We define liquidity as the flexibility to move goods (money) from one project (investment) to another. We show that credit constraints on demand by themselves can cause an under-supply of liquidity, without the uncertainty, intermediation, asymmetric information or complicated international financial framework used in other models in the literature. In this respect liquidity is like a commodity: according to our offsetting distortions principle, a distortion in the demand for any good can often be understood as an inefficiency of supply. We show that the liquidity under-supply is a non-monotone function of the credit constraint. This result is also a particular case of a more general principle applying to any commodity with supply alternatives: second best supply inefficiency is non-monotone in the demand distortion. Defining liquidity as flexibility ensures that there will be alternatives, and thus non monotonicity. If we interpret the credit constraints as the degree of financial development in the economy, our second proposition suggests that when financial markets are very undeveloped, as in some emerging markets, financial innovation may paradoxically make government intervention (taxation) more necessary. Finally, we think about the magnitude of the under-supply in the context of a specific demand distortion. We model the credit constraint by assuming that borrowers will default unless their promises are covered by collateral. Further, we assume that only an exogenous proportion beta of a durable good can serve as collateral. This parameter will represent the degree of financial development of the economy. We show that when the price of the collateral is endogenous, the magnitude of the under supply can be much larger. Any policy intervention that affects the interest rate in equilibrium will have two effects on the borrowing constraint: a direct effect, also present in the case when the credit constraint is exogenous, and an indirect effect through the price of the collateral. We explore our findings by solving and simulating a particular case in which utilities for the consumption good and collateral are quadratic.


Purpose: This study, using a pre-posttest design of non-equivalence comparative groups, was done to determine effects of KC (kangaroo care) on weight and SH (stress hormone) of premature infants. Method: Participants were 31 premature infants assigned to KC(14) or CG(control group)(17). Data were collected from June 2006 to February 2007. KC was given for 60 minutes at a time, Mon, Wed, and Fri for a 10 times. Body weight was measured at a fixed time daily and serum cortisol was examined as part of routine blood testing, frequent for premature infants. Results: The weight for infants in the KC group was higher than the control. The difference was significant between both the two groups, and the 2 measurement times(F=12.7, p=.001). SH(cortisol) in infantsof KC group decreased than CG, but there was no valid difference from the statistical viewpoint. Conclusion: The result of the study suggest that KC contributes to weight increase in premature infants and also that KC is effective for SH reduction in spite of the lack of statistical validity. Therefore, our conclusion is that KC can be used as an independent nursing intervention for development and advance of premature infants.


The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of different initial weed densities on weed control effectiveness in no-tillage corn at two locations in North Carolina during 1994 and 1995. Different weed densities were established over a 4-year period (1989–1992) by using various weed management strategies. Resultant density levels were estimated and used to establish high and low weed density plots. Treatments applied were PRE, POST, at-planting, and an untreated control. Weed density estimates were made 37 and 57 DAP. Common lambsquarters at low densities (20 to 40 weeds/m2) was controlled with the cover crop alone, but common lambsquarters at high densities (150 to 170 weeds/m2) and redroot pigweed at any density were not controlled. POST herbicides reduced weed densities as well as the PRE herbicides, regardless of initial weed densities.


In a group of 24 patients having pure mitral stenosis, the relation between the echo parameters of the mitral valve and pressures in the pulmonary circulation was studied. On the basis of the authors' results, it was concluded that the sensitivity of one-dimensional echocardiography for the assessment of the severity of mitral stenosis can be further improved by measuring not only the widely accepted parameters, such as the diastolic closing velocity and the motion amplitude of the AML, but also by taking into account the echodiameter of the mitral orifice. Besides, careful observation of the motion pattern of the PML might be of use for distinguishing between a mild and moderate degree of mitral stenosis.


This article describes a simple and versatile approach to the covalent attachment of ultrathin polypropylene films on silicon wafers. The immobilization was accomplished by way of the C–H insertion reaction of perfluorophenyl nitrenes generated by thermolysis or photolysis of perfluorophenyl azides. Covalently immobilized thin films of crystalline and amorphous polypropylene and an elastomeric copolymer of polypropylene were successfully fabricated. Patterned polypropylene films were also delineated.


Concern over lead poisoning led to progressive prohibition of toxic shot to harvest waterfowl in the 1980's. Nevertheless, waterfowl remain susceptible to ingestion of lead shot because illegal use continues and spent shot persists in soil and wetland substrates. While mortality due to lead toxicosis has subsided, sublethal effects may still affect survival and reproduction. We measured liver lead levels and body condition in 732 Canada geese (Branta canadensis interior) during July 1984 to April 1989 in southern Illinois (USA), east-central Wisconsin (USA), and northern Ontario (Canada). Although we sampled only individuals that were visibly healthy, 55 of 732 (7.5%) geese had elevated liver lead levels (>2 ppm). Lead levels of 46 (6.3%) geese indicated subclinical poisoning (2–6 ppm) and 9 (1.2%) geese had lead levels indicative of clinical poisoning (>6 ppm). A greater proportion of juveniles (14.3%) had elevated lead levels than did adults (6.0%), but there was no difference between genders. Lead levels were highest in autumn and winter in southern Illinois, but were low during nesting and summer, despite legal use of lead shot in northern Ontario during our study. Lead poisoning (≥5% of the population) was still evident during all seasons in juveniles, and during autumn and winter in adults, 5 to 10 yr after toxic shot was banned from areas where we collected geese during migration and winter. Elevated lead levels did not affect total body mass, lipid reserves, or mineral levels of geese we collected. Protein levels also were unaffected below 10 ppm, but there was evidence of decline at higher concentrations. Thus, it seems unlikely that lead exposure currently affects survival or reproduction of Mississippi Valley Population (MVP) geese via body condition, although other sublethal effects cannot be discounted.


