This thesis describes work which was focused on stratifying annular flow in horizontal tubes. Stratifying-annular flows in horizontal tubes are characterized by the tube being wetted with liquid over its whole periphery but with a tendency for more of the liquid to be present in the layer at the bottom of the tube. For such a condition to exist, there have to be some mechanisms by which the liquid is transported at the top of the pipe in opposition to the influence of gravity. Such flows are typically experienced in hydrocarbon recovery and in many other applications as for instance in gas-condensate lines. Unless the liquid phase (to which a corrosion inhibitor is often added) can adequately wet the top of the pipe, corrosion and ultimate pipe failure may occur in this region; this is a crucial problem for the petroleum industry. Three physical mechanisms have been identified for the transport of the liquid phase to the top of the tube, namely: droplet transport, wave spreading and mixing, and secondary flow. The secondary flow mechanism seems unlikely to contribute significantly and the wave spreading mechanism is only significant in smaller diameter tubes (typically 25 mm). For larger pipes, it is the droplet transport mechanism which is likely to occur; in this mechanism, droplets are entrained from the liquid layer at the bottom of the pipe and transported in the gas core at the top where they deposit to form a liquid film. Two mechanisms of droplet transport seem to be significant, namely ballistic transport in which larger droplets move in a direction governed by their initial release velocity and diffusional transport in which droplets move randomly under the influence of the gas flow turbulence. For pipes of medium diameter (for example in the 78 mm diameter pipe used in the experiments described here), ballistic droplet transport is likely to be the dominant mechanism but diffusional transport is expected to be dominant for large diameter pipes. The work described in the thesis comprised both experimental and computational studies. In the experimental work, a special visualization method (namely axial view photography) was employed to study the droplet entrainment and transport mechanisms. The distribution of liquid film flow rate around the pipe was determined using a film extractor device. The axial viewing system was used to investigate droplet entrainment in stratifying-annular airwater flows in a 0.078 m diameter horizontal pipe. The process of droplet entrainment was captured using a high speed cine camera. Both ligament and bag breakup mechanisms leading to droplet entrainment were identified. The creation of a ballistic droplet from a ligament was clearly observed. The film flow rate measurements were used in conjunction with previous measurements of droplet mass flux in the core in comparisons with a computational model which aimed to predict the transport of droplets using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) modelling embodied in a commercial CFD code (CFX). In this model, the turbulent gas core was modelled and the motion of droplets emitted from the liquid layer at the bottom of the pipe was tracked in this turbulent field. Ultimately, the droplets are deposited on the tube wall and the film flow rate may be calculated using the predicted deposition rates as input data. The thesis closes with a description of a numerical experiment aimed at investigating the influence of the turbulence model on droplet transport. Specifically, comparisons were made between RANS and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) models.


This paper presents the implementation of a cross-quad circuit suitable for low-voltage operation. The proposed cell exploits a dynamic positive feedback gm boosting technique to achieve linear voltage-to-current conversion, while it manages to work with low-voltage with no extra bias current and minimal additional hardware. Results for a 0.5 mum CMOS implementation supplied at 3 V show a 0.972% voltage-to-current accuracy, improving the 0.867% accuracy of a previously reported cross-quad topology also suitable for low-voltage operation which is based on folded transistors.


Scene text detection and document layout analysis have long been treated as two separate tasks in different image domains. In this paper, we bring them together and introduce the task of unified scene text detection and layout analysis. The first hierarchical scene text dataset is introduced to enable this novel research task. We also propose a novel method that is able to simultaneously detect scene text and form text clusters in a unified way. Comprehensive experiments show that our unified model achieves better performance than multiple well-designed baseline methods. Additionally, this model achieves state-of-the-art results on multiple scene text detection datasets without the need of complex post-processing. Dataset and code: https://github.com/google-research-datasets/hiertext.


The adaptive dynamic programming controller usually needs a long training period because the data usage efficiency is relatively low by discarding the samples once used. Prioritized experience replay (ER) promotes important experiences and is more efficient in learning the control process. This paper proposes integrating an efficient learning capability of prioritized ER design into heuristic dynamic programming (HDP). First, a one time-step backward state-action pair is used to design the ER tuple and, thus, avoids the model network. Second, a systematic approach is proposed to integrate the ER into both critic and action networks of HDP controller design. The proposed approach is tested for two case studies: a cart-pole balancing task and a triple-link pendulum balancing task. For fair comparison, we set the same initial weight parameters and initial starting states for both traditional HDP and the proposed approach under the same simulation environment. The proposed approach improves the required average number of trials to succeed by 60.56% for cart-pole, and 56.89% for triple-link balancing tasks, in comparison with the traditional HDP approach. Also, we have added results of ER-based HDP for comparison. Moreover, theoretical convergence analysis is presented to guarantee the stability of the proposed control design.


Annual electricity distribution losses average 4% in the European Union. These losses represent 7 billion Euros in annual waste. New regulations are forcing electrical distributors to enhance efficiency across their networks. Network operators are also challenged to integrate alternative energy generation and electric vehicles into their grids. This paper offers a strategy for leveraging smart grid tools that will help meet and exceed regulatory efficiency targets. Efficiency of electrical distribution is rarely planned or managed by utilities. The unfortunate result is that most utilities waste substantial amounts of electricity. In fact , annual electricity transmission and distribution losses average 6% in the European Union. 1a,b Assuming 2% for transmission and 4% for distribution losses, that represents 7 billion Euros in energy wasted every year in distribution. This number includes losses in the medium and low voltage lines and in primary and secondary substations. As a result of recently announced government mandates, Distribution System Operators (DSOs) will need to improve the efficiency (lower the loss rates) of their electrical distribution networks by 1.5 % each year. In addition, they are tasked with finding new ways to integrate smart grid drivers such as electric vehicle charging stations and alternative energy generation (wind, solar) at consumer locations. Today it is both possible and prudent to plan, measure, and improve transmission and distribution efficiency. Improvements can reduce operations cost by enabling the installation of equipment and software that communicates and integrates throughout the distribution path. This paper explains how electrical distribution efficiency can be modernized to leverage the new promise of the " smart grid " while reducing distribution-related losses and associated costs (see Figure 1) 2. Ramifications of the European Union's Energy Efficiency Directive are discussed, and best practices for deploying energy efficiency solutions are reviewed. In the domain of electrical efficiency, it is always helpful to define common terms so that confusion is avoided when concepts and best practices are discussed. Below are a few terms that are utilized in this white paper and the associated definitions: Detailed analysis of network losses in a million customer distribution grid with high penetration of distributed generation " ,


Women are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, not only in Spain but also in many Western and European countries. Female role models are key to broadening participation in STEM fields, which is why our teaching innovation group has been involved in initiatives to promote female vocations in STEM aimed at non-university education. In this paper we present different initiatives to provide female references to the students of the bachelor's degree in Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, and master's degree in computer vision. With these initiatives we aim to contribute to empowering female students of these degrees and to break with the sexist stereotypes that persist in our society. The activities have been well received by the students so we will continue with them in the next courses.


In Part I of this paper we have introduced the closed-form conditions for guaranteeing regional frequency stability in a power system. Here we propose a methodology to represent these conditions in the form of linear constraints and demonstrate their applicability by implementing them in a generation-scheduling model. This model simultaneously optimises energy production and ancillary services for maintaining frequency stability in the event of a generation outage, by solving a frequency-secured Stochastic Unit Commitment (SUC). We consider the Great Britain system, characterised by two regions that create a non-uniform distribution of inertia: England in the South, where most of the load is located, and Scotland in the North, containing significant wind resources. Through several case studies, it is shown that inertia and frequency response cannot be considered as system-wide magnitudes in power systems that exhibit inter-area oscillations in frequency, as their location in a particular region is key to guarantee stability. In addition, securing against a medium-sized loss in the low-inertia region proves to cause significant wind curtailment, which could be alleviated through reinforced transmission corridors. In this context, the proposed constraints allow to find the optimal volume of ancillary services to be procured in each region.


Intensive care plays an important role in the management of subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage. Aggressive intensive care unit-based management protocols for stuporous or comatose patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, including early aneurysm obliteration and hemodynamic augmentation to treat ischemia from vasospasm, have been shown to increase survival dramatically. Endovascular occlusion of acutely ruptured aneurysms has been shown to prevent early rebleeding and is a promising option for patients who cannot undergo early surgical clipping due to the complexity of their aneurysm or medical comorbidity. Early neurologic deterioration in patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage has been shown to result from progressive hematoma expansion, which occurs in 30% of patients presenting within 3 hours of onset. Studies of the effects of standard critical care interventions such as blood pressure reduction on early intracerebral hemorrhage growth are needed.


1 We measured whole‐plant survival, frequency of leader (mainstem terminal bud) damage among survivors and growth responses of intact and damaged juveniles of three Acer species over 3 years along a microenvironmental gradient represented by the understorey and two sizes of artificially created canopy gaps in central Massachusetts, United States of America. 2 For all species combined, survival decreased while the frequency of leader damage among survivors increased across the gradient of microsite exposure. Acer rubrum L. (red maple) showed the highest survival (65–93%) but also very high leader damage (80–97%). Acer pensylvanicum L. (striped maple) showed fairly high survival (81–93%) in all but the most exposed microsites (24–36%) and had the lowest leader damage overall (17–44%). Acer saccharum Marsh. (sugar maple) was intermediate for both survival (25–86%) and leader damage (55–96%). 3 Growth differed significantly among sites and species. Both intact and damaged plants showed greater growth in gaps than in understorey, particularly in large gaps. For most growth variables in most microsites, A. pensylvanicum ≥ A. rubrum > A. saccharum when plants were intact, but A. rubrum ≥ A. pensylvanicum > A. saccharum when damaged. Species differences in growth varied among sites, with large gaps producing more pronounced effects than small gaps and understorey for both intact and damaged plants. 4 Growth recovery was inversely related to leader damage frequency among species, and thus at least partially offset the effects of damage on net growth across the populations. 5 The microsite‐ and species‐specific responses to leader damage may influence gap regeneration and forest composition. A. pensylvanicum may be favoured by its regrowth advantage over A. rubrum and A. saccharum in the understorey, where damage is likely to occur during prolonged pre‐gap periods. In contrast, A. rubrum shows a decisive advantage over its congeners in regrowth in the centres of large gaps, where the probability of a juvenile tree capturing canopy gap space is highest.


