%) experienced TEAEs leading to discontinuation of study treatment. Acute and chronic GVHD events of any grade were reported in 12% and 30% of patients, respectively.
 Conclusions
 Post-SCT maintenance therapy with eprenetapopt in combination with AZA was safe and tolerable with favorable results in patients with TP53 mutant MDS and AML, with 9 patients completing 12 cycles of therapy at the data cutoff date and the majority of reported TEAEs comprising known complications of high-risk MDS and AML patients in the post-SCT period. In addition, the observed RFS and OS data are highly encouraging compared to the historical outcomes for this high-risk group of patients with unmet medical need.

 Mishra: Novartis: Research Funding. DeZern: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Byrne: Karyopharm: Research Funding. Chen: Gamida: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy. Gallacher: Aprea Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Wennborg: Aprea Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Kaylor Hickman: Aprea Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Attar: Aprea Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Fernandez: Incyte: Honoraria.

 The presentations includes the use of experimental agent eprenetapopt (APR-246) and the agent azacitidine in the post-transplant maintenance setting.


We have performed Raman spectroscopy using a near-field scanning optical microscope. The small sample volume coupled with the light-starved nature of the Raman effect makes nano-Raman studies difficult. We present results showing near-field effects in an investigation of Rb-doped KTP. These effects include a change in selection rules due to the presence of a z-polarization component in the near-field, a surface-enhancement effect in near-field Raman data, a reduced Rayleigh tail, and simultaneous topography with the near-field probe. An image taken within a Raman feature demonstrates that nano-Raman imaging is indeed possible if the near-field instrument has considerable long-term stability.


The peptide fragment of H2O2-treated Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) was found to be reactivated with liposomes prepared by 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC). The fragmentation of SOD was observed by 2 mM H2O2 treatment as well as by SOD inactivation and the loss of an alpha-helix in the neighborhood of its activity center. The H2O2-treated SOD, which lost its activity at different incubation times, was dramatically reactivated only by adding POPC liposomes, resulting in 1.3-2.8 times higher enzymatic activity. The ultrafiltration analysis of H2O2-treated SOD co-incubated with liposomes shows that some specific peptide fragments of the oxidized SOD can interact with POPC liposomes. A comparison of the fractions detected in reverse-phase chromatography shows that specific SOD fragments are able to contribute to the reactivation of oxidized and fragmented SOD in the presence of POPC liposomes. The liposomes can recruit the potentially active fragment of SOD among the lethally damaged SOD fragments to elucidate the antioxidative function.


It is demonstrated that electrochemistry (EC) coupled to liquid chromatography (LC) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/EC/ESI-MS/MS) can be used to rapidly obtain information about the antioxidant activity (i.e., oxidation potential) and capacity (i.e., amount) of polyphenolic compounds, including catechin, kaempferol, resveratrol, quercetin, and quercetin glucosides. The described on-line LC/EC/ESI-MS/MS method facilitates the detection and characterization of individual antioxidants based on a combination of the obtained m/z values for the antioxidants and their oxidation products, the potential dependences for the ion intensities, and correlations between the retention times in the LC, EC, and MS chromatograms. As these results provide patterns that can be used in rapid screening for antioxidants in complex samples, the method should be a valuable complement to chemical assays commonly used to determine the total antioxidant capacity of samples. It is shown that the antioxidant capacity for a mixture of polyphenolic compounds depends on the redox potential employed in the evaluation, and this should consequently be taken into account when comparing results from different total antioxidant capacity assays. It is also demonstrated that the inherent antioxidant capacities of phenolic compounds increase with an increasing number of hydroxyl groups and that the potential needed to oxidize the remaining hydroxyl groups increases successively upon oxidation of the compound. Unlike chemical assays, which generally do not provide any information about the identities of the compounds on the molecular level, the present screening method can be used to identify individual antioxidants, rank compounds with respect to their ease of oxidation, and to study the antioxidant capacity at any redox potential of interest.


The coronavirus pandemic transformed the world abruptly due to the speed of transmission and high morbidity and mortality. Many deaths have been quantified, and the scientific community intensifies the search for molecular targets, protein sequences and polymorphismson SARS-CoV-2, to improve the clinical evolution and survival of patients. Initially, COVID-19 was described with respiratory changes, flu, and fever. With the spread of the disease, clinical manifestations were observed in other organ systems, still unknown. In this sense, the present study describes the main neurological changes and laboratory findings. The literature review was identified in the central databases: Scielo, Google Scholar, PubMed/MedLine, Embase, and Cochrane Database. Twenty-five articles related to the theme were chosen, including reviews, case series, cohort, and retrospective studies. Neurological manifestations were predominantly anosmia/hyposmia, dysgeusia, ataxia, and seizures. According to the latest published studies, attention must be paid to isolated initial neurological events.


Protein kinase C (PKC) from human leukemia ML-1 cells was found to be susceptible to inhibition by the antineoplastic anthracycline adriamycin (ADR). Half-maximal inhibition (IC50 value) was observed at 200 microM. However, preincubation of ADR with phosphatidylserine (PS) or PKC enzyme, prior to the enzyme assay, reduced the IC50 value from 200 microM to 52 microM or 40 microM, respectively, indicating an affinity of ADR for PS, and also a possible action site for ADR on PKC molecules. Preincubation of ADR with diacylglycerol (DAG) before the PKC assay resulted in a more pronounced effect, i.e., a more rapid decline of PKC activity with an IC50 value of 7 microM. However, the IC50 for ADR inhibition was not altered when ATP, histone or Ca++ were preincubated with ADR. Studies of the kinetic nature of the inhibition revealed that ADR inhibition assumes competitive kinetics with respect to DAG. Therefore, the mechanism by which ADR inhibits PKC activity may involve a multi-site action: a primary interaction with DAG, and a secondary lower interaction with membrane PS and PKC apoenzyme.


Objective To explore the correlation between microembolic signals (MES) in middle cerebral artery (MCA) and the occurrence of acute ischemic stroke and also evaluate the clinical effect of single and dual antiplatlet therapy. Methods A total of 129 cases with acute ischemic stroke were tested by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography to detect MES. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were adopted to analyze and screen the positive risk factors for MES. Medication effects and prognosis were evaluated by treatment of aspirin and combination therapy of aspirin and clopidogrel. Results Among 129 patients, 42 patients (32.56% ) were detected MES positive. According to Logistic regression analysis, hyperlipidemia was the independent risk factor of patients with MES positive ( OR = 0.335, 95%CI: 0.147-0.764; P = 0.009). After antiplatelet treatment, the disappearence rate of MES was higher in the dual-therapy treatment group than that in the monotherapy group ( χ 2 = 16.701, P = 0.000). The NIHSS score decreased significantly after 14 d of treatment in both groups ( P = 0.000). The decrease of NIHSS score in dual-therapy group was more than that in monotherapy group ( P = 0.025). It proves the effectiveness of antiplatelet treatment and the advantage of dual antiplatelet is superior to single antiplatelet.  Conclusions This study demonstrated that hyperlipidemia is the independent risk factor for MES positive detected by TCD and dual-therapy can inhibit the formation of MES and improve the recent prognosis. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2016.06.009


A cross sectional study was conducted on the knowledge, attitude and practice among midwives and community nurses on cervical cancer in the health service in the state of Kedah in January 1997. A universal sampling method was used and a total of 281 of people responded to the study. Data was collected by using self administered questionaires. The result of this study showed that a satisfactory dissemination of infon11ation on cervical cancer acquired from radio, tv , newspaper and staff nurses were associated with high level of knowledge on cervical cancer. A clear job description in cervical cancer prevention programmes and the age of respondents were associated with good attitude towards the programmes. There were 208 respondents (74.0010) who had Pap smear done. Among the reasons for not doing Pap smear were not married (25.8%), embarrassed (25.8%), did not have any symptoms (19.4%) and worried about the possible Pap smear result (14.5%). Those who were married, 79.0% of them had Pap smear done. There was a weak (r =0.250) but significant correlation between the score of knowledge and attitude towards cervical cancer preventive programmes (p<0.001). Duration of working with the Ministry of Health and satisfactory dissemination of information acquired from staff nurses were the predicting factor for carrying out Pap r\ smear. In conclusion, the above findings may be useful to increased the level of ~ knowledge and to change attitude and practice towards cervical cancer prevention programmes among midwives and community nurses in the state of Kedah.


We propose a generalized formulation of direction of arrival estimation that includes many existing methods such as steered response power, subspace, coherent and incoherent, as well as speech sparsity-based methods. Unlike most conventional methods that rely exclusively on grid search, we introduce a continuous optimization algorithm to refine DOA estimates beyond the resolution of the initial grid. The algorithm is derived from the majorization-minimization (MM) technique. We derive two surrogate functions, one quadratic and one linear. Both lead to efficient iterative algorithms that do not require hyperparameters, such as step size, and ensure that the DOA estimates never leave the array manifold, without the need for a projection step. In numerical experiments, we show that the accuracy after a few iterations of the MM algorithm nearly removes dependency on the resolution of the initial grid used. We find that the quadratic surrogate function leads to very fast convergence, but the simplicity of the linear algorithm is very attractive, and the performance gap small.


