RIAs specific for the alpha-subunit of glycoprotein hormones were used to monitor the subunit conformation in ovine FSH and TSH and in recombinants of ovine LH alpha with (ovine and porcine) LH beta and hCG beta. Differences in log-logit slopes of the RIA dilution curves were interpreted to indicate changes, presumably conformational, in the local environment of the antigenic determinants of the alpha-subunit. In all but one case, free ovine LH alpha yielded a slope that was distinct from those of the hormones and recombinants. FSH, TSH, and the homologous LH recombinant all exhibited different slopes, and the recombinant ovine LH alpha-hCG beta was characterized by a slope that was distinct from the identical slopes of the recombinants ovine LH alpha-ovine LH beta and ovine LH alpha-porcine LH beta. These results suggest that a conformational change occurs in the alpha-subunit upon association with a beta-subunit and that different beta-subunits may induce distinct conformations in a common alpha-subunit.


[1] This study presents a high-resolution record of osmium and thallium isotopes in a ferro-manganese (Fe-Mn) crust from the Indian Ocean, Antipode 109D-C. These results, when combined with additional new Os isotope data from ODP Hole 756B in the southeast Indian Ocean, define a new best estimate for the age at the base of this crust of ∼6.5 Ma, which is significantly different from a previous estimate of ∼15 Ma based on Co-flux modeling. The Tl isotope record obtained for the Indian Ocean resembles that for the Pacific Ocean with a small but well-defined increase occurring over the last ∼5 Myr. This contrasts with two records from the Atlantic Ocean which do not have resolvable variations. Ocean basin–scale Tl isotope variation may be inconsistent with the inferred modern marine residence time for Tl of ∼20 kyr but could be explained by an increase in ocean crust production rates in the Pacific and Indian oceans since ∼10 Ma. The improved age model for 109D-C reveals that the Hf isotope composition of Indian Ocean bottom waters has remained homogenous over the last ∼6 Myr. Thus, this isotope system does not bear any evidence that the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water in the formation of Indian Ocean bottom waters has changed during that time. However, because of the lack of knowledge about Hf isotopes as a tracer of ocean circulation, we cannot conclude that export of NADW decreased over the last 6 Myr.


Data stream mining is a hot topic in the machine learning community that tackles the problem of learning and updating predictive models as new data becomes available over time. Even though several new methods are proposed every year, most focus on the classification task and overlook the regression task. In this paper, we propose an adaptation to the Adaptive Random Forest so that it can handle regression tasks, namely ARF-Reg. ARF-Reg is empirically evaluated and compared to the state-of-the-art data stream regression algorithms, thus highlighting its applicability in different data stream scenarios.


The proposed 6.78-MHz Class-E receiver features a soft-switching and temperature-compensated GaN-based active diode (GAD) rectifier design. Using the temperature dependence of the relationship between the driving voltage and the on-resistance of the switch, the gate-source control voltage of GaN can be adjusted to mitigate efficiency variations based on temperature effects. Moreover, a phase shift comparator activation controller is based on the direct relationship between the phase delay on the gate drive signals and the output power. The temperature dependency voltage offset of the comparator is alleviated with auto-zeroing. GAD rectifier ensures energy transfer up to 61 W and 6.8 A, high efficiency of 92%, and low harmonic distortion of 2.1%.


Anemia and micronutrient (MN) deficiencies in pregnant women are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. In Niger, 58.6% of pregnant women are anemic; however, MN statuses are unknown. The study objectives were to estimate the prevalence of MN deficiencies among pregnant women in Zinder, Niger and explore associated risk factors. Pregnant women living in randomly selected rural villages (n = 88) were included. Capillary and venous blood samples (n = 770) were analyzed for hemoglobin (Hb) and plasma ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), zinc (pZn), retinol binding protein (RBP), folate and vitamin B12. C-reactive protein and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein were measured to adjust for inflammation. The prevalence of MN deficiencies in pregnant woman was high, indicative of a severe public health problem. Prevalence of iron deficiency was 20.7% and 35.7%, by ferritin (<15 µg/L) and sTfR (>8.3 mg/L), respectively. In total, 40.7% of women had low pZn (<50 µg/dL), 79.7% had marginal RBP (<1.32 µmol/L), 44.3% of women had low folate (<10 nmol/L) and 34.8% had low B12 concentrations (<148 pmol/L). Common risk factors associated with MN status included gravidity, mid-upper-arm circumference, geophagy, malaria, and result of the woman's last pregnancy. Interventions to promote the strengthening of antenatal care, and access and adherence to nutrition and health interventions are critical among pregnant women in this population.


Purpose - Statins have been prescribed for dyslipidemia for a long time. Till date, several studies have been conducted on effects of atorvastatin on sepsis; however, dose-related effects have never been investigated. This study evaluated dose-related effects of atorvastatin on endotoxin-induced shock in rats. Methods - Fifty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 different groups (n = 14 per group): Group C, no medication; group S, oral administration of a small dose of atorvastatin (2 mg/kg/day) for 5 days; group M, oral administration of a medium dose of atorvastatin (5 mg/kg/day) for 5 days; and group L, oral administration of a large dose of atorvastatin (10 mg/kg/day) for 5 days. Following the pretreatment, endotoxin shock was induced by intravenous administration of lipopolysaccharide (15 mg/kg). Hemodynamic recordings, arterial blood gas analyses, and plasma cytokine level measurements were performed regularly. Results - Mortality rates between groups S and C differed significantly (7% and 43%, respectively) at 8 h after lipopolysaccharide injection (P < 0.05). In addition, plasma lactate levels between groups S and C differed significantly at 8 h (P < 0.05). With respect to hemodynamics, the systolic arterial pressure was considerably higher in group S than in the other groups at 8 h after endotoxin injection. Conclusions - A small dose of atorvastatin improved mortality rates and inhibited inflammatory responses to endotoxic shock in rats. These effects were not observed in other doses of atorvastatin, suggesting dose-related effects of atorvastatin on endotoxic shock.


Summary 1. Seedling relative growth rate (RGR) is often decomposed into the product of specific leaf area (leaf area per leaf mass, SLA), net assimilation rate (rate of mass increase per unit leaf area per unit time, NARa) and leaf mass ratio (ratio of leaf to total dry mass, LMR). Commonly, most cross-species variation in RGR is accounted for by variation in SLA, while no general relationships occur between RGR and either NARa or LMR. NARa can be factored into the product of leaf nitrogen productivity (rate of mass increase per unit leaf nitrogen per unit time, LNP) and leaf nitrogen concentration (area basis, LNCa). In this way the influence on RGR of leaf nitrogen ‐ how it is displayed, and how it is utilized ‐ can be investigated. 2. Seedlings of 28 Australian woody dicot species were grown under controlled, favourable conditions. Variation in SLA, LNP, LNCa and LMR explained c. 44%, 22%, 19% and 15% of variation in RGR, respectively. SLA and LNP were positively associated with RGR, while LNCa was negatively associated with RGR. LNP and LNCa were negatively correlated, the counteracting trends between RGR and each of these attributes resulting in no relationship between RGR and NARa. It is argued that this phenomenon may be widespread and may contribute to the inconsistency of reported relationships between NARa and RGR. 3. The functional balance between leaves and roots can be described in terms of mass allocation and morphology (static ratios or allometric coefficients) or, alternatively, in terms of leaf 'activity' (NAR) and root 'activity' (nitrogen uptake rate, NUR). At any given time most species allocated greater mass to leaves than to roots, but species with low RGR tended to be partitioning a greater ongoing proportion of new biomass to the roots rather than to the leaves, resulting in a proportionally greater increase in root surface compared with leaf surface over time. Nitrogen uptake rate was correlated with leaf and whole-plant nitrogen concentration, but not with other attributes. While it is clear that root and leaf functions must be coordinated (and thus in balance) for growth to occur, there is little evidence that this balance varies systematically with RGR across all species.


This guide will assist students in navigating the Special Collections department in order to complete their assignments in FR 1059:Exoticism and Orientalism in French Literature and Art.


In the present work, fabrication and characterization of Al/MgO/Si MOS device has been carried out using PLD as a deposition technique, and for comparison Al/SiO2/Si MOS device has been also constructed. The obtained result show that , The Electrical and photovoltaic characteristics of MOS device are strongly dependent on the oxide type and thickness, beside that, the C-V measurement reveled that prepared device are of abrupt type. The Spectral Responsivity measurement of (Al/MgO/Si) MOS device is found to be 0.27A/W while of (Al/SiO 2/Si) MOS device is 0.20A/W and the Rise and Response time measurement of (Al/MgO/Si) MOS device was shorter than of (Al/SiO 2/Si) MOS device.


This paper investigates how enforcement of labor regulation affects the firm's use of informal employment and its impact on firm performance. Using firm level data on informal employment and firm performance, and administrative data on enforcement of regulation at the city level, the authors show that in areas where law enforcement is stricter firms employ a smaller amount of informal employment. Furthermore, by reducing the firm's access to unregulated labor, stricter enforcement also decreases average wages, productivity, and investment. The results are robust to several specification changes, and to instrumenting enforcement with (1) measures of access of labor inspectors to firms, and (2) measures of general law enforcement in the area where the firm is located.


Corporate culture becomes an important factor in the successful development of firms in the global world and is also an important determinant for human resources management, which takes care of professional and personal development of employees. Development of human potential with its creative capabilities will determine the competitiveness and firms will be forced to take care of corporate culture, based on confidence and cooperation, which develops human, intellectual capital. This article presents the main conclusions of research from years 2009 and 2010, of which aim was to deal with some aspects of human resources management, to obtain information about reality of corporate culture and their analysis in specific conditions of a small firm, which enables to find suitable ways to their desirable transformation. The authors participated in the research with Department of Management, Faculty of Economics in University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budějovice in further to project GAJU 068/2010/S. For closer investigation of these issues were used the own structure questionnaire and the Test of colourfully semantic differential (TCSD). The use of TCSD in corporate culture and qualitative values shared by employees has not been studied before. This research provided information about confrontation of attitude to standard of the human resources management in the small firm among the manager and his employees and last not least how the manager and employees share some dimensions of corporate culture.


