Multiple fairness constraints have been proposed in the literature, motivated by a range of concerns about how demographic groups might be treated unfairly by machine learning classifiers. In this work we consider a different motivation; learning from biased training data. We posit several ways in which training data may be biased, including having a more noisy or negatively biased labeling process on members of a disadvantaged group, or a decreased prevalence of positive or negative examples from the disadvantaged group, or both.
Given such biased training data, Empirical Risk Minimization (ERM) may produce a classifier that not only is biased but also has suboptimal accuracy on the true data distribution. We examine the ability of fairness-constrained ERM to correct this problem. In particular, we find that the Equal Opportunity fairness constraint (Hardt, Price, and Srebro 2016) combined with ERM will provably recover the Bayes Optimal Classifier under a range of bias models. We also consider other recovery methods including reweighting the training data, Equalized Odds, and Demographic Parity. These theoretical results provide additional motivation for considering fairness interventions even if an actor cares primarily about accuracy.


We have characterized the e2v CIS113 16 μm pitch 4608 x 1920 back-illuminated CMOS (BICMOS) array with near Ultraviolet (NUV) sensitization surface processing and measured its quantum efficiency over the wavelength range from 150 to 350 nm. The Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research (CASTOR), one of the top priorities in the Canadian astronomical community's decadal plan, is a space-based survey mission that would provide panoramic, high-resolution imaging of 1/8th of the sky in the UV/optical (150-550 nm) spectral region. This small-satellite class mission would provide high angular resolution ultra-deep imaging in three broad filters to supplement data from planned international dark energy missions (Euclid, WFIRST) as well as from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). One of the leading technical risks on this mission is the UV sensitivity required to approach 26th magnitude in the near UV band. In this paper we briefly describe the architecture of this new high speed, high sensitivity CMOS detector and report on the results of our characterization and the implications for the proposed CASTOR survey mission.


An economic technique for calculation of polarized bremsstrahlung process is proposed, assuming typical atomic momentum transfer q ? m. The adopted approach is based on the natural reduction of the matrix element to the form V fi ∞ fi + A5∞ 5 . Polarization distribution in the fully difierential cross-section is analyzed. It is found that at a given momentum transfer to the atom polarization in the plane of small radiation angles is oriented along circles passing through two common points. It is shown that with angular selection of radiated photons carried out, even with momentum transfers to the atom being integrated over, for particular radiation angles polarization may stay as high as 100%. Without angular selection of photons, only by control of the recoil, it is impossible to gain radiation polarization above 50%.


This book is a comprehensive guide to a wide range of fossils that have been found all over the world. It is the first to use graphic field-guide techniques to illustrate and describe all the major forms of prehistoric life, and to portray the habitat, known distribution and life style of each fossilised plant or creature. large, labelled pictures of the organisms as they probably appeared when alive, reconstructed skeletons, family trees and other diagrams help readers to discover important information at a glance. Additional chapters include full details of the best way to find and interpret fossil remains, as well as information on important museum exhibitions and collections held throughout the world, and biographical notes on famous fossil hunters. Both popular and scientific terms are used throughout.


Drying is one of the primary methods of food preservation. Determining coefficients used in drying models is essential to predict the drying behavior. The present study was conducted to compute drying characteristics of apple slices. Thin layer drying kinetics of apple slices (variety-Golab) was experimentally investigated in a convective dryer and the mathematical modeling was performed by using thin layer drying models in the literature. Drying characteristics of apple slices were determined using heated ambient air at temperatures between 40 and 80 C, velocities at 0.5 m/s and thickness of thin layer 2, 4, 6 mm. Beside the o effects of drying air temperature, effects of slice thickness on the drying characteristics, drying time and quality of dried product were also determined. Drying curves obtained from the experimental data were fitted to twelve different thin layer drying models. All the models were compared according to three statistical parameters, i.e. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), chi-square (X ) and modeling efficiency (EF). The results 2 showed that increasing drying air temperature resulted to shorter drying times. Midilli model had the highest value of EF (0.999611), the lowest values of 0.031806 and 0.001088 for RMSE and X respectively. The Midilli 2 model was found to be the best model for describing the drying curves of apples. The effects of drying air temperature and thickness on the drying constant and coefficient were also shown.


The binding of sinafloxacin to DNA has been studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The variations in the spectroscopic characteristics of sinafloxacin upon addition of DNA were observed. Salt concentration effect, KI quenching, fluorescence polarization, DNA denaturation experiments, melting temperature (T _m ) curves and viscosity measurements were studied to investigate the binding mechanism. It was proved that the fluorescence quenching of sinafloxacin is a result of the formation of sinafloxacin-DNA complex. Quenching constants were determined using the Stern–Volmer equation. From the experiment evidence, the major binding mode of sinafloxacin with DNA was evaluated to be the groove binding.


The rate of decrease in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in the United States has slowed, probably in association with the aging of the population and the increasing rates of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Worldwide, guidelines for reducing risk of CHD and lowering lipid levels must continue to evolve to reflect disease and risk factor trends that reflect improvements in the knowledge of individual risk factors and the effects of clustered risk factors in specific patients. According to current guidelines used in the United States, Europe, and Canada for risk assessment and risk reduction, the trend is moving away from simple measurement of cholesterol and toward a more global risk assessment. An increasing number of factors are included in risk assessment, and the recommended intensity of intervention with lipid-lowering treatment continues to increase among patients considered to be at high risk.


In 1968 four 132kV, 3500MVA vacuum circuit breakers were manufactured by AEI in the UK and commissioned into service by the then Central Electricity Generating Board in the UK. This paper describes the design and history of these revolutionary circuit breakers which are believed to be the first application in the world of vacuum circuit breaker technology for circuit breakers at transmission voltages. Although technically successful, in the 1960's these circuit breakers did not compare favourably against the SF6 circuit breakers which had been developed some years previously and were being introduced to replace oil and air for transmission voltages. As a result vacuum did not go on to dominate the HV circuit breaker market, as it did for the MV market. This was mainly due to limitations of the vacuum technology at the time, as a consequence of which the AEI circuit breakers used eight interrupters in series per phase. This resulted in a complex and expensive operating system, which was excessively costly in comparison with the oil and SF6 circuit breakers of the time


textabstractThis study makes an inventory of several aspects of the representation and assistance in tax matters. The study is divided into two parts: the first part (part A) is about the social position of the providers of representation and assistance in tax matters in the Netherlands; the second part (part B) contains the legal analyses. In this summary I only write down some of my main conclusions.

The Dutch autorities provide insufficient financial means for those who cannot afford, but are still depending on the assistance by tax consultants. This concerns mainly the group of people who have had no or very little education.

There is hardly paid any attention to the representation and assistance in tax matters in the Dutch tax laws themselves. For a good understanding of the matter one should look into various laws, in particular into the Dutch Civil Code. Futhermore there is a lot of – sometimes not so clear - caselaw. We need a clarification of the relation between the rules in the tax laws and those in the Civil Code. Also should there be a more consistant use of terminology. Futhermore the – currently different - regulations regarding representation in the relation with the serveral tax autorities and in court, should be adapted to one and other.

In the Netherlands there is in general no obligation for tax payers to be represented by tax lawyers. In my opinion there is no reason to chance this. An obligation to be represented for example in court, would be a barrier to the access of the judge, mainly because of the (high) costs of it. In case of a workoverload of the Dutch supreme court ('Hoge Raad'), such could however be an exemption which justifies obligated legal representation.

The main reason why there no possibility of government contibution in case of assistance by tax experts, such as tax consultants, is the lack of a statutory regulation of the profession of the tax consultant. The introduction of a statutory regulation, can however also have disadvantages, such as government intervention. That is why I do not want a statutory regulation of the profession of tax consultant as such, but rather the recognition by law of the current organisations of tax consultants.

In the Netherlands tax consultants do not have the privilege of non-disclosure. In my opinion there is no good reason to refuse them this privelege, when the profession of tax consultant is legally recognized by means of the recognition by law of the current organisations of tax consultants. An exeption should be made for the situation of tax fraud. For this exeption could be linked to the recent legislation of the reporting of unusual transactions ('Wet melding ongebruikelijke transacties').


In this paper the dynamics of geostrophic flows localized in a thin layer of continuously stratified fluid, which overrides a thick homogeneous layer are studied. The displacement of isopycnal surfaces is assumed large; the β-effect is strong, i.e.
 \[(R_0/R_e)\cot\theta\gtrsim\epsilon, \] where e is the Rossby number, θ is the latitude; R e is the Earth's radius, and R 0 is the deformation radius based on the total depth of the ocean. An asymptotic system of equations is derived and used to study the stability of zonal currents. Three sufficient conditions of stability are obtained, which restrict the slope of the interface between the stratified and non-stratified layers. The results obtained are applied to the subtropical and subarctic frontal currents in the Northern Pacific: the former was found to be stable, the latter was found to be unstable. However, the growth rate of the instability is very small (the effective time of growth is about 2 years).


Changes in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) as well as in the phosphorylation state of proteins have been implicated in keratinocyte wound healing revealed in scratch assays. Scratching confluent HaCaT monolayers decreased the number of cells displaying repetitive Ca2+ oscillations as well as the frequency of their Ca2+-transients in cells close to the wounded area and initiated migration of the cells into the wound bed. In contrast, calyculin-A (CLA) and okadaic acid (OA), known cell permeable inhibitors of protein phosphatase-1 and 2A, increased the level of resting [Ca2+]i and suppressed cell migration and wound healing of HaCaT cells. Furthermore, neither CLA nor OA influenced how scratching affected Ca2+ oscillations. It is assumed that changes in and alterations of the phosphorylation level of Ca2+-transport and contractile proteins upon phosphatase inhibition mediates cell migration and wound healing.


