72-kDa gelatinase/type IV collagenase is an important matrix metalloproteinase in the degradation of basement membranes and denatured collagens (gelatin). These proteolytic processes are required for pathologic tissue destruction and physiologic tissue remodeling. To investigate the molecular determinants of substrate specificity of this enzyme, a 21-kDa domain of 72-kDa gelatinase, consisting of three tandem fibronectin type II-like modules, was expressed in Escherichia coli. Similar to full-length 72-kDa gelatinase and the type II modules in fibronectin, the recombinant (r) fibronectin-like domain of this proteinase bound denatured type I collagen with an apparent Kd in the micromolar range. This domain, designated the collagen-binding domain (rCBD123), possesses at least two collagen-binding sites that can each be simultaneously occupied. rCBD123 also avidly bound elastin and denatured types IV and V collagens, but neither native types IV and V collagens nor fibronectin, all of which are substrates of the enzyme. Although 72-kDa gelatinase is involved in basement membrane degradation, rCBD123 also did not bind reconstituted basement membrane, laminin, or SPARC. Native type I collagen, which is not degraded by 72- kDa gelatinase, competed with gelatin for a shared binding site on rCBD123. rCBD123 also displaced full-length 72-kDa gelatinase bound to native type I collagen, further demonstrating that the collagen binding properties of the recombinant domain closely mimicked those of the full- length enzyme. Since rCBD123 showed reduced binding to pepsin-cleaved type I collagen, either or both of the collagen telopeptide ends contain recognition sites for the 72-kDa gelatinase fibronectin-like domain. This was confirmed by the avid binding of rCBD123 to the alpha 1(I) collagen cyanogen bromide fragment CB2 from the NH2-terminal telopeptide. rCBD123 also bound alpha 1(I)-CB7, which encompasses the fibronectin-binding site, and to alpha 1(I)-CB8, a fragment not bound by fibronectin. Thus, type I collagen contains multiple binding sites for rCBD123 which are partially masked by the triple helical conformation of native collagen and fully exposed upon unfolding of the triple helix. The potential of the fibronectin-like collagen binding domain of 72-kDa gelatinase to bind extracellular matrix proteins may facilitate enzyme localization in connective tissue matrices.


We describe our on-going work on Virtual Stage, a karaoke system which incorporates virtual reality technology. A runtime environment and authoring tools for interactive scenarios have been designed and implemented. We adopt a scenario-based representation to unfold a story in the virtual environment. A producer can make Virtual Stage applications which reflect his/her own scenario. While singing-along to the song played by Virtual Stage, the participants use their body to interact with virtual characters which behave intelligently in the virtual environment. The scenario written via authoring tools describes the interaction between the participant and virtual characters. The system analyzes video images of the participant to extract participant-related data, then the video image is composed into the rendered scene of a virtual environment.


The inverse approach, described in detail in a companion paper, is applied to two contacts. The first is a line contact with transverse roughness; the second a point contact with an ellipticity ratio of four containing an isolated transverse surface feature. In each case the surface profile was monitored as the operating conditions became more severe. These profiles were used to define the surface in a multi-level EHL solver and the pressures and subsurface stresses calculated. After allowing for the build up of residual stress, the maximum subsurface stress was compared with the yield strength of the rough surface. Good agreement was obtained indicating, first, that EHL theory is accurate for the rolling case examined and, second, that the Hooke-Venner hypothesis of equivalence between roughness effects in line and point contacts is valid.


The expression of Programmed cell Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) is observed in many malignant tumors and is associated with poor prognosis including Gastric Cancer (GC). The relationship between PD-L1 expression and prognosis, however, is controversial in GC. This paper purports to use a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between PD-L1 expression and prognosis in GC. For this study, the following databases were searched for articles published from June 2003 until February 2017: PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. The baseline information extracted were: authors, year of publication, country where the study was performed, study design, sample size, follow-up time, baseline characteristics of the study population, pathologic data, overall survival (OS). A total of 15 eligible studies covering 3291 patients were selected for a meta-analysis based on specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. The analysis showed that the expression level of PD-L1 was associated with the overall survival in GC (Hazard Ratio, HR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.08–1.98, P = 0.01, random-effect). In addition to the above, subgroup analysis showed that GC patients with deeper tumor infiltration, positive lymph-node metastasis, positive venous invasion, Epstein-Barr virus infection positive (EBV+), Microsatellite Instability (MSI) are more likely to expression PD-L1. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that GC patients, specifically EBV+ and MSI, may be prime candidates for PD-1 directed therapy. These findings support anti-PD-L1/PD-1 antibodies as a kind of immunotherapy which is promising for GC.


The EU-funded CORAS project (IST-2000-25031) is developing a framework for model-based risk assessment of security-critical systems. This framework is characterised by: (1) A careful integration of techniques and features from partly complementary risk assessment methods. (2) Patterns and methodology for UML oriented modelling targeting the different risk assessment methods. (3) A risk management process based on AS/NZS 4360. (4) A risk documentation framework based on RMODP. (5) An integrated risk management and system development process based on UP. (6) A platform for tool-inclusion based on XML.


Objective: To construct a model for classification of antidepressants on the basis of their binding properties to six common transporter and receptor sites. Design and methods: Receptor binding was quantified by calculating receptor/ transporter occupancy (hereafter: receptor occupancy) for the serotonin (5HT) transporter, norepinephrine (NE) transporter, 5HT2Creceptor, M3receptor, H1receptor and a, receptor. Receptor occupancy has been proven to be an appropriate measure to estimate the pharmacological effects among drugs with the same mechanism of action. To identify groups of antidepressants showing similar patterns of receptor occupancy for different receptors, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed. To visualize (a)symmetry between binding profiles of antidepressants, radar plots were used. Results: On the basis of HCA, PCA and the radar plots, four clusters of antidepressants with similar pharmacological properties were identified. The first cluster (sertraline, fluvoxamine, escitalopram, paroxetine, venlafaxine, fluoxetine, Citalopram, duloxetine and clomipramine) included antidepressants with specific affinity for the 5HT transporter. The second cluster (amitriptyline, doxepin and Imipramine) included antidepressants with high affinity for all receptors Investigated. The third cluster (maprotiline, nortriptyline, mianserin and mirtazapine) included antidepressants with high affinity for the NE transporter, H1receptor and 5HT2Creceptor. The fourth cluster (trazodone, nefazodone, reboxetine and bupropion) was identified as group with no specific similarities. Conclusions: The use of the receptor occupancy theory combined with HCA, PCA and radar plots is a useful method to visualize (a)symmetry in binding profiles of antidepressants. It could be a helpful tool in evidence-based practice, selecting the right antidepressant for the right patient, and may be used in pharmacovigilance as a prediction model for adverse effects of novel drugs entering the market.


ABSTRACT: How does technology maturity and adoption affect samples, research issues, and use of methodologies in information systems? What is a source of some research issues in strategic and emerging technologies? This paper addresses these questions and others using some frameworks generated by a well-known corporate research group. Gartner Group has been an icon to its corporate clients. However, Gartner has received only limited attention by academics. This paper examines three related frameworks used by Gartner for analyzing information systems (IS) and accounting information systems (AIS) research. Although researchers have previously examined the adoption curve, they generally have ignored the impact of the technology maturity curve and the interaction of the two curves. The paper generates a number of findings, including the finding that where a technology is on the maturity curve limits and facilitates the type of research questions that can be addressed regarding that technology. In addition, Ga...


Infants with acute leukemia, especially neonates, comprise a unique high-risk population prone to chemotherapy resistance and treatment complications. Basal levels of expression of cell death and cell survival factors vary greatly in different types of cancer and are key determinants of response to treatment. Until now, expression of these factors had not been evaluated in detail in acute leukemia of infants. In this study the basal expression of pro-death and pro-survival genes in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, apoptosis execution genes and mitochondrial maintenance genes was quantified in primary leukemia cells in a large cohort of infants, and relationships between gene expression and MLL status and clinical covariates were analyzed. Methods: Bone marrow or peripheral blood samples from the time of diagnosis were examined in 103 infants (age 1–363 d, median 177 d) with acute leukemia (63 ALL, 40 AML). White blood cell (WBC) counts ranged from 4.4–1676×10 3 /μL (median 127.6×10 3 /μL). MLL status was characterized by standard cytogenetics, FISH, Southern blot analysis, reverse transcriptase PCR and/or panhandle PCR approaches. The ALL cases were classified as MLL-AF4 + (n= 31), other MLL rearrangement positive (other MLL + ) (n= 22) or MLL rearrangement negative ( MLL − ) (n= 10). Due to heterogeneity in partner genes, the AML cases were classified as MLL + (n= 22) or MLL − (n= 18). Quantitative real time PCR analysis of total RNAs was performed using a custom TaqMan ® low-density array with one or more assays, each in quadruplicate, for 35 cell death regulatory genes and 3 housekeeping genes, and ΔC T values (average cycle threshold values normalized to 18S rRNA) were computed. The Behrens-Fisher nonparametric multiple comparison test in the npmc package for R was used to determine the significance of the difference in median −ΔC T values among the three ALL groups and between the two AML groups (p T values and clinical covariates (age, sex, WBC count, CNS status, events) by computing Spearman correlation coefficients and their levels of significance. Results : In ALL, expression of the following genes was greater in MLL-AF4 + than MLL − cases: anti-apoptotic BCL-2 and MCL-1 ; pro-apoptotic BAX and BID ; apoptosis execution APAF1, CASP3 and CASP9; and mitochondrial maintenance COX5A, CYC1, UQCR1 and UQCR . For some of these genes, expression was also greater in other MLL + than MLL − cases. In AML, expression of pro-apoptotic BAK and BIK was higher in MLL + than MLL − cases. For the sample set as a whole, expression of the following genes was positively correlated with WBC count ( r >0.3; p BCL-2 and BCL-W ; pro-apoptotic NOXA ; apoptosis execution CASP8 ; and mitochondrial maintenance HCCS. The correlation between WBC count and BCL-2 was the strongest ( r =0.40;p=4E-5). Only the expression of pro-apoptotic BIM was correlated with age at diagnosis and the correlation was not particularly strong ( r = −0.246;p=0.01). Conclusions: These results suggest that infant ALL and AML differ with respect to the expression of genes that regulate cell death. Furthermore, cell death regulatory gene expression is affected more by MLL translocations in infant ALL than infant AML. This finding may explain the greater impact of MLL translocations on prognosis in infant ALL than AML. The abundance of specific pro- as well as anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family mRNAs in MLL + infant ALL is also relevant to the identification of novel therapeutic targets in this pathway. The positive correlation between anti-apoptotic BCL-2 expression and WBC count is biologically plausible and consistent with the aggressive nature of acute leukemia in infants.


