The amount of formaldehyde removal was assessed according to various light intensity, and correlations between formaldehyde removal and photosynthesis factors were determined by potted Fatsia japonica and Epipremnum aureum. The amount of formaldehyde removal by potted F. japonica and E. aureum did not significantly increase with light intensity, whereas it had considerable differences between the light and the dark (0 μ㏖·m -2 ·s -1 ). The amount of formaldehyde removal by F. japonica and E. aureum was positively correlated with photosynthesis rate, but negatively correlated with intercellular CO₂ at 2 and 5 h after exposure. In addition, photosynthesis rate tended to decrease with time at high light intensity, which was attributable to the reduction of CO2 concentration in a chamber. Stomatal conductance and transpiration rate increased with light intensity during exposure of gaseous formaldehyde in a chamber, whereas intercellular CO₂ decreased. As a result, we considered that formaldehyde removal by potted plants was little affected by indoor light intensity (20-60 μ㏖·m -2 ·s -1 ).


INTRODUCTION: Radiotherapy (RT) is used across multiple cancer types in a number of clinical settings. The primary mechanism of action is thought to be through irreversible damage to tumor cell or associated stromal DNA, but there is an increasing body of evidence that irradiation also mobilizes tumor-specific immunity. Recent advances in RT with stereotactic and image-guided micro-irradiation (IGMI) have resulted in an increase in tumor specific targeting with a corresponding reduction in associated side-effects. The resultant use of high-dose, reduced fraction dosing regimens (hypofractionation) has resulted in improved clinical response. However, IGMI in the preclinical setting is less common and typically studies utilize whole body irradiation with lead shielding or simple single beam techniques to focus the radiation. Here we report the application of high-dose, low fraction IGMI to demonstrate an additive combination outcome of radiotherapy and immunotherapy and an abscopal effect in a preclinical model. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES: CT26 mouse colon and bioluminescent 4T1 mammary carcinoma cells were implanted subcutaneously into BALB/c mice. Subcutaneous tumor growth was monitored by caliper measurement and bioluminescent imaging (BLI) was carried out to confirm metastatic 4T1 lung tumors. Tumors (∼100-200mm3) were treated with hypofractionated IGMI, anti-CTLA4 therapy or a combination of both. For IGMI, mice were anaesthetized and CBCT images were acquired using the small animal research platform (SARRP; Xstrahl Ltd). Fractionated irradiation (5 × 6Gy) was administered to the isocenter of the tumor using a multi beam approach to spare the surrounding tissue. Bodyweight and clinical signs were monitored daily. At termination the primary and metastatic lung (4T1) tumors were collected and assessed for immune cell infiltration by FACs. RESULTS: Response to the hypofractionated IGMI regimen and anti-CTLA4 either alone or in combination was well tolerated with no adverse effects or significant body weight-loss. Monotherapy with anti-CTLA4 exerted no statistically significant effect on primary or metastatic (4T1) tumor growth and treatment with RT resulted in a modest primary tumor growth inhibition (TGI; 40%). When the two treatments were combined, TGI increased (60%) which was statistically significant compared to RT monotherapy, indicating an additive effect. Additionally, there was a decrease in normalized lung cell counts following combination treatment (4T1) indicating an abscopal response on the lung metastases. This decrease in lung tumor burden corresponded to an increase in both the CD8+ T-cells and the ratio of Teff:Treg in the lung samples. CONCLUSIONS: Hypofractionated IGMI when combined with anti-CTLA4 treatment had minimal side effects and showed statistically significant additive reduction in primary tumor growth. Furthermore, combination treatment resulted in a reduced metastatic lung burden indicating an abscopal effect that appears to be driven by an increase in CD8+ T-cells. The SARRP platform enables clinically relevant radiotherapy regimens to preclinical models facilitating improved evaluation of combinations strategies with immunotherapeutics and progression to the clinic. Citation Format: Andrew Mckenzie, Nektaria Papadopoulou, Yinfei Yin, Shonna Glenn, Russell Garland, Neil Williams, Qian Shi, Rajendra Kumari. The application of high-dose low fraction image-guided irradiation (IGMI) in combination with anti-CTLA4 immunotherapy results in an additive inhibition of tumor growth in syngeneic tumor models. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr LB-B13.


This study assesses the practical limitations of using the multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) method for detecting subsurface anomalies. The sensitivity of MASW dispersion data to the presence of subsurface anomalies is examined through various two-dimensional (plane-strain) finite-difference elastic wave-propagation simulations. These simulations were performed on models with anomalies of varying size, stiffness, and depth. The misfit between the dispersion data from a model with an anomaly (treatment model) and the same model without an anomaly (control model) were compared as a quantitative means of discerning if the anomaly was reliably detectable (i.e., outside the bounds of common dispersion data uncertainty). The ability of MASW to detect an anomaly of a given size, stiffness, and depth is summarized in normalized figures, which are intended as a feasability tool for those seeking to use MASW for anomaly detection.


Nickel based superalloy?always considered as very difficult to machine materials due to their ability to retain high level of strength at elevated temperatures. In this work three different grades of cemented carbide tools with different geometries were used to machine nickel base, 718, superalloy in order to compare their individual performances and also to determine the optimum cutting conditions. Three cutting speeds have been used for each tool with fixed feed rate during the machining. The temperature dependence of the micro-hardness of the WC materials was investigated from room temperature up to 1 0 0 0 ~ ~ . The hot hardness results are correlated with the deformation mechanisms and micro-structural properties of the WC insert which control the response of the tool materials in service conditions. Superalloys 718, 625, 706 and Various Derivatives Edited by E.A. Loria TMS (The ~Minerals, Metals 8: Materials Society), 200


We have developed an optimization algorithm based formulation for performing efficient time driven simultaneous place and route for FPGAs. Field programmable gate array (FPGAs) provide of drastically reducing the turn-around time for digital ICs, with a relatively small degradation in performance. For a variety of application specific integrated circuit application, where time-to-market is most critical and the performance requirement do not mandate a custom or semicustom approach, FPGAs are an increasingly popular alternative. This has prompted a substantial amount of specialized synthesis and layout research focused on maximizing density, minimizing delay, and minimizing design time.


Nickel-zinc battery technology is being developed for commercial applications requiring high energy density and high power capability. Current development cells have demonstrated the ability to deliver over 60 Wh per kilogram at the one hour rate and more than 450 W per kilogram at the 12C rate. Cycle life has been improved to more than 600 cycles at 80% depth of discharge by using a patented, reduced solubility zinc electrode and an improved sealed cell design. More than 7000 charge/discharge cycles at 10% depth-of-discharge have been completed. Large quantities of sealed prismatic cells have been manufactured, including a 220 V battery for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).


The influence of shot peening and corrosion on the fatigue behaviour of the magnesium die cast alloy AZ91 hp is studied. Investigations on as-cast fatigue specimens show that the endurance limit is significantly reduced by the presence of pores in the near surface region. This effect can be drastically reduced by shot peening, improving the endurance limit of porous material by about 100%. The fatigue behavior of a dense material can also be improved by shot peening, but the effect is rather small (in the order of 20 %). Fatigue experiments under corrosive conditions underline one of the main disadvantages of magnesium alloys, i.e. their pronounced sensitivity to contact corrosion. Iron contamination from steel shot drastically accelerates corrosion. After 3 h in a 5% NaCl solution, con'osion attack is comparable to that observed for polished surfaces after one week. As a consequence of the accelerated corrosion, shot peening with steel shot leads to a strong deterioration of the fatigue behavior, showing clearly the need for nonferrous shot or a careful cleaning of the shot peened surface.


Mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) is a transcriptional co-activator that plays an essential role in early development and hematopoiesis. MLL H3K4 methyltransferase activity mediates chromatin remodeling associated with epigenetic regulation of transcription activation. Multiple chromosomal translocations of MLL gene lead to its fusion to numerous partner genes and production of chimeric proteins, which are enrolled in progression of similar phenotypes of leukemia [5]. However, protein interaction models of different MLL fusions are still debated. To assess the pattern of protein interactions of MLL chimeras, we have performed protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis for two MLL fusion proteins, MLL-FEL - t(4;11)(q21;q23) and MLL-AFF4 - ins(5;11)(q31;q13q23), which are involved in acute leukemia progression [2]. Protein interaction data was extracted from data mining software GPS-Prot v. 2.0 [4]. PPI network visualization and network parameters evaluation were performed using Cytoscape v. 2.8 [7]. Cluster analysis was made by MCODE plug-in. The statistical significance of cluster extraction was assessed as described [3]. Comparative experimental interaction data taken from previously published papers were manually discarded from our analysis. Our results show that each of the components of studied fusion proteins in native form compose highly interconnected distinct regions. MLL PPI network analysis reveals a clique cluster with cluster density equal to 1, indicating that MLL interacters are united in protein macromolecular complex, which is in a good accordance with previously published experimental data [6]. Worth of mention, that FEL and AFF4 proteins form the same clique clusters, which also is in a good congruence with experimentally obtained data [1]. Therefore, we assume that the MLL-AFF4 and MLL-FEL fusion proteins generate the identical PPI network, which underlie the manifestation of similar malignancy. Further corroboration of this result will confirm the assumption that different fusions can bring to the same disease network, which could possibly has its impact in leukemia therapeutical approaches. To obtain more detailed pattern of protein interactions of MLL-caused leukemias further network analysis is required.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):C213.

Citation Format: Grant Henry Hovhannisyan, Ashot Vardan Marqaryan. Protein interaction analysis of mll-aff4 and mll-fel oncogenic fusion proteins using data mining approach. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr C213.


