Abstract During Late Carboniferous-Early Permian times dextral transtensional movements along the NW-trending Franconian Fault System and parallel faults caused complex block faulting in the Thuringian Forest region, Germany, accompanied by intense magmatism. This is well constrained by geochronological data (207Pb/206Pb single zircon, SHRIMP, 40Ar/39Ar mica, zircon fission-track ages), field relations, and the sedimentary record from the Ruhla Crystalline Complex (RCC) and surroundings. The combined dataset indicates that the Ruhla Crystalline Complex was faulted into three nearly N-S-trending segments, which underwent different exhumation histories during Late Carboniferous-Permian times. The central segment of the RCC was exhumed by several kilometres as a horst block, while the eastern and western segments subsided simultaneously, forming the basement to the Oberhof and Eisenach molasse basins, respectively. Late Carboniferous-Permian uplift of the central segment is constrained by 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages of 311 ± 3 (muscovite) and 294–288 ± 3 Ma (biotite), a weighted zircon fission-track age of 272 ± 7 Ma and overlying Zechstein sediments. In contrast, the eastern segment shows much older 40Ar/39Albiotite cooling ages between 336 ± 4 and 323 ± 3 Ma, was exposed at c. 300 Ma, and subsequently covered by molasse sediments and volcanic rocks between 300 and c. 275 Ma. A similar Late Carboniferous evolution is inferred for the western segment, as it is also overlain by Lower Permian volcanic rocks and has a 297 ± 29 Ma single zircon fission-track age. Simultaneous horst and basin formation is additionally constrained by granite pebbles in conglomerates of the Oberhof and Eisenach basins. These pebbles can partly be derived from granites in the central segment of the RCC. Age data and the orientation of granitoid bodies and dykes in the Ruhla Crystalline Complex and its surroundings provide evidence for the opening of NE-trending structures between 300 and 294 Ma, and formation or reactivation of W- to NW-trending structures between 290 and 275 Ma. Magmatic activity in the Thuringian Forest region may have been caused by widespread mantle upwelling in central Europe during the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian.


In the recent two decades, user authentication has become a popular issue of identity management. Fingerprints, DNA and the human face are distinct organism characteristics usually used in user identification. In this paper, the human face is the main subject for authentication. Because the ARM system provides strong computation ability, various interfaces such as camera, mass storage, etc. It was used in this study. The main recognizer algorithm — Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is completely accomplished on the ARM system. Finally, an ARM-based human face recognition platform is implemented in this study.


BACKGROUND: To investigate the advantages of Carbohydrate (CHO) in inflammatory markers, comfort and clinical outcomes in elderly patients undergoing open radical prostatectomy.METHODS: Patients of ≥65 years old with radical prostatectomy who underwent open radical prostatectomy were randomized to the CHO group, water group, and fasted group. Patients in the CHO group and water group received oral CHO, 800 ml of placebo water before surgery, and oral CHO and placebo water 400 ml 2 to 3 hours before surgery; the fasted group did not drink any liquid. The main outcomes are inflammatory markers. The secondary outcomes are cellular immunity, comfort, the index of grip strength of body mass and clinical outcomes.RESULTS: A total of 90 patients were included in current study (i.e., CHO group, n=28; water group, n=30; fasted group, n=32). The three groups matched well in age, body mass index, the grade of (American Society of Anesthesiologists) ASA, operation time, blood loss, and fluid volume. CHO reduces IL-6 of Day1 and Day7 (P = 0.009, 0.005, respectively), IL-8 (P=0.005) of Day1, Day1, Day 3, and Day 7 TNF (P = 0.001, 0.006, 0.003 respectively) compared with the fasted group ; placebo water reduced Day 1 and Day 7 TNF (P = 0.005, 0.038, respectively), Day 1of IL-8 (P = 0.045). CHO reduced Day3 of TNF (P=0.026) compared to placebo water. In the CHO group and the water group, the morning thirst scores (0.68, 1.26, respectively) and starvation (0.24, 0.47, respectively) were decreased. The first time to leave bed in the fasted group (39.21 (15-93) h) was much later than in the CHO group (28.57 (10-100) h) and the water group (28.71 (12-70) h).Conclusion: Compared with routine water ban, preoperative CHO and placebo water can reduce the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF in elderly patients undergoing radical prostatectomy, which can improve the patient's preoperative comfort and shorten the patient's first time to leave bed. Compared with placebo water, CHO has no significant advantage in improving inflammatory markers and clinical outcomes.


PURPOSE
In vivo, a loss of mesh porosity triggers scar tissue formation and restricts functionality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the properties and configuration changes as mesh deformation and mesh shrinkage of a soft mesh implant compared with a conventional stiff mesh implant in vitro and in a porcine model.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Tensile tests and digital image correlation were used to determine the textile porosity for both mesh types in vitro. A group of three pigs each were treated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visible conventional stiff polyvinylidene fluoride meshes (PVDF) or with soft thermoplastic polyurethane meshes (TPU) (FEG Textiltechnik mbH, Aachen, Germany), respectively. MRI was performed with a pneumoperitoneum at a pressure of 0 and 15 mmHg, which resulted in bulging of the abdomen. The mesh-induced signal voids were semiautomatically segmented and the mesh areas were determined. With the deformations assessed in both mesh types at both pressure conditions, the porosity change of the meshes after 8 weeks of ingrowth was calculated as an indicator of preserved elastic properties. The explanted specimens were examined histologically for the maturity of the scar (collagen I/III ratio).

RESULTS
In TPU, the in vitro porosity increased constantly, in PVDF, a loss of porosity was observed under mild stresses. In vivo, the mean mesh areas of TPU were 206.8 cm2 (± 5.7 cm2 ) at 0 mmHg pneumoperitoneum and 274.6 cm2 (± 5.2 cm2 ) at 15 mmHg; for PVDF the mean areas were 205.5 cm2 (± 8.8 cm2 ) and 221.5 cm2 (± 11.8 cm2 ), respectively. The pneumoperitoneum-induced pressure increase resulted in a calculated porosity increase of 8.4% for TPU and of 1.2% for PVDF. The mean collagen I/III ratio was 8.7 (± 0.5) for TPU and 4.7 (± 0.7) for PVDF.

CONCLUSION
The elastic properties of TPU mesh implants result in improved tissue integration compared to conventional PVDF meshes, and they adapt more efficiently to the abdominal wall. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 827-833, 2018.


Fatty acids and fatty acid derivatives are important biorenewable products, as well as precursors for further transformation via chemical catalysis. This minireview focuses on recent advances in increasing the production of fatty acids and derived products in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The engineering of upstream pathways to increase levels of the required precursors, fatty acid synthase systems to increase expression and to modify chain length, and downstream pathways to produce free fatty acids, fatty acid ethyl esters, fatty alcohols and alkanes are highlighted, and current challenges are discussed.


The search for principles of social organization which satisfactorily explain circumstances and phenomena in a wide range of societies is not new. The following discussion describes the political system which operates in an American Indian school, and discusses the striking analogy between the school's bureaucratic structure and operation and the structure and operation of a segmentary lineage system. Sahlins (1968) sees the segmentary lineage system as an organization for predatory expansion. Such a view is examined in the bureaucratic context, particularly in terms of budgetary "warfare" between segments and the ramifications of such warfare on the fulfillment of the school's stated goals.


A brief account of the meeting appears elsewhere in this issue (see page 389). We have not attempted to present it in greater detail as it is fully reported in the current issues of the British MedicaZ Journai, and in any case it was not primarily Australia's meeting. However, the Australian Branches, as part of the Association, were given a substantial and honourable part in the scientific programme, and every way in general the Australian visitors were made to feel very welcome guests. Perhaps one of the most important side effects of the meeting from our viewpoint was the cementing of friendly relations with our colleagues in New Zealand, of whom we see all too little. It would be most gratifying, and would provide an excellent opportunity to attempt to return friendly hospitality, if a substantial contingent of New Zealanders would visit Australia in May, 1962, for the Adelaide Congress, which may well be an historic occasion.


We consider a self-adjoint matrix dierence eigenvalue problem with Dirichlet or anti-periodic boundary conditions. By reformulation of the problem as a Stieltjes Sturm{Liouville equation and then applying recent inequalities developed by Brown, Clark, and Hinton, conditions are given which imply all eigenvalues are positive of the dierence equation problem. Examples are given which illustrate how these conditions allow cancellation of the positive and negative parts of the coecients in the dierence equation to preserve the positivity of the eigenvalues.


The Washington State University dairy experienced an outbreak of intramammary infections (IMI) caused by Staphylococcus aureus during autumn 1993 through summer 1995. The outbreak was believed to be a result of transmission of 1 strain of S aureus in a herd that historically had excellent control of contagious mastitis. Control practices included strict hygiene at time of milking and preferential culling of cows infected with S aureus. Mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae was not found in this herd. Despite excellent control practices, the strain of S aureus caused a new infection rate of approximately 3% of the herd per month. Moreover, a second strain of S aureus, isolated from a cow with mastitis, was introduced into the herd experimentally, and it failed to transmit disease. The outbreak of S aureus mastitis in this herd was eventually controlled by maintaining a program of strict milking time hygiene, by intensifying the program of preferentially culling infected cows, and by segregating cows with S aureus IMI in a separate pen and milking these infected cows last.


OBJECTIVE
The study was undertaken to compare the frequencies of the various types of malignant neoplasms affecting females in the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia during the years 1996-1998, to the experience of a previous report (1987 to 1989) in the same population with rapid advancing health care services.

METHODS
A retrospective descriptive approach was adopted. Histopathological records of Asir Central Hospital were reviewed to extract data on female malignant neoplasms seen in the years January 1996-December 1998. The cancer from various sites were ranked based on their percentage (crude relative) frequencies, and compared with the previous report (1987-1989).

