The uptake of [2-'*C]glycine by leaf discs of Perilla is shown to be a passive process which takes place primarily through the cut edges of the discs. Penetration of the label towards the centre of the discs proceeded only slowly and even after 24 hours on a radioactive solution the amount of isotope in the central region of the disc was no more than 30% of that in an equal area of the outer region. Incorporation of ^*C was stimulated by light and increased temperature and partially inhibited by chloramphenicol. The total uptake of label into the discs increased markedly in the course of senescence; this factor may provide useful information concerning the change in permeability of the tissues with age but makes it difficult to draw any firm con-clusions concerning the rates of protein synthesis in the course of senescence. The data obtained are discussed and serious doubts cast on the qualitative or quantitative value of many studies involving the use of leaf discs.


In all cases, when a material has to be used in medical applications, the knowledge of its physical, chemical and biological properties is of fundamental significance, since the direct contact between the biological system and the considered device could generate reactions whose long-term effects must be clearly quantified. The class of materials that exhibits characteristics that allow their use for the considered applications are commonly called bio- materials . Patients suffering from different diseases generate a great demand for real thera -pies, where the use of biomaterials are mandatory. Commonly, metallic biomaterials are used because their structural functions; the high strength and resistance to fracture they can offer, provide reliable performance primarily in the fields of orthopedics and dentistry. In metals, because of their particular structure, plastic deformation takes place easier, inducing good formability in manufacturing. The present paper is not encyclopaedic, but reports in the first part some current literature data and perspectives about the possibility of use different class of metallic materials for medical applications, while the second part recalls some results of the current research in this field carried out by the authors.


Background: Negatively charged very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL-χ) in metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients exerts cytotoxic effects on endothelial cells and atrial myocytes. Atrial cardiomyopathy, manifested by atrial remodeling with a dilated diameter, contributes to atrial fibrillation pathogenesis and predicts atrial fibrillation development. The correlation of VLDL-χ with atrial remodeling is unknown. This study investigated the association between VLDL-χ and left atrial dilatation. Methods: We evaluated 87 MetS and 80 non-MetS individuals between 23 and 74 years old (50.6% men) without overt cardiovascular diseases. Blood samples were collected while fasting and postprandially (at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 hours after a unified meal). VLDL was isolated by ultracentrifugation; the percentile concentration of VLDL-χ (%) was determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography. The correlations of left atrial diameter (LAD) with variables including VLDL-χ, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides, glucose, and blood pressure, were analyzed by multiple linear regression models. A hierarchical linear model was conducted to test the independencies of each variable's correlation with LAD. Results: The mean LAD was 3.4 ± 0.5 cm in non-MetS subjects and 3.9 ± 0.5 cm in MetS patients (P< 0.01). None of the fasting lipid profiles were associated with LAD. VLDL-χ, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, and blood pressure were positively correlated with LAD (all P<0.05) after adjustment for age and sex. We observed significant interactions between VLDL-χ and blood pressure, waist circumference, and hip circumference. When adjusted for obesity- and blood pressure-related variables, 2-hour postprandial VLDL-χ (mean 1.30 ± 0.61%) showed a positive correlation with LAD in MetS patients. Each 1% VLDL-χ increase was estimated to increase LAD by 0.62 cm. Conclusion: Postprandial VLDL-χ is associated with atrial remodeling. VLDL-χ is a novel biomarker for atrial cardiomyopathy in MetS patients and may be a therapeutic target. Trial registration: ISRCTN 69295295. Registered 9 June 2020.


Alexandre Astruc, in his brief manifesto 'The Birth of a New Avant-Grade: The Camera Stylo', emphasized the development of the portable 16mm camera as the essential element of his formulation of the 'camera as pen' and the emergent individual filmmaking that he envisioned would blossom from this development. Echoing Astruc's emphasis on the mobile camera, portable camera and sound recording equipment occupy a privileged place in histories of direct cinema, the mode of observational filmmaking deployed in the US in the late 1950s. Interestingly, a crude technological determinism functions in many such histories, one that argues, in effect, that new portable camera technology created the new form of documentary. Notably in this relation Richard Leacock, one of the founding practitioners of direct cinema and an inventor of the portable camera technology used by many direct cinema practitioners, refused to reduce the development of the form to the new equipment. While he acknowledged that the new camera technology made possible a new mobility in filming, Leacock also recognised that 'far more was involved [in the development of direct cinema] than the technology of portable equipment.' In this relation, as the film theorist Stella Bruzzi has astutely suggested, 'perhaps it is the ground-breaking performances in these films and not merely the arrival of lightweight cameras that revolutionised documentary.' This paper is concerned with the relationship of performance and direct cinema, and the ways in which the foundational premises and extant styles of direct cinema are revised within and through performances within D.A. Pennebaker's landmark direct cinema work 'Dont Look Back' (1967), a record of Bob Dylan's concert tour of England in May 1965. The analysis also makes reference to a number of works other than, though in varying ways associated with, 'Dont Look Back'.


Describes an approach allowing the analysis of human motion in 3D space. The system that we developed is composed of three CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras that capture synchronized image sequences of a human body in motion without the use of markers. Characteristic points belonging to the boundaries of the body in motion are first extracted from the initial images. 2D superquadrics are then adjusted on these points by a fuzzy clustering process. After that, the position of a 3D model based on a set of articulated superquadrics, each of them describing a part of the human body, is reconstructed. An optical flow process allows the prediction of the position of the model from its position at a previous time, and gives initial values for the fuzzy classification. The results that we present more specifically concern the analysis of movement disabilities of a human leg during gait. They are improved by using articulation-based constraints. The methodology can be used in human motion analysis for clinical applications.


In recent years, biometrics authentication becomes popular. No key is required in biometrics authentication while password must be remembered in password authentication. Moreover, living parts for biometrics authentication cannot be stolen with usual method. Therefore, reading devices for biometrics authentication on IT devices also gradually become popular. Especially, fingerprint readers are the most popular devices on IT devices since they are small and they can be attached with a few costs. However, there is a critical problem in biometrics authentication when information for biometrics authentication is once stolen. Especially, it is known that fingerprints can be copied with remaining prints on the surface of smart phones. Information for biometrics authentication cannot be changed. That is, the information never be used again to protect against the fraud use. From the above, the best way for authentication is changeable biometrics authentication. Information which is related with personal physical characteristics is required but it must be changeable. One of the examples is a sign with handwriting. In this method, personal characteristics of tracks, speed and pressure are used for personal identification and they are information in biometrics. Those characteristics cannot be change when the same sign is written by the same person, but the sign can be changed when the information for authentication is stolen. Usually, pen tablets or touch panels are used for signs in biometrics authentication. However, stylus pens for tablets bother managers in public use. Fingers for signs on touch panels are also exposed to the menace of smudge attacks. Therefore, in this paper, we use Leap Motion device for signs in biometrics authentication. In our authentication system, signs in the air can be used for personal identification. Personal characteristics of tracks, speed and inclination of fingers are captured and used for the identification.


Survival rates are a well-known marker for quality performance of a cardiac surgery department, as well as standard of procedures, freedom of reoperation, postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, improvement in New York Heart Association classification and quality of life after surgery. Until recently there has not been any great interest of surgeons in topics concerning the costs of postoperative care, as long as the results were successful. However, satisfactory results after cardiac surgery in aged people require successful procedures, as well as meticulous perioperative care. The expenses of healthcare are constantly growing and approaches to optimize costs in all departments of medicine have a high priority. Exact evaluation of comorbidities and prevention of complications in aged people, as well as attentive strategies concerning expenses, may help to reduce mortality, postoperative complications and costs.


Serum miRNA profiles are widely reported by many .research groups, but they do not always coincide well. The reason of this difference is suggested to be, at least in some cases, due to a difference in the RNA extraction or detection method. In this report, we compare the miRNA expression profiles of RNAs extracted from (1) extracellular vesicles precipitated by ultra-centrifuging (2) precipitation of ExoQuick (3) whole serum by QIAGEN miRNeasy (4) whole serum by Toray "3D-Gene" RNA extraction reagent from liquid sample kit. In addition to this, the comparison of data obtained by different detection tools will be also shown. In these days, the whole miRNA expression profiling can be done by multiple qRT-PCR, microarrays, and Next Generation Sequencing. However, the feature of each method will reflect to the obtained data and it is no surprise that data obtained by different tools do not match perfectly. We will compare the serum miRNA expression profiles detected by (1) "TaqMan" Array MicroRNA Card (2) QIAGEN miScript miRNA PCR Array (3) "3D-Gene" Human miRNA oligo chip, and discuss the base of method for serum miRNA profiling. Citation Format: Satoko Takizawa, Hideo Akiyama, Satoshi Kondo, Nobuyoshi Kosaka, Takahiro Ochiya. The difference of serum RNA profile: RNA extraction and detection method. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5294. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5294


Networks are pervasive across science and engineering, but seldom do we precisely know their topology. The information-theoretic notion of transfer entropy has been recently proposed as a potent means to unveil connectivity patterns underlying collective dynamics of complex systems. By pairwise comparing time series of units in the network, transfer entropy promises to determine whether the units are connected or not. Despite considerable progress, our understanding of transfer entropy-based network reconstruction largely relies on computer simulations, which hamper the precise and systematic assessment of the accuracy of the approach. In this paper, we present an analytical study of the information flow in a network model of policy diffusion, thereby establishing closed-form expressions for the transfer entropy between any pair of nodes. The model consists of a finite-state ergodic Markov chain, for which we compute the joint probability distribution in the stationary limit. Our analytical results offer a compelling evidence for the potential of transfer entropy to assist in the process of network reconstruction, clarifying the role and extent of tenable confounds associated with spurious connections between nodes.


