The article investigates the relationship between Polish fiction and a variety of aspects of visual culture. Contemporary culture has reached a stage in which images hold central position. Consequently, word, as a medium of communication, is marginalised in favour of visual ways of conveying messages. Novels which have appeared after 1989 provide more than enough examples of close links between literature and visuality. Writers themselves are engaged in various projects which depart from traditional literature based on written text and engage in multi-media projects related to film, photography, advertisement or simply visual arts. Moreover, literary criticism accompanying new literature often falls back on visual imagery taken straight from visual arts; most literary reviewers find it handy to employ terms and concepts developed in the field of film criticism or used in writing about comic books and television. What is more, some writers take pride in creating literature designed to be watched rather than read. The inner mechanisms of literary market seem to promote visuality over textuality. Writers and critics want and love to occupy TV screens; they cultivate their public image and turn it into a marketable logo. Many PR strategies are involved to achieve fuli recognition of their name and work. The implied assumption behind these strategies is that literature alone is not attractive enough to be left outside of the reach of powerful media. This assumption can be seen not only in writers' public appearances but also in novels they write. Motifs, self-conscious comments, form and structure as well as typographic layout on the page are the basie means to emphasise that visuality remains at least as important as written text. The article presents the most significant devices used to visualise literature after 1989. Furthermore, it compares contemporary fiction with the modernist literature where most of these techniques originated from.


Background: To research the thermomechanical behavior of skin tissue in tonification and sedation of direct moxibustion.Methods: A mathematical method was used to study the thermal responses by skin tissue to tonification and sedation of direct moxibustion. Using a standardized method to measure the temperature of a burning barley (Hordeum vulgare var.) moxa cone, the temperature, burn damage, and thermal stress distributions in the skin tissue were analyzed.Results: According to the ideal skin layers and properties of skin-tissue layers, as well as one measured data, the distribution values of temperature, damage, and stress in the skin tissue with respect to tonification and sedation of direct moxibustion was demonstrated. Conclusion: The thermal responds generated by sedation of direct moxibustion is much larger than those by tonification of direct moxibustion.


Objective: We report endovascular treatment of a patient with acute basilar artery occlusion considered to be due to an embolus from radiation-induced vertebral artery stenosis. Case Presentation: The patient was a 46-year-old male with a history of neck irradiation. He developed basilar artery occlusion. Temporary recanalization achieved by intravenous alteplase therapy and revascularization was followed by relapse. The origin of the vertebral artery was stenosed, and basilar artery was considered to have been embolized by a thrombus formed on the proximal side of the vertebral artery, where blood flow was stagnated due to reduced antegrade flow from the distal side of the stenotic vertebral artery and the increased collateral flow from the deep cervical artery. Recurrence of cerebellar infarction could be prevented by revascularization and occlusion of the parent artery. Conclusion: Acute basilar artery occlusion considered to be due to an embolus from radiation-induced vertebral artery stenosis is a rare condition, but it must be recognized as a possible cause of posterior circulation infarction.


Malaria is a vector-borne parasitic infectious disease. The research is carried out on RTS, S/ASO1, NYVAC-Plasmodium falciparum 7, SPF66 and the results suggested that these are very efficient in treating malaria. RTS, S/ASO1 vaccine is composed of a hepatitis B surface antigen fused to a recombinant antigen from part of the malaria Circumsporozoite protein in the AS01 adjuvant used to target infected hepatocytes. Malaria vaccines are of three types: 1. Pre -erythrocytic vaccines RTS, S/AS01 (commercial name: Mosquirix): the Circumsporozoite (CS) protein is the most dominant surface antigen of this phase. 2. Blood stage vaccines. 3. Transmission blocking vaccines. According to best dentists′ reviews, which will prevent any problems with teeth, it is also to help prevent gum disease at the very least. The NYVAC-Pf7 by the intramuscular route was safe and nontoxic and it is highly attenuated vaccinia virus with 7 P. falciparum genes inserted into its genome, was tested in a phase I/IIa safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy vaccine. The vaccine was safe and well tolerated but variably immunogenic. The results demonstrate that NYVAC-P. farum 7 is an appropriate candidate vaccine for further evaluation in human clinical trials. Vaccines are often the most cost-effective delivery system.Completely effective vaccine is not yet available for malaria, although several vaccines are under development.


Abstract Archives are cultural practices rather than just an accumulation of historical paraphernalia. Moreover, they are characterized by a fundamentally performative nature: rather than documenting historical reality, they co-create that very same reality. This is even more true for theatre archives that document events that have since long disappeared. Taking the recently digitized photo collection of the Slovakian Theatre Institute as its starting point, this article will address different questions pertaining to one specific type of archival source, the theatre photo, while at the same time analyzing the different methodological questions relevant to these types of archival collections and the ways in which these questions are necessarily entangled with questions of national identity and cultural memory. By means of a contextual analysis of the phenomenon of the photo archive, we will analyse different questions such as the actual status of the 'users' and 'makers' of these kinds of archives, the nature of the material object to be found in this collection and the digitization of these same objects. Resume Une archive est une pratique culturelle, non la simple accumulation de documents historiques. De plus, une archive est une structure fondamentale performative : elle ne se contente pas de garder des traces de l'histoire, elle est aussi ce qui cree cette histoire. Cette lecon s'applique aussi aux archives theâtrales, qui conservent des documents sur des evenements oublies ou evanouis. Cet article prend comme exemple la collection recemment numerisee de l'Institut theâtral de Slovaquie pour poser une serie de questions que souleve un type d'archive singuliere, la photographie theâtrale, tout en examinant un certain nombre de problemes methodologiques lies a ce genre d'archives et aux questions d'identite nationales et de memoire culturelle qui s'y trouvent inextricablement liees. A l'aide d'une analyse contextuelle, on essaiera ici d'analyser plus en detail le statut de ceux qui « faisaient » tout comme de ceux qui « utilisaient » ce type d'archives, la nature exacte des objets materiels qui s'y trouvent ainsi que les politiques de numerisation contemporaines.


Archaeological databases contain information about archaeological sites – geographical information, type of archaeological operation, the site director, date(s) of the excavations, information about the structures or stratigraphic units in which the artefact, feature, human, animal or plant remains were found, their description, cultural, historical, and date-related information. The purpose of maintaining an archaeological database is threefold. Primarily, archaeological databases allow archaeological institutions to perform their roles as guardians and custodians by providing a repository for the long-term, archival storage of information about the country's archaeological heritage. Secondly, archaeological databases serve as research tools to help archaeologists and researchers in related disciplines such as anthropology, and history. Thirdly, archaeological databases provide the general public access to archaeological information and provide teaching support to teachers and students interested in their country's archaeological heritage. This paper attempts to focus attention on concerns related to the management of archaeological databases as well as on issues relating to archaeological research data residing in these databases. These concerns involve data quality, data access controls, data security, deployment channels, collaboration and continuity. Two important issues will be discussed: How can an archaeological institution balance the need to serve the public, honouring its right to know, with the need to protect archaeological sites and associated artefacts from individuals who seek information for the purpose of stealing our archaeological heritage? A second issue has to do with honouring the intellectual property rights of archaeologists and researchers vis-|-vis the rights of the public to access information generated as a result of publicly-funded research.


Abstract:  Significant tissue structures exist in cardiac ventricular tissue, which are of supracellular dimension. It is hypothesized that these tissue structures contribute to the discontinuous spread of electrical activation, may contribute to arrhythmogenesis, and also provide a substrate for effective cardioversion. However, the influences of these mesoscale tissue structures in intact ventricular tissue are difficult to understand solely on the basis of experimental measurement. Current measurement technology is able to record at both the macroscale tissue level and the microscale cellular or subcellular level, but to date it has not been possible to obtain large volume, direct measurements at the mesoscales. To bridge this scale gap in experimental measurements, we use tissue‐specific structure and mathematical modeling. Our models, which can incorporate ion channel models at the cell level into the reaction–diffusion equations at the tissue level, have enabled us to consider key hypotheses regarding discontinuous activation.


This retrospective study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding as a means of treatment of morbid obesity in Qatar. Methods: Seventy-one patients (59 females; mean age 32 years, range 18 to 60) underwent laparoscopic adjust-able gastric banding for morbid obesity. Their mean weight was 134.6 Kg (range 90 to 200) and mean preoperative body mass index was 49.8 Kg/m2 (range 36.5 to 70). Results: All patients were followed-up for a mean du-ration of 8.6 months (average 1 to 27). The mean excess weight loss was 27% (range 0 to 84). The operation time showed a marked reduction with a mean duration of 149 minutes in the first ten cases reaching to a mean of 81 minutes in the last ten cases. The commonest early com-plication was chest infection seen in 3 patients (4.1%). Late complications were seen in 5 cases (6.9%) most commonly related to swallowing. One case developed band infection severe enough to necessitate removal of the band. There was no operative related mortality. Conclusion: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding is relatively an effective means for control of morbid obe-sity with a low rate of complications.


When the Art and Liberty group launched its activities in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the young Levon Boyadjian (later to become the famous Van-Leo) and his elder brother, Angelo, were jointly debuting their careers as photographers in Cairo. Van-Leo's archive of photographic prints, negatives, and documents reveals much about the imaginative experimental channels he explored to crystallize his inner self. The artist's self-portraiture—"auto-portraits," as he called them—constituted the core of his surrealist production, and his photographic knowledge was enriched while he implemented these early self-portraits. Self-taught, he often returned to photography books, from which he learned techniques of double and triple exposure, juxtaposition, sandwiching, solarization, and cutouts and thus triggered his imagination and sense of exploration. This article traces the arc of Van-Leo's early surrealist phase, which lasted about a decade that coincided with the beginning of his career in the 1940s. Other than the surrealist self-portraits, his photographic archive also contains a few hundred more works that are just as eccentric, although they rely more on disguise skills, shadows, and contrasts, or constitute false personifications of characters in society, rather than a surrealist approach. Although Van-Leo's work was detached from what the Egyptian surrealist philosophies called for, he was, it seems, a surrealist by accident.


