Fat digestion in humans requires not only the classical pancreatic lipase but also gastric lipase, which is stable and active despite the highly acidic stomach environment. We report here the structure of recombinant human gastric lipase at 3.0-Å resolution, the first structure to be described within the mammalian acid lipase family. This globular enzyme (379 residues) consists of a core domain belonging to the α/β hydrolase-fold family and a "cap" domain, which is analogous to that present in serine carboxypeptidases. It possesses a classical catalytic triad (Ser-153, His-353, Asp-324) and an oxyanion hole (NH groups of Gln-154 and Leu-67). Four N-glycosylation sites were identified on the electron density maps. The catalytic serine is deeply buried under a segment consisting of 30 residues, which can be defined as a lid and belonging to the cap domain. The displacement of the lid is necessary for the substrates to have access to Ser-153. A phosphonate inhibitor was positioned in the active site that clearly suggests the location of the hydrophobic substrate binding site. The lysosomal acid lipase was modeled by homology, and possible explanations for some previously reported mutations leading to the cholesterol ester storage disease are given based on the present model.


The Us4 gene homologue of duck enteritis virus (DEV) was cloned by degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. DEV Us4 gene open reading frame (ORF) was 1380 bp in length and its primary translation product was a polypeptide of 459 amino acids long. Phylogenetic tree of the nucleotide sequences showed this gene had a close evolutionary relationship with GaHV-1 and PsHV-1, but the DEV CHv formed a solitary branch, indicating that the DEV should be placed into a single cluster within the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae. In the analysis of rare condons, there were 36 rare condons and 4 consecutive rare codons (AGGATA, ATACGA, CTACTA, CTAAGA) in the ORF of the DEV-Us4 gene. Through combining the results of estimating secondary structure and predicted epitopes, nine B cell dominant epitopes could be initially definited, which located at 21–29, 56–74, 128–139, 182–189 194–202, 228–241, 286–299, 314–325, and 361–383 amino acids. In conclusion, all data will contribute to us understanding of this virus at the molecular level and provide a prerequisite for further functional analysis of this gene.


The rule of perspectivity that 'straight-lines-mustremain-straight' is easily inflected in CMOS cameras by distortions introduced by motion. Lines can be rendered as curves due to the row-wise exposure mechanism known as rolling shutter (RS). We solve the problem of correcting distortions arising from handheld cameras due to RS effect from a single image free from motion blur with special relevance to urban scenes. We develop a procedure to extract prominent curves from the RS image since this is essential for deciphering the varying row-wise motion. We pose an optimization problem with line desirability costs based on straightness, angle, and length, to resolve the geometric ambiguities while estimating the camera motion based on a rotation-only model assuming known camera intrinsic matrix. Finally, we rectify the RS image based on the estimated camera trajectory using inverse mapping. We show rectification results for RS images captured using mobile phone cameras. We also compare our single image method against existing video and nonblind RS rectification methods that typically require multiple images.


Status of This Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract This document defines the common architecture for Multicast Security (MSEC) key management protocols to support a variety of application, transport, and network layer security protocols. It also defines the group security association (GSA), and describes the key management protocols that help establish a GSA. The framework and guidelines described in this document permit a modular and flexible design of group key management protocols for a variety of different settings that are specialized to applications needs. MSEC key management protocols may be used to facilitate secure one-to-many, many-to-many, or one-to-one communication.


Fifty years ago the Dutch Journal of Dentistry published methods and opinions concerning root canal treatment. Qualitative bacterial culture, inclusion of aggressive disinfectants, as well as antibiotics and widening of the apical constriction were carried out. Nowadays, because of several reasons, these are not clinical practice anymore. Controversy over the clinical consequences of bacterial presence in tubules and in the peri-apical area prevailed in the past and seem to be prevalent once again.


This paper presents experimental investigations into a novel approach which circumvents a classic tradeoff between robustness and performance in Iterative Learning Control. The tradeoff is usually performed by designing an appropriate filtering mechanism to compensate for non-perfect resetting and noise. Time-Frequency analysis is used to examine the frequency content of error signals over the compact time support of the reference signal. This then allows the filter to effectively change its bandwidth as a function of time thereby allowing high frequency system dynamics to enter into the learning process at the appropriate time instants. At the same time, robustness is maintained by reducing the bandwidth of the filter when the system dynamics do not exhibit high frequency characteristics so as to attenuate the effect of noise on the learning stability. This adaptive Q-filter Iterative Learning Controller is needed for systems that have non-smooth nonlinearities and the advantages are demonstrated here in the simulations and experiments. A specially designed experimental study shows the fundamental limits that can affect its effectiveness.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Crop domestication is the process of artificially selecting plants to increase their suitability to human requirements: taste, yield, storage, and cultivation practices. There is increasing evidence that crop domestication can profoundly alter interactions among plants, herbivores, and their natural enemies. Overall, little is known about how these interactions are affected by domestication in the geographical ranges where these crops originate, where they are sympatric with the ancestral plant and share the associated arthropod community. In general, domestication consistently has reduced chemical resistance against herbivorous insects, improving herbivore and natural enemy performance on crop plants. More studies are needed to understand how changes in morphology and resistance-related traits arising from domestication may interact with environmental variation to affect species interactions across multiple scales in agroecosystems and natural ecosystems.


Regional entities often occur in a code-mixed text in the nonnative roman script and synthesizing them with the correct pronunciation and accent is a challenging problem. English grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) rules fail for such entities because of the orthographical mistakes and phonological differences between the English and regional languages. The traditional approach for this problem involves language identification, followed by the transliteration of the regional entities to their native language and then passing them through a native G2P. In this work, we simplify this module based architecture by learning an end-to-end mixlingual G2P in a multi-task type setting. Also, rather than mapping the output phone sequences from our mixlingual G2P to the English phoneset or using the "shared" phoneset, we use the polyglot data and "separated" phoneset to train a mixlingual synthesizer to improvise the synthesized voice accent for regional entities. We have used Hindi-English as the code-mix scenario and we show absolute incremental gains of up to 28% in pronunciation accuracy and a 0.9 gain in "overall impression" mean-opinion-score (MOS) over using a standard English monolingual text-to-speech (TTS).


Pharmaceutical packaging is highly sophisticated since quality and safety issues are the utmost priority. However, use of high class plastic products for pharmaceutical packaging is very common and it is increasing day by day. The important plastics which find large packaging applications are High Density Polyethylene (HDP), Polypropylene (PE), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), Polyester, Polystyrene etc. These are used for building the body structure of the packages, while other polymers are often used in less thickness as coating to improve the functional properties of basic packaging. Presently Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies are using all these plastic materials for packaging purposes collected from both local and global sources. The local pharmaceuticals plastic packaging materials producers are capturing almost 70% of the local market and rest 30% are import dependent where technology is very high. Nevertheless, some local plastic companies are setting up world-class dedicated plant for pharmaceutical plastic packaging and some pharmaceutical companies like Square and Acme itself extending their facility to produce plastic packaging materials. Therefore, this study will identify the demand dynamics of plastic packaging materials of Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals.


The HVDC links are increasingly used not only two distinct power systems but are also embedded into a same meshed AC power system. Thanks to its speed and flexibility, the HVDC technology is able to provide transmission system advantages as transfer capacity enhancement and power flow control. In addition, studies have shown that the way of controlling the HVDC converters impacts the stability of the AC system. This can be particularly exploited to enhance the dynamic power system performances during transients. In this paper, the HVDC emulation by the synchronverter concept is investigated in a realistic power system. A specific tuning method for the parameters of the regulators based on the sensitivity of the poles of the neighbour zone of the HVDC with the respect to the latter parameters is used. As consequence, not only the local performances of the HVDC link, but also overall transient stability of the AC zone in which the HVDC is inserted are improved. Extensive tests are provided using Matlab/Simulink implementation of the IEEE 9 bus/3 machines test system.


This paper describes the fabrication of novel surface-mountable waveguide connectors and presents test results for them. To ensure more highly integrated and low-cost fabrication, we propose new three-dimensional (3-D) waveguide arrays that feature two-dimensionally integrated optical inputs/outputs and optical path redirection. A wafer-level stack and lamination process was used to fabricate the waveguide arrays. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and photodiodes were directly mounted on the arrays and combined with mechanical transferable ferrule using active alignment. With the help of a flip-chip bonder, the waveguide connectors were mounted on a printed circuit board by solder bumps. Using mechanical transferable connectors, which can easily plug into the waveguide connectors, we obtained multi-gigabits-per-second transmission performance.


Following a question of Vinberg, a general method to construct monomial bases for finite-dimensional irreducible representations of a reductive Lie algebra was developed in a series of papers by Feigin, Fourier, and Littelmann. Relying on this method, we construct monomial bases of multiplicity spaces associated with the restriction of the representation to a reductive subalgebra. As an application, we produce monomial bases for representations of the general linear and symplectic Lie algebras associated with natural chains of subalgebras. We also show that our basis in type A is related to both the Gelfand-Tsetlin basis and the Littelmann basis via triangular transition matrices which implies that the triangularity property extends to the matrix connecting the Gelfand-Tsetlin and canonical bases. A similar relationship holds between our basis in type C and a suitably modified version of the basis constructed earlier by the first author.