This study is a complementary text that offers a reading of the works I produced in an intensive two year period and indicates the textual substructure them. The main theme of my projects has been the exploration of one's relationship with its surrounding space, which carries central importance in the construction of identity. In an epoch where the static four walled private space has been liquidated into a more performative sense of personal space, I investigated how people perform in the space and personalize it. I take the space as a playground where the two distinctive, different realms undulate, a ground for practicing the limits of two separate realms: public and private. With the tactics the subject develops, the space is tamed, domesticated, surmounted, and so called outside is incorporated into the territory of the subject; on the other hand, the surrounding environment also follows a similar path and responds to the subject's incorporation tactics.


When asking what astronomical observations are most relevant to meter-class telescopes we will get a lot of answers usually as many as astronomers have been interviewed. The aim of our review is to give some useful hints having observational practices and scientific projects carried out at the Rozhen National Observatory as examples. We discuss in brief the topics concerning observations of comets and asteroids observed both photometrically and positionally, exo-planets newly found and already known transits, optical monitoring of large variety of variable stars and stellar systems on different time-scales from short term to very long term, hunting for novae in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies, supernovae search and monitoring, active galactic nuclei and their photometric behavior.


Inspired from the biological immune system, we propose a local concentration (LC)-based feature extraction approach for anti-spam. The LC approach is considered to be able to effectively extract position-correlated information from messages by transforming each area of a message to a corresponding LC feature. Two implementation strategies of the LC approach are designed using a fixed-length sliding window and a variable-length sliding window. To incorporate the LC approach into the whole process of spam filtering, a generic LC model is designed. In the LC model, two types of detector sets are at first generated by using term selection methods and a well-defined tendency threshold. Then a sliding window is adopted to divide the message into individual areas. After segmentation of the message, the concentration of detectors is calculated and taken as the feature for each local area. Finally, all the features of local areas are combined as a feature vector of the message. To evaluate the proposed LC model, several experiments are conducted on five benchmark corpora using the cross-validation method. It is shown that the LC approach cooperates well with three term selection methods, which endows it with flexible applicability in the real world. Compared to the global-concentration-based approach and the prevalent bag-of-words approach, the LC approach has better performance in terms of both accuracy and F1 measure. It is also demonstrated that the LC approach is robust against messages with variable message length.


Three experiments examining repetition priming of personal names are reported. In each experiment, faces are used as prime stimuli and people's names as the test stimuli. Experiment 1 fails to demonstrate priming from faces to names when the same task—a familiar/ unfamiliar judgement—is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 2 shows that priming is observed when the same semantic judgement (British/ American) is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 3 shows that priming is observed when different semantic judgements (dead/ alive, British/ American) are made at prime and test phase. These results suggest that transfer appropriate processing cannot provide the sole account of repetition priming in person recognition. Instead, the results are interpreted in terms of a structural account of priming, embedded within an interactive activation and competition model of person recognition.


This paper proposes a new method, the gamble-tradeoff method, for eliciting utilities in decision under risk or uncertainty. The elicitation of utilities, to be used in the expected utility criterion, turns out to be possible even if probabilities are ambiguous or unknown. A disadvantage of the tradeoff method is that a few more questions usually must be asked to clients. Also, the lotteries that are needed are somewhat more complex than in the certainty-equivalent method or in the probability-equivalent method. The major advantage of the tradeoff method is its robustness against probability distortions and misconceptions, which constitute a major cause of violations of expected utility and generate inconsistencies in utility elicitation. Thus the tradeoff method retains full validity under prospect theory, rank-dependent utility, and the combination of the two, i.e., cumulative prospect theory.

The tradeoff method is tested for monetary outcomes and for outcomes describing life-duration. We find higher risk aversion for life duration, but the tradeoff method elicits similar curvature of utility. Apparently the higher risk aversion for life duration is due to more pronounced deviations from expected utility.


Climate anomalies in the southern high latitude associated with the Subtropical Dipole Mode (SDM) are investigated using a 23-year database consisting of SLP (sea level pressure), surface air temperature (SAT) and sea surface temperature (SST). The analysis depicts, for the first time, the spatial variability in the relationship of the above variables with the Subtropical Dipole Mode Index (SDI). It suggests that the SDM signal exists in the southern high latitudes and the correlation fields exhibit a wavenumber-3 pattern around the circumpolar Southern Ocean. Lead-lag correlation analysis used to the SLP, SAT, and SST anomalies with the SDI time series at the positive and negative correlation extremes shows that the southern-high-latitude climate responses to SDM almost instantaneously proposing the connection is by atmospheric and not by oceanic propagation.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between the presence of aPL and/or LA and all-cause mortality among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with and without SLE.

METHODS
We included ESRD patients >18 years old followed at an urban tertiary care centre between 1 January 2006 and 31 January 2014 who had aPL measured at least once after initiating haemodialysis. All SLE patients met ACR/SLICC criteria. APL/LA+ was defined as aCL IgG or IgM >40 IU, anti-β2glycoprotein1 IgG or IgM >40 IU or LA+. Deaths as at 31 January 2014 were captured in the linked National Death Index data. Time to death was defined from the first aPL measurement.

RESULTS
We included 34 SLE ESRD and 64 non-SLE ESRD patients; 30 patients died during the study period. SLE ESRD patients were younger [40.4 (12.5) vs 51.9 (18.1) years, P = 0.001] and more were women (88.2% vs 54.7%, P < 0.001) vs non-SLE ESRD patients. The frequency of aPL/LA+ was 24% in SLE and 13% in non-SLE ESRD (P = 0.16). Median (inter-quartile range) follow-up time was 1.6 (0.3-3.5) years in SLE and 1.4 (0.4-3.2) years in non-SLE, P = 0.74. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality for SLE patients who were aPL/LA+ vs aPL/LA- was 9.93 (95% CI 1.33, 74.19); the adjusted HR for non-SLE aPL/LA+ vs aPL/LA- was 0.77 (95% CI 0.14, 4.29).

CONCLUSION
SLE ESRD patients with aPL/LA+ had higher all-cause mortality risk than SLE ESRD patients without these antibodies, while the effects of aPL/LA on mortality were comparable among non-SLE ESRD patients.


Mr D is a 38-year-old African American man in whom AIDS had been diagnosed in 2001; he had responded well to antiretroviral therapy, with a recent CD4+ cell count of 376/µL and an HIV RNA level less than 50 copies/mL. He presented to our clinic complaining of a mildly tender "lump" on the left side of his neck, which he first noticed a week ago. He denied fever, chills, sweats, cough, anorexia, weight loss, and urinary symptoms but had a sore throat for 2 days.


The M_w 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake of October 16, 1999 was recorded by more than 300 stations of TriNet, which is administered cooperatively by the California Division of Mines and Geology's California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CDMG/CSMIP), California Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake occurred in a remote part of the Mojave Desert, approximately 190 km northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and there were no strong-motion stations close to the surface rupture. The nearest station, Hector, is about 27 km north of the epicenter; it recorded a peak horizontal ground acceleration of 0.33g. The two next closest stations, Amboy and Joshua Tree, are to the east and south, both at epicentral distances of about 50 km; each recorded peak ground accelerations of about 0.2g. The new digital instruments installed for the TriNet project recorded a large set of reliable data at epicentral distances up to 275 km. These data can significantly improve empirical peak ground motion attenuation relationships, which are usually developed for distances only up to 100 km (Boore et al., 1993, 1997) because adequate data have not been available at greater distances.
Hector Mine peak ground motions demonstrate reasonable agreement with empirical attenuation relationships for acceleration. In contrast, higher than expected ground velocities and displacements were recorded at epicentral distances of about 150 to 220 km, especially in the Los Angeles sedimentary basin, where anomalously high-amplitude displacements with periods of 6 to 7 sec were recorded in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and other areas. These long-period surface- or basin-generated waves can have significant effects on large structures.
The M_w 7.3 Landers earthquake of 1992 similarly produced strong, long-period waves in the basin. The peak ground motions produced by the Landers earthquake were on average 1.6 times higher than for the Hector Mine earthquake in the Los Angeles area.
Ground-motion data recorded by digital instruments were uniformly processed in the frequency band 0.067 to 46 Hz (0.022–15 sec). The processed data set includes records from 213 ground-response stations. In an effort to make strong-motion data available quickly to the engineering and scientific communities, important records from this event were made available by file transfer protocol (ftp) beginning the day of the earthquake.


