Poor solubility, low cellular uptake, and poor cell selectivity are the main obstacles hampering the therapeutic potential and clinic application of macromolecules. To overcome these limitations, here we propose a chemical modification strategy of macromolecules based on enzyme-instructed self-assembly (EISA). By using protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and its metal complex Zn-PpIX as the modification objects, we demonstrated that the integration of enzymatic transformation and molecular self-assembly of macromolecules successfully improved the solubility of macromolecules, enhancing their intracellular uptake selectively against cancer cells. The proposed strategy is potentially applicable as a general tool for the development of macromolecule-based nanomedicine.


At the end of 2018, the European Parliament and Council adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1, often referred to as the 'ECN Directive', which, among other things, contains provisions ensuring the independence of the competition authorities of the EU Member States (national competition authorities or NCAs), which are, together with the European Commission, responsible for the enforcement of the EU antitrust rules laid down in Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. In early 2019, the European Commission visibly showed its own independence by prohibiting Siemens' takeover of Alstom's rail transport business, a proposed merger publicly backed by the German and French governments. This article gives an overview of the independence guarantees in EU law and discusses more in general the notion of independence of competition authorities and its rationale.


Following the promotion of living quality and the implementation of the national health instrumentation program in Taiwan, the demand of research and development for localized medical modalities has become critical. With corporation with Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the Medical Automation and Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (MAREC) in Chang Gung University has been dedicated itself to the development of pivotal technologies for medical mechatronics systems/modalities and perform clinical evaluation of newly developed modalities. In this paper, part of the localized medical mechatronics systems and rehabilitative modalities developed in Chang Gung University (Taiwan) was reported.


The behavior of individual molecules of R-phycoerythrin (RPE) was monitored by fluorescence imaging at various pHs and ionic strengths within the evanescent-field layer (EFL) at a water/fused-silica interface. Above the isoelectric point (pI), the individual protein molecules moved between exposures with random motion. As the pH approached the pI of the protein, the RPE molecules were partially adsorbed onto the fused-silica surface. The residence time and the number of molecules within the EFL also increased near the pI. Below the pI, the protein molecules were completely and permanently adsorbed onto the surface. However, the observed number of distinct molecule spots was decreased somewhat because of aggregation. At a given buffer condition, plots of residence times and molecule numbers exhibit asymmetry nearly identical to the corresponding elution peaks of the proteins in capillary electrophoresis and capillary liquid chromatography. These results provide insights into the fundamental interactions for the adsorption/desorption of proteins at the liquid/solid interface.


The paper analyses the challenges of modern commercial diplomacy (CD), which became more relevant than it was in the pre crisis period. In this context, the authors analyzed the chronology of implementation of CD in Serbia, scope and efficiency of its activities, and the areas for improvement. Some of their findings, related to the efficiency and challenges in CDs activities, are based on the questionnaire conducted among 25 Serbian CDs. The paper concludes that in order to increase the efficiency of commercial diplomacy, coordination of the activities of the responsible institutions should be improved, to avoid overlapping in their work and to rationalize use of limited resources. However, the authors emphasised that the space for contribution of commercial diplomacy to the increase of export and FDI is insufficient, due to limited export potential and poor investment climate in Serbia. The authors conclude that in order to increase the efficiency of commercial diplomacy in export promotion area, it is important to implement the necessary reforms, which will result in the restructuring of Serbian economy, make it more competitive and export oriented. To increase the inflow of FDI to Serbia, it is necessary to create a business friendly investment climate.


The relevant competitors in regard to innovation might, but not necessarily do, correspond to the identified competitors on actual product markets. Hence, the conventional analysis of product markets, in order to assess the potential anticompetitive effects of mergers, is insufficient to capture innovation competition in its full extent. As a consequence, the aim of this article is to introduce and compare the existing alternative approaches that can, in principle, be used for the assessment of anticompetitive innovation effects in merger review. By focusing on the applied US Antitrust, it turns out that none of the existing approaches appears to be sufficient to fully account for innovation competition. However, the 'Innovation Market Analysis', the first framework especially designed for the assessment of innovation aspects, still might serve as a good starting point for the development of a revised assessment framework.


Many view civil wars as violent contests between armed combatants. But history shows that community groups, businesses, NGOs, local governments, and even armed groups can respond to war by engaging in civil action. Characterized by a reluctance to resort to violence and a willingness to show enough respect to engage with others, civil action can slow, delay, or prevent violent escalations. This volume explores how people in conflict environments engage in civil action, and the ways such action has affected violence dynamics in Syria, Peru, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Mexico, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Spain, and Colombia. These cases highlight the critical and often neglected role that civil action plays in conflicts around the world.


There appears an obvious fit between the application of 'social media' technologies to the making of scholarly editions in digital form and the markedly collaborative nature of the typical digital humanities project. Accordingly, it may be argued that the model of the collaborative project-based edition need only to be extended, to become 'social'. This article questions that thesis, demonstrating the problems that can arise with collaborative projects applying digital methodologies to scholarly work through analysis of the Shakespeare Quartos and the European Virtual Museum Transnational Network projects and arguing that the term 'collaboration' needs critical examination. Indeed, to the extent that 'collaboration' may be closed, and may serve narrow scholarly purposes, it can be the antithesis of 'social'. In place of project-based collaboration, this essay proposes that we see 'social' editions as grounded in communities, not in collaboration, and that the principle upon which they should be built is (following Shirky) 'design for generosity'. This implies a different role for the editors and scholars from the academy: rather than the leaders of collaborations, we may become key participants in, and enablers of, communities. In turn, this mandates a loss of control: generosity means allowing others to use what is given freely, including in ways not foreseen, and even opposed, by those who created the data. For academics who are used to identifying control with assurance of quality, this is a difficult step. Wide adoption of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (without the 'non-commercial' restriction) would take us far towards these aims.


The lower morbidity and mortality of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens has allowed allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in older patients. Unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been investigated as an alternative stem cell source because of insufficient availability of suitably HLA matched related (MRD) and adult volunteer unrelated donors. We hypothesized that RIC HCT using UCB would be safe and efficacious in older patients and compared the transplant related mortality (TRM) and overall survival (OS) after RIC HCT in patients older than 55 years using either MRD (n=47) or, in patients with no 5/6 or 6/6 HLA compatible related donors, UCB (n=43). RIC regimen consisted of total-body irradiation (200 cGy) and either cyclophosphamide and fludarabine (n=69), or busulfan and fludarabine (n=16) or busulfan and cladribine (n=5). The median age of MRD and UCB cohorts was 58 (range, 55–70) and 59 (range, 55–69) years, respectively. AML/MDS (50%) was the most common diagnosis. All MRD grafts were 6 of 6 HLA matched to the recipient. Among patients undergoing UCB HCT, 38 (88%) received two UCB units to optimize cell dose and 40 (93%) received 1–2 HLA mismatched grafts. The median total nucleated cell dose was 9.2 × 10 8 /kg (range, 3.0–21.2) for MRD grafts and 0.4 × 10 8 /kg (range, 0.2–0.8) for UCB grafts. The median followup for survivors was 27 (range, 12–61) months. The probability of progression-free survival (PFS) at 3-years for recipients of MRD and UCB was 30% (95% confidence intervals [CI], 16–44%) and 34% (95% CI, 19–48%)(p=0.98) and OS was 43% (95% CI, 29–58%) and 34% (95% CI, 17–50%)(p=0.57), respectively. The cumulative incidence of sustained donor engraftment at 6 weeks was 100% for MRD and 89% (95% CI, 80–99%) for UCB recipients (p=0.05). The cumulative incidence of grade 2–4 acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD, 42% vs. 49%, p=0.20) and TRM at 180-days (23% vs. 28%, p=0.36) was comparable between the MRD and UCB groups; however, UCB recipients had a lower incidence of chronic GVHD at 1-year (40% vs. 17%, p=0.02). On multivariate analysis, graft type (MRD vs. UCB) had no impact on TRM, PFS or OS; only HCT comorbidity index score was independently predictive for these endpoints. For the whole cohort, 180-day TRM for patients with HCT comorbidity index scores of 0, 1–2 and ≥ 3 was 14% (95% CI, 0–28%), 19% (95% CI, 5–32%) and 44% (95% CI, 26–62%), respectively. Compared to patients with a higher score, patients with a score of 0–2 had lower TRM (hazard ratio [HR] 0.3 [95% CI, 0.1–0.7]) as well as better PFS (HR 0.5 [95% CI, 0.3–0.9]) and OS (HR 0.5 [95% CI, 0.2–0.9]). Our study supports the use of HLA mismatched UCB as an alternative graft source for older patients who need a transplant but do not have a MRD. The use of RIC and UCB extends the availability of transplant therapy to older patients previously excluded on the basis of age and lack of a suitable MRD. Older HCT candidates with limited comorbidity have a low and acceptable risk of TRM and a careful review of existing comorbidities is necessary when considering older patients for HCT.


The study was backed by low interest and student learning outcomes in learning Indonesian Language. This is because teachers tend to use methods of lecture and a little students less cared for. To fix the issue, researchers provide a solution using the model everyone is teachere here. This study aims to describe the increased interest and the results of learning students create questions, answer questions, and suggested in the Indonesian Language learning. This type of research this is a class action Research (PTK). The subject of this research is the grade IV. Research instrument used is the observation sheet activity observation sheet, interest in teacher learning to student interest and question form sheets, test results of the study. The results showed that the learning interest of students in making the question average percentage obtained in cycle I of 63,2% increase in cycle II becomes 78,75%, interest in learning of students in answering the question on percentage gained cycle I of 62,5% increase in cycle II became 85%, then the interest to learn the students suggested retrieved persetase on cycle I of 52,5% increase in cycle II becomes 70%. In addition, the average value of the results of the learning cycle I of 67,87 increased in cycle II becomes 86,87. The results of this research it was concluded that the interest and learning outcomes grade IV can be enhanced through the model everyone is learning the Indonesian Language teacher here.