Abstract : Purpose: Cross-sectional exploration of active duty U.S. Navy womens experience with abnormal CCS and navigation of colposcopic follow-up care at a military healthcare facility. Design: Potential participants were women requiring colposcopic follow-up for abnormal cervical cancer screening. Exclusion criteria included a positive pregnancy test or anticipated change of duty station/deployment within three months. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews, demographic forms, and retrospective mapping were completed. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional exploratory study utilized two narrative analysis models: Labovs sociolinguistic and Braun and Clarkes thematic analysis. Demographic and medical record data were collected for descriptive data. Sample: The research data consisted of 26 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in a large, northeastern, military treatment facility after the patient had received recommended colposcopic follow-up care. Analysis: Interviews and field notes were coded and analyzed systematically using inductive techniques, assisted by qualitative software. Demographic data and medical record review (retrospective mapping) were entered into SPSS for statistical analysis. Findings: Abnormal CCS notification process varied widely between ship and shore-based Navy women. Five interconnected themes were identified that represented distinct phases of womens abnormal CCS and colposcopic experience, which provided insight on challenges and experiences military women encounter in the healthcare system: Its like a bomb, I didnt understand, Freaked, Its kind of like this back and forth, and It really opened my eyes. Women described fear, anxiety, and concern following notification of their abnormal CCS results. A number of women turned to the Internet, family, friends, co-workers, and other healthcare providers for support and to better understand findings.


Test anxiety is defined as the reaction to stimuli that is associated with an individual's experience of testing or evaluating situations. This study aims to examine the fluctuation pattern of anxiety symptoms during a clinical examination and its relationship with underlying anxiety traits. Fourth year medical students of Penang Medical College undertaking the Ophthalmology clinical examination participated in this study. First phase of the survey, on anxiety symptoms was conducted immediately after the Ophthalmology clinical examination while the second phase, on pre-existing anxiety traits was conducted six weeks later with the aid of STAI instrument. Responses for both stages were combined and analyzed. Sixty-three of 122 students responded to both phases of the study, giving a response rate of 52%. All symptoms except trembling peaked 10 minutes before the exam begun showing a downward progression with no resurgence thereafter. Students with pre-existing anxiety traits had high anxiety scores 10 minutes into the examination and while with the examiners. Anticipatory anxiety is a source of concern and can effect performance and appropriate steps should be taken to help the students with this. A few other studies should be done to conclude.


This paper presents a stability model for the wing leading edge spar of a test ornithopter. The long-term goal of this research effort is to passively improve the performance of ornithopters during steady level flight by implementing a set of wing kinematics found in natural flyers. The desired kinematics is achieved by inserting a compliant mechanism called a compliant spine into the wing leading edge spar to mimic the function of an avian wrist. The stiffness of the compliant spine is time varying and given the nature of flapping flight, it is periodic. Introducing a variable stiffness compliant mechanism into the leading edge spar of the ornithopter affects its structural stability. Therefore, a stability analysis is required. In order to start the stability analysis, an analytical model of the ornithopter wing leading edge spar with a compliant spine inserted in is necessary. In the model, the compliant spine is modeled as a torsional spring with a sinusoidal stiffness function. Moreover, the equations of motion of the wing leading edge spar-spine system can be written in the form of non-homogeneous Mathieu's equations, which has well-known stability criteria. The analytical system response is then validated using experimental data taken at NASA Langley Research Center. Results show that the analytical spine angular deflection agrees with the experimental angular deflection data within 11%. Stability was then demonstrated using both analytical and graphical proving that the response of leading edge spar with a compliant spine design inserted at 37% of the wing half span is bounded.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

It is well recognized that proliferating tumor cells invariably utilize aerobic glycolysis to support their high metabolic demands. Recent studies have further elucidated the paradoxical observation that this increase in glycolysis in proliferating tumor cells is often coupled with a molecular switch from the constitutively high activity PKM1 isoform to the modulated lower activity PKM2 isoform1,2, effectively constraining lower glycolysis at the last pyruvate kinase step. Here, we report an unanticipated link between glucose metabolism and amino-acid metabolic pathways in cancer cells. We characterized the biochemical and cellular effects of a small-molecule allosteric activator of the M2 isoform of pyruvate kinase (AGX-257) in various cancer cell types. We demonstrate that activation of PKM2 results in a metabolic rewiring of specific cancer cells that results in a profound dependency on the presence of the normally non-essential amino acid serine for continued cell proliferation. The induced serine auxotrophy by PKM2 activation is concomitant with reduced flux through the endogenous serine biosynthetic pathway and increased levels of high affinity serine transporters. PKM2 activators, possibly in combination with agents that modulate the cellular and extracellular serine pools, could form the basis for a new approach toward developing therapy for treating cancer. References: 1 Christofk, H. R. et al. The M2 splice isoform of pyruvate kinase is important for cancer metabolism and tumour growth. Nature 452, 230-233 (2008). 2 Clower, C. V. et al. The alternative splicing repressors hnRNP A1/A2 and PTB influence pyruvate kinase isoform expression and cell metabolism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107, 1894-1899 (2010).

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1002. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1002


This article presents the research philosophies, artworks, and practices of INCUBATOR Lab, a bioart research and teaching facility at the School of Creative Arts, University of Windsor, Canada. Research/creation projects produced range from microbial artworks, interspecies performances,
 social practice projects, and textual analysis, to artworks that can only be seen with a microscope. The facility provides innovations in public engagement through (1) making daily bioart laboratory activities visible to online and local audiences; (2) serving as a gallery where artworks that
 are unable to leave the BSL2 laboratory setting can be safely displayed for audiences; and (3) providing a multimedia performing arts venue where seated audiences can view theatre and performance events that integrate BSL2 biotechnologies into multimedia storytelling and performance genres.
 INCUBATOR Lab is an institutional space, an artwork, an ecology, and a biosphere where human and non-human organisms collaboratively and co-dependently produce bioart research and creation.


The unique phenomenon of hydrocarbon gas sorption on mineral and organic matter surfaces provides the basis of a novel aid for geochemical petroleum exploration. A refined vacuum sediment degassing procedure permits separate analysis of sorbed and free gas fractions. Hydrocarbon gases from both individual fractions can be genetically classified (e.g., diagenetic, thermogenic, catagenic) by their molecular and 13C and 2H isotopic compositions. In contrast to the normal bulk or free gas fractions, where the composition is frequently influenced by alteration effects such as bacterial gas generation or oxidation, comparative analyses indicate the the sorbed gas fraction can retain its unaltered genetic signature. Exchange between the sorbed and free gas fractions is severely restricted by surface sorption energies and perhaps by structure water, which may assist in the partitioning of gas fractions with different genetic characters. Gas transport within the sorbed fraction is probably a surface-controlled "handshake" diffusion process that minimizes contact with the free gases. Examples of this phenomenon are provided by Gulf Coast and California surface sediment cores, which display strong biogenic methane formation and oxidation effects in the free gas fraction. In contrast, the corresponding character of the sorbed gas fractions is clearly distinguished as thermogenic and originating in subsurface. Evidence of thermogenic hydrocarbons is obscured during routine bulk analysis by the biogenic free gas component. This sorption phenomenon has good potential for the identification of subtle geochemical hydrocarbon anomalies previously masked through bulk analysis. End_of_Article - Last_Page 316------------


A modified Berkeley short-channel IGFET model (BSIM1) has been developed to accurately model the I-V characteristics and circuit performance of deep submicron MOSFET devices. The improved model provides a simple and more efficient parameter acquisition procedure for MOSFET global modeling in comparison to the original BSIM1 model. The procedure for extracting the global geometry scalable model parameters is described. The extraction procedure provides a decoupling between DC and AC modeling resulting in more accurate time-domain circuit simulations. The proposed modeling procedure eliminates the negative conductance problem experienced in the original BSIM1. The validity of the model is supported by comparisons between measured and simulated results. The focus of this paper is on the digital applications of the BSIM1 SPICE model.


Number of out of pocket patient tends to decrease during 2005 - 2006. Patient satisfaction affects to patient's repurchase intention of health services. This research aim is to identify the association between out of pocket patient's satisfaction and their intention to repeated visit to Puskesmas Wisma Jaya Bekasi in 2007. Research design used cross sectional approach. Data were collected from 219 respondents. Statistical multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analysis the data. The result shows proportion of respondent who wanted to re-utilize Puskesmas Wisma Jaya is 93.2 %. This study found out of pocket patient who satisfied will have 7.5 times to repeated visit Puskesmas Wisma Jaya than out of pocket patient who don't satisfied after education, age and expenses are controlled. Health District Office of Bekasi City should use service coverage and patient satisfaction as indicators to asses the efficacy performance of Puskesmas.


RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) transcribes chromosomal DNA that contains multiple nucleosomes. The nucleosome forms transcriptional barriers, and nucleosomal transcription requires several additional factors in vivo. We demonstrate that the transcription elongation factors Elf1 and Spt4/5 cooperatively lower the barriers and increase the RNAPII processivity in the nucleosome. The cryo-electron microscopy structures of the nucleosome-transcribing RNAPII elongation complexes (ECs) reveal that Elf1 and Spt4/5 reshape the EC downstream edge and intervene between RNAPII and the nucleosome. They facilitate RNAPII progression through superhelical location SHL(-1) by adjusting the nucleosome in favor of the forward progression. They suppress pausing at SHL(-5) by preventing the stable RNAPII-nucleosome interaction. Thus, the EC overcomes the nucleosomal barriers while providing a platform for various chromatin functions.


