Background: Tumor growth, especially in the late stage, requires adequate nutrients and rich vasculature, in which PKM2 plays a convergent role. It has been reported that PKM2, together with FOXM1D, is upregulated in late stage colorectal cancer and associated with metastasis; however, their underlying mechanism for promoting tumor progression remains elusive. Methods: Western blot, coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP), glutathione S-transferase (GST)-pull down and Immunofluorescence (IF) were performed to investigate the interaction between FOXM1D with PKM2 and other proteins. Extracellular acidification (ECAR) and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) assays, Protein Cross-linking, Gel chromatography, Pyruvate Kinase (PK) activity assay were used to examine the effect of FOXM1D on glycolysis. The angiogenesis effect was verified by Human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation assay, tumor tissue microangiography, VEGFA Elisa assay and ChIP assay.Results: FOXM1D potentiates PKM2-mediated glycolysis and angiogenesis through multiple protein-protein interactions. In the presence of FBP, FOXM1D binds to tetrameric PKM2 and assembles a heterooctamer, restraining PKM2 metabolic activity by about a half and thereby promoting aerobic glycolysis. Furthermore, FOXM1D interacts with PKM2 and NF-κB and induces their nuclear translocation with the assistance of the nuclear transporter importin 4, which subsequently augments VEGFA transcription that is regulated by the PKM2 and NF-κB complex. The increased VEGFA is secreted extracellularly via exosome, which is potentiated by the interaction of FOXM1 with VPS11, eventually promoting tumor angiogenesis. Conclusion: Our study indicates that FOXM1D plays a crucial role in promoting glycolysis and angiogenesis through its protein-protein interaction. The above findings provide another insight into the role of PKM2 in the regulation of glycolysis and angiogenesis.


In a Panamanian pond, male tungara frogs ("Physalaemus pustulosus") gather in choruses, giving their "advertisement" call to the females that move among them. If a female chooses to make physical contact with a male, he will clasp her and eventually fertilize her eggs. But in vying for the females, the males whose calls are most attractive may also attract the interest of another creature: the fringe-lipped bat, a frog eater. In the "Tungara Frog," the most detailed and informative single study available of frogs and their reproductive behavior, Michael J. Ryan demonstrates the interplay of sexual and natural selection. Using techniques from ethology, behavioral ecology, sensory physiology, physiological ecology, and theoretical population genetics in his research, Ryan shows that large males with low-frequency calls mate most successfully. He examines in detail a number of explanations for the females' preferences, and he considers possible evolutionary forces leading to the males' success. Though certain vocalizations allow males to obtain mates and thus should be favored by sexual selection, this study highlights two important costs of such sexual displays: the frogs expand considerable energy in their mating calls, and they advertise their whereabouts to predators. Ryan considers in detail how predators, especially the frige-lipped bat ("Trachops cirrhosus"), affect the evolution of the tungara frog's calls."


This study discusses social ethics reflected in Sêrat Sarawungan manuscript as a cultural heritage which focuses on the aspect of social ethics. The purpose of this study is to explore the social ethics in inculcating the youth towards with Javanese excellent characters that sourced from Sêrat Sarawungan. This study uses a textual theoretical framework and ethics, to explore the social ethics manifested from the object of study as a lesson learned for the younger generation through Javanese noble characters. The object of this study is Sêrat Sarawungan text which is part of Sêrat Têpa Palupi By Gus Sariph from Kediri which was later written by R. Pujaarja of Surakarta in 1832. The manuscript which is a collection of Radya Pustaka Surakarta Museum, the text generally tells about the story of Gus Bantong's journey to various regions in seeking for knowledge. In the midst of his journey, he wrote a Sêrat Sarawungan which contained social ethics that was relevant in the social life of the community especially Java. This study uses a qualitative research paradigm procedure. Data collection in the form of words, phrases, and sentences using the library method. Analysis and interpretation of data using the hermeneutic reading method. The results of this study are the kinds of social ethics reflected in Sêrat Sarawungan text which can then further be evaluated as learning material in an effort of inculcating the Javanese noble characters to the youth.


We are concerned with the probability that a standard Brownian motion W(t) crosses a curved boundary c(t) on a finite interval [0, T]. Let this probability be denoted by Q(c(t); T). Due to recent advances in research a new way of estimating Q(c(t); T) seems feasible: Monte Carlo Simulation. Wang and Potzelberger (1997) derived an explicit formula for the boundary crossing probability of piecewise linear functions which has the form of an expectation. Based on this formula we proceed as follows: First we approximate the general boundary c(t) by a piecewise linear function cm(t) on a uniform partition. Then we simulate Brownian sample paths in order to evaluate the expectation in the formula of the authors for cm(t). The bias resulting when estimating Q(c_m(t); T) rather than Q(c(t); T) can be bounded by a formula of Borovkov and Novikov (2005). Here the standard deviation - or the variance respectively - is the main limiting factor when increasing the accuracy. The main goal of this dissertation is to find and evaluate variance reducing techniques in order to enhance the quality of the Monte Carlo estimator for Q(c(t); T). Among the techniques we discuss are: Antithetic Sampling, Stratified Sampling, Importance Sampling, Control Variates, Transforming the original problem. We analyze each of these techniques thoroughly from a theoretical point of view. Further, we test each technique empirically through simulation experiments on several carefully chosen boundaries. In order to asses our results we set them in relation to a previously established benchmark. As a result of this dissertation we derive some very potent techniques that yield a substantial improvement in terms of accuracy. Further, we provide a detailed record of our simulation experiments. (author's abstract)


Understanding of Electronic Medical Records(EMRs) plays a crucial role in improving healthcare outcomes. However, the unstructured nature of EMRs poses several technical challenges for structured information extraction from clinical notes leading to automatic analysis. Natural Language Processing(NLP) techniques developed to process EMRs are effective for variety of tasks, they often fail to preserve the semantics of original information expressed in EMRs, particularly in complex scenarios. This paper illustrates the complexity of the problems involved and deals with conflicts created due to the shortcomings of NLP techniques and demonstrates where domain specific knowledge bases can come to rescue in resolving conflicts that can significantly improve the semantic annotation and structured information extraction. We discuss various insights gained from our study on real world dataset.


Imang N. 2020. Short Communication: Adoption level of indigenous communities to agricultural technology: problem and adaptive solutions in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 1160-1164. The economic and cultural background of the indigenous people of the Dayak Borneo was traditional shifting cultivation, hunting, and gathering. Since the 1980s, Indonesian central government promoted Resettlement Program by relocating them in down rivers to encourage and to improve their agricultural and economic life. By living in downriver with limited farming areas, they, of course, need more products of agriculture and therefore government promoted agricultural extension. The objectives of the study are to: assess adoption level of two indigenous Dayak communities on agricultural technology, assess the causes of problems on adoption of agricultural technology, and seek adaptive strategy in implementing agricultural technology. Data were collected by interviewing 54 respondents that were selected randomly and descriptive qualitative approach was used for data analysis. Some important findings were: (i) adoption level of 60% i.e. Low level and 40% i.e. middle level in both villages; (ii) the low level of adoption was caused by some factors, such as: low performance of the extension officers which was caused by the lack support from government, and the background of the farmers; farmers with low education background need visual media to understand the extension and to see the evidence of the new technology; (iii) adaptive strategies to improve agricultural extension level such as: government should support the extension officers with appropriate visual and material support such as LCD projector, portable generator, appropriate training and communication skill that suitable with sociocultural background of the respondents. The extension officers also need to understand the cultural background of the respondents. Practical implication is that the government can develop more typical effective method of extension for indigenous communities with low educational background and traditional way of agriculture. Theoretical implications, of course, are to provide specific further information for research related to agricultural extension.


The objective of this study was to develop aroma massage oil containing natural oils for relieving muscle pain and evaluate usersÂ' satisfaction. In addition, the skin irritation and skin sensitization of products were tested by using the Kligman maximization method. Seven essential oils were used as an active ingredient in the formula. Six carrier oils were used as a carrier oil in the formula. Tests of odor preference and odor acceptance of products were investigated in sixty-one consumers. The products were evaluated the preliminary physical stability in terms of color, smell, rancidity, viscosity, and precipitation, for a period of eight weeks. In addition, thirty consumers participated in the satisfaction evaluation. The results showed that consumers gave the most preference and acceptance to a blended essential oil preparation 1 (BEOP1) which composed of rosemary, lavender, patchouli, eucalyptus, and peppermint oils. The consumers gave an overall satisfied with carrier oil formulas which consisted of sweet almond, grape seed, avocado, jojoba oils, and macadamia oils. A massage oil formula which composed of BEOP1, vitamin E acetate, isopropyl myristate, and carrier oils gave the best physical characteristics. Moreover, developed massage oil remained stable for 8 weeks. No skin irritation and no skin sensitization were observed after volunteers applied to developed massage oil on the inner forearm for two weeks. Therefore, it could be suggested that developed massage oil was safety.


