Preliminary studies are required in order to use microwaves as support of information transmission inside buildings because of the problems of multipath propagation. Simulations based on the uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) are presented. The first example concerns diffraction phenomena due to an elementary wedge formed by two walls. A comparison between experience and theory shows that propagation outside the building is well described. The same numerical theory is employed to characterize propagation inside the building, or more exactly, to predict the mean variation of the field amplitude when a receiver moves inside the building. Results of numerical simulations which are made on an abrupt bend of a corridor allow evaluation of coupling losses between the two parts of this corridor.<<ETX>>


An open question in market microstructure is whether 'informed' traders have an advantage due to access to private, inside, information; or due to a superior ability to process public information. In this article we attempt to answer this question with data from a sports betting exchange taken during play. Uniquely, this allows us to time-stamp information events to the nearest second, and to ensure we are observing all relevant information regarding the value of an asset. We find evidence of inside information but not of a superior ability to process public information. The first finding suggests that a subset of the betting population are observing the action before the wider public (possibly due to delays in the television signal), and betting using this informational advantage.


This paper examines one of Allah's names (Al-Raḥmān, the Merciful), and the unique manner in which it appears within some verses, in contexts that do not reflect its meaning – derived from 'Mercy'. In light of multiple perspectives by scholars on this, it was imperative to read into the name's mention in the Quran, study what has been introduced by scholars, and differentiate Al-Raḥmān from Al-Raḥīm (also derived from Mercy). Additionally, it was important to examine the various contexts to better comprehend the name's definition and address the primary question of why it appears in contexts that do not reflect its original meaning. This paper also sheds light on Surah Al-Raḥmān, as it bears the name, in search for some of its secrets. The study concluded that the placement of the name did not contradict its linguistic status. Appearing in varying contexts is intended as a message, to remind of Allah's mercy and grace, and that Islam is built on the principle of mercy, which is a message to all humanity, Muslims and particularly preachers, to embody the mercy that Allah sent His Messenger (PBUH).


Orchids are a charismatic and highly diverse group of plants, many of which are threatened by human activities. Nature-based tourism is contributing to the decline of some wild orchid populations, although this has rarely been discussed in the tourism literature. We therefore provide a scoping assessment to demonstrate that tourism contributes to the loss of some orchids in the wild by direct collecting, habitat clearance and trampling, and/or indirectly by increasing the impact of other threats such as weeds, pathogens and climate change using data on Australian threatened orchids. Increased recognition and more research are required into the role of nature-based tourism in the declines of these and other species of threatened plants as well as into the ways in which impacts can be mitigated.


This critical review by Shils and Goodhart should put a stop to a great deal of the unhappy confusion which has prevailed in our understanding of blood coagulation and vascular inadequacy in conditions where nutritional factors are supposed to have a role. Ever since Szent-Gyorgi suggested the possibility of flavonoids having some essential biological function in mammalian physiology, in 1936, there have been discordant reports, many of which are magnificent examples of the ease with which observers are distracted by uncontrolled experiments, particularly when these are superimposed on very extensive clinical ignorance. In all the vast pile of papers written in this field there is small residue of useful clinical information. We obviously need such critical reviews as this wellwritten and well-organized one. It is a sad reflection on the editorial judgment of the last 20 years to see how much space in respectable journals has been taken by studies


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License. AB S T R AC T Canada is a leading nation for international migration, yet fails to adequately respond to the healthcare needs of migrant populations. In this editorial, we explore why this is so. We posit that the reactive approach of the systems and stakeholders responsible for assuring healthcare access during the COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to our vulnerable and marginalized populations, and by extension, all citizens. Now, amidst a second wave of COVID-19, we must act – more decisively and compassionately than ever before, with the support of rigorous research and co-designed sustainable strategies. Otherwise, we remain bystanders abetting a system that has failed to effectively address the health needs of those that enter this country seeking a better life.


Pharmacoepidemiology is a relatively new area of study that focuses on research aimed at producing data about drugs' usage and safety in well-defined populations. Its significant impact on patient safety has translated into improving health care systems worldwide, where it has been widely adopted. This field has developed to an extent that policy and guidelines makers have started using its evidence alongside that produced from randomised controlled clinical trials. Although this significant improvement has been partly attributed to the adoption of statistics and computer-aided models into the way pharmacoepidemiology studies are designed and conducted, certain gaps still exist. This chapter reports some of the significant developments made, along with the gaps observed so far, in the adoption of statistics and computing into pharmacoepidemiology research. The goal is to highlight efforts that have led to the new pharmacoepidemiology developments, while examining the intersection between data science and pharmacology through research narrative reviews of computer-aided pharmacology. The chapter shows the significant number of initiatives that have been applied/adopted to improve pharmacoepidemiology research. Nonetheless, further developments in integrating pharmacoepidemiology with computers and statistics are needed in order to enhance the research agenda.


We have investigated the stomatal and phototropic responses to blue light of a number of single and double mutants at various loci that encode proteins involved in blue-light responses in Arabidopsis. The stomatal responses of light-grown mutant plants (cry1, cry2, nph1, nph3, nph4, cry1cry2, and nph1cry1) did not differ significantly from those of their wild-type counterparts. Second positive phototropic responses of etiolated mutant seedlings, cry1, cry2, cry1cry2, and npq1-2, were also similar to those of their wild-type counterparts. Although npq1 and single and double cry1cry2 mutants showed somewhat reduced amplitude for first positive phototropism, threshold, peak, and saturation fluence values for first positive phototropic responses of etiolated seedlings did not differ from those of wild-type seedlings. Similar to the cry1cry2 double mutants and to npq1-2, a phyAphyB mutant showed reduced curvature but no change in the position or shape of the fluence-response curve. By contrast, the phototropism mutant nph1-5 failed to show phototropic curvature under any of the irradiation conditions used in the present study. We conclude that the chromoproteins cry1, cry2, nph1, and the blue-light photoreceptor for the stomatal response are genetically separable. Moreover, these photoreceptors appear to activate separate signal transduction pathways.


This paper discusses the vision of pre-Islamic literature and his ontextualitation in our lives that being lost cultural and value orientation. Literary works are used as study material is the work of Umru al-Qais. The method that used is to describe the elements of literary structure consisting of a theme, the fact the story (plot, characters, and background), and literary devices (point of view, style, atmosphere, symbols, and images). Everything is placed in a sociological framework. It was found that analysis of the poetry of Umru al-Qais legitimize emansipatif literature that has the potential as a force that could bring society to a deeper level to respect the values in society. Although the literature imaginatively constructed, but the framework of his imagination can not be understood out of the empirical frame. With other words, sociological contribution to offer pre-Islamic times, through the work of literary, is imagination.


Gartner named digital twin as one of the top ten technology trends for 2019. The awareness of this trend has now also reached the E&P industry, which can be seen by an increasing number of papers being published about the subject the last two years. Even though the term is new, the technology behind has been around for many years. In this paper we will show how a digital twin araised through the development of the comprehensive model. A model that has evolved through the development of smaller simulation models, each made to solve a different problem. With only minor extension, this model represented a complete virtual rig, ready to connect and develop the managed pressure drilling (MPD) control system. Running together with the control system it was also, with some minor changes, ready to be used in a training simulator. The big step was to prepare the model for running in parallel with a real well to estimate downhole pressure and other variables where they were not measured. Various issues around this are discussed in the paper. Finally, some results from a full-scale test of an MPD system on a rig at a research and development facility in Navasota, Texas, are presented. These tests showed that after some tuning the model could assist the control system in maintaining the pressure at any given arbitrary point in the well, an important point toward making a fully integrated MPD system.


This study aimed to investigate actual situations of nursing activities in supporting the transition to homecare settings for end-stage cancer patients and to determine factors related to executing such nursing activities from the perspectives of communication skills and interprofessional collaboration. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 513 nurses who worked at designated cancer care hospitals in Japan. A total of 318 valid responses were obtained (valid response rate: 62.0%). Scores for nursing activities were higher for the following items: sharing information regarding the transition to homecare settings, intentionally engaging with patients after their medical conditions were explained, providing care for families, and understanding a patient's will about the transition to homecare settings. On the other hand, scores were lower for items that were related to guiding juniors and self-improvement. A multiple regression analysis was performed with nursing activities as the dependent variable. 8 factors related to nursing activities were determined: experience in supporting the transition to homecare settings as a primary nurse, contribution to a team (Team Approach Assessment Scale [TAAS]), years of nursing experience, function of a team (TAAS), regulation of interpersonal relationship (ENDCOREs communication skills scale), experience of participation in homecare nursing education or seminars, verbal communication skills for good communication (End-of-life Care Nurses' Communication Skills scale), and educational background. Future challenges include developing an educational program based on the results of the present study and promoting educational intervention studies.


Innovation in the U.S. healthcare system is often fragmented with various parts of the system producing unintended consequences for the system as a whole. Many U.S. health care organizations build strategies and innovate by focusing on the competition versus the needs of the customer, resulting in products or services that lack an improvement in cost, quality, or access. With changes and reforms expected and required in the U.S. health care system, health care organizations must be prepared to evolve or become obsolete. This study provides an assessment of how and to what degree health care organizations innovate and integrate to produce change in the U.S. health care system. Data were collected from more than 200 individual respondents representing 124 different health care related organizations through a mixed methods research, quantitative and qualitative. Results depicted significant relationships among the innovation and integration factors. Significant relationships also emerged among the innovation and innovation factors and the type of organizations assessed. Based on the synthesis of evidence and data from the research, a conceptual model for innovative and integrative change is defined. The findings and discussion provide guidance for C-Level Executives, Vice Presidents, Directors, and Managers of Product Strategy, Product Development, Marketing and Innovation functions and other health care organizations/service providers who are involved with the construction, implementation, and monitoring of health care.


