AbstractInfections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children with acute leukemia. Central-line (CL) devices increase this population's risk of serious infections.Within the context of a quality improvement (QI) project, we tested the effect of caregiver education on CL management on the CL-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rate among children with acute leukemia seen at a large referral center in Italy. The intervention consisted of 9 in-person sessions for education and practice using mannequins and children.One hundred and twenty caregivers agreed to participate in the initiative. One hundred and five (87.5%) completed the training, 5 (4.1%) withdrew after the first session, and 10 (8.3%) withdrew during practical sessions. After educational intervention, the overall CLABSI rate was reduced by 46% (from 6.86 to 3.70/1000 CL-days). CLABSI rate was lower in children whose caregivers completed the training (1.74/1000 CL-days, 95% CI 0.43–6.94) compared with those who did not receive any training (12.2/1000 CL-days, 95% CI 7.08–21.0, P < 0.05) or were in-training (3.96/1000 CL-days, 95% CI 1.98–7.91) at the time of infection.Caregiver training in CL management, applied within a multifaceted QI approach, reduced the rate of CLABSI in children with acute leukemia. Specific training and active involvement of caregivers in CL management may be effective to reduce CLABSI in high-risk children.


Lissencephalies are congenital malformations responsible for epilepsy and mental retardation in children. A number of distinct lissencephaly syndromes have been characterized, according to the aspect and the topography of the cortical malformation, the involvement of other cerebral structures and the identified genetic defect. A mutation in TUBA1A, coding for alpha 1 tubulin, was recently identified in a mutant mouse associated with a behavioural disorder and a disturbance of the laminar cytoarchitectony of the isocortex and the hippocampus. Mutations of TUBA1A were subsequently found in children with mental retardation and brain malformations showing a wide spectrum of severities. Here we describe four fetuses with TUBA1A mutations and a prenatal diagnosis of major cerebral dysgeneses leading to a termination of pregnancy due to the severity of the prognosis. The study of these fetuses at 23, 25, 26 and 35 gestational weeks shows that mutations of TUBA1A are associated with a neuropathological phenotypic spectrum which consistently encompasses five brain structures, including the neocortex, hippocampus, corpus callosum, cerebellum and brainstem. Less constantly, abnormalities were also identified in basal ganglia, olfactory bulbs and germinal zones. At the microscopical level, migration abnormalities are suggested by abnormal cortical and hippocampal lamination, and heterotopic neurons in the cortex, cerebellum and brainstem. There are also numerous neuronal differentiation defects, such as the presence of immature, randomly oriented neurons and abnormal axon tracts and fascicles. Thus, the TUBA1A phenotype is distinct from LIS1, DCX, RELN and ARX lissencephalies. Compared with the phenotypes of children mutated for TUBA1A, these prenatally diagnosed fetal cases occur at the severe end of the TUBA1A lissencephaly spectrum. This study emphasizes the importance of neuropathological examinations in cases of lissencephaly for improving our knowledge of the distinct pathogenetic and pathophysiological mechanisms.


This document reviews the state-of-the-art in Cyber Range implementations and related computer network operations (CNO) testbeds. We summarise recently published examples and describe their purpose and functionality. The compiled information should assist organisations to make an informed decision when considering a Cyber Range capability.


The system technologies are rapidly increasing uses in routine daily work specifically for the administration department applications in organizations. The aim of the study is to design and develop the Supporting Maintenance Management System for MARA College Kuala Nerang (SMMS), Kedah. SMMS is an online report application system which provides a convenient graphics user interface (GUI) for staff, technician and administration staff. This system allows users to do any report regarding to the equipments break down or malfunctioning equipment. The methodology for developing the prototype is derived from the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework and contained only these four phases (i) Requirement analysis, (ii) Design, (iii) Develop and (iv) Evaluate the prototype. The UML model is used to model the system requirement, Active Server Pages (ASP) language and HTML coding is used to develop the prototype. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is used to evaluate the prototype which thirty two (32) staffs of MARA College Kuala Nerang are involved in this process. The significant of the study are the maintenance report will be done via online without using any application form, reduce application processing time and save time, cost and energy of the staff especially to those who are busy in daily work.


We evaluated the significance of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in breast cancer patients during chemotherapy or hormone therapy. IDO activity can be measured by tryptophan (Trp)/kynurenine (Kyn) ratio. Trp and Kyn were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The correlations about Trp/Kyn ratio between chemotherapy group and hormone therapy group in pre-chemotherapies or post-chemotherapies were studied. The Trp/Kyn ratio of chemotherapy group in post-FEC chemotherapy phase and in post-wPTX chemotherapy phase was higher than in pre-chemotherapy phase. And the Trp/Kyn ratio of chemotherapy group is significantly higher than hormone therapy in post-FEC chemotherapy phase and in post-wPTX chemotherapy phase. There were no significant changes for the Trp/Kyn ratio of hormone therapy group in each phase. These results suggest that the hormone therapy may be less invasive for breast cancer patients than the chemotherapy.


Vitamin D is a steroid hormone which is fat soluble and activated in kidneys. It plays multiple roles including regulation of cellular growth and differentiation, metabolic modifications, immunity, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, malignancies and also various reproduction related states like preeclampsia, preterm birth and gestational diabetes, along with calcium and phosphorous regulation in the body.
In present study, we analyzed serum vitamin D levels in 100 women of reproductive age group (15-45 years). Surprisingly, only 7% of the women were found to have sufficient vitamin D level while 19% had insufficient level and 74 % were deficient. Such alarming community wide deficiency raises concern. Especially in this reproductive age group the women are liable to have rickets, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, low fertility and increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pre-conception vitamin D supplementation is simple, easy, and inexpensive method which can prevent such grave outcomes.

Keywords: Vitamin D, Women, Reproductive age group, Deficiency.


An automated high throughput process, termed the MetFast assay, is described to assess in vitro the general microsomal cytochrome P450 beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-mediated first-pass metabolic stability of potential drug candidates as a utility for pharmaceutical profiling. Utilizing robotic protocols with a multiprobe liquid handler, compounds are incubated with liver microsomes from different species. Samples are then analyzed by in-line liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) to determine the amount of compound remaining after a certain time, which allows calculation of metabolism rates. To quantitatively assess large numbers of structurally diverse compounds by LC-MS, a strategy based on an iterative two-step process was devised. Initially compounds are qualitatively analyzed by LC-ultraviolet (UV)/MS (step 1) to determine purity (UV detection) and structural integrity (MS detection). This step ensures that only correct and verified compounds with sufficient purity are being assayed to obtain reproducible high data quality. In addition, all necessary information is gathered to automatically generate specific quantitative methods for the subsequent bioanalytical analysis of metabolic stability samples by LC-UV/MS (step 2). In-house-developed, highly flexible and sophisticated data management software, termed SmartReport, is utilized for automated qualitative and quantitative LC-MS analysis set-up, data processing, and results reporting. The integration of key aspects, inherent "universal" collision-induced dissociation settings of ion trap mass spectrometers for tandem mass spectrometric scan functions utilized for compound-specific and sensitive quantitative MS methods, generic fast-LC conditions, generic MS instrument settings, and the functionality of SmartReport software resulted in an analytical process that routinely provides reproducible high-quality metabolic stability data on structurally diverse compounds. Described here is the setup of the MetFast assay, and metabolic stability data from assay validation compounds are given.


The work presented in this thesis focusses on the sequence and structural analysis
of antibodies and has fallen into three main areas.
First I developed a method to assess how typical an antibody sequence is of the
expressed human antibody repertoire. My hypothesis was that the more \humanlike"
an antibody sequence is (in other words how typical it is of the expressed
human repertoire), the less likely it is to elicit an immune response when used
in vivo in humans. In practice, I found that, while the most and least-human
sequences generated the lowest and highest anti-antibody reponses in the small
available dataset, there was little correlation in between these extremes.
Second, I examined the distribution of the packing angles between VH and VL
domains of antibodies and whether residues in the interface in
uence the packing
angle angle. This is an important factor which has essentially been ignored in
modelling antibody structures since the packing angle can have a signi�cant e�ect
on the topography of the combining site. Finding out which interface residues
have the greatest in
uence is also important in protocols for `humanizing' mouse
antibodies to make them more suitable for use in therapy in humans.
Third, I developed a method to apply standard Kabat or Chothia numbering
schemes to an antibody sequence automatically. In brief, the method uses pro�les
to identify the ends of the framework regions and then �lls in the numbers for each
section. Benchmarking the performance of this algorithm against annotations in
the Kabat database highlighted several errors in the manual annotations in the
Kabat database. Based on structural analysis of insertions and deletions in the
framework regions of antibodies, I have extended the Chothia numbering scheme
to identify the structurally correct positions of insertions and deletions in the
framework regions.


Mature T- and natural killer (NK)-cell neoplasms are relatively rare forms of leukemia/lymphoma. The diagnosis of these entities is often difficult, necessitating extensive immunophenotypic, molecular, and genetic testing. Despite the accumulating information on the pathobiology of these neoplasms, in many cases the prognosis remains poor. This article presents an updated view of the morphologic, immunophenotypic, genetic, and molecular characteristics of the mature T- and NK-cell neoplasms. For a better understanding of this complex topic, the development of normal T and NK cells is briefly discussed. The presentation of the characteristic features of the neoplasms in the 2008 World Health Organization classification of hematopoietic neoplasms includes advances in the understanding of the pathobiology of each diagnostic category.