Active antropogenic impact on natural complexes has resulted in dominance of "naturalantropogenic landscapes" (NAL) in Belarus. They include both elements of natural components and outcomes of antropogenic activity. NAL follow in their development first of all to natural laws. At the same time attributes of their functioning and dynamics are closely connected with social and economic circumstances. Economic activities of the population in different branches of a national economy essentially alter structure of land use. The direction of economic activity is a main indicator of classification of NAL in Belarus. Furthermore, classification of NAL is a source for detection of fragmentation of landscape structure. The system of classification units of NAL includes three ranks: class subclass – species (vid). The highest unit of classification a class NAL – is defined according to such indicator as the main direction of economic activities in different branches of national economy. We defined forest, agricultural, recreational, protected, urban and typical for a zone of the mixed forests – agro-forest class of landscapes. The proportion of various land use type is an indicator to determine subclass of PAL (arable, forestry-arable and so on). The species of a landscape considers a type of economic activities within natural complex. The set of species is defined (arable secondary-moraine, forestry alluvial terracing and so on). The degree of fragmentation of natural-antropogenic landscapes is calculated on the basis of developed classification. For assessment of fragmentation of NAL the following coefficients were used: an index of division, coefficient of complexity, a degree of similarity, a level of fragmentation of landscape contour. The research has been made using CorelDraw10, ArcView GIS 3.2, Excel software, that has allowed to receive complex parameters, which characterize contours of different land use (quantity, average size and the relative abundance within a contours of NAL). The number of maps has been made. The areas with various degree of fragmentation are defined (maximum, high, satisfactory, and minimum). These results are a source of data for creation of development strategy for territory. Classification of natural-antropogenic landscapes and assessment of their fragmentation gives diverse information which can be used for development of alternatives for an optimum improvement of each species of NAL. It forms a basis for the balanced organization of territory.


Coating of ZnO nanoparticles on paper surface has potential technological applications. With this motivation, a simple approach of ultrasound assisted coating of paper with ZnO nanoparticles (∼20 nm) without the aid of binder is reported for the first time in this work. The ultrasound assisted coating approach concurs with "green" chemistry as it is simple and environmentally friendly. Scanning electron microscope is used to characterize the surface morphology showing ZnO nanoparticles bound to cellulose fibers. Further characterization of coated surface is performed by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry in positive ion detection mode along with its imaging capability. The effect of ultrasound irradiation time on ZnO nanoparticles loading is estimated by thermogravimetric analysis. A plausible coating mechanism is proposed. The ZnO nanoparticles coated paper is found to possess antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli 11634.


Software often evolves from batch to interactive use. Because these two usage styles are so different, batch systems usually require substantial changes to support interactive use. Specific issues that arise during conversion include assumptions about duration of system execution, incremental and partial processing, scope of processing, unordered and repeated processing, and error handling. Addressing these issues affects the implementation in the areas of memory management, assumptions and invariants, computational organization, and error handling. We use as a working example our conversion of the batch processor for the UniCon architecture description tool into an interactive architecture development tool. To capture the lessons for practitioners undertaking this type of conversion, we summarize with a checklist of design and implementation considerations.


Two new subspecies of Alnus maritima, A. maritima subsp. oklahomensis from south-central Oklahoma and A. maritima subsp. georgiensis from northwestern Georgia, are described based on differences in growth habit, leaf and fruit morphology, and geographic isolation. The two new subspecies, along with subsp. maritima found in Maryland and Delaware on the Delmarva Peninsula, formalize the infraspecific classification of three widely disjunct populations of A. maritima, which have undergone considerable divergence since their isolation. Numerical analyses of 23 characters of mature trees from natural sites and 22 characters of seedlings grown in a uniform environment revealed many differences and allowed the determination of relative taxonomic distances between subspecies. Our examination of morphology, growth habit, distribution, and habitat of the three subspecies also rendered a plausible explanation for the peculiar disjunct occurrence of A. maritima.


The objective of this study was to compare (i) the intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes among groups with different total motile sperm count ranges, (ii) the intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes between groups with normal and abnormal total motile sperm count, and (iii) the predictive values of WHO 2010 cut‐off values and pre‐wash total motile sperm count for the intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes, in couples with male infertility. This study included data from 518 patients undergoing their first intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle as a result of male infertility. Couples were divided into five groups according to their total motile sperm count: Group I, total motile sperm count <1 × 106; group II, total motile sperm count 1–5 × 106; group III, total motile sperm count 5–10 × 106; group IV, total motile sperm count 10–20 × 106; and group V, total motile sperm count >20 × 106 (which was considered a normal total motile sperm count value). Then, couples were grouped into an abnormal and normal total motile sperm count group. The groups were compared regarding intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes. The predictive values of WHO 2010 cut‐off values and total motile sperm count for the intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes were also investigated. The fertilization rate was lower in total motile sperm count group I compared to total motile sperm count group V (72.5 ± 17.6 vs. 84.9 ± 14.4, p = 0.011). The normal total motile sperm count group had a higher fertilization rate (84.9 ± 14.4 vs. 81.1 ± 15.8, p = 0.016) and lower miscarriage rate (17.9% vs. 29.5%, p = 0.041) compared to the abnormal total motile sperm count group. The total motile sperm count was the only parameter that demonstrated a predictive value for the formation of high‐quality embryos on D2 (OR: 1.18, p = 0.013), formation of high‐quality embryos on D3 (OR: 1.12, p = 0.037), formation of blastocysts on D5 (OR: 1.16, p = 0.011), blastocyst expansion grade on D5 (OR: 1.27, p = 0.042), and the odds of miscarriage (OR: 0.52, p < 0.045). The total motile sperm count has a greater predictive value than the WHO 2010 cut‐off values for laboratory results and pregnancy outcomes in couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection as a result of male infertility.


The invasive behavior of melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) plants in wetlands is due to its aggressive regeneration strategy, which is based on its seeds germination performance. Understanding of the eco-physiological aspects of the seed germination in melaleuca plants may significantly contribute for the development of management strategies. The objective of this research was to learn how the germination of M. quinquenervia seeds are affected by light and temperature. Melaleuca seeds were placed on filter paper moistened with 12 ml of distilled water at temperatures between 10 and 45°C. Germination was evaluated in dark and light conditions. Seed germination, first count of seed germination (seven days), germination speed index and germination mean time were determined up to 40 days after seeding, when germination had ceased in most of the treatments. After that period, the seeds were transferred to conditions of 30°C and light, which was found to be ideal in the previous phase. Seed germination was daily evaluated up to 63 days when it was again observed no longer to occur. The treatment repetitions were distributed in the growth-chamber according to a completely randomized design in a factorial scheme (eight temperatures x two light conditions) and four repetitions. The data were submitted to analysis of variance with the F test and the means were adjusted to polynomial and non linear regression models. The highest seed germination performance was observed to take place under conditions of 27.3°C with light. The temperatures of 35 and 40°C in the dark induced thermal inhibition of seed germination. The temperature of 45°C was lethal to the seeds.


The mitochondrial outer membrane contains two preprotein translocases: the general translocase of outer membrane (TOM) and the β-barrel–specific sorting and assembly machinery (SAM). TOM functions as the central entry gate for nuclear-encoded proteins. The channel-forming Tom40 is a β-barrel protein, whereas all Tom receptors and small Tom proteins are membrane anchored by a transmembrane α-helical segment in their N- or C-terminal portion. Synthesis of Tom precursors takes place in the cytosol, and their import occurs via preexisting TOM complexes. The precursor of Tom40 is then transferred to SAM for membrane insertion and assembly. Unexpectedly, we find that the biogenesis of α-helical Tom proteins with a membrane anchor in the C-terminal portion is SAM dependent. Each SAM protein is necessary for efficient membrane integration of the receptor Tom22, whereas assembly of the small Tom proteins depends on Sam37. Thus, the substrate specificity of SAM is not restricted to β-barrel proteins but also includes the majority of α-helical Tom proteins.


A simple and reproducible UV- spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of Glycyrrhetinic acid in Pratishyayghna kwath (PK) were developed and validated in the present work. The parameters linearity, precision, accuracy, and standard error were studies according to Indian herbal pharmacopiea. In this present study a new, simple, rapid, sensitive, precise and economic spectrophotometric method in ultraviolet region has been developed for the determination of Glycyrrhetinic acid in laboratory herbal formulation of Pratishyayghna kwath. Each ingredient was purchased from the local market and they were evaluated as per Indian herbal Pharmacopoeia and WHO guidelines. The % w/w content of Glycyrrhetinic acid in the laboratory preparations of Pratishyayghna kwath PK-I, PK-II, PK-III were found to be 1.27±0.03 %, 1.29±0.02 %1.25±0.04 % respectively. Glycyrrhetinic acid has the maximum wavelength at 204 nm and hence the UV spectrophotometric method was performed at 204 nm. The samples were prepared in methanol and method obeys Beers law in concentration ranges 10- 50μg/ml. The content of Glycyrrhetinic acid in ayurvedic formulation was determined. The results of analysis have been validated statistically and confirmed the accuracy of the proposed method. Hence the proposed method can be used for the reliable quantification of Glycyrrhetinic acid in herbal formulation.


A very rapid increase in the conductor density of various interconnecting substrates makes it desirable to have a uniform method for evaluation of their relative density capabilities. The derivation of one such method of evaluation, based on conductor density per unit of total area of the substrate, is made. This method permits a uniform density analysis of the entire interconnection spectrum from printed to integrated circuits. It is also useful in derivation of a price-density analysis and other figures of merits for assisting in the comparison of various packaging techniques. A description of a generalized approach for development of such a graphic price-density analysis is provided.


