848 MRS BULLETIN/NOVEMBER 2002 Automated Analyzer for Particle Size and Shape Distribution Developed An automated testing system that uses the novel concept of digital image analysis of free-falling particles to measure particle size, shape, and distribution has been developed at Clarkson University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The automated PSDA system, shown in Figure 1, was specifically developed to measure particle size distribution over a wide range for materials that do not cohere and have equivalent diameters that fall in the range of 25 μm to 60 mm. This system has four major components: (1) particle-sizing hardware and software, (2) an optical lens system driven by a stepper motor, (3) a horizontal vibrating feeder, and (4) an appropriate lighting system. A progressive-scan, charge-coupled device (CCD) camera with a computercontrolled optical system that has a large range of magnification is used to obtain high-contrast, two-dimensional digital images of free-falling particles. The vibrating feeder causes the material to flow and free-fall in front of the lens. The feeder is adjusted to obtain images of individual particles projected onto the image plane. Custom-developed application software continuously records the images of particles for analysis in real time. Software then counts the particles in each image, using a specified intensity threshold, and measures the size, shape, and various other features of each particle. A graphic interface is used to display the updated measurement results for real-time analysis and control. After obtaining information from a number of particles, convergence of the measured size distribution is evaluated. The analysis automatically stops once statistically admissible results are obtained on the sample being tested. Output data such as the particle size distribution curve and shape information are displayed in real time throughout the analysis, as shown in Figure 2. In many industries, particle size distributions above 50 μm are obtained by sieve analysis, which produces a weight-based size distribution curve. Among the advantages of using PSDA for this application are that it is automated and has a relatively low cost, it eliminates the noise and vibration often associated with sieve analysis, and it provides particle shape information plus the grain size distribution representative of the sample in a short period of time. Since the PSDA technique uses area-based measurements from twodimensional images, techniques have been developed to translate this information into volume/weight-based results. The size distribution of various types of materials compares well with traditional sieveanalysis data of the same materials. For refractory and abrasive materials, information about particle shape and texture is important. PSDA technology can provide statistically admissible shape information (e.g., roundness, aspect ratio). For applications related to flow behavior and particle degradation with Figure 1. Automated laboratory particle size and shape distribution analyzer.


Preface SECTION I : PRINCIPLES Chapter 1. Introduction to Patternmaking 1. Men's somatotypes 2. Measurements methods 3. Body measurements for men Chapter 2. Basic Sloper for Wovens: Slim-fit style vs Classic-fit 1. Flat Pattern and sloper 2. Slim-fit upper sloper 3. Fitted-fit with darts 4. Slim-fit pants sloper 5. Classic-fit upper 6. Sloper fitting 7. Seam allowances Chapter 3. Necklines 1. Round neckline 2. Square neckline 3. V- neckline 4. Boat neckline 5. Cowl neckline- without tuck 6. High neckline 7. Inset band neckline Inset band neckline for woven (Round neck) Inset band neckline for jersey (Round neck) Inset band neckline for jersey (V- neck) Chapter 4. Collars 1. Flat collar group Flat collar Sailor collar 2. Shirt collar group One-piece shirt collar inclusive band Two-piece shirt collar with band Sport collar Convertible collar 3. Standing collar group Standing collar without extension Standing collar with extension Wing collar 4. Lapel collar group Shawl collar Notched collar Peaked collar 5. Hood collar group Two-piece hood Three-piece hood Chapter 5. Sleeves and Cuffs 1. No-pleat sleeve with placket 2. One-pleat sleeve with placket 3. Two-pleats sleeve with placket 4. Bishop sleeve 5. Two-piece sleeve for formal wear 6. Two-piece sleeve for casual wear 7. Raglan sleeve 8. Dolman sleeve 9. Short sleeve 10. Cuffs Shirt cuff Adjustable shirt cuff Wing (Long point) cuff French cuff Turned-back cuff Chapter 6. Plackets and Pockets 1. Plackets Pointed placket Classic tailored placket Attached placket Vent placket Bottom placket 2. Pockets Front hip pockets Inseam pockets Welt pockets Patch pocket Box pocket Chapter 7. Details 1. Buttons and Extension 2. Facings Stitching-on facings Folding-back facings 3. Pleats Box pleats and Inverted pleats Side pleats 4. Tucks Pleated tuck Pin-tuck 5. Style lines Darts Yokes Side Panels Princess lines Flange 6. Waistbands Classic Straight Curved Elastic Band with a Draw String Self Casing with a Draw String SECTION II: DESIGN VARIATIONS FOR WOVEN Chapter 8. Shirts 1. Basic shirt with no-pleat sleeves 2. Convertible (open) collar shirt 3. Yoke shirt with one-pleat sleeves 4. Vertical yoke shirt with two-piece sleeves 5. Princess line shirt with two-piece sleeves 6. Hidden-button shirt with short sleeves 7. Pin-tuck shirt with short sleeves 8. Dolman sleeve shirt Chapter 9. Pants 1. No-pleat pants 2. Single-pleat pants 3. Straight jean pants 4. Double-pleat pants 5. Skinny yoke pants 6. Baggy pants Chapter 10. Jumpers Jumper foundation 1. Stadium jumper 2. Boxy jumper 3. Raglan sleeve jumper 4. Standing collar jumper Chapter 11. Jackets Four-panel jacket foundation Six-panel jacket sloper Jacket lining patterns Two Piece Sleeve 1. Basic jacket for suits with one button 2. Double-breasted jacket with picked collar 3. Yoke jacket with three buttons 4. Basic jacket for suits with two buttons 5. Standing collar jacket with four buttons Chapter 12. Coats Coat foundation 1. Traditional six-panel 2. Safari coat 3. Standing collar coat 4. Double breasted boxy coat Chapter 13. Vest 1. V-neck vest 2. Front shawl collar vest SECTION III: DESIGN VARIATIONS FOR JERSEY Chapter 14. Jersey Sloper & Jersey Design Variations I. Jersey upper sloper II. Slim-fit sloper vs classic-fit sloper Slim-fit upper & sleeve sloper Classic-fit upper & sleeve sloper III. Design Variations 1. Round neck T-shirt 2. Pointed placket shirt with short sleeve 3. V- neck T-shirt 4. Raglan sleeve T-shirt 5. Hooded T-shirt Chapter 15. Jersey Pants 1. Slim training pants 2. Classical stripe pants 3. Yoke pants with rounded belt 4. Short pants with pin-tucks APPENDIX 1. Measurement Chart 2. Decimal Conversion Chart 3. Half Scale Slopers 5. Technical Spec Sheet


A Signcryption proposed by Yuliang Zheng in 1997 is a hybrid public key primitive that combines a digital signature and an encryption. It provides more efficient method than a straightforward composition of a signature scheme with an encryption scheme. In a mobile communication environment, the authenticated key agreement protocol should be designed to have lower computational complexity and memory requirements. Therefore, in this paper, our proposed method that efficient authenticated key exchange protocol using Signcryption scheme and based on EC using Signcryption in mobile and wireless network. And we analyze computational cost and security requirements of proposed protocol.


Metabolic engineering in the post-genomic era is characterised by the development of new methods for metabolomics and fluxomics, supported by the integration of genetic engineering tools and mathematical modelling. Particularly, constraint-based stoichiometric models have been widely studied: (i) flux balance analysis (FBA) (in silico), and (ii) metabolic flux analysis (MFA) (in vivo). Recent studies have enabled the incorporation of thermodynamics and metabolomics data to improve the predictive capabilities of these approaches. However, an in-depth comparison and evaluation of these methods is lacking. This study presents a thorough analysis of two different in silico methods tested against experimental data (metabolomics and 13C-MFA) for the mesophile Escherichia coli. In particular, a modified version of the recently published matTFA toolbox was created, providing a broader range of physicochemical parameters. Validating against experimental data allowed the determination of the best physicochemical parameters to perform the TFA (Thermodynamics-based Flux Analysis). An analysis of flux pattern changes in the central carbon metabolism between 13C-MFA and TFA highlighted the limited capabilities of both approaches for elucidating the anaplerotic fluxes. In addition, a method based on centrality measures was suggested to identify important metabolites that (if quantified) would allow to further constrain the TFA. Finally, this study emphasised the need for standardisation in the fluxomics community: novel approaches are frequently released but a thorough comparison with currently accepted methods is not always performed. Author summary Biotechnology has benefitted from the development of high throughput methods characterising living systems at different levels (e.g. concerning genes or proteins), allowing the industrial production of chemical commodities. Recently, focus has been placed on determining reaction rates (or metabolic fluxes) in the metabolic network of certain microorganisms, in order to identify bottlenecks hindering their exploitation. Two main approaches are commonly used, termed metabolic flux analysis (MFA) and flux balance analysis (FBA), based on measuring and estimating fluxes, respectively. While the influence of thermodynamics in living systems was accepted several decades ago, its application to study biochemical networks has only recently been enabled. In this sense, a multitude of different approaches constraining well-established modelling methods with thermodynamics has been suggested. However, physicochemical parameters are generally not properly adjusted to the experimental conditions, which might affect their predictive capabilities. In this study, we have explored the reliability of currently available tools by investigating the impact of varying said parameters in the simulation of metabolic fluxes and metabolite concentration values. Additionally, our in-depth analysis allowed us to highlight limitations and potential solutions that should be considered in future studies.


