PurposeIn this study, we examine how ownership structure affects the use of independent directors in Vietnam – an emerging stock market.Design/methodology/approachWe develop logit and tobit regression models to investigate the effects of ownership structure on the propensity to use independent directors and the number of independent directors on the board, respectively. Insider ownership and the use of independent directors are proposed to have a non-linear relationship.FindingsWith a sample of 1,318 observations collected from 192 listed firms over the period from 2008 to 2017, we find that insider ownership and independent director appointment have a U-shaped relationship. It is positive when insiders hold a small proportion of shares, and turns out to be negative when insiders hold a large percentage of shares. In addition, both state ownership and foreign ownership are negatively related to firm decisions of appointing independent directors.Practical implicationsOur findings imply that minority shareholders should have appropriate actions to reduce agency costs and protect their own interests. In addition, policymakers should improve the effectiveness of corporate governance legislation to increase the presence of independent directors in order to protect minority shareholders. Moreover, government agencies also need to increase the number of independent directors in state-controlled firms as a means to improve their corporate governance. Foreign investors may be a substitute for independent directors; therefore, firms without independent directors are able to improve their corporate governance by attracting foreign investors.Originality/valueWhile the extant literature shows that independent directors can help firms decrease agency costs of equity in financial decisions and performance, there are relatively few studies investigating corporate decisions to use independent directors. This paper contributes to the literature of corporate governance mechanisms through independent directors in emerging markets.


Algae are organisms that grow in aquatic environments that use the light and carbon dioxide (CO2) to create biomass. Macro algae are larger algae that can grow in a variety of ways. Algae can be explored for a variety of other uses such as biofuels, fertilizer and pollution control. In addition, algae can also be used for reducing the emissions of CO2 from power plants. CO2 produced by the power plant could be utilized as a carbon source for algal growth, and the carbon emissions would be reduced by recycling waste CO2 from power plants into clean-burning biodiesel.


Abstarct Here we apply a two-phase flow model to simulate snow avalanche motion. Flowing snow is modeled as a Bingham fluid. Small-scale laboratory experiments were conducted using a rotating viscometer to validate the constitutive model. Experimental scale model test-runs were also performed, and run-out distances and impact pressures obtained in the model tests were reproduced using the two-phase flow model. Comparisons revealed that the simulated results were strongly dependent on the basal friction angle and calculation mesh size. Although the method reproduced the laboratory model results quite well, constitutive aspects of the basal surface remained unsolved. Future research will need to incorporate a numerical technique to handle the basal boundary, such as a boundary-fitted coordinate technique.


Th is article examines the collective and individual imageries of the "West" developed by young indigenous people living in the suburbs of the Mexican city of San Cristobal de Las Casas. Massive rural-urban migration has occurred in Chiapas in the last four decades, creating the infamous "poverty belts" in the suburbs of San Cristobal. The inhabitants of these suburban areas are mostly of indigenous (Tzotzil or Tzeltal) origin and they earn their living by selling craft work to tourists visiting the colonial city centre. The everyday interactions with tourists together with online interactions via social networking sites create a landscape of an "Imaginary West" (Yurchak 1995) – an unseen, yet ever-present homeland of the tourists and, most importantly, a place where "better lives" happen. Using the concept of "technologies of imagination" (Sneath, Holbraad and Pedersen 2009), the article analyzes the "Imaginary West" as a set of imaginative practices that signifi cantly shape the way in which young Tzotziles and Tzeltales construct their identity and negotiate their place in their immediate (offline) environment. The article is based on my long-term field research in San Cristobal focusingon the relationship between mobility patterns, identity and imagination in a marginalized urban environment.


Analysis of the current situation of non-English majors in learning English.Applied with learning motivation theory,pointing out the factors that influence the efficiency of learning,a set of methods are proposed to help non-English majors find their own way of learning English,in attempt to help them learn English more efficiently.


ABSTRACT The research were carried out in Hg contaminated paddy field in Kampung Leuwibolang, Desa Bantar Karet, Kecamatan Nanggung, Kabupaten Bogor. The aim of this research is to study the potency of Salvinia molesta, Oryza sativa, Monocharia vaginalis, Limnoharis flava, Paspalum conjugatum, Cyperus monocephala, Centrosema pubescens, Mikania cordata and Commelina nudiflora to accumulate Hg from contaminated soil. The treatments were fertilizer: no fertilizer (as a control), NPK, manure and compost. The result showed that the growth of each plant was significantly different. The fertilizer treatments were significantly affected plant growth. The S. molesta showed the highest biomass followed by M. vaginalis, O. sativa and C. nudiflora. Meanwhile S. molesta also showed the highest capasity to accumulate Hg/year followed by C. nudiflora, P. conjugatum dan M. vaginalis. Production of biomass and accumulation capasity of contaminant were the characteristic of accumulator plant. Based on characteristic of hyperaccumulator plant, this research suggested that S. molesta, M. vaginalis, P. conjugatum, O. sativa dan C. nudiflora were selected for fitoremediation of Hg contaminated soil. Keywords: Accumulator plant, Hg, biomass, accumulation capacity Katakunci: Tumbuhan akumulator, Hg, biomas, kapasitas akumulasi


Coupled steel plate shear wall (C-SPSW) is a relatively new system that has received less attention from research centers. This system benefits from a high ductility and stiffness, which are the two advantages that make this system superior to the other lateral load-resisting systems. This paper aims to study seismic response of the CSPSWs under near and far-field earthquakes, resting on soil types II and IV considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects using the 5, 10 and 15storey frames in which length of link beams and frame bays is equal to 1.25, 2.5 and 3.75 as well as 2.4, 3.2 and 4.8m, respectively. Based on the analysis results, maximum roof displacement of the 5, 10 and 20-storet frames located on stiff soils (soil type II), does not experience remarkable changes under near and far-field earthquakes but to the contrary, in the case of soil type IV, changes are considerable. Roof acceleration of the structure located on stiff soil, is less than that of the structure on soft soil. In this paper, ratio of base shear to effective weight of the structure was taken into account and it was found that incorporation of SSI effects influences the base shear. Moreover, regarding behavioral modes of the coupling beam and coupling degree of the SPSW, the results indicated that this degree has a meaningful correlation with fundamental period of the structure and the short coupling beams that yield in shear, have a better performance.


: Diabetes mellitus is becoming a common metabolic disorder which has serious threat to public health in the world. There are chemicals and biochemical agent that helps in controlling diabetes but there is no permanent remedy available which helps to get recovered completely from this disorder. By conducting large number of research work, numerous traditional medicines have been found for diabetes. Substances and extracts isolated from different natural resources especially plants have always been a rich arsenal for controlling and treating diabetes problem and complication arising due to it. So this review helps the reader to understand the importance of various types of herbal and polyherbal formulations present traditionally which can be used to treat diabetes mellitus.


Contemporary developments in psychotherapy include mindfulness-based interventions and metacognitive therapy. Both of these approaches incorporate attentional training exercises and meditative activity designed to help clients cope better with rumination, worry, and over-analytical conceptual thinking. Notably, they also use focused listening exercises within established, demonstrably effective treatment protocols. These related practices collectively highlight the promising role of listening, sonic awareness, and mindfulness of sound/music as a means to enhance psychological functioning. Moreover, the paradigm provides a cognitive- attentional framework for understanding the well established, salutary benefits of music listening and may appeal to those many professionals who work in cognitive-behavioral modalities. Examples of clinical materials based on these models are included. Keywords medical music psychotherapy, music medicine, music psychotherapy, music therapy


This paper describes the design and evaluation of an integrated control strategy for longitudinal safety and lateral stability. The objective of the integrated control strategy is to optimally coordinate independent brake inputs for longitudinal collision-safety and lateral stability in various driving situations such as lane change with braking and circular turning with braking, etc. The proposed integrated vehicle safety system is applied to the vehicle equipped with Smart Cruise Control (SCC)/Collision Avoidance (CA) and Vehicle Stability Control (VSC). The proposed control system consists of a supervisor, control algorithms, and a coordinator. The proposed system has three control modes which are normal driving, integrated safety I, and integrated safety II. According to the corresponding control mode, the longitudinal and lateral control algorithms calculate the desired motion of the subject vehicle. Based on the desired longitudinal force and the desired yaw moment, the coordinator determines the throttle angle and the brake pressures by using optimal distribution. Closed-loop simulations with the driver-vehicle-controller system are conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed integrated vehicle safety system. Finally, the proposed control system was also implemented in a sport utility vehicle and tested in several driving situations.


The BC Cancer Agency Radiotherapy (RT) program started the Prospective Outcomes and Support Initiative (POSI) at all six centres to utilize patient-reported outcomes for immediate clinical care, quality improvement, and research. Patient-reported outcomes were collected at time of computed tomography simulation via tablet and 2 to 4 weeks post-RT via either tablet or over the phone by a registered nurse. From 2013 to 2016, patients were approached on 20,150 attempts by POSI for patients treated with RT for bone metastases (52%), brain metastases (11%), lung cancer (17%), gynecological cancer (16%), head and neck cancer (2%), and other pilots (2%). The accrual rate for all encounters was 85% (n = 17,101), with the accrual rate varying between the lowest and the highest accruing centre from 78% to 89% (P < .001) and varying by tumour site (P < .001). Using the POSI database, we have performed research and quality improvement initiatives that have changed practice.


