Issues related to a materialist philosophy are explored as concerns the implied equivalence of computers running software and human observers. One issue explored concerns the measurement process in quantum mechanics. Another issue explored concerns the nature of experience as revealed by the existence of dreams. Some difficulties stemming from a materialist philosophy as regards these issues are pointed out. For example, a gedankenexperiment involving what has been called "negative" observation is discussed that illustrates the difficulty with a materialist assumption in quantum mechanics. Based on an exploration of these difficulties, specifications are outlined briefly that would provide a means to demonstrate the equivalence of of computers running software and human experience given a materialist assumption.


We describe a new family of repetitive elements in the genome of the archaebacterium Halobacterium volcanii. There are some 20-30 copies of this element, which we designate ISH51. Sequenced copies show typical insertion sequence characteristics (terminal inverted repeats, direct flanking repeats of "target site" DNA). However, members of the ISH51 family are highly heterogeneous, showing on average only 85% primary sequence homology; and some genomic copies appear to be severely truncated. Some ISH51 elements are clustered together in regions of relatively AT-rich DNA. There are at least five such AT-rich "islands" in the H. volcanii genome. Repetitive sequences homologous to ISH51 are found in the genomes of most Halobacterium and Halococcus species.


Introduction: Nasal bleeding is one of the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) emergencies which are usually managed by the Hippocratic maneuver. Anterior nasal packing is unavoidable after nasal surgeries and refractory anterior nasal bleeding. There are wide variety of newer nasal packs available and easily acceptable by the patients. The most commonly used nasal packs in day to day practices are Ivalon® and vaseline soaked ribbon gauze pack. Aim: To compare the difference between Ivalon® nasal pack with a traditional ribbon gauze pack in terms of efficacy, feasibility, patient comfort, cost and need for repacking postremoval in patients undergoing nasal surgeries. Materials and Methods: This randomised clinical trial involved 144 patients who required nasal packing after nasal surgeries, like septoplasty, Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) and nasal bone fracture reduction in the Department of ENT, Head and Neck surgery at a Tertiary Care Centre, Chennai, India. Patients were categorised into two groups- Ribbon gauze group and Ivalon® group. The patient's comfort was quantified based on nasal discharge, pain on removing the pack, stuffiness of the nose, and irritability were compared. After pack removal, mucosal oedema, congestion, and synechiae formation were assessed by using a diagnostic nasal endoscopy after 1 week. Results: Out of 144 patients, in Ivalon® group, 37 (51.4%) were males and 35 (48.6%) were females. The incidence of nasal symptoms with nasal surgery i.e nasal discharge was significantly higher in the ribbon gauze packing group (68.1%) compared to Ivalon® pack (31.9%) (p-value=0.044). Pain on pack removal was also more in the former (76.4%) compared to Ivalon® group (23.6%) which were statistically significant (p-value=0.005). Pain on pack removal was significantly more in the former (76.4%) compared to Ivalon® group (23.6%). Other symptoms like anxiety, discomfort, stuffiness, local irritation, and congestion were lesser in the Ivalon® group. Mucosal oedema was higher in ribbon gauze group (59.7%) compared to Ivalon® pack (40.3%) which was statistically significant (p-value= 0.019). Conclusion: As a postnasal surgery pack, Ivalon® pack is a better option due to less pain, anxiety, stuffiness, local irritation, congestion, synechiae formation and gives better comfort when compared to the ribbon gauze packs.


Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) has been grown using a nanodiamond seeding technique, leading to a dense form of this material, with grain sizes around 100 nm. The electrical properties of both intrinsic and lightly boron-doped NCD have been investigated using impedance spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. For intrinsic material, both grain boundaries and grains themselves initially contribute to the frequency dependant impedance values recorded. However, boundary conduction can be removed and the films become highly resistive. Interestingly, the ac properties of these films are also excellent with a dielectric loss value ∼0.004 for frequencies up to 10 MHz. The dielectric properties of these NCD films are therefore as good as high quality large grain polycrystalline diamond films. In the case of boron-doped material, p-type material with good carrier mobility values (10–50 cm2/V s) can be produced at carrier concentrations around 1017 cm−3.


At I/ITSEC 2019, the authors presented a fully-automated workflow to segment 3D photogrammetric point-clouds/meshes and extract object information, including individual tree locations and ground materials (Chen et al., 2019). The ultimate goal is to create realistic virtual environments and provide the necessary information for simulation. We tested the generalizability of the previously proposed framework using a database created under the U.S. Army's One World Terrain (OWT) project with a variety of landscapes (i.e., various buildings styles, types of vegetation, and urban density) and different data qualities (i.e., flight altitudes and overlap between images). Although the database is considerably larger than existing databases, it remains unknown whether deep-learning algorithms have truly achieved their full potential in terms of accuracy, as sizable data sets for training and validation are currently lacking. Obtaining large annotated 3D point-cloud databases is time-consuming and labor-intensive, not only from a data annotation perspective in which the data must be manually labeled by well-trained personnel, but also from a raw data collection and processing perspective. Furthermore, it is generally difficult for segmentation models to differentiate objects, such as buildings and tree masses, and these types of scenarios do not always exist in the collected data set. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate using synthetic photogrammetric data to substitute real-world data in training deep-learning algorithms. We have investigated methods for generating synthetic UAV-based photogrammetric data to provide a sufficiently sized database for training a deep-learning algorithm with the ability to enlarge the data size for scenarios in which deep-learning models have difficulties.


Agriculture is an important application in India. The modern technologies can change the situation of farmers and descision making in agricultural field in a better way. Python is used as a front end for analysing the agricultural data set. Jupyter Notebook is the data mining tool used to predict the crop production. The parameter includes in the dataset are precipitation, temperature, reference crop, evapotranspiration, area, production and yield for the season from January to December for the years 2000 to 2018. The data mining techniques like K-Means Clustering, KNN, SVM, and Bayesian network algorithm where high accuracy can be achieved.


We represent our recent advances on the study of the gap symmetry in UPt3 by thermal conductivity tensors κij (i, j = x, y, z). The field-angle-resolved thermal conductivity κzz shows spontaneous twofold symmetry breaking in the gap function for the high-field C-phase, indicating that the pairing symmetry of UPt3 belongs to an E1u representation in the f-wave category. We also demonstrate that the proposed pairing symmetry is compatible with most of the experimental results reported until now.


Background and Objective: Needle stick and sharps injuries (NSIs) have been recognized as one of the occupational hazards among health care workers. Many infections including blood-borne viruses such as Human Immunodeficieny Virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C can be transmitted by exposure to infected blood or other body fluid via accidental inoculation injury. The aim of current study was to determine prevalence of NSSIs and related factors in health care workers of Besat hospital of Sanandaj, 2014. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study, with sample size of 249 persons, was carried out during June and August in 2014 in Besat hospital of Sanandaj. Participants including nurses auxiliary nurse, midwives and service staff. Descriptive methods and logistic regression were used for summarie of data and assessing the associations between variables and occupational exposure, respectively. Results: The prevalence of occupational exposure in this hospital personnel was 79.92 %. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that men more than women and those with experience (years of services) of 10 to 15 years were significantly more likely to needlestick. 61.36% of the participants also had correct knowledge about occupational exposures and how to deal with it. Conclusion: The findings showed that the occurrence of NSIs in this hospital was high. We concluded that prevention of NSI as an integral part of prevention programs in the work places is essential , and training of health care workers regarding safety practices indispensably needs to be an ongoing activity. Key words: Occupational exposure, Needle stick/Sharp injuries, Knowledge, Health workers Funding: This research was funded by Sanandaj University of Medical Sciences. Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Sanandaj University of Medical Sciences approved the study. How to cite this article: Miraki P, Bidarpoor F, Rostami Sh, Khairollahi Sh, Rahmani Kh. Occupational Exposures and Factors Affecting Its Prevalence in Besat Hospital of Sanandaj in 2014. J RafsanjanUniv Med Sci 2015 14(7): 535-48. [Farsi]


In the course of foreign language teaching, the priority should always be given to increase international understanding by enabling the students to enter into the life, thought, and literature of people who speak another language. The objective may vary from one period to another, but it should long be present in the thinking of our minds. The following words attempt to explore the importance of culture teaching and relevant activities so as to raise our awareness of the significance of culture understanding in our teaching.


The paper briefly describes the emergence since the 1950s of the concept of antitrust market, the hypothetical-monopolist approach for the definition of what was called the relevant market, the way in which it found broad acceptance among antitrust agencies around the world, some of its fundamental shortcomings and the recent disenchantment with market definition, in general, and with the hypothetical-monopolist paradigm, in particular.


Abstract The aims of the researchers were to develop an NCD prevention program including training for professionals who implement such programs, and to evaluate its effects on diabetes mellitus knowledge, hypertension knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-care in community-dwelling, middle-aged Laotian women. The study design was a randomized controlled trial. The study sample was composed of Laotian women aged 40 to 59 years living in Vientiane, Laos who fulfilled more than one diagnostic criterion for metabolic syndrome. This study provides a guide for low- and middle-income countries to develop future health capacity building programs for NCD prevention in middle-aged women.


The methods introduced by Jorna (1964a, b) are applied to Kummer's equation, and Green-type, transitional and uniform expansions derived for solutions of the type denoted in Slater (1960) by U(a, c, z) which are valid for large |c|. The subsidiary function in the uniform expansion is essentially a parabolic cylinder function of order ½a. The general exponential integral is studied as a special case. Here the uniform expansion involves as subsidiary function the extensively tabulated error integral.


