Security is an important management issue for all higher education institutions for the safety and security of students, staff and visitors. Also, the potential damages to the institutions can affect their reputation as a result of the incidents related to the crimes. The risk analysis of physical, IT and communications security management in member educational institutions establishes a higher level of security measures to be adopted for all legal objectives, assets and values, and is transposed into the security plan and alarm system design. Starting from the definition of the security management system and referring to the specific of higher education institutions, we propose, like objective, an integrated model management that will meet the need for security in the perspective of the current sociology-political and economic conditions. Our contribution will take into account all external / internal parameters, external / internal factors, evaluation criteria, attacks, threats and legal standards. The proposed model of physical, IT and communications security management in the case of higher education institutions is based on security barriers, monitored by a qualified security manager, inspired by computer security procedures and which can be on different security levels, but also on parallel security networks. The research consisted on developing three levels of security, correspond to the degree of security that each of the aforementioned departments should benefit from, modifying the internal analysis parameters and factors, thus reducing the security risk and bringing greater security to the education and research process. For good future results, the necessary documents will be created to lower the level of security risk so that it fits within the "ACCEPTABLE" risk level.


In a Filter Bank based Multicarrier (FBMC) system employed in a highly frequency selective propagation channel each subchannel experiences a multi-tap impulse response (IR). In this contribution we present an efficient method of estimating the IR of the propagation channel experienced by each subchannel, the so-called structured channel estimation. The structured subchannel IR estimation allows us to isolate the propagation channel from the transmit and receive filters. As a consequence the number of parameters to be estimated is reduced as well as the length of the training sequence.


This study deals with onshore oilfield drilling fluid system to drill corrosion. Corrosion under static and dynamic conditions of the drilling fluid was evaluated. The effect of temperature and pressure on corrosion was examined. Corrosion was more severely affected by temperature compared to pressure. The combined effect of a deoxidizing agent and an inhibitor was observed to exhibit better protection against corrosion by the drilling fluid.


The aim: Of the work was to determine the content of proand anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood serum of the control group rats and after 28 days of inhibiting HCl secretion in the stomach by proton pump blockers "Omeprazole" and "Pantoprazole". Materials and methods: The studies were performed on 30 white non-linear male rats weighing 160-180 g, divided into three groups with 10 animals in each. The control (group 1) were injected intraperitoneally with water for injections within 28 days once a day. Group 2 was administered omeprazole. Group 3 was administered pantoprazole. The concentration of cytokines in the blood serum of rats was determined by the enzyme immunoassay method. For statistic data processing, Student's t-criterion for independent samples was applied. Results: After prolonged administration of omeprazole and pantoprazole, the blood serum concentrations of IFNγ, TNFα, IL-1 in rats increased by 58.5% and 3.41%, 73.3% and 48.4%, 80.2% and 40.8%, respectively, and IL-12B 40p decreased by 36.6% when using omeprazole and was almost indistinguishable from the control values when pantoprazole was administered. With administration of omeprazole, IL-4 concentration decreased by 39.8% and that of pantoprazole increased by 3.86% compared to the control. Administration of omeprazole and pantoprazole did not affect IL-6 concentration. Conclusion: Inhibition of hydrochloric acid secretion in the stomach of rats for 28 days using omeprazole and pantoprazole led to an imbalance between proand antiinflammatory cytokines. The adverse effect of pantoprazole was less pronounced than that of omeprazole.


A computer simulation of the atmospheric entry deceleration and heating for micrometeorites into a planetary atmosphere was developed. The results of this model were compared to an earlier model. The major difference between the extent of heating experienced in the two models results from an underestimation of the atmospheric density at altitudes above 130 km in the earlier model. Thus the earlier model systematically overestimates the peak temperature reached on atmospheric entry. The discrepancies are small for near vertical entry and/or high density particles, where little deceleration is experienced at high altitudes. For particles entering at grazing incidence and/or of low density the discrepancies are more pronounced. Gravitational enhancement, which is a function of geocentric velocity at the collection opportunity, was found to bias near Earth cosmic dust collections in favor of low velocity particles. The effect is to increase the proportion of low velocity dust, predominately from asteroids, in the stratospheric cosmic dust collections and on Earth orbiting spacecraft impact surfaces over its proportion in the interplanetary dust cloud.


Capital Structure is said to be one of the controversial topics in field of economics and in financial management decisions on capital structure is considered very vital and decisive. It is generally defined as "way firm assets are financed through debt, hybrid securities or equity. Value of firm's Capital Structure has always been burning issue. From management perspective capital structure is a very healthy mean to control the cost of capital. Different ways of financing its assets can be adopted by a company and the key objective is to attain the optimal capital structure where minimum cost of capital can be reached. Furthermore a firm can be levered or unlevered.Companies with no debt financing are called unlevered while companies go for debt financing is called levered. The behavior of firm financing can differ with regard to different sides and this had introduced different theories of capital structure . Miller and Modigliani(1958) irrelevance theory proposes that the value of firm is free of its capital structure under certain suppositions.It was considered as a founding work and its assumptions were unrealistic in nature which gave birth to some other theories such as pecking order theory (POT) and trade-off. Different aspects of capital structure have been explained by these theories but on the other side empirical evidences are not every time backing these theories. Some professionals in finance believe that with the increase in leverage the market value of firm increases.This mainly shows that firm having more percentage of debt financing attains the optimal capital structure but surely this statement is rejected by other financial professionals. So these theories lead to controversy that what is the optimal capital structure point. Too much of study has been done on the this topic in developed countries and work of the researcher is to check the potential determinants in a different market. Moreover study that also the conclusions drawn from the several theoretical and empirical researches are effective for developing markets like Pakistan.


Collaborative Question Answering (CQA) frameworks for knowledge graphs aim at integrating existing question answering (QA) components for implementing sequences of QA tasks (i.e. QA pipelines). The research community has paid substantial attention to CQAs since they support reusability and scalability of the available components in addition to the flexibility of pipelines. CQA frameworks attempt to build such pipelines automatically by solving two optimisation problems: 1) local collective performance of QA components per QA task and 2) global performance of QA pipelines. In spite offering several advantages over monolithic QA systems, the effectiveness and efficiency of CQA frameworks in answering questions is limited. In this paper, we tackle the problem of local optimisation of CQA frameworks and propose a three fold approach, which applies feature selection techniques with supervised machine learning approaches in order to identify the best performing components efficiently. We have empirically evaluated our approach over existing benchmarks and compared to existing automatic CQA frameworks. The observed results provide evidence that our approach answers a higher number of questions than the state of the art while reducing: i) the number of used features by 50% and ii) the number of components used by 76%.


SIB,—Concerning the manner of quoting works of reference, I also have to make complaint, namely, that authors sometimes quote, as if it were a complete work, a paper which may be part of some larger publication. Authors, however, are not always to blame in this matter, because it arises from the cause upon which I have another complaint, namely, that some of the Societies who issue Proceedings, etc., often fail to state on the " Authors' copies" anything at all concerning the fact that the papers are extracts from their publications. Some of our County Field Clubs are adepts at withholding information. Sometimes they append no date at all to their publications ; while their authors' copies suffer, in addition to the omission mentioned, . from absence of date, absence of number of volume, and changed paging. I notice that even the Geological Society omits to give the volume number upon its " authors' copies." I would suggest that the Council of the Geological Society first rectify this matter, and then issue a strongly-worded circular to every Secretary or Editor of every scientific society in the kingdom drawing attention to these omissions, and stating what is required. Since it is the habit of some booksellers and private individuals to break up odd volumes of Proceedings into their different papers, I would suggest that it is also recommended that these data be printed at the heading of every paper in every volume of Proceedings ; at present such information is lost if one happens to buy the parts of volumes so treated. Date of papers.—I cannot agree with Mr. Davison (GEOL. MAG. Dec. III. Vol. VI. No. I. p. 48) that the date of reading be taken as the date of.a paper. A new species must date from the time when it is figured, and this cannot happen until the publication of the volume. If authors' copies be printed in advance, they should be so dated, both themselves and in the volume. S. S. BUCKHAN.


Objective It is known that under simulated microgravity GSK-3 beta phosphorylation (Ser 9) is decreased [Mirzoev et al., 2016] which is associated with the activation of its kinase activity. GSK-3 beta activation may lead to NFATc1 export from myonuclei resulting in a slow-to-fast myosin shift in soleus muscle and may cause a decrease in muscle oxidative capacity and protein synthesis [Glass, 2003, Theeuwes et al, 2017].
 It was demonstrated that GSK-3 beta Ser 9 phosphorylation is decreased in response to nitric oxide synthase inhibition [Martins et al., 2011]. Under unloading conditions, the content of NO as well as nitric oxide synthase is attenuated in rat soleus muscle [Tidball et al., 1998; Lomonosova et al, 2011]. Dynamic foot stimulation (DFS) of the soles of the feet results in an increase of neuromuscular activation [Muller et al., 2005] of the lower limb muscles and prevents nitric synthase content decrease during 7-day exposure to dry immersion [Moukhina et al, 2004; Shenkman et al., 2004]. The aim of our study was to analyze the effect of rat dynamic foot stimulation during early unloading on GSK-3 beta phosphorylation and some of its downstream targets.
Methods Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to vivarium control, 1-day unloading and 1-day
unloading with DFS. The pressure stimulation protocol mimicked the normal animal walking (104 mm Hg pressure, 4 Hz frequency and 250 ms signal duration) for a total of 20 min followed by a 10-min rest interval for 4 hours.
Results We found that 1-day unloading caused a significant decrease (p˂ 0.025) in NFATc1 nuclear content as well as slow myosin (MHC I (beta) isoform) mRNA expression. In the 1-day unloading group, the level of glycogen synthase 1 phosphorylation (Ser 641), which is a direct GSK-3 beta target, was significantly higher than that in the control group, although a decrease in GSK-3 beta Ser 9 phosphorylation in the 1-day unloaded group was not statistically significant compared to the control group. However, in the DFS-treated unloaded rats the level of GSK-3 beta phosphorylation was significantly higher than in the untreated unloaded rats. NFATc1 nuclear content, slow myosin mRNA expression and glycogen synthase 1 phosphorylation (Ser 641) did not differ from the control group. The glycogen content in soleus muscles of both unloaded groups was higher than in the control group, which is in accordance with previous studies [Henriksen and Tischler, 1988], but in DFS subjected unloaded group the glycogen content was higher compared to the untreated unloaded group.
Conclusions   Thus, we found that dynamic foot stimulation during 1-day hindlimb unloading leads to GSK-3 beta inactivation and prevention of both NFATc1 myonuclei export and the decrease in MyHC I beta expression.
The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant #17-29-1029 and Basic Research Program of the IBMP, RAS. The authors express their deep gratitude to Prof. Inessa B. Kozlovskaya for useful recommendations concerning the design of the study.


