OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to determine whether allergen inhalation modulates the levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 in the induced sputum recovered from patients during a late-phase reaction.

METHOD
Eight allergic asthma patients and five healthy control subjects inhaled a dose of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus extract corresponding to the provocative concentration of the allergen causing a 20% fall in FEV(1) and saline solution. Lung function was carefully monitored for 6 h, and an induced sputum test was performed at 6 h after sham challenge or allergen challenge. The total and differential cell counts were analyzed, and the levels of MMP-9 (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and zymography), TIMP-1 (by ELISA), and albumin (by rocket immunoelectrophoresis) were measured.

RESULTS
The sputum eosinophil counts (p < 0.01) and MMP-9 levels (p < 0.05) increased significantly in atopic asthma patients after undergoing the allergen challenge but did not in the control subjects. By contrast, TIMP-1 and albumin levels were not significantly increased in any group. MMP-9 levels, measured after the allergen challenge in asthmatic patients, were significantly correlated with FEV(1) variations after allergen inhalation (r = 0.51; p < 0.05) and with the sputum neutrophil percentage (r = 0.71; p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
The levels of MMP-9, but not TIMP-1, increase after inhaled allergen challenge in the sputum of allergic asthmatic patients. This protease increase may lead to a transient imbalance between MMP-9 and TIMP-1 favoring proteolytic extracellular matrix degradation.


The patient was an 86-year-old woman. In December 2005, she became aware of a tumor in her right breast at the nipple, gradually increasing in size and bleeding, and visited our department in April 2006. Roughly 3.5 cm in size, the tumor had a prominent large skin surface, bled profusely, and a dark red-colored was found at the E area of the right breast. Ultrasonography and mammography revealed that the tumor had invaded the skin and pectoralis major muscle (T4b). Core needle biopsy examination indicated invasive breast cancer (pap-tub), ER(+), PgR(+), HER2(3+). Chest CT scan and bone scintigraphy revealed swollen changes at the right axillary lymph nodes and osteoblastic changes in the 7th thoracic vertebra. We started anastrozole 1mg/day treatment. Tumor blood loss after one month was confirmed. After six months, the primary tumor size was reduced to 2 cm and the axillary lymph nodes disappeared. Administration continued about three years, and the tumor showed only the scar-like changes, and was unclear from ultrasonography (cPR). We report the long-term effect of aromatase inhibitor for elderly breast cancer patients without operation.


TNO is building EBL2 as a publicly accessible test facility for EUV lithography related development of photomasks, pellicles, optics, and other components. EBL2 will consist of a Beam Line, an XPS system, and sample handling infrastructure. EBL2 will accept a wide range of sample sizes, including EUV masks with or without pellicles. All types of samples will be loaded using a standard dual pod interface. EUV masks returned from EBL2 will retain their NXE compatibility. The Beam Line provides high intensity EUV irradiation from a Sn-fueled EUV source. EUV intensity, pupil, spectrum, and repetition rate are all adjustable. In-situ measurements by ellipsometry will enable real time monitoring of the sample condition. The XPS will be capable of analyzing the full surface area of EUV masks and pellicles, as well as performing angle resolved analysis on smaller samples. Sample transfer between the XPS and the Beam Line will be possible without breaking vacuum.


Dehalococcoides strains reductively dechlorinate a wide variety of halogenated compounds including chlorinated benzenes, biphenyls, naphthalenes, dioxins, and ethenes. Recent genome sequencing of the two Dehalococcoides strains CBDB1 and 195 revealed the presence of 32 and 18 reductive dehalogenase homologous genes, respectively, and therefore suggested an even higher dechlorinating potential than previously anticipated. Here, we demonstrate reductive dehalogenation of chlorophenol congeners by Dehalococcoides strains CBDB1 and 195. Strain CBDB1 completely converted 2,3-dichlorophenol, all six trichlorophenols, all three tetrachlorophenols, and pentachlorophenol to lower chlorinated phenols. Observed dechlorination rates in batch cultures with cell numbers of 10(7) mL(-1) amounted up to 35 microM day(-1). Chlorophenols were preferentially dechlorinated in the ortho position, but also doubly flanked and singly flanked meta- or para-chlorine substituents were removed. We used a newly designed computer-assisted direct cell counting protocol and quantitative PCR to demonstrate that strain CBDB1 uses chlorophenols as electron acceptors for respiratory growth. The growth yield of strain CBDB1 with 2,3-dichlorophenol was 7.6 x 10(13) cells per mol of Cl- released, and the growth rate was 0.41 day(-1). For strain 195, fast ortho dechlorination of 2,3-dichlorophenol, 2,3,4-trichlorophenol, and 2,3,6-trichlorophenol was detected, with only the ortho chlorine removed. Because chlorinated phenolic compounds are widely distributed as natural components in anaerobic environments, our results reveal one mode in which the Dehalococcoides species could have survived through earth history.


OBJSA nets are a design specifications language for distributed systems, combining the specification language OBJ with Superposed Automata (SA) nets. The paper introduces the notions of morphism and isomorphism for OBJSA net systems and shows that any OBJSA net system can be reduced to a unique minimal model. This allows the definition of equivalence classes of OBJSA models. A net semantics for OBJSA net systems, in terms of 1-safe SA net systems, and algebraic semantics, in terms of OBJ3 objects, are given and it is proved that all the unfoldings, and, respectively, all the algebraic specifications of OBJSA models belonging to the same class are isomorphic.


In view of the disadvantages of conventional finite difference method (FDM) in handling the complicated boundary of electric fields and in eliminating the smooth error of iteration, in this paper, the differential equation is employed to generate regular calculation grids from the original region to be calculated. So, the approximation of the boundary condition in calculation is avoided. The multiple grid method (MGM) is adopted in the electric field calculation on the transformed region for eliminating the smooth error, expediting the convergence, and increasing the calculation precision. The convergence property of the MGM has been verified by both the theoretical analysis and the numerical solution. The merits of the method provided in this paper have been verified by comparing with FDM, finite-element method (FEM), and boundary-element method (BEM).


Energy awareness for computation and protocol management is becoming a crucial factor in the aim of communication protocols and algorithms. With the other hand, ready to confirm node mobility, trust routing, scalable routing strategies have been designed and these protocols try to consider the path duration in order to respect some QoS constraints and to reduce malicious activities for route discovery. Often energy saving and path duration and stability can be two contrasting efforts and trying to satisfy both of them can be very difficult because such a process can be easily abused or disrupted by adversarial nodes. Inward surviving act desire direct system, the trust patterns has accepts two factors: trust from direct observance and trust from indirect observance. With direct observance from an observer node, the trust value is derived. On the other hand, with indirect observance, also called second hand information that is obtained from neighbour nodes of the observer node, the trust value is derived. But neighbour discovery is an important part of many protocols for mobile ad hoc networks, including localization, link failures and routing. When neighbour discovery fails, communications and protocols performance deteriorate. So in this proposed work, we address this open issue by proposing mobile secure route discovery with respect to select the most stable path so as to reduce the latency and the overhead due to route reconstruction, which offers a measure of protection against malicious activities by allowing participating mobile nodes to securely determine if they are neighbours.


With the development of IoT, more and more data is offloaded from the cloud to the edge for computing, eventually forming a collaborative computing model at the edge. However, in this model, the problem of secure data transmission has not been solved. In this model, data is transmitted and forwarded in multiple messaging systems, and existing security schemes cannot achieve end-to-end security in a multi-hop, broadcast transmission model. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new security scheme based on proxy re-encryption and broadcast encryption techniques. Moreover, the performance and security of the scheme are further enhanced by using online-offline techniques and a trusted execution environment when integrating the scheme with edge collaboration. Finally, this paper proves the security of the scheme in theory, compares the functionality of the scheme, analyzes the theoretical performance of the scheme, and finally measures the actual performance of the scheme in the edge collaboration system.


It has been suggested that women were broadly excluded from the art world of the eighteenth century because of prevailing views on female taste, which considered them incapable of appreciating high art. Satirical representations of women spectators suggest a vulgar mode of art-viewing, associated with a preference for gaudy colour and excessive finish, and for portraiture over history painting, reversing the academic canon. A survey of periodicals reveals that such stereotypes persisted throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, my investigation of women's writing on art between 1780 and 1860 indicates the extent of their involvement in the art world. Initially through travel-writing, and across an increasingly wide range of genres, women published a wealth of material on art, ranging from popular handbooks and painting manuals to scholarly treatises. This study is the first to focus on these largely neglected texts as a collective body of work, and to demonstrate women's sophisticated engagement with contemporary and historical art in this period. Through their social networks, travel, meticulous research and self-presentation as 'proper' women writers, individuals such as Maria Graham (Lady Callcott), Anna Jameson, Mary Philadelphia Merrifield and Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake) built up a public reputation, despite their unofficial status. Far from being merely industrious 'compilers', these women were in the vanguard of changes in taste, through their promotion of the Primitives and of German connoisseurship, and their iconographical studies. I investigate how these largely self-educated amateurs established their authority, and how their writing negotiated negative perceptions of the female viewer. I show that the strategies they employed were determined as much by their class, education and religion, as by their sex. Given the high praise these writers received from reviewers, artists and fellow connoisseurs, I argue that it was possible to perceive women's taste far more positively than the satirical stereotypes suggest. This thesis offers a substantial reassessment of the scale and nature of women's contribution to the evolving discipline of art history in the early Victorian period.


