Impulsive choice is typically measured by presenting smaller-sooner (SS) versus larger-later (LL) rewards, with biases towards the SS indicating impulsivity. The current study tested rats on different impulsive choice procedures with LL delay manipulations to assess same-form and alternate-form test-retest reliability. In the systematic-GE procedure (Green & Estle, 2003), the LL delay increased after several sessions of training; in the systematic-ER procedure (Evenden & Ryan, 1996), the delay increased within each session; and in the adjusting-M procedure (Mazur, 1987), the delay changed after each block of trials within a session based on each rat's choices in the previous block. In addition to measuring choice behavior, we also assessed temporal tracking of the LL delays using the median times of responding during LL trials. The two systematic procedures yielded similar results in both choice and temporal tracking measures following extensive training, whereas the adjusting procedure resulted in relatively more impulsive choices and poorer temporal tracking. Overall, the three procedures produced acceptable same form test-retest reliability over time, but the adjusting procedure did not show significant alternate form test-retest reliability with the other two procedures. The results suggest that systematic procedures may supply better measurements of impulsive choice in rats.


Electromyographic data were analyzed in a retrospective study of 16 patients with idiopathic brachial plexus neuropathy (BPN) and 15 patients with secondary BPN. In both groups, abnormalities on sensory and musculocutaneous motor conduction studies and lack of paraspinal fibrillation potentials on needle examination seemed most helpful in localizing a lesion to the brachial plexus. Routine motor conduction studies (distal and proximal ulnar and median) and F-wave latencies were less helpful.


This article reports a new chemical treatment method to extract rich cellulosic fibers from date palm agro-residues. The technique comprises a multistep process which is quite unique, efficient, sustainable, and capable of producing high-performance natural date palm fibers. In specific, it consists of three consecutive steps: dewaxing, acetylation, and mercerization, which are carried out in a strict sequence. Each step is designated to achieve a specific goal in preparation for the next step. In addition, procedures have been adjusted from its initial state by incorporating input parameters that are configured experimentally to optimize outputs via the design of experiment approach. The method has been applied in two variants with respect to heating mechanism: conventional heat-assisted and microwave heat-assisted sources. An experimental characterization of mechanical, physical, and thermal properties of the treated fibers exhibited a significant enhancement over the untreated counterparts which confirms the potency of the new process.


The performance of an automatic fingerprint identification system is essentially determined by its fingerprint matching algorithm. In this paper, a novel improved fingerprint image matching algorithm based on vector matching method with variable weight modification is proposed. That is features are extracted from fingerprint image as "vector points" and an improved vector matching method with weight modification is used to match these features. Experiment result in this paper shows that this fingerprint matching algorithm not only improve the accuracy but also effectively reduce FAR with maintaining the same FRR. We believe this method has a great advantage and opens a new way to improve the performance of fingerprint recognition system.


From December 2003 to May 2005, Daniel Okrent served as the New York Times' first "Public Editor," a position created following the newspaper's Jayson Blair scandal and the tumultuous reign and resignation of Howell Raines as Executive Editor. His mission: read the paper and provide his assessments, without guidance from the paper itself and without fear or favor, of how well it executed its responsibility to provide objective, accurate, and complete coverage of the world-at-large. Not an easy task, but the New York Times chose the right writer for the job. Experienced, wise and witty, opinionated but never shrill, he delivered. Okrent addressed subjects ranging from WMD coverage, reporter self-promotion, pulling for or piling on political candidates, and corrections policy, to the Tony Awards, to the great delight and consternation of the paper's readers, and those in its own newsroom. Now, collected, amended, and assessed by Okrent here are the complete columns of his rocky and illuminating eighteen months along with an evaluation of the entire experience; its ups and downs and what he thinks he got right and got wrong. This is a smart, serious, entertaining, and long-lasting look at what today's finest journalism does well--and what it can do better.


Abstract: The present study was aimed at investigating the sensitivity to linear vestibular stimulation of neurons in the medial superior temporal area (MST) of the macaque monkey. Two monkeys were moved on a parallel swing while single‐unit activity was recorded. About one‐half of the cells (28/51) responded in the dark either to forward motion (n= 10), or to backward motion (n= 11), or to both (n= 7). Twenty cells responding to vestibular stimulation in darkness were also tested for their responses to optic flow stimulation simulating forward and backward self‐motion. Forty‐five percent (9/20) of them preferred the same self‐motion directions, that is, combined visual and vestibular signals in a synergistic manner. Thirty percent (6/20) of the cells were not responsive to visual stimulation alone. The remaining 25% (5/20) preferred directions that were antialigned. Our results provide strong evidence that neurons in the MST area are at least in part involved in the processing of self‐motion.


Abstract The role of new media in shaping the interactions of formal and informal leaders with their audiences is frequently misunderstood and often narrowly focussed on electoral processes and political competition. By weaving together strands of scholarship on political communication and political settlement while engaging with concepts of hybrid governance and leadership more prevalent in the African studies literature, this article takes a different, wider focus. We attempt to knit a framework that challenges normative assumptions on institutional communicative practices and considers the role of power, leadership and communications in both exacerbating and mitigating violent conflict in emerging and consolidating democracies. By bringing together disparate strands of scholarship that are rarely in dialogue, we question a characterisation that contrasts vertical mainstream media with more horizontal and inclusive social media, arguing that a more nuanced view of the political significance of these spaces is required, one that highlights their interplay and blurs the boundaries between online and offline. In doing so, the article places power at the centre of analysis to examine how entrenched relations of patronage can be left unscathed, transformed or even reinforced by networked forms of communication.


Embryonic development combines paradoxical properties: it has great precision, it is usually conducted at breakneck speed and it is flexible on relatively short evolutionary time scales, particularly at early stages. While these features appear mutually exclusive, we consider how they may be reconciled by the properties of key early regulatory networks. We illustrate these ideas with the network that controls development of endoderm progenitors. We argue that this network enables precision because of its intrinsic stability, self propagation and dependence on signalling. The network enables high developmental speed because it is rapidly established by maternal inputs at multiple points. In turn these properties confer flexibility on an evolutionary time scale because they can be initiated in many ways, while buffering essential progenitor cell populations against changes in their embryonic environment on both evolutionary and developmental time scales. Although stable, these networks must be capable of rapid dissolution as cell differentiation progresses. While we focus on the core early endodermal network of vertebrates, we argue that these properties are likely to be general in early embryonic stem cell populations, such as mammalian ES cells.


The Inhibition efficiency (IE) of various concentrations of a SM(Sodium molybdate)-Zn2+-Aloe vera system in controlling corrosion of mild steel immersed in well water was evaluated by a weight–loss study. The formulation consisting of 100 ppm of SM and 25 ppm of Zn2+ and 10ml of aloe vera extract showed 97% IE. A synergistic effect was noticed between SM-Zn2+-Aloe vera system. In the presence of aloe vera, SM-Zn2+ system has excellent inhibition efficiency. Polarization studies reveal that SM-Zn2+-Aloe vera system functions as a anodic inhibitor. AC impedance spectra suggest that a protective film is formed on the metal surface. FTIR spectra reveal that the protective film consists of Fe2+-SM complex and Fe2+-Aloe vera complex and Zn(OH)2.


This paper discusses process development, morphology, oil resistance and gel content of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene-propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM)/natural rubber (NR) vulcanized blends with the addition of N,N-mphenylenebismaleimide (HVA-2) as a compatibilizer. Blends were prepared in several blend ratios in Haake Polydrive with temperature and rotor speed of 180 C and 50 rpm respectively. Results indicated that the combination of dicumyl peroxide (Dicup) with HVA-2 show high torque development and stabilization torque as compared to vulcanized blend alone. The combination of Dicup with HVA-2 have also showed higher oil resistance and gel content in all blend ratio compared to similar vulcanized blends without HVA-2 addition. SEM micrographs from the surfaces extraction of the blends support that the cross-linking and compatibilization have occurred during process of vulcanized blend containing HVA-2.


This paperback volume will be of interest to those engaged in forensic anthropology or osteological research who can read at least some German. As the title states, it deals with the determination of sex, stature, and age from skeletal findings, and it is limited to these topics in skeletal identification. Basically, it is quite a useful compilation of references to the various methods that have been described for making such estimates and determinations, with brief descriptions of most of the methods cited. It is much more than a simple annotated bibliography, but could not be used as a handbook. The selection and arrangement of the references cited make them quite accessible in this new reference work.


In order to understand the habitation conditions of the bacteria of the genus Legionella in Noyu (unattended natural hot springs in mountains and fields) in Japan, isolation of Legionella spp. was attempted in the Noyu samples from 11 prefectures nationwide between May and September 2012, and the following results were obtained. Overall, Legionella spp. was isolated from 16 of 43 samples (37.2%). The species was isolated from the Hokkaido region to the Chugoku region but not from the Shikoku region to the Kyushu region. The number of bacteria detected was usually small, less than 5.0 × 10(1) CFU/100 ml, as found in 11 samples (68.8%), while counts of 10(2) or more to 10(3) or less CFU/100 ml were found in two samples (12.5%). Legionella pneumophila was the most commonly found strain, with 19 strains (90.5%) found, and was the dominant species. Regarding the serogrouping, four strains (21.1%) fell under group 1, the most common grouping, followed by three strains (15.8%) in group 3, two strains (10.5%) in group 5, etc. Moreover, the detected bacterial strains other than L. pneumophila included two strains (9.5%) of L. londiniensis. The temperature of the Noyu from which Legionella spp. was isolated was between 33.1°C and 41.5°C with a pH ranging from 5.2 to 8.1. The present report is the first report to clarify the habitation conditions of strains of Legionella spp. isolated from Noyu in Japan.


