The article discusses a concept of forecasting accident risk during longwall extraction in crump-risk conditions. In Polish mines rock burst hazard can be described as high compared to other mines around the world. It's related to increase of depth of longwall field operation, preparation works, including drilling of mine face pavements which leads to systematic deterioration of geological and mining conditions. Depletion of coal is also the reason why mines operate in high mining tremor risk conditions. Mines more and more often operate in decks, where there is large number of edges and remains of older decks. Rocks bursts still remain one of the most dangerous natural hazards and therefore are fundamental problem and have the greatest impact on safety in mining industry. The proposed method for forecasting accidents and losses in people and goods can contribute to improvement of work organization methods and mine safety management system. THE METHOD OF ASSESSING ROCK BURSTING HAZARD IN MINING


Development of an all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped fiber laser-based frequency comb is reported. Repetition-frequency stabilization to the cesium standard, amplitude and phase noise measurements indicate low-noise performance.


This deliverable is an analysis of literature data from within the species of the consortium-wide Priority list. The aim of this deliverable is to identify frequent "Good Practice"-related problems about extraction and component analysis within the monitored literature. The data were acquired by the authors using an Excelbased data acquisition form that provided predefined columns for specific information to be probed and in partly restricted possible entries to predefined categories. In total, more than 400 publications were monitored. The data were analysed using Pivot-tables and revealed a number of "Good Practice"-related problems that give the base for the forthcoming deliverable D2.12.


The energetic particle populations observed in the MeV and greater range in interplanetary space are of both galactic and solar origin. The galactic cosmic rays are ever present though strongly modulated by solar activity while the solar cosmic rays are highly variable. Of particular interest in attempting to assess the radiation hazards for long missions is a more detailed knowledge of the charge and energy spectrum of the galactic component. Measurements of hydrogen, helium, and heavy nuclei down to 100 MeV/nuc have been obtained by groups at the University of Minnesota, the University of Chicago, and the Goddard Space Flight Center using balloon borne instrumentations at high altitudes. Results obtained on the IMP-1 satellite have furnished proton and helium data in the region 10 to 100 MeV. These combined data show a differential proton spectrum which has a broad maximum around 400 MeV and is steeply falling towards lower energies. The helium nuclei and protons seem to exhibit the same relative differential rigidity spectrum above 1.5 BeV. Below this rigidity the relative helium spectrum appears to be more rapidly falling than the proton spectrum. The IMP-1 proton results indicate that the galactic proton differential energy spectrum decreases by a factor of 5 going from 70 MeV to 20 MeV. Thus less than 1% of the total galactic cosmic rays appears to be contained in the low energy region below 100 MeV.


Abstract An algorithm is proposed to derive the quadratic wave equation and to generate a musical theme based on the basic frequency differentiation of singing. The algorithm can effectively reduce the false alarm speed of the melody localization and improve the overall accuracy. The Metric Distance (DIS) algorithm uses the dispersion method to segment musical notes and to detect vocal parts; The amplitude compression frequency filter (PEFAC) uses multi-frequency frequency separation technology. vocal range by calculating the melody. Basic frequency of multiple candidates. Finally, the Viterbi algorithm is used to control the predominant basic frequency trajectory of the vocal segment and is used to distinguish the basic melody of the basic frequency differentiation model. Tests on the MIR-1K data set show that all performance parameters of the improved algorithm are higher than the original algorithm, tone localization call speed (VRR), initial sound frequency accuracy (RPA), and initial color accuracy level (RCA). ) and the Total Accuracy Level (OA) improved by different signal and interference conditions, while the pseudo-localization (VFAR) decreased by about 2%, indicating that the improved algorithm could more accurately identify the accompaniment and vocals. This is because the accuracy of recognizing the basic frequency discrimination model in an improved algorithm is higher than in the original algorithm. In addition, the AET of the improved algorithm is reduced by approximately 0.12 seconds compared to the original algorithm, which ensures that the process calculation and complexity of the frequency function function of the improved algorithm is lower than that of the original algorithm. The octave error detection, the false localization signal is much lower than other algorithms, and the overall accuracy level is higher than other algorithms, which can effectively produce the basic melody of the song.


The heat resistance of Bacillus subtilis 5230 and A spores freeze dried and suspended in buffer or oils was investigated. As expected, spores were more resistant to heat when suspended in oils than in buffer. This was ascribed to the low aw of oils and to their content of free fatty acids. Linear survivor curves were obtained for spores suspended in buffer at 105 degrees C or above and for B. subtilis A spores suspended in a vegetable oil. However, the survivor curves of the spores suspended in mineral oil (strain 5230) or olive oil (both strains) were concave upward with a characteristic tailing. The tailing could not be ascribed to spore clumping or to a specific heat injury that can be circumvented by Ca-dipicolinate. It is possibly due to another mechanism of injury or to the activation at high temperature of a normally dormant germination system.


Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the key instrument aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, continuously generates data as the satellites cover the entire surface of earth every one to two days. This data is important to many scientific analyses, however, data procurement and processing can be challenging and cumbersome for user communities. Our current work is focused on enabling calculations using a combination of land and atmosphere products over land. Before performing the calculation the data must be downloaded and transformed, from a swath space and time system to a sinusoidal tiling system. Downloading data for a single product for an entire year can take several days for a single product and involves downloading via FTP many small files (on average ~83,000 files) in hierarchical data format (HDF4). The data processing, a swath-to-sinusoidal reprojection, is computationally intensive and currently available community tools only work for single sinusoidal tiles. We have developed a data-processing pipeline that downloads the MODIS products and reprojects them on HPC systems. HPC systems do not traditionally run these high-throughput data-intensive jobs and hence we need to address unique challenges for our pipeline. The first stage in the pipeline uses a catalog to determine what files need to be downloaded and downloads identified data sets. The downloaded files will in the future trigger an event that causes the reprojection job to be entered into a job queue. The output data is stored in an archival system. The resulting reprojected data will soon be widely available to the community through a front-end web portal. The portal will allow users to download reprojected data (~1 TB/year) for the following land and atmosphere products: MODO4_L2 (Aerosol), MOD05_L2 (Water Vapor), MOD06_L2 (Cloud), MOD07_L2 (Atmosphere Profile) and MOD11_L2 (Land Surface Temperature Emissivity). In this talk we will describe the architecture of the overall system and pipeline. Our long term plan is to allow users to reproject data on-demand and/or run algorithms on the reprojected MODIS data such as an evapotranspiration calculation.


Expression of tissue-restricted antigens (TRAs) in thymic epithelial cells (TECs) ensures negative selection of highly self-reactive T cells to establish central tolerance. Whether some of these TRAs could exert their canonical biological functions to shape thymic environment to regulate T cell development is unclear. Analyses of publicly available databases have revealed expression of transcripts at various levels of many cytokines and cytokine receptors such as IL-15, IL-15Rα, IL-13, and IL-23a in both human and mouse TECs. Ablation of either IL-15 or IL-15Rα in TECs selectively impairs type 1 innate like T cell, such as iNKT1 and γδT1 cell, development in the thymus, indicating that TECs not only serve as an important source of IL-15 but also trans-present IL-15 to ensure type 1 innate like T cell development. Because type 1 innate like T cells are proinflammatory, our data suggest the possibility that TEC may intrinsically control thymic inflammatory innate like T cells to influence thymic environment.


School personnel are mandated to provide transition planning services to students with disabilities as they prepare for postsecondary activities. A variety of student skill and knowledge areas have been recommended as important during this process. Students with disabilities encounter a variety of additional transitions throughout their schooling, however, and school counselors can play integral roles in facilitating those transitions. Recommendations are presented for school counselor interventions to address the various transition needs of students with disabilities.


Hexadentate ligands (H 2 RR'L) of type 1 readily yield high-spin nickel(II) complexes. Ni(H2RR'L)X 2 (X = CIO 4 , NO 3 ), in which the coordination polyhedron is octahedral NiN 6 and Dq is∼1300m -1 . These arc readily oxidized to red diamagnetic Ni(RR'L)X 2 by chemical and electrochemical means. The oxidized complexes aintain tctravakru nickel held in an octahedral NiN 6 core. They show two intense ligand → metal charge transfer transitions in the visible region. The charge transfer state also makes some contribution to the ground state fir data). Ni(RR'L) 2+ oxidizes quantitatively 2 mol of Fe 2+ to Fe 3+ . The potential of the half•cell reaction Ni(RR'L) 2+ H + +2e=Ni(H 2 RR'L) 2+ is determined using a direct potentiometric method. E° 298 (vs. normal hydrogen electrode) is found to lie in the range 0.90-0.94 V for the systems studied. The possible role of the negative charge on the =N-0 - moiety in minimizing the effective pasiEvc charge on the metal in Ni(RR'L) 2+ is discussed. The spectroscopic properties of the low-spin complexes of H 2 Me 2 L with two other d6 ions, viz., iron(II) and cobalt(III) are compared with those of the nickel(IV) species.


