It has not been determined if signal-averaged electrocardiograms (SAECGs) have a diurnal variation. We recorded 3-channel 24-hour ECGs in 30 healthy volunteers and calculated the following parameters for the first 500 sec of every hour over the 24-hour period: the mean heart rate, the filtered QRS duration (f-QRS), the root-mean-square voltage of the signals in the last 40 msec of the QRS (RMS40), and the duration of low-amplitude signals (< 40 microV) in the terminal portion of the QRS (LAS40). Heart rate and RMS40 increased in the daytime compared with the nighttime; f-QRS and LAS40 increased during the nighttime hours. The f-QRS and LAS40 were negatively correlated with heart rate in all and 22 (73%) of 30 subjects, respectively, and RMS40 was positively correlated with heart rate in 21 subjects (70%). In conclusion, SAECGs exhibit a clear diurnal variation in healthy subjects, which is closely related to changes in heart rate.


It has been shown that humans can remember faces of school mates over an interval of as long as 30 years (Bahrick, Bahrick & Wittlenger, 1975). One thing that may be crucial to the development of such a face capacity is the ability to encode the distinctive elements of a face. That is, the ability to identify the information that distinguishes a target face from some notion of an average face or central tendency. Distinctiveness has a well-documented effect on the ease with which a face is processed. Using faces that vary naturally in distinctiveness, it has been shown that the more atypical a face is the more likely it is to be correctly identified and the less likely it is to be mistakenly identified (Bartlett, Hurry & Thorley, 1984; Goldstein & Chance, 1981; Light, Kayra-Stuart & Hollander, 1979; Shepherd, Gibling & Ellis, 1991; Valentine & Bruce, 1986a; Winograd, 1981). Facial distinctiveness appears to confer a recognition advantage in such face recognition tasks.


This paper is devoted to the analysis of Osip Mandelstam's poem "No, I will not hide from the great mess." The poem is well-known yet remains relatively obscure and understudied, the meaning of most of its images is not clear. On the basis of motive analysis, draft versions of the poem (as analyzed by I. M. Semenko), and memoirs, a new interpretation is proposed: the addressee and the antagonist of the poem is Anna Akhmatova. The lyrical hero of the poem rides in a tram in the 1930s and painfully recalls the trips on a carriage with Akhmatova in 1917–1918. This interpretation allows to clarify the semantics of all the elements of the poem: its desperate and "rippling" intonation, the motive of the carriage driver, the motive of the game, the image of the "whore," the comparison with a sparrow, etc. All of these images have a biographical connotation, related to Mandelstam's relationship with Akhmatova.


In this paper, a hybrid density functional valence bond method based on unpaired electron density, called λ-DFVB(U), is presented, which is a combination of the valence bond self-consistent field (VBSCF) method and Kohn-Sham density functional theory. In λ-DFVB(U), the double-counting error of electron correlation is mitigated by a linear decomposition of the electron-electron interaction using a parameter λ, which is a function of an index based on the number of effectively unpaired electrons. In addition, λ-DFVB(U) is based on the approximation that correlation functionals in KS-DFT only cover dynamic correlation and exchange functionals mimic some amount of static correlation. Furthermore, effective spin densities constructed from unpaired density are used to address the symmetry dilemma problem in λ-DFVB(U). The method is applied to test calculations of atomization energies, atomic excitation energies, and reaction barriers. It is shown that the accuracy of λ-DFVB(U) is comparable to that of CASPT2, while its computational cost is approximately the same as VBSCF.


Recent work have shown that Reed-Müller (RM) codes achieve the erasure channel capacity. However, this performance is obtained with maximum-likelihood decoding which can be costly for practical applications. In this paper, we propose an encoding/decoding scheme for Reed-Müller codes on the packet erasure channel based on Plotkin construction. We present several improvements over the generic decoding. They allow, for a light cost, to compete with maximum-likelihood decoding performance, especially on high-rate codes, while significantly outperforming it in terms of speed.


We discuss the potential of AFTER@LHC to measure single-transverse-spin asymmetries in open-charm and bottomonium production. With a HERMES-like hydrogen polarised target, such measurements over a year can reach precisions close to the per cent level. This is particularly remarkable since these analyses can probably not be carried out anywhere else


We have proposed a novel line detection method based on the estimated probability density function of gradient directions of edges. By estimating peaks of the density function, we determine groups of edges that have the same gradient direction. For edges in the same groups, we detect lines that correspond to peaks of the connectivity weighted distribution of the distances from the origin. In the experiments using the Data Matrix barcode images and LCD images, the proposed method showed better performance than conventional Methods in terms of the processing speed and accuracy.


Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in a country's progress, particularly in the Philippines. Lack of access to finance has been identified as the most severe hindrance to MSMEs' growth and development. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the awareness of MSMEs in accessing finances and know their capacity to handle financial constraints. The factors discussed were the structure of the financial sector, awareness of funding opportunities, collateral requirements, and small business support services. The research focused on a sample size of 363 MSMEs. The research design of this study is quantitative since the research questions seek to answer and lead to numerical data. The researchers used a descriptive research method as it seeks to ascertain if there is a significant relationship between financial constraints and MSMEs' access to finance in Calapan City. Self-structured questionnaires were used to collect the primary data. By examining the factors or indicators of the study, the researchers found that financial constraints such as collateral requirements, small business support services, the structure of financial institutions, and awareness of funding opportunities, had a significant relationship towards accessing finance of MSMEs in Calapan City. Therefore, the study suggested that MSMEs should look for a financial institution that provides loan products and services that are consistent with their demands for business funding. Business owners should improve their financial management abilities by attending government-provided training and seminars. Further studies are highly recommended to discover other factors affecting MSMEs' financing access.


The association of hoverflies with vineyards and the response of the species to different types of ground cover management were investigated in two Swiss vineyards sampled using Malaise and emergence traps from March to July 2014. Eight of the 21 species collected in emergence traps, some of them with conservation interest, were identified as having a high association with vineyards. The most diverse fauna was found with ground cover of spontaneous, ruderal vegetation, which provided for, in particular, aphid-feeding species living in the grass-root zone. Plots in which there was no ground vegetation lacked these species. Sowing a grassy mixture of seeds, which resulted in a complete cover of ground vegetation, was not found to promote richness and abundance of hoverflies, and was interpreted as a "barrier" to development of syrphid biodiversity in vineyards. The various ground vegetation treatments studied were found to promote almost only polyvoltine aphidophagous species, except a few phytophagous species and univoltine species whose larvae live in the soil. Thus, management of ground cover in vineyards can have a significant impact on abundance of hoverfly populations and spontaneous vegetation in the ground cover can maximise hoverfly diversity. Although hoverflies have no evident role in biological control in vineyards, vineyards can be regarded as potential reservoirs of beneficial insects to populate other crops.


Abstract Context Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease characterized with hyperactivation of type 2 T helper (Th2) immune responses. Icariin is a flavonoid glucoside with anti-inflammatory activities, which has been used to treat multiple diseases. Objective The present study investigates the underlying mechanisms by which icariin regulates Th2 responses and AD development. Materials and methods BALB/c mice were induced by DNFB to establish AD models, and injected with or without 10 mg/kg icariin for 2 weeks (i.p., daily). CD4+T cells were induced by Th2 condition to simulate AD in vitro, and also treated with or without 100 µM icariin. Results Icariin ameliorated AD-like skin lesion, manifested as a significant decrease in dermatitis scores (from 8.00 ± 1.00 to 3.67 ± 0.58), serum IgE levels (from 3119.15 ± 241.81 to 948.55 ± 182.51 ng/mL), epidermal thickness (from 93.86 ± 4.61 to 42.67 ± 2.48 µm) and infiltration of mast cells (from 60.67 ± 3.21 cells to 36.00 ± 2.65 cells). Also, icariin inactivated NLRP3 inflammasome, inhibited Th2 skewing, reduced lncRNA MALAT1 expression, but elevated miR-124-3p expression in vivo and in vitro. MALAT1 increased NLRP3 expression through targeting miR-124-3p. Knockdown of MALAT1 repressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation and mitigated Th1/Th2 imbalance in Th2-conditioned CD4+T cells, whereas both MALAT1 overexpression and miR-124-3p inhibition ablated the inhibitory effects of icariin on Th2 immune responses. Discussion and conclusions The findings further improve our understanding of the mechanism by which icariin affects AD progression, and highlights the potential of icariin in the treatment of AD.


Abstract : Purpose: In Phase 1, focus groups were conducted with military nurses who treat combat-wounded patients and, separately, with combat-wounded patients. The aims of the study were to explore the lived experience of combat-wounded patients and the military nurses who care for them. In Phase2, the aims were for military nurses who treat combat-wounded patients to evaluate the web-based tailored cognitive/behavioral intervention called Stress Gym for its utility and effectiveness for their patients. The patients evaluated Stress Gym for a variety of factors, including utility and ease of use. Design: In Phase 1, the study was a qualitative phenomenological design. In Phase 2, the use of the intervention was a proof of concept design with military nurses and combat wounded patients in military medical treatment facilities (MTFs). Methods: In Phase 1, focus groups were conducted with military nurses and combat-wounded patients. In Phase 2, the nurses and patients logged on to Stress Gym, reviewed the 9 modules available, and completed a short evaluation of the website. Sample: In Phase 1, 20 military nurses participated, and 8 combat-wounded patients participated. There were 4 Air Force nurses, 8 Army nurses, and 8 Navy nurses. In addition, 4 Army patients and 4 Marine patients participated. In Phase 2, 124 military nurses and 5 combat-wounded patients participated. Analysis: In Phase 1, data were collected using descriptive phenomenological method. In Phase 2, data were analyzed using frequency and descriptive statistics, independent ttests, one-way ANOVA, and correlation. Findings: In Phase 1, themes common to nurses and patients were coping, shared experiences, finding meaning, psychosocial nursing care, families and bureaucratic structure. Thematic differences were the patients perspectives changed self while nurses described professional boundaries.


Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is specific method of clinical pharmacology for monitoring of the therapy using measurement of drug serum concentrations followed interpretation and good cooperation with clinician. TDM help clinicians to quickly optimize vancomycin dosing regimens to maximize the clinical effect and minimize the toxicity of the drugs. Minimum serum vancomycin trough concentrations should always be maintained above 10 mg/L to avoid development of resistance, neverthelles trough concentrations > 20 mg/L are not recommended because of the risk of nephrotoxicity. For serious infections vancomycin trough concentrations of 15-20 mg/L are recommended and for a pathogen with an MIC of 1 mg/L, the minimum trough concentration would have to be at least 15 mg/L to generate the target AUC24/MIC 400 (area under the curve/minimal inhibitory concentration). In non-complicated infections trough concentrations of 10-15 mg/L should be sufficient. For continuous infusions of vancomycin target steady-state concentration values of 15-25 mg/L have been advocated for critically ill patients.Key words: therapeutic monitoring - trough concentration - vancomycin.


This paper presents a syntactic method for sophisticated logical structure analysis that transforms document images with multiple pages and hierarchical structure into an electronic document based on SGML/XML. To produce a logical structure more accurately and quickly than previous works of which the basic units are text lines, the proposed parsing method takes text regions with hierarchical structure as input. Furthermore, we define a document model that is able to describe geometric characteristics and logical structure information of documents efficiently and present its automated creation method. Experimental results with 372 images scanned from the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI) show that the method has performed logical structure analysis successfully and generated a document model automatically. Particularly, the method generates SGML/XML documents as the result of structural analysis, so that it enhances the reusability of documents and independence of platform.


Artificial Neural networks have been part of an attempt to emulate the learning curve of the human nervous system. However the vital difference of, nervous system being highly parallel and computer processor units remaining largely sequential persists. Here an attempt is made to bridge that gap with the help of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) which are designed to be highly parallel. In particular Back propagation networks are considered which use supervised learning. Back-propagation algorithms, with no data dependencies are embarrassingly parallel and hence only a totally parallel system can exploit it fully. However, it has also been observed that GPUs underperform when either significant overhead in calculations is incurred or algorithm is not sufficiently parallel.


Obesity is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Most studies observe the effects of a high-fat diet (HFD) in 10–12 weeks. This work investigated the effects induced by a HFD administered for 6 weeks on the nutritional status of mice and some aspects of the inflammatory response in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Male Swiss Webster mice, 2–3 months of age, were fed a control diet or HFD for 6 weeks. After this period, the mice were euthanized, and peritoneal macrophages were collected for immunoassays and assessment of biochemical parameters. A HFD was associated with increased cholesterol, insulin resistance, C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, and serum resistin levels. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)stimulated adipocyte cultures of animals subjected to a HFD showed increased production of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). However, peritoneal macrophages of the HFD group showed no changes in the levels of these cytokines. LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophages from HFD-treated animals showed a reduction in mRNA expression of TNF-α and IL-6, as well as a decrease in expression of the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB). In conclusion, HFD treatment for 6 weeks induces similar signs to metabolic syndrome and decreases the capacity of peritoneal macrophages to develop an appropriate inflammatory response to a bacterial component.


Vitamin D plays an important role in numerous cellular functions due to the ability to bind the Vitamin D receptor (VDR), which is present in different tissues. Several human diseases depend on low vitamin D3 (human isoform) serum level, and supplementation is necessary. However, vitamin D3 has poor bioavailability, and several strategies are tested to increase its absorption. In this work, the complexation of vitamin D3 in Cyclodextrin-based nanosponge (CD-NS, in particular, βNS-CDI 1:4) was carried out to study the possible enhancement of bioactivity. The βNS-CDI 1:4 was synthesized by mechanochemistry, and the complex was confirmed using FTIR-ATR and TGA. TGA demonstrated higher thermostability of the complexed form. Subsequently, in vitro experiments were performed to evaluate the biological activity of Vitamin D3 complexed in the nanosponges on intestinal cells and assess its bioavailability without cytotoxic effect. The Vitamin D3 complexes enhance cellular activity at the intestinal level and improve its bioavailability. In conclusion, this study demonstrates for the first time the ability of CD-NS complexes to improve the chemical and biological function of Vitamin D3.


The Citronelle field was discovered in 1955 by the Zack Brooks Drilling Company No. 1 Donovan, SW 1/4, NW 1/4, Sec. 25, T2N, R3W, Mobile County, Alabama. The well produced from the lower Glen Rose Formation at a depth of 10,879 ft (3,315.9 m). During the next 10 years, 434 productive wells were drilled. The productive limits completely enveloped the town of Citronelle, 32 mi (51.5 km) north of Mobile, Alabama. Forty-acre spacing, low gas-oil ratio, and rapid bottomhole-pressure drop, necessitating pumping of all wells, resulted in slow and spasmodic development. Unitization of 139 wells for waterflood was initiated in 1961, and a saltwater-injection program proved successful. Later, fresh water from the Wilcox Formation was used for injection fluids. By May 1966 all wells were unitized, and on December 31, 1973, the field had produced over 107 million bbl of oil. The structure, which lies in the southwest Alabama salt basin, is residual in origin. The field, as well as the townsite, is topographically high. The presence of this high led to the drilling of two shallow tests. Although both wells were dry, the fact that they appeared to be structurally high led to the drilling of the deeper discovery well. The structure at the producing-depth datum is that of a simple, moderately flat-topped, ovate dome, but the field presents a complex meander-belt pattern with 52 productive sandstone zones in 330 separate reservoirs. The entire field was eventually unitized under three agreements as though there were three separate reservoirs. All the productive wells prod ce through electrically driven downhole pumps. Production for the field reached its peak in the spring of 1972 when all three injection programs were utilizing all wells and all economically floodable sandstone reservoirs. Thirty-three percent of the oil in place had been produced by the end of 1973. Profitable production is expected to continue for another 8 years. At present, the Citronelle Operators Unit is studying the economics of a tertiary flood using carbon dioxide as a miscible agent.


The genes for the two dissimilar subunits of type IV collagen are organized in a head-to-head manner with their translation initiation codons within 874 base pairs. Murine genomic clones which contain portions of both genes have been isolated and characterized. These clones contain the first exon of the alpha 1(IV) chain and the first 3 exons for the alpha 2(IV) chain within a 1.7-kilobase HindIII fragment. The intergenic region appears not to resemble previously described bidirectional promoters. The HindIII fragment is present as a single copy in the mouse genome ruling out the presence of one of these gene fragments as a pseudogene. These findings agree with linkage studies of these two genes and differ from the known organization of human fibrillar collagen genes which have been found to be dispersed within the human genome.


Polarization modulation instability (PMI) is a form of modulation instability that can exist in weakly birefringent optical fibers [1]. Sidebands can be generated by this effect when a polarization mode of the birefringent fiber is excited with an intense optical pump. The polarization state of the sidebands is orthogonal to the polarization of the pump signal. PMI has been observed in microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). PMI was reported in a large-air-filling fraction MOF that was pumped in the normal dispersion regime with visible light [2]. The coherent degradation of femtosecond supercontinuum light generated in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) MOFs due to PMI was recently investigated [3]. Here, we report the experimental observation of PMI effect in ANDi MOFs with picosecond pumping at 1064 nm.


Ultra-high-precision single-point diamond turning (SPDT) is the state-of-the-art machining technology for the advanced manufacturing of critical components with an optical surface finish and surface roughness down to one nanometer. One of the critical factors that directly affects the quality of the diamond-cutting process is the cutting force. Increasing the cutting force can induce tool wear, increase the cutting temperature, and amplify the positioning errors of the diamond tool caused by the applied cutting force. It is important to measure the cutting force during the SPDT process to monitor the tool wear and surface defects in real time. By measuring the cutting force in different cutting conditions, the optimum cutting parameters can be determined and the best surface accuracies with minimum surface roughness can be achieved. In this study a smart cutting tool for in-process force measurement and nanopositioning of the cutting tool for compensating the displacements of the diamond tool during the cutting process is designed and analyzed. The proposed smart cutting tool can measure applied forces to the diamond tool and correct the nanometric positioning displacements of the diamond tool in three dimensions. The proposed cutting tool is wireless and can be used in hybrid and intelligent SPDT platforms to achieve the best results in terms of optical surface finish. The simulation results are shown to be almost consistent with the results of the derived analytical model. The preliminary results pave the way for promising applications of the proposed smart cutting tool in SPDT applications in the future.


Photothermal therapies have limited efficacy and application due to the poor penetration depth of light inside tissue. In earlier work, we described the development of novel fiberoptic microneedles to provide a means to mechanically penetrate dermal tissue and deliver light directly into a localized target area. This paper presents an alternate fiberoptic microneedle design with the capability of delivering more diffuse, but therapeutically useful photothermal energy. Laser lipolysis is envisioned as a future clinical application for this design.