This study investigated the effect of light on the short-term metabolic fate of I4C-bicarbonate in zooxanthellae and animal tissue of the coral Stylophora pistillata (Esper, 1797) and on the specific activity of host enzymes involved in the metabolism of carbon. Short-term incubations of coral colonies were carned out In sltu at Bowl Reef (Great Barrier Reef, Australia) at depths of 5 and 30 m to measure rates of oxygen production and consumption and rates of 14C flxation Short-term 14C incubation experiments were also carried out under controlled conditions In the laboratory. Additional samples were collected from 5, 10, 15 and 20 m at Chicken Reef (GBR) to de te rmne the specific enzyme act~vity of coral tlssues from different depths in the water column Light and depth both affected the distribution of 'v anlong photosynthetic products but neither affected translocation rate measured by the In vlvo method (60.4%). The majority of the I4C label was recovered in lipid (33 to 94 %) and watersoluble fractions (5 to 67 The zooxanthellae incorporated more 14C into lipids than into watersoluble compounds (88 to 94 % vs 4 to 7 %) whlle the animal exhibited higher I4C levels in water-soluble compounds than In lipids (44 to 67 % vs 33 to 56 %). Algal fractions showed decreased I4C incorporation into lipids and increased I4C incorporation into water-soluble compounds with increasing depth or decreasing irradiance. The spec~flc activlty of 3-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase increased with depth supporting the hypothesis that lipids are being catabolized more rapidly at greater depths Citrate synthase and hexokinase activities also decreased with depth The decrease in cytochrome oxidase act~vity wlth depth 1s consistent with a concomitant decrease in respirat~on as depth increases. These results confirm that the carbon cycling In S. plstlllata is partially dependent on light.


Few, if any, regulations over the past decade have received the publicity or engendered the controversy of OSHA's ergonomics regulation. Some may see the ergonomics rule as the paradigmatic instance of procedural hurdles holding up and eventually destroying a regulation. The purpose of this article is to examine the role that procedure played in the ergonomics rulemaking and to generate hypotheses about how procedural controls work in general. To draw lessons from the ergonomics rulemaking I have conducted analyses of the four publicly available versions and conducted interviews with seven high ranking officials at OSHA and the Small Business Administration. I find that of the procedural hurdles faced by OSHA, the notice and comment requirement had the largest impact on the final rule. OMB review and requirements to conduct a cost benefit analysis served largely as a fire alarm to political overseers and the required small business panel had largely symbolic effects. The more traditional control of Congressional budgetary oversight had the greatest effect by delaying the rule for three years which eventually doomed OSHA's attempts to regulate.


After the adoption of RegFD, quarterly earnings conference calls (ECCs) have become an important channel for voluntary corporate disclosure. However, the extent to which the information content affects capital markets is little researched. Using Stanford NER algorithm and Loughran and McDonald (2011) wordlists on 2,639 conference calls transcripts, I examine the incremental informativeness of quarterly earnings conference calls in terms of tone and specificity, and the impact of their interplay in capital markets. In this thesis, I perform a path analysis including analysts' tone and its impact on capital markets, measured in terms of cumulative abnormal returns in a two-day window (CAR 0,1). The mediating variable is information specificity, as a proxy for a quality characteristic of information driven by analysts' tone. I find that analysts' tone is a significant direct and indirect predictor of abnormal returns (CAR 0,1). While the direct path has been confirmed by prior literature, I document the importance of indirect paths of how analysts' tone affects CAR (0,1). Specifically, I document that a more negative analysts' tone during Q&A sessions affects positively information specificity disclosed by managers in their answers. Further, I document that information specificity is associated positively with CAR (0,1). My findings are consistent with prior literature establishing the importance of Q&A session of ECCs in explaining post-earnings announcement drifts. Further, I contribute by documenting a significant mediating path in the analysis, information specificity. These findings are of interest to investors, analysts and regulators to better understand the analysts' role in shaping firms' information environment and quality.


The authors provide a definition of positive psychology and suggest that psychologists should try to cultivate a more appreciative perspective on human nature. Examples are given of a negative bias that seems to pervade much of theoretical psychology, which may limit psychologists' understanding of typical and successful human functioning. Finally, a preview of the articles in the special section is given.


In this empirical paper, the long-run relations between growth and unemployment in Turkey has been tested. ARDL bound test which is a long-term co-integration test has been used based on Turkish real gross domestic product and the number of unemployed time series in 1962-2014. The results of bound test conclude that there is no evidence of a long-run relationship between growth and unemployment in Turkey. This empirical study to some extent supports the availability of "jobless" growth notion which has been debated in Turkey.


The nutrition transition theory concerns the broad changes in the pattern of human diet that have occurred across time and space. The idea was created by Dr. Barry Popkin and arose from the demographic transition theory, which describes the changes in human birth and death patterns, and the epidemiological transition theory, which describes the changes in causes of death. The nutrition transition is described by five stages: food gathering, famine, receding famine, degenerative diseases, and behavioral change toward a healthy, balanced diet. Currently, the vast majority of the world's people remain in pattern 3 (receding famine) or pattern 4 (degenerative diseases). They are either emerging from undernutrition because of a lack of calories or certain nutrients or they are engaged in a modern form of malnutrition consisting of too-many calories from unhealthy sources. The modern diet of pattern 4 is high in oils, sugars, animal products, fat, cholesterol, sweeteners, and processed and prepared foods. The results of this transition are the diminishment of famine and the diseases that accompany it, which have plagued humankind for most of our existence. Unfortunately, this is complemented by the rapid growth of nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases (NR-NCDs). The most obvious of these is obesity, but it also includes diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and the metabolic syndrome. The transition to this new diet has already occurred throughout the developed world and is occurring in the developing nations at an alarming speed. However, the shift between eating patterns remains incomplete, and many places face both the diseases of undernutrition and malnutrition, the so-called double burden. The negative outcomes of these two patterns are exacerbated among the world's poor; both the poor portions of the developed world and the poor nations of the developing world. This topic is one that overlaps with many academic fields, including medicine, nutrition, public health, epidemiology, and demography. As geographers we will attempt to provide a broad introduction to the theory, but we believe that geography is a particularly relevant perspective. The nutrition transition is spatially heterogeneous; a slum household in a city may be in stage 2 of the transition, while a nearby luxury home may be in stage 5. Geography and geographical methods sensitive to spatial scale are therefore critical. Since much of the research on this topic is in public health, there is a great opportunity for geographers to become more active in solving existing nutrition paradoxes. This article will provide literature on the current status of nutrition transition throughout the world, with the greater focus on the newer pattern of malnutrition. This will include its causes, its effects, related concepts, responses, and future directions.


A major characteristic of the 21 century knowledge economy is an increasing demand for global standards and best practices. Within the education industry, and specifically in developing countries like Nigeria, the demand is more deeply felt as practitioners grapple with the growing demands for higher education on one hand, and with the demand from consumers of the products and services for improved quality on the other hand. While assuring quality is applicable to all educational delivery systems, Open and Distance Learning (ODL) differs quite substantially from conventional education systems in several ways, and one of which is the core competency requirements for academic staff. The success and sustainability of ODL systems is dependent on the availability of a critical mass of experts in the field. In Nigeria, the goal to achieve adequate levels of competency in ODL is yet to be realised. This study has two aims: One, it seeks to identify core competencies in key pedagogical thematic areas of the ODL system; and second, it seeks to use the findings to determine competency gaps of academic staff in an ODL system, the National Open University of Nigeria. The pedagogical areas are course material development, tutorial facilitation; assessment and evaluation; and research and evaluation. It is expected that this study will contribute to informing the design of training programmes that will bridge competency gaps and develop competencies to achieve sustainable good practices in ODL.


We recorded all-night sleep EEG's of six healthy male volunteers (age 23 to 29 years) from F3, F4, P3, P4, 01, 02, T3, T4 to Cz as reference electrode. Power and coherence spectra were calculated for ten frequency bands from 0-30 cps. We examined their changes through the different cycles of all sleep stages. In general there was a decrease in power as well as in coherence from the 1st to the 4th cycle of the different sleep stages with some variations depending on frequency and derivation. The highest power was most often in the 1st cycle in stages REM, 2, 3 and 4, whereas in stage 1 it was most often in the 2nd cycle. The trends in power from the 1st to the 4th cycle were similar for stages REM and 2 with a power decrease from the 1st to the 2nd cycle. In stage 1 there was most often a power increase between these two cycles. Coherence maxima were for stages REM, 1, 2 and 3 most often in the 1st cycle, for stage 4 most often in the 2nd cycle. The coherence trends were similar for stages 1 and 2 with a decrease most often from the 1st to the 2nd cycle. In stage REM the decline was more constantly found from the 2nd to the 3rd cycle. The power trends were more consistent than the coherence trends. We found more often similar power changes from the 1st to the 4th cycle of a specific sleep stage than similar coherence changes.


OBJECTIVES--To assess (a) the prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, (b) the association between urinary albumin excretion and disease activity as estimated by the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C reactive protein (CRP), and (c) the association between urinary albumin excretion and treatment with antirheumatic drugs. METHODS--Sixty five patients with rheumatoid arthritis attending two rheumatology clinics were compared with 51 control subjects matched by age and sex. The controls consisted of 20 healthy subjects, 16 patients with osteoarthritis and 15 with non-articular rheumatism. Patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or evidence of previous renal disease were not included. Urinary albumin was assayed by immunoturbidimetry in random urine samples on two occasions within seven months. The results were expressed as the ratio of urinary albumin to urinary creatinine ratio. Disease activity was assessed by the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and CRP. A drug history for the year before entry to the study was obtained for each patient. RESULTS--Urinary albumin to creatinine ratio in patients with rheumatoid arthritis was significantly greater than in controls (p < 0.01). Microalbuminuria (urinary albumin to creatinine ratio 3-30 mg/mmol in either or both urine samples) was present in 27.7% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 7.8% of the control subjects. A significant relation was noted between urinary albumin to creatinine ratio and CRP, and the duration of disease. The number of patients treated with either gold or penicillamine was significantly greater in patients with microalbuminuria than in patients with normoalbuminuria. CONCLUSIONS--Microalbuminuria is frequently present in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Treatment with gold and penicillamine seems to increase the risk of developing microalbuminuria. Urinary albumin measured by immunochemical methods is a simple and sensitive test to detect early subclinical renal dysfunction and drug induced renal damage in rheumatoid arthritis. Urinary albumin excretion was found to be significantly correlated with CRP and may be a sensitive indicator of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.


