It is well known, by now, that the three-dimensional non-viscous planetary geostrophic model, with vertical hydrostatic balance and horizontal Rayleigh friction, coupled to the heat diffusion and transport, is mathematically ill-posed. This is because the no-normal flow physical boundary condition implicitly produces an additional boundary condition for the temperature at the literal boundary. This additional boundary condition is different, because of the Coriolis forcing term, than the no heat flux physical boundary condition. Consequently, the second order parabolic heat equation is over determined with two different boundary conditions. In a previous work we proposed one remedy to this problem by introducing a fourth-order artificial hyper-diffusion to the heat transport equation and proved global regularity for the proposed model. Another remedy for this problem was suggested by R. Salmon by introducing an additional Rayleigh-like friction term for the vertical component of the velocity in the hydrostatic balance equation. In this paper we prove the global, for all time and all initial data, wellposedness of strong solutions to the three-dimensional Salmon's planetary geostrophic model of ocean dynamics. That is, we show global existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence of the strong solutions on initial data for this model. MSC Subject Classifications: 35Q35, 65M70, 86-08,86A10.


Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are microscopic roundworms used in biocontrol. EPNs are obligate insect parasites, they live in soil, and they are especially effective against soilborne insects. They are a good alternative to chemical pesticides thanks to their advantages, such as prolonged longevity, broad host range and mass production suitability. However, EPNs cannot compete with chemical pesticides due to high production costs and short shelf life. The aim of this study was to determine the reproduction capacity of the Turkish hybrid Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar, 1976 (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae) HBH strain and then compare it with its parents to improve its liquid culture yield. In this way, it is aimed to reveal the effects behind the high reproduction potential of the hybrid HBH strain. All experiments were performed at Bursa Uludağ University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, in 2020. All cadavers were periodically dissected, hermaphrodites were counted and their body lengths were measured. Compared to its parents, the hybrid HBH strain had greater hermaphrodite counts, with mean 66 individuals within 12 days, and hermaphrodite body length, with mean 3.88 mm. The results obtained from this study should provide information for commercial EPN production development.


The upper respiratory tract mucociliary apparatus represents one of the first defenses against inhaled noxious materials. The frog palate has been widely used as a model to investigate the mode of action of this apparatus and to study its response to irritant gases. Video analysis was used here for the determination of mucus flow rate and flow patterns, ciliary beat frequency, and the nature of ciliary activity in the in vitro frog palate preparation. The results of studies of time-lapse video recordings were used in conjunction with light microscopic and ultrastructural morphologic investigations to determine functional interactions between cilia, the epiphase, and the periciliary fluid. It was concluded that the cilia enter the epiphase during the effector stroke, that waves may be produced on the under surface of this layer, and that the periciliary fluid is less viscous than, and moves in the same direction as, the epiphase. The response of the frog palate mucociliary apparatus to formaldehyde gas was also studied using an in vitro exposure system. There were distinct concentration-related responses to formaldehyde with initial stimulation, and at higher concentrations, subsequent inhibition of mucociliary function. Stimulation of mucus flow rate was due to increased ciliary activity, while inhibition of flow, which preceded ciliastasis, was attributed to direct effect of formaldehyde on the superficial mucus layer. Ciliastasis on the other hand was considered to provide evidence that the formaldehyde had penetrated the mucus layer and induced direct toxic effects on the underlying epithelial cells.


www.en.jkmc.uobaghdad.edu.iq 23 Al-kindy College Medical Journal 2020:16 [suppl] ABSTRACT There is limited data and evidence about the effects of COVID-19 on Maternal health, especially when new information is emerging daily, through pregnancy, child birth and post natal period, women are vulnerable to have the infection, this article, aimed to show the suitable measures that should be applied for women at reproductive age who are suspected /confirmed with COVID -19 infection, During pregnancy it is advisable to continue the antenatal care schedule, although reducing face to face visit is recommended (unless the pregnant condition required that ),and prioritize ANC at health facilities for high-risk pregnancy and during second half of pregnancy with adequate infection prevention control measures. Regarding child birth, positive COVID-19 result without other indications is not an indication to expedite birth, decision for mode of birth not influenced by positive COVID-19 result, it is recommended to support normal labour and if elective caesarean has been planned, epidural anesthesia is highly recommended than general anesthesia. For women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, Betamimetics: should be avoided as they may exacerbate maternal hypotension, tachycardia and pulmonary edema. Maternal mental wellbeing should be screened in postnatal period because infected women with COVID -19 are more prone to develop an anxiety than general population because of the demands of the disease like isolation, bereavement, financial difficulties, insecurity and inability to access support systems which are considered as added risk factors to develop mental illnesses


A higher-order perfectly matched layer (PML) is proposed based on stretched coordinates to effectively attenuate both propagating and evanescent waves. The new PML has multiple poles in contrast to the regular PML with a single pole. The implementation is also derived and results are shown to be better than those of the regular PML and the recently proposed complex-frequency shifted (CFS) PML with an insignificant increase in the computational cost.


Researchers have previously utilized the advantages of a design driven by well-being and intergenerational collaboration (IGC) for successful innovation. Unfortunately, scant information exists regarding barrier dimensions and correlated design solutions in the information systems (IS) domain, which can serve as a starting point for a design oriented toward well-being in an IGC system. Therefore, in this study, we applied the positive computing approach to guide our analysis in a systematic literature review and developed a framework oriented toward well-being for a system with a multi-generational team. Our study contributes to the IS community by providing five dimensions of barriers to IGC and the corresponding well-being determinants for positive system design. In addition, we propose further research directions to close the research gap based on the review outcomes.


The carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) of the major scaffoldin subunit ScaA of the cellulosome of Acetivibrio cellulolyticus is classified as a family 3b CBM and binds strongly to cellulose. The CBM3b was overexpressed, purified and crystallized, and its three-dimensional structure was determined. The structure contained a nickel-binding site located at the N-terminal region in addition to a 'classical' CBM3b calcium-binding site. The structure was also determined independently by the SAD method using data collected at the Ni-absorption wavelength of 1.48395 Å and even at a wavelength of 0.97625 Å in a favourable case. The new scaffoldin-borne CBM3 structure reported here provides clear evidence for the proposition that a family 3b CBM may be accommodated in scaffoldin subunits and functions as the major substrate-binding entity of the cellulosome assembly.


We have mapped the temperature-sensitive (ts) lesions of three mutants, ts51, ts53, and ts65, and two other mutants, ts7 and ts20, to regions on the vaccinia virus genome that encode the 147- and 22-kilodalton subunits of the viral DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, respectively. Plasmid and bacteriophage clones from the HindIII J region and the region spanning the HindIII J-H junction were used in marker rescue experiments to map the mutations. Sequence analysis of the region encoding the 22-kilodalton subunit in the wild-type, ts7, and ts20 viruses revealed a single base change in the mutants compared with that in the wild-type virus. The identification of these RNA polymerase mutants provides us with tools to understand transcription and its regulation in vaccinia virus.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

The Pancreatic cancer Action Network (PanCan) is a nationwide network of people dedicated to working together to advance research, support patients and create hope for those affected by pancreatic cancer. Our comprehensive approach included: 1) funding research, 2) demanding more aggressive federal research funding, 3) providing patients and caregivers with reliable information to make informed decisions with their healthcare teams, and 4) helping individuals and communities work together to raise awareness and fund for pancreatic cancer. We have over 500 mostly volunteer team members working in 70 affiliate locations around the country. We have more than 4000,000 constituents. We support the development of a comprehensive pancreatic cancer research community. We recruit, develop and retain the most adept investigators. We provide resources and tools and foster collaborations to advance scientific progress.

Citation Format: Scott Nelson. Working together to advance research, support patients and create hope. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr ADV16. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-ADV16


Mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction accounts for a large group of inherited metabolic disorders most of which are due to a dysfunctional mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) leading to deficient energy production and defects in phagocytosis in endosomal-lysosomal pathway respectively. MRC function depends on the coordinated expression of both nuclear (nDNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes. Thus, mitochondrial diseases can be caused by genetic defects in either the mitochondrial or the nuclear genome, or in the cross-talk between the two. The mitochondrial DNA depletion syndromes (MDSs) are a clinically heterogeneous group of disorders with an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance that have onset in infancy or early childhood and are characterized by a reduced number of copies of mtDNA in affected tissues and organs. In this review article, we summarized the spectrum of mtDNA depletion disorders along with minor learning of lysosomal storage diseases. This current article offers a perspective on the role of genetics in medical practice and how this role may evolve over the next several years.


The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic had a significant effect on the mental health, social lives, and family relationships of healthcare workers. During the pandemic, these workers had to prioritize their work over parenting, spending time with their kids or partners, planning weddings, and childbearing plans. Therefore, special recognition should be given to the families of these employees.


