The Internet can be an important tool in crisis communication, and public relations practitioners need to better understand the Internet in order to utilize it effectively during a crisis. The Internet can add a new element regarding crisis communication in that it provides an immediate informational source during crises. In addition, the Internet can pose a unique threat to a company's reputation if used improperly. Understanding general crisis communication functions will assist practitioners in integrating the Internet during a crisis. This study and its suggested guidelines are useful for companies integrating Internet strategies with a traditional crisis communication plan. However, the study specifically explores a small rural Northwest Kansas telecommunication company and Internet Service Provider. The results of the study showed the company did implement a variety of traditional and Internet strategies, however the company needs to be more proactive in these efforts by developing a crisis communication plan that integrates Internet strategies.


: Magnetorheological (MR) dampers, used as intelligent semi-active vibration control devices to achieve low energy consumption, fast response, controllability, and other capabilities are generally installed with a variety of sensors on their exterior to ensure that the damping force can be accurately controlled. However, external sensors are often affected by external complications that reduce the reliability of the damper, and the cost of powering the damper coils in remote lo-cations where power is not available can be significantly increased. Based on these problems, a new self-powered MR damper scheme is proposed. The proposed MR damper has both ener-gy-harvesting capabilities and damping controllability, and greatly improves the stability and application range of the device by converting vibration energy into electrical energy to supply the excitation coil. The MR damper can drive the piston rod in a linear reciprocating motion by external excitation, which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy via a DC brushless three-phase generator after conversion by a double-linkage mechanism. At the same time, the electrical energy generated by the generator is passed into the excitation coil to change the output damping force of the damper. Meanwhile, the damping performance and energy-harvesting efficiency of the new self-powered MR damper is experimentally tested. Experimental results show the damping force of the device reaches 1040 N when the applied current is 0.6 A. The proposed self-powered MR damper has an instantaneous voltage amplitude of 1.782 V and a peak phase power of 4.428 W when the input excitation amplitude is 12.5 mm and the frequency is 3 Hz.


BACKGROUND
The use of retinoids in wound healing is increasing. It has been shown that retinoic acid reverses the inhibitory effects of glucocorticoids on wound healing and accelerates the formation of healthy granulation tissue. Pretreatment with tretinoin before epidermal injury such as chemical peeling and dermabrasion has shown accelerated wound healing. Enhanced healing of full-thickness skin wounds has also been demonstrated in early wound healing studies. However, tretinoin therapy can be quite irritating.

OBJECTIVE
Our purpose was to observe the clinical and histologic effects of topical tretinoin solution 0.05% applied directly to the wound beds of chronic leg ulcerations.

METHODS
We report on the cases of 5 patients with long-standing leg ulcerations. All were treated with topical tretinoin solution 0.05% applied directly to the wound bed. The tretinoin solution was left in contact with the ulcer bed for a maximum of 10 minutes daily and then rinsed with normal saline. Punch biopsy specimens were obtained from the wound beds at baseline and mid therapy. Standard wound care was continued throughout the study.

RESULTS
In this study we found that as early as 1 week after treatment with topical tretinoin solution 0.05%, there was increased granulation tissue first noted at the wound's edge. After 4 weeks of therapy with tretinoin, there was further stimulation of granulation tissue, new vascular tissue, and new collagen formation.

CONCLUSION
Short-contact tretinoin therapy is a novel modality in which to treat chronic ulcers and stimulate the formation of granulation tissue.


Parallel computing is related to the application of many computers running in parallel to solve computationally intensive problems. One of the biggest issues in parallel computing is efficient task scheduling. In this paper, we survey the algorithms that allocate a parallel program represented by an edge-directed acyclic graph (DAG) to a set of homogenous processors with the objective of minimizing the completion time. We examine several such classes of algorithms and then compare the performance of a class of scheduling algorithms known as the bounded number of processors (BNP) scheduling algorithms. Comparison is based on various scheduling parameters such as makespan, speed up, processor utilization and scheduled length ratio. The main focus is given on measuring the impact of increasing the number of tasks and processors on the performance of these four BNP scheduling algorithms.


Radiative cooling is a passive cooling purpose where a surface naturally cools by radiating the mid-infrared heat radiation to the cold outer space through the atmospheric window . Daytime passive radiative cooling technologies can be simply provided by using a multi-layer design that emits strongly in the transparency atmospheric window, while presents high reflectance in the solar spectrum . In this study, we propose a polydimethylsiloxane foil ) coated aluminum nitride (AIN) deposed onto silver (Ag) coated glass as a radiative cooler for enhancing both daytime and nighttime radiative cooling performances. The spectral selectivity of the proposed device was obtained using matrix method. Numerical results show that our proposed design can reflect more than 96 % in the solar spectrum, while its average emissivity in the atmospheric window can reach more than 90 %.In the absence of wind speed, the proposed device can achieve a net cooling power of under direct sunlight, cooling to a below the ambient air temperature. At nighttime, the proposed device temperature can drop by below the ambient, leading to a net cooling power of . Therefore, the proposed radiative design can fundamentally enable new methods for exploiting solar energy harvesting and energy conservation.


'United States v Microsoft: High-tech Antitrust'. This article considers some of the substantive issues that have been raised by the case brought against Microsoft and that call into question the application of competition law to high-technology industries. Drawing arguments from both the United States and European Union jurisdictions the article focuses in particular on the relationship between intellectual property and competition law. Consideration is also given to product development and bundling, and to predation through innovation. In conclusion the author suggests that competition laws should continue to be applied to this sector, but that traditional analysis needs to be refined, and that intent should be more carefully considered.


The female gender, more especially, has not benefitted from gender equity arrangement in Nigeria mostly due to socio-cultural constraints and non-possession of empowering instruments. This is most evident in marriages which are enduring contact point for adult males and females. However; with the contracting of contemporary marriages that is apparently characterized by lesser regard for traditional gender-disparity values, and increasing socio-economic equality of spouses, this paper found it imperative to examine gender equity in such marriages with particular focus on decision making. Quantitative data was obtained from 665 respondents who had been in contemporary marriage in the last 20 years in the Benin metropolis. The nature of decision making as it affects the ability of a spouse to access opportunities and resources was measured with the giving of "approval" or not. Perception on equal decision making between spouses was measured using a five-response Likert scale made up of four Liken-type items. Results indicate significantly high odds of a husband not approving of his wife acquiring higher education, registering and participating in politics, and individually acquiring property. Also significant difference exist in the perception of equal decision making between male and female; and there is a significant relationship between the age of spouses and their disposition towards equal decision making. Accordingly, it is recommended that empowering females should be sustained and negative perception of equal decision making between spouses should be eroded.


The AI process resulting from the collision of two Na(3p) atoms is studied semiclassically using available adiabatic and diabatic potential curves. Asymptotic force constants are evaluated for the four mamb incident channels, and quantum defect dipole matrix elements are used. The total AI cross section is found to be within a factor of 2-3 of most measurements at the temperature extremes of 0.75 mK and 650 K, a range in which the cross section changes by a factor of 103. Comparison of ratios of individual sigma (mamb) with measurements involving polarised atoms in colliding beams also shows qualitative agreement.


Nobert Elias (1897-1990) is described as one of the great sociologists of the 20th century. Born in Germany, Elias earned a doctorate in philosophy and then turned to sociology, working with Max Weber's younger brother, Alfred Weber, and with Karl Mannheim. He later fled the Nazi regime in 1935 and spent most of his life in Britain. He is best known for his book, "The Civilizing Process," wherein he traces the subtle changes in manners among the European upper classes since the Middle Ages, and shows how those seemingly innocuous changes in etiquette reflected profound transformations of power relations in society. He later applied these insights to a wide range of subjects, from art and culture to the control of violence, the sociology of sports, the development of knowledge and the sciences, and the methodology of sociology. This volume is a collection of Elias's most important writings, and includes many of his ideas. The development of Elias's thinking during the course of his long career is traced, along with a discussion of how his work relates to other major sociologists and how the various selections are interconnected.


This article focuses on the potential of online participation to enable the cooperative development of norms by affected stakeholders, investigating whether such processes can produce norms of both high quality and legitimacy. To answer this question, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an online norm setting process that goes beyond the scope of those usually described in the literature. Taking as a case study a process to redraft the examination regulations for doctoral degrees at a science faculty of a German university, we show that such instances of online deliberation can integrate the diversity of opinions of all affected stakeholders. The result was a norm that implemented previously controversial external recommendations for doctoral dissertation procedures and that was met with high satisfaction from both those who participated as well as those who remained passive. While we believe that the university context in which this process was conducted is particularly promising for such efforts because of its organization, its members, and the issue that was at stake, we argue that similar conducive conditions exist, for example, for political parties. As such, the findings can be instructive for understanding the potential and limits of successful online participation in other contexts.


Many change classification techniques have been proposed to identify defect-prone changes. These techniques consider all developers' historical change data to build a global prediction model. In practice, since developers have their own coding preferences and behavioral patterns, which causes different defect patterns, a separate change classification model for each developer can help to improve performance. Jiang, Tan, and Kim refer to this problem as personalized change classification, and they propose PCC+ to solve this problem. A software project has a number of developers; for a developer, building a prediction model not only based on his/her change data, but also on other relevant developers' change data can further improve the performance of change classification. In this paper, we propose a more accurate technique named collective personalized change classification (CPCC), which leverages a multiobjective genetic algorithm. For a project, CPCC first builds a personalized prediction model for each developer based on his/her historical data. Next, for each developer, CPCC combines these models by assigning different weights to these models with the purpose of maximizing two objective functions (i.e., F1-scores and cost effectiveness). To further improve the prediction accuracy, we propose CPCC+ by combining CPCC with PCC proposed by Jiang, Tan, and Kim To evaluate the benefits of CPCC+ and CPCC, we perform experiments on six large software projects from different communities: Eclipse JDT, Jackrabbit, Linux kernel, Lucene, PostgreSQL, and Xorg. The experiment results show that CPCC+ can discover up to 245 more bugs than PCC+ (468 versus 223 for PostgreSQL) if developers inspect the top 20% lines of code that are predicted buggy. In addition, CPCC+ can achieve F1-scores of 0.60-0.75, which are statistically significantly higher than those of PCC+ on all of the six projects.


