A study was undertaken of the protection induced by inactivated and live Aujeszky's disease virus vaccines. The vaccines were administered using a special device which, without the use of a needle, delivered the preparation intradermally. The trials were performed on 88 pigs which were vaccinated at the beginning of the fattening period both in experimental conditions and in pig herds. All the pigs were challenged at the end of the fattening period in isolation units. The results obtained were compared with those obtained using the same vaccines injected intramuscularly. It was shown that vaccination via the intradermal route induced good protection in the vaccinated animals and was similar to that conferred by live virus vaccine injected intramuscularly. The results, with the inactivated virus vaccine, were not so good when it was injected via the intradermal route. Studies with intradermal vaccination showed no local lesion or very small nodules strictly localized to the dermis. The results also confirmed that the effects of challenge exposure depended on the health status of animals prior to infection and show the necessity to use a synthetic value (delta G) to interpret the data and mainly to compare the results objectively. In fattening pigs this vaccination procedure is attractive because (i) less animal constraint is needed than would be for intramuscular injections, (ii) injection can be checked by the presence of a visible papula at the site of inoculation and, (iii) pigs can be vaccinated in the ham while they are feeding. Injection without a needle also contributes to avoiding bacterial contamination under practical farm conditions of vaccination.


Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are often used as transparent electrodes because they contribute sheet resistance and mechanical flexibility to the electrodes. However, the optical haze still needs to be improved in order for AgNWs to be suitable for display applications. In this study, we investigated the optimal structure of AgNW films with a capping layer for reducing haze. We investigated the haze of AgNWs covered by poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxithiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and/or indium tin oxide (ITO), which were simulated to investigate the reduction of haze in the visible spectrum. A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation showed that optimized Ag- NWs with an insulating capping layer showed less optical haze than AgNW films alone. The haze reduction was 6 % maximum for a AgNW with a radius of 70 nm with 20-nm-thick PEDOT:PSS added. Also, a haze reduction of 0.7 % was achieved by adding the surrounding PEDOT:PSS with a thickness of 20 nm, and one of 0.3 % was achieved as the thickness of PEDOT:PSS was increased from 20 nm to 60 nm when the radius of the AgNW was fixed at 20 nm. From the simulation results, we confirmed that the capping layer was responsible for the haze reduction.


Anomalous transport behaviour, i.e. the dependence of the tunnel resistance on the injection current, has been discovered in Ta/Co/Al2O3/FeNi tunnel junctions. The zero-field voltage-current characteristic of the magnetic tunnelling junction obeys the transport principle of the normal tunnel junction at low injection current, but it exhibits a negative resistance behaviour when the injection current is raised to the break-over current level. The physics of the restorable electric breakdown has been initially studied.


Background: Cigarette butt could be used as an insecticide due to the present of alkaloid compounds in high yield, especially nicotine and eugenol. To maximize the extraction process of cigarette butt, the study related to the effect of extraction method to the effectivity of extraction process should be performed.
Objective: The main purpose of this study was to identify the effect of extraction methods on the total yield and the nicotine and eugenol content of the extract of cigarette butt.
Methods: In this study, maceration (CB-1), soxletation (CB-2), and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) (CB-3) methods were conducted and compared the yield and the nicotine and eugenol content of the extracts by LC-MS.
Results: The results showed that the extract CB-3 has the highest yield (26,77%), which compared to CB-1 and CB-2, which are 11.72% and 14.56%, respectively. Furthermore, the nicotine content of all extracts are 54.15%, 36.43%, and 48.51% for extract CB-1, CB-2, and CB-3, respectively, while eugenol content of CB-1, CB-2, and CB-3 are 5.09%, 6.35%, and 8.41%, respectively.
Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be concluded that MAE method was more effective to extract the cigarette butt compared to maceration and soxletation method. This method was also reduced the time consuming and the volume of the solvent used in the extraction process which follow green chemistry rule. Thus, MAE method is potential to be used in extraction process of cigarette butt in order to produce a biopesticide.


Predicting the occurrence of landslides is important to prevent or reduce loss of lives and property. The stability of rock slopes is often dominated by one or more locked segments along a potential slip surface; these segments have relatively high strength and accumulate strain energy. Locked segments can be preliminarily classified into three categories: "rock bridge", "retaining wall" and "sustaining arch." Coupling a one-dimensional renormalization group model with the strain-softening constitutive relation of geo-materials considering the Weibull's distribution, a physical model for predicting the instability of slopes with locked segments is established. It is found that the ratio of the strain or displacement at the peak strength point to that at the volume dilation point for a locked segment is exclusively dependent on the Weibull's shape parameter m, and is approximately constant at 1.48. A corresponding accelerating displacement increment (tertiary creep) of the slope can be observed from the onset of the volume dilation of the locked segment due to its unsteady cracking. For a slope with multiple locked segments, one can predict its critical instability displacement value according to the accelerating displacement onset corresponding to the volume dilation point of the first locked segment and the number of locked segments. The back-analysis of two typical cases, the Yanchihe rockslide in China and the wedge rockslide, Libby Dam, USA, shows that their evolutionary processes, dominated respectively by one and two locked segments, follow this model, confirming the reliability of the proposed model.


SOME OF THE CLINICAL ADVANTAGES OF A PRIVATE PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC ORGANIZED FOR GROUP PRACTICE ARE: Readily available consultations with colleagues; cross-referral with better communication; more evenly filled hours; larger pools of patients for establishing and maintaining group therapy; better off-duty coverage; ready availability of the three disciplines, psychiatry, psychology and social work; satisfaction to the private psychiatrist of being able to arrange competent and prompt treatment for patients unable to meet usual fees; and cooperative research.Financial advantages include economies of time and money, a profit sharing plan, and availability of group life insurance, health benefits and social security.


Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) generally have an impaired functional capacity and poor long-term out-comes. A mortality of 5-15% per year has been described actually. Aim of this study was to verify the prognostic relevance of invasive and non-invasive parameters of diastolic function in patients with DCM. In 33 patients with DCM, cardiac catheterization was performed and left ventricular systolic (ejection fraction (EF; %)); left ventricular enddiastolic pressure (LVEDP; mmHg) and diastolic function (time constant of relaxation (T, ms); the constant of myocardial stiffness (b) were derived from biplane laevocardiography and simultaneous micromanometric registration of pressure-volume curves. For evaluation of clinical out-come, the follow-up period was defined as beginning on the day after cardiac catheterization and ending on the most recent date or with a cardiac event (death or cardiac transplantation). All patients were reevaluated for NYHA functional class and completed a standard questionnaire. The following hemodynamic parameters were evaluated: invasive parameters of left ventricular diastolic function (constant of relaxation: tau (ms), constant of myocardial stiffness: b)), as well as parameters of systolic function (ejection fraction (EF; %)), left ventricular pressure (LVEDP; mmHg), left ventricular muscle mass index (LVMMI; g/m2), left ventricular enddiastolic volume index (LVEDVI; ml/m2) and non-invasive parameters of morphological data, left ventricular systolic (fractional shortening (FS, %) and ejection fraction) and diastolic parameters with echocardiography. During the follow-up period of 36 months, 11 of 33 patients experienced a major cardiac event (cardiac death n = 8, heart transplantation n = 3). The major cause of death was progressive pump failure. The remaining 22 patients were further classified with respect to changes in functional status. While clinical symptoms could be improved medically in patients with moderate increase of myocardial stiffness, patients with severe increase of myocardial stiffness (b: 76.1 +/- 12.1 vs 17.9 +/- +8.1, p < 0.001) could not be improved and suffered more cardiac events. Doppler echocardiographic measurements in these patients showed a restrictive filling pattern (VE 0.91 +/- 0.21 vs 0.64 +/- 0.18 m/s; p < 0.01; VA 0.52 +/- 0.23 vs 0.57 +/- 0.24 m/s; p < 0.01, deceleration time 129 +/- 17 vs 211 +/- 14 ms; p < 0.01). The medical heart failure therapy was comparable in both groups. In patients with cardiac events, the diastolic left ventricular variables did not significantly differ between patients who underwent heart transplantation and those who died. Patients who demonstrated a sole impairment of relaxation (tau: > 50 ms) suffered no cardiac events. Impaired diastolic function contributes to the clinical picture of congestive heart failure. Parameters of left ventricular diastolic function are powerful and important predictors of major cardiac events in patients with DCM, like heart transplantation and non-sudden death, and may indicate future clinical success of medical treatment. Invasive and non-invasive parameters of diastolic function reveal comparable information for the estimation of prognosis of patients with DCM in order to initiate early therapy.


Abstract Thrips hawaiiensis (Morgan) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a common Thysanoptera insect widely distributed in Asia and the Pacific, it damages various plants. In this study the complete mitochondrial genome of T. hawaiiensis was sequenced and characterized by using next-generation sequencing technique. The total length of the complete genome is 15,357 bp and A + T content of 77.8% (GeneBank accession No. MW582621). The T. hawaiiensis mitochondrial genome consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and 2 non-coding control regions (Dloop region). According to previous studies, only a few complete mitochondrial genomes from Order Thysanoptera have been reported. Thus, T. hawaiiensis complete mitochondrial genome sequence reported will provide molecular information for mitochondrial genome research on Thysanoptera.


Molecular dynamics simulations of the pure structure II tetrahydrofuran clathrate hydrate and binary structure II tetrahydrofuran clathrate hydrate with CO(2), CH(4), H(2)S, and Xe small cage guests are performed to study the effect of the shape, size, and intermolecular forces of the small cages guests on the structure and dynamics of the hydrate. The simulations show that the number and nature of the guest in the small cage affects the probability of hydrogen bonding of the tetrahydrofuran guest with the large cage water molecules. The effect on hydrogen bonding of tetrahydrofuran occurs despite the fact that the guests in the small cage do not themselves form hydrogen bonds with water. These results indicate that nearest neighbour guest-guest interactions (mediated through the water lattice framework) can affect the clathrate structure and stability. The implications of these subtle small guest effects on clathrate hydrate stability are discussed.