Selective Hearing (SH) refers to the listener's attention to specific sound sources of interest in their auditory scene. Achieving SH through computational means involves detection, classification, separation, localization and enhancement of sound sources. Deep neural networks (DNNs) have been shown to perform these tasks in a robust and time-efficient manner. A promising application of SH are intelligent noise-cancelling headphones, where sound sources of interest, such as warning signals, sirens or speech, are extracted from a given auditory scene and conveyed to the user, whilst the rest of the auditory scene remains inaudible. For this purpose, existing noise cancellation approaches need to be combined with machine learning techniques. In this context, we evaluate a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture and a long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture for the detection and separation of sirens. In addition, we propose a data simulation approach for generating different sound environments for a virtual pair of headphone microphones. The Fraunhofer SpatialSound Wave technology is used for a realistic evaluation of the trained models. For the evaluation, a three-dimensional acoustic scene is simulated via the object-based audio approach.


The Gulf of Suez is one of the prolific Oil & gas areas in the world. Oil Production in this area started as early as the 1960s when the Giant Morgan Field was discovered, followed by discoveries of Small to Moderate Fields in the same basin. As time goes on, Fields get brown, and so do the production pipelines, Production facilities and gas lift modules. Because of aging, production interruption is a fact more than a choice. However, the Area of choice and decision is to decide the mode of action to deal with interrupts.
 The field is located offshore the Gulf of Suez and started production mid-1970s. Field Produces through a pipeline network connecting 10 satellite platforms to a central production facility for primary offshore separation. All wells utilize gas lift, and similarly, high-pressure gas lines connect wells on satellite platforms to Central compression Facilities offshore and onshore. Some of these Pipelines and gas lift modules exceeded the age of 40 years, making them susceptible to failure, a situation of long-term production deferrals. In 2021 the Field had an emergency shutdown for two main pipelines impacting the production of more than 6000 BOPD from Four platforms. A calibrated Network model coupled with well models was built to study different options for production rerouting and lift gas optimization to keep the line pressure of the new route as low as possible and maintain the highest possible production.
 Several simulation iterations could optimize production and minimize production deferrals using the alternative route to 1000 BOPD instead of a Complete Shut Down. The optimization plan was conveyed to the Field, and the production deferral did not exceed 1300 BOPD. Following the optimization runs, the mindset for managing operation interrupts was proactive instead of reactive. This philosophy has been extended to minimize planned and unplanned deferrals during gas lift modules downtime during overhauls or emergency repairs. Applying a contingency optimization plan allowed for decreasing deferrals by 80%. To sum up, integrated asset modelling greatly optimizes production and minimizes planned and unplanned production deferrals.


(Bi,Pb)-2223 wires were fabricated by electrophoretic co-deposition of , CaO and PbO powders on thin silver fibres. A non-stoichiometric mixture was used during deposition to obtain an optimum amount of 2223 phase after sintering. The transition temperature of the wires was 110 K and the critical current density, derived from magnetization data, was about at 10 K.


Purpose Lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome (LSSS) is induced by factors such as ligamentum flavum hypertrophy, facet joint hypertrophy and disc degeneration. However, the role of lumbar pedicle (LP) in LSSS has yet to be evaluated. We devised a new morphological parameter called the lumbar pedicle thickness (LPT) to evaluate the connection between LSSS and the LP. We hypothesized that the LPT is a major morphological parameter in the diagnosis of LSSS. Patients and methods The LPT data were collected from 136 patients diagnosed with LSSS. A total of 99 control subjects underwent lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as part of a detailed medical assessment. Axial T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images were acquired from all the participants. Using our picture archiving and communication system, we analyzed the thickness of the LP at the level of L5 vertebra on MRI. Results The average LPT was 9.46±1.81 mm in the control group and 13.26±1.98 mm in the LSSS group. LSSS patients showed a significantly greater LPT (P<0.001) than the control group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed an optimal cutoff point of 11.33 mm for the LPT, with 83.8% sensitivity, 83.8% specificity and area under the curve of 0.92 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89–0.96). Conclusion A higher LPT was associated with a higher possibility of LSSS, suggesting its importance in the evaluation of patients with LSSS.


For more than a decade, researchers have shown interest in how politicians make use of the Internet for a variety of purposes. Based on critical assessments of previous online political communication scholarship, this paper identifies a series of overlooked areas of research that should be of interest for researchers concerned with how politicians make use of online technologies. Specifically, three such research opportunities are introduced. First, we suggest that research should attempt to move beyond dichotomization, such as conceiving of the Internet as either bringing about revolutionary changes or having a normalizing effect. Second, while there is a considerable body of knowledge regarding the activity of politicians during election campaigns, relatively little is known about the day–to–day communicative uses of the Internet at the hands of politicians. The third section argues that as political communication research has typically focused on national or international levels of study, scholars within the field should also make efforts to contribute to our knowledge of online practices at the hands of politicians at regional and local levels — something we label as studies at the micro level. In synthesizing the literature available regarding the use of the Internet at the hands of politicians, the paper concludes suggesting routes ahead for interested scholars.


Introduction
In 1989, experts developed the Rome criteria classification coupled with the use of the Bristol scale, to objectify the condition of functional constipation.Background Nowadays, little is documented in the literature about transit disorders in patients with End-Stage Chronic Renal Failure treated with peritoneal dialysis, even though this causes non-negligible complications on the patient's morbidity, comfort and quality of life.

Objective
The main objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of constipation in CKD patients.

Material and method
We conducted a retrospective multicenter data-driven study.

Results
74 patient records were analyzed. We found a prevalence of constipation of 58 % in patients with CKD.

Discussion
Our results showed that the prevalence of constipation is frequent in patients with CKD. It leads to a significant discomfort for the patient, an additional cost in terms of care and technical procedures and a failure of the peritoneal dialysis technique.

Conclusion
Thus, the prevention of constipation in CKD patients would be relevant to limit complications and ensure a better quality of life.


In this work, we prepared epitaxial InN on (0001) sapphire with an AlN or GaN buffer layer by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). A series of samples were grown with different thickness under the optimized growth conditions. Films were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), reflective high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic-force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Hall measurements. By extrapolating the fitted curve of sheet carrier density vs. film thickness to zero film thickness, a strong residual sheet charge was derived, which may be located at the interface between the buffer layer and the InN film, or at the near-surface. It was found that for InN film on AlN buffer, the residual sheet charge is about 4.3×10 13 cm -2 , while for InN films on GaN buffer, the residual sheet charge is about 2.5×10 13 cm -2 . At present, we tentatively believe that the residual charge is surface charge accumulation similar to what is observed at the InAs surface. InN samples with Hall mobility beyond 1300 cm 2 /Vs and carrier concentration below 2×10 18 cm -3 were routinely achieved in this study. The first study on InN-based FET structures was performed. Amorphous AlN was used as the barrier material, which was prepared by migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) at low growth temperature. It was found that the surface morphology is improved after an AlN barrier layer is added to InN. Hg was used as a back-to-back Schottky metallization. Very low leakage current and weak rectifying behavior were observed.


Prediabetes is an intermediate condition between normal glycemia and clinical diabetes. Person with prediabetes condition have more chances of occurring diabetes and its associated cardiovascular disorder. Intervention of prediabetic person reduces its progression to diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases. Pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione insulin sensitizer acts on peroxisome proliferator activated receptor and have a good response in diabetic condition. Apart from glycemic benefits it has anti-atherogenicity action that prevents the progression of cardiovascular disorder. These emerging effects of the drug pioglitazone on atherosclerosis warrant a better place in the management of diabetic patients with high risk of coronary artery disease.


ABSTRACT Introduction: The Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (SLIPE), with the support of the Americas Health Foundation (AHF), has developed a position paper on varicella prevention in Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC). This article summarizes the most relevant aspects of varicella in LAC, and emphasizes the need to include the varicella vaccine in the national immunization programs in the Region and evaluate its impact disease burden. Areas covered: A systematic review was conducted of the medical evidence published and presented at various regional medical conferences on the disease burden in LAC, the advances made by prevention programs, the available vaccines in the Region, and their immunogenicity, efficacy, effectiveness, and safety. The different national varicella-prevention vaccination programs were reviewed, as was available information regarding the impact of these programs on the epidemiology of varicella in those countries implementing a varicella vaccine strategy. Following that initial publication, an update was conducted, including data from additional countries in the Region. Expert commentary: Varicella is a vaccine-preventable infectious disease, considered a 'benign disease' because of lower complication rates when compared with measles, pertussis. The incorporation of a two-dose varicella vaccine in national immunization schedules in all countries throughout LAC would be of great benefit to the health of the children.


The assessment of user simulators in terms of their similarity with real users implies processing and interpret-ing large dialogue corpora, for which many interaction parameters can be considered. In this setting, the high dimensionality of the data makes it difficult to compare the dialogues as it is not always appropriate to consider all features equally in order to carry out meaningful in-terpretations. We propose to use subspace clustering for the assessment of users simulators, as this technique has been successfully applied to tackle and classify high-dimensional information in other areas of study. We cre-ated and assessed a user simulator for the Let's Go spoken dialogue system. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is easy to set up and helps to better in-terpret whether the user simulator has similar behaviours to real human users by creating clusters with different dimensions which cannot be identified with plain clustering techniques.