Video understanding tasks take many forms, from action detection to visual query localization and spatio-temporal grounding of sentences. These tasks differ in the type of inputs (only video, or video-query pair where query is an image region or sentence) and outputs (temporal segments or spatio-temporal tubes). However, at their core they require the same fundamental understanding of the video, i.e., the actors and objects in it, their actions and interactions. So far these tasks have been tackled in isolation with individual, highly specialized architectures, which do not exploit the interplay between tasks. In contrast, in this paper, we present a single, unified model for tackling query-based video understanding in long-form videos. In particular, our model can address all three tasks of the Ego4D Episodic Memory benchmark which entail queries of three different forms: given an egocentric video and a visual, textual or activity query, the goal is to determine when and where the answer can be seen within the video. Our model design is inspired by recent query-based approaches to spatio-temporal grounding, and contains modality-specific query encoders and task-specific sliding window inference that allow multi-task training with diverse input modalities and different structured outputs. We exhaustively analyze relationships among the tasks and illustrate that cross-task learning leads to improved performance on each individual task, as well as the ability to generalize to unseen tasks, such as zero-shot spatial localization of language queries.


Abstract In this article I defend the thesis that modern computer science has a significant philosophical potential, which is expressed in a form of worldview, called here informational worldview (IVW). It includes such theses like: a) each being contains a certain informational content (which may be revealed by computer science concepts, such as code or algorithm), b) the mind is an information processing system (which should be modeled by means of data processing systems), c) cognition is a type of computation. These (pre)philosophical theses are accepted in many sciences (e.g. in cognitive science), and this is both an expression and strengthening of the IWV. After a general discussion of the relations between philosophy, particular sciences and the worldview, and then the presentation of the basic assumptions and theses of the IWV, I analyze a certain specification of thesis b) expressed in the statement that "the mind is the Turing machine". I distinguish three concepts of mind (static, variable and minimal) and explain how each of them is connected with the concept of the Turing machine.


Opioid use after kidney transplant has been shown to be a risk factor for chronic opioid use, which leads to an increased risk of mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the early impact of a multimodal pain regimen and education quality improvement program on opioid use after kidney transplant 2 months after implementation. This was a retrospective, single‐center analysis of post‐operative opioid use, comparing the average daily Morphine milligram equivalents (MME) of the patients who received education on opioids and a multimodal pain regimen (preoperative TAP/QL block, scheduled APAP and gabapentin) compared to a historical control group. Despite having no differences in pre‐transplant opioid exposure, daily and overall inpatient opioid utilization was significantly reduced in the multimodal pain protocol cohort (38.6 vs 8.0 MME/day; P < .001); 5% of patients in the multimodal pain protocol cohort were discharged with an opioid prescription, compared to 96% of controls (P < .001). Our early results demonstrate that a multimodal pain protocol can effectively and dramatically reduce short‐term opioid utilization in kidney transplant recipients.


ABSTRACT. Silva O.R., Andriotti P.A. & Bittencourt A.J. [Vinasse and sugar cane effect in Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae) adults emergence.] Efeito do vinhoto e cana de acucar na viabilidade de adultos de Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae). Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinaria, 35(Supl.2):61-67, 2013. Departamento de Medicina e Cirurgia Veterinaria, Instituto de Veterinaria, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Campus Seropedica, BR 465, Km 7, Seropedica, RJ 23897-970, Brasil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Eggs from Stomoxys calcitrans flies were maintained in diets prepared with sugarcane and 3 different levels of vinasse; the emergence of adults, their viability, and the development period from eggs to adults were evaluate in these different diets. Groups of 50 eggs each (with 4 repetitions) were incubated in climate chambers at 27oC and 80% RH. Groups of 25 eggs each (with 3 repetitions) were maintained at room temperature in the laboratory bench (27±1oC and RH 70-80%). Eggs were held in diets prepared with crushed sugarcane and vinasse, in different proportions as follows: group I) 1 Kg sugarcane plus 500 mL vinasse; group II) 1 Kg sugarcane plus 1 L vinasse; group III) 1 Kg sugarcane plus 2 L vinasse. Control groups (absence of vinasse) were prepared for each diet with distilled water and sugarcane. It was observed a better development of the eggs into adults in the diets with low amounts of vinasse; accordingly, in the diets with higher amounts of vinasse, the emergence of adult flies was reduced. The development period from egg to adult varied from 11 to 14 days. In the groups with more vinasse, flies emergence period was longer (14 days) without, however, producing more adults. In the groups with lower concentration of vinasse, the adult emergence period was shorter (12 to 13 days), and more adults were obtained from eggs. Fungal contamination was observed in the diets of the groups that were incubated in climate chambers; this contamination was not observed in the groups held at room temperature on the laboratory bench. Groups left on the bench yielded better results in comparison with groups incubated in climate chambers, once viability of bench groups were always more elevated (52% in group II). Associating the results of adult emergence with the amount of available substrate, it is possible to suggest that there is a potential for 1,000 to 13,000 adult emergencies of flies per ton of straw produced in the mechanical harvesting of sugarcane. These numbers can be increased 10 times since for each hectare of sugarcane harvested, 10 tons of straw are left on the ground. Vinasse associated with sugarcane might assist in the development of S. calcitrans adults, as it keeps the moisture of the material and facilitates fermentation of what remains on the soil after sugarcane harvesting, making it more attractive for the stable fly development. This condition may lead to the appearance of outbreaks in a few generations of flies due to the amount of substrate available and the large expanse of land occupied by sugarcane culture.


Neutron spectra in four angular directions at different space points inside 10 cm thick light-water assemblies with transverse dimensions 5*5 cm2 and infinity are reported. It is found that the neutron distribution attains asymptotic conditions within 3 cm even inside the 5*5*10 cm3 water assembly. However, the asymptotic spectrum in the first angular direction is harder than a Maxwellian of moderator temperature even in an infinite slab of thickness 10 cm and further, the hardening increases as the transverse dimension is reduced.


The actions of autonomous mobile robots in stochastic medium imply certain intellectual behavior, which allows fulfilling the mission in spite of the environmental uncertainty and the robot's influence on the characteristics of the medium. To provide such a behavior, the controllers of the robots are considered as probabilistic automata with decision-making and, in some cases, learning abilities. General studies in this direction began in the 1960s (Fu & Li, 1969; Tsetlin, 1973) and resulted in practical methods of on-line decision-making and navigation of mobile robots (Unsal, 1998; Kagan & Ben-Gal, 2008). Along with the indicated studies, in recent years, the methods of mobile robot's navigation and control are considered in the framework of quantum computation (Nielsen & Chuang, 2000), which gave rise to the concept of quantum mobile robot (Benioff, 1998; Dong, et al., 2006). Such approach allowed including both an environmental influence on the robot's actions and the changes of the environment by the robot by the use of the same model, and the ability to apply the methods of quantum communication and decision-making (Levitin, 1969; Helstrom, 1976; Davies, 1978; Holevo, 2001) to the mobile robot's control. Following Benioff, quantum robots are "mobile systems that have a quantum computer and any other needed ancillary systems on board... Quantum robots move in and interact (locally) with environments of quantum systems" (Benioff, 1998). If, in contrast, the quantum robots interact with a non-quantum environment, then they are considered as quantum-controlled mobile robots. According to Perkowski, these robots are such that "their controls are quantum but sensors and effectors are classical" (Raghuvanshi, et al., 2007). In the other words, in the quantum-controlled mobile robot, the input data obtained by classical (non-quantum) sensors are processed by the use of quantum-mechanical methods, and the results are output to classical (non-quantum) effectors. In this chapter, we present a brief practical introduction into quantum computation and information theory and consider the methods of path planning and navigation of quantumcontrolled mobile robots based on quantum decision-making.


The conventional definition of potential energy leads, considered from a fundamental scientific point of view, to absurd consequences. It is strongly advised to eliminate the intermediate variable 'work' in the definition of potential energy and, as a result, to reverse the boundaries in the definite integral.


This article explores the meaning and use in Japan of the hara obi (belly band), first attested in the eighth-century chronicle Kojiki, tracing its changing medical, religious, ritual, and literary significance up to the present day. While some Tokugawa-era doctors disparaged the hara obi's medical value, it continued to play a role in prenatal care which continues today, a role enhanced by its function as a religious talisman and an object of folk tradition. This complex of effective and affective meanings has contributed to the hara obi's survival alongside modern birth technology, a survival chronicled and reflected upon by contemporary Japanese women's writing on pregnancy and childbirth.


The smart house (SH) structural scheme, the general performance algorithm of the SH system, and the SH system model based on colored Petri nets, which enables exploring dynamics of the whole system as well as internal interaction of its main structural and functional subsystems at the system level design, have been developed.