By Research and Analyses on coach' s qualification in the dozens of Sport Fitness clubs in Nanjing,it appears that coaches' qualification are uneven and has a variety of channels to get a varied certification.In the Sport Fitness clubs it has different requirements on the qualification of coaches and unsystematic training,so this article gives some advice on management of coach's qualification.


The correlation between methanol (CH 3 OH) and carbon monoxide (CO) is of particular interest for characterizing biogenic and anthropogenic emission sources of CH 3 OH and other chemical species. Here, the CH 3 OH/CO enhancement ratio (ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO) in the lower to middle troposphere is examined using coincident CH 3 OH and CO observations from aircraft (NCAR C-130 and NASA DC-8) and from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite during the MegaCity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) in the Mexico City region in March 2006. ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratios from the two in-situ aircraft measurements are far higher than previously reported CH 3 OH emission ratios relative to CO from US cities. This may reflect combustion of different fuel types in this area, and possibly photochemical production of CH 3 OH in Mexico City outflow. TES CH 3 OH and CO retrievals over the MILAGRO domain show relatively high sensitivity in the 600–800 hPa range, associated with Mexico City pollution outflow. The TES derived ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratios during MILAGRO are 18–24 ppt ppb −1 , which are similar to those observed from the DC-8 (26–39 ppt ppb −1 ), but lower than the C-130 observations (41–55 ppt ppb −1 ). Differences between the ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratios measured aboard the two aircraft preclude an absolute validation of the TES-derived ratios for this dataset. The ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratios observed from TES over this domain reflect bulk enhancements of CH 3 OH and CO in Mexico City outflow. Although the TES measurements are not expected to resolve small-scale variability in the ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratio downwind of the strong source region of Mexico City, it is demonstrated that TES can clearly distinguish differences in the ΔCH 3 OH/ΔCO ratio due to different source categories of CH 3 OH. An example of this is shown by contrasting measurements over Mexico City (strong anthropogenic emissions) with those over the Amazon Basin (strong biogenic emissions). The results from this case study show the potential to gain insight into global sources of CH 3 OH and related species from satellite observations, especially for regions and time periods where no in situ measurements are available.


Stollberg. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971. 218 pp. DM 19.80. This book is the first in German on group counseling in pastoral care. It is indebted to the writings by the Swiss psychiatrist and group therapist Raymond Battegay, the German psychotherapist Dietrich Langen, and the American pastoral counselor Joseph W. Knowles. It appeared a few months before the German translation of Group Counseling by Knowles. Stollberg uses a wide range of contemporary American and German literature and refers frequently to the works of Sigmund Freud. He is psychoanalytically oriented but pleads for the integration of the approaches to group dynamics in social psychology and psychoanalysis. Unlike many German university teachers, he not only uses a great amount of literature but also bases his book on his practice of group counseling, mainly in a university setting. He knows about the importance of the counselor's own experience as a group member under supervision before he works with other people, and uses his own practice to introduce his readers to their work with groups. The main part of the volume is devoted to practical problems of group counseling, such as the preparation of a congregation; the selection, constitution, and process of a group; the frequency and duration of meetings, the role and function of the leader and the observer. In a special section Stollberg applies his insights to group counseling with married couples and families, and includes chapters by three other authors on group work in teaching Greek, New Testament, and religious instruction. Stollberg certainly fulfills the requirements for a German theological Habilitationsschrijt (inaugural dissertation) when he begins his book with considerations on the church as a group and concludes with a theological interpretation of pastoral counseling through the group. But beyond this he contributes a new theological concept of pastoral care by understanding pastoral work as rooted in the work of the high priest, Jesus Christ. In his opinion the biblical key sentence of pastoral care is Hebrews 5: 2: "He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness."


A compact passive two-bit metamaterial based phase-modulated chipless RFID tag with a temperature sensor, operating at 2.4 GHz, is presented in this paper. The chipless RFID tag consists of the following: (i) composite right/left handed (CRLH) based antenna operating at 2.4 GHz; (ii) CRLH delay lines operating in the left-handed (LH) region at 2.4 GHz; (iii) digital phase modulating sections realized using the distributed approach; and (iv) thermistor for temperature sensing. The phase of the backscattered signal over a period of time is used for identifying a particular tag and sensing the temperature. QPSK is implemented by using the four phase modulating sections, which have unique input reflection coefficients corresponding to the four symbols, and analog phase modulation is used for temperature sensing. The dimensions of the chipless tag with two-phase modulating sections at the operating frequency of 2.4 GHz are 0.86λο×0.16λο× 0.00648λο. A footprint reduction of 28% is achieved in comparison to the conventional chipless RFID tags, and is realized by using a monopole antenna, lumped-element-based phase-modulating sections, and delay lines. Measurement and simulation results show that the proposed RFID chipless tag with temperature sensor is compact and delivers the desired performance as specified.


The adsorption isotherms on SiO2/Si(100) surfaces were measured using a vacuum mass comparator. Samples with a surface area difference of 816.6 cm2 were used for the measurement, and a substitution weighing method was adopted to reduce the uncertainty due to the drift and non-linearity of the indication of the mass comparator. We measured adsorption isotherms of water vapour on the SiO2/Si(100) surfaces outgassed at a temperature of 500 °C and found that dissociative adsorption caused an irreversible increase of 0.028 µg cm−2 with an uncertainty of 0.004 µg cm−2 (k = 1). We also found that the physical adsorption of water molecules on hydroxylated surfaces had a monolayer capacity of 0.004 µg cm−2 with an uncertainty of 0.002 µg cm−2 (k = 1). In addition, the adsorption isotherms for ethanol vapour and n-octane vapour, which were different from water vapour in adsorption properties, were measured and analysed.


INTRODUCTION
Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia spirochetes transmitted by ticks of the genus Ixodes. In Poland, Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease. The entire territory of Poland is recognized by ECDC as an endemic area of Lyme disease. Environmental factors and climate change are responsible for the increase in the number of tick habitats, which leads to an increased risk of Lyme disease.

AIM OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study is to present the epidemiological situation of Lyme disease in Poland in 2019 compared to the previous year.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The analysis of the epidemiological situation of Lyme disease in Poland was based on data sent to NIPH NIH - NRI by voivodeship sanitary-epidemiological stations and published in the bulletin "Infectious diseases and poisoning in Poland in 2019."

RESULTS
In 2019, 20,630 cases of Lyme disease were registered, and 1,701 people were hospitalized. Compared to 2018, there was a shift in the incidence from the first and second quarter to the fourth quarter. The highest incidence of 107.7 / 100,000 population was recorded in the Podlaskie voivodeship, which has belonged to the voivodeships with the highest incidence in the country for many years. Despite an increase in the total number of cases by 2.4% compared to 2018, the percentage of hospitalized cases was lower than in the previous year.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Difficulties in the diagnosis of Lyme disease make it impossible to define an unequivocal trend in the epidemiological situation in Poland. A slight increase in the incidence may result from the growing number of infected ticks and a better understanding of the problem of Lyme diagnosis by doctors.


Coherent phonon-polaritons have attracted a considerable amount of interest owing to their relevance to nonlinear optics and terahertz (THz)-wave emissions. Therefore, it is important to analyze the THz electric-fields of phonon-polaritons. However, in the majority of previous measurements, only a single component of the THz electric field was detected. In this paper, we demonstrate that pump-probe electro-optical imaging measurements using the Stokes parameters of probe polarization enable the phase-resolved selective detection of THz electric-field components that are associated with the phonon-polariton. We experimentally distinguish the mode profiles of ordinary and extraordinary phonon-polaritons, and clarify the excitation mechanism as optical rectification. These results are explained by numerical calculations of Maxwell equations for the THz electric field. The technique of selectively observing the THz electric field components may be useful for designing efficient THz-wave emitters.


Although alcohol is commonly viewed as a sexual disinhibitor, recent research has suggested that alcohol consumption does not consistently lead to increased sexual activity. Nonexperimental work in this area has commonly used correlational procedures that do not control for individual difference variables that may contribute to a drinking-sex relationship. This study examined the relationship of alcohol consumption to sexual behavior by way of within-subjects analyses of data from 99 men and women who kept daily diaries of drinking and sexual events over a 10-week period. Alcohol consumption was associated with a general attenuation of sexual activity, with no effects on the occurrence of sexual behaviors that are risky in terms of AIDS transmission. These data suggest that sexual distribution and lapses in sexual judgment are not necessarily common consequences of alcohol consumption.


Dolphin signals are effective carriers for underwater covert detection and communication. However, the environmental and cost constraints terribly limit the amount of data available in dolphin signal datasets are often limited. Meanwhile, due to the low computational power and resource sensitivity of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), current methods for real-time generation of dolphin signals with favorable results are still subject to several challenges. To this end, a Masked AutoEncoder Generative Adversarial Network (MAE-GAN) model is hereby proposed. First, considering the few-shot condition, the dataset is extended by using data augmentation techniques. Then, to meet the low arithmetic constraint, a denoising autoencoder with a mask is used to obtain latent codes through self-supervised learning. These latent codes are then utilized in Conditional Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network-Gradient Penalty (CWGAN-GP) to generate a whistle signal model for the target dataset, fully demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method for enhancing dolphin signal generation in data-limited scenarios. The whistle signals generated by the MAE-GAN and baseline models are compared with actual dolphin signals, and the findings indicate that the proposed approach achieves a discriminative score of 0.074, which is 28.8% higher than that of the current state-of-the-art techniques. Furthermore, it requires only 30.2% of the computational resources of the baseline model. Overall, this paper presents a novel approach to generating high-quality dolphin signals in data-limited situations, which can also be deployed on low-resource devices. The proposed MAE-GAN methods provide a promising solution to address the challenges of limited data and computational power in generating dolphin signals.