The article analyzes the reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Adolescent in German-speaking countries, covering the period from the first translations of the novel into German and the first reactions by writers, critics, and researchers to the present day. The material here analyzed (reviews, essays, prefaces to publications, and numerous reprints of The Adolescent throughout the 20th century, scientific articles, monographs) indicates a quite stable interest in this novel by German intellectuals. The available material shows that the recipients were somehow interested in all aspects of the novel, from its themes and main problems to the peculiarities of its poetics. The analysis and the evaluation of the novel are usually carried out in direct connection with the writer's life, his worldview, religious and aesthetic beliefs, and consider the cultural context of his era. The article shows how the novel was differently received at different times, as well as the connections with ideological and individual peculiarities, due to the specific task that the recipient set himself. The common denominator can be found in the recognition of The Adolescent as one of the most famous novels of Dostoevsky (as it is always considered as one of the "five great novels", or "Pentateuch"); however, it is also true that The Adolescent presents less value and popularity than Dostoevsky's other novels, as it is proved by the smaller quantity of research about it. Nevertheless, The Adolescent receives well-deserved recognition to this day not only as a relevant work of the famous Russian author but also for the experimental, modernist nature of its artistic structure, thereby consolidating the canonical significance of the novel in the European literary process of the 21st century.


ABSTRACT The increasing resistance of Candida species to fluconazole is cause for concern. To determine the molecular mechanisms involved in resistance to fluconazole, I used a scheme of transposon mutagenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a genetically tractable yeast that is closely related to Candida albicans. This technique, which permits the generation and analysis of multiple random Tn3::LEU2::lacZfusions, can be used as a disruption mutagen (N. B. Burns et al., Genes Dev. 8:1087–1105, 1994). By using the Tn3::LEU2::lacZlibrary as a disruption mutagen, I found recessive mutations in genes that were previously found to be involved in azole resistance, e.g.,PDR5 and CPR1, and in genes previously found to be involved in azole sensitivity, e.g., ERG3. This approach also enabled me to identify recessive mutations in three genes not previously known to be involved in azole sensitivity. Two of the genes,ADA3 and SPT7, are general transcriptional regulators; the third, YMR034c, is a putative sterol transporter. Finally, by screening the Tn3::LEU2::lacZlibrary for lacZ fusions induced by a low concentration of fluconazole, I identified genes known to be induced by azoles as well as a variety of other genes not previously known to be induced by the drug. In conclusion, transposon mutagenesis is a promising screening tool for use in identifying novel drug targets and in uncovering the mechanisms involved in the response of S. cerevisiae to antifungal drugs.


Massive rare particles have been searched for in the penetrating cosmic radiation using the MACRO apparatus at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories. Liquid scintillators, streamer tubes and nuclear track detectors have been used to search for magnetic monopoles (MMs). Based on no observation of such signals, stringent flux limits are established for MMs as slow as a few 10c. The methods based on the scintillator and on the nuclear track subdetectors were also applied to search for nuclearites. Preliminary results of the searches for charged Q-balls are also presented.


In this paper a hybrid adaptive controller is proposed for robotic manipulators actuated with brushless DC motors in the presence of arbitrary uncertain inertia parameters of the manipulator and the electrical parameters of the actuators. The main features are: l) suitability of the scheme for multi-joint robots; 2) computationally simple; 3) the semi-global asymptotic stability of the controller being established in the Lyapunov sense; 4) the design, requiring at most, the joint velocities and stator currents feedback.


OBJECTIVES
Since 2011, 3 outbreaks of botulism in US prisons have been attributed to pruno, which is an alcoholic beverage made by inmates. Following 1 outbreak, we conducted a qualitative inquiry to understand pruno brewing and its social context to inform outbreak prevention measures.

METHODS
We interviewed staff, inmates, and parolees from 1 prison about pruno production methods, the social aspects of pruno, and strategies for communicating the association between botulism and pruno.

RESULTS
Twenty-seven inmates and parolees and 13 staff completed interviews. Pruno is fermented from water, fruit, sugar, and miscellaneous ingredients. Knowledge of pruno making was widespread among inmates; staff were familiar with only the most common ingredients and supplies inmates described. Staff and inmates described inconsistent consequences for pruno possession and suggested using graphic health messages from organizations external to the prison to communicate the risk of botulism from pruno.

CONCLUSIONS
Pruno making was frequent in this prison. Improved staff recognition of pruno ingredients and supplies might improve detection of brewing activities in this and other prisons. Consistent consequences and clear messages about the association between pruno and botulism might prevent outbreaks.


Relations between states and non-state providers in fragile states occur within specific complex political and economic contexts. Moreover, donor approaches to specific fragile states shape the flow and priorities of aid resources. In the health sector, fragile states have dramatically poor health outcomes, with higher mortality and morbidity rates than other low-income, relatively stable states.


Regulators from countries at all levels of income struggle to protect the public from the dangers of poor-quality (counterfeit and substandard) medicines. In particular countries with limited resources are at higher risk because of weak regulations, insufficient personnel, or  laboratories with poor infrastructure and a lack of equipment required to perform quality control analysis. A systematic approach is needed to address these gaps. A stepwise process was used to design medicine quality monitoring programs in numerous countries in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. The experience gained in these countries resulted in the development of the Three-level Approach for performing quality control of medicines throughout the supply chain. The approach consists of three successive, complementary, and increasingly complex levels of analysis: The first level includes visual and physical inspection to assess package and insert conditions and information as well as the physical characteristics of the actual medicines. The second level consists of rapid analytical tests that assess a limited number of quality attributes and can easily be performed in the field by trained personnel. The third level involves quality control testing according to the product's registration specifications and is performed in an appropriate laboratory setting by experienced and trained analysts. The Three-level Approach offers regulators in limited resource countries, a cost-effective high-throughput methodology for quality monitoring that produces valid and trustworthy results. The approach strengthens medicines quality assurance systems by allowing better regulation of the pharmaceutical market, which ultimately reduces the prevalence of poor-quality medicines.


We have investigated a new method of risk/reliability assessment for development and operation of space system. It is difficult to evaluate risk of spacecraft, because of long time operation, maintenance free and difficulty of test under the ground condition. Conventional methods are FMECA, FTA, ETA and miscellaneous. These are not enough to assess chronological anomaly and there is a problem to share information during R&D. A new method of risk and reliability assessment, T-TRAP (Time-tagged Risk/Reliability Assessment Program) is proposed as a management tool for the development and operation of space system. T-TRAP consisting of time-resolved Fault Tree and Criticality Analyses, upon occurrence of anomaly in the system, facilitates the responsible personnel to quickly identify the failure cause and decide corrective actions. This paper describes T-TRAP method and its availability.


New Zealand wine had an export value of $1.21 billion in 2013. Of the total 170million litres of wine exported thatyear, Sauvignon blanc madeup 84.5%. Sauvignon blanc wines have specific flavours and aromas that consumers detect and enjoy including grapefruit, passion fruit,and citrus characters that are due to the presence of sulfur containing thiols. Unfortunately, thiols are also responsible for aromas such as cat's urine, grass, and gasoline, which taint the flavour of a wine. Careful analysis of these compounds could lead to wines tailored to specific palates and a reduction of taint aromas and flavours, therefore further increasing the market potential for New Zealand Sauvignon blanc. The aim of this project was to further develop an SPME-based technique for thiol analysis of wine that is more reproducible, more accessible, and less toxic than the current method that concentrates the thiols using organomercury columns. To do this, gold nanoparticles were synthesised and coated onto SPME fibres in an attempt to selectively extract thiols from wine samples. Initial results showed an inconsistency between analyses and led to the need for a more comprehensive analysis ofthe gold surface,the gold-sulfur bond, and its RED-OX chemistry. Techniques employed for analysis of the gold surface included scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy,zeta-sizing and UV-VisSpectrophotometry. To examine the interactions between gold and sulfur, Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and computational chemistry were used. The RED-OX chemistry was initially assessed in terms of the carrier gas in the gas chromatographs but was later changed to reductive and oxidative dips. It was found that an H2O2 dip in between samples oxidised the bound thiolates to a series of dimers that were easier to remove from the gold. While not yet completely resolving the hysteresis observed in previous attempts, this method of cleaning the fibres will lead to future experimentation and development in this area.


In this article, we investigate the relationship between human rights conditions and terrorist activity. We begin by outlining a theory for the genesis and growth of terrorism and argue that states which deny subsistence rights along with civil and political rights create an environment that is conducive to the development of terrorism. However, we conclude that it is the denial of security rights that is a necessary condition for the creation and growth of terrorism. We then examine the causes of terrorism in Northern Ireland in light of this theory. Specifically, we explore the extent to which human rights abuses contributed to the formation and growth of terrorists within Northern Ireland. We find that limits on the civil and political rights of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland played a significant role in the genesis of terrorism. More importantly, British abuses of security rights increased the number of Irish citizens who supported and participated in terrorist activity.


The prognosis of patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) remains poor. We prospectively investigated the impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT at initial staging in this clinical setting and compared PET/CT performance with that of conventional distant work-up. Methods: During 60 mo, consecutive patients with LABC (clinical T4 or N2–N3 disease) underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT. The yield was assessed in the whole group and separately for noninflammatory and inflammatory cancer. The performance of PET/CT was compared with that of a conventional staging approach including bone scanning, chest radiography, or dedicated CT and abdominopelvic sonography or contrast-enhanced CT. Results: 117 patients with inflammatory (n = 35) or noninflammatory (n = 82) LABC were included. 18F-FDG PET/CT confirmed N3 nodal involvement in stage IIIC patients and revealed unsuspected N3 nodes (infraclavicular, supraclavicular, or internal mammary) in 32 additional patients. Distant metastases were visualized on PET/CT in 43 patients (46% of patients with inflammatory carcinoma and 33% of those with noninflammatory LABC). Overall, 18F-FDG PET/CT changed the clinical stage in 61 patients (52%). Unguided conventional imaging detected metastases in only 28 of the 43 patients classified M1 with PET/CT (65%). 18F-FDG PET/CT outperformed conventional imaging for bone metastases, distant lymph nodes, and liver metastases, whereas CT was more sensitive for lung metastases. The accuracy in diagnosing bone lesions was 89.7% for planar bone scanning versus 98.3% for 18F-FDG PET/CT. The accuracy in diagnosing lung metastases was 98.3% for dedicated CT versus 97.4% for 18F-FDG PET/CT. Conclusion: 18F-FDG PET/CT had the advantage of allowing chest, abdomen and bone to be examined in a single session. Almost all distant lesions detected by conventional imaging were depicted with PET/CT, which also showed additional lesions.


