Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is an autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia characterised by abnormal clavicles, patent sutures and fontanelles, supernumerary teeth, short stature, and a variety of other skeletal change. Cleidocranial dysplasia is caused by mutation in the gene on 6p21 encoding transcription factor CBFA1, i.e. runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2). Individuals with CCD should be followed by either a team of specialist or by individual specialist familiar with the problems that can be associated with this condition.


One hundred and twelve listeners evaluated voice recordings containing fundamental frequency contours of patients during mental depression and following recovery. In 80% of the ratings the listeners were able to determine whether or not the recording was made during the depressive phase. A group of conservatory students made significantly fewer errors than a group of law students. No significant difference was found between male and female listeners.


Background: A 33-year-old pleasant Emirati lady presented to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi with an established diagnosis of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis and calcinosis cutis of 7 years duration from the first non-Raynaud's disease manifestation. She was experiencing pain, open wounds and visible palpable stones involving the knees. Despite treatment over the years with different medications including oral steroids, colchicine, sodium thiosulphate infusions and mycophenolate mofetil, her illness progressed. She was started on alendronate 70 mg weekly on March of 2017 as a treatment option for refractory calcinosis cutis.
We examined the usefulness of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) in excluding monosodium urate (MSU) crystal deposition and further quantified the amount of calcific deposits to assess responsiveness to alendronate after being on the medication for 1 year. There was a clinically meaningful improvement in knee pain, wound healing and volume of calcium deposits pre and post treatment with alendronate. DECT scan is a useful tool that can further characterize the morphology, density and distribution of the calcinosis within the soft tissues as well as providing the added benefit of volume quantification to assess responsiveness to treatments.


We argue that traditional systems engineering (TSE) is inadequate for engineering complex systems. This inadequacy becomes particularly problematic when the system in question is a System of Systems (SoS) whose behaviour depends on how human users of the component systems, anticipating the consequences of their own behaviour, interact with those systems and with each other. Considering its users to be part of the SoS renders such a system anticipative, and therefore necessarily complex. To be effective, the designer of an SoS must incorporate an understanding of its users' models of their contexts of use. However, the process of design then becomes reflexive, since it must include within itself models of its users' anticipations of its relation to the SoS's environment, including those of its designers. As a result, complex systems engineering (CSE) has to become a distinct discipline, involving explicit processes that occur at the time of use of an SoS, not only for negotiating shared meaning between component systems within peer-to-peer relationships, but also for considering the dynamic effects of differing uses of component systems on the behaviour of the SoS as a whole. By modeling users' relations to demand as well as to the behaviour and organisation of component systems, triply articulated modeling supports the negotiation of shared meaning and accommodates the reflexivity required of a CSE regimen.


Isolated injuries of the motor branches of the median and ulnar nerve in the hand are rare. The resulting loss of function is so important that primary or secondary repair is necessary. Using microsurgery techniques the results are very satisfying. The procedure is demonstrated in three cases: 1. Primary perineural suture in a case of double severance of the motor branch of the median nerve caused by the blow of an axe. 2. Resection of neuroma and secondary suture of the motor branch of the median nerve after former knife cut. 3. Bridging a gap in the deep motor branch of the ulnar nerve by autologous nerve grafting after former stab injury of the hypothenar eminence. In all patients denervation after the injury as well as regeneration in the healing process was demonstrated by myography.


Algebraic attack is new and efficient in cryptoanalysis, and it is a challenge to both cipher designers and attackers. The key step of algebraic attack on stream ciphers is to build low-degree overdefined equations and this course can be changed to find low-degree annihilators of the combination functions of the key stream generator. In this paper the sufficient and necessary conditions of the existence of low degree multiplies for a given Boolean function f is analysed and three algorithms to find annihilators of a Boolean function f are presented.


3 Abstract: An important problem in statistics is to obtain information about the form of the population from which the sample is drawn. Goodness of fit test is employed to determine how well the observed sample data "fits" some proposed model. The standard goodness of fit statistics are inappropriate when the parameters of the hypothesized distribution are estimated from the data used for the test. In this paper, we obtain the tables of critical values of modified Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test, Cramer-Von Mises (CVM) test, Anderson-Darling (AD) and W atson test for generalized Frechet distribution with unknown parameters. The sampling distributions for these tests statistics are investigated. This article uses Monte Carlo and Pearson system techniques to create tables of critical values for such situations. Further more, we present power comparison between KS test, CVM test, AD test and W atson test. W e used the software package MathCAD (2001) for all programs.


Gifting our grandchildren a living hell At the age of eighty-four I am, like most octogenarians, acutely aware of my own mortality. Will I live for another five years? Dare I hope for another ten? What will cause my death? Will pneumonia, which has visited me twice in recent years, get me in the end? Nobody knows the answer to these questions, but it is highly likely that I will die of natural causes. But what about my grandchildren? Will they die much younger than me from heat stroke, thirst, fire or starvation, or be killed in a war among hordes of people struggling to survive in a hellish world the like of which I never experienced at any stage of my long life?


Objective
To investigate the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in the prostatic tissue of mice with high-fat diet-induced obesity and to explore the effect of hypoxia on BPH in obese male mice.

METHODS
We randomly divided 20 C57BL/6J male mice into two groups of equal number and fed them on a high-fat diet (HFD group) or a normal diet (control group) for 17 weeks. Then, we measured the body weight, prostate weight, prostate volume and levels of serum triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and free fatty acids (FFA) by ELISA, observed the morphology of the prostate by HE staining, calculated the area of the prostatic glandular cavity, and determined the expression of HIF-1α in the prostatic tissue by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
Compared with the controls, the mice fed on the HFD showed significant increases in the body weight ([28.94 ± 2.17] vs [42.55 ± 3.01] g, P < 0.01), prostate weight ([0.05 ± 0.03] vs [0.13 ± 0.03] g, P < 0.01), prostate volume ([0.05 ± 0.02] vs [0.14 ± 0.03] ml, P < 0.01), and the levels of TG ([115.77 ± 25.25] vs [179.29 ± 65.19] mmol/L, P = 0.022), HDL ([67.14 ± 3.10] vs [72.84 ± 1.91] g/L, P < 0.01) and LDL ([44.16 ± 7.24] vs [66.88 ± 1.93] g/L, P < 0.01) at 17 weeks. Histopathological examination exhibited single-layer cuboidal or columnar prostatic epithelium in the controls but an irregular epithelial structure and a larger area of the prostatic glandular cavity in the HFD group ([12 390 ± 8 587] vs [18 453 ± 7 311] μm2, P < 0.01). The integrated optical density (IOD) of HIF-1α was markedly higher in the HFD group ([9.1 ± 6.9] × 106) than in the control ([2.0 ± 3.6] ×106) (P < 0.01). The prostate volume was positively correlated with the body fat weight (r = 0.887, P = 0.01), TG (r = 0.520, P = 0.047) and LDL (r = 0.772, P = 0.010).

CONCLUSIONS
Abnormal lipid metabolism may induce local hypoxia in the prostate tissue and lead to BPH in obese mice.


Collections of poems in manuscript and print by a variety of authors (or 'miscellanies') were one of the most popular means by which early modern readers accessed poetry. This chapter provides a description of these texts and a new account of the shifting relationships between manuscript miscellanies and print miscellanies from the Tudor period to the Restoration. I argue that England's Helicon (1600) marks the point at which printed miscellanies moved away from the attempt to evoke the coterie culture associated with manuscript miscellanies. The chapter concludes with an account of some of the ways in which authors of miscellany poetry addressed its vulnerability to circulation.


The Ant Colony System (ACS) algorithm has been applied in solving packet routing problems in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Solving these problems is complicated as packets need to be submitted through sensor nodes which are spatially distributed and heterogeneous by nature. Without an effective packet routing algorithm, energy consumption will be increased while network lifetime will be reduced. Most researches are focused on optimizing the routing process by using predefined parameters within a certain range. However, this approach will not guarantee optimal performance. This paper presents the parameter adaptation values for ACS experimental set-up in validating its performance. Possible values of each parameter within a defined range were employed. Experiments were conducted to obtain the best value of each parameter to be used for throughput, energy consumption, and latency. Results of this study can be adopted to achieve optimal performance for the packet routing process.


In the two decades following 1975, the Kuroshio path south of Japan was observed to oscillate interannually between a straight path state and a meandering state. This bimodal condition is in sharp contrast to the decade prior to 1975 when the Kuroshio remained consistently in the straight path state. In situ observations in the upstream East China Sea indicate no obvious correspondence between the magnitude (or the temporal change) of the inflow transport and the Kuroshio path, suggesting the Kuroshio's path alternations in the recent two decades may not be externally determined by the upstream inflow. Using a two-layer primitive-equation model of the North Pacific driven by observed climatological surface wind data, the authors propose that the Kuroshio path oscillation since 1975 can be explained by a self-sustained internal mechanism of the Kuroshio current system. The proposed self-sustained oscillation is maintained by the accumulation of the low potential vorticity (PV) water carried northward by the upstream Kuroshio. This accumulation of the low-PV anomalies strengthens the Kuroshio's southern recirculation gyre and presses the Kuroshio to flow along the coast. The strengthening of the southern recirculation gyre increases the velocity shear of the straight-pathed Kuroshio and leads eventually to the meander path development due to baroclinic/barotropic instability of the system. As the meander of the Kuroshio path grows, detachment of cyclonic eddies mixes coastal-origin, high-PV water offshoreward, weakening, as a result, the recirculation gyre. The above cycle will restart after the low-PV water is replenished from the south and the recirculation gyre spins up again. For the past two decades, this internal oscillation has been operative because the upstream inflow is relatively large due to the decadal increase in the wind-driven Sverdrup transport. In the decade before 1975 when the upstream inflow was small, the internal oscillation would cease because the dissipative forces are able to remove the southern-origin low-PV anomalies without resorting to instability and the meander development.


