Genomic instability is a hallmark of human cancers. Spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is a critical cellular mechanism that prevents chromosome missegregation and aneuploidy by blocking premature separation of sister chromatids. The process of sister-chromatid separation occurs when separase cleaves Scc1 of the cohesin complex holding sister-chromatids together. The cell prevents this event from taking place untimely by establishing regulatory mechanisms on separase. Thus, the SAC, much like the DNA damage checkpoint, is essential for genome stability.Although a large body of evidence supports an intimate relationship between defects in the DNA damage checkpoint and tumorigenesis, such evidence is lacking for the spindle assembly checkpoint. Attempts to disable SAC by inactivating individual component, such as Mad2, or BubR1, yielded only unviable mice.Securin was the first identified inhibitor of separase in budding yeast as PDS1 (1, 2). Deletion of PDS1 caused genome instability and lethality when treated with nocodazole (2). Based on these results, it was hypothesized that deletion of the securin gene would accelerate tumorigenesis in mammals through inducing aneuploidy.However, when securin was knocked out in mice, the mutant mice were essentially normal and the cells derived from these mice show an intact SAC (3, 4). Although, securin null cells are compromised in their ability to grow in the presence of sub-lethal doses of nocodazole (4), indicating that securin does contribute to the proper functioning of the checkpoint. The over-expression of securin has been associated with metastasis in human breast cancer and therefore my securin knockout mice have not developed tumors.Apparently securin gain-of-function or loss-of-function does not have strong enough oncogenic activity to initiate tumor development, but perhaps in combination with a stronger oncogene tumors will develop faster and more aggressively. To test this, I am combining securin knockout with MMTV-ErbB2 transgenic mice, which develop adenocarcinomas in the mammary tissue by approximately 6 months old (5).Given the association of securin expression with metastasis, it is possible that securin may have a role in tumor cell metastasis. To test that possibility, I am taking advantage of the MMTV-ErbB2 mice again as these mice show lung metastasis by approximately 8 months old (5). Therefore, my hypothesis is that loss of securin facilitates tumor formation by destabilizing the genome as a result of mitotic errors, but may hinder metastasis because of its cell cycle unrelated functions.References:1. Yamamoto, A., Guacci, V., and Koshland, D. (1996a). J. Cell Biol. 133, 85–97.2. Yamamoto, A., Guacci, V., and Koshland, D. (1996b). J. Cell Biol. 133, 99–110.3. Mei, J., Huang, X., and Zhang, P. (2001). Curr. Biol. 11, 1197–1201.4. Huang, X., Hatcher, R., York, P., Zhang, P.(2005). Mol. Bio. of the Cell. 16, 4725–4732.5. Muller WJ; Sinn E; Pattengale PK; Wallace R; Leder P. 1988. Cell 54(1):105-15. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 6172.


Colony-forming unit fibroblasts (CFU-Fs), analogous to those giving rise to bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been identified in different tissues. CFU-Fs are multipotent progenitor cells, with a supportive paracrine and immunomodulatory function. They share the expression of surface antigens, are capable of self-renewal, and to differentiate into osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages in vitro. Our laboratory has isolated, for the first time, CFU-Fs from the adult murine heart. These cells are included within the Sca1+ PDGFRα+ CD31- fraction of interstitial cells, mainly associated with microvessels and the perivascular adventitial niche of larger vessels. Here we show that resident cCFU-Fs, are quiescent in homeostatic conditions, relatively more hypoxic and have a lower metabolic profile compared to other interstitial cells. Treatment with PDGF-AB ligand stimulates cCFU-Fs to exit the quiescent state, potentially making them more responsive to mitogenic and differentiative factors. In a mouse with a H2B-eGFP fusion gene knocked-in the Pdgfrα locus, cCFU-Fs lay in the GFPhigh population. After myocardial infarction, a GFPmed population appears, which has partially lost the expression of Sca1 and PDGFRα proteins, and consists largely of activated myofibroblasts. Likely derived from cCFU-Fs or related stromal fraction, GFPmed cells are significantly reduced by inhibiting PDGFRα signalling and increased by systemic PDGF-AB treatment. Despite augmenting the GFPmed myofibroblasts-like population, short-term PDGF-AB treatment is beneficial, leading to reduced scar, and increased vascular density and ejection fraction. A crucial factor in cardiac repair is the fine balance between pro-inflammatory (type1) and pro-reparative/pro-angiogenic (type2) immune responses, which can be regulated by MSCs. interestingly PDGF-AB treatment seems to be associated with an earlier resolution of the type1 response at 5 days after MI, compared to controls. We hypothesize that the beneficial effects of short term PDGF-AB treatment are due to early activation of cCFU-Fs and stromal cells from quiescence, leading to enhanced pro-angiogenic, anti-apoptotic and immunomodulatory impacts.


A case of clear cell dermatofibroma is presented. Clinically, a 41-year-old woman exhibited a hard brown nodule on her instep that was assumed to be a dermatofibroma. Histologically, more than 90% of the lesion was composed of clear cells. Epidermal hyperplasia and a storiform arrangement of spindle cells and sclerotic collagen in some foci at the periphery of the lesion indicated the fibrohistiocytic origin. Moreover, prominent vascularity and some bizarre giant cells in the lower part of the lesion were reminiscent of multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma. Of a broad panel of antibodies, the lesion was positive only for Factor XIIIa (and vimentin). Ultrastructurally, clear-cell changes corresponded to a mostly translucent cytoplasm, focally with some endoplasmic reticulum and prominent lysosomal structures. A review of 1,496 dermatofibromas seen during the last 15 years at our institute revealed 12 cases (1%) with similar clear-cell changes in a minor part of the infiltrate (less than 10%). The differential diagnosis includes metastases of renal-cell carcinoma, which exhibit more atypia and mitoses and are positive for epithelial cell markers; clear-cell sarcoma, a lesion of tendons or aponeurosis with some moderate cytoplasmic melanin deposition and immunoreactivity with HMB-45; and various non-X histiocytic disorders, such as the predominantly vacuolated type of juvenile (or adult) xanthogranulomas or papular xanthoma, with a mixed infiltrate of various types of mononuclear and multinucleate histiocytes positive with a variety of macrophage markers.


The emotional strain of bone marrow transplantation procedures on child patients, family members and hospital personnel is described, and an illustrative case history is offered. Reasons for the unusually close relationship between family and staff are considered, and the necessity of appropriate psychological support for patients, siblings, parents, and members of the medical team is delineated.


Normal concentrations of total serum thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) were found in a patient who was hyperthyroid because of a hyperfunctioning thyroid adenoma. After surgical removal of the adenoma, the patient became clinically euthyroid; the abnormally high free thyroxine (FT4), triiodothyronine resin uptake (T3R) and rapid achilles reflex time (ART) returned to normal. A low-normal concentration of thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a low level of TBG determined by radioimmunoassay were found in the patient. The TBG remained low-normal after the restitution of euthroidism. Low TBG levels were found in the patients 5 brothers and maternal uncle, and a low-normal concentration was found in her mother. It is postulated that the patient was heterozygous carrier for a genetically determined partial (non-zero) TBG deficiency and that a low-normal TBG concentration decreased total T3 as well as T4 when the patient was hyperthyroid. To the author's knowledge, this is the first case of hyperthyroidism associated with both normal total T4 and T3 concentrations. The diagnosis of hyperthyroidism in the presence of low TBG is difficult, and determination of FT4 and free triiodothyronine (FT3) may be necessary to establish the diagnosis.


Cu-Zr-Ti metallic glass was subjected to high pressure torsion applying different revolution times (180s, 120s, 60s). Both deformation and deformation rate dependent microstructural and thermal properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and calorimetry, respectively. In order to estimate the temperature rise in the metallic glass during high pressure torsion, quasi three-dimensional heat conduction equation with a source term was considered. Solutions indicate that the saturation temperature strongly depends on the revolution time, i. e. on the deformation rate.


We propose a novel framework for constructing linear time-invariant (LTI) models for datadriven representations of the Koopman operator for a class of stable nonlinear dynamics. The Koopman operator (generator) lifts a finite-dimensional nonlinear system to a possibly infinite-dimensional linear feature space. To utilize it for modeling, one needs to discover finite-dimensional representations of the Koopman operator. Learning suitable features is challenging, as one needs to learn LTI features that are both Koopman-invariant (evolve linearly under the dynamics) as well as relevant (spanning the original state) a generally unsupervised learning task. For a theoretically well-founded solution to this problem, we propose learning Koopman-invariant coordinates by composing a diffeomorphic learner with a lifted aggregate system of a latent linear model. Using an unconstrained parameterization of stable matrices along with the aforementioned feature construction, we learn the Koopman operator features without assuming a predefined library of functions or knowing the spectrum, while ensuring stability regardless of the operator approximation accuracy. We demonstrate the superior efficacy of the proposed method in comparison to a state-ofthe-art method on the well-known LASA handwriting dataset.


Chip size distribution is important in kraft pulping, as it affects chemical use, quality, and yield in pulp production. Pinus taeda logs with two storage periods (0 and 2 weeks) and two log lengths (2.4 and 7.0 m) were processed with a disc chipper. Logs stored for two weeks produced chips with 7% less moisture than logs with no storage period. The storage period significantly influenced the quantities of overthick, accept, pin, and fines classes. Logs stored for two weeks produced 1.7% more overthick, 3.8% more pin, and 1.1% fines than logs with no stocking period. Consequently, the amount of accept produced was 6.2% higher for chips from processing freshly harvested logs. Log length influenced the produced quantities of oversize, overthick, and accept. Logs with a length of 2.4 m produced chips with 1.4% more oversize, 2.5% more overthick, and 4.6% less accept, compared to 7.0 m logs. Thus, it was concluded that Pinus taeda logs with shorter storage periods and longer lengths generate more chips in the "accept" class.