The principles of increasing the precision characteristics of an agricultural electric drive are presented in this article. There are achieved by analyzing the requirements for the electric drive by the operating body. The scientific work has a relationship between the parameters of the quality of rolling the blanks for agricultural facilities and the precision parameters of the electric drive in terms of overshoot parameters and absolute positioning accuracy. It is shown that this dependence is non-linear in the position electric drive and depends more on the size of the overshoot and a significantly smaller ratio from absolute accuracy. The permissible overshoot value depends on the absolute accuracy and has range from 5 to 10%. The largest value of the overshoot is achieved with absolute positioning accuracy with an error not exceeding 2%. The obtained values of the control parameters can be successfully applied in the design of the position agricultural electric drive. So, if you provide sufficient positioning accuracy with an error not exceeding 2%, which is achieved by the use of position sensors with a resolution of at least 10 000 pulses per revolution, the modeling electric drive in the position loop can be adjusted with an allowable overshoot of 10%, and therefore, increased system performance while maintaining quality control indicators.


This study is aimed to increase the possibility of using the Christopher Alexander's pattern language. The methodology of this study is (i) to analyze the pattern language by using the network analysis tool in order to understand the complicate network structure of the pattern language, and (ii) to apply the Alexander's method of using the pattern language by using the network analysis tool (Gephi) and to examine the feasibility of the network analysis tool as a tool for using the pattern language. Firstly, as a result of analysing the pattern language, (i) the pattern language classified by pattern number is distinguished by the patterns of towns, buildings and construction, among which the pattern of buildings plays a key function in the networks; (ii) the buildings functions a medium connecting between the towns and the construction; and (iii) the pattern language is divided into 6 sub-modules, through which the user can select a pattern. Secondly, the result of using the network analysis tool as a tool for using the pattern language (i) suggests the new method of using the pattern language by using the network analysis tool (Gephi); (ii) makes it possible to easily figure out the characteristics of the links between the patterns; and (iii) increases the completeness of the pattern language by making it easy to find out the sub-patterns in selecting a pattern.


Land disputes are not a new thing that has happened in the long history of law enforcement in this country, often justice becomes overlapping which then ends at the court table, this article will also raise a case of land dispute namely the dispute over the expansion of Juanda airport, this dispute occurred on a 20-hectare plot of land located in Pranti Village, Sedati, Sidoarjo, whose parties are the East Java Pusat Koperasi Karyawan (Puskopkar) center as the land rights holder with PT Gala Bumi Perkasa (GBP), PT Dian Fortuna Erisindo (DFE) with PT Fortuna Harisindo Dian Tama (FHDT), this dispute occurred because of the alleged fake release certificate made by individuals claiming to be members of Puskopar given to PT Gala Bumi Perkasa (GBP), PT Dian Fortuna Erisindo (DFE) with PT Fortuna Harisindo Dian Tama (FHDT) for that legal protection is needed.


Local post-traumatic kyphosis may impair spinal sagittal balance and result in severe disability. The goal of this study is to evaluate posterior closing wedge osteotomy at the level of injury, by comparing thoracolumbar (T12-L1) and lumbar (L2-4) spinal levels. Thirteen consecutive patients had surgery in an average 13 months after the initial injury. There were 8 thoracolumbar and 5 lumbar deformities. Nine patients already had posterior fixation. Eight patients had preoperative neurological deficits. Sagittal correction was assessed in terms of regional angulation (RA) and effective regional deformity (ERD), which was defined as the difference between the actual RA and the physiological RA for the level. The average follow up was 2.1 years. The average RA passed from 43.8 degrees (31 to 55) to 2.2 degrees (−5 to 7) after surgery. It was 5.3 degrees (−4 to 12), at follow-up. RA and surgical correction were not significantly different between thoracolumbar and lumbar groups. The average ERD was 47.2 degrees (24 to 66) preoperatively and 8.6 degrees (−5 to 37) at follow-up. The ERD passed from 41.8 degrees (24 to 54) to 0.5 degrees (−5 to 6) in the thoracolumbar group, and from 55.8 degrees (50 to 66) to 21.6 degrees (17 to 37) in the lumbar group. The ERD was significantly different initially (P=0.014) and after surgery (P=0.06). The anatomical result was complete in the thoracolumbar group, because the correction of the deformity at this level does not require more than correction of the vertebral body kyphosis. On the contrary, due to adjacent disc damage, the technique did not fully restore the physiological regional lordosis at lower levels.


An elastic-viscoplastic based finite element model has been developed to study the necking behavior of tube expansion for rate independent materials, rate dependent monolithic materials, and laminated materials during dynamic loading. A numerical study shows that for rate independent materials, the dynamic loading will not delay diffused necking but localized necking; for rate dependent materials, high strain rate sensitivity can significantly delay the onset of localized necking for both monolithic and laminated sheets and affect the multiple-neck formation in high-speed dynamic loading. The model also shows that a higher volume fraction of a clad layer with positive rate sensitivity material in a laminated sheet improves the sheet ductility.


Background and Objective: Biofilms caused by pathogenic microorganisms that plays an important role against human health. Due to their resistance to detergents and antimicrobial agent, treatment response of affected patients with these bacteria is difficult. This study was done to evaluate the effect of methanol extract of Nasturtium officinale plant on growth and biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Methods: In this descriptive - laboratory study, the extraction was done by Maceration in 80% methanol and by rotary evaporator. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Nasturtium officinale extracts were determined by broth microdilution method. Biofilm formation was investigated using the microtiter plate and stained with crystal violet. Results: The minimum inhibitory concentration of Nasturtium officinale against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 0.625 mg/ml and the Minimum bactericidal concentration of this extract was 1.25 mg/ml. PAO1 strain and 5 clinical strains were able to biofilm formation. Inhibition of biofilm formation by extract of Nasturtium officinale plant was dependent to concentration. The highest percentage of inhibition of biofilm formation was in the concentration of 7.5 mg/ml and the lowest percentage of inhibition of biofilm formation was in the concentration of 0.11 mg/ml. The mean of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm inhibition by Nasturtium officinale extracts was 72.69±22.27 %. In the concentrations of 7.5, 0.93, 0.46, 0.23 and 0.11 mg/ml, there was a significant difference between clinical strains and PAO1 strain (P<0.05). Conclusion: Methanolic extracts of Nasturtium officinale plant has anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa .


Inhibition of growth and photosynthesis in sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L. var. 'USH10') treated with desmedipham [ethyl m-hydroxycarbanilate carbanilate (ester)] was most severe between 25 and 30 C and decreased with higher or lower temperatures. Transfer of sugarbeet plants grown at temperatures from 10 to 35 C to higher temperatures after treatment increased injury and photosynthetic inhibition. Higher temperatures prior to treatment reduced injury at all posttreatment temperatures. When the temperature was changed from 25 to 40 C, inhibition was most severe immediately after treatment. Two days after treatment this 15 C temperature change did not cause additional injury. High posttreatment light intensities caused greater inhibition of photosynthesis than low light intensities.


Many things are arranged sequentially: the order in which children are born into a family; the order in which words occur in a sentence; and the order in which utterances occur in a discourse. Sequential order requires that some things come first. Items, events, or stimuli that occur in initial posi tion often gain a unique psychological status. Indeed, some of the earliest experiments in contemporary American psychology document the psychological privilege of primacy. For instance, the qualities of a person that we learn about first, figure most prominently in the impression we form of that person (Asch 1946). Consider the traits listed in ( 1) versus (2) below.


A preliminary investigation into prolactin receptors in human breast carcinomas provided strong evidence that specific binding of prolactin was occurring in at least three of the nine specimens examined (eight human breast carcinomas and one scalp metastasis). These "prolactin receptor positive" tumors were all from premenopausal patients. Three of the tumors of postmenopausal women also suggested the occurrence of specific prolactin binding but, as saturation of the receptors had not been achieved in these assays, the results require confirmation. Some general trends in the binding characteristics of the tumors of premenopausal and postmenopausal patients were also observed. Cancer 43:643–646, 1979.


The increasing of electronic waste (E-waste) is not a new issue in the world and it has been causing trouble throughout the world. This study is conducted to determine and analyze various factors that affect the barriers of E-waste management among the household in Cheras, Malaysia. This study has identified the four independent variables that will affect the implementation of e-waste management among household in Cheras namely lack of awareness, lack of knowledge, lack of cooperation and lack of facilities. Normality test, reliability test and multiple regression analysis with ANOVA test are used to analyse the data in this study. The result shows that all mentions independent variables have a positive relationship with the barriers of implementing e-waste management among households in Cheras. Among these four variables, lack of facilities has the strongest relationship toward the barriers of implementing e-waste management among household in Cheras as it has the lowest significant value which was 0.000. The study recommends of legalize the policies, rules and regulations in order for household to increase their practice on e-waste management and also implement the teaching of e-waste management to increase the knowledge to the young generations.


Transplantation improves the health and quality of life for patients suffering from renal failure, but for many, antibodies specific for HLA antigens create a substantial barrier. Our center has developed a desensitization protocol to remove HLA-specific antibodies and successfully transplant these sensitized patients. This protocol involves alternate day plasmapheresis, intravenous immunoglobulin (IvIg), and immunosuppressants. We use a Luminex assay to detect HLA-specific antibody and developed a flow cytometric technique using HLA tetramer molecules to quantitate HLA-specific B cells. Following desensitization and transplantation, we observe a sustained loss of donor-specific HLA antibodies, while antibodies specific for 3rd party HLA return to pre-treatment levels. Interestingly, B cells specific for donor-specific HLA persist. We hypothesize that transplantation in the absence of inflammation, due to continued desensitization treatment, allows for the induction of B cell anergy toward donor-HLA. We have isolated HLA-specific B cells post-transplant from desensitized patients using HLA tetramers and performed in vitro cultures for 10-12 days using media containing CD40L, IL2, IL21, IL10, and CpG. B cells specific for donor HLA did not differentiate into antibody secreting cells, while B cells specific for 3rd party HLA did. Further research is underway to understand the mechanisms involved in keeping donor-specific B cells quiescent in these patients post-transplant.


