Artificial intelligence research has produced few practical results in most of its branches. However, expert systems in limited fields of expertise are potentially practical and cost-effective tools in many fields of exploration geophysics. Recent breakthroughs, such as writing expert systems in languages less exotic than Lisp, have made it possible to install a practical expert system on even the smallest computer. A recently published expert system written in Forth compiles a rule base into very compact code, and then uses it to reach decisions based on data supplied by the user. Such a system makes it possible for a small computer to be the geophysicist's advisor on many different subjects, because one expert system can use any number of rule bases. The expert system then becomes a practical tool for standardizing the decision-making process, even in comparatively trivial areas.


In recent years, support vector machines (SVMs) were successfully applied to a wide range of applications. However, since the classifier is described as a complex mathematical function, it is rather incomprehensible for humans. This opacity property prevents them from being used in many real-life applications where both accuracy and comprehensibility are required, such as medical diagnosis and credit risk evaluation. To overcome this limitation, rules can be extracted from the trained SVM that are interpretable by humans and keep as much of the accuracy of the SVM as possible. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the recently proposed rule extraction techniques for SVMs and introduce two others taken from the artificial neural networks domain, being Trepan and G-REX. The described techniques are compared using publicly available datasets, such as Ripley's synthetic dataset and the multi-class iris dataset. We will also look at medical diagnosis and credit scoring where comprehensibility is a key requirement and even a regulatory recommendation. Our experiments show that the SVM rule extraction techniques lose only a small percentage in performance compared to SVMs and therefore rank at the top of comprehensible classification techniques.


Firm value is a condition the company has achieved, which is reflected in its share price and gains investors' trust for all its achievements. This study examines the effect of intellectual capital and corporate governance on firm value and tests whether company performance can mediate the relationship between intellectual capital and corporate governance on firm value. The population in this study are all banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2015-2019. The sample was determined using a purposive sampling technique with certain criteria so that 26 companies were selected as samples with a total data of 130 companies. The analysis technique in this study is path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Square. The study results show that intellectual capital and corporate governance affect company performance. Intellectual capital does not affect firm value. Company performance and corporate governance affect firm value. Furthermore, company performance can mediate the relationship between intellectual capital and firm value but does not mediate the relationship between corporate governance and firm value
Keywords: intellectual capital, corporate governance, company performance, firm value


This innovative book makes a major contribution to the current revision of the American literary canon. Challenging the view of Melville as an isolated, alienated genius, Sheila Post-Lauria presents him not only as a writer keenly attuned to the popular culture of his day but also as one who considered reliance upon cultural materials fundamental to his creativity. Firmly grounded in the new scholarship on the history of nineteenth-century print culture and in studies of Melville's contemporaries, Correspondent Colorings provides a rereading of Melville's oeuvre that casts new light on masterpieces like Moby dick and ambiguous texts such as Benito Cereno, as well as lesser known magazine and the late poetry.


Three-level logic is shown to have a potential for reducing the area over two-level implementations, as well as for a gain in speed over multilevel implementations. A heuristic algorithm TOP is presented, targeting a three-level logic expression of type g1∘g2, where g1 and g2 are sum-of-products expressions and '∘' is a binary operation. For the first time, to the authors' knowledge, this problem is addressed for an arbitrary operation '∘', although several algorithms for specified cases of '∘' have been presented in the past. The experimental results show that, on average, the total number of product-terms in the expression obtained by TOP is about one third of the number of product-terms in the expression obtained by a two-level AND–OR minimiser.


Compositional and structural elucidation of the materials is important to know their properties, chemical stability, and electro-photoactivity. The heterojunction electrocatalyst and photocatalyst activity could open a new window for solving the most urgent environmental and energy problems. Here, for the first time, we have designed and fabricated Bi2O3/bismuth titanates modified with MOF-In2S3/CdIn2S4 materials by a stepwise process. The detailed structural elucidation and formation of mixed composite phases were studied in detail. It has been found that the formed composite was efficiently utilized for the electrocatalytic H2 production reaction and the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. XRD patterns for the metal–organic framework-In2S3 showed a main compound of MOF, and it was assigned to a MIL-53 MOF phase, with a monoclinic structure. The addition of CdCl2 onto the MOF-In2S3 phase effectively produced a CdIn2S4 flower platform on the MOF rods. The uniform dispersion of the bismuth titanates in MOF-In2S3/CdIn2S4 materials is detected by mapping of elements obtained by dark-field HAADF-STEM. Finally, the predictions of how to integrate experiments and obtain structural results more effectively and their common development in new heterojunctions for electro-/photocatalytic applications are presented.


We attempt to contribute to the literature by evaluating the effects of higher beer prices on gonorrhea and chlamydia rates through pooling data across Canadian provinces and over time. Ordinary least squares as well as instrumental variables estimates suggest that higher real beer prices are correlated with a reduction in both gonorrhea and chlamydia rates, with corresponding implied elasticities within a tightly defined interval of (roughly) −0.7 to −0.9. However, the increase in real beer prices over the sample period is only responsible for less than a tenth of the decline in gonorrhea rates. (JEL I18)


Background and Purpose— Ipsilateral thalamic diaschisis (ITD) describes the reduction of thalamic function, metabolism, and perfusion resulting from a distant lesion of the ipsilateral hemisphere. Our aim was to evaluate the perfusion characteristics and clinical impact of ITD in acute middle cerebral artery stroke, which does not directly affect the thalamus. Methods— One hundred twenty-four patients with middle cerebral artery infarction were selected from a prospectively acquired cohort of 1644 patients who underwent multiparametric computed tomography (CT), including CT perfusion for suspected stroke. Two blinded readers evaluated the occurrence of ITD, defined as ipsilateral thalamic hypoperfusion present on ≥2 CT perfusion maps. Perfusion alterations were defined according to the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score regions. Final infarction volume and subacute complications were assessed on follow-up imaging. Clinical outcome was quantified using the modified Rankin Scale. Multivariable linear and ordinal logistic regression analysis were applied to identify independent associations. Results— ITD was present in 25/124 subjects (20.2%, ITD+). In ITD+ subjects, perfusion of the caudate nucleus, internal capsule, and lentiform nucleus was more frequently affected than in ITD− patients (each with P<0.001). In the ITD+ group, larger cerebral blood flow (P=0.002) and cerebral blood volume (P<0.001) deficit volumes, as well as smaller cerebral blood flow–cerebral blood volume mismatch (P=0.021) were observed. There was no independent association of ITD with final infarction volume or clinical outcome at discharge in treatment subgroups (each with P>0.05). ITD had no influence on the development of subacute stroke complications. Conclusions— ITD in the form of thalamic hypoperfusion is a frequent CT perfusion finding in the acute phase in middle cerebral artery stroke patients with marked involvement of subcortical areas. ITD does not result in thalamic infarction and had no independent impact on patient outcome. Notably, ITD was misclassified as part of the ischemic core by automated software, which might affect patient selection in CT perfusion–based trials.


Objective: To evaluate the association between testosterone deprivation and atheroplaque formation, testosterone receptors, and collagenization in Wistar penile tissues. Material & method: Two months after orchiectomized bilaterally, penile tissue of eight Wistar were harvested for semi-quantitative analysis of atheroplaque formation using hematoxyllineosin staining. Similar analysis were also conducted to look for collagenization by collagenase staining as well as the expression of testosterone receptors by immunohistochemistry staining. Control group were eight Wistar underwent Sham surgery. Statistical analysis for atheroplaque formation in Wistar compare to control group used was Chi-square, Fishers' exact test was used for the expression of testosterone receptors, and independent t-tests for evaluating collagenization. Results: A significant decline in the testosterone receptors and increase collagenization were obtained in orchiectomized Wistar, while atheroplaque formation was not significantly different. Conclusion: Testosterone deprivation revealed a significant decline in the expression of testosterone receptors, and a significant increase in collagenization while atheroplaque formation was not significantly changed.


The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted wide-reaching and stringent public health measures, many of which draw their legal authority from the framework provided under the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth). Perhaps the most controversial measure has been the determination made by the Minister for Health and Aged Care (the Minister) under s 477 of the Biosecurity Act on 30 April 2021 that, for a period of two weeks, it would be prohibited for a person to enter Australian territory by aircraft without an exemption if that person had been in India within 14 days of the aircraft's scheduled date of departure. Following the making of the determination, the applicant, Mr Newman, brought proceedings in the Federal Court challenging the validity of the determination and the statutory provision under which it was made. Mr Newman's application raised a number of arguments, including that there existed in the Commonwealth Constitution an implied freedom of all citizens to enter Australia. Owing to the time limited nature of the determination, the Federal Court ordered that the hearing of grounds that did not involve a constitutional question be expedited. On 10 May 2021, in Newman v Minister for Health and Ageing (Newman), Thawley J dismissed the challenges to the validity of the determination based on administrative law grounds, giving extempore reasons. This note focuses on one of these grounds, which contended that – in accordance with the principle of legality – the Biosecurity Act had not abrogated the fundamental common law right of citizens to re-enter their country of citizenship with clarity sufficient so as to render the determination valid.


This writing is an homage to Professor Jorge Ayala Martinez because of his many merits in the course of his life as a teacher in different centers, especially in the University of Zaragoza, and as an investigator. His speciality is Philosophy, above all the Spanish, Aragonese and Medieval Philosophy, and other matters. On the other hand his work as a secretary and editor of this magazine Medieval Philosophy Society (SOFIME) has been very praiseworthy and effective.