In this paper, we study the estimation of the effective number of relativistic species from a combination of cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data. We vary different ingredients of the analysis: the Planck high-ℓ likelihoods, the Boltzmann solvers, and the statistical approaches. The variation of the inferred values gives an indication of an additional systematic uncertainty, which is of the same order of magnitude as the error derived from each individual likelihood. We show that this systematic uncertainty is essentially associated to the assumptions made in the high-ℓ likelihood implementations, in particular for the foreground residuals modellings. We also compare a subset of likelihoods using only the TE power spectra, expected to be less sensitive to foreground residuals.


Reduction of bitterness of antihistaminic drugs by cyclodextrin (CyD) complexation was examined. The stability constant (Kc) of the 1:1 CyD inclusion complexes with antihistaminic drugs increased in the order of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-CyD (HP-β-CyD) ≈ β-CyD > γ-CyD > α-CyD for diphenhydramine and epinastine, and HP-β-CyD ≈ β-CyD > α-CyD > γ-CyD for hydroxyzine, cetirizine, and dl-chlorpheniramine. The inclusion complexes inhibited the adsorption of antihistaminic drugs to lipid membrane using liposomes, as the magnitude of Kc increased. From human gustatory sensation tests, β-CyD and HP-β-CyD potently suppressed the bitterness of antihistaminic drugs in a dose-dependent manner. Further, an artificial taste sensor analysis revealed that β-CyD and HP-β-CyD inhibited the bitterness of antihistaminic drugs in solution. The results suggest that CyDs suppress the bitterness of antihistaminic drugs in solutions through the formation of inclusion complexes. These results may provide useful information for masking or elimination of bitterness of drugs using CyDs.


There is ample evidence that utility subsidies imbedded in inverted block and other tariff structures are not well targeted to the poor, simply because the poor tend to have much lower access rates to water and electricity networks than richer households. This paper provides an analysis of the changes over time in the targeting performance of water consumption subsidies in Nicaragua. Because access rates to piped water increased substantially between 2001 and 2005, the targeting performance of consumption subsidies improved, despite the fact that the tariff structure remained essentially the same over time. It is shown that the observed changes in access rates had a much higher impact for improving the targeting performance of consumption subsidies than changes in the tariff structure could have had if they had been implemented. The results suggest that one of the best ways to improve the targeting of consumption subsidies may be to increase access rates, so that the poor have a better chance of receiving the subsidies.


The on-line services of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have grown in terms of both numbers of institutions using the service and in terms of total service provided. About 10 billed institutions are added per month with a total of 675 such institutions at the end of 1977. Total searches have now reached 900 000 per year. NLM services account for about 45% of all the bibliographic searching in the US. The effect of prices has been significant.


Context. Paper I presents the magnetic structure, inferred for the photosphere and the chromosphere, of a filament that developed in active region (AR) NOAA 10781, observed on 2005 July 3 and July 5. Aims. In this paper we complement those results with the velocities retrieved from Doppler shifts measured at the chromosphere and the photosphere in the AR filament area. Methods. The velocities and magnetic field parameters were inferred from full Stokes inversions of the photospheric Si i 10 827 A line and the chromospheric He i 10 830 A triplet. Various inversion methods with different numbers of atmospheric components and different weighting schemes of the Stokes profiles were used. The velocities were calibrated on an absolute scale. Results. A ubiquitous chromospheric downflow is found in the faculae surrounding the filament, with an average velocity of 1. 6k m s −1 . The filament region, however, displays upflows in the photosphere on both days, when the linear polarization (which samples the transverse component of the fields) is given more weight in the inversions. The upflow speeds of the transverse fields in the filament region average −0.15 km s −1 . In the chromosphere, the situation is different for the two days of observation. On July 3, the chromospheric portion of the filament is moving upward as a whole with a mean speed of −0.24 km s −1 .H owever, on July 5 only the section above an orphan penumbra shows localized upflow patches, while the rest of the filament is dominated by the same downflows observed elsewhere in the facular region. Photospheric supersonic downflows that last for tens of minutes are detected below the filament, close to the PIL. Conclusions. The observed velocity pattern in this AR filament strongly suggests a scenario where the transverse fields are mostly dominated by upflows. The filament flux rope is seen to be emerging at all places and both heights, with a few exceptions in the chromosphere. This happens within a surrounding facular region that displays a generalized downflow in the chromosphere and localized downflows of supersonic character at the photosphere. No large scale downflow of transverse field lines is observed at the photosphere.


Abstract Much of the literature exploring the role of parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) has focused on mothers; yet, the involvement and perspectives of fathers is valuable and warrants attention. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic literature review examined the peer-reviewed research that has differentially explored the experiences of fathers and mothers of young DHH children. Utilizing three databases (Web of Science, PsychINFO, Scopus) and spanning 50 years (1969–2019), 457 non-duplicated articles were identified that included the fathers of DHH children, birth to six years. Independent review of the titles, abstracts, and keywords by the authors limited these to 119. Full manuscripts were assessed for eligibility; 37 were deemed appropriate for inclusion in this systematic review. The papers included have been organized into the following themes: perspectives on parenting, parental stress and coping, parent-child interaction, involvement in early intervention, parental self-efficacy, and benefits of fathers' inclusion. Recommendations for future research include: (a) actively recruiting fathers in research, (b) differentially analyzing fathers' and mothers' experiences in research studies, (c) using information gleaned from research regarding father-child and mother-child interactions to guide interventions/programming, (d) recognizing the bidirectional influences of fathers and their DHH children, (e) moving beyond descriptive studies to explore fathers' influences on child outcomes, and (f) recognizing diverse family constellations.


Free phenolic acids may be the precursors for vinyl phenols and off-flavours formed in citrus products during storage. Quantitative determination of free and bound phenolic acids in fruit parts of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macfadyen) and oranges (Citrus sinensis (L) Osbeck) was performed by extraction with ethyl acetate, silica gel column chromatography and HPLC analyses of samples before and after alkaline hydrolysis. The content of free and bound phenolic acids was further determined in juice derived from fruit harvested early, mid and late in season. As found previously for ferulic acid, phenolic acids occur mainly in bound forms in grapefruits and oranges. In both fruits the peels contained the major portion of cinnamic acids compared with the endocarp, and the flavedo was richer in hydroxycinnamic acids than the albedo. In most cases, hydroxycinnamic acid content was in the following order: ferulic acid>sinapic acid>coumaric acid>caffeic acid. Results showed that the content of bound cinnamic acids was unchanged or slightly elevated from early to late season. However, the content of free acids was reduced during that period.


Background Reproductive events, that is, a preterm birth (PTB), small‐for‐gestational‐age infant (SGA), and vasomotor symptoms of menopause, are associated with subclinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We evaluated whether women with a past PTB and/or SGA (henceforth PTB/SGA) were more likely to have severe vasomotor symptoms of menopause and whether the estimated 10‐year ASCVD risk was higher in women with PTB/SGA and vasomotor exposures. Methods and Results We assigned 1866 women (mean age=55±1 years) in the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study to the following categories of reproductive exposures: none, PTB/SGA only, vasomotor symptoms only, or both PTB/SGA and vasomotor symptoms. We used Kruskal‐Wallis tests to evaluate the differences in pooled cohort equation ASCVD risk scores by category and linear regression to evaluate the associations of categories with ASCVD risk scores adjusted for study center, body mass index, education, current hormone replacement therapy use, parity, and hysterectomy. Women with PTB/SGA were more likely to have severe vasomotor symptoms, 36% versus 30%, P<0.02. ASCVD risk score was higher in women with both PTB/SGA and vasomotor symptoms (4.6%; 95% CI, 4.1%–5.1%) versus women with no exposures (3.3%; 95% CI, 2.9%–3.7%) or vasomotor symptoms only (3.8%; 95% CI, 3.5%–4.0%). ASCVD risk score was higher in women PTB/SGA (4.8%; 95% CI, 3.6%–5.9%) versus no exposures. PTB/SGA and vasomotor symptoms was associated with ASCVD risk score in white women versus no exposures (β=0.40; 95% CI, 0.02–0.78). Conclusions Women with prior PTB/SGA were more likely to have severe vasomotor symptoms of menopause. Reproductive exposures were associated with an estimated 10‐year ASCVD risk in white women.