The University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, in conjunction with the NISO working group and Plum Analytics, has created a plugin implementing the SUSHI-Lite protocol in Open Journal Systems. SUSHI-Lite, an acronym for Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative, enables aggregators of metrics and other data consumers to harvest article-level metadata and metrics. These data are currently available without sign-on when the plugin is enabled, allowing for open harvesting that creates a bridge between the journal and the metrics data providers. The end result is that any journal using OJS can expose their article- and journal-level metrics for reporting and analysis to any party that follows this open standard. This plugin has been implemented as a proof of concept in the 40 journals published by the ULS at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, the plugin is used to facilitate the harvesting of metrics data by Plum Analytics for display in a widget on abstract pages. However, the SUSHI-Lite protocol is an open standard and can be employed by any publishing platform or data harvesting system that uses the standard and can be implemented by any journal using OJS. Using SUSHI-Lite, OJS journals are able to expose metrics about their articles in a way that complies with industry standards, allowing for the broad sharing of data about alternative metrics. It is our hope that with this infrastructure in place, more usage data will be available about Open Access journals published using the most popular journal software in the world.


Aim To explore the influence of an emerging infectious disease (EID) affecting a prey species on the spatial patterns and temporal shifts in the diet of a predator over a large geographical scale. We reviewed studies on the diet of Bonelli's eagles (Hieraaetus fasciatus) in order to determine the repercussions of the reduction in the density of its main prey, the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), caused by outbreaks of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) since 1988. Location Western continental Europe. Methods We compiled published and unpublished information on the diet of breeding Bonelli's eagles from Portugal, Spain and France for a 39-year study period (1968–2006). Nonparametric tests were used in order to analyse temporal shifts in diet composition and trophic diversity (H¢) between the periods of 'high' (before outbreak of RHD) and 'low' rabbit density (after outbreak of RHD). A combination of hierarchical agglomerative clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analyses were used to test for the existence of geographical patterns in the diet of Bonelli's eagles in each period. Results The diet of the Bonelli's eagle consisted of rabbit (28.5%), pigeons (24.0%), partridges (15.3%), 'other birds' (11.6%), 'other mammals' (7.1%), corvids (7.0%), and herptiles (6.4%). However, RHD had large consequences for its feeding ecology: the consumption of rabbits decreased by one-third after the outbreak of RHD. Conversely, trophic diversity (H¢) increased after outbreak of RHD. At the same time, the analyses showed clear geographical patterns in the diet of the Bonelli's eagle before, but not after, RHD outbreak. Main conclusions Geographical patterns in the diet of the Bonelli's eagle in western Europe seem to be driven mainly by spatio-temporal variation in the abundance of rabbits and, to a lesser extent, by the local (territorial) environmental features conditioning the presence and density of alternative prey species. We show that an EID can disrupt predator–prey relationships at large spatial and temporal scales through a severe decline in the population of the main prey species. Hence we argue that strict guidelines should be drawn up to prevent human-aided dissemination of 'pathogen pollution', which can threaten wildlife not only at the population and species level but also at the community and ecosystem scale.


Based on conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) measurements with rosette mounted bottle performed along standard oceanographic sections off Greenland, the consistency of thermal events was analyzed. High consistency of events was found for the sections off Southeast Greenland and West Greenland, low consistency was revealed for the northernmost section off East Greenland and the West Greenland sections. Consistency of events was most expressed on the West Greenland side of the system, since the modification of the water masses was no longer under the regime of two concurrent components: Polar Water and Irminger Water. There was high correlation between the Cold Intermediate Layer extent of the Bonavista Section and the thermohaline changes off West Greenland (Fylla Bank). This signified an intense east/west coupling within the Labrador Sea system.


Recently discovered eolian sandstones in the Wolfville redbeds are definitive evidence of aridity in Late Triassic time in the Fundy Basin. The paleowinds consistently blew to the southwest, reflecting the location of the rift valley in the subtropical belt of northeast trades. These data help establish a Late Triassic climatic pattern of increasing aridity from south to north for the basins of the Newark Supergroup.


We construct a two-sector model - one producing a homogeneous good and the other producing differentiated goods - with labor market frictions to study the impact of offshoring on intrafirm, intrasectoral, and intersectoral reallocation of jobs, and on the economy-wide unemployment rate. A reduction in the offshoring cost affects intrafirm and intrasectoral reallocation in the differentiated-good sector through a job-relocation effect, a productivity effect, and a competition effect. The key parameters determining the impact of offshoring on reallocation of jobs at various margins as well as on the economy-wide unemployment rate are the elasticity of substitution between inputs and the elasticity of demand for differentiated goods. Allowing differentiated-good firms to export creates an additional channel through which a reduction in the cost of offshoring affects jobs and unemployment. We also show that the implications of a reduction in the cost of trading final goods are different from those of a reduction in the offshoring cost."


This study survey the perception of lecturers on the causes and consequences of sexual assault in tertiary institutions of Kwara State, Nigeria. The population for the study comprised all tertiary institutions owned by Kwara State Government. Researcher purposively sample three tertiary institutions (Kwara State University, Kwara State College of Education Ilorin and Kwara State Polytechnic Ilorin) out of four institutions owned by the state. 300 respondents were randomly selected. Researcher designed questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents.  The finding of the study reveals that inadequate security in the school premises, decline in the school cultural values and alcohol/drug consumption are the major causes of sexual assault in tertiary institutions. The study also reveals that sexual assault in the tertiary institutions brings about their poor projection image and lack of concentration in the study by the victim. The study therefore recommended that adequate security measure should be ensured in all nook and crannies of the school premises, provide Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in strategic places so as to monitor most ongoing activities. Schools, in conjunction with the students' affairs unit, should organize workshop on the evils of sexual assault which will make them aware of the danger inherent in it. School authority should set up counseling centre in the school premises that will be dealing with issues of sexual assault. These are the best strategies to curb sexual assault in tertiary institutions. Key words : Sexual assault, Rape, Perception, Causes and Consequences.


Despite the vast research on trichome-based resistance as well as plant chemical factors in plant-herbivore interactions in Solanaceous plants, little or no information is available on the association between Tetranychus evansi Baker and Pritchard and these mechanisms in African nightshades. The current study which was carried out from December, 2006 to March, 2009 focused on five African nightshade species viz. Solanum sarrachoides Sendter, S. villosum Mill, S. tarderemotum Bitter, S. americanum Mill and S. scabrum Mill that were evaluated for their resistance to T. evansi . The objective was to investigate several host plant characteristics of the five Solanum spp and their influence on developmental duration, oviposition, survival, intrinsic population growth rate and other life history characteristics of T. evansi . To achieve this objective, the study concentrated on four major areas (i) Effect of five Solanum spp on biology and life table parameters of T. evansi (ii) Evaluating the effects of morphological and chemical factors in five Solanum spp to mite fecundity, repellency and olfactory responses (iii) Population dynamics of T. evansi on five Solanum spp under greenhouse and field conditions and (iv) Effect of T. evansi feeding on growth and yield of five Solanum spp grown under field conditions. The results indicated that S. villosum, S. scabrum, S. tarderemotum and S. americanum are the most susceptible to T. evansi due to the shorter adult developmental period, longer adult longevity, higher reproduction and intrinsic rate of natural increase ranging between 0.180 - 0.196 females/female/day compared with S. sarrachoides which cannot support T. evansi populations as the rm was negative on this host. Differences in developmental time and life table parameters among the other host plants were also not significant. Five different trichome types were identified among the Solanum spp with the glandular types predominant in S. sarrachoides . There was a significant negative correlation between fecundity (R = -0.649; P = 0.0019) and distance travelled by mites after every 15 min interval with the density of glandular trichomes. Significantly fewer eggs that decreased with the age of the plant were laid on S. sarrachoides in comparison to other Solanum spp. Distance travelled by mites was also significantly low in this species indicating that higher densities of glandular trichomes decreased distances walked by mites. In olfactometer bioassays, significantly more females responded to volatiles from intact plants of S. villosum than those from other Solanum spp. Based on mite fecundity and behavioural response studies, intact plants of two species, S. sarrachoides and S. villosum were selected for volatile chemical analysis. GC-MS analysis and comparison with authentic standards identified volatile compounds as belonging to the classes of terpenoids, esters, aldehydes, ketones and green leaf alcohols. Quantification of these compounds revealed that except for the ketones, other compounds were significantly higher in S. sarrachoides than in S. villosum. Population densities of T. evansi in screenhouse studies revealed that S. scabrum was highly infested by T. evansi but the percentage leaf area damaged was very low in comparison to other Solanum spp. The highest level of resistance was observed in S. sarrachoides where T. evansi populations significantly remained low. Field studies revealed significant differences in number of motile individuals of T. evansi among the acaricide free and acaricide protected plots. Significant differences were also found on growth and yield among nightshade species in acaricide free and acaricide protected plots over time and space. Significant seasonal variation in yields of respective nightshade species was detected. Yields in both seasons were negatively correlated to leaf area damaged by T. evansi in acaricide free plots. Based on population dynamics findings, S. sarrachoides did not support any mite populations over time. However, S. scabrum supported high mite populations but no significant reduction in growth and yield was detected. In conclusion, Solanum americanum, S. villosum, S. tarderemotum are suitable host plants for T. evansi and severe mite outbreaks are likely to occur under favorable conditions in the field. Since S. sarrachoides and S. scabrum seem to possess resistance and tolerance attributes respectively to T. evansi , these attributes can be investigated further and utilized in programs such as breeding and IPM in order to develop resistant genotypes and reduce T. evansi populations in African nightshades.