Clinical Gastroenterology. By Eddy D. Palmer, M.D., F.A.C.P. (Pp. vii+630; illustrated. £6 17s. 6d.) London: Cassell. 1957. This comprehensive account of disease of the gastro-intestinal tract is a useful book of reference for the specialist who wants to keep abreast of the modem American point of view; it is clearly illustrated but some of the X-ray reproductions could be improved upon in a subsequent edition. To the British reader it does seem unfortunate that there is no reference to British teachings. Thus there is no mention of aspirin as a cause of erosions of the stomach; it will come as a surprise to many that chronic gastritis does not occur as a result of chronic alcoholism: and that an uncomplicated duodenal ulcer requires little special attention and that dietary treatment has no virtue. While agreeing with the author that emotional strains play an important part in producing gastro-intestinal diseases, it seems to us that this aspect is unduly stressed throughout the volume. With these reservations this book can be recommended as a clearly set out and comprehensive exposition of a group of disorders which are widespread at the present time.


PART I Introduction Yasutami Shimomura and Hideo Ohashi PART II: BASIC FACTS OF A RISING DONOR 1. The Foreign Aid Philosophy of a Rising (Asian) Economic Power: A Southeast Asian View Dennis .D. Trinidad 2. Aid Volume in a Historical Perspective Takaaki Kobayashi and Yasutami Shimomura 3. Implementation System: Tools and Institutions Shino Watanabe 4. Linkage between Aid and Non-Aid Activities: A Distinguishing Feature of China's Engagement Hideo Ohashi 5. Case study: 'the Angola Model' Juichi Inada PART III: EMPHASIS ON 'AID, INVESTMENT, TRADE SYNTHESIS': THE EVOLUTION OF AN ASIAN AID MODEL? 6. The Chinese Views: Reflection of the Long-Term Experiences of Aid Receiving and Giving Wang Ping 7. The Japanese Views: With Particular Reference to the Shared Cognition Model in Asia Yasutami Shimomura PART IV: IMPACTS OF CHINA'S FOREIGN AID 8. Impacts on Asia Naohiro Kitano 9. China's Foreign Aid and the International Aid Community: From the Perspectives of Traditional Donors and Africa Izumi Ohno PART V 10. Future Prospects of China's Foreign Aid Yasutami Shimomura and Hideo Ohashi


The thermal degradation of cannabichromene (CBC, 3) is dominated by cationic reactions and not by the pericyclic rearrangements observed in model compounds. The rationalization of these differences inspired the development of a process that coupled, in an aromatization-driven single operational step, the condensation of citral and alkylresorciniols to homoprenylchromenes and their in situ deconstructive annulation to benzo[c]chromenes. This process was applied to a total synthesis of cannabinol (CBN, 5) and to its molecular editing.


The introduction of early complementary feeding (ECF) is determined by different factors depending on when it occurs. The objective of this study was to analyze factors associated with the introduction of ECF in two different moments of the infant's life: from zero to three and from four to five months of age. A cohort with 3,306 dyads studied in the BRISA survey in São Luis/MA in 2010 was used. Questionnaires were applied at birth and at follow-up when the infants were 15 to 36 months of age of women with more than 20 weeks of gestational age, residing in this municipality. A multivariate model of multinomial logistic regression was used to verify associations between independent variables and ECF at 0 to 3 months and at 4 to 5 months of age. A hierarchical analysis model was used to select variables for confounding adjustment. Variables with a P-value <0.05 were considered significant. For ECF introduced between 0-3 months, the variables "use of pacifier", "maternal paid activity", "smoking", and "postpartum pregnancy" were identified as risk factors. The variables "use of pacifier" and "maternal paid activity" remained associated as a risk for ECF introduced from 4-5 months. The variable 'mother without partner' (RR=1.26 and P=0.04) represented a risk factor for ECF only for the 4-5 months period. Although each period presented specific risk factors, the use of pacifier and maternal professional activity were associated in the two periods studied, indicating their importance for the introduction of ECF.


Abstract: In this note, we consider the estimation of an unknown function f for weakly dependent data (α-mixing) in a general setting. Our contribution is theoretical: we prove that a wavelet hard thresholding estimator attains a sharp rate of convergence under the mean integrated squared error (MISE) over Besov balls without imposing too restrictive assumptions on the model. Applications are given for two types of inverse problems: the deconvolution density estimation and the density estimation in a GARCH-type model, both improve existing results in this dependent context. Another application concerns the regression model with random design.


It has recently been suggested that the gravitational dynamics could be obtained by requiring the action to be invariant under diffeomorphism transformations. We argue that the action constructed in a usual way is automatically diffeomorphism invariant in nature, which thus invalidates this alternative perspective to obtain gravitational dynamics. Especially, we also show what is wrong with the technical derivation of gravitational dynamics in the alternative approach.


This paper reports on an empirical study concerning the stipulation that detailed financial information is more useful for lending decision making. Prior research and other evidence assert that the utility of more detailed data is greater than the utility of (condensed) aggregated data. Since the utility of using data cannot be evaluated in a direct manner, decision effects have been used as a surrogate measure. The primary result of this research shows that the perceived risk of the borrowing firm tends to be negatively influenced by the aggregation of financial reports only when the financial situation of that firm is marginal. This result, then, supports imputing a higher utility for detailed data, but only under certain conditions. A secondary result casts doubts on the strength of the predictive ability of financial ratios if not accompanied by financial information more detailed than that used in computing these ratios.


Sirs, The hypothesis of male lethality in an autosomal recessive condition is an interesting way of explaining the apparent absence of males with the form of congenital cutis laxa which is associated with delayed growth and motor development (Allanson et al. 1986). We believe that chance is the more likely explanation of the previous findings for we have reported seven patients with this condition, four of whom were male (Rogers & Danks 1985). John Rogers David Danks References


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to hepatic pathologies, including simple fatty liver (SFL), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and cirrhosis, that may progress to hepatocellular carcinoma. These liver disease states may affect the activity and expression levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes, potentially resulting in an alteration in the pharmacokinetics, therapeutic efficacy, and safety of drugs. This study investigated the hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2B1-modulating effect of a specific NAFLD state in dietary rat models. Sprague-Dawley rats were given a methionine/choline-deficient (MCD) or high-fat (HF) diet to induce NASH and SFL, respectively. The induction of these disease states was confirmed by plasma chemistry and liver histological analysis. Both the protein and mRNA levels of hepatic CYP2B1 were considerably reduced in MCD diet-fed rats; however, they were similar between the HF diet-fed and control rats. Consistently, the enzyme-kinetic and pharmacokinetic parameters for CYP2B1-mediated bupropion metabolism were considerably reduced in MCD diet-fed rats; however, they were also similar between the HF diet-fed and control rats. These results may promote a better understanding of the influence of NAFLD on CYP2B1-mediated metabolism, which could have important implications for the safety and pharmacokinetics of drug substrates for the CYP2B subfamily in patients with NAFLD.


Agriculture in India occupies an important place as it contributes nearly 25 per cent of GDP and two-thirds of the population depend upon it. Agricultural growth in the past has been sufficient to move from severe food crisis to aggregate food surplus today. The rainfed regions are diverse in terms of resource base, varying from resource rich regions harnessing substantial production to resource poor regions with restricted potential. These resource poor regions are mostly dominated by secondary crops. Barring maize and potato, secondary crops are loosing ground against the finer cereals, cash and commercial crops. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a leverage to these crops by providing support in terms of technological advancement and policy support vis-a-vis other crops. The present study is an attempt to provide some much needed succor to secondary crops, thereby supporting millions of livelihoods inhabiting the rainfed marginal environments of the country.


Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with intermediate resistance to Vancomycin (VISA) is reported worldwide. These strains frequently emerge among hospital-associated (HA)-MRSA and rarely within community-acquired (CA)-MRSA. Here, the genomic and transcriptomic adaptations distinguishing VISA daptomycin resistant (DAP-R) CA-MRSA, which emerged in a hospitalized patient under glycopeptide treatment, were explored. Methods: Whole-genome sequencing, RNA-Seq and bioinformatics were carried out. Results: Our CA-MRSA clustered in the USA400 lineage showing additional antimicrobial resistance (AMR) versus DAP and glycopeptides. Resistomics revealed adaptations related to glycopeptide, daptomycin and rifampin resistance (mprF nsSNPS and overexpression of glycopeptide and daptomycin-resistance related genes). Similar changes were detected in virulence traits (agrA HI-nsSNPs and toxin gene underexpression), in which a decrease was observed despite the abundance of virulence-related genes. Our results predicted a balance in adaptations, decreasing the virulence and biological costs to support the co-occurrence of extensive AMR in a hypervirulent genomic background. Conclusion: Our data show that VISA DAP-R CA-MRSA shifts the potential hypervirulent behavior of CA-MRSA towards the acquisition and maintenance of extensive AMR, by a decrease in virulence and biological costs mediated by a "compensatory modulatory mutation" silencing the Agr quorum-sensing cascade.


My object in this paper is to describe a new plastic operation for the control of urination in the absence of sphincters to the bladder. We know that either one of the normal sphincters is capable of producing continence of urination. When both are absent, we may expect that one artificial sphincter will suffice for this function, if properly constructed. Orthopedists have little difficulty in causing transplanted muscles to perform foreign tasks. Such transplantations and the course of action are practically always in a straight line. Unfortunately, we have no muscles with normal sphincter action per se which we can transplant into the neck of the bladder. The employment of straight bellied muscles for a complication of movements such as seen in a diaphragm has baffled many surgeons. The rectus muscle is used successfully in colostomies, but its action is a straight contraction, not a sphincteric one. There are no


Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) open reading frame (ORF) 2a contains a small internal ORF (2b) capable of encoding a protein of 73 aa, termed E protein. The function of E protein is currently unknown. The E protein possesses two cysteines at positions 49 and 54 that are highly conserved among North American isolates. In the present study, it was shown that E protein did not homodimerize with itself nor did it heterodimerize with the nucleocapsid (N) protein. However, E protein was interactive non-covalently with itself or with the N protein as shown by pull-down assays. The significance of the E protein cysteine residues on virus replication was determined using an infectious clone. Each cysteine was substituted by serine and the mutations were introduced into a full-length clone of PRRSV. When transfected into Marc-145 cells, all cysteine mutant clones induced PRRSV-specific cytopathic effects and produced infectious progeny virus. The data indicate that cysteine residues in the E protein are not essential for replication of North American genotype PRRSV.