Purpose of Research Singer is to know the Process of Character Education, to know  Values Character, to know identify factors inhibiting hearts Implementation Support And Character Education in Private Islamic schools in the city of Medan. The singer is a qualitative research operates. Population Research is a college student  Islamic An-Nizam Medan (total sampling), an instrument which was used Form questionnaire. Research shows that teachers and students Already Implementing Character Education Under with draft which is dictated by Islamic An-Nizam college Medan. And have a significant influence Which Character Against Students. Character-value value lead with Diversified approach to character education, which in the mix on different Learning and extracurricular activities. Keywords : Implementation, Character, results of learning, extracurricular


Understanding how brain functions has been an intriguing topic for years. With the recent progress on collecting massive data and developing advanced technology, people have become interested in addressing the challenge of decoding brain wave data into meaningful mind states, with many machine learning models and algorithms being revisited and developed, especially the ones that handle time series data because of the nature of brain waves. However, many of these time series models, like HMM with hidden state in discrete space or State Space Model with hidden state in continuous space, only work with one source of data and cannot handle different sources of information simultaneously. In this paper, we propose an extension of State Space Model to work with different sources of information together with its learning and inference algorithms. We apply this model to decode the mind state of students during lectures based on their brain waves and reach a significant better results compared to traditional methods.


This Article illuminates the interdependence between the structure of Delaware's franchise tax and Delaware's corporate law. It makes three major arguments. First, different franchise tax structures would create different regulatory incentives for Delaware. Second, the current structure of Delaware's franchise tax law is suboptimal. A franchise tax that is sensitive to firm performance would be superior to Delaware's current franchise tax. It would align Delaware's incentives with those of shareholders and induce it to offer corporate law that maximizes shareholder value. It will have this effect even if Delaware faces no competition from other states over incorporations and even if shareholders are passive. Third, Delaware may not have sufficient incentives to reform its franchise tax law. The Article derives policy implications.


Edith Eaton/Sui Sin Far and Winnifred Eaton/Onoto Watanna, sisters writing from within a shared familial and historical context, chose different ethnic authorial pseudonyms for their fictions and constructed their life stories with different emphases on their identity formations. While Edith's memoir-essay was a pioneering text on Chinese diasporic longings, inflected with complex negotiations of the mixed-race and gender ideologies of the late nineteenth century in the United States, Winnifred's memoir-novel elided her maternal Chinese origins and narrated a proto-feminist Kunstler-roman that critiqued the oppressive conditions for working-class women in Chicago in the early twentieth century. Their contrasting life writings, read through a cluster of theoretical concepts in which hybridity is understood as a matrix incorporating race, class, and gender categories, illuminate the permeable borders and transnational possibilities for mixed-race, Eurasian self-fashioning in the US at the turn of the century.


The paper presents a brief overview of the history of new branches of mathematics and their impact on theoretical studies of mechanics of composite materials. The contribution of Russian and Soviet mathematicians and mechanics is shown, which allowed to create a functional basis for the study of mechanical properties of composites — new materials that have been widely used in engineering and the national economy. Composite materials were created in the second half of the twentieth century. They are multicomponent structures composed of various homogeneous materials. The most common are two-component structures of matrix and filler. Technologically, these components can constitute deterministic or random structures. By changing the structure and properties of the components, it is possible to obtain materials with predetermined macroscopic properties (effective properties) necessary for a particular application. The emergence of composite materials has caused a rapid growth of research on mechanical properties, allowing the design of these materials. These studies were conducted in both theoretical and practical terms. Theoretical studies were mainly reduced to the construction of mathematical models of the mechanical behavior of composites as structurally inhomogeneous materials.


A large variety of access network technologies and architectures that provide wide service portfolio to the customer are available for the network operators. Each of the potential access network architectures and technologies varies in complexity, network functionality, services supported and overall network costs. A detailed comparison of the economic viability of different access network scenarios is crucial for operators due to the high cost of this network segment. This paper identifies all essential elements of a general framework for the techno-economic analysis of different access network technologies and architectures, as well as describes some specific issues/problems related to the techno-economic evaluation of next generation (NG) access networks. The goal is to have at operator's disposal a methodology allowing the techno-economic comparison of the proposed access network solutions and their introduction/rollout.


We calibrate and contrast the recent generalized multinomial logit model and the widely used latent class logit model approaches for studying heterogeneity in consumer purchases. We estimate the parameters of the models on panel data of household ketchup purchases, and find that the generalized multinomial logit model outperforms the best-fitting latent class logit model in terms of the Bayesian information criterion. We compare the posterior estimates of coefficients for individual customers based on the two different models and discuss how the differences could affect marketing strategies (such as pricing), which could be affected by applying each of the models. We also describe extensions to the scale heterogeneity model that includes the effects of state dependence and purchase history. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The organization in San Francisco of a child hygiene committee of the health council of the community chest has provided an opportunity for the study of the health facilities of a number of agencies dealing with children. For the sake of clarity, the handicapped groups have been divided into three subdivisions: (1) the physically handicapped, such as the sick, crippled, blind or deaf; (2) the mentally handicapped, such as the feebleminded or delinquent, and (3) the socially handicapped, such as orphans and abandoned children (table). Over ninety agencies are members of the chest, and about one third of these deal with children. These agencies include orphanages, nurseries, homes for transients, homes for delinquents, convalescent homes, foster homes and the "mother's aid" group. The object of the committee was to develop an adequate health service for all dependent children. As preliminary work we studied available statistics that had been gathered by


By investigating the growing use of plastics within Mongolian dairying, this paper explores emerging microbial/social assemblages as they relate to local and imported ideas of purity and hygiene. Although many Mongolian herders prefer to use dairy equipment made from materials such as wood and hide, these items are increasingly being replaced by plastic ones. As new infrastructure connects northern herders to more extensive markets, it presents challenges for herders and for the microbial communities with whom they co-exist, placing herders under increasing pressures to compete with large-scale dairy enterprises that brand, package and distribute standardised dairy products. Looking at the changing material culture of Mongolian dairying and its relationships with microbial communities, this paper examines two emergent notions of purity: the first in which sterility is generated and contained and the second in which living dairy is harnessed and grown.


Inland lakes in the arid and semi-arid areas are sensitive to the climate change and human activities, The long time-series remote sensing data, with a capability to provide valuable information of the distribution and changes of inland water bodies, have become an effective tool for lake study. In this paper, the lakes in Ejin alluvial fan, located in a typical arid region in the west of Inner Mongolia, China, are chosen as study lakes. Twenty years period TM data are used to obtain the long time-series and continental information of the lake change from 1987 to 2008. Climate data and hydrological data are also collected for correlational study. The results show that 1) in latest 20 years, the total area of the studied lakes in Ejin alluvial fan reduced firstly then increased after 2000. 2) The area changes of the four lakes are different. 3) Both the environmental change and the man-kind factors are the drivers of the lake change in Ejin alluvial fan. The latter might exert a main influence.


Observance up than 3 hr/night, only is required in France to allocate reimbursement of CPAP treatment for Sleep Apnoeas Syndrome. But control of hypertension requires up than 4hr /night. Breas i-Sleep, or Fisher&Pakell ICON are clearly designed to look as a clock or a radio-alarm-clock without external electric tranformer.

Aim: Definite if such CPAP device is associated with a mean sleep use up than 4hr30, achieving 3 sleep's cycles. Data collection [confort, residual AHI, therapeutic Pressure, etc.]

Methods: two HomeCare HealthCare Providers (no financial or material conflict of interest), Non6comparative observational study. We collect use's duration of a non-randomized cohort of consecutive OSA patients, all ventilated by ICON, APAP mode, 4/16 cmH20, no ramp with optimal subjective comfort humidification setting.

Results: 108 consecutive symptomatic OSA patients (IAH > 30/hr), evaluation time: 5 months delay treatment, [male] 61%, 65 +/- 16 y/o; residual AHI = 4,8 +/- 3,8/hr and P95% = 9,3 +/- 3,76 cmH2O.

Observance 342 +/- 42 min; confort's evaluation through a modified Analogic Visual Scale (AVS) 7,4 +/- 1,2; Design's evaluation through a modified AVS 8,7 +/- 4,3.

Conclusions :

A pretty bedroom designed CPAP device is associated with a therapeutic duration up than 5hr30. An affective-based customer societal approach of such treatment seems relevant to enhance patient adherence. Comparative studies are required to comfort this monocentric and limited non comparative descriptive study

Acknowledgements, Mrs Baucher M, Mbar®, Safond M, SOS-Oxygene®; Hesbert R, Fisher&Paykell,France.