There was a silence surrounding homosexuality in the People's Republic of Poland. One can almost get the impression that same sex love, and same sex relationships, did not even exist there; that the communists had successfully removed homosexuality from society. The roots of this silence can be found in the Communist Party´s disdain for anything deemed individualist and deviant, and also in the conservatism and religiosity of the Polish society.

In my thesis I study when and how gays and lesbians found a way out of the silence that surrounded their sexuality. Gay men did so by creating subcultures, which found refuge in parks, public bathrooms and a few bars in larger Polish cities, and offered a sense of belonging for them. Lesbians, on the other hand, lacked this access to semi-public spheres, which made it even harder for them to find each other and create a space for their sexuality. The 1980s, which is the decade I focus on in my thesis, marked the advent of gay and lesbian activism in Poland. During these turbulent times - when the Communist Party held on as tightly as they could to their weakening power position, at the same time as the opposition was gaining strength - small groups of gays and lesbians entered the periphery of Polish public life. The formation of groups was a reaction to the intolerance of society and to Akcja Hiacynt, a police action initiated in 1985 by the Minister of Interior General Czes?aw Kiszczak, during which thousands of gay men were interrogated about their subcultures and the criminality that was seen as inherent to them. The groups that came into being were dominated by gay men, whose activism revolved around creating a safe haven for the gay community and spreading information about safe sex and how to handle police interactions, etc. Despite the invisibility of lesbians in these groups and in the greater society, by the end of the 1980s there were a few women who decided to gather for a weeklong meeting in Mielno, on the Polish coast. Although their meeting did not generate any kind of activism, I write about it as an example of how some women managed to combat the loneliness they experienced as a result of their societal invisibility as lesbians. My thesis shows that the meeting in Mielno - together with other meetings that took place and the groups that formed in the 1980s - was made possible by the changes that swept through Poland during this decade and by the courage and will of some gays and lesbians to take advantage in the cracks in the communist society that these changes created.


A new method for determination of vapor-liquid equilibria in ternary systems is proposed, based on the following two relations.(1) The bubble point of the equilibrium liquid composition should be equal to the dew point of the equilibrium vapor composition.(2) The condensation point of the equilibrium liquid composition should be the bubble point of the equilibrium vapor composition. Using these relations described above, vapor-liquid equilibrium relations in ternary systems can be determined from the dew, bubble and condensation point data without the use of other assumptions. A new apparatus was designed for the simultaneous measurement of dew, bubble and condensation points. This apparatus makes it possible to measure dew, bubble and condensation points at any desired composition without analysis. Using the present method, vapor-liquid equilibrium relations were determined from experimental dew, bubble and condensation point data at atmospheric pressure for the ternary systems acetone-methanoUwater and methanol-ethanof-dioxane.


The transformations performed by an optimizing compiler have traditionally impeded interactive debugging in source language terms. A prototype system called Navigator has been developed for debugging optimized programs written in Cedar, an Algol-like language. Navigator can be used to monitor program execution flow in the presence of two optimizations: inline procedure expansion and cross-jumping (merging identical tails of code paths that join). This paper describes the problems that these two optimizations create for debugging and Navigator's solutions to these problems. The selected approach collects extra information during the optimization phases of compilation. At runtime, Navigator uses the additional information to hide the effects of the optimizations from the programmer.


Background Currently, the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) staging system has a limited value in prognostic stratification for neuroendocrine tumors of the lung (NETL). A specific pathological staging system was therefore explored. Methods Two cohorts were assessed: the training cohort was composed of surgically treated patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiologic, and End Results (SEER) database [2004–2015]; the Shanghai cohort included Shanghai resident patients treated at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital [2009–2018]. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with overall survival. A new staging system was proposed based on survival tree, and was further compared with the 8th edition of the TNM staging system. Results In the training set (n=3,204), multivariate Cox analysis showed that tumor histotype and nodal status were independently associated with survival, but not T stage. Therefore, by incorporating NETL histotype (G1, low-grade typical pulmonary carcinoids; G2, intermediate-grade atypical pulmonary carcinoids; G3, high-grade large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas) and N stage, a new staging system was developed: IA, G1N0; IB, G1N1 or G2N0; II, G1N2, G2N1-2, or G3N0; III, G3N1-2. Five-year survival rates were 91.2%, 81.3%, 50.2% and 27.6% for the new stages IA to III in the validation set (n=3,204), respectively (P<0.001). Additionally, the new staging system had significantly better predictive ability than the TNM staging system, in both the SEER [C-index, 0.75 vs. 0.62; net reclassification improvement (NRI), 0.62; integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), 20%] and Shanghai (IDI, 8%) cohorts. Based on the new staging system, adjuvant chemotherapy conferred a significantly better survival in stage-III NETL cases (HR =0.34, 95% CI, 0.25–0.45). Conclusions The new pathological staging system can better predict NETL prognosis than the 8th edition of the TNM staging system, with the potential to guide postoperative treatment.


