Let $N=\binom{n}{2}$ and $s\geq 2$. Let $e_{i,j},\,i=1,2,\ldots,N,\,j=1,2,\ldots,s$ be $s$ independent permutations of the edges $E(K_n)$ of the complete graph $K_n$. A MultiTree is a set $I\subseteq [N]$ such that the edge sets $E_{I,j}$ induce spanning trees for $j=1,2,\ldots,s$. In this paper we study the following question: what is the smallest $m=m(n)$ such that w.h.p. $[m]$ contains a MultiTree. We prove a hitting time result for $s=2$ and an $O(n\log n)$ bound for $s\geq 3$.


The numerical solution of conservative problems, i.e., problems characterized by the presence of constants of motion, is of great interest in the computational practice. Such problems, indeed, occur in many real-life applications, ranging from the nano-scale of molecular dynamics to the macro-scale of celestial mechanics. Often, they are formulated as Hamiltonian problems. Concerning such problems, recently the energy conserving methods named Hamiltonian Boundary Value Methods (HBVMs) have been introduced. In this paper we review the main facts about HBVMs, as well as the existing connections with other approaches to the problem. A few new directions of investigation will be also outlined. In particular, we will place emphasis on the last contributions to the field of Prof. Donato Trigiante, passed away last year.


In a proton beam generation by a laser-foil interaction, significant improvement of energy-conversion efficiency from laser to proton beam is presented by particle simulations. When an intense short-pulse laser illuminates the thin-foil target, the foil electrons are accelerated around the target by the ponderomotive force. The hot electrons generate a strong electric field, which accelerates the foil protons, and the proton beam is generated. In this paper, a tailored multihole thin-foil target is proposed in order to increase the energy-conversion efficiency from laser to protons. The multiholes transpiercing the foil target enhance the laser-proton energy-conversion efficiency significantly. Particle-in-cell 2.5-dimensional simulations present that the total laser-proton energy-conversion efficiency becomes 9.3% for the tailored multihole target, although the energy-conversion efficiency is 1.5% for a plain thin-foil target. The maximum proton energy is 10.0 MeV for the multihole target and is 3.14 MeV for the plain target. The transpiercing multihole target serves a new method to increase the energy-conversion efficiency from laser to ions.


The changes in students entering college, especially concerning learning style and the way they perceive themselves, seem to be related to performance. They set a goal to investigate whether a relationship exists between changes in learning styles and self-concept to academic performance of those who start college. From a population of 205 students who entered the University Initiation Cycle of USB, we applied the learning styles questionnaire and self-concept, at two different times, these questionnaires were associated with the academic index at the end of their academic period. It was concluded that those who changed in learning styles were favored in their academic performance. In relation to self performance may or may not be satisfactory.


Dietary fat is discussed to be critical in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Here, we assess the effect of exchanging dietary fat source from butterfat to extra virgin olive oil on the progression of an already existing diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice. Female C57BL/6J mice were fed a liquid butterfat-, fructose- and cholesterol-rich diet (BFC, 25E% from butterfat) or control diet (C, 12%E from soybean oil) for 13 weeks. In week 9, fat sources of some BFC- and C-fed mice were switched either to 25E% or 12E% olive oil (OFC and CO). Glucose and insulin tolerance tests were performed, and markers of liver damage and glucose metabolism were assessed. After 6 weeks of feeding, BFC-fed mice had developed marked signs of insulin resistance, which progressed to week 12 being not affected by the exchange of fat sources. Liver damage was similar between BFC- and OFC-fed mice. Markers of lipid metabolism and lipid peroxidation in liver and of insulin signaling in liver and muscle were also similarly altered in BFC- and OFC-fed mice. Taken together, our data suggest that exchanging butterfat with extra virgin olive oil has no effect on the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and glucose tolerance in mice.


The first purpose of this study was to describe collegiate band members' preferred teacher interpersonal behaviors and perceptions of self-efficacy based on the gender, year in college, instrument, and major. The second purpose of the study was to measure the relationship between preferences of interpersonal teacher behavior and self-efficacy scores. The non-probability purposive sample (N = 1020) was composed of band members representing 12 universities from different regions of the United States. There were 4 large public, 4 small public, and 4 private universities that participated in the study. Participants completed 2 questionnaires, the Teacher Interaction Preference Questionnaire (TIPQ) and the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ). Descriptive statistics were calculated for each of the questionnaires. Results for the TIPQ showed that all sub-groups most preferred the dominant-cooperative behaviors, followed by submissive-cooperative behaviors, and least preferred the dominant-oppositional behaviors. Results for the SEQ showed subtle variations for all subgroups. Three Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated to measure the relationship between the three teacher interaction styles (dominant-cooperative, submissive-cooperative, dominant-oppositional) and students' perceived self-efficacy. Due to the possible over-use of the data with multiple correlations, a Bonferroni adjustment was made to avoid a Type I error (.05/3 = .016). A significant positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and dominant-cooperative with 22% shared variance. A significant positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and submissive-cooperative with 7% shared variance. Finally, a significant positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and dominant-oppositional with 5% shared variance. This study's results indicate that it may be beneficial for band directors to measure students' preferences and perceptions of teacher interpersonal teacher behavior in order to find ways to interact better with the students. In addition, due to the relationship between students' preferences of teacher interpersonal behavior and perceived self-efficacy, collegiate band directors may wish to examine their own behaviors to determine how they align with the students' preferences.


Improved power linearity of InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with collector design is reported. The collector design is based on nonuniform collector doping profile which is to employ a thin high-doping layer (5/spl times/10/sup 17/ cm/sup -3//200 /spl Aring/) inside the collector (1/spl times/10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3//7000 /spl Aring/). The additional thin high-doping layer within the collector shows no obvious effects and impacts in dc characteristics and device fabrication if the layer was inserted close to the subcollector. For an HBT with a thin high-doping layer being inserted 4000 /spl Aring/ from the base-collector junction, the experimental result on third-order intermodulation demonstrates the significant reduction by as large as 9 dBc and improved IIP3 by 5 dB under input power of -10 dBm at frequency of 1.8 GHz.


A topographic-awareness and situational-perception based mobility model with
 path optimization for tactical MANET is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a
 formalized process is constructed to generate a random acceleration on nodes
 as the disturbance caused by small-scale topographic factors in the
 battlefield. Secondly, a path optimization method with the artificial bee
 colony algorithm is introduced to mimic the trace planning when the nodes
 possess the terrain information of battlefield. Thirdly, a
 topographic-awareness based bypass strategy is proposed to simulate the
 action of nodes facing largescale terrain factors in the case when the
 terrain information is lacking. Finally, a situational-perception based
 avoidance strategy is built to simulate the process of cognition and decision
 when there is an encounter with the enemies on the march. The mobility model
 consists of the four parts above and imitates the dynamic characteristics of
 tactical nodes in military environment.


SIR,-Following the recent paper on "Chronic inflammatory bowel disease in childhood" by Dr S K F Chong and others (9 January, p 101), may I draw attention to a further group of child patients with Crohn's disease of limited extent ? In the last eight years 12 patients have been seen in my clinics with Crohn's disease apparently restricted to the mouth. Of these, 10 have been between the ages of 10 and 16 at diagnosis. The clinical picture in these young patients has been that now becoming recognised as that of oral Crohn's disease-swollen lips, prominent submandibular lymph nodes, angular cheilitis, and tuberculoid granulomas of the oral mucosa. The evidence for considering this oral condition as being a manifestation of Crohn's disease in the absence of bowel lesions has been discussed elsewhere.' None of the child patients has as yet developed recognisable Crohn's disease of the bowel, but one similar adult patient with lesions apparently initially confined to the mouth has done so. It is suggested that the features outlined above should arouse the suspicion of Crohn's disease, even in the absence of gastrointestinal problems.


Every Company wants its employees to excel and work effectively. Thus need to be given motivation to encourage employee performance to increase. The type of motivation that can be given can be extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. With the encouragement to the subordinates is expected to generate the performance of employees can be maximized.The sample used for data collection in this study amounted to 50 (fifty) employees of telecommunication company in Jakarta. Likert scale used by writer to change qualitative data in questionnaire become quantitative data. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the magnitude of the influence of motivation on employee performance at one telecommunication company in South Jakarta which is engaged in the technology industry. The calculation of the questionnaire results using a simple linear regression formula. All of the author's calculations were assisted by the SPSS version 20 program released by IBM. Based on the analysis and data processing according to the calculation of correlation coefficient can be seen that the Motivation of Performance has a very strong relationship that is equal to 0.961 and according to the calculation of the coefficient of determination, can be known quite large is 92.3%, then influence Motivation on Performance can be seen through simple linear regression that is Y = 2,670 + 0,901X


The g-factor of the 0.74 MeV 5/2+ state of 15C has been measured by observing the hyperfine modulation of the gamma -ray anisotropy in one-electron ions recoiling into vacuum following the reaction 3H(13C,p)15C*. From the spatial frequency determined as a function of recoil distance the g factor was deduced to be mod g mod =0.703(12). The shell-model interpretation of this result is discussed.


