Perovskite Solar Cells (PSC) gained a lot of interest in the photovoltaic community due to the surprising and rapid improvement in power conversion efficiency from the mere 3.8% in 2009 to 23.7% in 2018 [1]. Maybe one of the key early discoveries in perovskite research was demonstrated ambipolar character of perovskite semiconductor. This allowed large versatility in possible architectures, designs and available materials for processing perovskite solar cells. P-i-n architecture, where perovskite material is sandwiched between hole selective material (processed bedore perovskite) and electron selective material (processed on top of perovskite layer) has several advantages, including lower hysteresis, potentially superior stability [2], facile processing. Charge transporting layers are crucial for extraction of electrons and holes, which are generated inside the perovskite layer and transported towards respective contacts. Strict requirements regarding facile layer formation at low temperatures are extremely important for Electron Transporting Material (ETM) which is deposited on top of perovskite layer in p-i-n architecture. One of the most commonly used materials is PCBM (phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester). [3] Despite high efficiencies of solar cells achieved with this material, it possess certain drawbacks, including poor film formation, high synthesis cost, non-ideal electronic contact with perovskite and limited possibility to tune its properties by chemical synthesis. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing novel materials which possess all the advantages of native PCBM and at the same time can overcome the drawbacks. Already existing alternatives include fullerene-indene adducts. [4] Researchers proved that these molecules exhibit better properties in case of electronic contact, wettability and overall power conversion efficiency of respective solar cells. [5] However, these molecules are limited in terms of possible modifications via synthetic approach. The new solution enabling the synthesis of novel indenes [6] was adopted and series of fullerene adducts was synthesized, tested and evaluated after integration in PSCs.


23 patients suffering from psoriasis and being treated with beta-blocking agents were compared to a control group regarding psoriasis activity. Seven out of the 23 were affected by psoriasis after introduction of the beta-blocking drug. The mean age of onset was significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than that of the control group, which supports the provoking effects of beta-blocking agents. Remission occurred in 3 out of 4 patients after medication was stopped.


The relationship between property and structure is one of the most important fundamental questions in the field of nanomaterials and nanodevices. Understanding the multiproperties of a given nano-object also aids in the development of novel nanomaterials and nanodevices. In this paper, we develop for the first time a comprehensive platform for in situ multiproperty measurements of individual nanomaterials using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Mechanical, electrical, electromechanical, optical, and photoelectronic properties of individual nanomaterials, with lengths that range from less than 200 nm to 20 μm, can be measured in situ with an SEM on the platform under precisely controlled single-axial strain and environment. An individual single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) was measured on the platform. Three-terminal electronic measurements in a field effect transistor structure showed that the SWCNT was semiconducting and agreed with the structure characterization by transmission electron microscopy after the in situ measurements. Importantly, we observed a bandgap increase of this SWCNT with increasing axial strain, and for the first time, the experimental results quantitatively agree with theoretical predictions calculated using the chirality of the SWCNT. The vibration performance of the SWCNT, a double-walled CNT, and a triple-walled CNT were also studied as a function of axial strain, and were proved to be in good agreement with classical beam theory, although the CNTs only have one, two, or three atomic layers, respectively. Our platform has wide applications in correlating multiproperties of the same individual nanostructures with their atomic structures.


Secondary lymphoid tissue chemokine (SLC, also referred to as Exodus 2 or 6Ckine) is a recently identified high endothelial-derived CC chemokine. The ability of SLC to chemoattract both Th1 lymphocytes and dendritic cells formed the rationale to evaluate this chemokine in cancer immunotherapy. Intratumoral injection of recombinant SLC evidenced potent antitumor responses and led to complete tumor eradication in 40% of treated mice. SLC-mediated antitumor responses were lymphocyte dependent as evidenced by the fact that this therapy did not alter tumor growth in SCID mice. Studies performed in CD4 and CD8 knockout mice also revealed a requirement for both CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte subsets for SLC-mediated tumor regression. In immunocompetent mice, intratumoral SLC injection led to a significant increase in CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes and dendritic cells, infiltrating both the tumor and the draining lymph nodes. These cell infiltrates were accompanied by the enhanced elaboration of Th1 cytokines and chemokines monokine induced by IFN-γ and IFN-γ-inducible protein 10 but a concomitant decrease in immunosuppressive cytokines at the tumor site. In response to irradiated autologous tumor, splenic and lymph node-derived cells from SLC-treated tumor-bearing mice secreted significantly more IFN-γ, GM-CSF, and IL-12 and reduced levels of IL-10 than did diluent-treated tumor-bearing mice. After stimulation with irradiated autologous tumor, lymph node-derived lymphocytes from SLC-treated tumor-bearing mice demonstrated enhanced cytolytic capacity, suggesting the generation of systemic immune responses. These findings provide a strong rationale for further evaluation of SLC in tumor immunity and its use in cancer immunotherapy.


A previous study shows that the use of a calibration emitter whose position is known exactly can significantly reduce the loss in time differences of arrival (TDOA) based source localization accuracy when the available sensor positions have random errors. This paper extends the previous work to a more practical scenario where the exact position of a calibration emitter is not known. By modeling the calibration position error as additive Gaussian noise, the amount of reduction in localization accuracy due to calibration position error is derived through Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) analysis. In addition, the analysis also affirms the previous studies on Bayesian sensor network localization that it remains possible to improve the localization accuracy even if the calibration position is completely unknown. Next, a performance analysis illustrates that the penalty could be very high if one simply pretends the calibration position is accurate and ignores its error. A closed-form solution is then developed by accounting for the calibration position error and it is proved analytically to reach the CRLB accuracy when the sensor and calibration position errors are small relative to the distance between the calibration emitter and the sensor. Finally, the results are generalized to the case where multiple calibration emitters are available. When deploying multiple calibration emitters, although their positions may not be known exactly, we show that it is possible to completely eliminate the sensor position error and recover the best localization accuracy that is limited by the measurement noise in TDOAs only. All the theoretical developments are corroborated by simulations.


INTRODUCTION
Dengue infections are currently one of the most rapidly emerging arboviral infections in the world, which result in 390 million infections every year. They cause significant morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries and is a huge burden on their economies. Although the majority of dengue infections result in asymptomatic infection or manifest as undifferentiated viral fever, some develop fluid leakage and bleeding manifestations which result in dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS.)
As there is no effective antiviral treatment or a licensed vaccine to prevent infection, meticulous fluid management and monitoring for complications is currently the only option available. Earlier case fatalities due to dengue infection have been reported to be around 2.5% to 5.4%.Shock and organ impairment have been shown to be the most important factors that lead to fatalities in dengue infection. As a result of better fluid management regimens and greater awareness of associations of severe dengue and early interventions, the case fatality rates have significantly dropped in many dengue endemic countries. However, in order for early detection of those who are likely to develop severe dengue, the clinical and laboratory parameters are measured at least two or three times a day in all patients admitted to the hospital with dengue infection.
Although ideal management of children includes monitoring of many clinical parameters at least every 2 hours, this is sometimes impossible due to limited health resources. Therefore, a simple test that can be done in a ward would be of utmost importance to determine the children who are most likely to develop severe clinical disease. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can help in reducing significant mortality and our study has attempted to identify a predictor of severe dengue.
AIM:
To assess the role of NS1 antigen Assay in the management of dengue fever in children
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the utility of NS1 antigen assay in predicting severity of dengue fever in children by estimating titres.
MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY:
STUDY DESIGN:
Hospital based prospective observational study
Place of study - PSG Hospitals, PSGI MS&R, Coimbatore
Time period - January 2016 to May 2017
SAMPLE SIZE: 250 samples were required based on the formula 4p9/d2 considering the prevalence of dengue fever.
INCLUSION CRITERIA:
1.Age: less than 18 years
2.Study was carried out in children with clinical suspicion of dengue fever with features like
3.Fever > 3 days
4.Myalgia
5.Rash
6.Arthralgia
Exclusion Criteria:
Children with dengue fever and co infections were excluded .
METHODOLOGY:
Ethical committee approval was obtained and Prospective collection of data was done in children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria in the Pediatrics department at tertiary care centre, PSGIMSR, Coimbatore where systematic computer coding for registry is used. NS1 Antigen ELISA was done in all children between day 1 to 5 illness who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and 2ml of blood was drawn and collected in EDTA container. NS1 Antigen ELISA was tested using (J-Mithra kit)India at the Serology lab in our hospital. Qualitative and semi Quantitative analysis was done. Titre of >11 was considered strongly positive, 9-11 as equivocal and titre value of 9 was mild positive. Dengue Serology for IgG antibodies for secondary infection and IgM antibodies for primary infection were performed on the same children using ELISA Assay. All other relevant and additional investigations were done as per the course of illness. Data was entered in structured proforma and case definition, diagnosis and management used for dengue fever were categorized into Mild, Moderate and Severe dengue as per revised NVBDCP guidelines. All other relevant clinical data were collected.
DENGUE CASE CLASSIFICATION:
Mild dengue – Fever and any two of the following- Moderate dengue Severe Dengue -Nausea, vomiting -Rash -Aches and pains -Leukopenia -Positive tourniquet Test -Abdominalpain/Tenderness -Persistant vomiting -Ascites/ pleural effusion -Mucosal bleeding -Lethargy, restlessness -Liver Enlargement >2 cm Laboratory : Increase in HCT concurrent with rapid decrease in Platelet count Severe plasma leakage leading to- -Shock -Fluid accumulation with respiratory distress -Severe Bleeding Severe organ Involvement -Liver AST or ALT >/= 1000 CNS:Impaired Consciousness
RESULTS:
Demographic distribution of the study
Age
Majority of our study population (48%) were less than 5 years of age and nearly 75% of our study population was less than 10 years. The mean age of children admitted was 6.8 + 4.93years.
Sex distribution
Our study population had slightly male predominance, the male:female ratio were 1.1: 1.
Admission status
Most of our children were treated as inpatients (89.6%) and the remaining 10.4% were treated as out patients. The children who were not admitted were mild dengue children without any warning signs.
Observation of NS1 Antigen testing and the day of illness
NS1 Antigen was found to be positive in158(63.2%) children when done in less than 3 days of illness. Ns1 antigen was positive in 92 children (36.8%)when done on 4 to 5 days of illness.
Severity of illness
In our study there were 51.2% of mild dengue, 38.2% of moderate dengue and only 10% were severe dengue. This can be attributed to the normal pattern of infectious diseases, where milder illnesses are more common than severe forms of the disease.
Association between study population and serology
Out of 250 children included 122(48.8%) had primary dengue and 128(51.2%) had secondary dengue fever.
Association between age group and clinical diagnosis
When the association between age group and clinical diagnosis of mild, moderate and severe dengue was analysed it was observed that in children less than 5 years of age, Mild dengue was seen in 56.7% of the children, Moderate dengue was seen in 40% of the children and 10% of the children had severe dengue. In the age group of children from 6 to 10 years mild dengue was seen in 47.9% of the children, moderate dengue was seen in 42.3% of the children and severe dengue was seen in 9.9% of the children. In children between age group of 11 to 15 years mild dengue was seen in40% of the children, moderate dengue was seen in 47.5% of the children and severe dengue was seen in 12.5% of the children. In children more than 15 years, mild dengue was seen in 52.6% of the children, 42.1% of the children had moderate dengue and severe dengue was seen in 5.3% of the children. Statistical correlation was done which showed a p value of 0.61 which was not significant. However majority of the children were categorized as mild dengue and the common age of presentation was less than 5 years.
Association between age group and ns1 titre values
In the age group of less than 5 years titre values of 9 to 11 was seen in 32(26.7%)of the children, in the age group of 6 to 10 years titre values of 9 to 11 was seen in 26(36.6%) of the children. In the age group of 11 to 15 years titre values of 9 to 11 was seen in12(30%) of the children, in age group of > 15 years titre values of 9 to 11 was seen in 4 (21.1%) children. In age group of less than 5 years titres titre values of less than9 was seen in 43 children(35.8%) and in age group of 6 to 10 years titre values of less than 9 was seen in 23 children( 32.4%). In children with age group of 11 to 15 years titre values of <9 was seen in 8 (20%) children. Children with age group of 11 to 15 years NS1 antigen titre values of <9 was seen in 7(36.8%) children.
In the age group of children 11 was seen in 45(37.5%) children, in children with age group of 6 to 10 years titre values > 11 was seen in 22(31%) of the children. In age group of children between 11 to 15 years titre values of > 11 was seen in 20(50%) of the children . In age group of children > 15 years NS1 titres of > 11 was seen in 8(42.1%) of the children. P value was 0.323 which was not statistically significant.
Association between ns1 titres and clinical diagnosis
When the association between NS1 titre levels and clinical diagnosis was correlated, Titre levels of 11 was seen in37(38.9%) of children diagnosed with moderate dengue Titre levels of 11 was seen in children 15 (15.8%) of children diagnosed with severe dengue. The p value was 0.525 which was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION:
In our study we conclude that NS1 Antigen ELISA titres may not be useful in predicting the severity of dengue fever in children and further research is warranted for early identification of severity of dengue which can help in significant reduction in mortality.
LIMITATIONS:
However our study had few limitations that NS1 antigen Assay was not quantitated and NS1 Assay was not performed uniformly on one particular day of illness which would have warranted more clinical significance.