A static VAr compensator (SVC) is designed for compensation of a midsized three-phase unbalanced industrial load. The control system is programmed in the National Instruments LabView programming environment and implemented in an Intel based platform using National Instruments digital to analog conversion and timing hardware. The hardware design is done for a fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR) configuration of a static VAr compensator (SVC). The SVC controller is tested on both a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) and a physical hardware model.


We formulate a general theory of the dielectric response of a lattice with a structural transition and a polarization instability due to a soft-optic mode coupled to low energy electronic excitations by the electromagnetic fields. the electronic excitations considered are in two-limits; those of a low density of free-electrons or those of a low density of strongly localized electrons in the Coulomb-glass phase. The ferroelectric transition in the absence of the electronic-excitations and the low energy dielectric properties are shown to be strongly modified.


Abstract: Background: Dentist's income is quite variable. We investigate the factors underlying the distribution of dental revenue and dentist income. Methods: Financial and structural variables of private dental practices(N=13,967) were examined with 2010 Economic Census mi-crodata which include non-insurance revenue. We conducted quantile regression method(QRM) and ordinary least square(OLS) in treating skewness and heteroskedasticity of distributions. The effective estimation for the upper and lower range of distribution be-comes possible by QRM. Results: Mid-career dentists are shown to have higher revenue and income. Male dentists achieve the higher revenue and income than female dentists in all quantiles. Group practices show lower income per owner than solo practices significantly. The revenue and income are increased with increasing size of clinics. The high cost in renting the clinic office is found to have a big positive effect on the revenue but a little positive effect on the income. Interestingly the density of dentists shows negative effect on the lowest quantile of the revenue but positive effect on the highest quantile. The lowest quantile of the revenue in the capital areas have the relatively high revenue. The lowest quantile of the income in metropolitan city show higher income than those in other areas signifi-cantly. Conclusion: The suggested QRM is shown to have more effective and efficient tool in finding out determinants of dentists' revenue and income of our concern. The results of this study are expected to be employed for dentists preparing for the opening practices in their organizational settings and locational selections. The distributional efficiency of dental human resources could be accom-plished if policy makers guide dentists with this knowledge.


Much effort has been devoted to integrate the receiving/transmitting switch since time divided multiple access (TDMA) became widely used for digital mobile communication systems. Conventional Si pin-diode switches require increased current bias as the transmit power is increased to maintain the ON state. A recently-developed GaAs monolithic switch IC can be operated with nearly zero power dissipation. However, there is distortion of the waveform as the transmit power is increased. This limits the power handling capability. Another disadvantage of the GaAs switch IC is that negative voltages are needed to control the ON and OFF states. The high-power GaAs monolithic RF switch IC reported here handles over 5W (PldB: 37dBm) with insertion loss less than 1.0 dB using a circuit to feed forward the signal to the control gate. Positive voltage switching is achieved by integrating large coupling capacitors using high dielectric material, barium strontium titanate (BST), at inputs and outputs. The RF single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch IC is mounted in an SSO10 package, where better than 25 dB isolation is achieved at a frequency of 1 GHz.<<ETX>>


Despite the fact there is plenty of academic material, concerning with the use of social media and blogs in business, very little research has been done in the area of fashion blogosphere in sense of exploration the character of contemporary most popular/efficient blogs and their potential use in fashion marketing and brand management. This thesis firstly summarizes the emergence and current nature of social media and their impact on business communication in general and subsequently in fashion industry. In order to provide proper understanding of current fashion industry the nature, basis principles of operating and challenges are explained as well as its recent transformation due to emergence of Web 2.0 and ICT´s, and sociocultural changes. In the second part of the literature review the position and potential use of social media and especially blogs in fashion industry is demonstrated, including the explanation of the lack of proper research concerning this problematic, and relevance of this research. The central aim of this research is summarized into general Research Question; "What determines an effective blog in contemporary fashion blogosphere?", and further specified in three Sub-Questions, concerning identity and background of current popular bloggers, culture of spaces of their blogs and nature of actual or potential presence of public relations. Those areas are explored through inductive content analysis, which was chosen as an optimal methodology for this research. Collected data are summarized into several categories, representing common patterns for all analyzed blogs. Concerning identity of bloggers; no background in fashion industry and young age of analyzed bloggers were found as the key findings of this area. Concerning culture of spaces; personal approach, first time experience, and dominance of visual over written content were found as the key findings and patterns shared by all those blogs together with multidirectional discussions present in commenting sections of those blogs, and slight preference of Twitter over other social network sites. Lastly, concerning those blogs as a tool of fashion marketing and brand management; no obvious forms of public relations was visible at majority of those blogs, however features with certain potential for purposes of marketing and brand management were found. In the second part of the thesis those and other found patterns are explicitly presented, illustrated on examples, and discussed within the wider context of theoretical frame. Additionally limitations of the research and collected data are admitted and areas for future research are suggested. In the concluding chapter key knowledge of social media, blogs, fashion industry, and fashion blogs are summarized together with the key finding of the research. Final summarization leads into the conclusion, concerning nature of analyzed blogs and their implications and possible use in fashion public relations, marketing and brand management.


This survey-based study investigates the plausibility of the existence of a research-teaching nexus specifically within the context of supervised senior undergraduate medical student research. This particular nexus is defined in terms of benefits to teaching arising a) directly, through the supervisor designing the research environment as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning and b) indirectly, through curriculum revisions arising from student research. Informed by the writings of Marcia B. Baxter Magolda and Ron Barnett, survey questions were designed to measure evidence for higher forms of learning and preparation for a supercomplex world. Supervisors were also invited to reflect on curriculum re-design as a product of student research. The study findings confirm the potential of supervised student research as an effective pedagogical tool in medical education. Nevertheless, there is scope for developing a more cohesive research-teaching nexus through improving supervisor training to provide the necessary rationale for mainstreaming student research.


Abstract The advent of the new media has as its major consequence the emergence of new articulations of what it means to be human over, above and beyond the traditional humanistic conception of human beings, especially in view of the newly developing interface between human beings and machines, in terms of the so-called posthuman, transhuman, even inhuman and cyborgian conceptions related to humans. These developments elicit intriguing new problems related to ethical matters that are dealt with in the article, which involve the radical questioning of the traditional foundations of ethics, a stern warning against the contemporary 'ideology of ethics', and the posing of acute questions regarding the possibility of considering cyborgs as responsible ethical beings.


Background: Narrow-complex tachycardia is a common arrhythmia. The objective of this study was to determine the success frequency of radiofrequency ablation in patients with narrow complex tachycardia. Material and Methods: This cross sectional study conducted in Department of Cardiology, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, from January 2008 to January 2009. All patients with narrow complex tachycardia were included. Radiofrequency catheter ablation procedure was carried. The procedure was considered successful when post ablation tachycardia could not be induced within two minutes of isoprenaline 2µg/ minute with infusion pump. The demographic variables were gender, age in years, age grouping and the research variables were type of narrow complex tachycardia, success and complications of procedure. The data was analyzed for fequeccy (number) and relative frequency (%). Results: Out of 50 patients 24 (48%) were male and 26 (52%) wer female. The mean age of patients was 39.72 ±13.31(13-70) years. Ten (20%) patients were in age group of upto 25 years, 31 (62%) were in age group of 26-50 years and nine (18%) were in age group of more than 50 years. The frequency of successful procedure was 49 (98%) all over. Out of 50 patients with narrow complex tachycardia, 28 (56%) patients were of atrioventricular nodal reentry type, 17 (34%) patients were of atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia type, 4 (8%) patients were of atrial tachycardia and only one (2%) patient was of atrial fibrillation type. Conclusion: Radiofrequency catheter ablation in narrow complex tachycardia is a reasonable therapeutic approach.


In the past century the process of urbanisation over the globe reaches at its peak. Urbanisation brings changes to the fabric of socio economic structures of cities. Cities are the main hubs of economic activities and are being urbanized rapidly. But the question arises here to what extent urban growth pattern in a certain city is sustainable. The idea of 'sustainable development' of cities was addressed in Agenda 21 of Earth Summit which aims at providing city planning strategies to achieve sustainability in development pattern. In 1986 Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi constituted the National Commission on Urbanisation which was followed by passage of 74 th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) in 1992. Guwahati is one of the fastest growing city of North East Region of India. Guwahati is experiencing steep rise in population in the past few decades. It also possess potentials of connecting the Southeast and South Asian Nations which brings into notice the importance of its development which must be sustainable in nature for the decades to come. The main aim of this study is to develop Urban Sustainability Index (USI) of Guwahati city. Through USI we will check the state of sustainability in urban growth pattern of the city .USI is measured in quantitative unit taking the relevant information on three indicators viz. economic, environmental and social .Comparing the information with best and poor threshold values of most and poor sustainable regions of the world (London and Shanghai respectively) we will get the relative indicators. Finally a composite indicator will give us the value of USI. The value of USI will be lying between the range of 0 to 1 indicating 1 is best and 0 is worse sustainable condition.


