Abstract This study provides a molecular phylogeny of Solenostoma and Plectocolea based on trnL-F and trnG-intron cpDNA sequences of 25 species represented by multiple accessions from different regions of Russia and some adjacent countries. Phylogenetic trees constructed using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods are mostly congruent, except for an unstable position of P. vulcanicola, P. rosulans and S. caucasica. Based on our analyses we accept narrow generic concepts and provisionally conclude that only P. hyalina and the P. obovata-P. subelliptica-P. obscura-P. harana-P. emarginata complex should be transferred to the genus Solenostoma. Moreover, two species new to science are described and three varieties are elevated to the species level. Morphologically, Solenostoma rossica Bakalin et Vilnet is characterized by heteroicous inflorescences, red-purple pigmentation restricted to the perianth beak and a whitish-colored stem. Solenostoma major (S. Hatt.) Bakalin et Vilnet is characterized by deep purple rhizoid coloration and wide, flattened, undulate and distant leaves. Solenostoma ochotensis Bakalin et Vilnet has a Solenostoma-like perianth and well-developed plectocoleoid perigynium. Plectocolea kurilensis (Bakalin) Bakalin et Vilnet is similar to P. infusca s. str. but differs by commonly having smaller, grayish and more numerous oil-bodies, deflexed antical leaf margins, undulate leaves and purplish to almost purple rhizoids. Plectocolea ovalifolia (Amak.) Bakalin et Vilnet is only distantly similar to P. infusca s. str., as it has purple rhizoids, oil bodies unlike P. infusca, a smaller plant size, generally distant to rarely contiguous leaves, and ovate leaves, as opposed to lingulate to broadly or transversely elliptic leaves. It is suggested the new species originated in the contact zone of circumboreal and temperate East Asian floras with the possible influence of modern volcanic activity.


Introduction The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge of Belgian university students about the human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV–vaccination. Material and methods During a period of two months we administered an online questionnaire, which contained 29 questions, to 3332 students of the Free University of Brussels. Of the 433 completed questionnaires, 346 were included by age (18–30 years) and completeness of responded questionnaires. These formed the study group. Results Of the 346 included questionnaires (76% female), 48% were completed by medical students. The majority (65%) knew that both genders could be infected with HPV. Ninety–five percent of all medical students were aware of the existence of HPV, while 92% knew of the possibility to be vaccinated against the virus. Ninety percent of them were aware of the causal relationship between HPV infection and cervical cancer. 46% of the medical students were aware that HPV can cause anogenital cancers, and only 28% knew that HPV–vaccination could protect them against genital warts. Sixty percent of all female students were fully vaccinated against HPV, without any difference between medical and non–medical students. A very small part of all students (3%) believed that vaccination against HPV could enhance a promiscuous lifestyle. Conclusions Almost 80% of respondents were aware of the existence of the human papillomavirus, its morbid potential and the HPV–vaccination.


This study aimed to evaluate the possibility of using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to track binders produced by three different plants: plants A, B, and C. The work included the quality assessment of 80 bituminous materials graded as BND 70/100 and 100/130 according to GOST 33133 (Russian interstate standard) and chemical analyses using FTIR spectroscopy. FTIR analyses were conducted before and after short-term ageing in a Rolling Thin Film Oven Test (RTFOT). Thus, the number of binder samples was multiplied by two (2) for a final total of 160 infrared (IR) spectra. All infrared spectra were normalised to ensure the reliability of results, and the standard deviation and variance coefficient were included. The principal purpose of the present work was to track the origin and the ageing extent of the bituminous binders under study.


Abstract The aim of the research was to evaluate the impact of consumption of pork enriched with selenium on selenium concentration, antioxidant status and lipid parameters of consumers. The research involved 59 probands in four experiments from the general population of Slovakia. The probands consumed 200 g of enriched meat with organic selenium from pork fed with selenized yeast three times a week during one month. Probands of exp.1 consumed freshly prepared lunch and probands of exp. 2–4 consumed sterilized meat. During the experiment, three blood collections were carried out. After short-term consumption of enriched pork with selenium, concentration of selenium in the blood serum of probands increased significantly in exp. 1 and 4 (P < 0.05). TAS increased significantly after 28 days in exp. 2, 3 and 4 (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001). The level of T-C and TG significantly decreased in exp. 2 and 4 (P < 0.05). HDL-C levels non-significantly increased (P > 0.05) in exp. 1, 3, and 4. The levels of LDL-C significantly decreased in exp. 2 (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that pork appears to be a suitable component for increase the selenium intake of consumers.


Active tectonic history of the Eastern Mediterranean, especially around Aegean area, through the Neogene led to interesting radiation patterns of animal lineages, allowing intriguing biogeographical hypotheses to be tested. Descendants of the ancestral stock in the Miocene Aegean Plate presently occur in the Anatolia, Aegean islands and the Balkan Penninsula. Troglophilus (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae, Troglophilinae) is such a genus represented in these areas with approximately 15 species. The present study addresses the phylogeography of the genus, with a special emphasis on its Anatolian members, aiming to test the biogeographical patterns suggested for this area using mitochondrial [cytochome oxidase I (COI)] and nuclear (ITS1-5.8S–ITS2) markers. Data matrices obtained from sequences of COI and ITS1-5.8S–ITS2 were used for phylogenetic analyses using Dolichopoda lycia and Dolichopoda sbordonii as outgroups. All sets of the analyses suggested monophyly of the Anatolian haplotypes, although they are not congruent in revealing their relationships. Anatolian haplotypes constituted three main phylogroups in trees calculated from a matrix of short COI sequences: the ECMA (corresponding to the Eastern part of coastal Mediterranean Anatolia); the CWMA (from the Central and Western part of Mediterranean Anatolia); and NA (from Northern Anatolia). Trees obtained using longer sequences resulted in only two phylogroups, namely ECMA and CWMA + NA. The trees based on the ITS1-5.8S–ITS2 data matrix supported monophyly of Anatolian phylogroups. BEAST analysis of the COI estimated the time to most recent common ancestor for Dolichopoda and Troglophilus as 10.8 Mya, to that for the Anatolian + Balkan Troglophilus as 7.2 Mya, and to that for the Anatolian Troglophilus as 6.3 Mya. BEAST analysis of ITS1–ITS2 intron regions is largely congruent with that of COI. From these results, several conclusions were drawn. First, the divergence of Dolichopoda and Troglophilus possibly started with the opening of the Mid-Aegean Trench in the Tortonian. Second, Troglophilus possibly originated from an ancestral stock in the old Aegean Plate. It later diverged as Anatolian and Balkan lineages and, possibly, the Cretan population may be regarded the third lineage. Divergence within the Anatolian lineage is estimated to have occurred through the Pliocene and Pleistocene, although before the last four glacial periods in the late Pleistocene. Additionally, the northern Anatolian Troglophilus appears to originate from the dispersal of an ancestral stock from a mountainous lineage through the Taurus Way. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 108, 335–348.


Within a Dubins and Savage gambling framework, a stationary strategy is a strategy which selects a gamble at each time based solely on the gambler's present fortune. We determine conditions upon the gambler's utility function under which stationary strategies allow the gambler to maximize his return. The class of utility functions which satisfies these conditions, termed nearly leavable shift invariant functions, is large and contains many of the common gambling utility functions. Moreover, this class is closed under uniform limits. These results are obtained with the setting of an analytic gambling house.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To develop and prospectively validate models of independent predictors of candidemia and candidemia-related death in cardiothoracic ICU (CICU) patients.

DESIGN
(1) An initial, prospective, one-center, case-control, independent predictor-model determining study; and (2) a prospective, two-center, model-validation study.

SETTING
The initial study was performed at the 14-bed CICU of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece; the model-validation study was performed at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center CICU and the 12-bed CICU of Henry Dunant General Hospital, Athens, Greece.

PATIENTS
In the initial study, 4,312 patients admitted to the Onassis Center CICU between March 1997 and October 1999 were considered for enrollment; 30 candidemic and 120 control patients (case/control ratio, 1/4) matched according to potential confounders were ultimately enrolled. In the model-validation study, 2,087 patients admitted to the Onassis and Henry Dunant CICUs between November 1999 and May 2002 were prospectively enrolled.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Models of predictors of candidemia and associated death were constructed with stepwise logistic regression and subsequently validated. Independent candidemia predictors were ongoing invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) > OR =10 days, hospital-acquired bacterial infection and/or bacteremia, cardiopulmonary bypass duration > 120 min, and diabetes mellitus. Model performance was as follows: sensitivity, 53.3%/57.9%; specificity, 100%/100%; positive predictive value (PPV), 100%/100%; negative predictive value (NPV), 88.9%/99.6%; and accuracy, 90.1%/99.6% (initial/model-validation study values, respectively). IMV > or =10 days and hospital-acquired bacterial infection/bacteremia were the two strongest candidemia predictors. APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) II score > or =30 at candidemia onset independently predicted candidemia-related death with 80.0%/85.7% sensitivity, 80%/75% specificity, 66.7%/66.7% PPV, 88.9%/88.9% NPV, and 80.0%/78.9% accuracy (initial/model-validation study values, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
We provided a set of easily determinable independent predictors of the occurrence of candidemia in CICU patients. Our results provide a rationale for implementing preventive measures in the form of independent predictor control, and initiating antifungal prophylaxis in high-risk CICU patients.