NASA has successfully constructed the 1.3m Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) facility on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. MCAT is an optical telescope designed specifically to collect ground-based data for the statistical characterization of orbital debris ranging from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) through Middle Earth Orbits (MEO) and beyond to Geo Transfer and Geosynchronous Orbits (GTO/GEO). The location of Ascension Island has two distinct advantages. First, the near-equatorial location fills a significant longitudinal gap in the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) network of telescopes, and second, it allows access to objects in Low Inclination Low-Earth Orbits (LILO). The MCAT facility will be controlled by a sophisticated software suite that operates the dome and telescope, assesses sky and weather conditions, conducts all necessary calibrations, defines an observing strategy (as dictated by weather, sky conditions and the observing plan for the night), and carries out the observations. It then reduces the collected data via four primary observing modes ranging from tracking previously cataloged objects to conducting general surveys for detecting uncorrelated debris. Nightly observing plans, as well as the resulting text file of reduced data, will be transferred to and from Ascension, respectively, via a satellite connection. Post-processing occurs at NASA Johnson Space Center. Construction began in September, 2014 with dome and telescope installation occurring in April through early June, 2015. First light was achieved in June, 2015. Acceptance testing, full commissioning, and calibration of this soon-to-be fully autonomous system commenced in summer 2015. The initial characterization of the system from these tests is presented herein.


A simple modification of Wheeler's incremental inductance rule is presented which allows the extention of the use of this rule for the evaluation in quasi-TEM operation of losses in thin microstrips (i.e., when the Wheeler's rule is considered no longer applicable). A good agreement of the proposed formula with available numerical results is obtained when thickness is comparable with skin depth. A comparison is also made with two approximate formulas proposed by some authors. The proposed modification to Wheeler's rule should be useful for computer-aided design (CAD) of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's).


In many study systems, populations fluctuate synchronously across large regions. Several mechanisms have been advanced to explain this, but their importance in nature is often uncertain. Theoretical studies suggest that spatial synchrony initiated in one species through Moran effects may propagate among trophically linked species, but evidence for this in nature is lacking. By applying the nonparametric spatial correlation function to time series data, we discover that densities of the gypsy moth, the moth's chief predator (the white-footed mouse), and the mouse's winter food source (red oak acorns) fluctuate synchronously over similar distances (approximately1000 km) and with similar levels of synchrony. In addition, we investigate the importance of consumer-resource interactions in propagating synchrony among species using an empirically informed simulation model of interactions between acorns, the white-footed mouse, the gypsy moth, and a viral pathogen of the gypsy moth. Our results reveal that regional stochasticity acting directly on populations of the mouse, moth, or pathogen likely has little effect on levels of the synchrony displayed by these species. In contrast, synchrony in mast seeding can propagate across trophic levels, thus explaining observed levels of synchrony in both white-footed mouse and gypsy moth populations. This work suggests that the transfer of synchrony among trophically linked species may be a major factor causing interspecific synchrony.


A technique to predict principal motions of earthquakes using preliminary tremors, has been developed. Taking advantage of the time lag between them, we can take suitable countermeasures against the principal motions that affect urban structures; e.g. an escape from dangerous zones, stopping elevators and gas supply, and activating AMD (active mass damper) systems. A structured neural network is used to construct a peak ground acceleration prediction model, where inputs are fuzzified shaking direction data, and power spectrum and maximum acceleration of preliminary tremors. The proposed model has been improved by handling some earthquakes in Ibaraki-ken south-west zone that least fit the model as exceptions. Mean square error of the improved model is reduced to one third of the statistical model.


The y-ray emission anisotropy from the long-lived isomer 166mHo (I = 7) has been investigated in single crystals of the enhanced nuclear paramagnet HoVO4. From measurements in fields up to 2 T and temperatures between 45 and 65 mK, the nuclear magnetic moment of 166mHo is determined as 3.60(5) pN. After adiabatic demagnetization, temperatures of approximately 1 mK were reached, and the nuclear ordered state has been studied. The results confirm that it is anti-ferromagnetic, and that the ordering is consistent with the predictions of Bleaney (1980), based on an effective field treatment of the dipole-dipole interaction between the enhanced nuclear moments. In particular, the spin-flop phase has been identified in fields of order 10-2 T.


A double hydrophilic block copolymer composed of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) was obtained through hydrolysis of diblock copolymer of poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA) and P4VP synthesized using atom transfer radical polymerization. Water-soluble micelles with PAA core and P4VP corona were observed at low (acidic) pH, while micelles with P4VP core and PAA corona were formed at high (basic) pH. Two metalloporphyrins, zinc tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) and cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP), were used as model compounds to investigate the encapsulation of hydrophobic molecules by both types of micelles. UV–vis spectroscopic measurements indicate that micelles with P4VP core are able to entrap more ZnTPP and CoTPP as a result of the axial coordination between the transition metals and the pyridine groups. The study found that metalloporphyrins encapsulated by the micelles with PAA core could be released on pH increase, while those entrapped by the micelles with P4VP core could be released on pH decrease. This behavior originates from the two-way pH change-induced disruption of PAA-b-P4VP micelles. VC 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 1734–1744, 2006


The behavioral and neuronal responses of the males of two closely related species of mice (Mus musculus wagneri, M. spicilegus) to the urine odors of estrus conand heterospecific females were studied. In two-choice odor tests males significantly longer investigated odor of conspecific females in comparison with heterospecific ones. To investigate neuronal activation in the main and accessory olfactory bulbs (MOB and AOB), one of the methods of functional tomography – manganese-enhanced MRI ( ME-MRI) – was used. There was a significant increase in Mn2+ accumulation in the dorsal section of the posterior part of the MOB in male M. m. wagneri and M. spicilegus exposed to odor of conspecific females compared with the control group males (odor not exposed). There was a local significant increase in manganese accumulation in the dorsal region of the anterior part of the MOB in the case of the exposure of odor of a heterospecific female. The exposure of heptanone-2 to mice resulted not only in an increase in Mn2+ accumulation in certain zones, but also in a significant decrease in the accumulation of Mn2+ in the rest of the olfactory bulbs. A significant increase in the accumulation of MRI contrast in AOB was observed in males only in the case of female urine-conspecific odor exposure. The results support the previously stated assumption of a significant difference in chemical communication systems in two species of mice. A comparison of these results and results obtained previously demonstrated the absence of any differences in behavioral and neuronal responses to conand heterospecific odors of the house mouse subspecies allopatric (M. m. wagneri) and sympatric (M. m. musculus) to M. spicilegus. This fact does not allow us to assume the effect of the mechanism of "reinforcement" in the process of evolution in the formation of precopulatory reproductive isolation between the sympatric species M. spicilegus and M. musculus.