Public speaking occupies a central position in secondary education, and often teachers introduce improvisation training to improve this competence, but it is yet unclear if this teaching approach has a beneficial impact. In this respect, this paper addresses the following research question: Does an improvisation training that focuses on eye-contact, voice, and body language have an impact on the public speaking competence of students in secondary education? In this study with a quasi-experimental design, we assessed the impact of the intervention with a control group with a preand posttest of a speaker's public speaking competence scored via compared judgement of videos of speaking exercises. The intervention had a significant but modest effect, but a number of important caveats need to be formulated. Age of participants, group size, and professionalism of the instructor might all partly determine the effect of such an improvisation training, but these variables were not integrated into the research design of this study.


A patient developed pulmonary damage following the insertion of a Swan-Ganz catheter into the pulmonary artery. Suggestions are made on how to avoid this complication.


Enhancing competitiveness through quality has become an increasingly important challenge of learning in organizations. This paper discusses that challenge by presenting conceptual and empirical implications from a research project on quality implementation strategies and learning. Links managerial perceptions of quality, commitment to quality, and learning as a mechanism of quality implementation. Examines quality implementation from a managerial ideological perspective. Case study data gathered from four Finnish manufacturing companies show that the advantageous learning in quality implementation is based on developing solid conceptual skills for managers in the first place, managerial commitment to quality and the sharing of quality thinking in the entire organization. Discusses these factors and describes how positive and negative learning cycles develop and lead organizations to promote and avoid learning accordingly. Proposes that implementing quality through learning is basically an ideological phenomenon. Ideological thinking may develop into a managerial skill that is a source of organizational strength. Implications are made for managers on the role of conceptual skills and ideological thinking in effective quality implementation.


Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for enhancing sugar yields has been studied extensively over the years. Conventional methods employed to preprocess biomass to make it conducive for enzymatic hydrolysis have been hampered by issues like poor energy efficiency and production of undesirable by-products. Ultrasonication, which involves the treatment of biomass through ultrasonic sound waves in a liquid medium without additional chemicals, is believed to have potential for biomass pretreatment. In this study the effects of ultrasonication on switchgrass, a potential feedstock for bioethanol production due to its high cellulosic content, were investigated. Results of compositional analysis and scanning electron microscopy conducted to visualize structural disintegration in sonicated samples were used to select pretreated samples for enzymatic hydrolysis at different enzyme loadings. Temperature controlled ultrasonication for 60 min at 100% amplitude in a stainless steel vessel, resulted in the highest carbohydrate conversions of 84.6 % and 84.7% with Cellic® CTec2 and Alternafuel 200 L at 0.3 g enzyme protein g -1 dry biomass, respectively.  However ultrasonication did not significantly impact composition of switchgrass and subsequent hydrolysis of untreated and treated samples was not significantly different. Based on the overall results, it is inferred that although ultrasonication alone did not provide enhanced sugar generation from switchgrass, its tendency to disrupt biomass structure could be utilized for preliminary size reduction steps and performance could be improved by further investigation of frequencies, amplitudes, enzyme loadings and process operation parameters. Keywords: Panicum virgatum , a mplitude , p retreatment, h ydrolysis , s canning electron microscopy


This study tested the influence of system complexity on the environmental assessment of a chemical. Marine microcosms were perturbed with a phthalate ester, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). Concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 ..mu..g of DEHP per litre were added to the water-column subsystem of marine microcosms for 30 days during the summer (18/sup 0/C) and winter (1/sup 0/C) seasons. Significant portions of the DEHP losses from the water-column subsystem during the experiments were due to the complete breakdown of the parent compound to carbon dioxide (CO/sub 2/). In the benthic subsystem, DEHP concentrations in the sediment were increased by more than 50 and 250 times the concentration in the water column during the winter and summer seasons, respectively. Statistically significant (..cap alpha.. = 0.05) reductions in the fluxes of ammonia (NH/sub 3/) from the benthic subsystem were observed in microcosms receiving 100 ..mu..g of DEHP per litre during the summer. Concentrations of DEHP in selected bivalves ranged from 174 to 229 000 ..mu..g of DEHP per wet kilogram, depending upon the water column exposure concentrations and the season of the year.


The circuit presented is a power-efficient implementation of a 16 Gb/s I/O link NRZ receiver in 22 nm CMOS SOI. A CTLE feeds an 8-tap DFE for ISI equalization. The first tap uses digital speculation and the following seven taps are realized with switched-capacitor technique. Timing recovery and control are performed with a Mueller-Müller type-A baud rate CDR. The receiver architecture is half rate and requires only a single phase rotator. In total, six comparators in each even/odd signal path slice recover both data and timing information. The timing information extraction requires four additional comparators per slice in parallel to the two required by the first-tap DFE speculation. The CDR digital section operates at quarter rate and features a low-latency implementation for the timing control loop. At 16 Gb/s, 1 Vppd PRBS31 data transmitted without FFE equalization are recovered error-free (BER <; 10-12) across a PCB channel with 34 dB attenuation at 8 GHz. The measured tracking bandwidth is 30 kppm (16 GHz ±480 MHz), and an amplitude of 3 UIPP is tolerated at 1 MHz sinusoidal jitter. The sinusoidal jitter amplitude tolerance measured at 10 Gb/s is 0.4 UIPP at 10 MHz and remains above 0.2 UIPP up to 1 GHz with PRBS31 data recovered error-free (BER<; 10-12) across a PCB channel with 27 dB attenuation at 5 GHz. The power efficiency is 3.7 mW/Gb/s, including the full-rate clock receiver.


Pragmatic design of triple-gate (TG) devices is presented by considering corner effects, short-channel effects, and channel-doping profiles. A novel TG MOSFET structure with a polysilicon gate process is proposed using asymmetrical polysilicon gates. CMOS-compatible 's for high-performance circuit applications can be achieved for both nFET and pFET. The superior subthreshold characteristics and device performance are analyzed and validated by 3-D numerical simulations. Comparisons of device characteristics with a midgap metal gate are presented.


Background The average number of clerkship weeks required for the pediatric core rotation by the US medical schools is significantly lower than those required for internal medicine or general surgery. Objective The objective behind conducting this survey study was to explore the perceptions and expectations of medical students and pediatric physicians about the third-year pediatric clerkship. Methods An anonymous survey questionnaire was distributed to all general pediatric physicians at Hamad Medical Corporation and to students from Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar. Results Feedback was obtained from seven attending pediatricians (100% response rate), eight academic pediatric fellow physicians (100% response rate), 36 pediatric resident physicians (60% response rate), and 36 medical students (60% response rate). Qualitative and quantitative data values were expressed as frequencies along with percentages and mean ± standard deviation and median and range. A P-value <0.05 from a 2-tailed t-test was considered to be statistically significant. Participants from both sides agreed that medical students receive <4 hours per week of teaching, clinical rounds is the best environment for teaching, adequate bedside is provided, and that there is no adequate time for both groups to get acquainted to each other. On the other hand, respondents disagreed on the following topics: almost two-thirds of medical students perceive postgraduate year 1 and 2 pediatric residents as the best teachers, compared to 29.4% of physicians; 3 weeks of inpatient pediatric clerkship is enough for learning; the inpatient pediatric environment is safe and friendly; adequate feedback is provided by physicians to students; medical students have accessibility to physicians; students are encouraged to practice evidence-based medicine; and students get adequate exposure to multi-professional teams. Conclusion Assigning devoted physicians for education, providing proper job description or definition of the roles of medical student and physician in the pediatric team, providing more consistent feedback, and extending the duration of the pediatric clerkship can diminish the gap of perceptions and expectations between pediatric physicians and medical students.


Context. Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) cosmic-ray (CR) fluxes from satellites and balloon-borne experiments are snapshots of the solar activity imprinted on the interstellar (IS) fluxes. Given a series of snapshots, the unknown IS flux shape and the level of modulation (for each snapshot) can be recovered. Aims. We wish (i) to provide the most accurate determination of the IS H and He fluxes from TOA data alone, (ii) to obtain the associated modulation levels (and uncertainties) while fully accounting for the correlations with the IS flux uncertainties, and (iii) to inspect whether the minimal force-field approximation is sufficient to explain all the data at hand. Methods. Using H and He TOA measurements, including the recent high-precision AMS, BESS-Polar, and PAMELA data, we performed a non-parametric fit of the IS fluxes JIS H, He and modulation level φi for each data-taking period. We relied on a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) engine to extract the probability density function and correlations (hence the credible intervals) of the sought parameters. Results. Although H and He are the most abundant and best measured CR species, several datasets had to be excluded from the analysis because of inconsistencies with other measurements. From the subset of data passing our consistency cut, we provide readyto-use best-fit and credible intervals for the H and He IS fluxes from MeV/n to PeV/n energy (with a relative precision in the range [2− 10%] at 1σ). Given the strong correlation between JIS and φi parameters, the uncertainties on JIS translate into ∆φ ≈ ±30 MV (at 1σ) for all experiments. We also find that the presence of 3He in He data biases φ towards higher φ values by ∼ 30 MV. The force-field approximation, despite its limitation, gives an excellent (χ2/dof= 1.02) description of the recent high-precision TOA H and He fluxes. Conclusions. The analysis must be extended to different charge species and more realistic modulation models. It would benefit from the AMS-02 unique capability of providing frequent high-precision snapshots of the TOA fluxes over a full solar cycle.