We introduce CDBERT, a new learning paradigm that enhances the semantics understanding ability of the Chinese PLMs with dictionary knowledge and structure of Chinese characters. We name the two core modules of CDBERT as Shuowen and Jiezi, where Shuowen refers to the process of retrieving the most appropriate meaning from Chinese dictionaries and Jiezi refers to the process of enhancing characters' glyph representations with structure understanding. To facilitate dictionary understanding, we propose three pre-training tasks, i.e., Masked Entry Modeling, Contrastive Learning for Synonym and Antonym, and Example Learning. We evaluate our method on both modern Chinese understanding benchmark CLUE and ancient Chinese benchmark CCLUE. Moreover, we propose a new polysemy discrimination task PolyMRC based on the collected dictionary of ancient Chinese. Our paradigm demonstrates consistent improvements on previous Chinese PLMs across all tasks. Moreover, our approach yields significant boosting on few-shot setting of ancient Chinese understanding.


Non-contact measurements of human cardiopulmonary physiological parameters based on photoplethysmography (PPG) can lead to efficient and comfortable medical assessment. It was shown that human facial blood volume variation during cardiac cycle can be indirectly captured by regular Red-Green-Blue (RGB) cameras. However, few attempts have been made to incorporate data from different facial sub-regions to improve remote measurement performance. In this thesis, we propose a novel framework for non-contact video-based human heart rate (HR) measurement by exploring correlations among facial sub-regions via joint blind source separation (J-BSS). In an experiment involving video data collected from 16 subjects, we compare the non-contact HR measurement results obtained from a commercial digital camera to results from a Health Canada and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed contact blood volume pulse (BVP) sensor. We further test our framework on a large public database, which provides subjects' left-thumb plethysmograph signal as ground truth. Experimental results show that the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art independent component analysis (ICA)-based methodologies. Driver physiological monitoring in vehicle is of great importance to provide a comfortable driving environment and prevent road accidents. Contact sensors can be placed on the driver's body to measure various physiological parameters. However such sensors may cause discomfort or distraction. The development of non-contact techniques can provide a promising solution. In this thesis, we employ our proposed non-contact video-based HR measurement framework to monitor the drivers heart rate and do heart rate variability analysis using a simple consumerlevel webcam. Experiments of real-world road driving demonstrate that the pro-


Purpose: to propose a typology for sharing economy that allows the characterization and classification of its main forms of manifestation. Originality/value: the theme that involves collaborative consumption and sharing economy has wide definitions with no clear establishment of boundaries between them. Part of that definition gap may occur because of the recent emergency of literature on sharing economy. Additionally, the fact that sharing economy and collaborative consumption are the newest buzzwords, several businesses started calling themselves as such. Design/methodology/approach: from the review of the literature, 11 characteristics that describe the theme were identified. In the light of those characteristics, 72 collaborative consumption websites were analyzed, representatives of the 24 collaborative consumption categories proposed by Botsman and Rogers (2010). Findings: three archetypes were identified: 1. new business models represent the new players based on technological platforms, which are the core business of the company, and generate income by charging service fees; 2. redesigned businesses are traditional market models redesigned to present time and price advantages to the consumer; 3. sharing by ideal is the archetype that best represents sustainable consumption alternative models.


Generalized Born (GB) models provide a computationally efficient means of representing the electrostatic effects of solvent and are widely used, especially in molecular dynamics (MD). A class of particularly fast GB models is based on integration over an interior volume approximated as a pairwise union of atom spheres-effectively, the interior is defined by a van der Waals rather than Lee-Richards molecular surface. The approximation is computationally efficient, but if uncorrected, allows for high dielectric (water) regions smaller than a water molecule between atoms, leading to decreased accuracy. Here, an earlier pairwise GB model is extended by a simple analytic correction term that largely alleviates the problem by correctly describing the solvent-excluded volume of each pair of atoms. The correction term introduces a free energy barrier to the separation of non-bonded atoms. This free energy barrier is seen in explicit solvent and Lee-Richards molecular surface implicit solvent calculations, but has been absent from earlier pairwise GB models. When used in MD, the correction term yields protein hydrogen bond length distributions and polypeptide conformational ensembles that are in better agreement with explicit solvent results than earlier pairwise models. The robustness and simplicity of the correction preserves the efficiency of the pairwise GB models while making them a better approximation to reality.