BACKGROUND
Recent studies allow to consider the mitochondrial ribosomal protein S18-2 (MRPS18-2, S18-2) as a potential oncoprotein, which suggests the need for further characterization of its expression in tumors of different genesis including breast cancer (BC). The aim of the study was to analyze the expression of the S18-2 protein in BC of luminal A and basal subtypes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Operational material of BC patients stage І-ІІ (luminal A subtype, n = 30, and basal subtype, n = 10) was studied with the use of morphological, immunohistochemical, statistical and bioinformatic methods.

RESULTS
Using the immunohistochemical analysis, we found that the S18-2 protein showed the nuclear signal in 66.7% of luminal A subtype BC samples and 80.0% of basal subtype BC samples. The variability of the S18-2 expression in both the luminal A and basal subtypes of BC was revealed. Noteworthy, the number of cells expressing S18-2 in high-proliferating tumors of luminal A and basal subtype is significantly higher than in tumors with a low proliferative potential (p < 0.05). In 10 samples of luminal A subtype, the nuclear S18-2 signal was higher than median value. Moreover, the S18-2 protein was overexpressed in 4 out of such 10 samples. Metastases in the lymph nodes were found in 3 out of 4 patients with the stage II BC, low differentiation grade of the tumor and high proliferative activity. The bioinformatic analysis confirms our preliminary findings that the trend for increasing expression of the S18-2 protein in tumors correlates with the aggressiveness of malignant BC.

CONCLUSION
The S18-2 protein may be a marker of cancer aggressiveness in BC patients.


OBJECTIVE
To study the changes of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in erythrocyte membrane and its significance.

METHODS
Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in erythrocyte membrane was investigated with malachite green colorimetric analysis in 40 patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), 20 diabetic patients with non DR (NDR), and 20 sex and age metched normal control subjects. The relations of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity with content of Na(+) and K(+) erythrocyte deformability index (EDI), levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA(1)c), and the course of disease were also studied.

RESULTS
Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in erythrocyte membrane was significantly decreased in diabetic patients (P < 0.01). The decrease was most significantly in patients with DR (P < 0.01). The decreased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity was related to the content of Na(+) and K(+) in erythrocyte, the changes of EDI, FBG, HbA(1)c, and the course of disease (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
The decreased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in erythrocyte membrane affects the deformability of erythrocyte. It may contribute to the occurrence and development of DR.


Design alternatives for supporting real-time traffic in a differentiated services IP network node are studied. A scheduling algorithm called weighted earliest due date (WEDD) is proposed that provides tunable delay differentiation for applications like video or voice over IP. WEDD enhances the earliest due date (EDD) scheduling mechanism in such a way that not only different delay bounds but also different deadline violation probabilities are provided. The ratios of violation probabilities in different classes are easily specified by a set of parameters. Simulation studies are performed to show that the scheduler is able to maintain the specified ratios under various traffic conditions in short as well as in long time scales.


Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of several species of size-controlled planktonic and benthic foraminifera from the Plenus Marls of Dover (Kent, England) show a clear separation in oxygen and carbon isotope ratios consistent with different habitats; the analyses indicate the existence of vertical gradients of temperature and 13 C in dissolved CO 2 in the Chalk Sea. Whereas sequential ontogenetic stages of planktonic foraminifera do not show systematic variations in δ 18 O or δ 13 C values (implying no systematic change in depth habitat during the growth of individual species), species of the genera Hedbergella and Dicarinella are interpreted to have lived nearer to the surface than Rotalipora . Because vertical 13 C gradients in the Chalk Sea remained stable during the late Cenomanian, the oxygen-minimum zone is unlikely to have impinged on this area.


BACKGROUND
Many clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate sorafenib for the treatment of advanced NSCLC, but the results for efficacy have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients with advanced NSCLC in more detail by meta-analysis.

METHODS
This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed after searching PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO Abstracts, ESMO Abstracts, and the proceedings of major conferences for relevant clinical trials. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the trials. Outcomes analysis were disease control rate (DCR), progression- free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and major toxicity. Subgroup analysis was conducted according to sorafenib monotherapy, in combination with chemotherapy or EGFR-TKI to investigate the preferred therapy strategy.

RESULTS
Results reported from 6 RCTs involving 2,748 patients were included in the analysis. Compared to sorafenib-free group, SBT was not associated with higher DCR (RR 1.31 (0.96-1.79), p=0.09), PFS (HR 0.82 (0.66-1.02), p=0.07) and OS (HR 1.01 (0.92-1.12), p=0.77). In terms of subgroup results, sorafenib monotherapy was associated with significant superior DCR and longer PFS, but failed to show advantage with regard to OS. Grade 3 or greater sorafenib-related adverse events included fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, oral mucositis, rash and HFSR.

CONCLUSIONS
SBT was revealed to yield no improvement in DCR, PFS and OS. However, sorafenib as monotherapy showed some activity in NSCLC. Further evaluation may be considered in subsets of patients who may benefit from this treatment. Sorafenib combined inhibition therapy should be limited unless the choice of platinum-doublet regimen, administration sequence or identification of predictive biomarkers are considered to receive better anti-tumor activity and prevention of resistance mechanisms.


Osteoporosis is a bone pathology inducing an increased fragility of the skeleton. With the lengthening of the duration of life, this pathology is going to concern an increasing population. A best knowledge of the quality of the bone structure can help at best prevention of the fracture risk. The bone mineral density is not the unique factor to determine the quality of the bone structure. The trabecular bone structure plays an important role on the strength of the bone. The ultimate objective of the planned work is to deliver a way for the characterization of the bone texture from the analysis of CT-scan images. This would allow an assistance to the diagnosis in the discrimination of healthy from pathologic patients. This paper emphasizes a preliminary study concerning the selection of some characterization tools of the bone texture. The selectivity is lead by the analysis of respective sensitivities of considered methods. We study a new method of texture analysis. This method is an original one. Called the "method of the three-dimensional relief", it is related to the structural analysis and is based on the study of primitives.


Atmospheric turbulence spectra follow either the von Karman formula or a modified form of the Lappe/Lockheed-Georgia equation. The integral scale parameter is not only a turbuilence concept but a basic parameter common to all stationary stochastic processes. Because of the finite measuring base length, the standard deviation of the turbulence a calculated directly from flight records is always less than the theoretical value in the spectrum formulae. Spatial spectra can be directly transformed into time spectra by calculation of the time scale. Bulk processing of long flight records is inadvisable becasue of the limited lengths of the homogeneous sections in atmospheric turbulence. Runway-respective grass airfield surface spectra follow closely the modified Lockheed-Georgia equation with the exception of the exponent being a third parameter to be measured individually.


The output amplitude noises of one squeezed probe light which is at resonance throughout different optical depths media in strong- and weak-coupling-field regimes are investigated theoretically. By comparing the output quantum noises for different Rabi frequencies of coupling field and also for different optical depths, it is found that the optimal squeezing preservation of the probe light occurs in an optically thin medium with strong-coupling-field, where we can obtain the output squeezing close to the input one at nonzero detection frequency.


In order to find out to what extent ovarian aging could be compensated by the in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatments, a total of 4102 women above the age of 35 undergoing 6489 complete cycles from 2009 to 2015 with follow-up visits until 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Cumulative live birth rates (CLBRs) across multiple IVF/ICSI cycles were compared in the study population stratified by age and ovarian reserve (classified by the POSEIDON criteria). Younger patients (aged between 35 and 40) could well benefit from repeat IVF treatments, with the optimal CLBRs ranging from 62%-72% for up to four complete cycles. However, the CLBRs sharply declined to 7.7%-40% in older patients (>40yrs). In light of ovarian reserve, the optimal-estimated-four-cycle CLBR of younger patients (35-40yrs) in POSEIDON group 2 could approached to those with normal ovarian response (non-POSEIDON), with 57.3%-70% versus 74.5%-81% respectively. However, the CLBR of older patients (>40yrs) in POSEIDON group 2 only reached 50% of their counterparts. Extending the number of IVF cycles beyond three or four is effective for advanced-aged women, especially in younger normal responders (non-POSEIDON) and unexpected poor/suboptimal responders (POSEIDON group 2). The real turning point at which female fecundity dropped after multiple IVF cycles is at the age of 40.


Personalized location recommendation is a special topic of recommendation. It is related to human mobile behavior in the real world regarding various contexts including spatial, temporal, social, and content. The development of this topic is subject to the availability of human mobile data. The recent rapid growth of location-based social networks has alleviated such limitation, which promotes the development of various location recommendation techniques. This tutorial offers an overview, in a data mining perspective, of personalized location recommendation on location-based social networks. It introduces basic concepts, summarizes unique LBSN characteristics and research opportunities, elaborates associated challenges, reviews state-of-the-art algorithms with illustrative examples and real-world LBSN datasets, and discusses effective evaluation methods.