Turkey has been a stage for human mobility for many years, yet it did not have a comprehensive migration and asylum regime until recently. Being the worst refugee crisis of the last decades, the Syrian crisis actually had an impact on developing such a regime of which the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP) is a crucial element. The LFIP provides temporary protection to the Syrians in Turkey. However, it is recently observed that more and more Syrians are leaving the country. Examining their exodus, the present article is seeking answers to the question of "Why are the Syrians desperately trying to leave Turkey?" Two arguments are put forth in the article. First, Turkey's new migration and asylum regime has not been able to decrease the refugees' vulnerability because of its "expectation of temporariness". Secondly, it is argued that Turkey's "new asylum regime" is in fact "not that new" due to the fact that asylum-seekers coming from non-European countries have been provided a de facto temporary protection. The article reveals that the Syrian refugees are vulnerable in many fields mainly because they are subject to a protection regime marked by temporariness. As the regime is putting them in limbo, they are leaving Turkey. Turkey's new asylum regime appears not that new after all.


Intrusions into computer systems have caused many quality/reliability problems. Detecting intrusions is an important part of assuring the quality/reliability of computer systems by quickly detecting intrusions and associated quality/reliability problems in order to take corrective actions. In this paper, we present and compare two methods of forecasting normal activities in computer systems for intrusion detection. One forecasting method uses the average of long-term normal activities as the forecast. Another forecasting method uses the EWMA (exponentially weighted moving average) one-step-ahead forecast. We use a Markov chain model to learn and predict normal activities used in the EWMA forecasting method. A forecast of normal activities is used to detect a large deviation of the observed activities from the forecast as a possible intrusion into computer systems. A Chi square distance metric is used to measure the deviation of the observed activities from the forecast of normal activities. The two forecasting methods are tested on computer audit data of normal and intrusive activities for intrusion detection. The results indicate that the Chi square distance measure with the EWMA forecasting provides better performance in intrusion detection than that with the average-based forecasting method.


Abstract The paper presents the results of the self-calibration of three commercial terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) – Callidus 1.1, Leica HDS 3000 and Leica HDS 2500 – performed at the specially established indoor 3D calibration field. The systematic instrumental errors have been estimated in the selfcalibration assuming that they were similar to those in the total station. Afterwards, we compared the ranges, horizontal directions and vertical angles derived from the scanning with the true ones in order to reveal the possible presence of some non-modelled systematic trends. In this way, a significant vertical scale error in the scanner Callidus 1.1 has been found, presumably due to the maladjustment of the scanning mirror. Other significant errors are the vertical index error in Leica HDS 3000 and horizontal axis error in Leica HDS 2500. Due to the physical limitations of the calibration field, the estimation of some of the instrumental errors, especially collimation error, was complicated by their significant correlation with the Helmert transformation parameters. We have also estimated the target coordinate accuracy. The RMS errors in the position of the calibration targets are 2.9 mm, 1.6 mm and 0.3 mm, for Callidus 1.1, Leica HDS 3000 and Leica HDS 2500, respectively, at the distances to the scanner of up to 10 m. In spite of the problems encountered during the self-calibration, the results are believed to contribute to a better knowledge of TLS performance.


Several new "sum-of-sinusoids" models have recently been introduced for the simulation of Rayleigh fading channels. These models are statistical in nature implying that their simulation parameters such as the Doppler frequencies are random. They have been shown to accurately reproduce some of the desired statistical properties of the faded envelope such as the time autocorrelation and the level crossing rate. However, a comparative analysis of these models, hitherto scattered throughout the literature, is not available. This paper compares these models in terms of their complexity and performance. The performance assessment is based upon the variance of the time average statistical properties from their ideal ensemble averages.


A scalable monolithically integrated photonic space switch is proposed which uses a combination of Mach-Zehnder modulators and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) for improved crosstalk performance and reduced switch loss. This architecture enables the design of high-capacity, high-speed, large-port count, low-energy switches. Extremely low crosstalk of better than -50 dB can be achieved using a 2 × 2 dilated hybrid switch module. A "building block" approach is applied to make large port count optical switches possible. Detailed physical layer multiwavelength simulations are used to investigate the viability of a 64 × 64 port switch. Optical signal degradation is estimated as a function of switch size and waveguide induced crosstalk. A comparison between hybrid and SOA switching fabrics highlights the power-efficient, high-performance nature of the hybrid switch design, which consumes less than one-third of the energy of an equivalent SOA-based switch. The significantly reduced impairments resulting from this switch design enable scaling of the port count, compared to conventional SOA-based switches.


Over the past several years researchers have been working to synthesize the WOCE/JGOFS global CO2 survey data to better understand carbon cycling processes in the oceans. The Pacific Ocean data set has over 35,000 sample locations with at least two carbon parameters, oxygen, nutrients, CFC tracers, and hydrographic parameters. In this paper we estimate the in situ CaCO3 dissolution rates in the Pacific Ocean water column. Calcium carbonate dissolution rates ranging from 0.01–1.1 μmol kg−1 yr−1 are observed in intermediate and deepwater beginning near the aragonite saturation horizon. In the North Pacific Intermediate Water between 400 and 800 m, CaCO3 dissolution rates are more than 7 times faster than observed in middle and deep water depths (average = 0.051 μmol kg−1 yr−1). The total amount of CaCO3 that is dissolved within the Pacific is determined by integrating excess alkalinity throughout the water column. The total inventory of CaCO3 added by particle dissolution in the Pacific Ocean, north of 40°S, is 157 Pg C. This amounts to an average dissolution rate of approximately 0.31 Pg C yr−1. This estimate is approximately 74% of the export production of CaCO3 estimated for the Pacific Ocean. These estimates should be considered to be upper limits for in situ carbonate dissolution in the Pacific Ocean, since a portion of the alkalinity increase results from inputs from sediments.


Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle is mediated by the glucose transporter GLUT4. The small GTPase Rac1 acts as a switch of signal transduction that regulates GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane following insulin stimulation. However, it remains obscure whether signaling cascades upstream and downstream of Rac1 in skeletal muscle are impaired by obesity that causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In an attempt to clarify this point, we investigated Rac1 signaling in the leptin-deficient (Lepob/ob) mouse model. Here, we show that insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation and Rac1 activation are almost completely abolished in Lepob/ob mouse skeletal muscle. Phosphorylation of the protein kinase Akt2 and plasma membrane translocation of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor FLJ00068 following insulin stimulation were also diminished in Lepob/ob mice. On the other hand, the activation of another small GTPase RalA, which acts downstream of Rac1, by the constitutively activated form of Akt2, FLJ00068, or Rac1, was partially abrogated in Lepob/ob mice. Taken together, we conclude that insulin-stimulated glucose uptake is impaired by two mechanisms in Lepob/ob mouse skeletal muscle: one is the complete inhibition of Akt2-mediated activation of Rac1, and the other is the partial inhibition of RalA activation downstream of Rac1.


Objective: Receptor of advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a membrane protein that contributes to the initiation and progression of diabetic vascular complications, which is reported as a target of miR-185. Huayu Tongmai Granules is a Chinese herbal compound that is capable of treating diabetic angiopathy. The present study was designed to explore the molecular biological mechanism by which Huayu Tongmai Granules protects against diabetic angiopathy.Methods: The rat model of diabetes and hyperglucose cell model were established. The blood glucose was detected to verify whether the model was successfully established. Besides, serum nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations of the rats in each group were determined. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis was performed to examine the mRNA expression levels of miR-185 and other miRNAs in femoral artery of rats or human umbilical vein endothelial cell line. Additionally, the protein levels of RAGE or Bax were determined using Western blotting. Cell apoptosis was determined by terminal dUTP nick-end labeling assay or flow cytometry.Results: In the present study, we found that Huayu Tongmai Granules significantly decreased blood glucose and serum ROS and up-regulated serum NO concentration. MiR-185 was low-expressed in diabetic rats; however, Huayu Tongmai Granules intervention up-regulated miR-185. Stable overexpression of miR-185 directly suppressed the expression of RAGE and further suppressed endothelial cell apoptosis.Conclusion: Huayu Tongmai Granules appears to have a therapeutic effect on diabetic angiopathy that is most probably mediated by miR-185/RAGE axis.


Compared to the array antennas with the same distance, those with different distances can improve the directivity and avoid occurrence of high minor-lobes. In this paper, GA is used to optimize the minor-lobes. During the progress, the minor-lobes level is defined as the fitness function. The first null direction is estimated properly so that the modified factor is used to avoid the complication of solving the non-linear function and the results of optimization variables are gained. The performance of GA is analyzed by simulation and the results show that the minor-lobes level of the array after optimized by GA is much lower and the antenna will work well over wide band.


