Methyl methacrylate (MMA)-p-styrene sulfonic acid copolymer (MS) was prepared and its adhesion to ground tooth substrates was evaluated. MS is crosslinked with Ca2+ supplied by hydroxyapatite in the smeared layer on the ground enamel and dentin, and sticks to their surface. The adhesion mechanism of MS is quite different from that of interpenetration and polymerization of monomers. The bonding strength of MMA-TBB resin to the tooth treated with an aqueous solution of MS was 11-12 MPa but that of MMA-BPO.DMPT resin was only 2.5 M Pa. Free sulfonic acids remaining in the immobilized MS disturbed the initiation of polymerization in MMA-BPO.DMPT resin. A photocurable liner, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) activated by d,l-comphorquinone (CQ), N-phenylglycine (NPG), which was polymerized in an acidic condition by irradiation, was chosen to obtain a high bond strength to the cross-linked MS on the tooth. The bond strength of TEGDMA-CQ.NPG on the tooth treated with an aqueous mixture of 10 wt% MS 7 (MMA: 70 mol%, p-styrene sulfonic acid: 30 mol%) and FeCl3 ([Fe3+]/[SO3-] = 0.28) was 10-11 MPa. The observation of the fractured surface after the tensile test and interface between precipitated MS and tooth indicated that the liner did not interpenetrate into the dentin through the immobilized MS on the tooth. These results indicated that the polymer reaction of MS with Ca2+ was important in the adhesion. In conclusion, MS is a reactive polyelectrolyte which adheres well to tooth substrates and prevents pulp irritation by hindering the penetration of the monomer.


In industrial environments, technology computer-aided design is used intensively for the design and optimization of new device architectures. To maintain its usefulness for future technology nodes, process simulation has to be able to predict the activation and distribution of dopants after advanced implantation and annealing schemes. Such annealing strategies will be based either on millisecond annealing at high temperatures or solid-phase epitaxial regrowth. In our contribution we will discuss diffusion and activation models for boron and arsenic. The models were calibrated for a wide range of annealing conditions, ranging from low-temperature annealing up to millisecond flash annealing. Special emphasis is given on their implementation into Sentaurus Process and on their application for the simulation of advanced device architectures.


OBJECTIVE
To study lymphatic metastasis of colorectal cancer for deceding the of dissection extent of dissection.

METHODS
Six hundred and twenty-three lymph nodes from 74 cases of colorectal cancer were analyzed after D(3) resection. They were classified into peritumor, longitudinal spread, and upward spread groups. The metastasis rate of lymph node and its incidence were calculated.

RESULTS
The metastasis rate of lymph node and its incidence in the peritumor, longitudinal spread, and upward spread (N(2) and N(3)) groups were 47.2% and 38.6%, 22.8% and 18.6%, and 29.7% (20.3% and 9.4%) and 10.2% (19.0% and 5.3%), respectively. The distribution rate of metastatic lymph node was 61.2%, 17.1%, and 21.6% in the peritumor, longitudinal spread, and upward spread groups, respectively. Within 2.0 cm on the anal side of rectal cancer, the metastasis rate was 3.7%, whereas in 2.0 - 4.0 cm no metastasis was observed cancer at the lower part of the rectum demonstrated a higher lateral metastasis rate.

CONCLUSIONS
Colorectal cancer tends to metastasize to longitudinal and the risk of metastasis increased in the stage of pT(3) and pT(4) or low differentiation stage. Jump metastasis is also a feature. D(3) radical resection is necessary for colorectal cancer, but extended lateral lymph node needs enectomy or total mesorectal excision. No residual tumor tissue exists at the anastomosis site after low anterior resection when the excision distance is beyond 2.0 cm from the anal margin of rectal cancer.


Variability of grass pea landrace populations for isozymes, Oxalyl Diamino Propanoic acid ODAP) and protein contents were investigated following standard procedures to detect genetic variation. The result indicated that phenotypic polymorphism was observed for the three enzymes, the highest being for esterase. The degree of differentiation (FST) of the individual loci ranged from 0.031 (for ACP-3) to 0.784 (for AAT-2). The highest polymorphism was detected in populations collected from Gondar region indicating the need for priority germplasm collection and site selection for in situ conservation in this region. The ODAP and protein analyses also revealed presence of variability among the populations. Fortunately, four entries with low ODAP contents ranging from 0.14% to 0.18% were identified in populations collected from different regions indicating the variation of this trait within population and between regions. These lines with low ODAP content are obviously considered important for further breeding program. Key words/phrases : Ethiopia, grass pea , isozyme, Lathyrus sativus , ODAP ET: Ethiopian Journal of Science Vol. 27 (2) 2004: 153–160


: Vitamin coenzyme Q10 is a critical adjuvant complementary therapy for patients with congestive heart failure, especially when traditional medical therapy is unsuccessful. The following case studies, with systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction, demonstrate the effectiveness of coenzyme Q10 in improving quality of life, as well as survival.


Background: Hyper-CVAD is the treatment for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in our institution. Objective: To evaluate the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms at genes associated with methotrexate metabolism on survival. Methods: The presence of the single nucleotide polymorphisms G80A at reduced folate carrier-1 gene and C677T in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene was determined by denaturing high performance liquid chromatography and validated by sequencing. Both single nucleotide polymorphisms were evaluated in 71 healthy donors and in an exploratory pilot trial with acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients to determine the influence of these single nucleotide polymorphisms on clinical outcome. Clinical characteristics, response, and outcome were registered. A Cox regression analysis was done to evaluate factors influencing response and overall survival. Results: There were no differences in the frequency of single nucleotide polymorphisms between volunteers and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients according to the Hardy-Weinberg test. Sensitivity and specificity were 72 and 91% for the G80A, and 64 and 75% for the C677T, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that the T-immunophenotype and the presence of single nucleotide polymorphism G80A reduced folate carrier-1 were associated with a shorter relapse-free survival and overall survival. Conclusions: The presence of G80A single nucleotide polymorphism at reduced folate carrier-1 gene in acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients was associated with a poorer prognosis. (REV INVES CLIN. 2016;68:154-62)


High-field Shubnikov-de Haas measurements have been performed on a planar-doped GaAs sample which shows high persistent photoconductivity. At 4.2 K and without illumination a quantum Hall plateau appears. This is the first observation of the quantum Hall effect on a low-mobility structure in which the electrons are confined on their parent donors. After illumination the plateau shifts to higher magnetic fields. At 1.4 K the plateau returns to lower magnetic field and the magnetoresistance falls to zero. No additional plateaus were observed even on lowering the temperature to 50 mK.


Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a disease with multiorgan involvement and multiple autoantibody production including antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA). Despite its reported prevalence in more than one third of SLE patients, the role of ANCA in the pathogenesis or otherwise in SLE remains unresolved. 131 SLE patients had been previously studied for various serologic parameters of disease activity. Their cumulative organ involvement in the course of their disease had also been determined and the Lupus Activity Index (LAI) calculated. Their stored sera were then screened for the presence of ANCA by two methods viz Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) and also enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ANCA was present in 24.8% of these SLE patients. The atypical ANCA pattern was predominant and accounted for an overall of 20.6%. Anti-MPO and anti-PR3 were detected in 1.5% of patients respectively. No association was found between ANCA positivity and disease activity. There was also no association of ANCA with specific organ involvement. Despite the high prevalence of ANCA especially the atypical variant in SLE, they probably represent only one of the wide repertoire of autoantibodies found in this disease. Routine testing for ANCA in lupus patients is therefore not recommended.


Insufficient research has been conducted into the factors that prompt young students to select nursing education as a profession in Saudi Arabia.The aim of the study is to identify factors affecting students' preference for nursing education and their intent to leave.This study follows a descriptive cross-sectional research design, with data collected by adapting the Tan-Kuick questionnaire to measure second-year nursing students' (n=162) preference for nursing education and intent to leave one academic institution in Saudi Arabia.Nursing image is identified as the major factor influencing the nursing students' preference for nursing education in Saudi Arabia (69.89 ± 16.49), and parents' image of nursing is identified as the factor with the least amount of influence (34.52 ± 22.04). Additionally, more than half of the nursing students surveyed report intending to leave the nursing profession. Regarding the reasons for their intent to leave, a total of 70% of the surveyed nursing students report having no interest in the nursing profession. Family disagreement and societal image are also identified as common prompts to leave nursing.The study recommends the use of media to enhance the image of the nursing profession through the presentation of role models that talk to the students and encourage and motivate them to engage in the working life of a nurse. In addition, the study suggests replicating the longitudinal study for the same group in their third and fourth year of study to see if they leave the nursing profession.