The Euler State Network (EuSN) is a recently proposed Reservoir Computing (RC) model where the fixed state dynamics are obtained by discretizing an ordinary differential equation under stability and non-dissipative conditions. As a result, the model is able to effectively propagate input information over time, hugely improving the performance of RC models in tasks requiring long-term memory. Aiming at both reducing the complexity of the reservoir structure and further improving its efficiency, in this paper we propose a minimalistic EuSN architecture where the reservoir is constrained to a fixed bi-directional chain structure. We explore progressive simplifications where the recurrent and the input connections of the reservoir are fully described by a single weight value. While reducing the complexity of the base EuSN, the proposed minimal EuSN approach shows comparable performance on several tasks on time-series classification, thus offering considerable potential advantages, especially in embedded applications and physical implementations.


For a continuous-time nancial market with a single agent, we establish equilibrium pricing formulae under the assumption that the dividends follow an exponential Lévy process. The agent is allowed to consume a lump at the terminal date; before, only ow consumption is allowed. The agent's utility function is assumed to be additive, de ned via strictly increasing, strictly concave smooth felicity functions which are bounded below (thus, many CRRA and CARA utility functions are included). For technical reasons we require that only pathwise continuous trading strategies are permitted in the demand set. The resulting equilibrium prices depend on the agent's risk-aversion through the felicity functions. It turns out that the these prices will be the (stochastic) exponential of a Lévy process essentially only if this process is geometric Brownian motion.


An engineer can use a computer to design a component, analyze its stresses, and check its mechanical action (CAD=computer-aided design). Production people can use the same computer to transform the design into hardware through numerical-control machining or other automated processes (CAM=computer-aided manufacturing). The author describes the major CAD/CAM areas: geometric modeling, engineering analysis, kinematics, automated drafting/numerical control, process planning, robotics, factory management; shows how they are being integrated into unified systems; outlines the cooperative efforts of government, industry, and universities in CAD/CAM development; and lists sources of information.


Background Insomnia is a health problem that particularly affects people with schizophrenia. Its repercussions go beyond the disorder itself and affect many areas of life. The aim of the present study is to explore the clinical symptoms and consequences of insomnia in patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorder and the perceptions of these patients regarding the care they receive. Methods The study takes a qualitative approach and uses semi-structured interviews to conduct a descriptive and interpretive analysis of 3 clinically different clusters of patients. These 3 clusters have been defined by using two-step cluster analysis based on the results of the ISI (Insomnia Severity Index) and EQ-5D scales (EuroQol-5D) and the presence of certain diagnostic symptoms in a sample of 170 patients. The final sample was 31 subjects. The analysis was based on a hermeneutic analysis of the patients' narratives regarding their experiences of insomnia. Results The patients' narratives show differences in the intensity and experience of insomnia depending on the severity, as well as its impact on their quality of life. Insomnia has a huge emotional impact. Participants describe ruminations and obsessive thoughts as a key factor hindering falling asleep. Some of the everyday actions they perform encourage the chronicity of insomnia. The desired health response must include interventions that are effective, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy, and powerful, such as pharmacological solutions. Psychoeducation and advice on sleep hygiene are highly valued tools as preventive strategies. Conclusions To know the experience of users gives us a more comprehensive understanding of insomnia complexities and brings some new intervention strategies in patients with mental disorders. It is important that health professionals intervene preventively to stop the disorder from becoming chronic.


This paper focuses on the concept of sterility as idealized in the Biblical text and exemplified in the stories of Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel and Jacob. My analysis of these stories leads to the hypothesis that sterility is one of the foundational themes of Israel's ancient past, by condensing some of the main obstacles inherent to the emergency of a people who believe to be guided by God. This new perspective on sterility was achieved by focusing on the spectrum of meanings of the Hebrew root 'qr, which includes infertility and uprooting; these, added to famine in the land, are experiences that will shape the religious conscience of Israel. This approach amplifies the perception of sterility in the Hebrew Bible, as it emerges from the text as a liminal state of deprivation , in opposition to the contents of the divine oath to the patriarchs (progeny and land). But even while enclosing lack of productivity, weakness and death, which have a negative value, Biblical sterility is not a closed circle, but a space open to potentiality, where divine revelation occurs. God reveals himself through sterility and in sterility. The originality and the notion of specificity in the biblical idea of sterility lie in this cyclical trait, which breaks the circumscription and negative orientation of sterility. The Bible presents sterility as a transitory state, an area for individual and corporate transformation of status. In an ideological system, such as ancient Israel's, where contractual relations replace natural relations, sterility functions as a powerful symbol of the relationship among men and between men and God. And this may be the reason why sterile matriarch's traditions were continually re-interpreted, from the 10th century BCE until the 1st century CE, and could be adapted to new contexts and make sense to distinct communities, particularly in times of crisis and transition.


PURPOSE
Verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) skills predict speech and language outcomes in children with cochlear implants (CIs) even after conventional demographic, device, and medical factors are taken into account. However, prior research has focused on single end point outcomes as opposed to the longitudinal process of development of verbal STM/WM and speech-language skills. In this study, the authors investigated relations between profiles of verbal STM/WM development and speech-language development over time.

METHOD
Profiles of verbal STM/WM development were identified through the use of group-based trajectory analysis of repeated digit span measures over at least a 2-year time period in a sample of 66 children (ages 6-16 years) with CIs. Subjects also completed repeated assessments of speech and language skills during the same time period.

RESULTS
Clusters representing different patterns of development of verbal STM (digit span forward scores) were related to the growth rate of vocabulary and language comprehension skills over time. Clusters representing different patterns of development of verbal WM (digit span backward scores) were related to the growth rate of vocabulary and spoken word recognition skills over time.

CONCLUSION
Different patterns of development of verbal STM/WM capacity predict the dynamic process of development of speech and language skills in this clinical population.


Both plant growth-promoting Pseudomonas B10 and its yellow-green, fluorescent iron transport agent (siderophore) pseudobactin enhance potato growth and biologically control certain soil-borne fungal diseases in part by depriving specific root-colonizing endemic microorganisms including phytopathogens of iron(III), thus inhibiting their growth. The present study examines this mode of iron deprivation. The growth inhibition of certain bean-deleterious fluorescent pseudomonads by specific bean-beneficial fluorescent pseudomonads is due in part to the inability of susceptible strains to utilize siderophores from beneficial strains to transport iron(III). Conversely, deleterious strains which were able to utilize siderophores from beneficial strains were not inhibited. The ability of a given pseudomonad to utilize another pseudomonad's siderophore may depend upon its possessing a specific outer membrane receptor protein for that pseudomonad's ferric siderophore. Siderophore-mediated competition for iron in microbial systems appears to be a widespread phenomenon.


Intestinal obstruction complicating pregnancy is one of the surgical emergencies that may be associated with high incidence of morbidity and mortality for both mother and fetus. Our case is a case of triplets' pregnancy at 25 weeks gestation complicated by jejunal intussusception. The patient was admitted to our hospital with acute abdominal pain and diagnosis of intussusception was made. The patient had an urgent laparotomy with excision of a gangrenous loop of small bowel and primary re-anastomosis was carried out. Post operatively she developed wound dehiscence, which was repaired, and an emergency caesarean section was made on the same setting.


The coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a health threat worldwide. Viral main protease (Mpro, also called 3C‐like protease [3CLpro]) is a therapeutic target for drug discovery. Herein, we report that GC376, a broad-spectrum inhibitor targeting Mpro in the picornavirus-like supercluster, is a potent inhibitor for the Mpro encoded by SARS-CoV-2, with a half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 26. ABSTRACT The coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a health threat worldwide. Viral main protease (Mpro, also called 3C‐like protease [3CLpro]) is a therapeutic target for drug discovery. Herein, we report that GC376, a broad-spectrum inhibitor targeting Mpro in the picornavirus-like supercluster, is a potent inhibitor for the Mpro encoded by SARS-CoV-2, with a half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 26.4 ± 1.1 nM. In this study, we also show that GC376 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication with a half-maximum effective concentration (EC50) of 0.91 ± 0.03 μM. Only a small portion of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro was covalently modified in the excess of GC376 as evaluated by mass spectrometry analysis, indicating that improved inhibitors are needed. Subsequently, molecular docking analysis revealed that the recognition and binding groups of GC376 within the active site of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro provide important new information for the optimization of GC376. Given that sufficient safety and efficacy data are available for GC376 as an investigational veterinary drug, expedited development of GC376, or its optimized analogues, for treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human is recommended.


COVID-19 is a viral disease caused by a novel coronavirus that ignited the ongoing pandemic in December 2019. The infected patients may be asymptomatic, have fever and myalgias, develop mild pulmonary symptoms or go into overt respiratory failure. There is also a significant number of patients with gastrointestinal and thromboembolic disease presentation and complications. Since respiratory features predominate, physicians might miss other systemic manifestations. Here, we present the case of a 62-year-old male who was admitted with COVID-19 pneumonia and later went into septic shock and then developed acute abdomen caused by small gut perforation.