Abstract Although radiotelemetry is considered a valuable technique for ornithological field studies, several assumptions have been made about the impact that transmitters may have on the estimation of behavioral, ecological, and reproductive parameters. To assess the potential effects of backpack radiotransmitters, we captured and assigned 8 male American kestrels (Falco sparverius) into 2 groups: radiotagged (n = 6) and control individuals (leg-banded, n = 2). Thereafter, we collected feces approximately 2 hours after capture (day −1), and subsequently during days 0 (releasing day), 4, 7, 15, 30, 40, and 55. Prior to fecal analysis, we validated the corticosterone enzyme immunoassay using standard procedures (e.g., parallelism, dose-response curve), and we confirmed physiological significance of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites through adrenocorticotropin challenge, which induced an increase of 4-fold (446.10 ± 60.73 ng/g) above baseline (114.27 ± 15.23 ng/g) within 4 hours (P < 0.001). Both groups exhibited a significant increase in fecal glucocorticoids during day 0 (P < 0.001), but concentrations returned to preattachment values within 4 days. Fecal glucocorticoid concentrations did not differ between samples of radiotagged and leg-banded kestrels (P > 0.05). In spite of the small number of monitored subjects, these findings suggested that radiotransmitters did not affect adrenocortical activity in these male American kestrels.


It seems that life insurance companies under evaluate an implicit risk occurring whenever contracts with large size differences in life-annuities are present in their portfolio.
 If, in the case of equal amounts, one might admit that "early" and "late" deaths could compensate one another, this is not really so in the case of, lets say, an early death of a "small" life-annuity and a late "very large" one.
 In order to put into light this "size effect" on real data one needs first to have at hand a life-insurance portfolio. This was given to us by an original package of the 18th century, the 1743 "tontine-lottery" case, which awarded 5 000 life-annuities (on 30264 tickets). A large simulation of the distribution of winning tickets and of the path of death occurrences shows that this "size risk" does exist. The implication is that the companies should take this risk into account when pricing life-annuities.
 Classification JEL: G22, N23, C15


This paper introduces the theme of Languaging, Diversity and Democracy. Contemporary issues of participation and ways-of-being and positions the 12 individual papers that constitute the 2022 double special issue of Bandung: Journal of the Global South. Its interest lies in contributing to knowledge that is relevant for contemporary human challenges related to issues of mobility, digitalization, and communication in and across different geopolitical regions across the planet and across virtual-physical spaces. Raising concerns regarding universalizing tendencies of special issues (and collected volumes generally), and based on the premise that what kind of knowledge matters is tied up with the issue of whose knowledge and in what named-language this knowledge matters, this paper raises critical queries that focus on the narrators positionality and gaze, the composition of scholarly narratives, the flow of narratives, what vocabularies circulate in frontline scholarship, including the organization of special issues, etc. Drawing attention to the universalizing Euro/America-centrism that shapes what counts as knowledge, the paper draws attention to the taken-for-grantedness of what counts as international languages of publishing which eclipses alternative epistemologies, ways-of-thinking and ways-of-being. It argues that by taking such issues as inspiration in the curation and editing of this double special issue, participatory processes and ways-of-being enabled a contribution to the doing of democracy and diversity in the scholarly enterprise. Such work of democratizing academic publication work calls for unlearning to learn that is closely related to the theme explored in the double special issue. Aligning with analogue-digital languaging in contemporary existence, the paper also traces the journey of how this double special issue has come into being.


In an effort to deepen our understanding of how circumstances of forced separation and the interdiction of physical contact affect women's sexual behavior, we investigated the development and maintenance of heterosexual couples' intimacy when the male partner is incarcerated. As HIV‐prevention scientists who work with women visiting men at a California state prison, we recognize that correctional control extends to these women's bodies, both when they are within the facility's walls visiting their mates and when they are at home striving to remain connected to absent men. This paper analyzes the impact of a peculiar public "place "—a penitentiary—on couples' romantic and sexual interactions, drawing out the implications of imprisonment for relationship decision making, sexual health, and HIV risk. Using qualitative interviews with 20 women who visit their incarcerated partners and 13 correctional officers who interact with prison visitors, we examine how institutional constraints such as the regulation of women's apparel, the prohibition of physical contact, and the lack of privacy result in couples forging alternative "spaces" in which their relationships occur. We describe how romantic scripts, the build‐up of sexual tension during the incarceration period, and conditions of parole promote unprotected sexual intercourse and other HIV/STD risk behavior following release from prison.


Transaction data about individuals are increasingly collected to support a plethora of applications, spanning from marketing to biomedical studies. Publishing these data is required by many organizations, but may result in privacy breaches, if an attacker exploits potentially identifying information to link individuals to their records in the published data. Algorithms that prevent this threat by transforming transaction data prior to their release have been proposed recently, but incur significant information loss due to their inability to accommodate a range of different privacy requirements that data owners often have. To address this issue, we propose a novel clustering-based framework to anonymizing transaction data. Our framework provides the basis for designing algorithms that explore a larger solution space than existing methods, which allows publishing data with less information loss, and can satisfy a wide range of privacy requirements. Based on this framework, we develop PCTA, a generalization-based algorithm to construct anonymizations that incur a small amount of information loss under many different privacy requirements. Experiments with benchmark datasets verify that PCTA significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of data utility, while being comparable in terms of efficiency.


Filtration rates of the infaunal estuarine bivalve Solen cylindraceus were determined. The filtration rate of animals collected in summer (26°C) and winter (16,5°C), although significantly different, exhibit only sli~ variation in absolute rate, and may be expressed as a function of shell length, by the equations y = 0,247x 1, (winter) and y = 0,758xo,B2B (summer). Solen cylindraceus acclimates to both high and low temperatures under laboratory conditions. Filtration rates show a thermal optimum in the range 15-35°C, declining at higher and lower temperatures. 010 values of filtration decrease rapidly from greater than 4 to less than 2 when the thermal optimum is reached. Maximum rates generally occur approximately 5°C above the temperature to which the animal has been acclimated.


Abstract Background: Tissue engineering takes on many approaches. It is mostly followed by those in the field through scientific literature. However, there is a virtually untapped resource in patent literature. Objective: This review focuses on patents through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This source is used only because the author is most familiar with this resource. This article is not intended to be instructional regarding patents, patent law, or how to apply for patents, nor is it intended to be all inclusive of the patent literature. However, the reader might see the value of following the patent literature as a source of ideas, technologies, methodologies, and knowledge with respect to tissue engineering.


Game-based practicing of materials can be seen as a method of capturing an essence of reallife experience which is commonly missing in the conventional face-to-face classrooms. To serve the L2 learners' immediate communicative needs in wider classroom and societal contexts, this study sought to place L2 English learners within an interactional social framework through reinforcing their English language translation ability by drawing inspiration from the holy Qur'an verses that invite people to fulfill the affairs in consultation with each other. To that end, using 2 × 2 Latin Square, Qur'ānic verses were grafted onto the mobile game (m-game) of 'Xane Bazi' in the m-game-enhanced translation module of L2 pedagogy so as their English translations then to be practiced individually or collectively by 180 Iranian male and female college students majoring in Translation Studies during 18 sessions of an academic semester. For the purpose of collective translation practice, the participants were randomly divided into 90 dyads afterwards. As the study adopted a triangulation research design; thus, the data were gathered through a preresearch questionnaire, continuous assessment of participants' performance, and also a focused interview. The achieved data were later analyzed using a paired-samples t-test as well as Spearman correlation. The results derived revealed that the difference between the two manners of translation practice was statistically significant. Drawing upon the findings, the favorable impact of collective manner of English translation practice of the Qur'ānic verses in the m-game-enhanced translation module on learners' translation ability was considered.


The decline in the quality of land caused by the use of inorganic fertilizers fueled the growth of organic farming. Organic farming requires a source of organic fertilizer which is very large. Needs a very large organic fertilizer requires a source of organic material that is widely available. today in eastern Kalimantan and oil palm industry is growing rapidly. The palm oil industry in addition to producing liquid waste also generates solid waste such as oil palm empty fruit bunches that can be used as a source of organic fertilizer. This study aims to determine the release of nutrients after the decomposition of oil palm empty fruit bunches using Banana's Corm (Musa paradisiaca) Microorganisms.This research is descriptive methods. Assessment of the nutrients status in the compost TKKS using BPT Bogor (2009). The results showed that the pH of compost TKKS using Banana's Corm (Musa paradisiaca) Microorganisms 8,54; C-organic 54,3 %; Nitrogen 1.8 %; Ratio C /N 31.5; P2O5 0,4 %, and K2O 1,59%.


Cancer can be an extremely aggressive disease, with a poor survival rate among the patients that are in the advanced stages of the disease. Early intervention can significantly affect the outcome of the disease. The requirement of early intervention necessitates a reliable cancer screening. Regular use of screening, followed by timely treatment when cancer is diagnosed, can help decrease the chances of occurrence of death due to cancer. There are several tests available for the early detection and diagnosis of cancer. When multiple diagnostic tests are performed on an individual or multiple disease markers are available it may be possible to combine the information to diagnose disease. By combining multiple tests we can optimize diagnostic accuracy. The combination of ultrasound and mammography as markers for cancer diagnosis could be useful for early intervention. Selecting a statistical tool capable of assessing the performance of a combination of different diagnostic tests is imp0l1ant in selecting thc most suitable diagnostic standard. One way of determining the performance of any combination of diagnostic tests is through the use of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Baker (2000) proposed three ranking algorithms that optimize the ROC curve. The objective of this study was to develop and select the ranking algorithm which provides the optimal area under the ROC curve to differentiate cancer from benign. Statistically, unordered algorithms proved to be the best among the three algorithms giving average AUCs of 0.96510, followed by Jagged Ordered Algorithm and Rectangular Ordered Algorithm giving average AUCs of 0.96396 and 0.94314 respectively. Clinically, ordered algorithms seem to be the better choice due to their convenience.