Micro-appearance models explicitly model the interaction of light with microgeometry at the fiber scale to produce realistic appearance. To effectively match them to real fabrics, we introduce a new appearance matching framework to determine their parameters. Given a micro-appearance model and photographs of the fabric under many different lighting conditions, we optimize for parameters that best match the photographs using a method based on calculating derivatives during rendering. This highly applicable framework, we believe, is a useful research tool because it simplifies development and testing of new models. Using the framework, we systematically compare several types of micro-appearance models. We acquired computed microtomography (micro CT) scans of several fabrics, photographed the fabrics under many viewing/illumination conditions, and matched several appearance models to this data. We compare a new fiber-based light scattering model to the previously used microflake model. We also compare representing cloth microgeometry using volumes derived directly from the micro CT data to using explicit fibers reconstructed from the volumes. From our comparisons, we make the following conclusions: (1) given a fiber-based scattering model, volume- and fiber-based microgeometry representations are capable of very similar quality, and (2) using a fiber-specific scattering model is crucial to good results as it achieves considerably higher accuracy than prior work.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the characteristics and outcomes of older patients with pelvic fracture admitted to medical and geriatric wards. METHODS All patients admitted to medical and geriatric wards with a pelvic fracture over a four year period were identified using the hospital clinical coding database. Data were collected from casenotes, hospital and Family Health Services Authority databases. Where available, pelvic radiographs were graded according to the Singh index. RESULTS The casenotes of 148 patients (126 women) were studied; 83% (n=123) of patients suffered a pelvic fracture in low energy trauma. Mean (SD) length of hospital stay was 21.3 (17.6) days. Single breaks of the pubic rami accounted for 47.2% (n=68) of all fractures. Inpatient mortality was 7.6% and at one year was 27%. There was a marked adverse effect on the mobility of survivors with all patients using at least a walking stick at discharge and 51.1% (n=70) needing assistance for mobility. Although 70.9% (n=83) of patients admitted from home (or warden aided accommodation) were able to return there, 84.3% (n=70) of them required extra community support. Rates of institutionalisation rose from 20.9% (n=31) at admission to 35.8% (49/137) of survivors at discharge. Altogether 93% (n=107) of 115 patients, in whom adequate quality pelvic radiographs were available, were assigned a Singh index grade of 4 or less indicating the presence of osteoporosis. CONCLUSIONS Pelvic fractures are often the result of low energy trauma. They are associated with appreciable inpatient and considerable one year mortality. They also have marked negative effects on mobility in the short term. They result in increased levels of dependency in terms of higher levels of community support and rates of institutionalisation. On the evidence of Singh index grading, pelvic fractures are associated with low bone density.


Gray gradient based image registration method is one of the most fundamental and effective methods of optical flow, target tracking and image registration. But this method is not robust under the condition that the target has a large motion when applied to image sequence registration. In this study, we incorporated geometry optics principal based motion information into the process of registration to improve image sequence registration accuracy. First the motion trajectory of feature point was fitted based on geometry optics principal, then the trajectory was refined by using variable-sized block matching method, finally the gray gradient based method was used to compute registration parameters. Experiments on synthetic sequences and practical sequences show that the proposed algorithm is effective under practical conditions such that the target moves quickly or the object imaging size changes largely


Inferior and unstable quality of malt barley in China has limited its wide use in malting and brewing industries. In this research, eight two-rowed barley cultivars were planted at 7 locations with different ecological conditions in southern China, to investigate the cultivar and environmental effect on grain and malt qualities. The results showed that grain protein content differed dramatically among locations, but there were no significant differences among cultivars. For four malt qualities including diastatic power, wort viscosity, Kolbach index and malt extract, significant differences were found among cultivars and locations, except for diastatic power among cultivars. Coefficients of variance(CV)caused by location were greater than those caused by cultivar for each quality parameter, especially for diastatic power and Kolbach index, indicating the predominant influence of environment on malt quality. The analysis showed that grain protein content was positively related to diastatic power and wort viscosity, and negatively to malt extract. Kolbach index was positively related to malt extract, and negatively to diastatic power and wort viscosity. Diastatic power showed positive and negative correlation with wort viscosity and malt extract, respectively.


Occupational health research has identified numerous carcinogens particularly before the 1990s. Most occupational carcinogens were first identified through clinical observations and epidemiological studies rather than experimental studies. The most frequently quoted estimate of cancers due to workplace exposures is 4% and was estimated nearly 40 years earlier. There is a lack of current valid estimates at a global scale. There are significant trends in exposure to occupational carcinogens with a reduction of exposed workers and exposure levels in high income countries and increase in prevalence and high exposure levels in newly developed countries. New technologies and changing employment patterns are posing new challenges in the identification and control of occupational carcinogens. Working time and particularly shift work are among the major new areas for research and prevention. Epidemiological research in recent years has had significant difficulties in providing strong evidences on new carcinogens. This has been particularly the case in complex exposure scenarios such as exposure to pesticides. Different phases in epidemiological research can be identified. Case series and later SMR studies dominated in early periods. These were followed by the development of advanced exposure assessment methods and JEMs and their application in both cohort and case-control studies. In recent years studies in the wider area of molecular epidemiology have developed incorporating mechanistic information. Overall, the most productive studies in identifying carcinogens were the early and relative simple SMR studies that were done in a context of high exposures and limited work mobility. Use of classical epidemiological designs and particularly large cohort studies with advanced exposure assessment methods and the combination with new research approaches using powerful tools for exposure assessment, biomarkers and omic technologies will provide new evidence and allow quantitative risk assessment. Conduct of 'big data' type studies without advanced exposure assessment methods are unlikely to identify new occupational carcinogens. Occupational cancer research has been seriously underfunded and has been inefficient in promoting prevention of occupational carcinogens globally. This is a consequence of factors both within the occupational health community (repetitive non-innovative research; lack of efficient coordination in the occupational health community) but mostly due to wider factors and particularly the general hostile wider political environment concerning work conditions. Occupational exposure to carcinogens continues being in the 21st century a major cause of preventable disease and in many parts of the world the prevalence of these exposures is increasing.


Peptidase of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis IМV В-7465 was isolated from culture supernatant using consecutive fractionations by an ammonium sulphate (60% saturation), ion-exchange chromatography and gel-filtration on the TSK-gels Toyoperl HW-55 and DEAE 650(M). Specific elastase (442 U∙mg of protein-1) and collagenase (212.7 U∙mg of protein-1) activities of the purified enzyme preparation were 8.0- and 6.1-fold, respectively higher than ones of the culture supernatant. Peptidase yields were 33.5% for elastase activity and 30.1% for collagenase activity. It was established that the enzyme is serine metal-dependent alkaline peptidase with Mr about 37 kDa. Maximal hydrolysis of elastin and collagen occurs at the optimum pH 8.0 and t° – 40 and 50 °С, respectively. The purified preparation has high stability at pH in the range of 7.0 to 10.0 and 40-50 °С.


A growing body of interpretive literature concerning the work of Michel Foucault asserts that Foucault's critical project is best interpreted in light of various strands of philosophical phenomenology. In this article I dispute this interpretation on both textual and philosophical grounds. It is shown that a core theme of 'the phenomenological Foucault' having to do with transcendental inquiry cannot be sustained by a careful reading of Foucault's texts nor by a careful interpretation of Foucault's philosophical commitments. It is then shown that this debate in Foucault scholarship has wider ramifications for understanding 'the critical Foucault' and the relationship of Foucault's projects to Kantian critical philosophy. It is argued that Foucault's work is Kantian at its core insofar as it institutes a critical inquiry into conditions of possibility. But whereas critique for Kant was transcendental in orientation, in Foucault critique becomes historical, and is much the better for it.


In a retrospective study of 121 hypertensives aged 40-59 years in comparison with 138 controls selected from the population in the same primary care district, male hypertensives had a high odds ratio of cerebro-cardiovascular (CCV) diseases even when their blood pressure had been well treated. The estimated odds ratio (corrected for small numbers) was 13.7 (2.5-76.7). In female hypertensives there was a trend towards more CCV diseases than in their controls. Although the hypertensives' blood pressure was reduced in accordance with what has been internationally accepted, their values were still at least 10-11 mmHg higher than those of the controls. A reduction of this magnitude may be accomplished by (further) weight reduction and, probably, intervention with factors linked to obesity. This may be one way to reduce the excess risk in hypertensives.


Deep learning algorithms vary depending on the underlying connection mechanism of nodes of them. They have various hyperparameters that are either set via specific algorithms or randomly chosen. Meanwhile, hyperparameters of deep learning algorithms have the potential to help enhance the performance of the machine learning tasks. In this paper, a tuning guideline is provided for researchers who cope with issues originated from hyperparameters of deep learning models. To that end, four types of deep learning algorithms are investigated in terms of tuning and data mining perspective. Further, common search methods of hyperparameters are evaluated on four deep learning algorithms. Normalization helps increase the performance of classification, according to the results of this study. The number of features has not contributed to the decline in the accuracy of deep learning algorithms. Even though high sparsity results in low accuracy, a uniform distribution is much more crucial to reach reliable results in terms of data mining.


The objects extraction and recognition constitute the most important link in the image processing and understanding, and it cannot be achieved without a solid objects organization during the processing through the learning mechanisms. Most often, both the response time and the accuracy are undeniable criteria for applications in this field. Actually, a vision system need to take into consideration these criteria, either in the structural, the methodological or in the algorithmic aspect. Thus, we consider that the ontological study at the domain and task levels, in the vision systems, has become essential in order to provide a substantial assistance to the multitudes of applications in image processing. Concerning the domain knowledge, several patterns for structuring were proposed to improve the objects representation and organization, they often advocate the precision aspect on time and on effort devoted to the recognition. In practical terms, clustering methods only focus on the accuracy aspect within a category, without considering the recognition aspect [1]. Thus, we propose in this study a new procedure of object categorization, which uses, according to the expertise in the domain, a fit evaluation that is able to adjust the level of partitioning. As a result, this procedure will find a compromise between the accuracy on the categories and the reduction of the supplied effort in recognition.