Cyanosis and the cavopulmonary anastomosis (CPA) are associated with pulmonary arterio-venous malformations (PAVMs) in single ventricle physiology. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may be a marker of abnormal angiogenesis in this setting. Plasma VEGF levels were measured in 14 patients undergoing the surgical pathway leading to total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC). Venous blood samples were taken before and then months after CPA ðn ¼ 6Þ, and immediately before TCPC and 1 month thereafter ðn ¼ 9Þ. Corresponding arterial saturations were correlated with VEGF levels at each time frame. In six patients, pre-CPA plasma VEGF levels rose from a mean of 24.4 – 112.4 pg/ml ðp , 0:03Þ just prior to completion of TCPC. In nine patients, VEGF levels diminished from 115.7 to 48.9 pg/ml ðp , 0:05Þ after TCPC. VEGF levels were disproportionately elevated to arterial saturations most notably after CPA ðr 2 ¼ 0:002Þ, suggesting an additional angiogenic stimulus besides cyanosis. Plasma VEGF levels fluctuate during the single ventricle surgical pathway, with maximal levels after CPA, and regression after completion of TCPC. High VEGF levels are disproportionate to hypoxia after CPA, potentially incriminating the absence of hepatic flow to the lungs as an abnormal angiogenic stimulus. Measuring VEGF in venous blood may serve as a biochemical marker of angiogenesis after CPA. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify and compare social capital measurement tools for the convenient use in public health studies. Method and result: This study examined and compared social capital tools developed individually by the World Bank, the OECD, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Korea. A comprehensive framework was constructed with six conceptual dimensions and sixteen indices. The six dimensions included Membership, Network, Trust, Information and communication, Social and civic participation, and Social cohesion and exclusion, which connoted the structural, cognitive, bonding, bridging, operative, and output elements. The indices of each tool were respectively matched to the indices of the comprehensive framework. The comprehensive tools were Integrated Questionnaire for the Measurement of Social Capital (SC-IQ) of the World Bank with 27 questions and the European Social Survey (ESS) of the OECD with 80 questions. Conclusion: The SC-IQ should be utilized in public health studies due to its simplicity yet comprehensiveness as a social capital tool. The ESS should also be considered as a comprehensive tool.


Information extraction from historical maps represents a persistent challenge due to inferior graphical quality and the large data volume of digital map archives, which can hold thousands of digitized map sheets. Traditional map processing techniques typically rely on manually collected templates of the symbol of interest, and thus are not suitable for large-scale information extraction. In order to digitally preserve such large amounts of valuable retrospective geographic information, high levels of automation are required. Herein, we propose an automated machine-learning based framework to extract human settlement symbols, such as buildings and urban areas from historical topographic maps in the absence of training data, employing contemporary geospatial data as ancillary data to guide the collection of training samples. These samples are then used to train a convolutional neural network for semantic image segmentation, allowing for the extraction of human settlement patterns in an analysis-ready geospatial vector data format. We test our method on United States Geological Survey historical topographic maps published between 1893 and 1954. The results are promising, indicating high degrees of completeness in the extracted settlement features (i.e., recall of up to 0.96, F-measure of up to 0.79) and will guide the next steps to provide a fully automated operational approach for large-scale geographic feature extraction from a variety of historical map series. Moreover, the proposed framework provides a robust approach for the recognition of objects which are small in size, generalizable to many kinds of visual documents.


The effect of moisture content and film composition on biodegradability is the focus of this study. Flexible films were first characterized for the effect on water sorption isotherms of relative humidity, temperature, zein content, and the addition of the plasticizers stearic acid, poly(ethylene glycol), or etoxylated ricine oil. Zein/ethylcellulose (EC) mixture films had a behavior between that for pure zein and EC films, which had the lowest water sorption. For films with plasticizer, the lowest water sorption at 25 degrees C was observed for those with stearic acid. Biodegradability of zein/EC films, evaluated using bacterial cultures selected for their zein proteolytic activity and isolated from a local solid waste landfill and a lagoon, showed no plasticizer effect even though its effect on moisture content was significant. Large differences were observed at different film zein concentration with the highest biodegradability for 100% zein. However, biodegradability did not mimic the water sorption behavior of zein/EC mixture films.


Small cracks or chips of a product appear very frequently in the course of continuous production of an automatic press process system. These phenomena became the cause of not only defective product but also damage of a press mold. In order to solve this problem AE(Acoustic emission) system was introduced. AE system was expected to be very effective to real time detection of the defective product and for the prevention of the damage in the press molds In this study, for the pick and analysis of AE signals generated from the press process, AE sensors/pre-amplifier/analysis and processing board were used as frequently found in the other similar cases. For the analysis and processing the AE signals picked in real time from the normal or the detective products, specialized software called AE-win(software for processing AE signal from Physical Acoustics Corporation) was used. As a result of this work it was conformed that intensity and shape of the various AE signals differ depending on the weight of the press and thickness of sheet and process type.


A guide to resources and events related to the novel When the Emperor was Divine and the NVCC Library One Book project.


Most of the existing wind energy converters in the North Sea are founded on monopiles, and this foundation concept seems also very promising for the wind farms planned in the German parts of the North and the Baltic Sea with water depths of about 20 to 40 m. For the wind energy converters foreseen, monopile diameters of 6 to 8 m will be necessary. The design of horizontally loaded offshore piles is commonly done using the p-y-curve method according to the API regulations. In this regulation, p-y-curve approaches for static as well as for cyclic loading are given. But, the admissibility of this method for large-diameter piles is not proved. A three-dimensional numerical model for the investigation of the monopile behaviour under monotonous loading was established. In this model the non-linear material behaviour of the subsoil is described using an elasto-plastic constitutive model with a stress-dependent stiffness formulation. Results of a parametric study with different pile geometries, soil and loading conditions are presented and compared with results from the API method for sandy soils. The comparison indicates that the API method is not in general suitable for the design of large-diameter piles. Subsequently, cyclic loading of monopiles is considered. An overview is given on the nature of cyclic loads due to wave loading. The API approach for cyclic loading appears not suitable to cover the loading conditions. Existing methods to deal with such loads are presented and discussed. It is shown that at the time being no reliable method exists to estimate accumulated displacements under cyclic loads of varying amplitudes and directions. Possible ways of dealing with cyclic loading in the design of monopiles are discussed. On the design of monopile foundations with respect to static and quasi-static cyclic loading Martin Achmus, Khalid Abdel-Rahman, Proserpine Peralta


Many patients who receive a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have locally advanced disease at initial presentation. Historically, these patients were treated with primary thoracic radiation therapy and had poor long-term survival rates, secondary to both progression of local disease and development of distant metastases. With the goal of improving clinical outcomes, multiple concepts of combined-modality therapy for locally advanced NSCLC have been investigated. The rationale for using chemotherapy in the induction regimen is to eliminate subclinical metastatic disease while improving local control. The optimal treatment of locally advanced NSCLC continues to evolve, but combined-modality therapy has led to improved survival rates compared to treatment with radiation alone and has become the new standard of care. This report reviews the major trials that have investigated various combinations of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced NSCLC.


It has become promising to establish a method for mass screening of colorectal cancer through the development of immunological fecal occult blood test. It has been shown that such tests have higher specificity and sensitivity compared to conventional chemical tests not only in cancer subjects and normal controls but in population screening trials. Further study is required to decide the optimal system within the framework of the screening such as the number of specimens, target age, and screening interval, etc. The efficacy of fecal occult blood screening remains to be shown in spite of the several randomized controlled trials completed or on-going. However, a case control study has strongly suggested that such screening would reduce the mortality from colorectal cancer.


This article starts with a review of climate policy targets (temperature, concentrations and emissions for individual regions as well as the world as a whole). A 20-40% reduction target for the EU is proposed for the period 2000-2020. It then looks at costs to meet such targets, and concludes that there is widespread agreement amongst macro-economic studies that stringent carbon controls are compatible with a significant increase in global and regional economic welfare. The difference in growth rates is found to be less than 0.05% per year. Nevertheless, concern still remains about the distribution of costs. If abatement policies are introduced in one or a few regions without similar climate policies being introduced in the rest of the world, some energy-intensive industries may lose competitiveness, and production may be relocated to other countries. Policies to protect these industries have for that reason been proposed (in order to protect jobs, to avoid strong actors lobbying against the climate policies, and to avoid carbon leakage). The article offers an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of such protective policies.


In this study, ZnO and CuO doped zinc oxide thin films were cathodically deposited in aqueous zinc chloride solutions in the presence of oxygen on a Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate through an electrochemical reaction. A mercurous sulfate electrode was used as a reference electrode and the counter electrode was a Pt spiral wire. Deposition was carried out in solutions containing Zn2+ ions introduced as ZnCl2 salt at concentrations ranging from 5.0 x 10-4 to 5.0 x 10-2 M. The bath temperatures were controlled from 65°C to 80°C. The oxygen gas was introduced from argon/oxygen mixtures allowing its partial pressure to be fixed along with its concentration in the solution. Doping of CuO was carried out in cupric nitrate or a cupric chloride/0.1M KCl solution. The influence of the Cu/Zn concentration, deposition temperature of a solution, applied cathodic potential and deposition time were optimized. After the potential was applied, the cathodic current reached a steady state within 5 min. The composition, and the characterization of the surface of the films were investigated through X-ray diffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.