The purpose of this presentation is to explore the role of patients or patient representatives in the delivery of medical ethics education. There is an urgent need for medical ethics education to become more clinically-focused and relevant to the needs of medical students. In addition to clinical relevance, however, current international consensus on the importance of patientcentred care means that medical ethics education must also focus on patients' experiences, preferences and self-reported needs. One way of making ethics education more patient-focused is to explore the growing literature examining patient preferences; another is to expose medical students to the experiences of actual patients or patient representatives themselves, through first-hand narrative accounts. This brief presentation will outline the aims of medical ethics education and explore ways in which the use of patient narratives may enhance these aims.


monly used agent for local surface anes− thesia. The adverse effects of Xylocaine are more common with intravenous in− jections or rapid injections than with sur− face anesthesia. We present a case of a 52−year−old white English woman who underwent upper gastrointestinal endos− copy for dyspepsia. The patient was premedicated with five sprays of Xylocaine (10 mg/spray) in the throat. Endoscopy was successfully car− ried out, with the patient in the left later− al position, by a trainee on a course under direct supervision. After 30 minutes, the patient complained of pain and numb− ness in the left−upper neck, and difficul− ties with speech. Examination revealed mild tenderness in the left upper part of the neck, and lower motor neuron palsy of the mandibular and cervical branches of the facial nerve. An urgent ultrasound scan revealed acute left parotiditis with no ductal dilatation. After 4 hours of observation, the pain dis− appeared completely, and the patient re− gained normal speech. The tenderness and manifestations of facial nerve palsy disappeared. She was discharged from the endoscopy unit. Here, we report transient acute parotidi− tis and facial nerve palsy as possible com− plications of Xylocaine spray. We believe that the left−lateral position of the patient (or spraying onto the left buccal mucosa rather than into the back of the throat) al− lowed the accumulation and subsequent absorption of lidocaine, thus causing these complications. Facial palsy may be due to nerve blockade effects, and acute parotiditis may be due to hypersensitivity. These complications are documented with lidocaine in surface and regional anesthesia but not with a spray [1± 3]. Acute parotiditis has been reported following general anesthesia and oral endoscopy, and termed "anes− thesia mumps" [4], where parotiditis is thought to be related to trauma [5] from positioning of the endoscope or transient luxation of the temporomandibular joint. We cannot ignore the possibility that this may have been caused by the incorrect handling of the endoscope by the trainee. In this context, acute parotiditis itself may cause facial palsy. We recommend using lidocaine spray in the proper posi− tion and direction (l" Figure 1), and em− phasize the correct handling of the endo− scope to reduce the possible trauma.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare three final irrigation activation techniques with respect to their effects on debridement efficacy, smear layer removal, and dentinal tubule penetration of two different root canal sealers.

BACKGROUND DATA
Different applications to improve the delivery of irrigating solutions within the root canal system are currently being investigated, as not all of the mechanisms and effects of these techniques have been clearly identified.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred forty-two single-rooted teeth were randomly divided into a control group and three experimental groups based on the irrigant activation technique used: EndoVac (EV) system, photon-induced photoacoustic streaming (PIPS), and conventional syringe irrigation (CSI). Thirteen specimens from each experimental group were evaluated for debris and smear layer removal using scanning electron microscopy. The remaining 30 specimens per group were divided into two subgroups according to the root canal sealer used: AH Plus and TotalFill BC. The maximum depth and total percentage of sealer penetration were measured using confocal laser scanning microscopy.

RESULTS
PIPS resulted in significantly less debris in the middle third of the root canal compared with CSI (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences among CSI, EV, and PIPS concerning debris removal at coronal and apical levels or smear layer removal at all levels (p > 0.05). TotalFill BC use after final irrigation with EV and CSI at 2 mm or PIPS at 5 mm exhibited a significantly higher percentage of sealer penetration than that with AH Plus (p < 0.05). When AH Plus was used, PIPS allowed deeper sealer penetration than CSI at 2 mm (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The effects of EV, PIPS, and CSI on debridement efficacy, smear layer removal, and dentinal tubule penetration were almost comparable. TotalFill BC showed superior tubular penetration than AH Plus.


Automatic airport extraction in remote sensing images (RSIs) has been widely applied in military and civil applications. An efficient airport extraction framework for RSIs is constructed in this letter. In the first step, we put forward a two-way complementary saliency analysis (CSA) scheme that combines vision-oriented saliency and knowledge-oriented saliency for the airport position estimation. In the second step, we construct a saliency-oriented active contour model (SOACM) for airport contour tracking, where a saliency orientation term is incorporated into the level-set-based energy functions. Under the guidance of saliency feature representations obtained by CSA, the SOACM can acquire well-defined and highly precise object contours. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed extraction framework shows good adaptability in remote sensing scenes, and uniformly achieves high detection rate and low false alarm rate. Compared with three state-of-the-art algorithms, our proposal can not only estimate the location of airport targets, but also extract detailed information of the airport contours.


The large consumption of fast fashion brings many negative environmental impacts. Filipino consumers love and buy fast fashion because it is relatively cheap but trendy, and there are lots of fashionable designs to choose from. Despite the shortage in water supply and disposal issues of fast fashion, people still continue to purchase. The lack of awareness of consumers on sustainable fashion consumption led the researchers to conduct a study that aims to identify factors affecting Filipino consumers' buying decisions on fast fashion using the combined theory of planned behavior, elaboration likelihood model, and hedonic motivation. A total of 407 participants were gathered through a convenience sampling approach, and the data collected were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The result shows that attitude towards fast fashion is the highest contributing factor to purchase intention. While social media positively affects purchase intention, sustainability advocacy negatively impacts the consumers' intention to buy fast fashion. The awareness of sustainability leads to consumption reduction of fast fashion garments. Surprisingly, perceived product price and quality do not show a significant influence on purchase intention. Incorporating sustainability advocacy on social media may be a great strategy to encourage the sustainable consumption of fashion garments. The findings of this study could be a great tool to influence fashion companies and government institutions to promote sustainability awareness and transition marketing strategies to the sustainable consumption of fashion.


The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory uses 1000 tonnes of heavy water in an ultra-clean Cherenkov detector situated 2 km underground in Ontario, Canada to study neutrinos from the Sun and other astrophysical sources. The Charged Current (CC) reaction on deuterium is sensitive only to electron neutrinos whereas the Neutral Current (NC) is equally sensitive to all active neutrino types. By measuring the flux of neutrinos from 8B decay in the Sun with the CC and NC reactions it has been possible to establish clearly, through an appearance measurement, that electron neutrinos change to other active neutrino types, properties that are beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles. The observed total flux of active neutrinos agrees well with solar model flux calculations for 8B. This provides a clear answer to the "Solar Neutrino Problem". When these results are combined with other measurements, the oscillation of massive neutrinos is strongly defined as the primary mechanism for flavor change and oscillation parameters are well constrained.


This paper calculates the optical power budget and power margin for designing a conventional passive optical network (PON)-based Fiber-To-the-Home (FTTH) and Intelligent Fiber-To-the-Home (i-FTTH) with different link length of drop fiber and optical power splitting ratio of 1×N passive optical splitter. A simple calculation is used to determine how much loss and power are available for each individual fiber link in both networks with different type of signals. The cost estimation for both networks including the additional optical monitoring, switching, and protection systems are calculated and compared.


Riau has  the peatland appreciable to be used in the development of agriculture, plantation and development of Industrial Plantation Forest (HTI). One of the plants HTI is a widely developed Acacia crassicarpa. Function of Acacia crassicarpa are as raw material then produce organic matter. This study aims to determine the effect of water level and fertilization on populations and species of fungi in peatland  with litter of acacia (Acacia crassicarpa). This research was conducted in the Screen House, Laboratory of Plant Agriculture Faculty, University of Riau and Plant Protection Unit Office of Food Crops and Horticulture Riau Province, from July to November 2013. The research was conducted  experimentally using completely randomized design (CRD) non-factorial with 6 treatments and 3 replications. The data obtained were analyzed statistically using analysis of variance with Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) at 5% level. Parameters observed were total fungi and types of fungi (macroscopic and microscopic observations). The results showed that the water level without fertilization  affect on total fungi tested. The highest of Total fungi achieved in the treatment of water level without fertilization 30 cm. Treatment of water level with or without fertilizer N, P, K does not affect the type of fungi that exist are Trichoderma sp and Mucor sp, except in water level of 60 cm with N, P, K is Penicillium sp. Based on the identification of characteristic morfologis found 3 Acacia crassicarpa types of fungi namely: Trichoderma sp, Mucor sp and     Penicillium sp. Fungi were found in leaf litter  Acacia crassicarpa dominated by Trichoderma sp and Mucor sp on all treatments water levels. Keywords : : water level, fertilization, litter of acacia and fungi


How school geography should be taught has been a longstanding issue for geography educators. In some countries, state or national level curriculum predicates how the subject should be taught in schools. This paper examines these questions in relation to existing frameworks of conceptualizing school geography, such as the International Charter on Geographical Education. School geography in Singapore has evolved from regional geography to thematic geography to systematic geography. A review of the curriculum in 2007 resulted in a distinct form of school geography unprecedented in Singapore's education history. Today, school geography in Singapore is learnt conceptually with national level assessment designed to that end. To what extent is this evolution in curriculum design in step with changes in our world? In response to the changes in school geography, pre-service and in-service teacher training has also responded by focusing on conceptual learning and inquiry. This paper will explore the state of school geography curricula in Singapore today, and the curriculum of teacher training, with the intent to critically discuss the state of geography education in Singapore. Although geography has remained a disciplinary subject whose place has yet been disputed, the big question of why study geography in the first place needs to be answered to ensure its continued survival. In particular, school geography will be examined for its relevance to a fast changing world. This critique ends by offering a reason to how geography plays an important role in education for sustainable development, and its relevance to Singaporeans or even any citizen of the world.