This paper proposes the GSPN method to model auto product warranty service process to analyze its performance. On that basis, the GSPN model is developed and converted to Markov Chain for the GSPN is isomorphic with Markov Chain. With Markov Chain and corresponding mathematics method we obtain the main performance indexes of the process. The bottlenecks of the process are identified to provide the basis for the design, plan and evaluation of the auto product warranty service process.


The article explores whether the idea of a nexus between research and teaching is still influential, what meanings are attached to it and within what concepts of higher education. It draws on research into the perceptions of two groups of actors, academics and students, and some recent scholarly analyses of the issues. It argues that the idea of the nexus is still important to academics and a range of students. It is embedded in a world in which academic definitions of knowledge and higher education remain largely dominant. The recent writings examined are attempts to tighten the conceptual connections between teaching and research ...


Sol-gel mineralization has been used and evaluated as a tool for morphological studies on Picea abies and Betula verrucosa. Wood specimens and a pulped spruce sample were impregnated with a silica sol-gel and subsequently heated (calcined) to condense the surfactant-templated polysilicic acid into structured mesoporous silica. During this calcination process, the wood substance and the surfactant were removed and a silica-cast replica of the sample was obtained. The sol-gel mineralization method produced replicas that were studied by environmental scanning and transmission electron microscopy (ESEM, TEM) without additional sample preparation. The calcination induced some shrinkage above the fiber level, but the ultrastructural dimensions were not discernibly affected. The silica-cast replica method may therefore be a useful tool for studies of the wood ultrastructure, including the cell-wall pore structure (microcavities), down to the nanometer level.


Emotional labour (EL) refers to mechanisms employees use to adjust their outward expression of emotion, during customer-employee exchanges, and in order to meet organisational expectations. Consistent with guidelines for demonstrating the psychometric properties of a construct, it is important to measure the reliability and validity of such instruments to determine their usefulness for future research. To date, no research known to the current researchers has validated the commonlyused EL scale through a cross-validation procedure. The results of this study provide support for a two-factor model of EL, with dimensions of surface and deep acting, which is invariant across the two samples of nurses. This research confirms the generalisability and usefulness of this scale in measuring EL in the workplace.


The relationship between emotions and learning was investigated by tracking the emotions that college students experienced while learning about computer literacy with AutoTutor. AutoTutor is an animated pedagogical agent that holds a conversation in natural language, with spoken contributions by the learner. Thirty students completed a multiple-choice pre-test, a 35-minute training session, and a multiple-choice post-test. The students reviewed the tutorial interaction and were stopped at strategically sampled points for emotion judgments. They judged what emotions they experienced on the basis of the dialogue history and their facial expressions. The emotions they judged were boredom, flow (engagement), frustration, confusion, delight, surprise, and neutral. A multiple regression analysis revealed that post-test scores were significantly predicted by pre-test scores and confusion, but not by any of the other emotions.


textabstractIn The Netherlands. head and neck cancer (3.9%) ranks the eighth most frequemly diagnoscd
malignant tumor. Radiation therapy (IIT) plays an important role in the treatmem of
patients with head and neck cancer, as they constitute approximately 6% of those treated in
a routine radiation therapy department. Radiation therapy can be used as a single treatment
modality. but is also often combined with surgery and/or chemotherapy ( chemoradiation)
in multimodaliry treatment protocols. Radiation therapy and (concurrent) chemotherapy
play an important role in organ preservation protocols. The effect of ionizing radiation is
unfortunately not limited to the malignant cells: it also affeers normal surrounding tissues
which can lead to acute and late normal tissue complications. The head and neck region harbors
organs ancl strucrures essential for basic functions, such as swallowing, speech and respiration.
Preservation of quality of life (QOL) in conjunction with cure. i.e. complication-free
survival. has become a key-issue in cancer treatment. ln radiation oncology the rapid
technological development in linear accelerators and treatment planning systems (TPS)
have significantly increased the accuracy and applicability of high doses of radiation. Highclose.
high-precision RT has come with.in reach for many patients. This so called 3D conformal
radiation therapy (3DCIIT) enables one to conform the dose distribution to the target
volume (rumor) and therewith a better sparing (avoidance) of the surrounding normal
structures is achieved.
In this thesis the capabilities of 3DCIIT for sparing normal tissue structures, such as the
major salivary glands. are explored. Also examples of dose-escalation wimout increased toxicity
are presented. Moreover. the merit of other preventative measures to limit acute normal
tissue complications. such as the use of antibiotics to eliminate severe mucositis. is
reported.


MOSIX is a cluster management system that provides users and applications with a single-system image [1]. In a MOSIX cluster, users can run multiple processes by allowing MOSIX to seek resources and automatically allocate (and migrate) processes among nodes, without changing the interface and the run-time environment of their respective login nodes. As a result, users need not change or link applications with any special library, they need not modify applications, login or copy files to remote nodes or even know where their programs run. Originally, MOSIX distributions for Linux-2.2 and Linux2.4 were designed to manage a single cluster [4]. Starting from Linux-2.6, MOSIX was extended with a comprehensive set of features for managing clusters, multi-clusters, e.g., among different groups in an organization [6] and clouds. Owners of clusters can, for example, share their resources from time to time, while still preserving their right to disconnect their clusters at any time, doing so without sacrificing running guest processes from other clusters. The latest distribution is MOSIX release 4 (MOSIX-4). MOSIX supports both interactive processes and batch jobs. It incorporates dynamic resource discovery and automatic workload distribution. The resource discovery algorithm provides each node with the latest information about resource availability and the state of other nodes. Based on this information and subject to priorities, the process migration algorithms can initiate reallocation of processes among nodes, e.g., for load-balancing, or to move processes from a disconnecting cluster. In a MOSIX multi-cluster private cloud, assigning priorities ensures that local processes and processes with a higher


The dynamics of nanosized colloidal particles dispersed in a hyper-swollen lyotropic lamellar phase of a nonionic surfactant has been studied by ac electrophoretic light scattering and direct tracking of particles under a microscope. The frequency spectrum of electrophoretic mobility shows two relaxation processes. These are originated from the hindrance of free diffusion of particles by the interaction between membranes and particles. By direct tracking measurement, we find that particles jump from site to site where they stay for a long time. This trap-jump process greatly decreases the mobility at low frequencies.


It takes many years to recover the initial investment cost for installing housing insulation through savings from energy reduction (Energy Benefit: EB), since construction cost is very high in Japan. This long payback time is the major barrier to the promotion of well-insulated houses. However, it has been found that if Non-Energy Benefits (NEB) of well insulated houses, such as improvement in personal health, reduction of medical expenses and decline in absences from work are all taken into account, the time required to recover the initial investment cost would change from 29 to 16 years. Therefore recognition of NEB is expected to encourage residents to invest in residential thermal insulation. NEB of well-insulated houses is thus evaluated regarding human health in this study.


Epoxy nanocomposites prepared by casting epoxy reinforced with silica flour and stiff spherical alumina nanoparticles were investigated for its electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties as well as morphological behavior and the role of interfacial interaction between nanoparticles and the matrix on these properties. It was observed that the dielectric breakdown of the cast epoxy system is affected by interfacial interaction between nanoparticles and epoxy chains at room temperature. However, dielectric strength significantly changes at different temperatures. Also, it was realized that the interaction between nanoalumina and epoxy chains dominate the mechanical properties of the system such as tensile and flexural strength. However, thermal properties of the nanocomposite were mainly affected by the matrix and the degree of crosslink density between chains.


Creating agile and responsive characters from a collection of unorganized human motion has been an important problem of constructing interactive virtual environments. Recently, learning-based approaches have successfully been exploited to learn deep network policies for the control of interactive characters. The agility and responsiveness of deep network policies are influenced by many factors, such as the composition of training datasets, the architecture of network models, and learning algorithms that involve many threshold values, weights, and hyper-parameters. In this paper, we present a novel teacher-student framework to learn time-critically responsive policies, which guarantee the time-to-completion between user inputs and their associated responses regardless of the size and composition of the motion databases. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with interactive characters that can respond to the user's control quickly while performing agile, highly dynamic movements.


Because the proportion of postmenopausal women receiving hormone replacement therapy is increasing, the relationship between oestrogens replacement therapy and breast cancer risk has important implications. Epidemiologic evidence of this relationship remains controversial. The available data highlight: a significant relative risk of breast cancer 1) after at least 15 years of oestrogen use, and 2) in women with a family history of breast cancer or a personal history of benign breast disease. Most of these studies examine the association between breast cancer risk and equin conjugated oestrogen administered alone. In France, natural oestrogens are usually given associated with progestins. The consequences of oestrogen and progestin combinations on the risk of breast cancer need to be further evaluated.


Injuries in physical training activities can be prevented by analyzing the causes and mechanisms of the origin of trauma. An analysis of statistical reports on injuries occurring in organized physical training in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic showed that the injuries were primarily caused by another person, and, further, by the condition of the training ground. In case of women and children, this order was reversed. With regard to prevention, this finding should lead to purposeful education, exercising a positive influence on the participants of sports activities and, also, to the provision of adequate sports grounds and footwear. As regards the injury mechanisms, involuntary falls prevail. Even in this case, preventive measures can be taken by methods training the fall. The analysis is completed with a diagnostic evaluation and with the localization of injuries. Articular injuries, particularly those in the lower extremities, appear to be the most frequent diagnosis.


Summary Platelet aggregation is frequently impaired in myeloproliferative disorders (MPD). The presence of spontaneous platelet aggregation (SPA) or alterations of the aggregation pattern after ADP, epinephrine and collagen have been a frequent feature in the series of 52 patients here presented. The occurrence of SPA was not related to the findings obtained with the aggregating agents or to the number of circulating platelets. The aggregation results did not correlate with the number of megathrombocytes. The presence of platelet abnormalities, not completely corrected after busulfan therapy, and the increased size of platelets should aid in diagnosis of myeloproliferative disorders.