Prediction of financial time series such as stock and stock indexes has remained the main focus of researchers because of its composite nature and instability in almost all of the developing and advanced countries. (e main objective of this research work is to predict the direction movement of the daily stock prices index using the artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM). (e datasets utilized in this study are the KSE-100 index of the Pakistan stock exchange, Korea composite stock price index (KOSPI), Nikkei 225 index of the Tokyo stock exchange, and Shenzhen stock exchange (SZSE) composite index for the last ten years that is from 2011 to 2020. To build the architect of a single layer ANN and SVM model with linear, radial basis function (RBF), and polynomial kernels, different technical indicators derived from the daily stock trading, such as closing, opening, daily high, and daily low prices and used as input layers. Since both the ANN and SVM models were used as classifiers; therefore, accuracy and F-score were used as performance metrics calculated from the confusion matrix. It can be concluded from the results that ANN performs better than SVMmodel in terms of accuracy and F-score to predict the direction movement of the KSE-100 index, KOSPI index, Nikkei 225 index, and SZSE composite index daily closing price movement.


The Complementing Support Services for Cassava Production of the Department of Agrarian Reform-Pangasinan was formulated through the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) which intends to reduce the incidence of poverty by providing livelihood programs to selected Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in District 1 of Pangasinan by producing and processing dried cassava chips which will be marketed through partnership between the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (ARBOs) and Private Agribusiness Firm. The assessment, which was based on Organizational and Enterprise Needs Assessment and Design Assessment (OE-NADA), aims to ensure that ARBs would benefit from the project and ARBOs have the capacity to manage the enterprise, and to determine the project's feasibility and the suitability of identified intervention under the ARCCESS program. Systems Approach was used to assess the ARBO's organizational, production, marketing and financial capabilities which were then used in determining the project feasibility. Result shows that selected ARBOs are Cooperatives from the municipalities of Mabini, Dasol and Bani. They needed to improve their capabilities according to organizational maturity; marketing strategy; financial assistance; and cultural management practices for cassava production. The assessment shows profitability at 79% Rate of Return on Expenses and 44% Net Profit Margin. However, risks include uncoordinated production, perishability of cassava, susceptibility to natural calamities, and lengthy payback period. The identified intervention requirements of the enterprise can support poverty reduction in ARBs by enhancing the cassava industry in Western Pangasinan, showing potential in mobilizing community participation and obtaining government support since it corresponds to livelihood opportunity creation, gender equality, and promote good agricultural practices.


Physical inactivity is currently one of the main concerns of the global health agenda. This article assesses the research question '(How) Does the health system medicalise the promotion of PA?' at both the theoretical and empirical levels. The promotion of PA is first considered theoretically against the healthicisation and medicalisation paradigms. Afterwards, the article empirically analyses the characteristics of PA recommended in 25 health strategies issued by the ministries of health in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and the USA. The content of these documents medicalises PA, because it: treats the problem of physical inactivity as a disease; redefines the concept of 'healthy PA' in medical terms; creates key functions for health professionals in this area. The differences between a description of the promotion of PA as a phenomenon of healthicisation and of medicalisation are critically addressed in the conclusion.


If teacher educators are to prepare teachers to become leaders who work together toward reform in newly restructured schools, schools of education must change the curriculum and design of their teacher education programs. Drawing on a study of an experimental teacher education program, the authors recommend changes that prepare new teachers to assume greater leadership responsibility, particularly for collaborative curriculum design and implementation. Teacher educators must model these practices in teacher education coursework. A pedagogy of collective action beginning with a process tying educational theory to practice for teacher education students is suggested. This process of bridging theory and practice is the heart of a program that nurtures new teachers' inclination for joint work and capacity for collective school leadership. Grounding this discussion in a detailed analysis of an actual program, the authors highlight the complexity of this challenge and some of the dilemmas faced by those with this agenda.


We address one of the cardinal puzzles of European corporate law: the lack of derivate shareholder suits. In the vast majority of European jurisdictions, shareholders can bring a derivative action (for damages) against the management for breach of fiduciary duty. In all of these countries, a derivative lawsuit is the only remedy against managerial misconduct. In spite of corporate fraud by managers there are no such lawsuits. We explain this apparent paradox on the basis of percentage limits. The laws of percentage limits require shareholders to hold a minimum amount of typically 5% to 10% in order to bring an action against the management and they are extremely wide-spread in Europe. Since small shareholders are not entitled to sue, there is an incentive for managers to collude with large shareholders. In a four-stage-model, we show that, given the current percentage limits, managers will misappropriate corporate assets and split the proceeds with large shareholders. Contrary to current and past approaches to agency theory, we find that, in this equilibrium, (1) large shareholders do not monitor the management, (2) small shareholders do not free ride and (3) the residual ownership is not held by the shareholders on the whole but by the managers and the large shareholders. This interpretation of the current situation is consistent with empirical studies that find a more concentrated shareholder structure in Europe than in the United States. Also published as: Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 312 (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_program/law_economics/wp_listing_1/) German Working Papers in Law and Economics: Vol. 2007: Article 2. (http://www.bepress.com/gwp/default/vol2007/iss2/art2) SSRN (http://ssrn.com/abstract=933105)


In vivo imaging of cerebral hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) may facilitate early diagnosis of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIRI) and a revelation of its pathological progression. In this study, we report our rational design of a brain-targeting fluorescent probe using the basis of a pyridazinone scaffold. A structure-activity relationship study reveals that PCAB is the best candidate (Ki = 15.8 nM) for a histamine H3 receptor (H3R), which is highly expressed in neurons of the central nervous system. As a two-photon fluorescent probe, PCAB exhibits a fast, selective reaction toward both extra- and intracellular H2O2 in SH-SY5Y cells under oxygen glucose deprivation and resupply. In vivo fluorescent imaging of a middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse confirms that PCAB is an ultrasensitive probe with potent blood-brain barrier penetration, precise brain targeting, and fast detection of CIRI.


Objective: To evaluate the comparative safety of transcervical and transabdominal chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Methods: From May 1988 to January 1992, CVS was performed by two operators at 9‐12 weeks' gestation in 1048 singleton pregnancies. The sampling method for each patient, transabdominal or transcervical, was chosen primarily based upon placental location; the transabdominal route was used for anterior or fundal location and the transcervical route for posterior placentation. Perinatal outcome was assessed by post‐procedure patient telephone contact, midgestation ultrasound evaluation, postpartum questionnaire completed by the referring obstetrician, and telephone interview with each patient after delivery. Results: Complete follow‐up was available in 1012 cases (97%). Excluding 39 elective abortions, 35 of 973 euploid pregnancies aborted spontaneously. The difference in fetal loss rate between transcervical and transabdominal CVS approached statistical significance (5.2 versus 2.9%; P = .058). Bleeding before CVS (P = .006) and multiple placental aspirations (P = .022) were associated with fetal loss for the entire study group. An interaction between uterine position and sampling method was also indicated; an increased loss rate was associated with transcervical CVS in the presence of uterine retroversion (P = .0017). Conclusion: Despite choosing the preferred CVS method for each patient, an increased loss rate may be associated with transcervical sampling in the presence of uterine retroversion. (Obstet Gynecol 1994;83:657‐60)


Abstract. The NuTeV experiment obtained high statistics samples of ne utrino and antineutrino charged current events during the 1996-1997 Fermilab fixed t arge run. The experiment combines sign-selected neutrino and antineutrino beams and the upgr aded CCFR iron-scintillator neutrino detector. A precision continuous calibration beam was used to etermine the muon and hadron energy scales to a precision of 0.7% and 0.43% respectively. The structure functionsF2(x,Q) and xF3(x,Q) obtained by fitting the y-dependence of the sum and the differ ence of theν and ν differential cross sections are presented.


The effect of the aqueous extract of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella Foenum Graecum L.), Rhodium complex (Ш) with formula [RhL2CLH2O].1 1/2 ETOH and palladium (П) [pdl2].2ETOH,where L=2-hydroxy phenyl piperonalidine was studied on two cancer cell lines. The first cell line was intestine cancer of female albino mice (L20B), the second one was Rhabdomysarcomas (RD)cell line in human. The activity of the new complexes and the aqueous extract was compared to the well-known anticancer drug (cis-platin) by utilizing the in vitro system. The cell lines were treated with four concentrations of cis-platin 31.25,62.5,125 and 250 μg/ml for 72 hour exposure time. The same concentrations were used with extract and the new complexes. This study showed that the aqueous extract, Rhodium (Ш) and palladium (П) complexes have a promising anticancer cell activity as noticed from their effect on inhibition of the cancer cells . Inhibition rate was increased with concentration for the three treatments and it was found to be significant differences (p<0.05) between them.The higher level of inhibition was 84.33% at the concentration 250 μg/ml of rhodium(III) complex. Comparing the cytotoxicity of the extract and the new complexes on cancer cell lines indicated that the L20B cell line was more effective than RD line and the cytotoxicity of aqueous extract fenugreek seeds and new complexes was similar to effect of the anticancer drug cis-pt.