In this paper I analyze, from a Law and Economics perspective, whether the mere loss of time should be regarded as a compensable non-pecuniary loss. I spend attention to the debate between the Prevention Theory and the Insurance Theory and argue that non-pecuniary losses in general should be included in tort damages. They should be assessed on the basis of the resources the victim is willing to spend ex ante on accident avoidance. Subsequently I discuss economic literature, both theoretical and empirical, regarding the value of time. In my view, the results of this literature are too complicated to be employed in a tort claim, because much of the required information will not be available. Instead, I propose a simple estimation of a possible non-pecuniary value of time. Given the limited need for accuracy in each and every individual case, and the desire to avoid systematic errors in assessing tort damages, I do believe that the non-pecuniary aspect of loss of time should be included in tort damages, but that one may suffice with rather general amounts. I suggest that these amounts should be in the order of €1.50 to €3.50 per hour.


Summary Continents appear to rift in preference to oceans. Furthermore, some areas of continents appear to be more susceptible to rifting than others. Experimental rock mechanics data are used to estimate lithospheric strength for lithospheres of different structure, thereby to investigate the possible causes of rift localization. Using optimum creep parameters for silicic, mafic and ultramafic rocks, we find that lithospheric strength is inversely related to both crustal thickness and heat flow. By virtue of its thinner crust, oceanic lithosphere is inherently stronger than continental lithosphere. We find that oceanic lithosphere older than about 10 Ma should be able to withstand the lithospheric forces exerted on it by gravity sliding and plate interactions. Rifting or ridge-jumps are therefore only likely to occur in very young oceanic lithosphere. Low heat flow continental shields should also be able to withstand likely lithospheric forces without significant deformation. As the heat flow increases, however, the lithosphere is weakened dramatically. A smaller amount of weakening is associated with crustal thickening. Thus, unless rifting is localized by a strongly heterogeneous stress field, it will be by anomalously weak lithosphere. This lithosphere is likely to have anomalously high heat flow and/or crustal thickness prior to extension.


Telecommunication networks and power grids are parallel hierarchical maintenance structures with system-wide reach. New ways of coupling the two network types open up the possibility of an optimized joint control of the `energy' and `transport' dimensions of the telecommunication network. Thus, the hitherto static and unidirectional powering of the telco network is replaced by feedback options and overall load variability with space and time. Given the fact that national carriers figure among the top energy consumers in national economies, this new flexibility can be assumed to be of a relevant scale, leading to optimized overall energy consumption. In the project DESI, funded by a German federal grant and conducted by a topically wide-ranging consortium, the different coupling mechanisms such as load-adaptive network operation mode or distributed energy storage capability are studied in detail along the entire information and communications technology (ICT) delivery chain. This contribution summarizes theoretical and practical project results and gives an overview on the final project goal: the development of an overarching control system for the ICT elements and the energy storage equipment as well as the deployment of a pilot implementation.


The aim of this study was to understand the effects of zinc supplementation on antioxidant defense systems, hematological indices, and erythrocyte morphology in conditions of chronic arsenic toxicity. Male Wistar rats were segregated into four groups: control, arsenic treated, zinc supplemented, and arsenic + zinc treated. The animals in the arsenic-treated group were given arsenic orally in drinking water in the form of sodium arsenite at a dose level of 100 mg L−1, and zinc was administered to zinc-treated animals in the form of zinc sulfate orally in drinking water at a dose level of 227 mg L−1. The animals were subjected to different treatments for a period of 12 weeks, and various investigations were undertaken that included serum zinc content, activity of antioxidant enzymes, and hematological indices. Further, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) studies were performed to assess morphological changes in erythrocytes. Arsenic treatment significantly reduced serum zinc concentrations, which, however, were restored to near-normal levels upon zinc supplementation. The activities of enzymes involved in antioxidant defense systems were altered in the erythrocyte lysates of arsenic-treated rats, which interestingly revealed a significant improvement upon simultaneous zinc supplementation. A significant reduction in the counts of total leukocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes was observed following arsenic intoxication, which came back to near control levels following zinc supplementation. Also, protective effects of zinc were evident from SEM that revealed maintenance of topographical appearances of erythrocytes in conditions of arsenic toxicity. Thus, this study clearly shows the protection afforded by zinc on erythrocytes during arsenic-induced toxicity.


Nowadays ontologies present a growing interest in Data Fusion applications. As a matter of fact, the ontologies are seen as a semantic tool for describing and reasoning about sensor data, objects, relations and general domain theories. In addition, uncertainty is perhaps one of the most important characteristics of the data and information handled by Data Fusion. However, the fundamental nature of ontologies implies that ontologies describe only asserted and veracious facts of the world. Different probabilistic, fuzzy and evidential approaches already exist to fill this gap; this paper recaps the most popular tools. However none of the tools meets exactly our purposes. Therefore, we constructed a Dempster-Shafer ontology that can be imported into any specific domain ontology and that enables us to instantiate it in an uncertain manner. We also developed a Java application that enables reasoning about these uncertain ontological instances.


Recognition of the importance of the quality of the indoor environment (IEQ) to health, comfort and productivity of building end users has produced increasing numbers of voluntary schemes whose assessment embraces a wide spectrum of environmental attributes. Studies which aim to derive appropriate weighting factors for these attributes through soliciting the perceived importance from experts are abundant. This article reports the findings of a study which, based on face-to-face interviews with 548 end users and 66 building professionals, processed their perceived importance of IEQ using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Attributes included were thermal comfort, air cleanliness, odor and noise associated with the air conditioning system of typical commercial buildings. Correlation analysis of the ranking results of the AHP weights revealed the difference in perceived importance of the attributes according to gender of the respondents. Other factors also found to have influence on the perceived importance of the IEQ were whether the respondents were professionals or other end users and the reason for them working or visiting the buildings and the duration of their stay. These all varied with psychophysical factors such as personal experiences, needs and expectations. Further work is needed to study whether the weighting factors should be derived from the perceptions of experts, end users, or a balance between the two.


As an important post-translation modifying process, glycosylation significantly affects the structure and function of immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules and is essential in many steps of the inflammatory cascade. Studies have demonstrated the potential of using glycosylation features of IgG as a component of predictive biomarkers for chronological age in several European populations, whereas no study has been reported in Chinese. Herein, we report various patterns of changes in IgG glycosylation associated with age by analyzing IgG glycosylation in 701 community-based Han Chinese (244 males, 457 females; 23–68 years old). Eleven IgG glycans, including FA2B, A2G1, FA2[6]G1, FA2[3]G1, FA2[6]BG1, FA2[3]BG1, A2G2, A2BG2, FA2G2, FA2G2S1, and FA2G2S2, change considerably with age and specific combinations of these glycan features can explain 23.3% to 45.4% of the variance in chronological age in this population. This indicates that these combinations of glycan features provide more predictive information than other single markers of biological age such as telomere length. In addition, the clinical traits such as fasting plasma glucose and aspartate aminotransferase associated with biological age are strongly correlated with the combined glycan features. We conclude that IgG glycosylation appears to correlate with both chronological and biological ages, and thus its possible role in the aging process merits further study. Abbreviations: ADCC = antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, ALT = alanine aminotransferase, AST = aspartate aminotransferase, BMI = body mass index, Cr = creatinine, DBP = diastolic blood pressure, Fc = crystallizable fragment, FPG = fasting plasma glucose, GlcNAc = N-acetylglucosamine, GP = glycan peak, HDL = high-density lipoprotein, Ig = immunoglobulin, IgG= immunoglobulin G, LDL= low-density lipoprotein, MCV=mean corpuscular volume, SBP= systolic blood pressure, TC= total cholesterol, UA = uric acid, UPLC = ultra-performance liquid chromatography, WBC = white blood cell count.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Carotid artery stent placement in patients with intraplaque hemorrhage remains controversial because of the incidence of cerebral embolism after the procedure. The purpose of this study is to determine if intraplaque hemorrhage is a significant risk factor for cerebral embolism during carotid artery stent placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study assessed 94 consecutive patients with severe carotid stenosis. These patients underwent preprocedural carotid MR imaging and postprocedural DWI after carotid artery stent placement. Intraplaque hemorrhage was defined as the presence of high signal intensity within the carotid plaque that was >200% of the signal from the adjacent muscle on MPRAGE. We then analyzed the incidence of postprocedural ipsilateral ischemic events on DWI and primary outcomes within 30 days of carotid artery stent placement. RESULTS: Forty-three patients (45.7%) had intraplaque hemorrhage on an MPRAGE image. There was no significant difference in the incidence of postprocedural ipsilateral ischemic events and primary outcomes between the intraplaque hemorrhage and non–intraplaque hemorrhage group. However, postprocedural ipsilateral ischemic events were more frequently observed in the symptomatic group (17/41 [41.5%]) than in the asymptomatic group (8/53 [15.1%]; P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: Intraplaque hemorrhage was not a significant risk factor for cerebral embolism during carotid artery stent placement in patients with severe carotid stenosis. Symptomatic patients should receive more careful treatment during carotid artery stent placement because of the higher risk of postprocedural ipsilateral ischemic events.