Huge pretrained language models (LMs) have demonstrated surprisingly good zero-shot capabilities on a wide variety of tasks. This gives rise to the appealing vision of a single, versatile model with a wide range of functionalities across disparate applications. However, current leading techniques for leveraging a"frozen"LM -- i.e., leaving its weights untouched -- still often underperform fine-tuning approaches which modify these weights in a task-dependent way. Those, in turn, suffer forgetfulness and compromise versatility, suggesting a tradeoff between performance and versatility. The main message of this paper is that current frozen-model techniques such as prompt tuning are only the tip of the iceberg, and more powerful methods for leveraging frozen LMs can do just as well as fine tuning in challenging domains without sacrificing the underlying model's versatility. To demonstrate this, we introduce three novel methods for leveraging frozen models: input-dependent prompt tuning, frozen readers, and recursive LMs, each of which vastly improves on current frozen-model approaches. Indeed, some of our methods even outperform fine-tuning approaches in domains currently dominated by the latter. The computational cost of each method is higher than that of existing frozen model methods, but still negligible relative to a single pass through a huge frozen LM. Each of these methods constitutes a meaningful contribution in its own right, but by presenting these contributions together we aim to convince the reader of a broader message that goes beyond the details of any given method: that frozen models have untapped potential and that fine-tuning is often unnecessary.


The simultaneous assays of glucose and uric acid in blood plasma use first a specific oxidase, then a peroxidase and the same chromogenic system. The coupling of the two methods on Autoanalyser SMA 12/60 use five reagents, three of which are identical in the two methods.


The modeling described in this report is an extension of previous fate and transport modeling for the Old Radioactive Waste Burial Ground (ORWBG) Corrective Measures Study/Feasibility Study (CMS/FS). The purpose of this and the previous modeling is to provide quantitative input to the screening of remedial alternatives for the CMS/FS for this site.


As evidence of the negative health impact of immigration enforcement policy continues to mount, public health research has focused primarily on the psychosocial health mechanisms, such as fear and stress, by which immigration enforcement may harm health. We build on this research using structural vulnerability theory to investigate the structural processes by which enforcement policy may shape Latino immigrants' health. We conducted qualitative analysis of testimonios from a purposive sample of Latino immigrants (n=14) living in Southern California in 2015, a period of significant federal, state, and local enforcement policy change. Testimonios are a narrative methodology used across the social sciences and humanities to center the voices of marginalized people. Through unstructured testimonio interviews, we sought to understand Latino immigrants' experiences with immigration enforcement and identify specific structural factors by which those experiences may influence health. Respondents' narratives revealed that singular enforcement experiences were not viewed as the sole manifestation of enforcement, but as part of a system of intersecting physical, legal, institutional, and economic exclusions which shaped the social and economic conditions that influence health. These exclusions reinforced respondents' marginalization, produced instability about the future, and generated a sense of individual responsibility and blame. We discuss how physical, legal, institutional, and economic processes may influence health and propose a framework to inform population health research on intersecting structural health mechanisms.


Title of dissertation: HYBRID ROUTING MODELS UTILIZING TRUCKS OR SHIPS TO LAUNCH DRONES Stefan Poikonen Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor Bruce Golden R.H. Smith School of Business Technological advances for unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, have opened the door to a number of new and interesting applications in areas including military, healthcare, communications, cinematography, emergency response, and logistics. However, limitations due to battery capacity, maximum take-off weight, finite range of wireless communications, and legal regulations have restricted the effective operational range of drones in many practical applications. Several hybrid operational models involving one or more drones launching from a larger vehicle, which may be a ship, truck, or airplane, have emerged to help mitigate these range limitations. In particular, the drones utilize the larger vehicle as both a mobile depot and a recharging or refueling platform. In this dissertation, we describe routing models that leverage the tandem of one or more drones with a larger vehicle. In these models, there is generally a set of targets that should be visited in an efficient (usually time-minimizing) manner. By using multiple vehicles, these targets may be visited in parallel thereby reducing the total time to visit all targets. The vehicle routing problem with drones (VRPD) and traveling salesman problem with a drone (TSP-D) consider hybrid truck-and-drone models of delivery, where the goal is to minimize the time required to deliver a set of packages to their respective customers and return the truck(s) and drone(s) to the origin depot. In both problems, the drone can carry one homogeneous package at a time. Theoretical analysis, exact solution methods, heuristic solution methods, and computational results are presented. In the mothership and drone routing problem (MDRP), we consider the case where the larger launch vehicle is free to move in Euclidean space (the open seas) and launch a drone to visit one target location at a time, before returning to the ship to pick up new cargo or refuel. The mothership and high capacity drone routing problem (MDRP-HC) is a generalization of the mothership and drone routing problem, which allows the drone to visit multiple targets consecutively before returning to the ship. MDRP and MDRP-HC contain elements of both combinatorial optimization and continuous optimization. In the multi-visit drone routing problem (MVDRP), a drone can visit multiple targets consecutively before returning to the truck, subject to energy constraints that take into account the weight of packages carried by the drone. HYBRID ROUTING MODELS UTILIZING TRUCKS OR SHIPS TO LAUNCH DRONES


Psychological stress is considered as one of the limiting factors in the management of type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Therefore, the basic objective of the present study was to evaluate the antidiabetic effect of metformin, diazepam, and their combination in cooccurring T2DM and stress condition (DMS). T2DM was induced in the male rats by administering streptozotocin (45 mg/kg, i.p.) and nicotinamide (110 mg/kg, i.p.) with time lag of 15 min. Rats were subjected to two sessions of cold restraint stress paradigm for one hour on the sixth and seventh day after streptozotocin injection. Administration of metformin (25 mg/kg, p.o.) and diazepam (1 mg/kg, p.o.) in combination from the seventh to thirteenth day after streptozotocin injection showed better improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity compared to monotherapy of either drug. In addition, the combination significantly attenuated DMS-induced hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, hypercorticosteronemia, anxiety-like behavior, and insulin resistance through modulating insulin signaling pathway in the liver compared to monotherapy. Further, improvement of mitochondrial function, integrity, and oxidative stress in hippocampus, hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, striatum, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens was observed with the combination. Therefore, metformin in combination with diazepam may be a better therapeutic option in the management of T2DM with cooccurring stress condition.


This work presents an experimental study of purification of a biogas by removal of its hydrogen sulphide (H2S) content. The H2S was removed by means of chemical absorption in an iron-chelated solution catalyzed by Fe/EDTA, which converts H2S into elemental sulphur (S). Preparation of the catalyst solution and the results of biogas component absorption in the catalyst solution (0.2 mol/L) are presented. These results are compared with those for physical absorption into pure water under similar conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that, under the same experimental conditions, a higher percentage of H2S can be removed in the catalytic solution than in water. In a continuous counter current using adequate flow- rate phases contact at room temperature and low gas pressure, the results demonstrate that is possible to totally remove the H2S from the biogas with the prepared catalytic solution.


This article presents a preliminary analysis of the advice provided by the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) held between 22 January and 23 March 2020 in response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. Drawing on the published minutes of the group's meetings, the article examines what was known and not known, the assumptions and working practices that shaped their work, and how this knowledge was reflected in the decisions made by the government. In doing so, the article critically examines what it means for policy making to be 'led by the science' when the best available science is provisional and uncertain. Using ideas of 'externality' and 'evidential significance', the article argues that the apparent desire for high levels of certainty by both scientists and political decision-makers made early action impossible as the data needed were not, and could not be, available in time. This leads to an argument for changes to the institutions that provide scientific advice based on sociologically informed expectations of science in which expert judgement plays a more significant role.


In what application domains do mobile agents have potential deployment? I basically see three different domains. One is data-intensive applications where the data is remotely located, is owned by the remote service provider, and the user has specialized needs. Here, the user sends an agent to the server storing the data. The second domain is where agents are launched by an appliance—for example, shipping an agent from a cellular phone to a remote server. The third and maybe most important is for extensible servers, where a user can ship and install an agent representing him more permanently on a remote server. The agent is now a personalized, autonomous piece of code that runs remotely and only contacts the user whenever events of interest to the user occur.


Gas reservoirs with abnormally high-pressure have been encountered all over the world. For these reservoirs, a straight line plot of P/Z Vs. G p for the early production data and extrapolation to zero reservoir pressure project incorrect, IGIP, initial gas in place. The P/Z plot is based on the assumption that gas compressibility is the Sole reservoir drive mechanism. In abnormal pressure gas reservoirs, however, grain expansion, formation water expansion, and water influx from shale or small associated aquifer, in addition to gas expansion contribute significantly to the gas production. Several material balance models have been proposed to calculate the initial gas in place for abnormally high-pressure gas reservoir. The present study is concerned with analyzing the different material balance models used to estimate the IGIP for these kind of reservoirs. Therefore, it reviews the bases and assumptions on which these models have been developed, as well as discusses the strength and weakness of every model. In addition, the present study comprises calculations of the IGIP by analytical and numerical models of the material balance equations for eight case histories. The study shows that solution plot of Havlena and Odeh can be used to estimate the IGIP for abnormal pressure gas reservoirs without prior knowledge of the aquifer size or the formation compressibility. Moreover, the present investigation reveals that most of the material balance models analyzed in this study are sensitive to the value of the initial reservoir pressure and the early data. Unfortunately, this is the time when reliable estimate for the IGIP is vital for economic decision regarding the development of such gas reservoirs.