Vitiligo is a common chronic acquired pigmentation disorder characterized by loss of functional melanocytes from the epidermis and follicular reservoir. Among multiple hypotheses which have been proposed in the pathogenesis of vitiligo, autoimmunity and oxidative stress-mediated toxicity in melanocytes remain most widely accepted. Macroautophagy is a lysosome-dependent degradation pathway which widely exists in eukaryotic cells. Autophagy participates in the oxidative stress response in many cells, which plays a protective role in preventing damage caused by oxidative stress. Recent studies have enrolled autophagy as an important regulator in limiting damage caused by UV light and lipid oxidation, keeping oxidative stress in a steady state in epidermal keratinocytes and maintaining normal proliferation and aging of melanocytes. Impairment of autophagy might disrupt the antioxidant defense system which renders melanocytes to oxidative insults. These findings provide supportive evidence to explore new ideas of the pathogenesis of vitiligo and other pigmentation disorders.


Context: The penetration of sealer into dentinal tubules is considered to be a desirable feature as sealers prevent the colonization of residual bacteria into the dentinal tubules because of their antibacterial properties. Aims: This study aims to compare the depth of penetration of ADSEAL, Sealapex, and BioRoot RCS into the dentinal tubules in the apical area using confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). Settings and Design: Quality improvement projects. Materials and Method: After decoronating 120 extracted single rooted teeth, preparation was done using ProTaper universal rotary files until F3. Then, the samples were divided into four groups (n = 40) and obturated by the following endodontic sealers: Group A-ADSEAL, Group B-Sealapex and Group C-BioRoot RCS along with F3 gutta-percha cone. Before root canal filling, the sealers were mixed with 0.1% Rhodamine B dye. All the samples were sectioned at 3 mm and 5 mm from apex and visualized under CLSM. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests. Results: BioRoot RCS has shown significantly higher depth of penetration than resin based sealer and calcium hydroxide based sealer (α < 0.05). Conclusion: At all root regions, BioRoot RCS exhibited more tubular penetration whereas ADSEAL exhibited less penetration.


This paper aims to compare different adaptive responses of the mammary gland of cows, ewes, and goats submitted to extended milking intervals in different systems of management. Depending on the species, these extended milking intervals can be characterized by the following milk removal approaches; 3 milkings every 2 d, elimination of 1 milking per week (i.e., 13 vs. 14 milkings per week), and once-daily milking with additional suckling (i.e., dual purpose system of suckling and milking) or without suckling (exclusive once-daily milking). All the high-yielding animals and breeds adapted without problems to being submitted to intervals between milking less than 20 to 21 h. Under these conditions, all ruminant species demonstrated only low and transitory variations in milk production and quality. Thus, management systems using such an interval are good tools for the dairy producer who wants to save time without important adverse economic impact. When animals have good mammary gland health, these management systems can be applied without preliminary adaptation. However, goats and some breeds of dairy ewes seem to adapt to once-daily milking better than cows. Additionally, goats and ewes with higher production levels demonstrate a lower reduction in milk yield. With goats, there is only a limited variation in milk quality and cheese-making capacity of the milk produced, but ewes and cows show a significant enrichment of milk constituents, especially in fat. This indicates some differences in the regulation of lactose, protein, and fat synthesis depending on the duration of the milking interval and provides interesting models for physiological studies on milk secretion and synthesis regulation. Anatomical and physiological characteristics of lactating cows and ewes, in terms of cisternal vs. alveolar volumes within the mammary glands, could contribute to different abilities in adaptation to different milking systems. In goats, however, other mechanisms, such as compliancy of the mammary gland and regulation of tight junction impermeability, could be involved in milk secretion regulation and, thus, could become new targets for genetic selection of animals better adapted to accept extended milking intervals.


An in situ system involving incubation of 60- to 80-g pieces of muscle at 4 degrees C under different conditions was used to determine the effects of time of postmortem storage, of pH, and of temperature on activities of mu- and m-calpain activity in bovine skeletal muscle. Casein zymograms were used to allow measurement of calpain activity with a minimum of sample preparation and to ensure that the calpains were not exposed to ionic strengths of 100 or greater before assay of their activities. In 4 of the 5 muscles (longissimus dorsi, lumbar; longissimus dorsi, thoracic; psoas major; semimembranosus; and triceps brachii) studied, mu-calpain activity decreased nearly to zero within 48 h postmortem. Activity of m-calpain also decreased in the in situ system used but at a much slower rate. Activities of both mu- and m-calpain decreased more slowly in the triceps brachii muscle than in the other 4 muscles during postmortem storage. Although previous studies have indicated that mu-calpain but not m-calpain is proteolytically active at pH 5.8, these studies have used calpains obtained from muscle at death. Both mu- and m-calpain are proteolytically inactive if their activities are measured at pH 5.8 and after incubating the muscle pieces for 24 h at pH 5.8. Western analysis suggested that neither the large 80-kDa subunit nor the small 28-kDa subunit of m-calpain was autolyzed during postmortem storage of the muscle pieces. As has been reported previously, the 80-kDa subunit of mu-calpain was autolyzed to 78- and then to a 76-kDa polypeptide after 7 d postmortem, but the 28-kDa small subunit was not autolyzed; hence, the autolyzed mu-calpain molecule in postmortem muscle is a 76-/28-kDa molecule and not a 76-/18-kDa molecule as previously assumed. Because both subunits were present in the postmortem calpains, loss of mu-calpain activity during postmortem storage is not due to dissociation of the 2 subunits and inactivation. Although previous studies have shown that the 76-/18-kDa mu-calpain molecule is completely active proteolytically, it is possible that the 76-/28-kDa mu-calpain molecule in postmortem muscle is proteolytically inactive and that this accounts for the loss of mu-calpain activity during postmortem storage. Because neither mu- nor m-calpain is proteolytically active at pH 5.8 after being incubated at pH 5.8 for 24 h, other proteolytic systems such as the caspases may contribute to postmortem proteolysis in addition to the calpains.


Mobile MathTactics is a mobile game-based application inspired to teach children on
the subject of mathematics. Mathematics is a very interesting field as it can explain
many of evidence to us through calculations and numbers. However, because it is too
complex for a normal person to understand it, especially young kids, mathematics
might draw "sour grapes" on their faces. Apart from that, the inefficient teachings
models adopted by the academic educators have also worsened the case to even
severe that what it already is. Lack of narration and meaning behind those numbers
frightened people away from learning mathematics. Therefore to counter the
problems, the author has come up with the idea of using games as the learning tool to
capture the interest of small children. Games, for centuries (since the beginning of
personal computer era) have renowned for its enjoyable and fun environment. Thus,
by applying the same concept to the subject mathematics, the education industry can
improves itself through a whole new teaching method. Moreover, it uses English
language as the medium of interaction with the user apart leveraging the mobile
technology as its core platform. The application focuses on three mathematical
modules, which are addition, subtraction and lastly multiplication. The whole project
is done with Rapid Application Development methodology, as it is much flexible and
suitable for the short duration of development. After developed the simulator of the
application, the prototype was tested with ten students. The final conclusion is that
Mobile MathTactics is able to meet its objectives although improvements are still
needed for better future commercial option.


In view of concrete structure of dam plant elbows section is complex and strong external constraints, the study of concrete temperature and stress during construction should be carried out by computer simulation. A case of plant elbow section of a sluice dam project is presented where the 3D FEM simulation of instability thermal field and stress field of the concrete structure is adopted after building the 3D finite element model, and the changes and distribution characteristics of temperature and stress during whole process of construction is obtained. The results show that, under the complex constraints condition, the concrete of plant elbow section has greater tensile stress, it can lead to structural cracking, and it is necessary to take appropriate temperature control measures.


Existing literature have focused on the influence of institutional factors on wage determination when explaining the prolonged cross-country differences in unemployment. Although coordination of wage bargaining probably affects entry barriers and competition in product markets as well, research on price determination has typically not considered such factors. In this paper, an imperfect competition model - where the price markup depends on coordination of wage bargaining (and relative prices) - is set up and estimated on a panel of 15 OECD-countries. We derive a hypothesis that coordination has two separate effects on prices, i.e. an indirect effect through its effect on wages and a direct effect on the price markup. The estimates show that when we correct for the effect of coordination on wages, consumer prices may be as much as 21 percent higher in countries like Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria and Norway as compared to Canada, the US and the UK, due to the effect of coordination on the price markup. Since coordination probably has a dampening effect on wages, this may explain why many researchers have been unable to find any clear effect of coordination on unemployment in reduced form analysis.


Abstract Background and Aims Loot boxes are purchasable randomised rewards in video games that share structural and psychological similarities with gambling. Systematic review evidence has established reproducible associations between loot box purchasing and both problem gambling and problem video gaming. We aimed to measure the association between loot box engagement and socioeconomic correlates. Design The study was a cross‐sectional online survey using the recruitment platform, Prolific. Setting United Kingdom (UK). Participants A cohort of 16 196 UK adults (18 + years) self‐reporting as video gamers. Measurements Respondents were asked about their game‐related purchasing behaviour (including loot boxes), recent monthly spend on loot boxes and gambling engagement (gambling in any form; gambling online; playing 'social casino' games). A range of demographic variables were simultaneously captured, including age, sex, ethnicity, earnings, employment and educational attainment. Findings Overall, 17.16% of gamers in our cohort purchased loot boxes, with a mean self‐reported monthly spend of £29.12. These loot box purchasers are more likely to gamble (45.97% gamble) than people who make other types of game‐related purchases (on aggregate, 28.13% of non‐loot box purchasers gamble), and even greater still than those who do not make any game related purchases (24.38% gamble P < 0.001). Loot box engagement (as binary yes/no or as monthly spend normalised to earnings) was significantly associated with younger age (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001; respectively, for binary yes/no and monthly spend, adjusted for false discovery rate correction), male sex (P < 0.001 and P = 0.025), non‐university educational attainment (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) and unemployment (P = 0.003 and P = < 0.001). Lower earners spent a higher proportion of monthly earnings on loot boxes (P < 0.001). Conclusions The demographic associations of video game loot box engagement (younger age, male sex, non‐university educational attainment and unemployment) mirror those of other addictive and problematic behaviours, including disordered gambling, drug and alcohol misuse.