Ozone production in a negative corona discharge has been studied experimentally at atmospheric pressure in mixtures of N2O+O2 at ambient temperature. Ozone formation was found to be dramatically reduced with increase in the content of N2O in the mixture. The reaction of O(1D) with nitrous oxide is the most likely process reducing the rate of ozone generation. A considerable decrease in the mean discharge current at a constant voltage was also observed with increasing content of nitrous oxide in the mixture and is attributed to the formation of anions in the discharge. The low values of the calculated mobility of negative charge carriers in the drift region of the discharge is caused by the formation of O− · (N2O)n and NO−·(N2O)n cluster anions in the drift region of the negative corona discharge.


Comparison of human and mouse genomics revealed a similar long range sequences organization, and many genes that are orthologous between human and mouse. Alternative splicing is a very important post-transcriptional event leading to an increase in the transcriptome diversity. Recently, genomics studies estimate that 40-60% of human genes undergo alternative splicing. It is interesting to appraise the level of conservation of alternative splicing. To address this question, we developed a bioinformatics method to identify alternative splicing events that are conserved and alternative splicing events that are not conserved between human and mouse. Here we report an analysis of 3,613 orthologous genes in human and mouse, which discover 2,628 alternative splicing events are conserved in both transcriptome and 2,783 alternative splicing events are not conserved. Further classification of these conserved alternative splicing events reveals that 239 events are due to exon skipping, 34 events are due to mutually exclusive, 1,540 events are due to 3' splice sites, 815 events are due to 5' splice sites, and no events are due to intron retention. By comparison, non-conserved alternative splicing events reveals that 609 events are due to exon skipping, 47 events are due to mutually exclusive, 1,048 events are due to 3' splice sites, 960 events are due to 5' splice sites, and 370 events are due to intron retention. We combined with the human exons and mouse exons to discover the cross-species alternative splicing events. The cross-species alternative splicing event means that in orthologous genes, there is no alternative splicing event in both species and their splicing forms are distinct. We discovered 235 such events.


Floodplains along regulated rivers often suffer from serious environmental degradation. River and floodplain rehabilitation measures along the major rivers of Hungary are motivated by two objectives: to inrease the floodwater retention capacity of floodplains (also beyond the dykes) and to improve the ecological conditions of floodplain habitats (with special regard to oxbow lakes). In this paper reports and documents mostly written in Hungarian are presented for the international public on river and floodplain rehabilitation efforts. Examples for the water management objective are cited from the Tisza and Körös Rivers, while interventions promoting the second, nature conservation (and also forestry and agriculture), aim are mentioned from the Danube and Drava Rivers. A common characteristic of the case studies is that they apply 'hard engineering' solutions to environmental problems. Although water availability in the Szigetköz floodplain has substantially improved after the building of the bottom weir, the efficiency of the recently implemented engineering measures (the emergency reservoirs along the Tisza and water replenishment structures along the Drava) is too early to judge.


In this paper we describe a new approach for generalised nonlinear ltering. We show that the technique is more accurate, more stable, and far easier to implement than an extended Kalman lter. Several examples are provided, including the application of the new lter to problems involving discontinuous functions.


There is an international movement that advocates the establishment of quotas for women, especially in political and governmental positions. Partly as a result of its initiatives and efforts, countries have introduced legislation that endorses its spirit. These efforts have been important in addressing the gender gap; however, the means of articulating these legislative measures and implementing them vary from country to another. This article focuses on the textual formulation of the Quota Bill (2001) in Niger and how secularist and Islamist political elite women responded to it during the debate that led to its legal adoption.


Intradermal areolar contrast injection of a new water-soluble contrast medium, Iotasul, results in regular demonstration of the latero-cranial breast lymphatics and of the subareolar lymphatic plexus. It has been possible, for the first time, to show lymph nodes with this water-soluble contrast medium, although the results are not entirely satisfactory. There have been no side effects.


The article explores the foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus. Belarus declared a multi-vector policy at the doctrinal level, and neutrality — at the constitutional level. The analysis of the foreign policy course confirms the dominance of the Eastern (Russian) vector. The author aims to explain this choice of official Minsk. In his search for the answer, the author makes use of the concept of a small state. To defend national security, a small state can use one of the options of strategy-balancing, banqueting, strategic hedging and neutrality policy. The author concludes that none of these practices can explain the dominance of the Russian direction in the foreign policy of Belarus. The article argues that these strategies are suitable for large or medium-sized powers, but not for small states like Belarus. The author refers to the theory of "refuge" ("shelter"), which was developed by Baldur Thorhallson, Alison Baileys, Sverrir Staynsson, etc. Much attention is paid to the main structural components of this theory (military-political, economic and social). Applying the theory of shelter to Belarus, the author consistently studies the role of Russia in solving the difficulties of Minsk caused by the small size of the state. Some political analysts argue that the CSTO provides and supports military sovereignty, and economic assistance to Belarus through the provision of loans that goes along the lines of the Eurasian Fund for stabilization and development, as well as on a bilateral basis. In conclusion, the author states that the prevalence of the Eastern vector in Minsk's foreign policy is due to some difficulties that Russia, not Brussels or Washington, helps it overcome.