Visualization of the massive data is a challenging endeavor. Extracting data and providing graphical representations can aid in its effective utilization in terms of interpretation and knowledge discovery. Publishing research articles has become a way of life for academicians. The scholarly publications can shape-up the professional growth of authors and also expand the research and technological growth of a country, continent and other demographic regions. Scholarly articles have grown in gigantic numbers that are published in different domains by various journals. Information related to articles, authors, their affiliations, number of citations, country, publisher, references and other information is like a gold mine for statisticians and data analysts. This data when used skillfully, via visual analysis tool, can provide valuable understanding and can aid in deeper exposition for researchers working in domains like scientometrics and bibliometrics. Since the data is not readily available, we used Google scholar, a comprehensive and free repository of scholarly articles, as data source for our study. Data was scraped from Google scholar and stored as a graph and later visualized in the form of nodes and its relationships, which offered discerning and concealed information of growing impact of articles, journals and authors in their domains. Not only this, evident domain shift of an author, various research domains spread for an author, predicting emerging domain and subdomains, detecting cartel behavior at Journal and author-level was also depicted by graphical analysis. Neo4j graph database was used in the background to help store the data in structured manner.


Objective To investigate pregnancy-related disease activity in a contemporary multiple sclerosis (MS) cohort. Methods Using data from the MSBase Registry, we included pregnancies conceived after December 31, 2010, in women with relapsing-remitting MS or clinically isolated syndrome. Predictors of intrapartum relapse and postpartum relapse and disability progression were determined by clustered logistic regression or Cox regression analyses. Results We included 1,998 pregnancies from 1,619 women with MS. Preconception annualized relapse rate (ARR) was 0.29 (95% confidence interval 0.27–0.32), fell to 0.19 (0.14–0.24) in the third trimester, and increased to 0.59 (0.51–0.67) in early postpartum. Among women who used fingolimod or natalizumab, ARR before pregnancy was 0.37 (0.28–0.49) and 0.29 (0.22–0.37), respectively, and increased during pregnancy. Intrapartum ARR decreased with preconception dimethyl fumarate use. ARR spiked after delivery across all DMT groups. Natalizumab continuation into pregnancy reduced the odds of relapse during pregnancy (odds ratio 0.76 per month [0.60–0.95], p = 0.017). DMT reinitiation with natalizumab protected against postpartum relapse (hazard ratio [HR] 0.11 [0.04–0.32], p < 0.0001). Breastfeeding women were less likely to relapse (HR 0.61 [0.41–0.91], p = 0.016). We found that 5.6% of pregnancies were followed by confirmed disability progression, predicted by higher relapse activity in pregnancy and postpartum. Conclusion Intrapartum and postpartum relapse probabilities increased among women with MS after natalizumab or fingolimod cessation. In women considered to be at high relapse risk, use of natalizumab before pregnancy and continued up to 34 weeks gestation with early reinitiation after delivery is an effective option to minimize relapse risks. Strategies of disease-modifying therapy use have to be balanced against potential fetal/neonatal complications.


Personal experience and analysis of the medical literature on isocyanate asthma shows, that the reported incidence of this disease varies between 0 and 25%. Reasons for differences in observed incidence are intensity of isocyanate exposure, criteria for diagnosis, mode of calculation, sensitizing capacity of different isocyanates, individual predisposition and confounding factors (adjuvants). There is no geographical or ethnical prevalence. Work places at risk are those with isocyanate concentrations above 20 ppb (ceiling).


This paper presents an investigation on the sequential clustering, based on second order statistical measures, for the task of speaker diarization. This clustering technique, which represents the second part of a global system of speaker indexing, is made for gathering the homogeneous segments obtained during the segmentation step. Most existing clustering systems are based on hierarchical clustering as agglomerative techniques. Such systems present two problems: finding the stopping criterion and choosing the threshold of clustering decision. In this research work, we try to resolve the first problem (stopping criterion) by proposing a sequential clustering approach based on second order statistical measures in order to gather the similar homogeneous segments (obtained by the segmentation process). At the end, each class will contain the global intervention of only one speaker in the entire audio document. Our sequential clustering approach uses a mono gaussian measure, called μGβ, which is able to assess the degree of similarity between the different homogeneous segments. Experiments are done on a subset of Hub4 Broadcast-News database and the corresponding results show that the implemented algorithms are interesting for the task of speaker clustering.


The joint hyperspectral image (HSI) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data classification aims to interpret ground objects at more detailed and precise level. Although deep learning methods have shown remarkable success in the multisource data classification task, self-supervised learning has rarely been explored. It is commonly nontrivial to build a robust self-supervised learning model for multisource data classification, due to the fact that the semantic similarities of neighborhood regions are not exploited in the existing contrastive learning framework. Furthermore, the heterogeneous gap induced by the inconsistent distribution of multisource data impedes the classification performance. To overcome these disadvantages, we propose a nearest neighbor-based contrastive learning network (NNCNet), which takes full advantage of large amounts of unlabeled data to learn discriminative feature representations. Specifically, we propose a nearest neighbor-based data augmentation scheme to use enhanced semantic relationships among nearby regions. The intermodal semantic alignments can be captured more accurately. In addition, we design a bilinear attention module to exploit the second-order and even high-order feature interactions between the HSI and LiDAR data. Extensive experiments on four public datasets demonstrate the superiority of our NNCNet over state-of-the-art methods. The source codes are available at https://github.com/summitgao/NNCNet.


In this paper, sensitivity of the first three standardized moments of both unencumbered call interruption time and cell dwell time on teletraffic performance metrics of wireless cellular networks is investigated. Mathematical analysis for obtaining system-level performance metrics is developed considering that cell dwell time and unencumbered call interruption time are phase-type distributed random variables. Numerical results allow us to quantify the extent by which system performance depends on first three standardized moments of both cell dwell time and unencumbered interruption time.


Introduction: The novel coronavirus was first reported in December 2019, from Wuhan, China, and it has been declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization on 7 January 2020, and from that time till now the disease transmitted across the world. Hospitals need to be prepared for the overwhelming COVID-19 cases in their respective hospitals. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the level of hospital preparedness for COVID-19 in South Gondar Zone Governmental Hospitals, 2020. Methods: The institutionally based survey was conducted in South Gondar Zone Hospitals from 20 July to 25 July 2020. We used the World Health Organization preparedness checklist for COVID-19, and the checklist has three options for eight hospitals (not started, in progress, and started), so each hospital evaluated out of 208 points (104 items × 2) to assess each hospital their preparedness based on the checklist. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 21, is used for the analysis of the data. We used descriptive statistics and explained by using text and tables. Results: We evaluated all eight hospitals in these zone hospitals and only one hospital was in an acceptable level of preparation (>146 points), three hospitals were in an insufficient level of preparation (73–145 points), and the other four hospitals were grouped under the unacceptable level of preparation (<72 points) for COVID-19. And in all hospitals, there was no laboratory diagnostic method and treatment center for the COVID-19 virus. Conclusion: From the level of COVID-19 pandemic preparation from eight hospitals, only one hospital reaches the level of an acceptable level of preparedness. Mobilizing the community and other stakeholders to equip the hospital with resources and prioritization is recommended to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.


Abstract. The behavior of groundwater response to leakage of surface water in the middle reaches area of Heihe River Basin is significantly influenced by a thick vadose zone. The groundwater regime is a result of two recharge events due to leakage of Heihe River and irrigation water with different delay time. A nonlinear leakage model is developed to calculate the monthly leakage of Heihe River in considering changes of streamflow, river stage and agricultural water utilization. Numerical modeling of variable saturated flow is carried out to investigate the general behaviors of leakage-recharge conversion through a thick vadose zone. It is found that the recharge pattern can be approximated by simple reservoir models of leakages under a river and under an irrigation district with different delay-time and recession coefficient. A triple-reservoir model of relationship between surface water, vadose zone and groundwater is developed. It reproduces the groundwater regime during 1989–2006 with variable streamflow of Heihe River and agricultural water utilization. The model is applied to interpret changes of groundwater level during 2007–2008 that observed in the Watershed Airborne Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER).


Selective generation of the stimulated Raman Stokes wave in highly P(2)O(5)-doped silica single-miode fibers has been experimentally observed for the first time to our knowledge. It is assumed from the experimental results that the Stokes wave from P = O vibration interacts with the third Stokes wave from Si-O-Si vibration and is selectively amplified by Raman gain from the Si-O-Si vibration.


Fatigue-induced subchondral bone (SCB) injury is common in racehorses. Understanding how subchondral microstructure and microdamage influence mechanical properties is important for developing injury prevention strategies. Mechanical properties of the disto-palmar third metacarpal condyle (MCIII) correlate poorly with microstructure, and it is unknown whether the properties of other sites within the metacarpophalangeal (fetlock) joint are similarly complex. We aimed to investigate the mechanical and structural properties of equine SCB from specimens with minimal evidence of macroscopic disease. Three sites within the metacarpophalangeal joint were examined: the disto-palmar MCIII, disto-dorsal MCIII, and proximal sesamoid bone. Two regions of interest within the SCB were compared, a 2 mm superficial and an underlying 2 mm deep layer. Cartilage-bone specimens underwent micro-computed tomography, then cyclic compression for 100 cycles at 2 Hz. Disto-dorsal MCIII specimens were loaded to 30 MPa (n = 10), while disto-palmar MCIII (n = 10) and proximal sesamoid (n = 10) specimens were loaded to 40 MPa. Digital image correlation determined local strains. Specimens were stained with lead-uranyl acetate for volumetric microdamage quantification. The dorsal MCIII SCB had lower bone volume fraction (BVTV), bone mineral density (BMD), and stiffness compared to the palmar MCIII and sesamoid bone (p < 0.05). Superficial SCB had higher BVTV and lower BMD than deeper SCB (p < 0.05), except at the palmar MCIII site where there was no difference in BVTV between depths (p = 0.419). At all sites, the deep bone was stiffer (p < 0.001), although the superficial to deep gradient was smaller in the dorsal MCIII. Hysteresis (energy loss) was greater superficially in palmar MCIII and sesamoid (p < 0.001), but not dorsal MCIII specimens (p = 0.118). The stiffness increased with cyclic loading in total cartilage-bone specimens (p < 0.001), but not in superficial and deep layers of the bone, whereas hysteresis decreased with the cycle for all sites and layers (p < 0.001). Superficial equine SCB is uniformly less stiff than deeper bone despite non-uniform differences in bone density and damage levels. The more compliant superficial layer has an important role in energy dissipation, but whether this is a specific adaptation or a result of microdamage accumulation is not clear.