Sebaceous nevus is a congenital organoid nevus. It is mainly located on the scalp and appears as a hairless yellowish plaque at birth or soon after. Sebaceous nevus changes with growth being sebaceous glands responsive to hormones at puberty. Since benign and malignant tumors can arise within sebaceous nevus, short follow-up and surgical excision are probably the better medical behavior to manage these lesions when changes appear. Here are reported three pediatric cases of syringocystadenoma papilliferum developed in the context of sebaceous nevus.


Past research purporting to study employee resilience suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity about both the resilience construct and the methodological designs that examine resilience without ensuring the occurrence of significant adversity. The overall goal of this article is to address our contemporary understanding of employee resilience and identify pathways for the future advancement of resilience research in the workplace. We first address conceptual definitions of resilience both inside and outside of industrial and organizational psychology and make the case that researchers have generally failed to document the experience of significant adversity when studying resilience in working populations. Next, we discuss methods used to examine resilience, with an emphasis on distinguishing the capacity for resilience and the demonstration of resilience. Representative research is then reviewed by examining self-reports of resilience or resilience-related traits along with research on resilient and nonresilient trajectories following significant adversity. We then briefly address the issues involved in selecting resilient employees and building resilience in employees. The article concludes with recommendations for future research studying resilience in the workplace, including documenting significant adversity among employees, assessing multiple outcomes, using longitudinal designs with theoretically supported time lags, broadening the study of resilience to people in occupations outside the military who may face significant adversity, and addressing the potential dark side of an emphasis on resilience.


A liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of nanogram quantities of 5 broad-spectrum structurally related beta-lactam antibiotics (cefazolin, cefadroxil, cephalexin, cephradine, and ampicillin) in solution. The method uses a C18 reversed-phase column, UV absorption (240 nm) detection, and an aqueous mobile phase containing isopropyl alcohol and acetic acid. Relative resolution between the antibiotic peaks ranged from 1.7 to 5.9 for all peaks. Chromatographic retention times were 2.97, 3.92, 4.57, 5.37, and 6.56 min for cefazolin, cefadroxil, cephalexin, ampicillin, and cephradine, respectively. Accuracy, precision, linearity, and long term analytical reproducibility were determined by statistical analysis. Use of the proposed method to evaluate the degradation of cephradine solutions stored at room temperature illustrated its potential as a stability-indicating assay.


Author Laurene Graig analyzes the health care delivery systems in the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom -- comparing and contrasting their health care systems with that of the United States. He makes expert and insightful assessments about what works . . . what doesn't work . . . and what promising new ideas are now being tested.The third edition of Health of Nations is completely updated, including new information on developments in U.S. health care policy, incremental reform measures, and changes to the Medicare program. The growth and development of managed care, impact on the U.S. health care system, and the public backlash are also discussed.The book is an excellent reference guide for students of international policy or anyone seeking information on U.S. health care reform.


Abstract
S1 PGSD in the curriculum, integrated learning is one of the subjects that must be programmed S1 students PGSD (UNESA Handbook, 2011-2012). Through several revisions description of the curriculum, this course has not had a textbook that is adequate for students S1 PGSD, just book supplements of program D-2, and publications such as Fogarti that have not been able to provide examples of real students PGSD as well as the occurrence of disagreement between lecturers eye the lecture. For the purpose of this research proposal was made to develop an integrated learning course modules in accordance with their lessons in primary schools. The module includes (1) the introduction, (2) Learning Activities section, and (3) references. Introductory section contains (1) a general explanation of the module, (2) indicator of learning. Learning Activities section contains (1) a description of the content of learning, (2) summarize, (3) test, (4) the answer key, and (5) feedback. Contributions in the study subjects resulted in a module integrated learning at the Department PGSD Unesa FIP. This research is a development being done by developing an integrated learning course modules. This module adopts the model of development of research and development by Gravemeijer (1994, in Amin, 2006) which includes the steps of: 1) Analysis of the problem; 2) Design; 3) Realization; 4) Validation; and 5) Implementation. In this study only at the stage 3 only namely to produce a draft module integrated learning courses. Outcomes in this study is the MK Module Integrated Learning. So far, it can be concluded that the research module development conducted by researchers went according to planned time, so it can produce MK Module Integrated Learning accordance with the characteristics and needs of students in the field. Modules produced in this study, requires students to learn independently in understanding the concepts that exist in the MK-integrated learning, in addition to regular students attend lectures in the classroom.
Based on the expert validation results showed that the modules that have been developed feasible for use with some revisions suggested by the experts. For expert validation results gained an average of 4.13 for the material terms, in terms of construction 4.10, and 4.20 in terms of language. While student response to MK module Integrated Learning gained an average of 4.33 in material terms, in terms of construction of 4.35 and 4.64 in terms of language. As for suggestions obtained from the results of validation and student response associated with the writing (spacing, font, and font letters are used) and the summary contained in the module are simplified.
Keywords: Module, Integrated Learning, PGSD.


This work presents a theoretical and integrative review about parental self-regulation and emotional regulation processes, and its connections with parental coping and temperament. Parents' adaptation requires the ability to regulate their own behavior in reaction to their perception and interpretation of the child's behavior. These self-regulation processes are often intertwined with intense emotions that need to be regulated. Parenting attitudes and behaviors cannot be fully understood without considering the parents' emotional dysregulation and their emotional regulation strategies. However, only few studies focus the effects of parents' emotional regulation strategies on the parenting behavior. Experiential avoidance and overprotection are discussed as extreme cases of parental emotional regulation strategies that may have particularly detrimental effects in childrearing. The authors propose that, although the main parenting interventions already use a self-regulation approach, specific training in adaptive emotional regulation strategies should be included in these programs.


Approximately 200 K-Ar mineral and whole rock ages from New England, half of which are previously unpublished, are used to delineate an area of Permian thermal disturbance. The disturbed area, as outlined by K-Ar mica ages, forms a north-northeast-trending belt 60–80 mi wide that extends from the coast of Long Island Sound in southern Connecticut to southwestern Maine, where it terminates against rocks displaying older radiometric ages. Several possible mechanisms that may have affected the radio-metric systems of pre-existing rocks are examined: (1) contact metamorphism related to contemporaneous igneous activity, (2) alteration associated with major faulting, (3) regional metamorphism in late Paleozoic time, and (4) burial followed by uplift and erosion. Evidence is given that each of these mechanisms was operative locally, especially in the southern portion of the belt. The general lack of late Paleozoic tectonism in New Hampshire and Maine suggests that only burial is a likely cause of the disturbance there.


The molluscicidal activity of Bauhinia variegata leaf and Mimusops elengi bark was studied against vector snail Lymnaea acuminata. The toxicity of both plants was time and concentration-dependent. Among organic extracts, ethanol extracts of both plants were more toxic. Toxicity of B. variegata leaf ethanolic extract (96h LC50- 14.4 mg/L) was more pronounced than M. elengi bark ethanolic extract (96h LC50-15.0 mg/L). The 24h LC50 of column purified fraction of B. variegata and M. elengi bark were 20.3 mg/L and 18.3 mg/L, respectively. Saponin and quercetin were characterized and identified as active molluscicidal component. Co-migration of saponin (Rf 0.48) and quercetin (Rf 0.52) with column purified bark of M. elengi and leaf of B. variegata on thin layer chromatography demonstrate same Rf value i.e. 0.48 and 0.52, respectively. The present study clearly indicates the possibility of using M. elengi and/or B. variegata as potent molluscicide.


Abstract Background Maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients have a high risk of initial mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, long-term consequences of this disease in the MHD population are poorly described. We report the clinical presentation, outcome and long-term follow-up of MHD patients affected by COVID-19 in a multicentric cohort from the Paris, France area. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical presentation and long-term follow-up of MHD patients affected by COVID-19 in 19 MHD centres in the Paris, France area. Results In this cohort of 248 patients with an initial mortality rate of 18%, age, comorbidities, dyspnoea and previous immunosuppressive treatment were associated with death at <30 days. Among the 203 surviving patients following the acute phase, long-term follow-up (median 180 days) was available for 189 (93%) patients. Major adverse events occurred in 30 (16%) patients during follow-up, including 12 deaths (6%) after a median of 78 days from onset of symptoms. Overall, cardiovascular events, infections and gastrointestinal bleeding were the main major adverse events. Post-COVID-19 cachexia was observed in 25/189 (13%) patients. Lower initial albuminaemia was significantly associated with this cachexia. No reinfection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was observed. Conclusions This work demonstrates the long-term consequences of COVID-19 in MHD patients, highlighting both initial and long-term severity of the disease, including severe cachexia.


To test whether following a healthy lifestyle challenge for 21 days led to a change in student attitudes to people with obesity.

 Students on an undergraduate BMedSci (Hons) Medical Science program were invited to take part in a healthy lifestyle challenge, and each of the participants selected one positive change to either their diet or physical activity levels, which they had to follow for 21 days. All challenges were approved by nutritionists to ensure their challenges were risk-free. During this period participants joined a social media group to support each other and discuss their progress. Before and after the 21 days participants were asked to complete a validated questionnaire 'Attitudes to obese persons' (Allison et al. 1991) which consists of 20 Likert scale questions, where they indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement. Data were anonymised and analysed using Paired Samples T-Test, with the level of significance set at P < 0.05.