Misogynist incels have been at the fore of academic, professional and mainstream discussions in recent years. Drawing on a systematic review of 47 studies, as well as my own experience with researching current misogynist and exit-curious incels, this paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary incel-focused literature. It summarises and critiques the foundational knowledge that underpins our understanding of the current incel community, conceptualised into themes of incels as oppressors, incels as oppressed and incels as threat. Importantly, this paper interrogates the usefulness of our working definition of the term 'incel', calling for greater specificity in the language we use to define, theorise and explain the subsets of the incel community under study. In line with a call for more precise language in empirical works, I explore several areas for future research that will help broaden our understanding of the complexities and contradictions within the broader incelosphere.


BACKGROUND
Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients develop various extracolonic lesions; however, the relationship between germline mutation of the APC gene and extracolonic manifestations is mostly unknown. To examine the genotype-phenotype relationship, we compared the APC mutation and clinical data.

METHODS
Germline mutations from codon 157 to 1465 of the APC gene were identified in 39 families of FAP and clinical data were collected from 80 patients of these families. Germline mutations were classified into two groups: mutations from exon 4 to 9 (codon 157 to 416, Group 1) and those from exon 10 to 15H (codon 564 to 1465, Group 2). The complication rates of extracolonic manifestations were compared between these two groups.

RESULTS
Frequencies of duodenal polyps and gastric adenomas in Group 2 were higher than those in Group 1 (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0004, respectively) and development of osteoma was more frequent in Group 2 (p = 0.01). The number of colorectal polyps and retinal pigments also correlated with the germline mutation, which was consistent with previous reports. However, such correlations were less obvious with regard to gastric fundic polyps, desmoid tumors, soft tissue tumors and colorectal cancer.

CONCLUSION
There are two types with regard to extracolonic manifestations of FAP: one is more severely affected according to the position of germline mutation of the APC gene and the other is not affected.


The first total syntheses of the natural products pyrophen and campyrones A-C, isolated from the fungus Aspergillus niger, have been achieved in six steps starting from commercially available N-Boc amino acids. Key steps in this sequence include a vinylogous Claisen condensation to achieve fragment coupling and a dioxinone thermolysis/cyclization cascade to form the α-pyrone ring. The route described herein afforded the natural products in 15-25% overall yield, furnishing sufficient material for testing in biological assays.


As the use of sensors is wide spread, the need to develop intelligent sensors that can automatically carry out calibration, compensate for the nonlinearity and mitigate the undesirable influence of the environmental parameters, is obvious. Smart sensing is needed for accurate and reliable readout of the measurand, especially when the sensor is operating in harsh environments. Here, we propose a novel computationally-efficient functional link neural network (FLNN) that effectively linearizes the response characteristics, compensates for the nonidealities, and calibrates automatically. With an example of a capacitive pressure sensor and through extensive simulation studies, we have shown that the performance of the FLNN-based sensor model is similar to that of a multilayer perceptron (MLP)-based model although the former has much lower computational requirement. The FLNN model is capable of producing linearized readout of the applied pressure with a full-scale error of only ±1.0% over a wide operating range of −50 to 200 0 C. Copyright © 2008 IFSA.


One case of scrotal necrosis during acute necro-haemorrhagic pancreatitis. A histological study of the resected tissue demonstrated presence of fatty digestion caused by the pancreatic fluid. Discussion of the etiological possibilities, including a review of the relevant literature.


The present study was designed to determine if endogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) affects the process of nitrate tolerance development in blood vessels. Rat aortic rings were suspended in organ chambers and relaxations to nitroglycerin (10−9-10−6 M) were obtained in nitrate tolerant and nontolerant rings contracted with norepinephrine (10−7 M). Tolerance was induced by incubating the rings with (tolerant) or without (nontolerant) nitroglycerin (10−4 M) for 90 minutes, followed by repeated rinsing for 1 hour. Some rings were treated with CGRP8-37 (10−6 M), glyburide (10−6 M), or iberiotoxin (10−7 M) during the 90-minute desensitization period with nitroglycerin (10−4 M), and were then washed out during the 1-hour rinsing period. Other rings were treated with capsaicin (10−5 M) prior to the 90-minute desensitization period. Calcitonin gene-related peptide release was measured by radioimmunoassay. Relaxation to nitroglycerin was markedly reduced in tolerant rings, as compared with nontolerant. Incubation with CGRP8-37 (10−6 M) specifically during the 90-minute desensitization period with nitroglycerin resulted in even greater impairment in the response to nitroglycerin in tolerant rings, even though the calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonist had been washed out before completion of the nitroglycerin dose-response curve. Similar results were obtained following depletion of calcitonin gene-related peptide stores in sensory nerves by treatment with capsaicin (10−5 M) prior to the 90-minute desensitization period with nitroglycerin. Prior treatment with CGRP8-37 or capsaicin had no effect on the response to nitroglycerin in nontolerant rings. Incubation with glyburide (10−6 M), but not iberiotoxin (10−7 M), specifically during the 90-minute desensitization period, mimicked the effect of CGRP8-37 and capsaicin in tolerant rings, suggesting a role for KATP channels in the effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide. Nitroglycerin (10−4 M) caused a greater than twofold increase over basal levels in calcitonin gene-related peptide release in nontolerant rings, which was abolished in rings treated with capsaicin and in nitrate tolerant rings. These results suggest that nitroglycerin releases calcitonin gene-related peptide from sensory nerves during the process of desensitization to nitrovasodilators, and that interference with either the release or action of endogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide during this period enhances the extent to which nitrate tolerance occurs. The finding that nitroglycerin-induced release of calcitonin gene-related peptide from sensory nerves attenuates the desensitizing effect of nitroglycerin represents a heretofore unknown event in the development of nitrate tolerance, and demonstrates a novel role for calcitonin gene-related peptide in the vasculature.


Background/Aim: Sorafenib is standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hand–foot skin reaction (HFSR) is a notorious side-effect of this therapy. This study evaluated prophylactic benefits of an oral nutritional supplement (ONS) on sorafenib-associated HFSR in advanced HCC. Patients and Methods: This was a prospective, single-center, open-label trial arm using combined ONS and sorafenib in patients with unresectable HCC from August 2014 to February 2018. Control patients received sorafenib without ONS from 2011 to 2014. From September 2014, prophylactic ONS containing β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB), L-arginine, and L-glutamine was given. Sorafenib dosage was 400 mg/day for both groups. Results: Each group comprised 22 men and three women. Age, sex, Child-Pugh score, and clinical stage excluding IV-B did not significantly differ between the groups. HFSR occurred after 2 weeks: 15/25 patients in the control group (60%; HFSR grade 1: 6, grade 2: 7, grade 3: 2) vs. 8/25 in the ONS group (32%; HFSR grade 1: 4, grade 2: 4, grade 3: 0; p=0.047, Pearson's Chi-square test). Conclusion: Prophylactic HMB, L-arginine and L-glutamine supplementation effectively prevented sorafenib-associated HFSR in patients with advanced HCC.


Studies on electron antineutrino-electron elastic scattering were performed using a 200-kg CsI(Tl) scintillating crystal detector array at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan. The measured cross section of R(exp) = [1.00 +- 0.32(stat)]xR(SM) is consistent with the Standard Model expectation and the corresponding weak mixing angle derived is sin2T = 0.24 +- 0.05 (stat). The results are consistent with a destructive interference effect between neutral and charged-currents in this process. Limits on neutrino magnetic moment of mu(nu_(e)) < 2.0 x 10^(-10) mu_(B) at 90% confidence level and on electron antineutrino charge radius of r^(2) < (0.12 +- 2.07)x10^(-32) cm^2 were also derived.


Inverted pendulum control is a benchmark control problem that researchers have used to test the new control strategies over the past 50 years. Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm is used recently on the inverted pendulum on a straightforward form. The inverted pendulum had only one degree of freedom and was moving on a plane. This paper demonstrates a successful implementation of a deep reinforcement learning algorithm on an inverted pendulum that rotates freely on a spherical joint with an industrial 6 degrees freedom robot arm. This research used the Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm in Robot Operating System (ROS) and Gazebo Simulation. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieved promising outputs and reaches the control objectives. We were able to control the inverted pendulum upward for 30 and 20 seconds in two case studies. Two other significant novelties in this research are using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) on the tip of the pendulum, that will facilitate implementation on the real robot for future work and different reward functions in comparing to past publications that enable continuous learning and mastering control in a vertical position


Background. Cold ischemia and reperfusion during renal transplantation result in release of reactive oxygen species. The aim of this study is to examine whether cold storage induced cell injury can be ameliorated by adding flavonoids directly to preservation solutions. Methods. Cultured renal tubular epithelial cells (LLC-PK1) were stored in University of Wisconsin (UW) or Euro-Collins (EC) solution at 4°C for 20 hours. Preservation solutions were supplemented with various flavonoids. After rewarming, structural and metabolic cell integrity was measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and MTT-test, and lipid peroxidation was assessed from generation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS). Results. Twenty hours of cold storage resulted in a substantial loss of cell viability in both preservation solutions (in EC: LDH release 92.4±2.7%; MTT-test 0.5±0.7%). Addition of luteolin, quercetin, kempferol, fisetin, myricetin, morin, catechin, and silibinin significantly reduced cell injury (for luteolin in EC: LDH release 2.4±1.6%; MTT-test 110.3±10.4%, P<0.01; TBARS-production (related to cold stored control cells) 8.9±2.6%). No cytoprotection was found for apigenin, naringenin, and rutin. Protective potency of flavonoids depends on number of hydroxyl-substituents and lipophilicity of the diphenylpyran compounds. Conclusion. Cold storage induced injury of renal tubular cells was substantially ameliorated by adding selected flavonoids directly to preservation solutions.