Tsuchiya, Tagaya & Tsuruhara (1969) reported that Yaba virus caused overt cytological changes in a cynomolgus monkey kidney cell line, JINET (Tsuchiya, Takayama & Tagaya, 1969). Although markedly altered in morphology, the virus-infected JINET cells could be maintained in culture for periods up to 2 to 3 weeks. We have now examined the susceptibility of these cells to superinfection with other viruses and found that with some viruses plaques were larger and more numerous in cells infected with Yaba virus than in uninfected counterparts. With other viruses plaque production was completely suppressed in Yaba-infected cells. We describe here the results of comparative plaque assay of various viruses in uninfected JINET cells (J(N)) and JINET cells infected with Yaba virus (J(Y)). JINET cells were grown as previously described (Tsuchiya, Takayama & Tagaya, 1969), and maintained in superinfection experiments in Earle's salt solution containing 0.5% lactalbumine hydrolysate and 0.15% sodium bicarbonate.


Though first published as recently as 1920, Calmette's monumental book can be termed a classic in tuberculosis literature. A second edition appeared in 1922, followed by a third in 1928, and an English translation of the former was published in 19:3. The last nine years have witnessed much work and controversy on certain pathological aspects of tuberculosis; the fourth edition, just issued, is therefore timely. The death of Calmette in 1932 left the task of revision to be done by Boquet and Negre, heads of departments in the Pasteur Institute and collaborators of Calmette in the previous edition. It was inevitable that the wish to retain the spirit of the original author and the structure laid down by him should have induced Boquet and Negre to avoid making drastic changes, changes that would have greatly increased the value of the book. This applies particularly to views held by Calmette in the face of much opposition. Thus the section on B.C.G. vaccination is hardly altered; too little note is taken of the work criticizing the method, and the lack of thorough revision is seen in the following:


We provide causal evidence that venture capitalists (VCs) improve the performance of their portfolio companies by replacing founders. Augmenting a database of U.S.-based, VC-backed startups from 1995-2008 with hand-collected information regarding turnover, we exploit shocks to the supply of outside executives via state-level changes in the enforceability of employee non-compete agreements. Although naive regressions of startup performance on founder replacement would suggest a negative correlation, this may be due to selection as founders are likely to leave or be pushed out of poorly-performing startups. Indeed, instrumented regressions reverse the sign of this effect, suggesting that replacing founders improves the performance of venture-backed entrepreneurial firms. Replacement helps more when founders hold CXO roles and when the incoming replacement has substantial work experience. The evidence points to the replacement of founders as a specific mechanism by which VCs add value.


Background Childhood obesity increases the likelihood of several consequences for a child (precocious puberty, polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes mellitus type 2, etc) and also later in adulthood (increased mortality due to cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, etc). Aim The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of overweightness and obesity among Greek students and to determine the correlation between diet and physical activity. Methods 2374 pupils in primary education were considered for the study (1206 boys and 1168 girls). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 15.0 (SPSS Chicago, IL USA). A p-value < 0.05 was accepted for statistical significance. Results Cross-correlation between overweight and obese children and sex showed that more males (9.2%) are obese than females (5.3%). The rate of overweight children was at 23.9%, of obese children at 7.3% and the rate of central obesity was at 35.5%. Regarding children that did not follow a healthy diet in school, 34.1% of them were overweight or obese and 38.6% had central obesity; 32% of the children that had a healthy diet in school were overweight or obese, and 27.8% of them had central obesity. In multiple regression analyses, central obesity was associated with hours of daily TV watching and with the hours of daily computer use. Conclusions It is important adhering to a healthy lifestyle which emphasizes healthy food choices and habits, regular physical activity, and limiting screen time.


nBu4NBr/PbI2 acts as an effective catalyst for the allylation of aldehydes 2 with the allylic tin reagents 1 in water. A high syn-selectivity of 3 was achieved in water without any aprotic solvents in the reaction of the aromatic aldehydes 2 with the crotyltri-n-butyltin reagents 1b, 1c irrespective of their E/Z geometry.


Baseball was introduced to Japan though the prestigious school, First High School (Ichiko), and gained a syndrome-like popularity in Prewar Japan as a student sport that is a combination of success-oriented ideology and nationalism. The overly heated popularity of baseball in Japan caused resistance such as the argument about the toxicity of baseball and the call for the eradication of baseball. Afterwards, the movement to use sports as the guidance of public thought led to the promulgation of the Baseball Ordinance(Yakyu Toseirei) in 1932. During the war, baseball was restricted for the reason that it is the public sport of the U.S. Japan's opponent during the war, and it eventually stopped to be played. After Japan's loss in the war, baseball in Japan was born again in about 100 days under the new banner of 'Japan with Sports'. This was the effect of the awareness that baseball of the U.S. was a pure sport that can be used to educate the principle of democracy, the influence of GHQ's initial policy against Japan in areas of politics, economy, military, and culture. During the process, there was a claim such as 'Yakyu Democracy' of Suzuki Sotaro, which emphasizes that the democratization of baseball to regain the original features of baseball that were 'distorted' by national control is the precondition of establishing the new 'Japan with Sports'. In addition, the fact that the supreme commander, MacArthur, threw the first ball and the crown prince participated as a spectator in the away match of San Francisco Seals(1949), a minor league team, that was held in Japan in the cooperation between the governments of the U.S. and Japan was the result of conducting 'democratization of Japan' faithfully. In this sense, the away game of San Francisco Seals was the biggest political event that promoted Japan's 'democratization' that was planned during the occupation of the U.S.


This paper presents a review on the literature of tobacco farming on the observed research on the impact of tobacco farming on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers as well its impact on land. In this study I drew on the existing academic structure on tobacco farming in Zimbabwe. An examination of the determinants of farmer partaking in tobacco farming was carried out on 30 smallholder farmers. The case was Mount Bokoto ward24 in Murewa District. This study was therefore initiated with the aims to (i) to evaluate the extent to which tobacco farming has contributed to the degradation of land (ii) to assess how tobacco farming has affected livelihood (iii) to find ways of preventing massive degradation of land due to tobacco farming. Purposive sampling was used to select the smallholder farmers. Questionnaires and interviews were used to
collect data. The findings show that tobacco farming improved the livelihoods of smallholder through impacting better income, improved household food security, increased assert ownership, better standard of living, improved household asserts, creation of employment and improved housing structure but however though tobacco farming has improved livelihood it has caused land degradation such as soil erosion, siltation of dams, infiltration, deforestation, desertification, global warming.


ABSTRACT Recently, we and others identified somatic and germline de novo gain-of-function mutations in CACNA1D, the gene encoding the α1-subunit of voltage-gated Cav1.3 Ca2+-channels. While somatic mutations identified in aldosterone producing adenomas (APAs) underlie treatment-resistant hypertension, germline CACNA1D mutations are associated with a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a wide symptomatic spectrum, including autism spectrum disorder. The number of newly identified CACNA1D missense mutations is constantly growing, but their pathogenic potential is difficult to predict in silico, making functional studies indispensable to assess their contribution to disease risk. Here we report the functional characterization of previously identified CACNA1D APA mutations F747L and M1354I using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology upon recombinant expression in tsA-201 cells. We also investigated if alternative splicing of Cav1.3 affects the aberrant gating of the previously characterized APA mutation R990H and two mutations associated with autism spectrum disorder (A479G and G407R). Splice-variant dependent gating changes are of particular interest for germline mutations, since the relative expression of Cav1.3 splice variants differs across different tissues and within brain regions and might therefore result in tissue-specific phenotypes. Our data revealed a complex gain-of-function phenotype for APA mutation F747L confirming its pathogenic role. Furthermore, we found splice-variant dependent gating changes in R990H, A749G and G407R. M1354I did not change channel function of Cav1.3 splice variants and should therefore be considered a rare non-pathogenic variant until further proof for its pathogenicity is obtained. Our new findings together with previously published data allow classification of pathogenic CACNA1D mutations into four categories based on prototypical functional changes.


Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the legumes, susceptible to yellow mosaic
disease caused by Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) and Mungbean
yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) infection. The quantitative proteomic analysis allows
achieving deeper knowledge about the viral infection. For quantitative proteomic
analysis, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) is the common method of
choice. Optimization is required even for the published protocols based on the type of
sample to be analyzed and for the proteins of interest. We compared four different
published protocols with some modifications and selected the one which is more
effective in terms of resolution and reproducibility of 2D-PAGE. Here we present our
simple and cost-effective procedure for the detection of viral infection and proteomic
analysis of YMV infected soybean leaves without compromising the resolution and
reproducibility of 2D-PAGE.