Recent investigations demonstrated that chronic variable stressors exhibit more severe effect on the endocrine and immune systems of the body compared the repeating stressors. During adolescent period of life lymphoid organs undergo fast developmental changes which may overlap with stress-induced immunomodulation. The influence of different chronically applied stressors on the lymphoid organs during various phases of periadolescence requires further investigation.
The objective of this research is to evaluate immunomodulatory effect of variable vs. repeating stressors on the morphology of the lymphoid organs in periadolescent experimental animals of different age.
Repeating or variable stressors were applied for 9 days continuously to the infant and early pubertal rats. Central (thymus) and peripheral (spleen) lymphoid organs were sampled and evaluated using morphometry of the immunologically stained histological sections.
Chronic variable stressors exposure showed more significant immunosuppressive effect in the thymus and spleen of the infant rats compared to the early pubertal ones, as demonstrated by more significant decrease of the volume density of different populations of immunocytes in the thymus and the spleen, and an increase of the density of caspase-3-positive cells in the spleen. Comparative evaluation of the repeating stressor exposure revealed significant reduction of the volume density of the CD20+
lymphocytes and increased apoptotic rate in the spleen of both age groups; CD45RC+ lymphocytes in the thymus and CD4+, CD8+ and CD90+cells in the spleen were reduced in the infant rats only, while in early pubertal rats reduction was not significant compared to the control animals. This microscopic study shows that different neuroendocrine consequences of chronically applied variable vs. repeating stressors during various periods of early age induce complex age-dependent immunomodulation due to the overlapping of the
developmental changes and post-stress alterations in the central and peripheral lymphoid organs in the immature body of the experimental animals.


Between July 1974 and December 1989, carpal tunnel-syndromes (CTS) were operated on in 903 hands of 746 patients. 147 of these patients (191 hands) were suffering from chronic inflammatory joint diseases. In 11 patients CTS was the first sign of rheumatoid arthritis (R.A.). The hands showed intraoperatively in 44.8% (n = 86/191) an extensive tenosynovitis with an aggressive infiltration. In 19% (n = 36/191), we had to extend the obligate tenosynovectomy on the flexor tendon parts of the fingers and ligaments (28 hands). 21 articulosynovectomies on the wrist or finger joints were performed. In 6 hands (8.0%) tendon ruptures were repaired. A questionnaire was completed for 107 of 147 patients (72.8%) (with 145 operated hands). Clinical (77 hands) and electromyographical examinations (49 hands) were performed an average of 5.1 (0.7-15) years postoperatively. 20 patients (13.6%) died, 20 could not be traced. In 86% (n = 125/145) of the patients we achieved relief of pain and a marked reduction of neurological deficits. 96.3% of the patients were content. The improvement of function of the hand after surgical intervention is of a great benefit for the patient with R. A. The overall risks of the procedure are low (complications 14%; no recidivism). Therefore, we recommend surgery in early stages after a confirmed diagnosis or a reasonable suspicion.


Abstract The purpose of this retrospective study was to report the results of iontophoretic corneal collagen crosslinking (I-CXL) with riboflavin and ultraviolet A irradiation in patients affected by keratoconus, each with thinnest pachymetry values of <400 &mgr; (with epithelium) and not treatable using standard epithelium-off technique. Fifteen eyes of 15 patients affected by progressive keratoconus and with thinnest pachymetry values <400 &mgr; underwent I-CXL. The uncorrected (UDVA) and corrected (CDVA) distance visual acuity, maximum and minimum keratometry (K max and K min) readings, corneal thickness at the thinnest point (CTTP), endothelial cell density (ECD), and intraocular pressure (IOP) were assessed before I-CXL, at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. The mean UDVA and CDVA significantly increased 12 months after I-CXL (P = .002 for both comparisons). The K max readings significantly decreased at 6 and 12 months postoperatively (P = .04 and P = .02, respectively). The mean CTTP improved at the end of the follow-up (P = .008). ECD was unchanged. No side effects or damage to the limbal region was observed during the follow-up period. I-CXL has been proved to be effective in halting keratoconus progression in eyes with very thin corneas, with no side effects during the follow-up period. This procedure could be used in patients with more advanced keratoconus.


Abstract The combination of venetoclax and hypomethylating agent (HMA/venetoclax) has emerged as a treatment option for patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are unfit to receive intensive chemotherapy. In this single-center retrospective study, we evaluated clinical outcomes following treatment with HMA/venetoclax in 35 patients with advanced myeloproliferative neoplasms, myelodysplastic syndrome/myeloproliferative neoplasm overlap syndromes or AML with extramedullary disease. The composite complete remission (CR) rate (including confirmed/presumed complete cytogenetic response, acute leukemia response-complete, CR and CR with incomplete hematologic recovery) was 42.9% with median overall survival (OS) of 9.7 months. Complex karyotype was associated with inferior median OS (3.7 versus 12.2 months; p = 0.0002) and composite CR rate (22% versus 50.0%; p = 0.2444). Although SRSF2 mutations were associated with higher composite CR rate (80.0% versus 28.0%; p = 0.0082), this was not associated with longer median OS (10.9 versus 8.0 months; p = 0.2269). Future studies should include these patient subgroups.


A procedure that allows the calculation of the resistive AC loss in a multifilamentary superconducting wire carrying AC transport current was developed. This loss mechanism, detected by the appearance of a finite drop of electrical potential along the wire, is significant when considering transport currents with amplitudes that exceed the critical current of the wire. The physical model behind our calculation for a common wire, that contains superconducting filaments in a metallic matrix, is the simple parallel combination of two elements: the superconductor standing for the properties of all the filaments, and the normal resistor representing the matrix. The total current carried by two parallel conducting paths is easily calculated for any imposed potential drop. But the inverse task—calculation of the potential drop that would force a defined current to be transported—requires us to resolve a nonlinear equation. We show how it is possible to evaluate the resistive loss by a procedure that needs to perform the root-finding operation in one point of the cycle only. The numerical integration is still necessary, but now it is easily performed because the integrand is explicitly defined. The procedure was successfully tested by comparison with experimental data.


Background: Following the morphological features of different races and ethnic groups, knowledge of standard dentofacial patterns of each ethnic group is essential. Therefore, this study aimed to explain cephalometric standards for the Zanjanian population according to Downs' analysis and compare them to Caucasian individuals. Methods: Seventy lateral cephalometries of Zanjanian adults (17 - 29 years old) who had been referred to a private orthodontic office in Zanjan, Iran with class I molar and canine relationship and normal overjet and overbite as well as minimum crowding/spacing/rotations were scanned and traced with the Novatech scanner and Dolphin software version 10. Next, statistical analyses were performed in order to compare the Zanjanian population to Caucasians. Results: We found a significant difference between males and females in terms of interincisal angle, incisor-occlusal angle, incisor-mandibular plane angle, upper incisor proclination, facial angle, and angle of convexity. Discussion: The analysis of six statistically significant parameters indicates that the upper and lower incisors in women of Zanjan were proclined and protruded compared with those of Caucasian subjects. Due to the statistical analysis on facial angle and angle of convexity, women also show more maxillary prognathism and skeletal class II pattern. Generally, a comparison of Zanjanian population cephalometrics based on Downs' analysis showed an increase in maxillary prognathism, maxillary and mandibular incisal protrusion and posterior rotation of the mandible. Conclusions: In conclusion, the Zanjanian population tends to have more dental and skeletal class II patterns than the Caucasians. In addition, gender comparison indicates lower and upper-incisors protrusion in women of Zanjan.


OBJECTIVE: Computed tomography of the thorax (Thorax CT) is frequently used to diagnose viral pneumonia in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients, but its diagnostic performance in mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients is still unclear. Assessing the diagnostic performance of thorax CT in mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients was the purpose of our study. METHODS: Mildly symptomatic and clinically stable, suspected COVID-19 patients scanned with Thorax CTs between March 11, 2020, and April 13, 2020, were included in this study. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, positive and negative predictive values, and the respective accuracies were calculated for diagnostic purposes. RESULTS: Among the 1119 patients enrolled in our study, abnormal thorax CT scans were 527 out of which 363/527 (68.9%) had typical CT features for COVID-19. According to analysis of typical COVID findings, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, negative predictive value, and the accuracy of Thorax CTs with were 51.45%, 86.07%, 78.24%, 64.55%, and 68.99%, respectively. When typical CT findings and atypical CT findings were combined for the statistical analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy observed 68.84%, 74%, and 71.49%. CONCLUSION: Diagnosing pneumonia can be challenging in mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients since the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction test results, when compared with symptoms are not always evident. According to our study, thorax CT sensitivity was higher when atypical COVID-19 CT findings were included compared to those with typical COVID-19 CT findings alone. Our study which included the largest number of patients among all other similar studies indicates that not only typical but also atypical CT findings should be considered for an accured diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia.


The robustness of a relationship among physical fitness, psychomotor speed, and aging is discussed by reviewing the descriptive and correlational evidence provided by studies from several different research areas. These areas are those that relate psychomotor speed to (a) athletic status, (b) physical fitness status, (c) physical conditioning training programs, (d) hyperbaric oxygenation treatment, and (e) presence of cardiovascular disease. Several potential physiological mechanisms that might support such a relationship are discussed under the general categories of brain function and cerebral circulation, and the trophic influence of physical activity on the central nervous system.


This study presents a comparison of linear and nonlinear control to regulate the DC-link voltage and power factor correction of a wind farm equipped with squirrel cage induction generators (SCIGs), connecting to a 22-kV distribution network. Both active and reactive powers are employed in 2 independent control laws. The proposed control strategies are derived from the Lyapunov approach. The aim of the control is to maximize the generated power with the lowest possible impact in the grid voltage and frequency during normal operation and under the occurrence of faults. The nonlinear backstepping controller to be used for the control of the designed system is studied and compared with a classical proportional-integral controller for performance validation. The entire designed system is modeled and simulated using MATLAB/Simulink.