The goal of this paper is to convey the meaning of the category of speech system for computer cognitive modeling. By implementing it, the authors prove the importance of supplementing relational-situational analysis, based linguistically on the concept of functional syntax, with the technology of creating templates which are the formalization of those sections of stylisticspeech system that mark the mental processes under study. A review of works on speech system since the 1920s is given. It is shown that in recent decades, when studying speech system, the primary interest of linguists lies in the processes of verbal communication and in its main unit — a text. It is noted that the quantitative aspects of the language functioning in various areas and communicative situations are being examined not only in quantitative linguistics but also in the works on artificial intelligence. We prove the hypothesis that the given approach to the automatic analysis of texts is realized in all cases of social communicative practice, when to express the certain affective states or cognitive actions, we can find relatively stable ways of choosing and using linguistic means. From psychological point of view, this is the area of compressed internal actions, which, if necessary, can be expanded and expressed in the form of a verbal reaction or a verbal report. It is a broad research field covering the typologies underlying the known psychological inventories or recorded in descriptions of human behavior in various spheres of activity. The paper demonstrates the resources to analyze stylistic-speech system for the automatic search of professional crisis signs in social networks. The extensive material presented by the fragments of 86 network discussions describes the patterns of choice and use of multi-level language units to express the typical emotional states of currently experienced professional crisis. The linguistic markers of the mentioned states are considered in detail.


The history of the transistor contributes to reassessments of the origins of us hegemony in the 1940s and 1950s. Areas of conflict emerged between us capital and the American state during the World War ii and in the immediate postwar years. Because the transistor evolved as a direct consequence of state investment during these years, the transistor's history illuminates tensions over military spending and defense production, and the ways in which mncs, academia, and the state overcame tension in the establishment of hegemony.


Congestion control and reduction is paramount in enhancing the performance and speed of communication networks. Despite its efficiency in improving the speed and performance of communication networks, it is imperative to mention that the technique exhibit several issues, such as scheduling algorithms. This paper presents a comparison of different results associated with different scheduling algorithms. Multisource was used to simulate and test different scheduling algorithms, including First In First Out (FIFO), Random Packet Drop, and Last In First Out (LIFO). The comparison was made by analyzing different results, including the average delay vs arrival rate, average buffer utilization vs arrival rate, and packet loss ration vs arrival rate. According to the results, it is evident that the average buffer utilization and average packet delays increased as the rate of data transmitted through the network increased. There was no significant change noticed in the average buffer utilization in all the three algorithms. However, the packet loss ratio was high in Random Packet Loss algorithm than in both FIFO and LIFO for slower arrival rates below 1000. Similarly, FIFO exhibited a significantly high average packet delay than both LIFO and Random Packet Drop algorithms. Keywords—Queue scheduling algorithms, first in first out scheduling, last in first out scheduling, random packet drop scheduling


A biodegradable gene transfer vector has been synthesized by linking several low molecular weight (MW) polyethylenimine (PEI, 1200 Da) blocks using an oligo(L-lactic acid-co-succinic acid) (OLSA, 1000 Da). The resulting copolymer P(EI-co-LSA) (8 kDa) is soluble in water and degrades via base-catalyzed hydrolytic cleavage of amide bonds. With regard to its application as a gene transfer agent, the polymer showed an interesting pH dependency of degradation. At pH 5, when DNases are highly active, the degradation proceeds at a slower rate than at a physiological pH of 7.4. PEI and P(EI-co-LSA) spontaneously formed complexes with plasmid DNA. Whereas the complexes formed with PEI were not stable and aggregated, forming particles of up to 1 microm hydrodynamic diameter, P(EI-co-LSA) formed complexes, which were about 150 nm in size and of narrow size distribution. The latter complexes were stable, due to their high surface charge (zeta-potential + 18 mV). Similar to low MW PEI, the copolymer exhibited a low toxicity profile. At the same time, the copolymer showed a significant enhancement of transfection activity in comparison to the low MW PEI. This makes P(EI-co-LSA) a promising candidate for long-term gene therapy where biocompatibility and biodegradability become increasingly important.


As part of a larger effort to aid in seamless integration of Fourier-based multiplexed ion mobility with a range mass analyzers, we have developed an all-in-one graphical user interface tool for FT-IM-MS data analysis that runs directly within a web browser. This tool, FTflow, accepts mzML files and displays necessary information such as mass spectra and extracted ion chromatograms in order to reconstruct arrival time distributions. It also extracts the corresponding mobility-related information (e.g., Ko and CCS) for each of the target ion populations. Furthermore, input fields for experimental conditions are clearly laid out for users and ease-of-use. With flexibility in mind, the processing scripts and GUI interface are written entirely in Python and allows users the option to modify source code to fit their specific needs. While the intention for this tool is to be a starting point for exploratory analysis of FT-IM-MS data, it has the capability to be adapted for use in more automated data processing pipelines through direct access of core processing routines.


The Bounded Diameter Minimum Spanning Tree problem (BDMST) and the Hop Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree problems (HCMST) are NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems which have their main application in network design. In this thesis an existing relax-and-cut approach for finding lower bounds and approximate solutions to those problems is enhanced and extended, and a hybrid algorithm based on the relax-and-cut approach as well as on an existing metaheuristic, namely an ant colony optimization (ACO), is presented. The enhanced relax-and-cut (R&C) approach is based on an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation which relies on so called jump constraints. The number of jump constraints in this formulation is exponential by means of the instance size. Therefore, violated constraints are identified and relaxed on the fly. The enhanced R&C algorithm is a so called non deleayed relax-and-cut algorithm which is based on subgradient optimization. Since the number of separated jump inequalities can be large, a sophisicated management of a pool of such constraints is used. The two main extensions to this R&C approach are the initial identification of jump constraints with corresponding dual variables and a generalization of jump constraints. The metaheuristic utilized for the hybrid algorithm is an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. ACO algorithms exploit the ability of ants finding short paths between their nest and food sources by depositing pheromone. This works as a positive feedback system. The concept of the hybrid algorithm is the utilization of information obtained by the relax-and-cut approach as a heuristic component in the ACO algorithm that is mixed with the pheromone information of the ACO algorithm. Computational experiments have been performed on previously published benchmark instances. The results have shown that most of the enhancements to the R&C algorithm have lead to significant improvements especially for the lower bounds compared to the original R&C algorithm.


Regeneration of arms in brittle stars is thought to proceed slowly in low temperature environments. Here a survey of natural arm damage and arm regeneration rates is documented in the Antarctic brittle star Ophiura crassa. This relatively small ophiuroid, a detritivore found amongst red macroalgae, displays high levels of natural arm damage and repair. This is largely thought to be due to ice damage in the shallow waters it inhabits. The time scale of arm regener- ation was measured in an aquarium-based 10 mo experiment. There was a delayed regeneration phase of 7 mo before arm growth was detectable in this species. This is 2 mo longer than the longest time previously described, which was in another Antarctic ophiuroid, Ophionotus victo- riae. The subsequent regeneration of arms in O. crassa occurred at a rate of approximately 0.16 mm mo �1 . To date, this is the slowest regeneration rate known of any ophiuroid. The confir- mation that such a long delay before arm regeneration occurs in a second Antarctic species pro- vides strong evidence that this phenomenon is yet another characteristic feature of Southern Ocean species, along with deferred maturity, slowed growth and development rates. It is unclear whether delayed initial regeneration phases are adaptations to, or limitations of, low temperature environments.


Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is increasingly used as a source of hematopoietic progenitor cells to treat a variety of disorders. UCB transplant is associated with comparatively reduced incidence of graft-versus-host disease, robust graft versus leukemia effect, and relatively high incidence of opportunistic infections, three processes in which donor-derived T lymphocytes are known to be predominantly involved. To examine the differential functionality of UCB T cells, CD8+ T cells specific for the melanoma-associated HLA-A2–restricted Melan-A26–35 A27L peptide were isolated from HLA-A2+ and HLA-A2− UCB samples and HLA-A2+ and HLA-A2− adult peripheral blood using A2/Melan-A tetramers. In UCB samples, A2/Melan-A+ CD8+ T cells were detected at a frequency of 0.04%, were more frequent in HLA-A2+ UCB, and were polyclonal and mostly naive. Consistent with Ag-driven expansion, the frequency of A2/Melan-A+ CD8+ T cells was increased following stimulation with cognate peptide or polyclonal activation, they acquired cell-surface markers reflective of effector/memory differentiation, their TCR repertoire became oligoclonal, and they expressed cytolytic activity and produced IFN-γ. Although functional properties of A2/Melan-A+ CD8+ T cells derived from HLA-A2+ UCB resembled those of HLA-A2+ adult peripheral blood, they were more likely to reach terminal differentiation following polyclonal stimulation and produced less IFN-γ in response to cognate peptide. A2/Melan-A+ CD8+ T cells from HLA-A2− UCB were poorly cytolytic, produced little IFN-γ, and were predominantly monofunctional or nonfunctional. These properties of UCB-derived CD8+ T cells could contribute to the reduced incidence of graft-versus-host disease and heightened incidence of opportunistic infections observed following UCB transplant.


In conducting medical research, a system which can objectively predict the future trends of the given research field is awaited. This study aims to establish a novel and versatile algorithm that predicts the latest trends in neuro-oncology. Seventy-nine neuro-oncological research fields were selected with computational sorting methods such as text-mining analyses. Thirty journals that represent the recent trends in neuro-oncology were also selected. As a novel concept, the annual impact (AI) of each year was calculated for each journal and field (number of articles published in the journal × impact factor of the journal). The AI index (AII) for the year was defined as the sum of the AIs of the 30 journals. The AII trends of the 79 fields from 2008 to 2017 were subjected to machine learning predicting analyses. The accuracy of the predictions was validated using actual past data. With this algorithm, the latest trends in neuro-oncology were predicted. As a result, the linear prediction model achieved relatively good accuracy. The predicted hottest fields in recent neuro-oncology included some interesting emerging fields such as microenvironment and anti-mitosis. This algorithm may be an effective and versatile tool for prediction of future trends in a particular medical field.


