The Neogene sediments of eastern Azerbaijan and western Turkmenistan contain significant hydrocarbon reserves in deltaic reservoirs. Sedimentary logging of these reservoirs at outcrop in Azerbaijan has outlined four facies associations that encompass a range of paleoenvironments, from alluvial braided river sandstones and conglomerates to delta-front siltstones and mudstones. The facies associations suggest a river-dominated braid delta and are arranged into an architecture controlled by base-level changes: parasequences, parasequence sets, and sequence boundaries are key elements. The facies associations and stratigraphic architecture, together with outcrop observations of cementation and faulting, are summarized in terms of four idealized reservoir models: fluvial, delta plain, proximal delta front, and distal delta front. Each reservoir model has distinctive grain-size and shale distributions. Comparison of nearby oil fields with the studied outcrops suggests that the outcrops form good analogs from which to model reservoir architecture, barriers and baffles to fluid flow, reservoir heterogeneity, and reservoir quality variations.


We encountered difficulty in inserting a 32-Fr left double-lumen tube (DLT) in a small 75-year-old Japanese woman (height, 144 cm). The 32-Fr DLT with 10.1 × 11.2-mm tracheal diameter could not pass through the cricoid cartilage with a 9.2-mm transverse inner width. The transverse inner width of the cricoid cartilage, in addition to the tracheal and bronchial diameter, can be measured using computed tomography or ultrasonography in small women. Thus, a 28-Fr DLT or single-lumen tube and a blocker can be selected instead of a 32-Fr DLT when the width of the cricoid cartilage is <10 mm.


A novel handoff algorithm based on grey theory is being proposed for reducing the handoff overhead in cellular communication environment. The design of the methods is intended to be used under a log-normal fading environment. The grey prediction model is used to predict the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values from two base stations (BS). The decision whether performing handoff is based on the predictive RSSI value, the received RSSI value and n-1 past RSSI values. By changing the handoff probability of two regions (divided by the middle point of two separated BSs), the position of first handoff to be executed will close to the middle point of two separated BSs. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with grey theory obtains excellent performance because it not only minimizes the number of performing handoff, but also has a very short calculating time.


SUMMARY
We have isolated auxotrophic mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor which can grow on a minimal medium without growth factors when the gas phase is supplemented with CO2. Usually they have an alternative requirement for a specific growth factor such as arginine, purines or vitamins. Some of the CO2 mutants resemble those already known in Neurospora crassa and Escherichia coli but others present novel phenotypes.


How to organize and discover the virtual resource effectively is an important research issue in network virtualization environment especially across multiple infrastructure providers with conflicting goals. In this paper, we explore a virtual resource organization and discovery framework of multiple infrastructure providers. The framework composed of Cluster Index Servers and Management Nodes aggregates the virtual resources of multiple infrastructure providers based on the virtual resource¡¯s root attribute to implement the resource sharing and avoid blind searching to discover the required resources. In addition, this mechanism facilitates to discover the global optimal candidates rapidly and efficiently to complete the end-to-end virtual network embedding due to that each Cluster Index Server grasps a kind of specific virtual resources belonging to multiple infrastructure providers. This organization and discovery framework reduces search range and improves search efficiency for virtual networks provisioning from shared substrate resources greatly.


Women that are positive for an ovarian abnormality in a clinical setting can have either a malignancy or a benign tumor with probability favoring the benign alternative. Accelerating the abnormality to surgery will result in a high number of unnecessary procedures that will place cost burdens on the individual and the health delivery system. Surveillance using serial ultrasonography is a reasonable alternative that can be used to discover if changes in the ovarian abnormality will occur that favor either a malignant or benign interpretation. Several ovarian cancer screening trials have had extensive experiences with changes in subclinical ovarian abnormalities in normal women that can define growth, stability or resolution and give some idea of the time frame over which changes occur. The present report examines these experiences and relates them to the current understanding of ovarian cancer ontology, presenting arguments related to the benefits of surveillance.


The 2004-5 eruption of Mount St. Helens, still ongoing as of this writing (September 2006), has comprised chiefly lava dome extrusion that produced a series of solid, fault-gouge-mantled dacite spines. Vertical aerial photographs taken every 2 to 4 weeks, visual observations, and oblique photographs taken from aircraft and nearby observation points provide the basis for two types of photogeologic maps of the dome—photo—based maps and rectified maps. Eight map pairs, covering the period from October 1, 2004, through December 15, 2005, document the development of seven spines: an initial small, fin-shaped vertical spine; a north-south elongate wall of dacite; two large and elongate recumbent spines ("whalebacks"); a tall and elongate inclined spine; a smaller bulbous spine; and an initially endogenous spine extruded between remnants of preceding spines. All spines rose from the same general vent area near the southern margin of the 1980s lava dome. Maps also depict translation and rotation of active and abandoned spines, progressive deformation affecting Crater Glacier, and distribution of ash on the crater floor from phreatic and phreatomagmatic explosions. The maps help track key geologic and geographic features in the rapidly changing crater and help date dome, gouge, and ash samples that are no longer readily correlated to their original context because of deformation in a dynamic environment where spines extrude, deform, slough, and are overrun by newly erupted material.


Purpose Recently, our group found exosome-like extracellular vesicles (EVs) in Apis mellifera honey displaying strong antibacterial effects; however, the underlying mechanism is still not understood. Thus, the aim of this investigation was to characterize the molecular and nanomechanical properties of A. mellifera honey-derived EVs in order to elucidate the mechanisms behind their antibacterial effect, as well as to determine differential antibiofilm properties against relevant oral streptococci. Methods A. mellifera honey-derived EVs (HEc-EVs) isolated via ultracentrifugation were characterized with Western Blot and ELISA to determine the presence of specific exosomal markers and antibacterial cargo, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) was utilized to explore their ultrastructural and nanomechanical properties via non-destructive immobilization onto poly-L-lysine substrates. Furthermore, the effect of HEc-EVs on growth and biofilm inhibition of S. mutans was explored with microplate assays and compared to S. sanguinis. AFM was utilized to describe ultrastructural and nanomechanical alterations such as cell wall elasticity changes following HEc-EV exposure. Results Molecular characterization of HEc-EVs identified for the first time important conserved exosome markers such as CD63 and syntenin, and the antibacterial molecules MRJP1, defensin-1 and jellein-3 were found as intravesicular cargo. Nanomechanical characterization revealed that honey-derived EVs were mostly <150nm, with elastic modulus values in the low MPa range, comparable to EVs from other biological sources. Furthermore, incubating oral streptococci with EVs confirmed their antibacterial and antibiofilm capacities, displaying an increased effect on S. mutans compared to S. sanguinis. AFM nanocharacterization showed topographical and nanomechanical alterations consistent with membrane damage on S. mutans. Conclusion Honey is a promising new source of highly active EVs with exosomal origin, containing a number of antibacterial peptides as cargo molecules. Furthermore, the differential effect of HEC-EVs on S. mutans and S. sanguinis may serve as a novel biofilm-modulating strategy in dental caries.


Expression of DNA sequences homologous to sequences of env gene of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) in the lymphocytes of patients with breast cancer and in subjects at a high risk of breast cancer has been reported. Antigen analogous to envelope protein gp52, product of MMTV env gene, is detected in T lymphocytes of virtually all patients with breast cancer and extremely rarely in T cells of controls, where its expression is confined to B cells. For explaining such unexpected results, we studied the molecular basis of this antigen synthesis. Specific PCR products were obtained using primers to gp52-coding region of MMTV env gene. One of them (957 nucleotides) was used as a probe for hybridization of DNA and RNA from lymphocytes of patients with breast cancer and controls. This sequence was hybridized with 90% frequency with genome DNA of breast cancer patients and with 85% frequency with genome RNA of such patients, which is almost 4-fold more than in the controls (patients with gynecological tumors or donors). These results correlate with the frequency of detection of the studied antigen in patients with breast cancer and control group patients.


Human foamy virus (HFV) is a recently characterized member of the retrovirus subfamily Spumaretrovirinae. HFV has a complex structure: it encodes the classical three retroviral structural genes gag, pol and env, but also possesses additional regulatory, so-called bel sequences. Foamy viruses have been discussed occasionally as being possibly involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroiditis. By indirect immunofluorescence we were able to demonstrate the expression of HFV gag proteins on the epithelial cells of 7/7 thyroid glands of patients with Graves' disease, but not in those of 9 patients with struma parenchymatosa, 3 with follicular carcinoma and 2 normal thyroids. The thyroids of 5 patients with Hashimoto's disease were also negative with the exception of a single small focus in 1 case. These observations may have importance for our understanding of the development of Graves' disease.


abstract:What explains combat motivation in warfare? Scholars argue that monitoring, material rewards, and punishment alone are insufficient explanations. Further, competing ideological accounts of motivation are also problematic because ideas are difficult to operationalize and measure. To solve this puzzle, the authors combine extensive information from World War II about German soldiers' combat performance with data about conditionally exogenous potential exposure to Nazi radio propaganda. They find evidence that soldiers with higher potential exposure to propaganda were more likely to be decorated for valor even after controlling for individual socioeconomic factors, home district characteristics like urbanization, and proxies for combat exposure.


The proposed microstrip-feed antenna mainly consists of circular monopole antenna (CMA) with defected ground structure for cognitive radio application is presented. The proposed antenna uses FR-4 substrate having thickness of 1.6mm and dielectric constant of 4.4. This antenna achieves an enhanced impedance bandwidth of 2.98GHz. Most of the work in cognitive radio domain has been done in the frequency range of 3.1GHz to 10 GHz, but this paper presents a CMA operating over frequency band of 0.6GHz to3.58GHz. The proposed antenna was designed and analyzed by using software HFSS (Higher frequency simulation software) 13.0 which is suitable for cognitive radio applications.