From a theoretical and empirical perspective, the article analyzes an experience in art education developed with students of the public school system in Uberlândia city, Minas Gerais State, at the University Museum of Art - MUnA, Brazil. With a qualitative approach and a descriptive and interpretative character, the research found that the contact with an art museum allows the student not only to broaden his knowledge of the world, but also to enrich his cultural education and improve his capacity for expression. It also provides students a greater interaction with the social environment in which they live. Knowledge in art is an apprenticeship that starts from the observation of a work of art, reading and artistic practice. The readings and behaviors that each student has when appreciating a work of art are related to his experience with different artistic manifestations. It is indispensable that schools, art teachers and educational actions in museums be important mediators for the art knowledge production to students. Building this knowledge from the constant access to these artistic and educational spaces, as well as the development of artistic activities in these spaces, may allow the student to broaden his understanding of the national culture. We also verified that the students produced significant artistic works during the educational action in the museum, which contributed to their greater experience with art.


The most common methodology to carry out an automatic unsupervised change detection in remotely sensed imagery is to find the best global threshold in the histogram of the so-called difference image. The unsupervised nature of the change detection process, however, makes it nontrivial to find the most appropriate thresholding algorithm for a given difference image, because the best global threshold depends on its statistical peculiarities, which are often unknown. In this letter, a solution to this issue based on the fusion of an ensemble of different thresholding algorithms through a Markov random field framework is proposed. Experiments conducted on a set of five real remote sensing images acquired by different sensors and referring to different kinds of changes show the high robustness of the proposed unsupervised change detection approach


Here we will discuss the development of arrays of mammalian cells of differing phenotype integrated with microfluidics and microsensors for applications such as drug screening and used to monitor cellular effects of multiple chemical and biological candidates. To fabricate these arrays, we immobilized either single or small groups of cells in 3-dimensional poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogel microstructures fabricated on plastic or glass surfaces. These microstructures were created using either photolithography or printed using microarray robots. The resulting hydrogel microstructures were fabricated to dimensions as small as 10 microns in diameter with aspect ratios as high as 1.4. The gels were highly swollen with water to permit mass transfer of nutrients and potential analytes to the cells, and cell adhesion molecules were immobilized in the gel to allow cell attachment and spreading. Cell viability was confirmed using fluorescent assays and ESEM used to verify complete cell encapsulation. The specific and non-specific response of these cells to target molecules was monitored using optical or electrochemical detectors and analyzed to quantify the effect of these agents on the different phenotypes present in the array.


Transition metal complexes of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) with the macrocyclic ligands have been synthesized. These macrocyclic complexes were characterized on the basis of spectroscopic investigation using infrared spectra, electronic spectra and NMR spectra. Additional evidence for the structure of the macrocylic complexes have been collected from ESR spctra while conclusive evidence has been obtained from X-ray crystallography.


A majority of patients with advanced NSCLC develop disease progression with first-line immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) ± chemotherapy. In the setting of ICI resistance, effective strategies to provide deep and durable responses are urgently needed. Lifileucel (LN-144) and LN-145 are centrally manufactured (cryopreserved drug-product, 22-day manufacturing process) autologous TIL products that have demonstrated activity in advanced melanoma, cervical cancer, and head and neck carcinoma.1–4 Here, we report the first safety and efficacy data for LN-145 as monotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC.IOV-COM-202 (NCT03645928) is a phase 2 multicenter, multicohort, open-label study evaluating autologous TIL cell therapy in patients with solid tumors. We report data from Cohort 3B, investigating LN-145 monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Eligibility required 1–3 prior lines of systemic therapy, including either ICI or oncogene-directed therapy. Treatment included nonmyeloablative lymphodepletion, TIL infusion, and ≤6 interleukin-2 doses. Primary endpoints were safety (incidence of Grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events [TEAEs]) and objective response rate (ORR, investigator-assessed using RECIST v1.1). Exploratory biomarker analyses, including T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire, were performed.As of 24June2021, 28 patients received LN-145 (full-analysis set [FAS]; table 1) and 24 were efficacy-evaluable; all had received prior ICI. TIL were most commonly harvested from lung metastases (57.1%). Safety was consistent with the underlying disease and known TEAE profiles of nonmyeloablative lymphodepletion and interleukin-2. Grade ≥3 TEAEs in ≥30% of patients were thrombocytopenia and anemia. The ORR in the FAS and efficacy-evaluable set was 21.4% (6/28) and 25.0% (6/24; figure 1), respectively. Median duration of response was not reached and 83% (5/6) of responses were ongoing at last follow-up (median study follow-up, 8.2 months). One patient had a complete metabolic response, ongoing at 20.7 months; 2 responses occurred in patients who were PD-L1–negative. All responders received ≥2 prior lines of systemic therapy. Twenty-six patients had TIL available from the final drug-product for TCR repertoire analysis; mean (min-max) number of unique TCR clones was 13,142 (3093–35,734) and Shannon Entropy index was 7.34 (3.7–12). Updated data will be presented.Abstract 458 Figure 1Best percentage change from baseline in target lesion sum of diameters for efficacy-evaluable setAbstract 458 Table 1Baseline patient demographic and clinical characteristics; efficacy parametersLN-145 was successfully manufactured and one-time treatment produced an expected safety profile and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with NSCLC, regardless of PD-L1 expression. The activity of LN-145 monotherapy is encouraging and warrants further investigation of LN-145 as a single-agent and in combination in patients with NSCLC in ongoing studies IOV-LUN-202 (NCT04614103) and IOV-COM-202 Cohorts 3A and 3C (3B closed to enrollment).This study and analysis were funded by Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (San Carlos, CA, USA). Writing support was provided by Amanda Kelly (Iovance); graphics support was provided by Cognition Studio (Seattle, WA, USA).NCT03645928Sarnaik AA, et al. J Clin Oncol 2021; doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.00612.. Thomas SS, et al. J Clin Oncol 2021;39: (suppl; abstract 9537).Jazaeri A, et al. J Clin Oncol 2019;37: (suppl; abstract 2538).Jimeno A, et al. J Immunother Cancer 2020;8: (suppl; abstract A378).The study was approved by Advarra Institutional Review Board, approval number Pro00035064 and all study participants provided written consent via signature of the IRB-approved Informed Consent form.


The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial population and their prevalence on blesbok meat after slaughter and dressing of the carcasses. Animals were harvested from the University of Stellenbosch's experimental farm in the Western Cape, South Africa. Eight animals were shot and bled out in the field where after they were transported to the slaughter facility on the farm where dressing of the carcasses was done and two meat samples were taken. Surface swabs of the meat samples were used for analyses. All samples were tested for the presence of total coliforms, aerobic count, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Total aerobic count was in the range of 1.6-5.1 log cfu/cm(2) whereas all total coliform count was above 5 log cfu/cm(2). E. coli counts ranged from 0-2.19 log cfu/cm(2) and lastly S. aureus were all considerably low except for blesbok seven that was excessively contaminated. It was therefore evident to see that cross contamination took place during the slaughter process including during removal of the hide.


An interstitial free ferritic stainless steel was cold worked to a total strain of 4.6. The largely strained steel is characterized by a submicrocrystalline structure consisting of elongated grains/subgrains with the transverse size of about 210 nm; and the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries is about 0.6. Following a rapid rise at an early processing stage, the dislocation density in (sub)grain interiors unusually decreased after total strains of above 2. Nevertheless, the samples are characterized by high residual stresses that result in complex elastic distortions of the crystal lattice within the elongated crystallites. Such internal stresses are shown to be originated from deformation grain boundaries including low-angle subboundaries.


Because our emotions are crucial determinants of how well we function in our personal and professional lives, researchers from different perspectives have sought to understand how emotions can be best managed for optimal functioning. In this chapter, we focus on two research traditions that have examined this issue, the emotion regulation (ER) tradition and the emotional labor (EL) tradition. This effort is predicated on the belief that a more fundamental research tradition such as ER can inform and complement a more applied research tradition such as EL, first by extending our understanding of the various processes by which employees deal with their emotions, and second, by permitting a more accurate prediction of the consequences of these emotions. A case is presented that discriminating more finely between the various emotion management strategies may help to resolve some of the paradoxical findings observed in the EL literature.


Single molecule studies have expanded rapidly over the past decade and have the ability to provide an unprecedented level of understanding of biological systems. A common challenge upon introduction of novel, data-rich approaches is the management, processing, and analysis of the complex data sets that are generated. We provide a standardized approach for analyzing these data in the freely available software package SMART: Single Molecule Analysis Research Tool. SMART provides a format for organizing and easily accessing single molecule data, a general hidden Markov modeling algorithm for fitting an array of possible models specified by the user, a standardized data structure and graphical user interfaces to streamline the analysis and visualization of data. This approach guides experimental design, facilitating acquisition of the maximal information from single molecule experiments. SMART also provides a standardized format to allow dissemination of single molecule data and transparency in the analysis of reported data.


