The Système International des Unités (SI) base unit for photometry, the candela, has been realized by using absolute detectors rather than absolute sources. This change in method permits luminous intensity calibrations of standard lamps to be carried out with a relative expanded uncertainty (coverage factor k = 2, and thus a 2 standard deviation estimate) of 0.46 %, almost a factor-of-two improvement. A group of eight reference photometers has been constructed with silicon photodiodes, matched with filters to mimic the spectral luminous efficiency function for photopic vision. The wide dynamic range of the photometers aid in their calibration. The components of the photometers were carefully measured and selected to reduce the sources of error and to provide baseline data for aging studies. Periodic remeasurement of the photometers indicate that a yearly recalibration is required. The design, characterization, calibration, evaluation, and application of the photometers are discussed.


This paper applies infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA) to packet loss and buffer workload relative performance metrics in tandem networks of two-class stochastic fluid models (SFM). It considers these performance metrics at a given SFM node processing a single-flow class, as function of the controlled traffic stream's threshold parameter at an upstream SFM node processing two class of incoming traffic. It further supplements the existing results concerning applying IPA methods to tandem SFMs. The derived IPA gradient estimators are simple and fast to compute, and have an appealing property that are unbiased and nonparametric in the sense that they can be evaluated directly online from measurements of real-life traffic processes as well as offline from simulation experiments, without any knowledge of underlying stochastic characteristic of the traffic and service processes. These properties hold the promise of utilizing these IPA gradient estimators to network control and optimization.


A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN


The aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic hepatitis C; in addition to identifying whether the distribution of CD4+CD25+ Tregs predicts the efficacy of antiviral therapy for HCV. The expression of CD4+CD25+ forkhead box protein (FOXP) 3+ Tregs within a CD4+ T cell population was detected in the peripheral blood obtained from patients with chronic hepatitis C and from healthy control subjects using flow cytometry. The hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA load was measured using quantitative-fluorescence polymerase chain reaction. CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ Tregs accounted for 14.24±1.33% of the CD4+ T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic hepatitis C, which was higher than that of the healthy control subjects (5.62±1.21%; P<0.001). Furthermore, the frequency of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ Tregs in CD4+ T cells of the peripheral blood positively correlated with the HCV-RNA load (r=0.73; P=0.032). Therefore, the results of the present study indicated that the expression of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ Tregs increased in patients that were chronically infected with HCV and positively correlated with the HCV-RNA load.


While most social network studies of employee innovation behavior examine the focal employees' ("egos'") network structure, we employ an alter-centric perspective to study the personal characteristics of employees' network contacts—their "alters"—to better understand employee innovation. Specifically, we examine how the creative self-efficacy (CSE) and innovation behavior of employees' social network contacts affects their ability to generate and implement novel ideas. Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 144 employees in a U.S.-based product development organization. We find that the average CSE of alters in an employee's problem solving network is positively related to that employee's innovation behavior, with this relationship being mediated by these alters' average innovation behavior. The relationship between the alters' average innovation behavior and the employee's own innovation behavior is strengthened when these alters have less dense social networks. Post hoc results suggest that having network contacts with high levels of CSE also leads to an increase in ego's personal CSE 1 year later in cases where the employee's initial level of CSE was relatively low. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.


The damp environment and density of animal population in Camargue are good arguments for the study of leptospirosis. A serological and epidemiological survey on 642 blood samples revealed 36 (5.6%) with significant antibody titers. Icterohaemorrhagiae is followed by Canicola, Grippotyphosa, Australis and Ballum... The most endemic area is not Camargue but the area situated at the northeast (Basse-Durance). Women are twice more affected than men. These two results are not consistent with our initial hypothesis. It is always advisable to seek the etiology of fevers of unknown origin.


The properties of an axisymmetric, stationary gas cloud surrounding a massive central object are discussed. It is assumed that the gravitational field is dominated by the central object which is modeled by a nonrelativistic rotationally-symmetric potential. Further, we assume that the gas consists of collisionless, identical massive particles that follow bound orbits in this potential. Several models for the one-particle distribution function are considered and the essential formulae that describe the relevant macroscopical observables, such as the particle and energy densities, pressure tensor, and the kinetic temperature are derived. The asymptotic decay of the solutions at infinity is discussed and we specify configurations with finite total mass, energy and (zero or non-zero) angular momentum. Finally, our configurations are compared to their hydrodynamic analogs. In an accompanying paper, the equivalent general relativistic problem is discussed, where the central object consists of a Schwarzschild black hole.


This technical note presents an L1 adaptive controller for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems, nonaffine in control. As compared to previous L1 architectures for nonlinear nonaffine-in-control systems, the solution discussed in this technical note admits a broader class of nonlinear systems by relaxing some of the (restrictive) assumptions previously made. We also consider a more general filtering structure and prove the results using partial knowledge of the control input actuator model. With the presented control architecture we are able to improve the performance and robustness of the closed-loop adaptive system, compared to prior results of L1 adaptive control for nonaffine-incontrol systems.


In 2015, the estimated incidence of new breast cancer (Ca) cases in the US was 234.190 and number of deaths 40.730. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is encoded by the proto-oncogene c-erbB-2 and initiates downstream signaling pathways leading to cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. HER2 is overexpressed in several cancer types and has emerged as one of the most strongly validated targets for the treatment of breast and gastric cancer serving as both a prognostic and predictive biomarker. Given that 20% of breast Ca patients are HER2 positive and 70% of patients with metastatic disease will develop bone metastases and associated morbidities, there is still an unmet medical need for improved therapies targeting HER2. Radium-223 (Ra-223) is a novel targeted alpha therapeutic for treatment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases. Localized high energy alpha particle emission induces double-stranded DNA breaks and cellular apoptosis. Thorium-227 (Th-227) is the immediate precursor for Ra-223 which, in contrast to Ra-223, can be complexed by chelating agents at high affinity, allowing targeted delivery to tumor cells via antibodies. We describe herein the generation of a novel HER2-targeted Th-227 conjugate (HER2-TTC). HER2-TTC consists of the humanized HER2 targeting IgG1 antibody trastuzumab covalently linked via an amide bond to a 3,2-hydroxypyridino-based chelator moiety, enabling efficient radiolabeling with the alpha particle emitting radionuclide Th-227. Anonymized samples of consenting breast cancer patients were analyzed by Immunohistochemistry (IHC). The IHC data demonstrated HER2 positive expression in breast tumor and matched bone metastases, supporting the preclinical evaluation of the anti-tumor efficacy of HER2-TTC in the BT-474 orthotopic bone mouse model. HER2-TTC was prepared at high radiochemical yield and purity. When tested for binding to recombinant HER2, HER2-TTC was shown to retain comparable binding affinity to trastuzumab. In vitro cytotoxicity experiment of HER2-TTC demonstrated target mediated in vitro cytotoxicity in the pM-range on breast cancer cell line BT-474 (430 000 mAbs bound/ cell as determined by FACS). Anti-tumor efficacy of HER2-TTC was evaluated at 250 and 500 kBq/kg at a protein dose of 0.14 mg/kg. X-ray imaging, serum bone formation marker PINP, micro CT 3D reconstruction imaging and histological analysis demonstrated significantly reduced bone lesions and tumor induced bone remodeling. The promising preclinical anti-tumor activity supports the development of the HER2-TTC as a novel targeted alpha therapeutic for the treatment of patients with HER2 positive bone metastatic disease. Citation Format: Jenny Karlsson, Urs B. Hagemann, Christoph Schatz, Derek Grant, Christine Ellingsen, Alexander Kristian, Dessislava Mihaylova, Steinar R. Uran, Mari Suominen, Roger M. Bjerke, Olav B. Ryan, Carl F. Nising, Dominik Mumberg, Alan Cuthbertson. HER2-targeted thorium-227 conjugate (HER2-TTC): Efficacy in a HER2 positive orthotopic bone model [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5857. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5857


Studies of the available fluorometric assay procedures for LSD-25 are described for possible clinical application. Variability of plasma 'blank' background fluorescence values were found to prohibit the use of standard fluorometric procedures without modification. A littleknown fluorometric procedure is described, which minimizes this problem and maintains the sensitivity of the assay at the nanogram level. Mbdifications of this method are suggested which could increase the sensitivity of this method to the subnanogram level. APPROVED: ~· ROBERT W. ~Lffy-1 Colonel, :uEY"j Commanding


Simulated annealing is a general approach for approximately solving large combinatorial optimization problems. The algorithm is based on an intriguing combination of ideas from at first sight completely unrelated fields of science, viz. combinatorial optimization and statistical physics. On the one hand the algorithm can be viewed as an analogue of an algorithm used in statistical physics for computer simulation of the annealing of a solid to its minimum–energy state, on the other hand it can be considered as a generalization of the well–known iterative improvement approach to combinatorial optimization problems.

In this introductory paper we give a mathematical description of the simulated annealing algorithm and discuss its behaviour from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. The latter is illustrated by applying the algorithm to the travelling salesman problem.

This paper was written to familiarize the readers of Statistica Neerlandica with simulated annealing. It is a summary of papers written earlier by the authors and does not contain any new material.


In this paper we discuss the potential for commercial microfinance in China. Particular emphasis is put on securitization of microloans and on structured microfinance in a China context. Three particular factors that we believe could support a strong growth in Chinese structured microfinance are (i) the lack of currency risk, (ii) the scale advantages and (iii) the massive potential interest from traditional, domestic as well as international, financial firms. On the policy side, structured microfinance could be an important tool for fighting unemployment in China. It could also be used to circumvent corruption or government bureaucracy in the microlending process.


