In the context of diabetes, this study tested a mechanism through which Korean diabetes patients' exchange of computer-mediated social support (CMSS) in diabetes online communities influences their sense of empowerment and intention to actively communicate with the doctor. Analysis of data from 464 Korean diabetes patients indicates significant relationships among diabetes patients' online community activities, perceived CMSS, sense of empowerment, and their intention to actively communicate with the doctor. Diabetes patients who have engaged more in online community activities perceived greater social support from other members of the community. Perceived CMSS significantly predicted their intention to actively communicate with the doctor through sense of empowerment. Sense of empowerment was a valid underlying mechanism that explains how patients' perceived CMSS influences their intention to actively communicate with the doctor. The implications for health communication research and practice are discussed.


The objective of this thesis is to develop a simulation tool and a method by which robot trajectories, temperature histories, residual stresses and distortion can be analysed and optimized off-line. This was performed by integrating robot simulation software with finite element analysis software. A special interface was created which facilitated information exchange between the two software programs. To validate the method comparisons were made between simulation results and measurements during real welding.

The method was used to program welding trajectories, both for planar plates and for parts with complex shapes. The welding trajectories were downloaded to the finite element analysis software where temperature and residual stress prediction were performed. Good agreement was found between the programmed robot trajectory, and the actual trajectory, necessitating only minor adjustments. Temperature measurements were performed using both thermocouples and infrared imaging. Good agreement was also found between the results using these two methods, as well as between predicted and measured temperatures.

Predicted residual stress distributions were compared with neutron diffraction measurements and fair agreement was found. A specified software architecture was developed which allowed full time synchronization between different simulation systems. Finally, weld velocity optimization was performed through a developed algorithm making it possible to minimize distortion.

The research conducted in the present work indicates that the models and computer programs that were developed could be combined to create powerful tools for the evaluation and optimisation of welding processes.


Extrathoracic solitary fibrous tumours have been reported in almost all anatomic sites, but reports of tumours in the extremities or in intramuscular locations, as well as of tumours with atypical histological features and malignant behaviour, are rare. Herein the authors describe a case of hemangiopericytoma-solitary fibrous tumour that arose in the gluteal region of a 47-year-old woman. The tumour showed atypical histological features, such as high cellularity, increased mitotic activity and focal expression of cytokeratins.


Follicular lymphoma, the second most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), primarily affects adults and shows an indolent clinical course. Rare cases of follicular lymphoma transform to a high-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements or "double-hit lymphoma". Transformation to a "double-hit lymphoma" portends a worse prognosis and requires aggressive treatment. We report a comprehensive clinical, pathologic and radiographic review of a patient with previously undiagnosed low-grade follicular lymphoma that transformed into a "double-hit lymphoma". The patient presented with a large heterogeneous mass 16 x 19 cm involving pancreatic head and neck and a mildly enlarged inguinal lymph node. Positron emission tomography (PET) study demonstrated Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F) (FDG)-avid peripancreatic mass. Tissue biopsy demonstrated a high-grade B-cell lymphoma with rearrangements t(14;18) and MYC, leading to the diagnosis of high-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements. Excisional biopsy of an inguinal lymph node demonstrated low-grade follicular lymphoma. Clonality studies demonstrated the same immunoglobulin clone V7-4 in inguinal lymph node and peripancreatic mass. Therefore, diagnosis of a high-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements that transformed from a low-grade follicular lymphoma was rendered. It is ultimately important to establish a tissue-based diagnosis at the different sites that are involved with lymphoma. Patient proceeded with the aggressive treatment with dose-adjusted etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and rituximab (EPOCH-R) treatment.


Given the fast growing development of China's agro-food industry in recent decades, a sustainable performance issue has been brought up in the research agenda. The aim of this research is to investigate how collaborative supply chain management practices might affect sustainable performance, especially in the business environment of a much advanced agriculture industrialization in China.
An extensive literature review has been carried out to lay down a sound theoretical foundation for the further research development needed to achieve the research objective. The exploration and synthesizing of the prior literature on the topic have also led to the identification of research gaps. More importantly, the literature review has led to the development of key research hypotheses, upon which a conceptual framework is developed to advance current understanding of the issues.
To test the hypotheses and the model, a predominantly empirically based abductive methodological approach has been adopted. By designing the specifically targeted survey questionnaires and carrying out field research work in China, sufficient first-hand data have been collected and processed. In particular, the hierarchical regression modelling techniques are used to test the moderating effect of the environmental factor—agriculture industrialization on the relationship between collaborative practices and sustainable performances. The tests and analysis results show that 16 out of 18 hypotheses are supported with significant statistical significance, and the overall conceptual model has thus been validated methodologically. Significant research findings have been drawn from the analysis results.
First, the relationship is contingent to exogenous factors, and hence it is not a static or fixed relation. Second, the factor of agricultural industrialization does exert moderating power over the relationship from collaborative practices to sustainable performance. Third, collaborative practices are generally positively associated with economic, social and environmental performance, except for demand-side collaboration, which is negatively associated with economic performance in the Chinese agriculture context. Fourth, farmer-supermarket docking as one of the unique collaborative practices in China's agro-food industry is more effective at improving sustainable performance under high degree of agriculture industrialization.
This research claims a theoretical contribution by advancing conceptual understanding about improving sustainable performance through collaborative practices by factoring in the exogenous level of agriculture industrialization in China. This research also provides empirically proven guidance for managers and practitioners to differentiate the effects of collaboration management practices under different levels of agriculture industrialization. A real-world case study has been introduced to support the arguments.


To study the role of resveratrol in the discharges of neurons in paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in hypothalamic slices, extracellular single-unit discharge recording technique was used. The effects of resveratrol were examined with glass microelectrodes in the rat PVN neurons at resting potential level. The results were as follows: (1) In response to the application of resveratrol (0.05, 0.5, 5.0 μmol/L, n=29) to the superfusate for 2 min, the spontaneous discharge rate (SDR) of neurons in 28/29 (96.6%) hypothalamic slices significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner; (2) Pretreatment with L-glutamate (0.2 mmol/L) led to a marked increase in the SDR in all 8/8 (100%) slices in an epileptiform pattern. The increased discharges were suppressed by the application of resveratrol (5.0 mmol/L) in all 8 slices; (3) In 8 slices, perfusion of the selective L-type calcium channel agonist, Bay K8644 (0.1 μmol/L), induced a significant increase in the discharge rate in 8/8 (100%) slices. Resveratrol (5.0 μmol/L) significantly attenuated the increased SDR in all 8 slices; (4) Pretreatment with the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor N(ω)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 50 μmol/L) increased SDR in 7/8 (87.5%) slices, but did not affect the inhibitory effect of resveratrol (5.0 μmol/L). These results suggest that resveratrol inhibits the electrical activity of PVN neurons and exerts neuroprotective actions on central neurons. The inhibitory effect of resveratrol is possibly related to the blockade of L-type calcium channel, but not due to NO release.


oedema. Patients over 90 years of age with VF/VT as initial rhythm had a 40% survival rate. We found a trend indicating a less aggressive care with increasing age during cardiac arrest (fewer intubations, and less use of adrenalin and anti-arrhythmic drugs) but there was no association between age and delay in starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In survivors, there was no significant association between age and a favourable neurological outcome (CPC score: 1–2) (93%, 93%, and 87% in the three age groups, respectively). Conclusions: Increasing age among the elderly is associated with a lower 30day survival after IHCA. Less aggressive treatment and a worse risk profile might contribute to these findings. Relatively high survival rates among certain subgroups suggest that discussions about advanced directives should be individualized. Most survivors have good neurological outcome, even patients over 90 years of age.


Iron Oxide nanoparticles have enormous applications in environmental remediation
and catalysis. The synthesis of such nanoparticles through a green approach provides a
significant advantage due to the non-toxic nature of the ingredients involved.

In the present work, Diospyros lotus fruit extract was used for the synthesis of iron oxide
nanoparticles (NPs). The plant biomolecules were extracted employing two different solvents, i.e.
water and methanol. The effect of both the extracts on the reduction of metal salt as well as on the
shape and size of the produced NPs was investigated.

UV-Visible spectroscopy confirmed the synthesis of iron oxide NPs, Fourier Transform
Infrared (FTIR) spectrum depicted the presence of biomolecules on the surface of NPs as capping
agents, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) diffractogram confirmed the crystalline structure of mixed iron
oxide NPs and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images showed the spherical shape of NPs.
The synthesized NPs were exploited to catalyze the degradation of methylene blue dye in the Fenton
type catalytic reaction. The degradation reaction was monitored using UV-Visible spectroscopy,
which indicated that the percent degradation increased from 15% (without iron oxide NPs) to 91% in
the presence of organic extract prepared iron oxide NPs and to 81% in the presence of aqueous extract
prepared iron oxide NPs. The effect of the concentration of methylene blue and iron oxide NPs
on the degradation process was also investigated.

The results indicated the potential of synthesized nanoparticles to promote catalytic
reactions involved in environmental remediation.