Background: Antibiotics are among the most common drugs used worldwide.They kill or prevent the growth of bacterial microorganisms in the body, hence, they are the major agents used in treating bacterial infections. Because they are prone to abuse and misuse, regular evaluation of their utilization is important for optimal healthcare delivery.Objective: This study determined the antibiotics type, utilization, prescriptions and cost patterns in the adult out-patient pharmacy of a public tertiary health facility in Nigeria.Methods: This is a retrospective observational study using medication utilization records (prescriptions) to investigate the study objectives. Prescriptions dispensed in 2018 in adult out-patient pharmacy of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi were reviewed. Data were evaluated using the World Health Organization-developed prescribing indicators. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the results. The percentage and averages of the variable were calculated.Results: The medication utilization records showed that there was a significantly higher proportion (P-value = 0.0038) of females (70%) compared to males (the ratio being 2.44:1.00) that were prescribed antibiotics. The antibiotic utilization profile showed that antibiotic selection by class was significantly different and accounted for 44.02% of the total variance seen in the prescription pattern (P-value is < 0.0001). Also, the age of participants accounted for 19.48% of the total variance seen in the selection practice and so, age significantly affected the selection practice/prescription pattern with P-value < 0.0001. Dosage forms profile showed that the oral dosage forms were significantly more prescribed (P-value < 0.0001) compared with any other dosage form encountered in the study. There was no significant difference in the prescription patterns of parenteral and other dosage forms (P-value > 0.05). A greater percentage (84.22 %) of the prescriptions was from the Essential Drug list of Nigeria. Conclusion: Though the percentage of antibiotics prescribed from essential medicines list was found to be satisfactory, a strict protocol for prescribers is required to promote rational antibiotics use. This would not only prevent antibiotic resistance but also reduce the treatment expenditure and encourage antibiotic stewardship.


This paper explores the empirical, conceptual and theoretical gains that can be made using cosmopolitan social theory to think through the urban transformations that scholars have in recent years termed planetary urbanization. Recognizing the global spread of urbanization makes the need for a cosmopolitan urban sociology more pressing than ever. Here, it is suggested that critical urban sociology can be invigorated by focusing upon the disconnect that Henri Lefebvre posits between the planetarization of the urban - which he views as economically and technologically driven - and his dis-alienated notion of a global urban society. The first aim of this paper is to highlight the benefits of using 'cosmopolitan' social theory to understand Lefebvre's urban problematic (and to establish why this is also a cosmopolitan problematic); the second is to identify the core cosmopolitan contradictions of planetary urbanization, tensions that are both actually existing and reproduced in scholarly accounts. The article begins by examining the challenges presented to urban sociology by planetary urbanization, before considering how cosmopolitan sociological theory helps provide an analytical 'grip' on the deep lying social realities of contemporary urbanization, especially in relation to questions about difference, culture and history. These insights are used to identify three cosmopolitan contradictions that exist within urbanized (and urbanizing) space; tensions that provide a basis for a thoroughgoing cosmopolitan investigation of planetary urbanization.


This paper presents optimized multilevel inverter topology is proposed for a four pole induction motor drive. The open-end winding scheme, the Induction Motor windings are fed from both sides with two two-level inverters (with half the dc-link voltage when compared with conventional NPC inverter) to get a three-level inverter topology. With this concept as the number of levels increases, the inverters have to be cascaded or a conventional multi-level inverters have to be used on both the sides of the Induction Motor winding. This topology has developed by using the advantage of two identical voltage profile winding coils per phase in a four pole induction motor drive using Ann. Further the DC source is replaced by a renewable resource such as solar panels, wind power etc. and DC voltage is obtained. Performance characteristics of three-phase asynchronous motor are analyzed with PV array connected. The method can be easily extended to a multilevel inverter. The proposed concept is verified by using Matlab/Simulink software and the corresponding results are presented.


The degree to which the identification of a parafoveally presented letter target was impaired by being flanked by a foveal or peripheral nontarget at a target-mask interval of zero, 75, or 150 msec, was examined. Peripheral placement of the nontarget was more disruptive than foveal placement, and this asymmetry was significantly more pronounced at a 75-msec interval than at either of the other two. This finding is consonant with explanations of the asymmetry based on target visibility rather than on criterion or response factors.


Dronedarone (Multaq - Sanofi-Aventis) has been approved by the FDA for oral treatment of atrial fibrillation and flutter. Amiodarone (Cordarone, and others) is the most effective drug for this indication, but has considerable toxicity.


Aim Hospital admission can be a stressful time for most patients and parents. The aim of introducing this tool is to improve the parent and patient experience of the medical consultation and benefit maximum from the clinicians ward rounds. Methods We designed a tool considering the common parameters a parent would like to know when their child is admitted as an inpatient (DELPEDS). We studied the validity of the tool over two of the first author's hot weeks. Parents were handed over the tool sheet at the time of admission to the ward so that they had enough time to read, think and add anything else they would like to know during the ward round. Results Out of the 30 patients who were provided with the tool 22 patients gave feedback. All the 22 parents found it very helpful and there were positive comments that the tool helped them think various aspects of their child care and ask questions so that they had a clear understanding of their child's health, basic needs and probable discharge. For the clinician, it guided in having a structure and improves the consultation focusing on patient/parent need especially in a busy winter ward round. Conclusion DELPEDS, provided clinician with a structured tool, guidance to parents regarding how they can benefit from medical consultations and seems to have improved patient experience of the ward rounds.


The Existing domestic Energy meter reading systems universally exist many problems, such as difficulty in construction, too narrow bandwidth, poor real time, not two way communication quickly etc. To solve above problems, this paper uses the wireless technology for Automatic Meter Reading system.[1] A proposed method provides the communication between the Electricity Board section and the consumer section using Internet of things (IOT) for transmitting the customer's electricity consumption and bill information that is calculated using ARM7 microcontroller.[2] The power fluctuations are monitored using the voltage sensor and current sensor is fed to the microcontroller which indicates it to the Electricity Board. Depending on the power generation, the house hold devices are controlled automatically.[3] From Electricity Board section the information regarding the bill amount and payment are communicated to the consumer via Global System for Mobile communication. The power and billing information is continuously transmitted by the use of Internet of Things and monitored by the Electricity Board section. Whenever there is power theft identified can be sent from the Electricity Board section to cut the supply to the customer.


Completely updated, this popular pocket guide provides commonly used reference ranges and values spanning birth through adolescence; plus, data needed for treatment of preterm and other newborns.
 https://shop.aap.org/reference-range-values-for-pediatric-care-paperback_66f9ebed/


Using SINFONI Hα, [N ii], and [S ii] AO data of 27 z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) from the SINS and zC-SINF surveys, we explore the dependence of outflow strength (via the broad flux fraction) on various galaxy parameters. For galaxies that have evidence for strong outflows, we find that the broad emission is spatially extended to at least the half-light radius (∼a few kpc). Decomposition of the [S ii] doublet into broad and narrow components suggests that this outflowing gas probably has a density of ∼10–100 cm−3, less than that of the star-forming gas (600 cm−3). There is a strong correlation of the Hα broad flux fraction with the star formation surface density of the galaxy, with an apparent threshold for strong outflows occurring at 1 M☉ yr−1 kpc−2. Above this threshold, we find that SFGs with log m* > 10 have similar or perhaps greater wind mass-loading factors (η = /SFR) and faster outflow velocities than lower mass SFGs, suggesting that the majority of outflowing gas at z ∼ 2 may derive from high-mass SFGs. The mass-loading factor is also correlated with the star formation rate (SFR), galaxy size, and inclination, such that smaller, more star-forming, and face-on galaxies launch more powerful outflows. We propose that the observed threshold for strong outflows and the observed mass loading of these winds can be explained by a simple model wherein break-out of winds is governed by pressure balance in the disk.


The effects of alloying elements and impurities on the microstructure and properties of metals and alloys are important. Understanding of these effects may help to control and produce products with desired properties at lower cost. In the present work the effects of Al, Si and Mn on the recrystallization behavior, hardness and microstructural changes of an Fe- containing brass during annealing were studied. The results show that alloying elements strongly affect recrystallization kinetics and resulted finer microstructures. Hardness variations during annealing are consistent with microstructural observations and the presence of alloying elements. All elements slow down recrystallization progress and increase resulted hardness values. The resulted microstructures in the presence of alloying elements are much finer than that of plain 70B brass. It was concluded that the present alloying elements affect the recrystallization behavior of 70B brass in a similar manner. Their mechanism of interactions is solute drag effect and their effects sum up when they present together.


Multiculturalism has received fierce controversy and discussion upon its proposal for its complexity in definition and in practice. This research discusses the definition of multiculturalism focusing on the comparison between the term "cultural pluralism" and "multiculturalism", its influence on American society and its distinct characteristics, which is the claims of equality and identification between different cultures. I t is argued that multiculturalism is not only a cultural ideology and a cultural war between the WASP-based mainstream culture and the cultures of the disadvantaged groups, but also a political and economic movement. The research also analyzes the practice of multiculturalism in the fields of political participation, education, race, media and the practice of multiculturalism that targets the disabled people and women. Moreover, the problems arise during the proposal and practice of multiculturalism are presented in the research. It is argued that the relationship between multiculturalism and homogeneous culture is not contradictory but united. A mature, sustainable and energetic national culture needs to seek common ground while recognizing and reserving the differences.


