BACKGROUND
beta-Adrenergic receptor antagonists (beta-blockers) have a well-recognised antihypertensive action that is mediated through a reduction in cardiac output and in the release of renin from the kidneys and inhibition of the action of endogenous catecholamines on beta-adrenergic receptors. This class of drugs has been shown to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Recent evidence suggests that beta-blockers may also have an effect on bone structure, metabolism and fracture healing.

OBJECTIVE
This paper reviews in vitro and in vivo data that suggest beta-blockers have primarily an anabolic effect on bone metabolism.

RESULTS
The sympathetic nervous system has a catabolic effect on bone, and in vitro studies have shown that adrenergic agonists stimulate bone resorption. The beta-blocker propranolol has been shown to increase bone formation in ovariectomised female rats. Also, recent observational clinical studies provide evidence to show that beta-blockers are associated with reduction in fracture risk in both men and women.

CONCLUSION
Although there are some controversial studies, most research concludes that beta-blockers show promise in the treatment of osteoporosis and fracture healing.


Self-isolation is a preventive measure that started in January 2020 as a response to the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 infection, and it has no precedents in human history. During this pandemic, governments forced billions of people to self-isolate for several months, and the sanitary-hygienic assessment of self-isolation became an essential issue. It is possible to assess self-isolation using several methods:
We proposed a sanitary-hygienic definition of self-isolation.
We developed a hygienic self-isolation index point score (HSIPS) which determines that the optimal mode is directly proportional to the coefficients of a person's physical activity (D), indoor area (air cubic capacity) per isolated (S), time spent in fresh air (T) and inversely proportional to the calorie intake.
The self-isolation index point score (HSIPS) determines if self-isolation is (1) optimal, (2) favorable, or (3) unfavorable.
We determined methods to assess the level of functional reserves of the body.
We identified the leading risk factors for the health of the self-isolation population.
We proposed sanitary-hygienic criteria for assessing self-isolation based on the sanitary-hygienic standards of the Russian Federation.
The sanitary-hygienic assessment of self-isolation can ensure the prevention of cardiovascular, alimentary-dependent diseases, and pathologies of the musculoskeletal system. Besides, self-isolation accompanies a decrease in motor activity and unbalanced nutrition.


The infodiet of young Spanish adults aged 18 to 25 was analysed to determine their attitude towards fake news. The objectives were: to establish whether they have received any training in fake news; to determine whether they know how to identify fake information; and to investigate whether they spread it. The study employed a descriptive quantitative method consisting of a survey of 500 representative interviews of the Spanish population aged between 18 and 25 through a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that they are aware of the importance of training, although generally they do not know of any course and when they do, they do not tend to enroll on one either due to lack of interest or time. These young adults feel that they know how to identify fake content and, moreover, that they know how to do so very well. However, they do not use the best tools. While they do not always verify information, they mainly suspect the credibility of information when it is meaningless. However, they do not tend to spread fake information. We conclude that media information literacy training (MILT) is necessary in educational centres that focuses on the main issues identified.


Motivated by applications in text mining and discrete distribution inference, we investigate the testing for equality of probability mass functions of $K$ groups of high-dimensional multinomial distributions. A test statistic, which is shown to have an asymptotic standard normal distribution under the null, is proposed. The optimal detection boundary is established, and the proposed test is shown to achieve this optimal detection boundary across the entire parameter space of interest. The proposed method is demonstrated in simulation studies and applied to analyze two real-world datasets to examine variation among consumer reviews of Amazon movies and diversity of statistical paper abstracts.


Complete and general treatments are presented for the nonlinear realizations of SU(n) x SU(n) and the associated invariant Lagrangians. All transformation functions and covariant derivatives are given in strikingly simple closed forms. The physically important cases of n = 2 and n = 3 are treated in extra detail.


The early years are an important period for childhood development. This fundamental period is often referred to as the 'golden age'. At an early age, teachers and parents are tasked with providing the basis or foundation for children's lives in the future. One of the most important elements is the inculcation of life values that will shape the mindset and behaviour. Instilling these values can commence when the child is able to communicate well, and can be undertaken via habituation and the regular patterns of daily life. The purpose of this research is to provide a study of value planting through character education in early childhood. This research is a literature study conducted by researchers by analysing theoretical studies related to the early childhood, particularly those relating to moral and value development and character education.
Keywords: Early childhood, moral and value development, Character education


We propose a three-dimensional nonlinear diffusion method to implement the similar autofocusing function of multiple micro-objects and simultaneously remove the defocused images, which can distinguish the locations of certain sized scattering particles that are overlapping along z-axis. It is applied to all of the reconstruction slices that are generated from the captured hologram after each back propagation. For certain small sized particles, the maxima of maximum gradient magnitude of each reconstruction slice appears at the ground truth z position after applying the proposed scheme when the reconstruction range along zaxis is sufficiently long and the reconstruction depth spacing is sufficiently fine. Therefore, the reconstructed image at ground truth z position is remained, while the defocused images are diffused out. The results demonstrated that the proposed scheme can diffuse out the defocused images which are 20 μm away from the ground truth z position in spite of that several scattering particles with different diameters are completely overlapping along z-axis with a distance of 800 μm when the hologram pixel pitch is 2 μm. It also demonstrated that the sparsity distribution of the ground truth z slice cannot be affected by the sparsity distribution of corresponding defocused images when the diameter of the particle is not more than 35um and the reconstruction depth spacing is not less than 20 μm. © 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement


In recent years, massive language models consisting exclusively of transformer decoders, led by the GPT-x family, have become in-creasingly popular. While studies have exam-ined the behavior of these models, they tend to only focus on the output of the language model, avoiding analyzing their internal states despite such analyses being popular tools used within BERTology to study transformer en-coders. We present a collection of methods for analyzing GPT-2's hidden states, and use the model's navigation of garden path sentences as a case study to demonstrate the utility of studying this model's behavior beyond its output alone. To support this analysis, we introduce a novel dataset consisting of 3 different types of garden path sentences, along with scripts to manipulate them. We find that measuring Manhattan distances and cosine similarities between hidden states shows that GPT-2 navigates these sentences more intuitively than conventional methods that predict from the model's output alone.


Abstract:This article reintroduces fifteen uncollected poems by Emma Lazarus. Besides their being largely forgotten, these poems—particularly "Carmela," "Dolores," and "Three Friends"—will be of interest to scholars for dealing openly with queer desire. Until now, Lazarus is thought to have written only one explicitly queer poem, "Assurance," a work that stayed in manuscript until long after her death. These three "new" poems indicate that Lazarus was comfortable with publicly expressing and exploring same-sex attraction, suggesting that it is time to acknowledge Lazarus as a queer poet. More generally, this group of uncollected pieces gives a clearer picture of the middle period of Lazarus's career—just prior to the moment, in or around 1880, when her poetry begins to engage more directly with Judaic life and culture. Here, Lazarus moves beyond her rather tentative early style to a more assertive, complex, and creative mode of writing. By bringing these uncollected pieces back into critical conversation, I hope to encourage a fuller engagement with Lazarus's growth toward freer sexual expression and artistic maturity.


The electron spin is emerging as a new powerful tool in the electronics and optics industries. Many proposed applications--including quantum computers--require the creation of spin currents. However, such currents have so far proven difficult to produce in semiconductors. In his Perspective,
 Fertig
 highlights a new theoretical analysis by
 Murakami
 et al., who show how spin currents might be achieved. The authors propose using holes rather than electrons in semiconductors with substantial spin-orbit coupling.


Data on 84 nonretarded boys aged 6--12 with the hyperkinetic/MBD syndrome were drawn from a comprehensive, longitudinal investigation in the interest of identifying factors that contribute significantly to variation in clinically rated improvement during treatment with methylphenidate. The size of the multiple correlation (R = .50) indicates that 25% of the variation in the children's response to methylphenidate is jointly predictable from age at referral, degree of perinatal complications, and score on the hyperactivity factor. The authors discuss stepwise multiple regression analysis as the method of choice in drug response prediction studies and the possible effects on the results of such studies of differing definitions of improvements.


The kinetics and mechanisms of suppression of the PWM-induced PFC response of human PB lymphocytes by Con A-activated suppressor cells were investigated. It was necessary that Con A suppressor cells be present early in the process of activation of human B cells toward antibody syntheses, but maximal suppression of the PFC response occurred later in the culture period. In addition, Con A-activated cells, although suppressing the PFC response to PWM greater that 90% of control, did not significantly suppress the blastogenic response to PWM after 3 or 5 days in culture. On the contrary, after 3 days in culture, background tritiated thymidine incorporation as well as tritiated thymidine incorporation to PWM stimulation was increased when Con A suppressor cells are added to fresh autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes. This increased blastogenic response after three days most likely represented an autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) or Con A suppressor cells against fresh autologous non-T cells. The induction of autoreactive cells may be one of several modes of suppression of PFC responses by Con A activated suppressor cells.


Piezo1 is a recently discovered Ca2+ permeable ion channel that has emerged as an integral sensor of hemodynamic forces within the cardiovascular system, contributing to vascular development and blood pressure regulation. However, how the composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) affects the mechanosensitivity of Piezo1 in response to hemodynamic forces remains poorly understood. Using a combination of microfluidics and calcium imaging techniques, we probe the shear stress sensitivity of single HEK293T cells engineered to stably express Piezo1 in the presence of different ECM proteins. Our experiments show that Piezo1 sensitivity to shear stress is not dependent on the presence of ECM proteins. However, different ECM proteins regulate the sensitivity of Piezo1 depending on the shear stress level. Under high shear stress, fibronectin sensitizes Piezo1 response to shear, while under low shear stress, Piezo1 mechanosensitivity is improved in the presence of collagen types I and IV and laminin. Moreover, we report that α5β1 and αvβ3 integrins are involved in Piezo1 sensitivity at high shear, while αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins are involved in regulating the Piezo1 response at low shear stress. These results demonstrate that the ECM/integrin interactions influence Piezo1 mechanosensitivity and could represent a mechanism whereby extracellular forces are transmitted to Piezo1 channels, providing new insights into the mechanism by which Piezo1 senses shear stress.