The article presents the results of research on the formation of grain yield of different maize hybrids, its content of starch, protein and fat. It is established that maize productivity depends on the hybrid characteristics and weather conditions. The protein content varies from 6.7 to 9.9 % depending on the hybrid and weather conditions. On average, in two years of research according to this indicator, all maize hybrids formed a very low protein content in grain. The protein content varies with the weather conditions of the study year. Thus, in 2020 the protein content is low — from 9.0 to 9.9 % depending on the hybrid. In 2019, this indicator was the lowest — from 6.7 to 7.9 % depending on the hybrid. Larger moisture deposits in the deeper layers of the soil contribute to the formation of high grain yield, as a result, the protein content is lower (the dilution effect in grain harvest). Moisture deficiency and high air temperature contributes to the formation of lower grain yield and higher protein content in the grain. It should be noted that the stability index varies little depending on the maize hybrid and ranged from 1.25 to 1.36. The fat content in the grain also varies from 2.8 to 3.9 % depending on the maize hybrid. Most of the grain content was of starch — from 70.3 to 72.0 % depending on the maize hybrid. In addition, this indicator is the most stable, as the index was 1.00–1.01. Maize grain yield varies depending on the hybrid and the year of study. Thus, in 2019 the grain yield is from 12.49 to 16.73 t/ha and in 2020 — from 6.05 to 7.62 t/ha. The reason for this difference is the weather conditions of the study years. This was the reason for the low stability index of this indicator — 1.96–2.20. For stable formation of protein yield it is necessary to grow hybrids of Beania, P9415, P0216, P9911, P9903, P9241, P9175, P0074, as they provide the highest yield in years with different weather conditions. Growing P9903, P9241, Beania, P8812, P9911, Tirnavia, P0074, P9415, P9175 hybrids will provide the highest fat yield from the maize grain crop. In terms of the Right-Bank forest steppe for stable grain harvest, starch, protein and fat yield it is necessary to grow hybrids of Beania, P9241, P9415, P9911, P9903, P9175, P0074. The article presents the results of research on the formation of grain yield of different maize hybrids, its content of starch, protein and fat. It is established that maize productivity depends on the hybrid characteristics and weather conditions. The protein content varies from 6.7 to 9.9 % depending on the hybrid and weather conditions. On average, in two years of research according to this indicator, all maize hybrids formed a very low protein content in grain. The protein content varies with the weather conditions of the study year. Thus, in 2020 the protein content is low — from 9.0 to 9.9 % depending on the hybrid. In 2019, this indicator was the lowest — from 6.7 to 7.9 % depending on the hybrid. Larger moisture deposits in the deeper layers of the soil contribute to the formation of high grain yield, as a result, the protein content is lower (the dilution effect in grain harvest). Moisture deficiency and high air temperature contributes to the formation of lower grain yield and higher protein content in the grain. It should be noted that the stability index varies little depending on the maize hybrid and ranged from 1.25 to 1.36. The fat content in the grain also varies from 2.8 to 3.9 % depending on the maize hybrid. Most of the grain content was of starch — from 70.3 to 72.0 % depending on the maize hybrid. In addition, this indicator is the most stable, as the index was 1.00–1.01. Maize grain yield varies depending on the hybrid and the year of study. Thus, in 2019 the grain yield is from 12.49 to 16.73 t/ha and in 2020 — from 6.05 to 7.62 t/ha. The reason for this difference is the weather conditions of the study years. This was the reason for the low stability index of this indicator — 1.96–2.20. For stable formation of protein yield it is necessary to grow hybrids of Beania, P9415, P0216, P9911, P9903, P9241, P9175, P0074, as they provide the highest yield in years with different weather conditions. Growing P9903, P9241, Beania, P8812, P9911, Tirnavia, P0074, P9415, P9175 hybrids will provide the highest fat yield from the maize grain crop. In terms of the Right-Bank forest steppe for stable grain harvest, starch, protein and fat yield it is necessary to grow hybrids of Beania, P9241, P9415, P9911, P9903, P9175, P0074.


Previous research aimed at closing the heat budget of the Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC) air-sea flux climatology through the method of inverse analysis is extended to include spatially dependent parameter adjustments and error specification. In earlier analyses, a balanced solution was achieved using globally fixed parameter adjustments, primarily an increase of 19% to the latent heat flux and a reduction of 6% to the shortwave flux. In the new method, the global ocean is divided into various sub-regions in order to allow the parameter adjustments to vary spatially. With this approach a balanced version of the SOC climatology is obtained that requires smaller adjustments, in the range 2-12%, to the latent heat flux than previously but larger changes to the shortwave, up to 18%, depending on region. In addition to enabling direct spatial dependence of the parameter adjustments we have also explored the possibility of making the parameter error spatially dependent both by sub-region and through a dependency on observation density. The various solutions obtained have been evaluated both through the large scale implied ocean heat transport and local comparisons with research buoy measurements. Some improvement is found in the level of agreement of the heat transport with the applied constraints but the buoy comparisons reveal similar problems to those obtained in our previous research. Further, the larger adjustment to the shortwave flux with the new solutions leads to significant differences with respect to satellite based estimates of this component of the flux. We conclude that the earlier solution in which the latent heat flux is increased by 19% is in better agreement with independent estimates than the new spatially dependent solutions. It is thus our preferred means of closing the SOC climatology heat budget imbalance through inverse analysis.


Multi-cellmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have the potential to significantly improve wireless network throughput. However, the cooperative MIMO network experiences the limited backhaul capacity, while the non-cooperative MIMO network requires high fronthaul bandwidth. To overcome these issues, we consider the hybrid MIMO networks to take advantages of both non-cooperative and cooperative MIMO network. In such hybrid system, the decision of whether cells operate in non-cooperative or cooperative mode, as well as the allocated bandwidth for cells are challenging due to the unavailability of channel state information (CSI). Furthermore, cells operating in the cooperative mode should optimize the quantized level selection and power allocation when the backhaul capacity is limited. To address this problem, we propose a joint learning-based and optimization-based framework. Particularly, we employ both large-scale and small-scale fading models to formulate the optimization problems, and then use the obtained solutions of these problems to determine fixed-size features in dynamic networks for the learner. Our numerical results show when the placement decision and the bandwidth assignment for cells are determined, the proposed algorithm can compute the quantized level and allocate power to significantly improve the system performance. Moreover, the proposed hybrid network model controlled by our algorithms outperforms both the non-cooperative and the cooperative MIMO systems in term of net throughput.


The 2013 Human Development Report recommends the need to strengthen regional integration and South–South cooperation as part of measures to harness the wealth of knowledge, expertise, and development thinking in the South towards achieving more robust growth and development of the developing countries. Past experiences of many African countries with globalization and trade, however suggest the need for caution and that actions need to be much more informed. Against this background, this study examined the role of international trade and economic integration as well as quality of governance and public/private investment in explaining the wide differences in agricultural productivity growth performance among countries in SSA between 1990 and 2010. The study was based on a panel data on 42 countries in SSA over the period 1990 – 2010. The study was undertaken within the combined framework of neo-classical and endogenous growth theories. Agricultural Labor Productivity (ALP), measured as agricultural value-added per economically active person in agriculture, as well as Malmquist index of agricultural Total Factor Productivity (ATFP) generated by Data Envelopment Analysis, were subjected to neo-classical convergence tests, with influence of various factors on productivity growth assessed within the framework of panel data econometrics in which influences of country specific unobserved heterogeneity were controlled. The study evidences support the need for substantial capital deepening and increase public expenditure to enhance access to infrastructure, strengthen agricultural institutions and support domestic food production as key measures needed to significantly raise agricultural productivity in SSA.


China is considering ways to attract additional capital to finance investment in railways. Worldwide, private capital has been attracted to the railway sector through a range of mechanisms including: (i) private sector provision of specific rail services or assets such as rolling stock; (ii) public private partnerships; (iii) leveraging commercial value of rail assets and increased land value around stations; and (iv) debt and equity financing of railway companies. Private sector investors seek to earn a return on investment that is commensurate with the risk of the investment. Therefore one will be attracted to profitable opportunities with manageable risk. Steps China can take to attract private capital for railway development include: (i) creating a policy and legal environment that protects the interests of different types of investors in the railway sector; (ii) identifying and creating profitable railway markets and entities that are suitable for private sector investment; (iii) managing the perception of risk in railway activities and assets; (iv) promoting asset sharing opportunities; and (v) expanding public private partnerships (PPPs) in rail assets and services.


Smart contracts, a by-product of Blockchain technology are a set of programs that are digitally verifiable and facilitate the automation of agreements between two or more parties without the intervention of a Trusted Third Party (TTP) service. The integration of smart contracts and Blockchain systems could help us in self-verifiable agreements between physical parties or processes. The paper deals with the application of an online delivery system, predominantly a food delivery system where the items ordered by a customer, when sent to the restaurant is verified by a smart contract that triggers automatically when the carrier picks up the order from the requested restaurant or seller. Since the smart contracts are distributed and transparent across a blockchain network the customer is aware and has definitive proof of where he has received his order from. In this paper, we give an implementation of how the smart contract would execute when the carrier picks up the order from the requested restaurant or seller and how this is reflected on the customer's side with the help of Blockchain systems.


Koi carp is an ornamental variant of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., that was introduced to New Zealand in the 1960s and has since become a major aquatic pest. A total of 1265 wild adult koi carp were caught by boat electric fishing, dart tagged and released at multiple sites in the lower Waikato River and associated lakes and wetlands between September 2002 and February 2005. Subsequent recaptures by boat electric fishing and recreational fishing returned 76 koi carp (6% of all tagged fish). Of these, 85% were recaptured less than 5 km from their release site; only one fish moved more than 50 km. On seven occasions, pairs or small groups of koi carp (20% of all tag returns) that had previously been tagged and released at the same locations and times were subsequently recaptured together after considerable periods of time at liberty (mean 551 days ± 419 SD). Adult koi carp in the Waikato River showed a high degree of site fidelity, exhibited prolonged social groupings and females moved downstream more often than males.