With the progress of science and technology, the image data is increasing rapidly, including network image, video, etc. How to manage a large number of image data effectively is a challenge for researchers. Image clustering algorithm is used to manage the image data and classify data information. In this paper, we propose an image clustering algorithm based on support vector machine and hidden Markov model. Markov model can establish the mathematical relationship between image pixels in different layers, and we can predict the clustering result and the clustering center. Support vector machine is a new kind of machine learning algorithm based on statistical learning theory, which can find the optimal classification hyperplane in high dimensional feature space through optimum solution. Based on the basic theory of support vector machine, a remote sensing image classifier based on support vector machine is established. Experimental results show that the accuracy of image classification using SVM is obviously superior than that neural network based algorithm and maximum likelihood algorithm.


An important challenge of wireless networks is to boost the cell edge performance and enable multi-stream transmissions to cell edge users. Interference mitigation techniques relying on multiple antennas and coordination among cells are nowadays heavily studied in the literature. Typical strategies in OFDMA networks include coordinated scheduling, beamforming and power control. In this paper, we propose a novel and practical type of coordination for OFDMA downlink networks relying on multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver. The transmission ranks, i.e. the number of transmitted streams, and the user scheduling in all cells are jointly optimized in order to maximize a network utility function accounting for fairness among users. A distributed coordinated scheduler motivated by an interference pricing mechanism and relying on a master-slave architecture is introduced. The proposed scheme is operated based on the user report of a recommended rank for the interfering cells accounting for the receiver interference suppression capability. It incurs a very low feedback and backhaul overhead and enables efficient link adaptation. It is moreover robust to channel measurement errors and applicable to both open-loop and closed-loop MIMO operations. A 20% cell edge performance gain over uncoordinated LTE-A system is shown through system level simulations.


A novel multitope protein-peptide vaccine against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and disease is described in this report. The initial development and characterization experiments are presented along with proof-of-concept studies for the vaccine candidate UB-612. UB-612 consists of eight components rationally designed for induction of potently neutralizing antibodies and broad T cell responses against SARS-CoV-2: the S1-RBD-sFc fusion protein, six synthetic peptides (one universal peptide and five SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides), a proprietary CpG TLR-9 agonist at low concentration as an excipient, and aluminum phosphate adjuvant. Through immunogenicity studies in Guinea pigs and rats, we optimized the design of protein/peptide immunogens and selected an adjuvant system, yielding a vaccine that provides excellent S1-RBD binding and high neutralizing antibody responses, robust cellular responses, and a Th1-oriented response at low doses. In challenge studies, UB- 612 vaccination reduced viral load and prevented development of disease in mouse and non-human primate challenge models. With a Phase 1 trial completed, a Phase 2 trial ongoing in Taiwan, and additional trials planned to support global authorizations, UB-612 is a highly promising and differentiated vaccine candidate for prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease. Author Summary SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), has spread globally since its origin in 2019, causing an unprecedented public health crisis that has resulted in greater than 4.7 million deaths worldwide. Many vaccines are under development to limit disease spread and reduce the number of cases, but additional candidates that promote a robust immune response are needed. Here, we describe a multitope protein-peptide vaccine platform that is unique among COVID-19 vaccines. The advantages of our approach are induction of both high levels of neutralizing antibodies as well as a Th/CTL response in the vaccinated host, which mimics the immune response that occurs after natural infection with SARS-CoV-2. We demonstrate that our vaccine is immunogenic and effective in preventing disease in several animal models, including AAV- hACE-2 transduced mice, and both rhesus and cynomolgus macaques. Importantly, no immunopathology was observed in the lungs of immunized animals, therefore showing that antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) does not occur. Our study provides an additional, novel vaccine candidate for advancement in clinical trials to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease.


Time‐dependent calculations are presented which compare the dynamics of quantum and classical one‐dimensional triatomic systems undergoing intramolecular vibrational energy transfer and dissociation. The purpose of these calculations is to determine whether statistical dissociative behavior in classical systems implies similar behavior in the analogous quantum systems and to test for the presence of quantum mechanical effects that reduce the tendency of the systems to decompose statistically. The intramolecular vibrational energy transfer is monitored by computing the probability for the systems to remain in their initial, coarsely grained states, and the dissociation is followed by calculating the time‐dependent decomposition probability and the product distribution. The classical calculations are performed by a version of the quasiclassical technique while the quantum calculations are carried out by an R‐matrix method. The results show that the two forms of dynamics usually result in similar intramolecular evolution and unimolecular decay. Since the behavior of the classical systems is statistical in a well‐defined sense, it is argued that the behavior of the quantum mechanical systems can likewise be labeled as statistical in these typical cases. Important exceptions to the generally good quantum‐classical agreement occur, however, when the systems are prepared with high energy in a dissociable bond and low energy in the other bond. In such cases, the quantum behavior differs significantly from the classical behavior; the quantum dynamics of decomposition is nonstatistical even though the classical dynamics is statistical. It is found that the ''quantum trapping'' states which lead to the nonstatistical quantum mechanical behavior are associated with narrow Feshbach resonances which accumulate in certain specific energy regions. It is further concluded that these states occupy a significant proportion of the classical phase space available to molecular complexes with energy below the first vibrational threshold.Time‐dependent calculations are presented which compare the dynamics of quantum and classical one‐dimensional triatomic systems undergoing intramolecular vibrational energy transfer and dissociation. The purpose of these calculations is to determine whether statistical dissociative behavior in classical systems implies similar behavior in the analogous quantum systems and to test for the presence of quantum mechanical effects that reduce the tendency of the systems to decompose statistically. The intramolecular vibrational energy transfer is monitored by computing the probability for the systems to remain in their initial, coarsely grained states, and the dissociation is followed by calculating the time‐dependent decomposition probability and the product distribution. The classical calculations are performed by a version of the quasiclassical technique while the quantum calculations are carried out by an R‐matrix method. The results show that the two forms of dynamics usually result in similar intramolecu...


Many human diseases relating to central nervous system (CNS) are mimicked in animal models to evaluate the efficacy of stem cell therapy. The therapeutic role of stem cells in animal models of CNS diseases include replacement of diseased or degenerated neuron, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes with healthy ones, secretion of neurotrophic factors and delivery of therapeutics/genes. Scaffolds can be utilized for delivering stem cells in brain. Sustained delivery of stem cells, lineage specific differentiation, and enhanced neuronal network integration are the hallmarks of scaffold mediated stem cell delivery in CNS diseases. This review discusses the therapeutic role, challenges and future perspectives of stem cell therapy in animal models of CNS diseases.


This paper considers the optimal control problem for a group of interacting robots. To solve the problem, a hybrid evolutionary algorithm is applied that consists of two popular evolutionary algorithms: particle swarm optimization and gray wolf optimizer. When solving the problem, we use the approach of synthesized optimal control. Initially, we make controlled objects stable in the state space with respect to a certain point. Then we look for coordinates of the stabilization points using the hybrid algorithm. Points should be located so that when switching stabilization points after each fixed time interval, the objects reach the control goal without violating the phase constraints with the optimal value of the quality criterion.


ABSTRACT Meiosis is a unique and critical process in reproduction. Although the key molecular components of meiosis have been identified, the molecular mechanisms regulating the entry into this pathway remain unclear. We previously demonstrated that a progestin in teleost fish, 17alpha, 20beta-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one, is essential for meiotic initiation, and up-regulates taurine synthesis and the production of trypsin in Sertoli cells. In the present study, we found that trypsin promotes the uptake of taurine into germ cells through the up-regulation of solute carrier family 6 (neurotransmitter transporter, taurine), member 6 (Slc6a6) expression. We further found that this up-regulation of the taurine signal is required for Spo11a expression and meiotic initiation.


Host invasion by Entamoeba histolytica, the pathogenic agent of amebiasis, can lead to the development of amebic liver abscess (ALA). Due to the difficulty of exploring host and amebic factors involved in the pathogenesis of ALA in humans, most studies have been conducted with animal models (e.g., mice, gerbils, and hamsters). Histopathological findings reveal that the chronic phase of ALA in humans corresponds to lytic or liquefactive necrosis, whereas in rodent models there is granulomatous inflammation. However, the use of animal models has provided important information on molecules and mechanisms of the host/parasite interaction. Hence, the present review discusses the possible role of neutrophils in the effector immune response in ALA in rodents. Properly activated neutrophils are probably successful in eliminating amebas through oxidative and non-oxidative mechanisms, including neutrophil degranulation, the generation of free radicals (O2−, H2O2, HOCl) and peroxynitrite, the activation of NADPH-oxidase and myeloperoxidase (MPO) enzymes, and the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). On the other hand, if amebas are not eliminated in the early stages of infection, they trigger a prolonged and exaggerated inflammatory response that apparently causes ALAs. Genetic differences in animals and humans are likely to be key to a successful host immune response.


Revision with unchanged content. Due to the growing popularity of mobile information technology, more people, especially in the general public, have access to computerized geospatial informaion systems for wayfinding tasks or urban navigation. One of the problems with the current services is that, whether the users are exploring, or navigating, whether they are travelrs who are totally new to a region or long-term residents who have a fair amount of regional knowledge, the same methods is applied and the direction are given in the same way. However, spatial knowledge for a given urban region expands in proportion to residency. Urban navigation is highly dependent on cognitive mental images, which is developed through spatial experience and social communication. Thus, the wayfinding service for a regional community can be highly supported, using well-known regional places. This book is to develop the framework for urban navigation wihtin a regioal community. The concept of communcal ontology is proposed to aid in urban navigation. The experimental work was implemented with case study to collect regional landmarks, develop the ontological model and represent it with formal structure. The final product of this study will provide the geographical information of a region to the other agent and be the fundamental information structure for cognitive urban regional navigation.