BACKGROUND
Diabetes prevalence is frequently associated with low socioeconomic status (SES), but little is known about the relationship between SES and diabetes control, follow-up and quality of life. We evaluated SES by using the EPICES score, an individual index of deprivation (Evaluation de la Précarité et des Inégalités de Santé dans les Centres d'Examen de Santé; Evaluation of Precariousness and Inequalities in Health Examination Centers). A total of 1686 subjects aged from 25 to 85 years were selected at random in Montpellier and 154 in Narbonne, of whom 126 were managed by a care network including diabetologists, general practitioners and nurses. Capillary glycemia, the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure were measured in all the subjects. HbA1c was measured in subjects with above-normal glycemia. Five hundred sixty-four subjects from the study population (190 diabetic patients, 292 subjects with non diabetic hyperglycemia, and 86 euglycemic subjects) were clinically evaluated and asked to complete a questionnaire covering socioeconomic status and diet. The data were then compared between deprived and non deprived subjects. One hundred sixty-one diabetic patients had a clinical examination and completed a detailed questionnaire including their history, therapy, control and follow-up of diabetes, perception of diabetes, quality of life, socioeconomic status and diet. The data were then compared between deprived and non deprived patients. One hundred twenty-six diabetic subjects managed by the AUDIAB care network were compared with 163 diabetics recruited in Montpellier, based on the same investigations and the same questionnaires. The data were compared between the overall patients and between deprived and non deprived patients. In the overall population, deprived subjects were younger and more frequently smokers, and had higher BMI than non deprived subjects. The overall prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 8.1%. Among patients younger than 65 years, deprived subjects had a higher prevalence of diabetes and non diabetic hyperglycemia than non deprived subjects (6.9% vs 4.4% and 22.8% vs 19.5%). More are unmarried males and 33% present with a significant level of education (secondary or university). Deprivation was associated with transport difficulties, vehicle acquisition, living in a private house, employment. More have few income to buy food and a large number use economic stores. They eat few proteins, fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy products and more often rice, pasta, tea, coffee and soft drinks. Most have their meals outside in economic restaurants. Dental problems are very common. 161 diabetic patients were evaluated Deprived diabetics were younger, more frequently males, more smokers with an increased BMI and WC. Among deprived diabetic patients, diabetes was diagnosed later on and less often by a systematic inquiry than in the non deprived group. Deprived patients presented with a poorer glycaemic control, more hypoglycaemic and ketosis events than non deprived subjects. They present with more difficulties to accept dietary and antidiabetic drugs. Insulin was less frequently used. Quality of life was impaired with an increased prevalence of anxiety and depression. Diabetic patients treated in the "Réseau de soins AUDIAB" presented with a better control of their disease and a better quality of life than patients treated out of the "Réseau". These data were confirmed whatever the level of deprivation.


ABSTRACT We show that the ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed-effects (FE) estimators of the popular difference-in-differences model may deviate when there is time-varying panel non-response. If such non-response does not affect the common-trend assumption, then OLS and FE are consistent, but OLS is more precise. However, if non-response is affecting the common-trend assumption, then FE estimation may still be consistent, while OLS will be inconsistent. We provide simulation as well as empirical evidence for this phenomenon to occur. We conclude that in case of unbalanced panels, deviating OLS and FE estimates should be considered as evidence that non-response is not ignorable for the differences-in-differences estimation.


Using the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique, we have fabricated porous, chiral thin films with optically anisotropic helical microstructures that exhibit optical phenomena such as wavelength specific rotation of linearly polarized light. Initial research has shown that the porosity of the films allows for the addition of nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) to the films for promising applications in dynamically switchable devices, while simultaneously enhancing the optical properties of the film. This study describes the fundamental optical behaviour of LC-filled chiral thin films in relation to material, porosity, structure and thickness. It was found that for SiO2 films, the addition of NLCs increased the effective rotatory power by two-fold when compared with results from the film without added LCs. The rotatory power of Al2O3 and MgF2 films, while being similarly increased by the addition of LCs, exhibited a reversal in sign, or direction of rotation, for the visible wavelength spectrum investigated. The effects of film porosity and structure were studied by varying the angle of incidence from 83° to 86°; it was found that the greater porosity of the films deposited at larger angles allowed for more filling by the LCs and thus a larger increase in rotatory power. Finally, the addition of LCs was observed to shift the wavelength of peak rotation towards smaller values.


= Abstract = In order to elaborate the sleep-wake pattern changes manifested during controlled shift working of counterclockwise and clockwise rotations, eleven subjects were studied. A baseline sleep survey during uncontrolled shift working using a sleep questionnaire revealed that day and night shifts were found to have less total sleep time compared with evening and off duties, with delayed retire time in the evening shifts and advanced rise time in the day shifts. In analyses of data from controlled shift work schedules of opposite directions, difference in rise time appeared to be a crucial factor determining the total sleep time. This finding is compatible with the theoy that rise time is one of the most powerful factors in resetting the biological clock. Retire time seemed to be determined more by the subjects' sleep habits and/or the socioenvironmental stimuli. Off-duty allocation was found to be an important variable in sleep-wake pattern modulation in shift working.


Abstract Purpose: Community participation is restricted for youth with disabilities. The mall is an important gathering place where adolescents often socialise and develop community living skills, yet participation may be restricted. The aim of this study was to evaluate the facilitators and barriers to participation in a shopping mall through the perspectives of adolescents with disabilities. Method: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with adolescents aged 12–19 years with a physical and/or sensory disability. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and coded following a template analysis using the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). Results: Eleven youth (six females, mean age = 17.0 years) participated. Medical conditions included visual impairment, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, osteogenesis imperfecta and congenital amputations. Six themes were identified by the adolescents: what the shopping mall means to me, physical environment, transportation, social factors, attitudes and the person. The majority of themes mapped to the ICF's 'environmental factors'. Conclusions: Facilitators and barriers identified were either generic or disability-specific, implying that some modifications to shopping malls may be beneficial across disability types. Changes made to the physical, social and attitudinal environment are required to enable full participation of youth with disabilities within a shopping mall and other built environments of high public access. Implications for Rehabilitation The meaning of the shopping mall according to youth with disabilities includes socialisation, shopping, getting out of the home and employment. The majority of themes mapped to 'environmental factors' indicating that most obstacles to participation are caused by environmental barriers. Facilitators and barriers identified were either generic or disability-specific implying that some modifications to shopping malls may be beneficial across disability types. Changes made to the physical, social and attitudinal environment are required to enable full participation of youth with disabilities within a shopping mall.


Student transitions into blended learning - challenges and solutions
Josephine Adekola, Vicki Dale, Kerr Gardiner, Kate Powell
The proposed workshop will focus on the challenges students experience when transitioning into blended learning. This may be at the start of their university education, or during their studies when introduced to a blended course or programme for the first time. The proposed workshop will begin with a short presentation about the experiences of students from the University of Glasgow. Our research has shown that students appreciate the flexibility of blended learning and recognise the skills developed because of their engagement with it. However, it does introduce challenges around perceived interaction with staff, time management and online assessment literacy. These challenges are greater for international students studying in UK higher education for the first time.
In the first activity, staff and student participants will be encouraged to consider the particular challenges facing students at their own institutions, in relation to blended learning, before a second small group activity designed to elicit solutions. The workshop will conclude with a summary discussion of key points and a discussion about how potential solutions may be implemented, including how institutions might work together to support students. The findings from the workshop will be summarised as an article for the Enhancement Themes newsletter and incorporated into our student-facing multimedia output.


Objective A large number of injured earthquake patients were accepted by the hospital whilethe professional surgeons were relatively lack. This article introduced the hospital emergency management in 2008Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake, China. Method Within 3 days, Central Hospital of Mianyang accepted andtreated over 1000 patients after Wenchuan Earthquake jolted on 12 May 2008,and within 2 weeks, the number ofpatients reached 1500. The hospital carded out emergency management plan: (1) emergency comprehensive treat-ment district was established, which was divided into traumatic surgery district, general surgery district, and gen-eral medical district. Traumatic surgery district is responsible for treating traumatic patients, and most doctors andnurses were in this district. The district also had preview, contamination, operation, isolation, monitoring sec-tions, and the tents were numbered and labeled. General surgery district and general medical district were responsi-ble for patients not from earthquake, and only few doctors and nurses were in the two districts. According to the in-jury degree, all the wounded were classified into acute and severe, moderate and minor injuries, and wore red,yellow and blue label on the wrists, respectively. The name, gender, age and diagnosis of each patient and thename of doctor were written on the label. The infectious patients and non-infectious patients were separated.Results Near 200 operations and near 300 operations were performed at one night and at one day, respectively.Within one week, only 1 patient had the lung infection, and one patient with gangrenous emphysema was effective-ly treated. In-hospital cross infection and epidemic of infection disease didn't happen. Conclusions Emergencymanagement model and mechanism, which referred to the model of the battlefield ambulance, played an importantrole in treating a large number of injured patients.

Key words:
Wenchuan Earthquake;  Hospital emergency management;  Medical management


Background/Aim: Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is the standard therapeutic strategy for rectal cancer. However, 15-20% of patients undergoing neoadjuvant CCRT progress to recurrence or distant metastases. Therefore, identifying a predictive biomarker is necessary for treating CCRT. Materials and Methods: We investigated the relationship between the levels of histone ubiquitination enzyme and clinicopathological outcomes in patients with rectal cancer who were administered CCRT and confirm the role of histone ubiquitination enzyme in regulating the cell response to ionizing radiation (IR). Results: Clinical data indicated that UBE2B expression was significantly correlated with tumor regression grade. Inhibition of UBE2B elevated the genotoxicity of IR to radioresistant cell lines. In contrast, UBE2B over-expression reduced cell sensitivity to IR. Importantly, the recruitment of 53BP1 and Rad51 was remarkably prolonged in cells after pre-treatment with UBE2B inhibitor, TZ9, suggesting a defective DNA repair pathway in UBE2B-deficient cells. Conclusion: These results indicate that over-expression of UBE2B correlates with poor response and low survival rate in patients who are administered preoperative CCRT.