The mucin glycoproteins contribute to the mucus barrier throughout the body. Close integration with innate and immune defensive systems demands controlled turnover while retaining continuous defensive functions.Members of the mucin family show tissue specificity. They comprise secreted gel-forming and membrane-associated forms, each with a characteristic peptide domain based structure. This molecular organisation enables formation of secreted, gel networks and the cell surface glycocalyx. Mucins carry a large range of tissue specific O-glycan chains linked through N-acetyl-D-Galactosamine, to Serine and threonine residues in Variable number tandem repeat domains. A smaller number of N-glycans are responsible for processing of the mucin peptide during biosynthesis.Mucin turnover is a balance between biosynthesis, oligomerisation, network formation, physical disruption and enzymes which degrade glycan chains, the peptide backbone and generate and cleave disulphide bridges in mucin monomers, dimer and trimers. Mucin network formation is also dependent on proteins and peptides which establish a stable adherent mucus gel, such as trefoil peptides, gastrokines, transferrin, secretory IgA. Interaction of the resident gastrointestinal microflora with the host mucus layer is especially important and forms an integral part of the dynamic defensive barrier. In the gut there are continuous dietary based interactions, including peptidases and proteases, bile salts and bacterial enzymes. Evidence suggests that the formation of mucin fragments are a fundamental part of the turnover process and that these are generated on a tissue and mucin specific basis.


Abstract
 This article explores the different moral and legal arguments used by protagonists in the debate about whether or not to conduct a humanitarian intervention in Darfur. The first section briefly outlines four moral and legal positions on whether there is (and should be) a right and/or duty of humanitarian intervention: communitarianism, restrictionist and counter-restrictionist legal positivism and liberal cosmopolitanism. The second section then provides an overview of the Security Council's debate about responding to Darfur's crisis, showing how its policy was influenced by both normative concerns and hard-nosed political calculations. The article concludes by asking what Darfur's case reveals about the legitimacy and likelihood of humanitarian intervention in such catastrophes and the role of the UN Security Council as the primary authorising body for the use of international force. The authors argue that this case demonstrates that for the cosmopolitan/counter-restrictionist case to prevail pivotal states need to put humanitarian emergencies on the global agenda and express a willingness to act without Council authorisation, though the question of how to proceed in cases where the Council is deadlocked remains vexed.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of a smoke-evacuation unit on reducing ultrafine particle concentration in the operating room (OR) during the approach to the proximal tibia for tibial plateau-leveling osteotomy (TPLO).

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Twenty-nine client-owned dogs undergoing unilateral TPLO at a single institution were assigned to either smoke-evacuator groups (SE; n = 15) or non-smoke-evacuator groups (NSE; n = 14).

METHODS
Dogs were randomly assigned to the SE group or the NSE group. An airborne particle measuring device measured and recorded baseline and intraoperative particles per cm3 (ppc) during the approach to the proximal tibia during which electrosurgery was used to provide hemostasis, dissect subcutis, transect and elevate fascia. The mean ppc, maximum ppc, and baseline ppc were compared between groups. Mean ppc was also compared to the baseline ppc within each group.

RESULTS
During surgery, mean ppc (1352) and maximum ppc (62 450) for the NSE group were higher in than mean ppc (763) and maximum ppc (10 100) for the SE group (P < .0001, P < .0001, respectively). Mean ppc was higher in both SE (mean ppc = 763; P < .0001) and NSE (mean ppc = 1352; P = .0001) than their respective baseline ppc (213 and 240).

CONCLUSION
The use of a smoke evacuator decreased particle concentrations 56.4% during the approach to the proximal tibia. Performing the approach to the proximal tibia resulted in higher particle concentrations than the baseline, regardless of smoke-evacuator use.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Surgeons should be aware of smoke produced by electrosurgery, potential health consequences, and methods of smoke mitigation (smoke evacuation).


We systematically develop the multivariable counterpart of the theory of weighted shifts on rooted directed trees. Capitalizing on the theory of product of directed graphs, we introduce and study the notion of multishifts on directed Cartesian product of rooted directed trees. This framework unifies the theory of weighted shifts on rooted directed trees and that of classical unilateral multishifts. Moreover, this setup brings into picture some new phenomena such as the appearance of system of linear equations in the eigenvalue problem for the adjoint of a multishift. In the first half of the paper, we focus our attention mostly on the multivariable spectral theory and function theory including finer analysis of various joint spectra and wandering subspace property for multishifts. In the second half, we separate out two special classes of multishifts, which we refer to as torally balanced and spherically balanced multishifts. The classification of these two classes is closely related to toral and spherical polar decompositions of multishifts. Furthermore, we exhibit a family of spherically balanced multishifts on $d$-fold directed Cartesian product $\mathscr T$ of rooted directed trees. These multishifts turn out be multiplication $d$-tuples $\mathscr M_{z, a}$ on certain reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces $\mathscr H_a$ of vector-valued holomorphic functions defined on the unit ball $\mathbb B^d$ in $\mathbb C^d$, which can be thought of as tree analogs of the multiplication $d$-tuples acting on the reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces associated with the kernels $\frac{1}{(1-\langle{z},{{w}\rangle})^a}~(z, w \in \mathbb B^d, a \in \mathbb N).$


Trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 are associated with serious and/or fatal birth defects, with death frequently occurring in the first month of life. Previous studies are limited by small samples and are dated. This study characterized the comorbid birth defects associated with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 among US liveborn infants using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Kids' Inpatient Database and Nationwide Inpatient Sample, two large, current and nationally representative databases. The occurrence of 39 commonly reported comorbid birth defects among infants with trisomies 18 and 13 was compared to the occurrence of malformations among newborns without trisomies. The prevalences of trisomy 18 and 13 were 1.29/10,000 and 0.85/10,000 live births, respectively. Among infants with trisomy 18, 61% were female, 45.4% with heart defects. Among those with trisomy 13, 53% were female, 38.4% had heart defects, 24.5% had orofacial anomalies, and 11.2% had central nervous system abnormalities. More than half of the newborns with both conditions died prior to discharge. This updated information can be used to inform clinical decision‐making and may help providers better prepare families for infants with trisomies. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this paper, we consider a quantum model of gravitation interacting with a Born-Infeld(B-I) type scalar field φ. The corresponding Wheeler-Dewitt equation can be solved analytically for both very large and small cosmological scale factor. In the condition that small cosmological scale factor tend to limit, the wave function of the universe can be obtained by applying the methods developed by Vilenkin, Hartle and Hawking. Both Vilenkin's and Hartle-Hawking's wave function predicts nonzero cosmological constant. The Vilenkin's wave function predicts a universe with a cosmological constant as large as possible, while the Hartle-Hawking's wave function predicts a universe with positive cosmological constant, which equals to 1 λ . It is different from Coleman's result that cosmological constant is zero, and also different from Hawking's prediction of zero cosmological constant in quantum cosmology with linear scalar field. We suggest that dark energy in the universe might result from the B-I type scalar field with potential and the universe can undergo a phase of accelerating expansion. The equation of state parameter lies in the range of −1 <w< − 1 3 . When the potential V (φ) = 1 λ , our Lagrangian describes the Chaplygin gas. In order to give a explanation to the observational results of state parameter w< −1, we also investigate the phantom model that posses negative kinetic energy. We find that weak and strong energy conditions are violated for phantom B-I type scalar field. At last, we study a specific potential with the form V0(1+ φ φ0 )e −( φ φ0 ) in phantom B-I scalar field in detail. The attractor property of the system is shown by numerical analysis.


BACKGROUND
Nutrition monitoring is essential in feeding tube-dependent patients receiving home enteral nutrition (HEN). We identified lack of consistency in dietitian evaluations for our pediatric patients receiving HEN. Consequently, after establishing an institutional standard for nutrition reassessment intervals, we underwent a quality improvement (QI) initiative to improve rates of adherence to standard frequency of dietitian consults and referrals among patients receiving HEN.

METHODS
A prospective QI initiative from April 2021 to December 2021 was performed using multiple plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles. Interventions included (1) a reminder placard, (2) the display of feeding tube status and date of the last dietitian note in the electronic health record (EHR) clinic schedule dashboard, and (3) an autotext smart element to the EHR default clinic note template. The goal was to enable clinicians to quickly identify the need for nutrition evaluation with either a same-day dietitian consult or a referral to nutrition clinic.

RESULTS
Among 111 HEN patients with >6 months since last nutrition encounter, the dietitian referral/consult rate prior to any interventions was 58%. The placard (PDSA 1) was abandoned before obtaining reportable data because of sampling bias and clinic workflow inefficiencies. The clinic schedule dashboard modification (PDSA 2) improved the dietitian referral/consult rate to 66%. Subsequently, the clinic note smart element (PDSA 3) increased the rate to 77%. An 8-week postintervention check revealed a compliance rate of 78%.

CONCLUSION
Implementation of minimally interruptive EHR enhancements showed a sustained increase in dietitian referrals and consults for patients receiving HEN, which may improve nutrition outcomes.


SUMMARY Hypermedia systems are evolutionary in nature. This paper presents SEM-HP, a model based on a semantic, systemic and evolutionary perspective, which facilitates the management of hypermedia evolution during the whole lifecycle process. Following the model the architecture of hypermedia systems can be conceived as composed of three subsystems (conceptual, presentation and navigation) and two abstraction levels, the system level and the meta level (the first used by the reader and the second by the designer). The objective of this division is to achieve a good separation of concerns both in the development and in the evolution processes and to obtain a better understanding, thus facilitating the further development of tools.


The Korea Multi-purpose Accelerator Complex (KOMAC) has developed a target/ion source (TIS) to generate a Li-8 radioactive isotope beam. The basic concept of the TIS is that the Li isotope is produced at a beryllium-oxide target irradiated by a 100-MeV proton beam, and Li atoms are ionized at a surface ionization ion source (SIS). Various numerical studies were conducted to design the TIS. The FLUKA code was utilized to estimate the Li-8 production rate and to find an optimum target thickness. Also, a simple Monte Carlo code was developed to estimate the ionization efficiency of the SIS. In addition, a zero-dimensional power balance model of the TIS was developed, and a three-dimensional finite-element method was applied to obtain detailed thermal analysis results. On the basis of the thermal analysis, the related design and operation parameters were determined. The TIS designed by using various numerical studies was fabricated and tested. The TIS will be irradiated by a proton beam and generate Li-8 beam for β-NMR facility.