To THE EDITOR—We read with interest the editorial commentary by Crump [1], which emphasizes the need for a syndromic approach to fever in low-resource settings—citing 2 recent epidemics of Salmonella Typhi [2, 3], the decreasing proportion of malaria-attributable illness in many areas, and changing vaccination patterns as arguments. We strongly agree with this point and wish to emphasize the role of microbiologic diagnostic tests in this process. Although the benefits of parasitological diagnosis of malaria are widely emphasized [4], using malaria diagnosis alone as the cornerstone of linking febrile patients to appropriate care is dangerous. For example, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, was recently asked for assistance by colleagues in the remote Bwamanda health zone of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was facing an outbreak of severe malarial anemia in the second half of 2011. A dramatic increase in blood transfusion requirements and in-hospital mortality was observed among children <5 years of age with parasitologically confirmed malaria. Intensified surveillance of bloodstream infections in December 2011 via the national reference laboratory in Kinshasa recovered 57 nontyphoidal Salmonella isolates among 135 blood cultures in severely ill children (42%). This large unrecognized outbreak of severe disease from a clonal strain of Salmonella illustrates the pitfalls of focusing on a single pathogen, such as malaria, in patients presenting with febrile illnesses in low-resource settings. Further, widespread adoption of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) has resulted in dramatic increases in empiric antibacterial use among the three-quarters of febrile patients in whom no malaria is found [5]. This dichotomous diagnostic approach can only fuel emerging antimicrobial resistance in the settings that can least afford it [6]. Choosing rational empiric therapy for patients with febrile syndromes in lowresource settings is complicated by the fact that a large proportion of them may be caused by any of several geographically restricted infections and neglected tropical diseases, such as tick-borne borreliosis [7], visceral leishmaniasis [8], and human African trypanosomiasis. Such infections are severe and treatable but often clinically indistinguishable without confirmatory tests. Making matters worse, very little epidemiologic data underpin clinicians' assessment of prior probability in vast areas of Africa and Asia. A syndromic approach to patients with fever that integrates relevant combinations of RDT is urgently needed in many parts of the world. This will require (1) comprehensive epidemiologic studies using reference standard techniques to determine the prevalence of priority diseases that are severe and treatable; (2) validation of existing RDT in field settings and development of new RDT for key pathogens of epidemiologic importance; and (3) evidence-based algorithms incorporating local epidemiological data and setting-specific RDT diagnostic contributions, because the latter can vary substantially by locality [9, 10]. We are working as part of the EUfunded NIDIAG (Neglected Infectious Disease dIAGnosis) consortium to develop such an approach to persistent fever in 4 low-resource countries, with the aim of achieving patient-centered care pathways that will accelerate diagnosis and improve outcomes.


Missing data is a large-scale challenge to research and investigate. It reduces the statistical power and produces negative consequences that may introduce selection bias on the data. Many approaches to handle this problem have been introduced. The main approaches suggested are either missing values to be ignored (removed) or imputed (filled in) with new values. This paper uses the second method. Possible worlds and possible and certain keyswere introduced in Köhler et.al., and by Levene et.al. Köhler and Link introduced certain functional dependencies (c-FD) as a natural complement to Lien's class of possible functional dependencies (p-FD). Weak and strong functional dependencies were studied by Levene and Loizou. We introduced the intermediate concept of strongly possible worlds that are obtained by imputing values already existing in the table in a preceding paper. This results in strongly possible keys (spKey's) and strongly possible functional dependencies (spFD's). We give a polynomial algorithm to verify a single spKey and show that in general, it is NP-complete to verify an arbitrary collection of spKeys. We give a graph-theoretical characterization of the validity of a given spFD X →sp Y.We show, that the complexity to verify a single strongly possible functional dependency is NP-complete in general, then we introduce some cases when verifying a single spFD can be done in polynomial time.As a step forward axiomatization of spFD's, the rules given for weak and strong functional dependencies are checked. Appropriate weakenings of those that are not sound for spFD's are listed. The interaction between spFD's and spKey's and certain keys is studied. Furthermore, a graph theoretical characterization of implication between singular attribute spFD's is given.


A left order on a magma (e.g. semigroup) is a total order of its elements that is left invariant under the magma operation. A natural topology can be introduced on the set of all left orders of an arbitrary magma. We prove that this topological space is compact. Interesting examples of nonassociative magmas, whose spaces of right orders we analyze, come from knot theory and are called quandles. Our main result establishes an interesting connection between topological properties of the space of left orders on a group, and the classical algebraic result by Conrad [4] and Łoś [13] concerning the existence of left orders.


INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the study was to engage community members and practice partners across multiple sectors in a participatory strategy development process to identify social and organizational determinants of accessing health care, collectively prioritize identified issues, and develop strategies for change.

METHODS
Using concept mapping, a mixed-methods approach, a collaborative team of academics, practice partners, and community health workers collected data from community members and agency representatives (n=366) across four counties through facilitated community forums and an online survey in four counties in the Bootheel region of Missouri, USA. These responses were consolidated into a set of statements that were used with a smaller group of participants (n=60, 15 per county) for sorting and rating purposes. The resulting concept maps were presented to community participants, who were guided through a structured process for prioritization of issues and strategy development.

RESULTS
Participants identified several individual-, social-, community-, and organization-level barriers to accessing health care, including cost, lack of transportation, lack of information about services, lack of coordinated care, lack of trust, and racism and classism in local healthcare systems.

CONCLUSION
While the key social and organizational determinants of access to health care were similar across counties, the prioritization of these determinants and the strategies developed to address key issues differed across the counties.


Abstract. The proposed contribution outlines the study conducted on the Church of Sant'Agnello Abate, located in the ancient center of the city of Maddaloni. The church is characterized by severe decay conditions and has been inaccessible and unusable for decades. To recover the memory of a place that was habitually used until 1980, survey activities were performed on the building body. Specifically, multi-sensor surveys have been performed and allowed the complete 3D documentation of the building. Various goals were set: documenting the current condition and configuration of the church: creating virtual fruition systems, since the place is closed and characterized by poor safety conditions; establishing communication models, aligned with contemporary iconographic culture, for the appearance of the places before 1980. Both for survey technologies and fruition modalities, low-cost systems were employed and tested.


INTRODUCTION Compliance and inhaler technique are key factors leading to poor asthma control with resulting hospital admissions.Most asthmatics are managed in the community, but require regular assessment to ensure compliance and good inhaler technique.Non-compliance with treatment may precipitate acute exacerbations and hospital admissions, during which specialist respiratory review may be limited. AIM Asthma admissions were reviewed to investigate whether these admissions may have been preventable with better management in the community.In addition, the management in the acute setting was audited against the British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines. METHODS A retrospective audit of case notes was undertaken for all patients admitted with acute asthma from September and October 2012. RESULTS 41 patients were identified.56% of these were on treatment step 1 or 2 of the BTS guidelines.37% of patients were on step 3 and the remaining 7% on steps 4 and 5. At discharge, only 2 patients had a medication dose increase and only 6 had a new medication added.Documentation relating to stage of treatment, compliance and inhaler technique was poor as was provision of self-management plans. CONCLUSIONS Asthma exacerbations requiring admission can reflect poor disease control.Most patients were classified as mild asthmatics.As only 4% of patients had a step-up of their asthma treatment on discharge, poor compliance, inadequate inhaler technique, limited use of self-management plans and lack of patient education contributed to these admissions.Work needs to take place with GPs to ensure that regular asthma reviews are undertaken in the community.In addition, we propose an asthma checklist to improve adherence to BTS guidance.


The rapid generation and modification of macrocyclic peptides in medicinal chemistry is an ever-growing area that can present various synthetic challenges. The reaction between N-terminal cysteine and 2-cyanoisonicotinamide is a new biocompatible click reaction that allows rapid access to macrocyclic peptides. Importantly, 2-cyanoisonicotinamide can be attached to different linkers directly during solid-phase peptide synthesis. The synthesis involves only commercially available precursors, allowing for a fully automated process. We demonstrate the approach for four cyclic peptide ligands of the Zika virus protease NS2B-NS3. Although all peptides display the substrate recognition motif, the activity strongly depends on the linker length, with the shortest cyclization linker corresponding to highest activity (K i = 0.64 μM). The most active cyclic peptide displays affinity 78 times higher than that of its linear analogue. We solved a crystal structure of the proteolytically cleaved ligand and synthesized it by applying the presented chemistry to peptide ligation.


While openness in adoption has become more common in the United States, little research has examined contact between birth and adoptive families as adoptees become adults. Using quantitative and qualitative data from 167 emerging adult adoptees, factors characterizing contact (e.g., type, frequency, with whom), satisfaction with contact, and the influences of transitional events and significant relationships were explored. Among these variables, satisfaction with contact with birth parents in emerging adulthood was significantly associated with greater openness levels. Four qualitative case studies, representing increasing openness levels with increasing satisfaction, provided illustrations of variability in emerging adult adoptees' experiences of contact with birth parents. Overall, with regard to openness in adoption, emerging adulthood represents a transitional period marked by substantial individual variation.


Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), acting through the c‑Met receptor, plays an important role in solid tumors. Various malignant cells utilize the biological actions of the HGF/c‑Met pathway for their dissociative, invasive and metastatic behaviors. HGF also binds to the receptor expressed on endothelial cells that stimulates angiogenesis, a process critical to continued growth of solid tumors. It is known that HGF induces in vitro expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a key agonist of tumor angiogenesis. In the present study, we showed using in vitro co-culture system with fibroblasts that VEGF expression of CT26 cells was amplified through tumor-stromal interaction, i.e., the HGF paracrine loop. This action was inhibited by interruption of the HGF paracrine loop by gene transfer of NK4, an HGF antagonist. In in vivo experiments, CT26 tumor growth and angiogenesis were markedly enhanced by fibroblast co-inoculation, while the effect of fibroblasts was not observed in NK4‑expressing CT26 cells. These findings suggest that NK4 exerted potent anti‑angiogenic action via indirectly inhibiting VEGF expression of tumor cells in addition to direct effects on endothelial cells. Thus, the HGF/c‑Met pathway may be a considerable candidate for molecular targeting strategy against tumor angiogenesis.