Sarangan beach has high biodiversity of macroalgae. Macroalgae has an important role as primary producer for herbivorous marine animals, potentially as biomonitoring, and pollutant bioremediation. As benthic organisms, macroalgae grows attached rocky or reef substrate in intertidal zone. These research aimed to study the macroalgal abundance in Sarangan Beach and influence factors of it. This study is important for local government as a reference to manage and develop the coastal areas of Gunungkidul. Sampling was conducted in 2012-2013 start from determination of the sampling point with line transect then collect data using quadrat plots 100 x 100 cm2 size, seawater nutrient analysis, species identification, and data calculation. The results showed that there were 14 species of Chlorophyta, 4 species of Phaeophyta, and 17 species of Rhodophyta. Enteromorpha intestinalis has a highest abundance, then Ulva fasciata, and Cladophora catenata. Analysis of correlation and regression showed that nutrient levels doesn't affect the macroalgal abundance in Sarangan Beach. Based on result, the limiting factor of macroalgal abundance in Sarangan Beach is substrate. Keywords : Abundance, Macroalgae, Sarangan Beach, Substrate


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the breast cancer incidence, so as to making contribution to breast cancer screening in high-risk groups, to adjustment from passive medical treatment to active treatment Methods: BMI status of 206 breast cancer patients and that of 210 healthy subjects at different ages were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS
The mean BMI was significantly higher in breast cancer patients than in healthy subjects 24.45±3.50 vs. 23.80±3.10 kg/m(2), t=-2.189, P=0.001. When stratified by age, BMI were significantly higher in ≥60 age for breast cancer than that of control group (Z=-3.408, P=0.001) and no significant difference in <60 years old .Logistic regression analysis showed that BMI was a risk factor of breast cancer (OR=1.886, 95% CI: 1.122-3.009).

CONCLUSION
BMI have a relationship with the occurrence of breast cancer, especially for ≥60 years old.


Context. The High Energy Stereoscopic System, the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope, and the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System have observed diffuse gamma-ray emission strongly correlated with the central molecular zone in the Galactic center. The most accepted scenario to generate this emission is via a hadronic interaction between cosmic rays (CRs) and ambient gas, where CRs are accelerated from a central and continuous source of 1 PeV protons. Aims. We explore the influence of the three-dimensional (3D) shape of the central molecular zone on the indirect observation of the CR energy density via gamma-ray detection. Methods. We simulated synthetic gamma-ray maps using a CR diffusion model with spherical injection, one isotropic diffusion coefficient, no advection, and mono-energetic particles of 1 PeV. Also, we used two different 3D gas distributions considering the observed gas column density, both with and without an inner cavity. Results. We find that when using a persistent CR source, a disk-like gas distribution is needed to reproduce the existing CR indirect observations. This is in agreement with the continuous gas distribution implied by some dynamical models and studies based on the comparison of emission and absorption molecular lines. However, it contradicts several models of the central molecular zone, which imply that this structure has a significant inner cavity. This tension can be reconciled by an additional, impulsive CR injection. Conclusions. If the central molecular zone has a cavity, a composite CR population, coming from the stellar winds of the Wolf-Rayet stars in the central 0.5 pc and the supernova Sgr A East, produces a good match to the observed gamma-ray morphology in the Galactic center.


Abstract Appropriate germination can improve the nutritional value and bioactivity of soybeans; however, few studies have assessed the effect of germination on soybean proteins. This study examined the physicochemical property, antioxidation, and cytoprotective effect of the germinated soybean proteins (Gsp). Gsp was extracted from soybeans which germinated for 0–3 days using the method of alkali‐solution and acid‐isolation extraction. The results showed that germination could digest soybean proteins into the smaller molecules; enhance the degree of hydrolysis, emulsifiability, and foaming capacity; increase the removal rate of ABTS, DPPH, O2−˙, and ˙OH radical; and decrease the reducing power and lipid peroxidation of Gsp. Additionally, Gsp was able to protect HL‐7702 human hepatocyte cells against benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)‐induced cytotoxicity through mediating the cell cycle arrest, suppressing apoptosis, and increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. This work demonstrated that germination could enhance the physicochemical property and antioxidant activity of Gsp, which also displayed the remarkable cytoprotective effect. This study provided a fundamental basis for substantiating dietary of Gsp used for resistance to oxidation and hepatic injury.


Heterogeneous wireless technologies are widely used in the Mobile Internet and Internet of Things (IoT). When data traverse heterogeneous wireless network, packet loss is mainly caused by error rate of the unstable channel. However, TCP is unable to distinguish the true reason. It would still reduce the congestion window that will lead to severe communication performance degradation. This paper proposed a fine-grained self-adaptive mechanism to improve TCP performance in heterogeneous networks. The novel approach contains adaptive switching TCP variant and adjusting congestion window size by probing the state of connection. The state measurements include bottleneck bandwidth, round-trip delay and packet loss rate. Simulation results based on NS-2 proved that this mechanism could work well in different scenarios and achieve optimal performance.


Due to small grounding current and unstable electric arc at fault position, the faulty circuit selection in resonant grounded systems has always been a complex and difficult problem. This paper proposes a new diagnostic method based on the matter-element and correlation analysis of Extension Theory. The characteristics variables of zero-sequence current and the correlation function have been used to identify the correlation. With the results, we may select the faulty lines. In the new method, the weighting coefficient of fault characteristics is endowed with variance of correlation function. Which not only widening the gap between correlations but also erasing the influences of little current and the unstable electric arc. When the fault is in the short circuit, the method may erase the influence of capacitive current in normal long one too. Lots of digital simulation results show that the proposed method is effective and reliable.


Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an extra-articular manifestation that can appear in spondyloarthritis (SpA), as well as uveitis and psoriasis. Its prevalence is 5-10%, although subclinical intestinal inflammation has been found in up to 60%. Biological therapy (BT) can be the treatment for IBD or produce it paradoxically. Fecal calprotectin (FC) is an intestinal inflammation marker, useful for early diagnosis and monitoring disease activity. Objectives: To describe the frequency and characteristics of IBD in SpA with BT. Methods: Descriptive and retrospective study (January 2003-January 2019) of patients with SpA that develop IBD in a single center. Epidemiological variables, type of SpA, presence of IBD and its characteristics, levels of FC, presence of BT at IBD onset and treatment received were registered. For the analysis, frequencies and percentages were used in qualitative variables and mean±standard deviation (SD) in quantitative. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS v.23. Results: We studied 270 patients with SpA, 70.4% male with a mean age of 39.9±12 years. The subtypes of SpA were: ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (n=133; 49.3%), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) (n=116; 43%), undifferentiated SpA (n=16; 5.9%), SpA non-Rx axial (n=3; 1.1%) and reactive arthritis (n=2; 0.7%). IBD was observed in 25 patients (9.26%), 80% male. At the time of IBD onset, they had a mean age of 39.12±9.8 years, the mean ESR was 31.15±24mm1ªh, CRP 2.7±2mg/dL and BASDAI 4.6. 16 patients had AS, 6 PsA and 3 undifferentiated SpA. TABLE 1. Regarding Spa diagnosis, IBD appeared after in 15 patients with an average time of development of 8.39±8 years, before in 7 and was simultaneous in 3. The subtypes of IBD were: Crohn's disease (CD) in 13 patients, ulcerative colitis (UC) in 9 and indeterminate colitis (IC) in 3. The FC was > 200μg/g in 17 patients (68%), normal (<50μg/g) in 1 and between 50-200μg/g in 7. The incidence rate adjusted for follow-up of the 25 cases was 7.7 cases/1000 patients-year. At the time of the IBD onset, 6 patients were with BT: Etanercept (ETN) (n=2), Infliximab (IFX) (n=1), Adalimumab (ADA) (n=1), Secukinumab (SCK) (n=1) and Ustekinumab (UST) (n=1). The BT had been initiated the previous 12 months in 5 of them. The incidence rate adjusted for follow-up of the 6 cases of IBD after BT was 1.83 cases/1000 patient-years. TABLE 2. The treatment of the 25 patients with IBD was mesalazine (n=15), oral corticoid (n=5), methotrexate (n=7) and BT in all cases. The BT was: ADA (n=11; 44%), IFX (n=6; 24%), UST (n=3; 12%), golimumab (n=3; 12%), SCK (n=1; 4%) and vedolizumab (n=1; 4%). The indication was intestinal in 4 patients, joint in 8 and both in 13. The clinical and analytical evolution in all patients was satisfactory, with a mean ESR of 11.6±9mm1ªh, CRP 0.6±0.3mg/dL and BASDAI 2 in the last control, after an average time of evolution of 12.5±9.3 years. Conclusion: In this series, IBD was observed in 9.26% of patients with SpA of which 64% were AS. The most frequent form was CD and it was diagnosed after SpA in 60% of the cases. 6 patients were with BT at the time of IBD onset. High FC (> 200μg/g) was observed in the majority of patients. Therefore, we recommend assessing the presence of digestive manifestations (abdominal pain, weight loss or diarrhea) in patients with SpA due to their possible association with IBD. The FC is a useful tool in these patients. Disclosure of Interests: None declared


This article examines the magnitude and characteristics of fall-related injuries on U.S. farms for youth less than 20 years old for work and non-work exposures at a national level. To examine the problem, data from the Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS) and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) were used. Findings indicate that falls are an important contributor to on-farm injuries, with youth appearing to be at considerable risk. Thus, a reduction of the exposure of youth to fall-related hazards on farms is needed. Strategies such as providing safe play areas for young children and continuing efforts to prevent extra riders on farm equipment will help in reducing these hazardous fall exposures.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus who reside in a community in the State of Mexico view their illness. Study Materials and Methods: An ethnographic approach was used to support the data analysis. The study was conducted at a primary health care center. It involved eight people who came to the clinic for nursing consultation during the period between December 2009 and July 2010. The ethical aspects particular to the research were respected. Results: Listening to patients who live with diabetes enabled the authors to enter the world of this disease through their stories. Conclusions: An ethnographic approach made it possible to understand the meaning patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus give to their illness, from the standpoint of beliefs and habits. As they described it, their experience enables them to resist the persistence of the disease.