Background and Aim: The human androgen receptor (AR) is a key nuclear transcription factor that controls expression of genes involved in anabolism - such as musculoskeletal remodelling and body fat mobilisation to ATP energy production – processes which directly impact aspects of metabolic health. This study evaluates the adjuvant effects of orally administered AR-modulating phytoandrogens and suprahormonal lipidic augmenters (SuHLAs) combined with an integrative weight-healthcare regimen of polyvalent pharmacotherapy (hypoglycemic, lipid modifying and anti-inflammatory) and mild lifestyle intervention, over intervals of 2-4 weeks.
Method: The total intention-to-treat (ITT) population consisted solely of women (N = 15) and were screened at baseline for metabolic health status, assessed via arterial blood pressure (BP), body fat (BF), lean muscle mass (LMM), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). This gender matched ITT population were then stratified into two treatment groups that were age and BMI matched: 1) patients opting for a metabolic health program (control group, n = 5, mean BMI = 26.6 kg/m2, mean age = 45 years), and 2) patients treated with a metabolic health program plus phytoandrogen adjuvant therapy (PAT group, n=10, mean BMI = 26.5 kg/m2, mean age = 44 years).
Results: After treatments averaging 2.8 weeks (control group) and 2.9 weeks (PAT group), mean systolic and diastolic BPs in the total ITT population were lowered by 5 mmHg and 4 mmHg respectively, from 116/79 ±4 mmHg to 111/74 ±2 mmHg (P =0.05). Mean BF showed negligible loss of 0.2% (P >0.05) in the control group, in contrast to a highly significant reduction of 0.8% in the PAT group (P 0.1). Both treatment groups showed comparable improvement in BMI, WC and WHR. The control group had mean reductions of -0.25 kg/m2 (BMI, P <0.05), -2 cm (WC, P <0.05) and -0.03 (WHR, P<0.05), while the PAT group showed reductions of -0.35 kg/m2 (BMI, P =0.01), -3 cm (WC, P =0.01) and -0.03 (WHR, P =0.01). Measured against the top WHR bracket, odds ratios (ORs) for WHR-associated risk for diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidemia (WHR ≥0.9, OR 5.4) in the control and PAT groups were lower by 19% (WHR =0.88 ±0.02, OR 4.38) and 48% (WHR =0.83 ±0.01, OR 2.81) respectively.
Conclusion: Oral phytoandrogenic SuHLAs therapy can rapidly potentiate aspects of AR-mediated anabolism within a low intensity metabolic health program. Secondarily, in contrast to physiological androgens and anabolic steroids, phytoandrogenic modulators of the AR in this study did not aggravate arterial tension. This is the first casecontrol report on the pharmacologic use of true phytoandrogens (cognate ligands of the AR) and SuHLAs to aid metabolic competency.


In previous work, access control for data has been proposed as a method to ensure adequate quality of service (QoS) in an integrated voice/data CDMA system. The motivation behind access control is to schedule data packet transmissions in slots when voice activity is low and to curtail data transmissions when the voice load is heavy. In this work, the class of probabilistic access control schemes, wherein data transmissions are controlled by dynamically changing the permission probability, are considered. The trigger for changing the permission probability is a measure of the current uplink load. Perfect power control is assumed first, and the trigger for access control is the power control feasibility condition, Schemes based on prediction are analyzed. While prediction schemes are complex to implement, they do provide an upper bound for performance of access control schemes. A simple and practical access control scheme, proposed earlier in the literature, is then extended. It controls the permission probability for data based on uplink load and a 1-bit broadcast feedback to all of the mobiles. The performance of this scheme depends on the choice of three parameters. It is demonstrated that, through a combined choice of these parameters, access control can be tuned to perform as desired and to yield significant capacity gains over not using access control. Results are then extended to the case of imperfect power control, where the outage criterion is based on limiting the total received power at the base station. In this case, too, the simple control scheme is shown to work well.


The city and the urban society materialize in time and space a system of power relations and mechanisms of exchange, which evolves through changes in the collective imaginary, the transformation of institutions and the material restructuring of cities. This article proposes a theoretical framework that integrates these perspectives with the objective of understanding how contradictory urbanization processes are articulated in Chile, identifying similarities and disputes related to public policies and social movements, since the last dictatorship until today. This study integrates and extends theories of social and institutional evolution in order to problematize the discussion of secondary sources, participant observation and cartographic analysis. The evidence thus obtained supports the thesis that recent transformations in Greater Santiago have been strained by neoliberal policies that have established dominant incentives for competition, while negating social imaginaries based on a complementary principle of cooperation and dismantling the corresponding incentive structures. We argue that this ideological confrontation can be overcome with long overdue institutional reforms, in order to generate an incentive structure capable of fostering participatory and intersectoral policies, without implying the abolition of established incentives for competitiveness. Several participatory programs implemented in the last decade, which have in common a strong urban or territorial component, have generated relevant knowledge that could inform the design of institutions capable of fostering competitive and cooperative practices in a more balanced way.


Assessing the military organization's performance is an important yet complex issue. It is important to know whether the policy is effective in achieving its goal to advance the operating efficiency; and at the execution level. The aim of this paper is to explore the operating efficiency and the benchmarks of the military outlets by using a non-parametric frontier method: data envelopment analysis. Furthermore, the factor-specific measure and variable returns to scale model are combined together not only to identify the inputs/outputs that are most important but also to distinguish those military outlets which can be treated as benchmarks. The assessment can assist the Ministry of National Defense to improve the military operational management and to help the military outlets in delivering better and efficient services to soldiers, veterans, and their dependents. The potential applications and strengths of DEA in assessing the military organizations are also highlighted.

 Key words: Data envelopment analysis, linear programming, military outlet.


A new twisted donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) multi-photofunctional organic molecule comprising of phenoselenazine as the electron-donors (Ds) and dibenzo[a,j]phenazine (DBPHZ) as the electron-acceptor (A) has been developed. The developed selenium-incorporated D–A–D compound is featured with multi-color polymorphism, distinct mechanochromic luminescence, chemically-stimulated luminochromism, thermally-activated delayed fluorescence, and room- temperature phosphorescence. The internal heavy atom effect on the photophysical properties of the D–A–D system has been investigated through the comparison with the physicochemical properties of a previously developed sulfur analogue and a tellurium analogue.


Hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) combine advantages of multicopters and fixed-wing planes: vertical take-off, landing, and low energy use. However, hybrid UAVs are rarely used because controller design is challenging due to its complex, mixed dynamics. In this paper, we propose a method to automate this design process by training a mode-free, model-agnostic neural network controller for hybrid UAVs. We present a neural network controller design with a novel error convolution input trained by reinforcement learning. Our controller exhibits two key features: First, it does not distinguish among flying modes, and the same controller structure can be used for copters with various dynamics. Second, our controller works for real models without any additional parameter tuning process, closing the gap between virtual simulation and real fabrication. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed controller both in simulation and in our custom-built hybrid


Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a common finding. Pathologic TR is an independent risk factor for mortality. TR can be classified by etiology into functional versus organic. Organic TR is caused by structural damage to the tricuspid valve (TV) by a spectrum of etiologies, including pacemaker leads and right heart biopsies, whereas functional TR is predominantly due to elevated pulmonary pressures. Atrial fibrillation and chamber enlargement, among other risk factors, are strong predictors of functional TR. Correction of elevated pulmonary pressures improves TR, and concurrent repair of severe TR at the time of left heart valve surgery improves postoperative heart failure symptoms but does not improve survival. TR repair is associated with less operative and long-term mortality than TV replacement, and demonstrates similar improvements in heart failure symptoms. Substantial residual TR remains after repair, and reoperative mortality for residual TR is considerable. Percutaneous TV replacement may offer a rescue strategy.


Abstract This article questions educational practices that undermine 'being' musical. Where Western misconceptions about the nature of human musicality distance many individuals from meaningful engagement with an intrinsic part of their humanity, I challenge the status quo to argue for an inclusive educational practice which gives everyone an opportunity to 'be' musical. Despite evidence from neuroscience now supporting the understanding that humans are a musical species, the widespread neo-liberal oriented focus on vocational training fails to recognise music as an essential aspect of healthy human being. Where current polarised music education provision supports a discriminatory system that leads to widespread underdeveloped musicality, I draw on Gadamer and Dewey to explore how musicking integrates cultural development and to question the value of a practice that leaves many of us musically disabled. Including examples of teaching practices that engage and transform, I argue the case for an enriched, broader curriculum that no longer sees music as a 'frill'.


Selection for increased and decreased ratio of eye span to body length was exerted on male stalk-eyed flies ( Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni ) from Malaysia using replicate selected and unselected lines. Response to selection was symmetrical. After 10 generations high line male eye span increased to 1·3 body lengths while low line male eye span declined to 1·1 body lengths. Realized heritabilities for eye span to body length ratio, estimated using regressions of deviations from unselected controls on cumulative selection differentials, were greater than zero for all four selected lines with average h 2 = 0·35 + 0·06. The static linear allometric relationship between eye span and body length diverged between selected lines and rotated among selected line males in the same direction as among males in other sexually dimorphic diopsid species. Crosses between lines after 13 generations of selection indicate that the genes which influence relative eye span combine additively and do not exhibit sex linkage or maternal effects. The genetic correlation between the sexes, 0·29 + 0·05 as estimated by the regression of female on male change in eye span, did not prevent sexual dimorphism in eye span from diverging between lines. These results suggest that the exaggerated eye span of male C. dalmanni is maintained by natural selection opposing sexual selection rather than by lack of or asymmetry in additive genetic variation. Furthermore, the variation in sexual dimorphism for eye span-body length allometry observed among extant diopsid species is consistent with sexual selection of variable intensity acting on relative eye span.