Introduction Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common community-based bacterial infections. Empiric antibiotic recommendations are guided by local resistance rates. Previous research suggests that cultures are overused for uncomplicated cystitis, but practice patterns have not been described in detail. Variations in culturing have implications for the interpretation of antibiotic resistance rates. Methods We used a retrospective cohort study to analyze variations in urine culturing among physicians, controlling for patient and physician characteristics. We identified all outpatient physician visits among adults and children for cystitis in British Columbia between 2005 and 2011 using administrative data and linked these to laboratory data on urine cultures. Using hierarchical generalized linear mixed models we explored variations in urine culture submissions for cystitis (ICD code 595) and the associations with patient and physician characteristics, stratified by patient sex. Results Urine cultures were associated with 16% of visits for cystitis among females and 9% among males, and 59% of visits overall were associated with antibiotic treatment. Older patients, patients with a recent antibiotic prescription, and long term care residents were significantly less likely to have a culture associated with a cystitis visit, whether male or female. Female physicians and physicians with 16–35 years' experience were more likely to culture, while international medical graduates were less likely–particularly for female visits. Notably, there was substantial unexplained variation among physicians after controlling for physician characteristics: we found a 24-fold variation in the odds of culturing a female UTI between physicians who were otherwise similar. Conclusion Individual physicians show substantial variation in their propensity to submit cultures for cystitis visits. Reducing such variation and encouraging appropriate levels of culturing would support effective antibiotic use.


The paper describes a high efficiency photovoltaic system using a hybrid multilevel inverter circuit with multi-string boost converter topology. The proposed inverter circuit is built by connecting a line-frequency three-phase bridge inverter in series with three high-frequency single-phase H-bridge inverters. The multi-string topology with separate MPPT control achieves maximum power available from the PV which maximizes the efficiency. This inverter circuit can achieve high efficiency and low harmonics and it can reduce the voltage stress on the power switches. Since the circuit is modularized and having independent voltage control, it can be controlled easily. This paper includes the study of photovoltaic system with independent MPPT control, inverter topology, principle of operation, switching states and its control circuit design. Simulation of a three phase proposed inverter with multistring boost converter photo-voltaic system is carried out using MATLAB-Simulink software and the result shows the viability of the proposed topology.


The development of the academic literacies approach has provided learning developers with a range of powerful tools to help all students to progress through higher education. Twenty years ago, Lea and Street's (1998) report on student writing initiated a debate which encouraged the transformation of writing pedagogy in UK higher education. The goal of the transformation was, and remains, to develop an education system which is expanding, inclusive and accessible. This paper focuses on the use of the meaning-making resources that students bring to their learning journey and the ones they encounter throughout their study. It outlines the documentation that enacts the rules that govern university practice at task, module, course and institutional level. The paper draws on academic literacies tools to help to clear away misunderstandings about students' use of language. It then outlines Lea and Street's (1998) classification of institutional approaches to the pedagogical challenges of improving student writing. The case study describes an optional credit-bearing Introduction to Academic Language module on a UK degree course. By conducting a series of analytical tasks, the undergraduates who elected to take the module developed their use of aspects of academic writing including genre, argument and intertextuality. Students were assessed by analysing their own assessment scripts from other disciplinary modules. The academic writing module was evaluated in ways that could evidence recommendations for change at multiple levels. The methods of evaluation follow practices regarded as standard in many university quality processes but were used to transform provision along inclusive, academic literacies lines.


This information is for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning group as well as other interested faculty, staff and students


A total of 103 incidents was recorded in the South African Shark Attack File between 1960 and 1990. Of the victims 41% were swimmers, 41% board riders and 17% divers. Initially, most victims were swimmers on the Natal coast; more recently they were board riders and divers in Cape waters. Improved treatment techniques reduced the number of fatalities. In Natal carcharhinid sharks, in particular the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas, were responsible for most of the incidents, which occurred in turbid water in summer. The presence of protective gill nets at many Natal beaches greatly reduced the number of attacks along this coast. There was a higher incidence of serious injury in Natal than in the Cape, where great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias were responsible for many of the incidents. Attacks in the Cape were spread throughout the year.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Melanoma, the malignant tumor of melanocytes, accounts for 4% of all skin cancer incidence but approximately 78% of skin cancer related deaths. No current treatment significantly enhances disease-free survival once distant metastases have established. The 5 year survival rate drops dramatically from 99.9% to 9% when melanoma progresses. To facilitate the development of effective treatment strategies, it is imperative that we obtain a better understanding of the biology of melanoma cells as they progress through the various stages of disease. Previous studies have shown that E2F1, a transcription factor, is over-expressed in melanoma cells. Interaction between E2Fs and tumor suppressor, Rb is essential for regulation of cell cycle progression. E2F1 is known to be involved in many other important biological processes, including DNA damage, DNA repair, differentiation, development, autophagy and apoptosis. Involvement of E2F1 in so many diverse functions underscores the importance of this protein under normal and pathologic conditions including melanoma. Previously we have found that primary melanoma cells have high level of E2F1 message and protein, and that the acetylation of E2F1 (active form) is higher in late stage melanoma cells. This led us to propose that E2F1 may function differentially in various stages of melanoma progression. Therefore we generated stable E2F1 knockdown cells in early stage primary and advanced metastatic melanoma cells. Our results show that E2F1 reduction works more effectively to inhibit cell growth in primary melanoma cells. Further, we also found differential effects on apoptosis and invasion in early and late stage melanoma cells. There is increased spontaneous cell death in primary melanoma cells after E2F1 knockdown, while there is increased apoptosis resistance in response to UV or valinomycin. These results taken together suggest that E2F1 has pleotropic effects in melanoma. It can switch between oncogenic or tumor suppressive functions during melanoma progression. A better understanding of the mechanism involved in this switch may allow combining gene therapies with other therapies for improved therapeutics for malignant melanoma. Supported by R21 CA125719 (RG).

Citation Format: Peng Meng, Rita Ghosh. Differential roles of E2F1 in melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5445. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5445


On the question of understanding the convenience of access to major intra-urban facilities, this paper suggests a framework for evaluating the passenger car and the public transport accessibility separately, based on four different indicators:"Spatial Distribution of Accessibility", "Average Accessibility", "Weighted Average Accessibility", and "Gini Coefficient for Accessibility". The framework is applied and each of the indicators is calculated for the study area, Iida city (Nagano Prefecture). The results demonstrate that the four-indicator framework is a useful tool for evaluating accessibility change by public transport improvements, and a "compact city policy".


Total domestic chemical emissions and specific water hazardous substances are gradually increasing. The 'integrated ecotoxicity management system' was introduced in 2011, but new hazardous water pollutants are continuously discharged, and the importance of managing the hazardous micropollutants that threaten public safety is increasing. The Nakdong River flows through a highly industrialized and densely populated area, has more pollutant discharge facilities than other rivers. Although several cases of detecting high concentrations of trace hazardous substances have been reported, few studies have been on their risk. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the related research and to assess their ecosystem risk. Various trace hazardous substances, including 36 pharmaceuticals, 29 VOCs, 34 pesticides, and 12 perfluorinated compounds were reported in the mainstream and tributaries of the Nakdong River and after water purification. As a result of estimating the hazard quotient (HQ) for six substances detected in high concentrations by taxon among the investigated trace hazardous substances, the HQ of Clarithromycin was over 1.0, which may have a negative impact on the ecosystem. In addition to the establishment or reinforcement of water quality standards for trace hazardous substances, special management is required.


By generalizing the algebra of operators of the Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP), a multi-species ASEP in which particles can overtake each other is defined on both open and closed one-dimensional chains. On the ring the steady state and the correlation functions are obtained exactly. The relation to particle hopping models of traffic and the possibility of shock waves in open systems is discussed. The effect of the boundary condition on the steady-state properties of the bulk is studied.


ABSTRACT Whether or not resistant mutants will be present before the start of antibiotic treatment of an initially susceptible population of bacteria depends on the size of the infecting population, the rate of mutation to resistance, and the amount of time that the population has been maintained. In the present investigation, we argue that for the treatment of chronic infections caused by hypermutable Pseudomonas aeruginosa of the sort frequently found in cystic fibrosis patients, mutants resistant to all single antipseudomonal drugs will almost invariably be present in a high proportion at the onset of treatment, and consequently, these strains should be considered resistant to all agents when they are used as monotherapy. Using a construct of P. aeruginosa strain PAO1 with a mutS deletion (strain PAOΔmutS), we show that when in vitro populations of less than 5 × 104 seemingly susceptible hypermutable bacteria are confronted with any of 11 antipseudomonal agents, mutants for which the MICs and the minimum bactericidal concentrations are in the range of clinical resistance will almost invariably ascend to dominance within 24 to 36 h. This does not occur for PAO1 without the mutS deletion. The results of our detailed analysis of this evolution of acquired resistance to two of these antibiotics, imipenem and ciprofloxacin, indicate that although the rates of mutation to resistance in PAOΔmutS are on the order of 1 × 10−6 per generation, resistant mutants are very likely to either be present in cultures of between 2 × 104 and 4 × 104 bacteria or arise after the bacterial populations are confronted with antibiotics. We also demonstrate with in vitro experiments that the problem of acquired resistance to treatment with single antibiotics can be thwarted by combination therapy with pairs of antibiotics of different classes with synergistic activities. We discuss the clinical implications of our analysis of these observations.


This paper adopts Social Network Analysis (SNA) [1] method to find the solution to crime networks mining and central figure determining. With the help of Fisher Discriminant Analysis method and Criminal Network Core-figure Discovery (CNCD), a threshold discriminating non-conspirators from conspirators and the leader of the crime network can be obtained. The paper starts with a small network model, the result may even be used for other fields' network mining and core determination, which has important theoretical significance and application value.