The adoption and use of various eLearning systems to enhance the quality of education in secondary schools in Tanzania is becoming common. However, there is little evidence to suggest that students are actually use them. Existing studies tend to focused on investigating students' attitude towards using these systems through surveys. Nonetheless, data from surveys is normally subject to the possibility of distortion, low reliability, and rarely indicate the causal effects. This study adopted WEKA and Keel as data mining tools to analyze students' usage patterns and trends using 6,8827 individual records from log file of Halostudy system implemented in secondary schools in Tanzania. The study found that the system usage is moderate and, in the decline. There is also variability in the usage of multimedia elements with biology having the highest number while mathematics had the lowest. Students from Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Arusha in that order had the highest system usage with the lowest being from the peripheral regions. The possible challenges limiting system usage are discussed. These findings show that data mining tools can be used to indicate usage patterns of systems implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and help educators to find ways of maximizing systems usage.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the clinical correlates and predictions from attachment narratives in a sample of early school-age children from a high psychosocial risk, ethnically diverse sample.

METHOD
A total of 113 children were assessed using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, a semistructured assessment of children's attachment representations. Parents and teachers provided data using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Peer nominations of popularity and antisocial behavior were also obtained.

RESULTS
Significant associations that were modest to moderate in magnitude were obtained between attachment narrative scales indexing security, coherence, and disorganization with multiple indices of children's behavioral and emotional adjustment, prosocial behavior and competence; these associations held across ethnic groups and were independent of psychosocial risk.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings build on and extend support for the use of attachment narrative assessments in the clinical context and demonstrate their applicability and validity across a broad range of ethnicity and social contexts.


Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is also known as degenerative joint disease and is considered the major cause of joint pain and disability. Furthermore, OA is the most common, costly, and disabling form of joint diseases. The objective of this study is to explore the hospital admission profile due to OA between the period 1999 and 2019 in England and Wales. Method This is an ecological study that used health care data in the United Kingdom. Patients who were hospitalized for OA in England and Wales between 1999 and 2019 formed the study population. The Hospital Episode Statistics in England and the Patient Episode Database for Wales databases were used in this study. The difference in the admission rate during the study period was estimated using the chi-squared test. Results The admission rate during the study period increased by 112.1% for all hospital admission related to OA. The most common type of admission was related to gonarthrosis, which accounted for 46.7% of the total number of admissions for OA. The increase in admission rate across different types of admissions related to OA was not consistent. The highest increase in the admission rate was observed for polyarthrosis (604.6%). Admission rates related to OA were observed to be directly related to age. The highest increase in the admission rate during the study period was for the age group of 15-59 years (102.1%). Admission rate due to OA was higher among females compared to males. Conclusion The increase in admission rates for the various OA-related admissions was not consistent. This study found that the age range of 15 to 59 years experienced the greatest increase in admission rates. Female gender is a high risk factor for OA, especially in women around menopause.


This article argues for a broader conception of both school and work literacies. I present the writing and narratives of adolescent females in their senior year of an urban high school to begin a dialogue about the ways schools and communities can support youth to both imagine and plan for their futures. Ethnographic research methods were used to collect narratives and construct case studies of four young women. In their nuanced pictures of youth, these narratives will inform educators, policy makers, and researchers as they write about and make decisions concerning the futures of these young people.


Here, a free-standing electrode composed of cobalt phosphides (Co2P) supported by cobalt nitride moieties (CoNx) and an N,P-codoped porous carbon nanofiber (CNF) in one-step electrospinning of environmentally friendly benign phosphorous precursors is reported. Physiochemical characterization revealed the symbiotic relationship between a Co2P crystal and surrounding nanometer-sized CoNx moieties embedded in an N,P-codoped porous carbon matrix. Co2P@CNF shows high oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction performance owing to the synergistic effect of Co2P nanocrystals and the neighboring CoNx moieties, which have the optimum binding strength of reactants and facilitate the mass transfer. The free-standing Co2P@CNF air-cathode-based Zn-air batteries deliver a power density of 121 mW cm-2 at a voltage of 0.76 V. The overall overpotential of Co2P@CNF-based Zn-air batteries can be significantly reduced, with low discharge-charge voltage gap (0.81 V at 10 mA cm-2) and high cycling stability, which outperform the benchmark Pt/C-based Zn-air batteries. The one-step electrospinning method can serve as a universal platform to develop other high-performance transition-metal phosphide catalysts benefitting from the synergy effect of transition nitride satellite shells. The free-standing and flexible properties of Co2P@CNF make it a potential candidate for wearable electronic devices.


The palmar prints of 902 medical students (732 male and 170 female) were analyzed according to the method of Cummins and Midlo, in an attempt to reveal a bilateral variance of palmar interdigital configurations within individuals. 1) No sex differences were observed in the frequency of true patterns in each interdigital area. The overall frequency of true patterns was highest in the fourth interdigital area (left 86.7%, right 70.8%) and decreased in the following order: the hypothenar area (left 25.6%, right 22.8%), the third interdigital area (left 12.1%, right 29.7%), the thenar/first interdigital area (left 14.6%, right 4.3%) and the second interdigital area (left 0.6%, right 1.2%). 2) Each palmar configurational area showed a different frequency of true patterns in the right and left hands. In the hypothenar area, the thenar/first interdigital area and the fourth interdigital area, true patterns were found most frequently on the left hand. On the other hand, true patterns were found most frequently on the right hand in the second interdigital area and the third interdigital area, especially the frequency of the loop pattern, which was 2.8 times higher in the left palm than in the right palm in males, and 2.5 times higher in females. 3) The frequency of students who had the same pattern type in both hands was highest in the second interdigital area (98.4%) and decreased in the following order: the thenar/first interdigital area (88.0%), the hypothenar area (77.9%), the third interdigital area (74.1%) and the fourth interdigital area (68.0%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The membrane potential, arising from uneven distribution of ions across cell membranes containing selectively permeable ion channels, is of fundamental importance to cell signaling. The necessity of maintaining the membrane potential may be appreciated by expressing Ohm's law as current = voltage/resistance and recognizing that no current flows when voltage = 0, i.e., transmembrane voltage gradients, created by uneven transmembrane ion concentrations, are an absolute requirement for the generation of currents that precipitate the action and synaptic potentials that consume >80% of the brain's energy budget and underlie the electrical activity that defines brain function. The concept of the equilibrium potential is vital to understanding the origins of the membrane potential. The equilibrium potential defines a potential at which there is no net transmembrane ion flux, where the work created by the concentration gradient is balanced by the transmembrane voltage difference, and derives from a relationship describing the work done by the diffusion of ions down a concentration gradient. The Nernst equation predicts the equilibrium potential and, as such, is fundamental to understanding the interplay between transmembrane ion concentrations and equilibrium potentials. Logarithmic transformation of the ratio of internal and external ion concentrations lies at the heart of the Nernst equation, but most undergraduate neuroscience students have little understanding of the logarithmic function. To compound this, no current undergraduate neuroscience textbooks describe the effect of logarithmic transformation in appreciable detail, leaving the majority of students with little insight into how ion concentrations determine, or how ion perturbations alter, the membrane potential.


Abstract Objective: Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa L. (Rosaceae) is a shrup whose fruits are consumed as food in Turkey. This study was aimed to evaluate antioxidant activity of methanol extract of P. spinosa and its cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines. Method: Methanol extract of P. spinosa fruit was evaluated for its in vitro cytotoxic activity on multiform (GBM) brain cancer (LN229, U87 and T98G) and pancreas cancer (PANC-1 and AsPC-1) cell lines. Cell viability assays were performed by calculating the percentage of viable cells using a luminescence system, and spectrophotometrically. measuring its antioxidant ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities. Differences were considered as statistically significant at p*<0.001 and p**<0.0005 according to unpaired student t-test. Results: Methanol extract of P. spinosa fruit showed 2548±18 mg GAE/100 g correspon-ding to the total phenolic content, and moderate antioxidant activity (0.1896±0.1143 and 0.0729±0.0348) by ABTS� and DPPH� assays. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, after evaluating the results of brain and pancreas cancer cell lines, significant cytotoxic activities with 50-63% cell viability of GBM brain cancer cells were determined while no cytotoxicity was observed on pancreas cancer cell lines, PANC-1; and AsPC-1. The results of this study showed that the methanol extract of P. spinosa fruit has significant antioxidant capacity and leads to statistically significant decreased viability on glioblastoma brain cancer cells.


In their book The Economic Structure of Corporate Law, Frank H. Easterbrook, a judge for the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and a former law professor at the University of Chicago, and Daniel R. Fischel, the Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, have very effectively brought economic analysis to bear on corporate law problems. The result is another impressive demonstration of the combination of theoretical argument and close attention to supporting data (usually in the form of stock market event studies) which has become characteristic of the economic and financial literature on the corporation over the last two decades.


Background: Hemodialysis, as the main remedy of chronic renal failure, can cause mental problems among patients receiving this treatment. These clients face depression because of being treated long-term and invasive therapeutically methods. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study in which 171 patients receiving hemodialysis. They were divided in to those ones suffering from syndrome and the second group without syndrome. Results: The results showed that the depression average grade was 47.31 ± 11.60 and 43.15 ± 10.3, in the first and the second group. This was a significant relation. Conclusion: Being high level of depression among these patients who suffering from restless leg syndrome, its suggested monitoring depression level intermittently.vital signs and decrease serum cortisol level in patients undergoing gynecological elective surgeries.