Thirteen patients with a variety of renal pelvic filling defects were evaluated using computed tomography (CT). Nonopaque calculi and some blood clots can be more accurately differentiated with this modality than has heretofore been possible. In transitional-cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis, the main value of CT appears to be in tumor staging. CT may also be helpful where urography cannot discriminate between extrinsic compression and true intraluminal renal pelvic defects.


Introduction: Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma (AITL) is one of the most common types of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), representing about 15-20% of cases of PTCL. Diagnosis of AITL is often challenging and a definitive diagnosis requires a use of ancillary testing including broad panels of immunohistochemistry and molecular studies. We evaluated the utility of evaluation of Programmed-Death-1 (PD-1) expression on lymphoma cells by flow cytometry as a diagnostic tool as well as monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD) of AITL. Methods: The study group was composed of 81 patients who were diagnosed with PTCL at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between May 2015 and July 2017. This includes 36 patients with AITL, 6 with ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL, ALK-), 2 with ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL, ALK+), 9 with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), 11 with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS), 6 with nodal involvement by mycosis fungoides (MF), 5 with T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia (T-LGL), and 6 with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL). The expression of PD-1 (CD279) on lymphoma cells was evaluated by 10-color flow cytometry using BV605-conjugated anti-CD279 antibody, and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) was evaluated. Immunohistochemistry for PD-1, CD10, BCL6, and CXCR13 were also performed on tissue samples of AITL. Flow cytometry for variable regions of T-cell receptor beta chain (Vbeta) and genetic analysis for T-cell receptor gene rearrangement were performed on sorted abnormal T-cell population by flow cytometry in selected cases for the evaluation of clonality. Peripheral blood sample was used for the monitoring of MRD. Results: All AITL cases with tissue biopsy showed PD-1 immunoreactivity by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and PD-1 expression by flow cytometry showed excellent correlation with IHC. The abnormal CD4-positive PD-1 bright T-cell population detected by flow cytometry in AITL cases was confirmed to be clonal by restricted Vbeta fragment expression and molecular genetic analysis (Fig 1). On tissue samples, expression of other T-follicular helper cell markers was not observed by IHC in 7 cases (25%), and additional 3 cases (11%) presented with concomitant lymphoid neoplasm, which obscured morphologic and immunohistochemical evaluation for AITL. The latter 3 cases would be misdiagnosed by morphologic assessment alone. However, flow cytometry reliably detected AITL in all 10 challenging cases. Overall flow cytometry including PD-1 expression had 100% sensitivity in detection of AITL. The expression of PD-1 was significantly higher in AITL than that of other PTCL (CD279-BV605 MFI; Mean ± SEM; 6990.0 ± 934.9 vs. 547.3 ± 155.5; p Conclusions: Flow cytometric immunophenotyping with anti-PD-1 antibody reliably detects neoplastic population in AITL cases, and PD-1 MFI differentiates AITL from other PTCL with high sensitivity and specificity. Bright PD-1 expression alone is a reliable indicator of TFH immunophenotype by flow cytometry. Measurement of PD-1 expression by flow cytometry is a useful tool both in diagnosing and monitoring MRD of AITL. Disclosures Moskowitz: ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bristol Myers-Squibb: Consultancy, Research Funding; Takeda: Honoraria; Incyte: Research Funding. Horwitz: Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millenium/Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; ADCT Therapeutics: Research Funding; Kyowa-Hakka-Kirin: Consultancy, Research Funding; Forty-Seven: Consultancy, Research Funding; Infinity/Verastem: Consultancy, Research Funding; HUYA: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy; Mundipharma: Consultancy; Aileron Therapeutics: Research Funding. Dogan: Celgene: Consultancy; Roche Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Peer Review Institute: Consultancy.


We present experimental evidence to reveal the mechanism of long-range penetration of low-energy ions in botanic samples. In the 100 keV Ar+ ion transmission measurement, the result confirmed that low-energy ions could penetrate at least 60 µm thick kidney bean slices with the probability of about 1.0×10-5. The energy spectrum of 1 MeV He+ ions penetrating botanic samples has shown that there is a peak of the count of ions with little energy loss. The probability of the low-energy ions penetrating the botanic sample is almost the same as that of the high-energy ions penetrating the same samples with little energy loss. The results indicate that there are some micro-regions with mass thickness less than the projectile range of low-energy ions in the botanic samples and they result in the long-range penetration of low-energy ions in botanic samples.


Objectives Unstable angina pectoris (UAP) is a kind of common clinical type of coronary artery atherosclerosis heart disease. Due to the serious condition and great harm, the heart disease severely affects the physical and mental heath of people. It is believed that currently, pathomechanism of UAP is that, on the basis of the form of coronary artery atherosclerosis fracture, various plaque fracture elements lead to the fracture rupture, thus causing secondary thrombus, endothelium dysfunction and coronary artery spasm, which reduce the momentary blood flow in coronary artery and finally lead to the myocardial ischaemia. It is reported in some literature that interleukin-6 (IL-6) is closely related to the stability of the plaque and risk stratification of UAP. It is also reported in some literature that inflammatory cell and inflammatory factor react fiercest in the whole process of pathological changes and development of coronary artery atherosclerosis plaque. Plaque can be stabilised by controlling inflammation to prevent UAP. Yindan Xinnaotong Capsule is made of folium ginkgo, savia miltiorrhiza, erigeron breviscapus, panax pseudoginseng, hawthorn, gynostemma pentaphylla, garlic and natural ice, which has the functions such as promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, promoting the circulation of Qi and relieving the pains and promoting digestion to eliminate stagnation. It is reported in the literature that Yindan Xinnaotong Capsule can better cure UAP patients, but the functioning mechanism of the capsule is not very clear. Level of serum IL-6 of UAP patients is tested and Yindan Xinnaotong Capsule is used to intervene in order to explore the mechanism of curing UAP with Yindan Xinnaotong. Methods 60 UAP patients are randomly divided into two groups (Incorporating standards are in accordance with diagnosis and treatment guidelines of UAP in Chinese Medical Association). 30 people are in the treatment group, and 30 are in control group. The two groups are all given the conventional therapy such as coronary dilatation (Isosorbide), anti-freezing and antiplatelet treatment (aspirin, low molecular heparin, clopidogrel), lipid regulation (atovastatin), inhibitor for angiotensin turning enzyme and b receptor blocker. People in the treatment group are given 2 pellets of Yindan Xinnaotong Capsule each time on the basis of above treatment. The capsule is taken orally three times a day with a course of treatment of three months. Venous blood is collected with empty stomach before and after treatment, which is centrifugal cryopreserved. Double-antibody sandwich ABC-ELISA test method is used to test the level of IL-6. Results Level of serum IL-6 of the people in treatment group is obviously lower than that of control group. And the difference has statistical significance (P < 0.05). Conclusions Yindan Xinnaotong Capsule has the function of restraining IL-6, stabilising coronary artery atherosclerosis plaque of UAP patients, preventing the occurrence of heart attack and having a certain protective effect on UAP.


The safety and efficacy of potent P2Y12 inhibitors (Ticagrelor and Prasugrel) in dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with aspirin in elderly patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains unclear.

 All ACS patients aged 75 years and older treated with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) from PRAISE dataset were included. The safety and efficacy of Ticagrelor vs Clopidogrel was evaluated with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Sensitivity analysis was performed for patients older or equal than 85 years old. All-cause mortality was the primary endpoint, while myocardial infarction (MI), Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 3-5 bleedings and Major and Net Adverse Clinical and Cardiac Events (MACE and NACE) were the secondary ones.

 4287 patients were included, 3197 treated with Clopidogrel and 1090 with Ticagrelor. After 16±3 months, Ticagrelor showed neutral effect on NACE and mortality (HR 0.98; 0.63-1.52, p=0.94 and HR 0.38; 0.14-1.04, p=0,06), reduced risk of MACE and MI (HR 0.82; 0.23-0.91, p=0.03 and HR 0.43; 0.14-0.89, p=0.04) and increased risk of BARC 3-5 bleeding (HR 2.14; 1.19-3.85, p=0.001). In very elderly patients (≥85 years) Ticagrelor decreased risk of MI and increased risk of bleeding (HR 0.69; 0.22-0.95, p=0.04 and HR 2.36; 1.02-5.52, p=0.04, all 95%CI) with neutral effect on NACE and MACE.

 In elderly ACS patients treated with PCI, Ticagrelor was associated with neutral effect on all-cause mortality, lower risk MACE and MI compared with Clopidogrel. Such benefit was counterbalanced by increased risk of major bleedings. These results were consistent among patients aged 85 years and older. 817 Figure 1


We present CodeReef - an open platform to share all the components necessary to enable cross-platform MLOps (MLSysOps), i.e. automating the deployment of ML models across diverse systems in the most efficient way. We also introduce the CodeReef solution - a way to package and share models as non-virtualized, portable, customizable and reproducible archive files. Such ML packages include JSON meta description of models with all dependencies, Python APIs, CLI actions and portable workflows necessary to automatically build, benchmark, test and customize models across diverse platforms, AI frameworks, libraries, compilers and datasets. We demonstrate several CodeReef solutions to automatically build, run and measure object detection based on SSD-Mobilenets, TensorFlow and COCO dataset from the latest MLPerf inference benchmark across a wide range of platforms from Raspberry Pi, Android phones and IoT devices to data centers. Our long-term goal is to help researchers share their new techniques as production-ready packages along with research papers to participate in collaborative and reproducible benchmarking, compare the different ML/software/hardware stacks and select the most efficient ones on a Pareto frontier using online CodeReef dashboards.