The objective of this work was to evaluate the productive and reproductive performance of beef cows, as well as the performance of their calves according to the following dietary treatments: PRE: supplemented with protected fat (PF) during 45 days prepartum; PREPOS: supplemented with PF during 45 days prepartum and 63 days postpartum; POS: supplemented with PF during 63 days postpartum; PN: without supplementation. The productive performance of cows was not influenced by feed management (P>0.05), except for body condition score (BCS), which was lower for PRE and PREPOS cows at the end of mating season, with the latter cows having similar BCS POS and PN. The calving interval (CI) was shorter for cows supplemented in PREPOS  376 days , and did not differ in cows maintained in PN  383 days. Supplemented PREPOS cows weaned 4.4% more pounds of calf per 100kg of cow at calving  22.6kg  than the PRE and POS cows  21.6kg and 21.6kg, respectively  and 8,4% more pounds of calf per 100 of cow at calving than the cows maintained in native pasture  20.7kg. The fat protected supplementation during pre and/or postpartum periods did not affect the performance of cows and calves.


This study addresses the phylogenetic relationships within and between two widespread Palaearctic pond skater species, Gerris costae and G. thoracicus, by including new DNA sequence data from the Central Asian G. sahlbergi, traditionally assigned as a close relative of G. costae. The results support the assignment of G. costae and G. thoracicus to two individual species groups that are not closely related, but also that G. sahlbergi is nested within G. costae (including subspecies costae, fieberi and poissoni) thus suggesting a new subspecific rank as G. c. sahlbergi. A broad geographical sampling of mitochondrial DNA from populations of G. thoracicus and G. costae (incl. G. c. sahlbergi) shows that the two species are strikingly similar in terms of genetic diversity and lack of geographical substructure, thus adding further evidence for the G. costae group comprising a single, widespread species.


Abstract The United Nations has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) designed to improve the health and well-being of the world's most vulnerable populations. This presentation will review the potential role psychology, in particular, illustrative theories and research, in achieving the SDGs of reducing poverty and achieving gender equality and empowerment. We consider life span (individual) developmental and life course (environmental structure) theories as useful for explaining how poverty and inequality influence the individual and community at one point in time and over time. Further, we use research evidence to illustrate how naturally occurring resources can be garnered to better explain, understand, identify and create successful intervention programs. We emphasize the importance psychology to achieving SDGs and emphasize that the application psychology to changing the behavior and expectations of individuals and societies to achieve sustainable development that contributes to a world that celebrates optimal and sustainable development for all.


The theory of LPI radar signal interception is introduced and a method using multi-channel digital deramping is discussed in detail for FMCW signals. Many simulation experiments on the method have been done in several possible situations, and on the basis of them, the influences of mismatch factor and unsynchronized phase on the detection performance of the digital LPI radar detector are analyzed. At last, the method of estimating the parameters of LPI signal is summarized. It is demonstrated that the LPI radar signal can be extracted from the noise background by means of digital deramping


A low-density parity-check code is a code specified by a parity-check matrix with the following properties: each column contains a small fixed number j \geq 3 of l's and each row contains a small fixed number k > j of l's. The typical minimum distance of these codes increases linearly with block length for a fixed rate and fixed j . When used with maximum likelihood decoding on a sufficiently quiet binary-input symmetric channel, the typical probability of decoding error decreases exponentially with block length for a fixed rate and fixed j . A simple but nonoptimum decoding scheme operating directly from the channel a posteriori probabilities is described. Both the equipment complexity and the data-handling capacity in bits per second of this decoder increase approximately linearly with block length. For j > 3 and a sufficiently low rate, the probability of error using this decoder on a binary symmetric channel is shown to decrease at least exponentially with a root of the block length. Some experimental results show that the actual probability of decoding error is much smaller than this theoretical bound.


Background. In thalassemia intermedia (TI) patients no observational study prospectively evaluated in the real life the efficacy of the desferrioxamine (DFO) therapy in removing or preventing iron overload from the heart and the liver by T2* Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The efficacy endpoint of this study is represented by the changes in cardiac T2* and MRI LIC (liver iron concentration) values in non-transfusion dependent (NTD) TI patients after 18 months of desferrioxamine therapy. Methods. Among the 325 TI patients enrolled in the MIOT (Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia) network, we selected 129 TI patients NTD. We considered 29 patients who had been received DFO alone between the two MRI scans. Cardiac iron overload was assessed by the T2* multiecho technique. Hepatic T2* values were converted into liver iron concentration (LIC) values. Results. Mean age was 39.69 ± 8.12 years and 14 (48.3%) patients were females. Patients started regular chelation therapy at a mean age of 21.92 ± 15.89 years. The mean administered dosage of DFO via subcutaneous route was 38.46 ± 10.27 mg/kg body weight on 3.32 ± 1.54 days/week. The percentage of patients with excellent/good levels of compliance to the chelation treatment was 82.1%. At baseline only one patient showed cardiac iron overload (global heart T2*=15.23 ms) but he recovered at the FU (global heart T2*=26.93 ms). All patients without cardiac iron maintained the same status at the follow-up (FU). Eighteen patients (62.1%) had hepatic iron overload (MRI LIC ≥3 mg/g/dw) at the baseline. For this subgroup, the baseline and the FU LIC values were, respectively, 9.15 ± 7.97 mg/g/dw and 7.41 ± 6.28 mg/g/dw. The reduction in MRI LIC values was not significant (P=0.102). Out of the 11 patients with a baseline MRI LIC Conclusions. In this small population of sporadically or non transfused TI patients, DFO showed 100% efficacy in maintaining a normal global heart T2* value. As regards as the hepatic iron overload, the DFO therapy did not prevent the transition to a worst class in 2 patients. Disclosures Pepe: Chiesi: Speakers Bureau; ApoPharma Inc.: Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Speakers Bureau.


Thermosensitive liposomes (TSLs) have been widely investigated for controlled drug release at specific pathophysiological sites. Although excellent thermo-sensitivity under hyperthermia (HT) was already realized for TSLs, their in vivo stability under physiological temperature still remains challenging. To overcome this limitation, optimized polymer-based thermosensitive liposomes (P-TSLs) with good thermo-sensitivity as well as satisfactory in vivo stability were developed in this study for tumor-specific controlled delivery of doxorubicin (DOX). In particular, polymers including p(NIPAM-r-HPMA) and p(HPMA-r-APMA) were successfully synthesized based on a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) technique. Next, thermosensitive polymer p(NIPAM-r-HPMA) was first proposed to be inserted into the lipid bilayer of TTSL by a postinsertion method. The resulting P-TTSL had a phase transition temperature (Tm) of around 42 °C and displayed excellent thermo-sensitivity under HT: nearly 70% of DOX was released within 1 min when only 1% p(NIPAM-r-HPMA) was incorporated. Moreover, its stability was maintained at 37 °C. Compared with TTSL, significantly higher cellular uptake of DOX under HT was noticed in P-TTSL, indicating a burst release of DOX at 42 °C. In addition, both in vitro tumor spheroid experiments and in vivo tumor slices demonstrated an enhanced DOX deep penetration when treated by P-TTSL under HT. To achieve in vivo imaging and local HT under NIR, p (HPMA-r-APMA) was labeled by Cy7.5 and coinserted into TTSL, and the best drug efficacy was observed in CY-P-TTSL with HT along with prolonged blood circulation time. We have further investigated the biocompatibility of the developed CY-P-TTSL, and reduced cardiotoxicity was observed even under HT in comparison with free DOX, demonstrating it is a reliable thermosensitive drug carrier for improving drug stability and therapeutic efficacy.


Although PET is technologically complex because the restricted time scale requires that radioisotope production, radiotracer synthesis, and PET imaging be carried out in the same place, the payoff is that compounds labeled with these isotopes can be used to track the distribution and movement of drugs in the brain and also measure drug effects on specific molecular targets in the human brain. Provided that appropriate radiotracers are available, one can determine the amount of a drug that gets into the brain, the minimum effective dose, the duration of action, or the binding site occupancy required to elicit a particular therapeutic or behavioral effect with a relatively small number of PET studies. Because studies are carried out directly in humans, the relationship of these parameters to behavior and to therapeutic efficacy can be evaluated. The possibilities are enormous and are largely driven by advances in PET technology (including radiotracer chemistry and instrumentation) that synergize with advances in neuropharmacology.


