This paper presents an approach for evaluating air traffic controllers situational awareness (SA). In the approach, the relationship between situational awareness and short-term memory is analyzed, based on which, the factors for fuzzy synthetic assessment of controllers situational awareness are determined. And then, weighting coefficient is given for each factor by applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and membership function for each factor is obtained in accordance with air traffic control rules and expertise, upon that the fuzzy assessment model is built. At last, an example is presented to demonstrate the proposed approach is useful and effective in selection, training and work load evaluation for air traffic controllers.


. The global online transition has become a real challenge to the traditional form of education, which has prompted universities to reconsider the system of providing education services. The authors conducted a socio logical study based on the investigation of the relationships of the academic teaching staff, their assessment of the effectiveness of the measures taken by the universities in organizing the transition to a distance learning (DL) for mat of education. Lecturers of regional universities of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia took part in the study. The results of the study made it possible to identify the most organized and optimistic category of lecturers of Mongolian universities and focused attention on the main problems in the implementation of DL at all universities. The normal ization of the epidemiological situation in the future, the restoration of the economic level of development of each country will enable the universities to define their approaches to the use of distance learning technologies (DLT) and their role in the traditional face-to-face education system in accordance with the needs of the students and the peculiarities of social life.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the short and mid-term outcome and surgical technique of minimally invasive unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) for osteoarthritis affected with medial compartment predominantly of the knee.

METHODS
From January 2003 to April 2009, all operations were performed by a senior surgeon. All patients followed the following criteria: (1) More than 50 years old and symptoms concentrated on the medial side of knee; (2) Osteoarthritis characterized mainly by medial compartment on X-rays and staged I-III by Ahlback staging system. There was no symptom of patellofemoral joint. Varus deformity was less than 15 degrees and flexuous deformity less than 10 degrees; (3) Knee joint was stable with intact main ligaments.

METHODS
Forty-eight patients (48 knees) with osteoarthritis of the knee undergone UKA by minimally invasive surgery. The patients included 9 males and 39 females with an age range of 52 - 71 years old and a body mass index of 21.1 - 32.7. And 52 matched patients included 9 males and 39 females aged from 53 to 76 years old and with a body mass index of 21 - 32.4 undergone TKA. The pain and range of motion (ROM) of knees were evaluated by HSS score system before and after UKA and TKA.

RESULTS
All patients were followed up for an average of 52.4 months (range: 12 - 82). In UKA group, all patients received pain relief and there was no continuous anterior knee pain. The range of motion of knee reached a median of 126 degrees and obtained a postoperative HSS score of 96 versus a preoperative score of 62. The rate of excellent and good outcome approached 97%. The results were similar in TKA group. However, in UKA group, the patients had a lesser blood loss, a faster recovery and a lower cost than those in TKA group.

CONCLUSION
The short and mid-term outcome of UKA for osteoarthritis of knee affected with medial compartment is satisfactory. UKA is minimally invasive and has a faster recovery. Mild asymptomatic degeneration of patellofemoral joint and over-weight (BMI < 32) do not affect the short and mid-term outcome.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) strongly influence many cellular process such as erythropoiesis, angiogenesis, energy metabolism, pH regulation, cell migration and tumor invasion. Under normoxic conditions, HIF-1α possesses a very short half-life and is rapidly degraded by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway and remains inactive. In hypoxia, HIF-1α is stabilized and forms a complex with HIF-1α that allows HIF-1 to function as a transcription factor. HIF-1α is activated only during hypoxia under normal physiologic conditions. By contrast, HIF-1α is frequently activated in cancer cells, including under normoxic conditions by oncogene products or impaired activity of tumor suppressor genes. Recent studies have shown that the expression of HIF1α is increased in a variety of human tumors a significant fraction of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma patients, implicating a potential role of dysregulated HIF activation. Constitutive expression of HIF-1α enhances vascularization, increases glucose metabolism, and induces the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins in cancer tissues, thus making it an attractive target for cancer therapy. We hypothesized that epigenetic modification of lymphoma cells by histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition may modify HIF-1α expression and lead to cell death. We therefore studied the role of the pan HDACi PCI-24781 (PCI) in HIF1α mediated cell death. Western blot analysis of cells treated with 0.125μM to 0.5μM of PCI show significant down regulation of HIF1α protein in all NHL cell lines. To confirm that down regulation of HIF1α is an important factor in cell apoptosis induced by PCI, we incubated cells with the small molecule inhibitor of HIF1α, PX-478 in combination with PCI. Combination of PCI and PX-478 at concentrations of 0.5μM and 10μM respectively, showed an increase in apoptosis as compared to either agent alone in all the DLBCL cell lines. Moreover, knocking down HIF1α in SUDHL4 and OCI-LY3 cell lines using shRNA followed by treatment with PCI also showed the similar effect. We further show that down regulation of HIF1α by PCI is mediated via the PI3K/Akt pathway and inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway by LY294002 inhibits HIF1α protein expression. Furthermore pre-incubation of cells with LY inhibits PCI-induced apoptosis. By contrast, constitutive activation of AKT using Myr-Akt-CA shows an increase in HIF1α protein and partial attenuation of PCI-induced apoptosis.We conclude that the activation of the PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α pathway plays a critical role in mediating hypoxia-induced drug resistance leading to unfavorable treatment outcome in lymphoma. Our study suggests a mechanism by which lymphoma cells become resistant to HDAC inhibitors.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4735. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4735


Four sol-gel TiO2 powders have been prepared from titanium tetraisopropoxide. The calcined powders are then characterized by X-ray diffraction. Cell parameters are extracted using two Rietveld refinement programs (FULLPROF and MAUD) leading to close values and indicating a contraction of the a (or b) cell parameter and an expansion of the c cell parameter of the anatase phase with temperature. Crystallite size and microstrain are highly dependent not only on the sol synthesis but also on the diffraction line profile analysis (LPA) models (i.e., Williamson-Hall, Thomson-Cox-Hastings, Dehlez et al., and log-normal size distribution) employed. Discrepancies are then observed for the phase transformation critical size, the activation energy of grain growth, and the microstrain stored potential energy according to the LPA approach used to calculate the microstructural parameters.


Our aim was to examine the humoral immune response against Streptococcus gallolyticus subspecies gallolyticus antigens in individuals subjected to a routine colonoscopy in which colon adenomatous polyps were present or not. Serum samples from 133 individuals with adenomatous polyps and serum samples from 53 individuals with a normal colonoscopy were included. Western blot was performed in all subjects using a whole cell antigen from S. gallolyticus ATCC 9809, and rabbit antisera against the whole cell bacteria was prepared as a control. By analyzing the immune profile of the rabbit‐immunized sera by Western‐blot, at least 22 proteins were identified as immunogenic in S. gallolyticus. When we evaluated sera from human subjects, two proteins of approximately 30 and 22 kDa were most prominent. Based on this 2‐protein band pattern, Western‐blot profiles from human subjects were compared. The detection of a protein band of 22 kDa was associated with the presence of adenomatous polyps in colon [odds ratios (OR) 7.98, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 3.54–17.93], p < 0.001. When the presence of the 30 kDa protein alone or both the 22 and 30 kDa proteins were analyzed, the OR increased to 22.37 (95% CI: 3.77–131.64), p < 0.001. The specificity was 84.9 for the presence of the 22 kDa protein, and 98.1 for the presence of the 30 kDa protein alone or both 22 and 30 kDa bands. Serum from individuals with adenomatous polyps recognized two proteins from S. gallolyticus. This result confirmed the possible association of S. gallolyticus with adenomatous polyps in the colon.


When perceiving a dangerous predation threat, mammalian and other species activate antipredator defensive reactions. These include the seemingly paradoxical—but compatible—activation of overarousal (e.g., agitation, insomnia) and "shutdown" (e.g., mutism, withdrawal) states. Acute suicidal crises, too, are characterized by the co-occurrence of overarousal and shutdown behaviors. In the minutes, hours, and days prior to one's death by suicide, it is not uncommon for one to be simultaneously agitated and socially withdrawn, states that resemble antipredator defensive reactions. In this article, we present empirical, clinical, and philosophical grist for our conjecture that antipredator defensive reactions may serve as a useful way to understand the phenomenology of a serious suicidal crisis, and we reflect on the implications that soon-to-be suicide decedents are simultaneously killer and victim.


The article presents the results of experimental- and analytical investigations of the behaviour and the load-carrying capacity of deep beams with openings (DBO) and without openings (DB) made of hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre-reinforced high-performance concrete (HFRHPC) subjected to three-point bending tests. Six deep beams 100 mm × 500 mm × 1000 mm were tested with a gradually increasing load until failure. All the specimens were tested in the same simply supported conditions. The research focused on the quantity and kind of concrete reinforcement. The deep beams with steel and polypropylene (PP) fibres were characterised by variously arranged steel bar reinforcement: vertically, horizontally, orthogonally and diagonally. The DB1, DBO1 deep beams were conventionally made with steel rod reinforcement but without fibres. The steel wire mesh reinforcement was replaced by fibre reinforcement of varying volume percentages in the remaining deep beams. The influence of the hybrid fibre content in the specimens was studied by marking the development and propagation of cracks, by recording the failure modes, and by monitoring the deflections at the bottom of the deep beam, at the mid-span and at the support. Three-dimensional measurements of strain and displacement of the deep beams without openings (DB) were performed by the non-contact optical 3D deformation measuring system ARAMIS. The experimental results were compared with the studied methods of predicting the shear strength of deep beams reinforced with hybrid fibre. The conducted study demonstrates that hybrid fibres as web reinforcement have a favourable impact on deep beam crack widths and raise the load carrying capacity of deep beams with openings.