In our work, a facile copper and palladium composites modified Ti electrode (Cu-Pd/Ti) was prepared by electrochemical deposition and chemical replacement method, which was applied for electrocatalytic dechlorination of 2, 5-Dichloronitrobenzene (2, 5-DCNB), a typical organic chloride pollutant. The morphologies and structures of Cu-Pd/Ti were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical performance was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The experimental results displayed that Cu polyhedrons were formed at the Ti electrode surface (Cu/Ti) and the palladium metals were mainly coated at Cu/Ti electrode in the zero-valent and divalent states. Meanwhile, the copper-palladium composites were uniformly dispersed at the Ti electrode surface. The electrochemical experiments verified that Cu-Pd/Ti composite electrode exhibited high catalytic dechlorination property and large electrochemical active surface area (EASA) owning to the cooperative interaction of Cu and Pd composites materials. The Cu-Pd/Ti displayed better electrocatalytic efficiency towards 2, 5-DCNB reduction than that of the other electrodes in this experiment. With a current density of 2.25 mA/cm 2 , the electro-reductive removal rate of 2-DCNB reached 97.1% within 3 hours. The intermediates and mechanisms of dechlorination were identified through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the main final products were properly transformed to aniline. This work may provide a beneficial choice for the effective treatment of DCNBs in the environment.


Background Serum beta 2-microglobulin (B2M) levels have been found to be increased in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), yet it is still unknown whether B2M correlates with PAD intensity. Objectives We aim to evaluate the correlation between B2M and the ankle-brachial index (ABI) values in high-vascular-risk patients. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 63 high-vascular-risk patients admitted to the Cardiology Department or evaluated as outpatients in the Internal Medicine Department of our institution. Patients were classified into two groups according to their ABI: patients without PAD (n = 44, ABI values between 0.9 and 1.4) and patients with PAD (n = 19, ABI values lower than 0.9 or higher than 1.4). We performed univariate and multivariate analysis based on a multiple linear regression model. Results Serum B2M levels were higher in patients with pathological ABI values than in those without PAD (2.36 ± 1.13 vs. 1.80 ± 0.65 mg/L; P<0.05). We found no correlation between B2M and ABI in our total population (r = –0.12) or in patients with PAD (r = –0.09; NS for both comparisons). Age, gender, arterial hypertension, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), uric acid, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol correlated with B2M in the univariate analysis. In the final linear regression model, eGFR, uric acid and total cholesterol correlated independently with B2M (P<0.01). Conclusion We found no correlation between B2M levels and ABI values in high-vascular-risk patients that could usefully help in the subsequent diagnosis of PAD. However, we observed a significant correlation between B2M and eGFR, even when renal function was only slightly impaired.


Four unusual cyclopeptides, zelkovamycins B-E (1-4), were isolated from an endophytic Kitasatospora sp. Zelkovamycin B was featured by an unprecedented 3-methyl-5-hydroxypyrrolidine-2,4-dione ring system linked to the cyclopeptide skeleton. Their structures and full configurations were established by spectroscopic analysis, Marfey's method, and NMR calculations. A plausible biosynthetic pathway for zelkovamycins was proposed based on gene cluster analysis. Zelkovamycin E displayed potent inhibitory activity against H1N1 influenza A virus.


Rasashastra is the branch of elemental biology in Ayurveda and has utilized almost every substance in nature, ranging from simplest forms like mud, fossils, and resin, to the most precious things like gold, gems etc. Chapala is a rasa dravya included in the group of Maharasa. It is a controversial drug, some authors consider Chapala as Bismuth, and some believe it is Selenium. So, to resolve the controversy of Chapala, a study has been conducted. Aim: To understand the Safety profile of Chapala bhasma (clax) with reference to Bismuth and Selenium through oral toxicity study. Material and Methods: Clax of Bismuth and Selenium, and the study was carried out according to the OECD guidelines. Results: Bismuth Clax has shown considerable changes in histopathology reports and fewer changes in Selenium clax. Conclusion: The Chapala bhasma prepared by Bismuth and Selenium was nontoxic, and Selenium clax showed more safety profile than Bismuth clax.


The continued high case fatality ratio in ovarian cancer has underpinned efforts to develop a screening strategy that could impact on mortality. In the general population randomised control trial - United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) two screening strategies (multimodal MMS and ultrasound USS) were compared to no screening (control C). Of 202,638 women randomised between April 2001-October 2005, 50,624 MMS; 50,623 USS; and 101,299 C were eligible for analysis. By the end of screening (December 2011) 345,570 MMS and 327,775 USS annual screens were performed. At censorship for the initial mortality analysis on 31st December 2014, there was an overall significant stage shift in invasive epithelial ovarian/tubal/peritoneal cancer in the MMS group compared to C in an 'intention to screen' analysis. More detailed analysis has shown this stage shift seen in the MMS group was limited to Type II (high grade serous) ovarian cancers. This was associated with a delayed but not yet statistically significant mortality reduction. Disease specific mortality rates in the C arm were continuing to rise while they appeared to have plateaued in the screen arms. Further follow-up is now underway to confirm the mortality reduction and determine its full extent. Meanwhile a focus on detecting low volume disease using cancer specific markers, novel biospecimens such as endocervical samples, targeted imaging and time series algorithms for interpreting marker profile suggest that a new era in ovarian cancer screening is underway. Citation Format: Usha Menon. UNITED KINGDOM COLLABORATIVE TRIAL OF OVARIAN CANCER SCREENING – (UKCTOCS) – EXPLORING THE RESULTS [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium; Sep 12-13, 2016; Seattle, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2017;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr KP01.


aspects of circulation of the dental pulp, periodontal membrane and the tongue. Neurophysiology of the mouth, and in particular the tooth, is covered predominantly by ProfessorD JAnderson and his group from Bristol. This is an exciting area of oral physiology that is of interest not only to the specialist but also to the dental practitioner. The book gives a well-balanced account of the growth points of oral physiology, is lavishly illustrated and gives extensive reference lists. Perhaps it fails only in not presenting the discussions after the papers, as these often make useful reading, especially for the nonparticipant. Nevertheless, this volume is a most valuable up-to-date account for scientists involved in research into sensory, secretory and masticatory oral functions.


THE PLEISTOCENE OF THEMALAPANEWRIVERVALLEYOF THE LUBLINIEC AREA Summary The depression of the Mala Panew river is surrounded on the south and north by tresholds represented by hills built of Middle and Upper Triassic limestones (Fig. 1). Less resistant substratum between these tresholds, built of Keuper and Rhaetian clays, predisposed formation of a depression in which river valleys were cut in the early Eopleistocene, and the Cromerian, Masovian and Eemian interglacials. During the Eopleistocene, sands and gravels were deposited in the ancient valley funning NE of Wielowieś (Fig. 2), In the Cromerian Interglacial, sands were deposited in a valley running beneath the recent river. The sands were covered by stagnant-lake deposits before the Cracow Glaciation. Deposits of that glaciations are represented here by a continuous till layer in SE part and by erosional patches of tills and residuum of glacial deposits in the remaining parts of the area studied. Solifluction deposits (Figs. 3, 6) originated under periglacial conditions prevailing at the end of the Cracow Glaciation and the beginning of the Masovian Interglacial. During the Masovian Interglacial a deep valley was eroded north of the recent river and subsequently buried. The highland area was subjected to an intense denudation, in places exposing Triassic substratum (Fig. 3). The icesheet of the maximum stage of the Mid-Polish Glaciation covered the entire Mala Panew river depression, whilst subsequent icesheets did not reach that area. Glacial relief was later obliterated except for kame hill in the vicinity of Wielowieś (Fig. 5). The highland was denuded and deep river valleys subparallel to the recent valley were formed during the Eemian Interglacial (Fig. 4). The ancient valleys were buried during accumulation cycle continuing till the maximum stage of the Baltic Glaciation. Fluvial deposits also buried the depressed part of the highland, forming the Baltic river terrace (Figs. 5, 6). Denudation of the highland proceeding under periglacial conditions exposed the bedrock in some places and it resulted in origin of solifluction covers. Solifluction flows sometimes interfinge with valley deposits. Peats dated at the end of the Eemian or the beginning of the Baltic Glaciation (T. Kuszel, M. Wlodek, 1974), covered by deposits of such flow, are known from Potepa village. Peats and solifluction flows make possible rough delineation of the Eemian/Baltic Glaciation boundary in fluvial deposits. Two lower terraces of the Mala Panew valley originated in the Holocene.


Multi-slice 2D turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences are widely used for T2-weighted MR imaging of the liver. On the other hand, there is a demand for 3D imaging to enable the observation of thinner slices, though 3D TSE has often been associated with a high SAR (specific absorption rate) which is caused by repeated 180-degree refocusing pulses. The high SAR has been a limiting factor for 3D TSE, especially with 3.0 Tesla scanners. We carried out free-breath 3D SPACE T2-weighted MR imaging of the liver to yield TSE contrast. This is a variant of 3D TSE that employs specially-designed refocusing pulses to reduce the SAR. The PACE (prospective acquisition correction) technique was used to eliminate motion artifacts that appear conspicuously at 3 Tesla as compared with 1.5 Tesla. The 3D SPACE parameters were as follows; FOV=384mm and base matrix size=320, effective slice thickness=1.2mm. Five volunteers were examined with this sequence on a 3.0-Tesla whole-body scanner. The acquired isotropic 3D image data set was processed with both multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) and volume rendering technique (VRT) to yield images with high quality and very distinct continuity. Such processing was possible due to the isotropic 1.2-mm resolution made feasible by the 3D SPACE sequence. 3D T2-weighted imaging of the liver was performed successfully and safely by combining 3D SPACE and PACE, and the high-resolution isotropic image data assured the continuity of blood vessels and the cystic duct of the liver. I.