Ridership potential is among the most valuable attributes to understand about a proposed light or commuter rail line during early stages of project development, yet few nationally relevant sketch-level tools exist for feasibility analyses. Research was done to develop a nationally applicable, sketch-level ridership forecasting tool for light rail and commuter rail. The study collected current ridership, demographic, and transportation system data from 17 U.S. regions, including 58 commuter rail corridors, 22 light rail corridors, and 1,218 stations, and it tested 163 possible explanatory variables. The effort yielded two multivariable regression equations that show close relationships between actual and predicted values, with adjusted R-squared values of 0.97 for commuter rail and 0.92 for light rail. The models also validate well to existing rail systems in six regions and successfully predict actual line ridership with adjusted R-squared values of 0.84 for commuter rail and 0.47 for light rail. The new models improve on previous tools by introducing sensitivity to reverse-commute trips and special transportation hubs or ports and by introducing transportation-system variables to measure the impacts of faster operating speeds, lower fares, or shorter midday headways. The models require readily available data and use simple form, making the tool technically accessible to a large number of transportation planners. An apples-to-apples comparison with similar sketch models developed nearly a decade ago in TCRP Report 16 shows that the new tools perform consistently better, explaining between 31% and 213% more variation in observed rail boardings among the same validation data sets.


This paper presents a novel, efficient, high-order accurate, and stable spectral element-based model for computing the complete three-dimensional linear radiation and diffraction problem for floating offshore structures. We present a solution to a pseudo-impulsive formulation in the time domain, where the frequency-dependent quantities, such as added mass, radiation damping, and wave excitation force for arbitrary heading angle, $\beta$, are evaluated using Fourier transforms from the tailored time-domain responses. The spatial domain is tessellated by an unstructured high-order hybrid configured mesh and represented by piece-wise polynomial basis functions in the spectral element space. Fourth-order accurate time integration is employed through an explicit four-stage Runge-Kutta method and complemented by fourth-order finite difference approximations for time differentiation. To reduce the computational burden, the model can make use of symmetry boundaries in the domain representation. The key piece of the numerical model -- the discrete Laplace solver -- is validated through $p$- and $h$-convergence studies. Moreover, to highlight the capabilities of the proposed model, we present prof-of-concept examples of simple floating bodies (a sphere and a box). Lastly, a much more involved case is performed of an oscillating water column, including generalized modes resembling the piston motion and wave sloshing effects inside the wave energy converter chamber. In this case, the spectral element model trivially computes the infinite-frequency added mass, which is a singular problem for conventional boundary element type solvers.


Revolving credit is the prime determinant of short-run household liquidity and comoves positively with product variety and negatively with unemployment. I develop a theory of feedback between revolving credit and product development and examine its ability to explain labor market volatility. Extending the Mortensen–Pissarides model with an endogenous borrowing constraint and free entry of monopolistically competitive firms reproduces stylized facts in the data and amplifies both productivity and financial shocks through mutual causality. Higher debt limits encourage firm entry and raise product variety (the entry channel), and greater variety makes default more costly and thereby raises the equilibrium debt level (the consumption value channel). Though productivity shocks are sufficient to generate higher volatility, financial shocks are essential in approximating the time series patterns of unemployment, vacancies, and revolving credit in the data, and reproduce the rise in unemployment during the Great Recession.


Human capital and the ability to innovate and to adapt to the demands of modernization are closely linked with levels of education, and especially of involvement in continuous education. A study of the situation in Russia suggests that for the immediate future it is more important for Russia's modernization development to give priority to catching up rather than pursuing its own innovation.


Background. We analyzed the incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) in a cohort of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. Methods. A total of 450 patients were retrospectively studied. AKI was defined by an increase in serum creatinine (SCr) ≥ 0.3 mg/dl or by an increase in SCr ≥ 50% and/or by a decrease in urine output to 0.5 ml/kg/hour for 6 hours, in the first 48 hours after surgery. Logistic regression method was used to determine predictors of AKI and in-hospital mortality. A two-tailed P value <0.05 was considered significant. Results. One hundred one patients (22.4%) had postoperative AKI. Age (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.05), nonrenal Revised Cardiac Risk Index score (adjusted OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3–3.1, P = 0.003), intraoperative erythrocytes transfusions (adjusted OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4–3.5, P <.0001), and nonrenal Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (adjusted OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.06, P = 0.0191) were associated with postoperative AKI. AKI was associated with increased in-hospital mortality (20.8% versus 2.3%, P <.0001; unadjusted OR 11.2, 95% CI 4.8–26.2, P <.0001; adjusted OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.2–11.7, P = 0.024). Conclusion. AKI was common in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery and was associated with in-hospital mortality.


This paper addresses two fundamental aspects of concurrent engineering processes. It suggests the integration of component and product data. On the one hand, the Parts Library standard, denoted P-Lib, has been described for exchanging part libraries between CAD systems, which use a big amount of heterogeneous data related to components or parts. Its data model allows the capability to exchange complex data between library management systems : data schemas, queries, constraints, domains and methods are described in this P-Lib data model. On the other hand, Product Data Management systems, denoted PDM, have been defined, in the last decade, in order to manage thousands of heterogeneous data (CAD/CAM data, BoM etc.) related to products. Technical data management permits the management of the all-informational patrimony of a product starting from its design until its discharge. Products are essentially composed of pre-existing components stored in component or part libraries. This paper presents the approach we developed to integrate component data and product data. This approach has been applied with the particular standardised P-Lib data model for representing components and a particular PDM system namely SmarTeam. It will allow the automatically storage of component data in a PDM and the easy referencing of these data in the products during their whole lifecycle.


Owing to the inevitability of nanoparticles encountering proteins/peptides in current bio-nano-medicine development, it is important to know how they interact with each other in vitro before developing in vivo applications. To this end, a model de novo β-sheet-forming peptide and typical biocompatible nanoparticles were selected to study thermodynamic aspects of their interactions via a fluorescence quenching method. The results showed that Pep11 and AuNPs spontaneously formed conjugates, mainly driven by a coulombic interaction with a binding affinity of ~ 0.1 µM(-1); the physical adsorption process was cooperative. These results deepen our quantitative understanding of nanoparticle-peptide interactions. The results may also be helpful in further nanoparticle-peptide hybrid nanofabrication and also useful for the application of nanoparticles in the treatment of amyloid diseases.


Objective To study the preparation and clinical application of anti-rotation and compression intramedullary nails (ACIN) for femoral shaft fractures. Methods Fourteen specimens of adult femur were randomly divided into two groups. Transverse fracture models at the interface of the median and lower part of the femoral shaft were made in all of them. One group were implanted with Kuntscher's nails and the other group with ACIN. Non-failed bending test and failed torsion test were performed on a testing machine. Thirty cases of fresh femoral shaft fractures were treated with ACIN and with open procedures. Results The torsion rigidity and bending stiffness of ACIN were much better than that of Kuntscher' s nails (P0.01). All of the patients were followed up for 9 to 27 months (averagely for 14.5 months), and all of the fractures got complete union. The general healing rate was 100% according to Klemm grading scale. Conclusions ACIN is well designed, its competence of preventing distal part of fractures from rotating and its anti-bending stability can meet clinical needs. It is easy to manipulate and x-ray monitoring is not necessary during the surgical procedures. Furthermore, ACIN can enlarge the extent of the indications of intramedullary fixation for femoral shaft fractures.


The cases of relapse in papillary thyroid cancer patients who were initially considered low-risk and for many years were without signs of the disease are extremely rare, but exist. This is supported by the clinical case of a patient who underwent a total thyroidectomy due to papillary thyroid cancer and 19 years later metastasis with extracapsular spreading in a presumed thyroid place was revealed. Due to such cases, the importance of long-term ultrasound monitoring is emphasized.


In this paper, a novel approach for robust speaker verification, namely short-time Gaussianization, is proposed. Short-time Gaussianization is initiated by a global linear transformation of the features, followed by a short-time windowed cumulative distribution function (CDF) matching. First, the linear transformation in the feature space leads to local independence or decorrelation. Then the CDF matching is applied to segments of speech localized in time and tries to warp a given feature so that its CDF matches normal distribution. It is shown that one of the recent techniques used for speaker recognition, feature warping [l] can be formulated within the framework of Gaussianization. Compared to the baseline system with cepstral mean subtraction (CMS), around 20% relative improvement in both equal error rate(EER) and minimum detection cost function (DCF) is obtained on NIST 2001 cellular phone data evaluation.


Background: Scoliosis is a curvature of the spine caused by incorrect posture habits such as sitting and upright. For example. In the wrong sitting position or using a bag that is not correct with a posture will cause pain and can also cause the formation of a type C or S curve in the spine. The findings require many high-quality studies. Therefore, it was necessary to study the effect of Schroth exercise on reducing the degree of scoliosis in teenagers. Objective: To understand the effect of Schroth exercise on reducing the scoliosis curve in teenagers. Methods: a narrative review of population, interventions, comparisons, outcomes using the PICO framework. Articles were identified using 2 databases, PubMed with 791.275 article results, and Google Scholar with 22.900 article results matching keywords. Select items according to the flowchart. Results: A total of 814.175 articles from 2 databases, after screening abstract for title and relevance, 10 articles were identified based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 10 articles demonstrated the effect of Schroth exercise on curvature reduction in teenagers who exercises over 2 weeks 3 times/week and 5 times 60 minutes exercise. Conclusion: Training Schroth exercise can reduce the scoliosis curve in teenagers.


A distributed data acquisition system is proposed. It provides parallel and simultaneous coding and on-line transmission of signals. This system has high accuracy of measurements and performance in sampling and transmission comparing with known analogs.