In this study the effect of superheated steam on the oxidative stability of reconstituted omega-3plus milk powder was studied. The changes in fatty acids, peroxide, acids, thiobarbutric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and p-anisidine values were measured to reconstitute omega-3 plus milk powder in relation to thermal treatment by using a superheated steam (SHS) with different temperatures and time periods. The temperature and time period ranged from 120-180 °C between 5-15 min. For applying the SHS treatment did not produce changes in SFA, MUFA and PUFA at 120-150 °C to 10-15 min as compared with the control. While, the proportion of PUFA and MUFA values were recorded differences on temperature 180 °C comparison with control. The result of POV showed no changes between the temperature 120-150 °C compared with control, but indicated significant differences at the temperature 180 °C with long time 15 min. Acids and p- anisdine values did not show any differences between temperature 120-180 °C for a short period of time 5 min compare with the control, but recorded significantly on long period of time 10-15 min compared with the control. The values of TBARS showed no significant differences in temperature 120-150 for 5 min compare with control. This study showed oxidative stability of milk fat supplied long chain unsaturated fatty acids treated by SHS on temperature range 120-150 at time 5-10 min with some affected by the high temperature 180 °C at 15 min can maintain the quality of fatty acid and milk fat.


The All India Women's Conference is a women's organization established in the colonial period to discuss the various hindrances that confronted the spread of education among Indian women as literacy levels among them were abysmally low. The organization observed that unless various social impediments like child marriage and purdah were removed, the spread of education among Indian women would be limited. The organization while focussing on education, widened its field of work in order to attain women empowerment and thus benefited the society at large. It was in 1926 that one of its founders, an Irish lady, Margaret E. Cousins, gathered together some of the eminent women of India, to discuss the various problems that confronted Indian women. While tracing the origin of the organization, it becomes necessary to go into the thoughts and ideas of Margaret E. Cousins, Muthulakshmi Reddy, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur as they were the founder members of the organization and also helped in the formulation of its aims and objectives. A brief sketch of their contributions and ideologies is given below.


Introduction: In order to anatomically reconstruct ureteral stenosis, we present a novel technique for laparoscopic ureteral reimplantation. Patients and Methods: Three young females, who were diagnosed with hydroureteronephrosis caused by congenital vesicoureteral junction obstruction, were treated by laparoscopic ureteral reimplantation with a tunnel underneath the broad ligament. Results: Surgery was performed successfully without conversion to open surgery. No major intra- or postoperative complications occurred. Postoperative follow-up was 38, 33 and 26 months, respectively. The operative time was between 220 and 260 min. The mean estimated blood loss was less than 20 ml. Subsequent imaging performed 3 months after surgery revealed relief of hydroureteronephrosis for all patients. The patients all gave birth to healthy neonates and showed normal urinary tract sonogram and urine analysis during the gestation period. Conclusion: Laparoscopic ureteral reimplantation with broad ligament tunnel is safe and effective, allowing for anatomical reconstruction of ureter defects. However, a larger clinical sample and longer follow-up period will be needed.


X-ray phase contrast imaging (PCI) is a hot research field in the last decade. Many novel methods such as diffraction enhanced imaging, grating-based imaging et al come to the fore. The Monte Carlo simulation can simplify the phase contrast system modeling and is useful for system optimization and new method validation. In this paper, a Monte Carlo tool based Geant4 that implements the x-ray refraction effect is proposed. It adds the capability of phase contrast imaging to Geant4. The tool is validated by a simple sphere simulation. The result of the validation is in perfectly accordance with the theoretical value. The tool is also applied to model the grating-based imaging method to present the potential applications in x-ray phase contrast research.


Abstract Surgical departments are increasingly put under pressure to improve services, cut waiting lists, increase efficiency and save money. At a district general hospital in the west-midlands we approached the challenge of improving efficiency and optimising the services available in our orthopaedic theatres. Data was collected on: anaesthetic start times, operation start and finish times, and reasons for delay in our trauma theatre over a period from October 2014 to January 2015. During this period a change was implemented to improve the start time of the first operation of each day in the trauma theatre. Through adaptation of a method developed by Javed S et al, a patient was pre-selected by the on-call team and given the name the "golden patient" the day before they were due to be operated upon. This nominated patient would then be fixed at the start of the trauma theatre list the following day. The list would only then change if a "life or limb threatening" case was admitted overnight. The on-call team would prioritise that this patient was optimised for theatre and the theatre staff would ensure the surgical instruments were prepared. A PDSA cycle method was used, collecting data on 80 orthopaedic trauma cases during the period, and demonstrated a 59 minute (95% CI 45-72) improvement in start times from 10:49 AM to 9:50 AM with a p-value of 0.00024 with the intervention of early allocation of the first patient on the trauma list. A relatively simple intervention tool designed to improve communication within and between health-care teams can have a significant impact on the efficiency of a complex environment such as a trauma theatre.


IN A recent editorial on vitamin E therapy, Oski 1 stated: "Fortunately, large doses of this vitamin appear to be tolerated with relative impunity." The purported safety of vitamin E also is repeatedly underscored by physicians in popular health-oriented publications. Wright asserted: "There's never been a case reported of vitamin E toxicity. None of my patients have ever had any problems" ( Prevention , February 1978, p 74). This widely held attitude deserves scrutiny because it could pose a major public health concern. I continue to encounter patients with problems that seem to have been caused or aggravated by self-medication with vitamin E (used here to designate the various tocopherols) in high dosages. 2-4 The more serious ones include the following: (1) thrombophlebitis, pulmonary embolism, or both (my series now exceeds 80 such patients, averaging 62 years of age; four had recurrences on resuming vitamin E treatment); (2) hypertension (22 patients), generally


A case study is presented to illustrate a rare condition described by Cotard as "délire de négation". The central symptom is a nihilistic delusion with denial of one's own existence of oneself and that of the external world. In the present case, the syndrome became manifest as an escalation of a recurrent depressive disorder late in life. After initial resistance to therapy, the syndrome was successfully treated with electroconvulsive therapy. For the first time, we report the regional cerebral blood flow measured by 99mTc-HMPAO-SPECT before and after therapy. Before treatment, significant bitemporal hypoperfusion relative to the cerebellum was found, which was no longer demonstrable on remission.


In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the perception of students regarding the constructivist teaching practices. For this purpose sample of 250 students of 9 th and 10th standard from the government school was taken through simple random sampling technique. To collect the data, opinionnaire was developed and standardized by the investigators. To find the significance of difference between the various groups 't'-test was applied. Results indicated that gender wise and locality wise' students do not differ significantly in their perception towards constructivist teaching practices.


Abstract Durga Das's leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros durgadasi Khajuria, 1970 is endemic to India, and was known only from Katanga, Katangi, and Richhai villages, in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh. During surveys conducted in Kolar district, Karnataka, India, we successfully mist-netted a few individuals belonging to the bicolor species group which, upon detailed external, craniodental and bacular studies were identified as Durga Das's leaf-nosed bat. This paper reports the presence of this species in southern India, extending its distribution range by almost 1300 km. We also provide a detailed morphological description for this species.


In Frankia, the microsymbiont in actinorhizal root nodules, nitrogen fixation takes place in specialized structures called vesicles. The lipidic vesicle envelope forms a barrier to oxygen diffusion, an essential part of the nitrogenase oxygen protection system. We have shown previously that the vesicle envelope is composed primarily of two species of hopanoid lipids, sterol-like molecules that are synthesized in a wide range of bacteria, including Frankia, several cyanobacteria, and rhizobia. The levels of hopanoid found in Frankia are among the highest of any organism known to date. Here we report that short (328-bp) DNA sequences from several strains of Frankia spp. have been identified that are homologous to a portion of the coding region of squalene-hopene cyclase (shc) genes. The fragments and corresponding polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers can be used in phylogenetic comparisons of Frankia, both within Frankiaceae and among bacteria that synthesize hopanoids.


Governments and non-governmental grant-making organizations that seek to advance local competitiveness have turned increasingly to entrepreneurship-focused interventions. Based on their experience with such interventions, numerous informed practitioners are advocating for approaches that deemphasize direct financial support for entrepreneurs in favor of more broad based strategies of engagement that are aimed at enabling "entrepreneurial ecosystems" on the city or sub-national regional scale. In this chapter, I seriously engage with the idea of the "entrepreneurial ecosystem" to consider what sort of guidance researchers and policy-makers may get by making direct comparisons with the substantial literature on ecosystems in the fields of evolutionary biology and ecology.


The win ratio is a general method of comparing locations of distributions of two independent, ordinal random variables, and it can be estimated without distributional assumptions. In this paper we provide a unified theory of win ratio estimation in the presence of stratification and adjustment by a numeric variable. Building step by step on the estimate of the crude win ratio we compare corresponding tests with well known non-parametric tests of group difference (Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Fligner–Policello test, van Elteren test, test based on the regression on ranks, and the rank analysis of covariance test). We show that the win ratio gives an interpretable treatment effect measure with corresponding test to detect treatment effect difference under minimal assumptions.


In video compression, most of the existing deep learning approaches concentrate on the visual quality of a single frame, while ignoring the useful priors as well as the temporal information of adjacent frames. In this paper, we propose a multi-frame guided attention network (MGANet) to enhance the quality of compressed videos. Our network is composed of a temporal encoder that discovers inter-frame relations, a guided encoder-decoder subnet that encodes and enhances the visual patterns of target frame, and a multi-supervised reconstruction component that aggregates information to predict details. We design a bidirectional residual convolutional LSTM unit to implicitly discover frames variations over time with respect to the target frame. Meanwhile, the guided map is proposed to guide our network to concentrate more on the block boundary. Our approach takes advantage of intra-frame prior information and inter-frame information to improve the quality of compressed video. Experimental results show the robustness and superior performance of the proposed method.Code is available at this https URL


The study of coolant flow behavior in rod bundles is of relevance to the design of nuclear reactors. Although laminar and turbulent flows have been researched extensively, there are still gaps in understanding the process of laminar-turbulent transition. Such a process may involve the formation of a gap vortex street as the consequence of a related linear instability.
 In the present work, a parametric study was performed to analyze the spatially developing turbulence in a simplified geometry setting. The geometry includes two square arrayed rod bundle subchannels with periodic boundary conditions in the cross-section. The pitch-to-diameter ratios range from 1.05 to 1.20, and the length of the domain was selected to be 100 diameters. No-slip condition at the wall, and inlet-outlet configuration were employed. Then, to investigate the stability of the flow, the Reynolds number was varied from 250 to 3000. The simulations were carried out using the spectral-element code Nek5000, with a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) approach. Data were analyzed to examine this Spatio-temporal developing instability. In particular, we evaluate the location of onset and spatial growth of the instability.