Many computational methods have been developed and used for modeling, understanding, and tailoring extreme optical effects at the nanoscale. Among them, this review focuses on the integral equation‐based methods: within the local response limit, a potential‐based boundary integral equation (BIE) formalism and a field‐based volume integral equation (VIE) formalism; within the nonlocal hydrodynamic model, a potential‐based BIE formalism. These formalisms are derived from macroscopic electrodynamics (together with appropriate constitutive relations). The derivations are based on three pillars: the Green function, the field relation(s) (for the VIE formalism, the incident—scattered—total field relation; for the BIE formalism, the interface conditions connecting the fields at two sides of the interface), and the field equivalence principle (for the VIE formalism, the volume equivalence principle; for the BIE formalism, the Huygens principle). By applying the method of moments (MoM) algorithm, the derived integral equations are converted into matrix equations, with possible problems in the implementation being discussed. Levels of solutions, including the eigenmode and natural mode solutions, and group representation theory are introduced as powerful post‐processing steps. Many examples are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the reviewed algorithms.


As a result of the dynamics of globalization, the variegated economies of the world have become more homogenous, integrated, interrelated and interdependent. However, rather than becoming a veritable player in a network of interrelationship and interdependency, the African economy has increasingly become a powerless spectator in the theatre of globalization. Although there is a great deal of literature and research in this area of international business, most of it has concentrated on the multinational corporations and their effects on the host country's economy. Research and literature in this field have mainly looked at protective measures and subsidies as the way out of foreign competition; it has rarely addressed competitive strategic responses of local firms to foreign multinational corporations operating in the local economies. Anchored on the resource-based view of the firm and the network interaction theory, the paper provides an alternative framework or a paradigm shift for analyzing the competitive options available to Africa's local firms in a global market. From this paradigm shift, the competitive advantages of Africa's local firms are conceptualized to be (i) a function of firm specific assets and (ii) the prevailing home market conditions. The method of inquiry adopted in this paper is textual deconstruction. The major contribution of this study to the existing globalization discourse is its shift of focus from the multinational corporation to the analysis of global competition from the perspective of the competitiveness of enterprises in less developed economies such as Africa. The suggested framework and paradigm shift can also be used by scholars to map strategic options for local enterprises in selected markets. Future research can subject the suggested framework to empirical scrutiny to see how well the arguments hold.


SUMMARY This article examines the globalization of distance business education in the context of the provision of library services to such programs. It examines the multiple challenges faced by librarians when serving students in online business courses and programs, highlights some of the ways those challenges have been met in particular business programs, and delineates the challenges still to be met by business librarians.


Background and Purpose: This study was based on the hypothesis that suboptimal immune response and low serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) may predispose to age-related hearing loss (ARHL), and the objective was to determine the serum levels of IgG and hearing thresholds of apparently healthy elderly subjects and assess their correlation. Method: This prospective study involved 126 participants ≧60 years old who were found to be free of any medical conditions. Pure-tone averages for both the speech (500–2,000 Hz) and high frequencies (3,000–8,000 Hz) and serum IgG levels were determined. Using 30 dB as cut-off for hearing loss, the correlation with serum IgG was assessed. Results: There were 59 males and 67 females with a mean age ± SD of 67.0 ± 2.7 years. Speech frequency hearing loss was seen in 30.2%, while high-frequency hearing loss accounted for 74.6%. In the speech frequencies, the mean ± SD of serum IgG among subjects with normal hearing was 11.3 ± 3.9 g/l, while among those with hearing loss it was 8.3 ± 3.3 g/l (p = 0.01). In the high frequencies, the mean ± SD values of serum IgG among the subjects with normal hearing was 11.1 ± 2.3 g/l, while among those with hearing loss it was 8.7 ± 1.9 g/l (p = 0.01). Conclusion: Low serum IgG may be a contributory factor to the development of ARHL among the elderly. However, a longitudinal study involving intervention with immunoglobulin supplementation may further confirm this role.


This meeting belongs to a series of topical events which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Vienna) organizes in a regular basis on crucial aspects of nuclear fusion research, or related in particular to ITER physics or a technological application relevant to the nuclear fusion reactor. Each Technical Meeting series has a specific object; the events are called on a two–three years basis and are recommended by the IAEA advisory body for Fusion, the International Fusion Research Council (IFRC) . The object of the IAEA-TM held in Como, Italy, 2–5 May 2005, was the application in ITER of powerful Electron Cyclotron waves in the millimeter wave frequency range for plasma Heating and noninductive Current Drive. The meeting was the third on this subject. There were 42 presentations to an audience of about 60 delegates from 16 countries. The main goal of this series of IAEA-TM is to bring together specialists of the different branches involved in the project, in the effort of the best understanding of the limits and capabilities of each one of the different fields of research and development. Millimeter-wave source developers, millimeter-wave system designers and plasma physicists, theoreticians and experimentalists in all of the fields, exposed their way of addressing the problem in plenary sessions attended by all participants. Discussions on the different topics of gyrotron development, launcher options and physics application were continued in forums following the presentations. The specialist reader will find in this volume in particular the latest developments concerning the frequency, the output power and the efficiency of the gyrotrons which are now being considered the preferred type of high power millimeter wave generators for ECH/ECCD applications in the fusion reactor. The debate on the launcher of the EC waves, in the form of Gaussian beams, is presently very active, with a few options on the table to be merged in one optimized and integrated design. Concerning the applications to the ITER plasma, most attention was dedicated to the use of ECCD to actively control and stabilize Magneto-Hydrodynamic instability Modes, with an increasing attention to the need and the crucial issues of the automation of such a control in the reactor. The general reader should find an up-to-date presentation of the potential and of the limits of the use of high power millimeter waves in fusion plasmas, and have a vivid image of the interplay between sources, systems and plasma physics in such an application. The conference was held under the scientific responsibility of IAEA, Vienna, and hosted and organized in Como, Italy, by the Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milan.


We present the model of an anisotropic universe with string fluid as the source of matter within the framework of the scalar-tensor theory of gravitation. An exact solution of field equations is obtained by applying Berman's law of variation to Hubble's parameter which yields a constant value of the deceleration parameter. The nature of classical potential is examined for the model under consideration. It has also been found that the massive strings dominate in the early universe and finally disappear from the universe. This is in agreement with current astronomical observations. The physical and dynamical properties of the model are also discussed.


Hybrid zones, where phenotypically distinct populations meet and interbreed, give insight into how differences between populations are maintained despite gene flow. Divergence in quantitative traits, controlled by multiple loci, may require stronger barriers to gene flow than traits controlled by few, major effect loci. The butterflies Heliconius erato and Heliconius melpomene are distantly related Müllerian mimics that show parallel divergence in wing colour patterns between geographical races across South America. We investigated intraspecific hybrid zones in which the colour patterns of both species show discrete variation in pigmentation, and quantitative variation in iridescent blue. We tested whether differentiation across hybrid zones persisted due to genome-wide barriers to gene flow maintained by indirect selection, or whether it resulted from direct selection on colour patterns in the face of gene flow. Analysis of phenotypic clines revealed parallel clines in iridescence between species, consistent with direct selection for mimicry, but cline widths were different between species, indicating differences in the strength of selection on iridescence. Genotyping-by-sequencing revealed less defined population structure and weaker genomic differentiation in H. melpomene, suggesting the hybrid zone has evolved differently in the two species. In both species, iridescence clines were not concordant with genome-wide ancestry clines, suggesting that they are targets of direct selection. This is the first direct comparison of divergence in quantitative and Mendelian traits in this classic Müllerian mimicry system.


This paper presents the development of a single layer microbolometer pixel fabricated using only ZnO material coated with atomic layer deposition. Due to the stress-free nature and high temperature coefficient of resistance of the ALD coated ZnO material, it can be used both as structural and active layers in microbolometer detectors. The design, simulations, and the fabrication optimization of 35 μm single layer ZnO microbolometers are shown in this study. The designed pixel has a thermal conductance of 3.4x10-7 W/K and a thermal time constant of 1.34 ms while it has a maximum displacement of 0.43 μm under 1000g acceleration. This structure can be used to decrease the design complexities and fabrication costs and increase the yield of the detectors making them possible to be used in low-cost applications.


Recent advances in research and manufacturing techniques of natural fiber based composites have allowed the manufacturers to use natural fiber based composites in various applications. Natural fiber based composites are fast emerging as viable alternative to traditional materials due to their unique properties. This paper discusses the development of new natural fiber hybrid composites using mengkuang and silk fibre to achieve a unique natural fiber composites. The effects of hybridization between woven mengkuang / natural silk fiber on mode II delamination (G IIC ) of laminated composites were investigated by performing the End-Notched Flexure (ENF) test. The composite samples were prepared using hand lay-up method with compression machine. After fabrication, the test specimens were subjected to ENF testing for mode II delamination based on ASTM D790-03 standards. The additional of natural silk fiber in composites fabrication provided an excellent improvement in the rate of critical strain energy release, G IIC . The Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) images show the delamination behaviour of the samples after failure is based on the arrangement of mengkuang and silk fibre.


To describe patterns of testing for Cryptosporidium oocysts in stool samples, Connecticut laboratories were surveyed. Different detection methods were used. Most laboratories examined stools specifically for Cryptosporidium only on physician request. The rate of positive tests varted widely (0 to 28%). Higher rates of positivity were associated with the use of monoclonal antibody methods, the use of two or more staining procedures, and testing of stool specimens in addition to those requested by physicians.