Select members of the Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones, carrying diverse cargo including nucleotides, lipids, misfolded proteins and peptides. Immunization of mice or humans with HSPs leads to priming of T cell responses specific for the peptide antigens that they chaperone. HSPs, with the chaperoned peptides, in the extracellular environment have been shown to associate with the cell surface receptor CD91 expressed on antigen presenting cells (APCs). CD91 on APCs allow for endocytosis of HSP-peptide complexes and cross-presentation. Recently, we discovered that the same receptor CD91 acts as a signaling receptor for HSPs. HSPs were shown to cause the phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic tail of CD91, and thereby dictate the release of cytokines in a CD91-dependent manner. In this study, we aim to identify the domains on CD91 that are necessary for HSP binding. CD91 is expressed as a single polypeptide chain in the ER that is cleaved into the extracellular 515 kDa α-chain, included four ligand-binding domains, and the 85 kDa β-chain. By creating mini-gene constructs representing the ligand binding domains of CD91, the association of each HSP with each construct can be examined. The completion of this study will explain how the structurally diverse HSPs bind to a single receptor, necessary for priming immune responses.


John Carpten, PhD, of the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, discusses his research on genomic differences that may underlie disparities in incidence and mortality in Black patients with prostate cancer or multiple myeloma.


This article builds on Hochschild's primary understanding of emotional labour, as an aspect of labour power and sold for a wage, to develop a materialist theory of labour subjectivity from within the Marxist tradition that deepens and extends labour process analysis. It argues that the physical, intellectual and emotional aspects of labour power comprise a dynamic, inter-dependent complex – Marx's living personality at work – and that emotional effort is not a discrete, exceptional register of the self. A theory of the subjective–collective experience of labour power is then developed that commences with Vygotsky's concept of the dynamic unity of thought-speech-action in order to theorise the inter-relationship between labour activity and consciousness. This is then integrated with Bakhtin's materialist conception of emotion as the volitional tone of all labour activity and Vološinov's dialogical concept of speech, as contradictory consciousness turned outwards. Thus, workplace relations comprise routine dialogical contests between individual-collective workers and management over the meaning and purpose of employees' ideas, feelings and behaviour. The subjective–collective experience of labour power, therefore, is characterised as the dialogical self, constituted by an active presence in the labour process' contradictory, antagonistic relations.


Ovarian arterial velocimetry was performed using color and pulsed Doppler ultrasound. Seventy-one examinations were done on 9 healthy women with regular menstrual cycles. The change in ovarian arterial compliance was based on the calculation of the pulsatility index (PI). In the active ovary carrying a dominant follicle or corpus luteum, PI in the early proliferative phase was significantly higher than that in the late proliferative phase (p less than 0.001), and PI in the early secretory phase was significantly lower than that in the late proliferative phase (p less than 0.001). PI became significantly higher in the late secretory phase than that in the early secretory phase (p less than 0.001). In the inactive ovary without a follicle of corpus luteum, no changes were seen among the values for PI, in any menstrual phase. There was a significant difference between the values for PI in the active ovary and the inactive ovary in the late proliferative, the early and the late secretory phases (p less than 0.001), respectively. The PI values for the active ovary significantly correlated with the serum progesterone levels (r = -0.53, p less than 0.05) but not with the estradiol levels. These findings provide a useful foundation for assessing ovarian hemodynamics during the menstrual cycle.


OBJECTIVE
The level of immunological reactivity of the indigenous inhabitants of the Far North may depend on the extreme-discomfort factors of the climatic environment and genetic traits of the population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the distinctive elements of the immune status of the Kola Saami and Russians living in the Far North (Murmansk Region).

METHODS
A complex immunological study of peripheral venous blood composition was performed and involved 67 Saami and 81 Russian inhabitants of the Far North (Murmansk Region) who were aged 21-55. Blood was collected from the cubital vein on an empty stomach in the morning. For the peripheral venous blood, we obtained a hemogram and phagocytic activity of neutrophils, determined the content of lymphocytes with CD4, CD8, CD16, and CD71 phenotypes by indirect immunoperoxidase reaction and flow cytometry using an Epics XL apparatus (Beckman Coulter, United States), obtained concentrations of IL-6, IFN-γ, IL-10, IgA, M, G, E, sCD54, and sCD62L, transferrin, and sCD71 by enzyme immunoassay using the "Evolis" enzyme immunoassay analyzer from Bio-RAD (Germany), and obtained circulating immune complexes by precipitation using 3.5%, 4.0%, and 7.5% PEG-6000. The sIgA content was determined in morning saliva, urine, and gastrointestinal tract secretions. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-criterion, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

RESULTS
A decrease in the total number of leukocyte cells in the Saami was associated with a high incidence of leukopenia, lymphopenia, and neutropenia. Deficiency in active phagocytes and serum IgA and sIgA concentrations was revealed as well as increased contents of CD4+ and CD8+ receptor lymphocytes, membrane and free adhesion molecules, and transferrin. Leukocytosis, lymphocytosis, neutrophilia, monocytosis, and eosinophilia with increased contents of natural killer cells, IL-6, and IL-10 were recorded more frequently in the Russians. High levels of IgE and IFN-γ, which have the most pronounced cytotoxicity and are indicative of strained immune mechanisms, were characteristic of the Saami and Russians.

CONCLUSION
The distinctive aspects of the immune status of the Kola Saami is related to the deficit in the active phagocyte and serum IgA and sIgA concentrations as well as the increase in the contents of cytotoxic lymphocytes, intercellular adhesion molecules, transferrin, and IFN-γ proinflammatory cytokines. The Russian inhabitants of the Far North are characterized by an adaptive response manifested by an increase in antibody-dependent cytotoxicity, involving IL-6 and IL-10.


Otolaryngologists have assumed a major role in the evaluation and management of anterior skull base defects that result in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks and meningoencephaloceles. To achieve the best possible results for patients with CSF leaks, a thorough understanding of the underlying pathophysiology and a critical analysis of management principles and treatment options is essential. Surgical and medical management of these patients is highly individualized and depends on a number of factors, including etiology, anatomic site, patient age, and underlying intracranial pressure. This review article will highlight the history, physiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, surgical techniques, and postoperative care relevant to nasal CSF leaks and encephaloceles.


One new cinnamic imide derivative, named tribulusimide C (1), was isolated from the fruits of Tribulus terrestris, together with three known compounds, N-p-coumaroyltyramine (2), terrestriamide (3), N-trans-caffeoyltyramine (4). The structure of 1 was elucidated based on chemical analysis and spectral methods (IR, 1D and 2D NMR, HR-FAB-MS, EI-MS).


A nested PCR assay for chromosome 7 inversions (as identified by the presence of T-cell receptor trans-rearrangements) can detect as rare a frequency as 1 copy in 300,000 leukocytes. To identify such rare occurrences from dried blood blots, the most conveniently obtained and stored samples for field population studies, demands a DNA extraction method that will provide both high quality and high yield. We have satisfied this requirement by extracting proteins and other components directly from the minced filter with phenol, before extracting the DNA with Chelex-water. This provides a near maximal yield of denatured DNA of sufficient quality to detect these translocations with a sensitivity equivalent to that of DNA purified from whole blood samples. Blots stored 6 months worked as well as fresh blots. In addition, we present a method for obtaining native DNA from the dried blots, although at a much lower yield. The successful use of blood blots to detect such rare events signals the feasibility of large-scale field studies involving diagnostic molecular epidemiology.


On 10 December 1948, the world's governments made history when they adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and agreed to ensure its "universal and effective recognition and observance." Over the course of six decades, this declaration has generated both tremendous hope and a substantial body of law obliging governments to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights inherent to all human beings. Though reaffirmed at every turn, one lesson of the past 60 years is that governments' commitment to human rights is only as strong as the demands of their citizens. As respected members of society, scientists are vital to securing governments' adherence to human rights.


Network-on-chip (NoC) technology enables a new system-onchip paradigm, the system-on network-on-chip (SoNoC) paradigm. One of the challenges in designing applicationspecific networks is modeling the on-chip system behavior and determining on-chip traffic characteristics. A universal object message level model for SoNoC was defined and an objectoriented methodology was developed to implement this model in hardware and software. The model supports "object to core" synthesis and "function invoking to network" mapping. A case study of an H.263 system verifies the model and methodology. System prototypes are easily built and on-chip traffic can be observed using the SoNoC model to provide real benchmarks for on-chip network design.


With the increasing number of small-size unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for remote sensing, reconnaissance and surveillance applications, the demand for miniaturised and low weight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor systems for these platforms has increased. Because of the extreme payload weight restrictions of unmanned platforms, size, weight and power (SWP) characteristics actually become dominating design drivers for UAV SAR developments. The author focuses on the development of a highly miniaturised SAR (MISAR) sensor that was especially designed for UAVs with stringent payload SWP constraints. The paper gives an overview of the design considerations for the MISAR sensor system. The realisation of the sensor is described and the results of test flights in fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft and in UAVs are presented.


Direct coating methods using metal particles from aqueous solutions or solvent-based inks become central in the roll-to-roll fabrication processes as these methods can lead to continuous or pre-defined conductive layers on a large variety of substrates. For good electrical conductivity, the metal particles have to be brought into contact, and traditionally, additional sintering treatments are required. Such treatments can degrade the sensitive substrates as paper or polymer films. In this study, the possibility of obtaining conductive layers at room temperature is investigated for direct coating methods with an emphasis on drop-casting and inkjet printing. Thus, it is shown that electrical conductive layers can be achieved if the metal particles can compact during the drop-substrate impact interaction. It is theoretically shown that the compaction process is directly related to the particle and ink drop size, the initial fractional particle loading of the ink, solventviscosity, and drop velocity. The theoretical predictions on compaction are experimentally validated, and the particle compaction's influence on changes in the electrical conductivity of the resulting layers is demonstrated.