【We investigated the effect of straw mat cover and soil amendments on the reduction of runoff, non-point source pollution load and yield of a Chinese cabbage from alpine fields. Two plots on sandy loam soil were prepared. Experimental treatments were control and rice straw mat cover (3,300 kg/ha)+Polyacrylamide (PAM) (5 kg/ha)+Gypsum (1 ton/ha) (SPG). A variety of Chinese cabbage was cultivated and runoff was monitored during a growing season in 2012. Monitoring was conducted to seven times. Runoff rate of SPG plot was lower than those of control plot. The reduction rate of runoff from SPG plot was 29.4 % compared to control plot. The reduction rate of suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) load of SPG plot was 86.5 %, 34.7 % and 39.1 %, respectively. Yield of a Chinese cabbage from SPG plot (39,646 kg/ha) was greater than that of control plots (28,482 kg/ha). It was concluded that the use of SPG on soil surface could not only reduce the NPS pollution loads in receiving waters but also help increase the crop yield.】


Background: Urban public sports space, including parks and sports facilities, has captured much public attention because of its close correlation with public health. However, few studies have assessed the equity of accessibility to various types of public sports space comprehensively with a fine scale. Methods: This study proposed a spatial equity measurement method based on multi-source urban data and GIS network analysis. Residential buildings were taken as the minimum research unit to investigate the equity differences of residents' enjoyment of urban public sports space accessible by walking and public transportation. Taking Harbin, China as an example, in the concepts of life circle, this study calculated and visualized the equity of more than 12, 000 residential buildings to a variety of public sports space in the central urban area. Results: The results showed that: 1) There was obvious inequity of sports space in the central city. The results under classification varied sharply, while the overall results moderated to a certain extent. 2) There were sharp differences between different types of sports space, and square space had the worst structure of equity. 3) The results of the two traffic modes were significantly correlated, and the correlation coefficient of the comprehensive results was the largest. In areas with poor walking equity, the results of the bus mode were generally not high either. Conclusion: This study integrated multi-source data into the traditional spatial computing models and provided an important reference for the equitable planning of urban public sports space. Attention should still be paid to the characteristics of the population in the planning intervention, such as the preference for public sports space and the limitation of choice caused by age difference. The closer the research is to the human scale, the more scientific the planning may be.


Parasitic components in eGaN-FETs impact the dynamic performance of switching stages. The capacitances seen, primarily on the output characteristics, of these devices are a main contributor towards switching losses and therefor converter efficiency. Additionally, the threshold voltage of the device has an impact towards the switching speed and therefore the efficiency of a power stage. This study shows the impact of extreme temperatures towards the parasitics that impact the switching behaviour of a power stage. A literature research is conducted exploring the various mechanisms and temperature dependancies, which are then related towards transient operations of eGaN-FETs. A device was chosen to perform measurements on output-, reverse transfer capacitance and threshold voltage while increasing temperature from 100°C op to 225°C. The presented results show a large impact of temperature in these parasisic elements that show that high temperature switch-mode power converters need additional design work to ensure switching performance and lifetime.


Objective: Drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) may be contributing to hazardous drinking practices and risk-taking behaviors among college students. In this regard, this study aimed to assess the frequency of AmED consumption in a national sample of Brazilian college students and to estimate the risk that energy drinks pose on drinking and traffic behaviors. Method: A sample of 12,711 college students from across the country was asked to complete a research questionnaire on the use of drugs and other behaviors. Students who reported drinking in the previous 12 months (N = 8672) were divided into 2 groups: (a) those who reported drinking only alcohol (N = 4192) and (b) those who reported drinking AmED (N = 1119). The college students who reported the use of at least one illicit drug were excluded from data analysis. Descriptive and inferential analyses were subsequently carried out using the R library survey software 2.15.0. The null hypothesis was rejected at the level of P < .05. Results: AmED users are more likely to be hazardous drinkers. Being male, single, and involved with high-risk drinking behaviors are associated to AmED. After adjusting for demographic and drinking variables, the odds of being involved in high-risk traffic behaviors—for example, driving at high speed (odds ratio [OR] = 2.6; P < .001) and driving after binge drinking (OR = 2.8; P < .001)—were higher among AmED users than alcohol only users (AUs). Conclusion: The current findings are consistent with the results of previous studies. Drinking AmED may make college students more vulnerable to the occurrence of risky drinking and traffic behaviors. Educational campaigns targeted to young people should be developed warning them about the potential risks of mixing alcohol with energy drinks.


There has been considerable recent interest in the question of effects of constant magnetic fields (CMF) on living organisms. The possible alteration of the physiochemical properties of water appears to be one example of such an influence. The dielectric constant, pH, and surface tension of water exposed to CMF action were studied. The results fail to confirm the changes observed by some authors. Controversial opinions on this problem are also summarized and discussed.


The purpose of this article is to describe a team approach to treatment of hypodontia in adolescent dentition. A case report of hypodontia with a microdontic lateral incisor in a Class I malocclusion illustrates the principles of case management. Multidisciplinary consultation during treatment planning and coordination and appropriate timing of subsequent interdisciplinary dental care enables the clinician to provide the optimum care. The scope of orthodontic and restorative management depends on the severity of the hypodontia.


TPS221 Background: TALA is a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor (PARPi) approved as monotherapy for germline BRCA1/2-mutated HER 2-negative advanced breast cancer. PARPi have demonstrated substantial clinical efficacy in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers (mCRPC) with alterations in DNA damage response (DDR) genes involved directly or indirectly in homologous recombination repair (HRR). Phase 3 study findings (de Bono et al. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:2091-2102) resulted in the approval of olaparib for mCRPC. ENZA is an androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor and established therapy for mCSPC. Since PARP activity has been shown to support AR function, PARP inhibition is expected to increase sensitivity to AR-directed therapies. In addition, AR blockade downregulates HRR gene regulation, which has been hypothesized to induce a " BRCAness " phenotype . A phase 2 study of TALA monotherapy (TALAPRO-1) demonstrated robust antitumor activity in men with heavily pretreated, HRR-mutated mCRPC . The Phase 3, double-blind, randomized trial TALAPRO-3 (NCT04821622) herein presented will compare the combination of TALA plus ENZA versus placebo plus ENZA in men with mCSPC with DDR/HRR alterations. Methods: Approximately 550 patients with mCSPC harboring DDR/HRR alterations will be randomized to TALA (0.5 mg once daily) plus ENZA (160 mg once daily) or placebo (once daily) plus ENZA (160 mg once daily). Key eligibility criteria include age ≥18 years; histological diagnosis of prostate cancer; alterations in 12 DDR/HRR genes known to sensitize to PARPi ( ATM, ATR, BRCA1, BRCA2, CDK12, CHEK2, FANCA, MLH1, MRE11A, NBN, PALB2, RAD51C); and metastatic disease (no brain metastases). Primary endpoint is rPFS (time to radiographic progression in soft tissue per RECIST 1.1 or in bone per PCWG3 criteria by investigator, or death). Secondary endpoints include overall survival, safety, and patient-reported outcomes. Patient recruitment is planned at approximately 285 sites in 27 countries, including the US and Europe, South America, South Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Clinical trial information: NCT04821622.


Recently a young man was admitted to the orthopedic service of Brooke Army Hospital with bone pain and an osteolytic lesion of the right femoral head. The opinion of the staff members and consultants was that the lesion was either infectious or neoplastic in origin. The patient's general physical appearance, however, suggested that the patient probably had an endocrine disturbance as well, and it was felt that the patient should be medically evaluated prior to any surgical procedure. All concerned were of the opinion that if any endocrinopathy was present it was certainly an incidental finding. After extensive medical evaluation it was determined that the patient had primary myxedema, and he was started on therapy in preparation for surgery. The question as to a possible relation between myxedema and the type of bone lesion presented was discussed in detail with members of the consultant staff in the departments of medicine,


OBJECTIVE
To compare cervicovaginal smears obtained by a cotton-tipped swab with those obtained by cervix brush and modified Ayre spatula.

STUDY DESIGN
A combined cervicovaginal smear was collected from 100 women using 3 different collection devices: cotton-tipped swab, cervix brush, and modified Ayre spatula. In each patient a set of 3 smears was collected by the same cytotechnologist using all 3 devices in random order. Smears were evaluated using parameters mandatory for an optimal smear: evenly dispersed, well-preserved, adequate cells from the transformation zone. The cost and availability of the collection devices were also considered.

RESULTS
The swab was the most effective device in obtaining thin, evenly spread, adequate, well-preserved smears as against the cervix brush and Ayre spatula. The pickup of abnormal cells was similar with the cotton-tipped swab and cervix brush, while the Ayre spatula failed to yield high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance and adenocarcinoma cells. The cotton-tipped swab proved to be the most cost effective.

CONCLUSION
A properly prepared cotton-tipped swab is an inexpensive, readily available, nontraumatic collection device that yields smear of optimal quality.


Volume holographic memory offers a compact means of information storage through angle and wavelength multiplexing in three dimensions. As laser warning systems often use both angle-of-arrival and wavelength information in order to identify and/or discriminate among laser threats, volume holographic memory structures are ideally suited for consideration as laser warning receiver sensors. Holographic imaging in volume phase media is examined from the perspective of coupled wave diffraction theory for thick sinusoidal grating structures. Thermally fixed, phase-written volume holograms are discussed and a novel direction of arrival sensor element is proposed for laser warning receiver applications.