This project discusses the derivation of the 2-D compressional wavefield (P-wave) and its finite-difference approximation. In developing this wavefield, we have two approximations. First, the subsurface density is assumed to be a constant. Second, the angle of wave propagation is less than 150 with respect to the surface (horizontal direction). The algorithms are used to demonstrate the propagation of P-wave through a simple subsurface model. Although not discussed in this project, the same algorithms are also able to model the propagation of P-wave in another complex model and the success of depthimaging algorithms in recovering the subsurface structures indicates the accuracy of the approximations for most modeling purposes. Future studies include modeling P-wave in 3-D, modeling elastic wavefield in 2/3-D, and extending the angle of propagation to more accurately model incoming waves at the edge of the computational grid.


Background: Oil forms an integral part in our everyday cooking and its adulteration can pose several effects on human health. Objective: The present study explored the effect of income on the perception of consumers towards adulteration in commonly used cooking oils of Kolkata and detected adulterants in unpackaged and packaged oil samples through chemical tests. Method: A structured Knowledge, Attitude and Practice questionnaire was prepared and used to obtain relevant information regarding the personal details, buying practices of consumers and oil consumption pattern of the respondents. The chemical adulterants were evaluated according to the protocols of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Results: It was observed that respondents belonging to high income groups had higher level of awareness regarding oil adulteration. Furthermore, chemical analysis revealed that 39.28% of the unpackaged samples and 31.25% of the packaged samples were adulterated. Conclusion: It is concluded that the level of awareness of the respondents belonging to high income group was comparatively higher than the low income group and adulteration was practiced in both the categories of oil samples. Publicizing food adulteration-related laws and different aspects of food adulteration via mass media could play a crucial role in raising consumer awareness which would thereby help in maintaining good health.


Background

Retinoblastoma is a neoplasia that starts in the retina and may have inheritable or sporadic genetic predisposition. This affects children, mainly those who are under 5 years old. Approximately 9,000 new cases are diagnosed per year worldwide. In Ecuador this disease has an incidence of 1 per each 20,000 live births. The genetic predisposition to develop retinoblastoma is strongly influenced by RB1 gene, and may be influenced by the presence of genetic polymorphisms which intervene in the DNA repair system.

Methods

This study has analyzed the genotype frequency of ERCC2 (Lys751Gln), MSH2 (gIVS12-6TC), RAD54 (Ala730Ala), XPC (Lys939Gln), XPG (Asp1104Hist), XRCC1 (Arg399Gln), and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphisms of different repair genes, genotyping 90 individuals affected with retinoblastoma and 80 healthy individuals through polymerase chain reaction / restriction fragments length polymorphism and sequencing analysis.

Results

The presence of the (C/C) mutant homozygous genotype of XPC (Lys939Gln) polymorphism triggers a significant risk of developing retinoblastoma with an odds ratio (OR) of 3 (CI: 1.22-9.84; p < 0.05). Likewise, the A/G heterozygous genotype and the combination A/G+G/G of XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polymorphism presented ORs of 9.7 (CI: 4.45-21.08; p < 0.001) and 7.55 (IC: 3.57-16; p < 0.001), respectively.

Conclusions

The genetic variants XPC (Lys939Gln) and XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) may be associated with the risk of developing retinoblastoma in the Ecuadorian population.


Neuropathic spinal arthropathy is a rare but well-reported sequela of tabes dorsalis. It is now more frequently seen as a complication of spinal cord injury--particularly after spinal fusion. With improved longevity of spinal cord injured patients we are seeing this entity in increased frequency. Clinical and radiographic aspects are described, and a case history is depicted. Classic treatment has been conservative. Based on the changing nature of its etiology and favorable reports from large centers we advocate anterior and posterior fusion and instrumentation of Charcot's Spine.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of pharmacotherapy in pediatric anxiety disorders using network meta-analysis.

DATA SOURCES
PubMed, Cochrane Database, Web of Science, PsycNET, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for double-blind, controlled pharmacotherapy trials in youth with anxiety disorders from 1966 to September 2017.

DATA SELECTION
All double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of pediatric patients with generalized, social, and/or separation anxiety disorders were included.

DATA EXTRACTION
We extracted demographic, symptom severity, global improvement, discontinuation, and suicidality data. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, and a network meta-analysis comparing the efficacy and tolerability of medications and medication classes was performed using the gemtc package (R).

RESULTS
We identified 20 citations (22 RCTs, 24 treatment arms) with 2,623 patients. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the only class that was superior in reducing anxiety (standardized mean difference: 5.2; credible interval [CrI]: [2.8 to 8.8]) and in likelihood of treatment response compared to placebo (odds ratio [OR]: 4.6; CrI: [3.1 to 7.5]). Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) and α₂ agonist treatment were associated with more frequent treatment response compared to placebo. The likelihood of treatment response was greater for SSRIs compared to SNRIs (OR: 1.9; CrI: [1.1 to 3.5]). All-cause discontinuation and treatment-emergent suicidality significantly differed among medications but not medication class.