Human sperm become responsive to inducers of the acrosome reaction if they are washed free of seminal plasma and incubated in an appropriate medium. We tested the hypothesis that sperm must lose cholesterol during incubation in order to become responsive to the agonist, progesterone. Freshly ejaculated sperm contained 2.92 +/- 0.202 nmol unesterified cholesterol/10(7) sperm (mean +/- SEM, n = 18). When incubated for 24 h in vitro, sperm suspensions lost 29 +/- 6% of their free cholesterol (n = 23). Sperm lost cholesterol slightly faster than they became acrosomally responsive. Adding cholesterol to the medium prevented sperm from losing cholesterol and from becoming responsive. Varying the cholesterol content of the medium had similar effects on loss of sperm cholesterol (ED50 = 406 nM) and acrosomal responsiveness (ED50 = 388 nM). Incubating sperm with a 1:150 dilution of seminal plasma (containing 5.18 microM cholesterol) also prevented sperm from losing cholesterol and from becoming responsive. Incubating sperm 24 h in medium containing 0.5 mg/ml phosphatidylcholine increased the amount of cholesterol lost and the number of sperm that became responsive. Our results support a model in which sperm unesterified cholesterol (or a molecule in equilibrium with it) suppresses acrosomal responsiveness. Sperm must lose unesterified cholesterol to become responsive to progesterone.


Bangladesh is a developing country with an underprivileged banking system. In the last two years, Bangladesh's economic extension was quite remarkable from the viewpoint of GDP growth rate. However, the scenario of the developed countries banking sector is opposite of the banking sector in Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh has many other economic sectors, in contributing the nation, banking is one of the major areas. In various categories with several banks the sector forms. Considering proprietorship the segments are classified into four major categoriessuch as Nationalized Commercial Bank, Private Commercial Bank, Development Financial Institutions, and Foreign Commercial Banks. This study made a comparison of profitability in these four sectors of banks in Bangladesh. The research objective was to compare the trends of profitability ratios by types of banks in Bangladesh, and the data used in this paper was collected from secondary sources.


INTRODUCTION: To understand the relationships between Delivery Unit size, activity, nurse staffing and perinatal outcomes. METHODS: From an observational cohort, including 101,120 pregnancies in 24 hospitals, we evaluated: Postpartum hemorrhage, 5-minute Apgar below 4 (LoAp5), Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), Shoulder dystocia (SD), Fetal trauma, and cord pH below 7.0. These were evaluated according to; Weekday vs Weekend, Night vs Day vs Evening shift, Small (below 3,500) vs Medium (3,500–5,499) vs Large (above 5,500) Unit size in births per year, and Nurse-Patient Ratio (NPR=Total nursing hours per shift/births per shift/8 hours). Scheduled cesareans, those delivering outside L&D, non-presenting newborns in multiple gestations, and neonatal deaths without resuscitation were excluded. RESULTS: There were more births (P=.001) on Weekdays than Weekends (13.0 vs 10.7) and on Days than Nights (4.4 vs 3.5). There were wide ranges in daily birth volumes regardless of Unit size (Small 0–21, Medium 0–24, Large 0–56), although variance was greatest in Large Units (P=.001). NPR was higher on Weekends, Nights, and in Small vs Medium and Large Units, P=.001 for each. Multivariable regression revealed less LoAp5 (P=.04) and HIE (P<.001) on Days than Nights; more SD on Weekdays (P=.03); and less HIE (P=.009) and SD (P<.001) with increasing Unit size. The frequencies of adverse perinatal complications did not vary with NPR. CONCLUSION: Birth volumes vary according to weekday and shift, with high daily variability regardless of Unit size. Nurse-Patient Ratios are higher in smaller Units, and during less busy Weekends and Nights. Within this context, NPR is not associated with adverse perinatal outcomes.


When organizations in technology industries attempt to advance their innovative activities, they must be cognizant of the intellectual property rights of others. Patent thickets can thwart ongoing innovation, however, and throughout the last 150 years, firms have stumbled into a number of patent thickets. Occasionally those firms responded by constructing patent pools, which are organizational structures where multiple firms collectively aggregate patent rights into a package for licensing, either among themselves or to any potential licensees irrespective of membership in the pool. Such collaboration among technologically competing firms, however, has often encountered difficulty from an antitrust standpoint, even if the formation of the pool is pro-competitive. The legal history of patent pool litigation in the United States throughout most of the twentieth century was arguably clumsy with judges and justices often destroying potentially pro-competitive patent pooling structures without a detailed examination of the patents within the pool. This article argues, however, that such blunt machete approach was unnecessary and empirically demonstrates that when the judicial examination of the pool analyzed the underlying patent thicket, the pool was much more likely to survive. We also propose that, for judicial examination of patent pools outside of the standards-based context, any such examination must apply the rule of reason and, in the absence of a technology standard to guide a determination of essentialness, must thoroughly examine the technological and economic interrelationships among and between the pooled patents. This article argues that such a rule will facilitate the formation of pro-competitive patent pools to solve the problem of patent thickets in industries without dominant technology standards.


Flower bud development is a defining feature of walnut, which contributes to the kernel yield, yield stability, fruit quality and commodity value. However, little is known about the mechanism of the flower bud development in walnut. Here, the stages of walnut female flower bud development were divided into five period (P01-05) by using histological observation. They were further studied through PacBio Iso-Seq and RNA-seq analysis. Accordingly, we obtained 52,875 full-length transcripts, where 4,579 were new transcripts, 3,065 were novel genes, 1,437 were consensus lncRNAs and 20,813 were alternatively spliced isoforms. These transcripts greatly improved the current genome annotation and enhanced our understanding of the walnut transcriptome. Next, RNA sequencing of female flower buds at five periods revealed that circadian rhythm-plant was commonly enriched along with the flower bud developmental gradient. A total of 14 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and six of them were confirmed by real-time quantitative analysis. Additionally, six and two differentially expressed clock genes were detected to be regulated by AS events and lncRNAs, respectively. All these detected plant circadian genes form a complex interconnected network to regulate the flower bud development. Thus, investigation of key genes associated with the circadian clock could clarify the process of flower bud development in walnut.


Excess molar enthalpies for the ternary system {x 1 2-methoxy-2-methylpropane (MTBE) + x 2 1-propanol + (1 ― x 1 ― x 2 ) nonane} and the involved binary mixture {x 1-propanol + (1 ― x) nonane} have been measured at the temperature of 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure, over the whole composition range. No experimental excess enthalpy values were found in the currently avaliable literature for the ternary and binary mixtures under study in similar conditions. Values of excess molar enthalpies were measured using a Calvet microcalorimeter. The results were fitted by means of different variable degree polynomials. Smooth representations of the results are presented and used to construct constant excess molar enthalpy contours on Roozeboom diagrams. The group contribution model of the UNIFAC model (in the versions of Larsen et al. and Gmehling et al.) was used to estimate ternary excess enthalpy values. Several empirical expressions for estimating ternary properties from binary results were also tested.


Throughout the last decade, the microprocessor industry has been struggling to preserve the benefits of Moore's Law scaling. The persistent scaling of CMOS technology no longer yields exponential performance gains due in part to the growth of dark silicon. With each subsequent technology node generation, power constraints resulting from factors such as sub-threshold leakage currents are projected to further limit the number of transistors that can be simultaneously powered. To overcome the limits of CMOS devices, researchers are working to develop "beyond-CMOS" device technologies. To determine the most promising beyond-CMOS devices, it is necessary to benchmark them against CMOS. In this paper, we present the design and validation of an analytical benchmarking model that evaluates CMOS and beyond-CMOS devices at the architectural-level. Our model is built from the device to the architectural/application-level. Our target architecture is a symmetric multi-core processor executing highly parallel applications (i.e., PARSEC). As a case study, we select one class of promising beyond-CMOS devices, tunneling field-effect transistors, to evaluate against CMOS.


Abstract Treatment of cutaneous melanoma (M-3 and B16-F10 implanted in mice) with rapidly-scanned, tightly-focused near infrared light elicits selective destruction of tumor tissue. A single laser treatment yielded complete eradication in >90% of B16-F10 tumors with thicknesses of approximately 3 mm; amelanotic M-3 tumors proved less responsive (ca 25% clearance rate). In addition to local tumor destruction, laser treatment of B16-F10 tumors in immunocompetent mice stimulated enhanced cytokine levels (interleukin-2 and interleukin-10) within treated tumor tissues and rejection of tumor cells upon a subsequent challenge dose. Such an antitumor immune response may lead to improved outcomes at both the treatment site and at sites of distant metastasis.


This paper examines the use of ethnographic photography to investigate organizational space. We integrate insights from social anthropology and discourse theory on the practices of photography in ethnographic research; and, organizational theory and post-modern geography on the socially productive, relational nature of space. An approach to researching organizational/organizing space-texts that addresses the challenge of a theoretically informed visual methodology by positing ethnographic photography as integral to the both spatial practice and its theorization is advanced. Through this we challenge current approaches, much of which retain an empiricist/realist flavour in certifying the photographer as an 'objective' witness to spacing, or at best support an individualist aesthetic. We contribute to knowledge through an examination of the materiality and embodied experiences of space. Our use of intertextual theory positions the ethnographic photographer in a dialogic practice of spacing and the textual politics of authorship and authority


A newly developed system (as described in the previous paper) employing separated herpes simplex virus (HSV) polypeptides electrophoretically transferred to nitrocellulose paper, Western Blot Analysis (WBA), was compared to microneutralization (MN) for the detection of type‐specific antibody to HSV types 1 and 2 in 98 human sera. Sera containing HSV1‐specific antibodies reacted at least twofold more densely (as quantitated by densitornetric scanning) to HSV1 than HSV2 polypeptides, while sera with HSVZspecific antibodies reacted twofold more densely to HSV2 polypeptides. The reliability of this system was determined (1) by analysis of sera from patients with true primary herpes simplex infections, (2) by adsorption studies that removed cross‐reacting antibodies, and (3) by comparison with neutralization. Of 36 sera found to have HSVl‐type‐specific antibody by WBA, 83% had MN ratios of <85 (indicating HSVl antibody), while of 28 sera found to have HSV2‐type‐specific antibody by WBA, 89% had MN ratios of >85 (indicating HSV2 antibodies). The MN ratio obtained on sera felt to have both HSV1‐type‐specific and HSV2‐type‐specific antibody by WBA ranged from 67 to 160. WBA agreed more closely with clinical isolates and adsorption studies than MN. This system not only accurately determines the HSV‐type‐specific antibody status of patients but provides important information on the specific immunogenic proteins.