Anterior group teeth which have colour, shape, pattern and position disorders consitute signifi cant part of esthetic problems in dentistry. Sometimes ortodontic therapy could not provıde intended approximal contact between teeth. Direct composite resin restorations can be applied as a method of conservative treatment for these problems. In this study we tried to maintain esthetic rehabilitation of 2 cases who had spaces between anterior teeth after ortodontic therapy by a conservative method. A coordinated treatment, including orthodontic movement and direct composite restorations was applied. At routine controls of patients there was no discoloration and cracks on composite resins. Smile design with combination of esthetic conservative applications is a less timeconsuming, low cost, after ortodontic treatment for stabilization and minimal invasive treatment option for patients after orthodontic treatment and provide stabilization after ortodontic therapy.


Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of four different types of speculums on aberrometry reading (OPD SCAN III [OPD]) and on intraoperative aberrometry reading (optiwave response analyzer, ORA). Patients and methods This prospective, controlled, comparative study of consecutive cases included the evaluation of five eyes of five patients with monofocal intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Seventeen measures were performed on each patient: for each speculum, there were two measurements on the OPD and another two on ORA with four different types of blepharostats. A control measure was performed on the without blepharostat in the dominant eye of each patient, therefore totalizing 85 measurements. The measures with the blepharostats were as follows: without pressure (WF) or passive measure and after pressure (AF) or active measure to close the eye. The speculum used in all patients was as follows: open-edged wire (Barraquer); threaded with open blade (Lieberman), with 21 mm aperture; wired with solid blade (Barraquer); and threaded with solid blade (Lieberman) with 21 mm opening. An evaluation of the objective refractive data from the OPD and ORA and the corneal astigmatism from the OPD was performed. Results Spherical equivalent (SE) of the OPD with the use of blepharostat compared to the OPD without speculum presented only 37.5% of results without statistical significance. Regarding the SE of ORA with speculum usage, compared to the OPD without blepharostat, only 12.5% were not significant. Regarding the accuracy of the ORA refractive axis with the use of blepharostats, all results presented statistical significance. Conclusion Thus, in the present study, we reached the conclusion between the studied blepharostats that the most suitable for use in the aphakic and pseudophakic capture of the ORA is the open blade threaded blepharostat (Lieberman).


BACKGROUND
Cervicovaginal HIV shedding is associated with increased female-to-male and mother-to-child transmission. Genital inflammation may increase shedding through cytokines/chemokines which recruit and activate HIV target cells. We evaluated whether cervical immune mediators present before seroconversion affected HIV shedding and whether mediators differed between shedders and nonshedders.

METHODS
We used cervical samples from 187 African women with documented HIV seroconversion in the Hormonal Contraception and HIV study. Samples were from the two visits before seroconversion (T-2 and/or T-1), and/or at seroconversion (T0), and/or the two visits (T + 1 and/or T + 2) after seroconversion. We measured interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1 Receptor Antagonist (IL-1RA), IL-6, IL-8, RANTES (Regulated on Activation, Normal T-Cell Expressed and Secreted), MIP-3α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1), secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI), and BD-2 and used the Wilcoxon test and generalized linear models to evaluate the association between mediators and shedding.

RESULTS
The only immune mediator that differed at T-1 was RANTES, which was higher among shedders (p ≤ .05). HIV seroconversion was followed by significant decreases in many mediators, but a significant increase in RANTES. The magnitude of the change was significantly different for shedders versus nonshedders with regard to RANTES (increased in both groups, significantly more so in shedders), SLPI (decreased in both groups, significantly more so in shedders), and MIP-3α (decreased in shedders and increased in nonshedders). At T0, shedders had lower levels of SLPI and MIP-3α than nonshedders.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, a specific immune mediator profile was associated with risk of cervical HIV shedding. Higher and increasing levels of RANTES and lower and decreasing levels of SLPI and MIP-3α were associated with increased risk of HIV shedding.


We present a hybrid laser system based on all-fiber amplification of a gain-switched laser diode. The diode emits low energy pulses with several tens of picoseconds pulse duration at a wavelength of 1550 nm and a repetition rate of 1 MHz. The three-stage fiber amplifier reaches an overall gain of 55 dB boosting the pulse energy to 0.48 μJ. Much care is taken to preserve an almost bandwidth limited pulse with a spectral width of 0.1 nm and negligible spectral broadening due to nonlinearities. The laser system has been designed such that two or more can be electronically synchronized with the aim to combine them for exploring frequency mixing scenarios. Here, we report first cross-correlation measurements of two synchronized laser systems and present a method to characterize the relative timing-jitter.


The outcomes of interspecific and intraspecific ecological interactions can be considered to fall along continua from cooperative (mutually beneficial) to antagonistic (detrimental to one or both parties). Furthermore, the position of an interaction outcome along the continuum, for example whether a symbiont provides net costs or benefits to its host, or whether two conspecifics cooperatively forage or compete for food, is often not fixed but can change over time or across contexts. In this systematic review, we investigate the role of intraspecific trait variation ('ITV') in one or both interacting parties in determining the cooperative-antagonistic outcome of inter- and intraspecific ecological interactions. Based on a literature collection of 96 empirical and theoretical publications meeting our inclusion criteria, we give an overview of the types of interaction continua involved; traits related to outcome variance; and mechanisms as well as constraints on shifts in interactions outcomes. We propose that ITV can lead to shifts in interaction outcome via two interrelated mechanisms. First, trait frequency effects occur when there are changes in a population's composition of traits linked to cooperation or antagonism (e.g. aggressive personality types, cheater phenotypes etc.), leading to net shifts in interaction outcomes. Second, systemic variance effects occur where the level of ITV in a trait in a population (as opposed to the mean value) is the factor that influences the cooperative-antagonistic outcome. Heritable trait differences and phenotypic plasticity are sources of phenotypic variation among individuals, and both the degree of heritability and plasticity of the trait involved may determine whether shifts between cooperation and antagonism are likely to be short-term (i.e. context-dependent) or lead to more persistent shifts (e.g. mutualism breakdown). To guide future research, we describe knowledge gaps and divergences between empirical and theoretical literature, highlighting the value of applying evidence synthesis methods in ecology and evolution.


The application of an external magnetic field can lift the spin degeneracy of electronic states through its interaction with the electronic magnetic moment. A closely-related phenomenon is the Rashba-Bychkov (RB) effect where symmetry breaking at surfaces or interfaces gives rise to an electric field which is in turn seen as an effective magnetic field in the electrons' rest frame. The resulting k-dependent energy splitting of spin-polarized electronic states has been observed on various metal surfaces but the effect is much larger in artificially-grown surface alloys; such as the BiAg2 grown at the surface of Ag(111). The spin splitting magnitude observed in these systems might be very useful in spintronics applications since it could decrease the spin precession time in a spin transistor and distinguish between the extrinsic and intrinsic spin Hall effects. Nevertheless, their metallic character poses serious obstacles in the exploitation of the RB effect due to the presence of spin-degenerate electronic states at the Fermi level which would dominate transport experiments. We have used angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) to explore the RB effects on various artificially grown structures, formed on semiconducting substrates. The interplay of quantum confinement and giant RB splitting on a trilayer Si(111)-Ag-BiAg2 system reveals the formation of a complex spin-dependent structure, which can be externally tuned by varying the Ag layer thickness. This provides a means to tailor the electronic structure and spin polarization near the Fermi level, with potential applications on Si-compatible spintronic devices. Moreover, we have discovered a giant spin splitting in a true semiconducting system, namely the Si(111)-Bi trimer phase. The size of the RB parameters is comparable to those of metallic surface alloys. Using theoretical models we have identified the peculiar band topology as the origin of the giant spin splitting on the Bi/Si(111) system. All our findings are supported by relativistic first-principles calculations. Finally, a chapter of this thesis manuscript is devoted to the description of phenomeno-logical theoretical simulation, which can capture the experimental results related to the RB effect on low-dimensional systems. A parallel experimental project is discussed in a separate chapter. It has been focused on the band topology of the novel p(2 × 2) reconstruction of the Pt(111)-Ag-Bi trilayer. We investigated the symmetry properties of the interface states by varying the amount of Ag. ARPES results present the electronic signature of a strain-related structural transition.


The basic argument of the paper is that the risks and potential societal costs of terrorist attacI on power reactor spent fuel pools justify complex and costly measures to improve the safety of fuel storage. The main recommendation made in the paper is the removal of all spent fuel cooled more than five years from the storage pools, storage of that fuel in dry storage casks, and modifying spent fuel pools to open-frame storage for the remaining fuel at an estimated cost of $3.5 to $7.0 billion. The benefits attributed to this proposal are that the amount of spent fuel stored in the pools would be substantially reduced (by approximately a factor of four) and the remaining fuel could, with open-frame storage, be rendered coolable even if the pool water were entirely lost. Additional measures to improve fuel cooling and reduce the risk of a severe spent fuel pool accident are also discussed.