CONCLUSIONS
Although multiple medications reduce anxiety in children and adolescents, treatment response, tolerability, and treatment-emergent suicidality differ among these medications and medication classes. Determining whether efficacy and tolerability differences represent true differences (or reflect differences in trial design) requires additional head-to-head medication trials and-to exclude the impact of missing treatment interventions-requires trials of medications that successfully treat anxiety in adults but that have not been evaluated in youth.


It is known that pivoting-free Gaussian elimination is numerically unsafe but can run significantly faster than GEPP. We prove and confirm experimentally that randomized preconditioning combined with iterative refinement can to some extent replace pivoting in numerical Gaussian elimination. The resulting algorithms compute solution more rapidly than GEPP and still with high accuracy. In the case of Toeplitz, Hankel, and other structured inputs we yield acceleration from cubic to nearly linear arithmetic time. Our auxiliary estimates for the condition number of the product of fixed and random matrices can be of independent interest. 2000 Math. Subject Classification: 65F05, 65F22, 65F35


Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate the thermo-hydraulic behavior of a fluid region confined in a rectangular parallelepiped cavity equipped with a heater and a cooler. The motivation of this study is to clarify a thermal buffer effect for an innovative marine nuclear reactor to realize passive safety. In the present study, experiments were carried out with conditions of laminar convection. Temperature and flow behavior was visualized by the liquid-crystal suspension method, by which the temperature distribution in liquid can be observed as a colored map. Thermal plumes from the heater and the cooler, global natural circulation in the cavity and thermal stratification were observed as elements of the complicated phenomena. Using a code which solves the Navier-Stokes and energy equations, numerical simulations under steady and unsteady condition were carried out to predict the experimental results for two-dimensional, laminar situations, and a good agreement was obtained.


Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in American children. Each year, nearly 16,000 children in the United States and over 300,000 children globally are diagnosed with cancer. Leukemia is a form of blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow and accounts for one-third of pediatric cancers. This disease occurs when the bone marrow contains 20% or more immature white blood cell blasts. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most prevalent leukemia type found in children, with half of all annual cases in the U.S. diagnosed for subjects under 20 years of age. To diagnose acute lymphoblastic leukemia, pathologists often conduct a morphological bone marrow assessment. This assessment determines whether the immature white blood cell blasts in bone marrow display the correct morphological characteristics, such as size and appearance of nuclei. Pathologists also use immunophenotyping via multi-channel flow cytometry to test whether certain antigens are present on the surface of blast cells; the antigens are used to identify the cell lineage of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. These manual processes require well-trained personnel and medical professionals, thus being costly in time and expenses. Computerized decision support via machine learning can accelerate the diagnosis process and reduce the cost. Training a reliable classification model to distinguish between mature and immature white blood cells is essential to the decision support system. Here, we adopted the Vision Transformer model to classify white blood cells. The Vision Transformer achieved superb classification performance compared to state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks while requiring less computational resources for training. Additionally, the latent self-attention architecture provided attention maps for a given image, providing clues as to which portion(s) of the image were significant in decision-making. We applied the Vision Transformer model and a convolutional neural network model to an acute lymphoblastic leukemia classification dataset of 12,528 samples and achieved accuracies of 88.4% and 86.2%.


Organ transplantation is a life-saving procedure that is arguably the most viable treatment option for individuals who are faced with end-stage organ failure. Owing to a shortage of organs for transplantation, however, patients suffering from chronic organ failure often succumb to their illness while on a waiting list. Research has shown that the underlying reason for a lack of motivation to donate stems from inter alia religious and cultural views and practices that are believed to go against organ donation and/or transplantation. This article offers an analysis of specific religious and cultural beliefs which are native to South Africa and discusses the convictions that are both for and against donation. The article further explores the possibility of gaining clarity with regard to these misapprehensions and suggests possible solutions to bringing awareness to the public through the use of a modified version of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act 22 of 2007, as a suggestion. It also advocates education for medical personnel about the different religious and cultural traditions and rituals which accompany death, leading to an atmosphere of respect for the deceased and the deceased's loved-ones.


In the split-gate flash memory process, during poly oxidation, the bird's beak encroaches under the SiN film, especially along the poly grain boundary, and that will cause nonuniform floating-gate (FG) spacing, even bridging, which is an obstacle to cell shrinkage. In this paper, we show that employing an ammonia treatment on the poly can nitridize the poly surface, thereby avoiding bird's beak bridging. After the ammonia treatment, FG spacing is quite uniform and can be improved from 0.09 to 0.03 /spl mu/m. The XPS analysis on the ammonia treated poly shows the oxynitride thickness is less than 5 nm.