Abstract A simple linear stochastic climate model of extratropical wintertime ocean–atmosphere coupling is used to diagnose the daily interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere in a fully coupled general circulation model. Monte Carlo simulations with the simple model show that the influence of the ocean on the atmosphere can be difficult to estimate, being biased low even with multiple decades of daily data. Despite this, fitting the simple model to the surface air temperature and sea surface temperature data from the complex general circulation model reveals an ocean-to-atmosphere influence in the northeastern Atlantic. Furthermore, the simple model is used to demonstrate that the ocean in this region greatly enhances the autocorrelation in overlying lower-tropospheric temperatures at lags from a few days to many months.


Molecular dynamics (MD) is the method of choice for understanding the structure, function, and interactions of molecules. However, MD simulations are limited by the strong metastability of many molecules, which traps them in a single conformation basin for an extended amount of time. Enhanced sampling techniques, such as metadynamics and replica exchange, have been developed to overcome this limitation and accelerate the exploration of complex free energy landscapes. In this paper, we propose Vendi Sampling, a replica-based algorithm for increasing the efficiency and efficacy of the exploration of molecular conformation spaces. In Vendi sampling, replicas are simulated in parallel and coupled via a global statistical measure, the Vendi Score, to enhance diversity. Vendi sampling allows for the recovery of unbiased sampling statistics and dramatically improves sampling efficiency. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Vendi sampling in improving molecular dynamics simulations by showing significant improvements in coverage and mixing between metastable states and convergence of free energy estimates for four common benchmarks, including Alanine Dipeptide and Chignolin.


Neurorehabilitation is the process of ensuring that any person presenting with neurological deficit lives a meaningful, qualitative and prolonged life while restoring function as much as possible (Owolabi and Hamzat, 2011). It involves multidisciplinary and multidimensional therapies which entails process of assessment, treatment planning, goal setting, therapeutic intervention and evaluation of outcome. This team effort becomes fruitful with contributions from specialties of neuromedicine/neurosurgery, occupational therapy, (Hamzat, 2013) ergotherapy, speech and language therapy, psychotherapy, visual rehabilitation, audiological rehabilitation, sexual therapy, relaxation and music therapy (Owolabi and Hamzat, 2011). Many developing countries like Nigeria, do not have the benefits of professionals in many of the listed sub-specialties and as such patients needing comprehensive rehabilitation are unable to enjoy the services. Several factors from the obvious to the not-so obvious ones contribute to depriving patients the benefit of care and increasing the burden of neurorehabilitation in Nigeria. This submission is however delimited to three challenges, that of shortage of manpower, poor government policy and inter-professional rivalry–all from the prism of a neurophysiotherapist.


Emergency care needs to be underpinned by the highest quality evidence. However, research involving critically ill patients in the emergency setting has unique ethical, logistical and regulatory issues. Informed consent is a well‐established principle in conventional research. In this article, we discuss informed consent as it pertains to the difficulties of research in the emergency setting. Alternatives to informed consent are discussed. Human research ethics committees require a greater understanding of consent issues in emergency care research for Australia to remain competitive internationally.


Prediction of mobile path of a mobile node is of great importance since it reduces the handoff delays incurred during the handoff procedure. The proposed system is called Predictive Mobility Management scheme. We track the movement of mobile nodes by location tracking and data mining. In location tracking, we continuously monitors the movement of mobile node. The movement of mobile nodes can be predicted by the direction of movement of mobile nodes and previous path history which can be obtained by data mining techniques. The data mining technique is used to search the path history of mobile node and uses this information to predict the future movement of mobile node. NG pruning scheme can be used for prediction along with location tracking. In NG pruning, we will exclude scanning of access points which are not reachable. Thus the scanning delay can be minimized to a large extent. Using the prediction scheme, we can minimize the delays during handoff, track a mobile node etc. When a node reaches out of range area, data sending to the node are directed to the AP which was selected by prediction where the node is going to get connected.


Carnivalization, a concept developed by literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin and later employed in broad social and cultural contexts, is the tearing down of social norms, the elimination of boundaries and the inversion of established hierarchies. It is the world turned upside down. Ersatz carnival is a pernicious, inverted form of carnival, one wherein counter discourses propounded by outsiders are appropriated by elites and frequently redeployed to silence and exclude those same outsiders. The use of the slur 'ho by gangsta' rappers in the performance of songs that articulate a vision of urban culture is an example of carnivalization. However, when words like 'ho are appropriated by mainstream elites and wielded as "jokes," as was the case in the Imus debacle, this is a form of ersatz carnival. Tolerating raced and gendered insults such as nappy headed 'ho in public discourse, whether as "authentic" carnival from the mouths of gangsta' rappers themselves or as ersatz carnival from Imus and his ilk is troubling because in either case, women remain the victims of an entrenched patriarchy. However, in this essay I argue that citing freedom of expression norms in support of the use of ersatz carnival is especially pernicious. The use of raced and gendered epithets in such contexts demeans and undermines the contestative, counter-hegemonic aspects of gangsta' rap discourses. Using the First Amendment and its values as both a sword and a shield, ersatz carnival appropriates a means of revolt, albeit a flawed and imperfect one, and redeploys it as a tool of retrenchment, thereby silencing subalternate voices.


Measurements of the time dependence of zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetization M in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ single crystal have been performed as a function of temperature and magnetic field. The appearance of an echo-like feature in the decay rate S = dM/d ln t at an observing time t equal to the waiting time t w during which the specimen was prepared at a given field H 0 and temperature T reveals aging effects in the superconducting state. Similar phenomena reported in spin glasses seem to validate the picture of a superconducting glass state in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ .


Over 1000 sets of data for forced convective boiling of distilled water, ethylene glycol and aqueous mixtures of ethylene glycol are reported. Most of these data were taken in the annular flow regime. These data indicate a previously unrecognized Prandtl number effect on the boiling heat transfer for both pure components and mixtures. A significant reduction in the heat transfer coefficient is observed for mixtures attributable to mass transfer effects. An expression is developed which accounts for both of these effects and correlates the experimental data to within a mean deviation of 14.9%. This correlation reduces to the standard Chen correlation for pure fluids with Prandtl numbers close to unity.


Li, H., Zhou, Z.-S., Ding, G.-H. and Ji, X. 2013. Fluctuations in incubation temperature affect incubation duration but not morphology, locomotion and growth of hatchlings in the sand lizard Lacerta agilis (Lacertidae). — Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 94: 11‐18. Studies looking for potential effects of temperature and temperature fluctuations on phenotypic traits of reptile hatchlings have shown species variation, but have not always allowed a distinction between effects of fluctuation per se and temperature extremes themselves. To examine whether incubation temperature fluctuation has a key role in influencing the phenotype of offspring, we incubated eggs of the sand lizard Lacerta agilis at one of the four temperature regimes (27, 27 ± 2, 27 ± 4 and 27 ± 6 � C). We found that: (1) hatchlings incubated under the four temperature regimes did not differ from each other in any of the morphological and physiological traits examined; (2) interactions that included temperature treatment did not affect any trait examined; (3) the mean incubation length was longer in the 27 ± 6 � C treatment than in the other three treatments; and (4) female hatchlings were shorter in head length and width but longer in snout-vent length as well as abdomen length than males derived from the samesized egg. Our data show that both the type and the magnitude of temperature variation can affect incubation length. We found no evidence for phenotypic divergence in responses to temperature fluctuations during incubation and therefore suggest that temperature variation does not affect the phenotype of hatchlings in L. agilis.


In this paper we describe our experiences with the transmission of serum (or plasma) jaundice and infectious hepatitis. Actually these two conditions may be closely related in, that the former may represent the artificial production of the latter; but, while this may be true in some instances, it cannot yet be said that all serum jaundice belongs in this category. The etiologic agents in both of these conditions appear to be quite similar, and this holds for the clinical picture, which in both resembles "catarrhal jaundice." On the other hand there are differences which are poorly understood and can be best illustrated perhaps in terms of transmission experiments. HOMOLOGOUS SERUM JAUNDICE Homologous serum jaundice is not easy to define. It is produced by the parenteral inoculation of whole blood, serum or plasma, ordinarily obtained from an individual who is supposedly nonjaundiced, or at least from a donor not known (at


—I appreciate the opportunity to respond to Dr Lewinsky's letter. The intent of the publication was to describe a surgical reconstructive technique and not to discuss the management of plasmacytoma. The purpose of the article was explicitly stated not only in the abstract, but also in the introductory portions of the text. In an effort to make the article succinct, I elected not to include a description of the patient's rather lengthy medical history. My intentional omission apparently was a mistake, because it has led to some misunderstanding. This man's original histopathologic diagnosis was that of undifferentiated malignancy which was treated with planned combined therapy, including a partial maxillectomy with postoperative radiation therapy of 5,000 rad. The patient remained free of any recurrent disease for 22 months at which time a local recurrence within the remaining maxillary sinus was noted, which resulted in a maxillectomy with orbital preservation. At