With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of drug design and discovery, learning informative representations of molecules is becoming crucial for those AI-driven tasks. In recent years, the graph neural networks (GNNs) have emerged as a preferred choice of deep learning architecture and have been successfully applied to molecular representation learning (MRL). Up-to-date MRL methods directly apply the message passing mechanism on the atom-level attributes (i.e., atoms and bonds) of molecules. However, they neglect latent yet significant hyperstructured knowledge, such as the information of pharmacophore or functional class. Hence, in this paper, we propose Hyper-Mol, a new MRL framework that applies GNNs to encode hypergraph structures of molecules via fingerprint-based features. Hyper-Mol explores the hyperstructured knowledge and the latent relationships of the fingerprint substructures from a hypergraph perspective. The molecular hypergraph generation algorithm is designed to depict the hyperstructured information with the physical and chemical characteristics of molecules. Thus, the fingerprint-level message passing process can encode both the intra-structured and inter-structured information of fingerprint substructures according to the molecular hypergraphs. We evaluate Hyper-Mol on molecular property prediction tasks, and the experimental results on real-world benchmarks show that Hyper-Mol can learn comprehensive hyperstructured knowledge of molecules and is superior to the state-of-the-art baselines.


Objectives The toxic effects of scorpion stings may be mortal have been known for many years. The progression of poisonings due to scorpion stings is more severe in childhood. These poisonings can cause complications from local skin findings such as pain, redness, and pruritus to fatal complications such as heart failure and pulmonary edema. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the second dose antivenom in this study. Methods 100 patients between 0–17 years who were followed up due to scorpion stings or poisonings in Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics between October 2016 and March 2018 were analyzed for age, sex, season, place of scorpion bite, clinical findings, treatment and follow-up steps, effects of second dose antivenom on clinical progression retrospectively. Results Of the total 100 patients, 45 were female (45%) and 55 were male (55%).The average age of the patients was 3.5 years (3,6 years for girls and 3,5 years for boys).The most frequent applications were summer (71%). Bite locations in order of frequency; foots, hands, legs, arms, head-neck, genital area. Conclusions We have observed that early antivenom therapy reduces the risk of developing systemic symptoms, and even recurrent dose antivenom corrects systemic findings. We think that antivenom should be applied especially in pediatric patients and all patients should be observed for at least 24 hours.


Hemicellulose is an abundant and underutilized carbohydrate polymer in plants. The objective of this study was to understand the effect of delignification on hemicellulose extraction efficiency with different types of lignocellulosic biomass. In the case of pine, with a prior sodium chlorite or peracetic acid delignification, more than 50% of the original hemicellulose in the biomass could be extracted using a 10% sodium hydroxide solution; without delignification, only 3.4% of hemicellulose could be extracted from pine. In contrast, without prior delignification, acceptable hemicellulose extraction efficiencies (55.5% and 50.7%, respectively) were achieved from switchgrass and poplar. In addition, the effect of hemicellulose extraction processes on the enzymatic convertibility of the cellulose-rich residues after extraction was determined. The cellulose-rich residues from switchgrass after hemicellulose alkali extraction showed high glucose recovery with enzyme hydrolysis with or without prior delignification. For pine and poplar, high glucose recovery with enzyme hydrolysis of the cellulose-rich residues only occurred if the sample had a delignification step prior to hemicellulose extraction. This information on commercially available biomass feedstocks is useful for those considering isolating hemicellulose within a biorefinery concept.


Flicking the Berry phase switch When an electron completes a cycle around the Dirac point (a particular location in graphene's electronic structure), the phase of its wave function changes by π. This so-called Berry phase is tricky to observe directly in solid-state measurements. Ghahari et al. built a graphene nanostructure consisting of a central region doped with positive carriers surrounded by a negatively doped background. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy revealed sudden jumps in conductivity as the external magnetic field was increased past a threshold value. The jumps occurred when electron orbits started encompassing the Dirac point, reflecting the switch of the Berry phase from zero to π. The tunability of conductivity by such minute changes in magnetic field is promising for future applications. Science, this issue p. 845 Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals a transition in the character of electron orbits in a graphene nanostructure. The phase of a quantum state may not return to its original value after the system's parameters cycle around a closed path; instead, the wave function may acquire a measurable phase difference called the Berry phase. Berry phases typically have been accessed through interference experiments. Here, we demonstrate an unusual Berry phase–induced spectroscopic feature: a sudden and large increase in the energy of angular-momentum states in circular graphene p-n junction resonators when a relatively small critical magnetic field is reached. This behavior results from turning on a π Berry phase associated with the topological properties of Dirac fermions in graphene. The Berry phase can be switched on and off with small magnetic field changes on the order of 10 millitesla, potentially enabling a variety of optoelectronic graphene device applications.


Polarization capabilities of 8.66-mm-wavelength radar and corresponding hydrometeor depolarization calculations now provide the basis for identifying individual types of ice and liquid hydrometeors within clouds and precipitation. Model results and radar measurements with correlated snow crystal samples from winter stratiform and convective orographic clouds are examined. The results are interpreted to illustrate how this method for estimating hydrometeor types can be applied to monitor cloud evolution and evaluate the potentials and effects of glaciogenic cloud seeding. This information is derived from hydrometeor depolarizations (and related cloud reflectivities) associated with cloud phase transition, snow crystal growth habit, graupel development, snow crystal aggregation, the presence and nature of the melting level, and the distinction of rain from drizzle below the melting level. The radar's polarization capability offers the opportunity to monitor the development of hydrometeors in the volume of cloud affected by seeding or by natural processes. Spatial gradients in hydrometeor types, rates at which a volume is transformed, and the form of precipitation can also be estimated. These features are all important for verifying the changes in hydrometeors introduced by seeding and interpreting the rates and mechanisms by which the changes occur.


We explore the antecedents and consequences of women leaders' identity interference related to the perceived conflict between their roles as both women and leaders. Drawing on identity development and organizational demography research, we propose that leadership experience reduces women leaders' identity interference, whereas women's numerical underrepresentation in organizations exacerbates it. Moreover, we hypothesize that identity processes related to collective self-esteem—personal regard for one's collective identity and the perception of others' views of it—mediate these effects. A sample of 722 women leaders representing a diverse range of countries and industries supported our hypotheses. We also demonstrate that identity interference reduces the psychological well-being of women leaders and undermines their affective motivation to lead. In contrast, perceived conflict between leader and female identities enhances women's sense of duty to assume leadership roles. Importantly, women leaders' personal regard for their female identity buffers the detrimental effect of identity interference on life satisfaction. We discuss the implications of our results for women's advancement in organizations and the development of their identity as leaders.


BACKGROUND
Adults with intellectual disability are affected by dementia at equivalent and elevated rates, many surviving into advanced age. End of life care and support considerations come into play among these individuals when most are in the advanced stage of dementia.

METHODS
A preliminary report summarizing available literature and making initial recommendations was developed by a workgroup, reviewed by all conference participants and then was finalized by the workgroup.

RESULTS
The International Summit on Intellectual Disability and Dementia produced a report on End of life care in advanced dementia that provides a synthesis statement which encompasses defining the state of advanced dementia, proposes use of palliative care services (including hospice) and recommends special efforts for enabling advanced directives and advance care planning prior to the extensive progression of dementia. The Summit further recommended that when aiding adults with advanced dementia, the following be undertaken: integrative efforts between intellectual disability and palliative care providers, specialized training for carers on end of life care and supports, and involvement of adults with intellectual disability early on in their advance care planning.

CONCLUSIONS
The Consensus recommendations will ensure greater and more appropriate support at end of life for persons with intellectual disabilities and advanced dementia.


One of the biggest obstacles to reduce the uncertainty of the Avogadro constant NA is such that there will be an oxide layers on the surface of a silicon sphere. The thickness of this layer is measured by a modified spectroscopic ellipsometer, which can eliminate the influence of the curved surface, and the results are calibrated by x-ray reflectivity. Fifty positions distributed nearly uniformly on the surface of the silicon sphere are measured twice. The results show that the mean thickness of the overall oxide layer is 3.75 nm with the standard uncertainty of 0.21 nm, which means that the relative uncertainty component of NA owing to this layer can be reduced to 1.2 × 10−8.


In recent years, iterative processing techniques with soft-in/soft-out components have received considerable attention. Such techniques, based on the so-called turbo principle, are exemplified through turbo decoding, turbo equalization, and turbo multiuser detection. Turbo multiuser detection is applied to a discrete multitone (DMT) very-high-rate digital subscriber line system to combat crosstalk signals and to obtain substantial coding gain. The proposed iterative DMT receiver is shown to achieve an overall 7.0 dB gain over the uncoded optimum receiver at a bit error rate of 10/sup -7/ for a channel with severe intersymbol interference and additive white Gaussian noise and with one dominant crosstalk signal. Impulse noise is detrimental to the proposed scheme but can be overcome through erasure decoding techniques, as is shown by example.


We found that a second-order ideal memristor degenerates into a negative nonlinear resistor. This phenomenon is quite similar to what are observed in chemistry: a chemical element with a higher atomic number is unstable and may decay radioactively into another chemical element with a lower atomic number. After extending the above local activity to other higherorder circuit elements, we concluded that all higher-order passive memory circuit elements do not exist in nature and that the periodic table of the two-terminal passive circuit elements can be dramatically reduced to a six-pointed star comprising only six passive elements. Such a bounded table may mark the end of the hunt for missing higher-order passive circuit elements predicted nearly 40 years ago.