Abstract Data are presented on the kinetics of coarsening of γ′-type Ni3Ti precipitates (L12 crystal structure) in three binary Ni–Ti alloys containing 10.31, 11.84, and 13.72at.% Ti aged at 720°C for times up to 64 h. Data on the distributions of particle sizes (PSDs) are also presented. These data, as well as previously published data, are analyzed in light of a new theory of coarsening in which diffusion is controlled by transport through the non-sharp interface between the matrix and precipitate phases. The new theory, called the trans-interface diffusion-controlled (TIDC) theory of coarsening, predicts time (t)-dependent behavior of the type 〈r〉n ∝ t for the growth of precipitates of average radius 〈r〉 and XTi ∝ t−1/n for the depletion of the solute concentration of the matrix, XTi. The exponent n is intimately related to the width of the interface between the precipitate and matrix phases, δ, which is assumed to depend on the particle radius as δ ∝ m, where n = m + 2. The shape of the scaled distribution of particle sizes (PSD) depends on n and the thermo-physical kinetic constants are independent of volume fraction. The data on kinetics are evaluated and compared for n=2.375, determined from analyses of the PSDs, and for n=3, which is the traditionally accepted value. The agreement between the data on kinetics and predictions of the TIDC theory is acceptable, and the TIDC theory is the only one capable of explaining the experimentally observed absence of an effect of volume fraction on the kinetics at larger volume fractions, and the shapes of the PSDs.


Objectives-This report presents trends in mean weight, height, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI) among adults in the United States from 1999-2000 through 2015-2016. Methods-Data were obtained from physical examinations of a nationally representative sample of adults aged 20 and over in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys during 1999-2016. The tables present means and standard errors of the mean for weight (n = 45,047), height (n = 46,481), waist circumference (n = 43,169), and BMI (n = 44,859) separately for men and women overall, by age group, and by race and Hispanic origin for each 2-year survey period. Changes in these body measures over time were evaluated using linear regression. Results-Since 1999, mean weight, waist circumference, and BMI increased for all age groups, for non-Hispanic white and Mexican-American men and women, and for non-Hispanic black women. Among non-Hispanic black men, weight, waist circumference, and BMI increased until 2005-2006 and then remained level. No change in height was seen over time except for a decrease in crude estimates among all women, a decrease among men and women aged 40-59, and an increase in both crude and age-adjusted estimates of mean height for men followed by a decrease after 2003-2004. No significant trends were seen in any of the four body measures for non-Hispanic Asian men and women (data available only for 2011-2016).


The development of inverse design, where computational optimization techniques are used to design devices based on certain specifications, has led to the discovery of many compact, non-intuitive structures with superior performance. Among various methods, large-scale, gradient-based optimization techniques have been one of the most important ways to design a structure containing a vast number of degrees of freedom. These techniques are made possible by the adjoint method, in which the gradient of an objective function with respect to all design degrees of freedom can be computed using only two full-field simulations. However, this approach has so far mostly been applied to linear photonic devices. Here, we present an extension of this method to modeling nonlinear devices in the frequency domain, with the nonlinear response directly included in the gradient computation. As illustrations, we use the method to devise compact photonic switches in a Kerr nonlinear material, in which low-power and high-power pulses are routed in different directions. Our technique may lead to the development of novel compact nonlinear photonic devices.


Variable temperature, solid-state deuterium (2H) NMR spectroscopy has been used to probe the rather complex head group dynamics of the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide- d9 (CTAB- d9) in bulk. Heating and cooling runs were made as the surfactant underwent supercooling. 2H NMR line shape simulations were used to identify the hierarchy of the molecular motions of CTAB as a function of temperature. Fast continuous methyl rotations about the N-Cmethyl axes and 3-fold jumps about the main chain C-N axis were present at all of the temperatures from -40 to 120 °C. With heating, the spectra were consistent with CTAB molecules starting 180° flips about the hydrocarbon chain molecular axis around 0 °C, which continued to flip with increasing flip rates up to 80 °C. At 90 °C, the flips changed to rotation of the CTAB molecules about the hydrocarbon chain axis and that rotation continued to 120 °C. Comparison of spectra of bulk CTAB at different temperatures from heating and cooling runs revealed that the rotation about the long axis of the hydrocarbon chains started at around 90 °C on heating, however, it does not freeze out until between 70 and 80 °C because of supercooling.


Rhabditis ( Oscheius ) colombiana n. sp. is described as a necromenic associate of the burrower bug Cyrtomenus bergi (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) collected in the Cauca Valley, Colombia. The new species resembles others of the insectivora -group, viz , Rhabditis ( O. ) insectivora Korner, 1954 and Rhabditis ( O. ) lucianii Maupas, 1919, in a number of morphological and life history traits, but can be separated by a combination of morphological and morphometric characters. The most distinctive morphological features that separate R. ( O. ) colombiana n. sp. from these two Rhabditis species are the total size of both males and females, which are much shorter and slimmer in the new species; the size of the male spicules and the values of ratios b and c. Additionally, molecular data (18S rDNA sequences) and phylogenetic analyses demonstrated the distinctiveness of this species when compared to a number of other Rhabditis ( Oscheius ) species.


Abstract Background Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is present in 5%–10% of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. To date, its impact on the metabolic and hormonal profile of those women remains controversial. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the impact of SCH on the glycemic, lipid and hormonal profile of PCOS patients. Materials and methods We conducted a prospective case control study of patients that attended the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology of our hospital. Results Overall, 280 women with PCOS were enrolled during a time period of 7 years (2009–2015). Twenty-one patients (7.5%) suffered from SCH. The anthropometric characteristics were comparable among women with PCOS and those with SCH + PCOS. The prevalence of acne, hirsutism and anovulation did not differ. Significant differences were observed in the 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (p = 0.003 for glucose and p = 0.046 for insulin). The QUICKI, Matsuda and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) indices where, however, similar. No difference in serum lipids was observed. Slightly elevated levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone were noted. The remaining hormonal parameters remained similar among groups. Similarly, the ovarian volume and the endometrial thickness did not differ. Conclusions The impact of SCH on the metabolic and hormonal profile of PCOS patients seems to be negligible. Future studies are needed in the field and their conduct in a multi-institutional basis seems to be required, given the small prevalence of SCH among women with PCOS.


The paper analyses farmer coping strategies under war-time conditions in Sierra Leone in order to identify why food-insecure farmers continue to value African Rice. African Rice has an important association with 'sokoihun' (forest enclaves). These enclaves - written in the history of the landscape - became once again important as war swept over rural communities in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in the 1990s. The 'sokoihun' teach a lesson about innovation under adversity. War-affected rural populations might benefit from improving African Rice through genetic contribution from Asian Rice, reversing a mainstream institutional breeding strategy. In general, it is concluded that pro-poor plant improvement would benefit from careful contextual analysis and prior consultation with the food-insecure.


Guanylspecific RNAse C2 has been studied thermodynamically using a microcalorimetry technique. It is shown that at ph varying from 5,0 to 8,0 the RNAse C2 solution in a cacodylate buffer contains about 30% of monomeric and about 70% of dimeric forms of protein, each of them melting as a single cooperative system. Moreover, studies of the influence of phosphate ions have shown that they stabilize the system by 3-4 degrees and transform it into a monomeric form.


Bone resorption plays an important role in bone modeling and remodeling. Osteoclasts are the cells responsible for the bone resorption. Osteoclasts are located on endosteal bone surfaces and on the periosteal surface beneath the periosteum. They are multinucleated giant cells highly polarized in their morphology and function. Among the proximal surface, the membrane and the area of the cytoplasm directly oppose to the bone surface, which are specialized into two regions. A central region consisting of many irregular cytoplasmic processes and infoldings, the ruffled border, is known to be the active site of bone resorption. Surrounding the ruffled border, a second region, the clear zone provides an area of close attachment to the mineralized bone surface. The osteoclasts secrete a large amount of protons by the action of H(+)-pump on the ruffled border into the sealed resorption cavity, resulting in the acidified microenvironment under which condition the bone matrix is dissolved. Protons are provided by the intracellular action of carbonic anhydrase. Following the secretion of the protons, several ion-transporting systems, i.e., carbonate-chloride exchanger, chloride-channel, Ca(2+)-transport systems, Na+/K(+)-ATPase, and voltage-dependent Ca(2+)-channel, are sequentially operated on both apical and basolateral cytoplasmic membranes. In addition, osteoclasts contain a large amount of lysosomal enzymes (cathepsin C, beta-glycerophosphatase, beta-glucuronidase, etc.), which contribute to degrade the bone organic matrices exposed in the resorption cavity. These enzymes bind to the mannose-6-phosphate receptor on Golgi apparatus, are transported to the ruffled border and are secreted into the extracellular compartment in an exocytotic manner. Osteoclasts also have a high tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity which is currently used as a marker enzyme osteoclastic differentiation. Osteoclasts are considered to develop from hematopoietic stem cells. So far, the following four different pathways of the differentiation of osteoclast are proposed: The precursors of osteoclast develop (1) from multilineage hematopoietic cells via a completely separate differentiation line, (2) from granulocyte macrophage-colony forming cells, (3) from committed but proliferative monocyte-macrophage, and (4) from mature and unproliferative monocyte-macrophage. However, the differentiation line of the osteoclasts has still to be elucidated. The formation of osteoclasts as well as that of other hematopoietic cells is strongly regulated by many cytokines [interleukin (IL)-1,IL-3,IL-6, M-colony stimulating factor (CSF), and GM-CSF]. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 and parathyroid hormone also stimulate the differentiation of osteoclast precursors. However, the mature osteoclasts do not possess the receptors for these hormones.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


This paper discusses techniques employed in the discrete modeling of physical systems for digital simulation and control applications. Traditional numerical integration techniques provide accurate means of model making but prove too slow for real-time simulation of complex systems or systems with fast response. For rapid digital simulation, a simplified discrete approximation is sought for the linear integro-differential operators of a continuous system. This discrete operator, a digitized transfer function, yields difference equations hopefully permitting real-time approximation of continuous system performance on a digital computer. Determination of the discrete operator is the essential goal of each of the simulation schemes described herein, though differing initial assumptions and approximations alter the resulting forms. After a brief review of these approaches to simulation, techniques for improved approximations for linear system transforms and for discrete parameter optimization and identification are developed. The optimum discrete transfer function which minimizes the sum of error squared between a linear continuous system output and a linear discrete system output is obtained. By adjusting gain parameters in the discrete transfer function, the simulation result is shown to be improved for various inputs and system nonlinearities. Application of standard variational methods to optimize the desired parameters leads to a two-point nonlinear boundary-value problem which is resolved via the techniques of quasilinearization and differential approximation. The procedure for application of various simulation methods is summarized, and the effectiveness of the methods is shown by the simulation of a second-order, nonlinear system for various inputs and sample intervals.