Cerebral and myocardial ischemia, two of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, are associated with systemic inflammatory responses that lead to organ injury, shock, and eventually death. HMGB1, a newly appreciated pro-inflammatory cytokine, has been detected in significant concentrations in severe sepsis and hemorrhagic shock, but its relationship to ischemic injury in humans is unknown. In order to determine whether HMGB1 levels are elevated in patients with ischemia, a prospective observational study was performed in subjects with a diagnosis of either acute coronary syndrome or cerebral vascular ischemia (transient ischemic attacks or cerebral vascular accidents). Subjects (n = 13, 69 ± 15.6 yrs.) were enrolled upon presentation to the North Shore LIJ Emergency Department within the first 24 hours of symptom onset. Blood was collected and serum prepared; circulating HMGB1 levels were analyzed by Western blot analysis using previously described methods (Wang et al. Science 1999). Control samples were obtained from healthy age- and sex-matched volunteers (n = 13, 71 ± 15.8 yrs.). Our results indicated that serum HMGB1 levels were significantly elevated in myocardial ischemia subjects as compared with controls (control serum HMGB1 = 10.6 ± 6.5 ng/mL vs. myocardial ischemia serum HMGB1 = 171.1 ± 26.8 ng/mL; p<0.001); serum HMGB1 levels were similarly elevated in cerebral ischemia subjects (control serum HMGB1 = 10.6 ± 6.5 ng/mL vs. cerebral ischemia serum HMGB1 = 194 ± 27.2 ng/mL; p<0.001). [Data presented as mean ± standard error, and analyzed by two-tailed Student's T test.] These results suggest that circulating HMGB1 levels are elevated in human ischemic disease, and that HMGB1 may serve as a serum marker for the early detection of ischemic diseases in humans. Ongoing studies are under way to correlate HMGB1 levels with both disease severity and progression. Supported by NIGMS and GCRC M01RR018535 of the North Shore-LIJ Research Institute. (Figure)


Objectives Acute blood flow to the femoral head has been postulated to be affected negatively by traumatic acetabular fracture or dislocation. To the best of our knowledge, a prospective study that has examined acute changes in blood flow to the femoral head with respect to the timing of reduction and the effect of open reduction and internal fixation after acetabular fracture or dislocations has not been performed. Design and Setting From June 1994 to February 1996, fifty-four consecutive patients with hip dislocations with or without fractures of the acetabulum were entered into this investigation. The patients were categorized into three groups: isolated dislocations, fractures or dislocations requiring open reduction and internal fixation, and isolated acetabular fractures without dislocation but requiring open reduction and internal fixation. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans were obtained after relocations and preoperatively and postoperatively after open reduction and internal fixation of displaced acetabular fractures. Results The median dislocation time for all patients flow was 4.00 hours (range 1 to 24 hours). SPECT scanning showed a low blood flow pattern in five (9.25 percent) patients. A low blood flow pattern was seen in patients with early and late relocation times. Open reduction and internal fixation was not statistically associated with an avascular pattern of blood flow. Forty-two (78 percent) of our patients were available for follow-up, with an average of 24.3 months and a minimum of one year. There was one false-positive, one false-negative, and thirty-eight true-negative scans. Conclusions A global loss of scintillation in the femoral head as determined by SPECT scanning occurs in some patients with hip dislocations and fractures or dislocations of the acetabulum in the early injury period. Changes in blood flow occurred in patients with short (one hour) and long (twenty-four hours) dislocation times. However, the development of avascular necrosis could not be predicted by early SPECT scanning. Until further multicenter studies are performed, SPECT scanning cannot be recommended on an acute or routine basis to predict those patients who will develop avascular necrosis. Operative approaches for open reduction of the hip and internal fixation of acetabular fractures do not appear to affect blood flow to the femoral head. Although a golden time to relocation cannot be fully established from this study, early relocation is advised to decrease the potential risk of vascular spasm, scarring, and subsequent avascular necrosis.


Previous research found that robots should best be designed to fit their given task, whilst others identified gender effects in people's evaluations of robots. This study combines this knowledge to investigate stereotyping effects of robot genderedness and assigned tasks in an online experiment (n = 89) manipulating robot gender (male vs. female) and task type (analytical vs. social) in a between subject's design in terms of trust, social perception, and humanness. People deem robots more competent and have higher trust in their capacity when they perform analytical tasks compared to social tasks, independent of the robot's gender. Furthermore, we observed a trend in the data indicating that people seem to dehumanize female robots (regardless of task performed) to animals lacking higher-level mental processes, and additionally that people seem to dehumanize robots to emotionless objects only when gendered robots perform tasks contradicting the stereotypes of their gender.


Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP) represents a group of orphan neurodegenerative diseases with gait disturbance as the predominant clinical feature. Due to its rarity, research within this field is still limited. Aside from clinical analysis using established scales, gait analysis has been employed to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms behind the disease. However, state of the art gait analysis systems are often large, immobile and expensive. To overcome these limitations, this paper presents the first clinically relevant mobile gait analysis system for HSP patients. We propose an unsupervised model based on local cyclicity estimation and hierarchical hidden Markov models (LCE-hHMM). The system provides stride time, swing time, stance time, swing duration and cadence. These parameters are validated against a GAITRite system and manual sensor data labelling using a total of 24 patients within 2 separate studies. The proposed system achieves a stride time error of −0.00 $\pm$ 0.09 s (correlation coefficient, r = 1.00) and a swing duration error of −0.67 $\pm$ 3.27 % (correlation coefficient, r = 0.93) with respect to the GAITRite system. We show that these parameters are also correlated to the clinical spastic paraplegia rating scale (SPRS) in a similar manner to other state of the art gait analysis systems, as well as to supervised and general versions of the proposed model. Finally, we show a proof of concept for this system to be used to analyse alterations in the gait of individual patients. Thus, with further clinical studies, due to its automated approach and mobility, this system could be used to determine treatment effects in future clinical trials.


Sharply rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is one of the biggest environmental concerns facing our civilization, resulting in an increasing importance of alternative modes of capturing this gas arising from anthropogenic emissions. Numerous materials have been proposed to capture and convert carbon dioxide into more precious materials, however none of these offers an energy efficient process. An alternative industrial method which would be appropriate in every respect is still lacking.
In the present research project, several diamino carboxylate protic ionic liquids (PILs) were synthesized and tested for CO2 capture. Capacities as high as 16 %w/w are observed; this is well above the industrial standard monoethanolamine (MEA)/water mixture. Besides the neat ionic liquids, the effects of diluents such as water, the corresponding parent amine and MEA on the absorption capacities were investigated. IR and NMR spectroscopies were employed as analytical techniques to confirm the behavior of the different systems.
Varying the amino-functionalities, as well as the alkyl chain length of the carboxylate anions, results in different absorption behavior where several trends were observed. Increasing the size of the anion produces a decrease in the absorption capacity. It was interesting to note that with addition of water, the trend remains the same in the case of the different anions; however, a systematic decrease in uptake indicates non-favorable conditions. PILs containing excess amine show higher uptakes, in contrast to the neat, which can be explained by the increased basicity of the reaction media. Addition of MEA diminishes the ion-specificity in case of the different cations, which can be attributed to the competing reactions between the CO2 and the two different amines in each system.

The results generated from this project may help in understanding the CO2 capture mechanisms and be relevant in the development of novel type of absorbents for both flue gas capture and also future large-scale atmospheric capture technologies.


Apoptosis is defined on the basis of morphological changes like nuclear fragmentation and chromatin condensation, which are dependent on caspases. Many forms of caspase-independent cell death have been reported, but the mechanisms are still poorly understood. We found that hypoxic cell death was independent of caspases and was associated with significant nuclear shrinkage. Neither Bcl-2 nor Apaf-1 deficiency prevented hypoxic nuclear shrinkage. To understand the molecular mechanism of the nuclear shrinkage, we developed an in vitro system using permeabilized cells, which allowed us to purify a novel member of the phospholipase A2 (PLA2) family that induced nuclear shrinkage. Purified PLA2 induced nuclear shrinkage in our permeabilized cell system. PLA2 inhibitors prevented hypoxic nuclear shrinkage in cells and cell death. Hypoxia caused elevation of PLA2 activity and translocation of intracellular PLA2s to the nucleus. Knockdown of the Ca2+-independent PLA2 delayed nuclear shrinkage and cell death. These results indicate that Ca2+-independent PLA2 is crucial for a caspase-independent cell death signaling pathway leading to nuclear shrinkage.


The effects of temperature on the growth of rice nursling seedlings in a nursery chamber were investigated to clarify the standard growth of nursling seedlings. Rice cultivar Sasanishiki seeds with buds 0.3∼1.0mm long were sown on a culture medium of granulated soil. In order to keep the temperature of the culture medium accurate, the medium was warmed with water in a nursery chamber before seeding. The seedlings were raised in nursery chambers kept at 3 constant temperatures (31°C, H plot;28°C, M plot;and 25°C, L plot) and 2 changing temperatures (25°C-2days to 31°C, L2H plot;and 25°C-3days to 31°C, L3H plot) under wet and dark conditions. The growth rate of plant length increased with increasing temperatrue. In the H plot, the plant length reached 7 cm 4 days after seeding, which is a suitable size required for the transplanting machine. In the same cumulated average temperature after seeding (CAT), plant length was longer when subjected to high temperature as compared to low temperature, and the leaf emergence rate was faster under high temperature.The above results make it clear that it is not suitable to compare the growth of nursling seedlings raised under different temperatures using only CAT. After changing temperature, the growth pattern of the plant lengths in the L2H and L3H plots were nearly equal to that in the H plot. Therefore, it was suggested that the nursling seedlings were not damaged by the low temperature for 2 and 3 days immediately after seeding.


Nowadays, web services play a major role in the development of enterprise applications. Many such applications are now developed using a service-oriented architecture (SOA), where microservices is one of its most popular kind. A RESTful web service will provide data via an API over the network using HTTP, possibly interacting with databases and other web services. Testing a RESTful API poses challenges, as inputs/outputs are sequences of HTTP requests/responses to a remote server. Many approaches in the literature do black-box testing, as the tested API is a remote service whose code is not available. In this paper, we consider testing from the point of view of the developers, which do have full access to the code that they are writing. Therefore, we propose a fully automated white-box testing approach, where test cases are automatically generated using an evolutionary algorithm. Tests are rewarded based on code coverage and fault finding metrics. We implemented our technique in a tool called EVOMASTER, which is open-source. Experiments on two open-source, yet non-trivial RESTful services and an industrial one, do show that our novel technique did automatically find 38 real bugs in those applications. However, obtained code coverage is lower than the one achieved by the manually written test suites already existing in those services. Research directions on how to further improve such approach are therefore discussed.