An important intervention in the composition of food products is enrichment of food with micronutrients. In this regard, the authors investigated how the additive with the corresponding trace element will be distributed in the food product, and in this case, in minced meat, in order to meet the human needs for microelements. Micronutrient deficiencies have a significant impact on the nutritional status and health of the population in well developed and developing countries. These deficiencies cause a delay in the growth of children, various diseases, mortality, brain damage, reduced cognitive capacity and the ability of people of all ages. The global scale of micronutrient deficiencies in dietary intakes, in particular the lack of trace elements, has led to the development of powdered dietary supplements containing essential elements that enrich the coarse-type food products to increase their nutritional value. The dietary supplement should provide the daily requirement of trace elements in the human body; therefore, it should be added to the product in a normalized amount and evenly distributed in the product. Two nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis were performed to determine the distribution of the additive in food products. The analysis was carried out in two stages respectively: study of molecules mobility by measuring the spin-spin relaxation time (Т2) and spin-lattice relaxation (Т1) on a pulsed NMR spectrometer; establishment of a connection between the exponent of the amplitude of the sample A 0 and its mass. Based on the data obtained, as a result of the measurement, a curve is constructed for the dependence of the amplitude of the echo signal from the value (time interval between the probing pulses). The spin label used in this work is one of the first variants of a paramagnetic probe-an easily accessible transition metal ion Mn 2+ . According to the constructed graphs and tomograms from the results of the studies, it is possible to study the characteristics of this dietary supplement and the expediency of its use.


Type 2 diabetes is a significant public health concern. Food intake has been strongly linked with obesity and diabetes, not only related to the volume of food but also in terms of the composition and quality of diet. Improvement in the elevated blood sugar levels can be achieved through diet management; thus, the patients could be prevented from developing the diabetes complications. Health-care providers should encourage patients to understand the importance of diet which may help in diabetes management, appropriate self-care and better quality of life. However, making the changes to diet is difficult proposition for many people. Health-care providers trained to work with people who have diabetes on appropriate goal-setting around self-care behaviors to better enable them to accomplish the changes needed for better outcomes. Many factors are discussed for finding the best practice to deliver the dietary education for patients with type 2 diabetes.


A microchip gated valve is demonstrated that uses a single voltage source and three fluid reservoirs. The fluidic valve is a cross intersection, and the channels are dimensioned to perform the appropriate voltage division, simplifying the voltage control hardware. A single voltage source is applied directly to the sample reservoir and through a high-voltage relay to the buffer reservoir, and the waste reservoir is grounded. The volume of sample dispensed is determined by the duration that the high-voltage relay is open. Volumetric reproducibility is demonstrated to be <0.5% relative standard deviation for volumes of ≥20 pL. The valve is tested for the minimum applied voltage necessary for leakage-free operation, i.e., sample diffusing from the cross intersection into the analysis channel. Moreover, appropriate channel dimensions are used to minimize the number of fluid reservoirs allowing effluent from the analysis and waste channels to be combined into a single reservoir.


This paper explores the Buryat Bolsheviks' efforts to replace the religious identity of fellow Buryats with a Soviet identity in the wake of the Russian Revolution, and analyses the ways in which the Buddhist community attempted to adapt to totalitarian rule. In addition to fostering a general atmosphere of intolerance to religion, considered an antagonistic worldview, the Bolsheviks set out to promote the cultural assimilation of this non-Russian population within the Russian ethnic majority. This entailed a programme of education in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and loyalty, designed to ensure the ideological unity of the nation. Over a short historical period from the early 1920s to the early 1930s, the attitude of the Soviet authorities towards Buddhist religion, clergy and believers shifted radically, from tolerance towards the religion of the 'oppressed non-Russian masses' to uncompromising antagonism and the targeting of religion as a class enemy that must be annihilated in the name of creating 'a new man'.


SUMMARY Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a promising, noninvasive tumor 'liquid biopsy' with quantitative and qualitative significance. Circulating cfDNA levels are raised in cancer patients and cfDNA exhibits genetic and epigenetic changes found in the underlying tumor. In lung cancer patients, cfDNA levels and tumor-associated genetic and epigenetic changes have been assessed as diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers. To date, many small studies have been reported with contradictory results. Their interpretation is hampered by differences in methodology and the selection of patients and controls. The treatment of lung cancer is increasingly guided by molecular subtyping, but access to tumor tissue is limited and cfDNA represents an attractive alternative. Moreover, repeated sampling of cfDNA is feasible and cfDNA may be more representative of tumor heterogeneity than a small biopsy sample. However, the establishment of robust and standardized protocols for blood sampling, processing, storage, DNA extr...


There is an emerging viewpoint that the sediment flux at a given point on the landscape may be influenced by landscape properties in a region extending away from the point of interest. Using a general sediment transport model that incorporates this non‐local nature via fractional derivatives, we find a strong asymmetry in the direction in which the non‐locality affects a given point: For erosional landscapes, physically plausible elevation profiles are obtained only when the spatial influence is restricted to the region upstream of the point of interest. By contrast, in depositional landscapes, the non‐local model is guaranteed to produce physically plausible topographic profiles only when the spatial influence is restricted to the region downstream of the point of interest. These results suggest that information flows downstream in an erosional landscape and upstream in depositional landscapes.


Abstract Gough Island, the furthest outlier of the Tristan da Cunha Island group, is a remote land mass in the South Atlantic Ocean. Pterygote insect species representing nine orders have been recorded on the island, the Psocoptera (booklice), Hemiptera (leafhoppers, aphids etc.), Thysanoptera (thrips), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (moths), Hymenoptera (wasps etc.), and parasites of vertebrates in the Phthiraptera (lice) and Siphonaptera (fleas). Excluding parasites of vertebrates, 99 species have been recorded, 54 of which are recorded here for the first time. In total, 24 species occurring on Gough Island are thought to be endemic to the Tristan da Cunha Island group, four species are naturally occurring but found elsewhere, and 71 species are accidental introductions. The indigenous species have predominantly Neotropical associations, whilst the introduced ones are almost all globally widespread, the majority being of Holarctic origin. Approximately 28% of the introduced species are known to exhibit parthenogenesis compared with 7% of the indigenous species. In this paper we present keys and descriptions of all 99 species of pterygote insects, with notes on ecology, biology and conservation issues.


The implementation of advanced methods and technology in the field of marine ecosystems studies is important to assess the impact of pollutants on marine ecosystems and biodiversity and biota interactions, including reliable study of radionuclide and heavy metal content in soils, sediments and algae. Creation of data bases for long term environmental management of pollution; evaluation of ecological impact of human activities and management of sustainable environment – coastal zone and continental shelf, including assessment and forecasting techniques, is needed to understand the impacts of various activities on ecosystems, to contribute to protect the ecosystems from pollution and to develop long-term models for management of the coastal zone.


Abstract The fatty acid binding protein (FABP) 4 and 5 have been considered as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases. A compensatory upregulation of FABP5 due to the gene ablation of FABP4 in adipocytes indicated the importance of dual FABP4/5 inhibitors. A few compounds have been discovered as dual FABP4/5 inhibitors. However, none exhibited equivalent inhibitory activity against both FABP4 and FABP5, and almost all compounds showed weaker inhibition against FABP5. To provide a better structural understanding for the design of potent dual FABP4/5 inhibitors, molecular dynamics simulations have been performed for 100 ns to disclose the ligand binding features in FABP4 and FABP5 using Amber14, respectively. Key residues were identified by analysis of close contact, hydrogen bond occupancy, binding free energy and alanine scanning mutagenesis. In addition, induced-fit effects have been observed upon ligand binding in the process of simulations. The shifted alkyl chain of ligand in FABP4 was significantly different from that in FABP5 due to the corresponding residues (Phe58FABP4 and Leu60FABP5). Thus, to avoid different steric effects made by these two residues, hydrophobic groups of suitable size should be taken into account. Besides, electrostatic and steric effects with Arg107FABP4 and Arg109FABP5 should be paid more attention to. The results will facilitate the rational design of dual FABP4/5 inhibitors.


This thesis presents a restorative approach in education as a relational, anti-racist and culturally responsive way of being together in school communities. Through a theoretical lens of relational theory and critical race theory, case study research was conducted on the restorative approach at a diverse urban elementary school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The questions this work addresses include: How does a restorative approach affect the quality of relationships in school communities, particularly for people that have been marginalized? And, what are some recommendations on how to best implement restorative approaches effectively and sustainably? Participants in the case study include students and staff at the school which serves a socioeconomically and culturally diverse population, including an African Nova Scotian community. In addition, the reflexive nature of the researcher is taken into account as she is a member of the school community as both a classroom teacher and resident. Qualitative data was collected through group talking circles with students and staff at the school and analyzed to reveal four themes that are integrated around a core category of nurturing social culture change including 1) strengthening social connection, 2) affirming identity, 3) fostering emotional engagement, and 4) resolving and preventing conflict. Through an in-depth look at the experience of "Halifax City School," this study also provides recommendations on the effective and sustainable implementation of restorative approaches in education, including 1) understanding a restorative approach in theory and practice, 2) participating in sustainable social opportunities to collectively develop, support and strengthen the approach, 3) learning and collaborating in the broader community, and 4) ongoing evaluation.