The effects of different contact interfaces on the friction characteristics of OTS self-assembled monolayers were investigated by a universal micro-tribometer in different sliding velocities. The results indicate that there exist lower friction coefficients between OTS SAMs and Ti, Ni and Cu films deposited on GCr15 steel balls than those between OTS SAMs and GCr15 steel ball. The friction coefficient between OTS SAMs and Ti film is the largest, and the friction coefficient between OTS SAMs and Cu film is the least in these three films, which depends on the intrinsic characteristics of the materials. The friction coefficients between OTS SAMs and GCr15 steel ball and three nanometer films increase with the sliding velocity increasing, which can be explained by the relaxation characteristics of OTS molecules.


Later this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce steps to protect public health by issuing tougher federal air-quality standards for ground-level ozone, a key component of smog. Many Republicans strongly oppose the change, calling it another ill-advised government regulation that will hurt the economy. A group of medical professionals in Congress has added a new twist to that argument, pointing out in a letter to EPA that ground-level ozone levels have fallen by 18% since 2001 even as the prevalence of asthma has risen by 15%. "This lack of correlation," they argue, refutes the agency's argument that "more stringent ozone standards are necessary to protect public health." Their novel argument is based on real numbers. But health experts say the doctors are overlooking their training in both medicine and statistics.


In this paper, a new compact alternating direction implicit (ADI) difference scheme is proposed for the solution of two dimensional time fractional diffusion equation. Theoretical considerations are discussed. We show that the proposed method is fourth order accurate in space and two order accurate in time. The stability and convergence of the compact ADI method are presented by the Fourier analysis method. Numerical examples confirm the theoretical results and high accuracy of the proposed scheme.


A pharmaceutical company that produces medicine with a variety of types and large items of products experiences problems related to the condition of stocks buildup and delay of backorder fulfillment due to current production planning procedure applied. This study aims to improve the current production planning with hierarchical production planning framework that includes three stages of planning: stage of identification and partitioning product strategies of MTS and MTO; stage of production planning for MTS products –covering forecasting demand, determination of Master Production Schedule (JPI) through aggregate and disaggregate planning and JPI validation with rough-cut capacity planning; and stage of production planning for MTO product. Based on the calculation, the proposed procedure can lower the total cost of production value by 9%, the level of safety stock by 49%, and order fulfillment lead time by 53%. This shows that the proposed procedure of production planning can provide significant savings and improve current performance.


Background: The prevalence of pre-pregnancy underweight (BMI (body mass index) <18.5 kg/m²) varies between 3% in Europe and 17% in Asia. Illness and low socioeconomic status may be associated with pre-pregnancy underweight which then may result in adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcome.Methods: We analysed pre-pregnancy BMI categories using data from the population-based birth cohort Survey of Neonates in Pomerania 2002-2008 (SNiP) in north-eastern Germany. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for confounding were used to investigate a) socio-economic risk factors for underweight before pregnancy and b) associations of underweight with pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.Results: Chronic pre-pregnancy diseases were not more frequent in underweight pregnant women. Bivariate analyses showed that underweight women were younger by three years (p<0.001), smoked twice as often (p<0.001), and less likely graduated from high school (p<0.001) compared to women with normal weight. The former were more often unemployed (p<0.001) and had lower available net-income (p<0.001). However, multivariable regression analysis adjusted for confounders revealed that only a younger age (0.90 (0.88-0.92) and smoking (RR 2.52 (1.89-3.41) remained associated with underweight. Compared to women with normal pre-pregnancy BMI, underweight women had an increased risk of premature labour (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.29-2.36) and a reduced placental weight. No association was found between pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, mode of birth and pre-pregnancy underweight. The offspring of underweight women had an increased risk of late preterm birth (OR = 1.79; 95% CI: 1.17-2.73) or birth with birth weight <2500g (OR = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.24-3.21).Conclusions: Smoking during pregnancy and a younger age were identified as risk factors for maternal pre-pregnancy underweight which then was associated with preterm birth and low birth weight. Targeted measures like smoking cessation programs and counselling young women about the risk of staying too slim particularly for the offspring may improve outcome.


Although demographic change leaves pay-as-you-go pension systems unsustainable, reforms, such as a higher pension age, are highly unpopular. This contribution looks into the role of intrinsic motivation as a driver for pension reform preferences. Theoretical reasoning suggests that this driver should be relevant as it decreases the subjective costs of a higher pension age. We test this key hypothesis on the basis of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). The results are unambiguous: in addition to factors such as age or education, the inclusion of intrinsic work motivation helps improving our prediction of an individual's reform orientation.


The series of papers included in this special edition of Organizational Aesthetics introduce a practitioner'€™s perspective on arts-based aesthetic interventions into organisational inquiry. Approaching the task of firstly co-chairing a stream at the 2018 Brighton AoMO conference and now co-editing an edition of Organizational Aesthetics, we have experienced the feeling of "bit by bit putting it together"€. It is a case of making small inroads that together build up to become a movement or a trend, or even the substance of a "turn".


Background: Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) using bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) ventilation is a safe and effective mean of improving gas exchange in many types of respiratory failure. The results of application of NIPPV to patients who had cardiac surgery and developed respiratory failure after extubation still to be investigated. Aim of work: To compare the efficacy of NIPPV delivered through a face mask with the efficacy of conventional mechanical ventilation (CV) delivered through an endotracheal tube and investigates its hemodynamic effects in this group of patients. Materials and Methods: NIPPV and CV were applied to twenty four patients in two groups who had open heart surgery and suffered from severe respiratory deterioration after tracheal extubation. Respiratory and invasive hemodynamic parameters were measured before starting ventilation, 1, 6, 12 hours, and before and after weaning of ventilation and incidence of ventilatory complications were recorded. Results: Respiratory parameters improved significantly in patients in both groups after one hour but one patient was intubated in NIPPV group. There were no significant differences between the two groups as regards the hemodynamics and respiratory parameters. Respiratory complications and infection were not noticed in NIPPV group during the study. Conclusion: NIPPV is considered an effective method of treating patients with acute respiratory insufficiency after cardiac surgery with minimal effects on respiratory and hemodynamic parameters. It reduces the respiratory complications and infection during mechanical ventilation.


Several methods for inversion of face recognition models were recently presented, attempting to reconstruct a face from deep templates. Although some of these approaches work in a black-box setup using only face embeddings, usually, on the end-user side, only similarity scores are provided. Therefore, these algorithms are inapplicable in such scenarios. We propose a novel approach that allows reconstructing the face querying only similarity scores of the black-box model. While our algorithm operates in a more general setup, experiments show that it is query efficient and outperforms the existing methods.


Objective To test whether elevated blood pressure (BP) relates to grey matter volume (GMV) changes in young adults who had not previously been diagnosed as hypertensive (systolic BP (SBP)/diastolic BP (DBP)≥140/90 mmHg). Methods We associated BP with GMV from structural 3 Tesla T1-weighted MRI of 423 healthy adults between 19-40 years (mean age=27.7±5.3 years, 177 women, SBP/DBP=123.2/73.4±12.2/8.5 mmHg). Data originated from four previously unpublished cross-sectional studies conducted in Leipzig, Germany. We performed voxel-based morphometry on each study separately and combined results in image-based meta-analyses (IBMA) to assess cumulative effects across studies. Resting BP was assigned to one of four categories: (1) SBP<120 and DBP<80 mmHg, (2) SBP 120-129 or DBP 80-84 mmHg, (3) SBP 130-139 or DBP 85-89 mmHg, (4) SBP≥140 or DBP≥90 mmHg. Results IBMA yielded: (a) lower regional GMV was correlated with higher peripheral BP; (b) lower GMV with higher BP when comparing individuals in sub-hypertensive categories 3 and 2, respectively, to those in category 1; (c) lower BP-related GMV was found in regions including hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, frontal and parietal structures (e.g. precuneus). Conclusions BP≥120/80 mmHg was associated with lower GMV in regions that have previously been related to GM decline in older individuals with manifest hypertension. Our study shows that BP-associated GM alterations emerge continuously across the range of BP and earlier in adulthood than previously assumed. This suggests that treating hypertension or maintaining lower BP in early adulthood might be essential for preventing the pathophysiological cascade of asymptomatic cerebrovascular disease to symptomatic end-organ damage, such as stroke or dementia.


Artificial acquisition and reproduction of human sensations are basic technologies of communication engineering. For example, auditory information is obtained by a microphone, and a speaker reproduces it by artificial means. Furthermore, a video camera and a television make it possible to transmit visual sensation by broadcasting. On the contrary, since tactile or haptic information is subject to the Newton's "law of action and reaction" in the real world, a device which acquire, transmit, and reproduce the information has not been established. From the point of view, real-world haptics is the key technology for future haptic communication engineering. This paper proposes a novel acquisition method of haptic information named "haptograph". The haptograph visualizes the haptic information like photograph. Since temporal and spatial analyses are conducted to represent haptic information as the haptograph, it is possible to be recognized and to be evaluated intuitively. In this paper, the proposed haptograph is applied to visualization of human motion. It is possible to represent the motion characteristics, the expert's skill and the personal habit, and so on. In other words, a personal encyclopedia is attained. Once such a personal encyclopedia is stored in ubiquitous environment, the future human support technology will be developed.


The synthesis, reactivity, and bonding properties of several pentacoordinate P-phenyl-substituted 1H-phosphirenes are discussed. X-ray crystallographic analysis of one of them reveals a highly distorted square pyramidal (SP) arrangement around the phosphorus. NMR studies confirm that they retain the SP structure in solution and demonstrate that the endocyclic P-C bonds in the three-membered ring have a very high degree of p character, which results from their being both basal bonds in the SP structure and endocyclic bonds of the three-membered ring. Structural parameters of the three-membered ring of the pentacoordinate phosphirenes obtained by experiment and theoretical calculations are very close to those of a tetracoordinate phosphirenium cation. Thus, by analogy with tetracoordinate phosphirenium cations, it can be considered that a sigma-pi interaction between the sigma orbital of the apical bond and the pi orbital of the C=C bond in the three-membered ring is operative in pentacoordinate phosphirenes. The sigma-pi interaction is found to lower the reactivity of the C=C bond of the three-membered ring. The reactivities of the pentacoordinate phosphirenes are also affected by the substituent on the carbon atom in the three-membered ring.