RESULTS
Of the 274 cases of histologically confirmed female malignant diseases, the breast (22%), skin (9%) and thyroid (7%) were the leading sites. This ranking contrasts with the previous finding (1987-1989) which involved the skin, breast and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, in descending order of frequencies. The frequency of gynecological malignancies was relatively higher than in the previous report.

CONCLUSION
There may be a need to review the pattern of malignancies in the female population in this region from time to time in order to concurrently update planning on preventive and treatment measures.


Esca disease and Botryosphaeria dieback are currently considered as serious grapevine diseases which affect vineyard health and induce economic losses. Both of these trunk diseases (GTDs) are caused by a complex of pathogens, and foliar expression is influenced by several factors, including environmental factors such as water stress. To manage water stress in some vine areas, culture practice based on irrigation systems for limiting water stress have been developed; however, little knowledge of the influence of such systems on GTD emergence is currently available. The present paper addresses the impact of irrigation systems and climatic factors (rainfall and temperature) on the expression of GTDs, specifically esca and Botryosphaeria dieback. A field experiment on Chardonnay in North East Spain, a vine growing area where drought is present and which is managed by an irrigation system, was therefore carried out during a 3-year period. The water stress impact on GTD expression was evaluated by measuring the GTD incidence and analysing different physiological parameters at different phenological stages, including principal component analysis and gene expression. The main finding of this study was the significant roles of vine transpiration and water availability, which depend on irrigation volume and rainfall amount; together, they may explain the erratic symptom expression in plants infected by GTD fungi depending on the year. All these parameters are discussed to better understand the relationship between GTD expression, irrigation system and climatic factors.


H-2Kk is a transmembrane glycoprotein having the N-terminal region of the heavy chain exposed at the cell surface and the C-terminal region exposed at the cytoplasmic face in its native configuration in the plasma membrane. The configuration of H-2Kk in liposomes formed by detergent dialysis was investigated by using fluorescently labeled H-2 and Co2+ ions to quench fluorescence. H-2Kk was incorporated into sealed lipid vesicles when deoxycholate was removed by dialysis from a mixture of protein and lipid. Including 20 mM carboxyfluorescein (CF) in the mixture prior to dialysis resulted in CF trapped inside the vesicles at concentrations where self-quenching occurred. Vesicles with CF trapped inside were shown to be osmotically active and impermeable to Na+ and Co2+ ions. In order to examine the configuration of H-2Kk in these liposomes, the heavy chain was covalently labeled by using the sulfhydryl reactive fluorescent reagents fluorescein-5-ylmaleimide (NFM) or 5-[[2-[(iodoacetyl)amino]-ethyl]amino]naphthalene-1-sulfonic acid (IAEDANS). In both cases, approximately equal amounts of fluorescent label were incorporated into the N- and C-terminal regions of the protein. Incorporation of the labeled H-2 into liposomes and examination of the effect of Co2+ on the fluorescence showed that all of the label was accessible to quenching by Co2+ and thus exposed on the outside of the liposome. The results demonstrate that the H-2Kk is incorporated into these liposomes in a hairpin configuration, not in the transmembrane configuration found in native membranes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This study aims at indicating learning styles of EFL students who study in Foreign Language Program, majoring English for Service Sectors, as well as to investigate the relationships between the students' learning styles and their academic achievement for English courses. The questionnaire developed by Reid (1987) was distributed to indicate the students' perceptual learning style preferences. The grades which the students received from previous English courses were also used as the dependent variable to reveal the relationships with their learning styles. Hopefully, the results obtained from the study could show how the students' learning styles can be used as a predictor of their academic achievement for English courses. Besides, the explanation of learning style preferences could be used as the guideline for providing an authentic input, such as language tasks, to enhance students' language learning in different courses.


Visualization facilitates understanding by encoding large amounts of complex information into intuitive formats such as graphics and images. In the design of dynamic visualization of time series, visual coding is more important, because a large number of complex and high-dimensional data will follow over time, but users may not be able to process and filter them in time and effectively. The paper evaluates the cognitive load and performance of users under two time pressures of eight different dynamic visual variables through experiments, so as to allocate more significant coding methods to higher priority information and improve the efficiency of information acquisition. The results show that there are significant differences in cognitive load when using different visual variables, and the cognitive load is lower when using angle, symbol number and area coding. However, there is no significant difference in user performance. There was no significant difference in cognitive load between the two time pressure states, but there was significant difference in accuracy. The accuracy under low time pressure is significantly higher than that under high time pressure.


In a male Korean native calf 14 days of age, polymelia (notomelia) was observed macroscopically and radiographically. External features included two normal forelimbs, two normal hindlimbs and two undeveloped extra forelimbs. The extra forelimbs were attached to the caudal regions of the right scapula and devoid of muscular tissues. In the extra forelimbs, a scapula-like bone formed a joint with the incompletely duplicated humerus. The humerus fused with the incompletely duplicated radius. The ulna, carpal bones, metacarpal bones and phalanges were completely duplicated. But one set of the duplicated carpal bones consisted of five bones: radial, accessory, fourth carpal, fused second and third carpal, and fused ulnar and intermediate carpal bones. The hoof and the rudimentary hoof of accessory digit were duplicated.


The study aims to examine the reality of preparing the Arabic language teacher for non-native speakers by presenting the experience of the Arabic Language Institute at the International University of Africa. Thus, it addresses the following questions: How is it possible to invest the long scientific experiences in proposal and experiment preperations to qualify Arabic language teachers for non-native speakers? What is the reality of preparing an Arabic language teacher at the Institute? How did the Arabic Language Institute process teacher preparation? What are the problems facing the preparation of the Arabic language teachers and the most important training mechanisms used in that Institute?What problems faced the implementation of the experiment of preparing an Arabic language teacher at the language Institute? To present the experiment, the study used the descriptive method. The study is important for program planners of higher education studies, course designers, and for people interested in teaching strategies and teacher training. It also provides Arabic language teachers for non-native speakers to diploma institutions. The study has found that the university experiment is distinguished as it adopts the practical track to form the cumulative experience that helps to solve teacher preparation problems.


The framework of secrecy by design is introduced and the fundamental limits of lossless data compression are characterized for this setting. The main idea behind secrecy by design is to begin with an operational secrecy constraint, which is modeled by a secrecy function fs, and then to derive fundamental limits for the performance of the resulting secrecy system. In the setting of lossless compression, it is shown that strong information-theoretic secrecy guarantees can be achieved using a reduced secret key size and a modular two-part coding strategy. Focusing on the non-asymptotic fundamental limits of lossless compression, variable-length lossless compression is studied. It is noted that completely lossless compression is not possible when perfect secrecy is required; however, it becomes meaningful under partial secrecy constraints. Moreover, although it is well known that the traditional fundamental limits of variable-length and almost lossless fixed-length compression are intimately related, this relationship collapses once the secrecy constraint is incorporated.


The Coma cluster was observed with an X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard Suzaku in six pointings, including the central X-ray peak region, the 14'west offset region, 30'and 34'north-west offset regions, and 44'and 60'south-west offset regions. Owing to its lower background level, Suzaku has better sensitivity to Fe K-alpha lines than other satellites. Using precise Fe line measurements, we studied the temperature structure, possible bulk motions, and iron abundance distributions in the intracluster medium (ICM). The observed spectra were well-represented by a single-temperature model, and two- or three- temperature model did not improve chi-square substantially. The temperature, derived from K-alpha line ratios of H-like and He-like Fe, agree with those derived from the single-temperature model. Because the line ratio is a steep function of temperature, the consistency supports the accuracy of temperature measurements conducted with Suzaku. Within the 34'region, the redshift derived from the central energy of the He-like Fe line is consistent with that from optical observations, within a calibration error of 18 eV or 818 km/s in the line of sight. This value is smaller than the sound velocity of ICM, which is 1500 km/s. The central energy of Fe lines at the 44'offset region around the NGC 4839 subcluster is also consistent with those within the 34'region. These results on the temperature and velocity structure suggest that the core of the cluster is in a relaxed state, and non-thermal electrons relevant to the radio halo are accelerated by intracluster turbulence rather than large-scale shocks. Fe abundance is almost constant at 0.4 solar within the 34'region, and decreases with radius. This value is slightly lower than those of other clusters, which means the gas have been mixed well during a past merger associated with the growth of the cluster.


Purpose To identify the disease-causing gene in a four-generation Chinese family affected with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Methods Linkage analysis was performed with a panel of microsatellite markers flanking the candidate genetic loci of RP. These loci included 38 known RP genes. The complete coding region and exon-intron boundaries of Usher syndrome 2A (USH2A) were sequenced with the proband DNA to screen the disease-causing gene mutation. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and direct DNA sequence analysis were done to demonstrate co-segregation of the USH2A mutations with the family disease. One hundred normal controls were used without the mutations. Results The disease-causing gene in this Chinese family was linked to the USH2A locus on chromosome 1q41. Direct DNA sequence analysis of USH2A identified two novel mutations in the patients: one missense mutation p.G1734R in exon 26 and a splice site mutation, IVS32+1G>A, which was found in the donor site of intron 32 of USH2A. Neither the p.G1734R nor the IVS32+1G>A mutation was found in the unaffected family members or the 100 normal controls. One patient with a homozygous mutation displayed only RP symptoms until now, while three patients with compound heterozygous mutations in the family of study showed both RP and hearing impairment. Conclusions This study identified two novel mutations: p.G1734R and IVS32+1G>A of USH2A in a four-generation Chinese RP family. In this study, the heterozygous mutation and the homozygous mutation in USH2A may cause Usher syndrome Type II or RP, respectively. These two mutations expand the mutant spectrum of USH2A.