Narcotic abuse could be cured by using certain medicine which functioned as subtitution. The medicine called subutex. In this research, the writer discuss factors influenced an addict in using subtitution medicine and his effort in overcome narcotic addiction.
The research was done by the writer in Sadar Hati Organization and SOB Cafe, subject's house, and subject friend's house. Respondent who became subject was user of subtition medicine(subutex) who overdose it and needle user which often used to inject subtition medicine into body. Data collection were done through observation and interview. Data analysis was done by qualitative descriptive.
From the research there could be found that subject inhibition in stopping subutex usage were:
(1) subject needs to stop using drugs was low, so that influenced cure procedure through therapy; (2) subject high affection needs cause subject difficult to stop using subutex as one of his affection source, also supporting environment to use subutex. Where in his rehabilitation process, subject interacted with all addictors who used subutex, supporting medical environment, and also supporting family who considered subutex as part of rehabilitation. (3) subutex was legal and easy to get. Subject selfcontrol was low to avoid subutex. It based on high affiliation needs in himself. To overcome the afiliation, subject consumed subutex. The reality supported by situation and condition where subutex could be found legally and easily.


The article focuses on legends about miracles in Judaism. Particular attention is paid to miracles in the context of the early Biblical period of the prophets and modern Hasidism; similarities in motives and plots are found between the narratives of different times. The authors analyze in detail two 20th-century plots about miracles related to Chaim Zanvl Abramovich, known as the Ribnitzer Rebbe (1902–1995). The miracles that are told about him have many parallels with the legends about miracles performed by the founder of the Hasidic movement, Israel Baal Shem Tov (BeShT), who lived in the middle of the 18th century. The article reveals a connection between the Biblical and Hasidic miracle stories not only at the level of how the miracle is functioning in Jewish culture in general.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Vitamins and minerals are thought to play an essential but not entirely clear role in developing, preventing, and treating nonscarring alopecia. Telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, and alopecia areata are the most common forms of nonscarring alopecias. We would like to present a different perspective on laboratory abnormalities in patients with nonscarring alopecia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 467 patients (287 females, 180 males) were included retrospectively. 160 patients in the telogen effluvium group, 101 patients in the androgenetic alopecia group, 99 patients in the alopecia areata group, and 107 patients in the hair loss group (patients who could not be diagnosed with any nonscarring alopecia and wanted to have an analysis due to the complaint of hair loss). Sociodemographic data, diagnostic distribution, and laboratory findings (hemoglobin, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and TSH) were evaluated and compared.

RESULTS
The most common diagnosis was telogen effluvium in females and androgenetic alopecia in males. In women, hemoglobin (12.2% vs. 1.1%) and ferritin deficiencies (22.3% vs. 8.9%) were significantly higher than in men (p<0.001, p<0.001) Ferritin, hemoglobin, and vitamin B12 levels were significantly lower, and the number of patients with vitamin D, ferritin, hemoglobin and vitamin B12 deficiencies were significantly higher in the telogen effluvium group compared to the other groups. Laboratory abnormalities were detected least in the hair loss group.

CONCLUSIONS
The number of patients with the highest abnormalities in all parameters was observed in the telogen effluvium group and females; therefore, we mainly suggest examining female patients with telogen effluvium first. We may prefer not to immediately investigate the laboratory abnormalities and follow up patients with some treatments in the hair loss group.


During bacterial bovine mastitis, the quality of milk is altered because of caseinolysis. Endogenous potential actors in milk responsible for this caseinolysis have been well studied, unlike the exogenous bacterial ones. The aim of this study was to evaluate the direct role in caseinolysis of a mammopathogenic strain, Escherichia coli P4. Secretion of at least 4 extracellular bacterial caseinolytic enzymes was highlighted by zymography, in 3 different growth media, and at each bacterial growth state, suggesting that their expression was constitutive. Different experimental conditions to evaluate caseinolytic potential did not show any significant caseinolytic activity of E. coli P4 and of the 4 extracellular proteases detected, suggesting that the high caseinolysis observed during E. coli bovine mastitis does result from endogenous milk actors.


This paper uses firm level data from all the textile producing regions in India to examine the relation between wages, unionization and labour productivity. We find that fewer workers were employed per machine in the unionized mills in Bombay and Ahmedabad, as compared to non-unionized regions implying that low labour productivity was not due to union resistance to increased work intensity. Our findings suggest that while low wages in India encouraged overmanning, higher wages, prompted by unionization, had productivity enhancing effects. We explore alternative explanations for low labour productivity, arising from the managerial and institutional structure of Indian cotton mills.


In this paper, we present a novel finite-impulse response (FIR) filter synthesis technique that allows for aggressive voltage scaling by exploiting the fact that all filter coefficients are not equally important to obtain a ldquoreasonably accuraterdquo filter response. Our technique implements a level-constrained common-subexpression-elimination algorithm, where we can constrain the number of adder levels (ALs) required to compute each of the coefficient outputs. By specifying a tighter constraint (in terms of the number of adders in the critical path) on the important coefficients, we ensure that the later computational steps compute only the less important coefficient outputs. In case of delay variations due to voltage scaling and/or process variations, only the less important outputs are affected, resulting in graceful degradation of filter quality. The proposed architecture, therefore, lends itself to aggressive voltage scaling for low-power dissipation even under process parameter variations. Under extreme process variation and supply voltage scaling (0.8 V), filters implemented in the predictive technology model (PTM) 70 nm technology show an average power savings of 25%-30% with minor degradation in filter response in terms of normalized passband/stopband ripple (0.02 at a scaled voltage of 0.8 V compared with 0.005 at a nominal supply).


To day Islam has a lot of the views or opinion of leadership, the discourse of these developing leadership, at the start after the prophet Muhammad's death. Islamic society has been divided into many group or classes, of which the biggest are sunnis and shi'ites. Both groups have very different concept of leadership. This differences argument are not a problem if solved by logical discussion, let not the truth be eliminated because of our ego. This article discusses about Islamic leadership, what is leader and leadership, and why is leadership is needed, and how requirements of Islamic leadership according to shi'ites.


The method of penetrating gamma-radiation is used to measure the density of lead-bismuth and lead-lithium eutectics in the condensed state in the range from room temperature to ∼1250 K. The chemical composition of investigated eutectic alloys of Pb-Bi and Pb-Li systems is determined within ±0.2% by mass, and the lead content in these alloys turns out to be 44.6 and 99.3% by mass, respectively. The confidence error of the experimental results, which combines the systematic and random components, does not exceed 0.3% and 0.2% for the solid and liquid phases, respectively. The investigation results are compared with the available literature data on the density of eutectic alloys of lead with bismuth and lithium in the condensed state.


This study aimed to extract carotenoids from pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) by using food grade solvents (ethanol, ethyl acetate, acetic acid and virgin coconut oil). The influence of different extraction conditions; temperature of extraction (15, 30 and 45°C), duration of extraction (12, 18 and 24 h) and solid to solvent ratio (1:50, 1:100 and 1:150) on yield of carotenoids were also evaluated for optimization purposes. The compounds of the extracted carotenoids were identified by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The detected carotenoids from pumpkin had been α-carotene, β-carotene and lutein. Lutein was found to have the highest concentration in pumpkin. Furthermore, the results obtained from the yield of carotenoids showed that sample extracted with ethyl acetate was insignificant and this differed from that with virgin coconut oil extract (77.30 and 76.64 β-carotene μg/g dry matter, respectively). Meanwhile, the samples extracted by using either acetic acid or ethanol had presented low yields (68.10 and 54.98 β-carotene μg/g dry matter, respectively). Nevertheless, the extract of carotenoids was found to be optimized at the following extraction conditions; 1:150 solid to solvent ratio and extracted by using virgin coconut oil for 12 h at 30oC.


Isomerism is a rare laterality defect. Our aim was to describe the autopsy findings of a child with left atrial isomerism (LAI) and pulmonary agenesis (PA), an association still not described in the literature. Fetal ultrasound revealed right renal agenesis, single umbilical artery and polyhydramnios. Echocardiography revealed a complex heart defect with LAI. The child died minutes after birth. Autopsy confirmed the prenatal findings and revealed the presence of unilateral PA, complex vascular abnormalities and polysplenia. Despite its rarity, health professionals should be aware for the possibility of such an association.


Fifty cases of lower extremity tumors examined with computed tomography were reviewed. Of the 50 cases, 41 had gross pathologic correlation, either by enbloc resection (26) or by amputation (15). Important information regarding size, location, definition, and anatomic relation of tumors to vital structures (neural, vascular, and osseous) may be ascertained by this means with great accuracy. Localization of vessels by intravenous infusion of contrast material during the scan, or after arteriography with intraarterial contrast infusion, is found to enhance such evaluation. This information is particularly important where the feasibility of en-bloc resection is being evaluated.


Carbohydrates as one of the macro nutrients have significant role in the food pattern in which 60-70% of the recommended energy requirement comes from carbohydrates, and generally being a staple food. It is unfortunate that almost all people in Indonesia have made rice as the main source of carbohydrates and became a staple food. This situation affects the high dependence on rice. This study aims to modify manggadong as local wisdom into manggadong rice that is rice mixed with 4 types of cassava flour in cooking rice and analyze energy consumption and protein from manggadong rice. Intervention has 100 mothers as a sample. The results showed that the consumption of energy and protein manggadong rice of 4 types of cassava are arround 691 kcal - 729 kcal and 12.7 to 12.9 g. Manggadong rice consumption can reduce the consumption of energy and protein than rice without cassava flour. It recommended socialization of manggadong rice in society in order to be applied in staple food consumption to support food diversification program as an effort to create a household food security. Food industry must be support to provide cassava flour to facilitate the application of manggadong rice.