The concept of utilizing multi-step returns for updating value functions has been adopted in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for a number of years. Updating value functions with different backup lengths provides advantages in different aspects, including bias and variance of value estimates, convergence speed, and exploration behavior of the agent. Conventional methods such as TD-lambda leverage these advantages by using a target value equivalent to an exponential average of different step returns. Nevertheless, integrating step returns into a single target sacrifices the diversity of the advantages offered by different step return targets. To address this issue, we propose Mixture Bootstrapped DQN (MB-DQN) built on top of bootstrapped DQN, and uses different backup lengths for different bootstrapped heads. MB-DQN enables heterogeneity of the target values that is unavailable in approaches relying only on a single target value. As a result, it is able to maintain the advantages offered by different backup lengths. In this paper, we first discuss the motivational insights through a simple maze environment. In order to validate the effectiveness of MB-DQN, we perform experiments on the Atari 2600 benchmark environments, and demonstrate the performance improvement of MB-DQN over a number of baseline methods. We further provide a set of ablation studies to examine the impacts of different design configurations of MB-DQN.


Although feed intake and efficiency differences in growing cattle of low and high residual feed intake (RFI) classification have been established, little is known about the difference in grazed forage intake between beef cows of known RFI classification. Two experiments were conducted using Hereford cows for which RFI had been determined as heifers using the GrowSafe 4000E feed intake system, after which heifers had been divided into thirds as low RFI, mid RFI, and high RFI. During Exp. 1, 2 replicates of low and high RFI cows (n = 7/replicate) in mid- to late-gestation were blocked to 1 of 4 non-endophyte-infected tall fescue paddocks (1.8 to 2.4 ha), which they grazed continuously for 84 d during summer. Using grazing exclosures, weekly rising plate meter readings, and forage harvests every 21 d, average forage DMI was calculated. Low and high RFI groups did not differ (P > 0.05) in BW change or BCS change over the trial (19.5 vs. 22.1 kg of BW gain and 0.11 vs. 0.10 BCS gain), but low RFI cows had a 21% numerically lower DMI than high RFI cows (12.4 vs. 15.6 kg/d; P = 0.23). The average area needed per paddock over the trial was similar for low and high RFI cows (1.71 vs. 1.82 ha; P = 0.35), and the average DM on offer over the trial was less for low RFI than for high RFI cows (4,215 vs. 4,376 kg; P = 0.06). During Exp. 2, 3 replicates of low and high RFI cows with their calves (n = 4 pair/replicate) strip-grazed stockpiled and early spring growth tall fescue paddocks (0.7 to 0.9 ha) for 60 d in late winter and early spring. Because of limiting forage availability and quality at trial initiation, cow-calf pairs were also fed 3.31 kg/pair of pelleted soyhulls daily. Pre- and post-grazed forage samples were harvested for 4 grazing periods, and forage growth was estimated using a growing degree days calculation and on-site weather station data. Performance did not differ (P > 0.05) between low and high RFI cows throughout the experiment (18.4 vs. 26.6 kg of BW gain and -0.04 vs. 0.15 BCS gain). Despite the utilization of forage offered being similar for low and high RFI cow-calf pairs (P > 0.05), low RFI cows and their calves had an 11% numerically lower DMI than high RFI pairs (12.5 vs. 14.1 kg/d; P = 0.12). We concluded that either no intake differences existed between low and high RFI cows or that current methodology and small animal numbers limited our ability to detect differences.


The present article sheds light on the implementation of the 'Social Solidarity Income' (SSI) in Greece, an example of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI). Drawing on the findings of 40 semi-structured interviews carried out in five selected municipalities, the article focuses on the 'social impact' of the SSI. More specifically, it investigates two inter-related themes: a) the social situation of beneficiaries and the survival strategies they used before and after receiving the SSI; and b) aspects of the SSI that should be improved at the implementation stage. It is argued that, despite certain positive elements of the SSI, such as the monetary allowance, which is a key component of the SSI and assists beneficiaries in covering their basic needs, the impact of the


This paper explores a practical approach to securing large wireless networks by applying Physical Layer Security (PLS). To date, PLS has mostly been seen as an information theory concept with few practical implementations. We present an Access Point (AP) selection algorithm that uses PLS to find an AP that offers the highest secrecy capacity to a legitimate user. We then propose an implementation of this algorithm using the novel concept of spectrum programming which extends Software-Defined Networking to the physical and data-link layers and makes wireless network management and control more flexible and scalable than traditional platforms. Our Wi-Fi network evaluation results show that our approach outperforms conventional solutions in terms of security, but at the expense of communication capacity, thus identifying a trade-off between security and performance. These results encourage implementation and extension to further wireless technologies.


In recent years, besides the advances made in canonical UHF radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, intense research efforts are being made to design new passive augmented tags that enable RFID-based sensing. These efforts stimulate continued research aimed at providing tags with additional functionalities, besides identification and sensing. In this work, an innovative device, representing a new class of fully passive augmented UHF RFID tags, is presented. It is named SPARTACUS, an acronym for self-powered augmented RFID tag for autonomous computing and ubiquitous sensing. The device, based on an accurate electromagnetic design that exploits polarization diversity of two antennas, which perform both energy harvesting and communication, enables a full two-way proactive interaction with any standard RFID Class-1 Generation-2 reader. It conjugates identification, sensing, local computing, and actuation control, besides being compact, energy-efficient, and easy to use. This paper presents detailed designs of both RF interfaces and digital section, besides discussing system validation and performance evaluation, followed by demonstrating the significance of SPARTACUS in paving the way to new classes of applications in the Internet of Things.


Titanium meshes have been extensively used in craniomaxillofacial surgery. The benefits of these titanium implants include being inert, stable, and radiopaque and having good drainage properties. The titanium mesh is cut to shape and bent before implantation, which may give rise to the cut edges being jagged and sharp. This can lead to soft tissue being caught or lacerated by these sharp ends. A change in technique to cut and shape the implant may reduce this problem. The implant should be cut right at the end of the bars flush with the remaining parts of the implant. We present a new and simple method for smoothing these troublesome edges. We use the diathermy scratch pad or tip cleaner, a tool used frequently in every major surgery. This scratch pad can be used as a rasp to smoothen the edges of the titanium mesh once it is cut into shape.


The temperature dependence of charge recombination of the pair P(+)HA(-) in isolated reaction centers from the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides with prereduced quinone QA was studied by sub-nanosecond to microsecond time-scale transient absorption. Overall, the kinetics slowed down substantially upon cooling from room temperature to ∼200 K, and then remained virtually unchanged down to 77 K, indicating the coexistence of two competitive pathways of charge recombination, a thermally-activated pathway appearing only above ~200 K and a temperature-independent pathway. In our modelling, the thermally activated pathway includes an uphill electron transfer from HA(-) to BA(-) leading to transient formation of the state P(+)BA(-), whereas the temperature-independent pathway is due to direct downhill electron transfer from HA(-) to P(+). At all temperatures studied, the kinetics could be approximated by a four-component decay. Detailed analysis of the lifetimes and amplitudes of particular phases over the range of temperatures suggests that the kinetically resolved phases reveal the consecutive appearance of three conformational states characterized by an increasing free energy gap between the states P(+)BA(-) and P(+)HA(-). The initial gap between these states was estimated to be only ~8 meV, the intermediate gap being ~92 meV, and the final gap ~135 meV, with no dependence on temperature. It was also calculated through a very straightforward approach that the relaxation process from the initial to the intermediate state occurs within 0.6 ± 0.1 ns, whereas the second step of relaxation from the intermediate to the final state takes 11 ± 2 ns. Both phases of the protein relaxation process are essentially temperature-independent. Possible alternative models to describe the experimental data that cannot be definitely excluded are also discussed.


We analyse the performance of a multistage interconnection network (MIN) with a packet-switching protocol, embedded in a closed network of processors. First, the expected value of transmission time through a delta-2 type of MIN is determined. We then obtain, for the first time by an analytical method, a formula for its probability density function from which the variance and higher moments follow. Previously densities have only been estimated by simulation which is expensive and can be unreliable, especially in the often crucial tail region. Numerical results reveal new insights into the hot-spot phenomenon which occurs when one output address is selected more frequently than the others. We first show how mean transmission time on hot paths increases with the hot-spot intensity and compare this with cooler paths. We also plot the density functions for these transmission times. Hence it is possible to determine precisely transmission time variability and to obtain reliability measures from their tails. The approach can handle arbitrary routing frequencies to the MIN output addresses and suggests new approximation techniques with wider applicability.


The paper deals with the philosophical work of Yamunacarya, who was a founder of vishishishta-advaita system philosophy. This text is preserved fragmentally and was reconstructed and translated by American and Indian researchers. The common information is given in the introductory article and commentaries on the Russian translation of the Sanskrit text.


Sirtuins (SIRTs), which are nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent class III histone deacetylases, regulate cell division, survival, and senescence. Although sirtinol, a synthetic SIRT inhibitor, is known to exhibit antitumor effects, its mechanism of action is not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to assess the anticancer effects and underlying mechanism of MHY2245, a derivative of sirtinol, in HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells in vitro. Treatment with MHY2245 decreased SIRT1 activity and caused DNA damage, leading to the upregulation of p53 acetylation, and increased levels of p53, phosphorylation of H2A histone family member X, ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related kinase, checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), and Chk2. The level of the breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein was also found to decrease. MHY2245 induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest via the downregulation of cyclin B1, cell division cycle protein 2 (Cdc2), and Cdc25c. Further, MHY2245 induced HCT116 cell death via apoptosis, which was accompanied by internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, decreased B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) levels, increased Bcl-2-asscociated X protein levels, cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, and activation of caspases -3, -8, and -9. Overall, MHY2245 induces cell cycle arrest, triggers apoptosis through caspase activation, and exhibits DNA damage response-associated anticancer effects.