The last half century has seen extraordinary advances in the field of cardiology, including innovations in medications, diagnostic modalities, and therapeutics. Even so, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, with suboptimal quality of care, inconsistent health outcomes, and unsustainable costs. It is clear that cardiovascular medicine must undergo a digital transformation to enhance the delivery of quality care and to improve outcomes. To meet this need, the American College of Cardiology developed an innovation program focused on the digital transformation of cardiovascular care, with the goal of improving heart health for individuals and populations.


Article history: Received 17 May 2016 Accepted 19 June 2016 Available online 1 July 2014 Integration of decisions in supply chain management has received increasing consideration recently. The Production-Inventory-Distribution-Routing Problem (PIDRP) is a recent and complex problem that integrates decisions on lot-sizing, inventory management, distribution planning, and vehicle routing problems. In this paper, a generic problem description is given and a Mixed-Integer Programming model (MIP) is proposed to solve the PIDRP, the objective is to minimize the total cost of the combined functions while satisfying the required service levels. The proposed model contributes to the existing literature since it deals with multiple products, split deliveries, a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, and puts a limit on the duration of the route performed by each vehicle. The proposed model was successfully validated and tested by using small-sized instances from literature. Also, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effect of estimated parameters on the model results.


In computer numerical control systems, linear segments, which are generated by computer-aided manufacturing software, are the most widely used toolpath format. Since the linear toolpath is discontinuous at the junction of two adjacent segments, the fluctuations on velocity, acceleration and jerk are inevitable. Local corner smoothing is widely used to address this problem. However, most existing methods use symmetrical splines to smooth the corners. When any one of the linear segments at the corner is short, to avoid overlap, the inserted spline will be micro, thereby increasing the curvature extreme of the spline and reducing the feedrate along it. In this article, the corners are smoothed by a 𝐶4 continuous asymmetric Pythagorean-hodograph (PH) spline. The curvature extreme of the proposed spline is investigated first, and 𝐾=2.5 is determined as the threshold to constarin the asymmetry of the spline. Then a two-step strategy is used to generate a blended toolpath composed of asymmetric PH splines and linear segments. In the first step, the PH splines at the corners are generated under the premise that the transition lengths do not exceed half of the length of the linear segments. In the second step, the splines at the corners are re-planned to reduce the curvature extremes, if the transition error does not reach the given threshold and there are extra linear trajectories on both sides of the spline trajectory. Finally, the bilinear interpolation method is applied to determine the critical points of the smoothed toolpath, and a jerk-continuous feedrate scheduling scheme is presented to interpolate the smoothed toolpath. Simulations show that, under the condition of not affecting the machining quality, the proposed method can improve the machining efficiency by 7.84% to 23.98% compared to 𝐺3 and 𝐺4 methods.


Sri Lanka's health policy calls for health services to be accessible to all people, which requires appropriate training of physicians, nurses, and paramedicals. Increasing the training and cadre of public health midwives allows Sri Lanka to make free domiciliary and field health services available to all parts of the country. Sri Lanka must adopt realistic measures to improve guidance and supervision of midwives to derive maximum benefits. Sri Lanka first instituted primary health care (PHC) in 1926 (Health Unit at Kalutara). PHC provides 3 stages of maternal and child health care through home and/or clinic visits: prenatal care, trained assistance during delivery, and postpartum care. In most parts of Sri Lanka, 1 family health worker is available for every 3000 people. Yet, maternal mortality is rather high. A UNICEF study shows that family health workers register only about 50% of pregnant women. A lack of personnel to provide maternal health services is a main reason for high maternal mortality. Many medical officers (1979, 52%) have not done an internship in gynecology and obstetrics. Many (1979, 38%) are assigned to peripheral facilities where they practice obstetrics without any help from experienced physicians. They are reluctant to do simple obstetric measures, e.g., removal of a retained placenta. This reluctance keeps some physicians from admitting mothers in labor, so they transfer them to upper-level hospitals. The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine needs to implement courses in obstetrics and gynecology so the district hospitals can have competent obstetricians on staff. The leading causes of maternal death are, in order of frequency, hemorrhage, abortion complications, eclampsia, sepsis, and obstructed labor. Anemia and retained placenta are the reasons for hemorrhage. Insufficient access to life-saving treatment in emergencies is the single most critical weakness in the maternal health care system, indicating a need to establish intensive care units.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common reason of disability among the ageing population. The awareness of machine learning as a tool in medicine is growing rapidly and has provided new avenues for research into a number of diseases and infections. Creating better predictive models for these diseases could provide opportunities for better care, which we have applied to osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that affects a large number of both gender in older population. A number of studies have been undertaken in order to understand the prediction of Osteoarthritis risks using data mining techniques.  Hence, this study is focused at using two different types of s data mining techniques to predict Osteoarthritis risks in Nigerian patients using the Naive Bayes' and the K nearest neighbor algorithms.  The performances of these two classification techniques was evaluated in order to determine the most efficient and effective model. To achieve this, a dataset containing patients who have participated in an osteoarthritis treatment program was used and analyzed. The Naive Bayes' showed a higher accuracy with lower error rates compared to that of the KNN method while the evaluation criteria proved the Naive Bayes' to be a more effective and efficient classification techniques for the prediction of Osteoarthritis risks among patients of the study location. Our results shows that it is possible to predict an efficient and effective classifier for Osteoarthritis risks.


An on-going comparative study of wear rates and tool lives under varying cutting parameters is presented in this paper, along with results indicating the abilities and limitations of the hard turning process to produce finished surfaces with acceptable roughness and integrity. To date, the study has consisted of thirteen combinations of machining conditions. The tests were performed with four different cutting tool materials supplied by two manufacturers. Tool life results agree with previous research in this area, indicating that low content CBN tools have improved lives resulting from the increased bonding strength of the ceramic binders compared to the cobalt binder typically used for higher CBN content tools. More interesting is a resulting trend in flank wear patterns that could help to predict tool life under certain cutting conditions. Further work is being done to understand the wear process in an attempt to model this relationship for a larger range of conditions. Surface quality limitations are also presented, in terms of limited achievable surface roughness due to increased plowing action at low feeds. Microstructural changes on machined surfaces are then discussed, with an explanation given for the ability to produce surfaces free of white layer, even when cutting with worn cutting tools.


Southeast Asian ovalocytosis (SAO), α(+)-thalassemia, and low expression of complement receptor 1 (CR1) have been associated with protection against severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. In a cohort of children 5-14 years of age the effect of α(+)-thalassemia, SAO (SLC4A1Δ27), CR1 polymorphisms, and Gerbich negativity (GYPCΔex3) on risk of P. falciparum infections and uncomplicated illness were evaluated. The risk of acquiring polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-diagnosed P. falciparum infections was significantly lower for α(+)-thalassemia heterozygotes (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.56) and homozygotes (HR: 0.51) than wild-type children. No such differences were seen in light of microscopy diagnosed infections (P = 0.71) or were α(+)-thalassemia genotypes associated with a reduced risk of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. No significant associations between the risk of P. falciparum infection or illness were observed for any of the other red blood cell polymorphisms (P > 0.2). This suggests that these polymorphisms are not associated with significant protection against P. falciparum blood-stage infection or uncomplicated malaria in school-aged children.


In oder to find out the most effective method of plutonium skin decontamination, removal tests were carried out with eleven typical decontaminants used in the form of aqueous solutions. The contaminant chosen was plutonium chloride in 1N hydrochloric acid and fresh pig skin was used to substitute human skin. From the tests on plutonium skin contamination and decontamination, it was proved that the plutonium skin contamination remaining after washing with water consisted of what can be called physical adsorption, which is decontaminated by the action of surface activity or detergency, and what can be designated as chemisorption, which can only be removed by chemical reaction or chelate formation. The fraction constituted by the physical adsorption was found to decrease with duration of contamination, being over 99% at 10 sec contamination, 92.5% at 10min, and 90% at 60min, although the total amount of contamination increased with the duration. It was found that for plutonium skin decontamination, synthetic detergent is the most effective when the treatment immediately follows the event of contamination, while for delayed treatment given after an elapse of over 10min sodium hypochlorite or EDTA is the best agent.