: The tenacity of the study was to establish the impact of play-based pedagogy in ECE centres by focusing critically on module growth for expanse students. The research was moored on learning through play approaches. 120 ECE learners and 3 teachers participated in this research. Data were collected through non-participant observations, interviews, focus group discussions and audio-visual methods in three ECE classrooms on selected teachers and children. The findings show substantial improvement on learner participation, interaction and self-regulation for children in schools that have implemented appropriate play-based pedagogy. The play-based teaching methodology is faced with challenges of time management, lack of teaching/learning materials and the use of the familiar language. It was observed that modules for expanse students require aspects of learner involvement, interaction, problem-solving, self-direction and stimulation in addition to the five main processes of module production. The study recommended the inclusion of play-based pedagogical aspects in the modules developed by the University and further research to compare schools that have already implemented play based to those that have not or are still struggling with implementation. It further recommends triangulation of methods and research that is focused on professor-student interaction, student to student interaction and collaboration, student involvement and demonstration of interest as an addition on how teachers are employing play- based pedagogy generally and how best practices such as experiential learning activities could be included in modules to be used by in-service teachers.


Aiming at the shortcomings of traditional assembly process design and immersive virtual assembly system, the architecture of Desktop Virtual Assembly System (DVAS) for interactive assembly process planning is presented. The key technologies such as data conversion and reconstruction of assembly models, assembly intention recognition and assembly control navigation are studied. The lightweight storage of assembly models' data and the intelligent constraints recognition are realized. The problem of assembly operations resulted from the lack of immersion is solved by movement navigation. The algorithms were proposed and applied to the DVAS prototype, and an application case is studied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.


The construction of peptidic amide bonds has become a daily laboratory practice by virtue of well-established 'coupling reagents'. Nonetheless, inherent limitations connected to these classical coupling methods in terms of waste, safety and expense have yet to be conquered. Research efforts have been devoted to synthetic methods able to surpass these limitations. This review focuses on the advances made in these 'non-classical' methods for amide bond formation with a specific application in peptide chemistry. It consists of two main sections: i) novel carboxylic activation reagents and ii) carboxylic acid and amine surrogates.


Diffuse gallbladder wall thickening is a nonspecific alteration caused by both intrinsic and extracholecystic diseases. The incidence of gallbladder illness in our country is increasing day by day. Details morphological and histomorphological knowledge is essential for proper diagnosis & management of the gallbladder diseases. This is a cross sectional descriptive type of study which was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka from July 2010 to June 2011. The number of sample was 62 postmortem human gallbladder which were collected from unclaimed dead bodies of the morgue of Dhaka Medical College and Sir Salimullah Medical College. The samples were divided into three different age groups. Morphological study was carried out on all samples by fine dissection method and histomorphological study was carried out on 18 relatively fresh samples by light microscopic method. There was statistically significant difference found when values were compared between different age groups. This study has revealed an age related change in the thickness of the gallbladder wall. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdnmch.v18i1.12238 J. Dhaka National Med. Coll. Hos. 2012; 18 (01): 34-38


Stochastic simulation techniques employed for portfolio risk analysis, often referred to as Aggregate Risk Analysis, can benefit from exploiting state-of-the-art highperformance computing platforms. In this paper, we propose parallel methods to speedup aggregate risk analysis for supporting real-time pricing. To achieve this an algorithm for analysing aggregate risk is proposed and implemented in C and OpenMP for multi-core CPUs and in C and CUDA for many-core GPUs. An evaluation of the performance of the algorithm indicates that GPUs offer a feasible alternative solution over traditional high-performance computing systems. An aggregate simulation on a multi-GPU of 1 million trials with 1000 catastrophic events per trial on a typical exposure set and contract structure is performed in less than 5 seconds. The key result is that the multi-GPU implementation of the algorithm presented in this paper is approximately 77x times faster than the traditional counterpart and can be used in real-time pricing scenarios. Keywords-GPU computing; high-performance computing; aggregate risk analysis; catastrophe event risk; real-time pricing


Implementation of comprehensive medication management (CMM) in the community pharmacy setting remains sporadic despite its prevalence in other pharmacy contexts. One health plan has been investing in CMM since 2010. Their experience and perceptions in the payer-provider partnership could offer unique insights into the sustainability of CMM in community pharmacy. As part of a broader academic-payer-provider partnership, perceptions of CMM sustainability were explored with key stakeholders in the health plan through a semistructured group interview. Five themes emerged: (1) distinction between CMM and other patient care opportunities, (2) building a CMM program that delivers value requires an investment in network development, (3) payment design influences sustainability, (4) lack of push from community pharmacies to pay for CMM, and (5) the importance of an ongoing facilitated learning and action collaborative. Given previously demonstrated positive return-on-investment, CMM in community pharmacies shows promise for being a sustainable practice model. However, increased reach and performance of networks, as well as number of payers in the market, will be critical to scaling CMM in the community pharmacy setting.