Background Stepwise acquisition of oncogene mutations and deletion/inactivation of tumor suppressor genes characterize the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). These genetic events interact with discrete morphologic transitions from hyperplastic mucosa to adenomatous areas, followed by in situ malignant transformation and finally invasive carcinoma. The goal of this study was to identify tissue markers of the adenoma-carcinoma morphogenetic transitions in CRC. Methods and Findings We analyzed the patterns of expression of growth regulatory and stem cell markers across these distinct morphologic transition zones in 735 primary CRC tumors. In 202 cases with preserved adenoma-adenocarcinoma transition, we identified, in 37.1% of cases, a zone of adenomatous epithelium, located immediately adjacent to the invasive component, that showed rapidly alternating intraglandular stretches of PTEN+ and PTEN- epithelium. This zone exactly overlapped with similar alternating expression of Ki-67 and inversely with the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) growth regulator SMAD4. These zones also show parallel alternating levels and/or subcellular localization of multiple cancer stem/progenitor cell (CSC) markers, including β-catenin/CTNNB1, ALDH1, and CD44. PTEN was always re-expressed in the invasive tumor in these cases, unlike those with complete loss of PTEN expression. Genomic microarray analysis of CRC with prominent CSC-like expansions demonstrated a high frequency of PTEN genomic deletion/haploinsufficiency in tumors with CSC-like transition zones (62.5%) but not in tumors with downregulated but non-alternating PTEN expression (14.3%). There were no significant differences in the levels of KRAS mutation or CTNNB1 mutation in CSC-like tumors as compared to unselected CRC cases. Conclusions In conclusion, we have identified a distinctive CSC-like pre-invasive transition zone in PTEN-haploinsufficient CRC that shows convergent on-off regulation of the PTEN/AKT, TGF-β/SMAD and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. This bottleneck-like zone is usually followed by the emergence of invasive tumors with intact PTEN expression but dysregulated TP53 and uniformly high proliferation rates.


Acoustic devices have found wide applications in chemical and biosensing fields owing to their high sensitivity, ruggedness, miniaturized design and integration ability with on-field electronic systems. One of the potential advantages of using these devices are their label-free detection mechanism since mass is the fundamental property of any target analyte which is monitored by these devices. Herein, we provide a concise overview of high frequency acoustic transducers such as quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), surface acoustic wave (SAW) and film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) to compare their working principles, resonance frequencies, selection of piezoelectric materials for their fabrication, temperature-frequency dependency and operation in the liquid phase. The selected sensor applications of these high frequency acoustic transducers are discussed primarily focusing on the two main sensing domains, i.e., biosensing for working in liquids and gas/vapor phase sensing. Furthermore, the sensor performance of high frequency acoustic transducers in selected cases is compared with well-established analytical tools such as liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS), gas chromatographic (GC) analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. Finally, a general comparison of these acoustic devices is conducted to discuss their strengths, limitations, and commercial adaptability thus, to select the most suitable transducer for a particular chemical/biochemical sensing domain.


Background: The aim of this study was to examine the seasonal variation of death from intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation (HSS: Korean Standard Classification of Diseases-6 code: X70) using the 2011 death registry data. Methods: The analysis was based on data of 8,359 HSS deaths from 2011 national vital statistics in Korea. Daily, weekly, and monthly death pattern on HSS were used to examine the relationship seasonal variation and HSS deaths. Results: A total of 8,359 HSS deaths occurred in 2011, with a mean age of 50.6 years. The HSS death rate (per 100,000) was 25.5 in male and 10.8 in female. In one day 17.6 males and 8.0 females occurred HSS death on average. The number of HSS death per day was the highest on 8th June (45 deaths), and lowest on 1st February (7 deaths) during the period. The variations of daily HSS death showed wide fluctuation from a peak of 34 to 45 deaths (29th May to 9th June) to a trough of 17-26 deaths (10th-13th September: the Korean thank-giving consecutive holidays), 13-20 deaths (2nd-5th February: the new year's day by the lunar calendar) and 8-9 deaths (24th-25th December: Christmas holidays). There were no significant difference between gender and seasonal variation (month, season, and week). Conclusion: The mean number of HSS death per day was highest in June (30.6 deaths), and months with the lowest number of deaths was January and December (range, 19.4 to 19.6 deaths). HSS death were more prevalent during summer and spring and were less likely to occur during winter. On Saturdays (21.0 deaths), the number of HSS death per day was the lowest, and Monday (27.9 deaths) was the highest. HSS death was less likely to occur on holidays (21.4 deaths). There was significant seasonal variation in HSS death by weekly and monthly (p < 0.01).


Abstract Water beetles are one of the dominant macroinvertebrate groups in inland waters and are excellent ecological indicators, reflecting both the diversity and composition of the wider aquatic community. The predaceous water beetles (Hydradephaga) make up around one-third of known aquatic Coleoptera and, as predators, are a key group in the functioning of many aquatic habitats. Despite being relatively well-known taxonomically, ecological studies of these insects in tropical and subtropical systems remain rare. A dedicated survey of the hydradephagan beetles of the Lake St Lucia wetlands (South Africa) was undertaken between 2013 and 2015, providing the first biodiversity census for this important aquatic group in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the Maputaland biodiversity hotspot. A total of 32 sites covering the entire spectrum of waterbody types were sampled over the course of three collecting trips. The Lake St Lucia wetlands support at least 68 species of Hydradephaga, a very high level of diversity comparing favourably with other hotspots on the African continent and elsewhere in the world and a number of taxa are reported for South Africa for the first time. This beetle assemblage is dominated by relatively widespread Afrotropical taxa, with few locally endemic species, supporting earlier observations that hotspots of species richness and centres of endemism are not always coincident. Although there was no significant difference in the number of species supported by the various waterbody types sampled, sites with the highest species richness were mostly temporary depression wetlands. This contrasts markedly with the distribution of other taxa in the same system, such as molluscs and dragonflies, which are most diverse in permanent waters. Our study is the first to highlight the importance of temporary depression wetlands and emphasises the need to maintain a variety of wetland habitats for aquatic conservation in this biodiverse region.


Within current UK legislation, digital images undergo sanitisation before being utilised as evidence. It is proposed that by reducing the graphic nature of the image, the jury are more likely to adopt a rational thought process, in comparison to an experiential, more emotive response. Previous research has demonstrated that jurors usually become emotionally aroused when confronted with images that are graphic or gruesome. When subconscious negative feelings are produced, it is possible that emotions will impact the outlook of the case, altering the final verdict. Nevertheless, while graphic images may induce an emotive response, this is not necessarily going to influence a prejudice decision. Sanitised images are adapted to only show what is relevant in accordance to the barrister's requirements, creating a susceptible environment, where the juror's judgement is likely to be influenced. Primary research was conducted using a questionnaire, to assess if the use of sanitised images in court has gone too far. Conclusions revealed some undisputed results. A unanimous result revealed participants would rather be exposed to the original image, (even if this were accompanied by the sanitised image) irrespective of whether participants were emotionally affected, Therefore, this research suggests that consideration should be taken as to whether current practices need to be revised.


Objectives: Energy drink consumption among adolescents has become a notable global phenomenon, and has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. In order to understand the popularity of energy drinks among adolescents, and to target interventions, it is important to identify the determinants underpinning consumption. Methods: The nationally representative data (cross-sectional) were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys, conducted in 2014 and 2018, each comprising 13- and 15-year-old Finnish adolescents (n = 7405). Results: Weekly energy drink consumption increased among Finnish adolescents between 2014 (18.2%) and 2018 (24.4%), especially among girls. In 2018, boys typically consumed more than girls, and 15-year-olds more than 13-year-olds. Moreover, in 2018, weekly energy drink consumption was more prevalent among 15-year-old adolescents with a non-academic educational aspiration (46.0%) than among adolescents with an academic aspiration (18.3%). Gender (boys more than girls), older age (only in 2018), less parental monitoring, lower school achievement, and a lower level of health literacy explained around 28% of the variance in weekly energy drink consumption in both years. Conclusion: According to the findings, interventions to decrease the energy drink consumption, should be targeted at all adolescents, but especially at those with fewer individual resources. The interventions should also pay attention to family-level factors.


Trichobezoar is a rare disorder in which a collection of swallowed hair and some undigested food particles are retained in the gut. The most common type of bezoar is gastric trichobezoar. It is frequently seen in psychiatric patients (trichotillomania). An unusual form of bezoar extending from the stomach to the small intestine or beyond has been described as Rapunzel syndrome. It may present with vague symptoms, such as anorexia, anemia, weight loss, abdominal mass, recurrent abdominal pain or symptoms and signs of intestinal obstruction. This report illustrates a 19 yrs old female who presented to our emergency department with diffuse peritonitis due to gastric perforation and found to have a huge trichobezoar. She was treated successfully by gastrotomy with complete evacuation of the trichobezoar.


The objective of the present work was the comparative comprehensive immunohistochemical study of thepharyngeal tonsillar tissues taken from the children living in the regions of the Republic of Tatarstan (RT) differing in the degree of pollution of the atmospheric air. A total of 100 samples of hyperplastic adenoid vegetation tissuesdivided into three groups were available for the examination. Group 1 included pharyngeal tonsillar tissues obtained from the children (n=20) living in the regions of RT with the low level of atmospheric pollution. Groups 2 and 3 were composed of tissue samples from 48 and 32 children respectively living in the regions of TR with the moderate and high levels of environmental pollution. The analysis of the results obtained in this study demonstrated that the morphological changes in the hyperplastic pharyngeal tonsillar tissues depend on the strength of the environmental impacts. The lymphoid tissue was shown to respond to the effect of the ecopathological factors in the form of both non-specific stromal-vascular reactions and specific immunomorphological reactions. The former are apparent as microcirculatory disorders followed by sclerosis and the latter as the reduced intensity of the local immune response associated with inactivation of its T- and B-cellular components mediated through the changes in the monocytic-macrophagal system.


