Background Pain is multifaceted and difficult to capture. RAPS (Anderson D. Arthritis Care Res 2001; 45:317) was designed to measure physiologic, affective, sensory-discriminative, and cognitive aspects but so far finds sparse recognition. There are no gold standard pain instruments. Against this perspective, a suitable version was validated for use in our community. Objectives To validate an Indian version of RAPS for pain measure in RA Methods RAPS after suitable translation (contextual) was administered in face-face interview to 99 consenting active painful patients suffering from RA (ACR 1987 criteria; 93% women, mean age and disease duration 46.9 years and 8.7 months respectively, mean Pain VAS 5.3.; 76% seropositive RF) and on supervised rheumatology care in a popular community center. Standard of care medical documents captured the required data [included joint counts pain/swelling (JCPT/SW), patient & physician global assess, Indian version HAQ, SF 36]. RAPS contained 24pain questions [score 0-6 per question, total 0-144; anchor scored 0 (never) and 6 (always].This was a cross sectional prospective design study but all patients were followed for 16 weeks in a 3 arm controlled dietary intervention study with MTX background; SPSS used for statistical analysis (significant "S" p<0.05). Results RAPS showed good face and content validity. Other validity measures- Test-retest Cronbach's Alpha =0.91 and overall good content and construct validity for total and individual domain score except for a low alpha for "affective domain"; Correlation Matrix (Pearson r):age 0.02, duration disease 0.16, JCPT 0.15, JCSW 0.06, patient global 0.14, ESR -0.04, CRP 0.06, pain VAS 0.30 (S) & HAQ 0.30 (S). Pain VAS was the only significant predictor (multiple multivariable linear regressions). RAPS was found to load along with HAQ, pain VAS,JCPT and patient global (all patient centric)in the 'first' factor of the principle component "factor analysis" ;successive factors were lab and JCSW. Further data (construct and criterion/external validity) will be presented on (i) RAPS subscale analysis (ii)SF 36 physical & mental scores analysis (iii)sensitivity to change (fair-moderate). Patient satisfaction was high and it seems to impact compliance. Conclusions RAPS is a valid and clinically relevant instrument to measure and monitor pain and response to treatment in patients of RA. It deserves to be recognized in rheumatology practice References Chopra, Saluja. Validation and usefulness of Indian version (CRD Pune) health assessment questionnaire: drug trials, community practice and COPCORD Bhigwan population study (1994-2012). Indian J Rheumatol 2012;7(2):74-82. Acknowledgements Patients, Management & colleagues at CRD Pune and in particular Dr S Sarmukkadam, Dr N Kulkarni, Ms Manjit Saluja, Dr Anuradha V, Dr R Rane Disclosure of Interest None declared


The liver plays a central role in the establishment and maintenance of the cachectic state in rats bearing extra‐hepatic tumours. Kupffer cells, which as macrophages, show a strong relationship between metabolism and function could be involved in the alterations observed in the disruption of many functions of the organ as a whole. To assess whether the metabolic/functional pattern of Kupffer cells was altered by cachexia we have investigated the utilization of glucose, glutamine and palmitate by the cells from tumour‐bearing and control rats. We have found an enhanced utilization of the three substrates by the cells from tumour‐bearing rats as compared with controls, which was related to greater energy production through the Krebs cycle and enhanced production of precursors for the synthesis of the many substances the cells secrete when activated. The use of palmitate as substrate was also augmented in these cells, in the opposition to the observation in stimulated peritoneal macrophages. The availability of palmitate however, was not associated with a reduction of glucose or glutamine consumption. The cycle of interconversion, free fatty acids/triacyglycerol in Kupffer cells from tumour‐bearing rats was also found to be increased, as was hydrogen peroxide production. Taken together the results suggest an increased utilization of substrates for both energy production and for synthetic processes (e.g. NADPH for hydrogen peroxide production). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In order to design software that is intended to compute answers to queries that are in accordance with some logic programming semantics, one would like to offer up a formal specification of the software design which could be used profitably to construct the software, and one would want to be able to prove that the specification is in fact faithful to the semantics. This paper presents a constructive formal specification of semantic trees and truth-value determinations using semantic trees for disjunctive logic programs with negation as failure. This specification methodology directly supports the design of top-down interpreters for well-founded semantics.


Purpose To identify the paternal factors responsible for aberrant embryo development leading to loss of foetus in recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) through proteomic analysis of ejaculated spermatozoa. Materials and Methods This prospective study consisted of male partners of RPL patients (n=16) experienced with two or more consecutive unexplained miscarriages and with no female factor abnormality as revealed by gynaecologic investigation including karyotyping and age matched fertile healthy volunteers (n=20). All samples were collected during 2013 to 2015 after getting institutional ethical approval and written consent from the participants. Seminal ejaculates were collected by masturbation after 2 to 3 days of sexual abstinence and analyzed according to World Health Organization 5th criteria 2010. Two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrophotometric analysis was used to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Western blotting was used for validation of the key proteins. Results The data identified 36 protein spots to be differentially expressed by more than 2-fold change with p<0.05 considered as significant. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight/mass spectrometry identified GPx4, JIP4, ZN248 to be overexpressed while HSPA2, GSTM5, TF3C1, CC74A was underexpressed in RPL group. Western blot analysis confirmed the differential expression of key redox associated proteins GPx4 and HSPA2 in the RPL group. Functional analysis revealed the involvement of key biological processes that includes spermatogenesis, response to oxidative stress, protein folding and metabolic process. Conclusions The present study provides a snapshot of the altered protein expression levels consistent with the potential involvement of the sperm chromatin landscape in early embryonic development.


Profilaggrin is a major protein component of the keratohyalin granules of mammalian epidermis. It is initially expressed as a large polyprotein precursor and is subsequently proteolytically processed into individual functional filaggrin molecules. We have isolated genomic DNA and cDNA clones encoding the 5'- and 3'-ends of the human gene and mRNA. The data reveal the presence of likely "CAT" and "TATA" sequences, an intron in the 5'-untranslated region, and several potential regulatory sequences. While all repeats are of the same length (972 bp, 324 amino acids), sequences display considerable variation (10-15%) between repeats on the same clone and between different clones. Most variations are attributable to single-base changes, but many also involve changes in charge. Thus, human filaggrin consists of a heterogeneous population of molecules of different sizes, charges, and sequences. However, amino acid sequences encoding the amino and carboxyl termini are more conserved, as are the 5' and 3' DNA sequences flanking the coding portions of the gene. The presence of unique restriction enzyme sites in these conserved flanking sequences has enabled calculations on the size of the full-length gene and the numbers of repeats in it: depending on the source of genomic DNA, the gene contains 10, 11, or 12 filaggrin repeats that segregate in kindred families by normal Mendelian genetic mechanisms. This means that the human profilaggrin gene system is also polymorphic with respect to size due to simple allelic differences between different individuals. The amino- and carboxyl-terminal sequences of profilaggrin contain partial or truncated repeats with unusual un-filaggrin-like sequences on the termini.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees equality of the citizens, but accords special rights and privileges to natives. Thus, there is a bifurcation of citizenship between the "native-citizens" and "non-native-citizens", with different rights and privileges attached to each category. The crises created by this bifurcation is better observed in the cities, as it provides points of contact between large numbers of natives and non-natives. Lagos, as a megacity, epitomizes the identity and legal crises pervasive in Nigeria. This bifurcation of citizenship has created a dilemma thereby recasting the megacity as the pepperfarm, which Eko, the original name of Lagos, was in the 18th century. Using doctrinal method, the paper found that Lagos, not unlike many Nigerian cities, is shrouded in controversies and conflicts which could only be resolved by new legislation and orientation. The project of correcting the observed anomaly of bifurcated citizenship in Lagos is however beyond the city. It must embrace the whole of Nigeria. Hence, the relevant laws need to be updated towards permitting citizens to claim their place of birth or residence once they are able to assimilate the ways of life of the indigenous population, as this will resolve the legal and identity crises currently endangering the megacity; and help in reducing primordial attitude.


New accounting guidelines for hospitals will make financial statements more meaningful, experts say, in large part because the rules will end the practice of combining uncollected debt and charity care on a single line. That could aid the fight to preserve tax exemptions.


BACKGROUND : TLR7 detects viral single-stranded RNA and triggers an innate immune response. We recently showed that TLR7 agonists relax guinea pig, mouse, and human airways within seconds. We investigated TLR7 expression and signaling in post-mortem human airways.

METHODS : Human trachea and primary bronchi were immunostained with anti-TLR7 antibodies, neuronal marker PGP9.5 and nuclear stain DAPI, and were imaged by confocal microscopy (20X, 63X; 1.4 numerical aperture). TLR7 function was assessed in human airway strips suspended in an organ bath. Airways were contracted with methacholine (10 µM) and exposed to TLR7 agonist (R837; 10-300 µM). Some airways were pretreated with the TLR7 antagonist (IRS661; 100 µM) or nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NMMA; 100 µM).

RESULTS : TLR7 (labeled yellow) was expressed on airway nerves (labeled red), but not airway smooth muscle (labeled blue). TLR7 was expressed on nerve cell bodies located within the airway wall, consistent with parasympathetic nerve distribution. TLR7 agonist caused dose-dependent relaxation of pre-contracted human airways that was blocked by the TLR7 antagonist IRS661, and by inhibition of nitric oxide synthase.

![Figure][1]

CONCLUSIONS : Neuronal TLR7 expression suggests airway nerves have a novel role in the immune response to respiratory viruses, and can induce bronchorelaxation via the production of nitric oxide.