Between February 1988 and September 1993 balloon aortic valvuloplasty was attempted in 33 consecutive patients in the first year of life: 20 patients (61%) were younger than 1 month. Major associated anomalies such as mitral stenosis, coarctation, and hypoplastic left ventricle were found in 11 cases (33%). The balloon dilation of the aortic valve was accomplished through the right carotid cut-down approach in neonates and patients with body weight < 5 kg, through a percutaneous femoral approach in the others; the procedure was completed in all. The peak systolic gradient across the aortic valve measured at catheterization fell from 80 +/- 33 mmHg (range 25-165) before the dilation to 27 +/- 17 mmHg (range 0-65), afterwards (p < 0.0001). The left ventricular ejection fraction increased from 44% +/- 26% to 61% +/- 17%, 24-48 hours after the procedure (p < 0.0001). Aortic insufficiency developed in 17 cases, being moderate in 2, mild in 6, and trivial in 9. Seven patients (21%), all in the first month of life, died within 30 days from the valvuloplasty; major associated anomalies were present in six; the death was due to a procedure related complication in one. No mortality was observed among the patients undergoing valvuloplasty beyond the first month of life. On follow-up (6 months to 6 years) aortic restenosis occurred in 3 cases; 1 was treated by surgical valvotomy, 2 by repeat balloon valvatomy; in another 2 cases, a subvalvular aortic obstruction developed and was relieved by surgical resection. There was no late mortality. Thus, balloon valvuloplasty appears to be an effective palliation for critical aortic stenosis in infancy. Early mortality is mainly related to associated anomalies.


Three cases of primary cutaneous amyloidosis are reported. Family history was negative. Systemic involvement was ruled out. Histopathology was confirmed by congored stain. Patients responded to oral colchicine.


The slowdown in the economy has put a great deal of pressure on different corporate to cut down on the vicarious expenditures that they have been doing on the name of maintain relationship with their internal customers i.e. employees.
Communication channels form the lifeblood of the organization. Organization today are searching out ways to bring transparency in their system by opening up of communication channels for their employees.
The paper would primarily focus on different strategies being adopted by inclusive to foster participation from different quarter of their workforce.
The central pillar of the paper would revolve around advent of suggestion schemes and open door policy being put in to practice in Indian firms. Paper would also throw a brief light on Satyam's and Infosys way of providing open communication platform to their employees.


Studies reporting increased mortality in smokers are abundant, but only few have included large numbers of heavily smoking women. Based on three large Danish population studies we calculated median survival in smokers and never-smokers and compared the impact of smoking in men and women. Seventeen thousand six hundred and sixty-nine men and 13,525 women were followed for up to 30 years for all-cause mortality. During follow-up there were 8644 deaths. Large differences in tobacco-exposure between men and women were found, in particular in older birth-cohorts. Despite a smaller accumulated exposure, the impact smoking had on median survival was similar in men and women. Female inhaling heavy smokers (> or = 15 cig./day) lost 9.4 and inhaling light smokers 7.4 years in comparison with female never-smokers. Corresponding loss of life-expectancy in males was 9.2 years and 6.0 years, respectively. In conclusion, this study shows survival prospects in relation to smoking in both men and women in a way that is easily communicated. The results indicate that women who smoke as much as men run a relatively higher risk in terms of reduced life expectancy.


AIMS AND METHOD Brief or missed seizures might indicate that electronvulsive therapy (ECT) is not being delivered effectively. This cycle of audit at an ECT clinic aimed to measure rates of brief or missed seizures in two study periods, before and after the acquisition of a more powerful ECT machine. RESULTS There was a significant reduction in the rate of brief or missed seizures in audit two. There was a significant increase in the restimulation rate in audit two, but without the desired effect of inducing adequate seizures. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Ineffective delivery of ECT might result in poor response to the treatment and should be minimised. Certain aspects of ECT delivery improved in the clinic studied but some patients received an ineffective second dose of electrical charge.


: John Rawls raises three challenges—to which one can add a fourth challenge—to an impartial spectator account: (a) the impartial spectator is a utility-maximizing device that does not take seriously the distinction between persons; (b) the account does not guarantee that the principles of justice will be derived from it; (c) the notion of impartiality in the account is the wrong one, since it does not define impartiality from the standpoint of the litigants themselves; (d) the account would offer a comprehensive, rather than a political, form of liberalism. The narrow aim of the paper is to demonstrate that Adam Smith's impartial spectator account can rise to Rawls's challenges. The broader aim is to demonstrate that the impartial spectator account offers the basis for a novel and alternative framework for developing principles of justice, and does so in the context of a political form of liberalism.


ABSTRACT This paper offers a response to Matthew Kuan Johnson's paper, Joy: A Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Future Directions (this issue). In dialogue with Johnson's review paper and other writings, I will describe what I view as the predominant challenges currently faced in the young science of joy, reflect on potential distinctive features of joy, and offer some ideas for future research. In particular, I offer thoughts on Johnson's theme of the relation between joy and suffering. This topic has been explored most extensively within theology. I will briefly offer a non-religious theory to complement religious themes in the literature. I will describe how, contrary to some current thinking, hardship may be a mechanism that promotes joy. This is a topic ripe for empirical investigation.


Transistor density on an integrated circuit continues to grow at an exponential rate. The associated complexities when applied to synthesis, layout, and timing analysis will become untenable within the framework of our current technological capabilities. This paper briefly outlines the problems facing the semiconductor industry early into the next decade. A SRC research thrust team consisting of members from various companies prioritized these problems and established a top ten list. This paper includes both problem descriptions as well as metrics to benchmark proposed solutions.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in virtually all biological processes, including stem cell maintenance, differentiation, and development. The dysregulation of miRNAs is associated with many human diseases including cancer. We have identified a set of miRNAs differentially expressed between human breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) and non-tumorigenic cancer cells. In addition, these miRNAs are similarly upregulated or downregulated in normal mammary stem/progenitor cells. In this review, we mainly describe the miRNAs that are dysregulated in human breast CSCs directly isolated from clinical specimens. The miRNAs and their clusters, such as the miR-200 clusters, miR-183 cluster, miR-221-222 cluster, let-7, miR-142 and miR-214, target the genes and pathways important for stem cell maintenance, such as the self-renewal gene BMI1, apoptosis, Wnt signaling, Notch signaling, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. In addition, the current evidence shows that metastatic breast CSCs acquire a phenotype that is different from the CSCs in a primary site. Thus, clarifying the miRNA regulation of the metastatic breast CSCs will further advance our understanding of the roles of human breast CSCs in tumor progression.


This is the first report of an adult patients with the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in Japan, who was treated for psychiatric disorders. The case was a 35 years-old woman who had many neuropsychiatric symptoms. She had been treated for 15 years at the Kurihama Alcoholism Center, for mental retardation, schizophrenic symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorder, trichotillomania, bipolar disorder, and impulsive behavior. She had low body weight at birth, mental retardation and a small facial malformation, which were diagnosed as FAS. At first admission, she was not diagnosed as FAS because her parent denied that her mother drank during pregnancy. Recently, her family admitted her mother's heavy drinking during pregnancy, and we diagnosed her as having FAS. She showed many pathological symptoms of the central nervous system such as very lower scores for performance IQ than for verbal IQ in the WAIS-R and enlargement of the lateral ventricle on MRI. Recently many reports have mentioned that prenatal alcohol exposure brings about severe damage of the central nervous system. Therefore, one author proposes that such disorders are referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). This patient showed many symptoms of FASD, and was difficult to treat because of these symptoms.


A 69-year-old female patient with acute myocardial infarction was admitted to our hospital. After i.v. administration of the rt-PA, echocardiography disclosed pericardial effusion to which pericardial drainage was performed first through subxiphoid incision. Immediately after the drainage, electromechanical dissociation emerged and emergency thoracotomy was performed. There was a small blowout rupture of the left ventricular free wall that was successfully repaired using single suture buttressed with Dacron felt without cardiopulmonary bypass support. On the 38th day after the surgery, cineangiography disclosed ventricular aneurysm, to which aneurysmectomy was performed under the cardiopulmonary bypass and her post operative progress was uneventful. Histological study of the resected specimen revealed so called subepicardial aneurysm. Although blowout rupture of the left ventricular free wall used to be lethal, there might be a chance of life saving even without cardiopulmonary bypass support, if the left thoracotomy could be done as quickly as possible.


This paper focuses on architecture-aware source-level code transformation methods for low energy consumption in complex VLIW processors. Though energy issue has long been addressed at hardware level, but a significant contribution of software applications can not be ignored. Successive energy-cycle cost guarded parametric optimization are applied in proposed iterative compilation environment to evaluate an application expression profile on complex multimedia processors. The optimization is based on a multi objective function. The constraints of this objective function are formulated using a penalty method; a genetic algorithm finds solutions eventually. The proposed new code transformation methodology determines appropriate parameters for compiler optimization in order to satisfy user constraints on code size, energy, execution time and optimal target architecture usage. The set of experiments presented here characterize the newly introduced approach, while giving an idea about the architecture-based energy-cycle performance issues. Experimental results show that our approach reduces cache misses by an average of 33% (max. 67%), improves typically energy dissipation up to 23% and CPU performance up to 80% for an MPEGdec video algorithm. The approach is general and can easily be integrated in multimedia processor compilers.