The paper addresses how smart technologies can be used to enhance cultural heritage experiences at tourism destinations. As its main contribution, it presents a framework to leverage the potential of multiple smart technologies throughout the visitors' experience at cultural heritage sites. The proposed framework builds on the theoretical foundation of the experience economy and the results of an analysis of best practices of smart technologies applied to cultural heritage sites. The analysis examines the capability of these technologies to intensify the four experience dimensions identified by Pine and Gilmore (1998) – Entertainment, Esthetic, Education and Escapism - in relation to an extended perspective of the visitors' experience including the three stages of the visit. The pilot testing of the framework provides insights into the opportunities to use a combination of applications for facilitating and enriching the cultural visit at the destination according to a multi-stage and multi-dimensional perspective of the heritage experience. The integrated perspective proposed in the paper provides a contribution to advance theory and practice, based on the more comprehensive view of the potential role of smart technologies' in heritage experiences deriving from an integrated multi-stage and multi-dimensional analysis.


Objective: To evaluate the performance of maternal risk factors (BMI and mean arterial pressure [MAP]) and first-trimester maternal serum markers in the early prediction of preeclampsia (PE) in nulliparous women. Material and Methods: This was a case-cohort study based on a cohort of 14,207 nulliparous women. A total of 213 cases with term PE (from 37 weeks + 0 days) and 55 cases with preterm PE (before 37 weeks + 0 days) were identified and validated. Randomly, 449 controls were selected. Serum samples previously collected for the double test (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A [PAPP-A] and free β human chorionic gonadotrophin [hCGβ]) as part of the first-trimester screening program were retrieved and analyzed for placental growth factor (PlGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). Concentrations were transformed to multiples of the median (MoM). Multivariate regression analysis was used for prediction models. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves were used for evaluation of the screening performance. Results: In preterm PE, the PlGF (0.79 MoM), sFlt-1 (0.86 MoM), NGAL (1.15 MoM), and PAPP-A (0.89 MoM) medians were significantly altered. In term PE, PlGF (0.90 MoM) and NT-proBNP (0.86 MoM) medians were significantly reduced. The combination of MAP and PlGF yielded a 39% detection rate of preterm PE for a 10% false-positive rate. The combination of MAP, BMI, and PlGF yielded a 33% detection rate of term PE with a 10% false-positive rate. Conclusion: First-trimester MAP, maternal serum PlGF, and NGAL are markers of preterm PE. Maternal serum sFlt-1 is a significant marker of preterm PE, but only early in the first trimester. First-trimester maternal serum NT-proBNP is not a predictor of PE. Screening performance for PE with these markers individually or in combination is modest.


Background: Biomarkers for psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents are urgently needed. This cross-sectional pilot study investigated quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG), a promising intermediate biomarker, in pediatric patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) compared with healthy controls (HCs). We hypothesized that youth with MDD would have increased coherence (connectivity) and absolute alpha power in the frontal cortex compared with HC. Methods: qEEG was obtained in adolescents aged 14-17 years with MDD (n = 25) and age- and gender-matched HCs (n = 14). The primary outcome was overall coherence on qEEG in the four frequency bands (alpha, beta, theta, and delta). Other outcomes included frontal-only coherence, overall and frontal-only qEEG power, and clinician-rated measures of anhedonia and anxiety. Results: Average coherence in the theta band was significantly lower in MDD patients versus HCs, and also lower in frontal cortex among MDD patients. Seven node pairs were significantly different or trending toward significance between MDD and HC; all had lower coherence in MDD patients. Average frontal delta power was significantly higher in MDD versus HCs. Conclusions: Brain connectivity measured by qEEG differs significantly between adolescents with MDD and HCs. Compared with HCs, youth with MDD showed decreased connectivity, yet no differences in power in any frequency bands. In the frontal cortex, youth with MDD showed decreased resting connectivity in the alpha and theta frequency bands. Impaired development of a resting-state brain network (e.g., default mode network) in adolescents with MDD may represent an intermediate phenotype that can be assessed with qEEG.


Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection can cause central nervous system disease with irreversible neurological damage in humans and animals. Evidence suggests that overactivation of microglia leads to greatly increased neuronal damage during JEV infection. However, the mechanism by which JEV induces the activation of microglia remains unclear. Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) can recognize double-stranded RNA, and their downstream signaling results in production of proinflammatory mediators. In this study, we investigated the roles of TLR3 and RIG-I in the inflammatory response caused by JEV infection in the mouse microglial cell line. JEV infection induced the expression of TLR3 and RIG-I and the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK). Knockdown of TLR3 and RIG-I attenuated activation of ERK, p38MAPK, activator protein 1 (AP-1), and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and CCL-2, which was induced by JEV, was reduced by TLR3 and RIG-I knockdown and inhibitors of phosphorylated ERK and p38MAPK. Furthermore, viral proliferation was increased following knockdown of TLR3 and RIG-I. Our findings suggest that the signaling pathways of TLR3 and RIG-I play important roles in the JEV-induced inflammatory response of microglia.


BACKGROUND
Health records are essential for good health care. Their quality depends on accurate and prompt documentation of the care provided and regular analysis of content. This study assessed the quantitative properties of inpatient health records at the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, Nigeria.

METHOD
A retrospective study was carried out to assess the documentation of 780 paper-based health records of inpatients discharged in 2009.

RESULTS
732 patient records were reviewed from the departments of obstetrics (45.90%), pediatrics (24.32%), and other specialties (29.78%). Documentation performance was very good (98.49%) for promptness recording care within the first 24 h of admission, fair (58.80%) for proper entry of patient unit number (unique identifier), and very poor (12.84%) for utilization of discharge summary forms. Overall, surgery records were nearly always (100%) prompt regarding care documentation, obstetrics records were consistent (80.65%) in entering patients' names in notes, and the principal diagnosis was properly documented in all (100%) completed discharge summary forms in medicine. 454 (62.02%) folders were chronologically arranged, 456 (62.29%) were properly held together with file tags, and most (80.60%) discharged folders reviewed, analyzed and appropriate code numbers were assigned.

CONCLUSIONS
Inadequacies were found in clinical documentation, especially gross underutilization of discharge summary forms. However, some forms were properly documented, suggesting that hospital healthcare providers possess the necessary skills for quality clinical documentation but lack the will. There is a need to institute a clinical documentation improvement program and promote quality clinical documentation among staff.


Linear prediction is considered with respect to a nonlinear frequency scale obtained by a first‐order all‐pass transformation. The predictor can be computed from a frequency‐warped autocorrelation function obtained from the power spectrum or by a direct linear transformation of the original acf. Three numerical procedures are compared. Alternatively, the predictor can be determined from a covariance matrix or (adaptively) from continuously formed correlations, suitably defined according to the all‐pass transformation. Prediction‐error minimization and spectral flattening are no longer equivalent criteria. In the synthesis part of a vocoder or APC system, no inverse transformation is required, since the direct form of the analysis and synthesis filters can be modified so as to immediately realize the warped transfer function. Single‐word intelligibility is compared for a predictive vocoder on a ''Bark'' scale and a linear frequency scale. The Bark scale yields results around 90% even at predictor orders of...


We develop statistical inference procedures in assessing product relia- bility based on a nonlinear mixed-effect degradation model and the least squares method. With today's high technology, some life tests result in no or very few fail- ures by the end of test. Thus, it is hard to use the traditional reliability analysis to analyze lifetime data. Since product performance degrades over time, we analyze the degradation data and use the analytical results to estimate percentiles of the failure time distribution. The nonlinear mixed-effect degradation model provides us a way to build the relationship between degradation measurements and time. We establish asymptotic properties of the ordinary and weighted least squares es- timators under the nonlinear mixed-effect model. We use these asymptotic results to obtain point estimates and approximate confidence intervals for percentiles of the failure time distribution. Two real data sets are analyzed. Performances of the proposed method are studied by simulation.


A comparative study is presented of the optical damage induced by green light in LiNbO3 waveguides prepared by Ti in-diffusion, proton exchange and ion implantation. The methods used were monitoring the out-coupled light power as a function of time and as a function of in-coupled power, and writing and erasing a holographic grating inside the guide. With the first method, the optical damage stability of Ti-diffused guides is greatly inferior to the other two types, optical damage appearing at in-coupled intensities of 6 W cm-2 in Ti-diffused guides but not until 500 W cm-2 in exchanged and implanted guides. With the holographic method, however, a similar photorefractive behaviour is observed for diffused and implanted guides which contain similar levels of Fe2+ impurities, whereas much less damage is apparent in proton-exchanged guides. Main photorefractive parameters are given for the three types of guides and their physical implications briefly discussed.


In recent years, the computer drawing technology that deals with three-dimensional (3D) design of footwear has become hot topics. Rhino is a kind of common and practical 3D design software with strong drawing and rendering graphics function, which is widely used to design industrial products. In this paper, through decomposition and modeling, modeling and drawing methods were analyzed in various parts of footwear by Rhino, as well as the smooth technology and adjustments to its profile curve by an example of lady's high boots. Finally, through a series introductions of rendering effects for footwear in color, light perception, grain characteristic, and 3D graphics, the main technical essential is achieved and difficulties in design of overall footwear styles are solved.


I. INTRODUCTION The double-torus chaperonins are one class of molecular chaperones found in eubacteria, mitochondria, and plastids that bind protein substrates at some intermediate stage in their protein folding pathways and use ATP hydrolysis to fold and release them as biologically active, correctly folded products (Horwich and Willison 1993; Saibil and Wood 1993; see Frydman and Hartl, this volume). Recently, it has become clear that eukaryotic cytosol contains an abundant ring-shaped chaperonin that is composed of many kinds of subunits encoded by a family of related genes. The discovery of the cytosolic chaperonin containing TCP-1 (CCT) arose from the convergence of three independent lines of investigation. First, our laboratory had been investigating the mouse t-complex polypeptide 1 ( Tcp-1 ) gene that maps to the t-complex region of mouse chromosome 17 (Silver et al. 1979) and is up-regulated during spermatogenesis (Dudley et al. 1984; Silver et al. 1987; Willison et al. 1990). We cloned mouse Tcp-1 (Willison et al. 1986; Kubota et al. 1992b) and human TCP1 (Willison et al. 1987; Kirchoff and Willison 1990) cDNAs and genes, made a set of seven monoclonal antibodies to the protein (Willison et al. 1989), and biochemically purified the chaperonin containing TCP-1 (Lewis et al. 1992). Second, investigation of the heat shock response in two species of thermophilic archaebacteria uncovered a novel, heat-inducible, double-toroid ATPase with in vitro chaperonin activity (Phipps et al. 1991Phipps et al. 1993; Trent et al. 1991). The subunits of these archaebacterial chaperonins are highly related to eukaryotic TCP-1, 40% identical in the...