 [1]: pending:yes


The Streptomyces mycarofaciens mdmB gene encodes a 3-O-acyltransferase that catalyzes the addition of acetyl and propionyl groups to position 3 of the lactone ring in 16-member macrolide antibiotics like midecamycin and spiramycin. A putative O-methyltransferase gene (mdmC) is immediately downstream of mdmB, and both of these genes are closely linked to the mdmA midecamycin resistance gene.


Malignancy is known to be one of the predisposing factors of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) due to its hypercoagulable state. CVT is a rare disorder which can lead to frequent misdiagnoses of brain metastases in such cases. We report here the case of a 35-year-old female with metastatic colon adenocarcinoma presenting with sudden neurological symptoms. Brain MRI and magnetic resonance venography confirmed the presence of CVT. She was treated with low molecular weight heparin followed by warfarin. She recovered and is doing well on warfarin after 5 months of diagnosis of CVT. CVT should be strongly suspected as a cause of neurological dysfunction in any case of disseminated malignancy including colon adenocarcinoma. Rapid diagnosis and initiation of therapy should be considered because of its favourable outcome.


The current work takes a phenomenological approach to investigating the role of guilt in a sample of persons diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The role of guilt in OCD has been frequently noted in the literature, although infrequently studied as a factor in its own right. Typically, those studying OCD have found positive correlations between questionnaire measures of guilt and self-reported symptoms of OCD. Those working with sufferers have also found that OC clients in therapy report feelings of guilt with respect to their symptoms. The present work investigates, in a qualitative way, the meaning of guilt for those with OCD. The presumed role of guilt is examined descriptively, with an eye to developing a more complete understanding of the relationship between feelings of guilt and OC symptoms in a sample of sufferers. Nine participants (N=9) were recruited, and were interviewed using an unstructured approach. In terms of analysis, emphasis was placed on understanding the experience of guilt and OC symptoms as both were lived by sufferers, with a focus on the personal significance of guilt for study participants. Fifteen descriptive guilt/OCD themes were derived from interviews across the nine participants. Themes revealed a variety of connections that sufferers made between feelings of guilt and symptoms of OCD. A common description of the experience was also derived. The results suggest that the role of guilt in OCD is highly interpersonal in nature, and that feelings of guilt may precede, motivate, as well as be a consequence of, OC symptoms. The role of guilt for any given sufferer may also be highly idiosyncratic.


The Green Cove Springs and Boulougne heavy-mineral sand deposits are in ridge areas on the Duval Upland of northern peninsular Florida. This upland is believed to be a regressional beach ridge plain. It is hypothesized that during development of the plain the regressing seas were characterized by periodic stillstands of relatively long durations and even by slight transgressions. During these intervals more prominent ridges formed and greater concentrations of heavy minerals accumulated. The hypothesis that the Green Cove Springs and Boulougne ore bodies formed in such ridge areas as a part of a beach ridge plain is consistent with field relationships and with sedimentary features of landforms in the region. The concept also is compatible with the hypothesis that Trail Ridge and the Trail Ridge heavy-mineral deposit west of the Duval Upland was built at the height of a marine transgression.


An implantable jet pump cardiac replacement device and method for replacing or assisting the right heart. The jet pump device is an elongated tubular structure including an upstream driving nozzle from which a driving flow of arterial blood under pressure is ejected into a suction nozzle creating a zone of reduced pressure to cause venous blood to be sucked into and admixed with the driving flow for distribution to the pulmonary circulation system. The pump may be powered by blood pumped by the left heart or an artificial replacement for the left heart.


Proper hydration and aerodynamic performance are both essential needs of a competitive cyclist or triathlete. Several aerodynamic systems have been developed for use on bicycles but few have been designed to be truly aerodynamic or easy to use. This project focused on the design and development of a frame mounted hydration system for cycling and triathlon that offered improvements in usability and aerodynamic performance over the current market solutions. A wind tunnel test validated a viable location on to place the fluid reservoir. Product specifications were derived from consumer needs and concepts were generated to fulfill those needs. Several iterations of CAD models of the entire product were made. The resulting product, a top tube mounted reservoir with a drinking tube and tri-leaf check valve for re-filling the reservoir while riding will be prototyped by the author over the summer of 2007. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Kim B. Blair Title: Research Affiliate


This study was designed to investigate the inhibitory effect of Gynura procumbens extract against carbohydrate digesting enzymes and its ability to ameliorate postprandial hyperglycemia in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. G. procumbens extract showed prominent α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory effects. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of G. procumbens extract against α-glucosidase and α-amylase was 0.092±0.018 and 0.084±0.027 mg/mL, respectively, suggesting that the α-amylase inhibition activity of the G. procumbens extract was more effective than that of the positive control, acarbose (IC50=0.164 mg/mL). The increase in postprandial blood glucose levels was more significantly alleviated in the G. procumbens extract group than in the control group of STZ-induced diabetic mice. Moreover, the area under the curve significantly decreased with G. procumbens extract administration in STZ-induced diabetic mice. These results suggest that G. procumbens extract may help alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia by inhibiting carbohydrate digesting enzymes.


A transducer of single photons between microwave and optical frequencies can be used to realize quantum communication over optical fiber links between distant superconducting quantum computers. A promising scalable approach to constructing such a transducer is to use ensembles of quantum emitters interacting simultaneously with electromagnetic fields at optical and microwave frequencies. However, inhomogeneous broadening in the transition frequencies of the emitters can be detrimental to this collective action. In this article, we utilise a gradient-based optimization strategy to design the temporal shape of the laser field driving the transduction system to mitigate the effects of inhomogeneous broadening. We study the improvement of transduction efficiencies as a function of inhomogeneous broadening in different single-emitter cooperativity regimes and correlate it with a restoration of superradiance effects in the emitter ensembles.


As a trade contractor, is your job a green job and how does climate change affect the availability of work that you are trained to do asks Peter Glynn and Bern Regan.


Granulocytic sarcoma (GS) is a rare localised tumour of malignant myeloid precursor cells occurring at an extramedullary site. It is usually associated with a myeloproliferative disorder but may be seen preceding the onset of leukemia. Extracranial GS may occur virtually anywhere in the body and may be easily confused with large cell and lymphoblastic lymphoma. This paper reports an unusual case of primary GS of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, which presented as a nasal obstruction. Multidrug combination chemotherapies and bone marrow transplantation were performed. Awareness of the potential location of GS in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses should contribute to better define the prognostic significance of this uncommon entity.


These notes provide an introduction to stochastic calculus, the branch of mathematics that is most identified with financial engineering and mathematical finance. We will ignore most of the "technical" details and take an "engineering" approach to the subject. We will cover more material than is strictly necessary for this course. Any material that is not required, however, should be of value for other courses such as Term Structure Models.


Background: M2e-based vaccine constructs have been shown to be more protective when administered by the intranasal (i.n.) route than after parenteral injection. However, i.n. administration of vaccines poses rare but serious safety issues associated with retrograde passage of inhaled antigens and adjuvants through the olfactory epithelium. In this study we examined whether the sublingual (s.l.) route could serve as a safe and effective alternative mucosal delivery route for administering a prototype M2e-based vaccine. The mechanism whereby s.l. immunization with M2e vaccine candidate induces broad protection against infection with different influenza virus subtypes was explored. Methods and Results: A recombinant M2 protein with three tandem copies of the M2e (3M2eC) was expressed in Escherichia coli. Parenteral immunizations of mice with 3M2eC induced high levels of M2e-specific serum Abs but failed to provide complete protection against lethal challenge with influenza virus. In contrast, s.l. immunization with 3M2eC was superior for inducing protection in mice. In the latter animals, protection was associated with specific Ab responses in the lungs. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that s.l. immunization with 3M2eC vaccine induced airway mucosal immune responses along with broad cross-protective immunity to influenza. These findings may contribute to the understanding of the M2-based vaccine approach to control epidemic and pandemic influenza infections.


Disk and wind signatures are seen in the soft state of Galactic black holes, while the jet is seen in the hard state. Here we study the disk–wind connection in the ρ class of variability in GRS 1915+105 using a joint NuSTAR–Chandra observation. The source shows 50 s limit cycle oscillations. By including new information provided by the reflection spectrum and using phase-resolved spectroscopy, we find that the change in the inner disk inferred from the blackbody emission is not matched by reflection measurements. The latter is almost constant, independent of the continuum model. The two radii are comparable only if the disk temperature color correction factor changes, an effect that could be due to the changing opacity of the disk caused by changes in metal abundances. The disk inclination is similar to that inferred from the jet axis, and oscillates by ∼10°. The simultaneous Chandra data show the presence of two wind components with velocities between 500 and 5000 km s−1, and possibly two more with velocities reaching 20,000 km s−1 (∼0.06 c). The column densities are ∼5 × 1022 cm−2. An upper limit to the wind response time of 2 s is measured, implying a launch radius of <6 × 1010 cm. The changes in wind velocity and absorbed flux require the geometry of the wind to change during the oscillations, constraining the wind to be launched from a distance of 290–1300 rg from the black hole. Both data sets support fundamental model predictions in which a bulge originates in the inner disk and moves outward as the instability progresses.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of implementation of an outpatient fracture liaison service (FLS) on completion rates of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and screening labs including 25-OH vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in patients with upper extremity (UE) fragility fractures.

METHODS
At our institution, 367 patients were treated in 2014-2015 for UE fragility fractures of the distal radius and proximal humerus before implementation of our outpatient FLS and 395 patients in 2017-2018 after implementation. Retrospective chart review was conducted to identify completed DXA scans within 2 years of fracture treatment and completed 25-OH vitamin D and PTH labs within 1 year of fracture treatment.