The objective of this study is to determine whether key hospital-level financial and market characteristics are associated with whether rural hospitals merge. Hospital merger status was derived from proprietary Irving Levin Associates data for 2005 through 2016 and hospital-level characteristics from HCRIS, CMS Impact File Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System, Hospital MSA file, AHRF, and U.S. Census data for 2004 through 2016. A discrete-time hazard analysis using generalized estimating equations was used to determine whether factors were associated with merging between 2005 and 2016. Factors included measures of profitability, operational efficiency, capital structure, utilization, and market competitiveness. Between 2005 and 2016, 11% (n = 326) of rural hospitals were involved in at least one merger. Rural hospital mergers have increased in recent years, with more than two-thirds (n = 261) occurring after 2011. The types of rural hospitals that merged during the sample period differed from nonmerged rural hospitals. Rural hospitals with higher odds of merging were less profitable, for-profit, larger, and were less likely to be able to cover current debt. Additional factors associated with higher odds of merging were reporting older plant age, not providing obstetrics, being closer to the nearest large hospital, and not being in the West region. By quantifying the hazard of characteristics associated with whether rural hospitals merged between 2005 and 2016, these findings suggest it is possible to determine leading indicators of rural mergers. This work may serve as a foundation for future research to determine the impact of mergers on rural hospitals.


We report on secondary electron (SE) images of cross-sectioned multicrystalline Si and GaAs/GaInP solar cell devices, focusing on quantifying the relationship between the apparent n+-p contrast and characteristic electronic features of the device. These samples allow us to compare the SE signal from devices which have very different physical characteristics: differing materials, diffused junction versus abrupt junction, heterojunction versus homojunction. Despite these differences, we find that the SE image contrast for both types of sample, and as a function of reverse bias across the diode, closely agrees with PC1D simulations of the bulk electrostatic potential in the device, accurately yielding the depletion edge and width. A spatial derivative of the SE data shows a local maximum at the metallurgical junction. Such data are valuable, for example, in studying the conformity of a diffused junction to the textured surface topography. These data also extend our understanding of the origin of the SE contrast.


ABSTRACT Objectives The aim of this study was to explore the decisions and decision-making strategies employed by academic GPs tasked with adapting the delivery of undergraduate general practice education curricula to virtual platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic. We sought to investigate how their experiences of this adaptation might influence the development of future curricula. Methods Recognising our 'insider' positions and constructivist paradigm preferences, we approached the study from a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) perspective and participants participated in semi-structured interviews. Results Nine participants from three university GP departments in Ireland described the transition to online delivery of the curriculum as a 'response approach'. Participants described seeking collaboration both within and between institutions. The value and limitations of student feedback as a driver for change differed between participants and recognised the impact of limited social engagement between peers on social determinants of learning. Participants with prior experience in e-learning were inclined to recommend some level of continuation. Two institutions plan to continue to incorporate aspects of blended learning. Conclusion and implications All participants recognised a level of value (efficiency, social engagement and continuity) in online learning, they were less clear on the specific educational value and impact of this (e.g. on knowledge, skills and attributes). We need to consider which elements of undergraduate education can be delivered effectively online. Maintaining the socio-cultural learning environment is of critical importance but must be balanced by efficient, informed and strategic educational design.


Classical unit root tests are known to suffer from potentially crippling size distortions, and a range of procedures have been proposed to attenuate this problem, including the use of bootstrap procedures. It is also known that the estimating equation's functional form can affect the outcome of the test, and various model selection procedures have been proposed to overcome this limitation. In this paper, we adopt a model averaging procedure to deal with model uncertainty at the testing stage. In addition, we leverage an automatic model-free dependent bootstrap procedure where the null is imposed by simple differencing (the block length is automatically determined using recent developments for bootstrapping dependent processes). Monte Carlo simulations indicate that this approach exhibits the lowest size distortions among its peers in settings that confound existing approaches, while it has superior power relative to those peers whose size distortions do not preclude their general use. The proposed approach is fully automatic, and there are no nuisance parameters that have to be set by the user, which ought to appeal to practitioners.


This study aimed to develop an anti-acne concealer containing essential oil with anti-Propionibacterium acnes activity. Antimicrobial activity of cinnamon oil, galangal oil, and eucalyptus oil against P. acnes DMST 14916 was assayed using agar disc diffusion and the broth dilution method. Cinnamon oil showed the maximum inhibitory activity against P. acnes with a clear zone diameter of 36.75 ± 1.06 mm, compared to 14.67 ± 0.58 and 41.83 ± 1.04 mm for tea tree oil and clindamycin, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration value of cinnamon oil was 5 mg/mL. Among five formulations of concealer incorporating 0.5% w/w cinnamon oil, F4 provided good texture, coverage, and spreadability with anti-P. acnes activity and stable under determined storage conditions. Cinnamon oil could be a promising cosmetic ingredient for anti-acne products, and F4 concealer may be useful for both covering skin imperfections and the management of acne.


Several studies utilizing Rhodiola rosea, which contains a complex mixture of phytochemicals, reported some positive drug-drug interaction (DDI) findings based on in vitro CYP450's enzyme inhibition, MAO-A and MAO-B inhibition, and preclinical pharmacokinetic studies in either rats or rabbits. However, variation in and multiplicity of constituents present in Rhodiola products is a cause for concern for accurately evaluating drug-drug interaction (DDI) risk. In this report, we examined the effects of bioengineered, nature-identical salidroside on the inhibition potential of salidroside on CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 utilizing human liver microsomes, the induction potential of salidroside on CYP1A2, CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 in cryopreserved human hepatocytes, the inhibitory potential of salidroside against recombinant human MAO-A and MAO-B, and the OATP human uptake transport inhibitory potential of salidroside using transfected HEK293-OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 cells. The results demonstrate that the bioengineered salidroside at a concentration exceeding the predicted plasma concentrations of <2 µM (based on 60 mg PO) shows no risk for drug-drug interaction due to CYP450, MAO enzymes, or OATP drug transport proteins. Our current studies further support the safe use of salidroside in combination with other drugs cleared by CYP or MAO metabolism or OATP-mediated disposition.


After three-year studies a degree of autogeny in populations of Aedes communis. A. pullatus and A. hexodontus was defined. In various seasons a share of autogenous females in A. communis was stable enough amounting to 30-37%. At the same time considerable variations in the degree of autogeny in some micropopulations of this species were observed. Variations in the ratio between autogenous and non-autogenous individuals reflect a dissimilar effect of varied combinations of ecological factors upon larvae of mosquitoes.


The consequences of metabolic reprogramming in cancer can include an increased dependence on metabolic substrates such as glucose for survival. As such, the vulnerability of cancer cells to glucose deprivation creates an attractive opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Because it is not possible to starve tumors of glucose in vivo, we sought to identify the mechanisms regulating cancer cell death upon glucose deprivation and then design combinations of inhibitors to mimic glucose deprivation-induced cell death. Using metabolomic profiling, we found that cells undergoing glucose deprivation-induced cell death exhibited dramatic accumulation of intracellular L-cysteine and its oxidized dimer, L-cystine, and depletion of the antioxidant glutathione. Building on this observation, we show that glucose deprivation-induced cell death is driven not by lack of glucose but rather by L-cystine import. Following glucose deprivation, the import of L-cystine and subsequent reduction to L-cysteine depleted both NADPH and glutathione, thereby allowing toxic accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Consistent with this model, we found that the glutamate/cystine antiporter, xCT, was required for sensitivity to glucose deprivation. We searched for glycolytic enzymes whose expression is essential for survival of cancer cells with high xCT expression and identified the glucose transporter GLUT1. We therefore tested a drug combination co-targeting GLUT1 and glutathione synthesis and found that these drugs induced synthetic lethal cell death in high xCT-expressing cell lines susceptible to glucose deprivation. These results indicate that co-targeting GLUT1 and glutathione synthesis is a potential therapeutic approach in tumors dependent on glucose for survival.


Key Points This renal biopsy study documents clinical renal dysfunction and pathologic lesions encountered in patients after anti-TNFα therapy and compares them with similar patients without treatment. This study highlights the spectrum of autoimmune, serologic, and other kidney adverse effects of anti-TNFα therapy. Unrelated active or chronic renal lesions including amyloidosis secondary to the underlying systemic inflammatory states may be observed. Background Anti-TNFα inhibitors, as biological agents, are used in autoimmune inflammatory states, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PA), and Crohn disease. They can induce autoimmune serologic responses and clinical disorders, including systemic vasculitis and lupus-like diseases, affecting the kidney. Methods Retrospective analysis of clinicopathologic features of kidney disease after anti-TNFα therapy (treatment group) from our renal biopsy files from 2000 to 2018 is conducted and compared with 106 patients without therapy (control group). Results Forty-eight patients using anti-TNFα agents had renal biopsies: RA in 30, PA six, Crohn disease six, RA and PA one, RA and Crohn disease one, and others four. Twenty received etanercept, 15 adalimumab, eight infliximab, and five two forms of agents manifesting new-onset nephritic syndrome or CKD, 17 with AKI and 16 nephrotic syndrome, with recent ANCA and/or lupus serology. The renal lesions were crescentic GN in eight, pauci-immune–type in five, and ANCA+ in five. Lupus or lupus-like nephritis was seen in six: International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society 2018 class II—2, class V—2, class III+V—1, and class IV+V—1, and concurrent fibrillary GN, scleroderma/thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), and amyloidosis in three. Renal lesions unrelated to anti-TNFα therapy or underlying autoimmune disease were noted in 23 patients (e.g., diabetic nephropathy, interstitial nephritis, acute tubular injury, infection-related GN); immunoglobulin A nephropathy, renal sarcoidosis, and amyloid A amyloidosis were noted in five patients. TMA was recognized in five patients, one associated with scleroderma and one anti-phospholipid antibodies, and two had nephrotic syndrome secondary to podocytopathy. The control group was similar with higher number of immune-mediated GN, interstitial nephritis, and amyloidosis. Conclusion: The renal lesions during anti-TNFα therapy have an autoimmune basis such as ANCA and lupus or lupus-like disease, correlated with new-onset serology, while others were similar to those observed in the control group. Renal biopsy findings integrated with clinical features and therapy can identify the underlying pathophysiologic process for appropriate management.