Abstract Increasing neurogenesis may restore cognitive functions that are impaired in ischemia stroke. Folic acid has been reported to play an important role in neuronal development and reduce the risk of ischemic stroke in primary prevention. Folic acid supplementation stimulates Notch signaling and cell proliferation in neural progenitor cells cultured from neonatal brain. The present study determined whether folic acid supplementation stimulates Notch signaling and neurogenesis and improves cognitive function after ischemic stroke in adult brain. Rats were randomly assigned to four groups: sham operation plus vehicle (Sham), middle cerebral artery occlusion plus vehicle (MCAO), MCAO plus low-dose folic acid (4 mg/(kg day)), and MCAO plus high folic acid (12 mg/(kg day)). The vehicle and folic acid were administered by oral gavage for 28 days prior to sham or MCAO operation and up to 14 days after surgery. Newborn hippocampal neurons were detected at 3, 7, and 14 days post-MCAO. Cognitive function (learning and memory in Y-maze tests) and the protein expression levels of components of the Notch signaling system (Notch1, Hes1, and Hes5) were measured at 7 days post-MCAO. The results showed that MCAO impaired Y-maze performance and stimulated Notch signaling and hippocampal neurogenesis in brain. Folic acid prevented the impairment of Y-maze performance. The nutrient also increased further the expression of Notch1, Hes1, and Hes5 and the number of the newborn hippocampal neurons. Folic acid enhances the stimulation by ischemia of Notch signaling and hippocampal neurogenesis in adult brain and lessens the impairment of cognitive function that occurs after experimental stroke.


The idea of designing a domain specific mother model of an IP block family as a basis for modeling of system integration is presented here. A common reconfigurable mother model for ten different standardized digital OFDM transmitters has been developed. By means of a set of parameters, the mother model can be reconfigured to any of the ten selected standards. So far the applicability of the proposed reconfiguration and analog-digital co-modeling methods have been proved by modeling the function of the digital parts of three, IEEE 802.11a, ADSL and DRM, transmitters in an RF system simulator. The model is intended to be used as signal source template in RF system simulations. The concept is not restricted to signal sources, it can be applied to any IP block development. The idea of the mother model is applied in other design domains to prove that in certain application areas, OFDM transceivers in this case, the design process can progress simultaneously in different design domains - mixed signal, system and RTL-architectural - without the need for high-level synthesis. Only the mother models of three design domains are needed to be formally proved to function as specified.


Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. About 30% of the adult population in the United States (US) is afflicted with NAFLD. Approximately 20-25% of NAFLD patients have the progressive sub-type of NAFLD that is termed as Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). The cardinal features of NASH on liver histology include steatosis, lobular inflammation, ballooning with or without peri-sinusoidal fibrosis.


The invention matching relates to a circuit 300 for implementing a continuous conductive surface is not limited. Circuit may include a plurality of conductive structure 102 in the first surface. Circuit may further include a continuous conductive equipotential surface 301 to the second face parallel to the first surface. Circuit is further configured to activate one or more structures on the first surface by increasing the potential difference between the first and to adjust the electric field between the second face first and second surfaces as a threshold level, which is regarded as constituting the active It may comprise a means of activation. Circuit to also disable the one or more structures on the first surface by decreasing the threshold level or less is considered a potential difference between the first and control the electric field between the second surface and the first and second surfaces to constitute the inactive It may include means configured to deactivate.


For pt.I, see Sanchez, M.G. et al., ibid., p.111-15. The results of an extensive study on analog PAL signals interfered with by digital DVB-T signals are presented. The study covers a theoretical evaluation of the interference problems, field and laboratory measurements and a national survey among TV installation companies. Field measurements are reported in part I. These measurements explain the origin of cochannel and some of the adjacent channel interference problems. However, interference was reported in areas where the field measurements showed that the protection ratios for PAL signals interfered with by DVB-T adjacent channel signals were met. As these reports came from multistorey buildings with master antenna TV (MATV) installations, the study was extended to analyze the role of these installations in the interference problems. Part of the interference problems are due to the MATV system amplifiers which are unable to cope with adjacent channel DVB-T signals. The nonlinear amplifiers give rise to intermodulation problems. The ITU-R recommendations (see ITU-R BT.1368, 2000) recognize that such nonlinear amplifiers could be a source of problems and that higher protection ratios may be needed, but no value is given for the increase. Our laboratory tests of commercial amplifiers found that an increase in the protection ratios of between 12 to 16 dB is needed to avoid a significant degradation of the PAL TV signal in the amplifiers. It has also been found that most of the interference situations are not due to the interfering signal being a DVB-T format, but that any significant signal amplitude in the passband of the filter causes interference. Therefore, MATV system distribution needs planning factors associated with the distribution of any signals near the main signal. The results are presented of a survey conducted among companies who install communal telecommunication infrastructures in Spain.


The highest point of orogeny in the Santa Lucia range occurs 50-60km from the nearest active faulting. This orogeny is believed to have occurred hear due to relatively weak Franciscan Melange versus the granitic material at the fault boundary. This paper studies the development of a knickpoint in San Simeon creek to identify the role of relatively recent (graded time) tectonic activity in orogeny of the Santa Lucia range. The 2003 earth quake is evidence of recent base level change with the occurrence of orogeny supporting the theory of continuous orogeny in recent and graded time scale. Although the knickpoint occurs in a resistant portion of the Franciscan Melange, overall it is a relatively soft substrate suggests that Garcia and Mahan's theory of Quaternary orogeny.


This experiment was conducted in vivo to investigate the effects of feeding WCS as a supplement for sheep fed GH on the apparent feed digestibility, and the rumen fermentation. Four different diets (T1-T4) were used, GH alone, or GH plus 150, 300 or 500 g WCS d-1 (fresh basis). The main objectives of the in vivo experiment was to examine digestibility and rumen characteristics (pH, ammonia and VFA concentration) of sheep fed the four diets. The results of this experiment indicated that supplementation of GH with WCS at level of 500 g d-1 (0.37 of the diet) reduced DM, ADF and NDF digestibility. There was no statistically significant effect on total rumen VFA, but the molar proportions of acetate, propionate and butyrate were altered by the highest rate of inclusion of WCS. These results suggested that WCS might have reduced the numbers or activities of cellulolytic rumen microorganisms.


In Geneva, students completing teacher training in order to become primary or secondary school teachers, produce a portfolio dedicated to professional development. These texts are analysed using linguistic indicators developed by the TALES/TALK research group through a grid named "Analysis of discourses about Professional Apprenticiship" (ADAP). Amongst others, these indicators describe professional knowledge contents, semiolinguistic processes, reflectivity spectrum and regulation systems. Beyond this descriptive level, a hermeneutic analysis brings student's underlying concerns to light: value systems, motivations and intentions, tensions between scientific knowledge and experience, construction of a professional self. This chapter presents the rationale and theoretical frame that guide this instrument. We then proceed with a detailed description of the indicators and discourse analysis methodology. To conclude, we posit that construction of highly developed professional knowledge depends on a conscious and voluntary process in which the writers transform their subjective preoccupations into objects of reflection and conceptualisation, using the resources of written language as an instrument to think about professional life experienced situations. Finally, the main claim of this study is that discourse analysis enlightens boundaries between reflective writing used to develop relevant valuations about professional situations and to regulate practices; and between concepts and action rules.


Background: Surgery remains the most important treatment strategy for solid tumors, such as colorectal cancer (CRC); However, a number of studies have suggested that surgical stress contributes to tumor recurrence or distant metastases. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which contain a rich variety of RNAs with specialized functions and clinical applications, have been shown to be an indicator for diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. The effect of surgical stress on the landscape and characteristics of EV long RNA (exLR) in human blood, however, remains largely unknown.Methods: We present an optimized strategy for exLR sequencing (exLR-seq) the plasma from three patients with CRC at 4 time points (before surgery [T0], after extubation [T1], 1 day after surgery [T2], and 3 days after surgery [T4]). The "Limma" R package was used to evaluate the dynamic changes of mRNAs and long non-coding (lnc)RNAs from EVs. We also constructed a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of hub genes and predicted biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions of gene ontology (GO) functional analysis and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. Results: We observed a sufficient number of exLRs, including 12,924 mRNAs and 2196 lncRNAs. Both mRNAs and lncRNAs underwent dynamic changes during the peri-operative period. Compared with T0, there were 110 mRNAs differentially expressed after extubation, 60 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)1 day after surgery, and 50 DEGs 3 days after surgery. A total of 11 genes changed at all 3 time points and were related to regulation of the membrane potential, receptor complex, and passive transmembrane transporter activity. In addition, 22 lncRNAs were differentially expressed after extubation (T1). Nineteen lncRNAs were differentially expressed between T0 and T2, and 38 lncRNAs were differentially expressed between T0 and T3. In addition, we found that only 3 lncRNAs changed at 3 time points. Interestingly, blood exLRs reflected the tissue origins and relative fractions of different immune cell types. EVs from CD8+ T,CD4+ memory T, and NK cells decreased after surgery and the absolute quality of EVs from immune cells decreased as well. Conclusion: In summary, this study demonstrated abundant exLRs in human plasma and the dynamic changes of these exLRs and exLRs originating from CD8+ T and CD4+ memory T cells were reduced during the peri-operative period.


The article researches some actual questions of ensuring of Russian national interests in the information sphere. It represents an analysis of such terms as «national security», «information security», «national interests».


In this study, noise sources of a reducer which is combined a spiral bevel gear and a planocentric gear are identified by experimental method and the noise was reduced by the structure modification of the reducer. In order to identify the noise sources, noise and vibration signals were measured by microphone and accelerometer and these signals were analyzed with waterfall plot. In addition, the frequency response functions were obtained to prove the noise and vibration sources. It was found that the resonance was generated by the gear mesh frequencies and natural frequency of the reducer. The noise of the reducer could be reduced by structure modification.