Stress levels in organisms provide a rapid measure for assessing population health. Handling and capture stress, however, cause error in blood measures, so this method is rapidly being replaced by assessing levels of stress metabolites in faeces. This eliminates the source of error because there is a lag period between stress perception and the resultant stress metabolite accumulation within faeces. This lag period is correlated with specific intestinal passage time, a measure that can vary greatly between taxa, particularly amongst ectotherms. Due to two deleterious consequences associated with extended exposure of the metabolites to the intestinal environment, species that exhibit long and variable intestinal passage times are not good candidates for metabolite studies. We measured gut and intestinal passage times in Trachylepis margaritifer to ascertain whether it would be an appropriate candidate for stress metabolite studies. We first tested if barium sulphate in the meal had an effect on gut passage time at three ambient temperatures (25, 27 and 32 °C). Barium sulphate had no effect; however, temperature had a significant effect with an unexpected pattern: gut passage time was fastest at 32 °C but was slower at 27 °C than at 25 °C. We then used X-ray technology and barium sulphate-loaded meals to measure gut and intestinal passage times at 25 and 27 °C. This allowed us to observe which parts of the digestive process were responsible for increased passage times at 27 °C: the faster passage time at 25 °C was due to faster intestinal passage time; there was no difference in gastric emptying time. We assess the species to be a suitable candidate for studies using faeces to measure stress. It is imperative however, that the effect of temperature on passage rates is known and taken into account in such studies.


HE enterprises of discovery and conquest of Spanish America were motivated to a large extent by the entrepreneurial spirit of men who were seeking a return on their investments in the new territories. While the military and religious aspects of the conquering expeditions have caught the attention of historians throughout the centuries, the economic side has remained almost unexplored. In the case of the conquest of Peru, there have been only a few exceptions, concentrating for the most part on the financing stage before the actual expedition led by Francisco Pizarro.' The extrac-


Endogenous estrogen and other steroid hormones are influenced by the dietary fat and alcohol consumption. Which is directly associated with breast cancer risk. The correlation among dietary fat and alcohol consumption and breast cancer incidences in premenopausal women of Ajmer municipal area has been examined in the present study. A population based study was conducted on 153 premenopausal women of Ajmer municipal area, who had regular menstrual cycle fewer than 40 days apart, having breast cancer and 150 premenopausal women not having breast cancer. Consumption of dietary fat and alcohol were estimated with a validated food frequency questionnaire. In order to create dose response association in premenopausal women, saturated fat Consumption was included as a categorical indicator variable in questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to estimate odd ratio and its 95 percent confidence interval for breast cancer. After taking the characteristics for age, BMI, number of children, breast feeding period, age at menarche, it was found that the saturated fat intake was significantly associated with breast cancer risk in premenopausal women. Alcohol did not show any significant association.


Gastrointestinal (GI) haemorrhage is a common surgical emergency accounting for approximately 1% of acute hospital admissions. Lower GI bleed is less common and less severe than upper GI bleed and is usually caused by diverticulosis, neoplasms, angiodysplasia and inflammatory bowel disease. A 51-year-old man presented with massive lower GI bleed. He had no history of tuberculosis. He underwent colonoscopy and an isolated caecal ulcer was noted. Segmental ileocaecal resection was performed and no specific cause was identifiable on histopathology. PCR was performed on this specimen and it was positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This case reports the unusual presentation of tuberculosis as solitary caecal ulcer with massive lower GI bleed and highlights the role of PCR as an adjuvant diagnostic tool for its diagnosis when characteristic histopathological findings are absent.


The last decades of the 20th c. witnessed a seismic shift in how scholars approached the study of paganism in the increasingly Christian Roman Empire of the 4th and early 5th centuries. Older models which emphasised decline and conflict were challenged by a new awareness of the vitality and diversity of Late Roman paganism and its religious and social interaction with Christianity. The purpose of this short paper is to reassess the impact of this new scholarly approach, particularly upon our understanding of the paganism of the western senatorial elite, and the role that material culture has played and will continue to play in revealing the complex religious world of late antique Rome.


Associating description of unrecorded tropical tree community structure to sampling approaches that can help determine mechanisms behind floristic variation is important to further the comprehension of how plant species coexist at tropical forests. Thus, this study had the goals of (i) evaluating tree community structure on the continental island of Marambaia (23°4'37.09"S; 43°59'2.15"W) and (ii) testing the prediction that there are local scale changes in a tropical tree community structure between slopes facing different geographic orientation and with distinct human interference history. We established 60 (0.6 ha) sampling units in three different slope sites with distinct predominant geographic orientation and human interference. We sampled all woody trees with diameter at breast height (dbh) ≥ 5 cm. We found a total of 1.170 individuals representing 220 species, 120 genera and 50 families. The overall tree community structure and structural descriptors (abundance of individuals, basal area, species richness and diversity) varied extensively between the sites. The evidence presented here supports that local scale topography variations and human interference history can be important factors contributing to the known floristic heterogeneity of the Atlantic Rainforest. Future work on the study area should focus on disentangling effects from distinct causal factors over tree community variation and species occurrence.


After exploring Stoicism through the works of Epictetus, I was particularly intrigued by its implications on the role of emotions in human life. Although I saw benefits to living a Stoic life, I was concerned about how the Stoic theory of emotions could potentially cause negative effects on the wellness of humans. The purpose of my thesis was to conduct a study of this theory and explore the objections against it, evaluating if they are able to successfully demonstrate the contradictions in Stoicism. I do this by arguing and paraphrasing various credible primary and secondary sources which I cite in my bibliography. I begin my thesis by contextualizing Stoicism, describing the Hellenistic age, and introducing renowned philosophers such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Then, I introduce the core doctrines that govern Stoicism such as the notion of separating objects into externals vs. internals, and establishing reason as the governing faculty of the soul. This allows me to introduce impulses and why the Stoics believe that they necessarily invoke truth values. In my section on passions, I introduce false impulses and their properties. Afterwards, in my section on good feelings, I present true impulses and their properties . The first objection I raise about Stoicism is its potential for ostracizing followers by restricting good feelings only to sages. The Stoics respond that a consistent set of beliefs is necessary in order to experience good feelings. The second objection raised is the claim that certain good feelings contradict core Stoic doctrine by inciting passion. The Stoics handle this claim by introducing selections which are reserved impulses guiding action. The final objection against Stoicism is that it fails to account for irrational behavior in the soul. However, the Stoics respond to this claim by suggesting that such behavior occurs only in the body and not the soul. I conclude by determining that these objections ultimately fail to present unaddressable contradictions against Stoicism.


A new regional hypocenter location method is presented in this article to address location problems associated with sparse station distributions and lack of velocity information. For an arbitrary slowness structure, an unknown parameter, slowness deviation, is introduced to construct a more precise slowness model than a homogeneous slowness model. By incorporating a genetic algorithm, the new method yields reasonable solutions for epicenters and origin times both inside and outside the seismic network. The synthetic data tests indicate that outside the network the new method gives excellent results for epicenter locations compared with Geiger's method, even when Geiger's method is used with the true velocity structure. The relocation of the Loma Prieta mainshock and 26 aftershocks occurring within the first 24 h after the mainshock by using the new hypocenter location method places the aftershocks an average of 2.29 km to the southwest of the locations published by the Northern California Earthquake Data Center. The new locations are in better agreement with the geodetic measurements.


https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2022.14.3.0612 Abstract The Exopulse suit was initially an approach to reduce spasticity and improve motor function in individuals with lesions in the CNS. Anecdotal findings from Exopulse users suggest that it could benefit people with pain syndromes, fatigue, and disturbed sleeping patterns. The Exopulse neuromodulation suit was programmed to apply multi-site afferent electrical stimulation and subsequently worn for one hour daily for thirty days. The one-hour session was done at the same time every morning, 9 AM to 10 AM, while the patient was lying in bed. One-hour Exopulse treatments consistently led to improvements in activity and sleep patterns. Diary records indicate that results carried over into the following day, which may indicate a training effect. All baseline scores were improved in self-assessments and objective measurements. The patient's parents commented on the increased interaction with friends and family, the increased planning ahead, and decreased agitation. CFS/ME is a condition in which performance and alertness can change due to environmental and internal factors. The results of this single Case Study design need to be approached


Childhood vaccination is one of the World Health Organization's strategies to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases and children's mortality and morbidity rates. Adequate and accurate knowledge, as well as positive attitudes regarding vaccination, may increase parents' compliance with their children's vaccines.

 This study aimed to identify the determinants of parents' knowledge, attitude, and practice toward childhood vaccination in Jordan.

 This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The stratification method of sampling technique was used to split Jordan into three regions. The sample included 1477 participants. A total number of eleven Maternal and Child Health Care centers were selected as the study's site.

 Results showed that parents have sufficient knowledge regarding the importance of vaccines in maintaining a child's health, with a mean percentage of correctly answered questions of 78.7%. However, they have inadequate knowledge regarding the adverse reactions (57.5%) and the contraindications of vaccines (61.8%). Parents had positive attitudes regarding the National Immunization Program where 97% agreed with it. However, 83% of parents had negative attitudes toward vaccine safety. Parents' work, residency, income, and age are significant determinants of parents' attitudes, knowledge, and practice regarding children's vaccines.

 The study may motivate nurses to implement more educational interventions regarding children's vaccination to upgrade parents' knowledge with particular emphasis on parents with a low level of education and the residents of rural areas.


A novel and efficient approach for the eigenvalue assignment of large, first-order, time-invariant systems is developed using full-state feedback and output feedback. The full-state feedback approach basically consists of three steps. First, a Schur decomposition is applied to triangularize the state matrix. Second, a series of coordinate rotations (Givens rotations) is used to move the eigenvalue to be reassigned to the end of the diagonal of its Schur form. Third, the eigenvalue is moved to the desired location by a full-state feedback without affecting the remaining eigenvalues. The second and third steps can be repeated until all the assignable eigenvalues are moved to the desired locations. Given the freedom of multiple inputs, the feedback gain matrix is calculated to minimize an objective function composed of a gain matrix norm and/or a robustness index of the closed-loop system. An output feedback approach is also developed using similar procedures as for the full-state feedback wherein the maximum allowable number of eigenvalues may be assigned. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.