Epididymal protein DE and testicular protein Tpx-1 are two cysteine-rich secretory proteins also known as CRISP1 and CRISP2, respectively. DE/CRISP1 is localized on the equatorial segment of acrosome-reacted sperm and participates in rat gamete fusion through its binding to egg-complementary sites. Recent results using bacterially-expressed recombinant fragments of DE as well as synthetic peptides revealed that the ability of DE to bind to the egg surface and inhibit gamete fusion resides in a region of 12 amino acids corresponding to an evolutionary conserved motif of the CRISP family named Signature 2. Interestingly, protein Tpx-1 exhibits only two substitutions in Signature 2 when compared to DE, and was also capable of binding to the rat egg, opening the possibility for a role of Tpx-1 in gamete fusion. Results showed the ability of recombinant Tpx-1 to significantly inhibit zona-free egg penetration, supporting the participation of this protein in gamete fusion through its interaction with egg-binding sites. Subsequent in vitro competition studies showed that incubation of zona-free eggs with a fixed concentration of recombinant Tpx-1 and increasing amounts of DE, gradually reduced the binding of recTpx-1 to the egg, indicating that both CRISPs would be sharing the egg complementary sites. The possible participation of both epididymal DE/CRISP1 and testicular Tpx-1/CRISP2 in gamete fusion provides important information on the molecular mechanisms involved in this process and supports the idea of a functional cooperation between homologue molecules as a mechanism to ensure the success of fertilization.


Models of cyber-physical systems are inherently complex since they must represent hardware, software, and the physical environment. Formal verification of these models is often precluded by state explosion. Fortunately, many important properties may only depend upon a relatively small portion of the system being accurately modeled. This paper presents an automatic abstraction methodology that simplifies the model accordingly. Preliminary results on a fault-tolerant temperature sensor are encouraging.


Robertson (2005) and Rakove (1996) argue that Roger Sherman was surprisingly influential at the Constitutional Convention. Using empirically estimated ideal points, we show that Sherman was a pivotal voter from a pivotal state. We also demonstrate that if the votes were tallied by individual delegates, rather than being grouped by the home state, then Sherman would have been less pivotal. This suggests that the voting procedures adopted at the Constitutional Convention may have affected Sherman's ability to get his interests enacted. Such institutions might have been more responsible than his legislative ability for making Sherman effective.


Hypermedia designers have tried to move beyond the directed graph concept, which defines hypermedia structures as aggregations of nodes and links. A substantial body of work attempts to describe hypertexts in terms of extended or global spaces. According to this approach, nodes and links acquire meaning in relation to the space in which they are deployed. Some theory of space thus becomes essential for any advance in hypermedia design; but the type of space implied by electronic information systems, from hyperdocuments to "consensual hallucinations," requires careful analysis. Familiar metaphors drawn from physics, architecture, and everyday experience have only limited descriptive or explanatory value for this type of space. As theorists of virtual reality point out, new information systems demand an internal rather than an external perspective. This shift demands a more sophisticated approach to hypermedia space, one that accounts both for stable design properties (architectonic space) and for unforseen outcomes, or what Winograd and Flores call "breakdowns." Following Wexelblat in cyberspace theory and Dillon, McKnight, and Richardson in hypermedia theory, we call the domain of these outcomes semantic space. In two thought experiments, or brief exercises in interface design, we attempt to reconcile these divergent notions of space within the conceptual system of hypermedia.


Reconfigurable System-on-Chip (RSoC) is a promising alternative to deliver both flexibility and performance at the same time, and also a technical solution looking to the future needs of embedded applications. But the complex design process is impeding the development of extensive applications. This paper proposes an RSoC design methodology based on function-level programming model on account of the characteristics of the reconfigurable architecture. In the programming model, system designers use high-level language to complete functional specification by calling the co-function-library. Then the dynamic hardware/software partitioning algorithm will decide whether an invoked function should be running on hardware or software automatically. According to the partitioning result, the dynamic linker will switch functions' execution mode in real time. And the above items can facilitate an automatic design flow through specification to the system implementation. Experiments and tests have verified the feasibility and efficiency of the automatic design flow.


Summary 1. Given the allometric scaling of thermoregulatory capacity in birds, and the cold and exposed Arctic environment, it was predicted that Arctic-breeding shorebirds should incur high costs during incubation. Using doubly labelled water (DLW), daily energy expenditure (DEE) during incubation was measured in eight shorebird species weighing between 29 and 142 g at various sites in the Eurasian and Canadian High Arctic. The results are compared with a compilation of similar data for birds at lower latitudes. 2. There was a significant positive correlation between species average DEE and body mass (DEE (kJ day − 1 ) = 28·12 BM (g) 0·524 , r 2 = 0·90). The slopes of the allometric regression lines for DEE on body mass of tundra-breeding birds and lower latitude species (a sample mostly of passerines but including several shorebirds) are similar (0·548 vs 0·545). DEE is about 50% higher in birds on the tundra than in temperate breeding areas. 3. Data for radiomarked Red Knots for which the time budgets during DLW measurements were known, indicated that foraging away from the nest on open tundra is almost twice as costly as incubating a four-egg clutch. 4. During the incubation phase in the High Arctic, tundra-breeding shorebirds appear to incur among the highest DEE levels of any time of the year. The rates of energy expenditure measured here are among the highest reported in the literature so far, reaching inferred ceilings of sustainable energy turnover rates.


Underwater robots are nowadays employed for many different applications; during the last decades, a wide variety of robotic vehicles have been developed by both companies and research institutes, different in shape, size, navigation system, and payload. While the market needs to constitute the real benchmark for commercial vehicles, novel approaches developed during research projects represent the standard for academia and research bodies. An interesting opportunity for the performance comparison of autonomous vehicles lies in robotics competitions, which serve as an useful testbed for state-of-the-art underwater technologies and a chance for the constructive evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the participating platforms. In this framework, over the last few years, the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence participated in multiple robotics competitions, employing different vehicles. In particular, in September 2017 the team from the University of Florence took part in the European Robotics League Emergency Robots competition held in Piombino (Italy) using FeelHippo AUV, a compact and lightweight Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Despite its size, FeelHippo AUV possesses a complete navigation system, able to offer good navigation accuracy, and diverse payload acquisition and analysis capabilities. This paper reports the main field results obtained by the team during the competition, with the aim of showing how it is possible to achieve satisfying performance (in terms of both navigation precision and payload data acquisition and processing) even with small-size vehicles such as FeelHippo AUV.


This study demonstrates the impact of wastewater of El-Sail Drain on the health of Oreochromis niloticus collected from two sites of River Nile at Aswan Governorate. One of these sites is before (I) and the other is after (II) the disposal point of El-Sail drain. The physicochemical parameters of water (pH, electric conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, biological and chemical oxygen demands, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia) were determined. Heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd and Ni) concentrations in water and fish tissues (gills, muscles, liver and gonads) were detected. The microbiological, parasitological and pathological conditions of fish were also investigated. Higher values of pH, EC, BOD and COD were detected in site II than from site I. In contrast to DO, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia which were lower in site II. Heavy metals concentrations in water of both sites, especially Ni, Pb and Cd exceeded the permissible limits and its abundance followed the order: Pb>Ni>Cd>Cu. Total bacterial count, total coliform, Salmonella sp., Shigella sp. and E. coli were detected in higher numbers in water samples from site II. Moreover, the fish caught from that site revealed higher bacterial and parasitic infection. The bioaccumulation of Ni and Pb exceeded the maximum permissible limit; however, Cu and Cd concentrations were below the permissible limit in different tissues. The bioaccumulation factor of Cu showed its highest value in liver. The histopathological lesions were more prominent in fish collected from site II. So, consuming fish caught from the studied sites around El-sail drain disposal point represents serious hazard on human health.


In order to deliver optimal paediatric care, we need to know what children and their parents need, expect, and experience. Thus, the general aim of the studies upon which this thesis is based was to elucidate different aspects of parental participation in the care of their child during hospitalisation for paediatric surgery, a specific aim being formulated for each of the four studies. The aim of the first study was to determine the extent to which parents of hospitalised children participate in the care of their child, and to compare parental and professional views on increased parental participation. The study showed that parents stay together with their hospitalised child and often participate in basic care. Parents (n=40) and professionals (n=44) agreed that parental participation could be increased, providing parents were given instruction and guidance. However, professional and parental opinion differed as to which nursing tasks were appropriate for parents to take on. The aim of the second study was to gain increased knowledge and understanding of parental experience of hospitalisation, and to identify and analyse situations described by parents as problematic. Findings at qualitative interviews (n = 20) generated three hypotheses. The participation is dependent upon the strategy a parent adopts in order to feel secure, the participation influences the child's experiences concerning pain and sleep, and the participation would be increased by giving parents more information about care, and by giving guidance as to their possible roles. Some problematic situations defined by the parents were identified, analysed and discussed. The aim of the third study (involving 331 parents) was to test two of the hypotheses at two hospitals. The results confirmed a pattern, developed in the previous study. The aim of the fourth study was to assess possible benefits and costs of increased parental participation in the care of children undergoing surgery at a day-care unit. By giving parents increased information about their child's care and strengthen their parental role parents took a greater responsibility for their child's postoperative care. Children in an intervention group (n=92) had a better postoperative outcome in terms of earlier discharge and less postoperative inconvenience than children in a control group (n=88). The costs for utilising nursing personnel were reduced by 11%. This new knowledge can be used to develop appropriate and effective routines enabling an optimal care for each hospitalised child.


We present a detailed study on magnetic properties of mixed spin oxide Li2/7Ni5/7O, where small ferromagnetic (FM) clusters (with averaged diameter of ∼18 A) immersed with an antiferromagnetic (AFM) host. The exchange bias (EB) with shifts of the hysteresis loop along both the field and magnetization axes is found, which is due to the interfacial interaction between the FM clusters and the AFM host. An AFM interfacial exchange coupling is deduced from the exchange interactions between Ni ions. The type and strength of this interfacial exchange interaction are discussed in terms of the EB at low temperature.