Rationale: Hyperkalemia is a life-threatening electrolyte disturbance which could lead to arrhythmias and potentially death. Patient concerns: An 82-year-old male patient who presented typical electrocardiographic indications of hyperkalemia, including the absence of P waves, prolongation of QRS complex, sinoventricular conduction, bradyarrhythmia and tall peaked T waves. He developed a rare self-defibrillation of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm due to hyperkalemia. Besides, he developed secondary thrombosis caused by abrupt termination of atrial fibrillation. Diagnoses: This patient was diagnosed with hyperkalemia, hypertension, and AF. Interventions: He was treated with an intravenous infusion of calcium gluconate, insulin and dextrose, an oral kayexalate, and emergency hemodialysis. Outcomes: The patient was managed effectively and discharged with stable status. Lessons: Hyperkalemia could induce malignant arrhythmia with high mortality. Thus we suggested more attention be paid to monitoring electrolyte disorders and maintaining anticoagulation treatments to avoid thromboembolism.


Three generations of crossbred cows from a 3-breed rotation of the Viking Red (VR), Montbéliarde (MO), and Holstein (HO) breeds were compared with HO herdmates in 7 high-performance, commercial dairy herds in Minnesota. The designed study was initiated in 2008 with the enrollment of 3,550 HO females. Sires of cows were proven artificial insemination bulls and were high-ranking for genetic merit within each of the VR, MO, and HO breeds. The first generation of cows calved a first time from 2010 to 2017 and consisted of 644 VR × HO and 616 MO × HO 2-breed crossbreds and their 1,405 HO herdmates. The second generation calved a first time from 2012 to 2017 and consisted of 615 VR × MO/HO and 568 MO × VR/HO crossbreds and their 1,462 HO herdmates. The third generation calved a first time from 2014 to 2017 and was composed of 466 HO × VR/MO/HO and HO × MO/VR/HO crossbreds combined and their 736 HO herdmates. Collection of data ceased on December 31, 2017, and for the duration of study, many of the 2-breed and 3-breed crossbreds and their HO herdmates had the opportunity to complete at least 3 lactations, whereas the HO-sired crossbreds and their HO herdmates had the opportunity to complete 1 lactation. The 305-d actual (not mature equivalent) production of milk, fat, and protein was estimated from test-day observations with best prediction and cows with <305 DIM were projected to 305 d. The 2-breed and 3-breed crossbred cows had superiority over their HO herdmates for all of the fertility traits measured. The 2-breed crossbreds had -9, -17, and -15 d fewer days open than their HO herdmates during first, second, and third lactation, respectively. Also, the 3-breed crossbreds had -15, -19, and -20 d fewer days open than their HO herdmates during first, second, and third lactation, respectively. Cows in these herds had young ages at first calving of 22 to 23 mo across the breed groups, and the 3-breed crossbreds had significantly younger ages at first, second, and third calving than their HO herdmates. The 2-breed crossbreds had +2% higher fat plus protein production (kg) during first lactation, but did not differ during second and third lactation, from their HO herdmates. The 3-breed crossbreds had -3% to -4% lower fat plus protein production (kg) than their HO herdmates in each of their first 3 lactations. During first lactation, the HO-sired crossbreds did not differ for fat plus protein production (kg) from their HO herdmates.


23 patients with multiple myeloma of IgG, IgA and light chain type, one patient with benign monoclonal IgE gammopathy and 23 healthy controls were investigated for their leukocyte locomotion (LL), for the ability of their sera to generate chemotactic factors upon activation with zymosan, and for inhibitory effects of their sera upon LL. While no significant impairment of the patients' LL was observed when casein was used as cytotaxin, LL was markedly reduced in myeloma patients with zymosan activated control serum as chemoattractant. The ability of serum to generate chemotactic factors upon activation with zymosan was similar in patients and controls, but preincubation of control leukocytes with sera derived from patients with multiple myeloma caused a significant inhibition of LL (p less than 0.001). This LL-inhibitory serum effect was not correlated with the type of paraproteinemia. We conclude that the impairment of LL in multiple myeloma and the LL-inhibitory serum effect might contribute to the increased susceptibility to infections in that disorder.


Human social life can be understood in many ways. It can be approached in terms of essences, identities, subjects, subjectivations, impressions, social facts, phenomenon, cause & effects, structures, class relations, categories, fragments, networks, functions, social action, processes, narratives, interactions, conflicts, conspiracies, memories, habitats, praxes and so on. One way of understanding the social is through processes, events, praxis, hiatus, ruptures and transitions. The other way is to understand it in terms of cultural, social, political or economic categories. The approaches understand social through processes is explained as praxis approach and the other is called entity approach in this paper. Of these two, entities approach is the oldest and most popular.


BiVO4 is a promising photoanode material for photoelectrochemical water splitting, but its actual activity is hindered by the high energy surface states. Here, we report that In3+ can be used as a dopant to substitute the partial sites of Bi3+ in BiVO4 for modifying the surface states and improving the water oxidation activity of a BiVO4 nanoflake film. Among the In3+-doped BiVO4 film photoanodes, the 7% In3+-doped BiVO4 film shows optimal photoelectrochemical water oxidation activity. At 1.23 V vs. RHE, the 7% In3+-doped BiVO4 photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 1.56 mA cm−2 in 0.1 M Na2SO4, which is over 200% greater than that of the undoped BiVO4 photoanode. In3+-doping did not change the morphology, phase and band gap of BiVO4 obviously, but resulted in a positive shift of the flat band position and higher surface charge separation efficiency for water oxidation. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the surface energy of BiVO4 decreased after In3+-doping that involved more unsaturated electrons of the Bi atom in the Bi–O bonds, thus reducing the amount of exposed unsaturated Bi atoms and broken Bi–O bonds. Therefore, the enhanced water oxidation activity on the In3+-doped BiVO4 photoanode can be ascribed to In3+-doping that passivated the surface states of BiVO4 and thus inhibited the surface charge recombination.


The making of a Notarial Administrative Mal sometimes is not in line with the provision in Article 16 of UUJN (Notarial Act) such as not reading the content of a deed, being biased, working outside the working area, signing not before a Notary, lowering the fee in order to get a lot of profit, cooperating with agents or corporate body as a middleman in finding clients, owning more than one office, either branch office or representative office, and embezzling tax return. The research used descriptive analytic and judicial normative approaches. The data were gathered by conducting library research and field study deductively which was related to the mechanism of notarial administrative mal according to Article 16 of UUJN. The mechanism of notarial administrative mal is made to anticipate various problems in the future. The criminal sanction occurs when the Notary's action is fatal and can harm other people. He is charged with counterfeiting document(s) which, according to Law, can be imprisoned or charged with indemnity.


The main memory management has been a critical issue to provide high performance in web cluster systems.To overcome the speed gap between processors and disks,many prefetch schemes have been proposed as memory management in web cluster systems. However, inefficient prefetch schemes can degrade the performance of the web cluster system. Dynamic access patterns due to the web cache mechanism in proxy servers increase mispredictions to waste the I/O bandwidth and available memory. Too aggressive prefetch schemes incur the shortage of available memory and performance degradation. Furthermore, modern web frameworks including persistent HTTP make the problem more challenging by reducing the available memory space with multiple connections from a client and web processes management in a prefork mode. Therefore, we attempt to design an adaptive web prefetch scheme by predicting memory status more accurately and dynamically.First, we design Double Prediction-by-Partial-MatchScheme (DPS) that can be adapted to the modern web framework. Second, we propose Adaptive Rate Controller(ARC) to determine the prefetch rate depending on the memory status dynamically. Finally, we suggest Memory Aware Request Distribution (MARD) that distributes requests based on the available web processes and memory.For evaluating the prefetch gain in a server node, we implement an Apache module in Linux. In addition, we build a simulator for verifying our scheme with cluster environments. Simulation results show 10% performance improvement on average in various workloads.


Previous epidemiological studies, performed in conjunction with compulsory lung screening examinations, showed good results in detecting oral lesions in Hungary, where the mortality rate of oropharyngeal cancer has increased by more than 30% in the past decade. Oral examinations were performed on a district population sample in Budapest, called regularly for X-ray lung examinations. Precancerous lesions and conditions were diagnosed and grouped according to internationally accepted criteria. Oral examinations of 7820 individuals were performed: 42.9% in men and 57.1% in women; 42% of all examined subjects were over 60 yr of age. Oral leukoplakia was diagnosed in 104 cases (1.3%). Histologic examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma in one case. About 70% of oral leukoplakias occurred in men and 30% in women. Oral lichen was diagnosed in six cases (0.08%). The prevalence of smokers was 86.5% in the leukoplakia group as compared with with 29% in the non-lesion group. The new organizational screening model seems to function well in the "risk group" of elderly persons, especially in the early diagnosis of oral cancer and precancerous lesions.


The CUAUV Ragnarök is a new littoral autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by a team of undergraduate students at Cornell University. Built in a ten month design cycle, the vehicle was fully modeled using CAD software and manufactured almost entirely in-house. With a number of new innovations, Ragnarök presents a stronger, lighter, and more agile platform with increased capabilities over previous vehicles. New advancements include a stronger yet extremely light frame, an improved electrical system, and significant software changes which yield improved mission reliability and robustness. Ragnarök's sensor suite includes three color cameras, compasses, inertial measurement units (IMUs), a Teledyne RDI Explorer Doppler velocity log, a depth sensor, an internal pressure sensor, and a hydrophone array. Returning features include the single-hull cantilevered electronics rack, a vacuumassisted sealing system, hot-swappable battery pods, pneumatic actuators, unified serial communications, and flexible mission software architecture.