The majority of Ethiopian durum wheat are farmers' varieties. Durum wheat varieties under production in Ethiopia are less productive due to the effect of climate change and marginalism of agricultural inputs. Recognizant to these, revisiting farmers varieties, ex-situ conserved, could be among the best options to adapt these changes. This study has thoroughly characterized a set of 49 durum wheat varieties to assess the level of phenotypic diversity through multivariate approaches for traits of importance. The study was aimed at estimating the extent of genetic diversity among the genotypes and to identify traits maximally contributing to the observed phenotypic variations. The statistical analyses have confirmed that the genotypes have shown very large (p<0.001) variations for most traits considered, except for number of effective tillers. The estimated broad – sense heritability (h 2 ) has ranged from 20% for grain yield to 78% for spike length. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters with significant inter-cluster distances (χ 2 =15.51, p<0.05). The clustering revealed that the landraces are genetically far from the improved varieties. Genotypes consisted in a particular cluster are superior for a trait or more compared to the other clusters. For instance, genotypes in the first cluster are superior for grain and biomass yields. Early maturing and second high yielding genotypes were consisted in the fifth cluster. The genotype – by – traits biplot analysis has explained 82% of the total variation where 65.5% was explained by PC1, indicating that most of the observed variation is inherited. It can be concluded that the landraces are quite divergent from the improved varieties and the within landraces diversity was also high indicating that they represent important gene pool for important traits. Hence, revisiting landraces, which are Ex-situ conserved, and their exploitation in durum wheat breeding programs for grain yield improvement, earliness and other traits of importance is crucial.


Exergames may provide low-cost solutions for playing, training and rehabilitation. Exergame user research (EUR), studies the interaction between an Exergame and users, in order to provide feedback for game developers and safe and meaningful gameplay. Detailed evaluations and a coding system based on muscle activation levels are necessary to characterize Exergames. This is important when it comes to use exergames in purposes other than fun. The purpose of this chapter was to characterize the muscle activation during a swimming Exergame as an example and to compare the level of activation during different conditions. Healthy subjects played bouts of Exergame using Xbox360 and Kinect. Muscle activation was monitored for desired muscles on dominant upper limb using wireless electromyographic system. Preliminary resutls showed that upper trapezius was the most active muscle in all techniques. An investigation of muscular coordination was also conducted to provide an activation sequences of studied muscles. Results can provide insights for practitioners to have a baseline on application of exergames in their routines.


Responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum) to complete submergence are not well understood as research has focused on waterlogging (soil flooding). The aim of this study was to characterize the responses of 2 wheat cultivars differing vastly in submergence tolerance to test if submergence tolerance was linked to shoot carbohydrate consumption as seen in rice. Eighteen-day-old wheat cultivars Frument (intolerant) and Jackson (tolerant) grown in soil were completely submerged for up to 19 days while assessing responses in physiology, gene expression, and shoot metabolome. Results revealed 50% mortality after 9.3 and 15.9 days of submergence in intolerant Frument and tolerant Jackson, respectively, and significantly higher growth in Jackson during recovery. Frument displayed faster leaf degradation as evident from leaf tissue porosity, chlorophylla , and metabolomic fingerprinting. Surprisingly, shoot soluble carbohydrates, starch, and individual sugars declined to similarly low levels in both cultivars by day 5, showing that cultivar Jackson tolerated longer periods of low shoot carbohydrate levels than Frument. Moreover, intolerant Frument showed higher levels of phytol and the lipid peroxidation marker malondialdehyde relative to tolerant Jackson. Consequently, we propose to further investigate the role of ethylene sensitivity and deprivation of reactive O2 species in submerged wheat.


The Covid 19 pandemic crisis has restarted the debate on how can we use the urban space as citizens in a safe and caring way. This research presents our explorations in human-scale board-games developed during the second part of 2020. Not only we had to rethink the rules of the games to cope with the current pandemic situation and create a safe environment for the players, but also the concepts played in the games started to have a deeper understanding of processes that create or are created by the urban environment.

The two games are `far to close` developed within LIFE LONG BURNING 2020, at WASP Working Art Space and Production Bucharest and `The System in the Room` created during Simultan Festival 15, Timi?oara.

The first game explores urban situations and how the players deal and react to some trivial city-happenings. To win the game, they have to use the physical distancing rules to `move` in the board-game city and tell the story of their trip.
The second game centres more on dialogue than on winning. This time the players move in a board-game that represents the system behind housing developments. They have to explain the concepts presented in this system and create together a narrative on how housing developments should work. While, at first glance, the games can appear different in concept, the hypothesis behind them was the same: how can we use games as a tool of understanding the relationship between the citizens and the urban environment. This paper will present our observations derived from playing and observing the two games.


External forcing on a wing-tip vortex can affect its instability, and therefore an optimal perturbation can improve the aerodynamic performance of the wing. The present study examined the unsteadiness of the wing-tip vortex under periodic wing-tip vibration, and revealed its effect on the aerodynamic performance of the wing. A 3Dprinted vibrating wing-tip model was prepared, which was driven by a sheet-type piezo actuator. Phase-averaged stereo particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements clarified that the averaged position of the vortex depends on the phase of the wing-tip vibration, and the vortex shifted further from the wing as the actuation frequency increased. The phase-averaged velocity distributions indicate that the velocity deficit inside the vortex is significantly enhanced near the end of the downstroke of the wing-tip motion. The wing-tip vortex is weakened in the mid-upstroke, and its impact depends on the actuation frequency. This is because the motion of the wing is in the same direction as the flow rolling up from the pressure side, which prevents the formation of the vortex. In the mid-upstroke phase, the turbulence quantities, e.g., the turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds shear stress, are significantly suppressed; these effects depend monotonically on the actuation frequency. These arguments are supported by time-resolved recordings of the flow and the wing motion. The force measurements reveal that the vibration of the wing-tip brings a positive effect on the lift-to-drag ratio.


This study aimed to test Marshall's third hypothesis—that information about the death penalty hardly affects the attitude of death penalty supporters on retribution grounds—utilizing a non-American sample. Four pre-registered experiments were conducted, involving Japanese participants randomly selected from sample pools of retributivists and non-retributivists, based on their reasons for supporting the death penalty. One group received information exposure, while the other was under control conditions. Participants read about deterrence (Study 1) or false convictions (Study 2–4). Except for the results of Study 4, retributivists and non-retributivists were equally affected or unaffected by information. Marshall's third hypothesis is therefore not supported. Retributivists strongly favored the death penalty; higher empathy toward criminals was associated with less pro-death penalty attitudes. Additionally, there were differences in the influence of information. These results suggest the need for a new approach to researching the relationship between public attitudes and information on the death penalty.


As capture fisheries are now fully exploited in Egypt, aquaculture is considered the only source for meeting the demand of seafood for rapidly growing populations in Egypt. To meet these demands for seafood, aquaculture has to grow fast and to be more intensive. Fishmeal sources from capture fisheries are fully exploited and thus become costly ingredient in fish and crustacean feed formulations. The present study evaluated biofloc technology as a sustainable alternative to fishmeal in the shrimp feeds using cheap carbon source for stimulation of the microbial biofloc growth, in addition to reduce protein content of the shrimp feeds. The shrimp were fed on three different diets (Control 45% CP, BF25.10 and BF30.10). The shrimp were cultured for 150 days. The water quality in biofloc-based pond was maintained with the promotion and development of biofloc through rice bran addition during the experiment. At the end of the experiment, the total yields of the shrimp in the two biofloc treatments were significantly higher than those of the shrimp in the control group (P < 0.05). The results indicated that promoting biofloc through carbohydrate addition in culture systems could enhance growth performance and water quality of cultured shrimp under the conditions of the present study. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (P < 0.05) differed among treatments compared to control diet (1.51 ± 0.11; 1.66 ± 0.13 and 1.80 ± 0.10 for BF25.10; BF30.10 and control, respectively). There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in shrimp mean final weight between treatments and control diet (37.10 ± 2.22 g; 35.31 ± 1.52 g and 33.24 ± 2.17 g for BF25.10; BF30.10 and control, respectively). Mean survival (70 ± 8.30%; 66 ± 9.10% and 57 ± 11.00%, for BF30.10 ; BF25.10 and control, respectively. was significantly differed among treatments compared to control diet. The data suggests that substituting high-protein (Control 45% CP) with low-protein (BF25.10 and BF30.10) feed in a biofloc dominated system operated with minimal discharge may provide an alternative to improve shrimp farming technology, through improved water quality, cheaper (lower protein) feed and reduced environmental impact. The biochemical composition of the biofloc treatments did not vary significantly. Biofloc grown on BF25.10 had higher protein content (23 ± 7 % DW) than BF30.10 treatment (18 ± 5 %DW). The composition of the PUFAs in the biofloc showed that the treatment of biofloc with BF25.10 contained significantly more total n-3 PUFA and total n-6 PUFA than that with treatment of BF30.10. The results of the present study proofed that biofloc is a possible additional nutritious aquaculture feed for shrimp.