Abstract
Turf grass as a main grown cover plant has a unique place in green space planning. In order to study the effect of hydrogel and paclobutrazol on water requirement of turfgrasse (Lolium perenne L. Barbal) a factorial experiment based on a BRCD with 3 replication was conducted in the summer of 2010 in Mashhad. The factors under study were 4 levels of hydrogel (0, 3, 6, 9 gr/kg soil), 3 levels of irrigation (2day, 4day, 6day intervals) , 2 levels of paclobutrazol (control and preplanting seed treated, with 30mg/lit) on Lolium perenne. Results showed that the best density obtained using 6 g hydrogel and irrigation intervals of 2 days. The turf quality in soils with hydrogel application was better than the control. In general, the results showed that the plot with hydrogel had 33, 44 and 48% higher value in traits of color, density and chlorophyll content, respectively. Also the plot treated with paclobutrazol as compared with the control had 2, 7.5 and 11% more value in traits of density, cutting weight and root dry weight respectively. It is concluded that using 6 gr/kg hydrogel and paclobutrazol in soils with similar texture could reduce water consumption.

Keywords: Chlorophyll, Irrigation interal, Density, Electrolyte leakage


Fixed type pendulum wave energy converter is a kind of movable body type wave energy converter and it was invented by Kondo with Muroran Institute of Technology in Japan. Some researches on this device were carried out experimentally and theoretically, and its high energy conversion efficiency was shown. However, this device was not practical used yet, because the initial cost is so expensive as it needs heavy construction in the sea. And also, it is difficult to keep it safety under the critical weather condition like a typhoon is another main reason. So, as a solution strategy for above problems,Furusawa proposed the uplifting type pendulum wave energy converter. Furthermore Watabe proposed the floating type pendulum wave energy converter (FPWEC) which is moored to the seabed with some lines as another solution. Changing from fixed type device to floating type device, we can expect the reduction of initial costs and emergency measures. Watabe carried out some research on FPWEC, but it is not enough to say that the design method for this device was established.In this paper, we have made a test model of FPWEC for tank test and some tests were carried out as a first step of development for this device.To estimate the performance of this device, we have measured power output and body motion in regular waves.


Background The latest version of the Liverpool Care Pathway directs staff to confirm whether or not the dying patient has previously expressed a wish to donate organs. Staff require basic knowledge of organ and tissue donation to be able to answer any questions that may arise as a result of such a discussion. Aims The study aims to explore the knowledge hospice staff have of organ and tissue donation. Methods A questionnaire based on the knowledge and attitude questionnaire developed by Vitris1 was mailed to all hospice doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants. Staff were then invited to participate in focus groups so their knowledge could be explored in greater depth. Results 76/94 questionnaires were completed. 35/76 people who replied had known someone who had needed an organ donation. Most (93%) staff realised that patients with metastatic malignant disease could donate their corneas for transplantation and some also thought that these patients could donate heart valves (13/76) and bones (10/76). Staff were less sure about what patients dying of non-malignant disease could donate. 39/76 people realised that the corneas needed to be retrieved within 24 h of death. 20/76 were unsure whether the procedure would cause disfiguration. Only 24/76 people realised that a patients' family can override the patients' wishes to donate. Conclusions This study has identified gaps in hospice workers knowledge of organ and tissue donation. This may be a contributing factor to why the subject is not routinely discussed at LOROS and very few patients donate.


A 13-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is designed in 0.35 μm CMOS technology that reduces the power consumption through sharing the resources between pipeline stages. Using a dummy sample-and-hold (S/H) and recirculating concept the requirements for the first stage are relaxed and the design restrictions are resolved. This ADC does not use a dedicated S/H and reaches a speed of 50 MS/s. The design is tested with TSMC mixed-signal 0.35 μm technology and post layout simulations shows over 75 dB Signal-to-Noise and Distortion-Ratio (SNDR) and over 85 dB Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) at the Nyquist frequency. The designed chip occupies an area of 1.3 mm–0.7 mm and consumes 164 mW power at Nyquist from a 3.3 V supply.


Supervised source separation requires expensive synthetic datasets containing clean, ground truth-source signals, while unsupervised separation requires only data mixtures. Existing unsupervised methods still use supervision to avoid over-separation and compete with fully supervised methods. We present a new method of completely unsupervised single-channel blind source separation, based on variational auto-encoding, that automatically learns the correct number of sources in data mixtures and quantitatively outperforms the existing methods. A deep inference network disentangles (separates) data mixtures into low-dimensional latent source variables. A deep generative network individually decodes each latent source into its source signal, such that their sum represents the given mixture. Qualitative and quantitative results from separation experiments on pairs of randomly mixed MNIST handwritten digits and mixed audio spectrograms demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art unsupervised and semi-supervised methods, showing promise as a solution to this long-standing problem in computer vision and audition.


The involvement of polymorphic variations in the structure of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system genes in the predisposition to cardiovascular disease is a particularly important field of investigation. A large number of studies have been published and their results are often contradictory. It is therefore important to identify the functional variants modifying the level of expression of these genes or the structure of the encoded proteins. This will allow the clear quantitation of their effect on quantitative phenotypes both in vitro and in vivo. It is also important to study in the future new phenotypes, particularly dynamic phenotypes, potentially influenced by these genotypes and to use them for building a new cardio-vascular pharmacogenetics.


Preface. Multivariate environmental statistics in agriculture (V. Barnett). A study of the relationship between diversity indices of Benthic communities and heavy metal concentrations of northwest Atlantic sediments (N.C. Bolgiano, R.N. Reid, G.P. Patil). Multivariate non-normal statistics in site characterization and evaluation (J.H. Carson, Jr., A.K. Gupta). Spatial prediction in a multivariate setting (N. Cressie). Needs and developments in multivariate environmental monitoring statistics (G.T. Flatman). Certain multivariate considerations in ranked set sampling and composite sampling designs (S.D. Gore et al.). Relating two sets of variables in environmental studies (R.H. Green). Statistical analysis of biological monitoring data (P. Guttorp). Using entropy in the redesign of an environmental monitoring network (P. Guttorp et al.). Graphical techniques for enhancing the utility of multivariate environmental statistics (W.A. Huber). Carcinogenicity tests involving multiple tumor sites (R.L. Kodell, E.O. George). Errors-in-variables analysis of extrapolation procedures in environmental toxicology (E. Linder, G.P. Patil, G. Suter II). A unified linear model for estimation with composite sample data (G. Lovison). Change-point methods for spatial data (I.B. MacNeill, V.K. Jandkyala). A review of computer intensive multivariate methods in ecology (B.F.J. Manly). Spatial-temporal statistical analysis of multivariate environmental monitoring data (K.V. Mardia, C.R. Goodall). Correspondence analysis applied to environmental data sets (D.E. Myers). A meta-network approach to higher-order spatial constructs and scale effects (W.L. Myers). Estimation of trend in Chesapeake Bay water quality data (N.K. Nagaraj, S.L. Brunenmeister). The complexities and scenarios of ecosystem analysis (L. Orloci). Multivariate methods in nuclear waste remediation. Needs and applications (B.A. Pulsipher). Omnibus robust procedures for assessment of multivariate normality and detection of multivariate outliers (A. Singh). Multivariate assessment of trend in environmental variables (E.P. Smith, S. Rheem, G.I. Holtzman). Multivariate chemometrics - a case study. Applying and developing receptor models for the 1990 El Paso winter PM10 receptor modeling scoping study (C.H. Spiegelman, S. Dattner). Weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WA-PLS): Definition and comparison with other methods for species-environment calibration (C.J.F. Ter Braak et al.). Multivariate aspects of adaptive cluster sampling (S.K. Thompson). Approximating multivariate distributions in stochastic models of insect population dynamics (T.E. Wehrly, J.H. Matis, G.W. Otis).


Research Findings: Early Head Start home-based programs provide services through weekly home visits to families with children up to age 3, but families vary in how long they remain enrolled. In this study of 564 families in home-based Early Head Start programs, "dropping out" was predicted by specific variations in home visits and certain family characteristics. It also was negatively related to several targeted program outcomes. Home visits to dropout families focused less on child development, were less successful at engaging parents, and had more distractions. Dropout families had more risks and changes of residence, were more likely to be headed by a single mother, and were less likely to have a mother with poor English skills or a child with a documented disability. Practice or Policy: Home visiting programs may be able to reduce dropout rates, and thereby increase the duration of services to each family, by keeping home visits engaging and focused on child development and also by individualizing to the specific needs of families at risk for dropping out. To keep families involved longer, home visiting programs should consider (a) planning home visits that are longer, more engaging for both parent and child, scheduled at a time when there are fewer distractions for the family; and (b) spending the majority of time on child development activities and topics.


It is shown that collisionless absorption of the circularly polarized intense laser pulses normally impinging on the overdense plasma can lead to the vacuum heating of the electrons at the sharp vacuum-plasma interface. The suggested mechanism could lead to the heating of plasma at the periphery of the laser spot rather than at its center. This fact can be applied for verification of the considered effect in real experimental conditions.


We describe recent research on the use of actual causality in the definition of responsibility scores as explanations for query answers in databases, and for outcomes from classification models in machine learning. In the case of databases, useful connections with database repairs are illustrated and exploited. Repairs are also used to give a quantitative measure of the consistency of a database. For classification models, the responsibility score is properly extended and illustrated. The efficient computation of Shap-score is also analyzed and discussed. The emphasis is placed on work done by the author and collaborators.