Abstract Background: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has emerged as an important opportunistic pathogen in recent years. Increasing antimicrobial resistance and other contraindications have greatly compromised trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) as the first-line therapeutic option. The objective of this study was to explore other options for treating hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) caused by S. maltophilia. Methods: A total of 102 strains of S. maltophilia were isolated from sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens of patients with HAP in our institution. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of minocycline, tigecycline, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin were determined by the agar dilution method. Based on the MICs and the population pharmacokinetic parameters of the investigated antimicrobials, a Monte Carlo simulation was performed to simulate the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) indices of different regimens. The probability of target attainment (PTA) was estimated at each MIC value and the cumulative fraction of response (CFR) was calculated to evaluate the efficacy of these regimens. Results: The susceptibility rates to minocycline, tigecycline, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin were 96.1%, 80.4%, 74.5%, and 69.6%, respectively. The estimated CFRs were 96.2% for minocycline 100 mg twice daily; 50.8%/67.1%/75.4% for tigecycline 50/75/100 mg twice daily; 34.3%/48.0%/56.6% for levofloxacin 500/750/1000 mg once daily; and 45.7% for moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily. Conclusions: The simulation results suggest that minocycline may be a proper choice for treatment of HAP caused by S. maltophilia, while tigecycline, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin may not be optimal as monotherapy.


To characterize the organic anion transport properties of the luminal (1) and serosal (s) membranes of crab urinary bladder, initial (10 min) fluxes (J) and tissue accumulations (Ac) of 10 microM PAH were measured in the absence and presence of 1 mM BCG (nontransported, high-affinity competitor). Control bladders exhibited net reabsorptive transport with a mean Jl leads to s/Js leads to 1 of about 7; concentrative transport of p-aminohippuric acid (PAH) occurred only across the luminal cell (c) membrane. With luminal PAH, luminal bromocresol green (BCG) reduced Jl leads to c, Jc leads to s, and Ac by about 85%; serosal BCG reduced Jc leads to s, increased Ac but had no effect on Jl leads to c. With serosal PAH, serosal BCG reduced Js leads to c, Jc leads to l, and Ac; luminal BCG had no effects on either fluxes or tissue accumulation. When bladder sheets were loaded with radiolabeled PAH, mounted in a chamber, and exposed to flowing crab Ringer solution on both sides, Jc leads to s was nearly twice as large as Jc leads to l; BCG significantly reduced Jc leads to s but not Jc leads to l. With unlabeled PAH in the efflux media, Jc leads to s was increased. The data are consistent with a model featuring an inwardly directed pump at the luminal membrane, a facilitated carrier at the serosal membrane, and nonmediated pathways at both membranes.


In this paper we introduce the notion of the generalized Darbo xed point theorem and prove some fixed and coupled xed point theorems in Banch space via the measure of non-compactness, which generalize the result of Aghajani et al.[6]. Our results generalize, extend, and unify several well-known comparable results in the literature. As an application, we study the existence of solutions for the system of integral equations.


Since its first appearance in 1984, avian paramyxovirus type 1 has remained an enzootic disease in racing pigeons on Long Island, New York. The clinical presentation of the disease in the autumn of 1987 suggests a decrease in the severity and incidence of neurological signs, with the chief complaint being watery droppings accompanied by poor racing performance. Diagnosis is based upon serology, using hemagglutination-inhibition tests with Newcastle disease or paramyxovirus type 1 virus.


LARAS NITANTRI. D1512047. THE SALES PROCEDURE OF FABRIC PRINTING IN PT. KUSUMAHADI SANTOSA JATEN, KARANGANYAR. Final Task. Administration Management Diploma III Program. Faculty of Social and Political Science. Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta. 2015.
PT. Santosa Kusumahadi Jaten, Karanganyar is a company was engaged in the field of work to serve the needs of the textile fabric in the region of Karanganyar and partly on the Java island and abroad. This observation aims were determined the sales procedure of fabrics printing and to know the efforts of PT. Santosa Kusumahadi Jaten, Karanganyar to sales their products.
The observation type was used qualitative descriptive that is done by asking direct and went to the field so that they can get a complete information. Data collection techniques were used interviews, observation, and reviewing supporting documents or records.
The data sources were obtained from informants, events, places or locations and documents or records. In data analysis were used of interactive model, that the data collected will be analyzed through three stages: data collection, data reduction, data presentation and conclusion.
Based on the observations results in PT. Santosa Kusumahadi Jaten, Karanganyar, found that printing fabric sales procedure that processes the order and quotation requests from buyers, making the agreement letter contract between the buyer and the company, submit specification orders and buyer's demand to production section to be used as a reference in the production of requested by the purchaser, received orders from the production section and check the orders are in accordance with the buyers requests, making the invoice letter from the sales administration to the buyer for payment and delivery of ordered goods to the buyer, and after the goods are shipped and the buyer already made payments according to the invoice letter, then the sales administration department makes sales invoice or receipt repayment to the buyer. In this observation, there are efforts to improve consumer which including of working with several companies, marketing through mass media and provide excellent service.
Keywords: Procedures, Sales


Temperature management within the perioperative environment is an imperative component of and a standard of practice in providing effective patient safety and comfort. This literature review will explore the evidence surrounding the use of active and passive warming mechanisms in the prevention of postoperative hypothermia. Many studies have recognised the adverse consequences of inadvertent postoperative hypothermia, hence the rapid advancement in education about and use of equipment and devices for its prevention. Evidence-based literature was reviewed to provide rationales and recommendations for strategies to prevent postoperative hypothermia. This literature review will potentially guide clinicians through the use of effective devices to allow for informed choices to provide appropriate patient care.


The procedures for applying polymeric films onto conductive supports and doping them with active microparticles of metal-catalysts or functional redox groups are considered. General principles of the electrocatalytic action of these systems are discussed. Experimental results on the electrocatalysis on electrodes modified by polymeric films are analysed. Attention is drawn to systems involving particles of platinum-group metals incorporated into polymeric matrices. The properties of electrodes modified by ion-conducting and electron-conducting polymers are compared. Certain problems to be solved in future studies of the electrode systems under discussion are formulated. The bibliography includes 265 references.


As catenary supply electric power directly to the railway system, it is very important to prevent an accident of a catenary for appropriate train operations. This paper analyzed the outage data for British catenary safety analysis report and Korean data to compare the reliability of the railway systems. The analyzed data were applied to Fault Tree Analysis(FTA) algorithm to calculate the reliability indices of a railway system. Failure rate of an electric railway system through FTA were calculated for each element and the entire railway system. The reliability indices can be used to determine the eqipment to be replaced [or the entire system reliability improvement.


Model-based reinforcement learning (RL) methods can be broadly categorized as global model methods, which depend on learning models that provide sensible predictions in a wide range of states, or local model methods, which iteratively refit simple models that are used for policy improvement. While predicting future states that will result from the current actions is difficult, local model methods only attempt to understand system dynamics in the neighborhood of the current policy, making it possible to produce local improvements without ever learning to predict accurately far into the future. The main idea in this paper is that we can learn representations that make it easy to retrospectively infer simple dynamics given the data from the current policy, thus enabling local models to be used for policy learning in complex systems. To that end, we focus on learning representations with probabilistic graphical model (PGM) structure, which allows us to devise an efficient local model method that infers dynamics from real-world rollouts with the PGM as a global prior. We compare our method to other model-based and model-free RL methods on a suite of robotics tasks, including manipulation tasks on a real Sawyer robotic arm directly from camera images. Videos of our results are available at https://sites.google.com/view/solar-iclips


Wood, J. M. (University of Illinois, Urbana), and R. S. Wolfe. Components required for the formation of CH4 from methylcobalamin by extracts of Methanobacillus omelianskii. J. Bacteriol. 92:696–700. 1966.—Optimal conditions for the formation of CH4 from methylcobalamin (methyl-cobalt-5,6-dimethylbenzimidazolylcobamide) by partially purified extracts of Methanobacillus omelianskii (Methanobacterium omelianskii) were achieved by the addition of two protein fractions, adenosine triphosphate, Mg++, and a reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide-generating system. Adenosine diphosphate and adenosine monophosphate play an important role in the regulation of C1 transfer in this reaction. The possible position of adenosine triphosphate in B12-dependent methyl transfer is discussed.


Clustering algorithms can be viewed as following an algorithmic or a probabilistic approach. Algorithmic methods such as k-means or streaming clustering are fast and simple but tend to be ad hoc and hence hard to customize to particular problems, whereas the probabilistic methods are more flexible, but slower. In this work we propose online algorithms which combine the advantages of the two classes of approaches giving fast, scalable clustering, while allowing more flexible models of the data, such as foreground clusters interspersed within a diffuse background. These clusters are shown to be useful in modeling scientific citations.
We start the thesis by giving a non-probabilistic, few-pass algorithm, called Streemer. Streemer uses thresholds on similarities between points to find a large number of clusters on the first pass over the data. It then merges them to find larger and more cohesive clusters. In a final pass it assigns points to the clusters or to a diffuse background. Streemer avoids the standard k-means assumptions that clusters are of similar sizes. We also discuss the nature of the objective function that Streemer optimizes through its several steps and heuristics. At a cursory glance, Streemer appears to be an ad hoc algorithm, but in a subsequent chapter we develop a principled algorithm that emulates Streemer's steps and we make the connection between Streemer and online Dirichlet Process Mixture Models.
We use Streemer to cluster documents based on the documents they cite and find "knowledge communities" of authors that build on each other's work. The evolution over time of these clusters gives us insight into their growth or shrinkage. We also build predictive models with features based on the citation structure, the vocabulary of the papers, and the affiliations and prestige of the authors and use these models to study the drivers of community growth and the predictors of how widely a paper will be cited. The analysis shows that scientific knowledge communities tend to grow more rapidly if their publications build on diverse information and use narrow vocabulary and that papers that lie on the periphery of a community have the highest impact, while those not in any community have the lowest impact.
We also present a probabilistic mixture model with a Dirichlet Process prior and Gaussian component distributions. This model allows for variable cluster numbers and sizes. We show how to use this model for clustering in an online fashion and also propose a two-pass algorithm, where the first pass clusters points in many clusters and the second pass clusters the output of the first pass. With the exception of foreground/background clustering, the model with the two-pass algorithm corresponds closely to Streemer.
Finally, we present an EM-based clustering method that can simultaneously cluster two or more variables using one or more tables of co-occurrence data. One application of this multi-way clustering algorithm is for constructing or augmenting ontologies. We test our algorithm by simultaneously clustering verbs and nouns using both verb-noun and noun-noun co-occurrence pairs. This strategy provides greater coverage of words than using either set of pairs alone, since not all words appear in both datasets. We demonstrate it on data extracted from Medline and evaluate the results using MeSH and Wordnet.