Depression is a very common psychiatric disorder. The burden on the spouse of a depressed individual is considered to be a multi-dimensional problem and is seen in the context of its emotional, psychological, physical and economic consequences. The depressed individual's aversive interpersonal behaviours may lead spouses to experience depression and problems in marital adjustment. Aim: To study and compare the burden and marital satisfaction among male and female spouses of patients suffering from depression. Materials & Methods: Spouses of patients were inducted from those attending the Department of Psychiatry of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh, India with their partners. A total of 60 spouses of patients with ICD-10 diagnosis of depression fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study. Consecutive sampling was used for data collection. Participants were divided into two groups i.e. Male and Female. Zarit Burden Interview and Marital Satisfaction Scale were used to assess the burden and marital satisfaction respectively. Results: There was no significant difference in burden and marital satisfaction between the two genders which means both the groups are equally vulnerable and prone to develop psychiatric problems like stress, anxiety, depression. Conclusion: Considering the findings, both groups have an equal need to cater to care giving and related responsibilities. The study can be useful in implementing programs to help the spouses and cater the needs of care giving, to handle the burden productively associated with the care giving of their depressed partners, to strengthen their coping and to have a better marital life. Keywords: Depression, burden, marital satisfaction


Several authors have now suggested that some interstellar clouds above the plane of the Galaxy are interacting with the Reynolds' layer, the warm ionized gas extending well above (H~910 pc) the Galactic plane (Reynolds 1993). Characterizing the interaction between these clouds and their surroundings should be useful in understanding one source of interstellar turbulence: vertical shear flows. This paper discusses how studies of the morphology and drag coefficient of falling clouds might be used to constrain the Reynolds number for the flow, and hence the effective viscosity of the warm ionized medium. If arguments based on morphology are correct, the effective viscosity of the warm ionized medium is significantly higher than the classical values. Possible resolutions to this problem are suggested.


D.L. Berman has proved several divergence theorems about "extended" Hermite-Fejér interpolation on the Chebyshev nodes of the first kind. These are surprising in light of the classical convergence theorem of L. Fejér concerning ordinary Hermite-Fejér interpolation on these nodes. However there is one case which has been neglected so far: the case of quasi-Hermite-Fejér interpolation on these nodes. In this paper it is proved that quasi-Hermite-Fejér interpolation polynomials on the Chebyshev nodes converge uniformly to the continuous function being interpolated. In addition, an estimate for the rate of convergence is established.


Spectrum sensing and spectrum management are the main challenging functions that cognitive radio (CR) networks have to perform. In this paper, we focus specifically on the spectrum decision problem. This problem is worsened in the presence of users with different demands and spectrum channels with different properties in a heterogeneous network. For accurate and proper spectrum management, we propose a spectrum decision algorithm for spectrum brokers, which takes user type and spectrum channel properties into consideration. This approach increases both the number of users that can get proper spectrum bands and the throughput of the system. The algorithm also includes a "patience" option. Users that choose the "patience" option agree to wait for a predetermined amount of time until their connection is established. Meanwhile, a better spectrum may become available. This option increases the efficiency of spectrum usage too.


The present critical review reports on recent developments of optical nanoparticles based on the association of gold, silver, silica and quantum dots and calixarenes. These hybrid organic-inorganic compounds characterized by a thick organic layer self-assembled on the surface of a core of mineral surface atoms take advantage of the supramolecular recognition of luminescent calixarenes to fabricate nanodevices of nanoparticle size, capable of detecting metal cations, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides. Also presented is an explanation of the involvement of such nanoparticles in biochemical systems. This critical review provides an overview of their preparation, the manner in which they are characterized, and their use (108 references).


This investigation examined surface electromyography as an additional tool in the comprehensive clinical evaluation of patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Electromyographic signals from electrodes placed in the lumbar area of 30 CLBP patients and 30 non-pain control subjects were compared. Patients and controls were matched for age, gender, and body mass index. Paired t test showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The muscle activity mean values were threefold higher in CLBP patients than in controls (P < 0.00001) in the static testing, and twofold higher in CLBP patients than in controls (P < 0.00001) in the dynamic testing. Our findings indicate that surface electromyography assessment of the paraspinal muscle activity may be a useful objective diagnostic tool in the comprehensive evaluation of CLBP.


The environmentally-friendly procedure of oxygen treatment (O) and peroxide treatment with oxygen and anthraquinone as a catalyst (Po-AQ) was studied for isolation of cellulose from bagasse pith (BP) mainly consisting of parenchyma cells. The optimal conditions were: 20% alkali dosages with 12% BP consistency at 120 °C for 3 h under 0.6 MPa initial oxygen pressure for the O step; then 8% H2O2, 20% NaOH, and 0.3% AQ charges with 8% BP consistency at 120 °C for 6 h under the same oxygen pressure for the Po-AQ step. And the optimum process was: BP pretreated by cool-water extraction was firstly O-treated, and after finishing O treatment, intermediate pulp which was manually separated from effluent, was continuously processed by Po-AQ treatment. Based on the conditions above, this process can yield 37.1% of cellulose sample, containing 7.01% hemicelluloses and 0.57% lignin. The representative samples were characterized by gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).


Dysfunctional brain networks have been found in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). In this study, to verify this in a more straightforward way, we investigated the intrinsic organization of brain networks in MDD by leveraging the resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (rs-fNIRS). Thirty-four MDD patients (24 females, 38.41 ± 13.14 years old) and thirty healthy controls (22 females, 34.43 ± 5.03 years old) underwent a 10 min rest while their brain activity was recorded via fNIRS. The results showed that MDD patients and healthy controls exhibited similar resting-state functional connectivity. Moreover, the depression group showed lower small-world Lambda (1.12 ± 0.04 vs. 1.16 ± 0.10, p = 0.04) but higher global efficiency (0.51 ± 0.03 vs. 0.48 ± 0.05, p = 0.03) than the control group. Importantly, MDD patients, as opposed to healthy controls, showed a significantly lower nodal local efficiency at the left middle occipital gyrus (0.56 ± 0.36 vs. 0.81 ± 0.20, pFDR < 0.05), which predicted the level of depression in MDD (r = 0.45, p = 0.01, R2 = 0.15). In sum, we found a more integrated brain network in MDD patients with a lower nodal local efficiency at the occipital hub, which could predict depressive symptoms.


Group water supply systems (GWSS) are designed for centralized water supply of settlements located in waterless areas and remote from drinking water sources. GWSS are an object of increased attention, have a great social and environmental significance, require significant capital investments and financial resources for operation, ensuring the required reliability and manageability. Therefore, the issues of optimization of design solutions for the structure and parameters of structures are relevant and require improvement and development of methodological and software solutions to these problems. The paper proposes a method of redundant design schemes and a method of schematic and structural optimization based on a sequential and iterative solution of two problems: for a fixed value of flows in the graph of the redundant scheme, network parameters are optimized (pipeline diameters, heads, and the composition of pumping stations); with fixed network parameters, the problem of the distribution of water flows is solved in the GWSS.


Neural function depends on underlying physiological processes that are highly sensitive to physical variables such as temperature. However, some robustness to perturbations in these variables manifests at the circuit level, suggesting that circuit properties are organized to tolerate consistent changes in underlying parameters. We show that a crustacean pacemaker circuit is robust to two global perturbations - temperature and pH - that differentially alter circuit properties. Consistent with high variability in underlying circuit parameters, we find that the critical temperatures and pH values where circuit activity breaks down vary widely across animals. Despite variability in critical points the network state transitions at these critical points are consistent, implying that qualitative circuit dynamics are preserved across animals, in spite of high quantitative parameter variability. Surprisingly, robustness perturbations in pH only moderately affect temperature robustness. Thus, robustness to a global perturbation does not necessarily imply sensitivity to other global perturbations.


From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the heraldry of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by local, Polish, and other European heraldic traditions. The coat of arms became one of the most important elements representing the culture and identity of the nobles. It reflected their family and marital ties, titles, positions, and other important aspects in the life of the nobility. The coats of arms that have survived to this day act as a reminder of the past lives of their holders. The article explores the heraldry of the noble Gruževskis (Grużewski) family from Samogitia between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and its actualisation in the twenty-first century in the manor estate in Kelmė that was formerly owned by this family. The analysis revealed that the Gruževskis, a Polish noble family, who moved to Samogitia in the sixteenth century, enriched the heraldic tradition of the region's nobility with the Lubicz coat of arms originating in Poland. The Lubicz coat of arms depicts a white horseshoe on an azure field with two crosses, one cross inside the horseshoe and the other outside with a crest of three ostrich feathers. The article looks at the heraldic seals held by the members of the Gruževskis family between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the seventeenth-century coat of arms of Jurgis Gruževskis in the joint coat of arms in Kelmė Evangelical Reformed Church, and the eighteenth-century coat of arms of the Gruževskis family above the entrance to the manor house they used to own. It has been observed that the members of the Gruževskis family preserved their coat of arms from the sixteenth century up to the second half of the eighteenth century and that it was passed down from generation to generation. The analysis of the records shows that the family's heraldic tradition featured both single-field and combined coats of arms. The emergence of the former in the seventeenth century is traced back to Jurgis Gruževskis. Today, the Kelmė Regional Museum is one of the main memory institutions that preserve and actualise the legacy of the noble Gruževskis family. While the coat of arms of this family is not forgotten by the museum and receives relatively comprehensive attention, there are few attempts to provide more detailed information or more critical insights about it. The heraldry of the former owners of the manor estate is usually presented using easy-to-understand visual resources such as illustrations, stands, interactive materials, and souvenirs. It is believed that visitors could be offered a more detailed picture of the heraldic traditions of the Gruževskis family and a more critical approach to these traditions could be developed by drawing upon a relatively extensive range of heraldic sources and scholarly materials. The possibility of showcasing the copies of the sources featuring the family's heraldic traditions or developing thematic educational activities is to be considered.


Abstract Polythermal conditions are ubiquitous among glaciers, from small valley glaciers to ice sheets. Conventional temperature-based 'cold-ice' models of such ice masses cannot account for that portion of the internal energy which is latent heat of liquid water within temperate ice, so such schemes are not energy-conserving when temperate ice is present. Temperature and liquid water fraction are, however, functions of a single enthalpy variable: a small enthalpy change in cold ice is a change in temperature, while a small enthalpy change in temperate ice is a change in liquid water fraction. The unified enthalpy formulation described here models the mass and energy balance for the threedimensional ice fluid, for the surface runoff layer and for the subglacial hydrology layer, together in a single energy-conserving theoretical framework. It is implemented in the Parallel Ice Sheet Model. Results for the Greenland ice sheet are compared with those from a cold-ice scheme. This paper is intended to be an accessible foundation for enthalpy formulations in glaciology.