RESULTS
There were no statistical differences in the demographics of patients treated for distal radial and proximal humeral fragility fractures during the 2014-2015 and 2017-2018 time periods. Implementation of the FLS resulted in a 9.9% increase (P value = .021) in completed DXA scans within 2 years of fracture treatment. Completed 25-OH vitamin D and PTH labs saw a significant increase of 17.1% and 23.8%, respectively (P values < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Implementation of an outpatient FLS can help to improve osteoporosis evaluation with completed DXA scans and 25-OH vitamin D and PTH labs.


We have prepared novel ionic liquids of bis(N-2-ethylhexylethylenediamine)silver(I) nitrate ([Ag(eth-hex-en)(2)]NO(3) and bis(N-hexylethylenediamine)silver(I) hexafluorophosphate ([Ag(hex-en)(2)]PF(6)), which have transition points at -54 and -6 degrees C, respectively. Below these transition temperatures, both the silver complexes assume amorphous states, in which the extent of the vitrification is larger for the eth-hex-en complex than for the hex-en complex. The diffusion coefficients of both the complex cations, measured between 30 (or 35) and 70 degrees C, are largely dependent on temperature; the dependence is particularly large in the case of the eth-hex-en complex cation below 40 degrees C. Small-angle X-ray scattering studies showed that the bilayer structure of the metal complex is formed in the liquid state for both the silver complexes. A direct observation of the yellowish [Ag(eth-hex-en)(2)]NO(3) liquid by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicates the presence of nanostructures, as a microemulsion, of less than 5 nm. Such structures were not clearly observed in the [Ag(hex-en)(2)]PF(6) liquid. Although the [Ag(eth-hex-en)(2)]NO(3) liquid is sparingly soluble in bulk water, it readily incorporates a small amount of water up to [water]/[metal complex] = 7:1. Homogeneous and uniformly sized silver(0) nanoparticles in water were created by the reduction of the [Ag(eth-hex-en)(2)]NO(3) liquid with aqueous NaBH(4), whereas silver(0) nanoparticles were not formed from the [Ag(hex-en)(2)]PF(6) liquid in the same way.


This paper is concerned about the dynamic analysis of an underwater test miner, which operates on cohesive soil. The test miner consists of tracked vehicles and a pick-up device. The motion of the pick-up device, relative to the vehicle chassis, is controlled by two pairs oj hydraulic cylinders. The test miner is modeled by means of commercial software. A terramechanics model of cohesive soft soil is implemented with the software and applied to a dynamic analysis of the test miner model. The dynamic responses of the test miner are studied with respect to four different types of terrain conditions.


A method for deriving the optical constants (n/k) of organic powdered materials using pressed pellets in the mid-infrared spectral range is introduced that combines variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission spectroscopy. The approach is applied to anhydrous lactose, in which three different forms of pellets were pressed and measured: a pure lactose pellet and a mixed lactose/potassium bromide (KBr) pellet with a large analyte percentage were used for ellipsometric measurements, and a KBr transmission pellet with only a small analyte percentage was used for transmission measurements. The transmittance data provide an initial set of oscillators and improve the spectral fitting of weak absorption features (k<0.01). Ellipsometric data for the pure and mixed pellets are then fit simultaneously to derive the final n/k values for lactose from 6000-400cm-1. An alternative method just using the ellipsometric data from the mixed pellet and the transmittance data is also presented and shows good agreement with the multi-sample analysis, providing a simpler method for powders that do not press easily into pure pellets. Finally, the derived optical constants were used to model the reflectance data, demonstrating a good match with the measured reflectance spectra if non-idealities are included.


Linguistic steganography studies how to hide secret messages in natural language cover texts. Traditional methods aim to transform a secret message into an innocent text via lexical substitution or syntactical modification. Recently, advances in neural language models (LMs) enable us to directly generate cover text conditioned on the secret message. In this study, we present a new linguistic steganography method which encodes secret messages using self-adjusting arithmetic coding based on a neural language model. We formally analyze the statistical imperceptibility of this method and empirically show it outperforms the previous state-of-the-art methods on four datasets by 15.3% and 38.9% in terms of bits/word and KL metrics, respectively. Finally, human evaluations show that 51% of generated cover texts can indeed fool eavesdroppers.


Forty-five patients suffering from intermittent claudication were admitted to a double-blind non-crossover study. Three groups were constituted at random and treated for 2 months with either 100 mg suloctidil t.i.d. or 1.5 mg dihydroergotoxine methylate t.i.d. or placebo. From the results of measurements of pain-free walking distance and venous occlusion plethysmography recordings, suloctidil was shown to be active and significantly superior to dehydroergotoxine and placebo: in the two latter groups a decrease in calf blood perfusion after 2 months was also noted. The physician's overall assessment of response to treatment showed that suloctidil and dihydroergotoxine were significantly superior to placebo, and that suloctidil was significantly better than dihydroergotoxine.


The turning point between apoptosis and necrosis induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) have been investigated using human T-lymphoma Jurkat cells. Cells treated with 50 μM H2O2 exhibited caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation, finally leading to apoptotic cell death. Treatment with 500 μM H2O2 did not exhibit caspase activation and changed the mode of death to necrosis. On the other hand, the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria was observed under both conditions. Treatment with 500 μM H2O2, but not with 50 μM H2O2, caused a marked decrease in the intracellular ATP level; this is essential for apoptosome formation. H2O2-reducing enzymes such as cellular glutathione peroxidase (cGPx) and catalase, which are important for the activation of caspases, were active under the 500 μM H2O2 condition. Prevention of intracellular ATP loss, which did not influence cytochrome c release, significantly activated caspases, changing the mode of cell death from necrosis to apoptosis. These results suggest that ATP-dependent apoptosome formation determines whether H2O2-induced cell death is due to apoptosis or necrosis.


Optical imaging, providing physiologically specific optical absorption, scattering, polarization, and molecular contrasts with nonionizing radiation, is a promising tool for medical diagnosis. Moreover, it complements the established nonoptical clinical modalities (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray computed tomography, positron emission tomography, and ultrasound imaging) by providing
insights at the cell and organelle levels (Figure 11.1). However, in vivo optical imaging is challenging due to strong tissue scattering and absorption. There are two fundamental depth limits for pure optical imaging. The first is near one transport mean free path (TMFP), the depth dimension of the quasiballistic regime in biological tissues (~1mm; yellow dashed line in Figure 11.1). To reach the depth of one TMFP, incident photons may undergo as many as tens of scattering events, which disable effective optical focusing. Thus, TMPF presents as the soft depth limit (also called the diffusion limit) for all ballistic optical microscopy (e.g., confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy [TPM], and optical coherence tomography [OCT]). The second depth limit is around 5-7 cm (red dashed line in Figure 11.1), which corresponds to a 43 dB one-way decay in light intensity. Beyond this limit, referred to as the hard depth limit for all optical imaging modalities, there are simply not enough photons to provide sufficient signal-to-noise ratio.


This paper presents an overview of the principal nuclear reactions that are known to produce hydrogen and helium in irradiated materials and a summary of the comparison of measurements with predictions in various reactors. Hydrogen and helium are produced in all reactor materials by fast neutron reactions which typically have thresholds above 4 MeV. Selected elements also have thermal neutron gas production reactions that can be quite prolific, such as 6Li, 10B, and 14N, and there are a number of elements which produce transmutation products that have high thermal neutron gas production cross sections, most notably 59Ni produced by irradiation of Ni and 65Zn produced by irradiation of Cu or Zn. Since gas production cross sections are isotope-specific, gas production rates can change during irradiation due to transmutation effects or initial rates can be modified by isotopic tailoring of reactor materials.