The synthesis and spectral characteristics of 5(4-dimethylaminobenzylidene) rhodanine have been investigated. The extraction-spectrophotometric method for the determination of copper and manganese based on their extraction into ethanol with 5(4-dimethylaminobenzylidene) rhodanine (DMABR) from a weakly acidic medium have been developed. The maximum absorbance of the extracted species for Cu and Mn compounds occurs at 480nm.Copper and manganese compounds react with the reagent in the molar ratio 1:1; 1:2;and 1:3 (metal:ligand) at pH 1.09 to 11 in a solution containing 20 % (v/v) of ethanol..A concentration of DMABR three times greater than the metal concentration was necessary for complete complexation; to give molar extinction coefficient (3.8 x 10 3 at pH 2 and 7.6 x 10 3 at pH 8) for Cu-DMABR.and (2.76 x10 3 at pH 2 and 1.5 x 10 3 at pH 8) for Mn-DMABR respectively. The interferences with some metal ions have been studied. The optimum experimental conditions were suggested for the determination of these metal ions. KEY WORDS: 5(4-dimethylaminobenzylidene)rhodanine; copper, manganese ; spectrophotometric method Global Jnl of Pure and Applied Sciences Vol.10(4) 2004: 577-583


Sudden cardiac death resulting from ventricular arrhythmia is one of the leading public health problems of most developed countries. Despite intense research in the areas of ionic channels and pharmacological interventions, a panacea has not been found to control life-threatening arrhythmia and improve survival. In addition, the results of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial' demonstrated that some routinely used antiarrhythmic drugs are proarrhythmic and in certain cases can make the cure worse than the disease. An alternative approach, the implantable defibrillator, has been more successful and has been reported to extend life.2 Such devices could probably be improved if more were known about the mechanisms by which a defibrillation shock fails or succeeds. Many studies have investigated the mechanism of defibrillation by directly recording cardiac activations before and after successful and unsuccessful defibrillation shocks.3-7 These studies have resulted in the proposal of two completely opposite hypotheses. One of the hypotheses is the critical mass hypothesis of defibrillation,3'4 which states that a shock can fail to halt activation fronts within a region smaller than a certain critical


Single-flagellated bacteria propel themselves by rotating a flagellar motor, translating rotation to the filament through a compliant hook and subsequently driving the rotation of the flagellum. The flagellar motor alternates the direction of rotation between counterclockwise and clockwise, and this leads to the forward and backward directed swimming. Such bacteria can change the course of swimming as the hook experiences its buckling caused by the change of bending rigidity. In this paper, we present a comprehensive model of a monotrichous bacterium as a free swimmer in a viscous fluid. We describe a cell body as a rigid body using the penalty method and a flagellum as an elastic rod using Kirchhoff rod theory. The hydrodynamic interaction of the bacterium is described by the regularized Stokes formulation. Our model of a single-flagellated micro-organism is able to mimic a swimming pattern that is well matched with the experimental observation. Furthermore, we find the critical thresholds of the rotational frequency of the motor and the bending modulus of the hook for the buckling instability, and investigate the dependence of the buckling angle and the reorientation of the swimming cell after buckling on the physical and geometrical parameters of the model.


In recent years, accelerating the speed of finding seed compounds and reducing the cost of pharmaceutical research has become a necessity. The contribution of in silico drug discovery methods, which predict candidates as new drugs using physicochemical features and substructure fingerprints of compounds, is thus expected. Selecting the seed compounds without conducting experiments could enable us to reduce the time and cost required for drug development. However, estimating the characteristics of compounds in our body using a simple linear model alone is unsatisfactory because effects and distribution of compounds are determined by the environment in our body and their interactions with other molecules. Compared to simple models, more complex models have been prepared to estimate compound characteristics with high predictive accuracy. Thus, it is increasingly important to correctly evaluate the predictive performance when selecting the models appropriate for research purposes. The determinant coefficient, famous as R 2 , is one of the most famous statistical measures for evaluating regression models. However, this measure cannot be used to evaluate nonlinear models. In this paper, the difficulty of using the determinant coefficient is explained and the proper statistical measures were suggested under the following two conditions: mean squared error (MSE) for cross-validation, and MSE along with correlation coefficients for the observed and predicted values of test data. As understanding statistical measures and using them appropriately is necessary, the suggested measures will support the effective selection of promising seed compounds and accelerate drug discovery.


Korean industrial policy, which has guided the Korean economy through nearly three decades of spectacular growth, is showing its age. The policy has not been adjusted fully to the new challenges facing the economy, and it has not recognized the obsolescence of its key instruments. This paper argues that the time has come to disengage the government from managing the economy's structural development and to adopt a new compact to delineate the responsibilities of business and government. Under this compact, responsibility for allocating investable funds would be shifted fully to the industrial and financial sectors, but at the price of greater competitive discipline and regulatory oversight. Establishing this new framework presents an enormous challenge to policy. In addition to complexities of the transition, the government will have to maintain macroeconomic stability and the momentum of savings and investment, tackle the new market failures associated with Korea's rising technological level, and develop new institutions to increase the flow of information, reduce conflict, and ensure the equitable sharing of the fruits of economic progress. In coming to concrete policy recommendation concerning financial sector reform, the role of the chaebol (Korean conglomerates), and the emerging new role of the state as epitomized by Korea's legendary bureaucracy, the paper reviews Korea's industrial policy environment and the experiences of other more developed economies.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disorder in the Western world. Its prevalence has increased with the growing obesity epidemic, yet no definitive treatment has been developed, and optimal management remains a clinical challenge. Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have recently been proposed as a potential treatment for liver inflammation associated with fat accumulation. PubMed literature and the ClinicalTrials.gov database were reviewed for the effects of omega-3 PUFA treatment on NAFLD, from mechanisms to the results of preclinical studies, human studies, and unreported ongoing clinical trials, using terms such as NAFLD, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, omega-3 fatty acids, and fish oil. Articles published over the last 3-4 years were emphasized, and relevancy was ensured by scanning their abstracts. Preliminary studies have confirmed an ameliorative effect, yet the translation of promising early data into therapeutic interventions will have to await the results of larger, properly conducted, ongoing clinical trials.


Volume 5 This is a new and enlarged edition of Ben Rampton's ground-breaking study of sociolinguistic processes in urban youth culture. It focuses on language crossing - the use of Panjabi by adolescents of African-Caribbean and Anglo descent, the use of Creole by adolescents with Panjabi and Anglo backgrounds, and the use of stylized Indian English. Its central question is: how far and in what ways do these intricate processes of language sharing and exchange help to overcome race stratification and contribute to a new sense of mixed youth, class and neighbourhood community? Ben Rampton produces detailed ethnographic and interactional analyses of spontaneous speech data, and integrates the discussion of particular incidents with theories of discourse, code-switching, social movements, resistance and ritual drawn from sociolinguistics, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. Vivid descriptions of adolescent life in youth clubs and school playgrounds provide an important insight into the ways in which young people manage to 'live with difference', and full consideration is given to crossing's critical implications for education policy.


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

The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), a nuclear receptor and transcription factor governs the action of estrogen. This hormone is the major contributor to normal breast development and breast carcinogenesis. Thus, antiestrogens are widely utilized to treat and circumvent the progression of hormone receptor positive breast cancer. However, resistance to these agents develops after sustained use and major risk factors such as enhanced susceptibility to endometrial cancer have been associated with this type of treatment. In an effort to develop natural therapeutic compounds against ERα positive breast cancer, the effect of deguelin, a rotenoid isolated from an African plant; Mundulea sericea on ERα positive human breast cancer cells was investigated. Here we report that deguelin treatment downregulated the expression of ERα protein in a dose dependent manner in MCF-7 and T47D human breast cancer cell lines as determined by immunoblotting. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the mRNA expression of ERα target genes Cathepsin D (CTSD), Trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) and the Progesterone receptor (PGR) was also downregulated by 50% in the presence of deguelin in MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, deguelin treatment significantly inhibited the proliferation of these two cell lines. Importantly, estrogen mediated stimulation of cell growth was reduced by 30% in MCF-7 cells after deguelin treatment. Together these findings suggest that deguelin suppresses ERα signaling, paving the way for the development of a novel natural therapeutic agent against endocrine receptor positive breast cancer. Future studies are aimed at deciphering the molecular mechanisms by which deguelin adversely affects ERα function. (This work was supported by NCI CA140321).

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 573. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-573


Healthcare workers are of a high priority in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and epidemiological control strategies due to their relevance for the healthcare system and high exposure levels that might result in symptomatic and asymptomatic courses. Aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a cohort of 171 healthcare workers in a standard care hospital in a rural German area. The outcomes are monthly measures of antibody prevalence over a 6-month period. Using univariate statistics, baseline characteristics will be analysed considering risk groups, exposure history, test frequencies, symptoms, and antibody distribution.At T0 tests for qualitative detection of antibodies (Ig) against SARS-CoV-2 revealed a seroprevalence of 1.3%.The data contribute to the understanding of the virus spread in a particularly exposed population group and will be relevant for management of the pandemic. Longitudinal analyses will reveal the progression of seroprevalence of antibodies and immunity over the time.