The limitation of Steam Injection to depths has been a subject of concern in the application of Steam Injection for heavy and extra heavy oil recovery. This is usually as a result of the complex mechanism of heat loses occurring in the wellbore and consequently the heat loss distribution in the reservoir. A conventional approach to the optimization of steam injection has been based on isolated analysis of the well system aimed at maintaining adequate steam quality at the sandface at optimal injection rate, pressure, temperature and overall heat transfer coefficient. This often results to total neglect of the effect of the interaction between the well system and the reservoir system in the Model results. This research presents an integrated approach in the modelling of steam injection project that incorporates both the well system and the reservoir system. In this study, a three case-study wells were analyzed which are located at INJ1 (1, 1), PROD1 (5, 5) and PROD2 (9, 1) respectively. The results of the findings reveals that the conventional practice of maintaining sufficient SQ at the sandface is not the last optimization strategy in real field scenario. This is because the efficiency of the heavy oil displacement by the steam is a co-function of the effective SQ at the sandface, the FHLR/FHLT and the relative distance of the injector(s) from the producer(s) which are characterized by the thermal properties of the reservoirs. As part of the objectives of this study, a novel numerical approach using PROSPER wellbore simulator is presented for analysing the impact of reservoir back pressure on the estimated SQ. The results as presented in the work shows that wrong estimations of downhole SQ can result from the total neglect of Reservoir Pressure especially in relatively deeper wells.


EU and the Czech Republic as well as are suffering from high unemployment rates of graduates in the past five years.This is partly a consequence of the economic crisis that has hit Europe since 2008. This paper analysed noncyclic factors, which had an impact on the increase in youth unemployment in the Czech Republic and compared the results with strategic objectives of EU employment and training for the labour market (targets EU 2020). Primary research among students of Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin in the years 2011-2014 found a weak focus in the choice of professions. The research used the classification system of professions according to Roe because of CZ-ISCO has proved to be unsatisfactory for this purpose. Student preferences in choosing the professions largely do not match the structure of the Czech economy. Research, on the other hand, confirmed the prevailing educational aspirations of students at the bachelor level of the tertiary education. This is important to fulfilling the target that 40% of the population aged 30-34 years successfully finish tertiary education till 2020. Lengthening the period of economic inactivity of students before entering the labour market in the borders of 26 years will bring increased demand for funding from relatives. Higher investment required from the students' families may limit their support if they do not see adequate growth of wages in the labor market for university graduates. The labor market is becoming increasingly complex, which provides the background for asymmetric information in a significant proportion of the population. There are two types of asymmetric information: hidden knowledge about attributes and hidden knowledge about action. Tools to remove both types of asymmetric information on the labor market should be more involved in the education system. It is also a way to delegate at least part of the transaction costs of obtaining relevant information about the labor market away from the students and their parents (funding students) to the State.


In this paper, we present a novel algorithm for secure audio watermarking in image using BCH coding based on wavelet transform. In this context, the security is quantified from an information-theoretic point of view via the equivocation about the secret parameters. Firstly, the equivocation is estimated by means of tools from information theory for WOA scenario. Then, the audio watermark encoded by the BCH technique is embedded in the wavelet coefficients. The technique takes the promotes of error correcting coding to decreased the bit error rate (BER) of the extracted watermark. This algorithm improves the security via using BCH coding and security keys. The performance of the proposed watermarking method is analytically investigated and verified via several simulations. Experimental works have demonstrated that the watermark generated by the proposed technique is more secure in comparison with non BCH coding scheme and Golay coding scheme. The extracted watermark quality is shown by considering normalized correlation (NC) value between the original audio watermark and extracted watermark.


Impingement cooling plays an important role in gas turbine blade leading edge where proper heat transfer distribution is needed for extremely high and nonuniform thermal load.A 2/3 cylinder leading edge model with 3 arrays of film cooling holes was investigated with 8 film cooling arrangements. The impingement parameters and the jet Reynolds number were kept the same for the 8 configurations. The transient liquid crystal (TLC) measurement was applied on heat transfer coefficient on the leading edge. A 3D numerical method with the SST k-ω model was verified by experimental data, which shows a heat transfer error less than 15%.The film suction creates both local heat transfer enhancement and limit effect to wall jets. The hole position of film cooling holes significantly affects the shape of high heat transfer area and cooling of the intermediate area. The array angle of film cooling holes affects the spread of heat transfer laterally. The Nu in stagnation zone decreases with the increase of array angle of film cooling holes. Smaller pitch of film cooling holes helps decrease the size of fountaining flow and heat transfer valley. The Nu in stagnation zone increases with the decrease of pitch of film cooling holes.The hole position of x0/P = 0.125 is recommended for the best cooling performance in the intermediate area. The configurations with θ = 13 or P/pf = 3 work best in this study.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Infidelity appears to be a common phenomenon. Although there are initially positive consequences for the unfaithful partner, it has negative impacts on individuals, the relationship and health in the long-term. How often are extradyadic sexual contacts indicated within a German sample? Which factors predict infidelity? Via Internet (n=1 899) socio-demographic, individual (attitudes towards infidelity, religiosity), relationship (global and emotional relationship satisfaction, length of primary relationship, sexual agreements), and contextual factors (opportunities) were surveyed. The results of the regression analysis on an 80% subsample (n=1 533) were cross-validated with the remaining 20% of the data (n=366). The analysis showed that 4% of lesbian women, 34% of gay men, 29% of heterosexual women and 49% of heterosexual men reported extra-dyadic sexual contacts. Sexual orientation and restrictive attitudes towards monogamy and infidelity were found to be significant predictors. Low global relationship satisfaction, longer duration of primary relationship, non-monogamous relationships, availability of alternative sexual partners and ways to conceal infidelity increased the likelihood of extradyadic involvement. Cross-validation with 20% of the data (n=366) confirmed the stability of the regression model. Future research should examine identified predictors using representative population-based data. Predictors should be considered in therapy.


Objectives Dental profession is characterized by a high risk of injuries at work due to exposure to specific working conditions. The operating area in a patient's mouth is small, and it is handled by a large number of sharp instruments and drills that rotate at high speed, which creates an aerosol contaminated with particles of saliva and blood. This poses a risk of transmitting infections from patients to the dentist through stabbing incidents and cuts, which are some of the most common occupational injuries that are reported in the scientific literature. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of occupational injuries among dentists in Croatia, to establish most common injuries, and to determine the main risk factors. The aim of this research was also to determine the dentists' opinion on causes that are responsible for the occupational diseases and injuries. Materials and methods The survey was conducted based on a sample of 406 dentists from Croatia as respondents to an electronic survey. Results 63.05% of the respondents suffered injuries caused by dental practitioners. The most common injuries were needle puncture incidents (57.75%) and cuts (20.86%), followed by eye injuries (13.37%), patient bite (4.81%) and punches (1.60%). The largest number of respondents stated the improper posture as the most important cause of occupational diseases and injuries, followed by stress, infection and noise. Conclusion Knowledge of risk factors is the first step of injury prevention. Our respondents were largely aware of the dangers surrounding them. Nevertheless, the frequency of injuries was high and there is still a need for preventive measures to minimize the frequency of injuries in dentistry.


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

Recent reports of CF-HMW DNA in a variety of diseases has led to interest in its use as a prognostic biomarker, a diagnostic or screening tool for cancer. Apoptotic DNA ( 500bp) that is then trafficked into circulation. Dielectrophoresis, or DEP (movement of particles in a non-uniform AC electric field), based electrokinetic techniques have been used for protein biomarker screening, cell separation, and DNA manipulation. Using specific DEP frequencies, analytes are moved to known locations (high or low field region) based on their inherent dielectric properties. The process allows specific nano-sized particles to be highly concentrated into high field regions, while micron-size cells are held weakly in low field regions. With fluidic washing, cells can be removed while nano-sized particles are held in high field regions. This method can effectively act as a CF-HMW DNA enrichment process for biological fluids. Unfortunately, DEP does not work well in (high conductance) physiological buffers, requiring significant dilution of the sample and, as a result, the target analyte concentration. Here, we describe a novel AC electrokinetic (ACE) technique using a custom microelectrode array and AC parameters to isolate and analyze CF-HMW DNA from high conductance serum. DNA from normal serum samples and the A549 cell line were isolated using Qiagen kits to determine initial DNA quantities. Normal sera were spiked with A549 cell line DNA at concentrations from 0 to 500 ng/ml and subjected to a 20 minute ACE protocol. DNA isolation was visualized in situ using SYBR Green I fluorescence and then eluted for use in secondary analyses. Results showed minimal fluorescence from samples without spike whereas A549 DNA spiked samples showed concentration-dependent fluorescence on the microelectrodes. After elution, levels of DNA were quantitated using ALU-sequence based qPCR and K-ras mutational status was confirmed by ABI CastPCR. Future experiments will compare CF-HMW DNA levels from normal and cancer patients across a variety of solid tumors. The ACE technique enables rapid isolation and detection of CF-HMW DNA directly from biological fluids without prior sample prep and has broad utility for diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and other diseases in which CF-HMW DNA may be used as a marker.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1704. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1704


As a networks and systems architect, I build domain-specific languages, compilers, and architectures to address the ever-rising tension between performance and flexibility. For so long, the continuous growth in chips' processing capacity has helped preserve the end-to-end principle, keeping central-processing units (CPUs) general-purpose and smart while having network switches fixed-function and dumb, to process and forward information at speed. Since the turn of the century, two major trends are now challenging this principle, forcing us to rethink how we build CPUs and switches and the role they play: (a) the decline of Moore's Law [13] and (b) the rise of big data (e.g., social media, video streaming, augmented/virtual reality, internet of things, and artificial intelligence)—generating quintillion bytes of information every day [1]. The chip area and energy budget is not increasing anymore; CPUs must now repurpose resources (like caches, out-of-order execution, and more) needed for general-purpose processing, to logic tailored to a particular application domain (e.g., machine learning or serverless compute). Likewise, switches must now take on more responsibilities (e.g., congestion control and packet scheduling) to further offload CPUs; they can no longer be fixed-function, line-rate devices for packet forwarding only. The concern, however, is that doing so will cause systems to sacrifice flexibility for higher performance, and networks to sacrifice performance for more flexibility.