Controllable text generation (CTG) by large language models has a huge potential to transform education for teachers and students alike. Specifically, high quality and diverse question generation can dramatically reduce the load on teachers and improve the quality of their educational content. Recent work in this domain has made progress with generation, but fails to show that real teachers judge the generated questions as sufficiently useful for the classroom setting; or if instead the questions have errors and/or pedagogically unhelpful content. We conduct a human evaluation with teachers to assess the quality and usefulness of outputs from combining CTG and question taxonomies (Bloom's and a difficulty taxonomy). The results demonstrate that the questions generated are high quality and sufficiently useful, showing their promise for widespread use in the classroom setting.


Sporadic voiding within the interfacial Cu3Sn intermetallic compound (IMC) layer-sometimes referred to as ¿Kirkendall voiding¿-has been found to lead to degradation of solder joint reliability in board level, mechanical shock testing. It has been suggested that the voiding phenomenon is a result of the incorporation of organic impurities in the copper (Cu) deposit during electroplating. In the present study, Cu samples were electroplated galvanostatically from a generic solution, containing Cl- ions, as well as a suppressor [polyethylene glycol (PEG)], and a brightener (bis(3-sulfopropyl) disulfide, SPS) as additives. Overpotential transients were measured during electroplating with a range of current densities (0.5-40 mA cm-2) in baths with various compositions. Effects of the bath chemistry on the Cu surface morphology, as well as on the propensity for voiding after soldering, were also investigated. Elemental analysis of selected samples was performed by SIMS. Plating at 10-20 mA·cm-2 with an optimized bath composition led to Cu with a fine-grain structure and smooth appearance. Solder joints formed from these deposits remained void free after soldering and thermal aging. Lower current densities, ran in the same plating bath, led to a significant propensity for voiding, apparently because of incorporation of, principally, SPS and its breakdown products into the growing layer. Continuous plating at 10 mA cm-2 for up to 18 hours without replenishment revealed a strong dependence on bath aging, with Cu changing from ¿void-proof¿ to clearly ¿void-prone.¿ These trends were attributed to the different rates of consumption for PEG and SPS and changes in the contaminants being incorporated in the deposits. In general, differences in the voiding behavior of the plated Cu could be predicted by monitoring a set of characteristic overpotential transient signatures.


beta-Ketothiolase from Zoogloea ramigera I-16-M was purified 140-fold to electrophoretic homogeneity. The bacterium appeared to contain a single isoenzyme of beta-ketothiolase with a molecular weight of 190 000, as determined by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration. The monomer molecular weight was 44 000, as estimated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The native enzyme thus appeared to be a tetramer with identical subunits. The enzyme showed a pH optimum of 7.5 in the condensation reaction, and 8.5 in the thiolysis reaction. The enzyme employed a Bi Bi ping pong mechanism for the forward thiolysis reaction. The apparent Km value for acetoacetyl coenzyme A in the thiolysis reaction was 10 micron, and that for coenzyme A was 8.5 micron. The apparent Km value for acetyl coenzyme A in the condensation reaction was 0.33 mM. The condensation reaction was inhibited by coenzyme A concentrations lower than 0.1 mM. The enzyme was stable in the presence of dithiothreitol and other SH-compounds, but was strongly inhibited by 0.4 mM p-chloromercuribenzoate.


A CMOS analog equalizer is designed to meet the different high speed communication specifications, such as USB 2.0, PCI-E and rapid IO. The proposed circuit architecture could facilitate the wide frequency scale ranging from 1 to 3.125 Gbps by adjusting the locations of pole and zero, so that the circuit can change its response accordingly as the channel characteristic alters. In order to balance the parasitic capacitors in the internal point, symmetric switches are addressed to generate the equal load for differential signals. A prototype chip was fabricated in 0.13-μm 1P8M mix-signal CMOS technology. The actual area is 0.49 × 0.5 mm2, and the analog equalizer operates up to 3.125 Gbps over 3 m RG-58 coaxial cable and 50 cm FR4-PCB trace. The overall power dissipation is approximately 14.4 mW.


Similar causal relationships can exist between many cancer types, for example, metastatic bladder cancer and secondary lung cancer. This relatedness must therefore be taken into account for the diagnosis to be more accurate. The categorization of cancers can benefit from gene expression studies. In order to categorize cancer tissues with a comparable causal link, the best classifier model is sought after in this research. The CuMiDa dataset is used to obtain the lung and bladder cancer datasets, and parameters are modified to improve accuracy once fewer classifiers are taken into account. According to the experimental findings, Linear SVC achieves the highest accuracy, followed by Logistic Regression and XGBoost.


The membrane-ionomer interface is the critical interlink of the electrodes and catalyst to the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM); together forming the membrane electrode assembly in current state-of-the-art PEM fuel cells. In this paper, proton conduction through the interface is investigated to understand its effect on the performance of a PEM fuel cell. The water containing domains at this interface were modeled as cylindrical pores/channels with the anionic groups (i.e., -SO(3)(-)) assumed to be fixed on the pore wall. The interactions of each species with all other species and an applied external field were examined. Molecular-based interaction potential energies were computed in a small test element of the pore and were scaled up in terms of macroscopic variables. Evolution equations of the density and momentum of the species (water molecules and hydronium ions) were derived within a framework of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The resulting evolution equations for the species were solved analytically using an order-of-magnitude analysis to obtain an expression for the proton conductivity. Results show that the conductivity increases with increasing water content and pore radius, and strongly depends on the separation distance between the sulfonate groups and their distribution on the pore wall. It was also determined that the conductivity of two similar pores of different radii in series is limited by the pore with the smaller radius.


A full life cycle assessment (LCA) is usually a time, energy, and data-intensive process requiring sophisticated methodology. Our meta-analysis of life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of wind electricity highlights several key, sensitive parameters to provide a better understanding of the variability in LCA results, and then proposes a methodology to establish a simplified, streamlined approach based on regressions built on these key parameters. Wind electricity's environmental performance can be linked to three essential components: technological (e.g., manufacturing), geographical (e.g., wind speed), and LCA methodology (e.g., product lifetime). A regression has been derived based on detailed LCA results from a representative sample of 17 industrial wind turbines manufactured and recently installed in Europe on average land configurations. Simple GHG performance (i.e., emissions) curves depending on average on-site wind speed and wind turbine lifetime are proposed. Whatever the system power, considering the full range of possible wind speeds in Europe (4 to 9 meters per second [m/s]) and a lifetime of 10 to 30 years, emissions vary from 8.7 to 76.7 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (g CO 2 -eq/kWh) when the wind speed is less than 6.5 m/s, and from 4.5 to 22.2 g CO 2 -eq/kWh when the wind speed is 6.5 m/s or greater. This second situation with a turbine lifetime of 20 years is assumed to be most realistic based on economic criteria. This research presents simplified models as an alternative to detailed LCA. The methodology has been applied as a first trial to wind electricity and could be applied to other energy pathways.


The 2D scrape-off-layer turbulence code (nSOLT) includes 1D Boltzmann neutral–plasma interactions, a model of divertor recycling (introduced here), and a fixed source of plasma concentrated at the core-side boundary. Three fueling methods are considered herein: (1) neutral injection in the far-SOL is accomplished by specifying the density of Franck–Condon distributed neutrals streaming in from the boundary. (2) Divertor recycling is modeled by injecting a fraction of the particle parallel flux in the scrape-off layer (SOL) back into the edge region as a source of plasma. (3) A constant source fuels the edge plasma from the core-side boundary to model pellet injection. For machine parameters (B, Rm, and L//) illustrative of the MAST-U device, and for a deuterium plasma, turbulent equilibria are obtained that share the same plasma fueling rate for each of the three fueling methods, with only one of the sources on in each case. In the presence of self-consistent turbulence, quasi-steady plasma and neutral (deuterium) profiles, fueling efficiencies, SOL transparencies, and heat flux widths are compared. Characteristics of the turbulent fluctuations, including skewness, cross-phases, and power spectra, are described. The calculated fueling efficiencies, SOL transparencies to neutral penetration, and many of the turbulent properties are remarkably similar for all three fueling methods despite significant differences in the plasma profiles. The nonlinear states of the three cases are dominated by separatrix-spanning vortex cells that control particle and heat losses into the SOL.


It is generally acknowledged that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposure increased the incidence of cancer, however, the underlying mechanism(s) of PCBs-induced cancer metastasis are unclear. Although PCBs readily metabolize, little information is available regarding the effect of PCBs metabolites on cancer metastasis. Currently, we evaluate a highly reactive PCBs metabolite, 2,3,5-trichloro-6-phenyl-[1,4]-benzoquinone (PCB29-pQ), relevant to exposure with mammary cancer metastasis. Multiple lines of evidence illustrated that PCB29-pQ induces breast cancer invasion and migration. In particular, this appearance is associated with a two-fold elevation of matrix metalloproteinases-2/-9 (MMP-2/-9) and extracellular nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), respectively. Our results clearly demonstrated the translocation of cytosolic NF-κB into the nucleus by a factor of about 2.4. We also revealed the activation of corresponding upstream signaling cascades phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and p38 and extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) by factors of 3.15, 3.09 and 1.69, respectively. Moreover, there was a marked induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after a PCB29-pQ challenge and antioxidant treatment that markedly inhibited PCB29-pQ-mediated activation of these axis signaling. Collectively, our result suggested that PCB29-pQ induces breast cancer metastasis via ROS-dependent NF-κB-MMP signaling.