ABSTRACT The yeast Paf1 complex (Paf1C), composed of Paf1, Ctr9, Cdc73, Rtf1, and Leo1, associates with RNA polymerase II (Pol II) at promoters and in the actively transcribed portions of mRNA genes. Loss of Paf1 results in severe phenotypes and significantly reduced levels of the other Paf1C components. In contrast, loss of Rtf1 causes relatively subtle phenotypic changes and no reduction in the other Paf1C factors but disrupts the association of these factors with Pol II and chromatin. To elucidate the fate of the Paf1C when dissociated from Pol II, we examined the localization of the Paf1C components in paf1 and rtf1 mutant yeast strains. We found that although the Paf1C factors remain nuclear in paf1 and rtf1 strains, loss of Paf1 or Rtf1 results in a change in the subnuclear distribution of the remaining factors. In wild-type cells, Paf1C components are present in the nucleoplasm but not the nucleolus. In contrast, in both paf1 and rtf1 strains, the remaining factors are found in the nucleolus as well as the nucleoplasm. Loss of Paf1 affects nucleolar function; we observed that expression of MAK21 and RRP12, important for rRNA processing, is reduced concomitant with an increase in rRNA precursors in a paf1 strain. However, these changes are not the result of relocalization of the Paf1C because loss of Rtf1 does not cause similar changes in rRNA processing. Instead, we speculate that the change in localization may reflect a link between the Paf1C and newly synthesized mRNAs as they exit the nucleus.


The present paper researches an innovative approach in the application of meta-modelling for reliability analysis. It consists in the usage of a priori knowledge about the problem being analysed in order to improve the meta-modelling numerical efficiency, in the present case, when calculating the probability of failure. A kriging model is applied to surrogate the failure surface. Its implementation uses an iterative active learning procedure that progressively improves the accuracy of the surrogate prediction of failure. The uncertainty characteristics of the Kriging model are applied in order to establish a notion of improvement in the surrogate characterization of the failure surface. A biased randomisation is applied in order to improve the active learning algorithm. Biased randomisation consists in weighting the search function such that the algorithm prioritizes points in the Design of Experiments that are more important for the problem analysed. Such approach is of high interest for highly non-linear failure functions that may enclose multiple regions in the space of variables that contribute to failure. Since meta-modelling reduces the number of evaluations of the limit-state function, the approach is also of relevance for complex problems that are costly to evaluate. Two examples of application are presented to ilustrate the usage of biased randomisation in the active Kriging approaches. The results show that the number of evaluations of the limit-state function, and consequently the numerical effort demanded for analysis, can be reduced with the approach implemented. It is shown that simple a priori information about the limit-state function and problem analysed may be applied to improve the numerical efficiency of the reliability analysis with active learning techniques.


Abstract Background Lymphocytic infiltrates of the major salivary glands are involved in a spectrum of diseases that range from reactive to benign and malignant neoplasms. Occasionally, these pathologic entities present difficulties in the clinical and pathological diagnosis. Aim and Objective The aim of this study was to highlight the importance of meticulous cytopathological and histopathological examination (HPE) in solving the diagnostic challenges encountered in the analysis of these salivary gland lesions. Materials and Methods A retrospective analysis of salivary gland lesions was undertaken over a period of 5 years from 2013 to 2018 in the Department of Pathology at our institute. Salivary gland pathologies diagnosed either as chronic sialadenitis or reactive/benign/malignant lymphoepithelial lesions on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and as lymphoepithelial carcinoma (LEC) were included in this study. Results A total of 86 cases of salivary gland lesions diagnosed as mentioned above were found during this period. Out of the 86 cases, 16 were subjected to HPE. Biopsy was not warranted in most of the cases diagnosed as chronic sialadenitis. HPE was concordant with the FNAC diagnoses in 13 out of the 16 cases (81.3%), with a single case misinterpreted as LEC on FNAC. Conclusion Benign and malignant lymphoepithelial lesions of salivary glands may sometimes be difficult to differentiate not only from one another on FNAC but also from other malignant lesions. FNAC is an effective tool for the diagnosis of nonneoplastic lesions, but in cases of benign lymphoepithelial lesions in the absence of salivary acini, biopsy is advisable.


Chalcones, precursors of open chain flavonoids and isoflavonoids present in edible plants, and their derivatives have attracted increasing attention due to numerous potential pharmacological applications. They have displayed a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. Changes in their structure have offered a high degree of diversity that has proven useful for the development of new medicinal agents having improved potency and lesser toxicity. The present review highlights the recently synthesized chalcones and their derivatives possessing important pharmacological activities.


PURPOSE
We performed a study to determine whether postoperative mild chemotherapy to maintain the patient's quality of life (QOL) and immunoactivity could also prolong survival.

SUBJECT AND METHODS
From December 1985 to July 1988, 323 patients with completely resected primary non-small-cell lung cancer (stage I to III) were enrolled. The subjects were randomized into three treatment groups, as follows: cisplatin (CDDP) 50 mg/m2 body surface, vindesine (VDS) 2 to 3 mg/kg body weight for three courses, and 1-year oral administration of tegafur (FT) plus uracil (UFT) 400 mg/kg body weight (CVUft group, 115 patients); 1-year oral administration of UFT 400 mg/kg body weight (Uft group, 108 patients); or surgical treatment only (control group, 100 patients).

RESULTS
The overall 5-year survival rates were 60.6% for the CVUft group and 64.1% for the Uft group versus 49.0% for the control group. The results of statistical testing were P = .053 (log-rank test) and P = .044 (generalized Wilcoxon test) among the three groups, P = .083 (log-rank) and P = .074 (Wilcoxon) between the CVUft and the control groups, and P = .022 (log-rank) and P = .019 (Wilcoxon) between the Uft and the control groups, which indicates higher survival rates in the CVUft and the Uft groups compared with the control group. A multivariate statistical analysis on prognostic factors using Cox's proportional hazards model was performed with the following results: P = .037, hazards ratio = 0.64 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.42 to 0.97 (control v CVUft group); and P = .009, hazards ratio = 0.55 with a 95% CI of 0.36 to 0.86 (control v Uft group).

CONCLUSION
Significantly favorable results were obtained in the CVUft and Uft groups compared with surgery alone. These data showed significant prognostic advantages in the postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy groups.


This essay takes interest in a dialectical relationship between writing as affirmation and writing as a system of codification. It explores this dialectic as it relates to the interaction between Sotho-speaking communities and Protestant Christian missionaries in the 19th-century Southern Africa. It shows that this dialectical relationship dissolves truth as a construct of writing as affirmation because it is informed by an ontology of force that conceives of truth (Christian truth in this case) as an outcome of victory over an adversary. This ontology of force, in which Christianity participates, is a consequence of a modern metaphysics that splits individual and divine will. Cut off from participation in divine will, the autonomous will of Protestant Christian missionaries became the basis for organizing the world of the 19th-century Sotho speakers. This opened doors for Christianity to participate in the broader imperial project of the racial subordination of colonized people that Sotho speakers resemble. The consequence of this was not only the delegitimization of personhood as a construct of indigenous African religion, but also the introduction of conceptions of personhood that partook of race and racism.


In this work, we evaluate an asynchronous population-based algorithm following a pool-based approach. In Pool-based algorithms, a collection of workers collaborates through a shared population repository. In particular, we followed the EvoSpace approach in which workers asynchronously interact with a population pool by taking samples of the population to perform a standard search on the samples, to then return newly evolved solutions back to the pool. For this purpose, we use the BBOB Noiseless Testbed and a hybrid algorithm combining two kinds or workers: PSO and GA. We find that a Pool- based approach outperforms the canonical GA and PSO algorithms in nearly all cases. The results of these tests suggest that a Pool Based approach can be used to implement hybrid algorithms that can improve the performance of canonical population-based optimization algorithms.