This paper examines the stock price behaviour of an emerging stock market, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), by applying a new equilibrium stock price theory formulated by Ross (1976). The theory postulates stock market risks and returns are determined by fundamentals under a linear relationship established on the basis of a homogeneous multi-factor model return generating process and the assumptions of perfectly competitive and frictionless markets. Employing the data for the period before the Asian Financial Crisis 1997-1998, between Jan 1987 and Dec 1996 under the light of the methodology proposed by Fama and McBeth (1973), the research investigates the relationship between the stock returns in the Stock Exchange of Thailand and some economic fundamentals, namely returns on the SET-Index, changes in exchange rates, industrial production growth rates, unexpected changes in inflation, changes in the current account balance, differences between domestic interest rates and international interest rates, changes in domestic interest rate. The test's results show that, within the scope of the methodology and data employed, the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) does hold in the very emerging stock market of Thailand, while the CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model) fails to do so. While changes in exchange rates consistently explain the stock returns, there is one chance the exchange rates and the industrial growth rates together systematically affect the stock returns. The negative risk premiums associated with these factors shows investors in the SET are risk averse and tend to hedge against risks of changes in fundamentals.


The computer graphics system performance is increasing faster than any other computing application. The Geometric transformations and animation are one of the most important principle of the interactive computer graphics which are essential for modeling and viewing. This paper tends to construct a general form of matrix representation of the geometric transformations and implement it using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). In addition to that the sine and cosine function evaluation is done using two techniques, the lookup table method and CORDIC algorithm.


This article examines attitudes among soldiers in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina - many of whom stood on opposing sides of the war front over a decade ago - toward the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. It is based on an anonymous survey of 463 soldiers conducted in five Bosnian cities: Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla, Banja Luka and Bijeljina. The author finds that soldiers believe the Court has made some successes toward its extended mandate, in particular in its contribution to various aspects of democratization. Court architects hoped war crimes trials would bolster the prospects for long-term peace and stability in the country. This article addresses a segment of society not often given voice in scholarly studies of transitional justice and adds to the growing scholarship on former combatants.


A common approach for engineering self-adaptive software systems is to use Feedback Control Loops (FCLs). Advances have led to more explicit and safer design of some control architectures, however, there is a need for more integrated and systematic approaches that support end-to-end integration of FCLs into software systems. In this paper, we propose a tooled approach that enables researchers and engineers to design and integrate adaptation mechanisms into software systems through FCLs. It consists of a domain-specific modeling language that raises the level of abstraction on which FCLs are defined, making them amenable to automated analysis and implementation code synthesis. The language supports composition, distribution and reflection, thereby enabling coordination and composition of multiple distributed FCLs. Its use is facilitated by a modeling environment, Actress, that provides support for modeling, verification and complete code generation. We report on its application to a concrete adaptation case study and also discuss resulting properties.


Objective To estimate the surgical burden of malignant disease in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Design Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting Regional hospital in the eastern region of Ghana. Participants Patients treated by the surgery department at Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua, Ghana. Interventions None. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome was incidence of malignancy and secondary outcome descriptive differences between patients who had a benign indication for surgery compared with those with a malignant indication for surgery. Results A total of 1943 inpatient surgical procedures were performed from 2015 to 2017 with 13.4% (261) of all procedures ultimately performed for malignancy. Of all breast procedures performed, 95.2% of procedures resulted in a malignant diagnosis. The remaining subtypes of procedures had rates ranging from <1% to 41.2% of procedures performed for malignant disease. Additionally, this study found over 13% of patients admitted to the surgical service for breast cancer ultimately did not undergo a surgical procedure. Conclusion This is the first study investigating the burden of malignant disease in the Eastern Region of Ghana. We found a substantial prevalence of malignant disease in the surgical population in this region. This information can be used to aid in future medical resource planning in this region.


The passage of ionizing radiations through aqueous medium of biological material leads into the generation of a burst of free radicals owing to radiolysis of water. These free radicals are extremely reactive and interact with important macromolecules of cells resulting in the cytotoxicity. It is well known that ionizing radiation induce damage to the DNA triggering a cascade of events that result in eventual cell kill. Earlier we found that berberine chloride an isoquinoline alkaloid present in certain plants inflicts damage to the molecular DNA. Therefore we wanted to know whether berberine chloride will increase the effects of radiation in HeLa cells exposed to various doses of γ- radiation. HeLa cells were treated or not with 0, 1, 2, 4, 6 or 8 μg/ml of berberine chloride prior to 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 or 4 Gy γ-irrradiation and the molecular DNA damage was assessed immediately after irradiation (within 15 minute of irradiation) by single cell gel electrophoresis. The migration of fragmented DNA into comet tails was considered as a measure of molecular damage to DNA and has been expressed as Olive tail moment. Irradiation of HeLa cells to 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 or 4 Gy γ-irradiation caused a radiation dose-dependent rise in the Olive tail moment indicating an elevation in the DNA damage in HeLa cells. Treatment of HeLa cells with different concentrations of berberine chloride for 2 or 4 h before irradiation further raised the DNA damage denoted by a rise in the amount of tail DNA of the comets and Olive tail moment immediately after irradiation. The clonogenic assay revealed that clonogenic potential of HeLa cells alleviated with an increase in irradiation dose and treatment of HeLa cells with 1, 2 or 4 μg/ml berberine chloride further reduced the clonognenicity of cells. Our study indicates that berberine is a potent DNA damaging agent and could enhance radiation damage during cancer treatment in clinical conditions and clonogenicity of cells is directly related to the ability of berberine to inflict damage to DNA.


Abstract Comparisons of particle-size distributions measured by Particle Measuring Systems FSSP-300 and PCASP-100X probes through a range of relative humidities reveal that the deiced PCASP-100X probe dries hydrated submicron aerosols before measurement. The FSSP-300 appears to measure the particles in their hydrated state and detects the expected growth in the particle spectrum with increasing relative humidity. Calibration changes fox refractive-index changes with hydration are not applicable to the deiced PCASP-100X probe but are for the FSSP-300. The combined use of the two probes with their differing responses to hydrated aerosols may provide information related to the chemical composition of the aerosol.


I address a foundational problem with accounts of the morality of war that are derived from the Just War Tradition (JWT). Such accounts problematically focus on 'the moment of crisis': i.e. when a state is considering a resort to war. This is problematic because sometimes the state considering the resort to war is partly responsible for wrongly creating the conditions in which the resort to war becomes necessary. By ignoring this possibility, JWT effectively ignores, in its moral evaluation of wars, certain types of past wrongdoing. I argue that we can address this problem by incorporating an account of compensatory liability into an account of the morality of war. Doing so yields the view that, if we have culpably failed to compensate victims for past wrongs, we might be morally required to weigh the well-being of those victims more heavily in our calculation of proportionality when determining the permissibility of a defensive act that harms the victim as a side-effect. This, in turn, makes satisfying the proportionality constraint more difficult. The upshot is that sometimes, in order to wage a defensive war permissibly, we first have to discharge compensatory duties. This has implications for how we evaluate 'cycles of reprisals' that plague warfare.


An interactive participant in a live musical performance requires a multitude of senses in order to perform. These senses include hearing, sight, and touch. Our long-term goal is to have our adult size humanoid robot Jaemi Hubo be an interactive participant in a live music ensemble. This work focuses on Jaemi Hubo's sense of sight as it pertains to a musical environment. Jaemi Hubo's musical awareness is increased through the use of novel musical tempo and beat tracking techniques in the absence of auditory cues through the use of computer vision and digital signal processing methods. Real time video frames of subjects moving to a regular beat is recorded using Jaemi Hubo's video capture device. For each successive video frame, an optic flow algorithm is implemented to discern the direction and magnitude of motion. A Fast Fourier Transform is then applied to obtain the spectral content of the motion data. Next, a Gaussian weight centered on the average musical tempo is applied to the normalized spectrum. The resulting maxima of the weighted spectrum is the tempo calculated from the video frames. A tempo based dynamic threshold of the first derivative of the motion data was used to find the beat location. Experiments using OpenCV, and Matlab produced accurate tracking of the true tempo and beat timing in the captured video.


Software Defined Networking and OpenFlow offer an elegant way to decouple network control plane from data plane. This decoupling has led to great innovation in the control plane, yet the data plane changes come at much slower pace, mainly due to the hard-wired implementation of network switches. The P4 language aims to overcome this obstacle by providing a description of a customized packet processing functionality for configurable switches. That enables a new generation of possibly heterogeneous networking hardware that can be runtime tailored for the needs of particular applications from various domains. In this paper we contribute to the idea of P4 by presenting design, analysis and experimental results of our packet parser generator. The generator converts a parse graph description of P4 to a synthetizable VHDL code suitable for FPGA implementation. Our results show that the generated circuit is able to parse 100 Gbps traffic with fairly complex protocol structure at line rate on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. The approach can be used not only in switches, but also in other appliances, such as application accelerators and smart NICs. We compare the generated output to a hand-written parser to show that the price for configurability is only a slightly larger and slower circuit.


Two strategies of distribution of computations can be used to implement parallel solvers for dense linear algebra problems for Heterogeneous Computational Clusters of Multicore Processors (HCoMs). These strategies are called Heterogeneous Process Distribution Strategy (HPS) and Heterogeneous Data Distribution Strategy (HDS). They are not novel and have been researched thoroughly. However, the advent of multicores necessitates enhancements to them. In this paper, we present these enhancements. Our study is based on experiments using six applications to perform Parallel Matrix-matrix Multiplication (PMM) on an HCoM employing the two distribution strategies.