OBJECTIVE
To synthesize the substance-dependence researches focusing on rehab treatment phase.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Several criteria were used to select studies for meta analysis. Firstly, the research must have focused on the rehab period on the substance-dependence treatment, secondly, only quantitative researches that used statistics to calculate effect sizes were selected, and thirdly, all researches were from Thai libraries and were done during 1997-2006. The instrument used for data collection was comprised of two sets. The first used to collect the general information of studies including the crucial statistics and test statistics. The second was used to assess the quality of studies.

RESULTS
Results from synthesizing 32 separate studies found that 323 effect sizes were computed in terms of the correlation coefficient "r". The psychology approach rehab program was higher in effect size than the network approach (p < 0.05). Additionally, Quasi-experimental studies were higher in effect size than correlation studies (p < 0.05). Among the quasi-experimental studies it was found that TCs revealed the highest effect size (r = 0.76). Among the correlation studies, it was found that the motivation program revealed the highest effect size (r = 0.84).

CONCLUSION
The substance-use rehab treatment programs in Thailand which revealed the high effect size should be adjusted to the current program. However, the narcotic studies which focus on the rehab phase should be synthesized every 5-10 years in order to integrate new concept into the development of future the substance-dependence rehab treatment program, especially those at the research unit of the Drug Dependence Treatment Institute/Centers in Thailand.


Abstract. In this paper, we employ a non-decimated wavelet decomposition to analyse long-term variations of the teleconnection pattern monthly indices (the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation) and the relationship of these variations with eddy kinetic energy contents ( K E ) in the atmosphere of mid-latitudes and tropics. Major advantage of using this tool is to isolate short- and long-term components of fluctuations. Such analysis allows revealing basic periodic behaviours for the North Atlantic Oscillations (NAO) indices such as the 4-8-year and the natural change of dominant phase. The main results can be posed as follows. First, if the phases of North Atlantic and Southern Oscillations vary synchronously with the 4-8-year period then the relationship between the variations of the NAO indices and the K E contents is the most appreciable. Second, if the NAO phase tends to abrupt changes then the impact of these variations on the eddy kinetic energy contents in both mid-latitudes and tropics is more significant than for the durational dominance of certain phase.


The first total synthesis of a member of the plectosphaeroic acid family of fungal natural products is reported. Key steps include the late-stage formation of the hindered N6-C9" bond and stereoselective introduction of the two methylthio substituents.


In this paper, we present a corpus of news blog conversations in Italian annotated with gold standard agreement/disagreement relations at message and sentence levels. This is the first resource of this kind in Italian. From the analysis of ADRs at the two levels emerged that agreement annotated at message level is consistent and generally reflected at sentence level, moreover, the argumentation structure of disagreement is more complex than agreement. The manual error analysis revealed that this resource is useful not only for the analysis of argumentation, but also for the detection of irony/sarcasm in online debates. The corpus and annotation tool are available for research purposes on request.


Based on the theory of human reproductive motives, this study discusses how erotic stimulation can help activate male and female consumers' reproductive motives (i.e., mate-attraction and mate-retention motives), influencing product purchase intention and brand personality perception. Specifically, the results of four experiments reveal that when a man receives erotic stimulation from women, his mate-attraction motive is activated. Consequently, he perceives that the brand personality of his possessions is more rugged, and his preference for products with a rugged brand personality is stronger. Unlike male consumers, when a heterosexual woman in an intimate romantic relationship receives erotic stimulation from other women, her mate-retention motive is activated. As a result, she perceives that the brand personality of her partner's possessions is sincerer and prefers to purchase products with a sincere brand personality for her partner. This effect will not occur when a product is owned by her male colleague than her partner.


In 2011, the Tennessee General Assembly – the first majority Republican legislature in the state since Reconstruction – passed two bills purporting to legislatively overrule recent decisions of the Tennessee Supreme Court that the legislature deemed unfriendly to business interests. This article examines the legislative history of one of those bills. Public Chapter No. 498, codified as Tennessee Code Annotated section 20-16-101, attempts to change the summary judgment standard adopted by the Tennessee Supreme Court in Hannan v. Alltel Publishing Co., 270 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. 2008). In Hannan, the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the federal Celotex standard for burden-shifting on summary judgment, holding that a movant can shift the burden of production only by either negating an essential element of the nonmovant's case or by demonstrating that the nonmovant cannot prove an essential element of its claim at trial. Hannan had simply reaffirmed a decade-old line of cases, but was characterized by the dissenting justice and, subsequently, by the defense bar, as a radical change in Tennessee law. Thus, it became a prime target of the business-oriented General Assembly. The article's analysis of the legislative history – which is available only via web-based video, but is transcribed as an Appendix to the published article – illustrates a number of weaknesses in the legislative process. First, the bill was based upon the erroneous assertion that pre-Hannan Tennessee law was identical to the federal Celotex standard. Second, the factual allegations made by the sponsors of the bill – that the Hannan standard had resulted in fewer summary judgments being granted than in either federal court or Tennessee courts prior to Hannan – were wholly unsupported by empirical or even anecdotal evidence. Third, the legislature failed to submit the proposed legislation to the Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure to seek expert counsel about the niceties of civil procedure, and then implied that both the Rules Commission and a leading trial lawyers' group had approved of the bill. And finally, the sponsors of the bill gave short shrift to other legislators' concerns about its implications for the separation of powers. Ultimately, the article concludes that the legislative history of Public Chapter No. 498 provides a weak foundation for legislation of this significance and complexity.


A new technique based on bone densitometry is proposed, as a potential alternative to X rays evaluation of vertebral deformities. Compared to conventional X ray, this technique offers a good specificity ranging from 95 to 99%. The variable sensitivity reported (from 0.53 to 0.92%), due to poor detection of higher thoracic vertebrae, hampers the diagnostic value of the technique. Nevertheless, its good negative predictive value may allow its use as a screening tool in a high risk population. Main progress should be performed on the image definition in order to increase the diagnostic sensitivity of the technique.


Background Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard treatment for patients with locally advanced breast cancer, showing improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in patients achieving pathological complete response (pCR). The relationship between immunohistochemistry-based molecular subtyping (IMS), chemo sensitivity and survival is currently a matter of interest. We explore this relationship in a Hispanic cohort of breast cancer patients treated with NAC. Methods A retrospective survival analysis was performed on Colombian females with breast cancer treated at Instituto de Cancerología-Clinica Las Américas between January 2009 and December 2011. Patients were classified according to immunohistochemistry-based subtyping into the following five groups: Luminal A, Luminal B, Luminal B/HER 2+, HER2-enriched, and triple-negative breast cancer. Demographic characteristics, recurrence pattern, and survival rate were reviewed by bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results A total of 328 patients fulfilled the study's inclusion parameters and the distribution of subtypes were as follows: Luminal A: 73 (22.3%), Luminal B/HER2−: 110 (33.5%), Luminal B/HER2+: 75 (22.9%), HER2-enriched: 30 (9.1%), and triple-negative: 40 (12.2%). The median follow-up was 41 months (interquartile range: 31–52). Pathological response to NAC was as follows: complete pathological response (pCR) in 28 (8.5%) patients, partial 247 (75.3%); stable disease 47 (14.3%), and progression 6 (1.8%) patients. The presence of pCR had a significant DFS and OS in the entire group (p = 0.01) but subtypes had different DFS in Luminal B (p = 0.01) and triple negative (p = 0.02) and also OS in Luminal B (p = 0.01) and triple negative (p = 0.01). Conclusions pCR is associated with an improved overall survival and disease-free survival rates in this group of Hispanics patients. Advanced stages, Luminal B subtypes, triple-negative tumours and non-pCR showed lower DFS.


The gene encoding the human erythrocyte glucose transporter, cloned from HepG2 hepatoma cells, was expressed in Escherichia coli by introducing a prokaryote-type ribosome binding site, subcloning the gene into the T7 promoter/T7 polymerase expression system, and transforming a strain that is defective in glucose transport. Cells bearing plasmids with the transporter gene take up 2-deoxy-D-glucose and D-glucose, unlike cells bearing plasmids without the transporter gene. Moreover, 2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake is inhibited by unlabeled D-glucose, cytochalasin B, or mercuric chloride but not by L-glucose. The glucose transport protein is inserted into the membrane of E. coli, as evidenced by immunoblotting experiments with two site-directed polyclonal antibodies, one directed against the COOH terminus of the glucose transporter and the other directed against a synthetic peptide containing amino acid residues 225-238. As detected with both antibodies, the protein migrates with apparent molecular mass of 34 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate/12% polyacrylamide, a size similar to that of the unglycosylated glucose-transport protein synthesized in vitro.


One mapping population derived from Tifrunner × GT-C20 has shown great potential in developing high dense genetic map and identification of QTLs for important disease resistance, Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and leaf spot (LS). Both F2 and F5 generation- based genetic maps were constructed previously with 318 and 239 marker loci, respectively Higher map density could be achieved with the F2 map (5.3 cM/locus) as compared to the F5 (5.7 cM/locus). QTL analysis using multi-environment phenotyping data from F8 and higher generation for disease resistance identified 54 QTLs in the F2 map including two QTLs for thrips (12.14 – 19.43% PVE), 15 for TSWV (4.40–34.92% PVE) and 37 for LS (6.61– 27.35% PVE). Twenty-three QTLs could be identified in F5 map including one QTL for thrips (5.86% PVE), nine for TSWV (5.20 – 14.14% PVE) and 13 for LS (5.95–21.45% PVE). Consistent QTLs identified in each map have shown higher phenotypic variance than non-consistent QTLs. As expected, the number of QTLs and their estimates of phenotypic variance were lower in the F5 map. This is the first QTL study reporting novel QTLs for thrips, TSWV and LS in peanut, and thus, future studies will be conducted to refine these thrips, TSWV and LS in peanut, and thus, future studies will be conducted to refine these


A lot of useful information can be obtained through observation of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal such as the human psychophysiology. It has been proven that EEG is handy in human diagnosis and tools to observe the brain condition. The study aims to establish a calmness index, which can differentiate the calmness level of an individual. Alpha waves were selected as the data features and computed into asymmetry index. The data features were clustered using Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) and resulted in three clusters. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was applied to determine the significance of the data features clustered by FCM. The Z-score obtained successfully distinguish three level of calmness index from the lower index until the higher index. With the advancement of signal processing techniques, the feature extractions for calmness index establishment computation is achievable.