Abstract : A varing assortment of clothing assemblies was tested in the Fuel Fire Test Facility at the Naval Air Development Center. Included was a Nomex-Kevlar Cloque Coverall which had relatively good protection from fuel flames.


hedistributionpatternsofpolycyclicaromatichydrocarbons(PAH)andpolychlorinatedbiphenyls(PCBs) were determined in four benthic invertebrate species of western Lake Erie, USA, to assess and compare the processes governing the exposure dynamics of these two classes of contaminants. Significant differences in the sum of 17 PAH compounds were observed among the four species, with mayflies containing the highest PAH body burden, followed by dreissenid mussels, amphipods, and crayfish. For PCBs, mayflies contained significantly higher concentrations of the sum of 39 PCB congeners than the other organisms, and dreissenids had higher levels than crayfish. No significant differences were found in the SPCB levels between dreissenids and amphipods or between amphipods and crayfish. For PCBs, the relationship between biota‐sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) and log Kow followed a parabolic pattern indicative of selective bioaccumulation. In contrast, BSAFs for PAHs were inversely related to log Kow, suggesting that metabolism of the higher Kowcompounds was occurring. These results support the conclusion that mayflies and dreissenids play major roles in the transfer of PAHs and PCBs to upper trophic levels, and they demonstrate that the exposure dynamics of PAHs and PCBs are different in the benthic components of aquatic food webs.


In this work qualitative analysis of some bioactive compounds of February Daphne (Daphne mezereum L.) and Alpine Daphne (D. alpina L.) was performed. The following bioactive compounds were detected using thin-layer chromatography methods (TLC) in methanolic extracts of leaves, stems and roots: flavonoids, coumarins, phenolic acids, saponins, sterols, triterpenes and triterpenic acids. Qualitative analysis of tannins was performed by general reactions of developing coloured products and sediments. Hydrolysable tannins were detected in all examined extracts, while the reaction with condensed tannins was negative for all investigated specimens.


Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) has seen success in many application domains, but this success often hinges on the availability of task-specific unlabeled data. Knowledge distillation (KD) has enabled compressing deep networks and ensembles, achieving the best results when distilling knowledge on fresh task-specific unlabeled examples. However, task-specific unlabeled data can be challenging to find. We present a general framework called "generate, annotate, and learn (GAL)" that uses unconditional generative models to synthesize in-domain unlabeled data, helping advance SSL and KD on different tasks. To obtain strong task-specific generative models, we adopt generic generative models, pretrained on open-domain data, and fine-tune them on inputs from specific tasks. Then, we use existing classifiers to annotate generated unlabeled examples with soft pseudo labels, which are used for additional training. When self-training is combined with samples generated from GPT-2-large, fine-tuned on the inputs of each GLUE task, we outperform a strong RoBERTa-large baseline on the GLUE benchmark. Moreover, KD on GPT-2 samples yields a new state-of-the-art for 6-layer transformers on the GLUE leaderboard. Finally, self-training with GAL offers significant gains on image classification on CIFAR-10 and four tabular tasks from the UCI repository.


Flatland was an immersive "in-the-wild" experimental theater and technology project, undertaken with the goal of developing systems that could assist "real-world" pedestrian navigation for both vision-impaired (VI) and sighted individuals, while also exploring inclusive and equivalent cultural experiences for VI and sighted audiences. A novel shape-changing handheld haptic navigation device, the "Animotus," was developed. The device has the ability to modify its form in the user's grasp to communicate heading and proximity to navigational targets. Flatland provided a unique opportunity to comparatively study the use of novel navigation devices with a large group of individuals (79 sighted, 15 VI) who were primarily attending a theater production rather than an experimental study. In this paper, we present our findings on comparing the navigation performance (measured in terms of efficiency, average pace, and time facing targets) and opinions of VI and sighted users of the Animotus as they negotiated the 112 m2 production environment. Differences in navigation performance were nonsignificant across VI and sighted individuals and a similar range of opinions on device function and engagement spanned both groups. We believe more structured device familiarization, particularly for VI users, could improve performance and incorrect technology expectations (such as obstacle avoidance capability), which influenced overall opinion. This paper is intended to aid the development of future inclusive technologies and cultural experiences.


This study explores communication differences between older and younger users with a task-oriented spoken dialogue system. Previous analyses of the MATCH corpus show that older users have significantly longer dialogues than younger users and that they are less satisfied with the system. Open questions remain regarding the relationship between information recall and cognitive abilities. This study documents a length annotation scheme designed to explore causes of additional length in the dialogues and the relationships between length, cognitive abilities, user satisfaction, and information recall. Results show that primary causes of older users' additional length include using polite vocabulary, providing additional information relevant to the task, and using full sentences to respond to the system. Regression models were built to predict length from cognitive abilities and user satisfaction from length. Overall, users with higher cognitive ability scores had shorter dialogues than users with lower cognitive ability scores, and users with shorter dialogues were more satisfied with the system than users with longer dialogues. Dialogue length and cognitive abilities were significantly correlated with information recall. Overall, older users tended to use a human-to-human communication style with the system, whereas younger users tended to adopt a factual interaction style.


Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted medical education for trainees of all levels. Although telesimulation was initially used to train in resource-limited environments, it may be a reasonable alternative for replicating authentic patient experiences for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear whether a more passive approach through telesimulation training is as effective as traditional in-person simulation training. Objective Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of in-person versus remote simulation training on learners' comfort with managing critical care scenarios. Methods This was a prospective observational cohort study assessing the impact of an in-person versus remote simulation course on volunteer fourth-year medical students from February to April 2021 at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Precourse and postcourse surveys were performed anonymously using an online secure resource. Results In the in-person learners, there was statistically significant improvement in learner comfort across all technical, behavioral, and cognitive domains. In remote learners, there was a trend toward improvement in self-reported comfort across technical and cognitive domains in the telesimulation course. However, the only statistically significant improvement in postcourse surveys of telesimulation learners, compared with baseline, was in running codes. Regardless of the training modality, the students had a positive experience with the critical care simulation course, ranking it, on average, 9.6 out of 10 (9.9 in in-person simulation vs. 9.3 in telesimulation; P = 0.06). Conclusion We demonstrated that implementation of a telesimulation-based simulation course focusing on critical care cases is feasible and well received by trainees. Although a telesimulation-based simulation course may not be as effective for remote learners as active in-person participants, our study provided evidence that there was still a trend toward improving provider readiness across technical and cognitive domains when approaching critical care cases.


Formulation of a new drug product with excipients, that have been previously added to an approved injectable product, may save pharmaceutical companies developmental time and cost. The Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) and Handbook on Injectable Drugs were reviewed, extracting all information on excipients. The information was consolidated into eight tables, categorizing excipients as 1) Solvents and Co-solvents, 2) Solubilizing, Wetting, Suspending, Emulsifying or Thickening agents, 3) Chelating Agents, 4) Antioxidants and Reducing Agents. 5) Antimicrobial Preservatives, 6) Buffers and pH Adjusting Agents, 7) Bulking Agents, Protectants, and Tonicity Adjustors, and 8) Special Additives. Where applicable, tables list frequency of use, concentration, and an example of a commercial product containing the excipient. Excipients which are included in the 1996 FDA 'Inactive Ingredient Guide,' but do not appear in the PDR or Handbook on Injectable Drugs, were included as a separate list.


Knowledge distillation (KD) consists of transferring knowledge from one machine learning model (the teacher}) to another (the student). Commonly, the teacher is a high-capacity model with formidable performance, while the student is more compact. By transferring knowledge, one hopes to benefit from the student's compactness. %we desire a compact model with performance close to the teacher's. We study KD from a new perspective: rather than compressing models, we train students parameterized identically to their teachers. Surprisingly, these {Born-Again Networks (BANs), outperform their teachers significantly, both on computer vision and language modeling tasks. Our experiments with BANs based on DenseNets demonstrate state-of-the-art performance on the CIFAR-10 (3.5%) and CIFAR-100 (15.5%) datasets, by validation error. Additional experiments explore two distillation objectives: (i) Confidence-Weighted by Teacher Max (CWTM) and (ii) Dark Knowledge with Permuted Predictions (DKPP). Both methods elucidate the essential components of KD, demonstrating a role of the teacher outputs on both predicted and non-predicted classes. We present experiments with students of various capacities, focusing on the under-explored case where students overpower teachers. Our experiments show significant advantages from transferring knowledge between DenseNets and ResNets in either direction.