Objective Anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antibodies are successfully used for treatment of Crohn's disease. Nevertheless, approximately 40% of patients display failure to anti-TNF therapy. Here, we characterised molecular mechanisms that are associated with endoscopic resistance to anti-TNF therapy. Design Mucosal and blood cells were isolated from patients with Crohn's disease prior and during anti-TNF therapy. Cytokine profiles, cell surface markers, signalling proteins and cell apoptosis were assessed by microarray, immunohistochemistry, qPCR, ELISA, whole organ cultures and FACS. Results Responders to anti-TNF therapy displayed a significantly higher expression of TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2) but not IL23R on T cells than non-responders prior to anti-TNF therapy. During anti-TNF therapy, there was a significant upregulation of mucosal IL-23p19, IL23R and IL-17A in anti-TNF non-responders but not in responders. Apoptosis-resistant TNFR2+IL23R+ T cells were significantly expanded in anti-TNF non-responders compared with responders, expressed the gut tropic integrins α4β7, and exhibited increased expression of IFN-γ, T-bet, IL-17A and RORγt compared with TNFR2+IL23R− cells, indicating a mixed Th1/Th17-like phenotype. Intestinal TNFR2+IL23R+ T cells were activated by IL-23 derived from CD14+ macrophages, which were significantly more present in non-responders prior to anti-TNF treatment. Administration of IL-23 to anti-TNF-treated mucosal organ cultures led to the expansion of CD4+IL23R+TNFR2+ lymphocytes. Functional studies demonstrated that anti-TNF-induced apoptosis in mucosal T cells is abrogated by IL-23. Conclusions Expansion of apoptosis-resistant intestinal TNFR2+IL23R+ T cells is associated with resistance to anti-TNF therapy in Crohn's disease. These findings identify IL-23 as a suitable molecular target in patients with Crohn's disease refractory to anti-TNF therapy.


This article argues that literary studies have proceeded in two different ways to establish itself as an academic discipline. One way, the attempt to provide a theoretical basis for a discipline of criticism which would have guaranteed the 'scientific' nature of literary studies, has failed. The other way, the development of a set of standards for scholarship in literary studies and as a part of that the introduction of a method of 'reading' that sets standards for correct 'observation' of the literary work, has led to a partial success, and has represented the 'progress' in the discipline. However, the success has only been partial: the question still remains if literary criticism can provide an adequate defense for its disciplinary status.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted much attention lately and are being used in a multitude of applications. But the duration of being in the sky remains to be an issue due to their energy limitation. In particular, this represents a major challenge when UAVs are used as base stations (BSs) to complement the wireless network. Therefore, as UAVs execute their missions in the sky, it becomes beneficial to wirelessly harvest energy from external and adjustable flying energy sources (FESs) to power their onboard batteries and avoid disrupting their trajectories. For this purpose, wireless power transfer (WPT) is seen as a promising charging technology to keep UAVs in flight and allow them to complete their missions. In this work, we leverage a multiagent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) method to optimize the task of energy transfer between FESs and UAVs. The optimization is performed by carrying out three essential tasks: 1) maximizing the sum-energy received by all UAVs based on FESs using WPT; 2) optimizing the energy loading process of FESs from a ground BS; and 3) computing the most energy-efficient trajectories of the FESs while carrying out their charging duties. Furthermore, to ensure high-level reliability of energy transmission, we use directional energy transfer for charging both FESs and UAVs by using laser beams and energy beam-forming technologies, respectively. In this study, the simulation results show that the proposed MADRL method has efficiently optimized the trajectories and energy consumption of FESs, which translates into a significant energy transfer gain compared to the baseline strategies.


The objective of this work was to explore the possibility of obtaining dairy desserts of similar consistency and with different sweetness intensity. Eight formulations were prepared varying in the thickener type and concentration: carboxymethyl cellulose (1.1 and 1.3% w/w) and modified starch (3.5 and 4.0% w/w) and the milk type (whole or skimmed). The amounts of sugar (10% w/w), colorant (37.5 mg/kg) and lemon flavor (120 mg/kg) were fixed. Changes in composition and structure provide products with similar values of three instrumental indices of thickness (η10, η50 and Kokini shear stress [OSS]). The relationship between each of these instrumental indices and the sensory consistency fitted well to Psychophysical Stevens' Law. No direct relationship was detected between OSS values and sweetness. Some structural differences observed between thickeners can influence product behavior during oral processing, modifying in-mouth delivery of sucrose molecules. It could explain sweetness differences among samples with similar consistency.

Practical Applications

Decreasing calorie content of processed foods without modifying their quality and acceptance is important for consumers and the food industry. In dairy desserts, a strategy to compensate or reduce the sensory quality problems associated with calorie reduction is to design novel textures for optimizing the delivery of sweet taste stimuli to taste receptors. The results of this work have shown that it is possible to obtain semisolid dairy desserts with similar texture and with different sweetness, and also, with different texture and similar sweetness using different thickeners. More studies are needed to understand the effect of oral processing in dairy desserts thickened with different hydrocolloids to explain the observed variations in sweetness perceived.


We report on single-pass optical parametric generation for high power, high repetition rate (RR), ultrafast broadband optical radiation in the mid-IR. Taking advantage of broad phase-matching bandwidth (BW) of the crystals for the interacting waves having zero group velocity mismatch, we have used a 50 mm long MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal to develop a single-pass, parametric source producing femtosecond output pulses at a RR of 78 MHz. Pumping with a femtosecond Yb-fiber laser at 1064 nm, the source produces signal and idler radiation tunable across 1422-1561 nm and 4229-3342 nm, respectively. The signal radiation has a pulse and spectral BW of 296 fs and 9.2 nm centered at 1492 nm, respectively, with a time-BW product ∼0.37, close to the transform limit. The idler radiation has spectral BW as high as 123 nm centered at 3709 nm. The source produces a signal (idler) beam of power of 2.07 W (0.54 W) at 1492 nm (3709 nm) in a Gaussian spatial profile with peak-to-peak passive power fluctuation better than 5% (4%) over 4 h at a single-pass conversion efficiency as high as ∼55%.


This paper addresses the task assignment and path planning (TAPP) problem for autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in material handling applications. We introduce risk-based A*, a novel TAPP method, that aims to reduce conflict and travel distance for AMRs considering system uncertainties such as travel speed, turning speed, and loading/unloading time. An environment simulator predicts the distribution of future locations for each AMR and constructs a probability map for future AMR locations. A revised A* algorithm generates low-risk paths based on the probability map. A discrete event simulation experiment shows our model significantly reduces the number of conflicts among robots in stochastic systems.


Graded motor imagery (GMI) and mirror therapy (MT) is thought to improve pain in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) types 1 and 2. However, the evidence is limited and analysis are not independent between types of CRPS. The purpose of this review was to analyze the effects of GMI and MT on pain in independent groups of patients with CRPS types 1 and 2. Searches for literature published between 1990 and 2016 were conducted in databases. Randomized controlled trials that compared GMI or MT with other treatments for CRPS types 1 and 2 were included. Six articles met the inclusion criteria and were classified from moderate to high quality. The total sample was composed of 171 participants with CRPS type 1. Three studies presented GMI with 3 components and three studies only used the MT. The studies were heterogeneous in terms of sample size and the disorders that triggered CRPS type 1. There were no trials that included participants with CRPS type 2. GMI and MT can improve pain in patients with CRPS type 1; however, there is not sufficient evidence to recommend these therapies over other treatments given the small size and heterogeneity of the studied population.


This simple research deals with utterances, and types of prostration in the Glorious Qur'an .It denotes the linguistic and religious meanings indicated by those utterances with the help of Qura'nic verses and Prophet Mohammed's traditions with breed propagation in addition to the poetry and prose .The researcher tries to join between the voices of the word  "prostrate"  and its qualities with what it carries from multiple indications  .They include the meaning of worship denoting the relationship between morphological derivations; verbal and nominal .The prostration in all  its types cannot be done except for Allah . The worship of God should be suitable with the manner of the believers to Allah and the spiritual benefits that Allah granted to his believers  for their worship in life and in the hereafter. The research falls in four sections .The first one presents an introduction. The second section deals with definition of prostration and its concepts and types .The third one deals with the phonetic level, the morphological level and the syntactic level .The fourth section which is the last one presents conclusions followed by a list of references.


The current paper aimed at testing two hypotheses that teachers' educational qualifications and attitude
towards teaching profession are independent and that age has nothing to do with attitudes towards teaching
profession. A total of 150 teachers (75 males & 75 females) from thirty secondary schools located at Imphal West
District, Manipur (India) with mean age 39.48, SD 10.21, were selected through simple random sampling. The data
collected through the Teacher Attitude Inventory (TAI) developed by Ahluwalia (2006). It is a 90 items on 5 point
Likert Type scale as strong agree (SA), agree (A), undecided (U), disagree (D), strongly disagree (SD). The
reliability of the scale is 0.88. The results indicated those teachers' educational unfavourable attitudes towards
teaching profession, as the p-value was 0.678 and 0.971 respectively. However, more qualified teachers (59%)
seemed to be having more positive attitudes than the of the less qualified teachers (41%). Similarly, younger
teachers appear to possess more positive attitudes (59%) than that of the older teachers (41%). The generalizability
of the findings would merit further investigation. Certain suggestions were made.