1Ocular Surface Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore; 2Corneal and External Eye Disease Service, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore; 3Eye-Academic Clinical Program, Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Medical School, Singapore; 4Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, Singapore; 5Ocular Proteomics Platform, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore; 6Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, Faculty of Science, NUS, Singapore; 7Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China; 8Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, Singapore Introduction Dry eye, a prevalent, multi-factorial disease of the tear and ocular surface affects 14% to 33% of adults worldwide and is more common in Asia. Because mild to moderate forms of dry eye are so common, they incur tremendous economic and health burden. Dry eye can result from increased tear instability or less commonly, reduced tear production. Despite the fact that dry eye etiology is heterogenous, common disease hallmarks are raised tear osmolarity and inflammation. Therapies for dry eye may not obtain satisfactory results. A common approach is to control aggravating factors and instill artificial tear in mild-moderate dry eye disease, which accounts for majority of dry eye cases. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a system of healthcare that considers the human body as a unified system, and disharmony results in disease. Acupuncture is one of the modalities in TCM, but knowledge on the biological mechanism of this therapy in dry eye is lacking. A previous report in this journal investigated tear proteomics changes after acupuncture, and evaluation of the changes by functional annotation of the proteins help to elucidate the mechanism of action of acupuncture. However, this type of longitudinal analysis of global tear proteins has not been published again, and the only other such longitudinal proteomics analysis evaluated dry eye treatments with diquafosol or cyclosporine. Longitudinal proteomics analysis is hypothesis-free and may offer a glimpse into the mechanism of action of the treatment in complex diseases. The aim of this report is to further investigate changes in tear proteomics profile after acupuncture in dry eye patients longitudinally and to understand how this treatment may influence the pathology of dry eye.


Videogames have become a technological application that goes beyond entertainment; their participation in sociocultural processes is much more interesting and profitable than we might think. They have evolved from their original mission of entertainment to other fields such as social, cultural, medical, and other categories that fall into serious games.In the beginning they were developed by programmers and companies that began to emerge to meet the demand of new players. Now we know that consumers of this type of media have many requirements that have made their production involves a multidisciplinary team, among these requirements we can highlight the need to live the story at every moment.Videogames are present in our society, playing them is only one of the shores of this great sea, on the other side, there is an emerging-producing world that directs its work to various areas of human development. In the career of Graphic Design at Indoamerica University, students generate videogames based on the contents they receive, however, there has not been a deep emphasis on the narrative during the design process of these. For this reason, it is intended to identify a model that allows relating literary, graphic and videogame narratives, to involve narrative design within the creative process. Based on classroom experiences of the last five years, the academic work and the result of the products delivered by the students, an analysis was made that determined that the story is present but is not immersed in each of the elements that can be seen from the gameplay. Based on this, bibliographic research was made about literary narrative and its relationship with the narrative design for the video game, considering the significant contributions of Clara Fernández, Adrián Suárez, Jesse Schell, Alckmar dos Santos, Scott Rogers, Oliver Pérez, among others. This work presents a model of the relationship between literary, graphic, and video game narratives aimed at building the narrative design in new video games, on the other hand, to analyze these narratives in a current video game and tune it.We intend to automate this model in a video game prototype, in which the students participate, and then make use of it in the narrative design of new projects.


Changes in body weight and yolk weight were studied in rainbow trout alevins derived from large eggs (diameter > 4 mm) and small eggs (egg diameter < 4 mm) from the same female. Maximal body weight was reached later, and was higher, for alevins derived from large than from small eggs. The yolk was absorbed more quickly by the alevins of small eggs. Percentage of body water increased in alevins during fasting up to a limit of 91 %. Although the limit was the same for both groups of alevins, it was reached more quickly by alevins from small eggs. Relative water content of the yolk did not seem to be influenced by egg size. These results suggest that original egg size had both a quantitative and qualitative effect on the early development of alevins.


This paper provides a methodology for the estimation of resistance, thrust, and resistive torques on each wheel of a rigid-wheeled vehicle generated at the vehicle-terrain interface, and from these forces and moments, a methodology to estimate terrain parameters is presented. Terrain force estimation, which is independent of a terrain model, can infer the ability to accelerate, climb, or tow a load independent of the underlying terrain properties. When a terrain model is available, parameters of that model, such as soil cohesion, friction angle, maximum normal stress, and stress distribution parameters, are determined from estimated vehicle-terrain forces using a multiple-model estimation approach, providing parameters that relate to accepted mobility metrics. The methodology requires a standard proprioceptive sensor suite-accelerometers, rate gyros, wheel speeds, motor torques, and ground speed. Sinkage sensors are not required. Simulation results demonstrate efficacy of the method on three terrains spanning a range of soil cohesions reported in the literature.


Local bone marrow (BM) renin-angiotensin system (RAS) affects physiological and pathological haematopoiesis, including erythropoiesis. In this study, quantitative expression of the messenger RNAs of the major RAS components – angiotensin-converting enzyme (CD143), renin and angiotensinogen – were measured in BM samples by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, to evaluate the activity of local BM RAS in polycythemia rubra vera (PV) in comparison with normal erythropoiesis. The presence of CD143 was also investigated in the same BM samples by flow cytometry. Increased local synthesis of the major RAS components has been identified by demonstrating corresponding mRNAs in the BM of the patients with PV. Our findings indicate up-regulation of local BM RAS, together with down-regulation of the cell surface angiotensin-converting enzyme receptors, in the autonomous neoplastic clonal erythropoiesis of PV.


Observed gait abnormalities are often related to a variety of foot deformities such as the cavus foot, also known as pes cavus, cavovarus, uncompensated varus, and the high arched foot. When gait abnormalities related to cavus foot deformities produce symptoms or contribute to dysfunctional movement of the lower extremity, foot orthotics are commonly used to accommodate the deformity and optimize the function of the lower extremity. In more severe cases, surgical intervention is common. Hypomobility of the many joints of the foot and ankle may be mistaken as an idiopathic cavus foot deformity. As for any other limb segment suspected of musculoskeletal dysfunction, it is suggested that joint mobility testing and mobilization, if indicated, be attempted on the foot and ankle joints before assuming the presence of a bony cavus deformity. The purpose of this clinical suggestion is to describe the use of osteopathic manipulations of the foot and ankle in the context of an illustrative case of bilateral idiopathic cavus feet to demonstrate that apparent foot deformities may actually be joint hypomobility dysfunctions.


This study aimed at documenting the reliability of different thresholds used for defining the muscular rest of the trapezius muscles of 27 computer office workers, using surface electromyography (EMG) signals collected in the field. Measurement strategies for increasing the reliability of the results were also explored. Ten different thresholds to define muscular rest were compared: 1) five normalised (individualised) thresholds; 2) three absolute thresholds (in μV); 3) two absolute but individualised thresholds. The reliability was assessed using both a 15-min standardised computer task and 45 min of regular computer work. The main findings were: 1) overall, in a repeated measures study design, muscular rest variables were more reliable with the use of absolute thresholds when compared to normalised and individualised thresholds; 2) excellent reliability (index of dependability >0.75) can be reached when averaging the scores over 2 days; 3) using a standardised task instead of regular work does not necessarily lead to more reliable results.


The goal of no-reference image quality assessment (NR-IQA) is to predict the quality of an image as perceived by human observers without using any pristine, reference images. In this study, an NR-IQA algorithm is proposed which is driven by a novel feature vector containing statistical and perceptual features. Different from other methods, normalized local fractal dimension distribution and normalized first digit distributions in the wavelet and spatial domains are incorporated into the statistical features. Moreover, powerful perceptual features, such as colorfulness, dark channel feature, entropy, and mean of phase congruency image, are also incorporated to the proposed model. Experimental results on five large publicly available databases (KADID-10k, ESPL-LIVE HDR, CSIQ, TID2013, and TID2008) show that the proposed method is able to outperform other state-of-the-art methods.


Rose Bengal (RB) is an anionic xanthene dye with multiple useful biological features, including photosensitization properties. RB was studied extensively as a photosensitizer, mostly for antibacterial and antitumor photodynamic therapy (PDT). The application of RB to virus inactivation is rather understudied, and no RB derivatives have been developed as antivirals. In this work, we used a synthetic approach based on a successful design of photosensitizing antivirals to produce RB derivatives for virus photoinactivation. A series of n-alkyl-substituted RB derivatives was synthesized and evaluated as antiviral photosensitizers. The compounds exhibited similar 1O2 generation rate and efficiency, but drastically different activities against SARS-CoV-2, CHIKV, and HIV; with comparable cytotoxicity for different cell lines. Submicromolar-to-subnanomolar activities and high selectivity indices were detected for compounds with C4-6 alkyl (SARS-CoV-2) and C6-8 alkyl (CHIKV) chains. Spectrophotometric assessment demonstrates low aqueous solubility for C8-10 congeners and a significant aggregation tendency for the C12 derivative, possibly influencing its antiviral efficacy. Initial evaluation of the synthesized compounds makes them promising for further study as viral inactivators for vaccine preparations.