Experimental measurements of the diffusion constant for ultrasonic waves (around 3 MHz) propagating in water through a random set of scatterers (parallel metallic rods arranged as a slab) are presented. The slab thickness is around ten times the transport mean free path. Transmitted waves are recorded over hundreds of emitting/receiving positions in order to estimate the ensemble-averaged transmitted intensity 〈I(x,t)〉. Focused beamforming is performed on both faces of the sample in order to mimic a set of point-like sources and receivers. In theory, under the diffusion approximation, the ratio of the off-axis intensity 〈I(x,t)〉 to the on-axis intensity 〈I(0,t)〉 shows a simple gaussian dependence on the lateral dimension x, independently from absorption or boundary conditions. This yields a simple way to estimate the diffusion constant D and therefore characterize the scattering medium. Based on that method, broadband as well as frequency-resolved measurements of the diffusion constant are presented in controllable model media, such as these forests of steel rods. Experimental results and difficulties for measuring a reliable value for D on a real sample are discussed.


Abstract: We report on experiments in which a more viscous fluid displaces a less viscous one in a vertical cylindrical tube. These experiments were performed using silicone oils in a vertical pipette of small diameter. The more viscous fluid also had a slightly larger density than the less viscous fluid. In the initial configuration, the fluids were at rest, and the interface was nominally flat. A dye was added to the more viscous fluid for ease of observation of the interface between the fluids. The flow was initiated by pumping the more viscous fluid into the less viscous one. The displacement velocity was such that the Reynolds number was smaller than unity and the Peclet number for mass transfer between the fluids was large compared to unity. For upward displacement of the more viscous fluid from an initially stable configuration, an axisymmetric finger was observed under all conditions. However, a needle‐shaped spike was seen to propagate from the main finger in many cases, similar to that observed by Petitjeans and Maxworthy for the displacement of a more viscous fluid by a less viscous one.


We report the resonance voltage transformation effect of magnetoelectric particulate composite based transformers. The effect of transformer geometry and magnetoelectric composition was investigated to identify the range of transformation ratios. Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) was selected as the piezoelectric phase and NiFe1.9Mn0.1O4 (NFM), Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 (NZF), CoFe2O4 (CF) and Co0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 (CZF) were selected as the magnetostrictive phase for fabricating the transformer. It was found that the composition PZT – 20 NZF with cylindrical geometry exhibits a high voltage gain of 11. The magnitude of voltage gain is directly correlated with the mechanical quality factor (Qm). The results reported here present the possibility of developing magnetoelectric transformer for both step-up and step-down applications.


This study aims to analyze the critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills, analyzing whether the improvement of critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills that are taught by the problem-based learning model using mind map better than students who are taught by conventional learning. This research is a quasi-experimental research with two group pretest-posttest design. The research population is all students of class X SMA Negeri 2 Bandar (senior high school) in first semester, academic year 2017/2018. The study sample was taken randomly consisting of 64 students. Class X MIPA-1 is an experimental class, consisting of 32 students with learning problem model learning using mind map. Class X MIPA-3 is a control class consisting of 32 students using conventional learning. The research instrument uses essay test of critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills that have been declared valid. Data analysis using statistical t-test. The results showed that the average value of critical thinking skills and problemsolving skills using conventional learning was 61.09 and 61.88 were in a low category while the students applying the problembased learning model using mind map were 75.78 and 77.56 are in the moderate category. The result of hypothesis testing using independent sample t-test shows that each significance value (sig) <0.05 is 0.00 then H0 is rejected, it means that the skills of critical thinking and problem-solving skills of students who are treated with problem-based learning model using mind map is better than conventional learning, so it can be concluded that there is the effect of problem based learning model using mind map to improve critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills. Keywords— problem based learning model; mind map; critical thinking skills; problem-solving skills


This work aimed to analyze a customer experience with the brand and if it has a positive effect on the perceived quality of the medicines. The non-probabilistic sample included the participation of 209 individuals, who answered the questionnaire available on the electronic platform regarding Google Forms through social networks. To meet the central objective of this study, i.e., to test the hypothesis of the relationship between the experience of the drug brands and the perceived quality, equation modeling was used, even using the PLS-Sem statistical tool. The results achieved demonstrated the existence of a relationship between the experience of the brands with the perceived quality with a positive and predictive average effect, in addition, the results also showed that moderated by gender, the female coefficient increased whereas the male was not significant.


To achieve submillimetric spatial resolution, a new detection block has been designed for the LabPET II, a small animal PET scanner being developed at Université de Sherbrooke. Each detection block consists of 2 arrays of 4×8 avalanche photodiodes (APD) individually coupled to an 8×8 scintillator array, to form 64 independent and parallel DAQ channels. This new detection block entails an 8-fold increase in pixel density compared to the LabPET™ I. A 64-channel mixed-signal Application Specified Integrated Circuit (ASIC) was designed to extract relevant PET data in real time from the LabPET II detection blocks. The ASIC is expected to support up to 3000 PET events/sec per channel. In order to interface the ASICs forming the PET camera with the storage units, a real-time FPGA-based digital DAQ system was designed. The DAQ system allows event harvesting, processing and transmission to a distant computer for image reconstruction as well as system programming and calibration. Real-time event processing embedded in the DAQ includes energy computation using a time-over-threshold (TOT) conversion scheme, timing corrections and event sorting trees. A real-time coincidence engine analyzes events and only keeps relevant information to minimize data throughput and post-acquisition data processing. The architecture consists of 3 layers of FPGA-based electronics wired through gigabit links: a Front-End board extracts timing and energy along with a pixel address, a Hub board sorts incoming events chronologically and a Coincidence board matches coincident events and copes with randoms estimation. Every FPGA in the different layers is accessible through an Ethernet link. The real-time digital architecture sustains the required throughput of ~111 Mevents/s for a ~37000 channels scanner configuration.


The trypsin inhibitor, an antinutritional factor, which is abundant in dycotiledoneous and monocotyledoneous, is usually inactivated by heating treatment. The infl uence of pressure-cooking (121°C and 141kPa) for 30 min on, trypsin inhibitors concentration and inhibitors reactivation from ten Brazilian beans varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris L. namely: IAPAR-14, IAC-Carioca, Ruda, Corrente, IAC-Arua, IAPAR-16, IAPAR-57, IAC-Carioca Pyata, Carioca, Apore, were investigated. The inhibitors reactivation was evaluated in comparison with the activity of raw and pressure-cooking. For raw the in vitro protein digestibility mean values ranged from 40% (in Carioca cultivar) to 60% (in IAC-Arua cultivar), showing an increase from 11% to 37% using the autoclaving at 121°C and 141kPa. Among ten cultivars studied the trypsin inhibitor activity varied from 36.18UTI.mg-1 for IAC-Arua to 63.33UTI.mg-1 for IAPAR-16. Trypsin inhibitor activity was totally inactivated by pressure-cooking. The study of the trypsin inhibitors reactivation using double-digestive pepsin-pancreatin enzymes in vitro showed a recovering activity from 34% up to 100%. Native inhibitor is resistant to double- digestive pepsin-pancreatin proteolysis, whereas autoclaving to 121oC.30 min-1 results in a non-native conformation that is susceptible to proteolysis, improving the digestibility and inactivate differentially the activity of trypsin inhibitors. The results of the thermal treatment of the beans show inactivation of the inhibitors, which may be due to formation of high molecular weight aggregates with other substances of the grain. The pepsin-pancreatin digestion of the inactivated inhibitor restores the activity, probably due to its retention by the digested fragments.


This book offers step-by-step details on how to plan and execute library workshops and programs to inspire creativity in teens.
 Music, movies, graphic novels, and magazines for teens are now commonplace in libraries, and librarians are in a unique position to go beyond simply providing teens with access to them; they can engage teens in creating and sharing their own original content. Written in a light, accessible manner, this book empowers youth services librarians to do just that.
 Murder Mystery, Graphic Novels, and More provides instruction on hosting creative workshops dedicated to creating and publishing graphic novels; writing and performing interactive murder mystery events; creating animation films; and more―all within a reasonable budget. The chapter on creating graphic novels is itself an original graphic novel drawn by the author, who is also a comic book artist, and a portion of the book lists and explains different "creativity games" both short and long that may be used as everything from icebreakers to exercises to programs in their own right.


A CUK converter featuring clamping action, pulsewidth modulation, and soft-switching commutation is proposed to overcome the limitations of the conventional CUK converter. As the resonant circuits absorb almost all parasitic reactances of switches, including transistor output capacitances, this converter is suitable for high-frequency operation. Principle of operation, theoretical analysis, and simulation results are presented in this paper. Experimental results, taken from a laboratory prototype rated at 400 W, input voltage of 150 V, output voltage of 200 V, and operating at 100 kHz, are also presented. The efficiency obtained at full load of the power stage was 93%.


The article unwraps notions related to young African women's lifeworld experiences of physical disability. The study is positioned in the broad context of the theoretical frameworks of phenomenology, existential sociology, the social construction of reality, feminist disability theory, and intersectionality. Focus is given to the way social systems of cultural oppression and discrimination impact women with physical impairments and manifest in how they perceive and make meaning of their everyday life experiences. Women with physical impairments often experience a double measure of oppression—being both female and disabled. When these women try to engage in a normal life and interact with others, they experience barriers imposed on them by their social reality—particularly in the form of cultural norms and patriarchal ideals. There are also instances where participants demonstrate resilience in the face of negative social stereotyping, instances that clearly show that they are not different, and do not perceive themselves as being different to able-bodied women. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with eight young Black women who are living with physical disabilities in Lesotho, the objective of this article is to examine their everyday life experiences within a predominantly able-bodied society.


This article contains a biography of the author, taking into consideration the cultural landscape in which she was immersed all along. It also shows how her search for an identity and a position in the world shaped her orientation, first to feminism and then to psychotherapy. Beginning with her belonging to Orbach's self-help groups and evolving to a feminist and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapist, she later became a bioenergetic analyst only to join the relational turn in psychoanalysis after having met Jessica Benjamin in 2002 and having published a number of papers to deconstruct classical psychoanalytic thinking with the help of Judith Butler, Nancy Chodorow, Emilce Dio Bleichmar, and many others.