The agriculture and animal husbandry practices in the tropics are diversified and change with change in the rainfall and soil. Livestock are considered as way of life rather than auxiliary occupation because of its immense importance on the different sphere of rural economy. The farmer in general, in most of the Asian countries does not understand and practice the nutrient requirement in ruminant animals. They feed their animal on the local feed resources available in their region. The main roughages available in the tropics are the crop residues, mature tropical grasses and the like. Shortage of quality forage is one of the limiting factors affecting adversely the health and productivity of livestock in the tropical environment. Therefore feeding system should be developed with the local feed resources with supplement of nutrient so as to achieve optimum production. Keeping this in view the present investigation was undertaken to garner information regarding the nutrient content of commonly available species of forage in the region of Rajasthan. Common vegetation such as Pennisetum Typholdenum, Cenchrus ciliaris, Cenchrus setigerus and Lasiurus Sindicus fig (I) from Jodhpur district of Rajasthan were analysed for their nutritional constituent. The Crude protein content ranged from 6.5 to 9.0%, Cellulose from 28.6 to 30.8%, Hemicellulose from 28 to 32.5%, Lignin from 6.9 to 7.9%, Crude Fiber from 30.43 to 31.9%, Neutral detergent fiber from 68.8 to 71.3% and Acid detergent fiber from 38.1 to 40.8% on dry matter basis. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was also used to investigate the chemical structure and characteristic of Lignocellulose, Cellulose and Hemicellulose constituent present. This study will also help not only to understand the elemental and nutritional status of vegetation, but also a suitable fertilizer management for conservation of arid land and production of greens for live stock of Rajasthan.


By using high purity aluminum powders and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as raw materials, MWCNTs/Al composites were fabricated with ball milling, followed by cold pressing, vacuum sintering, and hot extrusion. It was found that when the sintering temperature was 863 K, MWCNTs/Al composite sintered for 4 h showed good comprehensive properties, and its tensile strength and elongation reached to 156 MPa and 21%, respectively. The comprehensive mechanical properties of the composites became better with raising sintering temperature when the sintering time was 4 h. When the sintering temperature raised to 923 K, the tensile strength of the composite reached to 167 MPa which is three times more than that of annealed high purity aluminum, mainly due to the higher density and better interface bonding resulted from higher sintering temperature. CNTs' pulling out were observed obviously in the fractured surfaces, and load transfer may be the main strengthening mechanism.


Author(s): Suja, Mohammad Zahir Uddin | Advisor(s): Liu, Jianlin | Abstract: Room temperature excitonic lasing is demonstrated and developed by utilizing metal-semiconductor-metal devices based on ZnO and MgZnO materials. At first, Cu-doped p-type ZnO films are grown on c-sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Photoluminescence (PL) experiments reveal a shallow acceptor state at 0.15 eV above the valence band edge. Hall effect results indicate that a growth condition window is found for the formation of p-type ZnO thin films and the best conductivity is achieved with a high hole concentration of 1.54×1018 cm-3, a low resistivity of 0.6 Ω cm and a moderate mobility of 6.65 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature. Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitor devices have been fabricated on the Cu-doped ZnO films and the characteristics of capacitance-voltage measurements demonstrate that the Cu-doped ZnO thin films under proper growth conditions are p-type. Seebeck measurements on these Cu-doped ZnO samples lead to positive Seebeck coefficients and further confirm the p-type conductivity. Other measurements such as XRD, XPS, Raman and absorption are also performed to elucidate the structural and optical characteristics of the Cu-doped p-type ZnO films. The p-type conductivity is explained to originate from Cu substitution of Zn with a valency of +1 state. However, all p-type samples are converted to n-type over time, which is mostly due to the carrier compensation from extrinsic defects of ZnO.To overcome the stability issue of p-type ZnO film, alternate devices other than p-n junction has been developed. Electrically driven plasmon-exciton coupled random lasing is demonstrated by incorporating Ag nanoparticles on Cu-doped ZnO metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) devices. Both photoluminescence and electroluminescence studies show that emission efficiencies have been enhanced significantly due to coupling between ZnO excitons and Ag surface plasmons. With the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles on ZnO MSM structures, internal quantum efficiency up to 6 times is demonstrated. Threshold current for lasing is decreased by as much as 30% while the output power is increased up to 350% at an injection current of 40 mA. A numerical simulation study reveals that hole carriers are generated in the ZnO MSM devices from impact ionization processes for subsequent plasmon-exciton coupled lasing. Our results suggest that plasmon-enhanced ZnO MSM random lasers can become a competitive candidate of efficient ultraviolet light sources.Semiconductor lasers in the deep ultraviolet (UV) range have numerous potential applications ranging from water purification and medical diagnosis to high-density data storage and flexible displays. Nevertheless, very little success was achieved in the realization of electrically driven deep UV semiconductor lasers to date. In this thesis, we report the fabrication and characterization of deep UV MgZnO semiconductor lasers. These lasers are operated with continuous current mode at room temperature and the shortest wavelength reaches 284 nm. The wide bandgap MgZnO thin films with various Mg mole fractions were grown on c-sapphire substrate using radio-frequency plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) random laser devices were fabricated using lithography and metallization processes. Besides the demonstration of scalable emission wavelength, very low threshold current densities of 29~33 A/cm2 are achieved. Numerical modeling reveals that impact ionization process is responsible for the generation of hole carriers in the MgZnO MSM devices. The interaction of electrons and holes leads to radiative excitonic recombination and subsequent coherent random lasing.


Increasing microRNAs (miRNAs) have been confirmed to be inextricably linked to various diseases, and the discovery of their associations has become a routine way of treating diseases. To overcome the time-consuming and laborious shortcoming of traditional experiments in verifying the associations of miRNAs and diseases (MDAs), a variety of computational methods have emerged. However, these methods still have many shortcomings in terms of predictive performance and accuracy. In this study, a model based on multiple graph convolutional networks and random forest (MGCNRF) was proposed for the prediction MDAs. Specifically, MGCNRF first mapped miRNA functional similarity and sequence similarity, disease semantic similarity and target similarity, and the known MDAs into four different two-layer heterogeneous networks. Second, MGCNRF applied four heterogeneous networks into four different layered attention graph convolutional networks (GCNs), respectively, to extract MDA embeddings. Finally, MGCNRF integrated the embeddings of every MDA into the features of the miRNA-disease pair and predicted potential MDAs through the random forest (RF). Fivefold cross-validation was applied to verify the prediction performance of MGCNRF, which outperforms the other seven state-of-the-art methods by area under curve. Furthermore, the accuracy and the case studies of different diseases further demonstrate the scientific rationale of MGCNRF. In conclusion, MGCNRF can serve as a scientific tool for predicting potential MDAs.


This study examines the hypothesis that foreign aid dilutes the positive role of taxation on political governance. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments and 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010. For more policy options, the dataset is disaggregated into fundamental characteristics of African development based on income levels, legal origins, natural resources and landlockedness. While the hypothesis is invalid in baseline Africa, low income and English common law countries of the continent, the research cannot conclude on its validity for other fundamental characteristics of development. Policy implications, caveats and directions for future research are discussed.


OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the surgical strategies and outcomes for spinal ependymomas of different lengths. METHODS: The authors used data from 210 patients with spinal ependymomas (WHO Grades II and III) in this 10-year retrospective study (January 1999 to December 2008), dividing them into 3 different groups according to length (spinal ependymomas 10 cm). All patients underwent tumor resection. The basic characteristics of the patients were reviewed and the functional status was assessed using the McCormick classification. RESULTS: There were 89, 81, and 40 patients, respectively, in the 3 groups ( 10 cm). Grosstotal resections (GTRs) were performed in 172 patients (81.9% overall, or 86.5%, 79.0%, and 77.5% in the 3 groups, respectively). Subtotal and partial resections were achieved in 38 patients (18.1%). Eight patients with medulla oblongata or upper cervical cord tumors received a tracheotomy postoperatively. The follow-up period ranged from 56 to 176 months. One hundred thirty-five patients (76.7%) experienced improvement, (88.2%, 83.8%, and 34.4% in the 10 cm groups, respectively). Thirty-three patients (18.8%) maintained their pretreatment status, and 8 patients (4.5%) showed deterioration following tumor resection at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Radical resection of spinal ependymomas could be performed in most patients, and the rate of GTR was significantly different in the different-length groups Patients with longer tumors had worse surgical results compared with those with small tumors and more postoperative neuropathic pain and proprioceptive deficits could usually be observed in patients harboring larger tumors. Early diagnosis and timely operation are critical to achieving better neurological outcomes. For tumors with dense adhesions, complete removal should be performed cautiously because of the significant incidence of neurological deterioration.