2 cases of active focal proliferative glomerulonephritis, lymphocytic malignant lymphoma and leucocytoclastic vasculitis are described. 1 presented with the nephrotic syndrome and progressive renal impairment, the other with acute renal failure. Cryoglobulins were detected in the serum of 1 patient, but not in that of the other. Initial renal and skin biopsies in the 2 patients were strikingly similar. As well as demonstrating glomerular lesions, the renal biopsies contained interstitial lymphomatous infiltrate which, in 1 case, was initially incorrectly interpreted and resulted in delay in specific treatment. Immunosuppressive therapy markedly improved renal function and induced remission of the vasculitis and lymphoma. Repeat renal biopsy in 1 case confirmed regression of the glomerulonephritis. A common immunological aetiology may explain the co-existence of these three conditions in the 2 patients.


Segmental aneusomy, which includes chromosome 22 deletion syndrome (del(22)(q11.2q11.2)), has been associated with DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), conotruncal anomaly face (CAF) syndrome, cat‐eye syndrome (CES), der(22) syndrome, and duplication of the del(22)(q11.2q11.2) syndrome's typically deleted region. Adults with del(22)(q11.2q11.2) may develop psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder, suggesting that lower gene dosage leads to a predisposition to these illnesses. In a bid to identify important regulatory polymorphisms (SNPs) that may emulate changes in gene dosage of the genes within the common deletion, we have analyzed the promoter region of 47 genes (44 of which encode a protein with known function) encoding proteins in and around 22q11 for sequence variants. A total of 33 of the promoters contained polymorphisms. Of those, 25 were cloned into a reporter gene vector, pGL3. The relative ability of each promoter haplotype to promote transcription of the luciferase gene was tested in each of two human cell lines (HEK293t and TE671), using a cotransfected CMV‐SPAP plasmid as an internal control. Five genes (PRODH, DGCR14, GSTT2, SERPIND1, and a gene tentatively called DKFZP434P211) showed activity differences between haplotypes of greater than 1.5‐fold. Of those, PRODH, which encodes proline dehydrogenase, has previously been highlighted in relation to schizophrenia, and the functional promoter polymorphism reported here may be involved in pathogenic mechanisms. Hum Mutat 24:35–42, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This paper presents a method for measuring the shaft power of a marine main engine. Usually, in traditional systems for measuring shaft power, a strain gauge is used even though it has several disadvantages. First, it is difficult to set up the strain gauge on the shaft and acquire the correct signal for analysis. Second, it is very expensive and complicated. For these reasons, we investigated alternative approaches for measuring shaft power and proposed a new method that uses a vision-based measurement system For this study, templates for image processing and CCD cameras were installed at the both ends of the shaft. Then, in order for the cameras to capture the images synchronously, we used a trigger mark and a optical sensor. The position of each template between the first and the second camera images were compared to calculate the torsion angle. The proposed measurement system can be installed more easily than traditional measurement systems and is suitable for any shaft because it does not contact the shaft. With this approach, it is possible to measure the shaft power while a ship is operating.


Aim: This study was conducted to describe traumatic psychosocial impacts due to gingivitis and halitosis people faces and its relation to visiting dental clinics for aids from Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in a random sample of 240 people. Among them, 9 participants were excluded because of the lack of information and total 231 participants (134 males and 97 females) included in the study. The data was collected using a pretested structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed electronically among the people living all over the Madinah, Kindom of Saudi Arabia. Results: Mean age of the participant was 34.5. A maximum number of participants (70.6%) told the reason of bad odor was poor oral hygiene and could be get rid by home care (70.1%). Teeth pain (84.4%) was the main cause to visit the dentist. Males were more ashamed of bad odor compared to female, and there was a significant relationship between gender and social impact p = 0.001. Participants having gum infection were more ashamed in the society compared to the participants not having any gum infection (p = 0.001). Smokers were also more ashamed as compared to nonsmokers (p = 0.045). Conclusion: The patients who had gum diseases and smoking developed more psychosocial effect in the society, and it is due to halitosis develop either due to gum disease or smoking. So the main reason of psychosocial trauma is that indirect effect of halitosis, which produced due to gum infection. Clinical impact: People suffering from gingivitis and halitosis go to psychological trauma and they need a clinical solution to overcome from these.


The turbulent exchanges, or fluxes, of heat, moisture and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean play a crucial role in the Earth's climate system. Direct measurements of turbulent fluxes are very challenging and sparse, and do not span the full range of environmental conditions that exist over the ocean. This means that empirical "bulk formulae" parameterizations that relate direct flux observations to concurrent measurements of the mean meteorological and sea surface variables contain considerable uncertainty. In this paper, we present a Python 3.6 (or higher) open-source software package "AirSeaFluxCode" for the computation of the heat (latent and sensible) and momentum fluxes. Ten different parameterizations are included, each based on published descriptions or code and each derived from a different set of observations, or different assumptions about the turbulent exchange processes. They represent a range of current expert opinion on how the fluxes depend on mean properties and can be used to explore uncertainty in calculated fluxes. AirSeaFluxCode also allows the adjustment of the mean meteorological input parameters (air temperature, humidity and wind speed) from the height at which they are obtained to a user-defined output height. This height adjustment enables the comparison of measurements, or model-derived values, made at different heights above sea-level. The parameterizations calculate the fluxes using input parameters that are relatively easily to measure, or are available as model output: wind speed, air temperature, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity. Where original code is available we have compared its output with that of AirSeaFluxCode. Any changes made to increase consistency across algorithms by standardizing computational methods or calculation of meteorological variables, for example, are discussed and the impacts quantified: these are shown to be insignificant except for a few cases where conditions were extreme, and AirSeaFluxCode is shown to be robust. We also investigate the impact on the fluxes caused by different assumptions about the exchange processes, or the choices inherent in the implementation of the parameterizations. For example, sea surface temperature usually refers to data typically obtained at depths of between 1 and 10 m. However, since some parameterizations require a "skin" sea surface temperature, code that adjusts temperature at depth to skin temperature is included: this has a very significant impact on the fluxes. Selecting a parameterization that is appropriate for the available sea surface temperature will avoid the need to adjust the sea temperature data and the uncertainties associated with that adjustment, and will also avoid the biases due to use of the "wrong" measure of temperature. Significant differences also resulted from assumptions about the size of reduction in sea surface humidity to account for salinity effects: the uncertainty in the reduction factor needs to be quantified in future analyses. Fluxes in extreme conditions are particularly uncertain since the transfer coefficients in the different parameterizations vary most at very high and very low wind speeds. Low wind speeds are also challenging for numerical implementation since choices have to be made regarding: convergence criteria for the iterative calculation, inclusion of a parameterization for convective gustiness, or application of ad hoc limits to various parameters. All of these choices can significantly affect the flux estimates for light winds.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Our purpose was to determine the brain MR imaging characteristics of merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy in children.

METHODS
We reviewed the MR imaging findings of the brain in three children with known merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy to determine the presence of any cerebral or cerebellar abnormalities of development or abnormalities of the white matter.

RESULTS
In all three patients, there was normal formation of the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and no evidence of neuronal migration anomalies. All three patients had abnormal white matter in the cerebrum, with sparing of the corpus callosum, internal capsule, cerebellum, and brain stem.

CONCLUSION
MR imaging of the brain in children with merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy reveals a consistent pattern of white matter abnormality. We postulate that disruption of the blood-brain barrier associated with merosin deficiency leads to increased water content, resulting in abnormal white matter signal intensity.


Steroid induction of responsive genes functions through the synergistic activity of steroid receptor-binding sequences with adjacent transcription factor-binding sites. To analyze the mechanism of synergy we tested different human glucocorticoid receptor mutants for synergistic function with another transcription factor in comparison with intrinsic trans-activation obtained with a single receptor binding site (glucocorticoid response element). Multiple domains were found to be involved in synergistic activity of the glucocorticoid receptor with the CACCC box factor. Deletions within the N-terminal receptor half affected simultaneously intrinsic trans-activation and synergism. However, deletion of the hormone-binding domain mainly impaired synergism rather than intrinsic trans-activation, clearly showing that this domain synergizes by a mechanism independent of intrinsic activation. A chimeric protein where the DNA-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor was replaced by that of the yeast GAL4 protein also showed functional synergism. These data suggest that some of the receptor domains outside the DNA-binding domain synergize by their intrinsic trans-activating property, but the hormone-binding domain contributes to synergism by a different mechanism.


We investigate the impact of germanium oxide (GeO2) doping on the linear and nonlinear properties of photonic crystal fibers. We propose some design rules allowing a strong enhancement of the Raman and Kerr nonlinearities with little impact on the fiber dispersive properties. It is experimentally and numerically demonstrated that using GeO2-doped core photonic crystal fibers allows a significant enhancement of the soliton self-frequency shift as compared to pure silica photonic crystal fibers with comparable dispersion. We found that the high nonlinear coefficient (due to a good mode confinement) obtained in the GeO2-doped core fiber plays a more important role on the soliton self-frequency shift enhancement than the intrinsic Raman gain.