Background and Objectives:The mechanism by which atrial fibrillation (AF electrically converts to sinus rhythm remains undefined. The purpose of this study was to assess in detail the electrograms recorded during cardioversion using direct current (DC shock. Subjects and Methods:In 23 patients with AF (chronic n= 20, paroxysmal n=3, M:F=15:8, 50-70 years old, electrograms were recorded simultaneously from a 20- pole electrode catheters (Duo-deca, DAIG in the right atrial free wall and the coronary sinus immediately after DC shock given transthoracically. The activation patterns following 45 trials consisting of 23 successful and 22 unsuccessful cardioversion were analyzed. Results:Two distinct patterns following successful cardioversion were observed;either immediate resumption of normal sinus rhythm (n=5, 21%, or one or two activations immediately after shock preceded normal sinus rhythm (n=18, 79%. The energy levels of the two patterns were not significantly different (260 J, 250 J, respectively. Four patterns following unsuccessful cardioversion were noted;unchanged (n=10, 45%, converted to atrial flutter (n=4, 18%, production of three or four beats of more coordinated complexes and reverted to AF (n=5, 22%, and converted to sinus rhythm transiently and reinitiated AF by one or two atrial premature beats (n=3, 13%. The magnitude of the DC shock applied at these 4 different patterns was 196 J, 240 J, 264 J, and 340 J, respectively in which low energy levels made a simultaneous depolarization of the entire atria unlikely. Conclusion:Distinct activation patterns were ident- ified following successful and unsuccessful cardioversion using DC shock for AF. These observations suggest that total depolarization of the entire atria is not a prerequisite for the conversion of AF into sinus rhythm. ( ( ( (Korean Circulation J 2001;31(12 :1297-1304


We optimize continuous quench process parameters to produce functionally graded aluminium alloy extrudates. To perform this task, an optimization problem is defined and solved using a standard non‐linear programming algorithm. Ingredients of this algorithm include (1) the process parameters to be optimized, (2) a cost function: the weighted average of the precipitate number density distribution, (3) constraint functions to limit the temperature gradient (and hence distortion and residual stress) and exit temperature, and (4) their sensitivities with respect to the process parameters. The cost and constraint functions are dependent on the temperature and precipitate size which are obtained by balancing energy to determine the temperature distribution and by using a reaction‐rate theory to determine the precipitate particle sizes and their distributions. Both the temperature and the precipitate models are solved via the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method. The energy balance incorporates non‐linear boundary conditions and material properties. The temperature field is then used in the reaction rate model which has as many as 105 degrees‐of‐freedom per finite element node. After computing the temperature and precipitate size distributions we must compute their sensitivities. This seemingly intractable computational task is resolved thanks to the discontinuous Galerkin finite element formulation and the direct differentiation sensitivity method. A three‐dimension example is provided to demonstrate the algorithm. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


With the advancing fourth industrial revolution, different parts of smart factories have to be connected wirelessly together in order to exchange data between sensors and controlling units. Due to the increasing automation of the manufacturing process especially with the help of fast moving and rotating roboter arms it is necessary to transfer data with high reliability and in real time. Since the channels in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands are limited and more and more sensors tranfer data wirelessly in the same frequency range new approaches have to be developed. In this paper a rotary coupler in coplanar grounded waveguide (CPWG) design is presented which covers the entire 2.4GHz ISM band and makes it possible to transmit data on a rotary shaft or roboter arm. The CPWG design ensures a proper shielding and increases the robustness against interference signals like WiFi or Bluetooth which results in a high reliability and makes it possible to use a high bandwidth for significantly faster communication. Design considerations, simulation and measurement results are shown. The coupler has been tested up to a rotational speed of 3300 rounds per minute (rpm).


This article studies the ethics of remembrance and its transformative potential through the reading of the postmemorial narrative of Kamila Shamsie's Salt and Saffron. While it is the story of a particular individual's journey of memory transformation, it speaks to a shared experience of rupture in the wake of Partition violence and what it might mean to confront and transform the powerful impact that this collective memory has on everyday lives. The analysis of the central character's evolution seeks to demonstrate the way in which memories of Partition violence are connected to the continuation of an oppressive class system in Pakistan and how transforming these memories also implies transforming a worldview that maintains class prejudices. In so doing, the article offers broader insights for understanding the nature of intergenerational memory, mourning, and transformation in the wake of historical violence.


Pangolins are elusive and threatened mammals, considered the most widely traded mammals on Earth supplying local African and Asian traditional medicine markets. African pangolins are sourced as bushmeat and perceived to cure diverse ailments when body parts are used in traditional medicine practices. Currently, there is no documentation on cultural uses of Temminck's ground pangolin throughout this mammal's distribution range in South Africa. We interviewed 344 community members from seven indigenous tribal communities in four provinces overlapping with the distribution of Smutsia temminckii in South Africa; only 191 respondents (55.5%) had any knowledge of the species, its cultural and/or medicinal uses. Pangolin is highly sought after and held in high regard where this mammal's body parts, particularly scales, blood and fat, are utilized traditionally for treating various physical ailments and spiritual remedies in rural South African communities. This utilization undoubtedly has a significant impact on the population of this threatened species.


A gene (AglyA) encoding serine hydroxymethyltransferase of Acinetobacter radioresistens CMC-1 was cloned and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis of AglyA predicted a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1251 bp encoding a 417-amino acid polypeptide. Two putative MetR-like binding sites (5'-TGAAACATGAGCT) and (5'-TGAGCAAAGTTCA), centered at bp -123 and -95 relative to the +1 translation start site were found, which have six out of nine and eight out of nine nucleotides that match to the consensus sequence of Escherichia coli (5'-TGAANNT/ANNTTCA), respectively. The enzyme also showed a high level of homology to other sources of serine hydroxymethyltransferase proteins.


Introduction Pronunciation Part I: Spoken Arabic Lesson 1. Greetings Lesson 2. At the Airport Lesson 3. In the Hotel Lesson 4. In Town Lesson 5. In the Office Lesson 6. A Visit to Friends Lesson 7. On the Telephone Lesson 8. Teaching and Training Lesson 9. In the Restaurant Lesson 10. A New Project Lesson 11. Visit to a Factory Lesson 12. At the Surgery Lesson 13. A Visit to the Village Lesson 14. In the Market Lesson 15. The News Part II: Written Arabic Lesson 16. Alphabet Lesson 17. Alphabet Lesson 18. Alphabet Lesson 19. Insurance Lesson 20. Transport and Communication Lesson 21. Personnel Management Lesson 22. Petroleum Lesson 23. From the Newspapers Lesson 24. Correspondence Lesson 25. The Transfer of Technology Lesson 26. The United Nations Key to Exercises Index of Words Grammar Index.


Nurses are often the first healthcare contact for those affected by violence. Despite the impact of violence on healthcare across specialties and ages, forensic nursing content is limited in undergraduate and graduate curricula. The purpose of this article is to provide background on forensic nursing and present a model of a graduate forensic nursing program that can be used as a curriculum guide.


The thermomechanical and morphological properties of some epoxy blends modified with hyperbranched polymers are reported. The effects of pseudo-generation numbers, from the second to the fourth, were studied. All the hyperbranched polymers used had OH end groups. The blends were thoroughly characterized in both the unreacted and cured states. The unreacted blends, characterized by parallel plate rheometry and hot stage microscopy, revealed that pseudo-generation number can have a profound effect both on the reactivity and the phase separation behavior. Analysis of the cured samples was carried out through scanning electron microscopy, dynamic mechanical tests, and fracture mechanics. The results supported some findings obtained from the analysis of the unreacted blends; and dynamic mechanical analysis helped shed more light on the phase separation behavior. Pseudo-generation number also influenced the glass transitions of the blends. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


Objectives Universal screening for the identification of hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg(+)] mothers is essential to prevent perinatal hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In Greece, although adherence to HBV prenatal testing has improved significantly, there are still pregnant women who do not receive testing, and there is concern that this group may include women with a higher disease burden. Methods The seroprevalence of HBV markers among parturient women escaping HBsAg prenatal testing was assessed prospectively. Seropositivity rates were compared with those from a control group of women [n=1304, Greek: 1156 (88.7%), Albanian: 148 (11.3%)], with appropriate prenatal HBsAg documentation, who delivered in the same public hospital. Results Between January 2007 and March 2009, 9546 women delivered at the Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece, and 1000 (10.6%, mean age: 26.6±6.2 years) were unable to document their HBsAg status. Among women tested for the first time in the delivery room, 70.4% were immigrants (Albanians: 41.7%, Eastern European: 14.7%, African: 7.2%, Asian: 6.9%), 15.2% were of Roma origin, and 14.4% were Greek. Overall, 53/1000 (5.3%, 95% confidence interval: 4.1–6.9%) HBsAg(+) cases were found (Albanians: 7.4%, Roma: 5.3%, Asians: 4.3%, Eastern European: 3.4%, Greeks: 2.8%, African: 2.8%, P<0.05 between Greek and Albanian women) versus 15/1304 (1.2%, 95% confidence interval: 0.7–1.9%) in the control group (P<0.0001). Greek women nonadherent to HBV maternal testing were more likely to be chronically infected with HBV (0.6 vs. 2.8%, P<0.05), whereas a similar trend was observed in Albanian women (5.4 vs. 7.4%, P=0.45). Disappointingly low vaccination-induced protection rates (mean 21.4%) were observed among women escaping HBV maternal testing. Conclusion Higher HBV disease burden and low vaccination-induced protection are characteristic in pregnant women nonadherent to HBsAg prenatal testing. More intense surveillance and implementation of immunization programs should be applied in these populations.


In this paper we develop a staggered discontinuous Galerkin method for the Stokes and Darcy-Forchheimer problems coupled with the \Red{Beavers-Joseph-Saffman} conditions. The method is defined by imposing staggered continuity for all the variables involved and the interface conditions are enforced by switching the roles of the variables met on the interface, which eliminate the hassle of introducing additional variables. This method can be flexibly applied to rough grids such as the highly distorted grids and the polygonal grids. In addition, the method allows nonmatching grids on the interface thanks to the special inclusion of the interface conditions, which is highly appreciated from a practical point of view. A new discrete trace inequality and a generalized Poincare-Friedrichs inequality are proved, which enables us to prove the optimal convergence estimates under reasonable regularity assumptions. Finally, several numerical experiments are given to illustrate the performances of the proposed method, and the numerical results indicate that the proposed method is accurate and efficient, in addition, it is a good candidate for practical applications.


Novel bichromophoric spirocyclic indolones have been synthesized by an insertion-coupling-isomerization-Diels-Alder domino reaction. The emission colors are strongly affected by the substituents: N-Boc leads to intense blue fluorescence, N-dansyl causes turquoise emission, whereas a 1-anthryl substituent on the butadiene results in yellow luminescence. The latter behavior is rationalized by TDDFT computations as a result of significant geometrical changes.