The fluid-structure interaction and the fluid flow are studied in cases of a fuel tank sloshing and overturning. A bi-phase liquid-gas material with an ALE formulation is used to define the interaction between water and air in the fuel tank. In the case of sloshing, the fuel tank is subjected to a horizontal deceleration. The fuel tank container is modeled with a Lagrangian formulation and undergoes an elasto-plastic material law. Fluid structure coupling is taken into account. The overturning of the fuel tank is studied by applying a variable deceleration. The tank container is not modeled as the boundary nodes are fixed. The Eulerian formulation is used.


Binocular stereovision estimates the three-dimensional shape of a scene from two photographs taken from different points of view. In rectified epipolar geometry, this is equivalent to a matching problem. This article describes a method proposed by Kolmogorov and Zabih in 2001, which puts forward an energy-based formulation. The aim is to minimize a four-term-energy. This energy is not convex and cannot be minimized except among a class of perturbations called expansion moves, in which case an exact minimization can be done with graph cuts techniques. One noteworthy feature of this method is that it handles occlusion: The algorithm detects points that cannot be matched with any point in the other image. In this method displacements are pixel accurate (no subpixel refinement).


The shift in the U.S. global role precipitated by the events of September 11, 2001although the events were unexpectedwas a long time in the making. In this challenging work, Gilbert Achcar analyzes how this shift came about and examines its fateful consequences.Achcar'sClash of Barbarismstraces the rise of militant and anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism to its roots in U.S. policies aimed at control of the oil reserves of the Middle East, and above all, Saudi Arabiathe "Muslim Texas." Achcar examines the political premises of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and show how these led to the massive miscalculation of the September 11 attacks, with results both politically counterproductive and morally reprehensible.The major result of this miscalculation has been to complete a shift from the vision of a world order based on international law and respecting the rights of strong and weak nations alike, announced by George Bush, Sr., in 1991, to the world order being created by the administration of George W. Bush today, in which the United States asserts its own power and pursues its interests without regard for law or rights. In this context, we are living through a "clash of barbarisms" indeed.This important and timely work is already scheduled for publication in French, English, German, Turkish, and Korean. It draws on first-hand knowledge of the Middle East, but looks beyond immediate events to clarify their geopolitical bases.


Evidence now suggests that improved empathic behaviors can have a positive impact on healthcare outcomes. Therefore, having psychometrically-sound empathy scales is important for healthcare educators. In this study, the factor structure of the 20-item Jefferson Scale Empathy-Health Profession Students' version, when completed by a group of undergraduate paramedic students from a large Australian university, was investigated. Data from the Scale completed by 330 paramedic students were analyzed using principal components analysis followed by a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis to test goodness of fit to the sample data. Two factors emerged from the principal components analysis, "compassionate care" and "perspective taking", accounting for 44.2% of the total variance. The 17-item two-factor model produced good model fit and good reliability estimates. Three of the original items did not fit the model. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the 17-item Jefferson Scale Empathy-Health Profession Students' version is a valid and reliable measure for undergraduate paramedic students' empathy levels.


The effects of enhanced hydrostatic pressure (HP, up to 1.2 GPa) on the properties of nitrogen-containing Cz-Si:N (N content , interstitial oxygen concentration 9 × 1017 cm−3) and of Czochralski-grown silicon (Cz-Si, reference samples) treated for 5 h at 1070–1570 K–HP have been investigated by photoluminescence, x-ray and infrared absorption methods. HP acts on Cz-Si:N and on Cz-Si in a similar way: oxygen precipitation and creation of numerous cluster-like and extended defects are stimulated, especially at 1230–1400 K. The small cluster-like oxygen-related defects are, however, more numerous in HP treated Cz-Si:N while the extended ones (dislocations) are created at 1230 K in a lowered concentration. A qualitative explanation of the observed effects has been proposed.


Streptomyces sp. strain No. A-5838 produces three types of inhibitors of DNase II. Two of them, DNI-2 and DNI-3, were distinguished from the previously reported DNase II inhibitors, 5838-DNI and 5923-DNI, by their inhibitory profiles towards phosphodiesterases. DNI-2 has M(r) 654, and is considered to be a coproporphyrin. DNI-3 is an acidic substance with M(r) about 60,000 as estimated by gel filtration. The inhibitory activities of both inhibitors were shown to be temperature-dependent whereas only that of DNI-2 was pH-dependent.


Background: Endometrial thickness (ET) measurement was an alternative method for predicting abnormal endometrial pathology in postmenopausal bleeding. Cut-off value of ET measurement could not be use in perimenopausal bleeding. Objective: Aim of this study was to investigate appropriate ET cut-off value for perimenopause women with abnormal uterine bleeding (PEMB) and abnormal endometrial histopathology. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional study. PEMB at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital between July 2018 and June 2022 were recruited. Subjects who met inclusion criteria underwent ET measurement and endometrial biopsy via endometrial aspirator. Participants who had histopathology report of endometrial hyperplasia and more were classified as the study group. The Control group were subjects with no endometrial hyperplasia or cancer. Demographic and clinical character data were included. Correlation of ET and endometrial histopathology were calculated for statistical significance. Results: A total of 304 cases were included. After exclusion, 254 subjects were recruited for this study. There were 22 and 232 cases in the study and control groups, respectively. The mean age and body mass index (BMI) of participants were 44.7 years old and 27.5 kg/m2, respectively. Prevalence of endometrial hyperplasia and cancer in perimenopausal uterine bleeding were 7.5 (19/254) and 1.2 (3/254) percent, respectively. Endometrial thickness equal to and more than 8 mm was associated with abnormal endometrial histopathology with statistical significance. Age, BMI, nulliparity, anovulatory bleeding history, hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus and anovulation state of both groups were comparable. Conclusions: Endometrial thickness equal or more than 8 mm were significantly associated with endometrial hyperplasia or more among perimenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding.


Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate clinical characteristics of ureteroceles particularly for diagnostic and treatment challenges. Methods Data about patients treated for ureterocele in the two hospital clinics during 1996- 2009 are retrospectively evaluated. Findings There were 12 girls and 7 boys. Symptomatic urinary tract infection was found in twelve cases. Ureterocele was associated with duplex systems in eleven cases. Vesicoureteral reflux was detected in 4 patients. Bladder diverticulum complicated with ureterocele in 1 patient. Ultrasonography diagnosed ureterocele in 12 patients. Renal scarring was detected in 6 patients at the side of ureterocele. Fifteen patients showed varying degrees of hydro-ureteronephrosis. Surgical therapy included upper pole nephrectomy in 3 cases. Bladder level reconstruction was performed in 11 cases. Five patients were treated only by endoscopic incision. In the follow up period 4 patients showed long term urinary tract infections whereas 3 of them were treated endoscopically. Postoperative reflux was still present in two patients who were treated by endoscopic incision. Conclusion Ureterocele diagnosis and treatment show challenges. Urinary tract infection is important marker for urinary system evaluation. Preoperative management generally depends on a combination of diagnostic methods. Endoscopic incision needs serious follow up for postoperative problems.


Background and objective: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold stander surgery for gallbladder diseases, especially symptomatic gall stone disease. to identify the factors that causes the conversion of planed laparoscopic cholecystectomy to an open procedure. Identifying these predictive factors will predict the conversion rate and eventually will help the surgeon, the patient and the hospital in planning the surgery. Methods: Retrospective study. Between October 2003 and December 2004 hundred and fifty patients with symptomatic gallstone underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Department of Surgery, Sulaimaniyah Teaching Hospital Results: ages of the patients were between 11-70 years with a mean of 40, female to male were 5/1, and in 47% the symptoms were present for more than two years. Conversion incidence was 8.7. Conclusion: The predictive factors for conversion in our study accordingly were duration of the symptoms, abnormal intra-abdominal findings, concurrent illnesses, and intra-operative complications.


We study an exclusion process on a ring comprising a free defect particle in a bath of normal particles. The model is one of the few integrable cases in which the bath particles are partially asymmetric. The presence of the free defect creates localized or shock phases according to parameter values. We use a functional approach to Bethe equations resulting from a nested Bethe ansatz to calculate exactly the mean currents and diffusion constants. The results agree very well with Monte-Carlo simulations and reveal the main modes of fluctuation in the different phases of the steady state.


Asmat Art features the world-renowned woodcarvings of the Asmat, former head-hunters who live in the western half of New Guinea. Working with stone adzes, bone, and bits of shell, early carvers fashioned the local wood into stunning masterpieces. Editor Dirk Smidt has gathered together distinguished experts on Asmat art and culture to describe the physical and spiritual world of the Asmat, the techniques and motifs used by master carvers, and to present an historical overview of European collections of Asmat art.