In this brief but highly informative study, Janette H. Ok explores 'how and why the author of 1 Peter depicts Christian identity as ethnic identity' (p. 1). Giving rise to this question is the fact that the letter's explanation of what it means to be a Christian employs certain strategies that align with the way that modern anthropologists and sociologists characterize ethnic groups. This approach toward identity construction, Ok maintains, is grounded in a pastoral concern: 'By depicting Christian identity as an ethnic identity akin to the unique religious-ethnic identity of the Jews, Peter seeks to foster internal cohesion among the community of believers, who are struggling to forge a distinctive and durable group identity and resist external pressures to conform to a way of life unbefitting the people of God' (p. 2). After defining (and differentiating) key terms such as identity, ethnicity, race, etc. (ch. 1), the study begins by examining various ways that ancient Greeks constructed their ethnic identity in response to changing historical circumstances (ch. 2). Two of these approaches – common descent and shared history – become the topic of focus in the next chapter as the discussion shifts to 1 Peter. Ok points out how the Petrine author deploys a form of ethnic reasoning (i.e., the use of ethnic language as a form of persuasion), wherein a new lineage is constructed for the mostly Gentile readers. They are said to belong to the privileged people of God through a spiritual bloodline (viz. the blood of Christ), which is intended to strengthen group identity and to help them disidentify with their past existence (ch. 3). To more accurately understand the ethnic identity constructed in 1 Peter, Ok next turns to the respective works of anthropologist Fredrik Barth and sociologist Erving Goffman (ch. 4). What she demonstrates thereby is that portraying identity in ethnic terms allowed the Petrine author to clearly demarcate boundaries with outsiders as well as the readers' former lifestyles. It also helped to reverse the stigma commonly associated with the name 'Christian', thus mitigating the readers' temptation to conform to societal expectations. The work concludes by reviewing the findings and providing some consideration of the implications for Asia American Studies and Canonical Studies (ch. 5). Overall, this study represents a clear, concise, and informed treatment of a topic that has not received sufficient attention within Petrine studies. As such, it is a welcomed addition to the field that will undoubtedly play an important role in the continuing efforts to reconstruct the letter's social strategy. But even beyond the interpretation of 1 Peter, it provides a useful blueprint for approaching ethnic identity in early Christian literature more broadly as well as within adjacent fields of study.


Cutaneous ciliated cysts (CCC) are exquisitely rare, benign cystic lesions demonstrating simple, ciliated epithelial linings reminiscent of fallopian tube epithelium. Most commonly, CCC show a predilection for the lower extremities of young reproductive age women and demonstrate immunohistochemical positivity for estrogen and progesterone receptors, supporting the theory that they are derived from ectopic Müllerian rests. PAX-8 is a paired box gene, important in the development of Müllerian and thyroid organs and has utility in the identification of tumors of Müllerian, renal, and thyroid origin. Prompted by the precedent studies on PAX-8 immunohistochemical expression in tumors of Müllerian origin, this article aimed to explore the utility of this antibody in defining the histogenesis of 2 bona fide cases of CCC, both occurring in young reproductive age women. Herein, 2 prototypic index cases of CCC with strong nuclear positivity for estrogen and progesterone receptors are shown to also have positive nuclear staining for PAX-8, further supporting their likely Müllerian origin. These data support the designation of these lesions as cutaneous Müllerian cysts, distinct from potential ciliated cysts of eccrine origin.


This presentation is part of the author's dissertation with the title: Gender and Generational Variations in Religious- and Ethno-Cultural Identity among Assyrian Migrants to Sweden. The project is a cross-disciplinary study primarily involving psychology of religion (understood as meaning-making), cultural psychology, and ritual studies, but also worldview studies (livsaskadningar) and ethnic studies.The migration of the Assyrians from the Middle-East to the western world, more specifically to Sweden, has brought with it a change from a holistic worldview, where religion, ethnicity, history, language, among others, were all an integrated aspect of their culture, to a reality with more fragmentised worldviews, where, among others, religion is becoming a private matter, ethnicity separated from religiosity. As strongly different worldviews meet new identity constructions are formed. The research question in this study is specifically pointing at the generational and gender variations in identity formation as well as in responses to rituals and symbols, concerning values, attitudes, beliefs, and practices/behaviours. The central research question is formulated in a general form: What are the gender and generational variations in religious-cultural identity formation among Assyrian immigrants to Sweden?Syrian-Orthodox religiosity and Assyrian and Swedish cultures are today the three major components for Assyrians in Sweden in forming their worldviews. When studying religious-cultural identity, it is values, attitudes, beliefs, and practices/behaviours, which are in focus. The understanding of identification is that it is dynamic, fluid, and situational. Identification should also be viewed as orthogonal; i.e., the several components of identification are independent. As such, and in contact with another culture, degrees of identifications are formed; i.e., degrees of identifying with Syrian-Orthodox, Assyrian and Swedish worldviews. An assumption here is that, access to or loss of access to, as well as changes in relation to ritual function and symbols has important implications for the religious-cultural identity formation of a subject as well as for the existential and meaning-making/-searching levels of a person. Three models are being used for the analysis of the processes identified: (1) a model from the psychology of religion, relating to three worlds of development through the lifecycle, (2) a model of the dimensions of culture, (3) and a model from the process of acculturation, relating to ethnic and host cultures.The study is hypothesis generating, as there is limited knowledge on the specific research group. A sequential mixed model study is used, where a prestudy is first followed up by quantitative inquiry, data operations, and statistical analysis, in order to identify constructs, and secondly continued by qualitative inquiry, data collection, and analysis, in order to validate constructs. A multi-vantage approach is also used in this study, which indicates using different perspectives on one question.


An analysis of the factors that limit the improvement in thermal efficiency at higher compression ratios was performed with both thermodynamic calculation and experiment. The results showed that the major factors were cooling loss and unburned fuel. Both of these factors increase with smaller swept volume, larger S/V ratio combustion chamber, and lower engine speed and load. These effects explain the observation that thermal efficiency peaks at relatively low compression ratio.


Currently, obesity is considered an epidemic due to the disruptions it causes to health, highlighting the incensement in cardiovascular diseases associated with cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) high concentrations. However, cholesterol is also involved in various metabolic and structural functions vital to human biology. This homeostasis can be modified by external factors such as medications or by internal factors such as diseases or metabolic changes generated by the type of diet at which each person is exposed.In this sense, the research points to the knowledge of functional foods, which provide beneficial health effects and prevent the risk of disease. It has been reported that hypocholesterolemic type bioactive peptides obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of various seeds such as soybeans, rice and sunflower. A similar effect is observed with unsaturated fatty acids, which have antithrombotic and antiarrhythmic effects, prevent atherosclerosis, contribute to decrease blood pressure and reduce the concentration of triglycerides, total cholesterol and lipoproteins of very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in plasma. Therefore, these compounds incorporated in foods are considered functional, since its bioactive potential could be used to prevent cardiovascular disease.


This paper examines foreign investment in Vietnamese stock markets from 2013 to 2016. Previous studies for sample periods prior to 2013 find that foreigners invested relatively more in low liquidity shares. In contrast, this paper shows that foreigners now invest relatively more in high liquidity stocks. This study also investigates the investment determinants of foreign blockholders who own at least 5% of shares outstanding separately from those of the other foreign investors. The results show that foreign blockholders are more available to assume certain types of risk than the other foreign investors. Further, the investment preferences are similar between foreign blockholders and local blockholders. The results of the paper suggest that the availability of investors to assume risk, which is dependent on their wealth levels, is a possible explanation of equity home bias.


To diagnose a fetal heart abnormality is one of the most important purpose of the foetopathologic examination performed after spontaneous abortion, intrauterine death or pregnancy termination. Frequency of cardiac abnormalities in fetal or maternal pathologies explains the significance of this diagnosis in a pertinent genetic counseling before next pregnancy. The diagnose of a fetal heart abnormality requires a good knowledge of: normal anatomy and examination technics of fetal heart, congenital heart abnormalities classification and knowledge of the most common diagnosis, diagnostic orientation according to the cardiopathy: fetal origin in genic syndrome, chromosomal abnormalities, malformative or sporadic association; maternal etiology (toxic, infection, metabolic). This procedure needs experience, acquired by rigorous practice and team working.


I A virus (IAV) infection can be severe or even lethal in toddlers, the elderly and patients with certain medical conditions. Infection of apparently healthy individuals nonetheless accounts for many severe disease cases and deaths, suggesting that viruses with increased pathogenicity co-circulate with pandemic or epidemic viruses. Looking for potential virulence factors, we have identified a viral genetic determinant that contributes to infection outcome. A polymerase mutation identified in a fatal IAV case, when introduced into two different recombinant virus backbones, led to reduced defective viral genomes (DGs) production and increased pathogenesis in mice. These data provide genetic support for the association of pathogenicity and low DGs accumulation induced by mutations present in pathogenic viruses circulating in humans. Testing this association, we performed a genomic analysis of viruses isolated from a cohort of previously healthy individuals who suffered highly severe IAV infection requiring admission to intensive care unit, and patients with fatal outcome who additionally showed underlying medical conditions. These viruses were compared with those isolated from a cohort of mild IAV patients. Viruses from highly severe/fatal outcome patients showed significantly fewer DGs accumulation than control viruses, suggesting that low DGs abundance constitutes a new virulence viral pathogenic marker in humans, regardless of the mutations responsible.


A lab kit that has been developed for teaching a general education acoustics course online has proven useful for socially distanced instruction in seated courses as well. This paper provides an overview of the kit and experiences with adapting and using it to provide flexibility for students in all modalities of instruction during COVID-19. © 2022 Acoustical Society of America.


The application of membrane technology to separate and extract target ions, such as lithium or chlorine, has recently seen considerable growth as a research topic, driven by the growing demand for energy and the environmentally friendly status of this technology. Based on the alternating current electric field layer-by-layer assembly technology, we report in this work target ionic control membrane surface multilayers with ion channels and ion exchange sites to control selective ion separation in electrodialysis. The reported surface multilayers utilize ion interactions between electric field force and charged groups and the mechanics of the target ion controlling the construction of ion exchange sites in an oppositely charged polymer layer and target ion channels in a like-charged monomer layer. The resulting membranes act as a strong barrier for multivalent ions, displaying a selective separation efficiency parameter equal to 99.99% for PO43−/Cl− and 99.99% for SO42−/Cl− in the resulting anion exchange membrane, and 83.70% for Mg2+/Li+ and 64.51% for Ca2+/Li+ in the resulting cation exchange membrane. Contrary to the initial selective separation efficiency between monovalent ions (−16.50% for Br−/Cl− and −40.00% for K+/Li+), the resulting membranes remarkably enhanced the transport of the target ions more easily than for other monovalent ions (0.76% for Br−/Cl− and −9.10% for K+/Li+). This work suggests promising new quantum mechanics of ion and electric field-based ionic control concepts to synthesize membranes with the ability to selectively separate a target ion.