Multiple description coding (MDC) is a promising alternative for robust transmission of information over non-prioritized and unpredictable networks. Especially, MDC has emerged as an attractive approach for video applications where retransmission is unacceptable or infeasible. In this paper, an effective multiple description video coding scheme is introduced. This scheme is mainly constructed using motion-compensated prediction in temporal domain and multiple description lattice vector quantization (MDLVQ) for wavelet coefficients. The experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme


Computing the convolution $A\star B$ of two length-$n$ integer vectors $A,B$ is a core problem in several disciplines. It frequently comes up in algorithms for Knapsack, $k$-SUM, All-Pairs Shortest Paths, and string pattern matching problems. For these applications it typically suffices to compute convolutions of nonnegative vectors. This problem can be classically solved in time $O(n\log n)$ using the Fast Fourier Transform. However, often the involved vectors are sparse and hence one could hope for output-sensitive algorithms to compute nonnegative convolutions. This question was raised by Muthukrishnan and solved by Cole and Hariharan (STOC '02) by a randomized algorithm running in near-linear time in the (unknown) output-size $t$. Chan and Lewenstein (STOC '15) presented a deterministic algorithm with a $2^{O(\sqrt{\log t\cdot\log\log n})}$ overhead in running time and the additional assumption that a small superset of the output is given; this assumption was later removed by Bringmann and Nakos (ICALP '21). In this paper we present the first deterministic near-linear-time algorithm for computing sparse nonnegative convolutions. This immediately gives improved deterministic algorithms for the state-of-the-art of output-sensitive Subset Sum, block-mass pattern matching, $N$-fold Boolean convolution, and others, matching up to log-factors the fastest known randomized algorithms for these problems. Our algorithm is a blend of algebraic and combinatorial ideas and techniques. Additionally, we provide two fast Las Vegas algorithms for computing sparse nonnegative convolutions. In particular, we present a simple $O(t\log^2t)$ time algorithm, which is an accessible alternative to Cole and Hariharan's algorithm. We further refine this new algorithm to run in Las Vegas time $O(t\log t\cdot\log\log t)$, matching the running time of the dense case apart from the $\log\log t$ factor.


Using a survey of 430 farmer respondents in the Boone and North Raccoon River watersheds in Iowa, we examine the impacts of three program innovations—reverse auctions, spatially targeted payments, and higher offered payments—on agricultural conservation program cost-effectiveness and participation by farmers. We combine farmer responses to a discrete choice experiment offering voluntary conservation contracts with township-level estimates of per-acre nitrogen reductions from each practice derived from the process-based ecohydrological Soil and Water Assessment Tool model. Using a random-parameters logit model, we show that both cost-reducing and benefit-boosting interventions reduce budgetary costs per projected pound of nitrogen removed from the watershed for each practice and thus are more costeffective than the prevailing current cost-share programs. However, we find that these interventions can reduce participation by 30%–70%. Our policy simulations show that even with large budgets, the watershed-level nitrogen reduction from all policy interventions remain far below the policy targets set by the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Furthermore, we find cover crop contracts are far more costeffective than no-till/strip-till split nitrogen application contracts.


Supporting remote dynamic update on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) allows software of sensor nodes to be dynamically updated or enhanced to adapt to changed environmental conditions or application requirements. Many researches use diff-based approaches to transmit only the code difference to sensor nodes for updating. For the resource-limited WSNs, we have proposed a new diff-based approach named Two-Stage Diff to dynamically update software components effectively in sensor nodes. By using some carefully designed methods to increase the similarities between the old and the new program images, our mechanism can obtain much smaller code difference than traditional diff-based approaches. Besides, flash memory characteristics in erasing and writing data are considered in designing the file format of transmitted update data. Thus, the transmission size of the updated data can be greatly reduced. Especially, our sensor nodes only need to perform simple work instead of complicated dynamic linking in updating program image. As a result, our mechanism can incur less resource consumption and be more suitable for operating in resource-limited WSNs. Experiments with Tiny OS show that our Two-Stage Diff can effectively reduce the size of transmitted update data and the update processing time can be significantly reduced as well.


The inscription, written on two continuous lines in the two fluting cuts of an Ionic column, is a dedicatory epigram and consists of five hexameters. The dedication is attributed to Kallimachos of Aphidna, the Athenian polemarch who died at Marathon in 490 BC, according to Herodotus. The reconstruction of his name was made possible starting with the demotic Ἀφιδναῖο[ς] (l. 1) and the term πολέ]μαρχος (l. 3): it leads to the conclusion that the writing of the dedication took place likely in two moments: when Kallimachos was still alive (lines 1-2) and after his death (lines 3-5). The state of conservation is fragmentary: hence the multiple restitutions of the text proposed by scholars.


In this work, we derived three-dimensional simplified spherical harmonics approximated higher order diffusion equations. We also solved the higher order diffusion equations using a finite element method and compared the solutions from the first-order diffusion equation and Monte Carlo simulations. We found that the conducted model is able to improve the first-order diffusion solution in a transport-like homogeneous or heterogeneous medium. Reconstructed images based on the higher order diffusion model are also presented. We conclude that the developed higher order diffusion model is able to accurately describe light propagation in biological tissues and to offer improved image reconstruction.


Purpose While VZV DNA and antigen have been detected in acute and chronic VZV keratitis, it is unclear whether productive infection of corneal cells is ongoing or whether residual, noninfectious VZV antigens elicit inflammation. Herein, we examined VZV-infected primary human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) and keratocytes (HKs) to elucidate the pathogenesis of VZV keratitis. Methods HCECs and HKs were mock- or VZV infected. Seven days later, cells were examined for morphology, proinflammatory cytokine and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) release, ability to recruit peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and neutrophils, and MMP substrate cleavage. Results Both cell types synthesized infectious virus. VZV-infected HCECs proliferated, whereas VZV-infected HKs died. Compared to mock-infected cells, VZV-infected HCECs secreted significantly more IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12p70 that were confirmed at the transcript level, and MMP-1 and MMP-9; conditioned supernatant attracted PBMCs and neutrophils and cleaved MMP substrates. In contrast, VZV-infected HKs suppressed cytokine secretion except for IL-8, which attracted neutrophils, and suppressed MMP release and substrate cleavage. Conclusions Overall, VZV-infected HCECs recapitulate findings of VZV keratitis with respect to epithelial cell proliferation, pseudodendrite formation and creation of a proinflammatory environment, providing an in vitro model for VZV infection of corneal epithelial cells. Furthermore, the proliferation and persistence of VZV-infected HCECs suggest that these cells may serve as viral reservoirs if immune clearance is incomplete. Finally, the finding that VZV-infected HKs die and suppress most proinflammatory cytokines and MMPs may explain the widespread death of these cells with unchecked viral spread due to ineffective recruitment of PBMCs.


Based on the HART protocol, the intelligent temperature transmitter takes microprocessor (MSP430F1611) as the core. In this paper, the development, the definition and the function of HART protocol are introduced. In according to the design and requirements of the HART protocol communication module of the intelligent temperature transmitter, based on the chips of the HART modem (HT1200) and loop-powered DAC (AD421), the software and hardware of HART protocol communication module are designed.


The evolution of phenotypic plasticity requires a number of conditions. Selection of plasticity is favoured when the organism experience environmental change, costs are low and cues are reliable about the environmental heterogeneity. However, organisms living in stable environments, not showing constitutive traits but a large amount of plasticity, are predicted to demonstrate high rates of gene flow in order for selection to favour the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, which accordingly should provide weak genetic structures across populations. We used the pulmonate freshwater gastropod Radix balthica, a species with known and considerable shell shape variation due to predator-induced plasticity, and used amplified fragment length polymorphism markers to test if the rate of gene flow can explain the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Since R. balthica inhabit water bodies with different but consistent predator regimes, we envisaged a large dispersal rate. However, we found a contradictory result with clear population structures, even among adjacent ponds in southern Sweden. We discuss this apparent paradox in contrast to the evolution of ecotype formation, colonization mechanisms that have the potential to reduce gene flow and, in the context of costs of plasticity, we consider new perspectives about relaxed and variable selection that may drive the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. (Less)


The dominant approach to sapiential compositions found in the caves at and near Qumran has been based on traditional views of the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible. The intention here is to look rather at the likely contexts of the transmission of the sapiential literature in the movement that preserved the Scrolls. In so doing, particular attention is given to esoteric writings. The first part of the paper outlines three key factors that indicate how a change of perspective might be justified and facilitated, namely views among biblical scholars that the overarching category of Wisdom Literature has lost much of its heuristic value, early Jewish views on evil and how to deal with it, and views on secrecy in early Judaism. The second major part is a brief consideration of sapiential compositions in the light of those key factors, suggesting a hierarchy of texts to match the social hierarchy and its accompanying hierarchy of knowledge for the group responsible for collecting the Scrolls in the caves at and near Qumran.


Background - Traditional fishing communities are strongholds of ethnobiological knowledge but establishing to what degree they harbor cultural consensus about different aspects of this knowledge has been a challenge in many ethnobiological studies. Methods - We conducted an ethnobiological study in an artisanal fishing community in northeast Brazil, where we interviewed 91 community members of different genders and dedicated to distinct activities, in order to obtain free lists and salience indices of the fish they know. To establish whether there is cultural consensus in their traditional knowledge on fish, we engaged a smaller subset of 45 participants in triad tasks where they chose the most different fish out of 30 triads. We used the similarity matrices generated from the task results to detect if there is cultural consensus in the way fish were classified by them. We also modelled the effect of gender, age and type of activity on the agreement rate of participants with modal responses in the triad tasks (i.e., that pair of fish in which most participants considered the most similar within each triad).Results - The findings show how large is the community's knowledge of fish, with 197 ethnospecies registered, of which 33 species were detected as salient or important to the community. In general, men cited more fish than women. We also found that there was no cultural consensus in the ways fish were classified, but younger participants tended to use similar criteria for classifying fish. Conclusions - Both free-listing and triad task methods revealed little cultural consensus in the way knowledge is structured and how fish were classified by community members. Our results suggest that it is prudent not to make assumptions that a given traditional community has a single cultural consensus model in classifying the organisms in their environment.