: Mobile users are interested in utilising high network capabilities without time and place constraints. However, with a high level of interest in the usage of mobile phones and internet facilities, the limited capacity of terrestrial base stations (BSs) is unbalanced. As a potential alternative to BSs, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as a means of transmitting wireless data to ground mobile users. As an air-to-ground communication network, the real UAVs deployed and collected communication data from ground mobile users. The main objective of this study is to analyse and evaluate user throughput, interference, and power transmission when the UAVs are at different heights. The parameters used include the locations of the UAVs and users, the altitudes and elevation angles from the users to UAVs, signal-to-noise-ratio, throughput values, the categories of line-of-sight, and non-line-of-sight links. Furthermore, K -means used as a clustering method for class identification, long short-term memory (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit (GRU) to analyse and evaluate system performance. The system's performance was compared with a multi-layer perceptron approach. The evaluation results show that the proposed LSTM–GRU provides reliable and encouraging performance with low computational complexity, which is appropriate for heterogeneous networks.


Objective:The aim of this study was to assess the chemical and physical work conditions in hair salons and to analyze health risk of exposure to VOCs for the hairdressers of hair salons. Methods: This study was carried out at 4 selected hair salons close to universities in Surat Thani province, Thailand. VOCs were collected by area sampling using charcoal tubes (9 samples per salon). The air samples were analyzed using GC/FID. The noise levels, illumination, and temperature were measured by using sound level meter, lux meter, and WBGT, respectively. Results: Toluene, cyclohexanone, xylene, and hexane were the most frequently found across the hair salons. All of the VOCs concentration was highest in the mixing area. All of hair salons had cancer risk exceeding 1 × 10−6 and HI > 1.0, indicating that indoor air pollution may affect hairdresser's health. The average VOCs concentrations after installation of local exhaust ventilation and open the door for 30 minutes before closing the hair salon, was significantly lower than before and after installation of the local exhaust ventilation. The WBGT indoors varied within 22 to 28°C, sound pressure levels within 71 to 76 dBA, and illumination within 70 to 400 lux. The noise levels and temperature in the hair salons were satisfactory on the scale of the Ministry of Labor (Thailand). Conclusions:Installing and using proper ventilation in hair salon are recommended to eliminate health effects. Hairdresser worked in poor lighting that should be improved to appropriate levels (>1000 lux).


The synthesis of 3,4-diaryl-3-pyrrolin-2-ones and 4-aryl-3-pyrrolin-2-ones using Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of tetramic acid sulfonates with arylboronic acids has been studied. The effect that sulfonate ester, sterics, and lactam protection has on the cross-coupling reaction was evaluated. As expected, triflates were better cross-coupling partners than the corresponding tosylates. The yields were only partially affected by the incorporation of aryl groups at the 3-position. Importantly, tetramic acid triflates (and to a lesser extent tosylates) lacking a lactam protecting group were still competent substrates. J. Heterocyclic Chem., 46, 447 (2009).


The conversion factors obtained by Goudsmit and Weiss for exploiting backscattering optical data for radar purposes are extended to arbitrary angle, and an optical facility for obtaining the initial data is described. Our semi-automatic, photoelectronic optical scattering range measures intensity as a function of the angle of observation, and is used primarily as an analog computer to facilitate constructing high frequency far-field microwave approximations for complicated scatterers. It consists essentially of a modulated light source at one end of a vertical twelve-foot diam semicircular track and a photomultiplier detector mounted on a carriage traveling around the track; the source illuminates a scatterer at the center of the track, and the intensity of the reflected field is automatically measured and recorded, Results for rapidly rotating large metallic spheres (which served to normalize the system), for metallic and dielectric cylinders (with details of the rainbow caustic for the second case) and for cones, are given and compared with theory.


Background: Risky sexual behavior among adolescents is one of the leading health behaviors most associated with mortality, morbidity, and social problems. Adolescents need reliable sources of information to help them promote healthy sexual behaviors. Physicians in the United States are often seen by adolescents as a reliable and trustworthy source of accurate sexual information. However, many physicians feel uncomfortable or ill-prepared to deal with sexuality issues among their adolescent patients. Purpose: This study examined the impact of family resident physicians' sexual attitudes, knowledge, and comfort, on the delivery of sexuality-related patient education to their adolescent patients. Materials and Methods: Pre-post-test scales were administered to 21 physicians. Data were also collected for patient (n=644) charts. Factors that determined the delivery of sexuality-related patient education were analyzed. Results: Results indicate that sexuality-related patient education was rarely provided to adolescent patients. Conclusions: Adolescent sexuality education is not a high priority for physicians. Professional medical organizations should play a leadership role in training physicians on delivering sexuality education to adolescent patients.


Stress arises from an external demand placed on an organism that triggers physiological, cognitive and behavioural responses in order to cope with that request. It is thus an adaptive response useful for the survival of an organism. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize global changes in gene expression in the hippocampus in response to acute stress stimuli, by employing a mouse model of short-term restraint stress. In our experimental design mice were subjected to a one time exposure of restraint stress and the regulation of gene expression in the hippocampus was examined 3, 12 and 24 hours thereafter. Microarray analysis revealed that mice which had undergone acute restraint stress differed from non-stressed controls in global hippocampal transcriptional responses. An up-regulation of transcripts contributing directly or indirectly to neurogenesis and neuronal protection including, Ttr, Rab6, Gh, Prl, Ndufb9 and Ndufa6, was observed. Systems level analyses revealed a significant enrichment for neurogenesis, neuron morphogenesis- and cognitive functions-related biological process terms and pathways. This work further supports the hypothesis that acute stress mediates a positive action on the hippocampus favouring the formation and the preservation of neurons, which will be discussed in the context of current data from the literature.


The (13)C chemical shifts of methylcobalt(III) compounds with saturated amine ligands in cis positions to the methyl group and a monodentate ligand, L = CN(-), NH(3), NO(2)(-), N(3)(-), H(2)O, or OH(-), in the trans position are reported. The amine ligands used, 1,2-ethanediamine (en), 1,3-propanediamine (tn), N,N'-bis(2-aminoethyl)-1,3-propanediamine (2,3,2-tet), N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (3,2,3-tet), and 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane (cyclam), all exert an apparent cis influence on the (13)C resonance signal of the coordinated methyl group. In the trans-[Co(en)(2)(CH(3))(L)](n+) series the (15)N resonance frequency of the coordinated en has also been measured. The influence of L on the en (15)N chemical shifts is reverse the influence on the methyl (13)C chemical shifts except in the case of L = NO(2)(-), which affects a further deshielding of the amine nitrogen nucleus. The methyl (1)J(CH) coupling constants in the trans-[Co(en)(2)(CH(3))(L)](n+) series range from 128.09 Hz (L = CN(-)) to 134.11 Hz (L = H(2)O). The crystal structures of trans-[Co(en)(2)(CH(3))(ClZnCl(3))], trans-[Co(3,2,3-tet)(CH(3))(N(3))]ClO(4), trans,trans-[(CH(3))(en)(2)Co(CN)Co(en)(2)(CH(3))](PF(6))(3)(CH(3)CN), and cis-[Co(en)(2)(CH(3))(NH(3))]ZnCl(4) were determined from low-temperature X-ray diffraction data.


This work shows how the content of a digital library can be enhanced to better satisfy its users' needs. Missing content is identified by finding missing content topics in the system's query log or in a pre-defined taxonomy of required knowledge. The collection is then enhanced with new relevant knowledge, which is extracted from external sources that satisfy those missing content topics. Experiments we conducted measure the precision of the system before and after content enhancement. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in the system effectiveness as a result of content enhancement and the superiority of the missing content enhancement policy over several other possible policies.


The theory of entropy is abundant in content and has be applied to the economy. Usually, we measure the system quantity, that is the measuring of amount and quality of information that people acquire, the concept of entropy is usually changed into the quantitative concept of entropy weight. The entropy value is smaller, and the entropy weight is bigger, that imply the system provided useful information toward the decision maker. When the evaluation object is assured, adjust or increase and decrease to the index according to entropy weight, thus get the more credible and accurate. We also should review the evaluation and entropy weight when itpsilas necessary. Based on the entropy theory, this paper will give an approach about the multiple objective decision methods, and at the end, give a more accurate and credible engineering item choice.