A preliminary investigation on transitory motions of "inertial" period is made with the help of simple models. The amplitudes of the displacements are evaluated when an initial impulse and a sudden cooling are imposed on a non-homogeneous sea. Then the effects of spatial variations or of lateral boundaries are considered. Allowing for a density stratification, the frequencies and phase dispersions corresponding to the diverse inertial modes are given. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1972.tb01562.x


The invention of the electron microscope has greatly enhanced the view scientists have of small structural details. Since its implementation, this technology has undergone considerable evolution and the resolution that can be obtained for biological objects has been extended. In addition, the latest generation of cryo-electron microscopes equipped with direct electron detectors and software for the automated collection of images, in combination with the use of advanced image-analysis methods, has dramatically improved the performance of this technique in terms of resolution. While calculating a sub-10 Å resolution structure was an accomplishment less than a decade ago, it is now common to generate structures at sub-5 Å resolution and even better. It is becoming possible to relatively quickly obtain high-resolution structures of biological molecules, in particular large ones (>500 kDa) which, in some cases, have resisted more conventional methods such as X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Such newly resolved structures may, for the first time, shed light on the precise mechanisms that are essential for cellular physiological processes. The ability to attain atomic resolution may support the development of new drugs that target these proteins, allowing medicinal chemists to understand the intimacy of the relationship between their molecules and targets. In addition, recent developments in cryo-electron microscopy combined with image analysis can provide unique information on the conformational variability of macromolecular complexes. Conformational flexibility of macromolecular complexes can be investigated using cryo-electron microscopy and multiconformation reconstruction methods. However, the biochemical quality of the sample remains the major bottleneck to routine cryo-electron microscopy-based determination of structures at very high resolution.


With limited frequency spectrum and an increasing demand for mobile communication services, the problem of channel assignment becomes increasingly important. It has been shown that this problem is equivalent to the graph-coloring problem, which is an NP-hard problem. In this work, a fast constructive algorithm is introduced to solve the problem. The objective of the algorithm is to obtain a conflict free channel assignment to cells which satisfies traffic demand requirements. The algorithm was tested on several benchmark problems, and conflict free results were obtained a within one second. Moreover, the quality of solution obtained was always same or better than the other reported techniques.


Vibratory systems that are used in linear optical scanners are significantly influenced by the properties of the surrounding fluid. Although, the dominant energy loss in scanner vibrations is caused by viscous effects, especially in non-microelectromechanical system (MEMS) scanners, the relative importance of viscous damping model is not well studied. In this study, a piece-wise method for calculating the damping ratio with logarithmic decrement to produce a numerical model which is able to predict the free response of a linear optical scanner is developed. The damping ratio function used in the model was derived by comparing and minimizing the deviation between the amplitude predicted by numerical model and the experimental data. The efficiency of this approach was tested on the basis of a torsional spring scanner. The results show significant improvement whereby the proposed model predicted the free response with a deviation of only 8% while the general exponential damping model produced a deviation of 20%.


We discuss the effect of structure-preserving perturbations on complex or real Hamiltonian eigenproblems and characterize the structured worst-case effect perturbations. We derive significant expressions for both the structured condition numbers and the worst-case effect Hamiltonian perturbations. It is shown that, for purely imaginary eigenvalues, the usual unstructured perturbation analysis is sufficient.


ABSTRACT The gender gap in attitudes to foreign policy is well established in public opinion literature. Studies have repeatedly reported that women tend to be more peaceful and less militaristic than men. This article reexamines attitudes of individuals in relation to foreign policy and pits the gender gap against the largely forgotten feminist gap. We argue that the individual-level relationship between gender equality attitudes on the one hand, and tolerance and benevolence on the other, is under-researched, but also that key contributions about the effects of feminism have been mostly ignored in research on the gender gap in public opinion. We return to the notion of a causal relationship between gender equality attitudes, and peaceful attitudes, and of a feminist gap that also exists among men. In a series of novel empirical tests, we demonstrate that attitudes to gender equality, not biological sex, explain attitudes towards other nationalities and religious groups. Using individual-level survey data from five countries around the Pacific: China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America, we show that both men and women who reject gender equality are much more hostile both to other nations and to minorities in their own country.


Gene-environment interactions are the indisputable cause of most respiratory diseases. However, we still have very limited understanding of the mechanisms that guide these interactions. Although the conceptual approaches to environmental genomics were established several decades ago, the tools are only now available to better define the mechanisms that underlie the interaction between these important etiologic features of lung disease. Epigenetic mechanisms can mediate the effect of the environment on the human genome by controlling the transcriptional activity of specific genes, at specific points in time, in specific organs. In this article, we demonstrate the potential importance of epigenetic mechanisms in the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.


Stress in the workplace is not a new phenomenon. Today stress has become an important management problem in the industrialized world. Almost all people experience stress in connection with work. Slightest work stress that appears should be immediately addressed so as not to swell which eventually may harm the organization and employees. One source of job stress is noise is unwanted sound by ear because it can be distracting and annoying. However, in response to noise can vary by each individual in accordance with its ability to adapt. If the individual is less able to adapt to the noise then it will tend to experience stress. This study aims to determine ungan hub between the ability of adaptation to noise with employee stress. This study was designed to use a quantitative approach and is correlational. The population of this study are employees of the production of PT. Plywood Hendratna totaling 357 people. In taking the samples, researchers used a technique by taking a random sample of 60 employees. In this study, researchers used a try out pure. Results of the scale try out the ability of adaptation to noise obtained is valid from 23 items 30 items presented. While on the job stress scale obtained 55 valid items from 72 items. The results showed that 32 subjects (53.3%) experienced high job stress and 28 subjects (46.6%) experienced low job stress. It also obtained the result that 37 subjects (61.6%) had a good ability of adaptation to noise and 23 subjects (38.3%) had a poor adaptability to noise. Results of data analysis known that there is a very significant negative correlation between the ability of adaptation to noise with employee stress as indicated by the correlation coefficient r = - 0.359 and p = 0.005. This means that if employees have good adaptability to noise, the low job stress, otherwise if the employee has a poor adaptability to noise so high job stress. From this it can be seen that the ability of adaptation to the effective noise contribution of 12.88% (r ² = 0.1288) to job stress, while the remaining 87.12% influenced by other factors.


The effectiveness of the water shield above the core and in the pool for shielding gamma rays and neutrons was investigated by measurements and calculations for a tank-in-pool type reactor, Ghana Research Reactor-1, GHARR-1. Experimental determination of y dose rates were made using Radiation Alert Monitor-4 and halogen counter type J613 y probe with readout on y -radiation monitoring system of the control console and the microcomputer control system. The PC version of the one-dimensional transport code ANISN was used to estimate the gamma and the neutron dose-rates at various positions of the reactor. All computations were carried out using the S g angular quadrature in a cylindrical geometry pertaining to the reactor GHARR-1. The P3 scattering order was assumed. The microscopic cross-sections of materials for various regions were extracted from VITAMIN C master library consisting of 171 neutron and 36 photon energies. Concentrations in various regions were computed based on procedures outlined in WIMS-D/4. The calculational result of gamma dose rate was 25.8 fiSv / hr at the edge of the pool for nominal power of 30kW which agreed with the experimental one of 25 juSv / h r . The maximum and minimum percentage variation of the calculational and the experimental results were 8.21 and 0.27 respectively with corresponding standard deviations of0.42 and 0.04. Based on this satisfactory result, the dose profile along the slant tubes used to commission the reactor was studied using the code and an assessment was also performed for the radiological consequences of postulated accidents due to loss-of-coolant accidents. With the available information on the variation of the neutron and the gamma doses along the slant tubes, high dose theimolumniscent (TLD) badges could be used to confirm the calculated values in the future. The tubes could then be mapped for studies on the effect of neutron and gamma irradiation on mutation breeding of seeds in the field of agriculture. The effectiveness of the shielding in the case of loss-of-coolant due to a break in the pipe of the reactor vessel or crack in the pool caused by an earthquake was investigated. The results of the study indicate that the dose rates around the reactor vessel and pool would be abnormally high. However, core melt-down is not expected because the design features of the reactor are such that the core will remain covered with coolant in the event of a break in a pipe line to the purification plant. -ivUniversity of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh


Local-scale spatial patterning (over hundreds of metres) in terrestrial assemblages was investigated by sampling a variety of organisms within a 400 ha eucalypt forest area in the lowlands of south-east Queensland. Organisms were trees, shrubs, birds, insects extracted from the litter layer, and insects caught in pitfall traps. Each group was sampled using a standardized methodology, and the component taxa were counted and identified to a level commonly used in ecological studies of that organism - varying from species to order levels. Sites adjacent to drainage lines or ephemeral streams were biotically more similar to one another than they were to paired upslope sites 100-200 m distant and 15-35 m higher in altitude. This phenomenon occurred irrespective of the level of taxonomic resolution or type of organism. Within each taxonomic group, some components were mainly riparian, while others were more characteristic of upslope sites. Characteristically riparian taxa included trees in the genus Glochidion, the shrub genus Leptospermum, birds in the Pachycephalidae and Meliphagidae families, and litter invertebrates in the order Acarina. Upslope taxa included shrubs in the Rutaceae, birds in the Artamidae, and ants. Within the groups of trees, birds and litter invertebrates, more taxa were characteristic of riparian than upslope sites. Local scale biotic patterns were more strongly correlated with altitude than with measured soil characteristics; however, microtopographical differences would also be highly correlated with a large suite of covarying environmental features. The patterns of diversity and the implications for survey design and conservation are discussed.