INTRODUCTION During the study of herbarium specimens in TARI, FAR, and TUH herbaria for the preparation of" Flora of Iran treatment"(Assadi 1989), one specimen was determined as Cephalorrhynchus tuberosus (Stev.) Schchian by the authors, which is reported for the first time for the flora of Iran here. Cephalorrhynchus was included by 7 species in Flora Iranica from Iran (Rechinger 1977). An identification key for the all Iranian species is presented here.


Recently, we presented a molecular orbital (MO) model of aromaticity that explains, in terms of simple orbital-overlap arguments, why benzene (C(6)H(6)) has a regular structure with delocalized double bonds whereas the geometry of 1,3-cyclobutadiene (C(4)H(4)) is distorted with localized double bonds. Here, we show that the same model and the same type of orbital-overlap arguments also account for the irregular and regular structures of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (C(8)H(8)) and 1,3,5,7,9-cyclodecapentaene (C(10)H(10)), respectively. Our MO model is based on accurate Kohn-Sham DFT analyses of the bonding in C(4)H(4), C(6)H(6), C(8)H(8), and C(10)H(10) and how the bonding mechanism is affected if these molecules undergo geometrical deformations between regular, delocalized ring structures and distorted ones with localized double bonds. The propensity of the pi electrons is always to localize the double bonds, against the delocalizing force of the sigma electrons. Importantly, we show that the pi electrons nevertheless determine the localization (in C(4)H(4) and C(8)H(8)) or delocalization (in C(6)H(6) and C(10)H(10)) of the double bonds.


Drawing on the work of Stanley J. Grenz and Paul Ricoeur, this article proposes a communal, narrative, and ecclesial response to what Grenz calls 'the dissipation of the self' after modernity. Tracing briefly the rise of the self-sufficient self of modernity attention is then given to the deconstructed self of postmodernity. The article then utilizes the imago Dei as a theological resource, in conversation with Grenz and Ricoeur, for the reconstruction of the postmodern self along communal, narrative, and ecclesial lines. The final conclusion is that the postmodern self receives theological relief in the form of the 'ecclesial self' constituted in trinitarian community 'in Christ' and through the Spirit within Christ's new humanity.


Worldwide, over 250 million people are affected by chronic lung conditions such as Asthma and COPD. These can cause breathlessness, a harsh decrease in quality of life and, if not detected and duly managed, even death. In this paper, we aim to find the best and most efficient combination of signal processing and machine learning approaches to produce a smartphone application that could accurately classify lung function, using microphone recordings as the only input. A total of 61 patients performed the forced expiration maneuver providing a dataset of 101 recordings. The signal processing comparison experiments were conducted in a backward selection approach, reducing from 54 to 12 final envelopes, per recording. The classification experiments focused first on differentiating Normal from Abnormal lung function, and second in multiple lung function patterns. The results from this project encourage further development of the system.


Background: Limestone primarily consists of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), which have a similarity to one of human bone component, hydroxyapatite (HA), an element of apatite group (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2). There were several setbacks in the use of artificial hydroxyapatite in the bone repair process; one of them was its relatively higher crystallinity level compared to those of human bone apatite. The addition of carbonate element to hydroxyapatite could improve its characteristics, such as increasing the solubility, decreasing the crystallinity, and changing the morphology of the crystal. That caused carbonate hydroxyapatite is preferable to help in the bone repair process. Aims: This study aimed to find the effect of limestone-based CHA on viability and proliferation of hUMSCs, thus discovering the potential of CHA as a bone graft biomaterial candidate derived from limestone. Methods: This study used FTIR, EDX, and XRD assays to CHA powder sample derived from limestone found in Padalarang and Cirebon extracted by BBK. Two grams of the sample were placed in the sample holder and examined by computer software. EDX assay was conducted three times in three different points, and the means were recorded. In the XRD assay, a carbon tip was put to the sample holder to allow sample attachment. The recorded data was compared to JCPDS data. Toxicity and proliferation examination of CHA were conducted through MTT assay in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (hUCMSC) cell lines with four different doses: 50µg/ml, 25µg/ml, 12,5µg/ml, and 6,25µg/ml. Results: Limestone-based CA has hydroxyl (OH-), phosphate (PO42-), and carbonate (CO32-) functional groups. It has crystal particle formation and consists of O, Ca, and P elements. The result of the MTT assay showed limestone-based CHA is not toxic in all concentrations and has the proliferative ability. There were significant differences between the control and treatment groups. Conclusion: CHA has OH-, PO42-, and CO32- function group. It has crystal particle formation and O, Ca, and P elements as its composition, with a Ca/P ratio of 1,67. It shows no toxicity to hUCMSC in all doses and has the ability to stimulate hUCMSC proliferation.


35 unmarried women students participated in a study to provide evidence of an interrelationship between premenstrual negative affect, personality traits , and oral contraceptives. 18 had been taking oral contraceptives for at least 3 months prior to the study. 17 were either nonusers of oral contraceptives or had been without them for the 3 months prior to the study. The subjects completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory to obtain measures of extroversion and neuroticism. Subjects also completed a Negative Affect Questionnaire. The full questionnaire was completed on each day of a full menstrual cycle. Subjects who were nonusers of oral contraceptives showed that anxiety was postiviely correlated with neuroticism (N) scores. This was absent from subjects taking the pill. Premenstrual depression was negatively assoicated with extroversion (E) scores in subjects taking the pill. When anxiety and depression scores were combied to produce a total negative affect score it was found that, for all subjects, this was negatively correlated with E and that for the pill-taking group, it was positively correlated with N. The study indicates the need for more work in this area.


Numerical simulations of a single stage low aspect ratio transonic axial flow compressor (NASA37) have been carried out at zero rotor tip clearance, design rotor tip clearance and twice the design rotor tip clearance with two higher and two lower rotor blade solidities. The objective was to assess the fluid flow interaction between tip leakage flow and secondary flow, and its effect on compressor performance. The tip leakage flow initiates near the rotor blade leading end, crosses the passage shock and interacts with the secondary flow vortex present at the pressure surface of the neighbouring blade near leading edge. The interaction becomes stronger with larger tip clearance and results in a low momentum fluid zone near the pressure surface in the rear part of the rotor blade. The blockage caused by this retarded fluid zone seems to be responsible for performance degradation of the compressor stage. The peak stage pressure ratio and peak Isentropic efficiency reduce by 3.6% and 2% respectively when the tip clearance is increased from zero to twice the design value. Similarly, the compressor performance decreases with increase in solidity from low to high solidity.


From an initial ferrofluid with magnetite particles dispersed in kerosene and stabilized with oleic acid, having particle concentration n = 7.7×1016 cm-3 (determined from magnetic measurements), 11 samples were obtained by successive dilution with kerosene (with a dilution ratio 2:3). Using magnetic resonance measurements for each ferrofluid sample, we have studied the dependence on particle concentration of the effective anisotropy constant of magnetite colloidal particles. The obtained results show an increase of the effective anisotropy constant by increasing the particle concentration. This behaviour is assigned to interparticle magnetic interactions.


Helicobacters are spiral-shaped microbes with a number of recently identified species known to cause gastric ulceration, gastritis and gastric carcinoma in animals and humans. To demonstrate the occurrence of Helicobacter organisms in non-human host in the country, ten stray dogs from Northern Samar, Philippines were tested for the presence of Helicobacter species by invasive methods using urease test and brush cytology. Eight out of ten sampled animals consistently yielded positive urease activities Helicobacterlike spiral organisms were discerned when examined by brush cytology. All the gastric sites of the fundic, cardiac and the pyloric regions yielded variably positive results. Positive samples were further tested and confirmed for Helicobacter spp. identification using polymerase chain reaction method. Amplified DNA extracted yielded positively to Helicobacter spp. identification that corresponded to a 1,099 bp product. Current findings indicate that dogs may serve as sentinel for endemic presence of Helicobacter organisms that are of veterinary medical and public health importance. This study documented the presence of Helicobacter spp. in the stomach of an animal host in the country for the first time. Keywords: brush cytology, dogs, Helicobacter species, PCR, urease


Circulating concentrations of leptin are better correlated with absolute amounts of adipose tissue [fat mass (FM)] than with relative body fatness (body mass index or percent body fat). There is a clear sexual dimorphism in circulating concentrations of leptin (females > males) at birth and in adulthood. However, whether such dimorphism is present in the interval between these periods of development remains controversial. We examined body composition and clinical (Tanner stage) and endocrine (pituitary-gonadal axis hormones) aspects of sexual maturation in relationship to circulating concentrations of leptin in 102 children (53 males and 49 females, 6-19 yr of age) to evaluate the relationship between circulating leptin concentrations and body composition before and during puberty. Pubertal stage was assigned by physical examination (Tanner staging) and also assessed by measurement of plasma estradiol, testosterone, and pituitary gonadotropins. Body composition was determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and by anthropometry. Circulating concentrations of leptin in the postabsorptive state were determined by a solid-phase sandwich enzyme immunoassay. The effect of gender on the relationship between circulating leptin concentrations and FM was determined by ANOVA at each Tanner stage. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses, including circulating concentrations of pituitary-gonadal axis hormones, and FM were performed, by gender, to determine whether the relationship between circulating concentrations of leptin and FM changes during puberty. Plasma leptin concentrations were significantly correlated with FM at all Tanner stages in males and females. Plasma leptin concentrations, normalized to FM, were significantly higher in females than males at Tanner stages IV and V but not at earlier stages of pubertal development. Plasma leptin concentrations, normalized to FM, were significantly greater in females at Tanner stage V compared with females at Tanner stage I and significantly lower in males at Tanner stage IV and V compared with males at Tanner stage I. These significant gender and maturational differences were confirmed by demonstrating that the regression equation relating circulating leptin concentrations to FM in females and males at Tanner stages IV and V were significantly different (predicted lower leptin concentrations in males than females with identical body composition) and that the regression equations relating circulating concentrations of leptin to FM in each gender before puberty (Tanner stage I) were significantly different (predicted higher plasma concentrations of leptin in prepubertal males and lower leptin concentrations in prepubertal females) than the same regression equations in later puberty. Circulating concentrations of testosterone were significant negative correlates of circulating concentrations of leptin normalized to FM in males when considered as a group over all pubertal stages. The inclusion in multivariate regression analyses of circulating concentrations of testosterone and estradiol, FM, fat-free mass, and gender did not eliminate a significant gender-effect (P < 0.05) on circulating concentrations of leptin at Tanner stages IV and V. The circulating concentration of leptin, normalized to FM, declines significantly in males and rises significantly in females late in puberty to produce a late-pubertal/adult sexual dimorphism. These studies confirm a potent role for gonadal steroids as mediators of this sexual dimorphism in circulating concentrations of leptin. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)


Nonlinear optics can be used to make all-optical decisions for optical signal processing or optical computing or to switch light beams for optical communications.1 Nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalons permit many decision-making elements to operate in parallel. Nonlinear waveguide devices such as directional couplers or Mach-Zehnder interferometers may someday permit very rapid switching or processing of pipelined data.