1. The responses of mechanoreceptors present in the branchial process of Squalus acanthias have been studied oscillographically; unitary responses were obtained by subdivision of the post-trematic branch of the branchial nerve. The deflexion of the branchial processes was monitored with a mechano-transducer tube. 2. Slowly adapting mechanoreceptors of medium to high threshold were most frequently isolated; nerve discharges were readily evoked by deflexion of the processes. Some receptors continued firing as long as the process was deflected. The discharge consisted of a phasic and static component. In some receptors acceleration of discharge occurred as the process was deflected and again as it was returned to the neutral position. 3. Discharge rate was found to be linearly related to the logarithm of the stimulus amplitude. The discharge rate of the phasic component increased as the rate of stimulus onset increased. 4. The role of these receptors in the respiration of the dogfish is discussed and it is suggested that they may play a part in relating the rate of respiration to its amplitude.


Medical caption prediction which can be regarded as a task of medical report generation (MRG), requires the automatic generation of coherent and accurate captions for the given medical images. However, the scarcity of labelled medical image-report pairs presents great challenges in the development of deep and large-scale neural networks capable of harnessing the potential artificial general intelligence power like large language models (LLMs). In this work, we propose customizing off-the-shelf general-purpose large-scale pre-trained models, i.e., foundation models (FMs), in computer vision and natural language processing with a specific focus on medical report generation. Specifically, following BLIP-2, a state-of-the-art vision-language pre-training approach, we introduce our encoder-decoder-based MRG model. This model utilizes a lightweight query Transformer to connect two FMs: the giant vision Transformer EVA-ViT-g and a bilingual LLM trained to align with human intentions (referred to as ChatGLM-6B). Furthermore, we conduct ablative experiments on the trainable components of the model to identify the crucial factors for effective transfer learning. Our findings demonstrate that unfreezing EVA-ViT-g to learn medical image representations, followed by parameter-efficient training of ChatGLM-6B to capture the writing styles of medical reports, is essential for achieving optimal results. Our best attempt (PCLmed Team) achieved the 4th and the 2nd, respectively, out of 13 participating teams, based on the BERTScore and ROUGE-1 metrics, in the ImageCLEFmedical Caption 2023 Caption Prediction Task competition.


Estimating a treatment's effect on an outcome conditional on covariates is a primary goal of many empirical investigations. Accurate estimation of the treatment effect given covariates can enable the optimal treatment to be applied to each unit or guide the deployment of limited treatment resources for maximum program benefit. Applications of conditional treatment effect estimation are found in direct marketing, economic policy, and personalized medicine. When estimating conditional treatment effects, the typical practice is to select a statistical model or procedure based on sample data. However, combining estimates from the candidate procedures often provides a more accurate estimate than the selection of a single procedure. This article proposes a method of model combination that targets accurate estimation of the treatment effect conditional on covariates. We provide a risk bound for the resulting estimator under squared error loss and illustrate the method using data from a labor skills training program.


Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) are a commonly encountered tumour in routine practice. In the main, the morphology of spindle, epithelioid or mixed are well recognised along with mutations of c-kit. However, there are other genes that are mutated resulting in characteristic clinicopathological correlations. GISTs harbouring platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRα) gene mutations lead to a typical morphological constellation of findings: gastric and omental location, gross tumour that is cystic and haemorrhagic, composed of epithelioid, plasmacytoid cells exhibiting pleomorphism, low mitotic count and containing characteristic giant cells with peripherally placed nuclei. These cells are set in a myxoid stroma containing several mast cells. In addition, perivascular/intratumoural hyalinisation is often seen. These tumours are CD117 and DOG-1 positive. GISTs with SDH mutations are multinodular/bilobed/dumb-bell shape tumour masses with mucosal ulceration and histologically characterised by fibrous bands around and within nodules of epithelioid or mixed epithelioid/spindle cells. Lymphovascular invasion with lymph node metastases are usual. Immunohistochemically, the GISTs are CD117, DOG-1 positive, SDHA negative (if SDHA mutated), SDHA positive (if SDHA intact) and SDHB negative. BRAF and NF-1 mutated GISTs do not have any characteristic morphological features.


In these notes, the application of Feynman's sum-over-paths approach to thermal phase transitions is discussed. The paradigm of such a spacetime approach to critical phenomena is provided by the high-temperature expansion of spin models. This expansion, known as the hopping expansion in the context of lattice field theory, yields a geometric description of the phase transition in these models, with the thermal critical exponents being determined by the fractal structure of the high-temperature graphs. The graphs percolate at the thermal critical point and can be studied using purely geometrical observables known from percolation theory. Besides the phase transition in spin models and in the closely related $\phi^4$ theory, other transitions discussed from this perspective include Bose-Einstein condensation, and the transitions in the Higgs model and the pure U(1) gauge theory.


Xylitol production from lactose was investigated by a three step biotransformations series that were: (1) breakdown of lactose to Darabitol
by Kluyveromyces lactis NBRC 1903, (2) oxidation of Darabitol to D-xylulose by Gluconobacter oxydans NBRC 3172, and
(3) reduction of D-xylulose to xylitol by Candida shehatae IAM 12953 in the presence of a high concentration ethanol or by cell free
sorbitol dehydrogenase. Overall production rate and overall fractional yield of xylitol from lactose were 1.69 mmol L-1 h-1 and 0.141, respectively, when sorbitol dehydrogenase was utilized in the third reaction. The results of xylitol production from lactose were compared with the processes of xylitol production from D-glucose.

Keywords: Xylitol, Lactose, Kluyveromyces lactis, Biotransformation

Received: 28 November 2009 / Received in revised form: 3 February 2010, Accepted: 13 February 2010, Published online: 11 March 2010


The investigation was intended for studying the character of the background and evoked impulse activity of embryonic neurotransplant neurons 4 months after homotopical allotransplantation into the barrel field of somatosensory recipient's brain cortex of the rat. It is established, that the current average frequency of background impulse activity of transplant neurons is reduced in comparison with one of the control rats. It is shown that the evoked impulse activity of neurotransplant develops with the long latency than in somatosensory cortex of the control animals. Thus in patterns of the evoked activity of neurotransplant cells reactions, characteristic for the neurons of barrel field somatosensory recipient's cortex of control rats are registered: an increase of frequency of pulses' generating, or alternating of the activation and reduction periods of impulse frequency with its subsequent regeneration up to a pristine level.


Lemierre syndrome is a distinct clinical syndrome comprising oropharyngeal sepsis and fever, internal jugular vein thrombosis and remote septic metastases caused by Fusobacterium species. The mortality rate was historically high and although use of antibiotics led to a dramatic fall in incidence, a resurgence has been seen recently. A 14‐year‐old male developed Lemierre syndrome after tonsillitis. There was extensive leptomeningitis, especially over the clivus, causing 6th and 12th cranial nerve palsies, a clinical feature termed the 'clival syndrome'. He also developed an epidural abscess in the cervical spine, which was unsafe for surgical drainage. Conservative treatment with an extended course of antibiotics and anticoagulation for jugular vein thrombosis led to a good recovery. A 15‐year‐old female developed Lemierre syndrome after a persistent sore throat lasting 7 weeks. She had palsy of the 12th cranial nerve from clival osteomyelitis. She was treated with a 6‐week course of antibiotics and anticoagulants leading to almost full recovery at 3‐month review. Awareness of the potential neurological complications of Lemierre syndrome and prompt management are crucial in reducing morbidity and mortality in this 'forgotten disease'.


We published one of the first prospective randomized controlled trials evaluating early postoperative tube feeding (TF) in liver transplant recipients nearly 20 years ago. That first study showed that early posttransplant TF was safe and well tolerated; the study results also suggested that early TF could reduce posttransplant infection rates. This Pivotal Paper review evaluates the past, present, and future of early postoperative TF in liver transplantation. This article identifies what nutrition support findings more than 2 decades ago were the basis for attempting postoperative TF in liver transplantation. The results of our study, its unique findings, and shortcomings are summarized. Other subsequent studies of post-liver transplant TF are evaluated with a focus on effects on posttransplant infection rates. Finally, current transplant challenges, including donor organ shortage, increased severity of patients' pretransplant condition, expansion of living donor options, changes in immunosuppression, and use of specialized nutrients, are discussed in the context of how and why these factors affect nutrition support.


It is well known that deliberate signal clipping in an intensity-modulated (IM) laser transmitter helps to overcome the optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system performance limitation that is related to the signal high peak-to-average power ratio. The amplitude of a clipped OFDM signal has to be optimized in order to minimize the optical power that is required to achieve a specified system performance. However, the signal clipping introduces nonlinear distortion (so-called clipping noise) and leads to a system performance penalty. In this Letter, the performance of the IM optical OFDM system with digital baseband clipping distortion in the transmitter and clipping noise compensation by means of signal restoration in the digital signal processing unit of the system receiver is analytically evaluated. It is demonstrated that the system bit-error ratio can be reduced by more than an order of magnitude, from 10(-3) to 3.5×10(-5), by applying only the first iteration of the signal restoration algorithm proposed in this Letter. The results of the analytical analysis are verified with brute-force numerical simulations based on direct error counting.


Chlorination of drinking water leads to the formation of a variety of Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) that may have adverse health effects on humans. Research on this subject has been continued and new epidemiological and toxicological studies have been conducted. This review summarizes factors affecting DBP formation and predictive equations proposed for it, physical and chemical properties, environmental fate, actual measurements of these compounds and technologies for controlling them, as well as regulation and currently proposed changes of their Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) after evaluation by EPA of new data available.


Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile pathogen that causes disease in both humans and animals. An increase in occurrence of nosocomial infections and chronic mastitis caused by antibiotic resistant strains warrants the need for an effective vaccine. This study assessed the presence of S. aureus specific memory T cells (Tm) in previously infected cows using CD14+ monocyte derived dendritic cells (DC). Results indicate that DC are able to uptake and recognize S. aureus antigens through various pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Blocking of endocytic pathways using inhibitors confirmed S. aureus uptake by DC. S. aureus stimulated DC showed increased cell surface expression of MHC I and II and cytokine production suggesting activation and antigen presentation. An initial screening study for Tm in cows previously infected with S. aureus showed a significant increase in lymphocyte proliferation compared to control animals. To characterize the proliferating population of Tm, CFSE labeled lymphocytes were co-cultured with irradiated or live S. aureus stimulated autologous DC from previously infected cows identified as CD4, CD8 and WC1+ γδ T cells by flow cytometry. Proliferated CD4 and CD8 T cells were further characterized for memory markers, CD45RO and CD62L. Being the first study to show the presence of S. aureus specific CD8 Tm cells, our next step is to identify the S. aureus antigens that initiate T cell clonal expansion.


In a series of 178 patients who underwent partial or total laryngectomy for laryngeal carcinoma, the morphologic changes at a distance from the neoplasm were investigated with whole organ serial sections. We found 60 cases with extensive squamous metaplasia of the epithelium outside of the vocal cords, 24 case with hyperplastic epithelium of the vocal cords, 29 cases with mild or moderate dysplasia, 5 cases with foci of in situ carcinoma, 3 cases with a second carcinoma with minimal stromal invasion, and 4 cases with a double synchronous primary carcinoma. In 55 cases we observed the contemporary presence of a carcinoma and a mono-or bilateral laryngocele. In the excretory ducts of the salivary glands present in the laryngeal mucosa we found a reserve cell hyperplasia in 100 % of the cases, a mature squamous metaplasia in 25%, and an oncocytic metaplasia in 14 %. These observations led us to consider the laryngeal cancer as an organ disease, in which the oncogenic stimulus operates on all the laryngeal structures and determines lesions of different severity up to neoplasm.


Sixty-five patients with stable low back pain had their lumbar myelography performed as outpatients, staying in the department for 1 h after the examination. The incidence of post-myelogram headache was similar to that reported for inpatients. No serious after-effects occurred in the study group. The vast majority of patients preferred to be at home following the study. It is concluded that outpatient myelography is safe, less expensive and preferred by the patients.


The Data Encryption Standard (DES) was developed by an IBM team around 1974 and adopted as a national standard in 1977. Since that time, many cryptanalysts have attempted to find shortcuts for breaking the system. In this paper, we examine one such attempt, the method of differential cryptanalysis, published by Biham and Shamir. We show some of the safeguards against differential cryptanalysis that were built into the system from the beginning, with the result that more than 10 15 bytes of chosen plaintext are required for this attack to succeed.


A column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of a new carbapenem antibiotic, DA-1131, in rat plasma, urine, and bile. Each biological sample was diluted with an equal volume of a stabilizer, 3% KH2PO4 (containing 2.0% sodium citrate, adjusted to pH 6.0 with 10 M NaOH). After centrifugation for 1 min at 3000 g, an aliquot of the supernatant was injected directly onto the HPLC column. Deionized water was run for 3 min at a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min to retain DA-1131 in an extraction column, while proteins and endogenous interferences were eluted to the waste. The analyte was then back-flushed onto an analytical column, C18 reversed-phase column. The mobile phases for analytical column, 10 mM 3-[N-morpholino]propane sulfonic acid (pH 4.5)-acetonitrile (90:10, v/v) for plasma samples, and 5 mM KH2PO4 (adjusted to pH 8.0 with 10 M NaOH)-acetonitrile (90:10, v/v) for urine and bile samples, were run at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The column effluent was monitored by ultraviolet detection at 300 nm. The retention time for DA-1131 was 8 min in plasma samples and 13 min for urine and bile samples. The detection limits for DA-1131 in rat plasma, urine, and bile were 0.05, 1.0, and 1.0 microgram/ml, respectively. The intraday and interday coefficients of variation of the assay were generally low (below 8.40%) for rat plasma, urine, and bile samples. No interference from endogenous substances was observed.


Two inorganic pigments (TiO2 and SiO2) were used to prepare composites with polyaniline (PANI) by situ polymerization method. PANI and PANI composites with SiO2and TiO2 were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The morphology of the synthesized pigments (PANI, PANI-SiO2 and PANI-TiO2) was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Samples were then used as pigments through blending them with acrylic paint and applied on the surface of carbon steel panels. Corrosion was evaluated for coating of carbon steel panels through full immersion test up to standard ASTMG 31. Mass loss was calculated after they have been exposed in acidic media. A digital camera was also used for monitoring corrosion visually on the surface of carbon steel specimens. The results revealed that acrylic paint pigmented by PANI-SiO2 composite was more efficient in corrosion protection for carbon steel compared with the other synthesized pigments.


The present study is a comparative study of personality type of alcoholics and drug addicts and personality type of nonalcoholics and non drug addicts. In order to test the hypotheses, samples on addicts and no-addicts are collected from various rehabilitation centres in Mumbai and Pune. Samples were restricted to only male. For the analysis purpose, 2x2 factorial ANOVA and ttest has been used. For measuring personality type, Eysenck personality questionnaire has been used. Psychoticism and Neuroticism found to be significantly higher in alcoholics and drug addicts as compared to non alcoholics and non drug addicts. Further, extraversion found to be significantly lower in alcoholics and drug addicts as compared to non alcoholics and non drug addicts.


ABSTRACT Temperature-sensitive (TS) plasmids were generated through chemical mutagenesis of a derivative of the streptomycin resistance parent plasmid pD70, isolated from Mannheimia hemolytica serotype 1. Three TS plasmids which failed to replicate at or above 42°C in M. hemolytica but which were fully functional below 31°C were selected for further analysis. Two of the TS plasmids were shown by sequencing to possess unique single-base-pair mutations. The third TS plasmid contained a unique base pair substitution and a second mutation that had been previously identified. These mutations were clustered within a 200-bp region of the presumed plasmid origin of replication. Site-directed single-nucleotide substitutions were introduced into the wild-type pD70 origin of replication to confirm that mutations identified by sequencing had conferred thermoregulated replication. Deletion analysis on the wild-type pD70 plasmid replicon revealed that approximately 720 bp are necessary for plasmid maintenance. Replication of the TS plasmids was thermoregulated in Pasteurella multocida and Haemophilus somnus as well. To consistently transform H. somnus with TS plasmid, in vitro DNA methylation with commercially available HhaI methyltransferase was necessary to protect against the organism's restriction enzyme HsoI (recognition sequence 5′-GCGC-3′) characterized herein.


The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has enforced dramatic changes to daily living including economic and health impacts. Evidence for the impact of these changes on our physical and mental health and health behaviors is limited. We examined the associations between psychological distress and changes in selected health behaviors since the onset of COVID-19 in Australia. An online survey was distributed in April 2020 and included measures of depression, anxiety, stress, physical activity, sleep, alcohol intake and cigarette smoking. The survey was completed by 1491 adults (mean age 50.5 ± 14.9 years, 67% female). Negative change was reported for physical activity (48.9%), sleep (40.7%), alcohol (26.6%) and smoking (6.9%) since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Significantly higher scores in one or more psychological distress states were found for females, and those not in a relationship, in the lowest income category, aged 18–45 years, or with a chronic illness. Negative changes in physical activity, sleep, smoking and alcohol intake were associated with higher depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. Health-promotion strategies directed at adopting or maintaining positive health-related behaviors should be utilized to address increases in psychological distress during the pandemic. Ongoing evaluation of the impact of lifestyle changes associated with the pandemic is needed.


OBJECTIVE
To examine practitioners' opinions on palliative care.

METHOD
Statistical analyses were carried out on data collected from 1000 physicians recruited to participate in a study on knowledge, attitudes and practices with respect to palliative care ("Palliative Care 2002"). A cluster analysis (CAH) was conducted based on responses to nine questions in order to identify homogeneous and contrasting profiles of opinions on palliative care.

RESULTS
Two distinctly different categories of profiles emerged. The first one had a restrictive approach to palliative care (n = 387; 38.7%), while the second one supported its expansion (n = 613; 61.3%).

CONCLUSION
A newly revised communication campaign which favoured and recognised palliative care could assist in the dissemination of related practices among physicians.


Abstract Objectives Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy (IS) is sometimes involved with other iatrogenic immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD). We aimed to clarify the effects of LPD treatment on RA and the current status of RA treatment options after LPD onset and subsequent IS withdrawal. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data of patients who had RA with LPD and examined the relationship between LPD course and RA treatment as well as that between RA relapse and LPD treatment. Results LPD patients were categorized into two groups: patients who regressed spontaneously (n = 19) and those who needed chemotherapy (n = 12). The chemotherapy group had significantly less RA relapse than the spontaneous regression group (p = .041). RA almost relapsed early in the spontaneous regression group and needed treatment for RA. Chemotherapy with rituximab prevented long-term RA relapse, and RA did not relapse for long even after rituximab monotherapy. The total dose of rituximab in monotherapy correlated with the time to RA relapse. Six patients with RA relapse received biologics and had no LPD relapse for more than 1 year. Conclusions Rituximab in chemotherapy for LPD may help prevent RA relapse with LPD. Large-scale studies are required in the future for verification.