We determine and analyze the quantum phases and time delays in photoionization and photorecombination of valence 3p and 3s electrons of argon using the Kohn-Sham local density functional approach. The time-dependent local density approximation (TDLDA) is used to account for the electron correlation. Resulting attosecond Wigner-Smith time delays show excellent agreements with two recent independent experiments on argon that measured the relative 3s-3p time delay in photoionization [Physical Review Letters {\bf 106}, 143002 (2011)] and the delay in 3p photorecombination [Physical Review Letters {\bf 112}, 153002 (2014)]


Donor cell expression of C3 enhances the alloimmune response and is associated with the fate of transplantation. To clarify the mechanism for enhancement of the immune response, we have explored the role of C3a receptor (C3aR)-ligand interaction on murine bone marrow dendritic cells (DCs). We show that DCs either lacked receptor for C3a (a C3 cleavage product) or were treated with C3aR antagonist, elicited defective T-cell priming against alloantigen expressed on the DCs. This was associated with reduced surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and costimulatory molecules on the DCs, and with defective priming in skin allograft rejection. In addition, DCs lacking factor B were unable to generate potent T-cell responses against donor antigen, whereas lack of C4 had no detectable effect, suggesting a role for the alternative pathway contributing to allostimulation. Furthermore, therapeutic complement regulator can down-regulate DC allostimulatory function. These findings suggest that the capacity of DCs for allostimulation depends on their ability to express, activate, and detect relevant complement components leading to C3aR signaling. This mechanism, in addition to underpinning the cell-autonomous action of donor C3 on allostimulation, has implications for a wider range of immune responses in self-restricted T-cell priming.


However, IGA needs a domain discretization but CAD only constructs the surface of the geometry. This confliction can be solved naturally by isogeometric boundary element methods (IGABEM). IGABEM is a combination of boundary integral equation and CAD, and only requires quantities pertaining to the boundary of the problem for analysis. The method has been applied using NURBS for 2D linear elasticity [7] and for shape optimisation in 3D [2]. More recently, a BEM T-spline discretisation strategy has been applied in 3D linear elasticity [4].


: The mosaic and radial inhomogeneity of shaped mixed crystals of K 2 Ni x Co (1–x) (SO 4 ) 2 · 6H 2 O (KCNSH) were studied depending on the supercooling of solution, its velocity and its method of supply into the shaper. It was shown that mosaic inhomogeneity could be suppressed when solution is supercooled to about 2 ◦ C. Peripheral supply of the solution (tangential to the wall of the shaper to create a "swirling" flow) with a rate of 55–135 cm/s provides better composition uniformity along the crystal surface in comparison with upright supply of the solution (flow is perpendicular to the crystal surface).


In this study, the term dimension is introduced on fuzzy (neutrsophic) graphs. The classes of these specific graphs are chosen to obtain some results based on dimension. The types of crisp notions and fuzzy (neutrsophic) notions are used to make sense about the material of this study and the outline of this study uses some new notions which are crisp and fuzzy (neutrsophic).


Introduction Peritoneal surface malignancies were considered as terminal disease before the introduction of cytoreduction surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC). Methods Ninety-seven patients underwent CRS and HIPEC from 2017 – 2019 and data was recorded from a prospective maintained computerized database. Clinical profile, Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI), Completeness of Cytoreduction (CC), CRS Operative time and HIPEC time were reviewed. Results Demographic characteristics- The median age was 57 years (range; 25–65 years). Females comprised 70% of the population. The median body mass index was 27.21 (Range; 25–39). Disease distribution- Ovarian cancer comprised of 58.76%, Colorectal constituted 32% and appendiceal cancer accounted for 9.2%. High-grade histology was found in 76 patients. PCI & CC Score characteristics- Median Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) was 14 (range; 8–25). Completeness of Cytoreduction (CC) of 0 and 1 was achieved in all patients, with CC -0 in 87 patients (90%) and CC-1 in 10 patients (10%). The mean operating time for CRS was 581 minutes (range; 172–874) and for HIPEC was 59.58 minutes (range; 45 – 60). The extent of resection- Right hemicolectomy along with anterior peritonectomy was done in 14 patients. Low Anterior Resection with pelvic peritonectomy was done in 10 patients. Total omentectomy, cholecystectomy and segmental ureteric resection were performed in 57, 10 and 3 patients respectively. Conclusions Complete CRS and HIPEC are safely done with expert hands in selected patients. The intraoperative extent of disease and complete CRS along with the duration of surgery and chemotherapeutic drug dosage are important determinants of peri-perioperative outcomes.


An impressive development has been achieved toward the production of well-defined "smart" inorganic nanoparticles, in which the physicochemical properties can be controlled and predicted to a high degree of accuracy. Nanoparticle design is indeed highly advanced, multimodal and multitargeting being the norm, yet we do not fully understand the obstacles that nanoparticles face when used in vivo. Increased cooperation between chemists and biochemists, immunologists and physicists, has allowed us to think outside the box, and we are slowly starting to understand the interactions that nanoparticles undergo under more realistic situations. Importantly, such an understanding involves awareness about the limitations when assessing the influence of such inorganic nanoparticles on biological entities and vice versa, as well as the development of new validation strategies.


Purpose To assess the effectiveness of a local infection control protocol for cataract surgery (CS) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and determine the trend of CSs and visual outcomes during this period, as compared to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods This study was conducted at Suddhavej Hospital, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, Thailand, between July 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. In this two-phase study, we used only a COVID-19-screening questionnaire during the first phase and preoperative nasopharyngeal swab severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing for real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in the second phase, during Thailand's second COVID-19 wave. Nasopharyngeal swab SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing, SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM, or anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody seroconversion was used to detect COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers. We also compared cataract surgical volume and postoperative visual acuity of CS patients between the pre-COVID-19 period and during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Results A total of 947 patients underwent CS. Thirty-two healthcare workers and 275 patients tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 in the second study phase. CSs increased on average by 50.09% month-to-month when the surgery was resumed. The mean postoperative logMAR best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in the COVID-19 pandemic period than in the pre-pandemic period (difference, 0.1 [95% CI: 0.00–0.12], p < 0.0001). Conclusion CS could be safely performed under an infection control protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cataract surgical volume, with favorable visual outcomes, has an increasing trend after resuming elective surgeries.


The exchange constant in a magnetic system results from the overlap of orbitals, so it depends upon the ion distance and yields a coupling with the lattice vibrations: this can strongly influence the statistical mechanics of magnets. As the fast lattice dynamics allows for a rapid thermalization, phonon-induced spin correlations can be reasonably neglected, so that phonons can be regarded as a thermalized environment (or bath) for the spins. It is therefore natural to treat it within a Caldeira-Leggett scheme, i.e., by the influence action obtained after tracing-out the bath's degrees of freedom, whose contribution can be accounted for within a known semiclassical approach. In this way extended phase diagrams, accounting for the environmental interaction, can be drawn for the magnetic phase transitions.


This paper presents the circuit design and application of a monolithically integrated silicon radio-frequency power amplifier for 0.8-1 GHz. The chip is fabricated in a 25-GHz-f/sub T/ silicon bipolar production technology (Siemens B6HF). A maximum output power of 5 W and maximum efficiency of 59% is achieved. The chip is operating from 2.5 to 4.5 V. The linear gain is 36 dB. The balanced two-stage circuit design is based fundamentally on three on-chip transformers. The driver stage and the output stage are connected in common-emitter configuration. The input signal can be applied balanced or single-ended if one input terminal is grounded. One transformer at the input acts as balun as well as input matching network. Two transformers acts as interstage matching network.


Knowledge management (KM) and knowledge management systems (KMS) have been paid much attention by both researchers and practitioners. Yet little is known about the enabling factors in organizational KMS adoption. In this paper, we first review the technology adoption literature at individual and organizational levels to investigate the factors of adoption in a general sense. Then, we specifically synthesize the factors with respect to the adoption of KMS by organizations. An exploratory case study is conducted to help understand the mechanism of KMS adoption. Three major forces are concluded as: (1) environmental context, (2) organizational context, and (3) technology characteristics. Some lessons from the proposed KMS experiences in the case are suggested for other companies' attempting to adopt KMS in their practice.


This qualitative case study carried out at a Turkish university with four English language teachers aims to explore what teachers experience in the planning, implementation, analysis, and reporting phases of the lessons study process and what the implications of lesson study for teacher professional development can be. Data in this four-month study were gathered through observations, interviews, whole group discussions, and reflective reports. Findings revealed that lesson study had potential challenges and benefits for the professional development of teachers. The model poses challenges in finding a topic and research question, determining the lesson design and teaching style, making student thinking observable and analyzing qualitative data. On the other hand, it benefited teachers in terms of increasing their pedagogical content knowledge, reflectivity, research skills, collaboration, and collegiality. This study suggests that lesson study might be a good starting point for institutions wishing to adopt a more teacher-led, inquiry-driven and collaborative perspective for professional development.


Teaching a popular postgraduate political economy module to around 50 international business and environment students (mainly Chinese) had always gone well. Delivery consisted of lectures and seminars with assessment via a 3,000-word essay. But with a three times larger cohort in 2017 things went wrong. The response from the teaching team was twofold. First to replace seminars with team-taught 2-hour workshops, to provide fewer targeted readings accompanied by specific questions for groups to answer, plus a redesign of the assessment, introducing a shorter more issue-specific approach based on short (500-word) answers to five questions chosen from ten, all tied to module learning outcomes and content. How did all this go? The paper highlights problems with the traditional approach and offers an initial evaluation of the changes introduced in 2018. Ultimately the paper addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the before and after and relates this to the changing demands placed on tutors charged with teaching large cohorts in a department going through rapid expansion. The case highlights the critical balance between volume and quality and asks difficult questions about the student experience and how universities respond to an increasingly marketized higher education sector.


We describe explicitly the moduli spaces $M^{pst}_g(S,E)$ of polystable holomorphic structures $E$ with $\det E\cong K$ on a rank 2 vector bundle $E$ with $c_1(E)=c_1(K)$ and $c_2(E)=0$ for all minimal class VII surfaces $S$ with $b_2(S)=1$ and with respect to all possible Gauduchon metrics $g$. These surfaces $S$ are non-elliptic and non-Kaehler complex surfaces and have recently been completely classified. When $S$ is a half or parabolic Inoue surface, $M^{pst}_g(S,E)$ is always a compact one-dimensional complex disc. When $S$ is an Enoki surface, one obtains a complex disc with finitely many transverse self-intersections whose number becomes arbitrarily large when $g$ varies in the space of Gauduchon metrics. $M^{pst}_g(S,E)$ can be identified with a moduli space of PU(2)-instantons. The moduli spaces of simple bundles of the above type leads to interesting examples of non-Hausdorff singular one-dimensional complex spaces.