PCDs may result from changes in LT and ACD. Purpose: To analyze the association between anterior chamber biometric factors and posterior capsular defects (PCDs) that occur during extracapsular cataract extraction. Setting: University Eye Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Design: Population-based study. Patients and methods: Extracapsular cataract extractions for inpatient cases within 4 years were retrospectively analyzed. The data on the occurrence of PCDs, age, sex, surgeon, and biometry were obtained. For cases with PCDs, the secondary ocular diseases, number of procedures, lens implant, visual acuity, and course were also recorded. Swept-source optical coherence tomography measurements allowed the measurement of lens thickness (LT) in addition to the usual biometry values. Results: A total of 1967 cataract surgeries (patients age: 70.56 ± 8.42, 1005 women; 962 men) were included, and PCDs were documented for 59 (2.54%; 31 women, 28 men) cases (patient age: 70.95 ± 8.52 years). There were no differences (P = .76) related to the surgeons (n = 9) with minimal effect sizes. The mean LT, axial length, corneal curvature, and anterior chamber depth were 4950.36 ± 466.63 μm, 23.73 ± 1.77 mm, 43.89 ± 1.36 diopters, and 3.02 ± 0.71 mm, respectively. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed significant associations between LT (P = .01) and PCDs with moderate relevance for the Rosenthal effect size (LT R = 0.34; ACD R = 0.29). Conclusions: In addition to ACD, a tendency for the occurrence of PCD could be proven, especially for LT. Therefore, special attention should be paid to LT preoperatively for comprehensive risk stratification.


We revisit Machina's local utility as a tool to analyze attitudes to multivariate risks. Using martingale embedding techniques, we show that for non-expected utility maximizers choosing between multivariate prospects, aversion to multivariate mean preserving increases in risk is equivalent to the concavity of the local utility functions, thereby generalizing Machina's result in Machina (1982). To analyze comparative risk attitudes within the multivariate extension of rank dependent expected utility of Galichon and Henry (2011), we extend Quiggin's monotone mean and utility preserving increases in risk and show that the useful characterization given in Landsberger and Meilijson (1994) still holds in the multivariate case.


Although psychology is greatly preoccupied by the tight link between the way that individuals perceive the world and their intelligent, creative behavior, there is little experimental work on the relationship between individual differences in perception and cognitive ability in healthy populations. Here, individual differences in problem solving ability were examined in relation to multisensory perception as measured by tolerance for temporal asynchrony between auditory and visual inputs, i.e., the multisensory temporal binding window. The results demonstrated that enhanced performance in both verbal and nonverbal problem solving tasks (the Remote Associates Test and Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Task) is predicted by a narrower audio-visual temporal binding window, which reflects greater sensitivity to subtle discrepancies in sensory inputs. This suggests that the precision of individuals' temporal window of multisensory integration might mirror their capacities for complex reasoning and thus the precision of their thoughts.


The $(k+1)$-core of a graph $G$, denoted by $C_{k+1}(G)$, is the subgraph obtained by repeatedly removing any vertex of degree less than or equal to $k$. $C_{k+1}(G)$ is the unique induced subgraph of minimum degree larger than $k$ with a maximum number of vertices. For $1\leq k\leq m\leq n$, we denote $R_{n, k, m}=K_k\vee(K_{m-k}\cup {I_{n-m}})$. In this paper, we prove that $R_{n, k, m}$ obtains the maximum spectral radius and signless Laplacian spectral radius among all $n$-vertex graphs whose $(k+1)$-core has at most $m$ vertices. Our result extends a recent theorem proved by Nikiforov [Electron. J. Linear Algebra, 27:250--257, 2014]. Moreover, we also present the bipartite version of our result.


[1] We report the first direct, in situ measurements of the chemical composition of size-segregated atmospheric nanoparticles in the 6–15 nm diameter range. These measurements were made of ambient aerosol directly following nucleation events in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 2002 Aerosol Nucleation and Real-time Characterization Experiment (ANARChE). The recently developed Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TDCIMS) was used to make these measurements and featured a new inlet that delivers mass of charged and size-segregated nanoparticles at sufficiently high rates to enable analysis at a typical time resolution of 10 min. Measurements in both the positive and negative ion spectra revealed that particles formed recently from nucleation events have enhanced concentrations of ammonium and sulfate and that to within the uncertainty of our measurements, ammonium sulfate could account for all of the sampled nanoparticle mass. No other compounds were detected in the particles during these events. Concurrent measurements of particle hygroscopicity and volatility, made using a Nanometer Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer, support the conclusion that ammonium and sulfate are primary components of these newly formed particles.


Gene regulatory changes underlie much of phenotypic evolution. However, the evolutionary potential of regulatory evolution is unknown, because most evidence comes from either natural variation or limited experimental perturbations. Surveying an unbiased mutation library for a developmental enhancer in Drosophila melanogaster using an automated robotics pipeline, we found that most mutations alter gene expression. Our results suggest that regulatory information is distributed throughout most of a developmental enhancer and that parameters of gene expression—levels, location, and state—are convolved. The widespread pleiotropic effects of most mutations and the codependency of outputs may constrain the evolvability of developmental enhancers. Consistent with these observations, comparisons of diverse drosophilids reveal mainly stasis and apparent biases in the phenotypes influenced by this enhancer. Developmental enhancers may encode a much higher density of regulatory information than has been appreciated previously, which may impose constraints on regulatory evolution. Quote "Rock, robot rock Rock, robot rock Rock, robot rock" Daft Punk (2005)


A procedure for the enzymatic synthesis of uniformly 13C15N-labeled DNA oligonucleotides in milligram quantities for NMR studies is described. Deoxynucleotides obtained from microorganisms grown on 13C and 15N nutrient sources are enzymatically phosphorylated to dNTPs, and the dNTPs are incorporated into oligonucleotides using a 3'-5' exonuclease-deficient mutant of Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I and an oligonucleotide template primer designed for efficient separation of labeled product DNA from unlabeled template. The labeling strategy has been used to uniformly label one or the other oligonucleotide strand in the DNA duplex dGGCAAAACGG.dCCGTTTTGCC in order to facilitate assignment and structure determination by NMR. Application of 15N and 13C heteronuclear NMR experiments to isotopically labeled DNA is presented.


Inactivation, one of the mechanisms of resistance to macrolide, lincosamide and streptogramin (MLS) antibiotics, appears to be fairly rare in clinical isolates in comparison with target site modification or efflux. However, inactivation is one of the major mechanisms through which macrolide-producing organisms avoid self-damage during antibiotic biosynthesis. The inactivation mechanisms for MLS antibiotics in pathogens are mainly hydrolysis, phosphorylation, glycosylation, reduction, deacylation, nucleotidylation, and acetylation. The ere (erythromycin resistance esterase) and mph (macrolide phosphotransferase) genes were originally found in Escherichia coli. Subsequently, Wondrack et al. (Wondrack, L.; Massa, M.; Yang, B.V.; Sutcliffe, J. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 1996, 40, 992) reported ere-like activity in Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, a variant of erythromycin esterase was found in Pseudomonas sp. from aquaculture sediment by Kim et al. (Kim, Y.H.; Cha, C.J.; Cerniglia, C.E. FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 2002, 210, 239). Although the mph genes, including mph(K), were first characterized in E. coli, a recent study revealed that S. aureus and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia have mph(C). The mph(C) has a low G+C content, like mph(B), and has high homology with mph(B), but not with mph(A) or mph(K). Consequently, the mph(C) and ere(B) genes seem to have originated from Gram-positive bacteria and been transferred between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In this chapter, the genes and the mechanisms involved in the inactivation of MLS antibiotics by antibiotic-producing bacteria are reviewed.


1-N[(S)-4-amino-2-hydroxybutyryl]-kanamycin B (habekacin), a new aminoglycoside antibiotic found in 1973 was tested for its nephrotoxicity, pharmacokinetics and prophylactic efficacy in 351 female rats. Increased urinary elimination of tubule cells and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) demonstrated tubulotoxicity even at the minimal dosage of 2.5 mg/kg/d. At high dosages (100 or 50 mg/kg/d) habekacin produced more tubule damage than dibekacin. At lower dosages (20, 10 or 5 mg/kg/d) both aminoglycosides showed similar effects. Additionally, possible glomerular lesions were found at high dosages (100 mg/kg/d) as indicated by proteinuria, CAF (cellulose acetate foil)-electrophoresis of the urinary protein and raised albumin/globulin ratio. - Pharmacological studies revealed serum concentrations similar to dibekacin, in renal tissue, however, the concentrations of habekacin were much higher than those of dibekacin. - In experimental E. coli pyelonephritis, 9 single doses of habekacin or dibekacin (5 mg/kg) given prophylactically reduced the bacterial counts significantly; a single dose of the antibiotics (5 mg/kg) was slightly effective.


Objective We assessed the associations of percentage fractions of urinary di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) metabolites with obesity and insulin resistance in Korean girls. Methods In total, 137 girls, aged 6 to 13 years (65 overweight cases and 72 controls), were recruited. Anthropometric indices and the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index were determined. Four major urinary DEHP metabolites were analyzed in spot urine samples by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, including mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate. Results There were no significant differences in the urinary concentrations of the DEHP metabolites between the overweight and control groups. The percentage fraction of MEHHP (MEHHP%) among all DEHP metabolites was significantly higher in the overweight prepubertal girls than in the controls (P = 0.035). MEHHP% was positively associated with the body mass index percentile, waist circumference, body fat percentage, and HOMA-IR index in the prepubertal girls. After adjusting for covariates, the prepubertal girls in a higher MEHHP% quartile were found to have a higher odds ratio for central obesity than those in a lower quartile (odds ratios: 5.05 for quartile 3; 7.30 for quartile 4). The relative rate of MEHHP oxidation to MEOHP was negatively associated with the body mass index percentile and waist circumference in the prepubertal girls. However, no such association was observed in the pubertal girls. Conclusions MEHHP% was positively associated with obesity and insulin resistance in prepubertal girls. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the causal links between altered phthalate metabolism and increased susceptibility to insulin resistance in children.