Abstract. The objective of this paper is to investigate if the description of ocean uncertainties can be significantly improved by applying a local anamorphic transformation to each model variable, and by making the assumption of joint Gaussianity for the transformed variables, rather than for the original variables. For that purpose, it is first argued that a significant improvement can already be obtained by deriving the local transformations from a simple histogram description of the marginal distributions. Two distinctive advantages of this solution for large size applications are the conciseness and the numerical efficiency of the description. Second, various oceanographic examples are used to evaluate the effect of the resulting piecewise linear local anamorphic transformations on the spatial correlation structure. These examples include (i) stochastic ensemble descriptions of the effect of atmospheric uncertainties on the ocean mixed layer, and of wind uncertainties or parameter uncertainties on the ecosystem, and (ii) non-stochastic ensemble descriptions of forecast uncertainties in current sea ice and ecosystem pre-operational developments. The results indicate that (i) the transformation is accurate enough to faithfully preserve the correlation structure if the joint distribution is already close to Gaussian, and (ii) the transformation has the general tendency of increasing the correlation radius as soon as the spatial dependence between random variables becomes nonlinear, with the important consequence of reducing the number of degrees of freedom in the uncertainties, and thus increasing the benefit that can be expected from a given observation network.


An aged male rhesus macaque in our colony had decreased appetite and a loss of interest in behavioral testing. CBC analysis revealed a regenerative, microcytic, hypochromic anemia with thrombocytosis, consistent with iron deficiency. A fecal occult blood test was positive. Ultrasound imaging revealed numerous, vascularized focal liver lesions that suggested metastases. The macaque's appetite continued to decrease, and he became more lethargic. At this point, the investigator elected to euthanize the macaque. At necropsy, the ileocolic junction was white and abnormally thickened, and the liver was pale tan with approximately 18 discrete white masses randomly scattered throughout the hepatic parenchyma. Histologically, the mass at the ileocolic junction was identified as an intestinal adenocarcinoma, whereas the liver masses were confirmed to be undifferentiated hepatic sarcomas. This case report describes a rhesus macaque that had 2 unrelated primary neoplasms. A review of the literature indicates that this rhesus macaque is the first reported to have an adenocarcinoma of the ileocolic junction and multiple hepatic sarcomas simultaneously.


This experiment was conducted in Ardestan University in an experiment based on randomized complete block design with four replications. Each replication consisted of 12 treatments in four fertilizer levels including 2.5 per thousand of Fe-sulfate solution, 2.5 per thousand of Zn-sulfate solution in three stages of growth (4, 8 and 12 leaves). During the experiment, the height of plant, number of stem branches, follicle number in plant, seed number in follicle, 1000- grain weight, biologic yield, seed yield/plant and harvest index were assessed. This study showed that using spraying had significant differences in different growth stages except in the factors like plant height, times of flowering and weight of thousands grain. Also, using all microelement treatments had significant effects to the level of 1%. The most grain yield was in eight-leaf-stage with 172.35 kg/ha and after that four-and twelve-leaf-stages were in the second level. In case of using spraying treatments, the best results were related to 2.5 per thousand of Fe-sulfate solution and the least were related to control and 2.5 per thousand of Zn-sulfate solution. In evaluating the interaction between treatments, the best yield was related to 2.5 per thousand of Fe-sulfate solution in eight- leaf- stage and the least related to 2.5 per thousand of Zn-sulfate solution and control. In the end, spraying of 2.5 per thousand of Fe-sulfate solution in eight- leaf- stage without using Zn-sulfate, in many cases dedicated the best results to itself. This formulation can be used for increasing yield, enhancing the products and removing food deficiencies.

 Key words: Nigella sativa L., Fe-sulfate, Zn sulfate, seed yield and growth stage, spraying.


Cooledge call for greater use of life review by providers; Greene approaches understanding parent-child relationships through the &dquo;life systems approach&dquo;; Schmall and Pratt examine family caregiving strategies; Schmidt examines reversible mental illnesses among the aged; McQuellon and Reifler examine issues in caring for the depressed elderly and their families; Osgood identifies a systems approach to suicide prevention; Morse considers roles of psychotherapists in family financial counseling and its relationship to independent living of the elderly; Garrison discusses the causes and effects of sexual dysfunction; Hughston and Hughston consider the legal ramifications of elderly cohabitation; Rathbone-McCuan and Hedlund examine alcohol abuse and aging; Christopherson offers &dquo;the burden of insight&dquo; as a basis for therapeutic intervention; Bonjean deals with psychotherapy with Alzheimer's patients ; McCluskey looks at retirement and therapy; and Williams discusses death and bereavement.


Sixty-five patients with unresectable advanced epithelial ovarian cancer who underwent exploratory laparotomy or unilateral oophorectomy were reviewed. Forty-five of 65 patients received 3.8 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and were successfully debulked at interval cytoreductive surgery (IRS); 31 of 45 showed no evidence of disease. Patients with residuals <1 cm at IRS had a high possibility of achieving clinical remission. Patients who failed to receive IRS showed poor prognosis. Also, 63 patients who underwent conventional primary debulking surgery with residuals >1 cm were investigated as a contrast. No significant difference was observed in patient survival between the NAC group and the conventional treatment group. NAC and IRS offered patients with unresectable tumors survival similar to that of those with suboptimally resectable tumors at primary debulking. We conclude that this strategy has potential benefits for the patients with clinically aggressive ovarian cancer who are unable to receive standard treatment.


Formation sand can pose major production problems. This practical guide details a variety of production and completion techniques for controlling sand that are as useful today as when this volume was first published. The comprehensive work represents many years of proven research and field experience within Exxon Corporation and the industry.


Metabolic syndrome is a very serious health issue, not only from internal medicine's point of view. Patients suffering from overweight, arterial hypertension, lipids and carbohydrates metabolism disorders are also in the circle of interest of other areas of medicine, including psychiatry. Currently, one of key problems of pharmacotherapy is a comorbidity of metabolic syndrome and mental disorder. Depression is more common than schizophrenia. Despite the fact that in everyday clinical practice there are more patients with depression than schizophrenia, there is a bigger interest among scientists for metabolic syndrome after antipsychotic drugs than as an effect of use of antidepressant agents.

AIM
The aim of an analysis was to review literature committed to influence of depression pharmacotherapy on development of metabolic syndrome. 169 results were provided, including 18 original publications. Final analysis consists of 9 that investigate correlation between antidepressive medicines use and metabolic syndrome development (but not its each individual component).

RESULTS
In general, antidepressant pharmacotherapy is associated not only with increased risk of metabolic syndrome occurrence but also their worsening. However, it needs to be emphasized that there is a difference between antidepressants groups - tricyclic antidepressive medicines are the most commonly associated with risk of developing metabolic disorders, but also SNRIs and SSRIs are mentioned as significant contributors. Mechanisms of aforementioned changes are still unclear. However, their influence on histamine and serotonin pathways, which take part in regulation of i.e. food intake, is suggested. The search for mechanisms that are precisely responsible for metabolic changes continues, in hope of finding a way to avoid adverse effects of antidepressant medicines use.


Proteins are promising components for bioelectronic devices due in part to their biocompatibility, flexibility, and chemical diversity, which enable tuning of material properties. Indeed, an increasingly broad range of conductive protein supramolecular materials have been reported. However, due to their structural and environmental complexity, the electronic structure, and hence conductivity, of protein assemblies is not well-understood. Here we perform an all-atom simulation of the physical and electronic structure of a recently synthesized self-assembled peptide antiparallel coiled-coil hexamer, ACC-Hex. Using classical molecular dynamics and first-principles density functional theory, we examine the interactions of each peptide, containing phenylalanine residues along a hydrophobic core, to form a hexamer structure. We find that while frontier electronic orbitals are composed of phenylalanine, the peptide backbone and remaining residues, including those influenced by solvent, also contribute to the electronic density. Additionally, by studying dimers extracted from the hexamer, we show that structural distortions due to atomic fluctuations significantly impact the electronic structure of the peptide bundle. These results indicate that it is necessary to consider the full atomistic picture when using the electronic structure of supramolecular protein complexes to predict electronic properties.


ABSTRACT Amendment by biochar made by thermal degradation of biomass is expected to enhance carbon sequestration through stimulating carbon assimilation by plants. We clarified the effect of biochar amendment on the photosynthesis of trees in forest ecosystems. Biochar was applied to young oak trees (Quercus serrata) in temperate deciduous forest at rates of 0, 5, 10 and 20 Mg ha−1 in four plots (C0, C5, C10, and C20). The variation in photosynthetic parameters (the maximum photosynthetic rate: Pmax, maximum carboxylation rate: Vcmax and the potential rate of electron transport: Jmax) and leaf traits (the stomatal conductance: gc, leaf mass per area (LMA) and leaf nutrient concentrations) were examined every month during the growing seasons for 3 years. Pmax generally increased in C5 and C10 and did not increase in C20. Similarly, Vcmax and Jmax increased in C5 and C10 and correlated significantly positively with Pmax, suggesting that biochar amendment basically increased the photosynthetic rate through improvements in physiological activities but that there was a maximum useful dosage. We also found that gc, LMA and leaf nutrient (N, Mg, and S) showed significant positive correlations with Pmax, indicating that an increase in photosynthetic rates would be supported by these leaf traits. However, stimulation of photosynthesis became smaller year by year, indicating that the effects of biochar amendment faded gradually. We concluded that biochar amendment basically improved the photosynthesis of oak trees in the forest through the change of all gc, LMA and leaf nutrient concentrations but declined yearly.


