The current study explored the internal conflicts of a diverse group of undergraduate students as leadership development experiences challenge students' pre-existing attitudes and beliefs of what comprises effective leadership. Interviews with 23 undergraduate students uncovered two consistent conflicts within the minds of emerging leaders, often experienced unconsciously: (a) the recognition of the need to serve the group while also exhibiting command over followers and (b) the desire to adapt to changing circumstances while also remaining resolute in personal chosen courses of action. The particular internal contradictions, common to students in the study across gender and racial lines, imply a structure of predictable cognitive transition as emerging leaders work toward internalizing group-inclusive concepts associated with contemporary leadership practices. The study's findings possess several implications for leadership educators—in higher education and external organizations—in the ways these professionals create both formal and informal developmental experiences for undergraduate students.


Fifteen morphophysiological fresh fruit characteristics were evaluated in purelines derived from 24 accessions of Capsicum chinense (Jacq.) to determine the association of these attributes with shelf life. The accessions were planted under field conditions (Elibox et al., 2015) in a randomized complete block design with three replications; and replicate fruits collected from the fifth harvest were evaluated for color (CIE L*a*b*), weight, length, width, volume, surface area, surface area to volume ratio, epicuticular wax content and thickness of cuticle, exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp, and pericarp. Differences between accessions for all the morphophysiological characteristics were significant at P < 0.001. When the characteristics were subjected to Pearson's correlation with shelf life parameters viz. weight loss, days to 20% pedicel necrosis and days to incipient pericarp necrosis (Elibox et al., 2015), nine (initial color lab space a*, b*, L*; weight, width, volume, surface area, surface area to volume ratio and exocarp thickness) were positively or negatively associated with shelf life. Accessions with wide fruits were generally heavier, had a larger volume, larger surface area, smaller surface area to volume ratio and took longer time to attain 20% pedicel and incipient pericarp necrosis (had longer shelf lives). Accessions with greener, darker fruit colors at physiological maturity had longer shelf lives and those with heavier fruits and possessing thicker exocarps had lower rates of weight (water) loss. Of the characteristics that were associated with shelf life, three, viz. fruit volume, width and surface area to volume ratio were highly autocorrelated and were found to be able to reliably predict shelf life on the day of harvest. As fruit volume and width are easy to measure and showed the strongest correlations with shelf life parameters, they could be used as reliable indicators of shelf life in pepper breeding.


—Wireless LANs, especially WiFi, have been perva- sively deployed and have fostered myriad wireless communication services and ubiquitous computing applications. A primary con- cern in designing each scenario-tailored application is to combat harsh indoor propagation environments, particularly Non-Line- Of-Sight (NLOS) propagation. The ability to distinguish Line-Of-Sight (LOS) path from NLOS paths acts as a key enabler for adaptive communication, cognitive radios, robust localization, etc. Enabling such capability on commodity WiFi infrastructure, however, is prohibitive due to the coarse multipath resolution with mere MAC layer RSSI. In this work, we dive into the PHY layer and strive to eliminate irrelevant noise and NLOS paths with long delays from the multipath channel responses. To further break away from the intrinsic bandwidth limit of WiFi, we extend to the spatial domain and harness natural mobility to magnify the randomness of NLOS paths while retaining the deterministic nature of the LOS component. We prototype LiFi, a statistical LOS identification scheme for commodity WiFi infrastructure and evaluate it in typical indoor environments covering an area of 1500m 2 . Experimental results demonstrate an overall LOS identification rate of 90.4% with a false alarm rate of 9.3%.


High levels of sparsity and strong class imbalance are ubiquitous challenges that are often presented simultaneously in real-world time series data. While most methods tackle each problem separately, our proposed approach handles both in conjunction, while imposing fewer assumptions on the data. In this work, we propose leveraging a self-supervised learning method, specifically Autoregressive Predictive Coding (APC), to learn relevant hidden representations of time series data in the context of both missing data and class imbalance. We apply APC using either a GRU or GRUD encoder on two real-world datasets, and show that applying one-step-ahead prediction with APC improves the classification results in all settings. In fact, by applying GRU-D APC, we achieve state-of-the-art AUPRC results on the Physionet benchmark.


With an increase in the geriatric population, dental care professionals are presented with older patients who are managing their comorbidities using multiple medications. In this study, we developed a system to extract medication information from electronic dental records (EDRs) and provided patient distribution by the number of medications.


ABSTRACT Paper punch-out dots soaked in isopropyl alcohol will move about randomly when placed flat on the surface of water, superficially resembling swimming movements of single-celled protists. This exercise is a hands-on and dynamic activity to generate discussion on the generally accepted characteristics of living things.


Binary morphological operations are an important means for real time image processing applications. While fixed size structuring elements are sufficient for usual image processing steps, more sophisticated algorithms require structuring elements of variable shape. These operations can be realized by using Boolean logic in connection with dead time elements, which leads to a straightforward implementation if using FPGAs.


Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained during childhood is known to impact children's executive functioning. However, few studies have focused specifically on executive functioning after preschool TBI. TBI has also been associated with sleep disturbances, which are known to impair executive functions in healthy children. The aim of this study was to investigate executive functions in preschoolers with mild TBI, and to determine the role of sleep in the links between TBI and executive functioning. Methods: The sample was drawn from a longitudinal study and included 167 children, aged 18 to 60 months, divided into 2 groups: children with accidental mild TBI ( n =84) and typically developing children ( n =83). Children were assessed 6 months post-injury on executive function measures (inhibition and cognitive flexibility) and sleep measures (actigraphy data and parental rating of sleep problems). Results: The two groups did not differ in their executive abilities. However, relative to controls, children with mild TBI and shorter nighttime sleep duration or increased sleep problems exhibited poorer executive functions. Conclusions: These results support a "double hazard" effect, whereby the combination of sleep disturbances and mild TBI results in poorer executive functions. The findings highlight the importance of assessing and monitoring the quality of sleep even after mild head injuries. Poor sleep may place children at risk for increased cognitive difficulties. ( JINS , 2018, 24 , 769–780)


The EEG signal is modeled as an autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) process. The performance of the canonical correlation analysis algorithm to estimate the order of the AR and MA polynomials for real and simulated EEG signals is investigated. It is shown that for records of 5-s duration or more the algorithm gives good and consistent estimates of the model order and AR coefficients and is insensitive to the location of the poles relative to the unit circle. The method is also insensitive to the percentage energy in the component waves.<<ETX>>


ABSTRACT The present study examines the siblings' contribution to shaping the language practices and language environment of immigrant families. The data consist of interviews, observations, and video recordings of everyday family interactions and sibling play in five Iranian families residing in Sweden. Detailed interaction analyses show that siblings targeted various aspects of each other's language use (heritage languages, Swedish, and English). They corrected each other's language use and choices and requested and provided language instructions when language-related problems occurred. However, the main language of siblings' talk was Swedish. The siblings addressed the multifaceted linguistic demands of Swedish society and helped to develop each other's multiple languages. Simultaneously, however, by primarily using Swedish, they were contributing to language shift. The study broadens the focus of family language policy studies (i.e., parents' views on family language planning or parent-child dyadic interactions) and adds to the underresearched area of family bilingualism and heritage language maintenance.


MicroRNAs (miRs) and heterogeneous ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are post-transcriptional gene regulators that bind to mRNA in a sequence-specific manner. We showed that hnRNP-E2 inhibits myeloid maturation of bone marrow (BM) progenitors from chronic myelogenous leukemia patients in myeloid blast crisis (CML-BC) by suppressing CEBPA mRNA translation. We report here that loss of miR-328 is induced by BCR/ABL and specifically occurs in CML-BC, and its restored expression rescues differentiation and impairs clonogenic potential of BCR/ABL + BM progenitors. Accordingly, miR-328 increases during granulocytic differentiation of human CD34 + and mouse LSK BM stem/progenitor cells. Mechanistically, BCR/ABL uses the MAPK-hnRNP-E2 pathway to suppress C/EBPα and miR-328 expression as pharmacologic inhibition of and/or shRNAs against these molecules efficiently restore miR-328 expression. Interestingly, two functional C/EBPα binding sites are present in the miR-328 promoter and positively regulate its transcription. We also show that maturation of differentiation-arrested BCR/ABL + blasts requires direct interaction of hnRNP-E2 with the miR-328 C-rich regions. Moreover, imatinib treatment restores miR-328 expression, thus allowing its direct binding to hnRNP E2 independent from the RISC complex. Importantly, physiological miR-328 expression decreased hnRNP E2 binding to the uORF/spacer region of endogenous CEBPA mRNA (decoy activity). This, in turn, releases CEBPA mRNA from hnRNP E2 translation inhibition and allows in vitro and in vivo BCR/ABL + cell differentiation. Although hnRNP E2 was not found in complex with the basic RISC components in BCR/ABL + cells, miR-328 was found associated to Dicer and Ago2, suggesting that miR-328 also acts through base-pairing with the 3′UTR of mRNA targets in a RISC-dependent manner. In fact, miR-328 suppresses PIM1 protein but not mRNA expression and this effect requires the integrity of the PIM1 3′UTR. Indeed, forced expression of a wild type, but not a kinase-deficient, PIM1 lacking the 3′UTR into miR-328-expressing cells fully rescues BCR/ABL clonogenicity, suggesting that miR-328-induced inhibition of PIM1 accounts for reduced survival of miR-328-infected CML-BC CD34+ blasts. To demonstrate that miR-328 acts on PIM1 in a RISC-dependent manner, we mutated the miR-328 in the seed sequence (miR-328-Mut) while retaining its C-rich character. As expected, miR-328-Mut interacted with hnRNP-E2 and rescued C/EBPα-mediated differentiation, but did not silence PIM1 expression. Thus, the discovery of dual activities for miR-328 which affect myeloid differentiation and survival not only adds a layer to the complexity of mechanisms regulating CML-BC but also highlights the ability of miRNAs to alter mRNA metabolism by acting as molecular decoys for RNA binding proteins. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1950.