Background: Medical cosmetology market induced certain changes to the consumer market and consequently consumption pattern in the market traditionally dominated by salon cosmetology. This phenomenon indirectly influenced consumer behaviors and compressed the business opportunities for the traditional salon cosmetology practitioners.
Methods: This research was conducted over a period of two months from January to February 2013 through computer-assisted telephone interviews. Sampling was targeted on the population in Taiwan 20 years and older and people who have not yet had any cosmetology experiences are excluded. A total of 774 valid samples were derived.
Results: The satisfaction rate of medical cosmetology is higher than the satisfaction rate of salon cosmetology, and the satisfaction rate of service quality and facilities reached the level of statistical significance (ρ 0.05). "attitude" and "trust" are the major positive influences to customer behavioral intentions (ρ<0.05).
Conclusion: This research recommends the cosmetology industry to provide differentiated services and products, with a goal to achieve a general enhancement in customer relationship quality and satisfaction rate. The result will be positive influence on customer loyalty and the willingness to pay more for the cosmetology products or services. This will be a good opportunity to create a win-win situation for the customers and the cosmetology industry.


Two approaches to the provision of pan-European paging services are now becoming established, One of these relies on satellite based services to be provided by INMARSAT, BT and others at L-Band. The second, the European Messaging Service (ERMES) is a terrestrial system under development and scheduled to operate at 169 MHz. Both of these systems may however encounter a problem in delivering adequate signal strength within multi-storey buildings. In the case of the satellite systems due to the necessarily limited transmitter power, and in the terrestrial case due to increasing use of RF opaque glass in new building construction. One solution could be to transpond paging signals down through the building from the roof. Since ERMES is a multichannel service, it is technically feasible to transpond both satellite and ERMES originated paging signals on whatever ERMES channel can be identified as free of other users. The work described is the result of an extensive radio wave propagation measurement campaign carried out for the both approaches at 144 MHz.


Radiotherapy is concerned primarily with the safe use of ionizing radiation for the treatment of cancers for the purpose of cure or palliation. Radiation accidents are not uncommon and could have acute and chronic consequences for the patient ranging from a spectrum of acute radiation syndrome and poor disease control to life threatening and distressing complications. Accidents may be expected to increase in frequency in developing countries if measures for prevention are not taken. It is pertinent to learn from the causes and implications of the documented accidental exposures in radiotherapy in developed countries so as to prevent such accidents in our setting. There should be sound and risk-informed regulations and managerial commitment at the hospital level. There should also be an adequate number of trained staff, and resources with a functional quality assurance programme in place. Keywords : radiotherapy, accidental exposures, developing countries, prevention Annals of Nigerian Medicine Vol. 2 (2) 2006: pp. 9-14


Balancing exploration and exploitation (EE) is a fundamental problem in contex-tual bandit. One powerful principle for EE trade-off isOptimism in Face of Uncer-tainty(OFU), in which the agent takes the action according to an upper confidencebound (UCB) of reward. OFU has achieved (near-)optimal regret bound for lin-ear/kernel contextual bandits. However, it is in general unknown how to deriveefficient and effective EE trade-off methods for non-linearcomplex tasks, suchas contextual bandit with deep neural network as the reward function. In thispaper, we propose a novel OFU algorithm namedregularized OFU(ROFU). InROFU, we measure the uncertainty of the reward by a differentiable function andcompute the upper confidence bound by solving a regularized optimization prob-lem. We prove that, for multi-armed bandit, kernel contextual bandit and neuraltangent kernel bandit, ROFU achieves (near-)optimal regret bounds with certainuncertainty measure, which theoretically justifies its effectiveness on EE trade-off.Importantly, ROFU admits a very efficient implementation with gradient-basedoptimizer, which easily extends to general deep neural network models beyondneural tangent kernel, in sharp contrast with previous OFU methods. The em-pirical evaluation demonstrates that ROFU works extremelywell for contextualbandits under various settings.


A 35-year-old woman with a history of hypertension presented with shortness of breath and atypical chest discomfort. Although a vascular bruit was not heard at any site of the body, the upper extremity pulses were very faint on both sides. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 39 mm/h, and measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP) yielded a value of 1.94 mg/dL. Although the ECG was not suggestive of ischemia, an echocardiogram revealed severe hypokinesia of the anterior wall from the middle left ventricle to the apex. Angiography revealed total occlusions of both subclavian arteries (Figure 1A and 1B). Coronary angiography revealed a tight ostial stenosis of the left main coronary artery and right coronary artery (RCA) without any distal disease (Figure 2A and 2B). A clinical diagnosis of Takayasu arteritis was made because the patient had faint pulses with mild claudication of both arms and ostial coronary disease. A percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a paclitaxel-eluting stent (3.5-mm diameter, 12 mm long; TAXUS, Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass; Figure 2C) was performed successfully on the ostial lesion of the …


Nowadays sharing of medical images through Internet is very popular to make telediangosis, telesurgeries and teleconsultation. Steganography is an art of hiding information inside of a media, which is called cover media. This research presents steganography image on medical image. The medical image is divided into two areas edge and non-edge area. Each area has its embedding and extraction algorithm. A medical data in a text form is hidden inside medical image by interpolation technique. Interpolation technique is used to increase the embedding capacity. After steganography process, medical data and its cover image and its earlier image must be recovered and reversibled from extraction its stego image. The results show an average of the optimum embedding capacity is 103,404 bit with average PSNR is 41.8682 dB. Furthermore, analysis on texture of the stego image is done by this research. The analysis shows the impact of embedding process. The results of texture analysis is embedding process gives a big impact to energy 27.9199%, entropy 5.4725% and skewness 1.5266%. Keywords: steganography, data, medical image, interpolation, texture image


In this video, we aimed to demonstrate retrosigmoid-transtentorial resection of a 4.5 × 4 × 4.5 cm3 left-sided petroclival meningioma compressing the brainstem in a 62-yr-old male who presented with decreased hearing on the left and imbalance.  The patient was placed in park-bench position and a left-sided suboccipital craniotomy was performed. The mass was severely compressing the brainstem as well as the cranial nerves V, VI, VII, and VIII while IV was encased by the tumor. The circumferential dissection of the tumor was facilitated while the surgical corridor and exposure were enlarged by incising the tentorium. Uneventfully, the meningioma was resected in piecemeal fashion as it was not coming out easily with the ultrasonic aspirator. All relevant cranial nerves and adjacent vascular structures were protected. Early postoperative CT scan demonstrated changes due to the surgery and resolution of the compression on the brainstem. The patient made excellent recovery and he was discharged home on postoperative day 4 safely.  Petroclival meningiomas are one of the most challenging tumors for neurosurgeons due to their close proximity to the vascular structures, cranial nerves as well as the brainstem. The retrosigmoid approach provides a direct route during microsurgical resection of these tumors. By incising the tentorium, the corridor can be widened while addressing the supratentorial portion of the tumor with relative ease.


The demand for lubricants is continuously increasing with the increase in the establishment of factories and the tremendous increase in the number of vehicles and other means of transportation. The oil consumed can be a great source of contamination if it is thrown as a waste or can be considered as a new source of energy if properly used, and all depends on methods of how oil can be reused. This study shows how to be innovative on reusing waste-oil while keeping the basic characteristics of base oil. In this experiment, a process known as acid clay is used to restore the basic characteristics of original oil. The oil-waste is collected from different places and a number of experiments are conducted under different conditions with different set of variables. The impact of these variables on the quality of the product is discussed. The possibility of restoring and reviving nearly two-thirds of the oil consumed is proved in this investigation. Key words : Waste oil, base-oil, regeneration of base-oil.


Classroom acoustics has been a topic of research for decades and still attracts the interest of scientists because of the many aspects that are involved, which range from listener-centered issues such as cognitive proficiency to the acoustical design of the room and also to the speaker's voice alterations in noisy conditions. Prof. Murray Hodgson has been a key person in the field and his findings have inspired many others that followed, including the present authors. In this work it is firstly discussed that the objective acoustical indicators whose provision warrants suitable speech intelligibility in the classroom are not able to disentangle listening conditions which are perceived and rated differently by the listeners. For this reason an additional assessment has been developed based on the audiologically–oriented concept of "listening effort". The method is implemented by means of one of the proxy measures of listening effort that is the response time to the auditory stimulus. The present work reviews the main results obtained when the approach was applied to several problems related to classroom acoustics.


In the midst of dominant patriarchal culture ini Saudi Arabia, Banāt al-Riyāḍ novel by Raja' 'Abd Allāh al-Ṣāni' is present as an effort to liberate women from the dominant patriarchal confines. As woman author, Raja' 'Abd Allāh al-Ṣāni' made criticism and resistance in her work as an effort to liberate women. Through women as writer approach, this paper aims to reveal efforts to fight for women's rights and liberation from the dominance of tyrannical hegemonic masculinity in the Saudi Arabian setting. The results of the analysis show that female leaders emerged in the movement of awareness when their rights were taken. They made efforts to free themselves by suing the confines of tradition and patriarchal religious construction. Liberating women from the oppressive male domination by the leaders is the attempt to free women, both in the domestic and public shpheres. Novel Banāt al-Riyāḍ is an author's strategy in its efforts to fight for the rights of Saudi Arabian women and to free them from patriarchal confines.


The Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillating chemical reaction involves the oxidation of an organic compound by the bromate ion in the presence of a metal ion catalyst such as cerium(iv), manganese(ii), or ferroin. Simple periodic oscillations are generally obtained for the BZ reaction in a batch (closed) system. However, complex oscillations have been observed for the BZ reaction in batch with malonic acid and either cerium or ferroin ions as the catalyst. We report here that fascinating complex oscillations in the potential of a Pt electrode have been found in the batch BZ reaction with methylmalonic acid (MeMA) and manganese(ii). Relatively high initial concentrations of NaBrO3 and MeMA are required, and the [NaBrO3]0/[MeMA]0 ratio is the main factor determining the type of oscillations obtained. Other relevant factors are [NaBr]0, [MnSO4]0, [H2SO4]0 or [NaOH]0, temperature, and stirring rate. Complex phenomena observed include mixed mode oscillations, birhythmicity, quasiperiodicity, bursting, and possible chaos. A mechanism is proposed involving the reversible formation of a manganese(iii) complex with bromomethylmalonic acid followed by two-electron oxidation to methyltartronic acid and Mn2+.


Nonlinear numerical simulations on the interaction of waves with a vertical elastic plate are performed by a newly developed computer code based on the MEL (Mixed Eulerian Lagrangian) method. The time-dependent elastic deflection of a vertical plate is described by the mode-expansion method. An implicit boundary-condition method is developed to calculate the acceleration of the plate without evaluating the hydrodynamic force acting on it. The 4-th order Runge-Kutta scheme with uniform time step is applied for time marching in solving the coupled motions of an elastic plate and the fluid. A hybrid wave absorbing beach is installed to prevent the wave reflection from the end of the wave tank. With an initial condition that a plate is bent, illustrative results of numerical computation for the elevation of the free surface are compared with corresponding linear analytical solution. The hydroelastic vibration of a vertical plate induced by an initial pulse-type elevation of the free surface is also simulated. Finally, the effect of the plate stiffness and the edge condition at the top of plate on hydroelastic behavior is studied systematically.


With the Third Industrial Revolution under way since the end of the last century, there have been profound changes in economic activity, moving from a large-scale economy to one of high value, anchored in the intensive use of advanced technology, that is, knowledge. To investigate the public administration managers position, about the construction of educational politics and the qualification of the workforce becomes essential. The purpose of this paper is to present, these ongoing economic changes, the percentage of investment in higher education public policy and the training of postgraduate students (Masters and Doctors) between 2000 and 2015 in Brazil. In this research, secondary data were used, available in CNPq, MEC, IBGE, ANFAVEA websites. Preliminary results indicate a positive linearity of educational variables and a significant change in the physiognomy of the Brazilian economy.


The aim of the present study was investigating the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract of the fruit of Coccinia grandis L. Voigt. (Cucurbitaceae). The antioxidant activity of the fruit has been evaluated by using three in vitro assays and was compared to standard antioxidant, Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). All the fractions showed effective H-donor activity, reducing power, free radical scavenging activity. The antioxidant property depends upon concentration and increased with increasing amount of the fractions. The free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities may be attributed to the presence of flavonoids present in the fractions. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the fruit of Coccinia grandis is a potential source of natural antioxidant.


The choroid plexus consists of epithelial cells, fenestrated blood vessels, and the stroma, dependent on various physiological or pathological conditions. In the present study morphometrical investigations of the rat choroid blood vessels during development (1, 1.5, 2, 4, 7, 10, 13 and 22 months) were carried out. The vessels number and luminal diameter of the blood vessels divided in four subgroups were measured. Morphometric investigations were performed on semithin toluidine blue stained sections examined with the light microscope using a combined square grid system calibrated for stereological estimations. The statistical significant changes were observed in the luminal diameter of capillaries in the young rats in comparison to adult rats. Blood vessels with luminal diameter >30 μm have been found for the first time in rats aged 2 months. The capillaries number was reduced by 20% during development. Changes of the rat choroid plexus during development, characterized by reduction of the capillaries and atrophy of epithelial cells, are evidence of initial degeneration and could result in decreased choroid plexus secretory and transport functions.


For the characteristics of digital watermarking of vector spatial data, the DFT(discrete Fourier transform) blind watermarking model is put forward based on QIM(quantized index modulation) idea. Firstly, DFT is done to vector spatial data. The watermark data are embedded in the magnitude of DFT through quantification. Then, through inverse DFT transform, the embedded vector spatial data is obtained. Finally, the confirmation is done with text format's vector spatial data. The results show that the watermark has good availability, not visibility, as well as has good robustness to format conversion, data translation, rotation.


Abstract Background Evidence on risk for adverse outcomes from COVID-19 among pregnant women is still emerging. We examined the association between COVID-19 at delivery and adverse pregnancy outcomes, maternal complications, and severe illness, whether these associations differ by race/ethnicity; and described discharge status by COVID-19 diagnosis and maternal complications. Methods Data from 703 hospitals in the Premier Healthcare Database during March–September 2020 were included. Adjusted risk ratios overall and stratified by race/ethnicity were estimated using Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Proportion not discharged home was calculated by maternal complications, stratified by COVID-19 diagnosis. Results Among 489,471 delivery hospitalizations, 6,550 (1.3%) had a COVID-19 diagnosis. In adjusted models, COVID-19 was associated with increased risk for: acute respiratory distress syndrome (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 34.4), death (aRR = 17.0), sepsis (aRR = 13.6), mechanical ventilation (aRR = 12.7), shock (aRR = 5.1), intensive care unit admission (aRR = 3.6), acute renal failure (aRR = 3.5), thromboembolic disease (aRR = 2.7), adverse cardiac event/outcome (aRR = 2.2) and preterm labor with preterm delivery (aRR = 1.2). Risk for any maternal complications or for any severe illness did not significantly differ by race/ethnicity. Discharge status did not differ by COVID-19; however, among women with concurrent maternal complications, a greater proportion of those with (versus without) COVID-19 were not discharged home. Conclusions These findings emphasize the importance of implementing recommended mitigation strategies to reduce risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and further inform counseling and clinical care for pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The properties of several unusual Raman scattering peaks observed in heavily irradiated NaCl with vast amounts of colloidal sodium are investigated. A new peak (at 3580 cm−1) has been observed far beyond the cut-off limit of the one-phonon spectrum. This scattering phenomenon has been explained with an electron quantum confinement model where the electronic excitations are quantized as expected for wire-like structures of nano-particles of metallic sodium.


This study develops a methodology to analize the demand for health services. It is based on dichotomic regressions aimed at determining why consumers prefer certain services and do not demand other. It discusses the possible impact on the number of medical vis its of changes in health costs and households income, and focuses on highlighting some criteria regarding the efficiency and fairness of current policies of coverage and finance. The empirical analysis uses information from the National Survey on Health Expenditures (Endesa, 1995), which obtained data on health and demographic variables from a sample of 1,290 households and 6,366 individuals.


BACKGROUND
Studies of couples of psychiatric patients with children allow us to calculate the effects of double predispositions on morbid risk in the offspring, which is of interest for molecular genetic research and for genetic counseling.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the risks in offspring of receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depressive disorder, or any diagnosis from parents who both have received a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

DESIGN
National register-based cohort study.

SETTING
Denmark.

PARTICIPANTS
A population-based cohort of 2.7 million persons born in Denmark, alive in 1968 or born later than 1968, with a register link to their mother and father and aged 10 years or older in 2007.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, calculated as cumulative incidences by age 52 years.

RESULTS
The risk of schizophrenia in 270 offspring of 196 parent couples who were both admitted to a psychiatric facility with a diagnosis of schizophrenia was 27.3% (increasing to 39.2% when schizophrenia-related disorders were included) compared with 7.0% in 13 878 offspring from 8006 couples with only 1 parent ever admitted for schizophrenia and 0.86% in 2 239 551 offspring of 1 080 030 couples with neither parent ever admitted. The risk of bipolar disorder was 24.9% in 146 offspring of 83 parent couples who were ever admitted with bipolar disorder (increasing to 36.0% when unipolar depressive disorder was included) compared with 4.4% in 23 152 offspring from 11 995 couples with only 1 parent ever admitted and 0.48% in 2 239 553 offspring of 1 080 030 couples with neither parent ever admitted. Risks of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in offspring of couples with 1 parent with schizophrenia and the other with bipolar disorder were 15.6% and 11.7%, respectively. The maximal risks of any psychiatric disorders in the offspring of parents both with schizophrenia or both with bipolar disorder were 67.5% and 44.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Derived risks may be informative for counseling. Patterns of transmission may support evolving assumptions about genetic overlap for traditional categories.


Socio-economic inequalities in amenable mortality rates are increasing across Europe, which is an affront to universal healthcare systems where the numbers of, and inequalities in, amenable deaths should be minimal and declining over time. However, the fundamental causes theory proposes that inequalities in health will be largest across preventable causes, where unequally distributed resources can be used to gain an advantage. Information on individual-level inequalities that may better reflect the fundamental causes remains limited. We used the Scottish Longitudinal Study, with follow-up to 2010 to examine trends in amenable mortality by a range of socioeconomic position measures. Large inequalities were found for all measures of socioeconomic position and were lowest for educational attainment, higher for social class and highest for social connection. To reduce inequalities, amenable mortality needs to be interpreted both as an indicator of healthcare quality and as a reflection of the unequal distribution of socio-economic resources.


We consider the inverse scattering problem for a model of electromagnetic wave propagation in a stratified dispersive Ω-material. The dispersive properties of the material are described by the Lorentz model with inhomogeneous strength factors. We reformulate the scattering problem in the frequency domain as a Riemann–Hilbert problem and study the uniqueness of reconstruction of the constitutive parameters from the scattering data.


Smallholder agricultural commercialisation has been seen as an important pathway out of rural poverty in developing countries. However, little empirical evidence is available in sub-Saharan Africa that examines the relationship between commercialisation pathways taken by farmers and welfare outcomes, such as farm income and asset accumulation. This paper fills this gap by taking advantage of data from two rounds of surveys conducted in 2018 and 2020 of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe.