 Thirty-seven students completed the first questionnaire however only 29 of them (78%) completed the second one. The drop-out rate was due to the second questionnaires being collected after a teaching session which was less well-attended than the first. Despite students reporting that they felt following their challenge made them more empathetic to the struggles that people with obesity may face when trying to lose weight and improve activity levels, their underlying attitudes did not change, and there were no significant differences in their questionnaire answers between before and after their challenge.

 Taking part in a 21-day healthy lifestyles challenge did not change student attitudes to people with obesity. Developing more empathy did not seem to change underlying attitudes in this cohort, and it may be that such a short period of time is not enough to lead to significant changes.

 This work was supported by a Frontrunner Internship from De Montfort University, UK.


For a ten of 125 short GRBs observed by Konus-Wind and the Konus-A the existance of statistically significant flux of hard photons accompanying initial event for a time of tens to hundred seconds after the trigger was revealed. Temporal, spectral, and energetic characteristics of these events are presented. The statistical analysis of the whole burst sample reveals that the afterglow is a more common feature of short GRBs.


This paper is concerned with the oscillation of solutions of a class of third order nonlinear neutral differential equations. New sufficient conditions guarantee that every solution is either oscillatory or tends to zero are given. The obtained results improve some recent published results in the literature. Some illustrative examples are given.


Abstract Yea‐Sacc® is an additive based on a live preparation of a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae intended for use as a zootechnical additive (digestibility enhancer). The current assessment is performed in the context of the renewal of the authorisation of the feed additive; however, the applicant proposed also to lower (6.5 × 108 colony forming unit (CFU)/kg of complete feedingstuff) the minimum dose of the additive when used in feed for horses. The additive is produced in a powder (Yea‐Sacc®) and in a prills (Yea‐Sacc®_TS) forms. The Panel considered that the additive currently on the market complies with the existing conditions of authorisation. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is considered by EFSA to be suitable for the qualified presumption of safety approach to safety assessment. As the identity of the production strain has been confirmed, safety for the target species, consumer and the environment were presumed. Both formulations are non‐irritant to skin, Yea‐Sacc®_TS is non‐irritant to the eye while Yea‐Sacc® is a moderate irritant. Both formulations should be considered skin sensitisers and because of their high proteinaceous nature, they should be considered as potential respiratory sensitisers. The applicant submitted two efficacy studies: the FEEDAP Panel concluded that in the first study inconsistent results were observed for the two lower doses which are considered microbiologically equivalent. The second study demonstrated that Yea‐Sacc® at the level of 7.5 × 108 resulted in a better digestion of organic matter which may be explained by increases in digestibility of the fibre. Based on the data provided, the FEEDAP Panel cannot conclude on the efficacy of Yea‐sacc® when used as a feed additive in horses at the proposed level (6.5 × 108 CFU/kg complete feed).


Copyright in 1791: An Essay explores the meaning of the Copyright Clause of the United States Constitution as the Founders understood it in their own time. In his examination of the history of copyright prior to the adoption of the Constitution, Professor Joyce and his co-author, L. Ray Patterson of Georgia, consider the language of the Founders' provision for copyright against the background of Anglo-American copyright history from the 16th Century to 1787. Among their principal findings is that, to the Founders, a relatively brief term of protection, followed by entry of the work into the public domain, was a crucial element of the copyright grant required to protect against the inherent dangers of the copyright monopoly. In addition, Copyright in 1791: An Essay uncovers for the first time the historical interrelationship between the Copyright Clause and the Free Press Clause of the First Amendment. Earlier scholars have sought to reconcile these two constitutional provisions primarily through an analysis of doctrinal considerations, such as the idea/expression dichotomy. The authors conclude that the Founders themselves saw no need for reconciliation: the two provisions already were complementary, both embodying anti-censorship, anti-monopoly values learned by the Founders from their English forebears. In short, the Copyright Clause and the Free Press Clause share a common origin.


This paper is derived from a larger study that explored how the rationality of freedom became inscribed in educational practices that shaped and reshaped limits that constitute the responsible parent. Here, I draw on part of the study to diagnose how romantic discourse on childhood, which rewrote religious and secular discourse in the eighteenth century, was refashioned in the nineteenth century to rewrite the responsible parent. In this historical inquiry, I follow Foucault's lead and analyse thoughts of freedom not as a value that we cannot live without or an illusion that hides the truth of our oppression but as a political tool for producing the 'other' as a means of inciting the autonomous parent to recognise the self as an ethical subject responsible for educating the child. What this exposes is how the writing and rewriting of the responsible parent in terms of educating the child within liberal government is reliant on fabricating 'otherness' as a threat to freedom.


The ytterbium complex [Yb((S)-THP)](3+) ((S)-THP = (1S,4S,7S,10S-tetrakis(2-hydroxypropyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) is investigated in solution through NMR, near-IR absorption, and CD spectroscopy. Quantitative analysis of the paramagnetic pseudocontact NMR shift shows Lambda helicity of the ligand cage around the metal. The NIR CD spectrum recorded at acidic pH is found to be very similar to that of [Yb((R)-DOTMA)](-) ((R)-DOTMA = (1R,4R,7R,10R)-alpha,alpha',alpha'',alpha'''-tetramethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid), which in solution assumes a twisted square antiprism (TSA) conformation. The similarity of the NIR CD spectra is discussed, and it is the first proof of the Lambda(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda) conformation of [Yb((S)-THP)](3+). NIR CD spectra recorded in the pH range of 2-9 allow one to easily follow proton dissociation and to calculate the pK of this equilibrium in water (pK(A) = 6.4 +/- 0.1). This value agrees well with that determined for [Lu((S)-THP)](3+) using potentiometric methods. This demonstrates once again that NIR CD spectroscopy is a powerful technique for investigating the solution structure and dynamics of these complexes.


To make artificial knee joints have lower long-term wear rate, a new method for reformed design of sagittal femoral condylar geometry based on TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) was proposed. Firstly, according to the development history of sagittal femoral condylar geometry and evolution theory of TRIZ, future state of the evolution line of femoral condylar geometry in sagittal plane was predicted. And then, solving principles of technical conflicts were used to propose improved solution of femoral condylar geometry in sagittal plane. The result obtained shows that reformed femoral condylar geometry can improve motion smoothness, low long-term wear rate and increase survival lifetime of artificial knee joint.


This study evaluated ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions to the atmosphere from fishpond waters and uneaten, floating feed. Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were stocked at 550 pond -1 in four, 400-m 2 ponds at the Auburn University Fisheries Research (AUFRU), Auburn, AL, on 30 May 1997. Feed (28% crude protein), prepared as floating pellets was applied daily. Ponds were harvested between 7 and 9 Oct. 1997. Ammonia traps were placed in ponds on a weather vane sampler. Ammonia emissions were measured from June through September 1997. In addition, NH 3 volatilization from wetted catfish feed was measured in a laboratory experiment. Average NH 3 volatilization from ponds ranged between 8.8 to 71.0 mg NH 3 -N m 2 d -1 , and averaged 3.75% of total NH 3 nitrogen (TAN) concentration in water. Positive linear correlations were found between the amount of feed applied and TAN concentration in the water and between TAN and NH 3 volatilization. Volatilization from wetted feed was not a major NH 3 loss to the atmosphere. The study suggested that 24 kg ha -1 of N were lost to the atmosphere between 23 June 1997 and 30 Sept. 1997 from ponds into which 158 kg ha -1 N were applied. In the USA, there are about 66 000 ha of catfish ponds. Extrapolation from this study suggests that 1584 t of NH 3 could volatilize from catfish ponds each summer.


Following a brief mention of the classification of Hammer-Rich disease within idiopathic diffuse pulmonary fibrosis, the main clinical, radiological and laboratory features of these disease are outlined in brief. A personal case, subsequently controlled neroptically and histologically, is then described. From comparison between reported data and findings in the personal case, it is concluded that it was a typical, rare case (less than 150 others have so far been reported in all world literature) of Hamman-Rich disease. Other diagnostic hypotheses can be rejected because they are less correspondent to the typical picture and for various other considerations.


he negotiation process for Romania's accession to the European Union (EU) has influenced the configuration of the social policy which was insufficiently prepared to fulfil the responsibilities of a Member-State. Despite the communist heritage in the field of social protection, the social neo-liberal measures adopted at the beginning of the 1990s were directed rather towards the contributory system (social insurances) and less towards the non-contributory system (social assistance), especially as rapid answer to the needs of the vulnerable groups. The standard negotiations with international investors (World Bank, EU, DfD) have influenced the social policy from Romania. The research hypothesis is that arguments in the field of social policy regarded as national priorities in various moments did not succeed in rendering flexible the eligibility criteria of international financings in the social field. The paper contributes to evaluating the national social policy as a step in supporting the elaboration of sustainable scenarios for socio-economic development.