Orange peels were evaluated as a fermentation feedstock, and process conditions for enhanced ethanol production were determined. Primary hydrolysis of orange peel powder (OPP) was carried out at acid concentrations from 0 to 1.0% (w/v) at 121 degrees C and 15 psi for 15 min. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of sugars and inhibitory compounds showed a higher production of hydroxymethyfurfural and acetic acid and a decrease in sugar concentration when the acid level was beyond 0.5% (w/v). Secondary hydrolysis of pretreated biomass obtained from primary hydrolysis was carried out at 0.5% (w/v) acid. Response surface methodology using three factors and a two-level central composite design was employed to optimize the effect of pH, temperature, and fermentation time on ethanol production from OPP hydrolysate at the shake flask level. On the basis of results obtained from the optimization experiment and numerical optimization software, a validation study was carried out in a 2 L batch fermenter at pH 5.4 and a temperature of 34 degrees C for 15 h. The hydrolysate obtained from primary and secondary hydrolysis processes was fermented separately employing parameters optimized through RSM. Ethanol yields of 0.25 g/g on a biomass basis (YP/X) and 0.46 g/g on a substrate-consumed basis (YP/S) and a promising volumetric ethanol productivity of 3.37 g/L/h were attained using this process at the fermenter level, which shows promise for further scale-up studies.


An accurate three dimensional computer reconstruction of microscopic biological objects or distribution of molecules identified on serial sections must solve two major problems: 1) the alignment of sections using adequate extrinsic references (fiducial markers); 2) the impossibility of observing these references and the cellular or molecular structures in the microscope at the same magnification. To provide extrinsic references for objects embedded in soft media, we have modified and simplified the charcoal-paraffin method described by Langemeijer and Simons (1973). It consists of drilling three or four small holes into the paraffin block, sealing this block at the extremity of a glass holder and, from the other extremity of the holder attached to a rubber hose, aspirating a liquefied mixture of charcoal-paraffin to fill these cylindrical holes. An alignment procedure was developed using serial sections of mouse embryonic hearts with bromodeoxyuridine-labelled DNA synthesizing cells. From each fourth section, two sets of contours have been drawn and digitized: 1) at low magnification (about 40x), embryo body wall, heart, neural tube and extrinsic reference marks (black dots); 2) at higher magnification (240-300x): heart contours alone (without extrinsic references, but with individual labelled cells). Different operations of the computer-aided alignment, as well as checking of results by inverse alignment, are described in detail. This two-step alignment method offers a practical, efficient compromise between: a) purely subjective alignment based only on tissular landmarks interpreted by the operator; b) ideal perfect alignment based not only on adequate references, but on computerized correction of section deformation, as well.


As2O3 has been reported to induce apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation of various human cancer cells. We evaluated the ability of a novel arsenic compound, As4O6, along with As2O3 in vitro and in vivo. To examine the levels of apoptosis of HPV 16-positive SiHa cervical cancer cell, flow cytometry and Western blotting were employed at various time intervals after two arsenic compound treatments. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) was applied to investigate the differential cell death pathway of As4O6 and As2O3. The results showed that As4O6 was more effective in suppressing SiHa cell growth in vitro and in vivo compared to As2O3. In addition, the cell cycle was arrested at the sub-G1 phase by As4O6. Western blot analysis showed that the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Bcl-XL with sequence homology to Bcl-2 were significantly suppressed by As4O6. However, the apoptosis-related proteins such as p21 and Bax were overexpressed by As4O6. IPA suggested that there is a significant difference between As2O3- and As4O6-induced cell death pathways. Taken together, As4O6 has a specific cell death pathway and possesses more potent anti-tumor effects on human cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.


The Vallcebre research basins are representative of Mediterranean mountain areas originally coverea oy Quercus pubescens, but deforested for agricultural use in me past. Nowadays they are mainly covered by mesophyle grasses with spontaneous afforestation by Pinus sylvestris covering 64% of the basins' area. Various projects to study water fluxes in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere continuum have been undertaken since 1994. The main objective of these studies was to analyse the effect of vegetation cover on basin water balance in a framework of climate and land use change. The dynamics and temporal variability of soil moisture, transpiration and rainfall interception by Pinus sylvestris and Quercus pubescens are investigated in terms of their dependence on meteorological conditions and, in the case of transpiration, on soil moisture and water table depth. The role of vegetation in basin water balance is also analysed. The results underline the importance of rainfall interception losses, accounting for about 24% of bulk rainfall for the Scots pine and between 6 and 24% for the pubescent oak. The high temporal variability of interception dependent on the meteorological conditions and on rainfall event characteristics was also stressed. The effect of forest cover was apparent when comparing neighbouring soil moisture profiles under forest and under grassland, with the former being characteristically drier mainly due to interception losses. Transpiration of the Scots pines was double that found in the nearby pubescent oak stand. Scots pine showed a strong reduction of transpiration during the dry summer periods, even in the studied area where the annual rainfall exceeds the reference evapotranspiration. Pubescent oak was less affected by soil moisture deficits. The physiological responses to water deficits of both species indicated that Scots pine was more vulnerable to xylem embolism while the pubescent oak was more resistant to extreme drought events. The results also show a link between water table depth and the ability of the Scots pine to meet the evaporative demand, suggesting that trees are able to extract water from rather deep water storage. Rainfall interception and tree transpiration processes have been modelled (Gash and Jarvis-type models, respectively) at the plot scale with two objectives: the comprehension of the two processes, and the analysis of the uncertainty associated with the modelling. Finally, understanding of vegetation-related hydrological processes was used to develop the TOPBAL model which is a TOPMODEL modification developed for an improved simulation of the response of basins with diverse vegetation types and high climatic seasonality. TOPBAL explicitly considers rainfall interception by vegetation and the two-way exchanges between the root-unsaturated store and the phreatic store. It allows simulation of semi-distributed soil moisture. The results indicate that compared to the original TOPMODEL, TOPBAL has improved the simulation of recession curves and water balance.


A new species of the genus Antarctobius Fairmaire (1885) from Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) is described and illustrated: A. malvinensis Posadas and Morrone n. sp. (type locality: East Falkland, Mt. Usborne). A key to the species of the genus is presented. A cladistic analysis of the species of Antarctobius, based on 25 characters from the external morphology, genitalia, and body vestiture, is undertaken. The resulting cladogram shows the following sequence: ((A. lacunosus (A. hyadesii, A. vulsus) (A. malvinensis (A. yefacel, A. bidentatus (A. rugirostris (A. abditus (A. germaini, A. falklandicus))))))).


Keyphrases efficiently summarize a document's content and are used in various document processing and retrieval tasks. Several unsupervised techniques and classifiers exist for extracting keyphrases from text documents. Most of these methods operate at a phrase-level and rely on part-of-speech (POS) filters for candidate phrase generation. In addition, they do not directly handle keyphrases of varying lengths. We overcome these modeling shortcomings by addressing keyphrase extraction as a sequential labeling task in this paper. We explore a basic set of features commonly used in NLP tasks as well as predictions from various unsupervised methods to train our taggers. In addition to a more natural modeling for the keyphrase extraction problem, we show that tagging models yield significant performance benefits over existing state-of-the-art extraction methods.


Plato's Epistles are among the most disputed texts of antiquity. Were they written by Plato? Some of them? all? none? Answers have varied wildly: at times all thirteen have been declared forgeries, alien to the thought and character of the Plato we know from the dialogues; at other times, the whole set has been accepted as a genuine, if unexpected, revelation of the life and preoccupations of Plato as a man. Since this debate has so far proved intractable, I would like to take a different approach to the question. The Epistles themselves raise obsessively the question of authenticity. If, laying aside all issues of provenance for the time being, we read the thirteen letters as a corpus (whether by Plato or someone else), what emerges from this philosophical 'text' is the impossibility of an authentic written philosophy and of an authoritative self-present philosopher.


Abstract Bio-energy (like other renewable energy sources) is proposed as a solution for climate change and other energy-related and economic issues. The predominant production model, however, which is based on first-generation biofuels developed on a global scale, creates ecological impacts throughout the production chain, resulting in a sustainability paradox, as well as social unrest and territorial conflict. Therefore, attention here is focussed on agro-energy and second-generation biofuels, investigating the structural differences, the advantages, the potential problems and the possible solutions of some local biofuel initiatives in North Western Europe. Finally, we propose a regional agrarian model to avoid the impacts and contradictions of the global industrial model, to produce a better ecological balance at both the local and the global levels, and to improve the democratic character of energy governance. In addition, we suggest a paradigmatic reading to better understand the cultural, political and socio-economic implications of the two models.


We address two key challenges in end-to-end event coreference resolution research: (1) the error propagation problem, where an event coreference resolver has to assume as input the noisy outputs produced by its upstream components in the standard information extraction (IE) pipeline; and (2) the data annotation bottleneck, where manually annotating data for all the components in the IE pipeline is prohibitively expensive. This is the case in the vast majority of the world's natural languages, where such annotated resources are not readily available. To address these problems, we propose to perform joint inference over a lightly supervised IE pipeline, where all the models are trained using either active learning or unsupervised learning. Using our approach, only 25% of the training sentences in the Chinese portion of the ACE 2005 corpus need to be annotated with entity and event mentions in order for our event coreference resolver to surpass its fully supervised counterpart in performance.


From the practical standpoint of view the A-aDO2 proved to be a good parameter for evaluation of global gas exchange. The endexspiratory oxygen pressure, recorded by mass spectrometry, is set equal to the alveolar oxygen pressure. Therefore it is possible for clinical use to have an on line monitoring of PETO2--PaO2. It is necessary to specify the pressure difference in dependence of the inspiratory oxygen pressure since the alveolo-arterial oxygen pressure difference increases with increasing inspiratory oxygen pressure concentration. For practical clinical purposes we come out with the relative ratio of the difference adjusted to the alveolar oxygen pressure. The alveolar-arterial oxygen quotient also called "quotient": formula: (see text) has proved to be a clinical suitable figure. For this quotient are no standard norms reported in the literature. This study was set up to evaluate the quotient in 9 healthy volunteers. The standard norms, found in our study, can basically used for practical clinical purposes. This quotient is demonstrated to be practicable in intensive care medicine (obstructive pulmonary disease, acute pulmonary failure, positive pressure ventilation).