One of the main challenges in anesthesia is optimal intra-operative oxygen administration to the patient and maintaining adequate organ perfusion under different anesthesia types. Otherwise, peri-operative hypotension is required for better surgical field visualization. Patients are at risk of cerebral hypoperfusion and desaturation with probable ischemic events and neurological sequels during shoulder arthroscopy in the sitting position. Peculiarity of shoulder arthroscopy Most of shoulder procedures are performed as arthroscopic surgery: less invasive and painful with lower risk of postoperative complications and faster discharge. There are two patient's positions possible: lateral or sitting with advantages and risks of each. In lateral position the incidence of post-traction neuropathies is higher.1 In the sitting position patient's chest is elevated from 30 to 90 degrees and the head is fixed in a special attachment. Setup and intra-articular visualization are perfect, lower blood loss, easier switch to open surgery.2 3 However latter approach can cause cardiovascular instability with hypotensive/bradycardic events leading to cerebral desaturation and ischemia.2 4Cerebral perfusion pressure diminishes proportionally to the lift of the head above the heart level. Surgeon's requirement for deliberate peri-operative hypotension evokes summarized danger for the patient in the upright position.3 Transient position- or anesthetic-related complications can be observed in 10 – 30% of patients, but serious irreversible organ damage is rare.1 Visualization of intra-operative field The arthroscopic pump pressure (∼50 mmHg) helps to expand the subacromial space and ameliorate the visibility. the direct correlation was found between systolic blood pressure and subacromial space pressure. Thus, the use of controlled hypotension permits lower irrigation pressures and significantly reduces the risk of fluid extravasation into the subcutaneous tissues of the shoulder. Norepinephrine diluted in irrigation fluid to control intra-articular bleeding was recognized superior to epinephrine regarding the incidence of hypotensive/bradycardic event.5 Deliberate hypotension In sitting position, mean arterial pressure (MAP), central venous pressure, pulmonary artery occlusion pressure, cardiac output and index decrease. Cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) decreases about 15% and is falling more under general anesthesia because of vasodilatation and other circulatory changes like impaired stroke volume and venous return. Cerebral autoregulation limits varies widely in population. Individual predicted value of MAP should not decrease more than 20 – 30% below patient's usual MAP with a minimum of 50 mmHg in ASA class I and > 65 mmHg in elderly. Measurements should be performed at the level of external meatus in sitting position. Partial mechanical obstruction of major vessels can occur with head and neck movements and influences the cerebral blood flow (CBF).3 6 Deliberate hypotension can be achieved by deepening the level of anesthesia, or with additional antihypertensive medications.7 Preoperative cardiac conditions and preload might be important for the development of hypotension after positioning the patient under general anesthesia.8 the patients with diabetes mellitus, anemia, renal, hepatic or ischemic cerebrovascular disease, respiratory insufficiency are at higher risk of cerebral hypoperfusion and desaturation. Cerebral desaturation This is usually is defined when it falls >20% from baseline or absolute number shows < 50. a few portentous neurological ischemic episodes were described.9 CPP depends on MAP and intracranial pressure (ICP). CPP is also affected by cerebral metabolic demands and increases with increasing PaCO2. Autoregulation of cerebral blood flow is maintained through mechanisms related to the intrinsic elasticity of the vascular smooth muscle and vasodilator substances produced in the metabolically active tissues when MAP is 50 – 150 mmHg.10 Hypotensive anesthesia in the sitting position can aggravate the decrease in CPP. Arterial cannulation and invasive monitoring is highly recommended if deliberate hypotension is used.6 Experimental studies showed that cerebral desaturation is associated with declination time from baseline as well as with co-existing cerebrovascular disease.11 Vasovagal syncope This is defined as sudden peri-operative hypotension or/and bradycardia requiring treatment, was reported in 17 – 31% of procedures in sitting position under interscalene brachial plexus block (ISBPB).12 Classical syncope may be induced by fear and pain due to inhibition of the sympathetic and to activation of the parasympathetic system.2 Bezold–Jarisch reflex occurs since venous return is reduced; hypercontraction of empty ventricle leads to stimulation of intramyocardial mechanoreceptors and vasovagal tone is increased.13 Large volume of local anesthetics for ISBPB, neck swelling, head turning and arm traction can mechanically stimulate the carotid sinus. Ability to maintain hemodynamic homeostasis during position changes with age becomes less effective and may lead to orthostatic syncope which might be aggravated by vasodilators, diuretics and anti-depressives.2 Myocardial infarction and kidney injury In recent study, important hypotension caused 6% of myocardial infarction, 1.2% was lethal in 30 days from surgery.14 Reduction of MAP from relative individual baseline 20% (or 50% for at least 1 min) can cause myocardial ischemia and reduction of 30% (or 50% for at least 5 min) – kidney injury.15 Neurocognitive disorders Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) is widely used for neurological evaluation because of simplicity to perform it and to interpret the result. It can help to detect dysfunction of different cortical regions which may be damaged by hypoperfusion. MMSE is based on questions used to assess main cognitive functions: concentration, memory, reaction, analysis, verbal fluency and motor capacity.7 Overall, 0,004% incidence of serious postoperative neurocognitive complications after shoulder surgery in the beach-chair position is described, although the episodes of desaturation are much more frequent.3 9 In elderly patients, the cognitive reserve is scarce because of atherosclerotic alteration of vessels reactivity and neuroendocrinologic changes. Monitoring of cerebral oxygenation The incidence of cerebral desaturation event varies from 28.8 to 41.1%.9 16 Cerebral oxygenation should be monitored and optimized in all patients during surgery in sitting position. a few different methods are proposed for the detection of cerebral ischemia. Real-time electroencephalogram has a good sensitivity and reproducibility, however it can be slowed-down by anesthesia and only attending-level neurophysiologist can interpret it.7 Evoked potentials monitoring can detect regional ischemic brain damage, but anesthetics depress the responses and make analysis imprecise.10 Transcranial doppler ultrasound assess the blood velocity of middle cerebral artery, but it could not be performed if temporal bone window is absent, it doesn't reflect total cerebral perfusion and ischemia.17 Near-infrared spectroscopy allows measurement of cerebral oxygenation in non-invasive, inexpensive and continuous manner and may detect desaturation events before irreversible ischemic damage occurs.18 Anesthesia Shoulder arthroscopy can be performed under regional blockade with sedation, general anesthesia or a combination of these two techniques. Each of them has specific advantages but also specific negative effects on blood pressure and oxygenation control.19 Verbal contact with lightly sedated patients allows recognizing inadvertent events timely. Presumptive larger decrease of MAP can be achieved by applying general anesthesia; however higher incidence of cerebral desaturation events was found in this group.20 21 Preoperative ISBPB combined with general anesthesia for arthroscopic shoulder procedures could be beneficial in maintaining haemodynamic stability.22 Preoperative assessment by anesthesiologist is crucial for detection of the coexisting diseases and potential difficulties related to intra-operative positioning. During anesthesia in sitting position, the task is to respect lower limits of MAP, to take correct measurements and to adjust the parameters to maintain cerebral perfusion. Summary During shoulder arthroscopy, patient's position and arterial blood pressure, as well as the type of anesthesia and ventilation management has to be considered. Continuous monitoring of cerebral oxygenation can prevent devastating outcomes and ensure safety for the patient. References Rains DD, Rooke GA, Wahl CJ. Pathomechanisms and complications related to patient positioning and anesthesia during shoulder arthroscopy. Arthroscopy 2011 Apr;27(4):532–41. Song SY, Roh WS. Hypotensive bradycardic events during shoulder arthroscopic surgery under interscalene brachial plexus blocks. Korean J Anesthesiol 2012;62(3):209–19. Paul JE, Ling E, Lalonde C, Thabane L. Deliberate hypotension in orthopedic surgery reduces blood loss and transfusion requirements: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Can J Anaesth 2007;54:799–810. Pohl A, Cullen DJ. Cerebral ischemia during shoulder surgery in the upright position: a case series. J Clin Anesth 2005;17:463–9. Chierichini A, Frassanito L, Vergari A, Santoprete S, Chiarotti F, Saccomanno MF, et al. The effect of norepinephrine versus epinephrine in irrigation fluid on the incidence of hypotensive/bradycardic events during arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with interscalene block in the sitting position. Arthroscopy 2015 May;31(5):800–6. Lobato EB, Gravenstein N, Kirby RR, editors. Complications in Anesthesiology, 3rd edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007. p. 844–853. Gillespie R, Shishani Y, Streit J, Wanner JP, McCrum C, Syed T, et al. The Safety of Controlled Hypotension for Shoulder Arthroscopy in the B


Scalable and cost-effective protocols to pattern and integrate colloidal quantum dots (QDs) with high resolution have been challenging to establish. While their solubility can facilitate certain processes such as spin-casting into thin films, it also makes them incompatible with many conventional patterning techniques including photolithography that require solution processing. In this work, we present "photoresist (PR) contact patterning", a dry means to pattern QD films over large areas with high resolution while maintaining desired properties. Here, a PR layer on an elastomer substrate is patterned by conventional photolithography and used as a dry contact stamp to selectively peel off QDs in the contact regions, leaving behind a QD film with the negative of the PR pattern. Once patterned, QD films are readily transferred and integrated on foreign substrates by subsequent transfer printing processes. Patterned PR layers can also be transferred from elastomer substrates onto QD films and used as masking layers for subsequent deposition and patterning of additional materials, e. g., patterned metal electrodes or charge transport layers for QD-based devices. The study of the interfacial mechanics and energy of materials associated with PR contact patterning reveals why a lithographically patterned PR is superior for high-resolution QD film patterning. Applicability of PR contact patterning is demonstrated through the fabrication of red, green, and blue (RGB) QD light-emitting diode pixels. PR contact patterning presented in this work not only allows dry patterning of QD films but also enables high-resolution integration of functional multistack structures for future QD-based electronic and optoelectronic devices.


China's export trade and economical development have been influenced considerably, because the facts that the widespread of the global financial crisis makes the fire of trade protectionism burnt again, with the characteristic of various complications. The blue trade barrier is a sort of new form of trade protection. This article mainly focuses on the generation and effort. In addition, preventive solutions and political suggestions will be proposed from the view of industry development in China.


The performance of microwave systems and components for digital data transmission can be characterized by a plot of the bit-error rate as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (or Eb/No). Methods for the efficient automated measurement of bit-error rates and signal-to-noise ratios, developed at NASA Lewis Research Center, are described. Noise measurement considerations and time requirements for measurement accuracy, as well as computer control and data processing methods, are discussed.


Many questions in judgment and decision-making research, and, indeed, in experimental psychology generally, concern the existence of effects, and the explanation of effects shown to exist. These questions do not concern the prevalence of effects in any particular population. It is thus appropriate to look for effects in single subjects. If one person shows the effect, then it exists. This argument implies that it is sometimes appropriate to test effects across cases or rounds, without testing across subjects. It also implies that, in some experiments, effects in opposite directions may exist. I recommend looking for such effects by carrying out statistical tests on individual subjects. I describe a few methods, varying in formality, that can be used to deal with the inevitable problem of doing multiple tests of the same hypothesis: probability-probability plots; tests of the distribution of p-values; and correction for multiple testing with step-down resampling. I also present a few examples, some of which show effects in both directions and some of which do not.


There is an ongoing research program in the United States to investigate and improve rail equipment crashworthiness. As part of this effort, a series of full-scale rail vehicle crash tests are being performed to investigate the crash response of existing and future rail vehicle designs. The first full-scale test, an impact of a single passenger coach car into a fixed wall, was conducted at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado on November 16, 1999. The test vehicle used was a Pioneer passenger coach car. The test condition was a 35 mph impact into a fixed rigid concrete wall. Collision response data was collected in the test using accelerometers, strain gauges, string potentiometers, and high-speed photography. This paper describes the postmortem documentation and data analysis process. The objective is to develop an understanding of the vehicle collision response and to obtain a consistent correlation of the various sources to data. Specific documentation and data analysis techniques used for the study are described along with key results.