Background: Peripheral blood in fl ammation factor neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet count (PLT) and nutritional factor serum albumin (ALB) have been proposed as prognostic markers of head and neck squamous carcinoma cancer (HNSCC) in recent years. In the current study, nomogram predict models based on pre-treatment hematological parameters and a modi fi ed risk-strati fi ed score system have been built. Methods: A total of 197 patients with oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers receiving multimodality treatment between 2012 and 2014 were included. The pre-treatment ALB, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet count (PLT) were detected. Cancer-speci fi c survival and locoregional recurrence (LRC) by 5 years ' follow-up in the cases were obtained. To integrate clinical characteristics, we propose a modi fi ed risk-strati fi ed score system. Kaplan – Meier method, proportional hazards COX model, logistic models were used to establish nomograms within external validation. Results: Five-year LRC was decreased (p=0.004) for 140 patients with pre-treatment NLR <2.77. Five-year LRC and 5-year cancer-speci fi c survival were decreased (p=0.031, p=0.021) with pre-treatment PLT ≥ 248×10 9 /L. Comparison of univariate parametric models demonstrated that pre-treatment NLR evaluation and PLT>248×10 9 /L were better among tested models. On Bayesian information criteria (BIC) analysis, the optimal prognostic model was then used to develop nomograms predicting 3- and 5-year LRC. The external validation of this predictive model was con fi rmed in 57 patients from another hospital. Conclusion: Pre-treatment NLR elevation and PLT>248×10 9 /L are promising predictors of prognosis in patients with operable HNSCC. Nomograms based on the pre-treatment hematological markers and modi fi ed risk-strati fi ed score system provide distinct risk strati fi ca-tions. There results provided the feasibility of anti-in fl ammatory and antiplatelet treatments for HNSCC patients. recurrence risk of HNSCC patients.


We demonstrate a scheme to spectrally manipulate a collinear, continuous stream of time and energy entangled photons to generate beamlike, bandwidth-limited fluxes of polarization-entangled photons with nearly degenerate wavelengths. Utilizing an ultrashort-pulse shaper to control the spectral phase and polarization of the photon pairs, we tailor the shape of the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference pattern, demonstrating the rules that govern the dependence of this interference pattern on the spectral phases of the photons. We then use the pulse shaper to generate all four polarization Bell states. The singlet state generated by this scheme forms a very robust decoherence-free subspace, extremely suitable for long-distance fiber-optics-based quantum communication.


Marine bugs of the genus Halovelia Bergroth inhabit intertidal coral reefs and rocky coasts along the continents and larger islands bordering the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and western Pacific Ocean as well as on island groups and atolls in these areas. A historical review of the study of the genus is presented and different views upon its classification discussed. The genus Halovelia is redescribed together with its type species, H. maritima Bergroth, and four other previously known species. Fifteen new species are described: H. carolinensis sp.n. (Caroline Islands), H. halophila sp.n. (Sumbawa, Sabah), H. corallia sp.n. (Papua New Guinea, Australia: Queensland), H. esakii sp.n. (Solomon Islands, Irian New Guinea, Moluccas, Sulawesi, Sumbawa, Palau Islands, Philippines), H. polhemi sp.n. (Australia: Northern Territory), H. solomon sp.n. (Solomon Islands), H. novoguinensis sp.n. (Papua New Guinea), H. fosteri sp.n. (Fiji Islands), H. tongaensis sp.n. (Tonga Islands), H. heron sp.n. (Australia: S. Queensland), H. fijiensis sp.n. (Fiji Islands), H. inflexa sp.n. (Sudan, Red Sea), H. annemariae sp.n. (Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea), H. lannae sp.n. (Java, Singapore, West Malaysia, Sabah, Philippines), and H. wallacei sp.n. (Sulawesi, Sumbawa). Two names are synonymized: H. marianarum Usinger syn.n. (= H. bergrothi Esaki) and H. danae Herring syn.n. (= H. bergrothi Esaki). The following species are removed from the genus Halovelia: H. papuensis Esaki, H. loyaltiensis China, and H. (Colpovelia) angulana Polhemus. A key to the species is included. The taxonomy of the H. malaya-group will be presented in Part II of this work together with the cladistics, ecology, biology, and biogeography of the genus.


The dispersion equation for parallel whistler-mode propagation in a hot anisotropic plasma is analysed numerically in both weakly relativistic and nonrelativistic approximations under the assumption that wave growth or damping does not influence the wave refractive index. The results of this analysis are compared with the results of an asymptotic analysis of the same equation, and the range of applicability of the latter results is specified. It is pointed out that relativistic effects lead to a decrease in the range of frequencies for which instability occurs. For a moderately anisotropic plasma (T⊥/T‖ = 2) relativistic effects lead to an increase in the maximum value of the increment of instability.


We note that in the free-electron laser (FEL) using a non-prebunched electron beam, the uncertainty in the axial position of an electron emitting laser radiation of wavelength λ is on the order of λ so that radiations from different electrons incoherently interfere each other. We also note that the net work done by the electrons is of zero frequency and, hence, cannot become laser radiation of intrinsically non-zero frequency. We confirm this with the fact that the net work done by the electrons per unit time in a hydrodynamic FEL is much less than the output laser power. We show that in the above FEL, the laser gain derived under the concept that the laser radiation is free-electron two-quantum Stark radiation driven by the electric wiggler associated with an axial space-charge wave produced by the laser wave and the transverse wiggling is in excellent agreement with the measured gain.


A case of 63-year-old male with carbamate poisioning ( ingested while drunk) was presented at Emergency department with comatose and cardiopulmonary arrest. Initial treatment was performed by advance life support principle, followed by specific treatment with atropine injection total 8.4 mg in 2 hours and infusion drip 134.4 mg in 24 hours. Then, he was admitted to ICU for ventilator support, and closed monitoring. After 48 hours he was transferred from the ICU to general care ward. The patient recovered his consciousness, however, he had detectable sensorineural hearing deficit, a slightly change of personality, and minimal spastic rigidity. The abnormality might be secondary to anoxic episodes. On the seventh day, the patient was discharged from the hospital. Although it cannot rule out whether hyperthermia was resulting from over-atropinisation, other signs of over-atropinisation including tachycardia and ileus were not present. There is great variation in recommendations for atropinisation. If repeated bolus regimen of atropine can not be corrected toxicity, the infusion of atropine may be effective to treatment of carbamate toxicity .


A new floating wind turbine platform design called VolturnUS developed by the University of Maine uses innovations in materials, construction, and deployment technologies such as a concrete semi-submersible hull and a composite tower to reduce the costs of offshore wind. These novel characteristics require research and development prior to full-scale construction. This paper presents a unique offshore model testing effort aimed at de-risking full-scale commercial projects by providing properly scaled global motion data, allowing for implementation of full-scale structural materials, and demonstrating full-scale construction and deployment methods. The model is a 1:8-scale model of a 6MW semi-submersible floating wind turbine and was deployed offshore Castine, Maine, USA in June, 2013. The model uses a fully operational turbine and was the first grid connected offshore wind turbine in the Americas.The testing effort includes careful treatment of the offshore test site, scaling methods, model design, and construction. A suitable test site was identified that provides the correct proportions of wind and wave loading in order to simulate design load cases prescribed by the American Bureau of Shipping Standard for Building and Classing Floating Offshore Wind Turbines.Sample model test data is provided. Model test data is directly compared to full-scale design predictions made using coupled aeroelastic/ hydrodynamic software. VolturnUS performance data from scaled extreme sea states show excellent agreement with predictive models. Model test data are also compared to a numerical representation of the physical model for the purposes of numerical code validation. The numerical model results compare very favorably with data collected from the physical model.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


In this work, we present two analog current-mode interfaces performing differential sensor capacitance measurements through a voltage reading. The AC peak-to-peak output voltage is proportional to the measurand x that is directly related to the differential capacitance variation. The first interface is able to read the sensor change through a current-to-voltage conversion, while the second one employs an input voltage source. Both of the solutions utilize commercial second generation current conveyors (CCII) as active blocks, in particular AD844. The proposed electronic circuits have been designed and simulated through PSPICE software. Theoretical analysis, simulated and experimental results have been analyzed: the developed read-out circuits have shown a good accuracy, being the maximum percentage error between simulation and theory lower than 0.09% for the first solution, while in the second interface the maximum relative percentage error, with respect to theory, is lower than 0.2% in the simulated case and than 3.2% for the measurements, respectively. Considering a distance between electrodes variation measurand sensitivity (S) and resolution (res) values are also satisfactory for each operating point: for the first solution we obtained S=8.54 V/μm and res=674 pm (capacitance resolution value is 89.85 fF, that is -79 dB), while for the second one S=8.13 V/μm and res=814 pm (capacitance resolution value is 108.5 fF, that is -77 dB). The signal peak-to-peak voltage value detection has been implemented by using a NI DAQ device and a Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS).