Atmospheric sulfur (S) emissions peaked in North America in the early 1970s followed by declines in S deposition and sulfate (SO42−) concentrations in surface waters. Changes in S biogeochemistry affect the mobilization of toxic (Al+3, H+) and nutrient (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+) cations, and the acid–base status of ecosystems. We focused on lake/watersheds in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, USA, one of the most acid‐sensitive and acid‐impacted regions in North America. We used 16 of the 17 original Adirondack Long‐Term Monitoring Lakes from 1984 through 2010 and found significant declines (−2.14 µmolc l−1 year−1) in SO42− concentrations. There were significant declines (−0.28 kg S ha−1 year−1) in total S deposition for all lake/watersheds. We constructed S mass balances for 14 lakes/watersheds from wet and dry S deposition and SO42− loss from drainage and found a comparable decline (−0.26 kg S ha−1 year−1) in lake SO42− export. There was a discrepancy (mean 2.34 kg S ha−1 year−1) between atmospheric S deposition and watershed S loss due to internal S sources. Using major solute chemistry including dissolved silica and watershed characteristics, it was evident that the watershed S budget discrepancy increased with thickness of surficial deposits. The annual discrepancies in S mass balances were strongly linked with annual watershed discharge. These results suggest that internal S sources are becoming increasingly important as atmospheric S inputs have declined. The internal SO42− supply of watersheds decreased concomitantly with lake acid neutralizing capacity (ANC). These findings suggest that the limited contributions from internal sources of SO42− will facilitate the recovery of ANC from those lake/watersheds with the lowest ANC. With long‐term decreases in atmospheric S deposition, the effects of climate, especially increases in precipitation, will play an increasingly important role in regulating S budgets and the amount of SO42− mobilized from internal watershed sources. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Low-complexity rapid timing acquisition is one of the most pivotal challenges in ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology whose short duration pulse results in high resolution in time. In this paper, we propose a new preamble which can reduce the performance degradation caused by diminishing the operational complexity of the coarse timing acquisition. In the reduced-complexity acquisition algorithm, the received preamble is shortened by summing its elements group-by-group and correlated with the known PN sequence having reduced length to find the maximum output value of the correlators. This acquisition algorithm introduces performance deterioration since it loses the impulsive autocorrelation property of the PN sequence after summation. Therefore, we judiciously design a new preamble sequence whose slide correlator output function shows a distinct peak at zero delay and the symmetry even after summation. Simulation results demonstrate that the reduced-complexity acquisition algorithm exploiting the proposed preamble outperforms the algorithm using the PN sequence as the preamble, while the amount of computational reduction remains the same


World economy slowed down more than 2 %, which was the main feature of its development in 2001. There were more factors behind this economic slowdown, primarily the faltering upswing of the world crude oil price, problems of the technological sector, and September 11 events in the USA. Recession forces hit world trade and investment activities in particular. Main sources of economic growth were thus significantly weakened in consequence. The growth rate of GDP in the EU slowed down from 3.3 % in 2000 to 1.6 % in 2001. A larger fall of the economy was prevented by only a slight deceleration of the growth of household consumption from 2.7 % in 2000 to 2.0 % in 2001 and keeping the dynamic growth of services between 2 % and 4 %. However, external trade growth rates were only a third on 2000 and came to limit Czech external trade dynamics in the second half of the year.


Stephan) W. Edwards Deming and Morris H. Hansen. From the Journal of the AmericanStatistical Association) December) 1940) pp. 61S-630. The census of population for 1940 is a combination of complete enumeration and systematic sampling. In addition to the basic questions asked concerning the persons in the complete enumeration) supplementary questions were asked concerning a sample of S per cent (one in 20) of these persons. The procedure made possible the extension of the inquiry far beyond what would have been feasible under complete enumeration. It also will make possible tabulation of the sample months ahead of the complete reports. This article describes in detail the sampling technique used. For those who make use of the census data in research work) it is must reading. It will also be useful to research men who want to experiment with similar procedures in other surveys.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were: (i) to monitor changes in central facial paresis in patients with stroke after orofacial therapy, using functional scales and video analysis of the face; and (ii) to investigate correlations between changes in facial movement and mental function of patients after stroke.

METHODS
A prospective blind randomized study of patients after stroke with facial paresis. The functional status of the experimental group of 50 cases treated with regulation orofacial therapy was compared with 49 control cases after 4 weeks of rehabilitation.

RESULTS
There were changes in facial movement, evaluated with the House-Brackmann Grading System (HBDS), clinical range and two-dimensional video analysis of the distance between the paretic corner of the mouth and earlobe at rest and during smiling, were measured. Facial movement was found to be significantly better in the experimental group after orofacial therapy compared with the control group. Changes in mental status (depression observed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) were significantly greater in the experimental group. There was a close correlation between the changes in facial movement and mental status according to Spearman's correlation coefficient.

CONCLUSION
Orofacial therapy has a significant effect after 4 weeks of treatment on facial movement and mental state in patients with stroke. Based on the results in our study we can say that the improvements are a significantly better in the experimental group (Difference value) in the parameters HBGS, distance between the corner of the mouth and earlobe and BDI-II.


The Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT), spread over 11.6 million sq km worldwide, is home to millions of poor people. Its soils are low in fertility and degraded to varying extents, with a climate characterized by undependable rainfall, high average temperatures and water stress situations for crop growth. The SAT is densely populated and a large number of its poor live off subsistence agriculture. The Green Revolution in Asia bypassed these large tracts of rainfed systems. ICRISAT is committed to improve livelihoods of millions of poor living in the SAT by undertaking agricultural research for impact in a partnership mode. Our new watershed model emphasizes the management of water as an entry point for improving livelihoods through convergence of natural resource-based activities. Our on-farm community watershed research in Asia revealed that the SAT's subsistence agricultural systems have depleted soils not only for macronutrients, but also for micronutrients such as Zn, B, and secondary nutrients like S beyond the critical limits. Wide spread (80-100%) deficiencies of micro and secondary nutrients were observed in farmers' fields in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states of India. Substantial increase in yields by 20 to 80 percent due to micronutrient amendments, and a further increase at 70 to 120 percent micronutrient and adequate N and P amendments in a number of crops (maize, sorghum, greengram, pigeonpea, castor, chickpea, soybean and wheat) in the farmers fields were observed. Increased use efficiency of the inputs such as N and P fertilizers, as well as rainwater, resulted in increased profits and increasing productivity besides minimizing land degradation in the tropics. We are integrating these natural resource management (NRM) interventions with improved genotypes to harness the full benefits in the watershed. The integrated genetic and natural resource management (IGNRM) approach adopted in watersheds will thus make the Grey to Green revolution a reality.


We point to the existence of an analytical solution to a general quantum annealing (QA) problem of finding low energy states of an arbitrary Ising spin Hamiltonian HI by implementing time evolution with a Hamiltonian H(t) = HI + g(t)Ht. We will assume that the nonadiabatic annealing protocol is defined by a specific decaying coupling g(t) and a specific mixing Hamiltonian Ht that make the model analytically solvable arbitrarily far from the adiabatic regime. In specific cases of HI, the solution shows the possibility of a considerable quantum speedup of finding the Ising ground state. We then compare predictions of our solution to results of numerical simulations, and argue that the solvable QA protocol produces the optimal performance in the limit of maximal complexity of the computational problem. Our solution demonstrates for the most complex spin glasses a power-law energy relaxation with the annealing time T and uncorrelated from HI annealing schedule. This proves the possibility for spin glasses of a faster than ∼ 1/logβT energy relaxation.


Objective To observe the clinical manifestations,causes and treatments of different surgical complications of sclera after pterygium excision surgery. Methods A retrospective analysis of 200 cases(200 eyes)of pterygium without relapse after surgery was done.In which 153 eyes were primary pterygium and 47 eyes were recurrance ones.They were divided into three groups according to the surgical methods.The clinical manifestation,causes and effect were observed. Results There were 24 eyes of mild scleral softening.14 eyes recovered by stop using corticosteroid and anti-metebolic eyedrops. 10 eyes were cured by plusing nutritial medicine.Scleral necrosis occurred in 3 eyes,they were cured after amniotic membrane transplantation. Conclusion Surgical treatment or surgery and postoperative medication and other factors could lead to postoperative sclera complications after pterygium excision.Early diagnosis and effective treatments to improve the prognosis of this kind of surgery is essential.

Key words:
pterygium excision;  scleral solution;  scleral softening


Report on two studies to investigate psychiatric morbidity in patients hospitalized in an internal medicine ward of a distric general hospital. In the first charts of 783 patients hospitalized in 1975 were evaluated retrospectively, while the second study (conducted in 1976) involved clinical assessment by the author of 244 newly admitted patients. A psychiatric diagnosis could be established in some 70% of all patients hospitalized in the internal medicine ward, and the morbidity rate in patients for whom therapy was indicated was 40%. Investigation of the medication utilized on the ward revealed that psychopharmacologic agents (chiefly given as hypnotics) were the most frequently prescribed group of drugs, whereas they were administered to 25% of patients on a regular basis (without indication as hypnotics). These high figures emphasize the need to decentralize psychiatric services and to intergrate psychiatry into internal medicine.


The Sutter's Mill C‐type meteorite fall occurred on 22 April 2012 in and around the town of Coloma, California. The exact location of the meteorite fall was determined within hours of the event using a combination of eyewitness reports, weather radar imagery, and seismometry data. Recovery of the first meteorites occurred within 2 days and continued for months afterward. The recovery effort included local citizens, scientists, and meteorite hunters, and featured coordination efforts by local scientific institutions. Scientific analysis of the collected meteorites revealed characteristics that were available for study only because the rapid collection of samples had minimized terrestrial contamination/alteration. This combination of factors—rapid and accurate location of the event, participation in the meteorite search by the public, and coordinated scientific investigation of recovered samples—is a model that was widely beneficial and should be emulated in future meteorite falls. The tools necessary to recreate the Sutter's Mill recovery are available, but are currently underutilized in much of the world. Weather radar networks, scientific institutions with interest in meteoritics, and the interested public are available globally. Therefore, it is possible to repeat the Sutter's Mill recovery model for future meteorite falls around the world, each for relatively little cost with a dedicated researcher. Doing so will significantly increase the number of fresh meteorite falls available for study, provide meteorite material that can serve as the nuclei of new meteorite collections, and will improve the public visibility of meteoritics research.