A solid-phase extraction of ethynylestradiol (EE2) and its degradation intermediates and products by nitrifying activated sludge (NAS) was performed to measure estrogenic activity during the degradation by NAS. The yeast two-hybrid assay of the extract showed that NAS not only degraded EE2, but also removed the estrogenic activity originating from EE2, its degradation intermediates and products. This means that estrogenic activity decreases when EE2 concentrations are decreased by NAS. Although gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) analyses suggested the existence of nitrated EE2 as a degradation intermediate, its estrogenic activity was unmeasurable due to the lack of an authentic sample. However, on the basis of the dose-response relationship between EE2 concentration and estrogenic activity in the yeast two-hybrid assay, it was surmised that the estrogenic activity in the culture medium of NAS may have been produced mostly by the remaining EE2 and not by its degradation intermediates and products. The partial nucleotide sequence analyses of microorganisms in the consortiums acclimatized for EE2 and natural estrogens E2 and E1 enabled the identification of candidates that may be responsible for estrogen degradation by NAS.


Purpose – Religion is an important driving force behind many lifestyle decisions. Therefore, it is surprising that research on cultural consumption and stratification has linked religion and religiosity with consumption patterns only to a limited degree. In this chapter, we outline several theoretical directions that can be used for studying the link between religion, religiosity, and cultural consumption and the consequences of this link for cultural stratification.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Our empirical analysis is based on data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), conducted in 2007 and pertaining to samples from 33 countries.

Findings – We present cross-national evidence illustrating that, first, there is a positive correlation between religiosity and cultural consumption in many countries and, second, there is little evidence that religion is significantly linked to cultural consumption. Furthermore, we find that the effect of religiosity on cultural consumption is comparable to that of important socioeconomic factors such as education and socioeconomic status. We offer three possible explanations to the findings. First, that religious individuals tend to be active individuals; therefore, they go more often to religious services and they are active also in cultural participation. Second, a certain level of religiosity affects cultural consumption by setting standards for the intensity of social ties. Third, religiosity plays a central role in marking boundaries of cultural distinction. In the last part of the chapter, we delineate motivations for further research interest in the link between religion and cultural consumption and discuss possible avenues for the development of such research.


De Witt--Seeley--Gilkey coefficients are calculated for the most general minimal differential fourth--order operator on Riemannian space of an arbitrary dimension.


A recommendation system should be able to provide recommendations to early users who are referred to as pure cold-start because it is related to the main business KPI, which is giving initial impressions to the initial user and increasing the percentage of initial users to be users of the system. To overcome this, the non-personalized approach is applied by using the maximum coverage method to cover users as much as possible and timeliness as an aspect of time to be able to make different items that have higher relevance for the initial user get to the recommendation. The study was carried out on the 100k and 1M movielens datasets using maximum coverage timeliness in 2 scenarios, namely scenario 1 using all item data as input while scenario 2 cutting the number of items based on user coverage of the item. Resulting in the dataset movielens 100k, experiments with the name MaxCovTL_100 in scenario 2 have the best utility in top-15 and top-20 and the best covered users in top-15 compared to other methods. But the improvement was not significant after testing with the Wilcoxon test. In the 1M dataset movielens, the results of recommendations from the maximum coverage timeliness method are very similar to the maximum coverage. so that this experiment can be said to be unsuccessful.


Melinacidin is a crystalline mixture of closely related antibacterial agents produced by Acrostalagmus cinnabarinus var. melinacidinus. Melinacidin inhibits a variety of Gram-positive bacteria in vitro but is found to be toxic and ineffective in the treatment of experimental bacterial infections in mice. Melinacidin which inhibits the growth of KB and L-1210 cells in tissue culture appears to belong to the "3, 6-epidithiadiketopiperazine" group of antibiotics.


SUMMARY Standard line transect estimation is not robust to departures from the assumptions that animals do not move in response to the observer before detection and that all animals on or near the trackline are detected. We propose field methodology and analysis methods for which estimates are robust to the first assumption and do not require the second. The approach is applicable only to surveys in which two observation platforms are available, such that conventional line transect field methods, with effort concentrated close to the observer, are carried out from one, and a wider area is scanned from the second, possibly with low probability of detection. An example is a ship or terrestrial line transect survey together with a helicopter searching a wider area ahead of the observer. In the case of ship surveys, both observation platforms might be on the same vessel; observers might scan with hand-held binoculars or the naked eye on the first platform, and an observer with powerful tripodmounted binoculars, screened from the view of the other observers, might search from the second.


The development of the dunes is governed by the effects of turbulence. Turbulence is a type of fluid flow that is strongly rotational and apparently chaotic. Turbulence separates nearby parcels of air and thus mixed fluid properties. The evolution of sand dunes is determined by the interactions between the atmosphere, the surface and the transport and deposition of sand. We are concerned with this physical process and its computational simulation from three perspectives; namely, (1) flow structure; (2) sand transport and deposition and (3) interactions between flow structure and sand transport-deposition, which determine the dune morphology.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


As our most complex and intimate relationship with wider environments, food and agriculture provide important opportunities for exploring affective ecologies. Here I re-visit some of the ways that Modern constructs of humans as radically different from environments and of value as a function of exchange work to produce agricultural systems that are ever less affective and more problematic. In an effort to construct value in a way more applicable to the whole of our biosphere, and not only to humans, I take up an explicitly non-Modern Heraclitean perspective which conceives of all life as essentially relational. I then extend Marx's anthropocentric work to argue that all life labors to organize stocks and flows in environments which it finds useful and thus valuable. As co-adaptation illustrates, life often produces value by finding usefulness in the by-products of other lives. Thus, we may understand ecological relationships as guided by the creation of abundance rather than the imposition of scarcity. From the Marxist tradition I then enlist the concepts of cooperation, which produces value synergistically, and exploitation which destroys the ability to create value, to suggest a basis for the evaluation of socio-natural trajectories, for creating more and less affective food ecologies.


Four students with learning disabilities, whose primary difficulty in solving simple word problems involved performing the wrong operation, were taught a strategy for comprehending the problem and devising an appropriate solution. Students learned to apply the strategy first to addition word problems, then to subtraction word problems. Upon completion of instruction, students' overall performance on mixed sets of addition and subtraction word problems improved, and they were much less likely to perform the wrong operation. Although the effects of instruction generalized to a different setting, maintenance of strategy effects was mixed, perhaps due to administration of the maintenance probes during summer vacation.


This article presents a lexicalized HMM-based approach to Chinese part-of-speech (POS) disambiguation and unknown word guessing (UWG). In order to explore word-internal morphological features for Chinese POS tagging, four types of pattern tags are defined to indicate the way lexicon words are used in a segmented sentence. Such patterns are combined further with POS tags. Thus, Chinese POS disambiguation and UWG can be unified as a single task of assigning each known word to input a proper hybrid tag. Furthermore, a uniformly lexicalized HMM-based tagger also is developed to perform this task, which can incorporate both internal word-formation patterns and surrounding contextual information for Chinese POS tagging under the framework of HMMs. Experiments on the Peking University Corpus indicate that the tagging precision can be improved with efficiency by the proposed approach.


The use of the biased estimator in the fitting of spectroscopic ellipsometry data is examined and applied to data from two-channel polarization modulation ellipsometry experiments. It is pointed out that the use of the biased estimator, as opposed to the unbiased estimator that is usually found in the literature, allows the experimentalist to weight properly the more accurate parts of the spectrum, to switch among different representations of the data, and to calculate a goodness of fit. The fit to data taken on a 59-nm SiO(2) film on Si is examined with both the biased and the unbiased estimators.


This article discusses concerns related to neuroscience nursing practice in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Safety issues in the workplace and recommendations for creating a safe environment according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines are delineated. Legal considerations from the patient's and nurse's perspectives are also addressed.


BackgroundViolence in the workplace is one of the most important risk factors worldwide. Nurses are always exposed to all kinds of violence due to their presence and activity in medical centers and direct contact with patients and their companions, as well as exposure to various stressors. The aim of this study was to determine the violence against nurses working in Razi educational and medical center in Rasht, Guilan.MethodsThe present study was an analytical cross-sectional study that was performed on 112 nurses working in Razi educational and medical centers in Rasht by convenience sampling method. The instrument used includes a questionnaire to assess workplace violence in medical settings, which has been used in several Iranian studies and has been psychometric assessed by Najafi et al, In Iran. After collecting the data and entering into the SPSS software version 22, they will be evaluated through descriptive and inferential statistical tests (Chi-square, independent t-test and Fisher's exact test). The level of significance was considered as P<0.05.ResultsThe findings of this study showed that 11.1% of nurses experienced physical violence and 55.7% of them experienced verbal violence. Verbal violence is often caused by the patient's companions and physical violence is often caused by the patient, and in the majority of cases, those who did not report the violence attributed it to the uselessness of the report. In addition, the findings showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between education level and verbal violence (p = 0.02) and between work status (p = 0.02) and marital status (p = 0.02) with physical violence.ConclusionThe results of the study show that during the pandemic of COVID-19, verbal and physical violence for nurses occurred in several occasions, which requires the authorities to take effective measures to reduce the incidence of violence in hospitals.


The recent surge of automation in the retail industries has rapidly increased demand for applying deep learning models on mobile devices. To make the deep learning models real-time on-device, a compact efficient network becomes inevitable. In this paper, we work on one such common problem in the retail industries - Shelf segmentation. Shelf segmentation can be interpreted as a pixel-wise classification problem, i.e., each pixel is classified as to whether they belong to visible shelf edges or not. The aim is not just to segment shelf edges, but also to deploy the model on mobile devices. As there is no standard solution for such dense classification problem on mobile devices, we look at semantic segmentation architectures which can be deployed on edge. We modify low-footprint semantic segmentation architectures to perform shelf segmentation. In addressing this issue, we modified the famous U-net architecture in certain aspects to make it fit for on-devices without impacting significant drop in accuracy and also with 15X fewer parameters. In this paper, we proposed Light Weight Segmentation Network (LWSNet), a small compact model able to run fast on devices with limited memory and can train with less amount (~ 100 images) of labeled data.