The focus of the present work is to study the effect of piperazine (PZ) solvent for the removal for CO2 from biogas using carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology. For rapid conversion of absorbed gaseous CO2 into aqueous CO2, a solution of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) and piperazine (PZ) was undertaken. Barium chloride (BaCl2) was added as a precipitating agent to react with the aqueous CO2 and thereby ultimately forming BaCO3. The characteristics of the BaCO3 precipitates using X-ray diffracometry (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy FT-IR analyses were analysed. The precipitates exhibited the witherite morphology AS confirmed by XRD results. FT-IR confirmed the formation of metal salt i.e. BaCO3 and EDS confirmed that no impurities were present in it. It is found that the solvent piperazine enhanced CO2 absorption while BaCO3 purity remains unaffected. Further we also compared the properties of BaCO3 produced in this work with BaCO3 directly used in other industries (such as earthenware, pottery, ceramics) and found that the properties matched well with marketed product. The method is economical due to simultaneous reactive absorption and precipitation in a single stage. Highly pure biogas (97%) was obtained along with the simultaneous production of industrial grade BaCO3.


Localization of the sources of Event Related Potentials (ERP) is a challenging inverse problem, especially to resolve sources of neural activity occurring simultaneously. By using an effective dipole source model, we propose a new technique for accurate source localization of ERP signals. The parameters of the dipole ERP sources are optimally chosen by using Particle Swarm Optimization technique. Obtained results on synthetic data sets show that proposed method well localizes the dipoles on their actual locations. On real data sets, the fit error between the actual and reconstructed data is successfully reduced to noise level by localizing a few dipoles in the brain.


Endostreptosin (ESS) is an antigen derived from the cytoplasm and the plasma membrane of nephritogenic group A and to a lesser extent group C and G streptococci. It is immunologically not related to streptococcal exoenzymes or the streptococcal cell wall and can be detected on the endothelial side of the glomerular basement membrane of kidney biopsies of patients with acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (ASGN) during the early phase of the disease. Highest and most persistent antibody titers to this antigen are found in patients with ASGN. Immunoaffinity isolated ESS was injected i.v. into the tail vein of Wistar Furth (W/FU) rats for up to five successive days. The animals were sacrificed on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Frozen sections of the rat kidneys were tested by immunofluorescence against rabbit anti-ESS-antibody and against sera from patients who had recently recovered from ASGN as well as against anti-rat-IgG and C3. The basement membranes of rat kidneys were positive for ESS deposition starting from day one on, but were negative for anti-rat IgG and C3 during the first four days. Rats sacrificed on days 8-12 showed increasing deposition of IgG and C3 with decreased staining for ESS. The sera of rats sacrificed on days 1-3 had no detectable anti-ESS antibodies; whereas animals from day 4 on had low levels of anti-ESS antibodies as determined by microcomplement fixation. Control animals showed no staining for ESS, IgG, C3 as well as no detectable anti-ESS antibodies.


ABSTRACT The moderator effect of retention in care on late presenters in HIV patients has not been well evaluated. A nationwide cohort study focusing on HIV-infected patients with new engagement in care was conducted by using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Retention in care was defined based on the healthcare utilization in the first year after engaging in HIV care. Then, the impact of late presentation, retention in care, and their interaction on the risk of subsequent hospitalizations due to opportunistic infections (OIs-hospitalizations) in the second year were examined. More than half (59.38%) of the total patients (n = 9112) were retained in care in the first year, 8.63% were late presenters, and 110 (1.21%) patients had subsequent hospitalization in the second year. Late presentation and non-retention were independent predictors of OIs-hospitalizations in the second year (OR: 2.58 and OR: 3.27, respectively) and the interaction between them was statistically significant (non-retention in care × late presentation, OR: 3.82). This study showed that retention in care in the first year is a moderator providing a stronger protective effect for late presenters than early presenters. Our findings call for policymakers to develop different strategies for early or late presenters.


The maintenance of stable blood pressure during postural changes is known to involve integration of vestibular and cardiovascular central regulatory mechanisms. Sensory activity in the vestibular system plays an important role in cardiovascular regulation. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of vestibular gravity receptors in normal baroreflex function. Baroreflex heart rate (HR) responses to changes in blood pressure (BP) in otoconia-deficient head tilt (het) mice (n = 8) were compared with their wild-type littermates (n = 12). The study was carried out in conscious male mice chronically implanted with arterial and venous catheters for recording BP and HR and for the infusion of vasoactive drugs. Resting HR was higher in the het mice (661 +/- 13 beats/min) than in the wild-type mice (579 +/- 20 beats/min). BP was comparable in the het (113 +/- 4 mmHg) and wild-type mice (104 +/- 4 mmHg). The slopes of reflex decreases in HR in response to phenylephrine (PE) were blunted in the het mice (-5.5 +/- 1.5 beats x min(-1) x mmHg(-1)) compared with the wild-type mice (-8.5 +/- 0.9 beats x min(-1) x mmHg(-1)). Likewise, reflex tachycardic responses to decreases in BP with sodium nitroprusside (SNP) were significantly blunted in the het mice (-0.8 +/- 0.3 beats x min(-1) x mmHg(-1)) versus the wild-type mice (-2.2 +/- 0.6 beats x min(-1) x mmHg(-1)). Frequency-domain analysis of the HR variability suggests that under resting conditions, parasympathetic contribution was lower in the het versus wild-type mice. Mapping of the expression of immediate-early gene product, c-Fos, in forebrain and brain stem nuclei in response to a BP challenge showed no differences between the wild-type and het mice. These results suggest that tonic activity of gravity receptors modulates and is required for normal function of the cardiac baroreflexes.


Emission of terahertz (THz) electromagnetic radiation from heavily-doped (5 × 1018 cm−3) (100) and (111) InP bulk materials and nanoporous honeycomb membranes, irradiated with heavy noble gas (Kr and Xe) ions, is presented. Irradiating samples with Kr or Xe improves THz emission efficiency. For (111) samples, as for unirradiated samples, the irradiated porous structures generate more THz radiation than their bulk counterparts. On the other hand, in contrast to unirradiated (100) samples, the irradiated (100) samples show a decrease in THz emission with porosity. We attribute this behaviour to changes in the local electric field due to the combined effect of the irradiation and nanoporosity.


The anatomy and the cardiac growth in normal fetal heart was studied by real-time-directed M-mode ultrasound from the 19th gestation week until term. A correct fetal cardiac M-mode recording was obtained in 94 out of 144 women (65%). Echocardiographic variables were plotted against gestational age and respective correlation coefficients were determined by linear regression analysis. A comparison between the variables was studied by paired t-test. Left ventricular, right ventricular, left atrial and right atrial chamber size, interventricular septum thickness, right and left wall thickness, aortic and pulmonary diameter all increased linearly with age. Right ventricle (10.1 +/- 3.1) was slightly larger than left ventricle (9.2 +/- 2.8 mm) (p less than 0.001), the pulmonary artery (7.9 +/- 1.9 mm) was greater than the aorta (7.6 +/- 2 mm) (p less than 0.001), while no significant difference was noted between left atrium (10.8 +/- 3.5 mm) and right atrium (10.1 +/- 2.6 mm), right ventricular wall thickness (2.7 +/- 0.9 mm) and left ventricular wall thickness (3.0 +/- 1.1 mm). The ratios of left ventricular/right ventricular diameter, left atrial/right atrial and left atrial/aortic diameters, the relative wall thickness and arterial vessels diameters did not change significantly throughout the pregnancy. The ratio interventricular septum/posterior wall thickness was 1.14 +/- 0.36 and ratio of 1.5 or greater was found in 14.5% of the fetal normal heart. The ratio left atrial/aortic diameter was 1.32 +/- 0.21 and left atrium was significantly greater than aorta (p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


. Two populations of boreal toads (Bt{/o boreas) experienced drastic declines in abundance in the late 1990s. Evidence supported the hypothesis of disease (the chytrid fungus. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) as the cause of these declines. but other hypoth eses had not been evaluated. We used an II-year capture-recapture data set to evaluate weather and disease as causes of these declines. We developed sets of mathematical models that reflected hypothesized relationships between several weather variables and annual survival rates of adult males in these popUlations. In addition, models that reflected the possibility that the declines were caused by an introduced fungus were developed. All models were fit to the data and were evaluated using a model selection criterion (QAICJ. Our analysis provided strong support for the hypothesis of an introduced fungus and little support for the hypothesis that weather conditions caused the declines. Our results also suggest a strong, negative "marking effect" on survival rates of boreal toads. Model a veraged estimates of survi val rate are presented.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a compression system for grayscale images based
on the Bandelet transform. The basis functions of the Bandelet transform are constructed as a set of
vectors that indicate the directions in which the image has regular variations of gray. The compression
system was designed as a SoPC and was composed of a NIOS II processor with a Cyclone II EP2C70, a
touch-panel, and a SD-Card, using 13% of the logic elements and 27% of the memory bits of the FPGA.
The Wavelet filters were accelerated in hardware with NIOS II C2H Compiler, obtaining an execution
time reduction of 8.8%. Experimental results show that Bandelet compression has an improvement of
up to 2 dB over a Wavelet compression when the image has geometric components with high contrast.