Current IOL designs offer a variety of optical options for the correction of presbyopia. Regardless of the principal of correction, compromise is required. However, a new class of IOLs, currently referred to as extended-depth-of-focus IOLs (EDOF-IOLs), seems to be generating very satisfied patients.


In the historical (or retrospective or Phase I) multivariate data analysis, the choice of the estimator for the variance–covariance matrix is crucial to successfully detecting the presence of special causes of variation. For the case of individual multivariate observations, the choice is compounded by the lack of rational subgroups of observations with the same distribution. Other research has shown that the use of the sample covariance matrix, with all of the individual observations pooled, impairs the detection of a sustained step shift in the mean vector. For example, research has shown that, with the use of the sample covariance matrix, the probability of a signal actually decreases below the false-alarm probability with a sustained step shift near the middle of the data and that the signal probability decreases with the size of the shift. An alternative estimator, based on the successive differences of the individual observations, leads to an increasing signal probability as the size of the step shift increases and has been recommended for use in Phase I analysis. However, the exact distribution for the resulting T2 chart statistics has not been determined when the successive differences estimator is used. Three approximate distributions have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we demonstrate several useful properties of the T2 statistics based on the successive differences estimator and give a more accurate approximate distribution for calculating the upper control limit for individual observations in a Phase I analysis.


Snakehead fish (Channa striata) is one of fish species that lives in the flooding swamp area. The flooding swamp area is a shallow waters located in swampy forest area, has water temperature of 28-32°C, pH 3-4, and low oxygen content (2-4 mg/L). This study aimed to examine the pattern of reproduction in snakehead (Channa striata) in the area of flood swamp water. This study was conducted for 6 months from August 2016-January 2017. Samplings of fish were taken from upstream, middle, and downstream of Sebangau river in Central Borneo. Measurements of total length and body weight were carried out on 545 samples of the fish. The results of the research showed that the length growth of the fish was not as fast as the weight growth, the sex ratio of fish in gonads mature was 0.6:1.0 (male:female). The size of body length at the first gonad maturity in female snakehead was 27.75 cm and the male fish was 32.17 cm. The spawning season of snakehead fish took place from August to October and peak in October. Spawning of experimental fish was located in the downstream (station 3). Snakehead fish is a total spawner. Snakehead fish has a large reproductive potential with fecundity ranging from 55341 to 65507 eggs.
Keywords: floodplain area, reproductive biology, snakehead


This paper argues that recent developments in the understanding of psychobiological states may help to explain individual differences in susceptibility to addiction. It points out that the construct of arousal is deficient for this purpose and that a more fruitful approach views humans as bundles of state-dependent selves, strongly affected by self-efficacy and response expectancies. Coping skills, enhancement behaviors, and other state-regulating techniques are seen as crucial to liability to chemical dependency and the social learning underlying their genesis is explored. Under this view drug experiences are held to be analogous to hypnotic inductions and psychological approaches to therapy could usefully focus on helping addicts develop a metaperspective on the succession of psychobiological states.


This paper offer a design for a IC card used for recoder meter.It can be portable conveniently used for any SOC data recorder.It can be read from PC parallel port without any other power supply.


Analysis of categorical outcomes in a longitudinal study has been an important statistical issue. Continuous outcome in a similar study design is commonly handled by the mixed effects model. The longitudinal binary or Poisson‐like outcome analysis is often handled by the generalized estimation equation (GEE) method. Neither method is appropriate for analyzing a multinomial outcome in a longitudinal study, although the cross‐sectional multinomial outcome is often analyzed by generalized linear models. One reason that these methods are not used is that the correlation structure of two multinomial variables can not be easily specified. In addition, methods that rely upon GEE or mixed effects models are unsuitable in instances when the focus of a longitudinal study is on the rate of moving from one category to another. In this research, a longitudinal model that has three categories in the outcome variable will be examined. A continuous‐time Markov chain model will be used to examine the transition from one category to another. This model permits an unbalanced number of measurements collected on individuals and an uneven duration between pairs of consecutive measurements. In this study, the explicit expression for the transition probability is derived that provides an algebraic form of the likelihood function and hence allows the implementation of the maximum likelihood method. Using this approach, the instantaneous transition rate that is assumed to be a function of the linear combination of independent variables can be estimated. For a comparison between two groups, the odds ratios of occurrence at a particular category and their confidence intervals can be calculated. Empirical studies will be performed to compare the goodness of fit of the proposed method with other available methods. An example will also be used to demonstrate the application of this method. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


We report the large-scale deployment, implementation and adoption of the nationwide centralized integrated and shared Kanta health information services by using the Clinical Adoption Framework (CAF). The meso and macro level dimensions of the CAF were incorporated early into our e-health evaluation framework to assess Health Information System (HIS) implementation at the national level. We found strong support for the CAF macro level model concepts in Finland. Typically, development programs were followed by government policy commitments, appropriate legislation and state budget funding before the CAF meso level implementation activities. Our quantitative data point to the fact that implementing large-scale health information technology (HIT) systems in practice is a rather long process. For HIT systems success in particular citizens' and professionals' acceptance are essential. When implementation of the national health information systems was evaluated against Clinical Adoption Meta-Model (CAMM), the results show that Finland has already passed many milestones in CAMM archetypes. According to our study results, Finland seems to be a good laboratory entity to study practical execution of HIT systems, CAF and CAMM theoretical constructs can be used for national level HIS implementation evaluation.


Purchase prediction is an essential task in both online and offline retail industry, especially during major shopping festivals, when strong promotion boosts consumption dramatically. It is important for merchants to forecast such surge of sales and have better preparation. This is a challenging problem, as the purchase patterns during shopping festivals are significantly different from usual cases and also rare in historical data. Most existing methods fail at this problem due to the extremely scarce data samples as well as the inability to capture the complex macroscopic spatio-temporal dependencies in a city. To address this problem, we propose the Spatio-Temporal Meta-learning Prediction (STMP) model for purchase prediction during shopping festivals. STMP is a meta-learning based spatio-temporal multi-task deep generative model. It adopts a meta-learning framework with few-shot learning capability to capture both spatial and temporal data representations. A generative component then uses the extracted spatio-temporal representation and input data to infer the prediction results. Extensive experiments demonstrate the meta-learning generalization ability of STMP. STMP outperforms baselines in all cases, which shows the effectiveness of our model.


Objectives. To estimate and compare Veterans Health Administration (VA) expenditures for outpatient pharmaceuticals for veterans at six VA facilities with hypothetical private sector costs. Methods. Using the VA Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Health Care Group (PBM) database, we extracted data for all dispensed outpatient prescriptions from the six study sites over federal fiscal year 1999. After extensive data validation, we converted prescriptions to the same units and merged relevant VA pricing information by National Drug Code to Redbook listed average wholesale price and the Medicaid maximal allowable charge, where available. We added total VA drug expenditures to personnel cost from the pharmacy portion of that medical center's cost distribution report. Results. Hypothetical private sector payments were $200.8 million compared with an aggregate VA budget of $118.8 million. Using National Drug Code numbers, 97% of all items dispensed from the six facilities were matched to private sector price data. Nonmatched pharmaceuticals were largely generic over-the-counter pain relievers and commodities like alcohol swabs. The most commonly prescribed medications reflect the diseases and complaints of an older male population: pain, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and depression or other psychiatric disorders. Conclusions. Use of the VA PBM database permits researchers to merge expenditure and prescription data to patient diagnoses and sentinel events. A critical element in its use is creating similar units among the systems. Such data sets permit a deeper view of the variability in drug expenditures, an important sector of health care whose inflation has been disproportionate to that of the economy and even health care.


This paper invesigates where Nissan Leaf drivers in the EV Project charge when they have the opportunity to charge at work. Do they charge at work, home, or some other location?


With an aim to develop the new sensors for optical detection of Hg ions, two novel fluorometric sensors were designed and successfully prepared using 2-(3-(2-aminoethylsulfanyl)propylsulfanyl)ethanamine and one or two N-methylnaphthalimide moieties (1 and 2). Sensor 1 was obtained via N-alkylation, N-imidation and a one-pot nucleophilic aromatic substitution, and N-formylation of the amine, while sensor 2 was prepared via N-alkylation, N-imidation, and nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The characterization, including H NMR, C NMR, and mass spectrometry, was then performed for 1 and 2. The Hg-binding behaviors of the sensors were investigated in terms of sensitivity and selectivity by fluorescence spectroscopy. Sensor 1 especially provided the reversible and highly Hg-selective ON-OFF fluorescence behavior by discriminating various interfering ions such as Pb, Co, Cd, Mn, Fe, K, Na, and in particular Cu and Ag with a detection limit of 22 ppb toward Hg ions.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is primarily a disease of the lungs; however, extrapulmonary comorbidities like rib cage stiffness, decreased thoracic spine mobility, postural changes, and skeletal muscle dysfunctions also coexist. Muscle energy technique (MET) and joint manipulation (JM) may help alleviate these musculoskeletal problems. This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of MET and JM on pulmonary functions, dyspnea, chest wall mobility, disease exacerbations, and health-related quality of life in COPD patients. A total of 16 patients (7 women and 9 men) suffering from COPD between the ages of 35 and 65 years participated in the study. Pretest-posttest quasiexperimental design was used. MET was applied to the sternocleidomastoid, anterior scalene, pectoralis major muscles, and at the C4-C6 level of the cervical spine. Maitland JM was performed in the thoracic region at the intervertebral, costovertebral, and costotransverse joints. The treatment intervention lasted for 3 weeks. FEV1/FVC, maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), SpO2, modified Borg dyspnea scale (MBDS), COPD assessment test (CAT), mMRC dyspnea scale, BODE index, right and left hemidiaphragm excursion, and chest wall expansion at T4 and T10 levels were the outcome measures. Significant improvement (p < 0.05) was observed in FEV1/FVC, MIP, SpO2, MBDS, CAT, mMRC dyspnea scale, BODE index, and chest expansion at T4 and T10 levels. Only for the hemidiaphragm excursion, no significant (p > 0.05) improvement was observed. Combined application of MET to accessory respiratory muscles and cervical spine and JM to thoracic spine improved pulmonary functions, chest wall mobility, and health-related quality of life and reduced dyspnea and disease exacerbations in patients with mild to moderate COPD.