Deep brain stimulation for Tourette Syndrome is an emerging therapy for patients with severe, disabling tics. The complexity of symptoms associated with TS present challenges for electrode target selection and evaluation of outcome that distinguish it from other disorders for which DBS has been studied. Accumulating data have been sufficiently promising to justify further study. Yet, many questions remain. Systematic, controlled, collaborative studies are required to answer the many questions that remain.


Results of some seismic-based methods of natural fracturing forecast have been studied and compared. Matching of seismic forecast to the well data served as a main criterion for credibility. For a number of fracture zones detected reliably by diverse well data, the accuracy of seismic-based fracture identification is shown for various methods: coherency volumes, various modifications of geometric attributes, azimuthal anisotropy, and duplex wave migration. The results of comparing the effectiveness of these methods to predict fracture permeability are given and analyzed.


Recurrences of benign and malignant tumors and inflammatory complications are the main indications for revision parotidectomy. Many of these operations could be avoided if the primary surgical procedure had been adequate. Revision parotidectomy is difficult to perform when the facial nerve is embedded in scar tissue. Indications for and risks of revision parotidectomy are demonstrated for typical situations such as recurrent pleomorphic adenomas and malignancies, postoperative fistulas, and recurrences of previously operated chronic parotitis.


Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify levels of perceived stigma, self-esteem, quality of life and factors influencing on quality of life in people with Hansens' disease. Methods: The subjects were 128 people in Sorokdo National Hospital, two nursing homes, and three settlements. The stigma scale, self-esteem scale, and World Health Organization's quality of life instrument were used. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires from July to August, 2010 and analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Ducan's multiple range test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression by SAS. Results: The level of perceived stigma was 3.93, self-esteem was 26.2, quality of life was 2.78. Self-esteem was positively associated with quality of life. Through the multiple regression, it was found that self-esteem and job were factors influencing of quality of life with 43% of predictability. Conclusion: It was found that self-esteem and job were important for people with Hansen's disease. To improve the quality of life in people with Hansen's disease, it is necessary to develop nursing interventions fostering self-esteem and decreasing perceived stigma.


Liver disease is the second most common cause of death in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Improvement in surgical techniques, medical management, and imaging modalities has broadened the range of options for treatment of these patients. Medical management with ursodeoxycholic acid and nutritional support may help decelerate the progression of liver disease. A timely evaluation of CF patients with liver involvement for transplantation is important. Such evaluation should not be delayed until signs of hepatic decompensation occur. Combined lung-liver transplant can be considered for patients with advanced pulmonary disease. Pretransplant management of portal hypertension with a portosystemic shunt procedure is an option for patients with well-preserved synthetic liver function. Improvement in lung function after liver transplantation and no significant risk of pulmonary infection with immunosuppressive therapy have been reported. Review of individual center experiences have shown satisfactory survival and improved quality of life for CF patients undergoing liver transplant.


Growth-promoting implants have been used extensively in beef production for over 30 years. Significant changes in implants and implanting strategies have occurred. Prior to 1987, available implants were estrogenic agents that metabolically enhanced nutrient use to enhance growth. These products tend to increase intake but significantly improved feed efficiency and daily gains. In 1987, an androgenic (tissue-building) agent, TBA, was approved for use in growth-promoting implants. The androgenic implant enhanced muscle growth without increasing intake, thereby adding an additional 3% to feed efficiency and 3% to 5% to daily gains. Today, implants have become almost "designer" products with varied doses and combinations of estrogenic and androgenic agents. Although implants tend to be most widely used in feedyards, numerous implant strategies are available for use in cattle from the suckling through finishing phases of production. Consistent responses to lifetime programs depend not only on product use but on timing and sequence as well. Lifetime implant programs should be designed to obtain an optimum growth and efficiency response while minimizing expression of live animal side effects and adverse effects on carcass traits. Recent studies suggest that using implants with increasing potency in succession allows for the greatest animal lifetime gain (up to 150 lb) while maintaining or slightly improving postweaning feed conversion when compared with that of nonimplanted cattle. Implant strategies that match implant dose or potency to animal age, weight, and production desired are recommended. Beginning in the preweaning period with low-potency products and ending in the postweaning period with high-potency androgenic-containing implant products which complement the estrogenic response, maintain the positive carry-over effects of previous implants. Implant programs should be designed to maintain hormone blood levels within an optimum response range. Hormone levels below or above this range should be avoided once implant programs are initiated.


Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the comparison of pretreatment anxiety levels among patients undergoing nonsurgical and surgical periodontal therapy. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 patients were included in the study. In Group A, 50 patients undergoing nonsurgical periodontal therapy for the first time were included, whereas in Group B, 50 patients undergoing surgical periodontal therapy for the first time were included. Matching was done with respect to age and gender for both the groups. Just before the procedure, a questionnaire form containing modified dental anxiety score was used to check anxiety levels. Once the patient had marked the score, total score was calculated. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed statistically using the independent student t-test. Results: There was no significant difference in the pretreatment anxiety levels between both the test groups. Pretreatment anxiety was more among females in both groups compared to males. Conclusion: In this study, there was no statistical difference between both the test groups. However, there are some studies which show that surgical group is less anxious than nonsurgical group; hence, a larger sample size is needed to confirm these findings. Further studies are needed to address the dental anxiety levels in different populations' age wise and gender wise, which will help dental-care providers to better manage their patients.


ABSTRACTThe impact of this work is reflected in combining two different areas of research, one of which deals with intelligent control strategies, while the other focuses on the mechanics of highly flexible structures, such as membranes. True membranes are "no-compression" structures which exhibit the unique response of wrinkling. Accurate measurement of membrane wrinkling has heretofore not been presented in the literature; among other requirements, noncontact methods must be used. First, some background information on membrane wrinkling prediction and measurement is given. Then, an experimental apparatus is discussed within which a membrane was subject to planar deformations. Finally a control strategy, based on a fuzzy PD controller, is discussed in detail together with experimental results.


Nerve growth factor is an inflammatory mediator that induces long-lasting hyperalgesia, which can partially be attributed to nerve growth factor-induced sensitization of primary afferent nociceptors. It was shown that nerve growth factor increases the excitability of polymodal C-fibre nociceptors by modulating tetrodotoxin-sensitive and tetrodotoxin-resistant voltage-gated sodium channels, but hitherto only little is known about the effects of nerve growth factor on sodium currents in other nociceptor subtypes that express the nerve growth factor receptor TrkA. We previously characterized two reporter mouse lines that allow the unequivocal identification of two important subclasses of TrkA-expressing nociceptors – i.e. neuropeptide Y receptor type 2 (NPY2R+ ) Aδ-fibre nociceptors that mediate pinprick pain and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha-3 subunit (CHRNA3+ ) silent nociceptors, which are the most abundant TrkA+ nociceptors in visceral organs and deep somatic tissues. Here, we utilized these mouse lines to investigate the expression patterns and the possible nerve growth factor-dependent modulation of sodium channels in these neurons using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. We demonstrate that NPY2R+ nociceptors, CHRNA3+ 'silent' nociceptors and polymodal C-fibre nociceptors express different combinations of sodium channel α- and β-subunits and accordingly exhibit functionally different sodium currents. Moreover, we demonstrate that nerve growth factor produces robust hyperpolarizing shifts in the half-activation voltage of tetrodotoxin-resistant currents in NPY2R+ nociceptors and polymodal C-fibre nociceptors and also shifts the half-activation of tetrodotoxin-sensitive currents in polymodal C-fibre nociceptors. In silent nociceptors, however, nerve growth factor solely increases the current density of the tetrodotoxin-resistant current but does not alter other sodium channel properties. Considering the different peripheral target tissues and the previously reported roles in different forms of pain of the nociceptor subpopulations that were examined here, our results suggest that nerve growth factor differentially contributes to the development visceral and cutaneous pain hypersensitivity and highlights the importance of developing different therapeutic strategies for different forms of pain.


The question on easy access to medical and health information by patients has attracted attention of the society and researchers. It has been indeed observed that poor understanding of medical and health information by patients may be harmful for their healthcare process. We assume that simplification and adaptation of technical documents may provide a solution to this situation. While the dedicated guidelines to the simplification summarize different kinds of criteria to consider, actually, it is still difficult to respect all these criteria. Usually, automatic systems for text simplification address some lexical or syntactic transformations. Besides, little work is done on simplification and adaptation of medical and health texts. We propose to combine lexical and syntactic simplification within a rulebased system, and to make it more fine-grained through additional processing. More particularly, we consider transformation of passive sentences into active sentences, and we control the grammatical concordance within sentences. We work with technical medical documents in French. The results are mainly evaluated according to the three measures specifically dedicated to the simplification: semantics, simplicity and grammaticality.


What constitutes a nation's literature? How do literatures of different countries interact with one another? In this groundbreaking study, Alexander Beecroft develops a new way of thinking about world literature. Drawing on a series of examples and case studies, the book ranges from ancient epic to the contemporary fiction of Roberto BolaNo and Amitav Ghosh. Moving across literary ecologies of varying sizes, from small societies to the planet as a whole, the environments in which literary texts are produced and circulated, "An Ecology of World Literature" places in dialogue scholarly perspectives on ancient and modern, western and non-western texts, navigating literary study into new and uncharted territory.