A survey of worldwide blackberry (Rubus spp.) production was conducted in 2005. Results indicated there were an estimated 20,035 ha of blackberries planted and commercially cultivated worldwide, a 45% increase from 1995. Wild blackberries still make a significant contribution to worldwide production, with 8000 ha and 13,460 Mg harvested in 2004. There were 7692 ha of commercially cultivated blackberries in Europe, 7159 ha in North America, 1640 ha in Central America, 1597 ha in South America, 297 ha in Oceania, and 100 ha in Africa. Worldwide production of cultivated blackberries was 140,292 Mg in 2005. Of the blackberry area worldwide, 50% was planted to semierect cultivars, 25% to erect, and 25% to trailing types. 'Thornfree', 'Loch Ness', and 'Chester Thornless' were the most important semierect types, and 'Brazos' and 'Marion' the most common erect and trailing types, respectively. In general, erect and semierect cultivars are grown for fresh market and trailing cultivars for processing. Fresh fruit are usually picked into the final container in the field, whereas 75% of trailing blackberries for processing are picked by machine. Common production problems are reported. Production systems for field-grown blackberry differ with type grown and region. For example, in Mexico, production systems are modified to extend the production season for 'Tupy' and other erect-type cultivars from mid-October to June. Organic blackberry production is expected to increase from the 2528 ha planted in 2005. An estimated 315 ha of blackberries were grown under tunnels, mainly to protect against adverse weather and target high-priced markets. Based on this survey, there may be 27,032 ha of commercial blackberries planted worldwide in 2015, not including production from harvested wild plants.


Dynamically adding sensors to the Extended Classifier System (XCS) during its learning process in multistep problems has been demonstrated feasible by using messy coding (XCSm) and s-expressions (XCSL) as the representation of classifier conditions. XCSm and XCSL shown improved performance when new sensors were dynamically added to the agent of these systems in addition to the original available sensors during the learning process. However, these systems may suffer from overspecified problem and some logical operators (or clauses) could lead instability of the performance. Despite studies have suggested that these issues can be solved by appropriate parameter tuning, in our previous finding, we introduced a novel representation of classifier conditions for the XCS, named Sensory Tag (ST) (called XCS with ST condition, XCSSTC) to achieve the same goal as XCSm and XCSL but inherent most of the mechanisms of the XCS to solve those issues that the XCSm and XCSL encountered without any parameter tuning. The experiments of the proposed method were conducted in the multistep problems (i.e. Woods1 and Maze4). The results indicate that the XCSSTC is capable of being dynamic added additional sensors to improve performance during the learning process, and moreover, the XCSSTC shown a better performance in regard to learning speed than the other methods.


Egg cryopreservation or freezing is a technique that was first demonstrated to be a success in the mid-1980s with the first report of a live birth from frozen and thawed human eggs. This technique, however, was abandoned as a routine clinical option after initial concerns that egg cryopreservation led to an increase in chromosomal abnormalities[1] and as the transfer of cryopreserved embryos became more commonplace. Interest in this technique has been recently renewed as a means of preserving the eggs of women about to undergo chemotherapy and for patients who object to embryo cryopreservation on religious or moral grounds. In particular, this procedure is being investigated as an alternative to embryo cryopreservation by countries that do not permit the freezing of embryos, such as Italy and Germany, in addition to fertility centers in the U.S., which recognize both a need and the financial incentive for offering this technique. It has been calculated that 936 children worldwide have been born from cryopreserved eggs as of April 2009.[2]


Two different cultivars, 'Cupra' and 'Derby', of sweet pepper (Capsicum annum L.) plants were grown with fruits (CON) or without fruits, removed of all flowers (RF) on stems, at glasshouse from 12 February to 6 June, 2008. We studied the influence of removing flowers on plant characteristics, dry matter distribution and dry matter production. When plants were grown with RF, plant height and number of internodes were increased by 18% and 24%, respectively. Vegetative part of plant was increased by 70% for leaves, 88% for stem and 114% for root than vegetative organs in CON. Strong generative growth, on the other hand, could be inhibited the growth and development of vegetative organs. The treatment with RF was promoted dry matter distributed into vegetative organs by 11 to 20.5% point; especially, stem was much larger than control. Large leaf area, leaf area index and low specific leaf area (SLA) were measured at RF treatment. Low SLA implied a high leaf weight per unit of leaf area, which means thicker leaf than CON. High leaf area index showed high light interception, consequently, high dry mass production would be expected at RF treatment. Total dry mass including root and fruit, however, was not different between the treatments. Stomata conductance (SC) was observed much lower in 'Cupra' than 'Derby, which was 13% and 64% lower than control, respectively. The crop showed lower light use efficiency (total dry mass per unit intercepted photosynthetically active radiation integral, g MJ) with lower SC at RF treatment. Low SC could indicate low photosynthesis rate, and hence low light use efficiency and less extend dry mass production at RF treatment.


We show how concatenated (convolutional) codes can be used to compress close to the Wyner-Ziv limit for binary sources. Focusing on the case of lossy compression of an equiprobable memoryless binary source with side information at the decoder, the approach is based on nested binary linear codes, which is the extension of Wyner's lossless compression scheme to the lossy case proposed by Shamai, Verdu and Zamir. Based on our previous work on lossless compression with concatenated codes, we are able to combine the only two previously suggested nested schemes into a novel turbo scheme with improved performance. Our scheme can come within 0.09 bits from the theoretical limit, which to our knowledge is the first result ever reported for the binary Wyner-Ziv problem.


Objective : to evaluate the acquisition of knowledge of nurses in the nursing consultation on communication with blind patients. Methods : evaluation research, carried out by questionnaires applied before and after the experience of an educational program of an e-learning course. We used Contextual Lexical Analysis software for a Set of Text Segments for lexical analysis of the data. Results : 24 nurses participated in the pre-test and 11 in the test. Before the course, there was limited dominance in the thematic, especially in the non-verbal form. There was a predominance of the use of speech and writing in the nursing consultation. After the course, elements, we observe the apprehension of forms and functions of verbal communication; Improvment of non-verbal theories dominance; And their applications in the consultation with blind patients. Conclusion : the educational program allowed the nurses to acquire knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication with blind patients in the nursing consultation in primary care.


Arteriosclerosis and its complications are the leading cause of death in American adults today. There is ample evidence to show that the pathologic process begins process begins in childhood. In addition, coronary risk factors can be identified in childhood and may be maintained to some degree into adulthood. Thus, prevention should logically begin in the childhood years. A small reduction of serum cholesterol levels in all children by a modest change in diet has the potential for reducing coronary risk. More severe dietary restriction, in some cases in conjunction with medication, is recommended for high-risk pediatric populations only. In addition, surveillance of blood pressure, avoidance of cigarette smoking, weight control, and a program of regular physical exercise are prudent recommendations for all children.


A high level of folate receptor (FR) expression is found frequently in numerous human cancerous cells, and monitoring of the FRs level is important for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers and chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, a simple but sensitive fluorescent biosensor for FR detection in cancer cells has been proposed, which combines the desirable specificity of terminal protection and high amplification efficiency of hyperbranched rolling circle amplification (HRCA). Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) terminally tethered to folic acid (FA) can specifically bind with FR, and therefore be protected from degradation by exonuclease I (Exo I). The protected ssDNA can hybridize with the padlock probe and initiate the HRCA reaction. In contrast, ssDNA will be degraded by Exo I and no probe is left to trigger the HRCA reaction without the protection of the target FR. The products of HRCA contain a large amount of double-strand DNA (dsDNA) and a strong fluorescence signal can be detected after the addition of SYBR Green I. The enhanced fluorescence intensity has a linear relationship with the logarithm of FR (standard solution) concentration ranging from 0.18 fM to 22 pM with a detection limit of 0.06 fM. Moreover, the proposed biosensor has been applied to detect FR in cancer cells (HeLa cells as an example). The enhanced fluorescence intensity has a linear dependence on the logarithm of cell concentration in the range of 50–5000 cell per mL. This biosensor has potential applications in the area of early cancer diagnosis.


In this paper, power coverage characteristic and multipath diversity scheme for downlink simulcast distributed antenna system (DAS) are investigated based on a wideband channel measurement at 6 GHz for indoor scenario. With measured path loss (PL), power coverage property is analyzed. Compared with centralized antenna system (CAS), DAS can introduce 5-17 dB PL gain, and achieve a higher coverage ratio. Then, we propose a multipath diversity algorithm to improve the received power through introducing differential delay and phase rotation simultaneously at the transmitter (Tx). Based on the measured data, it has 1.67 dB power gain in line of sight (LOS) case averagely, better than the scheme without transmission control and multipath antenna diversity (MAD) algorithm.


Every mail brings to Foundation headquarters letters asking for information and counsel about work for the blind. Believing that the subjects discussed have a wide interest the Outlook will print a few of these letters and their answers in each issue.


In this paper, a new technique for the cytochemical examination of human hemopoietic cells grown in agar gel is described. All colonies in the agar gel in a plastic dish can be observed as a whole plate preparation after being stained cytochemically. Granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages in a cluster or a colony were easily distinguished from each other by esterase activity in response to naphthol AS-D chloroacetate of alpha-naphthyl acetate. To illustrate this technique's possibilities a time course study on the formation of granulocyte and monocyte/macrophage clusters or colonies from normal marrow cells was performed.


This paper studies the dynamic behavior of daily oil prices and finds strong evidence of GARCH as well as conditional jump behavior. This implies that conditional heteroscedasticity is present and the empirical distribution of oil price changes has heavy tails. Thus, the oil price considerably sensitive to news and does not settle around a long-run trend. This finding has several important implications: First, this financial market variable-type behaviour hampers finding optimal depletion paths of oil as exhaustible resource as well as optimal decisions regarding the transmission to alternative technologies. Second, as the usage of oil is one of the main sources of carbon emissions, this non-existence of a clear long-run trend is likely to cause a current overextraction of oil, accompanied by severe consequences for the global climate. JEL Code: C22, Q30.