We report a rigorous approach to analyze the effects of nonlinear distortion on code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication systems based on time-domain analysis and band-pass nonlinearity theory. Given AM-AM and AM-PM characteristics of a nonlinear device, this technique is capable of predicting adjacent channel power rejection (ACPR), power compression, and base-band signal vector constellation at the output of the nonlinear device. To demonstrate and verify the capability of this technique, an L-band power amplifier was designed, built, tested with CDMA waveforms, and compared with the simulated results. Excellent agreement between the measured and predicted results has been achieved.


Polyurethane foams functionalized with Sulfonic acid groups have been found to be strong cation exchangers. This novel property of the foam was used to exchange lead (Pb 2+ ) ions from aqueous solutions. Polyurethane foam synthesis is based on addition polymerization of the highly reactive isocyanate (-NCO) groups of an isocyanate with the hydroxyl (–OH) groups of a polyol to form the urethane species. Toluene-2,4-2,6- diisocyanate was reacted with Polypropylene glycol 1200 in 2:1 molar ratio to form a linear pre-polymer. The linear pre-polymer was further polymerized using a chain extender, N, N-bis (2-hydorxyethyl)-2-aminoethane-sulfonic acid (BES). BES also acts as a functional group to exchange Pb 2+ ions. A set of experiments were designed to study various process parameters. The functionalized polyurethane foam was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The Pb 2+ ion exchange capacity was determined using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. The maximum Pb 2+ ion exchange capacity of the foam was found to be 47 parts per billion per gram (ppb/g) from a 100 parts per billion (ppb) Pb 2+ solution over a period of 60 minutes. A multistage batch filtration process increased the Pb 2+ ion removal to 50-54 ppb/3g of foam over a period of 90 minutes.


The parts of the plant Garcinia cambogia (Gaertn.) Desr. commonly known as Malabar tamarind, have been used by many Asian countries in traditional medicine for treating intestinal parasites, constipation, cancer, piles, bowel complaints, rheumatism, edema, delayed menstruation, demulcent, bilious affections and other diseases. The root contains the xanthone called garbogiol. The bark of the stem contains benzophenones such as garcinol and isogarcinol. Malabar tamarind is shown to possess antioxidant, antihelmintic, anticattarhal, anti-cancer and antimicrobial activities. The rind of the fruit is the most extensively studied part of the plant. Hydroxycitric acid, the most abundant constituent of the fruit rind apart from the other constituents, has reported to be the active principle for many of its useful properties. The ethanol extract of the leaves and the fruit have been shown to possess invitro antihelmintic activity. This review paper describes the chemical compounds present in Malabar tamarind, their therapeutic applications and their occurrence in different parts of the plant.


Homolysis of N-iodo-amides leads to 2′-, 3′-, and 4′-substituted biphenyl-2-carboxamidyl radicals which cyclise intramolecularly to give γ- and δ-lactams in parallel processes. The proportion of Ar1-5 and Ar2-6 cyclised products is in accord with the steric and electronic effects of the substituents. 4′-Iodo-4′-methoxy-N-methyl-3-oxoisoindoline-1-spiro-1′-cyclohexa-2′,5′-dienes have been identified as spiro-intermediates in the cyclisation of N-methyl-4′-methoxybiphenyl-2-carboxamide.


A new tool, for the simulation of 15N or 13C edited 3D-NOESY-HSQC spectra using the complete relaxation matrix approach, has been developed and integrated in the program AURELIA. This tool should be particularly useful for the fast and reliable computer assisted assignment of 3D-NOESY-HSQC spectra by comparing back-calculated and experimental spectra in an iterative process. Folded spectra are sometimes used to enhance the digital resolution in the indirect dimensions of multidimensional spectra. However, these spectra are usually difficult to analyze. To simplify this assignment process we have incorporated the simulation and automated annotation of folded peaks into the program. It is hereby possible to simulate multiple folding in all three dimensions of 3D 15N- or 13C-NOESY-HSQC spectra. By comparing experimental 3D-NOESY-HSQC spectra with spectra back calculated from a single trial structure or a set of trial structures, a user can easily check if the final structures explain all experimental NOEs. The new feature has been successfully tested with the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein HPr from Staphylococcus carnosus.


Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an antigen/allergy-mediated chronic inflammatory condition. The rapid rise in the number of cases of EoE suggests an as-yet undiscovered environmental trigger. This study tested the hypothesis that immunoglobulin E (IgE) to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), a newly recognized sensitization induced by a tick bite that causes mammalian meat allergy, is a risk factor for EoE. We conducted a case-control study using prospectively collected and stored samples in the University of North Carolina EoE Patient Registry and Biobank. Serum from 50 subjects with a new diagnosis of EoE and 50 non-EoE subjects (either with gastroesophageal reflux disease or dysphagia from non-EoE etiologies) was tested for alpha-gal-specific IgE using an ImmunoCAP-based method. Specific IgE > 0.35 kUA /L was considered a positive result. Subjects with EoE were a mean of 35 years old, 68% were male, and 94% were white. Non-EoE controls were a mean of 42 years, 50% were male, and 78% were white. A total of 22 (22%) subjects overall had alpha-gal-specific IgE > 0.35 kUA /L. Of the EoE cases, 12 (24%) were positive, and of the non-EoE controls, 10 (20%) were positive (p=0.63). Neither the proportion sensitized nor the absolute values differed between EoE and non-EoE subjects. We found a similar but high rate of alpha-gal sensitization in patients with EoE as found in non-EoE controls who were undergoing endoscopy. While our data do not support alpha-gal sensitization as a risk factor for EoE, the high rates of sensitization observed in patients undergoing upper endoscopy for symptoms of esophageal dysfunction is a new finding.


This paper presents a new calibration method to overcome the challenges of MEMS inertial sensors for underwater navigation. The MEMS inertial sensor module is composed of an accelerometer, gyroscope and circuit of signal process. For navigation estimation, it is easy to be influenced by errors which come from MEMS inertial sensors. In general, the sources of error can be categorized into two groups, deterministic and stochastic. The former are mainly including bias error, misalignment and nonlinearity; the latter contain temperature effect and signal drifting. Subsequently, the linearity calibration is used to modify the deterministic error and the wavelet analysis can suppress the stochastic noise. Therefore, the new calibration method integrated of linearity calibration and wavelet signal processing is utilized to enhance the accuracy and performance of MEMS inertial sensor module. The experimental results demonstrate that the output signal can be corrected suitability by means of proposed method.


In the frame of inviscid and incompressible flow and by neglecting surface tension effects, the dynamical mechanism of the generation and the development of the liquid column during the burst of a rising bubble near a free surface is studied theoretically and numerically by the volume-of-fluid method.


Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) optical wireless communications using ultraviolet radiation and relying on atmospheric scattering has been proposed for short-range non-line-of-sight connectivity. Compared with single-input single-output (SISO) systems, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) communication systems can offer receiver diversity in channels that have faded due to turbulence. However, the portion of the transmission path from the transmitter and the scattering volume is shared by the multiple channels, leading to channel gain correlations and thus degraded system performance. In this paper, we first study the channel correlations under log-normal and gamma– gamma turbulence, both analytically and numerically. Then, we investigate the outage probability based on the channel capacity. Due to scattering, the results are observed to be significantly different from traditional line-of-sight free-space optical communications. For a communication system with one transmitter and two receivers, the subchannel correlation coefficient can be more than 0.8 for two receivers, even if they are separated by several meters. The proposed model can well characterize the outage probability, especially for small transmission beam widths.


The smart grid will be a power grid more "aware" of its operating state and having the ability to self-heal. These features may be incorporated into the grid by implementing a phasor measurement units based wide area measurement system. Such a system will help in better real time monitoring and control of the grid. However, the wide area measurement system is subject to challenges with respect to its security. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of security issues with a wide area measurement system is presented and the research efforts required to be taken are identified. Moreover, the effect of communication failure on a PMU installed system has been presented using integer linear programming.


This study investigated the relationship between pre-service early childhood teacher's metacognition and emotional intelligence on character development efficacy. The subjects were 218 pre-service early childhood teachers at university. A questionnaire, which required self-reporting by these teachers, was used to investigate the effect of their metacognition and emotional intelligence on character development efficacy. The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and stepwise regression. The study results were as follows. First, metacognition and emotional intelligence exerted an effect on the character development efficacy of pre-service early childhood teachers. Second, there were significant positive correlations between the metacognition and character development efficacy of the teachers. Third, there were significant positive correlations between the emotional intelligence and character development efficacy of the teachers. Fourth, emotional comprehension of others, emotional comprehension of own, error correction, and emotional activity were meaningful and influential variables on the teachers' self-leadership. These results increased the perception for the development of pre-service early childhood teacher curriculum about character development efficacy, metacognition and emotional intelligence of pre-service early childhood teachers.


We reported a chalcogenide glass-based rib waveguide fabricated using photolithography and dry etching method. A commercial software (COMSOL Multiphysics) was used to optimize the waveguide structure and the distribution of the fundamental modes in the waveguide based on the complete vector finite component. We further employed thermal annealing to optimize the surface and sidewalls of the rib waveguides. It was found that the optimal annealing temperature for GeAsSeS films is 220 °C, and the roughness of the films could be significantly reduced by annealing. The zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) could be shifted to a short wavelength around ∼ 2.1 μm via waveguide structural optimization, which promotes supercontinuum generation with a short wavelength pump laser source. The insertion loss of the waveguides with cross-sectional areas of 4.0 μm × 3.5 μm and 6.0 μm × 3.5 μm was measured using lens fiber and the cut-back method. The propagation loss of the 220 °C annealed waveguides could be as low as 1.9 dB/cm at 1550 nm.