In repeated games with differential information on one side, the labelling "general case" refers to games in which the action of the informed player is not known to the uninformed, who can only observe a signal which is the random outcome of his and his opponent's action. Here we consider the problem of minimizing regret (in the sense first formulated by Hannan [8]) when the information available is of this type. We give a simple condition describing the approachable set.


Performance appraisal refers to the process of performance measurement, assessment, valuation, and judgement over time. Performance ranking based on several criteria of different values is possible only when multi-criteria decision models are adopted. In this regard, different indicators are used in accordance with the type of ranking. Accordingly, inspired by the support vector machine model (SVM) and the Promethee technique, the present study aimed to develop a performance appraisal model for mutual funds and rank them accordingly. In this study, 34 mutual funds accepted in Iran's capital market were selected during 2016-2018 using the systematic random sampling method. First, the key performance indicators were detected using the indicators of post-modern portfolio theory, which were then approved by managers, experts, and professionals. Then some information about each indicator was collected, and the experts and professionals' comments were used to weight the indicators and specify the importance and priority of each indicator. Afterwards, an applied model was developed to represent the indicators effective in ranking mutual funds. Finally, the SVM model and the Promethee technique were adopted to rank the concerned mutual funds. The findings revealed that, in comparison to the indicators of downside risk and Sortino, upside potential ratio has the greatest effect on the performance appraisal of the mutual funds accepted in Iran's capital market.


In the development of a country, construction industry has a significant role. About 350 million people of the world are directly involved in this sector, and the number is growing at a fast rate in the cities. Due to several occupational health risks, this sector is placed top of the list according to workplace accidents and injuries. Workers of this sector expose several types of fatal occupational health hazards daily. Moreover, socioeconomically poor people, particularly from rural areas, are engaged in this sector. Research on occupational health is highly needed to give safety and awareness to the mason workers. Present work is a review of researches from the available published articles to get a broad spectrum of occupational health problems of construction workers. Standard databases are used to collect articles on occupation, health, and working environment. Musculoskeletal disorders are very common among the construction workers. Workplace injuries are mainly due to improper use of personal protective equipments.


This observational type of descriptive study was carried out in the Department of Radiology and Imaging, BIRDEM selecting 70 Bangladeshi pregnant babies with the aim to find out the normogram of foetal middle cerebral artery Doppler flow velocity indices and correlation between Doppler flow velocity indices [Resistance Index (RI), Pulsatility Index (PI), Systolic/Diastolic ratio (S/D) & Peak Systolic Velocity (PSV)] of foetal middle cerebral artery and gestational age in normal pregnancies of 20 to 40 weeks. It was observed that RI, PI and S/D were decreased with the advance of gestational age but PSV was increases with the advance of gestational age. Statistical analyses showed there were significant difference between mean PSV, RI and PI before and after 25 weeks of gestation. No significant difference was found between mean S/D before and after 25 weeks of gestation. It was observed from Correlation analysis between Doppler indices with independent gestational age that all the Doppler indices of foetal middle cerebra artery was positively correlated with the whole gestation period. The statistical analysis showed only PSV and RI were significantly correlated with the gestational age. Simple regression analysis between dependent Doppler index with independent gestational age before and after 25 weeks revealed that all the Doppler indices had positive relationship with the corresponding gestational age but relationship between PSV and PI (before 25 weeks) with their corresponding gestational ages were only statistically significant. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/birdem.v2i2.12306 Birdem Med J 2012; 2(2) 77-80


The ink-stream break-up phenomenon in continuous inkjet printers has been studied herein. A numerical model has been developed to reproduce and analyze the non-monotonic behavior of ink-stream break-up length (BUL) against the amplitude of piezo-actuator oscillation. That is, when the amplitude is increased, the BUL initially decreases to a local minimum point, then increases to a local maximum point, and finally decreases again. The developed model is split into two stages, first being the emergence of periodic "initial indentation" on ink stream caused by piezo-oscillation and the second being the growth of indentation. Finally, the calculated results of BUL against oscillation amplitude is compared with experimental data. We confirmed that the model well reproduces the characteristic of BUL and clarified the emergence mechanism of its local minimum and maximum points.


ackground: Eschrechia coli (E. coli) is the most common colonizing bacteria of the genital tract however, its status as a cause of genital tract infections is questionable. Aims of the study: To study the virulence and phylogenic groups of E coli strains isolated from high vagina and endo-cervix. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 female patients were enrolled in this study. All patients were attendants of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Teaching Hospital in Kerbala , holy kerbala. Iraq in the period from December 2013 to January 2015. E. coli isolates were identified by standard methods. Molecular diagnosis and characterization for virulence and phylogenic genes were detected by Multiplex PCR. Results and Discussion: Among 65 isolates recovered in this study, the most frequent phylogenic group of E. coli was "B2" which comprised 61.5% (no= 40) followed by "Phylogenic group A" that comprised 33.8% (no= 22). Previous studies have shown that phylogenetic groups B2 and D are virulent because these groups are associated with the presence of several virulence factors. Interestingly, 9 out of 10 isolates from women who their husband using condoms were shown to be of B2 phylogenic group. Frequencies of virulence genes of adhesion Pap, Sfa and Afa, among E.coli isolates were 14, 42 and 5, respectively. In addition, Pap C and Sfa were found in higher rates in phylogenetic group B2 isolates, and this gives more support to the hypothesis that B2 is the pathogenic group. Conclusions: Most of the E. coli isolates were belong to the virulent phylogenic group "B2" and that those isolates harbor several virulence factors. Accordingly, E coli may be considered as a true genital tract pathogen and its colonization entails great risk for vertical transmission to the fetus and fetal membrane..


Many pharmaceuticals used to treat cancer target the cell cycle or mitotic spindle dynamics, such as the anti-tumor drug, paclitaxel, which stabilizes microtubules. Here we show that, in cells arrested in mitosis with the spindle toxins, nocodazole, or paclitaxel, the endogenous protein phosphatase 4 (Ppp4) complex Ppp4c-R2-R3A is phosphorylated on its regulatory (R) subunits, and its activity is inhibited. The phosphorylations are blocked by roscovitine, indicating that they may be mediated by Cdk1-cyclin B. Endogenous Ppp4c is enriched at the centrosomes in the absence and presence of paclitaxel, nocodazole, or roscovitine, and the activity of endogenous Ppp4c-R2-R3A is inhibited from G1/S to the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Endogenous γ-tubulin and its associated protein, γ-tubulin complex protein 2, both of which are essential for nucleation of microtubules at centrosomes, interact with the Ppp4 complex. Recombinant γ-tubulin can be phosphorylated by Cdk1-cyclin B or Brsk1 and dephosphorylated by Ppp4c-R2-R3A in vitro. The data indicate that Ppp4c-R2-R3A regulates microtubule organization at centrosomes during cell division in response to stress signals such as spindle toxins, paclitaxel, and nocodazole, and that inhibition of the Ppp4 complex may be advantageous for treatment of some cancers.


BACKGROUND
A noninvasive method of monitoring the loss of islet cells can provide an earlier and improved diagnosis for therapeutics development of preclinical phases of diabetes. The use of [(18)F]fallypride, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor radiotracer, has been developed as a surrogate marker to evaluate loss of pancreatic islet cells in a rodent model of type 1 diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were administered [(18)F]fallypride and imaged for 2 h in a positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scan. Diabetes was then induced in the same rats by administration of streptozotocin, and a PET/CT scan was performed 4 days after establishing diabetes. Pancreata of a separate set of rats were evaluated by insulin immunostaining for loss of islet cells by streptozotocin.

RESULTS
Blood glucose levels of 125 mg/dL and 550 mg/dL were established for those rats without and with diabetes, respectively. [(18)F]Fallypride uptake in the pancreas of both groups of rats was rapid, but the rats with diabetes showed a significantly lower uptake (less than 50%). The specific binding ratio was decreased by 77% in the diabetic rats.

CONCLUSIONS
[(18)F]Fallypride can be a useful surrogate marker for monitoring changes in pancreatic islet cells, thus providing a noninvasive method to evaluate efficacy of therapeutics.