Infantile fibrosarcoma is a rare malignant soft tissue tumor occurring especially in newborn and young children under 2 years. We experienced three cases of infantile fibrosarcoma presenting in the neonatal period. Case 1 presented with a multiseptated cystic mass on his left thigh at birth that was diagnosed as lymphangioma. After picibanil injection, we noted the size of the mass doubled and a solid lesion was prominent in the magnetic resonance image. Case 2 was found to have a reddish mass on his lower back mimicking hemangioma. Over 2 weeks, the mass grew rapidly with internal hemorrhaging. Case 3 was noted to have an encircling mass around the splenic flexure, which developed into congenital bowel obstruction. All of the tumors were resected completely, but microscopic resection margin was not clear in two patients. The two patients received adjuvant chemotherapy and all patients are well without evidence of recurrence. (J Korean Surg Soc 2010;79:S62-66)


Objectives: This study was carried out to analyze the single-dose toxicity of ShinYangHur (SYH) herbal acupuncture injected into the muscles of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: The SYH herbal acupuncture was made in a clean room at the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute (KPI, Korea-Good Manufacturing Practice, K-GMP). After the mixing process with sterile distilled water, the pH was controlled to between 7.0 and 7.5. Then, NaCl was added to make a 0.9% isotonic solution by using sterilized equipment. All experiments were conducted at Biotoxtech, an institution authorized to perform non clinical studies under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). SD rats were chosen for the pilot study. Doses of SYH herbal acupuncture, 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 mL, were administered to the experimental groups, and a dose of normal saline solution, 1.0 mL, was administered to the control group. This study was conducted under the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. Results: No deaths or abnormalities occurred in any of the four groups. No significant changes in weight, hematological parameters or clinical chemistry between the control group and the experimental groups were observed. To check for abnormalities in organs and tissues, we used microscopy was used to examine representative histological sections of each specified organ; the results showed no significant differences in any of the organs or tissues. Conclusion: The above outcomes suggest that treatment with SYH herbal acupuncture is relatively safe. Further studies on this subject are needed to yield more concrete evidence.


Mentoring for the professional development of school administrators has become widely acknowledged as an essential means of providing psychosocial and career support, particularly for novice administrators. Due to its strong potential to support the sustainability of schools by enabling successful administration, much research has been conducted on mentoring for the professional development of schools and an extensive knowledge base has been accumulated. The current study aims to evaluate this knowledge base holistically, to reveal the intellectual structure and evolution of this research field. With this purpose, the study conducted a combined bibliometric and science mapping analysis of 121 articles selected from the Scopus database using SciMAT software. The period-based science mapping analysis results showed that research initially focused on professional development and networking functions and later focused on developing school administrators' leadership skills through mentoring. During the last five years, the most prominent themes were enhancing the quality of mentoring and supporting school administrators' capacity to enable social justice. The results suggest several implications for the sustainability of mentoring programs to improve school administrators' professional capabilities and leadership skills, which would eventually help sustain a high level of school innovation and success.


PEGylation is the covalent attachment of activated monomethoxy poly(ethylene) glycols (MPEGs) to free lysine groups of therapeutic proteins. This technology has enhanced the physical stability of proteins and ablated humoral immune responses generated against them. In this study, adenoviral vectors were modified with MPEGs activated by cyanuric chloride, succinimidyl succinate, and tresyl chloride. Under proper buffering conditions, reactions were complete within 2 hr. Transduction efficiency of PEGylated adenoviruses was not compromised by neutralizing antibodies to native adenovirus in vitro. These preparations retained titers that were significantly greater than those of the unconjugated virus after storage at 42, 25, 4, and -20 degrees C. Stability profiles of PEGylated preparations at -20 degrees C suggest that glycerol could be eliminated from formulations without significant loss of viral titer. PEGylated adenoviruses produced a two- to threefold increase in transduction in the lung when administered by intratracheal injection and a fivefold increase in transduction in the liver when administered intravenously.


OBJECTIVE
To study the pathogenetic role of tissue factor (TF) in endothelial-injury in GVHD.

METHODS
Gene and protein expressions of TF in the organs of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and autologous HSCT (auto-HSCT) mice were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot. The effect of allogeneic T lymphocytes on the expression of TF and other cytokines and activation of MAPKs in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was detected by flow cytometry, real-time PCR or Western blot. The influence of TF antibodies (SB203580 and SP600125) on allogeneic T lymphocytes-induced cytokines expression was also tested.

RESULTS
(1) TF gene and protein expression in the liver, skin, small intestine and stomach of allo-HSCT mice was significantly elevated about 15.1+/-2.1, 5.5+/-1.4, 9.7+/-2.3, 14.2+/-2.9 folds and 13.5+/-2.7, 6.2+/-0.9, 7.9+/-1.6, 15.3+/-3.2 folds respectively compared with that of auto-HSCT mice. (2) Allogeneic CD4+ CD8+ T lymphocytes significantly enhanced TF, VCAM-1, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-6 expression in TNF-alpha prestimulated HUVECs. (3) Allogeneic T lymphocytes enhanced p38MAPK and JNK phosphorylation in HUVECs, but did not affect ERK phosphorylation. p38 MAPK JNK inhibitors SB203580 and SP600125 reduced allogeneic T lymphocytes-induced TF expression in HUVECs. (4) SB203580 and SP600125 down-regulated allogeneic T lymphocytes-induced VCAM-1, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, IL-6 expression in HUVECs.

CONCLUSION
TF mediates vascular endothelial-injury and activation in GVHD via phosphorylation of p38MAPK and JNK.


High resolution digital aeromagnetic data acquired by the Nigerian Geologic Survey Agency (NGSA) over a part of the Chad Basin, Nigeria, were analyzed to investigate the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the basin using various magnetic hydrocarbon indicators. The digital aeromagnetic data were processed to produce total magnetic intensity and residual magnetic maps, and further transformed into Reduced-to-the-Equator map to remove the asymmetry associated with low latitude magnetic anomalies. Horizontal, vertical, and tilt derivatives, and 3D Euler deconvolution analyses were used to map the geometry and depth of basement rocks. Intra-sedimentary magnetic anomalies with possible association with hydrocarbon occurrence were enhanced by the application of band pass filters. The derivative maps revealed parallel to sub-parallel trending NE-SW, NW-SE and E-W lineaments probably caused by fracture zones in the basement underlying the study area, some of which propagate as faults into the overlying sedimentary formations. The thickness of the sediments in the study area ranged from 1.5 km in the north-eastern region, 6.0 km in the south-eastern region to 7.0 km in the eastern region. The band-pass filtered map displayed some magnetic aureoles (circular magnetic low surrounded on all sides by magnetic high), often associated with hydrocarbon seepages. These aureoles characterize the deepest parts of the basin in the east-central and south-western parts, far removed from the existing exploratory wells that are mostly dry. It was concluded that the east-central and south-eastern parts of the basin investigated with a combination of favorably thick sedimentary formation, faults, fractures and magnetic aureoles probably represented areas of better potential for hydrocarbon exploration and were thus recommended for detailed seismic surveys.


This paper investigates the effect of an oxygenated additive di-methyl carbonate (DMC), in Calophyllum Inophyllum methyl ester (CIME)-diesel blends, on engine performance and exhaust emission characteristics. The results are compared with those additives in CIME blends with diesel, and presented in this paper. Experiments were conducted at various compression ratios (CR) for the given blends of B20 and B40 using a single cylinder variable compression ratio compression ignition engine. Based on the experimental results, it is observed that the DMC added with CIME –diesel blends has improved the thermal efficiency up to 2.6% and 3% and a rise in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of about 2.7% and 5.3% compared with CIME-diesel blends and diesel respectively, at higher compression ratios. Further, for the B20+A blend there is a marginal reduction in carbon monoxide (CO) emission of 22.7% and unburned hydro carbons (UBHC) emission of 12.7%, at the cost of the rise in oxides of nitrogen (NOx) than in those of diesel.


Taxol, a plant-derived antitumor agent, stabilizes microtubules. Taxol also elicits cell signals in a manner indistinguishable from bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS-like actions of Taxol are controlled by the lps gene and are independent of binding to the known Taxol target, beta-tubulin. Using biotin-labeled Taxol, avidin-agarose affinity chromatography, and peptide mass fingerprinting, we identified two Taxol targets from mouse macrophages and brain as heat shock proteins (Hsps) of the 70- and 90-kDa families. Geldanamycin, a specific inhibitor of the Hsp 90 family, blocked the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB and expression of tumor necrosis factor in macrophages treated with Taxol or with LPS. Geldanamycin did not block microtubule bundling by Taxol or macrophage activation by tumor necrosis factor. Thus, Taxol binds Hsps, and Hsp 90 helps mediate the activation of macrophages by Taxol and by LPS.