Abstract Aim There have been vociferous attempts to change the name of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) to Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD). Of the many arguments put forth in support of this, an important one is the presumed demand by patient groups insisting on the change. However, this claim does not have credible evidence to support it. Therefore, we decided to conduct a survey among South Asian NAFLD patients to understand their perspectives with regard to the change in nomenclature. Materials and Methods The study was conducted at multiple centers across South Asia from January 2021 to June 2021. Patients were surveyed using an 8-question survey questionnaire and responses were categorized by multiple-choice format. Results Of 218 patients surveyed, 80.3% of the patients were not aware of the entity "NAFLD" before they were first diagnosed. Although 74.3% of patients admitted to being questioned about alcohol intake at the time of the first diagnosis, 75.9% of female patients were not questioned regarding this. After being labelled NAFLD, 92.1% of patients were never questioned again about alcohol intake. While 86.3% of patients found the term "NAFLD" consoling, 83% did not feel that "Non" in NAFLD trivialized their problem. In addition, only 6.9% of patients were scared of developing cardiovascular disease. Conclusion The term "NAFLD" destigmatizes patients of the taboo associated with alcohol use. It was found to be consoling to most patients and they did not feel it trivialized their problem. A change of name without considering patients' perspectives and peculiarities specific to different populations will have enormous ramifications for both patients and physicians. Clinical significance Our survey clearly shows that patients are happy with the term "NAFLD" and it effectively destigmatizes them from the taboo of alcohol. This would lead to higher compliance with management and greater patient participation in future studies and trials. How to cite this article Singh SP, Anirvan P, Butt AS, et al. NAFLD vs MAFLD: South Asian NAFLD Patients don't Favor Name Change. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2022;12(Suppl 1):S1–S4.


Balb/c 3T3, SV40-transformed 3T3 (SVT2), and Con A revertant variants of transformed cells leave a layer of glycoprotein on the culture substrate upon EGTA mediated removal of cells. The metabolic properties of this substrate-attached material (glycoprotein) have been examined. Pulse and cumulative radiolabeling experiments with glucosamine and leucine precursors established that this substrate-attached material accumulates on the substrate in growing cultures until cells have completely covered the substrate. The synthesis and/or deposition of the material diminished dramatically in cultures whose substrates had been completely covered with cells as observed microscopically, even though the contact-inhibited cell lines continued to make cell-associated and medium-secreted glycoproteins and transformed cells continued to divide and form multilayered cultures. Pulse-chase analysis using long periods of pulsing with radioactive leucine demonstrated that these glycoproteins are deposited directly on the substrate by cells and not subsequent to secretion into the medium. The substrate-attached material accumulated during long pulses was stably adherent to the substrate and displayed little appreciable turnover during 3 days of chasing of either sparse or dense cultures. Short-term pulse-chase analysis with leucine revealed two metabolically different pools of material-one which turns over very rapidly with a half-life of 2-3 hr (observed in both low-density and high-density cultures) and a second pool which is stably deposited on the substrate and whose proportion increased with the length of the radiolabeling period. No appreciable differences in the metabolic properties of substrate-attached material were observed in the three cell types studied during growth on a plastic substrate. These results are discussed with regard to the implicated roles of these glycoproteins in in mediating adhesion of normal and virus-transformed cells to the substrate.


BACKGROUND
Mass media such as newspapers and TV news affect mental health-related stigma. In Japan, the name of schizophrenia was changed in 2002 for the purposes of stigma reduction; however, little has been known about the effect of name change of schizophrenia on mass media.

METHOD
Articles including old and new names of schizophrenia, depressive disorder, and diabetes mellitus (DM) in headlines and/or text were extracted from 23169092 articles in 4 major Japanese newspapers and 1 TV news program (1985-2013). The trajectory of the number of articles including each term was determined across years. Then, all text in news headlines was segmented as per part-of-speech level using text data mining. Segmented words were classified into 6 categories and in each category of extracted words by target term and period were also tested.

RESULTS
Total 51789 and 1106 articles including target terms in newspaper articles and TV news segments were obtained, respectively. The number of articles including the target terms increased across years. Relative increase was observed in the articles published on schizophrenia since 2003 compared with those on DM and between 2000 and 2005 compared with those on depressive disorder. Word tendency used in headlines was equivalent before and after 2002 for the articles including each target term. Articles for schizophrenia contained more negative words than depressive disorder and DM (31.5%, 16.0%, and 8.2%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Name change of schizophrenia had a limited effect on the articles published and little effect on its contents.


Abstract. China has suffered from increasing levels of ozone pollution in
urban areas despite the implementation of various stringent emission
reduction measures since 2013. In this study, we conducted numerical
experiments with an up-to-date regional chemical transport model to assess
the contribution of the changes in meteorological conditions and
anthropogenic emissions to the summer ozone level from 2013 to 2017 in
various regions of China. The model can faithfully reproduce the observed
meteorological parameters and air pollutant concentrations and capture the
increasing trend in the surface maximum daily 8  h average (MDA8) ozone
( O3 ) from 2013 to 2017. The emission-control measures implemented by
the government induced a decrease in MDA8 O3 levels in rural areas but
an increase in urban areas. The meteorological influence on the ozone trend
varied by region and by year and could be comparable to or even more
significant than the impact of changes in anthropogenic emissions.
Meteorological conditions can modulate the ozone concentration via direct
(e.g., increasing reaction rates at higher temperatures) and indirect (e.g.,
increasing biogenic emissions at higher temperatures) effects. As an
essential source of volatile organic compounds that contributes to ozone
formation, the variation in biogenic emissions during summer varied across
regions and was mainly affected by temperature. China's midlatitude areas
(25 to 40 ∘  N) experienced a significant decrease in
MDA8 O3 due to a decline in biogenic emissions, especially for the
Yangtze River Delta and Sichuan Basin regions in 2014 and 2015. In contrast,
in northern (north of 40 ∘  N) and southern (south of 25 ∘  N) China, higher temperatures after 2013 led to an increase in MDA8 O3
via an increase in biogenic emissions. We also assessed the individual
effects of changes in temperature, specific humidity, wind field, planetary
boundary layer height, clouds, and precipitation on ozone levels from 2013
to 2017. The results show that the wind field change made a significant
contribution to the increase in surface ozone over many parts of China. The
long-range transport of ozone and its precursors from outside the modeling
domain also contributed to the increase in MDA8 O3 in China, especially
on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (an increase of 1 to 4 ppbv). Our study
represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the impact of
changes in meteorology on ozone across China and highlights the importance
of considering meteorological variations when assessing the effectiveness of
emission control on changes in the ozone levels in recent years.


Minimally empirical G4-like composite wavefunction theories [E. Semidalas and J. M. L. Martin, \textit{J. Chem. Theory Comput.} {\bf 16}, 4238-4255 and 7507-7524 (2020)] trained against the large and chemically diverse GMTKN55 benchmark suite have demonstrated both accuracy and cost-effectiveness in predicting thermochemistry, barrier heights, and noncovalent interaction energies. Here, we assess the spectroscopic accuracy of top-performing methods: G4-\textit{n}, cc-G4-\textit{n}, and G4-\textit{n}-F12, and validate them against explicitly correlated coupled cluster CCSD(T*)(F12*) harmonic vibrational frequencies and experimental data from the HFREQ2014 dataset, of small first- and second-row polyatomics. G4-T is three times more accurate than plain CCSD(T)/def2-TZVP, while G4-T$_{\rm ano}$ is two times superior to CCSD(T)/ano-pVTZ. Combining CCSD(T)/ano-pVTZ with MP2-F12 in a parameter-free composite scheme results to a root-mean-square deviation of ~5 cm$^{-1}$ relative to experiment, comparable to CCSD(T) at the complete basis set limit. Application to the harmonic frequencies of benzene reveals a significant advantage of composites with ANO basis sets -- MP2/ano-pV\textit{m}Z and [CCSD(T)-MP2]/ano-pVTZ (\textit{m} = Q or 5) -- over similar protocols based on CCSD(T)/def2-TZVP. Overall, G4-type composite energy schemes, particularly when combined with ANO basis sets in CCSD(T), are accurate and comparatively inexpensive tools for computational vibrational spectroscopy.


The invention discloses an environment-friendly shale acoustic board. According to the technical scheme, a built-in frame is horizontally placed on a mold; after short steel tubes in the built-in frame are inserted in vertical columns, composite shale foaming agents are poured on the periphery of the built-in frame, and the built-in frame is completely inlaid in the composite foaming agents; and after the composite foaming agents are solidified in a standing manner, roasted and cooled, the built-in frame which is completely inlaid in the composite foaming agents is packaged to obtain the finished product of the environment-friendly shale acoustic board. The composite shale foaming agents consist of raw materials such as shale powder, attapulgite clay powder and hydrogen peroxide; after the composite shale foaming agents are solidified, the composite shale foaming agents and the built-in frame form an integrated body, and the integral strength, the bending resistance and the actual using effect of the environment-friendly shale acoustic board are improved; and the environment-friendly shale acoustic board not only has an effect of strengthening sound absorption and controlling noise pollution, but also has functions of preserving heat, absorbing sound and purifying air. In addition, the environment-friendly shale acoustic board is applicable to facilities such as an expressway, a viaduct, an urban light rail, a metro, a factory, a warehouse and a public place.