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common complications after urologic surgery. Current American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines recommend antibiotic prophylaxis in patients undergoing cystoscopy with manipulation (including ureteral stent removal). However, there is little evidence that this practice prevents UTI. Our objective was to investigate current practice patterns of urologists in the use of antibiotic prophylaxis prior to ureteral stent removal. METHODS: An anonymous online survey was distributed to members of the Endourological Society. The survey included questions about provider demographics, personal practice for ureteral stent use and removal, and antibiotics prophylaxis prior to stent removal. RESULTS: Of the 2,544 urologists invited to participate, 284 (11%) completed the survey. Demographic information is outlined in Table 1. Half do not prescribe antibiotics while the stent is in place. Of those who give antibiotic prophylaxis before stent removal, 52% prescribe a single dose. There is variation in antibiotic prophylaxis by method of stent removal and surgery leading to stent placement (Figure 1). Forty-three percent do not obtain a urine culture (UC) prior to stent removal. For those who obtain a UC, duration of antibiotic treatment varies based on UC results (Figure 2). Main factors influencing practice are AUA guidelines, personal experience, patient history of UTI and UC results. CONCLUSIONS: There is significant variation in practice among urologists regarding antibiotic prophylaxis prior to stent removal. Without evidence to support this practice, patients may be exposed unnecessarily to harm related to antibiotic use without a clear benefit. This lack of consensus highlights the need for additional research and development of guidelines. Table. No title available. Figure. No caption available. Figure. No caption available. Source of Funding: None


Self paced modules help you learn how to be a confident and competent researcher. How to know when you need information, what kind, how much, and how to seek, find, evaluate, and effectively use information.


More than a quarter of working-age households in the United States do not have sufficient savings to cover their expenditures after a month of unemployment. Recent proposals suggest giving workers early access to a small portion of their future Social Security benefits to finance their consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. We empirically analyze their impact. Relying on data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we build a measure of households' expected time to cash shortfall based on the incidence of COVID-induced unemployment. We show that access to 1% of future benefits allows 75% of households to maintain their current consumption for three months in case of unemployment. We then compare the efficacy of access to Social Security benefits to already legislated approaches, including early access to retirement accounts, stimulus relief checks, and expanded unemployment insurance.


Tuberculous persons tend to live longer, i.e. death from tuberculosis has shifted to the older age groups. Cavitating processes frequently accompany intestinal tuberculosis, but not tuberculosis of the bones and joints. Fungus infections were found in 36 of 846 post mortem examinations, in 22 cases in association with tuberculosis.


text being early. Many of the references to other scholars seem to imply some form of conspiracy; on one page, for example, views with which Kitchen disagrees are 'reactionary', 'panicky' and 'desperate'. In some ways most curious of all is the stress on archaeology as showing the similarity of Israel's history and institutions to those of her neighbours in order to support a view of the Bible which wants to stress the difference between Israel and those neighbours.


Nevus comedonicus is a very rare skin disorder characterized by the presence of comedo-like dilated pores with keratinous plugs, rarely resulting in painful recurrent inflammatory nodules or cysts. It presents as localized or extensive form. It displays unilaterally or bilaterally segmental distribution. Histopathologically, it is characterized by keratin-filled epidermal invagination with bulbous proliferation of keratinocytes. The condition may be caused by fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 mutation. Although it may be controlled by a variety of therapeutic modalities, it is difficult to achieve complete resolution. We report a case of extensive nevus comedonicus with inflammatory nodules and cysts controlled with adalimumab.


The 32-channels ASIC with a unique dynamic range from 1 to 40000 mips, signal to noise ratio not less than 2.5 at a shaper peaking time of 2 μs and a low power consumption of 1.5 mW/channel has been designed. The transfer function of the charge sensitive amplifier (CSA), having two subranges of various gains, allowed to reach high dynamic range of the readout electronics. The subranges are automatically switched. Two ASICs were installed on a ladder construction which also contains an ADC, a microprocessor and a power supply. The ASIC and the ladder were created for the minicalorimeter of the NUCLEON experiment. The goal of the NUCLEON satellite mission is to measure the elemental (Z from 1 to 30) energy spectra of highenergy (1011 -1015 eV) cosmic rays. The ladder has been tested at the SPS. The ladder can also be used for other future HEP and space cosmic ray experiments.


A regularisation procedure for neural-network reduction in order to obtain the best results for load forecasting in a power system is presented. The OBD pruning method was applied in the solution. The numerical experiments were concentrated on the prognosis of the load in the power system. Two kinds of experiments are described: a 24-hour forecast and the forecast of the daily mean of the load. It was shown that the application of the regularisation of the neural network employed for prediction resulted in a significant improvement of the forecasting accuracy.


Tattoo reactions to ink or carrier solutions used in tattooing have previously been reported following initial tattooing, or re-tattooing. Induration, pruritus, nodules, and papules represent the most common clinical presentations. Hypersensitivity to components of red dye, such as mercuric sulfide, and other metal salts, such as cobalt blue, chrome green, cadmium yellow, and nickel have been identified. We report an unusual case of red ink tattoo reaction arising simultaneously in multiple old tattoos following the ingestion of felodipine. Our patient developed a multi-faceted allergic reaction, including dyspnea, fatigue, myalgias, weakness, and thick, well-marginated, indurated plaques confined to the red pigment within numerous multi-colored tattoos, one and a half weeks after initial ingestion of felodipine. Biopsy showed an interface dermatitis with a lymphohistiocytic dermal infiltrate and pigment incontinence. Cessation of felodipine resulted in resolution of the systemic symptoms and rapid, albeit incomplete, improvement of the red plaques within the tattoos.


Neurofibromatosis type 1 is a common neurocutaneous disorder, mostly caused by mutations in the NF1 gene. To identify the molecular genetic etiology of neurofibromatosis type 1 in two familiar and three sporadic cases of Han Chinese, DNA was isolated from the peripheral blood of eight patients in two NF1 pedigrees, three sporadic cases, and 100 unrelated healthy controls. Mutation screening for coding and exon-intron boundary sequences of NF1 gene was performed. Three novel missense mutations, c.601T>A in exon 4, c.871G>T in exon 6, and c.1448A>G in exon 10, were identified. These mutations provided new data for the spectrum of NF1 mutations causing neurofibromatosis type 1.


Development of World Health Organization (WHO) Rational Use of Medicines concept internationally and its implementation in the Russian Federation is reviewed. The need to consolidate efforts for the introduction of the WHO-developed strategy for the use of medicines improvement is explained. The WHO strategy to improve the use of medicines is described. Abundance of medicines, medicinal products and various formulations of the same active substances, as well as of promotional materials, which often mislead healthcare community and consumers, requires establishment of a system promoting effective and safe use of medicines and ensuring access to essential medicines of all members of the society. The factors which contribute to irrational use of medicines, avoidable causes, and consequences of irrational use of medicines are presented. Current situation in the Russian Federation regarding the use of medicines: legal and regulatory framework, the results of the registration process, documents valid on a national level and in particular regions that determine pharmaceutical policy is described in detail. Methodology of assessing prescribing practices and medicine consumption recommended by the World Health Organization for implementation and use globally is revealed. The implementation of the WHO concept of the rational use of medicines in the Republic of Tatarstan is described as an example. An illustration of the authors' findings on effects of clinical pharmacology services on containment of medicines' costs at the level of internal diseases department of municipal hospital is presented. The leading thesis of WHO Rational Use of Medicines concept - the establishment of independent multidisciplinary regional structures responsible for the quality use of medicines - is substantiated.


Recent studies suggest that exosomes are involved in intercellular communication required for the maintenance of healthy bone. Exosomes are small (30-150 nm in diameter) extracellular vesicles that are formed in multivesicular bodies and are released from cells as the multivesicular bodies fuse with the plasma membrane. Regulatory exosomes have the capacity to exert profound control over target cells. They can stimulate plasma membrane receptors and are also internalized by the target cell delivering proteins, lipids, small molecules and functional RNAs from the cell of origin. We and others have recently reported on regulatory exosomes from osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Key candidate molecules identified in exosome-based regulation of bone remodelling include receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B (RANK), RANK-ligand (RANKL), ephrinA2, semaphorin 4D, microRNA-146a and microRNA- 214-3p. Exosomes will likely prove to be crucial elements in the communication networks integrating bone cells (osteoclasts, osteoblasts, osteocytes) and linking bone to other tissue. Exosomes collected from bone cells grown in culture may prove useful to augment bone remodelling associated with orthodontic force application or required for the repair of craniofacial bone. Various technologies allow exosomes to be engineered to improve their targeting and efficacy for therapeutic purposes. In summary, exosomes have emerged as important elements of the machinery for intercellular communication between bone cells. They hold great promise as therapeutic targets, biomarkers and therapeutic agents for orthodontists.


In this hands-on exercise, students develop and manage a successful retail pop-up store for one week in Tucson Mall in the city of Tucson. This is the final process in a two-semester project that involves the comprehensive business planning and execution process from idea generation, business planning, merchandise planning, investor pitch, vendor selection, product development, vendor selection and execution. Students work as teams to achieve maximum revenue and profits over a full week and, most importantly, develop a genuine understanding of the challenges of developing and executing a retail concept. The learning objectives of this year-long project are 1) to help students to understand how learning by doing in an ever-changing and unpredictable environment may have substantial advantages over traditional analysis, research, and business planning; 2) to find solutions for customers' wants; 3) to execute an actual business with their own innovative products; 4) to explore the trade-offs that entrepreneurs face as they start a new business or launch a product or service; 5) to build team work, communication, and leadership skills.