Research on American Indian identity has been, for the most part, poorly conceptualized and its findings contradictory. Indian identity has been shown to relate to positive mental health and cultural continuity and survival. However, the identity of gay and lesbian American Indians has not yet been addressed. Toward the formulation of a preliminary model of urban lesbian and gay American Indian (GAI) identity development, the author delineates acculturation levels, cultural values, and conflicts in allegiances that GAIs face in negotiating a positive identity. Implications for clinical practice, research, and mental health service delivery are outlined.


Atypical dendritic keratitis has been described following herpes zoster infection. This is the first reported case of atypical dendritic keratitis following classical varicella infection It also provides the first light and electron microscopic description of the varicella-zoster dendritic corneal lesion. The diagnosis is substantiated by the clinical appearance of the lesion and by the presence of serum antibody titers against varicella-zoster but not against herpes simplex. Cultures were negative for both viruses. The grayish intra-epithelial plaque-like appearance of the varicella-zoster dendritic lesion consists of unhealthy and dying cells in the middle layers of the corneal epithelium. These cells show a relatively sparse population of herpes-type virus particles.


This paper describes a speech data collected from 22 dysarthric speakers (7-female & 15-male) of various age groups in an Indian language, namely, Tamil. Dysarthric speakers who reported a diagnosis of cerebral palsy are chosen for speech data collection. The text for recording is chosen such that the influence of the articulatory errors can be observed in the initial, medial and end of the word. Each dysarthric speaker has uttered 262 sentences and 103 isolated words using a head mounted microphone. This corpus includes clinical data for all the 22 dysarthric speakers. The entire corpus is marked in sentence and word level. Time-aligned phonetic transcriptions are available for all the 22 speakers. The phonetic transcriptions are mapped with the IPA for a global use. The speech corpus is designed to act as a resource for the development of an automatic speech recognition system for speakers with neuromotor disability, research on articulatory dysfunctions, and rehabilitation research. The corpus includes unimpaired speech data, collected from 10 speakers (5-male & 5-female) for the same text used to collect dysarthric speech data along with the time-aligned phonetic transcription, for comparison. The corpus is available, on request, via secure FTP.


Saturable, high affinity binding of tritium-labeled saxitoxin ([3H]STX) to axolemma-enriched membranes from white matter of bovine brain was identified. The apparent [3H]STX equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd*) was strongly affected by the cationic environment:choline ion had little effect; cesium ion increased the mammalian axolemma Kd* in a simple competitive manner. In contrast, sodium ion more dramatically increased the Kd*--this effect was highly cooperative between 75 and 200 mM sodium (Hill coefficient of 2.85). The cooperativity is most pronounced at the normally expected [sodium] external to the axon in the mammalian central nervous system. This sodium-specific cooperative modification of the STX binding site (the hypothetical "ion selectivity filter" of the axonal Na+ gate) may be indicative of some as yet undefined regulatory mechanism of the Na+ gate in mammalian myelinated axons.


We have obtained WFPC2 images of 256 of the nearest (z ≤ 0.035) Seyfert 1, Seyfert 2, and starburst galaxies. Our 500 s broadband (F606W) exposures reveal much fine-scale structure in the centers of these galaxies, including dust lanes and patches, bars, rings, wisps, and filaments, and tidal features such as warps and tails. Most of this fine structure cannot be detected in ground-based images. We have assigned qualitative classifications for these morphological features and a Hubble type for the inner region of each galaxy, and we have also measured quantitative information such as 0.″18 and 0.″92 aperture magnitudes, position angles, and ellipticities, where possible. There is little direct evidence for unusually high rates of interaction in the Seyfert galaxies. Slightly less than 10% of all the galaxies show tidal features or multiple nuclei. The incidence of inner starburst rings is about 10% in both classes of Seyfert galaxies. In contrast, galaxies with H II region emission-line spectra appear substantially more irregular and clumpy because of their much higher rates of current star formation per unit of galactic mass. The presence of an unresolved central continuum source in our Hubble Space Telescope images is a virtually perfect indicator of a Seyfert 1 nucleus as seen by ground-based spectroscopy. Fifty-two percent of these Seyfert 1 point sources are saturated in our images; we use their wings to estimate magnitudes ranging from 15.8 to 18.5. The converse is not universally true, however, as over one-third of Seyferts with direct spectroscopic evidence for broad Balmer wings show no nuclear point source. These 34 resolved Seyfert 1's have fainter nonstellar nuclei, which appear to be more extinguished by dust absorption. Like the Seyfert 2's, they have central surface brightnesses consistent with those expected for the bulges of normal galaxies. The rates for the occurrences of bars in Seyfert 1's and 2's and non-Seyferts are the same. We found one significant morphological difference between the host galaxies of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 nuclei. The Seyfert 2 galaxies are significantly more likely to show nuclear dust absorption, especially in lanes and patches that are irregular or reach close to the nucleus. A few simple tests show that the difference cannot be explained by different average redshifts or selection techniques. It is confirmed by our galaxy morphology classifications, which show that Seyfert 1 nuclei reside in earlier type galaxies than Seyfert 2 nuclei. If, as we believe, this is an intrinsic difference in host galaxy properties, it undermines one of the postulates of the strong unification hypothesis for Seyfert galaxies, that they merely appear different because of the orientation of their central engine. The excess galactic dust we see in Seyfert 2's may cause substantial absorption that obscures their hypothesized broad emission line regions and central nonstellar continua. This galactic dust could produce much of the absorption in Seyfert 2 nuclei that had instead been attributed to a thick dusty accretion torus forming the outer part of the central engine.


OBJECTIVE
To study the chemical constituents of Excoecaria acerifclia.

METHOD
Column chromatography on Silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 were applied for isolation and purification of the constituents. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectrascopic analysis, chemical evidences and by comparison with the data reported in the literature.

RESULT
From the crude EtOAc fraction of Excoecaria acerifclia F. Didr, 14 compounds were isolated and identified as 7,8-trans-4,5,9-trihydroxy-3,3',9'-trimethoxy-7-O-5',8-O-4'-neolignan (1), 7,8-trans 4,5,9,9'-tetrahydroxy-3,3'-dimethoxy-7-O-5',8-O-4'-neolignan (2), malloapelin C (3), sy-ringaresinol (4), 2alpha,3beta,24-trihydroxy-12-ursen-28-oic acid (5), 11-hydroxy-3-oxo-12-ursen-28-oic acid (6), 6-hydroxy-20 (29)-lupen-3-one (7), isolupenyl acetate (8), kaempferol (9), quercetin (10), apigenin (11), catechin (12), kamepferol-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (13), and catechin (6-->8) catechin (14).

CONCLUSIONS
Compound 1 was new, the remained compounds were isolated and identified from E. acerifclia for the first time. Among them, compounds 5-8 are triterpenoids, while the other compounds are phenylpropanoids.


The thermal and electro stability of multi-finger heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with different structures were analyzed and discussed simultaneously. The thermal stability of the devices with different layout structures was assessed by the DC-IV test and thermal resistance calculation. Their electro stability was assessed by the calculation of the stability factor K based on the S parameter of the HBT. It is found that HBTs with higher thermal stability are prone to lower electro stability. The trade-off relationship between the two types of stability was explained and discussed by using a compact K-factor analytic formula which is derived from the small signal equivalent circuit model of HBT. The electro stability of the device with a thermal ballasting resistor was also discussed, based on the analytic formula.


In this paper, we propose a novel semantic segmentation-based on the body pix module of the Tensor flow.js
which can keep up with the accuracy of the state-of-the art approaches while running in real time. The
solution follows the convolutional neural networks, each step in the workflow being enhanced by additional
information from semantic segmentation. Therefore, we introduce several improvements to computation,
aggregation, and optimization by adapting existing techniques to integrate additional surface information
given by each semantic class. Using the body pix model which is trained using CNN, the ResNET50, this
network can work with more than 150 layers, removing the problem of vanishing gradients. Using this
network our body pix module, creates a more accurate and defined segmentation, and also supports
multi-person segmentation.