This paper examines the importance of the human capital development in diversifying Nigerian economy, especially, given the fact that it is oil base economy. It argues that to achieve a successful diversification more time and other resources are required into developing human capital which will exert great impact on the direction of the nation economy. For this, the need for adequate investment in education and training, health and safety, infrastructural facilities and a hostile free work environment are necessary for these human elements to strive in different sectors of the economy. This paper review the effect human capitals have on the economy of Nigeria. It also proposes a framework for new direction. Finally, the paper went further to explain that, in doing so, the accumulated wealth of knowledge, skills, and competencies acquired by the human element remains a great asset to creating several innovative ideas that will re-direct the Nigerian economy from mono-product (oil) to non-oil sectors for future economic development.


Phase field model has been proved to be a useful tool to study the fracture behaviors in heterogeneous materials [1, 2]. This method is able to model complex, multiple crack fronts, and branching in both 2D/3D without ad-hoc numerical treatments. In this study, a new interfacial cracking model in the phase field framework is proposed [3]. The effects of both stiff and soft interphases on the fracture response of composite materials are considered. A dimensional-reduced model based on a rigorous asymptotic analysis is adapted to derive the null thickness imperfect interface models from an original configuration containing thin interphase. The idea of mixing the bulk and interfacial energy within the phase field framework in Nguyen et al. [2] is then used to describe the material degradation both on the interface and in bulk. Moreover, in order to ensure the physical crack propagation patterns, a unilateral contact condition is also proposed for the case of spring imperfect interface. The complex cracking phenomena on interfaces such as initiation, delamination, coalescence, deflection, as well as the competition between the interface and bulk cracking are successfully predicted by the present method. Concerning the numerical aspect, the one-pass staggered algorithm is adapted, providing an extremely robust approach to study interfacial cracking phenomena in a broad class of heterogeneous materials.


Two different morphological forms of cladocerans belonging to the genus Cercopagis were identified in the NE part of the Gulf of Riga (Baltic Sea). One of the forms dominated from midsummer and was characterized by a relatively long caudal process with S-bend and backwardly bent or straight tips of barbs. Individuals with these characteristics belong to the species Cercopagis (Cercopagis) pengoi. The other morphological form was found only from spring to early summer. It had a straight and relatively short caudal process with forwardly bent tips of barbs. Although the last form could be keyed to a separate species C. (Apagis) ossiani it seems more likely that it represents the first parthenogenetic generation of С. (С.) pengoi, hatched from resting eggs in spring. Thus, it is suggested here that the two morphological forms identified probably represent two different ontogenetic stages of С. (C.) pengoi.


Strong electromagnetic force caused by high magnetic field and large coil current is a serious problem in superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems. In facing this problem, we propose the concept of force-balanced coil (FBC) which is a helical-winding toroidal coil and can reduce the centering force of toroidal field coil (TFC). The helical-winding of the FBC is modulated in order to reduce the torsional force. This paper describes the cost-related parameters of the FBC in terms of the dimension of the coil, the ampere-meters of superconductors and the surface area of the coil compared with the TFC and the solenoid. Moreover, we discuss the structure requirements by the virial theorem and improve the concept of FBC in terms of the further optimization of SMES through the structural analysis.


In this paper, we present results from our three-dimensional (3D) simulations of the interaction between the solar wind and local interstellar medium with an emphasis on the phase-space properties of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) along a sight line that intersects the ribbon of enhanced ENA flux seen by NASA's Interstellar Boundary EXplorer spacecraft. The majority of these ENAs have velocities directed away from the heliosphere, but it is believed that interactions between heliospheric ENAs and ions outside the heliosphere may result in a population of secondary ENAs that return to the heliosphere and generate the ribbon. While we do not consider the ion dynamics that result in secondary ENAs, our analysis is of key importance to the process since the heliospheric ENAs we consider form the source population for those ions. We present the moments of the hydrogen distribution, along with moments parallel and perpendicular to the local magnetic field for the pick-up ions (PUIs) that these neutrals generate. Finally, we present gyro-averaged velocity distributions relative to the local magnetic field for the PUIs created from our simulated H-atoms, along with analytic fits to these distributions in the secondary ENA source region just beyond the heliopause.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) and regulation of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production by equine articular chondrocytes.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Articular cartilage from the metacarpophalangeal joints of 7 adult horses.

PROCEDURE
Equine chondrocyte monolayer cultures were stimulated with different concentrations (2.5, 5, 10, and 20 ng/mL) of recombinant human interleukin-1beta (rhIL-1beta) for 24 hours and then with rhIL-1beta (5 ng/mL) for 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 hours. Concentration of PGE2 in the media was measured via radioimmunoassay. Total RNA was extracted from harvested chondrocytes, and regulation of COX-2 and mPGES-1 mRNA was studied via reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay and Southern blot analysis with equine-specific probes. Western blot analyses were performed on cellular extracts to characterize expression of COX-2 and mPGES-1 protein.

RESULTS
Stimulation with 5, 10, and 20 ng of rhIL-1beta/mL caused a significant increase in PGE2 concentrations in the culture media, and incubation of cells with rhIL-1beta (5 ng/mL) for 6 to 24 hours increased PGE2 production significantly. The increase in prostaglandin production was associated with an induction of COX-2 and mPGES-1 transcripts. There also was an rhIL-1beta-dependent induction in COX-2 and mPGES-1 protein expression.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Collectively, results indicated that the rhIL-1beta-dependent increase in PGE2 production in equine chondrocytes in monolayer culture was associated with coordinated upregulation of COX-2 and mPGES-1 expression. The pathophysiologic consequences of upregulated COX-2 and mPGES-1 expression and of PGE2 synthesis in rhIL-1beta-stimulated equine chondrocytes remain to be elucidated.


As primary care providers deal with a multitude of chronic conditions, cardiovascular disease may often be overlooked. Finding cardiovascular disease early in a patient increases treatment options and reduces the likelihood of further complications. Thus, it is important that providers have tools at their disposal to assess patients' odds of heart disease, given past medical histories and vital signs in clinic. Utilizing patient data from the Cleveland Heart Clinic, we developed a predictive model for assessing the odds that a patient evaluated in clinic may have an underlying heart condition. We selected each variable based on its relative capacity for prediction of heart condition, then further analyzed the contributes of this feature in the model. The final model includes the sex of the patient, their self-reported experience of exercise-induced angina, and resting ECG results. This model can be used in the clinic to estimate a patient's odds of heart disease. Unlike current models used in primary care clinics, this model uses fewer variables and specifically assesses the odds of a current condition, as opposed to the future development of cardiovascular disease. Testing directly for heart disease is costly and time-consuming, so it's useful to build a predictive diagnostic model.


To provide maturity transformation, banks need a deposit base – deposits that could be, but are not, withdrawn most of the time and are, thus, used for long-term lending. In a global-games environment, we show that a higher deposit base protects banks against panic runs. As depositors become more flexible in their bank relations, keeping multiple accounts at different institutions, the deposit base of banks changes. We analyze the impact of multi-banking on bank stability and show that in an economy with specialized institutions, households allocate too few funds to maturity-transforming institutions (banks). A policy-maker should support the banks, even though they are more fragile. If only some institutions are protected by deposit insurance, the deposit base moves away from the unprotected institutions, leaving them more prone to runs.


This study shows that frequency of tropical cyclone (TC) around Korea in summer (June-September) has positive relation with Arctic Oscillation (AO) in the preceding April. In a positive AO phase, each of anomalous cyclone and anomalous anticyclone is developed in low latitude and middle latitude regions of East Asia from the preceding April to summer. As a result, while anomalous southeasterly around Korea serves as a steering flow that TCs move toward this area is strengthened, northwesterly that reinforced in southeastern area of East Asia plays a role in preventing TCs from moving toward this area. In addition, due to this distribution of pressure systems developed in this AO phase, TCs tend to occur, move and recurve in further northeastern region in the western North Pacific than TCs in a negative AO phase. On the contrary, TCs in a negative AO phase mainly move westward toward southern China or Indochina Peninsula from Philippines. Eventually, intensity of TCs is weaker than those in a positive AO phase due to the terrain effect caused by high passage frequency of TCs in mainland China.