The inhomogeneity of responsivity of photodiodes limits the accuracy of their calibration. Inhomogeneity measurements of a Ge and InGaAs photodiode and of an integrating sphere equipped with an InGaAs photodiode are shown as examples. An evaluated set of inhomogeneity coefficients is proposed as a more advantageous and objective measure than original data matrices or their graphical presentation. The PTB facility for the calibration of transfer standards at the wavelength λ = 1 047 nm is described. This takes inhomogeneity effects into account resulting in a relative transfer uncertainty of less than 10-4.


Sulfadimethoxine is a widely used sulfonamide veterinary antibiotic and could be a source of agricultural contamination. Therefore, information is needed about its degradation kinetics in manure under aerobic conditions. Based on the analysis of first-order kinetics and the assumption that sulfadimethoxine availability for degradation in manure could be limiting, a new kinetic model was developed and was found to fit the degradation kinetics well. The degradation rate in sterile manure was found to be much lower than in nonsterile manure, indicating that biodegradation was significant. In biologically active manure, the degradation rate constant decreased with increasing initial concentration of sulfadimethoxine, implying that the activity of the degrading microorganisms was inhibited. Increasing moisture or temperature was found to increase sulfadimethoxine degradation in manure. Mixing manure containing high levels of sulfadimethoxine with manure containing lower levels may result in more rapid degradation, thus greatly diminishing sulfadimethoxine contamination in manure and significantly reducing sulfadimethoxine inputs into the environment. During treatment, keeping the manure moist and storing in a moderately warm place under aerobic conditions may also help to diminish sulfadimethoxine contamination.


We review modelling approaches in relation to three key areas of sciurid ecology: management, disease risk assessments and conservation. Models enable us to explore different scenarios to develop effective management and conservation strategies. They may also assist in identifying and targeting research needs for tree and flying squirrels. However, there is a need to refine techniques and assure that data used are applicable at the appropriate scale. Models allow managers to make informed decisions to help conserve species, but success requires that the utility of the tool be evaluated as new empirical data become available and models refined to more accurately meet the needs of current conservation scenarios.


This study examines federal employee attitudes since the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. By reviewing seven employee surveys conducted by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management since 1979, we examine how attitudes have changed. We then analyze the degree to which organizational effectiveness, job satisfaction, and support for organizational change are affected by customer orientation, supervisory leadership, empowerment, teamwork, training and development, performance management, diversity, family-friendly policies, and labor relations. This study finds that (a) employee attitudes on most dimensions have been mildly positive; (b) employee attitudes somewhat reflect reform policies of each administration, presidential leadership, and environmental change; and (c) perceptions of organizational effectiveness, job satisfaction, and support for organizational change have been affected predominantly by customer orientation, supervisory leadership, empowerment, teamwork, performance evaluation fairness, and performance rewards. Finally, the study suggests that civil service reform integrate long-lasting strategies based on improved responsiveness and competitiveness of federal employees.


A simple to construct and operate, "dip-in" electromembrane extraction (EME) probe directly coupled to electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for rapid extraction and real time analysis of various analytes was developed. The setup demonstrated that EME-MS can be used as a viable alternative to conventional protein precipitation followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for studying drug metabolism. Comparison of EME-MS with LC-MS for drug metabolism analysis demonstrated for the first time that real time extraction of analytes by EME is possible. Metabolism kinetics were investigated for three different drugs: amitriptyline, promethazine, and methadone. By comparing the EME-MS extraction profiles of the drug substances and formed drug metabolites with the metabolism profiles obtained by conventional protein precipitation followed by LC-MS good correlation was obtained with only very limited time delay in the extraction. The results indicate that, by tuning the electromembrane properties, for example, by optimizing the extraction voltage, extremely fast extraction kinetics can be obtained. A metabolic profile could be generated while the drug was metabolized offering a significant time saving as compared to conventional LC-MS where laborious protein precipitation or other sample pretreatments are required before analysis. This makes the developed EME-MS setup a highly promising sample preparation method for various kinds of applications where fast and real-time analysis of analytes is of interest.


The cholera epidemic remains a public health threat in many developing countries including Tanzania. It affects vulnerable populations living with an unreliable water supply and sub-standard sanitary conditions. Various studies have found that the occurrence of cholera has strong linkage with environmental factors such as climatology aspects and geographical location. In addition, climatology has been strongly linked to the creation of weather patterns that favor the transmission and growth of Vibrio cholerae, which causes the disease. There are several studies that have been conducted to integrate environmental factors into the existing health management information systems (HMISs) in order to enhance the analysis of cholera epidemics in Tanzania. This work explored how well climatology factors have been integrated into these existing HMISs and the potential of the systems in enhancing cholera epidemics analysis. We found that most of the existing HMISs have not explicitly integrated environmental and climatology features for effective analysis of diseases. We thus proposed the design and development of an effective Climatology-aware HMIS. Then, evaluate it with clinical and environmental data such as; geographical location, weather, conditions of the day, and date on set, of 22 medical students staying in the Mweka district in Tanzania. The results of system evaluation showed that 87% provided positive feedback on the capacity of the developed system, towards enhancing the cholera epidemic analysis and prediction linked with environmental factors particularly the climate change variables. The study recommends the review of systems and policies in the health sectors in order to adapt climatology factors.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the therapeutic effect of irinotecan/platinum (IP) and etoposide/platinum (EP) in treatment-naïve extensive small cell lung cancer patients.

METHODS
Systematic computerized searches of PubMed database and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were performed. Summary odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to compare IP with EP in previously untreated small cell lung cancer patients.

RESULTS
A total of 10 randomized trials were included in the analyses. The result showed the patients treated with irinotecan combinations experienced longer overall survival than epotoside, the pooled HR was 0.85 (95% CI = 0.78-0.92). The pooled OR revealed that IP stated better objective overall response than EP regimens (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.92-1.32). Treatment-related deaths were similar between the two groups.

CONCLUSION
IP regimens could be used as first-line treatment for extensive stage small cell lung cancer patients.


Background: Efficiency and equity are both important policy objectives in resource allocation. The discipline of health economics has traditionally focused on maximising efficiency, however addressing inequities in health also requires consideration. Methods to incorporate equity within economic evaluation techniques range from qualitative judgements to quantitative outcomes-based equity weights. Yet, due to definitional uncertainties and other inherent limitations, no method has been universally adopted to date. This paper proposes an alternative cost-based equity weight for use in the economic evaluation of interventions delivered from primary health care services.


Foreign Law is the law of any non-U.S. jurisdication. This Guide presents a starting place for your foreign law research in the UCONN Law Library. The materials selected are predominantly electronic except when the best source is available only in print.


In this  paper we deal with a connection between an upper Kuratowski limit of a sequence of graphs of multifunctions and an upper Kuratowski limit of a sequence of their values. Namely, we will study under which conditions for a graph (topological) cluster point $[x,y]\in X\times Y$ of a sequence $\{Gr\, F_{n}: n\in\omega\}$  of graphs of lower quasi continuous multifunctions, $y$ is a vertical (pointwise) cluster point  of the sequence $\{F_n(x): n\in\omega\}$  of values of given multifunctions. An existence of a   selection being quasi continuous on a dense open set (a dense $G_\delta$-set) for a topological (pointwise) upper Kuratowski limit is given.


Purpose Microbial keratitis is an infection of the cornea that can be severe since it leads, in some cases, to blindness. One of the most important prognostic factors is the microbiological diagnosis which determines the rapid use of the appropriate treatment. Therefore we sought a faster and more efficient diagnosis method by using mass spectrometry.

Methods This study is the analysis of corneal samples with MALDI-TOF MS as a new approach, undeveloped in the literature, without preparation nor culture of infected epithelia. All together 18 human corneal epithelia were studied to characterize the healthy human corneal spectra. An animal experimentation was also conducted on 45 Balb/c mice for comparison of their left healthy corneas and their right infected corneas by two difficult diagnosis seeds: Mycobacterium chelonae or Acanthamoeba polyphaga.

Results Corneal protein spectra can be obtained quickly, in less than ten minutes, and easily by simple deposit on a mass-spectrometry target. The study of healthy corneas gives reproducible and specific spectra compared to other human tissues available in our database. In animal model, the MALDI-TOF MS detects an inflammatory response secondary to wound healing corneal and an infectious response to Mycobacterium chelonae.

Conclusion This original work consists in using MALDI-TOF MS for a microbial keratitis analyze directly on infected epithelium. This technique permits, to differentiate easily and quickly, a healthy cornea from an ulcerated or infected one in mice. After the development of microbiologic recognition algorithms, mass-spectrometry could be used, in the future, for a "minute" diagnosis of infectious keratitis.Diagnosis of infectious keratitis by mass spectrometry.


As part of the DARPA Augmented Cognition Program, our goal has been to develop a complex cognitive multi-tasking environment in which to study user workload, its neural correlates, and task/interface augmentations to modulate workload. Additionally, our goal has been to develop a task environment that has a quasi-operational and interactive feel appropriate for developing military command and control technologies while at the same time being suitable for experimental development using undergraduates as research participants. Our solution is a ship-based navy command and control environment that contains multiple tasks and enlists spatial, verbal, and decision-making processes. The workload of the component tasks may be manipulated independently to facilitate development of process-specific neuro-metric measures of workload.


Pharmacy technician roles are evolving alongside the changing role of a pharmacist. There is currently no uniform definition of a pharmacy technician's role in the pharmacy workforce. The objective of this study was to look at the United States-based pharmacy technician advertisement database from Pharmacy Week to find patterns and commonalities in the duties and qualifications of pharmacy technicians. A retrospective analysis was performed on fourteen days of pharmacy technician job listings from Pharmacy Week from the year 2018. Information obtained from the listings included job title, location, setting, type of job, job duties, and job requirements. Job duties and requirements were coded by themes. Fourteen days of data resulted in 21,007 individual position listings. A majority of the job listings were for full-time positions (96.4%) and most were in the retail setting (96.78%). The most common requirements were registration with State Board, high school diploma, ability to perform tasks, communication, and physical. The most common job duties were general office etiquette, performing tasks under the direct supervision of the pharmacist, and professionalism. This study provides a description of the evolving role of pharmacy technicians through the broad variety in expectations for requirements of pharmacy technician applicants and the duties they perform when hired.