Detection dogs are used at border controls as an antecedent intervention to deter the smuggling of contraband. However, there is little research that has explored how the presence of dogs might affect passenger behavior. We observed passengers' behavior at a port when there was an officer alone, an officer with a dog, and an officer with a dog wearing a florescent yellow jacket with "police" written on it for increased salience. We measured eye contact, vocal-verbal interactions, facial expressions, and nonvocal verbal gestures toward the officer and dog, and changes in passenger direction. Passengers looked, talked, and had the highest frequencies of positive facial expressions when the dog was not wearing a jacket. However, passengers looked toward the dog the quickest and had the highest frequency of negative facial expressions and gestures when the dog was wearing a jacket. We discuss how these findings might inform antecedent interventions to address undesirable behavior such as smuggling.


Motivated by the learned iterative soft thresholding algorithm (LISTA), we introduce a general class of neural networks suitable for sparse reconstruction from few linear measurements. By allowing a wide range of degrees of weight-sharing between the layers, we enable a unified analysis for very different neural network types, ranging from recurrent ones to networks more similar to standard feedforward neural networks. Based on training samples, via empirical risk minimization we aim at learning the optimal network parameters and thereby the optimal network that reconstructs signals from their low-dimensional linear measurements. We derive generalization bounds by analyzing the Rademacher complexity of hypothesis classes consisting of such deep networks, that also take into account the thresholding parameters. We obtain estimates of the sample complexity that essentially depend only linearly on the number of parameters and on the depth. We apply our main result to obtain specific generalization bounds for several practical examples, including different algorithms for (implicit) dictionary learning, and convolutional neural networks.


The real-time monitoring of vehicles velocity has become essential for traffic safety. Therefore, in order to improve the method of monitoring the velocity of vehicles on road, this paper has designed a new radar velocity-measuring system which is based on ARM processor. This system is based on Doppler principle and spectral estimation algorithm, in its hardware design part, and it takes full use of the underlying resources of ARM processor, to achieve sample, digital signal processing and peripheral control in the separate ARM core. In the software design part, it analyses the main program flow, at the same time, since the ARM processor does not support hardware floating-point operations, it puts forward the usage of fixed-point numbers to store and calculate floating-point numbers, Which makes the data loading and storage minimization And it uses ARM assembly language to write the core algorithm and takes full advantage of the 5-stage pipeline of ARM processor, to achieve the right register allocation and instruction scheduling for fine-grained control, and also to avoid the pipeline inter locks. Experimental results indicate that the accuracy of this velocity measurement system can reach ±1km/h. It not only can be used in traffic enforcement agencies, but also has low cost, low power consumption advantages.


A 290-m-thick middle Cretaceous black shale sequence in the upper Magdalena Valley, a present-day intramontane basin located between the Central and Eastern cordilleras of Colombia, was investigated with organic-geochemical and microscopic analyses. As a result of the investigation, we were able to (1) differentiate four organic facies types, (2) estimate their source rock potential, and (3) integrate these facies into a sequence stratigraphic framework. The four organic facies types were type C, BC, B, and D. Type C contains a distinct terrigenous organic matter component in lowstand or highstand deposits. Organic facies type BC is characterized by an increase and a better preservation of marine organic matter. BC belongs to the lower part of the transgressive systems tract. Sediments of organic facies type B have the highest amount of marine organic matter due to excellent preservation under anoxic conditions. The absence of bioturbation and the enrichment of trace metals are further implications for deposition under anoxic conditions. Facies type B is found in the upper part of the transgressive systems tract and contains the best petroleum source rock potential. Facies B occurrence coincides with sea level highstand and correlates especially with a maximum flooding in northern South America during the Turonian. Organic facies type D is also related to highstand deposits, but shows a high rate of reworking and degradation of organic matter.


This article introduces the history of strength training, explains the many different styles of strength training, and discusses common injuries specific to each style. Strength training is broken down into five disciplines: basic strength or resistance training, bodybuilding, power lifting, style-dependant strength sports (e.g., strongman competitions, Highland games, field events such as shot put, discus, hammer throw, and javelin), and Olympic-style weightlifting. Each style has its own principal injuries, both acute and chronic, related to the individual technique. Acute injuries should be further categorized as emergent or nonemergent. Specific age-related populations (i.e., the very young and the aging athlete) carry additional considerations.


ABSTRACT

This research was aimed at finding out i) whether there is statistically significant
increase of students' speaking achievement after the students were taught through
drill techniques, ii) the extent to which the students were engaged in speaking
class through drill techniques.
The subject of this research was the first grade students of SMA YP UNILA
Bandar Lampung. The data were obtained from the pre-test, the post-test and
observation.
The result showed that there was a statistically significant increase of students'
speaking achievement. The mean score increased from 58.00 in the pre-test to
72.06 in the posttest, with the gain score 14.06 and the significant level was
(0.00<0.05). The results of the observation showed that the majority of the
students were very actively engaged in speaking class (79,02%). This suggests
that in spite the fact that Drills actively engaged students to speak, they could only
improve partial aspects of students speaking achievement, in terms of
pronunciation.


Our aim is to develop dynamic data structures that support $k$-nearest neighbors ($k$-NN) queries for a set of $n$ point sites in the plane in $O(f(n) + k)$ time, where $f(n)$ is some polylogarithmic function of $n$. The key component is a general query algorithm that allows us to find the $k$-NN spread over $t$ substructures simultaneously, thus reducing an $O(tk)$ term in the query time to $O(k)$. Combining this technique with the logarithmic method allows us to turn any static $k$-NN data structure into a data structure supporting both efficient insertions and queries. For the fully dynamic case, this technique allows us to recover the deterministic, worst-case, $O(\log^2n/\log\log n +k)$ query time for the Euclidean distance claimed before, while preserving the polylogarithmic update times. We adapt this data structure to also support fully dynamic \emph{geodesic} $k$-NN queries among a set of sites in a simple polygon. For this purpose, we design a shallow cutting based, deletion-only $k$-NN data structure. More generally, we obtain a dynamic planar $k$-NN data structure for any type of distance functions for which we can build vertical shallow cuttings. We apply all of our methods in the plane for the Euclidean distance, the geodesic distance, and general, constant-complexity, algebraic distance functions.


On the premise that a microorganism is sensitive or resistant to a chemoantibiotic according to it's concentrations in biological fluids and tissues, the A. examines those methods available in chemoantibiotic titration such as chemical, enzymatic, radio-immunologic, turbidimetric, potentiometric and agar-diffusion methods. By further evaluating the limits and capacities of these different methods, the A. describes in larger detail the agar-diffusion method which is considered more sensitive, practical and efficient. A brief report is made on the possibility of measuring antibiotic association.


Eighty‐two patients, whose duodenal ulcers were recurrent or resistant to H,‐receptor antagonist therapy, were entered in a treatment protocol of ranitidine followed by a four‐week "triple therapy" course to eradicate Helicobacter pylori(HP) infection. The triple therapy consisted of colloidal bismuth subcitrate, tetracycline and metronidazole. Duodenal ulcer healed in all 78 patients available for endoscopy and H. pylori infection was shown to be eliminated in 75 patients (96%) at rebiopsy four weeks after cessation of therapy. In these 75 remaining patients the relapse rates for H. pyloriinfection and duodenal ulcer were studied endoscopically, yearly and at any recurrence of symptoms. At Year 1, 71 of 73 patients remained free of H. pyloriinfection (HP‐negative) and duodenal ulcer. The corresponding figures subsequently were: Year 2, 57/57; Year 3, 34/34; Year 4, 15/15. No duodenal ulcers recurred in HP‐negative patients who were followed for up to four years. Two patients of the original cohort of 75 HP‐negative patients were HP‐positive with endoscopic duodenitis at 12 months, and one at 36 months, but all were without reulceration. Distorted duodenal caps gradually returned to near‐normal appearance in 80% of patients by two years. From this four‐year follow‐up study we conclude that duodenal ulcer disease will not recur provided the patient remains free of H. pylori.


Summary form only given. To evaluate an innovation in computer systems, performance analysts measure execution time or other metrics using one or more standard workloads. The performance analyst may carefully minimize the amount of measurement instrumentation, control the environment in which measurement takes place, and repeat each measurement multiple times. Finally, the performance analyst may use statistical techniques to characterize the data. Unfortunately, even with such a responsible approach, the collected data may be misleading due to measurement bias and observer effect. Measurement bias occurs when the experimental setup inadvertently favors a particular outcome. Observer effect occurs if data collection alters the behavior of the system being measured. This talk demonstrates that observer effect and measurement bias are (i) large enough to mislead performance analysts; and (ii) common enough that they cannot be ignored. While these phenomenon are well known to the natural and social sciences this talk will demonstrate that research in computer systems typically does not take adequate measures to guard against measurement bias and observer effect.


The ferric iron-desferrioxamine B chelate effectively induced histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cells. The release was maximum at exogenous ferric iron concentrations of 10-100 microM, and the chelate was non-toxic, as determined by trypan blue uptake. In many aspects the chelate-induced histamine release paralleled IgE-mediated release. The kinetics, temperature, and Ca2+ dependence resembled antigen-induced release. Phosphatidylserine potentiated the release in Wistar rats but not in fawn-hooded rats, a strain which does not respond to phosphatidylserine potentiation. The chelate-induced histamine release was blocked by the metabolic inhibitors dinitrophenol, potassium cyanide, 2-deoxyglucose, and antimycin A. Lipoxygenase inhibitors also effectively blocked release, indicating an involvement of fatty acid metabolism via the lipoxygenase pathway. Free radical scavengers and antioxidants antagonistic to lipid peroxidation also inhibited the chelate-induced histamine release. Overall the data raise the possibility that endogenous cellular iron may be involved in the generation of free radicals and lipid peroxidation and that these may be early events in IgE-mediated release of histamine.