Public support for numerous obesity policies is low, which is one barrier to their implementation. One reason for this low support is the tendency to ascribe obesity to failings of willpower as opposed to the environment. Correlational evidence supports this position. However, the experimental evidence is mixed. In two experimental studies, participants were randomised to receive no message, messages about the environment's influence on obesity (Study 1 & 2), or messages about the environment's influence on human behaviour (Study 1). We investigated whether communicating these messages changed support for obesity policies and beliefs about the causes of obesity. Participants were recruited from nationally representative samples in Great Britain (Study 1 & 2) and the USA (Study 2) (total n = 4391). Study 2 was designed to replicate existing research. Neither study found evidence that communicating the messages increased support for obesity policies or strengthened beliefs about the environment's role in obesity. Study 2, therefore, did not replicate two earlier experimental studies. Instead, the studies reported here suggest that people's beliefs about the causes of obesity are resistant to change in response to evidence and are, therefore, not a promising avenue to increase support for obesity policies.


Backgroud Information regarding the epidemiological background of Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE) is limited. Methods We conducted a nationwide survey of BBE in the Japanese population in two steps: the first aimed to identify patients with brainstem encephalitis for the specified 3 year period and the second to evaluate whether the clinical picture met our diagnostic criteria for BBE. Results The number of patients with brainstem encephalitis was estimated as 704 (95% CI 478 to 930) over the 3 years. The annual onset of BBE was roughly estimated as 100 cases, which accounted for 43% of brainstem encephalitis. BBE was slightly male predominant and often young onset. Among brainstem encephalitis patients, BBE was characterised by antecedent infectious symptoms, oropharyngeal palsy and sensory disturbance at the distal extremities with absent or decreased tendon reflexes, in addition to a triad of symptoms (external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and impaired level of consciousness) and shorter duration to the peak, with good outcome. Anti-GQ1b antibodies were present in 75% of cases. Several BBE patients with atypical clinical features or without anti-GQ1b antibodies were also identified. These cases often had marked CSF pleocytosis, abnormal brain MRI findings and a longer duration to peak symptoms, sometimes with considerable residual deficits. Conclusions BBE is a rare disorder but accounts for a major proportion of brainstem encephalitis. BBE consists of typical and atypical cases. Typical BBE has similar neurological and serological features to Fisher syndrome and shows good recovery whereas atypical BBE is characterised by delayed recovery, negative anti-GQ1b antibodies, and abnormal CSF and brain MRI findings with other possible pathogeneses.


We explore the response to energetic partons of a baryon-charged medium produced in low energy heavy-ion collisions in which the partonic energy loss rate is expected to depend on both temperature and baryon chemical potential. The energy and momentum deposited by the partons are described by dynamical sources added to hydrodynamic equations of motion. We study the distortions of various hydrodynamic quantities, especially the energy and baryon densities, induced by energetic partons plowing through the medium. By studying the contribution from this medium response to the emission spectra of several identified hadron species we identify qualitative differences between the jet-induced modifications for mesons and net protons.


This article reviews the neurobiologic rationale for and presents clinical guidance concerning the use of medications that reduce central nervous system noradrenergic activity in the treatment of intrusive symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. The authors reviewed neurobiological studies, nonclinical studies using animal models, clinical case reports, open-label drug studies, and blinded, placebo-controlled drug studies. This review of the basic science and clinical literature, and the authors' clinical experience with culturally and demographically diverse populations, indicate that clonidine and prazosin can play a useful role in treating sleep disturbance and hyperarousal in posttraumatic stress disorder, with minimal adverse effects and low financial cost.


Understanding decisions made by neural networks is key for the deployment of intelligent systems in real world applications. However, the opaque decision making process of these systems is a disadvantage where interpretability is essential. Many feature-based explanation techniques have been introduced over the last few years in the field of machine learning to better understand decisions made by neural networks and have become an important component to verify their reasoning capabilities. However, existing methods do not allow statements to be made about the uncertainty regarding a feature's relevance for the prediction. In this paper, we introduce Monte Carlo Relevance Propagation (MCRP) for feature relevance uncertainty estimation. A simple but powerful method based on Monte Carlo estimation of the feature relevance distribution to compute feature relevance uncertainty scores that allow a deeper understanding of a neural network's perception and reasoning.


Off-track interference (OTI) arises as a result of head misalignment and is likely to become the dominant source of errors in future magnetic storage systems with high track density. In this paper, using a two-track and single-head model for OTI, we compare two different equalization/detection techniques aiming at recovering data from only the main track. One is a conventional approach based on suppressing OTI by a linear equalizer and then performing partial response maximum-likelihood (PRML) detection of the main track data. The other views OTI as the response of the channel to an independent data sequence, simultaneously estimates the two data sequences by joint PRML detection, and then simply discards the adjacent track data at the end. We evaluate the detection performance in terms of effective detection signal-to-noise ratio, and provide bit-error-rate simulation results. We also discuss a technique to adaptively estimate the position of the head as well as compensate for the relative phase difference in the offtrack data.


Abstract Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to represent a threat to public health and safety. The number of new drugs in the latest emergent synthetic opioid class—the 2-benzylbenzimidazole analogs—also called the nitazenes—has begun to dominate the current new synthetic opioid (NSO) subclass of NPS. We describe a liquid chromatography–tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry method for the quantification of nine analogs and/or metabolites of drugs in this series: isotonitazene, metonitazene, protonitazene, etonitazene, clonitazene, flunitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, 5-amino isotonitazene and 4ʹ-hydroxy nitazene in human whole blood, urine, and tissue. Samples were prepared for analysis using a basic liquid–liquid extraction. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a C-18 analytical column. Multiple reaction monitoring mode was used for detection. The calibration range for the analytes was 0.5–50 ng/mL (except for 5-amino isotonitazene, which was 1.0–50 ng/mL). The limit of detection was 0.1 ng/mL, and the limit of quantitation was 0.5 ng/mL. The method had no carryover or interferences. Ionization enhancement was observed but did not affect quantitation. All analytes passed the method validation assessment. Authentic human samples suspected of containing NSOs were obtained from a medical examiner and coroner offices, as well as partnering forensic toxicology laboratories. Isotonitazene was confirmed in 92 blood samples, and its metabolites were confirmed across various matrices. Metonitazene (n = 35), flunitazene (n = 5), protonitazene (n = 3), etodesnitazene (n = 2) and butonitazene (n = 1) were also detected in cases. These newly emerging 2-benzylbenzimidazole analogs were commonly found in combination with NPS benzodiazepines and opioids (e.g., flualprazolam, fentanyl). Nitazene analogs are potent esoteric drugs that may not be identified during routine toxicological screening, and specialized assays based on sensitive instrumentation are needed to accurately characterize these NSOs.


Purpose : The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and the role of DWI for the diagnosis of HIE. Materials and Methods : Six patients with HIE underwent MRI including DWI. MR examinations were performed within 4 - 32 days (mean, 11.8 days) after hypoxic brain insult. We assessed the distribution of the lesions and compared the DWI and T2, FLAIR images for the subjective conspicuity of the lesions. Results : In all patients, symmetrical hyperintense lesions were demonstrated in the bilateral basal ganglia on T2, FLAIR, and DWI. On ADC map image, the lesions were hypointense in four of six patients and isointense in other two patients. Lesion conspicuity on DWI was higher than on T2 and FLAIR images in four of six patients and similar in other two patients. For the involvement of the cortex and subcortical white matter, in five of six patients, bilateral symmetric hyperintense lesions were seen on T2, FLAIR, and DWI. Lesion conspicuity on DWI was higher than on T2 and FLAIR images in three of them and similar in other two patients. On ADC map image, the lesions showed hypointensity in three of five patients and isointensity in other two patients. For the involvement of the deep cerebral white matter, T2, FLAIR, and DWI showed bilateral symmetric hyperintense lesions in four of six patients. Among them, Lesion conspicuity on DWI was higher than on T2 and FLAIR images in only one patient. Conclusion : HIE is characterized by symmetrical hyperintense lesions in the bilateral basal ganglia, cerebral cortex, and white matter on DWI and the lesions are more conspicuously demonstrated on DWI than on T2 and FLAIR images.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
This retrospective study compared the capability of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and APACHE III scoring systems to predict outcome and determined the independent predictors of survival in these scoring systems for patients with respiratory failure in a medical intensive care unit (ICU).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Seven hundred and eight patients with respiratory failure admitted to the medical ICU throughout a 9-year period were studied. Patients with an ICU stay of less than 24 hours, patients under 12 years of age, and burn and surgery patients were excluded. APACHE scores were calculated at 24 hours after admission. Student's t-test was used to compare the total APACHE scores of survivor and non-survivor groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine which variables were predictors of mortality. The discriminative power of APACHE scores to predict in-hospital mortality was studied by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the APACHE II and APACHE III systems, respectively.

RESULTS
Both systems showed a significant association between higher scores and higher mortality. The APACHE II system under-predicted the actual hospital mortality rate. The APACHE III systems had a higher discriminative power (area 0.7462) than the APACHE II systems (area 0.6856; p < 0.05). The independent predictors of survival as assessed by APACHE II and III systems were respiratory rate, arterial oxygen pressure, oxygen gradient between alveoli and artery, serum creatinine concentration, and the presence of neurologic abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS
The APACHE III systems has greater discriminative power than the APACHE II systems for predicting in-hospital mortality. The variables of oxygenation, mean artery pressure, respiratory rate, serum creatinine concentration, and Glasgow Coma Scale play important roles in predicting survival for patients with respiratory failure.