Mutations in the human Myh9 gene are linked to well described inherited thrombocytopenias, those associated with abnormally large platelets in autosomal dominant Myh9 -related disorders, including the May-Hegglin anomaly. Myh9 encodes nonmuscle myosin heavy chain IIA (NMMHC-IIA), an abundant platelet protein, but cellular mechanisms underlying the platelet production defect remain unknown. In vitro culture of mouse megakaryocytes (MKs) allows one to address these mechanisms. Although NMMHC-IIA localization in blood platelets is structured, its sub-cellular localization in maturing MKs provides few clues about functions in platelet release. Thrombopoietic cultures of mouse hematopoietic progenitors showed no difference in numbers of mature MKs or in efficiency of proplatelet formation in the presence of blebbistatin, a small-molecule inhibitor of NMMHC-IIA ATPase activity. Thus, elaboration of proplatelets appears to occur independent of this activity. We also differentiated Myh9 +/− and −/− embryonic stem (ES) cells in vitro . Again, Myh9 −/− ES cells expressed the full capacity to produce mature MKs that extend proplatelets. These results suggest that NMMHC-IIA loss does not affect MK maturation and that thrombocytopenia in MYH9-related disorders, which are dominantly inherited, probably does not reflect genetic haploinsufficiency. To determine if mutant NMMHC-IIA forms impose dominant-negative effects or may be toxic toward MKs, we introduced various MYH9 gene forms into primary hematopoietic progenitors and into Myh9 +/− and Myh9 −/− ES cells. Constructs encoded full-length NMMHC-IIA, R1933X (a mutation commonly encountered in patients), and a tail-region truncation expected to function as a dominant antagonist. Despite adequate expression of the mutant and full-length, wild type forms, we did not observe discernible differences between control, and mutant forms in any cell system. These results imply that myosin IIA function is not required for MKs differentiating in relative isolation in cell culture and that the effects of this gene may not be cell-autonomous. As bone marrow sinusoidal migration of mature MKs is believed to be necessary for proper platelet release, we asked if and how NMMHC-IIA may be involved in this process. Blebbistatin induced a decrease in formation of intracellular actin stress fibres and also enhanced migration of MKs out of trans-well chambers (8 μm pore). Similarly, overexpression of a dominant-negative NMMHC-IIA mutant in mature primary mouse MKs reduced actin stress fibres. Our findings indicate that NMMHC-IIA is dispensable for MK maturation and proplatelet extension, at least in vitro , and likely regulates MK properties that are required for thrombopoiesis in vivo , such as adhesion to other bone marrow elements and cell motility. Ongoing experiments address if NMMCH-IIA can be implicated in MK interaction with the bone marrow microenvironment and in correct timing of MK maturation and platelet release. (ZC and AB made an equal contribution.)


Can you imagine being in senior school or college and suddenly learning you have cancer? You thought you had a lifetime ahead of you and the whole world at your feet, but suddenly you're told...maybe not. How would you cope? That's the question that the people in this book had to answer. Each individual tells his or her amazing story, in an honest, first-person voice that provides a depth you would never obtain otherwise. You'll meet Zac York, who tells of climbing Mount Whitney - on crutches - after battling brain cancer. You'll meet Jessica Myers, who had to cope with her boyfriend's callous reaction as she struggled with thyroid cancer. And you'll meet Rob Dooley, who fought brain cancer and was left with major cognitive deficits - including short-term memory loss - but never let that get in his way of obtaining a college diploma and entering graduate school. You'll also get to know and come to love seventeen others, who tell their captivating stories in their own words. It's all here - the struggles, triumphs, friendships, love, breakups, relapses. Twenty unique and fascinating stories with one common theme: childhood cancer. They'll make you smile, make you cry, and fill you with hope.


The neonate is particularly susceptible to the development of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. The present study was undertaken to observe the effect of hypoxia on DNA synthesis and c-myc gene expression between newborn calf and adult bovine PASMC in vitro. DNA synthesis measured by 3H-TdR incorporation was increased after hypoxic challenge for 24h. Hypoxia enhanced the increment in 3H-TdR incorporation induced by EGF. Northern blot analysis revealed that PASMC cultured in both normoxia and hypoxia expressed c-myc gene transcript of 2.2Kb, but there is a higher 2. 2Kb mRNA expression in hypoxic PASMC than that in normoxia. We speculate that newborn calf PASMC exhibited potential response to hypoxia than adult, which was augmented by EGF. Enhanced c-myc gene expression may lead to a great understanding of the mechanism of PASMC growth in the development of pulmonary hypertension.


Pain is evoked by noxious body stimulation or through negative emotional events and memories. There are several caveats to the simple proposition that pain and emotion are linked in the cingulate cortex (CG). In this study, we investigated whether mild noxious heat stimuli could affect the neuronal activity in the CG of rats with sciatic nerve ligation. We produced a partial sciatic nerve injury by tying a tight ligature in rats. Seven days after sciatic nerve ligation, rats received mild noxious heat stimuli. Mild noxious heat stimuli produced flinching behaviors in sciatic nerve‐ligated rats, but not sham‐operated rats. In addition, the mild noxious heat stimuli caused a significant increase in the release of glutamate in the CG of nerve‐ligated rats compared with that of sham‐operated rats. Furthermore, phosphorylated‐NR1‐positive cells in this area significantly increased after mild noxious heat stimuli under a neuropathic pain. Under this condition, there were no significant changes in the levels of immediate‐early genes such as c‐fos, c‐jun, JunB, and Fra1 in the CG between nerve‐ligated and sham‐operated rats. However, mild noxious heat stimuli under a neuropathic pain‐like state produced a marked increase in the phosphorylated‐c‐jun (p‐c‐jun) immunoreactivity, which is commonly used to map neurons in the brain that can be activated after N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor activation. These findings raise the possibility that mild noxious heat stimuli under a peripheral nerve injury may increase the release of glutamate and promote its related postneuronal activity in the CG. Synapse, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Background: Research in China has been rapidly gaining momentum, but as yet there is no systematic evaluation of quality of reporting in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the treatment of cancer pain conducted in China. Therefore, an assessment in this field is an imperative issue. Methods: A PubMed search of reports published between 1994 and 2009 followed by an examination and critical appraisal of reporting in RCTs on the treatment of cancer pain was conducted in China. All reports had been examined to describe their general characteristics and evaluate the quality of their reporting. Quality of reporting was assessed against a subset of criteria adapted from the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement. Results: A total of 46 RCTs were included in full text. The frequency of RCTs was found to increase over time: from one (2.2%) in 1994–1997 to 28 (60.9%) in 2006–2009. There were fewer papers published in this field in foreign journals, as funding sources and opportunities for collaborative research with foreigners are still limited. Visual analogue scales were the main method of cancer pain evaluation (19 reports; 41.4%). Only 12 studies (26.1%) are deemed to have authentic randomization and 36 papers (78.3%) provided no information about blinding of either participants or investigators. In 22 papers (47.8%), there was no information about the length of time for which participants were followed. Only 15 (32.6%) of the included trials reported approval by an ethics committee and 17 (37.0%) adequately discussed informed consent. Conclusion: The quality of reporting in RCTs on the treatment of cancer pain conducted in China needs to be improved. Three critical steps should be strictly conducted including randomization, blinding and follow-up. Reporting of RCTs in this field conducted in China should meet and keep up with the standards of CONSORT statement.


This major new edition, originally commissioned for the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode, brings together a unique combination of Shelley's poetry and prose - the lyric poems, plays, longer poems, criticism, and essays - to give the essence of his work and thinking. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was a Romantic poet of radical imaginings, living in an age of change. His tempestuous life and friendship with Byron, and his tragically early death, at times threatened to overwhelm his legacy as a poet, but today his standing as one of the foremost English authors is assured. This freshly edited anthology - the fullest one-volume selection in English - includes all but one of the longer poems, from Queen Mab onwards, in their entirety. Only Laon and Cythna is excerpted, in a generous selection. As well as works such asPrometheus Unbound, The Mask of Anarchy, and Adonais, the volume includes a wide range of Shelley's shorter poems and much of his major prose, including A Defence of Poetry and almost all of A Philosophical View of Reform. Shelley emerges from these pages as a passionate and eloquent opponent of tyranny and a champion of human possibility.


In his 2008 letter to Berkshire shareholders, Warren Buffett presented a critique of the Black–Scholes option pricing model as a tool for valuing long-dated options, including options that Berkshire had written. Given Mr. Buffett's track record, it is worth investigating precisely why he thinks the Black–Scholes model fails to provide a fair value for long-dated options. The alleged deficiencies in the model are, unfortunately, not transparent, because Mr. Buffett's letter does not develop his viewpoint in terms of option pricing theory. In this article, Cornell fills the gap by interpreting Mr. Buffett's argument in the context of option pricing theory and reveals that Mr. Buffett is really making a statement about political economics more than about option pricing.

http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~bcornell/PUBLICATIONS/2009 Warren Buffet Black-Scholes and Long Dated Options.pdf


Substituting Zn for Cu is known to rapidly quench superconductivity in the doped perovskites but the mechanism behind it is still not clearly understood. Single phase YBa2(Cu1-xZnx)(3)O7-delta (x=0.0 to 0.06) samples were synthesized and characterized using XRD, wet titration, resistivity, and ac susceptibility. Angle-integrated Valence Band Photo emission and Zn K-edge XAFS results clearly show that their oxygen stoichiometry (delta) changes on Zn substitution, there by adversely affecting the density of free charge carriers and hence the normal state resistivity and the T-c. However, the observed changes in the two happen to be too large to be accounted for solely on the basis of changes in the oxygen stoichiometry delta. We find that the Zn cation acts as a strong "impurity" scattering centre in the YBCO lattice and causes local lattice distortion (LLD). It consequently induces local magnetic moment, seen in our dc susceptibility measurements. It is thus a composite of (Delta delta), LLD and possibly also magnetic pair-breaking that is responsible for the rapid quenching of the super conductivity observed with Zn doping in this system.