Heterogeneous integration of III-V semiconductors on silicon has gained considerable momentum fueled by the need to implement fully functional photonic devices and circuits in a CMOS compatible platform. In this communication, we report on a III-V photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity, heterogeneously integrated on a silicon-on-insulator platform, to form a PhC nanocavity laser capable of exhibiting two elementary static random access memory (SRAM) cell functions individually, namely switching and latching operations under a high-speed, bit-level regime. As such, the PhC nanocavity laser is examined as a generic logic functions building block, suitable toward multiGb/s energy-efficient, optical SRAM cells with minimal device footprint. The proposed device occupies a total area of only 6.2 μm2 , rendering in this way the demonstrated memory element the smallest among the integrated optical memories presented so far. Bit-level SRAM cell operation requires two elementary functions: the access gate (AG) switching function and set-reset flip-flop (SR-FF) latching function. At first, AG switching operation is evaluated through successful wavelength conversion at 10 Gb/s, revealing a power penalty of 1 dB at 10-9 BER and a switching energy of only 4.8 fJ/bit. Then, fully functional SR-FF memory operation is successfully demonstrated, exhibiting error-free operation with negative power penalty at 5 Gb/s and switching energies of 6.4 fJ/bit. FF operation at higher speeds of 10 Gb/s with reduced switching energy levels of 3.2 fJ/bit is also experimentally investigated. Both logic operations were demonstrated separately with the same PhC nanocavity laser device exhibiting <;50 ps switching times and evaluated under real-type data traffic patterns, raising expectations for beyond 20 Gb/s capabilities toward implementing energy-efficient, ultracompact and high-speed true optical SRAM setups for Datacom applications.


Objective
The aim of this study is to outline a flaw in a com-monly scarcely considered physiological adaptation process, which, unnoticed, can lead to severe pathologies that range from cancer to autoimmunity. This being circadian rhythm (CR) disruption a common factor in the onset of such diseases, an additional objective of this paper is to assess whether or not CR is advantageous for organisms and in which conditions that may be and, if disadvantageous, to measure its chronotoxicity. The term "chronotoxicity" is here intended to denote the degree to which the environment desynchronizes the CR of an organism.

Methods
An inductive research approach was adopted to integrate, evaluate and interpret the findings of the existing literature to form and verify a new interpretation in the field of research that in this study was named as "Innate Chronotoxicity" (IC) hypothesis.

Results
The analysis of the cited literature provided data to derive four empirical assumptions for the attainment of the IC hypothesis, and namely that: the equatorial region is the only area on our planet that is not chronotoxic for humans because its constant LD cycle corresponds to the human organism's internal clock cycle and may therefore correctly entrain the circadian rhythm; chronotoxicity is therefore innate and inevitable considering that the majority of hu-mans live a long way from the equator and the circadian rhythm is a congenital physiological feature of all humans; the circadian rhythm is an evolutionary mismatch since innate chronotoxicity is inherently a disadvantage; IC intensity increases proportionally to the distance a person lives from the equator.

Conclusions
Innate chronotoxicity and its causes have remained unnoticed and undetected even to this day, although this study's fin-dings robustly validate the above four assumptions. If this hypothesis is confirmed through further rigorous research, it bears significant implications for the world's healthcare systems, due to the burden placed on them by the estimated population affected and the severity of the resulting related diseases. To entertain further speculation, in the conclusions it is cautiously suggested an expanded view of the circadian pacemaker tree.


A new technique for the estimation of analog parametric test metrics at the design stage is presented in this paper. This technique employs the copulas theory to estimate the distribution between random variables that represent the performances and the test measurements of the circuit under test (CUT). A copulas-based model separates the dependencies between these random variables from their marginal distributions, providing a complete and scale-free description of dependence that is more suitable to be modeled using well-known multivariate parametric laws. The model can be readily used for the generation of an arbitrarily large sample of CUT instances. This sample is thereafter used for estimating parametric test metrics such as defect level (or test escapes) and yield loss. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed technique to evaluate a built-in-test technique for a radio frequency low noise amplifier and to set test limits that result in a desired tradeoff between test metrics. In addition, we compare the proposed technique with previous ones that rely on direct density estimation.


Background and Aim: A drawback of studies on bat blood smears in the field is the lack of time for fixation because blood sampling using a non-lethal method often provides less time for fixation in smear preparations due to the small volume of blood collected. Usually, there is insufficient blood for another smear preparation, so it is necessary to use blood smears as rationally as possible, especially for rare bats. Many stains are used for staining peripheral blood smears, and they have advantages and disadvantages. This study aimed to examine commonly used stains for blood smears to select the best stain for staining peripheral blood smears in bats. Materials and Methods: In this study, 48 blood smears of Rhinolophus spp. bats were examined using several blood staining methods. Four methods that showed the best results were used in further experiments: Romanowsky-Giemsa, Pappenheim, hematoxylin-eosin, and eosin methylene blue. Results: Comparative analysis of different methods for staining bat blood smears revealed that the most convenient method for analyzing blood cells is Pappenheim method. Conclusion: Staining blood smears using Pappenheim method yield the least number of unsuccessful blood smear stains and are quite effective for the morphological analysis of blood cells.


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
Traditional methods for prioritization are limited and insufficient for today's magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demands. In particular, the discrepancy in urgency of the heterogeneous emergency department (ED) patient population necessitates risk stratification to meet different degrees of urgency. The purpose of this study is to more effectively prioritize the MRI imaging needs of ED patients commensurate with the severity of their presenting illness.

METHODS
A 3-level tiered classification system (tier 1: critical, tier 2: emergent, and tier 3: urgent) of ED patients with unambiguous hierarchically defined numerical classifications was implemented to replace a traditional method of MRI orders. Each tier was accompanied by guiding consensus-driven clinical definitions and common qualifying examples. Lastly, each tier imaging order was tied to a specific target "order to imaging start time" (OTST). After implementation, a month-by-month 1-year retrospective analysis of ED MRI imaging order volume was conducted to assess the percentage distribution of each category. In addition, a month-by-month 1-year retrospective analysis of the OTST for each tier was conducted. The OTST outcome measure was used to monitor the ability of the system to meet tier target times based on severity.

RESULTS
The system effectively prioritized ED patients into 3 tiers based on acuity. An inverse relationship existed between ED MRI OTST and the tier severity into which the patient was stratified. We found that only 4% of the ED-specific volume is truly critical (tier 1). In addition, tier 3 MRI examinations constituted 75% of the ED volume. Month-by-month quality assurance analysis demonstrated consistent completion of examinations under or close to the target times tied to each tier. The average overall wait time from order time to begin scan time for all ED MRIs decreased from 245 minutes (4.1 hours) at baseline to less than 136 minutes (2.7 hours).

CONCLUSIONS
We implemented and evaluated a 3-tiered system of ED MRI imaging orders based on patient severity. The system was unambiguous due to its numerical hierarchy, and each of the 3 tiers was accompanied by explicit guiding definitions for each category. A quality assurance process following implementation allowed us to monitor the ability of the system to meet target times tied to each tier. Our current ability to accurately predict a target performance time allows us to set accurate expectations for both providers and patients.


Peptidoglycan (PG) is an essential component in the cell wall of nearly all bacteria, forming a continuous, mesh-like structure, called the sacculus, around the cytoplasmic membrane to protect the cell from bursting by its turgor. Although PG synthases, the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), have been studied for 70 years, useful in vitro assays for measuring their activities were established only recently, and these provided the first insights into the regulation of these enzymes. Here, we review the current knowledge on the glycosyltransferase and transpeptidase activities of PG synthases. We provide new data showing that the bifunctional PBP1A and PBP1B from Escherichia coli are active upon reconstitution into the membrane environment of proteoliposomes, and that these enzymes also exhibit DD-carboxypeptidase activity in certain conditions. Both novel features are relevant for their functioning within the cell. We also review recent data on the impact of protein–protein interactions and other factors on the activities of PBPs. As an example, we demonstrate a synergistic effect of multiple protein–protein interactions on the glycosyltransferase activity of PBP1B, by its cognate lipoprotein activator LpoB and the essential cell division protein FtsN.


A real autoregressive signal is the output of a real autoregressive filter whose input is a real white noise. The same definition can be used for complex signals and systems, but the second order statistics of a complex white noise are not completely defined by its correlation function as in the real case. We present the consequences of this fact for autoregressive complex signals. In particular we show that the linear predictor of such signals is not necessarily a finite moving average filter.


I use a new approach to rank journals, namely the number and percent frequency of articles a journal publishes that are heavily downloaded from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). I rank 18 accounting and finance journals, and I identify five journals not considered by the two most recent major published ranking studies of publications by accounting faculty, namely (in rank order): Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Accounting Studies, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting. I show that financial accounting faculties are more likely to post their working papers to SSRN, and papers posted by financial faculties generate more downloads. I mitigate this bias in favor of the financial area by providing separate rankings based on authors in the financial versus non-financial areas.


To measure economic effects of changes in environmental quality caused by climate change in Japan, we estimate beach loss damage costs in Japan and in each prefecture and evaluate the economic effectiveness of hypothetical adaptation measures to restore sandy beaches. For analyses, we use a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) that integrates a utility function with environmental quality factors as an independent variable derived from a recreation demand function in a travel cost method (TCM). We use future projections of beach loss rates in 2081–2100 based on ensemble-mean regional sea-level rise (SLR) for four Representative Concentration Pathway (RCPs) scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5). The main findings of our study are presented as follows. (1) In 2081–2100, beach loss damage costs were estimated respectively as 398.54 million USD per year for RCP2.6, 468.96 (m.USD/year) for RCP4.5, 494.09 (m.USD/year) for RCP6.0, and 654.63 (m.USD/year) for RCP8.5. (2) For all RCPs, six prefectures for which the cost–benefit ratio exceeds 1.0 were Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo, Hiroshima, Saga, and Kumamoto. Our hypothetical adaptation measure of an artificial beach enhancement is expected to be quite effective as a public works project in these prefectures.