Water is a universal solvent, where almost all the living being's carry out their biochemical reactions. Fresh water usually contains nutrients for all types of microorganisms, one of which, algae found commonly inlakes. Phosphorous and nitrates are the principal nutrient for algae. The study of algal diversity in freshwater is very useful to determine quality of water and nature of aquatic ecosystem. Amanikere lake inTumakuru city is one of the major lakes to receive residential sewage. Water samples were collected for thestudy of diversity of algae from June, 2017 to May, 2018. The algal samples were isolated and identifiedusing standard laboratory method of Clesceri et al., (1998). About 38 species of algae were found in randomly selected areas (1 to 6) of water samples of Amanikere lake. Some of the algae found to be in high in Amanikere lake like Cyanophyceae – Oscillatoria, Nostoc, Anabaena., Chlorophyceae – Spirogyra, CosmeriumandBacillariophyceae – Navicula, Diatoma, Fragellaria. The study carried out reveals a diversity of algae in the lake.


1. The advertisement call of the spring peeper exhibits significant variation in each of the four parameters examined: intensity, duration, frequency, repetition rate. 2. In playback experiments involving calls differing in a single parameter, females exhibited preference for loud calls, calls with a rapid repetition rate and low frequency calls. 3. Although we had hypothesized that females would prefer long calls to short calls, they did not. We attribute this lack of preference to unanticipated differences in the sound envelope of the two experimental calls. 4. Non-random choice by females during playback experiments may have been in response to the conspicuousness of the male call, or to encoded clues pertaining to male fitness. 5. Call repetition rate is positively correlated with body size (snout-vent length) while frequency is negatively correlated. 6. Anuran growth is thought to be indeterminate, so that larger males are typically older males. As a consequence of having survived longer, large males may be more fit. 7. Since females exhibited a preference for call parameters which were correlated with body size, we had anticipated that large males would experience differential mating success in nature. A comparison of amplexed and non-amplexed males over a three year period revealed no intergroup size difference. 8. We conclude that while females may select calls indicative of size, and perhaps fitness, during laboratory trials, such choices are likely more difficult in an active breeding congregation where acoustical interference and competition may tend to obscure call variation. 9. Finally we report the presence of small, non-calling satellite males and suggest that their success as sexual parasites may have influenced the size relationship between amplexed and non-amplexed males in our study.


We report the flux pinning properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) thin films with BaZrO3 (BZO) nanoparticles, fabricated by a fluorine-reduced trifluoroacetate-metal-organic deposition process. For this study, the Ba-deficient coating solutions (Y : Ba : Cu = 1 : 1.5 : 3) with various BZO contents ranging from 0 to 15 mol% were prepared by mixing Ba-trifluoroacetate with fluorine-free Y, Cu, and Zr sources. Precursor films were deposited on SrTiO3 (001) substrates by dip-coating, pyrolized in a humid oxygen atmosphere, and finally fired at a high temperature in a reduced oxygen atmosphere. Highly enhanced critical current densities (Jc) in magnetic fields were achievable from all BZO-doped samples. The optimally processed YBCO film with 7.5 mol% BZO nanoparticles exhibited the Jc values of 0.39 and 0.5 MA/cm2 at 77 K in 1 T and at 65 K in 3 T for H//c, respectively. The BZO nanoparticles of 10-50 nm size trapped in the YBCO matrix are considered to be responsible for enhanced flux pinning in BZO-doped YBCO films.


The increasing population leads ti an increasing demand for fresh produce all around the world. Making provisions for inhibiting foodborne pathogens, especially the ones producing biofilms, such as Salmonella spp., might remain impossible during the process, due to the cross-contaminations. Thus, foodborne outbreaks can be accompanied by biofilms. Chemical disinfectants are not efficient in disintegrating the biofilms since they cannot penetrate into the biofilm matrix. At this point, plant extracts with correct exposure time on fresh produce are crucial to take timely precautions against the attachment of bacteria to fresh produce. The effects of the water-soluble extract of stinging nettle were determined for biofilm formation capabilities on food product and in vitro, and swimming motilities and curli expressions of Salmonella enterica Virchow, Newport, Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Othmarschen and Mikawasima serovars. Moreover, rpoS, mlrA, ycfR, fimA, spiA and csgA, biofilm-related genes, were also screened. Results have revealed that 2 log reduction of bacterial strains named above, forming biofilm formation on spinach, have been observed by the help of the extract of stinging nettle with 1-hour exposure time. In vitro, different inhibitory capabilities of the extracts have been observed regarding the concentrations, ranging from 2 mg/ml to 20 mg/ml. The extract has significantly decreased the swimming motilities of serovars, except Enteritidis. Weak and strong biofilm producers have been observed in curli expression. In conclusion, stinging nettle extract plays an important role in eliminating biofilm formation of Salmonella enterica serovars.


Power line carrier communication (PLC) is one of the important technologies to construct and realize ubiquitous power Internet of Things, while the degree of network matching severely affects the communication quality of the network. Combined with the actual topology of a medium voltage (MV) distribution network, the transmission line theory is used to derive the impedance matching relationship between the two slave nodes in the master-slave network mode. Based on this, a matching optimization method for the carrier communication of MV distribution Internet of Things based on network looseness is proposed. Firstly, a large complex distribution communication network is selected and divided into several small impedance-matching networks according to the network looseness on the trunk lines. Then, in each region, the particle swarm algorithm is applied for matching coordination to avoid power wasting and impedance mismatching among multiple communication nodes. The coordinated matching method has fast optimization speed and strong portability, and its feasibility and effectiveness are verified by theoretical derivation, simulation and laboratory test results, which provides an important theoretical basis for the planning, design and popularization of PLC technology in the ubiquitous power Internet of Things.


Acquiring information about noisy expensive black-box functions (computer simulations or physical experiments) is a tremendously challenging problem. Finite computational and financial resources restrict the application of traditional methods for design of experiments. The problem is surmounted by hurdles such as numerical errors and stochastic approximations errors, when the quantity of interest (QoI) in a problem depends on an expensive black-box function. Bayesian optimal design of experiments has been reasonably successful in guiding the designer towards the QoI for problems of the above kind. This is usually achieved by sequentially querying the function at designs selected by an infill-sampling criterion compatible with utility theory. However, most current methods are semantically designed to work only on optimizing or inferring the black-box function itself. We aim to construct a heuristic which can unequivocally deal with the above problems irrespective of the QoI. This paper applies the above mentioned heuristic to infer a specific QoI, namely the expectation (expected value) of the function. The Kullback Leibler (KL) divergence is fairly conspicuous among techniques that used to quantify information gain. In this paper, we derive an expression for the expected KL divergence to sequentially infer our QoI. The analytical tractability provided by the Karhunene Loeve expansion around the Gaussian process (GP) representation of the black-box function allows the circumvention around numerical issues associated with sample averaging. The proposed methodology can be extended to any QoI, with reasonable assumptions. The proposed method is verified and validated on two synthetic functions with varying levels of complexity. We demonstrate the methodology on a steel wire manufacturing problem.


Progress on NLP for mental health — indeed, for healthcare in general — is hampered by obstacles to shared, community-level access to relevant data. We report on what is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to address this problem in mental health by conducting a shared task using sensitive data in a secure data enclave. Participating teams received access to Twitter posts donated for research, including data from users with and without suicide attempts, and did all work with the dataset entirely within a secure computational environment. We discuss the task, team results, and lessons learned to set the stage for future tasks on sensitive or confidential data.


We report two cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus fulminantly developed as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at 19 weeks of gestation and immediately after delivery. Development of type 1 diabetes around pregnancy is not rare, but its fulminant development is highly uncommon. We also review the relevant literature concerning mostly Japanese cases. In our cases, the group of patients with fulminant progressive diabetes mellitus associated with pregnancy required insulin replacement therapy even after the acute period and showed high value of pancreatic exocrine enzymes, i.e. amylase, elastase, and lipase. The phenotype of this group was similar to "nonautoimmune, fulminant type 1 diabetes" described by Imagawa et al., where the laboratory data of type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies showed negative. It is well known that autoimmune diseases are in good control during pregnancy. Our present finding suggests that this type of fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus associated with pregnancy might develop as a consequence of a nonautoimmune mechanism.


Tumor cell lines induced by Gross murine leukemia virus were examined for cell-surface major histocompatibility complex class I expression. Three of five cell lines constitutively express H-2K and H-2D class I protein. Culturing these cells with interferon (IFN)-gamma, IFN-alpha/beta, or tumor necrosis factor increases both K and D expression in these cell lines. Two of five tumor cell lines express no class I proteins by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis, specific immunoprecipitation, and specific hybridization in Northern analysis. Treatment with IFN-gamma induces D, but not K protein expression in one of these cell lines. IFN-alpha/beta and tumor necrosis factor induce neither D nor K expression in this cell line. Thus, these two cytokines appear to have different mechanisms of action than IFN-gamma for altering class I expression. The other class I-negative tumor cell line does not express either K or D proteins under any conditions tested. All five cell lines express beta 2-microglobulin; this expression is increased by IFN-gamma treatment even in cell lines which do not express class I heavy chain. The results of this study demonstrate that 1) different tumor cell lines demonstrate variations in class I gene regulation, and 2) differences in regulation between class I genes may occur within a single cell line.