Infection cases of diphyllobothriid tapeworms are not much in the below teen-age group. We report a case of Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense infection in a 13-year-old boy. He presented with severe fatigue, occasional abdominal pain at night time. He also had several episodes of tapeworm segment discharge in his stools. By his past history, he had frequently eaten raw fish including salmon and trout with his families. Numerous eggs of diphyllobothriid tapeworm were detected in the fecal examination. We introduced amidotrizoic acid as a cathartic agent through nasogastroduodenal tube and let nearly whole length (4.75 m) of D. nihonkaiense be excreted through his anus. After a single dose of praziquantel, the child's stool showed no further eggs, and his symptoms disappeared. The evacuated worm was identified as D. nihonkaiense by mitochondrial cox1 gene analysis. Here we report a successful extracorporeal worm extraction from an infection case of D. nihonkaiense by the injection of amidotrizoic acid.


Why does anti-Muslim violence take place in Burma now and with what costs? Three related arguments are made to answer the puzzle. Firstly, the pattern, nature, level, frequency, and impact of anti-Muslim violence during the quasi-civilian regime that took power in 2011have changed and been distinct from religious riots in the previous reign. Secondly, both "hardliners" and "reformists" of the transitional regime are complicit in ongoing communal violence in Burma and taking advantage out of it, in contrast to prevailing depiction of the violence as actions of "dark forces" and "hardliners" behind the scene. Thirdly, the paper investigates unprecedented trend, which is an emerging conflicts between Burmese Monastic Order and its lay adherents, that would lead to a societal transformation in the long-run while the immediate and medium-term costs of the religious violence remain to be very devastating.


The authors argue that the rulings of the Dutch Supreme Court, in which its substantive opinion on the tenability of the preservative tax assessment in relation to pension benefits is expressed, do not leave any scope for the remedial legislation implemented as a response thereto. The authors explain that the legislator has acted in violation of the principle of good faith that needs to be taken into account when interpreting and applying double tax treaties. According to the authors, the way to prevent that the entitlements accrued tax-efficiently are appropriated for other purposes than the intended purposes is by changing the bilateral tax treaties. This article includes an overview of the consequences of the rulings and the amendments to the law in various situations.


Contaminant release scenarios proposed for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) repository suggest that the Culebra Dolomite member of the Rustler Formation could be an important radionuclide release path. This thin, vuggy, highly fractured unit is the most transmissive geologic unit overlying the WIPP. Many of the samples obtained from drill cores in the Culebra exhibit fractures that are lined with iron-oxyhydroxide-rich and clay-rich mineral coatings. The coatings are mineralogically distinct from the rock matrix, and may have sorptive characteristics that are different from a clay-poor dolomite matrix. Where locally abundant, such coatings could affect advective/diffusive exchange between matrix blocks and fractures and the accessible mineral surface area available for radionuclide adsorption. Clay minerals are present in the matrix and as fracture coatings in the samples from all the drill core locations examined in this study. Visual examination of rock sample surfaces in the H -19b7 core suggests that at least 7% of the total fracture surface area is coated with iron oxhydroxides or clays. In the samples from H-19b7, the amount of clay disseminated in the matrix varies from <1% to {approx}12 % by weight, and generally increases with stratigraphic height within the unit. In a suite of samplesmore » obtained from 12 other locations in the vicinity of the WIPP site, matrix samples from the Culebra contain 0.6--7% clay. These samples were taken from the more transmissive lower two-thirds of the unit (Culebra Units 2-4) which was considered to be the accessible portion of the unit in the WIPP Compliance Certification Application (CCA). Clay minerals also occur as clay-rich laminae and partings with the geometries of primary sedimentary structures and dissolution residues. Such partings are the loci of bedding plane fractures, and have the heaviest clay coatings found in the unit. Crosscutting fractures also commonly exhibit clay mineral coatings, but these are generally discontinuous and much thinner.« less


Genes encoding proteins involved in dopaminergic transmission have been of special interest during the evaluation of candidate genes for Parkinson's disease (PD). The dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) is located on chromosome 11 q22‐q23, and several polymorphisms of the gene have been described. The DRD2 gene has a TaqI A restriction fragment length polymorphism that is located in the untranslated region, approximately 10 kilobases from the 3′ end of the gene. This polymorphism creates the two alleles A1 (variant) and A2. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that a TaqI repeat fragment length polymorphism in the dopamine D2 receptor gene may be associated with PD. DNA from 72 patients with PD, classified as definite, probable, or atypical PD, and from 81 controls was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis for the presence of the TaqI A1 polymorphism. The controls were matched for age, race, and geographic origin. There were significant differences in allelic distribution between the overall PD group and control groups (χ2 = 5.009, p = 0.025). When only patients with definite PD were considered an even more significant association was found (χ2 = 8.2121, p = 0.004). Among the overall PD group, the odds ratio for having the variant allele A1 was found to be 2.2 (95% confidence interval, [1.1; 4.4]), whereas it was calculated to be 3.0 (95% confidence interval, [1.4; 6.4]) when only patients with definite PD were considered. The current study showed that there is a statistically significant association between the DRD2 variant allele A1 and PD. This association is most pronounced in patients with definite PD and becomes nonsignificant when the clinical picture is classified as atypical PD.


A new efficient technique is proposed to derive a series representation for the two-dimensional (2-D) Green's function of a planar substrate. A perfectly matched layer (PML) is used to turn the original open configuration into a closed one. The resulting structure is regarded as a waveguide and the resulting-analytically known-discrete set of eigenmodes is then used to expand the Green's function. The method turns out to be elegant and efficient for distances larger than 0.1/spl lambda/ away from the source.


Immune defense often differs between sexes, where females generally exhibit higher individual immunity than males. Such sexually dimorphic immune defense stems from differential investment into reproduction as females allocate more resources into mating. Contrary to prevailing predictions, some studies have found that females exhibit a weaker immune response than males. In this study, I examined both humoral (phenoloxidase activity and lytic activity) and cellular (encapsulation ability) immune parameters including cuticular melanization in a field population of a bush-cricket (Isophya reticulata) that is an endemic species in the northeastern part of Turkey. As expected, females showed a higher phenoloxidase activity than males, whereas there were no sex differences in lytic activity. Males expressed a higher encapsulation response than females. These results indicated that sex differences in immunity may be variable and females may not always exhibit higher immunity than males. Another interesting finding of this study was a positive relationship between stridulatory file length, phenoloxidase activity, and wing melanization. This finding demonstrated a connection between size differences in stridulatory apparatus that affect sexual signaling and immune response.


Most of the vocabulary in English has differences in written and spoken form, then it also takes time for the learners to recognize and memorize the new vocabularies that they have learned before they implement it in their conversation. The dual-coding theory believes when verbal and non-verbal stimuli are connected, it brings a deeper understanding and better imaging of certain things. The objectives of this study are to find out whether the use of nursery rhymes is significantly effective or not, and how effective the use of nursery rhymes is for vocabulary teaching processes based on the perspective of the dualcoding theory and the aspect of vocabulary knowledge to the elementary students. The participants of this study are 64 of the Year-3 students at MI Ushuluddin Singkawang in 2022/2023 of academic year divided into two groups, control and experimental group. The data were taken from the students' pretest and posttest results and tools to measure the data were thirty numbers of short answer questions. The findings show nursery rhymes are significantly effective for the vocabulary teaching processes to the elementary students. Nursery rhymes not only run mechanically but also activate the students' experiences, emotions, and thoughts through the process of repeating, reciting, then practicing related to the aspect of form, meaning, and use in vocabulary knowledge. All of these processes in the classroom bring a better recall for them specifically related to vocabulary learning.


This research aims to study the expectations and perceptions of the members of the Association of the Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) with regard to service quality, focusing on five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. It analyzes the impact of various demographics factors on the expectations and perceptions of tour operators with regard to ABTO service quality. Data was collected from 218 member tour operators using the convenience sampling method. The results show differences in the tour operators' expectations and perceptions in regard to ABTO service quality when segmented into the fine dimensions. Expectations were much higher in all cases and perceptions performed much lower than expectations, leading to a negative disconfirmation in regard to the service quality delivered by ABTO.


Bio-Imaging Research's technology that originated in an aerospace program has come full circle with a new aerospace adaptation called the Advanced Computed Tomography Inspection System, or ACTIS. The medical version of CT scans the human body for tumors or other abnormalities, the ACTIS system finds imperfections in aerospace structures and components, such as castings, assemblies, rocket motors and nozzles. ACTIS is described by its developer as the most versatile CT scanner available for non-destructive testing applications. ACTIS is a variable geometry system. ACTIS source and detectors can be moved closer together or farther apart to optimize the geometry for different sizes of test objects. The combination of variable geometry, three sources, and focusing detectors makes ACTIS cost effective for a broad range of applications. System can scan anything from very small turbine blades to large rocket assemblies.