The author reduces the Cauchy problem on the semiline, and on the finite interval for the Eckhaus equation, to a linear integral equation.


The TNO Human Factors Search 2 dataset is a valuable resource for studies in target detection, providing researchers with observational data against which image-based target distinctness metrics and detection models can be tested. The observational data provided with the Search 2 dataset was created by human observers searching colour images projected from a slide projector. Many target distinctness metrics studies are however carried out not on colour images but on images that have been processed into greyscale by various means. This is usually done for ease of analysis and meaningful interpretation. Utility of a metric is usually assessed by analysing the correlation between metric results and recorded observational results. However, the question remains of how well the results from the contrast metrics analysed from monochromatic images could be expected to compare to the observational results from colour images. We present results of a photosimulation experiment conducted using a monochromatic representation of the Search 2 dataset and an analysis of several target distinctness metrics. The monochromatic images presented to observers were created by processing the Search 2 images into L*, a* and b* colour space representations, and presenting the L* (lightness) image. The results of this experiment are compared with the original Search 2 results, showing strong correlation (0.83) between the monochrome and colour experiments in terms of correct target detection, and in terms of search time. Target distinctness metrics from analysis of these images are compared to the results of the photosimulation experiments, and the original Search 2 results.


Burn-in is a widely used method to improve the quality of products or systems after they have been produced. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining the optimal burn-in time and optimal work size maximizing the long-run average amount of work saved per time unit in the computer applications. Assuming that the underlying lifetime distribution of the computer has an initially decreasing or/and eventually increasing failure rate function, an upper bound for the optimal burn-in time is derived for each fixed work size and a uniform (with respect to the burn-in time) upper bound for the optimal work size is also obtained. Furthermore, it is shown that a non-trivial lower bound for the optimal burn-in time can be derived if the underlying lifetime distribution has a large initial failure rate. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


TO THE EDITOR: We read with great interest the ahead-ofprint article of Thorek et al. (1) recently published online in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine on human Cerenkov imaging using 18F-FDG. Having obtained a similar finding (2) using 131I, we would like to share our knowledge on this topic and comment on some specific claims. The first issue we would like to underline is related to the set-up of the imaging apparatus. More precisely, it is well known that the Cerenkov light spectrum has an inverse square dependence on the wavelength (3) and, thus, is more intense in the ultraviolet region than in the visible region. However, if one considers the strong tissue absorption of light below 620 nm caused by hemoglobin, the spectrum of the Cerenkov radiation escaping from the tissues contains mainly wavelengths above 630 nm. In a recent paper (4), cited also by Thorek et al., we showed that to improve the in vivo detection of Cerenkov sources it is useful to optimize the optical imaging system in the red, near-infrared region (650–850 nm). It is thus not clear to us why the authors decided to use a short-pass filter with a cutoff at 605 nm since in this way they rejected most of the Cerenkov light reaching the body surface. We also are interested in knowing the characteristics and the manufacturer of the objective used to acquire axilla images (estimated field of view, at least 10 · 10 cm) at a very short distance. Looking at Figure 2, we noticed the absence of any direct charge-coupled-device detection of g rays. This is a bit surprising considering also the small working distance from the patient (8 cm). It would thus be interesting to know if the authors applied any g-rejection algorithm. Thorek et al. (1) claimed that our human Cerenkography image was obtained with a much higher dose of 131I. This is not entirely true, since the difference between the injected doses is only 14%, or more precisely, 550 MBq of 131I with respect to 470 MBq of 18F-FDG for the representative patient shown in Figure 2. Second, for a fair comparison of the results in terms of Cerenkov light production, it is useful to remember that the emission of Cerenkov radiation is closely related to the decay scheme of the radioisotope; in this case, 18F emits about 2.5 times more Cerenkov light for each decay than does 131I (5). We do agree that 131I thyroid uptake can be typically up to 50%, resulting in an equivalent 18F-FDG uptake of 110 MBq. Considering a spheric lymph node 1.5–2 cm in radius and an uptake value of 0.05 MBq/ mL, the corresponding 18F-FDG activity is approximately 0.7–1.7 MBq—that is, 2, not 4 (!), orders of magnitude less than the value claimed in the "Discussion" section by Thorek et al. Figure 3 of the article by Thorek et al. (1) plots a correlation between the Cerenkov signal and the 18F-FDG concentration measured by PET. This correlation measured in vivo is somewhat surprising since, in this case, the different tissue attenuation (e.g., >different source depth) and not the source strength (MBq/mL) should dominate in determining the average value of the detected Cerenkov signal. Also, the plotted data show that the magnitude of the Cerenkov signal is almost comparable to the contralateral side (except for a single patient). In particular, by considering the point corresponding to the patient in Figure 2 (maximum 18F-FDG concentration. 0.05 MBq/mL), one finds a small difference with respect to the contralateral side points. Thorek et al. (1) provides a set of system linearity measurements by performing in vitro imaging of a 24-well polycarbonate plate filled with 18F-FDG at different time points and, thus, of different concentrations. As one can see by looking at Figure 1A of the article, the detected Cerenkov signal is quite noisy at a concentration of 0.1 MBq/mL even without any attenuating material. We were thus a bit surprised that the authors were able to detect, at a tissue depth greater than 1 cm, a Cerenkov signal corresponding to an 18F-FDG concentration of 0.03–0.05 MBq/mL. Figure 2 also seems to show that the patient was not shaved, thus making it even more surprising that the authors could detect Cerenkov light crossing the axillary hair. To summarize, the paper of Thorek et al. (1) contains some puzzling imaging methods and results that in our opinion need to be better explained or justified.


It is assumed that dopamine (DA) is stimulatory for ventilation centrally, but inhibitory at the carotid body which generates the hypoxic chemoreflex. The role of DA deficiency in impaired ventilation of parkinsonism is thus a contentious issue and the results, not surprisingly, are equivocal.In this study we attempted to differentiate central from peripheral DA role in the hypoxic ventilatory responses (HVR) in parkinsonism by means of D2 receptor antagonist/agonist manipulations. The study was conducted in a rat reserpine model of parkinsonism; the symptoms were confirmed by behavioral tests. Ventilation and its acute responses to 8% O2 in N2 were measured in a body body plethysmograph. We found that HVR was depressed in parkinsonism. The results further show that domperidone (1mg/kg, ip), a peripheral D2 antagonist, which increased HVR in the healthy control rats, failed to appreciably increase the dampened parkinsonic HVR. On the other hand, the agonist L-DOPA+benserazide (25+6.25 mg/kg, ip), which penetrates into the brain significantly increased HVR. We conclude that impaired HVR in parkinsonism is due mostly to the missing central stimulatory element of dopamine action, rather than to dysregulating ventilatory action of carotid body DA.


Maternal milk has beneficial effects on the development and function of the newborn's immune system. Whether the milk of allergic mother has the same effects as the milk of healthy mothers is not yet quite clear. To contribute to the characterization of its immunomodulatory action, we tested the effect of milk of healthy and allergic mothers on the proliferation and immunoglobulin formation in cultures of cord blood mononuclear leucocytes (CBML) of newborns of healthy and allergic mothers. CBML proliferation was tested by 3H‐thymidine incorporation, IgM, IgG and IgA production by reverse ELISPOT. CBML response was examined in unstimulated cultures and after stimulation with polyclonal activators in the presence or absence of colostrum or milk. The cells of children of allergic mothers have a significantly higher proliferative activity than those of children of healthy mothers. Maternal colostrum/milk in high doses markedly suppresses cell proliferation after stimulation with polyclonal activators, whereas lower milk doses in the cultures have no such effect and exert a rather stimulatory action. Immunoglobulin production by cord blood lymphocytes is also different in the two groups of children. Low basal immunoglobulin formation is increased after stimulation with a strong polyclonal activator of B cells –Bacillus firmus, CBML of children of allergic mothers produce more IgA than those of children of healthy mothers. The stimulated production of all immunoglobulin classes in cells of children of healthy mothers is still enhanced by colostrum/milk. Children of allergic mothers show a markedly increased production of only IgM and IgA. The effect of healthy and allergic colostrum and milk on cell proliferation and immunoglobulin production is similar. The lymphocytes of children of allergic mothers differ from the lymphocytes of children of healthy mothers in their proliferative activity and the ability to form immunoglobulin already at birth.


Abstract. Seismic reflection S-wave technique is very effective and has demonstrated nice results in previous investigations of various authors. However, the salt layer was not detected in the Ghor Al-Haditha area (Jordan) because of some reasons. The main reason is that about ~ 80 % of reflection lines were carried outside the salt area delineated by Ezersky et al. (2013b) based on results of El-Isa et al. (1995). Other possible factor is too strong filtering of seismic data obtained from the upper part of the section (up to 50 m deep). Our and Polom (2018) assessment of the work of other authors diverges. We affirm that the salt layer of 7–10 m thickness is located at ~ 40 m depth in the Ghor Al-Haditha area.


The importance of the immune microenvironment in ovarian cancer progression, metastasis, and response to therapies has become increasingly clear, especially with the new emphasis on immunotherapies. In order to leverage the power of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models within a humanized immune microenvironment, three ovarian cancer PDX were grown in humanized NBSGW mice engrafted with human CD34+ cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem cells. Analysis of cytokine levels in the ascites fluid and infiltrating immune cells in the tumors demonstrated that these humanized PDX (huPDX) established an immune tumor microenvironment similar to what has been reported for ovarian cancer patients. The lack of human myeloid cell differentiation has been a major setback for humanized mouse models, but our analysis shows that PDX engraftment increases the human myeloid population in the peripheral blood. Analysis of cytokines within the ascites fluid of huPDX revealed high levels of human M-CSF, a key myeloid differentiation factor as well as other elevated cytokines that have previously been identified in ovarian cancer patient ascites fluid including those involved in immune cell differentiation and recruitment. Human tumor-associated macrophages and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were detected within the tumors of humanized mice, demonstrating immune cell recruitment to tumors. Comparison of the three huPDX revealed certain differences in cytokine signatures and in the extent of immune cell recruitment. Our studies show that huNBSGW PDX models reconstitute important aspects of the ovarian cancer immune tumor microenvironment making this a superior approach for therapeutic trials.