Due to unfavourable climatic conditions, the production of wheat in Mozambique is not sufficient to satisfy national food industrial needs and substantial quantities must be imported at high cost. Bread is currently produced basically using wheat flour. Therefore, this thesis examined the partial replacement of wheat flour by cassava-maize flours in the Mozambican bread manufacturing context and looked for ways of improving bread quality at high wheat flour substitution.
The effect of cassava pre-treatment (sun drying, roasting and fermentation), cassava level (20, 30 and 40%) and the addition of a baking improver, high methoxyl pectin (HM pectin) at two levels 1 and 3%, were evaluated for the bread quality parameters of loaf volume, crumb firmness, and crust colour. The loaf volume decreased by 20 to 30% in comparison with the wheat reference bread as a result of added cassava flour that had been pre-treated in different ways. Increasing the cassava level reduced the loaf volume except for bread with roasted cassava, which even increased in volume with the addition of high level HM pectin; the crumb firmness was higher in composite bread with sun-dried and fermented cassava flour compared with wheat bread, although the composite bread with roasted cassava flour with 3% HM pectin had a crumb firmness similar to wheat bread. Bread baked with roasted cassava flour also had a crust colour similar to wheat bread. The roasting pre-treatment of cassava flour along with baking improvers was indicated to have a good potential to improve the baking quality of composite cassava-maize-wheat breads.
Two hydrocolloids, HM pectin and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), were added alone or in combination with three different emulsifiers (DATEM, LC and SSL) in formulation of composite cassava-maize-wheat (ratio 40:10:50) breads in order to gain knowledge of their effect on bread quality characteristics. Each emulsifier was tested in combination with the hydrocolloids at the levels of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5%, while hydrocolloids were used at the level of 3%. It was concluded that the hydrocolloids in combination with emulsifiers had a greater effect than hydrocolloids alone in increasing the specific volume (from 7.5 to 22%) and the brownness index (from 81.8 to 86.6%) and reducing the crumb firmness of the breads (from 14 to 36%).
Two composite cassava-maize-wheat breads with either CMC/DATEM or HM pectin/LC, both at levels of 3/0.3%, were assessed for their acceptability and sensorial attributes among Mozambican consumers. The consumption pattern, willingness to buy and attributes of the composite breads were also collected. It was concluded that the optimized composite bread with 40% roasted cassava and CMC/DATEM was highly acceptable (score of 7.47 out of 9) and comparable to commercial wheat bread (score of 7.82 out of 9). Instrumental analysis of crust and crumb colour and firmness correlated highly with their perceived sensorial properties of its counterpart.

Texture, moisture content and starch retrogradation (recrystallized amylopectin) of optimized composite bread were evaluated during storage up to four days under controlled conditions (23oC and 50% RH). In addition to the improvers used in the sensory analysis, monoglyceride (MG) was evaluated for its role on the bread quality during storage of those composite breads. DATEM and MG showed a softening effect, while the melting enthalpy was significantly lower in the composite bread with the hydrocolloids and emulsifiers compared to composite bread (without improvers).


For the purpose of increasing the accuracy of power cable life forecasting and status assessment, improving its life cycle management process, this paper proposes a power cable online life forecasting method and status assessment system based on recurrent neural network and Internet of Things (IoTs). Power cable electrical insulation online monitoring system is established on the first place. Then, recurrent neural network and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process are used in the IoTs based power cable online status assessment architecture to proceed life forecasting and status assessment process. Lastly, example analysis is presented to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the methodology introduced in this paper. It is shown that artificial intelligence and IoTs will also have broad development and application prospect when combined with power cable life cycle management.


A new set of luminescent platinum(II) diimine complexes has been synthesized and characterized. The anionic ligands in these complexes are arylacetylides. The complexes are brightly emissive in fluid solution with relative emission quantum yields phiem ranging from 3 x 10(-3) to 10(-1). Two series of complexes have been investigated. The first has the formula Pt(Rphen)(C...CC6H5)2 where Rphen is 1,10-phenanthroline substituted in the 5-position with R = H, Me, Cl, Br, NO2, or C...CC6H5, while the second has the formula Pt(dbbpy)(C=CC6H4X)2 where dbbpy = 4,4'-di(tert-butyl)bipyridine and X = H, Me, F, or NO2. From NMR, IR, and electronic spectroscopies, all of the complexes are assigned a square planar coordination geometry with cis-alkynyl ligands. The crystal structure of Pt(phen)(Ce-CC6H4CH3)2 confirms this assignment. All of the complexes exhibit an absorption band at ca. 400 nm that corresponds to a Pt d-->pi*diimine charge-transfer transition. The variation of lambdamax for this band with substituent variation supports this assignment. From similar changes in the energy of the solution luminescence as a function of substituents R and X, the emissive excited state is also of MLCT origin, but with spin-forbidden character on the basis of excited-state lifetime measurements (0.01-5.6 micros). The complexes undergo electron-transfer quenching, showing good Stern-Volmer behavior using 10-methylphenothiazine and N,N,N',N'-tetramethylbenzidine as reductive quenchers. Excited-state reduction potentials are estimated on the basis of a simple thermochemical analysis. Crystal data for Pt(phen)(C...CC6H4CH3)2: monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 19.0961(1) A, b = 10.4498(1) A, c = 11.8124(2) A, beta = 108.413(1) degrees, V = 2236.49 A3, number of reflections 1614, number of variables 150, R1 = 0.0163, wR2 (I > 2sigma) = 0.0410.


In this paper we deal with determination of chosen characteristics of vending business in the Czech Republic. Vending seems to be dynamically developing sector of economics. A strong competition is present in this market. This can be a reason that new ideas of improvement appear continuously. Primary data are used to characterize vending business from the perspective of consumer as well as vending operator. The data are used as input to statistical tests; results are summarized and presented in economic terms. At first, survey (about 600 respondents) is analyzed in empirical way. It is informative in such sense, that vending machines are used by majority of users, more often in school or workplace. The main reasons of using vending machines are speed of shopping and no other shopping possibility. Further part is devoted to comparison of prices under different situations. For example, there are differences among various vending machine locations. Vending machine prices are not necessarily higher than prices in shops or cafeterias. Finally, operator profitability is explored based on company internal data. Among others, hot drinks vending machines are more profitable than vending machines selling bottled beverages of packaged food in general.


The study of the physics of self-assembly in low-density condensed matter is an extremely interesting, mostly unexplored field of scientific research. The contribution reported in this thesis explains how this problem can be addressed using molecular dynamics simulation of 3D systems composed by simple, identical particles, interacting via a spherically symmetric pair potential, which belongs to the class of Dzugutov potentials. Such approach resulted in four, self-assembled archetypal structures, which are reported in the included papers I, II, III, IV. In order to produce the reported results, a major effort of software development has been done by the author, both in the simulation and the analysis programs used. This thesis will start with a brief introduction to the field, highlighting the important aspects needed to have a more complete, general understanding of the reported scientific results. Some conclusions will be drawn, together with some possible future endeavors.


Radiation therapy induces DNA damage and inflammation leading to fibrosis. Fibrosis can occur 4 to 12 months after radiation therapy. This process worsens with time and years. Radiation-induced fibrosis is characterized by fibroblasts proliferation, myofibroblast differentiation, and synthesis of collagen, proteoglycans and extracellular matrix. Myofibroblasts are non-muscle cells that can contract and relax. Myofibroblasts evolve towards irreversible retraction during fibrosis process. In this review, we discussed the interplays between transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR γ) in regulating the molecular mechanisms underlying the radiation-induced fibrosis, and the potential role of PPAR γ agonists. Overexpression of TGF-β and canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway stimulate fibroblasts accumulation and myofibroblast differentiation whereas PPAR γ expression decreases due to the opposite interplay of canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway. Both TGF-β1 and canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway stimulate each other through the Smad pathway and non-Smad pathways such as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine/threonine kinase (PI3K/Akt) signaling. WNT/β-catenin pathway and PPAR γ interact in an opposite manner. PPAR γ agonists decrease β-catenin levels through activation of inhibitors of the WNT pathway such as Smad7, glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3 β) and dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1). PPAR γ agonists also stimulate phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression, which decreases both TGF-β1 and PI3K/Akt pathways. PPAR γ agonists by activating Smad7 decrease Smads pathway and then TGF-β signaling leading to decrease radiation-induced fibrosis. TGF-β1 and canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway promote radiation-induced fibrosis whereas PPAR γ agonists can prevent radiation-induced fibrosis.


This proof-of-concept study tests the initial efficacy of the Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills (BaSICS) intervention, a selective prevention of internalizing problems program for early adolescents exposed to high levels of poverty-related stress. Eighty-four early adolescents (Mage  = 11.36 years) residing in very low-income neighborhoods were randomized to receive the 16-session intervention (n = 44) or to an assessment-only control condition (n = 40). BaSICS teaches coping skills, social identity development, and collective social action to empower youth with the ability to connect with members of their communities and cope with poverty-related stress in positive and collaborative ways. Pretest-posttest analyses showed that intervention adolescents acquired problem-solving and cognitive-restructuring skills and reduced their reliance on avoidant coping. In addition, HPA reactivity was significantly reduced in the intervention youth, but not controls. Finally, intervention youth's internalizing and somatic symptoms as reported by both youth and their parents, showed significant reductions over time, whereas control youth had no such changes. Results provide strong support for this approach to strength-building and symptom reduction in a population of early adolescents exposed to poverty-related stress.


Author(s): Chang, Shyr-Shea | Advisor(s): Roper, Marcus L | Abstract: Biological networks, such as vascular networks and neural circuits, are ubiquitous in nature. An understanding of these networks can help us understand their response to damages, which could lead to novel treatments. They can also inspire the design of man-made networks, as evolution has millions of years to figure out optimal designs. The advancement in imaging techniques has created high-dimensional data streams, which is difficult to analyze by conventional approaches. On the other hand, quantitative tools are naturally suited for processing large data sets, and they become more and more important in improving our knowledge on biological networks. Among existing tools ranging from network science to stochastic analysis, here we focus on optimization and dynamical system approach. Optimization links biological functions to corresponding network structures, which can give predictions to be compared with the data. The dynamical system approach is suited for analyzing time series data and complex interaction between the vertices, which is often exploited in biological systems for intricate signalings and regulations.This thesis is devoted to the study of biological networks with optimization and dynamical system, focused on two specific biological systems: microvascular network and bipolar disorder. For microvascular networks, we first study a specific example of embryonic zebrafish trunk network, and reveal the significance of flow uniformity in this network. Then we derive analytical structures of networks with optimal transport efficiency, which is widely regarded as the organizing principle of vascular networks, especially for large vessels such as aorta. To compare the morphologies of transport efficient and uniform flow networks, we develop algorithm that is capable of finding optimal networks with general target functions and constraints, and show that the principle of uniform flow creates more realistic microvascular networks under many different topologies. Finally, we propose an vessel adaptation mechanism based on stress sensing dynamic to explain how microvascular networks stay resilient to noise, and how they grow into uniform flow networks. For bipolar disorder, we mathematically analyze a dynamical model based on the interaction of mood and expectation. We show that bipolar disorder can be viewed as a bifurcation in the direction from normal to cyclic personality. We also consider the case where positive and negative events are sensed differently, and describe the bifurcation in this case. Finally we apply commonly used medicine on the model, and recover clinically observed phenomena on bipolar disorder patients.