Tebuquine is a 4-aminoquinoline that shows significantly more potency as an antimalarial than amodiaquine and chloroquine both in vitro and in vivo. To explore the conformation in the rate-limiting step and to elucidate pharmacophoric properties of tebuquine-related analogues, molecular shape analysis (MSA) along with molecular field analysis (MFA) methods were applied on a series of 5-[(7-chloro-4-quinolinyl)amino]-3-[(alkylamino)methyl][1,1'-biphenyl]-2-ol analogues and their Nomega-oxides possessing antimalarial activity. The study was performed using 45 compounds in which 37 molecules were taken as a training set for the derivation of the 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship models and eight molecules were kept as a test set to evaluate the predictive ability of the derived models. Both methods were analyzed in terms of their predictive abilities and produced comparable results with good conventional and cross-validated r2 values (0.908 and 0.886, respectively, for the MFA model and 0.846 and 0.812, respectively, for the MSA model). In external data set prediction, the MSA model scored much better than MFA. Steric, electrostatic, and hydrogen-bond donor/acceptor fields of molecules were found to be relevant descriptors for structure-activity relationships. The inclusion of polar solvent-accessible charged surface area and spatial descriptors in the MSA model generation resulted in a model with significant predictive ability for the test set molecules. This indicates the importance of the orientation of conformationally favored molecules inside the receptor site and solvation of the charged surfaces of the molecule by a polar solvent for the activity of the molecule. The results provided the appropriate tools for predicting the affinity of related compounds using a ligand-based approach, and for guiding the design and synthesis of novel and more potent antimalarial agents.


For optimal design of constant stress accelerated life test(CSALT) with two-stress, if the stresses could not reach the highest levels simultaneously, the test region becomes non-rectangular. For optimal CSALT design on non-rectangle test region, the present method is only focused on non-rectangle test region with simple boundary, and the optimization algorithm is based on experience which can not ensure to obtain the optimal plan. In this paper, considering the linear-extreme value model and the optimization goal to minimize the variance of lifetime estimate under normal stress, the optimal design method of two-stress type-I censored CSALT plan on general non-rectangular test region is proposed. First, two properties of optimal test plans are proved and the relationship of all the optimal test plans is determined analytically. Then, on the basis of the two properties, the optimal problem is simplified and the optimal design method of two-stress CSALT plan on general non-rectangular test region is proposed. Finally, a numerical example is used to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the method. The result shows that the proposed method could obtain the optimal test plan on non-rectangular test regions with arbitrary boundaries. This research provides the theory and method for two-stress optimal CSALT planning on non-rectangular test regions.


My master's thesis researches the relationship between shape and colour in abstract art expression. The research problem is attended to by the help of theoretical and empirical research, and with three different approaches. The theoretical part analyses theoretical art problem of the relationship between colour and shape in abstract painting by the help of a descriptive method and by the help of studying the corresponding literature. All these will be done on the basis of findings of different authors who were also artists and art theorists: from the ''father of abstract painting'' Vasilij Kandinski to Milan Butina, who was an artist and theorist, and the first one to systematically articulate the basic acknowledgments about art elements and the relationship between them. My findings will be supported by the ones of Anton Trstenjak from the field of psychology of colours. The two empirical parts of my thesis, based on the theoretical part, follow. With my author work I am going to create a series of digital abstract pictures and analyse them with the help of the method of the formal art analysis according to the theoretical basis with which I am going to verify my work. On the basis of the theoretical research I am going to formulate the relationship between the shape and colour in abstract art expression as a pedagogical problem, related to the curriculum for secondary schools educating the future staff for preschool education with the content of the two modules I teach: Art Expression and Creative Expression. I am going to make an action survey in the form of three four hour presentations with the group of thirty students. The relationship between shape and colour is one of the key issues with which many of the art masters were trying to deal. The issue was not often researched in an artistic theory field and especially not in the field of art pedagogic. Thus my research is going to contribute to the development of art theory and art didactics in this field. It is going to be the basis of my writing a handbook of art expressions for preschool education dedicated to internal use. The art works of the students, which are going to be created during the process, are going to be exhibited at the end of education course with the aim to enrich the cultural life of all the programme's participants and also of the people living locally.


This chapter describes reference dilution (MIC) and disk diffusion antimicrobial susceptibility test methods for nonfastidious, aerobic bacteria. It describes CLSI (United States) and EUcst (European) reference methods and standardized disk diffusion methods. The procedure for performing each test type is described as well as quality control procedures. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. Finally, the most current interpretive breakpoint criteria for MIC and disk tests from the CLSI are listed.


To ensure delivery of high-quality osteoarthritis (OA) care, structured care models incorporating patient education and exercise are increasingly implemented in primary care 1. A goal is to improve patients' physical function and coping with daily life demands and activities. Yet, there is limited knowledge regarding the type and severity of activity limitations experienced by people with hip and knee OA.1) To map activity limitations reported by patients with hip and knee OA participating in a research study implementing an OA care model in primary care. 2) To investigate potential changes in self-reported difficulty performing these activities from baseline to 12-weeks follow-up.A structured OA care model was implemented in six Norwegian municipalities between January 2015 and October 2017, using a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized controlled design. Implementation was facilitated by interactive workshops for general practitioners and physiotherapists (PTs). The PTs provided a 3-hour, group-based patient education program followed by individually tailored 8-12 weeks exercise with twice weekly 1-hour supervised group sessions. Patients with clinically or radiologically verified symptomatic hip or knee OA ≥45 years were eligible. Patients who received the new model of care completed the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) at baseline by identifying between one and three "important activities that you are unable to do or are having difficulty with because of your hip or knee OA". The patients rated their performance of the reported activities on an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) ranging from 0 (unable to perform activity) to 10 (perform activity with no problems). After 12 weeks the patients re-rated their previously identified activities. The reported activities were linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) at Chapter and Domain (second and third) level. Absolute change in scores from baseline to follow-up was calculated as the mean score of the reported activities. Change from baseline to follow-up was investigated using paired samples t-test. P-value was set to <0.05. Clinically important change was regarded 2 points on the 0-10 scale.A total of 284 patients received the new model of care. The mean age was 63 (SD 10) years, and 211 (74%) were female. The main affected OA joint was the knee for 174 (61%), the hip for 100 (35%) and other joints (e.g. hand) for 9 (3%). The PSFS was completed by 152 (53%) patients, of which 13 reported one, 42 reported two and 97 reported three activities. A total of 382 activities were linked with ICF. Of these, 362 (95%) were linked to the Activities and Participation chapter (D). On second-level, 318 (83%) activities were linked to the Mobility domain (D4). On the third-level, the majority of activities were linked to the domains Changing body positions (d410) (26%), Walking (d450) (23%) and Moving around (d455) (25%). The patients reported significantly less difficulty performing their self-reported activities at 12 week follow-up (4.1 (SD 1.7) versus 6.3 (SD 1.8), mean change 2.1 (95% CI 1.8, 2.5), p<0.001).The majority of activity limitations reported by patients receiving a structured OA care model in primary care were within the ICF Mobility domain. The most common third-level ICF domains were Changing body positions, Walking and Moving around. After participating in OA patient education and structured 8-12 weeks of exercise, the patients reported a statistically significant and clinically important improvement in the difficulty of performing their individual activities.[1]Allen KD, Choong PF, Davis AM, et al. Osteoarthritis: Models for appropriate care across the disease continuum. Best practice & research. Clinical rheumatology. 2016;30(3):503-535.None declared


The World Wide Web has become the primary means for information dissemination. Due to the limited resources of the network bandwidth, users always suffer from long time waiting. Web prefetching and Web caching are the primary approaches to reducing the user perceived access latency and improving the quality of service. In this paper, a SPN (Stochastic Petri Nets) model of Web prefetching and caching system is constructed, and based on which, the performance analysis of the integrated Web prefetching and caching model are made. The performance metrics latency, throughput are compared and analyzed theoretically. Simulations show that compared with caching mechanism, Web prefetching mechanism can further reduce the access latency, improve the throughput and the hit ratio efficiently. The performance evaluation based on the SPN model provides an implementation basis for Web prefetching and caching.


Moving targets often appear defocussed in SAR images due to their relative motion with respect to the stationary scene. In several applications that require target classification and/or recognition an unfocused image of a target would likely lead to misclassification, therefore decreasing classification performance. In this paper the authors present a new tool for automatically detecting and refocussing maritime moving targets starting from satellite Single Look Complex (SLC) SAR images. Preliminary results obtained by applying the proposed technique to Cosmo SkyMed (CSK) SLC SAR images show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Traditional feedforward structures suffer from performance constraints caused by the complex adder before quantizer. This paper presents an improved 4th-order 1-bit sigma-delta modulator which has a simple adder and delayed input feedforward to relax timing constraints and implement low-distortion. The modulator was fab- ricated in a 0.35 m CMOS process, and it achieved 92.8 dB SNDR and 101 dB DR with a signal bandwidth of 100 kHz dissipating 8.6 mW power from a 3.3-V supply. The performance satisfies the requirements of a GSM system.


Stochastic optimization methods have been hugely successful in making large-scale optimization problems feasible when computing the full gradient is computationally prohibitive. Using the theory of modified equations for numerical integrators, we propose a class of stochastic differential equations that approximate the dynamics of general stochastic optimization methods more closely than the original gradient flow. Analyzing a modified stochastic differential equation can reveal qualitative insights about the associated optimization method. Here, we study mean-square stability of the modified equation in the case of stochastic coordinate descent.


A demonstrable causal relationship between occlusal and articular interference was established for periodontal and pathologic symptoms of the maxillary anterior teeth. The study was based on the localization of the periodontal pathology, marking of occlusal interference, and analysis of the sequences on the repantographs with occlusal and articular guidance.