The dynamic critical exponent z is determined from numerical simulations for the three-dimensional (3D) lattice Coulomb gas (LCG) and the 3D XY models with relaxational dynamics. It is suggested that the dynamics is characterized by two distinct dynamic critical indices z0 and z related to the divergence of the relaxation time tau by tau proportional to xi(z0) and tau proportional to k(-z), where xi is the correlation length and k the wave vector. The values determined are z0 approximately 1.5 and z approximately 1 for the 3D LCG and z0 approximately 1.5 and z approximately 2 for the 3D XY model. Comparisons with other results are discussed.


This paper presents an analytical solution to the amplitude control of the Q-enhanced LC resonator. It is shown that due to the nonlinearity of the active devices, effective amplitude control is realizable by a conventional magnitude-locked-loop, and that it is applicable to the automatic quality factor tuning of active LC filters. The effects of the weak nonlinearity magnitude and the amplitude used in the reference resonator on the achieved Q of filter resonator(s) is discussed. The results are verified by simulations and breadboard experiments.


A novel algorithm is proposed for offline motion planning of a robotic arm to perform a throw task of an object to reach a goal target. The planning algorithm searches for a throw trajectory that could be performed under kinematic and dynamic (i.e., kinodynamic) constraints. We parameterize the throw trajectory by a time-invariant high-dimensional vector. Then, the kinodynamic and target constraints are formulated in terms of time and the parameterization vector. These constraints form time-varying subspaces in the parameterization space. We present a stochastic method for finding a feasible and optimal solution within the subspace. The method generates a number of random points within the parameterization space and checks their feasibility using an adaptive search. The algorithm is guaranteed under a known probability to find a solution if one exists. We present simulations and experiments on a 3R manipulator to validate the method.


Weight stigma is pervasive and has profound negative consequences for obese individuals. The attribution-emotion approach of stigmatization holds that blame attributions relate to derogation stigmatized groups indirectly through anger and pity. Other research suggests that disgust is related to weight stigma. In the present studies, we investigate whether contempt is a reliable predictor of biases against obese individuals. Study 1 (N = 297) shows that contempt partially mediates the relation between blame and both prejudice and support for weight related discrimination policies. Studies 2 and 3 (total N = 406) added disgust and show that both contempt and disgust relate to social distance and prejudice. Contempt mediated the relation between blame and negative reactions toward obese individuals, even after controlling for other emotions, while disgust only mediated these relations in Study 2. Anger and pity did not show this mediating role, but pity was moderately associated with weight bias. Contempt is likely to play an important role in how people react to members of this stigmatized group.


Because the sizes of samples differ in x-ray micro-CT applications, it is desirable to have a mechanism to change the field of view of a micro-CT scanner. A well-known way to double the diameter of the field of view is to displace a detector array by 50%. In this paper, we propose to displace a detector array by an amount of greater than 0% but less than 50% for a continuously adjustable field of view, and formulate a weighting scheme for artifact-free reconstruction. Then, we perform numerical simulation with the Shepp-Logan phantom to demonstrate the feasibility in fan-beam and cone-beam geometry.


Current architectures and solutions are about to reach the limits of sustainable developments. Over the years, many new requirements have emerged, and there are observations pointing to an ever-increasing diversity in applications, services, devices, types of networks at the edge and the access. Meanwhile, the infrastructures for internetworking, connectivity, and also management remain fairly the same. A new paradigm is needed that can support a continuous high pace of innovations in all the different parts and aspects of a communication system, while at the same time keeping costs of deployment and maintenance down. This new paradigm has to embrace current trends towards increased heterogeneity, but on the other hands provide support for co-existence and interoperability between alternative and various solutions all residing within a global communication system. This paper presents a new architectural framework called the Nth Stratum concept, and which takes a holistic approach to tackle these new needs and requirements on a future communication system.


The unsteady aerodynamics of a single-stage high-pressure turbine has been the subject of a study involving detailed measurements and computations. Data and predictions for this experiment have been presented previously, but the current study compares predictions obtained using the nonlinear harmonic simulation method to results obtained using a time-marching simulation with phase-lag boundary conditions. The experimental configuration consisted of a single-stage high-pressure turbine (HPT) and the adjacent, downstream, low-pressure turbine nozzle row (LPV) with an aerodynamic design that is typical to that of a commercial high-pressure ratio HPT and LPV. The flow path geometry was equivalent to engine hardware and operated at the proper design-corrected conditions to match cruise conditions. The high-pressure vane and blade were uncooled for these comparisons. All three blade rows are instrumented with flush-mounted, high-frequency response pressure transducers on the airfoil surfaces and the inner and outer flow path surfaces, which include the rotating blade platform and the stationary shroud above the rotating blade. Predictions of the time-dependent flow field for the turbine flow path were obtained using a three-dimensional, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Using a two blade row computational model of the turbine flow path, the unsteady surface pressure for the high-pressure vane and rotor was calculated using both unsteady methods. The two sets of predictions are then compared to the measurements looking at both time-averaged and time-accurate results, which show good correlation between the two methods and the measurements. This paper concentrates on the similarities and differences between the two unsteady methods, and how the predictions compare with the measurements since the faster harmonic solution could allow turbomachinery designers to incorporate unsteady calculations in the design process without sacrificing accuracy when compared to the phase-lag method.


Ionizing radiation is a carcinogen that induces oxidative DNA damage. 8-Hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) is a relatively abundant, mutagenic lesion that is widely regarded as a reliable index of oxidative DNA damage. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of X-radiation on levels of 8-OHdG in the context of an experimental model for breast cancer in which chronic radiation exposure has been shown to be carcinogenic in Sprague-Dawley rats. A secondary objective of this study was to determine if the use of phenol during DNA isolation affected the concentration of 8-OHdG subsequently measured. Our results indicate that a profoundly carcinogenic dose of radiation induced a small but significant increase in 8-OHdG concentration in mammary gland DNA, and that the use of a phenol-based versus a salt-based method of DNA isolation had no significant impact on the levels of 8-OHdG detected in either control or irradiated tissue.


The Theory of Meaningful Learning shows that: to achieve the best learning effect, new knowledge should establish a non-arbitrary and substantial relationship with the existing knowledge in the learner's cognitive structure, and the focus of the construction of the learning process is to combine the relationship between learning and teaching factors. Therefore, through the description of the application process of "Mathematics Induction", this article draws practical reflection: the process of mathematics learning requires learners to pay attention to real experience, independent thinking, and learning reflection, which inspires teachers to pay attention to in teaching: through creating appropriate problem situation and using appropriate teaching resources, they should pay attention to the time sequence of teaching, and guide students appropriately to take the initiative in discovering learning. In this process, students are guided to actively sort out, integrate and apply knowledge. Through a reasonable learning process experience, students can construct knowledge structure in an orderly manner, improve the quality of thinking, improve the ability to analyze and solve problems, and realize the pedagogical significance of subject teaching.


Background Chemotherapy regimens historically have required admission of the patient to the hospital for extended infusions running over multiple days to complete each cycle of therapy. With the evolution of monitoring strategies readily available, a renaissance in patient care and healthcare cost utilization is necessary as transitioning the administration of these agents to the outpatient setting is seemingly achievable and is potentially more cost-effective. Purpose This evaluation sought to primarily measure cost-savings for an institution by transitioning inpatient chemotherapy regimens to the outpatient setting. Secondary outcomes evaluated the effect of this transition on overall patient length of stay, prevalence of adverse effects, and overall chemotherapy schedule adherence as a result of implementing transitions in sites of care. Barriers to receiving care in the outpatient setting were assessed by evaluating the acuity of performance status as well as distance from the hospital. Methods This single-center retrospective, quantitative chart and expense analysis evaluated patients receiving rituximab, etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin (R-EPOCH) or rituximab, ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide (R-ICE) chemotherapy regimens based on treatment setting at a single institution. Included patients were treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Those receiving inpatient-only management as compared with patients who received therapy in outpatient settings were compared in a matched cohort analysis. The control group was matched from the period before transition of therapy was instituted between November 2014 and November 2015, with those patients transitioned to outpatient therapy (December 2015 to November 2016), using demographic, diagnostic, treatment, and clinical status data to assure group similarity. Mean cost of therapy was compared between inpatient and outpatient regimens. Descriptive and demographic categorical data were compared using the Fisher's exact test. Continuous data were evaluated using the Student's t test. A significance level of alpha <0.05 was used for all analysis. Results The cost of R-EPOCH therapy represented a significant difference across groups. R-ICE therapy similarly saw significant cost differences between inpatient and outpatient groups. If this was made standard of care for qualifying patients a retrospective annualized estimation of $466,507.85 with R-EPOCH therapy and $205,977.60 for R-ICE therapy could have been saved if this was utilized for patients who previously received their therapy as an inpatient. Conclusion The population of patients cared for at the University of Chicago Medicine during this time-period qualified for outpatient treatment for those treated with R-EPOCH and R-ICE regimens with no significantly identifiable prohibitive barriers between groups. As no significant complications manifested, it is reasonable to continue transitioning patients receiving these regimens to the outpatient setting where appropriate. R-EPOCH and R-ICE therapies were shown to be reasonable outpatient therapy while providing significant cost-savings for the institution.