A high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) method coupled with electrochemical detection and solid phase extraction is described for the separation and determination of methylnaltrexone(MNTX), a quaternary opioid antagonist, in human clinical plasma samples after oral administration. Linearity of the standard curve for MNTX was found in the range of 4.0_150 ng/mL and was statistically conformed. The correlation coefficient(r2) and calibration equation obtained from linear regression analysis are 0.9999 and Y=54.27X-0.22, where Y and X represent the peak area and concentration of MNTX, respectively. The detection limit of MNTX under the present experimental conditions is 2.0 ng/mL by estimating at a ratio of 3 of signal to noise. The mean recovery of MNTX in human plasma is higher than 97%. The analytical method was applied to the pharmacokinetic determination of MNTX after single dose oral administration. These data demonstrate that the change of MNTX plasma concentration versus time is obvious. MNTX level of plasma reaches to a plateau between 45 to 120 minutes and then falls slowly. The content of MNTX in plasma sample maintains at an obviously detectable level after twelve hours of oral administration. The pharmacokinetic parameters for a single dose of 19.2 mg/kg in plasma are c_~max =206.42(±16.53) ng/mL and t_~max =60 min.


Aortic valve stenosis is one of the most common valve diseases in the world for which there is currently no pharmacological treatment to prevent or halt disease progression. Recent genetic research has demonstrated a causal association between elevated blood levels of lipoprotein (a) (Lp (a)) and aortic valve calcification, however, the mechanisms by which Lp (a) contributes to aortic valve calcification and stenosis, is unknown. In the present study, we aimed at determining Lp (a)-induced changes in human aortic valve interstitial cells using an integrated bioinformatics approach. The Lp (a)-induced cellular pathways were analysed using microarray gene expression and proteomic data from non-stenotic human aortic valve interstitial cells. Lp (a) treatment induced osteogenic differentiation, extracellular remodeling, extracellular vesicles biogenesis, and apoptosis of human aortic valve interstitial cells. In particular, the Wnt/ β-catenin signalling pathway, a known calcification pathway contributing to aortic valve stenosis, was differentially expressed compared to non-treated cells. Lp (a) also induced the expression of 14-3-3 proteins known to regulate various signalling pathway relevant to aortic valve disease. Elucidating the mechanisms and molecular players that Lp (a) induces in the early stages of the disease to initiate aortic valve calcification could provide insight into potential pharmacological targets for the treatment of this debilitating disease.


Ag nanowire (NW) films obtained by the spraying the Ag NWs on the substrates were nano-welded by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process and the effect of RTA process on the change of sheet resistance and optical transmittance of the Ag NW films was investigated. The increased number of Ag NW sprays on the substrate decreased the sheet resistance but also decreased the optical transmittance. By the annealing for 60 sec in a nitrogen environment to 225-250 degrees C, the sheet resistance of Ag NW film could be decreased to about 50%, even though it was accompanied by the slight decrease of optical transmittance less than 5%. The decrease of sheet resistance was related to the nano-welding of the Ag NW junctions and the slight decrease of optical transmittance was related local melting of the Ag NWs and spreading on the substrate surface. Through the nano-welding by RTA process, the Ag NW film with the sheet resistance of -20 Ω/sq. and the optical transmittance of 93% could be obtained.


In photosynthetic organisms the accumulation of harmful photodynamic chlorophyll precursors is prevented because of the tight regulation of the tetrapyrrole pathway. FLU is one of the regulatory factors involved in this process in land plants. We have examined the function of a Flu-like gene (FLP) from Chlamydomonas that gives rise to two FLP transcripts through alternative splicing. These transcripts are translated into a short and a long protein that differ by only 12 amino acids but that interact differently with glutamyl-tRNA reductase, an enzyme involved in an early step of the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. Expression of FLPs is light-regulated at the level of RNA accumulation and splicing and is altered by mutations affecting the pathway. The relative levels of the long and short forms of FLP can be correlated with the accumulation of specific porphyrin intermediates, some of which have been implicated in a signaling chain from the chloroplast to the nucleus. Reciprocally, reduction of the FLP proteins by RNA interference leads to the accumulation of several porphyrin intermediates and to photobleaching when cells are transferred from the dark to the light. Thus the FLP proteins act as regulators of chlorophyll synthesis, and their expression is controlled by light and plastid signals.


The formation and decomposition of quasicrystalline and crystalline phases in as-rapidly solidified and annealed commercial AISI 2024 aluminium alloy containing 2 wt% Li have been investigated by detailed transmission electron microscopy, including a combination of bright field and dark field imaging, selected area diffraction pattern analysis and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. The microstructure of as-melt spun 2024-2Li consists of α-Al cell, containing small coherent δ' precipitates, and particles or a continuous network of the icosahedral phase at the cell boundaries. After annealing at 300° C, the intercellular particles of the icosahedral phase coarsen progressively and assume a more faceted shape; after annealing at 400°C, particles of the decagonal and crystalline O phases precipitate heterogeneously on preexisting particles of the icosahedral phase; and after annealing at 500°C, the icosahedral and decagonal phases dissolve completely, and small particles of the crystalline O phase remain together with newly precipitated plates of the T1 phase. The icosahedral phase in melt spun and melt spun/annealed 2024-2Li belongs to the Al6CuLi3 class of icosahedral phases, with a quasilattice constant of 0.51 nm, a stoichiometry of (Al,Si)6(Cu, Mn, Fe) (Li, Mg)3 and an average composition of Al-24.1 at.% Cu-64 at.% Mg-1.7 at.% Si-0.3 at.% Mn-0.5 at.% Fe as melt spun and Al-21.9 at.% Cu-6.3 at.% Mg-1.0 at.% Si-0.5 at.% Fe as-heat-treated. The decagonal phase in melt spun/annealed 2024-2Li belongs to the Al4Mn class of decagonal phases, with a periodicity of 1.23 nm along the 10-fold symmetry axis, a stoichoimetry of Al3(Cu, Mn, Fe) and an average composition of Al-10.3 at.% Cu-13.8 at.% Mn-2.3 at.% Fe. The crystalline O phase in melt spun/annealed 2024-2Li has an orthorhombic structure with lattice parameters of a = 2.24 nm, b = 2.35 nm and c = 1.23 nm, a stoichiometry of Al3(Cu, Mn, Fe), and an average composition of Al-11.0 at.% Cu-14.8 at.% Mn-3.9 at.% Fe. Detailed analysis of selected area diffraction patterns shows a close similarity between the icosahedral, decagonal and crystalline O phases in melt spun and melt spun/annealed 2024-2Li. In particular, the decagonal phase and crystalline O phases have a similar composition, and exhibit an orientation relationship which can be expressed as:
• [D10]//[001]o
• [D2a]//[100]o
• [D2b]//[010]o
suggesting that the orthorhombic O phase is an approximant structure for the decagonal phase.


Caregiver's burden not only affects the mental health of the caregiver, but also to the treated patient. This study aims to examine the effectivity of support group intervention to reduce caregiver burden among mothers of individuals with schizophrenia. The study used a quasi-experimental one-group, before-after (pretest-posttest) design, involving nine participants. The intervention consisted of four sessions, including pre and post-intervention session with three hours duration per session at average. Caregiver's burden was measured using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Qualitative data on the participants' experiences during intervention were collected using unstandardized nonstructured interview. Quantitative data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The result shows that the interventions proved significantly reduced caregiver's burden scores (Z = -2.67; p = 0.008). In addition, the participants reported more positive thoughts, better control on negative emotions, positive meaning, and new hope about their future after the intervention. Participants also reported to gain new knowledge, coping strategies skills as caregiver and how to take care of their children with schizophrenia.


Abstract only given, as follows. A variety of parallel approaches have been used to support database processing across a spectrum of machine architectures. We begin by describing areas where parallelism is potentially important in dealing with very large databases, including loading, query/update, and database administration. We then discuss hardware tradeoffs, including multicomputers versus multiprocessors, distributed versus centralized memory, and specialised versus general-purpose architectures. At the software level, we cover a number of approaches, including running multiple transactions in parallel, decomposing queries into parallel subqueries, executing low-level query operations in parallel, running multiple instances of the DBMS, and partitioning data over disks. We characterise the impact of these approaches on performance, scalability, and ease of use, for both decision support and transaction processing. Finally, the approaches taken in several commercial DBMSs are described, as well as extensions such as the Kendall Square Query Decomposer.<<ETX>>


Much recent research has shown that personality disorders are associated with an altered emotion perception. Whereas most of this research was conducted with stimuli such as faces, the present study examined possible differences in the perception of emotions expressed via body language and body movements. 30 patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and 30 non-patients observed video scenes of emotional human interactions conveyed by point–light displays, rated the depicted valence, and judged their confidence in this rating. Patients with BPD showed no altered emotion perception (i.e., no biased perception in either a negative or a positive direction). They did not perceive and evaluate depicted emotions as being more extreme than healthy controls. However, patients with BPD showed less confidence in their perception of depicted emotions, especially when these were difficult to identify. The findings extend insights on altered emotion perception in persons with BPD to include the field of body movements.


Trends in population size and growth and marriage patterns among non-Dutch residents of the Netherlands are analyzed and compared. "On 1 January 1993, 757 thousand non-Dutch nationals lived in the Netherlands, i.e., 5.0% of the total population. These figures only relate to people...who do not possess the Dutch nationality, thus excluding Dutch citizens born elsewhere. The largest category of non-Dutch nationals...was Turkish (212 thousand), followed by the 11 EC-nationalities together (183 thousand) and the Moroccans (165 thousand). These three groups accounted for over 75% of the total number of non-Dutch nationals. In 1992 the number of non-Dutch nationals in the Netherlands grew by 25 thousand, i.e., 3.3%. This is clearly lower than in 1991...." (SUMMARY IN ENG)


The territory of the ancient polis of Megara, situated astride the Isthmus of Corinth, was subject to regular intrusion and invasion from its neighbours to the west and the east, notably Corinth and Athens. This paper explores the ways in which the complex of legends about Megara – whether of Megarian or non-Megarian origin – both shapes and reflects the perception of Megara and the Megarid as a place of passage and the borders of Megarian territory as fluid and susceptible to penetration by others.