Background: Reactive arthritis (ReA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), both spondyloarthropathies predominantly affecting young men seriously hamper mobility during the active phases of disease. While AS is thoroughly researched, specific studies on ReA are relatively scarce despite its pervasive nature and ever evolving epidemiology. Thus, it is imperative to understand the quality of life (QoL) of ReA patients in comparison to those with AS and healthy controls (HC) to reduce the disparity in patient care. Methods: An inception cohort of adults with ReA (Braun's criteria) was surveyed to collect the data on demographics, clinical profile, disease activity (Bath AS Disease Activity Index [BASDAI], pain Visual Analog Scale [VAS]), functional status Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI), and QoL (ASQoL instrument) between November 2019 and January 2020. HC and AS were surveyed for the same parameters using an anonymized e-survey (SurveyMonkey.com). All the data are expressed as medians and interquartile range. Results: A total of 147 participants (62 ReA, 45 AS and 40 HC) were included. Patients with ReA were younger than those with AS and HC - 25, 29, and 28 years, respectively, and had a shorter disease duration (P < 0.0001). Baseline clinical characteristics (peripheral arthritis and enthesitis), pain VAS (body pain and back pain) were comparable in ReA and AS groups. All the clinical characteristics of ReA and AS cohorts were significant in comparison to the HC cohort. Notably, functional and activity scores of AS and ReA patients were similar, whereas all functional scores of patients with either spondyloarthropathy were significantly worse than HC (BASDAI, BASFI, ASQoL, P < 0.0001). ASQoL scores were comparable across all domains of ReA and AS except in upper limb activities where patients with ReA fared better than AS. No difference in QoL was observed between acute or chronic ReA. Conclusion: QoL in ReA and AS is comparable, thus the impact of disease on physical function must be recognized to improve patient care. Patients with ReA exhibit significantly worse QoL than HC using ASQoL instrument.


It is well known that we, as human beings, are prone to a variety of undesirable emotions such as excitement, boredom, and fear, all of which are induced by varying degrees of negative states. In this paper, we designed an emotion-evoking experiment to induce calm, excited, bored, and fearful emotions, as well as low, moderate, and high levels of tension. Based on the six physiological signals such as heart rate and respiration rate of the subjects in these emotion states, feature extraction was performed after removing the baseline preprocessing, combined with particle swarm optimisation algorithm for feature selection, and the k-nearest neighbour algorithm was used to classify the different emotion and tension levels in the undesirable states. By comparing the results of several sets of experiments, we found that with baseline removal and particle swarm feature selection optimisation, our experimental results using k-nearest neighbour classification showed a significant improvement in recognition accuracy compared to the traditional k-nearest neighbour algorithm, which indicates that the proposed method has better recognition results.


CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES
Quantification of clinical signs such as the presence or absence of pallor at clinical examination is a key step for making diagnoses. The aim was, firstly, to evaluate two methods for anemia diagnosis by physical examination: four-level evaluation (crosses method: +/++/+++/++++) and estimated hemoglobin values, both performed by medical students and staff physicians; and secondly, to investigate whether there was any improvement in assessment accuracy according to the number of years in clinical practice.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Forty-four randomly selected physicians and medical students in a tertiary care teaching hospital completed a physical examination on five patients with mild to severe anemia.

METHODS
The observers used four-level evaluation and also predicted the hemoglobin level. Both methods were compared with the real hemoglobin value as the gold standard.

RESULTS
The mean estimated hemoglobin value correlated better with the real hemoglobin values than did the four-level evaluation method, for attending physicians, residents and students (Spearman's correlation coefficients, respectively: 1.0, 1.0 and 0.9 for guessed hemoglobin and -0.8, -0.8 and -0.7 for the four-level evaluation method). There were no differences in the mean "guessed" hemoglobin values from attending physicians, residents and students. However, the correlation between guessed hemoglobin value and the four-level method was positive for attending physicians, thus suggesting some kind of improvement with time (p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that estimated hemoglobin was more accurate than evaluation by the four-level method. The number of years in clinical practice did not improve the accuracy of clinical examination for anemia.


In this study, the discrete p -centre problem with the presence of multilevel capacities and fixed (opening) cost of a facility under a limited budget is investigated. A mathematical model of the problem is produced where the model seeks the location of open facilities, their corresponding capacities, and the allocation of the customers to the open facilities in order to minimise the maximum distance between customers and their assigned facility. Two matheuristic approaches are also proposed to deal with larger instances. The first approach is a hybridisation of a clustering-based technique and an exact method while the second one is based on Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS). Computational experiments show that the proposed methods produce interesting and competitive results on newly and randomly generated dataset.


Maryam Abolhasani Nastaran Maghbouli 2 Faeze Sazgara Shahrokh Karbalai Saleh 4 Maryam Tahmasebi Haleh Ashraf 1Cardiac Primary Prevention Research Center (CPPRC), Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Radiology, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Guilan, Iran; 4Department of Cardiology, Sina Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 5Amir Al Momenin Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Aim: Rapid and growing rise in obesity and diabetes mellitus, as serious human healththreatening issues, is alarming. The aim of the present study was assessing the accuracy of several obesity indices to predict hyperglycemia in overweight and obese Iranian populations and determining the value of such indices in comparison to the conventional parameters. We also evaluated new latent combined scores in this matter. Patients and Methods: Overall, there were 2088 patients recruited from the weight loss clinic of Sina Hospital, an educational hospital of Tehran University of Medical Sciences for this cross-sectional study. Demographic information, anthropometric indices and biochemical measurements were collected and calculated. The multivariable regression modeling as well as area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used. To detect the existence of new combined scores, we used SEM (structural equation modeling) analysis through SmartPLS. Results: Combined latent scores and WHtR (waist-to-height ratio) gave us a higher area under the curve in predicting hyperglycemia associated with WC (waist circumference) in women, whereas FFMI (fat-free mass index) gave low values. Additionally, BRI (body roundness index) and latent scores had slightly higher AUC values in predicting hyperglycemia in men. According to the age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) in the presence of hyperglycemia, OR was the highest for WHR (waist to hip ratio) in women (OR, 7.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.71–15.13). The association of WHR and hyperglycemia remained significant by adjusting for BMI (body mass index), WC and menopausal status. Conclusion: WHR had the strongest association with hyperglycemia in women with only sufficient discrimination ability. However, neither BSI (body shape index) and BAI (body adiposity index) nor FMI (fat mass index) and FFMI were superior to BMI (body mass index), WC or WHtR in predicting hyperglycemia. It was revealed that BRI and combined scores had a more predictive power compared to the BSI, BAI, FMI and FFMI, simplifying hyperglycemia evaluation.


As one of the few of its kind. this book concerns the exceptional individual as an adolescent and adult. Siegel specifically focuses on the minimally brain injured, as these individuals frequently are misdiagnosed and vary according to their strengths and weaknesses. The core of the book is divided into two parts, each consisting of four chapters. Part one concerns the problems which face the minimally brain injured adolescent and adult and part two concentrates on the goals applying to these adults. In chapter one, "The Child," Siegel's emphasis is on the perceptual impairment, impulse control, and conceptualization disorder of the brain damaged child. He addresses these disorders in relation to the personality of the child and the problems which can cause or arise from such a personality. The minimally brain injured child's poor self concept is introduced in this chapter and is refined in subsequent chapters. As a base for Siegel's discussion on the brain damaged adolescent and adult, this chapter is essential to the reader's understanding of the exceptional adult. Chapter two deals with parental problems associated with the difficulties of the handicapped individual such as self pity, shame. guilt, and rejection. As the child matures in years, the parents age as well, frequently experiencing less patience and more resentment. Siegel objectively views the inevitable question of when and if the parent should release the brain injured adolescent from parental dependency. He stresses acceptance in the home and objectivity of the parent as keys to a more adjusted exceptional individual.


Comprehensive studies of educational systems in an economic and social sciences context are relatively recent. The 1966 Equality of Educational Opportunity report (also known as the Coleman Report) addressed the availability of equal educational opportunities to children of different races, religions, and national origins in response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was an early example of social science research being used to influence national policy. Since then, educational finance research has blossomed into an area of study that influences decision makers at the national, state and local levels in resource allocation, assessment, and school organizational and restructuring policies.


The professional practices of counseling and psychotherapy were developed in the Western world to address problems common in Western countries in a manner consistent with Western understandings. There is a small but growing awareness that (a) counseling and psychotherapy are cultural by-products rather than universal healing practices, and (b) counseling and psychotherapy share important therapeutic elements with many well-established indigenous healing practices from other countries. Despite these notions, counseling and psychotherapy are being exported to other countries at a high rate and often without enough scrutiny. Although this is generally done with good intentions to promote global mental health and to address differences in mental health across the world, these practices can be inconsistent with the societal values and collective beliefs of individuals in non-Western countries and can sometimes lead to more harm than good. Providing counseling and psychotherapy to such individuals would be equivalent to offering a westernized individual an indigenous healing practice from a different part of the world that does not fit within a Western belief structure. Therefore, counseling and psychotherapy may not be as effective as long-standing indigenous healing practices for individuals who do not subscribe to the assumptions, customs, cultural principles, and culturally promoted objectives that underlie the Western practices of counseling and psychotherapy. Therefore, these practices should not be always recommended in non-Western cultures. Instead, promoting traditional healers and indigenous healing practices and integrating them with culturally adapted counseling and psychotherapy is recommended to reduce international mental health disparities. S C I E N T I F I C A B S T R A C T Racial, ethnic, cultural, and national disparities in counseling and psychotherapy outcome exist. Greater awareness of this has resulted in many national and international initiatives, often framed in terms of moral responsibility or social justice, intended to eliminate these disparities. Such efforts include well-meant and sometimes effective attempts to culturally adapt counseling and psychotherapy. These efforts carry the implicit assumption that counseling and psychotherapy are scientifically sound, universal treatment practices with worldwide applicability that transcend national and cultural boundaries. However, according to the contextual model, individuals who are living in non-Western countries and those who are living in Western countries but are less acculturated to dominant Western norms may find the practices of counseling and psychotherapy, even when culturally adapted, to be culturally incongruent. The efficacy of these therapeutic practices is constrained by the extent to which individuals subscribe to the cultural meanings and moral visions underlying the Western institutions of counseling and psychotherapy. To the extent that they do not is the extent to which counseling and psychotherapy are not appropriate treatment strategies and to which such individuals would benefit from an alternative approach more in line with their cultural conditioning. In other words, these individuals may be no more likely to benefit from counseling or psychotherapy than a Western individual would be to benefit from a non-Western indigenous mental healing practice. Therefore, the best way to reduce mental health disparities globally is to promote indigenous healing practices in isolation and in collaboration with culturally adapted counseling and psychotherapy.