The quantity and variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most important indices to determine the effect of land use changes on the soil quality. Regarding long-term changes from rangeland to dry farming in the Roin area of North Khorasan, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of long-term land use changes on the SOC in different slope faces and use SOC as an index to make a proper decision about the future of land use in this area. 140 soil samples were taken from 0-15 cm soil depth of back slope position of north-, south-, west- and east-facing slopes of rangeland, dry farming, alfalfa dry farming and garden in 7 points. 14 soil samples were taken from irrigated farming, too. The results showed that garden and irrigation farming with averages of 2.03 and 0.78% have the maximum and minimum SOC content. The average of SOC content in rangeland was 1.40% that decreased by land use change to 1.04 and 1.27% in dry farming and alfalfa dry farming, respectively. SOC content in southern slope aspects showed a significant difference compared to other slope aspects. The most SOC content occurred in east aspects. It seems that after long-term land use changes, the SOC content have equilibrated to environmental and land use conditions. The average SOC content in different slope aspects except south one changed from 1.4% in rangeland to 1.11% in dry farming and 1.32% in alfalfa dry farming, which are a suitable value for semiarid regions. In conclusion, to protect land from degradation and considering this fact that dry farming is the main income of the people in the study area, it is recommended to stop dry farming on south aspects and continue on east, north and west aspects with conservation practices.


Wind turbines operate in highly turbulent environments resulting in aerodynamic loads that can easily excite turbine structural modes, potentially causing component fatigue and failure. Two key technology drivers for turbine manufacturers are increasing turbine up time and reducing maintenance costs. Since the trend in wind turbine design is towards larger, more flexible turbines with lower frequency structural modes, manufacturers will want to develop methods to operate in the presence of these modes. Accurate models of the dynamic characteristics of new wind turbines are often not available due to the complexity and expense of the modeling task, making wind turbines ideally suited to adaptive control. In this paper, we develop theory for adaptive control with rejection of disturbances in the presence of modes that inhibit the controller. We use this method to design an adaptive collective pitch controller for a high-fidelity simulation of a utility-scale, variable-speed wind turbine operating in Region 3. The objective of the adaptive pitch controller is to regulate generator speed, accommodate wind gusts, and reduce the interference of certain structural modes in feedback. The control objective is accomplished by collectively pitching the turbine blades. The adaptive pitch controller for Region 3 is compared in simulations with a baseline classical Proportional Integrator (PI) collective pitch controller.


A corrosion growth modelling procedure using repeated inline inspection data has been employed as part of the maintenance program planning for a pipeline in the Alberta portion of the TransCanada system. The methodology of matching corrosion features between the different in-line inspections, and estimating their severity at a future date, is shown to be an excellent proactive cost saving methodology.Throughout this paper estimated 80% confidence intervals for tool measurement error, total prediction error and growth methodology error are given. In this abstract the values have been rounded. For maximum penetration, for the features reported on three inspections, the confidence interval for total prediction error varies from ±12% to ±17%, and for the growth methodology from ±8% to ±10% of the wall thickness (for the 1998 and 1999 dig programs respectively). For features reported on two inspections the confidence interval varies from ±19% to ±22% for total prediction error (1998 and 1999 digs respectively), and is about ±17% for the growth methodology (for both dig programs).The estimated confidence interval for prediction error in failure pressure is about ±560 kPa for the 1998 dig program. For the 1999 dig program a good estimate of the confidence interval for total prediction error could not be obtained. Assuming the failure pressure data obtained from field measurements were perfect, the estimate of the maximum confidence interval was ±850 kPa.For the laser profile measurement field tool, compared to an ultrasonic pencil probe, the confidence interval for penetration is less than ±2% of the wall thickness.The true confidence interval values in some cases are expected to be smaller than reported above for several reasons discussed in this paper.Copyright © 2000 by ASME


An apparent contradiction in the shape-from-shading literature is examined. Although practical experience suggests that shape can be inferred from the local analysis of shading, mathematical analyses support the opposite. A criterion for exact surface recovery is derived, and it is shown that, as a result of surface geometry, elliptic, hyperbolic, and doubly curved surfaces could be recovered to reasonable accuracy provided that surface curvature and/or foreshortening were limited. In other words, by relaxing the requirement that surfaces be recovered exactly, it is found that local analysis of shading can provide useful descriptions of shape as evidenced by the results presented. >


There is little consensus regarding the overall performance of mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry. The goal of this paper is to investigate the change in operating performance, efficiency, and value addition of US bank mergers and acquisitions after GLBA. We extend the previous research by combining all the previous methodologies used in mergers and acquisitions studies and add a new methodology, namely Expected EVA improvement. We will test whether these performance metrics yield similar results or if the performance of mergers varies depending on the measurements. We will also examine the factors that have significant impact on changes in bank performance. Our empirical results lead to the conclusion that the industry-adjusted operating performance of merged banks increases significantly after a merger. This finding is consistent with the findings of Cornett et al. (2006). We also find that the acquirer expected EVA improvement increases significantly after a merger. Revenue enhancement opportunity appears to be more profitable if there exists more opportunity for cost cutting such as geographically focused and diversified mergers. Product diversification mergers increase the industry adjusted performance more than product focused mergers. The efficiency or profitability of targets have either a positive or no effect on acquirer performance.


composition, where the abundance of non-H. pylori pathogens increased, especially in triple-resistant strains. Given this possibility, clinicians should be mindful of antibiotic combination treatments because drug resistance in the gut environment could a ff ect the gastrointestinal niche and probably induce drug resistance in other bacteria.


The article provides an analysis of the literature on interactive cognitive strategies. The aim of the study is to examine the pedagogical potential of interactive cognitive strategies for the effective formation of a multilingual personality of a future teacher. The research used theoretical and empirical methods: analysis of theoretical sources, analysis and generalization of the experience of scientific and methodological developments, training of students of a pedagogical institution. The problem of developing scientific and methodological support for the use of interactive cognitive strategies for the effective formation of a multilingual personality of a future teacher is being updated. A generalization of the obtained results indicates that the use of interactive cognitive strategies positively affects the formation of the multilingual personality of the future teacher. The research was supported by within the framework of the project on research on priority directions of scientific activity of the universitiespartners in networking (South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University and Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute) on the topic of "Linguodidactic foundations of the intercultural communicative competence formation of a future teacher".


he aim of this paper was to report an action research that examined the potential of social media as a tool for knowledge transfer in agricultural extension. The research focused on developing group Facebook pages that were designed for adult farmers. A total of 49 participants who were already members of four separate discussion groups were instructed on the practical aspects of using Facebook. Their participation in the Facebook pages was monitored for the duration of the experiment (from February 2013 to January 2014) by examining the frequency with which they logged into their accounts and the nature of their contributions. The participants' level of uptake of social media was measured and their experience with using social media was evaluated by administering a questionnaire to all 49 participants. The majority of the participants had a positive experience when using social media for knowledge transfer purposes. The research found no association between age and social media usage; however, computer skills were significantly and positively associated with social media usage. Internet access was also associated with usage – those with wireless broadband internet connections in their family homes had the highest usage levels. The research presented in this paper illustrates that social media can be an effective tool for knowledge transfer in agricultural extension.


Subplastic behaviour apparently arises from some form of cementation between clay particles and between groups of particles. Five red-brown earth subsoils from the Riverina area of New South Wales, with subplasticity ratings from SP0 to SPIII+, have been examined here in order to relate plasticity, and other physical properties which reflect structure and stability of structure, to an appropriate laboratory measure, or index, of cementation. The soils were so chosen as to minimize the number of other properties that vary among them. The properties and indexing of the soils in the laboratory show broad consistence with their range of subplasticity as described in the field. When it has been released from cementation, the clay in the more subplastic soils is highly active, having properties similar to those of a montmorillonite with calcium and sodium on the exchange surface. The structure and the high total clay content of the subplastics require a high degree of orientation of individual clay particles into packets or domains. These packets are stabilized by cementation, largely at their edges, and at the same time attached to neighbouring non-parallel packets. Water readily reaches most of the pore space and the material, although very stable, continues to display some properties which are consistent only with a large content of clay particles. Consequently it seems likely that much of the planar surface of the individual clay particle is not contaminated with a cement.