What is the role of the prude in the roman libertin? James Fowler argues that in the most famous novels of the genre (by Richardson, Crebillon fils, Laclos and Sade) the prude is not the libertine's victim but an equal and opposite force working against him, and that ultimately she brings retribution for his social, erotic and philosophical presumption. In a word, she is his Nemesis. He is vulnerable to her power because of the ambivalence he feels towards her; she is his ideological enemy, but also his ideal object. Moreover, the libertine succumbs to an involuntary nostalgia for the values of the Seventeenth Century, which the prude continues to embody through the age of Enlightenment. In Crebillon fils and Richardson, the encounter between libertine and prude is played out as a skirmish or duel between two individuals. In Laclos and Sade, the presence of female libertines (the Marquise de Merteuil and Juliette) allows that encounter to be reenacted within a murderous triangle.


Current management of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) includes an attempt at slowing down the degenerative process through therapies that use either Western or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Novel therapies in Western medicine (WM) include use of tailor-made gene therapy, transplantation of stem cells, or neuroprotection treatment. TCM treatment includes two major approaches. These are orally applied herbal decoctions and acupuncture. In fact, all TCM treatments are based on the differentiation of a symptom-complex, which is the characteristic essence of TCM. Thus, diagnosed RP may be treated via the liver, the kidney, and the spleen. The principle behind these treatments is to invigorate the blood and brighten the eyes by toning up the liver and the kidney. Also treatments to cope with deficiencies in the two concepts that are unique and fundamental to TCM are considered: Qi or "vital energy" and Yin and Yang or the harmony of all the opposite elements and forces that make up existence. In particular, the Qi deficiency that results from blood stasis is addressed in these treatments. This paper also puts forward the existing problems and the prospect of the future development on integrating TCM with WM.


Objective: To review emotional intelligence (EI) literature in the context of how its application can help mediate various stressors among medical students, physicians-in-training, and faculty. Also, discussed are potential barriers to why EI-based programs face challenges to full implementation in medical education. Literature Search: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched for English language articles using various combinations of the following terms: EI, medical students, medical education, graduate medical education, trainees (including intern, resident, and residency), practitioners, and physicians. Electronic publications and printed books referenced by primary sources were also included. Results: Although there is increasing evidence for EI implementation being favorably associated with physician wellness, decreasing burnout, building better physician-patient relationships, and even better patient outcomes, there has so far not been a large scale movement to integrate EI into medical school curricula. The main barriers to wider implementation of EI are general lack of awareness, insufficient time and resources, and paucity of qualified faculty. Conclusions: Despite a number of associated potential benefits, EI has been facing various implementation hurdles in the medical education setting. Increasing awareness of EI and its benefits could help medical schools and residency programs around the globe to more actively engage in the implementation of EI training into medical school and residency curricula. We expect that such interventions would have several desirable outcomes, including improved overall physician wellness, enhanced patient experience, and perhaps even improved patient outcomes. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Practice-based Learning and Improvement, Patient care, Professionalism, Interpersonal and communication skills, Systems-based practice.


Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in parent- and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms according to the child's country of origin. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 4,207 nonimmigrant (Danish origin) and 233 immigrant (non-Danish origin) children including ratings of phenotypical ADHD symptoms on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires. The association between ADHD symptoms and country of origin, separately for parents and teachers, was analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results: Teachers reported similar numbers of ADHD symptoms for immigrant and nonimmigrant children (odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, confidence interval [CI] = [0.58, 1.54]), whereas immigrant parents were less likely than nonimmigrant parents to report ADHD symptoms (OR = 0.42, CI = [0.21, 0.84]). Conclusion: Immigrant parents were less likely than nonimmigrant parents to report ADHD symptoms, whereas the teachers reported similar amount of ADHD symptoms in the two groups of children. Our results emphasize the importance of paying attention to teacher reporting of ADHD symptoms when assessing immigrant children.


The growth of mobile and wearable technologies has enabled a host of new applications, including remote situational awareness, in which a device worn by a remote partner can simulate being present in the remote location for an observer. We illustrate this idea by constructing the HomCam, a helmet-based omnidirectional video system that gives an observer the 360-degree perspective of a remote wearer. To our knowledge, the HomCam was the first wearable system that enabled real-time streaming of 360-degree video to a remote location built from commercial-of-the-shelf hardware. This paper describes related efforts, the HomCam prototype, its visual display, and an initial test of network performance. This prototype demonstrates some of the challenges of remote situation awareness and contributes to designers' implementation of related systems.


Let \SL(2,q) be the group of 2\times 2 matrices with determinant one over a finite field F of size q. We prove that if q is even, then the product of any two noncentral conjugacy classes of \SL(2,q) is the union of at least q-1 distinct conjugacy classes of \SL(2,q). On the other hand, if q>3 is odd, then the product of any two noncentral conjugacy classes of \SL(2,q) is the union of at least \fracq+32 distinct conjugacy classes of \SL(2,q).


Freeze‐fracture electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of proteins in solution. The sizes of the particles appearing on the fractured surfaces, replicated with tungsten‐tantalum, were measured in a direction perpendicular to the shadowing angle. The distributions of the measured particle sizes could be correlated with the known shape and dimensions for each protein. It is concluded that freeze‐fracture electron microscopy is a useful technique to study the morphology of biological molecules in solution, particularly hydrophobic proteins which may be difficult to study by other microscopic techniques.


A compartmented access structure is an access structure that does not distinguish between participants belonging to the same compartment. In this paper, we design an ideal secret sharing scheme for a compartmented threshold access structure. A secure (t,n)-threshold group signature scheme based on the secret sharing scheme is proposed. We achieve this result by combining mature signature primitives with the proposed secret sharing scheme. The scheme achieves the desired properties of unforgeability and anonymity. The main focus of this paper is that, based on probabilistic theory, we show the secret sharing scheme can be perfect.


This study investigated the relationship between music listening preferences and preadmission, dysfunctional psychosocial behaviors (PDPB) of 60 adolescents who were hospitalized on an in-patient psychiatric unit. Findings were that hospitalized adolescents who primarily listened to music with negative lyrics/themes had a history of more PDPB than hospitalized adolescents who primarily listened to music that did not contain negative lyrics/themes; and hospitalized adolescents who primarily listened to heavy metal music had a history of more PDPB than hospitalized adolescents who primarily listened to other types of music.


The utility of traits involved in resource exploitation is a central criterion for the adaptive character of radiations. Here, we test for differentiation in morphology, jaw mechanics and nutrition among species and sexes of Lake Matano's sympatric 'roundfin' sailfin silversides. The three incipient fish species differ significant in several candidate traits for adaptation following ecological selection pressure, corresponding to contrasting jaw mechanics and distinct patterns in food resource use. These findings are consistent with functional adaptation and suggest divergence following alternative modes of feeding specialization. Further, intersexual resource partitioning and corresponding adaptation in jaw mechanics is evident in two of the three incipient species, demonstrating that sexual dimorphism contributes to the ecomorphological and trophic diversity of the emerging radiation. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study reporting interspecific as well as intersexual adaptation by alternative modes of form and function in an evolving fish species flock.


Abstract Northern Ireland has now moved from 'negative' peace (the absence of violence, largely) to 'positive' peace (confidence-building measures to consolidate gains in voting practice and in reducing discrimination against the minority community in employment and housing allocation). This transition has involved funders at the European, regional and local levels investing in peace and reconciliation measures to consolidate political gains made since the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in 1998. This paper examines the achievements made to date, the extent to which they have resulted in a peace dividend for those most impacted by the violence, and whether the focus of peace-building interventions should shift away from the traditional community relations model. It finds that the reformed local authorities in Northern Ireland and the border regions could play a pivotal role in making a significant difference to peace-building through new legal powers in community planning.


In order to improve quality in manufacturing, the measuring instruments used in production process should regularly be monitored and corrected according to international or national standards. Calibration of high-voltage equipment and precise measurements of DC high voltages are accomplished by standard voltage divider. Self-heating effect is the main error source of measurement in high-voltage DC resistive dividers. Therefore, precise control systems should be designed to keep stability of the ambient temperature and to regulate the heat distribution along the high-voltage DC resistive divider. For this purpose, a heat controlled resistive divider whose input voltage (Vin) is up to 5 kV was designed. This study is focused on heat convention and the dissipation model of the resistive divider and executes some control simulations under various conditions that aim to find the appropriate control method. Responses of the high-voltage DC resistive divider model are compared with and are validated by the responses of the designed actual system. The model provides us faster analyze and design solutions for novel methods. In this way, analyzing and controlling higher voltage dividers, such as 100 KV, will reduce just into a parameter change on the model. The fuzzy control method is suggested since the system dynamic has non-linear characteristics. Fuzzy temperature difference controller keeps temperature at a certain degree where fuzzy vertical temperature gradient controller keeps vertical temperature gradient around zero. Actual system and model responses for the fuzzy control are compared and interpreted.