The results of a dipstick assay for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) to Brucella smooth lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS) correlated with those of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for IgM and of the serum agglutination test (SAT) performed with and without dithiothreitol. Two sera which were dithiothreitol-sensitive and were dipstick negative were shown to contain specific IgA. The dipstick assay is recommended as a simple method for detecting specific IgM antibodies in acute-phase brucellosis patients.


This essay has a long history. It was triggered at university by one of my tutors describing the dispute between Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton. He conjured up an image of Newton sitting at his desk doing calculations while Hooke went down mineshafts trying to detect a change in the strength of gravity. To someone who was finding the maths content of a physics degree somewhat challenging this was a symbolic image. I believe that the story of Newton and the apple illustrates the complex nature of scientific discovery.


Prescription opioid use has risen steeply for over two decades, driven primarily by advocacy for better management of chronic non-cancer pain, but also by poor opioid stewardship in the management of acute pain. Inappropriate prescribing, among other things, contributed to the opioid 'epidemic' and striking increases in patient harm. It has also seen a greater proportion of opioid-tolerant patients presenting to acute care hospitals. Effective and safe management of acute pain in opioid-tolerant patients can be challenging, with higher risks of opioid-induced ventilatory impairment and persistent post-discharge opioid use compared with opioid-naive patients. There are also increased risks of some less well known adverse postoperative outcomes including infection, earlier revision rates after major joint arthroplasty and spinal fusion, longer hospital stays, higher re-admission rates and increased healthcare costs. Increasingly, opioid-free/opioid-sparing techniques have been advocated as ways to reduce patient harm. However, good evidence for these remains lacking and opioids will continue to play an important role in the management of acute pain in many patients. Better opioid stewardship with consideration of preoperative opioid weaning in some patients, assessment of patient function rather than relying on pain scores alone to assess adequacy of analgesia, prescription of immediate release opioids only and evidence-based use of analgesic adjuvants are important. Post-discharge opioid prescribing should be contingent on an assessment of patient risk, with short-term only use of opioids. In partnership with pharmacists, nursing staff, other medical specialists, general practitioners and patients, anaesthetists remain ideally positioned to be involved in opioid stewardship in the acute care setting.


This work was undertaken to find if a study of oxidation-reduction potentials, pH and oxygen tension would yield information concerning physiological changes induced in lactating mammary glands of rats and rabbits by hormones and other substances. Breathing oxygen at atmospheric pressure caused a rapid rise in oxygen tension in lactating mammary gland, and a small, slower rise of oxidation-reduction potential. Breathing nitrogen had the opposite effect. Oxytocin caused a rapid temporary fall of oxidation-reduction potential, synchronous with milk ejection. With adrenaline the response was more rapid and the oxygen tension fell to zero, to recover within 2 min. Vasopressin produced a slower fall and recovery. Insulin (35 μg/kg) caused a preliminary rise of oxidation-reduction potential, followed by a fall lasting 1 h. The fall could be largely abolished by glucose. The synthetic oestrogen doisynolic acid caused a triphasic response in the oxidation-reduction potentials and increased oxygen tension in the gland. It reduced, but did not abolish, the changes due to insulin. Desoxycorticosterone glucoside caused a slow rise of oxidation-reduction potential, but did not alter the response to insulin. Intermedin caused a small rise of oxidation-reduction potential. The effects produced by commercial ACTH may have been due to the oxytocin and intermedin present. Growth hormone induced a small diphasic change in the oxidation-reduction potentials. The radiosensitizers tetrasodium 2-methyl-1:4-naphthohydroquinone diphosphate and tetrasodium trimethyl-hydroquinone diphosphate produced marked falls of oxidation-reduction potential even with small doses, without change of oxygen tension. Intravenous potassium ferricyanide appeared to liberate oxygen from haemoglobin in vivo. The pH of mammary gland became slightly more acid after breathing oxygen, and also in the preliminary response to insulin, glucose, doisynolic acid and desoxycorticosterone glucoside; and after oxytocin, vasopressin and growth hormone.


. Syntax knowledge contributes its powerful strength in Neural machine translation (NMT) tasks. Early NMT works supposed that syntax details can be automatically learned from numerous texts via attention networks. However, succeeding researches pointed out that limited by the uncontrolled nature of attention computation, the NMT model requires an external syntax to capture the deep syntactic aware-ness. Although existing syntax-aware NMT methods have bored great fruits in combining syntax, the additional workloads they introduced render the model heavy and slow. Particularly, these efforts scarcely involve the Transformer-based NMT and modify its core self-attention network (SAN). To this end, we propose a parameter-free, dependency-scaled self-attention network (Deps-SAN) for syntax-aware Transformer-based NMT. A quantified matrix of dependency closeness between tokens is constructed to impose explicit syntactic constraints into the SAN for learning syntactic details and dispelling the dispersion of attention dis-tributions. Two knowledge sparsing techniques are further integrated to avoid the model overfitting the dependency noises introduce by the external parser. Experiments and analyses on IWSLT14 German-to-English and WMT16 German-to-English benchmark NMT tasks verify the effectiveness of our approach.


In this paper, we present a blind watermarking method to embed watermarks into dithered halftone images by pairing the sub-images derived from a new bit-interleaving method. The new bit-interleaving method is based on a secret key. The embedded watermark is thus undeletable. The search space of encoding is dispersed into the whole image through this new bit interleaving to great decrease the chance of disturbances in the local grey value. Combining the bit interleaving method with a variety of sub-image pairing methods, we can increase the distance of encoding and thus increase the robustness or embedding capacity. Totally speaking, the proposed method increases the embedding capacity with good visual quality, security and robustness against the cropping and tampering attacks.


Knee osteoarthritis is a condition that causes weak bone strength and poor bone formation. The main cause is musculoskeletal pain. Treatment of pain in knee osteoarthritis patients is usually through infrared and retrowalking. The mechanism of infrared in reducing pain is through mild heating which gives a sedative effect on sensory nerve endings, while retrowalking decreases pain through rehabilitation exercise techniques for the lower extremities. This research aimed to compare the effectiveness of infrared and retrowalking on pain reduction in knee osteoarthritis patients at Puskesmas Kendal Kerep. This was a quasi-experimental study with 30 participants from Puskesmas Kendalkerep, divided into 2 groups: Group I (with infrared, n = 15) and Group II (with retrowalking, n = 15). Participants in both groups were given their interventions for 5 weeks. The level of pain was measured using the VAS scale at baseline and after the intervention. The paired t-test analysis showed that there was an improvement in pain in both groups after being given the interventions, while the independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between the groups in the level of pain reduction.
Keywords: knee osteoarthritis, knee pain, infrared, retrowalking


Polymeric scaffolds aid in creating an environment for cell proliferation and differentiation in tissue engineering applications by acting as temporary artificial extracellular matrices (ECMs) for cells to form functional tissue. Many studies have reported that cell behavior can be significantly affected by the physical and chemical properties of a given scaffold. Therefore, the mechanical and structural properties of these scaffolds must be characterized. Polymeric solutions, such as polycaprolactone (PCL), have been electrospun into nanofiber mats to be used as cell scaffolds. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biocompatible polymer and is commonly used in tissue engineering applications; however, PCL is hydrophobic, which makes it difficult for cells to adhere to the mat. Coating the PCL-based mats with collagen, a naturally occurring protein with hydrophilic properties, may improve cell adhesion to the scaffold. The collagen coating may also alter the mechanical properties of the nanofiber mats. In this study, the effect of collagen coating on cell adhesion and proliferation are investigated using alamarBlue tests. Additionally, the mechanical and surface properties of PCL-based nanofiber mats are investigated using a Nanosurf C3000 atomic force microscope (AFM). One batch of PCL mats were coated with collagen, while the uncoated mats were used as controls. The cell behavior and material property values obtained from the uncoated PCL and collagen-coated PCL mats were analyzed and compared. The results of this study suggest that collagen does significantly influence the cell proliferation and material properties of PCL-based mats and that further studies should be conducted to better understand the effects of the nanoscale properties of the PCL-based mats on cell adhesion.