A study was established to evaluate concentration temperatures (25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 degrees C) on kiwi fruit pulp concentrated to 32 degrees Brix, with vacuum regulation. Munsell and sensorial colour, ascorbic acid and chlorophyll amount remanent were analyzed. Both, 25 and 30 degrees C concentration temperatures treatments, in the most of variables, experimented low deteriorate and differ with the other treatments. Ascorbic acid measurements had not significative differences (P < 0.95). Chlorophyll assays showed a decreased (70%) in the amount remanent over 35 degrees C in comparison to 25 degrees C treatments. 40 and 45 degrees C treatments showed traces of chlorophyll. Sensorial colour did not showed variations on 25 and 30 degrees C treatments; they were classified as bright green. Other treatments present colour deteriorate: 35 degrees C treatment was green-yellowish classified, and 45 degrees C treatments brown-greenish categories. Munsell colour showed the same relations, were increasing the concentration temperatures, decrease the green colour and increase the yellow colour.


ABSTRACT The teschoviruses constitute a recently defined picornavirus genus. Most of the genome sequence of the porcine teschovirus-1 (PTV) Talfan and several other strains is known. We now demonstrate that initiation of protein synthesis occurs at nucleotide (nt) 412 on the PTV Talfan RNA and that nt 1 to 405 contains an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that functions efficiently in vitro and within mammalian cells. In comparison with other picornavirus IRES elements, the PTV IRES is relatively short and lacks a significant polypyrimidine tract near the 3′ end. Expression of an enterovirus 2A protease, which induces cleavage of eIF4G within the translation initiation complex eIF4F, has little effect on the PTV IRES activity within BHK cells. The PTV IRES has a unique set of properties and represents a new class of picornavirus IRES element.


Convection and macrosegregation in directionally solidified hypoeutectic Pb-38 wt pct Sn and hypereutectic Pb-64.5 wt pct Sn have been examined during upward and downward growth. Temperature fluctuations are observed along the length of the melt column during downward growth. With increasing Rayleigh number, these fluctuations change from none, to cyclic, to time periodic having multiple harmonics, and finally to random. At the higher convective driving force of 350 K temperature inversion, the transverse magnetic field decreased convective levels, strong random temperature fluctuations (flows) becoming smaller and periodic. The maximum field of 0.45 T was unable to completely eliminate convection. For the lower convective driving force of 150 K temperature inversion, the 0.05 T magnetic field decreased flows, and at 0.15 T, the field caused a dramatic decrease in the characteristic frequency of the temperature fluctuations, indicating a change in the nature of the flow, the waveform of the temperature fluctuations changing from sinusoidal to a pulsed wave. Temperature fluctuations and time delays between thermocouples were used to estimate flow velocities. Irrespective of the convection in the bulk melt (ahead of the mushy zone), longitudinal macrosegregation occurs only if the interdendritic melt mixes with the bulk melt.


Bernard Soulier Syndrome is a very rare congenital bleeding disorder characterized by deficiency in glycoprotein Ib (Gp Ib) which is vital for clot formation. We present a case of 21-year-old girl with onset of menorrhagia since 4 months. She was investigated and diagnosed to be a case of AML-M4 with associated Gp Ib deficiency.


Background Prediction of future exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major concern for long-term management of this disease. Aim To determine which of three multidimensional assessment systems (the body mass index, obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity [BODE] index; dyspnea, obstruction, smoking, exacerbations [DOSE] index; or age, dyspnea, obstruction [ADO] index) is superior for predicting exacerbations. Methods This was a 2-year prospective cohort study of COPD patients. Pulmonary function tests, the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), Modified Medical Respiratory Council (MMRC) dyspnea scores, chest computed-tomography measurements, and body composition were analyzed, and predictions of exacerbation by the three assessment systems were compared. Results Among 183 patients who completed the study, the mean annual exacerbation rate was 0.57 events per patient year, which correlated significantly with lower predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) (P < 0.001), lower transfer coefficient of the lung for carbon monoxide (%DLco/VA) (P = 0.021), lesser 6MWD (P = 0.016), higher MMRC dyspnea score (P = 0.001), higher DOSE index (P < 0.001), higher BODE index (P = 0.001), higher ADO index (P = 0.001), and greater extent of emphysema (P = 0.002). For prediction of exacerbation, the areas under the curves were larger for the DOSE index than for the BODE and ADO indices (P < 0.001). Adjusted multiple logistic regression identified the DOSE index as a significant predictor of risk of COPD exacerbation. Conclusion In this study, the DOSE index was a better predictor of exacerbations of COPD when compared with the BODE and ADO indices.


continuous running (5 minutes of warm-up, 30 minutes run at intensity 12-14 according to the Borg Scale, and 5 minutes of cool down). In the IR condition, they were submitted to interval running (5 minutes of warm-up, 6 bouts of 2.5 minutes at intensity 15-17 on the Borg Scale separated by 2.5 minutes recovery intervals, followed by 5 minutes of cool down). In the morning soon after waking up, volunteers completed 4 records: Sleep Diary, Visual Analog Pain Scale, Scale of Overall Quality of Recovery and STAI-state. The data analysis performed was one-way ANOVA with Duncan test and a significance level at P < 0.05. The study was approved by UNIFESP Ethics Committee (#1686/08). RESULTS: In the sleep diary, a decrease was observed in the scores in CR condition when compared to the BL (BL= 28.00 ± 3.19, CR= 23.36 ± 4.59, p= 0.01). In the waking sensation, a decrease was observed in CR condition when compared to the BL (BL= 8.13 ± 1.13, CR= 6.68 ± 1.82, p= 0.02). In the Visual Pain Scale, the CR condition presented higher scores when compared to the BL condition (BL= 1.12 ± 1.11, CR= 3.18 ± 2.48, p= 0.01). Finally, in the Overall Quality of Recovery Scale, the BL condition presented higher scores when compared to CR and IR conditions (BL= 17.08 ± 2.50, CR= 14.64 ± 2.94, IR= 14.58 ± 2.11, p= 0.02). No significant differences were found regarding STAI-state. CONCLUSIONS: After more intense exercise volunteers had a more restful sleep when compared to continuous running. Thus, we concluded that interval exercise can be used in training to also improve sleep quality. Financial support: CAPES


OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients receiving dietary counseling. METHODS : Longitudinal study included overweight hypertensive patients who had an initial individual consultation with a nutritionist between January 2002 and December 2005 and were followed for four years in a hypertension clinic. Patients who had at least four consultations during the follow-up period were included in the dietary counseling group. Those who scheduled their first consultation but missed that appointment or had fewer than four consultations during the follow-up period were allocated to the control group. Target Energy intake was calculated at 20–25 kcal/kg actual body weight/day. RESULTS: The study included 102 patients aged 55±1 years old (58 in the dietary counseling group). As compared with the control group, patients in the dietary counseling group showed a significantly greater reduction in body weight (-3.6±0.8 vs. 0.8±0.7 kg), which remained significant after controlling for age, gender, baseline body mass index, and the use of different antihypertensive and antidiabetic drugs. Weight loss between 5.0% and 9.9% was observed in a significantly higher percentage of patients in the dietary counseling group (28% vs. 11%). A weight loss of at least 10% was only observed in dietary counseling group patients, who had a significantly lower odds ratio for increasing the number and/or dosage of antihypertensive agents, even after controlling for age, gender, and baseline body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary counseling may be associated with long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients.


Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine problems in women of reproductive age, which is multifactorial in etiology. It is associated with menstrual dysfunction and subfertility. The menstrual dysfunction that occurs with PCOS arises from anovulation or oligo-ovulation. It causes amenorrhea to oligomenorrhea. Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are commonly associated with PCOS. So our study includes estimating FBS and PPBS (2 hour after OGTT) in PCOS patients to know about glucose metabolism in PCOS.

Aims & Objective: To know the effect of PCOS on glucose metabolism in younger age group.

Materials and Methods: A case control study was conducted in 50 PCOS patients (15 to 25 years age) and 50 normal menstruating women, matched for age and anthropometric data. Statistical analysis was done by using student 't' test.

Results: FBS (Fasting Blood Sugar) and PPBS (Postprandial Blood Sugar) after 2 hour OGTT were significantly raised in PCOS patients compared to normal menstruating women.

Conclusion: PCOS patients are more prone for impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. So they should screen for impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 Diabetes Mellitus to prevent complications.


Cloud deployments now increasingly provision FPGA accelerators as part of virtual instances. While FPGAs are still essentially single-tenant, the growing demand for hardware acceleration will inevitably lead to the need for methods and architectures supporting FPGA multi-tenancy. In this paper, we propose an architecture supporting space-sharing of FPGA devices among multiple tenants in the cloud. The proposed architecture implements a network-on-chip (NoC) designed for fast data movement and low hardware footprint. Prototyping the proposed architecture on a Xilinx Virtex Ultrascale + demonstrated near specification maximum frequency for on-chip data movement and high throughput in virtual instance access to hardware accelerators. We demonstrate similar performance compared to single-tenant deployment while increasing FPGA utilization (we achieved $6 \times$ higher FPGA utilization with our case study), which is one of the major goals of virtualization. Overall, our NoC interconnect achieved about $2 \times$ higher maximum frequency than the state-of-the-art and a bandwidth of 25.6 Gbps.


ABSTRACT

The purposes of conducting this research are to find the types of speech acts and the dominant type of speech acts found in the data. The data were collected from the interview the researchers had with the respondent who is engaged in Tangerang and a member of Minang community. This research employs descriptive qualitative method. In this regard, the data collected are qualitative. Searle's classifications of speech acts (2005) are applied. Based on the data analysis, the researchers have found that all of the types of speech acts. Based on the research findings, the researchers have found that the Expressives have happened four times. The Commissives have happened three times. The Representatives have happened once. The Directives have happened once. The Declaratives have happened once. Therefore, the dominant type of speech acts is the expressive.