. I argue that there is no "roaring reality of rampant secularism" with "technological application as its chief agent," as claimed by John Caiazza (2005). Two phenomena, techno-religion and a spirituality of technology, suggest a different picture of reality: Technology may be an alternative spirituality rather than an ally of a secularism that makes "nutcrackers of the soul" out of people who should be "dancers" (Nietzsche). An analysis of secularism and its manifold causes indicates that secularism is a fruit of both science and religion. The secular is a companion of religion rather than its enemy. Hence, I recommend a heuristic instead of an ontological use of the concept of secularism. In a technological age, religion is changing rather than being displaced. These changes are illustrated by the increase of private religiosity, megachurches, and cyber-spirituality. Energized by the tension between finitude and creativity, technology shares in the marks of spirituality (Philip Hefner) and in the potential for good and evil. In this situation, fundamentalism and dogmatism in religion, science, and technology are a greater threat than secularism.


DNA sequence comparison remains as one of the critical steps in the analysis of phylogenetic relationships between species. In order to get quantitative comparison, we want to devise an algorithm that would use the tabular representation of DNA sequences. The tabular approach of representation captures the essence of the base composition and distribution of the sequence. In this contribution, we take the tabular notation for DNA sequences and then these tables are compared to find the similarity/dissimilarity measure of the sequences. We have developed algorithms for comparing DNA sequences. These programs help us to search similar segments of sequences, calculate similarity scores and identify repetitions based on local sequence similarity. There are two approaches: one is to find the exact similarity and another is to find the measurement for similarity. The first approach is more sensitive, which can be used to search DNA sequence similarities only if complete matches occurred and can compare exactly similar sequences only. This approach violates if a single mismatch for any base character appears so it is not a general solution. To find the miss matches along with the matches we have suggested another approach which compiles the information matrix based on matches and miss matches. This approach is quiet general in terms of sequences which have a large fragment common with less no of dissimilar base characters. This alternate approach includes an additional step in the calculation of the similarity score that denotes multiple regions of similarity between sequences. For both these approaches computer programs are prepared and tested on data sets. These programs can be used to evaluate the significance of similarity scores using a shuffling method that preserves local sequence composition. In addition, these programs have been generalized to allow comparison of DNA sequences based on a variety of alternative scoring matrices. We have been developing tools for the analysis of protein The method is very simple and fast, and it can be used to analyze both short and long DNA sequences. The utility of this method is tested on the several sequences of species and the results are consistent with that reported.


The Arnold cat map is employed in various applications where chaos is utilized, especially chaos-based cryptography and watermarking. In this paper, we study the problem of period distribution of the generalized discrete Arnold cat map over the Galois ring \BBZ2e. Full knowledge of the period distribution is obtained analytically by adopting the Hensel lift approach. Our results have impact on both chaos theory and its applications as they not only provide design strategy in applications where special periods are required, but also help to identify unstable periodic orbits of the original chaotic cat map. The method in our paper also shows some ideas how to handle problems over the Galois ring \BBZ2e.


We investigate the relationship between the frequency spectrum of image data and the generalization behavior of convolutional neural networks (CNN). We first notice CNN's ability in capturing the high-frequency components of images. These high-frequency components are almost imperceptible to a human. Thus the observation leads to multiple hypotheses that are related to the generalization behaviors of CNN, including a potential explanation for adversarial examples, a discussion of CNN's trade-off between robustness and accuracy, and some evidence in understanding training heuristics.


The N.S.W. Branch of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society held a Rural Land Planning Seminar in Sydney on 5 September 1986. The papers reproduced below are edited versions of the papers presented at that Seminar. The Review publishes these papers in the hope of furthering professional discussion of these important issues. It is hoped that the papers of other seminars, where issues relevant to Australian agricultural economists have been discussed, will be published in future issues of the Review.


Studies have found that fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) might have a negative effect in the psychiatric diseases, such as depression or anxiety, but its potential role in the pathophysiology of poststroke depression (PSD) remains uncertain. Here, we set out to investigate the expression changes of FGF9 and its receptors in PSD rats. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) combined with chronic unpredictable mild stress was used to establish the PSD rat model. Then, the rats were randomly divided into four groups: control (sham-operation), MCAO, PSD and treated (fluoxetine injection by intraperitoneal). Weight measurement, sucrose preference test, open-field test and forced swim test were performed to evaluate the behavioral changes, and then Western blot and real-time quantitative PCR were used to detect the expression level of FGF9, fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) and receptor 3 (FGFR3) in the dentate gyrus of rat hippocampus. We found that FGF9 protein and mRNA expression increased significantly in the MCAO and PSD groups; FGFR3 protein and mRNA expression decreased significantly in the MCAO and PSD groups; FGFR1 protein and mRNA expression decreased significantly in the PSD group, but increased in the treated group. Furthermore, the changes mentioned above were reversed obviously by fluoxetine. These results indicated that upregulated FGF9 expression and downregulated FGFR1 and FGFR3 expression may be involved in the pathogenesis of PSD, and the FGF9/FGFR signaling pathway may be considered as an attractive target for further study.


This article compares learning theory developed by constructivist school
and Islamic education. The author argues that constructivist learning theory is
less comprehensive compared to that of Islamic education. Constructivist learning
theory focuses merely on cognitive domain, while Islamic education emphasizes not
only cognitive aspect but also attitude, behavior, and skills. Constructivist learning
theory has superiority in terms of developing culture of critical and creative thought,
and this is not in opposition with learning theory developed by Islamic education
and even enriches the latter. Therefore, constructivist learning theory is possible to
be adopted and become one of alternative approaches within Islam education.


Bereaved parents may experience diverse psychological symptoms. Possible interventions are not yet well established. In this study, the psychological symptoms of 323 bereaved parents (mean age = 39.97, SD = 7.21, 52.0% female), referred to a 4-week family-oriented rehabilitation (FOR) program, were assessed. The baseline assessments indicated that 160 (49.5%) parents showed symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Complicated grief was indicated in 272 (84.2%), depression in 191 (59.1%), and posttraumatic stress disorder in 242 (74.9%) parents. Mothers were at higher risk of complicated grief (p ≤ .001), depression (p = .029), and posttraumatic stress disorder (p = .004), compared to fathers. Significant remissions of symptoms between admission and discharge from the program are presented as symptoms of complicated grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress. The effect sizes ranged between d = 0.68 and 1.22. In addition, significantly fewer parents fulfilled PGD criteria on discharge from the FOR program (p ≤ .001). The special FOR program appears promising with regard to improving the bereaved parents' mental health.


A novel attack system is proposed to reveal the vulnerabilities threats of a microcomputer-based random number generator (RNG). Convergence of the proposed attack system is proved using auto-synchronization. Unknown parameters of the microcomputer-based RNG are revealed where the available information are the design of the RNG and a scalar time series observed from the chaotic system used as the core of the RNG. Numerical results verifying the feasibility of the attack system are given such that, next bit can be predicted while the same output sequence of the RNG can be generated.


Numerous theories of development position infants as inherently driven to make sense of the world around them, and the acquisition of language is a fundamental developmental milestone of this period. The purpose of this study was to document the first year of implementation of a Spanish/English dual language program in an infant classroom, using a descriptive, phenomenological research design and qualitative methodology. Translanguaging emerged as a powerful construct that helped us make sense of our particular context, giving meaning to the data and providing a cogent framework to help us explicate our findings. As "social novices," the infants in our study were not bound by implicit or explicit rules about what language to use when, with whom, or in what context, and our data highlighted the reality of a multilingual infant classroom in which both children and teachers used language fluidly as they went about their daily lives.


Balanced Scorecard was first published by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in 1992 in his article entitled "The Balanced Scorecard Measures That Drive Performance " . Balanced Scorecard is a model new performance measurement . Balanced Scorecard is not only a measure of performance only financial but also non-financial performance . Corporate performance is measured by four perspectives , namely financial , customer , internal business processes and learning and growth . These four perspectives provide a balance between long- purpose short and long term Balanced Scorecard provides a clear framework for successful financial performance through the realization of various non-financial performance . In measuring the performance of the company , the authors use these data in the form financial statement balance sheet and income statement , the authors also use questionnaires distributed to employees and customers of PT . Tricipta Balanced Scorecard Indotama.Dengan company can define and communicate the strategy and direction to be taken by the company , Balanced Scorecard also emphasizes on the combination and non- financial performance measurement finance , thus resulting in management remains focused on business processes overall internal and gave assurance that the actual operating performance is running in line with the company's long term strategy and the desire customers . With the Balanced Scorecard , allows managers to assess what they have invested in the development of human resources , systems and procedures for improving performance in the future . based on the results calculations and analysis in general , it can be concluded that based on the analysis of the Balanced Scorecard , performance of PT . Tricipta Indotama considered quite either because there is a balance of four perspectives that exist in Balanced Scorecard .


This paper considers the relevance of the concepts of observability and computability in physical theory. Observability is related to verifiability which is essential for effective computing and as physical systems are computational systems it is important even where explicit computation is not the goal. Specifically, we examine two problems: observability and computability for quantum computing, and remote measurement of time and frequency.


SIR:I read with interest Haddad & Benbow's article (Journal, August 1992, 161, 263—265).I would like to comment on the strong association between the dementing processes and isolated visual halluci nations as indicated by the authors. A number of investigators have hypothesised that hallucinogens act as direct agonists at the 5-hydroxytryptamine2 (5-HT2) receptor in the central nervous system (for review see Pierce & Peroutka, 1990). The affinity of hallucinogenic agents for 5-HT2 binding sites correlates significantly with their potencies for causing hallucinations in humans (Glennon et a!, 1984) and results in a rapid desensitisation and downregulation of the central 5-HT2 receptors in humans and laboratory animals (Leysen & Pauwels, 1991). Downregulation of 5-HT2receptors has also been reported consistently during the dementing processes (Cross et a!, 1986; Gross-Iseroffet a!, 1990). The initial rapid desensitization and down regulation of 5-HT2 receptors may therefore explain the early presence of hallucinations during the dementing processes.