This study was conducted to examine the role of membrane hyperpolarization in mediating vascular hyporeactivity induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in endothelial-denuded strips of rat thoracic aorta ex vivo. The CLP for 18 h elicited a significant fall of blood pressure and a severe vascular hyporeactivity to norepinephrine as seen in severe sepsis. At the end of the in vivo experiments, thoracic aortas were removed from both CLP-treated and control rats. After removal of the endothelium, aortic segments were mounted in myographs for the recording of isometric tension and smooth muscle membrane potential. The membrane potential recording showed that a hyperpolarization was observed in the CLP-treated rats when compared with the control rats. This hyperpolarization was reversed by iberiotoxin (a large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker), 4-aminopyridine (a voltage-dependent K+ channel blocker), barium (an inward rectifier K+ channels blocker), N-(1-adamantyl)-N&vprime;-cyclohexyl-4-morpholinecarboxamidine hydrochloride (a pore-forming blocker of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive K+ channels [KATP]), or methylene blue (a nonspecific guanylyl cyclase [GC] inhibitor). However, this hyperpolarization was not significantly affected by apamin (a small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker), glibenclamide (a sulfonylurea blocker of KATP), N&ohgr;-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (a NOS inhibitor), or 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (an NO-sensitive GC inhibitor). In addition, the basal tension of the tissues obtained from CLP rats was increased simultaneously, whereas membrane potential was reversed. In contrast, none of these inhibitors had significant effects on the membrane potential or the basal tension in control tissues. Thus, we provide electrophysiological and functional evidence demonstrating that an abnormal activation of K+ channels in vascular smooth muscle in animals with septic shock induced by CLP. Our observations suggest that the activation of large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels, voltage-dependent K+ channels, inward rectifier K+ channels, and KATP channels, but not small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels, contributes to CLP-induced vascular hyporeactivity. Furthermore, the hyperpolarization in septic shock induced by CLP is likely via non-NO-sensitive GC pathway.


This paper focuses on the investigation of the
rainfall variations due to twin typhoons Saola and Damrey occurred in 2012 over Northwest Pacific Ocean (NPO). Genesis
and landfall of the two typhoons are on the same day, however the track and
rainfall area are different. We have chosen the Global Precipitation
Climatology Project (GPCP) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data
for this analysis. The results are illustrating as follows: typhoon Saola
produced higher rainfall than typhoon Damery. The rainfall pattern of typhoon
Saola having sufficient affect typhoon Damrey rainfall over the ocean, however
after landfall produced rainfall over the land. Comparison of two rainfall data
sets revealing that TRMM data is better for identifying heavy rainfall due to
typhoon.


Common Core courses have unique challenges rarely faced by other courses, including large class size, students' diverse backgrounds, and reliance on non-traditional course activities. A learning analytic tool has been developed for instructors and learners to visualize learning progression with regard to course learning outcomes, as outcome-based learning is an important pedagogical strategy emphasized by the University and thus on CC courses. This LA tool aims to serve as a basis for learners to carry out self-monitoring of outcome-linked learning progress, and help teachers monitor student progress and decide on possible interventions for at-risk students after judicious interpretation of the visualization. This symposium comprises three presentations, given by the developers of the LA tool and instructors of CC courses who are going to share the tool's functionality, reflect on their usage experience, and discuss best practices on online activities for CC courses.


This study investigated the level of compliance with mandatory social and environmental disclosure in Vietnam Stock Exchange for the year of 2016. A mandatory socio-environmental disclosure index was developed according to the Circular No. 155/2015/TT-BTC, which companies listed in the stock market were obliged to adopt since 2016, and was utilized for the quantification of the extent of mandatory disclosure. The connection between mandatory disclosure and some specific company characteristics was also investigated. The findings showed that the extent of mandatory socio-environmental disclosure was significant correlated with company size, leverage, profitability, and listing age. However, the correlation between mandatory socio-environmental disclosure and audit firm, industrial sectors is not statistically significant.


Unit dose and traditional drug distribution systems were compared in a 352-bed long-term-care facility by analyzing nursing time, medication-error rate, medication costs, and waste. Time spent by nurses in preparing, administering, charting, and other tasks associated with medications was measured with a stop-watch on four different nursing units during six-week periods before and after the nursing home began using unit dose drug distribution. Medication-error rate before and after implementation of the unit dose system was determined by patient profile audits and medication inventories. Medication costs consisted of patient billing costs (acquisition cost plus fee) and cost of medications destroyed. The unit dose system required a projected 1507.2 hours less nursing time per year. Mean medication-error rates were 8.53% and 0.97% for the traditional and unit dose systems, respectively. Potential annual savings because of decreased medication waste with the unit dose system were $2238.72. The net increase in cost for the unit dose system was estimated at $615.05 per year, or approximately $1.75 per patient. The unit dose system appears safer and more time-efficient than the traditional system, although its costs are higher.


Beta cell death and dysfunction are central in the development of diabetes mellitus. The aim of our work was to explore causes of beta cell deficit under (patho)physiological conditions that lead to activation of AMP-dependent kinase (AMPK). AMPK is both an energy sensor of the cell and a signal transducer for various hormones, cytokines, and nutrients. Its function is crucial to whole body glucose homeostasis. Its activation in brain regulates food intake while in peripheral tissues it has both insulin-like and insulin-sensitizing effects. In recent years the role of AMPK in physiology and action of anti-diabetic drugs has been studied intensively in liver, muscle and brain but little is known about its role in pancreatic beta cells. The present study first investigates the hypothesis that activation of the metabolic switch AMPK in beta cells can lead to cell dysfunction and apoptotic cell death. Then, we study molecular mechanisms of AMPK-mediated apoptosis. Finally, we explore ways to protect beta cells from AMPK-mediated dysfunction and ensuing death.


We determine the maximal hyperplane sections of the regular nsimplex, if the distance of the hyperplane to the centroid is fairly large, i.e. larger than the distance of the centroid to the midpoint of edges. Similar results for the n-cube and the l 1 -ball were obtained by Moody, Stone, Zach and Zvavitch and by Liu and Tkocz. The maximal hyperplanes in these three cases are perpendicular to the vectors from the centroid to the vertices. For smaller distances -in a welldefined rangewe show that these hyperplane sections are at least locally maximal. We also determine the hyperplane sections of the simplex, the cross-polytope and the cube which have maximal perimeter, i.e. maximal volume intersection with the boundary of the convex body.


WITH A note of sadness, the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics wishes to call to the attention of the membership the death of Robert Ramapatnam Williams. A noted chemist and scientist, Dr. Williams obtained world renown for his work on the isolation, identification, and synthesis of vitamin B 1. He died at his home in Summit, New Jersey, in October 1965. Born in Nellore, India, February 16, 1886, of American missionary parents, he began teaching in the Philippines in 1908 and considered the Islands his second home. Williams never found time to earn a doctorate, although he attended Ottawa University (Kansas) and the University of Chicago for undergraduate and postgraduate work. He earned a B.S. in 1907 and an M.S. in 1908 and received honorary LL.D. and D.Sc. degrees from numerous universities. The story of his work with beriberi is one of the most exciting in the field of nutrition. While working in the Philippines in 1910 with the Chemical Division of the Bureau of Science, he became interested in the disease. He assisted in treating an infant dying of beriberi with brown-rice bran syrup. The child9s dramatic recovery stirred the synthesis of thiamine chloride. His work culminated in extensive field trials, again in the Philippines, shortly after World War I. For this study, the Bataan peninsula was divided into two parts. In the western area the inhabitants ate plain white rice; those in the eastern area received plain white rice enriched with rice coated with vitamin B 1, concentrate. Within weeks the death rate from beriberi dropped dramatically in the eastern area. It remained high in the western area until smugglers began "running in" the treated rice.


A 63-year-old man presents with pain in both legs, which starts with activity and resolves with rest. He has a resting blood pressure of 135/77 mm Hg consistent with past measurements, and an ankle-brachial index (ABI) <0.90, which is consistent with peripheral artery disease (PAD). His daily medications are 81 mg aspirin, 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide, and 40 mg simvastatin. What additional agent could be added for his symptoms?


The relationship between Plasmodium falciparum gametocytemia and the complement components C3, C4, and C3b was investigated in 141 ambulant rural Nigerian school children. Three groups were studied. Group 1 included 42 children with circulating P. falciparum gametocytemia in which the mean titers of C3, C4, and C3b were 145.4 +/- 22.6 mg/100 ml (72%), 60.5 +/- 0.2 mg/100 ml (149%), and 64.0 +/- 5.9 mg/liter (65%), respectively. These findings indicated marked C3b hypocomplementemia. Group 2 included 50 children who were used as controls and lacked malaria parasitemia. C3, C4, and C3b mean titers were 161.6 +/- 28.9 mg/100 ml (80%), 56.8 +/- 2.07 mg/100 ml (140%), and 84.8 +/- 11.4 mg/liter (86%), respectively. Group 3 included 49 children with other blood stages of P. falciparum parasitemia but no gametocytes. C3, C4, and C3b mean titers in this group were 103.0 mg/100 ml (51%), 18.3 +/- 1.2 mg/100 ml (45%), and 90.7 mg/liter (92%), respectively. Our findings suggest that C3b hypocomplementemia may be related to the advent of circulating P. falciparum gametocytes in children. We also confirmed C3 and C4 hypocomplementemia in acute human malaria. The implication of our findings in relation to neat in vitro culture of P. falciparum gametocytes or total inhibition of gametocytogenesis in malaria control is still speculative.


Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities often have difficulties in social interactions that permeate various aspects of their academic and socioemotional development. Without appropriate intervention, these difficulties can result in peer rejection and social isolation, in turn decreasing participation in experiences that foster social growth. Although social skill training interventions are often the first line of intervention for these difficulties, evidence for their effectiveness is limited, partly due to limited consideration of individual differences in skill deficits and the impact of developmental processes on those deficits. Developmental interventions shift attention away from isolated behaviors and toward understanding and fostering developmental processes that facilitate the emergence of complex social behaviors. The current study involved analysis of de-identified progress monitoring data to examine the effectiveness of Group Theraplay, a developmental intervention, for improving the socio-emotional functioning of children with autism and other developmental disabilities. The database comprised data from children in self-contained special education classrooms across various schools in Western New York. Results suggested treatment-related improvements in measures of socio-emotional competence, global functioning, and pro-social behaviors. Further, observational measures suggested that the enjoyment of and participation in social interactions during Theraplay sessions increased as the intervention progressed. No evidence for generalization of learned behaviors outside the Theraplay sessions was found. Additional findings include construct validity evidence for a measure of global functioning (DD-CGAS) and a measure of prosocial behaviors (Theraplay Interaction Assessment, TIA), and evidence of internal validity for the TIA. Study limitations and future directions for research are discussed.