We study the dynamical structure factor of the spin-1 pyrochlore material NaCaNi_{2}F_{7}, which is well described by a weakly perturbed nearest-neighbour Heisenberg Hamiltonian, Our three approaches-molecular dynamics simulations, stochastic dynamical theory, and linear spin wave theory-reproduce remarkably well the momentum dependence of the experimental inelastic neutron scattering intensity as well as its energy dependence with the exception of the lowest energies. We discuss two surprising aspects and their implications for quantum spin liquids in general: the complete lack of sharp quasiparticle excitations in momentum space and the success of the linear spin wave theory in a regime where it would be expected to fail for several reasons.


Mycoplasma arthritidis, an agent of chronic proliferative arthritis of rodents, secretes a potent soluble superantigen, MAM, that is active for both murine and human T and B lymphocytes. We now report the complete nucleotide and amino acid sequence of MAM and show it to be distinct from other proteins and not closely related phylogeneticaUy to other superantigens. Two functional domains on MAM are identified based on the ability ofpeptides encompassing these regions to inhibit lymphocyte proliferation by the intact MAM molecule. One of these domains shares short sequences or epitopes with other microbial superantigens. The second domain contains the consensus legume lectin motif-B, which is important for T cell activation by concanavalin (Con) A. MAM and Con A peptides containing this motif are functionally cross reactive, suggesting a novel secondary pathway for T cell activation by MAM. S uperantigens are potent immunomodulatory molecules that are produced by a number of pathogenic bacteria (1, 2), endogenous murine retroviruses (3), and may be associated with HIV-1 (4, 5). Superantigens have been hypothesized to play a role in human diseases including Ka-wasaki's disease, toxic shock syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes (6-8). The Mycoplasma arthritidis mitogen (MAM) ~ (9) is a particularly interesting superantigen as it is produced by an organism that causes spontaneous chronic arthritis in rodents (10). Furthermore, evidence suggests that MAM triggers autoimmune arthritis in collagen-injected mice by activating the specific T cells that drive the inflam-matory response (11). MAM is a typical superantigen in that it is presented to murine and human T cells by direct binding to MHC molecules present on accessory cell surfaces and is recognized by specific V~ chain segments of the TCR without MHC restriction (9). Although MAM is much less potent in activating human T cells than are the Staphylococcus aureus-derived superantigens, unlike the latter it promotes a strong polyclonal B cell activation in human PBL. This property suggests that MAM may be an ideal model for the study of 1Abbreviations used in this paper: the role of superantigens in the pathogenesis of human au-toimmune disease characterized by hypergammaglobuline-mia (12). We show here that MAM is a unique protein, phylogenetically distinct from other superantigens, but which contains cross-reactive motifs found in other T cell mitogens. Materials and Methods Cloning and Sequencing of MAM. Degenerate oligonucleotide primers were designed corresponding to the NH 2-and COOH-terminal ends of the previously sequenced peptide (13), based upon the codon …


The properties of a new spectroscopic light source are analysed. It is demonstrated that the gas-liner pinch emits resonance lines from a homogeneous central layer without self-absorption effects. For investigations of the Lyman- alpha line, the electron density is adjusted to Ne approximately 2*1018 cm-3 and the electron temperature to kTe approximately 7 eV.


Education plays a vital role in improvement of human resources and also for the economic developing. In our study area of D.G.Khan district it is observed that role of female teachers are dominating in improving the literacy rate and the schools in which female teachers are engaged they constitute more enrolment i.e. female student teacher ratio is greater than the male student teacher ratio. Results of the study are helpful in developing the policy recommendations to employ more female teachers in the primary school level for the successful achievement of objectives of educational polices. Female teachers can easily understand and are helpful in resolving the problems of the students. Female teachers concentrate more in teaching activities. Key words: Female Teachers, Literacy Rate, Students-teacher ratio.


Abstract : The mission of the BYMDC is to 'Recruit and enroll eligible Department of Defense (DoD) members and other eligible personnel into the National Marrow Donor Program Registry; support the DoD contingency requirement for unrelated bone marrow donations and tissue typed matched blood platelets; support and contribute to ongoing research in tissue typing techniques and unrelated marrow transplantation efficacy (especially as it relates to donors); and to provide outstanding management services to those members who are selected as potential marrow donors.'


AIM
To study the effects of 9-cis-retinoic acid (9-cis-RA) on cell cycle and expression of cyclin D1 and cdk4 in lung cancer cells.

METHODS
9-cis-RA (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1) was used to treat lung cancer cells for 24 h; Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to detect the percent of G0/G1 phase and S phase cells of three groups including blank control, DMSO control and 9-cis-RA groups; RT-PCR was used to analyze the expression changes of cyclin D1 and cdk4 before and after treatment with 9-cis-RA in lung cancer cells.

RESULTS
The percent of G0/G1 phase cells of 9-cis-RA groups was significantly higher than that of the control groups (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) and the percent of S phase cells of 9-cis-RA groups was lower than that of the control groups (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05); the expression of cyclin D1 of PG, SPC-A1 and L78 cells was decreased (P < 0.01) and the expression of cdk4 of PG, A549 and L78 cells was also decreased (P < 0.01) after treatment with 9-cis-RA.

CONCLUSION
Most of the proliferation and the expression of cyclin D1 and cdk4 of PG, A549, SPC-A1 and L78 were inhibited by 9-cis-RA.


Electrocatalysts for both the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER) are vital for the performances of rechargeable metal-air batteries. Herein, we report an advanced bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst consisting of porous metallic nickel-iron nitride (Ni3 FeN) supporting ordered Fe3 Pt intermetallic nanoalloy. In this hybrid catalyst, the bimetallic nitride Ni3 FeN mainly contributes to the high activity for the OER while the ordered Fe3 Pt nanoalloy contributes to the excellent activity for the ORR. Robust Ni3 FeN-supported Fe3 Pt catalysts show superior catalytic performance to the state-of-the-art ORR catalyst (Pt/C) and OER catalyst (Ir/C). The Fe3 Pt/Ni3 FeN bifunctional catalyst enables Zn-air batteries to achieve a long-term cycling performance of over 480 h at 10 mA cm-2 with high efficiency. The extraordinarily high performance of the Fe3 Pt/Ni3 FeN bifunctional catalyst makes it a very promising air cathode in alkaline electrolyte.


Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the universe. The composition of the jets is, however, subject to debate\cite{Peer2015,Zhang2018}. Whereas the traditional model invokes a relativistic matter-dominated fireball with a bright photosphere emission component\cite{Meszaros2000}, the lack of the detection of such a component in some GRBs\cite{Abdo2009} has led to the conclusion that GRB jets may be Poynting-flux-dominated\cite{Zhang2009}. Furthermore, how efficiently the jet converts its energy to radiation is poorly constrained. A definitive diagnosis of the GRB jet composition and measurement of GRB radiative efficiency requires high-quality prompt emission and afterglow data, which has not been possible with the sparse observations in the past. Here we report a comprehensive temporal and spectral analysis of the TeV-emitting bright GRB 190114C. Its fluence is one of the highest of all GRBs detected so far, which allows us to perform a high-significance study on the prompt emission spectral properties and their variations down to a very short timescale of about 0.1 s. We identify a clear thermal component during the first two prompt emission episodes, which is fully consistent with the prediction of the fireball photosphere model. The third episode of the prompt emission is consistent with synchrotron radiation from the deceleration of the fireball. This allows us to directly dissect the fireball energy budget in a parameter-independent manner\cite{Zhang2021} and robustly measure a nearly $30\%$ radiative efficiency for this GRB. The afterglow microphysics parameters can be also well constrained from the data. GRB 190114C, therefore, exhibits the evolution of a textbook-version relativistic fireball, suggesting that fireballs can indeed power at least some GRBs with high efficiency.


It is shown that under conditions of IgE-induced reaction the tumour growth is altered, which may be explained by different degree of expression of functional activities of immunocompetent cells in mice with transplanted tumours and marked immediate-type reaction. Changes in the immunological state manifest in stimulation of the proliferative response primarily to B-cell mitogens under conditions of increased synthesis of IgE, which permits suggesting that under these conditions B-cells play an important role in antitumour immunity.


Programmable and information metasurfaces have shown great potentials in wireless communications, but there are few reports on encrypted communications. In this paper, a programmable polarization‐modulated (PoM) information metasurface is proposed, which can not only customize arbitrarily linearly polarized reflected waves, but also modulate their amplitudes in real time. Based on this feature, a physical‐level wireless communication encryption scheme is presented and experimentally demonstrated by introducing a meta‐key, which can be encrypted and sent by the programmable PoM information metasurface. To be specific, the key is encoded and concealed into different linear polarization channels, and then modulated and transmitted by the information metasurface at the transmitting end. At the receiving end, the modulated signal can be received and decoded by using a pair of polarization discrimination antennas. A wireless transceiver system is established to verify the feasibility of the scheme. It is shown that, once the meta‐key is obtained, the corresponding encrypted target information that has been sent to the user in advance can be recovered.