We, the KAMI (Kaons At the Main Injector) collaboration, express our interest to continue the experimental program of rare kaon decay physics at Fermilab using the Main Injector. The 120 GeV Main Injector beam will provide neutral kaon beams which are two orders of magnitude more intense than those currently available at Fermilab. This dramatic increase in flux will allow us to study direct CP violation and other rare decay processes with unprecedented precision and reach. KAMI's primary physics goals shall be: 1. The first detection of the rare, direct CP violating decay KL → πνν and measurement of its branching ratio with an accuracy of 10%, corresponding to a measurement of the CP violation parameter η with 5% accuracy; and 2. Studies of various other rare decay processes such as KL → πee, πμμ, πμe, ππee, μμ, ee, etc. with sensitivities of approximately 10. To accomplish the above goals, it is necessary to upgrade the existing KTeV detector in two major areas; hermetic photon vetos for KL → πνν , and fiber tracking for decay modes with charged particles. This document summarizes the status of a feasibility study and our R & D plan for the near future.


Officials at the teaching hospitals of the University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford University are planning a merger, which could be finalized this year. The two large hospitals will unite their medical services while keeping their teaching functions separate. The merger is part of a growing trend, as the demand for greater efficiency in medical care spurs teaching hospitals to streamline, downsize, and forge alliances with old competitors in order to cut costs. Research may get caught in the squeeze, because hospital charges and faculty fees for medical services have traditionally contributed to research funding.


Insulin resistance in the heart is not localized to the myocardium, but may also occur in blood vessels. We studied the effects of insulin on coronary vasodilation in hypertension. Coronary vascular resistance was quantitated in 11 nonsmoking men with untreated mild essential hypertension and 9 healthy normotensive men using positron emission tomography and 15O-labeled water. The measurements were performed at baseline and during adenosine infusion (140 µg·kg–1·min–1) with or without simultaneous euglycemic physiological (serum insulin approximately 70 mU/l) and supraphysiological (serum insulin approximately 460 mU/l) hyperinsulinemia. Coronary resistance was significantly higher in hypertensive than normotensive subjects at baseline and during adenosine infusion. Physiological hyperinsulinemia decreased hyperemic coronary resistance significantly in both groups. Supraphysiological hyperinsulinemia further decreased the hyperemic coronary resistance in normotensive but not in hypertensive subjects, leading to higher hyperemic coronary resistance in hypertensive than normotensive subjects (27.2 ± 8.7 vs. 19.2 ± 4.9 mm Hg·min·g·ml–1, p < 0.05). However, insulin-stimulated whole body glucose uptake values were similar between the groups during both insulin infusions. In conclusion, insulin-induced coronary vasodilation is blunted in young subjects with mild essential hypertension who are otherwise healthy. Coronary vascular resistance to insulin occurs although no change in peripheral glucose uptake can be detected. While we do not know whether the same results can be extrapolated to female or older subjects, these results indicate a novel defect in the regulation of coronary arteries in the early phase of hypertension.


Dear EditorinChief, We have read the article written by Galán et al.,1 published in the Acta Neurologica Scandinavica in December 29, 2016, meticulously. The study purposed to examine the potential clinical consequences related with the cytotoxicity of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in a cohort of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The authors collected CSF from 31 patients with ALS, in which 21 patients (67.7%) presented a cytotoxic CSF. Then, some variables including cytotoxicity, gender, ALS form of onset, and age at diagnosis were entered into multivariate Cox proportional hazard (PH) regression model to determine which one of them independently predict the survival from diagnosis to death. Although the present investigation made noteworthy contribution to the area, some methodological issues must be noted to avoid misinterpretations. First, the association between independent variables with survival rate was assessed using the Cox PH models, while PH assumption as one of the major assumptions has not been evaluated graphically or using the appropriate methods such as time-dependent covariates methods. This assumption has been violated in the study conducted by Galán and colleagues which is shown in their article as Figure 1.1 Therefore, extended Cox regression models is proposed to be applied when this assumption is not established to avoid any misleading results.2 Second, a valuable cohort study was conducted on ALS patients, whereas the sample size is not determined. The sample size must be calculated in epidemiologic investigations, and it is prerequisite to found an association and to achieve a requested precision in parameter estimates.3,4 Third, in the study conducted by Galán et al., forward stepwise regression model was applied to build multivariate Cox regression model, whereas the study sample was not enough and significant associations would be changed to nonsignificant association as the penalty of low sample size is power reduction of statistical tests. As rule of thumb, at least 10 observations are proposed to be added to initially calculated sample size per each variable is included to multivariate model.5 In the aforementioned study, not only initial sample size is not calculated but also the calculated sample size has not been increased per each variable included. Finally, authors indicated that the presence of cytotoxicity in CSF does not predict studied outcome which is optimistic interpretation. The study should be performed with enough sample size, and the prediction models need to be validated through the appropriate methods.6,7


Abstract: In a prospective study 90 patients with haematologic malignancies (57 acute leukaemias, 6 Hodgkin's Diseases, 15 Non‐Hodgkin Lymphomas, 12 other diseases), with fever exceeding 38.4°C and newly developed pulmonary infiltrates underwent bronchoscopy obtaining bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial washings and protected brush specimen (n = 71). Pneumonias due to gram‐negative bacteria (n = 38) and fungi (n = 34) were most frequent. Bronchoscopic specimens yielded 226 isolates (2 different organisms/bronchoscopy on average). 112 organisms were finally regarded as causing pneumonia. Sensitivity of bronchoscopy in diagnosing infectious episodes was 66%, but only 4 out of 13 non‐infectious pulmonary infiltrates could be identified. Bronchoscopy was most effective in the diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii and herpes virus pneumonia, whereas sensitivity and specificity of detecting fungal and bacterial pneumonia were low. Empirical antimicrobial therapy was verified by evaluation of bronchoscopic samples in 25 out of 90 cases. Empirical therapy was successfully changed according to the results of invasive samplings in 34 out of 90 cases. Early identification of causative pathogens had a significant impact on survival.


The author discusses the failure of the Gaussian approximation to the distribution of the maximum-likelihood estimator in one-parameter families for finite sample sizes. Fisher (1925) has shown that this approximation is valid when an asymptotically large sample of data points is used. He did this by treating the likelihood equation (i.e. the equation obtained by setting the derivative of the likelihood function with respect to the parameter to zero) statistically and finding its solution as the sample size n is taken to infinity. The statistical treatment of the likelihood equation is extended to include corrections for finite sample sizes. The O(1/n) corrections to Fisher's asymptotic Gaussian result are calculated with corrections to the central limit theorem, and are used to derive sufficient conditions on the sample size for Fisher's result to break down. Such conditions are useful for the design of experiments. The procedure developed here can be extended to the maximum-likelihood estimation of several parameters in multivariate distributions.


In this work, the effect of the sintering temperature of the bulk compacted powder sample on the microstructure and reflectance of the bulk CuAlS2, which fabricated by powder metallurgy [P/M] technique, has been studied. The bulk was produced by [P/M] at compacting pressure of 350 MPa, sintering time 2 hr and different sintering temperature (100, 150, 200, 250 and 300°C). X-ray diffraction [XRD], scanning electron microscopy [SEM], energy dispersive analysis [EDS], and optical reflectance measurements were used for characterization of the prepared samples. The analysis of X-ray diffraction [XRD] indicated a formation of CuAlS2 phase with preferring orientations of [1 1 2], [2 0 0], [2 2 0] and [0 0 8]. The intensity of CuAlS2 phase continuously increases with increasing the sintering temperature. It has been observed that the crystallite size increases with increasing of the sintering temperature from 24.25 nm at 100°C to 31.33 nm at 300°C, giving an indication of enhancement in the crystallinity. The analysis of [SEM] indicated the treated surface morphology of the bulk CuAlS2. An increase in crystallization and formation of the CuAlS2 phase was observed with increasing the sintering temperature. The cluster size shows remarkable rise with the increase of sintering temperature which confirms improvement in grain growth. The optical data shows, that with increasing the sintering temperature the reflectance decreased to 15% at 200°C in the near of infrared region [NIR] and 10% at 200°C and 250°C in the visible region [VIS].


In this paper, a new class of broadband arrays with frequency-invariant beam patterns is proposed. By suitable substitutions, the beam pattern of a continuous sensor array with continuous temporal processing can be regarded as the Fourier transform of its spatio-temporal distribution. Based on this principle, starting from the desired frequency-invariant beam pattern, and by a series of substitutions, a simple design method is derived. This method can be applied to one-dimensional (1D), 2D, or 3D broadband arrays, either with continuous arrays and signal processing or with discrete arrays and signal processing. A 2D discrete design example is presented.


A novel application of a spectral element method with a Fourier expansion in the third dimension is used to compute the flow past a cylinder with hemispherical ends. This cylinder is useful as it is a sphere at the small length ratio limit, while approaching a straight circular cylinder as the length ratio is increased. Measurements of the Strouhal frequency and mean drag are presented, and results of a grid independence study show that 128 Fourier planes were required to resolve the flow to an accuracy better than 1%. With 64 planes, forces were predicted accurate to 2%, but Strouhal frequencies were over predicted by approximately 8%. The measured Strouhal frequencies provide useful benchmark data for future low Reynolds number studies of the flow past short cylinders.


A study was made of the content and functional activity of cell populations and subpopulations involved in the immune response at remote times after single sublethal irradiation (3 Gy). The exposed mice exhibited an earlier thymus involution and a decrease in the number of CFUc and antibody-producers per 10(6) karyocytes. The decrease in the antibody production was due to the reduced functional activity of B- and T-lymphocyte precursors and cooperative activity of T-helpers. The inactivating capacity of T-killers increased.


cussed include culture media, growth, enzymes and enzyme action, essential metallic and nonmetallic elements, carbon sources and carbon utilization, pH, and vitamins and growth factors. The use of fungi as test organisms is described. Fungi are used to assay vitamins, amino acids, and other biologically active materials. Also, they are important to the textile industry because they are used to test fabric


We construct a compact 6-dimensional solvmanifold endowed with a non-trivial invariant generalized Kahler structure and which does not admit any Kahler metric. This is in contrast with the case of nilmanifolds which cannot admit any invariant generalized Kahler structure unless they are tori.