PurposeThe aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of consumers' brand trust in family businesses and the impact of crisis management practices on customer purchase intention during the period of Covid-19.Design/methodology/approachThis is a primary quantitative research on a sample of 817 consumers who bought products from 20 food and beverage family companies. Simple random sampling was used to collect the primary data. Data collection was made with the use of questionnaires. The questionnaires were developed based on previous studies and were tested in terms of reliability and validity.FindingsThe research findings indicate, among others, that there is a positive significant relationship between brand trust and purchase intention. As a result, the higher the trust of the consumers in a family business brand name, the higher their intention to make purchases. Additionally, it was found that the higher the performance of family businesses on crisis management practices, the more the consumers intent to make purchases.Research limitations/implicationsNonetheless, there are some limitations in the current research. First, the research sample consists of companies and consumers from a specific location, which can create issues regarding the generalization of the findings. Thus, to ensure improved research implications, a future research should include sample units from different locations and countries in order to reinforce the research findings and enable comparisons and more easily generalized outcomes. Moreover, a future research could assess additional factors that potentially affect purchase intention within a family business environment. Factors such as human resources and the relationship between customers and companies as well as communication and promotional efforts will allow the creation of a more stable and holistic framework and the prediction of consumer behavior. This potential follow-up research will further contribute to the theoretical argumentation of the findings and highlight the connection among purchase intention, trust and crisis managements practices within the family business environment.Practical implicationsRegarding the managerial and practical implications, the research outcomes can lead to specific strategies related to brand trust and crisis management practices. Specifically, family companies should invest on their brand name and their relationship with the consumers by reinforcing any action which can potentially affect the trust of the consumers. This could be realized by providing a safe purchase environment according to health and safety standards and through their response strategy and adaptability to the current pandemic conditions through the use of crisis management practices. Finally, a practical response to social and physical distancing measures would increase brand trust, and the performance on crisis management practices could also lead to sufficient financial outcomes since all these factors positively affect consumers' purchase intention.Originality/valueThe outbreak of the pandemic directly affected the profitability but also the viability of companies, regardless of industry. In particular, the impact that the pandemic had on family businesses, financially, organizationally and operationally, was massive and in many cases, catastrophic. Several studies have focused on family businesses, analyzing their structure, advantages and disadvantages. However, in these studies, there is little focus on the brand's influence on consumer behavior and market intention, especially compared to nonfamily businesses and under unique circumstances such as those of a pandemic.


High-grade gliomas are some of the most lethal forms of human cancer and new clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets are highly needed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a group of short noncoding RNAs, hold great potential as new biomarkers and targets as they are commonly deregulated in a variety of diseases including gliomas. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is the most consistently over-expressed miRNA in several cancers including gliomas and is therefore very promising as a useful clinical biomarker and therapeutic target. To better understand the role of miR-21 in gliomas, paraffin embedded glioma tissue samples from 193 patients with grade I, II, III and IV tumors were analyzed by in situ hybridization (ISH) using LNA-DNA chimeric probes. We found miR-21 expression in tumor cells and tumor-associated blood vessels, whereas no expression was seen in adjacent normal brain parenchyma. Using advanced image analysis we obtained quantitative estimates reflecting the miR-21 expression levels. The miR-21 levels correlated significantly with grade (p = 0.027, rs = 0.161, 95% CI, 0.015 to 0.301) with the highest levels measured in grade IV gliomas. Furthermore, quantitative estimates obtained for the tumor cells alone were significantly associated with poor prognosis in all tumors (p = 0.012) and grade III and IV tumors alone (p = 0.005). This was independent of known clinical parameters (age, grade and sex). In conclusion, we have shown that miR-21 is constricted to tumor cells and tumor blood vessels and that tumor cell miR-21 represent a valuable prognostic biomarker for the disease. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 195. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-195


According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are over 11 million undocumented workers living in the United States. Many of them are parents of children who were left behind in their country of origin. Jordan and Graham (2011) state that most researchers have been focusing on the adults/parent(s) well being rather than on the children left behind. Therefore, I ask how do children of families who seek work in another country, adjust to life growing up without a parent(s)? What are the obstacles and/or challenges left behind children face while in the care of a family member? How do they overcome those obstacles/challenges? This paper argues that children of transnational families are easy prey for exploitation, recruitment into criminal activity (including gangs, and/or cartels) because their parents are not present to guide, protect, and educate them. The argument is supported with evidence collected through interviews with adults who were left behind as children in Mexico and El Salvador. The goal of this study is to show what adults endured as left behind children and continue to endure even now. And if as adults they continue to struggle then they are not productive global citizens.


Strain-dependence of ultrasound speed in cancellous bone was determined by applying a range of uniaxial compressive strains in the elasticity region, in a single direction, parallel or perpendicular to the propagating wave. Compressive strain modulated the ultrasound speed significantly. The decrease of ultrasound speed was found to change linearly as a function of strain. The changes of broadband ultrasound attenuation were also determined for the two dilatational waves (parallel or perpendicular to the strain). They do not follow linear relation or constant sign of change with strain for the examined specimens. Considerable possibilities open up for using developments in acoustoelasticity for nondestructive ultrasonic techniques.


For detecting of the faulty insulator, Correlation Propagation Neural Networks(CPNN) has been proposed. Faulty insulator is reduced the rate of insulation extremely, and taken the results dirty and injured. It is necessary to detect the faulty insulator and exchange the new one. And thus, we have designed the CPNN to be detected that insulators by the real time computation method through the inter-node diffusion. In the network, a node corresponds to a state in the quantized input space. Each node is composed of a processing unit and fixed weights from its neighbor nodes as well as its input terminal. Information propagates among neighbor nodes laterally and inter-node interpolation is achieved. 1-D CPNN hardware has been implemented with general purpose. Experiments with static and dynamic signals have been done upon the CPNN hardware. Through the results of simulation experiments, we define the ability of real-time detecting the faulty insulators.


Individual differences in physiological and behavioural responses to stressors are increasingly recognised as adaptive variation and thus raw material for evolution and fish farming improvements including selective breeding. Such individual variation has been evolutionarily conserved and is present in all vertebrate taxa including fish. In farmed animals, the interest in consistent trait associations, that is coping styles, has increased dramatically over the last years because many studies have demonstrated links to performance traits, health and disease susceptibility and welfare. This study will review (i) the main behavioural, neuroendocrine, cognitive and emotional differences between reactive and proactive coping styles in farmed fish; (ii) the methodological approaches used to identify coping styles in farmed fish, including individual (group) mass-screening tests; and (iii) how knowledge on coping styles may contribute to improved sustainability of the aquaculture industry, including welfare and performance of farmed fish. Moreover, we will suggest areas for future research, where genetic basis (heritability/epigenetic) of coping styles, and the neuroendocrine mechanisms behind consistent as well as flexible behavioural patterns are pinpointed as central themes. In addition, the ontogeny of coping styles and the influence of age, social context and environmental change in coping styles will also be discussed.


Testing network devices in a live environment is desirable due to its reality. However, the defects are not reproducible, and the network connectivity will be broken if the device is down. For effective defect reproduction from real traffic, we design a new mechanism, which allows the device under test (DUT) to be automatically online/offline, and supports multi-port replay for multi-port network devices with an OpenFlow switch. The defect traces are captured when the DUT is online. When a DUT failure is detected, the DUT will be offline, and the defect-triggering traces will be replayed to identify the defect. For efficient replay, we keep only partial payloads in a reduced number of packets in the defect traces that are sufficient to trigger the defects. For defect identification, reduction based on a binary search algorithm is presented to deal with the defects caused by payload anomalies and by overloading. The downsizing ratios in the cases of payload anomalies and overloading are up to 98.8% and 96%, respectively. The minimum outage time of the failover during the DUT failure is obtained when the check interval is 1 second and the number of tolerable consecutive failures is 2.


Phonons are the primary heat carriers in non-metallic solids. In compositionally heterogeneous materials, the thermal properties are believed to be mainly governed by the disrupted phonon transport due to mass disorder and strain fluctuations, while the effects of compositional fluctuation induced local phonon states are usually ignored. Here, by scanning transmission electron microscopy electron energy loss spectroscopy and sophisticated calculations, we identify the vibrational properties of ingredient- dependent interface phonon modes in AlxGa1-xN and quantify their various contributions to the local interface thermal conductance. We demonstrate that atomic- scale compositional fluctuation has significant influence on the vibrational thermodynamic properties, highly affecting the mode ratio and vibrational amplitude of interface phonon modes and subsequently redistributing their modal contribution to the interface thermal conductance. Our work provides fundamental insights into understanding of local phonon-boundary interactions in nanoscale inhomogeneities, which reveal new opportunities for optimization of thermal properties via engineering ingredient distribution.


In present paper, we have proposed an alternative theory on the spacetime of non-inertial reference frame (NRF) which bases on the requirement of general completeness (RGC) and the principle of equality of all reference frames (PERF). The RGC is that the physical equations used to describe the dynamics of matter and/or fields should include the descriptions that not only the matter and/or fields are at rest, but also they move relative to this reference frame, and the structure of the spacetime of reference frame has been considered. The PERF is that any reference frame can be used to describe the motion of matter and/or fields. The spacetime of NRF is inhomogeneous and deformed caused by the accelerating motion of the reference frame. The inertial force is the manifestation of deformed spacetime. The Riemann curvature tensor of the spacetime of NRF equals zero, but the Riemann-Christoffel symbol never vanishs no matter what coordinate system is selected in the NRF. The physical equations satisfied the RGC remain covariance under the coordinate transformation between the reference frames. Mach's principle is incorrect. The problem of spacetime of NRF can be solved without considering gravitation.