In the pursuit of sensitive and quantitative methods to detect and diagnose cancer, nanotechnology has been identified as a field of great promise. Semiconductor quantum dots are nanoparticles with intense, stable fluorescence, and could enable the detection of tens to hundreds of cancer biomarkers in blood assays, on cancer tissue biopsies, or as contrast agents for medical imaging. With the emergence of gene and protein profiling and microarray technology, high-throughput screening of biomarkers has generated databases of genomic and expression data for certain cancer types, and has identified new cancer-specific markers. Quantum dots have the potential to expand this in vitro analysis, and extend it to cellular, tissue and whole-body multiplexed cancer biomarker imaging.


The three-dimensional motion of single colloidal particles close to a plane wall is measured by optical microscopy. In accordance with classical theoretical predictions, we find an asymmetric motion of the particles in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the wall. We also find that, close to the wall, the distribution functions of perpendicular steps are asymmetric, being shorter toward the wall and longer away from it.


This brief paper presents new conditions for the existence and design of reduced‐order linear functional state observers for linear systems with unknown inputs. Systematic procedures for the synthesis of reduced‐order functional observers are given. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the attractiveness and simplicity of the new design procedures.


Object detection is one of the most critical areas in computer vision, and it plays an essential role in a variety of practice scenarios. However, small object detection has always been a key and difficult problem in the field of object detection. Therefore, considering the balance between the effectiveness and efficiency of the small object detection algorithm, this study proposes an improved YOLOX detection algorithm (BGD-YOLOX) to improve the detection effect of small objects. We present the BigGhost module, which combines the Ghost model with a modulated deformable convolution to optimize the YOLOX for greater accuracy. At the same time, it can reduce the inference time by reducing the number of parameters and the amount of computation. The experimental results show that BGD-YOLOX has a higher average accuracy rate in terms of small target detection, with mAP0.5 up to 88.3% and mAP0.95 up to 56.7%, which surpasses the most advanced object detection algorithms such as EfficientDet, CenterNet, and YOLOv4.


In this investigation, we propose an improved combined scheme with spectral interferometry and spatially recorded spectroscopic ellipsometry to measure surface height and film thicknesses at once in real time. Instead of rotating polarizing optical components, a spatial phase retarder, which consists of spatially rotating liquid crystal arrays, is used to obtain the ellipsometric spectral data from a single image. In addition, interferometric configuration is combined to collect the surface height information in the same image. The spatial phase retarder can be characterized by the phase retardation and the rotation angle of the liquid crystal during the calibration procedure. In the experiments, single-layered and multi-layered film specimens were measured to verify the measurement capability of the proposed system, and it was confirmed that the measurement results were in good agreement with the provided reference values.


PURPOSE
AIDS incidence and mortality have decreased since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) into clinical practice. HIV-related malignancies, namely Kaposi's sarcoma and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, have decreased, whereas non-AIDS defining tumors have been increasing. Our aim was to study the impact of HAART on natural history of lung cancer in HIV-positive patients, comparing patients with HIV-lung cancer treated in the pre-HAART era versus the HAART era.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We collected 68 patients with HIV-lung cancer diagnosed from 1986 to 2003. Pre-HAART era included 34 patients who did not receive HAART, whereas the HAART era included 34 patients diagnosed after January 1997 who received HAART.

RESULTS
At diagnosis Performance Status (PS) was significantly different, patients with PS ≥ 2 were 44% in the pre-HAART era, versus 29% in the post-HAART era, p = 0.02. The 79.4% of patients in the post-HAART era received chemotherapy alone or with radiotherapy versus 47% in the pre-HAART era, p = 0.04. Cancer was the leading cause of death for both groups, with 29 (85.3%) and 21 (61.8%) patients in the pre- and post-HAART settings, respectively. The median overall survival (OS) was 3.8 months for the pre-HAART population vs. 7 months for the post-HAART patients, p = 0.01.

CONCLUSIONS
HIV-lung cancer patients have a longer overall survival in the post-HAART era versus the pre-HAART era, due to a not detrimental effect of chemotherapy and positive effect of HAART. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death, showing that treatment of the cancer is the most important target now to improve their outcome.


Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the awareness toward oral health and plaque removal in the elderly people in Korea. Methods: An interview method was carried out to 308 elderly people from a senior welfare facility in Mokpo, Jeonnam from May 1 to December 30, 2011 after receiving informed consents. Except 4 incomplete answers, data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The questionnaire consisted of demographical characteristics of the subjects, experience of plaque removal, recognition towards plaque removal, and correlation to systemic diseases. Results: Most of the elderly people experiences plaque removal(63.4%) and 55.9% had revisit intention. Those having plaque removal accounted for 47.8% and they had good subjective oral health recognition. Those not having plaque removal accounted for 61.8% and 61.8% having average systemic health condition and 53.3% having poor oral health recognition. The plaque removal was closely related to subjective oral health recognition. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop the preventive oral health program for the elderly people. The plaque removal in the elderly people is the most important services to prevent the systemic diseases including hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, nervous disease, and gastrointestinal diseases.


A series of finite element analysis have been undertaken on Fiber Glass Reinforced Epoxy (FRGE) laminates having fiber orientation of ± 30o, ± 45o and ± 60o subject to axial. Ratcheting of the FRGE laminate has been observed and recorded in the axial direction using ABAQUS package. The results obtained from the finite element work shows a direction in fiber orientation seemed to have effect on the rate of ratcheting. The composite with fiber orientation angle ±60° from the axial load had shown the highest rate of ratcheting compared to fiber orientation angles ±45° and ±30°. Thus, the increasing of fiber angle from the axial load will increase the rate of ratcheting.


Unknown to most consumers, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration does not regulate "all natural" food labels. Manufacturers commonly abuse this loophole by placing the "all natural" label on products that are clearly not "all natural." In doing so, some manufacturers intentionally deprive consumers of a free choice regarding what they put into their bodies. This deception leads consumers to ingest artificial chemicals under the guise of "all natural." In one particular case, consumers allegedly ate a substance derived from woodchips when the manufacturer had labeled the product as "100%" Parmesan cheese. To the benefit of manufacturers, plaintiffs' available legal remedies have proved to be insufficient and have failed to significantly deter manufacturers from continuing the mislabeling practices. Plaintiffs have tried to bring breach of contract claims against the manufacturers, but courts across the nation have consistently found the claims fail for lack of privity. Privity is an outdated requirement that has been relaxed in other areas of the law. Since privity fails to achieve a fair result, the privity requirement should be relaxed in the food-label litigation context. The privity requirement should either be extended between the consumer and manufacturer or abandoned entirely. Modernizing the privity requirement to fit the realities of modern society will produce the fairest result by providing an adequate remedy for consumers and preventing future mislabeling practices.


PURPOSE
To investigate the effects and mechanism of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) on the proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatoma cell line Bel-7402.

METHODS
SAHA treatment and control groups were designed in this study. To observe the morphological characteristics and the inhibition of cell proliferation, we conducted confocal microscopy and methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, respectively. Changes in cell apoptosis and cell cycle were then determined by flow cytometry. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was also conducted to detect the mRNA expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes. Caspase-3 protein activity was determined by spectrophotometry.

RESULTS
Cell proliferation in the SAHA treatment group could be inhibited in a time- and dose-dependent manner. FCM analysis showed that the early apoptosis rate in the SAHA treatment group increased significantly. Furthermore, cell cycle was arrested at the S phase. RT-PCR assay confirmed that SAHA could upregulate the mRNA expressions of p53 and bax genes. By comparison, SAHA could downregulate the mRNA expression of bcl-2. SAHA induced apoptosis by activating the caspase-3 pathway.

CONCLUSION
SAHA inhibited cell proliferation and promoted human hepatoma Bel-7402 cell apoptosis by affecting caspase-3 protein activity and mRNA expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes.


Big Data plays a central role in the remarkable results achieved by Machine Learning (ML) and especially Deep Learning (DL) in the recent years. However, the difficulty in obtaining a reasonable amount of labeled samples limits ML/DL application in various domains, including industrial equipment and system monitoring. In this paper the need for methods that turn manual labeling into a scalable process is highlighted. A real world problem is analyzed for which weak supervision methods, successfully employed in other domains, did not produce acceptable results. An alternative approach based on clustering ensembles is described and tested, achieving good performance.


The rising complexity of distributed server applications in enterprise data centers has made the tasks of modeling and analyzing their behavior increasingly difficult. This paper presents Modellus, a novel system for automated modeling of complex data center applications using statistical methods from data mining and machine learning. Modellus can automatically derive models to predict the resource usage of an application and the workload it triggers; these models can be composed to capture multiple dependencies between interacting applications. Model accuracy is maintained by fast, distributed testing, automated relearning of models when they change, and methods to bound prediction errors in composite models. We have implemented a prototype of Modellus, deployed it on a data center testbed, and evaluated its efficacy for modeling and analysis of several distributed server applications. Our results show that this feature-based modeling technique is able to make predictions across several data center tiers, and maintain predictive accuracy (typically 95% or better) in the face of significant shifts in workload composition; we also demonstrate practical applications of the Modellus system to prediction and provisioning of real-world applications.


Fluorescence microscopy relies on dyes that absorb short-wavelength photons and emit longer-wavelength light. In addition to this fluorescence process, dyes can undergo other photochemical reactions that result in spectral shifts and irreversible photobleaching. Increases in brightness, 'chromostability', and photostability of fluorescent dyes are therefore crucial for advancing the frontier of bioimaging. Here, we describe a general approach to improve small-molecule fluorophores using deuteration. Incorporating deuterium into the alkylamino substituents of rhodamines and other dyes improves fluorescence quantum yield, inhibits photochemically induced spectral shifts, and slows irreparable photobleaching. These compounds are easily synthesized and show improved performance in cellular imaging experiments.