We have previously demonstrated that cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl- channels are expressed in heart (Levesque et al., Circ. Res. 71: 1002-1007, 1992). However, the structural identity between this cardiac protein and CFTR in epithelial cells is unknown. We amplified cDNA from rabbit ventricle and cloned fragments corresponding to the 12 transmembrane spanning domains of the epithelial CFTR transcript. The deduced sequence from rabbit heart indicated deletion of a 30-amino acid segment in the first cytoplasmic loop of CFTR, which corresponds to known locations of intron-exon junctions bordering exon 5 in the CFTR gene, suggesting that CFTR is alternatively spliced in heart. Outside this region, the heart CFTR isoform displayed > 95% identity to human epithelial CFTR. Molecular analysis demonstrated CFTR expression only in cardiac tissues that exhibited a adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-dependent Cl- conductance in native cells. The expression of a specific isoform of CFTR Cl- channels in mammalian heart may have functional and clinical significance.


The periostracum and cells lining the periostracal groove of Anodonta cygnea L. have been studied at the electron microscope level. The cells lining the inner face of the outer fold differ in fine structural details, five cell types being recognized. Along the length of the outer surface of the middle fold, to which the periostracum is closely applied, only two cell types are evident. At the base of the periostracal groove the two epithelia are separated by a bulbous region containing a group of basal cells which initiate the periostracum. The periostracum, which is homogenously electron-lucid, originates in the intercellular space between a basal cell and the first cell of the middle fold. It increases in thickness in the periostracal groove due to the secretory activity of the different outer fold cells. The cells of the middle fold do not appear to be involved in periostracum formation.


ABSTRACT Understanding how energy efficiency improvement can mitigate CO2 emissions is critical for global climate change policies to ensure environmental sustainability and a low carbon future. Being the catalyst for training future generations, universities can play a leading role in this vision by adopting energy-saving and emissions reduction strategies. Using HESA data, a centralized system of reporting energy use and corresponding emissions, we adopt a two-step system GMM estimation procedure to estimate the effect of energy efficiency on CO2 emissions for 119 UK universities over the period between 2008–2009 and 2018–2019. Results confirm that higher energy efficiency is conducive to lower emissions. However, the less-than-elastic relationship between energy efficiency and emissions implies that energy efficiency improvement alone cannot enable the UK universities to comply with their net-zero objectives unless they increasingly adopt renewable energy sources. Despite this, universities were able to avoid 2.21 gtCO2e emissions over the sample period due to energy efficiency improvements. Our results are robust to alternative specifications.


This study developed a carrier for anticancer drug, cisplatin. Cisplatin-loaded niosomes (CP-NMs) were prepared under optimized conditions with Span 40 and cholesterol as the excipients, and then lyophilized and characterized. Their anticancer efficacy was tested in rabbits bearing VX2 sarcoma. The obtained spherical-looking vesicles showed a diameter of 7.73 ± 1.49 µm with a zeta-potential of 0 mV. The entrapment efficiency was 76.93 ± 2.67%, and drug loading 2.96 ± 0.10%. In vitro release tests gave a t50% of 8.36 h. The rabbits locally injected with the CP-NMs gave significantly superior results of inhibition of tumour growth, much lower mortality and improved results of body weight change and inhibition of tumour metastasis to inguinal lymph nodes and liver compared to those treated in the same way with the drug solution. The inspiring anticancer results indicated that the CP-NMs might be developed as an effective anticancer preparation with low toxicity.


Verifying whether code meets its specifications requires critical thinking and analysis. However, cognitive biases may influence how well software engineers verify and test code. In this paper, I explore cognitive reflection and its association with accurately verifying code via both manual inspection and unit testing. In a two-phase exploratory study of Software Engineering undergraduate students (n=140), I examined their performance on Cognitive Reflection Tests (CRT), manual verification of function implementations, and the accuracy of unit test suites. The first phase found no relationship between CRT and unit test accuracy. However, the higher a student's CRT score, the more likely they were to reject a defective implementation when inspecting it manually (p<0.0001, 95% CI 1.56-4.50). The second phase replicated the outcomes on an alternate version of the CRT and on a different unit test assignment, revealing a positive correlation between CRT and recognizing defects manually ($\rho$=0.478, p<0.01). I conclude that cognitive reflection is associated with software engineering students' aptitude at identifying defects, but is not associated with their affirmation of algorithms without defects, nor with the accuracy of their unit tests.


Much work in learning from demonstration has focused on learning simple tasks from structured demonstrations that have a well-defined beginning and end. As we attempt to scale robot learning to increasingly complex tasks, it becomes intractable to learn task policies monolithically. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to learn from natural, unstructured demonstrations, which are unsegmented, possibly incomplete, and may come from different tasks. We propose a three-part approach to designing a natural, scalable system that allows a robot to learn tasks of increasing complexity by automatically building and refining a library of skills over time. First, we describe a Bayesian nonparametric model that can segment unstructured demonstrations into appropriate numbers of component skills and recognize repeated skills across demonstrations and tasks. These skills can then be parameterized and generalized to new situations. Second, we propose to create a system that allows the user to provide unstructured corrections and feedback to the robot, without requiring any knowledge of the robot's underlying representation of the task or its component skills. Third, we propose to infer the user's intentions for each segmented skill and autonomously improve these skills using reinforcement learning. This approach will be applied to learn and generalize complex, multi-step tasks that are beyond the reach of current LfD methods, using the PR2 mobile manipulator as a testing platform.


It is increasingly evident that human diseases are not isolated from each other. Understanding how different diseases are related to each other based on the underlying biology could provide new insights into disease etiology, classification, and shared biological mechanisms. We have taken a computational approach to studying disease relationships through 1) systematic identification of disease associated genes by literature mining, 2) associating diseases to biological pathways where disease genes are enriched, and 3) linking diseases together based on shared pathways. We identified 4,195 candidate disease associated genes for 1028 diseases. On average, about 50% of disease associated genes of a disease are statistically mapped to pathways. We generated a disease network which consists of 591 diseases and 6,931 disease relationships. We examined properties of this network and provided examples of novel disease relationships which cannot be readily captured through simple literature search or gene overlap analysis. Our results could potentially provide insights into the design of novel, pathway-guided therapeutic interventions for diseases.


With the development of IT, mobile OA is getting more and more important in government, enterprises and institutions. The traditional OA solutions, for the defect of its combination with mobile equipment, limit the application to mobile OA. This paper introduces a typical representative frame of mobile OA system and puts forward a Web Service communication mode based on GPRS to resolve the data transmission between background server and terminal of this mobile OA system. The system has good expansibility and is easy to upgrade and maintain.


The proliferation of new technologies and the changing dynamics of industry competition have spurred growth in innovative production, marketing and consumption. The need for convenience has also fuelled enormous interest in the use of mobile payment innovations, which in turn creates security challenges for users. Indications are that mobile phones and handheld devices should have made more inroads in businesses and societies as in most advanced societies are at today [1]. Instead, there has been a slow acceptance of mobile and handheld devices as alternative payment systems, especially in developing countries, despite the efforts of key players such as banks, mobile network operators, and mobile payment service providers (MPSP). This paper, therefore, is a conceptual design to examine security factors influencing the acceptance of mobile payment systems in Malaysia. This paper will examine the impact of security dimensions on trust and how these impacts on trust influence users' intention to use mobile payment systems. We will also highlight several research, practitioner and policy implications.


In modem democracies, public deliberation is often mediated; it largely involves not face‐to‐face debate among citizens, but discussion among public officials, experts, and professional communicators through the mass media. Close examination of a particular instance of public deliberation—the quick rejection of the Bush White House charge that the 1992 Los Angeles riots were caused by failed social programs of the 1960s and 1970s—reveals several features of mediated deliberation that may be rather general: the great speed with which communication can occur; the differing editorial stands of particular print and electronic media; the ways in which editorial positions are reflected in news stories; and the leading roles of such elite newspapers as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. This case also suggests conditions under which the communications power of the presidency are limited, and it illustrates some of the political currents that brought the Bush presidency to an end.


The COVID‐19 pandemic has led to a reorganization of health systems to prioritize the fight against the virus. The adoption of social distancing interfered with the flow of existing policies, and may thus negatively affect the most vulnerable groups, such as the rare disease community. Aimming at characterizing the perception of the impact of COVID‐19 on the health care of the Brazilian rare disease community, an online questionnaire addressed to patients with rare diseases and their caregivers was disseminated in the Brazilian territory between June 1st to July 5th, 2020. The questions dealt with the sanitary measures adopted; access to medical services; and mental suffering during the pandemic. The survey was answered by 1,466 participants (<18 yo = 53.3%) representing 192 rare diseases. Regarding physical distancing, 1,372 (93.6%) participants did not leave their residence, or did so only when essential; 1,321 (90.1%) always wore masks when leaving home. 1,042 (71.1%) and 995 (67.9%) participants, respectively, referred medical genetics appointments and rehabilitation therapies were postponed/canceled. Telemedicine was experienced by 1,026 (70%), and 68.3% agreed this is a good strategy for health care. Patients with Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM, n = 624, 42.5%) appear to have more access to information and ability to overcome difficulties, and feel less threatened, lonely and depressed than the non‐IEM group (p < .05). There was an increment of the rare disease patients' vulnerability in the pandemic scenario. The cooperation of patients/caregivers along with adaptation of the health system is crucial and may be so even post‐pandemic.