We use data on confirmed cases of pandemic influenza A(H1N1), disseminated by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(US CDC), to fit the parameters of a seasonally forced Susceptible, Infective, Recovered (SIR) model. We use the resulting model to predict the course of the H1N1 influenza pandemic in autumn 2009, and we assess the efficacy of the planned CDC H1N1 vaccination campaign. The model predicts that there will be a significant wave in autumn, with 63% of the population being infected, and that this wave will peak so early that the planned CDC vaccination campaign will likely not have a large effect on the total number of people ultimately infected by the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus.


Pharmacological treatments have been widely investigated in pre-clinical animal trials to evaluate their usefulness in reducing cognitive, behavioural and motor problems after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the relative efficacy of these agents has yet to be evaluated, making it difficult to assess the strength of evidence for their use in a clinical population. A meta-analytic review of research (1980–2009) was therefore conducted to examine the impact of pharmacological treatments administered to adult male rodents after experimental TBI on cognitive, behavioural, and motor outcome. The PubMed and PsycInfo databases were searched using 35 terms. Weighted Cohen's d effect sizes, percent overlap, Fail-Safe N statistics and confidence intervals were calculated for each treatment. In total, 91 treatments were evaluated in 223 pre-clinical trials, comprising 5988 rodents. Treatments that were investigated by multiple studies and showed large and significant treatment effects were of greatest interest. Of the 16 treatments that were efficacious, six improved cognition, 10 improved motor function and no treatment improved behaviour (depression/anxiety, aggression, zoosocial behaviour). Treatment benefits were found across a range of TBI models. Drug dosage and treatment interval impacted on treatment effects.


Studies on bark beetle flight periods and the course of insect attack on pine logs in Central Sweden. The flight periods of bark beetles and the insect attack on pine logs, felled at intervals of 20 days from January to June, were studied by using window traps and by marking fresh entrance holes in the logs followed by autumn inspection. The periods of flight and attack had similar patterns. Blastophagus piniperda and B. minor, as well as several other bark beetle species, had relatively short periods of flight and attack, while especially Pityogenes chalcographus had a long flight period with less accentuated peak. Trypodendron lineatum had a flight pattern with one early and one late peak. The Blastophagus species attacked all groups of logs felled before the flight period with similar high intensity. They attacked logs felled during the flight period within short time but in small numbers. The upper side of the logs was more often attacked in the earlier part of the flight period than in the later one. Dates for felling and of attack had no greater influence on success and length of the Blastophagus galleries. The mean production of one square metre surface area attacked by 82 galleries (mostly B. piniperda) was 933 young bark beetles leaving the logs, a population increase of about six times. The earliest exit holes of B. piniperda appeared on the logs 57-77 days after entrance of the females, for B. minor 90 days after entrance. The damage by tunneling of pine shoots began in July and amounted up to the following spring to 95 broken shoots per tree in close vicinity to the attacked logs, corresponding to 30 % of Blastophagus leaving the logs.


Objective: To determine the effect of cutting height, season, and year on the forage yield of African Star grass (Cynodon nlemfuensis Vanderyst) in Loma Bonita, Oaxaca, México.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A randomized block design was used in plots divided using a factorial arrangement and three replications. The treatments consisted of the combination of cutting heights, seasons, and years of evaluation with four repetitions. The following variables were taken into consideration: fresh and dry forage yield (kg ha-1), leaf weight (kg FM ha-1), stem weight (kg FM ha-1), dead material (kg ha-1), leaf-steam ratio, and total yield per hectare (kg ha-1). An analysis of variance was carried out and the means were compared using Tukey's test.
Results: The cutting heights did not have an effect on the DM yield. The uniformity cut can be made between 7 and 10 cm. DM performance for the 6 characters evaluated was better in 2018 than in 2016.
Study limitations/Implications: Applying dolomite calcium to increase soil pH, N, P, and K levels under irrigated conditions could improve growth rates and DM production.
Findings/Conclusions: Cutting heights did not have an impact on forage yield. The uniformity cut could be made at a 7-10 cm height. The rainy season had a higher dry matter yield (3,310 kg ha-1) than the dry season (1,902 kg DM ha-1) and the cold front season (1,914 kg DM ha-1).


The synthesis and characterization of novel photochromic diarylethene-based linkers for use in metal–organic frameworks is described including crystal structure analysis of nearly all reaction intermediates. The bis-carboxylated dithien-3-ylphenanthrenes can be prepared under relatively mild conditions in high yield and were subsequently used to create a photoresponsive metal–organic framework, UBMOF-1. While the photochromism of the ligand TPDC in solution is fully reversible, the cycloreversion reaction is suppressed when this linker is incorporated into the crystalline framework of UBMOF-1.


Indonesia implements civil law system. There are three sub legal systems which are implemented until today. They are: positive/national law system, Islamic law system, and Adat law system. The majority of Indonesians are Islamic believers. The people claim that they are a religious nation. However, the implementation of the inheritance law in accordance with the Islamic law and the Adat law is sometimes different. One of the ethnic groups which has different regulation in heritance is Minangkabau. Minangkabau inheritance adat law has been a controversy. It is because while they claim that all Minangkabau people are Islam, they implement an inheritance law that is said as violating the Islamic inheritance law. In Islam, inheritance is passed down to children, both daughter(s) and son(s) with the composition son(s) inherits two parts compared to daugther(s). Many people mislead that the Minangkabau inheritance law passes down the inheritance to daughter(s) only. This paper discusses: 1) how are inheritance matter regulated in each of the aforementioned sub legal system? 2) how is inheritance matter regulated in Minangkabau ethnic group?


OBJECTIVE
To study the chemical constituents of Pouzolzia zeylanica.

METHODS
Many chromatography means were used in separation and purification, and the structures of all compounds were identified by the means of spectroscopic analysis and physicochemical properties.

RESULTS
14 compounds were elucidated as: beta-sitosterol (1), daucosterol (2), oleanolic acid (3), epicatechin (4), alpha-amyrin (5), eugenyl-beta-rutinoside (6), 2alpha, 3alpha, 19alpha-trihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic (7), scopolin (8), scutellarein-7-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside (9), scopoletin (10), quercetin (11), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucoside (12), apigenin (13), 2alpha-hydroxyursolic acid (14).

CONCLUSION
All compounds are obtained from this plant for the first time.


Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars are one of the promising alternatives for steel bars used in concrete structures under corrosion or non-magnetic environments due to the unique physical properties of FRP materials. When compared with steel bars, FRP bars are difficult to be spliced in field application due to their anisotropy and low shear and compressive strengths. In view of this, the paper presents a new non-metallic connection system (i.e., resin-filled glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) pipe connection system) for the butt splicing of FRP bars. With the proposed connection system and a simplified trilinear interfacial bond-slip model, a set of design formulas were derived based on the requirement that the proposed connection system should provide a load transfer capacity beyond the tensile capacity of the spliced FRP bars (i.e., to fulfill the high tensile strength of FRP materials). Besides, considering the fabrication error-induced load transfer capacity reduction of the connection system in field application, a correction factor was introduced in the paper to compensate for the reduced load transfer capacity by increasing the FRP bar anchorage length. At last, to estimate the effectiveness of the proposed connection system and the derived design formulas, nine specimens were fabricated with a kind of commercially available basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars and the designed connection system and tested under unidirectional tension to study their tensile performance. With the comparison between the tested and theoretical results, the effectiveness of the proposed connection system and the derived design formulas are verified.


Background Injectable opioid agonist therapy (iOAT) is the highest-intensity treatment currently available in Canada for individuals with severe opioid use disorder. However, there is limited data on iOAT administration in the perinatal period, with no research, practice guidelines, or known reports of breastfeeding on iOAT. This article presents the first known case of an individual breastfeeding on iOAT. Case summary We present a case of a pregnant 32-year-old woman from Canada with severe opioid use disorder, who stabilized with iOAT and chose to breastfeed her infant. She presented to hospital at 38 + 6 gestation in labor, unstable in her substance use disorder despite multiple interventions and was initiated on iOAT (intravenous hydromorphone) shortly after delivery. Before initiation of breastfeeding the infant was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for monitoring. On day 9 of life the infant received breastmilk for the first time, and was discharged from neonatal intensive care unit on day 12 of life with no clinical evidence of sedation or respiratory depression. The infant maintained mixed feeding and at 58 days of life was discharged in the mother and father's care, a healthy infant with stable vitals. Discussion This case suggests positive infant and maternal health and social outcomes for breastfeeding on iOAT. Further research on perinatal iOAT use and the pharmacokinetics of high-dose hydromorphone in breastmilk is required to inform clinical practice guidelines to safely support individuals and their infants who are impacted by substance use.