(S)-Mandelate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas putida, an FMN-dependent alpha-hydroxy acid dehydrogenase, oxidizes (S)-mandelate to benzoylformate. The generally accepted catalytic mechanism for this enzyme involves the formation of a carbanion intermediate. Histidine-274 has been proposed to be the active-site base that abstracts the substrate alpha-proton to generate the carbanion. Histidine-274 was altered to glycine, alanine, and asparagine. All three mutants were completely inactive. The mutants were able to form adducts with sulfite, though with much weaker affinity than the wild-type enzyme. Binding of the inhibitor, (R)-mandelate, was not greatly affected by the mutation, unlike that of the substrate, (S)-mandelate, indicating that H274 plays a role in substrate binding. The activity of H274G and, to a lesser extent, H274A could be partially restored by the addition of exogenous imidazoles. The maximum rescued activity for H274G with imidazole was approximately 0.1% of the wild-type value. Saturation kinetics obtained for rescued activity suggest that formation of a ternary complex of imidazole, enzyme, and substrate is required for catalysis. pH-dependence studies confirm that the free base form of imidazole is the rescue agent. An earlier study of pH profiles of the wild-type enzyme indicated that deprotonation of a residue with a pK(a) of 5.5 in the free enzyme was essential for activity (Lehoux, I. E., and Mitra, B. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 5836-5848). Data obtained in this work confirm that the pK(a) of 5.5 belongs to histidine-274.


Dynamic dispatch, or late binding of function calls, is a salient feature of object-oriented programming languages like C++ and Java. The target of a dispatched call changes according to the type of the object receiving the call. Due to inheritance the exact type is unknown at compile time, and therefore dispatch must occur in general at run time, implying a cost to the use of object-oriented programming languages. In previous work, we measured the performance of various equivalent non-object-oriented control structures to determine if dispatch cost can be reduced by translation. Measurements on a variety of virtual machines and hardware platforms show that alternative control structures are useful for a low number of expected types (low degrees of polymorphism). However, the gains differ substantially for different type patterns, even when the number of types is constant. The difference is likely to be caused by a processor's branch predictor, which guess the outcome of branches involved in dynamic dispatch . In this paper, we simulate branch predictors of Athlon and Pentium in order to validate this insight. The results show that branch prediction accuracy is indeed responsible. For successful optimization it is therefore not sufficient to guess the number of types occurring in a call. The type pattern should also be taken into account.


The demand of energy in Thailand has significantly increased for the past 10 years. Volunteer company as one of the subsidiary company of Thailand National Oil and Gas Company, has responsible to respond to serve country's energy demand in order to minimize import expense. Upstream Business Company like volunteer company is responsible to find the natural resources and energy to supply the country demand. Company is also in High-risk industry which one major accident may result operation disruption and impact to the country e.g. gas supply shortage to power plant and cause electricity shortage in Thailand. On the other hand, it may cause major reputation damage, multiple fatalities, environment contamination and financial loss to company and society. Hence, safety is one of the most important areas to make sure operation run smooth and prevent those from happening. The evolution and focus of safety have improved from 1980s, 2000s to early 2010s in Technology, System and Culture areas respectively. In Thailand, safety culture is very new and many companies fail to create the effective safety culture. Volunteer company has focused on safety culture (people) from the past 5 years due to root/underlying causes of the incident come from human factor. Volunteer company tailor made safety culture maturity model of 5 levels, Pathological, Reactive, Calculative, Proactive and Generative, from industry best practice along with strengthens safety management system in order to reduce incident and prevent Major accident in operation. Volunteer company launched safety culture questionnaire to identify company status to all employee in 2011 and result come with they are in level 3 (Calculative). Once the safety culture level has been clarify, it is easier to use proper tools and techniques to create a culture change, Volunteer company come up with 5 years roadmap to create a culture change from 2011 – 2015 with aspiration to achieve Generative level. As result of Volunteer company safety culture improvement shown indirectly from reduction in "Lost time injury frequency" (LTIF) and "Total recordable injury rate" (TRIR) from safety statistics, severity of the case has been reduced and operation run smoothly without any major accident.


Background: Metformin reduces the overall risk of cancer incidence by 31%, improves cancer-related mortality and enhances response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in type 2-diabetics receiving metformin. There is evidence that metformin works through activation of Adenosine Monophosphate Protein Kinase (AMPK), an energy-sensing kinase that maintains cellular energy homeostasis. In a pre-operative window-of-opportunity randomized trial we have demonstrated that metformin significantly reduces proliferation and blunts the insulin response in primary operable breast cancer. This study further analysed cancer tissue from the trial to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved. Methodology: Non-diabetic women with operable invasive breast cancer were randomised to receive pre-operative metformin or no drug. Forty seven patients had core biopsy at diagnosis then were randomized to metformin (metformin 500mg o.d. for 1 week increased to 1g b.d for a further week continued to surgery) or no drug, and 2 weeks later had core biopsy at surgery. Insulin receptor, phospho-AMPK (pAMPK), phospho-Akt (pAkt) and Ki67 immunohistochemistry was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded cores and scored blinded to treatment. Paired t-test was used for analysis. Results: Significant up-regulation of pAMPK (p = 0.04) and down-regulation of pAkt (p = 0.04) in metformin treated patients was demonstrated compared to the control group. No change in insulin receptor expression was identified but, as previously reported, there was a fall in ki67. Changes were independent of Body Mass Index. Seven patients (7/24) receiving metformin withdrew because of gastro-intestinal upset and were excluded from the immunohistochemical analyses. Conclusion: These findings suggest that metformin works in vivo in breast cancer patients via up-regulation of tumor pAMPK and down-regulation of pAkt and proliferation. Since down-regulation of pAMPK is a feature of breast cancer, this suggests mechanistic evidence for the therapeutic effect of metformin. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr PD03-02.


The purpose of the article is to present, based on the data collected from the literature of specialty, new considerations regarding the treatment through miniinvasive transendoscopic and laparoscopic procedures of the patients diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The 3 procedures of the miniinvasive transendoscopic treatment of GERD, mentioned bellow have shown a significant improvement of the parameters related to the quality of life. Due to the action of high frequency currents at the gastroesophageal junction level, Stretta procedure creates a collagen contraction followed by a reduction of the esophageal lumen. After successive sutures, the "EndoCinchTM" endoscopic suture system described by C.R. Bard realizes a pleat on the inferior esophagian sphincter recovering the valve mechanism. The endoscopic submucosal implant of inert polymers (microspheres of plexiglas/beads of polymethylmethacrylat = PMMA) within the pleats of the inferior esophagus remakes the valve mechanism by pleats expansion. The miniinvasive surgical treatment of GERD (laparoscopic antireflux operations) generates through different techniques, still much debated by the literature of specialty (Dor, Toupet, Nissen, Rosetti, etc.), an increased pressure at the level of esophageal sphincter. In conclusion even are expensive, the medical and miniinvasive surgical treatments have given the best results. The miniinvasive transendoscopic procedure follows to be evaluated in the future by long term comparative trials.


This paper presents a micro-mechanistic approach for modeling fatigue damage initiation due to cyclic creep in eutectic Pb-Sn solder. Damage mechanics due to cyclic creep is modeled with void nucleation, void growth and void coalescence model based on micro-structural stress fields. Micro-structural stress states are estimated under viscoplastic phenomena like grain boundary sliding and its blocking at 2nd phase particles, and diffusional creep relaxation. A conceptual framework is provided to quantify the creep-fatigue damage due to thermo-mechanical cycling. Some parametric studies are provided to better illustrate the utility of the developed model.


This paper investigates the long-term diachronic development of the perfect and preterite tenses in German and provides a novel analysis by supplementing Reichenbach's (1947) classical theory of tense by the notion of underspecification. Based on a newly compiled parallel corpus spanning the entire documented history of German, we show that the development in question is cyclic: It starts out with only one tense form (preterite) compatible with both current relevance and narrative past readings in (early) Old High German and, via three intermediate stages, arrives at only one tense form again (perfect) compatible with the same readings in modern Upper German dialects. We propose that in order to capture all attested stages we must allow tenses to be unspecified for R (reference time), with R merely being inferred pragmatically. We then propose that the transitions between the different stages can be explained by the interplay between semantics and pragmatics.


Within a healthcare supply chain, the ability to trace and track patient care items through the use of unique identifiers has been shown to be a best practice. Data standardization through the use of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) and Global Location Numbers (GLN) has helped hospitals improve patient safety and medical cost reimbursements. Despite these proven benefits the full adoption of data standards across all items throughout the industry has been slow to be achieved. This paper uses simulation to illustrate the potential benefits within a hospital supply system in terms of the improved management of items that can expire. By reducing the time and cost associated within expiration management, hospitals can show the benefits of data standards and justify the efforts to move towards a full adoption of data standards.


A decision analytic model was used to examine alternative strategies to screen donated blood for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) using data from the literature and from 1987 blood-screening programs in areas with high and low prevalence of HIV. Sensitivity analyses incorporated uncertainties about HIV infection and test performance. Current screening strategies are estimated to allow 20.5 infected units per million donated units to be transfused at a cost of $16,850 per HIV-positive unit detected in high-prevalence areas and 4.7 infected units per million donated units to be transfused at a cost of $32,275 per HIV-positive unit detected in low prevalence areas, with nine false-positive notifications of uninfected patients per million units screened and 14.9 discarded, noninfected units per HIV-positive unit in low-prevalence areas. Testing donated blood for HIV can be improved by individualizing screening strategies for areas with different prevalences of HIV. Efforts to further reduce transfusion-associated HIV should focus on improved test performance in early stages of infection, reduction of unnecessary transfusions, donor recruitment in lower-risk groups, and public health measures to reduce HIV infection among the general population.