The thermal asperity (TA) defect resulting from the collision between an asperity and the magnetoresistive (MR) read head can distort the readback signal to the extent of causing possible sector read failure. This paper presents a new TA detection and correction algorithm for perpendicular magnetic recording channels.  The proposed algorithm consists of two channels running in parallel, one for the H1(D) target, and the other for the H2(D) target equipped with a bandpass filter 1 - D2, where the H2(D) target is directly designed in the presence of a TA.  The Viterbi detector (VD) in the H1(D) channel has a lower bit-error rate (BER) in the absence of a TA, whereas that in the H2(D) channel has a lower BER in the presence of a TA. Thus, the overall decoded bit stream is selected from these two VDs, depending on whether a TA is detected. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm yields lower BER than the existing one, and is robust to large peak TA amplitudes. Keywords : Bandpass Filter / Perpendicular Magnetic Recording / Target and Equalizer Design / Thermal Asperity


The interesting article by Echeverria and Vaughn in this issue of theJournal(page 856) raises once again the question of the appropriate nomenclature of "tropical diseases." In general, clinical entities that are described as occurring largely in the less-developed regions of the world (often, but by no means always, found in those areas with a tropical climate) can be grouped under one of four headings that account for their epidemiologic characteristics: 1. Diseases that have an overriding association with low standards of living, with consequent higher prevalence in populations suffering from poor nutrition, poor hygiene, and lowered resistance to disease because of multiple parasitic and infectious processes. Examples of this group, often very common in the West before the rise in living standards of the past century, include the diarrhea-pneumonia complex of early childhood (accounting for perhaps half of all childhood deaths occurring annually on the globe), infestation with


OBJECTIVES: We investigated the relationship between metabolic syndrome and breast arterial calcification detected via mammography in a cohort of postmenopausal subjects. METHODS: Among 837 patients referred to our radiology department for mammographic screening, 310 postmenopausal females (105 patients with and 205 patients without breast arterial calcification) aged 40 to 73 (mean 55.9±8.4) years were included in this study. The groups were compared with respect to clinical characteristics and metabolic syndrome criteria. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified the factors related to breast arterial calcification. RESULTS: Age, postmenopausal duration and the frequencies of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and metabolic syndrome were significantly higher in the subjects with breast arterial calcification than in those without (p<0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that age (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1–1.6, p = 0.001) and metabolic syndrome (OR = 4.0, 95% CI = 1.5−10.4, p = 0.005) were independent predictors of breast arterial calcification detected via mammography. The independent predictors among the features of metabolic syndrome were low levels of high-density lipoproteins (OR = 8.1, 95% CI = 1.0−64.0, p = 0.047) and high blood pressure (OR = 8.7, 95% CI = 1.5−49.7, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: The likelihood of mammographic detection of breast arterial calcification increases with age and in the presence of hypertension or metabolic syndrome. For patients undergoing screening mammography who present with breast arterial calcification, the possibility of metabolic syndrome should be considered. These patients should be informed of their cardiovascular risk factors and counseled on appropriate lifestyle changes.


Aim of the study: Improvement of psychosomatic rehabilitation efforts with prestationary intervention. Method: The study is designed as a prospective and randomisized interventon study including 317 in patients. Result: Most of the patients were women (69.4 %), the mean age was 50.2 years. As measured with the BDI-II patients with prestationary intervention improved more than patients without intervention. The motivation has not been changed significantly in both treatment arms. Various independent cofactors like long duration of unemployment, disablement and patients who apply to pension were identified. Conclusion: Finally a prestationary telephon interview improves the results of psychosomatic rehabilitation measured with BDI.


This study explored Malaysian university students' awareness of green computing in two aspects, i.e. vocabulary and issues, and sought to ascertain whether these two aspects were influenced by gender and field of study (ICT versus non-ICT). A total of 224 university students from ICT- and non- ICT related fields participated in the survey. Students filled out a green computing questionnaire with 21 items measuring awareness of vocabulary and issues. Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-test and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data. Results show that a majority of students lacked awareness of terms, ideas and issues central to green computing, such as E-PEAT, Energy Star, green PC, Malaysia Green Technology Policy, e-waste, and carbon-free computing. The PCA analysis extracted two factors, named Environmental Protection and Nature of Computers, that could be used to explain students' lack of familiarity with green ICT. Field of study was shown to impact awareness in all the aspects measured in favor of students educated in ICT-related fields, but the findings produced mixed gender effects. The results indicate the need for green computing education to be integrated into higher education curriculum and for university-led green initiatives to be implemented on Malaysian university campuses to increase awareness in the subject matter.


We investigate mechanisms of contrast formation in atomic resolution imaging of flat terraces on the CaF2(111) surface with scanning force microscopy operated in the dynamic mode. Experimental results are interpreted with a theory based on atomistic modelling. Experiments reveal characteristic contrast features in the form of triangles that can be explained by theory as being due to the interaction of a positively terminated tip with fluorine ions from two different sublattices. Results for a tip with negative termination are found not to be compatible with experiments. We demonstrate that theory correctly predicts the trend in contrast changes when varying the tip-surface distance but is also limited in quantitative agreement due to the non-ideal atomic structure of real tips. In a distance range where such peculiarities do not play a major role, however, we find good quantitative agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental results. The validity of the comparison between theory and experimental scan lines is discussed in detail using an extensive statistical image analysis.


Mammalian nuclear receptors (NRs) are transcription factors regulating the expression of target genes that play an important role in drug metabolism, transport, and cellular signaling pathways. The orphan and structurally unique receptor small heterodimer partner 1 (syn NR0B2) is not only known for its modulation of drug response, but has also been reported to be involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis. Indeed, previous studies show that NR0B2 is downregulated in human hepatocellular carcinoma, suggesting that NR0B2 acts as a tumor suppressor via inhibition of cellular growth and activation of apoptosis in this tumor entity. The aim of our study was to elucidate whether NR0B2 may also play a role in other tumor entities. Comparing NR0B2 expression in renal cell carcinoma and adjacent nonmalignant transformed tissue revealed significant downregulation in vivo. Additionally, the impact of heterologous expression of NR0B2 on cell cycle progression and proliferation in cells of renal origin was characterized. Monitoring fluorescence intensity of resazurin turnover in RCC-EW cells revealed no significant differences in metabolic activity in the presence of NR0B2. However, there was a significant decrease of cellular proliferation in cells overexpressing this NR, and NR0B2 was more efficient than currently used antiproliferative agents. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis showed that heterologous overexpression of NR0B2 significantly reduced the amount of cells passing the G1 phase, while on the other hand, more cells in S/G2 phase were detected. Taken together, our data suggest that downregulation of NR0B2 may also play a role in renal cell carcinoma development and progression.


BACKGROUND
Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is a well-known insecticide synergist capable of interacting with phase 1 metabolic enzymes, specifically esterases and cytochrome P450s. In this study, structure-activity relationship analyses were used to characterise the interaction of around 30 analogues of PBO with the esterase FE4 and the P450 CYP6CY3 from insecticide-resistant Myzus persicae (Sulzer), in order to predict the synthesis of more potent inhibitors.

RESULTS
Enzyme inhibition studies were performed against esterase and oxidase activities and, together with in silico modelling, key activity determinants of the analogues were identified and optimised. Novel analogues were then designed and synthesised, some of which showed greater inhibition against both enzymatic systems: specifically, dihydrobenzofuran moieties containing an alkynyl side chain and a butyl side chain against FE4, and benzodioxole derivatives with a propyl/butyl side chain and an alkynyl ether moiety for CYP6CY3.

CONCLUSIONS
In vitro assays identified potential candidate synergists with high inhibitory potency. The in vivo confirmation of such results will allow consideration for a possible use in agriculture. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.


Abstract More than 50% of women with clinically apparent infection after mastectomy did not meet the 2020 National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definition for surgical site infection (SSI). Implant loss was similar whether the 2020 NHSN SSI definition was met or not, suggesting equivalent adverse outcomes regardless of restriction to the surveillance definition.


In order to formulate valid queries on a relational database, one must be fluent in SQL (Structured Query Language), the concepts that it involves (entities, relationships, attributes) and the data schema describing the elements of the domain. However, casual users are not familiar with query languages and database structures, but would like to access data in a more user friendly way. The goal of this paper is to present a query formulation tool that allows casual users to easily build a query using an almost natural language, on a step by step basis, guided by the tool.


Poor nutrition and alcohol intake are leading environmental factors associated with morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, the physiological interactions between poor diet and excessive alcohol intake remain unclear. Prior research from our lab showed diet significantly influenced measures of kidney and liver function in mice exposed to alcohol for 3 weeks. However, it was unclear whether the effects were due to diet, chronic alcohol consumption, or an additive effect of both. All experiments were performed in accordance with protocols approved by the Liberty University IACUC and conform to the FASEB standards for the use of animals in research and education. Weanling (3‐week old) male mice from the C57Bl/6 strain were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory and acclimated to a standard chow diet and housing for 7 days. Mice were then given ad libitum access to 1 of 3 diets: 1) standard laboratory chow, 2) a commercially available Western Diet (WD), or 3) a novel Americanized diet (AD). The AD was formulated to match the 50th percentile of intake for sodium, potassium, simple sugars, phosphorus, and fiber as reported in the recent What we eat in America report, based on 2011–2012 NHANES data. After 6 weeks on their assigned diet, each dietary group received distilled water or 10% (volume) ethanol solution as their only source of drinking water for an additional 4 weeks. Body weights and beverage consumption were recorded each week throughout the study. Systolic blood pressure was recorded at baseline and after 4 weeks of ethanol exposure. Following 4 weeks of ethanol intake, renal blood flow was estimated using contrast‐enhanced ultrasonography, and the mice were euthanized and kidney and liver tissues were processed for histology and quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR analysis of gene expression. All data were analyzed using general linear models in SPSS. Diet significantly influenced body weight, with both the WD and AD fed mice having a similarly (p=0.1) greater body weight as compared to mice fed chow (p<0.01). However, alcohol had no additional effect on weight gain (p=0.1). Consistent with previous findings, mice fed chow had the highest daily consumption of alcohol that was greater (p=0.05) than mice fed the WD, but not mice fed the AD (p=0.8). Histological analysis revealed hepatic steatosis in mice fed the WD and AD, and this did not appear to be worsened by alcohol intake. Although there was no difference in systolic blood pressure between the groups, mice fed the AD had a significant reduction in estimated renal blood flow as compared to mice fed WD (p=0.01) and chow (p<0.001). Interestingly, ethanol consumption caused a 25% increase in estimated renal medullary flow. Preliminary data indicate that genes (Hspa5 and Hsp90b1) associated with the cellular response to stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) were expressed at higher levels in livers of mice fed the WD and AD, and this apparent ER stress was not exacerbated by alcohol intake. Taken together, the results from this study suggest that diet and alcohol significantly influence liver and renal health in mice, with a majority of the pathophysiology caused by diet.