This article attempts to reflect on the hended search to strike a balance between the constancy and the change of the fundamental rights. The Constitution is the starting point of the fundamental rights as a dogmatic category. Therefore it cannot be isolated from the reality if we want it to continue being an alive and effective norm. For this reason the Constitution must introduce this update of rights, which is essential and inevitable taking into account the social, cultural and economic transformations that affect the human being constantly. The research of means and techniques to strike this said balance will lead us to the reality of the fundamental rights at the present time, like a dynamic category.


The Journal of General Physiology recently published a paper (Elenes et al., 2009) describing a novel electrophysiological approach to measure the Ca2+-carried current through ligand-gated channels. The method proposed is based on the assumption that all permeant ions compete for a single binding site, which controls permeation and is implemented by fitting single-channel data obtained at different extracellular Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]o) to derive values for the fractional Ca2+ current, i.e., the percentage of the total current carried by Ca2+ ions.

The fractional Ca2+ current values obtained are not too different from some of those found for the rat NR1-NR2A NMDA receptor or the human adult acetylcholine receptor (AChR) using the fluorometric method proposed by Zhou and Neher (1993). In contrast, the values found for the fetal and adult mouse AChR (19.3 and 16.3%) are at odds with the values present in the literature (∼2 and ∼4%, respectively) (Villarroel and Sakmann, 1996; Ragozzino et al., 1998; Fucile et al., 2006). In particular, the fractional Ca2+ current values for the mammalian fetal AChR calculated using different experimental approaches are all comprised between 2.0 and 3.4% (Decker and Dani, 1990; Vernino et al., 1994; Villarroel and Sakmann, 1996; Ragozzino et al., 1998; Fucile et al., 2006).

Of note, the discrepancy is such that either the values of Elenes et al. (2009) or the previously published values are wrong. Here, we point out some issues that may have influenced the estimates by Elenes et al. (2009).

The authors decompose the total current (itotal) flowing through the AChR channel as the sum of a lumped current representing Na+, K+, and Mg2+ ions (iNa+−Mg2+) plus the current carried by Ca2+ ions (iCa2+). From the "one-site" model they derive equations for iNa+−Mg2+ and iCa2+, copied here with their original numbering, for the reader's convenience:

iNa+−Mg2+=γNa+−Mg2+KDCa2+KDCa2++aCao2+V

(3)

iCa2+=γCa2+aCao2+KDCa2++aCao2+V

(4)

Noticeably, current reversal potential has been omitted in both equations.

Inserting into Eq. 4 the values of KDCa2+ derived by fitting, the authors conclude that with an external solution containing 150 mM NaCl plus 100 mM CaCl2, the inward current is "carried exclusively by Ca2+ ions." This is a central point in the paper, as it is a key prediction of the model and is used to show that the error introduced neglecting current reversal potential in Eqs. 3 and 4 is small.

This statement is not supported by experimental data presented in the paper. With 100 mM CaCl2 plus 150 mM NaCl in the external solution, the reversal potential of ACh-evoked currents is +18 mV (Elenes et al., 2009). When Ca2+ ions completely replace monovalent ions in the external solution (and therefore are the only inward-flowing ions), the reversal potential of the ACh-evoked current (EACh) undergoes a hyperpolarizing shift (Bregestovski et al., 1979; Lewis, 1979; Adams et al., 1980; Villarroel and Sakmann, 1996). In particular, with 100 mM CaCl2 but no monovalent ions in the external solution, EACh is −22.3 and −10 mV for fetal and adult mouse AChR, respectively (Villarroel and Sakmann, 1996). The large difference of EACh in the presence or absence of extracellular Na+ ions indicates that they do contribute measurably to the inward current, even when [Ca2+]o is 100 mM. Should a high [Ca2+]o prevent the flux of Na+ ions, the latter would not influence EACh any more than other impermeant ions.

Furthermore, to our knowledge, it has never been demonstrated experimentally (for instance, by means of Na+-sensitive fluorescent dyes) that Na+ ions do not flow through AChR channels if [Ca2+]o is high. Ca2+ ions pass through AChR channels, although the unitary channel conductance is reduced in a Ca2+-dependent manner (Bregestovski et al., 1979; Lewis, 1979; Decker and Dani, 1990; Grassi and Degasperi, 2000; Elenes et al., 2009) until it reaches a plateau value at [Ca2+]o of ∼40 mM. At high [Ca2+]o, unitary conductance of AChR channels is independent of the presence of monovalent cations, which has been interpreted as suggesting that at high [Ca2+]o, Ca2+ ions are the main current carriers (Decker and Dani, 1990).

Below, we show how including the reversal potential for iCa2+ and iNa+−Mg2+ (ECa2+ and ENa+−Mg2+, respectively) in Eqs. 3 and 4, and dropping the unsupported assumption that with [Ca2+]o = 100 mM Na+ ions do not contribute to inward current, leads to conclusions that are very different from those presented by Elenes et al. (2009), yet compatible with their experimental data.

Eqs. 3 and 4 must be amended as follows:

iNa+−Mg2+=γNa+−Mg2+KDCa2+KDCa2++aCao2+(V−ENa+−Mg2+)

(3a)

iCa2+=γCa2+aCao2+KDCa2++aCao2+(V−ECa2+)

(4a)

Under the experimental conditions used by Elenes et al. (2009) ([Na+]o = 150 mM and [Ca2+]o = 100 mM), ENa+−Mg2+ is indeed close to 0 mV, but iCa2+, being a pure Ca2+ current, changes sign at the Ca2+ equilibrium potential. ECa2+ must not be confused with the bi-ionic reversal potential of a current resulting from the steady-state counter-diffusion of extracellular Ca2+ and intracellular K+ ions (such as that measured by the experiment shown by Elenes et al., 2009 in their Fig. 15), as the current carried by K+ ions is included in the term iNa+−Mg2+ in the present model. The slope conductance of iCa2+ and iNa+−Mg2+ can be calculated from Eqs. 3a and 4a (Fig. 1 A; see figure legend for details). Using numerical values given by Elenes et al. (2009), we find that itotal with a slope conductance of 30.6 pS corresponds to a pure iCa2+ with a slope conductance of 7 pS. When the I-V curve is shifted to the left (as done by Elenes et al., 2009), the error introduced is much larger for itotal than for iCa2+ because of their different conductances, thereby causing a marked overestimation of the ratio iCa2+/itotal.

Figure 1.

Decomposition of experimental I-V curves for the total current into the components carried by Ca2+ and by all other ions, assuming an ohmic behavior of all currents. In both A and B, ECa2+ = 86 mV, calculated using the Nernst equations with [Ca2+]o = ...

At variance with the original equations, Eqs. 3a and 4a also describe iCa2+ and iNa+−Mg2+ as compatible with the experimental observation that, at high [Ca2+]o, single-channel conductance of itotal varies little regardless of whether monovalent cations are added to external solutions (Decker and Dani, 1990) (Fig. 1 B).

In conclusion, neglecting equilibrium potentials in Eqs. 3 and 4 causes overestimation of the fractional Ca2+ current. We therefore invite the authors to repeat their fits using Eqs. 3a and 4a, as given here. This might lead to estimates for the fractional Ca2+ current in closer agreement with other reports. It might also disclose why the estimates proposed by Elenes et al. (2009) are better for receptors thought to have high fractional Ca2+ current than for those with low ones.


In order to understand the relation of strain and material properties, both a microscopic model connecting a given strain to the displacement of atoms, and a macroscopic model relating applied stress to induced strain, are required. Starting from a valence-force model for black phosphorous [Kaneta et al., Solid State Communications, 1982, 44, 613] we use recent experimental and computational results to obtain an improved set of valence-force parameters for phosphorene. From the model we calculate the phonon dispersion and the elastic properties of single-layer phosphorene. Finally, we use these results to derive a complete continuum model, including the bending rigidities, valid for long-wavelength deformations of phosphorene. This continuum model is then used to study the properties of pressurized suspended phosphorene sheets.


Content providers use forensic watermarking, a technique for tracing individuals who illegally redistribute content, as one of the means to fight Internet content redistribution piracy - the top threat for many content providers around the world. As adaptive streaming becomes one of the main mechanisms for delivering premium multimedia content over the Internet, it is essential that watermarking works seamlessly in this environment to remain effective. In this technical paper we describe a solution that uniquely watermarks content for each receiving device using a variety of adaptive streaming applications.


Backdround Anti-Smith (Sm) antibodies are highly specific for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), their associations with some organ involvements were described. of


In this article we examine whether firms structure their convertible bond transactions to manage diluted earnings per share (EPS). We find that the likelihood of firms issuing contingent convertible bonds (COCOs), which are often excluded from diluted EPS calculations under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) 128, is significantly associated with the reduction that would occur in diluted EPS if the bonds were traditionally structured. We also document that firms' use of EPS-based compensation contracts significantly affects the likelihood of COCO issuance and find weak evidence that reputation costs, measured using earnings restatement data, play a role in the structuring decision. These results are robust to controlling for alternative motivations for issuing COCOs, including tax and dilution arguments. In addition, an examination of announcement returns reveals that investors view the net benefits and costs of COCOs as offsetting one another. Our results contribute to the literature on earnings management, diluted EPS, financial reporting costs, and financial innovation.