This paper describes a near-UV/VIS study of a pyrene:H_2O interstellar ice analogue at 10 K using optical absorption spectroscopy. A new experimental approach makes it possible to irradiate the sample with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light (7-10.5 eV) while simultaneously recording spectra in the 240-1000 nm range with subsecond time resolution. Both spectroscopic and dynamic information on VUV processed ices are obtained in this way. This provides a powerful tool to follow, in-situ and in real time, the photophysical and photochemical processes induced by VUV irradiation of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon containing inter- and circumstellar ice analogue. Results on the VUV photolysis of a prototype sample - strongly diluted pyrene in H_2O ice - are presented. In addition to the pyrene cation (Py+), other products - hydroxypyrene (PyOH), possibly hydroxypyrene cation (PyOH+), and pyrene/pyrenolate anion (Py-/PyO-) - are observed. It is found that the charge remains localized in the ice, also after the VUV irradiation is stopped. The astrochemical implications and observational constraints are discussed.


Biodiesel is a mixture of long-chain fatty acid methyl esters. It was made from vegetable oil and fats, and is renewable with outstanding combustion profile. It will be beneficial to meet ever-growing energy demanding if biodiesel is widely applied. On the other hand, carbohydrates, either from starchy material or lignocellulosic biomass, are the most abundant renewable resources. In this context, it is pivotal to convert carbohydrates into products with similar properties to conventional fossil fuel.
Some microorganisms can accumulate lipid to more than 20 wt% of their biomass when carbohydrates or related carbon sources are metabolized. Microbial lipid, especially produced by yeasts, consists mainly of triacylglycerides with fatty acid compositional profile similar to those of the commercial vegetable oils. Because it can be obtained from renewable raw materials, and be produced continuously with no extensive arable land requirement, microbial lipid has been considered as potential feedstock for biodiesel industry and an important topic for industrial biotechnology.
Microbial lipid production is an aerobic biochemical process that generates intracellular lipid using organic substrates. During the past few years, we have advocated the proposal of Biomass-to-Biodiesel that produces biodiesel using lignocellulosic materials. This proposal included three steps, 1) Hydrolysis of lignocellulose to carbohydrates; 2) Lipid production with oleaginous microorganisms; and 3) Transesterification of microbial lipid to biodiesel. We identified a hand of outstanding oleaginous yeasts, including Rhodosporidium toruloides, Lipomyces starkeyi, and Cryptococcus curvatus. These yeasts produced microbial lipid using materials including glucose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, raw glycerol, corn stalk hydrolysates and Jerusalem artichoke juice. We optimized lipid production processes. When using the yeast R. toruloides Y4 as the lipid producer in a 15-L bioreactor, we achieved lipid content, production titer and lipid productivity of over 65 wt%, 100 g/L and 0.8 g/l/h, respectively. We also demonstrated that biodiesel can be produced using either oleaginous microbial biomass or microbial lipid as the feedstock. Taken together, we will report the most recent progresses in biodiesel-oriented microbial lipid research in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.


A quantitative approach, quasi experimental one group pre-test post-test design aimed to assess the knowledge, practice and attitude on Temporary and Permanent contraceptive methods among primi and multi mother in Alandurai and Rathinapuri areas in Coimbatore, 150 primi and 150 multi mother were selected by non-probability convenient sampling technique was used to assess the knowledge, practice and Attitude by structure questionnaire and reassess the know ledge, practice and attitude. There was a significant association between pretest level of KPA and demographic variables such as age, occupation, duration of marriage, nature of contraception, education. Results showed poor contraceptive knowledge among mothers. Various contraceptives methods of knowledge should be provided to all the mothers.


ABSTRACT Introduction Among cardiovascular disease in pregnancy, valvular heart disease remains a prevalent cause of maternal and fetal morbidity. The physiological changes of pregnancy can lead to decompensation of known or silent valvular heart disease. This poses a challenge to both physicians and patients in determining the best timing and management of valvular disease in the pre and post conception settings. This condition requires specific care to minimize both maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Areas covered In this article, we review the recommended management of valvular heart disease in pregnancy, which include stenotic lesions, regurgitant lesions and prosthetic valves. Expert opinion Overall, left sided stenotic lesions are poorly tolerated and require intervention prior to pregnancy in cases of severe or symptomatic stenosis. Regurgitant lesions, isolated right sided lesions and bioprosthetic valves are better tolerated. Mechanical valves pose a challenging scenario given the high risk for valve thrombosis which must be balanced with the risk of bleeding and fetal embryopathy. Shared decision making is primordial in choosing the anticoagulant strategy during pregnancy in patients with mechanical valves.


The signaling mechanisms mediating myocardial glucose transport are not fully understood. Sucrose nonfermenting AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK)‐related kinase (SNARK) is an AMPK‐related protein kinase that is expressed in the heart and has been implicated in contraction‐stimulated glucose transport in mouse skeletal muscle. We first determined if SNARK is phosphorylated on Thr208, a site critical for SNARK activity. Mice were treated with exercise, ischemia, submaximal insulin, or maximal insulin. Treadmill exercise slightly, but significantly increased SNARK Thr208 phosphorylation. Ischemia also increased SNARK Thr208 phosphorylation, but there was no effect of submaximal or maximal insulin. HL1 cardiomyocytes were used to overexpress wild‐type (WT) SNARK and to knockdown endogenous SNARK. Overexpression of WT SNARK had no effect on ischemia‐stimulated glucose transport; however, SNARK knockdown significantly decreased ischemia‐stimulated glucose transport. SNARK overexpression or knockdown did not alter insulin‐stimulated glucose transport or glycogen concentrations. To study SNARK function in vivo, SNARK heterozygous knockout mice (SNARK+/−) and WT littermates performed treadmill exercise. Exercise‐stimulated glucose transport was decreased by ~50% in hearts from SNARK+/− mice. In summary, exercise and ischemia increase SNARK Thr208 phosphorylation in the heart and SNARK regulates exercise‐stimulated and ischemia‐stimulated glucose transport. SNARK is a novel mediator of insulin‐independent glucose transport in the heart.


A simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method has been described and validated for the determination of oseltamivir phosphate (OSP) in its pure form and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method is based on the reaction of acetylacetone and formaldehyde with the primary amino group of OSP through the Hantzsch reaction, forming a yellow fluorescent dihydropyridine derivative measured spectrofluorimetrically at 475 nm (excitation at 408 nm). At the optimum reaction conditions, the fluorescence intensity concentration plot is rectilinear over the range of 0.4–2.8 μg mL−1. The lower limits of detection and quantitation were 0.08 and 0.24 μg mL−1, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied for determination of OSP in its commercial capsules and suspension with an average percentage recovery of 99.86 ± 1.20 and 98.36 ± 2.42, respectively (n = 5) without interference from common excipients. The proposed method was utilized for in vitro determination of the cited drug in spiked human plasma, with a percent mean recovery (n = 3) of 98.22 ± 1.27%. Furthermore, the proposed method was extended to study the stability of OSP under different stress conditions; such as hydrolysis (acidic and alkaline), oxidation (30% H2O2 v/v), photolysis, (as per ICH guideline Q1B option 1) and a thermal degradation study. Also the developed method was used to investigate the kinetics of the alkaline and acidic degradations of the cited drug.


Electron beams of energies around 100 keV and more, with beam currents of tens of mA in a tetrode gun geometry, have been studied theoretically. The gun parameters were optimised using numerical computation, and the desired beam-crossover of about 0.1 mm diameter around a telefocus distance (ZF) of 400 mm away from the cathode electrode, was obtained. Such electron beams are useful for fusion welding applications. The computed results were verified experimentally up to beam energies of 100 keV, and were found to be in qualitative agreement with the theoretical predictions. Results of the application of this beam to welding are also included in this paper.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder that is characterised by deficits in social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviours, interests and activities. Recent developments in identification techniques mean that many children can be reliably diagnosed with ASD before the age of 2. Early identification creates the opportunity for early intervention. In fact, some research suggests that the earlier a child with ASD receives intervention, the greater the progress he or she is likely to make. Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions are a relatively recent method of early intervention for children with ASD, which combine elements of previous intervention approaches (behavioural, naturalistic behavioural, and developmental/relationship-focused intervention). One such naturalistic developmental behavioural intervention is the early start Denver model (ESDM), which is designed for children with or at risk for ASD between the ages of 12 and 60 months (5 years). Research suggests that ESDM intervention may improve a range of child outcomes when delivered for at least 15 hours per week over at least 10 months. However, many families may not be able to access or afford such intensive intervention. Therefore, the two studies in this thesis evaluated the effectiveness of two ESDM delivery approaches that required relatively few hours of professional input per week. Specifically, low-intensity therapist delivered ESDM intervention, and ESDM parent training.  Study 1 used a multiple probe across participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of 3 hours per week of home-based ESDM therapy for 12 weeks for improving imitation, communication, and engagement for four young children with ASD. It also examined whether children showed increases in these outcomes with their mothers following the intervention. The results of this study suggest that, following the intervention, all four children increased their imitation skills and their engagement with the therapist. In addition three of the children had more functional utterances and one child increased his use of intentional vocalisations. These results were maintained four weeks after intervention and generalised to a lesser degree to each child's mother. This suggests that low-intensity therapist delivered ESDM intervention may improve outcomes for children with ASD.  The results of Studies 1 and 2 suggest that both low-intensity therapist delivered ESDM intervention and ESDM parent training may be promising intervention approaches for young children with ASD. This is particularly encouraging as both approaches involved relatively few hours of professional input per week. In theory, this could increase the number of families who are able to access such intervention. More research is needed to identify the most effective low-intensity ESDM intervention method, or combination of methods.