Spectroelectrochemical behaviour of regioregular poly(3-octylthiophene) has been investigated using UV–VIS–NIR and Raman spectroscopies. Static and dynamic UV–VIS–NIR spectroelectrochemical experiments combined with cyclic voltammetry show that oxidative doping of the regioregular polymer is a two-step process in which polarons (radical cations) are first created which then recombine to bipolarons (dications). This two-step oxidative doping mechanism is corroborated by FT Raman spectroelectrochemical studies which show significant changes in the positions and intensities of the Raman bands coinciding with the first and second oxidation peaks in cyclic voltammetry. These changes can be interpreted in terms of the doping induced formation of quinoid sequence of bands in the oxidized polymer. Vibrational calculations carried out for undoped and doped poly(3-octylthiophene) gave a very good agreement between the calculated Raman band frequencies and those recorded experimentally for the regioregular polymer.


My intention for this Column was to examine the technological side of BPM research and education a bit closer. To that end, I have teamed up with two colleagues, Dr Marcello La Rosa, who heads an exciting initiative on the development of advanced BPM technologies, in the form of an Advanced Process Model Repository – Apromore, and Eike Bernhard, a doctoral student researching the impact of process modeling technologies on organizations. Our intent is to use the example of Apromore to showcase how BPM technologies are incepted, developed, built and applied.


Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin", may play a role in the development of colorectal cancer. In a prospective open study, the plasma levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], the marker for sufficient or insufficient vitamin D supply, were determined in three groups of patients whose diagnoses were confirmed by colonoscopy: healthy individuals (n = 239), patients with colorectal adenoma (n = 203) and with carcinoma (n = 98). In order to assess other factors such as nutrition, sunlight exposure and physical activity as co-variates for the risk of colorectal cancer, the individuals completed a questionnaire. Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) had significantly decreased plasma 25(OH)D levels (p < 0.001) compared to the controls in contrast to patients with adenomas, who had lower levels exclusively in the winter (p = 0.01). When analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, the groups of patients with adenomas (p = 0.03) and colorectal carcinomas (p < 0.0001) had significantly different mean plasma values compared to the controls. The plasma 25(OH)D levels showed an inverse correlation to the UICC stages of CRC; however, the differences were not significant. Patients with CRC were significantly older than the controls, but regression analysis showed no significant correlation between the plasma 25(OH)D levels and age, and the influence of age on the plasma levels of 25(OH)D was minimized in a group of individuals over 65 years of age, in which the patients with CRC had significantly decreased plasma levels of 25(OH)D in the winter. About one-half of the individuals with normal colonic mucosa had plasma 25(OH)D levels below 25 microg/l (the normal range) and one-third even had plasma levels below 20 microg/l. Regression analysis showed a significant influence of age on plasma 25(OH)D levels in healthy individuals, of physical activity in patients with adenomas and of season in patients with CRC. Other covariates, such as nutrition or sunlight exposure, had no significant influence on plasma 25(OH)D. In conclusion, an insufficient vitamin D supply might act as a co-factor in colorectal carcinogenesis.


In this paper, a simple but effective approach to the identification of fuzzy-rule based models for complex systems with input-output data is presented. The main features of the method are: 1) in the stage of input identification, we neither estimate the parameters of the fuzzy model nor determine the number of the fuzzy rules, which has the advantages of simplicity, flexibility, and reliability as compared with other methods; and 2) in order to achieve the desired identification accuracy with fewer rules, a special fuzzy-neural network (FNN) with a general membership function is used for modeling of systems. Since fuzzy c-means method is utilized to determine the proper structure of the FNN and to set the initial weights in advance, the network can be trained rapidly. Two examples of modeling are shown in this paper.


This study investigated spatial and temporal variations of extreme precipitation over Yunnan Province during 1960–2012. On the basis of a dataset from 120 meteorological stations covering the region, ten precipitation indices derived from daily precipitation were computed and analysed. Our results indicate the precipitation indices showed spatially complex trends. Most precipitation indices present increasing trends in western Yunnan and decreasing trends in eastern Yunnan. The western, southern and central regions experienced an increase in consecutive dry days (CDDs) and decrease in consecutive wet days (CWDs). In addition, a widespread increase was also found in precipitation intensity over Yunnan. On a region‐wide scale, a weak decrease was observed in total precipitation, accompanied by an increase in precipitation intensity. CDDs tended to be prolonged while the CWDs tended to be shortened. The days with precipitation amounts totaling more than 10 mm and maximum 5‐day precipitation amount had decreasing but not significant trends. In contrast, insignificant increases were found for the maximum 1‐day precipitation and annual total precipitation exceeding 95th and 99th percentiles. The contribution of extreme precipitation to total precipitation increased during 1960–2012. Overall, occurrences of extreme precipitation are more concentrated in time. The weakening of the Asian summer monsoon strength and local topography had contribution to the variations of extreme precipitation over Yunnan. However, the forcing mechanisms are very complicated and need to be studied in subsequent work.


Different kinds and degrees of colloidal and thermodynamical instability of diverse systems of cloud-particles, partly leading to release of precipitation, are discussed, aiming at estimating the possible effect of "seeding" clouds artificially with ice-nuclei. — A low ratio v of supercooled cloud-droplets versus ice-crystals (v ≤ 1) would ensure very rapid glaciation of the cloud, but no precipitation release and no substantial improvement of visibility within it: overseeding. High values of v (> 10 6 ) would lead to the formation of big, though very sparse precipitation elements, but not noticeably improve visibility within the cloud: underseeding. Favourable values of v seem to lie around 10. 3 — Cases of successful artificial seeding may be explained by natural seeding indirectly caused by the artificial one: double release. — Lastly, an inventory of the actual tropospherical clouds and cloud systems indicates that the main possibility for causing considerable artificial rainfall might be found within certain kinds of orographic cloud systems, to be treated in a following article. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1949.tb01926.x


ABSTRACT Costa Rica has long been a country of special interest in the Americas and in global health because of its good health. The United Nations Development Programme ranks countries according to their level of human development based on life expectancy, education and national income. Although Costa Rica is ranked at 63 and classified as 'High', in terms of health it belongs in the 'Very High' group. In 2018 mean life expectancy for the 'Very High' countries was 79.5, while in Costa Rica it was 80. In 2018, under five mortality was 8.8/1000 live births, lower than countries ranked in the 'Very High' human development group. Expected years of schooling in Costa Rica is 15.4, closer to the average, 16.4 years, of the 'Very High' human development group than the average of the 'High' group. The country is much healthier than would be predicted by its national income; rather, other features of society's development are likely to have played a key role in the development of good health. These include (i) the decision to cease investment in national defence, which freed up money to invest in health, education and the welfare of the population; (ii) the decision to create a universal health system financed by the State, employers and workers in the 1940s; and (iii) the educational system, that generated opportunities to lift important sectors of the population out of poverty, allowing them to have basic sanitary conditions that increase their possibilities to live longer and in better conditions. Despite these advances, inequalities in terms of income and social conditions persist, presenting challenges in the field of health, particularly for lower-income populations and those of African and indigenous descent. These inequalities must be addressed using decisions based on scientific evidence, a greater use of disaggregated data to reveal progress in addressing these inequalities, and with a broader articulation of the health sector with policies that act on the social determinants of health.


In this paper, we investigate hybrid analog/digital beamforming for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with low-resolution analog-to-digital converters for millimeter wave (mmWave) communications. In the receiver, we propose to split the analog combining subsystem into a channel gain aggregation stage followed by a spreading stage. Both stages use phase shifters. Our goal is to design the two-stage analog combiner to optimize mutual information (MI) between the transmitted and quantized signals by effectively managing quantization error. To this end, we formulate an unconstrained MI maximization problem without a constant modulus constraint on analog combiners, and derive a two-stage analog combining solution. The solution achieves the optimal scaling law with respect to the number of radio frequency chains and maximizes the MI for homogeneous singular values of a MIMO channel. We further develop a two-stage analog combining algorithm to implement the derived solution for mmWave channels. By decoupling channel gain aggregation and spreading functions from the derived solution, the proposed algorithm implements the two functions by using array response vectors and a discrete Fourier transform matrix under the constant modulus constraint on each matrix element. Therefore, the proposed algorithm provides a near-optimal solution for the unconstrained problem, whereas conventional hybrid approaches offer a near optimal solution only for a constrained problem. The closed-form approximation of the ergodic rate is derived for the algorithm, showing that a practical digital combiner with two-stage analog combining also achieves the optimal scaling law. Simulation results validate the algorithm performance and the derived ergodic rate.


Up to 25% of adults in the United States have difficulty with everyday reading tasks. As patients, adults with low literacy may not be able to complete many self-administered written questionnaires, which often are used to obtain information from patients and to gauge their satisfaction with care. We developed an illustrated version of a patient satisfaction instrument used by the Veterans Health Administration. This paper describes the extensive design process used to develop, pilot-test, and revise this 63-item illustrated instrument. A total of 438 patients were interviewed over a 1-year period to obtain feedback on illustrations, with at least 15 people viewing and commenting on each picture and revision. All pictures were revised, with the majority revised at least 4 times. We report on this iterative design process as well as on lessons we learned in illustrating questions for low-literacy populations.