ABSTRACT Little is known of hard-rock coastal landsliding in Scotland. We identify 128 individual coastal landslides or landslide complexes >50 m wide along the coasts of Shetland. Most are apparently translational slides characterized by headscarps, displaced blocks and/or debris runout, but 13 deep-seated failures with tension cracks up to 200 m inland from cliff crests were also identified. Thirty-one sites exhibit evidence of at least localized recent activity. Landslide distribution is primarily determined by the distribution of coastal cliffs >30 m high, and they are preferentially developed on metasedimentary rocks. Analysis of 16 landslides on Fetlar (NE Shetland) indicates that most are translational dip-slip failures; 3 represent deep-seated failures and several exhibit active frontal erosion attributable to basal sapping by storm waves. As these landslides terminate in shallow water, failure was probably initiated when rising sea level resulted in footslope erosion and upslope propagation of instability, causing downslope displacement of landslide blocks on upper slopes. 10Be exposure dating of two headscarps yielded ages of 4.8 ± 0.2 ka and 4.4 ± 0.2 ka, consistent with the onset of footslope erosion as sea level rose. Our results suggest that landslides have played a hitherto undocumented but important role in retreat of cliffed coastlines in Scotland.


Abstract This article assesses the relationship between the imposed Central African Federation (1953–63) and the ways in which East and Central African thinkers and leaders conveyed and pursued the possibilities of decolonization. Existing literature on federalism in twentieth-century Africa fails to place regional projects in dialogue, studying in isolation East Africa and Central Africa, 'utopian' and oppressive regionalisms. But such clear dividing lines were not articulated in the four discursive 'sketches' of East and Central Africa that this article brings to light: those of anti-Federation organizations in Nairobi and Ndola in 1952; students at Makerere College (Kampala) in 1953; mobile Malawian activists in regional and pan-African forums around 1955–8; and East African party publicity representatives around 1958–60. At each of these critical moments, thinkers creatively constructed various relationships between geographical space and chronological change, through the lens of a broader, interdependent East and Central Africa, as a means to fend off perceived threats to a precarious advancement towards a democratic future. Attending to the evolution of these ideas shows not only how the Central African Federation placed material constraints on regional solidarity, but how 'thinking regionally' could support the case for national borders, even before decolonization.


We study the cost-minimization problem posed by Ferrer i Cancho and Solé in their model of communication that aimed at explaining the origin of Zipf's law (2003 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 100 788). Direct analysis shows that the minimum cost is min{λ,1 − λ}, where λ determines the relative weights of speaker's and hearer's costs in the total, as shown in several previous works using different approaches. The nature and multiplicity of the minimizing solution change discontinuously at λ = 1/2, being qualitatively different for λ < 1/2, λ > 1/2, and λ = 1/2. Zipf's law is found only in a vanishing fraction of the minimum-cost solutions at λ = 1/2 and therefore is not explained by this model. Imposing the further condition of equal costs yields distributions substantially closer to Zipf's law ones, but significant differences persist. We also investigate the solutions reached with the previously used minimization algorithm and find that they correctly recover global minimum states at the transition.


The interaction and adsorption of enzyme, glucose oxidase (GOx), on poly(methyl methacrylate)-bovine serum albumin (PMMA-BSA) particles were studied by using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and laser light scattering (LLS). The enzyme was irreversibly immobilized on the PMMA-BSA particle surface. The amount of enzyme immobilized on PMMA-BSA particles and the enzymatic activity were determined by UV/vis measurements. The influences of pH and ionic strength on the adsorption indicate that the electrostatic interaction plays a major role on the immobilization. The adsorbed GOx can retain at least 80% of the free enzyme activity. Thermal stability studies reveal that the adsorbed GOx only losses 28% of its activity in comparison with a 64% activity loss of free GOx when it is incubated at 50 degrees C for 35 h.


A simple method that permits the attachment of fully dissociated adult pancreatic islet cells to culture dishes, using osmotically disrupted fibroblasts, is described. Using this system, monolayer cultures consisting of either isolated or clustered adult endocrine islet cells can be readily established in standard culture media.


Most of the world's population now lives in urban areas, and in developing regions the proportion living in cities and towns has risen from 35 percent in 1990 to 45 percent in 2010, from 1.4 billion to 2.5 billion people (Jacobsen et al. 2012). A 2008 World Bank analysis estimated that a third of people living on less than US$2 per day reside in urban areas, and United Nation or UN-habitat estimates that just under 40 percent of urban dwellers live in slums, a number that is growing by more than 20 million per year (Baker 2008). These disparities highlight a pressing need to address the urban sanitation challenge comprehensively, with emphasis on including slum dwellers and poor communities that have typically been neglected. Without concerted intervention, the prospects of cholera, diarrhea, and worm infections will increase, jeopardizing education, productivity, and the quality of life for all urban dwellers. Although this overview of urban sanitation has shown that the current situation is far from ideal, and that widespread improvements will not occur at the present rate of progress, it also identifies initiatives that have potential for wider replication. There is no 'silver bullet' that will deliver improved sanitation to the developing world's burgeoning cities, and some key technical issues remain to be resolved, but much can be achieved by applying what is already known and proven in practice.


Stem cells (neoblasts) in Platyhelminthes are pluripotent, and likely totipotent, undifferentiated cells which retain throughout adult life the capacity to proliferate and from which all somatic cells as well as the germ cells derive. However, basic data on the pool and heterogeneity of neoblasts, their rates of differentiation into sets and subsets of differentiated cells, and their migration to different body regions are still lacking. To fill this gap, S-phase cells in the macrostomid Macrostomum sp. were labeled with the thymidine analog 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU). S-phase cells were found to be neoblasts and to be distributed in two bands along the lateral sides of the body leaving unlabeled the median axis of the body and the region anterior to the eyes. This distribution is parallel to that of mitotic cells demonstrated using an antibody to phosphorylated histone H3. At different chase times, clusters of BrdU-labeled cells appear, labeled cells migrate to formerly unlabeled areas, and they differentiate into several somatic cell types and into germ cells. Finally, continuous exposure to BrdU shows an extensive renewal of the epithelial cells. Altogether, these results strengthen the idea of platyhelminth neoblasts as an unparalleled stem-cell system within the Animal Kingdom calling for further investigation.


An inbred strain of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat, the M-SHRSP, was established by brother-sister breeding of selected SHRSP for 24 generations while administering apresoline. Compared with SHRSP, the M-SHRSP shows an earlier rise in blood pressure, plasma renin activity (PRA) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure, and somewhat changed cerebrovascular lesions. Crosses and back-crosses, using M-SHRSP, Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), spontaneously hypercholesterolaemic (SHC) rats and their hybrids produced colonies with various blood pressure levels and hypercholesterolaemia. Continued successive selective brother-sister breeding of M-SHRSP and SHC hybrids produced a colony with severe hypertension and marked hypercholesterolaemia. Streptozotocin diabetes was induced in an M-SHRSP and SHC hybrid (TC), from which diabetic TC was successively bred to the fifth generation. While each generation was hypertensive and showed a decrease in islet B-cells, symptoms of lasting glycosuria were first observed in the fourth generation among those given a high alpha-corn starch (75.7%) diet.


An increase with time in resistivity occurs in plutonium at low temperatures as a result of radioactive self damage. The effect has been studied in experiments at liquid helium temperature lasting over 8000h and has been found to exist in the α, β and δ phases of the metal. In all cases the resistivity approaches saturation, the rates of increase depending on the crystal structure and isotropic content of the sample. In spite of wide differences in these rates the functional increase is roughly the same. The temperature dependence of the accumulated resistivities in all three modifications deviates very strongly from a simple additive resistance obeying Matthiesen's rule. The resistivity of fully damaged α plutonium is almost temperature independent, becoming smaller than that of the undamaged specimen above about 50 °K. Measurements on neptunium and uranium 233 have also shown resistivity increases with time at helium temperatures, but the effect is too small to decide whether Matthiesen's rule is obeyed in these metals. The observed effects have been discussed under the assumption that in plutonium scattering of electrons at low temperatures is mainly due to a co-operative phenomenon.


Objective: Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) in white blood cell (WBC) count is a marker of inflammation because neutrophils are proinflammatory while some lymphocytes are anti-inflammatory. NLR has been shown to predict the prognosis of patients with heart failure or coronary artery disease. However, it is not fully elucidated what kind of factors cause increased NLR. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively explore the factors that are associated with NLR in Japanese cardiovascular outpatients. Design and Method: Consecutive patients who visited Cardiovascular Division of Hyogo College of Medicine Hospital and received blood test including complete blood count and serum creatinine from February 2011 to October 2012 were included. Exclusion criteria were history of gastrointestinal surgery, malignancy, major bleeding within 1 year, hematologic diseases, inflammatory diseases, and collagen diseases. Demographic and clinical factors that were associated with NLR were cross-sectionary examined SPSS ver. 20, IBM Japan). Institutional ethics committee approved the study. Results: Ninety-nine patients met the inclusion criteria (age 69.6 ± 11.0 years, male 58.2 %). Patients with hypertension was 75.5%, and blood pressure was 138.2 ± 23.0/78.6 ± 14.8 mmHg. High WBC count, low hemoglobin, high red cell distribution width-coefficient of variation (RDW-CV), low eGFR were associated with high NLR in univariate analysis. Age, gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, chronic heart failure, ischemic heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and medications were not associated with NLR. High WBC count (p = 0.003) and low eGFR (p < 0.001) were independently associated with NLR in multivariate analysis. Chronic kidney disease may increase the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by increasing NLR. Conclusions: High NLR was strongly associated with impaired renal function in Japanese cardiovascular outpatients including many hypertensive patients. NLR may helpful for cardiovascular risk assessment in hypertension.