Background: Liquiritin (LQ) and its aglycone, liquiritigenin (LQG), are major flavonoids in licorice root (Glycyrrhiza spp.). Our preliminary screening identified LQ and LQG, which promote melanin synthesis in the melanoma cells. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of melanin synthesis activated by LQ and LQG. Methods: Murine (B16-F1) and human (HMVII) melanoma cell lines were treated with LQ or LQG. After incubation, melanin contents, intracellular tyrosinase activity, and cell viability were evaluated. Protein levels were determined using Western blotting. Results: LQ and LQG activated melanin synthesis and intracellular tyrosinase activity. The induction of melanin and intracellular tyrosinase activity by LQG was higher than that by LQ. LQ and LQG induced the expression of tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1, and TRP-2. LQ and LQG also enhanced microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) expression, and cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation. The phosphorylation of p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), but not Akt, was significantly increased by LQ or LQG. Furthermore, LQ- or LQG-mediated melanin synthesis was partially blocked by p38 inhibitor (SB203580) and protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor (H-89); however, ERK kinase (MEK) inhibitor (U0126) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor (LY294002) had no effect. Conclusions: The results suggest that LQ and LQG enhance melanin synthesis by upregulating the expression of melanogenic enzymes, which were activated by p38 and PKA signaling pathways, leading to MITF expression and CREB phosphorylation.


Several methods can be applied for analyses of the acoustic field in enclosed rooms namely: wave
propagation, geometrical or statistical analysis. The paper presents problems related to application of
the boundary elements method to modelling of acoustic field parameters. Experimental and numerical
studies have been combined for evaluation of acoustic impedance of the material used for the walls of
a model room. The experimental studies have been carried out by implementing a multichannel measuring
system inside the constructed model of an industrial room. The measuring system allowed simultaneous
measurements of the source parameters – the loudspeaker membrane vibration speed, the acoustic pressure
values in reception points located inside the model space as well as phase shifts between signals registered
in various reception points. The numerical modelling making use of the acoustic pressure values measured
inside the analyzed space allowed determination of requested parameters of the surface at the space
boundary.


This landmark publication presents for the first time a comprehensive catalogue of the works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in the Metropolitan Museum. Comprising thirty-four paintings, fifty-eightdrawings, a dozen sculptures and ceramics, and more than four hundred prints, the collection reflects the full breadth of the artist's multisided genius as it asserted itself over the course of his long and influential career. Notable for its remarkable constellation of early figure paintings, which include the commanding At the Lapin Agile (1905) and the iconic portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906), the Museum's collection also stands apart for its exceptional cache of drawings, which despite their importance and number remain relatively little known. The key subjects that variously sustained Picasso's interest-the pensive harlequins of his Blue and Rose periods, faceted tabletops of his Cubist years, classicizing bathers and dreaming nudes of the 1920s and 30s, and the rakish musketeers of his maturity-are amply represented by works ranging in date from a dashing self-portrait of 1900 to the fanciful Standing Nude and Seated Musketeer painted nearly seventy years later. An overview of the collection's history; entries on nearly one hundred works that incorporate the latest technical and documentary findings and furnish a full record of the provenance, exhibition history, and references for each object; and an essay and illustrated checklist of the prints are also included in this illuminating and handsomely illustrated volume.


Progress is described on the characterization of cellulase genes of Clostridium. Purification, enzyme activity, molecular weight, and antibody development is discussed.


Objective We believe that there is a causal relationship between waist circumference and knee osteoarthritis. To confirm the hypothesis, we have conducted this study. Methods Genetic variants associated with the five anthropometric variables were obtained from previous large-scale genomewide association studies. Summary-level data on osteoarthritis were obtained from the UK Biobank. The univariable and multivariable MR framework were used to evaluate the associations. The two-sided p value was considered to be statistically significant at 0.01 (where p = 0.05/5) after Bonferroni correction for the five exposure variables. Results In the univariable MR, there was evidence of a detrimental effect of height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, and hip circumference on osteoarthritis risk in the main IVW analyses (height: OR 1.115, 95% CI 1.054–1.180; weight: OR 1.765, 95% CI 1.650–1.889; BMI: OR 1.952, 95%CI 1.841–2.068; waist circumference: OR 2.140, 95% CI 1.994–2.296; hip circumference: OR 1.719, 95% CI 1.600–1.846). And the analyses on knee osteoarthritis and hip osteoarthritis yielded similar results. However, the multivariable MR showed that only waist circumference was causally associated with osteoarthritis, after adjusting for the confounding exposure effects (waist circumference: OR 1.877, 95% CI 1.286–2.739). Such association was also repeated in the analyses on knee osteoarthritis but not hip osteoarthritis. Conclusion Our study highlighted the causal associations between waist circumference and knee osteoarthritis risk.


Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are important components for signal pathways that control cell proliferation, differentiation and various regulatory mechanisms. Selective inhibition of the PTKs is now recognized as an attractive strategy for the development of new cancer therapeutics. Indolinone derivatives are already proved as potential PTK inhibitors of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) and anti cancer agent. In the present work, a set of indolinone derivatives are considered for chemometric designing for anti-cancer agents using ligand-based 3D QSAR and pharmacophore modelling studies. The 3D-QSAR models permit an understanding of steric, electrostatic, and hydrophobic along with HB acceptor and donor requirements for ligand interactions at the active site. Pharmacophore is the molecular framework that carries the essential features that can visualize the potential interaction between the ligand and the receptor and it is based on the kind of interactions observed in molecular recognition. In the present study, molecular field and similarity analyses (CoMFA: R2=0.997, Q2=0.714, se=0.037, R2pred=0.602, sp=0.351; CoMSIA: R2=0.999, Q2=0.747, se=0.016, R2pred=0.712, sp =0.541) explained that both steric and electrostatic are crucial for inhibitory activity. Additionally, HB acceptor and donor are obtained as important for HB bonding interactions. The pharmacophore modelling study (R2 = 0.924, Q2=0.752, se=0.047, R2pred=0.771, sp =0.421) revealed the importance of HB acceptor and donor for the binding interaction at the active site cavity along with ring aromatic feature is found to be prime factor for inhibitory activity of the molecules. The study explained that rings 'C' and 'D' along with carbon chain between them are found to be essential for inhibitory activity. The amine and oxo group present in the ring 'C' also found critical for bonding interactions in the active site cavity of tyrosin kinase.


Abstract
 Our objective was to determine whether changes in populations of forest-interior bird species were related to changes in extent of interior forest along Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) census routes in Massachusetts. We first identified a suite of 28 forest-interior bird species (FIA species), based on correlations between bird abundance (in 2003–2007) and extent of interior forest (in 2005) along BBS routes. From this group, we eliminated 13 species whose breeding habitats were described in the literature as including forest edge or second growth, resulting in a more stringently defined subset of 15 (FIB) species. We quantified the extent of forest and interior forest (>100 m from a forest edge) along BBS routes based on digitized aerial photographs from 1971, 1985, and 1999. We also quantified changes in abundance of the 28 forest bird species along BBS survey routes over the same time period. Overall, changes in abundance of FIB species paralleled changes in extent of interior forest, with 13 of 15 species showing positive correlations, 5 of which were significant. However, substantial variation occurred among species, including conspicuous declines in Hylocichla mustelina (Wood Thrush) and Piranga olivacea (Scarlet Tanager) and conspicuous increases in Vireo solitarius (Blue-headed Vireo) and Setophaga coronata (Yellow-rumped Warbler). Changes were not significantly related to either migratory status (Neotropical vs. other) or nest location (ground vs. arboreal). Several differences could be attributed to species-specific factors, such as reintroductions of Meleagris gallopavo (Wild Turkey) and Corvus corax (Common Raven) or introduction of competitors, such as Haemorhous mexicanus (House Finch) impacting Haemorhous purpureus (Purple Finch). Changes in some bird populations seem to reflect forest succession, e.g., Hylatomus pileatus (Pileated Woodpecker), while others are unexplained and may be due to changes on migratory routes or wintering grounds. Overall, loss of interior forest is an important incremental factor in forest bird population declines, although other factors had a greater impact in the period under study.


Analytical solutions of a linear internal-tide generation problem are presented for a stratification that involves both an interface (thermocline) and a lower layer of constant stratification. It is shown that an internal tidal beam scatters strongly at a moderately developed thermocline but much less at a thermocline that is either very weak or very strong. This scattering goes along with a local wave activity at the thermocline as well as with a downward leaking from the thermocline. It is argued that these processes offer a clue to explaining observations in the Bay of Biscay of 'local generation' of internal soliton packets. This is substantiated by numerical results from a nonlinear nonhydrostatic model, which is derived in this paper. Also, the effects of Coriolis dispersion are discussed. It appears that the observations from solitary waves in the Bay of Biscay can be contrasted with those in the Sulu Sea, to which a different stratification regime applies. An interpretation is given in terms of the modal structure.


Certain theoretical postulates concerning the formation of outer-sphere complexes have been described. Various approaches to the investigation of these compounds have been considered. Data are presented showing the necessity to take into account the packing term in unitary cratic thermodynamic functions of outer-sphere complexes. Methods for and the results of investigations of various classes of cobalt(III) outer-sphere complexes have been discussed. It is suggested that the formation of transition metal outer-sphere complexes takes place in steps as a result of directional forces. Like inner-sphere interactions, this process takes place in accordance with limiting and characteristic coordination numbers. The types of bonds involved in the formation of outer-sphere complexes have been examined. The bibliography includes 232 references.