1. Sampling and processing of benthic macroinvertebrate samples is time consuming and expensive. Although a number of cost-cutting options exist, a frequently asked question is how representative a subset of data is of the whole community, in particular in areas where habitat diversity is high (like Dutch surface water habitats). 2. Weighted averaging was used to reassign 650 samples to a typology of 40 community types, testing the representativeness of different subsets of data: (i) four different types of data (presence/absence, raw, (2)log- and ln-transformed abundance), (ii) three subsets of 'indicator' taxa (taxa with indicator weights 4-12, 7-12, and 10-12) and (iii) single taxonomic groups (n = 14) by determining the classification error. 3. (2)log- and ln-transformed abundances resulted in the lowest classification error, whilst the use of qualitative data resulted in a reduction of 10% of the samples assigned to their original community type compared to the use of ln-transformed abundance data. 4. Samples from community types with a high number of unique indicator taxa had the lowest classification error, and classification error increased as similarity among community types increased. Using a subset of indicator taxa resulted in a maximum increase of the classification error of 15% when only taxa with an indicator weight 10-12 were included (error = 49.1%). 5. Use of single taxonomic groups resulted in high classification error, the lowest classification error was found using Trichoptera (68%), and was related to the frequency of the taxonomic group among samples and the indicator weights of the taxa. 6. Our findings that the use of qualitative data, subsets of indicator taxa or single taxonomic groups resulted in high classification error implies low taxonomic redundancy, and supports the use of all taxa in characterising a macroinvertebrate community, in particular in areas where habitat diversity is high.


The author aims to unify his presentation by treating the separate topics (circulation, respiration, endocrine function, etc.) as exemplifications of the general principle of homceostasis; in this he has succeeded admirably, and in particular has avoided belabouring the point. The whole treatment of the subject is adequately broad, and not excessively dogmatic. However, the author does give some strange priorities: William Harvey is relegated to the caption of an illustration, while Helmholtz holds a qualified sway over the cochlea. While the informal tone is no doubt quite appropriate in a book at this level, it is unfortunate that some of the more exotic asides (for example, those on the action of hormones and the mechanism of olfaction) are not accompanied by references. It is little assistance to those who may be teaching from the book to be told that an unorthodox hypothesis lacks critical experiment.


OBJECTIVES
To compare the dental effects produced by a bonded versus a banded expander combined with facial mask (FM) in patients with Class III malocclusion by means of digital dental casts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two groups of patients with Class III malocclusion and maxillary transverse deficiency in the deciduous or early mixed dentition were selected. The first group consisted of 25 subjects (12 females; 13 males) with a mean age of 7.4 years (SD 1.2 years) treated with a bonded expander and FM. The second group consisted of 25 subjects (13 females; 12 males) with a mean age of 8.1 years (SD 1.3 years) treated with a banded expander and FM. For each subject of the two groups, initial (pre-treatment, T1) and final (post-treatment, T2) dental casts were taken and scanned. Maxillary digital models of T1 and T2 were superimposed on the palatal rugae in order to analyse the maxillary anchorage loss. Significant between-group differences were tested with independent sample t-test (P < 0.05).

RESULTS
No statistical differences were found for any of the variables observed.

CONCLUSION
Orthopaedic treatment of Class III malocclusion with either a bonded or a banded expander and FM during the deciduous or early mixed dentition induced a significant expansion of the maxillary arch and a slight mesialization of the posterior anchoring teeth with no difference between the two intraoral appliance designs.


Over the last few decades, benefitting from the sufficient sensitivity, high specificity, nondestructive, and rapid detection capability of the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique, numerous nanostructures have been elaborately designed and successfully synthesized as high-performance SERS substrates, which have been extensively exploited for the identification of chemical and biological analytes. Among these, Ag nanorods coated with thin metal oxide layers (AgNRs-oxide hybrid array substrates) featuring many outstanding advantages have been proposed as fascinating SERS substrates, and are of particular research interest. The present review provides a systematic overview towards the representative achievements of AgNRs-oxide hybrid array substrates for SERS applications from diverse perspectives, so as to promote the realization of real-world SERS sensors. First, various fabrication approaches of AgNRs-oxide nanostructures are introduced, which are followed by a discussion on the novel merits of AgNRs-oxide arrays, such as superior SERS sensitivity and reproducibility, high thermal stability, long-term activity in air, corrosion resistivity, and intense chemisorption of target molecules. Next, we present recent advances of AgNRs-oxide substrates in terms of practical applications. Intriguingly, the recyclability, qualitative and quantitative analyses, as well as vapor-phase molecule sensing have been achieved on these nanocomposites. We further discuss the major challenges and prospects of AgNRs-oxide substrates for future SERS developments, aiming to expand the versatility of SERS technique.


This study aims deriving analysis the flow characteristic of kitchen hood system with using 3-D numerical analysis method and improving the system to expel pollutes more efficiently. This system is applied with k-e turbulent model and using incompressibility viscosity flow range and boundary condition which are related to Bossinesq approximation following density variation in control volume. To understand the flow characteristics of four models, this study only focuses on velocity field, temperature field, and concentration field varying with followings whether separation plate is set or not and the shapes of separation plates. The quantity of air, speed of exhaust fan and temperature and concentration of heating source are concerned as constant values.


Wireless multi-hop, backhaul networks transfer data traffic from access networks to the wired Internet. Scheduling algorithms for wireless backhaul networks activate multiple simultaneous transmissions, which in turn introduce concurrent interference into the network. Although multiple-antenna techniques have been extensively studied in the literature, not much research for multiple antennas has been received in the backhaul context. In this paper, we investigate the cross-layer performance between various multiple-antenna techniques and backhaul schedulers using physical layer abstraction. Simulation results reveal that with multiple antennas the backhaul network can accommodate a higher density of concurrent links, relative to the network with single antenna. Furthermore, simulation results unfold that the dominant eigenmode transmission and the least square interference cancellation schemes are optimized for noise-limited and interference-limited scenarios, respectively.


This paper presents a new circuit topology of dc busline switch-assisted full-bridge soft-switching PWM inverter type dc-dc power converter which is composed of typical voltage source H full-bridge type high frequency PWM inverter in addition to a single dc busline side power semiconductor switching device for PWM scheme and a capacitive lossless snubber. Under the newly-proposed high frequency inverter link dc-dc high power conditioning and processing circuit, all active power switches in the full-bridge arms and dc busline can achieve ZVS/ZVT turn-off commutation operation. On the other hand, although the conduction power loss of dc busline switch increases a little, the total turn-off switching losses of full-bridge type PWM inverter and dc busline switch with the single lossless capacitive snubber parallel with dc busline can be significantly decreased. As a result, the switching frequency of high frequency inverter power stage using IGBTs can be actually selected more than about 10 kHz. The more the switching frequency of full-bridge inverter increases, the more newly-proposed soft-switching dc-dc power converter with a high frequency transformer link has remarkable advantage as for the power conversion efficiency and power density as compared with the conventional hard-switching inverter type dc-dc power converter. The effectiveness of this new converter topology is proved for low voltage and large current dc-dc power supplies from a practical point of views.


Network congestion is an important factor affecting the performance of large scale jobs in supercomputing clusters, especially with the wide deployment of multi-core processors. The blocking nature of current day collectives makes such congestion a critical factor in their performance. On the other hand, modern interconnects like InfiniBand provide us with many novel features such as Virtual Lanes aimed at delivering better performance to end applications. Theoretical research in the field of network congestion indicate Head of Line (HoL) blocking as a common causes for congestion and the use of multiple virtual lanes as one of the ways to alleviate it. In this context, we make use of the multiple virtual lanes provided by the InfiniBand standard as a means to alleviate network congestion and thereby improve the performance of various high performance computing applications on modern multi-core clusters. We integrate our scheme into the MVAPICH2 MPI library. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such implementation that takes advantage of the use of multiple virtual lanes at the MPI level. We perform various experiments at native InfiniBand, microbenchmark as well as at the application levels. The results of our experimental evaluation show that the use of multiple virtual lanes can improve the predictability of message arrival by up to 10 times in the presence of network congestion. Our microbenchmark level evaluation with multiple communication streams show that the use of multiple virtual lanes can improve the bandwidth / latency / message rate of medium sized messages by up to 13%. Through the use of multiple virtual lanes, we are also able to improve the performance of the Alltoall collective operation for medium message sizes by up to 20%. Performance improvement of up to 12% is also observed for Alltoall collective operation through segregation of traffic into multiple virtual lanes when multiple jobs compete for the same network resource. We also see that our scheme can improve the performance of collective operations used inside the CPMD application by 11% and the overall performance of the CPMD application itself by up to 6%.


Quantitative and qualitative data and their analyses are two types of representation of phenomena, and quantitative paradigm is still prevalent in social sciences, Psychology included. The last decades, however, while quantitative orientation is still dominant, several significant criticisms regarding quantitative data have emerged, indicating qualitative analyses as more adequate to capture psychological and social processes. Quantitative-qualitative debate has advanced in contemporary social sciences, with often rigid distinctions between the two methods, and leading to hot (and unnecessary) disputes in which each method is taken as an opposite and/or incompatible alternative to the other. This paper aims at revisiting this still live debate, using examples derived from empirical research, especially on child-child interactions and play, in order to reflect on consistency of logical and methodological oppositions between qualitative and quantitative.


Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), the giant mealworm beetle, is known as an edible insect containing a high protein content which may serve as new sources of human food and animal feed. However, potential toxicity and food safety analyses of Z. atratus have not been previously investigated. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate toxicity of freeze-dried skimmed powder of Z. atratus larvae (frpfdZAL), known as the super mealworm. Toxicological assessments were performed at the doses of 1250, 2500, and 5000 mg/kg/day in a 2- and a 13-week oral repeated-dose toxicity study of frpfdZAL in male and female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines and the principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). No toxicological changes in clinical signs, body weights, water and food consumption, urinalysis, hematology, clinical biochemistry, gross findings, and histopathological examinations were observed. In conclusion, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of frpfdZAL was 5000 mg/kg/day and target organ was not identified in both sexes of rats. In addition, frpfdZAL did not induce increases of serum ImmunoglobulinE (IgE), an identifier of allergic reactions in rats. Collectively, these results suggest that frpfdZAL is safe with no adverse effects, and able to be applied as an edible ingredient or other biological uses.