This study aims to determine the role of the school environment on moral and cultural literacy of elementary school students. This is descriptive qualitative research. Data collection techniques are observation, interviews, questionnaire, and documentation. Data analysis techniques are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. Data validity using triangulation. Triangulation is to ensure the data validity that takes into consideration aspects of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The subjects are 3 teachers and 27 students of 4th, 5th and 6th grade in Muhammadiyah School of Sleman Regency. The results of this study are (1) teachers-students' relationships have role to foster the character of honesty, fairness, caring, and teachers as role model for students; (2) students-students' relationships also have role to habituate good behavior to students; (3) school discipline contributes to the students' moral and cultural formation such as self-awareness, honesty, justice, responsibility, obedience to the rules, good commitment and unfazed by the changing era; (4) these learning implements have role in self-awareness, responsibility and care, because the teaching implements provided by the teachers becomes the students' responsibility.


The Revised Electricity Trading Arrangements (RETA), initiated by the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), proposes that the England & Wales Electricity Pool be replaced by bilateral trading ("the bilateral model"). This will allow direct contracting between counterparties, paying generators what they bid, and introducing an optional balancing market. Underlying the proposed reforms is the strong belief that changing the trading arrangements will limit the potential for the exploitation of market power by generators, whilst still providing a favourable operating environment for flexible coal plant, and result in wholesale electricity prices falling by around 10%. Until now, there has been little quantitative analysis of the RETA proposals and they have progressed with a surprising degree consensus on both sides of the market. In this study, we have therefore developed a computer simulation model of the wholesale electricity market in England & Wales as a means of systematically testing the potential impact of alternative trading arrangements on market prices. Generating firms are represented as autonomous "adaptive agents", which progressively learn to adopt profit maximising bidding behaviour. Unlike conventional simulation models, where agent behaviour is imposed exogenously by the modeller, elements of artificial intelligence are included to allow agents to independently develop their own trading strategies. Agents compete with each other in a repeated daily auction market setting where we test four different combinations of bidding and settlement rules. The results show that daily bidding with Pay SMP settlement, as in the current Pool day-ahead market, produces the lowest prices while hourly bidding with Pay Bid settlement, as proposed in the new bilateral model, produces the highest prices. This occurs, firstly, because hourly bidding allows generators to more effectively segment the market between on-peak and off-peak hours hence allowing more of the consumer surplus to be extracted and making tacit collusion easier. Secondly, it appears that Pay Bid increases the potential for overbidding by baseload generators, particularly independent power producers with small plant portfolios, reducing competitive pressure on generators with mid-merit plant. These results suggest that the bilateral model could amplify existing mid-merit generator market power and lead to relatively higher prices than the pool model, precisely the opposite of what OFFER, the DTI, and consumer groups are hoping for. However, OFFER is introducing RETA at the same time as forcing further divestment of plant by mid-merit generators. New entrants continue to add capacity, and full liberalisation of the retail market is beginning to increase competition among suppliers. It is therefore possible that market prices could still fall, despite RETA, but, in retrospect, it will be difficult to identify which changes have had a beneficial effect. Moreover, some aspects of the RETA proposal could even be beneficial, such as a firm day-ahead market, a balancing market that better allocates costs and risks, and the abolishment of capacity and availability payments. The virtue of using a modelling approach is that it has allowed us to focus on one set of changes, namely the reform of market clearing and settlement arrangements, while holding all else constant. It is on this basis that we argue that the bilateral model, as proposed, is likely to have a detrimental effect even though other reforms going on at the same time, particularly of the industry structure, could lead to the market as whole becoming more efficient.


BACKGROUND
Congenital Indifference to Pain (CIP) is a rare condition that inhibits the ability of patients to perceive physical pain but otherwise keeps normal sensory modalities. The condition has been mapped to an autosomal recessive trait to chromosome 2q 24.3 with mutations on the SCN9A gene.

CASE REPORT
A 2 year old Caucasian female presented with CIP. Bite injuries, tongue wounds and unaccounted dental trauma episodes were frequently reported. Preventive instructions and possible treatment modalities were discussed with the parents.

CONCLUSION
The cornerstone of treating CIP patients is an extensive preventive approach alongside regular oral examination at home by parents as well as routine recall appointments with dentists.


This study was conducted to assess the frequency of acute kidney injury(AKI) and risk factors associated with AKI in (PICU) patients.


This paper studies the problem of dynamically covering a given region D in Ropf2 using a set of N mobile sensor agents. First, a novel problem formulation is proposed that addresses a number of important multi-agent missions. The coverage goal, which is to cover a given search domain using mobile sensors such that each point is surveyed for a certain preset level, is then stated in a mathematically precise problem statement. Control laws are then developed that are guaranteed to meet this goal. The control laws are local in the sense that each agent makes use of information available from a subset of the other agents with which it can communicate. Several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the main ideas


Introduction: A population‐level relative risk assessment for comorbidities associated with myotonic dystrophy has not been performed. Methods: In this study we utilized the Utah Population Database to identify patients with myotonic dystrophy in Utah according to ICD‐9 coding. Comorbidity cases listed in the medical record were compared with those of the Utah population. Results: Individuals with myotonic dystrophy were found to possess an increased risk of central and obstructive sleep apnea, hypothyroidism, and intellectual disability. The risk of cardiac conduction disorder is 60 times the population risk. Conclusions: This study provides a population‐level relative risk assessment of comorbidities in myotonic dystrophy. This allows for improved counseling of patients regarding these increased risks. Muscle Nerve 52: 659–661, 2015


Most total body potassium (K) is located in the intracellular space, while extracellular potassium is tightly regulated by intraand extracellular shifts and renal excretion. Changes in intraand extracellular K levels modify the electrophysiological properties of the resting membrane potential in cardiac cells and subsequently influence the generation and conduction of impulses throughout the heart. During the 1950s, hypokalemia was reported to be lower than the fibrillation threshold in isolated rabbit hearts. Subsequently, relatively small observational studies reported an association between hypokalemia and the risk of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Thereafter, practice guidelines, including the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for management of ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI), recommended (Class I) maintaining K levels > 4.0 mEq/L although with the lowest level of evidence (C). Moreover, even higher target levels >4.5 mEq/L were suggested, yet no upper level was set. Concordantly, many hospitals implemented these guidelines by initiating treatment when serum K levels decrease below certain ''goal'' values. To our knowledge, these recommendations have not been revised, since in formal guidelines and in the most recent guidelines, this issue is not mentioned directly and only the undetermined role or possible deleterious effects of glucose– insulin–potassium (GIK) infusions are discussed. Ma et al, in this issue of Angiology, retrospectively evaluated short-term outcomes of 6613 patients presenting with STEMI, without renal insufficiency, according to K levels at presentation. Following adjustments to potential confounders, the authors found a J-shaped relationship between patient outcomes and K levels, with lowest predefined event rate with K levels of 4 to 4.5 mEq/L. Compared to the latter reference group, multivariate analysis revealed significantly higher 30-day mortality risk in patients with K level of 4.5 to 5.0 (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-1.98; P 1⁄4 .002) and even higher risk in patients with K level of 5.0 mEq/L (HR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.22-2.66; P 1⁄4 .002). This study has some limitations, particularly the relatively low adherence with contemporary guidelines, that is, insufficient use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; only *10% of cases) and optimal medical therapy, which might compromise applicability. Nevertheless, the findings are consistent with several recent reports showing that serum K levels, outside a relatively narrow range, are associated with worse outcomes in patients presenting with AMI. The methodology and main findings of the latter studies are summarized in Table 1. These studies, altogether included over 50 000 patients, consistently demonstrated that K levels are significantly associated with short(eg, in hospital) and long-term (up to 10 years) outcomes (eg, mortality and malignant arrhythmias) in patients presenting with AMI. A study that evaluated unstable angina patients and another study evaluating the outcome of target lesion revascularization observed consistent findings. K levels between 3.5 and 4 mEq/L (more frequently) or 4 and 4.5 mEq/L were found to be associated with lowest levels of mortality or other negative outcomes in most studies, while lower levels and even more prominently higher levels (including within normal K range) were significantly associated with worse outcomes. Furthermore, the latter association was similar regardless of K supplementation during hospitalization and seemed to be stepwise in most studies (eg, ''dose response'') further strengthening its robustness. Hence, best outcomes were reported in patients with K range for which the above-mentioned guidelines might suggest treatment to increase K levels. The exact pathophysiological mechanisms by which decreased or increased K levels are associated with deleterious prognosis in patients with AMI are uncertain. The AMI was reported to be associated with several systemic metabolic changes. These changes include increased plasma concentrations of catecholamines, free fatty acids, glucose, glycerol, cortisol, and cyclic AMP. Sekiyama et al showed a transient decrease in serum K level during the acute phase of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), followed by an increase at the stable phase (discharge). The degree of the K dip was correlated


Environmental chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors do not appear to pose a risk to human reproduction; however, their effects on the central nervous systems are less well understood. Animal studies suggested that maternal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) produced changes in rearing behavior, locomotion, anxiety, and learning/memory in offspring, as well as neuronal abnormalities. Some investigations suggested that EDC exert effects on central monoaminergic neurons, especially dopaminergic neurons. Our data demonstrated that EDC attenuate the development of dopaminergic neurons, which might be involved in developmental disorders. Perinatal exposure to EDC might affect neuronal plasticity in the hippocampus, thereby potentially modulating neuronal development, leading to impaired cognitive and memory functions. Endocrine disruptors also attenuate gender differences in brain development. For example, the locus ceruleus is larger in female rats than in males, but treatments with bisphenol-A (BPA) enlarge this region in males. Some reports indicated that EDC induce hypothyroidism, which might be evidenced as abnormal brain development. Endocrine disruptors might also affect mature neurons, resulting in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. The current review focused on alterations in the brain induced by EDC, specifically on the possible involvement of EDC in brain development and neurodegeneration.