The development of innovative simulation models for veterinary laparoscopic surgery training is a priority today. This study aimed to describe a didactic simulation tool for the training of total laparoscopic gastropexy (TLG) with intracorporeal sutures in dogs. CALMA Veterinary Lap-trainer composite simulator (CLVTS) was developed from a plaster cast of 2 Great Dane canines mimicking the space and the correct position to carry out a TLG. After video instruction, 16 veterinarians with different degrees of experience in minimally invasive surgery (Experts, n = 6 and intermediates, n = 10) evaluated four sequential simulating TLG with intracorporeal suturing in the CLVTS. Subsequently, they completed an anonymous questionnaire analyzing the realism, usefulness, and educational quality of the simulator. The CLVTS showed a good preliminary acceptance (4.7/5) in terms of the usefulness and adequacy of the exercises that, in the participants' opinion, are appropriate and are related to the difficulty of the TLG. In addition, both experienced and intermediate surgeons gave high marks (4.5/5) to the feeling of realism, design, and practicality. There were no significant differences between the responses of the two groups. The results suggest that the CVLTS has both face and content validity. Where it can be practiced in a structured environment for the development of a total laparoscopic gastropexy with intracorporeal suture and without compromising patient safety, but still has some limitations of the scope of the study. Further studies are needed to establish the ability to assess or measure technical skills, including the degree of transferability to the actual surgical environment.


A lab-scale sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) was developed to treat domestic wastewater. After one year's operation, the results were obtained as follows: when the reaction carried out in 3 h, COD removal efficiency approached or reached the maximal value, up to 90%. The nitrification process of NH3-N needed 4 h, and NH3-N removal efficiency reached the maximal value. Moreover, according to the variation of TN , NO3--N and NO2--N concentration in the nitrification and denitrification process, when NH3-N degraded to zero or the minimal value, just two cycles ending, it means that the SBBR system completed the nitrification and denitrification process.


This article attempts to develop a critical understanding of the reconstitution of Hong Kong identity in Hollywood productions involving Hong Kong film talents. It argues that the 'local' in the city's historical context of the nineties no longer refers to any entity pertaining to a particular locality and culture but is always already determined by the framework of the transnational, which structures the perception of its local social reality. In particular, the paper suggests that the remaking of Hong Kong cultural identity in Hollywood films could be grasped in terms of the notion of a double negation. While the formation of such an identity is based on a negation of Chineseness, Hong Kong's transnational crossing to Hollywood initiates another negation that negates the very symbolic realm common to Chineseness. Jackie Chan's Hollywood blockbuster, Rush Hour, is used to illuminate the ways in which Hong Kong film stars and directors working for the global entertainment syndicate re-appropriate their agency in the production of a transnational narrative of their identity.


Single crystals of dizinc tellurium dichloride trioxide, Zn(2)(TeO(3))Cl(2), were synthesized via a transport reaction in sealed evacuated glass tubes. The compound has a layered structure in which the building units are [ZnO(4)Cl] square pyramids, distorted [ZnO(2)Cl(2)] tetrahedra and [TeO(3)E] tetrahedra (E is the 5s(2) lone pair of the Te(IV) atom), joined through shared edges and corners to form charge-neutral layers. Cl atoms and Te-atom lone pairs protrude from the surfaces of each layer towards adjacent layers, and the layers are held together by dispersion forces only. The compound is isostructural with the synthetic compound CuZn(TeO(3))Cl(2) and the mineral sophiite, Zn(2)(SeO(3))Cl(2).


Abstract"The Care of Work" is a study whose background comes from the problems surrounding work-life balance and equality that permeates social debates today. The problematic work-life-balance and gender equality are just as relevant today as they were 35 years ago. The aim of the study was to investigate whether or not men and women have a satisfactory work-life balance and if the organization they work for is doing something to make their life puzzles function. Last, but not least, the purpose is to see if gender equality is in the interest of the individual or the state.The study is based on work-life balance, gender equality and gender as the theoretical frames of reference. Eight respondents, four men and four women, from established IT companies were interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. A hermeneutic approach was employed in the analysis, focusing on understanding and meaning in order to interpret the workers own experiences and perceptions.The analysis highlight that work-life balance is not easy to achieve and that the organization's implied or unspoken norms and values prevail among workers more so than those stated. The respondents do not consider equality a problem, but the divided interest in terms of the individual and the state regarding equality between the sexes and how this should be defined creates colliding interests. The consequences of these colliding interests are made visible within the organization which calls for a new concept; Care of Work.


This study examines innovative technology uses of proficient doctoral students in action research and uses the findings for doctoral program planning and revision. The authors conducted an environmental scan of students' uses of technology to support their work throughout the dissertation process. They identified one to three students in each phase of the action research cycle, called "power users," who innovatively used technology. Rogers' (2003) theory of diffusion suggests that, as a result of the understandings from this study, the faculty-researchers are gatekeepers, responsible for systematically addressing the diffusion of technology. Recommendations include the adoption of a shared technology vision and leveraging the power users' skills through the doctoral program.


A flux mapping system able to measure the flux distribution of dish/Stirling systems in planes perpendicular to the optical axis was built and operated at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA). It uses the indirect measuring method with a water-cooled Lambertian target placed in the beam path and a CCD-camera mounted on the concentrator taking images of the brightness distribution of the focal spot. The calibration is made by calculating the total power coming from the dish and relating it to the integrated gray value over the whole measurement area. The system was successfully operated in a DISTAL II stretched membrane dish and in the new EURODISH in order to characterize their beams and improve the flux distribution on their receivers.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


A qualitative geometrical analysis of the classical Coulomb three-body problem is developed. Three ions and atom are investigated: namely, H-, He, and Li+. The dynamics of these atom and ions is treated in the approximation that the nucleus has infinite mass. Geometrical structures of the dynamics starting from the initial conditions with zero velocities are elucidated. In particular, the distribution of the final states in the initial condition space, its fractal structure, and binary collision orbits are specified. As a result, it is found that binary collision orbits form a lobelike structure. It is shown that the lobelike structure is, in fact, fractal. The lobelike structure is continuously connected to the collinear eZe configuration space, in which a well-known binary symbolic dynamics exists. With these observations, it is expected that as well as triple-collision orbits, binary-collision orbits also serve us some clue to find a symbolic dynamics for the full dynamics with zero angular momentum.


BACKGROUND
Molecular classification is an excellent prognostic and predictive method in breast cancer (BC). In this study. we evaluated differences in clinicopathologic features and overall survival (OS) in four BC molecular subtypes: luminal A, luminal B, basal cell-like, and HER2/neu.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Immunohistochemical evaluation of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and HER2 was performed using a Peruvian hospital database of 1198 BC patients who were diagnosed between 2000 and 2002. Overall survival was calculated.

RESULTS
Out of 1198 patients with invasive BC, 49.3% were luminal A; 13.2%, luminal B; 21.3%, basal-like; and 16.2%, HER2. The mean of age at diagnosis was 51.5 years for luminal A; 49.6 for luminal B; 49.5 for basal-like; and 49.4 for HER2. The HER2 subtype showed 63.7% positive lymph nodes, 42.3% stage III and 9.7% stage IV cases. Basal subtypes showed the highest prevalence of a poorly differentiated phenotype (70.3%). Average follow-up was 60 months. Five-year OS was significantly different between all 4 groups (P < .0001); luminal A had the highest OS, followed by luminal B, basal-like; and HER2. Results are compared with other population studies.

CONCLUSION
This study shows significant differences between the distribution of molecular subtypes and clinicopathologic features. Immunohistochemistry is useful in the clinical management of BC patients.


This paper investigates the short-run effects of economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement for 189 countries over the period 1961–2010. Contrary to what has previously been reported, we conclude that there is no strong evidence that the emissions-income elasticity is larger during individual years of economic expansion as compared to recession. Significant evidence of asymmetry emerges when effects over longer periods are considered. We find that economic growth tends to increase emissions not only in the same year, but also in subsequent years. Delayed effects – especially noticeable in the road transport sector – mean that emissions tend to grow more quickly after booms and more slowly after recessions. Emissions are more sensitive to fluctuations in industrial value-added than agricultural value-added, with services being an intermediate case. On the expenditure side, growth in consumption and in investment have similar implications for national emissions. External shocks have a relatively large emissions impact, and the short-run emissions-income elasticity does not appear to decline as incomes increase. Economic growth and emissions have been more tightly linked in fossil-fuel rich countries.


Presents a shape and pose estimation method for 3D multi-part objects, the purpose of which is to easily map objects from the real world into virtual environments. In general, complex 3D multi-part objects cause unwanted self-occlusion and non-rigid motion. To deal with the problem, we employ multiple viewpoint time-varying sequences, since there is enough information to estimate the parameters in the sensory data. In our framework, to minimize the error between the selected image feature points and the estimated model parameters, we employ a model fitting procedure which can adaptively select corresponding pairs. We have demonstrated that our system works well both for single part objects and for multiple-part objects using real image data.


Summary form only given. Multicast communication, which involves transmitting information from one node to multiple nodes, is a vital operation in both broadband integrated services digital networks (BISDN) and scalable parallel computers. Among different multicast switching networks, much work has been centered around the crossbar switches due to the simplicity of implementation. However, crossbars have the maximum number of crosspoints and implementation complexity among all switching fabrics. Multistage interconnect networks (MINs) such as Clos networks have attracted many attentions in recent years due to the nonblocking property as the crossbars, while at the same time possessing many advantages over crossbars. However, no multicast scheduling and routing algorithm have been applied to Clos network. This paper explores this aspect - we study some existing multicast scheduling and routing algorithms and apply them to Clos networks. Moreover, we propose two packet scheduling strategies to improve the system performance in terms of switch blocking probability and throughput, as shown by simulations.