OBJECTIVE
The introduction of the embryofetoscopy--a new method of prenatal diagnosis used in the 1st trimester of the pregnancy.

SETTING
Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague.

DESIGN
Pilot clinical study.

METHODS
The embryofetoscopy was carried out in pregnant women in the 7th or 8th conceptional week who asked for a legal abortion of the pregnancy. We used the embryofetoscope with diameter of 0.8 mm (made by K. Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany). The trocar of the embryofetoscope was inserted into the animal cavity transabdominally always guided by ultrasound. It is possible to perform the examination in local anaesthesia. A further trocar with two canals--one for insertion of the embryofetoscope, the second of the needle with diameter of 0.6 mm--is designated for genetic indicated sampling of embryonal tissues or for incidental application of gene or stem cells therapy in the future.

RESULTS
The videocamera documented our embryoscopical findings till this time in 7 cases. On the pictures 1-8 are the face, scull, eye, ear, extremities, genitals and umbilical cord of the embryo in the 7th conceptional week.

CONCLUSIONS
The applications of the embryofetoscopy are very wide. It allows us to obtain not only new knowledge about the early development of the normal and affected embryo in vivo, but it simultaneously opens new ways for the therapy of the embryo in the future and for fetal surgery guided by embryoscope in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of the pregnancy.


An iterative procedure is described for fitting a continuous aperture illumination function to a small discrete element array such that the far-field antenna pattern has prescribed sidelobe behavior. Control of successive sidelobe levels in the array factor pattern is used to minimize an error expression comprised of the sum of the squares of the differences between calculated and specified levels for a selected number of sidelobes. The coefficients of a finite series defining the continuous aperture illumination are the variables employed in a Newton-Raphson solution. A sum beam aperture excitation for meeting the 20/30 dB sidelobe requirements of the 1973 OTP manual is derived for a small array and shown to be a useful approximation for a larger array situations. The procedure has been extended to difference beam illumination functions. Extensions to other aperture illuminations are indicated.


On September 28, 2003 the Italian Power System experienced an electric power blackout. The outage affected an area with an estimated 60 million people and load variation in the continental grid from about 24000 MW at the early hours of the day, up to 50000 MW during the central part of the day. The event which caused the blackout began at 3:01:00 am and proceeded up to 3:28:00. Power was restored after three hours in the North area and during the same day in the large part of Italy. The energy not delivered amounts to 180GWh. The paper explains the major events that occurred as the blackout initiated and evolved and identifies the technical causes characterising the different phases of the process which led to the general blackout. It lists the sequence of the interconnection loss and reconstructs the dynamic phases of unstable phenomena leading to the separation from Europe. The subsequent slow death throes of the separated Italian network with a cascade of generator tripping is also described up to final blackout.


In this paper, we proposed an integrated biometric-based security framework for wireless body area networks, which takes advantage of biometric features shared by body sensors deployed at different positions of a person's body. The data communications among these sensors are secured via the proposed authentication and selective encryption schemes that only require low computational power and less resources (e.g., battery and bandwidth). Specifically, a wavelet-domain Hidden Markov Model (HMM) classification is utilized by considering the non-Gaussian statistics of ECG signals for accurate authentication. In addition, the biometric information such as ECG parameters is selected as the biometric key for the encryption in the framework. Our experimental results demonstrated that the proposed approach can achieve more accurate authentication performance without extra requirements of key distribution and strict time synchronization.


An experiment was conducted to determine if contrast tuning could be performed on an automated track developer using a standard spray versus an ultrasonic nozzle. GaAs wafers were patterned with a linear variable neutral density filter (LVNDF) and developed by spray and an ultrasonic nozzle. The ultrasonic nozzle produced a lower chemical contrast than the standard spray development. This lower chemical contrast used in conjunction with image reversal makes photoresist sidewalls more retrograde, which is advantageous in GaAs processing for metal liftoff. In addition to contrast tuning, the LVNDF technique is described that was used to quickly and easily compare the contrasts of the two development systems. With the LVNDF mask, chemical contrast as well as process uniformity could be quickly measured. >


Foreign direct investment and technological spillovers are among the most widely studied to understand their role in learning, capability building and innovation management. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of FDI in industrial development in the sub Saharan region but using an alternative framework taking Kenya as a case study country. Specifically, the paper investigates whether presence of FDI in manufacturing industry stimulates spillover occurrence. This is done following a unique analytical framework developed taking into consideration human resource development, linkages, competition and demonstration effects. On the basis of this framework, foreign presence stimulated spillover occurrence in Kenya's industry. There was tremendous evidence of learning, capability building and innovation due to spillover occurrence. The main limitation of this paper is that results obtained cannot be generalized since the five foreign firms studied cannot be considered comprehensive representatives of the entire manufacturing industry. The results need to change our thinking with regard to policy pertaining to the role FDI plays in a host country's industrial development. This paper presents the only known work based in Africa focusing on FDI, spillovers, learning, capability building and innovation. The case studies, though ambitious, present findings which need to change our thinking about the past results and methodologies of the past studies on FDI and spillovers.


Erythropoietin (EPO) and thrombopoietin (TPO) have long been known to promote erythropoiesis and megakaryopoiesis, respectively. However, the fate-changing role of EPO and TPO on megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors (MEPs) to develop along the erythroid versus megakaryocyte lineage remains unclear. We have previously shown that EPO may have a fate-changing role because EPO treatment could induce progenitor cells depletion and result in EPO resistance. Therefore, we hypothesize that a combination of romiplostim, a TPO receptor agonist that could stimulate the expansion of progenitors, with EPO can treat EPO resistance. Using rats with anemia due to chronic kidney disease, we demonstrated that romiplostim synergized with EPO to promote red blood cells production whereas EPO inhibited platelet production in a dose-dependent manner to reduce the risk of thrombosis. Corroborating findings from in vivo, in vitro experiments demonstrated that romiplostim expanded hematopoietic stem cells and stimulated megakaryopoiesis whereas EPO drove the progenitors toward an erythroid fate. We further developed a novel pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model to quantify the effects of EPO and romiplostim on megakaryopoiesis and erythropoiesis simultaneously. The modeling results demonstrated that EPO increased the differentiation rate of MEPs into burst-forming unit-erythroid cells up to 22-fold, indicating that the slight increase of MEPs induced by romiplostim could be further amplified and recruited by EPO to promote erythropoiesis. The data herein support that romiplostim in combination with EPO can treat EPO resistance. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study clarified that erythropoietin (EPO) drives the fate of megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors (MEPs) toward the erythroid lineage, thus reducing their megakaryocyte (MK) lineage commitment, whereas romiplostim, a thrombopoietin receptor agonist, stimulates megakaryopoiesis through the MK-committed progenitor and MEP bifurcation pathways simultaneously. These findings support an innovative combination of romiplostim and EPO to treat EPO-resistant anemia because the combination therapy further promotes erythropoiesis compared to EPO monotherapy and inhibits platelet production compared to romiplostim monotherapy.


Background: The CCL2 (CC-chemokine ligand 2)/CCR2 (CC-chemokine receptor 2) axis governs monocyte recruitment to atherosclerotic lesions. Genetic and epidemiological studies show strong associations of CCL2 levels with atherosclerotic disease. Still, experimental studies testing pharmacological inhibition of CCL2 or CCR2 in atheroprone mice apply widely different approaches and report variable results, thus halting clinical translation. Methods: We systematically searched the literature for studies employing pharmacological CCL2/CCR2 blockade in atheroprone mice and meta-analyzed their effects on lesion size and morphology. Results: In a meta-analysis of 14 studies testing 11 different agents, CCL2/CCR2 blockade attenuated atherosclerotic lesion size in the aortic root or arch (g=−0.75 [−1.17 to −0.32], P=6×10−4; N=171/171 mice in experimental/control group), the carotid (g=−2.39 [−4.23 to −0.55], P=0.01; N=24/25), and the femoral artery (g=−2.38 [−3.50 to −1.26], P=3×10−5; N=10/10). Furthermore, CCL2/CCR2 inhibition reduced intralesional macrophage accumulation and increased smooth muscle cell content and collagen deposition. The effects of CCL2/CCR2 inhibition on lesion size correlated with reductions in plaque macrophage accumulation, in accord with a prominent role of CCL2/CCR2 signaling in monocyte recruitment. Subgroup analyses showed comparable efficacy of different CCL2- and CCR2-inhibitors in reducing lesion size and intralesional macrophages. The quality assessment revealed high risk of detection bias due to lack of blinding during outcome assessment, as well as evidence of attrition and reporting bias. Conclusions: Preclinical evidence suggests that pharmacological targeting of CCL2 or CCR2 might lower atherosclerotic lesion burden, but the majority of existing studies suffer major quality issues that highlight the need for additional high-quality research.