Background. With technological advances such as next-generation sequencing, recent gains in understanding pediatric cancer can aid in treatment decisions, especially in the setting of relapse. To discover expressed, clinically significant mutations for pediatric patients with relapsed tumors, we performed a pilot trial using a combination of whole exome sequencing (WES) of tumor/normal DNA and whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) of tumors, complemented by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. Objectives. We identified 48 pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors with matched tumor/normal samples. Our goals were to determine the feasibility of performing comprehensive genomic analyses in this population, to compare the genomic profile of relapsed tumors to prior reports of primary tumors, and to delineate the percentage of patients with actionable mutations. Actionable changes were defined as reportable germ line mutations determined by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), a change in diagnosis, and somatic changes targetable by FDA approved medications or drugs undergoing clinical trials. Methods. WES was performed on matched tumor and normal samples to identify germ line and somatic mutations. WTS was performed on tumor samples to identify fusion genes, gene expression profiling, and expressed variants. SNP arrays were performed to identify copy number changes. Sanger validation confirmed reportable mutations. Results. In the exome, we noted a median of 33 somatic mutations per sample (range 1-375), a higher mutational burden compared to previously reported primary pediatric malignancies. Transcriptome data further refined results to a median of 7 expressed somatic mutations per sample (range 0-95). The majority of patients had one oncogenic driver. Sequencing relapsed tumors at multiple time points showed the continued presence of driver mutations but a shift in passenger mutations. Eleven of the 48 patients (23%) had a targetable mutation, such as ALK, BRAF, GNAQ, GNA11, IDH1, MTOR, PIK3CA, and SKP2. Two patients (4%) had a change in diagnosis due to the presence or absence of diagnostic fusion genes. In the germ line of 5 patients (10%) we discovered mutations in ACMG-reportable genes MUTYH, SCN5A, TP53, and MLH1. A total of 16 patients (33%) had actionable mutations. Conclusions. Our study showed the feasibility of next-generation sequencing in relapsed pediatric solid tumors, with actionable mutations detected in a third of our patients. We demonstrated the utility in using exome and transcriptome sequencing with SNP arrays. Implementation of these techniques has the potential to change the practice of precision medicine. In summary, we have developed a prototype that will be utilized to design a national Pediatric Match trial in collaboration with the Children9s Oncology Group.  Citation Format: Wen-I Chang, Andrew S. Brohl, Rajesh Patidar, Jack F. Shern, Jun S. Wei, Young K. Song, Hongling Liao, Jimmy Lin, Sivasish Sindiri, Li Chen, Berkley Gryder, Marielle E. Yohe, Shile Zhang, Melinda S. Merchant, Brigitte C. Widemann, Javed Khan. Clinical exome and transcriptome sequencing for identification of actionable cancer targets: A pilot study for children and young adults with relapsed or refractory solid tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3882. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3882


This paper introduces a new computing model based on the cooperation among Turing machines called orchestrated machines. Like universal Turing machines, orchestrated machines are also designed to simulate Turing machines but they can also modify the original operation of the included Turing machines to create a new layer of some kind of collective behavior. Using this new model we can define some interested notions related to cooperation ability of Turing machines such as the intelligence quotient or the emotional intelligence quotient for Turing machines.


AIM
This article presents a discussion of the meaning of the phenomenon of seeing the big picture in nursing.

BACKGROUND
Seeing the big picture is a frequent expression among Danish nurses. It is used when trying to understand a situation in its wider context. However, it has a rather imprecise meaning that might lead to misunderstandings.

DATA SOURCES
This paper draws on studies undertaken in the mid 1990s and the early 2000s, but with the current discussion developed in the context of contemporary nursing.

DISCUSSION
Seeing the big picture indicates a desire to do good for patients' and staff. This desire expressed through saying 'I need to see the big picture' is discussed to be a backbone in nursing and nursing leadership and a source of human and professional pride. There is, however, a dilemma if nurses overlook needs of patients that require immediate actions and if a nurse leader does not intercept staff members in crisis. The pride is oscillating between seeing the here-and-now and seeing the long-term in the big picture.

CONCLUSION
We assumed seeing the big picture had to do with practical knowledge. Wonder and reasoning, however, brought us to virtues. Seeing the big picture as mentioned among nursing leaders and clinical nurses demonstrates human and professional pride. The study is useful in organizational, clinical and educational settings in updating policies for nursing, enlarging nurses understanding of practice and training students in understanding nursing practice.


One Campus, One Book is a program designed by the University Library to encourage a common reading experience and sense of community at California State University, Los Angeles.


Laser-sintering offers the possibility to produce complex and individualized components cost-effectively. To fully exploit the advantages of laser-sintering in assemblies with mass-produced components, high-performance joining processes like welding are necessary. Thus, a cost-effective customization of products can be enabled, which allows to follow the increasing trend of individualization. Infrared welding, in particular, can also be suitable for complex laser-sintered parts due to the reduced transverse forces during joining, compared to other welding processes. The investigations show that high strength between PA12 laser-sintered and injection-molded components can be achieved by infrared welding. The bond strength is mainly influenced by the welding parameters. Especially a low weld pressure leads to high achievable strengths and failure outside the weld seam. Joints between laser-sintered parts and glass fiber reinforced injection-molded components demonstrate the trans-ferability of the obtained knowledge. The residual melt layer thickness of the joint decreases with increasing weld pressure, as the morphological characterization shows. Besides, the typical morphological seam structure can be seen on the side of the injection-molded component. In the area of the laser-sintered components, a deviating morphological structure can be observed. Distinctive flow lines can be observed, spherulitic structures can only partially be seen as well as deformed spherulites.


This paper introduces conditional influence diagrams into risk management. A contaminated-site cleanup involving two stakeholders is used as a hypothetical case study. The treatment choices must satisfy several conflicting objectives. Any decision made by one stakeholder will affect the choices of the other stakeholder. In building the influence diagrams for each of the stakeholders, the logical relationship of all relevant factors is determined and the values of these factors are analyzed. The influence diagram for each stakeholder is conditional on the options available to the other stakeholder. The influence diagrams are, then, used to evaluate the possible choices of each stakeholder based on decision options of the other stakeholder. These results are analyzed using game theory methods to gain insights useful to risk management and to demonstrate how mutual trust and cooperation can lead to decisions benefiting both stakeholders.


The relationship between innovation and international competitiveness is widely discussed in the literature. The focus of this paper is on analysing the relationship between the introduction of product, process, marketing and organizational innovation, and export of firms in Czech Republic (N=1824), Hungary (N=964), and Poland (N=2795). Reverse causality – the effect of export on firm's innovation performance – is also investigated. The survey is based on data from Community Innovation Survey (CIS) questionnaire. Chi-squared test with column proportions and the Bonferroni correction was applied to verify statistically significant differences between firms from surveyed countries. The logistic regression models were construed to identify the relationship between each type of innovation and firm's international sale's orientation. A positive relation between innovation and export on all foreign target markets for firms in the three surveyed countries has been revealed. The influence of firm's export on innovativeness is weaker.


In this paper we suggest a minimally-supervised approach for identifying nuanced frames in news article coverage of politically divisive topics. We suggest to break the broad policy frames suggested by Boydstun et al., 2014 into fine-grained subframes which can capture differences in political ideology in a better way. We evaluate the suggested subframes and their embedding, learned using minimal supervision, over three topics, namely, immigration, gun-control and abortion. We demonstrate the ability of the subframes to capture ideological differences and analyze political discourse in news media.


Cleaved-edge overgrowth (CEO) is a promising technique to obtain ordered arrays of quantum dots, where the size and position of the dots can be controlled very well. We present level set simulations for CEO. Our simulations illustrate how the quality of the CEO technique depends on the potential energy surface (PES) for adatom diffusion, and thus suggest how variations of the PES can potentially improve the uniformity of quantum dot arrays.


We discuss the problem of finding a dominating sequence for sending the input data items from a low-end client to a server for computational intensive tasks under the realistic assumption of unpredictable communication behaviors. Under the assumption, the client sends the input data items using a specified sequence to maximum the number of computations performed at the server at any moment. The sequence-finding problem is NP-hard for the general case. In this paper, we address two fundamental and useful applications: matrix multiplication and fast Fourier transform. We have shown that the sequence-finding problems of the applications can be solved optimally in linear time. However, we have also shown counter examples to rule out any possibility of finding a dominating sequence for the sparse cases. Finally, a simulation is conducted to show the correctness and usefulness of our results.


The distribution of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in normal human retina and in retinae with gliosis due to different diseases was studied by immunohistochemical methods. In normal retina, an evident GFAP-positivity is encountered only in the nerve fiber and ganglion cell layers; Müller cells do not stain. In retinal gliosis, together with an enhanced positivity of the perivascular and accessory glia, a strong staining for GFAP is observed in Müller cells, which extends from the inner to the outer limiting layers. A correlation between the intensity of immunohistochemical glial staining, its anatomical localization and the degree of retinal changes is suggested.


There have been recent international moves to require the capitalization of non-cancelable operating leases. Most prior research on the constructive capitalization of leases has been undertaken on US data. The results from US studies may not apply to international firms because non-US operating lease contracts may differ in lease term, discount rates, and renewal options. This study presents the financial statement impact of constructive capitalization for 38 firms listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. New Zealand is an appropriate institutional setting because the required footnote disclosures for operating leases are similar to the International Accounting Standard. The method of constructive capitalization follows the general approach developed by Imhoff, et al. (1991). The results show that constructive capitalization has a material impact on reported liabilities and financial ratios. The results suggest that, relative to present value procedures of constructive lease capitalization, heuristics used by analysts lead to the overstatement of lease liabilities and lease assets. However, the use of single cross-sectional parameters (e.g., discount rates, lease life) results in constructed lease assets and liabilities that are similar to more elaborate firm-specific procedures.