Numerical investigation of the underexpanded sonic coaxial jets is carried out using large eddy simulation for three typical inner nozzle lip-thicknesses. Various fundamental mechanisms dictating the flow phenomena including shock structure, shear layer evolution and sound production are investigated. It is found that the inner nozzle lip induces a recirculation zone between inner and outer jets, which significantly influences the behaviors of shock structures and shear layers. The sound properties of the coaxial jets are further analyzed in detail. As the inner lip-thickness increases, the helical screech mode switches to an axisymmetric one and high-frequency screech also occurs with an oscillation frequency of recirculation zone. Based on the temporal Fourier transform and correlation analysis, the primary sources of low- and high-frequency screeches are associated with the downstream shock cells in the jet column and the secondary shock structures in the outer annular jet, respectively. The proper orthogonal decomposition analysis reveals that the dominant structures constructed by the most energetic modes shift from the downstream shock cells region to the upstream secondary shock region as the lip-thickness increases. The results obtained in this study provide physical insight into the understanding of the mechanisms relevant to the coherent structures and sound properties in sonic coaxial jets.


Understanding the driving forces behind the nucleation of different polymorphs is of great importance for material sciences and the pharmaceutical industry. This includes understanding the reaction coordinate that governs the nucleation process and correctly calculating the relative free energies of different polymorphs. Here, we demonstrate, for the prototypical case of urea nucleation from the melt, how one can learn such a one-dimensional reaction coordinate as a function of prespecified order parameters and use it to perform efficient biased all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The reaction coordinate is learnt as a function of the generic thermodynamic and structural order parameters using the "spectral gap optimization of order parameters (SGOOP)" approach [Tiwary, P. and Berne, B. J. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (2016)] and is biased using well-tempered metadynamics simulations. The reaction coordinate gives insights into the role played by different structural and thermodynamics order parameters, and the biased simulations obtain accurate relative free energies for different polymorphs. This includes an accurate prediction of the approximate pressure at which urea undergoes a phase transition and one of the metastable polymorphs becomes the most stable conformation. We believe the ideas demonstrated in this work will facilitate efficient sampling of nucleation in complex, generic systems.


Abstract Objective: To examine core and discretionary food and beverage intake at eating occasions, and to explore the variation in consumption by age and gender in Australian adults and children. Design: The study utilised one 24-h dietary recall with self-reported eating occasions from a nationally representative sample of Australians. Average servings of each food group for age and gender subpopulations were compared with the Australian Dietary Guidelines. The percentage contribution of each eating occasion to total daily food group intake and typical composition of eating occasions were described. Frequently consumed discretionary foods were reported for eating occasions by age and gender. Setting: 2011–2012 Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. Participants: 12 153 Australian people aged 2 years and above. Results: Grains were consumed in equal proportions throughout the day across all age and gender subgroups, while remaining core food groups were unequally distributed, featuring more prominently at specific eating occasions. Children consumed two-thirds of their fruit intake as snacks, and up to three quarters of adults' vegetable and meat intake was consumed at dinner. Children consumed more of their discretionary intake at mid-meals, while adults consumed a greater proportion as part of a main meal. Conclusions: The present study provides a detailed understanding about when food groups are consumed, the 'typical' meal composition across the day, and how consumption patterns and compliance with dietary guidelines differ by age group and gender. These findings can assist in developing more specific nutrition messages which may help to achieve greater improvements in population dietary intake.


Summary In order to investigate whether a hypothalamic disorder cause hypogonadism in male prolactinomas, LH pulsatile secretion was studied in 13 male patients. Serum PRL levels ranged from 186 to 45, 000 ng ml‐1 before treatment, and all the tumors were macroadenomas. Reduced LH secrection was revealed in 5 of 13 patients, and FSH was reduced in 1 of 13. Serum testosterone (T) levels were lower than the normal limit in all the patients. HCG tests in 3 patients showed good responses, but the peak values of T were lower than those of normal men. LH pulsatilities were examined in 5 hyperprolactinemic patients before treatment, in 4 hyperprolactinemic patients after operation, and in 8 normoprolactinemic patients after operation and/or bromocriptine treatment. There was no significant difference of the mean LH values, the frequencies of LH pulses, and amplitudes among the hyperprolactinemic patients before operation (n = 5), the normoprolactinemic patients after operation (n = 8), and normal men (n = 7). From these results, it was evident that the hypothalamus and pituitary function of male prolactinomas were well preserved, in spite of higher serum PRL levels and larger tumor size than those reported in females. It is suggested that the main cause of hypogonadism in these patients is due to testicular dysfunction resulting from excessive serum PRL.


Virtual machine consolidation aims at reducing the number of active physical servers in a data center so as to decrease the total power consumption. In this context, most of the existing solutions rely on aggressive virtual machine migration, thus resulting in unnecessary overhead and energy wastage. Besides, virtual machine consolidation should take into account multiple resource types at the same time, since CPU is not the only critical resource in cloud data centers. In fact, also memory and network bandwidth can become a bottleneck, possibly causing violations in the service level agreement. This article presents a virtual machine consolidation algorithm with multiple usage prediction (VMCUP-M) to improve the energy efficiency of cloud data centers. In this context, multiple usage refers to both resource types and the horizon employed to predict future utilization. Our algorithm is executed during the virtual machine consolidation process to estimate the long-term utilization of multiple resource types based on the local history of the considered servers. The joint use of current and predicted resource utilization allows for a reliable characterization of overloaded and underloaded servers, thereby reducing both the load and the power consumption after consolidation. We evaluate our solution through simulations on both synthetic and real-world workloads. The obtained results show that consolidation with multiple usage prediction reduces the number of migrations and the power consumption of the servers while complying with the service level agreement.


Telecommuting is an increasingly popular organizational dynamic that presents unique challenges for workers, managers, and human resources departments regarding how employees relate to their organizations, as well as what telecommuters need from their managers to be satisfied, committed employees. Much is known about how employees in private companies relate to their organizations in a standard work setting. However, little is understood about how teleworkers in government organizations relate to their organizations, and how managerial leadership behaviors influence the organizationally related outcomes of telecommuters. This article reviews some of the challenges with telecommuting, focusing on telecommuting's impact on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The article then presents a prominent leadership style dichotomy and assesses the impact of the two leadership styles on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The substitutes for leadership are included in this assessment. To synthesize these literatures, the final section of the article combines telecommuting challenges and leadership style to suggest the leadership style that best mediates the negative aspects of telecommuting and is, therefore, most important for employees in a telecommuting environment. Areas for further research are also considered.


300 Figure 1 A fibrotic gene signature as a potential prognostic marker for patients non-responsive to treatment. A) MA plot of differential expression analysis performed between tubular cells of patients responsive (n=13) or non-responsive to treatment (n=5). Significantly differentially expressed genes are colored in red. B) Pathway enrichment analysis of genes identified as upregulated in patients non-responsive to treatment. -Log10(p-value) of each pathway is shown for both keratinocytes and tubular cells colored from least significant (black) to most significant (red). Log2 fold change in gene expression between patients non-responsive to treatment compared with patients responsive to treatment in each pathway is indicated for tubular cells from smallest (grey) to highest (orange). C) Receiver operating characteristic curve of the logistic regression equation of differentially expressed fibrotic genes, COL1A2, COL1A1, COL14A1, COL5A2, with area under the curve (AUC) indicated. Abstracts A218 Lupus Science & Medicine 2019;6(Suppl 1):A1–A227 on S etem er 3, 2023 by gest. P rocted by coright. httpupus.bm jcom / Lpus S ci M d: frst pulished as 10.113pus-2019-lsm .00 on 5 A ril 219. D ow nladed fom RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) analysis may accurately differentiate types of renal involvement at the transcriptomic level, and better inform treatment decisions and prognosis. Methods scRNAseq was performed on kidney and non-lesional skin tissue collected from 20 SLE patients undergoing a clinically indicated renal biopsy. Cell types were determined using principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (tSNE) plotting, resulting in the definitive identification of keratinocytes, tubular cells, mesangial cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and leukocytes. Results LN patients expressed upregulated IFN response genes in both their tubular cells and keratinocytes. This IFN response signature in tubular cells predicted poor response to therapy 6 months post-biopsy. Tubular cells of non-responder patients also expressed upregulated extracellular matrix proteins and fibrotic markers (figure 1A and 1B). Using logistic regression analysis, a 4-gene tubular fibrosis score was created and able to predict response to treatment with an area under curve of 0.9 (figure 1C). Keratinocytes of non-responders also upregulated certain extracellular matrix genes and this response was not observed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Differential expression analysis between histology classes indicated an upregulation of IFN and TNF signaling in the tubular cells of patients with proliferative LN compared with membranous. Conclusions scRNAseq from 2–10 mm of renal biopsy tissue in SLE can differentiate between the different classes of LN, and provide important insights into potential pathogenic mechanisms. Further, changes in the skin of LN patients can provide a useful source of biomarkers and may reflect important information concerning concurrent kidney pathological events. Funding Source(s): This work was supported by the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network. AMP is a public-private partnership (AbbVie, Arthritis Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Lupus Foundation of America, Lupus Research Alliance, Merck Sharp and Dohme, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Pfizer, Rheumatology Research Foundation, Sanofi, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals) created to develop new ways of identifying and validating promising biological targets for diagnostics and drug development. Funding was provided through grants from the National Institutes of Health (UH2-AR067676, UH2-AR067677, UH2AR067679, UH2-AR067681, UH2-AR067685, UH2-AR067688, UH2-AR067689, UH2-AR067690, UH2-AR067691, UH2AR067694, and UM2-AR067678). 301 NOVELMIRNA-25 INHIBITS AMPD2 IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS AND REPRESENTS A PROMISING NOVEL BIOMARKER Huijing Wang*, Shuang Ye. Department of Rheumatology, South Campus, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China; Department of Rheumatology, South Campus, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong


Understanding the temperature dependency of triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) is important for optimizing biological applications of upconversion. Here the temperature dependency of red-to-blue TTA-UC is reported in a variety of neutral PEGylated phospholipid liposomes. In these systems a delicate balance between lateral diffusion rate of the dyes, annihilator aggregation, and sensitizer self-quenching leads to a volcano plot, with the maximum upconversion intensity occurring near the main order–disorder transition temperature of the lipid membrane.