The immobilization of recombinant Bacillus subtilis in K-carrageenan gel beads has been performed in order to study the growth conditions inside the gel beads and to improve plasmid stability. Bacterial colonies showing high cell density were studied using scanning electron microscopy. A series of continuous cultures of free and immobilized B. subtilis MT119 (pHV1431, pIL252 and pIL252 Kpn) have been developed without selection pressure. In the free-cell systems, it was found that a loss of plasmid vectors occurred after a short period. In contrast, in the immobilized cell systems, plasmid-free segregants were not detected in any of the cases during the first 80 h of the culture.


Recently it has become possible to characterize turnover of different receptors using the irreversible receptor inactivating agent N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ). The mechanism of the EEDQ-evoked inactivation is due to creation of highly reactive mixed carbonic anhydrides from carboxyl groups, which react with a sterically accessible nucleophilic groups (e.g. free alpha-amino groups) of receptor peptides. The aim of this review is to describe basic theoretical and practical analyses in the receptor turnover measurement. The synthesis and degradation of receptors were shown as zero-order and first-order processes, respectively. Having made the above assumption it is very simple to characterize the receptor turnover in a culture tissue. However, a more complicated situation arises when EEDQ is used to assess an "ex vivo" (in vivo) receptor turnover. Furthermore, details which emerge during an analysis of the results of "ex vivo" receptor turnover measurements are discussed.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Malignant neuroblastoma is the most common extra cranial solid tumor in children and many pediatric patients with this tumor still face poor prognosis due to therapy resistance and relapse. Malignant neuroblastoma usually occurs in one of the adrenal glands but it may also appear in neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis. Most of the chemotherapeutic drugs for treating malignant neuroblastoma are used at higher doses that cause severe long-term organ toxicity in the patients. So, it is imperative to find out the most suitable natural compounds as promising therapeutic agents to improve therapeutic outcomes and enhance the survival rate of malignant neuroblastoma patients. Human malignant neuroblastoma SK-N-SH and SK-N-DZ cell lines contain a population of cells that express the stemness marker CD133+. The CD133+ neuroblastoma stem cells (NSC) may represent the underlying mechanism for resistance to conventional therapy and recurrence of this deadly malignancy in the patients. So, it is important to demonstrate that an experimental therapeutic agent is fully capable of inhibiting the growth of CD133+ NSC in vitro and in vivo. Some earlier studies indicated that the natural flavonoid quercetin (QCT) could inhibit autophagy, a potential survival strategy in solid tumors, through upregulation of cytosolic p53 and activation of caspase mediated apoptotic death. In current investigation, we isolated CD133+ NSC cell lines from the parental malignant neuroblastoma SK-N-SH and SK-N-DZ cell lines and tested therapeutic efficacy of QCT at different doses for inhibition of starvation-induced autophagy and promotion of apoptosis in CD133+ NSC in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicated that CD133+ NSC cell lines were more resistant to QCT than the parental malignant neuroblastoma SK-N-SH and SK-N-DZ cell lines. We observed inhibition of starvation-induced autophagy due to upregulation of cytosolic p53, inhibition of AMP activated protein kinase α (AMPKα), decreases in the autophagy promoting markers Beclin-1 and LC3 II, and increase in the autophagy inhibiting marker mTOR. Our results also indicated inhibition of the key molecular markers of cell proliferation (Cdk2 and pRb), unlimited growth (hTERT), and angiogenesis (VEGF) in both CD133+ NSC cell lines. We also found a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and enhancement of pro-apoptotic signaling in cell culture and animal models of CD133+ NSC following QCT treatment. Thus, our current results indicated for the first time that QCT suppressed the proliferation of CD133+ NSC by inhibiting autophagic flux and augmenting molecular mechanism of apoptotic death. Notably, QCT at a higher dose very efficiently blocked starvation-induced autophagy and enhanced apoptotic death in CD133+ NSC in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, our current investigation clearly showed significant anti-cancer effects of QCT for controlling growth of CD133+ NSC in vitro and in vivo.

Citation Format: Mrinmay Chakrabarti, Angela Murphy, Swapan K. Ray. Quercetin inhibited starvation-induced autophagy to increase apoptosis in CD133+ neuroblastoma stem cells in vitro and in vivo. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1011. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1011


This paper describes a cardinality constrained network flow structure whose special characteristics are used to analyse different risk aspects under an environment of uncertainty. The network structure developed is a suitable alternative to support financial planning and many other decision-making problems with limited resources. By setting a diversification level, we can manage systematic and non-systematic risks under a stochastic mixed integer linear programming framework. A dual decomposition method, Progressive Hedging (PH), is applied to more efficiently accommodate instances with large numbers of scenarios. We studied the impact of the level of the diversification on transaction costs and considered different factors that influence the performance of the algorithm. In particular, a Lagrangian bound is embedded to enhance the capacity of the method. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed decision support approach.


Abstract
Background: Struck-by injuries and death caused by dropped objects continue to be a prevalent problem in
 industries where work is conducted at height. Securing objects from height with tethers, especially hand tools used to
 conduct work, and an increase in regulatory oversight would reduce these incidences. Currently no research on the
 multifaceted impact of tethered tool use exists, but they are necessary to maintaining safety while working at heights.
Methods and findings: Due to the lack of information on tethered tool usage, it was necessary to develop and
 distribute a survey to gather data on tethered tool usage patterns, tool carrying methods, drop history and perceived
 risks while working at height. The survey was administered online for selected Wind Power Generation utilities as
 well as US Coast Guard employees. The majority (72.5%) of respondents used tethered tools as a general practice,
 while 27.5% of respondents did not. The frequency of usage was found to be correlated to the employee providing a
 tethered option for the tool. Other factors associated with increased tethered tool usage were: years of experience,
 increased perception of injury risk and having a history of dropping tools. Among two dozen tools identified by the
 users in both industries, the wrench, cordless drill, screwdriver, hammer and pliers were most frequently used and
 were also recommended for a tethered option while using them at heights.
Conclusion: Employers and employees must be trained to understand the safety benefits of using tethered
 tools, and tool designers must fabricate tools to facilitate comfort and ease of use during work, without causing
 interference to worker performance. In addition, developing appropriate tether attachment points on commonly worn
 tool-carrying methods, such as vests, backpacks and tool belts is another consideration in tethered tool design.
 Ultimately, regulatory development on tethered tool standards should be undertaken to increase usage in the field.


Background The duration of antidepressant use affects the treatment of depression. Using the National Health Insurance database, which covers almost the entire national population, we verified the factors associated with the inadequate short-term use of initially prescribed antidepressants and their effects on the relapse and recurrence of depressive episodes. Methods There were 752,190 patients included who had been newly prescribed antidepressants in 2012 with the diagnosis of depressive disorder. They were followed-up until December 31, 2015. They were classified as short-term and long-term antidepressant users depending on whether they used a specific initial antidepressant for at least four weeks. Sociodemographic, clinical, and medical utilization factors affecting the duration of antidepressant use were investigated. We also identified whether the duration of antidepressant use affected the risk of relapse and recurrence, which was defined by the restarting of antidepressants. Results Initial antidepressants were taken for less than 28 days by 458,057 (60.84%) patients. Tricyclic antidepressants were used as the initial antidepressant more frequently than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (64.5% versus 19.3%). The type of initial antidepressant, polypharmacy, psychiatric and medical comorbidities, type of insurance coverage, and type of medical institution visited were associated with short-term use. Short-term use marginally increased the risk of relapse and recurrence of depressive episodes (Hazard ratio: 1.06, 95% confidence intervals 1.048–1.075). Conclusions Short-term antidepressant use is widespread in Korea, and assessment in various aspects are necessary to set proper treatment plans.


The sustainability of effective researcher development provision post-Roberts requires re-orientations of our thinking in a number of ways. Developers need to think from the perspective less of national policy and institutional organisation and more of the developing practitioner. Their autonomy needs to be the focus, understood in the positive, Kantian sense, freedom to explore new avenues of scientific and other enquiry and to direct their own development, underpinned by sense of value, individually and as a peer group. This emphasises the place of consciousness and reason in the development process. Both proponents and opponents of the skills agenda at this level are stuck in a realist mindset which demands critique. It promotes, on the one hand, an unhelpful deficit model of skills as discrete concrete requirements and, on the other hand, gives licence to the equally unhelpful challenge that skills and academic endeavour are worlds apart. This session provides opportunity for participants to explore the implications of these lines of thinking for practice and policy, especially with the advent of the new Researcher Development Framework.


Much has been written on the effects of Mexican immigration in the U.S., but little exists regarding the ways in which transnationals, who have returned to Mexico, have adapted to and/or transformed Mexican society and the education system. This article is based on a descriptive qualitative study of five transnational teachers of English in Mexico who acquired English as children of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. The transnational cultural capital they gained in the U.S. in the form of English and U.S. cultural knowledge has proven to be highly valuable in Mexico. As teachers of English, they bring their transnational experiences and knowledge into their classrooms and teach "real" English because they assume that many of their working-class students will be forced to immigrate to the U.S. in the future. At the same time, they encourage the maintenance of English among their transnational students. The U.S. has much to learn from the Mexican education example by valuing the language and cultural skills that already exist within the confines of the U.S.