Background The South African government has developed many policies for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. However, non-communicable diseases remain among the major causes of morbidity and mortality in South Africa. Although these diseases are linked to interaction of multiple risk factors, many of which are modifiable, they continue to cause much suffering particularly among the marginalised and people from the lower socio-economic status. Objectives The objective of this research was to explore and present the inclusion of social determinants of health in the policies meant for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in South Africa. Method The qualitative document analysis approach was used to conduct policy analysis of purposefully selected policies for prevention and control of cancers, obesity and mental and behavioural disorders in South Africa. Results The analysis revealed that policies for prevention and control of cancers, obesity and mental and behavioural disorders included policy intervention activities that focused on five social determinants of health: (1) governance, (2) social policies, (3) public policies, (4) material circumstances and (5) health system. Conclusion Excluding most of the important social determinants of health in the policies for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases means that these policies would continue to fail in preventing these diseases from the root causes. Contribution This article points out weaknesses in the policies meant for prevention and control of obesity, cancers and mental and behavioural disorders. This article further suggests policy improvement strategies that may be considered to effectively address these diseases.


ABSTRACT The financialization literature focuses on how people become docile neoliberal subjects and pays less attention to debt resistance. This article focuses on this less explored dimension. The article draws on the case of Chile to explore the way in which the financialization of higher education leads to the politicization of debt. It makes the case that social mobilization around student debt is a late stage in a succession of policy and political conflicts. These, moreover, arise from the fact that the financialization of social policy implies the reconciliation of three seemingly contradictory goals: the reach of fiscal responsibility and economic efficiency, the fulfillment of policy goals, and the management of the political consequences of imposing a debt-burden to citizens that are constituents. The case shows that, as legislators and policymakers insist on tackling these dilemmas favoring market mechanisms, e.g. the privatization of student debt, massive and deregulated extension of credit, they create the conditions for a 'student debt crisis' to arise. However, the extent to which such crisis may trigger the rise of social movements of debtors, depends on factors such as existing conceptions about debt and social rights, institutional incentives, and the existence of political organizations.


This paper presents progress in the SHRP2 Safer Glances analysis project which aims to establish the relationship between crash risk and driver inattention using rear-end crashes and near crashes. Results will pinpoint the most dangerous glances away from the road and show how to change glance behavior to be safer.
The Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) is conducting the largest and most comprehensive naturalistic driving study (NDS) ever conducted (see Campbell, 2013; and www.shrp2nds.us). The study has recruited 2,800 volunteer drivers. All of their trips are recorded for one to two years. When complete in early 2014, the NDS data set will contain over 33,000,000 travel miles from over 3,800 vehicle-years of driving – over 4 petabytes of data.
The analysis plan is formulated in five analytic steps. Each analytic step is expected to provide better precision and explore different components of the inattention-risk relationship by providing more detail on inattention-risk relationships under different circumstances – relationships to timing with optical parameters, glance characteristics, and relationships with respect to different levels of crash severity.
This research will identify a more precise relationship between glance patterns and their associated risk around a sweet spot, a time when perceptual information is particularly valuable in crash avoidance. Further, it will relate glance behavior to injury severity as defined by new severity scales. This set of functions will indicate crash likelihood and/or injury severity for certain contextual characteristics of the lead-vehicle crash scenario, such as traffic density, road type, and speed. These relationships can be used to show more precisely which glance behaviors are safer than others.
Safer glance strategies for interacting with electronics and the traffic environment can be encouraged in a number of ways including design guidelines, education, and in-vehicle feedback. Likewise, the most dangerous glances can be pinpointed and associated with improvements to appropriate countermeasures like distraction guideline performance criteria and active safety system technology.


Distinctive differences between Late Desmoinesian to early Missourian cyclic deposits on opposite shores of the Pennsylvanian Arkoma seaway were noted during outcrop mapping in eastern Oklahoma. The north shore deposits conform to the classical Mid-Continent Pennsylvanian cyclothem. A regressive blanket sandstone is succeeded in turn by underclay, coal, and carbonaceous shale, transgressive calcareous shale and/or limestone, black fissile shale with phosphate nodules, and finally, gray shale with calcareous to sideritic inclusions that becomes upward increasingly silty to sandy. The south shore deposits that border the Ouachita and Arbuckle uplifts in southeastern Oklahoma reveal a more symmetrical cycle than for the preceding. Both transgressive and regressive sandstones are present, and, although exceedingly lenticular, converge northward to enclose a fluviatile tongue of red beds and conglomeratic lenses. The subjacent and superjacent transgressive marine wedges contain fossiliferous gray to black shales. Limestones are usually thin and developed near tops and bottoms of shale sequences. Seaway deposits are much more variable. High sea-level phase is characterized by subtidal gray shale with subordinate bioturbated siltstone to sandstone. A low sea-level phase commonly consists of intertonguing north and south shore deposits. Effects of eustatic oscillations of sea level were imprinted on a episodically subsiding depositional trough. Many stratigraphic horizons that reflect sea-level reversals are useful for regional correlations. Application of this concept to the polycyclic Holdenville formation of Hughes County indicates its northward continuation as the Memorial shale and the overlying Jenks and Tulsa sandstones and associated shales of Tulsa County previously miscorrelated with the Seminole Formation. In the subsurface these sandstones become the oil productive Cleveland sandstones. These correlations are supported by fossil determinations. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1495------------


Transcription factor A (TFAM) functions as a DNA packaging factor in mammalian mitochondria. TFAM also binds sequence-specifically to sites immediately upstream of mitochondrial promoters, but there are conflicting data regarding its role as a core component of the mitochondrial transcription machinery. We here demonstrate that TFAM is required for transcription in mitochondrial extracts as well as in a reconstituted in vitro transcription system. The absolute requirement of TFAM can be relaxed by conditions that allow DNA breathing, i.e., low salt concentrations or negatively supercoiled DNA templates. The situation is thus very similar to that described in nuclear RNA polymerase II-dependent transcription, in which the free energy of supercoiling can circumvent the need for a subset of basal transcription factors at specific promoters. In agreement with these observations, we demonstrate that TFAM has the capacity to induce negative supercoils in DNA, and, using the recently developed nucleobase analog FRET-pair tCO–tCnitro, we find that TFAM distorts significantly the DNA structure. Our findings differ from recent observations reporting that TFAM is not a core component of the mitochondrial transcription machinery. Instead, our findings support a model in which TFAM is absolutely required to recruit the transcription machinery during initiation of transcription.


Fragmentation of the Balbiani body in Xenopus oocytes engenders a region extending from the germinal vesicle (GV) towards the vegetal pole that is enriched in mitochondria. This area is later transversed by RNA that is being localized to the vegetal cortex. Inhibition of mitochondrial ATP synthesis prevents the perinuclear formation of these RNA transport granules that can be reversed by the nonhydrolyzable ATP analog, adenosine 5'-(βγ-imido) triphosphate. The protein composition and sensitivity of the transport granules to hexanediol indicate that they are liquid phase condensates. Mitochondria in the remnants of the Balbiani body produce a region of elevated ATP that appears to act as a hydrotrope to support the perinuclear phase transition leading to granule formation. Summary Mitochondria in the remnants of the Balbiani body produce elevated levels of ATP required for the formation of liquid phase condensates containing RNA transport granules.


Aim . Disclosure of the theoretical and spiritual-practical potential of the philosophy of management in training specialists in the field of public management and administration. Methodology . In the research process there were used such methods as: analysis, synthesis, systemic, comparative, structural-functional and dialectical. The application of the synergistic approach to study management made it possible to consider the latter as a complex and open system. Results . The authors have proved that today the philosophy of management is a theoretical and methodological basis for modern managers' training. The emphasis is also put on the fact that the philosophy of management is different from the theory of management, since traditional management tries to implement the training program for a single manager, who should independently manage large teams and organizations. The authors are convinced that this statement is utopian nowadays. That is why the philosophy of management should appear as the methodological basis in the new paradigm of training managers of any level. Scientific novelty . For the first time in the scientific discourse, the attempt has been made to establish the status of the philosophy of management as one of the basic and obligatory disciplines in specialists' training for public and state administration and management. It is proved that the management of any systems becomes effective due to the interaction of three levels, namely: ideological, scientific-methodological and praxeological. The necessity of preparing managers as team members that adequately respond to current social challenges is identified as the main task of modern managerial education. The Practical Value. The research results should set the benchmarks for improving and creating a new system of modern managers' training, where the manager is not considered as a single leader (individual), but as a member of the team in which everyone is capital.


REPORT OF A CASE A 4-month-old female infant presented with 1 month of blisters on her chin and temple that progressed to diffuse blistering. Blisters formed if the infant was scratched or rubbed (Figure 1). She had numerous bullae and erosions on her trunk and extremities and her skin had a diffuse doughy texture. The patient had no wheezing or gastrointestinal symptoms and was otherwise healthy. The family history was negative for any dermatologic, gastrointestinal, or hematologic diseases. One month of antibiotic therapy resulted in no change and bacterial blister culture results were negative. Biopsy samples showed a dense dermal infiltrate of mast cells consistent with mastocytosis. A Leder stain accentuated the mast cell granules. Evaluation for systemic involvement, including bone marrow biopsy and aspiration, computed tomography of the abdomen, a bone scan, and an upper gastrointestinal tract series with small-bowel follow-through, produced normal results. Initial treatment consisted of topical


Liver is the primary source of numerous proteins that are critical for normal function of the blood coagulation cascade. Because of this, diseases of the liver, particularly when affiliated with severe complications like cirrhosis, are associated with abnormalities of blood clotting. Although conventional interpretation has inferred cirrhosis as a disorder of uniform bleeding risk, it is now increasingly appreciated as a disease wherein the coagulation cascade is precariously rebalanced. Moreover, prothrombotic risk factors are also associated with a more rapid progression of fibrosis in humans, suggesting that coagulation proteases participate in disease pathogenesis. Indeed, strong evidence drawn from experimental animal studies indicates that components of the coagulation cascade, particularly coagulation factor Xa and thrombin, drive profibrogenic events, leading to hepatic fibrosis. Here, we concisely review the evidence supporting a pathologic role for coagulation in the development of liver fibrosis and the potential mechanisms involved. Further, we highlight how studies in experimental animals may shed light on emerging clinical evidence, suggesting that beneficial effects of anticoagulation could extend beyond preventing thrombotic complications to include reducing pathologies like fibrosis.