This work aims to identify the pattern for the major output parameters, material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) of different combinations of Al6061‐based composites. Based on the verification carried out on these patterns using analysis of variance (ANOVA) as the mathe‐ matical tool, the work predicts the mentioned output characteristics while machining Al6061 com‐ posites of different material compositions based on their hardness values. ANOVA was employed for the generation of equations of the particular composite. The equations were compared for the coefficients of each parameter employed in ANOVA. The work was carried out comparing the char‐ acteristic equation of different combinations of Al6061‐based composite. The results indicate that the coefficients of the current show a drastic variation when compared to other coefficients for both the output parameters. It was observed that the current and its coefficients contribute to the output parameters based on the variation in hardness. For surface roughness, the constant of the character‐ istic equation was also found to influence the parameter for the change in hardness. The equation derived  for both material  removal  rate  (MRR) and  surface  roughness  (Ra) were  identified  to be matching with the experimental result carried out for validation. The average variation observed was 9.3% for MRR and 7.2% for surface roughness.


The following five presentations will provide an update on aging across the physical activity spectrum. Dr. Dogra will present a recently developed consensus statement on sedentary behaviour in older men and women. This consensus was based on a systematic review of the literature, a 3 stage Delphi consensus process with international experts in the field, and an in-person meeting with experts in July of 2016. Dr. Weir will present data from focus groups conducted with socially engaged older adults (n=26). Two main themes that fell into each of the four domains of the ecological model of sedentary behaviour emerged. These themes were barriers and promoters of sedentary behaviour, and were either intrinsic or extrinsic. Dr. Gayman will present results from an analysis of the Canadian General Social Survey (2010) investigating the influence of participation in low effort activities (i.e., MET < 1.5). Results indicate that athletes are less sedentary than leisurely active or inactive older adults (n= 1,723). Dr. Dogra will present results from a similar study comparing sedentary time between master and recreational athletes; however, in contrast to Dr. Gayman's results, these results indicate that Masters athletes may be compensating for vigorous exercise with an increase in sedentary time. Finally, Dr. Horton will present results from a qualitative investigation of older women competing in the 2013 World Masters Games. Three main themes emerged from the interviews (n=16): Multi-faceted benefits, Overcoming barriers, and Social roles. By resisting gender and aging stereotypes, women may help to change perceptions of aging.


Although U.S. economic growth is likely to continue to be robust, the growth of private and public spending on health care presents long-run public policy challenges. To meet these challenges health care resources must be used more efficiently. Currently, there are few incentives to put health care dollars to the highest value use. This is true in both public and private spending. An important element of the problem lies in the tax-preferred treatment given to employer-provided insurance but not to out-of-pocket spending. The resulting bias towards first-dollar insurance coverage means that consumers are insulated from the real costs of the health care that they consume and have little reason to evaluate whether the benefits are greater than those costs. Moreover, they seldom have sufficient price and quality information to make informed decisions. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a promising way to remove the tax-penalty for enrolling in catastrophic insurance and paying for routine care out of pocket. Given the information that they need, consumers would then have more choices and more control, strengthening their role in reducing waste, improving efficiency, and promoting competition. Coupled with other policies, HSAs can be a critical component in moving toward an efficient and equitable health care system.


Human steroid biosynthesis depends on a specifically regulated cascade of enzymes including 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (HSD3Bs). Type 2 HSD3B catalyzes the conversion of pregnenolone, 17α-hydroxypregnenolone and dehydroepiandrosterone to progesterone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione in the human adrenal cortex and the gonads but the exact regulation of this enzyme is unknown. Therefore, specific downregulation of HSD3B2 at adrenarche around age 6–8 years and characteristic upregulation of HSD3B2 in the ovaries of women suffering from the polycystic ovary syndrome remain unexplained prompting us to study the regulation of HSD3B2 in adrenal NCI-H295R cells. Our studies confirm that the HSD3B2 promoter is regulated by transcription factors GATA, Nur77 and SF1/LRH1 in concert and that the NBRE/Nur77 site is crucial for hormonal stimulation with cAMP. In fact, these three transcription factors together were able to transactivate the HSD3B2 promoter in placental JEG3 cells which normally do not express HSD3B2. By contrast, epigenetic mechanisms such as methylation and acetylation seem not involved in controlling HSD3B2 expression. Cyclic AMP was found to exert differential effects on HSD3B2 when comparing short (acute) versus long-term (chronic) stimulation. Short cAMP stimulation inhibited HSD3B2 activity directly possibly due to regulation at co-factor or substrate level or posttranslational modification of the protein. Long cAMP stimulation attenuated HSD3B2 inhibition and increased HSD3B2 expression through transcriptional regulation. Although PKA and MAPK pathways are obvious candidates for possibly transmitting the cAMP signal to HSD3B2, our studies using PKA and MEK1/2 inhibitors revealed no such downstream signaling of cAMP. However, both signaling pathways were clearly regulating HSD3B2 expression.


This study examines whether biological gender differences appear in the early stages of acquisition in the case of English dative alternation (DA) structures (double object constructions (DOCs) and to/for-datives). Girls have been found to show faster syntactic development when compared to boys (Lovas, 2011). In the case of the acquisition of DA, an order in the emergence and in the incidence of English DA would entail a syntactic derivational status between DOCs and to/for-datives with one being the original structure and the other the derived one (Gu, 2010). However, analogous ages of onset and fairly similar frequency rates in the production could suggest the construction of two underived structures. We investigate whether biological gender differences appear in the case of DOCs and to/for-datives. We also investigate whether the exposure to English DA (adult input) results in differences between the girls' output and the boys' output. We analyze data from seven monolingual English girls and six monolingual English boys, and the adults that interact with them, as available in CHILDES. Our findings reveal that monolingual girls and monolingual boys pattern closely in the acquisition of the syntactic non-derivational relationship between DOCs and to/for-datives, as seen in their similar emergence. Biological gender differences are not seen either in the acquisition of the additional properties of to/for-datives given their later onset and their lower incidence when compared to DOCs. These production patterns also correlate with the frequency with which these structures are heard in the adult input.


The spherical impact is a common phenomenon in mechanical engineering. The elasto-plastic impact is more complicate than the elastic impact. The elasto-plastic impact loads are investigated for the different contact stiffness and the different impact velocity by the nonlinear finite element method. The accuracy and reliability of the finite elements model are verified by comparing the numerical results of the elastic impact with the Hertz results. The elasto-plastic impact simulation shows that the impact loads have a negative exponential relation with the contact stiffness as well as a linear relation with the impact velocity. The contact time decrease with the increase of the contact stiffness and the impact velocity. The comparison between the influence of the contact stiffness and the impact velocity indicates that the impact velocity has a significant influence on the impact load and the contact stiffness has a big influence on the contact time.


Subepithelial tumors (SETs) in the upper digestive tract are rare and only 10% of are located in the duodenum. Assessment of lesions protruding from the duodenal wall is difficult. Upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and computed tomography (CT) are not able to completely distinguish between different tumors and guide their subsequent management. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has a significant diagnostic yield in this context. EUS is able to accurately diagnose duodenal lesions, perform a biopsy if considered useful, guide the approach for resection and provide appropriate follow-up. SETs reported during upper GI endoscopy are more commonly cysts, polyps, lipomas, Brunner's gland adenoma, ectopic pancreas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) or neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). In addition, although more rarely, adenocarcinomas and lymphomas can be identified. EUS should be performed for any duodenal lesion larger than 1 cm that lacks the endoscopic characteristics of a cyst or a lipoma.


The design of optimal linear, time-invariant systems with regional pole constraint is studied. The problem is to find the static state feedback controller to ensure that all closed-loop system poles lie inside the desired region H and, meanwhile, to minimise a multiobjective performance index. The desired region H can be represented by several inequalities. For some special cases, H may consist of several disjoint subregions. The performance index consists of two parts. One part is used to penalise the sustained error, and the other part is used to guarantee that the optimal solution will not occur on the boundary of the admissible controller set and to improve the robustness property of the closed-loop system. The necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the admissible controller is found. The necessary condition that the optimal control law must be satisfied is derived. Furthermore, the robustness analysis of the regional pole restriction under unstructured perturbation is studied. Based on the Gersgorin's theorem a new method is presented, which calculates the allowable bounds of the unstructured perturbation, so that all the perturbed poles will still remain inside some regions.


Background: Surgical resection of stage IIIA-N2 disease in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains controversial with heterogeneous disease entity that consists of different subgroups: patients diagnosed in the preoperative period (suspected N2) and patients diagnosed unexpectedly during resection surgery (unsuspected N2). There is only limited evidence to support the current guidelines for unsuspected N2 disease. Aim: To compare clinicopathological characters and long-term prognosis of the patients with unsuspected N2 disease with that of the patients with suspected N2 disease. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection of stage IIIA-pN2 NSCLC between 2006 and 2014 at a single institution. Patients were grouped based on the diagnosis of N2 disease (suspected or unsuspected). Clinical features were recorded and Kaplan-Meier method was used to investigate the effect of N2 disease subgroups on survival. Results: Of 105 patients, 48 patients belonged to suspected N2 disease and 57 patients belonged to unsuspected N2 disease. The only factor associated with unsuspected N2 disease was better (well/moderately differentiated) tumor differentiation (OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.11-7.73, p=0.029). Compared to suspected N2 disease, unsuspected N2 disease did not result in significantly poorer survival (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.65-1.82, p=0.738). Gender, performance status, histologic type, tumor differentiation and lymphovascular invasion were significantly associated with survival. Conclusion: In the setting of unsuspected N2 disease, continuation of surgical resection can be employed without compromising survival.