The rapid pace of urbanization has an impact on climate change and other environmental issues. Currently, 54% of the global population lives in cities accounting for two-thirds of global energy demand. Sustainable energy generation and consumption is the top humanity's problem for the next 50 years. Faced with rising urban population and the need to achieve energy efficiency, urban planners are focusing on sustainable, smart energy systems. This has led to the development of Smart Grids (SG) that employs intelligent monitoring, control and communication technologies to enhance efficiency, reliability and sustainability of power generation and distribution networks. While energy utilities are optimizing energy generation and distribution, consumers play a key role in sustainable energy usage. Several energy services are provided to the consumers to know households' hourly energy consumption, estimate monthly electricity cost and recommendations to reduce energy consumption. Furthermore, advanced services such as demand response, can now control and influence energy demand at the consumer-end to reduce the overall peak demand and re-shape demand profiles. The effectiveness and adoption of these services highly depend on the consumers' awareness, their participation and engagement. Current energy services seldomly consider consumer preferences such as their daily behavior, comfort level and energy-consumption pattern. In this thesis, we investigate development of personalized energy services that strive to achieve a balance between efficient-energy consumption and user comfort. Personalization refers to tailoring energy services based on individual consumers' characteristics, preferences and behavior. To develop effective personalized energy services a set of challenges need to be tackled. First, fine-grained data collection at user and appliance level is required (data collection challenge). Mechanisms should be devised to collect fine-grained data at various levels in a non-intrusive way with minimal sensors. Second, personalized energy services require detailed user preferences such as their thermal comfort level, appliance usage behavior and daily habits (user preference challenge). Accurate learning models to derive user preferences with minimal training and intrusion are required. Third, energy services developed needs to be easily scalable, from one household to tens and thousands of households (scalability challenge). Mechanisms should be developed to tackle the deluge of data and support distributed storage and processing. Fourth, energy services should deliver real-time feedback or recommendations so that users can promptly act upon it (real time challenge). This calls for development of distributed and low complexity algorithms. This thesis moves away from traditional SG services -- which hardly consider consumer preferences and comfort -- and proposes a novel approach to develop effective personalized energy services. The proposed energy services provide actionable feedback, raise awareness and promote energy-saving behavior among consumers. In this thesis, we follow a bottom-up data-driven methodology to develop personalized energy services at various scales -- (i) nano: individual households, (ii) micro: buildings and spaces, and (iii) macro: neighborhoods and cities. To this end, we present our approach -- physical analytics for sustainable, smart energy systems -- that combines IoT data, physical modeling and data analytics to develop intelligent, personalized energy services. Physical analytics fuses data from various Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smart meters, smart phones and smart watches, along with physical information such as household type, demographics and occupancy to infer energy-usage patterns, user behavior and discover hidden patterns. This approach is used to learn and model user preferences and energy usage, subsequently, employed to develop personalized energy services. This thesis is organized into three parts. Part I describes how to derive fine-grained information with minimal sensors and intrusion. We present two novel algorithms viz., LocED and PEAT that derive fine-grained information from appliance and user level, respectively. This real-time information is used to raise awareness on energy-usage behavior among occupants. Part II presents personalized energy services targeted at households and buildings. We develop services that shift and/or reduce energy consumption and cost by considering individual consumers' preferences and comfort. These energy services are aimed at providing actionable feedback to occupants towards sustainable energy usage. Part III presents energy services targeted at neighborhood and city level. These energy services aim to identify target consumers in a neighborhood based on their energy-usage pattern and preferences for various DR programs. Finally, we present data-processing architectures that investigate how to cope with the overwhelming data generated from smart meters towards design and development of sustainable, smart energy systems. This thesis advocates that the design and development of energy services should follow personalized approach with consumer preferences and comfort given paramount importance. Results show that the personalized energy services developed has significant potential to raise awareness, reduce energy consumption and improve user comfort in smart -- homes, buildings and neighborhoods.


For the application of Driver Inattention Monitoring System this paper propose a zero-order binocular EKF face tracker, which could estimate the face pose, the eyeball yaw & pitch, the eyelids animation and the mouth & jaw animation as well as shape parameters. Experiments shows the proposed full detection and tracking loop could give more reliable result than monocular tracker and LM tracker with real time performance on a general purpose personal computer. It is also shown the tracker has tolerance against feature point detection error.


This paper defends a version of the Perceptual Model of feeling, according to which feeling is the mode of presence of axiological aspects of reality, or values. After considering the objections to this Model (§1), it presents an intentional analysis of feeling as the core of all emotions, more generally of all the phenomena of affective life, for which it proposes a taxonomy and provides in addition a dedicated phenomenology of feeling consciousness and of the degrees of intuitive cognition of values which may be distinguished in it (§2 and §3). Finally, it reconsiders the objections to the Perceptual Model in order to make sense of them, showing the limits in which they are valid and how to overcome them (§4).


A representative epidemiological survey on psychogenic disorders confirms the often reported result, that these disorders are more common in lower socioeconomic classes. However, in looking for the socioeconomic origin of the subjects (parental class position), it could be shown that "cases" were equally distributed over social classes. Therefore, it seems to be unlikely that low social class as macrosocial factor in its own right has causative influence on the subjects' later mental health or illness. It seems more likely that microsocial aspects of primary and secondary socialization are of decisive importance. After the "breeding-hypothesis" as an explanation of the inverse relationship between social class and mental illness could be ruled out, the rival hypotheses of social stress and social selection (drift-hypothesis) are discussed. A research design which might test these alternatives is outlined.


Severe asthma afflicts only a small portion of the population of asthmatics; however, due to the severity of the disease, treatment of these patients generates disproportionately high costs, which account for as much as spent for treatment of all other asthmatics. This issue gains even more importance since currently available medications are often not sufficient to treat or even dampen the inflammatory response in the air- ways of severe asthmatics. Whereas mild-to-moderate asthma is characterized by reversibility of airway obstruction, severe asthma frequently includes a degree of fixed airflow limitation and corticosteroid refracto- riness. In contrast to mild-to-moderate asthma, the inflammatory response in the airways appears to be much more complex including neutrophils as the dominating leukocyte subpopulation. A plethora of neutrophil- derived mediators and enzymes appears to perpetuate or aggravate the inflammatory response and its pathophysiologic consequences by forming several positive feedback loops. Although neutrophil infiltration into the airways is a common feature of acute asthma exacerbations, these cells are observed in the airways of severe asthmatics in the absence of bacterial infections. Since the identification of T helper 17 (TH17) cells in airway infiltrates of severe asthmatics, TH17 cells are also implicated in the immunopathology of the disease. By secreting interleukin 17A TH17 cells are able to induce the airway epithelial cell production of IL-8, the most potent chemoattractant for neutrophils. However, understanding the role of these cells within the context of the immunopathology of severe asthma is just in the fledging stages. This review aims at summarizing the actual knowledge on the immunopathologic mechanisms underlying this disease.


Despite moderate success in clinical applications, outcome of tendon grafts employed for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction remains unsatisfactory. This study investigated the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on neovascularization at the tendon‐bone junction, collagen fibers of the tendon graft, and the tendon graft‐bony interface incorporated into the osseous tunnel in rabbits. Forty rabbits were assigned to two groups. The HBO group was exposed to 100% oxygen at 2.5 atmospheres pressure for 2 h daily, 5 consecutive days in a week. The control group was maintained in cages exposed to normal air. Histological studies of 12 rabbits were performed postoperatively at 6, 12, and 18 weeks. Biomechanical studies of 24 rabbits were conducted postoperatively at 12 and 18 weeks. Electron microscopy (EM) analyses of four rabbits were performed postoperatively at 18 weeks. Experimental results demonstrated that a higher number of Sharpey's fibers bridged the newly formed fibrocartilage and graft in the HBO group than in the control group. In addition, HBO treatment increased neovascularization and enhanced the incorporation of the progressive interface between tendon graft and bone. Biomechanical analysis showed that the HBO group achieved higher maximal pullout strength than the control group. Examination by EM showed that HBO treatment resulted in regenerated collagen fibers with increased compaction and regularity. Based on experimental results, HBO treatment is a treatment modality that potentially improves outcome following ACL reconstruction. © 2007 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 25:636–645, 2007


This presented study is to make comparison of cross sections to produce 117Sb and 90Nb via different reactions with particle incident energy up to 70 MeV as a part of systematic studies on particle-induced activations on enriched Sn, Y2O3 and ZrO2 targets, theoretical calculation of production yield, calculation of required thickness of target and suggestion of optimum reaction to produce Antimony-117 and Niobium-90.


In vivo uptake and disposition of [14C]mirex by CD1 mouse liver subcellular fractions and cells of different nuclear ploidy were examined following single or multiple doses of mirex injected intraperitoneally. Significant amounts of mirex were rapidly taken up by liver (21-29%), suggesting that liver is one of the primary sites of accumulation of the chemical. Among subcellular fractions, mirex was predominantly distributed in mitochondria and microsomes in the irreversibly bound form (about 20%), although its levels fluctuated considerably with time. Mirex was completely dissociated with trichloroacetic acid treatment from both nuclear and plasma membrane fractions, although the total uptake by these fractions was markedly high. The time course of uptake and concentration-dependent disposition of mirex revealed that polyploid hepatocytes selectively accumulated higher amounts of the chemical (two to three times) compared to diploid hepatocytes. The increased affinity of polyploid cells to mirex may indicate a greater susceptibility of this cell type to the chemical insult and also may suggest a possible early involvement of polyploids in the tumorigenic process in rodent livers.