This paper is concerned with the problem of stability and stabilization of neutral time‐delay systems. A new delay‐dependent stability condition is derived in terms of linear matrix inequality by constructing a new Lyapunov functional and using some integral inequalities without introducing any free‐weighting matrices. On the basis of the obtained stability condition, a stabilizing method is also proposed. Using an iterative algorithm, the state feedback controller can be obtained. Numerical examples illustrate that the proposed methods are effective and lead to less conservative results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Meckel's diverticulum is a congenital anomaly present in about 3% of the population and usually asymptomatic. Rarely, a mesodiverticular band extends from the tip of a Meckel's diverticulum to the mesentery, thought to be due to lack of involution of the left vitelline artery. The presence of this band creates a closed loop through which loops of bowel can become entrapped. Rare case reports have described incarceration of bowel and sudden death in children. We present such a case and discuss this entity.


The management of alarms is a key responsibility of critical care nurses. A qualitative study with focus group interviews were conducted with 37 nurses in Taiwan. Four main themes were derived: the foundation of critical care practice, a trajectory of adjust alarms management, negative impacts on care quality and patient safety, hope for remote control and multimodal learning. Results revealed that diverse training methods may facilitate nursing competency and devices usability to promote critical care.


We analyze the effect of magnetic field on convective heat and mass transfer flow of a viscous electrically-conducting fluid through a porous medium in a rectangular duct with Soret, Dufour, chemical reaction, and thermal radiation effects. The equations governing the flow, heat and mass transfer are solved by employing the Galerkin Finite element analysis with tri-nodal triangular elements. The temperature and concentration distributions are analyzed for different values of M, Q, Rad, S0, Du and g. The rates of heat and mass transfer are evaluated numerically for different parametric values. The numerical results obtained in the present paper are validated by favorable comparison with previous published results.


Abstract. Localization via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is frequently used in different applications nowadays. It has the advantage that next to its ostensible purpose of identifying objects via their unique IDs it can simultaneously be used for the localization of these objects. In this work it is shown how Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurements at different antennae of a passive UHF RFID label can be combined for localization. The localization is only done based on the RSSI measurements and a Kalman Filter (KF). Because of non-linearities in the measurement function it is necessary to incorporate an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) where simulations have shown that the UKF performs better than the EKF. Additionally to the selection of the filter there are different possibilities to increase the localization accuracy of the UKF: The advantages of using Reference Tags (RT) or more than one tag per trolley (relative positioning) in combination with an Unscented Kalman Filter are discussed and simulations results show that the localization error can be decreased significantly via these methods. Another possibility to increase the localization accuracy and in addition to achieve a more realistic simulation is the consideration of the angle between reader antenna and tag. Simulation results with the incorporation of different numbers of fixed antennae lead to the conclusion that this is a useful surplus in the localization.


1. The amounts of antipyrine and its metabolites excreted in 24 h urine after i.v. injection of 10 mg antipyrine into male Wistar rats were quantified after enzymic hydrolysis with beta-glucuronidase/aryl sulphatase. In 24 h 2.7% of the administered dose was excreted as unchanged antipyrine, 13.3% as 4-hydroxyantipyrine, 7.4% as norantipyrine, 28.9% as 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine and 1.1% as 3-carboxyantipyrine. 2. Treatment with phenobarbital decreased the antipyrine half-life from 65 to 30 min, but did not significantly change the urinary metabolite profile. Only the amount of 3-carboxyantipyrine was significantly different and increased from 1.1 to 2.6% dose. 3. 3-Methylcholanthrene treatment resulted in a decrease of antipyrine half-life from 72 to 37 min. After treatment 4-hydroxyantipyrine was increased from 13.4% to 25.6% dose, whereas 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine was decreased from 26.8% to 8.5% and 3-carboxyantipyrine from 1.3% to 0.2% of the dose respectively; norantipyrine was unchanged. 4. It is concluded that different types of hepatic cytochrome P-450 may be involved in the formation of 4-hydroxyantipyrine on one hand and the formation of 6-hydroxymethylantipyrine on the other. Another possibility is that in methylcholanthrene-treated animals another haemoprotein is formed that results in the formation of more 4-hydroxyantipyrine and less 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine. In any case, the urinary metabolite profile of antipyrine can be used to study changes in the activity of different cytochromes in drug metabolism studies.


Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) – an approach that uses autonomous acoustic recording units (ARUs) – can provide insights into the behavior of cryptic or endangered species that produce loud calls. However, extracting useful information from PAM data often requires substantial human effort, along with effective estimates of the detection range of the acoustic units, which can be challenging to obtain. We studied the duetting behavior of pair-living red titi monkeys (Plecturocebus discolor) using PAM coupled with an open-source automated detection tool. Using data on spontaneous duetting by one titi pair, combined with recordings from two Song Meter SM2 ARUs placed within their home range, we estimated that the average source level of titi duets was ~105 dB re 20 μPa at 1 m with an attenuation rate of 8 dB per doubling of distance, and we determined that the detection radius for manual annotation of duets in audio recordings was at least 125 to 200 m, depending on the approach used. We also used a supervised template-based detection algorithm (binary point matching) to evaluate the efficacy of automated detection for titi duets in audio recordings using linear arrays of ARUs within a ~2 km2 area. We used seven titi duet templates and a set of "off-target" howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) templates to reduce false positive results. For duets with a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio > 10 dB (corresponding to a detection radius of ~125 m) our detection approach had a recall (the number of all duets that are correctly detected) of 1.0. Performance decreased when including duets with a lower SNR (recall = 0.71, precision = 0.75). The fact that multiple lines of evidence suggest an effective detection radius of 125 to 200 m for titi duets across upland terra firme and seasonally flooded forest lends support to our findings. We suggest that PAM studies of other cryptic but vocally active species would benefit from following similar experimental and analytic procedures to determine an ARU's effective detection radius and to improve the performance of automated detection algorithms.


New Brillouin and Raman scattering measurements on silica xerogels in a wide range of densities are compared among each other and with data in melt quenched vitreous silica, in the 10-750 K temperature region. In the low frequency part of the Raman spectra, the boson peak characteristic of glasses is observed for all studied densities at low and high temperature when the quasielastic contribution is negligible. The results provide strong evidence of the presence of water in the pores of the silica skeleton.


Online education is expected to grow, bringing new challenges.  One of the biggest challenges concerns the validity of online assessments.  Questions arise about cheating, including whether or not the person taking the assessments is the student registered for the course.  Studies have tried to determine the amount of cheating in online assessments using student self-reporting.  Concern about the validity of these studies has led to quantitative studies attempting to determine the level of cheating in online classes by comparing unproctored online classes against proctored classes.  This quantitative quasi-experimental study uses such an approach, comparing test scores and the amount of time online unproctored students spend on exams against test scores and the amount of time spent on exams by students proctored in a testing center and by students proctored online using software.  The data for each of the three groups, online-unproctored, testing-center-proctored, and software-proctored, were collected for each of the three unit exams, with data samples over 1,000 for each group on each test.  The means of the exam scores of the unproctored online students were similar to the means of the exam scores of the other two groups, but the means for the amount of time the unproctored online students spent on the exams were significantly greater than were the means of the time spent by students in the either of the other two groups.  The increased amount of time spent by the unproctored students likely indicated students looked up answers during the tests.