The transcription of the ars operon is negatively controlled by the ArsR repressor and induced by arsenite and antimonite. Using hydroxylamine mutagenesis, four arsR mutants were isolated; three were selected for inability to respond to inducers: C32Y, C32F, and C34Y. Each of the three altered proteins still bound specifically to the ars operator, but inducers were less effective in effecting the release of the altered proteins from the DNA. Each of the mutant arsR genes in trans with a reporter gene controlled by the ars promoter repressed expression of the reporter gene, and addition of inducer did not relieve repression. These results suggest that the altered ArsR proteins are defective in the inducer binding site. The fourth arsR mutation, resulting in a H50Y alteration, produced constitutive expression. His-50 is located within a putative helix-turn-helix region of the ArsR protein. We propose that cysteines Cys-32 and Cys-34 in the ArsR protein comprise part of a metal binding motif found in members of the ArsR family of metalloregulatory proteins.


This paper introduces a novel approach for solving the Boolean satisfiability (SAT) problem by combining software and configurable hardware. The suggested technique avoids instance-specific hardware compilation and, as a result, allows the total problem solving time to be reduced compared to other approaches that have been proposed. Moreover, the technique permits problems that exceed the resources of the available reconfigurable hardware to be solved. The paper presents the results obtained with some of the DIMACS benchmarks and a comparison of our implementation with other available SAT solvers based on reconfigurable hardware. The hardware part of the satisfier was realized on Virtex XCV812E FPGA, which has a large volume of embedded memory blocks that provide direct support for the proposed approach.


The National Digital Library Project (NDLP), which was launched in 2005, has attracted wide attention across Chinese society. This paper introduces the project, and covers its basic characteristics, objectives, and content. It also explains the basic concepts and the overall structure of the project and gives an introduction to the design of its basic platform, application platform, business management system and its standardization control system. As of the end of 2009, the National Library of China maintained over 320 TB of digital resource. Finally, the article also presents the digital resources involved, including collection policies, such as the collection of web information and new media.


Multiple myeloma, a
disease of elderly, is extremely rare in those about 30 years of age. A patient
with MM diagnosed at age 27 is described. He was a male with a four-month
history of back pain and later, hemurus and tibia pain persisting despite
NSAIDS. X-rays had shown lytic lesions on lateral radiograph of the skull and
the humerus. His ESR was 120 mm. Serum calcium was 125 mg/l and glomerular filtration
rate at 25 ml/min. There was a beta2 peak in the serum protein electrophoresis.
The Immunohistochemical examination demonstrated a strong reaction for the
Lambda light chain in all tumor cells. Bence Jones protein was present in
urine. Bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Our
patient was treated with dexamethasone, zoledronic acid, cyclophosphamide and
thalidomide with good evolution. Actually, he was proposed for stem cell
transplantation. This report illustrated that multiple myeloma should be even
evoked in young patients.


PURPOSE
Adequate participation in population-based studies in essential to ensure that the sample is representative of the population under investigation. Participants may differ from non-participants on important variables such as age, sex socioeconomic status, and general health factors. The Melbourne Visual Impairment Project (Melbourne VIP) is a population-based study designed to increase understanding of the prevalence and severity of common ocular disorders affecting people 40 years of age and over.

AIM
The aim of this study was to determine the potential for any non-response bias by comparing data from participants and non-participants of the Melbourne VIP.

METHODS
Specific demographic and general variables were compared between the two groups. The variables included age, sex, education level, and social status. The reason for non-attendance was also recorded.

RESULTS
A total of 3271 (83%) eligible residents from the 9 sample areas were screened; 46% males and 54% females. Language spoken at home was significantly associated with participation. Residents whose main language at home was not English were less likely to attend the screening centre. (OR: 0.60; CI: 0.44-0.81). The main reasons given for non-attendance by eligible residents were lack of interest (6%), too busy to attend (4%), personal illness (2%), and attend own eye specialist (2%).

CONCLUSION
We believe these results will not impact significantly on the interpretation of gender and age-specific data from the Melbourne VIP.


AIM
To detect the effects of plasma DNA methylation of Wnt antagonists/inhibitors on recurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

METHODS
We used methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction to detect hypermethylation of the promoter of four Wnt antagonists/inhibitors (SFRP-1, WIF-1, DKK-3 and RUNX3) using DNA from the plasma of ESCC patients (n = 81) and analyzed the association between promoter hypermethylation of Wnt pathway modulator genes and the two-year recurrence of ESCC.

RESULTS
Hypermethylation of SFRP-1, DKK-3 and RUNX-3 was significantly associated with an increased risk of ESCC recurrence (P = 0.001, 0.003 and 0.001 for SFRP-1, DKK-3 and RUNX3, respectively). Patients carrying two to three methylated genes had a significantly elevated risk of recurrence compared with those not carrying methylated genes (odds ratio = 15.69, 95% confidential interval: 2.97-83). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 77.1 for ESCC recurrence prediction (sensitivity = 66.67 and specificity = 83.3). When combining methylated genes and the clinical stage, the AUC was 83.69, with a sensitivity of 76.19 and a specificity of 83.3.

CONCLUSION
The status of promoter hypermethylation of Wnt antagonists/inhibitors in plasma may serve as a non-invasive prognostic biomarker for ESCC.


European integration policies inflamed anti-Europe sentiments in Britain and exposed the fragility of democratic institutions in the face of populist campaigning. This article demonstrates how Europe became the focus of British anxiety about globalization and activated concerns for national sovereignty. Using the example of metrication in the 1970s, the article situates the abstract notions of globalization and sovereignty in material and everyday terms. The very processes that sought to reconcile the impossible trinity of globalization, national sovereignty, and popular politics resulted in institutionalizing and legitimizing the deep ambivalence of inching closer to Europe. Negotiating with Europe to water down harmonization actually stoked and kept alive the fundamental issues rather than resolving them. The history of British metrication serves as an example of the profound significance of discursive framing on shaping policy as well as outcomes. The messiness with which metrication was handled by successive governments shows how dangerously and easily the knowledge gap between experts and popular opinion could be exploited. Populist framing of technical issues of metrication distorted the complex realities of globalization, rendered the consequences of European standardization more real in everyday terms, and verbalized populist opinions that forging closer ties with Europe would be a threat to Britain's parliamentary sovereignty. Harmonization policies also heightened debates about British identity and compelled the country to seek ways to coexist between two extreme visions, one of "Deep England" steeped in tradition and another of a modern "efficient" Britain based on technocratic values.


Haematological disorders can be diagnosed based on the white blood cells (WBCs) count. However, determining WBCs count manually from a microscopic blood smear image is a tedious task and can be done through automatic detection and classification of WBCs using image processing techniques. In this paper, an efficient WBCs detection and classification method is presented. Towards ameliorating this, a modified U - N et CNN segmentation architecture is utilized to detect and segment out the WBCs from red blood cells and platelets. The segmented WBCs are classified into five types based on their texture and shape features using an SVM classifier. Results are presented for the LISC dataset using a 5-fold cross-validation scheme. The performance measures indicate that the proposed method can perform better than similar techniques.


: The article forms the main requirements for every hazard criterion (valid, definite, statistically correct, differential, invariable, sensitive, integral). The suggested hazard criterion is based on additive components of general dispersion. Those components reflect environmental influence (environmental effect) and influence of substance (effect of substance), then the components are compared according to Fisher criterion (F). The criterion works in two-factor dispersion analysis.


OBJECTIVE
To analyse the clinical characteristics of thoracolumbar fractures combined with posterior column injury, and explore its intraoperative reduction technique with clinical efficacy.

STUDY DESIGN
Descriptive study.                                   Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Orthopaedics, Fuyang People's Hospital, Anhui, China, from December 2017 to 2021.

METHODOLOGY
A total of 60 patients met the inclusion criteria, they were divided into two categories according to injury mechanism and imaging characteristics: flexion-distraction injury (FDI) and burst fracture with lamina fracture (BFLF), and their clinical characteristics were analysed. All patients were treated with posterior pedicle screw internal fixation, and different intraoperative reduction methods were adopted for reduction. Measurements of anterior vertebral heights (AVH), local kyphotic angles (LKA), visual analog scale (VAS) and oswestry disability index (ODI) were evaluated preoperative, after operation, and the last follow-up.

RESULTS
The two groups of thoracolumbar fractures combined with posterior column injury had different clinical characteristics, and there were significant differences in preoperative imaging related parameters (p<0.05). All patients in the two groups successfully completed the operation, and there were no direct complications related to the operation. The patients were followed up for 12-24 months. Compared with those before the operation, the AVH, LKA, VAS, and ODI immediately after the operation and at the last follow-up were significantly improved (p<0.05). Bone fusion was achieved in all patients.