: The purpose of this paper is to show that how the sub-family of Meijer's G-functions, , deduces all the radial states of the Hydrogen atom. By introducing two postulates and using operator method similar with the method used for the simple harmonic oscillator we obtain all the excited radial states of the Hydrogen atom from the ground state. It is just needed to use two properties of Meijer's G-functions.


Graduate students often face problems of finishing their degrees based on the observation, experiences, and interviews with students and advisers. These problems are mainly due to the rigorous process of writing a scholarly thesis. Many graduate students are constrained by time and resources. Students do not have adequate research writing skills necessary for papers that reflect creativity, originality, and mastery of one's specialization. In this study, qualitative methods were used with an open-ended survey questionnaire as the basis for the discourses employed in the narrative analysis. Five respondents represented each degree program. These graduate students were asked to describe their experiences of training designed to take them through the different sections of writing their thesis papers. The responses were then categorized using Gagne's five categories of learning outcomes. Results indicate that the students found the training/ seminar-workshop informative and relevant. Based on the learning outcomes, the training improved their intellectual skills, verbal information, cognitive strategies, and attitudes.  This training also impacts on the ASEAN integration in that students are confident they would be able to meet academic and professional requirements because of the learning they have undergone through the thesis writing training. Investing in training can help prepare students to meet the challenges of writing scholarly papers which are comparable to those written by other ASEAN member states.Keywords:  training-workshop, thesis writing, scholarly thesis, rigorous writing process


In this paper, we propose the VHF/UHF power amplifier for integrating various wireless systems of railway communications. The proposed power amplifier can integrate several power amplifiers, which are used for FM rerun equipment of 88 to 108 ㎒, VHF hand-held radio of 146 to 174 ㎒, and train wireless protection equipment of 443 ㎒. The VHF/UHF power amplifier adopts the GaN HEMT and the negative feedback method for achieving the wide bandwidth characteristics of VHF and UHF. From measurement across the bandwidth of 30 to 500 ㎒, an output power over 20 W and power added efficiency over 40 % was obtained. An intermodulation distortion below -37.7 ㏈c was measured for 2-tone test signal. From the digital predistortion measurements, an IMD reduction over 16.2 ㏈ was obtained.


Beamforming is a powerful processing tool for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation. The performance of a beamformer is limited by physical characteristics of the array in use, and searching space is often crowded in the form expressed in Euclid space. When the input space is transformed into a feature space with high dimension, e.g. infinite dimension in Hilbert space, it exhibits highly sparse characteristics. On that basis, the beamforming problem can be included in the framework of the compressive sensing (CS). In this paper, we map the sampled data into a high dimensional feature space with sparse representation induced by a kernel function. The DOA estimation is solved by using a kernel-based matching pursuit algorithm. When compared with the traditional CS, the new method improves the feature separability, and produces a better performance distinguishing coherent sources with fewer snapshots.


With the development of cities, urban land becomes tight increasingly. Green space is gradually reduced. Urban ecological environment deteriorating.These problems can be solved by vertical greening of buildings. At present, there is more attention to building energy-saving efficiency and energy-saving wall plays a very important role in building energy consumption. Therefore, building energy-saving effect of vertical greening used in building walls is of great importance.In this paper, an example of Changchun proposed to vertical greening species in the region according to climatic and geographical conditions, the architectural features of the region, and analyze the impact on wall energy-saving. Finally, verify that building metope greening can reduce the energy consumption of the exterior wall.


I agree with the report of Gleadhill et al on the dangers of baby walkers.' I think, however, that the fact that two of the three cases they describe involved infants no older than 7 months who were left unsupervised in these baby walkers indicates that there was insufficient parental care. This would certainly appear to be so at the time of the accidents. Placing a young infant in a baby walker and thus giving him uncontrollable speed and mobility without supervision is as irresponsible as allowing a 6 year old to drive a motor car. My experience is that those parents who are somewhat inadequate, depressed, or socially deprived are among the most ardent users of baby walkers. The infant is placed in this and then left to 'amuse' himself. These parents often have little insight into normal child development and are unprepared for the consequences of the mobility suddenly achieved by the infant. Another factor is that it is usually the infant who is irritable and hyperactive who is most often placed in a baby walker. The combination of a hypractive adventurous infant and an insufficiently observant parent is also found in other cases of accidental injuries and poisoning.2 Education and warning labels may help but unfortunately these are often the families who are least amenable to advice on child care and safety.3 Even if the baby walker complies with the strictest safety regulations accidents will still occur-especially from overturning. The total banning of the sale of baby walkers may be the only resort if these accidents are to be prevented completely.


Introduction: The overall prevalence of gallstones in adults is about 10% of whom approximately 1 to 2% become symptomatic. The accurate differentiation of gallstone induced biliary colic from other abdominal disease processes is the most crucial step in the successful management of gallstone disease. Persistent pain or the so-called "Post –cholecystectomy syndrome" varies in frequency between 6 and 47 percent. Aims and Objectives: To study the frequency of persistent pain after cholecystectomy, when defined indications for the operation were used. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study carried out in 70 patients in whom the indications for cholecystectomy were defined. All patients were subjected to cholecystectomy. All the patients received a self – administered questionnaire before cholecystectomy about specific food intolerance, acid regurgitation,   heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and sensation of bloating in relation to meals   during the previous 3 months. The location of abdominal pain was noted and the intensity of pain was indicated on the visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The patients were followed up at 1,3 and 6 months after the cholecystectomy and the same symptom questionnaire was administered to the patients at every visit. Results - At one month follow up, out of 37 patients who experienced abdominal pain with typical location before surgery, 32 reported total remission of pain (86.4%) whereas out of 15 patients who had vague abdominal pain before surgery, only 3 reported relief of pain (20%). At 6 months follow up out of 22 patients with localized preoperative pain, 20 reported relief (90.0%). Out of 12 patients with vague preoperative pain, 7 patients reported relief of pain (58.3%). The average VAS score at 1 month follow up was 2.5 for patients with preoperative localized pain and 4.5 for those who presented with vague pain preoperatively. The score was 1 and 3 respectively at 6 months follow up. Conclusion: The defined indications for elective cholecystectomy along with the questionnaire indicates the frequency and location of preoperative abdominal pain are useful in minimizing the frequency of persistent pain after cholecystectomy. The frequency of persistent abdominal pain after Cholecystectomy is low in patients with preoperative typical localized pain.


By using light and electron microscopic histochemical techniques, the activities and distributions of ALP isoenzymes in gastric cancers and benign gastric diseases were examined. The results showed: Nagao, Regan and Kasahara isoenzymes, which were not expressed in normal gastric mucosae and non-malignant lesions, may be considered as the tumor markers of gastric cancer. The epithelium of intestinal metaplasia exhibited intestinal-type ALP only, which was one of the markers of well-differentiated intestinal metaplasia. In the view-point of the gene expression of ALP isoenzymes, two mutation hypothesis and recessive-gene mutation hypothesis may be proper for gastric cancer.


Sundblad, E-L (2008). People's knowledge about climate change: Uncertainty as a guide to future commitments. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Knowledge of climate change is provided by scientists to other groups in society who have to interact to establish sustainable development. Hence, the knowledge must reach people and the content must be evaluated as important and relevant. In Study 1, knowledge and confidence in one's own knowledge was studied in a survey among four groups in society: experts, politicians, environmental journalists and laypersons. The study revealed gradually decreasing knowledge levels from experts to journalists, politicians and laypersons. The confidence levels showed a similar pattern. Both knowledge and confidence levels were higher for causes than state and consequences of climate change. All groups had less knowledge of health consequences as compared to weather and sea/glacier consequences. The realism of confidence in their own knowledge was somewhat higher among journalists than among experts, and relatively low among politicians and laypersons. Study II tested to what extent scientific knowledge of various domains was related to cognitive and affective risk judgements among laypersons. Subgroups divided by gender, being a parent or not, education, age and type of residence were analyzed. The results revealed that knowledge of both health consequences and causes of climate change was positively related to cognitive and affective risk judgements. Gender influenced affective but not cognitive risk judgements, as women were more worried than men. Study III revealed that information of scientific uncertainty of climate consequences influence risk perception. Study IV revealed that temporal distance to negative environmental consequences did not influence participants' intention to mitigate CO2 emissions. Taken together, this research represents some steps towards a greater understanding of what facilitates and hinders the process toward a sustainable society. The studies show that scientific knowledge about climate change seems to be disseminated in an unbiased manner in society. Moreover, the results support the claim that both knowledge and confidence levels will increase when people learn more about climate change. In particular, risk awareness can be raised by increased knowledge of health consequences and of causes of climate change.


Credit risk assessment plays an important role in banks credit risk management. The objective of credit assessment is to decide credit ranks, which denote the capacity of enterprises to meet their financial commitments. Traditional "one-versus-one" approach has been commonly used in the multi-classification method based on support vector machine (SVM). Since SVM for pattern recognition is based on binary classification, there will be unclassifiable regions when extended to multi-classification problems. Focus on this problem, a new credit risk assessment model based on fuzzy SVM is introduced in this paper that can give a reasonable classification for unclassifiable examples. Experiment results show that the fuzzy SVM method provides a better performance in generalization ability and assessment accuracy than conventional one-versus-one multi-classification approach


UNLABELLED
Traditionally, the opening base wedge osteotomy has been indicated in a moderate to severe hallux abducto valgus deformity with a short first metatarsal. This in vitro study aimed to address the question of how much lengthening is inherent to the geometric design of an opening wedge in the first metatarsal. The preosteotomy length of a first metatarsal segment was compared with postosteotomy length after performing transverse and oblique basilar osteotomies while maintaining the opening wedge with a prefabricated spacer. In the current bench study, it was found that the opening base wedge osteotomy does indeed lengthen the first metatarsal, albeit a small percentage of the total length (1%-2.8%), and there was no significant difference between the lengths achieved through a transverse or oblique osteotomy based on a confidence interval of 95%.