Background: In this qualitative exploration, we report on a thematic analysis of the key role that engaging in meaningful activities may play in recovery processes for people with a diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD). Methods: We conducted semi-structured, individual interviews with 30 participants and analyzed the parts of this material that were related to meaningful activities. Results: The findings are summarized through the development of three broad themes: (a) the central role of work—"The wages suck, but the job is gold"; (b) mastery and commitment—"I had to get up early, find my spot, I had to be present and fully functioning all day"; and (c) repairing the bridge to community life—"It's my job and working out that has made this possible, really, I see that now." Conclusion: We discuss these findings in relation to a recovery perspective and relevant empirical studies, highlight some important implications for research and practice, and consider the strengths and limitations of the present study.


The fetus rhythmic respiratory movements originate long before the birth at a certain stage of its intrauterine development, i. e. the rhythmic respiratory activity is formed before the delivery. As the fetation takes place the character of respiratory system rhythmic activity shifts to stabilization of respiratory muscles rhythmic action towards the termination of gestation. The fetal respiratory movements are inhibited with the beginning of the generic act.


An investigation on effect of soil and foliar application of organic nutrients on physiological and plant analysis characters of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) through organic nutrient management practices was carried out in the farmer's field, Pattagapatti village, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu during two seasons viz., season I (March – June 2020) and season II (January – April 2022). The experiment comprised of 15 treatments replicated thrice was executed following the principles of Randomized Block Design. The experimental results revealed that the physiological parameters viz., chlorophyll content and dry matter production of plants were observed to be the highest in the treatment which received the combined application of vermicompost 5 t ha-1, CBF 2 kg ha-1 and humi power (1 percent) as foliar application for both the season. Among the plant analysis the highest nutrient uptake was recorded in the treatment that received the combined application of vermicompost 5 t ha-1, CBF 2 kg ha-1 and humi power (1 percent) as foliar application.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Mitochondria appear to have a central role in two of the basic cancer cellular hallmarks made by Hanahan and Weinberg: reprogramming of energy metabolism and glucose-shortage induced apoptosis. Somatic mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been frequently observed in human cancers and proposed as important oncological biomarkers. However, the clinical significance of mtDNA mutations in cancer remains unclear. In the present study, we screened the entire mitochondrial genome of 300 oral cavity squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) with their matched control tissues by direct sequencing. We found that 240 (80%) OSCC tumor tissues had one or more somatic mutations and 85 % (203/240) of somatic mutation occurs in the control region (D-loop region) of mitochondrial genome, 47.1% (113/240) in the coding region, 13.8% (33/240) in rRNA and 8.3% (20/240) cases with in tRNA. Overall, 645 somatic mutations at 329 unique nucleotide positions were identified and 355 (55.0%) of 645 somatic mutations were located in the D-loop. The relative mutation frequency (mutations/nucleotides) in the D-loop was 15.6-fold higher than in the other regions (355/1121 versus 290/15448). The highest mutation was in the D310 polycytidine stretch region, where 165 (25.6%, 165/645) mutations were found. Among the 10 somatic mtDNA hot mutation sites, 6 are known mono-/di-nucleotide repeat length polymorphic sites, namely nucleotide position 310-317 (D310, also known as hypervariable region 1), 514-523 (CA repeat), 568-576 (C stretch 1), 956-965 (12S RNA), 5895-5899 (C stretch 2) and 16180-16195 (hypervariable region 2. We found that the mutation frequency at these 6 mono-/di-nucleotide repeat length polymorphic sites was strongly associated with the number of the repeat length and status of heteroplasmy. In the total 645 mutations, most common mutation type was base substitution (58.3%, 376/645), and transition mutation (G:C > A:T and A:T > G:C) accounted for the most mutations (94.7%, 356/376). The total and pathogenic mutation load for mitochondrial respiratory complexes was 1.10% and 0.76%, respectively. No significant association was found between somatic mtDNA mutations in whole mitochondrial genome and the clinicopathological features. However, we found that individuals with p53 R allele had higher frequency of pathogenic somatic mtDNA mutation than those with PP genotype. The Kaplan-Meier plot analysis indicated that pathogenic somatic mtDNA mutations was associated with poor disease-free survival (p = 0.02) and this phenomenon still existed after adjusting for tumor stage, differentiation and age at diagnosis (hazard ratio = 1.557; 95% confidence interval = 1.058 - 2.292); while, there was no difference in overall survival. Taken together, these data suggest that pathogenic somatic mtDNA mutations may play important roles in the aggressiveness of OSCCs.

Citation Format: Ling-Ling Hsieh, Chih-Hsiung Lai, Shiang-Fu Huang, Chun-Ta Liao, I-How Chen, Hung-Ming Wang. Clinical value of pathogenic mitochondrial mutations in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2009. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2009


Study Objective We compared the effects of execution of diagnostic tests in the emergency department (ED) and other common factors on the length of ED stay to identify those with the greatest impacts on ED crowding. Methods Between February 2010 and January 2012, we conducted a cross-sectional, single-center study in the ED of a large, urban, teaching hospital in Japan. Patients who visited the ED during the study period were enrolled. We excluded (1) patients scheduled for admission or pharmaceutical prescription, and (2) neonates requiring intensive care transferred from other hospitals. Multivariate linear regression was performed on log-transformed length of ED stay in admitted and discharged patients to compare influence of diagnostic tests and other common predictors. To quantify the range of change in length of ED stay given a unit change of the predictor, a generalized linear model was used for each group. Results During the study period, 55,285 patients were enrolled. In discharged patients, laboratory blood tests had the highest standardized β coefficient (0.44) among common predictors, and increased length of ED stay by 72.5 minutes (95% CI, 72.8–76.1 minutes). In admitted patients, computed tomography (CT) had the highest standardized β coefficient (0.17), and increased length of ED stay by 32.7 minutes (95% CI, 40.0–49.9 minutes). Although other common input and output factors were significant contributors, they had smaller standardized β coefficients in both groups. Conclusions Execution of laboratory blood tests and CT had a stronger influence on length of ED stay than other common input and output factors.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was identification of predictive factors for postoperative visual acuity in patients with a clear organ-cultured graft and to analyze the change in visual acuity between 12 and 24 months after transplantation.

METHODS
The study design was a prospective cohort study. A total of 342 consecutive penetrating keratoplasties using donor organ-cultured grafts, performed in 324 patients, were included. Visual acuity, graft thickness, and graft endothelial cell density were recorded in patients with clear transplants.

RESULTS
At 24 months postoperatively, 25 (18.7%) of 134 patients had 20/200 or worse visual acuity and 66 (49.3%) had 20/40 or better visual acuity. Graft thickness took 1 month to decrease to normal values. A temporary graft thinning occurred at 6 months postoperatively, followed by recovery of normal graft thickness by 18 months. The average postoperative endothelial cell density was 1,533+/-598 cells/mm2 during the second year. The 24-month LogMAR (logarithm of minimal angle of resolution) visual acuity correlated with preoperative LogMAR visual acuity (beta=0.26, P=0.005), postoperative lens status (beta=-0.34, P=0.008), preoperative intraocular pressure (beta=0.50, P=0.020), and postoperative astigmatism (beta=0.17, P=0.040). Visual acuity (P=0.022) significantly improved between 12 and 24 months. Preoperative diagnosis (P < 0.0001) and postoperative lens status (P < 0.0001) significantly influenced the change in LogMAR visual acuity between 12 and 24 months.

CONCLUSIONS
Donor variables do not influence the visual acuity results of penetrating keratoplasty using organ-cultured donor tissue, whereas they have a strong influence on graft survival and graft endothelial cell density. Visual acuity improves during the first 2 years after transplantation. After keratoplasty, organ-cultured corneal grafts undergo dramatic modifications of their thickness and probably of their transparency.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the composition of skillsets in biotechnology from the perspective of employers and its relation to open innovation processes in the sector. It provides conclusions for HR management practice.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on job advertisements content analysis and in-depth interviews with chiefs of research and development companies. It uses biotechnology as an example of industry where open innovation practice implementation is expanding. The authors have used data from American, British and Russian job search engines.FindingsIt is demonstrated that skills composition required in biotechnology does not vary significantly among selected countries as the market becomes increasingly globalized in terms of not only technology used but also personnel hired. Companies stress more on hard and digital skills, while soft skills appear to be a "must have without saying," The mismatch between skills presented in the advertisements and articulated in the interviews has been found as employers tend to demonstrate innovation friendly company culture for possible applicants.Originality/valueThe present paper enriches literature on employee skills for open innovation. It gives comprehensive lists of biotech skills in-demand divided into hard, digital and soft categories and interprets them within the context of employee cognition and behavior. The new insight into employee skills articulated by the companies as a strong element of organizational culture is presented.


Since 2008, when Barack Obama won the United States election thanks to Facebook, that success model has been improved year by year, and at present Social Media has become the main channel of communication in electoral campaigns, ahead of traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers). The novelty of this communication mechanism can be described by decentralizing the communication to social groups of online opinion leaders and eliminating the horizontal dimension, in which mass-media and political actors played fundamental roles in disseminating the political message to the public. In Social Media, the message is decentralized from source (political actor's Facebook page) by some ordinary users, which in time become influential leaders in the virtual environment. Moreover, political parties that managed to mobilize most fans to disseminate political information in their social groups (strong and weak links) managed to achieve better electoral scores. Our study focused on analyzing the campaign on Facebook in the electoral campaign of the main three parties in Romania, which won the most mandates in the European Parliament: the National Liberal Party (yellow), the Social Democratic Party (red) and the Union "Save Romania" (blue). The election campaign took place from 27 April 2019 to 25 May 2019 and the voting day was on 26 May 2019.