68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT imaging is a relatively new imaging technique used to evaluate the extent of disease in prostate carcinoma. Various other neoplasms may also express PSMA and show uptake on PSMA PET/CT scan. We report a case of a 62-year-old man who had a PSMA PET/CT scan for restaging of prostate carcinoma. A PSMA-avid thyroid lesion was identified, and subsequent tissue sampling confirmed the diagnosis of follicular thyroid adenoma. It is important to be aware of this possibility to avoid scan misinterpretation. Tissue biopsy of PSMA-avid thyroid lesions should be considered to exclude a primary thyroid neoplasm.


The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is frequently used in pavement engineering for road pavement inspection. The main objective of this work is to validate nondestructive, quick and powerful measurements using GPR for assessment of subgrade and asphalt /concrete conditions. In the present study, two different antennas (250, 500 MHz) were used. The case studies are presented was carried in University of Baghdad over about 100m of paved road. After data acquisition and radar grams collection, they have been processed using RadExplorer V1.4 software implementing different filters with the most effective ones (time zero adjustment and DC removal) in addition to other interpretation tool parameters. The interpretation results showed that with 250 MHz antenna, the buried plastic pipe and the flexible pavement layer were identified. The later appeared as one layer without identifying the rigid pavement layer. With 500 MHz antenna, the plastic pipe, rigid pavement, appeared clearly. Moreover, the short type of maximum time window using antenna 500 MHz appeared to be the most suitable for detecting some radar anomalies (plastic pipe, and pavement thickness) which were clearly defined. While, the suitable radar wave velocity was 100 m/ns for estimation of the flexible and rigid pavement layer thicknesses respectively. No change is obtained with changing point interval. . Finally, this diagnostic tool of GPR for pavement defects and damages investigations seems very promising, cost effective and efficient in its


The Fisher infinitesimal model is a classical model of phenotypic trait inheritance in quantitative genetics. Here, we prove that it encompasses a remarkable convexity structure which is compatible with a selection function having a convex shape. It yields uniform contractivity along the flow, as measured by a $L^\infty$ version of the Fisher information. It induces in turn asynchronous exponential growth of solutions, associated with a well-defined, log-concave, equilibrium distribution. Although the equation is non-linear and non-conservative, our result shares some similarities with the Bakry-Emery approach to the exponential convergence of solutions to the Fokker-Planck equation with a convex potential. Indeed, the contraction takes place at the level of the Fisher information. Moreover, the key lemma for proving contraction involves the Wasserstein distance $W_\infty$ between two probability distributions of a (dual) backward-in-time process, and it is inspired by a maximum principle by Caffarelli for the Monge-Amp\`ere equation.


Sixty billion barrels of oil still reside in the matrix of mature onshore and offshore Mexican reservoirs located in the southeast basins after primary and secondary recovery. Capillary and viscous forces are responsible for this amount of oil retained within the pore structure of the matrix (immobile oil). Gravitational forces are not enough to counterattack these forces due to the high fracturing intensity. On the other hand, laboratory testing demonstrates that oil residing in the matrix could be mobilized by the exothermic reaction that takes place with air injection.
 Air injection in homogeneous heavy and light oil sandstones and nonfractured limestones, at small or large scales during short and long periods of time, is feasible for producing resources technically and economically nonrecoverable by other means. However, to the best of our knowledge, the published literature does not report any application of an air injection project in naturally fractured reservoirs.
 During 2015, an air injection pilot test was performed in a light oil naturally fractured reservoir in Mexico, referred to as "A" field. The implementation of the pilot test was preceded by its corresponding laboratory study, which consisted of five accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC) tests and two combustion tube (CT) experiments. The analysis of the aforementioned experimental work led us to corroborate that air and oil react at reservoir conditions. Based on the above finding, the pilot test was conducted by injecting air at a rate of 10 MMscf/D with a wellhead pressure of 4,500 psia for 1.5 years, which was followed by a 1.5-year production period giving a total of 3 years for the pilot test.
 The results indicate that combustion was successfully applied in the reservoir. However, no oil was produced. This paper discusses the results of a prematurely ended air injection pilot test in "A" field and the main lessons learned from it, which could help in the design and its subsequent implementation in other naturally fractured reservoirs.


Abstract Interpreting Neolithic passage grave art is difficult but, according to middle range theory, could be achieved with analogies with known other factors. Celestial phenomena present one possibility and can easily be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively; however, a single match in modern eyes need not necessarily have been intended by Neolithic minds; independent corroboration is needed. The late fourth millennium BC kerbstone KI5 at Knowth, Ireland, bears a fan-shaped pattern that has been controversially interpreted as a solar calendar yet it has not been noted until now that there is independent evidence for exactly this calendar, in fine detail, in the standing stone alignments of Britain. A new examination and reinterpretation of the rock carving reveals a strikingly good match with this "menhir calendar" of Alexander Thom and strongly supports his statistical deductions from his survey data. Also offered is an interpretation of the "diamond and spiral" symbol that appears rarely on passage grave art and once on a sherd of Orkney Grooved ware. A link with the solar calendar is possible.


The aim of this study was to identify the risk of recurrence in patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (TESCC) treated with curative surgery. The retrospective analysis included 1002 consecutive patients with TESCC who had been treated with curative surgery in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, China, between 2003 and 2008. Univariate and multivariate analyses using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model, respectively, were performed to identify the independent risk factors for locoregional recurrence and all the recurrence events. The 2-and 5-year recurrence rates were 39.0 and 59.2%, respectively. More than 85% of recurrences occurred within 36 months. The variables associated with a higher rate of recurrence in the univariate analysis were gender (male), length of tumor (≥5 cm), depth of invasion (deeper), lymph node metastasis (greater), histological grade (higher) and vessel involvement (positive). By multivariate analyses, gender (HR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.5; P=0.002), depth of invasion (HR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6; P<0.001) and lymph node involvement (HR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.3-1.5; P<0.001) were independent predictive factors of recurrence. Post-operative radiotherapy or chemotherapy did not significantly prolong failure-free survival (FFS), particularly in patients with early-stage disease. Information regarding the depth of primary tumor invasion and the number of lymph nodes involved may help in evaluating the recurrence risk in patients with TESCC treated with curative surgery. Further studies are required to clarify the correlation between recurrence and the different multidisciplinary treatment approaches.


The purpose of this study was to identify rates of adherence for three outpatient quality indicators noted by Wang et al. (Pediatrics 2011;128:484–493): (1) influenza vaccine, (2) pneumococcal immunizations, and (3) penicillin prophylaxis in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) in a Medicaid sample. These variables were chosen based on Wang and colleagues' suggestion that these variables are important for the assessment of the quality of care of children with SCD. We hypothesized that the overall rate of adherence would be poor with adults having worse rates of adherence than children. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Wisconsin State Medicaid database over a 5‐year period to assess the preventative medication adherence of individuals with SCD. Preventative medication variables in this study included influenza vaccination, pneumococcal immunizations (PCV7, PPV23), and penicillin prophylaxis. As predicted, the 2003–2007 Wisconsin State Medicaid database showed patients with SCD had low adherence in terms of recommended influenza vaccinations (21.58% adherent), PPV23 pneumococcal immunizations (43.47% adherent), and penicillin prophylaxis (18.18% adherent). Pneumococcal immunizations for PCV7 were higher than expected (77.27% adherent). Although children tended to adhere to recommended preventative medications more than adults, overall adherence was low. Although we cannot explain why adherence is low, it is likely due to multiple factors at the patient‐ and provider‐level. We encourage patients and providers to create a partnership to meet adherence recommendations, and we describe our strategies for increasing adherence. Am. J. Hematol. 89:256–260, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Minimum selection generalized selection combining(MS-GSC) scheme has been proposed as a generalized power-saving variant of the conventional generalized selection combining(GSC) scheme. Previous analysis of the performance of MS-GSC has focused on interference-free environments. This paper aims to investigate the performance of adaptive signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based MS-GSC in the presence of co-channel interference over multipath fading channels. The adaptation thresholds are selected to enhance either the spectral efficiency or power efficiency of discrete-time rectangular signaling system. New closed-form expressions for the statistics of combined signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) are presented, which are then used to obtain analytical formulations for various performance measures. Numerical and simulation comparisons for the performance of the adaptation scheme are provided.


This article deals with street naming policies and practices with regard to the Jewish urban community in the north of Metropolitan Toronto, Canada. It highlights the linguistic landscape as a cultural and symbolic expression of a Jewish-Israeli minority group in Vaughan, a city in North Toronto. The Jewish nomenclature is also examined viewing Toronto's multicultural- cum-pragmatic street naming policies. While such a display of Jewish toponymy is almost non-existent in Toronto itself, the creation of 'Jewish Toronto' in the north of the metropole is the product of both 'Jewish' and 'Canadian-Torontonian' factors. This article analyzes these two factors and their related characteristics in terms of demography, sociopolitical approach, religiocultural identity, economy, and municipal by-laws. It concludes that the development of a Jewish toponymic culture as an ethnic-minority culture in the public domain of northern Metropolitan Toronto is a result of a bipartite process. This process has been enabled by the aspirations of the minority group, on the one hand, and the flexibility and tolerance inherent in the multicultural policies of the majority group/ government, on the other.


Modulation of the cluster of differentiation-36 receptor (CD36) has proven promising for dampening pro-inflammatory macrophage signaling. For example, azapeptides (e.g., 1 and 2) bind CD36 selectively with high affinity, mitigate Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist-induced overproduction of nitric oxide (NO), and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production in macrophages. Moreover, semicarbazides 1 and 2 inhibit microvascular sprouting mediated through CD36 in the choroid explant. Seeking a selective CD36 modulator that mediated inflammation without influencing neovascularization, a set of azasulfurylpeptides (e.g., 3a–e) were synthesized in which the semicarbazide was replaced by an N-aminosulfamide residue using a novel solid-phase approach. Notably, azasulfurylpeptide 3c diminished selectively CD36-mediated TLR-2-triggered inflammatory response without affecting neovascularization. Subtle chemical modification at the peptide backbone from a carbonyl to a sulfuryl residue has had a selective effect on biological activity providing a valuable probe for studying CD36 chemical biology.