This paper examines the feasibility of mechanical splicing using a steel coupler to connect headed ends of superelastic Cu–Al–Mn alloy (Camalloy) bars and steel reinforcing bars to be used in concrete structures. Although threading of Camalloy is as easy as that of steel, mechanical splicing using threaded ends requires machining of Camalloy bars into dog-bone shape to avoid brittle fracture at the threaded ends. The machining process requires significant time and cost and wastes substantial amount of the material. This paper attempts to resolve this issue by applying mechanical splicing using steel couplers to connect headed ends of Camalloy and steel reinforcing bars. To study its feasibility, we prepare 3 specimens wherein both ends of each Camalloy bar (13 mm diameter and 300 mm length) are connected to steel reinforcing bars. The specimens are tested under monotonic, single-cycle, and full-cycle tension loading conditions. From these tests, we observed (1) excellent superelasticity with recoverable strain of around 6% and (2) large ductility with fracture strain of over 19%. It should be emphasized here that, in all the specimens, ductile fracture occurred at the locations apart from the headed ends. This is in sharp contrast with brittle fracture of headed superelastic Ni–Ti SMA bars, most of which took place around the headed ends. From the results of the microstructural analysis, we identified the following reasons for avoiding brittle fracture at the headed ends: (1) Precipitation hardening increases the strength around the boundary between the straight and headed (tapered) portions, where stress concentration takes place. (2) The strength of the straight portion does not increase significantly up to the ductile fracture if its grain orientation is close to 〈0 0 1〉.


Pre-equalization of MIMO systems is required for a wide variety of applications, e. g. in channel equalization and spatial sound reproduction. However, traditional adaptive algorithms fail for channel numbers of some ten or more. It is shown that the problem becomes tractable by decoupling of the MIMO adaptation problem, e. g. by a generalized singular value decomposition. This method is called eigenspace adaptive filtering. The required singular vectors depend on the unknown system response to be equalized. An reasonable approximation by data-independent transformations is derived for the example of listening room compensation yielding the approach of wave-domain adaptive filtering.


SYNOPSIS
Biomechanical explanations for musculoskeletal pain are abundant and have been used for many years; however, researchers and clinicians are moving toward neuroscience-based explanations to study and explain them. This article discusses some specific mechanisms, commonly used in pain medicine, and their somewhat less specific but equally important role in nonpharmacological management of musculoskeletal pain. The article also explains the role of different receptors and how they relate to clinical conditions. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2022;52(4):166-168. doi:10.2519/jospt.2022.10994.


Oxidative stress as a mediator of hepatic tissue damage concurrent with Leishmania (L.) chagasi infection was investigated. Chemiluminescence in liver supernatant of hamsters infected with Leishmania (L.) chagasi showed a ratio of 1.53/mg protein and 2.10/liver weight 90 days after infection when compared with the control. The malondialdehyde (MDA) levels also increased significantly both with and without addition of Fe3+/ascorbic acid in the reaction mixture, with a ratio of 2.12 and 1.55/mg protein or 2.91 and 2.12/liver weight, respectively. The parasite burden in the spleen, as a measure of infection severity, was 9.1 ± 1.33 × 108 parasites/organ. On the 10th day of infection, the chemiluminescence also was significantly higher in infected hamsters than in the controls (ratio = 1.36/mg protein or 1.34/liver weight); however, the MDA levels were not different from those of controls. After 90 days of infection, significant correlations were observed between chemiluminescence and MDA concentration with and without the presence of Fe3+/ascorbic acid (r = 0.54, P = 0.0001; r = 0.56, P = 0.0001; respectively). The high infection/control ratio of both chemiluminescence and MDA concentration and the significant correlation between those events strongly indicate the occurrence of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation as a mechanism of liver damage in cases of chronic infection by L. chagasi. The significant increase in chemiluminescence at 10 days of infection demonstrates that oxidative stress occurs very early, first consuming the antioxidants and then inducing lipid peroxidative damage later in the chronic stage of this disease.


This paper
describes the experience of a PhD candidate during during her teaching training
period within the Human nutrition course in a Brazilian public university.
The experience provided the doctoral candidate the opportunity to study and
deepen knowledge in the field of educational psychology, including learning
theories, instructional theories and instructional design. As a result, the
Human Nutrition Course was restructured and new learning material supported by
Information and Communication Technologies was produced and used during the
semester. As a result, it was reported by students a greater level of
satisfaction and learning. The supervised practice in teaching was perceived as
an important and useful moment by the doctoral candidate as it enabled
interactions between research and teaching, the improvement of classes, media
and learning strategies. It also enabled a greater comprehension of the
professors' role and its importance in the educational process. Finally, the
paper discusses new ICT skills recommended in teaching in undergraduate health
courses.


Materials near structural phase transitions find applications in a wide range of devices. Typically, phase transitions are determined macroscopically through measurements of relevant order parameters and related property coefficients. Here, a method for understanding electric field induced phase transitions in ferroelectrically active materials at the nanometer scale via acoustic detection with band‐excitation piezoresponse force microscopy (BE‐PFM) is introduced. Specifically, the field‐induced rhombohedral (R) to tetragonal (T) phase transition in single crystal 0.72PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3‐0.28PbTiO3 (PMN‐PT) is mapped. It is shown that due to sample heterogeneity, some regions are more prone to the R–T transition, and display signatures in the acquired piezoresponse loops, as well as pronounced softening in the elastic modulus (monitored via the resonant frequency and calibrated with models of cantilever dynamics) that occurs just prior to phase switching. Landau–Devonshire thermodynamic theory confirms the stability of the tetragonal phase under applied fields in PMN‐PT, while phase‐field modeling suggests that the transition evolves smoothly in the probed volume of the tip, both in agreement with the BE‐PFM results. These results confirm the validity and utility of utilizing acoustic changes at phase transitions to detect their onset in nanoscale probed volumes, allowing spatial mapping of their onset with unprecedented resolution.


[1] Aircraft observations of ozone and its precursors (NO, NO y , CO, and nonmethane hydrocarbons) were made near Japan (26°-44°N) between 21 and 24 April 1998 to investigate the effect of transport and chemistry on the tropospheric ozone over east Asia in spring. The average mixing ratios of ozone and its precursors in the upper troposphere were higher than those observed during February-March 1994. Significantly higher values of CO indicate that the influence of surface sources mediated by convection was large throughout the troposphere during the period. Highly polluted air masses were observed in the upper troposphere at 8-11 km over the Japan Sea on 24 April. These air masses were influenced by cumulus convection associated with a cold front over northeast China about 1 day prior to the observation. However, the majority of observed air masses in the upper troposphere were not directly affected by the recent emissions of the ozone precursors from east Asia. Instead, convection over other regions in the northern midlatitude, followed by long-range transport, affected the abundances of ozone precursors in the upper troposphere. In these air masses, ozone was positively correlated with NO x and C 3 H 8 , indicating the effect of photochemical ozone production. The diurnal-average column-integrated rate of ozone production, estimated by a photochemical box model, was larger than the NH average and local stratospheric flux at NH midlatitudes in spring by a factor of 3-20. The net production rates in the majority of the air masses were estimated to be 0.5-4.4 ppbv d -1 in the upper troposphere. These results indicate the important role photochemistry plays in controlling the upper tropospheric ozone abundance in spring.


In the presence of an applied static and uniform magnetic field, a cylindrical Kadomtsev–Petviashivili equation is derived for a relativistic electromagnetic solitary wave propagating in collisionless plasma consisting electrons, positrons, and ions in the case of weak relativistic limit. This equation is solved in a stationary frame to obtain explicit expression for the velocity, amplitude and width of solitons. The amplitude of the solitary wave has a maximum value at a critical αc of the ratio of the ion equilibrium density to the electron one, and it increases as the applied magnetic field becomes larger.


Changes in the histamine-sensitizing activity of whole-cell pertussis vaccine (PV) under the action of immunomodulators (IM) of bacterial (peptide and peptidoglycans), synthetic (peptidoglycan) and vegetable origin have been studied. The study has revealed that these IM, introduced orally and parenterally, exhibit histamine-sensitizing activity, depending on the nature of IM and the optimum selection of the doses of IM and PV.


This paper explores the roles of Libraries in achieving Quality Education using digital platforms for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. It is of the view that Librarians have a strong commitment to make towards the realization of the global initiative of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 especially in this digital era. The context of SDGs, Quality Education, roles of libraries towards quality education, and various ways libraries in Nigeria can achieve quality education towards Sustainable Development using various digital platforms in the library were critically outlined. This paper agrees that information providers and managers, as part of their responsibility should ensure that Nigeria achieved the SDGs by 2030 through the provision of Qualitative Education using various digital platforms in the library. This study therefore recommends that libraries in Nigeria should be adequately supported by the parent institutions by providing and making accessible needed/relevant information resources in various formats for the users; encourage and promote information literacy programmes aimed at creating awareness of library and internet resources for the pupils/ student/ teachers/ librarians; and approve staff trainings towards improvement of skills of librarians and library staff locally, nationally and internationally.Keywords: Library, Librarians, Quality Education, Sustainable Development Goals


BACKGROUND
The objective of this paper is to describe the exercise and changes in screen time habits, and their relationship with health, among participants of the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS).

DATA AND METHODS
Between March 29th and April 3rd 2020, CPSS participants (n = 4,524) reported whether they were exercising outdoors or indoors and whether they increased, decreased or maintained their TV, Internet and video game use. Participants also reported their self-perceived general and mental health.

RESULTS
More women reported very good or excellent mental health if they were exercising outdoors (54%) compared with those who were not (41%). More women reported very good or excellent general health if they were exercising outdoors (75%) compared with those who were not (49%), with the same trend evident for those exercising indoors (69%) compared to those who were not (62%). More men (65%) and women (62%) rated their mental and general health as very good or excellent if they maintained or decreased TV time compared with those who increased TV time (57% and 43%, respectively), with the same evident for Internet use in women only (maintained/decreased: 61% versus increased: 44%). More men (63%) and women (52%) rated their mental health as very good or excellent if they maintained or decreased video game time compared with those who increased video game time (48% and 29%, respectively). More men and women reported very good or excellent mental and general health if they increased none or one type of screen and/or were exercising outdoors compared with those who increased 2 or 3 types of screens and who were not exercising outdoors, with the exception of general health among men.