Ontology has gained broad attention within the knowledge engineering community and their related application domain in recent years. Ontology is an explicit formal sharing conceptualization of one domain. Ontology maintenance is one of most important work during ontology's development lifecycle. Cycle of concepts is one of the most common inconsistency errors in ontology. In this paper, we propose a method of eliminating direct super-class to detect cycle of concepts (EDS2DCC).This method firstly constructs oriented graphs according to the system of concepts in ontology. Secondly, it defines an array to store concepts access states and a table to store current concepts list, then the method determines whether existing cycle of concepts or not based on the length which obtained from periodic oriented graphs. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the method by applying and analyzing scenarios.


Lithography has been the technological driver for shrinking circuits and creating finer and finer transistor gates. As silicon feature sizes continue to decrease below the wavelength of available exposure tools, reticle-based resolution enhancement techniques including optical proximity correction (OPC) and phase-shifting mask (PSM) are required for patterning features that are significantly smaller than wavelength. Infrastructure, such as software tools and mask making capability, has to be developed in order to use such technologies in production. The double- exposure dark-field alternating PSM technique has been approved as the first production worthy strong phase shifting technology that addresses the important issues related to design, mask manufacturing and wafer production. We will first discuss the concept and the significance of DDAP, then introduce iN-Phase, the first commercial electronic design automation tool that has integrated phase shifter placement with OPC and verification to provide a compete solution for PSM design. The software architecture, performance and application will also be discussed.


Possibly you have found yourself in the following situation: As a partner in a pediatric practice, you are visited by a representative from a physician practice management company (PMC). The representative cites the advantages of selling your practice to a PMC, emphasizing that you will have more time for patient care and can leave administrative duties to those who specialize in administration and practice management. Because it sounds too good to be true, you may want to consider several factors before signing a contract.


The 1st IDRC-SEARCA Annual Fellowship Plus Conference-Workshop on the theme, "Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture Development in the Uplands: Challenges and Opportunities" was the first of a series of three annual fellowship plus conference-workshops funded under the 3-year project of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) titled, Upland Agriculture Fellowships for Southeast Asia Project which is being implemented by SEARCA from 2012 to 2015. The annual fellowship conference/workshops hope to build the fellows' knowledge through lectures and paper presentations by experts, encourage informal networking to develop a sense of community among IDRC fellowship recipients, share experiences among themselves as fellows, give them the opportunity to meet experts, and provide first-hand experience of the real situation in the uplands through site visits. The 1st IDRC-SEARCA fellowship conference-workshop aimed to highlight the current issues/challenges facing upland agricultural areas in SE Asia; illustrate the role played by research and extension in addressing concerns of food insecurity in the uplands; discuss methodologies in assessing food and nutritional security across countries in the region that may be used by the scholars in their respective researches; and provide the opportunity for the scholars to present their research proposals/projects; and visit an upland project site in the Philippines.


Recently, Free Trade Area generally moves toward a complex and total zone carrying out the logistics and production function simultaneously. Nevertheless, Free Trade Area of Gwangyang Bay Area performs a traditional logistics function only without a introduction of production function. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to suggest alternatives for strengthening the function of Free Trade Area of Gwangynag port. The main findings of this research is summarized as followings. First, a complex and total Free Trade Area through enhancing a production function is to be established. Second, for an efficient management & operation of Free Trade Area, a cooperative system establishment between Free Trade Areas and a single operation system is necessary.


Previous studies on asphyxia neonatorum show that the infant's blood is in a state of hypercoagulability at such a time. In the present study, we determined the amount of fibrinopeptide A (FPA) and fibrinopeptide B beta 15-42 (FPB beta), new sensitive indicators of the coagulation-fibrinolytic system, in the newborn, and examined their relationship to the acid-base balance in umbilical artery blood in elective cesarean section and vaginal delivery, as well as to the Apgar score (Ap. S). In addition, the findings in umbilical cord blood were then compared with those in the blood of normal adults. The results were as follows: In vaginal delivery, infants with Ap. S at 5-7, pH, had significantly lower HCO-3 and BE readings lower while PCO2 was significantly increased, which indicated respiratory and metabolic acidosis. In the vaginal delivery group, FPA was significantly increased in infants with pH under 7.24, PCO2 over 50 mmHg, BE under -8 and Ap. S at 5-7, and as well as in infants in the elective cesarean section group with Ap. S at 5-7. This suggests that the production of thrombin is accelerated if the fetus is asphyxiated. FPB beta was not significantly different among groups. However, FPB beta was significantly higher in various vaginal delivery groups than in the elective cesarean section group (Ap. S greater than or equal to 8), which implies acceleration of the production of plasmin and fibrinolysis in vaginal delivery. FPA and FPB beta were markedly increased in umbilical cord blood as compared with the blood of normal adults. This suggests that blood coagulation and fibrinolysis were accelerated in umbilical cord blood.


The power losses due to modulation index for multi-modulation scheme were analyzed under various transmission mode of satellite control and the necessary satellite link margin for transmission mode were proposed in this paper On the basis of the analyses for interference between the transmission signals and threshold of satellite control signal receiver, the optimal subcarrier signals were proposed for satellite range measurement methods, respectively. The subcarrier signal of 12 ㎑ or 14 ㎑ is proper for telecommand using the ESA method, and 16 ㎑ for telecommand signal using the GSTDN method. On the other hand, the telemetry subcarrier of 65.536 ㎑ is a proper in the viewpoint of receiver threshold value.


Abstract A 55-year-old woman admitted for hypertensive emergency and myocardial infarction reported weight gain, muscle weakness, easy bruising, and recent-onset diabetes in the past 3 to 12 months. Urinary and salivary cortisol and adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) levels were elevated. Pituitary imaging detected a macroadenoma. ACTH and cortisol did not increase after corticotropin-releasing hormone administration. Imaging revealed a large pancreatic mass. Pathology indicated a well-differentiated World Health Organization (WHO) grade 2 distal pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm which stained for ACTH by immunohistochemistry. Postoperatively, Cushing manifestations resolved, ACTH and cortisol levels became low, and patient required hydrocortisone replacement for 7 months. During the 3.5 years of follow-up, the pituitary macroadenoma size remained stable and pituitary hormone axes other than ACTH remained normal. This extremely rare case of ectopic ACTH-secreting pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor coexisting with a nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma illustrates the importance of dynamic endocrine testing in Cushing syndrome.


A new formulation of the moderation and capture of negative mesons by atoms has been developed. The scattering is described by a complex potential with a real part given by a diabatic interaction potential and an imaginary part given by the ionization width of the diabatic state embedded in the electronic continuum. Results are presented for collisions of ..mu../sup -/, ..pi../sup -/, K/sup -/, and p/sup -/ with the hydrogen atom. The differential energy-loss cross sections and stopping powers obtained are large. The energy spectrum of stopped mesons is determined and most captures are found to occur at collision energies below or near the ionization potential. The principal--quantum-number distributions of the initially formed mesic atoms peak close to the orbital giving optimal overlap with the displaced electronic orbital. The angular-momentum distributions are not too different from statistical, except that they tend to cut off at l significantly smaller than n-1 in the case of large n. Comparison to a very recent experiment is made in a note added.


Hole-transporter-free perovskite solar cells carrying a carbon back contact electrode provide the possibility of making full printable low cost and stable devices, even though their efficiency is substantially lower than those made in the standard configuration. The present work searched for simple and easy routes for constructing such devices, demonstrating that organic components do enhance device efficiency but only to a level that is not worth the trouble nor the cost. Devices based on a triple mesoporous layer of titania/zirconia/carbon with perovskite infiltration gave an efficiency of 10.7%. After 180 days of storing under ambient conditions, a small loss of efficiency has been observed for a cell made in June, in spite of the fact that in going from June to December, a large increase of the ambient humidity took place, thus verifying the protective effect that the carbon electrode is providing. The addition of spiro-OMeTAD to the hole-transporter-free device resulted in increasing the efficiency by about 10%, a change which is appreciated to be of low importance given the cost of this material. This increase mainly derived from an increase in the current. Devices of different sizes have been constructed by screen printing, using home-made pastes for all the components making the cell scaffold, i.e., for titania, zirconia, and carbon layers.


Several natural and artificial structures and systems are somehow optimized for performing specific functionalities. The structure and topology of cities is no exception, as it is critically important to ensure effective access to the several resources as well as overall mobility. The present work addresses the important subject of improving the plan of a given city through the incorporation of avenues and other express ways such as bridges and tunnels. More specifically, we start with the topology of a real city and consider the incorporation of a express way between any two locations in the city, keeping one location fixed and varying the angle of the other. The whole city area is covered in this manner, which allows us to derive a respective energy surface indicating the gain obtained regarding the average shortest path length for each of the possible situations. These surfaces therefore provide a complete picture of how much each city can be improved regarding minimal distances. Quite distinct surfaces have been obtained for 18 considered European cities. These surfaces are then characterized in terms of the number of local extrema and respective spatial complexity, expressed in terms of a raggedness measurement. Measurements are also obtained respectively to the geometry and topology of the considered cities. It is shown that the shortest path gain depends strongly on some of the considered measurements, especially lacunarity and transitivity. Interestingly, the intricacy of the energy surfaces resulted in relatively little correlation with the topological and geometrical measurements.