"Living alone with closed windows and doors"was mentioned in the pathological manifestations of stomach meridian of foot-yangming in Neijing (The Inner Canon of Huangdi), which is similar to the symptoms of depression. Currently the treatment of depression is mostly based on"spirit being stored in five organs"theory, and little attention is paid on stomach meridian of foot-yangming. From the pathological manifestations of"living alone with closed windows and doors"in stomach meridian of foot-yangming, the relationship between stomach meridian and depression is discussed from ying-yang and qi-blood. In addition, the close relationship between the stomach meridian and qi-blood, qi movement of five organs, heart and brain is discussed to explore the mechanism of treating depression. In conclusion, the literature and modern research regarding treating depression from stomach meridian are summarized, hoping to provide more clinical methods for the treatment of depression.


Distribution of potassium (K) in soils is governed by the agroecological region (AERs), as the operational intensity of factors and processes of soil formation vary with AER. Therefore, we aimed at finding out the relationship between the forms of K(K forms) with AER and the association of K forms with soil properties in the North-Eastern region of India. For this, horizon-wise soil samples were collected from pedons, three each from three AERs (15 (hot sub-humid to humid), 16 (warm per-humid) and 17 (warm per-humid with less cool winter)) in the North-Eastern India. The water balance diagram for AER shows that precipitation (P) exceeds the potential evapo-transpiration (PET) from June to October, AER 16 shows almost no period when the PET is more than the P and AER 17 shows that the region experiences only a short water deficit of 100–150 mm during post-monsoon period. Soil samples were analysed for physical and chemical properties and K forms. The soils were acidic to neutral with low cation exchange capacity (CEC). The water-soluble K ranged between 0.006 and 0.144 cmol kg−1, exchangeable K between 0.07 and 0.54 cmol kg−1, fixed K from 16.7 to 61.3 cmol kg−1 and total K from 17.4 to 63.6 cmol kg−1 in soils of different horizons. Further, the results revealed that all the K forms followed the trend of AER 16 > AER 17 >AER 15. Exchangeable K showed higher correlation with clay (r = 0.519**), while fixed K with organic carbon (r = 0.390*).


The aim of this paper is to identify what are the impediments in implementing an effective Zakah distribution in Kedah, Malaysia. Auspiciously, post-colonial Malaysia is experiencing robustness in terms of Zakah collections, as the statistics are currently signifying, but at the same breath the degree of effectiveness in Zakah distribution has not been providentially catching that optimistic evolution. And even if, the Zakah is duly distributed, the point to note is that the effectivity of that distribution has indubitably remained in question. So this gap is an issue that has been observed by the givers, and if the collection is to increase further, the issue of effectivity in Zakah distribution needs to show a healthier trend to convince these worried payers. The implications of resolving the issues discussed below may assist to enhance this sector, if timely addressed and taken applicable measures for remediation. DOI: 10.15408/aiq.v9i2.4002


Functional response models are often used to understand the foraging interactions and determine the suitable biocontrol agents. We determined the functional response of Harmonia axyridis to nymph Acyrthosiphon pisum at different but constant temperatures (between 15 and 35 °C) and prey densities. Logistic regression and Roger's random predator models were employed to determine the type and parameters of functional response. Harmonia axyridis larvae and adults exhibited Type II functional responses to different densities of A. pisum. Warming increased both the predation activity and host aphid control mortality. The 4th instar and female H. axyridis consumed the most aphids. Warming contributed markedly in accelerating the predator action. For fourth instar larvae and female H. axyridis adult, the successful attack rates were 0.234 ± 0.014 h−1 and 0.247 ± 0.015 h−1; the handling times were 0.132 ± 0.005 h and 0.156 ± 0.004 h; and the estimated maximum predation rates were 181.28 ± 14.54 and 153.85 ± 4.06, respectively. These findings accentuate the high performance of 4th instar and female H. axyridis and the role of temperature in their efficiency. Further studies exploring intraguild predation and mutual interference will be required to conclude the biocontrol potential of H. axyridis to A. pisum.


The calculus of positively constructed formulas (PCF) is a first-order formalism that has many features useful for solving problems of dynamic systems control. This formalism is used as a basis for automatic theorem proving (ATP) systems. Many problems in the field of ATP can be formalized only with the use of equality predicate. Using this predicate will require adding extra axioms into the problem. This is not efficient for ATP systems, so the problem of equality must be solved without that axioms. In this paper, we introduce the solution of equality problem for PCF formalism. The results are integrated into the developed ATP system.


Since 2010 ROA has supported the coordination of the EURAMET Technical Committee for Time and Frequency (TC-TF) Project 1156, a response from EURAMET TC-TF to Recommendation 2 of CCTF 2009: to study the characterization of GNSS equipment in use for establishing the time links between institutes contributing with their clocks to TAI. Starting that year, a GPS calibration campaign was organized between three contributing laboratories: ROA (Spain), PTB (Germany) and INRIM (Italy). The time transfer results were achieved by using the P3 method, and also carrier phase PPP comparison techniques. These results were also used to re-calibrate the TWSTFT (Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer, TW for short) links between labs, with an uncertainty slightly higher than that of the GPS links. During 2011 and 2012, the campaign was repeated, and in 2012 two other laboratories were included in the calibration trip: NPL (United Kingdom) and OP (France). In this paper we report the calibration results, with a focus on the long term stabilities of the GPS and TW links between the visited labs.


Introduction . Inactive X chromosome (Xi) is associated with noncoding XIST RNA, series of proteins and contains multiple epigenetic modifications that altogether determine a silence of the most of X-linked genes. Recently the data were obtained that tumor suppressor BRCA1 is also associated with Xi. The purpose of this study was to reveal the colocalization of BRCA1 and XIST RNA and precise spatial organization on Xi with the high resolution of confocal microscopy.Materials and methods . The object of the study is IMR90hTERT diploid immortalized fibroblast cell line. For BRCA1 and XIST RNA colocalization analysis on Xi the method of fluorescent hybridization in situ associated with immunofluorescent cell staining (immunoFISH) and confocal microscopy were used. For BRCA1 and heterochromatin protein-1 colocalization study the method of double immunofluorescent staining and common fluorescent microscopy were applied. Results . The study using confocal fluorescent microscopy with higher resolution has demonstrated at first the colocalization of BRCA1 with XIST RNA region of Xi revealed with XIST RNA probes and with replicating Xi and autosomes revealed with BrdU in late S-phase of cell cycle. Altogether, the data obtained suggest the involvement of BRCA1 in the inhibition of gene expression on Xi due to the regulation of XIST RNA association with Xi. Moreover, according to the results of confocal microscopy, BRCA1 also colocalizes with replicating Xi and autosomes revealed with BrdU in late S-phase of cell cycle. This indicates a possible involvement of this protein in the replication of pericentromeric repeats in cellular chromosomes. Colocalization of BRCA1 with heterochromatin protein-1α presented in pericentromeric regions of all chromosomes supports this suggestion.Conclusions . Altogether, the data obtained in this study suggest the involvement of BRCA1 in the inhibition of gene expression on Xi due to the association with noncoding inhibiting XIST RNA and in replication of heterochromatin regions.


Abstract Introduction: MD–PhD students experience a prolonged hiatus away from clinical medicine during their laboratory research phase and some have experienced difficulty transitioning back to clinical medicine during clerkship years. We developed a clinical refresher program that serves to rebuild clinical skills prior to re-entering the clinical clerkship years. Methods: A nine-week program includes a combination of didactic and practical review in history, physical exam, presentation and clinical reasoning skills. The program uses multiple modalities from classroom-based activities to patient care encounters and includes a final assessment using standardized patients. Results: After seven years of experience, we have made modifications that result in our students scoring comparably well on a standardized patient exam to their second-year medical student colleagues. By the end of the course, all students reported feeling more comfortable completing a history and physical examination and some improvement in preclinical knowledge base. Review of clerkship scores showed a higher percentage of MD–PhD students scoring Honors in a clerkship in years after course implementation as compared to years prior to course implementation. Conclusion: We describe a clinical refresher course for successfully retraining MD–PhD students to re-enter clinical medical training. It is effective at restoring clinical skills to a level comparable to their medical student contemporaries and prepares them to rejoin the medical student class at the conclusion of their research phase.


To investigate the effect of exogenous application of melatonin (MT) on rice seedlings under antimony (Sb) stress, hydroponic experiments were carried out with rice seedlings (Huarun No.2). The fluorescent probe localization technology was used to locate the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the root tips of rice seedlings, and the root viability, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, ROS (H2O2 and O2-·) content, antioxidant enzyme (SOD, POD, CAT, and APX) activities, and antioxidant (GSH, GSSG, AsA, and DHA) contents in the roots of rice seedlings were analyzed. The results showed that exogenous addition of MT could alleviate the adverse effects of Sb stress on the growth and increase the biomass of rice seedlings. Compared with the Sb treatment, the application of 100 μmol·L-1 MT increased rice root viability and total root length by 44.1% and 34.7% and reduced the content of MDA, H2O2, and O2-· by 30.0%, 32.7%, and 40.5%, respectively. Further, the MT treatment increased the activities of POD and CAT by 54.1% and 21.8%, respectively, and also regulated the AsA-GSH cycle. This research indicated that exogenous application of 100 μmol·L-1MT can promote the growth and antioxidant ability of rice seedlings and alleviate the damage of lipid peroxidation by Sb stress, thus improving the resistance of rice seedlings under Sb stress.