This paper discusses a wide range of anti-naturalistic argument from reason due to Balfour, Haldane, Joad, Lewis, Taylor, Moreland, Plantinga, Reppert, and Hasker. I argue that none of these arguments poses a serious challenge to naturalists who are identity theorists. Further, I argue that some of these arguments do not even pose prima facie plausible challenges to naturalism. In the concluding part of my discussion, I draw attention to some distinctive differences between Hasker's anti-naturalistic arguments and the other anti-naturalistic arguments mentioned above.


Describing complex objects as the composition of elementary ones is a common strategy in computer science and science in general. This paper contributes to the foundations of knowledge representation and database theory by introducing and studying the sequential composition of propositional Horn theories. Specifically, we show that the notion of composition gives rise to a family of monoids and near-semirings, which we will call {\em Horn monoids} and {\em Horn near-semirings} in this paper. Particularly, we show that the combination of sequential composition and union yields the structure of a finite idempotent near-semiring. We also show that the restricted class of proper propositional Krom-Horn theories, which only contain rules with exactly one body atom, yields a finite idempotent semiring. On the semantic side, we show that the immediate consequence or van Emden-Kowalski operator of a theory can be represented via composition, which allows us to compute its least model semantics without any explicit reference to operators. This bridges the conceptual gap between the syntax and semantics of a propositional Horn theory in a mathematically satisfactory way. Moreover, it gives rise to an algebraic meta-calculus for propositional Horn theories. In a broader sense, this paper is a first step towards an algebra of rule-based logical theories and in the future we plan to adapt and generalize the methods of this paper to wider classes of theories, most importantly to first-, and higher-order logic programs, and non-monotonic logic programs under the stable model or answer set semantics and extensions thereof.


[1] Aggregation of data collected in 28 controlled experiments reveals reproducible debris-flow behavior that provides a clear target for model tests. In each experiment ∼10 m3 of unsorted, water-saturated sediment composed mostly of sand and gravel discharged from behind a gate, descended a steep, 95-m flume, and formed a deposit on a nearly horizontal runout surface. Experiment subsets were distinguished by differing basal boundary conditions (1 versus 16 mm roughness heights) and sediment mud contents (1 versus 7 percent dry weight). Sensor measurements of evolving flow thicknesses, basal normal stresses, and basal pore fluid pressures demonstrate that debris flows in all subsets developed dilated, coarse-grained, high-friction snouts, followed by bodies of nearly liquefied, finer-grained debris. Mud enhanced flow mobility by maintaining high pore pressures in flow bodies, and bed roughness reduced flow speeds but not distances of flow runout. Roughness had these effects because it promoted debris agitation and grain-size segregation, and thereby aided growth of lateral levees that channelized flow. Grain-size segregation also contributed to development of ubiquitous roll waves, which had diverse amplitudes exhibiting fractal number-size distributions. Despite the influence of these waves and other sources of dispersion, the aggregated data have well-defined patterns that help constrain individual terms in a depth-averaged debris-flow model. The patterns imply that local flow resistance evolved together with global flow dynamics, contradicting the hypothesis that any consistent rheology applied. We infer that new evolution equations, not new rheologies, are needed to explain how characteristic debris-flow behavior emerges from the interactions of debris constituents.


After 2000 Hungary is playing an active role in the process of international direct investments. During the last years, Hungarian firms has began investing abroad, and became regional multinational companies (such as OTP and MOL). The FDI outward stock of Hungary reaches more than 11 milliard Euros, what means that Hungary is the second largest investor of the region. At least half of that investments are "virtual indirect OFDI". The primary host region of Hungarian investments is the Central and Eastern Europe, mainly the surrounding countries. In the ex-Yugoslavian countries, Hungarian investors play a relative important role: in Montenegro Hungary is the first, in Macedonia the 3rd and in Croatia the 4th biggest investor. The main reason of the Hungarian expansion is to gain access to new markets and to use some firm-specific advantages, mainly the know how, the experiences in the privatisation and the connection capital of the management. For the small companies, the high share of Hungarian nationalities in some regions is an important factor for cross-boarder investments. The use of the country-specific advantages of the host countries (such as cost factors) can lead to a higher competitiveness of the home country as well.


The anti-inflammatory effects of anti-depressants have been demonstrated recently. Doxepin, a tricyclic antidepressant drug (TCA), has some special properties in comparison with the other members of its family. It has some H 1 , H 2 , alpha-1 adrenergic and muscarinic receptor blocking effects. It revealed also anti-nociceptive and relatively potent sedative effects. This study was aimed to evaluate its possible anti-inflammatory effect in a well-established animal model. Male Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g were used in carrageenan-induced inflammatory paw edema model. The test and control drugs were injected by intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intracerebral (i.c.v.) routes. The anti-inflammatory activity of doxepin (15, 30 and 60 mg/kg, i.p. and 50 and 100 μg/rat, i.c.v.) and the reference drug, dexamethasone (2 mg/kg, i.p.) were evaluated by determination and comparison of some involved biological markers including the paw volume, cytokine levels (interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and histopathological parameters. All i.p. doses of doxepin showed significant anti-inflammatory effect. It also significantly reduced MPO activity and cytokine levels and improved histopathologic parameters of carrageenan-injected paw tissues. I.c.v. administration of the drug did not show any significant reduction of carrageenan-induced paw edema. Although the exact mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of doxepin is not clear, it seems that reduced leukocyte migration and pro-inflammatory cytokines play important role in its anti-inflammatory effect. Also central sites are not involved in the anti-inflammatory effect of the drug.


Background: The SRC-family of kinases (SFKs) has been broadly implicated in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Fyn, a member of the SFKs, mediates mitogenic signals and regulates proliferation, adhesion and motility. Cumulative data indicate that Fyn serves as a proto-oncogene and is known to be over-expressed in several types of malignancies. MicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs that are aberrantly expressed in cancer and seem to influence tumor behavior and progression. In a previous study performed in human embryonic kidney (HEK 293T) cells, we have validated the binding specificity of miR-125a-3p and Fyn 3'UTR using Luciferase assay and established the regulation of Fyn expression and signaling by miR-125a-3p. In the current study we aimed to characterize the interplay between miRNA-125a-3p and Fyn in prostate cancer. Methods: Prostate cancer (PC3) cell line, were transiently transfected with empty miR-vec (control) or with miR-125a-3p and their cell cycle and apoptotic rate were measured by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). The migration ability was measured by transwell assay and scratch assay. Proliferation was assessed by MTT assay. Quantitative PCR and western blot analysis were implicated to determine the effect of miR-125a-3p on Fyn expression as well as on the activation state of its downstream effectors/proteins FAK, Akt and paxillin. Extraction of miRNA from formalin fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cancerous and matched adjacent prostate tissues was performed with miRNeasy FFPE Kit on a cohort of 20 human prostate cancer specimens. Results: Overexpression of miR-125a-3p in PC3 cells reduced significantly the expression of Fyn mRNA and protein and led to impaired cell viability to an arrest at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Moreover, overexpressing of miR-125a-3p reduced the activity of FAK, Akt and paxillin and the secretion of VEGF to the culture media. In miRNA125a-3p-overexpressing PC3 cells the migration was compromised by 50% and cell viability decreased by 50%. Moreover, we observed an inverse correlation between the expression of miR-125a-3p and the Gleason score of tissue samples obtained from patients diagnosed with prostate cancer, whereas the expression of miR-125a-3p was extremely reduced in Gleason score higher than 8. Conclusions: Our study indicates miR-125a-3p signature in cellular pathways accounted for cell viability and migration of prostate cancer cells. The interplay between miR-125a-3p and Fyn may represent a new plausible therapeutic target in prostate cancer. Citation Format: Lihi Ninio Many, Irit Ben-Aharon, Sofia Zilber, Mattan Levy, Salomon M. Stemmer, Ruth Shalgi. The role of miRNA-125a-Fyn interplay in prostate cancer tumorigenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4168. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4168


This paper derives measures of potential output and capacity utilization for a number of OECD countries, using a method based on the cointegration relation between output and the capital stock. The intuitive idea is that economic capacity (potential output) is the aspect of output that co-varies with the capital stock over the long run. We show that this notion can be derived from a simple model that allows for a changing capital-capacity ratio in response to partially exogenous, partially embodied, technical change. Our method provides a simple and general procedure for estimating capacity utilization. It also closely replicates a previously developed census-based measure of U.S. manufacturing capacity-utilization. Of particular interest is that our measures of capacity utilization are very different from those based on aggregate production functions, such as the ones provided by the IMF.


We use optimized concepts to measure directly low absorption in optical materials and thin films at various laser wavelengths by the laser induced deflection (LID) technique. An independent absolute calibration, using electrical heaters, is applied to obtain absolute absorption data without the actual knowledge of the photo-thermal material properties. Verification of the absolute calibration is obtained by measuring different silicon samples at 633 nm where all laser light, apart from the measured reflection/scattering, is absorbed. Various experimental results for bulk materials and thin films are presented including measurements of fused silica and CaF2 at 193 nm, nonlinear crystals (LBO) for frequency conversion and AR coated fused silica for high power material processing at 1030 nm and Yb-doped silica raw materials for high power fiber lasers at 1550 nm. In particular for LBO the need of an independent calibration is demonstrated since thermal lens generation is dominated by stress-induced refractive index change which is in contrast to most of the common optical materials. The measured results are proven by numerical simulations and their influence on the measurement strategy and the obtained accuracy are shown.