Collecting multiple, intra‐subject pressures provides a broader physiological picture for many research applications, while potentially reducing animal use. Research decisions often hinge on cardiovascular (CV) data that previously could only be obtained from a large animal model due to the lack of appropriate, fully implantable solutions enabling simultaneous measurement of multiple pressures in small animals. DSI has optimized possibilities for multi‐channel pressure evaluation by developing the dual pressure HD‐S21 transmitter. Emulating a study pioneered by MPI Research with two independent pressure transmitters, DSI conducted a follow‐up investigation to demonstrate the advantages obtained by using the HD‐S21. Two male CD® IGS rats were implanted with the HD‐S21 to monitor LVP, MAP, ECG and core temperature. iPRECIO® infusion pumps, also used in the MPI validation, delivered the same IV infusion program. While the initial (MPI) validation assessed verapamil and dobutamine infusion effects on temporally contiguous measures of LVP and MAP via independent devices, the HD‐S21 enabled simultaneous and continuous monitoring of all parameters from a single device. Together, the HD‐S21 and iPRECIO® provide pharmacology research the first fully implantable and easily validated small animal infusion model optimized to wirelessly record a comprehensive parameter battery with high sensitivity.


The ratio of free-form architectural design has been increasing recently. However, the current technology for the implementation of free-form buildings is very insufficient. In this study, the Two-sided Multi-Point press equipment, a FCP(free-form Concrete Panel) production equipment, is being developed to develop Free-form building technology. Two-sided multi-point press equipment is the equipment being developed in this study that implements the FCP's upper and lower foam. In this study, FCP is manufactured through this equipment and the operation technology of the equipment is developed to improve the accuracy of FCP. The two-sided multi-point press equipment developed in this study had several problems in implementing FCP and was studied to address them. Firstly, FCP's top and bottom mould, which is implemented as a two-sided multi-point press equipment, is implemented by the combination of Rod and Silicon Rubber, where there are problems with joining. There is also the problem that Silicon Rubber is a resilient material and cannot fully implement FCP. Secondly, FCP must have a constant thickness value for each segment, which requires a large amount of accumulated data collection. In this study, we conducted a study to maintain a certain thickness of FCP produced using development equipment. As a result of the study, the study proposed a new approach to data collection that was not previously available to maintain a constant thickness for FCP. If follow-up research is carried out based on the proposal, it will be able to be used as basic research material to maintain FCP thickness. It is also believed to be available as a basic research material for automated production of FCP. The technology to keep FCP thickness constant by segment is very complex and difficult, but the new research method proposed in this study will be used as a basic research material to address this.


Nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) may be differentiated with difficulties from acute/subacute onset encephalopathies (metabolic, toxic, postanoxic, spongiform), particularly in de novo cases. We report the case of a 57-year-old man, otherwise normal, who started to present brief focal seizures and behavioral changes few weeks after a febrile illness. At the onset, the clinical and EEG picture were suggestive of a de novo NCSE. However, the rapid and progressive clinical and radiological worsening, the presence of a periodic EEG pattern, the drug-resistance, led us to consider a progressive degenerative encephalopathy. We report a challenging case of de novo super-refractory NCSE, without a definite etiologic diagnosis.


Reactions of the anionic gallium(I) heterocycle [:Ga(DAB)]− (DAB = {N(Dip)C(H)}2, Dip = C6H3Pri2-2,6) with several group 2 and 12 metal halide complexes are reported. Treatment of in situ generated [MI2(tmeda)n] (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; tmeda = N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine) with 2 equiv of [K(tmeda)][:Ga(DAB)] leads to salt elimination and formation of the neutral metal gallyl complexes trans-[M{Ga(DAB)}2(tmeda)2]. Reaction of [(Nacnac)MgI(OEt2)] (Nanac = {N(Dip)C(Me)}2CH) with [K(tmeda)][:Ga(DAB)] gives [(Nacnac)(κ1-tmeda)Mg{Ga(DAB)}]. All complexes were crystallographically characterized and display isomerism in solution, which for the latter compound has been investigated by variable-temperature NMR spectroscopy. The 1:1 reactions of [K(tmeda)][:Ga(DAB)] with [MX2(tmeda)] (M = Zn, X = Br; M = Cd, X = I) yield [(tmeda)MX{Ga(DAB)}], the cadmium example of which is the first molecular complex bearing a Ga−Cd bond. Attempts to reduce these compounds to low-valent species, e.g. [{(DAB)Ga}MM{Ga(DAB)}], were ...


The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, under a cost-sharing, cooperative research agreement with lead producers, is studying a process to eliminate sulfur oxide generation and to minimize lead emission in the production of lead. The new process consists of leaching lead sulfide concentrate with a ferric chloride-sodium chloride solution to produce lead chloride, and fused-salt electrolysis of lead chloride to produce lead metal and chlorine. The chlorine is used to regenerate ferric chloride in the leach solution. The study is being conducted in a process investigation unit which treats 750 lb of concentrate a day. This paper discusses the results of operation of the process investigation unit, data on lead monitoring, and the precautions employed to control lead levels in the workplace atmosphere. The monitoring data for the initial phase of the investigation show lead levels well within OSHA permissible exposure limits. Continued development is necessary before the process can be considered for implementation.


Abstract In this article, we consider a geometric classifier that is applicable to multiclass classification for high-dimensional data. We show the consistency property and the asymptotic normality of the geometric classifier under certain mild conditions. We discuss sample size determination so that the geometric classifier can ensure that its misclassification rates are less than prespecified thresholds. We give a two-stage procedure to estimate the sample sizes required in such a geometric classifier and propose a misclassification rate–adjusted classifier (MRAC) based on the geometric classifier. We evaluate the performance of the MRAC theoretically and numerically. Finally, we demonstrate the MRAC in actual data analyses by using a microarray data set.


We report the dependence of thermal conductivity, thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity on temperature for a bulk, large grain melt-processed Y–Ba–Cu–O (YBCO) high temperature superconductor (HTS) containing two grains separated by a well-defined grain boundary. Transport measurements at temperatures between 10 and 300 K were carried out both within one single grain (intra-granular properties) and across the grain boundary (inter-granular properties). The influence of an applied external magnetic field of up to 8 T on the measured sample properties was also investigated. The presence of the grain boundary is found to affect strongly the electrical resistivity of the melt-processed bulk sample, but has almost no effect on its thermoelectric power and thermal conductivity, within experimental error. The results of this study provide direct evidence that the heat flow in multi-granular melt-processed YBCO bulk samples should be virtually unaffected by the presence of grain boundaries in the material.


AIM
To study sleep aspects and parameters in cirrhotic patients and assess the role of liver dysfunction severity in polysomnographic results.

METHODS
This was a case-control study. Patients with a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis were consecutively enrolled in the study. Clinical examinations and laboratory liver tests were performed in all patients, and disease severity was assessed using the Child-Pugh score. The control group consisted of age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. All individuals answered a questionnaire about habits, behaviors, and complaints related to sleep and were submitted to polysomnography. Sleep parameters were compared between the two groups, and separate analyses were performed among classes of Child-Pugh classification in the cirrhotic group.

RESULTS
Forty-two cirrhotic patients and forty-two controls were enrolled. Compared to the control group, the cirrhotic group exhibited lower sleep efficiency (mean ± SD: 73.89% ± 14.99% vs 84.43% ± 8.55%, P < 0.01), increased latency (151.27 ± 93.24 min vs 90.62 ± 54.74 min, P < 0.01) and a lower percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (14.04% ± 5.64% vs 20.71% ± 6.77%, P < 0.05) as well as a higher frequency of periodic limb movements (10.56 ± 2.85/h vs 2.79 ± 0.61/h, P < 0.01). The comparison of sleep parameters among Child A, B and C cirrhotic patients revealed a significant reduction of REM sleep stage occurrence in individuals with severe liver disease (Child C patients) compared to Child A/B patients (polysomnography percentage of REM sleep stage of patients Child A: 16.1% ± 1.2%; Child B: 14.9% ± 1.2%; Child C: 8.6% ± 1.6%, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Cirrhosis was associated with shorter sleep time, reduced sleep efficiency, increased sleep latency, increased REM latency and reduced REM sleep. Additionally, disease severity influences sleep parameters.


ABSTRACT The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structure of Salmonella typhimurium has been correlated with the virulence of wild-type strain LT2. Mutants of LT2 with truncated polysaccharide portions of LPS are less virulent than strains with a complete LPS structure. Polyclonal T cells and monoclonal T-cell hybridomas were more reactive to heat-killed rough mutants than to heat-killed smooth strains, as measured by interleukin-2 (IL-2) production. Using a large panel of strains with truncated LPS molecules, we found that T-cell reactivity decreased with certain lengths of polysaccharide. The decreased response was not due to differential phagocytic uptake, IL-12 production, or major histocompatibility complex class II surface expression by macrophages. Also, LT2 did not mediate any global suppression since addition of LT2 did not diminish the response of T cells specific for antigens unrelated to Salmonella. In an experiment in which processing times were varied, we found that antigens from rough strains were processed and presented more quickly than those associated with smooth strains. At longer processing times, epitopes from LT2 were presented well. We hypothesize that the slower antigen processing and presentation of wild-type Salmonellamay be caused by masking of surface antigens by the longer polysaccharide portion of smooth LPS. This blocking of effective antigen presentation may contribute to the virulence ofSalmonella.


BACKGROUND
Low vitamin D concentrations are prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigated the relationship between plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25[OH](2)D) concentrations with death, cardiovascular events, and dialysis therapy initiation in patients with advanced CKD.

STUDY DESIGN
The HOST (Homocysteinemia in Kidney and End Stage Renal Disease) Study was a randomized double-blind trial evaluating the effects of high doses of folic acid on death and long-term dialysis therapy initiation in patients with advanced CKD (stages 4 and 5 not yet on dialysis therapy). 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)(2)D were measured in stored plasma samples obtained 3 months after trial initiation and evaluated at clinically defined cutoffs (<10, 10-30, and >30 ng/mL) and tertiles (<15, 15-22, and >22 pg/mL), respectively. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between vitamin D concentrations and clinical outcomes.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS
1,099 patients with advanced CKD from 36 Veteran Affairs Medical Centers.