To the best of our knowledge, there is no method in the literature for solving such differential equations in which all the parameters except independent variables are represented by intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. In this article, a new method is proposed for solving such nth-order time-dependent intuitionistic fuzzy linear differential equations. To show the application of the proposed method in real-life problems, the time-dependent intuitionistic fuzzy Kolmogorov's differential equations, obtained by Markov model of condensate system, are solved by the proposed method, and the obtained solution is used to analyze the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of condensate system.


Application of blood-saving methods during open-heart and aorta surgeries is discussed as exemplified by 86 patients. Platelet-rich plasma was prepared before surgery and infused during heart valve replacement, which decreased the postoperative blood loss 1.5 times. Reinfusion of patient's blood during aortocoronary shunting decreased the need in fluid replacement by 67% and utilization of the Cell Saver device in surgery on the aorta decreased the needed amount of donor blood by 50%.


The sustainable development, global competitiveness and rapid technological change increasingly challenge companies to innovate with a focus on sustainability. The objectives of this study were to identify the critical success factors in business management and identify the challenges to implement sustainable products. This is an exploratory, descriptive and qualitative research, using the case study method. Data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with executives from the marketing and innovation departments, complemented by secondary sources, including sustainability reports, websites and other company documents. The content analysis revealed the critical success factors to implement sustainable products, highlighting the involvement of senior leadership, setting goals and long term vision, the involvement of the value chain in the search for sustainable solutions and have a area of innovation with sustainability goals. The key challenges identified are related to the involvement of the supply chain, using the principles of the life cycle assessment, marketing communication and measurement of results and environmental benefits.


Photoinduced electron transfer was studied in dyads (dyad1 and dyad2) containing triphenylamine (MTA) and naphthalenediimide (MNDI) linked with oligo(phenyleneethynylene) dispersed in rigid polymer matrices of polystyrene (PS), poly(vinyl chloride), and poly(methyl methacrylate). Photoexcitation of these dyads yielded long-lived charge-separated (CS) states involving MTA+ and MNDI-. The quantum yields of charge separation in dyad1 and dyad2 were approximately 0.4 and 0.3, respectively, in the polymer matrices. The CS lifetime for dyad2 in PS was longer (400 ms) than those in poly(vinyl chloride) (120 ms) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (65 ms) at 298 K. In addition, CS state had a very long lifetime of 5.4 s in glassy toluene at 100 K. Below glass transition temperatures, polymer side chain motions with various relaxation rates should affect the charge recombination processes. The energy gap (ΔG) and outer-sphere reorganization energy (λ) in the charge recombination process were estimated using a slow-frequency component for dielectric constants. By use of ΔG and λ values, the matrix dependence of the CS lifetimes was successfully rationalized based on Marcus theory, and the charge recombination process in PS with low polarity and high polarizability should be in a deeper inverted region than the other polymer matrices. It also suggested that the rigidity of the polymer effectively suppressed intramolecular motions promoting the charge recombination process.


BACKGROUND
 Speech recognition is a technology that enables machines to understand human language.

 OBJECTIVE
 In this study, speech recognition of isolated words from a small vocabulary was applied to the field of mental health counseling.

 METHODS
 A software platform was used to establish a human-machine chat for psychological counselling. The software uses voice recognition technology to decode the user's voice information. The software system analyzes and processes the user's voice information according to many internal related databases, and then gives the user accurate feedback. For users who need psychological treatment, the system provides them with psychological education.

 RESULTS
 The speech recognition system included features such as speech extraction, endpoint detection, feature value extraction, training data, and speech recognition.

 CONCLUSIONS
 The Hidden Markov Model was adopted, based on multithread programming under a VC2005 compilation environment, to realize the parallel operation of the algorithm and improve the efficiency of speech recognition. After the design was completed, simulation debugging was performed in the laboratory. The experimental results showed that the designed program met the basic requirements of a speech recognition system.


BIOTECHNOLOGYA diverse group of opponents of a controversial biotech discovery that can render seeds sterile, including some scientific groups and companies, have disavowed this so-called "terminator" technology as an unconscionable threat to poor farmers. But last week officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced they will move ahead with the technology because of its scientific promise--albeit with conditions negotiated with its industry partner to guard against it being used in harmful ways. Antibiotech activists adamantly oppose the decision, which runs counter to the intentions even of biotech giant Monsanto.


DEAD/H-box RNA helicases are ubiquitously expressed enzymes, which are characterised by a conserved helicase core of two RecA-like domains containing sequence motifs required for substrate binding and hydrolysis of NTP. Since this helicase core predominantly interacts with the sugar phosphate backbone of its target RNA, additional N- and/or C-terminal ancillary domains are thought to confer substrate specificity and/or mediate cofactor interactions. On the molecular level, some RNA helicases were shown to have unwinding activity, but others can also anneal RNA duplexes or mediate the release of proteins from protein-RNA complexes. Through their key functions in structural remodelling of RNAs and RNP complexes, RNA helicases are implicated in all aspects of RNA metabolism including transcription, translation, pre-mRNA splicing, RNA turnover and ribosome biogenesis.
The biogenesis of ribosomes is a complex and energy-consuming process, which involves the synthesis and processing of four ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and their assembly with approximately 80 ribosomal proteins. Ribosome synthesis involves in excess of 200 biogenesis cofactors, including snoRNPs that introduce rRNA modifications co-transcriptionally as well as enzymes such as nucleases, NTPases and RNA helicases, which act in a strict hierarchical order to mediate the correct assembly and maturation of 40S and 60S subunits. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 21 RNA helicases are proposed to act during the synthesis of ribosomes, where they likely contribute to different steps along the maturation pathway. Some RNA helicases are required for the release of specific snoRNPs from pre-ribosomal complexes, whereas other RNA helicases are suggested to be involved in structural rearrangements of rRNA and remodelling of pre-ribosomal complexes. However, many of the RNA helicases implicated in ribosome biogenesis remain uncharacterised and the lack of information about their binding sites on pre-ribosomal complexes has impeded further functional characterisation of these proteins.
In this work, we focused on three essential RNA helicases, Has1, Spb4 and Mak5, which are implicated in both SSU and LSU biogenesis (Has1) or in the later stages of LSU biogenesis (Spb4 and Mak5). Using a crosslinking technique with subsequent analysis of cDNA (CRAC) we revealed their putative binding sites on pre-ribosomal complexes. The observed CRAC sites for Has1 were consistent with its previously reported functions in the release the U14 snoRNA from pre-40S particles and regulating the release of a subset of trans-acting ribosome biogenesis factors from pre-60S complexes, but the identification of two Has1 crosslinking sites in the 18S rRNA suggests that Has1 may have an additional function in the biogenesis of small ribosomal subunits. DMS structure probing experiments demonstrated that the crosslinking sites identified for Spb4 and Mak5 by CRAC are bona-fide protein binding sites. In the case of Spb4, the structure probing data further suggest that one of the identified crosslinking sites likely represents a binding platform for the helicase whereas the other crosslinking site might represent a region of the pre-rRNA that is remodelled by Spb4. Interestingly, this rRNA region is in close proximity to the known binding site of the ribosome biogenesis factors Nog2 and Arx1, suggesting that Spb4 may play a direct role in recruitment or release of these proteins from pre-60S complexes. Excitingly, for Mak5, our data have revealed a function of the helicase in restructuring a region of the pre-ribosome to enable recruitment of the ribosomal protein Rpl10 to cytoplasmic ribosomal particles. Together, these findings extend the range of functions linked to RNA helicases in ribosome biogenesis and add to the understanding of important events during assembly of the large ribosomal subunit.


Background Adults with stroke need to perform cognitive–motor dual tasks during their day-to-day activities. However, they face several challenges owing to their impaired motor and cognitive functions. Objective This case-controlled pilot study investigates the speed and accuracy tradeoffs in adults with stroke while performing cognitive–upper limb motor dual tasks. Methods Ten adults with stroke and seven similar-aged controls participated in this study. The participants used a robotic arm for the single motor task and participated in either the serial sevens (S7) or the controlled oral word association test (COWAT) for single-cognitive task. For the dual task, the participants performed the motor and cognitive components simultaneously. Their speed and accuracy were measured for the motor and cognitive tasks, respectively. Results Two-sample t-statistics indicated that the participants with stroke exhibited a lower motor accuracy in the cross task than in the circle task. The cognitive speed and motor accuracy registered by the subjects with stroke in the dual task significantly decreased. There was a negative linear correlation between motor speed and accuracy in the subjects with stroke when the COWAT task was performed in conjunction with the cross task (ρ = −0.6922, p = 0.0388). Conclusions This study proves the existence of cognitive–upper limb motor interference in adults with stroke while performing dual tasks, based on the observation that their performance during one or both dual tasks deteriorated compared to that during the single task. Both speed and accuracy were complementary parameters that may indicate clinical effectiveness in motor and cognitive outcomes in individuals with stroke.


Ultra-violet light irradiation of containers and components used in in vitro DNA amplification reactions catalyse by Taq DNA polymerase is a simple and effective method to reduce carry-over contamination and can reduce false-positive results. However, we found that prolonged exposure of water in polypropylene microcentrifuge tubes to u.v. light can result in reduction of amplification efficiency by at least two orders of magnitude when these water specimens are used in amplification reaction mixtures. Although the mechanism that causes this inhibition of DNA amplification is unclear now, the results seem to suggest that u.v. irradiation for routine anti-contamination purposes should be used with caution.