While Lenin was writing his fundamental work on imperialism in the spring of 1916, the imperialist powers were locked in a bloody conflict for control of the world. This century of ours is passing with the speed of several millennia. In the second imperialist war to redivide the world, it was possible, thanks to the progress that had been made in killing our fellowmen on the earth and in the sky, to reap an even more awesome harvest—the survivors were able to count ten times as many corpses as in the First World War.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


We present a series of James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Berkeley‐Illinois‐Maryland Association (BIMA) and Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the massive star-forming region associated with G35.2‐0.7N. These new observations shed considerable light on the nature of the outflows in this region. The combination of our CO, SiO and radio data suggests that there are perhaps as many as four outflows emanating from the core containing G35.2‐0.7N. CO J = 3 → 2 maps show that the outflow has a curved appearance consistent with precession of a central driving source. However, the geometric centre of the flow is found to be not coincident with the radio jet source G35.2N but is instead closer to a peak in SiO, H 13 CO + and dust continuum found in the BIMA data. An elongated finger of CO emission is detected to the north of centre which points back towards the radio jet centred on G35.2N, further ruling it out as the driving source of the larger-scale CO flow. BIMA observations of the 3.5-mm continuum (which is dominated by dust), H 13 CN and H 13 CO + emission trace a dense, elongated, rotating envelope with properties in good agreement with values derived from previous ammonia observations. The peak of the dust continuum and the H 13 CO + peak a few arcsec to the south of G35.2N. SiO J = 2 → 1 data delineate a well-collimated feature parallel with the axis of the CO outflow, but offset to the north by ∼10 arcsec. H 13 CO + emission is detected at the possible origin of this flow but no radio source is observed. VLA A-configuration observations at 6 and 3.5 cm resolve the radio jet into at least six discrete components, with positions consistent with previous observations. The central driving source, G35.2N, is only detected at 3.5 cm. At least two other sources are detected, one of which lies within the flattened core and may be associated with another flow inferred from recent L � -band observations. No radio source is detected at the geometric centre of the CO


Inflatable penile prosthesis reservoir herniation or migration may occur with space of Retzius or submuscular placement. The dangers of high submuscular placement include bowel or bladder perforation (from blind instrument passage) and or bowel herniation (from unintentional peritoneal placement and stretching of small opening with reservoir filling). Even under direct vision submuscular placement, reservoirs can ultimately reside into the scrotum, retroperitoneum, and lateral abdominal wall. The Tubing, Hitch And Lasso, Intussusception Anchor (THALIA) technique was recently developed to prevent reservoir migration with placement either submuscularly or in the space of Retzius, but video of this technique has not been previously published.

 To visually demonstrate the proper surgical technique of THALIA during IPP reservoir placement.

 An IPP surgical candidate at high risk of complications should reservoir migration occur was identified. Video of THALIA technique performed during IPP surgery was recorded using an in-light overhead camera and a GoPro aseptically positioned on the lead surgeon.

 Successful demonstration of THALIA technique during IPP placement.

 THALIA technique is a feasible option to aid prevention of penile implant reservoir herniation.

 Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Coloplast


Radial profiles of electron temperature and density are measured at high spatial (∼1 mm) and temporal (≥10 μs) resolution using a thermal supersonic helium jet. A highly accurate detection system is applied to well-developed collisional-radiative model codes to produce the profiles. Agreement between this measurement and an edge Thomson scattering measurement is found to be within the error bars (≲20%). The diagnostic is being used to give profiles near the ion cyclotron resonant heating antenna on TEXTOR to better understand RF coupling to the core.


In researching the rich and diverse Sufi culture of the Arab world, I came across the unpublished work of Sayyidī Shaykh Muhammad ʿUthmān ʾal-Burhāni. (d. 1403/1983). This was surprisingly unexplored in previous research, and no formal publication capturing this fascinating work has been released yet. Sayyidī through these teachings significantly contributed to the development of religious dissemination, which gained a massive following in Sudan and Egypt and ultimately reached followers all over the world. His teachings go beyond emphasizing mere divine proximity for Muslims but they also provide a profound sense of purpose for individuals who still hold onto their ancestor's religion, inspiring them to embrace Islam. This serves as a guiding light, directing followers towards the path of divine legislation (sharīʿah) through the power of divine love (ʾal-ḥubb), while the cultivation of this love propels individuals towards the ultimate divine reality (ḥaqīqa). In addition, he answered questions in his sermons (durūs) from various fields of knowledge, and for this reason, many scholars of his time including from ʾal-ʾAzhar sought to attend his gatherings, where he spoke about the sciences of the Qurʾan from different aspects. This research intended to unveil the impact of his religious dissemination and the introduction of his authorship, which has yet to be documented.


This article presents a haptic-guided teleoperation for a tumor removal surgical robotic system, so-called a SIROMAN system. The system was developed in our previous work to make it possible to access tumor tissue, even those that seat deeply inside the brain, and to remove the tissue with full maneuverability. For a safe and accurate operation to remove only tumor tissue completely while minimizing damage to the normal tissue, a virtual wall–based haptic guidance together with a medical image–guided control is proposed and developed. The virtual wall is extracted from preoperative medical images, and the robot is controlled to restrict its motion within the virtual wall using haptic feedback. Coordinate transformation between sub-systems, a collision detection algorithm, and a haptic-guided teleoperation using a virtual wall are described in the context of using SIROMAN. A series of experiments using a simplified virtual wall are performed to evaluate the performance of virtual wall–based haptic-guided teleoperation. With haptic guidance, the accuracy of the robotic manipulator's trajectory is improved by 57% compared to one without. The tissue removal performance is also improved by 21% (p < 0.05). The experiments show that virtual wall–based haptic guidance provides safer and more accurate tissue removal for single-port brain surgery.


The synthesis of the novel AlI compound AlCp*Ph (Cp*Ph = C5Me4Ph) is presented. This compound is characterized by 1H, 13C, 27Al NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis as well as its reactivity towards the α,ω-diolefin dvds (dvds = tetramethyl-divinyl-disiloxane). Also the reactivity of AlCp* towards dvds is investigated and the product [(dvds)(μ2-AlCp*)2] characterized by NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis as well as X-ray crystallography. Furthermore, two new coordination compounds of AlCp* to d10 metal centers are synthesized and characterized. [Pd(AlCp*)4] is obtained by reaction of [(tmeda)PdCl2] with AlCp*, and [Ni(AlCp*)4] is synthesized from [Ni(cod)2] and AlCp* via ligand substitution. Both complexes are spectroscopically and crystallographically characterized. Finally, preliminary results on the coordination of AlCp*Ph to Ni0 and Pd0 centers will be discussed.


We prove that the helicity is preserved in the scattering of photons in the Born-Infeld theory (in 4d) on the tree level.


Aim and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of black seed oil on clinical symptoms and inflammatory biomarkers as an adjuvant therapy on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients taking disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).Materials and Methods: Twenty-five RA patients were enrolled, and each received one capsule of 1000 mg black seed oil daily as adjuvant therapy with DMARDs for eight weeks. Disease activity score for 28 joints (DAS28), visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10), white blood cells (WBCs), renal function and liver function tests were assessed at baseline and at the end of the trial.Results: the results show a significant decrease in the DAS28 score and the VAS for pain in RA patients. Serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and a number of WBCs were decreased significantly while the increment of serum levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was statistically non-significant. No significant changes occurred in the levels of urea, creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT).Conclusion: black seed oil as an add-on therapy induced a significant improvement in clinical symptoms and inflammation of RA.


A closed form method for Exponential Plus Constant (EPC)
curve fitting is introduced. The method, referred to as Fourierbased
Exponential Plus Constant Fitting (FEPCF), returns
estimates of the EPC coefficients for user-input sets of
equidistant time values and corresponding data points. An
analytical expression for the exponent's coefficient is found
through algebraic manipulation of the Fourier series of the
EPC, taken over a finite time interval. The unknown is therefore
approximated through the Discrete Fourier Transform
(DFT) of the input sequence, itself used as an approximation
of Fourier series. The discrepancy between
Fourier series and DFT, byproduct of aliasing, is reduced
with sine windowing. This is the essential contribution
of the paper – the exponent coefficient found, what remains
of the problem can be approached with standard linear
least squares. FEPCF was motivated by the need for a
measuring tool for the time-modeling of fundamental frequency
and inharmonicity coefficient of tension-modulated
strings. Care is however taken in the mathematical formulation
of the method to facilitate its transportation to other
fields of science. MATLAB function implementation and
a demonstration of FEPCF can be downloaded from the
address http://www.cs.nuim.ie/~matthewh/.