Observed short‐term benefits of patient‐triggered ventilation include improvements in oxygenation and carbon dioxide elimination, reduced cerebral blood flow variability, more rapid weaning from ventilation and reduced adrenaline levels. The three multicentre randomized controlled trials in which longer term outcomes were investigated failed to demonstrate any consistent reductions in rates of pneumothorax, chronic lung disease, cranial ultrasound changes, duration of ventilation or mortality. Two of these studies were conducted wholly or predominantly using the SLE 2000 ventilator, with the Drager Babylog 8000 used in a minority of infants. The results therefore reflect only the performance of these ventilators, with the ventilation techniques used. As the degree to which synchrony was achieved was not measured in any of these studies, they provide no evidence for a lack of benefit from achieving synchronous ventilation. It is possible that the findings were influenced by the use of drugs, especially morphine and theophylline. In one study the pneumothorax rate was significantly lower in infants recruited within 3 mo of the first patient enrolled at that centre, and was seen with both modes of ventilation. This suggests that staff education in ventilation techniques may be important in reducing pneumothorax rates.


The submerged floating tunnel (SFT), also known as the Archimedes bridge or suspended tunnel, is a conceptual idea for a tunnel that floats in the water, supported by its buoyancy. The tunnel would be placed underwater, not too deep in order to avoid high water pressures, but deep enough for it not to be exposed to extreme weather conditions or obstruct shipping traffic. The tunnel is kept in position with tethers that are anchored to the sea bed or floating pontoons at the water surface. This thesis focuses on the tether supported SFT. The dynamic response of a tether supported SFT, in a hydrodynamic environment, is different from the tunnels that are widely used nowadays. The SFT is always in contact with open water in which it is moving due to the hydrodynamic environment. The dynamic response of the tether supported SFT is still a gap in our engineering knowledge and this contributes to the fact that world-wide no tether supported SFT has ever been constructed. Many research has been performed in the last years. A broad range of models has been used to study the dynamic behavior of the tether supported SFT. The key in all these models is to capture the fluid structure interaction. Waves and current exert forces on the tunnel body but at the same time, the presence and motion of the tunnel body affects the wave-current environment. To model the dynamic response of a tethered SFT incorporating fluid-structure interaction, a new model has been developed. The dynamic SFT model describes the cross sectional motion and tether forces of a rectangular tubular tunnel which is pinned down by two inclined tethers, excluding longitudinal effects. The tunnel is forced by waves and current only. When assuming the SFT system to be linear, the motion of the SFT can be seen as a superposition of the motion of the tunnel body in still water and the forces on the restrained tunnel body in waves and current. The tunnel motion in still water is modelled with a dynamic module while the hydrodynamic forces on a restrained tunnel body are computed with a wave force module. The two independent modules are combined in a coupling module which makes it possible to describe the dynamic response of a tether supported SFT in a wave-current environment. The advantages of this model choice are the fast computational time and the convenience of physical interpretation. The wave force module computes the wave-current forces on the restrained tunnel body with a modified Morison formulation. This formulation is capable of computing, besides vertical and horizontal wave-current forces, the rotational wave force. Rotational wave forces are essential in the determination of tunnel roll motion and cannot be determined with the classical Morison theory. Just like the classical Morison theory, the modified Morison formulation does not take into account wave field deformation due to the presence of the tunnel structure. Therefore, for waves that are short compared with the dimensions of the SFT, diffraction effects cannot be taken into account. The absence of the diffraction effect is corrected for by integrating the dynamic pressures, water accelerations and water velocities with respect to the tunnel height and width. It should be noted that the applicability for short waves is only valid in case of structures that are submerged at a depth of at least 1.5-2 times the structure height. For shallowed submergence depths, the diffraction effects in combination with wave deformation become too large which cause prediction errors in the force determination. The force on the restrained SFT due to a uniform current can be modelled with the drag force expression from the classical Morison equation. To correct for the wave current interaction, the hydrodynamic mass coefficients are adapted as function of the Keulegan-Carpenter number. The dynamic module describes the oscillation of the SFT, in still water, with a dynamic system. A free floating tunnel has three degrees of freedom which are roll, sway and heave. This dynamic system assumes the tunnel is connected with two in-extensible tethers. Adding two rigid constrains to the free floating tunnel reduces the SFT to a single degree of freedom system. This single degree of freedom system describes a coupled translational (sway) and rotational (roll) motion around an instantaneous rotational point which can be found at the intersections of the tether axes. When assuming small vibrations, the instantaneous rotational point remains fixed at the intersection of the tether axes when the tunnel is at rest. The moment of inertia of the SFT is obtained by using the Lagrangian approach which is based on energy conservation. Because the structure is submerged in water, added damping and mass terms are used in the equation of motion. The magnitude of these damping and mass terms is calibrated with physical model experiments. The coupling module combines the wave force module and the dynamic module, which makes it possible to formulate a full equation of motion, describing the oscillation of the SFT in a wave current environment. From the equation of motion the sway and roll motions, containing accelerations, velocities and displacements, can be obtained. Apart from the motions, the tether forces can be predicted. The dynamic SFT model is validated with physical model experiments. With this dynamic SFT model, a parametric study has been performed. The first part of the parametric study focuses on the motion of the SFT. The second part examines the tether forces. Furthermore, the slack-taut transition and the safety against fatigue have been investigated. The parametric study does not take into account current. The most important findings and implications are in summary: • Each SFT configuration has a different response to the wave environment. Hence, every configuration has a different critical wave length for which the dynamic response is maximum. This critical wave length is independent of the wave height. It should be noted that the dynamic response is a comprehensive term which consists of many variables. These are; tether forces, sway motions and roll motions of which both motions contain accelerations, velocities and displacements. The most dominant parameters to influence the dynamic response are the buoyance to weight ratio (BWR), tether angle and submergence depth. • The BWR increases the stiffness of the dynamic SFT system which causes a decrease in the roll motions and sway displacement. Due to the stiffness increase, sway accelerations and velocities become larger. The natural frequency of the SFT is increased by increasing the BWR, which makes it more sensitive to shorter waves. • Configurations with large tether angles have the character to be very flexible and sway dominant, while configurations with small tether angles are stiffer and roll dominant. Tether forces for configurations with large tether angles are more sensitive to long waves, while tether forces for configurations with small tether angles are more sensitive to short waves. • A decrease in submergence depth increases all tunnel motions and tether forces, as the tunnel becomes more exposed to the wave environment. The dynamic response of the SFT becomes more sensitive to short waves. • An increase in anchorage depth results in larger tunnel motions. The increase in tether forces is negligible. • Placing the tether connection sideways of the tunnel body results in smaller roll motions and larger sway motions. Lowering the tether connection with respect to the tunnel bottom is favourable for all tunnel motions. The manner of how the tether connection is orientated, with respect to the tunnel body, has small influence on the tether forces. • Increasing the BWR, submergence depth or both reduces the risk of snapping lines and tether fatigue. Configurations with small tether angles have a smaller risk of having line snapping and tether fatigue compared to configurations with large tether angles. This study gives a supplement to the classical Morison theory. Morison's theory is modified which makes it possible to compute rotational moments due to wave loading. Also the applicability to short waves is enlarged. A new dynamic schematization is developed which makes it possible to describe the dynamic response of a SFT as a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system. The advantages of this dynamic schematization are the fast computational time and the convenience of physical interpretation. The results obtained from this research study can be used as a preliminary design tool. In an early design stage, motions and tether forces can be predicted. Also measures to reduce these motions and tether forces can be investigated using the dynamic SFT model. Design graphs to estimate the snap-taut transition and for safety against tether fatigue are provided. It should be noted that this dynamic SFT model should not be used for detailed computations in later design stages.


In assessing the safety of existing buildings, the specific actions dedicated to the knowledge of the structure delineate the parameters of the linear or non-linear analysis aimed at identifying the most appropriate structural intervention. In this context, the present paper collects the seismic analysis of a school building in reinforced concrete, illustrating the different stages concerning the acquisition of geometrical and mechanical data, problems about structural modelling and the features of the seismic retrofitting proposed. In closing, a critical comparison between the results derived from some techniques frequently used to seismically improve existing structures.


This section deals with accidents and injuries that occur on property - whether private or public. Private land includes private homes and gardens, cinemas and shopping centres. Public land is land


The cortical bones of swine were cut into plates measuring 40 x 10 x 2 mm and scanned by quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Compressive loading tests were performed at 100 Newtons, and the strain on the bone was measured with strain gauges. The mean Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of one hundred specimens were 19.4 +/- 5.8 GPa and 0.34 +/- 0.09, respectively. A positive correlation (r = 0.47 +/- 0.11, p < 0.001) was observed between Young's modulus and the bone density of specimens determined by QCT, which suggests that QCT values might directly predict Young's modulus of cortical bone.


ObjectivesWe have developed a dynamic method for identifying household members from Electronic Health Records (EHR). We compared the 2021 Census estimates of household number and demography with similar estimates derived from primary care EHRs on the Census date using primary care EHRs for the population of north east London (NEL).
MethodWe included 2,115,017 patients registered with a general practitioner on the 2021 Census date in NEL and assigned households from encrypted Unique Property Reference Numbers. We compared household number and size by Local Authority (LA), Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) and area's Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles (IMDq) to Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2021 Census estimates and by LA to ONS Admin Based Housing Stock (ABHS) 2020 estimates. We assessed differences in EHR and Census 2021 populations by sex, age, LA, MSOA and IMDq. Sensitivity analyses will exclude those without a recent recorded clinical encounter.
ResultsEHR population estimates (2,115,017) were 116,346 (5.8%) higher than Census estimates (1,998,671), higher among men (9.2%) than women (2.5%) in almost all age groups, especially men aged 30-50 years and higher in the most (8.7%), than in the least (2.5%) deprived IMDq. EHR household estimates (660,789) were 68,047 (9.3%) lower than Census estimates (728,836), and 19,719 (3.1%) higher than ABHS occupied addresses (641,070). EHR household size estimates were 15.6%, 29.2%,12.5% and 8.4% lower for household sizes 1,2 3 and 4, and 13.3%, 42.1%, 82.1% and 195.8% higher for household sizes 5, 6,7 and 8 respectively when compared to Census estimates. EHR population and household estimates were respectively 5-10% higher and 5-11% lower for almost all NEL local authorities.
ConclusionEHR- and Census-derived population and household estimates differ, mainly in the prevalence of larger households. While data were extracted on the same date, person-level validation was not possible. Differences may reflect deregistration delay in EHR when changing residence. Analyses based on clinical encounters recency may identify registered patients who are no longer residents.