Using the elastic continuum approach, an energy spectrum and spectral dependences of a group velocities of confined acoustic phonons in planar quasi-two-dimensional nanostructures (nanofilms) of hexagonal symmetry of the 2H-PbI2 type were studied by methods of the theory of elasticity. It is shown that the energy and propagation velocity of vibrational modes for all branches of the phonon spectrum in these type nanostructures are nonlinear functions of a magnitude of a wave vector and a thickness of the nanofilm. The obtained results can be used to analyze an influence of acoustic phonons on a course of phenomena of thermal and electrical conductivity, carrier scattering and optical absorption in nanostructures, components of which are thin layers of lead iodide.


SUMMARY We present a test for the hypothesis that odds-ratios are constant across two or more diseases, using matched case-control data. The test requires less computing than the usual conditional likelihood score test (Prentice, 1979) because it excludes the control covariates. We give a practical algorithm to compute the test statistic and discuss its power.


Image compression refers to the process of encoding image using fewer number of bits. The major aim of lossless image compression is to reduce the redundancy and irreverence of image data for better storage and transmission of data in the better form. The lossy compression scheme leads to high compression ratio while the image experiences lost in quality. However, there are many cases where the loss of image quality or information due to compression needs to be avoided, such as medical, artistic and scientific images. Efficient lossless compression become paramount, although the lossy compressed images are usually satisfactory in divers' cases. This paper titled Enhanced Lossless Image Compression Scheme is aimed at providing an enhanced lossless image compression scheme based on Bose, Chaudhuri Hocquenghem- Lempel Ziv Welch (BCH-LZW) lossless image compression scheme using Gaussian filter for image enhancement and noise reduction. In this paper, an efficient and effective lossless image compression technique based on LZW- BCH lossless image compression to reduce redundancies in the image was presented and image enhancement using Gaussian filter algorithm was demonstrated. Secondary method of data collection was used to collect the data. Standard research images were used to validate the new scheme. To achieve these, an object approach using Java net beans was used to develop the compression scheme. From the findings, it was revealed that the average compression ratio of the enhanced lossless image compression scheme was 1.6489 and the average bit per pixel was 5.416667. Gaussian filter image enhancement was used for noise reduction and the image was enhanced eight times the original.


ABSTRACT Central nervous system (CNS) involvement, including optic nerve involvement, in a patient with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an extremely rare condition. We report a case of bilateral optic nerve involvement combined with unilateral facial palsy in a patient with AML who achieved complete remission following allogenic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation as a young patient. After further evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with a recurrence of AML with CNS involvement. The presentation of multiple types of CNS involvement in AML may be suspicious evidence of AML recurrence.


A significant correlation between autoimmune diseases and premature or accelerated coronary atherosclerosis has been found. The objectives of the study were: (a) to evaluate myocardial perfusion defects in patients with autoimmune diseases by contrast echocardiography and nuclear imaging; and (b) to evaluate the prevalence of alterations in subclinical myocardial perfusion defects in autoimmune diseases. Myocardial perfusion in 37 patients was evaluated by contrast echocardiography at rest and with dobutamine and with nuclear imaging. The agreement between the two diagnostic tests at rest was 0.72 (P < 0.0001) and with dobutamine was 0.65 (P < 0.0001). The prevalence of abnormalities in myocardial perfusion in autoimmune diseases by contrast echocardiography and nuclear imaging was 27% and in patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome was 30%. We concluded that there is a high level of agreement between contrast ecocardiography and nuclear imaging for assessment of myocardial perfusion defects in patients with autoimmune diseases, and their prevalence is similar to that reported in the literature.


Cooking oil is one of the food ingredients consumed by all levels of Indonesian society. People generally use cooking oil many times so that the risk to health. The purpose of this study was to test the quality of cooking oil after repeated use. The sampling method is using 4 types of packaging brand oil and 1 type of bulk oil each type of 1 liter. The frying oil sample taken was placed in a sealed bottle, inserted into a thermos, and brought to the laboratory for testing. Type of food used for frying is tempe and mackerel as much as 3 times the frying test. The frying method is deep frying. The analyzes were peroxide number, acid number, and water content. From the research, the characteristic of the quality of cooking oil average peroxide number in the first to third repetition is 0.63-5,63 meq / kg, acid number 0,22-0,56 mg KOH / g, and moisture content 0 , 05-0.18%. In the repetition of frying tempe until fifth cooking oil is above standard, while the frying tempe on the seventh repetition is above standard.Keywords: deep frying, quality, cooking oil.


Background: The present study was conducted to assess the usefulness of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine with dexmedetomidine on spinal anesthesia in lower limb orthopedic patients. Subjects and Methods: This study involved 50 patients with ASA Grade I and II of both genders. Patients were randomly allocated into group I (n=25) Patients received Dexmedetomidine 0.5 µ g/kg over 15 minutes using an infusion pump 20 minutes prior to SAB and group II (n=25) Intraoperatively HR, BP and SpO2 were measured and noted. Results: The mean heart rate at baseline was 80.00 8.49 in group I and 81.80 8.74 in group II. The mean heart rate at 5 minutes was 73.80 13.38 in group I which was significantly higher (p=0.02) compared to 65.63 12.45 in group II. The mean arterial pressure at baseline was 97.64  5.24 in group I and 97.73  6.96 in  group II suggesting MAP in both groups was comparable. The MAP at 5 minutes was 90.73 14.65 in group I which was significantly higher (p=0.01) compared to 81.22 11.64 in group II, suggesting a greater fall from the baseline in group II compared to group I. The MAP in both groups was found to be comparable at 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120 minutes (p>0.05). The oxygen saturation in both groups was found        to be comparable at all time intervals. The duration of onset of sensory blockade (Time is taken to reach T10 level) in 53.33% of patients in Group I is between 1 to 2 minutes (60 to 120 seconds) and less than 1 minute (60 seconds) in 46.67% of patients. The average mean time and standard deviation of onset of sensory blockade in Group I is 66 44.14 seconds. Conclusion: Authors found that dexmedetomidine was given intravenously as premedication before spinal anaesthesia using injection bupivacaine results in a quicker onset of analgesia, prolonged duration of sensory, motor block and well balanced hemodynamic parameters.


Objective: This study aimed to determine the inhibitory activity of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim]Br) extracts of melinjo seeds(Gnetum gnemon) on dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4).Methods: Melinjo seeds were extracted by a [bmim]Br microwave-assisted method using various extraction parameters and the inhibitory activityof DPP-4 of all extracts was determined in 96-well microplates using Cayman inhibitor screening assay. Determination of trans-resveratrol contentwas conducted using a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method. The total phenolic content was determined using a 96-wellmicroplate reader. Data analysis for the determination of the optimal extraction conditions was developed by response surface methodology.Results: The extract obtained from the third run showed the highest inhibition (28.73%) against DPP-4 activity with the total phenolic content of1.96 mg gallic acid equivalent/g the seed powder.Conclusion: The analytical results revealed the following optimal conditions: Solvent concentration 1.5 M, liquid-solid ratio 23:1, and extraction time15 min.


This article focuses on the 1935 discovery of what is now believed to be a selenium deficiency disorder in the Japanese client state of Manchukuo. The epicenter of this disease had served as pasture for Oirat Mongols until the late nineteenth century. Opening up the land for reclamation by Chinese migrants put greater pressure on each acre to produce food. With a limited supply of selenium in the soil, the intake of this mineral by crops decreased over time, especially under the extractive conditions of the soybean industry during the Japanese occupation. Japanese theories on climate and hygiene made legible the consequences of transforming this nomadic borderland into an agrarian heartland on colonized bodies. By bringing attention to the understudied Mongol territories in Manchukuo, this essay goes beyond environmental histories bound by the nation-state to reveal the corporeal costs of settler colonialism and ecological imperialism.


Insulin and IGF-1 receptors (IR and IGF1R) are highly homologous and share similar signaling systems, but each has a unique physiological role, with IR primarily regulating metabolic homeostasis and IGF1R regulating mitogenic control and growth. Here, we show that replacement of a single amino acid at position 973, just distal to the NPEY motif in the intracellular juxtamembrane region, from leucine, which is highly conserved in IRs, to phenylalanine, the highly conserved homologous residue in IGF1Rs, resulted in decreased IRS-1/PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 signaling and increased Shc/Gab1/MAPK cell cycle signaling. As a result, cells expressing L973F-IR exhibited decreased insulin-induced glucose uptake, increased cell growth, and impaired receptor internalization. Mice with knockin of the L973F-IR showed similar alterations in signaling in vivo, and this led to decreased insulin sensitivity, a modest increase in growth, and decreased weight gain when mice were challenged with a high-fat diet. Thus, leucine-973 in the juxtamembrane region of the IR acts as a crucial residue differentiating IR signaling from IGF1R signaling.


In recent years, there has been a technological advance and commercial boom in genetic technologies and projects, including a renewed scientific interest in the biological status and genetic constitution of race. This article provides an overview of sociological approaches to the study of race and genetics, and argues that these analyses should pay detailed critical attention to laypeople's engagements with the new genetic technologies. Drawing upon growing bodies of ethnographic literature within anthropology, geography and sociology, this paper unravels the complex and ambivalent ways in which laypeople think about the biological and genetic constitution of racial identities. Two specific bodies of literature are examined. First, the new kinship studies within anthropology that explores laypeople's engagements with the new reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization. Second, laypeople's uses of genealogical technologies that claim to trace family ancestries, including racial descent and ethnic origins.