Changes in the uterine and umbilical circulations during induced hypercapnia were studied in nine unanesthetized near-term pregnant sheep. Blood flows were measured with electromagnetic flow transducers and arterial pressures with vascular catheters implanted under anesthesia 2-16 days prior to experiments. Hypercapnia was induced in the fetus alone by giving acetazolamide iv to the fetus, 100-200 mg/kg. Mean fetal arterial Pco2 increased from 49.5 to 63.4 mmHg but no significant changes in umbilical blood flow occurred. Stepwise increases in both maternal and fetal arterial Pco2 were induced by increasing maternal inspired CO2 concentration to a maximum of 12%. No dignificant changes occurred in uterine or umbilical circulations until hypercapnia was severe (maternal arterial Pco2 greater than 60 mmHg, fetal arterial Pco2 greater than 70 mmHg). With severe hypercapnia uterine vascular resistance increased significantly and uterine blood flow decreased despite an increase in maternal arterial pressure; fetal arterial pressure and umbilical blood flow increased significantly, but umbilical vascular resistance did not. We conclude that hypercapnia in conscious pregnant sheep is associated with significant changes in uterine and umbilical circulations, but only when hypercapnia is severe. Carbon dioxide is unlikely to be a factor in normal physiological regulation of the uteroplacental circulation in this species.


Laminaria japonica is rich in alginate (Alg) and galactofucan (GF) which have both been reported to regulate gut microbiota composition. To reveal the effect of L. japonica on human gut microbiota, the fecal microbiota of 12 volunteers before and after 14-day L. japonica intake was sequenced and compared, and the capabilities of the gut microbiota to utilize Alg and GF were also investigated. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing results demonstrated that Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio could be balanced by L. japonica supplementation. The ability of gut microbiota to utilize Alg was significantly enhanced by L. japonica supplementation. Furthermore, the multiple linear regression analysis suggested that bacteria from Bacteroidaceae and Ruminococcaceae were positively correlated with Alg utilization while those from Erysipelotrichaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and Prevotellaceae participated in GF degradation. Moreover, the production of acetic acid and the total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in fermentation were consistent with the consumption of Alg or GF, and propionic acid content was positively correlated with Alg consumption. In addition, the percentage of monosaccharides in the consumed GF after the fermentation suggested that gut microbiota from individuals could consume GF with different monosaccharide preferences. These findings shed a light on the impacts of dietary L. japonica on human health.


Purpose – The chapter outlines mixed methods as a recursive and co-operative approach to research. In doing so, it challenges the dominant conception of 'real' mixed methods research as requiring the use of methods from both qualitative and quantitative frameworks by outlining not only logistic and pragmatic issues requiring the attention of researchers but also the underlying philosophical tensions inherent in mixed method designs.

Design/methodology/approach – The process of designing a mixed methods project that investigated the sociological and phenomenological impact of running shoes is outlined with reference to the various pragmatic and epistemological considerations of the project.

Findings – Many researchers require mixed methods to draw on both quantitative and qualitative techniques. However, this chapter demonstrates that such an understanding of mixed methods marginalises critical and interpretivist techniques. It is argued that studies of sport and physical culture have frequently used more than one research method. However, in order for these to be considered mixed methods studies, an explicit attempt is required to connect each technique of data collection and analysis, regardless of the research paradigm in which they operate.

Research limitations/implications – The limitations of mixed methods designs are discussed in relation to pragmatic and logistic concerns as well as the difficulty of connecting methods that present different underlying philosophical assumptions.

Originality/value – This chapter demonstrates the design of a mixed methods project from the initial process of identifying a research problem through to data collection, analysis and publication.


The study of complex variables is beautiful from a purely mathematical point of view, and very useful for solving a wide array of problems arising in applications. This introduction to complex variables, suitable as a text for a one-semester course, has been written for undergraduate students in applied mathematics, science, and engineering. Based on the authors' extensive teaching experience, it covers topics of keen interest to these students, including ordinary differential equations, as well as Fourier and Laplace transform methods for solving partial differential equations arising in physical applications. Many worked examples, applications, and exercises are included. With this foundation, students can progress beyond the standard course and explore a range of additional topics, including generalized Cauchy theorem, Painleve equations, computational methods, and conformal mapping with circular arcs. Advanced topics are labeled with an asterisk and can be included in the syllabus or form the basis for challenging student projects.


The gamma camera has been used for thyroid, brain and kidney scanning and its immediate and potential uses after further modification are indicated. The camera has also been used with a collimating grid instead of a pinhole and preliminary results with it are reported. It is concluded that the gamma camera can be used successfully for the majority of present-day radioactive-isotope scanning techniques, with the limitations that the display is small and to some extent distorted; these disadvantages are minimal in thyroid scanning. The machine will enable dynamic events to be studied and short-lived isotopes to be used, neither of which are practicable with mechanical scanning machines.


Background: One of the most important strategies to prevent diabetes as an important health issue in adolescents is education and awareness. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of educational intervention (EI) based on health belief model (HBM) on preventive behaviors of type 2 diabetes.Methods: The educational trial study was conducted in 2019-2020 among 143 high school male students at risk in Khash city (in southwestern Iran), using a random cluster method in two intervention and control groups. Data collection tools were demographic characteristics, knowledge, model constructs and disease prevention behaviors questionnaires. The training program was held in 7 one-hour sessions. Data were collected before, immediately and three months after the intervention and analyzed by SPSS 20 software using Chi-square, Independent t-test and Repeated Measures ANOVA at significant level of 0.05. Results: Immediately after the implementation of the training program in the intervention group, a significant increase was observed in the mean scores of knowledge, model constructs and behavior (P =0.0001). Three months after the EI, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of knowledge, perceived barriers, Cues to action and behavior between the two groups (p <0.05).Conclusion: Considering the effect of EI based on HBM on the promotion of diabetes prevention behaviors in students, the design, implementation and evaluation of theory-based EIs in the control and prevention of diabetes in adolescents is recommended.


Root-knot nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne belong to the most economically important group of plant-parasitic nematodes and also to the most important plant pests that can cause significant economic losses in crop production. They are poly phagous, highly adapted, obligate endoparasites of nearly all higher plant species, including the important agricultural crops. Within the genus Meloidogyne, about one hundred species have been described, of which the four species-that is, the Meloidogyne incognita, M. arenaria, M. javanica, and M. hapla-are the important plant pests and the most widespread species worldwide. As of 2010, twenty-three species have been confirmed in Europe, of which three non-quarantine species have been detected in Croatia. Many nematode species of the genus Meloidogyne can be considered dangerous invasive pests in agriculture, as they can spread rapidly due to the global trade, changing production technologies leading to a reduced use of pesticides, and climatic changes. To prevent or to limit the introduction and spread of the three species of root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne chitwoodi, M. fallax, and M. enterolobii, respectively, were entered in the European list of quarantine nematodes. The species M. mali is incorporated in the EPPO A2 quarantine list, in addition to the three aforementioned species, while the M. ethiopica, M. luci, and M. graminicola are on the EPPO Alert List. It is expected that the tropical Meloidogyne species, for instance the M. enterolobii, M. ethiopica, and M. luci, as well as the M. incognita, M. arenaria, and M. javanica, will become the important pests in the temperate zones due to the new,) climatic conditions, more favorable for their development, which can pose a huge risk to the agricultural production. In Croatia, a wide distribution of nematode populations of the genus Meloidogyne spp. was con firmed, but a scientific knowledge about the species identification is very modest. Due to the variety of soil and climatic conditions present in Croatia, it is expected that more Meloidogyne species than those that are known so far will be detected in the future. This is one of the reasons for starting a more intensive monitoring of the Meloidogyne species in Croatia too.


We report on a time-resolved spectroscopy of the 63 brightest bursts of SGR J1550−5418, detected with the Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor during its 2008–2009 intense bursting episode. We performed spectral analysis down to 4 ms timescales to characterize the spectral evolution of the bursts. Using a Comptonized model, we find that the peak energy, Epeak, anti-correlates with flux, while the low-energy photon index remains constant at ∼ − 0.8 up to a flux limit F ≈ 10−5 erg s−1 cm−2. Above this flux value, the Epeak−flux correlation changes sign, and the index positively correlates with the flux reaching ∼1 at the highest fluxes. Using a two blackbody model, we find that the areas and fluxes of the two emitting regions correlate positively. Further, we study here for the first time the evolution of the temperatures and areas as a function of flux. We find that the area−kT relation follows the lines of constant luminosity at the lowest fluxes, R2∝kT−4, with a break at the higher fluxes (F > 10−5.5 erg s−1 cm−2). The area of the high-kT component increases with the flux while its temperature decreases, which we interpret as being due to an adiabatic cooling process. The area of the low-kT component, on the other hand, appears to saturate at the highest fluxes, toward Rmax ≈ 30 km. Assuming that crust quakes are responsible for soft gamma repeater (SGR) bursts and considering Rmax as the maximum radius of the emitting photon-pair plasma fireball, we relate this saturation radius to a minimum excitation radius of the magnetosphere, and we put a lower limit on the internal magnetic field of SGR J1550−5418, Bint ≳ 4.5 × 1015 G.