Current board technologies fail to meet the stringent requirements of the future high-performance microsystems either due to performance (organic) or cost (AlN, Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) related issues. New board materials that can support multiple layers of ultra high-density wiring with small capture pads and low-cost flip chip assembly at finer pitch with reliability are needed. FE modeling was done to lay the guidelines for the material property requirements and to study the solder joint fatigue, board warpage and dielectric stresses during thermal cycling. Modeling results showed that though the Si-matched CTE of board results in low solder joint fatigue, it increases the stresses in the dielectric. In addition, apart from dielectric CTE and strength, the thickness of the build-up dielectric layer is also a vital factor in deciding dielectric reliability. A novel process to manufacture C-SiC composite boards was shown to produce large area thin panels at low cost with the required properties of Si-matched CTE and ultra-high modulus. Test vehicles were fabricated with different dielectrics by assembling flip-chips without underfill on these boards followed by reliability testing using liquid-liquid thermal shock tests and in-situ warpage measurements. Modeling and experimental results indicate that boards with low CTE (2-3 ppm//spl deg/C) and high stiffness are key factors to control the solder joint and dielectric reliability. Dielectric cracking was minimized with advanced low CTE, high-strength materials and thinner build-up layers. The C-SiC board with the novel manufacturing process meets the property requirements for high density packaging substrates in addition to being low cost and large area processable making it a promising board substrate material for future high-performance microsystems.


Iron-site selective 57Fe-Mossbauer spectra in external fields perpendicular to the layers were measured along the magnetization-hysteresis loop in a hcp-Tb/bcc-Fe multilayer with out-of-plane magnetic orientation and large coercivity. In the multidomain region, two oppositely and out-of-plane magnetized domain states in the Fe layers are distinguished in the spectra. The Fe-spin direction was found to be at oblique angles with respect to the surface normal (and Bext direction), reminiscent of a cone state. Fe-spin rotation was directly observed along the hysteresis loop, and the bcc-Fe-specific magnetization loop was calculated from the Mossbauer results.


An epidemic of Enterobacter aerogenes sepsis occurred in seven patients within a four-day perlod in a large pediatric hospital. These patients had received solutions of D5W/0.2NS in 250 cc flexible plastic bags to which 2.5 cc (5meq) of KCi had been added in the hospital pharmacy. All seven patients developed fever and promptly defervesced with withdrawal of the suspect intravenous fluid and institution of appropriate antibiotics. In contrast to reports of epidemics in adults, no mortality occurred, phlebitis was rarely seen and the systemic signs of septicemia were less severe. E. aerogenes septicemia developed in 28% of the 25 children who received it least one unit of the suspect fluid. No cases occurred in children receiving other intravenous fluids. Three units of the suspect intravenous fluid being infused into patients and six of 178 used bags with KCI added were culture positive for E. aerogenes. Although the source of contamination could not be established, the hospital admixture program may have amplified the epidemic.


The application of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)-based techniques, atomic number (Z)-contrast imaging, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) allows determination of chemical compositions at internal interfaces of semiconductor heterostructures as well as determination of local crystalline properties such as strain, relaxation effects or ordering with high lateral spatial resolution. Z-contrast images recorded at internal heterostructure interfaces exhibit atomic spatial resolution in combination with qualitative chemical information. EELS can be used to record the chemical composition quantitatively but with slightly decreased spatial resolution compared to Z-contrast imaging. However, EELS results can be used to calibrate the Z-contrast. Thus, the combination of both techniques can give quantitative information on the chemical composition at interfaces from monolayer to monolayer. The interpretation of Z-contrast imaging is further supported by Z-contrast simulations. Examples demonstrating the performance of Z-contrast imaging (and simulation) and EELS are given for technically relevant III - V heterostructure interfaces. Additionally, we used CBED in order to investigate the crystalline properties of cross sectional specimens from ternary and quaternary heterostructures of on InP or GaAs substrates. Even when using subnanometer electron probes, the quality of the obtained CBED patterns is sufficient to perform local strain measurements with 1 nm spatial resolution and with a sensitivity of . This is proved by a CBED linescan across an alternately strained quaternary superlattice. CBED patterns recorded at interfaces directly exhibit symmetry violations, which are not yet understood satisfactorily. Therefore, further simulations are necessary for a detailed quantitative understanding of CBED patterns from internal interfaces. The combination of Z-contrast imaging, EELS and CBED allows the extensive quantitative characterization of semiconductor heterostructures and interfaces with the necessary lateral spatial resolution down to the monolayer range. STEM-based techniques are therefore an important tool for heterostructure and device development.


The tumor desmoplastic small round cell in women is rare. Ovarian its location is exceptional. We report a patient of 20 years, the originalNorth Africawho consulted for an increase in abdominal volume with impaired general condition. Pelvic ultrasonography and computed tomography were in favor of multiple peritoneal masses with ascites. After surgical exploration, the histological and immunohistochemical data for diagnosis small round cell desmoplastic tumor of ovarian the patient was a candidate for poly chemotherapy but she was died a month later. Diagnosis relies on histological and immunohistochemical data. The demonstration of a nonrandom translocation t (11; 22) (p13; q12) is specific for the disease. The management is multidisciplinary and combining surgery, a poly aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The prognosis remains poor.


One of the possible methods for osteosynthesis of leg fractures is Küntscher's closed medullary nailing. The problems resulting from this type of injury, the surgical method, and the results obtained will here by presented on the basis of 27 checked cases. In 25 of those cases the fracture healed within the normal time span. In one case the consolidation was delayed, and one case gave rise to pseudarthrosis.


In this paper, the lid driven cavity flow inside semi-ellipse shallow cavity was simulated using stream function vorticity approach emphasizing non-uniform grid method. Three aspect ratio of 1/4, 1/3 and 3/8 were simulated using laminar flow conditions (range of Reynolds numbers of 100-2000). Primary and secondary vortexes were extensively monitored through centre vortex location, streamlines pattern and peak stream function value. Secondary vortex developed at Re 1500 for the aspect ratio of 1/4 while the secondary vortex formed at earlier Reynolds number of 1000 for the aspect ratio of 1/3 and 3/8. The size of secondary vortex increases as Reynolds number increases. The similar trends can be observed the differences between primary vortex separation angle and reattachment angle. For the entire streamline pattern, many primary vortex centre locations situated at the right side of the cavity.


Elevated chronic psychological stress is associated with weakened immune response to vaccines. B-lymphocyte development may provide a pathway by which psychological stress can weaken immune response to vaccines. The current study examined the effect of chronic psychological stress on B- and T-lymphocytes among doctoral students, after their qualifying exams, and matched community controls. Blood was drawn from 10 doctoral students immediately after their 3-day qualifying exams and from 10 age- and gender-matched community controls. B- (CD19+) and T- (CD3+) lymphocyte percentages were enumerated with flow cytometry. Psychological stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The mean PSS score was higher for the graduate students compared with the control group (p < 0.01). Mean CD19+ lymphocyte percentage for the students (5.82 per cent) was dramatically lower than the control group (15.32 per cent, p < 0.0001). CD3+ lymphocyte percentage did not differ between the two groups. There was a significant negative correlation between CD19+ lymphocyte percentage and PSS score (r = −0.60, p = 0.003). Chronic psychological stress is associated with significant reductions in B-lymphocytes among doctoral students undergoing qualifying exams and community participants. B-lymphocyte decrements are a potential mechanism linking psychological stress and reduced antibody response to vaccines. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective Eclampsia remains a public health issue, especially in low-resource countries worldwide. Midwives are the backbone of the pregnancy and delivery process. Midwives trained in the necessary knowledge and skills are more likely to notice early warning signals of preeclampsia and immediately help clients in such emergencies. This study explored midwives' experiences in managing patients with eclampsia in Ghana. Methods This study was conducted among eight registered midwives at maternity units of two district hospitals in the Eastern Region of Ghana, using an exploratory, descriptive qualitative research design. A purposive sampling technique was adopted to select and interview participants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. The right of participation and withdrawal from the study was respected. Findings The three emerged overriding themes are: 1. Midwives have knowledge (warning signs, regimens, and prevention of complications) about the management of eclampsia. 2. Challenges in managing clients included inadequate equipment, staffing, and access to drugs. 3. Strategies for mitigating barriers to care for women with eclampsia (adherence to protocols, teamwork, peer mentoring and supervision, midwives' attitude, and client education. Conclusion Midwives working in underserved facilities have the knowledge and skill to monitor and manage pregnant women experiencing eclampsia. However, they need to be supported with appropriate resources and advanced equipment to ensure adherence to protocols on managing eclampsia promptly referred. Continuous training and workshops for midwives in the management of hypertension in pregnancy are recommended and the public educated on the dangers of eclampsia.