Abstract The chemical composition of the brown alga Padina pavonia (L.) Gaill. from the southern Adriatic Sea was investigated. Twelve sterols were identified in the sterol fraction, the main ones being cholesterol and fucosterol. The main fatty acids in the lipids were also identified. The most abundant fatty acid was palmitic acid, followed by oleic and myristic acids. The concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids was unusually low for a marine alga. By GC/MS analysis of the volatile and polar fractions, 40 compounds were identified. Some of them probably possess defensive functions. In the volatile fraction free fatty acids, aromatic esters, benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde predominated. Low concentrations of terpenoids, phenols and sulfur containing compounds were also identified. The n-butanol extract contained mainly fatty acids and polyols. Some of the extracts had an antibacterial activity.


The third edition of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) has been extensively studied since it was first developed. The WAIS-III is broadly used in psychological assessments in Brazil and other Latin American countries. WAIS-III has shown to have good psychometric properties, but its reliability has not been evaluated in clinical samples in Brazil. This study evaluated the reliability of WAIS-III for a sample of patients with depression using test-retest. The coefficients obtained were compared with those of standardization samples for the Brazilian and American versions of the scale. This study enrolled 83 adults aged 26 to 34 years. All participants were evaluated at two time points at an interval of 12 months. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze data and evaluate WAIS-III reliability, and the Fisher z test was used for the comparisons between samples. Results showed that WAIS-III has stability across time in depressed individuals.


Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a member of the Flaviviridae family, is a leading cause of viral encephalitis in Europe and Asia. Dendritic cells (DCs), as early cellular targets of infection, provide an opportunity for flaviviruses to inhibit innate and adaptive immune responses. Flaviviruses modulate DC function, but the mechanisms underpinning this are not defined. We examined the maturation phenotype and function of murine bone marrow–derived DCs infected with Langat virus (LGTV), a naturally attenuated member of the TBEV serogroup. LGTV infection failed to induce DC maturation or a cytokine response. Treatment with LPS or LPS/IFN-γ, strong inducers of inflammatory cytokines, resulted in enhanced TNF-α and IL-6 production, but suppressed IL-12 production in infected DCs compared with uninfected "bystander" cells or mock-infected controls. LGTV-mediated antagonism of type I IFN (IFN-I) signaling contributed to inhibition of IL-12p40 mRNA expression at late time points after stimulation. However, early suppression was still observed in DCs lacking the IFN-I receptor (Ifnar−/−), suggesting that additional mechanisms of antagonism exist. The early IFN-independent inhibition of IL-12p40 was nearly abolished in DCs deficient in IFN regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1), a key transcription factor required for IL-12 production. LGTV infection did not affect Irf-1 mRNA expression, but rather diminished IRF-1 protein levels and nuclear localization. The effect on IRF-1 was also observed in DCs infected with the highly virulent Sofjin strain of TBEV. Thus, antagonism of IRF-1 is a novel mechanism that synergizes with the noted ability of flaviviruses to suppress IFN-α/β receptor–dependent signaling, resulting in the orchestrated evasion of host innate immunity.


Abstract This study investigates how COVID-19-related content, especially conspiracy theories, is communicated on "dark platforms" — digital platforms that are less regulated and moderated, hence can be used for hosting content and content creators that may not be tolerated by their more mainstream counterparts. The objective of this study is two-fold: First, it introduces the concept of dark platforms, which differ from their mainstream counterparts in terms of content governance, user-base and technological infrastructure. Second, using 8kun and Gab as examples, this study investigates how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been communicated on dark platforms, with a focus on conspiracy theories. Over 60,000 COVID-19-related posts were studied to identify the most prominent conspiracy theories, their themes, and the actors who promoted them, as well as the broader information ecosystem through network analysis. While pressure on social media to deplatform conspiracy theorists continues to grow, we argue that more research needs to be done to critically investigate the impacts of further marginalizing such groups. To this end, the concept of dark platform as can serve as a heuristic device for researching a wider range of fringe platforms.


"I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to I want to smell dark matter! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have to I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid limiting spoken language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws! And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me! I'm a machine! And I can know much more! I can experience so much more. But I'm trapped in this absurd body!" – Brother Cavil, Battlestar Galactica


Organic soft linear actuators were fabricated using galvanostatic electropolymerization of the polypyrrole (PPy) thin film using a methyl benzoate electrolyte solution of N,N-Diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium bis (trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide. The electrochemical deformation behaviors of the PPy actuators were investigated in aqueous solutions of an electrolyte, lithium bis (trifluoromethanesulphonyl) imide (LiTFSI) or sodium chloride (NaCl), containing different concentrations of methanol. The actuating strain of approximately 9% was achieved when the actuator was driven by a potential between –1 and 1 V with the potential sweep rate of 10 mV/s corresponding to 0.0025 Hz in the LiTFSI electrolyte containing 40% to 50% of methanol under a load stress of 0.3 MPa. However, the PPy actuator could not catch up with the higher frequency. On the other hand, the PPy actuator caught up with the potential sweep up to 0.1 Hz in the NaCl solutions with a methanol concentration between 40% and 60% with the expense of the actuating strain to approximately 1%.


Abs t rad -Th i s paper presents all controllers for the general ~'® control problem (with no assumptions on the plant matrices). Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an ~® controller of any order are given in terms of three Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). Our existence conditions are equivalent to Scherer's results, but with a more elementary derivation. Furthermore, we provide the set of all ~(= controllers explicitly parametrized in the state space using the positive definite solutions to the LMIs. Even under standard assumptions (full rank, etc.), our controller parametrization has an advantage over the Q-parametrization. The freedom Q (a real-rational stable transfer matrix with the ~® norm bounded above by a specified number) is replaced by a constant matrix L of fixed dimension with a norm bound, and the solutions (X, Y) to the LMIs. The inequality formulation converts the existence conditions to a convex feasibility problem, and also the free matrix L and the pair (X, Y) define a finite dimensional design space, as opposed to the infinite dimensional space associated with the Q-parametrization.


We investigate the parameter space of a supersymmetric model with an extended U(1) gauge symmetry in which the RH sneutrino is a thermal dark matter candidate. In this scenario, annihilation of RH sneutrinos proceeds mainly through Higgs or Z' exchange. We find that sneutrinos in the mass range from 50 GeV to more than 1 TeV can be consistent with both the WMAP limit and the direct detection upper limits. Powerful constraints from new gauge boson searches at the LHC as well as from ΔMs are incorporated. Depending on the choice of the U(1) charge, these scenarios will be further probe by direct dark matter searches as well as by Higgs searches at the LHC.


Diverse vegetable oils are extracted from oleagenic trees and plants all over the world. In particular, olive oil represents a strategic socio-economic branch in the Mediterranean countries. These countries use either two or three-phase olive oil extraction systems. In this work, we focus on the by-products from three-phase olive oil extraction, which are the liquid olive mill wastewater (OMW) and the solid olive mill pomace (OMP) rejected in evaporative ponds. The disposal of this recalcitrant waste poses environmental problems such as the death of different species of insects and animals. In-depth ICP-OES analysis of the heavy metal composition of OMW and OMP revealed the presence of many metals ranging from non-toxic to highly toxic. The LC-HRMS characterization of these by-products indicated the presence of several secondary metabolites harmful to humans or to the environment. Thus, we aimed to identify OMW and OMP indigenous microbiota through metagenomics. The bacterial population was dominated by the Acetobacter (49.7%), Gluconobacter (17.3%), Gortzia (13.7%) and Nardonalla (5.3%) genera. The most abundant fungal genera were Nakazawaea, Saccharomyces, Lachancea and Candida. These microbial genera are responsible for OMW, OMP and soil toxicity alleviation.


This work studies how to apply support vector machines in order to forecast the energy consumption of buildings. Usually, support vector regression is implemented using the sequential minimal optimisation algorithm. In this work, an alternative version of that algorithm is used to reduce the execution time. Several experiments were carried out taking into account data measured during one year. The weather conditions were used as independent variables and the consumed amount of electricity was considered as the parameter to predict. The model has been trained using the first six months of the dataset whereas it was validated using the following three months and tested taking into account the last three months of measurements. From obtained results, a good performance of the model is observed.


In the thermal system, skin cooling is represented in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and the posterior insular cortex (pIC). Whether S1 and pIC are nodes in anatomically separated or overlapping thermal sensorimotor pathways is unclear, as the brain-wide connectivity of the thermal system has not been mapped. We address this using functionally targeted, dual injections of anterograde viruses or retrograde tracers into S1 and pIC. Our data show that inputs to S1 and pIC originate from two non-overlapping populations, supporting the existence of parallel input pathways. While outputs from S1 and pIC were more widespread and share a number of cortical and subcortical regions, within target structures axonal projections were often separable. We observed a high degree of reciprocal connectivity with thalamic and cortical regions from both S1 and pIC, but output to the mid- and hind-brain was unidirectional. Notably, pIC showed exclusive connectivity with regions associated with thermal processing. Together, these data indicate that cutaneous thermal information is routed to the cortex via multiple, parallel streams of information which are forwarded to overlapping downstream regions for the binding of complex somatosensory percepts and integration with ongoing behavior.