In this work the analysis of support vector regression method for the design of microstrip patch antenna is evaluated. Two section of transmission lines for the feed of the patch antenna is proposed and data is collected from a microwave simulator with different width values of these transmission lines. The data obtained for the design is used in a support vector regression to see if the modeling using support vector regression can be justified. The model obtained by the regression predicted very good results where the average predicted errors were lower than 3 dB.


The positive relationship between hematocrit and serum cholesterol may be due to dilution. Accordingly, high hematocrits would yield reduced serum pools for dilution of cholesterol, thus producing higher levels. To test this effect, the relationships between hematocrit and cholesterol were evaluated at low-altitude and high-altitude clinics. Retrospective chart reviews were conducted at Madison, WI (264 m) and Leadville, CO (3105 m) to identify family practice patients who underwent hematocrit and serum cholesterol determinations on the same day. We excluded patients with medical conditions or on medications that affect cholesterol, patients with high glucose and triglyceride levels, and patients with extreme cholesterol levels. Remaining patients (153 in each altitude group) were matched by age and sex. The mean hematocrits and cholesterol levels were compared using analysis of variance. The linear relationships between hematocrit and cholesterol were compared using analysis of covariance. The mean hematocrit was significantly higher at high altitude (47.5% versus 41.3%; p < 0.0005) as were the mean serum cholesterol (190 mg/dL versus 177 mg/dL; p < 0.002) and the low-density lipoprotein:high-density lipoprotein ratio (2.80 versus 2.27; p < 0.05). Whereas a significant, positive relationship existed between hematocrit and cholesterol at low altitude (2.15 mg/dL per %; p < 0.002), no such relationship was found at high altitude. Hematocrit and serum cholesterol were elevated for family practice patients living at high altitudes. Differences exist between altitudes in the relationship between hematocrit and cholesterol. Acclimatization to high altitude and its resultant erythropoiesis may increase serum cholesterol levels. Consequently, relocation to a high altitude may increase the risk of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.


The biting midge, Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) harpa n. sp., is described from adult males and females which are apparently restricted to high elevations in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica. The new species represents the first record of the subgenus from the Neotropical Region. Thirteen species of Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) are now known worldwide.


Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of laparoscopic surgery for treating adnexal masses during the first trimester of pregnancy. Study Design: An observational study of a prospective collection of data of all pregnant women who underwent laparoscopic surgery for adnexal masses during the first trimester of pregnancy between January 1999 and November 2012 at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina was performed. Results: A total of 13 women were included. The median (range) gestational age at the moment of surgical procedure was 7 weeks (range: 5-12 weeks). The main indication of surgery was cyst torsion in four cases (30.7%) and rupture of ovarian cysts in four cases (30.7%). Other indications included persistent ovarian cyst in three patients (23%) and heterotopic pregnancy in two cases (15.3%). Neither surgical complications nor spontaneous abortions occurred in any of the cases and the post-operative period was uneventful in all the cases. No cases of intrauterine growth retardation, preterm delivery, congenital defects, or neonatal complications were registered. Conclusion: The treatment of complicated adnexal masses by laparoscopic surgery during the first trimester of pregnancy appears to be a safe procedure both for the mother and for the foetus. Additional research on a larger number of cases is still needed to support these conclusions.


Protein-protein docking algorithms aim to predict the 3D structure of a complex using the structures of the individual proteins. For binary complexes, this involves searching and scoring in a six-dimensional space. Many docking algorithms use FFT techniques to exhaustively cover the search space and to accelerate the scoring calculation. However, the results often depend on the initial protein orientations with respect to the Fourier sampling grid. Furthermore, Fourier-transforming a physics-base force field can involve a serious loss of precision. Here, we present a novel docking algorithm called EROS-DOCK (Exhaustive Rotational Search based Docking) [1] to rigidly dock two proteins using a series of exhaustive 3D rotational searches in which non-clashing orientations are scored using ATTRACT coarse-grained force field (ff) [2]. Initial positions are defined by putting each attractive pair of surface pseudo-atoms at their optimal distance in the ff. Thus, EROS-DOCK retains the exhaustive nature of FFT-based search algorithms while using a sensitive physics-based scoring function. Rather than calculating an O(N M) interaction energy * explicitly at every grid point, we use a quaternion "π-ball" to represent the space of all possible 3D Euler angle rotations [3], and we recursively subdivide the π-ball in order to cover the rotational space systematically, from each initial position. An associated tree-like data structure allows rotations that give steric clashes to be pruned efficiently using a "branch-and-bound" technique. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a branch-and-bound pruning technique has been applied to the rigid-body protein docking problem. The EROS-DOCK algorithm was tested on 173 target complexes from the Protein Docking Benchmark (v4) [4], and results were compared with those of ATTRACT and ZDOCK [5]. Overall, EROS-DOCK was able to find local minima that were not explored by the ATTRACT gradient-driven atom-based search. After refinement by a short coarse-grained minimization, the EROS-DOCK results were generally better than those of ATTRACT and ZDOCK, according to the standard CAPRI criteria. EROS-DOCK can use contact restraints as an additional pruning criteria. Our results show that using even just one residue-residue restraint in each interaction interface is sufficient to increase the number of cases with acceptable solutions within the top 10 from 51 to 121 out of 173 pairwise docking cases. We used EROS-DOCK with restraints to dock trimeric complexes by combinatorial assembly of pairwise solutions. We expected that all interfaces in a multi-body docking solution should be similar to at least one interface in each lists of pairwise docking solutions. Thus, we used a new fast technique to calculate the RMSD between pairs of transformation matrices [6], and an adaptation of the branch-and-bound rotational search algorithm to accelerate the search for low RMSD docking solutions. By test on a home-made benchmark of 11 three-body cases, 7 obtained at least one acceptable quality solution in the top 50 solutions.


Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a prevalent type of cancer that often takes the form of undifferentiated carcinoma in the Maghreb region. It affects people of all ages. NPC diagnosis, mainly based on detecting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), has not been well evaluated in North Africa. We compared the classical EBV serological tests using indirect immunofluorescence to the detection of EBV DNase antibodies by immunoblot in Algerian NPC patients. Significant variations were observed among different age groups of patients regarding the presence of VCA-IgA antibodies (0–14 and ≥30 years old, p < 0.0001; 15–19 and ≥30 years old, p < 0.01) and EA-IgA (0–14 and ≥30 years old, p < 0.01; 15–29 and ≥30 years old, p < 0.05). Differences were also noted in the titers of IgA anti-VCA and anti-EA antibodies across the three age groups. Some patients under the age of 30 with detectable IgG anti-VCA antibodies had undetectable IgA anti-VCA antibodies. These patients had a strong anti-DNase IgA response. However, older individuals had a higher level of anti-DNase IgG. Before treatment, children had strong DNase reactivity as indicated by specific IgA antibodies. Young adults had high IgA anti-DNase response, but the elderly (90.9%) had a lower response for these antibodies. Following therapy, the children retained high levels of IgA anti-DNase antibodies, and 66% of the young adults demonstrated robust antibody reactivity against DNase. In contrast, IgG responses to anti-DNase were low in children. This study demonstrated the utility of anti-DNase responses in the diagnosis and prognosis of NPC.


The pattern of expression of a variety of placental nitric oxide synthase isoforms has contributed to elucidating the regulatory mechanisms of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis during gestation. The maintenance of vascular tone, attenuation of vasoconstriction, prevention of platelet and leukocyte adhesion to the trophoblast surface, and possible participation in uterine blood flow seem to be the main functions of NO generated at the fetal‐maternal interface in humans and mice. Extending this knowledge to other rodent species commonly used as laboratory animals, in this study we focus on NADPH‐diaphorase activity and the distribution of nitric oxide synthase isoforms (NOS) in the trophoblast cells of Calomys callosus during different phases of pregnancy. NADPH‐diaphorase activity was evaluated cytochemically and the presence of NOS isoforms detected by immunohistochemistry. These techniques were performed on pre‐ and postimplantation embryos in situ and in vitro, as well as in placentae on d 14 and 18 of pregnancy. Neither NADPH‐diaphorase activity nor inducible or endothelial NOS isoforms were found in pre‐implanting embryos except after culturing for at least 48 h, when some of the embryonic cells were positive for the diaphorase reaction. On d 6·5 of pregnancy, trophoblast cells showed intense diaphorase activity both in situ and under in vitro conditions. A positive reaction was also found in the different placental trophoblast cells on d 14 and 18 of pregnancy. The inducible NOS (iNOS) isoform, but not the endothelial isoform, was immunodetected in trophoblast cells from the placenta and from postimplantation embryos in situ and under in vitro conditions. These results strongly suggest the production of NO by the iNOS isoform in the trophoblast of Calomys callosus after embryo implantation. The data also emphasise a possible role for the trophoblast in producing and releasing cytotoxic molecules at the fetal‐maternal interface.


The cord blood glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme activity of 262 normal term Malaysian neonates (92 Malays, 96 Chinese and 74 Indians) was quantitatively determined by the World Health Organisation method. Analysis of variance for the levels of G6PD enzyme activity by ethnic origin and sex showed that there was a significant difference between mean levels of enzyme activity in the three ethnic groups (P= 0.03) but no difference between the sexes (P= 0.36). Multiple range analysis showed that Malays had significantly higher mean levels of G6PD enzyme activity than those of Chinese (P= 0.01). There was no significant difference between the mean levels of G6PD enzyme activity of Chinese and Indians (P= 0.52), nor was there any difference between those of Malays and Indians (P= 0.08). The difference in levels of G6PD enzyme activity among the different ethnic groups could be due to the existence of different G6PD variants.