The perturbed angular correlation measurements were performed with 99Rh in dilute PdX (X identical to Cd, In, Sn, Sb) alloys and with 111In in dilute Pd-Rh alloy. The rhodium atoms attract Cd, In, Sn and Sb impurities and impurity pairs of Rh-Cd, Rh-In, Rh-Sn and Rh-Sb are formed in a Pd matrix. Their binding energy was derived from the impurity pair concentration measured as the function of temperature. The negative binding energy contradicts the repulsive interaction predicted for those impurities by the semi-empirical model developed in the literature.


The horizontal attenuation of ultraviolet light by the air near the ground was determined as a continuous function of wavelength from 2300 to 4600 A. Measurements were made by means of photographic spectrophotometry on seventy-eight nights during 1949 at Pasadena, California, and also on three nights during 1950 at Washington, D. C. The results are given in the form of a table of attenuation coefficients (km−1) at selected wavelengths and in the form of representative spectral attenuation curves for conditions ranging from fog to exceptionally clear air. Except for weak oxygen absorption bands between 2421 and 2700 A, the attenuation coefficient was found to vary quite smoothly (though differently) with wavelength on all nights. Air pollutants, though frequently present, were not spectroscopically identified except for sulfur dioxide, which was encountered in measurable concentration in Washington. Ozone concentrations could be estimated from a few spectra obtained in exceptionally clear weather.


Aim To analyse the ability of TWEAK to modify the endothelin system, particularly endothelin-1 (ET-1) and endothelin-converting enzyme-1 (ECE-1), studying the intracellular mechanisms implied. TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) is a member of TNF superfamily; it has different biological functions such as inflammation, angiogenesis, proliferation, and apoptosis. TWEAK and fibroblast growth-factor-inducible 14 are expressed in different cell types, including endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Despite their presence in endothelial cells, the effect of TWEAK on endothelial function is incompletely defined. Methods and results In cells, TWEAK induced protein (Western blot) and mRNA (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) expression of ECE-1. Results were related to transcriptional changes, as ECE-1 promoter activity (transfection assays) was also increased. Transfections with serial deletions of ECE-1 promoter suggest a potential role for AP-1 and NFkB, which were confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. When AP-1 or NFkB activations were inhibited by specific inhibitors of AP-1, PD-98059 (Erk1/2 inhibitor), or SP-600125 (JNK inhibitor), and also with an inhibitor of NFKB and PDTC, TWEAK effect was partially blocked in both cases, suggesting that both transcription factors are implied in ECE-1 regulation. Moreover, the endothelial changes induced by TWEAK were also tested in vivo, using 3-month-old male CD-1 mice treated with TWEAK 10 µg/kg body weight for 24 h, finding similar effects, a rise in ET-1 production (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), and ECE-1 expression in aorta and lung tissues. Mice showed slight hypertension after 4 h of treatment, which disappeared at 24 h. Conclusions In pathological situations such as chronic inflammation, TWEAK could be more harmful through this effect at endothelial level. Pharmacological blockade of this cytokine could prevent the haemodynamic and structural changes related to an increased ET-1 synthesis.


ObjectivesAs in many jurisdictions, New Brunswick (Canada) is facing an acute and continuing shortage of registered nurses as recruitment fails to keep pace with retirements and resignations. The purpose of this retrospective study is to analyze the recruitment, retention and exit decisions of nurses in the NB public health system.
MethodsThe analysis will use a unique linked administrative data set that combines individual-level nurse employment data, immigration landing records, university graduation data and Medicare health insurance registry data on all publicly employed registered nurses in NB as well as individuals who graduated from a University nursing program in NB and immigrants to NB who previously trained as nurses in their home country. Data are provided by multiple government departments and are accessed through the NB Institute for Research, Data and Training. The analysis will include both descriptive statistics and econometric methods appropriate to the particular outcome of interest.
ResultsThe analysis will present results on four dimensions of nursing employment. The first is transitions from nursing programs in NB universities into employment in the NB public health system. The second is transitions of internationally educated nurses into employment as nurses in the NB public system and the timing of those transitions, which will reflect the process of credential evaluation, training and licensure. The third is exits from employment in the public health system, with consideration of both retirement and pre-retirement departures. The fourth is mobility decisions of those nurses exiting employment and whether they remain in the province after leaving employment. The potential effects of a range of demographic, geographic and health system level factors on these outcomes will be considered.
ConclusionAnalysis of entry to and exit from nursing employment in NB and factors associated with those dynamics will be vital for health resource planning for a province dealing with growing labour shortages. The unique nature of the linked data will also generate important insights for other jurisdictions facing similar challenges.


The carbon source in plant cell suspension culture is a very important factor for growth and development. In the present investigation the role of different carbon sources such as analytical grade sucrose (Hi-Media, India), commercial grade sugar, sugarcubes and jaggery (both purchased from local market) were studied in cell growth of Momordica charantia in an effort to reduce the cost instead of using high cost carbon source. Studies have revealed that significant improvement was observed in cell growth on a medium containing sugarcubes. More callus could be induced successfully from leaf and shoot tissues when cultured on MS medium supplemented with two combinations of growth regulators influence (Kin+IAA and BA+IAA). More fresh weight and the best friability of callus was obtained from leaf explants on MS medium containing 1.0 mgl -1 IAA and 0.5 mgl -1 Kin with semi-solid medium (0.6% agar). The cell suspension culture promoted the best cell growth in medium containing sugarcubes with biomass of 8.245 g fresh weight and 0.298 g dry weight in 24 days of inoculation. This is the first report using four different carbon sources in plant cell suspension cultures. The results showed that out of four carbon sources tested, sugarcubes could be the best source of carbon and it potentially reduces the cost of using costly carbon sources in cell suspension cultures.


Nuclear power plants (NPPs) are complex dynamic systems with multiple sensors and actuators. The presence of faults in the actuators and sensors can deteriorate the system's performance and cause serious safety issues. This calls for the development of fault detection and diagnosis systems for detection and isolation of such faults. In this study, fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) based on neural networks (NN) and K-nearest neighbour (KNN) algorithm is applied to a pressurized water reactor (PWR). Fault detection is first determined based on the NN. Second, the KNN algorithm is used to classify the faults. The proposed approach is capable of classifying a variety of actuator faults, sensor faults, and multiple simultaneous actuator and sensor faults. A set of simulation results is provided to demonstrate the accuracy of the FDD method. The classifier performance is further compared with other machine learning techniques.


This paper, which is based on a PhD study, explores the question why Library and Information Science (LIS) education and training programmes are criticised for producing graduates without the requisite skills to perform right away in their first jobs. The reason why LIS graduates are purportedly reproached for being inadequately prepared for the jobs they apply for has remained an under-researched topic in LIS education and training, despite the fact that it is highly debated in scholarly discourse and literature. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to inform the study design, data collection and analysis procedures. The qualitative perspective was dominant, complemented by the quantitative perspective. The findings suggest that the development of work-ready graduates is not part of the mandate of LIS education and training programmes. Because of this, the development of work-ready graduates is hampered and it is further constrained by the existing discrepancy between high-level policy positions in the country and operational behaviour, different perspectives among LIS employers and faculties on what higher education stands for, lack of mutual partnerships among key stakeholders, constant changes in the LIS field and resource inadequacies. This finding suggests that the development of LIS graduates' employability skills will remain insubstantial if it is not supported by policy and regulatory frameworks, well-established partnerships among policymakers, higher education institutions and employers, and both human and physical resources. Keywords : Library and Information Science; education and training; employability skills; change; higher education.


Effect of inhalation of an air-n-hexane mixture on insulin degradation in rat blood in vitro was studied under simultaneous monitoring of n-hexane concentrations in blood (using gas chromatography) and in the inhaled air (using infrared analysis). Inhalation of n-hexane vapours in a concentration of 54,694 +/- 1933 ppm (197 +/- 7 g m-3) resulted in blood n-hexane saturation within 15 min. (0.18 +/- 0.023 mg ml-1) associated with a statistically increased (P less than 0.002) insulin degradation in the blood of exposed rats as compared to control animals 0.152 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.053 +/- 0.003). To rule out possible effects of stress on the results obtained, effects of both, 20 min restraint stress (RS) and equally long handling (HAN) on insulin degradation were also estimated. The data thus obtained were compared with insulin degradation in control (C) rats which were killed by decapitation in the animal room. No significant differences were observed between the individual groups (C: 0.055 +/- 0.08; RS: 0.068 +/- 0.01; HAN: 0.069 +/- 0.015). In vitro addition of n-hexane to pure plasma or to a mixture of blood elements revealed that degradation activities present in the cellular blood compartment are required for the n-hexane-induced enhancement of insulin degradation in the blood to occur.