Abstract Purpose:Purpose: Multi-modal gait training (MMGT) may improve impairments and functional limitations in individuals' post-stroke. The purpose of this case study was to investigate effects of MMGT on gait and balance outcomes immediately post-intervention, 30-day short term (ST) and 1-year long term follow-up periods. Method:Method: A 63-year-old patient, eight years post-stroke, participated in a MMGT program that included evidence-based gait interventions: unilateral treadmill training, inclined treadmill training at 8%, and over-ground fast walking. The eight sessions lasted 45-minutes each and consisted of the three interventions lasting 10-minutes each with rest breaks. Results:Results: Self-selected (SS) and fastest comfortable gait speed revealed meaningful changes (post-intervention, however, only SS gait speed maintained improvements at ST measurements). The Activities Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) increased from 19% to 28% at 1-year. ConclusionsConclusions: MMGT is soundly grounded in the contemporary principles of neuroplasticity. This case study confirmed that the combination of three task-specific and intense gait training interventions are safe and feasible for persons in the chronic phase of stroke. While ST results showed this MMGT improved all study outcomes from baseline to immediate post-intervention, substantial gains were retained only for SS gait speed and ABC scale at the 1-year follow-up.


Often the most difficult part of a research study is preparing the proposal based around a theoretical or philosophical framework. Graduate students '…express confusion, a lack of knowledge, and frustration with the challenge of choosing a theoretical framework and understanding how to apply it'.1 However, the importance in understanding and applying a theoretical framework in research cannot be overestimated.

The choice of a theoretical framework for a research study is often a reflection of the researcher's ontological (nature of being) and epistemological (theory of knowledge) perspective. We will not delve into these concepts, or personal philosophy in this article. Rather we will focus on how a theoretical framework can be integrated into research.

The theoretical framework is a blueprint for your research project1 and serves several purposes. It informs the problem you have identified, the purpose and significance of your research demonstrating how your research fits with what is already known (relationship to existing theory and research). This provides a basis for your research questions, the literature review and the methodology and analysis that you choose.1 Evidence of your chosen theoretical framework should be visible in every aspect of your research and should demonstrate the contribution of this research to knowledge.2

A theory is an explanation of a concept or an abstract idea of a phenomenon. An example of a theory is Bandura's middle …


Haematophagous insects are frequently carriers of parasitic diseases, including malaria. The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is the major vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and is thus responsible for thousands of deaths daily. Although the role of olfaction in A. gambiae host detection has been demonstrated, little is known about the combinations of ligands and odorant binding proteins (OBPs) that can produce specific odor-related responses in vivo. We identified a ligand, indole, for an A. gambiae odorant binding protein, AgamOBP1, modeled the interaction in silico and confirmed the interaction using biochemical assays. RNAi-mediated gene silencing coupled with electrophysiological analyses confirmed that AgamOBP1 binds indole in A. gambiae and that the antennal receptor cells do not respond to indole in the absence of AgamOBP1. This case represents the first documented instance of a specific A. gambiae OBP–ligand pairing combination, demonstrates the significance of OBPs in odor recognition, and can be expanded to the identification of other ligands for OBPs of Anopheles and other medically important insects.


Global Journal of Dairy Farming and Milk Production  ( GJ DFMP )  ISSN: 2449-1861  is  a peer-reviewed, open access journal that provides rapid publication (monthly) of articles in all areas of  Dairy Farming and Milk Production  and related disciplines. The objective of this journal is to provide a veritable platform for scientists and researchers all over the world to promote, share, and discuss a variety of innovative ideas and developments in all aspects of  Dairy Farming and Milk Production  The Journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. Papers will be published shortly after acceptance. All articles published  in G JDFMP are peer-reviewed.


Sensor networks, composed of large amount of micro-sensors, are considered promising, both in academic research and in real life applications. To ensure highly efficient communications between event observers and sensor network users, new infrastructures and algorithms are being developed. This paper describes Artery, a novel architecture that delivers queries and data between multiple observers and multiple mobile users. Simulation results show that Artery outperforms some major data dissemination algorithms.


Considers the problem of computing the length of a curve from digitized versions of the curve using parallel computation. The authors' aim is to study the inherent parallel computational complexity of this problem as a function of the digitization level. Precise formulations for the digitization, the parallel computation, and notions of local and nonlocal computations are given. It is shown that length cannot be computed locally from digitizations on rectangular tessellations. However, for a random tessellation and appropriate deterministic ones, the authors show that the length of straight line segments can be computed locally. Implications of the authors' results for a method for image segmentation and a number of open problems are discussed. >


Acute lung injury (ALI) is a clinically common critical disease with various treatment methods. Stem cell has drawn great attention for excellent performance in treatment of ALI. However, due to its high apoptosis rate, the further clinical application of stem cell is restricted. Exosomes are a kind of extracellular vesicles secreted by cells, which play important role in injury repair with further research about exosomes. This article reviews current situation, brief introduction to exosomes, repair effects of exosomes on ALI, and the potential signal pathway.


Objective: This study aimed to compare the short-term outcomes between laparoscopic and open distal pancreatectomy for lesions of the distal pancreas from a real-world database. Background: Reports on the benefits of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy include 2 randomized controlled trials; however, large-scale, real-world data are scarce. Methods: We analyzed the data of patients undergoing laparoscopic or open distal pancreatectomy for benign or malignant pancreatic tumors from April 2008 to May 2020 from a Japanese nationwide inpatient database. We performed propensity score analyses to compare the inhospital mortality, morbidity, readmission rate, reoperation rate, length of postoperative stay, and medical cost between the 2 groups. Results: From 5502 eligible patients, we created a pseudopopulation of patients undergoing laparoscopic and open distal pancreatectomy using inverse probability of treatment weighting. Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy was associated with lower inhospital mortality during the period of admission (0.0% vs 0.7%, P<0.001) and within 30 days (0.0% vs 0.2%, P=0.001), incidence of reoperation during the period of admission (0.7% vs 1.7%, P=0.018), postpancreatectomy hemorrhage (0.4% vs 2.0%, P<0.001), ileus (1.1% vs 2.8%, P=0.007), and shorter postoperative length of stay (17 vs 20 d, P<0.001). Conclusions: The propensity score analysis revealed that laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy was associated with better outcomes than open surgery in terms of inhospital mortality, reoperation rate, postoperative length of stay, and incidence of postoperative complications such as postpancreatectomy hemorrhage and ileus.


Carbonate rocks have complex porous structure and conventional approach to characterize two phase flow in the laboratory can be inadequate, especially in vuggy structures. Various laboratory studies indicate that centimeter scale heterogeneities have important effects. An important question is the determination of the 3D permeability map later used in the interpretation of two phase flow experiments. Our approach is based on the combined use CT scan 3D porosity maps, NMR relaxometry, tracer experiments and numerical simulations to derive a 3D permeability map consistent with the experimental observations. NMR T2 measurements are used to quantify the average porous volume represented by the vugs while CT scan can reproduce the spatial distribution of porosity at the millimeter scale. The permeability map is mainly deduced by fitting the tracer experiment using 3D numerical simulations where we introduce the CT scan porosity map and where the permeability in each grid cell take only two values, one associated with vugs, and one with the matrix. The study was performed using a volcanic rock (Andesite) with 22% porosity and low permeability (0.4 mD) to mimic a non fractured vuggy carbonate. The variogram analysis in the flow direction does not indicate a correlation of the porosity map. However, the tracer experiment indicates the existence of a preferential path and the measured flux dispersion behaves as in a layered system (early breakthrough, long tail). For a given volume fraction of vugs (congruent with NMR results), the experiments can be reproduced with numerical simulation by adjusting the permeability contrast between the matrix and vug to 360. The use of a streamline simulator was necessary because of the large number of grid cells used and low numerical dispersion. Finally, miscible displacement experiments using different viscosity fluids are interpreted and discussed using three models considering heterogeneity and viscosity.


Devices delivering energy to biological tissues (eg lasers, RF and ultrasound) can induce surgical smoke consisting of particles, vapor, gasses and aerosols. Besides interfering with the view of the surgeon, the smoke is a risk for the health of both the users and patients. In literature, it has been shown that surgical smoke can contain carcinogenic and harmful biological agents. However, the impact on health of the users and patients is widely debated. The use of smoke evacuation systems in the OR is usually governed by economical reason instead of safety issues. A special image enhancement technique is used to study the behavior of smoke and aerosols and the effectiveness of smoke evacuation systems. A back scatter illumination technique using 1 &mgr;s light flashes at video rate was applied to image the smoke production of various surgical devices without and with smoke evacuation while ablating biological tissues. The effectiveness of various smoke evacuation devices and strategies were compared. The ablative thermal devices produced smoke but also aerosols. If the thermal energy was delivered in high peak pulses, the presence of aerosols was more significant. Ultrasound based devices produce mainly aerosols. The distance to the target, the opening of the evacuation nozzle and the dimension of aerosols were leading for the effectiveness of the smoke evacuation. The smoke visualization technique has proven an effective tool for study the effectiveness of smoke and aerosols evacuation. The results can contribute to the necessity to use evacuation systems in the OR.


Coumarin 540 dye was introduced into ordered mesoporous silica (MCM-41) by thermal diffusion in vacuum. Photoluminescence responses around 535 nm and 483 nm were detected from the mesoporous silica loaded with coumarin 540, arising from the confined dye and mesoporous silica, respectively. The photoluminescence lifetimes were found to be affected by the bonding between coumarin 540 molecules and the internal surface of the MCM-41.