The authors review recent experimental and human data concerning the potential physiological and pathophysiological role of 24,25 (OH)2D3, the dihydroxylated metabolite of vitamin D which is synthetisized with preference over 1,25 (OH)2D3 in organisms that have been replenished with vitamin D. For the major known effects of vitamin D such as stimulation of intestinal absorption and bone resorption of calcium and phosphorus, 24,25 (OH)2D3 is less effective than the 1,25 (OH)2D3 metabolite and consequently of lesser physiological importance. Some recent in vitro experiments have shown, however, that 24,25 (OH)2D3 intervenes in the stimulation of proteoglycan synthesis, inhibition of PTH, vitamin A and heparin induced resorption, whereas 1,25 (OH)2D3 does not. Although there is controversy as to its direct inhibitory effect on secretion of PTH, it seems to act with 1,25 (OH)2D3 to prevent hyperplasia of parathyroids in vitamin D deficient chicken. From a pathophysiological point, the presence of 24,25 (OH)2D3 seems vital to allow normal bone formation and mineralisation and possibly to counteract excessive bone resorption.


Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA) communications are often subjected to various sophisticated cyber-attacks mostly because of their static system characteristics, enabling an attacker for easier profiling of the target system(s) and thereby impacting the Critical Infrastructures(CI). In this Paper, a novel approach to mitigate such static vulnerabilities is proposed by implementing a Moving Target Defense (MTD) strategy in a power grid SCADA environment, leveraging the existing communication network with an end-to-end IP-Hopping technique among trusted peers. The main contribution involves the design and implementation of MTD Architecture on Iowa State's PowerCyber testbed for targeted cyber-attacks, without compromising the availability of a SCADA system and studying the delay and throughput characteristics for different hopping rates in a realistic environment. Finally, we study two cases and provide mitigations for potential weaknesses of the proposed mechanism. Also, we propose to incorporate port mutation to further increase attack complexity as part of future work.


Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disorder manifested by progressive immunodeficiency, progressive neurologic dysfunction, and an elevated cancer predisposition. Characteristic symptoms are rarely encountered during infancy.
 We present the laboratory and clinical studies of a patient with respiratory distress at age 3 months due to pneumocystis pneumonia. Laboratory studies demonstrated an elevated serum IgM (840 mg/dL), recurrent neutropenia, lymphopenia (CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD19), diminished in vitro lymphocyte proliferation, a negative HIV PCR, and normal ADA and PNP levels. Flow cytometry demonstrated normal lymphocyte expression of CD40 and the CD40 ligand. Sequencing, after PCR-amplification of genomic DNA, demonstrated no apparent mutation consistent with type 2 hyper IgM syndrome. Based on a significantly elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein and early neurologic deficits, a diagnosis of A-T was suspected. Subsequently, her cells were found to be radiosensitive, based on a Colony Survival Assay. Western blot analysis of nuclear lysates of patient cells failed to detect ATM protein. Molecular analysis of the ATM gene identified a rare homozygous 1339C>T mutation (previously reported in a Druze A-T family: Hum Mutat 11:69–75, 1998). Notably, our A-T case (AT219LA) demonstrates early and atypical findings of an opportunistic infection and elevated serum IgM. The patient is currently thriving on IVIG and the prophylactic use of Septra.


Time series forecasting is a problem with many applications. However, in many domains, such as stock market, the underlying generating process of the time series observations may change, making forecasting models obsolete. This problem is known as Concept Drift. Approaches for time series forecasting should be able to detect and react to concept drift in a timely manner, so that the forecasting model can be updated as soon as possible. Despite the fact that the concept drift problem is well investigated in the literature, little effort has been made to solve this problem for time series forecasting so far. This work proposes two novel methods for dealing with the time series forecasting problem in the presence of concept drift. The proposed methods benefit from the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique to detect and react to concept drifts in the time series data stream. It is expected that the use of collective intelligence of PSO makes the proposed method more robust to false positive drift detections while maintaining a low error rate on the forecasting task. Experiments show that the methods achieved competitive results in comparison to state-of-the-art methods.


It is not known whether the decreased range of motion observed during distraction osteogenesis results from the lack of adaptation of muscle or from fibrosis in the perimysium. The adaptation of the perimysium in the tibialis anterior muscle in skeletally immature rabbits using two distraction regimens (0.7 and 1.4 mm/day with 15% lengthening) was characterized. The resulting data indicate that during distraction osteogenesis, the muscle adapts by reorganization of its connective tissue. At a lengthening rate of 1.4 mm/day, there is perimysial fibrosis without major cellular pathologic abnormalities in the muscle fibers. The increase in perimysial thickness is characterized by an increase of collagen Type I. In addition, collagen Type I is deposited around the endomysium. The increase in total collagen and its cross-linking are dependent on the lengthening rate. The faster lengthening rate also leads to a significant decreased passive plantar flexion. Supplemental growth of the tibia was not observed, and a lack of adaptation in the muscle (based on resting length) was not seen. Together, the data suggest that decreased range of motion during distraction osteogenesis may be a function of the adaptation of the perimysium rather than of the muscle fibers.


As-deposited poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) nanofilms with a complete β phase show a remarkably high remanent polarization (Pr), about 6.6 μC cm−2 at 81 nm. Extrinsic switching characteristics of the nanofilms are demonstrated. Results also show that highly oriented PVDF homopolymer LB nanofilms down to 12 nm with no post-treatment retain robust room-temperature ferroelectric polarization switching that is greater than 105 operation cycles, with longer standing fatigue endurance than those of PVDF copolymer nanofilms.


Adaptive techniques, such as adaptive task migration at runtime, have been introduced in Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip in order to optimize performance and power consumption. Nevertheless, there is also a potential to adapt the MPSoC communication architecture for further performance and power benefits. As an example, adaptive routings in Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) have been exploited for performance gains. Another promising opportunity, which is here explored, is the adaptive use of the buffering resources in the NoC router. This work presents Roundabout, a new NoC router architecture with inherent and effective buffer utilization. Inspired by real-life multi-lane roundabouts, it consists of lanes shared by input and output ports. A prototype of Roundabout is evaluated using 45nm CMOS technology. The router is able to achieve a throughput of 465 Mflit/sec and without significant area overhead. It achieves a network saturation threshold of 68Gbps on a 4×4 Mesh topology network.


1. IntroductionThis research is substantiated in the significant body of scholarship examining the extremely uneven pervasiveness of mental disorders among justiceinvolved youth, features related to risk for aggressive, nonaggressive, and general reoffending among young delinquents, and the possibility of harmful and violent conduct in juveniles. Applying novel conceptual and methodological approaches, this paper advances to the next level research on the relevance of advancing mental health services for young delinquents, the link between youthful trauma and mental health issues in justice-involved youth, and the connection between particular child abuse, oppression, and reoffending in young delinquents.2. The Link between Childhood Physical Maltreatment and Ensuing Violent and Criminal Conduct in JuvenilityThe significant degree of disorders in juvenile justice youths may have effects not only for clinical management, because mental health disorders are associated with recidivism (mental health issues are rampant and raise the possibility of reoffending). Mental health issues are more widespread in justice-involved youths than in community ones due to vulnerableness to traumatic episodes, e.g. childhood abuse, carelessness, or witnessing aggression. Vulnerableness to maltreatment and carelessness (Parkinson, 2016) may clarify the significant pervasiveness of psychiatric disorder in justice-involved youth. Adolescent-onset delinquents display offending behavior throughout juvenility and are less expected to have important individual issues or precarious family backgrounds. Deficiency in neurodevelopmental mechanisms and unsatisfactory family performance (Popescu Ljungholm, 2015; 2016) is more expected in the childhood-onset offenders. The latter may have undergone more traumatic episodes in early years than adolescent-onset ones, which is instrumental in their possibility of advancing mental health issues. (Hoeve et al., 2015)Merely acquainting with the juvenile justice system is a robust sign of seemingly externalizing issues (e.g., hyperactivity, impulsivity, hostility), triggering psychosocial aspects, and unsatisfactory coping skills. Delinquency among youths is externalizing conduct associated with intrinsic inconsistencies (Robinson, 2015) within insufficiently advanced psychic arrangements and unsatisfied psychological demands (Henderson, 2016), in addition restricted by age and inexperience. Providing mental health services to young offenders presumably alleviates the risk for reoffending by remedying critical mental health issues, assisting the justice system in identifying and attending intrinsic psychopathology, enhancing coping skills (Pera, 2015), diminishing the adverse consequences of incarceration, and cutting down subsequent expenses to society (Nica et al., 2016) by decreasing reoffending. Mental healthcare doubtlessly diminishes reoffending by remedying intrinsic psychopathology (Janzen, 2016) and focusing on unsatisfied psychological demands; decreasing the youth's anxiety, embarrassment and annoyance from legal participation; and alleviating the consequences of the latter, e.g. discontinued school attendance, association with wrongdoing, and possible vulnerability to other threatening youths or adverse conducts. (Zeola et al., 2017)Grave behavior issues comprising violent and harmful conducts that infringe the rights of other individuals or chief societal norms constitute a severe mental health and public policy interest. Only a subgroup of people who display prolonged disruptive and illegal conduct (Hodgson, 2015) exhibit raised degrees of psychopathic traits. Juveniles with behavior issues and nonnormative degrees of callous and unemotional (CU) traits are dissimilar from other youths with behavior issues (Nica, 2016a, b) by exhibiting flaws in the processing of abuse cues, by supporting more deviant social objectives (Peters, 2015a, b), and by displaying shortfalls in affective empathy. …


In this paper we propose a new image coding technique based on context modeling of wavelet coefficients using fuzzy logic. The scalar codebook was partitioned into four disjointed subsets. A fuzzy logic was used to predict the current subset using previous subsets and the values of the wavelet coefficients in the context. We designed the fuzzy logic using fuzzy rules and membership functions in order to achieve minimal mean square error. The proposed context-based modeling of wavelet coefficients outperforms the trellis quantization in the rate distortion sense by 0.2 dB in SNR.