Recent years have seen the emergence of many new neural network structures (architectures and layers). To solve a given task, a network requires a certain set of abilities reflected in its structure. The required abilities depend on each task. There is so far no systematic study of the real capacities of the proposed neural structures. The question of what each structure can and cannot achieve is only partially answered by its performance on common benchmarks. Indeed, natural data contain complex unknown statistical cues. It is therefore impossible to know what cues a given neural structure is taking advantage of in such data. In this work, we sketch a methodology to measure the effect of each structure on a network's ability, by designing ad hoc synthetic datasets. Each dataset is tailored to assess a given ability and is reduced to its simplest form: each input contains exactly the amount of information needed to solve the task. We illustrate our methodology by building three datasets to evaluate each of the three following network properties: a) the ability to link local cues to distant inferences, b) the translation covariance and c) the ability to group pixels with the same characteristics and share information among them. Using a first simplified depth estimation dataset, we pinpoint a serious nonlocal deficit of the U-Net. We then evaluate how to resolve this limitation by embedding its structure with nonlocal layers, which allow computing complex features with long-range dependencies. Using a second dataset, we compare different positional encoding methods and use the results to further improve the U-Net on the depth estimation task. The third introduced dataset serves to demonstrate the need for self-attention-like mechanisms for resolving more realistic depth estimation tasks.


This article illustrates the impact of urbanization on the elderly Samoan in Western and American Samoa showing contrasts based on the differing rates of urbanization between the two. The impact of political and economic factors such as government programs that undermine patterns of traditional culture is discussed. Current research on the elderly Samoan done by anthropologists and others is covered. The article also discusses the cultural patterns of the extended family, the aiga, and value systems. The article concludes with perceptions of the authors of the elderly in Western Samoa.


The article analyzes the development of the activity of Medical Assessment Service for people with diabetes mellitus for selected assessment categories in the assessment of health conditions from 2012 to 2016. The assessment criteria for assessing disability, the degree of dependency for care allowance and the health status for grant for special aid, and certificate of person with disability are set out in the legislation. The incidence of disability for diabetes declined by 13 % between 2012 and 2016 and by 10 % for the degree of dependency for care allowance. The assessment for grant for special aid increased by 57 %, for grant in the case when the aid is a "vehicle" decreased by 8 %. Most importantly increased assessing for certificate of person with disability by 150 %. The epidemic of diabetes in the population is not reflected in the incidence of disability and the degree of dependence. Both of these assessment categories were decreased, in spite of the fact that there account for almost 70 % of the whole assessment activity. The assessment for grant for special aid, and certificate of person with disability was increased. The cause may be due to incorrect statistical reporting, not up to date expert medical criteria, or poor patient awareness.


Background The ideal definition of remission in RA remains to be agreed. Angiogenic factors and proinflammatory cytokines are key in RA pathogenesis. Objectives The aim of this study was to analyse serum levels differences of angiogenic and inflammatory biomarkers between SDAI, CDAI, ACR, DAS28 and sonographic remission in patients with (RA). Methods We selected patients with RA in clinical remission (DAS28-ESR<2.6 for >6 months). PDUS of knees and hands was performed. Serum levels of biomarkers of inflammation/angiogenesis were determined by Quantibody® Human Array. Patients were classified according to 6 sets of remission criteria: SDAI (<3.3), CDAI (<2.8), ACR, DAS28-ESR (<2.6), Doppler (score Doppler=0) and UdAS (ultrasound defined active synovitis:no joints with SH≥2+PD) Results 60 patients with RA were collected. 76% female, aged (mean) 53 years; disease duration 110 months. 47 (76%) csDMARDs, and 27 (45%) biological therapies. At baseline, 67% of patients had PD signal and 48% fulfilled criteria for previously defined UdAS. Although patients in sonographic remission had lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers such as IL-6, IL-17 or IL-23, no significant differences were found between the 6 sets of remission criteria. Angiogenic biomarkers such as CXCL6 (0.039), ENA78 (0.007), SDF1 (0.047) and VEGF-R1 (0.025) were significantly lower in patients fulfilling CDAI remission. Patients with no PD signal (0.009) and no UdAS (0.006) had significantly lower levels of bFGF. Conclusions RA patients in CDAI remission had significantly-lower levels of angiogenic cytokines. However, no differences in serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines were found between the 6 sets of remission criteria. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The standard method for assessing cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Reuter), abundance in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., involves direct counts of adults and nymphs on main stem terminals. Although this practice appears to provide adequate estimates for pest management programs, the accuracy and precision of population estimates obtained from terminal sampling, relative to whole plant examinations and potential time-of-day sampling effects, have not been investigated. We examined the distribution of cotton fleahopper adults and nymphs within cotton plants twice a day (0800 - 1130 h and 1300 - 1630 h) in 2007 and 2008 to determine whether the numbers of fleahoppers in the terminal of plants accurately and reliably reflect the numbers of fleahoppers on those plants. Overall, the mean numbers and distribution patterns of fleahoppers observed during the morning and afternoon sampling periods were statistically similar. Consequently, time-of-day sampling effects were not observed. When the numbers of fleahoppers found on plants were regressed on the numbers of fleahoppers observed in the terminal of those plants, the r2 and coefficient of variation (CV) values for adults were 0.81 and 40, respectively. Corresponding values for nymphs were 0.97 and 22. Based on regression slopes, the terminal accounted for 64% of the adults and 78% of the nymphs observed on plants. Our results suggest fleahopper counts obtained from terminal examinations accurately reflect the numbers of fleahoppers on those plants. However, this sampling practice may not provide the level of precision typically required in population research.


Most studies focusing on neural development and the mechanism of neurodevelopmental disorders are based on animal (rodent or avian) models or post mortem human samples. Thus, the observations derived from these studies cannot be directly translated into mechanistic insights of human neural development and regeneration. Human pluripotent stem cells, which can potentially be differentiated into any cell types of the body, offer a new perspective to overcome this limitation. In the present study, we differentiated induced pluripotent stem cell lines toward the neural lineage. Using a multi‐step, directed differentiation protocol, specific human neural progenitor cells (NPCs) were generated which are committed to produce PROX‐1‐positive granule cells of dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. These NPCs were characterized in terms of morphology, expression of specific cellular markers, growth capacity, and capability of producing mature neurons. Next we investigated the calcium signals in NPCs and PROX1‐positive hippocampal neurons, expressing GCaMP6fast calcium indicator protein or loaded with Fluo4 calcium sensitive dye, in parallel experiments. We demonstrated the functional presence of several receptors, and also the lack of functioning sodium channels in NPCs, and spontaneous Ca2+ gradients in neurons by both methods. We found that spontaneous calcium gradients and specific, ligand induced calcium signals were not significantly altered in the GCaMP6f expressing cells, suggesting the applicability of GCaMP6f for the investigation of fast calcium signals in neural cultures. We conclude that the characteristics of both the spontaneous and ligand‐induced Ca2+‐signals, as well as their pharmacological modulation can be successfully examined in these human model cells by fluorescence imaging.


Spatial organization of biopotentials β1-rhythm of human's EEG was studied. Patient was suggested to remember the sequence and place of displaying on computer monitor of the six in circle form signals. After memorizing the task patient was inquired to repeat the sequence by pointing out with mouse cursor the place of each next signal. The EEG features were analyzed according to patient purposeful activity: original condition (after instruction), memorization and repetition of signal sequence. The two groups of students which diverged by the speed and accuracy of task execution were identified. It was found that in group of those students who were more quickly and with high accuracy completed the task unlike others had increased number of coherent interrelations of EEG β1-rhythm in the memorization stage in comparison with initial stage and on repetition phase in comparison with memorization one. The increasing of the number of significant coherent interrelations was manifested in organization of specific structure of coherent interrelations of biopotentials β1-rhythm of EEG for each stage. The structure of coherent interrelations of biopotentials β1rhythm did not change significantly in group of students, who managed the task slowly and with errors.


Experimental plots measuring 7 X 12 m were established in a 2-year-old stand on the Ankeny Research Farm near the city limits of Ankeny, IO. Nine treatments were replicated 4 times in a randomized complete-block design. Insecticide treatments were applied on 8 May '86 with a Suzuki LT-125 4-wheel all-terrain cycle equipped with a 6.1-m boom. The C02-charged boom was ca. 61 cm from the foliage and fitted with twelve brass 8003 flat-fan nozzles. Ground speed was 6.28 km/h delivering 112.2 liters of final solution per hectare. Plants were in stage 2 (late vegetative) and ca. 43 cm tall. Weather conditions at application time were partly cloudy, winds 0-6 km/h, temperature 21-24 degrees C, and ca. 60% RH. A standard 38-cm sweep net was used to take pendulum sweeps in each plot 2 days before treatment and 1, 4, and 8 days posttreatment. No phytotoxicity was observed in any plot.


The performance of redox flow batteries is notably influenced by the electrolyte, especially in slurry-based flow batteries, as it serves as both an ionic conductive electrolyte and a flowing electrode. In this study, carbon additives were introduced to achieve a rechargeable zinc slurry flow battery by minimizing the zinc plating on the bipolar plate that occurs during charging. When no carbon additive was present in the zinc slurry, the discharge current density was 24 mA∙cm−2 at 0.6 V, while the use of carbon additives increased it to up to 38 mA∙cm−2. The maximum power density was also increased from 16 mW∙cm−2 to 23 mW∙cm−2. Moreover, the amount of zinc plated on the bipolar plate during charging decreased with increasing carbon content in the slurry. Rheological investigation revealed that the elastic modulus and yield stress are directly proportional to the carbon content in the slurry, which is beneficial for redox flow battery applications, but comes at the expense of an increase in viscosity (two-fold increase at 100 s−1). These results show how the use of conductive additives can enhance the energy density of slurry-based flow batteries.


Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the distal extension of the palatal rugae area as an anatomical constraint on the harvesting of palatal soft tissue grafts in a Saudi Arabian population. Additionally, factors that could affect or predict the extension were considered. Methods Three hundred seventy-four (374) dental casts from Saudi nationals currently residing in Riyadh (170 males and 204 females) were included. Two independent observers used a standardized probe to measure the posterior extent of the rugae on each stone cast bilaterally on a horizontal base. A sharp graphite pencil was used to mark the measurements from the origin of the rugae to their terminal ends on the cast, and a magnification lens was used to identify them. Using this technique, the most posterior extension of the rugae was marked and then analyzed. The normal approximation test for binomial distribution was used to determine the proportion of the subjects with rugael extensions beyond the mesial end of the upper second premolar, and logistic regression was used to see the association of this extension with other factors. Results The asymptotic chi-squared (p = 0.0002) McNemar tests revealed that the posterior distal extension of the rugae was not the same on both sides. A normal approximation test for the left side with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with the "rugael extension proximal to the mesial end of the upper second premolar" category considered "success" found that the proportion of upper second premolars with rugael extensions proximal to the mesial end was not significantly different to the proportion of rugael extensions beyond the mesial end of the upper second premolars (95% CI: 48.69%-58.79%, p = 0.147). Conversely, the proportion of the upper second premolars with rugael extensions proximal to the mesial end was significantly lower than that beyond the mesial end on the right (95% CI: 35.92%-45.89%, p = 0.00004). Gender, age, and palatal shape did not significantly affect the posterior extension of palatal rugae. Conclusions The palatal rugae on the left side of a sample of the Saudi Arabian population do not considerably extend beyond the upper second premolar mesial aspect, which may provide reliable soft tissue grafts for esthetic mucogingival surgery.


We present a new model for the gas dynamics in the galactic disc inside the orbit of the Sun. Quasi-equilibrium flow solutions are determined in the gravitational potential of the deprojected COBE near-infrared bar and disc, complemented by a central cusp and, in some models, an outer halo. These models generically lead to four-armed spiral structure between corotation of the bar and the solar circle; their large-scale morphology is not sensitive to the precise value of the pattern speed of the bar, to the orientation of the bar with respect to the observer, or to whether or not the spiral arms carry mass.

Our best model provides a coherent interpretation of many observed gas dynamical features. Its four-armed spiral structure outside corotation reproduces quantitatively the directions to the five main spiral arm tangents at |l|≤60 observed in a variety of tracers. The 3-kpc arm is identified with one of the model arms emanating from the ends of the bar, extending into the corotation region. The model features an inner gas disc with a cusped orbit shock transition to an x2 orbit disc of radius R∼150 pc.

The corotation radius of the bar is fairly well constrained at Rc≃3.5±0.5 kpc. The best value for the orientation angle of the bar is probably 20--25, but the uncertainty is large since no detailed quantitative fit to all features in the observed (l,v) diagrams is yet possible. The Galactic terminal velocity curve from H I and CO observations out to l≃±45 (∼5 kpc) is approximately described by a maximal disc model with constant mass-to-light ratio for the near-infrared bulge and disc.


Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells have made rapid progress in the last decade. Still, they suffer from multiple loss channels, one of them being optical losses including reflection and thermalization. In this study, the effect of structures at the air-perovskite and perovskite-silicon interface of the tandem solar cell stack on these two loss channels are evaluated. Regarding reflectance, every structure evaluated led to a reduction relative to the optimized planar stack. The best combination of structures evaluated reduced the reflection loss from 3.1 mA/cm2 (planar reference) to 1.0 mA/cm2 equivalent current. Additionally, nanostructured interfaces can lead to a reduction in thermalization losses by enhancing the absorptance in the perovskite sub-cell close to the bandgap. This means that more current can be generated at a higher voltage under the assumption that current-matching is maintained and the perovskite bandgap is increased accordingly, pathing the way towards higher efficiencies. Here, the largest benefit was obtained using a structure at the upper interface. The best result yielded an increase of 4.9%rel in efficiency. A comparison to a tandem solar cell using a fully textured approach with random pyramids on silicon shows potential benefits for the suggested nanostructured approach regarding thermalization losses, while reflectance is reduced at a similar level. In addition, the applicability of the concept in the module context is shown.


BACKGROUND
The ripening of fruits is characterized by physical, chemical and biochemical compositional changes such as color, sugars and phenolic compounds. Ackee fruit is famous in Jamaica and the Caribbean. This study aimed to assess the variation of fatty acids in two varieties (cheese and butter) ackee (Blighia sapida) fruits during five different ripening stages.

RESULTS
The total fatty acid content of ackee fruit was much higher in arils and ranged from 283.4 to 465.1 g kg(-1) dry weight (DW), while in husk they ranged from 235.2 to 465.1 g kg(-1) DW in both varieties. Total fatty acid content declined in the arils and the husks as the fruit ripened. Five major fatty acids were found: palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2) and linolenic acid (C18:3). In the arils, oleic acid was found at the highest concentration, followed by palmitic, stearic, linoleic and last linolenic acid. The unsaturated:saturated ratio of fatty acids varied from 1.23 to 3.26 in the arils of both varieties, and from 1.03 to 5.05 in the husk. Monounsaturated:polyunsaturated fatty acids ranged from 8.56 to 25.19 in the arils and from 0.62 to 2.33 in the husk.

CONCLUSION
The results show that ackee arils contain much higher levels of fats than the husk and the major fatty acid in the arils was oleic acid (Δ9-cis-oleic acid, an omega n-9), while in the husk unsaturated fatty acids were higher than the saturated ones. Oleic acid was the major fatty acid in both varieties, and aril fatty acid content was 10-20 times higher than in the husk. In both varieties, unsaturated fatty acids were relatively higher than saturated ones; however, total fatty acids showed a decline with ripening for arils and husk tissues.


It is shown that the propagation of gamma rays in crystals is accompanied by phenomena similar to those appearing in low-frequency optical and microwave waveguides, including effects of the image transmission and transformation.


Companies in today's manufacturing environment must have repeatable, compliant and responsive business processes, global ICT information infrastructure that provides a single source of the truth and alignment across departments. The companies must first focus on the needs of their customer, continually minimize time to scale, eliminate waste, drive out costs and improve. With holistic strategy and supporting infrastructure, companies can achieve profitable growth. Lean as a strategy is about reducing waste wherever it occurs in the organization. It is useful to eliminate the unnecessary effort by people or machine, duplicated data and non-value activities as much as possible. This paper will describe how Lean concept with PLM business strategy can leverage Lean with integrated compliance and continual improvement to increase the return on R&D investments and provide sustainable and profitable growth for business processes mainly manufacturing processes. This paper presents one of the most widely-used PLM solution suites in the market, Siemens PLM software-Teamcenter, built on the latest IT technology. Teamcenter as an IT tool for Lean product lifecycle management (Lean PLM) offers the companies a lot of benefits. One of them is managing product structures, create and modify them in order to save time and resources.


This paper presents the results obtained from the studies on turbulent flow and bed deformation around groins with experimental and numerical methods. Two impermeable or permeable groins were positioned on the left side of the model channel. The velocity distributions around the groins were measured under non-submerged� conditions. In the case with impermeable groins, the local scour hole around the upstream groin resulted deeper than that of the case with permeable ones. A 3D numerical model based on unstructured meshes was developed. The numerical results for velocity distributions have been compared with those of the experimental measurements and show good agreement.


In this brief, a novel class-AB implementation of a current-mode exponential variable gain amplifier (VGA) is presented. The VGA is based on a novel current amplifier circuit implemented by multicoupled MOS translinear loops operating in strong inversion and saturation. The gain is conveniently configured for performing a pseudo-exponential approximation leading to a very compact design since an extra multiplier is not needed. Moreover the VGA can operate with very low voltage and power efficiency. Measurement results from a fabricated prototype in a 0.5-mum n-well CMOS technology reveal gain control up to 12 dB with errors less than plusmn0.5 dB and power consumption of 375 muW for a supply voltage of plusmn0.75 V.


There is, in Herman Melville's works, a constant struggle to situate the narrative within the context of a racial and ethnic "Other." Melville's narrators—almost invariably white, Euro-American males—appear at times in tense opposition to, and at other times in social harmony with, the African, Native American, Polynesian, and Oriental presences in his texts. In essence, Melville situates these non-white characters against the dominantly-raced narrator as racial "Others." This ethnic "othering" entails a dangerous politics of racial separation, hierarchizing, and colonization, yet simultaneously allows for and even encourages a social critique of nineteenth-century white American imperialist attitudes toward non-white peoples. Indeed, this is what makes Melville such a difficult figure to decipher both literarily and historically. By marking these races as alien and "other," indeed by striving to "mark" them at all, Melville at once conducts a constructive anthropological study as well as sets the destructive foundation for a race-driven, American imperialist project aimed at alienated and "othered" races. Indeed, Melville constructs for his readership a difficult paradox; his texts on the one hand call for white intervention and colonization of ethnic and racial spaces, and on the other, they illuminate the counter-productivity of such colonization. What, then, was Melville's relationship to the ongoing imperialist project of nineteenth-century America? To reach an answer to this question we will examine Melville's political relationship to two Pacific Ocean land groups (the Marquesan Islands and the Sandwich Islands), establish a pattern to his paradoxical imperialist and anti-imperialist philosophies, and finally, construct a model of his international, inter-ethnic political philosophy.