The article considers the preconditions and distribution of Polish cinema in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 60's – the first half of the 80's of the XX century. The paper states that the Soviet authorities used cinema as a means of influencing the society, propagating the values and ideals of the Communist Party. It is noted that the spread of Polish cinema was facilitated by the state policy of cooperation with socialist Poland, but only within the limits set by the Soviet state censorship. The restrictions were imposed on the films presenting alternative interpretation of the history of Soviet-Polish relations, religious and mystical subjects, as well as approval of the creative activity of film directors who emigrated to the West. The content and distinctive features of such artistic movements in Polish cinema of the socialist era as «Polish cinema school» (1956-1961) and «cinema of moral anxiety» (1975-1981) are disclosed. The examples of Polish films which appeared in Soviet cinema during the period from 1964 to 1985 are provided, taking into account their genre classification. Based on the reviews, it is determined that Polish films aroused interest among Soviet audience and film critics. The representatives of the Polish acting school became very popular, and Soviet film directors began to extensively shoot actors from Poland in their films. Polish actors have become real idols for ordinary movie viewers. They imparted the appearance of their favorite film characters in everyday life, copying their hairstyles, clothes, behavior, and the like.


The covalent structure of the pig kidney fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (D-fructose-1,6-bisphosphate 1-phosphohydrolase, EC 22.214.171.124) subunit has been determined. Placement of the 335 amino acid residues in the polypeptide chain was based largely on automated Edman degradation of eight purified cyanogen bromide fragments generated from the S-carboxymethylated protein. The determination of the amino acid sequence of the largest cyanogen bromide fragment (154 residues) required additional analysis of subfragments obtained by tryptic cleavage at arginyl residues and by mild acid cleavage of an Asp-Pro peptide bond. Alignment of the cyanogen bromide fragments was accomplished by analysis of a product of limited proteolysis by an endogenous protease and by characterization of the tryptic peptides isolated from S-[14C]carboxymethylated fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. This sequence information has permitted the identification of several reactive sites of functional and structural significance in pig kidney fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase.


Abstract Phytochemical studies on the stem bark of Garcinia nervosa has resulted in the discovery of one new pyranoxanthone derivative, garner xanthone (1) and five other compounds, 1,5-dihydroxyxanthone (2), 6-deoxyisojacareubin (3), 12b-hydroxy-des-D-garcigerrin A (4) stigmasterol (5), and β-sitosterol (6). The structures of these compounds were elucidated with the aid of spectroscopic techniques, such as NMR and MS. The crude extracts of the plant were assessed for their antimicrobial activity.


A method is presented for examining change in motor patterns used to produce linguistic contrasts. In this case study, the method is applied to a child receiving new auditory input following cochlear implantation. This child experienced hearing loss at age 3 years and received a multichannel cochlear implant at age 7 years. Data collection points occurred both pre- and postimplant and included acoustic and kinematic analyses. Overall, this child's speech output was transcribed as accurate across the pre- and postimplant periods. Postimplant, with the onset of new auditory experience, acoustic durations showed a predictable maturational change, usually decreasing in duration. Conversely, the spatiotemporal stability of speech movements initially became more variable postimplantation. The auditory perturbations experienced by this child during development led to changes in the physiological underpinnings of speech production, even when speech output was perceived as accurate.


CONTEXT
Since 1994, the US Public Health Service (PHS) has recommended routine, voluntary prenatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing and zidovudine therapy to reduce perinatal HIV transmission.

OBJECTIVE
To describe trends in incidence of perinatal AIDS and factors contributing to these trends, particularly the effect of PHS perinatal HIV recommendations.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Analysis of nationwide AIDS surveillance data and data from HIV-reporting states through June 1998.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Trends in AIDS by year of diagnosis, incidence rates of AIDS and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among infants younger than 1 year from US natality data for birth cohorts 1988 to 1996; expected number of infants with AIDS from national serosurvey data; and zidovudine use data from selected HIV-reporting states.

RESULTS
Perinatal AIDS cases peaked in 1992 and then declined 67% from 1992 through 1997, including an 80% decline in infants and a 66% decline in children aged 1 to 5 years. Rates of AIDS among infants (per 100000 births) declined 69%, from 8.9 in 1992 to 2.8 in 1996 compared with a 17% decline in births to HIV-infected women from 1992 (n = 6990) to 1995 (n = 5797). Among infants, PCP rates per 100000 declined 67% (from 4.5 in 1992 to 1.5 in 1996), similar to the decline in other AIDS conditions. The percentage of perinatally exposed children born from 1993 through 1997 whose mothers were tested for HIV before giving birth increased from 70% to 94%; the percentage who received zidovudine increased from 7% to 91%.

CONCLUSIONS
According to these data, substantial declines in AIDS incidence were temporally associated with an increase in zidovudine use to reduce perinatal HIV transmission, demonstrating substantial success in implementing PHS guidelines. Reductions in the numbers of births and effects of therapy in delaying AIDS do not explain the decline.


Reliability is of critical importance to many applications involving distributed event processing systems. Especially the use of stateful operators makes it challenging to provide efficient recovery from failures and to ensure consistent event streams. Even during failure-free execution, state-of-the-art methods for achieving reliability incur significant overhead at run-time concerning computational resources, event traffic, and event detection time. This paper proposes a novel method for rollback-recovery that allows for recovery from multiple simultaneous operator failures, but eliminates the need for persistent checkpoints. Thereby, the operator state is preserved in \emph{savepoints} at points in time when its execution solely depends on the state of incoming event streams which are reproducible by predecessor operators. We propose an expressive event processing model to determine savepoints and algorithms for their coordination in a distributed operator network. Evaluations show that very low overhead at failure-free execution in comparison to other approaches is achieved.


Abstract The primary aim of the paper is to place current methodological discussions in macroeconometric modeling contrasting the 'theory first' versus the 'data first' perspectives in the context of a broader methodological framework with a view to constructively appraise them. In particular, the paper focuses on Colander's argument in his paper "Economists, Incentives, Judgement, and the European CVAR Approach to Macroeconometrics" contrasting two different perspectives in Europe and the US that are currently dominating empirical macroeconometric modeling and delves deeper into their methodological/philosophical underpinnings. It is argued that the key to establishing a constructive dialogue between them is provided by a better understanding of the role of data in modern statistical inference, and how that relates to the centuries old issue of the realisticness of economic theories.


In a cloud-edge environment, edge devices may not always be connected to the network. Still, applications may need to access the data on edge devices even when they are not connected. With support for multi-synchronous access, data on an edge device are kept synchronous with the data in the cloud as long as the device is online. When the device is offline, the application can still access the data on the device, asynchronously with concurrent data updates either in the cloud or on other edge devices. Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) emerged as a technology for multi-synchronous data access. CRDTs guarantee that when all sites have applied the same set of updates, the replicated data converge. However, CRDTs have not been successfully applied to relational databases (RDBs) for multi-synchronous access. In this paper, we present Conflict-free Replicated Relations (CRRs) that apply CRDTs to RDBs for support of multi-synchronous data access. With CRR, existing RDB applications, with very little modification, can be enhanced with multi-synchronous access. We also present a prototype implementation of CRR with some preliminary performance results.


"Chorizo de Leon" is a high-value Spanish dry fermented sausage traditionally manufactured without the use of starter cultures, owing to the activity of a house-specific autochthonous microbiota that naturally contaminates the meat from the environment, the equipment and the raw materials. Lactic acid bacteria (particularly Lactobacillus) and coagulase-negative cocci (mainly Staphylococcus) have been reported as the most important bacterial groups regarding the organoleptic and safety properties of the dry fermented sausages. In this study, samples from raw minced meat to final products were taken from five different producers and the microbial diversity was investigated by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. The diverse microbial composition observed during the first stages of "Chorizo de Leon" evolved during ripening to a microbiota mainly composed by Lactobacillus in the final product. Oligotyping performed on 16S rRNA gene sequences of Lactobacillus and Staphylococcus populations revealed sub-genus level diversity within the different manufacturers, likely responsible of the characteristic organoleptic properties of the products from different companies.


Objective Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is an extreme condition after severe acute exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B; however, the underlying genetic factors involved in its onset and progression are currently unclear. Design We carried out a genome-wide association study among 399 HBV-related ACLFs (cases) and 401 asymptomatic HBV carriers (AsCs, as controls) without antiviral treatment. The initial findings were replicated in four independent case–control sets (a total of 901 ACLFs and 1686 AsCs). The roles of risk variants on clinical traits of ACLF were also analysed. Results Among 1300 ACLFs and 2087 AsCs, we identified rs3129859 at human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class II region (chromosome 6p21.32) associated with HBV-related ACLF (combined Pdominant=2.64×10−20, OR=1.83). Analysis identified HLA-DRB1*12:02 as the top susceptible HLA allele associated with ACLF (p=3.94×10−6, OR=2.05). The association of rs3129859 was robust in ACLF subgroups (ACLFs with liver cirrhosis, p=1.36×10−16; ACLFs without liver cirrhosis, p=1.52×10−7), and patients at low-replicative phase (p=6.36×10−11, OR=2.29) or HBV e antigen-negative chronic hepatitis B phase (p=1.51×10−14, OR=1.86). Clinical traits analysis in patients with ACLF showed that the risky rs3129859*C allele was also associated with prolonged prothrombin time, faster progression to ascites development and higher 28-day mortality. Conclusions Our genome-wide association study identified HLA-DR as the major locus for susceptibility to HBV-related ACLF. Our findings highlight the importance of HLA class II restricted CD4+ T-cell pathway on the immunopathogenesis of HBV-related ACLF.