Purpose
Agency development is inherently a process of institutional evolution. The purpose of this part 2 (of a 3 part) paper is to explore development in the political context, producing a cultural model of political development as institutional evolution, explaining how political groups may come to power culturally. This requires a detailed examination of culture and cultural change, and a study of strategic political frames that define political groups seeking support for political power from agents in a political sphere. During cultural instabilities or social crises, frames may become cynical and embrace liquid persuasion and hence populism.

Design/methodology/approach
A cultural model for political development is created involving three variables (emotional climate, cultural order and compliance). This enables cultural comparison of different political groups. Strategic political frames are examined to understand how those vying for agency power may attract support from agents in the activity system. Liquid frames are also explored to understand the cynical nature of populism and its contribution to institutional devolution.

Findings
A political development theory result that identifies the conditions under which formal political groups can promote frames that may attract support from agents from who they require support to gain agency power status. A model is produced for political development. It explains populism as a thin ideology with a collectivist orientation that uses liquid framing, and it introduces its individualist counterpart, political synergism.

Research limitations/implications
The implication of this research is that it will allow empirical methods to be used that potentially enable political outcomes in complex political environments to be anticipated, given additional appropriate measurement criteria.

Originality/value
Linking agency and institutional theory to explain the process of development is new, as is its application to the political development process in a political landscape. As part of this linkage, it has been shown how Bauman's concept of liquidity relates to Sorokin's ideas of socio-cultural change.


Shot-peening is a surface treatment widely used in the industry to improve fatigue life of mechanical components by introducing compressive residual stresses. Ultrasonic shot-peening is a recent development of this process. While the classical shot-peening process uses pneumatic energy to project the shots, ultrasonic peening uses high-power ultrasounds. This energy source allows the use of larger shots projected at lower velocity as compared to classical shot-peening. This work aims at studying the mechanical response (restitution coefficient, residual stress field) of a surface impacted by a shot at low velocity using the finite element method and experimental analysis. This paper presents the simulation of a single elastic steel shot normally impacting an Aluminum alloy plate considered to exhibit a linear-elastic behavior and non-linear isotropic work hardening characteristics. The numerical simulations are carried out for different impact velocities in order to take into account the heterogeneous shot velocity field observed in an ultrasonic shot-peening chamber. We compare the simulated rebound energy and the indentation profiles obtained for different impact velocities to experimental results. The simulated residual stress field topology shows a strong dependence on the shot velocity. While numerical results obtained at high impact energy agree well with literature results, the residual stress distribution simulated for low impact energies shows a tensile layer below the impacted area. The restitution coefficients and the indentation profiles compare well with the experiments.


Since fuzzy numbers represent uncertain numeric values, it is difficult to rank them according to their magnitude. In the paper, a method for ranking fuzzy numbers is proposed. The method considers the overall possibility distributions of fuzzy numbers in their evaluations for ranking and provides users with a method of changing viewpoints for evaluations. Users represent their viewpoints with fuzzy sets. The method evaluates fuzzy numbers with a satisfaction function and the viewpoint given by users and then ranks the numbers according to their evaluation values. The satisfaction function is a measure of comparisons between fuzzy numbers. In order to illustrate the ranking method, two numeric examples are shown, and for the comparative study, our method is compared with four existing ranking methods through eight examples. As an example of potential applications, the proposed method is applied to a decision-making problem: a two-person game with fuzzy profit and loss. The ranking method is used to analyze player choices.


In this letter, the complex frequency-shifted perfectly matched layer (CPML) is applied to hybrid implicit-explicit finite-difference time-domain method (HIE-FDTD). To verify the new formulation, a numerical example is presented. Results show that both HIE-CPML and FDTD-CPML have almost the same reflection error, while their reflection error is smaller than HIE Mur's first-order results. Results for different Courant-Friedrich-Levy numbers (CFLNs) show that even when the CFLN is large, the reflection error is still small. The contour plots show that the maximum reflection error as low as 83 dB is achieved by selecting optimum parameters.


The composites of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and polymers look promising as membrane materials for gas separation, provided benefits of both the components can be shown successfully. This work shows that the structural architecture of polybenzimidazole (PBI) is highly advantageous in offering attractive gas permeation properties of its composites with MOFs. PBI-BuI and its N-substituted (methyl and 4-tert-butylbenzyl) derivatives were blended with ZIF-8. In general, homogeneous blend formation of ZIF-8 was achieved with all three polymers, as supported by SEM. Wide angle X-ray diffraction, mechanical property analysis and density measurements of the composite membranes were performed in order to understand the effects of physical blending of MOFs and polymers. Gas permeability analysis of the composite membranes revealed that the properties of MOFs as well as those of polymers arising from their structural architecture are responsible for governing the permeability and selectivity of the resulting composites.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the main features of smart work centers (SWCs) and show how these innovative offices would support the implementation of smart working and related changes in workspaces ("bricks"), technologies ("bytes") and organizational practices ("behaviors").

Design/methodology/approach
In this study, scientific literature is combined with white papers and business reports and visits to 14 workplaces, including offices designed as SWCs, co-working spaces, one telecenter, one accelerator and one fab lab. Primary data were collected through interviews with managers and users and non-participant observation, whereas secondary data included web-sites, brochures, presentations, press releases and official documents.

Findings
The authors developed research propositions about how the design of spaces and the availability of technology within SWCs would support the "bricks" and "bytes" levers of smart working. More importantly, the authors assumed that this new type of workplace would sustain changes in employees' behaviors and managers' practices, thus helping to overcome several challenges traditionally associated with remote working.

Research limitations/implications
The exploratory nature of the research only provides preliminary information about the role of SWCs within smart working programs. Additional qualitative and quantitative empirical investigation is required.

Practical implications
This study provides valuable knowledge about how the design of corporate offices can be leveraged to sustain the implementation of smart working.

Originality/value
This study advances knowledge on workplaces by focusing on an innovative design of traditional offices (SWC). It also lays the foundations for future investigation aimed at testing the developed propositions.


The action of high doses of cigarette smoke alone or combined with coal dust or acrolein was investigated in noninbred Sprague-Dawley rats. Inhalation occurred up to six sessions per day (Hamburg machine), the animals being subjected to a treatment with oxygen after each inhalation session to reduce the carbon monoxide level in the blood. The amount of tar found in the lungs depended on the number of inhalation sessions per day rather than on the total number of inhalations. Smoke inhalation caused emphysematous lesions, the extent of which depended on the total dose of smoke inhaled. No lung tumors were observed. Only a hyperplasia of the alveolar lining involving type II alveolar cells and, at a later stage, areas of metaplasia generally limited to the bronchial area were found. The association of coal dust with cigarette smoke did not alter the specific effects of smoke and resulted in effects peculiar to the action of dust: alveolitis of the macrophage type, fibrosis of the reticulin type, limited hyperplasia, and ciliated metaplasia. When smoke was combined with acrolein, the effects due to smoke were not appreciably altered.


Polymer-based materials have been discovered as the most outstanding class of material that is fast displacing other materials in all areas of human needs. The dire need for durable, aesthetic, and lightweight materials has favored the increasing demand for polymer-based materials in structural industries. The application of polymeric-based materials in all aspects of human endeavor is based on their ease of formation, lightweight, and acceptable properties. The philosophy of composite development has also contributed immensely to the production of components from polymer-based materials suitable for several structural applications. More recently, interest in green materials also encourages the use of polymer-based materials in structural applications. The suitability of a material for any selected application is justified by structural and environmental compatibility. Thus, researchers have focused on these two major areas in their investigations for product development. Despite continuous efforts in these two directions, they are still issues of great concern to researchers in satisfying the desires of users presently. Hence, this review presents the philosophies of researchers, the product developed, and areas of application for polymer-based materials in structural industries such as biomedical, building and construction, energy, and sports. The paper advanced graphical presentation of the application of developed products and strongly supports the recommendation of polymer-based composite materials as a viable alternative to other materials due to their remarkable capabilities in many application domains.


The Holy Quran and Hadith ontology models are gaining popularity among researchers due to people's demands in understanding these divine books. Due to this, there are many studies have been conducted in this area to facilitate people's understanding of the Quran and Hadith. From the literature, however, most existing Quran and Hadith applications cover either Quran or Hadith only. Some applications focus on a domain of knowledge, while others only apply term matching and do not provide a semantic interpretation of keyword for a query. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose a Quran and Hadith application that covers both prime reference sources in Islam. It will focus on one domain of knowledge that is information management assessment criteria, where there is still a lack of research in this domain. It will also apply the semantic interpretation of the keyword to obtain results that are more comprehensive related to the context of the keyword. Evidence from the Quran and Hadith (Sahih Bukhari) related to the criteria of information management assessment will also be provided. The expected outcome for this paper is a framework of an ontology-based model for information management assessment criteria based on Syariah compliance that will be a useful guide for Muslims and all to assess their daily routine of managing information whether it complies with Islamic rules or vice versa.


Yeast lees isolated from wine or a culture medium after fermentation have the particular property of being able to adsorb certain volatile thiols contained in a hydroalcoholic wine-like solution. Yeast cell-walls are also able to adsorb the same thiols when prepared by mechanical disruption of whole cells in the presence of a reducing agent such as dithiothreitol (DTT). Thiols adsorbed in this manner may be re-released from the cell-walls by the addition of DTT in the medium. On the other hand, yeast cell-walls prepared under the same conditions lose their adsorption capacity following hydrolysis with a beta-glucanase preparation able to release mannoproteins.These results indicate that volatile thiols combine with the yeast cell-walls by means of disulphide bonds with the cystein contained in mannoproteins.