Sylvia Ashton-Warner developed an holistic approach to reading in the early years of schooling. Within the general approach was an advocacy for the learning of key vocabulary. Ashton-Warner argued that children were interested in words that related to their own daily lives and they learnt them readily. This paper reports the results of a research project that investigated key vocabulary learning in a sample of five year olds in a New Zealand school. It was found that there were complexities in the teaching of key words which have implications for contemporary teachers,  particularly in linking emotional and cognitive aspects of children's lives.


Mice homozygous for the scid mutation bear a severe defect in their ability to rearrange V(D)J gene segments to yield active genes for immunoglobulin and T cell receptor molecules. In older animals few clones of B and T cells can arise at random, a phenomenon called leakyness of the scid mutation. We established scid mice carrying as a transgene the rearranged heavy chain of the IgM/lambda1 antibody MOPC 104E with specificity for the alpha(1,3) glucosidic linkages in Dextran. Despite the scid defect one-third of these mice immunized with the thymus independent antigen Dextran at 2 weeks of age, and all of those immunized at 6 weeks responded with anti-Dextran antibodies bearing the lambda light chain. This indicates that despite the scid mutation these animals had at least once successfully rearranged their endogenous lambda1 light chain gene segments and harbor Dextran specific B cells. These mice thus provided for the first time the opportunity to study the immune response of B cells of a single specificity in an environment that should, as we shall argue, be devoid of regulatory B and T cells able to recognize the idiotype of the responding cells. One week after immunization the anti-Dextran response of 5- to 6-week-old mu-transgenic scid mice amounted to 30% of the response of mu-transgenic non-scid mice but in essence both responses followed the same kinetics, reaching antibody concentrations indistinguishable from each other 8 weeks after a single dose of Dextran. Furthermore, the ready response of young mu-transgenic scid mice to this antigen by employment of endogenously rearranged lambda1 light chains allowed experiments to be done to compare the frequency of lambda1 light chain rearrangements in mu-transgenic scid mice to that in mu-transgenic non-scid mice. This was done in limiting dilution assays counting B cell precursors responsive to mitogen and differentiating in vitro to produce antibodies toward Dextran. Specific precursors were reduced to about 1% in the spleen of mu-transgenic scid mice when compared to the spleen of mu-transgenic non-scid mice; those in the peritoneal cavity lymphocyte population were reduced to about 12%.


In a previous work, we have proposed a morphing method based on invertible and stable descriptors that are invariant to Euclidean transformations and to the starting point. The stability guarantees the closeness in the shape sense of the reconstructed intermediate contours. However, this set of descriptors is not defined by a general expression. Here, we propose several sets of stable and invertible finite descriptors expressed by the same formula. Its stability is proven for a subset of this family thanks to the finite-dimension of the invariant space. Such finite dimension results from the Discrete Fourier Transform model that is used instead of Fourier coefficients. Moreover, an analytical general inverse formula is established. The use of the inverse analytical formula and the double utilization of the Fast Fourier Transform ensure an effective blending while being computationally efficient. Finally, we propose a new quantitative criterion for shape morphing. The latter is based on the Euclidean distances between successive curves in a morphing sequence after applying a given registration. Therefore, it allows us to compare the blending results of each set of descriptors. Several experiments are conducted on KIMIA'99 and MPEG-7 datasets. The results highlight the concordance of this criterion with the morphing visual quality and indicate which set of descriptors generates the most appropriate blending.


Al2O3 is estimated to total 4 to 5 mol% in all mantle compositional models, and is believed to be incorporated into (Mg,Fe)SiO3‐perovskite at lower mantle conditions. Using synchrotron X‐ray diffraction, we have measured the 300 K equation of state of a perovskite with XAl=Al/(Al+Mg+Si)=.077, up to 32 GPa. A least squares refinement of two independent data sets yields the following equation of state parameters V0=163.52(3) ų, K0=229(4) GPa, and K0=2.5(4). These values allow us to assess the most probable substitution mechanism for aluminium into perovskite at pressure conditions of the shallow lower mantle. Al3+ is likely to be incorporated in place of Si4+ in the octahedral site of perovskite, hence requiring the creation of oxygen vacancies for charge balance. As a consequence, aluminous perovskites may have a high affinity for water. The enhanced compressibility of aluminous perovskite certainly has also strong geophysical and geochemical implications, as it may revive perovskite‐rich lower mantle models.


We describe a new, simple, robust and efficient method based on direct-tissue matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry that enables consistent semi-quantitation of peptide hormones in isolated pancreatic islets from normal and diabetic rodents. Prominent signals were measured that corresponded to all the main peptide hormones present in islet-endocrine cells: (α-cells) glucagon, glicentin-related polypeptide/GRPP; (β-cells) insulin I, insulin II, C-peptide I, C-peptide II, amylin; (δ-cells) somatostatin-14; and (PP-cells), and pancreatic polypeptide. The signal ratios coincided with known relative hormone abundances. The method demonstrated that severe insulin deficiency is accompanied by elevated levels of all non-β-cell-hormones in diabetic rat islets, consistent with alleviation of paracrine suppression of hormone production by non-β-cells. It was also effective in characterizing hormonal phenotype in hemizygous human-amylin transgenic mice that express human and mouse amylin in approx. equimolar quantities. Finally, the method demonstrated utility in basic peptide-hormone discovery by identifying a prominent new Gcg-gene-derived peptide (theoretical monoisotopic molecular weight 3263.5 Da), closely related to but distinct from GRPP, in diabetic islets. This peptide, whose sequence is HAPQDTEENARSFPASQTEPLEDPNQINE in Rattus norvegicus, could be a peptide hormone whose roles in physiology and metabolic disease warrant further investigation. This method provides a powerful new approach that could provide important new insights into the physiology and regulation of peptide hormones in islets and other endocrine tissues. It has potentially wide-ranging applications that encompass endocrinology, pharmacology, phenotypic analysis in genetic models of metabolic disease, and hormone discovery, and could also effectively limit the numbers of animals required for such studies.


Consider a proper, isometric action by a unimodular, locally compact group $G$ on a complete Riemannian manifold $M$. For equivariant elliptic operators that are invertible outside a cocompact subset of $M$, we show that a localised index in the $K$-theory of the maximal group $C^*$-algebra of $G$ is well-defined. The approach is based on the use of maximal versions of equivariant localised Roe algebras, and many of the technical arguments in this paper are used to handle the ways in which they differ from their reduced versions.
By using the maximal group $C^*$-algebra instead of its reduced counterpart, we can apply the trace given by integration over $G$ to recover an index defined earlier by the last two authors, and developed further by Braverman, in terms of sections invariant under the group action. As a very special case, this allows one to refine numerical obstructions to positive scalar curvature on a noncompact $\operatorname{Spin}$ manifold $X$ defined via Callias index theory, to obstructions in the $K$-theory of the maximal $C^*$-algebra of the fundamental group $\pi_1(X)$.
As a motivating application in another direction, we prove a version of Guillemin and Sternberg's quantisation commutes with reduction principle for equivariant indices of $\operatorname{Spin}^c$ Callias-type operators.


Purpose: In adrenocortical tumors (ACT), Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation can be explained by β-catenin somatic mutations only in a subset of tumors. ACT is observed in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) with germline APC mutations, as well as in patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome with Wilms' tumors reported to have WTX somatic mutations. Both APC and WTX are involved in Wnt/β-catenin pathway regulation and may play a role in ACT tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to report if APC and WTX may be associated with FAP-associated and sporadic ACT. Experimental Design: ACTs from patients with FAP and sporadic adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) with abnormal β-catenin localization on immunohistochemistry but no somatic β-catenin mutations were studied. APC was analyzed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography followed by direct sequencing and by multiplex ligation–dependent probe amplification when allelic loss was suspected. WTX was studied by direct sequencing. Results: Four ACTs were observed in three patients with FAP and were ACC, adrenocortical adenoma, and bilateral macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia, all with abnormal β-catenin localization. Biallelic inactivation of APC was strongly suggested by the simultaneous existence of somatic and germline alterations in all ACTs. In the 20 sporadic ACCs, a silent heterozygous somatic mutation as well as a rare heterozygous polymorphism in APC was found. No WTX mutations were observed. Conclusions: ACT should be considered a FAP tumor. Biallelic APC inactivation mediates activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in the ACTs of patients with FAP. In contrast, APC and WTX genetic alterations do not play a significant role in sporadic ACC. Clin Cancer Res; 16(21); 5133–41. ©2010 AACR.


Abstract Hibiscus sabdariffa is a medicinal plant consumed as a diuretic and anti-obesity remedy. Several pharmacological studies have shown its beneficial effects in metabolism. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors δ and γ may play a role in the actions of H. sabdariffa. These nuclear receptors regulate lipid and glucose metabolism and are therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes. This research aimed to perform a phytochemical study guided by a bioassay from H. sabdariffa to identify compounds with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ agonist activity, supported by messenger ribonucleic acid expression, molecular docking, lipid accumulation, and an antihyperglycemic effect. An oral glucose tolerance test in mice with the aqueous extract of H. sabdariffa and the dichloromethane extract of H. sabdariffa was performed. The dichloromethane extract of H. sabdariffa exhibited an antihyperglycemic effect. The dichloromethane extract of H. sabdariffa was fractioned, and four fractions were evaluated in 3T3-L1 adipocytes on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, fatty acid transporter protein, and glucose transporter type 4 messenger ribonucleic acid expression. Fraction F3 exhibited peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ/γ dual agonist activity, and a further fractionation yielded two subfractions, F3-1 and F3-2, which also increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ expression. Subfractions were analyzed by GC/MS. The main compounds identified in F3-1 were linoleic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid, while in F3-2, the main compounds identified were α-amyrin and lupeol. These molecules were subjected to molecular docking analysis. α-Amyrin and lupeol showed the highest affinity. Moreover, both produced an increase in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, fatty acid transporter protein, and glucose transporter type 4 expression. Additionally, α-amyrin and lupeol decreased lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and blood glucose in mice. Until now, α-amyrin and lupeol have not been reported with activity on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors. This study provides evidence that α-amyrin and lupeol possess antidiabetic effects through a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ/γ dual agonist action.