Abstract We find much of the discourse from the soi disant progressive politicians, media and academy to be misinformed, hypocritical, and even regressive. This applies to discussions about politicians such as President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and especially concerns the issues of Islam and immigration. We argue that much of the contemporary liberal left appears to be more intolerant, more Orwellian, than its traditional rivals on the right [while recognising that there are differences between those who describe themselves as 'liberals' or 'leftists', including moderate left, centre left, far left etc., we have decided to use the portmanteau 'liberal left' as this equates to the more generally agreed upon signifier 'progressive'].


The 3rd IEEE East-West Design and Test Workshop (EWDTW 2005) took place from 15 to 19 September in Odessa, Ukraine. The workshop's goal was for scientific schools and experts in Eastern and Western Europe (as well as other parts of the world) to exchange experiences in the design and test of electronic systems. Researchers from western countries presented an overview of design-and-test trends. Andre Ivanov gave a tutorial on network-on-chip design and test, and Yervant Zorian gave a tutorial on design for yield and reliability. Participants from Intel presented the invited talk, "Research at Intel's Strategic CAD Labs," which gave an overview of CAD research preformed at Intel's laboratories.


Divorce of State Civil Apparatus (ASN) was regulated in accordance with the provisions of PP. 45 in 1990 who must obtain permission from superiors. This research discussed about the effectiveness of superior�s permission to Divorce of Civil State Apparatus (ASN) and consideration factor by superiors in granting divorce permit for state Civil Apparatus (ASN) in Limboto Religious courts area.these research used descriptive qualitative method.types of data are sourced primary and secondary data by technique of collecting through depth interview as well as analysis of document case divorce.checking the validity of data is done through triangulation process.processing and data analysis done through data presentation,verivication,and conclusion.
The result showed that ASN superiors who applied for divorce were effective in minimizing ASN divorce in limboto religious courts area.the effectiveness of the regulation of ASN suvervisor�s permission is shown by five indicators of legal effectiveness (read:regulation of the superior�s permission) ASN,namely:(1) understanding of the divorce regulation of ASN divorce(2)socialization of ASN divorce supervisor�s license (3)enforcement of regulation(4)level ofcommunity participation of ASN (5)creation of community life in the limboto religious courts area.
There are th of three indicators that indicators that get positive responses namely; (1) understanding of the superior�s license,(2) socialization of the regulation of superior�s,(3) the importance of the ASN divorce superior�s liense to the creation of community lifestyle.the other aspects are: (1) law enforcement and (2) publick participation in realizing the licence of the superior divorce of ASN in the jurisdiction of limboto religious court area is stiil low.
The ASN superior�s consideration factor in giving ASN divorce permit is because the parties have no desire improve the household relationship,change of faith,are not enough reason for divorce and to protect the child�s life from negative effect because of bad communication relationship of parents.
As recommendation of this policy recommendation, this research is hoped that the religious courts and officials authorized give and refuse permission in order to combined the government regulation concerning marriage and divorce for civil servants can be maximized its enforcement.similarly to the officers of personnel development in the Gorontalo regency and north Gorontalo regency to optimize legal certainty and continuous monitoring infractions committed by ASN.


AIMS
The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic utility of right heart catheterisation (RHC)-derived measures among patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

METHODS AND RESULTS
Data of 469 patients included in the Bern TAVI Registry between August 2007 and December 2012 and undergoing preoperative RHC were analysed. The relationship between haemodynamic parameters and survival was evaluated with Cox proportional hazards models. At two-year follow-up, 118 patients had died (25.1%). At multivariable analysis, diabetes (hazard ratio [HR] 1.95, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.28-2.96, p=0.001), transapical access (HR 1.66, 95% CI: 1.07-2.56, p=0.02), and moderate or severe mitral regurgitation (HR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.00-2.39, p=0.04) were independent predictors of two-year mortality, whereas no correlation between RHC-derived measures and mortality was found. Furthermore, the addition of haemodynamic variables did not significantly improve the prognostic power of a model incorporating clinical and echocardiographic data (Harrell's C-index: 0.667, 95% CI: 0.615-0.719 vs. 0.662, 95% CI: 0.612-0.713, p=0.47).

CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of a comprehensive clinical and echocardiographic evaluation, RHC performed prior to TAVI does not add incremental prognostic value.


This paper is based on our previous work on neural coding. It is a self-organized model supported by existing evidences. Firstly, we briefly introduce this model in this paper, and then we explain the neural mechanism of language and reasoning with it. Moreover, we find that the position of an area determines its importance. Specifically, language relevant areas are in the capital position of the cortical kingdom. Therefore they are closely related with autonomous consciousness and working memories. In essence, language is a miniature of the real world. Briefly, this paper would like to bridge the gap between molecule mechanism of neurons and advanced functions such as language and reasoning.


This article presents the results of a retrospective analysis of the use of beta-blockers and current dosing of these agents in patients with coronary artery disease. While 70 to 78% of patients admitted to Norwegian university hospitals during 1990-1997 for angiographic evaluation of chest pain used beta-blockers, only 43-60% of patients with stable coronary artery disease enrolled in the 4S study in Norway received such treatment. High risk groups such as diabetics and patients with peripheral artery disease were less likely to receive beta-blockers during the early period, but were not treated differentially compared to low risk patients during recent years. Only 15% of patients with congestive heart failure received oral beta-blockers, and only 10.5% intravenous beta-blockade during acute myocardial infarction. The dosing of the most common beta-blockers were low, approximately 50% of doses shown to improve survival after acute myocardial infarction.


Detailed phenotype information is fundamental to accurate diagnosis and risk estimation of diseases. As a rich source of phenotype information, electronic health records (EHRs) promise to empower diagnostic variant interpretation. However, how to accurately and efficiently extract phenotypes from the heterogeneous EHR data remains a challenge. In this work, we present PheME, an Ensemble framework using Multi-modality data of structured EHRs and unstructured clinical notes for accurate Phenotype prediction. Firstly, we employ multiple deep neural networks to learn reliable representations from the sparse structured EHR data and redundant clinical notes. A multi-modal model then aligns multi-modal features onto the same latent space to predict phenotypes. Secondly, we leverage ensemble learning to combine outputs from single-modal models and multi-modal models to improve phenotype predictions. We choose seven diseases to evaluate the phenotyping performance of the proposed framework. Experimental results show that using multi-modal data significantly improves phenotype prediction in all diseases, the proposed ensemble learning framework can further boost the performance.


Abstract The paper reflects political, economic, social activities and aspects of Korça during the period of the study.This period is special and important in the history of the Korça region and the Albanian state. During this period were launched the institutions of public life, founded in the form of governance, which included a series of economic activities for Korça based on creating new contemporary legislation increasing the institutions' role in relation to the previous tradition; building up a modern national educational institution in order to change the mentality of the people, basically oriented to the western countries' policy. There are described the key moments of political, economic, social and cultural life of the Prefecture' people of Korça.The main aim and objective of the study has to familiarize the reader with the Korça region people role in the political, social, economic, during 1912-1920 's, and the efforts of this population for freedom and independence and national unity.The most outstanding personalities in the different fields of the life in Korça region in local and national level are recorded, showing their role in certain moments of these developments.The important place has taken the attempts of Greeks for annexation of Korça region using the different political, diplomatic and military means, but there were also the wishes of the population of Korça to be part of Albania. The ability of Korça citizens for selfgovernance is clearly expressed during WWI when the "Autonomous Republic of Korça" government was founded.


Chlorination of pentaerythritol tetraacetate (PETA), pentaerythritol dichlorodiacetate (PEDCDA), and pentaerythritol trichloromonoacetate (PETCMA) with gaseous hydrogen chloride has been investigated in the presence of zinc chloride PETA was chlorinated in a stepwise manner to form PETCMA . Essentially no pentaerythritol tetrachloride, the fully chlorinated product, was detected in the products. The reaction velocity of PETCMA was extremely small and was of the order of 1/170-1/370 that of the other reactions. Under the constant flow of hydrogen chloride gas, the chlorination velocity of PEDCDA was proportional to the first order of the reactant concentration and zinc chloride concentration. It is believed that zinc chloride first coordinates toward the carbonyl group of the reactant. Ligand exchange has then to occur to effect the desired reaction. The difficulty for zinc chloride to coordinate toward the carbonyl group of PETC MA would explain the difficulty in chlorination. Hydrogen chloride probably converts the Zn-OCOCH3 linkage formed by the ligand exchange into a Zn-Cl linkage, thus eliminating the acetic acid from the system to prevent the reverse reaction.


: This study aimed to evaluate the productive performance and physicochemical traits of wine grape cultivars (Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc) grafted on two different rootstocks (IAC 766 Campinas, and 106-8 Mgt) under subtropical conditions. The productive components (number of bunches, production per vine, yield, number of berries per bunch, fresh mass, length, and width of berries) and the grape must physicochemical composition (pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, and maturation index) were determined after four consecutive harvest seasons. Results from analysis of variance and principal component analysis showed that Cabernet Franc and Syrah were generally more productive than the other ones. In addition to that, Cabernet Sauvignon presented the lowest production and the smallest grape berries of all. With regards to rootstocks, IAC 766 induced higher scions yield than 106-8 Mgt; besides that, IAC 766 had greater affinity with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, which was observed by the increase in the number of bunches per vine, larger and heavier bunches, as well as higher soluble solids content and pH value than the ones in 106-8 Mgt. Furthermore, IAC 766 also induced higher soluble solids content and pH value for Cabernet Sauvignon. Results showed similar effects for Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, regardless of the rootstocks.