We present a computationally tractable scheme of time-dependent transport phenomena within openboundary time-dependent density functional theory. Within this approach all the response properties of a system are determined from the time propagation of the set of "occupied" Kohn-Sham orbitals under the influence of the external bias. This central idea is combined with an open-boundary description of the geometry of the system that is divided into three regions: left/right leads and the device region "real simulation region". We have derived a general scheme to extract the set of initial states in the device region that will be propagated in time with proper transparent boundary-condition at the device/lead interface. This is possible due to a new modified Crank-Nicholson algorithm that allows an efficient time-propagation of open quantum systems. We illustrate the method in one-dimensional model systems as a first step towards a full first-principles implementation. In particular we show how a stationary current develops in the system independent of the transientcurrent history upon application of the bias. The present work is ideally suited to study ac transport and photon-induced charge-injection. Although the implementation has been done assuming clamped ions, we discuss how it can be extended to include dissipation due to electron-phonon coupling through the combined simulation of the electron-ion dynamics as well as electron-electron correlations.


Abstract. Nitrous acid, HONO, is a key net photolytic precursor to OH radicals in the atmospheric boundary later. As OH is the dominant atmospheric oxidant, driving the removal of many primary pollutants and the formation of secondary species, a quantitative understanding of HONO sources is important to predict atmospheric oxidising capacity. While a number of HONO formation mechanisms have been identified, recent work has ascribed significant importance to the dark, ocean-surface mediated conversion of NO2 to HONO in the coastal marine boundary layer. In order to evaluate the role of this mechanism, here we analyse measurements of HONO and related species obtained at two contrasting coastal locations – Cape Verde (Atlantic Ocean), representative of the clean remote tropical marine boundary layer, and Weybourne (United Kingdom), representative of semi-polluted Northern European coastal waters. As expected, higher average concentrations of HONO (70 ppt) were observed in marine air for the more anthropogenically influenced Weybourne location compared to Cape Verde (HONO < 5 ppt). At both sites, the approximately constant HONO/NO2 ratio at night pointed to a low importance for the dark ocean-surface mediated conversion of NO2 into HONO, whereas the midday maximum in the HONO/NO2 ratios indicated significant contributions from photo-enhanced HONO formation mechanisms (or other sources). We obtained an upper limit to the rate coefficient of dark ocean-surface HONO-to-NO2 conversion of CHONO = 0.0011 ppb hr−1 from the Cape Verde observations; this is a factor of 5 lower than the slowest rate reported previously. These results point to significant geographical variation in the predominant HONO formation mechanisms in marine environments and indicate that caution is required when extrapolating the importance of such mechanisms from individual study locations to assess regional and/or global impacts on oxidising capacity. As a significant fraction of atmospheric processing occurs in the marine boundary layer, particularly in the tropics, better constraint of the possible ocean surface source of HONO is important for a quantitative understanding of chemical processing of primary trace gases in the global atmospheric boundary layer and associated impacts upon air pollution and climate.


Abstract Gender-based inequalities of access to health care are major public health issues. Studies performed in several countries and in some French regions showed that women had less access to kidney transplantation waiting list (KTWL) than men. Through a quantitative study based on REIN registry data, we analysed gender-based disparities in the access to KTWL in France. All incident patients who initiated dialysis from 2017 to 2019 and aged between 18 and 85 years old were included. Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted on age, comorbidities and neighbourhood deprivation level using European Deprivation Index (EDI), at national level and in all French regions, were performed. Among 29 395 patients who started dialysis in 2017-2019, 35% were women. 40% of women and 34% of men lived in most deprived areas. Men were more comorbid than women at dialysis start. At the national level, women had less access to the KTWL compared to men one and three years after dialysis start. Analyses were stratified by age (<60 and ≥ 60 years old). Only women aged more than 60 had less access to the KTWL one year (adjHR: 0.76 [0.71 - 0.82]) and three years (adjHR: 0.75 [0.71 - 0.81]) after dialysis start. At regional level, the same trends were found in Nouvelle Aquitaine and Pays de Loire one year after dialysis start and two more regions (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Île-de-France) 3 years after dialysis start. Gender-based disparities in KTWL persist even after controlling for EDI and comorbidities, especially among women over 60. These results are issued from a health service research project on gender-based disparities of access to KTWL in France. A qualitative study is ongoing to better understand the reasons of these disparities. Patients' perspectives on Kidney transplantation and nephrologists' practices are studied using Semi-structured interviews in three French regions.


Abstract Objectives: To determine whether macroscopic haematuria predicts urethrovesical anastomotic leakage after robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) as well as a cystogram. Patients and methods: Participants were recruited before cystogram and catheter removal 5–14 days after RALP surgery. Urine colour in the collection bag was classified according to a three-step scale (clear, light red and dark red) and leakages in cystogram were graded with a four-step scale (Grade 0–3). Diagnostic accuracy parameters were calculated for urine colour. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to evaluate other leakage risk factors. Results: Of 214 patients, 201 (94%) had clear, six (3%) had light red and seven (3%) had dark red coloured urine. In the cystogram, 20 (9%) patients had leakage; 14 had Grade 1, five Grade 2 and one Grade 3 leakage. Overall, specificity and sensitivity of urine colour in predicting anastomotic leakage were 0.97 (95% CI = 0.95–100) and 0.38 (95% CI = 0.17–0.59), respectively. Negative and positive predictive values were 94% and 62%, respectively. Other significant risk factors for anastomotic leakage were previous transurethral resection or radiation therapy to the prostate, non-waterproof anastomosis at surgery, postoperative pelvic haematoma, long catheterization and surgeon's inexperience. In patients with no other risk factors, test sensitivity improved to 0.80 (95% CI = 0.45–1.15) and negative and positive predictive values to 99% and 44%, respectively. Conclusion: This prospective single-arm trial indicates that in patients with clear urine and no other risk factors for anastomotic leakage, a cystogram examination before urethral catheter removal can be safely omitted.


Background Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of premature death which poses public health challenges worldwide. Previous studies have focused on the overall population in China. However variations in temporal and spatial pattern across subgroups remain unknown. This study was to analyze how the IHD burden among Chinese and subgroup populations changes in response to temporal and spatial trends from 1990-2016.Methods Based on data from the updated estimates in the 2016 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, we used years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to describe the IHD burden. The percentage and annual average percentage changes were applied to illustrate temporal and spatial variations of the IHD burden stratified by age-sex and province from 1990-2016, 1990-2005, and 2005-2016.Results YLD rates, YLL rates, and DALY rates for IHD underwent a notable increase among all age groups and increased by 119.4%, 83.3%, and 84.5% nationally from 1990-2016. In YLD rates, an evident rise was seen in females (124.4%) compared to males (114.0%) while males experienced a more substantial increase than that in females in YLL rates (99.3% vs. 60.5%) and DALY rates (99.7% vs. 63.2%) from 1990 to 2016. Compared with 1990-2005, annual average changes in overall population in YLL (3.5% vs. 1.8%) and DALY rates (3.5% vs. 1.9%) showed a tardier increase whereas higher annual average growth of YLD rates (3.5% vs. 4.0%) was observed from 2005-2016. Geographically, all provinces saw declines in YLLs/YLDs ratios from 2005-2016 with seventeen provinces showing an upward trend between 1990 and 2005. Most of the provinces in China witnessed a remarkable upsurge in the age-standardized DALY rate from 1990-2016 whereas the economically advantaged region Macao (52.2%) saw the most marked reduction.Conclusions China has made significant achievements in preventing premature death from IHD along with the increased risk of disability. Substantial disparities in the temporal and spatial trends of IHD burden emphasize concerns for elderly men and those in economically disadvantaged regions with resource constraints. By having identified these disparities, targeted IHD prevention and control will help to bridge these gaps in IHD burden.


BACKGROUND
The optimal therapy for mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas is surgical resection because these tumours are either premalignant (cystadenoma) or malignant.

CASE OUTLINE
A 44-year-old previously fit woman presented with sudden onset of epigastric pain. Clinical and laboratory findings were consistent with acute pancreatitis. Abdominal ultrasound scan demonstrated a mature 6-cm cyst in the tail of pancreas and no findings suggestive of cholelithiasis. These findings were confirmed by a CT scan, which also demonstrated splenic infarction and evidence of recent haemorrhage into the cyst. The patient's abdominal pain persisted after amylase levels returned to normal.

RESULTS
Splenic infarction, a mature cyst in the tail of the pancreas, and peripancreatic inflammation consistent with recent pancreatitis were found at laparotomy. Enbloc distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy were performed. Histological examination of the cyst wall demonstrated a focus of mucinous cystadenoma.

DISCUSSION
This case demonstrates that acute pancreatitis may be the first presentation of a cystic neoplasm.


With increasing core counts ushering in power-constrained 3-D multiprocessor system-on-chips (MPSoCs), optimizing communication power dissipated by the 3-D network-on-chip (NoC) fabric is critical. At the same time, with increased power densities in 3-D ICs, problems of IR drops in the power delivery network (PDN) as well as thermal hot spots on the 3-D die are becoming very severe. Even though the PDN and NoC design goals are nonoverlapping, both the optimizations are interdependent. Unfortunately, designers today seldom consider the design of the PDN, while designing NoCs. Moreover, for each new configuration of computation core and communication mapping on an MPSoC, the corresponding intercore communication patterns, 3-D on-chip thermal profile, as well as IR-drop distribution in the PDN can vary significantly. Based on this observation, we propose a novel design-time system-level application-specific cosynthesis framework that intelligently maps computation and communication resources on a die, for a given workload. The goal is to minimize the NoC power as well as chip-cooling power and optimize the 3-D PDN architecture; while meeting performance goals and satisfying thermal constraints, for a microfluidic cooling-based application-specific 3-D MPSoC. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed 3-D NoC-PDN cosynthesis framework is not only able to meet PDN design goals unlike prior 3-D NoC synthesis approaches, but also provides better overall optimality with the solution quality improvement of up to 35.4% over a probabilistic metaheuristic-based cooptimization approach proposed in prior work.