This paper presents fault-tolerant protocols for fast packet switch networks with convergence routing. The objective is to provide, after a link or a node (switch) failure, fast reconfiguration and continuous host-to-host communication. Convergence routing is a variant of deflection routing, which combines in a dynamic fashion, the on-line routing decision with the traffic load inside the network. Unlike other deflection techniques, convergence routing guarantees that packets will reach or converge to their destinations. This fault-tolerant solution is designed for a switch-based (i.e., arbitrary topology) LAN architecture called MetaNet. The original MetaNet's convergence routing scheme has been modified in order to facilitate the property that the packet header need not be recomputed after a failure and/or a reconfiguration. This is achieved by having, at the network interface, a translator that maps the unique destination address to a virtual address. The virtual addresses are stored at the packet header, and used for convergence routing, with a global sense of direction over (i) a single spanning tree, and (ii) over two edge-disjoint spanning trees, for redundancy (fault tolerance) and greater efficiency.<<ETX>>


No target therapies are presently available in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer of Lung (SCLC). Therefore there is a need to develop new therapeutic agents. The protein kinases are a family of genes that play critical roles in various signaling pathways. Some cancer cells show addiction to constitutive activation of certain signaling pathways for proliferation and survival. To identify new drug targets for SCLC, we screened a panel of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that target 720 genes encoding human protein kinases and related proteins using SBC5 SCLC cell (SN38 (irinotecan hydrochloride) resistant cell). PLK1 inhibition suppressed cell proliferation strongest among 20 significant promising total genes using different 5 SCLC cells as a varidation study). PLK1 mRNA expression was significantly higher than other pathological phenotypes among 20 celllines and the 200 clinical samples consist of three independent cohorts. The patients with high PLK1 expresssion was significantly associated with poor prognosis in SCLC patients. Furthermore we investigated the change of SN 38 sensitivity and preventing from SN38 resistance after knockdown PLK1. Our results indicated that PLK1 inhibitor as BI 2536 and Volasertib, was a promising molecular target therapy for pharmacologic intervention in SCLC in both monotherapy and the combination therapy with SN38. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Noro Rintaro, Masahiro Seike, Fenfei Zou, Akihiko Miyanaga, Kaoru Kubota, Akihiko Gemma. Polo-like kinase 1 as a new molecular target for small cell lung carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3209. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3209


A developing oocyte is capable of synthesizing "non-self" proteins recognized as foreign by the maternal immune system. Since the oocyte may be perceived as foreign it must be protected from interaction with the immune system in order for it to mature to the point of ovulation. Oocytes that begin development but do not mature to the point of ovulation become atretic and are destroyed and phagocytized by the maternal system. This study proposes that the zona pellucida of the ovarian follicle is the barrier between the immune system and the oocyte. The suggestion is made that the oocyte may play a role in blocking the immune system during its maturation, and follicles in which the oocyte is incapable of providing for its own protection become atretic. Indirect immunolabelling techniques employing both peroxidase and fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies were used to assess the presence of immunoglobulin G, female protein, and albumin in the ovary of the golden hamster Mesocricetus auratus. This experimental technique indicates that immunoglobulin G, female protein, and albumin are found localized in the zona pellucida and liquor folliculi of ovarian follicles. Intravenous injection of fluorescein-conjugated hamster immunoglobulin G demonstrates the ability of the zona pellucida to limit access of serum immunoglobulin G to the oocyte. The labelled immunoglobulin G circulates rapidly through the animal and does not appear to be impeded in its access to the follicle. It accumulates rapidly in the liquor folliculi and zona pellucida yet never appears within the perivitelline space. The results of this study suggest that the zona pellucida is responsible for separating the developing oocyte from the maternal immune system, thus forming a "blood-oocyte" barrier to immunoglobulins. Further speculation is made that the oocyte plays a role in its own protection by production of factors capable of blocking complement fixation. If incapable of providing for its own protection, the oocyte is acted upon by the maternal immune system. The zona pellucida and liquor folliculi aid the immune system by providing an area for local storage of proteins necessary to accomplish complement fixation and subsequent follicular atresia.


An unseen narrator converses with a disgruntled cat, who holds up his end of the communication with signs, props, and with facial expressions, about the cat's jealousy of the Easter Bunny's popularity. When the narrator suggests that the cat become "the Easter Cat" and hand out goodies as well, the cat takes to the notion, planning to travel by motorcycle in order to beat the Easter Bunny at finishing his rounds and to wear a sparkly suit and top hat to trump the E. B.'s vest ensemble. Before the cat can zoom off, however, the Easter Bunny himself kindly shows up with a chocolate egg for the cat. The Easter Bunny's evident tiredness inspires Cat to add a sidecar to his motorcycle, allowing the bunny to nap while Cat delivers the rest of the eggs. In each spread, Underwood's streamlined text, humorous in its slightly parental tone, faces Rueda's ink and colored pencil drawings. Cat's nonverbal communication will intrigue the same kids who like cracking the picture-talk code of Runton's Owl and Wormy books; Cat's signs and facial expressions are cheekily amusing, sometimes contradicting the narrator (he holds up a poster of hearts while sticking out his tongue in disgust as the narrator states, "Well, of course everyone loves the Easter Bunny"). Pair this with Shea's Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great (BCCB 7/13) for a silly story session about jealousy, add it to an Easter or cat storytime lineup, or tuck it into a cat-lover's Easter basket. JH


The effectiveness of 20 strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii was evaluated with Trifolium semipilosum and T. burchellianum grown in a Vertisol soil in the glasshouse at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa. Several effective strains were identified for both species. In T. semipilosum, inoculation significantly increased nodule DM and root N yield over the uninoculated control; Ethiopian Rhizobium isolates outperformed isolates from other sources for shoot DM and N yield. In T. burchellianum, contrast analysis revealed that there was no significant response to inoculation, although one effective strain was identified. Inoculant strains failed to overcome the competitive dominance of indigenous strains as reflected in mean nodule occupancies by inoculant strains of 15 and 7% in T. semipilosum and T. burchellianum, respectively. The 20 strains showed variable persistence following a 5-week drought period; only two of eight (T. semipilosum) and six of eight (T. burchellianum) strains were recovered from nodules on seedlings planted in the soil following the drought period. Overcoming the constraints of low nodule occupancy and variable persistence will require further understanding of the competitive interaction and the factors affecting access to nodule infection sites if superior Rhizobium–clover combinations are to be identified and developed.


Arnebia euchroma (Royle ex Benth.) Johnston, commonly known as 'Ratanjot' is an important
medicinal plant species and is found distributed in the western Himalaya at elevations ranging
between 3200 - 4500 m above sea level. Considering its potent medicinal properties, cultural
significance, declining population density and critically endangered status of this taxon, the
present investigation was carried out for the assessment of its availability in the natural alpine
landscapes of the Spiti cold desert of western Himalaya in Himachal Pradesh (India). We
focused our study on its ecological features, population dynamics and performance in natural
habitats, so as to formulate conservation plans. In order to achieve the objectives of the
present study, a total of 620 areas were set by using a random sampling technique at six
different locations where A. euchroma was found distributed naturally. The highest population
density was recorded in undulating meadows (5.30 individuals/m2) with a maximum
circumference (4.18±1.80cm) at an elevation of 4240 m above sea level, with maximum
frequency of occurrence (100%). Ecological surveys revealed that distribution was restricted
in specific habitats rich in soil nutrients with high pH (8.025 - 8.37). The significance of the
role of various ecological variables is explained in detail in the present paper. Habitat
specificity, low population, and anthropogenic pressure justify the rarity status of this taxon in
the Spiti valley. The authors discussed different implications to develop appropriate strategies
for a long-term monitoring and sustainability of A. euchroma in the Spiti cold desert of western
Himalaya


While artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise for supporting healthcare providers and improving the accuracy of medical diagnoses, a lack of transparency in the composition of datasets exposes AI models to the possibility of unintentional and avoidable mistakes. In particular, public and private image datasets of dermatological conditions rarely include information on skin color. As a start towards increasing transparency, AI researchers have appropriated the use of the Fitzpatrick skin type (FST) from a measure of patient photosensitivity to a measure for estimating skin tone in algorithmic audits of computer vision applications including facial recognition and dermatology diagnosis. In order to understand the variability of estimated FST annotations on images, we compare several FST annotation methods on a diverse set of 460 images of skin conditions from both textbooks and online dermatology atlases. These methods include expert annotation by board-certified dermatologists, algorithmic annotation via the Individual Typology Angle algorithm, which is then converted to estimated FST (ITA-FST), and two crowd-sourced, dynamic consensus protocols for annotating estimated FSTs. We find the inter-rater reliability between three board-certified dermatologists is comparable to the inter-rater reliability between the board-certified dermatologists and either of the crowdsourcing methods. In contrast, we find that the ITA-FST method produces annotations that are significantly less correlated with the experts' annotations than the experts' annotations are correlated with each other. These results demonstrate that algorithms based on ITA-FST are not reliable for annotating large-scale image datasets, but human-centered, crowd-based protocols can reliably add skin type transparency to dermatology datasets. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of dynamic consensus protocols with tunable parameters including expert review that increase the visibility of crowdwork and provide guidance for future crowdsourced annotations of large image datasets.


Convergent evidence from research into the neurobiology of vision reveals that the visual image is not something received whole from the environment and then presented to the mind. Rather, the evolution of the eye itself rests upon the evolution of a cell that over eons of interaction has been tuned to respond selectively to a range of photon configurations in the surrounding environment. Such cells in the aggregate interact with a vast distribution of other selectively specialized cells in the human brain to actively co_construct and result in a visual image that is not the product of brute mechanical reception and transmission, but of semiosis. This paper explores the suggestion that at the eye, like the entirety of the sensory sheet, functions as a sign_vehicle, the proper significate effect of whose cell_by_cell activity is not brute presentation in the dyadic sense, but an entire cascade of top_down and bottom_up, recursively generating semiosis mediating multiple levels of interpretive and life_sustaining activity and interaction. Using the neurobiology of vision as a paradigm case of neurosemiotic organization and interaction, then what is true for the eye is also, as Wittgenstein remarked, true for the 'I.' That is to say that on the neural level, Self _ 'the Subject felt' _ no less than 'the Object seen' is an ongoing, emergent product of sign_exchange activity which is embedded in cells which are embedded in brains which are embedded in bodies which are embedded in worlds _ a rich construction of internally biological, externally physical and historically situated and semiotically sedimented conceptual elements none of which enjoy a privileged or autonomous causality in structuring or determining the resultant symbolic relation which is then presented, seen, or bought to mind.