To detail the structure and format of memory for texts, researchers have examined whether readers monitor separate text dimensions for space, time, and characters. The authors proposed that the interactivity between these individual dimensions may be as critical to the construction of complex mental models as the discrete dimensions themselves. In the present experiments, participants read stories in which characters were described as traveling from a start to a final location. During movement between locations, characters engaged in activities that could take either a long or short amount of time to complete. Results indicate that accessibility for the spatial locations was a function of the passage of time. The authors interpret this as evidence that the interactive nature of text dimensions affects the structure of representations in memory.


Abstract Pupil size reflects autonomic response to different environmental and behavioral stimuli, and its dynamics have been linked to other autonomic correlates such as cardiac and respiratory rhythms. The aim of this study is to assess the nonlinear characteristics of pupil size of 25 normal subjects who participated in a psychophysiological experimental protocol with four experimental conditions, namely "baseline", "anger", "joy", and "sadness". Nonlinear measures, such as sample entropy, correlation dimension, and largest Lyapunov exponent, were computed on reconstructed signals of spontaneous fluctuations of pupil dilation. Nonparametric statistical tests were performed on surrogate data to verify that the nonlinear measures are an intrinsic characteristic of the signals. We then developed and applied a piecewise linear regression model to detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Two joinpoints and three scaling intervals were identified: slope α0, at slow time scales, represents a persistent nonstationary long-range correlation, whereas α1 and α2, at middle and fast time scales, respectively, represent long-range power-law correlations, similarly to DFA applied to heart rate variability signals. Of the computed complexity measures, α0 showed statistically significant differences among experimental conditions (p<0.001). Our results suggest that (a) pupil size at constant light condition is characterized by nonlinear dynamics, (b) three well-defined and distinct long-memory processes exist at different time scales, and (c) autonomic stimulation is partially reflected in nonlinear dynamics.


Can the recent rise of Dutch multifunctional flood defenses be explained by the increased integration between the water and spatial planning sectors, which compels Water Boards to collaborate with municipalities? An enquiry into the changing relations between water managers and municipalities as a result of changes in spatial and water-management regulations starting in the 1980s, and particularly since 2000s, indicates this hypothesis to be wrong.


31 patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization for suspected congenital heart disease and 30 normal subjects were examined by pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Spectrum analysis of the shape of flow velocity curve and instantaneous flow velocities of the pulmonary artery during systolic period was made and their ratio calculated. The results showed that there was a remarkable difference between the flow velocity curve of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and that of normal pulmonary pressure. Combining with the characteristics of pulmonary arterial hemodynamics, a preliminary exploration was made on the mechanism of flow velocity curve changes. A ratio of flow velocities--PV% was proposed. The sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing PH with PV% were 94% and 100% respectively. There was a high correlation between PV% and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (r = -0.84) or pulmonary artery mean pressure (r = -0.82). It is concluded that PV% may eliminate many factors that influence the pulmonary artery hemodynamics and is a reliable, practical qualitative and quantitative index for diagnosing PH noninvasively.


This paper presents a robust adaptive control method for a class of multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems that are transformable to a parametric-strict-feedback form which has couplings among input channels and the appearance of parametric uncertainties in the input matrices. The proposed approach effectively combines the design techniques of robust adaptive control by backstepping and adaptive fuzzy-logic control in order to remove the matching-condition requirement and to provide boundedness of tracking errors, even under dominant model uncertainties and poor parameter adaptation. Unlike previous robust adaptive fuzzy controls of MIMO nonlinear systems, this research introduces the robustness terms explicitly in the controller structure to counteract the effects of model uncertainties and parameter-adaptation errors. Uniform boundedness of the MIMO nonlinear control system is proved, and simulation results further validate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed control method.


Various kinds of combination chemotherapies with 5-FU as a base agent have been performed for patients with advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer. S-1 was a newly developed 5-FU derivative and was orally administered. One of the combination therapies with S-1 plus irinotecan (CPT-11) has also been expected to have a better therapeutic value. Recently this combination therapy has been undertaken by our department, and its clinical use and toxicities are described in this article.


EDITORS' NOTES ( Kristen A. Renn, Paul Shang ). 1. An Introduction to Social and Historical Factors Affecting Multiracial College Students ( Paul Shang ) This chapter introduces the volume by describing social and higher education challenges that impact the identities and experiences of traditional age biracial and multiracial college students. 2. Research on Biracial and Multiracial Identity Development: Overview and Synthesis ( Kristen A. Renn ) This chapter presents three main bodies of research on identity development of biracial and multiracial college students: foundational theories, ecological models, and psychological studies of the impact of multiracial identity. 3. Exploring the Experiences and Self-Labeling of Mixed-Race Individuals with Two Minority Parents ( Donna M. Talbot ) A student development researcher describes a qualitative study of ten mixed-race young adults whose parents are from different minority monoracial groups (Black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, or Native American). 4. Student Perspectives on Multiracial Identity ( Alissa R. King ) In the context of research on multiracial student experiences, this chapter provides personal reflections of a multiracial individual on campus at a time when Who am I? and What are you? questions prevail. 5. Multiracial Student Services Come of Age: The State of Multiracial Student Services in Higher Education in the United States ( Michael Paul A. Wong, Joshua Buckner ) The authors describe emerging services to serve multiracial students, the service traditions from which these services evolve, how they are staffed, and their relationships with student organizations. 6. The Space in Between: Issues for Multiracial Student Organizations and Advising ( C. Casey Ozaki, Marc Johnston ) Based on research and experience working with multiracial student organizations and leaders, the authors describe the functions and challenges of these student groups and provide suggestions for student affairs educators who work with them. 7. Being Multiracial in a Wired Society: Using the Internet to Define Identity and Community on Campus ( Heather Shea Gasser ) This chapter describes established and emerging technologies, including online social networking, blogs, and wikis, that affect how multiracial students form communities and express their identities. 8. Bicultural Faculty and Their Professional Adaptation ( Michael J. Cuyjet ) An associate professor and graduate school dean describes the ways that minority faculty members, monoracial and biracial, must learn to be bicultural to thrive in the dominant culture of higher education at predominantly White institutions. 9. Looking North: Exploring Multiracial Experiences in a Canadian Context ( Leanne Taylor ) A Canadian scholar describes a particular context for understanding mixed-race college student experiences outside the United States and raises questions for higher education policy and student services practice. 10. Student Affairs and Higher Education Policy Issues Related to Multiracial Students ( Angela Kellogg, Amanda Suniti Niskode ) This chapter describes student affairs policy issues that have particular impact on multiracial students, such as collecting and reporting data on student race/ethnicity, implementing campus programs and services, and enacting affirmative action. INDEX.


Aim/purpose – The aim of the paper is to review the routine aspect in strategizing process exposing strategizing routines. Consequently, the main aim is to enhance understanding of the commonness, meanings and dissemination of the concept and idea of the routine in strategizing process. Design/methodology/approach – Narrative, thematic literature review method is adopted, representing a qualitative methodology as appropriate because it is useful in pulling routine research and strategizing research together into general format. It helps in presenting two perspectives embraced in this paper by discussing theory and context to provoke thought and even a controversy. Findings – The conclusions drawn from the presented review explicate the importance of routine in strategy process as well as routine as practice and its associations with workers in strategy. Research implications/limitations – The research shed light on specific aspects of strategizing routines. The main value added of our paper is that it draws from the extant literature to provide with a comprehensively updated picture of how strategy-as-practice and routine theory can serve, as a useful research approach, to the studies about strategic choice. The presumable limitation is due to methodology adopted. Originality/value/contribution – The paper exploits two important management approaches in order to explicate organizational behavior, especially strategy process and strategizing, by investigating organizational routines. Thus, routine appears an adequate natural fundament since routines grasp systematic and endogenous character of the orStrategizing routine revisited: Theoretical roots, determinants... 103 ganization. Therefore, the concept of organizational routines is one to consider in the strategy research, to indicate the role that routines have in the process of strategizing in specific.