Pain related behaviour in 1.5 year old colts was studied both prior to and following castration. The horses were filmed 24 h prior to surgery and 24 h postoperatively. Parameters, inactive and active behaviours, were recorded in terms of cumulative time observed. Both groups of horses were exercised three times and the gait quality was evaluated. Few differences were observed between the groups. The only significantly different behaviour was "time spent drinking". The placebo group showed this behaviour more postoperatively versus preoperatively. There was a tendency for the behaviour "nose" to be significantly increased in the vedaprofentreated group. All horses treated with vedprofen and one of the horses in the placebogroup showed specific behaviour postoperatively. These behaviours were not observed preoperatively. The most interesting thing however, was that the observer, blinded for the treatment, grouped the horses correctly but placed them in the wrong treatment category. The main result of this study is that it is difficult to evaluate postoperative pain in horses. Possibly the animals without additional analgesics attempted to hide pain. Horses are animals of prey and those showing pain are the most probable to be eaten by carnivores.


This article has introduced the key structure, main data, manufacturing and inspection standard and specifications etc. of high pressure fly ash filter which is one of the key equipment of the gasification project. At the same time the important points concerning fabrication and fit-up progress for its main parts also have been described especially.


TSGA10 is overexpressed in some cancers, during neural development, in embryogenesis, and in several tissues with actively dividing cells. TSGA10 protein localization to the sperm tail has been previously described. The protein is cleaved into two parts, which appear to play different functions in the sperm tail: the 27-KDa N-terminal is localized to the fibrous sheath in the principal piece, whereas its 55-KDa C-terminal of the TSGA10 forms filaments, decreases transcriptional activity of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1-alpha and accumulates in the midpiece of mature spermatozoa. Using colocalization, and coimmunoprecipitation assays, we show that TSGA10 interacts with 'Outer Dense Fiber 2' (ODF2), a centrosome scaffold component associated with mother centrioles. Also, our yeast two-hybrid assay shows that the full-length TSGA10 protein and its 55-KDa C-terminus portion predominantly interact with ODF2. However, the truncated N-terminus 27-KDa fibrous sheath component of TSGA10 fails to bind ODF2. Our experiments examining the localization of TSGA10, demonstrated that the full length TSGA10 protein localizes to perinuclear structures, colocalizes with γ-tubulin, and associates with the centrosome and basal body. The TSGA10 55-KDa C-terminus, but not its 27-KDa N-terminus also localizes to the centrosome and basal body. Our Real-time PCR data indicated that the levels of TSGA10 and ODF2 genes expressions correlate, in mice testes. Finally, we propose that TSGA10 is a ciliary-centrosomal protein and therefore is a good candidate for further investigation in ciliopathies, as well as, cancer biology.


This study examines the effects of organizational structure and performance feedback on termination decisions-in particular, product phaseout. Using quarterly product-level data on the major mobile handset manufacturers for the period 2004-2009, we analyze how product-level feedback affects product phaseout and how these decisions are conditioned by organizational structure-the extent to which decision making is centralized. We argue that such structure affects termination in two ways: directly, through coordination, and indirectly, by shaping the interpretation of performance feedback. Our baseline models indicate that as performance increases above aspirations, the rate of phaseout decreases. We find that as performance declines below aspirations, the rate of phaseout decreases, but then increases when the product falls below a certain sales threshold. We also find evidence that centralization amplifies the feedback effect above aspirations but attenuates it below aspirations. This study links two pillars of the Carnegie school, aspiration levels and hierarchy, to explain the complexity of phaseout following perceived success or failure. We thereby augment the growing scholarship on performance feedback by considering some important conditional effects imposed by a centralized structure. Our focus on centralization expands the scope of theory concerning organization design by linking structure and cognition to explain firm behavior, especially termination decisions.


Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health challenge affecting the world in general. Its devastating impact is more evident in developing countries such as Nigeria. The incidence of cardiovascular disease rises with reducing renal function and majority of patients with chronic kidney disease succumb to cardiovascular events before reaching end stage renal disease. The aim of the study is to correlate electrocardiographic abnormalities with renal function indices like PCV, eGFR amongst others. We analyzed electrocardiographic patterns retrospectively over a period of 4 years amongst adult patients with end stage renal disease. We studied 150 patients, 63.3% males and 36.7% females with a mean age of 50 ± 17years. The mean packed cell volume, estimated glomerular filtration rate and QTc was 23 ± 5.4 %, 9.7 ± 5.8 ml/min and 444.9ms ± 20.2 respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy was the predominant abnormality accounting for 82.7% and 81.3% using Sokolo-Lyon and Araoye criteria respectively. There was no significant correlation between eGFR and QTc (p – 0.1836 CI; -0.2-0.05). Left atrial abnormality and ischemic changes (strain pattern) was noted in 33.3% and 21.3% respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy is a common electrocardiographic abnormality amongst chronic kidney disease patients so efforts to identify these patients and prevent their progression to end stage disease is crucial.


At present the further development of outpatient geriatric rehabilitation is characterized by contradictions. On the one hand the legal basis and political statements on this matter emphasize the two principles/aims "home care comes before institutional care" and "rehabilitation comes before nursing care". On the other hand deficits with regard to the infrastructure, insufficient cooperation and coordination among the relevant parties as well as the existing payment system for benefits provided hinder the realization of these principles/aims. This paper does not only describe those barriers in detail but also outlines framework conditions and specific models which would facilitate the further positive development of outpatient geriatric rehabilitation.


protein-DNA interactions during DNA lesion search and damaged base recognition by Endonuclease VIII N.A. Kuznetsov*, O.A. Kladova, A.A. Kuznetsova and O.S. Fedorova Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia; Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia *Email: firstname.lastname@example.com, Phone: +7-383-3635174


Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for patients with malignant lymphoma has been extensively performed in Japan for several years. Some of the disease states of lymphoma are considered to be a good candidate for auto-PBSCT application. Sensitive relapsers in non Hodgkin's lymphoma should be treated with a combination of salvage therapy and high dose chemo(radio)-therapy with stem cell support, and up-front PBSCT is recommended for poor risk aggressive lymphoma. The clinical results and indications for auto-PBSCT including other types of lymphoma such as lymphoblastic lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, low-grade lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease will be reviewed in this paper.


This is a book review of Philippe Guillaume, Land, Credit and Crisis: Agrarian Finance in the Hebrew Bible . BibleWorld. Shef-field: Equinox Publishing, 2012.


Background Over the last years many technical improvements have been made in hemodialysis treatment. Vascular access (VA) still remains an important problem. Although the use of indwelling vascular catheters is discouraged, in Europe there is an increasing use of them. The K/DOQI Guidelines recommend a native arteriovenous fistula (AVF) as VA of choice. As reported by DOPPS, there is considerable geographic variation in the distribution of type of VA used amongst hemodialysis patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the time patients in four European countries have to wait before undergoing their first surgery for VA (AVF or graft). Methods All incident patients admitted to HD clinics located in Turkey, Italy, the UK and Portugal of the European FME clinics network between October 1, 2002 and September 30, 2004 were considered. Data were gained from the Clinical Database EuCliD®. Results 2,152 patients (males 55.9%, mean age 62.5±15.7 years, diabetics 27%) were selected. Italy and Portugal had a higher proportion of elderly patients. At time of admission, the proportion of patients starting dialysis with AVF ranged between 23% and 60% from Turkey to Italy respectively. Patients with an indwelling catheter at admission are expected to undergo VA surgery as soon as possible. After 3 months of follow-up, about 75% of all patients had undergone surgery, however in the UK less than 50% of the patients had had a VA procedure. Overall, males have significantly higher probability of undergoing surgery, whilst elderly patients have a lower probability (27% and 14% respectively). Conclusion Significant differences exist between countries in the time interval from referral to creation of VA. Health care system related problems seem to be the major reason to explain such differences. Patients in the UK have longer waiting times than the other countries studied.


This paper proposes a new two-mark watermarking scheme that is based on the independent component analysis (ICA) technique. The first watermark is used for ownership verification while the second one is used as the copy ID of the image. Using a smallsized support image, the extraction is carried out on size-reduced level, bringing computational advantage to our method. The new method, undergoing a variety of experiments, has shown its robustness against attacks and its capability of detecting tampered area in the image.


The genetic architecture of the total phenotype may substantially constrain or enhance the evolution of floral color within populations in response to multiple selection pressures. Using Claytonia virginica I previously identified opposing selection on floral color generated through herbivores and pathogens. Here I ask whether the evolution of floral color in this system is constrained or unconstrained by its phenotypic integration with floral and vegetative traits. Morphological, physiological, and pollen traits were measured on over 400 plants in the field and greenhouse, and these data were used to test whether floral-color morphs differed with respect to other traits and whether the among-trait correlation structure differed across the color morphs. The color morphs varied with respect to most measured traits; however, the pattern of variation was not consistent among them, and there was little evidence of trade-offs with floral color. A common principal components analysis revealed that the pattern of phenotypic integration substantially differed among the color morphs. Combined, these results suggest that floral-color evolution may proceed relatively unconstrained by associations with other traits in this system. The absence of a strong constraint in combination with known fluctuating selective pressures may help to explain observed within- and among-population color variation in this species.