 Abstract — Today, many local and national governments are developing urban agriculture as an effective tool in responding to challenges such as food security, poverty and environmental problems. In fact, urban agriculture plays an important role in food system, which can provide citizens' income and become one of the components of economic, social and environmental systems. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the urban agriculture and urban food systems in order to understand the impact of urban foods production on environmental planning in non-western city region context. To achieve such objective, we carry out a case study in Mashhad city of Iran by using qualitative approaches. A survey on documentary studies and planning tools integrate with face to face interview with experts which explain the role of food system in environmental planning process. The paper extends the use of food in the environmental planning, specifically to examine this role to create agricultural garden as a mean to improve agricultural system in non-western country. The paper is concluded with a set of recommendations for researchers and policymakers who seek to create spaces in order to implement urban agriculture in cities for food justice.


Relying on static representations of the environment limits the use of mapping methods in most real-world tasks. Real-world environments are dynamic and undergo changes that need to be handled through map adaptation. In this work, an object-based pose graph is proposed to solve the problem of mapping in indoor dynamic environments with mobile robots. In contrast to state-of-the art methods where binary classifications between movable and static objects are used, we propose a new method to capture the probability of different objects over time. Object probability represents how likely it is to find a specific object in its previous location and it gives a quantification of how movable specific objects are. In addition, grouping object probabilities according to object class allows us to evaluate the movability of different object classes. We validate our object-based pose graph in real-world dynamic environments. Results in mapping and map adaptation with a real robot show efficient map maintenance through several mapping sessions and results in object classification according to movability show an improvement compared to binary classification.


In the whole animal kingdom, fear learning is an essential process that allows living beings to survive. Therefore, revealing the neurophysiological processes that govern the expression of emotional fear memory and exploring its neurobiological underpinnings are the imperatives of affective neuroscience. Learned fear memories activate defensive behaviors in anticipation of harm, thus minimizing the impact of the threat. However, despite a century of research, the neural circuitry underlying fear learning in humans is still a matter of debate. This editorial will discuss recent evidence of the neural and behavioral correlates of fear learning in humans, with an emphasis on the role of the human prefrontal cortex (PFC).


Porphyry copper deposits, which supply nearly 60% of the world's copper, form as upper-crustal magmas crystallize and exsolve metal-bearing hydrothermal ore fluids. However, few upper-crustal magmas produce economic copper concentrations. In her perspective [Cline][1] discusses work by [ Harris et al .][2] that examined silicate melt and fluid inclusions from the Bajo de la Alumbrera deposit, in Argentina and revealed processes that may be critical to forming economic, rather than barren, porphyry systems.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5653/2075
 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/302/5653/2109


H2O2 is a product of reactions catalysed by several oxidase enzymes and it is essential in environmental and pharmaceutical analyses. The most commonly used enzyme in understanding the biological behaviour of catalysed oxidation of H2O2 is horseradish peroxidase (HRP). In our experiments HRP was bound to carboxyl‐functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT‐COOH) by N‐hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1‐[3‐dimethylaminopropyl]‐3‐ethyl‐carbodiimide (EDC) crosslinkers. The activity of this bio‐nanocomposite and the limit of detection (LOD) for H2O2 were determined by measuring the fluorescence of tetraguaiacol (which chemical is the product of guaiacol oxidation after addition of H2O2 to the reaction mixture) as a function of time. The hydrogen peroxide biosensor we developed exhibited a detection limit of 1.2 µM H2O2 s−1 which resolution was better than the one measured in solution by about a factor of eight (it was 10 µM H2O2 s−1 in solution). An attempt has been made to measure the concentration of H2O2 in an electrochemical cell with HRP immobilized on the surface of an electrode made of indium tin oxide (ITO, a transparent conductive oxide) and MWNT.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the world's leading cause of dementia and the most common neurodegenerative disorder. Its major pathological features are amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, tau tangles, and neuroinflammation that eventually leads to massive death of nerve cells. Even with the multifactorial aspect of AD, the most accepted theory is that Aβ is the driving force of AD pathogenesis. We engineered a novel hybrid protein that facilitates the phagocytosis of Aβ and redirect its clearance to the noninflammatory Mer tyrosine kinase (MerTK) pathway. The novel hybrid protein facilitates robust uptake and clearance of Aβ in BV2 microglia through MerTK receptor with reduced production of inflammatory factors and oxidative products. In APP/PS1 transgenic AD mouse model, intraperitoneal administration of the hybrid protein for two months results in significant reduction of Aβ burden in the brain and protection of nerve cells from dying. Taken together, our results suggest that the novel hybrid may have the potential for AD treatment by targeting both Aβ clearance and reduction of inflammation.


This paper exploits the exogenous and differential immigrant supply shocks caused by the immigration quota system in the 1920s to identify the causal effects of the immigration restriction on the US manufacturing wages, the Great Migration, and industrial production between 1920 and 1930. I find that the immigration restriction significantly increased manufacturing wages and encouraged the southern black population to migrate to the North. I also find that the decline in the immigrant supply constrained the growth of the scale of manufacturing production and discouraged technology adoption of electrification.


Goethe's Romische Elegien present a theatrical model of imitation, in which the texts of classical antiquity are performed, brought to life again in the present. The performance acknowledges the models, but also transforms them. The notion of "Halbinkognito," which Goethe, in the Italienische Reise, applies to his own disguise as a German in Rome, also informs the structure of the Elegien, which present recognizable figures and texts from antiquity, but give them new meaning in an eighteenth-century context. In this article, I examine three elegies, the Second, the Twelfth and the 24th, which illustrate the interplay between private and public identities, and which reveal the possibilities inherent in the parallels and disjunctions between ancient and modern texts.


The paper discusses commercial cleaning robots available on the market. It introduces Gecko, a virtual prototype of a cleaning robot. Gecko has been conceived, assembling mainly standard components, and the actual behaviour in running conditions is shown by using consistent digital mock ups: Gecko is able to fully clean and sanitise floors, walls and ceilings. To comply with health needs, the robot cleans surfaces using steam. Details on abilities and components are provided. The wall sustentation is guaranteed by four suction cups. The path planning allows a 2D Cartesian motion. To simplify the robot control, innovative "automatic suspensions" are integrated in the sustain and actuation system. Finally, other possible applications fields for such a robot are discussed.


Characterizing the structure of the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) in three dimensions is of high importance for accurate modeling of dust emission as a foreground to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). At high Galactic latitude, where the total dust content is low, accurate maps of the 3D structure of the ISM are lacking. We develop a method to quantify the complexity of the distribution of dust along the line of sight with the use of H i line emission. The method relies on a Gaussian decomposition of the H i spectra to disentangle the emission from overlapping components in velocity. We use this information to create maps of the number of clouds along the line of sight. We apply the method to (a) the high Galactic latitude sky and (b) the region targeted by the BICEP/Keck experiment. In the north Galactic cap we find on average three clouds per 0.2 square degree pixel, while in the south the number falls to 2.5. The statistics of the number of clouds are affected by intermediate-velocity clouds (IVCs), primarily in the north. IVCs produce detectable features in the dust emission measured by Planck. We investigate the complexity of H i spectra in the BICEP/Keck region and find evidence for the existence of multiple components along the line of sight. The data (doi: 10.7910/DVN/8DA5LH) and software are made publicly available and can be used to inform CMB foreground modeling and 3D dust mapping.


Surgical trauma affects both the innate and acquired immunity. The severity of immune disorders is proportional to the extent of surgical trauma and depends on a number of factors, including primarily the basic disease requiring surgical treatment (e.g. cancer), often coexisting infections and impaired nutritional status. Disorder of the immune response following surgical trauma may predispose to septic complications burdened with the highest mortality rate. Extensive surgery in cancer patients is associated with simultaneous activation of pro- and anti-inflammatory processes defined as SIRS (systemic inflammatory immune response) and CARS (compensatory anti-inflammatory immune response). However, it is generally believed that major surgical trauma is accompanied by sustained postoperative immunosuppression, which is particularly important in patients operated on for cancer, since the suppression of the immune system promotes not only septic complications, but also proliferation and tumor metastasis. This paper reviews the main features of immune response to surgical trauma and possibilities of its regulation.


This study was undertaken to study the seed-borne fungi of faba bean that attack the plants and reduce their yield in Egypt. The results provide a database for further study to control the pathogens. Twenty-six seed samples representing six faba bean cultivars collected from different parts of Egypt were used in this investigation. The blotter and deep-freezing methods were used. Surface- and non-surface-sterilized faba bean seeds were tested to detect and isolate the associated seed-borne fungi. The following 20 fungal species belonging to 13 genera were observed and identified: Aspergillus flavus (Link ex. Gray), Aspergillus niger (Van Tieghem), Aspergillus ochraceus (Wilhelm), Penicillium digitatum (Pers.:Fr.) Sacc., Penicillium italicum (Wehmer), Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler, Botrytis faba (Sardina), Cephalosporium sp., Cladosporium cladosporioides (Frensen. de Vries), Epicoccum nigrum (Link), Fusarium oxysporum (Schlechlendahl), Fusarium semitectum (Berkeley and Ravenel), Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc., Fusarium verticillioides (moniliforme) (Sheld), Rhizoctonia solani (Kuhn), Rhizopus stolonifer (Ehr. ex Fr.), Stemphylium globuliferum (Vestergr.) E.G. Simmons), Trichothecium roseum (Pers.) Link, Verticillium dahliae (Ehrenp) Vuill. The blotter method yielded a greater number of fungi than the deep-freezing method on both surface and non-surface sterilized seeds, but the deep-freezing method was better for slow-growing fungi. The pathogenicity test revealed that the most commonly isolated fungi from pre- and post-emergence damping-off and stunted seedlings were F. verticillioides, R. solani, Cephalosporium sp. and V. dahliae. These fungi significantly reduced the photosynthetic pigments in faba bean leaves. Fusarium verticillioides caused the greatest reduction in chlorophyll content (A, B and total chlorophyll). Fusarium oxysporum and V. dahliae significantly reduced carotenoid content. R. solani significantly reduced total phenols content when compared with the other tested fungi.