The present study was undertaken to assess GH secretory profiles in 12 light-breed foals and their dams during forty days after delivery, and the possible influence of GRF and TRH on plasma GH concentrations in these newborn foals. GH secretory pattern was pulsatile in one day- as well as in forty days-old foals. The number of secretory spikes (10 per 24 h) did not vary between days 1 and 40. In the same times, GH secretion did not show any circadian rhythm either in foals or in their dams. Mean daily plasma concentrations (measured through blood samples collected every 20 min for 24 h) were lower in mares (3.4 +/- 0.3 ng/ml) than in their foals (7.4 +/- 0.9 ng/ml; P < 0.05). This difference resulted from both a lower number of GH spikes per 24 h (5 +/- 2 vs 10 +/- 1; P < 0.01) and from a lower pulse amplitude average (8 +/- 5 vs 16 +/- 1; P < 0.05). In three days- and in six days-old foals, synthetic human GRF (0.3 microgram/kg body wt, i.v.) significantly increased plasma GH concentrations. TRH (3 micrograms/kg body wt, i.v.) did not significantly modify plasma GH.


Tenosynovitis is a common feature in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in both hands and feet. The extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) was seen by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to be very commonly involved in RA and in one MRI study ECU involvement in early RA was associated with erosive disease [1,2]. ECU has also been shown by ultrasound (US) to be a frequently involved tendon in RA together with the tibialis posterior (TP) tendon and finger flexors tendons of 2.-4. fingers [3,4]. Though both modalities may be used for detecting tenosynovitis US appear to be more feasible than MRI. The US definition of tenosynovitis was already proposed in 2005 by the OMERACT group [5] and a recent US study assessed the reliability of detecting inflammatory and destructive tendon abnormalities in patients with RA using an anatomy-based or a free scanning, and independent of scanning technique the overall interobserver reliability for tenosynovitis and tendon damage was found to be excellent both for GS and PD [6]. However, in order to monitor tenosynovitis changes in RA a scoring system is needed and several different systems have been proposed using either descriptive grading, binary grading or semi-quantitative scoring from 0-3 (0=normal, 1=minor, 2=moderate and 3=major amount of tenosynovitis/degree of PD). A recent study explored the reliability of a proposed semi-quantitative scoring system of both grey scale and Doppler and found good reproducibility [7] which is mandatory for clinical trials. So far there is no consensus on how many tendons that should be included in a US joint/tendon score for follow-up of RA patients, and this issue needs to be explored together with further studies on the predictive value of tenosynovitis in early RA. References McQueen F, Beckley V, Crabbe J, Robinson E, Yeoman S, Stewart N. Magnetic resonance imaging evidence of tendinopathy in early rheumatoid arthritis predicts tendon rupture at six years. Arthritis Rheum 2005; 52: 744-51. Lillegraven S, Bøyesen P, Hammer HB, et al. Tenosynovitis of the extensor carpi ulnaris tendon predicts erosive progression in early rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 2011; 70: 2049-50. Filippucci E, Gabba A, Di Geso L, Girolimetti R, Salaffi F, Grassi W. Hand Tendon Involvement in Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Ultrasound Study. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2012 Jun;41(6):752-60 Hammer HB, Kvien TK. Ultrasonography shows significant improvement of wrist and ankle tenosynovitis in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with adalimumab. Scand J Rheumatol 2011; 40: 178-82. Wakefield RJ, Balint PV, Szkudlarek M, Filippucci E, Backhaus M, D'Agostino MA, Sanchez EN, Iagnocco A, Schmidt WA, Bruyn GA, Kane D, O'Connor PJ, Manger B, Joshua F, Koski J, Grassi W, Lassere MN, Swen N, Kainberger F, Klauser A, Ostergaard M, Brown AK, Machold KP, Conaghan PG; OMERACT 7 Special Interest Group. Musculoskeletal ultrasound including definitions for ultrasonographic pathology. J Rheumatol. 2005 Dec;32(12):2485-7. Bruyn GAW, Möller I, Bong D, et al. Reliability testing of tendon disease using two different scanning methods in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. First step towards an ultrasonography scoring index. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2012;51(9):1655-61. Naredo E, D'Agostino MA, Wakefield RJ, Möller I, Balint PV, Filippucci E, Iagnocco A, Karim Z, Terslev L, Bong DA, Garrido J, Martínez-Hernández D, Bruyn GA; on behalf of the OMERACT Ultrasound Task Force* Reliability of a consensus-based ultrasound score for tenosynovitis in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2012 Sep 14. [Epub ahead of print] Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The study offers the opportunity to understand the theoretical and applicative aspects of the formation of positive social thinking and prosocial behavior at students of pedagogical universities. The author investigated this problem and developed, tested and validated six strategies that ensure the formation of a successful specialist of pedagogical sciences. Proposed strategies: The strategy of selfreporting and social reporting; The strategy of creating emotional well-being and building better relationships with oneself and others; The strategy of focusing on values of constructivist perspective and on social knowledge in the field of auto/education and auto/training, in the field of educational process; Strategy focusing on values that identify us personally, professionally and socially; The strategy of establishing and pursuing consistently the right goals and the strategy of building and strengthening positive feelings. At the same time, the study contains a number of methods, the exploration of which will ensure the valorisation of the exposed strategies.


The Nankai earthquakes are great interplate earthquakes with recurrence intervals of 100–200 years, occurring along the Nankai Trough, southwestern Japan. New geological evidences suggest that the rupture area of the 1707 earthquake (one of the largest) extended farther westward than previously thought, and similar magnitude events may have recurrence intervals of several hundred years. West of the Nankai earthquake segments, in the Bungo Channel region, slow slip events (SSEs) have occurred with recurrence intervals of several years since 1980. Farther westward, no M ≥ 7.5 interplate earthquakes have occurred except for one in 1968 in the northern Hyuga‐nada region, near the Bungo Channel. We numerically simulated the generation cycles of Nankai earthquakes, Hyuga‐nada earthquakes, and Bungo Channel SSEs to obtain possible slip histories in these regions, particularly during 1707–1980. We showed that the Nankai and Hyuga‐nada earthquakes occur mostly independently, with average recurrence intervals of 151 and 117 years, respectively. An SSE patch slipped coseismically during both the Nankai and Hyuga‐nada earthquakes. The rupture of the Nankai earthquakes extended to the Hyuga‐nada region every ~500–600 years and was followed by quiescence of SSEs for more than 200 years. Subsequently, SSEs occurred repeatedly every 8 years. Current observational findings are generally consistent with the characteristics obtained from our scenarios, except regarding the recurrence intervals of Hyuga‐nada earthquakes, for which few observations are available. Further evidence of the slip history in these regions will be required to use information from such simulations to forecast future earthquakes.


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

Hypoxia is a hallmark of solid tumors and is associated with local invasion, metastatic spread and resistance to radio- as well as chemotherapy (Vaupel et al., 2004). Furthermore, hypoxia constitutes an independent negative prognostic factor in a diverse range of malignant tumors (Harris, 2002; Vaupel et al., 2004). The cellular adaptation to hypoxia is mediated by a heterodimeric transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF1). HIF-1α, one subunit of HIF, is constitutively degraded under normoxic conditions, but is stabilized and activated in hypoxic regions of tumors. Nuclear activated HIF-1 controls the expression of >100 genes involved in cellular energy metabolism, neoangiogenesis, anti-apoptotic and pro-proliferative mechanisms promoting invasion and metastasis. Recently, we showed that BAY 87-2243, a small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-induced HIF-1 activation that specifically suppressed hypoxia-induced HIF-1α stabilization is able to achieve very promising results in combination with standard treatments in several preclinical tumor xenograft models. Here, we present outstanding preclinical anti-tumor efficacy of BAY 87-2243 in combination with anti-angiogenic therapy and irradiation in xenografts of various histological type. BAY 87-2243 was dosed continuously in combination with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors regorafenib as well as sorafenib and the anti-VEGF antibody, bevacizumab. The combinations produced long-term tumor growth control or tumor stasis of either cell line derived or patient-derived subcutaneous colorectal carcinoma xenografts (HCT116, HT29, LoVo). In a fully established lung carcinoma model (A549) the combination treatment of BAY 87-2243 with regorafenib resulted in slight regression of tumor growth that was maintained for up to 18 days. In a prostate carcinoma model (PC-3) a combination of BAY 87-2243 and regorafenib resulted in an additive improvement of the tumor growth inhibition as compared to either agents alone. A first combination treatment of BAY 87-2243 and a single subcurative irradiation dose (8 Gy) in a radioresistant, severely hypoxic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma xenograft (UT-SCC-5) led to tumor regression, which did not occur in the respective single-agent/radiation treatment. These promising preclinical results suggest that inhibition of HIF-1 by BAY 87-2243 in particular in combination with anti-angiogenic therapy and irradiation is an innovative approach to cancer therapy with the potential to overcome hypoxia/HIF-induced tumor resistance mechanisms. Harris AL (2002) Hypoxia-a key regulatory factor in tumor growth. Nat Rev Cancer 2: 38-47 Vaupel P, Mayer A, Hockel M (2004) Tumor hypoxia and malignant progression. Methods Enzymol 381:335-354

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-244. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-LB-244


Online production groups have the potential to transform the way that knowledge is produced and disseminated. One of the most widely used forms of online production is the wiki, which has been used in domains ranging from science to education to enterprise. We examined the development of and interactions between coordination and conflict in a sample of 6811 wiki production groups. We investigated the influence of four coordination mechanisms: intra-article communication, inter-user communication, concentration of workgroup structure, and policy and procedures. We also examined the growth of conflict, finding the density of users in an information space to be a significant predictor. Finally, we analyzed the effectiveness of the four coordination mechanisms on managing conflict, finding differences in how each scaled to large numbers of contributors. Our results suggest that coordination mechanisms effective for managing conflict are not always the same as those effective for managing task quality, and that designers must take into account the social benefits of coordination mechanisms in addition to their production benefits.