CONCLUSION
Careful and comprehensive preoperative clinical data analysis is the key to diagnosis of thoracolumbar fractures combined with posterior column injury. According to the type of fracture, reasonable selection of intraoperative reduction technique can obtain satisfactory clinical results.

KEY WORDS
Burst fracture, Pedicle screw, Internal fixation, Thoracic, Lumbar.


Disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills is one of the most commonly adopted options to manage MSW in the United States and many other countries worldwide. Bioreactor landfills that involve controlled injection of leachate to increase moisture and distribute nutrients/microbes within the MSW are being practiced as a means for striving towards sustainability in solid waste management. In bioreactor landfill, enhanced moisture levels promote rapid MSW biodegradation, faster MSW compression and the waste stabilization, thus eliminating long term environmental risk to the surrounding environment and public. However, the dynamic coupled hydraulic, biodegradation and mechanical processes in bioreactor landfills significantly affect the MSW compression, slope stability and in-plane shear response (shear stress-displacement) of the composite side slope and base liner and final cover system. This study presented a new mathematical modeling framework based on a rational approach for designing new bioreactor landfills as well as optimizing the performance of existing bioreactor landfills subjected to coupled hydro-bio-mechanical processes. The mathematical modeling framework was developed by integrating and simultaneously solving a mechanical model based on plain-strain formulation of Mohr-Coulomb criterion, a hydraulic two-phase flow model based on 2-D unsaturated Richards's equation and a biodegradation model formulated using the first-order decay kinetics similar to USEPA's LandGEM model. The developed framework was validated based on previous laboratory experiment and a field monitoring study. Afterwards, the integrated mathematical framework was employed to evaluate the performance of bioreactor landfills, such as, flow and distribution of moisture, the stability of landfill slopes, the landfill settlement, the changes in geotechnical properties with waste degradation, and the interface shear stress-displacement response of composite side slope and bottom liner and final cover systems. Moreover, a parametric study using the coupled hydro-bio-mechanical framework was performed to assess various system designs and operational conditions, namely: the bioreactor landfill slope configurations, the geometric configuration of trench systems, and the modes (continuous v/s intermittent) of leachate injection. In addition, Monte-Carlo simulations and reliability assessment of performance of bioreactor landfills were carried out by employing the coupled mathematical framework to examine the influence of spatial variability (uncertainties) in major geotechnical properties of MSW (e.g., unit weight, shear strength, anisotropy, saturated hydraulic conductivity, initial saturation, porosity, residual saturation, and unsaturated hydraulic parameters). Overall, this research study provided a new mathematical modeling framework that can account for both spatial and temporal changes in major geotechnical properties of MSW due to the extent of degradation, and successfully predicts the long-term performance (e.g., landfill settlement and stabilization, slope stability, hydraulic response, and liner interface shear response) of bioreactor landfills subjected to coupled hydro-bio-mechanical processes during leachate injection. Additional research is warranted to formulate/validate the model to accurately account for biodegradation of MSW and its effects on constitutive behavior and geotechnical properties of MSW, validate the model based on full-scale field bioreactor performance data, evaluate coupled response of bioreactor landfills under various landfill configurations with varying cover and liner systems, and perform reliability assessment with variable mechanical, hydraulic and biodegradation properties of MSW. Moreover, the effects of temperature on properties of MSW and coupled processes should be investigated.


Recently, the technology of gold bumping has become more popular due to high demand for LCD driver ICs. The requirement of higher resolution application, however, will increase the difficulties for manufacturing the gold bumps due to their high pin counts. For gold bumping processes, bump height is one of the key parameters to control process yield. In reality, some inevitable process variations and shifts regarding the bump height may occur under dynamic manufacturing environment. Conventionally, manufacturing yield for gold bumping processes is calculated under the assumption that the processes are stable. In practice, however, the processes are dynamic, particularly, in the operation of Au-plating in gold bumping factories. To obtain accurate measure of the manufacturing yield, we present a capability index method for manufacturing yield calculation with dynamic variance change considerations. Using this method, the magnitude of the undetected variance change, which is function of the detection power of the S 2 chart, is incorporated into the adjusted calculation of manufacturing yield. The detection powers of the S 2 chart under various subgroup sizes are tabulated. For illustration purposes, a real application in a gold bumping factory which is located in the Science-based Industrial Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is presented.


David Slater is an enigmatic figure in radical geography. He is much regarded for his theoretical contributions to geography although few geographers seem to know to what he contributed. David Slater appeared on the radical geography scene in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Dar es Salaam was described, in the early 1970s, as being a 'hotspot' for radical geographers. He focused his work on a critique of modernisation theory, publishing a two-piece article in Antipode. He rejected the western notions of the working class as the pivot for revolutionary change and, instead, sought to explore the power of peasant-worker movements drawing particularly on his Latin American experience. He moved to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where his work was increasingly anti-imperialist and focused on theoretical discussions of territoriality. He began to take more open post-colonial positions although he was wary of the cultural turn in geography. This wariness came from his observation that most Anglo-American geographers do field work in developing countries without the relevant local language. This, plus his demand for close readings of classic texts, including Marx, was admired, but little followed, by geographers. He sought to define territoriality as a kind of Third Space but Soja had already done this. He moved again to Loughborough, United Kingdom, where his work became more stridently anti-American and where his exploration of territoriality took him away from political geography to international relations, away from economics and history towards politics and political action. Latin American exile groups that he championed very fondly remember him in the United Kingdom. To the end, he continued to explore theories of social change. His demand for knowledge of language, local culture and classic texts made him a somewhat foreboding supervisor. The body of literature, particularly the early critiques of development theory, stand the test of time.


. We sometimes seek to change and improve our conceptual repertoire in some way. This is called 'conceptual engineering'. In recent work, I have defended the 'Speaker-Meaning Picture' of conceptual engineering. Independently, while critiquing the conceptual engineering literature, Max Deutsch has argued against understanding conceptual engineering in terms of speaker-meaning. Deutsch's critique targets what he calls the 'standard account' of conceptual engineering and its role in philosophy. In my contribution to this symposium, I also object to the 'standard account'. I then sketch a more moderate view, centred on the Speaker-Meaning Picture, arguing that it avoids Deutsch's criticisms. I then discuss a new objection to the Speaker-Meaning Picture, raised by Deutsch in this symposium: that it trivialises conceptual engineering methodology.


In spite of all traditional anti-fraud measures adopted these last few years, the carousel fraud is still there. Moreover, the risk is becoming high for honest traders of being involved in such fraudulent transactions and the consequences can be very damaging for them. Time has come to reconsider solutions that would eliminate what makes such fraud so attractive: breaking the VAT chain by zero-rating intra-EU supplies of goods (i.e., the possibility to buy goods without immediate payment of VAT). Viable Integrated VAT (VIVAT) is such a solution. Under that proposal, a common rate of VAT would apply to all Business-to-business (B2B) transactions within the EU, while Member States would retain the power to fix their VAT rate for final consumption. At the same time, it would offer a general remedy by eliminating differences of treatment of domestic and intra-EU transactions. But VIVAT is not enough to ensure the control of the chain of taxation and deduction, notably in cross-border trade. It should be completed by an extensive use of electronic invoicing and the reorganization of VAT administration and control on that base. This article explores such an approach to a modern VAT system for a trade-integrated area like the EU.


The authors have found a number of printing errors in their original article (see ibid., vol. 54, no. 1, p. 235-45, Jan. 2005), some of which were typographical errors in the original manuscript, and others were introduced during the typesetting. Here, we provide all the corrections to the errors.


Previous studies have shown that topical application of the fluoride varnish Duraphat reduces caries incidence. The aim of the present study was to compare the caries inhibiting effect of a new fluoride varnish (Carex) containing 1.8% fluoride (F) with that of Duraphat (2.26% F). Informed consent was obtained from the guardians of 495 children 10-12 yr old in Voss Dental Health District (low F area). The children were randomly allocated to two groups. One group of subjects received 6-monthly application of Duraphat (n = 185), the other Carex (n = 165). Ethical considerations precluded the use of a placebo varnish. All participants received dental examinations including one pair of posterior bitewing radiographs and necessary dental care annually. One trained examiner interpreted bitewing radiographs blindly. Total 3-yr net DFS increment for 24 posterior approximal surfaces was 2.63 (SD = 3.81) in the Duraphat group and 2.12 (SD = 3.50) in the Carex group. DMFS increments based on 40 posterior occlusal and approximal surfaces were 5.21 (SD = 5.79) and 4.04 (SD = 4.92), respectively. Thus the results indicate a comparable efficacy for Carex and Duraphat at the caries activity level exhibited by these study participants.


The aim of the study was to present the epidemiological characteristics, new diagnostics trends and prevention of the pulmonary diseases related to dust (PDD) in Bulgaria. Retrospective epidemiological study during the period 1980-2003 y. was done. A new cross sectional case control study of workers exposed to high concentration mineral dust and non-exposed control group in 2003 year were performed. Non patrametric, correlation analysis and linear statidstical analysis were performed. An SPSS statistical package was used. Epidemiological trends of different types of pneumoconiosis, and 11 years study of tendencies in malignant mesothelioma in the country were analyzed. A prognosis of the appearance of PDD during the future 10 – 30 years was done. A comparison between chest radiographic images and HRCT amongst pneumoconiotic patients was done. Image/functional constellations for diagnostic purposes were created. The following conclusions can be made: 1. PDD play a leading epidemiological role amongst occupational diseases in Bulgaria. 2. An appearance of pneumoconiosis and asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma in the next 10 – 20 years was expected. 3. HRCT, as well as constellation HRCT/VC, FVC and FEF50% could be more correct diagnostic methods in pneumoconioses.