This article provides a new formulation for the pairwise error probability for any coherently demodulated system in arbitrarily correlated Rayleigh fading. The novelty of the result is that the error probability expression can be described as a function of the eigenvalues of a "signal"-only matrix. We also provide the relationship between the pole location of the characteristic function and the resulting error probability. This result allows us to approximate and bound the desired probability. A new simple bound on the pairwise error probability is derived that is better than the standard Chernoff bound and asymptotically tight with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to the true probability.


The Penning trap mass spectrometer at the University of Washington is described along with the relevant detection mechanisms and the systematic shifts associated with the finite energies in the normal modes of the trapped particle. The cyclotron frequency for the particle-of-interest is compared with the corresponding frequency of a single trapped carbon ion (usually C6+). Upon correcting for lost electrons and their binding energies, the relative mass ratio then becomes the atomic mass for the particle-of-interest. As a recent example, the value of the electron's "atomic mass" has been measured to be Me = 0.000 548 579 911 7(17) u and the corresponding proton–electron mass ratio becomes mp/me = 1836.152 664 6 (58).


Research has revealed both the benefits and harms of social media use, but the public has very little guidance on how best to use social media to maximize the benefits to their health and well-being while minimizing the potential harms. Given that social media is intricately embedded in our lives, and we now have an entire generation of social media natives, the time has come for a public health research agenda to guide not only the public's use of social media but also the design of social media platforms in ways that improve health and well-being. In this viewpoint we propose such a public health agenda for social media research that is framed around three broad questions: (1) How much social media use is unhealthy and what individual and contextual factors shape that relationship; (2) What are ways social media can be used to improve physical and mental well-being; and (3) How does health (mis)information spread, how does it shape attitudes, beliefs and behavior, and what policies or public health strategies are effective in disseminating legitimate health information while curbing the spread of health misinformation? We also discuss four key challenges that impede progress on this research agenda: negative sentiment about social media among the public and scientific community, a poorly regulated research landscape, poor access to social media data, and the lack of a cohesive academic field. Social media has revolutionized modern communication in ways that bring us closer to a global society, but we currently stand at an inflection point. A public health agenda for social media research will serve as a compass to guide us toward social media becoming a powerful tool for the public good.


IHSNII (Integrated Home Service Network on intelligent Intranet) is a Web-based home service system; it supports a well-organized Internet service infrastructure, and allows the traditional HSASS (Home Service Application Supporting System) to connect to the Internet through the INTEGRATOR of IHSNII. This would solve the problem of inconvenience caused by the diversity of user interfaces and operation platforms of HSASSs which are provided by different vendors. The INTEGRATOR is a PC-based data acquisition and transformation node. It supports TCP/IP, and is capable of getting data from HSASS, encoding the data into XML document and then transferring the XML document to the server of the monitoring and management center. With IHSNII, the business partners of IHSNII can furnish their customers with Web service without constructing their own backbone of network, and reduce the service cost substantially. For end user, IHSNII provides not only Web service as a general ISP (Internet service provider) does but also a well software service. By XML exchanging, IHSNII can integrate the HSASSs of those business partners who are willing to provide data sharing, and provide end users with a uniform GUI (graphic user interface) for monitoring/setup service target through Web. For those HSASS service companies who are unwilling to provide data of customers, IHSNII acts as a monitoring data provider; it will encode the monitoring data in XML and pass the XML data to their own HSASS service companies.


AIM
Novel treatments for metastatic melanoma are urgently needed.

MATERIALS & METHODS
We developed radioimmunotherapy of metastatic melanoma using 6D2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) to melanin with encouraging therapeutic results, preclinically and in patients.

RESULTS
We observed tumor suppression with the unlabeled 6D2 mAb and investigated its tumoricidal mechanisms. In melanoma tumor-bearing mice, we detected more complement-C3 deposition in the tumors from 188-rhenium-labeled 6D2 mAb-treated mice when compared with untreated controls. 6D2 and isotype-control mAb TEPC caused suppression of tumor growth in A2058 melanoma tumor-bearing mice. Tumors of mice treated with the unlabeled 6D2 mAb were infiltrated with more lymphocytes compared with controls. In vitro antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity did not contribute to the tumor-suppressive effect of 6D2 mAb, while 6D2 mAb demonstrated a strong effect on initiating complement-dependent cytotoxicity.

CONCLUSION
We concluded that 6D2 mAb mediated complement-dependent cytotoxicity, resulting in killing of the tumor cells and suppression of tumor growth. These observations will help to improve the treatment protocols of radioimmunotherapy, as well as immunotherapy.


We give a necessary and sufficent condition which characterizes which continuous solutions of a multivariate Goldie functional equation are Popa homomorphisms and so deduce that all continuous solutions are homomorphisms between multivariate Popa groups. We use this result to characterize as Popa homomorphisms smooth solutions of a related more general equation, also of Levi-Cività type.


The availability of sophisticated source attribution techniques raises new concerns about privacy and anonymity of photographers, activists, and human right defenders who need to stay anonymous while spreading their images and videos. Recently, the use of seam-carving, a content-aware resizing method, has been proposed to anonymize the source camera of images against the well-known photoresponse nonuniformity (PRNU)-based source attribution technique. In this paper, we provide an analysis of the seam-carving-based source camera anonymization method by determining the limits of its performance introducing two adversarial models. Our analysis shows that the effectiveness of the deanonymization attacks depend on various factors that include the parameters of the seam-carving method, strength of the PRNU noise pattern of the camera, and an adversary's ability to identify uncarved image blocks in a seam-carved image. Our results show that, for the general case, there should not be many uncarved blocks larger than the size of $50\times 50$ pixels for successful anonymization of the source camera.


An active phased-array design for electronic two-dimensional beam scanning using a phase-shifterless linear one-dimensional active leaky-wave antenna array is demonstrated. The varactor-tuned voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) and coupling network are implemented in this array. Three coupling networks are designed and compared for optimum coupling strength between each VCO element. The measured pattern of a 4/spl times/1 active leaky-wave antenna array shows that the main beam can be continuously scanned from 68/spl deg/ to 40/spl deg/ in elevation, as the frequency varies from 8.24 GHz to 9.15 GHz. This is equivalent to over 10% electronic tuning bandwidth. By tuning the free-running frequencies of the end elements, the main beam can be continuously scanned from -26/spl deg/ to +10/spl deg/ from broadside with azimuth symmetry in a conical scan manner.


DEEP AND SHALLOW OVERTURNING CIRCULATIONS IN THE TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE This dissertation examines the dynamics of zonally symmetr ic, deep and shallow overturning circulations in the tropical atmosphere. The dynamics are d iscussed in the context of idealized analytical solutions of the equatorial β-plane version of the Eliassen meridional circulation equa tion that arises in balanced models of the Hadley circulation. Th is elliptic equation for the meridional circulation has been solved analytically by first performin g a vertical normal mode transform that converts the partial differential equation into a system of ordinary differential equations for the meridional structures of all the vertical modes. These meri dional structure equations can be solved via the Green's function, which can be expressed in terms of p arabolic cylinder functions of halfinteger order. The analytical solutions take simple forms i n two special cases: (1) Forcing by deep diabatic heating that projects only onto the first internal m ode in the absence of Ekman pumping; (2) Forcing by Ekman pumping in the absence of any diabat c heating. Case (1) leads to deep overturning circulations, while case (2) leads to shallow o verturning circulations. Both circulations show a marked asymmetry between the winter hemisphere and su mmer hemisphere overturning cells. This asymmetry is due to the basic anisotropy introdu ce by the spatially varying inertial stability coefficient in the Eliassen meridional circulation e quation. A simple physical interpretation is that fluid parcels forced near the equator to overturn by di abatic and frictional processes tend to move much more easily in the horizontal direction because th e resistance to horizontal motion (i.e. inertial stability) is so much less than the resistance to ve rtical motion (i.e., static stability).


Two danazol derivatives were synthesized and characterized by spectral analyses. In order to characterize the structural and chemical requirements of danazol derivatives, several parameters such as logP, π, Rm and Vm were evaluated. The results showed an increase in the values of logP for the compound 6 in comparison with 3. The compound 3 showed an increase in the values of π, R Vm and V Vm with respect to 6. These data indicate a high degree of lipophilicity and a low steric impediment for compound 6 in comparison with 3.


Understanding arsenic uptake mechanisms employed by the arsenic hyper-accumulator Pteris cretica is important to optimize its arsenic accumulation capability to further improve the treatment process for small-scale or point of use applications in the developing world.Since most of the approaches for arsenic control using Phytoremediation as a treatment technology that have been conducted using arsenate as arsenic source[26], the present study was carried using arsenite to determine the role of speciation in arsenic uptake by the hyper-accumulator Pteris cretica.It was determined that trivalent arsenic oxidation plays an important role on the overall arsenic uptake. When trivalent arsenic was added to the aerated solution, only about 50% of the initial arsenite concentration was oxidized to arsenate regardless the exposure time. On the other hand, in the presence of Pteris ferns, arsenite is completely oxidized as it is being removed from the solution. In order to further elucidate the fate of arsenite in the presence of plant roots, experiments were conducted with Boston fern (Nephorlepis exaltata) a non hyper-accumulating fern that is sensitive to arsenic [35]. It was observed that the total concentration of arsenic in solution remains constant but arsenite is converted to arsenate.Given that these plant species do not have the ability to oxidize arsenite [24], our hypothesis is that the microbial community of the rhizosphere is responsible for arsenite oxidation as a symbiotic relationship with the plant, which has never been evaluated by other groups working with this technology. Studies in the presence of non-accumulating Boston fern were conducted to evaluate this hypothesis by adding an antibiotic cocktail to the arsenic solution together in an effort to suppress microbiological activity in the rhizosphere and a reduction in arsenite oxidation rates was observed. These results provide evidence of a symbiotic relationship between arsenic oxidizing microorganisms and arsenic hyper-accumulating plants, and suggest that the oxidation step is crucial on the arsenic uptake process when arsenic is present as arsenite.