Expressed protein ligation (EPL) is an intein‐based approach that has been used for protein engineering and biophysical studies of protein structures. One major problem of the EPL is the low yield of final ligation product, primarily due to the complex procedure of the EPL, preventing EPL from gaining popularity in the research community. Here we report an efficient on‐column EPL strategy, which focuses on enhancing the expression level of the intein‐fusion protein that generates thioester for the EPL. We applied this EPL strategy to human apolipoprotein E (apoE) and routinely obtained 25–30 mg segmental, triple‐labeled apoE from 1‐L cell culture. The approaches reported here are general approaches that are not specific for apoE, thus providing a general strategy for a highly efficient EPL. In addition, we also report an isotopic labeling scheme that double‐labels one domain and keeps the other domain of apoE deuterated. Such an isotopic labeling scheme can only be achieved using the EPL strategy. Our data indicated that the segmental triple‐labeled apoEs using this labeling scheme produced high‐quality, simplified NMR spectra, facilitating NMR spectral assignment. For large proteins, such as apoE, perdeuterated protein samples have to be used to reduce the linewidth of NMR signals, causing a major problem for the NOE‐based NMR method, since perdeuterated proteins lack protons for NOE measurement. The new labeling strategy solves this problem and provides 13C/15N double‐labeled, protonated protein domains, allowing for determination of high‐resolution NMR structure of these large proteins.


Fuzzy logic provides a methodology to represent, manipulate, and implement heuristic knowledge to control a system. In this work, the development of a fuzzy irrigation control system based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to control greenhouse fertigation was presented. Factors involved in crop nutrition were discussed first. Next, the description of the fuzzy control system was presented, followed by the analysis and design of the fuzzy controller, and its implementation, a FPGA-integrated circuit. The FPGA system is not only flexible (it can be easily reconfigured and reused for different designs) but it also provides rapid prototyping and offers the capability to perform multiple operations at the same time, producing positive economic returns. The design, compilation, and simulation of the system were developed in Active-hardware description language (HDL) using the hardware description language, very high-speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL). Results from simulation and experiments showed the simplicity of the design, the viability of its implementation, and the low cost that the use of a fuzzy logic controller and FPGA system represents.

 Key words: Fuzzy logic controller, irrigation system, field programmable gate array (FPGA).


In this paper, we proposed the encryption algorithm to encrypt plaintext to cipher text and the decryption algorithm to do the reverse. We applied the basic computing operations to design these algorithms in this study. We used the inserting dummy symbols, rotating, transposition, shifting, complement and inserting control byte to build the data and tables in the encryption algorithm. These operations are simple and easily to implement. Without knowing the data and tables of encryption, it is difficult to do cryptanalysis. In the decryption algorithm, we used these data and tables to decrypt cipher text to plaintext. We can easily apply these algorithms to transmit data in network and the data transmission is secure.


ABSTRACT We present here the first complete genome sequence of Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV) isolated from cowpea in Uganda and compare it with five CABMV complete genome sequences from Brazil (2), India (2), and Zimbabwe (1). It most resembled the genomes of two Brazilian isolates (MG-Avr and BR1) and one Indian isolate (RR3).


Hospitalisation upsets the patient's life course, with individual psychosocial consequences the intensity of which varies according to the background of each patient. Some factors, such as the migration experience, impact the adjustment of foreign patients to hospitalisation.


Selection of optimal or near-optimal cutting parameters is a very important issue for every machining process. This paper presents a multi-objective optimisation technique to optimise the cutting parameters in multipass turning processes. A micro genetic algorithm is used to approximate the Pareto's front, by obtaining a set of non-dominated solutions. From the generated Pareto's front, the decision-maker chooses the most convenient solution, in accordance with its particular conditions and interests. An application sample is carried out to illustrate the proposed method and its outcomes are analysed for several manufacturing conditions. Paper remarks the advantages of the multi-objective optimisation over the single objective one.


Abstract Macroporous lands sensitive to wetting represent a category of sites with high vulnerability during construction exploitation. In this regard an effective measure is the protective shielding measures against the main factors influencing its behavior. The paper deals with a complex case study by both its importance functions and the fact that the objective analyzed is a part of historical monuments of particular value to the local community, namely the water tower in Braila Public Garden - România.


This paper presents a review of the state of the art of power electronics technology in both industrial and traction drive application. Key development trends include the dominance of AC adjustable-speed drives in new applications, with the squirrel-cage induction machine as the preferred machine in most cases. Particularly striking has been the rapid ascendance of the insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) as the predominant power switch in both industrial and traction applications ranging from fractional kilowatts to multimegawatts. Key current issues such as industrial drive input power quality and the effects of fast IGBT switching transients on the machines and electromagnetic interference (EMI) production are reviewed. Developments in electric traction for both rail and road vehicles are discussed, including the increasing modularity of new traction inverters in all sizes and the market introduction of new hybrid vehicles using advanced power electronics. The paper concludes with a discussion of expected future trends in power electronics technology that will likely expand the markets for industrial and traction drives during coming years.


Solvent effects in the liquid phase (0.1 MPa; 303 K) hydrodechlorination (HDC) of 2,4-dichlorophenol have been established over Pd/Al2O3. In the absence of secondary reactions, catalyst deactivation, and transport limitations, a stepwise HDC yields 2-chlorophenol and phenol, where product selectivity was insensitive to the nature of the solvent. In contrast, the initial HDC rates exhibited a marked dependence on the reaction medium and increased in the order: benzene < THF < n-hexane < cyclohexane < alcohols < water. Higher rates result from the concomitant effect of an increase in the dielectric constant (e) and a decrease in the molar volume ( ) of the solvent, where the major (ca. 80%) contribution is due to e. We attribute this response to the increased solvent capacity to stabilize the arenium intermediate at higher/lower e/, an effect that extends to reaction in water + organic combinations. We provide, for the first time, a reliable quantification of solvent effects that can be potentially applied to other catalytic hydrogenolysis systems. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010


Lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) is a common lung cancer with a high malignancy that urgently needs to be treated with effective drugs. Ginsenoside Rh4 exhibits outstanding antitumor activities. However, few studies reported its effects on growth, metastasis and molecular mechanisms in LAC. Here, Rh4 is certified to show a strong anti-LAC efficiency in vitro and in vivo. Results of flow cytometry and Western blot are obtained to exhibited that Rh4 markedly restrained cellular proliferation and colony formation by arresting the cell cycle in the G1 phase. Results from a wound healing assay and transwell assays demonstrated that Rh4 is active in the antimigration and anti-invasion of LAC. The analysis of Western blot, immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR confirmed that Rh4 reverses the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) through upregulating the gene expression of E-cadherin and downregulating that of snail, N-cadherin and vimentin. In vivo results from immunohistochemistry show consistent trends with cellular studies. Furthermore, Rh4 suppresses the Janus kinases2/signal transducer and activator of the transcription3 (JAK2/STAT3) signaling pathway stimulated by TGF-β1. Silencing the STAT3 signal or co-treating with AG490 both enhanced the EMT attenuation caused by Rh4, which revealed that Rh4 suppressed EMT via inhibiting the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. These findings explore the capacity and mechanism of Rh4 on the antimetastasis of LAC, providing evidence for Rh4 to LAC therapy.


The purpose of this article was to analyze the efficacy of Botulinum Toxin type A in the treatment of wrinkles that is used to delay skin aging. Therefore, the study of the action of Botulinum Toxin and knowledge of the application of "Botox", a popular name, in the treatment of dynamic wrinkles are essential, in order to avoid the occurrence of possible complications in use. The method applied was a literature review, and the research was carried out by the SciELO, PubMed, Science Direct, MedLine and Bireme databases. It was possible to identify the results of scientific studies, the effectiveness of Toxin, as well as reaffirm the satisfaction of patients who use this treatment. However, it is concluded that, further studies are needed to advance this aesthetic procedure to contribute to the expansion of the Biomedical field of action and enable resources for the treatment of patients undergoing Botox. DESCRIPTORS: Botulinum Toxin; Aging; Botox; Wrinkles.


A turning test on aluminium-based metal-matrix composites (MMCs) (aluminium-30% silicon carbide) was performed with K-20 carbide tool material and wear patterns and the wear land growth rates were analysed to evaluate the wear characteristics and to classify the relationship between the physical (mechanical) properties and the flank wear of cutting tools. The study was also extended to the machining aspects and the width of cuts on MMCs and the influence of various cutting parameters. The experiments were conducted to measure the temperature along the cutting tool edge using thermocouple at various cutting speeds, and depth of cuts, keeping the feed rate constant while turning with K-20 carbide cutting tool. The finite-element method was used to simulate the orthogonal cutting of aluminium-based MMCs. The heat generation at the chip-tool interface, frictional heat generation at the tool flank, and the heat generation at the work tool interface were calculated analytically and imposed as boundary conditions. The analysis of the steady-state heat transfer was carried out and the temperature distribution at cutting edge, shear zone, and interface regions have been reported.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel all-optical microwave filter with high frequency selectivity. It is based on a recirculating delay line (RDL) loop in which a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is followed by a tunable narrowband optical filter and a 1 × 2 10:90 optical coupler. Converted signal used as a negative tap is generated through wavelength conversion employing the cross-gain modulation (XGM) of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectrum of the SOA. The converted signal circulating in the RDL loop can realize a high quality factor (Q) response after photo-detection. The 1 × 2 10:90 coupler is employed to extract 10% optical power from the loop as output. A frequency response with a high Q factor of 543, a rejection ratio of 40 dB and a shape factor of 15.4 is experimentally demonstrated.