This study was designed to compare the effects of two low-dose triphasic oral contraceptives (OCs) on glucose tolerance and insulin secretion. Fifty-seven women were randomized to receive OCs containing ethinyl estradiol and either levonorgestrel or norethindrone. Ten subjects using nonhormonal contraception served as controls. Glucose tolerance and insulin secretion were measured at baseline and at 6 and 12 months after an oral glucose stimulus. Both preparations produced a relative hyperglycemia at 6 and 12 months compared with baseline, but within the norms for glucose tolerance. The insulin response, measured in 48 treated and eight control subjects, also increased over 12 months in both treated groups, but the total insulin area was within the range of the reference laboratory. Such minor changes have not been associated with cardiovascular diseases and support the safety of low-dose triphasic preparations


The energy demand is growing worldwide, and this has to be met with various energy resources and with advanced energy technologies. Power plant optimization is one of the ways in which the growing energy demand and call for reduction in greenhouse gas emission can be met. The present work investigates the optimal operating condition of a combined cycle cogeneration power plant with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) co‐fired with coal and natural gas. The study also looks at an efficient way to perform iterative processes used to find exit conditions from the gasifier, fuel cell, gas turbine, and combustion chamber and exit condition from the gas turbine. The maximum fuel cell net work output, combined cycle net work output, combined cycle thermal efficiency, and cogeneration efficiency are determined. The optimal pressure ratio, temperature of operation of the SOFC, and gas turbine inlet temperature is determined using a sequential quadratic program solver based on the Quasi‐Newton algorithm. The maximum cogeneration efficiency obtained from the plant configuration investigated in this study is 82.20% at a pressure ratio of 14.31 and SOFC temperature of 1223 K. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Noise robustness is one of the primary challenges facing most automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. A vast amount of research efforts on preventing the degradation of ASR performance under various noisy environments have been made during the past several years. In this paper, we consider the use of histogram equalization (HEQ) for robust ASR. In contrast to conventional methods, a novel data fitting method based on polynomial regression was presented to efficiently approximate the inverse of the cumulative density functions of speech feature vectors for HEQ. Moreover, a more elaborate attempt of using such polynomial regression models to directly characterizing the relationship between the speech feature vectors and their corresponding probability distributions, under various noise conditions, was proposed as well. All experiments were carried out on the Aurora-2 database and task. The performance of the presented methods were extensively tested and verified by comparison with the other methods. Experimental results shown that for cleancondition training, our method achieved a considerable word error rate reduction over the baseline system, and also significantly outperformed the other methods. Index Terms: noise robustness, speech recognition, histogram equalization, polynomial regression model


Arrays of sensors and actuators are designed to provide modal isolation and robust broadband feedback control on complex structures with high performance and limited modeling. The weighted array technique proposed here enables the design of reducedorder controllers for complex structures and offers the potential to improve closed-loop robustness and to broaden the region of good performance even as the plant changes. The weighted summation of the transducer signals senses the modes that are relevant to performance while rejecting the remaining modes; therefore reducing the required complexity of the controller. These weights are obtained from the minimization of a cost function and, under certain assumptions, it can be shown that a single optimum solution exists. The use of weighted arrays is motivated by the need to control the vibration response of aircraft. A representative fuselage test-bed was designed to retain the essential structural-acoustic dynamics of aircraft on a reduced size structure. Sensing and actuation plies of piezoelectric transducers were bonded to the fuselage test-bed and to other representative cylinder sections. Array weights were computed and successfully applied to isolate the targeted modes. The modal isolation allowed the implementation of simple control algorithms on the complex structures. Different methods of computing the weights are implemented and compared. The deleterious effects of spatial aliasing, the performance as a function of the array size, the sensitivity to random perturbations, and the effects of transducer failure are explored. Doctoral Committee Chairman: Professor Nesbitt W. Hagood Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics


THERE has been a substantial increase in the frequency of adenomas of the liver in young women in the last few years. A large number of these women have been taking long-term oral contraceptives. With increased awareness of this problem, more asymptomatic women are being detected. The opinion concerning the surgical approach for an asymptomatic intrahepatic adenoma has varied mainly because of the lack of information regarding its natural history, the uncertainty of resolution after hormone withdrawal, and the fear of spontaneous hemorrhage. The evidence correlating oral contraceptive use and the onset of liver tumors has been circumstantial, and there have been reports of these tumors occurring in patients who do not take oral contraceptives. This case, in addition to others described recently showing tumor regression following the withdrawal of oral contraceptive use, lends more support to the etiologic role of oral contraceptives in these tumors. Report of a Case


By establishing the relation between the optical scaled fractional Fourier transform (FFT) and quantum mechanical squeezing-rotating operator transform, we employ the bipartite entangled state representation of two-mode squeezing operator to extend the scaled FFT to more general cases, such as scaled complex FFT and entangled scaled FFT. The additivity and eigenmodes are presented in quantum version. The relation between the scaled FFT and squeezing-rotating Wigner operator is studied.


Ribose 2'-amine substitutions are broadly useful as structural probes in nucleic acids. In addition, structure-selective chemical reaction at 2'-amine groups is a robust technology for interrogating local nucleotide flexibility and conformational changes in RNA and DNA. We analyzed crystal structures for several RNA duplexes containing 2'-amino cytidine (C(N)) residues that form either C(N)-G base pairs or C(N)-A mismatches. The 2'-amine substitution is readily accommodated in an A-form RNA helix and thus differs from the C2'-endo conformation observed for free nucleosides. The 2'-amide product structure was visualized directly by acylating a C(N)-A mismatch in intact crystals and is also compatible with A-form geometry. To visualize conformations able to facilitate formation of the amide-forming transition state, in which the amine nucleophile carries a positive partial charge, we analyzed crystals of the C(N)-A duplex at pH 5, where the 2'-amine is protonated. The protonated amine moves to form a strong electrostatic interaction with the 3'-phosphodiester. Taken together with solution-phase experiments, 2'-amine acylation is likely facilitated by either of two transition states, both involving precise positioning of the adjacent 3'-phosphodiester group.


Background: Several lines of evidence showed that inflammation is associated with changes
in the expression of tachykinins both in human and animal models. Tachykinins, including
substance P (SP), are small peptides expressed in the extrinsic primary afferent nerve fibres
and enteric neurons of the gut: they exert their action through three distinct receptors, termed
NK1, NK2 and NK3. SP modulates intestinal motility and enteric secretion, acting
preferentially through the NK1 receptor. SP neural network and NK1 receptor expression are
increased in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and similar changes were observed in
experimental models of inflammation. The 2,4 Dinitrobenzene Sulphonic Acid (DNBS) model
of colitis is useful to study innate immunity, non-specific inflammation and wound healing; it
has been suggested that the transmural inflammation seen in this model resembles that found
in Crohn's disease and can therefore be used to study what cells and mediators are involved in
this type of inflammation.
Aim: To test the possible protective effect of the NK1 receptor antagonist SSR140333 on:
1) acute model of intestinal inflammation; 2) reactivation of DNBS-induced colitis in rats.
Methods: Acute colitis was induced in male SD rats by intrarectal administration of DNBS
(15 mg/rat in 50% ethanol). Reactivation of colitis was induced by intrarectal injections of
DNBS on day 28 (7.5 mg/rat in 35% ethanol). Animals were sacrificed on day 6 (acute colitis)
and 29 (reactivation of colitis). SSR140333 (10 mg/kg) was administered orally starting from
the day before the induction of colitis for 7 days (acute colitis) or seven days before the
reactivation of colitis. Colonic damage was assessed by means of macroscopic and
microscopic scores, myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and TNF-α tissue levels. Enzyme
immunoassay was used to measure colonic substance P levels. Statistical analysis was
performed using analysis of variance (one-way or two-way, as appropriate) with the
Bonferroni's correction for multiple comparisons.
Results: DNBS administration impaired body weight gain and markedly increased all
inflammatory parameters (p<0.01). Treatment with SSR140333 10 mg/kg significantly
counteracted the impairment in body weight gain, decreased macroscopic and histological
scores and reduced colonic myeloperoxidase activity (p<0.01). Drug treatment counteracted
TNF-α tissue levels and colonic SP concentrations (acute model). Similar results were
obtained administering the NK1 receptor antagonist SSR140333 (3 and 10 mg/kg) for 5 days,
starting the day after the induction of colitis. Intrarectal administration of DNBS four weeks
after the first DNBS administration resulted in reactivation of colitis, with increases in
macroscopic and histological damage scores and increase in MPO activity. Preventive
treatment with SSR140333 10 mg/kg decreased macroscopic damage score, significantly
reduced microscopic damage score but did not affect MPO activity.
Conclusions: Treatment with SSR140333 significantly reduced intestinal damage in acute
model of intestinal inflammation in rats. The NK1 receptor antagonist SSR140333 was also
able to prevent relapse in experimental colitis. These results support the hypothesis of SP
involvement in intestinal inflammation and indicate that NK receptor antagonists may have a
therapeutic potential in inflammatory bowel disease.


Abstract Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist DEA is applied to estimate the monthly technical and scale efficiency as well as the causes for efficiency change for the four largest banks in South Africa over a period of 36 months. Bank B appears to be the most technically efficient bank followed by Bank C, Bank A and Bank D, in this order. Bank B, Bank C and Bank A operated mainly in the region of increasing return to scale, implying that they were operating at a scale that is too small. Bank D operated mainly in the region of decreasing return to scale, implying that it was operating at a scale that is too large. From an input-orientated perspective, all four banks could reduce their inputs without reducing their outputs.


In "The Varied Economic Returns to Postsecondary Education: New Evidence from the Class of 1972", an article recently published in the Journal of Human Resources (Volume 28, no. 2, pp. 365-382), Norton Grubb reaches two main conclusions: (1) students who enroll in two-year colleges without completing degrees earn no more than comparable high school graduates; and (2) degrees from two-year colleges and vocational and technical institutes only indirectly lead to higher earnings by providing students with access to jobs in which they can accumulate experience and on-the-job training (i.e., access to "careers" instead of "jobs"). Given that roughly half of those entering college today do so at community colleges and that roughly a fifth of federal Pell Grant subsidies are spent at these institutions, such results are quite provocative. However, in this comment we show that several of the variables used in Grub's paper are severely mismeasured and that, when they are corrected with reasonable alternatives, his conclusions no longer receive empirical support. On the contrary, even those who enter but fail to complete degrees at community colleges do seem to earn significantly more than similar high school graduates. Further, controlling for work experience has relatively little effect on the estimated returns.