Three cohesionless free flowing materials of different density were mixed in an air fluidized bed to study the mixing process by calculating performance of mixing index according to Rose equation (1959) and to study the effect of four variables (air velocity, mixing time, particle size of trace component and concentration of trace component) on the mixing index and as well as on mixing performance. It was found that mixing index increases with increasing the air velocity, mixing time and concentration of trace component until the optimum value. Mixing index depends on the magnitude of difference in particle size The first set of experiments (salt then sand then cast iron) give higher mixing index and better performance of mixing than the second set of experiments (sand then salt then cast iron). Box-Willson method was used to minimize number of experiments and to represent the relationship between the variables.


Glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) concrete reinforcement exhibits high strength, is lightweight, can decrease time of construction, and is corrosion resistant. However, research has shown that chemical reactions deteriorate the GFRP reinforcing bars over time, resulting in a reduced tensile capacity. This paper develops a time-variant probabilistic model to predict the tensile capacity of GFRP bars embedded in concrete. The developed model is probabilistic to properly account for the relevant sources of uncertainties, including the statistical uncertainty in the estimation of the unknown model parameters (because of the finite sample size), the model error associated with the inexact model form (e.g., a linear expression is used when the actual and unknown relations are nonlinear), and missing variables (i.e., the model only includes a subset of the variables that influence the quantity of interest.) The proposed model is based on a general diffusion model, in which water or ions penetrate the GFRP bar matrix and degrade the glass fiber-resin interface. The model indicates that GFRP reinforcement bars with larger diameters exhibit lower rates of capacity loss. The proposed probabilistic model is used to assess the probability of not meeting the tensile strength requirement based on specifications over time and can be used to assess the safety and performance of GFRP reinforced systems. Sensitivity and importance analyses are carried out to explore the effect of the parameters and random variables on the probability estimates.


Erasmus yearned to make the Bible an effective instrument in the reform of society, church, and everyday life. He therefore composed paraphrases in which the words of Holy Scripture provided the core of a text, vastly expanded to embrace the reforming 'philosophy of Christ.' The Paraphrases were successful beyond all expectations, and were quickly translated into French, German, English, and other languages. This is the fourth volume of Paraphrases to be published in the New Testament Scholarship Series in the CWE. The volume includes the Paraphrases on the Pastoral Epistles and the Catholic, or General, Epistles, as well as the Paraphrase on Hebrews. These books, in the biblical text, address the central issues of the Christian life within the context of family, church, and community. The Paraphrases sharpen the accent of the biblical message, speaking in an idiom appropriate to the sixteenth century but also surprisingly relevant to our own age: they condemn, for example, every form of tyrannizing in the home and self-aggrandisement in the church; perhaps above all, the Paraphrases expose the social injustice (inevitable, Erasmus would have us believe) of those who have acquired great personal wealth. Erasmus also reformulates, and sometimes develops, some of the great theological themes already defined in earlier volumes of this series. Is sin congenital, or do we sin simply in 'imitation' of Adam? How do the Hebrew Scriptures attest to the presence of divine grace in the world before the birth of Christ? What is faith if not a vision of eternal realities so sure that we can clearly recognize the things of this passing world as the shadows they are? These Paraphrases address the modern reader with the relevance of the moral issues they define and the perennial importance of the theological questions they raise. Erasmus clarified and interpreted biblical text with immense rhetorical skill. Professor Bateman's bold and accurate translation brings both the pleasure and the force of Erasmus' rhetoric to the English-speaker of today.


The pattern of side-chain conservation at the cytoplasmic side of the third transmembrane domain of rhodopsin family G protein-coupled receptors, Asp/Glu-Arg-Tyr/X-X-X-Ile/Val, defines a structural "arginine cage" domain. Previous computational and mutagenesis studies of the GnRH receptor indicated an important contribution of local interactions to the function of this domain. We have investigated the functional importance of the intrahelical position and orientation of the arginine cage using insertional mutagenesis. Introduction of a single Ala proximal to the conserved Asp-Arg of this domain caused loss of detectable ligand binding. Inserting a second Ala, however, restored high-affinity agonist binding. Further insertion of three or four Ala residues at this site generated receptors that bound agonist with an affinity 3- to 10-fold higher than that of the wild-type receptor. Loss of detectable coupling to inositol phosphate turnover in all these mutant receptors confirms that the structure required in this region for efficient signaling is highly constrained. In contrast, the recovery of agonist binding with the progressive insertion of two to four Ala residues indicates that specific orientations of this segment can stabilize high-affinity receptor conformations that are uncoupled from signal transduction.


The application of transistors based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) in chemical and biological sensing is reviewed. These devices offer enormous potential for facile processing of small, portable, and inexpensive sensors ideally suited for point-of-care analysis. They can be used to detect a wide range of analytes for a variety of possible applications in fields such as health care (medical diagnostics), environmental monitoring (airborne chemicals, water contamination, etc.), and food industry (smart packaging). Organic transistors are excellent candidates to act as transducers because they have the ability to translate chemical and biological signals into electronic signals with high sensitivity. Furthermore, fuctionalization of PEDOT:PSS films with a chemical or biological receptor can lead to high specificity. The advantages of using PEDOT:PSS transistors are described, and applications are presented for sensing analytes in both gaseous and aqueous environments.


Graph‐constrained estimation methods encourage similarities among neighboring covariates presented as nodes of a graph, and can result in more accurate estimates, especially in high‐dimensional settings. Variable selection approaches can then be utilized to select a subset of variables that are associated with the response. However, existing procedures do not provide measures of uncertainty of estimates. Further, the vast majority of existing approaches assume that available graph accurately captures the association among covariates; violations to this assumption could severely hurt the reliability of the resulting estimates. In this article, we present a new inference framework, called the Grace test, which produces coefficient estimates and corresponding p‐values by incorporating the external graph information. We show, both theoretically and via numerical studies, that the proposed method asymptotically controls the type‐I error rate regardless of the choice of the graph. We also show that when the underlying graph is informative, the Grace test is asymptotically more powerful than similar tests that ignore the external information. We study the power properties of the proposed test when the graph is not fully informative and develop a more powerful Grace‐ridge test for such settings. Our numerical studies show that as long as the graph is reasonably informative, the proposed inference procedures deliver improved statistical power over existing methods that ignore external information.


Background This study investigated the expression of the BCL2 and BAX mRNA, inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification and measurement of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) evaluated cardiac function. Material/Methods Patients with CHF (n=60) due to coronary heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, and cardiomyopathy, and healthy controls (n=30) were studied. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) measured serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) detected mRNA expression of BCL2 and BAX in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Color Doppler ultrasound measured the LVEF, and the NYHA classification of CHF was used. Results In patients with CHF, levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, and mRNA expression of BAX were significantly increased compared with the control group (p<0.01); BCL2 mRNA level was significantly lower (p<0.01). There were no significant differences in the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, or BCL2 or BAX mRNA in patients with CHF due to coronary heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, or cardiomyopathy. Expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and BAX mRNA were significantly associated with the degree of CHF. Cardiac function was negatively correlated with LVEF (p<0.05). Expression levels of BCL2 mRNA level were negatively correlated with cardiac function (p<0.05), and positively correlated with LVEF (p<0.05). Conclusions Levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and BAX mRNA were negatively correlated with cardiac function, and BCL2 mRNA expression was positively associated with CHF.


Summary
The main effects of the proteolytic digestion of the Asian (A2) strain of influenza virus were a loss of the characteristic surface morphology and a change in density. The untreated virus was found to have a density of 1.204 g./cm.3 on a sucrose gradient, but after protease action the density was 1.168 g./cm.3. The density change was correlated with a change in particle mass as indicated by a fall in sedimentation coefficient (S
20) from the normal 788 Svedbergs to 562 Svedbergs.
From the data obtained with the protease-treated and control virus preparations it was calculated that the changes observed could be accounted for by a loss of 35 to 40% of the particle mass. The action of the protease appeared to be confined to the surface of the virus. Concomitantly with the destruction of the haemagglutinating activity there was a release of neuraminidase activity, and on a density gradient this could be separated from the residual virus and was located at the top of the gradient tube. In addition to the changes described, there appeared to be a destruction of the virus V antigen.


2843 inquiries were checked, pharmaceuticals and related products, made by the Control and Monitoring Equipment Establishments of DIGEMID from 2002 to 2006. The physicochemical and microbiological analyses were realized by the National Institute of Health and then evaluated by the Control and Monitoring Product. Of the whole of products were found that 65% are satisfied and 35% did not comply. The results of the non-compliant were classified to determine the main observations about quality: Unauthorized labeling 40%, Deficient product 27%, Critical 17%, Specification change 14%, Without sanitary record 1% and Unauthorized presentation form 1 %. In their investigation: 45% were brand name drugs, generic drugs 30%, 10% medical supplies and 9% cosmetics. Were in conformity: brand drugs 69%, generic drugs 64%, medical supplies 60% and cosmetics 68%. Regarding the type of pharmaceutical establishment in accordance presenting their products are: labs 69%, drugstores 62%, importing 67%. By country of origin, the line were 71% home and 59% foreign.


Two hundred non-pregnant women with suspected uterine disease were included in a prospective study designed to assess the accuracy of sonography in conforming or excluding the presence of uterine cancer. All patients were operated on and the preoperative sonographic findings were compared with the final histological diagnosis. The predictive value of sonographic evidence of malignancy was 43.9% (18/41), the predictive value of benign disease was 94.8% (147/155). Sensitivity was 66.7% (18/27) and specificity 85% (147/173). The sonographic detection of uterine cancer is in need of improvement. At present it cannot be used as a substitute of invasive diagnostic tools in patients with suspected uterine cancer.