Author(s): Konstantinovskaia, Natalia | Advisor(s): Iwasaki, Shoichi | Abstract: The complex relationship between gender and language has been studied from a diversity of perspectives, which have explored both the historical control of women's language by men and the evolving interactions between genders that shape contemporary language use. To date, however, there is little cross-cultural work exploring the crucial role of the media in shaping the social norms that regulate the use of gendered language. Furthermore, few studies analyzed women's discourses on their perceptions of normative and ideal femininities along with women's real linguistic practices. This dissertation aims to fill this gap by conducting a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural study of women's language in contemporary Japanese and Russian societies. The dissertation is three-fold: it investigates current gender ideologies in televised advertising, their manifestations in women's narratives on their ideal selves, and women's actual speech in spontaneous conversations in Japan and Russia. By juxtaposing women's scripted speech in televised commercials, women's beliefs in interviews and their actual language behavior, I examine how various social expectations suggested in media are evoked, asserted, and rejected in women's perceptions of femininity and in their everyday life. Thus, this dissertation compares and contrasts women's self-articulated femininities with the normative portrayals dominant in media, exploring the ways in which women challenge and subvert social expectations.The results of this dissertation suggest that Japanese and Russian media frequently depicts women highlighting their femininity, which reflects a synthesis of current gender ideologies, traditional models and postfeminist ideas of 'power femininity.' Japanese and Russian women have rigid perceptions about the ideal femininity that in some ways echo the media representations. The corpus analysis of women's conversations and blogs, however, demonstrates the large gap between these perceptions and women's real practices. The dissertation findings add to our understanding of the constructed nature of femininity, its components, and its significance in both Japanese and Russian societies. The findings also highlight the culture-sensitive, nuanced creation of gender, and reveal the cultural inhomogeneity of its manifestations.


Plywood base was used as a platform to place the entire equipment. Stainless steel blade was attached to the shaft of motor of 240V which acts as cutting unit. Stainless steel cylinder with supporting iron rod is used for feeding little gourds. A rectangular frame made up of metallic stands was used as main frame and supporting main units. A collection tray made up of metal sheet was used for collection of slices.
Moisture content of little gourds was 85%. The dimensions of little gourds were measured using digital Vernier callipers and weight of each little gourd was measured using electronic weighing balance. Average length and diameter of little gourds were found to be 17.93mm and 18.88mm respectively. The other parameters like Sphericity, roundness, cylindrical and elliptical were found to be 0.14cm, 3.73cm2, 19.87cm3 and 0.89cm-3 respectively. Average weight of the little gourds were found to be 16.5g. The surface area and bulk density of little gourds were found to be 180.6 sq.cm and 500 kg/m3. Performance evaluation of little gourd cutter was performed where slicing operation was performed at different motor speeds and voltages. High motor speed with voltage of 240V gave slices of 0.75mm which were suitable for household consumption.


The purpose of the present study was to investigate anti-staphylococcal activity of daptomycin and bacteriophage K, alone or in combination, against biofilm-producers and non-producers S. aureus and S. epidermidis strains, under biofilm forming and cells' proliferation conditions. Daptomycin and bacteriophage K (ATCC 19685B1), in different concentrations, were tested against 10 Staphylococcus aureus and 10 S. epidermidis, characterized by phenotypes and genotypes. The quantitative microtiter plate (crystal violet, CV), methylthiazoltetrazolium (MTT), and growth curve (GC) assays were performed. No statistically significant difference was found between species, whereas daptomycin alone performed better using medium and high concentrations of the drug and bacteriophage K was more active against strains with higher susceptibility, by CV and MTT assays. Best results were achieved using both agents combined in high concentrations. Bacteriophage K was effective within 3.8 and 2.4 h, depending on the concentration used, by the GC assay. Combination of daptomycin with bacteriophage K was more effective against staphylococci, depending on the concentrations used and strains' susceptibility. Further studies are needed to evaluate if this approach might be a choice for prevention or therapy of biofilm-associated infections.


1. The substrate conversion of [4-(14)C]progesterone and [4-(14)C]oestradiol during incubation with the liver microsomal fraction from both control and clofibrate-treated rats amounted to about 10-15 and 20-25% respectively. 2. The metabolites of progesterone formed by preparations from control rats were hydroxylated in the 16alpha-position (14%), the 6beta-position (12%) and the 2alpha-position (7%). Of the products formed from oestradiol 12% were recovered as a 16alpha-hydroxylated derivative whereas 5% had a 6beta- and 2% a 6alpha-hydroxyl group. 3. Clofibrate affected the microsomal metabolism of both progesterone and oestradiol. It induced 7alpha-hydroxylation of both compounds, metabolic conversions not found in control rats. The 6beta-hydroxylation of progesterone and the 6alpha-hydroxylation of oestradiol were enhanced by a factor of 2 and 3.5 respectively. The 2alpha-hydroxylation, and the 20alpha- and 20beta-hydroxy steroid reduction of progesterone were significantly decreased as were the 16alpha- and the 6beta-hydroxylation of oestradiol.


Background Type I diabetes occurs when the pancreas can only make limited or minimal insulin. Patients with type 1 diabetes need effective approaches to manage diabetes and maintain their blood-glucose concentration. Recently, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been used to help control blood-glucose levels in patients with type 1 diabetes. Patients with type 2 diabetes may also benefit from CGM on multiple insulin injections, basal insulin, or sulfonylureas. Enzyme-free glucose detection in a neutral environment is the recent development trend of CGM. Materials and Methods Pt/Au alloy electrodes for enzyme-free glucose detection in a neutral environment were formed by electrochemically depositing Pt/Au alloy on a thin polycarbonate (PC) membrane surface with a uniformly distributed micro-hemisphere array. The PC membranes were fabricated using semiconductor microelectromechanical manufacturing processes, precision micro-molding, and hot embossing. Amperometry was used to measure the glucose concentration in PBS (pH 7.4) and artificial human serum. Results The Pt/Au nanoalloy electrode had excellent specificity for glucose detection, according to the experimental results. The device had a sensitivity of 2.82 μA mM−1 cm−2, a linear range of 1.39–13.9 mM, and a detection limit of 0.482 mM. Even though the complex interfering species in human blood can degrade the sensing signal, further experiments conducted in artificial serum confirmed the feasibility of the proposed Pt/Au nanoalloy electrode in clinical applications. Conclusion The proposed Pt/Au nanoalloy electrode can catalyze glucose reactions in neutral solutions with enhancing sensing performance by the synergistic effect of bimetallic materials and increasing detection surface area. This novel glucose biosensor has advantages, such as technology foresight, good detection performance, and high mass production feasibility. Thus, the proposed neutral nonenzymatic glucose sensor can be further used in CGMs.


High-performing thermoelectric materials such as Zn4Sb3 and clathrates have atomic disorder as the root to their favorable properties. This makes it extremely difficult to understand and model their properties at a quantitative level, and thus effective structure-property relations are challenging to obtain. Cu2-xSe is an intensely studied, cheap and non-toxic high performance thermoelectric, which exhibits highly peculiar transport properties, especially near the β-to-α phase transition around 400 K, which must be related to the detailed nature of the crystal structure. Attempts to solve the crystal structure of the low-temperature phase, β-Cu2-xSe, have been unsuccessful since 1936. So far, all studies have assumed that β-Cu2-xSe has a three-dimensional periodic structure, but here we show that the structure is ordered only in two dimensions while it is disordered in the third dimension. Using the three-dimensional difference pair distribution function (3D-ΔPDF) analysis method for diffuse single-crystal X-ray scattering, the structure of the ordered layer is solved and it is shown that there are two modes of stacking disorder present which give rise to an average structure with higher symmetry. The present approach allows for a direct solution of structures with disorder in some dimensions and order in others, and can be thought of as a generalization of the crystallographic Patterson method. The local and extended structure of a solid determines its properties and Cu2-xSe represents an example of a high-performing thermoelectric material where the local atomic structure differs significantly from the average periodic structure observed from Bragg crystallography.


Twenty critically ill infants with abnormal head growth and/or seizures underwent CAT of the brain. Signs of birth asphyxia or respiratory distress were present in all. Six out of ten infants with abnormal size of the head had abnormal CAT scans. Nine out of ten infants with seizures had abnormal scans. Abnormalities included hydrocephalus, intraventricular hemorrhage, cerebral edema, subarachnoid hemorrhage and porencephaly. Six infants required neurosurgical procedures. Development at two to 15 months of age in the 19 surviving infants was normal in nine, suspect in eight, and severely delayed in two patients. Until the prognosis of the various CNS disorders discussed is clearly defined, aggressive management appears indicated.