Multiple and variable tyrosine sulfation in extracellular class II leucine-rich repeat proteins/proteoglycans were characterized by mass spectrometry. The sulfogroup on tyrosine is labile and is released from peptides under normal mass spectrometric conditions. Thus, special approaches must be considered in order to identify this modification. By using a combination of mass spectrometry studies operating in negative and positive ion mode, tyrosine sulfation could be identified. In positive mode, the peptides normally appeared non-sulfated, whereas in negative mode a mixture of sulfated and non-sulfated species was observed. A combination of peptides released by different proteinases was used to obtain details on the locations of sulfate groups. Multiple tyrosine sulfates were observed in the N-terminal region of fibromodulin (up to 9 sites), osteoadherin (up to 6 sites), and lumican (2 sites). Osteoadherin contains two additional sulfated tyrosine residues close to its C terminus. We also identified an error in the published sequence of bovine fibromodulin, resulting in the replacement of Thr37 by Tyr37-Gly38, thus increasing its homology with its human counterpart.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Introduction: There is a growing recognition of a potential role of chronic psychological stress in increasing the rate of cancer development and growth; however, potential mechanisms remain poorly understood and under active investigation. Recently, accelerated telomere shortening has been observed in cross sectional studies of non-cancer populations experiencing chronic stress suggesting a potential link between chronic stress and genomic integrity thus, raising the possibility that modulation of stress might affect telomere dynamics. We examined archived peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples collected in a longitudinal randomized study evaluating a psychosocial telephone counseling (PTC) intervention to improve cervical cancer patient coping and hence stress, as measured by improvement in quality of life (QOL), and stress-associated biomarkers (Clin Cancer Res 14(7): 2111-18). In this pilot study, we examined the longitudinal associations between telomere length, QOL, and immunologic stance in this cohort obtaining data in support of the above hypothesis. Methods: Archived PBMC specimens were analyzed from a completed randomized trial that demonstrated PTC associated improvement in QOL and an association between improved QOL and a shift to a more prominent Th1 immunologic stance. Briefly, QOL data (FACT-Cx and BSI) and biospecimens were collected at baseline and four months after enrollment (N = 31). Telomere length of archived PBMCs, T cells (including CD4 and CD8 subsets), B cells (CD19) and monocytes (CD14) were examined using the Flow-FISH assay. Results: Longitudinal changes in the Physical Well-Being subscale of the FACT-Cx were significantly associated with increased telomere length within the total PBMC population (r=0.799, p=0.031); the FACT-CX score showed a borderline association, likely due to the fact no other FACT subscales were associated with longitudinal changes in telomere length. Improved BSI scores showed a similar, although non-significant trend. The observed shift toward a Th1 immune stance in subjects with improved QOL were correlated with increased telomere length in CD4 (r=0.810; p=0.027) and CD8 (r=0.705; p=0.075) cellular subsets; however, no significant associations were observed between a more pronounced Th1 stance and CD14 or CD19 subsets. The finding of a longitudinal increase in telomere length in circulating PBMCs is not without precedent as this has been observed in several murine models Discussion: This is the first study of longitudinal changes in telomere length associated with immune profile and QOL as an index of chronic stress and has provocative implications for the association between the psychoneuroimmune axis, telomere dynamics, genomic stability, and cancer survivorship outcomes.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1833. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1833


Life expectancy has increased significantly in the last decades in many Western populations, due to the fall of total and cardiovascular death rates. However, morbidity for cardiovascular diseases has decreased to a smaller extent due to the still unsatisfactory improvement in the overall population risk profile. This is true for blood pressure control (with only 20% of hypertensive patients achieving normotension with antihypertensive drugs), hypercholesterolemia (with borderline-high serum cholesterol levels in 50% of the population), and smoking habits. Since hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia and insulin resistance are frequently associated, further improvement in cardiovascular risk can be obtained only with a comprehensive approach to the hypertensive patients, including dietary and life style modifications and the use of antihypertensive drugs with beneficial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism. It has to be noted in fact that some antihypertensive drugs have divergent effects on lipid and glucose metabolism. Long-term diuretic administration may reduce glucose tolerance, increase serum glucose and cholesterol. Beta-adrenergic blockers with no sympathomimetic activity raise triglycerides and decrease HDL cholesterol. ACE-inhibitors improve insulin sensitivity, while calcium entry blockers are neutral on both glucose and lipid metabolism. Recent reports suggest that alpha-1 adrenoceptor blockers may reduce total and LDL cholesterol while alleviating insulin resistance and increasing HDL cholesterol.


A 70-day feeding trial was conducted to estimate the effect of levels (0, 5, 10, and 15g/kg cassava peels, respectively) of common salt and cassava peels (dry and fresh using Gmelina arborea leaves as a basal diet on the average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion efficiency and water consumption in West African Dwarf goats. Total dry matter intake and the average Gmelina arborea leaf intake increased with applied common salt, irrespective of cassava peel form. Increasing common salt level also increased average daily gain and feed conversion efficiency in both dry and fresh cassava peels, but this was not accompanied by a remarkable gain beyond 5g common salt. Moreover, the average cassava peel intake increased but not significantly (P>0.05) with salt level up to 10g beyond which there was a sharp decline and an insignificant gain with dry and fresh cassava peels, respectively. Goats fed dry cassava peels significantly (P<0.05) consumed more water as the salt level increased in the diet. It was concluded that application of 5g common salt per kg dry cassava peels promoted highest daily gain, optimum dry mailer intake and feed conversion efficiency in West African Dwarf goal production. However, the response with fresh cassava peels revealed no statistically significant difference in average daily gain, total dry matter intake and feed conversion efficiency. Keywords: Salt, cassava peels, WAD goats performance.


Cyberstalking increasingly affects users of Facebook. Users' risky online behaviour is one reason why this cybercrime occurs thus it is important to identify ways to reduce this conduct.
The aim of this study was to explore whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour's variables attitude, social norm and perceived behavioural control predict intention to engage in risky online behaviour and whether perceived behavioural control and intention predict the behaviour itself.
One hundred and fifty Facebook users, comprising 35 males and 115 females with a mean age of 20.51 years (SD=1.89), were recruited using convenience sampling. A novel questionnaire was developed for this correlational study to assess the Theory of Planned Behaviour's variables, participants' online behaviour and their cyberstalking experiences.
Facebook and Email were used as distribution methods. In linear regression analyses, all individual predictors of both intention and behaviour emerged as significant. In multiple regression analyses, two out of three predictors (attitude and social norm) significantly accounted for 63% of the variance in intention whereas both perceived behavioural control and intention significantly accounted for 11% of the variance in behaviour.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour can be used to understand risky online behaviour on Facebook. Significant predictors were identified which, if targeted, may reduce users' engagement in risky online behaviour and the risks associated with it.


A new class of ruthenium(II) polypyridine complexes with a series of D-π-A-π-D type (D=donor, A=acceptor) ligands was synthesized and characterized by 1 H NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the complexes were also investigated. The newly synthesized ruthenium(II) polypyridine complexes were found to exhibit two intense absorption bands at both high-energy (λ=333-369 nm) and low-energy (λ=520-535 nm) regions. They are assigned as intraligand (IL) π→π* transitions of the bipyridine (bpy) and π-conjugated bpy ligands, and IL charge-transfer (CT) transitions from the donor to the acceptor moiety with mixing of dπ(RuII )→π*(bpy) and dπ(RuII )→π*(L) MLCT characters, respectively. In addition, all complexes were demonstrated to exhibit intense red emissions at approximately λ=727-744 nm in degassed dichloromethane at 298 K or in n-butyronitrile glass at 77 K. Nanosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy has also been carried out, establishing the presence of the charge-separated state. In order to understand the electrochemical properties of the complexes, cyclic voltammetry has also been performed. Two quasi-reversible oxidation couples and three quasi-reversible reduction couples were observed. One of the ruthenium(II) complexes has been utilized in the fabrication of memory devices, in which an ON/OFF current ratio of over 104 was obtained.


Myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accidents kill more people than all other causes of death combined, and hypertension is the single most important risk factor involved. From studies it is known that about 7% to 10% of adult dental patients will suffer previously unsuspected hypertension and which can be detected as a result of blood pressure screening programmes. Dentists can provide this valuable service in regard to total health care of their patients. Also by having base-line records of blood pressure for their patients and by maintaining competence in blood pressure measurement, a dentist is much better prepared to accurately assess and manage cases of collapse which may occur at any time.


Within the human cytochrome P450 family, specific forms show developmental expression patterns that can affect drug clearance, efficacy, and safety. The objective of this study was to use dextromethorphan O-demethylase activity and quantitative Western blotting to identify CYP2D6 developmental expression patterns in a large (n = 222) and developmentally diverse set of pediatric liver samples. Immunodetectable levels of CYP2D6 protein determined for selected samples across all age categories showed a significant correlation with the corresponding dextromethorphan O-demethylase activity. Of gender, ethnicity, postmortem interval, and genotype, only increasing gestational age was associated with CYP2D6 activity and protein content in prenatal samples. In contrast, both age and genotype were associated with CYP2D6 expression in postnatal samples. CYP2D6 expression in liver samples from neonates less than 7 days of age was higher than that observed in first and second trimester samples, but not significantly higher than third trimester fetal samples. In contrast, expression in postnatal samples greater than 7 days of age was substantially higher than that for any earlier age category. Higher CYP2D6 expression also was observed in liver samples from Caucasians versus African Americans. Finally, using phenotype categories inferred from genotype, CYP2D6 activity was higher in postnatal samples predicted to be extensive or intermediate metabolizers versus poor metabolizers. These results suggest that age and genetic determinants of CYP2D6 expression constitute significant determinants of interindividual variability in CYP2D6-dependent metabolism during ontogeny.


This paper reports the results of the investigation of health impacts of environmental noise context in Owerri-urban, due to incessant complains of urban dwellers of noise pollution and their effects on the health. This was measured by the use of 210 questionnaires on urban dwellers along the major routes, in which 30 questionnaires  were randomly  administered  between sampled routes designated  NP1- NP7. The observed results indicate that , automobile  has 32.3%, church 3.3%, construction work 19.5%, market 5.7%, industrial activities 9.0%, hawking 10%, and school 6.6%, with  automobile recording the highest response as  the main source of environmental noise pollution and church having the least response. For the perceived health problems caused by environmental noise, the results further shown that  Cardiovascular and Physiological effects constituted 20.5%, Hearing Impairment 25.2%, Sleeplessness 21.9%, mental health 11.4%, annoyance 6.6% and human performance 14.2%, with hearing impairment  ranking the highest  and the lowest being annoyance. Environmental noise was  at the peak between the hours of 8- 11 am constituting 49.1%. The hours between 3-7 pm constitutes 39.5%, while <10pm has 11.4% indicating noise pollution is less in the evening time of the day where people are indoor for rest. These then calls for best management practice like enforcement of pollution law, maintenance of vehicles and creation of awareness on health implications of environmental noise.