Situated within the framework of the systemic–functional linguistics ( Halliday, 1994 ) and language-based theory of learning ( Halliday, 1993 ), this article examines a shift toward a more objectified and "scientific" representation of reality in texts written by foreign language (FL) learners at various levels of acquisition. It argues that linguistic variation in style impacting communicative effectiveness of written texts created by learners representing different levels of FL acquisition can be partly captured by means of grammatical metaphor, as a phenomenon of transcategorization, whereby processes (typically realized by verbs), attributes (typically realized by adjectives), or whole propositions (typically realized by sentences) are encoded as nouns. Based on a study conducted on 55 book reviews written by advanced American learners of German and 30 texts written by native speakers in the same genre, the article identifies various types of grammatical metaphors or approximations toward it as characteristic of various acquisition levels. It also demonstrates the role and functions of grammatical metaphor in enhancing the ability of writers to construct a logical argument or a persuasive evaluation. Comparisons to the use of grammatical metaphor in the texts produced by native writers of German show it to be a prominent feature of adult language use in literate and academic contexts, by native or nonnative language users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The issue of pruning (i.e., shortening) a given interleaver in a parallel concatenated convolutional code (PCCC or turbo codes) employing recursive systematic convolutional (RSC) constituent codes has been addressed. The encoder uses two RSC codes coupled with an interleaver represented by the permutation vector. Since the encoding and decoding delay associated with turbo codes are essentially dominated by the block length (interleaver length), it is of considerable practical interest to be able to modify it in order to obtain a variable length block code. Most other interleaver construction techniques do not have a recursive build nature and as a consequence, each time the interleaver length is modified, the interleaver itself must be redesigned. In the case of turbo codes, it is desirable to identify a technique that would allow any interleaver performing a given permutation to be reduced in size with gradual performance degradation of the resulting PCCC, but without the need for changing almost completely the operation of the interleaver.


Aims : This study aims to compare between laparoscopic and open incisional hernia repair. Methods and Materials : The study was conducted in different tertiary hospitals of Dhaka between January 2011 to December 2012 and in 96 patients with incisional hernia. Among them, 68 patients underwent open repair and 28 underwent laparoscopic repair. Both procedures usually consisted of applying a synthetic mesh overlapping the defect. They were followed up for one year to observe the clinical outcome. Results : Mean operative time was shorter in laparoscopic group in comparison to open procedure and mean post operative hospital stay was less than 3 days in laparoscopic group and above 7 days in open group. In the laparoscopic group return to normal activities/work after surgery was less than 2 weeks but after open procedure it was more than 3 weeks. Analgesics requirement was also lower in the laparoscopic group. Post operative complications were observed in 33.82% (23) patients in open hernioplasty group and in 7.14% (2) patients in laparoscopic group which showed significant difference (p<0.05). There was no recurrence in the laparoscopic group during one year follow-up. Conclusion : Data suggest laparoscopic repair is superior to open repair because of less complications, relapses and short hospital stay but long term follow up is required. Birdem Med J 2015; 5(1) Supplement: 29-33


The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a primary source of information on the changing health of the US population over the past 4 decades. The full potential of NHIS data for analyzing long-term change, however, has rarely been exploited. Time series analysis is complicated by several factors: large numbers of data files and voluminous documentation; complexity of file structures; and changing sample designs, questionnaires, and variable-coding schemes. We describe a major data integration project that will simplify cross-temporal analysis of population health data available in the NHIS. The Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS) is a Web-based system that provides an integrated set of data and documentation based on the NHIS public use files from 1969 to the present. The Integrated Health Interview Series enhances the value of NHIS data for researchers by allowing them to make consistent comparisons across 4 decades of dramatic changes in health status, health behavior, and healthcare.


Typically, the concentration of corrosion inhibitor levels in field fluids is routinely monitored. Understanding the level of corrosion inhibitor can provide information on the correct functioning of chemical injection pumps as well as determine the effects of changing system conditions, such as water cut or solids production, on chemical availability. Yet, despite the value of monitoring, the residual methods available to operators are often not sufficiently reliable or are too complex to apply in the field. A corrosion inhibitor micelle-detecting technique offers an alternative approach. A significant body of work can be found in the literature regarding the formation of micelles in model fluids and for single chemical species. The relevance of the approach for the significantly more complex field fluids and commercial corrosion inhibitor formulations is shown and discussed.


BACKGROUND
To eliminate complications of peribulbar and retrobulbar anesthesia and to achieve efficacy and safety for topical anesthesia with cataract surgery.

METHODS
We performed clear corneal phacoemulsification with foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation under topical anesthesia using preservative-free 2% lidocaine drops, without intracameral anesthetic supplementation. The exclusion criteria were anxiety, small pupil, baseline endothelial count 1500 cells/mm2, uncontrolled glaucoma, other ocular entities affecting corneal endothelium, and allergy to the relevant medications. We used a specular microscope to evaluate the effect on the endothelium and employed a 10-point visual analog pain scale to assess the discomfort experienced during the operation.

RESULTS
Totally, 29 eyes of 29 patients were enrolled in this series. The mean age was 71.5 +/- 8.5 years. Twenty-three of 29 (79.3%) cases achieved a best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) equal to 20/40 or better at an interval of 3 months postoperatively. Most patients (86.5%) felt mild or no pain during surgery. Pre- and postoperative endothelial counts were 2072.6 +/- 104 and 1927.4 +/- 196 cell/mm2, respectively. One in 29 cases developed vitreous loss due to involuntary eye movements intraoperatively.

CONCLUSIONS
Topical anesthesia with preservative-free 2% lidocaine drops is an effective and safe modality for clear corneal phacoemulsification with IOL implantation. On the other hand, for patients with small pupil or those who are anxious, the procedure may be time-consuming, and it is challenging for physicians to perform cataract surgery merely using topical anesthesia.


Genetic similarity is a measure for the genetic relatedness among individuals. The standard method for computing similarity matrices involves the inner product of observed genetic variant matrices. Such an approach is inaccurate or impossible if genotypes are not available, or not densely sampled, or of poor quality (for example, genetic analysis of extinct species). We provide a new method for computing genetic similarities among individuals using phylogenetic trees. Our method can supplement (or stand in for) computations based on genetic sequences. We show that the genetic similarity matrices computed from trees are consistent with those computed from genotypes. Quantitative analysis on genetic traits and analysis of heritability and co-heritability can be conducted directly using genetic similarity matrices and so in the absence of genotype data, and the presence of phylogenetic trees derived from morphological data or geological dates, such analyses can be undertaken using our methods. We use simulation studies to demonstrate the advantages of our method, and we provide an application to ancient hominin data.


The exact elementary excitations in a typical U(1) symmetry broken quantum integrable system, that is the twisted J1-J2 spin chain with nearest-neighbor, next nearest neighbor and chiral three spin interactions, are studied. The main technique is that we quantify the energy spectrum of the system by the zero roots of transfer matrix instead of the traditional Bethe roots. From the numerical calculation and singularity analysis, we obtain the patterns of zero roots. Based on them, we analytically obtain the ground state energy and the elementary excitations in the thermodynamic limit. We find that the system also exhibits the nearly degenerate states in the regime of $\eta\in \mathbb{R}$, where the nearest-neighbor couplings among the z-direction are ferromagnetic. More careful study shows that the competing of interactions can induce the gapless low-lying excitations and quantum phase transition in the antiferromagnetic regime with $\eta\in \mathbb{R}+i\pi$.


The triple radio source detected in association with the luminous infrared source IRAS 16547-4247 has previously been studied with high angular resolution and high sensitivity with the Very Large Array at 3.6 cm wavelength. In this paper, we present new 3.6 cm observations taken 2.68 years after the first epoch that allow a search for variability and proper motions, as well as the detection of additional faint sources in the region. We do not detect proper motions along the axis of the outflow in the outer lobes of this source at a 4σ upper limit of ∼160 km s−1. This suggests that these lobes are probably working surfaces where the jet is interacting with a denser medium. However, the brightest components of the lobes show evidence of precession, at a rate of 0.°08 yr−1 clockwise in the plane of the sky. It may be possible to understand the distribution of almost all the identified sources as the result of ejecta from a precessing jet. The core of the thermal jet shows significant variations in flux density and morphology. We compare this source with other jets in low- and high-mass young stars and suggest that the latter can be understood as a scaled-up version of the former.


The present study included 1300 adults with various clinical problems. We prospectively studied the EEG's of this population over an 18-month period. Ninety-two patients showed episodic generalized or frontal-central bursts of theta activity, occurring synchronously over both hemispheres in drowsiness (episodic anterior drowsy theta or EADT). We found no interaction between the parameters involving the above theta rhythms (amplitude, rhythmicity, topography and presence or absence in the waking EEG), demographic variables (age, sex), and clinical presentation. Our data, however, did suggest that the incidence of the EADT may be higher in young females. We also found a tendency for the EADT in otherwise abnormal EEGs to be rhythmic and present awake. Our data indicated that the presence of EADT is non-specific as to etiology.


Gamma irradiation of seeds is known as an important factor in stimulating biochemical and physiological processes. This paper investigates the effect of seed irradiation on the seed germination, storability, and seedling growth traits of Magnolia champaca. Seeds were irradiated with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Gy by Cobalt-60. The treated seeds were grouped into three lots, namely germination test, storage test and seedling growth characteristics. Observations were made for seed germination percentage, germination index, mean germination time, germination value and growth traits such as height, collar diameter, number of leaves, root length, and dry weight. Results showed that irradiation at a dose of 30 Gy was close to LD50, and irradiation at doses of 80 Gy and higher caused lethal effect. The maximum increase of germination parameters on irradiated seed was recorded at a dose of 10 Gy, and then it decreased. Growth rate in terms of seedling height, collar diameter, number of leaves, and dry weight have also increased in gamma irradiation doses up to 80 Gy, but the dose of 10 Gy resulted in survival and growth that was more stable and gave the highest values for most of the parameters. Hence, lower dose (10 Gy) of irradiation treatment can be used to increase seed germination, storability and seedling growth of M. champaca.