This case first describes, in general terms, a fairly typical annual budgeting process for a division of a company. It then depicts, as of the end of May, the division's actual performance compared with where it should be. Based on where the division's results stand as of the end of May, students are asked to generate ideas regarding what to do during the remaining seven months in order to make budget.


Seed-based oil has been identified as a viable alternative insulating fluid and a number of vegetable oils has been studied for that purpose. Among the seed-based oils studied is Jatropha oil which was reported to have suitable breakdown strength for high voltage application. However, most of the reports did not study the ageing characteristics of the oil and its compatibility with cellulose insulation. In this present study, the properties and ageing behaviour of a freshly prepared Jatropha oil and its compatibility with cellulose insulation paper were evaluated. The oil was purified through modified Dijkstra and Opstal purification method. The thermo-physical and dielectric studies of the oil was performed and thermal ageing of Kraft paper in the prepared ester fluid was performed. Thermally accelerated ageing was performed with an open beaker containing ageing catalysts, thermally upgraded insulation paper, and the fluid at 140°C for 120, 240, 360 and 480 h. Jatropha oil is a high temperature fluid with high specific heat capacity of 2.59 kJ kg−1 K and low dielectric loss of 0.009. The oil became polymerised with ageing in open cup. This may be due to thermo-oxidative degradation of the oil that progressed with ageing time. This is an indication that the oil is not suitable for use in free breathing power equipment.


Background: Demographic change and a shift of values in society bring new challenges for the long-term care of older people, suggesting the institutional model of care should give way to one that places the person at the centre of decision making. Aim: To describe the development of a theoretical framework for person-centred practice with older people in long-term care. Development process: The framework was developed by synthesising original empirical research, existing evidence and existing theory, using an iterative and integrated approach to theory development based on a dialogical understanding of knowledge construction. The project formed part of a five-year research and practice development programme on person-centred practice in long-term care in Austria. Results: The Person-centred Practice Framework for Long-Term Care (PeoPLe) is a theoretical framework of person-centred practice, consisting of five constructs: prerequisites, practice environment, person-centred processes, fundamental principles of care, and outcome. It is dependent on the macro-context of healthcare delivery. Conclusion: PeoPLe provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for the development of person-centred practice in long-term care. The framework can be used to guide empirical inquiry, education and practice development. Implications for practice: The Person-centred Practice Framework for Long-term Care (PeoPLe) is a comprehensive theoretical framework that sets out principles for the operationalisation of person-centred practice with older people in long-term care The Fundamental Principles of Care component of the PeoPLe framework is reported to appeal to many practitioners and may serve also as a low-threshold starting point for practice development The Fundamental Principles of Care component may steer the development of person-centred processes and individual care plans with persons in care. It can, for example, be used to guide assessment, case conferences and documentation


Using data from the most recent large scale UK household longitudinal survey (UKHLS), we explore the effects of political ideology on charitable behaviour, specifically monetary donations and time volunteered. The UKHLS contains detailed information on political preferences, in terms of: political affiliation; the strength of support for political parties; the level of interest in politics and the party an individual would vote for tomorrow. We employ a number of modelling frameworks including static and dynamic models and double hurdle models, which allow political influences to have differing effects across the decision to donate and the amount of money or time donated. The consistent finding across the different estimators is that being aligned to a stated political party is positively associated with donating time and money. In addition, we find that political liberalism has a larger effect on both types of philanthropic behaviour than political conservatism. The largest effects across specifications are generally for alignment with the Green Party. However, further analysis reveals that, during the period of the UK Coalition Government and after its collapse when the Conservative Party gained power, the effect of political affiliation to the Green Party on monetary donations is substantially reduced, whereas the opposite effect is found for the amount of time volunteered.


Neo-Victorian literature is a subgenre of historical fiction that is set during the reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 until 1901. There are divergent opinions on the emergence of the genre; however, the time frame established in this dissertation spans from 1990 until the present moment. One of the principal characteristic of neo-Victorian novels is that through their Victorian setting they display their involvement with contemporary issues. Such an engagement can be expressed in a variety of ways, yet a common approach involves a reimagining
of marginalized voices. This paper will focus on representations of real and
fictitious Victorian women in four neo-Victorian novels: Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet(1998); Belinda Starling's The Journal of Dora Damage (2006); Jude Morgan's Charlotte and Emily: A novel of the Brontes (2010); and A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Romance (1990). The analysis of each novel is divided into three parts, which focus on authorship/autobiography, sexuality, as well as independence and occupation. This division seems to both highlight similarities between the novels, as well as draw attention to their differences. Through an emphasis on issues regarding a large group, that was generally repressed during
the Victorian era, it is revealed that contrary to the statements of certain critics, neo-Victorian texts are more critical than nostalgic towards their historical setting.


We introduce a game problem which can be seen as a generalization of the classical Dynkin game problem
to the case of a nonlinear expectation ${\cal E}^g$, induced by a Backward Stochastic Differential Equation (BSDE) with jumps with nonlinear driver $g$. Let $\xi, \zeta$ be two RCLL adapted processes with
$\xi \leq \zeta$. The criterium is given by
$ {\cal J}_{\tau, \sigma}= {\cal E}^g_{0, \tau \wedge \sigma } \left(\xi_{\tau}\textbf{1}_{\{ \tau \leq \sigma\}}+\zeta_{\sigma}\textbf{1}_{\{\sigma<\tau\}}\right)$ where $\tau$ and $ \sigma$ are stopping times valued in $[0,T]$. Under Mokobodzki's condition, we establish the existence of a value function for this game, i.e. $\inf_{\sigma}\sup_{\tau} {\cal J}_{\tau, \sigma} = \sup_{\tau} \inf_{\sigma} {\cal J}_{\tau, \sigma}$. This value can be characterized via a doubly reflected BSDE. Using this characterization, we provide some new results on these equations, such as comparison theorems and a priori estimates.
When $\xi$ and $\zeta$ are left upper semicontinuous along stopping times, we prove the existence of a saddle point. We also study a generalized mixed game problem when the players have two actions: continuous control and stopping.
We then study the generalized Dynkin game in a Markovian framework and its links with parabolic partial integro-differential variational inequalities with two obstacles.


A robust Navier-Stokes code has been developed to efficiently predict hypersonic flows in chemical nonequilibrium. The HLLE + flux discretization scheme is used to improve accuracy and robustness of hypersonic flow analysis. An efficient LU approximate factorization method is also used to solve the flow equations and species continuity equations in fully coupled fashion to implicitly treat stiff source terms of chemical reactions. The HLLE+ scheme shows lower grid dependency for the wall heating rates than other schemes. The developed code has been used to compute chemical nonequilibrium air flow through expanding hypersonic nozzle and past two and three dimensional blunt-nosed bodies. The results are in good agreement with existing numerical and experimental results.


4-Thiadiazole (1,3,4-thiadiazole) nucleus displayed noteworthy industrial efficiencies and has shown various biological activities, especially as a cancer chemo preventive agent. 4-Thiadiazole has been categorized as a member of family of azole that consist of thiadiazole ring. 4-Thiadiazole is chemical entity which has being synthesized in the past many forms of its derivatives; the entity provides the principal origin of motivating to numerous chemist to investigate its diverse medical efforts especially with regards to the antimicrobial, ant tubercular, anticancer, anti-inflammatory. Current survey supply a wide vision of the antibacterial activity possessed by molecules having a 4-thiadiazole moieties.


THE LATERAL PERIODONTAL CYSTS is a slow-growing radiolucent, developmental lesion occurring most frequently in males during the sixth decade. As part of the differential diagnosis, it must be distinguished from the collateral keratocyst and the gingival cyst of adults as well as other entities. Speculation remains as to the lateral periodontal cyst's developmental origin. Whether it is from reduced enamel epithelium, remnants of dental lamina, or cell rests of Malassez remains to be determined. The following longitudinal case report describes the review of literature and clinical and histologic findings as well as unusual treatment of a through-and-through perforating lateral periodontal cyst. Due to the large bony defect left after the cyst's removal, a decalcified freeze-dried bone graft was placed to close the defect. The repair of the lesion was followed for 30 months.


: A retrospective study of 161 patients with carcinomas of the bladder was carried out to assess the value of CT (247 examinations), transurethral sonography (32 examinations), and the early results of MRT. For TA-T3a staging, according to the TNM classification of the IUCC, transurethral sonography was particularly valuable. CT is useful for demonstrating transmural tumour growth (T3b) and organ invasion (T4), involvement of regional lymph nodes and distant metastases. Tumours in the roof of the bladder and at its base are well shown by MR tomography, using multiplanar sections.


Background: Despite the reported benefits of evidence-based practice (EBP), there are concerns that some practitioners, including naturopathic doctors (NDs), may be cautious about its use. The objective of this study was to explore Canadian ND perceptions, preparedness, and engagement in EBP, and the barriers and enablers to EBP uptake. Methods: The study was a national cross-sectional survey. NDs practicing in Canada were invited to complete the validated 84-item Evidence-Based Practice Attitudes and Utilization Survey between February and May 2020. Results: A total of 252 Canadian NDs were recruited. Participant attitudes toward EBP were predominantly positive, with three-quarters of participants indicating that >50% of their practice was informed by clinical research evidence. One-half of participants self-reported a medium-high to high level of skill across most EBP-related activities. Notable barriers to EBP uptake were lack of clinical evidence in naturopathy, and lack of time. Access to the internet and online databases were identified as useful enablers to improving EBP engagement. Conclusions: By shedding light on Canadian ND engagement with, preparedness for, and perceptions of EBP, the findings will help guide the development of strategies to support EBP uptake in NDs with the expectation of improving quality of care.