We computer scientists seem to do it differently to other sciences: we publish mostly
in conferences and our conferences are of a different nature. Our journal papers are long
and take a long time to review and publish whereas often their papers are short and
published quickly. And all this interacts with the tendency to evaluate researchers or
departments frequently and in a mechanical way (via paper numbers and citation counts)
instead of infrequently and deeply (by actually reading papers) and the fact that the
current way in which bibliometry is done makes our papers invisible to the world. This
position paper offers my viewpoint on what the problems are and why they are important,
and also elaborates on some realistic ways forward. In particular, regarding the issue of
conferences vs. journals, it proposes the model adopted a few years back by the logic
programming community for its main conference (ICLP) and journal (TPLP, Cambridge
U. Press). This model is based on the assumption that CS journal papers can be of two
types: rapid publication papers (similar to those of other sciences and also close to our
conference papers) as well as the longer journal papers that are traditional in CS. Then,
the concrete proposal is to, instead of publishing the traditional conference proceedings,
have the papers submitted instead to a special issue of an (indexed) journal which is
ready online in time for the conference. The traditional conference reviewing process is
also improved (following journal standards for rapid publication papers and special issues)
to include at least two full rounds of refereeing and a final copy editing step. I argue that
this model offers an evolutionary path that solves a good number of the incompatibility
problems with other sciences of the current CS models, without giving up the essence of
CS conferences. For this reason I believe that this model (or one of the closely related
models being proposed) would be a clear path forward, and relatively straightforward for
the community to adopt widely.


Comprehensive characterization of differentially spliced RNA transcripts with nanopore sequencing is limited by bioinformatics tools that are reliant on existing annotations. We have developed FLAME, a bioinformatics pipeline for alternative splicing analysis of gene-specific or transcriptome-wide long-read sequencing data. FLAME is a Python-based tool aimed at providing comprehensible quantification of full-length splice variants, reliable de novo recognition of splice sites and exons, and representation of consecutive exon connectivity in the form of a weighted adjacency matrix. Notably, this workflow circumvents issues related to inadequate reference annotations and allows for incorporation of short-read sequencing data to improve the confidence of nanopore sequencing reads. In this study, the Epstein-Barr virus long noncoding RNA RPMS1 was used to demonstrate the utility of the pipeline. RPMS1 is ubiquitously expressed in Epstein-Barr virus associated cancer and known to undergo ample differential splicing. To fully resolve the RPMS1 spliceome, we combined gene-specific nanopore sequencing reads from a primary gastric adenocarcinoma and a nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line with matched publicly available short-read sequencing data sets. All previously reported splice variants, including putative ORFs, were detected using FLAME. In addition, 32 novel exons, including two intron retentions and a cassette exon, were discovered within the RPMS1 gene.


The invention discloses an information processing apparatus, an icon selection method, and a program. The information processing apparatus includes a display, a controller, and an operation unit. The controller is capable of collectively displaying a plurality of icons in a first area of the display. The operation unit includes a second area provided near the display to correspond to the first area and is capable of selecting an icon displayed in the first area by operating a position in the second area that corresponds to a position of the icon.


The technology-based test has been a controversial issue during the last decade. On the other hand, it can offer solutions for an effective long-distance learning or e-Learning program which can be applicable in the situations where learning process is limited either in physically or time-constraint. Despite of monitoring students' progress assessment is needed to evaluate whether the learning process is effective or not. With the intervention of internet and technology in the education field, this offers many ways to apply assessment for the learning progress. Web-based-test (WBT) offers a great varieties and features which is easily accessed. Furthermore, this research used two kinds of WBT, namely Google Form and Quizizz to look further of some benefits from these types of tests also to investigate its effectiveness. The following study applied the quantitative method where scoring result is gathered and calculated to measure the average score and the most preferable test-method. There were around 66 university students from two different majors. They were taking Business English at their second semester in Bunda Mulia Universit. The tests were conducted during the online program due to the pandemic situation. The finding reveals that both tests have its strongest and weakest points whereas the better result shows that Quizizz is higher than in Google Form.


To achieve a high-voltage gain, a step-up converter is developed by integrating coupled-inductor (CL) and switched capacitor. Low-voltage-rated transistors are used to improve the efficiency as the voltage stress on the main switch of the proposed converter is reduced. Circuit configuration, operation principle, ideal voltage transfer ratio and switches' stresses are analysed in detail. The converter's structure can be easily extended for ultra-high-voltage gain by increasing the number of windings of the CL. The feasibility of the proposed converter is experimentally demonstrated by a 140 W prototype converter.


miRNAs play an important role in neurodegenerative diseases. Many miRNA-target gene interactions (MTI) have been experimentally confirmed and associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). miRNAs may also be contained within extracellular vesicles (EVs), mediators of cellular communication and a potential source of circulating biomarkers in body fluids. Therefore, EV-associated miRNAs (EV-miRNAs) in peripheral blood could support earlier and less invasive AD diagnostics. We aimed to prioritize EV-related miRNA with AD-related genes and to identify the most promising candidates for novel AD biomarkers. A list of unique EV-miRNAs from the literature was combined with a known set of AD risk genes and enriched for MTI. Additionally, miRNAs associated with the AD phenotype were combined with all known target genes in MTI enrichment. Expression in different sample types was analyzed to identify AD-associated miRNAs with the greatest potential as AD circulating biomarkers. Four common MTI were observed between EV-miRNAs and AD-associated miRNAs: hsa-miR-375–APH1B, hsa-miR-107–CDC42SE2, hsa-miR-375–CELF2, and hsa-miR-107–IL6. An additional 61 out of 169 unique miRNAs (36.1%) and seven out of 84 unique MTI (8.3%), observed in the body fluids of AD patients, were proposed as very strong AD-circulating biomarker candidates. Our analysis summarized several potential novel AD biomarkers, but further studies are needed to evaluate their potential in clinical practice.


Ag-NOR staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization with rDNA probes showed an unusually high number of NORs in the Indian pygmy field mice, Mus booduga and the M. terricolor complex. The chromosomal location of the NORs was also altered in terricolor, they were shifted from the proximal regions of the long arms to the tips of the perceptible heterochromatic short arms of the acrocentric autosomes. The results suggested dispersion of the NORs in the booduga-terricolor lineage probably by transposition, and relocalization of the NORs in the terricolor complex by centric reorganization during the process of replacement of the Mus musculus-related AT-rich heterochromatin with the terricolor-specific heterochromatin.


The direct starting of induction motors may cause various problems such as high inrush currents, voltage dips and harmonics. There have been numerous methods proposed to mitigate these stresses that are imposed on the power grid. This paper considers a starting method based on external rotor resistance control scheme that is used with wound-rotor induction machines. The so-called rotor-chopper-controlled topology is used to start an induction machine with maximum torque. The Automated state model generation (ASMG) algorithm is used to implement detailed switching model of the system in MATLAB/Simulink. Computer studies of a typical high power induction machine demonstrate that the machine start-up currents and the total energy consumption are significantly reduced while the induced electromagnetic torque is greatly increased with the rotor chopper controller applied.


Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the satisfaction towards clinical training institution according to clinical practice contents in the dental hygiene students. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 382 dental hygiene students of five colleges in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do from August 20 to September 30, 2013. The data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 20.0 program for t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation analysis. The questionnaire consisted of the general characteristics of the subjects and the satisfaction towards the clinical training institution. The satisfaction was composed of 44 questions including the general satisfaction, practice contents, practice guide, training time of practice, training environment, practice evaluation, and personal relationship by Likert 5 point scale. Results: The students were most satisfied with the practice contents of the dental university hospitals. The dental hospital and dental clinics were the most satisfied choice in the personal relationships. Public health center dental clinics bestowed the students with the most satisfied practice guidance, time, environment, and evaluation. Practice contents and practice time were the most influential factors to dental hygiene department satisfaction to the students. Conclusions: In order to enhance the clinical practice satisfaction, it is necessary to have the continuous relationship with the clinical training institution. The practice satisfaction is influenced by the contents and environment of the clinical training institution.


Inositol phosphoglycan molecules are believed to mediate multiple intracellular actions of insulin. They are released from plasma membranes in response to insulin binding and are transported into the cell. Release of insulin mediators is stimulated by MnATP and MgATP and is inhibited by p-aminobenzamidine. Inositol phosphoglycan mediators may be released by a poorly characterized mechanism requiring proteolytic cleavage of an attached protein from the mediator and phospholipase cleavage of the mediator from its membrane anchor. We examined rat liver plasma membranes for proteinase activity stimulated by insulin and MnATP. Although we could not demonstrate insulin stimulation, we have found and characterized a nucleotide-stimulated aspartic proteinase bound to rat liver plasma membranes. We also detected and separated a soluble activating factor for the proteinase. The activating factor appears to be a protein with M(r) approximately 70 kDa.


In cognitive vehicular networks CVNs, spectrum sensing and access are introduced as the promising technologies to fully exploit the underutilized licensed spectrum. Because the sensing ability of a single secondary vehicular user SVU is affected by high mobility, dynamic topology, and unreliable wireless environment, collaborative sensing is developed to increase the sensing accuracy and efficiency. Generally, the synchronization is required in the collaborative sensing in CVN. However, it is difficult to keep all SVUs synchronized with others for sensing under the high dynamic network topology, and the sensing overhead of the synchronous cooperative action may be significant. In this paper, we first propose an asynchronous cooperative sensing scheme in which each SVU provides an energy information EI that is tagged with location and time information. The sensing decision will be made on account of the EI. Considering the temporal and spatial diversities of each SVU, we assign different weights to each EI and formulate the probabilities of detection and false alarm as the optimization problems to find the optimal weight of each EI. Then, based on the asynchronous sensing, the specifications of the opportunistic spectrum access mechanism are elaborated in both centralized and decentralized CVNs for the sake of practical implementation. We analyze the system performance in terms of achievable throughput and transmission delay. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme is able to achieve substantially higher throughput and lower delay, as compared with existing schemes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We assessed the efficacy and safety of weekly cyclophosphamide-bortezomib-dexamethasone (CBD) induction prior to autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in newly diagnosed Japanese patients with multiple myeloma (MM). This regimen consisted of four 28-day cycles of once-weekly oral cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m2), subcutaneous bortezomib (1.3 mg/m2), and oral dexamethasone (40 mg). Responding patients underwent stem cell collection followed by ASCT. The primary endpoint was the postinduction rate of achieving a near complete response (nCR) or better. Among the 38 enrolled patients, a complete response (CR), an nCR, a very good partial response (VGPR), and a partial response (PR) were achieved in 10.5, 2.6, 23.7, and 36.8% of cases, respectively. A grade 4 hematological adverse event (AE) was observed in 1 patient. Grade 3–4 infection, including febrile neutropenia, was observed in 4 patients (10.5%). Although 2 patients dropped out due to AE, 94.7% of the patients completed the induction phase. However, because of a poor response to induction chemotherapy (<PR in 6 patients), poor stem cell mobilization (4 patients), and a protocol violation (1 patient), only 24 patients (63.2%) proceeded to ASCT. The 2-year progression-free and overall survivals were 55.3 and 82.7%, respectively. We thus believe that the therapeutic power of weekly CBD is not strong enough as a 3-drug induction regimen despite its feasibility for most Japanese patients.