Disclosure: Prof Heinz Reichmann received research grants and compensation for his involvement on advisory boards and lectures from Abbott, Abbvie, Bayer Health Care, BIAL, Boehringer/Ingelheim, Brittania, Cephalon, Desitin, GSK, Lundbeck, Medtronic, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Orion, Pfizer, TEVA, UCB Pharma, Valeant, and Zambon. Prof Werner Poewe has received honoraria for lectures and consultancy fees in relation to clinical drug development programmes for Parkinson's disease from AbbVie, Allergan, AstraZeneca, BIAL, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, GlaxoSmithKline, Ipsen, Lundbeck, Medtronic, MSD, Merck-Serono, Merz Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Orion Pharma, Teva, UCB, and Zambon. He also received royalties from Thieme, Wiley Blackwell, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge University Press. Prof Georg Ebersbach has received honoraria for consulting from AOK Nordost and in his capacity as advisor for AbbVie Pharma, Grünenthal Pharma, and UCB Pharma. Furthermore, he received honoraria for speaker engagements from AbbVie Pharma, BIAL Pharma, Britannia Pharma, Desitin Pharma, Grünenthal Pharma, Licher GmbH, Mundipharma, TEVA Pharma, UCB Pharma, and Zambon Pharma. Prof Ebersback also receives royalties from Kohlhammer Verlag. Prof Thomas Müller has received honoraria from BIAL. Acknowledgements: Writing assistance provided by Dr Juliane Moloney, ApotheCom, London, UK. Support: Jan Jastorff translated the transcript of the presentation and BIAL/Basilio Hernandes carried out a review for medical accuracy. The satellite symposium and the publication of this article were funded by BIAL-Portela & Ca., S.A. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of BIAL-Portela & Ca., S.A. Citation: EMJ Neurol. 2017;5[Suppl 1]:2-10.


This article discusses the literature on the possible role of viruses in the development of schizophrenia and outlines the evidence that compelled Crow and Done (1986) to reject a horizontal contagion hypothesis (e.g., sibling to sibling transmission). We posit a genetically determined age after which one becomes vulnerable to the illness, rather than a strict age of onset. We also propose an environmentally determined range of resistance to this susceptibility as an alternative conceptualization of the role of inheritance and of viral exposure in the etiology of the disease. The predictions derived from our new model fit the findings of Crow and Done and are consistent with the older literature of possible viral factors, thus reaffirming the horizontal contagion hypothesis.


One of the liveliest debates in contemporary philosophy concerns the notions of grounding and metaphysical explanation. Many consider these notions to be of prime importance for metaphysics and the philosophy of explanation, or even for philosophy in general, and lament that they had been neglected for far too long. Although the current debate about grounding is of recent origin, its central ideas have a long and rich history in Western philosophy, going back at least to the works of Plato and Aristotle. Bernard Bolzano's theory of grounding, developed in the first half of the nineteenth century, is a peak in the history of these ideas. On Bolzano's account, grounding lies at the heart of a broad conception of explanation encompassing both causal and non-causal cases. Not only does his theory exceed most earlier theories in scope, depth, and rigour, it also anticipates a range of ideas that take a prominent place in the contemporary debate. But despite the richness and modernity of his theory, it is known only by a comparatively small circle of philosophers predominantly consisting of Bolzano scholars. This book is meant to make Bolzano's ideas on grounding accessible to a broader audience. The book gathers translations of Bolzano's most important writings on these issues, including material that has hitherto not been available in English. Additionally, it contains a survey article on Bolzano's conception and nine research papers critically assessing elements of the theory and/or exploring its broad range of applications in Bolzano's philosophy and beyond.


Intense selection for productivity may have indirectly affected some behavioural traits in poultry. Intensive husbandry systems change rapidly, and the animals may have difficulties in coping with their environment and management. The aims of this study are to examine the fear reactions of two strains of chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) and to test the relationship between these fear reactivity levels and the chickens' semen characteristics. Semen characteristics may indicate the effect of genetic selection both on the productivity and fitness of the animals. Forty cocks of two genetics strains (an egg-type strain and a meat-type strain), housed in single cages, were used in the study. During the breeding period, semen was collected twice a week from each animal. Each cock was submitted to an open-field test and a tonic immobility test. The results show that strong genetic selection, carried out over a long period on domestic chickens in order to improve egg and meat production, seems to affect some aspects of behaviour. The reactions to the fear tests show many differences between the two strains: in the open-field test, the egg-type cocks show higher levels of exploratory behaviour and lower general fearfulness (eg lower frequency of vocalisations and head movements). On the other hand, the meat-type cocks show a significantly lower duration of tonic immobility, indicating a lower level of fear specifically towards humans. Moreover, a key nearest neighbours analysis carried out using the behavioural data allows us to discriminate between the two strains with an error rate of 0%. These results suggest the potential for genetic selection aimed at reducing fear reactions, both towards novel environments and towards human beings, which may significantly improve the welfare of cocks.


The rigid body properties of a structure may be estimated easily if the mass-line of the structure could be taken exactly. However, the exact mass-line nay be hard to be obtained exactly in experiments. The mass line value can be read from the mass line in frequency response function. However, the mass lines in the frequency response function sometimes show the fluctuation with frequency, and it cannot be read correctly. In this paper, the wavelet transform is applied to obtain the good mass line value. The mass line calculated by using wavelet transform has unique value and showed in the range of fluctuated values of frequency response function. The rigid body properties obtained by wavelet transform also showed better results than those by fourier transform.


Objective. To assess the prevalence, methods, and motivations for didactic cheating among pharmacy students and to determine predictive factors for cheating in pharmacy colleges and schools. Methods. A 45-item cross-sectional survey was conducted at all four doctor of pharmacy programs in Northern California. For data analysis, t test, Fisher exact test, and logistic regression were used. Results. Overall, 11.8% of students admitted to cheating in pharmacy school. Primary motivations for cheating included fear of failure, procrastination, and stress. In multivariate analysis, the only predictor for cheating in pharmacy school was a history of cheating in undergraduate studies. Conclusion. Cheating occurs in pharmacy schools and is motivated by fear of failure, procrastination, and stress. A history of past cheating predicts pharmacy school cheating. The information presented may help programs better understand their student population and lead to a reassessment of ethical culture, testing procedures, and prevention programs.


Pseudotulostoma volvata gen. sp. nov. is described from the south-central Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. Pseudotulostoma volvata is associated with ectomycorrhizal Dicymbe corymbosa trees (Caesalpiniaceae) and placed in the Ascomycota, Eurotiales, Elaphomycetaceae. Included are a description of the genus and species, illustrations of the macroscopic and microscopic features, and a discussion of the distinctive features and phylogenetic placement of this fungus.


Abstract This experiment was designed to investigate the effect of supplementing conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in breeder hens diet on development and hepatic lipid metabolism of chick offspring. Hy-Line Brown breeder hens were allocated into two groups, supplemented with 0 (control (CT)) or 0·5 % CLA for 8 weeks. Offspring chicks were grouped according to the mother generation and fed for 7 d. CLA treatment had no significant influence on development, egg quality and fertility of breeder hens but darkened the egg yolks in shade and increased yolk sac mass compared with the CT group. Addition of CLA resulted in increased body mass and liver mass and decreased deposition of subcutaneous adipose tissue in chick offspring. The serum TAG and total cholesterol levels of chick offspring were decreased in CLA group. CLA treatment increased the incorporation of both CLA isomers (c9t11 and t10c12) in the liver of chick offspring, accompanied by the decreased hepatic TAG levels, related to the significant reduction of fatty acid synthase (FAS) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) enzyme activities and the increased carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT1) enzyme activity. Meanwhile, CLA treatment reduced the mRNA expression of genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS, ACC and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c) and induced the expression of genes related to β-oxidative (CPT1, AMP-activated protein kinase and PPARα) in chick offspring liver. In summary, the addition of CLA in breeder hens diet significantly increased the incorporation of CLA in the liver of chick offspring, which further regulate hepatic lipid metabolism.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the risk factors of the musculoskeletal workload of mid-old-age food preparation workers by identifying the differences in the complaints of subjective symptoms between mid-old-age housewives and mid-old-age food preparation workers. This study was carried out on a total of 83 subjects from April 2009 through July 2009: 43 food preparation workers at the catering department of general hospital A, with a high rate of mid-old-age food preparation staff, and 40 full-time housewives (40~59 years old). The analysis of the relationship between the rates of the subjective symptoms of the two groups showed that the mid-old-age food preparation workers had a 7.8-fold higher risk of developing musculoskeletal diseases than the full-time housewives. The musculoskeletal workload of the mid-old-age food preparation workers included repetitive motions, uncomfortable postures, and heavy lifting. It is hoped that this study will help provide mid-old-age people with opportunities for appropriate economic activity and labor and will help improve their work postures and methods as well as their environmental-risk factors.


Cutaneous blood flow may be an indirect measure of circulatory function estimated by continuous, noninvasive laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). It has been postulated that LDV may be a useful monitor of cardiac output changes. To test this hypothesis, LDV was evaluated in 67 critically ill adult patients with simultaneous measurements of cardiac index (CI) and other physiologic variables. Heated and unheated laser probes were utilized. The results indicate that LDV reflects acute directional changes of CI. Further, with the heated laser probe, the magnitude of acute CI change is reflected. However, there are gradual changes over time of LDV which may occur independently of CI or other monitored variables. Hence, absolute LDV values are not predictive of absolute CI values.


Evidence is provided that the global distribution of tropical hurricanes is principally determined by a universal function H of a single variable z that in turn is expressible in terms of the local sea surface temperature and latitude. The data-driven model presented here carries stark implications for the large increased numbers of hurricanes which it predicts for a warmer world. Moreover, the rise in recent decades in the numbers of hurricanes in the Atlantic, but not the Pacific basin, is shown to have a simple explanation in terms of the specific form of H(z), which yields larger percentage increases when a fixed increase in sea surface temperature occurs at higher latitudes and lower temperatures.