The energy cost of physical activity (EEA) has been estimated to account for 5-17% of total energy expenditure (TEE) in neonates. To directly measure EEA, a force plate was developed and validated to measure work outputs ranging from 0.3 to 40 kcal . kg-1 . day-1. By use of this force plate plus indirect calorimetry, TEE and EEA were measured and correlated with five activity states in 24 infants with gestational age of 31.6 +/- 0.5 (SE) wk and postnatal age of 24.8 +/- 3.7 days. TEE and EEA were 69.2 +/- 1.5 and 2.4 +/- 0.2 kcal . kg-1 . day-1, respectively. EEA per state was 0.5 +/- 0.0 (quiet sleep), 2.4 +/- 0.2 (active sleep), 2.8 +/- 0.4 (quiet awake), 7.5 +/- 0.8 (active awake), and 15.1 +/- 2.3 (crying) kcal . kg-1 . day-1. This provides the first direct measurement of the contribution of physical activity to TEE in preterm infants and will enable measurement of caloric expenditure from muscle activity in various disease conditions and development of nursing strategies to minimize unnecessary energy losses.


Gas condensate reservoirs exhibit a complex behavior when wells are produced below the dew point, due to the existence of a two-fluid system, reservoir gas and liquid condensate. Different mobility zones develop around the wellbore corresponding respectively to the original gas in place (away from the well), the condensate dropout, and capillarity number effects (close to the well). Condensate drop-out causes a nonreversible reduction in well productivity, which is compensated in part by capillarity number effects. All these effects can be identified and quantified from well test data. Tests in condensate reservoirs, however, tend to be difficult to interpret. Build-up and/or drawdown data are usually dominated by wellbore phase redistribution effects and the main analysis challenge is to distinguish between reservoir effects, boundary effects, fluid behavior and wellbore phase redistribution perturbations. The paper compares theoretical well test behaviors in vertical and horizontal wells as obtained from compositional simulation with actual behaviors selected from more than twenty different gas condensate reservoirs. An interpretation methodology is described, which uses time-lapse analyses with different analytical and numerical tools to identify the probable causes of the pressure data behavior: two-region and three-region analytical composite models to represent the various mobility zones around the wellbore; a voronoi-grid numerical simulator to represent discontinuous boundaries; a multilayered analytical simulator to account for the geological description, and a compositional simulator to verify the fluid behavior. It is shown that, in addition to the usual well test analysis results, it is possible to obtain parameters required for reservoir simulation and well productivity forecasting, such as gas relative permeabilities at the end point, critical oil saturation, and the base capillary number. IPTC 10685 Well-Test Analysis in Gas-Condensate Reservoirs: Theory and Practice A.C. Gringarten, M. Bozorgzadeh, and A. Hashemi, Imperial C., and S. Daungkaew, Baker Hughes Inc. D ow naded rom http://oetro.org/IPTC O N F/procegs-pdf/05IPTC /Al5IPTC /TC -106-ABSTR AC T/18445500685-abstract.pdf by gest on 14 N ovem er 2021


Objective: to investigate the perceptions of nursing professors from an undergraduate course of the domains of the Core Competencies Framework for Health Promotion and find out how these domains are applied in their teaching practice. Method: The study was conducted in 2017 at a public institution of higher education in the Northeastern Region of Brazil. Sixty-two (62) teachers who met the established inclusion and exclusion criteria were invited. Of these, 15 participated in the study. Results: The following categories emerged: "Nursing educators' knowledge about health promotion: recognizing the domains" and "Nurse Educators'' Practices in Health Promotion: Application of the domains of the Core Competencies Framework for Health Promotion." Conclusion: Training and continuing education strategies on the referred subject should be provided.


This paper presents comparative study on radio frequency (RF) stability performance of Double Gate MOSFET (DG-MOSFET) and Double Gate Tunnel FET (DG-TFET). A non-quasi static small signal model is used to extract small signal parameters which are then verified with extracted parameters through simulation. The high frequency performance of DG-MOSFET and DG-TFET is evaluated by extracting RF Figure of Merit (FoM) such as cut-off frequency (f t ), maximum oscillation frequency (f max ) along with stability factor. The result shows that DG-TFET has better cut-off frequency and stability performance as compared to DG-MOSFET.


A 10-Gb/s phase-locked clock and data recovery circuit incorporates an interpolating voltage-controlled oscillator and a half-rate phase detector. The phase detector provides a linear characteristic while retiming and demultiplexing the data with no systematic phase offset. Fabricated in a 0.18-??m CMOS technology in an area of 1.1 x 0.9 mm 2 , the circuit exhibits an RMS jitter of 1 ps, a peak-to-peak jitter of 14.5 ps in the recovered clock, and a bit-error rate of 1.28 x 10 -6 , with random data input of length 2 23 - 1. The power dissipation is 72 mW from a 2.5-V supply.


This paper takes critical lenses to interpret what students find enjoyable in their learning in specific 'subject' environments within the prevailing socio-economic climate in higher education. It considers student dispositions that emerged from dialogues with two groups of students attending a non-traditional university and taking vocational degrees within England, UK. We argue that although each higher education institute can become its own destiny, it can only do so within the boundaries of state policy and its technologies. Higher education, when affected by cultures of 'performativity', is arguably focused less on knowledge for 'emancipation' and its own sake and more on the 'use value' of its products. This paper argues that what is valued by these particular students in their learning and what gives them positive feelings as they engage with this process of learning is not altogether independent of the current governances shaping higher education.


Computing the velocity field, or motion estimation is one of the most important issues in computer vision, and it is widely used in the areas of navigation, visual surveillance, video database, etc. This problem has received a great deal of attentions over the last few years. This paper proposed a novel affine invariant feature set which localization ability is adjustable, and based on this developed a velocity estimation algorithm. It can be used in motion detection, motion segmentation, and motion based recognition.


The GH gene of Sparus aurata(saGH) contains variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR). The hyper-variable minisatellites in the first and third introns segregate in a Mendelian manner and exhibit numerous alleles. Analysis by PCR and sequencing of the two introns in several wild Sparidae species revealed comparable minisatellites with some variations. 'Zoo blot' with the first intron unit as a probe showed this sequence to be characteristic of several families from the Perciformes order. Unexpectedly, a similar minisatellite was found in the first intron of the GH gene in flounder, which belongs to a different order. Transfection of constructs containing a reporter gene and first intron of different length to four cell lines resulted in an inhibitory effect of the longer intron relative to the short intron. A (CA)n microsatellite (saGHpCA) is found in the GH promoter. A similar repeat at the same location is present in GH promoters of several other fish species. High variability (11 alleles) of the saGHpCA was found in a hatchery population. Full-sib family genotyping showed a Mendelian inheritance of these alleles. A significant association was found between allele distribution and body mass in large and average size fishes from a hatchery population. The intron minisatellites may serve as markers for hybrid population and parental assignment. Its presence in families and orders of the higher teleosts may help solving classification uncertainties. Their conservation and inhibitory effect suggest a biological role. The saGHpCA is correlated with growth and may be a good candidate for predicting growth performance.


The hypothesis that matte will only react with certain constituents of a refractory brick, as opposed to the entire brick, was tested by observing the extent of possible reactions between iron sulphide (FeS) and the refractory oxides silica and alumina. The main aim was to identify the components of the alumina-chrome refractory brick which are most reactive with the matte. Pellets comprised of FeS and either SiO2 or Al2O3 were enclosed in a graphite crucible and reacted in a horizontal tube furnace for one hour at 1200°C, 1350°C, or 1500°C in an argon atmosphere. The specimens were analysed with SEM and XRD to determine the extent of any reactions. Results showed that FeS penetration into the silica grain was more prominent with increasing temperature, while alumina was not penetrated by FeS at all temperatures. At 1200°C, no significant reactions were observed for both reaction couples; however, at 1350°C and 1500°C intermediate products were observed. For example, an FeS FeO mixture, SiS-O, and nonstoichiometric oxides with excess oxygen were detected in the products. SiO2 was also more reactive towards FeS. Thus, the postulation that brick components may individually be reactive towards matte was proved to be true.


We propose a formal testing framework for a behavioural subset of UML statechart diagrams (UMLSDs). A formal operational semantics is defined, which uses the same core semantics introduced in Latella et al. (1999) but which is better suited for testing theory. The new semantics is proved consistent with our original one and is guaranteed to generate only finite state machines. Proper testing pre-orders and equivalences are defined which allow us to equate/distinguish systems on the basis of their interaction with the surrounding environment, abstracting from their internal structure. Finally, we provide a way for effective automatic verification of testing equivalence of our statecharts, based on existing techniques and tools.


Two Stage Robust Ridge Estimators based on robust estimators M, MM, S, LTS are examined in the presence of autocorrelation, multicollinearity and outliers as alternative to Ordinary Least Square Estimator (OLS). The estimator based on S estimator performs better. Mean square error was used as a criterion for examining the performances of these estimators.


A recent model (Bock, 2013) predicts that sensorimotor adaptation, achieved while pointing at visual targets, will transfer fully to acoustic targets. The model further predicts that visual-to-acoustic transfer is not diminished even if the left and right arms have adapted to a different distortion. To scrutinize these predictions, we asked subjects to point at visual targets with their right hands under a +30 deg rotation of visual feedback (group "single"), or alternately, with their right hands under a +30 deg and with their left hands under a −30 deg rotation of visual feedback. Aftereffects were registered for each hand and for visual as well as acoustic targets, in counterbalanced order. We found that acoustic aftereffects were only about 66% of visual ones, which violates the first prediction and calls for an amendment of the model. We further found that acoustic aftereffects were of similar magnitude in both groups, which supports the second prediction. Finally, we observed an intermanual transfer of only about 29%. These findings suggest that unpractised acoustic inputs are weighted somewhat lower than practised visual ones, and that outputs to the unpractised left hand are weighted substantially lower than those to the practised right hand.