Oxalic acid, the cheapest dicarboxylic acid, was used as an effective initiator to synthesize polyols by copolymerization of CO2 and propylene oxide over a zinc–cobalt double metal cyanide catalyst. Generally, reaction times as long as 255 min were observed for complete PO conversion, due to the existence of the free carboxylic acid group of oxalic acid. To overcome this disadvantage, we proposed a novel preactivation approach by formation of oxalic acid based oligo-ether-diol in advance. About 4.75 PO monomers were initiated at 80 °C, which was independent of time and oxalic acid amount; the diol then acted as a chain transfer agent for the following copolymerization. Under the optimal conditions the reaction could proceed to completion in 150 min, which was a remarkable reduction in reaction time compared to the previous reaction time of 255 min. Notably, the resulting CO2-based diol was stable up to 190 °C, indicating that oxalic acid may be applied as an effective initiator for this copolymerization.


The SEC has long been faced with the difficult task of regulating financial market innovations, and the rise of fintech has increased the complexities faced by the agency. As fintech entities grew in popularity among retail investors and moved financial markets closer to what some call "democratized finance," calls for new regulations grew louder. After years of hesitancy, investigation and regulatory uncertainty, the SEC has been increasingly responsive to these calls.
This Note reviews and conceptualizes the SEC's approach to regulating new developments in financial market access since the agency's founding in the 1930s. This Note begins with a review of prior SEC approaches to regulation through either enforcement or the promulgation of new regulations, and then reviews how the agency has used these approaches when regulating two prominent fintech segments: online retail-broker dealers and cryptocurrency entities. Lastly, the Note proposes two frameworks to conceptualize historical and contemporary regulatory approaches by the agency. Ultimately, by reviewing prior instances of regulation, contemporary issues and frameworks, this Note aims to give greater clarity to how the SEC has and will continue to regulate financial market innovations, in particular as it relates to "democratized" financial markets.


RATIONALE
A prevailing paradigm recognizes idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) originating from various alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) injuries, and there is a growing appreciation of AEC aging as a key driver of the pathogenesis. However, it is incompletely understood what main factor(s) contributes to the worsened alveolar epithelial aging in lung fibrosis. It remains a challenge how to dampen AEC aging, and thereby mitigating the disease progression.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the role of AEC CD38 in promoting cellular aging and lung fibrosis.

METHODS
scRNA-seq and animal models were used.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
We discovered a pivotal role of CD38, a cardinal nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) hydrolase, in AEC aging and its promotion of lung fibrosis. We found increased CD38 expression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) lungs that inversely correlated with the lung function of patients. CD38 was primarily located in the AECs of human lung parenchyma and was markedly induced in IPF AECs. Similarly, CD38 expression was elevated in the AECs of fibrotic lungs of young mice and further augmented in those of old mice, which was in accordance with worsened AEC aging phenotype and aggravated lung fibrosis in the old animals. We found that CD38 elevation downregulated intracellular NAD, which likely led to the aging promoting impairment of the NAD-dependent cellular and molecular activities. Furthermore, we demonstrated that genetic and pharmacological inactivation of CD38 improved these NAD dependent events and ameliorated bleomycin induced lung fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests targeting alveolar CD38 as a novel and effective therapeutic strategy to treat this pathology.


Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is a promising wireless technology in providing high-bandwidth Internet access over a specific coverage area, with relative lower investment cost as compared to traditional access network. In a WMN, a mobile client (MC) can access the Internet through a wireless backbone formed by wireless Mesh Routers (MRs) which are interconnected in a multi-hop fashion while some MRs known as Internet Gateways (IGWs) act as the communication bridges between the wireless backbone and the Internet. The design of the network architecture is a fundamental issue for a WMN and is critical in determining the network performance and providing Quality of Service (QoS) for end users, and thus should be addressed carefully.
A unique characteristic of a WMN is the IGW oriented Internet traffic. Thus, the deployment of IGW is the key problem in the network design, and is investigated in this dissertation. Two IGW oriented network architectures are analyzed, and corresponding QoS requirements and constraints are evaluated. The IGW deployment problem is then formulated as a multiple objectives optimization problem. Besides the linear programming approach, some heuristic algorithms are proposed and evaluated. Extensive simulations show the effectiveness of proposed solutions.
To improve the performance of a given WMN, load balancing between different IGW domains is also investigated. A load fairness between IGWs domains improves the network performance and provides a better QoS for end users. The fairness indexes are defined for both homogenous and heterogeneous WMNs. A distributed load balancing scheme is proposed, and three load balancing algorithms based on diffusion methodology are introduced in the proposed scheme.
Authenticated key establishment (AKE) schemes enable two entities (e.g., a client and a server) to share common communication keys in an authentic way. Due to mobility of mesh clients (MCs), a WMN needs have a fast and efficient authentication and key establishment scheme to provide adequate security in client's handoff while meeting the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In this dissertation, we discuss the security and performance requirements for authentication imposed by the unique WMN characteristics. Distributed authenticated key establishment schemes are proposed based on hierarchical multi-variable symmetric functions (HMSF) and identity-based cryptography (IBC) respectively, which enable fast key agreement and mutual authentication between network entities in a WMN. In the distributed authenticated key establishment schemes, network entities in a WMN such as mesh clients and mesh access points (e.g. mesh routers) can authenticate each other and establish pairwise communication keys without any interaction from a centralized authentication center, which substantially reduces the communication overhead and authentication delay.


Genetic variations among native and local chicken populations in six different locations across Turkey were established using 15 ISSR primers, and produced 87 bright and reproducible bands. According to pairwise genetic differentiation among the populations (GST), the highest genetic differentiation was determined between the Samsun and Yozgat population and the lowest was observed between the Dulkadirli and Budak populations. Shannon's index was calculated to be 0.239. The gene flow (Nm) among the populations was estimated to be 3.489, which indicated low levels of differentiation among the populations. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) identified 13% of the total genetic variation between the populations and the rest of the differences were 87% within the populations. Cluster analysis revealed two main branches, one leading to the domestic chicken population collected from Samsun in the Black Sea region of Turkey, the other branch clustered into two branches; one branch consisting of the Denizli Native Chicken population and the other one of domestic chicken populations sampled from Central Anatolia populations. The study is important to clarify the indigenous chicken genetic resources in Turkey. The results could be used for future breeding research conducted by either the public or private sectors.


Premier glaciologist Almut Iken recently retired after conducting research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich for 25 years. To honor her many important contributions to glaciology, approximately 80 colleagues from many parts of Europe and North America participated in a special session at the 1996 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco to explore the role of water in ice dynamics, a topic that Iken significantly advanced. Iken's pioneering work in Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Antarctica, Alaska, and the Swiss Alps explained how englacial and subglacial water affects the dynamics of ice masses. Her research is fundamental to understanding the behavior of ice streams—which drain the major ice sheets—the cycling of glacier surges, and the seasonal movement of alpine glaciers.


Little is known about how the hemispheres interact in processing of stimuli presented at vertical midline. Processing might be mutually independent or cooperative. Here we measured target identification and visually evoked EEG potentials while stimulus streams containing two targets, T1 and T2, were either presented at vertical midline above and below fixation, or laterally, left and right. With left and right streams, potentials evoked by filler stimuli and by T2 were earlier at the right than the left visual cortex, and T2 was better identified left than right, confirming earlier results and suggesting better capabilities of the right hemisphere in this task. With streams above and below fixation, EEG potentials evoked by filler stimuli and by T2 were likewise earlier at the right than the left hemisphere, and T2 was generally identified as well as, but not better than left T2, in one target constellation even worse (T2 in lower stream preceded by T1 in upper stream). These results suggest right-hemisphere preference for this task even with stimuli at vertical midline, and no added value through hemispheric cooperation. Lacking asymmetry for T1 amidst asymmetries for filler stimuli and for T2 might indicate alternating access of the hemispheres to midline stimuli as one means of hemispheric division of labor.


Abstract Molecular‐based methods for identifying sex in mammals have a wide range of applications, from embryo manipulation to ecological studies. Various sex‐specific or homologous genes can be used for this purpose, PCR amplification being a common method. Over the years, the number of reported tests and the range of tested species have increased greatly. The aim of the present analysis was to retrieve PCR‐based sexing assays for a range of mammalian species, gathering the gene sequences from either the articles or online databases, and visualize the molecular design in a uniform manner. For nucleotide alignment and diagnostic test visualization, the following genomic databases and tools were used: NCBI, Ensembl Nucleotide BLAST, ClustalW2, and NEBcutter V2.0. In the 45 gathered articles, 59 different diagnostic tests based on eight different PCR‐based methods were developed for 114 mammalian species. Most commonly used genes for the analysis were ZFX, ZFY, AMELX, and AMELY. The tests were most commonly based on sex‐specific insertions and deletions (SSIndels) and sex‐specific sequence polymorphisms (SSSP). This review provides an overview of PCR‐based sexing methods developed for mammals. This information will facilitate more efficient development of novel molecular sexing assays and reuse of previously developed tests. Development of many novel and improvement of previously developed tests is also expected with the rapid increase in the quantity and quality of available genetic information.