Laser ablation (LA) of historic objects (glass and ceramic) as well as reference materials (NIST610 and SRM679) was executed in standard closed or home made open ablation cells of different intrinsic volume (c.a. 60 cm3 and 9 cm3 or 4.5 cm3 respectively). Comparative investigations with different ablation cells were carried out with argon as the carrier gas and registration of transient signals during the subsequent multielemental analysis by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Open cells allowed direct ablation from surface of historic objects and demonstrated suitability for mapping and quantitative elemental analysis. Resolution of created maps showing distribution of selected elements was improved by using open cells for which the rinse out time of aerosol was noticeably shortened (by a factor of 3) compared to the standard cell. The accuracy of quantitative elemental results obtained for ceramic objects was tested using SRM679 Brick Clay in the form of pressed pellet and was found to be satisfactory. It was demonstrated that the applicability of LA-ICP-MS in archaeometry as well as conservation science could be enhanced by popularization of open cells for the direct ablation from objects, which are too big to fit to standard cells and require strict limitation of sampling.


OBJECTIVE
To report our local experience of the sternoclavicular syndrome and sample the experience of other rheumatologists in the UK.

METHODS
We studied case records of 23 patients referred to the Southend rheumatology clinic and data obtained from a postal questionnaire survey of British rheumatologists.

RESULTS
We describe 58 cases (20 males and 38 females, mean age 47.2 yr). The disease was unilateral in 40 patients. Shoulder and/or arm pain (38 cases) with limitation of shoulder movements was an important presenting feature; other presenting features were anterior chest wall pain (14 cases) and neck pain (15 cases). Peripheral joint involvement was seen in 12 cases. Skin rash was reported in 12 cases (psoriasis, 6; acne, 2; none had pustulosis). No patients had symptoms or signs of sacroiliitis, and HLA-B27 was negative in 22 out of 23 patients. 99Technetium scintiscanning showed increased uptake in the sternoclavicular region in 31/34 patients (91.1%), but not in the sacroiliac areas. Plain radiographs were abnormal in 18 cases (sclerosis, 9; erosions, 2; soft tissue swelling, 2; bony expansion, 5). CT and/or MRI scans (available in 27 cases) showed erosions in 12 and osteitis in 18. Available histology showed a variable picture, including inflammation, bone erosion, sterile osteomyelitis and fibrosis. The majority of patients (45) were treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: 12 received steroids and 10 received disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (methotrexate, 4; sulphasalazine, 6). Follow-up information was available for 38 patients, of whom 14 became asymptomatic and 24 had chronic disease with intermittent flares.

CONCLUSION
Sternoclavicular disease is not uncommon in the UK. It can present with pain in the shoulder, neck or anterior chest wall, and may be underdiagnosed. Our results do not show a link with acne or pustulosis. Features of spondyloarthropathies, such as sacroiliitis and HLA-B27 positivity, were rare in this survey.


Management of multiple exposed eyelid concretions can be performed successfully in an anesthetized eyelid with gentle curettage of the concretions using a small chalazion curette. It has the advantage of managing the patient supine, providing better eyelid stability and visibility, and minimizing risk in the event of patient movement. This curettage technique was used to facilitate the successful resolution of a patient's ocular surface irritative symptomatology due to multiple exposed concretions.


Summary Millions of women use the hormonal contraceptive worldwide, however hormonal contraceptive use is actual and controversal problem, because it is certainly associated non only with protection against pregnancy, but also with pulmonary thromboembolism, stroke, cervical cancer. New evidence is now emerging that taking the oral contraceptive pill might significantly alter both female and male mate choice by removing the mid-cycle change in preferences. Here, we review support for such conclusions and speculate on the consequences of pillinduced choice of otherwise less-preferred partners for relationship satisfaction, durability and, ultimately, reproductive outcomes. The article analyses the pathophysiological mechanisms of hormonal contraceptives, their influence to fertilization, procreation, mutagenic mechanisms and clinical case about 43 years patient with pulmonary throboembolism, which determinative factor was use of hormonal contrareptives.


We aimed to assess the efficacy of a screen and treat policy for sexually transmitted infections in women requesting termination of pregnancy, with particular reference to Chlamydia trachomatis. A retrospective review of 100 consecutive cases of Chlamydia-positive women between December 1995 and February 1998, was performed. The referral rate to genitourinary medicine (GUM), the subsequent management, contact tracing and treatment of partners were assessed. Ninety-nine women were referred to the GUM department, of whom 72 (71.4%) attended. Eighteen (25%) required further treatment. Seventy-five women identified 89 potentially infected men, of whom 62 (69%) attended for treatment. Identification of positive cases with referral to GUM enabled tests of cure to be carried out, treatment of those reinfected and re-enforcement of behaviour modification, in addition to successful contact tracing. This policy may confer greater benefit for the patient herself and make a significant impact on the reservoir of infection in the community when compared to a policy of blanket prophylactic antibiotic treatment at the time of termination. The implications for future service provision are discussed.


Luminescent materials that emit in the narrowband ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB; 310-313 nm) spectral region have attracted considerable attention due to their unique spectral features, which endow them with great potential applications in the fields of photochemistry and photomedicine. However, NB-UVB persistent luminescent materials are relatively lacking, especially materials that are excitable by natural sunlight. Here we report the NB-UVB persistent luminescence of Gd3+ in (Y,Gd)3Ga5O12:Bi3+ garnets by making use of the persistent energy transfer from Bi3+ to Gd3+. The optimal Bi3+ and Gd3+ concentrations for the maximum energy transfer efficiency are determined and persistent NB-UVB light emission with a peak wavelength at 313 nm and an afterglow time of more than 24 h is successfully achieved in the (Y,Gd)3Ga5O12:Bi3+ phosphor. More importantly, the as-synthesized NB-UVB persistent phosphors are also excitable by the widely available natural sunlight and exhibit exceptional NB-UVB persistent luminescence performance. Benefitting from the visible-blind emission feature, interference-free capability from indoor ambient light and self-sustained optical characteristic, the developed sunlight-excitable NB-UVB persistent phosphors here not only hold great promise for covert optical tagging applications, but also open new opportunities for optical data storage in a bright indoor environment.


Abstract Although supply chain risk management and supply chain reliability are topics that have been studied extensively, a gap exists for solutions that take a systems approach to quantitative risk mitigation decision making and especially in industries that present unique risks. In practice, supply chain risk mitigation decisions are made in silos and are reactionary. In this article, we address these gaps by representing a supply chain as a system using a fault tree based on the bill of materials of the product being sourced. Viewing the supply chain as a system provides the basis to develop an approach that considers all suppliers within the supply chain as a portfolio of potential risks to be managed. Next, we propose a set of mathematical models to proactively and quantitatively identify and mitigate at-risk suppliers using enterprise available data with consideration for a firm's budgetary constraints. Two approaches are investigated and demonstrated on actual problems experienced in industry. The examples presented focus on Low-Volume High-Value (LVHV) supply chains that are characterized by long lead times and a limited number of capable suppliers, which make them especially susceptible to disruption events that may cause delays in delivered products and subsequently increase the financial risk exposure of the firm. Although LVHV supply chains are used to demonstrate the methodology, the approach is applicable to other types of supply chains as well. Results are presented as a Pareto frontier and demonstrate the practical application of the methodology.


As part of the prevention and social inclusion agenda, the Children's Fund, set up in 2000, has developed preventative services for children at risk of social exclusion. Drawing on a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted in 2004/05 with children, young people and their parents/carers who accessed Children Fund services, this article analyses key practices and approaches valued by children and parents. These included: specialist support tailored to individual support needs, family-oriented approaches, trusting relationships with service providers, multi-agency approaches and sustainability of services. Finally, the article draws out key lessons for the future development of preventative services.


– Developing artificial intelligence applications continue to make our lives easier. Image processing technology has been developed for field-useful studies in medical science, education, finance, agriculture, industry, security, and many other sectors. For agricultural products, good works are done with artificial intelligence to detect plant diseases and take precautions accordingly. In our study, a comparison was made with deep learning methods on the images of the sugar cane plant in different categories. The VGG-19 architecture, which was classified separately from the 5 pre-trained architectures AlexNet, DarkNet-53, GoogLeNet, ResNet-50, and VGG-19, reached the highest accuracy with 92.2%.


ABSTRACT New human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) therapies with novel mechanisms of action are needed to treat drug-resistant HCMV that arises during therapy with currently approved agents. 2-Bromo-5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosyl-1H-benzimidazole (BDCRB) is an effective anti-HCMV agent with a novel mechanism of action, but problems with in vivo stability preclude clinical development. A d-ribopyranosyl derivative of BDCRB, GW275175X, displays similar antiviral activity without the in vivo stability problems. We present an initial description of the activity of GW275175X against HCMV, other herpesviruses, and selected nonherpesviruses. In addition, we show that it acts as a DNA maturation inhibitor like the parent compound, BDCRB, rather than via the mechanisms of action of 1263W94 or any anti-HCMV drugs approved for marketing. GW275175X is a promising candidate for clinical development as an anti-HCMV agent.