LEVEL OF CLINICAL EVIDENCE
5.


San Diego—The world's fastest computer is being put together with truckloads of the same microprocessors that power high-end PCs. By linking more than 9000 Pentium Pro processors, Intel is building a parallel computer that will top out at 1.8 trillion operations per second, 10 times the speed of any existing machine. To be installed by the end of the year at Sandia National Laboratory, the behemoth will serve the nuclear weapons program by simulating how weapons age and malfunction, but it will also act as a test bed for new techniques in parallel computation. Computers/Math


OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study are to examine the influence of paternal and maternal education and marital status on the initiation and adequate use of prenatal care services.

METHODS
Data were obtained from the 1990-1991 Minnesota Live Birth file. Single live births to white resident mothers who were 21 years of age or older were selected for investigation. After these selections 102,798 cases were analyzed.

RESULTS
Logistic regression was used to examine the association of parental characteristics on the following three measures of poor prenatal care use: (1) receiving no prenatal care; (2) initiating care later than the first trimester; and (3) given a first trimester start of care, receiving less than the recommended number of prenatal care visits. Within each maternal education stratum, an increased risk of delayed initiation and less efficient use of prenatal care were observed for lower paternal educational attainment. Unmarried women, regardless of educational level, exhibited more than a tenfold risk of receiving no prenatal care, and unmarried women of low educational attainment exhibited the highest risk of delayed care.

CONCLUSIONS
A persistent positive effect of increasing paternal education on the level of adequacy of prenatal care utilization within all maternal marital status and educational attainment groups poses further challenges to our understanding of the factors that influence prenatal care use.


To improve the yield of sweet peppers in Japan, we investigated the relationships between plant growth characteristics and fruit yield, with a particular focus on dry matter production. Fruit fresh weight (i.e., fruit yield) was highly correlated with fruit dry weight. Aboveground dry matter production was correlated with both light use efficiency and intercepted photosynthetically active radiation. Although the number of fruits was correlated with the fruit set ratio, no correlation was found between the number of fruit and fraction of dry matter distributed to fruit. The correlation between the fraction of dry matter partitioned to fruit and fruit dry weight varied by plant stage, potentially due to the yield fluctuation called "flush". Together, these findings suggest that to improve the yield of sweet peppers in Japan, we should focus first on improving light use efficiency.


As the Bluetooth devices for the internet of things require extremely low-power dissipation to maintain longer battery life, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) as the main power-consuming part in the circuit needs more current-efficient topologies on power saving. This paper proposes a low-noise transconductance amplifier that combines the techniques of passive impendence transformation, [Formula: see text]-boosting technique, and current reuse, leading to a low power under the 1.2 V power supply. The transformer-based [Formula: see text]-boosted structure is applied in the four-transistor-stacked current-reuse topology leading to a [Formula: see text] power saving. The proposed LNA simulated in 65 nm CMOS shows the NF of 3.3 dB and the IIP3 of −8 dBm, respectively, while dissipating 87 [Formula: see text]W dc power. Compared to the previous low-power LNA, this design has fairly low-power consumption and low NF while other performance metrics remain competitive.


Abstract: The identification of weeds in the Sikasso area has led to targeted spraying. The choice of the spraying period was specified by the local weather station, which gives the climatic parameters of the field more precisely the soil moisture parameters. The Gospectro is shipped on the front of a compatible Galaxy Smartphone. The image is analyzed in real time to identify weeds from the rest of the agronomic scene and then to separate the weeds from the crop in the field. The Gospectro is a device that transforms a smartphone or digital tablet equipped with a camera into an ultra-compact and powerful spectrometer. It is sensitive over the entire visible range (400nm-750nm) and can measure emission spectra, transmission or reflection.


Abuses of formalin in foods have become a great concern due to grim health hazard. The aim of this study was to shed light on formalin crime and also the situational analysis of food adulteration in Bangladesh. The primary objective of this paper is highlighting the response of formalin users, community and government about the abuse of formalin in Bangladesh. The secondary objective of this paper is drawing successful strategies to make adulteration free food on the basis of the existing laws and strategies to curb the threading perils arranging healthy and safe life. The study was conducted mainly using data from secondary sources.


A round straight superconducting wire has been used as numerical prototype for pursuing a comprehensive study on the local distribution of current and the density of power losses, attained by the simultaneous action of an ac transport current and an oscillating transverse magnetic field. The numerical simulations have been performed within the quasi-steady approach of the critical state theory, including virgin and premagnetized wires. A wide variety of shapes for the flux fronts characterizing the local dynamics of the electromagnetic quantities across the section of the wire has been revealed. Under special conditions, flux fronts characterized either by the so-called "field-like", or "current-like " shapes are shown, with the occurrence of multiple domains of current flow detached by thin lines acting as boundaries between the critical values Ic and -Ic. Despite the lack of symmetry for attaining at least an intuitive definition of the shape of the flux front, a universal pattern of the distribution of magnetic flux density has been identified. Also, a strong asymmetric localization of the density of power losses has been envisaged, as long as synchronous electromagnetic excitations are used.


Thrombolytic therapy is becoming a more widely utilized treatment modality for treatment of acute peripheral arterial occlusions. Nurses, therefore, need to be knowledgeable of the patient care management issues that surround thrombolytic therapy. This article, through a case study approach, defines the mechanism of action of thrombolytic agents, side effects, and key patient management issues. Nursing interventions focus on potential for fluid volume deficit related to alteration in hemostasis mechanisms/clot dissolution and potential alteration in tissue perfusion, peripheral/cerebral, related to thrombosis/embolus/clot dissolution.


Background: Cervical cancer is one of the leading cause of mortality among women in US. Naturally occurring dietary compounds have gained increasing attention for their anticancer effects. Cucurbitacins, tetracyclic triterpenoid compound, belong to a family of Cucurbitaceae have shown promising anti-cancer activity. Herein, we investigated the potential anti-cancer effects of a novel analogue of cucurbitacin D (Cuc D) against cervical cancer in in vitro and in a xenograft mouse model. Methods: In our study, we used human cervical cancer cells (CaSki and SiHa). Cells were treated with Cuc D (0.05 to 1μM) for 48 and 72 hrs. MTS and colony formation assays were performed to investigate the effects of Cuc D on cell viability and proliferation. Western Blot analysis was performed to investigate the effects of Cuc D on cell proliferation and apoptotic markers. To determine the therapeutic effects of Cuc D, we used female athymic nude mice and injected CaSki cells (4 × 106) into the cervix to develop orthotopic xenograft tumors. Cuc D (1 mg/kg body weight) was administered through intratumoral injection four weeks post-tumor cell injection. Tumor volume in these mice were recorded bi-weekly. Results: Cuc D inhibited cell viability of cervical cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. IC50 of Cuc D was observed 400 nM and 250 nM in Caski and SiHa cells, respectively. Cuc D treatment effectively inhibited growth of cervical cancer cells which was determined by decreased cell proliferation and colony formation assays. Cuc D treatment induced apoptosis in cervical cancer cells as measured by enhanced Annexin V staining. Western blot result also illustrated cleavage in PARP protein in Cuc D treated cells which further confirms apoptosis induction. Cuc D treatment also inhibited PI3K and c-Myc protein levels and phosphorylation of STAT3 and Rb proteins. In addition, Cuc D treatment induced the cell cycle inhibitory proteins (p21 and p27) and PTEN and the expression of a tumor suppressor microRNA, miR-145, as determined by qRT-PCR. In an orthotopic tumor xenograft mouse model, Cuc D treatment effectively inhibited tumor growth as compared to vehicle control treated mice. Conclusion: Taken together, our results demonstrate potent anti-cancer efficacy of Cuc D in cervical cancer cells via modulation of key onco/tumor suppressor proteins. Thus, Cuc D could be a useful therapeutic agent for cervical cancer treatment. Citation Format: Mohammed Sikander, Bilal Bin Hafeez, Fathi T. Halaweish, Murali M. Yallapu, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan. Novel cucurbitacin analogue Cuc D exhibits potent anti-cancer activity in cervical cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3081.


ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate whether Candida albicans exhibits altered pathogenicity characteristics following sublethal antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (APDI) and if such alterations are maintained in the daughter cells. C. albicans was exposed to sublethal APDI by using methylene blue (MB) as a photosensitizer (0.05 mM) combined with a GaAlAs diode laser (λ 660 nm, 75 mW/cm2, 9 to 27 J/cm2). In vitro, we evaluated APDI effects on C. albicans growth, germ tube formation, sensitivity to oxidative and osmotic stress, cell wall integrity, and fluconazole susceptibility. In vivo, we evaluated C. albicans pathogenicity with a mouse model of systemic infection. Animal survival was evaluated daily. Sublethal MB-mediated APDI reduced the growth rate and the ability of C. albicans to form germ tubes compared to untreated cells (P < 0.05). Survival of mice systemically infected with C. albicans pretreated with APDI was significantly increased compared to mice infected with untreated yeast (P < 0.05). APDI increased C. albicans sensitivity to sodium dodecyl sulfate, caffeine, and hydrogen peroxide. The MIC for fluconazole for C. albicans was also reduced following sublethal MB-mediated APDI. However, none of those pathogenic parameters was altered in daughter cells of C. albicans submitted to APDI. These data suggest that APDI may inhibit virulence factors and reduce in vivo pathogenicity of C. albicans. The absence of alterations in daughter cells indicates that APDI effects are transitory. The MIC reduction for fluconazole following APDI suggests that this antifungal could be combined with APDI to treat C. albicans infections.