Works cited in this useful survey are appropriate for students, librarians, and amateur and professional botanists. These encompass the plant kingdom in all its divisions and aspects, except those of agriculture, horticulture, and gardening. The majority of the annotations are for currently available in-print or electronic reference works. A comprehensive author/title and a separate subject index make locating specific entries simple. With materials ranging from those selected for the informed layperson to those for the specialist, this new edition reflects the momentous transition from print to electronic information resources. It is an appropriate purchase for public, college, university, and professional libraries.


Osmotic priming of seed was evaluated as a means of improving stand establishment, early seedling growth, and yield of processing tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cvs. UC204 and 6203). Seeds were primed in aerated solutions of 3% KNO3 (w/v) or of polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG) of equivalent osmotic potential (-1.25 MPa; 314 g-kg−1 of water) at 20°C for 7 days, rinsed, and dried in forced air at 30°. Under laboratory conditions, seeds primed in either osmoticum germinated more rapidly than untreated seeds at 20° and 30°. At 10°, the PEG treatment was of little benefit for either variety, while the KN03 treatment still reduced the time to 50% germination to 60% to 80% of the control value. Priming did not affect the final germination percentage. Seedling emergence in the field was evaluated in March and April planting dates. In both trials, seedlings from primed seeds emerged earlier and more uniformly than seedlings from untreated seeds. Seedlings from primed seeds maintained greater mean plant dry weights, leaf areas, and ground cover percentages than untreated seedlings throughout the preflowering period. This advantage was due entirely to early emergence rather than to an increased relative growth rate. The early growth advantage from seed priming did not improve earliness of maturity, total yield, or soluble solids content of fruit.


As one kind of plant-derived extracellular vesicle, turmeric-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (TELNs) are composed of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and small-molecule compounds, which possess good biocompatibility and safety. They are especially rich in information from the "mother plant", which provides more applications in biological fields. In this study, we isolated and purified TELNs using differential centrifugation and ultracentrifugation and systematically detected their physicochemical properties using multi-omics. The TELNs possessed a typical teacup-like exosome morphology, and the extraction rate was approximately 1.71 ± 0.176 mg/g. The average particle size was 183.2 ± 10.9 nm, and the average zeta potential was −17.6 ± 1.19 mV. They were rich in lipids, mainly phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) (17.4%), triglyceride (TG) (12.3%), phosphatidylinositol (PI) (9.82%), and phosphatidylcholine (PC) (7.93%). All of them are the key lipids in the exosomes. The protein content was approximately 12% (M/M), mainly curcumin synthase and other proteins involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. In addition, there are critical essential genes for curcumin biosynthesis, such as curcumin synthase (CURS) and diketocoenzyme A synthase (DCS). More importantly, a greater variety of small-molecule compounds, primarily curcumin and curcumin analogs such as demethoxycurcumin and volatile oleoresins such as curcuminoids, have now been revealed. In conclusion, TELNs were successfully isolated, containing 0.17% (M/M) turmeric and a large amount of chemical information, the same as the parent-of-origin plant. This is the first time combining multi-omics to analyze the characteristics and nature of the TELNs, which laid a solid material foundation for the further development of turmeric.


To determine the phylogenetic history of sardines researchers use mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Mitochondrial DNA contains highly informative polymorphic sites. The cytochrome b (cyt b) gene has been especially used by investigators because of its sufficient point mutation rate, enabling discrimination of closely related fish species, and determination of interspecific variability in pelagic fish species for population identification. Scientific surveys based on meristic, morphometric, and reproductive data suggested that two subpopulations of sardines coexisted in the Northern-Middle Adriatic Sea. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of sardines from the Adriatic Sea has never been conducted in the Republic of Croatia. This study included 14 sardine samples from three separate locations, as well as 30 different haplotype sequences retrieved from GenBank. The aim of this study was to determine the number of haplotypes in sardine populations from the Adriatic Sea, as well as to determine differences between populations. Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis revealed 11 different haplotypes of sardines from the Adriatic Sea. The differences between samples from different locations were not scientifically significant, and the results of this study indicate homogeneity in the Adriatic sardine stock. However, three parsimony informative mutations found in our samples produce a clearly visible distinction between the Adriatic sardine samples and samples obtained from the seas adjacent to the Adriatic. This distinction of the Adriatic sardine samples can have applications in fisheries and fishery product quality testing.


Abstract The weakening EU and US economies in the aftermath of the global crisis of 2007 need an impulse to act for the improvement of their condition. The analysis of the history of the GDP of selected world economies suggests that a remedy for it may be the strengthening of the industrial sector. By strengthening, we mean its growth, that is, building and developing manufacturing plants. Large multinationals have generally been relocating their production to China, where labor costs have traditionally been a couple of times lower than in the US or the EU. However, over the past years, the pay gap between the US and China has narrowed, and transport prices have gone up. These are the reasons why numerous large American companies decided to transfer part of their business processes back to the homeland. Also, the EU has been taking account of the benefits of a stable industry. Therefore, it has launched the strategy of "European industry rebirth" that entails a growth of the industry's share in the GDP up to the level of 20%. In order for EU countries to be able to attain it, the paper raises the issue of the Industrie 4.0 methodology, premises and guidelines may, to a large extent, contribute to success. The paper also takes an in-depth look at Industrie 4.0 and discusses its pros and cons. We attempt to provide an answer to the question of whether Industrie 4.0 may be a tool for reindustrialization.


Given the sharp rise in crude oil prices and growing awareness of climate change, the potential of biofuels, particularly of bioethanol, has become an ubiquitous topic of public debate and has induced ambitious policy initiatives. The latter are mostly paired with protectionist measures as the examples of the European Union and the United States show, where domestic producers of energy crops are put at an advantage thanks to subsidisation, direct payments and/or favourable tax schemes.Moreover, the EU is working out a
mandatory certification scheme for ethanol imports, imposing social and environmental standards which constitute another hurdle for more efficiently produced ethanol originating in the Southern hemisphere. A similar path is taken by Switzerland's revised mineral
oil tax law which imposes social and environmental criteria which might not only result in a ban of biofuels produced from palm oil, soy and grain, but will also set obstacles for sugarcane-based ethanol which is currently said to be the most eco-efficient biofuel.This paper
explores where these policy initiatives are at odds with or at least in a grey area of WTO regulations, and where they disrupt markets without necessarily generating environmental benefits.The findings of our study lead to the conclusion that markets should play a stronger
role in expanding the use of biofuels, since many risks affiliated with the biofuel production are caused rather than alleviated by interventionist practices.


It is shown that vector analysis can be extended by allowing entities which are the sums of scalars and vectors. By use of these, familiar equations in mathematical physics can be reduced to simple elegant forms. Applications are presented in vector analysis, relativity, the quantum mechanics of angular momentum and the Dirac equation.


Computer-Aided Molecular Design describes a research area covering all kinds of computer applications in the design of molecules having desired properties. It is widely applied for the design of bioactive molecules like pharmaceuticals or agricultural products. From the computer scientists perspective, computer-aided molecular design contains a large variety of computational problems, often geometric and/or combinatorial in nature. In the introductory part of this talk, a short overview of these problems is given. The main focus in this talk will be on protein-ligand docking. The aim of a docking calculation is to predict, whether two molecules bind to each other (i.e. form an energetically favorable complex). If they do so, one is interested in the geometry of the molecular complex and in the binding energy. The most prominent variant is protein-ligand docking. Here the first molecule is a protein while the second molecule is a small compound. Since most drug targets are proteins and most drugs are small compounds, software for protein-ligand docking is extensively used in pharmaceutical research. Since 1993, we are developing the software package FlexX which belongs to the most widely used codes for protein-ligand docking. An outline of the underlying models, the applied algorithms as well as some examples will be presented.


This paper summarizes Media-converter is a networking device that makes it possible to connect two dissimilar media types such as copper to fiber optic cable with OAM feature (Operation Administration and Maintenance).Media Converters are used in MAN access network (metropolitan area network) and data transport services to enterprise customers and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) for broadband access for last-mile solution, mainly for end users. The OAM media converter is implemented using the chipsets of PIC and Broadcom, explained in detail. The main benefit of the proposed OAM feature is its simplicity, compact and low cost design. Finally, a media converter with an OAM feature was built and is currently in the process of testing.