The use of information systems for competitive advantage has been the topic of much writing and research. As a successful example, American Airlines' aggressive use of its computer-based reservation system, SABRE, has often been cited for improving operational efficiency, increasing organizational flexibility, and altering interorganizational relationships. Yet, little attention has been given to a series of competitive actions that were generated through the use of SABRE along its evolutionary trajectory. These competitive actions enabled American to disrupt competitive forces and remain as a market leader in the airline industry for decades. Stimulated by American's case and today's widespread use of IS, this study asks two interesting questions: Is there a systematic link between IS use and competitive action? If so, how do they relate to each other? In addressing these questions, we integrate competitive dynamics research and organizational information processing theory to examine the roles of IS in influencing firm behavior and resultant performance. Collecting second-hand data from multiple sources, this study empirically investigates competitive action and IS use of nine major automakers in 2003. Results from this study suggest a strong link between IS use and competitive action. Specifically, greater IS use is strongly associated with undertaking more competitive actions and with greater heterogeneity of competitive actions; in other words, a firm with an extensive IS use is likely to undertake fast competitive moves in an innovative manner. This study makes multiple contributions to IS theory. It introduces a unique perspective by conceptualizing competitive behavior as being significantly influenced by IS use. It makes explicit the IS use-competitve action-firm performance link. Establishing this link introduces a new, measurable way to examine the effects of IS use on firm performance. To IS methodology, this study represents a pioneering effort at collecting second-hand data about actual, voluntary IS use. To IS practice, results from this study inform strategists and IS managers to focus on aggressive pursuit of new possibilities for performance improvement via IS for achieving competitiveness.


Introduction: Light chain deposition disease (LCDD) is a rare complication of monoclonal gammopathies, defined by non-amyloid linear monoclonal light chain (most commonly kappa) deposits in the kidney and other organs. The rarity of LCDD has hampered clinical studies and staging systems and response criteria are lacking. The International Kidney Myeloma Working Group (IKMG) started a clinical data collection from all participating centers in order to define the natural history of LCDD, and to establish prognostic factors and response criteria in a large, international, unselected patient population.
 Methods: Eight referral centers have yet participated in the data collection at the data lock of July 31, 2020. Patient inclusion is ongoing and expected accrual is 500 patients. The diagnosis of LCDD had to be biopsy-proven. The patients were diagnosed between 1992 to 2020. Response was assessed 6 months after treatment initiation according to the criteria used in light chain (AL) amyloidosis. Renal survival (RS) was defined as time from diagnosis to dialysis or last follow-up. Patients who died without requiring dialysis were censored at the time of death. The analysis of factors predicting RS was performed in patients whose baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was >15 mL/min. The cutoffs of baseline variables, as well as the cutoffs measured at the time of response, best predicting RS or OS at 12 months were identified by means of Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) analyses. All patients gave written informed consent for their clinical data to be used for research purposes.
 Results: Overall, 359 patients have been included in this first analysis. Sixteen (4%) subjects had concomitant cast nephropathy. The main clinical characteristics are reported in the Table. Median overall survival (OS) was 13 years and RS was 12 years (Figure1 A and 1B) and median survival of living patients is 4.5 years. At univariate analysis the only baseline variables predicting RS were proteinuria [best cutoff 2.5 g/24h, HR 2.25 (95%CI 1.13-4.60), P=0.02], and eGFR [best cutoff >30 mL/min, HR 0.50 (95%CI 0.26-0.96) P=0.037], but at multivariate analysis only proteinuria predicted RS [HR 2.17 (95% CI 1.08, 4.33), P=0.027]. At univariate analysis, a higher bone marrow plasma cell infiltrate (best cutoff ≥20%) at diagnosis was associated with a significantly lower OS [HR 1.96 (95% CI 1.23-3.13) P=0.004], as was having end stage renal disease (ESRD) defined as an eGFR <15 mL/min [HR 1.81 (95%CI 1.11-2.92) P=0.015]. We then tested the ability of the hematologic response criteria for AL amyloidosis to discriminate groups with different survival after treatment in a 6 months landmark analysis. Our choice of adopting the amyloidosis response criteria was corroborated by the results of the ROC analysis showing that the difference between involved and uninvolved free light chains (dFLC) cutoff (40 mg/L) used in AL amyloidosis to define very good partial response (VGPR) had 87% sensitivity and 65% specificity in identifying patients who needed dialysis within 12 months. Partial response (PR, 19% requiring dialysis at 3 years) was not associated with a RS benefit over no-response (29% requiring dialysis at 3 years, P=0.511). However, VGPR conferred a significant RS advantage (10% requiring dialysis at 3 years) over PR (P=0.002). No significant difference in RS was seen between complete response (CR, 0% requiring dialysis at 3 years) and VGPR (P=0.178). Thus, achieving VGPR or CR by amyloidosis response criteria [post-treatment dFLC<40 mg/L (VGPR by AL criteria), with or without negative serum and urine immunofixation and normal FLC-ratio (CR by AL criteria)] was adopted as a provisional criterion for hematologic response in LCDD (Figure 1D). LCDD response was also associated with prolonged OS (Figure 1C).
 Conclusions: Almost one-third of patients with LCDD are diagnosed when they already have ESRD resulting in shorter OS. The degree of proteinuria and of bone marrow plasma cell infiltration predict RS and OS, respectively. Achievement of post treatment dFLC <40 mg/L or negative serum and urine immunofixation at 6 months is proposed as a provisional criterion for hematologic response, being able to predict both improved RS and OS. Planned expanded recruitment might allow a validation analysis of the results, the analysis of organ response data and the evaluation of different time-points for response assessment.

 Milani: Celgene: Other: Travel support; Janssen: Other: Speaker honoraria; Pfizer: Other: Speaker honoraria. Kastritis:Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Genesis Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria. Schönland:Janssen, Prothena, Takeda: Honoraria, Other: travel support to meetings, Research Funding. Bridoux:Baxter: Consultancy; Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Tuchman:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; Amgen: Research Funding; Caelum: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; Karyopharm: Honoraria, Research Funding. Jimenez-Zepeda:Janssen, Celgene, Amgen, Takeda: Honoraria. Palladini:Jannsen Cilag: Honoraria, Other; Celgene: Other: Travel support. Wechalekar:Celgene: Honoraria; Caelum: Other: Advisory; Janssen: Honoraria, Other: Advisory; Takeda: Honoraria, Other: Travel.


In preliminary experiments to investigate the influence of masking the eyes of E1-mice on the rate of non-convulsions (RNC), it was suggested that the quantity of light as well as visibility itself played a role in inducing convulsions. The following experiments were thus carried out: (a) Both TSC (the threshold of number of shakings required for induction of convulsions) and RNC increased remarkably on the 5th day after enucleation of bilateral eyeballs from E1-mice, but 15 days later recovery to control level was observed. Moreover, TSC and RNC at 2 p.m. increased considerably compared with the control, however, the increase was rarely observed at 10 a.m.. (b) 2 groups of E1-mice reared intact under radiation of light plus different time schedules were shaken at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. Consequently, TSC after radiation for 5 hours was less than that after radiation for 1 hour. When observed 9 hr after radiation, TSC could not be differentiated from TSC at 5 hr after the radiation. (c) E1-mice were reared under continuous lighting, continuous darkness or a normal lighting situation, after which TSC and RNC were examined. From our observations, the intensity of light appears to play a role in inducing convulsions. (d) When mice were shaken immediately after lighting, RNC decreased in inverse proportion to increase in the quantity of light. TSC was not influenced by the luminosity itself. One hour after lighting, however, the influence of lighting had disappeared. The intensity, quantity or irradiation time would not, however, influence the induction of E1-mice convulsions so much as the cognizance of light by the individual animals. Such a conception is derived from the "cognitive theory" in psychology.


The versatile Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) algorithm exploits the advantages of synergic ground-based aerosol observations such as radiometric (sensitive to columnar aerosol optical and microphysical properties) and lidar (sensitive to vertical distribution of the optical properties) observations. The synergy is possible when the complementary data is mutually constrained by GRASP parametrization that includes, for the first time ever, the degree of linear polarization (DoLP) parameter measured by a polarized sun-sky-lunar AERONET photometer (380, 440, 500, 675, 870, 1020, and 1640 nm) in synergy with the vertical profiles from an elastic lidar (355, 532, and 1064 nm). First, a series of numerical tests is performed using simulated data generated using a climatology of data and ground-based measurements. The inversions are performed with and without random noise for five different combinations of input data, starting from the AERONET-like dataset and increasing to the complex one by adding more information for three aerosol scenarios: I—high aerosol optical depth (AOD) with dominant coarse mode; II—low AOD with dominant coarse mode; III—high AOD with dominant fine mode. The inclusion of DoLP improves (i) the retrieval accuracy of the fine-mode properties when it is not dominant; (ii) the retrieval accuracy of the coarse-mode properties at longer wavelengths and that of the fine-mode properties at shorter wavelengths; (iii) the retrieval accuracy of the coarse-mode real part of the refractive index (up to 36% reduction), but has no effect on the retrieval of the imaginary part; (iv) reduces up to 83% the bias of the sphere fraction (SF) retrieval in coarse-mode dominated regimes; and (v) the root mean square error (RMSE) of the retrieval for most of the parameters in all scenarios. In addition, the addition of more photometer channels in synergy with a three-wavelength elastic lidar reduces the RMSE for the real part (67% in the coarse mode) and the imaginary part (35% in the fine mode) of the refractive index, the single scattering albedo (38% in the fine mode), the lidar ratio (20% in the coarse mode), and the SF (43%).