We introduce the notion of p-bounded variation of fuzzy real number sequences, F p bv , for 1p<. We study some of its properties like completeness, monotonicity, convergence free, and symmetricity. Also, we prove some inclusion results.


Sunderban, a World Heritage Site, is the largest block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the globe. It is a delta of the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna and located in West Bengal state of India and neighbouring country of Bangladesh. It is dynamic ecosystems formed by interactions between land and water, and is considered as one of the most productive wetlands on earth. The entire Sunderban is about 26000 sq. km, the one-third of which falls in India. The present paper deals with the Indian part of Sunderban which is comprised of 102 islands; of which 54 islands are inhabited by human being.The Indian region is demarcated by the river Hooghly on the west, the Bay of Bengal on the south, the Ichamati-Kalindi –Raimongal rivers on the east and the Dampier-Hodges line on the north. It comprises of 19 Community Development blocks of which 6 in North 24-Parganas and 13 in South 24-Parganas districts with total 190 Gram Panchayats and 1064 villages. Sandeshkhali I,Sandeshkhali II, Hingalgunj, Hasnabad, Haroa, Minakhan belong to North 24 Paraganas and the blocks , like- Sagar, Namkhana, Kakdwip, Patharpratima, Kultali, Mathurapur I ,Mathurapur II, Jaynagar I, Jaynagar II, Canning I, Canning II, Basanti and Gosaba belong to the South 24-Parganas. The present paper deals with climate change and its impact on the economy of Suderban. The sharp rise of sea surface temparature, high rise of sea level, increasing tendency of average rainfall in monsoon, dominance of cyclonic activity in Sunderban region have been indicating the signs of climate change in Sunderban. Sunderban people have been lost their land as the tidal inflow tranforms into tidal bores, start to breach the embankments and aggravate the land subsidence in those sea facing lands of southern Sundarban. Overheating after short span of heavy rainfall event changes the fragile economy of this estuarine mangrove ecosystem. The recorded number of main worker remains constant, where as the number of marginal worker has been rapidly increased to contend with climate change. Fishing, aquaculture will be the possible way to survive. But the high intensity cyclones and tidal surges create a new challenge for the poor inhabitants. Monoculture of rice farming has been changing into vulnerable intensive subsistence and indigenous one to adapt with changing nature of climate of Indian Sunderban region. Thus the fate of economy of Indian Sunderban is completely directed by the changing climate of that region. Climate change is a dynamic and complex process which has been changing the basic economic structure of this mangrove kingdom. Keywords :  Climate Change, Economy, Main & Marginal worker, Indigenous


The use of DC-DC converters to dynamically vary the supply voltage for RF power amplifiers in accordance with the transmitted power is an increasingly popular technique that can significantly improve the efficiency. However the DC-DC converter ripple noise may degrade the power amplifier output signals. In this paper, we demonstrate an active cancellation technique that can dramatically reduce the noise. The technique can be easily integrated into present systems employing DSP and DC-DC converters.


Hedging in the presence of transaction costs leads to complex optimization problems. These problems typically lack closed-form solutions, and their implementation relies on numerical methods that provide hedging strategies for specific parameter values. In this paper, we use a genetic programming algorithm to derive explicit formulas for near-optimal hedging strategies under nonlinear transaction costs. The strategies are valid over a large range of parameter values and require no information about the structure of the optimal hedging strategy.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine trends in the receipt of 8 recommended diabetes clinical and self-care indicators from 2001 to 2010 and assess racial/ethnic disparities in care. Methods This observational study examined receipt of A1C tests, annual eye and foot exams, flu vaccination, diabetes self-management education (DSME), exercise, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), and self feet examinations among US adults with diabetes using national survey data from 2001 to 2010. Analyses included estimating proportions for each indicator by year, testing differences in magnitude of change from 2001 to 2010 by race/ethnicity, and regression models to assess changes in care over time and factors associated with care. Results There were significant increases from 2001 to 2010 in A1C tests, annual foot exams, flu shots, DSME, and SMBG but declines in eye and self feet exams. DSME was positively associated with receipt of several care indicators. However, only half of respondents received DSME. White and black non-Hispanics, respectively, experienced improvements in at least 3 indicators. Hispanics experienced a significant increase in exercise but were consistently less likely than whites to receive or engage in most care. Conclusions While improvements in several indicators were observed, patterns varied by race/ethnicity, with Hispanics falling short on most measures. DSME was strongly associated with most care and demonstrates the potential to improve receipt of recommended care by increasing DSME participation. With the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health professionals have a prime opportunity to leverage ACA provisions to increase access to recommended services, including DSME.


In the aftermath of the global _nancial crisis, sovereign default risk and the zero lower bound have limited the ability of policy-makers in the European monetary union to achieve their stabilization objective. This paper investigates the interaction between sovereign default risk and the conduct of monetary policy, when borrowers can act strategically and they share with their lenders a single currency in a monetary union. We address this question in an endogenous sovereign default model of heterogeneous countries in a monetary union, where the monetary authority may be constrained by the zero lower bound. We uncover three main results. First, in normal times, debtors have a stronger incentive to default to induce more expansionary monetary policy. Second, the zero lower bound, or constraints on monetary policy may act as a disciplining device to enforce repayment of sovereign debt. Third, sovereign default risk induces countries with a preference for tight monetary policy to accept a laxer policy stance. These results help to shed light on the recent European experience of high default risk, expansionary monetary policy and low nominal interest rates. † E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Ť E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Przedstawiono fundamentalne znaczenie dokonan badawczych Jana Czarnockiego w regionie świetokrzyskim. Na tle Jego dorobku omowiono osiągniecia kontynuatorow dziela tego badacza w zakresie stratygrafii, paleontologii, paleogeografii i tektoniki. Szczegolną uwage zwrocono na budowe geologiczną jednostki lysogorskiej, i na rozwoj tektoniczny glownej dyslokacji świetokrzyskiej (nasuniecie świetokrzyskie). STRATIGRAPHY AND TECTONICS OF PALEOZOIC DEPOSITS FROM THE GORY ŚWIĘTOKRZYSKIE WITH REFERENCE TO JAN CZARNOCKI'S IDEAS J. Czarnocki (1919, 1927) established principles of chrono-, litho- and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian from the western Gory Świetokrzyskie. He identified Middle Cambrian and trilobite assemblages of the Upper Cambrian zones 3–5 in the northern region, and evidenced some Lower and Middle Cambrian zones in the southern region. Subsequent researchers (as e.g. S. Orlowski, 1957, 1964; J. Samsonowicz, 1960, W. Bednarczyk 1970; H. Żakowa, L. Jagielska, 1970) described new faunal assemblages of the Subholmia , Holmia , Protolenus and Paradoxides oelandicus zones from the Kielce region. Moreover, there were described fossils typical of the 6th zone of :the Upper Cambrian (E. Tomczykowa, 1968) and remains of primitive Metazoa ( Corallicyathida ), and lithostratigraphic subdivision was proposed for the northern region. J. Czarnocki (1928a, 1939) was genuinely interested in the Ordovician of the Gory Świetokrzyskie. His works were continued after World War II, with special attention being given to paleontological studies on Graptolithina , Inarticulata , Trilobita , Conodontophorida and microflora. J. Czarnocki (1919) greatly contributed to the establishment of the subdivision of the Silurian. He noted lithological and stratigraphical bipartity of that system and gathered a rich collection of benthic and planktonic faunas. Further studies carried out primarily by E. Tomczykowa and H. Tomczyk confirmed J. Czarnocki's ideas. J. Czarnocki (1919, 1936) was also interested in the Devonian. He revised the earlier views, introduced new lithostratigraphic names, precised boundaries of regional zones, and found differences in the development of the Lower Devonian in southern and northern parts of the Gory Świetokrzyskie. The specimens which he continuously collected gave rise to collection of Devonian fauna which is unique on the world scale (e.g. Famennian cephalopods). His studies, particularly paleozoological studies on the Devonian were continued by numerous researchers. Among other things, J. Czarnocki discovered the Carboniferous rocks (1916). Further studies on these deposits made it possible to refine previous· stratigraphic interpretations of the Carboniferous (H. Żakowa, 1970, 1971, in press). In the case of the Permian, J. Czarnocki studied the Zechstein. Together with J. Samsonowicz (1913, 1915) he introduced tripartite subdivision of the Zechstein, and subsequently he published a summary of the Zechstein problem (1923). Boreholes made after World War II made it ,possible to divide the Zechstein into 4 cyclothems (see e.g. K. Pawlowska, 1964) as well as to find the Rotliegendes, deposits (A. Kostecka, 1966). When discussing the tectonics of the Gory Świetokrzyskie it should be stated that J. Czarnocki and J. Samsonowicz put forward the hypothesis of miogeosynclinal nature of the Vendian and Paleozoic in that area. Since 1927 had been J. Czarnocki emphasizing flysch nature of the Cambrian deposits which is still valid interpretation. Lithological, facial, and tectonic analyses of the Vendian and older Paleozoic, and the analyses of relationships between the Devonian and its sub-stratum implicate (J. Czarnocki, 1919, 1936, 1951) that the miogeosynclinal megacycle ended during the Young Caledonian movements at the turn of the Silurian and Devonian, at least in southern part of the Holy Cross Mts. These movements were accompanied by diabase and lamprophyre intrusions. That megacycle consist of three cycle's forming three structural stages: Upper Precambrian (Malopolska), Vendian-Cambrian (Sandomierz) and Ordovician-Silurian (Young Caledonian) stages. Young Caledonian fo1ds are trending WNW–ESE (azimuths 110–125°, the Świetokrzyski direction), being more strongly marked in the south – i.e. in the Kielce region – than in the north, Łysogory region. According to J. Czarnocki, the Old Paleozoic miogeosynclinal megacycle was developing throughout the Devonian and Carboniferous and was closed by the Variscan movements. According to J. Znosko and Z. Kowalczewski (1971), the Łysogory region represents a part of the giant depressional zone formed in the Early Paleozoic and subsequently modified into a intermontane depression after the Young Caledonian movements. This region is tectonically bipartite and gaps and discordances are especially common in the Cambrian, Ordovician and Upper Silurian-Lower Devonian sections. It can be assumed that the Variscan tectonics of the Gory Świetokrzyskie is of a block type. If this is the case, its evolution would be determined by tectonicactivity of Older Paleozoic substratum blocks separated: by Caledonian dislocations. regenerated and modified in the Late Paleozoic and Mesocenozoic.