ABSTRACT
A 13-year-old Japanese boy with a 6-month history of bilateral nasal obstruction and a 3-week history of recurrent epistaxis from the right nose was admitted to our department. Nasal endoscopy revealed a reddish, smooth-walled tumor occupying the right nasal cavity. Computed tomography scan revealed a 3.5 × 4.5 × 7.0-cm heterogeneously enhancing mass involving the right nasal cavity and extending posteriorly to the nasopharynx, and laterally to the pterygopalatine fossa and the medial part of the infratemporal fossa. We diagnosed as juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma with Radkowski classification stage IIC. The internal maxillary and ascending pharyngeal arteries were embolized with polyvinyl alcohol followed by Embosphere using a conventional Seldinger technique. En bloc resection was performed with an endoscopic ipsilateral endonasal and sublabial Caldwell-Luc transmaxillary approach under general anesthesia. As of 3 years postoperatively, no recurrence has been found. We report a child case of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma successfully treated with less invasive surgery with preoperative embolization.


As the feature size of interconnect technology continues to scale down to nanometer sizes, the state-of-the-art Cu interconnect is expected to run into its physical limit in the near future. Carrier scattering at surfaces and grain boundaries leads to a dramatic increase of Cu resistivity at the nanoscale, resulting increasing resistance capacitance signal delay. The Cu interconnect is becoming more and more vulnerable to the electromigration (EM) caused by the increasing current density. More conductive and robust materials are required for future integrated circuit interconnects to meet these technology development challenges. Among a variety of potential materials, the metallic carbon nanotube (CNT) has emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation interconnect conductor because of its excellent electrical conductivity and high EM resistance.


We have studied features of some phase relations in the system BaO-B 2O3-Na2O, using differential thermal, X-ray diffraction, and chemical analyses. Seeding and 2O4 (BBO), were investigated by the visual-polythermal method. It was established that most compositions of the system, which might be used as BBO solvents, have a rather small stability zone and during growth of bulk crystals, normally, decompose into boron- and barium-enriched components. Their composition depends on solution temperature and deviations of its components from stoichiometric ratio. The compounds synthesized at phase transformations in the system have a low solubility and the solution-melts, from which the BBO crystals are grown, have emulsion features. The quality of seeding and further formation of defects in the forming crystal structure depends on the degree of chemical homogeneity and phase stability of solution-melts.


Clinical studies have suggested that quinidine is less effective when used for the treatment of atrial arrhythmias in pediatric patients compared with its clinical effectiveness in the adult patient population. Age-related changes in the cardiac actions of quinidine on action potential duration and interaction with potassium channels in several mammalian species also have been reported. We investigated the effects of postnatal development on quinidine's interaction with major repolarizing currents (Ito, IKur, Ins, and IK1) in human atrial myocytes, using the whole-cell configuration of the voltage-clamp technique. Our results indicate that there are age-related changes in both the IC50 for quinidine blockade of Ito, as well as the mechanism of quinidine unblocking. In contrast, quinidine was found to inhibit both adult and pediatric IK1 and IKur in an age-independent manner, whereas the nonselective cation current (Ins), which contributes to the sustained outward current (Isus), was insensitive to quinidine. The results from this study help to clarify the electrophysiological mechanism by which quinidine elicits its antiarrhythmic effect in the pediatric and adult human population.


Bladder pain is a characteristic disorder of interstitial cystitis. Diazepam is well known for its antispasmodic activity in the treatment of muscular hypertonus. The aim of this work was to develop and characterize vaginal pessaries as an intravaginal delivery system of diazepam for the treatment of interstitial cystitis. In particular, the performance of two types of formulations, with and without beta-glucan, was compared. In particular, the preparation of pessaries, according to the modified Pharmacopeia protocol, the setup of the analytical method to determine diazepam, pH evaluation, dissolution profile, and photostability assay were reported. Results showed that the modified protocol permitted obtaining optimal vaginal pessaries, without air bubbles, with good consistency and handling and with good pH profiles. In order to determine the diazepam amount, calibration curves with good correlation coefficients were obtained, by the spectrophotometric method, using placebo pessaries as matrix with the addition of diazepam standard solution. This method was demonstrated sensible and accurate to determine the amount of drug in batches. Dissolution profiles showed a complete diazepam release just after 15 minutes, even if beta-glucan pessaries released drug more gradually. Finally, a possible drug photodegradation after exacerbated UV-visible exposition was evaluated.


SUMMARY LDCs system with finite-rate error-free feedback is proposed in this letter. The optimal transmission codeword is selected at the receiver and the codeword index is sent to the transmitter. A simple random search algorithm is introduced for codebook generation. Moreover, the max-min singular value criterion is adopted for codeword selection. Simulation results showed that, with only 3-4 feedback bits, the low-complexity Zero-Forcing receiver can approach the Maximum-Likelihood (ML) per


This article discusses several alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms that intend to address complaints from civil society stakeholder groups that may suffer as a consequence of foreign direct investment. ADR methods such as mediation are well suited to resolving international investment disputes of this nature because these methods are more accessible to such stakeholders in the developing world where conventional fora such as civil courts may be unavailable, not independent, or else too expensive. The article explores common stakeholder grievance procedures within the international development banks that fund investment projects in the developing world. It then examines the national contact points procedures established under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as a new office maintained by the Canadian government for complaints regarding foreign investment in the extractive sector. The article concludes by recommending ways in which participation in these types of processes by investors and other stakeholders can be improved through mandatory provisions in international investment agreements. The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.


OBJECTIVES
Herein we describe a case of an extremely uncommon malformation of the genitourinary system in a patient who had consulted for epididymitis.

METHODS
Patient evaluation included radiological examination, IVP, US, CT and DVG The latter method was essential in the diagnosis of the malformation.

RESULTS
The findings indicated left renal agenesis with blind left ureter opening to the ipsilateral ejaculatory duct, with severe deformity of the left seminal vesicle and ejaculatory duct.

CONCLUSIONS
Since the patient has no important symptoms at the present time, contrary to the widely accepted approach, surgery has not been performed due to the risk of causing an iatrogenic lesion.


To examine the function of descending brain stem pathways in the control of locomotion, we have characterized the discharge patterns of identified vestibulo- and reticulospinal neurons (VSNs and RSNs, respectively) recorded from the lateral vestibular nucleus (LVN) and the medullary reticular formation (MRF), during treadmill walking. Data during locomotion were obtained for 44 VSNs and for 63 RSNs. The discharge frequency of most VSNs (42/44) was phasically modulated in phase with the locomotor rhythm and the averaged peak discharge frequency ranged from 41 to 165 Hz (mean = 92.8 Hz). We identified three classes of VSNs based on their discharge pattern. Type A, or double peak, VSNs (20/44 neurons, 46%) showed two peaks and two troughs of activity in each step cycle. One of the peaks was time-locked to the activity of extensor muscles in the ipsilateral hindlimb while the other occurred anti-phase to this period of activity. Type B, or single pause, neurons (13/44 neurons, 30%) were characterized by a tonic or irregular discharge that was interrupted by a single pronounced and brief period of decreased activity that occurred just before the onset of swing in the ipsilateral hindlimb; some type B VSNs also exhibited a brief pulse of activity just preceding this decrease. Type C, or single peak, neurons (9/44 neurons, 23%) exhibited a single period of increased activity that, in most cells, was time-locked to the burst of activity of either extensor or flexor muscles of a single limb. The population of RSNs that we recorded included neurons that showed phasic activity related to the activity of flexor or extensor muscles [electromyographically (EMG) related, 26/63, 41%], those that were phasically active but whose activity was not time-locked to the activity of any of the recorded muscles (13/63, 21%) and those that were completely unrelated to locomotion (24/63, 38%). Most of the EMG-related RSNs showed one (15/26) or two (11/26) clear phasic bursts of activity that were temporally related to either flexor or extensor muscles. The discharge pattern of double-burst RSNs covaried with ipsilateral and contralateral flexor muscles. Peak averaged discharge activity in these EMG-related RSNs ranged from 4 to 98 Hz (mean = 35.2 Hz). We discuss the possibility that most VSNs regulate the overall activity of extensor muscles in the four limbs while RSNs provide a more specific signal that has the flexibility to modulate the activity of groups of flexor and extensor muscles, in either a single or in multiple limbs.


This paper presents a mathematical model and a computational approach for the thermal post-buckling and free vibration in the vicinity of the buckled equilibrium position of microbeams based on the modified couple stress Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and geometrically accurate relation. The governing equations for the whole analysis are established with a intrinsic material length scale parameter to capture the size effect. These equations, in conjunction with the corresponding boundary conditions, are decomposed into two two-point boundary value problems, which are solved using the shooting method. For static deformation, the geometric nonlinearity is involved and the size dependent postbuckling configuration is obtained as a function of temperature rise. For dynamic one, the small amplitude free vibration about the prebuckled position is developed following an assumed harmonic time mode, and the length scale and temperature rise dependent fundamental natural frequency is presented. Numerical computations are executed to illustrate the size dependency in the thermal postbuckling behaviors and fundamental frequency of the vibration around the buckled configuration of microbeams.


To prevent infection in 27 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass or cardiac valve replacement surgery, each patient received a single 2-g dose of either cephalothin or cephapirin intravenously before the operation (prior to opening of the chest cavity). Samples of the right atrial appendage, pericardial fluid, and serum were obtained at various intervals after injection of the antibiotic and were assayed for cephalosporin concentrations. Cephapirin consistently reached higher levels than cephalothin in the right atrial appendage and pericardial fluid; both cephalosporins, however, reach concentrations in these sites well above their minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for penicillin-resistant staphylococci. Of particular interest was the brevity of the period (about 100 min) during which levels of both antibiotics were maintained above the MIC in the right atrial appendage. This finding emphasizes the need for administration of these antibiotics shortly before surgery.