The most common types of left‐sided valvular heart disease (VHD) in the Western world are aortic valve stenosis, aortic valve regurgitation, and mitral valve regurgitation. Comprehensive clinical evaluation entails both hemodynamic analysis and structural as well as functional characterization of the left ventricle. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an established diagnostic modality for assessment of left‐sided VHD and is progressively gaining ground in modern‐day clinical practice. Detailed flow visualization and quantification of flow‐related biomarkers in VHD can be obtained using 4D flow MRI, an imaging technique capable of measuring blood flow in three orthogonal directions over time. In addition, recent MRI sequences enable myocardial tissue characterization and strain analysis. In this review we discuss the emerging potential of state‐of‐the‐art MRI including 4D flow MRI, tissue mapping, and strain quantification for the diagnosis and prognosis of left‐sided VHD.


MONEY 2000™ is a successful consumer education programme that was implemented by Cooperative Extension personnel in over two dozen states of the USA between 1996 and 2002. One of the unique features of this programme is that it was based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM), a framework that has been widely used to study health-related behaviour changes such as smoking cessation. This paper first describes how the MONEY 2000™ programme was developed around major constructs contained within the TTM. Findings are reported from a survey conducted with participants in the first two states that delivered the programme. The findings suggest that several change processes used by MONEY 2000™ participants are associated with specific stages of change. In addition, there may be differences in behavioural changes between participants who increased their savings and those who reduced their debts.


OBJECTIVE
The role of long-term hearing deprivation in cochlear implant performance is not well established, and the limits for implanting an auditory deprived ear are still unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term auditory deprivation time on cochlear implant results.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective case review study.

SETTING
Cochlear implantation tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS
Adult patients with postlingual deafness.

INTERVENTION
Unilateral cochlear implantation between 2001 and January 2015.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Age at implantation, sex, etiology of hearing loss, and duration of auditory deprivation in the implanted ear were collected. Cochlear implants results were expressed in terms of vowel identification, disyllabic word recognition, and sentence recognition.Spearman's correlation test was applied to determine the relationship between auditory deprivation time and speech recognition scores. Additionally, patients were divided according to their auditory deprivation time before implantation in group A (less than 10 yr) and group B (more than 10 yr).

RESULTS
One hundred three patients met inclusion criteria for this study. There were 61 patients in group A, with a mean deprivation time of 2.52 years. There were 42 patients in group B, with a mean deprivation time of 19.67 years.There were no statistically significant differences between both groups regarding speech recognition scores.Deprivation time in the implanted ear was not statistically correlated with cochlear implantation performance.

CONCLUSIONS
Long-term auditory deprivation in the ear to be implanted does not negatively influence cochlear implantation results and should not be considered criterion to reject cochlear implantation.


While right ventricle to pulmonary artery homograft is the surgical procedure of choice for relieving right ventricle outflow tract obstruction; it is limited by the need for multiple surgical replacements owing to progressive conduit obstruction, valve dysfunction, or patient growth. Since January 2010, percutaneous transcatheter placement of prosthetic pulmonary valve (Melody valve) has emerged as an attractive alternative to surgical replacement of dysfunctional right ventricle to pulmonary artery homograft in the United States. We report a case of 19-year-old girl born with truncus arteriosus who underwent transcatheter placement of prosthetic pulmonary valve due to homograft insufficiency. She presented after 4 months with a febrile episode and was found to have Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis of her prosthetic valve. The infection caused multi-organ dysfunction despite bacteriological clearance and led to severe dysfunction of the valve which ultimately required surgical removal. The case highlights a rare but serious complication of percutaneous prosthetic pulmonary valves.


In several studies the duration of segments (i.e. consonants and vowels) is measured to classify languages according to their speech rhythm. This research investigates whether Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a new method of analyzing segment-timing parameters for language classification, can be used to classify twelve Southeast Asian languages according to their timing patterns. The twelve Southeast Asian languages examined are Malay, Cebuano, Standard Thai, Southern Thai, Tai Yuan, Vietnamese, Hmong, Mien, Burmese, Sgaw Karen, Mon and Khmer. Spontaneous speech from three speakers from each language was recorded. Vocalic, consonantal, voiced, and unvoiced intervals of 30 seconds of speech, not including pauses and hesitations, from each speaker were measured and analyzed using the three language typological classification models of Ramus et al. (1999), Grabe and Low (2002), and Dellwo et al. (2007). Eight parameters calculated from the duration of all intervals were then examined. In 1 Ph.D. Candidate. Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University addition, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to explore the relations among the parameters. The results from the PCA show that the twelve languages can be classified into four groups: 1) Mon Khmer; 2) Burmese Hmong; 3) Vietnamese Southern Thai Tai Yuan; and 4) Malay Cebuano. Standard Thai, Sgaw Karen, and Mien are not explicitly clustered with the other languages. The phonetic and phonological characteristics which seem to influence the twelve-language classification are the number of syllables in a word, the existence or non-existence of tone, and phonation


OBJECTIVE
Using a daily diary approach, the current study evaluated the relationship between coping and alcohol consumption using a large, multiethnic sample. The primary goals of this study were to (a) identify coping strategies that are either protective or risk factors for alcohol consumption and (b) model between-ethnic and within-ethnic group variation for these relations.

METHOD
College students (N = 365, 69.0% female) were recruited via flyers, course/club presentations, and university seminars. Participants completed Internet-based daily diaries over the course of 5 days and reported specifically on a target stressful event, how they coped with the stressful event, and the amount of alcohol consumed on a daily level.

RESULTS
Use of more avoidance-oriented coping strategies (minimization of stressor, emotional rumination) and social support were significantly associated with more alcohol consumption. Ethnicity, however, did moderate some coping-alcohol associations. Use of religious coping was associated with less alcohol consumption and minimization of the stressor was associated with more alcohol consumption in African Americans; use of social support was associated with more alcohol consumption in Asian Americans; and use of problem-focused coping was associated with less alcohol consumption in Whites.

CONCLUSIONS
Three maladaptive or risky coping strategies with respect to alcohol consumption were identified using an ecologically valid methodology. However, ethnic-specific variation of these risky (and protective) coping factors was identified. The findings highlight the importance of considering both between-ethnic and within-ethnic group variation with respect to the stress/coping and alcohol consumption.


From the aspect of management, communication process takes a special role because the same one is being required for a success, progress and achievement of objectives of each organization. The work itself discusses the concept of communication, its role and importance in management, where the models, techniques and obstacles to communication projects are being processed. The problem of scientific research and the subject of this work is contained in considering the role and importance of communication in management, with the determination of communication as a subsystem of management functions of conducting. Initial hypothesis states that: qualitative application of communication function in management is an extremely important prerequisite for its efficient operation. The fundamental goal of researching this work is being determined by the subject of reserach and upon the structred working hypothesis and is related to: the account of theoretical premises about the subject topic and indication of the growing importance of communication in management.


From total 21 individuals of Painted Terrapin (Batagur borneoensis) found – accidentally caught and field survey – it can be concluded that female is heavier, wider and longer curve carapace than male. Male is experiencing sexual dichromatism during six months or from April to September. The movement of Painted Terrapin is related to tides and they are inhabit in rivers stream that has water salinity level is 0 and high density of Berembang (Sonneratia sp).


AIM
To investigate the changes of the brain NSE, S100 and ultrastructure and effect of ligustrazine in rats of chronic hypoxia and hypercapnia.

METHODS
Thirty rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group (A), hypoxia hypercapnia group (B), hypoxia hypercapnia added ligustrazine group (C). The brain NSE, S100 and ultrastructure were observed in rats using the technique of immunohistochemistry and electronic microscope.

RESULTS
(1) The mPAP was significantly higher in rats of group B than that of group A and it was much lower in rats of group C than that of group B. Differences of mCAP were not significant in three groups. (2) Serum NO of group B was significantly lower than that of group A, Serum NO of group C was higher than that of group B. (3) Immunohistochemistry showed the average value of integral light density (LD) of NSE and S100 was significantly much lower in rats of group B than that of group A and it was higher in rats of group C than that of group B. (4) The neuron and astrocyte of group B showed vacuolar degeneration and the myelin sheath showed separate. Damage of neuron is alleviated in rats of group C.

CONCLUSION
The hypoxia hypercapnia could induce damage of neuron and astrocyte in rats. The ligustrazine may be useful in protecting against hypoxia hypercapnia brain damage.