Abstract. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) JOIDES Resolution Science Operator typically uses an advanced piston corer (APC) in soft ooze and sediments and an extended core barrel (XCB) in firm sediments. The coring tool exchange typically occurs around the same depth in adjacent holes of the same site. However, during IODP Expedition 356, the coring tool switch occurred at different depths: IODP Sites U1463 and U1464 are marked by a stratigraphic interval (> 25 m thick) that was XCB cored in one hole and APC cored in other holes. Shipboard scientists remarked that APC-cored sediments were unlithified or partially lithified, while XCB-cored sediments were fully lithified. This difference in sedimentological description of the same formation seems to be an effect of coring technique. To provide further insight, we assessed the physical properties (bulk density, porosity, and P-wave velocity), downhole wireline logging data, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, and micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of those intervals. We find systematic differences between the different coring techniques. XCB cores are characterized by systematically lower bulk density, higher porosity, and higher P-wave velocity than APC cores. Downhole logging data suggest that the original P-wave velocity of the formation is better preserved in XCB cores, despite the typical "biscuit-and-gravy" core disturbance (i.e. well-preserved core fragments surrounded by squelched core material). In conjunction with SEM and µCT images, we conclude that the APC tool destroyed early lithification by breaking cements between individual grains. Moreover, µCT images reveal denser packing and smaller pore volumes in the APC cores. These sedimentary changes likely occur when the APC pressure wave passes through the sediment. The destruction of grain-to-grain cements provides an explanation for the significantly lower P-wave velocities in APC cores. Interestingly, the gravy sections in XCB drilled cores mimic the destruction of early lithification and reduction of pore volume. We conclude that APC remains the tool of choice for recovering soft sediments, especially for paleoclimate purposes. However, for the study of lithification, XCB biscuits provide a more representative image of the formation. For the study of early diagenesis, further studies are required to ascertain the preservation of key sedimentary features using existing and new drilling tools.


IP multicast is an eff cient mechanism to distribute IPTV content towards multiple users, but nowadays Internet Providers f lter out this kind of traff c, mainly due to security and accounting issues. In order to overcome this f ltering, the same idea of IP multicast can be implemented at the end user terminals, but implementing multicast trees at the application layer, also known as Application Layer Multicast (ALM). ALM has some drawbacks, mainly due to dynamic behavior of users, joining and leaving the trees. In order to minimize the impact of this behavior, this paper proposes a distributed management for ALM in IPTV, instead of a centralized one, where some nodes connected to a tree will be on charge of the management of that tree. Furthermore, all nodes are dynamically conf gured with the substitute of its parent node in order to accelerate the reconnection process. Results presented in this article show that this proposal provides fast reconstructions and low management load per node, while keeping a balanced tree topology.


Although sugarcane produces a large amount of energy per hectare, its ensiled storage leads to losses, which makes it one of the most expensive options for animal feeding. These losses occur due to fermentation of sugars and organic acids by yeasts, producing alcohol and gas. Inoculants containing Lactobacillus buchneri increase acetic acid production, which has effect against yeast. In this study, we produced egg yolk antibodies (IgY) against yeasts that ferment lactate (Candida glabrata, Pichia kudriavzevii, and Pichia manshurica) and sugar (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Torulospora delbrueckii, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Debaryomyces etchellsii) isolated in sugarcane silage. Shortly before ensiling, doses of 0, 175, 350, and 700 g/t IgY, and Lactobacillus buchneri were applied to chopped forage. Gas losses were calculated using experimental silos in triplicate, according to the equation: G = (PCf - PCa)/(MFf) × 100, in which: G = gas losses (kg/t); PCf = weight of full silo (equipped with a Bunsen valve to allow gas outflow) at sealing (kg); PCa = weight of full bucket at opening (kg); MFf = forage mass at sealing (kg). The data were analyzed as a completely randomized design and submitted to analysis of variance and regression using the SAS (SAS, 1998), which was chosen because of the significance of the regression parameters, tested by Tukey's test (P < 0.05) and the values of the coefficients of determination. Thirty days after sealing the L. buchneri inoculant and doses of 350 and 700 g/t IgY promoted less gas losses than control that had no any product (12.74; 15.59 and 15.28 versus 27.74, respectively, P < 0.05) and the L. buchneri did not differ from IgY doses. The gas losses decreased quadratically with the anti-yeast addition, estimating maximum of 530 g/t fresh forage. We conclude that anti-yeast use reduces gas production during fermentation. With continuity of this research, we may obtain a roughage with higher nutritional value, as its mode of action in yeast control does not involve consumption of sugars or organic acids.


This paper reports on the acoustic-phonetic analysis of the voiceless fricatives /s, , / taken from high-quality recordings of six native British English speakers reading phonetically controlled stimuli under various face disguise conditions. Speech samples were extracted from an audiocollected for the purpose of investigating multimodal speech and speaker recognition in a forensic context. Findings are discussed with regard to constraints in speech production and acoustic damping effects caused by certain mask materials.


Metal nanostructures have attracted much attention in biomedical, plasmonic, hydrogen storage, and high-energy battery applications. However, the synthesis of various nanostructures of highly reactive elements (e.g. Mg) is still a difficult task and no single-approach has been reported for synthesizing such nanostructures. In this work, we produced magnesium nanoparticles (NPs), nanowires (NWs) and nanoneedles (NNs) in a single-approach, based on thermal evaporation without any carrier gas. Importantly, we employed rapid heating and cooling via a rapid thermal processing (RTP) furnace to control the nucleation and growth of nanostructures. The testing of Zn and Mg–Zn nanostructures was done to validate our approach and design for other metals and bimetallics. Interestingly, Cu and Ag nanoparticles were produced from metal salts (metal acetates and nitrates) with a reasonable control. The tuning of various nanostructures was possible by interplaying (i) with the curvature/outer diameter of the quartz bottle used for evaporation and (ii) by varying the position of the substrates. More specifically, the curvature of the quartz bottle increased the vapour collisions and effectively reduced the thermal energy of the vapour. Altogether, this favoured the control and confinement of vapour onto substrates and achieved supersaturation. Simultaneously, it led to the formation of various nanostructures without any carrier gas. The presented experimental set up is a versatile, simple, single-step and cost-effective solution for producing high-quality nanostructures.


Chondromas are benign tumors characterized by the formation of mature cartilage. Typically, they involve the short bones of the hands and feet. The lesions may be either solitary or multiple as part of enchondromatosis affecting several bones. Cases of multiple enchondromatosis with predominantly unilateral distribution are generally referred to as "Ollier's disease" or when accompanied by multiple hemangiomas as "Maffucci's syndrome". In cases with multiple chondromas there is considerable risk of malignant transformation (approximately 50%). Treatment of single lesions (curettage and bone grafting) is usually uneventful, but any therapeutic approach to Ollier's disease or Maffucci's syndrome should be tailored to the individual distribution of lesions in the most severely deformed extremities. Chondroblastomas are uncommon benign tumors that are almost invariably situated in the epiphyses of long bones adjacent to the epiphyseal cartilage plate. Histologically, they are characterized by round or polygonal chondroblasts with focal accumulation of osteoclast-like giant cells. Intercellular substance is scanty, and calcification occurs typically at focal areas. Lung metastases are reported in rare single cases with high survival rates after local resection, indicating low-grade malignancy. Only a few recurrences have been reported following curettage and bone grafting. Avascular necrosis or chondrolysis with subsequent secondary osteoarthrosis may occur after surgical treatment of chondroblastoma of the upper femur epiphysis. These severe indirect sequelae should be considered both when planning surgery and during follow-up. Chondromyxoid fibromas are rare benign tumors that are mostly diagnosed in the second and third decade; they are mainly found in the proximal tibial metaphysis. Histologically, there are areas of chondroid, myxoid, and fibrotic tissues, of which the myxoid component is characteristic for chondromyxoid fibromas.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Fro7itispiece. The Otricoli Zeus. On Greek Religion and Mythology. The Opportunities of Greece.—Greek Cosmogony.—Urano's and Kronos.^—-Zeus and His Brothers. With Numerous Illustrations of Greek Temples, Divinities, and Mythological Episodes Representing all Periods of Greek Art. Editor . 513 The Propensity Toivard the Marvellous. Animism in Popular Thought and in Science. Dr. Ernst Mach, Professor of the History and Theory of Inductive Science in the University of Vienna 539 The Associated Fists. The So-called Boxer Society, which Caused the Riots and Led to War in China. With Illustrations from Chinese Newspapers. The Rev. George T. Candlin, Christian Missionary in Northern China 551 Madame Clemence Royer. With Two Portraits 562 Iniwcation. A Poem. E. W. Dutcher 564 The School a7id Society. With Illustrations 564 The Mahdydna. Sketch of the Rise and Meaning of Northern Buddhism. English Translation of A9vaghosha's "Awakening of Faith." With Illustration 569 Nirvana. A Poem. From the German of E. Eckstein. Hugo Andriessen. 569 Book Notices 573 Notes 576