A simple and rapid dual-wavelength spectroscopic method is used for simultaneous determination of pentoses and hexoses in the prehydrolyzate from lignocellulosic biomass. The method is based on the following reaction mechanism: in the solution of hydrochloric acid, phloroglucinol gives color reaction with sugars or their degradation products, showing maximum absorbance at 553 nm and 410 nm. Based on dual-wavelength spectrophotometric measurement, the pentoses and hexoses can separately be quantified. It was found that the derivatives from these two different sugars have an isosbestic point at 425 nm. According to the validation results, high accuracy and reasonable recovery rate is shown with the present method (pentoses recovery 97.1 to 100.0%, hexoses recovery 97.2 to 102.0%). Additionally, the interferences from substances including lignin, furfural, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), glucuronic acid, and galacturonic acid are insignificant. All of the above results illustrate the suitability of this method for analyzing sugars in the lignocelluloses prehydrolyzate, especially hardwoods or herbaceous plants, based on forest-related biorefinery research.


Immunotherapy with cytokines was the first effective treatment in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Long-term responders and complete remissions were observed, but efficacy in the overall population was limited with the consequence that targeted agents replaced cytokines. The discovery of tumor associated antigens as direct targets paved the way from theses rather unspecific to specific immunotherapeutic strategies, which are discussed in this review. Autologous or dendritic cell (DC) based tumor vaccination with vitespen or AGS-003, adoptive T-cell transfer and synthetic peptide vaccination with IMA901 are new and promising approaches. Besides that the more passive strategies of antibody dependent cytotoxicity with the VEGF antibody bevacizumab or the carbonic anhydrase IX antibody girentuximab are discussed. Immunomodulation by cyclophosphamide, tyrosine kinase inhibitors or nivolumab, which targets the PD-1 axis, further promote T-cell activation and combinatory strategies with these agents are outlined.


Sean O'Keefe, who became NASA administrator in December 2001, submitted his resignation on 13 December 2004. O'Keefes departure comes after the agency has begun to implement its new Vision for Space Exploration. He leaves NASA on good fiscal footing, with a fiscal year 2005 budget of $16.2 billion.

However, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), the ranking member of the House of Representatives Science Committee, said the next administrator must deal with "reconciling the agency's goals with the constrained budgets it is likely to be facing in the years ahead."


The aim of our single-group pre–post design pilot study was to evaluate the short-term effect of kinesio taping (KT) application on pain and motor ability of hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) patients. Eleven poststroke patients with HSP hospitalized in the Department of Neurology C, Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, Raanana, Israel, received a KT application in addition to their usual rehabilitation protocol. KT, consisting of one to three strips according to a predefined algorithm, was applied to the painful shoulder region. A 10 cm Visual Analog Scale of shoulder pain at rest and at arm movement, active and passive pain-free abduction range of motion, Box & Blocks, and Fugl-Meyer upper extremity motor assessment were performed before treatment and 24 h after wearing the KT. After applying the KT, there was no significant change in any variables. Short-term KT application, used in our study, produced no change in shoulder pain, range of motion, or ability of upper limb in HSP patients. Additional studies should evaluate the effect of long-term application and different types of KT applications on HSP.


To monitor industrial processes properly, soft-sensors are widely used to predict significant but difficult-to-measure quality variables. However, the prediction performances of traditional data-driven soft-sensors are usually unacceptable once suffering from high-nonlinear, high-dimension, and imblance data issues. Therefore, a semisupervised soft-sensor, which is learned by a just-in-time method with structure entropy clustering (SS-JITL-SEC), is proposed aiming to improve prediction performance with a simpler way. Inspired by a divide and conquer strategy, a novel SEC method is proposed to achieve several clusters and then to translate the highly complex and nonlinear modeling problems into simple and linear ones. Moreover, the training dataset is extended through a mixed SS labeling approach. Finally, dissimilarity-based JITL works together with the resulting clustering subdatasets to formulate a local adaptive prediction model. Two datasets from different types of wastewater treatment plants are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed soft-sensor. The results show that the SS-JITL-SEC soft-sensor can achieve better prediction performance than other standard counterparts, and even for effective process monitoring with the resulted residuals.


The HR has a significant role to play in crisis management The corona virus eruption is initial and foremost a person's tragedy, moving many thousands of individuals The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading at an unprecedented speed "Common respiratory disease, that's worst this year then the foremost, may be a way more vital threat to the world The crisis can impact your organization and employees resulting in a fatal impact on an organization's business gain and even sustainability The foremost necessary issue HR leaders can do is to stay up that perspective and guard against over-reaction Fears concerning the corona virus are comprehensible By providing employees with correct knowledge concerning corona virus, HR leaders can maintain sensible order and defend the organization against potential liability Therefore on avoid the unfold of data, HR leaders need to endeavor to form certain that employees aren't sharing false information or gossiping concerning others Scientists still aren't entirely positive but the virus is transmitted and, for now, there is no immunizing agent to protective cover against it We are going to use the trends to adapt organizations and additionally the personnel to the new things, and part to assist to put together the new scenario HR ought to take the responsibility to confirm that their organizations are aware about the impact of internal strengths & weaknesses on the human aspect to differing kinds of crises and also the crisis management set up covers all potential HR risks, concerns, and needs After few days, people massively stepped up the use of technologies that modify remote learning, working, services and consumption However this crisis is teaching us a vital human lesson It's a health and safety crisis initial and economic and business drawback second We've to have concern about creating individuals safety first © 2020 SERSC


Secondary forest roads network or so-called technical infrastructure of the component should fulfill three important functions: (1) biological, (2) technical and (3) economical. By limitation of movement of working devices and loads via designed routes, the damages of soil and component have been minimized enabling their easier and faster movement. This results in more productive work with reduction of skidding costs and level of forest damages at the same time. The most important feature of tractor roads as the most frequent way of secondary forest roads network in Bosnia and Herzegovina is surely their longitudinal slope. The maximum allowed longitudinal slope of tractor roads should not exceed 12% if their conversion into truck roads has been planned for the future (Jeličić, 1983). On the contrary, the longitudinal slope of tractor roads should not exceed 16 % if the erosion activity of water and long-term usage of tractor roads have been taken into account (Jeličić, 1983), which is almost the rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina forestry practice. However, the maximum longitudinal slope of tractor roads in practice is very often higher than 30 %, which usually results with their fast ruining due to erosion impact of the water. In this article, at the selected forest area-department, the impact of the longitudinal slope of tractor roads and openness of a forest department and timber skidding costs have been analyzed. Key word: tractor road, longitudinal slope, timber skidding costs.


We present a solution to the difference between Wittgenstein's use of model in TLP and modeling in PI, RFM and OC by means of analysis of the difference in word choices and concept descriptions of the phenomena in his remarks. The method we used is conceptual analysis of Wittgenstein's
treatments of scientific models and modeling. Additionally, textual analysis and textual comparison are used in the study of his major remarks on the subject. Given the discovered difference between model and modeling and the continuity of dependence of both concepts on the concept of picture, with the difference between picture and picturing implied, we suggest that Wittgenstein tried to incorporate his old concept of model into the new concept of modeling. The explicated difference and incorporation contribute to the clarification of the issues of Wittgenstein's indirect and direct influence on philosophy of science (especially on Toulmin, Hanson, Kuhn and Feyerabend).


Abstract Clofarabine and cytarabine (Clo + Ara-C) combinations have efficacy in treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We retrospectively analyzed clinical outcomes of 71 AML patients receiving Clo + Ara-C regimens at the University of Minnesota from 2011 to 2016: 44 patients (62%) had newly diagnosed AML and 27 patients (38%) had relapsed/refractory AML. The median age of patients was 69 years (interquartile range [IQR], 63–75 years). Nearly 60% of the patients had secondary AML, and about half of patients had adverse risk cytogenetics. Objective response rate (ORR) was 42% in all patients with complete remission (CR) rate of 20%. Progression-free survival (PFS) at 2 years was 16% (95% CI 8–27%) and overall survival (OS) at 2 years was 21% (95% CI 11–33%) for all patients. The 30-day mortality rate was 18%. Clo + Ara-C- containing regimens are an acceptable upfront therapy option for patients who are not candidates for "7 + 3" induction, but do not induce durable remissions.


Abstract Introduction Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) causes severe morbidity and can result in maternal death. It must be managed in specialized centers with interdisciplinary groups, but few publications have described the usual management within a specific geographic region. We intend to describe the usual approach for PAS in reference centers in Latin America. Methodology This was an observational, multicenter, cross-sectional study conducted in Latin American PAS reference centers. A standardized survey was implemented and applied to obstetric service coordinators and leaders of interdisciplinary groups with experience in PAS between September and November 2020. Results One hundred fifty-four hospitals were included. Most of them (64.3%) handle approximately one case of PAS every two months, and almost all centers (89.6%) believe that their performance could be improved. Conclusions Most of the reference centers for PAS in Latin America attend to a small number of cases each year, and almost all of these hospitals identify opportunities to improve the management or approach for PAS in women.


The child's intellectual skills in dealing with the media are reflected in his or her media intelligence. However, the assessment of children's adaptation to life in the world of the media-sphere is difficult to make. The recognition of a pupil's mediality, as well as its systematic development, may have a positive impact on the quality of education. Currently there are no tools in the educational system to diagnose pupils' mediality. Therefore, there is a need to construct a useful indicator of the level of mediality, which may be a Mediality Quotient. In the cognitive perspective, it can become a tool that will contribute to the optimization of the educational process in the intellectual media environment. The aim of the article is to justify the purposefulness of conducting research on media skills of children and to present the assumptions for developing media literacy measurement techniques. The planned actions will allow to identify to what extent children acquire media skills and what is their statistical picture. The results obtained will be used to determine the coefficient enabling the measurement of media skills and their assessment in relation to the statistical average of pupils. Ultimately, the primary objective of developing a scale for measuring the Mediality Quotient of children will be achieved.