Actual energy consumption in buildings is typically different from predictions during the design phase. While differences in occupant energy usage characteristics play an important role in this variation, actual energy estimation software do not account for this factor. This paper proposes a new approach for energy estimation in buildings using a combination of traditional energy calculation software along with agent-based simulation modeling. First, the difference in energy consumption levels for different types of occupancy energy usage characteristics is identified by building energy models adapted for each type of behavior. Then, an agent-based simulation model simulates the influence that people with different behaviors have on each other, resulting in potential changes in energy usage characteristics over time. By combining these two methods, more customized energy studies can be performed resulting in more accurate energy consumption estimates.


ABSTRACTPrinceton expert Frank von Hippel proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists and citizens should consider asking the 2016 presidential candidates.


At a population level, engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors is suboptimal in the United States. Moreover, marked disparities exist in healthy lifestyle behaviors and cardiovascular risk factors as a result of social determinants of health. In addition, there are specific challenges to engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors related to age, developmental stage, or major life circumstances. Key components of a healthy lifestyle are consuming a healthy dietary pattern, engaging in regular physical activity, avoiding use of tobacco products, habitually attaining adequate sleep, and managing stress. For these health behaviors, there are guidelines and recommendations; however, promotion in clinical settings can be challenging, particularly in certain population groups. These challenges must be overcome to facilitate greater promotion of healthy lifestyle practices in clinical settings. The 5A Model (assess, advise, agree, assist, and arrange) was developed to provide a framework for clinical counseling with consideration for the demands of clinical settings. In this science advisory, we summarize specific considerations for lifestyle-related behavior change counseling using the 5A Model for patients across the life span. In all life stages, social determinants of health and unmet social-related health needs, as well as overweight and obesity, are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and there is the potential to modify this risk with lifestyle-related behavior changes. In addition, specific considerations for lifestyle-related behavior change counseling in life stages in which lifestyle behaviors significantly affect cardiovascular disease risk are outlined. Greater attention to healthy lifestyle behaviors during every clinician visit will contribute to improved cardiovascular health.


Biometric identifiers embedded in national identity cards puts a formerly impossible goal of consumption taxation within the grasp of policymakers for the first time. Never before has it been possible to design a broad-based, single rate consumption tax that is truly progressive. No consumption tax has ever had all three of the critical attributes of a progressive consumption tax: a broad base, a single rate, and measured relief for those in greatest need. Although economists have urged that a broad base and a single rate be pursued over progressivity, most consumption taxes instead seek progressivity at the expense of both base and rate considerations. The reason is entirely political. The essential problem (under the current system) is that when tax relief is granted it is universal not surgical. Thus, under most consumption taxes rich and poor alike enjoy an exemption for the purchase of food for home consumption. However, with each universal exemption - tax practice compromises tax theory without achieving progressivity. Technology offers policymakers a surgical option. Three technology-intensive developments (smart national IDs; fully digital consumption tax regimes; certified tax calculation software) make a new breed of consumption tax possible. It is a simple matter of embedding exemption certificates in smart IDs equipped with biometric identifiers, and then processing sales transactions through certified tax calculation software. Not only is the technology to do this is available today but all critical pieces have been part of successful pilot projects. The time for the progressive consumption tax has arrived.


OBJECTIVE
In 2007, Congress changed the military's sexual assault laws as part of an effort to improve sexual assault case processing. This study looked at the U.S. Army law enforcement investigative finding for every sexual assault reported to the Army from 2004 through June 2012, along with every nonsexual assault. Our objective was to measure whether the legal intervention affected the investigative findings made by Army law enforcement officers in sexual assault cases (penetrative, nonpenetrative, and combined) as compared to assault cases (aggravated, simple, and combined).

HYPOTHESES
We hypothesized that we would not find evidence that the legal intervention affected the rate of sexual assault cases labeled as "founded" by Army law enforcement, such that for the best-fitting time-series models, any difference in the residuals of the means before and after the intervention would not be statistically significant.

METHOD
We received data from the U.S. Army on all sexual assaults and nonsexual assaults from 2004 through June 2012. The data comprised 47,058 observations. We used time-series analysis with autoregressive integrated moving average modeling. The variable tracked over time was the ratio of the proportion of founded sexual assault cases to the proportion of founded nonsexual assault cases. We then conducted t tests of the means of the residuals before and after the legal intervention.

RESULTS
The difference in the means of the residuals before and after the intervention was not statistically significant for combined sexual assaults versus combined assaults, penetrative sexual assaults versus aggravated assaults, or nonpenetrative sexual assaults versus simple assaults.

CONCLUSIONS
This reform to sexual assault laws does not appear to have affected sexual assault case processing by U.S. Army law enforcement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


Protocols for evaluating oral rabies vaccine baits for domestic dogs were field tested in central Mexico, after which dog-food manufacturers and suppliers to the pet-food industry were advised as to potential ingredients for use in prototype dog baits. Bait-preference trials in which confined dogs were used were then undertaken, followed by field tests of free-ranging farmer-owned dogs in three towns in the Nile River Delta region of Egypt. Both confined and free-ranging dogs showed strong preferences for certain baits or bait coatings (poultry, beef tallow, cheese, egg and a proprietary product). Fish-meal polymer baits, widely used for wildlife species, were less preferred. In Egypt, a commercial dog-food-meal bait coated with beef tallow and dry cheese, was consumed at a rate approaching that of a chicken-head bait. The percentage baits that were actually eaten after they had been offered to dogs, ranged from 71-96% for household dogs tested in Mexico, 65-91% for confined dogs (beagles and mixed breeds) tested in the United States, and 32-88% for farmer-owned dogs tested in Egypt.


We investigated the temperature-dependent infrared properties of the compound θ-(BEDT-TTF)2RbZn(SCN)4. At temperatures above the metal-insulator transition, the optical conductivity remains finite in the low-energy region, but shows no conventional Drude feature typical of metals. Below the metal-insulator transition temperature, the low-energy spectral weight is significantly reduced. The opening of an optical gap at about 300 cm-1 is observed clearly in polarization parallel to the donor stacking direction. Analysis of both the electronic and vibronic spectra suggests a redistribution of charges in BEDT-TTF molecules as temperature decreases across the metal-insulator transition, providing strong support for a charge-ordering state at low temperatures.


Objective. To describe the senior author's surgical technique and discuss his experience with endolaryngeal hookwire electrodes for intraoperative, recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during pediatric thyroid surgery. Study Design. Consecutive case series. Setting. Tertiary-care, academic, children's hospital. Subjects and Methods. A consecutive case series review of pediatric patients (age \16 years) who underwent thyroid surgery with intraoperative, endolaryngeal hookwire recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring. Nerve injury was defined as vocal cord dysfunction present .12 months postoperatively. Results. Seventeen patients were identified. There were 5 males and 12 females, and the average age was 11.7 years (range, 4-15 years). Nineteen procedures were performed—4 hemithyroidectomies, 2 completion thyroidectomies, and 13 total thyroidectomies—with 32 nerves at risk. One patient had a recurrent laryngeal nerve injury with a nerve paresis that persisted longer than 12 months postoperatively, making our recurrent laryngeal nerve injury rate 3.1% (1/32). Fortunately, the nerve eventually recovered to normal function. Conclusion. Thyroid nodules and surgery in children consist of higher rates of malignancy and potentially higher risks for recurrent laryngeal nerve complications. Our injury rate was 3.1%. Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring with endolaryngeal hookwire electrodes in pediatric thyroid surgery may be helpful in nerve identification and is very sensitive. This technique can be used in situations in which endotracheal tubes with surface electrodes cannot be accommodated by the smaller size of the pediatric airway.


This sresearch aims to develop an e-learning as a kind of learning systems using Internet media, e-learning using information technology as a tool that can be available wherever it is needed. One of the e-learning development techniques to become more efficient is by applying workflow management system (WFMS) in developing e-learning. Because WFMS focuses on business processes, it is concerned with the automation of procedures so that the information and tasks assigned to run a more efficient and coordinatedapplication-based e-Learning open source workflow can be applied in all educational institutions, because e-learning can follow the learning procedures that exist in the educational institutions.


Background: Nonmotor symptoms are common but less reported in Parkinson's disease. it's the cause of decreased quality of life and disability in many patients with Parkinson's disease compared to the motor symptom. Our study aimed to translate the original English-language version of the nonmotor symptom scale (NMSS) into the Indonesian version of the NMSS. And also to evaluate its validity and reliability for use in Indonesian-speaking Parkinson's disease patients. This for better and valid usage of NMSS scale in the Indonesian patient and health care provider Material and Method: This was descriptive-analytic study. Cross-cultural adaptation of NMSS and psychometric analysis of the Indonesian version of NMSS was carried out from 2 Teaching Hospital centers in Surabaya, East Java. Several other scales were also examined, including MMSE, ESS, BDI, and Scopa-Aut. A reliability test was performed using Alpha Cronbach. Results: A total of 35 patients were included in this study. the average age was 64.03±12.92 with the female sex 42.9% (n=15) and the male 57.1% (n=20), and Hoehn and Yahr stage II 57.1% (n=20). The total average NMSS is 11.64. The validity of contents and constructs of the NMSS on each domain has been proven valid. Internal reliability of internal consistency in these tools with an alpha Cronbach value of 0.836. Each domain correlates with several other scores including MMSE, BDI, ESS, and Scopa-aut. Conclusion: The Indonesian version of NMSS has good validity and reliability in assessing nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients in Indonesia.