In general, facial image-based remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) methods use color-based and patch-based region-of-interest (ROI) selection methods to estimate the blood volume pulse (BVP) and beats per minute (BPM). Anatomically, the thickness of the skin is not uniform in all areas of the face, so the same diffuse reflection information cannot be obtained in each area. In recent years, various studies have presented experimental results for their ROIs but did not provide a valid rationale for the proposed regions. In this paper, to see the effect of skin thickness on the accuracy of the rPPG algorithm, we conducted an experiment on 39 anatomically divided facial regions. Experiments were performed with seven algorithms (CHROM, GREEN, ICA, PBV, POS, SSR, and LGI) using the UBFC-rPPG and LGI-PPGI datasets considering 29 selected regions and two adjusted regions out of 39 anatomically classified regions. We proposed a BVP similarity evaluation metric to find a region with high accuracy. We conducted additional experiments on the TOP-5 regions and BOT-5 regions and presented the validity of the proposed ROIs. The TOP-5 regions showed relatively high accuracy compared to the previous algorithm's ROI, suggesting that the anatomical characteristics of the ROI should be considered when developing a facial image-based rPPG algorithm.


295 attempted suicides with intoxication are described by sociodemographic, biographic, and psychiatric characteristics. The patients were hospitalized for detoxification, and after clearing up interviewed by a psychiatrist working in the hospital as a liaison-psychiatrist. The patients did not differ essentially from patients treated in the emergency unit of another general hospital of the city in terms of basic social data. The patients--65% women, 35% men--are young (up to 40 years), 39% had already attempted suicide before the index-time. 41% came from "broken homes", 40% had one or more psychiatric disease(s) in their families. 56% were diagnosed as "psychiatrically ill", second diagnosis was in 33.5% abuse of alcohol/drugs. The referal offer to the patients for the time after discharge from emergency unit is described in detail. Just 12% of the patients were treated in a psychiatric hospital, after-care in an ambulatory setting seemed to be sufficient for most of the other patients. 20% were not offered any after-care. Patients with addiction and psychosis were sent to institutions specialized for these diagnoses.


In the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) linac, an energy-upgrade project has started to achieve a design beam power of 1 MW at the exit of the downstream synchrotron. To account for the significant beam parameter upgrades, we will use the newly-fabricated beam monitors for the beam commissioning. This paper discusses the design and assembly of the beam position monitor, phase monitor, current monitor, transverse profile monitor, and beam loss monitor for the energy-upgraded linac. We periodically installed the newly-fabricated monitors for the upgraded beam line, as well as for longitudinal matching, because of the frequency jump between the original RF cavity and the newly-developed cavity. We employed two debunchers to correct for momentum spread and jitter. To account for the new debunchers, we fabricated and installed additional pairs of phase monitors in order to tune the debunchers to the adequate RF set point. Finally, we propose commissioning plans to support the beam monitor check. We will begin to establish the 181-MeV operation to confirm the proper functioning of beam monitors. Herein, we will examine the response to changes of the knobs that control the quadrupole magnets after the energy upgrade. After proper functioning of the beam monitors is confirmed, we will use the new beam monitors to establish the 400-MeV acceleration operation.


In this paper I seek to address a series of tensions in the ways we think, write and speak about gender in classrooms and playgrounds, and in the language we use to describe children and their behaviour. I shall examine some of the concepts we use for describing gender relations among children and consider the extent to which they are still useful. My main focus is on hegemonic masculinity; the female as Other; and 'doing' boy or girl, masculinity or femininity. I conclude that we need to take the language we use extremely seriously, and that in our work we need to primarily be focused on ensuring that all children are able to have 'livable lives' in school and elsewhere.


Zhong et al . reported the results of the ADJUVANT/CTONG1104 study (1), a randomized open-label phase III trial enrolling 483 Chinese patients with completely resected (R0) stage II–IIIA (N1-N2) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant (defined as exon 19 deletion or exon 21 Leu858Arg) to receive 4 cycles of standard adjuvant Cisplatin and Vinorelbine or 24 months of the EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), gefitinib. The primary end-point was disease free survival (DFS).


Data on density of benthos species and on direct mortality caused by the passing of a beam trawl, together with fishing effort data for the Dutch beam-trawl fleet, were used to evaluate the annual population mortality caused by beam trawling in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. The effects of using environmental strata, instead of ICES rectangles for density distributions, and of using higher-resolution fishing-effort data on the population mortality estimates of 21 infauna and epifauna species were investigated. Variation in species abundance was markedly smaller based on sedimentdepth strata than based on ICES rectangles, and the resulting population mortality estimates differed significantly among species (ratio ranged from 0.3 to 1.6) depending on the overlap of the spatial distribution of a species and of beam-trawl effort. Changing the resolution of fishing effort from ICES rectangles or sediment-depth strata to 1 minute latitude2 minute longitude square (11 nm) resulted in a systematic reduction of population mortality by a factor 0.7 due to the patchy effort distribution. We argue that annual fishing mortality should preferably be based on relevant environmental strata, and accuracy of the estimates increases markedly when the resolution of spatial fishing effort data sufficiently reflects the patchiness of the fleet's activities. 2000 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea


The authors present an unusual case of intramedullary arachnoid cyst diagnosed in a patient after the lesion was resected. A wide decompressive surgery was performed and the lesion removed. Histopathological findings were consistent with the diagnosis of arachnoid cyst. Postoperatively the patient exhibited marked improvement in neurological status. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no case report of intramedullary arachnoid cyst reported in the literature. With the advent of newer neuroimaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging the number of cases of intramedullary arachnoid cysts encountered in the future may increase.


"What is antibiotic resistance, and why should I be concerned with it?" Media coverage and political and scientific discussions about "superbugs" that defy our current treatments, genetically-modified foods in our fields and grocery stores, the threat of bioterrorism, and the use of antibiotics in agriculture have increased citizen awareness and fears regarding the issues surrounding antibiotic resistance. Revenge of the Microbes: How Bacterial Resistance Is Undermining the Antibiotic Miracle is a single source of answers to this and other questions average people are asking.
Written by experts with extensive experience in the field, Revenge of the Microbes provides the scientific information readers will need to form opinions and make informed decisions regarding the use of antibiotics. The authors have carefully sifted through a vast amount of information to ensure comprehensive coverage of topics including the larger issues of economics, politics, health, safety, and the environment. Specific antibiotics and controversies are examined in a real-life context; accounts of positions on all sides of the public policy debate are presented; and less common issues such as what happens to antibiotics once they are released into the environment, are addressed. The evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is put into perspective and bacterial mutation and horizontal gene transfer are explained in simple terms. An in-depth documentation of antibiotic structures is provided in the appendix.
Reader-friendly and comprehensible, Revenge of the Microbes will engage a diverse audience, including biologists, doctors, teachers, students, lawyers, environmentalists, and everyday citizens. This new volume encourages readers to consider the extensive role of antibiotics in modern medicine and the potentially catastrophic impact the loss of effective antibiotics would have today and on future generations.
Paperback, 186 pages, illustrations, index.


This paper presents a switched control strategy for the robust stabilization of uncertain nonlinear process systems with both control and measurement sampling constraints. A model-based constrained Lyapunov-based controller is initially designed for each control actuator configuration. Next, the constrained stability regions and the terminal sets of all the configurations are characterized, in terms of the size of the control constraints, the sampling period and the plant-model mismatch, and analyzed. The analysis shows that the configuration with the largest stability region does not necessarily have the smallest terminal set, which leads to a conflict with the desired control objective of steering the process from a large initial state to a small terminal neighborhood of the equilibrium point. To resolve this conflict and attain the desired control objective, a switching strategy that executes a sequence of transitions between the available actuator configurations is developed. The key idea of the switching logic is to keep a configuration active until its terminal set is reached and then to switch to another stabilizing configuration with a smaller terminal set. The proposed robust hybrid control method is illustrated using a chemical process example.


This report summarizes the findings Robert Senser and Michaela Meehan made during their visits to Thailand, Indonesia, and the Phillipines. They interviewed people in change of labor matters in all three countries and observed how they were handled. Their findings will serve to help come up with future labor projects.


In Ohio high school football, playoff teams are selected and seeded using an objective point system. Roughly one-fourth of the state's teams earn playoff berths, and higher seeds host first-round games. Even in the final week of the season, a team's playoff chances can depend on the outcomes of dozens of other games, making direct computation of playoff probabilities impractical. To make playoff-related predictions, we first estimate win probabilities for all remaining regular-season games by applying a predictive ranking algorithm, then repeatedly simulate the remainder of the regular season. Using the aggregate results, we predict the playoff qualifiers and seeds, and also estimate conditional probabilities (based on the number of future wins) that particular teams earn a berth or a home game. In tracking the results of this model over two seasons, we find that modeling future games substantially increases the accuracy of seed predictions, but adds far less value in predicting the qualifying teams. This phenomenon may be related to the specificity of seed prediction, as compared to the more general nature of predicting a group of teams likely to qualify. That is, the additional information is most useful when making more specific predictions.


This paper proposes several equations to calculate the effective work-function and the average cooling energy of electrons emitted from an arc cathode root in both the high temperature region and the high electric field region. It is shown that the average cooling energy consists of the effective work-function and the kinetic energy carried by escaping electrons due to their motion normal to the cathode surface. The numerical results of average cooling effect agree well with Lee's results (1960) which were calculated under other assumptions. From numerical solutions of these simple equations, it is evident that the average cooling energy and the effective work-function are strongly dependent on the temperature and the electric field at the position of electron emission, and the normal work-function of the cathode material.