We conducted a prospective study to assess the anxiety and salivary Chromogranin A (CgA), which is considered to be a biomarker of the stress response, in outpatients receiving breast conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy (RT) to the whole breast. Fifty consecutive patients who received whole-breast RT were enrolled in this study. The anxiety levels were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at the beginning of RT (baseline), 30 Gy, completion of RT, and 1 and 3 months after RT. Salivary CgA levels were also measured at the same time. The mean state anxiety score for all patients was 46.16 with a standard error (SE) of 1.57 at the beginning of RT (baseline) which continued to decline during and after RT. It reached its lowest score with 36.34 ± 1.56 at 3 months after RT (p < 0.0001). The mean trait anxiety score for all patients was 43.10 ± 1.54 at baseline and remained constant during RT but began to decline after completion of RT and reached a low level at 3 months after RT (p = 0.0021). The mean salivary CgA concentration for all patients demonstrated no consistent trends over time, but at 30 Gy the concentration showed a significant decreasing pattern (p = 0.0473). Salivary CgA concentrations and state anxiety and trait anxiety scores at all time points showed no correlation. The mean anxiety scores measured by STAI showed no positive correlation with salivary CgA concentration for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy following breast conserving surgery.


In an attempt to achieve chronopharmacotherapy for asthma, press-coated tablets (250 mg), which contained aminophylline in the core tablet in the form of low-substituted hydroxypropylcellulose (L-HPC) and coated with crystalline cellulose (PH-102) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) at various molecular weights and mixing ratios in the amounts of PH-102 and PEG as the outer shell (press-coating material), were prepared (chronopharmaceutics). Their applicability as timed-release (delayed-release) tablets with a lag time of disintegration and a subsequent rapid drug release phase was investigated. Various types of press-coated tablets were prepared using a tableting machine, and their aminophylline dissolution profiles were evaluated by the JP paddle method. Tablets with the timed-release characteristics could be prepared, and the lag time of disintegration was prolonged as the molecular weight and the amount of PEG, for example PEG 500,000, in the outer shell were increased. The lag time of disintegration could be controlled by the above-mentioned method, however, the pH of the medium had no effect on disintegration of the tablet and dissolution behavior of theophylline. The press-coated tablet (core tablet:aminophylline 50 mg, L-HPC and PEG 6000; outer shell:PH-102:PEG = 8:2 200 mg) with the timed-release characteristics was administered orally to rabbits for an in vivo test. Theophylline was first detected in plasma more than 2 h after administration; thus, this tablet showed a timed-release characteristics in the gastrointestinal tract. The time (tmax) required to reach the maximum plasma theophylline concentration (Cmax) observed after administration of the press-coated tablet was significantly (p < 0.05) delayed compared with that observed after administration of aminophylline solution in the control experiment. However, there was no difference in Cmax and area under the plasma theophylline concentration-time curve (AUC0-->24) between the press-coated tablet and aminophylline solution. These results suggest that the press-coated aminophylline tablet (with the timed-release characteristic) offers a promising forms of theophylline chronotherapy for asthma.


Objective of the study was to determine the effects of McConnell taping combined with strengthening exercises of vastus medialis oblique muscle in females with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrom. Females with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome with an age group of 25-45 years having a less than 30/80 score on a Lower Extremity Functional Index (LEFI), anterior knee pain and painful/limited range of motion (ROM) at knee, were included in the study. A total of 51 subjects were randomly assigned into two groups. They were assigned a 30-40 minute per session for 5 days per week over a length of 2 weeks. Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Lower Extremity Functional Index and Goniometry tools were used to assess the measure of interest. These samples only comprised of females with a mean age of 36.04+7.35 years. After 2 weeks, significant improvement was recorded in the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) (p<0.001) and Lower Extremity Functional Index (LEFI) (p<0.001). Flexion range of motion of the knee also improved significantly. No statistically significant difference in extension range of the knee was noted in either groups as it was normal at base line.


This century is defined by technological advancements so rapid, many of the sectors of the society are not ready to adapt right away. Such is true for the education sector, especially in the Philippines. However, the seeming lack of action on issues concerning educational technology does not mean that educational institutions are not preparing for this snowball of educational technological changes. It must be emphasized that much preparation is required when adapting and adopting such innovations. This study aimed to begin planning stage of the enhancement of integration of technological advancements in classroom instruction in St. Paul College Pasig. Based on Parasumaran and Colby's (2001) Technology Readiness Index Model, the research evaluated around one hundred high school students' readiness based on the following technological beliefs: exposure to the features of the tablets and their optimism, discomfort, and insecurity on using tablets as a learning tool. Multiple regression analysis revealed that technological beliefs on reading experience and perception that the tablet is a better tool in making students learn affect significantly students' willingness to use tablets. As such, careful integration must be observed. It must still be emphasized that the tablet is just one of the tools that teachers can use in delivering lessons. As such, teachers must consider carefully the kind of materials, applications, and resources that will be used alongside the tablet. If educational institutions fail to fulfill the aforementioned significant technological beliefs, then the use of tablets as a learning tool may end up in vain.


The paper deals with formal description of data transformation (compression and decompression process). We start by briefly reviewing basic concepts of data compression and introducing the model based approach that underlies most modern techniques. Then we present the arithmetic coding and Huffman coding for data compression, and finally see the performance of arithmetic coding. And conclude that Arithmetic coding is superior in most respects to the better-known Huffman method. As its performance is optimal without the need for blocking of input data. It also accommodates adaptive models easily and is computationally efficient.


Background: In developing countries, health information systems (HIS) is experiencing more and more difficult to produce quality data. The lack of reliable health information makes it difficult to develop effective health policies. In order to understand the organization of HIS in African countries, we undertook a literature review. Methods: Our study was conducted using the PubMed and Scopus bibliographic search engines. Our inclusion criteria were: (i) all articles published between 2005 and 2019, (ii) including in their titles the keywords "health", "information", "systems", "system", "africa", "developing countries", "santé", "pays en développement", "Afrique", (iii) written in English and French, (iv) dealing with organizational and technical issues of HIS in African countries. Results: Fourteen articles out of 2492 retrieved were included in the study, of which 13 (92.9%) were qualitative. All of them dealt with issues related to HIS in 12 African countries. All 12 countries (100.0%) had opted for a data warehouse approach to improve their HIS. This approach, supported by the DHIS2 application, had provided them with reliable data. However, 11 of the 12 countries (92.0%) were aligned with donor strategies and lacked a national strategy. Conclusion: This study helped us to understand that the lack of a national health information management strategy will always be a threat to HIS performance in African countries. Ideally, rigorous upstream thinking to strengthen HIS governance should be undertaken by defining and proposing a coherent conceptual framework to analyze and guide the development and integration of digital applications into HIS over the long term.


In this paper, the concept of the adaptive current source drivers (CSDs) is proposed for the high-frequency synchronous buck converters. Compared to the previous CSD circuits, the adaptive CSD can achieve adjustable drive current and drive voltage according to different load condition. The benefit is that higher drive current and voltage lead to lower switching loss and conduction loss when the load current increases. Therefore, the adaptive CSD is able to realize optimal design to reduce the switching loss, the gate drive loss, and the conduction loss in a wide load range. It should be noted that the adaptive concept is suitable for both the continuous and discontinuous CSDs regardless the drive circuit topologies. Through investigating the CSD circuits, one simple method to achieve the adaptive drive current based on the adaptive voltage is proposed. A 12 V input, 1.3 V output, and 1-MHz synchronous buck converter with the continuous and discontinuous CSDs was built, respectively, to verify the advantages of the proposed adaptive concept and efficiency improvement.


Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic is correlated with decreased physical activity (PA). Transitioning to remote work may impact people's acceptability and preferences for remotely delivered behavioral interventions, including PA. The objective was to examine perceptions of COVID-19 impacts on PA engagement and motivation, and perspectives related to remotely delivered PA interventions. Design Cross-sectional small-group interview. Setting Harris County, Texas. Participants: Insufficiently active, overweight/obese adults (16 healthy adults [aged 25–52 years], and 7 cancer survivors [aged 50–74 years]). Method Group discussion was guided by semi-structured questions. Audio-transcribed data (278 pages) was analyzed using Braun and Clarke's process centering identification, analysis, organization, description, and reports. Results Overall, participants expressed a decreased level of PA due to the pandemic. Difficulties (e.g., care-taking activities, working from home, and safety concerns) negatively affected motivation. Participants indicated high acceptability of remotely delivered PA interventions, with advantages of virtual technology features (e.g., did not have to maintain a gym membership) and even accountability in maintaining a PA routine (e.g., using virtual groups to engage in community support). Conclusion Participants described COVID-19 negatively affects access to PA opportunities yet also expressed willingness to engage in remotely delivered PA interventions instead of in-person programs because of their COVID-19 experiences. Remote interventions can greatly increase accessibility and offer opportunities to provide personalized motivation and accountability that people need to be more physically active.


Recurrent chronic conditions of the natal cleft, such as pilonidal sinuses, are difficult problems to treat. The deep natal cleft and the rolling effect of one buttock surface over the other contribute to the high recurrence rate. Wide excision of the affected area is the treatment of choice; to cover the defect many techniques have been described that flatten the natal cleft and shift the suture line away from the midline to try to reduce recurrence. These techniques include Z-plasties, rhomboid flaps, V-Y flaps, gluteus maximus myocutaneous flaps and others. Five patients with recurrent natal-cleft problems were operated on over a 1 year period. After wide excision of the natal cleft, the defect was reconstructed with a parasacral perforator-based flap. Preoperatively, a perforator situated superolaterally to the defect is identified with a Doppler probe; the flap is then designed horizontally around the perforator and, after elevation, is rotated 908 over the defect. The mean hospital stay was 5 days. Follow-up ranged from 3 months to 15 months, with no signs of recurrence. We believe this to be a simple and reliable technique, with the advantages of placing the scars away from the midline and flattening the natal cleft - factors that help to prevent recurrence.