Most members of the Menispermaceae, a family of predominantly dioecious climbers, are characterized by having seeds that are diverse in form, many of which have an adaxial intrusion of the endocarp known as the condyle. The condyle is a distinctive feature of variable shape that has historically played a prominent role in the taxonomy and classification of the family. To understand the morphological basis of the condyle, I undertook a developmental study of carpels and fruits in selected lineages in Menispermaceae and in related families in the Ranunculales. The results indicated that the condyle is the outcome of differential development of the adaxial portion of the ovary wall, which corresponds to the placentary region. Condyles can be grouped into two general types. In the Calycocarpum condyle type, a broad region of the middle zone of the adaxial ovary wall proliferates, resulting in a convex condyle, and the anatropous ovules develop into concave-convex seeds. In the Menispermum condyle type, proliferation is accentuated in the inner zone of the adaxial ovary wall. Unequal growth in the middle and inner zones of the lateral ovary wall results in bilaterally compressed, laminiform condyles, and the hemianatropous ovules develop into curved seeds. Further variation in condyle shapes in the Menispermum condyle type originates by differential development of areas above and below the funicle. Additionally, endocarp ornamentation, a common feature in many Menispermaceae, results from differential lignification patterns of the inner zone of the fruit wall. Within Ranunculales, the condyle represents a shift in ovary wall development that took place on the branch leading to the Menispermaceae. The two types of condyles described here are potential synapomorphies for the two subfamilies recognized in the Menispermaceae.


Bridge structures are designed to support ordinary loadings such as vehicles, wind, temperature and current as well as unexpected loadings like earthquakes and storm. Especially, the displacement of Flexible bridges like an suspension bridge under ordinary loading conditions is necessary to be monitored. In case of long span bridges, there are some difficulties in monitoring the displacement of center of the main span using traditional laser displacement sensors. In this study, the static and dynamic displacement responses due to vehicle loadings were measured by DGPS(differential global positioning system) technique. The displacement response data were compared with data obtained from traditional laser displacement sensors so that the static and dynamic behavior of the bridge under vehicle loadings was examined and the applicability of the displacement response measurement using DGPS technique was verified. The static and dynamic loading test for an self-anchored suspension bridge, So-rok Bridge, was performed using vehicles. The displacement response from DGPS technique and that from laser displacement sensors of the bridge monitoring system were compared. The amplitude of white noise from DGPS based measurement was about 7 mm and that of laser displacement sensor based measurement was about 3 mm. On the other hand, dynamic behavior of the center of main span from DGPS based measurement showed better agreement with influence line of the bridge than that from laser displacement sensors. In addition, there were some irregular and discontinuous variation of data due to the instability of GPS receivers or frequent appearance of GPS satellites. Post-processing via the reference station close to an observation post provided by NGII(National Geographic Information Institute) will be a counter-plan for these defects.


We previously reported that a low versus high glycemic index (GI) diet on a high fat (30% kcal fat) background (LGI and HGI, respectively) significantly retarded adverse health effects in C57BL/6J male mice. The LGI diet enhanced whole body insulin sensitivity and repressed high fat diet-induced body and adipose tissue weight gain, resulting in reduced serum leptin and resistin levels (Faseb J 2009; 23: 1092-1101). How white adipose tissue (WAT) is effected is examined in the present study. We characterized the molecular mechanisms underlying the GI-mediated effects in WAT using whole genome transcriptomics technology. We show that a LGI vs. HGI diet mainly exerts its beneficial effects on substrate metabolism, especially insulin signaling of fatty acid metabolism. In addition, cell adhesion and cytoskeleton remodeling showed reduced expression in line with lower WAT mass, but it might also be due to altered insulin sensitivity. An important transcription factor showing enhanced expression is PPARgamma. Furthermore, serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol were significantly reduced by a LGI vs. HGI diet, and muscle insulin sensitivity was significantly increased as analyzed by PKB/Akt phosphorylation. Cumulatively, even though these mice were fed a high fat diet, the low versus high GI induced significantly favorable changes in metabolism in WAT. These effects suggest a partial overlap with pharmacological approaches by thiazolidinediones (TZDs) to treat insulin resistance and statins and plantsterols/stanols for hypercholesterolemia. It is therefore tempting to speculate that such a dietary approach might beneficially support pharmacological treatment of insulin resistance or hypercholesterolemia in humans.


Objective:To discuss the methods and effects of traumatic hyphema.Methods:135 traumatic hyphema cases(135 eyes) receiving combined modality therapy were collected from our hospital from January 2005 to December 2008 for retrospective analysis.Results:60 cases was in first grade hyphema,45 cases in second grade hyphema,30 cases in third grade hyphema;9 secondary glaucoma cases included.All hyphema were totally absorbed in one to fourteen days.The acuity vision of the cases after the asorption of hyphema was as follows:3 cases under 0.1,30 cases between 0.1-0.5,54 cases between 0.6-1.0,48 cases over 1.0.9 cases were susessfully cured through conservative treatments and the intraocular tension was cut down to nomal in two to six days.Conclusion:Traumatic hyphema can be relived or cured and the acuity vision can get recovery throug heffective and reasonable treatments.


The adaptability of organizations and their response to change have long been topics of concern to both academics and policy makers . By change I mean the conception, proposal, and adoption of new policy.l This chapter examines the adaptability of an international development agency, the World Bank, by exploring its response to women-in-development (WID) policy during the period of 1977-1987. The research reveals that when the World Bank is part of a development activity in which different actors who are sensitive to WID issues participate, the likelihood of the consideration of women increases. So far, the World Bank has resisted a systematic adoption of WID policy, where WID is considered at all levels of agency activity (including policy negotiations with borrower governments, country and sector programs, and projects). This resistance can be explained by a combination of factors related to the World Bank's organizational ideology and structure. Strategies of change that have taken heed of the bank's particular characteristics promise to be more successful. Such strategies need to follow a dual path by working to adapt WID policy to the professional and technical frameworks of the staff, at the same time promoting close ties with management to wield influence. Indeed, these are the strategies that are followed by the current adviser on women in development in the bank. Their success is demonstrated in new resource allocations to the WID office and her position upgrade from adviser to division chief. 2 The following analysis will focus on four matters: first, a brief history


Glycoprotein 330 (gp330), a cell-surface protein that is localized in clathrin-coated pits, is structurally related to both the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and the LDLR-related protein/alpha 2-macroglobulin receptor (LRP). We recently demonstrated that gp330 and LRP may be functionally related as well; both bind the 39-kDa polypeptide referred to as receptor-associated protein (Kounnas, M. Z., Argraves, W. S., and Strickland, D. K. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 21162-21166). In this report, we tested several other LRP ligands for their ability to interact with human and rat gp330 in vitro. Gp330 did not exhibit detectable binding to the LRP ligands, alpha 2-macroglobulin protease complex or Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. However, we found that gp330 (purified from human or rat) bound the lipolytic enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL) with high affinity (Kd = 6.1 and 2.7 nM, respectively). The binding was saturable, divalent cation dependent, and inhibited by heparin or receptor-associated protein. Because LRP has also been shown to bind LPL, the present findings further extend the functional similarities between gp330 and LRP. By analogy to the postulated role of the LRP-LPL interaction in facilitating hepatic clearance of LPL-associated lipoproteins from the blood (Beisiegel, U., Weber, W., and Bengtsson-Olivercrona, G. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 8342-8346; Chappell, D. A., Fry, G. L., Waknitz, M. A., Iverius, P. H., Williams, S. E., and Strickland, D. K. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 25764-25767), we speculate that the gp330-LPL interaction described herein may contribute to the uptake of LPL-associated lipoproteins in tissues expressing gp330. Consistent with this possibility, we found that LPL promoted in vitro binding of 125I-lipoproteins to gp330.


Abstract Following the early Eocene collision of India and Asia, continental subduction occurred on the northward-dipping Main Central Thrust (MCT). In western Garhwal, N. India, upper amphibolite-facies gneisses on the High Himalayan Slab are thrust southwards over unmetamorphosed to greenschist facies quartzites, carbonates and metabasics of the Lesser Himalaya. In the Bhagirathi valley, the MCT forms a c. 10 km thick shear zone composed of mylonitic augen gneiss, amphibolite and metasediments. Metamorphic grade increases both northwards and with structural height. The MCT zone is bounded to the north by the Vaikrita (roof) Thrust and to the south by the Munsiari (floor) Thrust. The Vaikrita Thrust is a diffuse high-temperature shear zone, whereas the Munsiari Thrust is a relatively discrete fault formed under brittle-ductile conditions. North of the MCT zone, at the top of the High Himalayan Slab a northward-dipping extensional shear zone, the Jhala normal fault, was responsible for the downthrow of the Tethyan sediments to the north with respect to the uplifting High Himalayan Slab gneisses to the south. Thermobarometic transects reveal a sudden increase in both pressure and temperature across the Vaikrita Thrust from south to north but with subsequent decreases accompanying structural height in the High Himalayan Slab. Temperatures increase going up-structural section from about 500° C to 770° C across the MCT zone, but then decrease again to the north varying between about 550 and 640° C. Similarly, pressures increase sharply up-structural section across the MCT zone from 6 to 12 kbar, then decrease towards the top of the slab to between 7 and 8.9 kbar. The inverted P-T gradient across the MCT zone changes to approximately isothermal and isobaric conditions in the top 9 km (horizontal distance) of the High Himalayan slab. Cooling rates for the upper MCT zone determined from 40Ar/39Ar (hornblende) and K-Ar (muscovite and biotite) cooling ages suggest a return to erosion-controlled denudation following extension at the top of the High Himalayan Slab. Additional K-Ar (muscovite) cooling ages from a transect through the MCT zone and High Himalayan Slab are progressively younger towards the south, reflecting the southward propagation of the deformation sequence with time. Hornblende 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages from the MCT zone suggest that structurally lower rocks have not been heated above c. 500° C since the Precambrian, whilst a 19.8 ± 2.6 Ma hornblende age from the MCT zone dates the latest high-temperature shearing at higher structural levels in the MCT zone and places a minimum age constraint on Himalayan metamorphism in the Garhwal sector of the Himalaya.