Introduction: Ad equate delivered dose of solute removal (as assessed by urea reduction and calculation of Kt/V) is an important determinant of clinical outcome in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. This requires both prescription of an adequate dose of HD and regular assessment that the delivered treatments are also adequate. Online conductivity monitoring using sodium flux as a surrogate for urea allows the repeated noninvasive measurement of Kt/V on each HD treatment. Methods: We prospectively studied 17 (9 males, 8 females) established chronic HD patients over an eight-week period (408 treatments). A pre-and post-dialyzer measurement of the conductivity is performed by two mutually independent temperature-compensated conductivity cells equipped with Fresenius 4008 S ® dialysis machines. Urea reduction was measured (once a week) by a single pool calculation using immediate post-treatment sampling. No changes were made to any of the dialysis prescriptions over the study period. Values of calculated Kt/V and simultaneously obtained online Kt/V were compared. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between calculated Kt/V and online Kt/V over the study period. The mean calculated Kt/V was 1.37 ± 0.09, and mean online Kt/V 1.02 ± 0.15 (P = 0.000), calculated Kt/V  1.2 was achieved in all our patients while online Kt/V  1.2 was achieved in only 17.64 %. Yet there was moderate correlation between calculated Kt/V and online Kt/V (r 2 = 0.48). Conclusions: Online conductivity monitoring results underestimates dialysis efficiency compared to calculated Kt/V readings. This difference has to be considered when applying Kt/V to clinical practice.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to isolate and identify microorganisms of food packaging papers of Kathmandu valley and determine antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates.
Methods: A total of 34 food packaging paper samples were collected aseptically from hotels, bakeries and sweet shops (considered as closed shop) and open street vendors and were transported to microbiology laboratory of Golden Gate International College for processing. The isolates were identified by standard microbiological procedures and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method following CLSI guidelines. The rate of Extended Spectrum Beta- lactamase (ESBL) producing and multiple drug resistant (MDR) isolates were also determined.
Results: All 34 samples yielded microbial growth with average microbial count of 4.145×105 CFU/g. Among 103 microbial isolates, 78 were bacteria, 15 molds and 10 yeasts. The predominant bacterial and mold isolates were Bacillus spp (43.59%) and Cladosporium spp (46.67%) respectively. Ciprofloxacin (42/43) and Amikacin (42/43) were the most effective and ampicillin (39/43) was most resistant antibiotics for Gram negative bacteria. A total of 9.30% Gram negative isolates were identified as ESBL producing and MDR strains.
Conclusion: This result indicates that potential pathogens are found in food packaging papers which can be threat to health of consumers as they may act as a source of food borne infection.


Poverty represents a life aspect which is focusing the attention of both the macroeconomic analysis and the international comparisons. In order to measure the level being recorded by this phenomenon, there is a system of indicators which are used in order to underline, in a correlated manner, a number of aspects which are characterizing, quality and quantity wise, the evolution of the poverty in a specific country or, to a larger extent, through comparative surveys, at international level. Despite the fact that they are not the only instrument being used within the process of comparison of the stages of social and economic development at the international level, however the poverty indicators are providing a clear significance to the worked out surveys. In fact, the very purpose of the economic activity consists of increasing welfare and, as much as possible, at least reducing, if not eradicating, the poverty. The present work is broadly presenting the methodology as well as, both theoretical and practical, the way of computing the poverty, making a synthesis of the specific used indicators.


BACKGROUND
Pathologic staging and grading are the most important prognostic factors in prostatic cancer. Unfortunately, pathologic staging needs to be evaluated by surgical procedures; moreover, the proposed grading systems are largely based upon subjective histopathologic evaluations. In recent years, these problems have been approached with flow cytometry (FCM). The present study evaluates the significance of DNA ploidy of prostatic carcinoma assessed by FCM.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Microscopic slides from 132 core needle biopsies and 22 surgical specimens of prostatic carcinoma were reviewed and classified according to Gleason's score modified by Epstein et al. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples were prepared for FCM evaluation using standard techniques. Adequate histograms were obtained from 113 biopsies (85.6%) and from all the surgical specimens (100%).

RESULTS
Among the 113 biopsy specimens, a statistically significant correlation was found between DNA ploidy and Epstein's grading, since high-grade neoplasms accounted for 40.38% of non-diploid cases and only for 21.33% of diploid cases (chi square = 5.8; p = 0.05). Moreover, tetraploid tumors were defined as a separate FCM category with an absolute prevalence (65.52%) of non-high grade neoplasms (chi square = 5.9; p = 0.05). Although not submitted to statistical analysis, data collected from surgical specimens showed similar distribution.

CONCLUSIONS
DNA ploidy assessment by FCM is a viable procedure in the majority of needle biopsy tissue samples of prostatic carcinoma; it may produce prognostic parameters with greater objectivity than conventional histologic grading.


Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major health problem worldwide. Although a tremendous amount has been known about HBV, there have been obstacles in the study of HBV due to the narrow host range of HBV limited to humans and primates. In the present study, we investigated the susceptibility to HBV infection of mouse hepatoma cell line, Hepa-1c1c7. In addition, based on that human hepatocytes infected by HBV increase the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-a, the inducibility of TNF-a expression by HBV in the cells was determined. HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) secretion was measured by the microparticle enzyme immunoassay and steady state mRNA expression was analyzed by quantitative competitive RT-PCR. Transient transfection of Hepa-1c1c7 cells with HBV expression vector resulted in a dose-dependent induction of TNF-a expression. Infection of Hepa-1c1c7 cells with the serum of HBV carrier also increased TNF-a mRNA expression. Both in the transfected and infected cells, HBV mRNA was expressed and significant HBsAg secretion was detected. There was no significant variation in β-actin mRNA expression by HBV. These results demonstrate that HBV is infectious to Hepa-1c1c7 in vitro and the viral infection induces TNF-a expression, which suggests that Hepa-1c1c7, a mouse hepatoma cell line, may be a possible model system for analysis of various molecular aspects of HBV infection.


Abstract George Baird's "Les Extrêmes Qui se Touchent?" was published in 1977 in the Architectural Design special issue on the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). It was republished as "Les Extrêmes Qui se Touchent" in Baird's 2015 edited volume, Writings on Architecture and the City. Both publications feature a figure drawn by Madelon Vriesendorp: "Eating oysters with boxing gloves, naked." The re-presentation of the text is a kind of review. Its reader witnesses Baird looking back, siting and contextualizing the work and its construction. This paper critiques the framing and prefacing of "Les Extrêmes Qui se Touchent" in Writings on Architecture and the City. "Eating oysters with boxing gloves, naked" provides the key lens for this inspection. Through this critique, the paper generates specific commentary on the text(s), as well as making broader arguments regarding architectural authorship, the discursive term "critical," and the moment and tradition associated with that term.


We have shown previously that the high intensity of solar radiation obtained with the Odeillo (France) solar furnace facilities, can be used to vaporize graphite in an inert-gas atmosphere and to produce fullerenes. After a short survey of the vaporization - condensation method used here, we discuss some of the growth mechanisms of these molecules and possible ways to increase the yield, which can reach 20% in the best cases. These experiments point out the principal factors controlling the fullerene yield, such as temperature, pressure and the gas flow rate of the inert gas or the density of carbon atoms in the vaporization zone. Using these observations, the next developments of the method are currently in preparation using a 1 MW solar furnace.


We studied de novo protein biosynthesis in platelets of normal adult donors and in newly formed platelets isolated from splenectomized patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). After metabolic labelling of platelet proteins, performed with different radiolabelled amino acids or carbohydrates, a tenfold increase in incorporation of radioactivity into trichloroacetic-acid-precipitable material was obtained with ITP platelets compared to control platelets. Electron microscopic studies of ITP platelets revealed the presence of rough endoplasmic reticulum and polyribosomes, providing morphological evidence for protein synthesis. SDS-PAGE of radiolabelled ITP platelet proteins followed by autoradiography showed that [35S]methionine and [3H]leucine were incorporated into almost all Coomassie-blue-stained proteins whereas [3H]carbohydrates only labelled a few bands. Using crossed-immunoelectrophoresis we identified some of the labelled platelet compounds and demonstrated that major membrane glycoproteins (GPIb, IIb, IIIa) and alpha-granule proteins, such as fibrinogen, thrombospondin, albumin and von Willebrand factor, were synthesized in newly formed circulating platelets.


Faults in power systems are classified as internal and external faults. Faults within the zone are termed as internal faults whereas; the faults outside the Zone are called as external faults. Ideally, a relay outward after the protection of a zone should operate only for internal faults. It should restrain from operating for external faults or through faults. In this project, the busbar protection using differential protection scheme has been investigated for internal and external faults. The current magnitude from the Current Transformer is compared with a preset value and when the current exceeds the preset value, and then a trip command is given to associated circuit breaker. In this work, an algorithm has been developed to improve the selectivity of the relay and the same is tested on three-phase bus bar having two incoming lines and three outgoing lines at different fault levels and the results are verified for internal and external faults. The entire algorithm is programmed and graphical views of relay performance are verified using the MP LAB platform.


A wireless network consisting of multiple sources communicating with the corresponding destination utilizing a single half-duplex relay is considered in this paper, while the sources are allowed to use the relay opportunistically. By integrating information theory with the concept of effective capacity, we propose a dynamic bandwidth allocation strategy over the wireless relay network based on the frequency division multiple access (FDMA). The dynamic bandwidth allocation strategy aims at maximizing the relay network throughput subject to a given delay quality of service (QoS) constraint. The simulation results show that our proposed allocation strategy can significantly improve the effective capacity as compared to the traditional equal bandwidth allocation strategy.