Summary form only given. Retrodirective antennas have the unique characteristic that, when they are illuminated by a signal, the array transmits the return signal towards the source direction without any prior information on its location. We discuss a novel architecture for an active retrodirective array using subharmonic mixers. The mixers use FETs as the primary mixing elements. The retrodirective array uses a new design for dual polarized microstrip antennas fed by conductor-backed coplanar waveguides. We use the heterodyne mixing principle to achieve retrodirectivity. Phase conjugation with heterodyne mixing uses an LO signal at twice the RF frequency. In this scheme, the lower sideband product has the same frequency as the RF, but with a conjugated phase. Subharmonic mixing is employed to ease the LO drive frequency requirement which makes it cost effective at higher frequencies. A coplanar waveguide fed slot ring hybrid is built to realize the balanced mixer; which provides a good LO-IF isolation. Theoretical simulations have been used to optimize the retrodirective array and the antenna. The dual polarized, conductor-backed antenna has impedance bandwidth of 15%, and isolation between the two ports is found to be more than 25 dB.


Monophosphines of the type Ph(x)PAr(3-x) (x = 0, 1 or 2, Ar = o-N-methylanilinyl) and the diphosphine, Ar(2)PCH(2)PAr(2) (mapm) have been synthesized for use as chelating and/or bridging P,N-ligands within mono- and binuclear rhodium(i) complexes, respectively. The previously prepared phosphines, Ph(x)PAr'(3-x) (x = 0, 1 or 2, Ar' = o-N,N-dimethylanilinyl) and Ar'(2)PCH(2)PAr'(2) (dmapm), have also been used to prepare analogous mono- and binuclear complexes. Variable temperature (1)H NMR spectroscopy of the mononuclear complexes, [RhCl(CO)(L)] (L = PhPAr(2), PhPAr'(2), PAr(3) and PAr'(3)), and line-shape analyses of the resultant spectra indicate the substantially increased lability of the N,N-dimethylanilinyl donors relative to the related monomethylanilinyl groups. X-Ray structural analyses of the mononuclear complexes suggest that the enhanced Type II hemilability in the dimethylanilinyl complexes compared to their monomethyl analogues results from increased steric interactions involving the coordinated dimethylanilinyl substituents. In the case of the binuclear, dmapm-bridged compound [Rh(2)Cl(2)(CO)(2)(micro-dmapm)], there are additional transannular repulsions between the chloro ligand on one metal and the coordinated dimethylanilinyl group on the other, which result in a Rh-Rh separation of over 4.1 A. For the analogous mapm-bridged species, the transannular interactions between the chloro ligands and the amine hydrogens are in fact attractive, resulting in a much closer Rh-Rh separation (3.450 A). The chloride substituents of [Rh(2)Cl(2)(CO)(2)(micro-mapm)] can be replaced to generate the complexes, [Rh(2)(X)(2)(CO)(2)(micro-mapm)] (X = I, CF(3)SO(3), CH(3)CO(2)), the last of which also exhibits pronounced transannular hydrogen-bonding interactions in the solid state.


Purpose – Effective decision making is a crucial activity for manufacturing firms of all sizes. To this end, statistical techniques, such as variance theory, cognitive maps, heuristics and process theory, are widely used. However, such techniques rarely help chief executives to understand the dynamics of competitive behaviour, and often fail to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Indeed, from a small‐ and medium‐sized (SME) firm perspective, such techniques are rarely used owing to inadequate resources and/or skills. The paper seeks to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes and tests a new approach to multivariate analysis based on the conditional formatting of spreadsheets. The analysis was confirmed using conventional statistical methods in order to validate the proposed methodology.Findings – The results are depicted as a visual picture of the attribute(s) under consideration and can be visually analysed.Originality/value – Such an approach can be used to complem...


A 15‐year‐old boy presented with a two‐year history of subcutaneous nodules on his feet that were painful on palpation and with footwear. The patient is an avid gamer, and his mother had noted a distinct sitting position as he sat playing his console. Skin biopsy showed features of a collagenoma, consistent with previous reports of repetitive pressure lesions associated with various sports and religious practices. It is important to be aware of these "gamer's nodules" that result from prolonged periods of fixed seating postures.


Two types of recording were obtained from horizontal cells in the superfused eyecup preparation of the retina of Macaca mulatta. Injection of horseradish peroxidase showed that one class of responses was generated by the cell body of H I horizontal cells. The origin of the other type of responses was not identified morphologically, but they were strikingly similar to those recorded from the axonal arborization of axon-bearing horizontal cells of other mammalian species. The soma of H I cells responded with graded hyperpolarizations to increasing changes in diffuse white-light illumination. Threshold responses were obtained with stimulus intensities above electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave threshold; this was taken as an indication of cone input to this part of the cell. Responses to low-intensity stimuli were small, sustained hyperpolarizations; at intermediate intensities, the hyperpolarizations were initiated by a prominent transient component and were followed by a small rod after-effect at stimulus termination; with bright flashes, the transient component was abolished and the rod after-effect became larger. The spectral input of the H I cell body was tested with chromatic stimuli matching the spectral sensitivity of primate cone pigments: responses to all wavelengths were hyperpolarizations. Spectral sensitivity values for the different wavelengths and a comparison of the spectral amplitude–intensity curves for 450 nm, 540 nm and 630 nm wavelengths suggested that H I cell bodies had a non-specific, broad-band sensitivity to mid-spectral wavelengths. Thus more than one spectrally sensitive mechanism was involved in the generation of their response and they were not univariant. This was supported by the morphological observation that the clusters of terminal dendritic branchlets of H I cells had the same arrangement and distance from each other as the overlying cone inner segments, suggesting that these cells contact cones in an indiscriminate fashion. The other class of horizontal cell responses were characterized by a lower threshold, a larger amplitude with low intensity stimuli, a steeper increment in amplitude with increasing intensity, a saturation at moderate levels of illumination and a prominent rod after-effect in response to bright-light stimuli. We concluded that these responses were generated by the axon terminal of H I horizontal cells, that receives synaptic input from rods. Thus H I horizontal cells belong to the luminosity type, are not involved in the processing of colour contrast and are homologous to the axon-bearing horizontal cells of other mammalian retinas.


We consider the problem of characterization of burst sources detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) using the multi-modal nested sampling algorithm, MultiNest. We use MultiNest as a tool to search for modelled bursts from cosmic string cusps, and compute the Bayesian evidence associated with the cosmic string model. As an alternative burst model, we consider sine-Gaussian burst signals, and show how the evidence ratio can be used to choose between these two alternatives. We present results from an application of MultiNest to the last round of the Mock LISA Data Challenge, in which we were able to successfully detect and characterize all three of the cosmic string burst sources present in the release data set. We also present results of independent trials and show that MultiNest can detect cosmic string signals with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as low as ∼7 and sine-Gaussian signals with SNR as low as ∼8. In both cases, we show that the threshold at which the sources become detectable coincides with the SNR at which the evidence ratio begins to favour the correct model over the alternative.


Abstract Purpose: Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people experience high rates of poverty, joblessness, and homelessness, which drive risk for food insecurity. TGNC people also face discrimination due to transphobia and cissexism, which may contribute to these drivers. Minimal empirical evidence describes experiences with food insecurity among TGNC people. This project investigated food insecurity among TGNC people and how these experiences relate to their physical and mental health. Methods: Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 20 TGNC people residing in the Southeast United States (U.S.), recruited through social media. Interviews were transcribed and qualitatively coded. Results: TGNC people reported living in extreme poverty. They described how the conservative sociopolitical climate of the Southeast United States made it difficult to find and maintain employment, which was a primary driver of food insecurity. Participants experienced discomfort seeking food assistance due to discrimination and concern for reducing emergency food availability for people in greater need. Stress from unemployment and underemployment, inadequate food supplies, and discrimination was reported as a contributor to poor physical and mental health, and weakened support systems. Conclusion: Poverty and food insecurity erode TGNC people's physical and mental health and support systems. TGNC people faced substantial barriers—including unemployment and underemployment and multilevel discrimination—which prevented them from affording adequate food. Public health solutions include implementing employment nondiscrimination policy to protect TGNC people in the workplace and building relationships between local food pantries and LGBT organizations to create safer environments for all persons in need of food assistance.


Baptist Theologies allegedly show little interest in formal statements about the ministerial office. Baptist churches commonly share the congregational Church vision, and by definition try to avoid any trace of conformity to hierarchy. In this article we explore the possibility of redefining and broadening the notion of congregationalism by principles of conciliar life, as demonstrated in pre-Nicene Northern Africa, more specifically in Cyprian's era. Cyprian c.s. carefully tried to listen to singing and praying communal voices (lex orandi, lex credenda), and 'discerning the mind of Christ' was indicative of involving the voice of the community (suffragium populi), even in matters of ecclesial election, such as the election of clergy.


This study aimed to assess the hygiene quality of some packaged milk (pasteurized or sterilized) and dairy products before and after application of a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system at a milk and dairy products company in Cairo, Egypt. The steps taken to put HACCP in place are described and the process was monitored to assess its impact. Assessment of the hygiene quality of the milk and dairy products before and after HACCP showed an improvement in quality and an overall improvement in the conditions at the company.