Herbert Graham Cannon, Beyer Professor in the University of Manchester, died in a London hospital on 6 January 1963, at the age of sixty-five. He had been for more than forty years a leading figure among British zoologists. An inspiring teacher, a vigorous and controversial writer, he had contributed greatly to the advancement of zoology by his researches on arthropodan animals and, in particular, by his interpretations of the embryology of the Crustacea and of the nature of their feeding mechanisms. Graham Cannon was born on 14 April 1897, in Wimbledon, the third child of a family of four. His father David William Cannon was a compositor in the firm of Eyre and Spottiswoode and was for several years engaged in the preparation of maps and papers for the India Office; his mother was the daughter of a Charles Graham who owned and drove one of the first horse-buses to run on a regular service in south London. David Cannon's weekly wage was little enough for the needs of a largish family and when Graham was about five years old the parents moved from Wimbledon to a house in Brixton near to which there were some good free schools. Cannon was sent for a time to the local council school and, on winning a scholarship, he moved on to Wilson's Grammar School in Camberwell where he followed the normal grammar school curriculum specializing, in the higher forms, in science subjects in preparation for entrance to a University. He took little part in field games, but he was interested in chess and rifle shooting. He also enjoyed making things, and early developed a facility for drawing and sketching. As evidence of this I have been told that one of his schoolmasters, the father of a present Professor of Zoology, thought sufficiently well of the young Cannon's drawings to keep them to the day of his retirement as examples of the work of his more talented pupils. But Graham's main love was music. He had a good singing voice and was for several years a choirboy at the local church where, on special occasions such as the Christmas and Easter services, he and his brother would almost invariably be called upon to take the solo parts.


This paper studies magnetic induction for wireless powering and the data uplink of microsensors, in particular for future medical in-body applications. We consider an external massive coil array as power source (1 W) and data sink. For sensor devices at 12cm distance from the array, e.g. beneath the human skin, we compute a minimum coil size of 150µm assuming 50nW required chip activation power and operation at 750 MHz. A 275µm coil at the sensor allows for 1 Mbit/s uplink rate. Moreover, we study resonant sensor nodes in dense swarms, a key aspect of envisioned biomedical applications. In particular, we investigate the occurring passive relaying effect and cooperative transmit beamforming in the uplink. We show that the frequency- and location-dependent signal fluctuations in such swarms allow for significant performance gains when utilized with adaptive matching, spectrally-aware signaling and node cooperation. The work is based on a general magneto-inductive MIMO system model, which is introduced first.


The reaction between MnCl2·4H2O, 2,2'-bis-p-tBu-calix[4]arene (H8L1) and 2-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine (hmpH) in a basic dmf/MeOH solution results in the formation of the complex [MnIII10MnII4(L1)3(hmp)4(μ3-O)4(μ3-OH)2(MeOH)4(dmf)6](dmf)4 (6) upon vapour diffusion of petroleum ether into the mother liquor. The crystals are in the monoclinic space group C2/c, with the asymmetric unit (ASU) comprising one half of the molecule. The structure describes a large S-shaped cluster (∼40 Å top to tail) where the unusual syn and anti conformations of the calixarene ligands results in two binding pockets each containing a [MnIII5MnII2] moiety comprised of two perpendicular, vertex-sharing [Mn4] butterflies. One butterfly possesses a [MnIII4O4] core and the second a [MnIII2MnII2O3] unit with the MnII ions in the central body positions. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetisation measurements reveal weak exchange interactions between the metal centres.


A cryostorage procedure was developed to provide ovine luteal cells throughout the period of seasonal anestrus. Corpora lutea obtained from midluteal phase, superovulated ewes were dispersed enzymatically. Some dispersed cells were fractionated into subpopulations by elutriation. Dimethylsulfoxide (7.5% final concentration) in Hanks' buffered saline was added to cells at 4 degrees C, and dispersed cell preparations were frozen in a programmable cell freezer and stored at -196 degrees C. After recovery from cryopreservation, cell viability and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) binding characteristics of thawed cells were not different from those of corresponding fresh cells. Additionally, thawed cells retained the capacity to attach to culture dishes and retained responsiveness of progesterone secretion to prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and ovine luteinizing hormone (LH), although rates of progesterone secretion were attenuated in thawed compared with fresh cells. The cryopreservation procedure will prove useful to relieve constraints in utilization of ovine luteal cells arising from reproductive seasonality in sheep. Cells retrieved from cryostorage were evaluated by studying PGF2 alpha binding characteristics. From saturation analyses (increasing amounts of radiolabeled PGF2 alpha) of PGF2 alpha binding to unfractionated cells, we detected a single class of high affinity binding sites (Kd = 17.4 +/- 2.3 nM) in addition to the nonspecific binding component. Using displacement analyses (constant radiolabeled PGF2 alpha and increasing amounts of unlabeled PGF2 alpha) and unfractionated cells, we detected additional binding sites of lower affinity (Kd = 409 +/- 166 nM) as well as the nonspecific binding component. Small luteal cells obtained by elutriation, which were essentially devoid of large cell contamination, had only low affinity binding sites.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Nowadays almost most of the countries are forcing the motor riders to wear the helmet and not to use the vehicles when the person is in drunken condition. But still in many places, the rules are being violated by the users. In order to overcome this problem, an intelligent system has been embedded in the helmet itself. The signal detected by IR sensor from the earlobe region and an alcohol sensor will be transmitted to the vehicle control circuit. It will not turn on the vehicle, when the user is without helmet or in drunken condition. The system containing the GPS receiver will provide the geometric coordinates to the control unit. Based on this coordinates the user cannot drive the vehicle into no entry or no parking areas. If he enters into the restricted area, buzzer will get activated and vehicle speed also gets controlled. In addition to the above, when an accident occurs the system will start alarm and if the user tries to suppress the warning alarm then SMS will not be sent else it will be sent to the user's relatives/friends. This contact information coded in the system can also be modified as per the users need. During the theft, the current location of the vehicle can be identified by sending the message from the user to the intelligent incorporated system. By this way the recovery of the vehicle is also possible by GPS-GSM communication.


The objectives of the study is to identify the problems faced by the third year students in mastering vocabulary and to describe the solution made by the teacher to overcome the third year students' problem. The data are the narrative of
the process of teaching and learning vocabulary in the third year students of MDI AL Mustaqbal Magetan. In this research, the writer did a classroom observation and interview to the English teacher and the students. For analyzing the data, the writer used Interactive Analysis Model Proposed by M.B Miles and Huberman. The analysis consists of four steps,
namely (1) Collecting data; (2) Reducing data; (3) displaying data; (4)Drawing conclusion.
Based on the data analysis, the writer finds the problem faced by the third year of MDI AL Mustaqbal in mastering vocabulary and the solution made by the teacher to overcome students' problem as following: (1) In translation, when there is someone asking the meaning, she often translates the difficult words herself directly without suggesting to looking at dictionary first. (2) In pronunciation, she
pronounces the difficult word first, then followed by all students together and the teacher corrects the mistake and repeat the word again. (3) In writing, the teacher gives solution such as giving picture as the object. So, the students are asked to go in front of the class one by one and write in the blackboard. And then the teacher corrects the writing grammatical ruler and expressing words in pronunciation. (4) In differentiating kinds of words, the teacher always tries to refresh the students' memories by testing or asking kinds of words. There are some teaching media that can be used by the teacher to teach vocabulary, namely using objects, drawings or flashcards, illustrations and pictures, mimes, gestures, games, and storytelling.


(2)H/(1)H and (13)C/(12)C site-specific isotope ratios determined by NMR spectroscopy may be used to discriminate pharmaceutically active ingredients based on the synthetic process used in production. Extending the Site-specific Natural Isotope Fractionation NMR (SNIF-NMR) method to (13)C is highly beneficial for complex organic molecules when measurements of (2)H/(1)H ratios lead to poorly defined molecular fingerprints. The current NMR methodology to determine (13)C/(12)C site-specific isotope ratios suffers from poor sensitivity and long experimental times. In this work, several NMR pulse sequences based on polarization transfer were evaluated and optimized to measure precise quantitative (13)C NMR spectra within a short time. Adiabatic 180 degrees (1)H and (13)C pulses were incorporated into distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) and refocused insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization transfer (INEPT) to minimize the influence of 180 degrees pulse imperfections and of off-resonance effects on the precision of the measured (13)C peak areas. The adiabatic DEPT sequence was applied to draw up a precise site-specific (13)C isotope profile of ibuprofen. A modified heteronuclear cross-polarization (HCP) experiment featuring (1)H and (13)C spin-locks with adiabatic 180 degrees pulses is also introduced. This sequence enables efficient magnetization transfer across a wide (13)C frequency range although not enough for an application in quantitative (13)C isotopic analysis.


Low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is now the standard of care for prophylaxis and treatment of thromboembolic disorders. Only cases with renal failure, morbid obesity or extreme age require anti-Xa monitoring to assure the therapeutic level achievement. Because of infrequent requests, the test is usually sent to the reference laboratories and specimen handling may be delayed. Because LMWHs can be kept at ambient temperature for several days, we proposed that anti-Xa levels in plasma samples are similarly steady. Patients' plasma that was requested for anti-Xa activity was left at room temperature to repeat the test 24 hours later and compare with the result of immediate assay. The study included 86 fresh specimens from 56 participants. All patients received enoxaparin with anti-Xa levels ranging from 0.1 to 2.5 U/mL. Notably, anti-Xa activities significantly rose on the second occasions (P = 8.4 × 10—10). The mean change of anti-Xa was +0.15 ± 0.21 U/mL (+24.9% ± 37.4%). Children (age <15 years) showed more marked alterations than adults (+40.9% vs. +18.2%, P = .008). There was no statistical difference in the degrees of changes between sexes and diagnoses. The data suggest that specimens sent for anti-Xa require prompt handling to prevent falsely elevated values. This observation is new and future research is needed to find the mechanism of this alteration.