The communist leader in Eastern Germany, Walter Ulbricht, and the most popular surgeon of Germany since the "golden twenties", Ferdinand Sauberbruch, met together for some days after the second world war at Berlin. After a short biographical report of both personalities the causes and the details of this unusual connection between Ferdinand Sauerbruch, the great surgeon, and Walter Ulbricht, the Stalinist dictator, are given. The different backgrounds, some social circumstances and political necessities have influenced their cooperation. On this way political and medical relationships are explained. In spite of his part during the Nazi regime Sauerbruch became a chief of the health department in Berlin from May 1945 until October in the same year. He withdrew in 1949, suffering of arteriosclerosis. Later, past the foundation of the German Democratic Republic, Walter Ulbricht obtained by fighting the whole power in the party and in the state.


ABSTRACT The increased mobility of people has resulted in an increasingly culturally diverse workforce. Organisations aim to ensure that all employees – regardless of race, ethnicity and religion – receive equal treatment. However, these ideas are often disconnected from reality. This paper attempts to bridge the knowledge management and diversity literature to examine knowledge hiding by minority members that occurs due to differences in demographic characteristics. Semi-structured interviews and deductive thematic analysis reveal that minority members engage in knowledge-hiding behaviour due to exclusion experienced in the workplace. They also use knowledge hiding as an inclusion strategy. We contribute to knowledge management research and practice by studying knowledge hiding in the context of a diverse workforce, showing that it occurs due to perceived exclusion. We also show it takes place to improve inclusion and assimilation of minority members. Additionally, we identify a new facet of knowledge-hiding characteristic for cross-cultural collaboration: adjustable hiding.


Abstract Background Previous reports suggest increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular mortality after kidney donation. In this study we investigate the occurrence of ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes and cancer in live kidney donors compared with healthy controls eligible for donation. Methods Different diagnoses were assessed in 1029 kidney donors and 16 084 controls. The diagnoses at follow-up were self-reported for the controls and registered by a physician for the donors. Stratified logistic regression was used to estimate associations with various disease outcomes, adjusted for gender, age at follow-up, smoking at baseline, body mass index at baseline, systolic blood pressure at baseline and time since the donation. Results The mean observation time was 11.3 years [standard deviation (SD) 8.1] for donors versus 16.4 years (SD 5.7) for controls. The age at follow-up was 56.1 years (SD 12.4) in donors versus 53.5 years (SD 11.1) in controls and 44% of donors were males versus 39.3% in the controls. At follow-up, 35 (3.5%) of the donors had been diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease versus 267 (1.7%) of the controls. The adjusted odds ratio for ischaemic heart disease was 1.64 (confidence interval 1.10–2.43; P = 0.01) in donors compared with controls. There were no significant differences for the risks of cerebrovascular disease, diabetes or cancer. Conclusions During long-term follow-up of kidney donors, we found an increased risk of ischaemic heart disease compared with healthy controls. This information may be important in the follow-up and selection process of living kidney donors.


Background: Breast cancer risk assessment and interventions for prevention, such as chemoprevention, are underutilized in the U.S. Reasons for low uptake include inability to routinely screen for high-risk women in the primary care setting, inadequate time for counseling, and insufficient knowledge about risk-reducing strategies. We developed an initial prototype of a web-based decision aid (DA), RealRisks, which incorporates experience-based dynamic interfaces to communicate risk aimed at reducing inaccurate risk perceptions, particularly in low-numerate populations. Methods: RealRisks is a patient DA that models patient-provider dialogue with modules on breast cancer risk, genetic testing, and chemoprevention. Embedded within the narrative are 2 games of experience-based risk interfaces, demonstrating average 5-year and lifetime breast cancer risk. Both games ask players to sample from a pictograph of 100 clickable women to better learn the meaning of a pre-set probability (i.e., 12 out of 100 women or 12%). We conducted four focus groups of 7-9 English-speaking women over the age of 18, recruited from the local community in Upper Manhattan in New York City. These recorded sessions lasted about 90 minutes and involved use of RealRisks on a laptop, questionnaire completion before and after interacting with the DA, and a semi-structured group discussion. Questionnaires included information about demographics, numeracy, internet access, breast cancer risk factors, perceived breast cancer risk, and evaluation of RealRisks on a 7-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were generated to document baseline characteristics and frequencies of positive and negative attitudes about RealRisks. Paired t-test and McNemar9s test were used to compare within-individual changes in accuracy of perceived breast cancer risk. During the group discussion, verbal responses were condensed into themes using a qualitative approach. Results: From May to June 2013, 34 women were enrolled. Median age was 53.5 (range, 35-75); 85% were either black or Hispanic; 41% met criteria for low numeracy; and 88% had internet access. After removing 3 women with a history of breast cancer, 3 (9.7%) met high-risk criteria for breast cancer according to the Gail model (≥1.67% 5-year risk) and mean 5-year and lifetime breast cancer risk were 1.11% (±0.77) and 7.46% (±2.87), respectively. After interacting with RealRisks, the difference in perceived vs. actual breast cancer risk according to the Gail model significantly improved for 5-year risk (p=0.008), but not lifetime risk (p=0.20). Before exposure to RealRisks, 52% had accurate breast cancer risk perceptions (defined as within ±5% of actual lifetime risk according to the Gail model) compared to 70% after RealRisks (p=0.10). In particular, 4 out of 5 women who overestimated their lifetime breast cancer risk by >30% had accurate risk perceptions after exposure to RealRisks. We found a significant association between numeracy and accuracy of risk perception after interacting with RealRisks (p=0.05). Over 85% of the participants thought RealRisks was useful, easy to use, increased their knowledge about breast cancer and understanding of breast cancer risk factors. From the focus group discussions, we found that knowledge about breast cancer risk factors, apart from family history, was limited. Participants were interested in receiving a personalized breast cancer risk assessment and found the interactive games engaging. Discussion: In a multi-ethnic low-numerate population, we demonstrated a significant improvement in accuracy of perceived breast cancer risk after exposure to RealRisks. Based upon feedback from our focus groups, we were able to identify information needed to fully represent the important issues of breast cancer risk to further develop our prototype for testing in a randomized controlled trial. Citation Format: Tong Xiao, Katherine D. Crew, Parijatham S. Sivasubramanian, Alejandra N. Aguirre, Cindy K. Smalletz, Rita Kukafka. Development of a patient-centered decision aid to improve accuracy of breast cancer risk perception. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr C03.


ABSTRACT Background: Social support in the elderly is defined as the perceived availability of support, affection, and instrumental aid from their social partners, including family members, peers, or neighbors. Social support may help the elderly to buffer stress and depression while enhancing their mental health and wellbeing. This study aimed to examine the effects of family support and peer support on the quality of life in elderly. Subjects and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted at Tresna Werdha Social Service in Jember, East Java, from August to September 2019. A sample of 200 elderly aged ≥60 years old was selected by fixed exposure sampling. The dependent variable was quality of life. The independent variables were healthy behavior, education, residence, family income, family support, and peer support. The data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by a multiple logistic regression run on Stata 13. Results: Quality of life in elderly increased with strong family support (OR=7.12; 95% CI= 1.63 to 31.09; p= 0.009), strong peer support (OR= 3.06; 95% CI= 1.13 to 8.34; p= 0.028), healthy behavior (OR= 2.86; 95% CI= 1.27 to 6.44; p= 0.011), living in the house (OR= 3.83; 95% CI= 1.10 to 13.35; p= 0.035), education ≥Senior high school (OR= 3.91; 95% CI= 1.34 to 11.36; p= 0.012), and high income ≥Rp 2,170,000 (OR= 4.72; 95% CI= 1.08 to 20.65; p=0.040). Conclusion: Quality of life in elderly increases with strong family support, strong peer support, healthy behavior, living in the house, education ≥Senior high school, and high income. Keywords: quality of life, elderly, family support, peer support Correspondence: Malinda Capri Nurul Satya. Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret. Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Email: email@example.com. Mobile: +6285236936546. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/the7thicph.01.42


In recent years, resistance reflow-soldering method has been applied to the connection between solder-plated PCB (printed circuit board) and thin insulated wire to allow high-density assembling of high-perfomance electronics equipument. Extensive investigation of reflow conditions, and evaluation of strength and reliabilty of the microconnection are required because the wire is soldered without physically removing the insulation.(1) Quick heating and quick cooling, less than 0.3 s, is the key in realizing ideal microconnection, with the insulation thermally removed.(2) Realizing qiuck heating and cooling requires a tip contact pressure of 800N/cm2 (weight : 2N) and a proper amount of solder on the pad.The result of our evaluation of field sample boards indicates that the microconnections which were soldered by this soldering method did not age even after 10 years of field operation.