T HE first public wireless transmission in Denmark was broadcast on October 29, 1922. It came about as the result of private cotiperation and was transmitted by a quondam naval station which had been placed provisionally in a shed within the precincts of the Free Port. It was received by a special set installed in a hall at the Technological Institute in Copenhagen, and was followed by a spell-bound audience assembled there for the purpose. It was, however, as its sponsors were the first to admit, not exactly a brilliant


Background: Cells present as minimal residual disease (MRD) following frontline therapy drive chemoresistant tumour relapse, thus their detection and targeting is a major priority in cancer therapy. Neuroblastoma (NB) is an aggressive neural crest-derived malignancy of infants and young children. A hallmark of NB is its clinical heterogeneity and the majority of infants with NB have a unique biology that results in spontaneous remission through differentiation in the absence of therapy, despite disease that may be disseminated to the liver, skin, and bone marrow at diagnosis. These infants (with stage 4S disease) have survival rates that exceed 95%. Children with high-risk NB, however, largely characterized by amplification of the MYCN oncogene, often have a disease that is therapy resistant. Although modest improvements in outcome have been achieved as a result of therapy intensification, 5-year event free survival in high-risk patients remains approximately 40-50%. Typically, high-risk neuroblastoma recurs after near complete remission is achieved and the development of effective strategies directed at MRD remains an unmet clinical need. Detection of MRD in neuroblastoma is usually performed using real-time quantitative (RQ)-PCR of neuroblastoma-specific transcripts. Tumor-selective mRNA markers levels are highly dependent on gene expression, which can vary between patients (by a factor of up 1000) and change during treatment. Furthermore, the applicability of a PCR target for MRD detection is also determined by its background expression in hematologic cells. Chromatin conformation patterns integrate the spatial arrangement of the chromatin and build a signature for the physiological status of the cell representing early changes in the genetic and epigenetic regulation. These signatures form the basis for a new technology, Episwitch ™, which can identify epigenetic patterns linked with cancer progression and aggressiveness. Results: Based on a screen of human NB cell lines containing amplification of MYCN or expression of high levels of MYCN protein versus NB cell lines lacking expression of MYCN, we have identified a panel of four NB-associated genetic markers: HDM2 , PHOX2B , TERT and TH . HDM2 and TERT are direct transcriptional targets of MYCN. This epigenetic signature is currently being validated in primary NB samples. An in vivo proof of concept study utilizing the equivalent mouse epigenetic signature is being performed in a relapse model of MYCN-driven NB. Conclusion: In this study we have developed and tested a novel blood test based on Episwitch ™ technology that discriminates MYCN-associated NB. Our data suggest this non-invasive test can be used to monitor remission/relapse status quantitatively with high sensitivity in high-risk MYCN-associated neuroblastoma, thus informing treatment decisions. Citation Format: Kevin Petrie, Megan Field, Zai Ahmad, Mehrnoush Dezfouli, Karen Barker, Magdalena Jeznach, Laura Glass, Albert Hallsworth, Yordan Sbirkov, Howard Womersley, Arthur Zelent, Philip Jordan, Alexandre Akoulitchev, Louis Chesler. A novel epigenetic blood test to monitor minimal residual disease in high-risk neuroblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-87. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-LB-87


The room-temperature ultraviolet absorption spectrum of H2Te has been recorded. Unlike other group-6 hydrides, it displays a long-wavelength tail that extends to 400 nm. Dissociation dynamics have been examined at photolysis wavelengths of 266 nm (which lies in the main absorption feature) and 355 nm (which lies in the long-wavelength tail) by using high-n Rydberg time-of-flight spectroscopy to obtain center-of-mass translational energy distributions for the channels that yield H atoms. Photodissociation at 355 nm yields TeH(2Pi1/2) selectively relative to the TeH(2Pi3/2) ground state. This is attributed to the role of the 3A' state, which has a shallow well at large R(H-TeH) and correlates to H+TeH(2Pi1/2). Note that the 2Pi1/2 state is analogous to the 2P1/2 spin-orbit excited state of atomic iodine, which is isoelectronic with TeH. The 3A' state is crossed at large R only by 2A", with which it does not interact. The character of 3A' at large R is influenced by a strong spin-orbit interaction in the TeH product. Namely, 2Pi1/2 has a higher degree of spherical symmetry than does 2Pi3/2 (recall that I(2P1/2) is spherically symmetric), and consequently 2Pi1/2 is not inclined to form either strongly bonding or antibonding orbitals with the H atom. The 3A'<--X transition dipole moment dominates in the long-wavelength region and increases with R. Structure observed in the absorption spectrum in the 380-400 nm region is attributed to vibrations on 3A'. The main absorption feature that is peaked at approximately 240 nm might arise from several excited surfaces. On the basis of the high degree of laboratory system spatial anisotropy of the fragments from 266 nm photolysis, as well as high-level theoretical studies, the main contribution is believed to be due to the 4A" surface. The 4A"<--X transition dipole moment dominates in the Franck-Condon region, and its polarization is in accord with the experimental observations. An extensive secondary photolysis (i.e., of nascent TeH) is observed at 266 and 355 nm, and the corresponding spectral features are assigned. Analyses of the c.m. translational energy distributions yield bond dissociation energies D0. For H2Te and TeH, these are 65.0+/-0.1 and 63.8+/-0.4 kcalmol, respectively, in good agreement with predictions that use high-level relativistic theory.


In this paper, we report a fast implementation of Wyner-Ziv video decoder using general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU). Despite of its many advantages, Wyner-Ziv video coding has a problem of huge decoding complexity. Since Slepian-Wolf decoding with rate adaptive LDPC accumulate code takes up more than 90% of entire Wyner-Ziv video decoding complexity, in this paper, we focus on fast implementation of the Slepian-Wolf decoder using the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) which is a GPGPU architecture developed by NVIDIA. Our implementation is shown to be 4∼5 times (QCIF size) or 15∼20 times (CIF size) faster compared to conventional Slepian-Wolf decoding.


The word 'capital' has many meanings, within and beyond business. In accounting, it was originally a credit concept but has many uses related to assets. In economics and tax, it has exclusively asset meanings. This paper investigates the development of the concept of capital, focussing on accounting and related disciplines, especially in the UK. Even as a credit term, 'capital' can be as narrow as original equity or wide enough to include debt. A credit/debit confusion can be seen in Pacioli's treatise and through to recent documents by standard setters. At various dates, amounts called 'capital' have been shown on different sides of the balance sheet. Capital maintenance is central to the measurement of income for various purposes. It was thrown off course in 1889 by a legal case which seems to have been influenced by the double-account system, which also had echoes in economics. However, the conventional accountants' view was re-established in 1980 because of an EU Directive. Maintenance of capital (both credit and debit forms) was much discussed in the 1970s in a period of high inflation. The concept of equity began to become clear with the separation of provisions and reserves (in the 1940s) and when liabilities were defined (from the 1960s). However, accounting practice departs from the definition and it measures liabilities in various ways, so that there is still no clear concept of equity capital. A number of policy implications are set out in the paper.


Vanadyl salen complexes bearing electron-withdrawing substituents have been prepared and characterized. Systematic substitutions on the ancillary ligand have allowed V(5+)/V(4+) reduction potentials to be tuned over a range of approximately 500 mV. The complexes are catalysts for the aerobic epoxidation of cyclohexene; catalytic activity roughly increases with increasing V(5+)/V(4+) reduction potential. The mechanism likely involves oxygen transfer from intermediate hydroperoxides that are formed by radical-chain autoxidation.


We review the interface between the current theoretical framework based on generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and experimental measurements of deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) observables. We find that the present theoretical framework needs to be extended to cover the current and future DVCS experiments. The current formulation is based on the quantum chromodynamics factorization of the handbag diagrams, relying on handbag dominance. Our examination reveals that the handbag diagrams by themselves do not satisfy electromagnetic gauge invariance. Our numerical estimates of the DVCS amplitudes in a solvable model indicate that the handbag contribution is not sufficient to saturate the exact result. Assuming the extraction of GPDs is made, we analyzed the crossover point in GPDs, important for the single spin asymmetry seen in DVCS experiments. We found that the inclusion of the higher Fock states is essential to explain the available data of single spin asymmetry.


Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the various mitotic chromosome features and karyotype of different age groups of children having learning disability . Methos: In the present study 86 learning disabled children from South India were selected. For mitotic analysis, peripheral blood samples were used and for estimating the size of chromosome, micrometry was employed. Results: Most of the chromosome showed significant difference in measurements. In the present investigation X chromosome showed least variability in arm lengths comparing with that of Y chromosome. Conclusion: Chromosome size has a great role in detecting the character of an organism. In the present investigation all the chromosomes showed variation from the normal, but X chromosome showed least variation in chromosome measurements.


Objective: In 2015, a protocol to prevent rebleeding was implemented to improve the outcome of patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysm. We performed a single-center retrospective analysis to compare the outcomes of pre/post using protocol. Methodology: Over a 3-year period, 208 patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysm were treated at our institution. The protocol for preventing rebleeding was initiated in 2015. We compared the two cohorts between the group of patients before initiating the protocol (n = 104) and after initiating the protocol (n = 104). We analyzed the protocol for preventing rebleeding which consisted of absolute bed rest, adequate pain control, avoiding stimuli (R), keeping euvolemia (E), preoperative systolic blood pressure <160 mmHg and within 140–180 mmHg after definite treatment (S), a short course (<72 h) of intravenous transaminic acid, and aneurysm treatment as early as possible (T). Outcomes are presented as in-hospital rebleeding, delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), and proportion of unfavorable outcomes (score of 4–6 on a modified Rankin scale at 6 and 12 months). Results: Postprotocol, there was a reduction in the incidence of in-hospital rebleeding from 6.7% to 2.8% (P = 0.20, odds ratio [OR] = 0.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.10–1.63) and in the proportion of patients who presented with good WFNS grades (1–3) with unfavorable clinical outcomes at 12 months from 27.0% to 12.8% (P = 0.03, OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.17–0.95). The DCI experienced a significant reduction from 44.2% to 7.7% (P < 0.001, OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.04–0.23), and their 180-day mortality rate in good WFNS grades patients decreased from 16.3% to 8.8% (hazard ratio 0.80, 95% CI = 0.28–2.28). Conclusion: Ruptured cerebral aneurysm patients benefit from this protocol due to its ability to reduce the incidence of DCI and reduce unfavorable outcome on good WFNS grade patients.