The production of industrial tomato in Brazil has been growing in the last years and the form of harvest adopted has been mechanized. The diagnosis of tomato fruit losses is fundamental to the harvesting process. The industrial process was destroyed and the statistical process control. The experiment was carried out in a field of 45 ha in an industrial tomato crop irrigated by central pivot in the municipality of Corumbá de Goiás, GO, Brazil. A sampling grid of 60 x 60 m (120 sample points) and 100 x 50 (84 sample points), respectively, were used as georeferenced samples to quantify weight loss and poisoning. As the main losses, in the mechanized harvest, the fruit of industrial tomato do not occur with mature fruit. A N901 cultivar had a lower quality relation than a HMX7885. The mechanical tomato harvesting process is influenced by the random power medium during a larger part of the operation. However, throughout the year, the tasks are not random, they are involved with the operation and the maintenance and maintenance of the process is necessary.


In Fagus, full-mast seeding years are invariably followed by at least one non-mast year. Both flower and leaf primordia develop during the summer within the same winter buds. Flower bud initiation occurs when the N content of developing seeds is increasing rapidly. We hypothesized that competition for nitrogen (N) between developing seeds and buds limits flower primordium formation in mast years and, hence, limits seed production in years following mast years. We tested this hypothesis in three Fagus crenata Blume forests at elevations of 550, 900 and 1500 m. Bud N concentration (N con), amount of N per bud (N bud) and dry mass per bud (DM) were compared between a mast year (2005) and the following non-mast year (2006), and between winter buds containing both leaf and flower primoridia (BF), which were formed during the non-mast year, and winter buds containing leaf primordia only (BL), which were formed in both mast and non-mast years. In addition, leaf numbers per shoot corresponding to the analyzed buds were counted, and the effect of masting on litter production was analyzed by quantifying the amounts of litter that fell in the years 2004 to 2007. The dry mass and N content of BF formed in 2006 by trees at both 550 and 1500 m were 2.1-3.4-fold higher than the corresponding amounts in BL, although the numbers of leaves per current-year shoot in 2007 that developed from the two bud types in the same individuals did not differ significantly. These results indicate that more N and carbohydrate are expended in producing BF than in producing BL. The amount of litter from reproductive organs produced in the mast year was similar to the amount of leaf litter at 900 and 1500 m, but three times as much at 550 m. Leaf numbers per shoot were significantly lower at all elevations in the mast year than in the non-mast years (and the amount of leaf litter at 550 and 1500 m tended to be lower in the mast year than in the non-mast years. In conclusion, preferential allocation of resources to seeds in the mast year reduced the availability of resources for flower primordium formation, and this may have accounted for the poor seed production in the following non-mast year.


Issues of relationship and interconnection of informal institutions and law as a set of rules of conduct established or sanctioned by the state in modern conditions of the civil society development acquire special relevance. Analyzing informal institutions, researchers often speak about the development of informal justice, informal justice and informal procedures in society as opposed to official, state justice, and "formal" procedures. As a rule, in general, we talk about alternative methods of resolving disputes. In this article, we tried to reveal the nature of the concept of "informal aspects" as a special phenomenon in its relationship with law in general and civil law in particular. Parallel to official justice non-state methods of dispute resolution are directly related to the freedom of choice by the parties not only of the norms of substantive law but also of the norms of other social regulators that do not contradict the rules of human life. In our study we analyze problems of informal methods practicing in formal justice on the example of negative judicial practice in Kazakhstan. The use of informal approaches and methods is often a sign of fair and lawful decision-making in state courts. This approach can exclude cases, when court decisions are obtained in the correct form, but in fact are anti-human.


Introduction Diagnosing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) remains challenging. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) has prognostic value in critically ill patients with systemic infection. We hypothesised that plasma suPAR levels accurately predict development of VAP. Methods This observational, multicentre, prospective cohort study compared patients at risk for VAP with a control group. Plasma and tracheal aspirate samples were collected. Plasma suPAR levels were measured on the day of diagnosis and 3 days before diagnosis. Results The study included 24 VAP patients and 19 control patients. The suPAR concentration measured 3 days before diagnosis was significantly increased in VAP patients versus matched samples of control patients (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.68, 95% CI 0.52–1.00; p=0.04). Similar results were found on the day of diagnosis (AUC 0.77, 95% CI 0.6–0.93; p=0.01). Plasma suPAR was significantly higher in deceased patients (AUC 0.79, 95% CI 0.57–1.00; p<0.001). Combining suPAR with the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score, C-reactive protein and/or procalcitonin led to a significantly increased discriminative accuracy for predicting VAP and an increased specificity. Conclusions suPAR can be used to diagnose VAP with a fair diagnostic accuracy and has a moderate prognostic accuracy to be used in critically ill intensive care unit patients. Its performance improves when added to other clinically available biomarkers (C-reactive protein and procalcitonin) or scoring systems (Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment). suPAR can be used to diagnose VAP with a fair diagnostic accuracy and has a moderate prognostic accuracy to be used in critically ill ICU patients http://ow.ly/ubmf30nIgZO


In their paper [14], Bourdeau and Mizoguchi foresaw a framework for ontology-based intelligent systems. Although it took longer years than their expectation, the ontology they have been developing is now released for evaluation with the help of the second author. Ontology building is a labor-intensive process and it is rarely perfect. Our enterprise is not an exception. The current ontology is still very preliminary because it has been completely reconstructed from the existing one with a few new ideas. So, we hope the readers be generous when they read the ontology. The ontology presented here is not a light-weight ontology but a heavyweight ontology. It is built based on philosophical consideration of all the concepts necessary for understanding learning, instruction and instructional design. Although it is full of axioms, the Hozo GUI which is based on a frame structure makes it easier to read it. However, the readers are expected to have basic knowledge of ontology and preferably be aware of the theory of role and of the Hozo way of role representation. Papers [6][7] would be helpful to grasp what we are doing with this ontology. The prototype system named SMARTIES is a totally ontology-aware system which fully utilizes the merits of ontology computationally as well as conceptually. It is so preliminary that it cannot be open to public, though you can get a rough idea of what it is from the papers.


We examined the lipid peroxidative potency and photohemolytic activity of thiazide diuretics, especially penflutizide (PFZ), to determine the molecular mechanism of thiazide phototoxicity. Ultraviolet A irradiation of squalene in the presence of PFZ, hydrochlorothiazide, methiclothiazide, benzylhydrochlorothiazide, or trichlormethiazide induced in vitro peroxidation as measured by production of the hydroperoxides and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. Among the thiazides, PFZ showed the highest potency to photooxidize lipids. PFZ-photosensitized peroxidation of squalene was repressed by the presence of sodium azide or 2,5-dimethylfuran and was accelerated in a D2O suspension. These findings suggest the participation of singlet oxygen in PFZ photoperoxidation of squalene (type II mechanism). PFZ-photosensitized lysis of red blood cells (RBC) accompanied by formation of hydroperoxides in RBC membrane lipids was also noted. These results suggest that membrane lipids can be one of the target molecules of thiazide phototoxicity.


We propose two models for the description of the dynamics of an AIDS epidemic and of the effect of a combined-drugs AIDS treatment based on difference equations. We show that our interacting population model, despite its extreme simplicity, describes adequately the evolution of an AIDS epidemic. A cellular-automaton analogue of the discrete system of equations is presented as well. In the case of drug treatment, we identify two different regimes corresponding to efficient and inefficient medication. The effect of the discreteness of the equations is also studied.


Based on the metabolic fingerprinting technique and liquid chromatography/diode array detection mass spectrometry (LC/DAD-MS), a method for rapid screening and analysis of the multiple absorbed bioactive components and metabolites of an oral solution of Dangguibuxue decoction (ODD) in rabbit plasma after oral administration of ODD was developed. The results obtained from a comprehensive comparative analysis of the fingerprints of the ODD and its metabolic fingerprints in rabbit plasma indicated that 46 components in the ODD were absorbed into the rabbit's body. Of them, ten components were tentatively identified from their MS and UV spectra and retention behaviors by comparing the results with the reported literature. They were calycosin-7-O-beta-D-glycoside, (6aR,-11aR)-hydroxy-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-beta-D-glycoside, ononin, L-3-hydroxy-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan, formononetin, (3R)-7,2'-dihydroxy-3',4'-dimethoxyisoflavan, sedanenolide, E-ligustilide, Z-ligustilide, and Z-butylidenephthalide. In addition, 21 components were only found in the metabolic fingerprints, which suggested that they might be metabolites of some components in the ODD. The findings demonstrated that the proposed method could be used to rapidly and simultaneously analyze and screen the multiple absorbed bioactive constituents and metabolites in a formula of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) by comparing and contrasting the chromatographic fingerprints with its metabolic fingerprints. This is very important not only for the pharmaceutical discovery process and the quality control of crude drugs, but also to explain the curative mechanism of TCMs.


A new orally administered cephalosporin, LB10827, was compared to 16 other antimicrobial agents tested against Streptococcus pneumoniae (520 strains), Haemophilus influenzae (302 strains) and Moraxella catarrhalis (188 strains) by reference broth microdilution methods. LB10827 (MIC90, 0.12 mg/L; highest MIC, 0.5 mg/L) was 8-16-fold more potent than cefdinir, cefpodoxime or cefuroxime when tested against S. pneumoniae. All Gram-negative strains were inhibited at </= 0.5 mg/L LB10827, which is an activity equal or superior to that of currently available and tested oral beta-lactams. LB10827 appears to be a promising agent worthy of continued investigations both in vitro and in vivo.


Introduction New technologies enable universities to incorporate innovative teaching-learning strategies into their curricula. Therefore, this research investigates the effect of mobile learning on promoting the awareness of faculty members of the universities of medical sciences of Iran about their employment regulations. Materials and methods The statistical population of this research included all faculty members of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in southwestern Iran. One hundred and fourteen people entered the quasi-experimental study through convenience sampling. First, we sent the designed mobile app to them through social networks to install on their phone. We measured their awareness about the app and M-Learning through a researcher-constructed questionnaire. Results M-Learning and App was able to increase the awareness of faculty members, which was significant according to their academic rank and work experience. Faculty members who were professor and instructor, as well as those who had e under 5 years or 11–20 years of experience gained more awareness (P = 0.00). It was not significant in other variables. Ninety eight percent of the faculty members considered the technical capabilities of the designed app appropriate. Ninety seven percentage of the faculty members suggested M-Learning for teaching similar subjects in their profession. Discussion and conclusion The faculty members had a positive attitude toward this designed educational app and M-Learning. Designing similar mobile training apps can improve their professional performance.