Coordination compounds of 3,3-dimethyl-1-N-phenylimino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (L) and 3,3-dimethyl-1-N-(o-tolyl)imino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (L 1 ) with a number of transition metal salts, namely, Cr(III), Fe(III), Co(II), Cu(II), and Zn chlorides; Cu(II) bromide; and Co(II) and Cu(II) nitrates, were synthesized. The ligands L and L' are incorporated in the complexes either in the molecular or in the ionic form. The structure of (HL) 2 [CoCl 4 ) (I) was determined by X-ray diffraction. Complex I has a cation-anion structure, the proton in the cation being located at the exocyclic nitrogen atom. The anions and cations are combined by an extended system of hydrogen bonds. The structures of the complexes obtained were studied by X-ray diffraction and IR and electronic absorption spectroscopies.


Cochlear implants have proven to be effective and reliable in postlingually deaf adults. This is also true for congenitally deaf and perilingually deaf children up to the age of six years. Due to the increasing experience, the improvement of implant technology and the proven reliability the selection criteria are broadened with shifting borders. The main extensions are related to age, additional handicaps, residual hearing and special etiologies of deafness. Increasing evidence shows that very early implantation results in better performance and better hearing and speech development. Near-normal language acquisition can be achieved in children implanted under the age of four. Additional handicaps do not automatically exclude a candidate from cochlear implantation. A case-to-case decision has to be made based on additional diagnostics and the experience of the implant centre. A list of suitable handicaps is provided. Severely hearing impaired patients may also be considered for cochlear implantation if their residual hearing provides no benefit for speech discrimination. The same holds true for children. Cochlear implantation in obliterated cochleae and inner ear malformation requires a special surgical technique and special electrode arrays. In this way even difficult cases can be managed with remarkable outcome. Over all, the selection criteria have been broadened with increasing experience and technological improvement. This development may continue and the borderline between hearing aids and cochlear implants will shift further towards severe hearing loss. However, the basis for success still remains good rehabilitation, a team approach and the willingness of the patient to undergo the whole process of cochlear implantation.


Figure Sandia National Laboratories is the technical manager for a Department of Energy project directed toward selection and characterization of a potential in-situ coal gasification site in the State of Washington. Prior geophysical investigations at this site in the Centralia-Chehalis coal district included in-line and broadside refraction surveys, VLF and Turam electromagnetic surveys, in-seam seismic wave propagation, and geophysical logging of exploratory boreholes. The results of these surveys, presented at last year's SEG meeting, indicated several anomalous features which we interpreted as faulting. Detailed description of the existing structure, however, could not be determined from the earlier surveys. A high-resolution, seismic reflection survey, reported here, was later conducted to detail the site geologic structure and, thereby, determine areal continuity of objective coal seams. Approximately 12,000 ft (3,658 m) of survey line was obtained over this 62-acre (25 ha.) site, seeking to define the first 1,000 ft (305 m) of the subsurface. A 30-ft (9 m) receiver interval was employed; a portable "shotgun" source supplied seismic energy yielding a net stack of 1,200% at 15 ft (4.6 m) CDP spacing. Analysis of the resulting reflection data verifies the existence of faulting across the site as interpreted from earlier geophysical and borehole data. However, the geologic structure is found to be more complex than indicated by the earlier data above. A sample reflection record section is given in the figure. Here, faulting of the "Big Dirty" seam (approximately 170 msec) is evident as are offsets in both deeper and shallower seam. Correlation of prior data and those most recent lead to total site characterization. End_of_Article - Last_Page 896------------


BACKGROUND
Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common genetic disorders in the Caucasian population, inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. Diagnosis of CF classifies the patient's family to the group of high genetic risk. In spite of the significant therapeutic advantages this disease is still the cause of preterm death of affected patients. One of the diagnostic tests that are offered to CF risk families is prenatal diagnostics of the disease. This kind of analysis may be performed in the first trimester of pregnancy and is based on the DNA analysis of the foetus.

AIM
To sum up and analyse the results of CF prenatal diagnostic studies, in Poland, in the period 1990-2003.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
In total 45 tests in 38 risk families have been carried out. In case of 7 families in formative results have been obtained due to application of the polymorphic markers analysis. In the remaining cases molecular analysis of foetal DNA focused on identification of specific CFTR gene mutations has been carried out.

RESULTS
In 16 cases the CF genotype was identified. The disease was excluded in 29 foetuses. Some issues of genetic counselling in the context of the possibility of prenatal disease diagnosis have also been discussed.


Thermodynamic equilibrium can be sometimes reached at the interaction between metal and oxide melts in high temperature welding and metallurgical processes. Calculation of equilibrium phase composition is also one of the stages (along with kinetics analysis) of building an end-to-end physical and chemical model of real processes. Developing a thermodynamic model of high temperature processes is described in many scientific sources (1-18). Thermodynamic patterns of oxidation-reduction reactions on the metal-slag melt interface are also taken into account when building phenomenological models of real welding, facing, and metallurgical processes (19-30). This paper deals with calculating an equilibrium phase composition for a specific reaction. A method proposed herein also takes into account an interaction among any number of chemical reactions in the metal-oxide melt interface that form an equilibrium phase composition