The basic physics of sound waves enables ultrasound to visualize biological tissues with high spatial and temporal resolution. Recently, this capability was enhanced with the development of acoustic biomolecules - proteins with physical properties enabling them to scatter sound. The expression of these unique air-filled proteins, known as gas vesicles (GVs), in cells allows ultrasound to image cellular functions such as gene expression in vivo, providing ultrasound with its analog of optical fluorescent proteins. Acoustical methods for the in vivo detection of GVs are now required to maximize the impact of this technology in biology and medicine. We previously engineered GVs exhibiting a nonlinear scattering behavior in response to acoustic pressures above 300 kPa, and showed that amplitude-modulated (AM) ultrasound pulse sequences that both excite the linear and nonlinear GV scattering regimes were highly effective at distinguishing GVs from linear scatterers like soft biological tissues. Unfortunately, the in vivo specificity of AM ultrasound imaging is systematically compromised by the nonlinearity added by the GVs to propagating waves, resulting in strong image artifacts from linear scatterers downstream of GV inclusions. To address this issue, we present an imaging paradigm, cross-amplitude modulation (xAM), which relies on cross-propagating plane-wave transmissions of finite aperture X-waves to achieve quasi artifact-free in vivo imaging of GVs. The xAM method derives from counter-propagating wave interaction theory which predicts that, in media exhibiting quadratic elastic nonlinearity like biological tissue, the nonlinear interaction of counter-propagating acoustic waves is inefficient. By transmitting cross-propagating plane-waves, we minimize cumulative nonlinear interaction effects due to collinear wave propagation, while generating a transient wave-amplitude modulation at the two plane-waves' intersection. We show in both simulations and experiments that residual xAM nonlinearity due to wave propagation decreases as the plane-wave cross-propagation angle increases. We demonstrate in tissue-mimicking phantoms that imaging artifacts distal to GV inclusions decrease as the plane-wave cross-propagation angle opens, nearing complete extinction at angles above 16.5 degrees. Finally, we demonstrate that xAM enables highly specific in vivo imaging of GVs located in the gastrointestinal tract, a target of prime interest for future cellular imaging. These results advance the physical facet of the emerging field of biomolecular ultrasound, and are also relevant to synthetic ultrasound contrast agents.


This work studied the regulation of hole concentration and mobility in p-InGaN layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) under an N-rich environment. By adjusting the growth temperature, the hole concentration can be controlled between 6 × 1017/cm3 and 3 × 1019/cm3 with adjustable hole mobility from 3 to 16 cm2/V.s. These p-InGaN layers can meet different requirements of devices for hole concentration and mobility. First-principles defect calculations indicate that the p-type doping of InGaN at the N-rich limiting condition mainly originated from Mg substituting In (MgIn). In contrast with the compensation of nitrogen vacancy in p-type InGaN grown in a Ga-rich environment, the holes in p-type InGaN grown in an N-rich environment were mainly compensated by interstitial Mg (Mgi), which has very low formation energy.


Author(s): Sheng, Wangzhong | Advisor(s): Almutairi, Adah | Abstract: The photothermal effect is a phenomenon in which matter absorbs light energy and converts it into heat. This process can be leveraged to enable the application of light for biological applications, especially for otherwise benign light with wavelengths in the "optical window" regime of the electromagnetic spectrum between 700-900 nm that can penetrate deeply into tissue. The objective of this dissertation work was to apply and adapt the photothermal effect in the context of cosmetic surgery in a safe and effective manner to aid in fat removal during liposuction. This thesis begins with a discussion of an area in which the photothermal effect has been applied extensively in biology, specifically, for the eradication of cancer, called photothermal therapy. Materials used for this application, known as photothermal agents, are briefly introduced. Light-matter interactions, including a variation of the photothermal effect called selective photothermolysis, are discussed in detail. Chapter One introduces an example where the photothermal effect was observed to be the key underlying mechanism enabling the release of encapsulated payloads from inherently non-light responsive polymer particles in the context of drug delivery. In Chapter Two, starting from basic engineering principles, specifically the heat equation, the photothermal effect is derived and mathematically modeled. Subsequently, the ability to achieve selective and confined photothermal heating in a target pigmented region was tested in a physical model involving a thermoresponsive polymer as an indicator to allow for simple visualization. After successful demonstration of these concepts, parameters such as photothermal agent concentration and manner of light exposure were optimized, and subsequent studies were performed in an ex vivo porcine tissue, in an in vivo porcine model, and finally, in an ex vivo human adipose tissue liposuction model. This work culminated in a single-blind study in human adipose tissue comparing photothermally assisted liposuction (dubbed NanoLipo), to a control involving saline injection and near infrared light laser-assisted liposuction absent gold nanoparticles. The results achieved in this work demonstrate the significant potential of this promising technology in making a clinical impact.


This paper describes and analyzes the deliberative skills of people participating in the Council of the Participatory Budget (COP), the main deliberation council for the participatory democracy in Porto Alegre. Through the ethnographic observation, we are able to describe agents acting in the assembly. Then, we establish a dialogue between the internal and external events of what Marc Abeles called "lieu du politique".


Purpose: To investigate the normal palpebral conjunctival histology in C57BL/6 mice and the structural changes that occur in a dry eye model. Methods: Twenty-four male and female C57BL/6 mice, 8 untreated and 16 exposed to experimental ocular surface desiccating stress (DS). Ocular dryness was induced by administration of scopolamine hydrobromide (0.5 mg/0.2 mL) four times a day for 5 days (DS5) or 10 days (DS10). Counts and measurements were obtained using anatomical reference points, and goblet cell density was investigated with a variety of stains. Results: Near the junction between the lid margin and the normal palpebral conjunctiva, the epithelium had an average thickness of 45.6 ± 10.5 &mgr;m, 8.8 ± 2.0 cell layers, versus 37.7 ± 5.6 &mgr;m, 7.4 ± 1.3 layers in DS10 (P < 0.05). In the goblet cell–populated palpebral region, the normal epithelium was thicker (P < 0.05) than on DS5 and DS10. In the control, 43% of the goblet cells were covered by squamous epithelium compared with 58% (DS5) and 63% (DS10) (P < 0.05). A decreased number of periodic acid–Schiff (PAS)–stained goblet cells and Alcian blue–stained goblet cells were observed in the dry eye. Not all goblet cells were stained with PAS and Alcian blue. Conclusion: The mouse palpebral conjunctival epithelium was structurally similar to the human. After DS, the palpebral conjunctival epithelium decreased in thickness and goblet cell access to the surface seemed to be inhibited by surrounding epithelial cells, potentially slowing down their migration to the surface. Differential staining with PAS and Alcian blue suggests that there may be different subtypes of conjunctival goblet cells.


Minimally invasive surgery is a popular surgical method which allows surgeons to be able to employ small incisions to perform surgical procedures. Electrosurgical tissue joining is one method used in minimally invasive surgery to achieve hemostasis. The two major issues need to be concerned are the quality of the tissue joint and the potential thermal damage to the surrounding tissues. In this study, a new sequential compression concept was introduced. This concept uses a pair of smaller electrodes to sequentially compress and join multiple locations across the tissue to form a joint. Due to the smaller area of the electrode surface, a higher compression level can be achieved with a smaller compressive force. In this study, different joining times including 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.1 seconds with a 98% compression ratio were used to join porcine arterial tissue. In each test, three locations were sequentially compressed and joined. The resulting tensile strength, specific strength, energy consumption, and thermal dose from the sequential compression method were compared with those resulting from the nonsequential single compression method. For the 1.9-second joining time, the specific strength is 2.5 times higher than the highest specific strength achieved by the single joining method, meaning that only 40% of energy is needed to achieve an equivalent joint strength. A finite element model was built to estimate the temperature and thermal dose during the sequential joining process and also confirmed that the resulting thermal dose is much lower than the single joining method. The results validated that the sequential compression concept has the potential to minimize the thermal damage during the tissue joining process.


A significant portion of the U S population may experience vaccine hesitancy of a new COVID-19 vaccine, which poses dangers to both the individual and their community, since exposure to a contagious disease places the person at risk, and individuals are far more likely to spread the disease to others if they do not get vaccinated Many individuals are doubtful, and without the healthcare community, speaking with one voice has led to distrust Experience from the influenza vaccines have shown vaccine acceptance has not been optimal, and this new vaccine, even though it is not approved, is already showing layperson skepticism compounded by political influences


Lateral displacement arrays are useful for separating particles such as blood cells and sand from carrier fluids. These arrays consist of staggered posts, which allow smaller particles to follow streamlines and larger particles to flow around the posts and migrate to one side. This migration increases the particle concentration in one direction and depletes the particle concentration in the other direction allowing particle separation to occur.
 Experiments were conducted to separate large particles in non-Newtonian yield stress slurries using tapered bump arrays. The non-Newtonian slurry used was composed of a bentonite kaolin blend with the inclusion of larger diameter particles. These experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of particle separation using a tapered array of staggered posts as configured in a bump array for non-Newtonian yield stress slurries, an application that has not been explored experimentally. The results of these experiments are described. This information could be applied in industrial settings such as separation of particles from nuclear waste slurries including those to be processed at the Hanford site, where removing large particles from waste streams is important to processing.


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Globally, public management underwent substantial reforms over the past three decades. Known as new public management (NPM), reforms have sought to redefine the role of politicians and public managers, redesign public organisations for enhanced autonomy and effectiveness, and restructure service delivery by integrating private organisations to ensure competition believed as necessary for efficiency. Premised on tensional forces of public choice' and `managerialism' the NPM model potentially creates conflicts between managers and professionals. Developed in OECD countries, and applied to less developed countries (LCDs) with generally ineffective public sectors; and admittedly an engrained corruption culture, NPM reforms are typified by increased bureaucratic centralisation, which restricts professionals' discretion. Using semi-structured interviews and a range of qualitative analytic devices, this thesis examines the challenges professional managers encounter under senior managers, when some support functions were privately outsourced, in line with NPM, in two corporatised hospitals in Ghana.