DISCUSSION
Maintaining opportunities for outdoor exercise and limiting screen time may promote better mental and general health during periods of confinement.


Objective : Metabolic syndrome changes in different ethnic and age group. Trace elements are associated with metabolic syndrome. The present study was aimed to assess the serum levels of Iron, zinc and copper in Gorgan and their association with the metabolic syndrome components. Methods: The present study was carried out in the Metabolic Disorders Research Center of Gorgan Faculty of Medicine. There were one hundred and fifty two type 2 diabetic subjects who were referred to the Department of Diabetes Center in 5 th Azar Educational Hospital in Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, 2014. Results: The mean waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting blood glucose levels were significantly higher in the Type 2 diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome, but the mean HDL-cholesterol was significantly lower (P<0.05). Mean serum level of copper was slightly higher and mean serum level of zinc and iron were lower in patients with metabolic syndrome than that of subjects without metabolic syndrome. There were significant differences in the mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol and fasting blood glucose in men and women with metabolic syndrome when compared with subjects without metabolic syndrome. There were also significant differences in the mean of BMI and waist circumference in women with metabolic syndrome. Serum zinc positively correlated with HDL-cholesterol level (in all and in women type 2 diabetic patients), systolic blood pressure (in all type 2 diabetic patients) and diastolic blood pressure (in men type 2 diabetic patients) (P<0.05). Conclusion: Differences of our results with other studies emphasize further research on trace elements and metabolic syndrome and their relationship with different diseases are necessary.


Background & Objectives: Sports activities are highly beneficial for improving the human health and reducing the risk of diseases. This cross sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus in cricket players compared to population based non-elite athlete control subjects. Methods: The present matched cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period October 2019 to February 2020. Initially, 700 volunteer males, (300) cricket players and (400) population based non-elite athlete control subjects were interviewed. After socio-demographic and medical history, (200) nonsmoker cricket players and (300) nonsmoker control subjects were recruited. The age of cricket players was 34 (32-37) years, weight 81 (76-84) kg, height 1.79 (1.74-1.84) meters, and body mass index (BMI) was 25.09 (23.66-26.76) kg/m2. The cricket players have been playing cricket for 4 (3-4) hours per day; 3.50 (3-4) days per week; for the total period of 24 (12-36) months. American Diabetes Association (ADA) based criteria on Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) was used to investigate the prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus. Results: In cricket players, the prevalence of prediabetes was 23 (11.5%) and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was 7 (3.5%) compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects the prediabetes was 73 (24.34%) and T2DM was 63 (21.1%) (p=0.001). Among cricket players, there was a 6-folds decrease in T2DM compared to control subjects. Conclusions: The cricket sports activities decrease the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among the cricket players compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects. The study findings demonstrate the urgent need for promoting sports activities, more cricket grounds as a physiological preventive strategy against the global growing diabetes epidemic.


This study was done to identify the water and sediment quality at the upper reaches of the Sampadi River where only few stations had been monitored before. There are oil palm plantations and mill, some residential areas and coal refinery situated at the upper reaches of this river. Sampling was done during low tide and high tide conditions. Total suspended solids (TSS) concentration was high during low tide which ranged from 39.93-56.07 mg/L. Nitrate and nitrite nitrogen also show higher concentrations during low tide. However, five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and ammonia nitrogen concentration were found higher in high tide condition. BOD5 ranged from 2.81 to 5.02 mg/L during high tide while it ranged from 1.78 to 4.30 mg/L during low tide. TKN and ammonia nitrogen were found to be high in Station 2 and 3 during low and high tide, respectively. This is due to the nutrients input from the oil palm plantation at Chupin Besar River. However, based on the National Water Quality Standard of
Malaysia, most of the water quality parameters in stations was categorised under Class I and II. Meanwhile,
oil and grease is categorized in Class 3 and for nitrate nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen and phosphorus in water, they
are categorized in Class 2 and Class E of the Malaysia Marine Water Quality Criteria and Standard. As for
sediment quality in this river, it is influenced by the particle size distribution in the stations where finer
particles like silt showed higher total organic carbon (TOC) percentage, heavy metals and nutrients concentrations. There are significant negative correlations between sand and TOC (r=-0.933); between sand and TKN (r=-0.689); and between sand and total phosphorus (r=-0.970).


Early childhood development programs are rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives, and we think that is a mistake. Such programs, if they appear at all, are at the bottom of the economic development lists for state and local governments. They should be at the top. Most of the numerous projects and initiatives that state and local governments fund in the name of creating new private businesses and new jobs result in few public benefits. In contrast, studies find that well-focused investments in early childhood development yield high public as well as private returns.


The rapid pace of urbanization and industrialization makes soil and environment polluted, which may cause a severe issue of food chain contamination. Discharge of heavy metal(oid)s from industrial and municipal wastewater streams, and groundwater contamination causes a reduction in crop yields, degradation of soils and ruin quality. Cultivated Asian rice and heavy metal(oid)s have two ways of interaction, either heavy metal(oid)s accumulation cause harmful effects on rice crop or rice plants possess their resistance mechanism to protect against the toxic effects of heavy metal(oid)s, their uptake, and translocation also detoxify the heavy metal(oids) contamination. Besides, several inorganic (liming and silicon) and organic (compost and biochar) amendments have been applied in the soils to reduce/immobilize heavy metal(oid)s stress in rice. Selection/development of rice varieties resistant to heavy metals stress and bioaccumulation, crop rotation, water management and exogenous application of microbes could be a reasonable approach to alleviate heavy metal(oid)s toxicity in rice. This article review that heavy metals, such as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, and lead are the major environmental pollutants, mainly in the places having more significant anthropogenic pressure. In agricultural areas, accumulation of heavy metals is of primary concern because of their adverse effects. This review article also briefly discusses the impact of the heavy metals on human health, soil, plants, and their metabolic mechanisms induced by the biological and geological redistribution of heavy metals by soil and water pollution.


Proposes a fuzzy classifier system (FCS) using hyper-cone membership functions and rule reduction techniques. The FCS can generate excellent rules which have the best number of rules and the best location and shape of membership functions. The hyper-cone membership function is expressed by a kind of radial basis function, and its fuzzy rule can be flexibly located in input and output spaces. The rule reduction technique adopts a decreasing method by merging the two appropriate rules. We apply the FCS to a fuzzy rule generation for line pursuit control.


BACKGROUND
Little research has been expended on the use of bipolar radiofrequency (RF) lesioning of sacral nerves in spinal cord injured (SCI) patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO), and no study has been undertaken to demonstrate its long-term effect.

OBJECTIVE
To investigated the effect of bipolar RF ablation of the second and third sacral nerves over 2 years in SCI patients with NDO.

STUDY DESIGN
A prospective, randomized controlled feasibility study.

SETTING
The outpatient clinic of a single academic medical center in Korea.

METHODS
Ten SCI patients with NDO were recruited. These patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups; the intervention group (n = 5) and the control group (n = 5). Control group members received optimized conventional treatment. International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire (ICIQ), 3-day voiding diary, and the urinary incontinence quality of life scale (I-QOL) data were obtained at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24 months after intervention. Urodynamic study (UDS) was performed at baseline and 24 months after intervention. In the intervention group, percutaneous bipolar RF neurotomy was performed on both S2 and S3 nerves in each patient.

RESULTS
Frequency of urinary incontinence and ICIQ and IQOL scores showed significant effects for time and for the group x time interaction (P < 0.05). Daily mean volume of urinary incontinence showed only a significant group effect. In UDS parameters, comparisons of values at baseline and at 24 months revealed all variables showed significant intergroup differences (P < 0.05).

LIMITATION
A small number of patients was recruited.

CONCLUSION
Percutaneous bipolar RF ablation of sacral nerves S2 and S3 effectively reduces urinary incontinence and improves quality of life (QoL) in SCI patients with NDO and the effects lasted over 2 years.


We show that the stick-breaking construction of the beta process due to Paisley, et al. (2010) can be obtained from the characterization of the beta process as a Poisson process. Specifically, we show that the mean measure of the underlying Poisson process is equal to that of the beta process. We use this underlying representation to derive error bounds on truncated beta processes that are tighter than those in the literature. We also develop a new MCMC inference algorithm for beta processes, based in part on our new Poisson process construction.