In this letter we use a monotonicity-based approach to design a safety controller in two realistic driving situations: a vehicle-following scenario and an unprotected left turn scenario. For each scenario we construct a symbolic abstraction of the system and efficiently synthesize a safety controller by exploiting the monotonicity property of the dynamics. In the vehicle-following scenario, we show how monotonicity-based reasoning can be used to handle model uncertainty; in the unprotected left turn scenario, we show how such reasoning can be applied to efficiently deal with the complex scenario of two oncoming vehicles.


The high pressure hoses are widely used for the vehicles, aircraft, and overall industries. The hose assembly is generally composed of a nipple, a socket and a hose with reinforcement layers to increase the tensile strength. To produce the hose assembly, crimping or swaging process is usually used to clamp its components to ensure the prevention of fluid leakage. Crimping is a cold-working technique to form a strong bond between the workpiece and a non-metallic component. The crimping stroke is a primary parameter to be determined in the metalworking process, and it plays an important role in hose performance. This study aims at investigating the optimal crimping stroke according to the size of aircraft high pressure hose by using MSC/MARC. It is supposed that the results can be useful to get the information about the crimping stroke in manufacturing process, even with the different size of a hose.


Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems played a crucial role in the postponement of the former occupational electromagnetic fields (EMF) European Directive (2004/40/EC) and in the formation of the latest exposure limits adopted in the new one (2013/35/EU). Moreover, the complex MRI environment will be finally excluded from the implementation of the new occupational limits, leading to an increased demand for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) surveillance. The gradient function of MRI systems and the application of the RF excitation frequency result in low and high frequency exposures, respectively. This electromagnetic field exposure, in combination with the increased static magnetic field exposure, makes the MRI environment a unique case of combined EMF exposure. The electromagnetic field levels in close proximity of different MRI systems have been assessed at various frequencies. Quality Assurance (QA) & safety issues were also faced. Preliminary results show initial compliance with the forthcoming limits in each different frequency band, but also revealed peculiar RF harmonic components, of no safety concern, to the whole range detected (20-1000MHz). Further work is needed in order to clarify their origin and characteristics.


The effects that nonlinear devices such as AC/DC converters, HVDC transmission links, and motor drives have on spacecraft power systems are discussed. The nonsinusoidal currents, along with the corresponding voltages, are calculated by a harmonic power flow which decouples and solves for each harmonic component individually using an iterative Newton-Raphson algorithm. The sparsity of the harmonic equations and the overall Jacobian matrix is used to an advantage in terms of saving computer memory space and in terms of reducing computation time. The algorithm could also be modified to analyze each harmonic separately instead of all at the same time.<<ETX>>


Prebiotic effects of oligosaccharides extract from palm kernel expeller (OligoPKE) on Salmonella typhimurium were investigated in chicks in two experiments. Results of the first experiment showed that OligoPKE reduced the colonization of Salmonella typhimurium in the cecum and increased the immunoglobulin A (IgA) production in the blood and jejunum. The second experiment further investigated the prebiotic efficacy of dietary supplementation of OligoPKE on three levels of Salmonella typhimurium infection (1.0 x 10 4 Colony-forming unit (CFU)/mL; 1.0 x 10 6 CFU/mL and 1.0 x 10 8 CFU/mL) in chicks. OligoPKE reduced the colonization of Salmonella in the medium and high levels of infection. IgA level in serum and jejunum content increased significantly in all the three levels of infection when chicks received OligoPKE in their diet. Interleukin 8, and 10; interferon-α; and tumour necrosis factor genes were up-regulated in the jejunum of the infected chicks, and OligoPKE down-regulated these gene expressions. Results of the current study indicated that OligoPKE, an oligosaccharides extract from palm kernel expeller, is capable of reducing colonization of Salmonella typhimurium in young chicks, and boosted their immunity. Keywords: chicken, immunoglobulin, immune gene, microbial population


Purpose: Our previous studies identified ZNF582 methylation (ZNF582m) level as a useful biomarker for cervical cancer screening, detection, and prognosis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between ZNF582m level and cervical cancer radiotherapy sensitivity and its underlying mechanism.Patients and Methods: This was a prospective multicenter clinical study, included two independent cohorts locally advanced cervical cancer patients. Exfoliated cervical cancer cells were collected pre-treatment and during treatment (after 24, 30, 36, 48, and 64 Gy) to test ZNF582m level, radiotherapy response evaluated according to RECIST Version. Results: In the first cohort, 22 cases achieved satisfied response, 28 exhibited modest response. Radiotherapy reduced ZNF582m level among all patients. Baseline ZNF582m was significantly higher in the satisfied response cases than in modest response cases, also, patients with high baseline ZNF582m (ZNF582m-high, n = 21) were more sensitive to radiotherapy than ZNF582m-low patients (n = 29), as evidenced by greater satisfied response rate (76.2% vs. 20.7%). An independent cohort confirmed above results. The magnitude of ZNF582m reduction was associated with a radiotherapeutic response, a subset of ZNF582m-low patients (5 of 28) exhibiting a transient increase in ZNF582m demonstrated greater radiosensitivity than other ZNF582m-low patients. ZNF582 overexpression induced cell cycle arrest in S phase.Conclusion: High ZNF582m level predicts better cervical cancer radiosensitivity, ZNF582 overexpression reduces radiosensitivity by cell cycle arrest.


A new method to covalently link phosphatidylethanolamine via the headgroup at the surface of cell‐size spherical polymer particles is described. Because the density of the reactive groups linked to the polymer beads is extremely high, a dense, tightly bonded lipid monolayer is formed. When a solubilized lipid is added to the suspension of monolayer‐coated polymer beads, the spontaneous formation of a bilayer‐like structure is observed. The upper layer of lipid can be removed by washing with detergent solution or organic solvents, ethanol or butanol, and can be replaced in a relipidation step by any other phospholipid; thus, an asymmetric lipid bilayer structure can be formed. Membrane‐bound enzymes such as alanine aminopeptidase or dipeptidyl peptidase IV may be inserted with their hydrophobic anchor segments in a stable and enzymatically active form in this artificial system. Incorporation of integral membrane enzymes such as bacteriorhodopsin with membrane‐spanning domains and bulky segments at both sides of the membrane succeeded only when a hydrophilic spacer of appropriate length (e.g., pentaalanine) was introduced between the carrier surface and the lipid headgroups.


Purpose: On July 27, 2011, landslides occurred on Woomyun Mountain, resulting in development of mass casualties. Seoul St. Mary s Hospital was the primary recipient of patients. This experience prompted the drafting of a formal disaster plan. Therefore, we outline the Emergency Management External Disaster Plan of Seoul St. Mary`s Hospital and discuss the time course of presentation and medical characteristics of the patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of medical records of patients who visited Seoul St. Mary`s Hospital from Woo-myun Mountain landslides. In addition, we reviewed the time course of hospital disaster response. Results: A total of 33 patients participated in this study. Mean age was 40.2 ( 21.8) years; eight patients died at the time of admission and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed in one patient. Mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 9.19 and four patients were ISS above 15. Six patients were admitted to our hospital and two patients underwent an emergency operation. Overall, the emergency disaster management was appropriate due to the formal disaster plan and experiences in conduct of disaster drills. However, there were also several problems. The major problems of our disaster response were as follows: delayed activation of external disaster, difficulties in securing a treatment section, and absence of a decontamination facility. Conclusion: We observed several problems from our experience with Woo-myun Mountain landslides. Reassessment of the disaster plan and additional planning for other possibilities are needed.


New constraints on the age of the Cockburn Island Formation, northern Antarctic Peninsula, resulting from whole rock laser-stepped heated 40Ar–39Ar dating of associated basalt and palaeomagnetic re-calibration of the ranges of the formation's fossil diatom taxa, suggest that interglacial conditions existed around 3 million years ago. The refined age of the deposit supports continent-wide Late Pliocene warming in Antarctica, and makes more likely the occurrence of extensive marine incursions in East Antarctica at that time.


A group of undergraduate bachelor students engaged in a project that focused on finding new co-creation methods for the public domain in Rotterdam. This paper describes the context in which the students worked, the findings they
made and the solutions they proposed. Their working process is compared with the work of the Freehouse foundation, a professional artist-run organization that focuses on empowering locals, socially and economically, by enlarging their involvement in the public domain. Subsequently the specifics of the discussed public domain, Rotterdam South, are pointed out. This is required because a very specific context is created by the combination of working class pride, lack of involved citizenship and severe social issues in the area. To conclude, the effect of the co-creative methods employed by the students and Freehouse on the
redistribution of power is compared with more traditional forms of citizen participation.


Project aim: provide compassionate and personalised advice and support for carers, family, and friends of people who are dying or have died. Sue Ryder's vision is to create a world where everyone has access to personalised and compassionate hospice and neurological care. To achieve this, we have been extending services outside the walls of our hospices at pace for some time. Together with digital media experts Sift Digital, we carried out in-depth research through face-to-face and telephone interviews with 10 people who access Sue Ryder's hospice services, combined witha more extensive online survey with a broader pool of relevant service users. From the user research, two very clear needs stood out: Information: about death and dying including practical concerns like applying for financial help or funeral planning. Support Community: users want to find out about others' experiences and ask questions. This has led to creation of an online community for people to come together and share experiences, as well as access expert advice from Sue Ryder Nurses. We have also collated and explained the practical information already out there and added a 'human' touch to what can be quite clinical and bureaucratic information. "I know when my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer I would have found it very useful to have been given this guidance to help me access help and information." "As a former hospice chaplain and a cancer patient myself I really like the style and tone. When you're feeling tired and poorly the last thing you want are leaflets that are hard to read." The Sue Ryder online community launched at the end of May 2015. Independent hospices can promote Sue Ryder's online community and support to their patients to provide 24/7 access to a safe space to share experiences with people who understand, and access to expert (non-clinical) information.