In recent years, RNA-seq has emerged as a powerful technology in estimation of gene or transcript expression. 'Union-exon' and transcript based approaches are widely used in gene quantification. The 'Union-exon' based approach is simple, but it does not distinguish between isoforms when multiple alternatively spliced transcripts are expressed from the same gene. Because a gene is expressed in one or more transcript isoforms, the transcript based approach is more biologically meaningful than the 'union exon'-based approach. However, estimating the expression of individual isoform is intrinsically challenging because different isoforms of a gene usually have a high proportion of genomic overlap. Recently, a number of tools have been developed for RNA-seq isoform quantification. We review those methods and their main features to serve as guidance for users to choose suitable tools for their specific projects.


We describe a comprehensive screening project in a general practice in which patients over the age of 65 were assessed both socially and medically. We conclude from our results that there was little treatable but previously undiagnosed illness within the community studied.


A digital image analysis system was used in a retrospective analysis of MRI findings in 9 patients with acoustic neuroma. Maximum and minimum tumor diameters and surface area were measured and tumor volume was calculated. All studies included intravenous injection of gadolinium (Gd-DTPA or DOTA) and axial and coronal sections. Tumoral growth rate was analyzed using the increase in tumor size ( T) tumor area doubling time (ADT), and tumor volume doubling time (VDT). The purpose of this study was to document the growth rate of acoustic neuromas with periodic MRI. In an era in which preservation of hearing and the facial nerve is a goal of acoustic neuroma surgery, knowledge of tumor growth rate should improve patient care.


We demonstrate all-optical demultiplexing of a high-bandwidth, time-division multiplexed 160 Gbit/s signal to 10 Gbit/s channels, exploiting slow light enhanced four-wave mixing in a dispersion engineered, 96 μm long planar photonic crystal waveguide. We report error-free (bit error rate<10⁻⁹) operation of all 16 demultiplexed channels, with a power penalty of 2.2-2.4 dB, highlighting the potential of these structures as a platform for ultracompact all-optical nonlinear processes.


Cellular base stations (BSs) are increasingly becoming equipped with renewable energy generators to reduce operational expenditures and carbon footprint of wireless communications. Moreover, advancements in the traditional electricity grid allow two-way power flow and metering that enable the integration of distributed renewable energy generators at BS sites into a microgrid. In this paper, we develop an optimized energy management framework for microgrid-connected cellular BSs that are equipped with renewable energy generators and finite battery storage to minimize energy cost. The BSs share excess renewable energy with others to reduce the dependency on the conventional electricity grid. Three cases are investigated where the renewable energy generation is unknown, perfectly known, and partially known ahead of time. For the partially known case where only the statistics of renewable energy generation are available, stochastic programming is used to achieve a conservative solution. Results show the time varying energy management behaviour of the BSs and the effect of energy sharing between them.


Synchronization of transceiver chains is a major challenge in the practical realization of massive MIMO and especially distributed massive MIMO. While frequency synchronization is comparatively easy to achieve, estimating the carrier phase and sampling time offsets of individual transceivers is challenging. However, under the assumption of phase and time offsets that are constant over some duration and knowing the positions of several transmit and receive antennas, it is possible to estimate and compensate for these offsets even in scattering environments with multipath propagation components. The resulting phase and time calibration is a prerequisite for applying classical antenna array processing methods to massive MIMO arrays and for transferring machine learning models either between simulation and deployment or from one radio environment to another. Algorithms for phase and time offset estimation are presented and several investigations on large datasets generated by an over-the-air-synchronized channel sounder are carried out.


3-Halo-3-phenyl-3H-diazirines (halogen = Br or Cl) undergo a dissociative single-electron transfer from alkyllithiums (RLi) in THF-based solvent mixtures. The resulting 3-phenyldiazirinyl radical, observed by EPR spectroscopy, is eventually transformed to benzonitrile. In Et2O, 2 equiv of RLi add to both nitrogens of halodiazirine N═N bond, affording N,N'-dialkylbenzamidines. The nitrenoid reactivity of some N-alkyl-1H-diazirine intermediates is manifested by their insertion into the α-C-H bond of THF or Et2O.


Summary A method is proposed for estimating the percentage of dietary protein that is degraded by microbial action in the rumen when protein supplement is added to a specified ration. The potential degradability, p, is measured by incubating the supplement in artificial-fibre bags in the rumen and is related to incubation time, t, by the equation p = a+b(1 – e-ct). The rate constant k, measuring the passage of the supplement from the rumen to the abomasum, is obtained in a separate experiment in which the supplement is combined with a chromium marker which renders it completely indigestible. The effective percentage degradation, p, of the supplement, allowing for rate of passage, is shown to be p = a+[bc/(c+k)] (1-e-(e+k)t) by time, t, after feeding. As t increases, this tends to the asymptotic value a+bc/(c+k), which therefore provides an estimate of the degradability of the protein supplement under the specified feeding conditions. The method is illustrated by results obtained with soya-bean meal fed as a supplement to a dried-grass diet for sheep. The incubation measurements showed that 89% of the soya-bean protein disappeared within 24 h and indicated that it was all ultimately degradable with this diet. When the dried grass was given at a restricted level of feeding the allowance for time of retention in the rumen reduced the estimate of final degradability to 71% (69% within 24 h). With ad libitum feeding there was a faster rate of passage and the final degradability was estimated to be 66% (65% within 24 h).


Seismic coda waves can be used to constrain attenuation, estimate earthquake magnitudes, and determine site amplification factors. We have developed a new multistation and multievent method to determine these three important seismic parameters simultaneously. We analyze 642 representative local (≤100 km) and shallow (≤20 km) earthquakes with catalog magnitudes between 1.8 and 5.4 in southern California at multiple frequency bands centered at 1.5, 3, 6, and 12 Hz. We find that the length of the moving average time window can affect the measurement of coda attenuation QC, but our tests indicate that the optimal window length is about 15 times the dominant data period. We use linear regression to fit each coda section and use only those portions that agree with the model decay rate with a correlation coefficient larger than 0.9. For a frequency‐dependent coda‐QC model (QC = Q0fn) at 1‐Hz reference frequency, our results yield estimates for Q0 and n of 107–288 and 0.42–1.14, respectively. Our coda magnitude estimates are linearly correlated with catalog magnitudes, and our observed lateral variations in coda‐QC and our site amplification factors are in general agreement with previous results, although there are notable differences at some locations. This approach provides a unified, accurate, and stable method to measure coda‐QC, earthquake magnitude, and site amplification using coda waves of locally recorded earthquakes.


Toxoplasma gondii is an extremely successful opportunistic parasite which infects approximately one third of the human population worldwide. The impact of this parasite on human health becomes particularly manifest in congenital damage with infection and subsequent inflammation of neuronal tissues including the retina. Although advances in our understanding could be achieved in ocular toxoplasmosis, large gaps still exist on factors influencing the epidemiology and pathophysiology of this potentially blinding disease. We are only at the beginning of understanding the complex biology of this parasite and its mechanisms of invasion, virulence and interaction with the host's immune response. Since it is a preventable cause of blindness, it is necessary to assess factors that have the potential to control this disease in the future. This mini review will focus on recent advances in postnatal acquired ocular infection and the factors that may influence its prevalence and functional outcome.


The paper presents a detailed analysis of characteristic impedance of asymmetric coplanar waveguide (ACPW) using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, and the results agree well with available theoretical and experimental data over a wide frequency range. The transient propagating waveforms along the ACPW, which are excited by retarded Gaussian pulse, are found in the time domain. After the time-domain field distributions are obtained, frequency-domain parameters such as the characteristic impedance are calculated using Fourier transformations


Objetive: Investigation the application of niosome as a nanocarrier for sage (Salvia officinalis L.) extract by spectroscopy and chemometrics. Material and Method: In this study,niosome nanoparticles containing cholesterol and without cholesterol were prepared by thin film hydration method. Ethanol extract of sage was extracted by microwave and loaded inside the niosome nanoparticles. The size of the nanoparticles was determined by field imaging scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The zeta potential of the niosomes was determined by Dynamic light scattering (DLS). to investigate the type of interactions between surfactants and cholesterol used in the niosome structure, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used. Drug release was investigated for 5 consecutive days in phosphate buffer salin (PBS) 0/01 M with pH=7.4 at T=370C. Results:The zeta potential of the niosomes with cholesterol and without cholesterol was -24/1&-15/6 mv . The loading capacity of the drug in the concentration range (1-3% w / w of niosum) for both types of niosome was between 61% and 93%. Conclusion: This results show that the release rate of niosme with cholesterol is significantly more regular and lower than of niosome without cholesterol. In general, it can be concluded that niosome can be a suitable nano-carrier for delivery of hydrophilic extract of the sage.


Background: Energy drinks consumption continues to grow since its appearance in the United States in 1997. Available evidence indicates that caffeine, their main ingredient, can alter the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is unknown how energy drinks alter the CNS postural control mechanism. The purpose of this study was to investigate how energy drinks can affect postural control after sensory perturbations during stance. Methods: 20 healthy adults, (11 males; 9 females) averaging 26.1 years of age, stood on a MatScan™ pressure mat, which measured center of pressure (CoP), anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) postural sways during eight different balance tests (BALT's). BALT's were designed to alter or cancel the systems involved in postural control: visual, vestibular and somatosensory. Subjects were randomly assigned to a caffeine group and an energy drink group. MANOVA analysis was performed for all variables of interest. Results: In the caffeine group, the AP sway of the Eyes Closed test on a stable surface was statistically significant. In the energy drinks group, we observed a general tendency of participants to increase CoP slightly, AP and ML sway in most of the BALT's after the consumption of an energy drink. However, this increase was not statistically significant. These results suggest that in healthy young adults, the sensory re-weighting mechanism can overcome postural perturbation and maintain overall postural control. Conclusions: We observed an overall tendency to increase postural instability after the ingestion of energy drinks.