This paper presents an analysis of the role of decentralised institutions to understand the learning and challenges of the grass-roots-led pandemic response of Kerala. The study is based on interviews with experts and frontline workers to ensure the representation of all stakeholders dealing with the outbreak, from the state level to the household level, and a review of published government orders, health guidelines, and news articles. The outcome of the study shows that along with the decentralised system of governance, the strong grass-roots-level network of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers, volunteer groups, and Kudumbashree members played a pivotal role in pandemic management in the state. The efficient functioning of local bodies in the state, experience gained from successive disasters, and the Nipah outbreak naturally aided grass-roots-level actions. The lessons others can draw from Kerala are the importance of public expenditure on health, investment for building social capital, and developing the local self-delivery system.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to investigate on the research methodology of the doctoral dissertations of graduates in the field of Humanities and Social Sciences of Burapha University from year 2002 -2010 by examining sampling design, sample size, research instruments, and statistical devices used to analyze data. The methodology employed in the study involved the synthesis of secondary data sets from methodological scans of doctoral dissertations in the field of Humanities and Social Sciences of Burapha University from year 2002 -2010. There were 60 dissertations available for this study from seven faculties. The study used content analysis to quantify the data by providing descriptive frequencies. The results of relationship analysis between research methodologies and the year of graduation, sampling design, sample size as well as statistical devices indicated that the tendency of using mixed methods and qualitative research methodologies were increasing during 2008 – 2010. With reference to qualitative research methodologies, almost all the dissertations used the non-probability purposive sampling method, with the sample size of less than 100 units. As for quantitative research methodologies, the probability random sampling method, with a large sample size (400 units upward) was found mostly used.  Concerning statistical devices, principles of content analysis, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics were employed for the data analysis. As for inferential statistics, advanced statistics methods were used in the highest number; while univariate statistics methods and multivariate statistics methods were used in the equal number.


Summary This article aims to reconstruct the representation of Theoderic in the lost "Gothic History" of Cassiodorus. Scholars generally agree that much of the Getica of Jordanes was derived from Cassiodorus' "History", though it does not contain any of the eulogies of Theoderic and the Goths, which surely abounded in Cassiodorus' work. Jordanes' account of Theoderic king of Italy is investigated here in parallel with other documents, in particular Cassiodorus' "Chronicle", and some paragraphs of the Anonymus Valesianus II that may have derived from Cassiodorus. A careful study based in Quellenforschung brings to light a possible sketch of Cassiodorus' original portrayal of Theoderic and the Ostrogothic Kingdom.


Correspondence: Patricia Ibeas Clinical Oncology Department, Hospital Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda, Calle Joaquin Rodrigo, 2, 28222 Madrid, Spain Tel +34 91 191 60 00 Fax +34 91 191 66 71 Email firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract: Hodgkin's disease is curable in 90% of the cases diagnosed in early stages (I and II) and in 70% of all patients who suffer from the disease. Refractory disease occurs in 10%–15% of cases and is still a clinical challenge. Its treatment is based on intensive chemotherapy regimens with transplantation, but there are patients who relapse after transplantation who have a poor prognosis. At this point in time, there is a lack of effective treatment options with proven efficacy and there is a real need to investigate new treatment drugs with different mechanisms of action. A persistent activation of mTOR signaling has been identified in leukemia, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Everolimus, an mTOR kinase inhibitor, is being used as an option in these cases with encouraging results. Here, the authors report their experience with a patient treated with everolimus.


Radiotherapy is a conventional and effective treatment method for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), although it can fail, mainly because radioresistance results in residual or recurrent tumors. However, the mechanisms and predictive markers of NPC radioresistance are still obscure. In this study, we identified Annexin A6 (ANXA6) as a candidate radioresistance marker by using Tandem Mass Tag quantitative proteomic analysis of NPC cells and gene chip analysis of NPC clinical samples with different radiosensitivities. It was observed that a high expression level of ANXA6 was positively correlated with radioresistance of NPC and that inhibition of ANXA6 by siRNA increased the radiosensitivity. The incidence of autophagy was enhanced in the established radioresistant NPC cells in comparison with their parent cells, and silencing autophagy with LC3 siRNA (siLC3) sensitized NPC cells to irradiation. Furthermore, ANXA6 siRNA (siANXA6) suppressed cellular autophagy by activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, ultimately leading to radiosensitization. The combination of siANXA6 and CAL101 (an inhibitor of PI3K, p-AKT, and mTOR, concurrently) significantly reversed the above siANAX6-reduced autophagy. Suppression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR by CAL101 also increased the expression of ANXA6 in a negative feedback process. In conclusion, this study revealed for the first time that ANXA6 could promote autophagy by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and that it thus contributes to radioresistance of NPC. The significance of this is that ANXA6 could be applied as a new predictive biomarker of NPC prognosis after radiotherapy.


We generalize a characterization of p-ary (p is a prime) quantum codes given by Feng and Xing to q-ary (q is a prime power) quantum codes. This characterization makes it possible to convert an asymptotic bound of Stichtenoth and Xing for nonlinear algebraic geometry codes to a quantum asymptotic bound. Besides, we also investigate the asymptotic behavior of quantum codes


Introduction: Pulmonery Tuberculosis is a chronic pulmonary disease that affects physicallly and psychosocially for the patients . Until now, the government's programs in overcoming this disesase still focus on treatment and prevention of infection. The programs has not yet to lead to a psychosocial problem of the patients whereas the psychosocial impact has a big influence on treatment compliance and prognosis of patients with Pulmonery Tuberculosis.Methods: This study was quassy experiment to test the effect of psychoeducation on the level of stress, anxiety and depression of Patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. 74 patients with Pulmonery Tuberculosis involved in this study divided into two group (37 involved in intervention and 37 involved as control group). Results:  of the study showed that psychoeducation was effective in reducing stress, anxiety and depression of the patients with Pulmonery Tuberculosis.Conclusion: Psycho education should be provided for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis at the Community health Center.


The literature data and the authors own experience, concerning complications, occurring while laparoscopic cholecystectomy performance, demanding the conversion conduction, were analyzed. The authors make the conclusions concerning the conversion threshold and the ways to lower its frequency.


The oral perception of fat has traditionally been considered to rely mainly on texture and olfaction, but recent findings suggest that taste may also play a role in the detection of long chain fatty acids. The two G-protein coupled receptors GPR40 (Ffar1) and GPR120 are activated by medium and long chain fatty acids. Here we show that GPR120 and GPR40 are expressed in the taste buds, mainly in type II and type I cells, respectively. Compared with wild-type mice, male and female GPR120 knock-out and GPR40 knock-out mice show a diminished preference for linoleic acid and oleic acid, and diminished taste nerve responses to several fatty acids. These results show that GPR40 and GPR120 mediate the taste of fatty acids.


Personal care items including lotions, perfumes, deodorants, shampoos, and cosmetics are sources of phthalate exposure. Women of childbearing age, children, and beauty salon workers are at greater risk for exposure. Occupational health nurses are in an ideal position to rally support for improved regulatory laws and for funding of evidence-based research that will reduce phthalate exposures and improve client health. Occupational health nurses must support the establishment and implementation of procedures for workplace safety inspections among susceptible populations. Information regarding reduction of overall phthalate exposure must be available for clients. Resources like phthalate-free product lists can be valuable tools in helping clients make informed decisions about alternatives to phthalates.


Background: The objective of the study was to evaluate β-HCG and lipid profile in early second trimester and analyse whether these parameters can be used as predictors of PIH. Methods: 180 antenatal women in second trimester (14-20 weeks) attending antenatal clinic were taken as study population. Serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL, HDL, β-hCG was measured. All patients were followed till delivery and observed for development of PIH. Results was evaluated and analysed statistically. Results: Out of 180 cases, 173 cases were evaluated. Among 173 cases, 87.86% were normotensive. 8.09% developed mild PIH and 4.05% developed severe PIH. There was significant increase in values of β-hCG (p<0.001) and total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoproteins and very low density lipoprotein (p<0.001) and significant decrease in values of high density lipoprotein (p<0.001) in those women who developed PIH. Conclusions: Measurement of all these parameters in early second trimester can help in predicting PIH. By proper follow up of these patients, early detection and better management of PIH and its complications is possible which would improve the maternal and fetal outcome.


Cell mono-layers were irradiated with nanosecond laser pulses under two distinct scenarios: (a) with culturing medium positioning the beam waist at different stand-off distances γ and (b) without cell culturing medium, positioning the beam waist directly on top of the cell mono-layer. Damaged cells were marked with Trypan Blue, a vital cell marker. Three different zones of damage were identified: (1) a zone of complete cell clearance, surrounded by (2) a ring of dead cells marked with Trypan Blue and (3) the rest of the cell culture where the cells remain alive and viable. Different hydrodynamic mechanisms damage cells as it was shown by high speed video for γ=0 and comparison with time resolved imaging. The cell damage mechanism has its origin on the optical breakdown plasma formation. For the case with culturing medium, a combination of plasma formation and shear stresses are responsible for cell damage; wheras for the case without cell culturing medium, the plasma formation is the only mechanism of interaction between laser pulses and cells. The rapidly expanding plasma generates shock waves whose pressure is most likely responsible for the cell detachment observed.