Purpose – This paper aims to increase our understanding of perspectives on food traceability in four supply chain risk management (SCRM)
approaches to ensure food safety. The occurrence of food safety failures has led to increased attention on food traceability as a means of identifying
the causes of deficiencies in supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a literature review and synthesizes the broader domain of food traceability by analyzing
perspectives based on SCRM approaches. In all, 129 published papers were selected and evaluated using content analysis.
Findings – A framework of SCRM approaches on food traceability is presented. Eight perspectives on food traceability are identified and grouped
according to four SCRM approaches: food supply chain complexity and unique identification of goods (logistics management); transparency and
interoperability (information management); in-house production and outsourcing (production management); and food quality and safety
requirements and the monitoring of food characteristics (quality management).
Research limitations/implications – The findings provide an in-depth understanding and research suggestions for the management of traceability
to ensure food safety in food supply chains. Conclusions are drawn from secondary sources, thus excluding empirical evaluation.
Practical implications – The implementation of food traceability can result in changes to existing management systems. This paper addresses the
perspectives and management challenges that can influence the implication of food traceability to ensure food safety.
Originality/value – Perspectives on food traceability according to SCRM approaches are presented. Food traceability is analyzed using the
philosophy of scientific framework and suggestions for further research are offered.


Mutation analysis modifies a program by applying syntactic rules, called mutation operators, systematically to create many versions of the program (mutants) that differ in small ways. Testers then design tests to cause the mutants to behave differently from the original program. Mutation testing is widely considered to result in very effective tests, however, it is also quite costly. Cost comes from the many mutants that are created, the number of tests that are needed to kill the mutants, and the difficulty of deciding whether mutants behave equivalently to the original program. One-op mutation theorizes that cost can be reduced by using a single, very powerful, mutation operator that leads to tests that are almost as effective as if all operators are used. Previous research proposed the statement deletion operator (SDL) and found promising results. This paper investigates the use of SDL-mutation in a new context, the language C, and poses additional empirical questions, including whether other operators can be used. We carried out a controlled experiment in which cost and effectiveness of each individual C mutation operator were collected for 39 different subject programs. Experimental data are used to define a cost-effectiveness metric to choose the best single operator for one-op mutation.


The effect of filter parameters on the phase noise of RF MEMS tunable filters employing shunt capacitive switches is investigated in this article. It is shown that the phase noise of a tunable filter is dependent on the input power, fractional bandwidth, filter order, resonator quality factor, and tuning state. Phase noise is higher for filters with smaller fractional bandwidth. In filters with high fractional bandwidth (>3%), phase noise increases as the input power approaches the power‐handling capability of the filter. In filters with smaller bandwidths, phase noise increases with input power upto a threshold level of input power, but begins to decrease thereafter. The unloaded quality factor of the filter has a noticeable effect on the phase noise of filters with narrow bandwidths. The phase noise changes with the filter tuning state and is maximum when all the switches are in the up‐state position. It is also shown that the phase noise increases with the filter order, due to increase in the number of noisy elements in the filter structure. This article provides a methodology to evaluate the phase noise of a tunable filter and proves that RF MEMS filters are suitable for high performance applications without considerable phase‐noise penalty. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2010.


USP30 antisense RNA 1 (USP30-AS1) has been studied in bladder urothelial carcinoma. However, the detailed role of USP30-AS1 in cervical cancer remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the present study determined whether USP30-AS1 is implicated in cervical cancer malignancy, and investigated relevant molecular mechanisms. USP30-AS1 expression was measured via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Functional experiments, including the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, Transwell migration and invasion assays, and mouse tumour model, were performed in order to elucidate the roles of USP30-AS1. The target of USP30-AS1 was predicted using bioinformatics analysis, which was further verified via RNA immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays. Herein, USP30-AS1 overexpression was detected in cervical cancer sample data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and our cohort. Patients with cervical cancer expressing high levels of USP30-AS1 exhibited shorter overall survival than those with low USP30-AS1 expression. In vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that USP30-AS1 interference promoted cell apoptosis; restrained cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and hindered tumour growth in vivo. Mechanistically, USP30-AS1 competed for microRNA-299-3p (miR-299-3p) in cervical cancer and lowered the regulatory actions of miR-299-3p on protein tyrosine phosphatase type IVA (PTP4A1), resulting in PTP4A1 overexpression. Furthermore, rescue experiments confirmed that miR-299-3p interventions or exogenous PTP4A1 could counteract the cancer-inhibiting actions of USP30-AS1 silencing on cervical cancer cells. In conclusion, the miR-299-3p/PTP4A1 axis is the downstream effector of USP30-AS1 in cervical cancer, forming the USP30-AS1/miR-299-3p/PTP4A1 pathway. This newly identified competing endogenous RNA pathway may offer a novel theoretical and experimental basis for developing promising new strategies for the targeted therapy of cervical cancer.


In a recent article [Bieler et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10, 3006-3022 (2014)], we introduced a combination of the λ-dynamics (λD) approach for calculating alchemical free-energy differences and of the local-elevation umbrella-sampling (LEUS) memory-based biasing method to enhance the sampling along the alchemical coordinate. The combined scheme, referred to as λ-LEUS, was applied to the perturbation of hydroquinone to benzene in water as a test system, and found to represent an improvement over thermodynamic integration (TI) in terms of sampling efficiency at equivalent accuracy. However, the preoptimization of the biasing potential required in the λ-LEUS method requires "filling up" all the basins in the potential of mean force. This introduces a non-productive pre-sampling time that is system-dependent, and generally exceeds the corresponding equilibration time in a TI calculation. In this letter, a remedy is proposed to this problem, termed the slow growth memory guessing (SGMG) approach. Instead of initializing the biasing potential to zero at the start of the preoptimization, an approximate potential of mean force is estimated from a short slow growth calculation, and its negative used to construct the initial memory. Considering the same test system as in the preceding article, it is shown that of the application of SGMG in λ-LEUS permits to reduce the preoptimization time by about a factor of four.


Extracted from text ... KWAKWATSI LOCAL YOUTH UNIT SA TLADI writes on a pilot programmme for the education and reintegration of offenders On 15 August 2001 a very informative meeting was held at the Koppies Magistrate's Court. This meeting was attended by delegates from our Provincial and Regional offices of the Department of Social Welfare in the Free State, a social worker from NICRO, the local magistrate and public prosecutor, SAPS and representatives from the local Youth Desk. It is very encouraging to hear the positive approach that the Department of Social Welfare, SAPS and Justice have given to the proposals laid down in ..


This paper reviews interpretations of the morphology and evolution of the bryophyte sporophyte, and proposes a scenario for the early evolution of the land plant sporophyte. Paleobotanical and neobotanical evidence implies that the earliest land plants were bryophyte-like and diverged to bryophytes and pteridophytes. The current hypothesis for the sporophyte evolution is that the seta, i.e., an axis bearing the sporangium of bryophytes, elaborated to the ramified polysporangiophyte stem. From comparison of reported developmental data with a special focus on the apical cell and other meristems, we propose that the entire bryophyte sporophyte is a footed sporangium (sporogonium) with or without a seta. The seta is interpreted as a sporangial stalk and is not homologous to the stem of polysporangiate plants. Having the persistent apical meristem, the shoot of polysporangiate plants seems to be a novel vegetative organ interpolated in the life cycle, while the sporogonium evolved to the sporangium separated from the foot and later produced on the stem or leaf.


The existing surface-potential-based compact metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor models are based on the 1978 Brews delta-function charge-sheet approximation, which was derived empirically from the 1966 Pao-Sah drift-diffusion double integral formula. This paper provides a device physics-based derivation of a surface-potential-based compact model by analytical approximation of the double and single bulk-charge integrals of the four one-dimensional components of the six-component 1996 Sah two-dimensional formula. In this compact model development, the mobile carrier-space-charge-limited parabolic-drift and linear-diffusion current components are analytically represented by the surface potential without approximation, while the immobile-impurity bulk-space-charge-limited double-integral drift-current and single-integral diffusion-current components are evaluated analytically using three possible surface-potential compact model approximations. This paper calculates the accuracy of these approximate analytical bulk-charge-limited drift and diffusion current components in both the inversion and subthreshold ranges and discusses factors that affect the accuracy in the subthreshold range and near flatband.


OBJECTIVE
To review the relative researches about mechanical stimulation of stem cells differentiation in stem cells microenvironment in vitro.

METHODS
The recent related literature about stem cells differentiation in vitro was reviewed and summarized.

RESULTS
The mechanical loads (including shear stress, mechanical strain, and stress), substrates stiffness, substrates nanotopography, and cell shape were the 4 important aspects of mechanical factors regulating stem cells differentiation. The mechanical stimulation can simulate the in vivo microenvironment, which can alter the size, shape, alignment, and differentiation state of stem cells, can change the expression of their differentiation markers, and can affect the lineage commitment of stem cells.

CONCLUSION
Mechanical stimulation play an important role in regulating stem cells differentiation and cells morphology in addition to chemical and biological factors.