Abstract 3933 Poster Board III-869 Background Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is a malignancy of lymphocytes with few known risk factors identified to date. Members of the BCL2 and caspase gene families are known regulators of programmed cell death in these cells, and the t(14;18)(q32;q21) is the most commonly observed chromosomal translocation in NHL, a somatic event which results in constitutive BCL2 expression and inhibition of apoptosis. Further, recent pooled analyses of three case-control studies reported gene level associations for both BCL2L11 ( Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18:1259) and CASP9 ( Blood 2009;114:264) with NHL risk. We therefore evaluated the hypothesis that germline variation in genes from the apoptosis pathway is associated with risk of developing NHL. Methods We genotyped 226 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 36 candidate BCL2-family and capsase-family member genes within the apoptosis pathway in a clinic-based study of 441 newly diagnosed NHL cases (within 9 months of first NHL diagnosis) and 475 frequency matched controls from Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin who were seen at the Mayo Clinic from 2002-2005. Tagging SNPs were selected from HapMap for the following candidate genes: BCL2 ; BCLAF1; BCL2LA1 ; BCL2L1 , 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 ; BAD; BAX ; BAG1, 3, 4, 5 ; BAK1; BID; BIK ; BNIP2, 3 ; HRK; CASP1 – CASP10; APAF1; BIRC3; AIF1; and DFFB. Genotyping was completed using the ParAllele (now Affymetrix) Immune and Inflammation SNP panel, supplemented with 9 SNPs from a custom Illumina OPA. SNP call rate and per person call rate were >95% for all SNPs evaluated. The most prevalent homozygous genotype was used as the reference group, and each SNP was modeled individually as having a log-additive effect in a logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, and residence. We used principal components analysis to assess the association with NHL risk at the gene level. Genes at p Results The mean age at diagnosis for cases was 60.1 years, and 58% were male; among controls, the mean age at enrollment into the study was 61.7 years, and 55% were male. The most common NHL subtypes were chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL, 29%), follicular lymphoma (FL, 27%), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL, 16%). In gene level analyses, BCL2L11 (also know as BIM ) (p=0.0019), BLCAF1 (p=0.0097), BAG5 (p=0.026), and CASP9 (p=0.0022) were statistically significant at p BCL2L11 , 2 of the 5 tagSNPs (both intronic) were significant at p BCLAF1 tagSNPs (rs797558 and rs703193, both intronic) were significant, as was the single genotyped BAG5 tagSNP (rs7042474) from the non-coding region interval of an mRNA transcript. Three of the 7 genotyped CASP9 tagSNPs were significant (rs6685648, rs2020902, rs2042370, all intronic). Similar associations (as assessed by ordinal odds ratios) were observed for significant SNPs from BCLAF1 , BAG5, BCL2L11 and CASP9 within the subtypes of CLL/SLL, FL, and DLBCL; however, caution is warranted in interpreting the subtype results due to small sample sizes. Conclusions Three genes from the BCL2 family ( BCL2L11 , BCLAF1, and BAG5) and one gene from the caspase family ( CASP9) were associated with risk of NHL. This confirms gene level results for BCL2L11 and CASP9 in NHL overall and suggests a role for additional BCL2 family members in NHL etiology. In addition to extending these results to other populations, investigation of the functional significance of these genes and consideration of their upstream regulators and downstream targets should assist in clarifying the role of this pathway in lymphomagenesis. Furthermore, in the era of targeted therapeutics, identification of genetic variation in the apoptotic pathway may also assist in predicting prognosis as therapies targeting this pathway are developed. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Theoretical and experimental results on the electrostatic spraying of liquid insulators are presented. The spraying is accomplished by injecting charges into the liquid with a sharp electrode raised to a high potential. The resulting electrical force causes the liquid to form a jet which breaks up into small drops. The droplet size decreases as the injected current is increased. A theory is developed which predicts the radius of the jet for various values of the system parameters. The experiments reported are on liquid hydrogen.


The U.S. plans to install 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. However, the lack of Jones-Act compliant installation vessels means that alternative installation strategies will have to be used in the near to mid-term. One such strategy is to use Jones-Act classed barges or purpose built ships to transport Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) components from port to the offshore location where a foreign vessel can install them. This paper uses numerical simulations to derive the uptime of such an operation for different feeder solutions.


The integration of constraint solvers into proof planning has pushed the problem solving horizon. Proof planning benefits from the general functionalities of a constraint solver such as consistency check, constraint inference, as well as the search for instantiations. However, off-the-shelf constraint solvers need to be extended in order to be be integrated appropriately: In particular, for correctness, the context of constraints and Eigenvariable-conditions have to be taken into account. Moreover, symbolic and numeric constraint inference are combined. This paper discusses the extensions to constraint solving for proof planning, namely the combination of symbolic and numeric inference, first-class constraints, and context trees. We also describe the implementation of these extensions in the constraint solver CoSIℇ.


This article examines the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and regional integration as a pathway to socioeconomic development in Africa and South America. Both regions share a colonial legacy often characterized by stronger economic ties to the developed world than within the regions. In recent decades, regional organizations have been involved in efforts to strengthen the infrastructure for ICTs, as well as the enhancement of economic and political integration as strategies to achieve development. However, the literature continues to show distinct research agendas that unwittingly overlook the connections between these areas. This article proposes a theoretical framework combining research on integration, ICTs, and development. It provides a brief analysis of each region and its ICT initiatives, the potential impact on regional integration, and how this relates to development. We suggest possible applications of the framework to identify and research the processes of integration and expected outcomes of development. Copyright 2009 by The Policy Studies Organization.


AIM
The aim was to identify key patient outcomes and to compare these outcomes across services that employed clinical specialists (either nurse or midwife) or advanced nurse practitioners with matched, non post-holding services.

BACKGROUND
In nursing and evaluation research, it is recognized that, further patient outcome studies, which measure and evaluate the impact of the new advanced roles, are urgently needed.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study design with a comparison group was implemented across Ireland.

METHOD
A total of 279 surveys were completed by service users in 41 services in 2009/10. Key outcomes were identified, then chosen as primary outcomes and assessed for differences across post-holding and the matched comparison sites. To identify the priority of importance of the key outcomes, a logistic regression model was computed with difference in overall care observed (yes or no) as the dependent variable, and gender, age grouping and the key outcomes as the independent predictors.

RESULTS
Analysis revealed that the key outcomes were, on anxieties, dignity and respect, time waited, confidence in the clinician and the clinician making a positive difference. Results of the logistic modelling of the key outcome on noticing any difference in the care given by the clinical specialists or advanced nurse practitioners compared with the care from others revealed that the single most important predictor was being treated with respect.

CONCLUSION
Further studies evaluating advanced health professions roles measuring these six key outcomes, at a minimum, will ensure that service users' main concerns are being accounted for.


Sarcopenia is one of the common complications of cirrhosis. Studies have demonstrated that patients with cirrhosis combined with sarcopenia have a high mortality rate. The occurrence of sarcopenia may be associated with inflammatory states and metabolic abnormalities caused by changes in the gut microbiota environment, but such studies are currently relatively lacking. This article elaborates on the correlation between changes in the gut microbiota environment, as well as the diagnosis and treatment, in order to provide reference and assistance for the treatment of patients with cirrhosis and sarcopenia.


Nowadays, data grids are can be seen as a frameworks responding to the needs large scale applications by affording varied geographically distributed resources set. The main aim here is to ensure a robust and efficient access and quality data, to improve the availability, we must improve application costs and to tolerate the faults. In such systems, these advantages are not yielded by means others than replication mechanisms. The effective use the replication technique involves several problems, in relation with the problem of the coherence maintenance of replicas. Our contribution consists new approach for the consistency management in the data grid. The proposed approach combines between pessimistic and optimistic approaches, taking into account benefits of both approaches, to find a compromise between performance and quality. In addition, our approach has been extended by a mechanism placement of replicas based on models of market economies.


The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TPNP), Chase County, KS, is located in the Flint Hills, part of the largest remaining tract of tallgrass prairie in the world. The waters of TPNP are inhabited by numerous fish species, but no definitive list of fishes occurring in the preserve has been available previously. We compiled records from published literature and unpublished reports of previous ichthyological sampling and monitoring at TPNP, added information from our own sampling, and present a record of 53 fish species found on the Preserve.


Background: Response to therapy for HCV infection varies among individuals. Studies suggest that this variation may be linked to HLA profile. Objectives: We aimed to identifying the HLA class II DR and DQ genotypes in HCV patients with self limiting versus chronic infection undergoing treatment to reveal any association with HLA. Methodology: Three groups of Patients have been enrolled in the study: Group A 30 patients with self-limiting HCV infection. Group B 30 patients with Sustained virological response. Group C 30 chronic HCV patients non responders to therapy.  Samples were subjected to HLA genotyping for 19 HLA-DRB (DRB1*01-16, DRB3-5) and 5 HLADQB (DQB1*02-06) alleles by PCR amplification. Results revealed a significantly higher detection of HLA-DRB1*11(60%, p=0*002) in subjects with self limiting infection in comparison to chronic cases, HLA DRB3 (93.3%, p=0.01) and HLA-DQB1*03 (66.7%, p=0*001). While, HLA-DRB4 detection was significantly higher in chronic HCV patients (80%,p=0*0002)and in patients that failed to respond to treatment (86.7%, p=0.008).Findings revealed that HLA-DRB1*11, DRB3 and DQB1*03 had significantly higher association with subjects with self limiting disease and sustained viral response to treatment. While the HLA- DRB4 showed higher association with non responders to therapy. Conclusion our results confirms that HLA class II type might affect outcome of HCV infection and response to treatment.


It remains poorly understood how different cell types organize and coordinate with each other to support tissue functions. We describe CytoCommunity for identification of tissue cellular neighborhoods (TCNs) based on cell phenotypes and their spatial distributions. CytoCommunity learns a mapping directly from cell phenotype space to TCN space by a graph neural network model without using additional gene or protein expression features and is thus applicable to tissue imaging data with a small number of measured features. By leveraging graph pooling, CytoCommunity enables de novo identification of condition-specific TCNs under the supervision of image labels. Using various types of single-cell-resolution spatial proteomics and transcriptomics images, we demonstrate that CytoCommunity can identify TCNs of variable sizes with substantial improvement over existing methods. To further evaluate the ability of CytoCommunity for discovering condition-specific TCNs by supervised learning, we apply it to colorectal and breast cancer tissue images with clinical outcome information. Our analysis reveals novel granulocyte- and cancer associated fibroblast-enriched TCNs specific to high-risk tumors as well as altered tumor-immune and tumor-stromal interactions within and between TCNs compared to low-risk tumors. CytoCommunity represents the first computational tool for end-to-end unsupervised and supervised analyses of single-cell spatial maps and enables direct discovery of conditional-specific cell-cell communication patterns across variable spatial scales.