During 2006, NSW and ACT Health Departments jointly engaged KPMG to develop an Operating Theatre Requirements' Projection Model and an accompanying planning guideline. A research scan was carried out to identify drivers of surgical demand, theatre capacity and theatre performance, as well as locating existing approaches to modelling operating theatre requirements for planning purposes. The project delivered a Microsoft Excel-based model for projecting future operating theatre requirements, together with an accompanying guideline for use of the model and interpretation of its outputs. It provides a valuable addition to the suite of tools available to Health staff for service and capital planning. The model operates with several limitations, largely due to being data dependent, and the state and completeness of available theatre activity data. However, the operational flexibility built into the model allows users to compensate for these limitations, on a case by case basis, when the user has access to suitable, local data. The design flexibility of the model means that updating the model as improved data become available is not difficult; resulting in revisions being able to be made quickly, and disseminated to users rapidly.


BACKGROUND
Electroporation accomplishes transient permeabilization of cells and thus aids in the uptake of drugs. The method has been employed clinically in the treatment of dermatological tumors with bleomycin. The conditions of electroporation are still largely empirical and information is lacking as to the interrelationships among voltage pulse height, pulse number and toxicity, cell permeation, drug uptake, and effects on drug toxicity. We used propidium iodide (PI) and flow cytometry to define cell permeation into cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments to determine the improvements of drug toxicity that can be accomplished by electroporation.

METHODS
Human squamous carcinoma cells of defined TP53 status and normal human epithelial cells were subjected to electroporation using a square wave pulse generator in the range of 0-5,000 V/cm. Flow cytometry served to establish entry of the drug reporter, PI, into the cytoplasm and nucleus. A dye staining method served to establish cell survival and to determine the toxicity of bleomycin alone, electroporation alone, and electroporation with bleomycin.

RESULTS
The electric field intensity (EFI) required to produce 50% permeabilization (EP(50)) is cell type dependent. The EP(50) varied from 1,465 to 2,027 V/cm. An EFI below 900 V/cm is growth stimulatory whereas an EFI in excess of 1,000 V/cm is growth inhibitory. An EFI of 1,000 V/cm is sufficient to increase bleomycin toxicity by a factor of 2-3. A differential electroporation efficiency is observed between normal and tumor cells.

CONCLUSIONS
Tumor cells can be targeted preferentially at electroporation voltages where normal cells are less permeable.


We establish a dual characterization of solutions of Ky Fan best approximation problem and as consequence we obtain an existence criterium under conditions formulated for the weak topology.


The relation between character and amplitude of reflection and the geophone depth was investigated at several locations in Oklahoma. It is shown that the variation of reflection amplitude down to a depth of the order of 200 feet is, in general, what would be expected from changes of the acoustic impedance of the strata traversed. Changes in reflection character are illustrated by tracings from the records obtained.


Identifying and assessing risk is one of the most important processes in managing complex systems and requires careful consideration. The need for an effective, efficient approach to risk management is considerably more important for defense industries, because they are exposed to risk in the early stages of development. This paper uses heterogeneity and homogeneity analysis between risk factors with Cochran's Q test and multidimensional scaling in order to present the complexity of the risk factors relevant to defense systems of systems (SoSs), and it proposes a methodology for identifying, analyzing, and monitoring the risks that they face. Findings from an in-depth analysis of 46 classified defense SoSs shows a need to focus on three main risks faced by defense projects: insufficient human resources, changes in the original specifications, and lack of other (nonhuman) resources. The paper also presents some recommendations for minimizing risk factors in defense SoSs.


Pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) was assessed with simultaneous continuous wave Doppler echocardiography (CW) and cardiac catheterization (CATH) in 33 cases. There was a close correlation between CW-estimated peak pressure gradient of tricuspid regurgitation (TRPGp) and CATH-measured PASP (r = 0.96, P less than 0.0001). Excellent correlation (r = 0.96, P less than 0.0001) between CW-estimated PASP and CATH-measured PASP was also obtained. The derived regression equation was PASP = TRPGp + 1.33 kPa. When the patients had relative or pathologic pulmonic stenosis, the regression equation was corrected by pulmonary artery pressure gradient (PAPG). The regression equation became PASP = TRPGp + 1.33-PAPG.


It is well known that hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have fewer requirements to transmission due to the favorable performance of electric motor for traction. However, multi-gear transmission with more gears is still beneficial in improving acceleration and fuel economy performance of the vehicles than one with fewer gears, even not as much as in conventional vehicles. On the other hand, use of multi-gear transmission with more gears inevitably adds complexity to vehicle structure and control, consequently resulting in high cost. In this paper, the sensitivity of vehicle performance to transmission gears for a parallel HEV has been analyzed by using SOC based Dynamic Programming. The results generated in this paper provide helpful guidance for HEV design.


The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) provides a framework that accommodates current and future services in wired and wireless networks. However, IMS does not handle non-3G elements such as wireless local area networks (WLANs). In order to provide interconnection at the service layer between 3G and WLANs, interworking between IMS and WLAN is necessary. Extending IMS beyond 3G to WLANs is a crucial step towards the evolution of a seamless universal next generation wireless network, commonly known as 4G. In this paper, a novel architecture for service layer interworking between WLAN and 3G is presented. The architecture takes into consideration the interaction of WLAN Application SIP servers with the IMS call session control functions (CSCFs) and the extensibility of application servers (ASs) beyond the core IMS network. A WLAN AS is introduced into the IMS network and an SIP server into the WLAN. These act as interworking arbitrators and communicate with each other to provide service and session continuity. The main advantage of this architecture is its feasibility within the standard. It is also non-intrusive to the IMS core or the WLAN.


Background: Aloe-emodin belongs to the group of anthraquinones having extremely high biological activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the range of morphological and biochemical changes in HeLa cells treated with aloe-emodin, especially with regard to the lysosomal compartment. Methods: Marking of lysosomes was performed with neutral red staining for conventional light microscopy and acridine orange staining for confocal microscopy. To evaluate ctivity of lysosomal enzymes and permeability of the lysosomal membrane, spectrophotometric techniques were employed. Results: Aloe-emodin caused increased permeability of lysosomal membranes in HeLa cells, expressed inter alia by extinction of the orange color of acridine orange (lysosomal marker) and in reduction of neutral red uptake by lysosomes. These changes are accompanied by release of cathepsins from the interior of the lysosomes with a simultaneous highly significant increase in their activity in the cytoplasm. Conclusion: The results indicate that aloe-emodin can activate lysosomal pathway-dependent apoptosis in HeLa cells.


The study looks at the impact of three major regulatory changes that happened on the historic day of 2 July 2001, when badla was banned, rolling settlement replaced accounting period settlement for major stocks and same day options were introduced on a selective list of stocks. Further, four months down the line, on 9 November 2001, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) introduced stock futures on Indian bourses. These dates are very significant for the microstructure of the Indian stock market as SEBI made a coordinated effort to eliminate the bad qualities of badla and accounting period settlement and restored the good qualities of badla. These multiple microstructural and exogenous changes on a single day provide a unique setting to examine their impact on market quality. The study finds that market quality did not improve with this set of changes until the introduction of stock futures, which retain the good qualities of badla.


The present invention provides an aluminum alloy or a surface treatment method in which to a sulfuric acid bath, a mixed bath of oxalic acid bath or a metal nitrate is added as silver nitrate and / or copper nitrate, or as the metal sulphate added silver sulfate electrolyte and / or copper sulfate, AC-DC superimposed current is applied to the base material of the negative wave-flow or current flowing PR negative wave-current pulse electrolytic formed of aluminum or an alloy thereof, whereby a way, when at the same time the anodized film formed on the surface of the base material, a metal nitrate or sulfate added is deposited on the anodized film.


Molybdenum sulfides are highly active hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts based on earth-abundant elements. In their most active forms, amorphous solid-state MoSx show HER activity comparable to noble metals. Due to the amorphous structure of the catalysts, insights into the reaction mechanism, the nature of the catalytic site(s) and catalyst deactivation are difficult to obtain. This perspective summarizes recent developments in our understanding of molybdenum sulfide HER catalysis and explores whether molecular molybdenum sulfido clusters – so-called thiomolybdates – are suitable models to study catalytic processes of Mo–S compounds. Further, the perspective raises fundamental questions relating to the reactivity, degradation and repair of thiomolybdate HER catalysts and discusses whether lessons can be learned from related moieties, in particular the iron molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco) in the enzyme nitrogenase.


ABSTRACT This article describes our study of the total shift during the first passages (one-sided and two-sided exit times) of Markov-modulated Brownian motion with bilateral ph-type jumps, which is referred to as MMBM. The total shift is defined as the value of a so-called shift process at the first passage epochs of the MMBM. The shift process, introduced by Bean and O'Reilly, behaves like a continuous Markovian fluid process; that is, it increases or decreases linearly with slopes regulated by the underlying Markov process that determines the path of the MMBM. Hence, the notion of total shift, which includes the first passage times of the MMBM as special cases, is useful for describing various performance measures of systems modeled by the MMBM. In this article, we present formulas for the Laplace–Stieltjes transform matrices of the total shift during various first passages of the MMBM. In particular, a Riccati equation is derived so that a matrix associated with the Laplace–Stieltjes transform of the total shift during the first return time of the MMBM is its minimal non-negative solution matrix. With this solution matrix, the Laplace–Stieltjes transform matrices can be obtained without much additional work. Furthermore, it is shown that the Riccati equation satisfies the conditions for the Newton scheme to have quadratic convergence, which enables us to use algorithms with quadratic convergence, such as Newton's method and the Stochastic Doubling Algorithm, to compute the presented matrix-driven formulas. For the analyses, we take an approach based on approximating the MMBM with a sequence of scaled Markov-modulated fluid flows with bilateral ph-type jumps, referred to as MMFF, that weakly converge to the MMBM. Another contribution of this article is that duality results are derived in relation to the MMBM, which is an extension of the duality theorems developed by Ahn and Ramaswami for an MMFF without a jump.