Soil borne pathogenic fungi are of major concern in agriculture which significantly decreases the plant yield. Chemically controlled plant imposes environmental threats potentially dangerous to humans as well as other animals. Thus, application of biological methods in plant disease control is more effective alternative technique. This study was carried out to isolate Trichoderma species from soil sample and to assess its in vitro biocontrol efficacy against fungal pathogens viz. Sclerotium rolfsii , Sclerotionia sclerotiorum , Fusarium solani and Rhizoctonia solani . Biocontrol efficacy testing of isolates against different fungal pathogens was performed by dual culture technique. In this study, 5 different Trichoderma species were isolated from 26 various soil samples and were tested against four fungal soil-borne pathogens. Inhibition percentage of radial growth of Sclerotium rolfsii by three of the Trichoderma isolates was found to be 100%; about 62% and 68% of maximum inhibition was observed against Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium solani respectively whereas Sclerotionia sclerotiorum was inhibited maximum up to 23%. This in vitro study revealed that although Trichoderma species plays an important role in controlling all type of soil borne fungal plant pathogens, however, isolates as biocontrol agent against Sclerotium rolfsii was found to be more efficient in comparison to other pathogens. Nepal Journal of Biotechnology. Dec. 2017 Vol. 5, No. 1: 39-49


This article had as goal to identify perceptions of sexuality of people with mental illness by health professionals that work with the same, under scoring the importance of perception for professional health to professional practice and it consequently influences in the way to deal with this subject, on favor or not recovery. This is a study of type explorative with descriptiv e qualitative approach. The data was collected throug h interview semi-processed structured, in which participated in the study 20 Professional sta ff of an institution from the city of Crato, CE. The results show that the conception of health professionals about sexuality mental ill is expressed through denial, from the association to t he deviations, transgressions and disease. It proves, therefore, the need for a watchful attentio n to issues involving the sexuality of that needs to be assisted in all its dimensions: physica l, affective and social. © Cien. Cogn. 2009; Vol. 14 (1): 246-254.


Unlicensed and off-label prescribing is common in children. This is likely to be due to a combination of the difficulty in carrying out reliable clinical trials in children and the lack of financial reward for the industry. The term 'paediatric' encompasses preterm babies to near adult-sized adolescents, and all aspects of drug handling differ over this age range, making extrapolation very problematic. Recently, adrenal failure with inhaled corticosteroid use in children has been highlighted. Examination reveals that this is due to a combination of factors common in paediatric prescribing; including the assumption that adult diseases are the same as paediatric diseases, the lack of good diagnostic tools in small children and lack of thought about problems of drug delivery. Although some steps are being taken to improve paediatric prescribing, much more needs to be done. One approach may be to offer incentives to the pharmaceutical industry. The present state of affairs is unsatisfactory and cannot be allowed to continue.


This paper delivers a new perspective of thinking and utilizing syntactic n-grams (sn-grams). Sn-grams are a type of non-linear n-grams which have been playing a critical role in many NLP tasks. Introducing sn-grams to comparing document semantics thus is an appealing application, and few studies have reported progress at this. However, when proceeding on this application, we found three major issues of sn-grams: lack of significance, being sensitive to word orders and failing on capture indirect syntactic relations. To address these issues, we propose a new variant of sn-grams named generalized phrases (GPs). Then based on GPs we propose a topological approach, named DSCoH, to compute document semantic similarities. DSCoH has been extensively tested on the document semantics comparison and the document clustering tasks. The experimental results show that DSCoH can outperform state-of-the-art embedding-based methods.


This paper addresses the problem of contour lines extraction from scanned topographic maps. A novel method called "local window segmentation" is developed and used to overcome the difficulty of the gaps and thick lines. Experiments and evaluations on a number of well- and common-conditioned topographic maps are provided.


Malaria is still a devastating disease in sub Saharan Africa where it kills at least one million people every year (United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF 2003). Children are most vulnerable to malaria attacks, which kill more than 3,000 children every day, largely in Africa. At least 100 Tanzanian children die daily because of the disease. Another high-risk group is pregnant women. However, all other adults are also exposed to substantial risk of malaria. In Tanzania, control and care of malaria puts a huge burden on financial and economic costs both at micro and macro levels, thus translating into enormous poverty implications. As such, malaria has a potential in slowing down the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in countries where it is endemic as is the case in many parts of Tanzania.


This paper aims to explore the capabilities of new approaches to the study of educational demands on modern higher education market by describing existing educational strategies of applicants and students. The experience of university choice research in domestic and international practice consists of sufficiently popular description of educational demands, choice motivation and analysis of the choice-making process of university and specialty choice based on available information. The analysis of choice presented in the article is compounded by the description of the main educational strategies being formed on modern educational market, with an emphasis on their behavioral nature. Two following strategies are singled out: "status strategy", where education acts primarily as an element of status and group identification; and "practical strategy" where education is viewed as an investment of time and resources into increasing one's chances at the job market. Data gathered from the study of students of five universities of Tomsk and Novosibirsk aligns with these strategies, and this justifies the existence of an increasing divide in social-economic demography of higher education. Such tendency is capable of seriously affecting organizational strategies of universities and influence the very nature of higher education as a social institution by forcing universities and the system in general to take the given strategies into account.


Background & Objective: Soon after the outbreak of COVID-19, Universities of medical sciences was forced to shift from face-to-face education toward online educational activities according to WHO recommendation to observe physical distancing. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the quality of virtual education classes from the perspective of students and professors at Ilam University of Medical Sciences. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in five faculties of Ilam University of Medical Sciences in 2020. Thirty professors and 370 students participated in the study by convenience sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire based on the viewpoint of university professors and students about the quality of virtual classes. The questionnaire included 30 questions in four sections: the ability to use the educational system, feelings and attitudes towards the virtual class, learning and educational environment, interactive learning and perceived effectiveness, plus five questions addressing satisfaction with the training course. The data were analyzed using independent t-test at a significance level of P <0.05 by SPSS 22 software. Results: The mean and standard deviation (SD) score of the quality of virtual education classes from the perspective of professors and students was 48.6(16.2) and 47.9(25.9), respectively, which is considered moderate. There was a significant difference between professors' and students' viewpoints about satisfaction with virtual education classes (P= 0.004), indicating that the professors were more contented than students. Conclusion: Generally, professors and students rated the overall quality of virtual classes as moderate, and they were also relatively satisfied with the course. © 2021, Journal of Medical Education Development. All rights reserved.


Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory disorder characterized primarily by synovitis and pannus formation in multiple joints, causing joints destruction and irreversible disability in most cases. Early diagnosis and effective therapy monitoring of RA are of importance for achieving the favorable prognosis. Methods We first prepared the targeted fluorescence probes, and then explored the feasibility of near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence molecular imaging to detect and evaluate the RA via the targeted fluorescence probes by quantitative analysis in this study. Results The targeted fluorescence probes (indocyanine green-liposomes decorated with iRGD peptide [iLPs]) was successfully prepared. The quantitative analysis found that strong fluorescence signal was detected in inflamed paws and the fluorescence signal in iLPs group was 3.03-fold higher than that in non-targeted (indocyanine green-liposomes decorated without iRGD peptide [LPs]) group (P<0.01) at 15 min after injection, whereas the fluorescence signal from iLPs signal can almost not be observed in the non-inflamed paws, showing the high sensitivity and accuracy for arthritis by the NIR fluorescence imaging based on iLPs. Conclusion The NIR fluorescence imaging by iLPs may facilitate improved arthritis diagnosis and early assessment of the disease progression by providing an in vivo characterization of angiogenesis in inflammatory joint diseases.


This paper present the experimental case-study, concerning the behavior of dc-dc converter and PWM control circuit system for embedding control-loops in practical application such a induction hob. The paper describes the experimental steps and tests to obtain a functional stand in order to understand and improve the design and achieve an optimal operation for converters involved in practical applications. The first part of the contribution present the modeling and designing part for DC-DC converter topologies. The second part had shown the practical aspects from experimental stage.


To securely access data center supporting the constraint of temporal and location-based services, access-control system requires more flexible definitions applying to Wireless Heterogeneous Networks (WHNs). To cope with the WHNs environment, we propose an Associated Temporal and Spatial Role-based Access Control (ATSRBAC) model. In this model, both temporal-period and spatial-location based entities are used to constrain the permissions of objects, user positions, and geographically bounded roles within associated wireless time-bound database (WTD) servers. In this paper, we also present temporal and spatial-based relations of associated RH, associated time and spatial SSD and associated time and spatial DSD constraints in the ATSRBAC model.


Today, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can offer solutions to many social problems, including those used to diagnose and treat diseases. However, for this it is necessary to provide an appropriate legal basis. The article presents a brief history of the development of AI, explains the conceptual apparatus, describes the legal basis for its development and implementation in Russian healthcare, the methodology for conducting clinical trials of AI systems, and gives their classification. Particular attention is paid to the ethical principles of clinical trials of AI systems. The ethical examination of projects of clinical trials of AI systems by the Ethics Committee is considered in detail.


Recent studies on knowledge graphs (KGs) show that path-based methods empowered by pre-trained language models perform well in the provision of inductive and explainable relation predictions. In this paper, we introduce the concepts of relation path coverage and relation path confidence to filter out unreliable paths prior to model training to elevate the model performance. Moreover, we propose Knowledge Reasoning Sentence Transformer (KRST) to predict inductive relations in KGs. KRST is designed to encode the extracted reliable paths in KGs, allowing us to properly cluster paths and provide multi-aspect explanations. We conduct extensive experiments on three real-world datasets. The experimental results show that compared to SOTA models, KRST achieves the best performance in most transductive and inductive test cases (4 of 6), and in 11 of 12 few-shot test cases.