approved: __________________________________________________ Michael L. Kent Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have become an increasingly important model organism for cancer research. There are several cancer models in which neoplasms are induced chemically or genetically. However, spontaneous (unknown etiology) neoplasms are rather common in zebrafish, particularly in older fish. For over a decade, spontaneous intestinal neoplasia and preneoplastic intestinal changes including hyperplasia, dysplasia and enteritis have been observed in zebrafish from several laboratories submitted to the ZIRC (Zebrafish International Resource Center) diagnostic service. A retrospective analysis showed that 2% of the total fish submitted to the service demonstrate these lesions. These affected fish were submitted from 18 facilities from laboratories in the United States and other countries. One facility (referred to as the primary facility) was particularly affected, representing approximately 74% of the fish with lesions. Tumor prevalence appeared similarly distributed between sexes and generally occurred in zebrafish greater than one year of age, although neoplastic changes were observed in fish as young as 6 months. Eleven lines displayed these preneoplastic and neoplastic changes, including wild-types and mutants. Zebrafish submitted as normal sentinel fish affected with these intestinal lesions demonstrated that these lesions are most often subclinical and emphasize that as an extra-experimental variable these lesions could have underappreciated effect in research. Given the distribution of the affected fish defined from the retrospective study, possible etiologic agents include a variety of environmental elements or infectious agents. To further investigate potential etiologic agents versus a carcinogen in the diet, a diet challenge was conducted previously by feeding the same diet fed at the primary facility to fish held at a different location. No appreciable preneoplastic or neoplastic lesions developed in the experimental fish from this study, indicating that diet is not the cause. Furthermore, lesion prevalence between different populations of age and strain matched fish at the primary facility were dramatically different. This indicates that a water-borne carcinogen in the juvenile and adult rearing laboratories not the cause, as all of the affected fish were held in the same water supplies in recirculating systems at each facility. An infectious agent, therefore, could be the cause, as both bacteria and viruses are recognized as causes of cancers in fishes. I conducted a transmission study to investigate this etiology. The experiment included subjecting naïve fish to cohabitation with affected fish, feeding of a tissue homogenate from a pool of affected fish, and intraperitoneal (IP) injection of filtered and non-filtered affected tissue homogenate. Two fish from the cohabitation study sampled at 8 mo. and two fish from the injected filtrate study sampled at 7 mo. exhibited early hyperplastic changes. However, comprehensive histological evaluation at the termination (10 mo. post-exposure [11 mo. post-exposure for cohabitation fish]) of the study did not recognize any preneoplastic or neoplastic intestinal lesions. However, the study was terminated earlier than the original protocol due to high mortality attributed to Piscinoodinium pillulare infections amongst the fish in the study. I conducted a comprehensive histological review of these neoplasms through a retrospective examination of 9,508 zebrafish provided by the ZIRC diagnostic service. The neoplasms were classified either as adenocarcinoma or small cell carcinoma, with a few exceptions (carcinoma not otherwise specified, tubular adenoma, and tubulovillous adenoma) based upon histomorphologic presentation. In mammals, these neoplasms usually arise from the gastrointestinal epithelium or neural-endocrine cells (e.g., carcinoids). Hence we proposed that cells of origin for these neoplasms in zebrafish were either intestinal epithelial or gut-derived neural endocrine origin. We subjected tissue sections of several of these neoplasms to a panel of mammalian antibodies directed toward epithelial (Cytokeratin Wide Spectrum Screening [WSS], AE1/AE3) or neural (S100, and chromogranin A) tissues. We also investigated the specificity of these antibodies using Western blot analysis, comparing human and zebrafish profiles. WSS and AE1/AE3 were relatively reactive with approximately half of the neoplasms analyzed (staining positive with these markers). S100 and chromogranin A (neural markers) did not specifically stain the cells within the neoplasms. The positive cytokeratin association (WSS and/or AE1/AE3) for most of the neoplasms, while negative for neural and neuroendocrine markers (S100 and chromogranin A respectively), indicates that these intestinal neoplasms are of common epithelial origin. Perhaps those that were negative for cytokeratin may have further progressed to a state of dedifferentiation as most of the neoplasms that were negative were classified as small cell carcinomas and the cell type of these neoplasms are characterized as cells with a small amount of cytoplasm and lacking features of typical epithelial cells. In conclusion, based on data to date, the neoplasms are epithelial in origin, and three plausible causes for the lesions should be considered; 1) a microorganism in adult facilities, 2) a microorganism in larval nurseries, and 3) a chemical carcinogen in individual nursery tanks. ©Copyright by Colleen Elizabeth Paquette May 23, 2013 All Rights Reserved Intestinal Hyperplasia and Neoplasms in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) by Colleen Elizabeth Paquette


In the analysis, communication during the electoral campaign can be divided into direct and indirect communication. When using direct communication, the organizers of the electoral campaign communicate with the voters directly (without mediators). Direct communication is also called interpersonal communication. The second type of communication in the electoral campaign is indirect communication where the organizers of the electoral campaigns use the media (the traditional or the new media) for communication with the voters. Both types of communication have good and bad sides. In this paper we focus on ways of using indirect communication in electoral campaign through the media. We analyze different aspects of such as role of the candidate in campaign, ways of organizing approaches to voter's addresses and transfer the message to many people, importance of press conferences and debates. In the last part of this work, we introduces significance of computer mediated campaigns and consider different types of this newly cannels of indirect communication – internet sites, blogs, e-mails etc. Also there is interesting studies on interpersonal communication where are more quality relations between the organizers of the campaign or their activists and the voters.


The I-95 Willington Viaduct in Wilmington, Delaware is a sixty-simple span steel multi-beam bridge scheduled to undergo major rehabilitation in 2021. Work will include substructure repair, deck overlay replacement, and transverse bridge deck joint replacements. The owner, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT),is investigating the concept of removing fifteen (15)failing transverse bridge deck joints via Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) link slabs. Similar applications recently completed by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT)suggests that the UHPC material is performing adequately with suitable crack spacing control to prevent moisture and chloride penetration within the depth of the link slab. The NYSDOT application was based on using the link slab over elastomeric expansion bearings (i.e., at Exp.-Exp. locations).DelDOT is exploring the use of the NYSDOT approach to extend the application of UHPC link slabs at superstructure locations with different support conditions, i.e., Fix-Fix, Exp.-Exp. and/orFix-Exp.Analytical3-D non-linear computer models of the superstructure were developed to determine the structural response of the UHPC link slab with different support conditions. Results of the computer models have shown that the UHPC link slabs can be considered for use beyond just the Exp.-Exp. conditions and may extend the use of this detail to more structures. The UHPC link slab proposed by DelDOT has the potential to accelerate the rehabilitation process, reduce future maintenance costs,and increase bridge deck durability. In addition to the benefits of lower future maintenance due to the removal of the transverse bridge joints, UHPC link slabs can also be considered an Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) technique due to the time and cost savings compared to traditional full joint replacement.


In general, the electronic official documents system is designed with a centralized system and managed by each government agency, so that data and records of official documents process activities are stored in a centralized database and managed by a single organizational unit. However, there are some disadvantages of this centralized system, especially in the workflow of official documents that involve more than one organizational unit. i.e. dependence on third parties which is the sole authority of the official documents data management. If there is a system failure there is a certain period of time, it will increase the activity cycle time and decrease activity time efficiency in the official documents business process. The blockchain-based solution described in this paper is to avoid the occurrence of delay times during the activity cycle time in business processes when a system failure occurs which can cause a decrease in activity time efficiency. Blockchain makes the official documents system become "Trusless Operation" with each participant of different organizational unit having a copy of transaction data through a consensus mechanism. The simulation results show that our system can reduce time delay in activity cycle time during a system failure as long as the number of faulty peers within the tolerance limit so that it can increase the activity time efficiency.


A lipophilic complex with radially-connected three β-diketonate boron difluoride (BF2dk) units to a central benzene ring was newly developed. The C3-symmetrical BF2dk complex (1) formed a self-complementary interlocked dimer (1)2 with increasing concentration in CHCl3 as revealed by NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. A remarkable luminescence color change from blue to yellow was observed in response to the formation of interlocked dimers. Electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding between negative convexes (BF2 moiety) and positive concaves (three protons aligned on each arm) principally contribute to the dimerization, whereas the formation of interlocked dimers was accompanied by conformational changes of constituent molecules which interrupted further association. Consequently, casting of the chloroform solution of interlocked dimers on solid supports gave uniform thin films without uneven crystallization. It provides a new perspective for designing anti-cooperative systems for homogeneous molecular coatings.


For weather monitoring system and irrigation controller, we need to measure different parameters i.e. Atmospheric temperature, Humidity, Wind speed, Wind direction, Radiation, Soil temperature, Sunshine and Rain fall etc. The key objective of this project is to report on a developed indigenous low cost time based microcontroller based irrigation scheduler who performs user defined functions and outputs commands to derive appropriate actuators (relay, solenoid valves, motor). A soil moisture sensor was modeled, simulated and tested for achieving, with low-cost, accurate and reliable measurements. A low-cost high-performance and small temperature sensor is used, with the same PCB circuit it can measure humidity also. The tipping bucket rain gauge is used to measure rain fall. After a pre-set amount of precipitation falls, the lever tips, dumping the collected water and sending an electrical signal. An anemometer is a device used for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. Hence current research focuses on precision agriculture, soil conservation and crop irrigation scheduling and water quantity control for increasing water use efficiency. There is a need to develop new indigenous irrigation controller to improve farm productivity and input use efficiency of water and other nutrients. This system presents the design and development of Irrigation controller System built around PIC16F877A microcontroller. The system consists of microcontroller, peripherals including RTC, LCD and driver circuit relay to switch on/off a motor.


SETTING
Drug resistance threatens tuberculosis (TB) control, particularly among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons.

OBJECTIVE
To describe practices in the prevention and management of drug-resistant TB under antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs in lower-income countries.

DESIGN
We used online questionnaires to collect program-level data on 47 ART programs in Southern Africa (n = 14), East Africa (n = 8), West Africa (n = 7), Central Africa (n = 5), Latin America (n = 7) and the Asia-Pacific (n = 6 programs) in 2012. Patient-level data were collected on 1002 adult TB patients seen at 40 of the participating ART programs.

RESULTS
Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) was available in 36 (77%) ART programs, but was only used for 22% of all TB patients. Molecular DST was available in 33 (70%) programs and was used in 23% of all TB patients. Twenty ART programs (43%) provided directly observed therapy (DOT) during the entire course of treatment, 16 (34%) during the intensive phase only, and 11 (23%) did not follow DOT. Fourteen (30%) ART programs reported no access to second-line anti-tuberculosis regimens; 18 (38%) reported TB drug shortages.

CONCLUSIONS
Capacity to diagnose and treat drug-resistant TB was limited across ART programs in lower-income countries. DOT was not always implemented and drug supplies were regularly interrupted, which may contribute to the global emergence of drug resistance.


PURPOSE
To examine contact point (CP) tightness of the mandibular dental arch in cases with a unilateral first molar (M1) missing, and also investigate the influence of time since extraction on CPs tightness.