Findings suggest professionals feel by-passed, their discretion restricted, and their expertise ignored by senior managers, generating clashes over mediating the conflicting dualities of cost/quality, results/procedures, and output/outcome. Conceptualised as resistance strategies, professionals' response(s) to the encountered issues portrayed appreciable unconventionality and non-deviance, coming close to individualised version of work to rule, and professionalised version of weapons of the weak. Such professionals' resistance strategies elucidate the complexities of Ghana's embedded political, economic and socio-cultural context. The findings suggest the true outcomes of NPM reforms within this and similar contexts are masked, distorted by the refracting effects of corruption, producing a type of bureaucracy that encourages reduced devolution, tending to inhibit rather than aid effective delivery of public services.


AccidentsAmong the examined pathographies of over 1000 composers, we emphasized the importance of accidents as the cause of death of several composers. Some of the accidents occurred in wars, but the majority of them occurred during peacetime. [1,2] Pathographies are listed according to the chronological order of their occurrence, which points partly to the contemporariness of their etiology. The majority of these composers had died early and consequently. their creative work was suddenly interrupted. [3-7]In the period from 1600-2000 we analyzed pathographies of famous composers/musicians who died in accidents. We emphasize especially pathographies of Alkan, Chausson, Porter, Miller, Kenton. We mentioned pathographies of other composers in table 1. which shows the most important characteristics of composers and types of accidents.Charles Valentin Alkan (1813 - 1888), a French composer and pianist of Jewish origin. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, among the leading virtuoso pianists in Paris. At the age of seventy-five, he was killed in an accident. Namely, the full bookcase fell on him, while he was trying to reach the copy of Talmud. Alkan died in Paris on 29th March 1888 at the age of 74. [1-9]Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899), a French romantic composer. [1-6] His orchestral output was small, but significant and included his singular Symphony in B Flat Major, completed in 1890. When only 44 years old, Chausson died while staying at one of his country retreats, the Château de Mioussets, in Limay, Yvelines. Riding his bicycle downhill, Chausson hit a brick wall and died instantly. [9] The exact circumstances remain unclear; although apparently a freak accident, there has been the suggestion of suicide, as Chausson had been suffering from depression for some time. We can conclude that he was killed in bicycle-accident, from which he suffered a serious cranio-cerebral injury. He died relatively young and never reached his creative peak. [10,11]Cole Porter (1891 - 1964) an American composer and songwriter. [1,3,5-7,11] After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937 in Long Island, while he was under the influence of alcohol, Porter was left disabled and felt constant pain, but he continued to work. In this accident he broke both legs. [12] Afterwards he suffered from chronic ulcer and was in chronic pains. Porter's mother died in 1952, and his wife died from emphysema in 1954. By 1958, Porter's injuries caused a series of ulcers on his right leg. After 34 operations, the leg had to be amputated and replaced with an artificial limb. He tried to heal his fears with ethanol and analgesics, which were very damaging to his health. [13,14]Alton Glenn Miller (1904 -1944) an American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. [1,3,5,6] He died in an airplane accident during the flight from London to Paris. There are many controversies surrounding his death. [15] There are four theories about Miller's death in the airplane accident: crash due to bad weather, bombed by English heavy bombers returning from Germany; other sources state that he died from lung cancer in an American hospital, while others mention that Miller died in a French brothel from a heart attack. A 2014 article in the Chicago Tribune reported that, despite many theories which had been proposed, Miller's plane crashed because it had a faulty carburetor. The plane's engine had a type of carburetor that was known to be defective in cold weather and had a history of causing crashes in other aircraft by icing up. The theory that the plane was hit by a bomb jettisoned by Allied planes returning from an aborted bombing raid on Germany is impugned by the log of a plane-spotter which implies that the plane was heading in a direction which would avoid the zone where such bombs were jettisoned. [16,17]Stan Kenton (1911 - 1979), a famous American jazz musician. Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton (1911 - 1979) was a pianist, composer and arranger who led an innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. …


Comparative studies in Xanthomonas have provided a vast amount of data that enabled to deepen in the knowledge of those factors associated with virulence and Xanthomonas plant interaction. The species of this genus present a wide range of host plants and a large number of studies have been focused to elucidate which mechanism are involved in this characteristic. In this study, comparative genomic and phenotypic analysis were performed between X. citri subsp. citri (Xcc), one of the most studied pathogens within Xanthomonas, and X. arboricola pv. pruni (Xap), a pathogen which has aroused great interest in recent time. The work was aimed to find those elements that contribute to their host divergence despite the convergence in the symptoms that each species cause on Citrus spp. and Prunus spp., respectively. This study reveals a set of genes that could be putatively associated with the adaptation of these pathogens to their hosts, being the most remarkable those involved in environmental sensing systems such as the case of the TonB-dependent transporters, the sensors of the two-component system and the methyl accepting chemotaxis proteins. Other important variants were found in processes related to the decomposition of the cell wall as could be appreciated by their dissimilar set of cell-wall degrading enzymes. Type three effectors, as one of the most important factors in delineating the host specificity in Xanthomonas, also showed a different array when comparing both species, being some of them unique to each pathogen. On the other hand, only small variations could be connected to other features such as the motility appendages and surface adhesion proteins, but these differences were accompanied by a dissimilar capacity to attach on host and non-host leaf surface. The molecular factors found in this work provide the basis to perform a more in-depth functional analyses that unveil those actual factors associated with pathogenesis and host specificity in Xcc and Xap.


The compatibility of cisatracurium besylate with 91 other drugs during simulated Y-site injection was studied. Five milliliters of cisatracurium 0.1, 2, and 5 mg/mL (as besylate) in 5% dextrose injection was combined with 5 mL of each of 91 drugs in 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection. All combinations were prepared in duplicate and stored at approximately 23 degrees C. Samples were visually examined under normal laboratory fluorescent light and, if there was no obvious visual incompatibility, under high-intensity monodirectional light. Turbidity was measured as well. Particle sizing and counting was performed for selected combinations. All evaluations were performed at intervals up to four hours. Cisatracurium besylate at all three concentrations was compatible with most of the drugs tested. However, one drug (cefoperazone) was incompatible with cisatracurium besylate at all three concentrations, 14 (including many cephalosporins) were incompatible with cisatracurium besylate 2 and 5 mg/ mL, and 12 were incompatible with cisatracurium 5 mg/ mL. During simulated Y-site administration, cisatracurium 0.1, 2, and 5 mg/mL (as besylate) in 5% dextrose injection was compatible with 64 of 91 drugs for four hours at approximately 23 degrees C. Twenty-seven drugs were incompatible with cisatracurium besylate at one or more concentrations.


A p-n junction was made on p-type Si〈100〉 wafer (15 × 15 × 0.2 mm3 in size) via phosphorous diffusion at 900 °C. Porous Si (PSi) with ultralow reflectivity (<0.3% in the ultraviolet and visible regimes) was achieved by etching a Ag-coated n+ Si emitter in a solution of HF, H2O2 and H2O. The PSi was found to mainly consist of Si nanocrystallites with bandgap widths larger than that of bulk Si. Compared to other micro- or nanostructured Si-based crystalline-Si solar cells found in the literature, this PSi one possessed the feature of a graded band gap, which helped to suppress the surface recombination. In addition, the preparation method was readily applicable on large-scale-sized Si wafers. Also, the PSi acted as a down-shifter that absorbed the ultraviolet/violet light to which the Si solar cell responded poorly, and emitted a red one to which the cell responded well. Front and rear surface passivations were conducted by using SiO2 and Al2O3, respectively, to suppress the surface recombination and to facilitate the charge transfer. Indium-tin-oxide was used as the front electrode that was in good contact with the PSi, and Al was used as the rear one. For such a PSi-emitter crystalline-Si solar cell, enhancements of the photovoltaic responses from the ultraviolet to near-infrared regimes were observed; the open-circuit voltage was 606.8 mV, the short-circuit current density was 40.13 mA cm−2, the fill factor was 0.779 and the conversion efficiency was 18.97%.


We have measured the depolarized Rayleigh relaxation time of CS2 as a function of temperature and concentration in an optically isotropic solvent CCl4. The concentration dependence of the relaxation times indicates the importance of orientational pair correlation in CS2. The orientational pair correlation factor is found to depend on concentration at high CS2 concentration, as well as viscosity and temperature, in contrast to what is observed in other small molecules. The single particle reorientation times were obtained by extrapolating from the depolarized Rayleigh relaxation times to infinite dilution. These were compared with the predictions of the hydrodynamic slip and stick models for rotational diffusion. As is usual for small molecules, the slip boundary condition better approximates the experimental results. The single particle reorientation times were also compared with the correlation times obtained by 13C NMR and 33S NQR measurements. They were found to be in good agreement.


IgA nephropathy remains the most common primary glomerular disease worldwide. It affects children and adults of all ages, and is a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, making it a considerable public health issue in many countries. Despite being initially described over 50 years ago, there are still no disease specific treatments, with current management for most patients being focused on lifestyle measures and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade. However, significant advances in the understanding of its pathogenesis have been made particularly over the past decade, leading to great interest in developing new therapeutic strategies, and a significant rise in the number of interventional clinical trials being performed. In this review, we will summarise the current state of management of IgAN, and then describe major areas of interest where new therapies are at their most advanced stages of development, that include the gut mucosal immune system, B cell signalling, the complement system and non-immune modulators. Finally, we describe clinical trials that are taking place in each area and explore future directions for translational research.