For the last five years, graduates within the master track of Landscape Architecture at TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment have been working on the theme of "Flowscapes". In the graduation guide the theme is explained as follows: "Flowscapes, explores infrastructure as a type of landscape and landscape as a type of infrastructure. The hybridization of the two concepts seeks to redefine infrastructure beyond its strictly utilitarian definition, while allowing landscape design to gain operative force in territorial transformation processes. Through focusing on landscape architectonic design of transportation, green and water infrastructures, the studio aims to develop innovative spatial armatures that guide urban and rural development and represent their civic and cultural significance. With movement and flows at the core, landscape infrastructures facilitate aesthetic, functional, social and ecological relationships between natural and human systems. The studio seeks a better understanding of the dynamic between landscape processes and typo-morphological aspects; here interpreted as flowscapes. Flowscapes projects put Landscape Architecture Education Delft at the interface of Urbanism, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environmental and Spatial Planning." In this paper the theme will be discussed by comparing two graduation projects situated in two different deltas: "The Haringvlietdam, a beautiful coastal landscape, part of the Rhine-Meuse delta" in the Netherlands and "The Living Estuary, a study to develop landscape spatial adaptive strategies by integrating water, ecosystem and anthropomorphic-dynamics in the estuary of the Volta Delta" in Ghana. The focus of the paper is on the method developed and applied in the graduation work. What do these projects have in common? In what way are they different and what can we learn from them in terms of understanding landscape architecture as an integral design discipline, in relation to the theme of flowscapes? A discipline that relates space to place and uses design as an operative force to steer adaptive and sustainable territorial transformation processes.


Ambiente, agricoltura, alimentazione, patrimonio culturale e turismo per lo sviluppo dell'economia delle aree costiere della Sicilia meridionale: l'esempio del comune di Palma di Montechiaro (di Alfonso Pagnesi) - ABSTRACT: Sicily is a region rich in history, pleasant and varied landscapes, monuments and artistic works, of which it still has many charming expressions. However, tourism has not taken off in a way that is coherent with the available resources; the reasons for this must be sought in the lack of initiatives by Public Administrations and private citizens, who have not seen fit to make the capital investments necessary to increase receptivity and to equip the area with the most useful infrastructures. Today, with tourism in full expansion, a new, attractive opportunity has arisen to make up for lost time, provided that the local authorities decide to carry out their duties of exploiting the island's resources. In order to pinpoint the possible paths to be followed for exploiting the marginal areas, I have analysed the opportunities for development in one of Sicily's municipalities where there are several useful resources for achieving the success with tourism which it does not have at present: this municipality is Palma di Montechiaro, in Agrigento province. I have chosen this municipality for the following reasons: -because it combines the south coast of Sicily with the hills, and therefore two areas that are completely different but, in certain ways, complementary, because they are rich in resources of landscape and vegetation; -because it has an unusual history behind it: that of a noble house which, thanks to its last descendant, has achieved international notoriety. -finally, since, as has been stated, its economy has not been developed in spite of the richness of the resources it possesses, an attempt has been made to understand the motivations and to define actions that, if carried out, should speed up the pace of development. In the first part of this document, therefore, I have illustrated the history, the cultural traditions, the landscape and naturalistic resources and the socio-economic situation of the area; subsequently, I have shown the size of the flows of tourists into the province and the problems in the tourist sector; finally, in the third part, I have outlined some opportunities for intervention to expand the local area on a tourist and agricultural-food level.


The genus Hemicolpus Heller, 1895 (Curculionidae: Conoderinae) currently includes six species: H. cubicus (Lacordaire) (Brazil); H. heteromorphus Hustache (Brazil); H. abdominalis Hustache (Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay); H. costaricensis Hespenheide (Costa Rica); H. randiae Hespenheide (El Salvador and Mexico) and H. prenai Hespenheide (El Salvador and Mexico). The known species are predispersal seed predators whose larvae feed and develop within fruits of Rubiaceae. Species from Central America have been reared from the fruits of Randia L. (Rubiaceae). In contrast, the only host plant known for the South American species, H. abdominalis, is Tocoyena formosa (Cham. & Schltdl.) K. Schum. (Rubiaceae), a plant species widely distributed in the Cerrado biome, occurring from southeast to north and northeast of Brazil. Here, we describe a seventh species of Hemicolpus, H. maragatensis Sanz-Veiga, Savaris & Leivas, sp. nov., morphologically close to H. abdominalis, associated with fruits of Randia ferox (Cham. & Schltdl.) DC. in the south of Brazil. Furthermore, we designate a lectotype and provide a redescription of H. abdominalis, including additional characters to differentiate it from H. maragatensis. For both species, we provide morphological descriptions of external and internal characters, including male and female genitalia illustrations, distribution data, and notes on the biology and host plant. A barcode region of the mitochondrial DNA is also included for both species adding genetic information to the species characterization and differentiation. We also provide an identification key for the species of the genus.


Herbaceous perennial wetland monocots in Northern Ontario, Canada show dichotomous root overwintering patterns, either with full senescence in autumn or survival over the winter, comparable to deciduous and evergreen leaf habits in trees. To test if these root strategies differ in their associations with growing season length, soil temperatures were recorded in autumn, winter and spring on 38 wetland sites with their dominant species being either of these two root overwintering strategies, altogether 19 monocot species. Traits associated with these strategies were assessed in garden experiments for a subset of these species. Sites with species with autumn-senescing roots were on average warmer than sites with species with overwintering roots. The 13 coldest sites were all sites of species with overwintering roots. Spring shoot growth in the field was delayed in species with autumn-senescing roots, despite their higher shoot relative growth rates in the garden, possibly due to the necessity to produce roots first. We conclude that species with autumn-senescing roots are more constrained by temperature than species with overwintering roots, limiting their occurrence in cool climates to locally warm soils and constraining their distribution towards the north. This is comparable to constrains on distribution of deciduous and evergreen trees.


Our society faces many risks that affect human life. Cost-benefit analysis is a very popular project-evaluation tool for reducing these social risks. The government has to set projects or regulations whose benefits will outweigh costs. It is quite easy to evaluate costs but how to evaluate the benefits linked to protecting human life? Since the 1970s, many values of life have been estimated with different methods. The wide variability of the results range from 0,5 million up to 50 million ($US, 2000). The main goal of this study is to analyze the source of this variability in results. We also want to determine a reasonable value for public decision making.


: The influence of 6-hydroxydopamine on morphine-induced convulsions were investigated in rats. Morphine, in doses up to 100 mg/kg did not produce any convulsive pattern in vehicle-pretreated rats. The pretreatment of rats by 6-hydroxydopamine strongly potentiated the seizure producing activity of morphine and the dose-response curve of seizure severity shifted to the right. These results suggest that brain catecholamines are involved in the mechanism of morphine-induced convulsions.


This document summarizes a range of possible techniques for the repair of continuous media streams subject to packet loss. The techniques discussed include redundant transmission, retransmission, interleaving and forward error correction. The range of applicability of these techniques is noted, together with the protocol requirements and dependencies.


It is the sentiment analysis with which it is tried to predict the sentiment being told in the texts in an area where Natural Language Processing (NLP) studies are being frequently used in recent years. In this study sentiment extraction has been made from Turkish texts and performances of methods that are used in text representation have been compared. In the study being conducted, besides Bag of Words (BoW) method which is traditionally used for the representation of texts, Word2Vec, which is word vector algorithm being developed in recent years and Doc2Vec, being document vector algorithm, have been used. For the study 5 different Machine Learning (ML) algorithms have been used to classify the texts being represented in 5 different ways on 3000 pieces of labeled tweets belonging to a telecom company. As a conclusion it was seen that Word2Vec, being among text representation methods and Random Forest, being among ML algorithms were most successful and most applicable ones. It is important as it is the first study with which BoW and word vectors have been compared for sentiment analysis in Turkish texts.


A case study mainly focused on employment of organic and conventional agriculture. The study is based on data for 2011-12 collected from 30 organic farming and 30 conventional sample households from the Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The sugarcane variation level is low in both farming systems. In the case of sugarcane, employment generation under organic agriculture is around 12 mandays more per acre. The variation levels are nearly same and are low. The difference in average employment is statistically significant at 1 per cent level. The organic farming sample households have been found younger and more educated having larger landholdings and better resources. The organic farming is labor intensive, but its cost of cultivation is lower due to saving on chemical fertilizers, irrigation, seeds and agrochemicals. The yield on organic farmer has been reported lower but it is more than compensated by the price premium received and yield and profit stability observed on the organic farming.


Liquefaction-induced lateral spreading can induce significant deformations and damage in existing structures, such as ports, bridges, and pipes. Past earthquakes have caused this phenomenon in coastal areas and rivers in many parts of the world. Current lateral spreading prediction models tend to either overestimate or underestimate the actual displacements by a factor of two or more when applied to large subduction earthquake events. The purpose of this study was to identify ground motion intensity measures and soil parameters that better correlate with observed lateral spreading under large-magnitude (Mw ≥ 7.5) subduction earthquakes that have occurred in countries like Chile, Japan, and Peru. A numerical approach was first validated against centrifuge and historical cases and then used to generate parametric models on which statistical analysis was applied. Our results show that cumulative absolute velocity (CAV), Housner intensity (HI), and sustained maximum velocity (SMV) have a reasonably good correlation with lateral spreading for the analyzed cases.


Prokaryotes are likely to be the most numerous and species rich organisms on the planet 1 , occupying a more diverse set of ecological niches than eukaryotes. Knowledge of prokaryote diversity is severely limited by our inability to recreate the conditions in the laboratory that are needed to cultivate the majority. Discrepancies between direct microscopical counts and the numbers of colony-forming units can be as much as 100-fold, leading to speculation concerning how much we really know about prokaryotes. In contrast, genomic studies of prokaryotes are advanced. So, while on one hand we know that we have a poor overview of prokaryotic life on the planet, we have, paradoxically, succeeded in obtaining more completed genomic sequences of prokaryotes than of


The medium access control (MAC) protocol through which mobile nodes can share a common broadcast channel is essential in ad hoc networks. Due to the existence of hidden terminals and multihop feature of ad hoc networks, contention among nodes is not homogeneous. Some nodes are at a disadvantage in access to the shared channel and suffer severe throughput degradation when load to channel is high. This is known as the "fairness problem". A new simple yet effective queue backoff fair algorithm is proposed. To quantify the degree of the fairness effect of the algorithm, an improved fairness index (IFI) is also defined. Based on IFI, the goal of achieving channel access fairness relative to effective aggregate throughput becomes equivalent to minimizing the improved fairness index. Analysis and simulation results show that, by choosing appropriate parameters, the new algorithm achieve lower improved fairness index and consequently improve the fairness relative to effective aggregate throughput, compared with the IEEE 802.11 binary exponential backoff (BEB) algorithm and other algorithms.