Background: Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is a 94-kDa homodimer that binds steroids and is made in the hypothalamus. We have demonstrated that infusions of SHBG into the hypothalami of rats increase their female sexual receptivity except when SHBG is coupled to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) suggesting that SHBG has an active function in behavioral neuroendocrinology. Methods: This study examines the possibility that SHBG is internalized by neuronal and/or non-neuronal brain cells as one possible mode of action using in vitro and in vivo techniques. Results: First, analysis of the uptake of radiolabeled SHBG (125I-SHBG) found 125I-SHBG uptake in HT22 hippocampal cells stably transfected with cDNA for ERβ (HT22-ERβ). The addition of DHT to 125I-SHBG significantly inhibited 125I-SHBG uptake in HT22-ERβ cells but not in HT22-ERα or HT22 wild-type cells. SHBG internalization was specific as it did not occur in either the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH or the glioma cell line C6. Second, SHBG was labeled with a fluor (Alexa-555TM), and infused into the lateral cerebroventricles of ovariectomized rats. Optimal SHBG uptake was seen 10 min after these infusions. SHBG uptake was seen in specific parts of the choroid plexus and periventricular cells as well as into cells in the paraventricular nucleus, the medial forebrain bundle, and the habenula. Conclusions: These studies suggest that SHBG is internalized by brain cells, which may be affected by the presence of ERβ. The gonadal steroids have numerous effects in brain and the discovery that the steroid-binding protein SHBG is taken up into neurons and brain cells may demand a change in thinking about how steroids are delivered to brain cells to affect neurophysiology.


Objective: After traumatic brain injury (TBI), postural instability often results. This can effect ambulation and, subsequently, activities of daily living. Various forms of rehabilitation have been developed, but few offer engaging activities that provide informative dynamic balance training. The goal of this pilot study was to build a goal-based system that provided visual biofeedback to create an enriched environment for dynamic postural rehabilitation. The study aimed to determine if visual biofeedback had an effect on posture and balance during training for healthy participants; as well as determine the optimal man-machine visual-biofeedback interface.
Method: A modified elliptical trainer was developed that incorporated visual-biofeedback from measured left and right lower extremity loads. Four visual displays were constructed and tested on a sample of 15 healthy participants. These displays provided targeted feedback to aid in symmetric performance. The displays differed in the amount of information provided and in the extent of algorithmic pre-processing. Data were evaluated by calculating the index of symmetry (IOS) and statistically comparing display types.
Results: Participants performed significantly better with the introduction of visual biofeedback than baseline measurements with no display based on index of symmetry values. The data suggests that the feedback display that incorporated both temporal historical data and differential pre-processing performed the best. This display was called the differential-temporal display.
Conclusion: Our results reflect that performance is enhanced with the introduction of visual biofeedback during dynamic postural training. We also established that the differential-temporal display was the optimal feedback system to reduce IOS values during elliptical trainer use. From our results, it became apparent that incorporating visual biofeedback during postural training is a sophisticated approach to improve baseline asymmetries inherent in healthy participants. It is anticipated that similar results are likely to occur in a cohort of TBI patients due to the reduction of cognitive demand.


SUMMARY Electrocommunication signals in electric fish are diverse, easily recorded and have well-characterized neural control. Two signal features, the frequency and waveform of the electric organ discharge (EOD), vary widely across species. Modulations of the EOD (i.e. chirps and gradual frequency rises) also function as active communication signals during social interactions, but they have been studied in relatively few species. We compared the electrocommunication signals of 13 species in the largest gymnotiform family, Apteronotidae. Playback stimuli were used to elicit chirps and rises. We analyzed EOD frequency and waveform and the production and structure of chirps and rises. Species diversity in these signals was characterized with discriminant function analyses, and correlations between signal parameters were tested with phylogenetic comparative methods. Signals varied markedly across species and even between congeners and populations of the same species. Chirps and EODs were particularly evolutionarily labile, whereas rises differed little across species. Although all chirp parameters contributed to species differences in these signals, chirp amplitude modulation, frequency modulation (FM) and duration were particularly diverse. Within this diversity, however, interspecific correlations between chirp parameters suggest that mechanistic trade-offs may shape some aspects of signal evolution. In particular, a consistent trade-off between FM and EOD amplitude during chirps is likely to have influenced the evolution of chirp structure. These patterns suggest that functional or mechanistic linkages between signal parameters (e.g. the inability of electromotor neurons increase their firing rates without a loss of synchrony or amplitude of action potentials) constrain the evolution of signal structure.


This research is aimed at analyzing and improving automatic pronunciation error detection in a second language. Dutch vowels spoken by adult non-native learners of Dutch are used as a test case. A first study on Dutch pronunciation by L2 learners with different L1s revealed that vowel pronunciation errors are relatively frequent and often concern subtle acoustic differences between the realization and the target sound. In a second study automatic pronunciation error detection experiments were conducted to compare existing measures to a metric that takes account of the error patterns observed to capture relevant acoustic differences. The results of the two studies do indeed show that error patterns bear information that can be usefully employed in weighted automatic measures of pronunciation quality. In addition, it appears that combining such a weighted metric with existing measures improves the equal error rate by 6.1 percentage points from 0.297, for the Goodness of Pronunciation (GOP) algorithm, to 0.236.


Aim Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are used as diagnostic tests for diagnosing diabetes mellitus, but it is unclear which test has the best diagnostic accuracy. This systematic review and network meta-analysis aimed to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of HbA1c ≥ 6.5%, FPG ≥ 126 mg/dl, and the combination of HbA1c ≥ 6.5% or FPG ≥ 126 mg/dl (HbA1c| FPG), compared with Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) ≥ 200 mg/dl for diagnosis diabetes. Materials and methods We performed a comprehensive search in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus from inception to September 24th, 2021. Inclusion criteria were any study design comparing HbA1c ≥ 6.5%, FPG ≥ 126 mg/dl, and HbA1c ≥ 6.5% or FPG ≥ 126 mg/dl with OGTT ≥ 200 mg/dl as the reference test. Data were independently extracted, risk of bias was assessed using QUADAS-2 by two reviewers. Network meta-analysis was done using a bivariate regression model using the Bayesian framework. The relative ranking of all tests was also assessed. Results Out of 5,026 studies, 73 were included. The sensitivities of HbA1c, FPG, and HbA1c| FPG were 0.51 [95% Credible Interval (CrI): 0.43, 0.58], 0.49 (95% CrI: 0.43, 0.55), and 0.64 (95% CrI: 0.51, 0.75), while the specificities were 0.96 (95% CrI: 0.94, 0.97), 0.98 (95% CrI: 0.97, 0.98), and 0.95 (95% CrI: 0.88, 0.98), respectively. The corresponding positive likelihood ratios (LR) were 13.36 (95% CrI: 8.91, 20.72), 21.94 (95% CrI: 15.04, 31.88), and 11.78 (95% CrI: 5.48, 26.56). HbA1c| FPG is superior based on sensitivity, whereas FPG is ranked best based on specificity and positive LR. Conclusion Our findings suggest that FPG ≥ 126 mg/dl should be recommended as the best diagnostic test for diabetes. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42021282856.


Speed control during startup is one of the most critical tasks of gas turbine power plant operation. This paper introduces the PI fuzzy gain-scheduling (PI-FGS) controller to solve the foremost speed control problems, including tracking of the acceleration pattern and rejection of disturbances caused by operation events throughout startup. Fundamentally, the PI-FGS synthesizes a gain-scheduling controller from multiple locally-tuned generalized PI algorithms by means of a fuzzy system. The PI-FGS structure permits independent tuning of the tracking and rejection responses at any operating point. In addition, tuning can be carried out on-site based on the operator experience and inspection of the current plant response. Simulation experiments show that the PI-FGS may improve speed control performance well over that provided by commercially available speed controllers, which are based on a single conventional PI algorithm


Etruria Past and Present. By M. A. JOHNSTONE. Pp. 258 ; 40 photographs and plans. London : Methuen and Co., 1930. 7s. 6d. THIS book, the only one of its kind in English, aims at giving the general reader a simple, vivid account of the main results and problems of research in things Etruscan. The detailed description of tombs and tomb-paintings, sculpture and pottery, which fills the greater part of the book, is used to illustrate Etruscan home life and society in general, the position of women, and the education of Etruscan children. Imagination has of necessity filled many gaps : we are asked to believe, for example, that there were ' famous public schools' in Etruscan Tarquinia, Cerveteri and elsewhere, and the effect of Etruscan influence on the political life of Rome and the artistic life of the Middle Ages is certainly exaggerated. Ducati (whose views have in the main been followed throughout) is surely wrong in taking Marzabotto, a site on the edge of the Terramare country, and perhaps for that reason planned on the usual decumanus and cardo pattern, as the typical Etruscan town; and this assumption smooths the way to overready acceptance of most Roman institutions as the gift of the Etrusca disciplina. The frequent use of Italian archaeological terms and such forms as Velio, Larte, Arunte is somewhat misleading when the author is dealing with so obscure a language as Etruscan, especially when we are told that' syntax varied between one state and another.* The constitution both of the Etruscan league and of its constituent states is less well known than the author would suggest, but it is undoubtedly a gain to have the Etruscans presented to us in the setting of general Mediterranean history.