Background: The majority of metastatic breast cancer patients have estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) disease. Therapy options include cytotoxic chemotherapy and ER-directed therapy, including endocrine therapy with or without molecularly targeted agents such as CK4/6 inhibitors. ER-targeted therapy is most commonly given first-line due to improved tolerability. However, not all patients will respond to first-line endocrine therapy due to intrinsic endocrine-therapy resistance mechanisms as well as tumor heterogeneity. There are no current methods in standard practice to inform on either of these issues. F-18 fluorestradiol (FES), an estrogen analogue has been considered the most promising ER imaging agent and is widely studied in breast cancer. FES positron emission tomography (PET) evaluates multiple tumor sites simultaneously and, thus, can inform on tumor heterogeneity of ER expression, and can measure ER binding in primary and metastatic sites (e.g., lymph nodes, lung, bone, and soft tissue). Like tissue ER expression, FES positivity, as measured by standardized uptake value (SUV), has been shown to predict response to endocrine therapy with selective ER modulators or aromatase inhibitors in first-line therapy or salvage settings in small studies. Typically, a significantly higher tumor SUV was noted in responders compared with non-responders. Since FES uptake can provide a better assessment of ER expression across all sites of metastatic disease, FES may provide more expansive information on ER expression.. Furthermore, preliminary studies examining FES-PET in metastatic breast cancer have suggested that baseline FES uptake may predict response to endocrine therapy. Trial Design: This is a prospective trial for patients about to start first line endocrine therapy for advanced ER+ breast cancer. Participants will undergo an FDG-PET within six weeks of FES-PET. FES-PET and serum hormone level to be completed prior to endocrine therapy. Patients may opt to have a 2nd FES-PET for test-re-test of FES-PET. Specific Aims: Primary Aim : To assess the relationship between ER expression measured by FES-PET/CT and clinical benefit (response plus stable disease) of newly diagnosed ER+ metastatic breast cancer to endocrine therapy. Secondary Aim: To assess the correlation between FES uptake in ER+ metastatic breast cancer and tissue ER expression. Eligibility: Patients must have confirmed ER+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer and planning to receive endocrine therapy with or without CK 4/6 inhibitors. Patient must NOT have a history of >1 line of administered chemotherapy for metastatic disease and may not have received endocrine therapy for advanced disease. Prior endocrine or chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting is allowed. Methods: Participants will undergo a F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET/CT within six weeks of FES-PET/CT. FES-PET/CT will be completed prior to treatment initiation. Patients may opt to have a 2nd FES-PET for test-re-test of FES-PET/CT Present and Target Accrual: A total of 13 out of 99 patients have been enrolled onto this imaging study. Citation Format: Linden H, Clark A, Fowler A, Novakova A, Mankoff D, Dehdashti F. [18F] fluoroestradiol (FES) PET as a predictive measure for endocrine therapy in women with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT1-06-04.


In this paper, we develop an objective function-based clustering algorithm to build fuzzy models of the Takagi-Sugeno (TS) type automatically from data. In contrast to most of the TS models that can be found in the literature, we decided to use very simple input-space partitions and a higher degree of consequence polynomials (quadratic). Only in this way can transparency and interpretability be guaranteed. We also show how to derive linguistic labels for the polynomials found by the algorithm.


In this review, the weightiest decadal developments of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and nanoplasmonic materials in sensing applications are discussed. Today, there are several well-established research directions where plasmonic detection is employed extensively, namely, food and water quality monitoring, viruses, pathogenic bacteria and hazardous toxin investigations for theranostic applications, and explosive substance detection for military and civil protection purposes. A combination of vibrational spectroscopy and surface nanoengineering has gained a reputation as a powerful weapon for rapid and accurate determination of submolecular quantities of nanoanalytes. Signal enhancement achieved by employing various metallic nanoparticles and nanostructures can be amplified significantly due to the electromagnetic field confinement effect. Localized surface plasmon waves, which are responsible for the phenomenon, promote light absorption at nanovolume, generating 'hot spots' with an incredibly intense and confined electromagnetic field close to the nanosculptured metallic surface. However, the formation of the hot spot network is heavily dependent on morphology, size, and spatial arrangement of plasmonic nanomaterials. Under optimal excitation conditions, the interaction between the optically induced electromagnetic field in the hot spot region and a probing analyte attached to the nanosculptured metallic substrate enlarges photon scattering cross section, increasing signal intensity by 106–1010. As a result, fast single-molecule vibrational fingerprint recording is possible. This focused review collects recent state-of-the-art developments in nanoplasmonic SERS sensing, highlighting the most efficient surface morphology designs that hold the most promise for future developments.


We present a glasses-type wearable device to detect emotions from a human face in an unobtrusive manner. The device is designed to gather multi-channel responses from the user's face naturally and continuously while he/she is wearing it. The multi-channel facial responses consist of local facial images and biosignals including electrodermal activity (EDA) and photoplethysmogram (PPG). We had conducted experiments to determine the optimal positions of EDA sensors on the wearable device because EDA signal quality is very sensitive to the sensing position. In addition to the physiological data, the device can capture the image region representing local facial expressions around the left eye via a built-in camera. In this study, we developed and validated an algorithm to recognize emotions using multi-channel responses obtained from the device. The results show that the emotion recognition algorithm using only local facial images has an accuracy of 76.09% at classifying emotions. Using multi-channel data including EDA and PPG, this accuracy was increased by 8.46% compared to using the local facial expression alone. This glasses-type wearable system measuring multi-channel facial responses in a natural manner is very useful for monitoring a user's emotions in daily life, which has a huge potential for use in the healthcare industry.


In order to utilize a large quantity of information in Internet, machine processing of HTML documents has been becoming tremendously important. HTML, however, is designed mainly for reading with browsers, thus not suitable for machine processing. XML was proposed as a solution for this problem. Unfortunately, full automatic transformation from HTML to XML is extremely difficult, because it absolutely demands to understand the meaning of HTML documents. On the other hand, there are many series of HTML pages in actual Web sites. Each page of a series usually has a quite similar structure with each other. Therefore a case-based transformation must be a promising method in practice. In this paper, we give a case-based transformation method from HTML documents to XML ones. Given a series of HTML documents and a sample transformation from a selected HTML document into XML one, we first analyze both of the semantic and syntactic information appearing in the sample pair. Next the remaining HTML pages of the series are automatically transformed into XML documents by using the information previously extracted from the sample. We adopt a vector model of term weighted frequency for approximating the meaning of HTML documents, and also use both headlines and a parse tree as syntactical information. Throughout experimental evaluation, we show this case-based method achieved a highly accurate transformation, i.e., 80% of actual 80 pages can be transformed in a correct way.


To the Editor:— Some physicians don't seem to distinguish between roentgenographic tests done in hospitals because they are clinically indicated and those done as a survey procedure. In our hospital (and, I believe, in quite a few others) it became customary to obtain a routine barium enema on every patient who is to have an operation for inguinal hernia. The rationale given was that some surgeons believed that neoplasm of the colon may lead to the development of inguinal hernia, and therefore, such a survey was worth doing. I know of no reference in the medical literature to any study showing how often carcinoma of the colon was found in this way. My colleague, Dr. Thomas Brendel, and I looked into this by checking the records at Hines Veterans Administration Hospital of all patients having a herniorrhaphy in 1966. There were 312 patients in this group. They all had a


Abstract Although vehicle-related offending and traffic offenders are of interest to some behavioural psychologists, criminologists have been less enthused and their concern has been largely restricted to crime to vehicles rather than crime by drivers or wider society. Both disciplines have, however, largely ignored the contribution of women to vehicle-related offending statistics, mirroring the pattern seen in regard to mainstream offending. This paper attempts to plug the gap by considering the relative contributions of men and women to motoring conviction data and self-report offending studies. To some extent it also does this by age, where evidence for a "ladette" style of driving among young women in England and Wales is examined from the conviction data. In general, a gender gap similar to that in mainstream crime is noted, and key theoretical explanations that could account for this are assembled. Implications for improving road safety and research are then considered given this gap and emerging support for the non-homogeneity of female driving styles.


Region sustainable development requests continuous resource supply,resource problem is one of the core problems of region development.This paper definite the concept of region nature resource sustainable utilization,and then,analyses the meanings and study hot pointes,constitutes the pattern of region nature resource sustainable utilization,and thus gives countermeasures and advice.


Perspective taking is used by a child to understand the feelings or conditions of others and show affective response that is similar to what is felt by others. Children aged 5-8 are in the peak of developing their ability to recognize and understand others. As an attempt to develop such ability, teachers can perform the activities of picture story book reading that contain moral values to students. The present study aims to find out the differences in children's perspective-taking skills before and after the activity of story book reading.The research used experimental design. The subjects were the students of TK Al Islam 1 Surakarta. The instrument used in this study was developed by the researchers. Prior to its implementation, construct validation was done resulted to the value of Content Validity Index (CVI) = 1.00. It showed that the instrument had good value and fulfilled the expected elements.The findings show the difference in the perspective-taking skills of children aged 5-8 years as indicated by the results of the pre- and post-experiment, with the mean X.1 = 21.75 > X.0 = 19.28. It implies that the activity of story book reading is effective in enhancing the perspective-taking skills of a child.


The patient with cirrhosis of the liver and bleeding esophageal varices presents a number of serious problems. Diagnosis may occasionally be difficult and the treatment hazardous whether by balloon tamponade or transesophageal ligation. If the patient survives the acute bleeding episode, a period of intensive treatment is necessary to attain a maximum return toward normal liver function. Having accomplished this, an operation of considerable magnitude, frequently under prolonged anesthesia, must be performed. The postoperative period is endangered, in addition to the usual complications, by those untoward events peculiar to this disease, such as liver failure, coma, ammonia intoxication, and hemorrhage. Therefore, any treatment or technique which will enhance the possibility of recovery assumes a degree of importance. This discussion concerns the utilization of hypothermia during anesthesia for portacaval shunt. The Rationale of Hypothermia Linton (1958), one of the pioneers in shunt surgery, has described on several occasions his preference for


In a user-centric approach, the user wants to have a unique and continuous service session that best answers his ambient context. Spatial mobility is one of the factors that cause modifications in this ambient context and consequently influence the user's service session. On the network layers, many solutions have been conceived to overcome this challenge. However, this problem is not yet investigated on the service layer. For this purpose, we propose in this paper the concept of semantic handover. This concept acts on the service layer by analogy to the network's handover mechanisms. It is based on three complementary roles: the initiator, that detects a variation in user's ambient context caused by spatial mobility and that initiates the semantic handover, the decider, that decides which services should be replaced in user's service session and what are their ubiquitous counterparts, and the executor, that executes the decision and adapts user's service session to the new ambient context. By using this novel concept, we guarantee a seamless continuous service session for the end-user throughout his spatial mobility and ambient context. User's functional and non-functional (QoS criteria) preferences are also taken into account through the usage of the ubiquity approach in this service session adaptation.