This work presents a data-driven explorative study of the physics of the dynamics of a physical structure of complicated geometry. The geometric complexity of the physical system renders the typical single sensor acceleration signal quite complicated for a physics interpretation. We need the spatial dimension to resolve the single sensory signal over its entire time horizon. Thus we are introducing the spatial dimension by the canonical eight-dimensional data cloud (Canonical 8D-Data Cloud) concept to build methods to explore the impact-induced free dynamics of physical complex mechanical structures. The complex structure in this study is a large scale aluminum alloy plate stiffened by a frame made of T-section beams. The Canonical 8D-Data Cloud is identified with the simultaneous acceleration measurements by eight piezoelectric sensors equally spaced and attached on the periphery of a circular material curve drawn on the uniform surface of the stiffened plate. The Data Cloud approach leads to a systematic exploration-discovery-quantification of uncertainty in this physical complex structure. It is found that considerable uncertainty is stemming from the sensitivity of transient dynamics on the parameters of space-time localized force pulses, the latter being used as a means to diagnose the presence of structural anomalies. The Data Cloud approach leads to aspects of machine learning such as reduced dynamics analytics of big sensory data by means of heavenly machine-assisted computations to carry out the unparalleled data reduction analysis enabled by the Advanced Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Transform. Emphasized is the connection between the characteristic geometric features of high-dimensional datasets as a whole, the Data Cloud, and the modal physics of the dynamics.


OBJECTIVE
To report challenges and complications associated with surgical intracranial epidermoid cyst removal from the fourth ventricle of a dog.

STUDY DESIGN
Clinical report.

ANIMAL
Labrador retriever (7 years old) with focal seizures.

METHODS
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an oval lesion in the fourth ventricle. This lesion was heterogeneously hyperintense on T2-weighted and fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) images and hypointense on T1-weighted images. Dilatation of the ventricular system was present. A ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) was placed and the fourth ventricle was approached by suboccipital craniectomy. An oval, white mass was identified in the fourth ventricle. Subtotal removal of the mass was performed.

RESULTS
On the day after surgery, neurologic deterioration was observed. The dog had severe cerebellar and brainstem dysfunction. Histopathologic examination of the removed tissue revealed an epidermoid cyst. The dog experienced gradual neurologic improvement; however, neurologic deterioration beginning at 6 months resulted in euthanasia 8 months after surgery. On necropsy, epidermoid cyst tissue was identified in the fourth ventricle.

CONCLUSION
Surgical removal of an intracranial epidermoid cyst may be complicated by adhesions between the cyst capsule and surrounding neurovascular structures, causing postoperative morbidity and eventual recurrence of clinical signs. These observations should be taken into account when considering surgical removal of an intracranial epidermoid cyst.


Comparisons were made of computed and experimental data in three-dimensional unsteady transonic aerodynamics, including aeroelastic applications. The computer code LTRAN3, which is based on smalldisturbance aerodynamic theory, was used to obtain the aerodynamic data. A procedure based on the U-g method was developed to compute flutter boundaries by using the unsteady aerodynamic coefficients obtained from LTRAN3. The experimental data were obtained from available NASA publications. All of the studies were conducted for thin, unswept, rectangular wings with circular-arc cross sections. Numerical and experimental steady and unsteady aerodynamic data were compared for a wing with an aspect ratio of 3 and a thickness ratio of 5% at Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9. Flutter data were compared for a wing with an aspect ratio of 5. Two thickness ratios, 6% at Mach numbers of 0.715, 0.851, and 0.913, and 4% at Mach number of 0.904, were considered. Based on the unsteady aerodynamic data obtained from LTRAN3, flutter boundaries were computed; they were compared with those obtained from experiments and the code NASTRAN, which uses linear aerodynamics.


In terms of popularity, geodynamics is a relatively new area of the Earth Sciences that is concerned with understanding the mostly large-scale processes occurring within the Earth's interior, such as heat generation and transfer, isostasy, mantle convection, faulting, etc. This new textbook by Taras Gerya attempts to provide 'a practical, hands-on introduction to numerical geodynamic modelling for inexperienced people'. This point is emphasised within the introduction section to the book, which prepares the reader for the emphasis on numerical modelling that underpins a large part of geodynamics. In particular, the author presents his seven 'Golden Rules' that readers are advised …


Technological developments in e-learning systems provide new opportunities for students to enhance academic growth and improve access to education. E-learning is on the rise because it has advantages over conventional learning. The need for time is a faster and simpler learning experience. The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in school closures around the world. More than one billion students are out of the classroom worldwide. As a consequence, education has taken on a new shape, with a major increase in e-learning, whereby teaching is carried out online and on digital platforms. The scope of this research is to identify the facial expressions of the students and then link these expressions to the cognitive states. This paper presents a hybrid-CNN model to recognize a learner's cognitive state using the manually engineered features and features extracted from the convolutional neural network. In addition, the performance of the model is compared with the manual feature extraction method and CNN methods separately. The proposed method trained and tested with the spontaneous database(DAiSEE) created exclusively for the elearning environment, and with the state-of-the-art datasets such as JAFFE and CK+. The model has achieved 53.4%, 71.4%, and 99.95% respectively.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome and complication in patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) posted for percutaneous balloon compression (PBC). Materials and Methods: The study included twenty patients of idiopathic TN presented in the outpatient department of pain clinic posted for PBC from the years 2016 to 2018. All patients were followed up for 6 months after the balloon compression of Gasserian ganglion. Out of the twenty patients, 40% were female and 60% were male. The mean age was 55.4 years (range: 37–70 years). These patients were on antineuropathic (carbamazepine, baclofen, and gabapentin) drugs with inadequate pain relief and 13 patients also had undergone radiofrequency ablation. PBC of Gasserian ganglion was planned by the technique described by Mullan and Lichtor in all patients. Visual Analog Score (VAS) and Barrow Neurological Intensity (BNI) score were compared pre and post procedure. Intraoperative and postoperative complications and side effects were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Eighteen out of twenty patients (90%) had excellent results with improvement in the VAS and BNI scores, which was statistically significant. The difference between the mean change in VAS and BNI scores for single nerve and multiple nerve roots was not statistically significant. Nearly 85% (17) of the patients had initial facial numbness, which improved in about 3 months. Only 10% of the patients had residual facial numbness, which was mild in nature and not bothersome to the patients. Masseter muscle weakness was present in seven (35%) patients. No patient reported corneal anesthesia or any other complications. Intraoperatively, four patients (20%) experienced moderate-to-severe bradycardia during entry to the foramen ovale and on inflation of the Fogarty balloon, which responded to injection atropine 0.6 mg intravenously stat. Conclusion: Hereby, we state that PBC is an effective and safe method with marked improvement in pain scores and improvement in quality of life of patients of idiopathic TN.


We formulate conjectural blowup formulas for Segre and Verlinde numbers on moduli spaces of sheaves on projective surfaces S with pg(S) > 0 and b1(S) = 0. As applications we give a give a conjectural formula for the Donaldson invariants of S in arbitrary rank, as well as for the K-theoretic Donaldson invariants, and some Donaldson invariants with fundamental matters.


The research programme on aquacultural treatment of nightsoil has been conducted at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for about 10 years. This paper emphasizes only the research scheme in which nightsoil is fed directly into single-stage, non-flow-through ponds for the production of algae and fish Tilapia (Qreochromisniloticus). The culture of herbivorous fish such as Tilapia in the same pond to graze on the algae is practical, in order to produce the fish protein biomass which is easily harvestable for animal (or human) food. Dynamic and empirical models describing the performance of nightsoil-fed fish ponds were developed to simulate the temporal changes of various physico-chemical and biological parameters including dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, bacteria, algae, and fish growth. These models were based on the basic mechanisms and phenomena occurring in the ponds, and the simulated results calculated from the Continuous System Modelling Programme (CSMP) computer package available at the AIT Regional Computer Center.


Quaternary faulting and background seismicity in the southern Sierra Nevada microplate are concentrated east and south of the Isabella anomaly, a high-velocity body in the upper mantle interpreted to be lower Sierra lithosphere that is foundering into the asthenosphere. We analyzed seismicity in this region to evaluate patterns of upper crustal deformation above and adjacent to the Isabella anomaly. Earthquakes in the southern Sierra and San Joaquin Valley were relocated using joint hypocentral inversion and double-difference techniques, and groups of focal mechanisms were inverted for the components of a reduced deformation rate tensor. The deformation field derived from this analysis reveals two distinct departures from horizontal plane strain associated with distributed northwest-directed dextral shear east of the Pacific plate: (1) heterogeneous extension and crustal thinning in the high Sierra and western foothills east of the Isabella anomaly; and (2) pronounced counterclockwise rotation of the principal strains from regional trends in the southwestern Sierra Nevada and across the Kern Arch. Based on comparison with a three-dimensional tomographic model, the extension in the southern Sierra is spatially associated with relatively thinner crust and anomalous low P-wave speeds in the upper mantle (40–90 km depth range) directly east of the Isabella anomaly. These relations suggest that seismogenic crustal thinning is localized above upwelling asthenosphere that is replacing foundering lithosphere. Counterclockwise rotation of strain trajectories in the southwest Sierra occurs southeast of the Isabella anomaly, and is associated with seismogenic west-northwest–striking dextral faults. We suggest that the deformation here represents westward encroachment of dextral shear into the microplate from the eastern California shear zone and southern Walker Lane belt. The strain rotation may reflect the presence of local stresses associated with relaxation of subsidence in the vicinity of the Isabella anomaly. Westward propagation of foundering lithosphere, with spatially associated patterns of upper crustal deformation similar to those documented herein, can account for observed late Cenozoic time- and space-transgressive deformation in the southern Walker Lane belt east of the Isabella anomaly, and is a potentially observable consequence of the foundering process in other orogens.