Low-Light Image Enhancement (LLIE) aims to improve the perceptual quality of an image captured in low-light conditions. Generally, a low-light image can be divided into lightness and chrominance components. Recent advances in this area mainly focus on the refinement of the lightness, while ignoring the role of chrominance. It easily leads to chromatic aberration and, to some extent, limits the diverse applications of chrominance in customized LLIE. In this work, a "brighten-and-colorize'' network (called BCNet), which introduces image colorization to LLIE, is proposed to address the above issues. BCNet can accomplish LLIE with accurate color and simultaneously enables customized enhancement with varying saturations and color styles based on user preferences. Specifically, BCNet regards LLIE as a multi-task learning problem: brightening and colorization. The brightening sub-task aligns with other conventional LLIE methods to get a well-lit lightness. The colorization sub-task is accomplished by regarding the chrominance of the low-light image as color guidance like the user-guide image colorization. Upon completion of model training, the color guidance (i.e., input low-light chrominance) can be simply manipulated by users to acquire customized results. This customized process is optional and, due to its decoupled nature, does not compromise the structural and detailed information of lightness. Extensive experiments on the commonly used LLIE datasets show that the proposed method achieves both State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) performance and user-friendly customization.


The thermal desorption of hydrogen adsorbed on a clean surface of polycrystalline copper foil was studied under ultra high vacuum conditions. The presence of chemisorbed hydrogen in a dissociated state was verified in a temperature range between 193 and 573 K. During the desorption process, the adsorbed hydrogen atoms recombined into molecules; this follows second order kinetics. The activation energy for desorption was 68.6±8.0 kJ mol−1 and remained nearly constant in the range of surface coverage up to 1.6×1014 atom cm−2. The isotope effect on the desorption of deuterium was found to be straightforward. These findings showed a good agreement with the results obtained from the analysis of H2–D2 equilibration on copper powder catalyst. In addition, the necessary conditions to obtain the exact desorption spectra were inspected with the aid of computer simulation.


The pressure tubes of pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) operate under high temperature high pressure aqueous environment and are subjected to fast neutron irradiation. In order to assure the structural integrity of pressure tube during service, it is periodically examined by non-destructive examination (NDE) techniques. A typical Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) consists of few hundred horizontally placed coolant channels. The coolant channel comprises of a Zr-2.5% Nb pressure tube encircled by a Zircaloy-4 calandria tube and four garter spring spacers (Zr-2.5Nb-0.5Cu), which prevents these two tubes to come in contact during their service life. The pressure tube carries the nuclear fuel, high temperature high pressure heavy water coolant and is subjected to fast neutron irradiation. The integrity of pressure tube is central to the safety of PHWRs. To ensure this, they are periodically subjected to in-service inspection by nondestructive examination (NDE) techniques.  In this paper detailed study has been done on the operating conditions which lead to degradations in the pressure tube with respect to dimensional changes as a result of irradiation creep and growth, deterioration in mechanical properties due to irradiation embitterment, initiation and growth of new flaws like fretting damage due to debris and fuel element bearing pads. The absorbed hydrogen can also limit the life of a pressure tube due to the degradation mechanisms such as delayed hydride cracking (DHC), hydride blister formation and cracking and hydride embitterment. It is a also one of the regulatory requirement to periodically subject pressure tubes to in-service inspection by employing non-destructive examination techniques. All these aspects have been duly addressed in this paper. Keywords : pressure tube, zircalloy-4, irradiation damage, delayed hydride cracking


The distribution of time headway has long been a research topic because headway between vehicles is an important flow characteristic affecting safety, level of service, driver behavior, and capacity of a transportation system. However, almost all reported research on headway is focused on mixed vehicular flow without considering the difference in headway with respect to different vehicle types. In this paper, with the use of 1-day freeway traffic data from Interstate 35 in Austin, Texas, four time headway types based on different combinations of leading vehicles and following vehicles–-car–truck, truck–car, truck–truck, and car–car–-are analyzed at different traffic flow levels. Statistical comparisons between each vehicle type–specific headway and mixed vehicle–type headway are made to verify their significant differences. The paper demonstrates the necessity of vehicle type–specific headway study. The results of the paper not only identify qualitative differences between the vehicle type–specific headways and distributions, but also can be used as a reference for practical applications, especially for improving microscopic traffic simulation models.


We present the identification of the previously unnoticed physical association between the Corona Australis molecular cloud (CrA), traced by interstellar dust emission, and two shell-like structures observed with line emission of atomic hydrogen (HI) at 21 cm. Although the existence of the two shells had already been reported in the literature, the physical link between the HI emission and CrA had never been highlighted until now. We used both Planck and Herschel data to trace dust emission and the Galactic All Sky HI Survey (GASS) to trace HI. The physical association between CrA and the shells is assessed based both on spectroscopic observations of molecular and atomic gas and on dust extinction data with Gaia. The shells are located at a distance between ~140 and ~190 pc, which is comparable to the distance of CrA, which we derived as (150.5 ± 6.3) pc. We also employed dust polarization observations from Planck to trace the magnetic-field structure of the shells. Both of them show patterns of magnetic-field lines following the edge of the shells consistently with the magnetic-field morphology of CrA. We estimated the magnetic-field strength at the intersection of the two shells via the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) method. Despite the many caveats that are behind the DCF method, we find a magnetic-field strength of (27 ± 8) μG, which is at least a factor of two larger than the magnetic-field strength computed off of the HI shells. This value is also significantly larger compared to the typical values of a few μG found in the diffuse HI gas from Zeeman splitting. We interpret this as the result of magnetic-field compression caused by the shell expansion. This study supports a scenario of molecular-cloud formation triggered by supersonic compression of cold magnetized HI gas from expanding interstellar bubbles.


The biochemical features and virulence gene profiles of 37 enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains belonging to serogroups other than O157 and O26 (non-O157/O26 EHEC) were investigated. All strains were isolated from humans between 2002 and 2013 in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. Serogroup O111 strains were the most common, followed by O103, O121, and O145. Most strains (84%) were negative for sorbose fermentation, whereas only 1 and 2 were negative for sorbitol and rhamnose fermentation, respectively. Two strains lacked β-D-glucuronidase activity. Shiga toxin (stx) subtyping revealed 6 genotypes:stx1a (n = 20), stx1a + stx2a (n = 8), stx2a (n = 4), stx2b (n = 3), stx2a + stx2c (n = 1), and stx2a + stx2d (n = 1). Polymerase chain reaction screening of other toxin and adherence genes showed that astA, subA, and cdtB were present in 5, 2, and 2 strains, respectively. The intimin gene eae was present in 30 strains (81%). Of the 7 eae-negative strains, saa and eibG were found in 3 and 2 strains, respectively; no adherence factors were detected in the remaining 2 strains. The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the strains to 12 drugs were examined and 11 strains (30%) showed resistance to 1 or more drugs. Our results revealed that non-O157/O26 EHEC strains exhibit various biochemical phenotypes and carry several toxins and adherence factor genes.


The concept of media influence has a long history in media and communication studies, and has also had significant influence on public policy. This article revisits questions of media influence through three short case studies. First, it critically analyses the strongly partisan position of News Corporation's newspapers against the Labor government during the 2013 Australian Federal election to consider whether the potential for media influence equated to the effective use of media power. Second, it discusses the assumption in broadcasting legislation, in both the United Kingdom and Australia, that terrestrial broadcasting should be subject to more content regulation than subscription services, and notes the new challenges arising from digital television and over-the-top video streaming services. Finally, it discusses the rise of multi-platform global content aggregators such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and others, and how their rise necessitates changes in ways of thinking about concentration of media ownership, and regulations that may ensue from it.


In this paper, we propose and investigate a new text entry technique using micro thumb-tip gestures. Our technique features a miniature QWERTY keyboard residing invisibly on the first segment of the user's index finger. Text entry can be carried out using the thumb-tip to tap the tip of the index finger. The keyboard layout was optimized for eyes-free input by utilizing a spatial model reflecting the users' natural spatial awareness of key locations on the index finger. We present our approach of designing and optimizing the keyboard layout through a series of user studies and computer simulated text entry tests over 1,146,484 possibilities in the design space. The outcome is a 2×3 grid with the letters highly confining to the alphabetic and spatial arrangement of QWERTY. Our user evaluation showed that participants achieved an average text entry speed of 11.9 WPM and were able to type as fast as 13.3 WPM towards the end of the experiment.


We propose a method for user-driven recognition of events in audio streams, aiming to assist journalists towards easily annotate unedited audiovisual content. Nonlocal information provided by the user, as for example that the sound of applause exists within the video, is used for adapting the audio event classifiers so as to detect the exact position of these events in the video. Towards this end, each audio class is modeled using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) and the final automatic decision is taken on a mid-term audio basis, using an alternative of the One Vs All architecture. A weighting function is generated based on the user input and it is applied on the soft-output decision of the respective SVMs, thus adapting the final decision to the user's provided knowledge. To evaluate our method, we have used a large dataset of real news videos, provided by the German international broadcaster (DW — Deutsche Welle) and the Portugese broadcaster (Lusa — Agłncia de Notcias de Portuga) where five audio classes, often met in the particular dataset, are defined. Results show that the above process leads to significant raise of the audio tracking performance.