PPS coating and carbon fiber reinforced PPS composite coating were prepared on AISI1045 steel substrate by flame spraying. Microstructure and morphology of coalescent with substrate of coating were studied with FTIR and SEM. Friction and wear characteristics of PPS coating and carbon fiber reinforced PPS composite coating under water and dry sliding against stainless steel were comparatively investigated using a block-ring tester. Worn surface of composite coating and counterpart steel ring were investigated using SEM. Typical elements on the counterpart steel ring were analyzed by XPS. In dry sliding friction of carbon reinforced PPS composite coating exhibited lower friction coefficient and higher wear rate than pure PPS coating did. But under water lubrication PPS composite coating exhibited excellent tribological performance with lower friction and wear rate in comparison with pure PPS coating. Under water lubrication, water play the role of cooling and washing, so transfer film had smaller effect on the tribological behavior of composite coating than under dry sliding. Wear mechanism of composite coating under dry sliding and water lubrication is different.


In this study, a systematic analysis of probabilistic aggregation strategies in swarm robotic systems is presented. A generic aggregation behavior is proposed as a combination of four basic behaviors: obstacle avoidance, approach, repel, and wait. The latter three basic behaviors are combined using a three-state finite state machine with two probabilistic transitions among them. Two different metrics were used to compare performance of strategies. Through systematic experiments, how the aggregation performance, as measured by these two metrics, change 1) with transition probabilities, 2) with number of simulation steps, and 3) with arena size, is studied.


The aim of this paper is to provide a linguistic description of some Spanish discourse markers with the functions of "summary", "conclusion" and "closing". These markers are: en resumen, resumen, en resumidas cuentas, en suma, total, en conclusion, conclusion, en fin, finalmente and por ultimo. This description will include a study of the discursive uses of each marker through an analysis of, among others, their possible lexicalization, the pertinence of their presence, the type of syntactic relation and their degree of autonomy.


In this thesis testing of solid oxide cells in fuel cell and electrolysis operation have been performed. Attempts to fabricate fuel cells are described, equipment for testing solid oxide electrolysis cells has been constructed and the development process for this described.
Cells of a number of different types have been tested in which initial work was performed using microtubular cells. Work on the fabrication of planar solid oxide cells is described, anode supports were prepared by pellet pressing however the application of a suitably dense electrolyte was unsuccessful which resulted in a poor cell OCV.
The initial degradation of commercial solid oxide cells has been investigated. During cyclic testing at low current density the cells were found to degrade at twice the rate in electrolysis operation compared to fuel cell operation. This leads to the conclusion that the degradation observed in electrolysis is reversible and that there is a disconnect between the electrolysis and fuel cell degradation processes.
During testing at different current densities the cells were found to undergo severe degradation when operated with very low water content supplied to the cells. The degradation was 512 mV kh\(^{−1}\) at 2.5 vol% H2O and reduced to 45mV kh\(^{−1}\) at 50 vol% H2O. Over the timescales investigated in this work and due to the reversible nature of the electrolysis degradation identifying a degradation mechanism was very difficult.


We present Joule heating measurements carried out over a wide temperature range on two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) and quantum wires of varying widths fabricated in an In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As heterostructure system that has a 25 nm wide In0.53Ga0.47As quantum well region. The power dissipated per electron is extracted and the electron–phonon coupling processes in these systems are studied. The temperature decay of the power loss at the 2DEG points towards unscreened piezoelectric coupling to the acoustic modes over temperatures of 1–30 K, with boundary scattering in the ohmic contacts gaining importance at very low temperatures. In the wires, we observe different behaviour and the effect of wire width and carrier density on the observed energy-loss rates. Possible phonon confinement and exponential suppression in these structures are also looked at.


It is pointed out that misalignments of quadrupole magnets and beam position monitors (BPMs) in the linac of the SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) Linear Collider (SLC) cause the electron and positron beams to be steered off-center in the disk-loaded waveguide accelerator structures. Off-center beams produce wakefields which limit the SLC performance at high beam intensities by causing emittance growth. A general method is presented for simultaneously determining quadrupole magnet and BPM offsets using beam trajectory measurements. Results from the application of the method to the SLC linac are described. The alignment precision achieved is approximately 100 mu m, which is significantly better than that obtained using optical surveying techniques.<<ETX>>


We describe a 62-year-old smoker, presenting with a 6-week evolving history of progressive weakness of his legs and right hand, with sphincter disturbance. Past medical history included latent tuberculosis aged 25, which was treated. MRI whole-spine revealed longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) spanning C4-T1. CSF examination revealed WCC 43 (93% lymphocytes), protein 844 mg/L, normal paired glucose, unmatched CSF oligoclonal bands, negative viral PCR, AFB, and mycobacterial culture, and cytology in keeping with chronic inflammation. He was treated with intravenous steroids with an oral taper; however, he made no improvement. Aquaporin-4 and anti-MOG antibodies were negative. Anti-Hu antibodies were strongly positive. CT thorax revealed a right hilar mass with mediastinal lymph node enlargement. Whole-body FDG PET-CT was in keeping with a primary lung malignancy. EBUS-guided fine needle aspiration confirmed a histological diagnosis of small-cell lung cancer. Oncology MDT deemed the tumour to be inoperable and he was treated with palliative chemotherapy. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of paraneoplastic LETM, secondary to small-cell lung cancer, associated with positive anti-Hu antibodies. This case highlights that a paraneoplastic work-up should be considered early in LETM, particularly in older patients and those with risk factors for cancer.


Despentapeptide (des-B26-B30) insulin (DPI), an active modified insulin, has been crystallized in the presence of 20% acetic acid pH 2. A crystal structure analysis to 1.8 A spacing (space group I222) revealed that the DPI molecule, which is unable to make beta-strand interactions for physiological dimer formation and is apparently monomeric in solution, formed an alternative lattice-generated dimer. The formation of this dimer involved interactions between surfaces which included the B9-B19 alpha-helices (usually buried by the dimer-dimer contacts within the native hexamer). The two crystallographically independent molecules within the dimer were essentially identical and were similar in conformation to T-state insulin as seen in the T(6) insulin hexamer. An unusual feature of each molecule in the dimer was the presence of two independent conformations at the B-chain C-terminus (residues B20-B25). Both conformations were different from that of native insulin, involving a 3.5 A displacement of the B20-B23 beta-turn and a repositioning of residue PheB25 such that it made close van der Waals contact with the main body of the molecule, appearing to stabilize the B-chain C-terminus.


We consider a time-indexed formulation for the unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem. We show that all polyhedral knowledge known from the single machine problem (in particular, valid inequalities) is applicable to this formulation. We present new facet-inducing valid inequalities and a preprocessing technique involving fixing variables based on reduced costs. We combine both techniques in a basic cutting-plane algorithm and test the performance of the resulting algorithm by running it on randomly generated instances.


Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is defined as an unexpected failure in linguistic abilities during a child's early years of development. Children with SLI do not present significant impairment in nonverbal intellectual outcomes and do not lack normal environmental exposure to language. Brazilian and worldwide researchers have sought to understand the cultural implications of SLI in the Brazilian Portuguese language. Standardized and validated measures must be used in empirical studies. The present study systematically reviewed the instruments used to assess linguistic abilities in quantitative SLI research in Brazil. Three databases were chosen: Medline, SciELO, and Google Scholar. From a total of 828 articles retrieved, only 10 met the inclusion criteria. Seven standardized assessment measures were identified. However, only two of these reported psychometric properties using adequate normative data. No normalized instrument measured the entire spectrum of linguistic abilities. We discuss the results from the perspective of SLI theories and evidence in Brazil and worldwide.


NWSA: Vocational Education is an international refereed e-journal. It is one of the sub-series of E-Journal of New World Sciences Academy established by the number ISSN 1306-3111 in 2005 and it has ISSN 1308-7355. NWSA is a member of PILA (The Publishers International Linking Association). The journal's DOI number is 10.12739. Also, NWSA has a trademark registration certificate since 2013. NWSA: Vocational Education gives place to interesting application, research and survey studies together with original scientific researches consisting of collections and translations in such scientific branches as Child Development Training, Office Administration Training, Tourism Management Education, Family Economics and Nutrition Education, Processing and Embroidery Education, Weaving Education, Knitting Education, Industrial Design Arts, Decorative Items and Flower Tutorial, Clothing and Clothing Industry Education, and Accounting-Management Education  under the main title of vocational education. NWSA: Vocational Education is open to any kind of constructive, creative and innovative opinions providing that they contribute to universal science and technology. It is a quarterly (January, April, July and October) and it accepts essays written in Turkish, German, English and French.


The 6-methoxy-cannabisin I (1), a new alkaloid, together with five known compounds oleraisoindole A (2), cannabisin F (3), apigenin (4), syringin (5) and ethyl-syringin (6) were isolated from Tinospora crispa stems. Their structures were identified by the analysis of spectroscopic data. Compound 2 was isolated from T. crispa for the first time. Anti-inflammatory activity of compound 1 was detected against NO production in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages. However, no activity was observed.