Study type: Case series Introduction: Craniocervical dissociation (CCD) is an uncommon and frequently fatal injury with few reports in the literature of survivors. Advances in automobile safety and improved emergency medical services have resulted in increased survival. Timely diagnosis and treatment are imperative for optimal outcome. Regrettably, the presence of multiple life threatening injuries, low clinical suspicion, and lack of familiarity with the upper cervical radiographic anatomy frequently lead to missed or delayed diagnosis. Objective: This paper represents the largest series of surgically treated CCD survivors. The goal of this study is to determine if any improvements have been made in the timely diagnosis of CCD while performing a complete patient evaluation. Methods: Following institutional review board approval, a search of the Harborview Medical Center (HMC) trauma registry was conducted for all surgically treated CCD patients between 1996 and 2008. Forty-eight consecutive cases were identified. A retrospective review of the radiological and clinical results with emphasis on timing of diagnosis, modality used for diagnosis (Figures 1 and 2), clinical effect of delayed diagnosis, potential clinical or imaging warning signs, and response to treatment was performed. Thirty-one patients treated from 2003 to 2008 were compared to 17 patients that were treated from 1996 to 2002 and reported previously.1Figure 1 Initial lateral C-spine radiograph obtained as part of the initial ATLS survey demonstrating an occiput C1 distractive injury.Figure 2 Sagittal C-spine CT scan obtained as part of the initial ATLS survey demonstrating an occiput C2 distractive injury. All patients sustained high-energy injuries and were evaluated according to standard Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) protocols. Once CCD was identified or suspected, provisional stabilization was applied and MRI evaluation performed (Figure 3). Definitive surgical management with rigid posterior instrumentation and fusion was performed as soon as physiologically possible (Figures 4 and 5).Figure 3a–b Preoperative coronal T2 MRI sequences demonstrating increased signal intensity on the occiput-C1 and C1-2 joints.Figure 4 Postoperative lateral C-spine x-ray showing rigid posterior instrumented fusion from occiput to C2.Figure 5 Postoperative sagittal C-spine x-ray showing rigid posterior instrumented fusion from occiput to C2. Results: Craniocervical dissociation was identified on initial cervical spine imaging in 26 patients (84%). The remaining five patients (16%) were diagnosed by cervical spine MRI. Twenty-three patients (74.2%) were diagnosed within 24 hours of presentation, four (22.6%) were diagnosed between 24 and 48 hours, and one (3.2%) experienced a delay of greater than 48 hours (Table 1). In comparison, four (24%) of the previously treated 17 patients were diagnosed on initial cervical spine imaging. Four patients (24%) were diagnosed within 24 hours of presentation, nine (52%) were diagnosed between 24 and 48 hours, and four (24%) experienced a delay of greater than 48 hours. There were no cases of craniocervical pseudarthrosis or hardware failure during a mean nine-month follow-up period. Four patients expired during their hospital course. The mean American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score of 47 improved to 60, and the number of patients with useful motor function (ASIA Grade D or E) increased from eight (26%) preoperatively to 17 (55%) postoperatively. Conclusions: Improvements have been made in time to diagnosis of CCD in recent years. Increased awareness and the routine use of CT scan as part of the initial ATLS evaluation account for this progress. Expedited diagnosis has decreased preoperative neurological deterioration. However, differences in length of follow-up between the two groups preclude conclusions about its effect on long-term neurological outcome.Table 1 Delay in diagnosis No. of patients from previous study (%) No. of patients from current study (%) Less than 24 hours 4 (24%) 23 (74.2%) Between 24 and 48 hours 9 (52%) 7 (22.6%) More than 48 hours 4 (24%) 1 (3.2%)


This study is one of very few studies which have investigated the insurance types in the Islamic banks with case study. It explains the need to make financial analysis work papers up to the Insurance types to give fair report. The study finds that there are three Insurance types in Jordanian Islamic Bank which are: Islamic Insurance Company, Tabaduly Insurance Box, and Facing Sharing Investment Risk Box. There is relationship between these types in Jordanian Islamic bank. Every type has way of accounting and way of reduce risk also it has different Place in financial tables up to deferent Fiqh original type and resources of Law. There is need to build suitable financial analysis work papers which show the different of accounting and different of added value than Traditional banks and traditional Insurance companies. Searcher recommended suggestion up to Forth steps to get fair report which is to find resource of investigation, to be sure accounting must meet law, to build paper works up to insurance types, and to use the doubt rule.


Abbreviated. LB Film Fabrication: Instruments and Monolayer Transfer. Surface potentials of Langmuir-Blodgett alternating layer structures (R.H. Tredgold et al.). Equipment for the preparation of polar and heterogeneous Langmuir-Blodgett films (S.G. Yudin et al.). Monolayers at Liquid-Gas Interface. Supermolecular engineering based on self-assembling monolayers and bilayers (T. Kunitake). Ordered domains in a Langmuir monolayer: structure and line energy (P. Muller, F. Gallet). Optical Properties. High-resolution optical spectroscopy of Langmuir-Blodgett films (M. Orrit et al.). Langmuir-Blodgett film formation and characterisation of a new tris-chromophore oligomer (R.M. Swart et al.). Electrical and Dielectrical Properties. New trends and prospects in conducting Langmuir-Blodgett films (M. Vandevyver). The measurement of the piezoelectric effect in Langmuir-Blodgett films (P.E. Dunn et al.). Chemistry in Mono and Multilayers. Preparation and characterization of redox active molecular assemblies on microelectrode arrays (C.D. Frisbie et al.). Two-dimensional structures in polymerized monomolecular films (R. Rolandi et al.). Short and Long Term Applications. Possible applications for Langmuir-Blodgett films (M.C. Petty). Elaboration of a glucose biosensor based on Langmuir-Blodgett technology (C. Fiol et al.). Characterization (structural and other). Spectroscopic properties of trichromophoric molecules incorporated in Langmuir-Blodgett films (D. Meerschaut et al.).On the structure of mixed Langmuir-Blodgett films (S. Dante et al.). Modern Investigation Methods. Scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy on organic and biomolecules (W.M. Heckl). Evaluation of a horizontal lifting method of Langmuir-Blodgett films using a quartz-crystal microbalance (Y. Okahata et al.). Biological and Biomimetic Aspects, BLM. Ion channel transduction in Langmuir-Blodgett lipid membranes (C.A. Palmer et al.). Conductivity in phthalocyanines and mixed phthalocyanine/lipid monolayers at the air-water interface (A.F. Mingotaud et al.). Molecular Recognition, Self-Assembling Systems. Synthesis of an ionic network by molecular recognition between two porphyrins at the air-water interface (F. Porteu et al.). Monolayer formation of a novel amphiphilic polymer PAMC16S (T.R. Fang et al.). Author index. Subject index.


Symmetries express the invariance of a system towards sets of mathematical transformations. In more practical terms, symmetries greatly reduce or simplify the computational efforts required to evaluate relevant properties of a system. In this paper, two methods are proposed to implement spin symmetries which simplify the analysis of the spreading of diseases in an agent-based epidemic model. We perform a set of simulations to measure the efficiency gains compared to traditional methods. Our findings show symmetry-based algorithms improve the performance of the Monte Carlo simulation and the exact Markov process.


A probabilistic assessment is made to determine the likely range of galactic civilizations. In order to define the possible number of advanced galactic civilizations, the number of habitable planets is being determined with the help of a newly formulated probability equation. This equation is expressing the number of habitable planets in terms of the as- sumed galaxy size, the number of critical habitability criteria and the star and planet compliance rates with these criteria. For effectiveness the equation uses instead of the individual compliance rates with the various habitability criteria the geometric mean of the compliance rates with the criteria. This simplifies the calculational approach considerably and makes it possible to obtain the necessary data to assess the extent of galactic habitability. These data are included in a Ga- lactic Habitability Table which presents in this way a complete overview of galactic habitability of a given galaxy as a function of the number of critical criteria and the mean compliance rate with these criteria. While no scientific certainty exists at present time for the exact values of these two parameters, zones of high probability can already be assessed. For any number of habitability criteria assumed a minimum star and planet compliance ratio can be determined which is re- quired for the existence of advanced civilizations in a galaxy of any given size. As the next step the issue of concurrent communicating civilizations has also been addressed.


A small smooth-shelled kinosternoid from the late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation and the early Maastrichtian Canyon del Tule Formation of Coahuila, Mexico that is abundantly represented by isolated elements is described as Yelmochelys rosarioae gen. et sp. nov. A phylogenetic analysis concludes that Y. rosarioae is a representative of the stem lineage of the Kinosternidae. Inclusion of Y. rosarioae in Kinosternidae is supported by presence of a groove for the musk duct, the loss of the eleventh peripheral and twelfth marginal, reduced articulation between the plastron and carapace, and diamond-shaped vertebral scales. A basal position within Kinosternidae is indicated by the presence of distinct abdominal scales that meet at the midline and the presence of a relatively long costiform processes. The inclusion of Y. rosarioae in Kinosternidae supports the hypothesis that Kinosternidae and Dermatemydidae had diverged by the Late Campanian.


Accurate estimates of groundwater level have a valuable effect in improving decision support systems of groundwater resources exploitation. The present study investigates the ability of a hybrid model of artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) in forecasting groundwater level in an individual well (target well). A standard feed forward networks (FFN) and recurrent neural networks (RNN) are utilized for performing the prediction task. Moreover, GA is used in order to determine the optimal structure of ANN (that is, number of neurons for each hidden layer). Air temperature, rainfall depth and groundwater levels in neighboring wells in Kerman plain (Kerman, Iran) were used as input data of the hybrid model. This study indicates that the ANN-GA model can be used successfully to forecast groundwater levels of individual wells. In addition, a comparative study of both hybrid models indicates that the feed forward networks performed better than the recurrent neural networks.