Fundamental transport properties of liquid para-hydrogen (p-H(2)), i.e., diffusion coefficients, thermal conductivity, shear viscosity, and bulk viscosity, have been evaluated by means of the path integral centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) calculations. These transport properties have been obtained over the wide temperature range, 14-32 K. Calculated values of the diffusion coefficients and the shear viscosity are in good agreement with the experimental values at all the investigated temperatures. Although a relatively large deviation is found for the thermal conductivity, the calculated values are less than three times the amount of the experimental values at any temperature. On the other hand, the classical molecular dynamics has led all the transport properties to much larger deviation. For the bulk viscosity of liquid p-H(2), which was never known from experiments, the present CMD has given a clear temperature dependence. In addition, from the comparison based on the principle of corresponding states, it has been shown that the marked deviation of the transport properties of liquid p-H(2) from the feature which is expected from the molecular parameters is due to the quantum effect.


The aim of the study was to investigate to what extent the vocabulary and reading components of the Test for English Majors Band 4 (TEM-4) do indeed measure the constructs they are supposed to measure. The concurrent validity of the reading and vocabulary components of the test was studied by correlating results on the TEM-4 with widely used tests of vocabulary and reading comprehension. A total of 60 English Major students, in their second year at a university in North China, were tested using the bilingual Mandarin-English version of the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007), the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Brown, 2008), which assesses depth of vocabulary knowledge and the TEM-4. 30 out of these 60 students were also individually tested using the York Assessment of reading comprehension Secondary (Snowling et al., 2009). The results show that the reading component of the TEM-4 did not correlate with the YARC. Instead there were modest correlations between the TEM-4 reading component, on the one hand, and the VST and the VKS on the other hand. It is therefore likely that the reading component of the TEM-4 taps into vocabulary knowledge rather than reading. Regression analyses also confirmed these findings. We conclude that the reading component of the TEM-4 underrepresents the construct of reading, and that the theoretical underpinning and the ways in which reading is assessed in this test will need to be reconsidered.


Pharmaceutical Quality by Design (QBD) is a systematic approach to development that begins with predetermined objectives and emphasizes the understanding of production and processes and process control, based on sound science and quality risk management. Quality purchasing design (QBD) is emerging to increase the promise of providing safe and effective medicines to customers and promises to improve the efficiency of product quality. Quality means eligibility for use. The quality of the medication means that the product provides therapeutic benefits to the label reproducible and free from contamination on the label. In vivo or in vitro performance test can be evaluated for drug production. Dietite by Quality guarantees the performance of the product in vitro and the performance of the in vitro product in the in vivo product. "So the quality design is related to the product."


The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health risk factors and added additional dimensions to the loneliness problem. Considering the temporal extension of COVID-19, which exposes people to various loneliness conditions, we examined the development of loneliness and changing risk factors based on age and gender. We used longitudinal data from Hiroshima University's nationwide survey in Japan, conducted before and during the pandemic, to categorize loneliness into three types: long-term (feeling of loneliness experienced both before and during the pandemic), post-pandemic (feeling of loneliness experienced throughout the whole pandemic period), and fresh (feeling of loneliness experienced only in the last year of the pandemic). Loneliness categorization is important because the prolonged existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has added additional dimensions to the loneliness problem, which existing studies rarely identify. As a result, the distinction between long-term and fresh loneliness remains unexplained. The weighted logit regression results revealed that many Japanese people have remained or became lonely during the pandemic and identified variations based on gender, age, and changes in socioeconomic and health characteristics. More precisely, almost 52% of the participants experienced long-term loneliness, while 8% of the participants experienced post-pandemic loneliness, and nearly 5% experienced fresh loneliness. Age and having children were associated with long-term loneliness; gender, age, leaving full-time employment, financial literacy, change in health status, and change in depression were associated with post-pandemic loneliness; and gender, having children, living in rural areas, change in household assets, financial literacy, changes in health status, and changes in depression were associated with fresh loneliness. These results indicated that long-term, post-pandemic, and fresh loneliness have distinct characteristics. The Japanese government should devise distinctive solutions for people suffering from varying loneliness before and during the pandemic rather than adopting a generalized approach.


In this research, the layout and geometry of U-type ribs in the part, including significant process conditions, are automatically optimized to reduce pan warpage with robustness in consideration. The optimization procedure are based on an iterative redesign methodology integrated with computer aided injection molding simulation, Taguchi's Design of Experiment(DOE), and a direct search-based optimization method. The robustness of a design alternative is efficiently measured by introducing composite noise factor and Taguchi's signal-to-noise ratio. As a solution search methodology, the modified design space reduction method based on orthogonal arrays is employed to exploit an optimal robust design alternative. To illustrate the proposed methodology, a case study is performed on simulation results, where an optimal robust design alternative is obtained with a moderate number of iterations.


We report the successful growth of high quality InAs films directly on Si( 111) by Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy. A nearly mirror-like and uniform InAs film is obtained at 580 C for a thickness of 2 mu m. We measured a high value of the electron mobility of 5100 cm(2)/Vs at room temperature. The growth is performed using a standard two-step procedure. The influence of the nucleation layer, group V flow rate, and layer thickness on the electrical and morphological properties of the InAs film have been investigated. We present results of our studies by Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, electrical Hall/van der Pauw and structural X-Ray Diffraction characterization.


The design of an aero-engine is traditionally divided into three levels: conceptual design, preliminary design and detailed design. This three-step design process is inherently iterative, which can slow the design process and overall productivity. Additionally, as an integrated systems engineering analysis, aero-engine design involves multiple-disciplines. The complex coupled-relationship among multiple-disciplines and multiple-components gives rise to severe conflict with performance requirements when designing, especially when it comes to high-performance aero-engine. Traditionally, designers need to empirically balance all kinds of requirements, which lead to a longer design cycle. So it is necessary to apply Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) to organize and manage the process of design system which sufficiently utilizes the effect of interaction of multidisciplines for the optimal solution. The MDO of a turbine flow path is one of the key multidisciplinary optimization technologies in aeroengine overall design. The problem studied and presented in this paper consists in optimizing a turbine modeled by a multidisciplinary system of two coupled disciplines: turbine aerodynamics and structural strength, with temperature limited by the materials. In the present work, three modules are established to conduct the MDO research of turbine flow path: flow path design, turbine strength calculation and MDO. The aeroengine turbine flow path, including high and low pressure turbine flow path, is designed in the first module, with its efficiency estimated. In the second module, turbine rotors consisting of blades, discs and the low spool shaft are parametric modeled so as to analyze the structural aspects of turbine rotors, such as weight and stresses. MDO is conducted using multi-island genetic algorithm optimization (MIGA) optimization algorithm provided in iSIGHT software. Fully Integrated Optimization (FIO) strategy is studied to deal with the multidisciplinary analysis. The complex coupling relations between aerodynamic performance and turbine strength are analyzed to establish turbine multidisciplinary optimization system. The optimal values of loading coefficient, rotational speed, bore diameter of rotor discs defined by the shaft size, and other independent design variables are obtained in order to achieve minimum weight of turbine rotors while simultaneously meeting the strength and aerodynamics efficiency requirements. This method presented in this paper can greatly shorten turbine design cycle, improve aeroengine design ability, and is prospective to be widely applied to engineering field.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Eukaryotic transcriptional regulatory proteins typically comprise both a DNA binding domain and a regulatory domain. Although the structures of many DNA binding domains have been elucidated, no detailed structures are yet available for transcriptional activation domains. The activation domain of the herpesvirus protein VP16 has been an important model in mutational and biochemical studies. Here, we characterize the VP16 activation domain using time-resolved and steady-state fluorescence. Unique intrinsic fluorescent probes were obtained by replacing phenylalanine residues with tryptophan at position 442 or 473 of the activation domain of VP16 (residues 413-490, or subdomains thereof), linked to the DNA binding domain of the yeast protein GAL4. Emission spectra and quenching properties of Trp at either position were characteristic of fully exposed Trp. Time-resolved anisotropy decay measurements suggested that both Trp residues were associated with substantial segmental motion. The Trp residues at either position showed nearly identical fluorescence properties in either the full-length activation domain or relevant subdomains, suggesting that the two subdomains are similarly unstructured and have little effect on each other. As this domain may directly interact with several target proteins, it is likely that a significant structural transition accompanies these interactions.


197; 200 words max) HIV infection is a major risk factor for development of tuberculosis (TB). Although guidelines recommend that people with HIV from high TB incidence countries and those with risk factors are screened for latent TB infection (LTBI) using interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA), this has not been widely implemented in the UK. We introduced universal LTBI screening using IGRA at nurse-led induction clinics for patients newly presenting, transferring or re-presenting for HIV care and conducted a prospective audit from 01/01/2018 to 30/06/2019 to identify operational challenges as well as opportunities for TB prevention. Of the 223 patients, 17 had active or previously treated TB. Of the remaining 206 individuals who were eligible for IGRA testing, 78 (38%) were not tested due to logistical issues, failure to request the test, or no induction visit taking place. Of the 128 (62%) individuals who were tested for LTBI; three (2.3%) had a positive IGRA, four (3.1%) an indeterminate result, and 121 (94.5%) a negative result. All seven with positive/indeterminate tests were of African/Caribbean background, had CD4 cell counts >200 cells/mm and HIV RNA <400 copies/ml. Our audit suggests that universal LTBI screening was logistically challenging and provided few opportunities for TB prevention.