A wheat rust survey was conducted in Iraq in 2019 and collected 27 stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. f. sp. tritici Erikks. & E. Henn.) samples. Seven samples were viable, and they were tested for races of P. graminis f. sp. tritici at the Regional Cereal Rust Research Center (RCRRC) in Izmir, Turkey under strict quarantine procedures. Two 0.5 cm segments of each infected stem sheath were incubated in a petri dish at 20°C for three hours for re-hydration of urediniospores, which were multiplied on 10-day old seedlings of susceptible cultivar Morocco grown in a spore free growth chamber at 18°C and 16 hours light. Inoculated seedlings underwent a dew period at 18°C for 16 hours dark and 8 hours fluorescent light and 95% relative humidity. Three days after moving the pots to a growth chamber with eight hours dark at 18°C and 16 hours light (300 µmol m-2s-1), each pot was covered using a cellophane bag. Bulk urediniospores of each collection were collected 14 days post-inoculation from a cellophane bag using a mini cyclone spore collector connected to a gelatin capsule. One ml of 3M Novec™ oil was added to each capsule, and spores were inoculated onto 20 North American stem rust differential lines using the standard procedures (Jin et al. 2008). Pre-inoculation, inoculation, incubation, and post-inoculation conditions were the same as above. Seedling infection types (ITs) were recorded 14 days post-inoculation using 0 to 4 scale (Stakman et al. 1962). Race designation followed the five- letter code nomenclature described by Jin et al. (2008). Out of the seven samples, four were typed as TKKTF, two as TKTTF, and one collected from an advanced breeding bread wheat line "Shahoo 2" (Inqalab 91*2/Tukuru) in a trial site at Halabja governorate showed mixed ITs of 11+ and 3+ for lines carrying Sr11, Sr24, Sr36, and Sr31. Three single pustule (SP) isolates were developed from the IT of 3+ pustules collected from the Sr31 tester line, and one SP isolate was developed from the IT 11+ pustule collected from the Sr11 source. After spore multiplication, the SP-derived isolates were inoculated on the 20 North American differential lines. To confirm virulence/avirulence on Sr24, Sr31, and Sr36, cultivars Siouxland (PI 483469, Sr24+Sr31) and Sisson (PI 617053, Sr36+Sr31) were also inoculated. All seedling assays were repeated three times. The three SP isolates virulent on Sr31 were designated as race TTKTT, and the SP isolate virulent on Sr11 was designated as TKTTF. Seedling ITs of 3+ and 0; were recorded for Siouxland and Sisson against TTKTT, respectively, and both cultivars showed IT of 1+ against TKTTF. Race TKTTF was similar to TKKTF except for additional virulence on Sr36, and TTKTT differed from the other two races being virulent on Sr24 and Sr31. DNA analysis of three TTKTT isolates from Kenya and the TTKTT isolate from Iraq using a diagnostic qPCR assay developed by the USDA-ARS Cereals Disease Laboratory (Ug99 RG stage 1, Szabo unpublished) confirmed that all tested isolates belonged to the Ug99 lineage. Race TTKTT was first reported from Kenya in 2014 (Patpour et al. 2016), and in 2018 from Ethiopia (Hei et al. 2020). We report the first detection of TTKTT in Iraq and the Middle East region. This represents only the third instance of a member of the Ug99 race group outside of Africa since first detection of race TTKSK in Yemen in 2006, and Iran in 2007 (Nazari et al. 2009). The continued spread of stem rust races with complex virulence and the increasing frequency and early onset of stem rust infections in the Middle East is a cause for concern. Continuous support for rust surveillance and race typing in this region remains crucial. References: Hei, N. B., et al. 2020. Plant Dis. 104:982. Jin, Y., et al. 2008. Plant Dis. 92:923-926. Nazari, K., et al. 2009. Plant Dis. 93:317. Patpour, M., et al. 2016. Plant Dis. 100:522. Stakman, E. C., et al. 1962. Identification of physiological races of Puccinia graminis var. tritici. U. S. Dep. Agric. ARS E-617.


The narrow turn-off period of the conventional boost converters limits their applications in high step-up DC-DC conversion. The voltage gain is extended without an extreme duty-cycle by the winding-coupled inductor structure. However, the leakage inductance induces large voltage spikes when the switch turns off. An active-clamp circuit is introduced here to clamp the switch turn-off voltage spikes effectively and to recycle the leakage energy. Both the main switches and the auxiliary switches are ZVT during the whole switching transition. Meanwhile, the output diode reverse-recovery problem is alleviated because the leakage inductance of the coupled inductors is in series with the output diode. Furthermore, a family of ZVT interleaved boost converters for high efficiency and high step-up DC-DC conversion is deduced. The experimental results based on 40-380 V front-end applications verify the significant improvements in efficiency


The role of angioembolization in the management of patients with blunt spleen injury is still under debate. Our study examined the impact of splenic artery embolization (SAE) on the outcome of such patients. We reviewed 114 consecutive blunt abdominal trauma patients with isolated splenic injury over a period of 40 months, including 61 patients seen before (Group A) and 53 patients seen after (Group B) the adoption of SAE. Hemodynamically unstable patients underwent the abdominal exploration and stable patients were evaluated with CT scans of abdomen and pelvis. Patients underwent SAE based on the findings of CT scans, including contrast extravasation or large hemoperitoneum. For initially stable patients, there were no differences in nonoperative management success rate between Groups A and B in regards to injury severity score ≥16, age, or grades of splenic injury ≥3. In comparison, among patients with large hemo-peritoneum found by abdominal CT, Group B had significantly better nonoperative management success rates (P < 0.05). SAE was successful to control bleeding in 80 per cent of patients. Partial splenic infarction was noted in all patients after the procedure but it resolved by six months. By using criteria developed based on abdominal CT scans for angioembolization, we are able to improve nonoperative splenic salvage rate.


Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), a high risk factor for endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease (CVD), has been reported to promote cellular dysfunction via endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress activation in various cells. Additionally, increased serum ADMA levels have been observed in incipient kidney diseases. Previously, we reported that activated ER stress is associated with mesangial cell apoptosis, observed mainly in overt nephropathy or chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the effect of ADMA on mesangial cell apoptosis is unknown. Thus, we investigated the effects of ADMA on mesangial cell apoptosis and ER stress signaling. ADMA treatment increased caspase‐3 activity and activated three branches of ER stress signaling (PERK, IRE1, and ATF6) that induce mesangial cell apoptosis. Pharmacological inhibitors of ER stress (inhibitors of PERK, IRE1, and S1P) attenuated ADMA‐induced cleavage of caspase‐3 and induced a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, these inhibitors diminished the number of apoptotic cells induced by ADMA treatment. Taken together, our results indicated that ADMA treatment induces mesangial cell apoptosis via ER stress signaling. These results suggest that ADMA‐induced mesangial cell apoptosis could contribute to the progression of overt nephropathy and CKD.


Aims: To study stereotactic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of the basal ganglia in DYT1 primary dystonia. Methods: Twenty-five genetically confirmed DYT1 dystonia patients (age range, 8–66 years; mean age, 22 years) underwent brain MRI under general anesthesia at the time of globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. MR images were retrospectively reviewed for signal intensity alterations. Clinical improvement of patients was assessed by comparing pre- and postoperative Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale scores. Results: Seventeen patients out of 25 (68%) exhibited T1-weighted hypointense/T2-weighted hyperintense signal abnormalities in the putamen and globus pallidus on MR images. Signals were isointense with cerebrospinal fluid in all sequences. The mean volume of focal signal abnormalities was 15 mm3 (maximum, 154.5 mm3). The total volume of focal signal abnormalities in the basal ganglia was correlated with the duration of the disease (p = 0.01). Although clinical outcome did not differ as a function of the presence of focal signal abnormalities overall, patients with signals within the GPi tended to show lesser improvement (p = 0.04). Conclusions: T1-hypointense/T2-hyperintense signal abnormalities are common findings in the putamen and globus pallidus of DYT1 patients but do not contraindicate DBS. However, their presence within the GPi may reduce the efficacy of DBS treatment.


the severe accident the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station, the regulation of nuclear plant safety in Japan was upgraded, and continuous effort to enhance risk management in the medium and long term is required. Seismic risk is important in Japan, and one of the major issues of current probabilistic risk assessment ( PRA ) methodology is the enhancement of seismic PRA including the evaluation of initiating events induced by simultaneous multiple failures of components and of subsequent accident sequences. The Nuclear Regulation Authority ( NRA ) addressed the issue as "…multiple-failure-initiating events should be considered." In addition, the standard for the procedure of seismic PRA for nuclear power plants in 2015 identifies this issue in the same manner. This study proposes an enhanced seismic PRA methodology considering multiple-failure-initiating events that is expected to contribute to improving the safety of nuclear power plants. This study also discusses the issues that need more research for their resolution.


Abstract:This interview constitutes Luis Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio's last public interview. The esteemed playwright passed away on May 23, 2022, in the city of Xalapa (Veracruz, Mexico), leaving the Mexican theater community, his family, and friends mourning his loss and honoring his legacy. This interview was supposed to be carried out over various conversations. However, it was only possible to complete it in two conversations due to reasons beyond LEGOM's control. This has left me with many questions that I will not be able to ask the playwright and my friend. I wish to add that in addition to the official record of his works produced up until 2018, others have been appended, including his creative and pedagogical activities during the pandemic lockdown. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Luis Mario Moncada, director of the Universidad Veracruzana Theater Organization (ORTEUV), for providing the images featured in this interview, which belong to the Company. Special thanks are also owed to Prof. Ana Puga and Dr. Bernard Gordillo for their assistance with this translation.


The superlattice of energetically stable La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 and tetragonal BiFeO3 is investigated by means of density functional theory. The superlattice as a whole exhibits a half-metallic character, as is desired for spintronic devices. The interfacial electronic states and exchange coupling are analyzed in details. We demonstrate that the interfacial O atoms play a key role in controlling the coupling. The higher ferroelectricity of tetragonal BiFeO3 and stronger response to the magnetic moments in the La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/BiFeO3 superlattice show a strongly enhanced electric control of the magnetism as compared to the rhombohedral one. Therefore, it is particularly practical interest in the magnetoelectrically controlled spintronic devices.


This paper treats the New England ten-machine model system. On the occasion of multi-faulting points, at first by looking over the entire system from each generator-bus, a decentralized system considering all the faulting points is identified. Then the supplementary control input u/sub a/ for AVR in each generator is determined under the concept of equilibrium point control. Further the decentralized system for each generator is transformed into a fuzzy one without any approximation, and the stability analysis is carried out to decide the supplementary control input u/sub g/ for GOV in each generator by applying the stability theorem for the fuzzy system. Finally the usefulness of nonlinear decentralized control for multi-faulting points is verified numerically.