 Key words: Artificial neural network, feed forward networks, recurrent neural networks, genetic algorithm, groundwater level.


The in vitro cytotoxicity assay and the histological in vivo analysis were used to study cell-mediated immunity in the spleen of DBA/2 mice bearing subcutaneously developing P815X2 mastocytoma. Mononuclear cells separated from the spleen showed P815X2 specific cytotoxic activity between days 10 (12) and 16 following tumor inoculation. Maximal cytotoxicity was detected on days 13 and 14. In the T cell area of the spleen white pulp (C-PALS), an increase in the proportions of T lymphocytes and mononuclear phagocytes was observed on days 10 and 12 after the injection of P815X2 cells. On day 14, the T cell level in C-PALS dropped below control values, and the cellular density in the T cell area was reduced. Tumor metastases were seen in the spleen from day 14 onwards. The results indicate, that the T cell reaction in vivo was detectable in C-PALS one to two days earlier than the in vitro cytotoxicity of the spleen cells. By the time of maximal cytotoxic activity, the in vivo reaction had disappeared.


The sexual abuse crisis has long-term consequences: not only on the victims and survivors of abuse, but also on the theological standing and balance of the Catholic Church throughout the world. Theological rethinking in light of the abuse crisis is necessary: not only from the lens of those who have suffered, but also from the lens of the changes caused by this global crisis in the history of the whole Catholic community. The article examines the consequences of the abuse crisis on different theological disciplines, with particular attention to the history of the Catholic Church, liturgy, ecclesiology of reform, and church–state relationships.


In American Sign Language (asl), variables of communication such as volume, tone, emotion, and emphasis are represented through the deliberate use of these variables which include: handshape, location of the sign in proximity to the human body, movement, direction, and repetition. asl imposes strict rules of how and when to use each of these variables. Together, the rules and variables create a language of communication that is of equal value to spoken language. Similarly, these attributes currently exist in graphic design message making. The alternation of one or all variables in design can also result in an entirely new idea. By comparing how these variables are used in both asl and graphic design, differences in execution will provide a new opportunity to further implement asl as an influence on a design solution for the deaf and hard of hearing. This thesis shows how essentials of asl can be studied and translated to use as new influences on graphic design problem-solving. This approach will focus on design problemsolving for deaf and hard of hearing audiences by identifying specific situations in which intended communication is often unclear or misunderstood. Ideally, hearing audiences will also benefit from these new approaches. Final applications were placed in the local airport, in which the space of the environment was represented directly through the graphic design solutions presented.


Though DNA methylation is necessary to maintain monoallelic expression of imprinted genes, it is still unclear whether it represents the primary mark. Here we ask whether the imprinting mark is still present in terminally differentiated somatic cells in which the transcription of embryo-specific imprinted genes was shut off. For such analysis H19 and Igf2 genes were activated by inducing differentiation of (mouse embryonal carcinoma cell x mouse lymphocyte) hybrid cell clones. Although lymphocytes do not express H19 and Igf2, both genes are reactivated in a proper monoallelic manner in hybrid cells. Analysis of the upstream region of the H19 gene confirmed maintenance of differential methylation of the active and inactive H19 genes of lymphocyte origin, although a tendency toward in vitro induced hypermethylation was apparent. We conclude that the imprints of the H19, U2af1-rs1, and Igf2 genes are maintained in lymphocytes in adult mice.


The lunar cycle imparts certain stimulatory effects on the rhythmic behaviour of plankton and their life processes by which they actively migrate to the surface and gradually sink as the moon fades. This may also result in morphological changes in organisms, such as Lorica which becomes smaller towards the full moon night by changing the size of postero-lateral spines and surface area. In addition, cyclomorphic forms have been observed in zooplankton, which appears to be a suitable achivement for swarming and for the differentiation of sex by secondary sexual characteristics. Lunar rhythm in plankton appears to be governed by an internal clock, that is the "Biological clock".


Analysis of 600 kb of sequence encompassing the beta-prime adaptin (BAM22) gene on human chromosome 22 revealed intrachromosomal duplications within 22q12-13 resulting in three active RFPL genes, two RFPL pseudogenes, and two pseudogenes of BAM22. The genomic sequence of BAM22vartheta1 shows a remarkable similarity to that of BAM22. The cDNA sequence comparison of RFPL1, RFPL2, and RFPL3 showed 95%-96% identity between the genes, which were most similar to the Ret Finger Protein gene from human chromosome 6. The sense RFPL transcripts encode proteins with the tripartite structure, composed of RING finger, coiled-coil, and B30-2 domains, which are characteristic of the RING-B30 family. Each of these domains are thought to mediate protein-protein interactions by promoting homo- or heterodimerization. The MID1 gene on Xp22 is also a member of the RING-B30 family and is mutated in Opitz syndrome (OS). The autosomal dominant form of OS shows linkage to 22q11-q12. We detected a polymorphic protein-truncating allele of RFPL1 in 8% of the population, which was not associated with the OS phenotype. We identified 6-kb and 1.2-kb noncoding antisense mRNAs of RFPL1S and RFPL3S antisense genes, respectively. The RFPL1S and RFPL3S genes cover substantial portions of their sense counterparts, which suggests that the function of RFPL1S and RFPL3S is a post-transcriptional regulation of the sense RFPL genes. We illustrate the role of intrachromosomal duplications in the generation of RFPL genes, which were created by a series of duplications and share an ancestor with the RING-B30 domain containing genes from the major histocompatibility complex region on human chromosome 6.


Recent attacks of various viruses with having deep and extensive impact at a global scale has warranted that microbiome be studied extensively and in a robust analytic framework. Microbiome typically refers to the collective genomes of such organisms, although it could also refer to the collection of the organisms by themselves. Here we provide an overview of statistical techniques that are useful in analysing such data.


Objective: Describe a clinical syndrome of laryngeal hypersensitivity following laryngeal nerve injury. Study Design: Retrospective review of six patients with laryngeal paralysis sustained during neck surgery who presented with paroxysms of coughing and stridor, progressing to brief episodes of complete airway occlusion. Methods: Chart review. Results: Superior laryngeal nerve blockade temporarily improved symptoms in four of five patients. Botulinum toxin relieved spasm in two of three patients and reduced symptoms in the third. Symptoms gradually diminished or resolved in four patients from 1 to 2.5 years later. One patient underwent arytenoidectomy and one patient has a tracheostomy. Conclusions: Patients with laryngeal injury may present with stridor and acute airway obstruction secondary to paroxysmal laryngospasm. The authors have found that superior laryngeal nerve blockade or botulinum toxin may be effective in temporary relief of symptoms.


2890 Introduction: Synovial sarcomas share features with carcinomas as they can express epithelial markers and metastasize in up to 40% of cases. The present study addresses the role of podoplanin in metastasis of synovial sarcoma. Podoplanin, recognized by the monoclonal antibody D2-40, has been implicated in tumor progression of carcinomas promoting metastasis via an alternative pathway of collective cell invasion, a growth pattern common in sarcomas. As podoplanin expression has frequently been observed in lymphatic vessel networks, the role of lymphangiogenic growth factor VEGF-C is studied, likewise.
 Methods: 30 paraffin-embedded synovial sarcomas were analysed immunohistochemically using the markers D2-40 and VEGF-C. Clinical data including incidence of metastasis and overall survival were available for all cases. In vitro studies focussing on VEGF-C-dependent induction of podoplanin expression and cell migration were performed using 3 different synovial sarcoma cell lines (CME-1, SYO-1, 1273/99).
 Results: Ubiquitous membranous expression of podoplanin was found in 10, focal to absent expression in 20 cases of the paraffin-embedded collective. Podoplanin-overexpressing cases showed collective cell invasion at the tumour invasion front. The incidence of metastasis was significantly higher in this group compared to cases with focal or absent staining reaction (p=0.011). Lymphangiogenic factor VEGF-C was expressed in 23 synovial sarcomas. Strong, often ubiquitous, expression of VEGF-C was seen in the podoplanin-overexpressing subgroup; in contrast, weaker VEGF-C staining was observed in cases with low or absent podoplanin expression (p=0.036). In vitro, 3 synovial sarcoma cell lines showed differential membranous podoplanin expression confirming the findings in paraffin-embedded tissue. Incubation of CME-1 cells with the lymphangiogenic factor VEGF-C induced podoplanin overexpression in western blot and immunofluorescence staining. A higher migratory capacity of the tumor cells was determined in scratch assay after VEGF-C induction.
 Conclusions: Our data indicate an important role of podoplanin in tumor invasion and metastatic spread of synovial sarcomas which is probably mediated by VEGF-C and other growth factors.


ELISA was standardized to detect anti-DNA antibodies (ADAbs) in sera of rabbits infected with rinderpest virus (RPV). These antibodies were found in late (28th and 36th day post inoculation (dpi)) sera of rabbits infected with rabbit virulent lapinized RPV, but not in early (7th dpi) sera of the same rabbits. ADAbs were not found either in early or late sera of rabbits infected with attenuated RBOK strain of RPV. Rabbit anti-RPV hyperimmune serum was also found to be positive for ADAbs. Detection of these antibodies by ELISA proved DNA to be one of the target antigens for antinuclear antibodies induced in RPV infection.


t Though actuaries have developed several types of stochastic investment models for inflation, stock market returns, and interest rates, there are two commonly used in practice: autoregressive time series models with normally distributed errors, and autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) models. ARCH models are particularly suited when there is heteroscedasticity in inflation and interest rate series. In such cases nonnormal residuals are found in the empirical data. This paper examines whether Australian univariate inflation and interest rate data are consistent with autoregressive time series and ARCH model assumptions.