Polytetrafluoroethylene films have been deposited for use as low dielectric constant materials. Deposition is performed through pyrolysis of hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) to produce CF2, which can then polymerize and deposit as a thin film. The variation of CF2 concentration as a function of reactor conditions has been characterized by ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. CF2 concentration is observed to go through a maximum with respect to both pressure and pyrolysis temperature when it is present in large amounts (~1014 cm-3). A one-dimensional model including known kinetic reactions for HFPO decomposition and CF2 recombination and multi-component diffusive transport has been applied to the parallel plate system. The result is seen to overestimate the measured concentration and does not capture the maxima observed versus pressure and temperature. An additional mechanism of particle formation, by CF2 insertion into (CF2)n oligomers, has been introduced to produce a kinetic model that explains the CF2 concentration measurements.


The aim of this paper is to report the findings on the impact of communication technology as channels on interaction between academic staff and their students, conducted at an Iranian higher learning institution. Study focused on media choice and it attempted to determine the communication channels most used by academic staffs in interacting with their students and the reasons they chose these channels. It also intended to find out whether there was a significant relationship between communication channels most used by academic staffs and their perception of media richness. The results revealed that though there is the existence of new communication technologies such as the internet which offers faster and cheaper facilities, Face-to-Face communication is the most used and preferred communication channel by academic staffs in interacting with their students. In addition there was significant relationship between communication channel most used by respondents and their perception of media richness and social presence. That's why with the higher level of social presence, their level of experience with a channel increases. The findings of this study extend two of the most widely investigated media choice theories: Media Richness Theory (MRT) and Social Presence Theory (SPT).


The network structure and chain dynamics of ionic elastomers based on carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR) cross-linked with different content of magnesium oxide (MgO) have been studied by different low-field time-domain NMR experiments. Ionic contacts created during the vulcanization tend to aggregate trapping some polymer segments that show restricted mobility as it was quantified by analyses of refocused free induction decays. Increasing the MgO content above the stoichiometric fraction has no effect on the amount of trapped polymer segments, but it increases the network cross-link density as measured by multiple-quantum (MQ) NMR experiments. The central finding of this work is that MgO addition above the stoichiometric content enhances the mechanical properties by creating a larger number of smaller ionic clusters, which act as dynamic cross-links, but are not readily seen by other techniques. Changes in the network structure and morphology of segregated thermolabile ionic domains have an impact on the ...


Introduction to Turnitin, including a video and information about why the University uses Turnitin and what happens when using Turnitin.


This study introduces a meticulously constructed genome assembly at the chromosome level for the Rosaceae family species Prinsepia uniflora, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. The final assembly encompasses 1272.71 megabases (Mb) distributed across 16 pseudochromosomes, boasting contig and super-scaffold N50 values of 2.77 and 79.32 Mb, respectively. Annotated within this genome is a substantial 875.99 Mb of repetitive sequences, with transposable elements occupying 777.28 Mb, constituting 61.07% of the entire genome. Our predictive efforts identified 49,261 protein-coding genes within the repeat-masked assembly, with 45,256 (91.87%) having functional annotations, 5127 (10.41%) demonstrating tandem duplication, and 2373 (4.82%) classified as transcription factor genes. Additionally, our investigation unveiled 3080 non-coding RNAs spanning 0.51 Mb of the genome sequences. According to our evolutionary study, P. uniflora underwent recent whole-genome duplication following its separation from Prunus salicina. The presented reference-level genome assembly and annotation for P. uniflora will significantly facilitate the in-depth exploration of genomic information pertaining to this species, offering substantial utility in comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses involving Rosaceae species.


This paper observes that adverbs meaning 'back' systematically give rise to restitutive readings which have long been thought of only as secondary readings of adverbs meaning 'again'. Restitutive readings are argued to arise from two sources: repetition of a state, or reversal of an event. Languages like English and Hindi-Urdu have a separate dedicated adverb for each, showing the independence of these two sources. A single reversal-based/counterdirectional lexical entry (originally proposed for AGAIN) is demonstrated to capture an intuitive relationship that exists between three core readings of BACK. These readings are, however, shown to have several as yet unconsidered properties that necessitate a finer-grained expression of counterdirectionality than is afforded by the broad concept of reverse events. The paper significantly revises the counterdirectional presupposition, capturing the core readings of BACK-adverbs by appealing not to repetition or reversal but to elements that can be copied from the assertion itself: THEME, SCALE, and end point of scalar change.


This research analyzes the cumulative trajectory of Brazilian industry's ability to innovate and the impact of this resource on firms' financial performance. From a broad base of data taken at the firm level, a cross-sectional analysis and a longitudinal analysis were combined, through structural equation modelling, in the construction of the trajectory of resource innovation with the combined use of the following techniques: a multilevel model, latent trajectory analysis, and an autoregressive model. The empirical model shows that the ability to innovate consists of factors that are associated with internal, external, and human resources. The influence on financial performance is positive and significant when the analysis involves the long term. The autoregressive effect of the ability to innovate in time is not significant, suggesting that the innovation process is cumulative, interactive, and nonlinear. These results are relevant to emerging countries that require continued public policies and a greater intensity of business investment in the innovation process, aiming at the longevity of companies.


Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists have a proven potential to become the adjuvants of the next generation when admixed and formulated with all kinds of vaccine compositions. The quality and magnitude of a vaccine-induced immune response is often strongly facilitated by TLR agonists, with the result that protection is increased and expanded toward type 1-driven immunity. DNA oligodeoxynucleotides bind to TLR9 and have been tested in a variety of vaccine settings with encouraging results. Combining oligodeoxynucleotides with poly-L-arginine (IC30) or certain artificial antimicrobial peptides dramatically improves and synergizes with the adjuvant action of TLR9 agonists, a notion that has prompted the development of IC31®, an adjuvant with a promising profile in both preclinical and clinical trials.


Dielectric properties of materials are used for evaluating their interactions with electromagnetic energy. Dielectric properties of food materials are required for various applications in food industry such as microwave (at 915 or 2450 MHz), radio wave (at 13.56, 27.12 or 40.68 MHz) and magnetic field processing. In order to understand the response of food materials to electromagnetic energy, dielectric parameters must be determined as a function of frequency, temperature, composition and moisture content. In this review, the dielectric properties of different food groups were listed depending on temperature and frequency ranges. In addition to the literature data of dielectric properties, the penetration depths of microwave or radio wave through food groups were calculated. The effects of temperature and composition (mostly moisture content) on dielectric properties depend on the type of the food and sometimes on frequency. However, the effect of frequency is constant; increased frequency decreased dielectric constant, loss factor and penetration depth. The lowest calculated penetration depth belonged to the fish surimi gel as 3.39 mm at microwave frequency whereas they were high generally for fats, oily seeds and flours (max was 372602 mm for corn flour). It appears that dielectric properties of foods should be investigated further depending on the interactions between frequency, temperature and composition. And then, dielectric heating based on the aim of the process can be applied accordingly. Besides, it appears that the moisture content and especially the dipole rotation and the conductivity movements of the molecules in free water content of the food are some of the most critical factors influencing the dielectric properties of food materials.


Although in recent years nonhost resistance has attracted considerable attention for its broad spectrum and durability, the genetic and mechanistic components of nonhost resistance have not been fully understood. We used molecular and histochemical approaches including quantitative PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and 3,3'-diaminobenzidine and aniline blue staining. The evolutionarily conserved histone acetyltransferase complex Elongator was identified as a major component of nonhost resistance against Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) and Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola (Psp) NPS3121. Mutations in Elongator genes inhibit Xcc-, Psp NPS3121- and/or flg22-induced defense responses including defense gene expression, callose deposition, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and salicylic acid (SA) accumulation. Mutations in Elongator also attenuate the ROS-SA amplification loop. We show that suppressed ROS and SA accumulation in Elongator mutants is correlated with reduced expression of the Arabidopsis respiratory burst oxidase homologue AtrbohD and the SA biosynthesis gene ISOCHORISMATE SYNTHASE1 (ICS1). Furthermore, we found that the Elongator subunit ELP2 is associated with the chromatin of AtrbohD and ICS1 and is required for maintaining basal histone H3 acetylation levels in these key defense genes. As both AtrbohD and ICS1 contribute to nonhost resistance against Xcc, our results reveal an epigenetic mechanism by which Elongator regulates nonhost resistance in Arabidopsis.


This paper investigates how large and medium-sized companies listed on the regulated market segments of the Belgrade Stock Exchange manage their profitability during periods of recession, over the four-year period (2008-2011). The study shows that bigger and more liquid companies demonstrate higher profitability. As to growth opportunities, asset efficiency and institutional ownership, these profitability determinants are statistically significant only in the case of return on asset as a profitability measure. The analysis reveals evidence of the transitional character of the Serbian corporate environment and indicates the need for additional ways to gain profitability and improve companies' performance during crisis periods.


This paper gives a comparison the IBM main frame packaging technology and hardware system structure for the last three CMOS generations (z900, z990 and z9) and presents an outlook on the key challenges for the future. The chip and packaging technologies have enabled a node like structure which resulted in a modular concept supporting the IBM On Demand Business Concept. The key challenges for the high-end servers which are the continuously increasing data bandwidth and the increasing node power are discussed