We have studied the mode of ventilation and chemosentivity in 10 patients suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. The total lung capacity was on average 63.5 +/- 8% of the predicted. Their static compliance was 0.078 +/- 0.05 l.cm of water. The patients were studied in the prone position breathing ambient air then on hyperoxia. The response to CO2 was assessed according to the rebreathing method of Read. The results of these patients were compared with those of 11 normal subjects. The ventilation at rest was normal, with a shortened respiratory time and a Ti/Ttot ratio which was lowered. The occlusion pressure (P0.1) was very much higher than that in normal subjects. This rise was correlated with an increase in pulmonary elastance and a reduction in vital capacity. The correction of hypoxia was without effect on the respiratory parameters. In relation to normal subjects the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide in fibrotics was decreased whilst the response of the P0.1 was increased expressing central hyperactivity. In conclusion, fibrotic patients have normal ventilation in spite of an increase in inspiratory work. This normal ventilation results from hyperactivity of the respiratory centre, as in the hyperventilation induced by carbon dioxide when at rest.


In this work, we focus on the challenge of taking partial observations of highly-stylized text and generalizing the observations to generate unobserved glyphs in the ornamented typeface. To generate a set of multi-content images following a consistent style from very few examples, we propose an end-to-end stacked conditional GAN model considering content along channels and style along network layers. Our proposed network transfers the style of given glyphs to the contents of unseen ones, capturing highly stylized fonts found in the real-world such as those on movie posters or infographics. We seek to transfer both the typographic stylization (ex. serifs and ears) as well as the textual stylization (ex. color gradients and effects.) We base our experiments on our collected data set including 10,000 fonts with different styles and demonstrate effective generalization from a very small number of observed glyphs.


DEAK SIR,—We have read with great interest the article by Dr. F. J. Ebling in The British Journal of Dermatology, February, 1961. We realize now that the single experiment on the effect of 1 microgram of progesterone daily, reported in the paper of Haskin, Lasher and Rothman {J. invest. Derm., 1953, 20, 207) should have been recognized as being of questionable significance as is apparent from the chart in that paper which shows only a very slight effect which may not be statistically significant. Also, we should have realized that in low dose ranges tho effect of progesterone is not comparable to that of testosterone, milligram per milligram. On the other hand, large doses of progesterone, between 1 and 10 milligrams daily, given to adult castrated female rats in a very large number of experiments have produced consistently significant enlargement of sebaceous glands and preputial glands. Concerning Dr. Ebling's results we have to discuss the experiments summarized in his Table III because only those animals are comparable to those used in our experiments. We find that these experiments do not invalidate our results for the following reasons : i. His dosage was 0-16 to 0-18 mg. daily which is less than a fifth of the dose used by us. While he may say that our dosage w&s unphysiologically large, one has to consider that progesterone before it acts may partially imdergo metabolic conversion into androgen and to recognize this effect large doses may be necessary. Non-physiological large doses are used in clinical therapy in order to obtain certain effects which cannot be obtained with small doses. The synthesis of many steroids is channelled through progesterone and indeeed we have no idea how much progesterone may circulate in the animal physiologically. ii. There were methodological differences. We have taken proand post-treatment biopsies in the same animal, there being wide individual variations which might lead to masking of the effect while he had compared groups of treated and untreated animals. We used injections and he used pellets. We measured gland volume and he counted cell nuclei. It is hard to evaluate how these differences may have influenced the results. We believe he should have stated that with the methods he used he was unable to induce sebaceous gland hyperplasia with progesterone but we cannot accept his statement that his results " contradict " ours. Sincerely yours, STEPHEN ROTHMAN Chicago. ALLAN L. LORINCZ.


Hearing Preservation is becoming increasingly important in cochlear implantation as there is growing evidence that preserving the residual hearing, especially in the low frequencies in combination with the electric stimulation can significantly improve hearing and speech outcomes in noise. Besides the ongoing development of atraumatic implant electrodes and insertion techniques, the implementation of pharmacologic hair cell protection is thought to increase hearing preservation. This study investigates the effects of preoperative intratympanic glucocorticoid application on hearing preservation rates in cochlear implantation.


Nowadays, advent of web service is considered as a technology bringing a revolution operations of online B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) applications. However, the user requirement for web services is diverse and complex. In most cases, a simple web service cannot meet the user requirement. Therefore, the composition of web services (or Web Service Composition WSC) is set out as an indispensable. When the number of web services in repository increase, the computational cost of composition problem also increases significantly. The performance of composition process depends on the way we organize web services in the repository. Indexing is a technique of data mining field which can help us organize the web services and retrieve them optimally. In this paper, we proposed a bitwise-based indexing mechanism for fast location of suitable web services. This approach is implemented and proved its effectiveness over the real datasets with thousands of web services. As a result, significant improvement of performance has been made, especially as compared to other existing works in the same field. Keywords—Bitwise-based Web Service Indexing, Web Service Indexing, Web Service Composition, Web Service Verification, Bitwise-based Indexing


This research reports a feasibility study into multiscale polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) modeling through the simulation of macroscopic flow in the multilayered cell via one-dimensional (1D) electrochemical modeling, and the simulation of microscopic flow in the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL) via three-dimensional (3D) single-phase multicomponent lattice Boltzmann (SPMC-LB) modeling. The heterogeneous porous geometry of the carbon-paper GDL is digitally reconstructed for the SPMC-LB model using X-ray computer microtomography. Boundary conditions at the channel and catalyst layer interfaces for the SPMC-LB simulations such as specie partial pressures and through-plane flowrates are determined using the validated 1D electrochemical model, which is based on the general transport equation (GTE) and volume-averaged structural properties of the GDL. The calculated pressure profiles from the two models are cross-validated to verify the SPMC-LB technique. The simulations reveal a maximum difference of 2.4% between the thickness-averaged pressures calculated by the two techniques, which is attributable to the actual heterogeneity of the porous GDL structure.


In this paper we present two forwarding protocols for mobile wireless networks of selfish individuals. We assume that all the nodes are selfish and show formally that both protocols are Nash equilibria, that is, no individual has an interest to deviate. Extensive simulations with real traces show that our protocols introduce an extremely small overhead in terms of delay, while the techniques we introduce to force faithful behavior have the positive side-effect to improve performance by reducing the number of message considerably (more than 20\%). We test our protocols also in the presence of a natural variation of the notion of selfishness—nodes that are selfish with outsiders and faithful with people from the same community. Even in this case, our protocols are shown to be very efficient in detecting possible misbehavior.


The blackout of '03 took many hoteliers in the northeastern United States and Canada largely by surprise. Hotel managers found themselves scrambling to serve guests overnight in darkened hotels, many of which did not have running water, let alone expected amenities. Despite the challenges, hoteliers responding to a postblackout survey reported that their staff members were up to the task of providing hospitality for guests—often by devising creative processes for check-in and checkout, food service, and the like. For their part, guests were mostly understanding about the power failure and appreciated hotel employees' efforts on their behalf. However, guests were surprised that hotels often did not have backup power to maintain critical systems after emergency power failed. Service quality and the guest experience typically suffered at those hotels that lost power and were ill prepared to deal with disruptions in the service system. This article examines these problems and provides insights for how to safeguard service when the unexpected happens.


Burma (or Myanmar) is not a place that people normally associate with the glamour of film stars, or the fun and frivolity of celebrities, unlike in neighbouring India or Thailand. But each year the very matter-of-factly named 'Myanmar Economics Import/Export VCD' company produces a disk of the year's most memorable television ads, showcasing some of the many Burmese celebrities on television at the moment. As a testament to the catchiness of the ads, disks have become so popular that they can be bought on street corners in Yangon for about 1000 Kyats (US$1). Though advertising in Burma is highly vetted for political content, much like film and print media, the samples featured show a surprising array of entertaining themes and ideas. Much of television advertising, in some way or another, draws upon the profiles of versatile Burmese celebrities to engage and build brand value.


Poor literacy and numeracy levels in schools have raised questions in South Africa, as they have internationally, on the quality and appropriateness of initial teacher education for preparing teachers for the complexities faced in schools generally and for the mediation of literacy and numeracy in the early years in particular. This paper profiles empirical research relating to initial teacher education over two decades of South African democracy, derived from a systematic review of journal articles, with the aim of proposing an agenda for research into foundation phase initial teacher education. It concludes that in the period between the birth of South Africa's democracy and the present, there is little evidence of sustained research on initial teacher education in general, and a dearth of research focused on teacher preparation for the foundation phase in particular. The paper argues for the development of a research agenda that better takes account of the iterative relationship between researching classrooms and researching initial teacher education, especially as it relates to the foundation phase, where research is patchy and unsystematic. Evidence from such research might not only provide a base for policy and curriculum decisions but also lead to more responsive and contextually relevant teacher preparation. Keywords: diversity; foundation phase; literacy; numeracy; research agenda; teacher education


Objectives Previously we established that symptoms reported by 1990–1991 Gulf War veterans were correlated and exhibited a pattern with 3 factors (psychophysiological distress, somatic distress and arthroneuromuscular distress), and this pattern was similar to that observed in a military comparison group. In this follow-up study, we examined whether the patterns of symptomatology have changed over time. Methods Using data on 56 symptoms that was collected in 2000–2003 (wave 1) and 2011–2012 (wave 2) from an Australian cohort of Gulf War veterans (veterans) and a military comparison group, exploratory factor analysis was conducted and Tucker's Congruence Coefficient (TCC) was used to determine factor structure similarity across study groups and waves. Results The results showed that the 3 factors observed at wave 1 were still present at wave 2, and factor structures across study groups and study waves were fairly similar, with TCC ranging 0.86–0.92. Veterans consistently reported more symptoms across all 3 factors. Veterans' symptomatology specific to psychophysiological distress increased between waves 1 and 2 (ratio of means 1.15; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.25) but psychophysiological distress symptomatology was constant in the comparison group (ratio of means 0.97; 95% CI 0.89 to 1.06). Somatic and arthroneuromuscular distress symptomatology significantly increased over time for both study groups, although at a similar rate. Conclusions While the symptom groupings (measured by the 3 factors) remained unchanged at 10 years of follow-up, and remained comparable between Gulf War and comparison group, symptomatology continued to be elevated in Gulf War veterans than in the comparison group, and was most evident for psychophysiological distress.