Background Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a unique subgroup of T cells that represents a bridge between innate and adaptive immunity. The functions of NKT-cells are regulated by the balance between activating and inhibitory Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients showed aberrant expression of KIRs on NKT-cells. Whether the expression pattern of KIRs on NKT-cells is associated with disease activity in SLE is still unknown. Objectives Assessment of expression of stimulatory and inhibitory KIRs on NKT-cells in SLE patients and its relation to disease activity. Methods We recruited 40 SLE patients and 20 age and gender matched healthy controls. According to SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI), patients were divided into two groups; active SLE (n=20) and inactive SLE (n=20). SLE was active when SLEDAI was ≥4. Immuno-phenotyping by flow cytometry was done using markers for NKT-cells (CD3 and CD56), stimulatory KIRs (KIR2DL4, CD158D) and inhibitory KIRs (KIR3DL1, CD158E1). Absolute counts and percentage of NKT cells expressing CD158D and CD158E1 together with their mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) were measured. The histogram of CD158 expression was used to assess KIRs on NKT cells. Flow cytometry charts of lymphocytes and NKT cells in SLE patients (active and inactive) and controls are shown in (Figure 1). Laboratory work included ANA, anti-dsDNA, Anti-smith, C3, C4, CRP and ESR. Results Mean age of patients was 29.9±10.8 years. Females constituted 95% (n=38) of patients. Mean disease duration was 4.4±4.5 years. Mean SLEDAI was 11.75±7.43. NKT-cells absolute number (cell/mm3) was significantly decreased in SLE patients (89±135) compared to controls (287±133), (P=0.001). Likewise, the absolute number of NKT-cells (cell/mm3) was significantly lower in active SLE patients (65.2±57.8) compared to inactive ones (114.5±181.1), (P=0.001). The expression of inhibitory KIRs was significantly lower in SLE patients (2.83±2.8%) compared to controls (5.54±2.01%) (P=0.001) While, stimulatory KIRs were significantly higher in SLE patients (3.2±3.7%) than controls (1.02±0.5%), (P=0.001). Active SLE patients showed significantly increased expression of stimulatory KIRs (5.29±4.29%) than inactive patients (1.13±0.89%), (P=0.004). However, inhibitory KIRs were significantly decreased in active (1.28±1.32%) than inactive SLE patients (4.38±3.05%), (p=0.003). Expression of stimulatory KIRs correlated positively with ESR (r=0.3, P=0.04) and negatively with C4 (r=-0.4, P=0.01). In contrast, inhibitory KIRs correlated negatively with ESR (r=-0.5, P=0.003) and positively with C4 (r=0.4, P=0.02). Using Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, expression of inhibitory KIRs on NKT-cells predicted disease activity at a cut-off value of ≤1.7% with 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity (P=0.001). While, expression of stimulatory KIRs on NKT-cells predicted active disease at a cut-off value of >1.4%, sensitivity (85%), and specificity (80%) (P=0.001). Conclusions SLE activity is associated with an increased expression of stimulatory KIRs as well as a decreased expression of inhibitory KIRs on NKT cells. This may play a role in the pathogenesis of flares and acceleration of disease activity in SLE and could be a therapeutic target for SLE patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This study compares the child-rearing goals of women in Taiwan and in Taiwanese immigrant women's countries of origin. The legit regression results clearly show distinct cultural variations in child-rearing goals in different countries, even when differences in socio-economic status are considered. Despite their complex historical links, Chinese women do not appear to be more similar to Taiwanese women than are Indonesian, or Vietnamese women in terms of child-rearing goals. These findings have implications for the socio-economic policies of the Taiwanese government and effective communication and instruction in schools. In addition, the findings also have implications for Asian countries affected by marriage immigration and emigration.


ABSTRACT Dong, S.; Tao, S.; Lei, S., and Guedes Soares, C., 2013. Parameter estimation of the maximum entropy distribution of significant wave height. This paper compares the estimation of the four parameters of the maximum entropy distribution by different methods and applies them in two test cases with significantly different characteristics of variability. The moment method and the maximum likelihood method for the maximum entropy distribution with four parameters are formulated in the paper. These methods are compared with the moment method for the maximum entropy distribution with three parameters and an empirical curve-fitting method, both of which have been used earlier. These four estimation methods are applied to two test cases. One consists of hindcast wave heights at Weizhoudao hydrological station in the northern area of the South China Sea, which is subject to typhoon type of events. The other data set is hindcast wave heights at a location in the North Atlantic Ocean, which is subject to frequent storm weather. The maximum likelihood and the empirical methods appear to provide the most consistent results.


Five bacterial strains ( Chryseomonas luteola , Fusobacterium mortiferum , Enterobacter agglomerans , Klebsiella oxytoca and an unidentified Gram-negative rod) were grown on raw baker9s yeast effluent to assess the influence of environmental factors on biodegradation processes. A 3×4×3 factorial design was used to determine the effects of time, pH and COD concentration, at four different temperatures. Total volatile fatty acid production was chosen as the most representative indicator of biodegradation. Results showed that the strains differed greatly in their ability to produce anaerobic digester intermediary metabolites, under defined environmental conditions. The study showed that the degradation of the complex compounds in baker9s yeast effluent could be enhanced by changing environmental factors. The most positive responses were obtained at the higher COD concentrations (30 g l −1 ), the higher pH values (6.0), after 24 to 48h incubation time and at the higher temperatures (35°C). The most positive effect (+355.00) was found for Chryseomonas luteola at a 48h incubation time, COD concentration of 30 g l −1 , pH of 6.0 and temperature of 35°C. The volatile fatty acid yields obtained by the strains differ from the statistical indications, but provide a valuable reference of the actual concentrations obtained during the experimental study. The factorial design represented the effects of environmental changes, while the quantitative TVFA data set gave experimental data. This study showed that the manipulation of various environmental factors in biologically controlled systems, such as anaerobic digesters, could further enhance the biodegradation efficiency of the microbial population in the raw effluent.


In recent years, there has been a significant amount of research focused on expanding the expressivity of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) beyond the Weisfeiler-Lehman (1-WL) framework. While many of these studies have yielded ad-vancements in expressivity, they have frequently come at the expense of decreased efficiency or have been restricted to specific types of graphs. In this study, we investigate the expressivity of GNNs from the perspective of graph search. Specifically, we propose a new vertex colouring scheme and demonstrate that classical search algorithms can efficiently compute graph representations that extend beyond the 1-WL. We show the colouring scheme inherits useful properties from graph search that can help solve problems like graph biconnectivity. Furthermore, we show that under certain conditions, the expressivity of GNNs increases hierarchically with the ra-dius of the search neighbourhood. To further investigate the proposed scheme, we develop a new type of GNN based on two search strate-gies, breadth-first search and depth-first search, highlighting the graph properties they can capture on top of 1-WL. Our code is available at https://github.com/seanli3/lvc .


The construction and conversion of ordinary homes into "smart homes" has seen a tremendous rise in recent years. This can be ascribed to technologies such as the Internet of Things, sensors, smart phones, smart appliances, cloud computing, and digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and Microsoft Cortana. At the outset, smart homes were built to enhance the quality of life for ordinary nondisabled persons. Impressively, we have seen smart home residents reaping the benefits of security, energy saving, and the ability to control their lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), door locks, and coffee makers while they are in their space of comfort, for example in bed or siting on a couch. However, most smart home devices are not designed with people with disabilities and limited range of movement in mind. Of course, being able to control home devices using smart technology could be a tremendous benefit to people with physical disabilities and the older persons. This paper presents a system that uses smart plugs, smart cameras, smart power strips and a digital assistant such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, or Microsoft Cortana to capture voice commands, from a person with physical disabilities, spoken in a much more natural way to control ordinary home electrical appliances in order to turn them on or off, with minimal exertion.


Background Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) has been associated with previous exposure to various agents such as silicone implants, which elicit chronic stimulation of the immune system against the prosthetic material and clinical manifestation of autoimmune disease. This is particularly the case in genetically susceptible hosts. Objectives The aim is to describe de prevalence, family background and main autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD) associated to silicone breast implant (SBI). Methods We study a cohort of 150 patients with diagnosis of ASIA associated injection of mineral oil and silicone breast implant (SBI) in a tertiary Hospital, from 2011 to 2016. All patients were evaluated for the fulfilment of ASIA criteria. We only included patients with ASIA criteria associated with SBI plus criteria for an autoimmune rheumatic disease according to The American College of Rheumatology or EULAR. We excluded patient with ASIA and without ARD. Results There were 17 women patients with mean age 42.4±15.3 years, mean disease duration of disease 8±3. The clinical manifestation post SBI appeared 8±2 years later. The ARD were systemic sclerosis (SSc) 5, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) 3, rheumatoid arthritis (AR) 3, overlap syndrome 2 (SSc plus SS and SLE plus SSc, Sjogren syndrome 1, Takayasu arteritis 1, Still disease 1, antiphospholipid syndrome 1, and 3 patients also had secondary fibromyalgia. Five Patients had more than 2 autoantibodies, 4 patients had relatives with an ARD. All patients are being treated according to the ARD (steroids plus immunosuppressive 8 patients, immunosuppressive 7, and only steroids 2), in 4 patients the prosthesis were withdrawn with improvement of clinical manifestations. Conclusions We found a prevalence of ASIA associated to SBI of 11%. The main ARD were SSc, SLE and RA. In these cases of ASIA associated with SBI some had genetic predisposition to ARD. The use of SBI is not recommended in women who have a family history of ARD. References Colaris MJ et al. Two hundred cases of ASIA syndrome following silicone implants: a comparative study of 30 years and rewiew of current literature. Immunol Res 2016 Jul 13. Jara LJ, et al. Severe manifestation of autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants (Shoenfeld's syndrome) Immunol Res Jul 13. Watad et a. Autoimmune/Inflammatory induced by adjuvants (Shoenfeld's syndrome) UN update. Lupus 2017 Jan 1. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract:This article reassesses the history of mental asylums in New South Wales, arguing that far from being 'cemeteries for the still breathing,' Victorian and Edwardian asylums served multiple purposes, providing genuinely therapeutic conditions for many patients, while warehousing chronic incurables and those without networks of support. Mental asylums in nineteenth century New South Wales rarely resorted to measures of restraint and seclusion and had a notable record of high rates of recovery and low rates of readmission. The marked institutional decline of the twentieth century that eventually prompted critics from many quarters to demand the closure of large asylums represented more a loss of faith in institutionalisation and the desire of psychiatrists to achieve higher status and more lucrative remuneration treating new middle class populations of neurotics than inherent flaws in the asylum ideal itself. Thus deinstitutionalisation policies were built on a fundamentally revisionist history that failed to consider the reality of care in these institutions, an insight that opens up opportunities to rethink the role and function of refuge in contemporary mental health policy.


A surface treatment liquid for copper material; a method of surface treatment therefor; and a surface treatment coating formed on the surface of copper material thereby. There is provided a surface treatment liquid for copper material, characterized by containing a copper oxidation etchant, a compound containing at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf and Si and, as an HF supply source, a fluorinated compound. Further, there is provided a method of surface treatment characterized in that a copper or copper alloy material is immersed in the surface treatment liquid. Still further, there is provided a surface treatment coating, disposed on copper or copper alloy by the method, characterized by containing not only at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf and Si but also Cu, O and F. Still further, there is provided a laminate member characterized in that the copper material with surface treatment coating and a resin layer are joined together via the surface treatment coating.