Starting with the correspondence between positive definite kernels on the one hand and reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs) on the other, we turn to a detailed analysis of associated measures and Gaussian processes. Point of departure: Every positive definite kernel is also the covariance kernel of a Gaussian process.
Given a fixed sigma-finite measure $\mu$, we consider positive definite kernels defined on the subset of the sigma algebra having finite $\mu$ measure. We show that then the corresponding Hilbert factorizations consist of signed measures, finitely additive, but not automatically sigma-additive. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for when the measures in the RKHS, and the Hilbert factorizations, are sigma-additive. Our emphasis is the case when $\mu$ is assumed non-atomic. By contrast, when $\mu$ is known to be atomic, our setting is shown to generalize that of Shannon-interpolation. Our RKHS-approach further leads to new insight into the associated Gaussian processes, their Ito calculus and diffusion. Examples include fractional Brownian motion, and time-change processes.


In the current context of sustainable development, industrial process development should no longer only take economic goals into account. Environmental criteria should be considered as well. Therefore, multi-objective optimisations should be carried out. A techno-economic model of steam methane reforming was implemented through the use of genetic algorithms. Different criteria can be then simultaneously considered. The optimisation result represents one objective versus the other: the hydrogen production cost and the carbon dioxide emissions of the process. This allows making compromises between the objectives. These compromises can be led either by regulations or by an overcost linked to taxes, for example.


This paper presents an accurate performance metric for estimating annual energy use of clothes dryers based on multiple laboratory and field testing studies completed in the Pacific Northwest and California. The work verifies that heat pump and hybrid heat pump dryers offer a significant savings opportunity, ranging from 300 to 600 kWh/yr (30% to 60%) relative to nonENERGY STAR electric resistance dryers. Additionally, on average, electric resistance ENERGY STAR dryers use approximately 100 kWh/yr less than non-ENERGY STAR dryers. The authors have found that current federal performance metrics for residential clothes dryers are unreliable indicators of dryer energy use when subject to typical residential usage. The test procedures do not reflect the range of typical clothing types, load sizes, or dryer settings. Pacific Northwest field and laboratory data provided researchers with an understanding of how dryer energy performance is influenced by cycle settings, load sizes, and realistic clothing. This understanding was used to develop an energy consumption metric that reflects realistic dryer usage based on testing with real clothing under a variety of cycle settings and load sizes. The improved energy consumption metric was calibrated to align with four field studies. The resulting metric and typical household savings have been vetted by the Northwest region's conservation savings estimation body. The authors conducted market research to determine the current market baseline and to evaluate savings from ENERGY STAR electric resistance dryers, hybrid heat pump dryers, and heat pump dryers relative to this baseline.


Considering the rapid changes in society and leisure services, it is essential for leisure managers to gain new insights into employee motivation. Motivation is viewed by many as an integral part of the management process and a basis for increased productivity. Employees of public, private/commercial, nonprofit and Armed Forces leisure service organizations were surveyed to determine: (1) the work motivators of each leisure service sector, and (2) the differences and similarities between the four service sectors concerning attitudes toward the motivational factors using Herzberg's two-factor motivation/hygiene theory. The groups differed significantly with respect to the rankings of the motivation items. Given the findings that the four groups significantly differed on 10 out of the 16 motivation statements, it could be suggested that work situations, promotions, and management systems differ by leisure service sector. Interestingly, this study is not consistent with other studies using the instrument.


Decreased cerebral blood supply, which is associated with dementia, results in chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH), a physiopathological mechanism of neural dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. Eurycoma longifolia (EL) Jack has been documented to have multiple biological activities. The current study aimed to determine the potential effect of EL root extracts in CCH using a 2-vessel occlusion (2VO) model. CCH was induced by a permanent bilateral ligation of the common carotid arteries in male Sprague–Dawley rats. The experimental groups were divided as follows: a sham-operated group, a 2VO group without any treatment, and a 2VO group that was orally administered EL extract (100 mg/kg/day) for 3 days before the day of 2VO surgery and continued until the end of postoperative week 8. Spatial memory performance was assessed by the Morris water maze test. Moreover, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and superoxide dismutase activity, glutathione level, and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration in serum were measured. CCH rats showed significant cognitive impairment, decreased antioxidant activities, and increased MDA and CRP concentration in serum. The group that was orally administered EL extract showed a slight preservation of cognitive function, enhanced antioxidant activity, decreased MDA and CRP concentration than did the untreated 2VO group. EL offers potential neuroprotective effects due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.


The 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake ( M w = 7.6) was the largest thrust-type earthquake that occurred in Taiwan in the twentieth century. Following the event, large horizontal and vertical coseismic displacements were observed at GPS stations near the fault region. The observed maximum horizontal displacement, uplift, and subsidence were 9.1, 4.0, and 0.7 m, respectively. In order to estimate coseismic slip distribution, geodetic data inversion was carried out based on the GPS displacement data. Total numbers of horizontal and vertical data used here are both 118. Taking the shape of the surface rupture, aftershock distribution, and centroid moment tensor solutions into account, a gently curved fault plane with a fault size of = 70 km × 50 km, a dip angle of 31°, and strike of N9°E was constructed. The results show that the amount of average slip is 5.1 m, and the average slip direction is N55°W on the fault plane. Seismic moment estimated from the geodetic data inversion is 5.4 × 1020 N m. The amount of slip gradually increases toward the northwest on the fault plane, reaching 13.8 m. The spatial distribution of the coseismic slip is consistent with that estimated from inversion analysis of teleseismic and near-source strong-motion data, whereas the amount of slip of the former is larger than that of the latter. This may suggest that slow, large afterslips occurred on the northwestern part on the fault plane within one month of the event, and/or the fault dip adopted in this study was larger than the actual dip, indicating disagreement of coseismic fault plane with one of the nodal planes estimated from the CMT solutions and the aftershock distribution.

Manuscript received 31 July 2000.


The optimization of the gas atomization for particle size control and optimal energy efficiency cannot be achieved simply, due to the lack of understanding of the basic atomization process. A numerical analysis is performed in order to optimize the manufacturing process and to understand the behavior of the gas at the end of the nozzle. In this study, the gas flow is analyzed numerically using a computational fluid dynamics software package (Fluent). It is found that a protrusion length of 3 mm is optimal for nozzles with a quick gas velocity and stable aspiration pressure. In addition, the impact on the air gap size is also investigated.


Objective. Report the prevalence and risk factors of liver metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) while evaluating the utility of liver function tests (LFTs) in detection of such metastases. Study Design. Case series with chart review. Setting. Tertiary referral center. Subjects and Methods. Of 745 patients with newly diagnosed HNSCC (oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx) treated at University of North Carolina hospitals from 1989 to 2005, 655 had sufficient data for analysis. Results. Prevalence of liver metastasis was 3% (20/655) with 7 patients demonstrating early metastasis and 12 with late metastasis. Oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal lesions constituted 65% of identified liver metastasis but only 39% of the study population. Patients with oropharyngeal lesions were most likely to develop liver metastasis (P = .047). Abnormal LFTs were seen in 26% of all patients. Overall sensitivity and specificity were 45% and 75%. Seventy-five percent of patients with liver metastasis had stage IV disease at diagnosis and were more likely to have abnormal LFTs than other stages (P = .048). In these patients, 2.2% (8/365) had liver metastases and abnormal LFTs, whereas 1.9% (7/365) had liver metastases and normal LFTs. Sensitivity for alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. Specificities ranged from 88.0% to 94.3%. Positive predictive values were poor, with the highest being 10.5%. Conclusions. Liver metastases are rare in HNSCC and often delayed in presentation. This study clearly reveals that LFTs do not reliably identify patients with liver metastasis and do not provide physicians with an adequate screening modality in this population.


A 57-year-old woman was admitted with swelling of the femur. MRI showed that an intramedullary lesion had expanded from the trunk to the distal portion where it had formed an extramedullary tumor mass. An open biopsy showed diffuse proliferation of abnormal lymphoid cells. Immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometry demonstrated LCA+, CD3-, CD23-, CD79a+, CD5+, IgM+, IgD- and kappa + and cyclin D1-. FISH analysis did not detect t(11;14)(q13;q32). The final diagnosis was de novo CD5+ diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL) of the bone at clinical stage IEA. The patient suffered a pathological fracture in the femur after two courses of CHOP. The therapy was changed to ESHAP and irradiation. The result was assessed as a complete remission (CR). One month later, the patient presented with epigastric pain. MRI showed the tumor at the spleen and kidney and hydronephrosis due to pelvic lymphadenopathy, but did not show a tumor in the femur. An open biopsy of the pelvic lymph node showed relapse. The tumor and hydronephrosis disappeared and necrosis in the kidney was observed on MRI after ESHAP. De novo CD5+ DLBL appears to constitute a unique subset of DLBL with an aggressive clinical course and requires established therapeutic strategies.


This paper deals with graph theory application in large-scale geographical data searching and visualization. We present a comparison of two path-finding algorithms of graph theory, i.e. blind-search and A* algorithm, that results into the selection of the second one for implementation within a geographical information system. The main goal is to process the terrain map representation in the form of a graph during route-searching between start and target positions, and during the visualization and animation of the results of this search. We show the implementation results on random city map and on real three-dimensional model of our university campus. Finally, we discuss further directions of current work.