The rate constants for competitive reactions of isotopic molecules are considered from the theory of ``absolute rates'' and the collision theory. Formulas are derived for the ratio of the rate constants and the difference in the activation energies for reactions of isotopic molecules. The difficulties in the a priori calculation of relative rates are pointed out and discussed.In general the rate constant for the light molecule will be greater than that of the heavy molecule. It is shown that the maximum ratio in the rates occurs when the isotopic atom is essentially free in the activated complex. The conditions for the rate constant of the heavy molecule to exceed that of the light one are formulated.It is shown that the difference in activation energies covers the range from zero to the difference in the differences in the zero‐point energies of the reacting molecules and their respective activated complexes.


SUMMARY Aims — To assess in a national sample the ability of GPs to detect psychiatric disorders using a clinical vs. a standardized interview and to characterize the patients that were falsely diagnosed with an anxiety or affective disorder. Methods — This is a national, cross—sectional, epidemiological survey, carried out by GPs on a random sample of their patients. The GPs were randomly divided into two groups. Apart from the routine clinical interview, the experimental group (group A) had to administer the Mini—International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results — Data was collected by 143 GPs. 17.2% of all patients had a clinical diagnosis of an affective disorder, and 25.4% a clinical diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. In group A, the number of clinical diagnoses was about twice that of MINI diagnoses for affective disorders and one and a half times that for anxiety disorders. The majority of clinical diagnoses were represented by MINI subsyndromal cases (52.3%). Females showed a higher OR of being over—detected by GPs with anxiety disorders or of not being diagnosed with an affective disorder. Being divorced/separated/widowed increased the OR of over—detection of affective and anxiety disorders. The OR of over—detection of an affective or an anxiety disorder was higher for individuals with a moderate to poor quality of life. Conclusions — In the primary care a gap exists between clinical and standardized interviews in the detection of affective and anxiety disorders. Some experiential and social factors can increase this tendency. The use of a psycho. Declaration of Interest: GlaxoSmithKline provided unrestricted economic and organizational support to the study. No further declarations on other form of financing or any other involvement that might be considered a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.


Complexes of metals with (meth)acrylates and acrylamides are used as examples for examining the application of nontraditional methods for initiating polymerisation of metal-containing monomers: graft, low-temperature, electrochemical, matrix, solid-state (under high pressure with shear deformation), frontal and spontaneous. Such approaches are demonstrated to be very effective for preparing metal-containing polymers with a wide spectrum of relative molecular masses and with different solubility and stereotacticity. The bibliography includes 39 references.


A Vlasov code is used to model the transition region between an equilibrium plasma and an absorbing wall in the presence of a tilted magnetic field, for the case of a weakly collisional plasma mfp i, where mfp is the ion-neutral mean-free path and i is the ion Larmor radius . The phase space structure of the plasma-wall transition is analyzed in detail and theoretical estimates of the magnetic presheath width are tested numerically. It is shown that the distribution near the wall is far from Maxwellian, so that temperature measurements should be interpreted with care. Particular attention is devoted to the angular distribution of ions impinging on the wall, which is an important parameter to determine the level of wall erosion and sputtering. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2244533


Augmented reality is the art to seamlessly fuse virtual objects into real ones. In this short note, we address the opposite problem, the inverse augmented reality, that is, given a perfectly augmented reality scene where human is unable to distinguish real objects from virtual ones, how the machine could help do the job. We show by structure from motion (SFM), a simple 3D reconstruction technique from images in computer vision, the real and virtual objects can be easily separated in the reconstructed 3D scene.


SUMMARY The implementation of a hierarchical, process-oriented programming language for simulation (HSL) is described. It features a hybrid approach, involving the front end of a compiler and the back end of an interpreter. An HSL program is dichotomous in structure. Source statements from each part are translated into three-address code for an abstract machine, and the resulting code is then interpreted. The algorithms and the supportive data structures that effect the translation and interpretation of HSL are detailed. The host language for HSL is C++. HSL is machine independent and can be ported to any machine on which the host language is available. Its initial implementation was carried out on an NCR Tower. More recently, it was transferred to an NCR PC916.


The effects of the gangliosides isolated from echinoderms on the neuritogenesis of a rat pheochromocytoma cell line (PC-12 cells) in the presence of nerve growth factor were investigated. The results show that they displayed neuritogenic activity. Based on the observed results, a structure-activity relationship has been established.


During the early Palaeogene warm interval megathermal climatic regimes expanded beyond their current tropical limits. The early Palaeogene sporomorph (pollen and spore) record of the US Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) documents an extra-tropical vegetation type that developed under these megathermal climatic conditions. It is therefore suitable to address hypotheses concerning the importance of tropical climates in controlling low latitude spatial and temporal diversity patterns. Here, I construct a new sporomorph dataset comprising 151 samples, 41831 counted specimens and 214 sporomorph morphotypes. Fifty-nine of these morphotypes were not found in the published literature and are newly described. I demonstrate that previous studies of the GCP sporomorph record that have relied on biostratigraphic datasets have underestimated the true species richness of this region. Compositional heterogeneity was important for maintaining regional species richness on the GCP. The rate and scale dependency of spatial turnover in Holocene tropical and extra-tropical sporomorphs records precluded associating the GCP vegetation more closely with any particular modern biome, however. Finally, I show that warming extra-tropical regions to megathermal levels did not stimulate increased speciation there, which does not support a direct control of temperature on speciation rate in the low latitudes.


The basis of the diagnosis of breast cancer is the histological confirmation of it. In the diagnostic methods performed on biopsy specimens and / or surgical specimens of patients, analysis of hormone receptors, provides information to the appropriate prescription of the endocrine treatments used today, in addition to having utility as a prognostic factor in determining the risk of recurrence post treatment and evaluate the response. To obtain tumor tissue, also allows to determine prognostic and predictive factors such as histopathological classification of the tumor, its size, number of positive lymph nodes and lymph-vascular commitment, all of them very important in a integrated treatment, in order to improve the quality and life expectancy of patients.


The objective of this work is to develop a blood contacting surface that possesses both resistance to nonspecific protein adsorption and clot lysing properties. Chemical modification of a polyurethane (PU) surface with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG); and lysine was used to create a plasminogen-binding potentially fibrinolytic surface. The preparation involves modification of the PU surface with dihydroxy PEG, reaction of the unreacted distal OH with N,N'-disuccinimidyl carbonate (DSC) to produce a PU-PEG-NHS surface, followed by conjugation of epsilon-amino-protected lysine (H-Lys(t-BOC)-OH) by reaction of the alpha-amino group with the NHS and deprotection. The result is a lysine-derivatized surface in which the epsilon-amino groups of the lysine are free to participate in binding plasminogen and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA). Surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurements. Protein adsorption experiments showed that nonspecific protein adsorption was greatly reduced on these surfaces and that they adsorbed significant quantities of plasminogen from plasma. After incubation with plasma and treatment with t-PA the surfaces were able to dissolve nascent plasma clots formed around them.


Morbidly obese, critically ill patients are prone to develop hypoxemic respiratory failure and ventilator dependency. The best method for recruiting the lungs of these patients and keeping alveoli open without causing injury remains unclear. We present the case of a 31-year-old patient with severe refractory hypoxemia reversed by lung recruitment maneuvers and subsequent application of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) at a level determined by a decremental PEEP trial. The patient was extubated at a high PEEP level of 22 cm H2O followed by noninvasive ventilatory support after extubation. This case suggests that a recruitment maneuver followed by PEEP titration is necessary in obese patients for optimizing mechanical ventilation. Extubation to noninvasive ventilatory support with the identified optimal PEEP may decrease an inappropriate increased work of breathing and the risk of reintubation.


We discuss a new a posteriori rule for choosing the regularization parameter in regularization methods for solving linear ill-posed problems Ax = y with minimum-norm solution x. Main emphasis is devoted to the methods of ordinary and iterated Tikhonov regularization. We suppose that instead of y there are given noisy data y satisfying |y-y| with known noise level . The approach of the new rule consists of finding the smallest = ME for which it can be proved that the error |x-x| of the regularized solution xisstrictlymonotonicallyincreasingforincreasing-values, that is, there holds {d}{{d\alpha}}|x-x|2>0 for all (ME,). Due to this property we call our rule of choosing the monotone error rule (ME rule). Our ME rule leads to smaller errors than the a posteriori rule of Raus (1985 Acta Comment. Univ. Tartuensis 715 12-20 (in Russian)) and Gfrerer (1987 Math. Comput. 49 507-22). Furthermore, we discuss discretization issues and illustrate some of our theoretical results by numerical experiments.


Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream (SAB) infection remains a leading cause of sepsis-related mortality. Yet, current treatment does not account for variable virulence traits that mediate host dysregulated immune response, such as SA α-toxin (Hla)-mediated thrombocytopenia. Here, we applied machine learning (ML) to bacterial growth images combined with platelet count data to predict patient outcomes. We profiled Hla phenotypes of SA isolates collected from patients with bacteremia by taking smartphone images of beta-hemolytic growth on sheep blood agar (SBA). Electronic medical records were reviewed to extract relevant laboratory and clinical data. A convolutional neural network was applied to process the plate image data for input along with day 1 patient platelet count to generate ML-based models that predict thrombocytopenia on day 4 and mortality. A total of 229 patients infected with SA strains exhibiting varying zone sizes of beta-hemolysis on SBA were included. A total of 539 images of bacterial growth on SBA were generated as inputs for model development. One-third of patients developed thrombocytopenia at onset, with an overall mortality rate of 18.8%. The models developed from the ML algorithm showed strong performance (AUC 0.92) for predicting thrombocytopenia on day 4 of infection and modest performance (AUC 0.711) for mortality. Our findings support further development and validation of a proof-of-concept ML application in digital microbiology, with a measure of bacterial virulence factor production that carries prognostic significance and can help guide treatment selection.