Oncolytic peptides are attractive tools for the development of novel anticancer regimens [1]. LTX-315 is a synthetic peptide with a marked capacity to elicit tumor-targeting immunity in preclinical cancer models [2]. Indeed, LTX-315 has been shown to elicit immunogenic cell death (ICD) in malignant cells [3, 4] and to deplete immunosuppressive cells such as CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ TREG cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) from the tumor microenvironment (TME) [5]. Accordingly, LTX-315 synergized with immunogenic chemotherapeutics or immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in preclinical tumor models [5, 6]. Moreover, recent findings from a Phase I clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors (NCT01986426) indicate that intratumoral LTX-315 is safe, clinically active, and elicits alterations in the TME that support the initiation of anticancer immunity [7, 8]. However, the dependency of LTX-315 therapeutic effects on the immune system in preclinical models of breast cancer has not been mechanistically investigated.We harnessed three distinct mouse models of ICI-resistant breast cancer, namely hormone receptor (HR)-positive TS/A established and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) 4T1 cells established in immunocompetent syngeneic BALB/c mice, as well as medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA, M)-initiated, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA, D)-driven mammary carcinomas evolving in C57BL/6 mice to assess the immunotherapeutic effects of LTX-315 optionally combined with radiation therapy (RT), based on the primary tumor growth, metastatic dissemination and overall survival (depending on model). Multilesion models, rechallenge assays, antibody-mediated depletion experiments as well as experiments in Rag1-/- mice were employed to elucidate the mechanistic involvement of the immune system.In the multilesion TS/A models, intratumoral LTX-315 to one lesion combined with hypofractionated RT to another lesion resulted in superior systemic disease control as manifested by eradication of a 3rd untreated lesion in up to 50% of mice, which were protected from a subsequent rechallenge with living TS/A cells. In the single lesion 4T1 model, LTX-315 mediated enable robust local and metastatic disease control, which could be enhanced (only locally) with RT and dependent on natural killer (NK) cells, but less so on T lymphocytes (as determined with anti-asialo GM1 antibodies and Rag1-/- hosts). In the M/D-driven model, LTX-315 considerably controlled the growth of primary tumors and delayed relapse, an effect that depended on NK cells (as demonstrated with anti-NK1.1 antibodies).LTX-315, alone and combined with RT, mediates robust immunotherapeutic effects in multiple models of ICI-resistant breast cancer. Intriguingly, NK cells appear to be required for such effects, potentially linked to the emergence of immunological memory.We are indebted to Dr. Fred Miller (Karmanos Cancer Center, Detroit, MI) for the kind gift of 4T1 cells, as well as to Dr. Karsten A. Pilones (Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY) and Maria E. Rodriguez-Ruiz (University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain) for help with clonogenic assays. This work has been sponsored by a research grant by Lytix Biopharma (Oslo, Norway) to S.D. and L.G.Kepp, O. et al. (2020) Oncolysis without viruses - inducing systemic anticancer immune responses with local therapies. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 17 (1), 49–64.Vitale, I. et al. (2021) Targeting Cancer Heterogeneity with Immune Responses Driven by Oncolytic Peptides. Trends Cancer 7 (6), 557–572.Eike, L.M. et al. (2015) The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 induces cell death and DAMP release by mitochondria distortion in human melanoma cells. Oncotarget 6 (33), 34910–23.Zhou, H. et al. (2016) The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 triggers immunogenic cell death. Cell Death Dis 7 (3), e2134.Yamazaki, T. et al. (2016) The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 overcomes resistance of cancers to immunotherapy with CTLA4 checkpoint blockade. Cell Death Differ 23 (6), 1004–15.Camilio, K.A. et al. (2019) Combining the oncolytic peptide LTX-315 with doxorubicin demonstrates therapeutic potential in a triple-negative breast cancer model. Breast Cancer Res 21 (1), 9.Jebsen, N.L. et al. (2019) Enhanced T-lymphocyte infiltration in a desmoid tumor of the thoracic wall in a young woman treated with intratumoral injections of the oncolytic peptide LTX-315: a case report. J Med Case Rep 13 (1), 177.Spicer, J. et al. (2021) Safety, Antitumor Activity, and T-cell Responses in a Dose-Ranging Phase I Trial of the Oncolytic Peptide LTX-315 in Patients with Solid Tumors. Clin Cancer Res 27 (10), 2755–2763.This study was approved by Weill Cornell Medical College's Ethics Board; approval number 2015-0028, 2018-0002.


Internal variability due to atmospheric circulation can dominate the thermodynamical signal present in the climate system for small spatial or short temporal scales, thus fundamentally limiting the detectability of forced climate signals. Dynamical adjustment techniques aim to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of trends in climate variables such as temperature by removing the influence of atmospheric circulation variability. Forced thermodynamical signals unrelated to circulation variability are then thought to remain in the residuals, allowing a more accurate quantification of changes even at the regional or decadal scale. The majority of these methods focus on climate variable's averages, thus discounting important distributional features. Here we propose a machine learning dynamical adjustment method for the full temperature distribution that recognizes the stochastic nature of the relationship between the dynamical and thermodynamical components. Furthermore, we illustrate how this method enables evaluating how specific events would have unfolded in a different, counterfactual climate from a few decades ago, thereby characterizing the emergent effect of climatic changes over decadal time scales. We apply our method to observational data over Europe and over the past 70 years.


Up to now, a large number of electrophysiological models have been introduced for simulating the cells. These models are very complicated and they use much time to run. One of most important goals for researchers is to offer a model which has less computational complexity, in the other word, has the minimum number of state variables. In this paper, is introduced a minimal model for cardiac cell which has a minimum number of state variables and It is enable to simulate different features of Action potential, restitution curve for action potential duration (APD) and least Diastolic interval (DI). For validation this model, it is compared to reliable electrophysiological model. At the result, this minimal model (MM) is very simple to simulate restitution, so it is proper to simulate tissue level.


A three-year-old male crossbred dog was presented with multiple cutaneous nodules on the dorsum. Unilateral testicular enlargement ensued. Histopathological examination of testicular tissue and the skin lesions revealed a malignant seminoma. Despite the initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy, the dog died three months later due to systemic metastases of the seminoma to the skin, scrotum, eyes, liver, kidney and peritoneum.


Recent models based on attention mechanisms have shown unprecedented performance in the speech recognition domain. These are computational expensive and unnecessarily complex for the keyword spotting task where its main usage is in smallfootprint devices. This work explores the application of the Lambda networks, a framework for capturing long-range interactions, within this spotting task. The proposed architecture is inspired by current state-of-the-art models for keyword spotting built on residual connections. Our main contribution consists on swapping the residual blocks by temporal Lambda layers thus bypassing the expensive computation of attention maps, largely reducing the model complexity. Furthermore, the proposed Lambda network is built upon uni-dimensional convolutions which also dramatically decreases the number of floating point operations performed along the inference stage. This architecture does not only reach state-of-the-art accuracies on the Google Speech Commands dataset, but it is 85% and 65% lighter than its multi headed attention (MHAtt-RNN) and residual convolutional (Res15) counterparts, while being up to 100× faster than them. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the Lambda framework within the speech domain and therefore, we unravel further research and development of future speech interfaces based on this architecture.


Abstract This study discusses the use of quaternions and dual quaternions in the description of artificial fish kinematics. The investigation offered here illustrates quaternion and dual quaternion algebra, as well as its implementation in the software chosen. When it comes to numerical stability, quaternions are better than matrices because a normalised quaternion always shows the correct rotation, while a matrix more easily loses its orthogonality due to rounding errors and oversizing. Although quaternions are more compact than rotation matrices, using quaternions does not always provide less numerical computation and the amount of memory needed. In this paper, an algebraic form of quaternion representation is provided which is less memory-demanding than the matrix representation. All the functions that were used to prepare this work are presented, and they can be employed to conduct more research on how well quaternions work in a specific assignment.


World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a global public health emergency and pandemic, spreading fast with an increasing number of infected patients worldwide. Almost 210 countries and territories are severely affected by the deadly disease caused by a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and still it is uncontrollable. The detailed mechanism of the virus remains unknown, and specific drugs have not been developed. According to the current published evidence, we precisely summarize the disease, characteristics of the virus, current world scenario, available treatment options and preventive measures to be taken against COVID-19. A case study was conducted to provide the dangerous picture of exponential growth of infected people around the world to inculcate the awareness of maintaining social distancing and hand hygiene. This effort is made in view of providing awareness to the public effectively to understand and deal with the novel coronavirus situation worldwide. It is also anticipated to provide a reference to future advances in medical anti-virus related studies.


Crisp grass carp products from China are becoming more prevalent in the worldwide fish market because muscle hardness is the primary desirable characteristic for consumer satisfaction of fish fillet products. Unfortunately, current instrumental methods to evaluate muscle hardness are expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful. This study sought to develop classification models for differentiating the muscle hardness of crisp grass carp on the basis of blood analysis. Out of the total 264 grass carp samples, 12 outliers from crisp grass carp group were removed based on muscle hardness (<9 N), and the remaining 252 samples were used for the analysis of seven blood indexes including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH/GSSH), red blood cells (RBC), platelet count (PLT), and lymphocytes (LY). Furthermore, six machine learning models were applied to predict the muscle hardness of grass carp based on the training (152) and testing (100) datasets obtained from the blood analysis: random forest (RF), naïve Bayes (NB), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), support vector machine (SVM), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and artificial neural network (ANN). The RF model exhibited the best prediction performance with a classification accuracy of 100%, specificity of 93.08%, and sensitivity of 100% for discriminating crisp grass carp muscle hardness, followed by the NB model (93.75% accuracy, 91.83% specificity, and 94% sensitivity), whereas the ANN model had the lowest prediction performance (85.42% accuracy, 81.05% specificity, and 85% sensitivity). These machine learning methods provided objective, cheap, fast, and reliable classification for in vivo crisp grass carp and also prove useful for muscle quality evaluation of other freshwater fish.


The problem of influence maximization (IM) represents a major challenge for modern network science, with direct applicability in political science, economy, epidemiology, and rumor spreading. Here, we develop a novel computational intelligence framework (GenOSOS) based on genetic algorithms with emphasis on the optimal layout of spreader nodes in a network. Our algorithm starts with solutions consisting of randomly selected spreader nodes; then, by defining custom original crossover and mutation operators, we are able to obtain, in a short number of genetic iterations, nearly optimal solutions in terms of the nodes' topological layout. Experiments on both synthetic and real-world networks show that the proposed GenOSOS algorithm is not only a viable alternative to the existing node centrality approach, but that it outperforms state of the art solutions in terms of spreading coverage. Specifically, we benchmark GenOSOS against graph centralities such as node degree, betweenness, PageRank and k-shell using the SIR epidemic model, and find that our solution is, on average, 11.45% more efficient in terms of diffusion coverage.