This retrospective study examined the outcome of 40 patients 50 or more years of age treated between September 1988 and September 1993 for tibial plateau fractures. Our analysis was based on a review of the medical records of all patients as well a patient self-assessment questionnaire. The 22 women and 18 men studied had a mean age of 60 (range, 50 to 76 years) at the time of injury. A satisfactory overall outcome (based on patients' self-assessment) was observed in only 14 (35%) of the 40 cases. Unsatisfactory outcomes were observed in 23 (72%) of 32 cases treated operatively and 3 (38%) of 8 cases treated nonoperatively. No significant difference in outcome was observed between the 27 patients with AO type B fractures and the 13 patients with AO type C fractures. Similarly, no significant difference in outcome was observed in patients with fractures involving the lateral plateau only, those with fractures involving the medial plateau only, and those with bicondylar fractures. There was no significant relationship between the adequacy of fracture reduction and overall clinical outcome, although a trend of more favorable outcomes was noted in patients with excellent or satisfactory reductions. The results suggest that patients of 50 or more years of age have a high rate of unsatisfactory clinical outcomes regardless of how their tibial plateau fractures are treated.


The publication of this attractive catalogue of the Map Collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, is an event of utmost importance for both map historians and lay persons interested in early maps of Africa. It is significant for the map historian because the catalogue has been compiled by an acknowledged expert on the subject, whose mode of presentation—exemplified in the book's format and its accompanying DVD—deviates completely from that of conventional catalogues. It is also a major contribution for the lay reader, to whom Wulf Bodenstein offers 'a leisurely, stimulating journey through time, in the company of maps of all sorts, shapes and sizes . . . each a treasure-trove for the curious reader'. The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA, colloquially known as the Africa Museum, is an ethnographic and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, just outside Brussels (www.africamu seum.be). Although modest when compared with other large map collections in Europe, that of the RMCA is impressive in both scope and quality. For the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, for example, real gems in this collection are the maps of Giacomo Gastaldi (1554), Abraham Ortelius (1570), Filippo Pigafetta (published by the De Bry brothers in 1598) and Gerard Mercator's atlas of 1595. Likewise, the seventeenth century is well represented by the unquestionable 'jewel in the crown', the 1606 wall map of Willem Janz. Blaeu as published by Pieter Verbist in Antwerp in 1644. The eighteenth century is epitomized by maps such as Guillaume Delisle's map of 1708, Herman Moll's map of 1715, and Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's revolutionary 1749 'empty'map of Africa. During the nineteenth century the contemporary French philosophical stance of 'less is more' in the context of the mapping of the African continent is aptly illustrated by cartographers such as Louis Stanislas d'Arcy de la Rochette (1803) and Victor Levasseur (1850). Towards the end of the century, the newly found political importance of Africa is mirrored by the presence of the 1:2 000 000map series by Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy (1881–1888), Herman Habenicht's Spezial-Karte von Afrika im Massstab von 1:4 000 000 (1885–1886), and Paul Langhans's Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas (1897). The twentieth century is represented by maps stressing the economic importance of the Katanga region of the Congo. The collection also boasts the presence of Hubert Droogmans's Map of the Lower Congo in 15 sheets (1900), and Justus Perthes's amazing 1907 Carte de l'Etat Indépendant du Congo comprising 12 sheets on a scale of 1:1 000 000. Likewise Paul Langhans's Wandkarte von Afrika zur Darstellung der Bodenbedeckung (1902) calls to mind the then new technology of colour lithography. The aim with this catalogue is to bring the maps in the RMCA's collection to the attention of interested members of the public and the cartographic community, as well as to give map historians and map collectors an insight into the carto-bibliographic details of specific maps in the collection. Wulf Bodenstein eminently succeeds in this objective by first presenting readable commentaries on each of the approximately eighty maps in the collection. Second, the DVD comprising high-resolution examples of all eighty maps included in the catalogue enables the reader (with a computer) to zoomanymap to the required enlargement. In addition, the DVD allows for a split-screen function permitting the side-by-side display of any pair of maps for comparison. For all users, the simultaneous use of the 'map book' and the DVD will permit the cartographic discourse contained in the commentaries to fall into place. The overall tone of the catalogue emulates the role of a highly knowledgeable map librarian accompanying a group of individuals proceeding from map to map. The author refers to the important aspects of each map, yet never lets go of the larger picture of how each map fits the timeline of the cartography from each specific period. Each comment is phrased in such a way as to continuously stimulate the interest and curiosity of the viewer and to present the cartography of Africa as a fascinating and unfolding narrative. Special mention should be made of the format of the catalogue (8 × 15.5 cm) which, for the visitor to the museum, makes it easy to handle and to carry around. Although a hard cover would have made the catalogue more durable, the soft cover and small format contribute to the publication's attractive appearance. Furthermore, the printing of the text, which is in French and Dutch as well as English, and maps is of the highest quality. The author and the RMCA are to be congratulated on adding this catalogue to the small number of publications devoted to the cartography of Africa. All those interested in how the African continent was gradually 'opened up' will appreciate the instructive and scholarly map descriptions, the outstanding quality of the illustrations, and the luxury of 'exploring Africa' by viewing the accompanying DVD.


RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful tool for transcriptome profiling, but is hampered by sequence-dependent bias and inaccuracy at low copy numbers intrinsic to exponential PCR amplification. We developed a simple strategy for mitigating these complications, allowing truly digital RNA-Seq. Following reverse transcription, a large set of barcode sequences is added in excess, and nearly every cDNA molecule is uniquely labeled by random attachment of barcode sequences to both ends. After PCR, we applied paired-end deep sequencing to read the two barcodes and cDNA sequences. Rather than counting the number of reads, RNA abundance is measured based on the number of unique barcode sequences observed for a given cDNA sequence. We optimized the barcodes to be unambiguously identifiable, even in the presence of multiple sequencing errors. This method allows counting with single-copy resolution despite sequence-dependent bias and PCR-amplification noise, and is analogous to digital PCR but amendable to quantifying a whole transcriptome. We demonstrated transcriptome profiling of Escherichia coli with more accurate and reproducible quantification than conventional RNA-Seq.


Using both household and linked employer-employee data for Germany, we assess the effects of non-union representation in the form of works councils on (1) individual sickness absence rates and (2) a subjective measure of personnel problems due to sickness absence as perceived by a firm's management. We find that the existence of a works council is positively correlated with the incidence and the annual duration of absence. We observe a more pronounced correlation in western Germany which can also be interpreted causally. Further, personnel problems due to absence are more likely to occur in plants with a works council. JEL Classification: J53, I18, M54


ABSTRACT New Caledonia is known for the diversity of its geological substrates, which have shaped its highly original and diverse flora. Here, the effect of the soil on the vegetation is described for several contact zones between ultramafic and other substrates. The main vegetation formations on soils derived from ultramafic rocks are described: low and medium altitude rainforests, high altitude rainforests, and maquis. The main types of maquis and the biological characteristics of maquis species are also presented.


In China, morbidity and mortality for pancreatic cancer differs from that in most Western countries. Pancreatic cancer is the sixth leading cause of death from malignant disease in China, with an overall cumulative 5-year survival rate of 1% to 3%. Pancreatic cancer has the highest incidence in Shanghai (7.21/100,000) and the lowest (0.47/100,000) in the Hunan Province. As in the Western world, the main reason for the poor outcome of patients with pancreatic cancer is the late establishment of the diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer is seldom detected in early disease stages, and until now, the process of cancer initiation, progression, and formation of metastasis is not sufficiently understood. In this article, we reviewed recent data on patients in China with pancreatic cancer and obtained the most updated information on the different aspects of oncologic research, including epidemiology, molecular biology, diagnosis, and treatment.


. A new set of FMR lines observed after reducing for 45 min is the emphasis studied in this note.


Abstract The productivity of small-scale sugarcane contractors affects not only their own profitability and sustainability, but that of other stakeholders as well, such as the small-scale sugarcane farmers they contract to and the sugar mills they supply with sugarcane. This study examines the attributes of small-scale sugarcane contractors that affect their quality of service as perceived by small-scale sugarcane growers (SSGs). Information was obtained through interviews conducted with 114 contractors sampled in ten mill group areas in KwaZulu-Natal between September 2002 and July 2003. Further interviews were conducted in the same time period with SSGs for information on contractor service quality (transport and general service timeliness, meeting of daily rateable delivery requirements, low downtimes, good staff management, and minimal disagreements on service terms). Results show that factors affecting a contractor's perceived service quality include gender, training, the quality of information used (industry focused information sources such as the South African Sugar Association Experiment Station (SASEX)3 and the Ingede magazine, or general sources such as the radio), and sugarcane tonnage transported (size of business). Being a male contractor and having a larger business positively influence service rating as perceived by SSGs. The importance of the quality of information used and increased training levels highlights the need for the continual provision of relevant information and training for sugarcane contractors by extension services (government, SASEX and milling companies).


The microstructure of Sn–8Zn–3Bi alloy was refined by increasing the solidification rate and the correlation between Zn-rich phase and the corrosion/oxidation behavior of the alloy was investigated. The Zn-rich phase transforms from coarse flakes to fine needles dispersed in the β-Sn matrix with the increase of the cooling rate. The transformation of Zn-rich precipitates enhances the anticorrosive ability of Sn–8Zn–3Bi alloy in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. On the contrary, Sn–8Zn–3Bi alloy with a fine needle-like Zn-rich phase shows poor oxidation resistance under air atmosphere, due to the fast diffusion of Zn atoms in Sn matrix.


Transformer encoder-decoder models have shown impressive performance in dialogue modeling. However, as Transformers are inefficient in processing long sequences, dialogue history length often needs to be truncated. To address this problem, we propose a new memory-augmented Transformer that is compatible with existing pre-trained encoder-decoder models and enables efficient preservation of history information. It incorporates a separate memory module alongside the pre-trained Transformer to effectively interchange information between the memory states and the current input context. We evaluate our model on three dialogue datasets and two language modeling datasets. Experimental results show that our method has achieved superior efficiency and performance compared to other pre-trained Transformer baselines.