The aspiration for truth that was a feature of the Age of Enlightenment was also a driving force for studying Baltic history, and for describing and drawing old buildings and ruins. This activity became more systematic in the next century, when the Baltic educated literati established learned societies. However, when the University of Tartu was reopened in 1802, the professor of aesthetics and related subjects focused on classical antiquity and neglected local art history. It was only in 1919, when the University was reorganised as a national institution of the independent Republic of Estonia, that a separate chair was established for art history. The competition for the first professor of art history resulted in the invitation of a Swedish art historian Tor Helge Kjellin (1885–1984), who launched the systematic study of local mediaeval heritage, especially churches. His arrival in Tartu in 1922 can be considered the starting point of the professionalisation of the research of Estonian art history.
Estonian art historiography has been studied sporadically since the 1960s, with only a few articles published before the 2010s on the beginnings of professional art history education at the University of Tartu. The Soviet occupation of Estonia made it impossible to travel abroad to study Helge Kjellin's written legacy in Swedish archives. After the restoration of Estonia's independence, a new interest in Estonian art historiography emerged. The leading researchers of Estonian art historiography have been Juta Keevallik and Professor Krista Kodres, who have inspired me to study the 1920s.
In 1919, following the example of the Nordic countries, a 'chair of aesthetics and general history of art' was also established at the University of Tartu. Yet it was not until the Estonian state had acquired part of the art collection of the Liphart Baltic German noble family that the competition for the chair of art history was launched in June of 1920. A year later, the Viennese professor Josef Strzygowsky was elected as the first professor of art history, but since he declined, the next candidate in the competition, the art history docent from Lund University, Helge Kjellin, was invited. He arrived in Tartu the next year, on 17 January 1922. On 23 January, he already appealed to the university rector to allocate rooms for his art history seminar:
After all, art history is a new discipline at this university and so the university library is not stocked well enough with special literature on art history. Therefore, I have brought with me my own library […], and picture collection (photographs, slides, etc).
Professor Kjellin pointed out that the art history seminar should also be provided with drawings and graphic art collections for the students to study different artistic techniques. He mentioned 15 chairs for students as part of the furniture needed for the seminar. However, a week later it turned out that about 40 students had registered for his seminars and about 100 wished to attend his lectures, most of them girls who thirsted for knowledge. In Estonia, art history was still regarded as a subject of general knowledge for the educated elite, rather than the scientific study of art, Kunstwissenschaft, which German scholars envisioned and had aspired to since the end of the 19th century, with the most important centres at the universities of Berlin and Vienna. However, it was precisely this new Scientific (or academic) art history that Kjellin wanted to establish in Tartu.
Kjellin directly linked Tartu to Berlin. He had studied at Uppsala University with the Swedish art historian, then a docent, Johnny Roosval, and later at Lund University with Professor Ewert Wrangel. In turn, Heinrich Wölfflin and Adolph Goldschmidt were Roosval's professors in Berlin. Roosval wanted to shape Swedish art history according to the German model. He inspired his students to choose Swedish mediaeval art as their subject, and Kjellin was one of the students who followed his advice. After graduating from Uppsala University in 1913, Kjellin worked at museums in Stockholm and Malmö, but was then invited by Wrangel to continue his studies in Lund where he also defended his doctoral thesis in 1917. Kjellin concentrated on the study of mediaeval Swedish churches. In Estonia as well, he wanted to discover the mediaeval influences from the island of Gotland on the churches in the Old Livonian island of Ösel and the county of Wiek (the western part of Estonia).
Kjellin managed to engage at least some of his Estonian students to help him with his scholarly pursuits. In fact, the University of Tartu's study system at that time encouraged students to already practice research methods in their first years. Seminars had a significant role in the teaching of art history at the beginning of the 20th century. Kjellin gave students practical exercises in the art history seminars at Tartu, e.g. they had to describe neoclassical buildings in the city of Tartu. Later they would catalogue the university library's graphic collections. In seminars, they would present a paper on a chosen or given subject, but they would also discuss papers presented by their fellow students. During summer vacation, some students had the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice by helping Kjellin to describe churches in Saaremaa. Some more able students, who chose art history as their main subject, would even conduct independent research at archives in Tartu, Tallinn, and Riga, where they would also collect (photo)graphic and descriptive material on historic buildings and art.
Kjellin already left the chair in Tartu in September of 1924 for financial reasons. The University of Tartu could not pay Kjellin the salary he requested because it was more than the Ministry of Education allowed.
Foreign professors received larger salaries than Estonian professors anyway. Kjellin agreed to examine his students in 1925 as well and reviewed a few of his students' master's theses in 1926 and 1928. He also continued his research on Estonian medieval architecture and published a few studies in 1928 and 1932, but later dropped Estonian subjects from his fields of interest.
As mentioned before, Kjellin had ca 100 art history students. A third of them took the final exam in art history. Only seven of them sat the exam at the most difficult level, which allowed them to defend a master's degree in art history. Of these seven, only two defended their degree and only one of them – Voldemar Vaga – went to work as an art historian and later became Professor of Art History at the University of Tartu. Many of the female students who studied art history with Kjellin became history teachers in schools.
However, Kjellin's contribution to the study and teaching of art history, but also heritage conservation in Estonia, is fundamental. Together with the archaeology professor Aarne Michael Tallgren, he prepared the draft of the first heritage conservation law in Estonia, which was passed in the Estonian parliament in 1925. The study collections – photographs, slides, measurement drawings, and descriptions of the art history seminar (later cabinet) have retained their scholarly value even today. Although the chair of art history was left vacant starting from 1925, Sweden was once again the place from where the second professor of art history – Sten Ingvar Karling – was invited to Tartu in 1932. Kjellin had created excellent teaching conditions for the new professor and for future students to study art history at the University of Tartu.


The problem considered is state estimation in the presence of unknown state and measurement noise, each noise component being assumed to belong to some known interval. In such a bounded-error context, most available results are for linear models, and the purpose of the present paper is to deal with the nonlinear case. Based on interval analysis and the notion of set inversion, a new state estimator is presented, which evaluates a set estimate guaranteed to contain all values of the state that are consistent with the available observations, given the noise bounds and a set containing the initial value of the state. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that such a guaranteed estimator is made available. The precision of the set estimate can be improved, at the cost of more computation. The theoretical properties of the estimator are studied, and computer implementation has received special attention. A simple illustrative example is treated.


ABSTRACT This article analyzes the cultural work of queer Salvadoran comedian Julio Torres through the Muñozian lens of queer utopian aesthetics and ethnic camp. Through textual and discursive analysis, it establishes how Torres' comedy disrupts dominant images of male Central American migrants as violent gang members, as well as how Torres creates a space for queer U.S. Central American subjectivities in the Latinx media imaginary. This article also examines Torres' advocacy work alongside his comedy to consider the extent to which both uphold economic value as central to evaluating the worthiness of immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship. This approach that considers the affordances and limitations of utopian aesthetics illuminates the contradictions in contemporary U.S. Central American representation. I argue that Torres' cultural work offers glimpses into queerer future U.S. Central American representations and immigration rights discourses that ensure that queer migrant lives are more livable.


This article argues that right-wing online commentary on news articles, despite its reputation for being poorly-written, insulting and ill-considered, is in fact often composed of discursive structures designed to mark its authors as members of a group who use language to resist what they see as the dominant left-wing ideology in media outlets. It is first argued that online commenters at the Daily Mail Online newspaper website are a community of practice who have shared goals and a shared repertoire of linguistic tools. Then the nature of critical discourse analysis, in particular its relation to the study of language as a tool for both social control and resistance to social control, is discussed. Finally, some indicative comments are examined qualitatively, in an effort to provide some insights into how right-wing commenters use language to re-frame arguments presented in online newspaper articles. I argue that commenters use implicature, deliberate misspellings of key words, and straw man arguments about political correctness in order to position themselves as marginalised members of society. Despite there being little or no evidence that online discussion of topics related to race are being censored at the Daily Mail Online, comments that argue that political correctness does prohibit certain types of speech remain popular with readers.


Background

In general, common metastatic pathways for breast carcinoma include lung, liver, and bone. Described herein is a rare case of breast carcinoma metastasis to the trigeminal nerve. And numb chin syndrome(NCS) has a certain suggestive effect on the recurrence or progression of cancer patients.

Case presentation

a 54-year-old Chinese female was admitted to our hospital for progressive anaesthesia of the lower left lip and chin. She was diagnosed as breast ductal carcinoma 9 years ago. The brain MRI demonstrated dumbbell-shaped involvement of left trigeminal nerve which extended to left temporal lobe. Then we treated patient with radiotherapy, the patient's numbness relieved rapidly.

Conclusion

After review and analysis of the case, we found numb chin syndrome (NCS) is a "red flag" symptom of malignancy.1 When cancer patients develop numb chin syndrome(NCS), we need to be alert to the possibility of distant metastasis. This case also suggests that clinicians should pay attention to the possibility of breast cancer metastasis to the trigeminal nerve.