In this paper, we designed and implementation of the high speed neuron processor for real time object recognition in the making automatic system. and we designed of the PE(Processing Element) used residue number system without carry propagation for the high speed operation. Consisting of MAC(Multiplication and Accumulation) operator using residue number system and sigmoid function operator unit using MAC(Mixed Radix conversion) is designed. The designed circuits are descript by C language and VHDL(Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) and synthesized by compass tools and finally, the designed processor is fabricated in CMOS process. we designed of MAC operation unit and sigmoid proceeding unit are proved that it could run time 0.6nsec on the simulation and improved to the speed of the three times and decreased to hardware size about 50%, each order. The designed neuron processor can be implemented of the object recognition in making automatic system with desired real time processing.


Abstract In this paper, a modified Fourier solution based on the first-order shear deformation theory is developed for the free vibration problem of moderately thick composite laminated annular sector plates with general boundary conditions, internal radial line and circumferential arc supports. In this solution approach, regardless of boundary conditions, the displacement and rotation components of the sector plate are written in the form of the trigonometric series expansion in which several auxiliary terms are added to ensure and accelerate the convergence of the series. Each of the unknown coefficients is taken as the generalized coordinate and determined using the Raleigh- Ritz method. The accuracy and reliability of the present solution are validated by the comparison with the results found in the literature, and numerous new results for composite laminated annular sector plates considering various kinds of boundary conditions are presented. Comprehensive studies on the effects of elastic restraint parameters, layout schemes and locations of line/arc supports are also made.New results are obtained for laminated annular sector plates subjected to elastic boundary restraints and arbitrary internal radial line and circumferential arc supports in both directions, and they may serve as benchmark solutions for future researches.


— Population in rural areas are scattered in the form of different villages or settlements. The proper selection of land to launch any educational or health activities to equally facilitate both the genders is the sticky situation, both for Govt. and Private organizations. Govt. spends substantial funds for the establishment of education institution/health centre at the place which is feasible and accessible to general public. However for specific gender, the gender population is also considered so that both the gender may be benefited equally. In this research, efforts have been made to illustrate how one can choose or locate the best central place/ area in Taluka Kunri of district Umerkot Sindh Pakistan where the Educational or Health activity is to be initiated. For the purpose the concept of centre of mass theorem is used as a tool to develop mathematical model, subsequently utilize in achieving the objectives.


After a brief review of some of the general problems posed by Sophron's work, the paper analyses Sophron's fr. 3 K.-A., offering a detailed commentary and a new interpretation of the passage.


The applicability of long wavelength (390 nm) ultraviolet (UV) light for controlled modification of protein-repelling oligo(ethylene glycol) terminated alkanethiolate (OEG-AT) monolayers on gold was studied. It was found that these films can be modified in a controlled way even at such a long wavelength, which offers versatile strategies for the design of mixed monomolecular films and chemical lithography. Using the UV treatment, protein affinity of the OEG-AT film could be either directly adjusted for nonspecific adsorption or, in combination with subsequent exchange reactions for molecules bearing a specific receptor, precisely tuned for specific adsorption. The parameters of both procedures were determined, and the results were compared with analogous data for UV light with shorter wavelengths. It occurred that 390 nm UV light is especially well suited for the fabrication of specific protein patterns. In addition, because of the long wavelength, well-developed standard optics and commercial patterning ...


The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced by multiple emission sources on prokaryotic communities in sediments chronically affected by anthropogenic pressures. In this context, surface sediments were investigated in three Mediterranean touristic ports over three sampling periods and in different port sectors. The levels of 16 priority PAHs varied over three orders of magnitude (25-49,000 ng g-1) covering the range of concentrations previously reported for Mediterranean harbors. Pyrogenic processes were found to be the dominant emission source of PAHs, with considerable differences among ports. The prokaryotic communities were identified by using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, targeting the 16S rRNA gene for Bacteria and Archaea as well as the dsrAB gene for sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). The structure of the three benthic prokaryotic communities varied consistently among the ports. The structure of Bacteria and Archaea exhibited strong spatiotemporal variations that did not allow us to specifically link the observed differences in community structures with PAH sources. On the contrary, our study provided, for the first time, evidence that the PAH emission sources play a role in structuring benthic communities of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Our findings indicate that the SRB community can be used as a valuable candidate biotic descriptor for bioremediation monitoring in heavily impacted port sediments.


In this paper, we examine the naming consistency problems in distributed systems that support object replication. We define the meaning of naming consistency in these systems and observe that it is possible to have inconsistency in naming and yet have a consistent replica of the object. It is also argued that the naming consistency is tightly coupled with the replica consistency protocols. We examine the properties of the naming consistency in some existing replicated object systems. Then we present and analyze the replica consistency protocols developed for Spring. These protocols allow more relaxed consistency requirements in the naming service and consequently the total cost of the object replication is reduced. Though these protocols are developed for object replication in Spring Operating system, the concepts can be applied to any general settings.


Thromboembolic disease (TE) is an important cause of in-hospital morbidity and mortality. The relationship between cancer and abnormalities of blood coagulation has been recognized for well over a century. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities is the most common cause of thromboembolic disease, but pulmonary embolism, upper extremity vein thrombosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and other, more unusual, clinical events, may occur. Unexplained TE may serve as a marker for the presence of a hidden tumor. The frequency of pulmonary embolism (PE) among patients with a malignant neoplasm at necropsy is highly increased in the elderly patients. Among subjects with a malignant neoplasm, patients with pancreatic and gastric cancer (mucin-secreting adenocarcinomas), cancer of the large bowel and women with ovarian cancer had the highest frequency of PE. Old age, female sex, gastrointestinal and ovarian cancers must be considered as a significant risk factor for PE. The potentially responsible mechanisms for the thrombotic events, clinical manifestations, diagnostic implications and aspects of treatment of TE in malignant disease are discussed.


Two young children who were intellectually disabled and whose expressive language skills consisted of single signs were taught two-word semantic combinations. The study utilized combined multiple baseline and alternating treatment designs to compare the effectiveness of unimodal (speech and signs) and multimodal (speech, signs, and an electronic communication aid) augmentative communication conditions. The results indicated that, overall, treatment resulted in increases in the number of spontaneous productions of the target two-word combinations. However, the subjects showed differences in (a) their rates of learning, (b) the comparative effectiveness of the two augmentative communication conditions, and (c) their tendencies to use signs versus the communication aid. The need to specifically target two-word combinations and the relative effectiveness of the two conditions are discussed in relation to the nature of the experimental task and learner characteristics.


By using Husimi's test-function method, we construct n exact solutions of a single Paul trapped ion modelled by a quantum harmonic oscillator with a time-dependent 'spring constant'. Any nth solution is a combination of the Fock state and coherent state, which describes a wavepacket train consisting of n + 1 packets. Its centre oscillates like the classical harmonic oscillator with variable frequency, while the width and height of each packet change simultaneously. When the deformation is small, it behaves like a propagated and non-deformed train, and the large deformation is identified with breathing of the wavepacket train.


Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes with highly differentiated membrane systems. In addition to a Gram-negative-type cell envelope with plasma membrane and outer membrane separated by a periplasmic space, cyanobacteria have an internal system of thylakoid membranes where the fully functional electron transfer chains of photosynthesis and respiration reside. The presence of different membrane systems lends these cells a unique complexity among bacteria. Cyanobacteria must be able to reorganize the membranes, synthesize new membrane lipids, and properly target proteins to the correct membrane system. The outer membrane, plasma membrane, and thylakoid membranes each have specialized roles in the cyanobacterial cell. Understanding the organization, functionality, protein composition and dynamics of the membrane systems remains a great challenge in cyanobacterial cell biology.


This paper shows how a semiautomatic design of a speech recognition system can be done as a planning activity. Recognition performances are used for deciding plan refinement. Inductive learning is performed for setting action preconditions. Experimental results in the recognition of connected letters spoken by 100 speakers are presented.


Real-time traffic video streaming, such as roadside surveillance and aerial video, has been widely used in traffic monitoring nowadays. However, most of the traditional traffic data collection methods lack mobility that can only collect macroscopic data. In this paper, an intelligent traffic monitoring system based on an open source cooperative platform called SAGE2 was developed. Based on the integrated big screen TV wall of SAGE2, a map-based aerial traffic video streaming management interface was designed. In the image pre-processing section, it provides functions such as lens distortion removal, top view projection transforms, and video stabilization; simulate video streaming to provide instant and long-term micro-flow data collection. Micro-traffic flow data provides high-resolution information both in time and space which can be used to analyze the driving behavior of individuals and the public. Combined with the lane level map, it can provide a variety of visual vehicle flow presentations, such as intersection traffic distribution that can also be used to develop an innovative application in the future.


Social inclusion is argued to be a central foundation of labour law. However, scholarly contributions referring to this notion have not yet questioned what the normative account of social inclusion as a foundation of labour law should be. They base their arguments on various normative accounts—some on the account of minimum welfare; others on broader accounts that include voice and personal fulfilment—without seriously addressing the question at hand. But this question is highly pressing, given that numerous workers who are socially excluded according to socio-economic parameters are also located outside the confines of labour law or experience what Sen has termed as 'unfavourable inclusion'. This chapter offers an account of social inclusion based on Nancy Fraser's Scales of Justice, claiming that it should entail recognition, fair redistribution, and meaningful representation. It stresses that this account is in line with both social inclusion theory and with labour law, and shows how it captures the lives of various workers, including those who are in most need of such inclusion.


A major challenge with multi-cores in real-time systems is contention between concurrent accesses to shared memory. Dynamic arbitration schemes allow for an optimal utilization of the system's memory, while sacrificing time predictability. Time-Division multiplexing (TDM), on the other hand, sacrifices average-case performance in favor of predictability. In this work, we explore a dynamic arbitration scheme that is essentially based on TDM, and thus preserves many of its guarantees.