Abstract : A technique is described for recording electroencephalograms (EEG) and visually evoked cortical responses (VERs) from rats during hyperbaric exposure. A reliable and durable chronic electrode implantation procedure is used in which miniature, self-tapping stainless steel screws serve a dual role as cortical electrodes and as anchors for a miniature connecting socket. Sample data are presented which were obtained from implanted rats during exposure to hyperbaric air. The techniques developed are well-suited for studying the neurophysiological effects of hyperbaric environments.


A radiation-hard transponder was developed utilizing submicron/nanotechnology from IBM. The device consumes low power and has a low fabrication cost. This device utilizes a Plug-and-Play concept, and can be integrated into intra-satellite networks, supporting SpaceWire and Gigabit Ethernet I/O. A space-qualified, 100-pin package also was developed, allowing space-qualified (class K) transponders to be delivered within a six-month time frame. The novel, optical, radiation-tolerant transponder was implemented as a standalone board, containing the transponder ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) and optical module, with an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) friendly parallel interface. It features improved radiation tolerance; high-data-rate, low-power consumption; and advanced functionality. The transponder utilizes a patented current mode logic library of radiation-hardened-by-architecture cells. The transponder was developed, fabricated, and radhard tested up to 1 MRad. It was fabricated using 90-nm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) 9 SF process from IBM, and incorporates full BIT circuitry, allowing a loop back test. The low-speed parallel LVCMOS (lowvoltage complementary metal oxide semiconductor) bus is compatible with Actel FPGA. The output LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling) interface operates up to 1.5 Gb/s. Built-in CDR (clock-data recovery) circuitry provides robust synchronization and incorporates two alarm signals such as synch loss and signal loss. The ultra-linear peak detector scheme allows on-line control of the amplitude of the input signal. Power consumption is less than 300 mW. The developed transponder with a 1.25 Gb/s serial data rate incorporates a 10-to-1 serializer with an internal clock multiplication unit and a 10-1 deserializer with internal clock and data recovery block, which can operate with 8B10B encoded signals. Three loop-back test modes are provided to facilitate the built-in-test functionality. The design is based on a proprietary library of differential current switching logic cells implemented in the standard 90-nm CMOS 9SF technology from IBM. The proprietary low-power LVDS physical interface is fully compatible with the SpaceWire standard, and can be directly connected to the SFP MSA (small form factor pluggable Multiple Source Agreement) optical transponder. The low-speed parallel interfaces are fully compatible with the standard 1.8 V CMOS input/output devices. The utilized proprietary annular CMOS layout structures provide TID tolerance above 1.2 MRad. The complete chip consumes less than 150 mW of power from a single 1.8-V positive supply source.


The purposes of this study were to establish standardized procedures for the Nine Hole Peg Test of finger dexterity, to evaluate its reliability and validity, and to establish new clinical norms based on these standardized procedures. For the reliability and validity study, 26 female occupational therapy students were tested Very high interrater reliability (right r = .97, left r = .99) was found Test-retest reliability was reported to be moderate to high (right r = .69, left r = .43) and a significant practice effect was found between the test and retest occasions. Possible variables that may have affected these results are discussed To evaluate concurrent validity, the Nine Hole Peg Test was compared to the Purdue Pegboard. The observed correlations (right r = −.61, left r = −.53) indicated that the tests are similar but not equivalent tests of finger dexterity. For the normative data study, 628 normal subjects from 20 to 94 years were tested Data were stratified by sex and by 12 age groups to allow the therapist to easily compare patients' scores to a normative population Data showed that females scored slightly better than males, finger dexterity decreased with age, and right-hand and left-hand dominant subjects demonstrated minimal differences in performance.


Pressurizing a fluidized bed combustor with a gas turbine greatly improves both sulfur retention and combustion efficiency. Operating the gas turbine with a high inlet temperature (e.g. 900°C) would yield a thermal efficiency about four points higher than for an atmospheric furnace, but 40 y of experience have failed to solve problems with flyash erosion and deposits. Extensive experience such as that with fluidized bed catalytic cracking units indicates that the gas turbine blade erosion and deposit problems can be handled by dropping the turbine inlet temperature below 400°C where the turbine delivers just enough power to drive the compressor. The resulting thermal efficiency is about half a point higher than for an atmospheric bed, and the capital cost of the FBC-related components is about 40% lower.While a closed-cycle helium gas turbine might be used rather than a steam cycle, the thermal efficiency would be about four points lower and the capital cost of the FBC-related components would be roughly twice that for the corresponding steam plant.Copyright © 1985 by ASME


Leuprolide acetate, leuprorelin, is a manufactured that has been prescribed as a treatment for endometriosis [11] , a medical condition in which body tissue that typically lines the uterus [12] grows outside of the uterus [12] , since 1989. Leuprorelin is a modified version of a gonadotropin [13] -releasing hormone [14] , a type of hormone [14] that helps regulate the female menstrual cycle. The drug inhibits the production of estrogen [15] , a female sex hormone [14] that enables endometrial gland growth. After two weeks of injections, leuprorelin stops the production of estrogen [15] and without estrogen [15] , endometrial glands become inactive. That decreases the growth of uterine tissue outside of the uterus [12] , which helps decrease the pain associated with endometriosis [11] . Although physicians commonly prescribe leuprorelin as of 2019, women with endometriosis [11] have reported adverse side effects and health complications. version of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone, a type of hormone that helps regulate the female menstrual cycle. The drug inhibits the production of estrogen, a female sex hormone that enables endometrial gland growth. After two weeks of injections, leuprorelin stops the production of estrogen, and without estrogen, endometrial glands become inactive. That decreases the growth of uterine tissue outside of the uterus, which helps decrease the pain associated with endometriosis. Although physicians commonly prescribe leuprorelin as of 2019, women with endometriosis have reported adverse side effects and health complications.


Flecainide acetate is a new potent class I antiarrhythmic agent. We report serial electrocardiographic changes occurring in a case of flecainide overdose. The initial flecainide serum level was three times greater than the upper therapeutic level. The prolonged electrocardiographic time intervals (PR and QRS) decreased in correlation with falling drug levels. As the case was associated with concomitant alcohol intoxication, we speculate about the protective effect of alcohol in order to explain our patient's benign clinical course.


Motivation: It has been shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in variety of biological processes associated with human diseases. In Consideration of the cost and complexity of biological experiments, computational methods for predicting potential associations between miRNAs and diseases would be an effective complement. Results: This paper presents a novel model of Inductive Matrix Completion for MiRNA‐Disease Association prediction (IMCMDA). The integrated miRNA similarity and disease similarity are calculated based on miRNA functional similarity, disease semantic similarity and Gaussian interaction profile kernel similarity. The main idea is to complete the missing miRNA‐disease association based on the known associations and the integrated miRNA similarity and disease similarity. IMCMDA achieves AUC of 0.8034 based on leave‐one‐out‐cross‐validation and improved previous models. In addition, IMCMDA was applied to five common human diseases in three types of case studies. In the first type, respectively, 42, 44, 45 out of top 50 predicted miRNAs of Colon Neoplasms, Kidney Neoplasms, Lymphoma were confirmed by experimental reports. In the second type of case study for new diseases without any known miRNAs, we chose Breast Neoplasms as the test example by hiding the association information between the miRNAs and Breast Neoplasms. As a result, 50 out of top 50 predicted Breast Neoplasms‐related miRNAs are verified. In the third type of case study, IMCMDA was tested on HMDD V1.0 to assess the robustness of IMCMDA, 49 out of top 50 predicted Esophageal Neoplasms‐related miRNAs are verified. Availability and implementation: The code and dataset of IMCMDA are freely available at https://github.com/IMCMDAsourcecode/IMCMDA. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


To acquire a rational minimum cut-off time and the precision of lifetime prediction with respect to cut-off time for the accelerated aging test of LED lamps, fifth-order moving average error estimation is adopted in this paper. Eighteen LED lamps from the same batch are selected for two accelerated aging tests, with 10 samples at 80 °C and eight samples at 85 °C. First, the accelerated lifetime of each lamp is acquired by exponential fitting of the lumen maintenances of the lamp for a certain cut-off time. With the acquired lifetimes of all lamps, the two-parameter Weibull distribution of the failure probability is obtained, and the medium lifetime is calculated. Then, the precision of the medium lifetime prediction for different cut-off times is obtained by moving average error estimation. It is shown that there exists a minimum cut-off time for the accelerated aging test, which can be determined by the variation of the moving average error versus the cut-off time. When the cut-off time is less than this value, the lifetime estimation is irrational. For a given cut-off time, the precision of lifetime prediction can be computed by average error evaluation, and the error of lifetime estimation decreases gradually as the cut-off time increases. The minimum cut-off time and medium lifetime of LED lamps are both sensitive to thermal stress. The minimum cut-off time is 1104 h with the lifetime estimation error of 1.15% for the test at 80 °C, and 936 h with the lifetime estimation error of 1.24% for the test at 85 °C. With the lifetime estimation error of about 0.46%, the median lifetimes are 7310 h and 4598 h for the tests at 80 °C and 85°C, respectively.