METHODS
CPs tightness was measured with a tightness of dental contact point device in 29 patients (9 men, 20 women), mean age 32.6 +/- 6.5 years, with a unilateral missing M1 and no periodontal disease. ANOVA with repeated measures test was used to statistically compare CP tightness between extraction (E) and non-extraction (NE) sides, at significant level of P < or = 0.05, with CPNE serving as internal control.

RESULTS
The first CP adjacent to the extraction site between the first and second premolar (CP4-5,E) was significantly (P < or = 0.001) lower (29%) than CP4-5,NE. The difference (NE-E) was reduced to 20% at the more anterior CP (CP3-4,E) which was close to but non-significant (P < or = 0.09). Further anterior CPs (CP2-3, CP1-2) showed a non-significant difference between homologous CPs. Thus, reduction in CP tightness was confined to two adjacent teeth anterior to the extraction site. The tightness reduction of the posterior dentition (CP4-5 + CP3-4) was obtained 3 years post-extraction and subsequently maintained a constant asymmetry ratio (E/NE = 0.68-0.80) up to 14 years post-extraction.


Drawing on several theoretical traditions in the social sciences, we offer a theory of the social facilitation of charismatic leadership by introducing the concept of squires. Squires are key fol- lowers who serve four social facilitation functions: liberating and legitimizing, modeling, buffering, and interpreting and translating. Liberating and legitimizing builds on social conformity research. Modeling is based in the social learning and social influence literatures. Buffering, and interpreting and translating, draw on insights from the psychology of power and organizational theory. These functions help resolve two central charismatic leadership paradoxes: (a) the need to be different from followers, though followers prefer to be led by leaders who are like them, and (b) the need to be personally inspiring to followers while being socially distant from them. In specifying squires' functions, we also address three weaknesses in conceptions of followership and contribute to understandings of how charismatic leadership emerges, works, and endures.


Contemporary literature in the field appears to advocate a needs-based approach to recreation programming through several recursive models. These needs-based, cyclical models typically have the following elements in common: an initial leisure needs assessment on which a program plan is based, implementation of the program, a formative and summative evaluation of the program, and the revision of the program. This type of approach is comprehensive and continuous. This article concerns the needs assessment component of the needs-based approach to leisure programming by examining the assumptions that underlie it. The purpose of the article is to analyze the needs-based approach to programming by making the underlying assumptions of its first step explicit and then by examining the assumptions in light of theory and professional practice. Findings suggest that a needs-based programming approach is grounded in psychological assumptions that are highly compatible with implementing leisure as a state of mind or being.


An active roll control system using a combination of feedback and feedforward fuzzy logic control active suspension for enhancement of vehicle roll dynamics is presented in this paper. The dynamics model representing the vehicle behavior was first developed and then modeled in the Matlab/SIMULINK environment. The tire model used was developed based on tire test data using loop up table method. The validity of the vehicle model was verified using CarSim software for double lane change maneuver. The inputs to the feedforward fuzzy logic control were the driver steering wheel angle and vehicle longitudinal velocity and the output of the feedforward fuzzy logic control was the counter roll moment. For the feedback fuzzy logic control, the roll angle error and error rate were the inputs whereas the counter roll moment was the output. The effectiveness of the proposed control system was demonstrated for fishhook, step steer, and double lane change maneuvers and this vehicle roll control system has shown its capability in reducing vehicle rollover propensity.


A study of the bryophyte flora of the Guadiamar river basin (southwestern Spain) was carried out. Forty-one localities along this river and its main tributaries were sampled. A total of 123 taxa are mentioned, of which 93 are mosses, 27 liverworts and 3 hornworts. Scopelophila cataractae (Mitt.) Broth., which grows exclusively on soils rich in heavy metals, is the second record from the Iberian Peninsula.


Objectives Long-duration activity-limiting neck/back pain is common, but the knowledge of what work and lifestyle factors that influence the prognosis is sparse. The objective was therefore to evaluate if two factors, good self-perceived work ability and no daily smoking, are associated with a favourable prognosis of long-duration activity-limiting neck/back pain in a working population, and if these exposures have a synergistic prognostic effect. Design A prospective cohort study based on three subsamples from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort. Settings A working population in Stockholm County, Sweden. Participants Individuals, 18–61 years old, reporting long-duration activity-limiting neck/back pain the previous 6 months at baseline in 2010 (n=5177). Measures The exposures were: self-perceived work ability (categorised into good, moderate and poor) and daily smoking (no/yes). The outcome in 2014 was 'absence of long-duration activity-limiting neck/back pain' the previous 6 months representing a favourable prognosis of reported problems at baseline in 2010. Risk ratios (RRs) and risk differences (RDs) with 95% CI was estimated by general linear regressions, and the synergistic effect was estimated by the synergy index (SI) with 95% CI. Results Participants with moderate or good work ability, respectively, had an adjusted RR for a favourable prognosis of 1.37 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.69), and 1.80 (1.49 to 2.17) in comparison with participants with poor work ability. The corresponding adjusted RD were 0.07 (0.02 to 0.11) and 0.17 (0.12 to 0.22). Participants not smoking on daily basis had an adjusted RR of 1.21 (1.02 to 1.42), and an adjusted RD of 0.05 (0.01 to 0.10) for a favourable outcome compared with daily smokers. The adjusted SI was 0.92 (0.60 to 1.43). Conclusion For participants with long-duration activity-limiting neck/back pain, moderate or good self-perceived work ability and not being a daily smoker were associated with a favourable prognosis but having both exposures seemed to have no synergistic prognostic effect.


Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) induces apoptosis of a variety of tumor cell types. The anti-tumor effect of TNFalpha is often augmented by interferon (IFN) gamma. We hypothesized that IFNalpha, which shares many biological activities with IFNgamma, might also synergize with TNFalpha for the induction of tumor cell death. We tested our hypothesis using ME-180 human cervical cancer cells exposed to either IFNalpha or TNFalpha alone or both. We analyzed the death of ME-180 cells by biochemical and cytological means, and investigated the molecular mechanism underlying cytotoxic synergism between the two cytokines. We found that (i) IFNalpha/TNFalpha synergistically induced apoptosis of ME-180 cells, which was accompanied by activation of caspases-3 and -8; (ii) IFNalpha induced signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 1 phosphorylation, and transfection of phosphorylation-defective STAT1 dominant-negative mutant inhibited IFNalpha/TNFalpha-induced apoptosis; (iii) inhibition of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) by proteasome inhibitor MG-132 sensitized ME-180 cells to TNFalpha alone; (iv) IFNalpha treatment attenuated TNFalpha-induced NF-kappaB reporter activity, while it did not inhibit DNA binding of NF-kappaB. Taken collectively, our results indicate that IFNalpha sensitizes ME-180 cells to TNFalpha-induced apoptosis by inhibiting TNFalpha-mediated cytoprotective NF-kappaB activation, and this sensitizing effect of IFNalpha is mediated through a STAT1-dependent pathway.


Sexual dysfunctions are common side effects reported by patients during antidepressant treatment. When they occur, patients often discontinue psychopharmacological therapy, with a negative impact on the underlying psychiatric disease. Recently, great attention has been paid to the use of nutraceuticals in the management of psychiatric disorders, although a systematic review on their effects as a treatment option for antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunctions (AISD) is lacking. Here, we conducted a systematic search in the following databases: MEDLINE (through PubMed), EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science. We searched eligible studies among parallel or crossover randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in adult populations. After this process, a total of 10 articles that evaluated the effect of six different nutraceuticals versus placebo were included: Maca Root, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe), Rosa Damascena, Ginkgo Biloba, Saffron, and Yohimbine. Overall, a high dose of Maca Root and the use of SAMe or Saffron may improve AISD. Additionally, the administration of Rosa Damascena seemed to be more effective in men than in women, whereas no evidence of effects emerged for Gingko Biloba and Yohimbine. Given the mixed results still available, future RCTs should consider larger samples and confounding factors, such as depressive status and individual vulnerability.


A novel high voltage DC power supply for neutral beam injector (NBI) is proposed. An acceleration power supply of NBI will experience frequent load short-circuits owing to the spark downs in the load. The output DC voltage of the proposed scheme can be quickly disconnected from the short-circuit load. In addition, the DC voltage is applied to the load immediately after the fault has been cleared without causing any voltage overshoot. The proposed scheme has the characteristics of a simplified structure, reduced cost and volume. Experimental results are presented to verify the usefulness of the proposed scheme.


Yb3+ doped YAG ceramics have been successfully fabricated using a vacuum reactive sintering method. High purity Y2O3, Al2O3 and Yb2O3 powders were used as the starting materials. Samples of 5.0 at.% Yb3+ doping concentration have been obtained. The in-line transmittance of the sample reaches 84% at 1100 nm wavelength. The absorption and emission bandwidth were measured to be 19.5 nm and 11.07 nm respectively. The results show that Yb:YAG ceramics will be a promising laser material for high power and ultrafast laser applications.


The aim of the research was to study the effect of photoperiodism disturbances on platelet aggregation activity. Material and methods. The experiment was conducted in two stages in 5 groups of male rats: the control group and four experimental groups. At the first stage, the animals were exposed to 24 h/day continuous light (24L:0D) for 10 and 21 days. In the second stage, animals after 10 and 21 days of round-the-clock lighting were returned to natural Results and discussion. The results of the experiment indicate a direct effect of light desynchronosis on the increase in platelet aggregation ability, while it was noted that the degree of increase in aggregation activity and reversibility of changes directly depend on the duration of round-the-clock lighting. So, a 10-day stay of animals in conditions of abnormal lighting leads to an increase in aggregation indices, which remain at a high level even when animals return to normal conditions. In animals that were under round-the-clock illumination for 21 days, a more pronounced increase in platelet aggregation values relative to animals on day 10 was noted. In this regard, it can be argued that circadian rhythm disturbances provoke the development of microvasculature disorders.