A new method of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) fluorescent imaging for human serum proteins detection after polyacrylamide gels electrophoresis (PAGE) is established. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is one of the most general and powerful technique to separate complex biosamples, and it is widely used in molecular biology, biochemistry and medicine. With the evolution of clinical proteomics, the development of a novel method to detect serum proteins after PAGE with high resolution and high sensitivity is of great significant. As far as we know, the carbon quantum dots have not been applied in the detection of serum proteins after PAGE. The fluorescent carbon quantum dots were synthesized by a one-step microwave pyrolysis method: glycerol and phosphate buffer (7.1 mmolL -1 , pH 7.4) (φ=70%) was mixed evenly, and then put the solu- tion into the advanced microwave digestion system and heated for 14 min (750 W), the colorless solution turned to yellow after reaction. The yellow solution was diluted into the incubation solution with HOAc-NaOAc buffer (80 mmolL -1 , pH 2.7), and then used for staining serum proteins. The emission and excitation spectra of carbon quantum dots were measured, and the excitation wavelength allowed the use of an ultraviolet lamp at 365 nm for the fluorescent imaging. In order to inves- tigate the performance of CQDs fluorescent imaging, the dilution of human serum samples separated by electrophoresis was used for detection, and was compared with traditional method of CBB-R250 staining and silver staining. The results sug- gested that CQDs based on fluorescent imaging could effectively detect human serum proteins with high sensitivity and resolution. The sensitivity of CQDs imaging was higher than CBB staining and comparable to silver staining. Therefore, the CQDs fluorescent imaging could be an inexpensive, time-saving, pollution-free and convenient method with high sensitivity and resolution for the detection of human serum proteins. It demonstrates the CQDs fluorescent imaging technology has great significant prospects in the development of biotechnology and nanotechnology. Keywords carbon quantum dot; polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; protein; fluorescent imaging


Background: The peak incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been reported in children and young adults. Intracranial pressure (ICP) as an important component can be measured with invasive technique, whereas noninvasive measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) is increasingly becoming popular. Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) has been found to affect ICP. We aimed to compare the effect of different values of PEEP on ONSD and to obtain the correlation with ICP measurement. Setting and Design: Neurointensive Care Unit, Trauma Center, AIIMS, New Delhi. Materials and Methods: Pediatric patients with TBI, of either gender, between 1 and 18 years of age in whom ICP was measured using intraparenchymal Codman catheter admitted in neurointensive care unit were enrolled. For this crossover study, the sequence of PEEP (0 or 3 or 5cm H2O) was randomized and ONSD was measured. The mean of three ONSD values was taken as final value. Statistical Method: The ONSD, ICP, peak airway pressure, and hemodynamic parameters at various stages were compared using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction. A P value of <0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: Ten patients (seven males, three females) participated in the study. There was no significant increase in ONSD values when PEEP was increased from 0 to 3cm H2O. However, increase in PEEP values from 3 to 5cm H2O showed significantly increased ONSD values. Conclusion: PEEP up to 3cm H2O can be safely applied in pediatric patients following TBI. Further increment of PEEP might accentuate the ICP values.


Background: Recurrent events analysis plays an important role in many applications, including the study of chronic diseases or recurrence of infections. Historically, most models for the analysis of time-to-event data, including recurrent events, have been based on Cox proportional hazards regression. Recently, however, the Piece-wise exponential Additive Mixed Model (PAMM) has gained popularity as a flexible framework for survival analysis. While many papers and tutorials have been presented in the literature on the application of Cox based models, few papers have provided detailed instructions for the application of PAMMs and to our knowledge, none exist for recurrent events analysis. Methods: The PAMM is introduced as a framework for recurrent events analysis. We describe the application of the model to unstratified and stratified shared frailty models for recurrent events. We illustrate how penalized splines can be used to estimate non-linear and time-varying covariate effects without a priori assumptions about their functional shape. The model is motivated for both, analysis on the gap timescale ("clock-reset") and calendar timescale ("clock-forward"). The data augmentation necessary for the application to recurrent events is described and explained in detail. Results: Simulations confirmed that the model provides unbiased estimates of covariate effects and the frailty variance, as well as equivalence to the Cox model when proportional hazards are assumed. Applications to recurrence of staphylococcus aureus and malaria in children illustrates the estimation of seasonality, bivariate non-linear effects, multiple timescales and relaxation of the proportional hazards assumption via time-varying effects. The R package pammtools has been extended to facilitate estimation, visualization and interpretation of PAMMs for recurrent events analysis. Conclusion: PAMMs provide a flexible framework for the analysis of time-to-event and recurrent events data. The estimation of PAMMs is based on Generalized Additive Mixed Models and thus extends the researcher's toolbox for recurrent events analysis.


A statistically rigorous approach based on the isocon method (Grant, 1986) to evaluate mass transport is presented. Chemical analyses of multiple samples of unaltered (parent) and altered rock are used to calculate the average oxide or element concentration and its standard deviation for each rock population. In a typical application, the uncertainties in element concentration associated with the lack of homogeneity in each population outweigh the analytical uncertainty. An efficient algorithm is presented to select the immobile elements by identifying the maximum number of elements that are, within their uncertainties, compatible with the same isocon. The actual isocon is constructed by forcing a line through the origin and optimizing its slope using a weighted least-squares procedure for the selected immobile elements. Thus, individual uncertainties for each immobile element are taken into account. As an illustration, the procedure is applied to a published set of data on potassic and sericitic alterations of quartz monzonite of the Bingham porphyry copper system. The surprising result indicates that the apparent increase of potassic alteration phases is a consequence of acid leaching of calcium and sodium. No mass transport of potassium is indicated. Silica, water, and sulfur were added during alteration. The best fit isocon requires a small mass increase during each alteration process which, however, is within the uncertainty obtained for the slope of the isocon. A software package is available from the authors in the form of a FORTRAN 77 source code.


I. Introduction The general features and fossils of the Wenlock Limestone have been described by several geologists, but I am not aware of any endeavor to make a systematic examination of the microscopic structure. The value of such work has been greatly underestimated; for investigations which I have made show that, although much information as to the formation and structure of the rock may be gained by observations made without the assistance of a microscope, yet the use of this instrument brings into view important facts which are not perceived by the unassisted eye. In this paper I do not attempt an exhaustive enquiry; to do this it would be necessary to make several visits to the localities from which specimens for examination were collected, and this I have been able to accomplish only in the case of the Wenlock Limestones exposed within a convenient distance from Cheltenham. I have therefore selected what I regard as typical sections of the limestone in the neighbourhood of May Hill in Gloucestershire, and in the adjoining portion of the county of Hereford. The procedure has been to take samples from several beds in each exposure of the rock, and to grind down the usual thin sections for examination under a microscope. These I prepare myself, and I mention the fact because it seems to me important for this reason: very many slides require to be made for a paper like the present one, and each must be adjusted, with regard to actual thinness,


The human residents of cities represent a largely untapped and potentially vast source of information about urban wildlife. One simple and scientifically valuable contribution involves the reporting of sightings of tagged animals, but even in urban areas, such reports are relatively rare. We draw on two case studies of conspicuously tagged and iconic animals to consider human reactions to wildlife tags, and how these influence the likelihood of unsolicited reports. We evaluate potential strategies for increasing participation from this pool of potential citizen scientists and maximising the reliability of these contributions. In both studies, public reports contributed substantial and largely accurate data. We conclude that such reports are often of unique value, and that common sources of reporting error can be minimised by careful tag design and clear advice to participants. Effective information campaigns can have unexpected effects on reporting rates, but in general, communication is crucial to raising awareness and encouraging public involvement. New interactive web-based tools have the potential to dramatically increase public accessibility to information and encourage involvement by providing instant feedback, access to research updates, and encouraging the formation of clusters of citizen scientists.


Eyewear is provided that can comprise a frame, a lens, and at least one lens retention mechanism that can secure the lens relative to the frame. The frame can support at least one lens in a field of view of a wearer. The frame can include a first ear stem and a second ear stem that allows the frame to be worn on the wearer's head. The retention mechanism can be supported by the frame and/or the lens and can be movable or fixed relative to the frame and/or the lens. In some embodiments, the retention mechanism comprises a latch device having an engagement structure that moves along a path of motion that intersects the lens. The retention component can engage an engagement portion of the lens to securing the lens relative to the frame.


Fifteen patients with chronic postoperative bilious vomiting were treated by repair of hiatus hernia with satisfactory relief of symptoms. Two patients were known to have had hiatus hernia prior to the first gastric operation; nine patients were believed to have had hiatus hernia prior to the first gastric operation, but this fact is not certain; and in four patients it was suspected that transabdominal vagotomy may have had an iatrogenic role in the development of gastroesophageal incompetence. As a result of this retrospective study it was concluded that undiscovered sliding esophageal hiatus hernia is the cause of bilious vomiting in many patients heretofore thought to have the "afferent-loop syndrome."