Calcareous nannoplankton biostratigraphy has been worked out in the eastern Mediterranean using deep-sea sediments recovered from DSDP Leg 42A Sites 375 and 376. These two drill sites were located approximately 55 km west of Cyprus on the Florence Rise. Sediments, ranging in age from early Miocene (Helicosphaera ampliaperta Zone) through Holocene (Emiliania huxleyi zone), contain sufficient age-diagnostic species to recognize essentially all of the low-latitude nannoplankton End_Page 443------------------------------ zones described by D. Bukry, although regional, secondary marker species are needed to define some zonal boundaries. Nannoplankton zonation established at these two deep-sea localities provides a standard of reference for much of the Neogene in the eastern Mediterranean. Reworked Cretaceous and early Cenozoic nannoplankton are present throughout the stratigraphic interval studied, but not in quantities large enough to mask indigenous species which are used for the determination of zonal boundaries. Sedimentation rates at Sites 375 and 376 were highest in the late Miocene and late Pleistocene. Open-marine, warm-water species of discoasters are present in significant numbers throughout the Miocene and Pliocene. Earliest Pliocene assemblages contain numerous specimens of the deep-water genera Amaurolithus, Ceratolithus, and Triquetrorhabdulus, evidence of the rapid marine transgression immediately following Messinian evaporite deposition. Nannoplankton in post-Messinian sediments at the drill sites and the Zanclean stratotype at Capo Rossello, Sicily, indicate that the base of the Amaurolithus tricorniculatus Zone (base of Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus Subzone) corresponds to the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. End_of_Article - Last_Page 444------------


Wireless sensor networks have been deployed for various critical monitoring applications in hostile environments such as monitoring the concentration levels of hazardous gas species in a battle field. Due to the sensitivity of such applications, it becomes mandatory to record the transient variations in the phenomenon, and take corrective actions, if necessary. At the same time it is important to shield the network from false data injection by adversaries who intend to disrupt the functioning of the system. While many schemes exist to prevent false data injection, they are counterproductive to preserving the transient observations. We devise a robust statistical scheme to monitor transient phenomenon while being immune to false data injection attacks. The key idea of our scheme is to require each sensor node to report a statistical digest of recent sensed readings in addition to the current reading; then inter-sensor statistical tests are designed and utilized to help preserve transient data while restricting the impact of false data injection significantly. Detailed theoretical analysis and in-depth simulations are presented to corroborate our scheme.


Abstract Because the current sports group competition middle school students' motion video recognition is complicated, the article uses Lagrangian mathematical equations to classify the motion videos. Based on the spatial smoothness of the flicker parameter function, this paper proposes a Lagrangian mathematical method for detecting local motion regions. The research results show that the motion differential equation and numerical calculation method of the video derived in the article are correct.


A delay-dependent approach to robust H/sub /spl infin// filtering is proposed for linear discrete-time uncertain systems with multiple delays in the state. The uncertain parameters are supposed to reside in a polytope and the attention is focused on the design of robust filters guaranteeing a prescribed H/sub /spl infin// noise attenuation level. The proposed filter design methodology incorporates some recently appeared results, such as Moon's new version of the upper bound for the inner product of two vectors and de Oliveira's idea of parameter-dependent stability, which greatly reduce the overdesign introduced in the derivation process. In addition to the full-order filtering problem, the challenging reduced-order case is also addressed by using different linearization procedures. Both full- and reduced-order filters can be obtained from the solution of convex optimization problems in terms of linear matrix inequalities, which can be solved via efficient interior-point algorithms. Numerical examples have been presented to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of the proposed methodologies.


Introduction: The investigation of the cranial suture morphology and the changes occurring during the obliteration is an important precondition for understanding suture maturation and its relation to ageing. The μCT-imaging of dry skulls with known age-at-death is a powerful tool in this direction, but this technology is still expensive, difficult to access and entirely inapplicable on living individuals. On the other hand, the diagnostic imaging of patients accumulates large amount of volumetric images, which could be used for scientific researches. In medical imaging, the generated data is typically artificially blurred for denoising purposes. The standard Gaussian blur assigns a weighted average value for the gray-scale intensity of each pixel, based on the initial intensities of the pixel and its neighbors. Unfortunately, together with the noise reduction, such a procedure decreases the contrast on image contours and significantly complicates the study of cranial sutures. Aim: This study aims to apply theoretical and experimental scientific techniques for optimal extraction of useful data for the degree of suture obliteration, from medical tomographic images. Materials: Volumetric images obtained from diagnostic imaging of patients with multislice CT system Toshiba Aquillion64 were used. Methods: We developed a deblurring technique, based on the penalized total variation optimization. We also segmented the output image, using an appropriate threshold in order to separate the suture (region of interest) from the background. Results: After processing the images, the contact between the adjacent cranial bones is clearer and the degree of suture closure could be interpreted more accurately. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, grant DN01/15- 20.12.2016.


Reducing the overhead of data transmissions is crucial to harnessing the potential of distributed memory multiprocessors. Some optimization techniques such as overlapping communication and computation have been proposed. However, the most overlapping techniques are still limited by the following factors. There is no linguistic support for overlapping communication and computation in data parallel languages; and there is no global analysis performed for array references over different nested loops. which will decide how to overlap communication and computation. This paper proposes an asynchronous data transmission mechanism for data parallel languages. It describes a new linguistic support, called an N-level message queue that is designed to overlap communication and computation in a program. Based on an exact data-flow analysis on individual array element accesses, the compiler inserts data transmission requests to message queue into SPMD code. Experiments show that introducing an asynchronous transmission mechanism into data parallel language compilers is effective.


Separation of solids from fluid is a vital process to achieve the desired level of purification in industry. Contaminant filtration is a common process in a variety of applications in industry. Clogging of filter phenomena is the primary failure mode leading to replacement or cleansing of filter. Reduced performance and efficiency or cascading failures are the unfortunate outcomes of a clogged filter. For instance, solid contaminants in fuel may lead to performance reduction in the engine and rapid wear in the fuel pump. This paper presents the development of an experimental rig to collect accelerated filter clogging data and a physics-based degradation model to represent the filter clogging. In the experimental rig, pressure drop across the filter, flow rate, and filter mesh images are acquired during the accelerated clogging experiments. The pressure drop across the filter due to deposition of suspended solids in the liquid is modelled and employed in the degradation modelling. Then, the physics based degradation model simulated using MatLab is compared with the real clogging data and the effectiveness of the degradation model is evaluated.


In this contribution the rational of colorectal cancer centre certification is discussed on the basis of previously published literature and several unsettled factors which are not yet considered as influencing the quality of cancer treatment. The representation of the theme cannot be comprehensive or complete. The readers should be stimulated by one or the other topic to reach their own critical assessment. Due to several limitations of the published literature and the various unsettled aspects, the purpose of colorectal cancer centre certification is called into question.


Present study investigated estrogen (E2), progester one (P4), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dis mutase (SOD) profiles in pregnant mice treated with nicotine concurrently with γ -tocotrienol ( γ -TCT), a non-enzymatic antioxidant. Ninety-six (6 - 8 weeks old) day 1 pc mice (Mus musculus) were inject ed(sc) with either 0.9% saline or nicotine of 3.0 mg/kg/day; or gavaged with γ -TCT alone of 60 mg/kg/day or treated with nicotine concurrently with γ - TCT from day 1 through day 7 pc. Nicotine did not a ffect implantation but reduced the count of intrauterine embryo and fetal survival rate. Concom itant treatment of nicotine concurrently with γ -TCT reversed the altered fetal parameters back to norma l. High levels of MDA with corresponding low levels of GPx, CAT and SOD in nicotine-induced plasma were also reversed. Nicotine-induced elevated levels of E2 with a corresponding decrease in P4 were also reverted. Gamma-TCT supplementation concurrently with nicotine seems to overcome the ef fects of nicotine on fetal development, fetal outcome as well as the survival rate of the newborn . The results of the present study show that foetal development and foetal outcome, also survival rate of the newborn in nicotine-treated mice are maintained by γ -TCT, a protective antioxidant, through combating f ree radicals generation in nicotine- induced oxidative stress.


This paper demonstrates a novel LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) design that utilizes active inter-stage and I/O matching to dramatically reduce size and increase performance over traditional inductor/capacitor matching. The results are dramatic when implemented on PHEMT GaAs where a 3 stage LNA is only .35 × .70mm yet covers 1 to 20 GHz. The LNA typically provides 20 dB gain, as low as 1.1dB NF and 12dB return loss across band. The die is small enough to be packaged in a 1.2×1.5 mm plastic QFN making it the smallest SMT amplifier known with this bandwidth and performance.


Instructional support has been widely discussed as a strategy to optimize student-learning experiences. This study examines instructional support within the context of a multimedia language-learning environment, with the predominant focus on learners' perceptions of captioning support for listening comprehension. The study seeks to answer two questions: (1) do learners' perceptions regarding dependence on captions match their actual reliance on captioning for listening comprehension? and (2) which learners' perceptions are most influenced by proficiency: low-intermediate, intermediate, or high-intermediate? A total of 139 students from a high school English course in northern Taiwan, all accustomed to multimedia instruction that includes full captions, completed an English language proficiency test as well as a caption reliance test (CRT), and also provided their perceived degree of reliance on captions for English listening comprehension. The results show that overall perceived reliance was significantly related to actual reliance as assessed by the CRT. However, proficiency was also found to be a mitigating factor in the relationship: while low-intermediate level learners accurately perceived their reliance, no relation was found for either intermediate or high-intermediate learners, indicating that, at these levels, some learners may not accurately judge their reliance on captioning. Accordingly, the study offers pedagogical implications that captioning support, added or removed, based on learner self-reports, may not be inherently beneficial, as perceptions on the reliance of captioning may be inaccurate.