We propose a general framework for quantum error mitigation that combines and generalizes two techniques: probabilistic error cancellation (PEC) and zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE). Similarly to PEC, the proposed method represents ideal operations as linear combinations of noisy operations that are implementable on hardware. However, instead of assuming a fixed level of hardware noise, we extend the set of implementable operations by noise scaling. By construction, this method encompasses both PEC and ZNE as particular cases and allows us to investigate a larger set of hybrid techniques. For example, gate extrapolation can be used to implement PEC without requiring knowledge of the device's noise model, e.g., avoiding gate set tomography. Alternatively, probabilistic error reduction can be used to estimate expectation values at intermediate virtual noise strengths (below the hardware level), obtaining partially mitigated results at a lower sampling cost. Moreover, multiple results obtained with different noise reduction factors can be further post-processed with ZNE to better approximate the zero-noise limit.


Fish farming characterizes a vital and healthy basis of protein for human nutrition. Presently, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the second most elevated fish species worldwide, and its fillet plays an important role in the international occupation of fish meat. This study was performed to investigate the alterations that associated with infected Nile tilapia by parasites. The fish were observed for any clinical abnormalities, postmortem changes, biochemical and histopathological changes. There were significant changes in the evaluated physiological parameters in all infected groups than uninfected fish. The lesions were variable among the infected groups, however; lesions intensity was more pronounced in fish infected with both pathogens.


Primary nonadherence, a form of prescription nonadherence, is defined as failure to fill and pick up a prescription medication. Little is known about the relationship between distance to pharmacy and primary nonadherence in dermatology. In this study, we investigated the association between primary nonadherence and distance between a patient's home and pharmacy. We focused on a low-income patient population within the dermatology clinic of a large, urban county hospital system in which patients were enrolled in a pharmacy benefit within a closed-system. Among 678 patients who were prescribed a total of 1156 prescription medications for dermatologic conditions, 11.7% did not pick up any of their prescriptions. After adjusting for patient demographics of race/ethnicity, sex, age, language, and relationship status, there was no association between primary nonadherence and distance traveled between a patient's home and pharmacy. Results of this study are consistent with other studies in non-dermatologic patients and suggtableest that distance from a pharmacy may not be strongly associated with primary nonadherence for dermatologic medications.


The study aims to present the first results of a wide research carried out on the holiday constructions made in Basilicata during the Fascism, in particular on the "Vittorino da Feltre" helioterapical colony in Matera; it was built in 1937 by a design of the engineer Vincenzo Corazza. It is the only helioterapical building present on Basilicata area until today, which has not been destroyed in the decades, after the collapse of the fascist regime because it was transformed and readapted in a public school. The analysis of the archival material, the study of the state of the art and the technological characterization of the building made it possible to highlight all the typicalities of this architecture.


An experiment was conducted that used a knowledge-based system to classify a set of natural language documents. An important issue in the design of knowledge-based systems is how to equip them with the capability to transmit uncertainty from imprecise premises to a conclusion and associate the conclusion with a level of belief. A study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of various fuzzy calculi. The test domain was full-text retrieval of natural language documents. This test domain was chosen because natural language is inherently imprecise and there are well-defined performance measures that can provide the basis of calculi comparison. Both robustness and relative retrieval quality were studied. Some calculi were found to be more effective. The most commonly used knowledge-based systems calculi were not the best performing. >


Evidence from a number of research methods converges to suggest that when a person registers a transgression against self or others, the person experiences an intuitively produced, emotionally tinged reaction of moral outrage. The reaction is driven by the just deserts–based retributive reactions of the person to the transgression rather than, for instance, considerations of the deterrent force of the punishment. In experimental games arranged so that trust and fairness transgressions occur, participants punish transgressors and experience rewarding brain states while doing so, and they punish even if they were not themselves the target of the violation. What, if any, implications does this have for the punishment component of societal systems of justice? Would it be possible to construct sentencing practices that, to some extent, incorporated citizens' sense of just punishments? What would be gained by doing so? And what would be lost?


Modern charge-coupled-device (CCD) detectors can achieve peak quantum efficiencies of 90%, compared with less than 10% for the photocathode of an electron multiplier. We report on laboratory tests of examples of these two detector technologies to evaluate their relative performance for precision Doppler spectroscopy of laboratory plasmas. The tests reveal that the accuracy of the Doppler width and shift measurements improves with the square root of the photoelectron flux, and thus as the square root of the detector quantum efficiency. An analytic estimate of the performance of these two types of detectors confirms the square root dependence on photoelectron flux but also highlights the importance of other noise sources that could be important under different conditions. The gain of the electron multiplier system can be reduced to the level of 10 photon-electrons per ADC count before there is any reduction in the accuracy of the estimation of fitted parameters.


Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) model sequential decision-making problems under uncertainty and partial observability. Unfortunately, some problems cannot be modeled with state-dependent reward functions, e.g., problems whose objective explicitly implies reducing the uncertainty on the state. To that end, we introduce ρPOMDPs, an extension of POMDPs where the reward function ρ depends on the belief state. We show that, under the common assumption that ρ is convex, the value function is also convex, what makes it possible to (1) approximate ρ arbitrarily well with a piecewise linear and convex (PWLC) function, and (2) use state-of-the-art exact or approximate solving algorithms with limited changes.


BACKGROUND
Study of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of target genes in urinary sediment was suggested as a noninvasive marker of renal damage in patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). We studied the relationship between urinary mRNA expression of target genes and risk for renal function deterioration in patients with CKD.

METHODS
We studied 131 patients with CKD with kidney biopsy. mRNA expression of 11 target genes in urinary sediment was measured by means of quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Patients then were followed up for 27.4 +/- 10.1 months. The primary end point is doubling of serum creatinine concentration or end-stage renal disease.

RESULTS
Thirty-six patients (27.5%) reached the primary end point during follow-up. Univariate analysis showed that sex, age, proteinuria, estimated glomerular filtration rate, histological diagnosis, degree of tubulointerstitial scarring, percentage of glomerulosclerosis, and urinary mRNA expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were predictors of the primary end point. At 24 months, event-free survival rates were 90.9% and 64.3% for patients with low and high urinary HGF expression, respectively (log rank test, P = 0.002). After adjusting for other confounding factors by using a Cox proportional hazard model, urinary HGF expression remained an independent predictor of the primary end point, and a 1-fold increase in expression was associated with a 4.0% (95% confidence interval, 0.5 to 7.5; P = 0.024) increase in risk.

CONCLUSION
In the target genes examined, urinary HGF expression is an independent prognostic indicator of CKD after adjusting for confounding clinical and histological factors. Measurement of urinary HGF mRNA expression may be a useful noninvasive tool for risk stratification of patients with CKD.


In the past three decades, the heterocyclic oxazine cores have been intensely concerned. Oxazine
derivatives are promising vital heterocyclic motifs. They are eminent for their synthetic potential
and extensive biological properties. Oxazines are versatile intermediates for the synthesis of a variety of
heterocycles and bifunctional compounds. Researchers have reported several synthetic approaches for
the preparation of oxazines. This review emphasises the recent approaches for the synthesis of oxazine
derivatives.


In a retrospective study, we analyzed the operative results of 300 patients over 60 years with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhages treated from September 1981 to June 1995 at the Department of Neurosurgery, Landesnervenklinik Salzburg. The patients underwent surgery for hypertensive hemorrhages measuring 30 mm or more on CT scan. The postoperative results were assessed by the Glasgow Outcome Score, which showed that the postoperative mortality was 31.3%; 22% of the patients made a good or very good recovery. The mode of selecting the intracerebral hematomas by size and location to achieve good results with surgical treatment is discussed. The authors consider surgery beneficial for selected cases.


Hsp90 has been extensively studied as a viable oncogenic target since 1985, when it was first shown that targeting Hsp90 results in anti-neoplastic effects. Early clinical development was hindered by the fact that both geldanamycin and radicicol, the first biologically occurring compounds shown to inhibit Hsp90, were too toxic for use in the clinic. This limitation was overcome by the development of the first-generation geldanamycin-based compounds, which entered into clinic in 2003. Although, these first-generation compounds showed clinical limitation of use due to hepatotoxicity, development of newer Hsp90 inhibitors have shown early promise. Herein we will review the current landscape of Hsp90 inhibitors.