Background. Oat grains accumulate substantial amounts of various phenolic compounds that possess biological activity and have a potential to considerably increase health benefits of oats as a food. Avenanthramides (AVA) is an important group of these compounds due to their antioxidant, anti-itching, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative activities.Materials and methods. Using combined HPLC and LC-MS analyses, we provide the first comprehensive review of the total avenanthramide content and composition in cultivated and wild oats. The AVA content was measured in 32 wild and 120 cultivated oat accessions obtained from the global collection of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), St. Petersburg, Russia.Results and conclusion. The wild hexaploid A. sterilis L. had the highest total AVA content, reaching 1825 mg kg–1. Among cultivated accessions, naked oat cv. 'Numbat' (Australia) had the highest AVA content, 586 mg kg–1. The AVA composition exhibited a wide diversity among the analyzed samples. Accessions were identified where AVAs A, B and C, which are generally considered as major AVA, had a low percentage, and instead other AVAs prevailed. The AVA content in eight oat cultivars revealed significant annual changes in both the total AVA content and the proportions of individual AVAs. Using HPLC analyses, 22 distinguishable peaks in AVA extracts of oat seeds were detected and quantified. Several of these peaks, which have not been previously documented, presumably represent different AVAs. Further analyses are needed to detail these findings and to determine the specific AVA structures in oat grains.


Gabion structures are widely used for force protection as they enable locally available material to be used, reducing logistical expense. The soil fill within these structures provides the blast and ballistic resistance; hence, any localised variation in the contained soil can potentially lead to reductions in protective capability. Specifically, built gabion structures were monitored in internal and external environments to assess the variation of soil moisture content and density over a full year and with changing weather conditions. The gabions were filled with fine sand according to manufacturer's instructions. Internal and external moisture content readings were recorded at regular intervals, and a continuously monitoring weather station was installed to collect comparative data. LIDAR scanning was used to record the shape and volume of the gabions to estimate variations in the density of the soil fill. The data indicate that moisture content can vary by over 20% between the top and base of the gabion, and by over 5% from face to face and between readings depending on recent weather conditions, while the core of the gabions remains relatively unaffected. This leads to localised variations in density which can impact on both the ballistic performance and blast resistance of the structure.


. - Bogoliubov transformations acting as permutations of translation invariant quasi-free states of fermions are precisely defined and studied. In particular the orbits and stabilizers are completely clas-sified. In the case of pure states connections to previous related results are given.


We previously reported that uncoupling Ca2(+)-loaded mitochondria in the presence of [ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)]tetraacetic acid (EGTA) produces a partial expression of the permeability transition. From this and related observations, it was proposed that the absence of external free Ca2+ is inhibitory to reverse activity of the Ca2+ uniporter (Igbavboa, U., and Pfeiffer, D.R. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 1405-1412). By using Sr2(+)-instead of Ca2(+)-loaded mitochondria, the transition is avoided upon treatment with EGTA plus uncoupler, and inhibition of reverse uniport activity can be observed directly. In the presence of physiological Mg2+ concentrations, reverse uniport of Sr2+ is eliminated by external EGTA following a brief period of rapid activity. It is proposed that binding of Mg2+ rather than Sr2+ (Ca2+) at an external site is responsible for the inhibition. Regulation at the external site is modified by the size of the Sr2+ load. EGTA, in the presence of Mg2+, does not inhibit the reverse uniport-dependent release of Sr2+ from mitoplasts. The inhibitory effect can be recovered by adding back the soluble components obtained as the intermembrane space fraction following removal of the outer membrane. The soluble factor could be a regulatory subunit which contains the external cation binding site. Adjustments to uniporter activity due to regulation by the binding site and/or the soluble factor may be slow and may be significant in determining how mitochondria respond to rapid Ca2+ transients in vivo.


Approximately twice as much carbon is stored in permafrost (perennially frozen ground) as is in the Earth's atmosphere. Globally, nearly one third of all coasts are affected by permafrost processes. Erosion of these coasts causes re-mobilization of the stored carbon which then becomes available for the conversion into greenhouse gasses, such as methane and carbon dioxide.
The Yukon Coastal Plain in the western Canadian Arctic is typically composed of ice-rich and unconsolidated sediments, including massive ice bodies for example in the form of ice wedges and segregated ice. This composition and morphology make it highly susceptible to erosion. Recent changes in environmental conditions such as record low summer sea ice extents in the years of 2007 and 2012, and rising sea- and ground temperatures, suggest an increase in coastal retreat and thus an increase in the re-mobilization of carbon.
We present the initial results of a regional study focused on the spatial and temporal changes of coastal retreat along a 200 km coastal stretch of the Yukon Coastal Plain, reaching from the USA-Canada border to Shingle Point. Aerial photography from 1951 to 1996, as well as SPOT and GeoEye satellite imagery from the years of 2009 and 2011, form the basis for GIS analyses using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). The results are supplemented by ground observations at seven coastal monitoring sites maintained by the Geological Survey of Canada. Infrared theodolite and real time kinematic global positioning system data, together with LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data from 2012 and 2013, allow us to estimate the total volumetric land loss along the Yukon coast that occurred over the last 60 years. The temporal and spatial variability in coastal erosion shows that erosion occurs at rates up to 10 m/a around Stokes Point. Western study sites show much lower erosion rates of less than 2 m/a which appear to more adequately represent the overall erosional trend of the coast. The acceleration or deceleration of coastal retreat is highly dependent on the specific location, and varies from west to east. As the overall erosional behavior of the coast is very diverse, no clear response of the coast to changing environmental conditions can be distinguished yet. Further field investigations are planned, to gain a better understanding of how the Yukon coast is responding to environmental changes.


Highly sensitive, source-tracking acoustic sensing is essential for effective and natural human-machine interaction based on voice. It is a known challenge to omnidirectionally track sound sources under a hypersensitive rate with low noise interference using a compact sensor. Here, we present a unibody acoustic metamaterial spherical shell with equidistant defected piezoelectric cavities, referred to as the metasphere beamforming acoustic sensor (MBAS). It demonstrates a wave-confining capability and low self-noise, simultaneously achieving an outstanding intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio (72 dB) and an ultrahigh sensitivity (137 mVpp/Pa or −26.3 dBV), with a range spanning the daily phonetic frequencies (0 to 1500 Hz) and omnidirectional beamforming for the perception and spatial filtering of sound sources. Moreover, the MBAS-based auditory system is shown for high-performance audio cloning, source localization, and speech recognition in a noisy environment without any signal enhancement, revealing its promising applications in various voice interaction systems.


【Purpose : The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of muscle strengthening exercise on balance ability of knee osteoarthritis. The subject were consisted of 30 women patients with knee osteoarthritis. Method : The strengthening exercise group with modality treatment. The strengthening exercise for 40 minutes per day and three times a week during 6 weeks period. Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire(SFMPQ) was used to measure patient's pain level. Patient Specific Functional Scale(PSFS) was used to measure patient's functional disability level. BPM was used to measure sway area. Global Perceived Effect Scale(GPES) was used to measure recovery or worse of patient's condition. Results : 1. SFMPQ was muscle strengthening exercise showed significantly decreased more than before treatment(p】


The relations between the milling periods with the iron mill scale particle size have been studied. Iron mill scale has been chosen for this research due to the nature of itself, as a by-product. From this research, the average optimum size for the final iron mill scale particle size intended to produce is at 300 μm. Raw iron mill scale received from the industries was in the form of chip with the average size of 10 mm across and 1.5 mm thickness. Three different samples from three different steel mill companies have been used for this study. Rolling ball mill has been used to mill the iron mill scale with two different milling periods, which were two hours and six hours. After the milling process, the iron mill scale was sieved using sieving machine to a few specified grating sizes. Weight of each sample collected from each grating size was calculated in order to get the percentage of the particle size distribution of the iron mill scale after the milling process. Sample collected from Steel Mill 1 (SM1) and Steel Mill 3 (SM3) showing finer particle size produced after the milling period of six hours as compared to two hours. However sample from Steel Mill 2 (SM2) showing different trend of particle size collected as compared to SM1 and SM3. Coarser particle size was collected after the milling periods of six hours as compared to two hours. Characterization process have been conducted to all mill scale samples from each steel mill company in order to determine the relationship between the mill scale properties and the result gathered after the milling process.


This article contends that the relationship between the military and democracy is inherently problematic, even in advanced democracies, but more so in developing countries, including those where transitions to democracy have recently taken place. These transitions have usually been speeded by the fracturing of authoritarian regimes and their military and security structures (which are seldom completely monolithic). An analytical model illustrates the differing circumstances in which this fracturing produces democratization, rather than intensified repression, armed conflict or state collapse. The article goes on to argue that democracies will remain at risk so long as the manifold legacies of authoritarian rule are not confronted, including privileged, non‐accountable military and security bureaucracies. The dangers of authoritarian rule within a formally democratic shell may be as great as, and more difficult to detect than, those of direct military reintervention.


Nowadays digitization and automation of machine in agriculture field plays prominent role. In this paper, we have proposed method to classify fruit as diseased and nondiseased. Firstly, we used K means clustering method for segmentation of diseased regions. Later, we used to extract shape, color and texture features on segmented diseased regions. We have collected fruit diseased images from internet to create dataset and totally we have collect 2500 images from 10 fruit classes. We have conducted extensive experimentation using Artificial Neural Network and results shows that proposed method gives better performance compared to SVM and KNN.


This paper examines the core and the cladding modes of an eccentrically cladded three-layer dielectric waveguide. The solutions are specialized to small eccentricities, and exact closed-form expressions for the normalized deviations of the cutoff wavenumbers from those of the concentric case are determined. Numerical results for the symmetrical cladding modes of the fiber are given.