PREDICTORS
25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)(2)D concentrations.

OUTCOMES
Death, cardiovascular events, and time to initiation of long-term dialysis therapy.

RESULTS
After a median follow-up of 2.9 years, 41% (n = 453) died, whereas 56% (n = 615) initiated dialysis therapy. Mean 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)(2)D concentrations were 21 ± 10 ng/mL and 20 ± 11 pg/mL, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, the lowest tertile of 1,25(OH)(2)D was associated with death (HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.01-1.74) and initiation of long-term dialysis therapy (HR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.40-2.26) compared with the highest tertile. The association with death and initiation of dialysis therapy was moderately attenuated after adjustment for plasma fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) concentrations (HRs of lower tertiles of 1.20 [95% CI, 0.91-1.58] and 1.56 [95% CI, 1.23-1.99], respectively, compared with highest tertile). There was no association between 25(OH)D concentrations and outcomes.

LIMITATIONS
Participants were mostly men.

CONCLUSIONS
Low plasma 1,25(OH)(2)D concentrations are associated with death and initiation of long-term dialysis therapy in patients with advanced CKD. FGF-23 level may attentuate this relationship.


There has been an unprecedented growth in electricity demand in South Asian countries in the last decade - most notably in India. There are significant economic and reliability benefits of power trading on a regional basis among the South Asian countries that largely remain unexploited to date. For instance, large scale power trading between India and Nepal/Bhutan can unleash massive hydro potential in excess of 100 GW that could be the key to reducing fuel costs, unserved energy and CO2 emissions throughout South Asia. This study is one of the first attempts to put in context how significant these benefits can be even in the short term. We have undertaken a modeling study that includes load flow analysis, transmission constrained investment and dispatch optimization and Monte Carlo simulation of unserved energy, to assess these benefits. We have estimated annual benefits for the year 2016/17 which shows economic and reliability benefits for a single year may justify the entire investment needed in the interconnection infrastructure. If we consider the significant environmental benefits in terms of CO2 reduction, total benefits would further outweigh the costs.


OBJECTIVE
To explore personal influencing factors that contribute to Papanicolaou (Pap smear) testing in African American women who do (routine-use group) and do not (non-routine-use group) obtain routine testing.

DESIGN
Qualitative using the interaction model of client health behavior.

SETTING
Community programs, homes, and churches.

PARTICIPANTS
Twenty four African American women aged 19 to 60.

METHODS
Face-to-face interviews. Data were analyzed using a constant comparison approach.

RESULTS
Routine-use group was socially influenced to value preventive health care while the non-routine-use group was not. Previous health care experiences with having a Pap smear and pelvic exam were positive for routine-use group and negative for non-routine-use group. Cognitively, both groups believed Pap smears tested for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. Vulnerability to cervical cancer was thought to run in families; participants believed they were either safe from risk or hoped that the odds were in their favor. In addition, there was a link between avoiding routine preventive care and a trauma history (sexual, physical, medical), eliciting negative perceptions towards Pap smears and pelvic exams.

CONCLUSION
Differences and similarities in personal influencing factors associated with cervical cancer screening were found in the two groups. Further research is needed to explore these differences and similarities because they may contribute to the reason that African American women have a greater mortality rate from cervical cancer than White women.


This article concerns the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic techniques to the analysis of geological materials and glasses. It includes inorganic minerals and glasses, but does not cover soils and clay minerals to any extent. The first part presents an overview of solid-state NMR experiments applicable to inorganic solids. The range of nuclei accessible by NMR and the particular requirements for obtaining good spectra of more difficult nuclei, including quadrupolar nuclei, are discussed. The experimental conditions under which solid-state NMR can provide quantitative analytical measurements are also considered.

NMR spectroscopy provides element-specific speciation and structural information including coordination environment and bond distances. It is particularly valuable for the analysis of amorphous and partially crystalline materials not amenable to structure determination by X-ray diffraction. NMR can detect and quantify materials containing multiple phases and can be used for in situ monitoring of phase transitions. It provides qualitative and quantitative speciation information for framework nuclei in glasses and is also capable of characterizing the dynamic behavior of mobile ions and solvent through relaxation, diffusion and chemical exchange experiments. Thus it has become an important technique for the study of hydrous minerals and gels and for ion-conducting glasses.

The sensitivity of NMR varies considerably, depending on the nucleus observed, its abundance and its chemical environment. NMR sensitivities and detection limits cannot compete with elemental analytical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence. In addition, quantitation in solids requires careful control of experimental parameters and careful calibration to avoid artifacts. However, the selectivity of NMR as an analytical technique is unsurpassed and the development of specialist pulse sequences to measure specific local interactions in solids makes it particularly well suited to the analysis of geological materials and glasses.

NMR imaging enables structural information to be resolved in three dimensions, although resolution in solid-state imaging is limited to tens of micrometers at best owing to the broader line widths and lower signal-to-noise ratios compared with liquids. However, capabilities in this field are being extended all the time and the application of NMR imaging techniques in materials analysis is expanding steadily. An alternative to conventional imaging is NMR force microscopy, which shows potential for surface mapping at higher resolutions.

The applications section is organized on the basis of the materials being analyzed. Within each section, NMR techniques are classified according to the observed nuclei. The emphasis is on more recent applications and on developments leading to enhanced resolution and sensitivity. Silicates and aluminosilicates represent the largest class of applications, followed by phosphate, borate and other oxide glasses. Sol–gel materials and the reactions leading to gel formation are also discussed, as are hydrous materials more generally. The other important areas of application reviewed are minerals, ceramics, high-temperature melts and ion-conducting glasses. Finally, the applications of NMR imaging in this field, although sparse at present, are potentially very great. This is illustrated by two major areas of application to date, namely the imaging of bone minerals and cement and concrete.


The demand for plasmid DNA has increased vastly in response to rapid advances in its use in gene therapy and vaccines. These therapies are based on the same principle, i.e. the introduction of nucleic acids in human/non-human cells receptor to restore, cancel, enhance or introduce a biochemical function. Naked plasmid DNA as a vector has attracted a lot of interest since it offers several advantages over a viral vector, especially weak immunogenicity, better safety and easy to manufacture, but low transfection efficacy. Non-viral gene therapy may require considerable amounts (milligram scale) of pharmaceutical-grade pDNA per patient since the efficacy and duration of gene expression is presently relatively low. Reliance on fermentation, which generates large lysate volumes, for producing the needed quantities of pDNA is becoming more widespread. Through optimization of the biological system, growth environment and the growth mode, improvements can be achieved in biomass productivity, plasmid yield, plasmid quality and production costs. The information on large-scale plasmid production is scarce and usually not available to the scientific community. This review summarizes recent patents and patent applications relating to plasmid upstream processing manufacturing, ranging from plasmid design to growth strategies to produce plasmid-bearing E. coli.


In an earlier article in Health Economics, Salomon and Murray argue that by applying maximum likelihood techniques to predetermined functional forms and to a data set where a number of health states are valued by means of four standard valuation techniques, underlying 'pure' valuations of health may be teased out, together with estimates of parametric relationships between these 'pure' valuations and valuations based on the four standard techniques. We argue below that 'pure' valuations of health are ordinal rather than cardinal and that the 'pure' values that result from the multi-method approach give a false impression of being cardinal. They are therefore not usable as weights for life years. In the unlikely event that the authors should be able to demonstrate cardinality in 'pure' valuations of health, it must be possible to have subjects express these valuations directly, in which case there seems to be no need for the indirect multi-method approach.


Improving enterprises' green innovation ability is beneficial to realize the "win–win" of economic development and environmental protection. As the global economic situation is complex and volatile, economic policies changed frequently. Will the rising uncertainty of economic policies affect enterprises' green innovation? Taking China's A-share-listed companies from 2008 to 2019 as the research sample, the Baker index based on news media and network information is used to measure the uncertainty of national economic policy, and the official exchange index based on the complex network is used to measure the uncertainty of economic policy in prefecture-level cities. It is found that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic policy uncertainty and firms' green innovation capability. Moreover, the uncertainty index of national macroeconomic policy is mostly on the left side of the inverted U shape, which can promote the improvement of enterprises' green innovation ability. However, too frequent changes in regional economic policies will inhibit enterprises' green innovation ability. This paper further analyzes the moderating effect of financialization of investment behavior and financing constraint on the impact of economic policy uncertainty on green innovation of enterprises from the perspective of investment and financing behavior choice. It is found that the impact of economic policy uncertainty on green innovation is more obvious for firms with low financing constraints and low financialization.


The current research of large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent flow in pumps mainly concentrates in applying conventional subgrid-scale (SGS) model to simulate turbulent flow, which aims at obtaining the flow field in pump. The selection of SGS model is usually not considered seriously, so the accuracy and efficiency of the simulation cannot be ensured. Three SGS models including Smagorinsky-Lilly model, dynamic Smagorinsky model and dynamic mixed model are comparably studied by using the commercial CFD code Fluent combined with its user define function. The simulations are performed for the turbulent flow in a centrifugal pump impeller. The simulation results indicate that the mean flows predicted by the three SGS models agree well with the experimental data obtained from the test that detailed measurements of the flow inside the rotating passages of a six-bladed shrouded centrifugal pump impeller performed using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The comparable results show that dynamic mixed model gives the most accurate results for mean flow in the centrifugal pump impeller. The SGS stress of dynamic mixed model is decompose into the scale similar part and the eddy viscous part. The scale similar part of SGS stress plays a significant role in high curvature regions, such as the leading edge and training edge of pump blade. It is also found that the dynamic mixed model is more adaptive to compute turbulence in the pump impeller. The research results presented is useful to improve the computational accuracy and efficiency of LES for centrifugal pumps, and provide important reference for carrying out simulation in similar fluid machineries.