From 1800 to 1900, world population doubled from around 800 million to about 1.6 billion. Nevertheless world food production increased faster than population so that a large portion of the world's population was better fed than ever before. This was accomplished partially by bringing new lands under cultivation but also as a result of advances in chemistry and biology including the Darwinian understanding of evolution and the rediscovery of Mendelian genetics as the century was closing. Equally important if not more so was the discovery by Justus Baron von Liebig that inorganic minerals could be used to provide plant nuttient. The early origins of beliefs about organic/biodynamic agriculture can be found in the initial rejection of von Liebig theories and the later concession that they did allow crops to grow but that the crops lacked "vital" properties. From 1900 to the present, population quadrupled and, in spite of forecasts of mass famine, the world is better fed with fewer people in hunger today than a half century ago. Feeding the better than doubling of world population in the last half century has been accomplished almost entirely by increasing yields as the increase in land under cultivation has only been about 7 percent to 10 percent. In the period covered by the book, 1800 to 2000, population has increased roughly eight times from 800 million to close to 6.2 billion people. Giovanni Federico tells the story of the agricultural transformations that allowed this to happen. It is a history that I teach, and I am delighted to find a book with such a comprehensive coverage of this important topic. This book provides everything that a mainstream economic history or agricultural history course would want to cover. It is replete with tables that require nearly three pages to list as well as four graphs and just one map. There are chapters on long-term trends focusing on output, prices, composition, and ttade, on patterns of growth focusing on inputs, on the increases in productivity focusing on factor productivity, and on the microeconomics of agricultural institutions. From an institutionalist perspective, the formal sttucture of Federico's analysis contains a vast amount of empirical data on technological change. In the nineteenth century in Europe and elsewhere, farmers were taking more out of the soil than they were replacing. Clearly there was a potential crisis in the making


The integration of all aspects of geology with geophysics is necessary in any stratigraphic exploration program. The Niagara (Middle Silurian) pinnacle reef play in the Michigan basin provides interesting insights into this multifaceted problem. The Michigan basin is an intracratonic structural basin which has been in existence at least 500 million years. During Niagaran time, tall (up to 700 ft, 213 m) hydrocarbon-bearing pinnacle reefs grew on a ramp or shelf between a deeper basinal area and a nonproductive basin-rimming barrier reef bank. These pinnacle reefs are encased in Salina (Upper Silurian) evaporites and carbonates that effectively act as both seal and source for the hydrocarbons. Geological studies of Niagara and Cayugan paleogeography and regional stratigraphy combined with detailed lithofacies have aided in the mapping of the pinnacle reef trends and the identification of local reef proximity indicators. Today, seismic data is the major exploration method for actually locating the pinnacle reefs, but major problems had to be overcome before it was an effective tool. Surface topographic features (such as glacial moraines and sand dunes) plus buried preglacial valleys caused severe statics, velocity, and "noise" problems. Judicious application of good basic data processing procedures with particular attention paid to statics corrections, velocity analyses tied to well control, and f-k filtering, commonly solve these data processing problems. Even though shooting geometry has been optimized to reduce "noise," reflections are often the third or fourth strongest mode on a field record with mode converted shear waves, refractions, multiples, and wave-guided phenomena being stronger. F-k filtering, following the principle of reflection mode amplification (introduced herein), can substantially enhance the signal to noise ratio (reflection to nonreflection ratio). The variable distribution of the Salina evaporites and carbonates and their irregular solution margins can, however, in places, produce reeflike seismic anomalies. By careful geologic mapping with close attention to facies and lithologic detail and by using simple seismic modeling, the differences between pseudo-reef anomalies and actual reef anomalies can often be distinguished, and the presence of seismic reef proximity indicators can be confirmed with a high level of confidence. The 70% and greater wildcat success ratios maintained consistently by several companies which has allowed them to lead in the exploration of the trend are ample testimony to this. The final results of careful attention to geologic detail during the entire geophysical analysis, from field acquisition through interpretation, are not only accurate and detailed seismic stratigraphic interpretations, but also cost-effective exploration programs. End_of_Article - Last_Page 593------------


This study examines the association between self-reported frequency of verbal, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health among 6,303 rural married women (age 15-49), in four Indian states: Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. Data are taken from the 2002-2003 National Family Health Survey-2 Follow-Up Survey. The results indicate that experiencing physical, verbal, or sexual IPV is associated with an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes. Our results provide support for the importance of screening for IPV in mental health settings, especially in resource-poor settings where both IPV and mental health are often overlooked.


Considers general-purpose and problem-specific tools for parallel problem solving. A comparison is made between the two approaches, in terms of effort and usefulness, for two example problems. The advantages of special-purpose, problem-specific environments are described, and the effort required to construct such environments is seen to be reasonable.<<ETX>>


KEY FINDINGS
Data from the natality data file, national vital statistics system. After 12 years of consecutive increases, the preliminary cesarean delivery rate among singleton births was unchanged from 2009 to 2011 (31.3%). Cesarean delivery rates decreased more than 5% among births at 38 weeks of gestation, but increased 4% among births at 39 weeks. Decreases in cesarean delivery rates for births at 38 weeks occurred for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic women, as well as for all maternal age groups. Increases in cesarean delivery rates for births at 39 weeks occurred among non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic women, as well as for all maternal age groups. The cesarean delivery rate at 38 weeks decreased in 30 states; the cesarean delivery rate at 39 weeks increased in 23 states.


The shunt active power filter is one compelling arrangement is utilized for reducing the source current harmonics distortion in nonlinear load distribution system. The synchronous reference frame control algorithm utilized to creating current controlled reference signals. The acquired reference control signals are compared with hysteresis controller for better switching of shunt active power filters. Generally SRF with PI controlled shunt active power filter are used to compensation of harmonic. But, they won't give better results to bigger variety loads. In these papers a particle swarm optimization (PSO) system is proposed for better tuning of PI values of SRF with PSO-PI controlled shunt active power filter. The simulation results without and with conventional PI and furthermore with PSO-PI is analyzed for nonlinear load distribution system.


Abstract The effect of rumen incubation on the true indigestibility of feed protein in the digestive tract (TIFP) was studied for 10 concentrates. Only fish meal and soybean meal showed a constant TIFP independent of rumen incubation time or extent of rumen protein degradation. For the other feedstuffs, TIFP decreased to various degrees at increased ruminal protein degradation. For extracted rapeseed meal, maize gluten meal and guar meal, however, TIFP measured without pre-incubation in the rumen was also satisfactory as a basis for predicting the true digestibility of rumen undegraded feed protein in the intestine (TDRUP) for practical purposes. In contrast, TIFP for predicting TDRUP for peas, rapeseeds, lupin seeds, barley and oats should be determined on feed samples after rumen incubation.


Cafes are places in the city in which we have come to expect conviviality between the unacquainted. Goffman is perhaps the most famous analyst of relations between strangers in public space, yet his depiction of society's members points towards a misanthropic form of life. Drawing on video footage shot during ethnographic research, this paper analyses gestures made between strangers in cafes and how they produce cafes as cold, receptive or accommodating places. It considers how we might move on from Goffman's work to an understanding of urban life that includes the possibility of more than the impression of conviviality.


Computer Assisted Language Leaming (CALL) came of age in the Iate eighties and it is now strongly tied to educational syllabi in many schools of language all over the world. Due to the fact that a number of hypermedia and multimedia authoring tools are available' for IBM and Macintosh comput~rs, language teachers can now create their own CALL programs with or without help from computer programmers. Vnıike traditional ready-made systems, these tools provide many opportunities for language teachers and courseware developers to create CALL software that increases the efficiency, enjoyment and speed with whiCh language learners can assimilate information. After discussing the features of some authoring tools for CALL and also accepting the importance of listening as an active process in communication, Multimedia Listener, a protatype CALL program that aims at helping Turkish EFL students improve their listening comprehension is iIIustrated through some screen shots or figures from a lesson module.


The interdental papilla is the anatomic site most susceptible to periodontal disease. The gingival epithelium plays an important role as a barrier to protect the underlying connective tissue from exogenous noxious agents. A study was undertaken to evaluate the papillary epithelial response to reconstructive stresses conducted by gingival brushing (oral therapy) and scaling and root planing, intended to induce a keratinization associated with reduction or resolution of connective tissue inflammation. Results showed that patients who prolonged the interproximal hygiene practices for more than 30 minutes a day achieved a satisfactory keratinization of the papillary gingival epithelium.


Pulse detonation engines (PDEs) are new concept propulsion technologies and unsteady propulsion system that operates cyclically and typically consists of four stages, filling of fuel/air mixture, combustion, blow down and purging. Out of these four processes, combustion is the most crucial one since it produces reliable and repeatable detonation wave. Detonation is a supersonic combustion process which is essentially a shock front driven by the energy release from the reaction zone in the flow right behind it. It is based on supersonic mode of combustion and causes rapid burning of a fuel-air mixture, typically tens of thousands of times faster than in a flame, that utilize repetitive detonations to produce thrust or power. PDE offers the potential to provide increased performance while simultaneously reducing engine weight, cost, and complexity relative to conventional propulsion systems currently in service. It has the potential to drastically reduce the cost of orbit transfer vehicle system as well as space vehicle attitude control system and can be used for wide range of military, civil and commercial applications. Due to its obvious advantages, worldwide attention has been paid to the scientific and technical issues concerning PDE. The present study deals with the convergence and divergence nozzle effects on specific thrust and pressure of Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Pulse Detonation Engine having 88.3cm length and 9.5cm diameter combustion chamber, convergence nozzle, detonation tube and divergence nozzle were design in Gambit 2.3.16. FLUENT 6.3 predict the flow physics of pressure and specific thrust (Fs), increase in divergence nozzle compared to convergence nozzle and specific thrust of detonation tube was changed with the change of flight Mach number. A three dimension computational unstructured grid was developed which gives the best meshing accuracy as well as computational results. RNG k-e turbulence model was used for the mass flow rate, pressure and velocity contours analysis with standard wall function.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Coseismic surface displacements can result in significant damage to structures located on or near a fault. To address this particular hazard, probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis (PFDHA) has been proposed to estimate expected displacement on a fault and in its vicinity. To construct PFDHA, any new observed surface ruptures can be included. In 2018, an Mw 6.4 earthquake hit the city of Hualien, Taiwan, and caused surface ruptures along the Milun fault. Immediately after the earthquake, field investigations were carried out to investigate the surface ruptures, which provided crucial information for PFDHA. Based on our analysis of the surface displacement data in the Hualien event, we compared existing fault displacement prediction equations, and found that 86% and 65% of the observations from the free field and manmade structures, respectively, were within one standard deviation of the predictions. Based on our fault displacement model and its uncertainties, we analyze the fault displacement hazard in the Hualien region by incorporating epistemic uncertainties through a logic tree approach. Comparing with the occurrence probability of distributed surface faulting, most observations are within one standard deviation of the predictions, suggesting the applications of derived PFDHA.