Specificity of connectivity is essential to nervous system function. It is determined by intrinsic programmes of gene expression that define neuronal phenotypes, and by activity-dependent mechanisms. Neuro-regeneration in the adult may involve re-activation of growth programmes within the constraints of neuron-type specific phenotypes. Lesion-induced re-induction of an axonal growth mode in adult neurons correlates with a vigorous cell body reaction that can also lead to apoptotic cell death. Directing the cell body reaction towards regeneration is a major goal towards improving regeneration. Extrinsic factors that prevent axonal regeneration in the adult CNS of higher vertebrates include inhibitory components on the surface of oligodendrocytes and CNS myelin, and proteoglycans associated with scar material; grafts of certain glial cells can promote regeneration. Local nerve sprouting and synaptic plasticity can produce dramatic functional adaptation to lesions in the adult and greatly enhance the impact of the partial regeneration of lesioned axons; nerve sprouting is promoted by diffusible and contact-mediated extrinsic mechanisms, and by intrinsic neuronal components. As a result of recent discoveries, significant progress in promoting axonal regeneration and recovery of function in the adult can be anticipated.


Nanofabrication techniques with atomic level precision are needed for advancement to smaller technology nodes in the semiconductor industry. Thermal atomic layer etching (ALE) is currently being developed to isotropically etch material for future applications. In this Letter, an alternative plasma-based ALE process for isotropic etching of Al2O3 is introduced involving SF6 plasma and trimethylaluminium [TMA, Al(CH3)3] pulses, providing higher etch rates and lower processing temperatures than conventional thermal ALE. This process illustrates that a fluorine-containing plasma can serve as a viable reactant for ALE and that plasmas—besides their conventional use in anisotropic ALE—can be employed for isotropic ALE. In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements confirmed saturation of both SF6 plasma and TMA half-cycles, which results in an etch per cycle (EPC) of 3.1 ± 0.1 A at 260 °C. The isotropic nature of the plasma ALE process was demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy analysis of Al2O3-coated 3D trench structures after performing ALE cycles. A mechanism of fluorination by F radicals and ligand exchange reactions involving TMA is proposed for this plasma ALE process based on observations from infrared spectroscopy, which are supported by reactant synergy analysis. This work establishes the benefits that a plasma can deliver for isotropic ALE.


Background: The umbilicus is commonly used as an access site to perform minimally invasive colorectal surgery. Umbilical stomas are becoming an attractive option as an alternative site for temporary stomas since they reduce the need for additional abdominal incisions. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients who underwent umbilical stoma creation after colorectal resection for diagnosis of rectal cancer, diverticulitis, or ulcerative colitis between January 2020 and July 2021. Surgical technique, clinical and perioperative outcomes, complications, and cosmetic end results were described. Results: A total of 11 patients underwent umbilical stoma creation. There were no major surgical complications. Peristomal skin irritation was secondary to difficulties with the management of the pouching system. One patient presented with ostomy prolapse. Three patients experienced incisional hernia after stoma reversal. There were no wound infections. Conclusion: Umbilical stomas appear to be a safe alternative to conventional stomas and provide superior cosmetic outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
Assessment of diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT in the detection of viable disease in post-chemotherapy seminomatous residual masses using visual interpretation, SUVmax, and T/L ratio.

METHODS
This is a retrospective study assessing the post-chemotherapy seminomatous residual masses of size >3 cm. The PET/CT scan findings were interpreted visually for presence of residual disease which were validated from histopathology reports or imaging follow-up for a maximum of 3 years. SUVmax and T/L ratios were also determined for all the residual lesions. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value NPV were calculated and compared for all three parameters along with ROC analysis to obtain an optimal cutoff value for SUVmax and T/L ratio, respectively.

RESULTS
Sample size was 49. Out of these 49 patients, 8 had validation of PET results with histopathology. Rest was validated with imaging follow-up. FDG-PET was positive in 30 patients and negative in 19 patients by visual interpretation. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV by this method were 100%, 62.5%, 73%, and 100%, respectively. The SUVmax and T/L ratios were also calculated for these lesions. The cutoff for these two variables was 4.56 and 1.21, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV at these cutoffs were 76%, 87.5%, 86%, 77.7%, and 92%, 87.5%, 88%, 91%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
FDG-PET has a favorable diagnostic value in predicting viable disease in post-chemotherapy seminomatous residual masses and using T/L ratio cutoff of 1.21 will increase the specificity of the test.


Objective : To assess the relationship between long-term use of tamoxifen and endometrial cancer in patients with breast cancer. Methods: A retrospective review of the 897 patients treated with tamoxifen after surgery at Asan Medical Center for primary breast cancer between January 1997 and December 2002 was done. All patients had received tamoxifen 20 mg/day for longer than 1 year. In this case-control study, there were 5 patients with endometrial cancer and 15 patients without endometrial cancer. Following variables including age, parity, body mass index, medical illnesses (e.g., diabetes, hypertension), family history of breast and gynecologic cancer, and duration of tamoxifen treatment were analyzed. Results: The mean duration of tamoxifen treatment was 59 months in patients with endometrial cancer and 33 months in patients without endometrial cancer (p=0.003). There was no difference between two groups in other variables. Conclusion: It seems that long-term use of tamoxifen is associated with secondary endometrial cancer in primary breast cancer patients.


The concept of cell free (CF) massive MIMO systems is a prospective fifth generation communication technology that effort with base stations for the privilege of user-centric coverage. Most studies on the CF massive MIMO system in the past imply that systems that use time division duplexing (TDD), even despite the systems using frequency division duplex (FDD) predominate in today's wireless communications. When the number of antennas increases in FDD systems, channel state information (CSI) collection and feedback overhead become major issues. In order to mitigate these issues, we make use of the condition that the so-called uplink and downlink multipath components are comparable. Base station takes use of the angle reciprocity may immediately obtain information on channel parameters from the uplink training signal. In this paper, for CF massive MIMO system based on FDD, we provide compressive sensing (CS) of directions of arrival (DoAs) estimation approach of access point cooperation based on the channel parameters. The suggested estimation approach outperforms the established subspace-based technique, according to simulation findings. Additionally, we showed that the results of our compressive sensing estimator against the conventional estimation method. The former demonstrates way far better outcome and performance accordingly than the latter.


The Puy-les-Vignes deposit (Limousin, French Massif Central) represents an uncommon occurrence in the West European Variscan belt of a hydrothermal tungsten mineralization associated with a breccia pipe structure. A new study of this atypical quartz-wolframite-tourmaline deposit has been possible, allowing to revisit the mineral paragenesis and to identify four main successive stages of mineralization: (i) W-As -Nb±Ta stage corresponding to the historically economic mineralization hosted in quartz-wolframite-arsenopyrite veins; (ii) Fe-Cu-Zn±Mo stage represented by the deposition of base metal sulphides; (iii) Nb-Y-HREE stage associated with a late hydrothermal paragenesis in a tourmaline, adularia and chlorite matrix; (iv) Bi±Au-Ag stage, related to the late-Variscan regional metallogenic event in the Limousin.


The well-known energy detector, due to its simplicity, has been proposed as an efficient spectrum sensing method for cognitive radio networks. However, shadowing and fading degrade performance of energy detector. In this paper, to combat these effects, we exploit multiple antennas for each user and cooperation among users. Moreover, we consider spatial correlation among users as well as among antennas to evaluate the method in a realistic environment. From simulation results, it can be found that two secondary users (SUs) each having three antennas show a better performance than a single SU with twenty antennas.


What causes the selective degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in the brains of Parkinson9s disease patients? As
 Haass and Kahle
 explain in their Perspective, a clue comes from new work showing that two proteins implicated in PD (parkin and a-synuclein) normally interact in healthy neurons (
 Shimura
 et al.). The Perspective authors speculate that defective targeting of a-synuclein for degradation by parkin results in accumulation of toxic a-synuclein aggregates that selectively kill dopaminergic neurons.


Control and manipulation of objects with underactuated dynamics remains a challenge for robots. Due to their typically nonlinear dynamics, it is computationally taxing to implement model-based planning and control techniques. Yet humans can skillfully manipulate such objects, seemingly with ease. More insight into human control strategies may inform how to enhance control strategies in robots. This study examined human control of objects that exhibit complex - underactuated and nonlinear - dynamics. We hypothesized that humans seek to make their trajectories exponentially stable to achieve robustness in the face of external perturbations. A stable trajectory is also robust to the high levels of noise in the human neuromotor system. Motivated by the task of carrying a cup of coffee, a virtual implementation of transporting a cart-pendulum system was developed. Subjects interacted with the virtual system via a robotic manipulandum that provided a haptic and visual interface. Human subjects were instructed to transport this simplified system to a target position as fast as possible without 'spilling coffee,' while accommodating different visible perturbations that could be anticipated. To test the hypothesis of exponential convergence, tools from the framework of control contraction metrics were leveraged to analyze human trajectories. Results showed that with practice the trajectories indeed became exponentially stable, selectively around the perturbation. While these findings are agnostic about the involvement of feedback and feedforward control, they do support the hypothesis that humans learn to make trajectories stable, consistent with achieving predictability.