A series of geotechnical surveys and in-situ tests were carried out to evaluate the stability of underground mine cave in an abandoned coal mine. After the closure of the mine, the underground mine drifts have been utilized for a tourist route since 1999. The dimension of the main cave is 5m width, 3m height and 230m length. The surrounding rock mass of the cave is consist of black shale, coal and limestone. Also, the main cave is intersected by two fault zone. Detailed field investigations including Rock Mass Rating(RMR), Geological Strength Index(GSI) and Q classification were performed to evaluate the stability of the main cave and to examine the necessity of reinforcement. Based on the results of rock mass classification and numerical analysis, suitable support design was recommended for the main cave. RMR and Q values of the rock masses were classified in the range of fair to good. According to the support categories proposed by Grimstad & Barton(I993), these classes fall in the reinforcement category of the Type 3 to Type I. A Type 3 reinforcement category signifies systematic bolting and no support is necessary for the Type 1 case. From the result of numerical analysis, it was inferred that additional support on the several unstable blocks is required to ensure stability of the cave.


Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a relatively new technique for tumor ablation. It has shown promising results in difficult cases where surgery is not recommended and delicate anatomic structures are present near or within the tumor. Currently, liver cancer is one of the most common targets for IRE treatment. Pre-operative and post-operative imaging has a key role in IRE procedures and research studies. Although ultrasound is usually the first choice, especially for intra-operative guidance, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in the visualization and characterization of tumor before and after IRE in clinical and preclinical studies. However, the appearance of liver lesions after IRE with different MRI sequences has never been systematically investigated, and the most common practice is to limit the acquisition protocol to only contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. In this work, the role of MRI in clinical and preclinical assessment of hepatic tumors treated with IRE is reviewed and discussed.


Tetrakis(methylthio)-1,4,5,8-tetrathiatetralin 4 and tetrakis (methylseleno)-1,4,5,8-tetrathiatetralin 6 is successfully prepared by the reaction of tetrathiatetralin (TTT)2 with lithium diisopropylamide and MeSSMe or MeSeSeMe in diethyl ether and a remarkable solvent effect is observed in the analogous reaction in tetrahydrofuran to give tetrakis(methylthio)tetrathiafulvalene 5 by a novel rearrangement.


The objective of the study was to determine the proportion of sound HIV knowledge and common misconceptions about HIV among university students. A set of pre tested and validated questionnaire assessing sound HIV knowledge and common misconceptions about HIV was used in this cross sectional study. HIV knowledge was defined as sound when one was able to identify correctly two ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and reject three major misconceptions about HIV. Out of 300 respondents, 298 completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 99.3%. A total of 40.9% of university students have sound HIV knowledge. The majority of those who lacked sound HIV knowledge were young (60.2%) and female (60.4%). A significant proportion still believed that HIV
can be transmitted via social contact (13.8%), by sneezing or coughing (11.4%) and mosquito bites (10.1%). About 6.7% were believed wrongly that HIV can be treated by vaccine and healthy-looking people cannot have HIV.


Abstract : The purpose of the action is to ensure there is no disruption to pilot training at Columbus AFB while Runway 13Right/31Left (13R/31L) at the Base is closed for repair and repaving from approximately February to July 2003. Under the Proposed Action, Columbus AFB would rotate as many as 18 T-1 aircraft to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport (GTRA), which is about 13 miles southwest of the Base and 10 miles west of the City of Columbus, Mississippi, on a weekly basis during the 6-month period and then fly training sorties from the airport. Columbus AFB T-37 aircraft would continue to be parked at and launch and terminate sorties at the Base; however, T-37 airfield operations would be accomplished at the GTRA Mondays through Fridays during the 6-month period. T-1 and T-37 aircraft would accomplish about 161.20 average daily operations at the GTRA. The Air Force would transport a mobile air traffic control tower to the airport from another location for use in controlling all aircraft traffic at the airport during the period when T-1 and T-37 operations would be conducted at the airport. The airspace within an approximate 5-mile radius of the GTRA and up to 2,500 above ground level would be designated as class D airspace when the air traffic control tower would be operating. No extensive aircraft maintenance activities would be anticipated to occur at GTRA other than the rare occasion when a T-1 or T-3 7 aircraft might land at the airport due to an emergency that would require maintenance before being capable of a subsequent flight. This EA evaluates the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative. Under the No Action Alternative, Columbus AFB would not locate T-1 aircraft at the GTRA or conduct T-1 and/or T-37 airfield operations at the airport while 13R/3 1L at the Base would be closed.


In order to assess the incompleteness in filling out death certificates (DC) in the regional health offices of the State of Pernambuco a descriptive study was conducted on data for infant mortality information on deaths of children under one year of age in the municipalities of Pernambuco in the 1999-2001 and 2009-2011 threeyear periods. The percentage of incompleteness was based on the blank/unknown responses in the DCs per regional health office and the proportional variation rate of incompleteness between the two periods. It was observed that the filling out of information did not show a well-defined pattern per office, with a reduction in incompleteness occurring for most variables, though the sex, age and place of occurrence of death variables alone revealed ≤ 5% incompleteness in the second term of study, which was considered excellent in terms of the Romero and Cunha scores. Despite the decrease in incompleteness related to pregnancy, childbirth and mother-related variables, in the second triennium incompleteness between 10 and 20% was observed, with a regular score in the 2009-2011 triennium. Despite the improvement in the filling out of details in the State, it is necessary to strengthen surveillance and training for completing the DCs by the Committees for Prevention of Infant Mortality.


This study explores the feasibility of launching an e-scooter sharing system as a new micro-mobility mode, and part of the public transportation system in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, survey was conducted in April 2020 to shed light on the perception of e-scooter systems in Riyadh. A sample of 439 respondents was collected, where majority indicated willingness to use the e-scooter sharing system if available (males are twice as likely to agree than females). Roughly 75% of the respondents indicated that open entertainment areas and shopping malls are ideal places for e-scooter sharing systems. Results indicated that people who use ride-hailing services such as Uber, expressed more willingness to use e-scooters for various purposes. The study found that the major obstacle for deploying e-scooters in Saudi Arabia is the lack of sufficient infrastructure (70%), followed by weather (63%) and safety (49%). Moreover, the study found that approximately half of the respondents believed that COVID-19 will not affect their willingness to ride e-scooters. Two types of logistic regression models were built. The outcomes of the models show that gender, age, and using ride-hailing services play an important role in respondents' willingness to use e-scooter. Results will enable policymakers and operating agencies to evaluate the feasibility of deploying e-scooters and better manage the operation of the system as an integral and reliable part of public transportation.


Mitigating outage regions is of particular interest for emerging millimeter-wave (mmWave) and future sub-terahertz frequency cellular networks. Whereas smart radio environments based on metasurfaces constitute a key concept for 6G research, current networks cannot be served as new control procedures are required. Although small prototypes are already emerging, costs will be higher for the dense deployment of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) compared to passive reflectors. It is argued that passive reflectors can be used to effectively, cost-efficiently, and permanently boost connectivity in well-defined service areas. Leveraging the advantages of 3D printing and spray-painted conductive varnish, we introduce the Holistic Enlightening of bLackspots with passIve reflectOr moduleS (HELIOS) approach which is characterized by its scalability and parametrizability to meet the reflection requirements derived from sophisticated network planning. These slim reflectors meet the core criteria of ease of installation and minimal visual impact on the cityscape, which are imperative for market success. Our measurement-based comparison of prototypes against typical metal/aluminum reflectors shows at least equal reflectivity at a higher practicality of the proposed manufacturing process. The conducted simulation study validates the modular reflector pattern design process and finds a trade-off between the reflector efficiency and the minimum protrusion depth, which relates to the number of modules in the designated mounting area. An urban ray-tracing simulation-based case study further underlines the high applicability of the proposed approach, with the growth of the beyond line-of-sight (LOS) connectivity region being nearly twice as large for a site-tailored heterogeneous HELIOS configuration than that for a simple reflector plate.


In today's world, clinicians need to be prepared to care for challenging patients and families that are struggling with the stress of illness and hospitalization and have inadequate coping skills. The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) has developed a protocol identifying a team with representatives from psychiatry, security, and risk management to provide a rapid response in situations that historically have resulted in, at worst, sentinel/adverse events and at best, service disasters. The pediatric BRT protocol formalizes the purpose of the team, how staff should access them, and the expectation for involved staff to debrief about the interventions at identified times. It has proven to be an effective intervention and allows clinicians to provide needed care to the patients.


Repetitive peripheral stimulation is associated with an enhancement of the intensity of corticomotor responses. We analysed the effects of hemicerebellectomy on the modulation of cortical motor output associated with repetitive electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve in the rat. Hemicerebellectomy blocked the enhancement of the corticomotor response. The cerebellum is a key player in this form of short‐term plasticity.


Patients (111 males) with coronary heart disease (CHD) and angina, II-III functional class, accompanied by arterial hypertension (AH), I-III degree, in 77 % of cases (mean age was 62.0±0.76 years) were examined prior to coronary bypass surgery. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of 56 nonsmoking patients (112 upper extremities) and group 2 55 smoking patients (110 upper extremities) with the experience of smoking being 33±1.6 years on average. The thumb of both the right and left hand was tested for peripheral microcirculatory blood flow (MBF) by using a laser-Doppler flowmetry method (LDF). This quantitative method was developed at our clinic to assess the adequacy of collateral circulation in the hand. The method compares MBF provided by the ulnar artery, with the radial artery occluded, with the background level. Some features of various clinical parameters in the group of smokers suffering from coronary artery disease were analyzed in comparison with those of non-smokers. Significant differences were found in the indicators of lipid profile: increased levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) against the background of low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the group of smoking patients. We found out that the smokers had to apply for surgical treatment by 7 years (on average) earlier; they had a significantly greater number of heart attacks and showed the lowest body mass index (BMI). The LDF test helped to establish that smoking in patients with CHD enhances the endothelial dysfunction, while significantly reducing the reactivity of the microvascular bed under the influence of hyperemic stimulus. Sampling the radial artery for coronary artery bypass grafting in smokers tended to give negative results.