Background: Obesity heightens the risk for both cardiometabolic complications and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the reasons have yet to be fully elucidated, weight loss improves cognition. Given this link, factors overproduced by obese adipose tissue are ideal candidates for novel investigation into AD pathogenesis. We have recently shown that clusterin from the adipocyte is related to multiple factors of the metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, NAFLD, and atherosclerosis). Clusterin is also involved in CNS lipid trafficking and has been proposed as an AD biomarker. Rationale: Our goals were to characterize the effect of high-fat diet (HFD) feeding on CNS clusterin and neuronal insulin signaling in an AD mouse model (5XFAD); and furthermore, determine the relationship of adipocyte clusterin with neurocognition and insulin sensitivity in obese humans at baseline and following bariatric surgery. Methods: We treated 5XFAD and WT mice with normal chow and HFD for 4 mo., measured CNS clusterin, and determined its effect on neuronal insulin signaling. We next measured subcutaneous adipocyte (SAd) clusterin expression, and performed neuropsychological evaluation and a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp procedure in obese human subjects (n=11) before and after sleeve gastrectomy. Results: In the 5XFAD mice, HFD increases brain clusterin levels compared to WT, and in primary cortical neurons clusterin attenuates insulin signaling in a dose-dependent manner. In humans, SAd clusterin is related to hepatic insulin resistance, higher fasting glucose, and reduced working memory/attention. After sleeve gastrectomy SAd clusterin expression is reduced, with a significant inverse association between clusterin and working memory/attention and hepatic insulin sensitivity. Conclusions: Our data suggests that SAd clusterin is a potential player in AD pathology, providing a critical link between excess adiposity, T2D, insulin resistance, and heightened AD risk. Disclosure D. Bradley: None. J.Z. Liu: None. A.M. Blaszczak: None. V.P. Wright: None. R. Tarawneh: None. Y. Liu: None. J. Ryu: None. S. Yoon: None. W. Hsueh: None. Funding American Diabetes Association (1-16-ICTS-049 to W.H.); National Institutes of Health (KL2TR001068, R01HL135622)


The Elettra new full energy injector will be based on a 100 MeV linac and a 2.5 GeV booster synchrotron and it will replace the existing 1.2 linac injector. This paper presents the design, construction and the test results of the RF system for the booster synchrotron. The analysis of the foreseen operating scenario is also described. The system must be as simple and reliable as possible, taking into consideration the high availability required for the possible top-up mode of operation. It has also to be consistent with the other upgrades of the facility, as the upgrade of the storage ring RF system. The booster RF system will use a 500 MHz 5-cell copper cavity powered by a 60 kW klystron based power plant. The low level electronics has been in-house developed, starting from the system in operation in the storage ring, increasing the performances and developing the new features required by the use of a five-cell cavity, instead of a single cell one, and by the ramped operation. The commissioning of the new injector is scheduled to start in summer 2007, while the first Elettra operation for users with the new full energy injector is expected for the first quarter of 2008.


This article examines the reason for the recent interest in ethics, and considers its deontological and consequentialist bases. It is noted that ethics may be taught directly, or incidentally as part of other instruction. Experience has shown that teaching it directly has considerable merit in that this makes ethical issues explicit rather than implying that they are a less important part of professional practice. In such a way the "knowing" of ethics becomes insightful understanding rather than a superficial piece of information. It is clear that ethics should not be considered a quasi-legal entity. Ethics is about human values; about best aspirational standards; about creative and remedial issues; and about operating with goodwill (whereas the law is seen as setting minimum standards, using the adversarial approach, and inviting sanctions for breaches). In convincing professionals about the merits of ethics there are three basic types of argument: the rational explanation of its merits; empirical data showing the benefits; and the use of appropriate case studies. Most civilised countries have a code of professional ethics (or code of conduct). It is also clear that although the length of such codes varies there is substantial agreement about what a code should contain. To illustrate these principles various practical illustrations are given, and helpful principles suggested. Finally it is noted that discussions of ethics are particularly significant as they provide a forum in which issues of value may be discussed in a constructive and non-confrontational context.


The system under study is a coded asynchronous DS-CDMA system with orthogonal modulation in time-varying Rayleigh fading multipath channels. Information bits are convolutionally encoded, block interleaved, and mapped to M-ary orthogonal Walsh codes, where the last step is essentially a process of block coding. This paper aims at tackling the problem of joint iterative decoding of this serially concatenated inner block code and outer convolutional code and estimating frequency-selective fading channels in multiuser environments. The (logarithm) maximum a posteriori probability, (Log)-MAP criterion is used to derive the iterative decoding schemes. In our system, the soft output from inner block decoder is used as a priori information for the outer decoder. The soft output from outer convolutional decoder is used for two purposes. First, it may be fed back to the inner decoder as extrinsic information for the systematic bits of the Walsh codeword. Secondly, it is utilized for channel estimation and multiuser detection (MUD). We also show that the inner decoding can be accomplished without extrinsic information, and in some cases, e.g., when the system is heavily loaded, yields better performance than the decoding with unprocessed extrinsic information. This implies the need for correcting the extrinsic information obtained from outer decoder. Different schemes are examined and compared numerically, and it is shown that iterative decoding with properly corrected extrinsic information or with non-extrinsic/extrinsic adaptation enables the system to operate reliably in the presence of severe multiuser interference, especially when the inner decoding is assisted by decision directed channel estimation and interference cancellation techniques.


Summary Antiphospholipid antibodies can influence the results of clotting tests in a subset of patients, which can be a major obstacle in monitoring warfarin. The aim was to determine if point-of-care testing of the International Normalized Ratio (INR) is influenced by antiphospholipid antibodies. We compared 59 patients receiving warfarin for a diagnosis of antiphosphoipid antibody syndrome (APS) to 49 patients receiving warfarin for atrial fibrillation to evaluate the consistency between INR results obtained by different methods. INR results obtained by finger stick (capillary whole-blood) and venipuncture (non-citrated and citrated whole-blood) were compared with our laboratory plasma-based prothrombin time assay. Five patients (8%) with APS and both elevated anti-β2glycoprotein I levels and positive lupus anticoagulants had non-measurable ProTime® INR results and generally higher Hemochron® Signature INR results than the plasma-based method, but the corresponding chromogenic factor X results were not supratherapeutic. For the remaining patients, differences between the plasma-based INR and the point-of-care INR results ranged from 0.2±0.2 to 0.4±0.3. The differences were similar for patients with APS and atrial fibrillation for all INR comparisons with the exception of the plasma-based method compared with the ProTime, which showed a mean absolute difference of 0.4±0.3 for APS patients and of 0.2±0.2 for atrial fibrillation patients (p=0.02). In a subset ofAPS patients, the ProTime® system will not yield an INR result and the HEMochron Signature (citrate and non-citrate whole-blood) INR results will exhibit elevated INR results. For this subset of APS patients, we suggest using an alternative method to monitor warfarin.


Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited deficiency of the superoxide-generating phagocyte nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, resulting in recurrent, severe bacterial and fungal infections. The X-linked form of this disorder (X-CGD) results from mutations in the X-linked gene for gp91(phox), the larger subunit of the oxidase flavocytochrome b(558). In this study, we used a murine model of X-CGD to examine the long-term function of retroviral vectors for expression of gp91(phox) based on the murine stem cell virus (MSCV) backbone. NADPH oxidase activity was reconstituted in neutrophils and macrophages for up to 18 to 24 months posttransplantation of transduced X-CGD bone marrow into lethally irradiated syngeneic X-CGD mice. Southern blot analysis and secondary transplant data showed proviral integration in multilineage repopulating cells. Although relatively small amounts of recombinant gp91(phox) (approximately 5% to 10% of wild-type levels) were detected in neutrophils after retroviral-mediated gene transfer, superoxide-generating activity was approximately 20% to 25% of wild-type mouse neutrophils. Expression of gp91(phox) is normally restricted to mature phagocytes. No obvious toxicity was observed in other hematopoietic lineages in transplant recipients, and provirus-marked cells were capable of reconstituting secondary transplant recipients, who also exhibited NADPH oxidase-positive neutrophils. MSCV-based vectors for long-term expression of gp91(phox) may be useful for gene therapy of human CGD targeted at hematopoietic stem cells.


The Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) is a revolutionary instrument that exploits broad spectral coverage at high-resolution in the near-infrared. IGRINS employs a silicon immersion grating as the primary disperser, and volume-phase holographic gratings cross-disperse the H and K bands onto Teledyne Hawaii-2RG arrays. The use of an immersion grating facilitates a compact cryostat while providing simultaneous wavelength coverage from 1.45 - 2.5 μm. There are no cryogenic mechanisms in IGRINS and its high-throughput design maximizes sensitivity. IGRINS on the 2.7 meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory is nearly as sensitive as CRIRES at the 8 meter Very Large Telescope. However, IGRINS at R≈45,000 has more than 30 times the spectral grasp of CRIRES* in a single exposure. Here we summarize the performance of IGRINS from the first 300 nights of science since commissioning in summer 2014. IGRINS observers have targeted solar system objects like Pluto and Ceres, comets, nearby young stars, star forming regions like Taurus and Ophiuchus, the interstellar medium, photo dissociation regions, the Galactic Center, planetary nebulae, galaxy cores and super novae. The rich near-infrared spectra of these objects motivate unique science cases, and provide information on instrument performance. There are more than ten submitted IGRINS papers and dozens more in preparation. With IGRINS on a 2.7m telescope we realize signal-to-noise ratios greater than 100 for K=10.3 magnitude sources in one hour of exposure time. Although IGRINS is Cassegrain mounted, instrument flexure is sub-pixel thanks to the compact design. Detector characteristics and stability have been tested regularly, allowing us to adjust the instrument operation and improve science quality. A wide variety of science programs motivate new tools for analyzing high-resolution spectra including multiplexed spectral extraction, atmospheric model fitting, rotation and radial velocity, unique line identification, and circumstellar disk modeling. Here we discuss details of instrument performance, summarize early science results, and show the characteristics of IGRINS as a versatile near-infrared spectrograph and forerunner of future silicon immersion grating spectrographs like iSHELL2 and GMTNIRS.3