This paper improves the general electronic seal scheme based on PKI platform. The original scheme has low efficiency and complicated process when seal's authenticity is verified. In this new scheme, before the seal is used for the time a random code will be created by CA. The random code and the electronic seal image will be printed together. User can easily complete the seal security anti-counterfeiting verification under security strength with no high requirement, through contacting CA for checking the random.


Introduction: Hydatid disease is a parasitic infestation caused by tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus. It may be located anywhere in the human body. The most common organs involved are the liver (52-72%) and the lungs (10-40%). Hydatid disease can rarely develop in muscular structures, accounting for 1-5% of all cases.
Case Presentation: In this study, we report the case of a 53-year-old male patient who presented with a swelling on his left lumbar region and was diagnosed with hydatid disease within the quadratus lumborum muscle.
Conclusion: If any patient living in endemic countries as Turkey presents with a swelling in soft tissues and if he or she should be undergone investigations such as biopsy or cyst aspiration, then it will be mandatory to make a cautious physical examination and accurate imaging studies by keeping in mind the hydatid disease as a probable diagnosis.


In term of array acoutic logging waveforms,this paper forwards a new method on slowness pickup,which bases on the principle that compressional wave,shear wave and stoneley wave arriving time linearly increase with receiver-emitter distance in homogeneous formation,so combining correlation algorithm and Hough transform could identify waveforms and then pickup slownesses,and which is defined as slowness distance coherence-SDC.Two waveforms create a STC plot,so N array aoustic data could create C2N-1 STC plots.Merging all STC plots into a plot is not a easy job for each STC has different delta time,while same waves have same distance to origin in the homogeous formation,and compressional wave,shear wave and stoneley wave have different distance to origin.So using "distance" identify different wave don't care delta time changing or delta distance changing.SDC firstly chooses an array acoutic signal of one receiver and correlates with other receivers' signal,so N-1 slowness time coherence plots could be calculated if tool has N receivers.The second step is stacking each slowness time coherence plot by signal time,so each plot could convert to a correlation coefficients curve with delta time axis,and N-1 correlation coefficients curves are present now.N-1 correlation coefficents curves is a 2-dimension coeffient plot of delta time versus receivers' distance,and compresional wave,shear wave and stoneley wave are three lines relationship on this plot in homogeneous formation.As Hough transform has the advantage of lines identifcation,so line Hough transform is applied on three wave identication by waves' linear feature.Finally,transforming of 2-dimension coefficent plot get a new plot,which x-axis is slowness and y-axis is distance.Compressional wave,shear wave and stoneley have three peaks on STC,and they also have three peaks on SDC plot.Therefore,three slownesses are pickuped by their peaks.The Hough trandform idea is also applied in the high resolution slowness pickup instead of simple merging of several STC.Slowness calculating equation in Hough space is derivated and given in this paper.The Hough space has different partations of compressional wave,shear wave and stoneley wave,so enhanced method is suggested in the processing,furthermore,a short interval log data is processed and verifying SDC result with other software.At end of this paper compares different wave identification methods,3-D Hough transform and 2-D Hough transform,STC and SDC in the applications.SDC is a development of STC in the array acoustic slowness pickup.


In this letter, we report synthesis of branched polysaccharide 2 by glycosylation of glucal-type monomer 1 with two free hydroxy groups at position 3 and 4. Monomer 1 polymerized with N-halosuccinimide promoter in acetonitrile solvent at room temperature--50 degrees C. The product was isolated as a petroleum ether insoluble fraction. The structure was determined by 1H and 13C NMR spectra as well as elemental analysis to be a polysaccharide consisting of 2-halo-2-deoxy-alpha-D-mannoside units, indicating that the polymerization proceeded via stereoregular glycosylation manner. The molecular weights determined by GPC with DMF were 3,300-4,000. The degree of branching was estimated by the NMR data of the product from the reaction of 2 with 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl chloride.


Combinatorial optimization over continuous and integer variables was proposed recently as an useful tool for solving complex optimal control problems for linear hybrid dynamical systems formulated in discrete-time. Current approaches are based on mixed-integer linear/quadratic programming (MIP), which provides the solution after solving a sequence of relaxed standard linear (or quadratic) programs (LP, QP). An MIP formulation has the drawback of requiring that the discrete/logic part of the hybrid problem needs to be converted to into mixed-integer inequalities. Although this operation can be done automatically, most of the original discrete structure of the problem is lost during the conversion. Moreover, the efficiency of the MIP solver only relies upon the tightness of the continuous LP/QP relaxations. In this paper we attempt at overcoming such difficulties by combining MIP and constraint programming (CP) techniques into a "hybrid" solver, taking advantage of CP for dealing efficiently with satisfiability of logic constraints. We detail how to model the hybrid dynamics so that the optimal control problem can be solved by the hybrid MIP+CP solver, and show on a case study that the achieved performance is superior to the one achieved by pure MIP solvers.


Biofouling is a complex, dynamic problem that globally impacts both the economy and environment. Interdisciplinary research in marine biology, polymer science, and engineering has led to the implementation of bio-inspired strategies for the development of the next generation of antifouling marine coatings. Natural fouling defense mechanisms have been mimicked through chemical, physical, and/or stimuli-responsive strategies. This review outlines the detrimental effects associated with biofouling, describes the theoretical basis for antifouling coating design, and highlights prominent advances in bio-inspired antifouling technologies.


Adolescence is a time during which positive adults outside the familial context may be most influential to development. A growing body of research on naturally occurring mentors has found favorable outcomes for youth who have these types of positive adult figures in their lives. Less is known, however, about how these naturally occurring mentors influence youths' development in the long-term. This study examines the long-term outcomes related to having a naturally occurring community mentor in adolescence. Results from longitudinal analyses of a nationally representative sample of adolescents revealed that having a mentor in adolescence was related to higher educational attainment, lower criminal activity, higher psychological well-being (i.e., optimism, self-efficacy, and lack of depressive symptoms), and greater romantic relationship satisfaction in adulthood. Additionally, a taxonomy of mentoring functions was created from qualitative responses and drawing upon the youth, work, and academic mentoring literature. This taxonomy aims to serve as a framework for understanding the functions of youth mentors to provide a foundation for future research. Implications of findings and future directions are considered.


Characterizing the community structure of naturally occurring microbes through marker gene amplicons has gained widespread acceptance for profiling microbial populations. The 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene provides a suitable target for most studies since (1) it meets the criteria for robust markers of evolution, e.g., both conserved and rapidly evolving regions that do not undergo horizontal gene transfer, (2) microbial ecologists have identified widely adopted primers and protocols for generating amplicons for sequencing, (3) analyses of both cultivars and environmental DNA have generated well-curated databases for taxonomic profiling, and (4) bioinformaticians and computational biologists have published comprehensive software tools for interpreting the data and generating publication-ready figures. Since the initial descriptions of high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons to survey microbial diversity, we have witnessed an explosion of association-based inferences of interactions between microbes and their environment.


The story of North American dam building is incomplete without the United States' Caribbean territories because the motivations and consequences of building dams there were different than on the mainland. Between 1910 and 1914, the Puerto Rican Irrigation Service built three large dams in the island's south-east to irrigate canefields owned by North American sugar companies. The water harnessed by the South Coast Irrigation Project (SCIP) doubled sugar yields in its district in the decades following the project's completion, generating huge profits for North American sugar interests. However, the sugar boom did not lead to sustained economic growth on the island and did little to increase the standard of living for many Puerto Rican fieldworkers and their families. The project also brought a bumper crop of unforeseen environmental consequences. North American engineers underestimated the vagaries of Puerto Rico's climate. Droughts and extended dry periods led to water shortages that continually menaced irrigation. Stormy weather created another unanticipated problem for the dams. Hurricanes and heavy rains in the mountains north of the sugar lands contributed to high erosion rates that accelerated sediment accumulation in the reservoirs and reduced their storage capacity. Together, drought and siltation threatened to render the dams obsolete. Hydroelectric turbines, installed as an afterthought, provided affordable electricity that powered groundwater pumps to make up for surface water shortages. Groundwater saved the sugar boom, but sediments continued to build in reservoirs, an enduring legacy of US imperialism that is expensive to mitigate. The SCIP preserved socioeconomic and racial inequalities, but reengineered the island's hydrosphere, turning the parched south-east into a giant canefield and its rivers into repositories for sediments.


In three dogs given a subconjunctival injection of methylprednisolone acetate for the treatment of ophthalmic disorders, a yellow mass developed at the injection site. Microscopic examination of each excised mass revealed circumscribed granulomatous inflammation surrounding a central core of amorphous foreign material.


In this paper, a new measure of outage-constrained network area spectral efficiency, coined as stable transmission capacity, is introduced, which is achievable under finite delay and queue-length stability. Specifically, this framework extends the transmission capacity formulation to scenarios with packet retransmissions and transmitters' queues with independent packet arrivals. This approach is applied to single-hop wireless networks with nodes being spatially distributed as Poisson point process, slotted ALOHA medium access protocol, packet arrivals following a geometrical distribution, and bounded number of retransmissions. The stable transmission capacity is then obtained as the solution of a constrained optimization problem with respect to the probability that a transmitter access the network, the link spectral efficiency, and the maximum number of retransmissions. Using the unconstrained stable transmission capacity as an upper bound, it is shown under which operating points and network parameters such limit can be achieved. Our numerical results also evince how the spatial density and the arrival process affect the network performance.