The emergence of Escherichia coli sequence type 131 (ST131) as a multidrug-resistant and virulent pathogen represents a major challenge to public health globally. Recently, the O25b/ST131 E. coli producing CTX-M-15 with high virulence potential has been reported worldwide, but has received little attention in Iran. This study is the first in Iran to specifically determine the spread of the O25b/ST131 clone producing CTX-M-15 among E. coli isolates belonging to the B2 phylogenetic group. ST131 clone in phylogenetic group B2 was detected based on PCR detection of ST131-specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms in mdh and gyrB. O25b/ST131 E. coli clone was confirmed utilizing O25b/ST131 clone allele-specific PCR for the pabB gene. All group B2 E. coli isolates were characterized based on antibiotic susceptibility, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) enzymes, and virulence traits. Our results demonstrated that 38 out of the 154 B2 group isolates (24.7%) were identified as belonging to the ST131 clone. Furthermore, of these, 28 isolates (73.6%) were detected as O25b/ST131 clone. Antibiotic resistance of ST131 E. coli isolates to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, cefotaxime, and aztreonam was significantly higher than non-ST131 isolates. Almost all of the O25b/ST131 isolates with the ability for ESBL production were reported as CTX-M-15 producing (95.5%). Our results showed that the most prevalent virulence trait in ST131 clone was ompT (94.7%). This study is the first to report the prevalence of the CTX-M-15-producing O25b/ST131 E. coli in Iran. Our findings reinforce the surveillance of dissemination of ST131 E. coli clone as a major drug-resistant pathogen and an important new public health threat.


Germination of the spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. var. grabra cv. Nobel) seed was examined at supra-optimal temperatures. Almost all seeds germinated rapidly at 20°C. However, germination decreased as temperature was raised and fell to about 10% at 35°c. Removal of the pericarp as well as presoaking treatment markedly improved the germination, especially, at 35°x. Germination of pericarp-removed seeds was inhibited by water soluble extracts from seeds and pericarp, but not by those from presoaked seeds. The inhibitory activity of the extracts was not affected much by the incubation temperatures before extraction. Sulfuric acid treatment conducted to modify the physical properties of the pericarp and hydrogen peroxide treatment conducted to elevate the oxygen tension promoted germination. Thus, the poor germination at high temperatures may be caused mainly by the pericarp, which produces germination inhibitors or gives mechanical resistance and impermeability to gases. Even in the pericarp-removed seeds, germination was delayed at high temperatures, indicating that high temperature directly affected the embryo.


The aim of this paper is to track transmigrating leukocytes via TGV flow estimation. Recent results have shown the advantages of the nonlinear and higher order terms of TGV regularizers, especially in static models for denoising and medical reconstruction. We present TGV-based models for flow estimation with the goal to get an exact recovery of simple intracellular and extracellular flows, as well as its implication on realistic tracking situations for transmigration through barriers. To study and quantify different pathways of transmigrating leukocytes, we use large scale 4D fluorescence live microscopy data in vivo.


AIMS
The aim of this study was to assess acute and subacacute gastrointestinal toxicity after fractionated stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) in women having recurrent gynecological cancers in the upper abdomen.

MATERIALS & METHODS
In total, 34 women underwent upper abdominal SABR (24 Gy/three divided 8 Gy consecutive daily doses) using a robotic Cyberknife® (Accuray, CA, USA) platform. Volumes of the duodenum receiving 10% increments of the prescription dose were associated to post-therapy gastrointestinal toxicities using binary logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS
Median clinical follow-up was 10 months. In total, 14 (41%) of the 34 women manifested grade 2 or higher post-therapy gastrointestinal adverse events. The duodenal volume, receiving 80% of a 24-Gy dose, was significantly associated with gastrointestinal toxicity (p = 0.03). However, in a multivariate analysis, only patient age at SABR adjusted the odds of experiencing gastrointestinal toxicity (p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION
The duodenal volume receiving 80% of 24 Gy dose may be associated with gastrointestinal toxicity from upper abdominal SABR.


This article discusses the bas-relief scenes in the sixth tier of Vasil'evskie Gates of St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, erected under the order of the Archbishop, Vasilii Kalika. It was in accordance with Vasilii's direction that these four scenes from the Old Testament and Apocrypha ("Rejoicing of King David", "Spiritual Scales of the Last Judgement", "David and Goliath" and "Centaur Carries King Solomon in his Hands") were placed into the circle of scenes from the Gospels.

 In particular, the scene of "Rejoicing of King David", depicting the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David by the King accompanied by his people, had a special meaning for the Archbishop of Novgorod. Vasilii must have seen parallels between his own life's path of a commoner rising up to the position of a cathedral warden, and that of King David, a shepherd who became a king. Several other scenes from the sixth register may also be related to certain pivotal episodes of Archbishop Vasilii's life.

 In addition, the author proposes that the construction of both Vasil'evskie Gates and the Church of the Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (1336–1337) were integral parts of a unified project conceived by the archbishop after his pilgrimage to Jerusalem and could also be linked to his theologically substantiated rethinking of the layout of the northern area of Detinets, including Archbishop's Court and St. Sophia Cathedral.


Starting from a general system of nonlinear integrodifferential equations, three different mechanisms of radiation by straight electron beams are treated in a unified scheme. By expanding the nonlinearities in terms of the electrons path and momentum perturbations an analytical theory of these mechanisms of radiation by arbitrarily relativistic electron beams is given. The only restrictive condition is the smallness of the linear instability increment. The basic characteristic of the radiative processes (such as radiation efficiency, maximum perturbation amplitudes) are also evaluated.


The authors have studied the relation between wear intensity, average contact temperature and phase composition of the surface layers ofAISI 1020 steel, copper and NiTi alloy in dry sliding against the steel counterbody under electric current of density higher than 100  A/cm2 . These contact characteristics are considered carefully at the beginning of catastrophic wear, when the surface layers transit to the utmost state. It was noted that relaxation of stresses in the surface layers was due to the structural transformation in normal wear regime. It leads to tribolayers formation. The high strength of the copper tribolayer is first of all due to the formation of FeO oxide on the sliding surface, which prevents adhesion in contact. In addition, signs of a  liquid phase were observed on the copper contact surface. It promoted the low rate of formation and accumulation of structural defects. Emergence of areas of melt and FeO oxide on the sliding surface provides high contact wear resistance. These factors, combined with the high thermal copper conductivity, have caused the tribolayer transition to the limit state at high current density and low contact temperature. The absence of oxides on the sliding surface of the NiTi alloy has caused strong adhesion in the contact, high rate of formation and accumulation of structural defects. Therefore, the tribolayer quickly deteriorates and high wear intensity and rapid increase in the contact temperature are observed with current density increase. Therefore, the catastrophic wear of the NiTi alloy begins at a temperature about 350  °C and at low current density. The sliding surface of AISI 1020 steel contained FeO oxide, therefore strong adhesion is not manifested. Formation of FCC-Fe in tribolayer of AISI steel 1020 is detected, that promotes its accelerated deterioration. Therefore, the tribolayer of AISI steel  1020 transites to the utmost state at a relatively low current density and at a  higher temperature. The presented contact temperatures corresponding to the beginning stages of the utmost state of the tribolayer do not exceed 350  °С. Comparison of these temperatures with the known contact temperatures of other metals made it possible to assert that raising of the contact temperature of any metal higher than 400  °С leads to its utmost state. Therefore the characteristics of metals contact at temperatures of sliding contact higher than 500  °С is not of practical interest.


A method of formulating and solving equations that facilitate recognition of full word saturating addition and subtraction The method includes formulating, for each basis addition statement z=x+y or subtraction statement z= xy, data flow equations that describe properties of the program statements being analyzed; and solving the data flow equations. The properties may include: (a) the values BITS of program variables as Boolean functions of the sign bits of x, y and z; (b) the condition COND under which program statements are executed as Boolean functions of the sign bits ofx, y and z; and (c) the condition REACH of which values of variables reach any given use of z when overflow/underflow/neither occurs.


Some essential physical properties of the transmutation of iodine-125 are discussed and the range of its electrons calculated. Its suitability for autoradiographs is compared with that of tritium. The dose distribution around a point source and the dose absorbed by a cell nucleus labelled with 125I and 3H are calculated. It is suggested that the biological toxicity of iodine-125 is not only due to energy deposition of its radiation but also to molecular fragmentation caused by charge transfer in consequence of the Auger effect.


The crystalline regions of the δ-form of syndiotactic polystyrene (s-PS) contain cavities in which certain small molecules can be absorbed. The mobility of six perdeuterated molecules: benzene, toluene, chloroform dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,2-dibromoethane, present as a guest in these cavities, has been investigated via 2H NMR spectroscopy. For all samples the motional behavior of the molecules absorbed in the amorphous phase of the polymer differs from that shown by the molecules clathrated in the crystalline phase. The motion of all six molecules in the amorphous phase is approximately isotropic at a temperature T = 298 K or higher, but severely anisotropic when the molecules are included in the crystalline phase. The dynamical behavior of each solvent hosted in the crystalline phase of s-PS has been investigated by comparing spectra obtained by simulation of the effect of a certain molecular rotation on the 2H spectra with the experimental spectra.


Background Rotator cuff tears cause pathologies of the long head of the biceps tendon (LHBT). One of the surgical treatments for such a tear is LHBT tenodesis to the humerus. This study aims to compare simultaneous rotator cuff repair and LHBT tenodesis with or without detachment of the proximal end of the LHBT (PELHBT) from its site of adhesion to the glenoid. Methods This retrospective study involved patients affected by LHBT pathology with rotator cuff tear. The patients were divided into two groups, with or without PELHBT detachment from the glenoid. Therapeutic outcomes were investigated by evaluation of patient satisfaction, pain based on visual analog scale, shoulder function based on Constant score and simple shoulder test, and biceps muscle strength based on the manual muscle testing grading system before surgery, at 6 months, and at the final visit after surgery. Results Groups 1 and 2 comprised 23 and 26 patients, respectively, who showed no significant differences in demographic characteristics (p>0.05). Shoulder function, biceps muscle strength, pain, and satisfaction rate improved over time (p<0.05) but were not significantly different between the two groups (p>0.05). No post-surgical complication was found in either group. Conclusions There was no difference in final outcomes of tenodesis with or without detachment of the PELHBT from the supraglenoid tubercle. Such tendon detachment is not necessary.